Monday, December 24, 2007
Christmas Proclamation

On this holy night, I wish all of my readers a blessed Christmas as the penitential time of Advent closes. Gaudete! This night we celebrate the birth of the only-begotten Son of the Father, Our Lord Jesus Christ!!

For information on customs this day and for all days in Christmastide, please visit Fish Eaters.

Luke 2:10-14:

"And the angel said to them: Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, that shall be to all the people: For, this day, is born to you a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord, in the city of David. And this shall be a sign unto you. You shall find the infant wrapped in swaddling clothes, and laid in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army, praising God, and saying: Glory to God in the highest; and on earth peace to men of good will."

The Christmas Proclamation:

* The twenty-fifth day of December.

* In the five thousand one hundred and ninety-ninth year of the creation of the world from the time when God in the beginning created the heavens and the earth;

* the two thousand nine hundred and fifty-seventh year after the flood;

* the two thousand and fifteenth year from the birth of Abraham;

* the one thousand five hundred and tenth year from Moses and the going forth of the people of Israel from Egypt;

* the one thousand and thirty-second year from David's being anointed king;

* in the sixty-fifth week according to the prophecy of Daniel;

* in the one hundred and ninety-fourth Olympiad;

* the seven hundred and fifty-second year from the foundation of the city of Rome;

* the forty second year of the reign of Octavian Augustus;

* the whole world being at peace,

* in the sixth age of the world,

* Jesus Christ the eternal God and Son of the eternal Father, desiring to sanctify the world by his most merciful coming, being conceived by the Holy Spirit, and nine months having passed since his conception,

* was born in Bethlehem of Judea of the Virgin Mary, being made flesh.

* The Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh.
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Sunday, December 23, 2007
New Cardinals Named in October 2007

His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, has named the following Cardinals on October 17, 2007.

* John Patrick Foley, Pro-Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy
Sepulchre (USA)
* Daniel Nicholas DiNardo, archbishop of Galveston-Houston (USA)
* Giovanni Lajolo, Governor of the Vatican City-State (Italy)
* Paul-Josef Cordes, president, Pontifical Council Cor Unum (Germany)
* Angelo Comastri, archpriest of St Peter's Basilica (Italy)
* Stanislaw Rylko, president, Pontifical Council for the Laity (Poland)
* Raffaele Farina SDB, top archivist (Italy)
* Agustin Garcia-Gasco y Vicente, archbishop of Valencia (Spain)
* Sean Brady, archbishop of Armagh, "Primate of All Ireland"
* Jose Lluis Sistach, archbishop of Barcelona
* Andre Vingt-Trois, archbishop of Paris
* Angelo Bagnasco, archbishop of Genoa
* Francisco Lopez Ortega, archbishop of Monterrey (Mexico)
* Leonardo Sandri, prefect, Congregation for the Oriental Churches (Argentina)
* Odilio Pedro Scherer, archbishop of Sao Paulo
* John Njue, archbishop of Nairobi
* Theodore-Adrien Sarr, archbishop of Dakar
* Oswald Gracias, archbishop of Bombay

And the honorary cardinals over the age of 80:

Emmanuel III Delly, Patriarch of Babylonia of the Chaldeans (Iraq)
Abp. Giovanni Coppa, (retired) apostolic nuncio (Italy)
Abp. Esteban Karlic, of Parana, Argentina (ret.)
Fr. Umberto Betti, OFM, rector-emeritus of the Pontifical Lateran University
Fr. Urbano Navarrete, SJ, rector-emeritus of the Pontifical Gregorian University
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Msgr. Michael Hoeppner Appointed Bishop of Crookston

On September 28, 2007, the blogger at Whispers in the Loggia wrote, "As intimated last night (see next post), Crookston's day has arrived. This morning, the Pope accepted the resignation of Bishop Victor Balke, who turns 76 tomorrow, naming in his stead Msgr Michael Hoeppner, heretofore vicar-general of Winona. A native Minnesotan, the 58 year-old bishop-elect comes with a background steeped both in parish work and administration, and with a good bit of teaching ministry, to boot. An alum of the Pontifical North American College, Hoeppner is yet another member of the class of 29 June 1975 -- when Pope Paul VI ordained 359 priests to mark the Holy Year -- to be elevated to the episcopacy, and the second US appointee this year to come from the group..."

I know little about the life or beliefs of His Excellency Michael Hoeppner. I particularly would like to hear opinions from my readers in regards to his position towards Traditionalism.
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Pembroke Bishop Michael Mulhall



PEMBROKE, ON, September 21, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Immediately after his ordination today as the new bishop of the Catholic diocese of Pembroke, a small diocese in Canada's Ottawa Valley district, Bishop Michael Mulhall emphasized that the pro-life issue is a very high priority for him.
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Saturday, December 22, 2007
Tridentine Mass Celebrated in Vienna

Here is a Pontifical High Mass from September 2007, where the celebrant was the Apostolic nuncio, Archbishop Edmond Farhat. The music was by Joseph Haydn, and the Mass took place at Franziskanerkirche, Vienna. All photos are from the The Cafeteria is Closed [Blog is now defunct]. These particular photos are of superior quality and capture the mystery, reverence, and holiness that permeates the Tridentine Latin Mass. 





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Saturday, December 1, 2007
Solemn Vespers for the First Sunday of Advent

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Sunday, November 11, 2007
Armistice Day: 89th Anniversary

The Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month at the Eleventh Hour...

Before Omaha Beach, D-Day (June 1944)

If I should die, think only this of me:
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is forever England. There shall be

During World War I (1914 - 1918)

In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,

Funeral Mass (Date Unknown)

A body of England's, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers blest by the suns of home.

Mass on the Battlefield (Date Unknown)

And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
Gives somewhere back the thought by England given;

Mass on the Battlefield (Date Unknown)

Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
In hearts at peace, under an English Heaven

Source: "The Soldier" by Rupert Brooke (1887 - 1915)

Image Sources: Believed to be in the Public Domain
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Friday, August 24, 2007
Beginning the College Seminary

Update (May 22, 2009):After a period of discernment, I have come to realize that I will not continue on in seminary formation. Due to irreconcilable differences with the Novus Ordo seminary as well as modern practices in the Church, I have decided to leave the seminary and pursue an undergraduate degree in accounting. I ask for your prayers. I will continue to strongly support and promote the Traditions of the Church through my blog and Internet apostolate, now more than ever before.

Update (March 24, 2008):


Greetings and Peace to all of you! I pray that the Triduum was a blessed and holy experience for all of you. Thank you for your continued prayers. From March 14 - 24, 2008, I am on Easter Break, and I have been able to make some additional posts during that time. I hope that you continue to enjoy my blog. I will keep posting while at seminary when I am allowed to do so.

Please scroll down for more recent posts.

Update (December 23, 2007):

First semester has ended and I have successfully and safety arrived back home from seminary. I am not able to post on the Internet many of my details at seminary, but I have sent out around six emails during the first semester detailing many of my endeavors. Thank you to everyone for your continued prayers. And thank you to everyone that has donated so far to me through PayPal. Your donations are a great help! I do appreciate them highly!!

For the next few weeks I will be home and therefore able to post on my blog. This post will appear at the top of the blog at an advanced date. Please scroll down for new posts as they are written.

Original Post (August 24, 2007):

Finally, the day has arrived as I prepare to follow the Lord Jesus Christ on the holy path to the priesthood. I will start at my seminary on August 25, 2007. As mandated under holy obedience of my superiors, blogging and posting on Internet forums is prohibited for seminarians. Therefore, blogging will end on August 24, 2007. This will be my last post on "A Catholic Life" until, most likely, the summer of 2008. In the following months, this blog will remain online to be used as a reference. Many of the best posts to be used as reference are listed under "Catholic Categories" in the sidebar. I ask you, all of my readers, to please leave my blog listed in your sidebars and on your feeds' lists. Also, new comments will continue to be emailed to me, so please continue to comment on posts on this blog. This blog will not end; it shall only remain dormant as required under obedience.

Thankfully, I can still use email while in the seminary. If you have been a reader of this blog please email me and ask to be put on my Google Contact List. Many of you have already requested to be added to my contact list and you are on the list. With the list, I will be able to email a unlimited group of people with the click of a single button. I plan on using the group to email readers updates on my life and requests for prayers. I do not plan to use the group in order to send out news or articles that I would have written for my blog.

Therefore, if you are a person that I know has read my blog - either because you are a Catholic blogger or have written me before - let me know if you want to receive emails from me. I do not want people to sign up in order to obtain personal information. That is why I will add your name to the Google Contact's List only if I have heard from you before or you are a Catholic blogger.

Today marks a great change in my life. I am leaving my old life and beginning anew. This truly is a wonderful time, and your prayers will be greatly appreciated. Below are some topics that I would like to address before I temporarily leave this blog.

Paypal Donations

Many of my readers have been EXTREMELY kind and donated to me through Paypal. You can still continue to send me donations while I am at seminary. Although my tuition, room/board, and food expenses are covered, I still need money to buy college supplies such as clothing, books, calculators, etc as well as liturgical garments. As a seminarian, I am also forbidden to have a job while I am in school. Therefore, donations would be greatly appreciated. However, I must also state that such contributions would not be tax-deductible. To contribute, please click on the PayPal Donate Icon in the sidebar. Thank you in advance for your generosity as it is extremely appreciated.

Prayer Requests

To request prayers, please leave your intention and name under my post entitled Creating a Prayer List.

Promoting the Tridentine Mass

Over the past few years I have sought to promote and encourage the Tridentine Mass according to the Rite of 1962 on this blog. It is my hope that my work has helped bring souls closer to Christ Jesus through, what some have rightfully called, the Mass of Ages. The Tridentine Latin Mass truly is the most beautiful thing this side of Heaven. I ask my readers to continue to pray for more Tridentine Masses and to help the Traditional Movement in any possible way - whether by financial assistance, prayers, etc.

For an excellent tutorial on how to celebrate the Tridentine Mass according to the Rite of 1962, visit Sancta Missa. I highly encourage my readers to pass along this link to interested priests.

If you have any questions/concerns relating to the proper celebration of the Tridentine Latin Mass, please do not hestiate to email me. I do not presume to be an expert, but if I am not able to find the answer, I will definitely try to find someone who does.

If you have never heard of the Tridentine Latin Mass, please do some research. My main page with information on the Tridentine Latin Mass can be found in my sidebar's categories section under the title Tridentine Latin Mass.

Goodbye

I leave you with a few beautiful images to view over the next few months. These are images of the type of priest that I desire to become. I am not sure whether I will become a priest or if, after this period of discernment, I will feel called to the married life and end up raising a Traditional Catholic family. I will continue to update readers through email and, when allowed to do so, on this blog.

Concerning these photographs, I have posted most of these previously on my blog, so you can find the sources by looking through my archives. Many of them are from the excellent blog, Hallowedground. I find these beautiful images to be sources of joy when I think about the dignity of the Roman Catholic Priesthood. I hope that my readers will also find these images to be beautiful.

In Jesus and Mary,

Seminarian Matthew
































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Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Tridentine Latin Mass in Diocese of Joliet: October 6, 2007

I received this information directly from the contact person, whose email address is listed below. I was also sent a .doc file of a flyer promoting the event with the below mentioned information. If you would like a copy of the flyer, please email me. Please help promote this Tridentine Latin Mass.

There will be a Tridentine Latin Mass offered in reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary by Fr. Andreas Hellmann of the Institute of Christ the King. The Mass will be here:

October 6, 2007 - 7 PM
St. Rose of Lima Church
486 W. Merchant St.
Kankakee, IL


Mass will be preceded by a mile-long rosary procession with the statue of Our Lady, and her crowning upon arrival at St. Rose Church.

Procession starts from:

St. Martin of Tours
953 S. 9th Ave
Kankakee, IL

Procession begins at 6 PM (Bring flowers and a votive candle for Our Lady)

Intentions:

Public reparation for sin
To mitigate the punishments due sinful humanity
For our hierarchy and all consecrated souls
For the intentions of all participants
Thanksgiving for Summorum Pontificum

Contact information: doctorvici[at]hotmail.com

If there is a huge attendance at the Mass, then there is a chance that this diocese will have a regularly celebrated TLM again. Please attend if you can. If you are unable to do so, please pass this information on to anyone you think would be interested.
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Archbishop Diarmuid Martin celebrates Tridentine Latin Mass


Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin celebrated a Traditional Latin Mass in St Audoen's church, Dublin, in 2005. This footage is compiled by Kieron Wood.
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