Composer Andrew Dittman Releases New Collection of Sacred Music
Noble and Accessible, Ever Ancient, Ever NewI am delighted to announce the release of new sacred music by American composer Andrew Dittman called The Kyrial. The settings are generally familiar...
View ArticleMedieval Art and Liturgical Objects at the Musée de Cluny in Paris (Part 3):...
For this third set of Nicola photographs of an exhibition recently held at the Musée de Cluny in Paris, titled “The Middle Ages of the 19th Century - Creations and Fakes in the Fine Arts”, the focus is...
View ArticleA Letter Exchange on the Last Council and the Liturgical Reform
The following letter exchange took place between me and a gentleman whose personal details have been edited out.Dear Dr. Kwasniewski,I am a high school theology teacher and also lead Bible studies. The...
View ArticleLiturgical Notes on Ash Wednesday
It is a universal custom of all historical Christian rites not to fast on the day of the Lord’s Resurrection, even in Lent and Holy Week. The original Roman Lent of six weeks therefore comprised...
View ArticleDurandus on the Thursday after Ash Wednesday
On the preceding day (Ash Wednesday), all are invited to repentance; and because penance consists in three things, namely, prayer, fasting and almsgiving, on the three days, the liturgy treats of these...
View ArticleSacred Music Study Day in Menlo Park, California, April 18
On Saturday, April 18th, St Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, California, will host the third annual Sacred Music Study Day – co-sponsored with the Archdiocese of San Francisco and the Catholic...
View ArticleA Prayer from Ash Wednesday
The Torment of St. Anthony, MichelangeloLost in Translation #161 I cannot resist the temptation to take a brief hiatus from our examination of the Ordinary of the Mass to mull upon a remarkable prayer...
View ArticleDurandus on the Friday after Ash Wednesday
On the previous day, Durandus explains that the Masses of the three days after Ash Wednesday treat of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving respectively.The liturgy of Friday is about fasting, and shows what...
View ArticleMedieval Art and Liturgical Objects at the Musée de Cluny in Paris (Part 4)
This is the fourth post in our series of Nicola’s photographs of an exhibition recently held at the Musée de Cluny in Paris, titled “The Middle Ages of the 19th Century - Creations and Fakes in the...
View ArticleDurandus on the Saturday after Ash Wednesday
Our friend Durandus’ commentary on the Masses of the three days after Ash Wednesday explains that they treat of prayer (Thursday), fasting (Friday), and almsgiving (Saturday) respectively. The section...
View ArticleThe First Sunday of Lent 2026
Here is a very interesting recording of the Tract for the First Sunday of Lent by the French ensemble Dialogos, with only female voices. The verses Scapulis suis and Scuto circumdabit are omitted; at A...
View ArticleSt Peter Damian on Liturgical Prayer
St Peter Damian died on the feast of St Peter’s Chair, February 22, in the year 1072, a very appropriate day for one who spent so much of his life in service to the Church and to the Holy See. His...
View ArticleCentenary Exposition of St Francis of Assisi’s Relics
This year, the Church marks the 8th centenary of the death of St Francis of Assisi, which happened in the later evening of October 3rd, 1226. As part of the celebrations, his relics have been removed...
View ArticleParticipate in a Spiritual Bouquet for the Pope and the TLM
With the recent announcement that the Society of St Pius X intends to consecrate new bishops for itself on July 1st of this year, it seems very likely that sooner rather than later, Pope Leo will have...
View ArticleToledo Nuptial Rite: A Glimpse into Regional Variety
Last July in Spain, I had the great joy of meeting a priest from a Spanish family, albeit born in Chicago (and thus perfectly fluent in both English and Spanish), who now happily ministers in the...
View ArticleDurandus on the Ember Wednesday of Lent
In the Introit Reminiscere, (the Church) asks for liberation, namely, that which is had through fasting, and in the epistle and reading, we are admonished to fast by the example of Moses and...
View ArticleThe Canaanite Woman in the Liturgy of Lent
Before the early eighth century, the church of Rome kept the Thursdays of Lent (with the obvious exception of Holy Thursday) and the Saturdays after Ash Wednesday and Passion Sunday as “aliturgical”...
View ArticleThe Penitential Psalms in the Liturgy of Lent
In his Life of St Augustine, St Possidius of Calama writes that in his final illness, the great doctor “had ordered the Psalms of David, those very few which concern penance, be written out; and lying...
View ArticleA New Holy Week Resource: Latin-English Tenebrae Booklets
A friend of mine, Mr Matthew Roth, has made some very nice new booklets for Tenebrae which include all the Gregorian chants, and a full translation in English. The text follows the Divino Afflatu...
View ArticleThe Ember Saturday of Lent at Sarum and St Peter’s
In the Roman Missal, the fifth prophecy is the same on all four of the Saturday Ember Days, Daniel 3, 47-51, with a few of the verses re-ordered. The words that follow in the Biblical text (verses...
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