Tridentine Nuptial Mass Photos

Image Source: Ochie Bumanlag's Wedding, Antipolo Cathedral, Rizal, Philippines via the Flickr Profile of dennisraymondm33.

Read more >>

Choosing Music for a Tridentine Nuptial Mass

Are you preparing to have a Tridentine Nupital Mass for your wedding? Congratulations! When it comes to choosing music that is appropriate and sacred, here are some recommendations for you to share with your organist and choir at the parish. There are others but this is a good start:

Kyrie:

Kyrie IV

Credo: 

Palestrina's Missa Papae Marcelli 

Credo IV

Sanctus:

Sanctus IV

Recommendation from a Blog Reader:

Polyphonic settings are always a plus and preferred by the Church. In general, I try to avoid symphonic settings, though for a wedding, something out of the ordinary would be nice. One thing I learned while in Chicago [at the Sacred Music Colloquium] is that symphonic Masses are NOT suited to a Novus Ordo Mass. There is so little liturgical action that the priest finds himself waiting for the music to end. Back to polyphonic Masses, one that I sang recently that is very well done is the Mass for five voices by Byrd. I tried looking for it on Youtube to no avail. Perhaps you will fare better. Schubert is lovely but I hesitate to recommend it as he makes inappropriate textual changes (leaves out a portion of the Credo and includes the intonation for the Gloria).

Read more >>

John C. Maxwell's "How Succesful People Think"

 

I just had the opportunity to read and review John C. Maxwell's "How Successful People Think". As a relatively small book (approximately 130 pages), it is an excellent "pocket-guide" resource for anyone interested in stimulating creative thought. Critical thinking is appropriately encouraged to the point of adoration in the American education system, though many students still fail to develop effective thinking. As a practical thinker myself, I believe Maxwell's guide is a fantastic resource to anyone interested in learning how to think.

Chapters from the book include:

• Engage in Focused Thinking
• Employ Realistic Thinking
• Learn from Reflective Thinking
• Benefit from Shared Thinking
• Rely on Bottom-line Thinking

Read more >>

Little Office of Christ the King

I would like to pass along this message from Jovan concerning Little Office of Christ the King (also available in PDF).

Matthew,

Greetings in Christ and our Lady! The 'Little Office of Christ the King' which I compiled is based on various devotional 'Little Offices' from before the Second Vatican Council. There were, to my knowledge, such 'Offices' for the Immaculate Conception, St Joseph and the Holy Angels, with possibly others as well. They were designed as devotions to be said after the corresponding Hour of the Divine Office.

If you are not yet bound, under pain of sin, to recite the Divine Office, there would be no problem in substituting, but I would highly recommend either saying the Divine Office or the full Little Office of our Lady and then saying the appropriate hoiur(s) of the Little Office of Christ the King afterwards.

Also, I should point out that, while everything in the Office is taken directly from sources approved by the Church, namely the Roman Breviary, the whole compilation has never been submitted for approval by any competent ecclesiastical authority.

Hope this is helpful.

In Christ the King,

Jovan

Read more >>

Catholic Devotion Listing - Contest

Visit Devotional Catholicism for a contest featuring as its prize a Statute of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. The contest involves posting the name of a devotion that is not already listed on the list started by the site's founder.
Editor Note: the site is no longer available

Read more >>

The Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel at St. Gabriel, Stamford

The text and images are an excerpt from a post on The Society of St. Hugh of Cluny: This evening a Missa Cantata was celebrated at St. Gabriel's, Stamford in honor of Our Lady of Mt Carmel. The pastor, Fr. Cyprian LaPastina, was the celebrant and deacon Aaron Huberfeld of the Institute of Christ the King preached.

Read more >>

Pope Benedict XVI Breaks Right Wrist, Hospitalized

According to the Associated Press, "Pope Benedict XVI broke his right wrist in a fall in his chalet while vacationing in the Italian Alps and underwent successful surgery Friday, hospital officials and the Vatican said." He was taken to Umberto Parini hospital in Aosta (pictured above). Let us pray for the Supreme Pontiff's recovery.

Image Source: Getty Images

Update: In the above image, Pope Benedict XVI greets Dr. Amedeo Mancini who performed the operation on his wrist. This image was taken as the Holy Father was leaving the hospital; he is expected to make a smooth recovery. His wrist will be in a cast for approximately a month.

Image Source: Associated Press

Read more >>

Our Lady of Mount Carmel

Flower of Carmel,
Tall vine blossom laden;
Splendor of heaven,
Childbearing yet maiden.
None equals thee.

Mother so tender,
Who no man didst know,
On Carmel's children
Thy favors bestow.
Star of the Sea.

Purest of lilies,
That flowers among thorns,
Bring help to the true heart
That in weakness turns
and trusts in thee.

Our way uncertain,
Surrounded by foes,
Unfailing counsel
You give to those
who turn to thee.

Hail, Gate of Heaven,
With glory now crowned,
Bring us to safety
Where thy Son is found,
true joy to see.

Prayer to Elijah from the Traditional Carmelite Rite:

Deign, we beseech thee almighty God, that we be brought to the same place in heaven as your prophet and our father blessed Elijah, who we believe to have been marvelously taken up in a fiery chariot, and rejoice in the fellowship of your saints. Through our lord Jesus Christ your son...etc."

Image Source: Our Lady of Mount Carmel by Pietro Novelli

Read more >>

Solemn High Mass on Feast of Sts. John Fisher and Thomas More

This is an image of a Solemn High Mass for the feast of Sts. John Fisher & Thomas More, in the parish church of St John Fisher (built 1962-64) in West Heath, South Birmingham. The Mass was said by Fr. Philip Cleevely. In the roles of deacon and subdeacon are Fr. George Grynowski and Fr. Anton Guziel respectively. Fr. Grynowski is the pastor of the parish and preaced the sermon.

Note: The blue pole is there because it is to become part of a new baldachino.

Image Source: Flickr profile of birmingham_IMS_rep

Read more >>

Prayer for Priests - Basilica of St. Josaphat

When I visited the Basilica of St. Josaphat this past Sunday in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, I picked up this prayer card. I am glad to see that this ornately decorated and beautiful testament of Catholicism is promoting the Year for Priests (June 19, 2009 - June 19, 2010).

Read more >>

Tridentine Mass 5th Sunday After Pentecost

There photos are from the Flickr Profile dennis_raymondm30. These images are from the Parish of Our Lord of Divine Mercy, Sikatuna, Q.C., Philippines.

Read more >>

St. Stanislaus in Milwaukee, Brewers Game

Today I travel to St. Stanislaus in Milwaukee, WI as I did last year. In Milwaukee I will be watching the Brewers v. Dodgers. So, there will not be any other posts today.

Read more >>

President Obama meets Pope Benedict XVI, First Lady Wears Veil

Today Pope Benedict XVI met with President Barack Obama and his wife, First Lady Michelle Obama. Of note, the First Lady wore a veil while in the presence of the Holy Father. I am quite pleased to see this tradition being observed.

Related Posts:

• On Women and Veils

Image Source: Getty Images

Read more >>

Motu Proprio "Ecclesiae Unitatem" - in English

Motu Proprio "Ecclesiae Unitatem" - in English
APOSTOLIC LETTER ECCLESIAE UNITATEM OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF BENEDICT XVI GIVEN MOTU PROPRIO

My comments are few and in red below. Please comment with your thoughts on this development.
__________________

1.The goal of guarding the UNITY OF THE CHURCH, with the solicitousness of offering to all the aid to responding in opportune manner to this vocation and divine grace, belongs in a particular way to the Successor of the Apostle Peter, who is the perpetual and visible principle and foundation of the unity both of Bishops and of the faithful1. The supreme and fundamental priority of the Church, in every age, of leading men towards the encounter with God must be favored through the effort of uniting the common witness of faith of all Christians.

2. In faithfulness to this mandate, following the act with which Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, on June 30, 1988, illicitly conferred the episcopal ordination on four priests, Pope John Paul II, of venerable memory, instituted, on July 2, 1988, the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei "whose task of collaborating with the bishops, with the Departments of the Roman Curia and with the circles concerned, for the purpose of facilitating full ecclesial communion of priests, seminarians, religious communities or individuals until now linked in various ways to the Fraternity founded by Mons. Lefebvre, who may wish to remain united to the Successor Peter in the Catholic Church, while preserving their spiritual and liturgical traditions, in the light of the Protocol signed on 5 May last by Cardinal Ratzinger and Mons. Lefebvre"2.

3. In this way faithfully adhering to the same purpose of serving the universal communion of the Church also in her visible manifestation and making every effort so that to all those who truly desire unity it is made possible to remain in it or to find it anew, We have desired to widen and renew, with the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, the general indications already contained in the Motu Proprio Ecclesia Dei regarding the possibility of using the Missale Romanum of 1962, through more precise and detailed rules3.


4. In the same spirit, and with the same commitment of favoring the surmounting of each fracture and division in the Church and to heal a wound felt in an always more painful way in the ecclesial tissue, We have desired to remit the excommunication of the four Bishops illicitly ordained by Mons. Lefebvre. With such a decision, We have intended to remove an obstacle which could prevent the opening of a door to dialogue, and thus invite the Bishops and the "Fraternity of Saint Pius X" to find anew the path towards full communion with the Church. As We explained in the Letter to the Catholic Bishops of past March 10, the remission of the excommunication was a deliberation in the area of ecclesiastical discipline which could liberate the weight of conscience represented by the gravest ecclesiastical censure. The doctrinal questions, however, obviously remain, and, until they are not clarified, the Fraternity does not have a canonical status within the Church, and its ministers cannot exercise any ministry legitimately. [a bold claim. Is this infallible though? Why does Rome continue to paint Archbishop Lefebvre and the Society of St. Pius X as rebellious for simply desiring to pass on that which they had received. It was because of Paul VI and John Paul II that arguments arose because at times they did not teach what the Church has traditionally taught.]

5. Since the questions which must be dealt with the Fraternity are of an essentially doctrinal nature, We have decided - twenty-one years after the Motu Proprio Ecclesia Dei, and as We had planned to do4 - to restructure the Commission Ecclesia Dei, linking it more directly with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

6. Therefore, the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei will be constituted thus


a) The President of the Commission is the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

b) The Commission has its own order, including a Secretary and Officials.

c) It belongs to the President, aided by the Secretary, to present the main events and questions of a doctrinal nature to the study and discretion of the ordinary instances of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, as well as to submit the conclusions to the superior judgment of the Supreme Pontiff.


7. With this decision, We have desired, in particular, to display our fatherly solicitousness to the "Fraternity of Saint Pius X" so that in the end it may come to full communion with the Church. [And we should pray for the Church to be reformed in many places of the world too]

We earnestly invite all to pray to the Lord incessantly, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, "ut unum sint".

Given in Rome, at Saint Peter’s, on July 2, of the year 2009, the fifth of Our Pontificate.

BENEDICTUS PP. XVI
__________________________
1. Cfr Conc. Oecum. Vat. II, Const. dogm. de Ecclesia, Lumen gentium, 23; Conc. Oecum. Vat. I, Const. dogm. de Ecclesia Christi Pastor aeternus, c. 3: DS 3060.
2. Ioannes Paulus II, Litt. ap. motu proprio datae Ecclesia Dei (2 Iulii 1988), n. 6: AAS 80 (1988), 1498.

3. Cfr Benedictus XVI, Litt. ap. motu proprio datae Summorum Pontificum (7 Iulii 2007): AAS 99 (2007), 777-781.

4. Cfr ibid. art. 11, 781.

Read more >>

Solemn Tridentine Mass in Newark on July 16, 2009

I have been told the following:

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, 259 Oliver Street, Newark, New Jersey, will hold a Solemn High Traditional Latin Mass in honor of its patroness, on the titular feast of the parish, July 16 at 12 noon. The Mass will be immediately followed by a procession with the Statue of Our Lady through the parish accompanied by a full symphonic Italian feast band and fireworks.

Read more >>