I pray to God and the angels and any human agents out there that they be made known to Pope Leo especially before 1 July or any juridical action is taken.
Please God, grant me this favor for which I ask all the readers here to redouble.
There are moments in each one which have brought tears to my eyes and closed up my throat. Over all, it is simply moving to see what they do, which would leave most priests panting in the dust, if they tried at all.
In the second of these, the mission work is especially moving.
in the third, there is a section which shows the home they have for old priests who can not longer say Mass, plus a Requiem for a priest who was described at a “friend” of the fraternity. I, who have no one, where will I go? In the present context, I doubt there is a “regular” entity who would treat me any better he would than a cigarette butt or a bottle cap. I know, however, from experience what the fraternity has done for diocesan priests unjustly kicked and beaten by their bishops, burned out, in crisis. Enough of that.
The SSPX is a “priestly fraternity” which most people, especially critics, don’t understand. They are not about “lace”.
The saga of dealing with my mother’s possessions/house/car continues. A friend with some legal savvy is visiting. Helpful. We are ticking things to do off of the To Do List.
I had posted a Mom’s Stuff Page – hoping to learn what things are and what they might be worth. There are so many knowledgeable people who read here. Anyway, I have updated there with more photos.
(Someone who bought my mom’s house would coincidently be close to some place where the TLM celebrated everyday – while I’m in town – and there is a church in town which has the TLM on Sunday.)
This…
What a bizarre affectation. It’s hard to believe that any priest would do something this self-centered.
Why does Cardinal Tucho
Fernandez, Prefect for the Doctrine of the Faith, hold the chalice like this during Mass?
— Dr Taylor Marshall™? (@TaylorRMarshall) June 24, 2026
Meanwhile… the SSPX now has an open Letter to the Pope and Cardinals and a 28 page Profession of Faith which they say they hope will be the basis of fraternal dialogue with Rome. I haven’t read it yet. However, I suspect it will not have the most irenic tone.
Black to move. Mate in 4.
NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.
Please remember me when shopping online and use my affiliate links. US HERE – WHY? This helps to pay for health insurance, utilities, groceries, and now also my late mother’s place. At no extra cost, you provide help for which I am grateful.
Hard to improve on this from a couple years ago. Little changes.
Your planet once again is whirling its way towards your solstices, Summer in the North and Winter in the South. Since the emphasis in Western Civilization has been northern, I’ll stick with that.
In the Northern Hemisphere the June solstice is the day with the most daylight and the shortest night. It falls every year between 20-22 June, this year on 21 June. The solstice marks the end of Spring and the beginning of Summer.
On Holy Church’s calendar we celebrated the Vigil of John the Baptist yesterday, 23 June, and the Feast of his Birth today, 24 June. The reason we celebrate John near the solstice, both because we count the months of Elizabeth’s being with child, and because John said “He must increase, I must decrease”. The ancients knew that at this time of year the length of days began to decrease. The Nativity of the Lord falls near the Winter Solstice, when the days – at last – get longer and light comes back to the world.
There are lots of fine traditions from different cultures which you might incorporate into your own observances.
First, each year consider having a bonfire (and cookout) on the Vigil of the Nativity of the Baptist. Invite your priests! There is a special blessing in Rituale Romanum for fires on the Vigil. After the usual introduction, the priest blesses (it should be done in Latin) the fire saying:
Lord God, almighty Father, the light that never fails and the source of all light, sanctify + this new fire, and grant that after the darkness of this life we may come unsullied to you who are light eternal; through Christ our Lord. All: Amen.
At this point the fire is sprinkled with holy water and everyone sings the hymn Ut queant laxis which is also the Vespers hymn. I have more about that beautiful – and historically important hymn – HERE. You might practice the hymn and sing it.
In some places the bonfire is used for the burning of witches… in effigy. That could be fun. The witch connection probably comes from the fact that the satanically inclined or possessed hold the solstice as one of their important annual moments for their vile rites.
Also, I recommend the eating of snails. This is very Roman.
Romans traditionally eat snail of the Feast of John the Baptist, and so should you.
If you call yourself a traditional Roman Catholic…well… there’s no excuse.
Also, there is a witch connection with the snails and what Romans ate.
Romans would gather certain plants that were mature by this point, such as what we call St. John’s Wort, along with onions and garlic, which they thought drove off witches and demons.
Near St. John Lateran (named after both the Baptist and Evangelist) there was a little hill Monte Cipollario or “Onion Hill” that was eventually razed in the time of Papa Lambertini –Benedict XIV. It seems that lots of onions and garlic were cultivated in that zone. In any event, the Romans gathered at St. John’s and ate lumache al sugo and greeted each other with the Roman dialect “Perdonamose!” (from “perdono… forgiveness”), a sort of way of mutual apologies and peacemaking. It may be that the eating of snails comes from the fact, first, that at this time of year there are a lot of them and, next, they have horns, which could have symbolized discord and strife. Hence, eating them did away with strife and promoted reconciliation. “Perdonamose!”
To make and mess of lumache al sugo alla romana (aka ‘na ciumacata), you need well-purged snails, of course, along with tomatoes, olive oil, hot red pepper, onion, garlic, (preferably wild) fennel and/or mint. A couple versions I saw included anchovy. Make your sauce and then add the snails, cook for a while, and serve hot with good bread. This one is instructive HERE. And, HERE. For wine …. why get fancy? Stick with cold Frascati or another dry white from the Castelli Romani!
If you can’t get your hands on some snails, or enough snails, there’s always THIS… for lots of fun and conversation. I am not making this up…
SNAIL ACTION FIGURE!
US HERE – UK HERE… nope, sorry! [The old one seems to be gone, but there is THIS
Meanwhile get your canned or jarred snails and start planning: US HERE – UK HERE… nope, sorry again!
Finally, I sure would like to make some snails tonight.
Click!
There is also a very cool Medieval recipe I just found for cherries for St. John’s Day.
And… I recently had snails in Rome. I wish I were in Rome right now having snails.
It is nice to have as your Patron the great Baptist, for I get two feasts a year, his Nativity and his Beheading.
For the Vigil of St. John (today, as I write even thought it is the 5th Sunday after Pentecost, which bumps the Vigil) in the old Roman Ritual the priest would once bless bonfires!
And in Bavaria, witches are burned! A priest friend who shares my feast sent me a spiffing photo (below – a little hard to see at this size, but I assure you, there is a witch in there).
If you have any unwanted witches (and don’t we all?), send them to Bavaria next year for a nice vacation.
In other places, cast-off or unneeded things are burned… in a way parallel, I suppose, to throwing things away at the other end of the year after the Winter Solstice.
In any event, the evening is about as long as the year can offer, so a great party could be had well into the night with much cooking in the open and revelry. Have a nice bonfire!
The blessing for the bonfire is beautiful. After the usual introduction, the priest blesses the fire saying:
Lord God, almighty Father, the light that never fails and the source of all light, sanctify + this new fire, and grant that after the darkness of this life we may come unsullied to you who are light eternal; through Christ our Lord. All: Amen.
At this point the fire is sprinkled with holy water and everyone sings the hymn Ut quaent laxis which is also the Vespers hymn for the Feast of St. John.
It is almost as if the fire, and our celebration, is baptized.
The reference to light and darkness surely harks to the fact of the Solstice, which was just observed. At this point the days get shorter in the Northern Hemisphere. I looked at that HERE and HERE.
For the feast of St. John in June for centuries the Church has sung at Vespers the hymn beginning Ut queant laxis.
If you want to hear Ut queant laxis sung “in the wild”, as it were, check the monks at Le Barroux. Hard core. Fantastic chant. HERE Their sung hours are available live and on demand.
Those of you who are lovers of the movie The Sound of Music will instantly recognize this hymn as the source of the syllables used in solfège or solmization (the use of syllables instead of letters to denote the degrees of a musical scale). Both the ancient Chinese and Greeks had such a system.
The Benedictine monk Guido d’Arezzo (c. 990-1050) introduced the now familiar syllables ut re mi fa sol la for the tones of the hexachord c to a… or, more modally, the tonic, supertonic, mediant, etc. of a major scale. The Guidonian syllables derive from the hymn for the feast of St. John the Baptist:
UT queant laxis
REsonare fibris
MIra gestorum
FAmuli tuorum,
SOLve polluti
LAbii reatum,
Sancte Ioannes (SI).
The Guidonian Hand was often used as an instructive tool for music
After the medieval period (when music became less modal and more tonal) to complete the octave of the scale the other syllable was introduced (si – taken from S-ancte I-oannes, becomes “ti”) and the awkward ut was replaced sometime in the mid 17th c. with do (or also doh – not to be confused in any way with the Homeric Simpsonic epithet so adored by today’s youth, derived as it is from the 21st century’s new liturgical focal point – TV) and do came to be more or less fixed with C though in some cases do remains movable.
So, now you know where Doh, Re, Mi comes from! Check out this oldie PODCAzT from 2007:
It is also good to gather St. John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum) on the feast.
“Wort” is from Old English wyrt (German Würze), which means “plant”, but is used mostly in compounds. Since ancient times “singent’s wort” was known to relieve melancholy or depression, as does borage… which every garden should have. It would be hung above doors, windows and sacred images (hence the hyper-icum “above image”) to keep witches and evil spirit away.
Burning those witches might have something to do with its effectiveness as well, now that I think about it.
Build a fire tonight, even if you can’t burn a witch, and sing something in honor of St. John!
Oh! And get some snails for tomorrow. It is a Roman custom to eat snails on the Feast of John the Baptist.
In the Church’s traditional calendar St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More have their feasts on 9 July. More was martyred on 6 July and Fisher on 22 June. In the Novus Ordo calendar they are celebrated today, together.
HOWEVER: According to Cum Sanctissima feasts established after 1962 can be observed in the Vetus Ordo so long as some other feast doesn’t “outweigh” it. Hence, today we can say the Mass in honor of Sts. Thomas More and John Fisher. For TEXTS see below!
Pope John Paul II in 2000 declared St. Thomas more the patron saint of statesmen and politicians.
More makes you think about our catholic politicians today. Fisher about our bishops.
Plus ça change…
There is a book about them: John Fisher and Thomas More: Keeping Their Souls While Losing Their Heads by Robert J. Conrad, Jr and published by TAN, which is serious stepping up its game.
Two saints for our times if ever there was need, one for comportment in the secular sphere and the other in the Church.
Let us invoke the intercession of St. Thomas and of St. John for our public figures, secular and spiritual.
Animi caussa…
From the 2005 Martyrologium Romanum.
Sanctorum Ioannis Fisher, episcopi, et Thomae More, martyrum, qui, cum Henrico regi Octavo in controversia de eius matrimonio repudiando et de Romani Pontificis primatu restitissent, in Turrem Londinii in Anglia trusi sunt. Ioannes Fisher, episcopus Roffensis, vir eruditione et dignitate vitae clarissimus, hac die iussu ipsius regis ante carcerem decollatus est; Thomas More vero paterfamilias vita integerrimus et praeses coetus moderatorum nationis, propter fidelitatem erga Ecclesiam catholicam servatam sexta die iulii cum venerabili antistite martyrio coniunctus est.
Anyone care to take a shot?
NOTA BENE FATHERS!
Mass texts in the Extraordinary Form for these two saints on 9 July are not easy to find. HERE and HERE
Huge thanks for the texts from my good friend, His Hermeneuticalness, Fr. Tim Finigan.
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10 diacres et 7 prêtres ont été ordonnés par Mgr Bernard Fellay ce 19 juin au séminaire de Dillwyn (États-Unis). pic.twitter.com/Kytx02KoMU
FSSPX.Actualités : On entend dire que les prochains sacres pourraient créer un schisme. Pourtant certains, au sein de l’Église, considèrent que la FSSPX est déjà schismatique. Comment expliquer cette contradiction ?
Interim, motus ad lusorem cum militibus albis pertinent. Scaccus mattus, scilicet mors regis, IV in motis veniat.
NB: Detineam explicationes in crastinum, ne vestrae interrumpantur commentationes.
More success for the Church walking together under the leadership of the Windy City.
Allowing this Church, named after Our Lady of Victory from the Battle of Lepanto against the Muslims, to be bought by Muslims and converted into an Islamic center–it makes one's head spin. https://t.co/855a5FkJRr
So, if the alleged problem that TC was meant to solve was that TLMers were behaving like a parallel group not integrated into the life of the Church, how does kicking them out of the parish that they help support and segregating them into the parish gym… https://t.co/vWzs2kwbZh
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 Pentecost in the Vetus Ordo (11th Ordinary Sunday in the Novus Ordo)?
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. I wrote about the 2nd Sunday after Pentecost but related it to the great feasts nearby.
[…]
As an aside, about the ordering of creation, it has been proposed that everything that moves has its angel to guide it. Everything that moves? Earth, water, air, organic material of whatever kind, down into to molecules, atoms, quarks, leptons, bosons, spinons. Now expand out into the cosmos unto galaxies made up of the same and then clusters of galaxies. There are angels that guide everything that moves? That’s a lot of angels. A third fell. That’s a lot of enemies. Don’t invoke spirits of this or that. You might get more than you bargained for. There pops into mind Francis and Pachamama and when in Canada in a ceremony with a shaman spirits (demons) were summoned.
Be careful about what you ask for. Once thee show up, being legalists, they claim the right to stick to you.
Good News from Arlington: FSSP Entrusted with New Chaplaincy of Our Lady of Victory pic.twitter.com/oHJhaygeiW
— Arlington Latin Mass Society (@tlmarlington) June 21, 2026
I’m informed that the bishop of Camden will suppress the faithful who desire to worship God via the Traditional Latin Mass as of next Sunday (last Mass).
Remember. It is always about the people who want the traditional Mass.
DIOCESE OF OWENSBORO
McRaith Catholic Center I
Office of the Bishop
Rev. David Kennedy
Immaculate Conception Parish
‘112 S. Day Street
Earlington, KY 42410
Dear Fr. Kennedy, Thank you for the opportunity to discuss the celebration of the Mass according to the Roman Missal of 1962. I have reviewed my correspondence with the Holy See from 2023 where it was indicated: If after this period of time, you wish to renew the permission you will need to send us a further relatio along with your request. This relatio should contain details of the number of participants at these Masses and it should recount the steps which have been taken to lead the faithful who are attached to the antecedent liturgy towards the celebration of the liturgy according to the liturgical books reformed by decree of the Second Vatican Council and which form the unique expression [Which is only held by the liturgically and historically ignorant.] of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite – As I am unable to demonstrate that this condition has been met, [fetch towels] I have no standing [fetch a basin] to request an extension of the Holy See’s instruction, and I am directing you to not celebrate the Mass according to the Roman Missal of 1962 after June 30, 2026. [In private? Just him?]
I know [PROOF? Gratis asseritur gratis negatur.] that in some dioceses the faithful who have shown a preference for the Mass celebrated in Latin have accepted the Novus Ordo Mass celebrated in the Latin language. I trust that between now and July 1, 2026, you can obtain the appropriate Missal of Paul VI in Latin. [Put your money where your mouth is and buy it for them and then come and say it yourself… if you can pronounced three words in Latin in order.] I will grant the singular permission[“permission” is only needed where the bishop is tantamount to a bully] to offer this Mass ad orientem. [So… you permit him to follow the rubrics in the Latin Missal? How generous.]
As we discussed I have permitted nearly a year to pass beyond reception of this consent from the Holy See. I did this in recognition of the death of Pope Francis. I allowed the continuation of the traditional Latin Mass after the election of Pope Leo XIV to see if he would reconsider the matter of the Mass offered in parish churches. After more than a year, and the January Consistory of the College of Cardinals in which they specifically chose not to review Traditionis custodes [fetch a pitcher of water] I feel obligated as bishop to act in accord with the direction of the Holy See. [pour the water over my hands]
For the faithful who may object to this directive you may certainly refer them to me, but please make clear that I am acting in accord with my promise to the Pope, the Bishop of Rome. [towel, please] I am grateful for your ministry to this small and unique community. And I assure you of my prayers for them [I’m sure they believe that] and for you and I kindly ask that you all pray for me.
Sincerely in Christ,
Most Reverend William F. Medley
Bishop of Owensboro
Oh, just say the Novus Ordo in Latin.
It’s enough to make even the partially informed weep with frustration.
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“This blog is like a fusion of the Baroque ‘salon’ with its well-tuned harpsichord around which polite society gathered for entertainment and edification and, on the other hand, a Wild West “saloon” with its out-of-tune piano and swinging doors, where everyone has a gun and something to say. Nevertheless, we try to point our discussions back to what it is to be Catholic in this increasingly difficult age, to love God, and how to get to heaven.” – Fr. Z
hwriggles4 on Daily Rome Shot 1648: contradictions: “About sacred spaces, our current bishop and our last bishop began having the ordination Masses (priests and deacons) at some…”
L. on Daily Rome Shot 1649: updates: “Our diocese had a Priest who once was described by our disgraced former Bishop as an “innovative liturgist,” which was…”
CasaSanBruno on Daily Rome Shot 1649: updates: “The photos of the cardinal say a lot. The importance of ad orientem and the priest having no face, foremost.…”
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“Until the Lord be pleased to settle, through the instrumentality of the princes of the Church and the lawful ministers of His justice, the trouble aroused by the pride of a few and the ignorance of some others, let us with the help of God endeavor with calm and humble patience to render love for hatred, to avoid disputes with the silly, to keep to the truth and not fight with the weapons of falsehood, and to beg of God at all times that in all our thoughts and desires, in all our words and actions, He may hold the first place who calls Himself the origin of all things.”
Everyone, work to get this into your parish bulletins and diocesan papers.
The most evident mark of God’s anger and the most terrible castigation He can inflict upon the world are manifested when He permits His people to fall into the hands of clerics who are priests more in name than in deed, priests who practice the cruelty of ravening wolves rather than the charity and affection of devoted shepherds.
St. John Eudes
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“He [Satan] will set up a counter-Church which will be the ape of the Church because, he the devil, is the ape of God. It will have all the notes and characteristics of the Church, but in reverse and emptied of its divine content. It will be a mystical body of the anti-Christ that will in all externals resemble the mystical body of Christ. In desperate need for God, whom he nevertheless refuses to adore, modern man in his loneliness and frustration will hunger more and more for membership in a community that will give him enlargement of purpose, but at the cost of losing himself in some vague collectivity.”
“Who is going to save our Church? Not our bishops, not our priests and religious. It is up to you, the people. You have the minds, the eyes, and the ears to save the Church. Your mission is to see that your priests act like priests, your bishops act like bishops.”
“The modern habit of doing ceremonial things unceremoniously is no proof of humility; rather it proves the offender's inability to forget himself in the rite, and his readiness to spoil for every one else the proper pleasure of ritual.”
- C.S. Lewis
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As for Latin…
"But if, in any layman who is indeed imbued with literature, ignorance of the Latin language, which we can truly call the 'catholic' language, indicates a certain sluggishness in his love toward the Church, how much more fitting it is that each and every cleric should be adequately practiced and skilled in that language!" - Pius XI
"Let us realize that this remark of Cicero (Brutus 37, 140) can be in a certain way referred to [young lay people]: 'It is not so much a matter of distinction to know Latin as it is disgraceful not to know it.'" - St. John Paul II
Let us pray…
Grant unto thy Church, we beseech Thee, O merciful God, that She, being gathered together by the Holy Ghost, may be in no wise troubled by attack from her foes. O God, who by sin art offended and by penance pacified, mercifully regard the prayers of Thy people making supplication unto Thee,and turn away the scourges of Thine anger which we deserve for our sins. Almighty and Everlasting God, in whose Hand are the power and the government of every realm: look down upon and help the Christian people that the heathen nations who trust in the fierceness of their own might may be crushed by the power of thine Arm. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. R. Amen.
offer, so a great party could be had well into the night with much cooking in the open and revelry. Have a nice bonfire!
It is also good to gather St. John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum) on the feast.
waalaw on Daily Rome Shot 1649: updates: “My “solution” overlooked White’s option to interpose its Knight or Bishop after 2. . .Q-d2+.”
