Catholic News Service: Pope Benedict XVI left the Vatican unannounced last evening to visit an art exhibit, according to reports today from Vatican Radio and L’Osservatore Romano.

Yesterday marked the end of the four-month run of the exhibit, “The Power and the Grace: The Patron Saints of Europe,” at Rome’s Palazzo Venezia Museum, and Pope Benedict was among the last of the more than 100,000 people to visit the show. Read more here.

With a hat tip to Tancred at the The Eponymous Flower, I bring your attention to Umberto Eco’s op-ed piece in the New York Times, The Lost Wisdom of the Three Wise Men. Eco is a secularized Italian who was reared and educated as a Catholic, taught, in fact, by the Salesians of Don Bosco. He is a skeptic of a sort, but places great value on Western culture (any culture, apparently, judging from his editorial), and thinks it lamentable that children are ignorant of the Bible, the saints, and their contribution to art. Read More »

I found it very encouraging that there is such a movement. In light of our conference last weekend, whose theme was Catholic culture , this would have been a worthy topic of pursuit. One of the scholars, Enrico Maria Radaelli, was a disciple of Romano Amerio, the author of the opus Iota Unum, a work highly critical of the revolution that ensued after Vatican II both doctrinally and liturgically. Amerio was a personal confidante of the great Cardinal Siri of Genoa. Here’s a clip from the scholars’ passionate appeal: Read More »

Our late October conference just behind us, I would now like to consider its theme in light of our doctrinal Crusade. The coalescence is a wholesome one; “two great tastes that taste great together,” so to speak. Our conference speakers considered, “Toward an Integral Catholic Culture: Variations on a Theme of Father Feeney.” A connection between this and doctrine might not be immediately apparent to many. So, during my opening comments, I addressed a potential objection: “How is it that you’re putting all this emphasis on culture when dogma is your crusade?” In reply, I borrowed a thought from Monsignor Brunero Gherardini, who calls liturgy, “prayed dogma.” Attempting to imitate his gift for conciseness and aptness, I called culture — Christian Culture, anyway — “lived dogma.” Read More »

This essay is dedicated to Father Michael Jarecki, who loves the Blessed Mother very much, and is himself very beloved — and, he has for many, many years now, remained so deeply faithful to Christ, knowing both the tears of sorrow and also the tears of joy. It was completed 18 September 2009, the feast of Saint Joseph Cupertino, and the anniversary of the death of Therese Neumann of Konnersreuth (d.1962).

(Unlike other articles on our site, this piece is copy written, all rights reserved: © 2009 Robert D. Hickson. It may also be downloaded in a PDF version.)

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In Rome, an exhibition of art from all over the world showcases the national patrons of the European nations. It is an artistic tribute to a reality Pope Benedict has made a leitmotif of his pontificate: the Christian roots of Europe, to which she must return. Here, that historical reality — those roots —  find themselves incarnated in masterpieces by Van Eyck, Memling, Mantegna, Caravaggio, Tiziano, Veronese, Van Dyck, Murillo, Tiepolo, and others. Read More »

The pope’s words were spoken after a concert by Chinese pianist Jin Ju. Here’s a clip from Zenit: ”Music,” he said, “great music, gives the spirit repose, awakens profound sentiments and almost naturally invites us to lift up our mind and heart to God in every situation, whether joyous or sad, of human existence. Music can become prayer.” More here.

What a beautiful story this is!  Nothing short of miraculous.

CNA reports: As the October 11 canonization of the Fr. Damien de Veuster approaches, an art teacher is leading a small group from Hawaii to Rome to present Pope Benedict XVI with a portrait of the saint painted by an artist paralyzed by Lou Gehrig’s Disease, also known as ALS.  Full interview is here.

What do the “shores of Gitche Gumee by the shining Big-Sea-Water” have in common with the “Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie”?

The Protestant American author of Evangeline and The Song of Hiawatha is not generally associated with the Catholic British author of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. But there is one literary connection at least — curiously, a Finnish one. Both writers were influenced by the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala. Read More »

I’ve posted enough bad news for today.  Here’s a great and inspiring interview the Catholic Herald of London had with Bella star and pro-life crusader Eduardo Verástegui, the ex-soap opera star and pop singer who isn’t afraid to say that he wants to become a saint. Verastegui has been walking the walk in front of abortion clinics for several years now, praying and giving out Miraculous Medals.  He even gave John McCain and his wife a Medal when he met them during the presidential campaign.  A clip from the interview:

“I realized that I wasn’t born to be a movie star or an actor or a lawyer. I was born to know and to love and to serve Jesus Christ,” he says. He explains that he went through a lot of tears, guilt, and grief after his first Confession. “It broke my heart to realize that I was offending God with the talents he gave me.”

CatholicOnLine has the full text here.