If he lived today, would Mozart have composed a cantata like Davide penitente (The Penitent David), K. 469? Performed successfully for the first time on March 13, 1785 in Vienna’s Burgtheater, it was soon forgotten. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) was asked by the Vienna Musicians’ Society (Wiener Tonkünstler-Societät), a pension fund founded in 1771 to…
My goal as a writer and Catholic small business–owner is similar to the mission statement of this website: to evangelize and to rebuild traditional Catholic culture and orthodoxy through holy objects and educational materials about the faith. In keeping with this goal, I would like to talk about our daily prayer lives in connection with…
Let’s put the thing everyone wants to know right out in front: no, the post-synodal apostolic exhortation Querida Amazonia does not, within its text, explicitly provide for the ordination of “viri probati” — married men, likely married permanent deacons — to the priesthood in the Amazon region. Many early reactions to the document are celebrating the…
Last week I spoke of my attachment to Prime, one of the “little hours” of the Divine Office, and why Catholics today should consider taking it up as the backbone of their morning prayer. Today I turn to the Roman Martyrology. What is this book, and why do I connect it with Prime [i]? The Roman…
Today is the 7th anniversary of the announcement of the intention to abdicate by Pope Benedict XVI. In the following 7 years, the crisis in the Church has escalated exponentially, and during that time, one of the most notable things has been the absence of the majority of our bishops & cardinals in speaking out.…
With the pope’s long awaited post-synodal exhortation not far away, we can be sure that the modernists will be taking their axes to the roots of the discipline of clerical celibacy. We will hear claims that clerical celibacy was introduced only in the 12th or 5th century and that it is not a discipline that…
Since the Fall of Man, men and women have been locked in a contest of power. Instead of the order of humility and charity created by God, Adam and Eve chose pride and rebellion against God and each other. Pride produces a contest of power because pride cannot be satisfied unless it obtains more power…
I was born an old man. Cantankerous and curmudgeonly, I came to believe that miracles were possible — after a great deal of Thomistic tinkering. Still, I didn’t want to believe in them. I was a Catholic, but a bad one. “We really hit a wall after our second child,” my friend assured me on his…
Epistle: 1 Corinthians 9:24-27; 10. 1-5 Gospel: Matthew 20:1-16 Graciously hear, we beseech Thee, O Lord, the prayers of Thy people, that we who are justly afflicted for our sins, may be mercifully delivered by Thy goodness, for the glory of Thy name. – From the Collect for the Septuagesima Sunday Sunday is Septuagesima Sunday,…
Robert Mickens — a man notorious for his dislike of Pope Benedict XVI, so keep that in mind going in — has a fascinating piece (paywall) at La Croix about the Gänswein sidelining. Mickens says that Francis was stuck with Gänswein by Benedict, who didn’t see Bergoglio coming, and had, just before his abdication, elevated…
On this episode of the 1P5 Minute, we look at the absolute disconnect between a Vatican that can’t stop pumping out scandal and the eagerness of some bishops (and the Orwellian Hobbits that support them) to try to control the very Catholic media that wants to keep the episcopacy accountable. Today’s stories include: Archbishop Carlo…
