Bishop Schneider May Have Been Why the TLM Pilgrims Were Banned From St Peter’s

The TLM pilgrimage that was banned from processing into St Peter's Basilica and only given a single hour for their Mass at St Mary Major was led by Bishop Schneider, and his presence may have been the cause of the problem.

Why Medieval Peasants Were Impossible To Brainwash

From Medieval Mindset

We like to imagine medieval peasants as brainwashed religious fanatics trapped in a giant cult. Working from a 14th-century Inquisition record, it turns out ordinary people in the Middle Ages were far harder to brainwash than modern people on the internet today. When we think of medieval religion and daily life in the Middle Ages, we picture total ideological control. However, between 1318 and 1325, a relentless French bishop and inquisitor named Jacques Fournier (later Pope Benedict XII) interrogated almost the entire mountain village of Montaillou in the French Pyrenees to root out the Cathar heresy. Because Fournier obsessively recorded every word of his heresy trials, he accidentally left behind the most detailed psychological portrait of ordinary medieval peasants in history. Inside the Fournier Register, we don't find mindless religious fundamentalism or cult-like obedience to the Catholic Church. Instead, we find secret skeptics, corrupt double-agent priests like Pierre Clergue, villagers suffering from religious OCD and existential dread, stonemasons skipping Mass, and farmers arguing in the town square that Heaven is just a good mood and the human soul is made of bread. By comparing medieval village cosmology to modern Netflix cult documentaries and algorithmic echo chambers, we uncover what everyday medieval people actually believed about God, the afterlife, and the universe—and why true religious fundamentalism is actually a modern invention. TIMESTAMPS 0:00 – Raymond’s Village Square Theology 1:20 – Are Medieval Villages Just Modern Cults? 2:03 – Jacques Fournier: The Church’s Most Obsessive Detective 3:52 – Inside Montaillou: House over Church 5:31 – The Cathar Revival in the Pyrenees 7:26 – Pierre Clergue: The Village Priest and Local Predator 9:27 – What Peasants Actually Believed (Souls Made of Bread) 11:52 – The Tragic Doubts of Aude Faure 12:40 – Pierre Maury and Relativism on the Road 14:28 – The 1308 Mass Arrest and the Yellow Crosses 15:14 – Why Fundamentalism Is a Modern Disease WORKS CITED Barber, Malcolm. The Cathars: Dualist Heretics in Languedoc in the High Middle Ages. Routledge, 2000. Duvernoy, Jean, editor. Le Registre d’inquisition de Jacques Fournier (1318–1325). Édouard Privat, 1965. Lambert, Malcolm. Medieval Heresy: Popular Movements from the Gregorian Reform to the Reformation. 3rd ed., Blackwell Publishing, 2002. Le Roy Ladurie, Emmanuel. Montaillou: The Promised Land of Error. Translated by Barbara Bray, George Braziller, 1978. Moore, R. I. The Formation of a Persecuting Society: Authority and Deviance in Western Europe 950–1250. 2nd ed., Blackwell Publishing, 2007.

Traditional Catholic Morning Prayers in English | November

Traditional Catholic morning prayers to lay a strong foundation for the rest of your day! The month of November is dedicated to the Holy Souls in Purgatory. I hope these prayers increase your devotion to Our Lord and draw us closer to Him, 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.

7 Protestant Objections to Mary Put on Trial

From Totus Catholica

Is Catholic devotion to Mary a betrayal of the Bible? Seven Protestant objections to Mary put Catholic teaching under scrutiny: worship, the title Mother of God, sinlessness, perpetual virginity, intercession, the Immaculate Conception, and the Assumption. What does the Church actually teach, and what can the evidence establish? In this courtroom-style examination, we consider objections raised by some Protestants alongside Catholic responses from Scripture and Tradition. We distinguish worship from veneration, Christ’s unique mediation from intercessory prayer, and explicit biblical statements from theological arguments. Mary’s place in the story of salvation is explored through the Incarnation and the biblical patterns of Eve and the Ark. The aim is not to caricature Protestant Christians or treat every argument as equally conclusive. It is to understand the real disagreement about authority and interpretation, while keeping Jesus Christ at the centre. Let this study lead beyond debate to prayer and a deeper love for the Son Mary bore. In this video: • Do Catholics worship Mary, or honour her differently? • Why Mother of God is a claim about Jesus Christ • Mary’s need for a Saviour and the Immaculate Conception • Jesus’s brothers, perpetual virginity, and disputed interpretations • Intercession, the Assumption, and Scripture read within Tradition 0:00 Do Catholics Worship Mary? 2:29 Why Mary Is Called Mother of God 4:15 Did Mary Need a Saviour? 6:07 Did Mary Have Other Children? 8:10 Does Praying to Mary Replace Jesus? 10:03 Is the Immaculate Conception Biblical? 11:48 What Supports Mary’s Assumption? 📖 SCRIPTURE DISCUSSED Luke chapter one, verses twenty-eight and forty-three through forty-eight: grace, the mother of my Lord, and Mary’s Saviour. Romans chapter three, verse twenty-three: all have sinned. Matthew chapter one, verse twenty-five, and chapter thirteen, verses fifty-five through fifty-six: “until” and Jesus’s relatives. First Timothy chapter two, verses one through five; Revelation chapter five, verse eight; John chapter two, verses one through eleven: prayer and meditation. Deuteronomy chapter eighteen, verses ten through twelve: forbidden occult practices. Genesis chapter five, verse twenty-four; Second Kings chapter two, verse eleven: Enoch and Elijah, not direct accounts of Mary’s Assumption. ⛪ CHURCH TEACHING AND EARLY CHRISTIAN WITNESS Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs four hundred ninety-one through four hundred ninety-three, four hundred ninety-five, and four hundred ninety-nine through five hundred: grace, divine motherhood, and perpetual virginity. http://www.vatican.va/content/catechi... Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs nine hundred sixty-six and nine hundred sixty-nine through nine hundred seventy-one: Assumption, intercession, and devotion distinct from adoration. http://www.vatican.va/content/catechi... Saint Irenaeus, Against Heresies, book three, chapter twenty-two, section four: Mary’s obedience and Eve’s disobedience. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/010... 📜 FURTHER READING Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium, paragraphs sixty through sixty-seven: Mary’s role depends entirely on Christ; devotion must avoid exaggeration and misunderstanding. https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_c... 🔗 EXPLORE MORE Website: https://totuscatholica.org/ Rosary Guide: https://totuscatholica.org/rosary Contact: https://totuscatholica.org/contact Examination of Conscience: https://catholicexaminationofconscien... Free eBooks: https://buymeacoffee.com/totuscatholi... Become a Totus Insider: https://buymeacoffee.com/totuscatholi...

4 Crowned, Unknown Martyrs of Florence

Today is their Feast Day. Martyred under Diocletian for refusing to sculpt a statue of Asclepius, their names are known only to God.

From Aleteia

By Daniel Esparza

History is filled with tales of revered, famous saints. Countless other saints remain unknown. And yet, some of their stories are whispered between worn stones and weathered frescoes

History is filled with tales of revered, famous saints. Names like Teresa and John are etched in the hearts and minds of the faithful. Yet countless other saints remain in silent obscurity. Some of their stories, however, are whispered between worn stones and weathered frescoes. Nanni Di Banco’s “Four Crowned Saints,” which adorns Florence’s Orsanmichele Church, offers a poignant glimpse into one of these stories.

Commissioned between 1409 and 1416, the marble sculpture depicts four Roman sculptors named Casorius, Claudius, Sempronius, and Nicostratus. Legend tells of their martyrdom under Emperor Diocletian. These early Christian sculptors refused to please the emperor, who had asked them to make a statue to the pagan god of health, Asclepius. They were thus sentenced to death because of their disobedience – a literal testimony to their Christian faith. The sculpture finds further meaning in the relief at its base, which depicts the saints as stonemasons – a nod to their patronage of architects and sculptors.

Although not explicitly documented, the “Four Crowned Saints” is widely attributed to Di Banco. Its date of creation has sparked scholarly debate, with some seeing it as an early work and others as a sign of his artistic maturity. Regardless, it’s a masterful example of early Renaissance sculpture, its figures imbued with a quiet dignity and realism that foreshadowed later artistic movements.

A whimsical legend spun by Giorgio Vasari (regarded by many as the first historian of art) tells of Donatello, a fellow Renaissance master, who lent a critical eye to the work. He is said to have helped di Banco rearrange the figures to better fit the niche – a charming story now widely accepted as artistic embellishment.

Interestingly, the sculpture bears a unique historical mark: a dark patina applied in the 18th and 19th centuries. This was intended to create a uniform bronze-like appearance among Orsanmichele’s sculptures and was only recently removed during restoration.

The “Four Crowned Saints” serve as a powerful reminder of everyday sainthood. Even among famed saints like Francis or Catherine, countless others lived their faith with courage and conviction. Their stories may be less known, but their legacy echoes in Catholic tradition – and even in the quiet beauty of artwork like this. It invites us to celebrate the many unsung heroes who shaped Catholic history, whose names may be lost but whose spirit endures – sometimes even in stone.

The Dr Joseph Shaw Interview

The Hon. Joseph Shaw, DPhil (Oxon), FRSA, is Chairman of the Latin Mass Society of England & Wales & President of Una Voce International.

From AdVaticanum

Few people have done more to advance the cause of the Traditional Latin Mass than Dr Joseph Shaw. The Oxford academic was a Fellow of St Benet’s Hall, Oxford’s last all-male Catholic hall. The youngest son of Thomas Shaw, 3rd Baron Craigmyle, Dr Shaw is a fierce advocate for traditional family values, and himself has nine children, whom he homeschools. In this exclusive interview, he gives his verdict on the SSPX and Papa Stronsay consecrations, discusses the future of Traditionis custodes and the reasons some priests oppose the Traditional Latin Mass.

Oscar Wilde’s Escape from the Culture of Death

"Nobody, however deep in the gutter, is beyond the love of Christ. Oscar Wilde’s deathbed conversion was not the clutch of a drowning man but a return to a first love."

From Crisis

By Joseph Pearce

Nobody, however deep in the gutter, is beyond the love of Christ. Oscar Wilde’s deathbed conversion was not the clutch of a drowning man but a return to a first love.

A series examining the newly released book by journalist and author Melanie McDonagh titled "Converts."

“We are all in the gutter,” says Lord Darlington in Oscar Wilde’s play, Lady Windermere’s Fan, “but some of us are looking at the stars.” These words, spoken by a fictional character in a comedy written for the stage, are nonetheless applicable to all of us. We are all in the gutter, but only some of us are looking at the stars. Many of us are face down in the gutter without any interest in the stars. A decadent few are so addicted to being face down in the gutter that they have forgotten that anything beautiful exists beyond the squalid and sordid world in which they exist. For these unhappy few, nothing exists except the gutter.

These thoughts, inspired by one of Oscar Wilde’s wittiest lines, serve as a curtain-raiser to the discussion of Wilde and the English Decadents in Melanie McDonagh’s book, Converts.

I began my own book, Literary Converts, with a chapter on Wilde, who was received into the Catholic Church on his deathbed in 1900. Mrs. McDonagh goes one better, both literally and literarily, by beginning with a chapter on the 1890s, the decade of Decadence, which had seen Wilde’s rise and fall. This is appropriate, not merely because it sets the scene and gives the context for Wilde’s conversion, but because it illustrates that the English Decadence, like the French Decadence that preceded it, was a fertile ground for conversion.

Mrs. McDonagh is duly deferential to the influence of the French Decadence. Her discussion of the novels of Joris-Karl Huysmans is adept and adroit, albeit sullied by her apparent dislike and disdain for anything that might be seen as sensational or sensationalist. Take, for instance, her assessment of the character of Durtal, the protagonist in several of Huysmans’ novels, who, in Mrs. McDonagh’s words, “makes a dramatic ascent from a life of vice—diabolism, black masses, startling sexual excess—to repentance and redemption in a Trappist monastery.”

Mrs. McDonagh seems to suggest that such a dramatic ascent from the gutter and such a radical assent to the will of God is somehow in poor taste:

Huysmans offered a disastrous model of conversion, characterized by the pursuit of rarified sensations and thrillingly dramatic. Few converts could match the sheer drama of Durtal’s initial depravity nor the exoticism of his repentance (his confession is followed by a satanic attack), nor the completeness of his final surrender, for he became a lay associate of the Trappists. Most conversions seemed humdrum by comparison.

Why, one wonders, is the radical and dramatic nature of Durtal’s conversion considered to be a “disastrous model”? Perhaps, if we replaced the name of Durtal with that of Mary Magdalen, we might better understand the curious nature of Mrs. McDonagh’s objections. Mary Magdalen’s real-life conversion is at least as dramatic as Durtal’s. And what of the “once at a crash” conversion of St. Paul, as Gerard Manley Hopkins described it? As for today, there is no shortage of similarly dramatic conversion stories: prisoners, murderers, rapists, drug addicts, gangsters, satanists. Why are such sensational manifestations of God’s grace considered a “disastrous model”? Shouldn’t they inspire us in the conviction that nobody, however miserable, is beyond the love of Christ?

Take the conversion of Francis Thompson, for example, a contemporary of Wilde, whose wonderful poem “The Hound of Heaven” says all that needs to be said on the subject of God’s relentless hunting down of the recalcitrant sinner. Thompson, a cradle Catholic of convert parents, had dropped out of seminary and then dropped out of medical school before living as a dropout, addicted to drugs and homeless on the streets of post-Dickensian London, befriended by charitable prostitutes at a time when Jack the Ripper was stalking his victims. Although Thompson was not a convert, his reversion to the Faith is at least as sensational as the most dramatic of conversions.

Although Mrs. McDonagh doesn’t mention Francis Thompson, except in one passing reference, the reversion to the Faith of the French Decadent poet, Paul Verlaine, is described by her in singularly sensational terms:

He had an even more dramatic conversion (or reversion) to his baptismal faith, which took place during his 555 days in prison for the attempted murder of his lover, Arthur Rimbaud, in 1873. Their relationship was violent, not to say, sordid, which made Verlaine’s embrace of the Church and the passionate and affective poems that came from his return to the faith even more striking.

Is Verlaine’s real-life reversion, or Francis Thompson’s, any less dramatic than the fictional conversion of Durtal in Huysmans’ novels? Clearly, they are not. Indeed, perhaps we should remind ourselves that truth is stranger than fiction, not least because Durtal’s conversion was itself a quasi-autobiographical account of Huysmans’ own real-life journey to the Church, and finally to his becoming a Benedictine oblate. Since the novelist’s own quest for heaven was at least as dramatic as that of the fictional character that he modeled on himself, can we really agree with Mrs. McDonagh that “Huysmans offered a disastrous model of conversion”?

This quibble aside, Mrs. McDonagh’s discussion of the 1890s is, for the most part, very good. Her treatment of the convert poets, Lionel Johnson and Ernest Dowson, is most welcome, even though one wonders why John Gray, a less accomplished poet of the 1890s, is given a whole chapter to himself, while Johnson and Dowson are mentioned almost in passing. It’s as though a footnote has usurped their place in the body of the narrative. That being said, John Gray is a fascinating figure who deserves to be better known. It is refreshing, therefore, that Mrs. McDonagh allows him to take center stage, offering him an all-too-rare moment in the limelight.

Nonetheless, and to reiterate what was said above, Mrs. McDonagh is to be praised for devoting a chapter to the 1890s before she proceeds to the chapter on Oscar Wilde. This sets the scene for her discussion of Wilde, which includes much of which I had been previously unaware, not merely in the chapter itself but also in the footnotes, some of which offer priceless nuggets of fascinating information.

The highlight of the Wilde chapter for me was the words of William Welsford Ward, Wilde’s friend from his days as an undergraduate in Oxford, recalled to Wilde’s son Vyvyan:

I have been reading lately a bundle of old letters written to me by him during his undergraduate days at Oxford, and they show … that his final decision to find refuge in the Roman Church was not the sudden clutch of the drowning man at the plank in the shipwreck, but a return to a first love, a love rejected, it is true … yet one that had haunted him from early days with a persistent spell.

Wilde’s lifelong love affair with the Catholic Church would not be consummated, due to his own infidelity, until his deathbed conversion and reception. This love affair is the theme and thesis of my book, The Unmasking of Oscar Wilde. Even when Wilde was at his worst, face down in the gutter and wallowing in sexual depravity, he always knew that something healthier and holier was calling him. As with Francis Thompson, he always felt the Hound of Heaven on his heels. In the end, his pride was broken by the very fall that it had caused.

Ironically and paradoxically, Wilde had escaped the culture of death by going to prison. As he wrote in The Ballad of Reading Gaol, “God’s eternal Laws are kind and break the heart of stone.” He had been saved in the nick of time by the God whom he’d forsaken but who had refused to forsake him:

Ah! happy they whose hearts can break
And peace of pardon win!
How else may man make straight his plan
And cleanse his soul from Sin?
How else but through a broken heart
May Lord Christ enter in?

Divine Liturgy for the Twenty-Fourth Sunday After Pentecost

Today's Divine Liturgy from the UGCC Church of Australia. You may follow the Liturgy here.

Twenty-Fourth Sunday After Pentecost

Today's Holy Mass from SSPX ANZ-District. You may follow the Mass at Divinum Officium.

Octave Day of All Saints & Four Holy Crowned Martyrs ~ Dom Prosper Guéranger

Twenty-fourth Sunday After Pentecost ~ Dom Prosper Guéranger

Octave Day of All Saints & Four Holy Crowned Martyrs

From Dom Prosper Guéranger's Liturgical Year:

How could we more appropriately conclude the teachings of this Octave, than by quoting the words used by the Church herself in today’s Liturgy? “Strangers as we are and pilgrims on the earth, let us fix our hearts and our thoughts on the day which will give to each of us a home, and restore us to Paradise. Who, that is on a voyage, would not hasten to return to his country! Who, that is on the way home, would not eagerly desire a favorable wind, that he might the sooner embrace his dear ones! Parents, brothers, children, friends in multitudes impatiently await us in our heavenly fatherland; blessed crowd! already secure of their own eternal happiness, they are solicitous about our salvation. What joy for them and for us, when at length we see them and they may embrace us!

“How great the delight of that heavenly kingdom: no more fear of death; but eternal and supreme happiness! Let all our earnest desires tend to this: that we may be united with the Saints, that together with them we pay possess Christ.” (St Cyprian, On Mortality, 26)

These enthusiastic words, borrowed from St. Cyprian’s beautiful book “On Mortality,” are used by the Church in her second Nocturn; and in the third she also gives us the strong language of St. Augustine, consoling the faithful, who are obliged still to remain in exile, by reminding them of the great beatitude of this earth: the beatitude of those who are persecuted and cursed by the world. To suffer gladly for Christ, is the Christian’s glory, the invisible beauty which wins for his soul the good pleasure of God, and procures him a great reward in heaven. (St Augustine, De Sermone Domini in Monte, Book 1, Ch. 5)

He that hurteth, let him hurt still, says our Lord; and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is just, let him be justified still; and he that is holy, let him be sanctified still. Behold I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to render to every man according to his works. I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. (Apocalypse 22:11-13) Patience, then, Christians! Patience, all who are now despised, for time is short; the fashion of this world passeth away! (1 Corinthians 7:29-31) It is in the light of our Baptism that we must look upon those foolish men, who think themselves strong, because they are violent; who call themselves wise, because pleasure is their only law. When the Man-God, with the spirit of his mouth, shall take vengeance on Satan their leader, their lot will be the indignant sentence heard by the Prophet of Patmos: Without are dogs, murderers, everyone that loveth and maketh a lie. (Apocalypse 22:15) Meanwhile the whole creation, which they made the unwilling slave of their corruption, will answer to their disgraceful fall by a triumphant song of deliverance. Itself will be transformed into new heavens and a new earth. It will partake of the glory of the children of God, delivered like itself, and will be worthy to contain the new Jerusalem, the holy city, where in our flesh we shall see God; and where, seated at the right hand of the Father in the Person of Jesus Christ, our glorified human nature will enjoy forever the honors of a bride.

Let us go in spirit to Rome, and direct our steps towards the ancient church on the Cœlian Hill, which bears the name of the Four crowned Martyrs. There are few Saints whose Acts have been more disparaged “by a superficial criticism ignorant of archeological science,” such as that of the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. But now “the history and traditions relating to the august monument on the Cœlian have been restored to honor by learned men and antiquaries, whom no one could accuse of superstition, or of a blind credulity with regard to medieval legends.” (De Rossi, Bulletin, 1879) Such is the unanswerable decision of the Commandant de Rossi. Let us, then, with the holy Liturgy, offer our homage and prayers to the titular Saints of this venerable church, who once held offices of trust in the empire; and let us not forget those other Martyrs, the five sculptors, who like the former preferred death to infidelity, and now share the glory of their tomb.

PRAYER

Grant we beseech thee, O Almighty God, that we who know thy glorious Martyrs to have been strong in their confession of thee, may experience their compassion by their interceding for us with thee. Through our Lord.

Let us honor all the Saints by a Sequence long sung on this Octave Day by the church of Seville.

SEQUENCE

To the honor of our Savior, let this assembly sing, both with the inward music of the heart, and with the outward sound of the voice; sweet will be the melody if these three be of one accord: heart, lips, and action.

God is wonderful is his Saints; but since at the last he satisfied them with such good things, wherefore, while they live this life, are they scarce able to breathe, he so scourges and torments them?

Is it, O Christ, that thou dost lovingly hate them, since thou judgest well that they should suffer in so many ways, and permittest them often to be crushed under tortures and subjected to a cruel death?

Nay, he hates them not, but seeks to know with how much love each one labors in his service; he loves them all, yet he proves, by the toil and the strife, how great is their devotedness.

For they strive against the world, the wicked unclean foe, the vices of the flesh; ’tis chiefly by this manly constancy that confessors and martyrs form themselves to virtue.

The special combat for the martyr is that which gives him the stroke of death; but for the confessor the executioner is wanting; he must choose the struggle against the pleasures of the flesh.

’Tis therefore for the love of Christ that strive the former and the latter, whether men or women; and he that labors most in the strife, carries off a higher prize, a brighter crown for his combat.

All are elected by God: may God allow himself to be moved by their merits and prayers, that when the terrible day shall come, he may not in his wrath hand us over to the infernal torturers.

But rather may our lyre be permitted to praise him in the company of the heavenly citizens. Amen.

Let us next pray for our dear departed ones. The Missals of several churches furnish us with this earnest supplication.

SEQUENCE

As we cry out from the depths, hear, O Christ, our voices from thy heavenly court: mother Church now suppliantly implores thee for all the faithful departed.

Let, then, thine ears be attentive to hear her prayerful voice: this voice that calls on thee, O King of glory, to grant this day some relief to the faithful.

Although we are sinners and unable to endure if thou consider our vices: still, let the victim now offered by us avail for the dead.

See, we offer the same as thou didst offer to the Father: may it be a succor to them; yea, be thou propitious to them, and in thy might, O Jesus, loose the bonds of the guilty.

Because of the law which thou hast given, the creatures thou hast made wait for thee; turn away the punishment: they wait for thee, may they be delivered; they trust in thee, lead them forth to the heavenly dwellings.

In thee they trust, in thee they believe, towards thee they yearn and sigh from their awful depth of misery; in thee by day, in thee by night, in thee at morn and evening be their sure confidence.

With thee, we implore, be that abundant mercy for which we pray; that thou wouldst redeem them, O Christ, from all evil, this suppliant crowd beseeches thee.

Let the Queen of queens, thy Mother, intercede; may Mary obtain for us what we ask. O good Jesus, King of glory, let all thy Saints ask pardon for them, especially on this day.

O thou who, raised upon the cross, didst take pity on sinners, mercifully hear the prayers wherewith our assembly cries to thee. By thee may all bonds be broken, the gates of death destroyed, the devils put to confusion, and souls obtain possession of never-ending joys. Amen.