Latest Book by Fr Claude Barthe Compares & Contrasts the Traditional & New Sacramental Rites

Whilst I admit the validity of the new Rites, I question the need for their revision. Like the Mass, the modernists could leave nothing alone.

From Rorate Cæli

By Peter Kwasniewski, PhD

In 1969, A Short Critical Study of the Novus Ordo Missae was published with the signatures of two powerful cardinals, Bacci and Ottaviani. Nicknamed The Ottaviani Intervention, it quickly become a classic, and has never gone out of print. But... where was its companion volume? You know, the one about the other six sacraments?

 

For, indeed, the reform of the Mass was accompanied by a profound overhaul of all the other sacraments—baptism, confirmation, marriage, holy orders, penance, and extreme unction (the last two renamed reconciliation and the anointing of the sick). And the changes to these were no less profound, no less meaningful, no less consequential.

 

Understandably, debates about liturgical reform have coalesced around the new missal for decades, since the Eucharistic rite touches the lives of Catholics more than any other. Yet if the new rite of the Mass deserves criticism for its diminished signification of the Church’s faith, the same holds for the new rituals of the sacraments, which were produced with the same assumptions and principles.

 

Esteemed liturgical theologian Fr. Claude Barthe confronts this question in his short but potent work, The Seven Sacraments, Past and Present: A Short Critical Study of the New Rituals. Fr. Barthe takes up particular points of comparison between the old and new rituals, looking to the matter and the form (the elements used, the words spoken) as well as the ceremonies surrounding them. Did the effort to “adapt the rites for modern man” end up diluting and dissipating the very faith they were supposed to express more effectively?

 

In this well-documented book, Fr. Barthe helps readers to see why a coherent defense and practice of tradition must reach beyond the Mass to embrace all of the Church’s rites—at a time when some are seeking to rule out the very possibility of doing so. The Roman Rite, he explains, is a unified world of prayer, and its components should not be arbitrarily divorced. If the traditional Mass deserves to be honored and prayed in our churches, the traditional form of each and every sacrament should be given no less honor and be no less readily available.

 

Perhaps in time, this book, too, will become famous, and people will start speaking of The Barthe Intervention!

Be that as it may, Os Justi Press is proud to present its English edition to the world. I encourage tradition-loving Catholics to take up this brisk and battling book. Find out why it caused a firestorm upon its 2025 publication in France. Consider gifting it to priests you know who love the Mass of the Ages but may not yet fully understand how it is integrated harmoniously into the larger whole of the Roman Rite.

 

Here’s what a few readers had to say about the manuscript:

 

“The rites for the administration of all the sacraments underwent substantial revisions following the Second Vatican Council. Fr. Barthe argues that these changes were by and large for the worse. The Seven Sacraments is a valuable resource that joins other works of ‘loyal dissent’ such as the ‘Ottaviani Intervention.’” —Dr. Michael P. Foley, Baylor University

 

“Wherever one looks in the older Roman liturgical rites, one finds a form of worship that embodies the fullness of Catholic doctrine more explicitly, more robustly, and more impressively than its ‘reformed’ counterpart. Instructive, yet accessible to non-specialists, this study is an important contribution to the growing body of critical literature concerning twentieth-century liturgical reform in the Western Catholic Church.” —Fr. Thomas M. Kocik, author of Reform of the Reform?: A Liturgical Debate

 

“Fr. Barthe has done the Church a great service by placing, side-by-side, ‘Before’ and ‘After’ snapshots of the seven sacraments (and funeral rites). The similarities and differences between the usus recentior and the usus antiquior are apparent.” —Fr. Robert McTeigue, S.J., host of The Catholic Current

 

Available in paperback, hardcover, and ebook, from the publisher or from any Amazon site.

Dostoevsky Rediscovered

"When we die, there will be dozens or even hundreds of books that we would have wanted to read had time permitted." How true this is!

From The Imaginative Conservative

By Joseph Pearce

When we die, there will be dozens or even hundreds of books that we would have wanted to read had time permitted. It is in this sense that I feel that the neglect of the great Russian author, Fyodor Dostoevsky, constitutes a sin of omission on my part.

Broadly speaking, there are two types of sin. There are sins of commission and sins of omission. The former is doing what we shouldn’t be doing; the latter is failing to do what we should be doing. In bibliophilic terms, there are books we shouldn’t be reading and books that we should be reading. The reading of bad or harmful books when we should be reading  good and healthy books is committing both sins at once. Speaking personally, I am rarely guilty of reading bad or harmful books (life is too short for the squandering of such time) but I am guilty of failing to read books that I should be reading. To be fair to myself and to every other reader, it needs to be conceded that life is also too short to read every book that we ought to read; none of us can be held responsible for failing to do the impossible. When we die, there will be dozens or even hundreds of books that we would have wanted to read had time permitted. These will not be sins of omission but merely the failure to succeed in the mission impossible. Yet we are responsible for choosing our reading carefully. It is in this sense that I feel that the neglect of the great Russian author, Fyodor Dostoevsky, constitutes a sin of omission on my part.

I went through a Dostoevsky phase over twenty years ago, shortly after I moved to the United States. In quick succession, I read Notes from Underground, Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov, the last of which, being chunkier and more challenging, I read in greater haste and with less commitment than it demanded. As the years have rolled relentlessly by, I’ve felt a growing sense of my neglect of Dostoevsky’s genius. This has been exacerbated by the reading of other books which have reminded me of his brilliance and historical importance. In The Drama of Atheist Humanism, Henri de Lubac charts the harmful influence of four nineteenth century champions of atheism, Comte, Feuerbach, Marx and Nietzsche. Having discussed the destructive philosophies of these four men in the first two parts of his book, de Lubac devotes the whole third part of his book to Dostoevsky. Entitled “Dostoevsky as Prophet”, this section of de Lubac’s masterful work illustrates Dostoevsky’s challenge to atheist humanism. Specifically, Dostoevsky’s novels are shown to serve as an antidote to the nihilism of Nietzsche, even though they were written prior to the publication of Nietzsche’s major works. It’s as if Dostoevsky foresaw that the atheist humanism of Comte, Feuerbach and Marx would lead inexorably to Nietzsche’s privileging of prideful power over self-sacrificial love.

A few months after reading The Drama of Atheist Humanism, I opened the pages of The Two Greatest Novels Ever Written by Peter Kreeft, a philosopher who is always worth reading and always worth taking seriously. The “two greatest novels” in question, the wisdom of which formed the basis of Kreeft’s book, were The Lord of the Rings and The Brothers Karamazov. The only quibble I had with the book was the misnaming of  The Lord of the Rings as a novel. It is a prose epic, which has more in common with The Iliad, The Odyssey, The Aeneid, Beowulf and The Divine Comedy than with any novel. Nonetheless, Kreft’s critique of the wisdom of both works reminded me once again that I was continuing to neglect Dostoevsky shamelessly and that my revisiting of his greatest novel was long overdue.

Finally resolved to read The Brothers Karamazov again and this time more carefully, I asked some friends of mine who were scholars of Russian literature which translation I should read. On being told that the translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky was the best, I set aside the two editions of the novel that I owned, which were by other translators, and purchased the Pevear and Volokhonsky edition.

Accepting the inadequacy and absurdity of endeavouring to summarize the philosophical essence of this truly great novel in a few hundred words, I will remind myself and the reader that I have already taken this quixotic approach to the classics in my book Classic Literature Made Simple: Fifty Great Books in a Nutshell. If I have already had the brazen audacity to put The Iliad, The Odyssey, The Aeneid, The Divine Comedy, Don Quixote and sundry works of Shakespeare in the idiomatic nutshell, why should I show any greater deference to, and reverence for, The Brothers Karamazov? It is, therefore, with utterly shameless chutzpah that I declare my intention to revisit Dostoevsky next week to put The Brothers Karamazov in a nutshell.

__________

The featured image is a photograph of Fyodor Dostoevsky and is in the public domain, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Bishop Challoner's Meditations ~ August 8th

ON THE HAPPY SOCIETY OF THE HEAVENLY JERUSALEM

Consider first, the multitude, beauty, and glory of the inhabitants of this blessed Jerusalem; those millions of millions of bright heavenly spirits, that always surround the throne of God, as we learn from the vision of the prophet, Dan. vii., ‘Thousands of thousand minister to him, and ten thousand times a hundred thousand stand before him’ – that immense number of Cherubim and Seraphim, all on fire with divine love; that infinite multitude of saints and martyrs and other servants of God, of both sexes gathered out of all nations, tribes, and tongues, and above them all the blessed virgin mother of God, the queen of saints and angels. The number of these heavenly citizens is innumerable. They are all ever beautiful, and ever young; they are all most bright and most glorious. They wear the name of God on their foreheads expressed by the unalterable serenity, joy, peace, and light that shines from their countenance. The very sight of any one of them, as we learn from the experience of some of the saints and servants of God, is enough to ravish the soul into an ecstasy, and to fill it with inexpressible delight; and what shall it be to see them all, and to enjoy their happy society for all eternity!

Consider 2ndly, that one of the most happy things that a good Christian could meet with or desire on this side of eternity would be to live quite separated from the company and conversation of the wicked, and of all the fools and the slaves of this world, and to converse only with the wise and with the holy, and to be joined with them in a perfect band of fraternal charity, friendship, and union. ‘O how good and how pleasant it is,’ said the Psalmist, ‘for brethren to dwell together in unity,’ Ps. cxxxii. But O what company, what conversation, what friendship here upon earth, how pure soever, can bear any comparison with that of the blessed in heaven? for there we shall meet with millions of millions of brethren and friends, all most loving, all most wise, all most holy; in a word, all full of God. Their communications one with another are most pure; their conversation most sublime and heavenly; the praises of God and his eternal truths are their perpetual theme; harmonious hymns of divine love are their constant entertainment.

Consider 3rdly, more in particular the inexpressible charity and love which the blessed have one for another, which is so great that they all have but one heart and one soul. This makes them take such an inconceivable delight in each other’s happiness, through the love they bear each other, as to look upon the happiness of their brethren as their own, and to rejoice in it as if it were their own. So that by means of this their heavenly charity, the joy and satisfaction of every individual is multiplied to as manifold a degree as there are angels and blessed souls in heaven. Oh how lovely is this heavenly friendship! O let us aspire after this happy society! Let us aim as much as human weakness will permit, at an imitation of this blessed charity, by rejoicing at every real good we discover in our neighbours as if it were our own; and by inviting all we can to join with us here in the love and praises of God, and in the practice of all other virtues; that so both we and they may hereafter be happily united together, associated for eternity, in singing to our Lord the immortal songs of Sion.

Conclude, if thou desirest to be eternally happy in the society of the saints in the heavenly Sion, to flee now from the midst of the Babylon of a wicked world, and to associate thyself as much as thou canst with the true servants of God. There is nothing will be of more service to thy soul during thy mortal pilgrimage.

8 August, Antonio, Cardinal Bacci: Meditations For Each Day

More About Almsgiving

1. The description of the Last Judgment in the twenty-fifth chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel would shock many people if they were to read it. The principles in accordance with which Christ will pronounce sentence are inescapably clear. Did you feed and clothe the poor for My sake, He will ask, because you recognised Me in them? If you have done so, you will certainly be saved. If you have neglected to do so, you will be condemned for all eternity. Christ does not ask about anything else, because everything else is subordinate to the precept of charity. Where there is charity, everything else follows. Where charity is lacking there is nothing else, because Christianity is synonymous with charity. Charity, says St. Paul, “is the bond of perfection.” (Col. 3:14)

“If I should speak with the tongues of men and of angels,” St. Paul says elsewhere, “but do not have charity, I have become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal ... and if I have all faith so as to move mountains yet do not have charity, I am nothing. And if I distribute all my goods to feed the poor ... yet do not have charity, it profits me nothing.” (Cf. 1 Cor. 13:1-3)

So our eternal salvation depends on our charity. But it must be charity in action, not merely in words. “He who has the goods of this world,” says St. John, “and sees his brother in need and closes his heart to him, how does the love of God abide in him?” (1st Epistle of St. John, 3:17) Charity must be expressed in almsgiving and good works, for otherwise it would be a matter of idle talk which would be powerless to save us.

Our almsgiving should not be dictated simply by natural feelings of compassion, however, nor by mere philanthropy. It should be pre-eminently a religious act, springing from supernatural motives. Because we see the person of Christ in the poor man, we should love and help him as we should our Divine Redeemer, of Whose Mystical Body he is a suffering member. This is real Christian charity.

A proud man may also be liberal in giving away money in order to draw attention to himself. But this is not Christian almsgiving, which is never the product of self-love but of the love of God. Let us be more generous in giving, therefore, but let us always give from the supernatural motive of Christian charity.

2. We should often read and contemplate passages in praise of charity and almsgiving which are contained in the Sacred Scriptures. “Give that which remains as alms, and behold, all things are clean to you.” (Luke 11:41) “Alms delivereth from death; and the same is that which purgeth away sins, and maketh to find mercy and life everlasting.” (Tob. 12:9) “Redeem thou thy sins with alms and thy iniquities with works of mercy to the poor.” (Dan. 4:24) “My son, rob not the poor man of his livelihood: force not the eyes of the needy to turn away.” (Ecclus. 4:1) “Water quenches a flaming fire, and alms atone for sins.” (Ecclus. 3:29) “Be merciful, therefore, even as your Father is merciful ... Give, and it shall be given to you ... For with what measure you measure, it shall be measured to you.” (Luke 6:36-38) “For judgment is without mercy to him who has not shown mercy ... And if a brother or a sister be naked and in want of daily food, and one of you say to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ yet you do not give them what is necessary for the body, what does it profit? So faith too, unless it has works, is dead in itself.” (James 2:13-17)

3. Let us give away as much as we can in charity, therefore. It does not matter whether we can afford to give a large sum or a very small amount; the important thing is to give. God knows our inmost thoughts; He can judge how detached we are from worldly goods, and if He sees that we are prepared to share them willingly with the unfortunate poor for His sake, He will reward us one day. But if we are avaricious and indifferent to the sufferings of others, He will condemn us to everlasting punishment.

There is one act of charity which we can all perform, even if we are poor. We can pray for those who never pray, for hardened sinners, for heretics, for those who persecute the Church, for the Missions, for the sick and dying, and for the souls in Purgatory. This is a spiritual almsgiving of which we are all capable. Besides prayer, there are all the other spiritual works of mercy from which to choose.

Byzantine Saints: Afterfeast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord

Byzantine Saints: Holy Confessor Emilian, Bishop of Kyzikos

From an Orthodox source.

Eastern Rite ~ Feasts of 8 August AM 7534

Today is the Afterfeast of the Transfiguration and the Feast of the Holy Confessor Emilian, Bishop of Cyzicus.

✠✠✠✠✠

The hymns at Vespers today speak of the sun appearing dim compared to the divine light of the Transfiguration. In His compassion for humanity, Christ took on mortal flesh, yet Peter, James and John saw the radiance of His glory. The incarnate Lord “made Adam’s darkened image to shine again” when He appeared on earth “arrayed in the original beauty of the Image (Genesis 1:26).

Troparion — Tone 7

You were Transfigured on the Mount, O Christ God, / revealing Your glory to Your disciples as far as they could bear it. / Let Your everlasting Light shine upon us sinners! / Through the prayers of the Theotokos, O Giver of Light, glory to You!

Kontakion — Tone 7

On the Mountain You were Transfigured, O Christ God, / and Your disciples beheld Your glory as far as they could see it; / so that when they would behold You crucified, / they would understand that Your suffering was voluntary, / and would proclaim to the world, / that You are truly the Radiance of the Father!

✠✠✠✠✠

Saint Emilian, the Bishop of Kyzikos, lived during the reign of the Iconoclast Emperor Leo the Armenian (813-820). He and other bishops were summoned to the Emperor's tribunal, and Leo told the bishops to refrain from venerating the Holy Icons. Saint Emilian was the first to tell the Emperor firmly that the question of venerating icons ought to be discussed and decided only within the Church by its spiritual leaders, and not at the imperial court.

Troparion — Tone 3

In confessing the Faith you proclaimed Catholic doctrine / and were unjustly exiled for rebuking the wicked Emperor. / O righteous and glorious Emilian, / the boast of Kyzikos, / entreat Christ God to grant us His great mercy.

Kontakion — Tone 3

As a valiant defender of the Trinity, / the Church for which you suffered glorifies you with hymns, O Emilian, since you suffered for Her. / Therefore we honour your memory. / Deliver your servants from all assaults of the Enemy.

IN LUMINE FIDEI: 8 AUGUST – SAINT MARY OF THE CROSS (Virgin) (AUSTRALIA ONLY)

8 AUGUST – SAINT MARY OF THE CROSS (Virgin) (AUSTRALIA ONLY): Today is the feast day of Australia’s first and only saint, Mary of the Cross, who was canonised by Pope Benedict XVI on 17 October 201...

IN LUMINE FIDEI: 8 AUGUST – SAINT JEAN-BAPTISTE-MARIE VIANNEY (Confessor)

IN LUMINE FIDEI: 8 AUGUST – SAINT JEAN-BAPTISTE MARIE VIANNEY (Confessor): The famous “Cure d’Ars” was born at Dardilly near Lyons in France in 1786 to Matthieu Vianney and Marie Beluze. He was ordained a pries...

8 August, The Chesterton Calendar

AUGUST 8th

A cloud was on the mind of men, and wailing went the weather,Yea, a sick cloud upon the soul when we were boys together.Science announced nonentity and art admired decay;The world was old and ended: but you and I were gay.Round us in antic order their crippled vices came—Lust that had lost its laughter, fear that had lost its shame.Like the white lock of Whistler, that lit our aimless gloom,Men showed their own white feather as proudly as a plume.Life was a flower that faded, and death a drone that stung;The world was very old indeed when you and I were young!They twisted even decent sins to shapes not to be named:Men were ashamed of honour; but we were not ashamed.Weak if we were and foolish, not thus we failed, not thus;When that black Baal blocked the heavens he had no hymns from us.Children we were—our forts of sand were even as weak as we,High as they went we piled them up to break that bitter sea.Fools as we were in motley, all jangled and absurd,When all church bells were silent, our cap and bells were heard.
'The Man who was Thursday.'

8 August, The Holy Rule of St Benedict, Patriarch of Western Monks

CHAPTER LV. Of the Clothes and Shoes of the Brethren

8 Apr. 8 Aug. 8 Dec.

For their bedding let a straw mattress, blanket, coverlet and pillow suffice. These beds must be frequently inspected by the Abbot, to see if any private property be discovered therein. And if any one should be found to have anything which he hath not received from the Abbot, let him be subjected to the most severe discipline. In order that this vice of private ownership may be rooted out entirely, let the Abbot supply them with all necessaries: that is, a cowl, tunic, shoes, stockings, girdle, knife, pen, needle, handkerchief, and tablets; so that all plea of wanting anything may be taken away. Yet let the Abbot always be mindful of those words of the Acts of the Apostles: “Distribution was made to everyone, according as he had need.” Let him, therefore, consider the infirmities of such as are in want, and not the ill-will of the envious. Nevertheless, in all his judgments, let him think of the retribution of God.

9 August, The Roman Martyrology

Quinto Idus Augústi Luna vicésima quinta. Anno Dómini 2026

The morrow is the eve of the holy martyr Lawrence.
Upon the same 9th day of August, we keep in England the feast of the holy Oswald, King of the Northumbrians, whose acts are written by the Venerable Priest Bede, and of whom mention is made upon the 5th day of this same month.
Upon the same 9th day of August, were born into the better life:
At Rome, [in the year 258,] the holy soldier Romanus, who was so wrought upon by the confession of the blessed Lawrence that he sought baptism at his hands, and was presently arraigned, beaten with clubs, and then beheaded.
In Tuscany, [in the year 261,] the holy martyrs Secundian, Marcellian, and Verian. In the time of the Emperor Decius the Consular Promotus caused them first to be hided, then hung upon the rack, scarified with hooks, and burnt in the sides, thereafter they were beheaded, and so gained the palm of victory through martyrdom.
At Verona, the holy martyrs Firmus and Rusticus, in the time of the Emperor Maximian.
In Africa, [in the third century,] many holy martyrs, who at the exhortation of holy Numidicus gained the palm of martyrdom in the persecution under the Emperor Valerian by being cast into the fire. Numidicus himself was thrown upon the burning fire along with the others, and then covered with stones but when his daughter dug him out there was still some life left in him, he was healed, and afterwards by his worthy life obtained from blessed Cyprian admission as a Priest to the Church at Carthage.
At Constantinople, [in the year 730,] the holy martyrs Julian, Marcian, and eight others, who were long tortured, and then slain with the sword by command of the wicked Emperor Leo, on account of the image of the Saviour which they had set up in the Brazen Gate.
At Châlons[-sur-Marne], in Gaul, [in the fourth century,] the holy Confessor Domitian, [third] Bishop [of that see.]
℣. And elsewhere many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.
℟. Thanks be to God.

Meme of the Moment

Today is his Feast Day.

Traditional Catholic Evening Prayers in English | August

Traditional Catholic evening devotional prayers to close your day with your mind and tongue on our Lord! The month of August is dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Begin and end each day with 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 evening prayers.

Compline

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

Byzantine Saints: Martyr Asterius the Senator at Caesarea, in Palestine

Vespers of Friday for the Feast of St Cajetan, Confessor

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

Summa Contra Gentiles, Book II: XLVI the Universe Needed Intellectual Creatures for Perfection

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 II is dedicated to the Creation (in other words, the physical universe, everything which exists). 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.

What Every Catholic Needs to Know About AI

From the Diocese of Fort Worth

Love it or hate it, artificial intelligence is here to stay, but that doesn't mean there shouldn't be hesitations with this influx of new technology. Recently, Pope Leo XIV released his very first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, or Magnificent Humanity, all on the topic of AI and protecting human dignity. If this topic goes over your head like it does for us, this special on-location episode of Lights, Catholic, Action! is perfect for you. Our guests are Breda Shelton, board member of Catholic Charities Fort Worth and the Advancement Foundation amongst many others, and Devan Patel, president of Crux Advisory Group and visiting fellow for tech ethics and democracy at the Rainey Center. In today's conversation, they bring their unique backgrounds and expertise to tackle these critical topics in a digestible way.

The Holy Rosary

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

Catherine Parr or Lady Jane Grey?

From History Calling

Which TUDOR QUEEN does this portrait show? Is it Catherine Parr or Lady Jane Grey. Henry VIII’s sixth wife, or his great-niece? This painting now hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in London and is currently identified as Catherine, but for many years it was thought to be Lady Jane Dudley (to use her married name), the tragic nine-day Queen of England who was executed at the Tower of London at the age of 16 on the orders of Mary I. In this Tudor art history documentary from History Calling, we look at the story behind the painting. I’ll take you through the reasons for these two identifications and tell you what we know about its creation and the Tudor court painter behind it, Master John. We’ll then discuss the sitter’s clothing, the jewellery she is wearing and even the Persian carpet she is standing on. Particular attention will be paid to the crown-shaped broach she sports and its appearance in other portraits of Catherine Parr and one thought to be Jane Grey and also in jewellery inventories. Her pendant is important too and appears in another National Portrait Gallery image of Catherine, while her girdle may be traced to an inventory of Queen Katherine Howard’s belongings showing that the six wives of Henry VIII inherited each other’s possessions. I’ll walk you through the provenance of the picture and the stories attached to it by its previous owners regarding this lady’s identity and tell you how overpainting has changed it, so that we no longer see all the colours the artist originally intended.

“Human Origins and Our Evolving Understanding of Humanness,” Kieran McNulty, PhD (University of Minnesota)

From The Society of Catholic Scientists

Fully Alive: The “Little Terror” Who Wanted To Be a Saint

Venerable Teresita Quevedo died as a Carmelite nun on 8 April, Holy Saturday, 1950. She had been a popular schoolgirl, but she left it all to become a Bride of Christ.

From Aleteia

By Meg Hunter-Kilmer

Teresita Quevedo was voted best dressed in her class and was captain of the basketball team: a saint for the youth of our times.

Teresita Quevedo was voted best dressed in her class and was captain of the basketball team: a saint for the youth of our times.Teresita Quevedo was a difficult child. The youngest of three children in a wealthy Spanish family, she was quite spoiled. “Teresita is a bundle of happiness. Everyone loves her,” her mother wrote. “Pretty as a picture but terribly self-willed.” Her self-will led to tantrums, often in response to being served food she didn’t like. She was such a little terror that she was given the nickname “Venenito,” which means “little poison.”

Like many parents, Teresita’s were near despair over her temper; but finicky, volatile Teresita was destined for more, and it was her First Communion that spurred her on. As she received her Lord for the first time, little Teresita made a sort of consecration to Mary, promising to offer all her little sacrifices, especially of taste and of temper, as gifts to the Blessed Mother.

From that moment, she was a changed girl. A few years later, 10-year-old Teresita was on a school retreat when she wrote out her life’s resolution: “I have decided to become a saint.”

But for all her devotion to Our Lady and her desire for holiness, Teresita remained a high-spirited child and often got into trouble at home and school. She wrote notes to her friends during study hall, chatted when the girls were supposed to be quiet, and sometimes played tricks on the Sisters.

In short, Teresita was fun. She was beautiful and talented and popular and a bit mischievous. Her desire for holiness didn’t make her awkward. Her love of the Lord didn’t make her dull. Even her motto, “Mother, may those who see me, see you,” didn’t make her bland and uninteresting, like some plaster image of the Virgin Mary.

Teresita understood well that holiness is being fully alive, fully yourself, for the glory of God. So the girl who longed to be a saint was elected best dressed in her class, became captain of the basketball team, and loved to watch bullfights. She drove a car—a little too fast for her father’s tastes—loved dancing, was excellent at tennis, and once pierced her girlfriend’s ears. She was an excellent artist and athlete, though not much of a student, and was well loved by all. But for Teresita, it was love of the Lord and his Mother that really mattered.

From early childhood, Teresita had been passionately devoted to the Virgin Mary. “I love Our Lord with all my heart,” she explained, “But He wants me to love Our Lady in a special way and to go to Him with my hand in Mary’s.” She loved the Blessed Mother so well that when she heard of St. Louis de Montfort’s Total Consecration to Mary and asked a priest about it, he explained to her that she had already been living this consecration. Rather than preparing her for a month to offer herself to the Lord through Mary’s hands, the priest invited her to do so the very next morning.

As Teresita approached her senior year of high school, she became aware that Mary was drawing her to belong to Jesus in a profound way. Just before Christmas, the most popular girl in the school approached the superior of the Carmelite order and asked permission to enter.

“Then I’d like to go to China as a missionary!” the impassioned girl cried.

“First, you must be a novice,” Mother laughed.

And so, at just 17, Teresita Quevedo left behind home and family and pretty clothes and tennis rackets and dance cards and bullfights to become a bride of Christ. She threw herself into the life of the convent as she had thrown herself into her life in the world, writing to a missionary priest, “the thought of being a mediocre Religious terrifies me.” Though the extroverted little saint struggled mightily with the silence and long hours of prayer expected of her, she offered all her successes and failures to Mary each day, to be purified and given to Christ. On the day Teresita received the habit, she made a vow never to commit a deliberate venial sin.

Only two years after entering Carmel, Teresita received a premonition that she would die soon. Rather than being afraid, she was overjoyed at the prospect of going home to heaven. Not long after, Teresita contracted tuberculosis meningitis. She suffered terribly, refusing painkillers even for spinal taps so that she could unite her sufferings to Christ’s. Finally, on Holy Saturday 1950, Teresita’s eyes cleared, her face lit up, and she called out her last words, “How beautiful! O Mary, how beautiful you are!"

Venerable Teresita Quevedo stands as a witness to God’s power to transform the most ill-tempered and to capture the hearts of the most popular and beautiful among us as well as the lost and the broken.

Let’s ask her intercession for young people who are afraid to give their hearts to Christ because of what they might lose. Venerable Teresita Quevedo, pray for us!

Bishop Celebrates and Defends Depraved Protest Outside His Cathedral

Priest Calls For New Crusade To Repel Migrant Invasion

Not surprisingly, the bishops of his country didn't respond in a way that made any sense at all.

How Medieval Villages Cut Firewood for 500 Years Without Killing a Single Tree

From Medieval Way

In 1086, the clerks of William the Conqueror counted England's woods. They wrote down woodland the way they wrote down mills and oxen, as machinery. And the numbers they logged were frightening. Barely a seventh of England was trees, and everything ran on wood. Houses, plows, fences, and every single fire. A country like that should strip itself bare within a generation. England did the opposite. The same villages cut fuel from the same woods for five hundred years, and the woods never ran out. Today, a country with power stations burns millions of tons of imported wood a year. A medieval village burned its own, forever, from a circle it could walk in an afternoon. The secret was not restraint. It was the axe. Cutting these trees is the reason some of them are still alive today, a thousand years on. Tonight we build that system one problem at a time, from a single stump to a wood that outlived its empire. So how does a village burn a forest for five centuries? You start with a problem of simple arithmetic, and the arithmetic says the village dies. Fell an oak for the fire and its replacement is an acorn. That acorn needs sixty, eighty, sometimes a hundred years to become the tree you just burned in a winter. A family needs a fire every single day. A village of thirty families needs a mountain of fuel every single year. Plant-and-wait loses that race so badly it is not even worth running.

Traditional Catholic Morning Prayers in English | August

Traditional Catholic morning prayers to help start your day in a godly way! The month of August is dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. I hope these prayers increase your devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary this month and draw you 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 evening prayers.

What Really Happens When You Die (According to the Catholic Church)

From Totus Catholica

Somebody dies. The heart stops. The room goes very quiet. So what happens after death, in the first 60 seconds? You have probably asked this standing in a hospital corridor, holding a hand at a graveside, or at two in the morning when the thought arrives uninvited. The Church has an answer, a defined one, settled in the fourteenth century after a pope taught the opposite and had to take it back before he died. But it is not the answer you are expecting. The Hebrew scriptures spoke of Sheol, the pit where kings and beggars went down together, unsorted. Then, in the centuries before Christ, the Jewish map deepened: the dead separated, the souls of the righteous already in the hand of God, a general paying for a Temple sacrifice for soldiers already in the ground. Jesus confirmed that map from the inside. So which is it: judged the instant you die, or at the Last Judgment when everything is laid bare? The Catechism teaches both, four paragraphs apart, and Saint Thomas Aquinas and one word spoken from the cross resolve it. The answer ends not with a clock but with a face, and with the prayers and the Sacrifice we can still offer for the dead. In this video: • Why the Church says you are judged at the very moment of death, yet still holds a Last Judgment at the end of the world • What Sheol, First Enoch, and 2 Maccabees reveal about the dead being separated before Christ • Aquinas on aevum, the third kind of time where no seconds pass for a soul apart from the body • Why praying and sacrificing for the dead is older than Christianity itself • Benedict XVI on the first moment: an encounter, not a courtroom ⏱ CHAPTERS 0:00 What Happens in the First 60 Seconds 0:52 Judged Instantly, Then Judged Again? 1:55 Jewish Roots: Sheol, Enoch and 2 Maccabees 4:18 What the Church Actually Defines (CCC 1022) 5:18 The Pope Who Taught the Opposite 6:18 Aquinas: Why the Soul Has No Seconds 8:53 The Fire That Burns and Saves (Benedict XVI) 📖 SCRIPTURE REFERENCED • Wisdom 3:1: "The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and no torment will ever touch them." Present tense. Now. • 2 Maccabees 12:43-46: Judas Maccabeus collects 2,000 silver drachmas for a Temple sacrifice, making atonement for the dead so they might be absolved from their sin. • Luke 16:19-31: Lazarus and the rich man, both fully awake, both already receiving, a fixed gulf between them. • Luke 23:43: "Today you will be with me in Paradise." Today, not at the end of the age. • Philippians 1:23: St. Paul longs "to depart and be with Christ." ⛪ FROM THE CHURCH FATHERS & THE CATECHISM • St. Augustine, Enchiridion (around 421): the dead are genuinely helped when the Sacrifice of the Mediator is offered for them. • CCC 1022: each man receives his eternal retribution in his immortal soul at the very moment of his death, and quotes St. John of the Cross: "At the evening of life, we shall be judged on our love." 📜 SOURCES & FURTHER READING • Benedictus Deus, Pope Benedict XII (1336): the purified see God "with an intuitive vision and even face to face," before the resurrection and before the general judgment. Mox post mortem: soon after death, immediately. • Pope John XXII preached that the blessed do not see God until the Last Judgment, then retracted it before a consistory of cardinals on 3 December 1334. He died the following day. • St. Thomas Aquinas (13th century): aevum, a third mode of duration beyond our clock time and short of God's eternity, proper to angels and to souls apart from bodies. • Pope Benedict XVI: the fire which both burns and saves is Christ himself, the Judge and Saviour; "before his gaze, all falsehood melts away." • Prayers and sacrifices for the dead scratched into the walls of the Roman catacombs, by Christians who were still being hunted. 🔗 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...