29 October 2026
The Vatican Lied About Why the TLM Pilgrims Were Banned From St Peter's
Correspondence between pilgrimage organisers and Vatican officials reveals that the Vatican has been lying to the media about why the pilgrims were banned.
40 Forgotten Medieval Survival Skills That Nobody Teaches Anymore
From Medieval Way
Medieval Way explores the practical methods families employed to manage daily life, from fire maintenance and light sources to securing clean water and food supplies throughout the year. These historical insights detail the essential communal habits and resource management strategies developed to overcome seasonal hardships.
Traditional Catholic Morning Prayers in English | October
Freemasonry, Antichrist, and the End Times, With Joshua Charles, JD
From The Conor Gallagher Show
Joshua Charles of Eternal Christendom joins Conor to expose the history and ideology behind Freemasonry, the Church’s warnings about secret societies, the Great Apostasy and the “mystery of iniquity,” and the growing rejection of the supernatural in Western society. They also examine the Founding Fathers, the decline of Christendom, the possibility of a Third Temple and the Antichrist, and what Catholics should make of the spiritual battle unfolding around them. This conversation will give you a sobering look at the spiritual forces behind the attacks on Holy Mother Church—and the coming trials for which all Catholics must prepare.
What Does the Bible Say About Being a “Cheerful Giver”?
Every one as he hath determined in his heart, not with sadness, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. (2 Corinthians 9:7)
From Aleteia
By Philip Kosloski
God looks lovingly upon those who give freely from what they have, not counting the cost.
We often hear the phrase, "God loves a cheerful giver," and at times it can sound like a slogan some church fundraising expert came up with in the 20th century. While it certainly has been used by nearly every Christian non-profit and every parish priest asking for donations, the phrase is actually a direct quote from the Bible.
"God loves a cheerful giver"
The quote comes from St. Paul's letter to the Corinthians:
Consider this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each must do as already determined, without sadness or compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. (2 Corinthians 9:6-7)
This image that St. Paul uses should remind us of another passage from the Gospels, when Jesus invited a rich young man to give up everything and follow Him.
Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to [the] poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this statement, he went away sad, for he had many possessions. (Matthew 19:21-22).
The rich young man displays the exact opposite of the "cheerful giver," as he was reluctant to give to the poor what he had. Instead of desiring the treasure of heaven, he wanted to maintain his treasure on earth.
St. John Paul II reiterated the importance of being a cheerful giver in modern times in a letter for Lent:
This exhortation of St. Paul to the Corinthians is extremely relevant today (2 Cor 9:7). May you be enabled to feel the deep joy that comes from sharing food, from giving a welcome to a stranger, from assisting in the human advancement of the poor, from obtaining work for the unemployed, from the honest and courageous exercise of your civic, social and professional responsibilities, from the peace experienced in your homes and in all your relationships with others! All of this reflects the Love of God, to which we must be converted. Love inseparable from the so often urgent service of our neighbor. Let us desire, and let us deserve, to hear Christ tell us at the last day that inasmuch as we did good to one of the least of his brethren we did it to him!
The key in all of this is to recognize that anything we give away to those in need, we give away to Jesus Christ. This allows us to give with a loving, cheerful heart.
Instead of being the rich young man, who is saddened because he wants to keep everything he owns and not to be generous, St. Paul invites us to give and discover the joy that we will receive in loving Jesus in our neighbor.
God loves a cheerful giver, because a cheerful giver loves God.
28 October 2026
When Catholicism Wasn't "Ecumenical": 5 Times The Church Destroyed Paganism
From Purely Catholic
Today, the Catholic Church places a huge emphasis on ecumenism and interreligious dialogue, but has it gotten a little too cosy? Let’s take a look back at church history to see how the saints of yesteryear dealt with paganism through five iconic showdowns. As modern countries face a major crisis of faith, are our current methods working, or is it time to return to a more assertive approach to evangelisation?
The TLM Pilgrimage in Rome & the Call for “Liturgical Peace”
One thing is clear: there can be no Pax Liturgica as long as Rome is determined to destroy the TLM. Rescind Traditionis Custodes, Your Holiness!
From One Peter Five
By Michael Haynes
Throughout the highs and lows experienced by the traditional movement in the last fifteen years, one event has remained key in the calendar, and this year was no exception. The 2026 edition of the annual Ad Petri Sedem pilgrimage once more served as the siren call for Latin Mass devotees across the globe to descend upon Rome on this last weekend of October.
Once in the city though, it is fair to say, that the pilgrimage faced more upheaval than of late. Certainly there was a very different feel compared to the lavish scenes of last year’s pilgrimage, which saw Cardinal Raymond Burke offer a solemn pontifical Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica. Last year there were too many pilgrims to fit in front of the Altar of the Chair: this year the pilgrimage was not even allowed inside to pray at the tomb of the prince of the Apostles.
The three-day pilgrimage is customarily spread across the city. With proceedings opening on Friday, the first event is Vespers in the Pantheon. Saturday normally sees pilgrims praying the Rosary and singing litanies as they process through the streets, across the Tiber and up into the Vatican. Once inside the pilgrimage used to annually have Mass at the Altar of the Chair, although in 2023 and 2024 permission was only given for a short period of prayer.
Then on Sunday, the traditional feast of Christ the King, pilgrims choose from one of the number of traditional Masses celebrated around the Eternal City. Communities such as the Institute of Christ the King and Fraternity of Saint Peter welcome the large proportion of those present for the event, while in the afternoon former papal MC Monsignor Marco Agostini offers the last Mass of the pilgrim schedule, in a church just metres away from St. John Lateran – the Pope’s own cathedral.
Estimates vary for the attendance, but some of the organisers suggest that upwards of 1,500 were present for this year’s edition, albeit a smaller crowd than last year. The pilgrimage is always a wonderful opportunity for devotees of the traditional Mass to witness the ancient rite in all its beauty against the backdrop of Rome. Set amidst the many tombs of saints and popes, the old rite feels very much at home in the glorious basilicas which were built to house such a liturgy.
Except that this year, the pilgrimage was unavoidably overshadowed by the fact that it was denied a home for the key event of the weekend. Friday’s Vespers proceeded as planned, as did all three different Masses on Sunday. Instead, it was the doors of the Vatican which remained firmly shut both to the Mass and even to the procession.
Controversy over this decision has played out over the weekend on social media networks, but it dates back many months. Astana’s Bishop Athanasius Schneider presented Pope Leo XIV with a direct request for the Mass from the organisers, during his December 2025 private audience. Yet organisers of the pilgrimage had to wait until August to receive a response.
Their request was rejected, not by the Pope or the Cardinal Archpriest of the Basilica, but by the Secretariat of State. This fact itself is notable: the Secretariat’s decision to get involved is unnecessary, since it is not under the purview of the Secretariat to approve such a liturgy.
But upon receiving news of the ban on holding a Mass, they wrote to the Secretariat to confirm the procession could still take place. The basilica’s Sacristy indicated that this would indeed be possible — there was no scheduling clash — and the organisers awaited only the approval of Cardinal Gambetti or, since they seemed to be taking such an interest, of the Secretariate of State.
Once more however, a negative response was delivered by the Secretariat, sent via post to the Nuncio in France and thence to the pilgrimage chaplain, Abbé Claude Barthe. (OnePeterFive readers will also find on this site a statement from Una Voce regarding the confusion over the various pilgrimage events.)
Contrary to widespread theories online, the Vatican did not offer alternative dates or times. Nor was there any reason given for denying permission for both the Mass and procession. Instead, the organisers were left with the simple reality that the doors of St. Peter’s were closed for the traditional pilgrimage.
Many attendees spoke of their sorrow at this decision and not a few contrasted the Vatican’s rejection with the warm welcome afforded to the LGBT Jubilee pilgrimage of September 2025. All are welcome except traditionalists, was the thought expressed by many Ad Petri Sedem pilgrims.
The closed doors of the Vatican were felt even more keenly after the opulence of last year’s pilgrimage, which saw well over 3,000 people attend the high-profile Mass offered by Cardinal Burke. His Mass was the first Mass the annual pilgrimage had been authorised to celebrate in the Vatican since 2022, and was viewed as reversal of fortune for the future of the traditional Mass under Leo XIV.
Fast forward twelve months and that same prediction appears less certain. With restrictions still in place and actively being implemented, especially in American dioceses, the much-awaited liturgical peace still appears somewhat out of sight. The Secretariat of State prohibiting the Latin Mass pilgrimage from entering the Vatican did nothing to qualm the fears already felt by many.
Nevertheless, the Ad Petri Sedem has always been about expressing Catholics’ love of the traditional Mass and of the papacy – this year was no different. A non-liturgical walk was held, bringing pilgrims to the obelisk in front of the Vatican – at which point the Vatican police stopped them – where they sang the Creed and prayed for the Pope.
Then the pilgrimage moved to the papal basilica of St. Mary Major, where Bp. Schneider offered a prelatial low Mass. Not a seat was to be found in the entire building as the bishop encouraged pilgrims to remain faithful in their love of the ancient liturgy and the Church. He did not shy away from addressing the issue at hand, decrying liturgical restrictions as rendering Latin Mass attendees like “second-class Catholics.” Yet neither did he urge revolution: instead he called on those present to work and pray for “liturgical peace.”
“May those who hold responsibility within the Church foster the advent of such liturgical peace by allowing themselves to be touched by the voice of the Regina Pacis and by the voices of the Church’s youngest children – those marginalized in the liturgical sphere,” he said.
Schneider is a much loved figure in traditional circles, and during the weekend he spoke about the paternal duty he felt to provide for the pilgrims who simply desire to be nourished by the ancient liturgy and also to pray for the Pope in the Eternal City itself.
His appeal for liturgical peace is central to the pilgrimage itself. Faced with the ongoing reality of the liturgical persecution enacted by Traditionis Custodes, events such as the Ad Petri Sedem highlight the pressing crisis which Rome is enforcing via its maltreatment of the ancient liturgy.
Pilgrims were left with a bitter taste in their mouth at their treatment by the Vatican this year. Yet as Bishop Schneider said in St Mary Major’s, Catholics must turn to the Mother of the Church with ever more zeal to ask for her intercession in the current state of affairs.
Forgiveness Is More Than Forgetting | Mercy, Anger & Justice
A sermon for today. Please remember to say 3 Hail Marys for the Priest.
St Chef, in Latin, Theuderius, Abbot
From Fr Alban Butler's Lives of the Saints:
CHEF, a young gentleman of one of the best families of the city of Vienne, by the interior call of the Holy Ghost, forsook the world; and having long exercised himself in the most perfect practices of a monastic life under the direction of St. Cæsarius at Arles, returned to his own country, and being joined by several disciples, built for them first cells, and afterwards a monastery near the city of Vienne in Dauphine. It was anciently a custom in the most regular monasteries, that the hebdomadarian priest who said the community mass, spent the week in which he discharged that function, in the closest retirement in his cell, and in holy contemplation and austere penance,1 both that he might be better prepared to offer daily the tremendous sacrifice, and that he might more faithfully acquit himself of his mediatorship between God and his people.* It was also a peculiar custom at Vienne in the sixth century, that some monk, of whose sanctity the people entertained a high opinion, was chosen, who should voluntarily lead the life of a recluse, being walled up in a cell, and spending his whole time in fasting, praying, and weeping to implore the divine mercy in favor of himself and his country. This practice would have been an abuse and superstition, if any persons relying on the prayers of others, were themselves more remiss in prayer or penance. St. Chef was pitched upon for this penitential state, which obligation he willingly took upon himself, and discharged with so much fervor as to seem desirous to set no bounds to his tears and mortifications. An extraordinary gift of miracles made his name famous in the whole country. He died about the year 575, and was buried in the monastery of St. Laurence. His relics were translated to a collegiate church, of which he is the titular patron, and which gives the name of St. Chef to the town where it stands, in Dauphine, eight leagues from Vienne. This saint is named in the Roman Martyrology. See his life written by Ado, archbishop of Vienne, in Mabill. Sc. 1, Ben. p. 678.
St Narcissus, Bishop of Jerusalem
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From Fr Alban Butler's Lives of the Saints:
From Euseb. Hist.1. 5, c. 12, 23, 25;1. 6, c. 9, 10, 11, 12. St. Jerom, De viris illustr. c. 73. Tillemont, t. 3.
SECOND CENTURY.
ST. NARCISSUS was born towards the close of the first century, and was almost fourscore years old when he was placed at the head of the church of Jerusalem, being the thirtieth bishop of that see. In 195, he and Theophilus, bishop of Csarea in Palestine, presided in a council of the bishops of Palestine held at Csarea, about the time of celebrating Easter; in which it was decreed that this feast is to be kept always on a Sunday, and not with the Jewish passover. Eusebius assures us, that the Christians of Jerusalem preserved in his time the remembrance of several miracles which God had wrought by this holy bishop; one of which he relates as follows. One year on Easter-eve the deacons were unprovided with oil for the lamps in the church, necessary at the solemn divine office that day. Narcissus ordered those who had care of the lamps to bring him some water from the neighboring wells. This being done, he pronounced a devout prayer over the water; then bade them pour it into the lamps; which they did, and it was immediately converted into oil, to the great surprise of the faithful. Some of this miraculous oil was kept there as a memorial at the time when Eusebius wrote his history. The veneration of all good men for this holy bishop could not shelter him from the malice of the wicked. Three incorrigible sinners, fearing his inflexible severity in the observance of ecclesiastical discipline, laid to his charge a detestable crime, which Eusebius does not specify. They confirmed their atrocious calumny by dreadful oaths and imprecations; one wishing he might perish by fire, another, that he might be struck with a leprosy, and the third, that he might lose his sight, if what they alleged was not the truth. Notwithstanding these protestations, their accusation did not find credit; and, some time after, the divine vengeance pursued the calumniators. The first was burnt in his house, with his whole family, by an accidental fire in the night; the second was struck with a universal leprosy; and the third, terrified by these examples, confessed the conspiracy and slander, and by the abundance of tears which he continually shed for his sins, lost his sight before his death.
Narcissus, notwithstanding the slander had made no impression on the people to his disadvantage, could not stand the shock of the bold calumny, or rather made it an excuse for leaving Jerusalem, and spending some time in solitude, which had long been his wish. He spent several years undiscovered in his retreat, where he enjoyed all the happiness and advantage which a close conversation with God can bestow. That his church might not remain destitute of a pastor, the neighboring bishops of the province, after some time, placed in it Pius, and after him Germanion, who, dying in a short time, was succeeded by Gordius. While this last held the see, Narcissus appeared again like one from the dead. The whole body of the faithful, transported at the recovery of their holy pastor, whose innocence had been most authentically vindicated, conjured him to reassume the administration of the diocese. He acquiesced; but afterwards, bending under the weight of extreme old age, made St. Alexander his coadjutor.1 This primitive example authorizes the practice of coadjutorships; which, nevertheless, are not allowable by the canons except in cases of the perpetual inability of a bishop through age, incurable infirmity, or other impediment, as Marianus Victorius observes in his notes upon St. Jerom.2 St. Narcissus continued to serve his flock, and even other churches, by his assiduous prayers and his earnest exhortations to unity and concord, as St. Alexander testifies in his letter to the Arsinoites in Egypt, where he says that Narcissus was at that time about one hundred and sixteen years old. The Roman Martyrology honors his memory on the 29th of October.
The pastors of the primitive church, animated with the spirit of the apostles, were faithful imitators of their heroic virtues, discovering the same fervent zeal, the same contempt of the world, the same love of Christ. If we truly respect the church as the immaculate spouse of our Lord, we will incessantly pray for its exaltation and increase, and beseech the Almighty to give it pastors according to his own heart, like those who appeared in the infancy of Christianity. And, that no obstacle on our part may prevent the happy effects of their zeal, we should study to regulate our conduct by the holy maxims which they inculcate; we should regard them as the ministers of Christ; we should listen to them with docility and attention; we should make their faith the rule of ours, and shut our ears against the language of profane novelty. O! that we could once more see a return of those happy days when the pastor and the people had but one heart and one soul; when there was no diversity in our belief; when the faithful seemed only to vie with each other in their submission to the church, and in their desire of sanctification.
Collect of St Chef of Vienne, Abbot & Confessor ~ Indulgenced on the Saint's Feast (See Note)
According to the Apostolic Penitentiary, a partial indulgence is granted to those who, on the feast of any Saint, recite in his honour the oration of the Missal or any other approved by legitimate Authority.
V. O Lord, hear my prayer.
R. And let my cry come unto thee.
Let us pray.
O God, who by the preaching of Thy blessed servant Chef Thou didst cause the light of the Gospel to shine in France: Grant, we beseech Thee, that, having his life and labours in remembrance, we may show our thankfulness to Thee by following the example of his zeal and patience
Let us pray.
O God, who by the preaching of Thy blessed servant Chef Thou didst cause the light of the Gospel to shine in France: Grant, we beseech Thee, that, having his life and labours in remembrance, we may show our thankfulness to Thee by following the example of his zeal and patience
Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.
R. Amen.
Collect of St Narcissus, Bishop of Jerusalem & Confessor ~ Indulgenced on the Sain's Feast (See Note)
According to the Apostolic Penitentiary, a partial indulgence is granted to those who, on the feast of any Saint, recite in his honour the oration of the Missal or any other approved by legitimate Authority.
V. O Lord, hear my prayer.
R. And let my cry come unto thee.
Let us pray.
O Lord, we beseech Thee, hear the prayers which we offer Thee on the solemnity of Blessed Narcissus, Thy Bishop & Confessor and by the interceding merits of him who worthily attained to serve Thee, absolve us from all our sins.
Let us pray.
O Lord, we beseech Thee, hear the prayers which we offer Thee on the solemnity of Blessed Narcissus, Thy Bishop & Confessor and by the interceding merits of him who worthily attained to serve Thee, absolve us from all our sins.
Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.
R. Amen.
Threatening Like a Bully - Cardinal Roche and the Traditional Roman Liturgy
His Lordship has the Roach pegged, but, like Bishop Schneider, is sailing awfully close to "cancellation" by the Vatican. May God protect him.
From Rorate Cæli
By His Lordship Rob Mutsaerts, Auxiliary Bishop of 's-Hertogenbosch
Cardinal Roche's Threatening Language: Do Not Attend the TLM! But Why? The Church Need Not Forbid Its Past to Secure Its Future.
The Catholic Church prides itself on its universality, cherishes an impressive diversity of liturgical traditions, and regards that diversity as an expression of its riches. A Catholic may attend the divine liturgy according to the Byzantine tradition, the Maronite tradition, the Armenian tradition, or the Chaldean tradition. No one finds this in itself a threat to ecclesial unity. But the moment a Catholic wishes to attend Mass as it was celebrated for centuries in Rome, Paris, Amsterdam, and virtually the entire Latin Church, certain ecclesial authorities in Rome begin to grow uneasy.
Suddenly, liturgical diversity becomes a problem. Suddenly, attachment to tradition becomes suspect. And suddenly, the unity of the Church must be protected against people who wish to pray as their ancestors did. This raises a question that is by no means unreasonable: why is virtually every ancient Catholic liturgical tradition a treasure — except the ancient Roman liturgy?
Cardinal Roche stated recently, in an interview with AdVaticanum published on October 13, 2026, that traditionalist groups sometimes use the earlier liturgy to resist the liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council. According to the Cardinal, such an attitude can harm ecclesial unity. He warned that those who reject the Council distance themselves from the center of Catholicism. He also stated that Catholics ought not, in his view, to attend exclusively the old Mass. An important distinction is necessary here.
One who on principle denies the validity of the new Mass, rejects the papal authority, or maintains that the Catholic Church after Vatican II is no longer the Catholic Church does indeed adopt a problematic position. But one who loves the traditional Mass, deepens his faith through it, accepts Catholic doctrine, and remains loyal to the Pope cannot simply be accused of the same. Attachment to a liturgical tradition is not identical to a rejection of the Magisterium. It is precisely this distinction that threatens to be lost in the current discussion.
The Catholic Church encompasses twenty-four Churches sui iuris: the Latin Church and twenty-three Eastern Catholic Churches. They possess different liturgical traditions — Byzantine, Alexandrian, Antiochene, Armenian, and East Syriac, among others. Within the Western Catholic world as well there exist particular liturgical usages, including the Ambrosian Rite in Milan. And no one fears for the unity of the Church when a Byzantine Catholic priest stands before the iconostasis, the incense rises abundantly, and the faithful experience a liturgy that differs from the ordinary Roman Mass on numerous points. For Catholic unity has never been identical with liturgical uniformity. Indeed, the Second Vatican Council states explicitly in Sacrosanctum Concilium that all legitimately recognized rites are of equal dignity and that the Church wishes to preserve and promote them. That is a remarkable statement in light of Cardinal Roche's pronouncements. If liturgical diversity does not necessarily harm the unity of the Church, why would the centuries-old Roman liturgy do so? The Catholic faith is not, after all, a collection of customs whose expiration date is determined by an ecclesial commission.
Post-war liturgical practice has revealed a shift from the transcendence of God toward the community as the focal point. When the Eucharist comes to resemble increasingly a common meal, a celebration of human togetherness, or an occasion for pastoral creativity, the sacrificial dimension risks fading into the background. It is precisely against this tendency that the traditional liturgy, with its consistent orientation toward God, constitutes a visible counterweight. And perhaps there lies part of the discomfort: the TLM continues to proclaim something ancient that is easily forgotten today. Pope Benedict understood something essential: the Church cannot credibly claim that what it considered holy yesterday ought today to be regarded as a danger.
Is the Second Vatican Council being used as a point of rupture? Here the discussion touches upon a deeper problem. A council stands within Tradition. It does not inaugurate a new Church. Vatican II provided for a reform of the liturgy, but at the same time determined that Latin was to be preserved in the Latin Rites and that Gregorian chant holds a position of primacy. Much of what is today considered typically traditionalist was therefore entirely self-evident to the conciliar Fathers. It is therefore remarkable when attachment to the older liturgy is presented as resistance to the Council itself.
Criticism of certain aspects of the post-conciliar liturgical reform is, after all, not automatically equivalent to a rejection of the Second Vatican Council. The liturgical reform was largely elaborated and introduced after the Council. That does not mean all criticism is correct. It means only that such a discussion can legitimately be conducted.
When a council is in practice treated as an absolute watershed between an old and a new Church, precisely the rupture arises that one claims to wish to avoid. The Catholic Church is not an institution refounded in 1965. She is the same Church that received the Apostles, produced the Church Fathers, built the medieval cathedrals, convened the Council of Trent, and called together the Second Vatican Council. One who truly believes in the continuity of the Church need not fear her past.
Cardinal Roche appeals constantly to the unity of the Church. That is in itself entirely correct. Unity is not an incidental property of the Church but belongs to her very essence. The question is only what we understand by unity. Unity in the Catholic faith, in the sacraments, and in communion with the Successor of Peter is something different from uniformity in ritual expression. The official line of reasoning is that the TLM, unlike the Eastern liturgies, has for certain groups become a symbol of resistance to the reform and the authority of the Church. That argument deserves serious attention. But the problem with that reasoning is that it easily moves from a judgment about particular abuses to a general judgment about an entire liturgical community. Why should families, young people, priests, and religious who desire nothing other than to celebrate the traditional liturgy in full ecclesial communion bear the consequences?
A father who brings his children to the old Mass because he experiences there the holiness of the Eucharist with particular intensity is not engaged in Church politics. He is simply going to Mass.
The history of the Church is characterized not only by renewal but also by preservation. Traditio means transmission: receiving what one has not oneself invented and passing it on to the next generation. It is therefore remarkable that in an era in which one speaks constantly of listening to the faithful, the desires of traditionally oriented Catholics so often meet with so little understanding. A Church that wishes to listen to the world ought also to listen to its own children — unless synodality means something else. Certainly when those children are asking not for less Catholic doctrine but for its undiminished proclamation. Or is that precisely the problem?
A prudent approach would make room for the older liturgy wherever it is sincerely desired, while at the same time asking for fidelity to ecclesial communion and correcting abuses in all liturgical forms. For that last point also deserves attention. One who strictly regulates the old Mass out of concern for the holiness and unity of the liturgy must act with the same seriousness against abuses in the new Mass.
Perhaps the most remarkable phenomenon is that the Traditional Latin Mass exerts an attraction not only upon those who grew up before the Council. Young Catholics too feel drawn to it. When young people consciously choose silence, Gregorian chant, ritual precision, and a liturgy that makes virtually no concession to the contemporary preference for spontaneity and immediate comprehensibility, that says something. It suggests that modernization is not always the best path to evangelization. Perhaps modern man sometimes longs precisely for what is not modern. Perhaps he is not seeking a liturgy that resembles as closely as possible the world in which he lives daily and has nothing new to offer him, but a liturgy that helps him to rise above that world. This is not an argument against the new Mass. It is an argument against the assumption that liturgical renewal necessarily coincides with adaptation to the spirit of the age.
It would be a pity if the Traditional Latin Mass were ultimately to become the victim of an ecclesial struggle in which the debate is no longer genuinely about worship but about the interpretation of the past sixty years. For in that case, a liturgy that has formed saints across centuries and sanctified countless faithful would be treated as a problem to be solved. Less suspicion, more historical honesty, more theological depth, and above all more pastoral magnanimity would be desirable here.
The Catholic et-et — the celebrated Catholic principle of both-and — could be a fruitful starting point here as well. Tradition and legitimate development. Unity and diversity. Fidelity to the Council and reverence for the centuries that preceded it. The new Mass and room for the transmitted Roman liturgy, within the communion of the Church.
Your Eminence, the Church need not forbid its past to secure its future. A Church that truly trusts in the living Tradition can afford to love its own history. A Church that receives with joy a Byzantine, Maronite, and Armenian liturgy in its midst need not feel too threatened by a Roman Mass that was so dear to it for so many centuries. The Traditional Latin Mass is, after all, no foreign intruder in the Catholic Church; it comes from her own house. And a mother Church ought not to treat her own children as strangers because they prefer to pray in the language of their grandparents.
† Rob Mutsaerts
[source]
A Guide to Reading Ghost Stories With Russell Kirk
Hallowe'en is on Saturday. What better way to prepare than to curl up with a volume of Russell Kirk's ghostly tales, such as Old House of Fear?
From The Imaginative Conservative
By Robert M. Woods. PhD
For Russell Kirk, the “ghost tale” may better communicate certain truths when compared to science fiction.
His was no Enlightenment mind, Kirk now became aware; it was a Gothic mind, medieval in its temper and structure. —Russell Kirk, The Sword of Imagination
As J.R.R. Tolkien assisted many with his most informative essay, On Fairy Stories, Russell Kirk provides a short, but helpful primer into the genre of “ghost stories.” Now, of course, reading the essay, “A Cautionary Note on the Ghostly Tale,” the reader realizes that “ghost stories” are not merely about “ghosts” just as “fairy-tales” are not merely about “fairies.”
As with G.K. Chesterton’s assertion in his “Ethics of Elfland,” fairytales are inherently moral as they reflect a universe of moral order and consequences when good is dismissed and evil embraced. Russell Kirk writing of his own ghost stories says, “What I have attempted, rather, are experiments in the moral imagination. Readers will encounter elements of parable and fable…literary naturalism is not the only path to apprehension of reality. All important literature has some ethical end; and the tale of the preternatural…can be an instrument for the recovery of moral order.” The key here is the ethical end toward which great literature often aims, but has been rejected in our own moment.
Just as in the natural order there are laws that must be yielded to, in “ghost stories” there is a parallel principal within the supernatural order. These accompanying laws have equally real results when adhered to or when dismissed. Again Kirk, “The better uncanny stories are underlain by healthy concept of the character of evil. Defying nature, the necromancer conjures up what ought not to rise again this side of Judgment Day. But these dark powers do not rule the universe: by bell, book, and candle, symbolically at least, we can push them down under.”
For Kirk, the “ghost tale” may better communicate certain truths when compared to science fiction. “For symbol and allegory, the shadow–world is a better realm than the mechanized empire of science fiction.” It is so important to stress here, for the reader of this essay, that the realities these stories speak of are not merely symbol or allegory, as it is the case that a symbol (by he nature of being a symbol) points to or hints at a reality beyond itself. In other words, an allegory is parallel to something that is really real beyond itself. If this is not the case, then allegories and symbols merely refer to other symbols and allegories and the mirror maze becomes a prison.
Additionally, Russell Kirk gives further insight into another value of the “ghost tale” which is also true of liberal arts grounded in fine letters. “The story of the supernatural or mystical can disclose aspects of human conduct and human longing to which the positivistic psychologist has blinded himself.” The human heart longs for “transcendent perception” and “arcane truths about good and evil” that answers questions we have about the meaning and truth of things. Kirk adds, “as a literary form, then, the uncanny tale can be a means for expressing truths enchantingly.” Man are drawn to this literary genre as it affirms what most of us know, and that is the truth that our senses are not capable of apprehending all that was, is, or will be. While the ‘scientists’ or ‘materialists’ will not acknowledge it, ‘nature’ is something more than mere fleshly sensation, and that something may lie above human nature, and something below it–-why, the divine and the diabolical rise up again in serious literature.”So the scientists, mechanists, or fundamentalist who resists these tales of transcendence, should more resist the ignorant order that loses touch of the ultimate reality to which these parables are set next to and offer a glimpse into. It is our narrow, shallow, and hollow view of reality that should be resisted by those of us drawn to the dark, scary, and mysterious stories that point us to what is.
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The featured image is courtesy of Pixabay.
Bishop Challoner's Meditations ~ October 29th
ON THE CHRISTIAN'S ARMOUR
Consider first, that the life of a Christian here upon earth being a perpetual warfare, he is under a necessity of providing himself with proper armour, if he hopes to come off with victory. What this armour should be we may learn from the apostle, Eph. vi. 13, & c. 'Take unto you,' saith he, 'the armour of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect. stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, in all things taking the shield of faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, (which is the word of God,) by all prayer and supplication, praying at all times in the spirit, and in the same watching with all instance,' & c. O how completely shall that Christian be armed against all his enemies that makes such a provision for himself as is here recommended by the apostle, of arms, both defensive and offensive. Let us descend to each particular.
Consider therefore, 2ndly, that the soldier of Christ, in order to be fit to put on his armour, and to stand in the battle, without being hindered by his earthly garments hanging loosely about him, must first gird up his loins; that is, he must set out with a firm resolution of restraining his passions and lusts, and all irregular affections to these earthly things which very much encumber and hinder the Christian in his spiritual conflicts, and give the enemy a great hold of him. Now the girdle or belt he must make use of for this end is truth, 'for he must be girt about with truth,' says the apostle; that is with sincerity, uprightness, Christian simplicity, and purity of intention in his undertaking; having purely in view God and his soul, and being resolved at all events to fight till death, and to sacrifice on all occasions his dearest inclinations to the love of God and the salvation of his soul. Thus must he begin, and then proceed to put on the breastplate or coat of mail of Christian justice; by which is here understood not one particular virtue, but the collection of them all, which the soldier of Christ must labour to furnish himself with against the temptations of all their opposite vices. He must also have 'his feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.' But what is meant by this? The feet of the soul are his affections, by which she moves towards the things she loves. These, in the Christian soldier, must be properly shod with the preparation, that is, with the readiness and promptitude, of the soul to direct all her steps, not towards the lying vanities and fooleries of the world, in which there is no peace; but to walk in the ways of the gospel, which alone can insure to us any true peace, either for time or eternity.
Consider 3rdly, that after these previous dispositions and general preparations for the spiritual warfare, the apostle recommends as the chief pieces of the Christian's armour, the shield of faith, which has a particular efficacy in extinguishing all the fiery darts levelled at us by the wicked one; and the helmet of salvation, that is, divine hope, which protects the head of the soul from being wounded by any of his weapons. Yes, Christians, if you would keep your souls from being pierced with the hellish darts of Satan, you must take care to carry about with you the shield of faith, that is, a strong and lively belief of the great truths of the gospel, with a sense of the presence of God, and a remembrance of death, judgment, heaven, and hell, and you shall be out of their reach. But then you must also provide yourselves with the helmet of hope, by joining an absolute distrust in yourselves with an entire confidence in God; lest otherwise your head be left naked and exposed on all sides to the wounds of the enemy, and there be no soundness in it, which is the case of all those who in this kind of warfare build upon themselves and not upon our Lord.
Conclude to spare no pains to procure every part of this heavenly armour; that you may be able to fight the battles of your Lord in such manner as to overcome his and your enemies, and to triumph eternally with him. Especially take care to secure to yourselves the shield of a lively faith by the means of daily meditations on the truths of eternity.
29 October, Antonio, Cardinal Bacci: Meditations For Each Day
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Human Praise and Censure
1. It is pleasant to be praised. If we are praised by our superiors or by someone of importance on whom the future success of our career may depend, we naturally tend to feel elated.
Nevertheless, a certain amount of reflection makes us aware that we are what we are before God, and nothing more. Human praise adds nothing to us, just as human criticism subtracts nothing. In either case we ourselves remain as we were beforehand.
“What thou art, that thou art,” says “The Imitation of Christ,” “nor canst thou be said to be greater than God seeth thee to be. If thou attend diligently to what thou art interiorly, thou wilt not regard what men say of thee. Man looketh on the face, but God seeth into the heart. Man considereth the actions, but God weigheth the intentions.” (Imit. of Christ, Bk. II, c. 6, 3)
Why, then, does praise disturb or exalt us? It is because our lack of humility causes us to desire the vain encomiums of the world and to believe that these make us better and greater than we really are in the sight of God. A man who is genuinely humble remains serenely indifferent to the eulogies of others. He knows that he is what he is in the sight of God, and no more than that. Therefore he does his best to please God and to work for His glory rather than his own advancement.
“He is not approved who commends himself,” writes St. Paul, “but he whom the Lord commands.” (2 Cor. 10:18) Let us cease to worry about the plaudits of mankind, but let us live and work conscientiously in the presence of God. Let it be our sole purpose in life to please Him and to promote His glory.
2. Criticism and correction disturb our peace of mind as much as the praise of others. We are filled with resentment and find it hard to control ourselves. Very often, unfortunately, when something is said to us which we consider to be offensive, we are overcome by anger and launch into bitter outbursts of recrimination. Once more, the reason is obvious. It is our lack of humility.
We know quite well that we are no better than we appear to be in the sight of God. Praise adds nothing to our stature, any more than criticism takes from it.
Unfortunately, while we realise this in theory, we do not recogise it in practice. It was because the Saints were meek and humble like Jesus that they reached such heights of spiritual tranquillity in the face of flattery or of reproof.
Even when he was mocked and calumniated, St. Francis de Sales succeeded in maintaining complete self-control and amiability. But this was the result of a long struggle with his natural disposition. Have you even begun to exercise self-control?
3. The following passage from “The Imitation of Christ” is a fitting conclusion to this meditation:
“The good man’s glory is the testimony of a good conscience. Have a good conscience, and thou shalt always have joy. A good conscience can bear very much, and is very joyful in the midst of adversity…
“The glory of the good is in their own consciences, and not in the mouth of men. The joy of the just is from God and in God…
“Great tranquility of heart hath he who careth neither for praise nor blame. Easily will he be content and at peace whose conscience is undefiled. Thou art more holy for being praised nor the worse for being blamed. What thou art, that thou art; nor canst thou be said to be greater than God seeth thee to be.” (Cf. Imit. of Christ, Bk. II)
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