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Archive for July, 2006

Domini maiorem gloriam in ore semper habuerat

St. Ignatius of Loyola has always struck me as a saint to whom I ought to look with particular esteem and admiration, though I have no special reasons of my own for venerating his cult. Rather, just because he is the man who gave us the Society of Jesus, the elite of the religious elite, including some of the greatests scholars and martyrs and scholar/martyrs that the world has ever known - what must this man, their founder, have been like?

A thought from his vita in the old old Roman Breviary (and from the new old Roman Breviary):

In propugnatione Pampelonensi accepto vulnere graviter decumbens, ex fortuita piorum librorum lectione, ad Christi Sanctorumque sectanda vestigia mirabiliter exarsit.

Though in the defense of Pampeluna he received a wound and lay gravely ill, by the fortuitous reading of pious books, he ardently burned to follow the footsteps of Christ and the Saints.

I suppose it fitting that the first of the Jesuits should set us an example of spiritual reading, of the value of books in general, we might say, to effect spiritual improvement.

The neo-con Catholic machine, Ignatius Press, has up today, in honor of the feast, this interview with Fr. Cornelius Buckley, S.J. about his new book, When Jesuits Were Giants. I enjoyed this part at the end:

IgnatiusInsight.com: What can we do to encourage vocations of the quality of Father Ruellan’s?

Father Buckley: First of all, pray. Secondly, pray. Thirdly, pray. There are plenty of vocations out there, but the young want challenges to greater heights. I do not want to go into detail here–where angels fear to tread–other than to ask: Why are the Marines so successful in the little recruiting that they do?

I don’t know why the angels should fear to say that the Jesuits today, by and large, are a bunch of wimpy, girly men, but I appreciate that Fr. Buckley is thinking along the right lines. Men are drawn by orthodoxy, they’re drawn by excellence, academic and spiritual, they’re drawn by challenges which few enough ordinary souls would be able to meet. The Jesuits were once the Marines of the Catholic Church: they were tough men, but polished, who ran a tight ship. Can they regain that legacy? At this time, I agree with Fr. Buckley: all we can do is pray.

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Published by Iosephus July 31st, 2006 0 Comments

The Learning of Another Age

I first mentioned this wonderful book of memories and stories, Recollections of the Last Four Popes by Nicholas Cardinal Wiseman (1858) in a post which spoke of the saintly mother of Pope Pius VII. At the time when Pius VII was released from his Napoleonic captivity, if you will, Pius appointed Hercules Cardinal Consalvi his new secretary of state. It was indeed a herculean labor for this minister to regain for the Holy See at the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815) the territories which had been despoiled by Napoleon. Cardinal Wiseman dedicates an entire chapter to Cardinal Consalvi and it is in this chapter where we find the following story, not directly about Cardinal Consalvi, but about another and greater genius who lived in Rome at that time.

While at Vienna, many learned men from all parts of Germany were naturally introduced to [Cardinal Consalvi], and he was repeatedly asked how was Ignatius De Rossi. The Cardinal felt mortified at not being able to answer, for, to tell the truth, he did not know whom they meant. . . .

This extraordinary man [Ignatius De Rossi] is not so generally known as his illustrious namesake and contemporary at Parma, the collector of the greatest number of Hebrew manuscripts ever brought together. Yet in learning, extensive and deep, he was much his superior . . . .

The memory of this learned and most modest man [Ignatius De Rossi] can only be compared to that of Magliabecchi, and other such prodigies. I will give one example of it, related to me by a witness, his fellow-professor, the late Canon Lattanzi. When once at villeggiatura, at Tivoli, De Rossi offered, on being given a line in any of the four great Italian poets, to continue on, reciting a hundred lines, without a mistake. No one thought it possible; but, to the amazement of all, he perfectly succeeded. He was then asked, if he would do the same with the Latin classics, to which he replied, “It is twenty years since I read the Italian poets, and then it was only for amusement: of the Latin classics I have been professor, so you had better not try me.”

The late Cardinal Cappaccini, secretary and friend to Cardinal Consalvi, used to tell how, when he was one of De Rossi’s pupils in Hebrew, if the scholars wished to shirk the lesson, they would put a question to their professor, who would start off on a lecture in reply that might have been taken down and published: a marvelous tessellation of Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Italian quotations.

Simply amazing. I don’t imagine that there is anyone alive in the world today who could come close to such a feat, I mean, with that particular knowledge of the Latin and Italian poets. I’m sure that there are many alive who have well-cultivated memories, though still and all, it would be a wonder to come across such an one.

I think it right to say that men like De Rossi raised the standard for everyone around them, and though the students of De Rossi may never have rivaled his learning, they were at least made to become men of no small intellectual stature. Today we count ourselves fortunate if we can instruct students for the priesthood in the rudiments of Latin, let alone a thorough-going knowledge of it which could be used for writing and speaking, as was the case in the recent past. And the situation is little different for many of the highest prelates in the Church. But there was a time in which such learning was rather commonplace among the clergy. Giuseppe Sarto, by no one regarded as an intellectual giant, perhaps because he appeared so unexceptional in his own day, came from a poor family in the countryside, yet he was a competent composer of Latin prose and poetry and knew Greek.

They say that back then, the common person was so poorly educated that the clergy themselves could get away with knowing very little. Perhaps in places. But what supposedly educated clergyman of today would Giuseppe Sarto - I take him but as an example - not exceed in knowledge, if only of the Classics? St. John Marie Vianney was put in the retards class because he was unable to follow the theology and philosophy courses in Latin, so he and a few others were given remedial tutoring in those subjects in French. What? I imagine that 90% (at least) of the seminarians in the U.S.A. would fail out right now if that were the standard. And it is a farce to think of how the educated clergyman of the 19th and 18th centuries would exceed in learning the average Catholic layman of today!

We talk of the restoration of the Tradition, but we also need a restoration of traditional learning for the sake of the clergy and the people they must lead and instruct.

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Published by Iosephus July 28th, 2006 1 Comment

The Holy Sudarium of Oviedo

If you pay attention, you know that the Bible is filled with little details that sometimes make you scratch your head. Consider John 20:5-7 — “And when he [St. John, the Beloved Disciple] stooped down, he saw the linen cloths lying; but yet he went not in. Then cometh Simon Peter, following him, and went into the sepulchre, and saw the linen cloths lying, and the napkin that had been about his [i.e. Our Lord’s] head, not lying with the linen cloths, but apart, wrapped up into one place” (Douay-Rheims Version).

Well, the part about St. John waiting for St. Peter’s arrival has to do with Petrine Supremacy, so that’s easy enough. But why an entire verse to explain that the “napkin” that wrapped Our Lord’s head was somewhere other than with the rest of the shroud cloths? Well, the “linen cloths” are very famous. At various times they have been called the Cloth of Edessa, the Mandylion, and the Shroud of Turin. I am among those who believe that the genuine Shroud was brought to Edessa by the Apostle St. Jude Thaddeus, known locally as Addai, thence to Constantinople, Southern France (via the Fourth Crusade), and Turin. The “napkin” (Latin: sudarium, Grk.: soudarion, literally “towel for wiping off sweat”) however, as John 20:7 hints, has been preserved separate from the Shroud — perhaps to make sure that both would not be lost or destroyed simultaneously? It is currently kept as a revered relic in Oviedo, Spain.

Here is detailed history of the Sudarium by Mark Guscin, a Sindonologist (scholar who studies the Shroud, It. Sindone, of Turin). The tale, as told by Pelayo, Bishop of Oviedo in the early 12th century, is one of high adventure. The Sudarium stayed in Jerusalem until the Sassanid Emperor Chosroes II of Persia sacked the city in 614. (He did so with the assistance of the local Jews, who unleashed what we would call an “ethnic cleansing” of Christians in the area, even assaulting Tyre in Lebanon — topical, huh?) This is the same Chosroes who stole the True Cross, and the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross on Sept. 14 became popular because of the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius’ recovery of the Cross from the Persians in 629. (Btw, from at least the 1st century B.C., the Persians/Parthians have made a national pastime of stealing legionary standards and other symbolic prizes from the Romans.) Well, Christian refugees first secreted the Sudarium away to Alexandria, until Chosroes sacked that city in 616. Then they transported it to the other end of the Mediterranean, to Spain, where it would be well out of the way of Persian hordes.

At the time, Sisebutus was the king of the Visigoths in Spain. Ironically, he had just expelled the last of the Byzantine forces from the Iberian Peninsula at about the same time that Chosroes was rolling back the Byzantine armies in the Levant. Unlike his heretical Arian ancestors, however, Sisebutus was a pious Catholic. Bishop Pelayo writes, “As he was also a perfect Catholic, he made the Jews who were in his kingdom convert to faith in Christ,” as Their Catholic Majesties Ferdinand and Isabella would do in 1492 (my note). The Sudarium was entrusted to Sisebutus’ close collaborator, St. Isidore of Seville, one of the thirty-three Doctors of the Church. In turn, his pupil, St. Ildefonso, took it from Seville to Toledo when he became Archbishop of that city.

The Sudarium would not be safe from anti-Catholic barbarians for long, though. In 711, jihad reached Spain when Mohammedan Arabs, Moors, and Berbers invaded from Africa. (Many Spanish Jews also assisted these “liberators” — is there a pattern here?) Sometime thereafter the Sudarium was transferred from Toledo, now in infidel hands, to Oviedo. King Alfonso II the Chaste halted the Moslem onslaught and made Oviedo the capital of his Catholic kingdom, Asturias. He built San Salvador Cathedral, where the Sudarium remains today in its own Camara Santa, or Sacred Chamber. The cloth’s reliquary is called the “Ark,” so Pelayo compares Alfonso to King Solomon and his cathedral to the Temple of Jerusalem, which housed the Ark of the Covenant. According to Mary Jo Anderson’s article, Bishop Pelayo also claimed that the “holy ark” was “made out of oak by followers of the twelve apostles” and also contained “several relics of the Virgin Mary and the apostles and a piece of the cross on which Jesus was crucified.”

Anderson’s article contains even more of what Johnboy rightly would call “crazy-in-a-good-way” stories about the Ark. Some priests opened the reliquary without fasting and were blinded by a bright light emanating from within (think Raiders of the Lost Ark). Later, one Rodrigo D’az de Vivar joined King Alfonso VI and his sister in recording the contents of the Ark. They did so at Eastertime, only after carefully prepared themselves throughout Lent so as not to share the fate of the blinded priests. Who was Rodrigo D’az de Vivar? He is known to subsequent history and literature as El Cid, the fabled national hero of Spain.

Anderson also records a song sung by pilgrims on their way to the Shrine of the Apostle St. James the Greater at Compostela. For those who don’t know, St. James visited Spain and there received the first recorded apparition of the Blessed Virgin, Our Lady of the Pillar, during Mary’s lifetime. He later returned to Jerusalem and, at the hands of the Jewish King Herod Agrippa I, he became the first of the Twelve Apostles to win the palm of martyrdom (Acts 12:1-2). In Spain, though, he became patron saint of the Reconquista, under the title Santiago Matamoros — that is, St. James the Moor-Killer! I propose him as a patron saint for ecumenism ;). Where was I? Oh, right, his shrine at Santiago de Compostela became one of the three major pilgrimage sites of medieval Christendom, along with Rome and Jerusalem. The pilgrims used to sing,

“Who has been to St. James
And not to San Salvador
Visits the servant and
Neglects the master.”

They were referring, of course, to Our Lord’s Precious Blood as preserved on the Sudarium at Oviedo’s San Salvador Cathedral. And who built the first shrine at Santiago de Compostella? Why, King Alfonso the Chaste, who also built the shrine for the Sudarium. According to one tradition, he was also the first pilgrim to the martyred Apostle’s tomb.

What of the cloth itself and its relationship to the Shroud of Turin? Well you can consult Guscin’s and Anderson’s articles, but I shall relate some of the facts. Scientiests have concluded that the Sudarium of Oviedo was wrapped around the head of a man who had multiple bleeding head wounds, as from a crown of thorns. Fluid from a pulmonary edema flowed out of the mouth and nostrils. This indicates that he died of asphyxiation, just as a victim of crucifixion would, not long before the cloth was applied. The Blood on the cloth is type AB, just like the Blood on the Shroud. The pattern of the head wounds match the Shroud. Pollens on the Sudarium show that it has been in Palestine, North Africa, and Spain, just as one would expect the real headcloth of Jesus to show. The Shroud’s pollen samples show that it has been in Palestine, Syria, Asia Minor, Southern France, and Northern Italy, as one would expect of the real Shroud of Jesus, as recorded in extant accounts.

The Sudarium verifies the Shroud. They have a separate history. The Sudarium arrived in Spain prior to 1000. While the Shroud of Turin can only be verifiably traced back in historical records to the beginning of the 14th century, it is highly likely that it is identical with the earlier Cloth of Edessa and the Byzantine Mandylion. There is no way that the two cloths, the Sudarium and Shroud, could have been forged in such a way as to confirm each other’s veracity. There is no way that they could have been forged independently and still mirrored each other so perfectly by mere coincidence. Despite the highly suspect Carbon-14 dating of the Shroud to the 14th century, the Sudarium indicates that it is in fact genuine. Not only that, the Sudarium has a rich and colorful history of its own. So perhaps that is why, some sixty years after the fact, the Holy Ghost inspired St. John in verses 20:5-7 of his Gospel to specify that the “napkin” had been rolled up in its own place apart from the burial cloths.

(For pictures of the Sudarium, please go here. I would copy some for this post, but I am not sure about copyright rules vis-a-vis photos.)

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Published by Tobias Petrus July 21st, 2006 12 Comments

What was Henry thinking?

My last attempt to ask a question of the readers of this blog went none too well - exactly zero comments in answer, so maybe this time, if I write about something more interesting than litanies, I will fare better. Whatever happened to the good old days of monk-like striving within the married state? I mean, when folks only seemed to be waiting for their children to be grown or married so that they could enter the nearest monastery or convent?

There are many examples one could give of this phenomenon, but two recently came to my attention. The first I found in the Roman Breviary on July 15, the Feast of Saint Henry, Emperor and Confessor. It’s a slightly different case, but still interesting, I think. We read there:

Virginitatem matrimonio iunxit, sanctamque Cunegundam coniugem suam propinquis eius, morti proximus, illibatam restituit.

Henry joined virginity to matrimony, and when he was near to death, he returned his holy wife, Cunegunda, unviolated, to her relatives.

Now there’s just not a good way to translate the adjective “illibatus” without making it sound like something rather offensive happens to the woman in, shall we say, the full married state - Henry’s being some less than full arrangement of that state. Lewis and Short suggest, “undiminished, unimpaired, uninjured” or “unharmed”; I believe that the usual translation of that word in the Roman Canon says “unspotted.”

Maybe it had something to do with his wife’s name.

Henry died before he could take a habit - but he was certainly living like he wanted to - and I would bet that Cunegunda eventually did take the veil. Does anyone know?

And then I started two days ago a wonderful book by Nicholas Cardinal Wiseman (1858), Recollections of the Last Four Popes. I do assure you that you’ll be hearing more from me about this book as I go along, as I like it immensely already. When Wiseman journyed to Rome as a young student, one of the first class at the recently reopened English College, the reigning pontiff was Pius VII. Wiseman esteemed him greatly and he praises him for his kindness, holiness, and diligence in office. But apparently, Barnabas Chiaramonti, the future Pope Pius VII, had a mother who was a saint herself. Indeed, Wiseman writes, “I have read . . . that only the resolute opposition of the son, when elevated to the supreme pontificate, prevented the more solemn recognition, by beatification, of the extraordinary sanctity of the mother.”

She is one of the women - I cannot tell whether her husband were dead or yet alive - who takes the habit:

She was, indeed, a lady of singular excellence, renowned in the world for every religious quality. After having completed the education of her children, when the future Pontiff had reached the age of twenty-one, in 1763, she entered a convent of Carmelites at Fano, where her memory is still cherished, and where she died in 1771, at the age of sixty. It was in this retreat, that, as Pius himself used to relate, she distinctly foretold him his elevation one day to the papacy, and the protracted course of suffering which it would entail.

Of course, it’s a very different question when one embarks on such a course during the life of one’s spouse or after his death. I know two such men personally, living, I believe, one a Benedictine monk at Downside Abbey and the other a Dominican friar most recently studying for the priesthood at Blackfriars, Oxford.

But how many consider this course while his spouse yet lives? What confessor would condone such a thing? The 1917 Pio-Benedictine Code of Canon Law, 542,1: “They are invalidly admitted to the novitiate . . . [among other persons] A spouse while the marriage perdures.” We know, of course, the story of St. Therese’s parents, how they began their marriage in complete abstinence from the conjugal embrace, though later, after the baptism of their first child, Louis Martin, with a wink and blink, assured the priest he’d be back with more.

Doubtless, a special grace would be required to do what Henry did, though I imagine that, in the course of his duties as emperor, he rarely saw his wife in person. But could one even think of such a thing today? Is it only a difference of era? Should the change of era affect such things?

Oh, and I can’t conclude without sharing the little poem which the archdeacon Hyacinth Ignatius Chiaramonti, brother of Pius VII, published, in 1786, and dedicated to Pius, then cardinal, “De maiorum suorum laudibus,” in which Hyacinth addresses their mother thus:

O semper memoranda parens! O carmine nostro
Non unquam laudata satis! me despice clemens,
Exutumque tibi mortali corpore iunge:
Sit, precor, haec merces, nostrorum haec meta laborum.

“O Mother ever to be remembered! O she whose praises our poem fails! kindly look down upon me and when I have put off this mortal body, unite me with thee: may this reward be, I pray, the end of our labors.”

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Published by Iosephus July 17th, 2006 7 Comments

Into the Woods

Once, with a scout group, I went whitewater canoeing for five days in Middle- of -Nowhere, Quebec. Our guide was an elderly man who had spent nearly his whole life in the wilderness - logging in Quebec, leading multiweek expeditions down rivers in the Northwest Territory, many years as a forest ranger - and decided to give his retirement to helping others embrace the outdoors. He was a very kind man, who, although fifty years my elder, could whip me in just about anything. Plus he was one of the few guides I’ve ever met who took the time to give instruction, and after watching your performance, lent you his suggestions, and, very rarely, his praise. But, more relevant to this post, one night he spoke with us of his proclivity for the solitude of the wilderness.

He said that whenever he was in the world (which, mind you, was backwoods Ontario) he felt that he was dealing with things which were fake, while the trees and the rocks of the deep woods seemed real to him. They were things that God had made, the same thousands of years ago as today, and which man could not tarnish by his many foolish and wasted pursuits. He didn’t exactly deride civilization completely, but that seemed to be the gist of his philosophy. Now, I’m not about to suggest some nonsensical anarchic Wiccan love of trees, but I do think that it is spiritually healthy to get outdoors, and if you’re so inclined, physically experience the special solitude of the wilderness.

As you might’ve guessed, I’m a bit of an outdoor enthusiast. Unfortunately, such things are generally the province of the younger generation who, as always, seem to have no respect for the traditional way of doing things. For instance, backpacking used to mean hardened men in leather boots, wool pants, and walking sticks, cutting away brush with a machete, and carrying whatever weight they felt they needed. Today, more often then not, you see instead young ladies in shorts with ski poles, running shoes, and soda can stoves positively flying along the trail. Likewise, many slower activities which focus on exploration and perfection of craft, have been replaced by impatient “extreme” sports.

Although I am somewhat bothered by women who comport themselves as men in these pastimes, there are other things that you might catch me ranting about. There is the modern idolization of sport, and a strangely pagan vanity about the fitness of our bodies, which transforms many noble activities into mere caloric burning sessions for hippies. I once, albeit jokingly, accused some other prominent members of our society of being somatolatrists, according to the definition of Romano Amerio, for their love of modern distance running, as opposed to the constitutional which man is built for.

Hiking, to take an example, can be such an opportunity for reflecting on the wonder of God! You can praise his earthly works while engaging in that leisure which our culture so desperately needs, and for an out of shape character such as myself, you can put yourself in great familiarity with continual rogative prayer. Moreover, there is always penance, opportunities for which nature provides in plenteous abundance.

I love to flee the world for the woods, or a cave, or the mountains, because praying alone in one of these places, at least for me, seems so very much more spiritual than in the city or the town. Of course, I don’t forget that Christ is not there, in the wilderness, as he is upon an altar.

I’ve also always had an attraction for space: that is, the smaller winding spaces of an underground passage, or the great wide blocks of ether abreast a high pass. And though man may build vast and wondrous Cathedrals, to honor God by his Holy Religion, many men still forget their true purpose. But when the author is God himself, directly, as in the topographical wonders of the Earth, I’d find it very surprising if even the most desperate soul did not, ever so slightly, turn his mind to his maker, and the end of all things when enjoying them. I know at least, that this past weekend when I saw clouds rising above peaks so that they became new mountains themselves, I couldn’t help but love more deeply the Creator and all his creation.

In Seattle the opportunity to engage in these pursuits was a grand one, for whatever the area may lack in religious character, she certainly excels in natural wonder. Here are a few interesting pictures from my trip:

My hiking buddy, atop Mt. Dickerman, contemplates a certain earthly beatific vision.

Your humble narrator wetting himself in snowmelt. A note to Iosephus: I checked the salt content, and it is possible to baptize in these waters. ;)

Scapular in Action: Iacobus again, after hurling himself most nobly from an overturning raft, relaxes in a Class V rapid. (and he doesn’t let go of his paddle)

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Published by iacobus July 16th, 2006 2 Comments

godless in Seattle

I only just returned from a week in Seattle with an old friend of mine. I have been there on a previous occasion with my family, but given a chance to walk on my own while my friend was at work, I could more closely observe this very interesting city. For one, it seems to be inexplicably in love with Mexican food and, less surprisingly, with coffee. The little Expresso huts one sees every mile or so quite bemused a Yankee like myself.

But the real kicker is the almost complete lack of churches, Catholic or otherwise. Wikipedia tells me that Seattle is, in addition to having a very high literacy rate, one of the least religious of American cities. And the story among Catholics in particular is no different. The infamous reign of Seattle Archbishop Raymond G. Hunthausen encompassed great devastation in the Seattle Church, the sad course of which we need not trot out again here. Originally the youngest American Bishop at the Second Vatican Council, Hunthausen was installed as Archbishop in 1975, reprimanded by Ratzinger himself after an investigation launched in 1983, and finally stepped down in 1991.

Things, it seems, haven’t gotten much better. I was walking through downtown Seattle, when I stumbled upon Plymouth Congregational Church, of the United Church of Christ, which claimed to be hosting a daily Catholic Mass. This little ecumenical gesture appears on their website as part of their “Feed your Soul at Lunchtime” progam here. Great!

There are some good things left in Seattle, though. For one, at the top of our sidebar, the ever faithful Seattle Catholic. Even better, they’ve managed to procure permission from the powers that be for a weekly Latin Mass, said by Fr. Reichmann, an old-school Jesuit and a Professor of Philosophy at Seattle University, who is seen in the picture above.

This lone traditional Mass is held in the most peculiar of places. In 1908 the New Washington Hotel opened just 2 blocks from the famed Pikes Place Market, and operated as one of the most prestigious Hotels in the city for a number of years. In 1964 it was purchased by the Archdiocese of Seattle, and re-opened as a residence for priests and religious as “The Josephinum”. A small chapel on the ground floor is the result of this use. Today it is run by the Archdiocesan Housing Authority, as low-income housing. It is certainly a noble use for the building, and the weekly Mass surely does much good for the residents, a number of whom seemed to be in attendance.

Unfortunately, the location is apparently prone to some unexpected visitors - an example of which I saw while there to hear Mass. Two youths sitting in the pew opposite me giggled while the Prayers After Low Mass were said by the priest and the congregation. By the cut of their dress, and the small notebooks that they carried, I’d guess they were aspiring artists. Perhaps they had heard that “most beautiful thing this side of heaven” was about, and were coming to sketch it. But I noticed the female of the pair had the good sense to kneel for the Hail Mary’s, unlike her immovable male companion. I prayed they responded to the graces that flowed from the Sacrifice of the Mass, celebrated in that fashion most loved by the Church, and something which few of the scarred Catholics of Seattle are graced to stumble upon.

In decoration, St. Joseph’s Chapel is uncommon sparse, with only several statues, a crucifix, a confessional, the altar, and of course, Jesus Christ himself distinguishing it from the common meeting room.

And I should add: a very courteous, pious, and well organized operation it seemed all around, with a wonderfully child-heavy congregation, a nicely done low mass by Father with two very seminarian looking servers, and a good choir singing in the back of the chapel.
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Published by iacobus July 15th, 2006 2 Comments

Make a Joyful Noise

I take it as a general rule that, whatever it is that a person needs to nourish their faith, the Catholic church will have it in spades. In philosophy, obviously, its credentials are impeccable. Those who thirst for spirituality and mysticism can turn to the early desert Fathers, and to such great souls as St. Theresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, or St. Bonaventure for inspiration and guidance. Lovers of high liturgy should turn to the Tridentine Mass for sustenance. Likewise, there is Catholic art, architecture, literature and centuries of glorious history. The more meticulous mind can turn itself to the intricacies of canon law. But there is one area in which Lutherans and Anglicans press a hard case against us. I am thinking now about music.

I don’t mean to suggest, of course, that there isn’t any Catholic music. Catholic music just tends to be in the form of sung Masses, which are wonderful for their purpose, but not quite so accessible for everyday singing. Doctor Asinorum and I have occasionally been known to sing along to a recording of a favorite Latin Mass on a long car trip, but I’m not sure how well it would work around a campfire. For daily singing, it’s hard to beat traditional hymns. I love these with a passion, and I have to confess that a great many of the best ones, in English at least, seem to have been written by the Anglicans or the Lutherans. I’m a little bit sad that “A Mighty Fortress” has to be the quintessential Protestant hymn, by Luther himself no less. I always thought it was quite a stirring one.

For the most part I just sing the hymns I love anyway, as long as they don’t contain any actual heresy. But the problem is particularly acute in one area: children’s songs. I love children’s songs, but the religious ones I know all came to me from the Mormons. For obvious reasons, the majority of these are not suitable for singing with Catholic children. I think it’s important to have religious songs specifically geared towards children; while it’s good for them to be surrounded by the Latin Mass from an early age, there is a limit to how much a child’s mind can absorb of the significance of the Latin texts. At home (or school?) it is good for them to have something more accessible and more singable.

Are there collections of Catholic children’s songs? Where would such a thing be found? Do they teach them in Catholic schools? I’m salivating for a Catholic equivalent to “Book of Mormon Stories!”

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Published by Clara July 15th, 2006 15 Comments

Some Verses for Bonaventure

Since today is the Feast of St. Bonaventure, Bishop, Doctor, and Confessor, I thought it would be fitting to write some Latin verses in eius honorem. I wanted to give tribute to the special contribution he makes to the debate over the so-called eternity of the world during the high Middle Ages; he and Aquinas, with whom he strongly disagreed on this topic, are the primary contestants. But I only touch on that topic in a few words and, for the most part, I relied on ideas and images from his biography in the old old Roman Breviary (you have to scroll down the page).

O Bonaventura eximias pro Christicola ortus
Artes et famam Francisci extendere terrae
Finibus! Induta tunica, tam pauperum amictu
Dilecto, docere in ludis metaphysica Patris,
Nati, Flaminis almi nec non temporis, aevi,
Aeterni Italia decessit; tum Seraphici
Mundi contemptu et placida caelestium amore
Doctoris meruit nunquam non nomine dici.
Auris enim dari verbis tibi debet, Aquinas,
Dictis cum nactus conantem scribere vitam
Francisci: “Sanctum sancto servire sinamus.”

Notes:

1. I decided to scan the “y” in “metaphysica” long, according to the example of Apollinaris Sidonius (died a.D. 488) in the Carmina - though that’s in the adjective “physicus”, but it makes sense for it to be long because it’s also the stressed syllable in the conjoined word, meta + physica.

2. With two shorts and a long am I scanning the adjective “seraphicus” - that’s my surmise, it looks good, it sounds right, but even if it’s not, I’ll invoke my poetic license and scan it that way anyway.

3. The last three lines talk about St. Thomas discovering that St. Bonaventure is at work on a life of St. Francis - which is a great book, I have it and I highly recommend it. The old old Breviary gives St. Thomas’ words thus: “Sinamus sanctum pro sancto laborare.”

4. My meaning: O Bonaventure, you were born for the sake of the Christian to extend the distinguished sciences and the fame of Francis to the ends of earth. Having put on the tunic and the much beloved cloak of the poor [the habit of St. Francis], he left from Italy to teach in the schools the metaphysics of God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost as well as the metaphysics of time, of the aevum, and of the eternal; then he merited by his contempt of the world and his serene love of heavenly things to be forever called by the name “Seraphic Doctor.” For one ought to give hear to the words you spoke, Aquinas, when you came upon him endeavoring to write the life of Francis: “Let us allow a saint to be at service of a saint.”

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Published by Iosephus July 14th, 2006 1 Comment

Tiresias and the Transgendered Scientist

Maybe I’m in the mood for bawdy jokes because a friend of mine is getting married - though on a more sanctifying note, we’re also beginning a novena today for the intention of a happy and holy marriage. Yesterday, at the Off the Record blog, Diogenes put up a link to this article in the Boston Globe, whose headline was: “Neuroscientist, once a woman, says he saw gender bias firsthand.” Now for Diogenes’ own headline to his posting of this link were these words: “Venus huic erat utraque nota.”

Generally, if you come across something like this, the assumption is that it’s a quotation and not Diogenes’ own composition on the spur of the moment. If I were educated and lettered, I might have recognized it, but thankfully, or sadly, Google came to my rescue and pointed me towards Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Book III. I then had the fun of translating the passage to find out why Teresias lost his sight and what in the world this had to do with “Both sexual pleasures were known to this man” (the title of Diogenes’ post).

I paste it here for those interested:

Metamorphoses III, lines 316-338

Dumque ea per terras fatali lege geruntur
tutaque bis geniti sunt incunabula Bacchi,
forte Iovem memorant diffusum nectare curas
seposuisse graves vacuaque agitasse remissos
cum Iunone iocos et ‘maior vestra profecto est,
quam quae contingit maribus’ dixisse ‘voluptas.’
illa negat. placuit quae sit sententia docti
quaerere Tiresiae: Venus huic erat utraque nota.
nam duo magnorum viridi coeuntia silva
corpora serpentum baculi violaverat ictu
deque viro factus (mirabile) femina septem
egerat autumnos; octavo rursus eosdem
vidit, et ‘est vestrae si tanta potentia plagae’
dixit, ‘ut auctoris sortem in contraria mutet,
nunc quoque vos feriam.’ percussis anguibus isdem
forma prior rediit, genetivaque venit imago.
arbiter hic igitur sumptus de lite iocosa
dicta Iovis firmat: gravius Saturnia iusto
nec pro materia fertur doluisse suique
iudicis aeterna damnavit lumina nocte;
at pater omnipotens (neque enim licet inrita cuiquam
facta dei fecisse deo) pro lumine adempto
scire futura dedit poenamque levavit honore.

And here is a verse translation of the same passage:

‘Twas now, while these transactions past on Earth,
And Bacchus thus procur’d a second birth,
When Jove, dispos’d to lay aside the weight
Of publick empire and the cares of state,
As to his queen in nectar bowls he quaff’d,
“In troth,” says he, and as he spoke he laugh’d,
“The sense of pleasure in the male is far
More dull and dead, than what you females share.”
Juno the truth of what was said deny’d;
Tiresias therefore must the cause decide,
For he the pleasure of each sex had try’d.
It happen’d once, within a shady wood,
Two twisted snakes he in conjunction view’d,
When with his staff their slimy folds he broke,
And lost his manhood at the fatal stroke.
But, after seven revolving years, he view’d
The self-same serpents in the self-same wood:
“And if,” says he, “such virtue in you lye,
That he who dares your slimy folds untie
Must change his kind, a second stroke I’ll try.”
Again he struck the snakes, and stood again
New-sex’d, and strait recover’d into man.
Him therefore both the deities create
The sov’raign umpire, in their grand debate;
And he declar’d for Jove: when Juno fir’d,
More than so trivial an affair requir’d,
Depriv’d him, in her fury, of his sight,
And left him groping round in sudden night.
But Jove (for so it is in Heav’n decreed,
That no one God repeal another’s deed)
Irradiates all his soul with inward light,
And with the prophet’s art relieves the want of sight.

Going back to the article from the Boston Globe, the man, though once a woman, had surgery in order to change that situation - not so magical as Tiresias striking the coeuntia corpora serpentum and probably somewhat more expensive. I guess it depends, though, on how you’re reckoning the tab, for at the end of the day, Tiresias had lost sight (though he was gifted with vision of the future), but this she-man in Boston got to be a successful scientist or something (I didn’t actually read the article).

But the important bit, which becomes the bawdy bit, when one considers Diogenes’ appellation of this article, is why Tiresias lost his sight. So Juppiter and Juno are lazily lounging, and Juppiter insists that the pleasure of the woman in conjugal relations is greater than the man’s: maior vestra voluptas est quam quae contingit maribus. Juno is inclined to disagree and Tiresias is selected to arbitrate because, Venus huic erat utraque nota. Apparently, in the seven years (septem autumnos egerat) he spent as a woman, he was found not unattractive by the members of his/her (an acceptable use of the slash!) former sex. And in this time he learned that maior voluptas femineis in coeundo contingit quam maribus.

All of which goes to show, I think, that, first, there’s still a case to be made that we’ll all be men in heaven, where no base, carnal creatures are allowed ; ) and, second, that if only this scientist had known his Ovid, he might never have made the switch!

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Published by Iosephus July 14th, 2006 8 Comments

Reform the Reform, or else they’ll all go to the Tridentine

More noises from the CDW - I wonder if Cardinal Arinze is made nervous by all of Archbishop Ranjith Don’s talking with the media? From the media reports, one would think that Archbishop Don was the Prefect of the CDW and not Arinze; not to mention the things themselves which Archbishop Don says in these interviews. Perhaps Arinze is already living in a state of the semi-retirement? Of course it’s clear who is the Pontiff’s ally in that dicastery, so maybe this has embolden Archbishop Don to speak more freely. From the I Media news agency in Rome (via the CWNews synopsis):

Every day, the archbishop disclosed, the Congregation for Divine Worship receives new complaints about serious liturgical abuses, and complaints that local bishops have failed to correct them. If the Church fails to curb these abuses, he said, “people will attend the Tridentine Mass, and our churches will be empty.” Liturgical guidelines are set forth clearly, he observed, in the Roman Missal and in Church documents. Now “some discipline is necessary regarding what we do at the altar.”

I have more than a little skepticism about Rome’s ability to pull this reform off or to restore discipline. Until we see heads roll - and probably lots of them - it’s not to be believed. And what, I wonder, does Archbishop Ranjith Don think the finished product should look like?

Published by Iosephus July 13th, 2006 7 Comments

Tuesday at St. Joseph’s, Detroit

This is now the second time I am writing about St. Joseph’s in Detroit, Michigan; the last time was at Christmas Eve this past year when I was there with a friend for a beautiful midnight Mass. But I’ve known for some time that they have a Novus Ordo Latin Mass on Mondays and Tuesdays, and on Tuesdays followed by a Novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

When I went this Tuesday, I had a little trouble getting there, both on account of my unfamiliarity with Detroit City and because the exit I needed was closed. So I was out of the car and into the church just a minute or so late. St. Joseph’s is one of three huge, beautiful, old Catholic churches which are all within a couple miles of each other in the heart of Detroit. They’re not exactly in an area encouraging of leisurely evening strolls down the block, both because that part of Detroit looks sorta bombed out and because there are, to use a word heard on the lips on Mr. Phil Fiadino, our former peace and social justice minister at Cornell, a number of distressed persons walking about.

Of the three churches in this group, St. Josaphat’s hosts the indult on Sundays, St. Joseph’s is incredibly beautiful and completely unwreckovated, and I have not yet been to Sweetest Heart of Mary. While the combining of these three parishes into one is almost certainly owing, in part, to the Second Vatican Council, they were also depleted by the exit of people from inner city the Detroit.

So when I got to the Mass a minute or so late, and after I had noticed quite a few cars parked around the church and some in its parking lot, I was surprised, entering this giant church, to see only four middle-aged ladies in the pews. The priest, an older gentleman, was engaged at the altar and behind him was another older man, the server. Now as a rule, I know that vast crowds of people don’t attend most weekday Masses, but I had expected something better than this. I mean, I was willing to drive all the way from East Lansing to see it! so it had to be more exciting than just four ladies worth! And, indeed, at some point later, a gentleman came in took some pew behind me.

One thing which I like about the Latin Novus Ordo, which I enjoyed while at the Oxford Oratory, is that the whole of the Canon is said aloud. When it’s said aloud, it’s easier to follow along in one’s missal and, in general, it’s a nice thing to hear the Latin, especially words as hallowed as those of the Roman Canon. But instead of the Roman Canon, the priest used that blasted Prex Eucharistica Tertia and breezed on through the Mass. The whole thing was very short: it might have been done in under 15 minutes. I could hear the priest part of the time, but the rest of the time, the microphone wasn’t working and so I just put down my Novus Ordinary missal and knelt there.

Then we prayed the Novena prayer to Our Lady of Perpetual Help. I thought that the priest might have left the sanctuary in order to lead us before the icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, at the mid-left side of the nave, but he did not; I visited this shrine, with its beautiful, antique prie-dieu, the cushions of the kneeler and arm rest of which are embroidered - I almost wondered if I was allowed to kneel on it.

After the Mass, I said Sext - I wasn’t sure how long the place would stay open, or if they would let me stay in. I can’t figure that a place like that is left unlocked and unattended during, well, any time of the day there in Detroit. But, even after the priest appeared to have left, wearing blue pants, a black shirt, and sunglasses, a couple of the ladies who had been at the Mass continued to pray.

And I pray: please God, through the intercession of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, that this church, St. Joseph’s, will some day be given to priests or religious of the old rite. In 1873, St. Joseph’s was dedicated and I imagine that it looks not much different today than it did then. To see such a building filled again with the life of a parish and all the traditional sacraments would be a miracle of beauty.

But surely, of these three churches, St. Josaphat’s, Sweetest Heart of Mary, and St. Joseph’s, at least one can be given by the archdiocese to the FSSP or the ICKSP. As of today, there is not one full old rite parish in the state of Michigan. We have three indults in the Diocese of Lansing (though none in Lansing itself) and there is one indult in Detroit. There is an indult in Grand Rapids and in Kalamazoo, I believe, and one or two in the Upper Peninsula, surprisingly, given that there are so few people up there. There are also several chapels of the Society of St. Pius X - there are many traditionalists in Michigan, but not yet, I guess, a bishop willing to give them a full parish.

Anyway, there’s my report about the Latin Novus Ordo at St. Joseph’s in Detroit. Probably not worth a long drive in my opinion, to assist at that particular Mass, though it’s definitely worth a trip at some point to see the church itself.

(Again, as on Christmas Eve, I failed to take any of my own pictures, this time because my camera is in the Mediterranean, aboard a boat, that is.)

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Published by Iosephus July 13th, 2006 2 Comments

Toulose Recommends Horses

Can one really be said to have a Eucharistic Procession without horses? I don’t know . . . . But it looks to me as though they know how to do it up right in Toulouse, France.

The rest of the pictures are here. A thanks to my traditionalist friends at the Oxford Oratory for these pictures.

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Published by Iosephus July 12th, 2006 3 Comments

Bravo, Bishop Yanta!

This is great, I can hardly believe it - when Iacobus sees it, if he hasn’t already, he’s going to turn a summersault. I noticed on CWNews this morning a link to “Bishop Yanta: Pastoral Letter on Modesty of Dress“. Naturally, I didn’t think that it would be a raving, anti-pants letter, like the brilliant pieces by Bishop de Castro Mayer and Giuseppe Cardinal Siri which, I think, are a part of the Magisterium which is de fide, but I’ll have to get back on that one . . . . And it turned out not to be, but was the usual Novus Ordo way, this time, trying to be conservative, but not wanting to appear too strict. Also, the letter is filled with quotations from the CCC, a veritable deluge; precious, mushy gems like: “Modesty protects the intimate center of the person. It means refusing to unveil what should remain hidden.” But after the letter, Bishop Yanta, under his own name, appends a long series of quotations from various places, starting with, you guessed it, the CCC and the well loved Compendium of the CCC.

Then it starts to get interesting, for Bishop Yanta gives his flock some quotations from a Fr. Dominic Mary, MFVA, from an EWTN televised Mass, and then, stop the presses, a series of quotations from “On Modesty of Dress at Holy Mass” by Fr. Christopher Hathaway, FSSP!

FSSP? FSSP! What?! Did Beelzebub just strap on his ice skates?!

Through the homily of Fr. Hathaway, FSSP, Bishop Yanta, on the diocesan webpage, is feeding his flock with this delicious quotation - it’s almost too good to be true - from Pope Benedict XV’s Sacra propediem:

One cannot sufficiently deplore the blindness of so many women of every age and condition; made foolish by a desire to please, they do not see to what degree the indecency of the clothing shocks every honest man and offends God.

Most of them would formerly have blushed for those toiletries as for a grave fault against Christian modesty; now it does not suffice for them to exhibit them on public thoroughfares; they do not fear to cross the threshold of the churches, to assist at the holy sacrifice of the Mass, and even to bear the seductive food of shameful passions to the Eucharistic Table where one receives the heavenly author of purity.

The pontifical lanugage is too rich! I’m going to faint! That last sentence is one for the ages - where did they find these papal secretaries? And which one of you can provide us with Benedict’s Latin?

Given that I found this homily of Fr. Hathaway’s so quickly through Google, I wonder whether Bishop Yanta (or a secretary) didn’t find it there as well. Fr. Hathaway was in New Jersey, at Mater Ecclesiae, when he gave this homily, though the FSSP website now says that he is in Lincoln. I hope Fr. Hathaway knows that he has been quoted (and positively!) by a bishop in a pastoral letter to his diocese.

Since the link is to the front page of the diocesan website, I’m going to copy and past the whole of Bishop Yanta’s pastoral letter and observations here. In the interests of rigorous, honest reporting, I will also include Bishop Yanta’s observations, plucked from various other diocesan websites, about standards in dress for so-called lay lectors and extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion which, regardless of their dress, are abomination.

Modesty starts with purification of the heart

A Pastoral Letter by Most Rev. John W. Yanta, Bishop of Amarillo

June 18, 2006
Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

As the hot weather has descended on us and we are in summertime or vacation time, it is appropriate to speak of modesty of dress especially in participation in the Holy Eucharist, the receiving of Our Lord in Holy Communion, the privilege of being a lector of the Sunday Bible Readings, and serving as an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion.

This time of the year, I (and am sure many of you also) hear complaints about a lack of respect and reverence for the house of God, the sacredness of the Lord’s presence in the liturgy, and lack of respect for others and the lack of consciousness of the battle for purity in which the opposite sex finds itself even while attending Sunday Mass.

Immodesty in dress is governed by two citations from God’s Law:

1) The Ninth Commandment: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife” (Exodus 20:17);

2) Jesus said: “Everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28).

To live our daily Faith as children of God (baptism), disciples of Jesus, and temples of the Holy Spirit, we are faced with moral choices constantly, many times a day. Conscience can either make a right judgment in accordance with reason and the divine law, or on the contrary, an erroneous judgment that departs from them (CCC: Catechism of the Catholic Church #1799).

Dressing or putting on one’s clothes is a moral act and wearing them is a moral act. There are different appropriate modes of dress for different occasions, e.g. in the privacy of our home, with our spouse only or with our children in our home, at work or school, in mixed company, at the lake or swimming pool, grocery shopping, at church, etc.

The four cardinal virtues are in play here (Wisdom 8:5-7). The wise person is guided by wisdom, the highest of riches that guides us to be prudent (doing and saying the right thing), justice (respects the dignity of other persons), fortitude (courage to go against popular, suggestive, provocative styles), and temperance (insures mastery over sensual temptations as occasions of sin). You can read more about these four cardinal virtues that play a pivotal role in our lives (CCC 1803-1809).

Our condition – all of us are beset with concupiscence. Concupiscence or covetousness: “Human appetites or desires that are disordered due to the temporal consequences of original sin, which remain even after Baptism and which produce inclination to sin” (CCC, Glossary).

St. John identifies and distinguishes the three kinds of inclinations of all human beings: “For all that is in the world, sensual lust, enticement for the eyes, and a pretentious life, is not from the Father but is from the world”(I John 2:16).

The road to modesty starts with the purification of the heart: “Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication…” (Matthew 15:19). Bible beginners should be encouraged to get the basic overview of Jesus’ teaching by starting with the beatitudes in Matt. 5 in Jesus’ first sermon: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matt. 5:8). Part of the essence of that teaching is a wholesome, orthodox, first hand appreciation of God’s plan for our sexuality - its sacredness, its fulfillment in marriage, its place in family, Church, and world.

The Catechism speaks next, after the purification of the heart, about “the battle for purity”. We, the baptized and the forgiven in the Sacrament of Penance/Reconciliation struggle against concupiscence of the flesh and disordered desires (CCC 2520).

“Purity requires modesty, an integral part of temperance. Modesty protects the intimate center of the person. It means refusing to unveil what should remain hidden (CCC 2521).

“Modesty is decency. It inspires one’s choice of clothing. It is discreet (CCC 2522).

“There is a modesty of the feelings as well as of the body. It protests, for example, against the voyeuristic explorations of the human body in certain advertisements, or against the solicitations of certain media that go too far in the exhibition of intimate things. Modesty inspires a way of life which makes it possible to resist the allurements of fashion and the pressures of prevailing ideologies (CCC 2523).

“Teaching modesty to children and adolescents means awakening in them respect for the human person (CCC 2524).

“Christian purity requires a purification of the social climate. It requires of the communications media that their presentations show concern for respect and restraint (CCC 2525).

“So-called moral permissiveness rests on an erroneous conception of human freedom; the necessary precondition for the development of true freedom is to let oneself be educated in the moral law. Those in charge of education can reasonably be expected to give young people instruction respectful of the truth, the qualities of the heart, and the moral and spiritual dignity of man” (CCC 2526).

Yes, we can help the devil in many ways including the way we dress. In the Act of Contrition we promise “to avoid the near occasion of sin”. St. Paul writes about “provoking another” (Gal. 5:26).

The key to all modesty is rooted in our mother and daddy who model modesty for their children, i.e. a strong, but tender St. Josephlike husband and father who is blessed with a wonderful wife and mother for their children. “Happy the husband of a good wife…choicest of his blessings is a modest wife, priceless her chaste person” (Sirach 26: 1, 15).

When the community of believers comes together for the Eucharist (Mass) let no one be a distraction from Jesus or provide temptation (an occasion of sin) to another because of our manner of dress.

Lectors, Extraordinary Eucharistic Ministers, and Hospitality Ministers should model modesty of dress for the parish as parents do in the family, the domestic church.

May we cherish and bear witness to the virtues of prudence, temperance, chastity, and modesty for the sake of our own salvation and of others. St. Mary and St. Joseph, St. Ann and St. Joachim, parents and grandparents of their son and grandson, Jesus, intercede for us!

Sincerely in Christ,

Most Rev. John W. Yanta
Bishop of Amarillo

Observations

by Bishop John W. Yanta

Basics of modesty in dress

From the Catechism

“There are differences between male and female: physical, emotional, and spiritual differences. These differences result, by God’s plan, in a beautiful complementarity oriented toward the goods of marriage and the flourishing of family life” (CCC 2333).

“Men and women are equal but not the same obiously. There is equal personal dignity. Each of the two sexes is an image of the power and tenderness of God” (CCC 2334-5).

“The virtue of chastity comes under the cardinal virtue of temperance, which seeks to permeate the passions and appetites of the senses with reason” (CCC 2341).

“Christ is the model of chastity. Every baptized person is called to lead a chaste life, each according to his particular state of life” (CCC 2394).

“Temperance: The cardinal moral virtue that moderates the attraction of pleasure and provides balance in the use of created goods. It ensures the mastery of the will over instinct, and keeps natural desires within proper limits” (CCC Glossary).

From the Dictionary

Modesty: “Propriety in dress, speech or conduct” (Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate p.798).

Dress, Apparel, Clothing: “Covering, adornment, or appearance appropriate or peculiar to a particular time” (Webster’s p.380).

Propriety: “Fear of offending against conventional rules of behavior esp. between the sexes; the customs and manners of polite society” (Webster’s p.997).

Compendium of the Catechism

“Purity requires modesty which, while protecting the intimate center of the person, expresses the sensitivity of chastity. It guides how one looks at others and behaves toward them in conformity with the dignity of persons and their communion. Purity frees one from wide-spread eroticism and avoids those things which foster morbid curiosity. Purity also requires a purification of the social climate by means of a constant struggle against moral permissiveness which is founded on an erroneous concept of human freedom” (Compendium of the Catechism 530).

On Reverence

“The Church, the house of God, is… the privileged place of the real presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament” (CCC 2691).

Excerpts from a Homily Given by Fr. Dominic Mary, MFVA on EWTN Televised Mass (6-14-05)

“Included in the virtue of modesty is not only humility, but also in how one externally dresses (cf. John Hardon, Modern Catholic Dictionary, p. 356). But many today have rejected to practice this virtue so desperately needed in our current culture. Even to the most casual observer, immodesty in dress is seen as common place in our Churches.

We have got to do all we can to help people to wake up and realize they are dressing way too immodestly, especially when it comes to entering a Church to worship God. We must be like the Vatican - just one example (cf., www. cathnews.com) - When there are heat waves in Rome the Vatican dress police, neatly dressed in pants, shirts and ties, turn back all tourists in shorts and bare shoulders trying to get into St. Peter’s Basilica. I’ve seen them do this with my own eyes. These immodestly dressed people have to go and buy paper pants and shirts from vendors eagerly waiting outside.

“Many people come to Church dressed like they are ready to go to the beach. You should not come to Church dressed in shorts, miniskirts, swimsuits, bikinis, tank-tops, bare shoulders, low cut dresses, very tight fitting clothing, etc. “We must return to having a holy fear for God and for His true Presence in the Eucharist and for being in His house. How can we expect to grow in the spiritual life if we are dressed like we don’t care? How dare we approach the Holy Eucharist dressed like we are going to the beach.

“When a person dresses immodestly he or she can become an occasion of sin for other people. And this is the fashion for today. Each year it seems that the latest fashion is to see how little clothing one can wear and how much of one’s body can be shown. And what flesh is not shown is revealed by extremely tight clothing.

“To knowingly and intentionally dress like this is sinful, and can be even seriously sinful, because one can become a temptation to sin for other people. We are all weak and can easily fall into many sins of impurity by someone else’s immodesty.

“Before we go out or buy new clothes we should do a modesty check”. Fr. Hathaway, FSSP on Modesty of Dress at Holy Mass

“We will speak on dress for women and men at the Holy Mass… especially on Sunday.

“But let me preface that I did not wake up this morning thinking, “I wonder how I can ruin their day?” I do not want to make you mad, but only advance your salvation. Our dress can be a touchy topic… but all of us should want to correct errors should they exist.

“First, we should give a definition. Modesty in dress is the virtue which regulates the type of clothing and the manner of its wearing so that it conforms to the purposes by which clothing is worn. Now the purpose of clothing is to protect against the weather, to reveal status or position or formality in society, and to preserve decency.

“Now how should women dress at Holy Mass?

“Indecency of women’s dress at the Holy Sacrifice is not a new thing. In 1921, Pope Benedict XV (Sacra propediem) lamented the indecent dress of women at Holy Mass this way: ‘…one cannot sufficiently deplore the blindness of so many women of every age and condition; made foolish by a desire to please, they do not see to what degree the indecency of the clothing shocks every honest man, and offends God.

“Most of them would formerly have blushed for those toiletries as for a grave fault against Christian modesty; now it does not suffice for them to exhibit them on public thoroughfares; they do not fear to cross the threshold of the churches, to assist at the holy sacrifice of the Mass, and even to bear the seductive food of shameful passions to the Eucharistic Table where one receives the heavenly author of purity.

“Now how should a man dress at the Holy Sacrifice?

“If women exceed the virtue, it is common for men to come up short in practicing the virtue of modesty in dress. Men, we are inclined to be careless or slovenly about what we wear… (even at Holy Mass); and young men are prone to deliberately neglect their dress so as to attract attention.

“At Holy Mass, men should wear a coat and tie; or, at least, a collared shirt and nice slacks.

“Young men must be taught that baggy pants are not appropriate; that their hair be nicely cut and combed; that shirts be clean and without slogans or cross bones or a dragon,… or anything which may give Satan the appearance of being honored”.

On Galveston-Houston Archdiocese Website

“The Norms for the Distribution and Reception of Communion Under Both Kinds refers to reverent attire (cf. #29) but does not describe what is considered reverent. Does the Diocese of Galveston-Houston have guidelines describing what is considered appropriate attire for liturgical ministers?”

“Extraordinary Ministers should be appropriately dressed when distributing Communion during the liturgy. On several occasions I have directed that men, including young men, must wear a coat, and women modest dresses or pant suits. This directive is to be observed even for Youth Masses.”

The Liturgical Commission of the Archdiocese of Brisbane, Australia

“I am often asked about the dress requirements for people who perform the roles of readers and special ministers of communion in a parish.

“This usually comes about because complaints have been made about the way these liturgical ministers present themselves at Mass.

“A good place to begin tackling this question is to revisit the meaning of the word ‘ministry’. Readers and special ministers serve the liturgy and the gathered assembly by proclaiming the Word of God and helping in the distribution of the sacred elements. Their manner of dress should reflect the importance and dignity of the ministry in which they serve. “The term ‘Sunday best’ is sometimes used to describe what is acceptable. This does not mean expensive or fancy, but it does mean clothing that is neat, clean and reasonably modest. Outlandish or clattering jewelry, tee shirts with slogans or insignia, jogging outfits or see-through clothing are probably universally considered inappropriate.

“Liturgical ministers become channels of God’s presence when they carry out their ministry. Anything that blocks that channel – whether gesture, demeanor or clothing – is out of place. If a reader’s dress attracts the attention of the assembly rather than what he or she is proclaiming, or if a communion minister’s outfit prevents communicants focusing on receiving the Body and Blood of Christ, then something is clearly amiss”.

Ministers of Hospitality (Archdioces of Brisbane, Australia).)

“Because all liturgical ministers, by their demeanor and attitude, send a message about the importance of what is taking place, it is helpful if they are attired in their ‘Sunday best’. “

In some parishes, ministers wear a uniform blazer for visibility so that they can be identified immediately in case of an emergency. In either case, a nametag identifying a person as a minister of hospitality would be helpful.

Diocese of Trenton, NJ

“Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion should dress in secular clothing that is modest, clean, and appropriate for worship.

“If the local parish decides to use special dress for its Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion, it must be distinctive and not confused with the dress of a priest or deacon.”

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Published by Iosephus July 12th, 2006 14 Comments

A Little Bible Thumping

Here’s a question I’ve been idly wondering about for some time. What is the proper Catholic explanation for inconsistencies between the Gospels and other books of the Bible? People who are heavily prejudiced against religion always love to use these as proof that the Bible must be nonsense. Christopher Hitchens, for example (who I actually find interesting sometimes, precisely because he is one person on the left who is completely honest about his burning hostility towards all things religious) loves to trot these out. The Bible is contradictory! Just look at the inconsistencies!

Usually I roll my eyes, because really, there aren’t many inconsistencies between the Gospels. This has never been a stumbling block for my faith. Still, if we think the Bible is inerrant, the problem does merit an answer, and I just don’t know what to say about it. Why, for example, does the story of the cleansing of the temple come early in the Gospel of John, but late in the Gospel of Matthew? Why does St. Luke have the good thief confessing guilt and asking Jesus to “remember me when you come into your Kingdom” while St. Matthew and St. Luke have them joining in with the crowds who mock Him? If you read the Easter accounts from the different Gospels, you will find some subtle differences here as well.

As an interesting note, the Old Testament also has some difficult passages. In the Book of Samuel (in my opinion, one of the best and most poignant stretches of the OT) there are two accounts of the way in which Saul meets David. In one story, Saul is subject to bouts of madness, during which music is the only thing that can calm him. David is apparently a skilled musician, and is hired to play the harp for Saul during these fits. But later on, in the famous David and Goliath story, Saul doesn’t seem to know David at all when he volunteers to fight the giant. I suppose the king could just have had a really bad memory, but it seems he’d probably know the boy who was his sole comfort in difficult times. It does really appear as though there were two competing legends about how they met, which both somehow made it into the record.

Again, I’ve never lost any sleep over this, but, for apologetic purposes, it would be nice to have something to say. Any ideas from our readers?

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Published by Clara July 11th, 2006 19 Comments

Catholics from Africa

Here’s a fun article that reminds us of the catholic nature of the Catholic religion. Black Protestants are converting to the Orthodox religions to sate their desires for the sacred! Although the Orthodox churches are technically schismatic, their traditions and beliefs are rooted in the one true Church; their teachings have not deviated in drastically heretical ways (unlike in the case of the Protestants). Who would have thought that African Americans would make their way over to the Orthodox religions? “Misikir says, ‘It’s a little difficult to explain all of this to most Americans. At first, when I tell people I’m Orthodox, often they don’t understand me and think I’m Jewish.’” As Catholics, we should feel unabashed joy for this sort of re-conversion! Is this not a truer return to the African heritage than is a re-conversion to Islam (at least if you are of Eastern African descent)?

St. Moses the Black (A.D. 330-405), patron saint of African Americans.
Tales about Catholic Africans date back to the Middle Ages. Colorful stories about Prester John (aka Presbyter John) tell of a Christian monarch who ruled over the Saracens and pagans of the Orient, central Asia, and the Dark Continent. One wonders whence came such fantastic tales. According to the Catholic tradition and biblical accounts, Africa was evangelized in the time of the Apostles. St. Philip is said to have baptized an Ethiopian eunuch in Acts of the Apostles (8:26:40). For those unfamiliar, this is one of the more unusual stories of the bible “And he commanded the chariot to stand still; and they went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch: and he baptized him. And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord took away Philip; and the eunuch saw him no more. And he went on his way rejoicing.”

In my estimation, too weird and lively to be mere fiction. Maybe the cheerful disposition of this eunuch is the precursor to the joy stereotypically portrayed in congregations of Southern Black Protestant churches. How’s that for affirming the axiom “Omnes viae Romam ducunt”!
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Published by Catharina Senensis July 11th, 2006 2 Comments