It’s that simple, as Father Paul Wattson intended it in petitioning Rome to approve the liturgical octave. Pope Saint Pius X approved of the octave in 1908 and Pope Benedict XV promoted its observance throughout the whole Catholic Church. The eight days of prayer begin on January 18, the feast of the Chair of Saint Peter, and end on January 25, the feast of the conversion of Saint Paul. The Holy Father in his general audience yesterday called for “interior conversion” saying that the Unity Octave must not be limited to nothing more than “cordiality and cooperation.” Read More »

The true religion is not a book. It is a communion — a mystical body — by which man is united to God and therefore made holy, beginning in this life a relationship that is meant to continue for all eternity in beatitude. Yes, the true faith is a revelation from on high. Yes, a portion of that revelation has been transmitted to us in the inspired canonical scriptures. But what those scriptures and the rest of that revelation declare to us is how to enter into vital communion with the Holy Trinity through the Sacred Humanity of Jesus Christ.

We aspire to the direct vision of God in eternity, and we achieve that by seeing and hearing Him in time through faith and charity. Read More »

The traditional Roman Rite of Mass has made its way onto the campuses of Thomas More College and the College of Saint Mary Magdalen. These are two of the country’s most respected Catholic liberal arts colleges. It so happens that they are both located in New Hampshire. It also happens that our brothers have trained young men who serve as acolytes at both institutions. Read More »

Dear Friends and Benefactors,

A Christmas letter is conventionally an opportunity to express gratitude for the past, good cheer for the present, and hope for the future. This is a good convention, for these are three very Christian things. In the present circumstances of our Republic, the world, and the Church, the necessity is to supernaturalize these sentiments, especially the last two; for, in all candor, it is impossible to be cheery about the present or hopeful for the future without a hefty dose of grace. Humanly speaking, things are going very badly. And everyone knows it. Read More »

[Originally authored 13 December 2003, the Feast of Sancta Lucia]

At this time of the Christian Feast of the Nativity, when we are also expectantly considering the coming year of 2012 (as was so in 2003) and the pressures of deepening war and religious conflict, we more openly allow ourselves to consider the foundations of things.

Did the Incarnation happen? Or was it an illusion, or even a deception? Did the Humility of God come into history in such a quiet way in Nazareth unto a pure and lovely woman, and then later also consent to be humbly born in Bethlehem? Read More »

Tomorrow is the Feast of Christ the King, the glorious Christian festival instituted by Pope Pius XI to remind the world of the truth taught by his own papal motto: Pax Christi in regno Christi (the peace of Christ in the Kingdom of Christ). There will be no peace among nations without the social reign of Jesus Christ. And what is that? In brief, all nations, as moral persons, have a duty to acknowledge Jesus Christ, his moral law, and his true religion. By accepting this duty, they accept the social reign of our Lord. Read More »

Rorate Caeli: The photo above usually would be very newsworthy: a priest, one of the 15 that say a weekly or monthly Traditional Latin Mass for the souls of our Purgatorial Society, saying a Requiem Mass for the souls enrolled in the Society.

What makes this not only newsworthy, but extraordinary, is that this Traditional Latin Mass is being said in Afghanistan. More here.

Rorate Caeli has a very good article by Michael Foley explaining what those of us who didn’t know should have known about the ember days:

A potential danger of traditionalism is the stubborn defense of something about which one knows little. I once asked a priest who had just finished beautifully celebrating an Ember Saturday Mass about the meaning of the Ember days. He replied (with an impish twinkle in his eye) that he hadn’t a clue, but he was furious they had been suppressed. Read full article here.

Catholic Culture: Bishop Edward Daly, the retired Irish bishop who is calling for a change in the discipline of clerical celibacy, “was ‘deeply disappointed’ by an experience of celebration of the Mass in Latin some years ago, which he found ‘lifeless and somewhat meaningless,’” according to an Irish Times report on his newly published memoirs. Bishop Daly added that he is “very happy with the liturgy and language of the Mass as we now have it.” More here.

“And now I will shew you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be wasted” (Isaias 5:5).

Rorate Caeli website has a tribute today in honor of Alfredo Cardinal Ottaviani who died thirty-two years ago on August 3, 1979. Principal motivator, along with Antonio Cardinal Bacci, of the famous Ottaviani Intervention, a treatise exposing the doctrinal problems of the soon-to-be-promulgated (1969) Novus Ordo Missae and personally addressed to Pope Paul VI, Ottaviani led the battle with Archbishop Lefebvre, to prevent the promulgation of a New Order of the Mass for the Latin-Rite Church. Read More »