SAMIZDAT - A Message to our Brazilian Followers Under Attack in their Freedom of Expression and Speech

 

As of tonight, the leftist judicial dictatorship currently in charge of the most populous Catholic nation on earth, Brazil, has banned the access to Twitter (X), which should be implemented in the next few days. What is worse, the judicial tyrant has also determined a complete ban on VPN access, which will inevitably affect ALL users of all applications.

We are used to the practice of Samizdat in our blog, so this is a special message to our our Brazilian readers and followers: 

YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

 

We place our blog, https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com, and our Twitter profile, @RorateCaeli , at your disposal for all Catholic-related content (including pictures, videos, articles, events, etc) you wish the world to know.

Please, send all items to newcatholic@gmail.com

 

Catholics and the U.S. Presidential Elections: Donald Trump clearly is the choice from a Catholic perspective - by Roberto de Mattei

 

There is a Catholic doctrine of the lesser evil that can be summarized in these terms: 

1. One can never positively and directly commit even the slightest evil; 

 

2. to avoid a greater evil, one may tolerate a lesser evil committed by others, provided one does not approve of it as such and remembers the existence of a greater good to strive for. 

This doctrine is fundamental for orientation in a confused age in which the notion of the principle has been lost: “Bonum ex integra causa, malum ex quocumque defectu”(St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae I-IIae, q. 18, a. 4 ad 3).

New Memoir Recalls Conciliar Turmoil in Parishes and Families

Downside Abbey, where many events narrated in Two Families took place

Those who move in traditional circles in the UK tell me that “everyone has heard of the Bevans.” They are a large and highly musical clan whose members have been singing for decades in liturgies and concerts. Os Justi Press is proud to have just released Joseph Bevan’s book Two Families: A Memoir of English Life During and After the Council.

In running through his eventful life, Bevan vividly describes what the practice of Catholicism was like before, during, and after the Council: he shows the strengths and weaknesses of the preconciliar routine, the confusion unleashed in the 1960s, the collapse of the liturgy and especially of sacred music “in real time,” as it was unfolding.

Public Protest Against Panama City's Interreligious Syncretistic Meeting on Feast of the Assumption

August 16, 2024
Metropolitan Archdiocese of the Panama City
Archbishop José Domingo Ulloa Mendieta
E. S. D.

Dear Metropolitan Archdiocese of Panama City,

On August 15, every year and since time immemorial, the Solemnity of Our Lady in her glorious Assumption is celebrated, in fact the city was founded under the name of Our Lady of the Assumption of Panama on August 15, 1519. This Solemnity demonstrates the crowning success of Mary Most Holy in this life, to such an extent that the Most High kept her away from the corruption of death to be taken body and soul to heaven to reign for all eternity with her Divine Son. The supreme joy in which the whole Christian world was immersed for centuries is incalculable and through the writings of the saints we can learn how sublime this solemnity is. Unfortunately, this brief letter is not an address of congratulations, but a cry that rises from the depths of a faithful that is overwhelmed and outraged by the serious lack of respect that is being committed against Our Holy Mother of Heaven.

Roche and Viola (Dicastery for Divine Worship) Forbid Latin Mass in Helsinki Cathedral (Finland) - celebrated (for the moment) in another Church

 Finland. A land lost by the Church to Lutheranism.

Announcing the National Latin Mass Pilgrimage- Arlington, VA to Washington, D.C.- October 5, 2024

 

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND- As a response to restrictions on the Traditional Latin Mass announced in Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia, local TLM attendees organized a pilgrimage between the main cathedral of the Diocese of Arlington (St. Thomas More) and the main cathedral of the Archdiocese of Washington (St. Matthew). This pilgrimage was wildly successful and has now become a yearly tradition. Our goal: full freedom, once again, for the Traditional Latin Mass, and an end to any and all restrictions.

ASSUMPTION! -All Hail the Wife and Mother of God!

Since the mid-fifteenth century it has been performed in the Basilica of Santa Maria and in the streets of the old city of Elche (Elx), situated in the region of Valencia. It is a living testimony of European religious theatre of the Middle Ages and of the cult of the Virgin.

This theatrical performance, which is entirely sung, comprises two acts, performed on 14 and 15 August. These depict the death and crowning of the Virgin in a series of scenes and related paintings: the death of Mary, the night procession that is followed by hundreds of participants carrying candles, the morning procession, the afternoon funeral procession in the streets of Elche, and the enactment of the burial, Assumption and coronation in the Basilica. (Unesco)

Mystery Plays and Passion Plays inside a church were not uncommon before the Protestant revolts, but were severely curtailed after the Catholic Reformation. The Mystery Play of Elx (Misteri d'Elx in Valencian/Catalan, Misterio de Elche in Spanish) was a rare exception after Trent, allowed specifically for the Basilica of Saint Mary in Elx (Alicante, Valencia) by Pope Urban VIII. All participating actors are still today men, not women, as it has been since its inception, most probably in the 15th century.

Below, a version of one of the main compositions of the play, Esposa e Mare de Déu (Wife and Mother of God), and of the processional hymn, with images of the play and its traditional special effects, as well as the procession:

Guest Article: “Is Jorge Bergoglio a Strategist? A Reply to Caminante-Wanderer”

Readers will recall the unparalleled theological analysis of the Francis pontificate by Vigilius, first published here on July 10, 2024. Today, we are pleased to publish a follow-up (in a translation authorized by the author; original German here), in which Vigilius explains why he respectfully disagrees with the eminent Argentinean commentator about the theological program of the present pope. —PAK

Is Jorge Bergoglio a Strategist? A Reply to Caminante-Wanderer

How the Loss of Children and the Demographic Collapse Are Linked to the Loss of Tradition

How the Loss of Children and the Demographic Collapse Are Linked to the Loss of Tradition

J. Melonowska

After Part 1's exposition, I now turn to the connection between the central myth of Europe, namely the Christian myth, and the situation of our societies, specifically the demographic collapse (childlessness, by which I mean the declining birth rate). I will link the myth, the liturgy, and the demographical issue.

The World of the Dead and Childless Wives: A Philosopher of Religion on the Logos, Tradition, and Demographics

The World of the Dead and Childless Wives

A Philosopher of Religion on the Logos, Tradition, and Demographics

J. Melonowska

The Grace of the Present Moment - by Roberto de Mattei

 Roberto de Mattei

Centuries pass, circumstances are different, but God does not change, the Catholic Church is the same, and the struggle continues to be that between the two cities that oppose each other in history like two armies. The theology of Christian history assures us that the City of God is always victorious; Our Lady's apparition at Fatima assures us that the historical triumph of the Immaculate Heart is near; the historical and logical analysis of revolutionary dynamism, assures us of the irreversibility of the counter-revolutionary movement. However, those immersed in the struggle miss the great horizon of the battlefield, which sometimes seems shrouded in fog or the shadows of night. There is a risk of losing our way, but more importantly, of losing sight of the ultimate goal of our battles and our path. For the path is long and it is not linear. We advance along winding paths, with wide curves, sometimes the terrain is steep and impassable, sometimes flat, descending then suddenly rising again. Overall, the certain movement is ascending, but not straight. We climb to the top, but passing peaks, skirting chasms and cliffs, through an uneven path. And the enemies that assail us are of all kinds. Such is the history of humanity, such is our life. And when the night of confusion falls, the darkness of chaos, fear assails us.

The Strange Chapel of Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Pope's Ambassador to Paris

Paix Liturgique continues to place us all in its debt, even while its websites in various languages remain unaccountably defunct. The following letter 1080 of August 8, 2024, was sent in French to email subscribers, and now we bring it to you here in English. - PAK

Prayer card illustrated by Rupnik

Praying Every Day in Front of Mosaics Created by Top-Ranking Abuser Rupnik Is Strange for a Nuncio Who Is Supposed to Fight Abuse

Eucharistic Congress a Blessing for the Church — Now What Must be Done?

 Father Richard Cipolla

Traditional Mass in Indianapolis during the Eucharistic Congress

The United States Catholic Conference of Bishops recently sponsored a series of events that were meant to be an affirmation of witness to the Catholic belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The first was a series of Eucharistic processions from disparate points in the United States whose ultimate goal was the site of the major event of the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, Indiana. I must confess that when I first heard about the plans for the processions and the Congress in Indiana, my southern Italian quasi-cynical genes kicked in, fed by my experience as a Catholic priest for much of forty years.  Much of those forty years were marked by a severe lack of Eucharistic piety by both clergy and laity.

"The Traditional Mass as a Conclave Issue: An Obstacle for Cardinal Parolin"

[Paix Liturgique published the following reflections on the article by Nico Spuntoni in Il Giornale on July 14, 2024. Translation for Rorate. -PK]

Given the nature of the Second Vatican Council as a kind of new beginning for the Church of all things, opposition to it, especially opposition to the new liturgy, carries a heavy psychological weight in successive conclaves.