Note: This article is the first in a new series titled, “Saints & Tradition,” which will look at the ways in which the traditional practice of the Catholic faith has impacted the lives of the Saints. In 1804, Elizabeth Ann Seton was the recently-widowed wife of an unsuccessful businessman, the mother of five children, and…
Sixteen years ago this summer, when the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter was just making inroads here in the Archdiocese of Phoenix, the first priest they sent was a newly ordained young man from France named Fr. Stéphane Dupré. My little (at the time) family got to know him quite well during his time here,…
Recently, an event of significance for sedevacantists came to pass. The last bishop consecrated to be appointed to office in 1958 — i.e., during the reign of Pope Pius XII — finally passed into eternity. That this is so can also be verified at the Catholic Hierarchy website and the updated lists at Wikipedia. The…
A tall, gray building stands against a gray sky, smoke and spire alike reaching towards Heaven. Thousands of ornate details confess a Gothic ancestry, this sacred place a child of stone born by the toil of generations. The face of the church remains stoic as her stained glass windows burst in the heat, hundreds of…
It’s a Friday. A boy and his father head out in their boat to fish. The plan is to catch supper. “Dad, we’ve been out for two hours and haven’t caught anything,” remarks the boy sullenly. “The water is too dirty right now,” notices his father. “Let’s try something different.” “I was thinking we could…
The traditional Roman liturgical calendar at this time in July presents us with a “triduum” of saints of mercy: St. Camillus de Lellis (July 18), St. Vincent de Paul (July 19), and St. Jerome Emiliani (July 20). Always ahead of any age and its needs, the Church gives us exemplars from the past who are…
Saturday, July 18, 2020, marked the 150th anniversary of the definition of papal infallibility by the first Vatican Council in the constitution Pastor Aeternus, as a dogma of the Catholic faith, to be held by all Catholics under pain of losing their eternal salvation. On the same occasion, the same Vatican council, under the headship…
On February 13, 1790, France, the eldest daughter of the Church, forbade the taking of religious vows. A little over two years later, in September 1792, a Carmelite convent about 50 miles north of Paris was seized. The nuns were forced to live separately, and to abandon their habits. In his book To Quell the…
“No one is ever allowed to disobey the pope. Period.” The statement is made repeatedly on social media, usually in an attempt to end a debate. It’s taken as a given. No sources cited, no documentation provided. It’s merely assumed. It is, after all, obvious. But is it? Does the Catholic Church actually teach this?…
Most Catholics who have a decent acquaintance with theology will be familiar with the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) — at least, with questions from his Summa theologiae. Apart from Franciscans who are devoted to their own tradition, however, it is rarer to find an appreciation of or familiarity with St. Thomas’s exact contemporary…
“We now see movements to remove statues and names given to monuments and schools of southern figures — Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and others,” observed one of the last few real Jesuits a few years before his death. “What we are witnessing in these actions is the rejection of the honorable and…
Please help us to meet our expenses by donating today!
