While St. Lawrence is one of the greatest deacons in the Church’s history, his feastday has over time fallen into obscurity and most average Catholics are unfamiliar with the customs and practices associated with his feastday. The Feast of St. Lawrence was of such importance it was a Holy Day of Obligation for a long…
Bishop Athanasius Schneider, Fr Chad Ripperger, Dr Peter Kwasniewski, Msgr Alberto Turco, Dr William Mahrt, Dr Edward Schaefer, Fr Mark Bachmann OSB, Mr Nicholas Lemme… these are the speakers of the online International Gregorian Chant Conference, Sept 25 – Oct 2, hosted by the Gregorian Chant Academy. How did I manage to organize an International…
Today is the Feast of St. James the Greater, the apostle “friend of the Lord” together with Peter and John. Nine hundred years ago, in 1122, while the last stone of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela was being laid, Pope Calixtus II (†1124) announced the first Holy Year of Compostela for 1126, establishing that…
Above: Immaculate Conception Church postcard, c. 1910. Quietly, around the world, the Catholic faithful who believe in restoring and preserving the sacred traditions of the Catholic Church are finding each other and, with the leadership of their pastors, are helping rebuild and restore hope. We see this evidenced in a resurgence in traditional Catholic publishing,…
In a previous essay, I introduced an approach to dress that I call the School of Normalcy. I will now further explore the problems with this school of thought so widely held by Catholics today. For brevity, I have kept the focus on women’s dress. However, I believe my observations and analysis may benefit both…
Baylor University sociologist Rodney Stark has written numerous books on religion and particularly on the rise of Christianity. One of his interesting discoveries had to do with conversions; he found that a person’s attachment to the cultural aspects of their religion, specifically its unique rites and doctrines, corresponds to the likelihood that they will remain…
When it comes to the art of dress, there exist two schools of thought among devout Catholics. One school expounds modesty as the highest aim; the other, normalcy. Unfortunately, both completely miss the mark. While the School of Modesty teaches important lessons on safeguarding chastity, it falls short of attaining artistic success because it hardly…
450 years ago, on May 13, 1572, after a conclave lasted less than a day, a man, to whom we owe our calendar and the scrupulous implementation of the decrees of the Council of Trent (1545-1563), was unanimously elected to the Chair of Peter: Gregory XIII, whose original name was Ugo Boncompagni. There’s so much…
450 years ago, on May 1, 1572, the great Pope of the Catholic Reform promoted by the Council of Trent, the “Pope of the Rosary”, glorious in crushing the enemies of the Church – external, like the Ottoman Turks, and internal, such as the followers of Luther and Calvin or as the exponents of the…
May Mary adorn your soul with the flowers and the fragrance of ever new virtues and place her maternal hand on your head. Always stay close to this heavenly Mother, because she is the sea to be crossed to reach the shores of eternal splendors in the Kingdom of dawn (St. Padre Pio). Catholic Monthly…
Photo: Catedral de Santa María de la Sede, Seville, Spain. Three hundred years ago yesterday, on April 25, 1722, the last of the Christian Fathers of antiquity was proclaimed Doctor of the Church by Pope Innocent XIII: St. Isidore of Seville. Seventeen years after his death in 636, he was recognized by the the 8th…
