Six centuries have passed since that August 31, 1422, when, struck by a serious illness, an unrepentant libertine who became one of the greatest kings of his people died at the age of 35 in the château of Vincennes, at the gates of Paris: Henry V of England. The prince of Wales was born in…
The following true story, written by the nuns of the same monastery (rebuilt after the War), has until now been known almost exclusively in Poland. Thanks to an anonymous monk’s translation, it can now be shared with an English-speaking readership. It concerns the Benedictines of Perpetual Adoration in Warsaw, who gave their lives explicitly for…
What Modernist Bishops Fear While the kids are laughing and playing in the courtyard, the adults have gathered in various groups. A few homeschooling mothers are talking about what curriculum they’ll be using in the upcoming school year. Some men debate the latest political news. A small group surrounds a young family that recently lost…
Above: Canossa, Italy, where Emperor Henry IV did penance before Pope Gregory VII. Public Domain. From Hypothetical Speculation to Fearful Reality In light of the unprecedented centralization of authority under the Francis pontificate, discussions on the extent of papal power take on a fresh urgency. The question is not so much on the pope’s doctrinal…
Let’s have a peek at the Gospel for this 12th Sunday after Pentecost in the Vetus Ordo. Context. In Luke 10, the Lord has sent out the 72, two by two, with instruction about how to travel and behave. He pronounces a terrible destiny, worse than Sodom, for Chorazin and Bethsaida and Capernaum which had…
Pope Benedict XVI said in 2007: It has clearly been demonstrated that young persons too have discovered this liturgical form [of the Latin Mass], felt its attraction and found in it a form of encounter with the Mystery of the Most Holy Eucharist, particularly suited to them (“Letter Accompanying Summorum Pontificum”). Why is this so?…
Above: Blessed Pius IX addresses the Liberal mob in Rome. Painting by Bryullov Karl (1799-1852). The Barque of Peter, the Holy Catholic Church, has been sailing the seas of history for two thousand years. Sometimes the sea is calm, the wind is favorable, and the barque glides smoothly over the waves. At other times,…
In the wake of Traditionis Custodes, some have made the good-faith suggestion that a “solution” for a future depleted of traditional Latin Masses is “doing the Novus Ordo in Latin.” This is an absolute non-starter for several reasons. First, the missals are notably different. All you have to do is compare them to see that…
Above: the nave of St. Thomas More Cathedral, the apostolic chair of Arlington. On July 29, 2022, Bishop Michael Burbidge, Bishop of Arlington, Virginia, promulgated a “Policy for Implementation of Traditionis Custodes in the Diocese of Arlington.” Effective September 8, 2022, the Tridentine Mass can no longer be offered in parish churches in Arlington. (There…
Above: the abandoned pagan pyramid of Kukulcán, in Yucatán, Mexico, photographed in 1860. Public domain. The year was 1632. Padre Nicolas de Zamora was heartsick. Disconsolate. He was the pastor of the parish of El Pueblito, a small hamlet 6 miles north of the city of Querataro in central Mexico. The city of Queretaro was…
Because the Gospel for this 11th Sunday after Pentecost concerns the miraculous healing of a man’s deafness and inability to talk, before I drill into the Sunday passage and risk losing most of you because I go on and on and on, let me offer this from the top. St. Gregory Nazianzen (+390) says that…
