Above: Dom Alcuin Reid pictured with Cardinal Burke in 2014 (New Liturgical Movement). This photo is not meant to imply anything other than that fact. Dom Alcuin Reid has been for years a respected liturgical scholar in the Church (Cardinal Ratzinger wrote the forward to his seminal work published by Ignatius Press). He is the founding Prior…
Author’s Preface: The following article pertains to the ongoing campaign against traditional contemplative life unleashed by Pope Francis. I had drafted my article in full prior to the fortuitous appearance of two other articles on Madre Maravillas, namely, Mary Cuff’s “The Beauty of Austerity” (Crisis Magazine, January 8, 2022) and Sr. Gabriela Hick’s “St. Maravillas:…
I knelt right up against the rail of the transept loft, on level with the baldacchino, my back heated by the sun streaming through the rose window with the Sacred Heart. The people pressing close on either side of me stood as the nuns, walking two by two, entered the nave below. I stayed on…
Editor’s note: please support Catholic religious life and donate to the oblates of St. Augustine. Ever since the Apostolic Visitation to the Friars of the Immaculate in 2013, Religious Life for communities allowing members to use liturgical rites secured by Summorum Pontificum has never been the same. Priests of the Franciscans of the Immaculate were…
Those who have been paying attention to the mounting attack on the contemplative religious life and on traditional religious communities (an attack extremely well documented by Hilary White: see this recent article, which also gives links to her past articles) may be wondering: What can be done about this evil? How can nuns or sisters…
Last month a couple of the nuns of the Fairfield Carmel were seen attending Mass at the FSSP apostolate, our parish in the ancient centre, Santissima Trinita dei Pellegrini. These are the sisters who have become famous throughout the Traditional Catholic world for their attempt to live the Teresian Discalced Carmelite life in the most…
The following chapter talk was written by the same religious superior who wrote “The Symbolism of Religious Clothing: Why Nuns Wear What They Do.” Here she shows her keen understanding of philosophy, theology, and Catholic tradition, which come together to yield something unsurpassably beautiful. The text has been edited by Dr. Peter Kwasniewski. The imagery…
The following text originated as a series of chapter talks given by a religious superior to a community of sisters. The superior shared it with Dr. Kwasniewski and gave him permission to edit it and publish it. The accompanying photos have been drawn from various places online. The Council of Trent stated: “Though the habit…
Catholic News Agency published an article stating that in the wake of monasteries closing left and right in Spain, Cardinal João Braz de Aviz, the head of the Vatican’s congregation on consecrated life, insists that contemplative life will not go away: “we need contemplative life as we need food and water to live.” While I…
As a Catholic and a man raised in the institutions of the U.S. military, I have always discerned a possible vocation to the military chaplaincy. Initially, the discernment took place out of a sense of duty that all men of the faith should seek, but eventually, a profound love of Our Lord Jesus Christ and…
Young men and women who enter religious formation today bring vital refreshment to a parched and weary Church. However, there are some who enter religion only to find that God has not equipped them with the necessary faculties to persevere. What about them? They longed to join their lives to that river of grace that…
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