Above: La Adoracion de los Reyes Magos by Peter Paul Rubens of Spanish Flanders (1577-1640). The Feast of the Epiphany is the continuation of the mystery of Christmas; but it appears on the Calendar of the Church with its own …
Category: Holy Days & Feasts
The Crib, the Cross and the Crown
Above: the Demidoff Altarpiece, (Carlo Crivell, 1476). St. Stephen appears in the upper right corner next to St. Thomas: The Crib, the Cross and the Crown. These three objects serve different functions in the life of Christ and the reality …
Fostering Charity Around the Dinner Table
As society “progresses” towards more efficiency and technological advances, it also moves away from human connections and relationships. God created us as social beings in His “image and likeness.” It is through connections that we grow both physically and spiritually. …
Forgotten Customs of All Saints Days for Religious Orders & Nations
The saints don’t need us to honor them. Our devotion adds nothing to what they already have. When we venerate their memory, it serves us, not them. But I tell you, whenever I think of them, I feel inflamed by …
Forgotten Customs of Allhallowtide
Known in some places as Allhallowtide, the Vigil of All Saints, All Saints Day, and All Souls Day form a sort of triduum. While All Saints Day is still a Holy Day of Obligation, the Church’s traditions and customs have …
Forgotten Customs of Michaelmas
Angels are pure, created spirits. The name angel means servant or messenger of God. They are celestial or heavenly beings, on a higher order than human beings. An angel has no body and does not depend on matter for his …
Revisiting the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Above: The Visitation by Flemish painter Willem Vrelant (d. 1481). This Saturday, July 2, is the usus antiquior feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This feast was instituted in 1389 by, in a way, two popes—Pope Urban …
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 …
Forgotten Customs of Corpus Christi
Above: Corpus Christi 2021 at St. Mary’s Conshohocken, FSSP. Photo by Allison Girone. Editor’s note: this octave, consider joining the crusade of Eucharistic reparation. A great solemnity has this day risen upon our earth: a feast both to God and …
The Holy Spirit and the Garden of Our Souls
The season of summer is often seen as the best of the four seasons for people of the Northern hemisphere. This time of the year also coincides with one of the greatest feasts of the Church, notably Pentecost. The Church …