Why the Tridentine Mass?

Introibo ad altare Dei — “I will go unto the altar of God.” So begins the holy sacrifice of the Mass, as it has been celebrated in the Roman rite of the Church for well over a millennium. Contrary to the sincere wishes of the liturgical apparatus that has visited havoc upon orthodox Catholics for the past forty years, the traditional Latin liturgy still survives. Indeed, not only does it survive, but it is attracting new followers and exciting a profound piety in Catholics of all ages — many of whom, like myself, were born over a decade after the imposition of the new liturgy. With the recognition by many concerned Catholics that the lex orandi of the modern liturgy is not an adequate expression of the Church’s lex credendi, there has been concerted effort in recent years to address the poverty of Catholic liturgical life today. (The “reform of the reform” solution proposed by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger and Fr. Joseph Fessio immediately comes to mind.) While many orthodox Catholics are directing their attention to salvaging the Novus Ordo Missae introduced by Pope Paul VI in 1969, many others are directing their energies toward the restoration — or at least the revival — of the traditional Latin Mass.

Source: New Oxford Review (continue reading)

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Excommunications in the Diocese of Lincoln

Bishop James D. Conley prays at installation Mass outside of Risen Christ Cathedral in Lincoln, Neb. on Nov. 20, 2012. Credit: Seth DeMoor/CNA. From Catholic News Agency

As a preface, see What is Excommunication and Why Is it So Series 

For the most part, I am very happy to see a result in this. It's about times that members of those organizations are excommunicated. Now all members of those groups within the Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska have been excommunicated barring them from the Sacraments. They can only return to the Church and the source of grace by repenting and confessing their sins.

However, one major error here is the inclusion of the Society of St. Pius X. You may not excommunicate a group for keeping the Catholic Faith, which is what the SSPX does. Their inclusion is invalid as a similar alleged excommunication was been overturned by Pope Benedict XVI as part of the "Hawaii Six".

The SSPX sent several letters to the Diocese of Lincoln which went unanswered. This false accusation against the SSPX is invalid.

Here is the original statement:

Statement issued by Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz (published in Southern Nebraska Register, March 22, 1996)

All Catholics in and of the Diocese of Lincoln are forbidden to be members of the organizations and groups listed below. Membership in these organizations or groups is always perilous to the Catholic Faith and most often is totally incompatible with the Catholic Faith.

Planned Parenthood
Society of Saint Pius X (Lefebvre Group)
Hemlock Society
Call to Action
Call to Action Nebraska
Saint Michael the Archangel Chapel
Freemasons
Job's Daughters
DeMolay
Eastern Star
Rainbow Girls
Catholics for a Free Choice

Any Catholics in and of the Diocese of Lincoln who attain or retain membership in any of the above listed organizations or groups after April 15, 1996, are by that very fact (ipso facto latae sententiae) under interdict and are absolutely forbidden to receive Holy Communion. Contumacious persistence in such membership for one month following the interdict on part of any such Catholics will by that very fact (ipso facto latae sententiae) cause them to be excommunicated. Absolution from these ecclesial censures is "reserved to the Bishop."

This notice, when published in the Southern Nebraska Register, is a formal canonical warning.

By mandate of the Most Reverend Bishop of Lincoln.

Reverend Monsignor Timothy Thorburn, Chancellor March 19, 1996

May they repent and return to the Catholic faith.

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The Novena to Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception

Please especially pray this Novena leading up to the feastday of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception on December 8th. Here is a list of all the prayers for each day of the Novena.

• Day One
• Day Two
• Day Three
• Day Four
• Day Five
• Day Six
• Day Seven
• Day Eight
• Day Nine

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The Mass

St. Athanasius said "Catholics who hold on to the traditions, even if they are reduced to but a handful, they are the true church."

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Pray for the Repose of the Soul of Msgr. Robert C. Wurtz

I ask all of my blog readers to say a prayer for the repose of the soul of Msgr. Robert C. Wurtz, pastor of Our Lady of Victory Basilica, who passed away on December 12, 2006. I have been a fan of the website for the Our Lady of Victory Basilica especially the panoramic view of the Basilica. Go to the website and click on the picture and while holding down, move the pointer around.

Msgr. Wurtz always made sure to write nice messages in the church bulletin each week about Our Blessed Mother. He served the Basilica for approximately 30 years of his life. May the Virgin Mary lead his soul to Jesus Christ.

Requiem aeternam dona ei, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat ei. Requiescat in pace. Amen.

Image Source: Photo of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, Believed to be in the Public Domain

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Our Lady of Guadalupe & Our Lady of Good Success

III Class (1962 Calendar): December 12 (in the United States). The feastday is kept on November 16 in the Diocese of New Orleans. For those dioceses who keep our Lady of Guadalupe as patroness, this is I Class.

SemiDouble (1954 Calendar): December 12 (in the United States). For those dioceses who keep our Lady of Guadalupe as patroness, this is Double of the I Class. She is Double of the II Class in any Dioceses that keep her as a secondary patroness. She is kept as Double of the I Class in Mexico.

In 1531, Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared to a converted Aztec man named Juan Diego at Tepeyac, which is now an area just outside of Mexico City.  Juan Diego had converted to Catholicism in 1524 or 1525 not long after the coming of the Spaniards. He would walk 14 miles, barefooted, to attend Mass and seek instruction in the faith.

Unlike the visionaries of Fatima and Lourdes, Juan Diego was not young. In fact, at age 57, he was considered “old” by the standards of those times. But what makes him similar to the children is his poverty and humility. He was of the lowest class in his society and he is reported to have told the Blessed Mother, ‘"I am a nobody, I am a small rope, a tiny ladder, the tail end, a leaf."

Juan Diego wore a coarse cloak made from cactus fibers. When the Bishop doubted his stories about the appearance of the Lady, Juan asked her for a sign to prove to the bishop that the visions were real. Our Lady told Juan to pick roses that were blooming out of season and bring them in his cloak to the bishop. When he opened his cloak, or tilma, our Blessed Mother’s likeness was revealed on the cloth. Although the cactus cloth should have deteriorated within 20 years, this tilma defies scientific explanation and remains intact today.

After bringing the tilma to the Bishop, Juan Diego spent the rest of his life in a room near the chapel where the image was housed. He cared for the church and the pilgrims who came to pray to Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Twenty-five successive Popes have honored the appearance of Our Lady in Mexico. And millions of pilgrims visit the Basilica to see the miraculous images. Thousands of miracles are reported each year. Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patron saint of the Americas and patron saint of the unborn. Her image has been analyzed in detail and it appears that she is portrayed as pregnant as indicated by the high black ribbon above her waist.

During the time before the Spaniards came to Mexico, the Aztecs, and other native peoples, ritually killed thousands of people each year, especially the pure and the young, as sacrifices to their gods. Only the modern era has seen a surpassing of that kind of Culture of Death in the killing of unborn babies.

On the pagan temples of Mexico, the serpent is a prevalent image. When the Blessed Mother came to Juan Diego she spoke in his native language and is believed by some to have called herself “coatlaxopeuh,” which is pronounced like the Spanish word “Guadalupe.” The word “coatlaxopeuh” means one “who crushes the serpent.” This is yet another reason to pray to Our Lady of Guadalupe on behalf of the unborn.

On December 12th, the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the Americas, ask your priest for the traditional blessing of roses.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, we pray to you for our country where the wholesale slaughter of the unborn now surpasses the killing of the innocents of any previous time!

Collect:

O God, You have placed us under the special patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and through her You have favored us with endless blessings. May we, who joyfully honor her this day on earth, enjoy her company forever in heaven. Through Our Lord . . .

Twenty-nine years after Juan Diego’s death, five Conceptionist nuns traveled from Spain to Quito, Ecuador, to bring the Word of God to the New World. Among this group was Mariana de Jesus Torres, who was 13 years old. During the sea journey, she and the other nuns were graced with spiritual visions. Later, as the Abbess of the Royal Convent of the Immaculate Conception, Mother Mariana was unjustly persecuted by other nuns and local authorities. She faced imprisonment with great courage asking to take on the sins of the world. She died two times as a result of the pain and shock which pierced her heart. Yet, she returned to life!

Our Lady of Good Success was the title Mary gave to Mother Mariana when she appeared to her beginning in 1594. Over several years, Our Lady revealed visions of the coming immorality of the 20th Century — that faith and morals would be totally corrupted; that secular education would lead to a shortage of priests and religious; that sacraments would be ridiculed and the sacrament of Extreme Unction would be little used; that women would dress without modesty and children would lose their innocence; that many priests would fail to uphold the sacredness of their office.

Our Lady of Good Success said, “As for the Sacrament of Matrimony, which symbolizes the union of Christ with His Church, it will be attacked and profaned in the fullest sense of the word. Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws with the objective of doing away with this Sacrament, making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church. The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of customs.”

Mary revealed that belief in her appearance would be questioned and mocked, but She said that the simple and humble of heart would believe, and that would make a difference. As she said at Lourdes, over two centuries later, “The Immaculate Conception will triumph,” and the serpent will eventually be crushed when a holy “prelate” comes to bring change.

Mother Mariana was told that a truly Catholic president would come to Ecuador and would be martyred. That vision was fulfilled in 1875 when President Gabriel Garcia Moreno was murdered after trying to make reforms based on his faith.

Our Lady of Good Success commanded Mother Mariana to commission a tall statue to be created and placed above the Abbess chair at the convent. This statue was begun by a well-known sculptor but was miraculously completed in 1611 by the archangels and St. Francis of Assisi. This miracle was attested to by both the sculptor and the local bishop.

The appearance in Quito corresponds to a mysterious statue found by two Brothers from the Order of Minims in a cave in Catalonia, Spain. When the two set out to have their Order approved by the Holy See, they were shipwrecked and found shelter in a cave where they discovered the statue. They carried it to Pope Paul V, who blessed it and called the statue Our Lady of Good Success because of her aid of the travelers and spiritual petitioners. The year was 1607, just four years before a similarly appearing statue was commissioned by the Blessed Mother herself in Quito, Ecuador!

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Words from Father F. X. Schouppe

As we continue to journey through Advent, let us remember to live a penitential life during this season.

"There is another disorder in the soul which God punishes severely in Purgatory, to wit, the abuse of grace. By this is understood the neglect to correspond to the aids which God gives us, and to the invitations which He presses upon us to the practice of virtue for the sanctification of our souls. This grace, which He offers us is a precious gift, which we may not throw away; it is the seed of salvation and of merit, which it is not permitted to leave unproductive. Now this fault is committed when we do not respond with generosity to the Divine invitation. I receive from God the means of giving alms; an interior voice invites me to do so. I close my heart, or I give with a miserly hand; this is an abuse of grace. I can hear Mass, assist at the sermon, frequent the Sacraments; an interior voice urges me to go, but I will not give myself the trouble. This again is an abuse of grace... this sin, as we have said, is severely punished in Purgatory." (Father F. X. Schouppe)

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Vocations are Booming in Mexico

Vocations Booming in Mexico

KOENIGSTEIN, Germany, DEC. 5, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Mexico is seeing a veritable boom in vocations to the priesthood and religious life, says an official of Aid to the Church in Need.

"There are about 12,000 young men preparing for the priesthood in Mexican major seminaries, while 15,000 active priests are serving the faithful," said Xavier Legorreta, head of Aid to the Church in Need's Latin America I section.

"In addition, there are some 32,000 religious sisters," the expert said today upon his return from a visit to the country, where he attended the general assembly of the bishops' conference.

"One of the fundamental reasons for the Church being lively and rich in vocations is the persecution it suffered during the 1930s, which 'helped' Catholics to defend their faith," Legorreta said.

The official said that "the formation of seminarians and support for contemplative sisters are priorities for our charity."

He added: "Today, Mexico is -- together with Colombia -- one of the countries that send out most missionaries to the world and especially to Europe."

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Second Sunday of Advent

Traditional Propers:

INTROIT
Isaias 30:30
People of Sion, behold the Lord shall come to save the nations: and the Lord shall make the glory of His voice to be heard, in the joy of your heart. -- (Ps. 79. 2). Give ear, O Thou that rulest Israel: Thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep. V.: Glory to the Father . . . -- People of Sion

COLLECT - Stir up our hearts, O Lord, to prepare the way of Thine only-begotten Son: that through His coming we may attain to serve Thee with purified minds. Who liveth and reigneth, with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God . . .

EPISTLE
Romans 15:4-13
Brethren, What things soever were written, were written for our learning: that, through patience and the comfort of the Scriptures, we might have hope. Now the God of patience and of comfort grant you to be of one mind and with one mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore receive one another, as Christ also hath received you unto the honor of God. For I say that Christ Jesus was minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers: but that the Gentiles are to glorify God for His mercy, as it is written: Therefore will I confess to Thee, O Lord, among the Gentiles, and will sing to Thy Name. And again He saith: Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with His people. And again: Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles, and magnify Him, all ye people. And again, Isaias saith: There shall be a root of Jesse; and He that shall rise up to rule the Gentiles, in Him the Gentiles shall hope. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing: that you may abound in hope, and in the power of the Holy Ghost.

GRADUAL
Psalms. 49: 2,3,5
Out of Sion, the loveliness of His beauty: God shall come manifestly. V.: Gather ye together His Saints to Him, who have set His covenant before sacrifices. Alleluia, alleluia. V.: (Ps. 121. 1) I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: We shall go unto the house of the Lord. Alleluia.

GOSPEL
Matthew 11: 2-10

At that time, when John had heard in prison the works of Christ, sending two of his disciples, he said to Him: Art thou He that art to come, or look we for another? And Jesus, making answer, said to them: Go and relate to John what you have heard and seen. The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, the poor have the gospel preached to them: and blessed is he that shall not be scandalized in Me. And when they went their way, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John: What went you out into the desert to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went you out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Behold they that are clothed in soft garments are in the houses of kings. But what went you out to see? A prophet? Yea I tell you, and more than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is written: Behold, I send my Angel before Thy face, who shall prepare Thy way before Thee.

OFFERTORY
Psalms 89: 7,8
Thou wilt turn, O God, and bring us to life, and Thy people shall rejoice in Thee: show us, O Lord, Thy mercy, and grant us Thy salvation.

SECRET - Be appeased, we beseech Thee, O Lord, by the prayers and sacrifices of our humility: and where we lack pleading merits of our own, do Thou, by Thine aid, assist us. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son . . .

PREFACE (Preface of the Most Holy Trinity) - It it truly meet and just, right and for our salvation, that we should at all times, and in all places, give thanks unto Thee, O holy Lord, Father almighty, everlasting God; Who, together with Thine only-begotten Son, and the Holy Ghost, art one God, one Lord: not in the oneness of a single Person, but in the Trinity of one substance. For what we believe by Thy revelation of Thy glory, the same do we believe of Thy Son, the same of the Holy Ghost, without difference or separation. So that in confessing the true and everlasting Godhead, distinction in persons, unity in essence, and equality in majesty may be adored. Which the Angels and Archangels, the Cherubim also and Seraphim do praise: who cease not daily to cry out, with one voice saying:

COMMUNION
Baruch 5: 5; 4:36
Arise, O Jerusalem, and stand on high, and behold the joy that cometh to thee from Thy God.

POST COMMUNION - Filled with the food of spiritual nourishment, we humbly entreat Thee, O Lord, that by our partaking of this Mystery, Thou wouldst teach us to despise the things of earth, and to love those of heaven. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son . .

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Video: Tridentine Missa Cantata

This is video of a Missa Cantata, a Tridentine Mass. This is a rather beautiful Mass. Notice the reverence. Notice how the altar servers actually are dressed appropriately and act like they care and understand the Mass! They care and aren't worried about talking or kicking each other. They care! Notice how the people all cross themselves at the beginning when the procession begins to pass by them. I still do this and wish other people would do the same. This is a Mass from the parish of St. Nicholas in Paris, France in 2006. The history of this church can be found at Seeking the Beatific Vision.

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