Notre Dame de Rouen. The façade of the Gothic Church in France. Photographer: Hippo1947. Licence: SHUTTERSTOCK.

Tuesday 13 February 2018

Lent Is Here. Let Us Make It A Meaningful Time This Year. Pray And Go To Confession. Pray And Go . . .



Illustration and Text: RORATE CAELI

Lent starts tomorrow. We're running out of time to prepare.

In the past, you could find a Traditional Lenten Mission at many Parishes. Now, unless you are near a Traditional Parish, they are nearly extinct -- or worthless.

Fortunately, we are not meant to live in the past, we are meant to live in the now. And, now, we have the Internet. And there is an abundance of good on the Internet, along with the bad.

As we do every year, we bring to your attention this wonderful, Traditional, Five-Part Lenten Mission by the holy and learned Fr. Isaac Mary Relyea. While it is not short, it does go by very quickly, and is easy to follow and understand. It's clear, concise and bold.

As the season nears, you would do well to listen to this, to Pray on it and to use it to prepare for a fruitful Lent -- and be ready for it to change you for the better.

Click on each of the five themes of the Mission: 

On Hell

"I Vow To Thee, My Country".



Illustration: FLICKR


"I Vow To Thee, My Country ".
Poem: "I Vow To Thee My Country", by Sir Cecil Spring Rice.
Music: "Jupiter", by Gustav Theodore Holst.
Event: Festival of Remembrance, Royal Albert Hall.
Available on YouTube at

Monday 12 February 2018

" What Have I Done To Thee ? "




"Caligaverunt oculi mei".
Tenebrae Responsories,
by Tomas Luis de Victoria (1548-1611).
Sung by The Sixteen.
Director: Harry Christophers.
Available on YouTube at



Caligaverunt oculi mei a fletu meo:
quia elongatus est a me, qui consolabatur me:
Videte, omnes populi, si est dolor similis sicut dolor meus.
O vos omnes, qui transitis per viam, attendite,
et videte si est dolor similis sicut dolor meus.



The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia.

The Improperia are a series of Antiphons and Responses, expressing the remonstrance of Jesus Christ with His people. Also known as The Reproaches, they are sung in The Catholic Liturgy as part of the observance of The Passion, usually on the afternoon of Good Friday.

In The Byzantine Rite, they are found in various Hymns of Good Friday and Holy Saturday. The Improperia appear in The Pontificale of Prudentius (846 A.D. - 861 A.D.) and gradually came into use throughout Europe in the 11th- and 12th-Centuries, finally being incorporated into The Roman Ordo in the 14th-Century.


My people, what have I done to Thee ?
How have I offended you ?
Answer Me !

I led you out of Egypt, from slavery to freedom,
but you led your Saviour to The Cross.

Holy is God !
Holy is God !
Holy and strong !
Holy and strong !

Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us.
Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us.

The following Article, in February 2016, was taken from,
and can be read in full at, VULTUS CHRISTI




Illustration: VULTUS CHRISTI



Illustration: PINTEREST


Answer Thou Me.

The Feast of Reparation for offenses committed against Our Lord in The Sacrament of His Love was instituted in the 17th-Century, when, particularly in a France ravaged by The Thirty Years War
(1618—1648), Churches were Desecrated and burned, The Most Blessed Sacrament was thrown to the ground, trampled, and even fed to animals. Bands of mercenary soldiers descended from the Protestant Countries of Northern Europe to pillage and destroy everything that represented The Catholic Faith. Two things, in particular, became the object of their fanatical wrath: Images of The Blessed Virgin Mary and The Most Holy Sacrament of The Altar.

At the same time, in certain ostensibly Catholic circles, there was a surge of interest in Black Magic and in engagement with The Powers of Darkness. Not infrequently, Sacred Hosts were stolen from Churches, or taken away surreptitiously after a Sacrilegious Communion. Too many Priests were seen to offer Holy Mass hurriedly and with scant reverence. Tabernacles were neglected. Churches were forsaken. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Apocalypse 19:16), the Thrice-Holy God, before Whom The Angels veil their faces and Adore, hidden beneath the fragile appearance of The Sacred Host, remained silent in a state of utter abjection, abandoned to the coldness, indifference, and carelessness of men.

“O, My people,
what have I done to thee,
or, in what have I molested thee ?
Answer thou Me” (Micheas 6:3).



Sorrowing Love.

A multitude of Souls, grieved by the offences committed against Our Lord in The Sacrament of His Love, sought to make up for the Honour, Reverence, Adoration, Gratitude, and Love, that others refused Him. Believing Hearts were pierced through with a Sorrowing Love. The Holy Ghost inspired a vast Movement of Compunction and Reparation that came, over time, to find expression in The Sacred Liturgy, itself.

A special Mass and Office were composed, by which The Church approved this Movement of Compunction and Reparation. Mother Mectilde de Bar entered wholeheartedly into this Movement and, in some way, made its essential thrust so much her own that it came to be identified with The Benedictine Monasteries of Perpetual Adoration that she generated.



The True Body And Blood of Jesus Christ.

One might think that all of this belongs to the past, that things have changed since the dark and turbulent days of 17th-Century France, but this, alas, is not so. Remember recent events in Pamplona and in Fontainebleau. The Desecration of Churches and Sacrilegious Offenses against The Most Holy Sacrament of The Altar proliferate.

The distribution of Holy Communion IN THE HAND [Editor: Emphasis is mine], notably, has led to every manner of irreverence. Sacred Hosts have been found on the floor of Churches, stuck into the pages of books, and lying on pews. The disappearance of The Communion Rail; the widespread practice of Priest and people facing each other during The Holy Sacrifice; the indiscriminate use of Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion in ordinary circumstances — all of these things have contributed to a massive loss of Faith in The Real Presence of Our Lord in The Blessed Sacrament and in Holy Mass as The Perfect Sacrifice of Calvary offered in an unbloody manner.

Many of those who present themselves for Holy Communion have no notion of what The Church believes and teaches; that this is no mere bread of Holy Remembrance, but is The True Body and Blood [Editor: And Soul and Divinity] of Jesus Christ, Priest and Victim: The Very Body and Blood formed by The Holy Ghost in The Womb of The Virgin Mary, nailed to The Wood of The Cross, Gloriously Risen from The Tomb, Ascended into The Heavenly Sanctuary, and Coming in Majesty at The End of Time to Judge The Living and The Dead.

This Article can be read in full at VULTUS CHRISTI


Sunday 11 February 2018

"I Am The Immaculate Conception (Que Soy Era Immaculada Concepciou)". The Apparition Of The Blessed Virgin Mary At Lourdes, France, 11 February - 16 July 1858, To Saint Bernadette.


Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless otherwise stated.

The Apparition of The Blessed Virgin Mary at Lourdes.
   Feast Day 11 February.

Greater-Double.


White Vestments.






English: Basilica of The Immaculate Conception, Lourdes, France.
Deutsch: Frankreich: Lourdes, Basilika der unbefleckten Empfängnis,
Rosenkranzbasilika und Krypta in Lourdes.
Photo: 2005.
Source: Own work.
Author: Milorad Pavlek.
(Wikimedia Commons)




From 11 February 1858 to 16 July 1858, The Blessed Virgin Mary came down from Heaven eighteen times (Introit), and showed herself to Saint Bernadette Soubirous (Collect), in the cave of the rock at Massabielle (Gradual).

On 25 March 1858, she said to the little shepherdess of fourteen years of age: "I am The Immaculate Conception". Today's Feast, therefore, recalls Mary's triumph over the serpent (Tract), which The Septuagesimal Liturgy has in mind.



Stained-Glass Window, 
from Bonneval Church, France,
showing the Vision of Saint Bernadette of Lourdes.
Photo: 17 July 2009.
Source: Own work, adapted from 
Bonneval Eglise Notre-Dame vitrail 3.JPG.
Author: Xandar.
(Wikimedia Commons)



Like the woman seen by Saint John, "clothed in the Sun, with the Moon under her feet and a Crown of twelve Stars over her head" (Epistle), The Virgin of Lourdes "is clothed in a Robe and Veil, as White as Snow, she wears a Blue Girdle and on her bare feet rests a Golden Rose," all symbolic of her Virginal Love.

She exhorts to Penance the unfortunate Children of Eve, who have not been, like herself, preserved from sin. On The Day of The Annunciation, she declared her name to us, to manifest that it is on account of The Incarnation (Collect) that God has vouchsafed to her "not to be tainted with The Original Stain" (Tract).

Remembering that Mary is "The Ark of The New Covenant" (Epistle), let us go with confidence to her, who, "Full of Grace" (Offertory), "visits our Earth to multiply in us the gifts of her riches" (Communion).

Mass: Vidi civitátem.
Commemoration and Last Gospel of The Feria. In Lent:
Preface: Of The Blessed Virgin Mary: Et te in Conceptione Immaculáta.

Quinquagesima Sunday.


Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless stated otherwise.

Quinquagesima Sunday.

Station at Saint Peter's Basilica, Rome.

Semi-Double.

Privilege of The Second Class.

Violet Vestments.



Jesus said to him: "Receive thy sight, thy Faith hath made thee whole".
Artist: René de Cramer.
"Copyright Brunelmar/Ghent/Belgium".
Used with Permission.



In the same way that the first three Prophecies of Holy Saturday, with their accompanying Prayers, are concerned with Adam, Noah and Abraham, so, during The Septuagesima Season, our attention is called in Missal and Breviary to these same Patriarchs, known respectively by The Church as The Father of The Human Race, The Father of Future Generations and The Father of Those Who Believe.

Adam, Noah and Abraham were types of Christ in The Paschal Mystery, a fact which we have already shown to be true in the case of the first two, in our notes on Septuagesima Sunday and Sexagesima Sunday. That it is true of Abraham, also, we shall see today.

In The Ambrosian Liturgy, Passion Sunday was called "Abraham's Sunday" and the "Response of Abraham" was read in The Office for that day; in The Roman Liturgy, also, he is still the subject of the Gospel for Passion Sunday.



Traditional
 Latin Mass for Quinquagesima Sunday.
Available on YouTube at



"Abraham, your father", says Our Lord, "rejoiced that he might see My Day, he saw it and was glad
. . . Amen, Amen, I say to you, before Abraham was made, I AM". God had indeed promised Abraham that The Messias should descend from him, and he was overwhelmed with great joy, when, by Faith, he contemplated beforehand The Day of The Redeemer's Coming.

Again, when this was fulfilled, he still contemplated it with a fresh joy in Limbo, where he was waiting, with the Just Men of The Old Law, for Jesus to come and deliver them after His Passion. When The Three Weeks of The Septuagesima Season were added to Lent, Quinquagesima became the Sunday on which the Liturgy is devoted to Abraham, so that, in the Lessons and Responses for today, the whole history of the Patriarch is described.



Quinquagesima Sunday.
Available on YouTube at



With the desire of forming a people, who should be specially His own in the midst of the idolatrous Nations of the World (Gradual and Tract), Almighty God chose Abraham as its Head and gave him his name, which means Father of Many Nations. "And He took him from Ur, in Chaldee, and kept him from harm in all his wanderings" [Prayers taken from The Rituale Romanum for the Recommendation of a Soul, and before a journey].



The Communion 
for Quinquagesima Sunday.
Available on YouTube at

Psalm LXXVII. 29-30.
Manducaverunt, et saturati sunt nimis,
et desiderium eorum attulit eis Dominus:
non sunt fraudati a desidero suo.



A man is not saved by being a son of Abraham, according to the flesh, but by being Abraham's son by means of a Faith like his. So, Saint Paul writes: "In Christ Jesus, neither circumcision (to be a Jew) availeth anything, nor uncircumcision (to be a Gentile), but a new creature". "Walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath delivered Himself for us, an oblation and a sacrifice to God for an odour of sweetness".

If the custom of allowing ourselves a little relaxation of spirit, before undertaking The Lenten Penance which binds us all, is of Liturgical origin, let us not forget that The Church condemns all excess. To atone, therefore, for those sins that are committed, let us make a Solemn Adoration of The Blessed Sacrament, besides saying this Prayer of Reconciliation, known as The Forty Hours' Prayer, which was instituted, either, by Saint Anthony-Mary Zaccaria († 1539), or by the Capuchin Father, Joseph Piantanida da Fermo (about 1636), a Prayer richly Indulgenced by Pope Clement XIII (1765).

The Forty Hours' Devotion originated from The Forty Hours that Jesus passed in the tomb. Exposition of The Blessed Sacrament was included, but at a later date, and regulated by Pope Clement XI, in 1705.

Every Parish Priest Celebrates Mass for the people of his Parish.

Mass: Esto mihi.
Preface: Of The Most Holy Trinity.
The Common Preface. On weekdays,

Saturday 10 February 2018

"The Most Beautiful Thing This Side Of Heaven" (Fr. Faber). Watch The Daily Mass, In The Divine Latin Form, From Saint Mary's, Warrington, England.




Watch the Daily Latin Mass

Saint Scholastica. Virgin. Sister Of Saint Benedict. Feast Day, Today, 10 February.


Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless stated otherwise.

Saint Scholastica.
   Virgin.
   Feast Day 10 February.

Double.

White Vestments.


Artist: René de Cramer.
"Copyright Brunelmar/Ghent/Belgium".
Used with Permission.


Saint Scholastica, the twin sister of Saint Benedict, was born at Nursia, Italy, in 480 A.D. It was a unique event in the annals of The Church, that brother and sister should have Founded the two Branches of an Order still full of vitality after an existence of fourteen Centuries.

A scholar, as her name implies, of The Patriarch of The Monks of The West, from her earliest childhood, she attended the School of his virtues, for she saw in him Christ, whose Spouse she was (Epistle). ["The Abbot occupies the place of Christ, Whose name he bears: "Abbot, Father".]

Following the teaching of The Master ["Hear, O son, the precepts of The Master" (Rule of Saint Benedict: Prologue).] a repetition of that of Jesus in His Public Life, all her life is summed up in two sayings: "Love what is good, hate iniquity" (Introit).

The Divine Spouse, Who was about to call her unto Him (Gospel), miraculously granted the Prayer of His well-beloved. Benedict, a faithful observer of Monastic discipline, had refused to continue the Spiritual conversation which each year he granted his sister in a dependency of the Abbey. Scholastica, leaning with her elbows on the table, and holding her forehead in her hands, began to shed tears. Immediately, a a violent storm burst forth and rain fell in torrents. Benedict understood that God sanctioned the brotherly love which had united them all their lives, and passed the whole night conversing with his sister about the joys of Heaven.


Three days later (543 A.D.), while at Prayer, before The Night Office, he saw the innocent Soul of Saint Scholastica ascend to Heaven in the shape of a Dove (Collect). Her body was placed at Monte-Cassino in the tomb her brother had prepared for himself, in which he was also placed a few weeks later.

"Thus, it happened", writes Saint Gregory, "that one tomb united the bodies of those whose Souls had always been intimately united in God."

Let us ask "God, Who received into Heaven the Soul of the blessed Virgin Scholastica in the shape of a Dove, to show us the way of innocence, to grant us by her merits and Prayers to live so innocently that we may deserve to attain Eternal Joys" (Collect).

Mass: Dilexisti.
In Lent: Commemoration and Last Gospel of The Feria..
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