In this post, we bring you some photos from the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Natchitoches, Louisiana, where Fr. John Zuhlsdorf gave a parish mission.
Parish Mission in Louisiana
↧
↧
A Roman Pilgrim at the Station Churches - Part 4
As we have noted on other occasions, St. Peter’s Basilica has the Station twice in Lent, once on Saturday of the first week, since all Ember Saturdays have their Station there, and again on Passion Sunday, the Fifth Sunday of Lent in the modern rite. The Basilica has consistently maintained of displaying a large number of reliquaries on the high altar on these days; including among the relics are the majority of the sainted Popes, both the martyrs and the confessors.
Second Sunday of Lent - Santa Maria in Domnica
 |
| His Excellency Bishop Matteo Zuppi, Auxiliary Bishop of Rome, preaches while standing under a mosaic of the early 9th century. |
Monday of the Second Week - Saint Clement’s
 |
| The Basilica of St. Clement is famous for being built on three levels; the 12th-century church seen in the first picture sits on top of a church of the 4th century (the altar of which is seen here), which in turn sits on top of two ancient Roman buildings, one of the late first and another of the mid-2nd century. All three of these levels are accessible to the public. When the second level, the church of the 4th century, was dug out in the middle of the 19th century, no remains of an altar or an part of the sanctuary were found . The archeologists soon realized that in the process of building the newer church on top of the older, the 12-century builders had dismantled them entirely, moved them upstairs, and reassembled them in their current place. The altar and baldachin seen above were then newly made so that the newly rediscovered spaces of the older church could be used once again for worship. |
 |
| The procession passes through the nave of the ancient church; in the background, some of the 11th century fresco work preserved in the lower church. (Thank you, Agnese, in particular for this beautiful photograph!) |
 |
| The procession passes through the narthex (now underground) of the ancient church of San Clement. |
↧
EF Personal Parish Established in Melbourne, Australia
We have learned from Mr. Chris Steward that His Grace Archbishop Denis Hart of Melbourne, Australia, has raised the Catholic Community of Blessed John Henry Newman to the rank of a Personal Parish, effective March 28th. The parish is located at the Church of St Aloysius in Caulfield, a suburb of Melbourne; Fr. Glen Tattersall, a priest of the archdiocese who has served the community thus far, along with two other priests, will be formally installed by the Archbishop as the parish priest on Friday 25th April, at 11.00 am. Archbishop Hart’s decree may be read here; the parish’s website contains links to various articles reporting on its establishment, including the archdiocesis’ own website. The website also contains a great many other pages and links detailing the many activities of the parish, links to photos and their youtube channel. Congratulations to the new parish, its clergy and faithful, and thanks to Archbishop Hart for his pastoral generosity.
↧
In Honor of St. Benedict, St. Thomas, and Benedict XVI
![]()
A meditation in honor of Saint Benedict, born into eternal life on March 21, 543 (or 547).
For the traditional feastday of the Patriarch of Western Monasticism and the Patron of Europe, it seems appropriate to recall these beautiful words from the Commentary on the Rule of St. Benedict written by a great disciple of his, the Right Rev. Dom Paul Delatte, O.S.B., Abbot of Solesmes from 1890-1921.
St. Benedict of Nursia was above all else a man of tradition. He was not the enthusiastic creator of an entirely new form of the religious life: neither nature nor grace disposed him to such a course. As may be seen from the last chapter of his Rule, he cared nothing for a reputation of originality, or for the glory of being a pioneer. He did not write till late, till he was on the threshold of eternity, after study and perhaps after experience of the principal monastic codes. Nearly every sentence reveals almost a fixed determination to base his ideas on those of the ancients, or at least to use their language and appropriate their terms. But even though the Rule were nothing but an intelligent compilation, even though it were merely put together with the study and spiritual insight of St. Benedict, with the spirit of orderliness, moderation, and lucidity of this Roman of old patrician stock, it would not for all that be a commonplace work: in actual fact, it stands as the complete and finished expression of the monastic ideal. Who can measure the extraordinary influence that these few pages have exercised, during fourteen centuries, over the general development of the Western world? Yet St. Benedict thought only of God and of souls desirous to go to God; in the tranquil simplicity of his faith he purposed only to establish a school of the Lord’s service: Dominici schola servitii. But, just because of this singleminded pursuit of the one thing necessary, God has blessed the Rule with singular fruitfulness, and St. Benedict has taken his place in the line of the great patriarchs.Dom Delatte’s splendid characterization of the “unoriginal originality” of Benedict reminds me strongly of St. Thomas Aquinas, himself a Benedictine oblate as a child and, later, a Dominian friar of whom quite the same thing could be said: he was determined to collect and harmonize the teachings of the ancients and bring them to bear on every problem, so that his solutions often seem like the work of an elegant host who manages, at the table, to get all the guests talking to one another and to reach a consensus that keeps the best of each while gracefully ignoring the rest. Aquinas, in that sense, “was above all else a man of tradition … who thought only of God and of souls desirous to go to God.” To paraphrase Delatte, “Who can measure the extraordinary influence that the works of Thomas, particularly his Summa, have exercised, during seven and a half centuries, over the general development of the Western world?”
But I am also reminded here of our beloved Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who chose the name Benedict for so many of the reasons for which Dom Delatte praises the patriarch. How often did we thank the good Lord for sending us a pope who “was above all else a man of tradition”? How could we fail to see that he sought neither originality nor glory, but pursued a steady course of reviving the wisdom and language of the ancients, bring to his difficult task the “orderliness, moderation, and lucidity” of the best kind of German scholar? It is as if he had been handed the keys to a mansion in which many rooms were closed off and falling apart, one in which the domestic staff had turned suspicious and unaccommodating, and had taken it upon himself to begin the long process of repairing physical structures and healing spiritual breaches. God willing, it will someday be said of him: “Who can measure the extraordinary influence that the few pages of Summorum Pontificum have exercised over the reconstruction of the Church after the destruction wreaked by postconciliar storms?” Yet in all this, Pope Benedict “thought only of God and of souls desirous to go to God; in the tranquil simplicity of his faith he purposed only to restore to the faithful the first and greatest school of the Lord’s service, the sacred liturgy.”
May the teaching and legislation of Pope Benedict be blessed over the centuries with a fruitfulness comparable to that of the Rule of Saint Benedict and the Summa of Saint Thomas.
↧
News of Oratory in Formation in Portland, Jamaica
I was contacted recently by Mgr Michael Palud who asked me to make New Liturgical Movement readers aware of another Oratory in formation. This is in Portland, Jamaica in the Archdiocese of Kingston. He made one simple request, our prayers. Happy to oblige!
Below is a photo of the community with the Procurator General:
↧
↧
A Roman Pilgrim at the Station Churches - Part 5
Thank you once again, Agnese, for these beautiful photos!
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
Tuesday of the Second Week of Lent - Santa Balbina (on the Aventine Hill)
Wednesday of the Second Week of Lent - Santa Cecilia in Trastevere
 |
| The Basilica of St Cecilia in the Trastevere region of Rome is the home of a community of Benedictine nuns. |
 |
| This famous statue of Saint Cecilia by Stefano Maderno represents the Saint’s body as she was discovered in her tomb under the altar, when it was opened in 1599. |
Thursday of the Second Week of Lent - Santa Maria in Trastevere
 |
| The beauty of this church today hides well the fact that in when Stations were instituted for the Thursdays of Lent by Pope St. Gregory II, (715-31), Trastevere was one of the poorest and least well-kept areas of the city, highly vulnerable to the winter flooding of the Tiber. The traditional Gospel of this day, of Lazarus and Dives, (St. Luke 16, 19-31) was almost certainly chosen for this reason, as a highly pertinent reminder to the rich of their duties towards the poor. |
 |
| Many of Rome’s churches still preserve this Medieval style of mosaic, known as Cosmatesque; this floor is from the mid-12th century. The individual strips of white marble and the colored tiles are both taken from the walls of ancient Roman buildings, which by the Middle Ages had long ago fallen into decay. Much of the material had been brought to Rome in ancient times from the furthest corners of the Empire; the purple stone seen here, called porphyry, came from Egypt, and the green serpentine is from Asia Minor. Before the massive renovations of many Roman churches in the Renaissance and Counter-Reformation periods, the style was commonly used not just in the floors, but all over the buildings; in the last photograph from Santa Balbina above, you can see a Cosmatesque throne at the vary back of the church’s sanctuary. |
↧
Where Heaven meets Earth
Readers may remember this inspirational film about St John Cantius in Chicago. 'Where Heaven meets Earth' is another beautifully-produced film about St Peter's Church in Omaha, Nebraska. It is a very similar tale of a church which had fallen into decline, being cut off by a new freeway, in an area which experienced a downturn and a rise in poverty. Fr Damien Cook arrived at the parish in 2004 and immediately set about a Renewal of the Sacred, which has drawn great numbers back to the church. The Blessed Sacrament Procession through the neighbouring streets is particularly impressive and the Pastor also reports a huge rise in the number of boys coming forward as altar servers. The film, produced by the StoryTel Foundation, will air on EWTN on Thursday April 10th at 6:30pm ET, but if you have a spare half hour, you can watch it below:
↧
Lectio Divina: Liturgical Proclamation and Personal Reading
25. Therefore, all the clergy must hold fast to the Sacred Scriptures through diligent sacred reading and careful study, especially the priests of Christ and others, such as deacons and catechists who are legitimately active in the ministry of the word. This is to be done so that none of them will become “an empty preacher of the word of God outwardly, who is not a listener to it inwardly” [St. Augustine], since they must share the abundant wealth of the divine word with the faithful committed to them, especially in the sacred liturgy. The sacred synod also earnestly and particularly urges all the Christian faithful, especially religious, to learn by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures the “excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ” (Phil 3:8). “For ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ” [St. Jerome]. Therefore, they should gladly put themselves in touch with the sacred text itself, whether it be through the liturgy, rich in the divine word, or through devotional reading, or through instructions suitable for the purpose and other aids which, in our time, with approval and active support of the shepherds of the Church, are commendably spread everywhere. And let them remember that prayer should accompany the reading of Sacred Scripture, so that God and man may talk together; for “we speak to Him when we pray; we hear Him when we read the divine saying” [St. Ambrose].
I have noticed a strange phenomenon, namely, that traditionalists tend to swing to the opposite extreme on a lot of things, as if overreacting to the abuses around them. "The congregation singing at Mass? Oh, that's a Novus Ordo thing"—forgetting that St. Pius X, Pius XI, and Pius XII, to name just the most outstanding, repeatedly urged the faithful to chant the Ordinary of the Mass, as indeed is completely fitting and easily done through regular exposure to the chant. "Read Scripture devotionally? Oh, that's a Protestant thing"—forgetting that the Bible is a Catholic book and that the saints of the Church were doing lectio divina for fifteen centuries before the Protestants ever showed up. "Follow along with the readings and prayers at Mass in a Missal? I can't be bothered, I'd rather just pray individually, and be in a pleasant holy haze for an hour." I'm not denying that the old Mass wonderfully promotes interior prayer, and certainly I would never say we should always be reading or singing, but it's no less true that we ought to put on the mind of Christ by joining in the public worship offered by the Mystical Body—and this involves at least some effort at getting acquainted with the content of that worship!
To get back to our main point: Scripture is most of all at home in the Mass, where it is like a jewel placed in a setting of precious metal, and it is our privilege as Catholics to attend to the voice of Almighty God when His very words are being offered up before Him as a sweet-smelling incense. Like everything else in the liturgy, the proclamation of the biblical readings is both for God's glory and for man's sanctification.
“Liturgical proclamation is obviously the place and privileged means of contact with the sacred text. There the living and active Word is returned to me in all its fullness. . . ‘It is he himself who speaks when the holy scriptures are read in church’ (Sacrosanctum Concilium 7).”[1]This is because the Church’s worship is the activity of the Risen Christ, Head of the Church, together with all the members of His Mystical Body. The liturgy is His personal action for, and with, His people: He saves and sanctifies them, He gives them the grace to respond to Him in adoration, praise, blessing, contrition, supplication, thanksgiving. However, “the Church does not actualize its mystery or carry out its activity only in liturgical acts. It follows from this that, in the liturgy, the Word is living and active maximally though not exclusively”[2].
Of course the book itself is not the Word of God, only the means by which it is transmitted to me. But the reader of the book is a member of the Church. That reading takes place in the context of the ecclesial mystery, where the same Spirit who inspired the prophets and sacred writers is present and active. Therefore the text can be read in the light of the same Spirit by whom it was written.Because we are members of Christ’s Body, we can continue to hear God’s Word outside of the liturgy—and in fact that continuation is what makes the public proclamation bear fruit within us as well as prepares us for the next reception of the Word. “All personal reading of the sacred text finds its center in liturgical hearing—as preparation for it, or as its continuation.”
Let me give some examples about how we might prepare ourselves for, or derive further fruit from, the liturgical hearing of the Bible.
- On Sundays or Holy Days, we might look at the day’s readings ahead of time, either the evening before or in the morning, and/or look at them again later that day, to impress the word more firmly on our souls. I have been amazed, personally, at how much more I get out of the reading or chanting of the Scriptures at Mass when I have already gone through the text, even if only cursorily, beforehand. It’s as if the ground had been plowed, and now there are furrows where the seeds can fall and find moisture.
- During Lent, where both the traditional and the modern Roman Rites offer us daily readings at Mass, we might take as our lectio divina the very Epistle and Gospel of the day.
- I have seen Dom Mark Kirby of Silverstream recommend doing lectio divina with the entirety of the Mass, from the Introit through the readings to the Communion, and this has indeed been very fruitful for me on the occasions when I’ve done it.
- If one is fortunate enough to be able to attend a public Divine Office at a monastery or parish, one may do the same thing: look over the psalms and other parts of the liturgy ahead of time and/or afterwards.
A kind of spiritual exchange will take place. The soul, in its moments of prayer, will easily remain influenced by what moved it during the liturgy; it will relive it, probe it more deeply, personalize it in one-to-one dialogue with the divine speaker. On the other hand, what the soul experiences in these moments of prayer will, as it were, flow back to it as it listens during the liturgy. It will be totally present to the reading; it will listen more receptively and be more fully open. The two moments become complementary aspects of a single act.[3]Lectio divina is an essential instrument in the life of the traditional Catholic. It has been a fundamental element (or better yet, foundation) of monastic life since the very beginning. It has been the recurrent life-giving devotion of countless saints. It has shaped the great theologians and mystics. It is recommended to us again and again by the popes and enriched with indulgences. It is a spiritual bread that feeds our hunger and yet causes us to hunger more and more for the Bread of Life, our Lord Jesus Christ, in His Eucharistic Presence and in His heavenly glory. “It is your face, O Lord, that I seek; hide not your face from me.”
NOTES
[1] Archbishop Mariano Magrassi, O.S.B., Praying the Bible: An Introduction to Lectio Divina, 3.
[2] Ibid., 4. The next two quotations are from the same page.
[3] Ibid., 9-10.
(Part V of a multi-part series. Links to the other articles: Part I, Part II, Part III, and Part IV.)
↧
Introducing a New NLM Contributor - Prof. Kyle Washut
We are very pleased indeed to welcome a new member of our writing staff, Prof. Kyle Washut of Wyoming Catholic College, as our first contributor specializing in the Byzantine Liturgy. Prof Washut has already given us some interesting articles in the past few months, on the pre-festal days of Christmas and the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts. Here is his own account of himself and his academic career thus far.
Kyle Washut is a Wyoming native who had every intention of growing up to be a cowboy. Having worked in
![]()
nuclear missile silos, coal mines, landscaping, wilderness trail grooming, street performer venues, and finally earning several collegiate degrees, he finds himself as far away from that goal as ever. He pursued an Associate of Arts in Political Science and another Associate in Spanish at Casper Community College (Wyoming), where he was inducted into the Phi Theta Kappa National Honor Society and graduated in 2003. He received his B.A. in Liberal Arts from Thomas Aquinas College (California) in 2007. More importantly, he also he met his beautiful Canadian bride, Erin, while studying at TAC. In 2010, the International Theological Institute of Austria awarded him the canonical S.T.B. and the Austrian Magister Theologiae, summa cum laude, after his submission of a master's thesis entitled Philokalia: The Theological Tradition of the Eastern Catholic Churches of the Byzantine Tradition in the Documents of the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council. In 2013 he was granted an S.T.L, summa cum laude, from the International Theological Institute’s Center for Eastern Christian Studies after the acceptance of his licentiate thesis, Priestly Purity or Prophetic Transformation? The Early Church and Sexual Asceticism. Having served as the inaugural Assistant Dean of Students, he currently is an instructor of theology at Wyoming Catholic College. He continues to pursue his doctoral research on the complimentary between the practice of the married priesthood as explained in the early Christian East, and the differing practice of the Western Church as interpreted by St. Thomas Aquinas. As a Ukrainian Catholic, Kyle is especially interested in the differences and similarities of the Eastern and Western theological traditions, and to that end has concentrated especially in the history and theology of the Early and Late Patristic era, and the theology and exegesis of St. Thomas Aquinas. He currently lives on the edge of Lander, Wyoming in an old, rustic (not to say falling apart) house, with his wonderful wife, three (at least by June) mostly mild mannered children, and one definitively not mild-mannered mutt. When not studying, commuting six hours to Divine Liturgy, or fixing his house, Kyle likes to think of himself as a hunter and outdoor adventurer. His hunting record being what it is, however, it is a good thing that Byzantines don’t eat meat that often.
Kyle Washut is a Wyoming native who had every intention of growing up to be a cowboy. Having worked in
↧
↧
A Roman Pilgrim at the Station Churches - Part 6
Friday of the Second Week of Lent - San Vitale
 |
| The church of San Vitale was first dedicated in the year 416; modern constructions around it, including the modern street on which it sits, the via Nazionale, are on a much higher level, and one must now descend a rather large staircase to reach the church. This photograph was taken by our friend Agnese from the top of the stairs. |
Saturday of the Second Week of Lent - Ss Peter and Marcellinus
 |
Ss Peter and Marcellinus was originally built by Pope St. Gregory III (731-741), but by the mid-18th century had fallen into ruins and had to be completely rebuilt. It is also below the level of the modern street on which it sits, at the corner of the via Merulana and the via Labicana, but not as severely as San Vitale above.  |
The Third Sunday of Lent - Saint Lawrence Outside-the-Walls
 |
| St Lawrence Outside-the-Walls is one of Rome’s oldest churches, built over the site of the great martyr’s burial by the Emperor Constantine in the first years of the peace of the Church. Pope St. Sixtus III (432-440) built a second church on the site, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, flush with one of the walls of the Constantinian structure; this wall was then taken down at the time of Pelagius II (579-590, the predecessor of St Gregory the Great), transforming the Marian church into the nave of the St Lawrence’s church. The sanctuary of the church was then rebuilt at a rather higher level than the nave, with a large crypt beneath it. (The difference in levels can be seen below.) The dedication of what is now the nave of the church to the Virgin Mary is remembered in the traditional Gospel of the Third Sunday of Lent, which ends with the verses of Luke 11 commonly read on Our Lady’s feasts, and on the Saturday votive Mass of the Virgin. “And it came to pass, as He spoke these things, a certain woman from the crowd, lifting up her voice, said to Him: Blessed is the womb that bore Thee, and the paps that gave Thee suck. But He said: Yea rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God, and keep it.” |
 |
| On July 19, 1943, the church was hit by an American bomb during an air raid on the surrounding neighborhood (still known as ‘Quartiere San Lorenzo’) that left roughly 3,000 dead and 11,000 injured. This inscription commemorates the visit of Pope Pius XII to the church shortly after the bombing, “the angelic shepherd...inexhaustible in help and comfort for the weak, vindicator of right before the mighty, renewing the deeds of his immortal predecessors, with powerful, serene and illuminating words, with untiring actions of many kinds, saved his city of Rome from final ruin. As a sign of eternal gratitude, the people of Rome placed this memorial on the threshold of the reborn basilica.” |
↧
The Feast of the Annunciation
 |
| The Gospel of Annunciation (left), followed by those of the Visitation and the Ember Saturday of Advent. From the Evangeliary of Charlemagne, also known as the Evangeliary of Godescalc, written between 781 and 783. Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Département des Manuscrits, NAL 1203 |
At that time: the Angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, called Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And the Angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. Who having heard, was troubled at his saying, and thought with herself what manner of salutation this should be. And the Angel said to her: Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God. Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son; and thou shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the most High; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father; and he shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever. And of his kingdom there shall be no end. And Mary said to the Angel: How shall this be done, because I know not man? And the Angel answering, said to her: The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And behold thy cousin Elizabeth, she also hath conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her that is called barren: Because no word shall be impossible with God. And Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word.
 |
| The Annunciation, Visitation, the Birth of Christ and the Magi before Herod, from the Codex Aureus of Echternach ca. 1030; Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg, Germany. Manuscript (Hs. 156142). |
↧
A service of Lenten Music and Meditations in London
A service of Lenten Music and Meditations will take place at Farm Street Church in London on Tuesday 8 April 2014 at 7pm. The service will focus on the suffering of Christians in Syria and is being organised by Aid to the Church in Need, the eminent Catholic Charity which does such important work worldwide, supporting the Church in places where Christians are subjected to persecution and oppression. The service will include music sung by the Schola Cantorum of the London Oratory School, and there will be talks given by Lord Alton and ACN's John Pontifex. There will be a collection in aid of children and families who have lost their homes as a result of the conflict in Syria. If you are unable to attend but would like to donate to this cause, you can do so here.
↧
Register Now for Summer Chant Intensive
Still thinking about attending the CMAA Summer Chant Intensive Course?
Because of the dates of the course this summer, June 9-12, 2014, the course will culminate in a sung Mass with the Propers for the Solemnity of Pentecost at the Duquesne University chapel on Thursday, June 12th.
As we journey through Lent, preparing for Easter, it is true that Pentecost seems far off. However, while considering attending this course, take time to listen to the Pentecost Sequence.
For more information about the course, write to us.
↧
↧
Solemn Latin Vespers and Benediction in Alexandria, VA for Laetare Sunday
The Institute of Catholic Culture is organising its annual Laetare Sunday Vespers service coming up this weekend. The event consists of Solemn Vespers and Benediction of the Most Holy Sacrament and will be led by Fr. Paul Scalia, accompanied by Chorus Sine Nomine. It is scheduled for Sunday, March 30th at 7:00PM at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Alexandria, VA. It will be in the Extraordinary Form.
The Institute of Catholic Culture is doing a lot of good work to promote the reestablishment of a Catholic Culture and to my mind has it just right. It is a local organisation with an international reach. They understand fully the importance of the liturgy to the culture. I wrote about the organisation at great length here.
![]()
The Institute of Catholic Culture is doing a lot of good work to promote the reestablishment of a Catholic Culture and to my mind has it just right. It is a local organisation with an international reach. They understand fully the importance of the liturgy to the culture. I wrote about the organisation at great length here.
.jpg)
↧
A Roman Pilgrim at the Station Churches - Part 7
Monday of the Third Week of Lent - Saint Mark
This basilica was originally built in honor of Saint Mark the Evangelist by the only Pope of the same name, who ruled for 10 months in the year 336. Because St Mark is the Patron Saint of Venice, it has often been given as the cardinalitial title to the Patriarchs of Venice; six Popes have been elected while cardinal of this church, four of whom were Patriarch at the time of their election. (Gregory XII, 1406-15, the last Pope to resign before Benedict XVI; Paul II, 1464-71; Clement XIII, 1758-69; and John Paul I, 33 days in 1978.) The church is now surrounded on three sides by the Palazzo Venezia, formerly the embassy of the Venetian Republic to the Papal States.
 |
| The Mass was the vigil Mass of the feast of the Annunciation, rather than the feria of Lent; hence the white vestments. |
Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent - Saint Pudentiana
Like the church of San Vitale which we saw last week, the Basilica of Saint Pudentiana is now sunk below the street level, as new layers of buildings have been built up around it. In the 1920s, the church required such an extensive renovation that an alternative station was appointed for this day at the church of St Agatha. From 1556 to 1565, the Cardinal-Priest of this church was Scipione Rebiba; the vast majority of Latin Rite Catholic bishops (and therefore the priests ordained by them) today derive their Apostolic succession from this man through Pope Benedict XIII (1724-30).
 |
| The apsidal mosaic was made around the end of the 4th century. It has been heavily patched and restored, and clipped off at the edges by a major renovation of the 1590s; despite this, it remains an important example of the early Church’s use of the images of imperial power. Christ is dressed as the Emperor, and the Apostles as the senators. Many of the early Christian Emperors did not believe that their authority ended at the church’s door, and many of the early heresies were either promoted or created by the Roman Emperors. Images of this sort send the message that in the Church, Christ and His Saints are the ruling power. |
 |
| The staircase by which one descends to the modern level of the church. |
Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent - Saint Sixtus
The Church of Saint Sixtus (San Sisto Vecchio) is currently undergoing a major and much-needed renovation, and the Stational observances were held this year across the street at Saints Nereus and Achilleus, formerly the Station on Holy Monday. (I have explained the church’s other name, “Titulus Fasciolae - the title of the bandage”, in an article on the Stations of Holy Week.)
↧
Oratory in Formation in Brisbane, Australia
Good news begets more good news it seems. First San Francisco, then Portland, Jamaica and now I have been contacted by someone telling me about another Oratory in Formation and asking me to raise awareness. The Oratory in Formation in Brisbane, Australia would be the first in Australia and Oceania. It appears to be gaining ground already as it has just announced the identity of the third priest who will be newly joining the community. they have one novice already. You can read about it on their website here.
![]()
While they haven't asked for money, only prayers, I am sure that like most communities who are looking to establish themselves and attract members and find a permanent home, I am sure donations would be welcome. So on their behalf I would happily push any who might be interested in their direction.
For any readers who might be curious as to my strong interest in the Oratorians, here is a link through to my article on how the liturgy at the London Oratory influenced my conversion.
For any readers who might be curious as to my strong interest in the Oratorians, here is a link through to my article on how the liturgy at the London Oratory influenced my conversion.
May God bless their work.
↧
The Theology of the Offertory - Part 4: An Ecumenical Problem
This is the fourth in a continuing series of articles. The previous parts may here read here: part 1, part 2, part 3.
A common objection to the traditional form of the Offertory prayers is that they “anticipate” ideas of the Canon. For example, in his memoire The Reform of the Liturgy, 1948-1975, Abp. Bugnini, one of the principal architects of the post-Conciliar reform, refers to the debate over the Offertory by the committee which created the reform.
On reading the full account, the members of the Consilium do not seem especially harsh or polemical in their critique of the Offertory; rather, they seem to have simply taken it for granted that it would be extensively revised. It must be said that here, as in many other places, the revision which they eventually produced went far beyond the mandate of Vatican II’s document on liturgical reform Sacrosanctum Concilium, which does not even mention the Offertory.
Now, one may simply take the position that the revision in itself is a good thing, or even an improvement, without necessarily accepting any given prior critique of the Offertory found in the Missal of St Pius V. However, if one wishes to state that the Offertory improperly anticipates the ideas of the Canon, such a statement poses a significant problem for ecumenical relations with those who use the Byzantine Liturgy in its various recensions and languages. The Byzantine tradition is in fact very much in agreement with the Roman tradition in its manner of preparing the Eucharistic sacrifice, and does so in a manner that “anticipates” that sacrifice much more explicitly.
The Greek word for the Byzantine preparation ritual is “proskomedia”, the two elements of which, the preposition “pros” and the verb-root “komid-”, correspond quite closely in sense to the Latin preposition “ob” and the verb-root “fer-” in the word “offertorium”. The website of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America translates the word as “the Office of Oblation”, and it is indeed an Office unto itself, very much longer and more complex than any form of Offertory in any Use of the Roman Rite. I shall not here attempt to give a complete explanation of it, but only outline some of the more salient points where it is conceptually similar to the traditional Roman Rite. This description follows the text of a Hieratikon (priestly service-book) published by the Greek Orthodox Church in 1977.
Just after the opening prayer, the priest takes the bread, which is called “prosphora – an offering”, and lifts it up with both hands, raising his eyes to heaven, exactly as in the Roman Offertory at the prayer Suscipe Sancte Pater. As he raises it he says “Thou has redeemed us from the curse of the Law by Thy precious blood; being nailed to the Cross, and pierced with the lance, Thou didst pour forth immortality unto men; glory to Thee, our Savior.” The deacon then says to him, “Bless, lord,” and the priest makes the sign of the cross over the diskos (a plate on a base) with the prosphora and the implement which is used to cut it. The latter is called a “lance”, not a knife; the Greek word for it, “lonkhe”, is the word St John uses (19, 34) for the soldier’s lance that pierced Christ’s side.
![]()
A prosphora is made with a design pressed into it called a “seal”, as seen here; the priest takes the lance and traces it over the seal three times, after which, the rubrics refer to the prosphora repeatedly as “the Lamb.”
The priest stabs the Lamb with the lance on four sides, saying the words of Isaiah 53 according to the Septuagint, “He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a spotless lamb before the shearer is dumb, so he opens not his mouth. In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: who shall declare his generation?” The deacon then says to him, “Lift up, lord,” and he lifts it up, continuing from Isaiah, “because His life is taken away from the earth.”
The priest then turns it upside down, at which the deacon says, “Sacrifice (‘thuson’), lord.” The priest cuts the Lamb through most of the way, leaving the seal intact on top, saying “The Lamb is sacrificed (‘thuetai’, the same verb which is said above in the imperative form), the Son and Word of God, that taketh away the sin of the world, for the life and salvation of the world, even He that is ever sacrificed and never consumed.”
The deacon then says in Greek “stauroson, despota”, which literally means “Crucify, lord.” The rubrics of the Hieratikon make it very clear that this means that he cuts it again in such a way that the cut makes the shape of a Cross. Nevertheless, this is the same word which in the Gospels the crowds shout to Pontius Pilate, “Crucify Him!” The rubric here also describes this action with the verb “thuei – he sacrifices (or ‘offers’)”; as he does this, he says “When Thou wast crucified, Christ, the tyranny (of the devil) was taken away, the power of the enemy was trod down; for neither an angel nor a (mere) man, but the very Lord, thou didst save us; glory to Thee.”
The deacon says “Pierce (nuxon), lord”, at which the priest pierces it with the lance on the left side, saying the words of the Gospel of St John, “One of the soldiers with his lance pierced (enuxe) His side, and at once there came out blood and water. And he that saw hath born witness, and his witness is true.” The deacon then pours wine and water into the chalice, asking the priest to bless them, “Bless, lord, this union”. The priest makes the sign of the cross over it saying, “Blessed be the union of Thy holy things”.
There follows an elaborate ritual in which ten small triangular pieces are cut off the Lamb, or another prosphora (there may be several). The first is laid on the diskos to the Lamb’s right, with the words from Psalm 44, “The Queen stands at Thy right arrayed in gold etc.” The other nine are laid to Its left in a rectangle, the first in honor of the Angels, the second in honor of the Prophets and Patriarchs, and so on through the hierarchy of the Saints. As he lays these pieces on the diskos, the priest says “Unto the honor and memory of Michael and Gabriel, … of all the heavenly bodiless powers; of the honorable and glorious Prophet and Forerunner John the Baptist … of the glorious prophets Moses and Aaron etc.” In much the same way, although rather more briefly, in the Roman Offertory prayer Suscipe Sancta Trinitas the offering is made “…unto the honor of the blessed Mary ever Virgin, and of the blessed John the Baptist etc.”
The priest then says a long prayer for the clergy and people, and another “for the souls of those in blessèd rest”; the latter begins, “Again, we offer to you this sacrifice…” In the same way, the first prayer of the Roman Offertory asks God to receive the Host “for all faithful Christians, living and deceased.” At the end of either prayer, the priest may add the names of those for whom he offers the Divine Liturgy, saying “Remember, o Lord, (name)”; as he says each name, he lays another piece of the Lamb or of another prosphora on the diskos. This serves the same purpose as the two Mementos of the Roman Canon, even though there is another opportunity for the priest to name both the living and the dead during the anaphora.
Today, this ritual is performed at a table called a “prothesis” on one side of the church’s sanctuary. At one time, however, many of the great churches of the East, including Hagia Sophia, had a separate building called the “skeuophylakion – the place where the vessels are kept,” i.e. a sacristy. In “The Great Entrance”, a famous study of the Byzantine preparation and Offertory procession, Fr. Robert Taft S.J. demonstrated that the Proskomedia was for many centuries performed in the skeuophylakion, and the Great Entrance was originally an entrance from the sacristy building into the church, and not simply a procession out of and back into the sanctuary. (p. 189-194; Orientialia Christiana Analecta, no. 200, 1975)
In all of this, one cannot fail to notice to what degree the Byzantine Rite “anticipates” the Eucharistic Sacrifice in these rites of preparation: repeated and explicit reference to the Passion; the physical preparation of the bread and wine with words like “sacrifice”, “crucify” and “pierce”, as well as “offering”; calling the bread “the Lamb”; placing individual pieces of bread on the plate as part of the Mementos of the living and the dead; all this before the Divine Liturgy itself has even begun; and formerly, in the Mother Church of the Byzantine Liturgy (and elsewhere), in a completely different building.
This series began as a response to the statements of an anonymous blogger named Consolamini, who referred (erroneously) to the traditional Roman Offertory as a product of the Scholastic period, which “not only exaggerated the sacrificial nature of the Mass to make it repetitive of Calvary, but (also) … invented a second sacrifice in which bread and wine were offered to God at the ‘offertory’ of the Mass.” The Scholastic theologians, he tells us, held an “exaggerated notion of Eucharistic sacrifice in which each Mass was seen as a new and unique Sacrifice of Christ to the Father”, which represents a “loss of the patristic heritage… in total contradiction to the scriptures where we are told that Christ died once for all.” (The article was then quoted by Fr. Anthony Ruff on the blog PrayTell, as a good explanation of why “there can’t be a going back to the old rite”, an interpretation which Consolamini himself has recently approved.)
Now if any of this were true, the Byzantine Rite, which enthusiastically “anticipates” the Eucharistic sacrifice in the Proskomedia, would also represent a radical departure from the teaching of the Fathers. And, it must be added, this theoretical departure would have taken place without the help of the Scholastics, whose influence in the Byzantine world was never very strong, and who were essentially rejected in the Hesychasm controversies of the 14-century. Likewise, if, as Consolamini claims, the 1970 revision of the Offertory meant that the Roman Catholic Church had returned to the previously lost Apostolic and Patristic heritage, the unavoidable corollary would be a heavy slap in the face to the Orthodox.
In the previous article of this series, I have explained that it was in no wise the intention of Pope Paul VI to change the Church’s theology of the Eucharistic sacrifice, much less to change it back to something from which it had putatively gone astray. More recent Papal legislation has also fully repudiated the critique of the traditional Offertory as intrinsically problematic, and the implicit critique of the Byzantine tradition. The motu proprio Summorum Pontificum has established the traditional Ordo Missae, and with it the Offertory rite, as part of the Roman Rite on a par with that of the Novus Ordo. Furthermore, the recently approved liturgy of the Anglican Use Ordinariate contains as an option the full text of the traditional Offertory rite in English.
After lengthy discussion the collegial judgment of the Consilium took this form: 12 for retention of the phrase (“which we offer to you” proposed by Pope Paul VI to clarify the purpose of the Offertory), 14 against, and 5 in favor of finding an expression that would refer to the presentation of the elements for the sacrifice, but without using the term “offer.” This was the word that caused difficulty, since it seemed to anticipate, or at least detract from the value of, the one true sacrifice of the immolated Christ that is expressed in the Canon. (p. 379 – my emphasis. The words “which we offer to you” were retained.)This is part of his account of the long and complex debates about what changes to make to the Offertory. He also notes that in the midst of the debate, Bishop Carlo Manziana, who was often consulted by the Pope and the Consilium on liturgical matters, expressed his approval of one interim proposal because the new formulas “…remove the equivocal impression that the offertory rite is a ‘little Canon.’ ” (ibid. p. 375)
On reading the full account, the members of the Consilium do not seem especially harsh or polemical in their critique of the Offertory; rather, they seem to have simply taken it for granted that it would be extensively revised. It must be said that here, as in many other places, the revision which they eventually produced went far beyond the mandate of Vatican II’s document on liturgical reform Sacrosanctum Concilium, which does not even mention the Offertory.
Now, one may simply take the position that the revision in itself is a good thing, or even an improvement, without necessarily accepting any given prior critique of the Offertory found in the Missal of St Pius V. However, if one wishes to state that the Offertory improperly anticipates the ideas of the Canon, such a statement poses a significant problem for ecumenical relations with those who use the Byzantine Liturgy in its various recensions and languages. The Byzantine tradition is in fact very much in agreement with the Roman tradition in its manner of preparing the Eucharistic sacrifice, and does so in a manner that “anticipates” that sacrifice much more explicitly.
The Greek word for the Byzantine preparation ritual is “proskomedia”, the two elements of which, the preposition “pros” and the verb-root “komid-”, correspond quite closely in sense to the Latin preposition “ob” and the verb-root “fer-” in the word “offertorium”. The website of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America translates the word as “the Office of Oblation”, and it is indeed an Office unto itself, very much longer and more complex than any form of Offertory in any Use of the Roman Rite. I shall not here attempt to give a complete explanation of it, but only outline some of the more salient points where it is conceptually similar to the traditional Roman Rite. This description follows the text of a Hieratikon (priestly service-book) published by the Greek Orthodox Church in 1977.
Just after the opening prayer, the priest takes the bread, which is called “prosphora – an offering”, and lifts it up with both hands, raising his eyes to heaven, exactly as in the Roman Offertory at the prayer Suscipe Sancte Pater. As he raises it he says “Thou has redeemed us from the curse of the Law by Thy precious blood; being nailed to the Cross, and pierced with the lance, Thou didst pour forth immortality unto men; glory to Thee, our Savior.” The deacon then says to him, “Bless, lord,” and the priest makes the sign of the cross over the diskos (a plate on a base) with the prosphora and the implement which is used to cut it. The latter is called a “lance”, not a knife; the Greek word for it, “lonkhe”, is the word St John uses (19, 34) for the soldier’s lance that pierced Christ’s side.
 |
| Vessels and instruments for the Byzantine Liturgy made in Moscow in 1679, now in the treasury of the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg. The lance is the pointed object lying flat, right beneath the chalice. |
A prosphora is made with a design pressed into it called a “seal”, as seen here; the priest takes the lance and traces it over the seal three times, after which, the rubrics refer to the prosphora repeatedly as “the Lamb.”The priest stabs the Lamb with the lance on four sides, saying the words of Isaiah 53 according to the Septuagint, “He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a spotless lamb before the shearer is dumb, so he opens not his mouth. In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: who shall declare his generation?” The deacon then says to him, “Lift up, lord,” and he lifts it up, continuing from Isaiah, “because His life is taken away from the earth.”
The priest then turns it upside down, at which the deacon says, “Sacrifice (‘thuson’), lord.” The priest cuts the Lamb through most of the way, leaving the seal intact on top, saying “The Lamb is sacrificed (‘thuetai’, the same verb which is said above in the imperative form), the Son and Word of God, that taketh away the sin of the world, for the life and salvation of the world, even He that is ever sacrificed and never consumed.”
 |
| The stabbing of the Lamb during the Proskomedia. |
The deacon then says in Greek “stauroson, despota”, which literally means “Crucify, lord.” The rubrics of the Hieratikon make it very clear that this means that he cuts it again in such a way that the cut makes the shape of a Cross. Nevertheless, this is the same word which in the Gospels the crowds shout to Pontius Pilate, “Crucify Him!” The rubric here also describes this action with the verb “thuei – he sacrifices (or ‘offers’)”; as he does this, he says “When Thou wast crucified, Christ, the tyranny (of the devil) was taken away, the power of the enemy was trod down; for neither an angel nor a (mere) man, but the very Lord, thou didst save us; glory to Thee.”
The deacon says “Pierce (nuxon), lord”, at which the priest pierces it with the lance on the left side, saying the words of the Gospel of St John, “One of the soldiers with his lance pierced (enuxe) His side, and at once there came out blood and water. And he that saw hath born witness, and his witness is true.” The deacon then pours wine and water into the chalice, asking the priest to bless them, “Bless, lord, this union”. The priest makes the sign of the cross over it saying, “Blessed be the union of Thy holy things”.
There follows an elaborate ritual in which ten small triangular pieces are cut off the Lamb, or another prosphora (there may be several). The first is laid on the diskos to the Lamb’s right, with the words from Psalm 44, “The Queen stands at Thy right arrayed in gold etc.” The other nine are laid to Its left in a rectangle, the first in honor of the Angels, the second in honor of the Prophets and Patriarchs, and so on through the hierarchy of the Saints. As he lays these pieces on the diskos, the priest says “Unto the honor and memory of Michael and Gabriel, … of all the heavenly bodiless powers; of the honorable and glorious Prophet and Forerunner John the Baptist … of the glorious prophets Moses and Aaron etc.” In much the same way, although rather more briefly, in the Roman Offertory prayer Suscipe Sancta Trinitas the offering is made “…unto the honor of the blessed Mary ever Virgin, and of the blessed John the Baptist etc.”
 |
| A diagram showing the placement of the various pieces of the prosphora on the diskos. Note that the piece in honor of the Mother of God is on the left, although the rubrics of the Hieratikon say that it goes on the right, in imitation of the words of Psalm 44, and those of the “ranks” of the Saints are on the right. The “right” side of the Lamb is treated as if He were lying on the diskos facing outwards, in which case His right is our left. |
The priest then says a long prayer for the clergy and people, and another “for the souls of those in blessèd rest”; the latter begins, “Again, we offer to you this sacrifice…” In the same way, the first prayer of the Roman Offertory asks God to receive the Host “for all faithful Christians, living and deceased.” At the end of either prayer, the priest may add the names of those for whom he offers the Divine Liturgy, saying “Remember, o Lord, (name)”; as he says each name, he lays another piece of the Lamb or of another prosphora on the diskos. This serves the same purpose as the two Mementos of the Roman Canon, even though there is another opportunity for the priest to name both the living and the dead during the anaphora.
Today, this ritual is performed at a table called a “prothesis” on one side of the church’s sanctuary. At one time, however, many of the great churches of the East, including Hagia Sophia, had a separate building called the “skeuophylakion – the place where the vessels are kept,” i.e. a sacristy. In “The Great Entrance”, a famous study of the Byzantine preparation and Offertory procession, Fr. Robert Taft S.J. demonstrated that the Proskomedia was for many centuries performed in the skeuophylakion, and the Great Entrance was originally an entrance from the sacristy building into the church, and not simply a procession out of and back into the sanctuary. (p. 189-194; Orientialia Christiana Analecta, no. 200, 1975)
 |
| Hagia Sophia, seen from the northeast; the skeuophylakion is the round building in the left foreground. |
In all of this, one cannot fail to notice to what degree the Byzantine Rite “anticipates” the Eucharistic Sacrifice in these rites of preparation: repeated and explicit reference to the Passion; the physical preparation of the bread and wine with words like “sacrifice”, “crucify” and “pierce”, as well as “offering”; calling the bread “the Lamb”; placing individual pieces of bread on the plate as part of the Mementos of the living and the dead; all this before the Divine Liturgy itself has even begun; and formerly, in the Mother Church of the Byzantine Liturgy (and elsewhere), in a completely different building.
This series began as a response to the statements of an anonymous blogger named Consolamini, who referred (erroneously) to the traditional Roman Offertory as a product of the Scholastic period, which “not only exaggerated the sacrificial nature of the Mass to make it repetitive of Calvary, but (also) … invented a second sacrifice in which bread and wine were offered to God at the ‘offertory’ of the Mass.” The Scholastic theologians, he tells us, held an “exaggerated notion of Eucharistic sacrifice in which each Mass was seen as a new and unique Sacrifice of Christ to the Father”, which represents a “loss of the patristic heritage… in total contradiction to the scriptures where we are told that Christ died once for all.” (The article was then quoted by Fr. Anthony Ruff on the blog PrayTell, as a good explanation of why “there can’t be a going back to the old rite”, an interpretation which Consolamini himself has recently approved.)
Now if any of this were true, the Byzantine Rite, which enthusiastically “anticipates” the Eucharistic sacrifice in the Proskomedia, would also represent a radical departure from the teaching of the Fathers. And, it must be added, this theoretical departure would have taken place without the help of the Scholastics, whose influence in the Byzantine world was never very strong, and who were essentially rejected in the Hesychasm controversies of the 14-century. Likewise, if, as Consolamini claims, the 1970 revision of the Offertory meant that the Roman Catholic Church had returned to the previously lost Apostolic and Patristic heritage, the unavoidable corollary would be a heavy slap in the face to the Orthodox.
 |
| A Byzantine Divine Liturgy being celebrated in the presence of the Pope during the Second Vatican Council. |
In the previous article of this series, I have explained that it was in no wise the intention of Pope Paul VI to change the Church’s theology of the Eucharistic sacrifice, much less to change it back to something from which it had putatively gone astray. More recent Papal legislation has also fully repudiated the critique of the traditional Offertory as intrinsically problematic, and the implicit critique of the Byzantine tradition. The motu proprio Summorum Pontificum has established the traditional Ordo Missae, and with it the Offertory rite, as part of the Roman Rite on a par with that of the Novus Ordo. Furthermore, the recently approved liturgy of the Anglican Use Ordinariate contains as an option the full text of the traditional Offertory rite in English.
↧
↧
TLM Server Training with Fr. Scott Haynes and Musica Sacra Florida Gregorian Chant Conference
www.musicasacra.com/florida
New this year is a two-day workshop offered by Father Scott Haynes from the Society of St. John Cantius for training servers to serve a Pontifical High Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman rite. Participants under the age of 18 accompanied by a chaperone are also welcome to participate (contact Susan Treacy for more details - contact info available on conference website).
Server training workshop - Thursday, May 15th and Friday, May 16th
Gregorian chant conference - Friday, May 16th and Saturday, May 17th
Server training participants are welcome to stay for Saturday's portion of the chant conference.
This year's conference takes place on the beautiful campus of Ave Maria University in Ave Maria, Florida.
Registration prices are affordable, and include materials and instruction. Adults are $60, Full-time students (with ID), seminarians, and clergy are $15. On-campus housing is available, too, with a single room for $50/night and a double for $70/night ($35/night/person).
Fr. Scott Haynes will serve as the keynote speaker, and Mr. Adam Bartlett (composer of the Simple English Propers and Lumen Christi Missal) joins our faculty this year in teaching English chant.
Other faculty members include:
Jennifer Donelson, D.M.A. – Nova Southeastern University
Jeffrey Herbert, CAGO/ChM – Saint Raphael Church, Englewood, FL
Susan Treacy, Ph.D. – Ave Maria University
Special workshop tracks are available in:
- Gregorian Chironomy – How to conduct Gregorian chant
- Instruction for chant directors & aspiring chant directors on learning & teaching new chants
- Basic instruction on how to read Gregorian chant notation
The conference also includes:
- Missa cantata in the Extraordinary Form on Friday evening with chants provided by the Schola Cantorum of Saints Francis & Clare (Miami)
- Closing Missa cantata in the Ordinary Form on Saturday evening with English & Latin chants provided by conference participants
- Closing Missa cantata in the Ordinary Form on Saturday evening with English & Latin chants provided by conference participants
Registration deadline is Friday, May 2nd, 2014.
We hope you'll be able to join us!
↧
Solemn Vespers, Conference in NYC
The Church at the Close of an Age: Postconciliar Catholicism at the End of the Generation of Vatican II,” is the topic of a conference, sponsored by the St. Hugh of Cluny Society on April 4 at 7 p.m. at the Union League Club.
The conference is preceded by Solemn Vespers in the Extraordinary Form at 5:30 in St. Patrick's Old Cathedral in Lower Manhattan.
The conference features Dr. Roberto deMattei, professor of Christianity at the European University in Rome, and Dr. John Lamont, Thomistic scholar and philosopher of Sydney, Australia. Both are well-known scholars, who have courageously defended traditional theological positions throughout their respective careers.
The conference is free and open to the public.
For more information check the St. Hugh of Cluny Society website at: http://sthughofcluny.org/2014/03/upcoming-lectures-by-roberto-de-mattei-and-john-lamont-2nd-notice.html.
The conference features Dr. Roberto deMattei, professor of Christianity at the European University in Rome, and Dr. John Lamont, Thomistic scholar and philosopher of Sydney, Australia. Both are well-known scholars, who have courageously defended traditional theological positions throughout their respective careers.
The conference is free and open to the public.
For more information check the St. Hugh of Cluny Society website at: http://sthughofcluny.org/2014/03/upcoming-lectures-by-roberto-de-mattei-and-john-lamont-2nd-notice.html.
↧
Faith of our Fathers, a film about the English Martyrs, now available in the USA
The beautiful film 'Faith of our Fathers' which featured in this post is now available to readers in North America and Canada in a 95 minute DVD (Region 1 NTSC) which you can order from Ignatius Press here.↧
More Pages to Explore .....
