10th Anniversary of the Rorate Caeli Purgatorial Society

Special Note: Today we are celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Rorate Caeli Purgatorial Society. When I officially launched this new Society back on September 27, 2010, I did so out of sadness and frustration. 

I had recently attended the funeral of yet another family member who was robbed of prayers by being canonized a Saint from the pulpit by a terrible priest. And this time I was actually prepared. As a family member and pallbearer I spoke to the priest beforehand, appealed to his desire to help my family member, and asked him not to say she's a saint and to instead beg those attending for prayers. His answer was to eulogize her during Mass and say she's "looking down from Heaven on us" and to rejoice and not be sad. No mention of praying for her soul.

A lot has changed in 10 years for the Society. Ten years ago, I asked our readers to submit names, then we could all just pray for them. Behind the scenes, I was trying to find a priest that I could personally pay every week to say Masses for the list. But before I ever had to do that, priests began emailing me volunteering their time, and their traditional Latin Masses, for the enrolled Souls.

Now today, 10 years later, we have 109 priests saying weekly or at least monthly TLMs for the enrolled Souls -- which now number in the millions! 

I want to thank all of you for submitting names. Some of you do it every day, with hundreds or thousands of names on your lists. And I want to urge all of you to take up this spiritual work of mercy. And don't forget you can enroll anyone who died, including non-Catholics, if they were the age of reason when they passed. 

And please pray for another 10 years for the Society. So much has changed, and so much will change moving forward. What will not change until our Savior's return is the need to pray for the poor souls in Purgatory. They are called poor because they have no way of getting out of Purgatory on their own. It's up to us. Let's not let them down.

This is our monthly reminder to please enroll Souls of the Rorate Caeli Purgatorial Society. The Society now stands at 109 priests saying weekly or monthly traditional Latin Masses for the Souls. 

** Click here to download a "fillable" PDF Mass Card in English to give to the loved ones of the Souls you enroll (you send these to the family and/or friends of the dead, not to us). It's free for anyone to use. CLICK HERE to download in Latin and CLICK HERE to download in Spanish. 

Priests: The Souls still need more of you saying Mass for them! Please email me to offer your services. There's nothing special involved -- all you need to do is offer a weekly or monthly TLM with the intention: "For the repose of the Souls enrolled in the Rorate Caeli Purgatorial Society." And we will always keep you completely anonymous unless you request otherwise. 

How to enroll souls: please email me at athanasiuscatholic@yahoo.com and submit as follows: "Name, State, Country." If you want to enroll entire families, simply write in the email: "The Jones family, Ohio, USA". Individual names are preferred. Be greedy -- send in as many as you wish and forward this posting to friends as well.

The Month of October, Month of the Most Holy Rosary

Encyclical Letter

OCTOBRI MENSE 

(The month of October)

of His Holiness Pope Leo XIII

At the coming of the month of October, dedicated and consecrated as it is to the Blessed Virgin of the Rosary, we recall with satisfaction the instant exhortations which in preceding years We addressed to you, venerable brethren, desiring, as We did, that the faithful, urged by your authority and by your zeal, should redouble their piety towards the august Mother of God, the mighty helper of Christians, and should pray to her throughout the month, invoking her by that most holy rite of the Rosary which the Church, especially in the passage of difficult times, has ever used for the accomplishment of all desires. This year once again do We publish Our wishes, once again do We encourage you by the same exhortations. We are persuaded to this in love for the Church, whose sufferings, far from mitigating, increase daily in number and in gravity. Universal and well-known are the evils we deplore: war made upon the sacred dogmas which the Church holds and transmits; derision cast upon the integrity of that Christian morality which she has in keeping; enmity declared, with the impudence of audacity and with criminal malice, against the very Christ, as though the Divine work of Redemption itself were to be destroyed from its foundation-that work which, indeed, no adverse power shall ever utterly abolish or destroy.

2. No new events are these in the career of the Church militant. Jesus foretold them to His disciples. That she may teach men the truth and may guide them to eternal salvation, she must enter upon a daily war; and throughout the course of ages she has fought, even to martyrdom, rejoicing and glorifying herself in nothing more than in the occasion of signing her cause with her Founder's blood, the sure and certain pledge of the victory whereof she holds the promise. Nevertheless we must not conceal the profound sadness with which this necessity of constant war afflicts the righteous. It is indeed a cause of great sorrow that so many should be deterred and led astray by error and enmity to God; that so many should be indifferent to all forms of religion, and should finally become estranged from faith; that so many Catholics should be such in name only, and should pay to religion no honour or worship. And still sadder and more beset with anxieties grows the soul at the thought of the fruitful source of most manifold evils existing in the organisation of States that allow no place to the Church, and that oppose her championship of holy virtue. This is truly a terrible manifestation of the just vengeance of God, Who allows blindness of soul to darken upon the nations that forsake Him. These are evils that cry aloud, that cry of themselves with a daily increasing voice. It is absolutely necessary that the Catholic voice should also call to God with unwearied instance, "without ceasing;"(1) that the Faithful should pray not only in their own homes, but in public, gathered together under the sacred roof; that they should beseech urgently the all-foreseeing God to deliver the Church from evil men(2) and to bring back the troubled nations to good sense and reason, by the light and love of Christ.

Apostolic Letter SCRIPTURAE SACRAE AFFECTUS, on the 1600th Anniversary of the Death of St. Jerome

APOSTOLIC LETTER

SCRIPTURAE SACRAE AFFECTUS

OF THE HOLY FATHER
FRANCIS
ON THE SIXTEEN HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY
OF THE DEATH OF SAINT JEROME

 

Devotion to sacred Scripture, a “living and tender love” for the written word of God: this is the legacy that Saint Jerome bequeathed to the Church by his life and labours. Now, on the sixteen hundredth anniversary of his death, those words taken from the opening prayer of his liturgical Memorial[1] give us an essential insight into this outstanding figure in the Church’s history and his immense love for Christ. That “living and tender love” flowed, like a great river feeding countless streams, into his tireless activity as a scholar, translator and exegete. Jerome’s profound knowledge of the Scriptures, his zeal for making their teaching known, his skill as an interpreter of texts, his ardent and at times impetuous defence of Christian truth, his asceticism and harsh eremitical discipline, his expertise as a generous and sensitive spiritual guide – all these make him, sixteen centuries after his death, a figure of enduring relevance for us, the Christians of the twenty-first century.

Introduction

On 30 September 420, Saint Jerome died in Bethlehem, in the community that he had founded near the grotto of the Nativity. He thus entrusted himself to the Lord whom he had always sought and known in the Scriptures, the same Lord whom, as a Judge, he had already encountered in a feverish dream, possibly during the Lenten season of 375. That dream proved to be a decisive turning point in his life, an occasion of conversion and change in outlook. He saw himself dragged before the Judge. As he himself recalled: “Questioned about my state, I responded that I was a Christian. But the Judge retorted: ‘You lie! You are a Ciceronian, not a Christian’”.[2] Jerome had loved from his youth the limpid beauty of the Latin classics, whereas the writings of the Bible had initially struck him as uncouth and ungrammatical, too harsh for his refined literary taste.

Judge Amy Coney Barrett Next Supreme Court Justice - Prayers

Lady and Child - Basilica of the Sacred Heart (Lady Chapel)
University of Notre Dame, Indiana

The next Supreme Court Justice -- or so we hope, once the U.S. Senate approves her name, which was known since yesterday, but that was officially announced by President Trump minutes ago.

Believing Catholics and other conservative Christians are rightly joyful with the prospect of a Judge who not only has expressed conservative feelings about how the Constitution and the laws should be interpreted, but also seems to live a life of Catholicity, without the shame secularists wish to impose on believers.

The fact that the Democratic candidate for President is a nominal Catholic -- whose platform includes all things that are antithetical to how our Holy Faith sees men, women, children, family, life, and death --makes clear the great chasm that exists in contemporary Catholicism: some authentic Catholics and many phony Catholics who promote lies and death.

Join us in prayer for the health and safety of Judge Barrett and her family, and may the Immaculate Conception protect the United States of America.

Op-Ed: Science not a Threat to Faith

by Fr. Paul Robinson

 In the first months of 2015, I started what turned out to be the most difficult thing I had ever done, namely write a book (The Realist Guide to Religion and Science, Gracewing, 2018). Anyone who starts such a project knows that they have to have a strong motivation to do so. In my case, I wanted to set the record straight on the Church’s teaching on science in relation to the Bible. I could see that what I was taught as a seminarian and what I was teaching as a seminary professor somehow was not being passed on to the faithful. The book ended up having a much broader scope than originally intended, but it still very much included the originally intended corrective.

Why is the corrective needed? Because many faithful, on the one hand, make a strictly literal interpretation of Genesis 1 into a matter of faith and so, on the other hand, hold that the Big Bang Theory and Darwinian evolution are, of themselves, against the faith. For them, the authentic Catholic reading of Genesis 1 is that the universe was created in a full formed state 6000 years ago.

But this is simply not the case, and making that interpretation into a dogma creates theological, philosophical, and scientific difficulties, as I have explained elsewhere. What I would like to consider in this article is, firstly, the authentic teaching of the Church; secondly, why some Catholics are little inclined to accept that teaching; and finally, why their fear to accept it is groundless.

The authentic teaching of the Church

Event: "Pro Deo et Patria" Public Procession & Rosary Rally, Missouri State Capitol, Saturday, October 10

The Extraordinary Form Mass Community in the Diocese of Jefferson City, Missouri, USA, invites Catholics to come together for a procession and Rosary on Saturday, October 10th, at 10:00am at the Missouri State Capitol. Details in the poster.

SCANDAL - Giovanni Angelo Becciu, 70 years old -- sacked from the Congregation of Causes of Saints and expelled from Cardinalate ("resigned from the rights attached to the Cardinalate “)

 It was January 6, 2014, and in the boiling waters of the "gay lobby crisis" at the beginning of the Francis pontificate, one of his strongmen, Cardinal Angelo Becciu, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, said, "Basta!" (Enough!) -- as we reported at the time (The Vatican "Gay Lobby" - former Swiss Guard chief confirms existence of secret homosexual network in the Vatican - Vatican stonewalls)

Years later, increasing financial scandals involving the name of Becciu came out.

***

Here we are, almost 7 years later, and an extraordinary edition of the Bollettino of the Holy See comes out with the explosive news: Becciù has "resigned" from his position as prefect, and, more than that, has resigned to "all the rights attached to the Cardinalate."*

It's astonishing, and no explanation has been given so far.

Now, it's our time as faithful to say, "Enough! What's going on???"

***

Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò has been at the forefront of accusations regarding the financial scandals in the Vatican. We await what he has to say.

*Rinunce e nomine (continuazione), 24.09.2020

[B0482]

Oggi, giovedì 24 settembre, il Santo Padre ha accettato la rinuncia dalla carica di Prefetto della Congregazione delle Cause dei Santi e dai diritti connessi al Cardinalato, presentata da Sua Eminenza il Cardinale Giovanni Angelo Becciu.

2020 Has Been a Tough Year Worldwide -- Time for Worldwide Sacrifice: Ember Week in September

The equinox is come and gone: in the Northern Hemisphere, the colors of fall are arriving, as the signs of reborn life in the Southern Hemisphere spring. 

The Roman Church will once again remind us of the cycle of the seasons in this Ember Week in September.

Since 2020 has been a particularly difficult year for all of us worldwide, we re-post, for those who are not aware of it, this article first posted by us in 2008, and reposted often since. 

May you all have a fruitful week of sacrifice!

___________________________________________________________

THE GLOW
OF THE EMBER DAYS

By Michael P. Foley

A potential danger of traditionalism is the stubborn defense of something about which one knows little. I once asked a priest who had just finished beautifully celebrating an Ember Saturday Mass about the meaning of the Ember days. He replied (with an impish twinkle in his eye) that he hadn’t a clue, but he was furious they had been suppressed.

Traditionalists, however, are not entirely to blame for their unfamiliarity with this important part of their patrimony. Most only have the privilege of assisting at a Sunday Tridentine Mass, and hence the Ember days—which occur on a weekday or Saturday—slip by unnoticed. And long before the opening session of the Second Vatican Council, the popularity of these observances had atrophied.

So why care about them now? To answer this question, we must first determine what they are.

The Four Seasons

The Ember days, which fall on a Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday of the same week, occur in conjunction with the four natural seasons of the year. Autumn brings the September Embertide, also called the Michaelmas Embertide because of their proximity to the Feast of St. Michael on September 29.¹ Winter, on the other hand, brings the December Embertide during the third week of Advent, and spring brings the Lenten Embertide after the first Sunday of Lent. Finally, summer heralds the Whitsun Embertide, which takes place within the Octave of Pentecost.

In the 1962 Missal the Ember days are ranked as ferias of the second class, weekdays of special importance that even supersede certain saints’ feasts. Each day has its own proper Mass, all of which are quite old. One proof of their antiquity is that they are one of the few days in the Gregorian rite (as the ’62 Missal is now being called) which has as many as five lessons from the Old Testament in addition to the Epistle reading, an ancient arrangement indeed.

Fasting and partial abstinence during the Ember days were also enjoined on the faithful from time immemorial until the 1960s. It is the association of fasting and penance with the Embertides that led some to think that their peculiar name has something to do with smoldering ash, or embers. But the English name is probably derived from their Latin title, the Quatuor Tempora or “Four Seasons.”²

Support the FSSP in Mexico City

An appeal from the quite new apostolate of the Fraternity of St Peter in Mexico City. They have been given the use of an historic church, but they need help purchasing a Presbytery.

 

If you want to contribute to the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP) in the acquisition of this House so that they can continue their work in favor of the Catholic Church and the souls, you can make your donation: 

Please, direct your donations though the FSSP own website at Mission Tradition.

Thank you and may God bless you!

"A pope would be schismatic... 'if he if he were to change all the liturgical rites of the Church that have been upheld by apostolic tradition'." (Francisco Suárez / Klaus Gamber)

Only four years had passed since the publication of the new Missal when Pope Paul VI surprised the Catholic world with a new Ordo Missæ, dated April 6, 1969. The revision made in 1965 did not touch the traditional liturgical rite. In accordance with the mandate of Article 50 of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, it had been primarily concerned with removing some later additions to the Order of the Mass. The publication of the Ordo Missæ of 1969, however, created a new liturgical rite. In other words, the traditional liturgical rite had not simply been revised as the Council had intended. Rather, it had been completely abolished, and a couple of years later, the traditional liturgical rite was, in fact, forbidden. All this leads to the question: Does such a radical reform follow the tradition of the Church?

Letter "Samaritanus Bonus", of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith -- On the Care of Persons in Critical or Terminal Phases of Life

CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH

Letter

SAMARITANUS BONUS

on the care of persons in the critical and terminal phases of life

Introduction

The Good Samaritan who goes out of his way to aid an injured man (cf. Lk 10:30-37) signifies Jesus Christ who encounters man in need of salvation and cares for his wounds and suffering with “the oil of consolation and the wine of hope”.^[1] He is the physician of souls and bodies, “the faithful witness” (Rev 3:14) of the divine salvific presence in the world. How to make this message concrete today? How to translate it into a readiness to accompany a suffering person in the terminal stages of life in this world, and to offer this assistance in a way that respects and promotes the intrinsic human dignity of persons who are ill, their vocation to holiness, and thus the highest worth of their existence?

The remarkable progressive development of biomedical technologies has exponentially enlarged the clinical proficiency of diagnostic medicine in patient care and treatment. The Church regards scientific research and technology with hope, seeing in them promising opportunities to serve the integral good of life and the dignity of every human being.^[2] Nonetheless, advances in medical technology, though precious, cannot in themselves define the proper meaning and value of human life. In fact, every technical advance in healthcare calls for growth in moral discernment^[3] to avoid an unbalanced and dehumanizing use of the technologies especially in the critical or terminal stages of human life.

Moreover, the organizational management and sophistication, as well as the complexity of contemporary healthcare delivery, can reduce to a purely technical and impersonal relationship the bond of trust between physician and patient. This danger arises particularly where governments have enacted legislation to legalize forms of assisted suicide and voluntary euthanasia among the most vulnerable of the sick and infirm. The ethical and legal boundaries that protect the self-determination of the sick person are transgressed by such legislation, and, to a worrying degree, the value of human life during times of illness, the meaning of suffering, and the significance of the interval preceding death are eclipsed. Pain and death do not constitute the ultimate measures of the human dignity that is proper to every person by the very fact that they are “human beings”.

In the face of challenges that affect the very way we think about medicine, the significance of the care of the sick, and our social responsibility toward the most vulnerable, the present letter seeks to enlighten pastors and the faithful regarding their questions and uncertainties about medical care, and their spiritual and pastoral obligations to the sick in the critical and terminal stages of life. All are called to give witness at the side of the sick person and to become a “healing community” in order to actualize concretely the desire of Jesus that, beginning with the most weak and vulnerable, all may be one flesh.^[4] It is widely recognized that a moral and practical clarification regarding care of these persons is needed. In this sensitive area comprising the most delicate and decisive stages of a person’s life, a “unity of teaching and practice is certainly necessary.”^[5]

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Paragon of Justice -- Catholic Bishop

 From the Bishop of Lexington, Kentucky:

I join the nation in mourning the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg on this Rosh Hashanah. Let us carry on her passionate commitment to the words of Deuteronomy: "Justice, justice you shall pursue." https://t.co/8tpNyxYmAP

— Bishop John Stowe (@BpStowe) September 19, 2020

 The late Justice Ginsburg's own words:

 

Q: If you were a lawyer again, what would you want to accomplish as a future feminist legal agenda? 

JUSTICE GINSBURG: Reproductive choice has to be straightened out. There will never be a woman of means without choice anymore. That just seems to me so obvious. The states that had changed their abortion laws before Roe [to make abortion legal] are not going to change back. So we have a policy that affects only poor women, and it can never be otherwise, and I don’t know why this hasn’t been said more often.

 

Q: Are you talking about the distances women have to travel because in parts of the country, abortion is essentially unavailable, because there are so few doctors and clinics that do the procedure? And also, the lack of Medicaid for abortions for poor women?

No, Woke Pontifical Academy for Life, there isn't a "Black Jesus"...

Carrara marble is beautiful: the smoothness and intense light of this particular stone made it a favorite of masters in the Italian renaissance.

One of the greatest pieces is, of course, Michelangelo Buonarroti's "Pietà", in the Vatican Basilica, carefully restored after an attack made on it in the pontificate of Paul VI. Since the marble is white, the sculpture is all white: not just skin...but draperies, clothes, everything -- obviously.

Apparently, the currently woke-led Pontifical Academy for Life thinks attacking this image again, now virtually, is fair game for its "virtue-signaling" purposes:

An image that is worth a speech. pic.twitter.com/RnqzEXiW1V

— Pontifical Academy Life (@PontAcadLife) September 12, 2020

We refuse to accept this creepy wokeness. There isn't a "Black Jesus" or a "White Jesus" (in this case, a Marble Jesus...).

There is only one Christ, truly born of the Virgin Mary, Son of David, Lion of Judah, Glory of Israel, Man and God, Lord of All, the Desired of All Nations, the Redeemer of all peoples. 

Enough, Archbishop Paglia! Enough!

“Two ‘Forms’ of the Roman Rite: Liturgical Fact or Canonical Fiat?” — Full Text of Dr. Kwasniewski’s Norwalk Lecture

In June 2017, I gave a lecture at St. Mary’s in Norwalk, Connecticut, on the intellectual and historical incoherence of the notion of “two (equal) forms” of the Roman Rite. Given the rapid progress that has been made in liturgical discussions over the past three years, with many more people now attending the traditional Latin Mass and seeing for themselves the truth of Mosebach’s words—“No one who has eyes and ears will be persuaded to ignore what his own senses tell him: these two forms are so different that their theoretical unity appears entirely unreal”—I have decided to make the transcript of the lecture available, and have chosen this date, September 14, for the symbolic reasons one might infer. The text below has been rewritten for its inclusion as a chapter in a forthcoming book with the tentative title: “Pass on Real Gold, Not Counterfeit”: The Immemorial Roman Mass and Fifty Years of Rupture, which I hope will appear from Arouca Press in 2020.

Two “Forms” of the Roman Rite: Liturgical Fact or Canonical Fiat?

Peter A. Kwasniewski

Every Catholic in the world—where he knows it or not—is indebted to Pope Benedict XVI for “liberating” the traditional Latin Mass with the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum. We may grumble about various things Pope Benedict did not do that we feel he ought to have done, but we must never fail to be grateful for the courageous steps he took, in matters in which nearly the entire hierarchy of the Church stood opposed to him. It was deeply against his nature to impose anything that would not be welcomed by at least a large number, and in this act he stood nearly alone. The motu proprio has caused innumerable flowers to flourish, countless fruits to be harvested. In this lecture, I come neither to praise nor to bury Pope Benedict, but rather, to examine an operative assumption in the motu proprio: that Paul VI’s Missale Romanum of 1969 (the “Novus Ordo”) is, or belongs to, the same rite as the Missale Romanum last codified in 1962, or, more plainly, that the Novus Ordo can be called “the Roman rite” of the Mass. This, I shall argue, cannot withstand critical scrutiny. Although I will be referring primarily to the Roman missal and the Mass, my argument would apply, mutatis mutandis, to the rites of the other sacraments, to blessings and rituals, and to the Divine Office and its substitute, the Liturgy of the Hours.

Romanitas Press Releases The Mass: Up-Close in Pictures

The tireless promoter of liturgical knowledge, Louis Tofari, has released a handsome book, The Mass: Up Close in Pictures. Originally published in 1944 by the Alumni Sodality of Our Lady at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA (just ponder that for a moment), this book consists of carefully planned black and white photos of the most significant gestures in the unfolding of the Low Mass. It is a "sanctuary bird's-eye view" that almost no one could have unless he were seated in one of those old Baroque balconies seen in some European churches or chapels. 

New Edition of Davies’s Apologia Pro Marcel Lefebvre

This post has a very simple purpose: to alert Rorate readers that Angelus Press has brought out a new and very handsome edition, in three matching hardcover volumes, of the critically important work by Michael Davies entitled Apologia Pro Marcel Lefebvre. 

The first volume, published in 1979, recounts the years from 1905-1976, providing a comprehensive collection of source materials essential for serious research on the Archbishop. The words of Davies in his introduction have lost nothing of their timeliness:

“Digital Communion: A Modern Invention”: Guest Article by Fr Armand de Malleray, FSSP

Introduction

From Lent to summer 2020, for fear of a virus, guidelines forbade the faithful to receive Our Lord in the Sacred Host (or from the Chalice). Being deprived of sacramental Communion, people got used to spiritual communion instead. In spiritual Communion, those in state of grace commune from a distance with Our Lord in the Sacred Host, without consuming the Host or even touching it. But it is a third type of Eucharistic Communion that we would like to examine here. We call it digital Communion.

 

What is digital Communion? Is it about receiving Holy Communion online, as some people wished could be the case with sacramental absolution of sins? No, digital Communion has nothing to do with the Internet (even though its appearance in the Catholic Church coincided with that of the first personal computer some fifty years ago). Digital Communion is a modern invention; it never existed in Christian antiquity. It is when one takes the Sacred Host with one’s fingers and puts it into one’s own mouth. We call it digital because digital is the adjective derived from the word digitus, a finger in Latin, which gave our English word digit (whence also the IT meaning of the same word digit: “any of the numerals from 0 to 9, especially when forming part of a number, following the practice of counting on the fingers”).

Open letter to Downside Abbey from Fr Christopher Basden

The Latin Mass Society had a Priest Training Conference at Downside in 2010.
Bishop Athanasius Schneider celebrated Mass in the magnificent Abbey Church.

The news that the monks of Downside Abbey in Somerset are to abandon their home of more than two centuries, including the fabulous Abbey Church which is one of only four Minor Basilicas in England, came as a shock to English Catholics. It is difficult to imagine them surviving as a separate community, and we know that many other religious communities are not far behind the monks of Downside in terms of declining numbers. Which will be the next to go?

Fr Christopher Basden, long-time Parish Priest of St Bede's Clapham Park, and now Parish Priest in Ramsgate and Minster in Kent, has written the following letter appealing to the community to think again. St Bede's has been a model of the integration of the Traditional Mass into a territorial parish, and demonstrates the way this can contribute to securing the future of a church. Decline is not inevitable: some monastic communities are growing today: those who have reconnected themselves with the roots of tradition. 

Reproduced with permission.

OPEN LETTER OF APPEAL TO DOWNSIDE

On behalf of untold people throughout the world I write to appeal against the monks of Downside surrendering to the current zeitgeist and leaving their monastery. Downside is part of the fabric of English Catholic history. The restoration of the Catholic Church and of monasticism is one of the great victories of Grace after the horrendous rape and interruption by Henry VIII in the 16th Century. We appeal against this decision in the face of a more insidious enemy: that of secularism, relativism and modernism which destroys the Church from within.

Surrendering does not solve the problem. We have faced enemies before and a flight or dispersal to another location(s) is simply the recipe for swift extinction as we have seen previously (Fort Augustus and countless female communities). Have we no faith in the grace of God and the irresistible attraction to the consecrated life and the eternal truth of the Catholic Church? 

2021 liturgical calendar season begins

We know that we say this every year, but 2020 already feels like Groundhog Day, so why not say it again -- it's hard to believe summer is almost over and it's time to start thinking about your 2021 liturgical calendar! Here at Rorate, we will review several calendars for the upcoming year. And once again this year, the first calendar we received to review comes to us from the Servants of the Holy Family. 

CLICK HERE TO BUY

De Mattei: The Coronavirus and the ‘New World Dis-order’

 

Roberto de Mattei

Corrispondenza Romana

September 9, 2020

The era of the Coronavirus is seeing a new phase in the cosmic struggle between the celestial and infernal forces. In history, in fact, along with the hand of God, we also need to see the hand of the Devil who is always rivaling the Divine plans in order to realize his own warped projects. The Kingdom of God is that of order, peace and harmony; the Devil’s is a kingdom of chaos, conflict and perennial revolution. God permits, for His greater glory, that the two kingdoms - the first always victorious, the second always beaten - wrestle until the end of time.

 

Today the followers of the Devil are the scientists, who, in their laboratories, are seeking to be lords over the life and death of mankind. Then we have the social engineers, who, by means of sophisticated techniques, manipulate the state of mind of public opinion. After the failure of the great illusions that opened the 20^th century, the revolutionary forces are now fostering a scenario of profound mental and social chaos.  Six months after its explosion, the Coronavirus’s gravest consequence until now has not been in the health or social realms but in the psychological order.  Nobody knows what to think and often opposing thoughts follow one another as in cases of cognitive dissonance.  In a persuasive article penned by the sociologist Luca Ricolfi in a Roman daily, he writes that the ground where the most radical changes are taking place is in the way our mind works.

Rest in Peace, Father Tighe -- And how to donate to his Summorum Pontificum fund for training altar servers

Father Philip Tighe, of the Diocese of Raleigh (North Carolina), an exemplary priest of Our Lord Jesus Christ, was called by God at the age of 57, on Aug. 31, 2020.

One of his life's works was to increase the spread and knowledge of the Traditional Mass. As his official obituary by the Diocese mentions, this is how you can donate to his fund:

During his life, Father Tighe founded a fund to provide financial assistance for the training of servers assisting in the celebration of the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite and seminarian training in the Latin Mass. To donate to that fund, visit https://www.foundationdor.org/donate/endowments-donate/ and select the Diocese: Summorum Pontificum Endowment Fund from the dropdown menu.

Father Tighe, Good and Faithful Servant: Rest in Peace!

Last Day to Enroll in Novena of Latin Masses

 Dear readers:

As many of you know we have supported the wonderful Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles for many years. One way of supporting the Sisters, and benefiting spiritually yourselves, is to enroll in their Our Lady of Sorrows Novena of Latin Masses. 

Today (Monday) is the final day to enroll. CLICK HERE TO ENROLL NOW. 

Rorate Caeli Purgatorial Society -- In Africa

 A wonderful picture came in from one of our 100+ priests who say regular Masses for the millions of Souls enrolled in the Rorate Caeli Purgatorial Society. 

Pictured below is Augustinian priest Fr. Gregory Obih saying Mass in the Republic of Benin.

Thank you Fr. Obih for your work on behalf of the Souls and thank you to all of our priests who faithfully say Masses for the deceased. And may the Souls remember all of you in your hour of need!

Fr. James Altman: "You cannot be a Catholic and a Democrat. Period." -- Endorsed by the Bishop of Tyler, Texas

This afternoon, Bishop Joseph Strickland, of the Diocese of Tyler (Texas), endorsed this important video by Fr. James Altman, of La Crosse (Wisconsin).

As the Bishop of Tyler I endorse Fr Altman’s statement in this video. My shame is that it has taken me so long. Thank you Fr Altman for your COURAGE. If you love Jesus & His Church & this nation...pleases HEED THIS MESSAGE https://t.co/D413G0lfQV

— Bishop J. Strickland (@Bishopoftyler) September 5, 2020

Please, share the video and the message below:

An Encyclical on Catholic Fraternity and Brotherhood -- Francis announces one, but Leo XIII wrote it in 1884

Vatican reporters announced today (Rorate had tweeted about a week ago) that the new Encyclical by Francis will be signed and published on October 3, 2020. He will be in Assisi that day, the eve of the Feast of St. Francis.

The encyclical is to be titled "Fratelli tutti" (Brothers all, translated by the politically correct English translators in the Vatican news team as "Brothers and Sisters all"), and it will deal, "with fraternity and social friendship."

Many years ago, it feels as in another planet in another galaxy, the great Pope Leo XIII had already dealt with this matter -- he wrote about it in the main one of his various encyclicals speaking of the secular view of Fraternity, espoused by Freemasonry: Humanum Genus (April 20, 1884)

Pope Pecci wrote specifically about the Franciscan charism for true Christian fraternity: a fraternity that is born not of some kind of humanistic friendship, but of the filial relationship we were given by God through the life, passion, and sacrifice of his Only Begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ:

So let us take the opportunity of an encyclical on fraternity to learn the lessons taught by Pope Leo XIII:

Events: Dr. Kwasniewski’s Upcoming Lectures in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio

After a long hiatus due to COVID-19, I will be resuming my public lectures with a trip to southern New Jersey, across Pennsylvania, and ending at the Franciscan University of Steubenville (my third visit to a most accommodating community, thanks to the local Juventutem and Una Voce chapters!). I will be giving a different talk at each location. The dates and locations follow. Nota bene: I am aware that, due to various restrictions, locations will have caps on the number of guests. As a result, we are working to ensure that the talks will be made available afterwards in video form; some, at least, will be published as well.

Information on the Summorum Pontificum Pilgrimage to Rome in October

From Paix Liturgique:

Every year, since 2012, a pilgrimage takes place in Rome in thanksgiving for the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum of Pope Benedict XVI. Will it take place this year? The Chaplain of this meeting, Father Claude Barthe announces that not only will the pilgrimage take place but also that Cardinal Sarah will celebrate the major mass at Saint Peter's Basilica on October 24th.

Summorum Pontificum News :  So the Summorum Pontificum pilgrimage to Rome will take place this year?

Father Claude Barthe : Yes, like every year since 2012! It is true that this year is quite special: reigns, because of what is called the "health crisis", a rather surreal atmosphere which affects all religious activities and especially pilgrimages. I was in Lourdes a few days ago, where there are only a few handfuls of faithful. However, after careful consideration, the Coetus Internationalis, which organizes the Roman Pilgrimage, has decided, considering what this Catholic enterprise represents, to maintain it, taking into account the constraints imposed on us.

 

Summorum Pontificum News :  What will be the program?

De Mattei: A mild epidemic behind which we glimpse the Hand of God

 Roberto de Mattei

Corrispondenza Romana

September 2, 2020

2020 will be remembered as the year of a historical turning-point in the everyday life of the world. And while it appears increasingly likely that the Coronavirus was produced by the genetic engineering of Communist China (the book by Joseph Tritto, China Covid 19. The Chimera that Changed the World, Siena 2020, is the most convincing with regard to this), the existence of “social engineering” on a large scale seems likewise clear, to steer public opinion into a situation - perhaps even surprising for the revolutionary forces themselves who presume to govern the destinies of the world.

 

One of the most successful results of this social engineering is the artificial division created by the Mass-Media, between those living in terror at being infected and those, fearing the economic consequences of the pandemic, minimize the reality of its contagiousness.  The first define themselves as “the prudent” and call the others “the deniers”. The latter accuse “the prudent” of wanting to subject themselves to a “sanitary-dictatorship” over society. For the former, health is the priority, since for them, the greatest good is the physical life, and everything must be done to avoid dying; for the latter the priority is the economy, since [for them] the supreme good is material prosperity and everything must be done to live comfortably. What is common to the two parts is a cultural horizon from which the spirit of sacrifice and the supernatural dimension have been definitively expunged. The slogan  “Dying of Coronavirus or hunger?” sums up this false alternative, presented as an agonizing quandary.

Traditionalist Publishing Renaissance (1): St. Augustine Academy Press

Many times, I have heard Catholics lament the "good old days" when there were so many Catholic writers, journalists, publications, and bookstores. It's true that we lost many of those things in the nuclear winter that followed the Second Vatican Council. However, as one who has spent a lot of time looking at older books and magazines (as in: from the 1890s to the 1960s), I'm not convinced that the level of material was consistently high. There were masterpieces, to be sure; but much that is now forgotten deserves to be forgotten.

Fast forward to 2020, fifty years after the mandatory imposition of the New Order on the Church. What do we see? Contrary to all the expectations of the party of rupture, we are witnessing a veritable renaissance in traditional Catholic publishing, of a consistently high quality, both in content and in production values. Such names as Angelico Press, Arouca Press, Angelus Press, Cluny Media, Loreto Publications, Preserving Christian Publications, Cana Press, Romanitas Press, Roman Catholic Books, Sophia Institute Press, and Te Deum Press come to mind. There are more, and there will be more. It is perennial tradition, not the banality of the sixties and seventies, that excites enthusiasm and enkindles a lifelong desire to learn.

Reminder: Rorate Caeli Purgatorial Society

This is our monthly reminder to please enroll Souls of the Rorate Caeli Purgatorial Society. Last month, we added another wonderful new priest from Latin America, and the Society now stands at 109 priests saying weekly or monthly traditional Latin Masses for the Souls. 

** Click here to download a "fillable" PDF Mass Card in English to give to the loved ones of the Souls you enroll (you send these to the family and/or friends of the dead, not to us). It's free for anyone to use. CLICK HERE to download in Latin and CLICK HERE to download in Spanish. 

Priests: The Souls still need more of you saying Mass for them! Please email me to offer your services. There's nothing special involved -- all you need to do is offer a weekly or monthly TLM with the intention: "For the repose of the Souls enrolled in the Rorate Caeli Purgatorial Society." And we will always keep you completely anonymous unless you request otherwise. 

How to enroll souls: please email me at athanasiuscatholic@yahoo.com and submit as follows: "Name, State, Country." If you want to enroll entire families, simply write in the email: "The Jones family, Ohio, USA". Individual names are preferred. Be greedy -- send in as many as you wish and forward this posting to friends as well.

150 Years of Maria Montessori: The Mass Explained to Children

Everything is sacred in the rite of Holy Mass. Every movement of the priest, every object he touches, every tone of his voice is determined for him: and the faithful can follow the Mass in its mystical meaning and in its every detail.

Maria Montessori

La Santa Messa spiegata ai bambini [The Holy Mass Explained to Children]

 ***

150 years ago today, on August 31, 1870, Maria Tecla Artemisia Montessori was born in Chiaravalle, Marche. It was just days before the fall of Rome to the forces of the Kingdom of Italy, and the end of the Pontifical States -- which had ruled the Marche region for many centuries until 1860.

Maria was raised a devout Catholic, a strong faith she kept throughout her life. In 1896, she became one of the first women to graduate as a medical doctor in Italy, having been a brilliant medical student at the University of La Sapienza, in Rome. Pope Leo XIII himself praised her choice as adequate for her station.

There is much to praise about Montessori, including her remarkable contributions to the education of children, but it as her Catholic faith which kept her going, even during the difficult years of single motherhood due to a passionate youthful error or the years of self-exile from the Fascist regime. 

In honor of her 150th birthday, we make available below the book she wrote on "The Mass Explained to Children", now in the public domain:

The Francis Vatican Is Providing Cover for Biden

Main excerpt of George Neumayr's insightful appraisal of the present moment for the American Spectator:

In 2020, the Vatican is once again running interference for a pro-abortion Democrat. Joe Biden fashions himself as a Pope Francis Catholic. He brags about his cozy relationship with Pope Francis. In 2016, the Vatican invited Joe Biden to a conference about medicine, a scandalous invite given that Biden supports making scientific use of aborted embryos. Biden gushed about the anti-capitalism of Pope Francis: “We need to create a culture which, as Pope Francis reminds us, cannot just be based on the worship of money. We cannot accept a nation in which billionaires compete as to size of their super-yachts.”

HELP THE CHURCH IN LEBANON ! - A Trustworthy Effort by the Armenian Catholic Eparchy in the US & Canada

From the Armenian Catholic Eparchy of Our Lady of Nareg (in the United States and Canada):

* As you are aware, on Tuesday, August 4th, 2020, a massive explosion destroyed most of the vicinity of the Port of Beirut, Lebanon. The explosion which impacted over a 10 mile radius, took the lives of more than 200 people, leaving more than 4,000 wounded and injured, while the whereabouts of many individuals are unknown as authorities continue their search. Countless families are now homeless and have lost everything. 

* Churches, Rectories, and Cultural Centers were heavily damaged, tremendously impacting the people of the entire nation. Lebanon was already suffering from a political and economic crisis, in which the local currency had lost 80% of its value over the last 6 months, alongside managing and containing the COVID-19 pandemic. In the midst of this insecurity, the explosion occurred, further affecting the lives of the citizens of a once globally renown country.

* Our brothers and sisters in Lebanon are in need of our support right now more than ever. Even the smallest act of charity that we can provide is of great value to them.

* Please consider making a donation today by sending a check payable to “Armenian Catholic Eparchy” to 1510 E. Mountain St., Glendale, CA 91207 with the note “For Lebanon”; or make a donation by click the Red Donate Button AT THIS LINK including “For Lebanon” in the Note. May God bless you!

There's only one choice in November: listen to Sister Deirdre Byrne, MD

Watch the video below, from tonight's Republican National Convention, and send Sister Deirdre Byrne's strong words to all friends and family. Catholics have no choice but to agree with her, and vote accordingly:

Transcript: 

 Good evening. I am Sister Dede Byrne, and I belong to the Community of the Little Workers of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Last Fourth of July, I was honored to be one of the president's guests at his Salute to America celebration. I must confess that I recently prayed while in chapel, begging God to allow me to be a voice, an instrument for human life. And now here I am, speaking at the Republican National Convention. I guess you’d better be careful what you pray for. My journey to religious life was not a traditional route, if there is such a thing. In 1978, as a medical school student at Georgetown University, I joined the Army to help pay for my tuition, and ended up devoting 29 years to the military, serving as a doctor and a surgeon in places like Afghanistan and Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. After much prayer and contemplation, I entered my religious order in 2002, working to serve the poor and the sick in Haiti, Sudan, Kenya, Iraq and in Washington, D.C. Humility is at the foundation of our order, which makes it very difficult to talk about myself. But I can speak about my experience working for those fleeing war-torn and impoverished countries all around the world. Those refugees all share a common experience. They have all been marginalized, viewed as insignificant, powerless and voiceless. And while we tend to think of the marginalized as living beyond our borders, the truth is the largest marginalized group in the world can be found here in the United States. They are the unborn. As Christians, we first met Jesus as a stirring embryo in the womb of an unwed mother and saw him born nine months later in the poverty of the cave. It is no coincidence that Jesus stood up for what was just and was ultimately crucified because what he said was not politically correct or fashionable. As followers of Christ, we are called to stand up for life against the politically correct or fashionable of today. We must fight against a legislative agenda that supports and even celebrates destroying life in the womb. Keep in mind, the laws we create define how we see our humanity. We must ask ourselves: What we are saying when we go into a womb and snuff out an innocent, powerless, voiceless life? As a physician, I can say without hesitation: Life begins at conception. While what I have to say may be difficult for some to hear, I am saying it because I am not just pro-life, I am pro-eternal life. I want all of us to end up in heaven together someday. Which brings me to why I am here today. Donald Trump is the most pro-life president this nation has ever had, defending life at all stages. His belief in the sanctity of life transcends politics. President Trump will stand up against Biden-Harris, who are the most anti-life presidential ticket ever, even supporting the horrors of late-term abortion and infanticide. Because of his courage and conviction, President Trump has earned the support of America’s pro-life community. Moreover, he has a nationwide of religious standing behind him. You’ll find us here with our weapon of choice, the rosary. Thank you, Mr. President, we are all praying for you.

 

[Transcript provided by CNA]

Online Walking Pilgrimage to Walsingham: join the LMS for the conversion of England!

Every year since 2010 the Latin Mass Society has had a walking pilgrimage from Ely to Walsingham, which is about 60 miles, for the conversion of England. This year we can't do it because of the Coronavirus: it would have taken place this weekend. Instead we are doing an online version, which you can take part in not only as a participant in live-streamed Masses and devotions, spanning the Shrine of Our Lady of Willesden, Our Lady of the English Margyrs in Cambridge, and the Slipper Chapel in Walsingham, the restored Catholic shrine to Our Lady of Walsingham.

Futhermore, you can join our prayer and penance by actually walking - whereever you are.

How will it work?

750th Anniversary of the Death of Saint Louis King of France

On this day, exactly 750 years ago, in Tunis, North Africa, King Louis IX died to this world and entered heaven.

His instructions to his son, Philip, as he neared death were to become his last testament.

"Fair son, the first thing I would teach thee is to set thine heart to love God; for unless he love God none can be saved. Keep thyself from doing aught that is displeasing to God, that is to say, from mortal sin. Contrariwise thou shouldst suffer every manner of torment rather than commit a mortal sin.

Jesus Christ: the “Great Absence” in today’s Church

 “Today, Pastors and the entire people of God need to return to a correct order of priorities: to begin with, by shouting from the rooftops the first and most important of these priorities: the Incarnation of Jesus Christ.”

by Gianfranco Amato

President, Jurists for Life

La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana

August 21, 2020

Every day, it seems like ‘a great absence’ is making itself felt inside the Church: Our Lord Jesus Christ. We talk about everything except Him. In official discourses, prolusions, interventions and now even in documents, every reference to the Son of God seems to have disappeared. The idea that there can be a Christianity without Christ is making increasing headway in a creeping manner. For that matter “the Powers that be” are fond of a religion that attends to the poor, the needy, the diverse, immigrants, social justice, respect for the environment and peace, but which eclipses the troublesome figure of Christ – the only Truth – with all the ensuing weaponry of the precepts, dogmas, principles values and ideals of this Truth.  This is why in the ecclesiastical world we keep hearing authoritative voices going on about everything except the Unicum necessarium . But wasn’t it the mission of the Church to “proclaim the Kingdom of God and Christ and establish it among the peoples”  as it would seem No. 565 of the Catechism indicates?