On the 1st December 1581 St Edmund Campion and his companions, Alexander Briant and Ralph Sherwin, were hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn. St. Edmund Campion, St. Alexander Briant and St. Ralph Sherwin, pray for us! pic.twitter.com/c9dLIcYQop
“The High Altar of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, recently restored and miraculously saved from the fire, was built by King Louis XIII, who consecrated his person and the Kingdom of France to the Most Holy and Glorious Virgin Mary.” pic.twitter.com/Lo5WGFkkGg
Hey a******900@charter.net! Hey s*****41@nc.rr.com! My notes to you were kicked back. New email?
Are you Christmas shopping? I like to get it done early so that I don’t have to think about it as Christmas draws near.
Tonight I’ll be lighting new candles for my Advent Wreath from the wonderful Dominicans in Summit!
In churchy news…
Archbp. Vigan has released a new letter. HERE It is complicated. There are some interesting points made about moves that Paul VI made to clear out older prelates from their positions (and therefore influence). I remember one day when I was working in the Pontifical Commission, our boss Card. Innocenti came back from a special consistory for timed-out cardinals with JPII. More than one cardinal, he told us, was really angry about the Paul VI guillotine. We asked Innocenti what he said. He turned red, pounded the desk and said “It’s ecclesiastical euthanasia!”
In chessy news… before saying Mass I’m watching game 6.
White can mate in 2. How long did it take you? Go HERE for the puzzle in the comment.
Please remember me when shopping online and use my affiliate links. US HERE – WHY? This helps to pay for health insurance (massively hiked for this new year of surprises), utilities, groceries, etc.. At no extra cost, you provide help for which I am grateful.
At Vespers during Advent we priests recite (or ought to) a hymn entitled Conditor alme siderum. This is perhaps from the late 6th or early 7th c. In Pope Urban VIII’s revision of the hymns of the Roman Breviary in 1632, the Advent hymns were greatly altered and this hymn was no exception. The revised hymn, Creator alme siderum, is very different piece. In the Liturgia horarum original hymn has since been restored:
Loving Creator of the stars,
eternal Light of believers,
O Christ, redeemer of all,
hear the prayers of supplicants.
Qui condolens interitu
mortis perire saeculum,
salvasti mundum languidum,
donans reis remedium,
You, greatly suffering with us
that the cosmos was perishing from the ruin of death,
saved the weakened world
giving a cure to the condemned,
Vergente mundi vespere,
uti sponsus de thalamo,
egressus honestissima
Virginis matris clausula.
while the evening of the world is verging toward us,
as a Bridegroom having come forth from the chamber, the most virtuous
enclosure of the Virgin Mother.
Cuius forti potentiae
genu curvantur omnia;
caelestia, terrestria
nutu fatentur subdita.
At whose powerful might
All things are bent down at the knee,
things celestial, things earthly,
things subdued making their profession with bowed head.
Te, Sancte, fide quaesumus,
venture iudex saeculi,
conserva nos in tempore
hostis a telo perfidi.
In faith we beg You, O Holy One,
You the Judge of the world about to come,
guard us in this era
from the weapon of the teacherous enemy.
Sit, Christe, rex piissime,
tibi Patrique gloria
cum Spiritu Paraclito,
in sempiterna saecula. Amen.
O Christ, most merciful King,
let there be glory to You,
and to the Father with the Consoler Spirit
forever and ever. Amen.
Here is one poetic translation for the restored, but ancient, text:
Creator of the starry height,
Thy people’s everlasting light,
Jesu, Redeemer, save us all,
Hear thou thy servants when they call.
Thou, sorrowing at the helpless cry
Of all creation doomed to die,
Didst save our lost and guilty race
By healing gifts of heavenly grace.
When earth was near its evening hour,
Thou didst, in love’s redeeming power,
Like bridegroom from his chamber, come
Forth from a Virgin-mother’s womb.
At thy great Name, exalted now,
All knees in lowly homage bow;
All things in heaven and earth adore,
And own Thee King for evermore.
To thee, O Holy One, we pray,
Our Judge in that tremendous day,
Ward off, while yet we dwell below,
The weapons of our crafty foe.
To God the Father, God the Son,
And God the Spirit, Three in One,
Praise, honor, might and glory be
From age to age eternally.
Alternate Third Verse:
Thou cam’st, the Bridegroom of the bride,
As drew the world to eventide;
Proceeding from a virgin shrine,
The spotless Virgin all divine.
Somewhere along the way, the Gregorian chant melodies for many hymns were adjusted, usually by French speakers, and you can hear the influence of French even on the melodies, for the syllabic emphasis shifted around. Today’s hymn is a good example. In the case of Conditor alme siderum, the melody was adjusted in such a way that the second syllable of Conditor receives an emphasis that it did not have before Vatican II.
“But Father! But Father! So what?!??” you say while drumming your fingers. “What difference could that make??? Aren’t you being too picky? It’s because YOU HATE VATICAN II!”
Friends, where you place the syllabic emphasis changes the meaning. Perpend.
There are two verbs in Latin that can give us the word spelled Conditor: condo, condere results in cónditor while condio, condire produces condítor. The verb condo, condere, condidi, cónditum, “to bring, lay or put together” in the sense of “establish, build, construct, compose, describe” and, strangely, “hide” is never to be confused with condio, condire, condivi, condítum: “to put fruit in vinegar, wine, spices, etc., to preserve, pickle”. Our English word “condiment” comes from condio. BEWARE! This gets confusing because since “to lay up”, as in to pickle or preserve, can also be expressed by condo! There is a connection between the words.
Incautious people might sing the Vespers hymn in such a way that we lift our hearts and minds to the merciful Pickler, rather than the merciful Creator. The inattentive singer of vespers sings us an image of a cosmic cook sealing stars into Ball jars or sprinkling fresh herbs through the heavens.
Let’s play with this a while. We can even learn something about how the ancients ate.
M. Porcius Cato (234-149 B.C. – the “Elder” or the “Censor” to distinguish him from his homonymous grandson), in his no nonsense work about running a farm called De agri cultura (called variously De re rustica), wrote: oleae conduntur [condo] vel virides in muria… (muria… think of Muriatic Acid) which means “green olives persevered/laid down in salt brine.” Remember, I said condo can hit from both sides of the plate.
Also in De agri cultura XVII we find the same Cato’s descriptive chapter entitled Oleae albae quo modo condiantur [condio]… “how light colored olives are to be preserved”. Important stuff in Italy even today. Moreover, in his Natural History, C. Plinius Secundus (A.D. 23-79 – who died perhaps from poisonous gases in Stabiae about 16 km from the eruption of the volcano Vesuvius while trying to get good and close… hah… never a good idea), also called Pliny “the Elder” (to distinguish him from his nephew C. Plinius Caecilius Secundus “the Younger” Pliny (A.D. 62-113) – who described early Christians and their liturgical worship in his letters to the Emperor Trajan and who actually wrote the description of Vesuvius’ eruption at the request of the historian C. Cornelius Tacitus) says: vitis ipsa quoque manditur decoctis caulibus summis, qui et condiuntur [condio] in aceto ac muria, describing the cooked tendrils of grapevines flavored with vinegar and salt brine. Yum.
We need to know all of this just in case during Advent we are called upon to sing the great hymn Cónditor Alme siderum…O Nourishing/Kind Maker of the Stars.
Anyway, here is a nourishing poetic translation:
Creator of the stars of night,
Thy people’s everlasting Light;
Jesu, Redeemer, save us all,
And hear thy servants when they call.
Thou, grieving that the ancient curse
Should doom to death an universe,
Hast found the med’cine, full of grace,
To save and heal a ruin’d race.
Thou cam’st, the Bridegroom of the Bride,
As drew the world to evening-tide;
Proceeding from a Virgin shrine,
The spotless Victim all divine.
At whose dread Name, majestic now,
All knees must bend, all hearts must bow
And things celestial thee shall own,
And things terrestrial, Lord alone.
O thou, whose coming is with dread
To judge and doom the quick and dead,
Preserve us, while we dwell below,
From ev’ry insult of the foe.
To God the Father, God the Son,
And God the Spirit, Three in One,
Laud, honour, might, and glory be
From age to age eternally. Amen.
I wonder sometimes if people have the slightest clue what has been lost to us, even on the level of literature and Western culture. Is it really possible to read classics of Western literature without a working knowledge of the Church’s mighty liturgical texts? I don’t think so. What would someone ignorant of the Church’s Latin liturgy make of this passage from Jean Jacques Rousseau‘s Confessions (Book 3 – 1728-1731)?
“I have always preserved an affection for a certain air of the Conditor alme Syderum, because one Sunday in Advent I heard that hymn sung on the steps of the cathedral (according to the custom of that place) as I lay in bed before daybreak. Mademoiselle Merceret, Madam de Warrens’ chambermaid, knew something of music; I shall never forget a little piece that M. le Maitre made me sing with her, and which her mistress listened to with great satisfaction. In a word, every particular, even down to the servant Perrine, whom the boys of the choir took such delight in teasing. The remembrance of these times of happiness and innocence frequently returning to my mind, both ravish and affect me.
Other than that, Rousseau was a real jerk.
A century earlier, during the humanism of the Renaissance Pope Urban VIII (Barbarini) revised many hymns for the Breviarium Romanum in 1623, including this one, to the point that it is pretty much a different hymn. It seems this version didn’t make it to France for Rousseau to hear. Compare and contrast.
Qui daemonis ne fraudibus
periret orbis, impetu
amoris actus, languidi,
mundi medela factus es,
Commune qui mundi nefas
ut expiares, ad crucem
e Virginis sacrario
intacta prodis victima.
Cuius potestas gloriae,
Nomenque cum primum sonat,
et caelites et inferi
tremente curvantur genu.
Te, deprecamur ultimae
magnum diei Iudicem,
armis supernae gratiae
defende nos ab hostibus.
Virtus, honor, laus, gloria
Deo Patri cum Filio,
Sancto simul Paraclito,
in saeculorum saecula.
You don’t need much Latin to know that that is pretty different.
These hymns are pretty interesting, aren’t they?
__________
Years ago I made a couple of podcasts in which I dissected the hymn for Vespers during Advent, Conditor or Creator alme siderum, in both the Vetus Ordo of the Roman Rite and the Novus Ordo.
I give a rapid and brutally literal translation and sing the hymns so you can hear the differences.
124 11-11-26 – Advent EF and OF hymns for vespers compared
Please remember me when shopping online and use my affiliate links. US HERE – WHY? This helps to pay for health insurance (massively hiked for this new year of surprises), utilities, groceries, etc.. At no extra cost, you provide help for which I am grateful.
Please remember me when shopping online and use my affiliate links. US HERE – WHY? This helps to pay for health insurance (massively hiked for this new year of surprises), utilities, groceries, etc.. At no extra cost, you provide help for which I am grateful.
In churchy news…
BREAKING NEWS – Assisted suicide Bill passes Second Reading by 330 votes to 275. Bishop Mark Davies of Shrewsbury declares the result a ‘dark day for our country’. Story coming soon pic.twitter.com/VgEE8rhbKA
“It is something frightening, something unbelievably unjust and leading to destruction, when man places his will against God’s will” Bl. Clemens von Galen, sermon against euthanasia, August 3, 1941 – Britain, November 29, 2024 pic.twitter.com/HpvA0W1NS3
Who can ever shed from memory the images of the fire?
A great deal of hard and meticulous work has gone into restoring this amazing place, much of it dedicated to other problems that developed over the years and that were unrelated to the fire.
Breathtaking. The first images of the restored interior of Notre Dame cathedral
The newly restored High Altar of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris, miraculously saved from any damage from the fire. Built by King Louis XIII, who consecrated his person and the Kingdom of France to the most holy and glorious Blessed Virgin Mary. pic.twitter.com/WtJzD0Xe5K
I thought you all might like to know about this, posted by Fishwrap.
Fishwrap chose to use a photo of Bp. Baron for this.
There is no perfect way of selecting bishops. Even Jesus got it wrong one out of 12 times. But the laity should have a greater voice in the process, says Fr. Tom Reese. https://t.co/Cto1c3rRtp
For more than 1,000 years, women served as deacons (or deaconesses), depending on the language. The only person in Scripture called a deacon is St. Phoebe, who traveled to Rome as an emissary of St. Paul, carrying his Letter to the Romans. https://t.co/g6PtCOhh65
It’s as if the first commission on deaconettes never took place (i.e., no evidence for female deacons). As one in a text group I am in remarked, “It’s like California: the election was three weeks ago and they’re still counting votes!” So, Phoebe was Paul’s FedEx guy. Called “a servant” (Greek diákonon), she is claimed by some to have been sacramentally ordained. Paul also called Phoebe his “sister”. I strongly suspect that – being a Corinthian – she was not really Paul’s sister, in a literal sense. The term “sister” was used by Paul, as it is today, analogously. So, too, “deacon/servant”. She was really helpful in the community, probably wealthy, and a good person to deliver some mail.
Moving on to more interesting stuff from the internet…
From during my last Roman Sojourn… not turkey, but at least it’s poultry.
And, true “thanksgiving”, though in a muted mode. It heralds a Requiem I’ll say today.
Speaking of Requiems, you might in your goodness, please pray for the soul of this priest who committed suicide. I recommend him to the intercession of St. Joseph, to the Queen of Priests, and to the High Priest Himself who will know what truly was going on in his heart and mind in the irreversible moment. May God have mercy.
Please pray for the repose of the soul of Fr. Dennis Conway, who committed suicide yesterday. He was pastor of Immaculate Conception Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He according to the post below, he said the Traditional Latin Mass. We should keep our priest in our prayers… https://t.co/AnBC7EZnCRpic.twitter.com/tz4171dqfR
Not to be too much of a downer today, I am reminded of all the good Fr. Martins has done, how many have benefited from his apostolate, and that the Enemy is constantly at work to bring down those who are effective.
This…
One of the great gifts of our country’s justice system is that you are innocent until proven otherwise. I am greatly grieved when a good man, in this case also a faithful priest, Fr. Carlos Martins has his name and reputation harmed by allegations that have not only been… pic.twitter.com/QIImfso7ir
Did you know, in Númenor, the people conducted annually Three Prayers – ceremonies in praise of Eru. The last of these was “Eruhantalë” or “Thanksgiving to Eru”, which took place at the end of Autumn.
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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
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.
Merelin on YOUR URGENT PRAYER REQUESTS: “Please pray that my husband will get a full-time job by St. Joseph’s feast day, March 19th. May God bring…”
Anneliese on YOUR URGENT PRAYER REQUESTS: “To be healed of multiple sclerosis. I know I’m supposed to persevere and unite my suffering with Christ’s but this…”
Federated Computer… your safe and private alternative to big biz corporations that hate us while taking our money and mining our data. Have an online presence large or small? Catholic DIOCESE? Cottage industry? See what Federated has to offer. Save money and gain peace of mind.
“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.”
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I use this when I travel both in these USA and abroad. Very useful. Fast enough for Zoom. I connect my DMR (ham radio) through it. If you use my link, they give me more data. A GREAT back up.
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Don’t rely on popes, bishops and priests.
“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
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.
PLEASE RESPOND. Pretty pleeeease?
The "sign of peace" during Mass in the Ordinary Form...
I dread it as it approaches and think of ways to avoid it. (36%, 9,555 Votes)
I tolerate it. (35%, 9,195 Votes)
I hate it so much I won't go to Mass where it is done. (12%, 3,205 Votes)
I like it and am happy to do it. (11%, 2,955 Votes)
I don't care one way or another. (6%, 1,696 Votes)
In chessy news… 
In chessy news… 
In chessy news… 
White to move and mate in 4.
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