Monday, January 21, 2008

Traditional Candlemass


On February 2, there will be a (traditional) Solemn Mass at Our Lady of Good Counsel. The church is located at 230 East 90th Street, between 2nd & 3rd Ave's.

The traditional blessing of candles will start at 1pm and it will be followed by a procession inside the church. Then follows the Solemn Mass.

Fr. Richard Trezza will be the Celebrant, Fr. Matthew Talarico will be the Deacon and Fr. James Miara will be the Subdeacon.

All are invited and encouraged to attend.

Please, share this information with people who might be intested in attending this Mass.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Science vs. Religion

After the extremely scandalous episode at the University La Sapienza occurred, it is good for people to remember the following (taken from The History of Jesus Christ by Fr. Bruckberger):
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“Even the great public cannot ignore and does not ignore the fact that science, like every product of collective opinion, is subject to fashion. Scientists talk all the time about outmoded theories. This would be scandalous if we were not too addlepated to be conscious of scandal. How can one feel a religious respect for something that is subject to fashion?” ~Simone Weil

“It is hard for me to understand the great role, especially in epochs of transition and uncertainty, played by fashion in science, a role only slightly inferior to that which it plays in women’s dress. Man is indeed an animal very susceptible to suggestion on every subject.” ~Einstein

Fr. Bruckberger :
In these conditions one can see how silly it is to attribute to science the prestige of truth –which, incidentally, it has ceased to demand – and how ridiculous it is to talk of a possible conflict between science and religion on the level of truth…. Never forget that, like fashion, science is always of its time.

Science has become a dangerous mastodon, an imbecile without true judgment or responsibility, but unhappily omnipotent, capable of crushing all men beneath its feet: it is the monster in Picasso’s Minotauromachia.” It is imperative to domesticate this mastodon, it is absolutely necessary to reduce it very soon, if not to impotence, at least to obedience. Instead, it is we who do obeisance to it and bow before it; indeed we abdicate all judgment to it, our material security and our spiritual dignity, to the truth that we idolize – and this is abominable. Science is our Moloch, our Baal, our Astarte, we give it everything it demands, including our souls. We no longer look to God for our salvation, we look to science, we feel ourselves impotent and humble before it alone, we abdicate everything at its feet; nothing is too precious for us to convert into a burnt offering to science.

Scientism in its grossest, most outdated, most laggard form is still engaged in playing havoc with the traditional teachings of our religion… There is inevitable conflict (between science and religion) whenever science demands unquestioning respect that is actually idolatrous. Just the same, it is high time to tell science that it extrapolates, that it exaggerates, that it exasperates, that it is in our service and not we in its service and that, even if it is as big as Goliath, we do not recognize its right to make us bow down and worship it.
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O when hatred enters your heart so as to govern it completely, be silent, flee, hide yourself, disappear, play dead, or be ready in advance to forswear all that you hold most precious, with honor in the lead.

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Canons

“Canonici ad honorem alicujus basilicæ vel ecclesiæ collegialis almæ Urbis, privilegiis et insignibus uti possunt tantum intra ejusdem basilicæ vel collegiatæ ecclesiæ filialium ambitum...” ~Mgr. Nabuco, Ius Pontificalium

Canon of St. James of the Sword
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Canon of St. Genevieve
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Canon of the Holy Sepulcher
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Provost (not canon, but looks like one!)
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Canons of the Duomo (Milan)
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Canon van Necke
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Canon of St. Frediano
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Canon of St. John Lateran
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Canons of the Duomo (Milan)
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18th c. Regular Canon
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Canons of Lourdes

Saturday, December 29, 2007

Patriarch of Lisbon - Again


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In a previous post, I showed a picture of the traditional Mitre-tiara of the Patriarch of Lisbon. (This was one of the liturgical privileges given to them in the past - many of them at the insistent request of King João). The above picture shows a *modern* Mitre-tiara worn by Patriarch Antonio Ribeiro.

Notice the three bands, which are supposed to resemble the 3 rings of a tiara. They could do much better than that!
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Now, this is a picture of the Fanon worn by the Patriarch of Lisbon in the past - another liturgical privilege granted to them by Popes. I do not think that they wear the Fanon anymore. 

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

El Pecado

EL PECADO ES EL MAYOR DE TODOS LOS MALES
Debemos temer todo pecado como el mayor de todos los males. El pecado es el mal contra Dios; porque le quita la obediencia y el honor que le son debidos. Si Dios fuera capaz de pena, el pecado se la causaría. El pecado, el mal contra Dios, es un mal infinito, por ser infinita la dignidad de Dios ofendido. Todos los demás males son males de las criaturas; mas todas las criaturas, comparadas con Dios, son como nada; por consiguiente, todos sus males son como nada comparados con el mal contra Dios. Por esto aun para librar de la ruina al mundo entero, jamás sería lícito cometer el más mínimo pecado. Nunca puede ser lícito cometer un pecado; pues si alguna vez fuera lícito, ya no sería pecado. El pecado es el mal del hombre; porque le quita la eterna felicidad, que es su último fin. Ningún otro mal causa más fatales consecuencias.

El pecado mortal ha sido la causa de que Jesús sufriera los más crueles tormentos en su pasión santísima. Un solo pecado mortal cambió a unos Ángeles hermosísimos en demonios feísimos. Un solo pecado mortal, el de Adán, cambió el mundo, de un paraíso de delicias y goces, en un valle de lágrimas y dolores.

¡JAMÁS PECAR!
Sólo el pecado es el verdadero mal, pues los demás males pueden traernos grandes bienes, porque nos ayudan a conseguir mayores premios para el cielo. Sólo el pecado, si es grave, nos separa de Dios, nuestro Sumo Bien; y si es leve, retarda nuestra entrada en el cielo y nos priva de muchas gracias. Evitemos, pues, todo pecado, cueste lo que cueste. Digamos a menudo: “primero morir que pecar.” Si por cada vez que el hombre cometiera un pecado, tuviera que pagar una gran multa o recibir un gran castigo corporal ¿no es verdad que todos tendrían un cuidado sumo en no cometer pecados? Con mayor razón debemos abstenernos del pecado por no ofender a Dios, por no perder el cielo, por no merecer los castigos temporales y eternos.

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Christmas - ~R. L. Bruckberger

By becoming the Son of Man, the all-powerful Word of God subjugated the whole of sensible nature to men of good will; it is all men of good will that nature protects under the clouds of His luminous Presence, it is all men of good will who can henceforth traverse dry-shod the Red Sea of sin, of suffering, and of death. The benediction promised Abraham is no longer limited to his race: it extends to infinity in space and time, to every point where there is a man of good will.

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We must believe that the Son of God was simultaneously on earth and in heaven and that if His destiny goes from eternity to eternity it is nevertheless never separated from eternity; it is contained in it like a sphere in a larger sphere. Through His Incarnation, by becoming a Man, Jesus did not immerse Himself in time; he drew time into His own eternity. Jesus Christ is youth itself, perpetually welling forth and perpetually renewed. In Him eternity swallows up not only the years but the whole of time entire. For every man, natural birth is the end of a period of maturation of nine months; it is the fruit that detaches itself naturally from the tree. The Birth of Jesus is that too, but it is above all the appearance in our shadowy and miserable world of the sweetness and the smile of God: “Apparuit benignitas…” – “The goodness and kindness of God our Savior appeared…”

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When Saint Leo, the Pope, wished to define for the faithful the significance of Christmas, he gave an urgent exhortation which has not, alas, lost any of its timeliness: Agnosce, O Christiane, dignitatem tuam…” “Christians, be on your guard, be conscious of your dignity. You have been made participants in the divine nature. Do not, through your conduct, fall once more to the level of your former decadence.”

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Since the optimism of the humanist and of the philosophy of the enlightenment has sunk in ridicule and dismay under the impact of the experience of two world wars, in which the nature of man revealed itself as even more disquieting than had been imagined, we are witnesses to a vast plot to defame humanity and particularly the image of God in man. For some thirty years literature, motion pictures, and even philosophy, not to mention political and economic theories, have been trying to convince us that we emerge from nothingness and return to nothingness after a fugitive career in which our loftiest motives of action hardly rise above the level of the most elementary appetites and instincts – I might almost say the level of tropisms. If man in truth is nothing that but, what good is man? And if that is the case I say very seriously that it is an insult to the noblest animals, such as cats and horses, to put man in the same class with them.

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May those Christians who have allowed themselves to be swept away by this vogue bestir their intelligence, pluck up the courage of their convictions, and recapture some insolence of contempt toward images of human nature that are false and so degrading. And may the light of Christmas, rising on our night, put to flight all such timorous hobgoblins.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Falda Papalis - ~Mgr. Nabuco

Hello! Now is time to include what Mgr. Nabuco has to say about the Papal Falda.
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[For those of you wondering why the posts are in Latin: I do not have a lot of time to post frequently. It would take time to translate the post into English, Spanish or Italian AND then type them, too. For those of you who are able to translate these small interesting pieces on the Vestments and are *willing* to share them, let me know. A friend of mine had the time and the will to translate some of these posts into Italian. If you can read Italian better than Latin and would like to read it, let me know and I will send it to you... If not, then just enjoy the pictures!].
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Falda Papalis:
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In officiis pontificalibus Papa utitur fimbria seu falda: est enim ampla vestis e tenui serico albo, quæ subter rochetum firmatur, quæque in parte anteriore se extendit usque deorsum ad longitudinem dimidii metri et in parte posteriori ad modum amplæ caudæ ad longitudinem centum viginti quinque centimetrorum, propterea cum fimbria cauda habitus talaris non extenditur.
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In consistoriis secretis vero Papa utitur fimbria minori, quæ se extendit ad quartam partem metri in parte anteriori et ad dimidium metri in parte posteriori. Quando Papa ambulat fimbria suspenditur utrimque in parte anteriori a duobus protonotariis sive auditoribus S. R. Rotæ et a parte posteriori a duobus cubiculariis. Moroni, 23, p. 10; APC, 1907, p. 104.
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Fimbria seu falda papalis alia erat serica, lanea alia, juxta tempus, nunc tamen usus fimbriæ laneæ obsolevit. Falda originem suam duxisse supponitur una cum magno pluviali, quod long ductum protenditur infra pedes Summi Pontificis. Vestes hæ solemnes sunt, præsertim cum Summus Pontifex in hexaphorone seu sede gestatoria vel in throno suo sedet. Quum tamen Papa ambulat hisce indutus vestibus duo prelati anteriorem partem sustinent, cardinales duo oras pluvialis, cubicularii duo seu princeps solio assistens posticam partem fimbriæ. Fateri debemus hujusmodi vestes ad ambulandum factas non fuisse, et sex personas eas attollentes præter cæremoniarios duos passus Summi Pontificis intercludere. In processionibus Corporis Christi usus fimbriæ erat nimis incommodus, proinde Papæ inde a Pio IX illam pro processione non amplius induunt. Moroni, 23, p. 10.

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Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Crocia - ~Mgr. Joaquim Nabuco

Habitus pælatitius vacante Apostolica Sede:
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Solebant Patres Cardinales supremum munus eligendi Summum Pontificem exsequi cum crocia, nam in Cæremoniali Gregorii XV anni 1622 legitur crocis utuntur in electione et aliis actibus collegialiter faciendis. Erat crocia (quæ etiam cucullum audit CA, I, p. 53) cappa violacea lanea, caudata, in parte anteriori aperta et sine manicis, quæ super palliolo vel directe super rocheto induebantur. Certe inde a Bonifacio IX († 1404) crocia erat in usu, qui teste Piazza (p. 198) ejus usum præcepit; Bonanni (p. 445) refert usum crociæ tempore Pauli II circa 1464; Burchardus in suo librum notarum dicit cardinales ad conclave venire cum suis capucinis (palliolo) et crociulis (sic!) (p. 47, linea 35); Moroni scribens tempore Pii IX seu anno 1859 dicit crocias adhiberi a cardinalibus in conclavi (vol. 96, p. 225). Tamen post quatuor sæcula cardinales crociam reliquerunt et ea in conclavi pro electione Leonis XIII (1878) non induerunt. Senatores Romani usque ad Pium IX utebantur crocia serica ad instar cardinalium sed cum manicis. Vide Silvio Negro, Seconda Roma, p. 273. De crocia veste cardinalium in conclavi scripsit J. M. Suaresius, SS Basilicæ Vaticanæ olim Vicarius († 1677), Romæ 1670; vide Bonani, p. 445; Piazza, p. 305; Capparoni cardinale con crocia; Moroni, crocia, 18, p. 224, et passim.
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Prelati di mantellone:
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In capellis papalibus, loco mantelli, cubicularii induunt crociam laneam rosacei coloris cum amplis manicis ad dimidium brachium, similem crociæ caudatarium. Superimponitur palliolum humerale laneum cum subsutis e serico rosaceo, quod tempore hiemali cooperitur pellibus armellineis.
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Saturday, December 15, 2007

Minor Orders



Conformably to the designs of Our Lord, the Church has ordained that there should be for each of them (orders) a particular class of ministers, that some should be established to watch over the holy place, others to instruct the faithful, others to defend them against the devil and withdraw them from his power, still others to prepare the sanctuary and to decorate the altar, etc. Moreover it has been determined that one may arrive at the higher powers only progressively, mounting degree by degree, that each new order be super-added to the preceding orders, and that the lower be dependent on the higher. {Si quis dixerit non esse in Ecclesia ordines et majores et minores, per quos velut per gradus quosdam in sacerdotium tendatur, anathema sit. CONG. TRID., Sess. xxm, can. 2. Ordinis sacramentum est thronus ille eburneus mystici Salomonis, cujus reclinatorium aureum, ad quern ascenditur sex gradibus purpureis, media caritate constratis. PET. BLES}.
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Hence the holy hierarchy of sacred ministers, the supernatural origin and divine character of which was defined by the Council of Trent. {Si quis dixerit non esse hierarchiam divina ordinatione institutam, anathema sit. CONC. TRID., Sess. xxm, can. 6. Minor Orders. 5}.
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Thus, the pontificate or the plenitude of priestly power which resides in the Bishop, is distributed by ordination into seven distinct orders, the one subordinate to the other: the priesthood, which gives the power to offer and consecrate the Divine Host; the diaconate, charged with its distribution; the subdiaconate, to which belongs the duty of preparing the matter of the sacrifice and the sacred vessels; the order of acolyte, to which belongs the care of the altar and the lights; the order of exorcist, which keeps out the unworthy and frees those possessed; the order of lector, which proclaims the word of God and assists the hearers to penetrate into its spirit; the order of ostiary, which guards the property of the House of God and assembles the faithful.
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These seven powers successively conferred, beginning with the last, are superimposed one upon the other without ever disappearing or coming in conflict, so that in the priesthood, the highest of them all, they are all found. The priest unites them all in his person and has to exercise them all his life in the various offices of his ministry. They are as the seven columns of the living temple which the Incarnate Wisdom has raised up to the Divine Majesty. {Sapentia sedificavit sibi domum, excidit columnas septem, immolavit victimas suas, miscuit vinum et proposuit mensam suam. PROV., ix, 1}.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Guadalupe


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Non fecit táliter omni natióni
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