RORATE CÆLI

Saint John Fisher, pray for us - "I die for the Faith of the Holy Catholic Church"

After the lieutenant of the Tower had received the writ for his execution, because it was then very late, and the prisoner asleep, he was loath to dis-ease him from his rest. But in the morning, before five of the clock, he came to him in his chamber, in the Bell-tower, finding him yet asleep in his bed, and waking him, told him, he was come to him on a message from the king, to signify unto him, that his pleasure was he should suffer death that forenoon. "Well," quoth the bishop, "if this be your errand, you bring me no great news; for I have looked a long time for this message, and I must humbly thank his Majesty, that it pleaseth him to rid me from all this worldly business. Yet let me by your patience sleep an hour or two; for I have slept very ill this night, not for any fear of death, I thank God, but by reason of my great infirmity and weakness."

New Book from Angelico Press: Noble Beauty, Transcendent Holiness: Why the Modern Age Needs the Mass of Ages

I am pleased to announce the publication of my new book with Angelico, now available on Amazon.

(The publisher's announcement:)

THE TRADITIONAL LITURGY OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH is a highly formal ritual unfolding in layers of elaborate gesture, rich symbolism, whispered Latin, and ancient plainchants. “Experts” after the Second Vatican Council were convinced that such a ritual was irrelevant to “modern man.” To the shock of some, the delight of many, and the surprise of everyone, the old Latin Mass (and much that went along with it) has tenaciously survived during the past half-century and become an increasingly familiar feature in the Catholic landscape. What are the reasons for this revival, especially among the young? And why is this development so important for the renewal of Catholicism?

Peter Kwasniewski offers a lively account of the noble beauty and transcendent holiness of the traditional Roman liturgy, which humbles us before the mystery of God, stirs us with its pageantry, carries us into sacred silence, and bears us to a world of invisible realities. He contrasts this priceless treasure with the rationalistic reforms of the sixties, which yielded a Catholic liturgy severed from its own history, inadequate to its theological essence, unequal to its ascetical-mystical purpose, and estranged from its cultural inheritance. His conclusion: if there is to be a new springtime in the Church, the widespread restoration of the traditional liturgical rites will be at the heart of it.

De Mattei: The Scandal of Silence

By Roberto de Mattei

June 20, 2017

The four Cardinals, authors of the “dubia” concerning Amoris Laetitia, have made public through Sandro Magister’s blog a request for an audience presented by Cardinal Carlo Caffarra to the Pope last April 25^th, but just like the “dubia” it has received no response. The deliberate silence of Pope Francis – who receives a good deal less relevant personalities at Santa Marta to discuss issues of a good deal less importance for the life of the Church – is the reason for the publication of the document.

In this filial request for an audience, the four Cardinals (Brandmüller, Burke, Caffarra e Meisner) reveal that they had wanted to explain the reasons for their “dubia” to the Pontiff and elucidate the situation of grave confusion and disorientation facing the Church, with particular concern for parish priests, “in primis” shepherds of souls.

It is a well-known account. Sister Marie Bernarde (Bernadette) Soubirous is in the convent of the Sisters of Charity in Nevers, it is 1870, war is raging throughout northern France as the Prussian-led German armies march towards Paris. The first printed version of the account,* published while she was still living, is the following. A visitor came to Bernadette at that time and made her the following questions:

- Did you receive, in the grotto of Lourdes, or after then, any revelations related to the future and fate of France? Did not the Blessed Virgin deliver any warning for France, any threats?

- No

- The Prussians are at our gates; does that not cause you any fear?

- No.

- There is thus nothing to fear?

- I only fear bad Catholics.

- You do not fear anything else?

- No, nothing else.

Words of great wisdom from the Saint.

The true enemies of the Church, those who can cause Catholics great harm and peril of damnation, are those who are within, the "bad Catholics" Saint Bernadette feared so much. And they are more dangerous the more powerful they are, the higher in the Hierarchy they are, and the more empowered they feel, their fury, deception and bold vulgarity unleashed.

_______________________

* Edmond Lafond, La Salette, Lourdes, Pontmain: voyage d'un croyant, Paris, 1872, p. 238.

New Pontifical Academy of Life Appointee Supports Euthanasia by Starvation

An ethics study group for the Italian Jesuit magazine Aggiornamenti Sociali, headed by Fr. Maurizio Chiodi, a newly appointed member of the Pontifical Academy for Life and a theologian of the Northern Italian Theological Faculty of Milan, has joined Italian euthanasia activists in supporting a bill that would legalize physician assisted suicide and/or euthanasia in certain cases. The bill has already been approved by the House and is now before the Italian Senate.

Fr. Chiodi's study group cites "proportionalism" to argue that terminally ill cancer patients and those in a persistent vegetative state (like Terri Schaivo - pictured here) should have a legal right to refuse food and water, or to create advanced healthcare directives for such acts of euthanasia by starvation and dehydration. Fr. Chiodi's group writes:

Conciliar Possession

By Don Denis Puga, FSSPX

Le Chardonnet

June, 2017

Father Denis Puga is the new parish priest at the FSSPX Church of Saint-Nicolas du Chardonnet in Paris, which publishes the newsletter of the same name.

Shortly before undergoing His terrible Passion, Our Lord solemnly warned His disciples: “Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat” (Luke, 22, 31). This warning is also for us today, as the Church, following Her Master, is undergoing a terrible crucifixion. Our Church has been abandoned and betrayed. Our Church has been taken over.

The prudence of a combatant requires that he must never underestimate his adversary. St. Paul tells us that our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the princes of darkness. Our adversary? The Demon himself, the Prince of this world, as Jesus was to point out often with great precision.

We cannot sanctify ourselves outside the present concrete situation of the Holy Catholic Church, the Ark of Salvation which, alone, can lead us safe and sound onto the shores of eternal life.

Now, this Church – we have to acknowledge – is in a catastrophic state, like “a boat leaking water in every side” according to a recent Pope despite the fact the he himself, in his lifetime, contributed in causing many of the leaks.

By Dr. Christopher Malloy

I was recently asked why Thomas is so crucial to theology. I replied by indicating why I love his work so much.

Above all, I love Thomas’s thought because I find so many of his judgments to be considered, grounded, and true. His dexterous precision is coupled with keen attention to things. Thus, his terminology is clear; you can grasp what he is aiming at. Such clarity I used to flee, thinking it meant shallowness. I now think it is limpidity in service of communion, relationship.

However, unlike some logical experts, Thomas attends to things and does so with a profound, searching gaze. Hence, he alights upon essential features and thus achieves lasting insights. A false generalization has exceptions. A profound observation lasts, while admitting of sundry realizations which are not exceptions. Indeed, they can more truly instantiate the insight.

I believe Thomas achieves profound observation. A friend of mine, now a nun, and I both agreed on the following image: Reading Thomas on some problem (free will, e.g.) is like having your gnarly hair combed. Another friend said that after reading Thomas’s observations, one can look at the real with him and say, “That’s what it is, isn’t it?” All those “disputed points,” all those “qualifications”, all that “hair-splitting”: In fact, it is simply a tour of the real. It is Aquinas taking you on a field hike, pointing things out. It is you, watching the real with him, and falling in love with it. It is finding God’s mind in things.

There are still places available at the Dialogos Institute Limbo Colloquium, taking place on 30th June and 1st July in Ramsgate, England. This is a unique opportunity to hear a key, but much neglected, theological topic addressed by competent scholars. The traditional Mass will be available each day, at the shrine of St Augustine of Canterbury (the shrine also has a Missa Cantata on Sunday 2nd July.)

Full cost, including accommodation and meals from 29th June to 2nd July, is £150. Seminarians and other clerical students come for half price. Attendance at talks and discussions only is £15 per day. The last day to register is 20th June.

Visit http://dialogos-institute.org/?colloquium for more information and to register.

Institute of Christ the King -- Priestly Ordinarions 2017

Cardinal Burke will confer the Holy Order of Priesthood on six deacons of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest at their church of Saints Michael and Cajetan in Florence, Tuscany, Italy on July 6, 2017:

Rev. Deacon Scott SMITH

Rev. Deacon Bertrand SIGROS

Rev. Deacon Jean-Guillaume de la CROCHAIS

Rev. Deacon Jonathan FEHRENBACHER

Rev. Deacon Benoît BELIGNÉ

Rev. Deacon Christian MAHLBERG

There will also be eight deacons and five sub-deacons ordained on July 5th by the Most Reverend Guido Pozzo, Titular Archbishop of Bagnoregio and secretary of the Ecclesia Dei commission.

Please keep these young men in your prayers.

[Note - image: 2016 ordinations]

Traditional nuns need help once more -- keep the construction going!

While we try to keep our fundraising appeals here limited, we do have a special place in our hearts for the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles. Finding a more holy -- and traditional -- order of nuns would be a difficult task. And we feel obliged to help, even when they tell us we don't have to, as they did once again. And, as always, this is one time we feel comfortable disobeying!

These novenas are helping to fund the sisters' new church. They've broken ground but the money will run out -- and construction will stop -- by the Fall if we fail to answer their calls for donations.

Their latest Novena of traditional Latin Masses, which go towards the construction, will begin on June 23 in honor of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus for all families and persons, both living and deceased, enrolled in the Novena. You MUST have your names in BEFORE next Friday.

But you should act now -- the sisters need time to mail your enrollment card. If you enroll today or the next couple of days, they'll have plenty of time to send them.

We personally contribute to these wonderful sisters often and ask you to do the same.

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE AND ENROLL IN THE MASSES TODAY

De Mattei: The Plan Of “Reinterpretation” For Humanæ Vitæ

Roberto de Mattei

Corrispondenza Romana

June 14, 2017

It will be Monsignor Gilfredo Marengo, Professor at John Paul II Pontifical Institute, the coordinator of the commission nominated by Pope Francis to “re-interpret” the encyclical Humanæ Vitæ by Paul VI, in the light of Amoris laetitia, on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the former’s promulgation, which falls next year. The initial rumors of the existence of this commission, still secret, reported by Vatican reporter Marco Tosatti, were of a sound source.

We can confirm that there is a commission, made up of Monsignor Pierangelo Sequeri, Head of the John Paul II Pontifical Institute, Professor Philippe Chenaux, Lecturer in Church History at the Lateran Pontifical University and Monsignor Angel Maffeis, Head of the Paul VI Institute in Brescia. The coordinator is Monsignor Gilfredo Marengo, Lecturer in Theological Anthropology at the John Paul II Institute and member of the Steering Committee of the review CVII-Centro Vaticano II Studi e ricerche.

On June 4, the Sicilian Bishop Conference, encompassing the 18 dioceses of the island of Sicily, followed their neighboring bishops in Malta by promulgating pastoral guidelines on Chapter 8 of Amoris Laetitia that authorize Holy Communion for the divorced and civilly remarried without annulment (ie. in a state of public and permanent adultery). The Sicilian guidelines also bear resemblance in their drafting to those of the diocese of Catania. The guidelines significantly admit that Familiaris Consortio required (using the past tense) such couples to practice chastity, but that this requirement has been "expanded" (read: nullified) by Francis in Amoris Laetitia. The guidelines state: "According to the assessment of the confessor and taking into account the good of the penitent, it is possible to absolve and admit [the divorced and civilly remarried] to the Eucharist, even though the confessor knows that it is, for the Church, an objective disorder."

Event: Corpus Christi Mass with Cardinal Burke in Brazil

This was sent to us just today, so here it is: Cardinal Burke will celebrate a Pontifical High Mass for the Feast of Corpus Christi in the city of Belém, state of Pará, in Brazil, the gateway to the Amazon.

Additional information below:

Illegal Immigration: Mayor against Bergoglianism in Rome -- stage set for a huge confrontation

Today, the Mayor of Rome, Virginia Raggi, sent a letter to the Italian Ministry of Internal Affairs to ask for a solution to the immigrant crisis in the City. Considering the unending papal support for the continuous flow of new groups from North Africa and the Middle East into Italy, the stage is certainly set for a great confrontation on the issue.

The following is our translation of a text posted by the Mayor on her Facebook account:

Rome is undergoing a strong migratory pressure. We cannot go on like this. I have sent in the past few days a letter to the Prefect* of Rome to demand of the Ministry of the Interior a moratorium on new arrivals of migrants in the City.

by the Spanish-language partners of Rorate, Adelante la Fe:

This past Sunday at the Parish Church of San Roque, Reconquista, Santa Fe (Argentina), the local bishop, Msgr. Macín, appointed by Pope Francis in 2013, carried out a monumental and sacrilegious scandal that clearly shows what's behind Amoris laetitia.

In this church he organized a solemn Mass, in which he publicly announced that according to the norms sent in a letter more than 6 months ago by Pope Francis, and within the framework of the integration of Christians who are "marginalized" because of their irregular situation of being divorced and remarried or in an irregular situation (the divorced in a new union), after having completed a period of 6 months of meetings on Saturdays called the "path of discernment", it was determined in accordance with what was previously stated (by order of the Pope) TO INCLUDE THEM IN FULL AND SACRAMENTAL COMMUNION, which would happen in the ceremony. At no point was mention made that those people had taken some vow of chastity or of living "as brothers [and sisters]."

by Fr. Richard G. Cipolla
St. Mary's, Norwalk, Conn.

From St Paul’s Epistle to the Romans: “And this hope will not leave us disappointed, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

***

But it seems that something has happened that has never happened before: though we know not just when or how or where.
Men have left GOD not for other gods, they say, but for no god: and this has never happened before.
That men both deny gods and worship gods, profession first Reason,
And then Money, and Power, and what they call Life, or Race, or Dialectic.

It is this passage from T.S. Eliot’s “Choruses from the Rock” that describes the current situation of man in this present age. And Eliot is correct: this has never happened before. Human history is characterized by the awareness of the sacred, however that awareness has taken form. It has always been a given. But something has happened in this time: men have left God not for other gods but for no god. But, the answer swiftly comes: “All the polls show that the great majority of Americans say that they are religious”. The liberal press is fond of trumpeting the rise of professed atheism, but most people would describe themselves as religious in some way. But because people say that they in some sense believe in God, does not mean that for all practical purposes this belief is not in fact a form of atheism, for if you go on to questions them about this god and their relationship to this god, you discover, and this is true about many religious people who even attend church, that this god is a mental, subjective construct who plays no role in their lives. For this is a god who has to fit into the post- modern way of looking at things. And what is this way of looking at things?

Kwasniewski and Lamont on the Roman Rite — Double Lecture at St. Mary's, Norwalk, on Tuesday, June 27

As we near the tenth anniversary of the promulgation of Summorum Pontificum, the Society of St. Hugh of Cluny is pleased to announce a special event at St. Mary's Church in Norwalk, Connecticut, on Tuesday, June 27, starting a 5:30 pm, namely, traditional Vespers, a lecture by me and a lecture by Dr. John Lamont, a Q&A period, and a reception with refreshments.

In addition, Angelico Press will be on hand for the launch of my new book: Noble Beauty, Transcendent Holiness: Why the Modern Age Needs the Mass of Ages. Copies will be available for purchase at a 20% discount. I'm looking forward to meeting the attendees and will be happy to sign or inscribe a book for anyone interested.

Vatican Police State: Pope wants to know where each Cardinal is at all times

It's funny how this Pope only wants "tradition" (with a very, very small "t") when it suits his purposes.

This letter sent by the Dean of the College of Cardinals to the "Resident" Cardinals, that is, those who reside in Rome, was revealed today by the Rome correspondent of The Wall Street Journal, Francis X. Rocca:

DEAN OF THE COLLEGE OF CARDINALS

From the Vatican, May 31, 2017

N. 122/2017

Your Eminence,

A noble tradition has always led the Fellow Cardinals residing "in Urbe" to inform the Holy Father, by way of the Secretariat of State, the period of their absence from Rome and the address of their stay.

Pope Francis has recently requested of the Dean of the Cardinalatial College to fraternally remind each single Cardinal the opportunity of keeping that practice, even more so in the case of an extended absence from Rome.

Event: Solemn Mass for the Sacred Heart in Brooklyn

On Friday, June 23rd at 7:00, Holy Name of Jesus Church in Brooklyn will be celebrating the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus with a Solemn High Mass.

Additional information below:

De Mattei's double article: "Russia will be Catholic"

Roberto de Mattei

Corrispondenza Romana

May 31 & June 7, 2017

“Russia will be Catholic” is the inscription on the tomb of Father Gregorio Agostino Maria Šuvalov, buried in Montparnasse cemetery in Paris. The Russian Barnabite sacrificed his life for this cause (Antonio Maria Gentili. I Barnabiti, Padre Barnabiti Rome 2012, pp.. 395-403).

Count Grigorij Petrovič Šuvalov was born in St. Petersburg on October 25th 1804 of an old and noble family. One of his uncles, a general in the army, was in charge of accompanying the defeated Napoleon to the Isle of Elba and another of his ancestors had founded Moscow University. He studied in St Petersburg’s Jesuit College from 1808 to 1817, until the Jesuits were expelled from Russia and he continued his studies first in Switzerland, then in Pisa, where he mastered the Italian language. He was however, influenced by the prevailing materialism and nihilism in the liberal circles which he frequented at that time. Nominated by Czar Alexander I officer of the Hussar Guards at the age of 20, in 1824, he married Sofia Soltikov, a profoundly religious woman, Orthodox, but “Catholic in heart and soul”, who would die in Venice in 1841. With her he would have 2 children: Peter and Elena.

Monsignor Joseph Clifford Fenton (1906–1969), a professor of fundamental and dogmatic theology at the Catholic University of America and editor of the American Ecclesiastical Review, was one of the twentieth century’s foremost theologians. His work is particularly notable for its total fidelity to sound Catholic principles: inerrant Sacred Scripture, apostolic and ecclesiastical Tradition, and the consistent Roman Magisterium.

His 1939 text The Theology of Prayer has been re-published in a beautiful newly typeset and designed edition from Cluny Media. (Cluny last year released a collection of Monsignor Fenton’s essays, edited by Christian D. Washburn, which was reviewed here on Rorate Caeli by Christopher Malloy).

The Theology of Prayer distills the teachings of Thomas Aquinas, Thomas a Vallgornera, and Joseph a Spiritu Sancto, among other great scholastic theologians, on the nature of Christian prayer. The writings of those theologians hold such treasures on praying effectively that their loss would be a tragedy for the people of God. In these pages, Monsignor Fenton clearly and concisely presents to the contemporary reader the scholastics’ works and their penetrating insights into Sacred Scripture and Catholic Tradition. With The Theology of Prayer, Fenton revitalizes the work of those theologians, preserving their insights and presenting plainly what God has revealed about prayer and how the Church has preserved and expounded that revelation for the good and the salvation of all who believe.

Mass in the main church of the Heralds of the Gospel, near Sao Paulo, Brazil

The latest "Franciscan Intervention in a Conservative Religious Institute", revealed by Marco Tosatti, in Nuova Bussola:

The Congregation for Religious is to begin an apostolic visit regarding an international association of faithful, the Heralds of the Hospel, the first born in the Third Millenium, and that has had an enormous growth in the past few years. According to confidential internal sources of the Congregation, presided by Brazilian Cardinal Joao Braz de Avis, and whose Secretary is Spanish Franciscan Jose Rodriguez Carballo, the formation of a commission composed by a bishop, a sister, and a canon lawyer to inquire into the Heralds of the Gospel is imminent. The motivations for this initiative are unknown. The founder [of the Heralds] is Monsignor Joao Scogamiglio Cla Dias; and the fact that he is an admirer of Plinio Correa de Oliveira, the great figure of Brazilian Traditional Catholicism, who died in 1995, is already a reason for suspicion for the current Vatican administration. [Source, in Italian]

First, we must make two observations.

The Marriage Crisis in the Catholic Church -
The Church and Asmodeus, by Don Pietro Leone (REVISED EDITION)

After receiving a detailed critique of the section on Theology of the Body in the essay below, the author has seen fit to clarify certain parts of that section as well as that on Amoris Laetitia. There follows the corrected and revised version of the essay by Fr. Pietro Leone, a traditional priest in Italy.

The booklet is available below as a 29-page PDF file:

Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of Summorum: FULL PROGRAM OF SUMMORUM ROME PILGRIMAGE 2017

SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM 2017: GENERAL PROGRAMME

September 14-17, 2017

Thursday, 14 September 2017

9:00 - 18:00 Fifth Annual Colloquium on Summorum Pontificum: “A Renewed Youthfulness for the Whole Church” (see detailed programme below), Angelicum University

18:30 Vespers for the Exaltation of the Holy Cross celebrated by His Excellency, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, Basilica di San Marco Evangelista al Campidoglio (Piazza Venezia)

Friday, 15 September 2017

Free morning for personal devotions and private visits

16:00 Way of the Cross (Colosseum area) led by the Institute of the Good Shepherd

19:00 Solemn Mass celebrated by Rev. Mons. Gilles Wach, Superior General of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, Basilica di Santa Maria Sopra Minerva

Saturday, 16 September 2017

9:00 Eucharistic Adoration, Chiesa di Santa Maria in Vallicella (Chiesa Nuova)

9:45 Solemn Procession through the streets of Rome led by His Excellency, Archbishop Guido Pozzo

11:00 Pontifical Mass celebrated by His Eminence, Carlo Cardinal Caffara, St. Peter’s Basilica, with choir directed by maestro Aurelio Porfiri

13:30 Buffet lunch for clergy, sponsored by Paix Liturgique and the FIUV (registration required)

Free afternoon for personal devotions and private visits

Sunday, 17 September 2017

11:00 Solemn Mass according to the Dominican Rite, celebrated by Fr. Dominique Marie de Saint-Laumer, Prior of the Fraternity of St. Vincent Ferrer, Chiesa di Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini

Please do note that detailed information (registration, accommodation, etc.) can be found form the programme page on our official website:

https://www.summorumpontificum2017.org/en/programma/

"Husbands, love your wives, as Christ also loved the Church, and delivered Himself up for it": A note on 'submission'

The topic of a wife's submission to her husband is an issue that we hear about often, and one that is too long, and too in-depth, for this blogger to go into today. However, quickly, I want to point out to husbands, as Father's Day is approaching, that a wife's submission is impossible without the husband's love for her: The same love that Christ has for His Church. And that a husband's love cannot be divorced from his actions.

A few book suggestions will follow at the end of this post, so please click the "read more" at the bottom. But first, a nice passage from "Father-hood and Family" Volume 3, this section written by Ed Willock in 1952:

"My anti-feminist leanings should not be construed as a lack of respect for the personal dignity of the wife and mother. Quite the contrary. When men once again become heads of their home, the dignity of wifeliness and motherhood will equal if not surpass the current secular adulation of the career woman. In the evening after the children are bedded is the most likely time for the man and wife to sit together and talk about their mutual partnership. A few words may be all that is needed to renew common enthusiam for the daily grind. When God divided the species into two and assigned the woman to be the helpmate of the man, He didn't merely give the man an extra pair of hands but another mind and loving heart. It is more than likely that a man and wife can get better advice on intimate problems of conduct from one another than from any other source. Grace and love combine to quicken the perceptions of each partner so they can be of inestimable help to one another. It should be borne in mind that all the graces of Matrimony build upon the mutual consent of each partner. Each had to say, 'I will!' before the Sacrament was fulfilled, and this 'I will!' must be repeated continuously if the graces are to become actual in their works. In order for the man to be a proper head of the family, his wife must continuously consent to it. He cannot effectively force her to consent. On the other hand, the man must consent to her being his helper or else she cannot truly be helpful. If he seeks advice for living from some other sources, looking down upon her suggestions, then he is cutting himself off from the most likely source of wisdom."

Too often, some traditionalist husbands get a warped, even dangerous view of submission. Submission is many things. It is, however, never an excuse to verbally, psychologically or, especially, physically abuse a wife. Never! And any traditional man who is committing these grave sins, certainly not loving their wives as Christ so loved His Church, should stop immediately. Your souls, and possibly even your freedom, are in peril.

Announcing the Establishment of a New Traditional Religious Order for Women: Filiae Laboris Mariae

(Rorate congratulates this community on their auspicious beginnings with a Solemn High Mass, and asks its readers to help spread the word among young ladies who may be searching for a traditional religious order with an active apostolate.)

ON JUNE 9th, 2017, with the permission of the local Ordinary, His Excellency Bishop James Vann Johnston, Jr., a new semi-contemplative traditional community of religious sisters will begin ad experimentum in the Diocese of Kansas City-Saint Joseph. The beginning of the community and the entrance of the first two postulants will be celebrated with a Solemn High Mass in honor of Our Lady, Mother of Divine Grace, at Saint Mary’s Parish at Independence, MO, at 12:00 Noon.

The charism of the Filiae Laboris Mariae is to assist the Blessed Virgin Mary in her apostolic mission of bringing souls to Christ. Labor Mariae carries out its apostolic mission especially through prayer, above all liturgical prayer, and by making known the truth, goodness, and beauty of life in Jesus Christ in His Holy Church through works of the apostolate. The charism finds expression in three intimately connected ways or “labors,” because the sanctification of God’s people is Our Lady’s labor; it is her work, the work of the one who, clothed with the sun and crowned with twelve stars, still wails aloud as she labors to give birth (cf. Rev. 12:1-1). The threefold labor through which the members of Labor Mariae participate in Our Lady’s apostolic mission is:

The 2017 Norcia Summer Theology Program of the Albertus Magnus Center for Scholastic Studies, "Divine Power in a Hidden Way," dedicated to the theology of the sacraments, will be starting up in a month's time: July 2-14. We still have room for last-minute applications, so if you've been tottering on the edge about coming, now's the time to make the final decision. A full description of the program and practical details may be found at the above link.

The syllabus for the seminars will be as follows (each seminar to be based on a reading from St. Thomas Aquinas's Commentary on the Sentences IV):

Cardinal Cupich has written the forward to a new English translation of Cardinal Coccopalmerio's booklet "A Commentary on Chapter Eight of Amoris Laetitia", previously published here on Rorate in full in April.

In his endorsement of Coccopalmerio's book-long defense of adultery for the divorced and civilly remarried, Cupich cites an article by Rocco Buttiglione calling Amoris Laetitia a "development of doctrine and what it means for Popes to exercise their divinely granted Petrine power of loosening and binding in different ways and in different historical circumstances."

Cupich suggests Francis' new teaching on sex and the sacraments marks "new opportunities to retrieve certain truths that have become dormant," namely about the Church's teaching on conscience and mitigating circumstances, such that "when it comes to dealing with certain so-called irregular situations, what is required is a pastoral approach that takes into consideration both the general and the individual aspects of a person's life."

Christ in Art: Caravaggio and the Noble Normalcy of the Risen Christ -- by Maureen Mullarkey

Our Gospels tell us very little of the post-Passion appearances of Jesus. In compensation for the dearth of anecdote, artists have seized that encounter on the road to Emmaus. A popular motif for centuries, it challenges artists to picture a revelation at once quotidian and sublime. Few have met that challenge with the power and subtlety of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio.

Christians profess faith in Jesus as True God and True Man, his humanity and divinity indivisible. That faithful unity loses something of its purity in the effort of depiction. It is no easy thing for Western verisimilitude to suggest “the radiance of the glory of God,” as Paul states in Hebrews 1:3, without tilting the Incarnate Word into something dewy and ethereal, making human flesh a costume rather than—Paul again—“the exact imprint of his nature.” Caravaggio’s Supper at Emmaus reminds us that the resurrected Christ and the Galilean man are one.

Caravaggio. Supper at Emmaus (1601).

Caravaggio painted two renditions of the theme. The first (1601, above) hangs in the National Gallery, London. The second, painted five years later, is in the Brera, Milan. Completed while he was on the lam from Rome for having murdered a well-known pimp, the 1606 variation (below) is subdued. Gestures are restrained, color is understated, the table cleared of all but bread and wine, elements of the Eucharist. Atmosphere is darksome, the Christ figure more conventional. Its greater solemnity brings Caravaggio’s unflinching realism—not customary at the time—within the orbit of traditional patterns of depiction.

Yet it is the earlier work that conveys the drama of that instant of recognition with greater potency. And particular earthiness.

We invent names to represent evil, malice, or idiocy. Such as "devil". Or "Jesuit Superior General".

From Spanish daily El Mundo, via the Catholic Herald:

In an interview with Spanish newspaper El Mundo, Fr Arturo Sosa said: “Christians believe that we are made in the image and likeness of God, and God is free, but He always chooses to do good because He is all goodness.

“We have formed symbolic figures such as the devil to express evil. Social conditioning can also represent this figure, since there are people who act [in an evil way] because they are in an environment where it is difficult to act to the contrary.”

(Source)

How long till the Society of Jesus change their name to "Society of Satan"? Far better to use the name of a merely "symbolic" figure than to continuously offend the Most Holy Name of God Incarnate, right?...

Reminder: Rorate Caeli Purgatorial Society

This is our monthly reminder to please enroll Souls of the Rorate Caeli Purgatorial Society. We now stand at 79 priests saying weekly or monthly traditional Latin Masses for the Souls.

** Click here to download a "fillable" PDF Mass Card to give to the loved ones of the Souls you enroll. It's free for anyone to use. **

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 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.

June of the Sacred Heart - Ego dilecto meo, et dilectus meus mihi

J.S.Bach Mein Freund ist mein (Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme - BWV 140)

_________________________

Here is to be found one of the deeper aspects of the dogma of the Communion of Saints. The closer one of these privileged souls is to God, the author and source of every good which can adorn and rejoice souls, the greater is her beneficent action on those around. What graces she can demand from the Spouse, wresting them from Him for the whole Church! How powerfully she can co-operate in the conversion of sinners, the perseverance of the just, the salvation of those agonising, the entrance of the holy and suffering souls into the bliss of heaven! What a wonderful fruitfulness is hers! The fecundity of nature is limited; hers is unlimited, it is as a radiance emanating from her soul; those who approach her are embalmed "in the good odour of Christ;" there is, as it were, a divine virtue which goes out from her to touch souls, obtain their pardon, console, strengthen, raise, tranquillise, gladden, and make them show forth the glory of her Spouse.

The last day
of the merry month of May

Josquin des Prez

Benedicta es Caelorum Regina

Rogamus te, Domina nostra, Mater Dei inclita,

super choros angelorum exaltata, ut cordis nostri vas caelestis gratiae impleas, auro sapientiae effulgere facias, tuae virtutis potentia consolides, lapide virtutum pretioso adornes, oleum misericordiae tuae, tu oliva benedicta, super nos effundas, quo peccatorum nostrorum multitudinem operias, qua ad caelestis gloriae altitudinem sublevari et cum beatis beatificari mereamur, praestante Iesu Christo, Filio tuo, qui te hodierna die super choros angelorum exaltavit, diademate regni coronavit et in solio aeterni luminis collocavit, cui est honor et gloria per aeterna saecula.

Dicat omnis Ecclesia: Amen. Alleluia.

S. Antonius Patav.

Sermo in Assumptione B.M.V.

The Era of Tenderness

Strepsiades: First tell me, I beseech thee, what thou art doing?

Socrates: Walking in the air and speculating on the sun. -- Aristophanes, The Clouds

A work of fiction, by Fr. René Tiepolino (nom de plume)

The Pope inaugurated the Era of Tenderness yesterday by knocking out a traditionalist priest in St. Peter’s Square. Anna Maria Giraffa reports: ‘We were passing the Papal balcony on a pilgrimage, when the window was torn open and the Holy Father flung out a ‘fresh air’ canister in our direction, felling don Massimo like a tree. My mother, quick-thinking as ever despite her 97 years, gave his Reverence a quick squirt with the contents, without any visible effects. Nuns watching from a near-by convent dragged him inside and laid him to rest in the front parlour. The infirmarian Suor Tachipirina, after administering certain secret herbal remedies, later reported his condition as ‘stable’.

Webnews: It seems that the Era of Tenderness got off to a rather shaky start.

Mgr. Psittacus (President of the Vatican Spin Committee): Not at all. The gesture was of a strictly ecological nature. The Pontiff, while cleaning out a guest cloakroom in the Papal apartments for a gaggle of Moslem terrorists, as a gesture of ‘humility and ambition’ as he later confided to a “Fran’s Fans” journalist, chanced upon the offending article in a corner. As the Holy Father indelibly declared in his recent encyclical on fly-sprays and fly-swats: these canisters damage the ozone. By disposing of the can with such violence, he was teaching us all to do likewise.

(UPDATED) TLM training for priests and transitional deacons in Rehoboth Beach

UPDATE: A benefactor has come forward to offer help with expenses for men interested in this TLM training. Contact Fr. Cusick to inquire about having your airfare or other travel expenses covered:

Fr. Cusick saying Mass at his home parish in Maryland.

Priests and transitional deacons in good standing are invited to take part in training to offer the low traditional Latin Mass in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, from September 4-8, 2017. The house the training will take place in is on an ocean block. Meals on your own but there is a kitchen available. Limit 13 priests or transitional deacons. Low Mass celebrated mornings daily followed by a period of training. Email Father Kevin Cusick to reserve a spot or for more information at mcitl.blogspot.com@gmail.com.

FSSP to gain major apostolate

Saint Alphonsus church in Baltimore is one of the gems of the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. A magnificent shrine where Saint John Neumann and Blessed Francis Seelos were once pastors, it has been home to the revived traditional Latin Mass since 1992.

Today it has been announced that the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter will administer the parish, with Father Joel Kiefer, FSSP, to be installed as pastor.

First Mass of Father James Smith, FSSP

It is truly amazing to witness firsthand how much devotion, planning and organization goes into the ordination of seven FSSP priests in Nebraska, followed by their first Masses in the region. Here is one example -- the first Mass of the newly-ordained Father James M. Smith, FSSP, a longtime friend of this writer.

Father Smith, assisted by numerous priests and seminarians, offered a Solemn High Mass on 27 May 2017, for the feast of Saint Bede. The church, two hours south of the Fraternity seminary, is the beautiful Saint Mary's in Saint Benedict, Kansas. Rorate snapped a photo for readers to enjoy:

Ordination of FSSP priests

Rorate is happy to be in the U.S. state of Nebraska today for the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter's priestly ordinations. The three-hour solemn pontifical Mass was offered by the Most Reverend Terrence Prendergast of the Archdiocese of Ottawa, Canada.

Congratulations to Fathers James Smith, Joseph Favole-Mihm, Caleb Kick, Jonathan Heinricy, Adrian Debow, Anthony Dorsa and Matthew Vierno.

All hail Poland!
- Son of Prime-Minister to celebrate his First Traditional Mass on June 4

UPDATE: Some great pics of the new priest are now available here.

The son of the Polish Prime-Minister, Mrs. Beata Szydło, will be ordained to the Holy Priesthood of the Catholic Church tomorrow, May 27.

Father Tymoteusz Szydło, a diocesan priest, will celebrate his first Traditional Mass (with indulgences attached to it) in the Church of the Holy Cross in Krakow, served by the Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP) in Poland, on the Feast of Pentecost (Sunday, June 4, 2017), at 7:15 pm.

Congratulations to Prime-Minister Szydło, her husband, the new Priest, his extended family, and to all of Blessed Poland: beatus populus cuius Dominus Deus eius!

[Source: FSSP Poland; tip: Twitter follower Sarmaticus.]

Fontgombault Sermon for the Ascension

Sermon for the Feast of the Ascension

Right Reverend Dom Jean Pateau

Abbot of Our Lady of Fontgombault

Fontgombault, May 25, 2017

The abbey in late spring

It is expedient to you that I go. (John 16:7)

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

My dearly beloved Sons,

The feast of the Ascension of the Lord is a feast of faith and joy. St. Mark tells us that before He sent His apostles to preach the Gospel throughout the world, and was taken up into heaven, Jesus rebuked them for their lack of faith and hardness of heart, for they had not believed in His resurrection.

Sermon for the Fifth Sunday after Easter - Love and Friendship

by Fr. Richard G. Cipolla

You are my friends if you do what I have commanded you to do. Love one another.
(John 15:14)

For me those chapters of the gospel of St John that we call the Farewell Discourse, parts of which are read before Pentecost, are remarkable in their teaching about love with respect to Christ, and for me, defines what friendship really means. We live in an age in which the word friend has become debased. In the world of Facebook the word friend has become a verb: to friend someone, to establish a cyberworld relationship that has nothing to do with friendship as classically conceived and deepened in Christian thought, ultimately grounded in the love between two persons that is a gift from God and that finds its completion in the person of Jesus Christ.

When I taught the advanced Latin class in my former life as a Latin teacher, a vocation graced in so many ways, I always chose Cicero’s treatise on friendship as one of the works we read. Cicero’s difficult and elevated style and syntax is a challenge for even the brightest students, but invariably De Amicitia, (On Friendship), and Augustine’s Confessions were the two works that the students seemed most interested in. This is how Cicero defines friendship: “Friendship is agreement in things human and divine, with good will and charity”. Based on that definition of friendship he claims that friendship is the greatest gift of the gods to man. And it is that definition of friendship, quite good in itself, that became the basis of the Christian understanding on friendship, from St. Augustine to the medieval mystics to St. Francis DeSales and St Jeanne de Chantal to St. John of the Cross to Pope Benedict XVI.

Ratzinger to Fumone. Burke to Campo De' Fiori. Someone is 'getting bent out of shape'

By Marco Tosatti

May 20, 2017

Reading three news articles yesterday makes me think that someone is really “getting bent out of shape” and we are entering now a perilous phase of decline: those who don’t agree with the boss – off with their heads! An unprecedented populist degeneration in the life of the modern Church. I sincerely hope I’m wrong: I’m not just saying this, I really hope so. However we have signs that are anything but comforting.

The crux of the matter, it seems to me, is once again the Pope’s non-response (a year has now gone by) to the five questions asked by the four Cardinals on the controversial points of the Apostolic Exhortation, Amoris Laetitia. Questions made in a spirit of obedience, following the classical procedure of the Church, i.e. asking the Pontiff and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for a clarification. Two months after the questions had been made, when the Cardinals discovered that the Pontiff had no intention of responding, they made the questions public. These regard everyone and in substance can be reduced to one only: is it licit, in mortal sin and with no change to one’s life habits, to receive Holy Communion?

We don’t know the reason for the Pope’s non-response. We seem to recall that a certain Jesuit close to him had said that the reason was the fact that the questions were of an ideological nature. Forgive me, but this sounds a bit weak. It is the task of authorities to clarify their thoughts: and in doing so it will make clear whether a question is useless or has some point. In the Church, especially, is an authority which doesn’t respond fulfilling its duties?

Stacking the Deck: Francis creates 5 new Cardinals

He announced it today, the consistory will be on June 28. The deck is getting stacked:

They are Archbishop Omella of Barcelona, Spain; Bishop Arborelius of Stockholm, Sweden; Archbishop Zerbo, of Bamako, Mali; Apostolic Vicar Bp. Ling, of Pakse, Laos; and, bizarrely enough, from the Archdiocese of San Salvador, El Salvador, it's Auxiliary Bishop, Bp. Rosa Chavez (the Archbishop, named by Benedict XVI in 2008, is not a Cardinal).

Pope Francis condemns Catholic "Fanatics" about doctrinal clarity

Below are excerpts from Pope Francis' Homily at Casa Santa Marta on Friday, May 19, 2017, on the same day as the speeches of the dubia signatories, Cardinal Burke and Cardinal Caffarra, at the Rome Life Forum. Is this Pope Francis' answer to the 'dubia' of the four cardinals?:

“So we are faced with two groups of people. The group of the apostles who want to discuss the problem, and the others who go and create problems. They divide, they divide the Church, they say that what the Apostles preached is not what Jesus said, that it is not the truth.”

"There were many [councils], up until Vatican II, which clarified doctrine: for example, when we recite the Creed, it is the result of councils that have defined doctrine… It is a duty of the Church to clarify doctrine so that what Jesus said in the Gospels is better understood, what is the Spirit of the Gospels…. "

"But there were always those people who, without any commission, go about disturbing the Christian community with speeches that upset souls: "Eh, no, someone who says that is a heretic, you can’t say this, or that; this is the doctrine of the Church.’ And they are fanatics about things that are not clear, such as these fanatics who go about there, sowing discord in order to divide the Christian community. And this is the problem: when the doctrine of the Church, that which comes from the Gospel, that which the Holy Spirit inspires – because Jesus said, 'He will teach us and remind you of all that I have taught’ – that doctrine becomes an ideology. And this is the great error of these people."

For the record: Rome has given SSPX right to ordain priests without permission of local ordinary

It started with absolution and moved recently to marriage. Now Pope Francis has given the three bishops of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) the right to ordain priests without the permission of the local ordinary.

Starting at the 15:25 mark in the video below, His Excellency Bishop Bernard Fellay, states: "Last year, I received a letter from Rome, telling me you can freely ordain your priests without the permission of the local ordinary. So if I can freely ordain that means the ordination is recognized by the Church not just as valid but in order. ... So this is one more step in this acceptance that we are, let me call it, 'normal Catholics.'"

Summorum Pontificum Pilgrimage - September 2017 - Important Information

14-17 September 2017

Rome awaits the People of Summorum Pontificum

The complete program of the Roman ceremonies for the 10th anniversary of the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum will be announced on 31 May.

In the meantime, the organizers have asked us to remind interested groups that they may contact Convenire Pilgrimages to organize their stay in Rome.