ROME 26/4– Day 34: A good example

Posted on 26 April 2026 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

A little bit each day.

The sun appeared to be raised up at 06:11 and to be pushed down at 20:05.

The Ave Maria was to ring at 20:15, at least for the Roman Curia.

Along with being the 3rd Sunday after Easter in the Vetus Ordo, and the 4th Sunday of Easter in the Novus Ordo, it was also the Feast of Mary, Mother of Good Counsel and also the Feast of St. Cletus, Pope and Martyr, slain around A.D. 88.  His name is in the Roman Canon.

There’s a full Moon coming up on 1 May, Feast of St. Joseph the Worker and the beginning of the month especially dedicated to the Blessed Virgin.

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This is one of the reasons why The Parish™ is in such good shape and so many wonderful things are happening.  There is no job to small for the Pastor, which gives a good example to all.

Mouth watering goodies at the local.

Jasmine Report (…no, not the Jesuit).  Where there is lots of sun, the Jasmine has bloomed.  Shadier areas, not yet.  Nearby are large walls of the stuff, which is glorious especially in the evening as it cools.

To think… a year ago, I was posting about the upcoming conclave, including sonnets by the incomparable Belli, some read by The Great Roman™. Here’s a reminder…

…

Here is Belli’s sonnet about the death and funeral procession of Pope Leo XII.  If you are agile you’ll catch some of the frankly obscene puns (far less shocking than the prose of Tucho’s pornotheology) along the way which are not reflected in the English translation (not mine).   Read by, of course, The Great Roman™.

Er mortorio de Leone DuodescimosiconnoThe Funeral of Pope Leo XII
Jerzera er Papa morto c’è ppassato
propi’avanti, ar cantone de Pasquino.
Tritticanno la testa sur cuscino
pareva un angeletto appennicato.
Vienivano le tromme cor zordino,
poi li tammurri a tammurro scordato:
poi le mule cor letto a bbardacchino
e le chiave e ’r trerregno der papato.
Preti, frati, cannoni de strapazzo,
palafreggneri co le torce accese,
eppoi ste guardie nobbile der cazzo.
Cominciorno a intoccà ttutte le cchiese
appena uscito er morto da palazzo.
Che gran belle funzione a sto paese!		Last night the late great Pope went cruising by
Pasquino’s corner, right in front of us,
head nodding on a bed of fluffiness
just like an angel kipping on the sly;
and then the muted buglers came on down,
and drummers drumming with a muffled din,
and mules to haul the mighty baldaquin,
and then the papal keys and papal crown;
friars and priests, and next a clapped-out gun,
and grooms who held aloft their flaming tapers,
and then those bloody guardsmen on display.
The bells of all the churches tolled as one
the moment that the corpse went on its way…
This country has such entertaining capers!
26th November 1831

Belli might have purposely conflated the funeral of Leo XII (10 Feb 1829) and Pius VIII (30 Nov 1830).  It doesn’t really matter.

BTW… what’s that Pasquino bit all about in the second line?

Some of you who have been in Rome quite a lot, or had a really good guide, or who have followed this blog, may know about the “statue parlanti… talking statues”.

In days past, these statues scattered about the Centro were used by various groups to post written opinions on public matters.  The statues “talked” to each other.  The most famous is Pasquino, near the Piazza Navona.  The remarks Pasquino made were called “pasquinate”.   (There’s also a great restaurant just across from it called Cul du Sac.)

Pasquino – maybe named after a local witty tailor way back in the day in that neighborhood – is a rather battered Hellenistic-style statue maybe 3rd c. BC found in the 15th c. century. The subject of the statue might be Menelaus supporting the body of Patroclus, or some such Roman copy. In the early 16th c Cardinal Oliviero Carafa draped  it in a toga and decorated it with Latin epigrams on the occasion of the Feast of Saint Mark. That opened the box, as it were, and people started doing this with other statues. They formed a public salon, the “Congress of the Wits … Congresso degli Arguti”, with Pasquino along with Marphurius (Marforio), Abbot Luigi, Il Facchino, Madama Lucrezia, and Il Babbuino. These poems posted were collected and published annually as early as 1509 as the Carmina apposita Pasquino.

Here’s Pasquino.

Up that street on the left and you reach Piazza Navona.

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Your Sunday Sermon Notes – 3rd Sunday after Easter (N.O. 4th Sunday OF Easter)

Posted on 26 April 2026 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Too many people today are without good, strong preaching, to the detriment of all. Share the good stuff.

Was there a GOOD point made in the sermon you heard at your Mass of obligation for this 3rd Sunday after Easter (N.O. 4th Sunday OF Easter)?

Tell us about attendance especially for the Traditional Latin Mass.

Any local changes or (hopefully good) news?

A taste of what I offered at 1 Peter 5 this week:

[…]

The Epistle from 1 Peter deepens the same mystery from another angle. Christians are addressed as “pároikoi kaì parepídemoi, advenae et peregrini …strangers and pilgrims,” “aliens and exiles.” You know the book, perhaps, by Michael O’Brien, in the Children of the Last Days series, Strangers and Sojourners. The phrase tells us where we stand in history and how we must live while we stand there. We belong here and we do not. We have work to do here, given by God Himself. Yet our final belonging is elsewhere, or rather above, in that patria where Christ has gone before us. This earthly life is charged with purpose precisely because it is provisional. The unfinished quality of our present existence, the sense that things remain unrealized, even the ache of incompletion, all of that belongs to Christian consciousness. We know there will be a recapitulation of all things in Christ, their submission to the Father, “that God may be all in all” (1 Cor 15:28). For that reason our time here is real and urgent, yet not terminal.

[…]

 

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ASK FATHER: If the Canon is inaudible, would it be invalid?

Posted on 26 April 2026 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader…

QUAERUNTUR:

An elderly priest always says the Canon in such a way that he is completely inaudible, he merely moves his lips. Do the rubrics require the Canon to be said audibly, if so, would his Mass be invalid?

The Canon is to be recited “secretly”.

In the 1962 Missale Romanum, “secretly” means secreto, not mentally, silently, or merely internally. The priest must actually pronounce the words, with lips and voice, so that he hears himself, while those around him do not hear him.

A rubric gives the principle explicitly:

Quae vero secreto dicenda sunt, ita pronuntiet, ut ipsemet se audiat, et a circumstantibus non audiatur. … Those things which are to be said secretly are to be pronounced in such a way that he himself hears himself, and that they are not heard by those standing around.

So the Roman Canon is “silent” only from the standpoint of the people. It is really a low vocal recitation, deliberately articulated. The priest is praying the Canon aloud enough for himself, not aloud enough for the congregation.

The rubric for the Canon itself says that after the Preface the priest begins the Canon “secreto dicens: Te igitur, saying secretly: Te igitur.” Even the words of consecration are pronounced carefully, not mentally: the Missal says the priest pronounces them distincte et attente, “distinctly and attentively,” over the Host, and attente et continuate, “attentively and continuously,” over the chalice.

The main “voices” the priest uses are these:

1. Vox clara, the clear voice.  This is audible to those nearby and, in Low Mass, is used for the parts the Missal lists as said clara voce, for example the beginning prayers, Introit, Kyrie, Gloria, collects, readings, Creed, Preface, Sanctus, etc. The Missal says these must be pronounced distinctly and fittingly, neither too fast nor too slowly, neither too loud nor too low.

2. Vox secreta, the secret or low voice. This is the voice used for the Canon and for many priestly prayers, including the Offertory prayers and other prayers marked secreto. It is audible to the celebrant himself, ordinarily inaudible to the people. In the Low Mass list, after the parts assigned to the clear voice, the Missal adds simply: Cetera dicuntur secreto, “The rest are said secretly.”   It is possible that a server or deacon close by will hear this level of voice.

3. The sung voice, in Missa cantata or Missa solemnis.  In sung Mass, the celebrant sings certain parts: Dominus vobiscum, the orations, the Preface dialogue and Preface, the introduction to the Pater noster, and other prescribed chants. The 1962 rubrics distinguish these sung parts from the parts said secretly.

In practical terms: at a 1962 Low Mass you hear the Preface and Sanctus, then the altar falls into the “silence” of the Canon. The priest is still speaking, but in the secreto voice. You may hear a murmur near the altar, especially in a small chapel, but the rubric does not intend the Canon to be proclaimed to the nave. The “secret” is therefore liturgical and acoustic, not psychological.

Back in the day, moral theologians agreed that it would be grave sin to recite the whole of the Canon, or just the words of consecration, aloud, that is in the clara or conveniens vox, rather than secrete, with the submissa vox.  The Council of Trent went so far as to say that if a priest didn’t use the submissa vox, then anathema sit and that act was “damnandum”.  

On the other hand, were the priest not to pronounce the words at all, physically, with breath and movement of the lips, etc., that too would be a grave sin, for he would be risking sacramental nullity, an invalid, ineffective consecration due to lack of proper form.    That said, it is possible that there is some “subvocalization” going on.  However, the priest risks invalidity by not saying the words, especially of the consecrations, physically, not merely mentally.

A bonus question, he also uses the pre-55, however only has permission for the 1962. I recall an FSSP priest mentioning that all pre-55 Masses said without e, explicit permission of the Bishop are illicit, is that indeed the case? Should I simply avoid his Mass?

There are no significant differences between the pre-55 and the 1962 editions except during Holy Week and in some matters of the calendar (e.g., some additional vigils, etc.), and the lack of the name of St. Joseph during the Canon.  It seems to me that using a pre-55 Missal for Mass is no big deal.

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ROME 26/4– Day 33: Here’s a little Latin for you

Posted on 25 April 2026 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

ROMAE SOL ORTUS EST HORA VI ET XIII. SOL OCCIDET POST PAUCA MINUTA HORA XX ET IV. CAMPANA “AVE MARIA” PRO CURIA ROMANA HORA XX ET XV SONARE DEBET, SED NON SONABIT. POTIUS, APUD ECCLESIAM SANCTISSIMAE TRINITATIS PEREGRINORUM ET CONVALESCENTIUM HORA XX ET XXIV SONABIT FELICITER.

FELICEM FESTUM SANCTI MARCI DIEMQUE OMONIMI FELICEM AMICO MEO MARCO CARISSIMO, QUI IBI IN MUNDO… ALICUBI, NESCIO.

HIS SCRIPTIS, NUNC POTIONEM E IUNIPERO DESTILLATAM HORA EST BIBENDI, NEMPE ANGLICE “GIN O’CLOCK”, QUOD LIBENTER PAULUM CONTUSUS CLEMENS XIV – BEATISSIMAE MEMORIAE – BENEDICTIONEM SUAM IMPERTIT.

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And this…

I wonder if someone could pull this off today?

And… too good not to share…

I spied that the Italian pasta maker Barilla put playlists on Spotify with songs to play for the length of cooking time for different kinds of pasta.

It’s a good idea, I’ll admit.  What I won’t admit is that buying Barilla pasta is a good idea if you have something better even if more expensive (try to get a lighter shade, indicating a different drying process and “bronze cut” which leaves a rougher surface for the sauce to interact with).  Here in Rome I will sometimes get Rummi, which you can get in the States.  Also, about the recommended cooking times.  I’ve never understood them.  They apparently think that pastasciutta (dried) should be rendered not with a resistence consistency “pasta al dente” but rather more like “pasta dentifricia” (toothpaste).

I had to have a bacon, lettuce and tomato sando today.  The bacon in the nearby grocery was remarkably tasty.  Next time, I’ll make it with pane di Lariano, always a treat.

For the first time in a while, I wandered over to the Piazza der Fico where a bunch of guys have for eons gathered to play chess.   Note the fig tree.  When the figs come in, and drop, its “splat… splat” everywhere, as if under fig-leaf boming.

This is a thin crowd moment.  Minutes can double the people, most of them having a considerable number of their teeth.

The games proceed with a clock, fairly fast format, clock move.  There is a great deal of discussion by everyone, others even reaching out to make the move or at least point.  Hey – you ought to see people on mobile phones with earbuds in conversation as they walk. I must say, the play was at a pretty high level.  I am recognized now, and they invited me to sit and play.  One guy, when he saw that I shot a photo of a monnezzaro sign on the wall where they play…

… pointed out that, even after centuries, this is where people dump their garbage.  As if to prove his point, at that moment, a rascal dropped a big sack of garbage right there.  The inscription is on the wall.  On the metal barrier we read… “IT IS FORBIDDEN TO LEAVE BAGS OF GARBAGE HERE”.

It just might happen that, in my book, a body might be found here.

I rambled a lot and I have great pics, but this will be too long.   HOARDS of tourists this weekend.  I heard a lot of German yesterday, but a lot of Russian today.

Here’s something different.  Usually the musicians punish the people sitting in the restaurants.   This time, these guys were seated, eating, and singing.  And they were good!  So, its a reversal: I’m passing by and they are in the restaurant.

I didn’t want to linger, but I assure you they were good.   And, it was at a bar in front of the Pantheon, the very place, where I convinced a young man from Texas to visit St. Paul and meet the great Msgr. Schuler to help him with his vocation.   He is now a pezzo grosso in the Archdiocese from which I, like Dante, am an exile.

Schuler’s anniversary of death was recent, 20 April.  Much missed.

I mentioned pane di Lariano … this is the bread at a favorite restaurant nearby… but…

Dante’s Divina Commedia is, among many other things, a long meditation on exile. The pilgrim descends through Hell, climbs Purgatory, and rises into Heaven during the sacred days around Easter in the year 1300. Along the way, the souls he meets ask about Florence, Italy, factions, corruption, justice, and the condition of the world he still inhabits, sort of like the interwebs. They tell him what awaits him.   The most piercing comes in Paradiso XVII from Cacciaguida degli Elisei, Dante’s own ancestor. He tells Dante:

“tal di Fiorenza partir ti convene … Thus must you depart from Florence.”

Then comes the famous passage in which the sorrow of exile is given the taste of bread and the labor of stairs (55–60):

Tu lascerai ogne cosa diletta
più caramente; e questo è quello strale
che l’arco de lo essilio pria saetta.

Tu proverai sì come sa di sale
lo pane altrui, e come è duro calle
lo scendere e’l salir per l’altrui scale.

“You shall leave everything most dearly loved; and this is the first arrow which the bow of exile shoots. You shall learn how salt is the taste of another’s bread, and how hard a road it is to go down and up another’s stairs.”

Outside Florence, outside Tuscany, the bread really was different. It had salt. Tuscan bread, pane sciocco, is famously unsalted even now: plain, porous, crusted, almost austere, made to receive oil, accompany strong flavors.  I don’t like it.  Also, your legs have muscle memory for stairs.

However, there is a whole world in that “stairs” and that “salt.” Dante will lose Florence, his household, his rank, his his streets, his own door and steps. He will depend on others. He will eat at another man’s table and climb another man’s stairs. Exile is daily humiliation.

Commentators rightly hear in lo pane altrui the bitterness of dependency. To the Florentine every the loaf would remind him that he was not at home.  The metaphysical and the domestic meet in one mouthful.   Nothing tastes as it should.

Alas, the Church today.  There are still savory niches.  But in most places, it is getting harder to recognize the taste of the bread.

 

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ROME 26/4– Day 32: What a day

Posted on 24 April 2026 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

In Rome the sun rose at 06:14.

It set quite a while ago at 20:03.

The Ave Maria Bells is still listed in the 20:15 cycle.

Welcome Regstrant:

CRM

Among others, today was the Feast of Sts. Maria Cleope and Salome, disciples of the Lord.

It is also the Feast of Maria Elisabeth Hesselbald, foundress of the Brigidines, who are just up the street from me.

Here’s there little bell tower around sunset.

I had a fascinating day.

A taxi took me out of the Centro to an obviously affluent area of residential Rome where I met to consult with an expert on 18th century chess sets.   Yes, you read right.  I am doing some research for a book and progress is being made.  It was enlightening.   He had hundreds of complete sets from around the world, mostly antique, not much modern.

He had sets which fit precisely in the period I am looking at that would have been used in this region.  Not only, he had precious volumes, first editions etc., of the Modenese Masters and others.  I was pretty excited to be able to look at a 1st edition of Domenico Ponziani’s great work, at first published anonymously in the amazing year 1769.

Then I had an amazing taxi ride back to the Centro.  The driver gabbed on and on in great detail about how Benedict was forced to resign by pressure from outside and how Pres. Trump could help clear it up by releasing documents involving Hilary and Podesta, about how the munus and ministerium problem in the resignation speech made the resignation invalid, how Francis was an anti-Pope etc.  His knowledge of details was exact and fluid.  I suspect that he delivers it often, and probably to every single priest he conveys.  It was a tour-de-force.

Then Mass and then shopping for supper.

That was it, and a can of sardines with a piece of bread before I went to see the chess collectionist.   However, it was a new bottle of oil and, since I just finished the other one, what a difference.

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Black to move.  Don’t move until you see it.  Then you can’t unsee it.

NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.

 

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ROME 26/4– Day 31: tired

Posted on 23 April 2026 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Over Rome at 06:16 the sun emerged and it will remerge (?) submerge at 20:02.

The Ave Maria Bell ought to ring for the Curia at 20:15 (but it won’t).

It’s the feast of St. George and St. Adalbert.

I’m tired today.

Tomorrow I have an appointment with an expert on 18th century chess sets.  It’s part of my writing project while I’m here.

The leftover box from a favorite place.

Did I post this from Sunday?  There was a great choir from Switzerland.   Frenchy flappy dalmatic sleeves, but okay.

 

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ROME 26/4– Days 30: R.I.P.

Posted on 22 April 2026 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Up came the sun at 06:17. Down goeth the sun at 20:01.

The Ave Maria is in the 20:15 cycle for the Curia.

It is the feast of three saintly Popes of yore: Soter, Caius and Agapitus.  Perhaps more important in Rome than in Columbia Heights or Broward County.

Meanwhile… there but for grace…

My Jesus, mercy. I am 66 and I was ordained in 1991. Pray for this priest. Requiescat in pace.

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From Sunday’s lunch with The Great Roman™…

After lunch we were fiddling around with an app that shows the location of heavenly (physical) objects and we spotted a couple of amazing conjunctions.

Alas, it was full daylight and we could not see them.

In this engraving, we see what the washing of feet of female pilgrims was like by the sisters in the Archconfraternity of The Most Trinity of the Pilgrims and Convalescents.  The customs of the Archcon have been revived, although we don’t yet have a Cardinal member to preside.  It’s amazing how the details are the same.

When I have assisted, I’m the guy in the middle, though not a Cardinal.  However, according to the reasoning of a certain document, I’ve discerned myself to be a “Monsignor”.  Therefore everyone is obliged to accompany me as a Monsignor and to use my monsignorial pronouns.

In this following we read that in the Jubilee year of 1625, the Archcon members washed the feet of 567237 pilgrims and cared for 24306 sick pilgrims.

Can you imagine what it was like around that church and complex every day?  Ss. Trinità was the second most visited church in Rome after St. Peter’s.

It is hard to describe briefly how important and even powerful the Archconfraternity was in those heady years of the amazing Roman 17th and 18th centuries, before everything flew apart.

Meanwhile, my work on a book continues.  More research on Friday when I meet with an expert on 18th c. chess sets.

I could really use a laser printer.

Part of my work.  Except… I have to rotate it.  That’ll take some work, but I’m getting using GIMP.

Speaking of chess… black to move and mate in 4.

NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.

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“Masses scheduled at impossible times”… Where have I heard that before?

Posted on 22 April 2026 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Today in the Italian daily Il Foglio there is an article which starts…

Catholics increasingly persecuted after the Agreement with China

Human Rights Watch report: the situation has worsened after the agreement between Beijing and the Holy See. An assessment after eight years

The only Church is that of Xi

“Ma va!”, as they say here.

The description of how Catholics are being treated is horrifying.  Silence from Rome.

One of the lines that struck me was:

From the testimonies collected, it is clear that professing one‘s faith has become more complicated: masses are scheduled at “inconvenient“ times, reducing participation.

Sound familiar?

And….

A Catholic who left China said that “we started praying like thieves, gatherings for important holidays were canceled. The authorities prevented singing and darkened the windows of the church, so that the prayers are not visible from the outside. Children, today, no longer have memory of the prayers and celebrations that took place in church.” The goal, Human Rights Watch writes, is “to sever generational ties within the Catholic community.”

Not long ago I had supper with some folks from Charlotte.  They told me about the situation there now, including the imperious dictate from High Atop The Thing that there is to be no socializing by the faithful after the inconveniently scheduled Masses at the hard to reach remote location.

Think about it… from TC (Taurina cacata) no Masses in parish churches, not to be mentioned or listed in parish bulletins, priests ordained after a certain year can’t do it….

What does this sound like?

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ROME 26/4– Days 29: Happy Birthday Rome!

Posted on 21 April 2026 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Today it was 06:19 when Pyrois, Eous, Aethon, and Phlegon bore the chariot of Helios into the view of Rome.

At 19:59 the same “Fiery One”, “He of the Dawn”, “Blazing” and “Burning” will take dimming cart into West.

The Ave Maria Bells is slated to chime at 20:15.

In the Novus reckoning this is the Feast of St. Anselm of Canterbury, Doctor of the Church (+1109). What would he think about Canterbury now?

Welcome Registrants:

LatinMassServer
Rod

Francis died one year ago, today.

Yes, today is the 2779th Birthday of Rome!

Alme Sol, curru nitido diem qui
promis et celas aliusque et idem
nasceris, possis nihil urbe Roma
visere maius.

Q. Horatius Flaccus
Carmen Saeculare

A reason to post the sunrise and sunset while in Rome.

In the great church of St. Augustine here in Rome you will find near the door to the sacristy the the funerary monument of the scholar Onofrio Panvinio (1529 Verona – 1568 Palermo). He figured out the dating of the founding of Rome, the dates we often see with the abbreviation A.U.C. (Ab Urbe Condita).  As you know that condita comes from condo, condere, cónditum and not condio, condíre, condítum.  If not, we would be saying “From the (year) the City was pickled” rather than “From the (year) the City was founded”.  We get “condiments” from the later. In Latin it is good to get the accents right, as in the Vespers hymn Cónditor alme siderum, just to throw another “alme” in today for spice.

Admire his stony countenance captured in cold marble, and say a prayer for the repose of his soul.

Onofrio was an Augustinian and great scholar.    He is the author of such page turners as the 1557 work Fasti et triumphi Rom. a Romulo rege vsque ad Carolum V. Caes. Aug.:Sive epitome regum, consulum, dictatorum, magistror. equitum, tribunorum militum consulari potestate, censorum, impp. & aliorum magistratuum Roman. cum orientalium tum occidentalium, ex antiquitatum monumentis maxima cum fide ac diligentia desumpta.  A ripping yarn!

Here is his monument inscription.  Go ahead and take a crack at it!

D.O.M.
F. ONVPHRIO PANVINIO VERONENSI
EREMITÆ AVGVSTINIANO
VIRO AD OMNES ET ROMANAS
ET ECCLESIASTICAS ANTIQVITATES
E TENEBRIS ERVENDAS NATO
QVI ALEXANDR FARN. CARD. VICECAN.
IN SICILIAM PROSEQVVTUS ALIENISSIMO
ET SIBI ET HISTORIÆ TEMPORE
PANORMI OBIIT XVIII KAL. APR. MDLXVIII
PRÆCLARIS MVLTIS ET PERFECTIS
ET INCHOATIS INDVSTRIÆ SVÆ
MONVMENTIS RELICTIS VIX. ANN. XXXIX.
AMICI HONORIS CAVSSA POSVERUNT.

And take a crack at this.

White to move and mate in 4.

NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.

BONUS:

YouTube thumbnailYouTube icon

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Of Tolkien and a very young Fr. Z

Posted on 20 April 2026 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

J.R.R. Tolkien’s books provided inestimable foundations for my later acceptance of all that the Catholic Church taught and that in conjunction with its most powerful conveyer of doctrine, sacred liturgical worship. In fact, at the behest of a wise grandmother, who saw I was really into this author, suggested that I write to him. I did. He wrote back. I wrote again, his letter arrived after he died. There is a line in it that people were waiting in the car for him and he had to be brief, for they were going “on holiday”. He died that night. Maybe… the last thing he wrote?

Still in my teens, a close friend and I, also formed by JRRT in many ways – the story of how we found each other in that metropolis is worthy – took a trip together to Milwaukee, specifically to Marquette University. Little did I know of the spiritual peril we were going into, like… into Jesuit Mordor. The Professor’s papers, manuscripts and original artwork of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings are there. Yes, you read that right. We spent a couple of days in there, reading and copying and being amazed.

One of the things we read was the unpublished epilogue “ending” of the Lord of the Rings which didn’t make it. Tolkien’s choice to end it. My friend and I knew about this in … 1975?

It was a beautiful piece about Sam, 14 years of married life after the departure of Frodo to the Undying Lands. Sam was working on the Red Book. He has a conversation with his daughter and wife. At the end, Sam is outside and hears the call of the sea.

I remember how the two of us sat there and took this in, surrounded by the boxes that had that papers and drawings. It was awesome. We, as everyone in those days, were hungry for more about… everything and everyone, about the Silmarillion about… anything. And here was the call of the sea to Sam, who had been a Ringbearer.

It was a formative moment in my life, shared with one of my bestest of friends, and that’s no mistake.

Okay… the video which brought this up.

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