(I’m wondering: do we not have any other good photographs of Antonio Cardinal Bacci available on the internet?) This is a post I’ve been meaning to write ever since June when I saw J. P. Sonnen’s post about Cardinal Bacci, “Greatest Latinist of the 20th Century.” Mr. Sonnen followed that past six days later with a post about the helicopter pad at the Vatican and its Latin dedication of which Reggie was the author, though Bacci had supplied the word for “helicopter” - not that it’s terribly imaginative!

Perhaps the best book I acquired this summer - I had previously been unaware of its existence - was William Smith and Theophilus D. Hall’s Copious and Critical English-Latin Dictionary. Including an index of proper names, it runs to 754 over-sized pages. Though its usefulness is restricted owing to the fact that it was first published in 1870 (begun in 1855), it is far and away the best option for English speakers looking to compose in Latin. One of its nicest features is that it gives citations in support of the Latin translations for English words and expressions. For example, if you look up the adjective “eternal”, you’ll find this:

eternal: 1. aeternus (strictly, without beginning or end of time: nothing that hath had an origin can be eternal, [nihil] quod ortum sit aeternum esse potest, Cicero, De natura deorum 1.8.20 . . . .

Though not all of the citations are that specific (ciiting chapter and verse), they do always give the author’s name; then you can search through something like the Latin Library and have a fair chance of finding the exact passage in a few minutes time. Continue reading

Just a quick note for those of you who have sent inquiries about Reggie’s health and plans. I’m not apprised of the details personally, but I hear through the Reggie listserve that he has made a good recovery, that he is back in Rome at the Teresianum, that his “Academia” (the teaching he has been doing on his own since he was fired from the Gregorian University) will start on January 7th, and finally, that spots for the summer course are filling fast. Not that he turns away anyone based on numbers - but the point is, send your application in, as he’s back in action and intends to teach this summer.

If you’re hesitating about whether to go - don’t. It’s only a slight exaggeration to say that this course changed my life. A great teacher, the Eternal City, the Apostolic See, whole days devoted to study of this one language, and lugging Lewis & Short everywhere in the blazing heat is a potent recipe for Latin progress.

One of my favorite blogs these days is Hallowed Ground: Traditional Catholic Visualism. No polemics - just beautiful, traditional Catholic photographs, artwork and images that fight the good fight with pictures instead of words. Though it’s now a couple weeks old, I thought that Ken gave us the perfect image for expressing the traditionalist’s reasons for barring women from the “office” of lector. (You call that the recently closed Synod of Bishops had voted to approve a petition to be put before the Pope asking that women be formally welcomed into this office.) I hope that Ken won’t object if I repost it here:

Who knows if this is true? but it’s certainly an interesting anecdote:

Nearly twenty five years ago, a Pole was dining in my college in Cambridge. He told us that he had been an altar boy in Poland, and had often served the masses of the Archbishop of Cracow. A year or two after that prelate, Karol Woytila, had been installed in the See of Rome, he decided to visit him, for John Paul II never became too grand for his old Polish friends. The Pope (so he told the story) strode up to him, punched him lightly in the chest, and began: Introibo ad ad altare dei … to which our guest responded: ad Deum qui laetificat iuventutem meam. (”I will go unto the altar of God”, “To God who giveth joy to my youth.”) This was the opening exchange between priest and server of the old “Tridentine” Latin mass, abolished in the early 1970s, and the two continued it right down to the Confiteor. Then the Pope shrugged his shoulders and said: “Well, that’’s no use to us anymore.” His old altar boy replied: “No, Holy Father, and that’s why I no longer go to church.” To which the Pope (he said) instantly rejoined: “Don”t blame me. Blame that maniac John XXIII!”

If you haven’t looked through this article by John Casey, a fellow of Gonville and Caius College at Cambridge, it’s worth a read.

I wish that I could be there! From the Detroit Latin Mass community:

For the first time in approximately 40 years, St. Josaphat Church will celebrate All Souls Day according to the old tradition: At 6:00 PM Two Low Masses will simultaneously be celebrated at each of the two side altars inside the sanctuary. Then, at 7:00 PM, a Solemn High Mass with Deacon and Subdeacon will be celebrated at the high altar, to be followed by Absolution at the Catafalque, in commemoration of all of the faithful departed. This All Souls Day tradition is one of the topics covered in this weeks Tridentine Community News [PDF warning].

Is the “simultaneously” bit supposed to be part of the tradition, or just coincidental to what the essential element of the tradition, i.e. three Masses on a non-Sunday? And it gets more interesting: Continue reading

The Cornell Society for a Good Time is very pleased to share with our readers this thoughtful and engaging interview with Dr. John Rao, associate professor of history at St. John’s University in New York City. Dr. Rao very kindly agreed to answer questions by email from three of our contributors. As academics and traditional Catholics, our questions for Dr. Rao were mostly about the interaction of the academy and traditional Catholicism; but we also asked him to comment on modernism and American political life. (One note: I have changed the text Dr. Rao submitted to me by the addition of some links where I thought that they might be helpful.) Enjoy!

In your experience as a professor of history, what historical insight or set of historical facts have you generally found to be most surprising to your students, educated as they have been by teachers ignorant of, or hostile to, the Catholic faith and a Catholic understanding of history?

Quite frankly, most of the students whom I have taught over the past 29 years at St. John’s University have never expressed surprise or, for that matter, any opinion whatsoever regarding the material that I have presented to them. The most enlightening (and depressing) thing that I can tell you in this regard is that, even despite their terror concerning grades in my courses, almost all of my students completely ignore the pro-Catholic, record-straight-setting information I give them, and recite the dominant errors and mantras aimed against the Faith on tests. As far as I can determine, this is in no way due to deeply-rooted conviction on their part. Rather, it merely indicates the power of the propaganda fed them from practically every social channel since early youth. They simply cannot expel the erroneous and hostile words from their heads, just as I cannot purge the theme songs of situation comedies on television (like “Car Fifty Four”) remembered from my own youth.
Continue reading

So Colin Powell has endorsed Barack Hussein Obama for president. There’s a big surprise; one liberal endorses another. But people should pay attention to the reason Powell gave for his endorsement: “I would have difficulty with two more conservative appointments to the Supreme Court, but that’s what we’d be looking at in a McCain administration.” Exactly. Which is why we Catholics have to pray that we’ll be spared an Obama presidency.

ROME, Sept 29, 2008 (AFP) - France has settled on an envoy to represent Paris at the Vatican after the Holy See rejected a gay candidate, a French diplomatic source told AFP on Monday. France had earlier decided against proposing author Denis Tillinac for the post because he is divorced, sources close to the dossier said. Instead, Stanislas Lefebvre de Laboulaye, currently France’s ambassador to Moscow, is to take up the post, the diplomatic source said. The Beirut-born Lefebvre de Laboulaye has represented France in Moscow since November 2006, following stints as ambassador to Madagascar and consul general in Jerusalem in the 1990s. The last French ambassador to the Holy See, Bernard Kessedjian, died in December 2007. The gay man whose candidacy to replace Kessedjian was rejected is a career diplomat who is in a civil union with his partner, the sources said. The Roman Catholic Church condemns both divorce and active homosexuality, and strongly opposes legal rights for gay couples. The Vatican is rarely placed in the position of opposing potential ambassadors on personal grounds. However, Argentina has also had difficulty naming a new ambassador, having withdrawn the candidacy of divorced former justice minister Alberto Iribarne, who is divorced and living with another woman.

Walter Cardinal Kasper is always up to something - in the past, before Benedict’s pontificate, it always seemed to be something very, very bad, something tending to make one think that Kasper thought something contrary to what the Church thinks about the dogma “Roman Catholic Church = Mystical Body of Christ”. Well, he’s still doing things like that, but at other times, he says more encouraging things. And what to make of what is, presumably, his project of receiving the “Archbishop” of Canterbury at Lourdes? Does Rowan Williams hope thereby to repair the already ruined state of ecumenical dialogue between Rome and Canterbury? See here and here for Kasper’s latest.

In an interview with German newspaper, Frankfurter Allgemeine, the head of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Cardinal Walter Kasper said that Catholics should read Luther’s Bible commentaries and “hymns full of spiritual power”. [What?!?! The old, notorious Kasper.]

He also said that Protestantism would do well to return to the faith of Martin Luther, who he said “would have been deeply averse to all of today’s liberal tendencies”, according to Ecumenical News International. Continue reading

A very nice development for those in southwest Florida. Many thanks to Bishop Dewane!

His Excellency Bishop Frank Dewane announced today that the Diocese of Venice in Florida has purchased a church for the exclusive use of the Extraordinary Form of the Mass. This will be the first church to be dedicated exclusively for the Latin Mass in Florida. The church is situated on close to three acres of property and is located at 1900 Meadowood Street, Sarasota. The property previously belonged to Holy Trinity Anglican Church. Significant renovation will be necessary before doors can be opened, including a new roof, renovating the sanctuary and making the nave of the church larger. However it is hoped that the new church will be opened in the near future. Juridically, the building will be erected as a chapel, and at a future date it will be raised to the status of a parish. There will be an open house this coming Saturday afternoon (September 27th, 2008). All are welcome, bring friends!