Catholicism in the American Experiment - Conference in Portland, OR, November 13-14, 2026

This sounds absolutely fascinating! I wish my health would allow me to go, but that and lack of "papers" to board a plane puts paid to that.

From Rorate Cæli

By Mark Rose

The American Experiment falters under the weight of an unprecedented moral and philosophical collapse, facing a fundamental crisis unless Catholicism takes its proper place. Within this current secularized landscape, the Catholic faithful encounter an urgent question: Can you be American and Catholic? Guided by a robust sensus fidelium, a steadfast remnant has maintained and insists that the understanding and appreciation of the profound ontological, theological, and historical depth of the usus antiquior and all that it implies is essential to answering this question.

To address this state of grave necessity and move toward a genuine solution, the Our Lady of Fatima Holy Name Society will host the 2026 West Coast Catholic Conference: Catholicism in the American Experiment, in Portland, Oregon, November 13-14, 2026. This gathering explores what that right ordering looks like practically on a social and individual level, assembling three formidable voices to articulate the traditional Catholic response to perennial errors manifesting in contemporary secularism:

Dr. Peter Kwasniewski: Thomistic philosopher and liturgical scholar Dr. Kwasniewski remains a premier intellectual force in the defense of the sacred liturgy. Through works such as Reclaiming Our Roman Catholic Birthright, The Once and Future Roman Rite, and Turned Around, he continuously elevates the discourse surrounding the ancient rites.

Christopher Ferrara: A constitutional and civil rights attorney and critic of religious liberty, Ferrara provides the necessary juridical indictment of the current ecclesiastical establishment. Known for his seminal work The Great Facade, Ferrara deconstructs the logical fallacies of post-conciliar novelties. As Special Counsel for the Thomas More Society, he successfully litigated against COVID-19 church closures.

Fr. Jonathan Loop: Father Loop articulates the canonical prudence and pastoral necessity of the traditionalist movement, providing the essential framework for the faithful to navigate the current disorientation without succumbing to the spiritual rot of conciliar ambiguity.

The intellectual offensive commences Friday evening. Following an invocation by Fr. Luke Washicko, Dr. Kwasniewski will deliver the opening keynote, "The Catholic State and the Resurrection of Christendom." This address will dismantle the legacy of liberalism, correcting the historically aberrant assumption that the civic order must be severed from the Catholic supernatural order. He will assert the intrinsic ordering of the state to the common good, revealing how the soul of Christendom is restored through the grace of Christ. An evening social hour will follow, fostering vital fellowship among the faithful who are engaged in the same ecclesiastical battles.

Saturday begins at the altar with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, offered by Fr. Loop. Following breakfast, Christopher Ferrara will present “The Myth of the Christian Founding,” drawing on Protestant sources and the failed nineteenth-century campaign to acknowledge Christ in the Constitution to demonstrate that America was never founded as a Christian nation. Fr. Loop will subsequently present "Christ the King & Political Prudence," applying the Church's unalterable teaching on the Social Reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ to the concrete political realities of the present day.

Following the Angelus and lunch, Mr. Ferrara will return with “The Myth of the Phantom Heresy,” demonstrating that Americanism, condemned by Pope Leo XIII, was no phantom but a genuine heresy and an early form of Modernism whose errors have since come home to roost in the American way of life. Dr. Kwasniewski will conclude the afternoon lectures with "The Kingship of Christ: Font and Apex of the Christian Social Order." He will explore the implications of Christ's total empire over all nations by divine decree, answering what the faithful are called to do to manifest His reign in a secularizing world.

The conference culminates in a panel discussion with Q&A, followed by a formal Gala banquet, silent auction, and the Golden Ticket Raffle drawing. The event organizers will draw the winner of a "Pilgrimage of a Lifetime" for two with Regina Pilgrimages. Winners will choose their own pilgrimage with an opportunity to travel with fellow traditional Catholics to holy places such as England, Spain, or the Holy Land, accompanied by TLM chaplains.

The preservation of the Catholic faith in the American Experiment demands practical, active commitment to the social Reign of Christ on both an individual and societal level. The faithful cannot merely observe this crisis; they must understand how to live out the perennial teachings of the Church within a secularized regime. The 2026 West Coast Catholic Conference stands as a rallying point for this holy endeavor, providing the intellectual and spiritual framework for what it means to be truly Catholic in America today. Registration and further details for those ready to defend the faith are available at https://www.sspxolf.org/2026conference.

Is the West Lost Forever?

"The West is dying because it has turned its back on the Permanent Things. But what will be left when the secularist “West” is dead?"

From The Imaginative Conservative

By Joseph Pearce

The West is dying because it has turned its back on the Permanent Things. But what will be left when the secularist “West” is dead?

I expected my recent essay “Race Against Reason” to provoke an element of controversy and was not surprised when it elicited the following comment:

Yes, this is all well and good, but we can’t ignore the simple facts of mathematics and human population growth. If Europeans get displaced by vast numbers of non-Christian (if not anti-Christian) foreigners, there is no more West, there is no more ‘Europe,’ and respect for the Permanent Things—which is by no means universal—is lost forever. At this point if we truly wish to conserve we must entertain some level of repatriation and decreasing non-Western immigration massively.

The points raised deserve a response even though, in point of fact, they have nothing to do with my essay, which sought to show the irrational roots of racism. As I made clear, “the thorny and volatile issue of immigration… is not a racial issue, in spite of the efforts of many to brand it as such.” The setting of limits on the number of immigrants and the tackling of the problem of illegal immigration is a legitimate right of sovereign nations, irrespective of the color of the skin of the immigrants.

Similarly I insisted that “the problem of radical Islam and the barbaric terrorism to which it has given birth… has nothing to do with race or racism”:

Islam is a religion, not a race, and, what is more, it is thoroughly multiracial, with all races represented in its ranks. To oppose ISIS and seek appropriate measures to prevent the spread of its influence and power is no more racist or ‘Islamophobic’ than opposition to the terrorism of the IRA in the 1970s was racist or ‘celtophobic.’ Opposition to barbarism and the terrorism it practices is a mark of civilization, not racism.

With regard to the Islamic presence in Europe, do we need reminding of the wars in the Balkans, of recent memory, in which Christians and Muslims in Bosnia and beyond, killed each other in a frenzy of hatred and “ethnic cleansing”? Do we need reminding that all of those doing the killing, on both the Christian and Muslim side, were impeccably white? Do we need reminding that such ethnic cleansing has been part of the demographic dynamic of that region ever since the Muslims first invaded centuries earlier? Do we need reminding that the very word “balkanization” entered the language because of such enmity between peoples and the destructive fragmentation that is its consequence? The point is not whether Islamic immigration to Europe is a major threat to peace—obviously it is—it’s that Islam is a multiracial religion as Christianity is a multiracial religion. It’s about a clash of cultures, not a clash of races. In such a clash of cultures, a black Christian and a white Christian are one side of the divide, and a black Muslim and a white Muslim are on the other. It might well be the case that the influx of Muslims into Europe is leading to the balkanization of Europe with all the harmful consequences that this entails; however, it’s not a racial issue but a religious or cultural one. Let’s not confuse the issue by blurring our terms.

Let’s move on to my interlocutor’s discussion of “the simple facts of mathematics and human population growth.” I agree that these mathematical facts can’t be ignored, but they are not so much about the problem of addition as of subtraction. It’s not a problem of population growth but of population depletion. Europeans have embraced the culture of death, contracepting themselves out of existence. Europe is not suffering from a population explosion but a population implosion. With a shrinking and aging population, unwilling to reproduce itself, immigration becomes a necessity. One cannot have a sustainable economy, still less a continually expanding economy, if the number of producers and consumers is shrinking. A culture which seeks self-gratification instead of the self-sacrifice needed to raise children is doomed to self-destruction. It has no future. It has no future for the plain and simple reason that it has no children. In this sense, it can truly be said that the future belongs to those who forsake selfishness for the selflessness of parenthood. The meek really do inherit the earth!

But, my interlocutor responds, “if Europeans get displaced by vast numbers of non-Christian foreigners, there is no more West, there is no more ‘Europe,’ and respect for the Permanent Things—which is by no means universal—is lost forever.”

What is one to make of these doom-laden words? Is it the end of the world as we know it?

As one who subscribes to–nay, as one who submits to—the Permanent Things, I would say that the “West” is not synonymous with the Permanent Things, nor do the Permanent Things depend on the survival of the “West” for their permanence. On the contrary, the “West” is dying because it has turned its back on the Permanent Things.

The Permanent Things are grounded in a reverence for God and for the Church that He established, and also in a reverence for the traditional family which is the bedrock of all healthy culture and the seed with which it plants itself into the future. When the love for God is gone and the family has been abandoned, there is no future. The secular fundamentalist “West” is decaying because it is decadent, and it is dying because it has embraced the culture of death.

What will be left when the secularist “West” is dead will be the Permanent Things. Christianity is alive and well, and thriving and growing, in Africa, Asia, China–and yes, even in resurrected embryonic form in Europe and other parts of the “West.” Europe and the “West” might be committing collective suicide, but Christendom is always new, as it is always old, because it is the Permanent Thing.

The future looks grim for those who have cast their lot with the Grim Reaper, but for those who follow the God who conquered death there is always the promise of the resurrection. The “West” might be “lost forever,” but the light in the East is always rising.

Bishop Challoner's Meditations ~ October 10th

REMEDIES AGAINST PRIDE

Consider first, that in order to overcome thy pride, thou must not only be thoroughly sensible of the malignity of this evil in itself, and of the dreadful consequences of its being suffered to reign in the soul, but must also be convinced that thou thyself art continually in danger from it; that it is an evil deeply rooted in thy own corrupt nature; an obstinate and subtile enemy that will never cease to wage war against thee all thy life long, and that is so much the more dangerous to thee, by how much the less it is apprehended by thee; so that the first and most necessary prescription against pride is to study well, that we may know our corruption in this kind, by the help of a frequent review of our own interior, and of the secret springs that rule and set all our passions to work; that so having rightly discovered the monster that affects to hide itself in the inmost recesses of the soul, we may declare an eternal war against it, by perpetual watching, praying, and fighting, and by frequent repeated acts, both exterior and interior, of the virtue of humility. 

Consider 2ndly, that the true knowledge of God and of ourselves, acquired by the daily exercise of meditation and mental prayer, is the sovereign remedy against all manner of pride. For all our pretensions to excellence, all our groundless imaginations, by which we take ourselves for something, all these fumes of self-conceit which are so apt to fly up and to turn our heads upon occasion of any advantages, real or imaginary, which we ascribe to ourselves, are all put to flight when the light of the knowledge of God comes in and takes place in the soul, and shows her that all that is not God is a mere nothing. All human greatness, all power, all height, and depth, and everything that is created, dwindles away and quite vanishes when God appears: 'heaven and earth flee away from before his face, and no place is found for them,' Apoc. xx. 11; how much less can a poor man glory in his sight? O how can earth and ashes be proud in the presence of the immense, eternal, infinite Deity?

Consider 3rdly, that the light of God, which by a diligence in the exercise of mental prayer flows more and more into the soul not only serves to humble us in his sight, and to quell our pride by the sense it gives us of his infinite greatness and majesty, before who we are but wretched worms, and less than nothing; but also helps us to that true knowledge of ourselves which obliges us to vilify and despise ourselves. For here we are made sensible what poor creatures indeed we are, how mean is our extraction: as to the body, from dirt and corruption; as to the soul, from nothing - how early we are infected with sin, how full we are now of all kind of miseries, both corporal and spiritual; what a perpetual repugnance we have to good, and what a violent propensity to evil from our very childhood, how much we are encompassed with darkness, ignorance, and error; exposed daily to innumerable dangers; capable of all that is wicked, and incapable of ourselves of any good; certain of death, (though we know not when, where, nor how,) which will make over these bodies of ours to worms and corruption, and transmit these souls to judgment; and dreadfully uncertain as to the issue of that great trial and our eternal lot. And shall not all this suffice to cure our pride?

Conclude to spare no pains to acquire these two most necessary branches of Christian science, viz., the true knowledge of God, and the true knowledge of yourselves; they are the foundation of true humility and of all good, and to be learnt by meditation and prayer.

10 October, Antonio, Cardinal Bacci: Meditations For Each Day

The Third Sorrowful Mystery

The Crowning with Thorns

1. Having had Jesus flogged in spite of the fact that he believed in His innocence, Pilate showed Him to the mob in the vain hope that, when they had seen His bleeding body, their hatred would be appeased. It was no use. The enraged crowd kept crying: “Crucify him!” (Luke 23:21) Then Pilate, with a shameful gesture of open injustice, abandoned Jesus to the will of the Jewish executioners. “Jesus he delivered to their will.” (Luke 23:25)

It was probably before Pilate showed Him to the mob for the second time (Cf. John 19:4) that the sad scene of the crowning with thorns took place. “The soldiers led him away into the courtyard of the praetorium, and they called together the whole cohort. And they clothed him in purple, and plaiting a crown of thorns, they put it upon him, and began to greet him, ‘Hail King of the Jews!’ And they kept striking him on the head with a reed, and spitting upon him; and bending their knees, they did homage to him.” (Mark 15:15-19)

This new torture was a diabolical invention decreed by no law or authority. Purely for their own savage entertainment, the soldiers procured a bundle of thorned reeds which they wound into the shape of a crown and pressed into Jesus’ head.

Mary knew what was going on. She was there with the holy women when Pilate brought her bloodstained Son before the people, and their blasphemous yells pierced her tender heart. Her mother’s heart felt the sharp thorns, too, but she accepted this affliction with resignation, silently protesting against the insults of the crowd by acts of adoration and of love. We should behave in this way also. We should participate in the passion of Jesus by offering our own sufferings and we should make acts of love and of self-surrender in reparation for these acts of blasphemy.

2. When we see Jesus scourged and crowned with thorns, how can we complain if our path in life is also strewn with thorns? Jesus was the embodiment of innocence; He was God, yet He willed to suffer in order to expiate our sins and to teach us that the surest road to Heaven is the way of the Cross. It was because the Saints understood this so clearly that they were so eager to participate in the passion of Jesus Christ and to offer Him not only the inevitable sorrows of life, but also voluntary sufferings of their own as a proof of their love.

Anyone who does not desire mortification and suffering does not desire Heaven, because he is not a true follower of Jesus crucified. “They who belong to Christ,” says St. Paul, “have crucified their flesh with its passions and desires.” (Gal. 5:24) Let us meditate carefully on the significance of these stern words, so often forgotten today.

3. By the crowning with thorns Jesus wished to make special reparation for sins of thought, thoughts of impurity and of hatred, thoughts of ambition and of anger, and thoughts of despair. The evil thought is often the beginning of the greatest sins. It is essential to resist immediately and resolutely before the thought takes hold of us and arouses our evil instincts and desires. When we are tormented by bad thoughts let us look at Jesus crowned with thorns and ask Him for the grace to resist generously and successfully.

Byzantine Saints: Martyrs Eulampius & Eulampia, at Nicomedia, and 200 Martyrs

Eastern Rite ~ Feasts of 10 October AM 7534

Today is the Feast of the Holy Martyrs Eulampius & Eulampia and 200 Martyrs with them.

✠✠✠✠✠

Saints Eulampius and Eulampia were brother and sister. They lived at the beginning of the fourth century in the city of Nicomedia. Eulampius became upset after reading the decree of the emperor Maximian (284-305) sentencing all Christians to execution. Eulampius was horrified that the emperor was taking up arms against his own subjects rather than fighting the enemies of his country.

The youth was brought to trial and commanded to renounce the Christian Faith. When he refused, they first raked him with iron hooks, and then placed him upon a red-hot bed of coals. All of a sudden the sufferer expressed a wish to visit the pagan temple. The judges were delighted, supposing that they had turned him from Christianity. In the pagan temple of Mars, the saint approached the idol and cried out, “In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I command you to fall to the floor and crumble into dust!” The idol immediately crashed down to the floor and was destroyed.

The people exclaimed, “The Supreme God is the Christian God, Who is great and mighty!” Saint Eulampius was again taken away for torture. This time his sister, Eulampia, appeared before the judges and declared that she also was a Christian. Eulampius told her, “Sister, do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul” (Mt.10:28).

The martyrs were tortured and thrown into a red-hot furnace, but the Lord protected them from the fire. Finally, they beheaded Eulampius, but Eulampia died from her torments before she could be beheaded.

Two hundred martyrs were converted to Christ after seeing the miracles of Saint Eulampius and Saint Eulampia as they were being tortured. They were also put to death and received the crown of martyrdom.

Troparion — Tone 4

Your holy martyrs Eulampius and Eulampia, O Lord, / through their sufferings have received incorruptible crowns from You, our God. / For having Your strength, they laid low their adversaries, / and shattered the powerless boldness of demons. / Through their intercessions, save our souls!

Kontakion — Tone 3

Let us honour the noble martyrs, / brother and sister in the flesh, wise Eulampius and Eulampia; / for they put to shame the devices of tyrants / through the power of the Crucified One. / Therefore, they have been declared the glory and boast of martyrs.

IN LUMINE FIDEI: 10 OCTOBER – SAINT FRANCIS BORGIA (Confessor)

IN LUMINE FIDEI: 10 OCTOBER – SAINT FRANCIS BORGIA (Confessor):   Francis was born in Valencia, Spain, in 1510 to Juan Borgia, who was the third Duke of Gandía and the son of Giovanni Borgia, the son of...

10 October, The Chesterton Calendar

OCTOBER 10th

Red is the most joyful and dreadful thing in the physical universe; it is the fiercest note, it is the highest light, it is the place where the walls of this world of ours wear thinnest and something beyond burns through. It glows in the blood which sustains and in the fire which destroys us, in the roses of our romance and in the awful cup of our religion. It stands for all passionate happiness, as in faith or in first love.

'Daily News.'

10 October, The Holy Rule of St Benedict, Patriarch of Western Monasticism

CHAPTER VII. Of Humility

9 Feb. 10 June. 10 Oct.

The twelfth degree of humility is, that the monk, not only in his heart, but also in his very exterior, always shew his humility to all who see him: that is, in the work of God, in the oratory, in the monastery, in the garden, on the road, in the field or wherever he may be, whether sitting, walking or standing, with head always bent down, and eyes fixed on the earth, that he ever think of the guilt of his sins, and imagine himself already present before the terrible judgment-seat of God: always saying in his heart what the publican in the Gospel said with his eyes fixed on the earth: “Lord, I a sinner am not worthy to raise mine eyes to heaven.” And again, with the prophet: “I am bowed down and humbled on every side.”

Having, therefore, ascended all these degrees of humility, the monk will presently arrive at that love of God which, being perfect, casteth out fear: whereby he shall begin to keep, without labour, and as it were naturally and by custom, all those precepts which he had hitherto observed through fear: no longer through dread of hell, but for the love of Christ, and of a good habit and a delight in virtue which God will vouchsafe to manifest by the Holy Spirit in his labourer, now cleansed from vice and sin.

11 October, The Roman Martyrology

Quinto Idus Octóbris Luna vicésima nona. Anno Dómini 2026 
October 11th 2026, the 29th day of the Moon, were born into the better life:
At Tarsus, in Cilicia, the holy sisters Zenais and Philonilla, who were kinswomen of the blessed Apostle Paul according to the flesh, and his disciples in the faith.
In the country of the Vexin, under the President Fescenninus, the holy martyrs Nicasius, Bishop of Rouen, the Priest Quirinus, the Deacon Scubiculus, and the Virgin Pientia.
At Besancon, in Gaul, the holy martyr Germanus, Bishop (of that see.)
Likewise the holy martyrs Anastasius the Priest, Placidus, Genesius, and their Companions.
At Tarsus, in Cilicia, the holy martyrs Tharacus, Probus, and Andronicus, who suffered a long and foul imprisonment in the persecution under the Emperor Diocletian, were three times interrogated under torture and punishment, and, still confessing Christ, were beheaded, and so obtained a glorious triumph.
In the Thebaid, holy Sarmatas, a disciple of the blessed Abbot Antony, who was slain by the Saracens for Christ's sake.
At Uzes, in Gaul, (in the sixth century,) the holy Confessor Firmin, Bishop (of that see.)
In Ireland, (in the year 600,) holy Kenneth, Abbot (of Aghaboe.)
At Lier, in Belgium, (in the eighth century,) the holy Confessor Gummar.
At Rennes, in Gaul, (in the ninth century,) the holy Confessor Emilian.
At Verona, (in the fifth century,) the holy Virgin Placidia.
℣. And elsewhere many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.
℟. Thanks be to God.

Meme of the Moment

Today is the 466th anniversary of his birth.

Traditional Catholic Evening Prayers in English | October

Traditional Catholic evening devotional prayers to close your day with your mind, heart, tongue, and soul on our Lord! The month of October is dedicated to the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Begin and end each day with prayer and make a sincere commitment this month to pray the Rosary every day! This video is a compilation of many traditional evening prayers Catholics say, and should not be considered a replacement for those who have an obligation to pray the Divine Office evening prayers.

Compline

From St Thomas Aquinas Seminary. You may follow the Office at Divinum Officium.

St Lewis Bertrand: Butler's Lives of the Saints

The Stations of the Cross According to St Alphonsus Liguori

From the Apostolic Penitentiary:

A plenary indulgence is granted to those who piously make the Way of the Cross. The gaining of the indulgence is regulated by the following rules:

1. Must be done before stations of the cross legitimately erected.

2. 14 stations are required. Although it is customary for the icons to represent pictures or images, 14 simple crosses will suffice.

3. The common practice consists of fourteen pious readings to which some vocal prayers are added.. However, nothing more is required than a pious meditation on the Passion and Death of the Lord, which need not be a particular consideration of the individual mysteries of the stations.

4. A movement from one station to the next is required. But if the stations are made publicly and it is not possible for everyone taking part to go from station to station, it suffices if at least the one conducting the exercise goes from station to station, the others remaining in their places.

5. Those who are "impeded" can gain the same indulgence if they spend at least one half and hour in pious reading and meditation on the Passion and Death of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Vespers of Friday for the Feast of St John Leonard, Confessor

From the Canons Regular of the New Jerusalem. You may follow the Office at Divinum Officium.

Summa Contra Gentiles, Book III: VIII, IX Arguments Towards Evil as a Nature or Thing, With Response

From Contemplating History

Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225 – 7 March 1274), was a Doctor of the Church, Philosopher, Theologian, Jurist, Dominican Friar, and Priest. Known as Doctor Angelicus "Angelic Doctor," and the Doctor Communis "Universal Doctor" his writings serve as a defense and proof of the validity of Christ's authority over all. The Summa contra Gentiles (also known as Liber de veritate catholicae fidei contra errores infidelium, "Book on the truth of the Catholic faith against the errors of the unbelievers"). The Summa contra Gentiles consists of four books. The structure of Saint Thomas's work is designed to proceed from general philosophical arguments for monotheism, to which Muslims and Jews are likely to consent even within their own respective religious traditions, before progressing to the discussion of specifically Christian doctrine.

Book III discusses providence and the human condition, that is good and evil acts, human fate and intellect and the relation of created beings to the creator. Whether you are a history enthusiast, a student of religion, or simply curious about the impact of the Roman Catholic Church on the world, this playlist is designed to provide an informative and engaging journey through its captivating past. Subscribe to the Contemplating History channel for more educational content and immerse yourself in the rich tapestry of history.

Liad Mudrik, PhD - The Future of Consciousness: Beyond Human?

From Closer to Truth, a secular source.

What happens to consciousness in transhumanism? Would transhuman creatives have different conscious experiences? Would melding with machines change our inner sense of felt experience? How would we know? How would it matter? Professor Liad Mudrik is a researcher at the School of Psychological Sciences and Sagol School of Neuroscience at Tel Aviv University. Her research focuses on conscious experience, its neural mechanisms and functions.

The Holy Rosary

Friday, the Sorrowful Mysteries, in Latin with Cardinal Burke.

Cecily Neville Duchess of York | The Woman Who Survived the Wars of the Roses | The Mother of Kings

From History Calling

CECILY NEVILLE, Duchess of York, was a Plantagenet matriarch, the mother of Kings Edward IV and Richard III and the woman who survived the Wars of the Roses from start to finish, living long enough to see her descendants take the ultimate power, only to lose it three times over, culminating in the conquest of England by Henry Tudor and the end of the Plantagenet dynasty. Indeed the story of her sons and her tragic grandsons, the Princes in the Tower, is an abject lesson not just in how to take a throne, but in how to lose a throne and in what it was like to be monarch in 15th century England when whoever wore the crown was constantly a King under threat. In this documentary from History Calling, we’ll look at roughly the first half of the life of Cecily Neville, including her birth, her child marriage to Richard, Duke of York and the difficulties they had in having children before their ultimately large family arrived. The video will cover the Duchess’s time in France and Ireland, her relationship with Queen Margaret of Anjou, the wife of Henry VI, her dramatic capture after the Battle of Ludford Bridge and finally her reaction to the disaster which befell her family at the end of 1460 when her husband and second son, Edmund, Earl of Rutland, were slain at the Battle of Wakefield. If you’ve ever wondered, what were the Wars of the Roses (or indeed what was the Cousins’ War, which another name given to this conflict), Cecily’s story is an excellent entry point into this complicated saga and this video will also cover many of the early events in this long-running conflict. This is the first entry in a series on the women of the Wars of the Roses.

How Science Proves God! With John Bergsma, PhD(Theol)

From Matt Fradd

Dr John Bergsma is Professor of Theology at the Franciscan University of Steubenville. A former Protestant pastor, Dr. Bergsma entered the Catholic Church in 2001 while getting his Ph.D. in Bible from the University of Notre Dame. A close collaborator of Dr. Scott Hahn, Bergsma speaks regularly on Catholic radio and at conferences and parishes nationally and internationally. He has authored over a dozen books on Scripture and the Catholic faith, including Bible Basics for Catholics (Ave Maria Press), Stunned by Scripture: How the Bible Made Me Catholic (Our Sunday Visitor), and A Catholic Introduction to the Bible: Old Testament (with Brant Pitre; Ignatius Press). Dr. Bergsma’s talks and studies are available on CD and mp3 from catholicproductions.com. He and his wife Dawn reside with their eight children in Steubenville, Ohio.

How the Hail Mary Has Changed Over the Centuries

It developed differently in the East as well, which was pointed out in my post last night, but still based on the Gospel accounts of the Annunciation and Visitation.

From Aleteia

By Philip Kosloski

The Hail Mary prayer has developed over time and was not always prayed in the same way that it is prayed currently in the Catholic Church.

The Catholic Church has two prayers that have become staples in the lives of Catholics around the world. These two prayers are taught to children from the earliest age and remain part of their spiritual lives until they die.

Those two prayers are the Our Father and the Hail Mary.

While the Our Father, given us by Jesus, has not changed much over the past 2,000 years, the Hail Mary, on the other hand, has developed and changed.

The prayer started small, and has since expanded to what we know today.

Two Bible verses

In the Gospel of Luke, we find the two principal verses that make up the frequently used “Hail Mary” prayer. The first part of the prayer is derived from the Annunciation, when the angel Gabriel greeted Mary by saying, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!” (Luke 1:28)

The next part of the prayer is taken from the Visitation, when Elizabeth greeted Mary with the words, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!” (Luke 1:42)

Christians did not put the two verses together until, at the earliest, the 11th century. The Catholic Encyclopedia explains that “in point of fact, there is little or no trace of the Hail Mary as an accepted devotional formula before about 1050. All the evidence suggests that it took its rise from certain versicles and responsories occurring in the Little Office or Cursus of the Blessed Virgin, which just at that time was coming into favor among the monastic orders. Two Anglo-Saxon manuscripts at the British Museum, one of which may be as old as the year 1030, show that the words ‘Ave Maria’ etc. and ‘benedicta tu in mulieribus et benedictus fructus ventris tui’ occurred in almost every part of the Cursus, and though we cannot be sure that these clauses were at first joined together so as to make one prayer, there is conclusive evidence that this had come to pass only a very little later.”

At first the prayer was known as the Salutation of the Blessed Virgin, and consisted only of the two verses joined together.

Pray for us sinners 

It was not until much later that the second petitionary half of the prayer (the "Holy Mary" part) was added. For several centuries the prayer simply ended at “…blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Amen,” but sometimes included petitions that were added on.

There are some groups who still maintain this tradition, adding various petitions or verses after the first part of the Hail Mary, often focusing on the mystery of the Rosary being said.

The official prayer of the “Ave Maria” (as we know it today) was not finalized until after the publication of the Catechism of the Council of Trent and the prayer was then included in the Roman Breviary of 1568. In the Catechism of Trent the prayer is mentioned, still referred to as the “Angelical Salutation.”

The Hail Mary is a prayer that has grown organically through the centuries and has become a primary staple of Catholic spirituality.

Leo Bans Cardinal Burke From Amoris Laetitia Vatican Conference

Bishop Schneider Drops Bombshell Accusation About Leo’s Big Synod in Rome

His Lordshipis one of the few Catholic Bishops left in the Synodal Church.

It's a safe bet that Auxiliary Bishop Athanasius Schneider won't be getting a promotion anytime soon.

Did Medieval People Have Rotten Teeth?

From Modern History TV

Contrary to popular belief, dental hygiene was a significant concern in the medieval period. Modern History TV demonstrates how people used hazel twigs, salt, and cloves to clean their teeth and freshen their breath, showing they often had better dental health than many do today.

Jason Kingsley CBE, the Modern Knight, discusses medieval tooth brushing and attitudes to dental care.

Traditional Catholic Morning Prayers in English | October

Traditional Catholic morning prayers to lay a strong foundation for the rest of your day! The month of October is dedicated to the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary. I hope these prayers increase your devotion to Our Lady of the Rosary this month, to help us meditate on the events in the life of Christ and draw us closer to her Divine Son, Jesus Christ. Begin each day with morning prayer! This video is a compilation of many traditional evening prayers Catholics say, and should not be considered a replacement for those who have an obligation to pray the Divine Office morning prayers.

You Don't Understand the "Contradictions" in Catholicism

From Matt Fradd

Biblical scholar Dr John Bergsma, a former Protestant pastor who converted to Catholicism, and I discuss the supposed contradictions in Catholic doctrine and how they can be responded to.

Watch the Full Episode here: Ep 583    • Your Protestant Objections ANSWERED (Dr. J...  

Do Byzantine Catholics Pray the Hail Mary?

We do, indeed, but we use a slightly different form than the West: Hail, O Theotokos, Virgin Mary, Full of Grace, the Lord is with Thee. Blessed art Thou amongst women and blessed is the Fruit of Thy womb, for Thou hast borne Christ, the Saviour of our Souls!

From Aleteia

By Philip Kosloski

Both Eastern Catholics and Eastern Orthodox pray a version of the Hail Mary, as it is essentially a quotation from the Gospel of Luke.

Roman Catholics are very familiar with the Hail Mary prayer and the Rosary has become one of the most defining Catholic devotions. If somebody mentions the Hail Mary prayer, it is likely they are referring to the Roman Catholic tradition.

However, Roman Catholics are not the only ones who pray the Hail Mary.

Byzantine Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians similarly pray a version of the Hail Mary in the liturgy and in personal devotion.

Hail, O Theotokos

First of all, it should be noted that the Hail Mary has technically been around since Luke wrote his Gospel, and even before that -- since Gabriel and Elizabeth said the words that Luke recorded.

In the Gospel of Luke, we find the two principal verses that make up the frequently used “Hail Mary” prayer. The first part of the prayer is derived from the Annunciation, when the angel Gabriel greeted Mary by saying, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!” (Luke 1:28)

The next part of the prayer is taken from the Visitation, when Elizabeth greeted Mary with the words, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!” (Luke 1:42)

In the centuries following, the Church combined those two verses and occasionally used them in the liturgy. It is believed that St. Gregory the Great used that first part of the Hail Mary in the 6th century during Advent.

The developed prayer

For Christians in the East, the Scripture verses developed into the following formulation:

Hail, O Mother of God (Theotokos), Virgin Mary, Full of Grace, the Lord is with Thee. Blessed art Thou amongst women and blessed is the Fruit of Thy womb, for Thou hast borne Christ, the Savior of our Souls!

In the West, the Hail Mary developed differently and was not solidified in its current form until the 16th century.

While Eastern Catholics did not create a specific Rosary to pray the Hail Mary, it still remains a part of liturgical prayer and private devotion.

East and West are united in praising the Virgin Mary by using words used in the Bible.

All 24 Catholic Churches—Explained by Fr Gregory Pine, OP

From Ascension Presents

You may be familiar with different Catholic rites, but did you know there are more than 20? Fr Gregory Pine, OP, explains the various rites of the Catholic Church, what makes them unique, and why they exist. Discover the rich diversity of the Catholic Church and the traditions that make up its universal family!