Gaudete Sunday in Margate

A beautiful Missa Cantata for Gaudete Sunday 11 December 2016 celebrated by Father Timothy Finigan at St Austin and St Gregory, Margate. We were treated to sublime sacred music by the schola Cantabo Domine who sang Lotti's Missa Brevis in D minor  as well as O Bone Jesu by Palestrina; O Magnum Mysterium  by Victoria, and Palestrina's Alma Redemptoris Mater. It was a splendid way to prepare for the second half of Advent.


(Apologies for the photos being out of order!)

Never too modern to Mantilla...

As regular readers will be aware, I'm a big fan of veiling in church - I've written about mantillas (or lack thereof) in France , rainbow-coloured SSPX veils in Switzerland, and the more traditional sort in Canada... lost mantillas ... stolen mantillas... mantillas in Rome ... the reactions that mantilla-wearers get... You get the idea.  Mulier Fortis and I even set up the Blackfen (where even the snow-women wear mantillas) branch of the Mantilla Mafia  and have set out to convert unsuspecting women to mantilla-wearing.

Whatever the weather, it's mantilla-time in Blackfen...

 I have almost a dozen mantillas between my house, handbag and van. So I suppose you could say that I'm pretty serious about mantillas...

...at least that's what I thought until my internet pal Amanda (she of the praiseworthy Catholic Home Ed blog) wonderful  created the wonderful Loving Mantillas blog. Next to Amanda I am a mantilla dilettante! Not only does Amanda love mantillas, she also writes about them and publishes photographs of them and her blog is a treasure-trove for British mantilla lovers: I think it's the only UK based one in existence.

I was saddened but not surprised to hear that she's been getting a slew of nasty comments and emails from loose-cannons all over the green-ink-splattered interweb -- fancy having so much time on your hands that you waste it castigating somebody who puts up pretty photographs of mantillas for people to enjoy. Bizarre.

...and the photographs *are* lovely: there are exquisite photos of bridal mantillas, baby mantillas, Spanish mantillas and lots of serene pictures of women praying.  Pay it a visit! Send her beautiful photographs of yourself and your family wearing mantillas to make it even better -- and -- to encourage others to consider loving mantillas themselves...

...and leave her some happy feedback so that she knows that her labour of love is appreciated!

Blessing of lilies in a prairie parish

If it seems that things have been a little quiet on the blog over the past three or so weeks it's because we've been on holiday in western Canada visiting family and doing some wonderful hiking and wildlife spotting in the Rocky Mountains.

One of the highlights of our trip has been our discovery (and temporary adoption) of the Traditional Latin Mass community at St Anthony's Parish in Calgary. St Anthony's is a bi-ritual parish with both Traditional and Novus ordo communities and priests; the Traditional community's priests are from the FSSP. We loved Fr Anthony Sumich who gave some of the most hard-hitting and engaging sermons that we've heard away from our home parish. The servers were impeccable -- impressively so as there were many young ones; and the families we met were incredibly kind and welcoming. We could quite happily have settled in this parish forever! It's a thriving and growing community - there are currently two priests, based in Calgary, serving all of Alberta (one goes North to Edmonton to say Sunday Mass). To give you some indication of parish size: the Corpus Christi procession (around the local streets with three altars stationed around the neighbourhood) had over 400 participants. Today's procession for the parish's patronal feast (1st Class, moved to the nearest Sunday) wasn't as large, but was still the best part of two sides of a city block long. It was wonderful to hear the Rosary sung in Latin through leafy suburban streets. It was, my husband reminded me, a lot like our parish's Day with Mary procession. It's that universality that I love about being Catholic -- it makes no difference whether you're in a prairie parish or an outer London suburb.
Here are a couple of taster photos of today's traditional blessing of the lilies and of the statue before the procession... I'm hoping to blog more about our time in Canada when I get home...

The aspersion of the lilies after the traditional blessing

The procession sets off with servers and the statue at the front, followed by flag-bearers with the flags of countries represented in the TLM community, then parishioners followed by the choir and Fr Sumich

The statue back in the church after the procession

A weekend in April

Great video of this year's Saint Catherine's Trust Family Retreat. I cannot overemphasise the benefits, both spiritual and in terms of fun and fellowship, of this weekend to families. If you're even the slightest bit tempted to try it, or vaguely curious about the Traditional Latin Mass or keen to cultivate an authentic Catholic family culture, then pencil it in for next year!

One Weekend in April: The St. Catherine's Trust Family Retreat, April 2013 from LMS on Vimeo.

 

What readers want to know about Pope Francis

There has been a flurry of traffic to my blog from google searches about Pope Francis in the few hours since his election was announced. I thought it interesting that two dominant patterns emerge:

• Pope Francis / Bergoglio + "Neocatechumenal Way" / "Neocatechumenate"
• Pope Francis / Bergoglio + "summorum pontificum" / "extraordinary form"

I think the truth is that as Pope Francis is unknown to most of us, many people are apprehensive about what the future may bring. The anxiety appears to be most acute among those who feel that their celebration of the liturgy may be under threat. The most sensible thing to do is to ignore the hysteria in the blogosphere and pray for our new Pope, for Holy Mother Church, for our priests and our bishops and for ourselves. I should take my own advice: I've been driving my husband mad with incessant pacing around the house, punctuated by web searches followed by more pacing throughout the evening and into the small hours.

Really, this anxiety is misplaced. The reform of the reform has gained its own momentum: think about the growth in traditional masses, communities and clergy in the last eight years. There is no reason to assume that anything will change with regard to Summorum pontificum, and so equally there is no reason to assume that the brick by brick reform will not continue to gain momentum. On the other hand, the former Cardinal Bergoglio has a track record as a staunch defender of natural law, having opposed homosexual "marriage", adoption of children by same sex couples, and abortion. He has shown that he is not afraid to confront secular authorities where moral issues are at stake. With homosexual "marriage" being promoted across the planet, and abortion being redefined as a human "right" by NGOs whist at the same time German Bishops approve the morning after pill, it could be that Pope Francis is a truly inspired choice, and that his own choice of name reflects his understanding of the enormity of the task ahead.

UPDATE: according to Holy Souls Hermitage, as Cardinal Bergoglio, Pope Francis promoted the Traditional Latin Mass immediately the Publication of Summorum Pontificum. Here's a link to a map showing locations of parishes with Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman rite in Argentina.

 

Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, we love you! And here's why...

Unusually, I have just spent a week away from connectivity - no Internet, mobile phone or other data connection: our family had travelled up to the Lancashire moors to celebrate my Grandfather-in-law's 100th birthday. We had a wonderful time, with family from all over the world coming to celebrate until...

...yesterday morning, For no discernible reason I felt an 'itch' to turn on the television. As we don't own a TV at home, this is quite unusual . We had been staying in rooms above a pub in the edge of the Lancashire moors, and my husband and children had gone off after breakfast to pick up my in-laws who were visiting from North America. I was tidying our room and suddenly decided on a whim to see whether or not the TV worked and just happened to switch on BBC News 24 to see images of our Holy Father broadcast live with the announcement that he had just made.

I'm not the first Catholic blogger to say that I was shocked. Shocked is probably the wrong word. Bereaved comes closer. While I understand on an intellectual level what Cardinal Arinze is getting at here


I think that everyone who heard the news has been affected in a profoundly personal way. I felt bereft. My first thought was "Holy Father, where should we go? What should we do?" I felt small and childlike and lost. Were is my father going? I dropped down to my knees and prayed a decade of the Rosary. I wondered: " Beloved Pope Benedict - our Holy Father - what will we do without you?"

I instantly remembered how I felt when I heard that Pope Benedict had been elected in 2005: ELATED. At the time I didn't know why, exactly, it was so important to me that he became Pope rather than any other - but I was already blundering towards traditionalism (blundering meaning that nothing else felt right, nothing else answered the questions that had been left unanswered by decades in the Novus Ordo) - and I had a deep sense that having the then Cardinal Joesph Ratzinger as Pope mattered. 

Years on, I can confirm that it was a defining moment in my reversion to Holy Mother Church. Yes, I was already a Catholic "revert" but Pope Benedict defined and refined my faith through his encyclicals and books. I devoured them. I professed - and continue to profess - gratitude for his clarification of the position of the Traditional Latin Mass. When the Moto Proprio came out in 2007 I was primed and receptive. Hungry for spiritual nourishment, I asked my (then) pp whether we might have a monthly Traditional Latin Mass as there were several families in the parish who were very keen to have one. I was told that I was getting all the Latin I could expect in our Novus Ordo use of the Gloria, Agnus Dei and Sanctus from Mass VIII throughout the year. We had "some" Latin - what more could I want?

Indeed: how much Latin could anybody want? "Feed my sheep" said our Lord, and indeed. as a family, we were hungry.Starving. Both my husband and myself had come from nominally Catholic families. "Culturally" Catholic families, one could say. We had reverted from an agnostic / atheistic / lackadaisically Catholic point of view, towards an orthodox, traditionalist point of view. Pope Benedict XIV provided spiritual food for the last stages of that journey, and for that we will be forever grateful. He provided the signposts that gave our journey direction.

I was born in 1969. I received my First Holy Communion in 1978 with little or no catechises. I was confirmed in 1983 with even less catechises: I didn't even manage to have a saint's name for my confirmation name! (Priestly readers: is there any remedy for this?)

I returned to the Church I believe in large part due to the workings of the Holy Spirit. My husband and I were married and had our children baptised. We went to church every Sunday and Holy day of Obligation, and I often took the children on weekdays. We felt as though we were hungry. We were looking for more, and as well-meaning as it was, our Novus Ordo parish wasn' t giving us the spiritual food that we craved.

I mention this all to explain why I consider myself to be of the "Benedict XVI" generation. Sure, I was 35 when Cardinal Ratzinger became our Holy Father, but for me (and for many of my age and generation) this was a defining moment. Pope Benedict XVI was unambiguous about Church teachings. He directed us towards timeless Tradition and Truth and in doing so filled the spiritual chasm that had been an irritant since adolescence. I cannot be the only person who has felt this.

In real terms this affected our family. Over time we gravitated towards traditional devotions, such as a nightly Rosary and saying the Angelus at noon, and later the traditional Latin Mass. We later moved house so that we could be attached to a parish with a priest who supported us in our decision to home educate our children and who offered our family a parish with a rich and nourishing spiritual life. As a family we became attached to traditional spiritual devotions, and became immersed in a broader and richer spiritual life than we had access to in the pre-moto-proprio days. Certainly these aspects of Catholicism existed before the pontificate of Benedict XVI, but his encouragement certainly served as a catalyst for our family.

I feel immensely grateful that our family has been privileged to pray with the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, at the beatification Mass of Blessed John Henry Newman at the Mass in Birmingham as well as having prayed the Angelus with him when we went to Rome in November 2012 in thanksgiving for the 5th Anniversary of the Moto Proprio for the Una Cum Papa Nostro pilgrimage.

Do you remember where you were on 19th April 2005?  I do. I was in my dining room, close to the kitchen door, and I heard BBC Radio 4 announce the outcome of the conclave. I remember punching the air. It felt so very important at the time, and I don't think I realised how important it actually was until much much later on.

I will never forget where I was sometime after 10:30 am GMT on 11 February 2013: I was in a rented guest room above a pub on the moors in Lancashire. There was no mobile or internet reception. I had turned on the  TV news utterly randomly.

There has been much talk of the JPII generation. I consider myself to be of the BXVI generation: sure, I was born in the late'60s but I came "of age" spiritually under the guidance of our current Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI. And for this reason I will forever be in his debt.

Thank you Holy Father. Thank you. thank you, thank you. May Almighty God always bless and protect you.

Lex orandi lex credendi: Pontifical High Mass at Basilico di San Pietro in Vaticano

Originally posted 3/11/2012, thoroughly updated and photographs captioned 10/11/2012

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Here are some pictures of today's pilgrimage in thanksgiving for Summorum pontificum organised by the Foederatio Internationalis Una Voce. There have been Masses and traditional devotions organised in the run-up to today, but the Pontifical High Mass (Mass of the Immaculate Heart Of Mary) at the Altar of Saint Peter's Chair celebrated by Cardinal Cañizares Llovera, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, is the high point of the Pilgrimage. The Holy Father granted a Plenary Indulgance (under the usual conditions) to the faithful who attended the Mass. 

Following Adoration, the procession of Priests and Pilgrims leaves San Salvatore in Lauro

The Mass was, as expected, beautiful, reverent, and inspired great hope for the future of the traditional liturgy. There were hundreds of pilgrims: I calculated from a quick chair-count from the dome afterwards that, including those standing, there were probably almost a thousand people in the congregation. It was the usual healthy demographic mix that is so common at extraordinary form Masses everywhere: lots of young people - teens, twenties, thirties - in addition to young families and older people. It was - as EF Masses tend to be - racially mixed and with a visible number of disabled people as well. I mention this because the great irony of EF Mass congregations being perfectly "politially correct" in terms of demographic distribution when compared to the average parish, never fails to amuse me. Is anything more inclusive than the Universal Mass in the Universal Church in a universally understood language? I digress...

It feels as though Rome he been taken over by young traddie priests: the Borgo Pio is teeming with them, there were scores (I lost count) on the Sanctuary - it's wonderful and it's the future.  As my husband pointed out, there were very few priests there older than him: the vast majority were in their 20s, 30's and early 40's (poor DH is in his mid 40s).  We have run into several friendly and familiar faces:  the famous  Fr Z, Monseigneur Wasch of the incomparable ICKSP, and Fr Andrew Southwell from St Bedes, Clapham Park but currently clearly enjoying his sabbatical in the Eternal City.

Today started out with Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament at San Salvatore in Lauro followed by a procession through Rome to St Peter's Bascilica for the Pontifical High Mass in the Extraordinary Form celebrated by His Eminence, Antonio, Cardinal Cañizares Llovera, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship. Winding through Rome's narrow streets, four abreast, while singing the Litany of the Saints was, frankly, amazing. We certainly amazed some restaurant patrons who seemed completely freaked out by the presence of a slowly moving procession of singing pilgrims; and that was before the scores of Biretta'd, cassock and cotta'd clergy at the end of the procession passed them by! The traffic was stopped for the procession at major intersections, and the whole of via della conciliazione was closed to allow the pilgrims to process towards St Peter's. I was profoundly grateful that the first memory my children will have of entering St Peter's Basilica will be with a procession of praying, singing pilgrims walking directly up the centre of Piazza San Pietro and through the central doors of the Basilica to the Cathedra Petri and Bernini's amazing creation

 "...designed to display the chair on which, according to ancient tradition, St. Peter sat and taught Roman Christians. Pope Alexander VII had the ivory-covered chair put into the gigantic bronze cathedra, with the statues of the Doctors of the Church, St. Ambrose and St. Augustine of the Roman Church and St. Athanasius and St. John Chrysostom of the Greek Church. The religious significance is extremely clear. The Doctors of the Church were always consistent with Peter's teachings as they expounded theological doctrine.

The gospel does not change because the Holy Spirit, portrayed as a dove flies along the span of the centuries, assisting and accompanying its church. The chair or cathedra of Peter symbolizes the perpetual continuity of the doctrine and its promise of infallibility. It triumphed over all heresies throughout the centuries." 

[from StPetersBasilica.org, emphasis mine)

 
.

 It's been a long but spiritually nourishing day. I'm profoundly grateful to the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI for Summorum Pontificum as participation in the Extraordinary Form of the Mass has brought many graces to our family - and it was evident today that we weren't the only ones. I spoke to pilgrims who'd come from Brazil to thank the Holy Father and show their fidelity to him. There I was thinking that we'd done well to get four young children to Rome from SE England; I was humbled by what I heard today: young and fit, our journey has been s doddle in comparison to so many who came from around the world.

I prayed for my readers, for other Catholic bloggers, for our priests, our seminarians, for friends and for family, Most of all I prayed for the Holy Father, that his generous liturgical vision continues

 to bear fruit.

The procession crosses the Tiber towards Castel Sant'Angelo

The Roman traffic was stopped to allow the procession to proceed in dignity. It was a long procession, and some of those drivers will have been waiting for quite a while. Despite this there appeared to be good humour all around from bystanders, although some bewilderment on the faces of touists as the procession wove through the narrow streets near San Salvatore.

Coming home to Rome: the via della conciliazione was closed to traffic to allow the procession to pass. We gathered many pilgrims along the route: people were waiting for us to pass, others appeared to decide to join spontaneously. By my estimate there were at least twice the number of pilgrims arriving at Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano than left San Salvatore in Lauro. We were about ten rows (of four abreast) when the procession left - by the time we arrived we were about thirty rows back!

Walking straight up to the centre door of Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano

I was very happy that this was the way my Children entered St Peter's Basilica for the first time: through the front central door, praying and singing.

Pilgrims waiting for Mass to begin. The seating area in front of the Altar of the Chair of St Peter holds just under 500 people, and there were around 100 extra chairs to the right (I took photos of the seating area from the dome later on to confirm numbers of seats). All were filled and there were some people standing at the back. We estimated that there were almost a thousand people at the Mass.

We lost count of how many priests were on the Sanctuary, but we noticed the Benedictines, FSSP and the ICKSP.

His Eminence, Antonio, Cardinal Cañizares Llovera,Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments

Incensing the Altar

The last Gospel

Last Gospel

It was a long day for smaller pilgrims. He was full of beans and in full voice the next day though!

Utterly inspired. Totus tuus.

Not a clown or puppet in sight, and they're completely transf

ixed.

Visit to the friendly Swiss Guards (or, properly, Pontificia Cohors Helvetica)

Singing the Salve Regina on the roof of Saint Peter's Basilica....

  

...he is rather unstoppable!

Love the Latin Mass? Support Summorum Pontificum? Fancy a trip to Rome?

On 1-3 November this year, traditionalists from around the world will converge in Rome for a pilgrimage timed to coincide with the beginning of the Year of Faith, to support the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI and to celebrate the fifth anniversary of Summorum Pontificum.

The pilgrimage will culminate in a Pontifical Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite at 10 am on Saturday, November 3 in St. Peter’s Basilica, the beating heart of the Catholic world.

To find out more, visit Una Cum Papa Nostro - the website of the Coetus Internationalis Summorum Pontificum who are organising the pilgrimage and Mass.

We're going to be there: it took Mr Annie Elizabeth about 60 seconds to start booking the flights on EasyJet once I'd told him then news. Hint - the sooner you book the cheaper tickets are!  Reasonable convent accommodation is available - see the Una Cum Papa Nostro website or see the recentish LMS blogpost about the pilgrimage.

Addendum: the time of the Mass has been changed to 3pm on Saturday 3rd November to accommodate the celebration of the annual Mass for deceased members of the Sacred College of Cardinals by the Holy Father that morning . Please see here for details.

A tale of two cities...

...Or how to break things if they aren't working already (in Switzerland)... or make them better before they go wrong (in France)...

"Saint Pierre des Latins", Nancy, France

On our recent visit to Switzerland we discovered that, although we were surrounded by EF Masses at [F]SSPX churches we would have to drive over an hour into another diocese to find a legitimate EF Mass I asked the priest there why there were none closer to where we were staying, particularly considering the proliferation of [F]SSPX Masses which presumably indicated a need and desire for the Extraordinary Form of the Mass. The answer was depressing in its simplicity: the Bishop of the area in which we were staying has Écône in his diocese. Because of this the Bishop has declared that he will never permit the older form of the Mass to take place under his authority, despite there being at least two dozen regular EF masses by the [F]SSPX in his area.

Before you start to hyperventilate, compare and contrast this with the situation in Nancy, France where we stopped the following Sunday for Mass at the wonderful Eglise Saint-Pierre with Abbé Husson of the FSSP and where the Extraordinary Form of the Mass has been said regularly since 1991 with the blessing of the local Bishop under Pope John Paul II's motu proprio: Ecclesia Dei. After Mass I asked Abbe Husson how it came to pass that Eglise Saint Pierre had nurtured and served a community devoted to the older form of the Mass. It was a simple story, he said: after the [F]SSPX schism and excommunications, a local sedevacantist priest started saying the Latin Mass. Determined that none of his flock should stray for want of spiritual sustenance, the local Bishop not only gave a parish to the FSSP to say legitmate Latin Masses, but he gave them a jewel of a church in the city centre.

Thank God for far-sighted Bishops! 

Bigger than the Beatles. Cooler too.

We're all getting rather excited here about the grand opening of the Shrine Church of Ss Peter and Paul and St Philomena, New Brighton, Wirral which has been entrusted to the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest an order both dedicated and devoted to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite; an order dedicated to defending Catholic orthodoxy and priestly spirituality. We love the ICRSP who run our parish in France, and our contact with them has been a great blessing to our family.

We'll be leaving SE England in the small grey hours of Saturday morning, to arrive at the Shrine Church on time for Mass which will be celebrated by Monsignor Gilles Wach, the French founder of the Institute, and the homily will be preached by our favourite Bishop, Rt Rev. Mark Davies, the Bishop of Shrewsbury. 

How much better can it get? 

Well, try this on for size: the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI has offered a Papal Blessing with an attached Plenary Indulgence (usual conditions apply) for all the faithful who attend the grand opening.

Well, what ARE you waiting for? Details below

...and while you're sorting out your travel arrangements, why not say a decade (or five) of the Rosary for Bishop Mark Davies, a courageous and visionary shepherd, without whom none of this would be possible... 

...and when you've done that, say another decade (or five) for the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest. who, (as I wrote last year) 

"have a steady stream of vocations for the priesthood and of women to the religious life. Their parishes are so demographically healthy that anyone much over 40 will be at the top end of the age bell-curve. They run excellent schools, academically and doctrinally rigorous, educating children in the Faith. They run orthodox Catholic summer camps for boys and girls, and traditional Catholic scout groups. In short, they are a massive success story". 

God bless the ICRSP: may they repeat their international successes here in Mary's Dowry.

Bohemian Catholic

While this blog is on a bit of a hiatus (in part as I recover from being thrown from my horse and with a bruised tailbone can't sit comfortably for long enough to blog!) why not go and read LizzieBoo's story of an unconventional, but not so unusual, Catholic childhood... and her before and after story of reconversion: "My very own Groundhog Day". Stirring stuff.

before: "is this ok for church?"

Mantilla mayhem

Somehow, somewhere our family has managed to lose three mantillas at church in as many months. It's annoying and puzzling in equal measures. I lose my red leather gloves, they turn up in the lost and found box. But three mantillas -- zoop! -- disappeared forever. Or have they? It's sort of like a lacy version of Schrödinger's cat. Mac suggested that I check the spare mantilla drawer, but no luck there either. Yes, I did say Spare Mantilla Drawer. How cool is that? Does your church have one? Nyah-nyah.

And speaking of cool -- well, just check this out. A parish like ours is worth any number of self-vapourising mantillas: perhaps it's fueled by mantilla power. I may stock up on a few extras just in case...