Toledo 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...
View ArticleSome Ambrosian Chants For Lent
Here is a very nice recording of four pieces of Ambrosian chant, two of which are particular to the Lenten season, and used on this day, the Second Sunday of Lent, but not only on this day. The first...
View ArticleThe 150th Anniversary of the Birth of Pope Pius XII
Today marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of His Holiness Pius XII, who was also elected Pope on this day in 1939, his 63th birthday; his papacy would be the 14th longest (among 266 thus far) in...
View ArticleThe Penitential Psalms in Books of Hours
The seven Penitential Psalms are a standard part of the liturgical material incorporated into Books of Hours, along with the Little Office of the Virgin Mary, the Office of the Dead, and the Litany of...
View ArticleWhy Are Modern Church Buildings So Ugly
And Why Does it Matter?The following first appeared as an interview in The Catholic Herald. Jan C. Benz, who conducted the interview, teaches philosophy at Blackfriars College, Oxford.Los Angeles...
View ArticleA Troped Kyrie from the Use of York
Over the years, we have published a fair number of articles about the medieval Use of Sarum, which predominated in England before the Reformation, but very little about the other English Uses of the...
View ArticleOn the Roman Mass, Don’t Take Your Cue from Fortescue
Separated by over 100 years, with the advantage going to FiedrowiczThis article is a combined effort of Gregory’s and mine. - PAKUndoubtedly Adrian Fortescue is a fascinating figure, rather eccentric...
View ArticleAn Interesting Fact About Today’s Lenten Station
Several years ago, I read a very interesting book called Mourning into Joy: Music, Raphael, and Saint Cecilia, by Thomas Connolly. (Yale Univ. Press, 1995). The principal subject is Raphael’s painting...
View ArticleMedieval Art and Liturgical Objects at the Musée de Cluny in Paris (Part 5):...
This is the fifth 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 Fine...
View Article“Let My Prayer Rise as Incense” by Dmitry Bortniansky - Byzantine Music for Lent
In the Byzantine Rite, the Divine Liturgy is not celebrated on the weekdays of Lent, but only on Saturdays and Sundays; an exception is made for the feast of the Annunciation. Therefore, at the Divine...
View ArticleThe Ambrosian Lenten Litanies
The duomo of Milan as it stands today is the result of a project which began in 1386, to replace the two cathedrals which had hitherto served the see of St Ambrose. The “winter church”, as it is still...
View ArticleSaints Perpetua and Felicity
For over a millennium before the birth of St Thomas Aquinas, March 7th was the feast day of Ss Perpetua and Felicity, two young women who were martyred in the stadium at Carthage on this day in the...
View ArticleThe Third Sunday of Lent 2026
Oculi mei semper ad Dóminum, quia ipse evellet de láqueo pedes meos: réspice in me, et miserére mei, quoniam únicus et pauper sum ego. Ps 24 Ad te, Dómine, levávi ánimam meam: Deus meus, in te confído,...
View ArticleA Hymn for Lent, Lost and Restored
The Roman tradition has always been very conservative about the use of hymns in the Divine Office. In most liturgical seasons, there are three proper hymns, one each for Matins, Lauds and Vespers, but...
View ArticleSt Frances of Rome and the Counter-Reformation
This Thursday, the feast of Pope St Gregory the Great, is the anniversary of one of the most important events of the Counter-Reformation. On that day in the year 1622, Pope Gregory XV canonized four...
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