First Sunday of Advent

The First Sunday of Advent

The Savior, then, who is coming to us is the clothing which we are to put on over our spiritual nakedness. Here let us admire the goodness of our God, who, remembering that man hid himself after his sin, because he was naked, vouchsafes himself to become man’s clothing, and cover with the robe of his Divinity the misery of human nature. Let us, therefore, be on the watch for the day and the hour when he will come to us, and take precautions against the drowsiness which comes of custom and self-indulgence. The light will soon appear; may its[…]

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Christmas Novena Prayers During Advent

Christmas Novena Prayers During Advent

This Christmas Novena is translated from the Italian of Alphonsus Maria de Liguori and was first published in 1758. Although this novena is intended primarily as a preparation for the feast of our Lord’s Nativity, it can be used with spiritual profit at any time of the year as a devotion in honor of the Infant Jesus. Day One God’s Love Revealed In His Becoming Man Meditation:Because our first parent Adam had rebelled against God, he was driven out of paradise and brought on himself and all his descendants the punishment of eternal death. But the son of God, seeing[…]

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Traditional Liturgical Calendar - Traditional Latin Mass

2023 -2024 Traditional Liturgical Calendar: Tridentine Latin Mass

Keep close to the Catholic Church at all times, for the Church alone can give you true peace, since she alone possesses Jesus, the true Prince of Peace, in the Blessed Sacrament. ~St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina. The Traditional Latin Mass, “The Mass of All Ages” is making a great comeback among Catholics of all ages. Do not depart by one iota from traditional Catholic doctrine: Roman Catholicism is pure and unadulterated – as practiced from the time of Our Lord. In these turbulent times of sodomite and masonic invasion with the intent of destroying Christ’s Church from within, Catholics should[…]

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Magnificat - The Canticle of Mary

Magníficat ánima mea Dóminum

The Magnificat, the canticle of the Incarnation, recalls to us each day that God has stripped Himself of His glory to clothe Himself in the livery of poor and suffering humanity. “He raised [Mary] above all others because she declared herself to be the lowest of all creatures. When He made for Himself a dwelling place on earth, it was not in the palaces of kings. He chose poor, humble parents and all that the world disdained in order to cast down its pomp. This was the proper character of divine power in the new alliance: to make its virtue[…]

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Advent Season

The Advent Season: Sermon by Father De Pauw

This Sunday is the 1st Sunday of Advent and the first Sunday of a new liturgical year. The word “advent” comes from the Latin word adventus ..arrival …the coming of someone very special. The Advent season is a season whose liturgical color is purple, the color indicating a time of serious thinking supported by some extra penance. The color purple is the chemical result of the light of the rising sun piercing through the darkness of the night. Spiritually the symbol of the darkness of life without God since the original sin of the first parents, gradually being pushed back[…]

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Crusade to put Christ back in Christmas

The Crusade to put Christ back in Christmas

In order to stem the tide of secularism and materialism which certain opportunists inject into every Christmas season it is not necessary to go to the other extreme and assume Puritanical austerity. Christmas ought to be merry. We ought to be happy and light hearted. It is a feast day of great importance. Man has every reason for celebrating this day of days with all the gladness his heart can hold. Only the worldly and the cynical say, ‘‘I’ll be glad when it is over,” or believe that Christmas is no longer anything more than a time of costly and[…]

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Rorate Mass

Rorate Cæli Mass & Hymn of the Catholic Faith

Did your community have at least one Rorate Mass this Advent? Rorate Cæli is one of the most beautiful Hymns of the Catholic Faith. The text of this piece is a faithful rendition of the verse from the Book of Isaiah (Isaiah 45:8) in Vulgate and other sources. It is a reverent and humble supplication to the mercy of God. It is a hymn of repentance and sorrow. The following recording comes from the Trappist Abbey of Citeaux in France. To listen, tap the play button. Latin English Rorate Cæli desuper,Et nubes pluant justum. Drop down dew, ye heavens, from aboveAnd let the clouds[…]

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Practicing Christian Religion at Home

Practicing Christian Religion at Home: Turn Your Homes into Traditional Latin Mass Houses of the Lord

The Church is not the only place for the practice of religion. The home is also a sacred place in which God must be especially honored and where the faith of Christians must be planted and fostered. “Your home is your Church.” (St. Augustine). If religion is not taught and practiced at home, the church and school will scarcely be able to preserve it. Let your home be Catholic by the presence of the crucifix and of other sacred images. Do not be content to have such articles only in the bedroom; but let the whole house show the character[…]

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Penance

How was Advent formerly observed?

Very differently from now. It then commenced with the Feast of St. Martin, and was observed by the faithful like the Forty Days’ Fast, with strict penance and devotional exercises, as even now most of the religious communities do to the present day. The Church has forbidden all turbulent amusements, weddings, dancing and concerts, during Advent. Pope Sylverius ordered that those who seldom receive Holy Communion should, at least, do so on every Sunday in Advent. The Church called us to follow the strict norms not so long ago. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, fasting remains normative for 40 days[…]

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Ember Days of Prayer, Fasting & Abstinence

What are Ember Days and what is their place in the life of the Church?

The 1917 Catholic Encyclopedia explains: “The purpose of their introduction, besides the general one intended by all prayer and fasting, was to thank God for the gifts of nature, to teach men to make use of them in moderation, and to assist the needy. The immediate occasion was the practice of the heathens of Rome. The Romans were originally given to agriculture, and their native gods belonged to the same class. At the beginning of the time for seeding and harvesting religious ceremonies were performed to implore the help of their deities: in June for a bountiful harvest, in September[…]

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Feast of the Expectation of the Blessed Virgin Mary — December 18

One of the most inspiring days preceding Christmas is the feast of “Our Lady of Expectation” unknown to many today but still kept alive in many countries like Spain, Portugal, Italy and Poland as well as in a few religious orders. In older editions of missals, this feast is still listed as a votive Mass. The feast is celebrated on the 18 December, a week before Christmas Day. Canadian blogger Vox Cantoris makes the following observation: “The machinations of Annibale Bugnini were well on their way in the middle 1950’s with the planned reforms given to us by Pope John[…]

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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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