Saturday, July 17, 2010
Our Blessed Lady's Saturday
Prayer by Saint Aloysius Gonzaga
O HOLY MARY, my Mistress, into thy blessed trust and special keeping, into the bosom of thy tender mercy, this day, every day of my life and at the hour of my death, I commend my soul and body. To thee I entrust all my hopes and consolations, all my trials and miseries, my life and the end of my life, that through thy most holy intercession and thy merits, all my actions may be ordered and disposed according to thy will and that of thy divine Son. Amen.
Labels: Our Blessed Lady
Carmelite Martyrs Of Compeigne
Today is the feast day of the Blessed Carmelites of Compiegne. On July 17th, 1794 a number of Carmelites from that city were guillotined at Paris during the Reign of Terror. Their brutal execution and the manner in which they conducted themselves (mounting the scaffold singing Laudate Domino) helped end the terror. Within a week of their execution, Robespierre fell from power and was himself introduced to Madam Guillotine. That is not merely post hoc ergo propter hoc reasoning. The French public was genuinely shocked at the brutality of the executions of these holy women. And that shock led to a reaction against the Jacobins.
They are very worthy of admiration in my view on two counts. First they were members of the Carmelite order, for which I have a special reverence. The Carmelites were instrumental in bringing me back to an active faith and regular attendance. Secondly, they were martyred by the French revolutionaries in that orgy of blood known as the Terror. Anyone martyred for the sake of the Faith by the French revolutionaries, or the Spanish Communists, or the Russian, Chinese, Cuban, Vietnamese, Laotian, Cambodian Communists, or by the Moslems, or as part of the protestant rebellion, has a special place in my devotions and is a worthy example of the Faith.
A few years ago, John at The Inn At the End of the World posted this about the Carmelite martyrs.
Labels: Our Saintly Brethern
Friday, July 16, 2010
Our Lady Of Mount Carmel
Flos Carmeli
Flos Carmeli,
vitis florigera,
splendor caeli,
virgo puerpera
singularis.
Mater mitis
sed viri nescia
Carmelitis
esto propitia
stella maris.
Radix Iesse
germinans flosculum
nos ad esse
tecum in saeculum
patiaris.
Inter spinas
quae crescis lilium
serva puras
mentes fragilium
tutelaris.
Armatura
fortis pugnantium
furunt bella
tende praesidium
scapularis.
Per incerta
prudens consilium
per adversa
iuge solatium
largiaris.
Mater dulcis
Carmeli domina,
plebem tuam
reple laetitia
qua bearis.
Paradisi
clavis et ianua,
fac nos duci
quo, Mater, gloria
coronaris.
Amen.
Flower of Carmel,
Tall vine blossom laden;
Splendor of heaven,
Childbearing yet maiden.
None equals thee.
Mother so tender,
Who no man didst know,
On Carmel's children
Thy favors bestow.
Star of the Sea.
Strong stem of Jesse,
Who bore one bright flower,
Be ever near us
And guard us each hour,
who serve thee here.
Purest of lilies,
That flowers among thorns,
Bring help to the true heart
That in weakness turns
and trusts in thee.
Strongest of armor,
We trust in thy might:
Under thy mantle,
Hard press'd in the fight,
we call to thee.
Our way uncertain,
Surrounded by foes,
Unfailing counsel
You give to those
who turn to thee.
O gentle Mother
Who in Carmel reigns,
Share with your servants
That gladness you gained
and now enjoy.
Hail, Gate of Heaven,
With glory now crowned,
Bring us to safety
Where thy Son is found,
true joy to see.
Amen.
Both the reformed and traditional calendars of feasts specify today as the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. For generations, Carmelite monks maintained a monastery on Mount Carmel in what is now Syria. At the time, the Carmelites were a contemplative order under the patronage of the Blessed Mother.
In the Thirteenth Century, Simon Stock, an Englishman, became general of the Carmelite order. In 1226 Pope Honorious III recognized the rule of the Carmelite order on July 16th. On July 16th, 1251, the Blessed Mother appeared to Simon Stock, and provided him with a brown scapular, with a promise that those who wore it to honor her would be released from Purgatory on the Saturday after they died. This feast was extended to the whole Church in 1726. Simon Stock was later canonized.
I have a special devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel. For one thing, July 16th is my birthday. For another, when I returned to an active practice of the Faith many years ago, it was largely through the Carmelites. As I started to become active in the Church again, a Carmelite priest heard my first confession in about ten years. At the time I was a bachelor without very much in the way of direction or guidance. And the Carmelite Gift shop at the North Shore Shopping Center was where I bought so many books that fed my hungry soul, books from TAN, Ignatius, Sophia and Liguori.
The Carmelite Chapel at the North Shore Shopping Center became my regular parish for almost two years. Yes, for those not familiar with the area, there is a Carmelite chapel on the lower level of a shopping mall here (and another Catholic chapel-though not Carmelite- on the main level of the Prudential Mall in Boston). It is very well-frequented - SRO for most of its Saturday Masses. It appeals to people who don't want to be attached to a regular parish, dislike the pastor at their own parish, or just don't have the time or resources to seek out a new parish.
The Carmelite Chapel in Peabody is still a very special place for me.
And since then, I have become acquainted with several third order Carmelites, and one cloistered Carmelite who took her final vows some years ago today in Iowa.
There is, of course, a standard Carmelite Scapular, for members of the order and others. But there are also many acceptable variations of the Brown Scapular. Today, I wear a very special version of the Brown Carmelite Scapular, one that depicts the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts on the front-piece.
Labels: Our Blessed Lady
Friday At the Foot Of the Cross
THE SEVEN OFFERINGS OF THE PRECIOUS BLOOD
Eternal Father, I offer Thee the merits of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus, Thy Beloved Son and my Divine Redeemer, for the propagation and exaltation of my dear Mother the Holy Church, for the safety and prosperity of her visible Head, the Holy Roman Pontiff, for the cardinals, bishops, and pastors of souls, and for all the ministers of the sanctuary.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was
in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Blessed and praised forevermore be Jesus Who hath saved us by His Precious Blood!
Eternal Father, I offer Thee the merits of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus, Thy Beloved Son and my Divine Redeemer, for the peace and concord of nations, for the conversion of the enemies of our holy Faith, and for the happiness of all Christian people.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was
in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Blessed and praised forevermore be Jesus Who hath saved us by His Precious Blood!
Eternal Father, I offer Thee the merits of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus, Thy Beloved Son and my Divine Redeemer, for the repentance of unbelievers, the extirpation of all heresies, and the conversion of sinners.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was
in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Blessed and praised forevermore be Jesus Who hath saved us by His Precious Blood!
Eternal Father, we offer Thee the merits of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus, Thy Beloved Son and my Divine Redeemer, for all my relations, friends and enemies, for the poor, the sick, and those in tribulation, and for all those for whom Thou willest I should pray, or knowest that I ought to pray.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was
in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Blessed and praised forevermore be Jesus Who hath saved us by His Precious Blood!
Eternal Father, I offer Thee the merits of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus, Thy Beloved Son and my Redeemer, for all those who shall this day pass to another life, that Thou mayest preserve them from the pains of Hell and admit them the more readily to the possession of Thy glory.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was
in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Blessed and praised forevermore be Jesus Who hath saved us by His Precious Blood!
Eternal Father, I offer Thee the merits of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus, Thy Beloved Son and my Divine Redeemer, for all those who are lovers of the Treasure of His Blood, and for all those who join with me in adoring and honoring It, and for all those who try to spread devotion to it.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was
in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Blessed and praised forevermore be Jesus Who hath saved us by His Precious Blood!
Eternal Father, I offer Thee the merits of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus, Thy Beloved Son and my Divine Redeemer, for all my wants, spiritual and temporal, for the Holy Souls in Purgatory, and particularly for those most forgotten, the Souls of priests, and for those who in their lifetime were most devoted to this Price of our Redemption, and to the Sorrows and pains of our dear Mother, Most Holy Mary.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was
in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Blessed and praised forevermore be Jesus Who hath saved us by His Precious Blood!
Labels: Friday At the Foot Of the Cross
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Midweek Mix
Sting and Edin Karamozov, Dowland's Come Again
Mary Black, The Fields Of Gold
Paddy Reilly, Carrickfergus
The Young Tradition, Daddy Fox
The Tannahill Weavers, Jaime Raeburn's Farewell
Jim McCann, Grace
The Corries, Bonnie Dundee
Makem and Clancy, The Town Of Ballybay
I wanted to end with something a bit more up-tempo, as the mix this week is sort of melancholy, probably because I turn 46 on Friday.
Mary Black, The Fields Of Gold
Paddy Reilly, Carrickfergus
The Young Tradition, Daddy Fox
The Tannahill Weavers, Jaime Raeburn's Farewell
Jim McCann, Grace
The Corries, Bonnie Dundee
Makem and Clancy, The Town Of Ballybay
I wanted to end with something a bit more up-tempo, as the mix this week is sort of melancholy, probably because I turn 46 on Friday.
Labels: Pleasing Tunes
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Relic Of the True Cross Stolen From Holy Cross Cathedral, Boston
I woke up this morning to read about the theft from the Cathedral of the Holy Cross of the Relic of the True Cross, which has been the property of the Archdiocese of Boston since before it was an Archdiocese, donated by the first Bishop of Boston Jean Lefevre de Chevrus.
This is a relic that had been used on Good Friday at Holy Trinity, when that church was open and the center of the Traditional Mass community for the Archdiocese. I had venerated that Relic. It has also been pictured here.
Police will be watching eBay to see if someone tries to sell it.
Please pray for the return of this Relic to the Archdiocese as quickly as possibloe.
This is a relic that had been used on Good Friday at Holy Trinity, when that church was open and the center of the Traditional Mass community for the Archdiocese. I had venerated that Relic. It has also been pictured here.
Police will be watching eBay to see if someone tries to sell it.
Please pray for the return of this Relic to the Archdiocese as quickly as possibloe.
Labels: Relics
Monday, July 12, 2010
Currently Reading
How I have missed reading regularly! Seven years ago I blew through 120 books in about 7 months. Normally, I am a book-a-week reader, maybe one every other week if I am slacking. But in the last couple of years, my reading has slowed to less than a crawl, due to fatigue, and time constraints. I just barely get through my Lenten spiritual reading, which is admittedly more than most people read all year. The deaths of favorite authors Patrick O'Brian and William F. Buckley, Jr. have also hit my reading hard. Dead authors write no new books, and how many times can you re-read Treason's Harbour?
But there is a book that I have been waiting for in paperback for a couple of years, and now that it is out, I am all over it. Matthew H. Spring, a teacher from England, penned his doctoral dissertation on the topic of how the British Army really fought in the American War Of Independence. In hardcover, as a university press imprint, it is ridiculously expensive, but the trade paper edition, at $20.00 is a great value.
With Zeal And With Bayonets Only: The British Army On Campaign In North America 1775-1783 is a truly groundbreaking study that shatters popular assumptions and forces revision of the most elemental approach to understanding how the AWI was fought.
Spring demonstrates that, from the earliest campaigns, the British Army adapted to North American conditions to the extent that they turned conventional linear warfare norms on their head and essentially threw the book away. Thin lines, loose formations, firing at will, command and control devolved to battalion and comany level leadership, and staking it all on a quick rush with the bayonet, instead of the traditional battle-as-extended-firefight that was common on the continent were how the British Army, principally at the hands of General Sir William Howe, adapted.
The adaptation was so complete that, in many battles, it was Washington's army that operated slowly, in closely packed ranks, while the redcoats fanned out, took cover, and then settled the matter not by a slugging match of volley after volley (even though they could outshoot the rebel troops by about 2 volleys to 1) but with a quick bayonet charge at a run. The Americans criticized the redcoats for disordered ranks, and the professional Hessian officers were frustrated by the speed at which the redcoats operated (at least twice leaving their Hessian comrades far behind).
The Brits, for their part, found the Hessians with their shoulder-to-shoulder formation, 3 ranks, and slow marching step, far too slow, though they admitted their steadiness. And they held the American rebels in such contempt that they sometimes resorted to ruthless tactics, like bayoneting overwhelmed rebels.
What does the book teach me, as a former reenactment officer and what might loosely be classified as an expert on the military operations of the British Army? A lot. The unit I played in was an "April 19th" unit, which represented the British Army on the first day of the war. A great deal of what we did was thrown out by the end of 1775, and was utterly obsolete by August 1776. By then, the entire army was forming at open, and even extended order (or two-deep line with 18-inch intervals between files, as Spring quotes again and again). Rapidity of volley firing, which had been the hallmark of British troops in the Seven Years War, and would be again under Wellington, was thrown out, with the emphasis placed on getting off one strong battalion volley at close range, then rushing on the unsteady enemy with fixed bayonets. Speed, speed, speed, or celerity, is talked about again and again. Keeping step and dressing was often disregarded in favor of getting at the rebels quickly. Ceremonial, the slow march, and the presence of the Colours on campaign were stripped away in favor of speed, dexerity with the firelock, and plying the bayonet in such a manner as to make the enemy give way, or be "totally skivered."
There are now four works of modern scholarship that I think are essential for anyone wishing to portray a British soldier of the American War Of Independence. The first is Christopher Duffy's magesterial survey of 18th century warfare and the experience of battle, The Military Experience In the Age of Reason. But remember that much of the norms that Duffy discusses were thrown out the window by Generals Howe, Clinton, Burgoyne, and Cornwallis. The second is Sylvia Frey's social study of who the British redcoats really were, The British Soldier In America. The third is J.A. Houlding's Fit For Service: The Training Of the British Army 1715-1793. You cannot say too much in praise of Houlding's scholarship and the comprehensive treatment he gives to the actual circumstances that hemmed in training.
Now Matthew Spring's With Zeal And With Bayonets Only takes its place as THE resource for understanding how the redcoats fought the war. It has greatly expanded my own perspective.
But there is a book that I have been waiting for in paperback for a couple of years, and now that it is out, I am all over it. Matthew H. Spring, a teacher from England, penned his doctoral dissertation on the topic of how the British Army really fought in the American War Of Independence. In hardcover, as a university press imprint, it is ridiculously expensive, but the trade paper edition, at $20.00 is a great value.
With Zeal And With Bayonets Only: The British Army On Campaign In North America 1775-1783 is a truly groundbreaking study that shatters popular assumptions and forces revision of the most elemental approach to understanding how the AWI was fought.
Spring demonstrates that, from the earliest campaigns, the British Army adapted to North American conditions to the extent that they turned conventional linear warfare norms on their head and essentially threw the book away. Thin lines, loose formations, firing at will, command and control devolved to battalion and comany level leadership, and staking it all on a quick rush with the bayonet, instead of the traditional battle-as-extended-firefight that was common on the continent were how the British Army, principally at the hands of General Sir William Howe, adapted.
The adaptation was so complete that, in many battles, it was Washington's army that operated slowly, in closely packed ranks, while the redcoats fanned out, took cover, and then settled the matter not by a slugging match of volley after volley (even though they could outshoot the rebel troops by about 2 volleys to 1) but with a quick bayonet charge at a run. The Americans criticized the redcoats for disordered ranks, and the professional Hessian officers were frustrated by the speed at which the redcoats operated (at least twice leaving their Hessian comrades far behind).
The Brits, for their part, found the Hessians with their shoulder-to-shoulder formation, 3 ranks, and slow marching step, far too slow, though they admitted their steadiness. And they held the American rebels in such contempt that they sometimes resorted to ruthless tactics, like bayoneting overwhelmed rebels.
What does the book teach me, as a former reenactment officer and what might loosely be classified as an expert on the military operations of the British Army? A lot. The unit I played in was an "April 19th" unit, which represented the British Army on the first day of the war. A great deal of what we did was thrown out by the end of 1775, and was utterly obsolete by August 1776. By then, the entire army was forming at open, and even extended order (or two-deep line with 18-inch intervals between files, as Spring quotes again and again). Rapidity of volley firing, which had been the hallmark of British troops in the Seven Years War, and would be again under Wellington, was thrown out, with the emphasis placed on getting off one strong battalion volley at close range, then rushing on the unsteady enemy with fixed bayonets. Speed, speed, speed, or celerity, is talked about again and again. Keeping step and dressing was often disregarded in favor of getting at the rebels quickly. Ceremonial, the slow march, and the presence of the Colours on campaign were stripped away in favor of speed, dexerity with the firelock, and plying the bayonet in such a manner as to make the enemy give way, or be "totally skivered."
There are now four works of modern scholarship that I think are essential for anyone wishing to portray a British soldier of the American War Of Independence. The first is Christopher Duffy's magesterial survey of 18th century warfare and the experience of battle, The Military Experience In the Age of Reason. But remember that much of the norms that Duffy discusses were thrown out the window by Generals Howe, Clinton, Burgoyne, and Cornwallis. The second is Sylvia Frey's social study of who the British redcoats really were, The British Soldier In America. The third is J.A. Houlding's Fit For Service: The Training Of the British Army 1715-1793. You cannot say too much in praise of Houlding's scholarship and the comprehensive treatment he gives to the actual circumstances that hemmed in training.
Now Matthew Spring's With Zeal And With Bayonets Only takes its place as THE resource for understanding how the redcoats fought the war. It has greatly expanded my own perspective.
Labels: Once A Redcoat...
All Star Break
No real baseball until Thursday.
For the hobbled Boston Red Sox, it is much needed chance for the numerous broken bones, strains, sprains, bruises, tears, illnesses, and other unexplained injuries to heal. The butcher's bill has been really incredible, especially in the last weekend of interleague play. They are just past the mid-season mark, and are trailing the Yankees by 5 games, not bad considering how badly the team has suffered from the injury bug. If they can get healthy in the second half, they have a real chance to take down the Rays at least for the Wild Card, if not overhaul the Yankees for first place in the AL East.
For the hobbled Boston Red Sox, it is much needed chance for the numerous broken bones, strains, sprains, bruises, tears, illnesses, and other unexplained injuries to heal. The butcher's bill has been really incredible, especially in the last weekend of interleague play. They are just past the mid-season mark, and are trailing the Yankees by 5 games, not bad considering how badly the team has suffered from the injury bug. If they can get healthy in the second half, they have a real chance to take down the Rays at least for the Wild Card, if not overhaul the Yankees for first place in the AL East.
Labels: Boston Red Sox
Sunday, July 11, 2010
The Seventh Sunday After Pentecost
From The Liturgical Year, by Abbot Prosper Gueranger, OSB:
THE dominical cycle of the Time after Pentecost completes to-day its first seven. Previous to the general adoption of the changes introduced into the Sunday Gospels for this portion of the year, the Gospel of the multiplication of the seven loaves gave its name to the seventh Sunday; and the mystery it contains is still evident in more than one section of to-day’s liturgy.
As we have already seen, this mystery was that of the consummation of the perfect in the repose or rest of God Himself; it was the fruitful peace of the divine union. Nothing, then, could be more fitting than that Solomon, who is pre-eminently the peaceful, the sacred and authorized chanter of the nuptial Canticle, should have been selected to come forward, on this day, to speak the praises of infinite Wisdom, and reveal her ways to the children of men. When Easter is kept as late in April as it is possible, the seventh Sunday after Pentecost is the first of the month of August; and the Church then begins, in her night Office, the lessons from the Sapiential Books. Otherwise, she continues the historic Scriptures, and that, in some years, for five weeks more; but even in that case eternal Wisdom maintains her rights to this Sunday, which the number of seven had already made hers in so special a way. For, when we cannot have the inspired instructions of Proverbs, we have Solomon’s own example preaching to us in the third Book of Kings; we find him preferring Wisdom to all other treasures, and, on the throne of his father David, making her sit there with him as his inspirer and most noble Bride.
St. Jerome, who has been appointed by the Church herself as the interpreter of to-day’s Scripture lessons,1 tells us that David, at the close of his life of wars and troubles, knew, as well as Solomon, the loveliness of this incomparable Bride of the Peaceful; the chill of his age was remedied by her caresses, whose very contact is purity.
‘Oh that this wisdom may be mine!’ exclaims the fervent solitary of Bethlehem; ‘may she embrace me, and abide with me. She never grows old. She is ever the purest of virgins, fruitful, yet ever immaculate. I think the apostle means her when he speaks of a something that can make us fervent in spirit.2 So again, when our Lord tells us in the Gospel that, at the end of the world, the charity of many will grow cold,3 I believe it will be because wisdom will then grow rare.’4
The history of the two blind men, as related in the ninth chapter of St. Matthew, is the subject of to-day’s Gospel in the Greek Church.
MASS
The Church, leaving the Synagogue in its cities which are to perish, has followed Jesus into the wilderness. Whilst the children of the kingdom5 are assisting at, without seeing it, this transmigration which is to be so fatal to them, the root of Jesse, now become the standard of nations,6 is rallying the people, and marshals them by thousands on towards the Church. From east and west, from north and south, they are pouring in, sitting down to the banquet of the kingdom,7 in company with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. Here is our Introit; let us mingle our voices with these their glad chants.
THE dominical cycle of the Time after Pentecost completes to-day its first seven. Previous to the general adoption of the changes introduced into the Sunday Gospels for this portion of the year, the Gospel of the multiplication of the seven loaves gave its name to the seventh Sunday; and the mystery it contains is still evident in more than one section of to-day’s liturgy.
As we have already seen, this mystery was that of the consummation of the perfect in the repose or rest of God Himself; it was the fruitful peace of the divine union. Nothing, then, could be more fitting than that Solomon, who is pre-eminently the peaceful, the sacred and authorized chanter of the nuptial Canticle, should have been selected to come forward, on this day, to speak the praises of infinite Wisdom, and reveal her ways to the children of men. When Easter is kept as late in April as it is possible, the seventh Sunday after Pentecost is the first of the month of August; and the Church then begins, in her night Office, the lessons from the Sapiential Books. Otherwise, she continues the historic Scriptures, and that, in some years, for five weeks more; but even in that case eternal Wisdom maintains her rights to this Sunday, which the number of seven had already made hers in so special a way. For, when we cannot have the inspired instructions of Proverbs, we have Solomon’s own example preaching to us in the third Book of Kings; we find him preferring Wisdom to all other treasures, and, on the throne of his father David, making her sit there with him as his inspirer and most noble Bride.
St. Jerome, who has been appointed by the Church herself as the interpreter of to-day’s Scripture lessons,1 tells us that David, at the close of his life of wars and troubles, knew, as well as Solomon, the loveliness of this incomparable Bride of the Peaceful; the chill of his age was remedied by her caresses, whose very contact is purity.
‘Oh that this wisdom may be mine!’ exclaims the fervent solitary of Bethlehem; ‘may she embrace me, and abide with me. She never grows old. She is ever the purest of virgins, fruitful, yet ever immaculate. I think the apostle means her when he speaks of a something that can make us fervent in spirit.2 So again, when our Lord tells us in the Gospel that, at the end of the world, the charity of many will grow cold,3 I believe it will be because wisdom will then grow rare.’4
The history of the two blind men, as related in the ninth chapter of St. Matthew, is the subject of to-day’s Gospel in the Greek Church.
MASS
The Church, leaving the Synagogue in its cities which are to perish, has followed Jesus into the wilderness. Whilst the children of the kingdom5 are assisting at, without seeing it, this transmigration which is to be so fatal to them, the root of Jesse, now become the standard of nations,6 is rallying the people, and marshals them by thousands on towards the Church. From east and west, from north and south, they are pouring in, sitting down to the banquet of the kingdom,7 in company with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. Here is our Introit; let us mingle our voices with these their glad chants.
Labels: The Liturgical Year
