In response to a recent article about the return of nuptial care cloths, one reader commented: It’s a beautiful, ancient custom. However, it was never part of the American ritual books (as far as I can tell.) Use it in France all you like, but ‘bringing it back’ in the US would be anachronistic and…
Probably, but not certainly, 1750 years ago, on February 27, 272, a great Roman emperor and a brilliant politician was born in Naissus, Moesia (now Niš, Serbia): Flavius Valerius Constantinus, also known as Constantine the Great. His father is Constantius Chlorus, Caesar (deputy emperor) of the northwest, and his mother is St. Helena. Challenging the…
Fr. Serafino Lanzetta has an excellent new book out called The Symphony of Truth. As a writer with a focus on the roots of Pope Francis’s pontificate, I found this book fascinating. From multiple angles, Fr. Lanzetta tells the backstories behind today’s ecclesial crisis. Often, we can trace the root of a current problem back…
On December 22, 2021, a manifesto appeared online which is worth engaging with seriously. Entitled A Manifesto of the New Traditionalism (MNT), it was signed initially and subsequently by some very reputable Catholic scholars; it is worth reading in its entirety. Obviously offered in a sincere spirit with a desire to benefit the Church, there…
Editor’s note: a powerful new book by well-known essayist and literary critic Anthony Esolen entitled In the Beginning Was the Word: An Annotated Reading of the Prologue of John was recently published by Angelico Press, from whom we obtained permission to share a part of it with our readers. Our own contributing editor Dr. Peter…
Read the last chapter before this one Start reading from chapter 1 *** Malthus my boy, The virus has gripped the mind of most nations, and they are shutting down all their services and activities except for those deemed “essential.” This is wonderful news, and I fully expect we can use this to get…
Context is important. We are in “Gesima” time, Pre-Lent, a time of preparation, for the time of preparation, for Easter. Holy Church, like our mothers, remind us that we have some chores coming due; she reminds us that Lent is around the corner: after this “Fiftieth” Sunday, Quinquagesima, in three days is Ash Wednesday and…
Dear Catholics who support the suppression of the Traditional Latin Mass, Following the publication of Traditiones Custodes and the subsequent Responsa ad dubia of said apostolic letter, many of you have inquired as to the reasons for our clinging to the Old Mass, which is the liturgy of the saints and of our ancestors. Many…
In my previous essay, Former Freemason Explains Freemasonry – pt. 1, I sought to clarify the term ‘Freemasonry’ (i.e., Free & Accepted Masons and Ancient Free & Accepted Masons) within its proper usage and delineation of being a religious fraternal organization, started in England in 1717, and consisting today of hundreds of autonomous craft Grand…
Editor’s note: for more on Freemasonry, see this essay from our contributing editor, Peter A. Kwasniewski. The first rule in war is to know one’s enemy, and yet the enemy of the Catholic, and of the Church Militant, is so shadowy we tend to not even know its name. Many Catholics, animated by charity and…
950 years ago, in the night between 22 and 23 February 1072, at the age of 65 a great figure in the 11th century Church, who was a hermit, diplomat, theologian and poet, died of a sudden illness in Faenza, northeastern Italy: St. Peter Damiani. Peter was born in Ravenna, northeastern Italy, in 1007 and,…
