Memento Mori is an ancient monastic expression that has had a bit of a gothy rebranding and promotion in the Catholic underground. Of course, the nomenclature is timeless and sound–we are all going to die, and we should live as if we understand that; to paraphrase St. Robert Bellarmine, those who live well, die well.…
Imagine you’re in a movie theater watching the latest blockbuster, thoroughly captivated by the plots and subplots, the beautiful faces and lush scenery as the movie progresses inexorably toward its climax. Your cell phone alerts you to an incoming call. (Of course, you silenced the ringer before the movie began.) Much as you hate the…
“The teaching of Saint John Damascene thus finds its place in the tradition of the universal Church, whose sacramental doctrine foresees that material elements taken from nature can become vehicles of grace by virtue of the invocation (epiclesis) of the Holy Spirit, accompanied by the confession of the true faith.” (General Audience, 6 May, 2009,…
From The Book of Lemaitrians, Chapter 1, Verses 1 & 2: In the beginning was the dot, no larger than the end of a human hair. When it exploded, that dot released everything that exists and has ever existed in the Universe: time, space, light, energy, and all the matter that makes up the stars,…
By William Po In 2013, Francis, the first Jesuit pope, canonized the Jesuit Peter Faber (1506-1546) who, with founder St. Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556), St. Francis Xavier (1506-1552) and four others, vowed poverty, chastity and obedience on Montmartre in 1534 in forming the Compañía de Jesús (which was Latinized into Societas Jesu) – the Jesuit order.…
In a hole in the ground there lived a Catholic. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with liturgical dancing and felt banners, nor yet a dry, bare, ungodly hole with modern Jesuits and new pathways: it was a Catholic-hole, which means the comfort of timeless faith and beauty. It had a perfectly placed round…
Editor’s note: we have embedded several videos of the sacred music performances discussed in the following text, but space prevents us from including them all. We encourage you to follow the links as well so you don’t miss out on any of these beautiful pieces of music. Throughout the desert of Lent, souls seek conversion…
Strength without leverage is nothing. Even Samson at his power’s peak could not have budged a massive object in a vacuum: he’d simply push himself backwards into empty space. Likewise, an intellect ungrounded in history can only bounce aimlessly off the ineluctable marble of facts (“stubborn things,” John Adams said). I recently remarked, by way…
And there was a great battle in heaven, Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels: And they prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven. —Apocalypse 12:7,8 And God saw the light that it was good; and he divided the light from the darkness.…
As the Vatican continues its bizarre feud with the venerable Roman Rite, going so far as to prohibit the offering of the Ancient Mass in St. Peter’s upper basilica (the very Mass for which that basilica was built), it is delightful to be able to share some very good news. Benedictus, the “Traditional Catholic Companion,”…
“Magic mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?” -The Evil Queen in Snow White “Remember the Lord in everything you do, and He will show you the right way” -Proverbs 3:6 Precis: The right thing to do is to conform our wishes to God’s will. Here, though, we will…
