Recta Ratio

Station Church: S. Giovanni a Porta Latina


Devotions for a Lenten Saturday holy hour:
Divine Mercy Chaplet
Seven Penitential Psalms
Prayer of St. Thomas More
Threnus Prayer of Saint Augustine
Stabat Mater Dolorosa
Litany of Our Lady of Sorrows
Sorrowful Mysteries

Apr 9
Palm Sunday. 10 AM Mass in English/German (Novus Ordo). Männerbruderschaft. Holy Trinity German Choir. The Mass will be offered for Elsa (Bergdoll) Krim. Blessing of Palms in Upper Church at 9:45AM.

Palm Sunday. 12 Noon High Mass (Traditional Latin). Combined Choirs. The Mass will be offered for Fred Raymundo.

Wed 12
Spy Wednesday. Tenebrae. Schola Amicorum. 7:00PM.

Thu 13
Holy Thursday. Mass in English/German (Novus Ordo). Holy Trinity German Choir. The Mass will be offered for Holy Trinity Parish. 7:00PM.

Fri 14
Good Friday. Stations of the Cross and Veneration of the Cross, 7:00PM.

Sat 15
Holy Trinity Combined Choirs rehearsal, 12:00 noon.

Holy Saturday. Easter Vigil in English/German (Novus Ordo). Holy Trinity German Choir. The Mass will be offered for all current and former clergy of the Archdiocese, 8:30PM.

Apr 16
Easter Sunday. 10 AM Mass in English/German (Novus ORdo). Holy Trinity German Choir. The Mass will be offered for the living and deceased musicians of Holy Trinity.

Easter Sunday. 12 Noon High Mass (Traditional Latin). Combined Choirs. The Mass will be offered for Maria Fern Schmidt, for Maria Varnay Schmidt, and for Maria Geöcze Varnay.

Station Church: S. Stefano al Celio

Devotions for a Lenten Friday holy hour:

Dies Irae
Divine Mercy Chaplet
Seven Penitential Psalms
Prayer of St. Thomas More
Threnus Prayer of Saint Augustine
Devotions To the Holy Cross

Maundy Thursday Office of Darkness at St. James Cathedral, Seattle

Over at Recta Ratio: the Yahoo Group, I just finished this week's big project, the texts for all of the Psalms, lessons, versicles, and responses, along with rubrics, for Tenebrae for Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. Tenebrae is the combined offices of Matins and Lauds (normally said by monastics at Midnight and daybreak, though moderns tend to say them both together around 4am) called (and I like this name) The Office of Darkness.

For the Triduum, they are said in the evening of the day before, so that the laity may hear the Office chanted. Therefore, Maundy Thursday's Office of Darkness is said, usually, around 7pm on Spy Wednesday evening, Good Friday's after Mass Of the Lord's Supper and the Stripping of the Altar on Maundy Thursday, and Holy Saturday's on Good Friday evening.

To find them, first of all, join Recta Ratio: The Yahoo Group. Once that is done, or if you are already a member, Go to Files, then to the Catholic Prayers File, then to the Folder for Lenten and Passiontide Prayers, then open the subfolder Tenebrae During the Sacred Triduum.

I have included English and Latin versions of each day's Office of Darkness. The rubrics are all in English in both versions. Sorry, but Yahoo Groups does not give me the option to color text to make rubrical material stand out. The English version has a very brief commentary on each of the Psalms included that is not in the Latin version (that is why the number of KBs in the English version is slightly larger than in the Latin).

You can easily print up these materials for use in the home. And if it tries to run the text off the page, as Yahoo Groups often does with text files, copy the whole thing, and just save to a wordprocessing program or to Yahoo mail drafts, then print it out.

I have also included an article from The Catholic Encyclopedia on the Tenebrae.

To see these prayers in the context of incredibly lovely sacred art(though not so printer-friendly), see The Roman Breviary at Breviary.net, one of my standing links on the right side under "Basic Catholic Resources."

I hope this contributes to a blessed and lovely Holy Week for all.

As for places where the Tenebrae will be sung in the Boston area, Holy Trinity will be having Maundy Thursday's Tenebrae on Spy Wednesday evening at 7pm. A few blocks away, at Holy Cross Cathedral, Cardinal O'Malley will be the celebrant at Tenebrae, starting at 7:30pm. There are no plans anywhere that I know of for the Office of Darkness for Good Friday or Holy Saturday.

Replacing Bishop Lennon as Vicar General of the Archdiocese will be Father Richard Erickson. This is supposed to be the first of several house-cleaning moves by Cardinal O'Malley. Father Erickson has been a military chaplain.

I don't know much about him. But probably an improvement.

Gary LaPierre, who has been the anchor of WBZ Radio morning news for 42 years, since before I was born, is going to retire in December at the age of 63. He has been the news anchor since the station featured the late Carl DeSeuss and later Dave Maynard as music hosts in the morning, while Don Kent did the weather, and Gil Santos the sports.

WBZ, known informally as Wyoming Blasting and Zoning because of the strength of its signal (it reaches something like 34 states and 6 provinces at night) was one of the original radio stations licensed by the FCC. It switched to an all-news format sometime in the early 1990s.

This is a guy I have been listening too, especially for school closing announcements, since I was a wee nipper. Truly the end of an era.

Station Church: S. Apollinare in Campo Marzio

Devotions for a Lenten Thursday holy hour:
Dies Irae
Divine Mercy Chaplet
Seven Penitential Psalms
Prayer of St. Thomas More
Threnus Prayer of Saint Augustine
Devotion To the Holy Face

But since I read other blogs daily, it could not help but intrude into my serenity.

So here is my antidote to Rogerism:

Father George Rutler offering the traditional Latin Mass at Holy Name in Providence.





Here is another thought that might sustain you and drive out the Mahony Blues: Bishop George Rutler. Sounds nice, eh?

At least about the perceived reaction to Bishop Lennon being shipped off to Cleveland among the Holy Trinity community. You'd think the Holy Father himself had just stood athwart the path of the demoliton crew, hand up, yelling "HALT!" Bishop Lennon apparently went out of his way to antagonize the Latin Mass community here. And there is jubilation at his departure.

The only fear is that he isn't leaving until May, and he might accelarate the process of closing us down in the way of tying up "loose ends" before he leaves.

But it would be far, far more prudent, with major news coming very soon from Rome on the Latin Mass generally, to leave Boston's Latin Mass community right where it is. Shoe-horning us into a small parish with inadequate parking that doesn't want us and we don't want to move to is not consistent with the motivation of the Holy Father in whatever he is about to do about the Latin Mass.

Station Church: S. Marcello al Corso

Devotions for a Lenten Wednesday holy hour:

Dies Irae
Divine Mercy Chaplet
Seven Penitential Psalms & the prayers against the Seven Deadly Sins
Prayer of St. Thomas More
Threnus Prayer
Seven Prayers of St. Gregory

I don't spend much time concerned about who Hollywood casts in a movie, unless it is part of a franchise I care about. And those are few and far between. James Bond, Aubrey/Maturin, if there ever is a second movie, Narnia, Harry Potter, Star Trek, and Star Wars pretty much exhausts my movie interests.

But I have heard in recent days two just awful efforts to cash in on celebrity status despite the fact that both actresses in question are terrible, and would be awful in the roles.

First is Paris Hilton as Mother Thereesa of Calcutta. Yes. You can pick your jaw up off the floor now. Just ridiculous. ou've got to be kidding. How about Maya Morgenstern, who played Our Blessed Lady in The Passion of the Christ?

The second one has more resonance for guys about 38-45. Lindsey Lohan as the next Wonder Woman. Again, Why? I have never seen her in anything, as I generally do not watch American movies. But I have seen pictures, and I don't think she could be credible in the part. And who could be WW after the incredibly gorgeous Lynda Carter? Who? Maybe Lucy Lawless, who at 6'3" and coming off a long spell as Xena would be believable. But she isn't getting any younger. Chyna, but she can't act, and would be ridiculous in the Diana Prince scenes. A few other fitness models come to mind, but can they act?

But Parish Hilton and Lindsey Lohan? Please. Hollywood can do better, I'm sure.

Might be good news for Holy Trinity. Lennon has been among the least helpful and sympathetic in regard to keeping HT open. Communications with him have been, essentially, an exercise in talking to the hand. Unless his replacement as head of the Boston Curia is a foaming-at-the-mouth "Spirit of Vatican II" guy, Holy Trinity cannot do too much worse.

From the Vatican Information Service:

- Rene van der Linden, president of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly.

- Jorge Dezcallar de Mazarredo, ambassador of Spain, on his farewell visit.

- Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy.

On Saturday, April 1, he received in separate audiences:

- Their Majesties King Albert II and Queen Paola of the Belgians, accompanied by an entourage.

- Cardinal George Pell, archbishop of Sydney, Australia.

- Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity.

- Archbishop Michael Louis Fitzgerald M. Afr., apostolic nuncio to the Arab Republic of Egypt and delegate to the Organization of the League of Arab States.

- Bishop Salomon Letzoutie of Odienne, Ivory Coast, on his "ad limina" visit.

- Archbishop Francesco Monterisi, secretary of the Congregation for Bishops.

Lots of interesting things here. First of all, it looks as if the Holy Father wasted no time administering "fraternal" correction on Archbishop Fitzgerald for straying off the reservation in recent public comments. Good. He needed a Papal Smackdown. It was time for the Holy Father to "put a little stick about" the good Archbishop's skull.

Second, note the meetings with Dario, Cardinal Castrillon de Hoyos, who is the Holy Father's point man on the Traditional Latin Mass and negotiations with the SSPX. Cardinal Castrillon is the most likely candidate to fill the post of "Papal Grand Pooh-Bah for the TLM," or whatever they want to call it.

Cardinal Pell's visit, just a week after the consistory (did he even go back to Australia?) is interesting, too. My candidate to be the next Pope: George Cardinal Pell. But this was something obviously unrelated to that. Cardinal Pell is, if anything, even more friendly to the TLM than the Holy Father himself. So I would not be surprised to hear that the topic came up, though we will never know. Consultation with a close ally, at least. Cardinal Pell, was, I gather by putting the pieces together, instrumental as a whip in getting Pope Benedict his majority in the Conclave last year.

Also note the meeting with Archbishop Francesco Monterisi, secretary of the Congregation for Bishops. If the Holy Father were to create a few new auxiliaries with world-wide authority to help out Cardinal Castrillon in the TLM office, consultation with Archbishop Monterisi might well take place.

But then again, the Holy Father met with the heads of the Congregations For the Laity, the Clergy, and Bishops. And that well just be a regular thing to be sure everyone is on the same page generally and to do routine business. That is the fun thing about the way the Vatican does business. It so encourages speculation, even completely uninformed speculation, like mine.

I forgot to mention Opening Day yesterday. Well, it didn't really feel like Opening Day, because the Olde Towne Team started playing games that count on the road, in Chicago. They beat the White Sox by a 7-3 score, with Curt Schilling looking very impressive.

It will be next week, the 11th to be precise, before they open at Fenway. Why does Opening Day always have to be during Holy Week?

Auxiliary Bishop Richard Lennon, who was Administrator of the Archdiocese of Boston after Cardinal Law resigned, and before now-Cardinal O'Malley was appointed, has been named by the Holy Father as Bishop of Cleveland, Ohio, replacing Bishop Anthony Michael Pilla, who is resigning, presumably because of ill health, at age 73.

Recta Ratio wishes Bishop Lennon well in his new ministry.

The Holy Father is expected to accept retirements by some of Boston's other auxiliary bishops and appoint replacements, as Cardinal O'Malley had reportedly indicated to him that he wanted younger and more dynamic auxiliaries to help him out.

As many will know, yesterday here in Boston, hard by the Common and L.J. Peretti's Cigar and Pipe store, there was a terrible accident in which some scaffolding on a newly-built Emerson College dorm came crashing down 13 stories, killing two workers and a bystander.

The bystander killed was a 28 year-old doctor, either driving to or from work, as he was wearing scrubs. The scaffolding hit his car as he was passing by and killed him instantly. The tragedy of a promising young man a few years (or months) out of medical school, driving down a quiet street (Boylston at that point is fairly lightly travelled) suddenly killed without warning certainly shakes one up.

I had walked about a block from the accident scene just two hours before it happened. Then I was immersed in research for several hours, and the first thing I knew of it was walking back up Boylston Street towards the downtown in the evening, to find more police than we had for the Democrat National Convention in 2004 and more reporters doing live shots outside the Four Seasons than if the Holy Father himself was staying there.

Then there was a scare, because someone said the crane operator had been killed. About a year ago, I had run into a chap who was at my grammar school a year ahead of me, who told me he was operating the crane on that construction project. But he is not among the killed or injured.

So we are left with the inscrutable Will of God in regard to the young doctor. If it your time, God will harvest your soul, whether you are abed on a pleasant spring evening, watching a Red Sox game on a summer Saturday afternoon, at work, playing golf, eating, baking, or just goofing off. Why that doctor now? We do not know. Maybe he was in a state of grace that he would never repeat again. Maybe he was destined to lead a bad life henceforth, and a sudden death saved him from a worse eternal fate. Maybe his death was meant to be a test of faith of his loved ones. We don't know.

Views of death in society, even among Catholics have changed. It seems everyone now wants to go suddenly, without much pain. They all want to be fine one moment, enjoying life to the hilt, then fall painlessly into death. But the Catholic view is that it is much better to die after full preparation. Traditionally, a Catholic faces death much better when he has had a chance to confess fully, to recieve the Holy Viatacum, to be given the Last Rites, to be fully aware of his sins, and be perfectly contrite for them. Dying without proper preparation could very well lead to eternal damnation.

In fact, I pray every day along with billions of Catholics in the last two millenia:

"From a sudden and unprovided-for death, deliver me, O Lord."

Well, this poor fellow's death was certainly sudden. Whether it was unprovided-for is known only to him and to those in Heaven. Requiescat in pace.

Station Church: S. Ciriaco (S. Maria in via Lata al Corso)

Devotions for a Lenten Tuesday holy hour:
Dies Irae
Divine Mercy Chaplet
Seven Penitential Psalms
Prayer of St. Thomas More
Threnus Prayer of Saint Augustine
Devotion of the Seven Last Words


If you are getting frustrated with Lenten deprivations, if it seems as if Lent will never end, if you are getting yourself to sleep by counting porterhouse steaks leaping over a fence, hang on. Spy Wednesday is just a week from tomorrow.

Over at Recta Ratio: The Yahoo Group, there are three very good litanies, both only for private use (as they are not among the Seven Approved Litanies) for this time of year.

The Litany of the Passion
The Litany Of Our Lady of Sorrows
The Litany For Lent.

They are all in the Files, Catholic Prayers Folder, Lenten and Passiontide Prayers Subfolder.

Station Church: S. Crisogono in Trastevere

Devotions for a Lenten Monday holy hour:
Dies Irae
Divine Mercy Chaplet
Seven Penitential Psalms
Prayer of St. Thomas More
Threnus Prayer of Saint Augustine
Devotion of the Five Sacred Wounds

So another reenacting photo:

This is a battalion company private (he could be a corporal, I can't see his right shoulder) of the 9th Regiment of Foot. The 9th is uniformed almost identically to my old regiment, the 10th. One of the exceptions appears to be that use of wigs in the hair style of the period are not universal in the 9th, as they are in the 10th, where everyone has a white and a natural wig.

The 9th, like the 10th, has "bright yellow" facings on its regimental coat (lapels, cuffs, and collar). Based on the portrait of Captain Thomas Hewitt of 1780, the 10th interprets "bright yellow" as apricot. The 10th uses a shoulder belt for the bayonet. The 9th, as seen here, uses a waistbelt.

The knapsacks are different, too. The 9th uses the goatskin pattern that was in common use. The 10th uses a canvas model based on one that apparently was used by one of the regiments of Burgoyne's Army, as it was found at the Issac Royall House in Medford, MA, where "Convention Army " prisoners were held for a time.

The other major difference is too small to really see in this photo: the worsted buttonhole lace is different. It differed for every regiment of the army. Plus there are differences of buttons, each regiment having its number on its buttons, belt plates, cartidge box devices. What appeared stencilled on the haversack, and the pattern of canteen differed as well. The 9th uses a bottle wrapped in blue wool felt. The 10th uses a plain tin canteen.

The old NCO in me wants to yank this private's hat down onto the right eyebrow a little more tightly. That is the proper way to "cock" a hat. And at "Handle Cartidge", he should be holding the firelock more closely to his body (for safety if for no other reason). But otherwise, this is a very credible impression of what the British Army looked like in April, 1775.

The Man of Sorrows, with the Instruments of the Passion, from the High Altar of the Church of the Holy Ghost, Tallinn, Estonia. Painted by Berndt Notke (1440-1509). The church is now used as a Lutheran church, but both church and image pre-date the protestant rebellion.
The Devotion to the Five Sacred Wounds. (At Recta Ratio: The Yahoo Group)

It was during the last recitation of the Divine Mercy Novena at the Hour of Mercy, on the Vigil of Divine Mercy (Low) Sunday that we heard of the death of Pope John Paul the Great.

What a time of grief that was! There had been a death watch for more than a week. All knew that recovery was not likely, and watched as John Paul embraced the heroic and holy death Christ had in store for him. Coming a few days after the murder by judicial fiat of Terri Schiavo, this was Christ's answer to what a death with dignity, a death after th natural course of life has been fulfilled, ought to be.

For the first time in a quarter century, Christ's Church on Earth was without a leader. For many Catholics, Pope Paul was a murky, vaguely recalled figure from childhood, in any case distant and old. Pope John Paul I we had not had a chance to get to know well. When we thought of "The Pope" we naturally thought of John Paul II.

Now today, John Paul is laid to rest. His right-hand man is leading the Church successfully as Pope Benedict XVI. The cries of "Santo Subito" have been heeded, as far as Canon Law allows, by waiving the five-year waiting period. At least two miracles that could propel his status from that of Venerable to Blessed and to Saint in near-record time are being considered by the Vatican. In comparison, the duration of the investigations for Saint Pio, Bl. Damien of Molokai, and Bl. Mother Theresa seem interminable. It might well be that, by this time next year, John Paul II is a Blessed.

Venerable John Paul II, pray for us!

Station Church: St. Peter in the Vatican

Devotions for a Lenten Sunday holy hour:
Divine Mercy Chaplet
Seven Penitential Psalms
Prayer of St. Thomas More
Psalter of St. Jerome
Threnus Prayer of St. Augustine

Veiled image of Our Blessed Lady

From The Liturgical Year by Abbot Prosper Gueranger, O.S.B.

THE holy Church begins her night Office of this Sunday with these impressive words of the royal prophet. Formerly, the faithful considered it their duty to assist at the night Office, at least on Sundays and feasts; they would have grieved to lose the grand teachings given by the liturgy. Such fervour has long since died out; the assiduity at the Offices of the Church, which was the joy of our Catholic forefathers, has now become a thing of the past; and even in countries which have not apostatized from the faith, the clergy have ceased to celebrate publicly Offices at which no one assisted. Excepting in cathedral churches and in monasteries, the grand harmonious system of the divine praise has been abandoned, and the marvellous power of the liturgy has no longer its full influence upon the faithful.

This is our reason for drawing the attention of our readers to certain beauties of the Divine Office, which would otherwise be totally ignored. Thus, what can be more impressive than this solemn Invitatory of to-day's Matins, which the Church takes from one of the psalms, and which she repeats on every feria between this and Maundy Thursday? She says: To-day, if ye shall hear the voice of the Lord, harden not your hearts! The sweet voice of your suffering Jesus now speaks to you, poor sinners! be not your own enemies by indifference and hardness of heart. The Son of God is about to give you the last and greatest proof of the love that brought Him down from heaven; His death is nigh at hand: men are preparing the wood for the immolation of the new Isaac: enter into yourselves, and let not your hearts, after being touched with grace, return to their former obduracy; for nothing could be more dangerous. The great anniversaries we are to celebrate have a renovating power for those souls that faithfully correspond with the grace which is offered them; but they increase insensibility in those who let them pass without working their conversion. To-day, therefore, if you hear the voice of the Lord, harden not your hearts!

During the preceding four weeks, we have noticed how the malice of Jesus' enemies has been gradually increasing. His very presence irritates them; and it is evident that any little circumstance will suffice to bring the deep and long-nurtured hatred to a head. The kind and gentle manners of Jesus are drawing to Him all hearts that are simple and upright; at the same time, the humble life He leads, and the stern purity of His doctrines, are perpetual sources of vexation and anger, both to the proud Jew that looks forward to the Messias being a mighty conqueror, and to the pharisee, who corrupts the Law of God, that he may make it the instrument of his own base passions. Still, Jesus goes on working miracles; His discourses are more than ever energetic; His prophecies foretell the fall of Jerusalem, and such a destruction of its famous temple, that not a stone is to be left on a stone. The doctors of the Law should, at least, reflect upon what they hear; they should examine these wonderful works, which render such strong testimony in favour of the Son of David; and they should consult those divine prophecies which, up to the present time, have been so literally fulfilled in His person. Alas! they themselves are about to carry them out to the very last iota. There is not a single outrage or suffering foretold by David and Isaias, as having to be put upon the Messias, which these blind men are not scheming to verify.

In them, therefore, was fulfilled that terrible saying: 'He that shall speak against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in the world to come.'1 The Synagogue is nigh to a curse. Obstinate in her error, she refuses to see or to hear; she has deliberately perverted her judgment: she has extinguished within herself the light of the holy Spirit; she will go deeper and deeper into evil, and at length fall into the abyss. This same lamentable conduct is but too often witnessed nowadays in those sinners, who, by habitual resistance to the light, end by finding their happiness in sin. Neither should it surprise us, that we find in people of our own generation a resemblance to the murderers of our Jesus: the history of His Passion will reveal to us many sad secrets of the human heart and its perverse inclinations; for what happened in Jerusalem, happens also in every sinner's heart. His heart, according to the saying of St. Paul, is a Calvary, where Jesus is crucified. There is the same ingratitude, the same blindness, the same wild madness, with this difference: that the sinner who is enlightened by faith, knows Him whom he crucifies; whereas the Jews, as the same apostle tells us, knew not the Lord of glory,2 Whilst, therefore, we listen to the Gospel, which relates the history of the Passion, let us turn the indignation which we feel for the Jews against ourselves and our own sins; let us weep over the sufferings of our Victim, for our sins caused Him to suffer and die.

Everything around us urges us to mourn. The images of the saints, the very crucifix on our altar, are veiled from our sight. The Church is oppressed with grief. During the first four weeks of Lent, she compassionated her Jesus fasting in the desert; His coming sufferings and crucifixion and death are what now fill her with anguish. We read in to-day's Gospel, that the Jews threaten to stone the Son of God as a blasphemer: but His hour is not yet come. He is obliged to flee and hide Himself. It is to express this deep humiliation, that the Church veils the cross. A God hiding Himself, that He may evade the anger of men---what a mystery! Is it weakness? Is it, that He fears death? No; we shall soon see Him going out to meet His enemies: but at present He hides Himself from them, because all that had been prophesied regarding Him has not been fulfilled. Besides, His death is not to be by stoning: He is to die upon a cross, the tree of malediction, which, from that time forward, is to be the tree of life. Let us humble ourselves, as we see the Creator of heaven and earth thus obliged to hide Himself from men, who are bent on His destruction! Let us go back, in thought, to the sad day of the first sin, when Adam and Eve hid themselves because a guilty conscience told them they were naked. Jesus has come to assure us of our being pardoned, and lo! He hides Himself, not because He is naked---He that is to the saints the garb of holiness and immortality ---but because He made Himself weak, that He might make us strong. Our first parents sought to hide themselves from the sight of God; Jesus hides Himself from the eye of men. But it will not be thus for ever. The day will come when sinners, from whose anger He now flees, will pray to the mountains to fall on them and shield them from His gaze; but their prayer will not be granted, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven, with much power and majesty.3

This Sunday is called Passion Sunday, because the Church begins, on this day, to make the sufferings of our Redeemer her chief thought. It is called also, Judica, from the first word of the Introit of the Mass; and again Neomania, that is, the Sunday of the new (or the Easter) moon, because it always falls after the new moon which regulates the feast of Easter.

In the Greek Church, this Sunday goes under the simple name of the fifth Sunday of the holy fasts.

Fish Eaters On Passiontide