RORATE CÆLI

"Missae pro Missa" Update: Help Reach 1 Million Masses for the TLM!

Rorate is pleased to share this update from the coordinators of this laudable initiative.

One month after officially launching on Ash Wednesday, Missae pro Missa -- the worldwide spiritual bouquet for the preservation of the Traditional Latin Mass -- has already received submissions from Catholics in more than 30 countries. As of this writing, over 4,500 Masses and nearly 16,000 rosaries are being offered, all for a singular intention: that this ancient and venerable form of Holy Mass may remain a flourishing and normal part of the life of the Church.

All around Rome today, dozens of billboards, in Italian and in English, were posted in defense of the Traditional Latin Mass. The following press release was sent out to explain the initiative.

PRESS RELEASE

Starting this morning, and lasting for 15 days, several dozen billboards dedicated to the traditional liturgy will be posted near and around the Vatican.

Members of the group, which included three priests, on the steps of Saint Matthews Cathedral at the conclusion of the walk today. The event may become biannual with another pilgrimage potentially scheduled for September this year. (Photo credit Juventutem DC.)

Fontgombault Sermon for the Annunciation: Mary's "Yes" is the Greatest Moment in Human History

Annunciation

and Simple Profession of Br. Jean-François Charlebois and of Br. Hernane Pereira

Sermon of the Right Reverend Dom Jean Pateau

Father Abbot of Our Lady of Fontgombault

Fontgombault, March 25, 2023

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

My dearly beloved Sons,

and most especially you, who are now going to make your religious vows,

Monks like to pronounce theirs vows and promises underMary’s eyes. They do that in the hope that these eyes will never turn away from their everyday life, and they can do it with a firm trust. How could a mother, the Mother par excellence, turn away from those she has received as children, for we are truly her children?

What then is this unique motherhood?

St. Irenaeus wrote in his Treatise against Heresies:

On the occasion of the very moving funeral of Father Cyril Gordien, a priest of the diocese of Paris, in the church of Saint-Pierre-de-Montrouge, which was filled to capacity on March 20, all those present, the faithful (1700), priests (150), bishops (Ulrich, Aupetit, Castet, Rougé, Marsset, Verny), found in their place a 36-page pamphlet: Abbé Cyril Gordien, Mon testament spirituel: A Priest at the Heart of Suffering. We are publishing excerpts here (courtesy of Paix Liturgique).

"Russophilia", the West and anti-Romanism - by Roberto de Mattei

In 2004, in a dialogue with Senate President Marcello Pera, then-Cardinal Ratzinger identified as a cultural evil of our time the self-hatred of the West (in Without Roots; Europe, Relativism, Christianity, Islam, Mondadori, Milan 2004).

One expression of this hatred of the West is "Russophilia," an intellectual tendency that became an international organization on March 14, 2023, with the presentation in Moscow of the "International Movement of Russophiles." Among the 120 representatives from 46 countries, chronicles report the presence of an Italian, Princess Vicky (Vittoria) Alliata di Villafranca, known for her keen interest in the Islamic world. Another well-known figure, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, addressed a warm message to the conference participants, stating, among other things, that "the Russian Federation undeniably stands as the last bastion of civilization against barbarism." The role of the Russian Federation "will be decisive" "in an 'Antiglobalist' Alliance that returns to citizens the power that has been taken from them, and to nations the sovereignty eroded and ceded to the Davos lobby."

Like any error, Russophilia starts from a truth: the decadence of the West, which has turned its back on its history and values. The Magisterium of the Catholic Church has pointed out as responsible for this decay an enemy that, "in recent centuries has attempted to work the intellectual, moral, social disintegration of the unity of the mysterious organism of Christ" (Pius XII, Address of Oct. 12, 1952 to the men of Catholic Action). ...

REBUILDING MONTECASSINO: How the Reform of the Eucharistic Fast Preceded the Church’s current Dramatic Period

Rebuilding Montecassino

From the search for God to the search for self in the observance of the Eucharistic fast

[Rorate’s special translation in honor of the Feast of Saint Benedict.]

The witnesses and documentary evidence that have come down to us state that Jesus, shortly before his death, planned an evening meal, in the course of which he took bread and wine, blessed them, and distributed them to those who were present.

This is the incontestable fact, as incontestable as it is that those who partook of the meal had not fasted beforehand, nor are there any indications that they should have fasted in any way because that supper was carefully planned in every detail (Mt. 26:17-19; Mk. 14 13-16; Lk. 22:8-13), and there is no sign that fasting was a component of it.

Very soon, however, Christians prepared for receiving the Eucharist by a fast, which in the Latin Church consisted of abstaining from food and water from midnight onward.

To understand the whys and the wherefores of the development of this particular observance is to tell a fascinating story.

In 1953, in an unprecedented decision, this practice was stifled and eradicated. It is a painful, but no less fascinating story.

I. Fasting: A mirror to the soul

Our society considers the overall wellbeing it has attained as a normal, certain and further improvable state of affairs. In the eyes of those who do not belong to this society, or are excluded from it, it emanates a glow so desirable that they risk their lives in order to obtain it.

Dr. Kwasniewski’s South Carolina 2023 Lecture Tour, April 20-22, 2023

Dear friends and readers, I will be in South Carolina next month giving three lectures: Charleston on April 20th, Columbia on April 21st, and Greer on April 22nd. All the details are in the poster. Hope to meet you if you're in the area!

"Ten years of Pope Francis: lights, shadows and glooms": Miguel Angel Quintana Paz

Miguel Ángel Quintana Paz

The Objective

Two amusing gaffes in the Spanish media on Monday accompanied the tenth anniversary of the election of Jorge Mario Bergoglio as the 26th bishop of Rome. The headline of the InfoCatólica portal read: "One hundred years since the election of Francis as Pope". On the television channel La Sexta, its announcer proclaimed that "his arrival as the first black pope at the Vatican revolutionized public opinion."

Ten Years of Francis: Destruction without Reconstruction in a Vatican that feels like North Korea -- by Aldo Maria Valli

On the Ten Years of Francis (2013 - 2023)

You have been redeemed at great cost; do not become slaves of men.

1 Corinthians 7:23

By Aldo Maria Valli

To comment on the ten years of Francis' pontificate, the words written by Demos (also known as the late Cardinal Pell) in the memorandum he wanted to distribute to all the cardinals a year ago would suffice: "A disaster in more ways than one, a catastrophe."

Bergoglio has succeeded in the fine feat, that is possible only for certain particularly gifted individuals, of destroying without rebuilding. He was elected to bring fresh air. After ten years, the air is unbreathable. And the papolatry raging these days, on the occasion of the anniversary, makes it even more noxious.

There is no Beauty without the Sacred

Op/Ed

by Gennaro Malgieri*

H/T: IL NUOVO ARENGARIO

March 12, 2023

'The Annunciation'
by Antonio Canova - 1757-1822

“Beauty is a sort of visible harmony that gently pierces the human heart”, wrote Ugo Foscolo.

But how might we define Beauty today?

On March 25, the Arlington Latin Mass Society will be holding the Second National Summorum Pontificum Pilgrimage. We will process from St. Thomas More Cathedral in Arlington, VA to St. Matthew the Apostle Cathedral in Washington, D.C.-- about a two hour walk-- to show our support for the Traditional Latin Mass and bear witness to the devotion it inspires. We will carry beautiful Catholic banners, flags, and processional crosses, pray the Rosary, sing Marian hymns, and spread the truth of Christ through the streets of Arlington, VA and Washington, D.C.

Saint Anthony Press (www.saint-anthony-press.com), established with the mission of publishing rare or otherwise “lost” Catholic liturgical and devotional books, announces the release of the "Restored Order of Holy Week" (Ordo Hebdomadae Sanctae Restauratus) according to the 1920 editio typica of the Roman Missal. ***Please note that this is not the 1956 so-called "Renewed/Reformed" Order of Holy Week (Ordo Hebdomadae Sanctae Instauratus) that was later incorporated into the 1962 typical edition of the Roman Missal. It is the pre-55 Holy Week.

"So he came with the king's mandate, bringing nothing worthy of the high priesthood, but having the fury of a cruel tyrant, and the rage of a savage beast."

2 Maccabees 4:25

***

Bad news. We knew from the instant of the announcement of the name of the elected cardinal in the 2013 Conclave that we were in for very, very bad news. For some bizarre reason, the inexplicable decision of Benedict XVI to resign the papacy (a resignation he thought he could somehow manage by having his chosen successor elected) backfired stupendously.

Never had the Jesuits been this heretical: yet, now they managed to get one of them elected pope. Never had the Latin American church been this problematic: yet, now the cardinals thought it was a good time to elect a first Latin American pope, and from the most secularized nation in that continent.

At the very moment of the announcement of the name in the loggia, we asked an Argentine friend for his comment. "The Horror" was our most read post up to that time, and it caused us immense grief, for people simply didn't want to believe the evidence. If anything, it sounds almost too positive today, when Traditional Catholics are under intense official persecution, while the greatest heretics and perverts are free to roam about to destroy souls: but, in any event, it was a highly prophetic text.

Time to recall it:

***

The Horror! A Buenos Aires journalist describes Bergoglio

Rorate Caeli

March 13, 2013

We have many friends around the world, including in the dear Argentine Republic. And we asked a cherished friend, Marcelo González, of Panorama Católico Internacional, who knows the Church of Argentina as well as the palm of his hand to send us a report on the new pope. Here it goes:

The Archbishop of Buenos Aires kneels down to receive the "blessing"
of Protestant ministers and Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa - Buenos Aires, 2006

The Horror!

Of all the unthinkable candidates, Jorge Mario Bergoglio is perhaps the worst. Not because he openly professes doctrines against the faith and morals, but because, judging from his work as Archbishop of Buenos Aires, faith and morals seem to have been irrelevant to him.

German "Church" Officially Approves Same-Sex "Blessings" - a Moment of Schism and Collapse of the Universal Church

"Et in unam, sanctam, catholicam et apostolicam Ecclesiam..." -- we proclaim our belief in the marks of the Church every Sunday in the Creed.

Minutes ago, the parliamentary assembly of German bishops and radical lay activists gathered under the name of "Synodal Way" officially approved "same-sex blessings". As reported by Jonathan Liedl:

Vote to adopt text on “blessings for couples who love each other” passes pic.twitter.com/Phh71660T8
— Jonathan Liedl (@JLLiedl) March 10, 2023

Once again, German schismatics and apostates bring the Church to a moment of collapse and crisis. WE ARE NOT IN COMMUNION WITH THIS nonsense, whatever this is. May God send fire from heaven to burn to the ground the den of iniquity that is the German "Church". This mess and this destruction of the Church are exclusively the work of Francis and his minions.

Serious Catholics Refuse to Donate to Francis’ Vatikenstein — now it’s going broke.

They want to annihilate Traditional Catholics, they persecute conservative bishops, they alienate serious priests, nuns, and seminarians, they ridicule Catholic morality, they name abortionists and perverts to official positions —they shouldn’t be shocked the faithful are fed up.

No wonder Francis' monstrous Vatikenstein is going broke. From The Pillar:

"Is it really time for hiding?" Why priests should openly refuse to stop offering the Latin Mass

I publish the following translation as a stimulus to further reflection in these difficult times. I do not personally believe that clandestinity and open resistance are incompatible: in situations where prudential decisions must be made according to a variety of circumstances, either course of action may be defensible. Nevertheless, I agree with the author that there needs to be, in many places and from many lips, a firm "non possumus" and a public resolve to continue on, in the teeth of pseudo-sanctions. What is unacceptable is rolling over to play dead while the enemies of the Faith and of the faithful trample on intrinsic elements of the Church's common good and of the "status ecclesiae." To this end I highly recommend, as a parallel reading to the present post, a model letter published elsewhere, as from a priest to his bishop. ~ PAK

"L'Eglise, c'est moi!" - Reflection by Francis Patruno

The famous expression "L'État, c'est moi!" is commonly attributed to Louis XIV, the Sun King, ruler of France. It is debated among historians whether the King ever uttered it. Whether uttered or not, it expressed the idea of a fact, namely, that the state was identified with the person of the King. A conviction that dies hard when we recall that a De Gaulle, still in the 20th century, affirmed: "Je suis la France."

"Mexican bishops will ask Pope to include Mayan rites in Catholic Masses": Zaire was just the start...

San Cristóbal de Las Casas (Mexico), 28 Feb. [source in Spanish] The Diocese of San Cristóbal, in the south of Mexico, will send Pope Francis a proposal to include in Catholic masses indigenous Mayan rites such as dance, music and the participation of women.

Report from a Rome in Deep Crisis: "Terror, Disgust, Espionage: Everybody Hates Francis."

Caminante Wanderer

Argentina, February 27, 2023

[REPORT FROM ROME:] ROMAN MELANCHOLY

It is one thing to be told, and another to see it. I have been saddened by this truth in the last few days. Some Roman friends often tell me secrets, or not so much [secret], of what goes on inside the Vatican walls and [Spanish blogger] Specola also gives us this kind of news daily, of which he knows a lot. But another thing is to personally verify the facts and confirm the conclusion that we all know: Pope Francis is not loved by anyone; neither by bishops, nor by priests, nor by the faithful, whatever may be their origin. And beyond the fact that one does not particularly like the Roman Pontiff, it is very sad to see the profound rejection that his figure produces. Whether we like it or not, he is the Vicar of Christ.

As the attacks against tradition mount, so do the defenses. Our defenses consist not in carnal weapons but in adherence to the truth, commitment to the good, and rejoicing in the beautiful. No matter how high-ranking, our enemies cannot take knowledge away from us, cannot break our resolve to restore tradition when their sorry days are over and their shameful assaults become stories for grandfathers to tell their grandchildren after a Solemn Traditional Mass at the local parish.

It is in this spirit that I share the very good news of one of the most beautiful publications I have yet seen in the English-speaking traditionalist movement, namely, a newly typeset and lavishly produced (yet still affordable) edition of Dom Benedict Baur’s long out-of-print classic Light of the World: Daily Meditations on the Traditional Mass. This over-700-page hardcover offers a full year of meditations on the TLM.

"We are in front of a Kafkaesque paradox": Canonical remarks on the Rescriptum of February 21

If, formally, the Rescriptum ex Audientia Ss.mi of February 21, 2023 -- an administrative act by which a department head asks for and obtains (rescriptum: "written twice") something from the Supreme Pontiff (Sanctissimi) at the end of an audience (ex Audientia) -- aims to "implement" the motu proprio Traditionis custodes of July 16, 2021, from a practical point of view, it actually alters it in its substantial structure.

The Rescript, in fact, subverts the basis on which Traditionis custodes itself is founded, whose first words, an echo of Lumen gentium No. 23 (the Second Vatican Council's dogmatic constitution on the Church) are addressed to the bishops: "Custodians of tradition," begins the preamble of Pope Francis' motu proprio amending Benedict XVI's motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, "the bishops, in communion with the Bishop of Rome, constitute the visible principle and foundation of unity in their particular Churches." But if Traditionis custodes had pointed to the diocesan bishops for a regulation of the use of liturgical forms prior to the post-conciliar reforms, the Rescript of last Feb. 21 overturns that principle by reserving to the Holy See (and thus to the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments) the regulation of an entire matter which, however, would itself have been left to the discretion of individual local Ordinaries by the same measure to which the Rescript says it wants to give "implementation."

New Book by Dr Joseph Shaw: An Irrefutable Apologia for the Traditional Liturgy

In a time like ours, when ignorance, half-truths, and outright lies seem to dominate the airwaves, classrooms, halls of power, and even church pulpits, Catholics need access to the unvarnished truth of the Faith as it powerfully confronts the errors and misdirections of the modern age. But where are we to find such help?

Dr. Joseph Shaw, president of the International Federation Una Voce and Chairman of the Latin Mass Society of England & Wales, has distinguished himself as one of the finest writers today on a host of difficult and controversial questions. Os Justi Press is pleased to announce the release of Dr. Shaw's latest book: The Liturgy, the Family, and the Crisis of Modernity.

The book divides into three parts, as suggested by the title.

The first part examines the place of the ancient Catholic liturgy in modernity, defending it, against the misunderstandings of modernists, as something supremely suited to engage our deepest instincts towards the worship of God. Chapter 1 tells what Shaw discovered about the Church along the path of discovering the ancient Roman rite; chapter 2 looks at the purpose of liturgy; chapter 3 gives an account of the history of liturgy, explaining how it is conceptually and practically possible for a heritage to be both received as a "changeless given" and also enhanced and developed over time; chapter 4 develops the role of Latin in fostering participation (yes, you read that correctly!); and chapters 5 and 6 delve into the ways in which rituality, contrary to a standard narrative, is a cause of freedom rather than of confinement.

(Published at "Daily Compass" of La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana on February 27; source)

From secretary Viola to the undersecretaries García Macías and Marcjanowicz, including Ravelli and Midili who lead the pontifical celebrations: they all come from the same Sant'Anselmo University and all only act animated by ideological shortsightedness and blindness to reality. That's who is waging war on the ancient Mass.

Any person, even those less intellectually endowed, is capable of understanding that the crusade waged against the ancient rite, from Traditionis Custodes to the recent Rescriptum, is nothing more than a desire for revenge, a blind fury full of animosity. It is a matter of simple observation: the Catholic Church finds itself almost bloodless, with bishops hailing homosexuality, 'pampered' priests abusing nuns and being protected by the highest echelons, convents forcibly closed, churches and seminaries increasingly empty, Catholics fleeing the Church.

“Memento, homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris.”

The suffering of physical privation in our Lent fasting and other means of self-denial has the purpose of securing for ourselves the higher spiritual goods. The grace of inner gladness, that of the spirit which endures beyond the limits of the flesh, is one of these.

I’m pleased to announce the second revised and expanded edition of Roman-Seraphic Books’ Pre-1955 Hebdomada Sancta (Holy Week) congregational book, containing all the ceremonies and texts, in parallel Latin & English, with spiritual and historical commentary. The book also contains the pre-55 Vigil of Pentecost as well.

A Beautiful New Latin Edition of the “Imitation of Christ” by Thomas à Kempis

The new edition

(by Fr. Paolo D’Angona, priest of the Diocese of Roermond; translated from German here)

Christophe Dickès: "Why take away from traditionalists what John Paul II and Benedict XVI had granted?"

(From Le Figaro, February 22, 2023) -- While Pope Francis drastically reduces the freedom of traditionalists, historian Christophe Dickès recalls the richness and fruitfulness of these minorities within the Catholic Church. Author of numerous works, Christophe Dickès has notably published "Saint Pierre" (Perrin, 2021), which received the François Millepierres prize of the French Academy 2022.

The Lenten season for traditional Catholics begins with sorrow. The one in charge of liturgical matters at the Vatican, Cardinal Roche, who has never hidden his opposition to the work of Benedict XVI, has just published a new text validated by Pope Francis on the practice of the ancient rite. Contrary to the very spirit that the Pope wished to give to his pontificate, it drastically reduces the freedom of the bishops and their autonomy in this matter.

But who are these traditionalist Catholics?

Traditional Catholics Received by French Bishops' Conference

It seems even the French bishops (no particular friends of the Traditional Latin Mass for the most part) have decided to deal directly with the Traditionalist faithful -- considering that all that is coming from Rome in this pontificate is anti-dialogue and hateful irrationality.

From Renaissance Catholique (via Le Salon Beige):

In the name of some faithful active in communities celebrating according to the Vetus Ordo, Mr. PHILIPPE DARANTIERE and Ms. MARIE-AMELIE BROCARD were received by Bishop VINCENT JORDY, vice-president of the French Bishops' Conference, Bishop DOMINIQUE LEBRUN, member of the Permanent Council, as well as by Ms. BERNADETTE MELOIS, director of the National Service for Liturgical and Sacramental Pastoral Care at the CEF [French Episcopal Conference] headquarters on Tuesday, February 21, 2003. They were able to express their suffering and their incomprehension regarding the decisions of the Holy Father while recognizing the attention brought by the bishops to the various situations.

‘THE COUNCIL AND THE ECLIPSE OF GOD’ by Don Pietro Leone - CHAPTER 12: The Conclusion of The Book & Epilogue

It was a privilege and a pleasure to have posted in installments this exceptional book over the last two years, for which Rorate Caeli had exclusive right, prior to its official publication in a corrected and expanded version which Don Pietro hopes to publish soon. He wishes all readers a Holy Lententide in preparation for a Holy Celebration of the Resurrection of Our Thrice Blessed Lord, and imparts to them all his priestly blessing.

F.R.

Chapter 12

CONCLUSION OF THE BOOK

We here offer:

A. The Conclusions to the Individual Chapters

B. The Conclusion to the Book as a Whole

“Mediocre Roche came in for an Apostolic Constitution, and came out with a Rescriptum — a great defeat. Francis doesn’t want to mess with the Traditional Mass anymore.”

Caminante Wanderer

Argentina, Feb. 21, 2023

Today a brief rescriptum ex audiencia Sanctissimi became known. This type of document is a decision of the Roman Pontiff communicated orally to some ecclesiastic of the Roman Curia received in audience, who then leaves a written record of that oral resolution (the so-called oraculum vivae vocis), so that it is considered valid for evidentiary purposes and is also effective before third parties. In short, it is the document of least hierarchy within the complex arsenal at the disposal of the Roman Pontiff, and which can be modified tomorrow by himself or by whoever succeeds him.

While there is chit-chat and jibber-jabber everywhere about synodality, leaving everyone to choose the path they prefer, whether alla francese (“the French way”) or alla tedesca (“the German way”) or in salsa amazzonica (“in Amazonian sauce”), the Holy See on one point does not compromise: that Mass is not to be done.

"A Formal Canonical Analysis of the Rescriptum" - Circular Logic and the Grandfathering of Existing Parish Masses

by Father Pierre Laliberté, JCL

Upon reading the rescriptum ex audientia of +Arthur Cardinal Roche dated 21 February 2023, several brief reflections come to mind:

1) Despite the Curial reforms issued in Praedicate Evangelium, the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments still does not possess legislative authority. To "exercise the authority of the Holy See" in these matters, as described in Traditionis Custodes art. 7, is unclear. Therefore, the very notion that this rescript is a legal text is highly questionable, as it only rests on the authority of the prefect of this dicastery who signed it. Some have even remarked that such tactics are tantamount to "canonical gaslighting", as this is merely a weaponization of hierarchical authority against a perennially-valid, never abrogated liturgical rite which expresses the perennial faith of the Roman Catholic Church.

2) Those parish churches already offering the Traditional Latin Mass should be guided by the perennial principle of the law: "pacta servanda sunt", that agreements are to be kept. As a matter of justice, they should be understood as being "grandfathered" in. The power of the bishop to dispense is ordinary executive power. Those matters that the Holy See reserves to itself must be interpreted strictly, while the diocesan bishop's power to dispense is to be interpreted broadly.

The Rescript: Press Release from the LMS and FIUV

On Tuesday 21st February the Holy See Press Office published a Rescript confirming, for the Dicastery for Divine Worship, certain legal points in relation to the interpretation of Pope Francis’ Apostolic Letter Traditionis Custodes.

The key point is that from now on permission for the use of a parish church for celebrations of the 1962 Missal may only be granted by the Dicastery. The Rescript makes reference to Canon 87.1 which states that bishops may lift the obligations of universal law for the good of souls in their diocese: this no longer applies, as the matter is ‘reserved to the Holy See’.

The effect of this ruling will depend on the degree to which current provision for the celebration of the 1962 Missal depends on the use of parish churches in a particular locality; the willingness of bishops to seek permission from the Dicastery for celebrations in such churches to continue; and the response of the Dicastery to these requests.

If bishops all over the world seek permission for all the celebrations of the 1962 Mass taking place in parish churches in their dioceses, the Dicastery will be faced with many hundreds of cases to consider, raising the question of the practicability of them discharging their role.

The Latin Mass Society and the FIUV would like to express its dismay that authority over a matter of such pastoral sensitivity has been centralised in this way.

Serious pastoral harm will follow if permission is not granted where alternative places of worship are not readily available for the use of communities attached to the older form of the Mass.

Instead of integrating them into parish life, the restriction on the use of parish churches will marginalise and push to the peripheries faithful Catholics who wish only to worship, in communion with their bishops, with a form of the liturgy permitted by the Church. This desire was described as a ‘rightful aspiration’ by Pope John Paul II, and this liturgy was described as representing ‘riches’ by Pope Benedict XVI.

We call upon all Catholics of good will to offer prayer and penances this Lent for the resolution of this issue and the liberty of the ancient Latin Mass.

Fontgombault Ash Wednesday Sermon: "We still have a path of conversion to tread, strengthened by the reception of sacraments."

Ash Wednesday

Sermon of the Right Reverend Dom Jean Pateau

Abbot of Our Lady of Fontgombault

Fontgombault, February 22, 2023

Miserere mei, Deus.

Have mercy on me, O God.

(Ps 56:2)

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

My dearly beloved Sons,

Mankind’s moral decadence, and as a consequence the weakening, and even the disappearance, of the respect due to each human life, scandals endlessly shaking the most respectable institutions, all kinds of diseases and viruses, all of these make a major contribution to a diffuse feeling of deep desperation and disquiet. Is human condition today enviable? Can man be loved? Can he love himself? Would his only outlet be to join those whose sole religion is the protection of nature, and the absolute preservation of animals until their natural death? Indeed, can man still be loved?

No more loopholes from TC: Are Bismarck's worst fears confirmed?

A commentary by Clemens Victor Oldendorf

(published in German here)

When in 2013 Pope Benedict XVI (1927-2022) announced his intention to resign from office, it was "Rosenmontag," and many at first thought the news report was a tasteless or mistaken carnival joke. Ten years later, it is again a Rose Monday to which is dated a document that appeared yesterday, Shrove Tuesday, in the Bolletino Vaticano. One might have thought it a bad joke but it is obviously serious.

Missae pro Missa:

Join the worldwide spiritual bouquet for preservation of the Traditional Latin Mass!

Request Masses to be said for the preservation of the Latin Mass (or if you're a priest, celebrate Masses for this intention).

Offer your own hearings of Mass for this intention.

Pray rosaries for this intention.

Missae pro Missa ("Masses for the Mass") is a worldwide effort to preserve the Traditional Latin Mass by means of the most powerful prayer on Earth: the Catholic Mass. Launched for Lent 2023, we hope to have at least one million Masses offered or heard for this intention by Pentecost Sunday.

How does it work? It's simple. If you want to see the Traditional Latin Mass preserved in the life of the Church, join our worldwide spiritual bouquet. You can participate in three ways:

TRANSLATION - Rescriptum ex Audientia - From Yesterday’s Audience of Francis with Card. Roche regarding details of implementation of Traditionis Custodes

RESCRIPTUM EX AUDIENTIA SS.MI, 21.02.2023

[B0150]

The Holy Father, at the Audience granted on Feb. 20 to the undersigned Cardinal Prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, confirmed the following about the implementation of his Motu Proprio Traditionis custodes of July 16, 2021.

These are dispensations reserved in a special way to the Apostolic See (cf. C.I.C. can. 87 §1):

- the use of a parish church or the erection of a personal parish for the celebration of the Eucharist using the Missale Romanum of 1962 (cf. Traditionis custodes art. 3 §2);

- the granting of license to presbyters ordained after the publication of Motu proprio Traditionis custodes to celebrate using the Missale Romanum of 1962 (cf. Traditionis custodes art. 4).

As stipulated in Article 7 of Motu proprio Traditionis custodes, the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments exercises the authority of the Holy See in the above-mentioned cases, supervising the observance of the provisions.

Should a diocesan bishop grant dispensations in the two cases mentioned above, he is obliged to inform the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, which will evaluate the individual cases.

Moreover, the Holy Father, confirms - having already expressed his assent in the audience of November 18, 2021 - what was established in the Responsa ad dubia with the attached Explanatory Notes of December 4, 2021.

The Holy Father also ordered that this Rescript be published in L'Osservatore Romano and subsequently in the official commentary of the Acta Apostolicae Sedis.

From the Vatican, February 20, 2023

Arthur Card. Roche

Prefect

***

[Our comment? The whole logic of Traditionis custodes is that the bishops are supposedly the “guardians of Tradition,” and, therefore, of all things related to the Sacred Liturgy. Except when they deviate from the current Vatican radical liberal ideology, in which case they have no rights. It’s a clown document, from a clown cardinal, in a clown pontificate. Nothing serious, it’s all a sick joke -- and one day it will come to an end. | Our struggle is for eternity, and for centuries and generations to come.]

***

[Original Italian text:]

Today, Francis received Cardinal Arthur Roche in audience

Audiences, 20.02.2023

This morning, the Holy Father Francis received in audience:

- His Eminence Cardinal Arthur Roche, prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments

"Vatican II: Still Waiting to be Implemented?... -- A Comparison with the Reception of the Council of Trent" - by Côme de Prévigny

Vatican II: Fruits that will germinate, or spoiled fruits?

Côme de Prévigny

Rennaisance Catholique

Feb. 7, 2023

John XXIII wanted to "bring a little fresh air into the Church" and, sixty years ago, the most heated minds promised the Catholic world a real "springtime", an unhoped-for renewal that would undoubtedly give hope and youth back to the venerable institution. The crowds were to fill the sanctuaries while the workers were to find their way back to the baptisteries. Obviously, the decades have passed and the promises have not been kept. In the great naves, one can only breathe the odors of pigeon droppings and the mold of fungi favored by humidity. Churches have been deserted, seminaries have closed and dreams have been dashed. With the passage of time, the prophets of good omen have bent their foreheads terribly, and they mask their wrinkles to suggest every day that we wait another year to see a new dawn shine on Christendom. Until a few years ago, some well-informed observers ventured to tell us that it would take fifty years to expect to receive the fruits of the famous Council. Now we have to wait a hundred years. "It is true that it takes a century for a Council to take root. We still have forty years to make it take root", Pope Francis warned without being discouraged. What is the truth of this? Should we be patient or has the essential message of the aggiornamento been received?

The comparison with the Council of Trent