Recta Ratio

Our Blessed Lady earned her title "Star of the Sea" by being always the steady guide through whom we can navigate to her Son, our Lord Jesus. That title is particularly poignant here in New England, where the traditin of seafaring and fishing is so strong.
Ave Maris Stella
Ave maris stella,
Dei Mater alma,
atque semper Virgo,
felix caeli porta.

Sumens illud Ave
Gabrielis ore,
funda nos in pace,
mutans Hevae nomen.

Solve vincula reis,
profer lumen caecis
mala nostra pelle,
bona cuncta posce.

Monstra te esse matrem:
sumat per te preces,
qui pro nobis natus,
tulit esse tuus.

Virgo singularis,
inter omnes mites,
nos culpis solutos,
mites fac et castos.

Vitam praesta puram,
iter para tutum:
ut videntes Iesum
semper collaetemur.

Sit laus Deo Patri,
summo Christo decus,
Spiritui Sancto,
tribus honor unus.
Amen.

Labels: Restorationists

Threnus Prayer of Saint Augustine
If I place before Thine eyes, O Lord,
My sins and the wounds I have received,
The less I suffer
And the greater I merit.

I feel the punishment for sin,
Yet I do not shun my obstinacy in sinning.

My fragile nature is shattered by Thy scourges,
Yet my evil ways remain unchanged.

My sick mind is wrenched,
Yet my stiff neck is not bent.

My life sighs in pain, and
Yet it does not amend itself.

If Thou waiteth, I do not reform,
If Thou punisheth, I do not last.

When accused, I admit what I have done,
Yet when punished, I forget.

If Thou punisheth me, I make promises.
If Thou holdeth back the sword, I do not carry out my promises.

If Thou striketh me, I cry out that Thou might spare me;
If Thou sparest me, I again provoke Thee to strike me.

If difficulties come, I ask for a time for repentance.
If mercy comes to my aid, I abuse the patience which has spared me.

Even when my wounds are scarcely healed,
My ungrateful mind forgets.

If Thou hearest me quickly, I become haughty from Thy mercy.
If Thou art slow, I complain out of impatience.

I am willing to serve Thee because of what Thou hast done,
Yet I do not fear to neglect what Thou wouldst have me do.

Thou hast in Thy power, O Lord, this guilty wretch who has confessed;
Be merciful, for Thou art kind and loving.

I know that, unless Thou forgiveth me, Thou shalt justly punish me.
But with Thee is much pity and abundant forgiveness.

Grant, without any merit on my part, what I ask,
O Thou, who hast made from nothing him who asks Thee.

Have mercy on me crying out to Thee, O Lord.
May my faithful and tearful voice stir up Thy mercy.

May that forgiveness not consider that I have sinned,
But may it reflect on the fact I am asking.

Since it is a great misery that I am accused,
May the fact that I am miserable make Thy mercy the greater.

I beg Thine help,
And before Thee I place the evils and sorrows of my crimes.

By my prayers I seek Thy mercy,
The very mercy which I have spurned by my sins.

Raise me up in Thy mercy, o Lord my God,
So that in the fellowship of salvation and the joy of charity,
While I long to be saved,
I may rejoice in the faith and peace of all the nations.

Through Christ our Lord,
Amen.

Labels: Restorationists

Maybe I had a particularly spartan childhood. But I could not afford to destroy my toys. They had to be husbanded and guarded to be used again and again, since my parents certainly would not buy me replacements if I did things to them like this:



These are from Conte Collectibles in-house blog, and feature their own products. So they don't have to pay for replacements. They can create neat scenes like this for effect, without worrying about destroying hundreds of dollars worth of collectibles. I never could.

Labels: Toy Soldiers and Wargames

This has apparently always been Saint Anne's Day, but Saint Joachim's has bounced all over the calendar over the centuries. His feast has been celebrated September 16, December 9, March 20, and on the Sunday after the Assumption. Finally, it has been joined to that of his spouse. This is another of those reforms of the calendar that actually makes sense (not all of them do).

This is a brief biographical sketch of the parents of Our Blessed Lady, but since the New Testament does not mention them, there is not much that has come down to us, except from dubious sources like the "Gospel of James."

Saint John Damascene had this to say about the blessed couple:

Joachim and Anne, how blessed a couple! All creation is indebted to you. For at your hands the Creator was offered a gift excelling all other gifts: a chaste mother, who alone was worthy of him.

Joachim and Anne, how blessed and spotless a couple! You will be known by the fruit you have borne, as the Lord says: "By their fruits you will know them." The conduct of your life pleased God and was worthy of your daughter. For by the chaste and holy life you led together, you have fashioned a jewel of virginity: she who remained a virgin before, during, and after giving birth. She along for all time would maintain her virginity in mind and soul as well as in body.

Joachim and Anne, how chaste a couple! While leading a devout and holy life in your human nature, you gave birth to a daughter nobler than the angels, whose queen she now is.

Labels: Restorationists

Karl Keating's dream.

Would that some bishops would bring it to fruition. Would that all would!

Labels: Restorationists

By Father Cipolla for the Saint Gregory Society's Mass at Sacred Heart church, New Haven.

Labels: Restorationists

Santiago de Compostela, the possible resting place of the bones of Saint James, has historically been the third most important pilgrimage destination in Christendom, behind only Rome and Jerusalem. The cathedral is a composite of various styles of classical Catholic architecture, a riot of Romanesque, Gothic, and Baroque. These images are just a sampling of what I have culled from various sources.

Labels: Restorationists

Today is also the feast of Saint Christopher, the giant ferryman who once bore Christ across a swollen river (in fact, "Christopher" means "Christ bearer"). Although the pointy-headed types tried to unsaint him as legendary and he is off the official calendar, St. Christopher retains the allegiance of rank-and-file Catholics the world over as patron of travellers.

St Christopher by Bosch

Labels: Restorationists

Training and finding the items necessary are both challenges, but people and organizations are stepping up to the plate and trying to help.

Labels: Restorationists

Allow me first to advert your attention to what I wrote last year on the feast of St. James the Moor-Killer. The images have disappeared from that post because I restructured my Photobucket account into sub-files this past winter.

The Catholic Encyclopedia

The Golden Legend


This is one traditional depiction of St. James (courtesy of The Lion and the Cardinal)


His most common characteristic in art is the scallop or cockle-shell


Here is the shell with the Cross of Saint James


And here is the Cross of St James itself. When Spain had troops in Iraq, they wore the Cross of St. James on their uniforms. But then, before the Socialists came to power, the Spanish government was very cool, with several Opus Dei members in the cabinet, almost as good as the good old days when Franco was in charge.


Here we see the Cross of St. James on the robes of members of one of the guilds of penitents processing during Holy Week


And here is the Cross of St. James used as a clasp for a cloak


As the patron of Spain, St. James, legend has it, lead Spanish armies to victory against the Moslems, giving him the name Santiago Matamoros (which makes the Spanish government's use of the Cross of St. James as a badge for its troops in Iraq breath-takingly politically incorrect, and wicked awsome).

Labels: Restorationists

Took them long enough. But I supposed an amazingly tendentious and thoroughly wrong-headed response like this takes some time to work up.

News/Events
July 18, 2007 - Statement Following the Recent Release Of the Motu Proprio

The recent statement of the Holy Father amends the previous process,
established by Pope John Paul II, whereby a priest had needed
permission from the local bishop to celebrate the Tridentine rite
according to the 1962 liturgical text (Missal). In other words, Pope
Benedict has expanded the permission that had already been given by
Pope John Paul to allow for the celebration of the Tridentine Mass.

Cardinal Sean O'Malley, in his weekly posting of June 29 (
www.cardinalseansbl og.org) shared observations which follow from the
Cardinal's participation at a meeting held in Rome prior to the
release of the Motu Proprio. "The Holy Father was very clear that the
ordinary form of celebrating the Mass will be the new rite, the Novus
Ordo. But by making the Latin Mass more available, the Holy Father is
hoping to convince those disaffected Catholics that it is time for them to return to full union with
the Catholic Church. So the Holy Father's motivation for this decision
is pastoral . He does not want this to be seen as
establishing two different Roman Rites, but rather one Roman Rite
celebrated with different forms. The Motu Propio is his latest attempt
at reconciliation. "

In his personal letter to the bishops, the Holy Father, himself,
indicates that he does not see the celebration of the Tridentine form
of the Mass becoming a widespread or
divisive issue: "It is clearly seen that the new Missal will certainly
remain the ordinary form of the Roman Rite, not only on account of the
juridical norms, but also because of the actual situation of the
communities of the faithful."

In fact the Cardinal adds in his June 29th blog: "Therefore this
document will not result in a great deal of change for the Catholics
in the U.S. Indeed, interest in the Latin Mass is particularly low here in New England."

In order to address important questions that have arisen since the release of the Motu Proprio, Cardinal
O'Malley has recently stated that based on his participation at the
meeting in Rome, it is his understanding that the elements of the Good
Friday services which are understandably objectionable to our Jewish and ecumenical
brothers and sisters are not permitted to be used in the celebration
of the Tridentine Rite.

Here in the Archdiocese, and throughout the Catholic Church, we are
committed to fostering and
strengthening Catholic-Jewish relations. We have benefited greatly
from our collaborative efforts over the past forty years. We take
great inspiration from the Holy Father, who has often repeated his
steadfast commitment to ongoing Catholic-Jewish dialogue.

Father Zuhlsdorf, care to do the honors?

Labels: Restorationists

As I said yesterday, it is vacation time, and from now through Labor Day weekend, you can expect 10-20% of everybody to be on vacation at any one time. So blogging around St. blog's generally is a little lighter than usual now.

As I was surfing through my links, I found a distressing number of blogs that just plain are not there any longer. Pontifications (!). Who knew? And there are a lot more who have not touched their blogs since March or so.

So, of course, in due time, a culling of the blogroll is in order.

I have been doing some research on which side Our Lord's wound was on. Most crucifixes and paintings depict the wound on His right side. But I grew up with a crucifix that had the wound on the left side. The Gospel of Saint John does not specify which side. Each side has its advocates. Both are well-represented in art. And some show no wound at all, since they depict Our Lord either just after He died, or in His agony on the Cross.
Right side

B. Fra Angelico

A side chapel at Santiago de Compostella

A second chapel at Santiago de Compostella

My favorite crucifix, from St. Peter's church, Harper's Ferry VA, is a painstakingly accurate reflection of the Holy Shroud of Turin, and shows the wound on His right side.
Left Side

Fellow Catholic Restorationist Mark Scott Ablen found this one.

From another church, but I don't know where.

This is the style I grew up with. There are a lot of these still floating around. I used to see them in Sheehan's, as they bouht at a lot of estate auctions, and would have 5-8 of these on hand at any one time. The black finish to the wood and the distinctive INRI sign are the characteristic that seem to be common. They also glow in the dark. I would like to learn more about this style, and why it was produced.

This crucifix, said to be miraculous and a relic of Saint Gemma Galgani, splits the difference, and puts the wound right in the center of His chest, ignoring the word "side."

Labels: Restorationists