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A Novena of Latin Masses will be offered by the contemplative branch of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate at their Ritiro Mariano Friary in Amandola, Italy. The intention of the Novena is for THE SANCTIFICATION OF ALL FAMILIES (or persons) enrolled in the Novena. The nine Masses will begin at the Easter Vigil Mass on April 7th and will conclude on Divine Mercy Sunday April 15th...

My wife and I went to the Tridentine Mass at Immaculate Conception Church(Sleepy Hollow, NY). It has been a very long time since a Mass brought us to tears. The prayers are beautiful, the reverence is palpable. The women had their heads covered, 90% of the men (and boys) wore jacket and tie, the priest's vestments were very traditional (when was the last time you saw a priest wearing a maniple and his biretta), a lot of young families, an altar boy (about 10 years old) and a fairly young priest, both of whom said the Latin prayers as if...

Wise Men from the East and the Feast of the Epiphany of the Lord Wise Men from the East | Sandra Miesel | The Feast of the Epiphany of the Lord We Three Kings of Orient are,Bearing gifts we traverse afar. . . . Who were these gift-bearing kings, these Wise Men of the East? What has their mission meant to Christians across the ages? The Wise Men—not yet called kings—make only a single appearance in Holy Scripture. St. Matthew's Gospel (Mt 2:1-12) tells of their arrival in Jerusalem shortly after the birth of Jesus. They have come seeking the...

Blessed Pope John XXIII, in the Apostolic Constitution Veterum Sapientia of 1962, strongly mandated the study and use of Latin in ecclesiastical studies, theology, the Liturgy, and as a prerequisite for priestly formation. This February, there is to be an International Convention in Rome to mark the 50th anniversary of Veterum Sapientia. I can't help thinking that after 50 years we are perhaps finally prepared to take the document of the Blessed Pope seriously. Here is one passage from the standard translation that you can find in various places on the internet: Of its very nature Latin is most suitable for promoting...

BBC: Second Vespers from the London Oratory for the Feast of St. Andrew by Shawn Tribe Readers will no doubt be interested to know that BBC Radio 3's Choral Evensong programme broadcast Second Vespers for the Feast of St Andrew today from the London Oratory. Here is the programme summary: Weds 30th Nov 2011 (rpt Sun 4th Dec 2011) London Oratory- Choral Vespers Organ Prelude: Intonazione octavo tono (Giovanni Gabrieli) Invitatory: Deus in adjutorium meum (Victoria) Antiphons & Psalms: 110, 113, 116, 126, 117 (Victoria) Hymn: Exsultet orbis gaudiis (Victoria) Antiphon: Cum pervenisset (Plainsong) Canticle: Magnificat primi toni (Victoria) Antiphon...

>>>THIS ARTICLE FIRST APPEARED FOUR YEARS AGO. STILL A HOT TOPIC.>>>> The Vatican recently announced a return to the Latin Mass for congregations that wish to use it. Much of the world was bewildered or bemused. Oh great, old-fashioned religionists will be listening to sonorous noise that nobody understands. Ah, but what if they did! I believe the Pope’s decision is a great opportunity, both for spiritual enlightenment and educational advances. Perhaps I should mention that I’m not a Catholic or someone who goes to religious ceremonies of any kind. I write as an education activist; in that context, let’s...

The Vatican has accused the BBC of an ‘act of enormous foolishness’ for dumping the terms BC and AD in case they cause offence to non-Christians. The Roman Catholic Church also severely criticised the ‘senseless hypocrisy’ of Britain’s public service broadcaster for using a false respect for other religions to purge Christianity from Western culture. ‘It is by now very clear that respect for other religions is only an excuse, because those who wish to erase every trace of Christianity from Western culture are only a few secular westerners,’ said a front page editorial in L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican’s official...

Via Eponymous Flower and Messa in Latino comes something from World Youth Day not covered by the mainstream Catholic media. And one must ask why that is.My emphases: Traditionalist Bishops [Not the SSPX bishops. Bishops with actual faculties and authority.] Celebrate the Immemorial Mass With 1500 WYD Pilgrims(Madrid) Msgr. Marc Marie Max Aillet, the Bishop of Bayonne, Lescar and Orlon since 2008 in France will celebrate the Holy Mass in the Extraordinary Form at the Parish Church of San Eduardo in Madrid with more than 1500 youth. This church has been allocated to the youth who are attached to Tradition...

Priest attacked, guilty of celebrating the Latin Mass ... Tue, 26/07/2011 - 15:24 "You have been tough, but we will smash your head. Signed, Your friend Satan". That was one of several threatening messages sent to Father Hernán García Pardo, parish priest of San Michele, in Ronta [Mugello region of the Province of Florence, Tuscany]. His fault [was] that of celebrating the Latin Mass.... The warnings, which had been recurrent for some time, had not made the priest, who despite everything has continued to say Mass according to the ancient rite, give up. The last chapter [took place] last Wednesday,...

Over the weekend,I tried my best to enjoy our Independence Day,despite the fact that I have all this information about our true state of being rattling around in my head. I spent the 4th in Weehawken N.J.,overlooking Manhattan,and watching the Macy’s fireworks show. The main street was blocked off by police,and all sorts of people were walking around,sitting on the park lawns,BBQ’ing,and more or less enjoying the day the way that I have always known it growing up. Weehawken is a very mixed neighborhood,where one can find people from all over the planet residing in one place. Specifically,the area right...

Here is an excerpt from a lengthy and very thoughtful address on the new translation of the Roman Missal given last month by Auxiliary Bishop James Conley of Denver at the Midwest Theological Forum in Valparaiso, Indiana: The key point here is that the words we pray matter. What we pray makes a difference in what we believe. Our prayer has implications for how we grasp the saving truths that are communicated to us through the liturgy. For instance, our current translation almost always favors abstract nouns to translate physical metaphors for God. If the Latin prayer refers to the...

Pope Benedict XVI / Photo Credit Mazur Vatican City, May 13, 2011 / 10:55 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Local dioceses should give a “generous welcome” to any laity who wish to attend Mass in the “extraordinary form” and to priests who wish to say it.  That’s the key message of new Vatican guidelines regarding the extraordinary form of the Mass – often popularly referred to as the “Tridentine Mass” or “old Latin Mass.” The “extraordinary form” is the rite of Mass contained within the Roman Missal which was universally used from 1570 to 1962. It was almost always celebrated in...

Traditional Latin Mass filmed on Easter Sunday in 1941 at Our Lady of Sorrows church in Chicago. The film presents the ceremonies of the Missa Solemnis or Solemn High Mass in full detail with narration by then-Mgr. Fulton J. Sheen. Celebrated by Rev. J. R. Keane of the Order of Servites (hence the white habits and cowls), the ceremonies are accompanied by a full polyphonic choir, orchestra, and fifty Gregorian Chanters. The attention to detail in the ceremonies is impressive. Notice, for example, how the servers and ministers always take great care to move in order. Notice too that the...

The Language of Liturgical Celebration How Latin Could Serve as a "Bond of Unity" By Uwe Michael Lang, COROME, MARCH 11, 2011 (Zenit.org).- Language is not only an instrument that serves to communicate facts, which it seeks to do in the most simple and efficient way, but it is also the means to express our mind in a way that involves the whole person. Consequently, language is also the means by which we express thoughts and religious experiences.Christine Mohrmann, the great historian of the Latin of Christians, affirms that "sacred language" used in divine worship is a specific way of "organizing"...

Keep in mind that the Pontifical Mass was to be celebrated in honor of the anniversary of the election of Pope Benedict. This year will also bring the 60th Jubilee of the Holy Father's ordination. The Paulus Institute had organized the Lenten Mass in honor of the Holy Father on the sixth anniversary of his election to the papacy. It was to have been the second such Mass, the first having been offered at the National Shrine last year before a capacity congregation of over 4,000. Unfortunately, this year’s scheduled celebrant, Archbishop Augustine DiNoia of the Congregation for Divine Worship...

A prominent Catholic pastor in Seattle is “letting go” of his campaign against a new Latinized translation of the church liturgy, but not his convictions in starting it. “It is the people who will have the last word on the new missal once it is introduced,” Fr. Michael Ryan, pastor of St. James Cathedral, said in a Sunday morning homily. Noting that the missal will be introduced later this year, Ryan added: “This is neither the time nor the place for arguing the matter.” He pledged to work toward harmonious introduction of the new language into the cathedral’s worship. Ryan...

The Previous Episcopal Conference speaker says this is a 'false signal' Brussels (kath.net/KAP) The Brussels Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard just celebrated a Mass in the Traditional Rite. The celebration took place in Brussels with about 500 faithful on Sunday for the occasion of the arrival of the "traditionalist" Society of St. Peter in Benelux-Staaten, as reported by the newspaper "De Standaard".

You all remember the spectacular Pontifical Mass last April at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Bp. Slattery of Tulsa was celebrant and gave that spectacular sermon.. It was broadcast on EWTN and the undersigned was one of the announcers. I am pleased to announce that that great event was not a one-timer. I received this press release: Solemn Pontifical Mass, Extraordinary Form, April 9, 2011, at the Basilica of the National Shrine, Washington, DC, Honoring Pope Benedict XVI WASHINGTON, D.C. – Following the gloriously reverent Pontifical Mass in the Extraordinary Form last April 24 at the Basilica of...

An upper-Bavarian Parish has democratically decided to dispose of its altar-table: "The Altar symbolizes a Cross, therefore the community. But in our time, in which everything is revolving around itself, we need a break from this clogging." (kreuz.net, Moosach) Already at the end of July Pastor Wolfan Lehner had put the altar-table at his church St. Michael in Moosach aside. The municipality is 27 Kilometers south-east of Munich. The website 'merkur-online.de' reports that the Pastor had informed his parishoners of this change in his Christmas letter. The upper-Bavarian Parish of Moosach belongs to the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising.

Pope Benedict XVI’s 2007 Motu Proprio, Summorum Pontificum, was an attempt to end decades of division over liturgy: to bring the Society of St Pius X (SSPX), and all the groups affiliated with it, back into the Church.... Negotiations with the SSPX have indeed begun, yet so far no traditionalist group has taken up the Pope’s call – except, that is, for one small community based on a tiny, windswept island in Orkney. The community, known as the Transalpine Redemptorists, have paid a heavy price for their decision. Four brothers and two priests have left, and about 1,000 supporters in...