Daily Rome Shot 872

Welcome new registrant:

Aaronparkinson

Meanwhile, your use of my Amazon affiliate link is a major part of my income. It helps to pay for insurance, groceries, everything. Please remember me when shopping online. Thanks in advance.  US HERE – UK HERE

Meanwhile, white to move and mate in 2.


1. Qh1 Bxc8 2. Rxc8#
NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.

Interested in learning?  Try THIS.

Chess is being played in London.  Who will try the London, I wonder?

And now this from the honored Laudator.  NB: There is more to “Roman” than mere governance.  Just ask The Great Roman™!

The Latin Language

Lorenzo Valla (1407-1457), Elegantiarum Libri, praefatio, tr. Christopher S. Celenza, The Italian Renaissance and the Origins of the Modern Humanities: An Intellectual History, 1400-1800 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021), p. 23 (brackets in original):

It is the great sacrament, indeed, the great divinity of the Latin language that in a holy and religious fashion has been defended among pilgrims, barbarians, and enemies for so many centuries, to such a point that we Romans should not lament but rather rejoice and indeed, with the whole world hearkening, take pride. We have lost Rome, we have lost our kingdom, we have lost power — but this is not our fault but that of the times. And yet we rule over most of the world through this more illustrious power: Italy is ours, as are France, Spain, Germany, Pannonia [meaning the territory that is today partially in Hungary, Austria, and Serbia], Dalmatia [today covering much of Croatia], Illyria [modern Albania], and many other nations. For wherever the Roman language dominates, it is there that one finds Roman power.

The Latin, from Eugenio Garin, ed., Prosatori latini del Quattrocento (Milan: Ricciardi, 1952), p. 596:

Magnum ergo latini sermonis sacramentum est, magnum profecto numen quod apud peregrinos, apud barbaros, apud hostes, sancte ac religiose per tot saecula custoditur, ut non tam dolendum nobis Romanis quam gaudendum sit atque ipso etiam orbe terrarum exaudiente gloriandum. Amisimus Romam, amisimus regnum atque dominatum; tametsi non nostra sed temporum culpa; verum tamen per hunc splendidiorem dominatum in magna adhuc orbis parte regnamus. Nostra est Italia, nostra Gallia, nostra Hispania, Germania, Pannonia, Dalmatia, lllyricum, multaeque aliae nationes. Ibi namque romanum imperium est ubicumque romana lingua dominatur.

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Daily Rome Shot 871

 

Photo by The Great Roman™

Welcome registrant:

selZ79

Meanwhile, the 13th London Chess Classic is underway from 1-10 December. 10-player single round-robin with a classical time control. Nine super grandmasters.   In other news, the dreaded MITTENS is back.

Meanwhile, white to move and… save his bacon!

Every purchase of Birra Nursia advances the monks’ efforts to restore monastic life in Norcia, the birthplace of St. Benedict.

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

Your use of my Amazon affiliate link is a major part of my income. It helps to pay for insurance, groceries, everything. Please remember me when shopping online. Thanks in advance.  US HERE – UK HERE

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Your Sunday Sermon Notes – 1st Sunday of Advent 2023

It’s the 1st Sunday of Advent.  A new liturgical year begins.

Was there a GOOD point made in the sermon you heard at your Sunday Mass of obligation?

Share the good stuff.  Quite a few people are forced to sit through really bad preaching.  Even though you can usually find – if you are willing to try – at least one good point in a really bad sermon, that can be a trial.  So… SHARE THE GOOD STUFF which you were fortunate enough to receive!

Tell about attendance especially for the Traditional Latin Mass. I hear that it is growing. Of COURSE.

Any local changes or (hopefully good) news?  We really need good news.

I have some thoughts about the Sunday Epistle reading posted at One Peter Five.

Early on living in Rome I learned always to close doors so they latched and to block or latch windows, often the tall, vertical kind that meet in the middle.  Why?  Because when the wind is blowing, by opening a door in one area, the air flow changes, and – BAM! – a door or window slams elsewhere, sometimes very hard indeed.  You learn to take proper steps so that you aren’t shocked out of your socks.  In any event, this common experience of life in Italy led to a proverb which I’ll get to later for dramatic effect.

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News of the Church 03

It’s 3 December 2023 and it is the 1st Sunday of Advent, beginning a new liturgical year. Some time ago, I saw a movie called News of the World in which years after the Civil War a former confederate officer ekes out a living going about and reading to people who pay a dime a head various newspaper stories from all over. The idea caught my imagination and here I am, a gazetteer.

An audio “gazette” of Catholic things.

00:12 – Init
00:52 – Prison Journal of Card. Pell Vol. 3.
03:34 – Anthony Esolen Tweet
07:31 – Benedictines of Mary, Newsletter
10:55 – The Wanderer 16 November Fr. Brian Harrison on orthodox priests
15:10 – The Wanderer 23 November – After School Satan Club
18:41 – Latin Mass Society Newsletter – December 2023
21:09 – Angelus July/August 2023 – City Under Siege
29:50 – Exit

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Here we go again!

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Daily Rome Shot 870

We are at the Church of St. Mary of Prayer and Death.  Yes.  Really.

Welcome registrant:

mfk*** (email address… not a great idea.  But, hey!)

Meanwhile, this is tricky.  White to move and mate in TWO.

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

Use FATHERZ10 at checkout

Please remember me when shopping online. Thanks in advance. US HERE – UK HERE  These links take you to a generic “catholic” search in Amazon, but, once in and browsing or searching, Amazon remembers that you used my link and I get the credit.

3:16 isn’t just in John.

In chessy news, Vladimir Kramnik keeps harping on statistics and Hikaru’s great success online.  Also, Niemann won in Zagreb.  Interesting point: the organizers kept lengthening the delay between actual play and transmission of the moves to the outside world.  Some of the players sent out both sarcastic and pointed messages about the victory.   Also, FIDE has now introduced the Gender Equality Index, apparently unaware that gender and sex are not the same thing.  They seem to be trying to legislate parity.  I’ve often wondered if there is a difference in the ways that men and women play.  Note well that Prag’s sister has just become a GM, not a WGM.   I know that girls and women have not always been treated equally (or well) in tournaments, which has prompted the need for a separate women’s classification.   Anyway, shades of China, federations will now be “scored” on the basis of some criteria.

On another tangent, you have heard of the Golden Rule.  In the Sermon on the Mount the Lord said:

“So whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them; for this is the law and the prophets” (Matthew 7:12).

Ancient Greek philosophers had similar lines.  Makes sense, right?  However, Christ’s statement, which condenses the Second Tablet, has divine authority, not the authority of common sense.

I learned to my shock that there is now a Platinum Rule.  I guess that’s supposed to trump the Golden Rule since gold per ounce is now about US$2072 and platinum is $944… hmmm…. no wait… that’s less, isn’t it.   Well… ummm… platinum has qualities that gold lacks.  For example, platinum is denser and more durable.  I digress.

The Platinum Rule is “Do unto others, wherever possible, as they would want to be done to them.”

That “wherever possible” leaves a pretty big hole.

QUAERITUR: Is such a rule beneficial if there is, among those with whom you are dealing, no interest in or perception about the fact of objective truth?

Meanwhile, maybe it’s time to learn to play one of these theremins.

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From “The Private Diary of Bishop F. Atticus McButterpants” – 2023-12-01 – Fr. Mark Rogers

Background on Fr. Mark Rogers HERE (20 February 2019) – HERE (17 June 2023) – HERE (5 July 2023).

 


November 30, 2023

Dear Diary,

Fr. Mark Rogers. Loved Latin and all that stuff. I had to come down on him after some of the priests got on him with me.  Pushed me into.  They said he was making them look bad, and he was not on the team. Other bishops suggested sending him to that St. Leo’s priest clinic, who would straighten him out or get rid of him. Fr. Rogers returned sort of broken. Disappeared after awhile. I had to take him off the list cause we didn’t know where he was. Not my fault he left.  The presb council guys said get him laicized. They really had it out for him. Didn’t want to do that. Then in Orlando Jude Noble said Rogers was in Black Duck diving an Uber. Jude wanted to rehab him, take him in. Sure! Give it a try I thought but the presb council advisors again said no and pushed for laicization.  Rogers being traddy was annoying, but these guys really seemed to hate him.  I don’t get that.  I sent the papers to Rome. Jude wrote to them too.  Rome did it to Rogers, fast! I think it was the trad thing.  BAM! laicized him and sent it all to Jude and me too, telling us to let Rogers know instead of just getting some letter. Jude just called me. Fr. Mark killed himself today. He stopped his car and jumped off one of the high bridges in Black Duck. Sad business. Vice told me not to go to the funeral in Black Duck. Fr. Tommy can represent me.  Tommy’s not talking to me again.  Neither is Sr. Randi.  Everyone’s unhappy.   Anyway, we’ll be putting up the chancery Christmas decorations this weekend and Fr. Gilbert has orders to get a tree for the office.  Residence, NO WAY. Chester.  We tried that once.  The decorations will cheer everyone up.  I asked Mrs. Kennedy to get some egg nog and some of those cookies that come around this time of year.

Posted in Diary of Bp. McButterpants, SESSIUNCULA | Tagged
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Raymond Arroyo video interviews with Ed Pentin, Damian Thompson, Archbp. Gänswein

Raymond Arroyo interviewed Archbp. Georg Gänswein on his recent show.  (BTW… that ä means his name is pronounced like “gens-vine” not “gans-wine”).  Please.

At a certain point, Raymond asked Gänswein about what Benedict XVI thought about his own motu proprio Summorum Pontificum.  Gänswein starts talking about Traditionis custodes and Raymond steered him away from it and back to Summorum Pontificum.  Eventually they got back to TC.  Gänswein says he told Benedict that he feared that TC would cause problems.  Benedict responded: “I hope God will help us.”  He also said that when he read TC to Benedict from L’Osservatore that Benedict’s “heart was sad” (he mixed languages a little, but that’s what he meant).

Gänswein was absolute in his insistence that Benedict thought that Francis is the true Successor of Peter.

Also in the episode were interviews with Edward Pentin and Damian Thompson mainly about the situation in Rome of Card. Burke.

Gänswein – 22:14
Summmorum – 39:25

YouTube thumbnailYouTube icon

Gänswein has a new book: Who Believes Is Not Alone: My Life Beside Benedict XVI

 

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Daily Rome Shot 869

Photo from The World’s Best Sacristan™

Welcome new registrant:

TradmumUK

Use FATHERZ10 at checkout

Meanwhile, Fabiano Caruana won the Sinquefield Cup in Saint Louis for the third time (2014, 2018). Sole 2nd was Leinier Dominguez. My guy Wesley So was third. Wesley is also third in the final standings of the Grand Chess Tour, behind MVL and, of course Fabiano. Dominguez is now in the running for a slot in the Candidates by rating. He is one point behind Wesley and he must play in one more tournament before January to try to get a higher rating. Also, according to the arcane machinations of FIDE, Dominguez must play OUTSIDE the USA. The other day, commentator Peter Svidler dropped that there might be a “secret tournament” brewing somewhere which would give more players a shot at the Candidates. Hence, we know it won’t be in these USA, nor probably Europe. We can take a guess, given the other players anywhere close to the running.

Your use of my Amazon affiliate link is a major part of my income. It helps to pay for insurance, groceries, everything. Please remember me when shopping online. Thanks in advance.  US HERE – UK HERE

BTW… There will be a fine TLM pilgrimage next September to Poland.  The registration can be found HERE.

Black to move and mate in 3.


1. … Qxa2+ 2. Kc1 Qxb2+ 3. Kd1 Qxc2#
NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.

BTW… I made some suggestions about buying simple chess sets in the combox the other day.  HERE  I have some photos and comments about them.

Interested in learning?  Try THIS.

Meanwhile…

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ASK FATHER: Priest told my CCD class NOT to kneel at the Consecration

From a reader…

QUAERITUR:

An assistant priest at my parish is telling my ccd class not to kneel during the Consecration of the Eucharist during mass. Any advice?

I pondered this for bit and then asked some trusted clerics including a couple of bishops.

First, I’d ask for a private meeting with that priest.

I would ask that priest to put his explanation in writing, along with his justification.

If he refuses, tell the pastor, in writing, that you tried to get an explanation. If the pastor won’t deal with it, forward it to the local bishop.

Try to get everything in writing, if possible. Also, if you have a meeting of any kind, make notes about it immediately after while your memory is fresh.

UPDATE:

A priest friend added:

First step, contact the pastor and ask him. Secondly, contact the diocesan office of Divine Worship.

Many priests say silly things – sadly, ordination does not infuse the ordinand with wisdom or even smarts. In the 1970’s, there was a movement to violate liturgical law and make the faithful stand during the consecration. In some places, this practice became “normal” even though it was a violation of the law (and also stupid).

The current norms in force in the United States require that the faithful kneel from the end of the Sanctus through to the end of the Canon.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000 | Tagged
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