Ember Days: Pre-55, 1962, and Today
The pre-55 counting made the Ember Days coincide with the Cross.
The Forgotten Customs of Assumption Day
You have crowned the year with your bounty, and your paths overflow with a rich harvest; The untilled meadows overflow with it, and rejoicing clothes the hills. The fields are garmented with flocks and the valleys blanketed with grain. They shout and sing for joy. -Blessing of Herbs on Assumption Day The Importance of the…
The Meaning of Clothing
The water is “the sign and presence of the world itself.”
Forgotten Customs of the Precious Blood
Above: Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, with gushing blood, detail of the Ghent Altarpiece, Jan van Eyck, c. 1432. The History of the Feast According to the Traditional Catholic Calendar of 1962 and prior, July 1st is the Feast of the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ. This feast was instituted for the Universal…
Forgotten Customs of Saints Peter and Paul
The Apostles began the rudiments of the Christian warfare with holy fasts, that, having to fight against spiritual wickednesses, they might take the armour of abstinence, wherewith to slay the incentives to vice.
Forgotten Customs of St. John the Baptist
The Nativity of St John, like that of Our Lord, was celebrated by three Masses.
The Forgotten Customs of the Sacred Heart
I fear everything from my own wickedness and frailty, but I hope for all things from Thy goodness and bounty.
Forgotten Customs of the Octave of Pentecost
The Forgotten, Yet Ancient Vigil of Pentecost The Feast of Pentecost (i.e., White Sunday) is one of the principal feasts in the life of the Church. After Pentecost Sunday and its Octave, we will conclude Pascaltide and begin the Season after Pentecost. Consequently, the Vigil of Pentecost has been a day of required fasting and…
Forgotten Customs of Ascensiontide
Ascensiontide As the Forgotten End of Pascaltide The total length of Paschaltide from Easter Sunday to the end of Whitsuntide is fifty-six days inclusive. In this way, Holy Mother Church shows us the joy of Easter has eclipsed the time of penance of Lent. Ascentiontide lasts for 10 days and is part of the Pascal…
Forgotten Customs of Rogation Days
How many Catholics understand what is meant by the greater or lesser litanies, or by the expression “the Rogations” – clergy included?