tenebrae candles

How the Office of Tenebrae Was Sabotaged

By Dr. Carol Byrne, Great Britain. Among the liturgical treasures of Holy Week targeted by the reformers was the ancient service of Tenebrae (a Latin word meaning darkness) – so called because of its gradual extinguishing of lights – which had a continuous history of use in the Church since at least the 7th century until 1955. Yet many Catholics today have not the slightest notion that such a service ever existed in the Church, let alone what it entailed or what it was meant to signify, so great were the progressivists’ efforts to keep them, in quite another sense,[…]

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QUO PRIMUM – Apostolic Constitution of His Holiness Pope Saint Pius V on the Celebration of Masses

Quo Primum 1570 … Nobody needs “permission”… It’s already been given

We give and grant in perpetuity that for the singing or reading of Mass in any church whatsoever this Missal may be followed absolutely, without any scruple of conscience or fear of incurring any penalty, judgment or censure, and may be freely and lawfully used. Nor shall bishops, administrators, canons, chaplains and other secular priests, or religious of whatsoever Order or by whatsoever title designated, be obliged to celebrate Mass otherwise than enjoined by Us. Given at Saint Peter’s, Rome, in the year of Our Lord’s Incarnation one thousand five hundred and seventy, on the fourteenth day of July in[…]

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St-Patrick

St-Patrick Confession

We usually think of a “confession” as when a person acknowledges some guilt for wrongdoing. An older use has also other meanings such as Confession of God’s greatness – Praise, and Confession of Faith – such as in the Creed, a profession of faith. The Confession of St Patrick is mostly the Confession of God’s greatness as Patrick has experienced it in his own life, despite all his limitations. There are several translations of the writings of St Patrick available, one of them is the Saint Patrick’s Confessio Hypertext Stack Project. The following translation of St-Patrick Confession comes from “St. Patrick: His Writings and[…]

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Holy Face of Jesus

Holy Face Devotion – Devotion for Our Times: Acts of Reparation for Insults and Blasphemies

“This Salutary Reparation to the Holy Face of Jesus is a Divine Work, Destined to Save Modern Society.” — Pope Pius IX Devotion to the Holy Face of Christ is of ancient origin, reaching back to the fourth century and before. From the 12th century on, the devotion began to revolve around the Veil of Veronica, held to be the cloth Veronica gave to Our Lord to wipe His face during the carrying of the Cross. Popularity of the devotion grew enormously with St. Therese of the Child Jesus making known her devotion to the Holy Face, with an Archconfraternity[…]

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Holy Liturgy

“To the Illustrious Assassins of Our Holy Liturgy” by Msgr. Domenico Celada

The following clear-sighted and prophetic letter was penned by the composer, musicologist, organist, and essayist Msgr. Domenico Celada in 1969. It is a document that prophesied what would happen in the Church—all the more relevant today when Traditionis Custodes attempts to stifle fidelity to the Tridentine Rite, without caring about the liturgical degradation that, with the introduction of a new Mass, has been perpetrated and continues dramatically in these times of deep crisis in the Catholic Church. Msgr. Celada’s open letter unmasked (and unmasks) the spirit that animated (and animates) the saboteurs of tradition. Nor did Msgr. Celada, who taught music[…]

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Exsúrge, Dómine - Arise, O Lord

Exsúrge, Dómine – Arise, O God, Judge Thy Own Cause

“Arise, O Lord, and judge your own cause. Remember your reproaches to those who are filled with foolishness all through the day. Listen to our prayers, for foxes have arisen seeking to destroy the vineyard whose winepress you alone have trod.” ~ Pope Leo X. The Israelites cried “Arise, O Lord” in confident expectation of victories over all their enemies through God’s intervention. Therefore, no matter how perilous the circumstances may be, and no matter how powerful the enemies of the Mystical Body of Christ are (which is the Church), the Lord will arise for the sake of Christendom if[…]

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Sacra Virginitas: Encyclical of Pope Pius XII on Consecrated Virginity

Sacra Virginitas: Encyclical of Pope Pius XII on Consecrated Virginity

To Our Venerable Brothers, the Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, Bishops, and other Local Ordinaries in Peace and Communion with the Apostolic See. 1. Holy virginity and that perfect chastity which is consecrated to the service of God is without doubt among the most precious treasures which the Founder of the Church has left in heritage to the society which He established. 2. This assuredly was the reason why the Fathers of the Church confidently asserted that perpetual virginity is a very noble gift which the Christian religion has bestowed on the world. They rightly noted that the pagans of antiquity imposed[…]

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Blessed rosary, rosaries and chaplets, crosses and crucifixes

Blessed Crosses, Crucifixes, Rosaries and Medals

Blessed rosary, rosaries and chaplets, crosses and crucifixes are a powerful channel of Grace, and have many indulgences attached to them. The following text comes from the “Raccolta: Collection of Prayers and Good Works for Which the Popes Have Granted Holy Indulgences” –  “Raccolta delle orazioni e pie opere per le quali sono sono concedute dai Sommi Pontefici le SS. Indulgenze”. Ancient may have been the custom of the Sovereign Pontiff to bless and distribute to the faithful sacred articles of gold, silver, or other metal (whence originated the Pontifical blessing and distribution of crosses, crucifixes, rosaries, medals, &c.), yet[…]

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The People at the Cross, and the People of Today

The People at the Cross, and the People of Today

At Golgotha, in sight of the temple and city of Jerusalem, in the presence of two or three millions of Jews, who had come to the city from all lands, Jesus, the Son of God, hung upon the cross, an expiatory sacrifice for mankind burdened with all manner of sin. Near cross of her dying Son stood Mary, His mother, filled with grief; by her side John, the beloved disciple, and kneeling at the foot of the cross almost insensible from sorrow and anguish, convulsively winding her arms around the wood of the cross, was Mary Magdalen, the penitent. On[…]

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Monasticism in the Catholic Church

The Mission of Monasticism in the Catholic Church

Since the early years of the Christian era, Christians have been called by Christ Himself to life in the world without being of the world (John 17:13-16). There are those who think that the contemplative life is not suited to our times and particularly to our country. Hear what Pius IX said on that subject: “The want of the American Church is religious orders of prayer. America is a young country; she has passed her infancy and is now in her youth, but before she arrives at maturity one thing is necessary,—the extension of contemplative orders, without which she will[…]

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The Evil Scourge of War

The Evil Scourge of War by Franz Hunolt, 1889

And so it is, my dear brethren; the most terrible of all public calamities is war. Pestilence and contagious diseases are a severe punishment, and so is famine and hunger; but if war once breaks out in a country, you have all those other plagues with it; for, as experience teaches, they follow in its train, as matters of necessity. All trials and contradictions, no matter what their name may be, are, indeed, punishments, but they are salutary punishments, which serve to bring men to a sense of the wickedness of their ways, and to lead them to God; but,[…]

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Church on Religious Unity and Diversity

The Last Word of the Church on Religious Unity and Diversity

When Christ wished to institute something great and Indispensable in His Church, He promised it first, and conferred it afterwards. Such was the Institution of the Primacy of Peter and of His Church. But He not only established a Church. That is not too difficult a task. Men have also established Churches. They may be counted by the hundred. Many are gone; many more exist, and others will follow. They are all founded on the sand of human frailty: hence not durable. God only can make His Church everlasting, because He Is with her “unto the consummation of the world,”[…]

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