Photo Caption Contest

Sorry all. I completely forgot about our caption contests. I also forgot to send out the prayer cards to the last winner - you know who you are. They will be sent out promptly!

Anyways, the same rules apply: don't be mouthy, don't be stupid. Just put forth a hilarious comment which tickles me pink and I'll send out five Cleansing Fire prayer cards your way, or send them to the parish office of your choice.

Sticks and Stones

"You cannot please both God and the world at the same time, They are utterly opposed to each other in their thoughts, their desires, and their actions."- St. John Vianney


Well, that's been made perfectly plain in recent days, what with a sudden onslaught of anti-Cleansing Fire, anti-Magisterial, anti-Tradition posts by various people at various locations too diverse and too obscure to mention here. However, I think we should just meditate for a while on the message St. John Vianney has for us there.



If you're clueless as to the comments that were passed, consider yourself blessed.

Well, as they say, "onward and upward."

Orthodox Catholicism Rebounding!

Everything English Month Concludes

Well, it has been a month of absolutely anglophilic joys. (Anglophile = lover of English culture)

However, we must move on to something new. In this transition, though, I thought it would be fitting to share in video form one of my favorite hymns of all time. The piece is "I Vow to Thee My Country," and is absolutely stirring. The actual video below is from Princess Diana's funeral.

St. David, patron of Wales, pray for us!
St. Andrew, patron of Scotland, pray for us!
St. George, patron of England, pray for us!
St. Patrick, patron of Ireland, pray for us!
All holy English, Scottish, Welsh, and Irish men and women of God, pray for us!

The conservative alternative to youtube

You can search without having to sort through pages of filth before you find what you are looking for. Try typing in "Christmas" and you'll see nothing but normal, decent results for your search. Bing, Snoopy, Donna Reed and Jimmy Stewart. I love it!

Popmodal is pretty new but sure to catch on. You won't see Eucharistic sacrilege. You will see the truth about abortion. Don't forget to comment and rate the videos you watch.

http://www.popmodal.com/videos

Local Church Sold to Moslems?

A very good friend of mine who knows about what's going on in the local diocese said St. Francis Xavier Church on Bay Street has been sold to the Moslems. Any body else hear this? Wasn't Saint Francis a missionary to convert people to Christ.

A Nod of the Miter Goes to . . .

Kelsey Grammer (aka "Frasier") for knowing how to perfectly satirize gay marriage and liberal republicans. This is from a couple years ago, but I thought it would be a nice "back to work" clip for you all.

Anglicans - What Silly Folks

Q. Why can't Anglicans play chess?





A. Because they can't tell a Bishop from a Queen.

______________________________

On a side note: Everything English Month hasn't yet mentioned English comedy. The following clip is thoroughly secular and thoroughly hilarious. Disclaimer - the "s" word is used, but aside from that, 100% squeaky clean.

1st Sunday of Advent in 1969

Forty years ago on 30 Nov 1969 the Novus Ordo went into force. It was the 1st Sunday of Advent.

I was in my late teens and found my way home from the Woodstock Festival in August. The whole revolutionary force of the 60s was at Woodstock. Revolution was in the air: sex/moral/authority/political/economic/educational/music revolution. I only went because a few friends and I had tickets ($5, I think). I had a horrible time. We were not even close to the stage. It rained all weekend. Everything was sloppy. We walked forever. By way of example: let's say Our Lady of Victory is where Woodstock was. We parked and walked from Chili Center.

I remember one ripped-up looking hippie was on the side of the road selling orange sunshine. He held it up and hawked it with the words "this will guarantee you to see Jesus". Because I came from a very ultra conservative, very orthodox Catholic background, I was absolutely shocked. Woodstock was where I heard colors and saw sounds.

But where was the bigger revolution: Woodstock or in the Vatican? Everything that I loved about the Mass was now changing. We changed the Mass and Western Civilization has not been the same since. As another side point, the day President Kennedy was shot in 1963 in Dallas, Texas was also the day the Second Vatican Council passed the constitution on the Sacred Liturgy. Which of those two events had the most impact on society?

Even though I was only 19 when the Mass changed in 1969, I was suspicious, very suspicious about the change. It flew in the face of what the sisters, priests and my parents taught me about the Catholic faith. But, nevertheless, I believe what they told me and still do to this day. Their major point was this: "in the Church things change and grow organically, never suddenly or overnight'. But now things were starting to change overnight and very fast.

I smelled a rat. A big rat. It seems after all these years since 1969, the truth about what the Council Fathers really had in mind for the Mass was nothing even close to what the Novus Ordo Mass is today. This whole rupture of tradition is a concept very foreign to the Catholic faith. All documents should be interpreted in light of tradition, but all around me I saw darkness. Imagine if we had the internet back then. I even went to Westbury, Long Island to attend Mass by Father Gommar dePauw at the Ave Maria Chapel. Today, praise God for Pope Benedict. He realizes that "you save the liturgy; you save the world".

Instead of becoming a radical hippie like most of my friends, I totally rebelled and became more conservative and orthodox. This first Sunday of Advent in 1969, the altar was turned around so the priest had his back to the tabernacle and honestly, it looked like he was bartending.

Why am I writing all this dribble? There are two podcasts from Father Zulsdorf's blog that I think would be worth listening to. They are about the changes in the Mass. Please take a listen to them, if you have the time. I believe Father Z sets the stage perfectly with what was happening in society at the time of the changes.

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2009/11/podcazt-93-40-years-ago-paul-vi-on-the-eve-of-the-novus-ordo/

A Hymn of Joyous Thanksgiving

First off, a happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

I think it's appropriate to share with you the following setting of the "Te Deum," what with it still being "Everything English Month." It was written by Handel after a stunning English victory over the French forces in Bavaria, at a town called "Dettingen." The king of England, George II, commissioned the piece to capture the true majesty of England and to render thanksgiving where it was due - God. This setting is in English, and starts with the words, "We praise Thee O God."

One again, enjoy the holiday!

Doubting the Common Sense of a New Europe

"We Are Dying Because We Wear the Cassock"

I found this amazing story on a blog set up to commemorate 20th Century Martyrs. It is very moving, and handily summarizes the nobility we find in our seminarians, priests, and religious who are truly devoted to God and His Church, not shameless self-promotion and feigned ignorance.

The incident below occurred in Spain during the Spanish Civil War.

On July 20, 1936, an anti-clerical mob attacked the house of the Claretian missionaries in Barbastro, shouting, “Death to the priests and destruction to religion! We have to finish with all of them!” The whole community gathered at the sound of the bell and met the crowd in the inner courtyard. The mob was shouting at the missionaries, looking for their hidden “weapons.” The priests replied, “There are no politics here, we are religious.”
Since they did not find any arms, they jailed the three superiors of the community in the municipal prison. The prison was a small and dirty room without proper ventilation. Imprisoned with the priests are some devout Catholics, who, like them, are imprisoned for the faith.
Calm and modest, the rest of the community were herded to the jail. Some of them had smiles on their lips. One person who saw them reverently genuflected and took of his hat “as if a Corpus Christi procession was passing by.” They were imprisoned in the auditorium of a former seminary of the Piarist Fathers.
The three superiors were put on a sham interrogation. They were asked, “Where do you hide your weapons?” Fr. Leoncio Perez showed his rosary and said, “I don’t have any other weapon other than this.” They were executed by a firing squad on August 2, 1936, with other priests and Catholics in Barbastro’s cemetery.
At the windows of the auditorium, people were gathering day and night shouting at the prisoners the most absurd slanders and wild threats. But they pardoned and prayed. Their guards entertained themselves every now and then by pretending to be about to shoot them. It is not hard to imagine the dreadful kind of life they had to live during those hottest months of summer. And it was only made worse by the fact that they were provided with a miserable ration of water. When one spiteful woman overheard the militiamen forwarding a request for water for the prisoners in the auditorium, she snarled, “Are you going to give them water? Why give them anything at all? Better to give them some lye, to make them hurry up!”
Prostitutes and other wretched women were sent in to the auditorium to seduce the prisoners, promising them freedom if they joined them. But the prisoners turned their backs on them and prepared themselves for martyrdom. Many of the girls would leave in ill humour because of their failure to seduce anyone. Among those prostitutes was a woman called Trini “la Pallaresa”, who was obsessed with one of the seminarians, Esteban Casadevall. Trini openly stated, even in front of the other imprisoned religious, that it was a 'real pity' to see that such a good looking seminarian, 'such a handsome young kid' should have been led astray like this, and that she would try to free him from death if she could talk to him alone. She vowed that she would be on the watch for him whenever he left the auditorium. Casadevall, who was exemplary for his modesty and was seemingly unaware of all this, came and went “without paying the least attention to her or even batting an eye at the flattering words and gestures she directed toward him.”
One seminarian, Salvador Pigem, was offered freedom. He asked his captors, “Will you save me with all my companions?” The captor replied, “No, only you.” “Well then, I don’t accept your offer. I prefer to die a martyr with them.”
The captives stood firm in piety and purity. They spent their time praying together in small groups, and took advantage of every opportunity to confess and receive Holy Communion. They begged God to forgive their persecutors. They also scrawled messages to be communicated to the outside world, on scraps of paper, on the walls, on wooden planks, and even on the lid of the piano. “We die happy,” they wrote. “We ask God that our blood may not give rise to vengeance. We are dying because we wear the cassock.” “Workers, we martyrs die loving and forgiving you. Many of us have offered our lives that you may be saved.” “Lord, forgive them.” “Father, save them, for they know not what they do.”
On August 12, the six eldest Claretians were killed in the cemetery of Barbastro. Before the firing started, the martyrs had been offered one last chance to apostatise. Afterwards they received the coup de grace in the temple. Then they were left there to bleed to death, so a not to soil the truck or the roadway with blood. The other seminarians in the auditorium were filled with hope and gladness, since their time to die for Christ is drawing near.
The next day, 20 seminarians were called out. On hearing their names, they jumped and hugged each other with joy. They kissed their ropes and forgave their executioners. Those whose names were not called looked on with respect. The seminarians were loaded on to the truck which was heading for the place of execution. At the start of the journey, joyful shouts and songs of praise turned the scene into an impressive manifestation of faith. However, they were silenced by infuriated guards who beat them with rifle butts. At the place of execution, they were told, “For the last time, if you renounce your religion and come with us, we will spare your lives!” The seminarians answered, “Never do we! Heaven as close and sure as it is now. Long live Christ the King!” The seminarians in the auditorium heard the shots which rang out from the cemetery. They began praying for their brothers and rejoiced for their martyrdom.
That morning, two Argentinean seminarians were singled out from the prisoners and released. One of the would-be martyrs, Ramon Illa, told them, “How poor and unhappy you two must be, not to be able to die as martyrs for our Lord.” However, it was thanks to the two seminarians that the story of the martyred community of Barbastro was made known.
The remaining seminarians were told that they were going to be killed on the 14th, but it didn’t happen as they were told. Instead, they were to be killed on the next day. It was a fitting day for the seminarians since it was the feast day of the Assumption. On the dawn of August 15, the truck in which the seminarians would be loaded parked in front of the auditorium. When the names of the next twenty prisoners who were going to be killed on that day were called out, they were asked, “Where would you rather go, to the front and fight against fascism, or to the firing squad?” Knowing that fighting with the republicans would mean abandoning their faith, they replied, “We would rather die for God and for Spain.” They were bound with wires and tourniquets by pair. They were bound tightly that their wrists bled, but none of them complained. Before they were loaded in the truck, they were given again the offer to fight with the fascists and renounce their faith, but everyone remained silent. When the truck reached the place of execution, the seminarians were beaten with rifle butts. As they were being shot to death, a witness says “they never stopped repeating ejaculatory prayers.” After the execution, one witness of the execution reported hearing the executioners saying, “The young seminarians could all have been saved, if they'd only taken off those cassocks and denied their faith.”
On August 18th, a Tuesday, the last two seminarians, Jamie Falgarona and Atanasio Vidaurreta, were killed for their faith. The two seminarians had been staying as patients in the local hospital, along with Brother Joaquin Munoz, since the evening of July 20th. The doctors kept them there as long as they could, because they knew that as soon as they left they would be condemned. Finally, on the evening of August 15th, they had to release them, and they went off to occupy a cell in the municipal jail. Brother Munoz, who was disabled by different ailments, was released. The death of the last two brothers completed the glorious crown of the fifty-one Claretian Martyrs of Barbastro.

St. Cecilia, Pray For Us!

Well, it looks as if the greed of others will prevent our further musical exploration of Everything English Month. I was notified a couple days ago that we could continue having music files on the blog if we paid the file hoster $50.00 per month, per omnia saecula saeculorum. I do not feel so inclined, especially since after I joined for a three-day trial at a lesser price, our bandwidth was not increased as had been promised. Until such a time as I find a sensible alternative for embedded music in the blog, we'll just post various YouTube videos.

St. Cecilia, patron of music and musicians, look after us and pray that we may find a solution to this problem of such a dearth of culture.

Latte Actually Means Something

Random rant alert:

When I walked into a cafe today, I ordered something I always get when I'm feeling in need of Eastern comforts, namely a "chai latte." (Part chai concentrate, part steamed milk.) I'm not entirely certain how many of you are as cafe oriented as I am, but I think we can all agree with our meager knowledge of the beverage industry that a chai latte does not dictate 12 ounces of steamed concentrate as the sole ingredient. Is it really that difficult to read the instructions printed right there on the box of concentrate?

For this reason I am putting ignorant baristas under Cleansing Fire interdict.

There will be blood.

Nod of the Miter Goes To . . .

Fr. Ronald Antinarelli for bringing a halt to the oft-abused and oft-irreverent practice of the "Kiss of Peace." The reason: the "rampant flu pandemic." Something tells me that the flu will not ever go away, in the eyes of the administration of Our Lady of Victory in Rochester.

And thanks be to God for that.

Bringing a Novus Ordoite to the Gregorian Rite Mass

This was written by a friend of mine. I hope you enjoy it.

I'll have to do what when I come in? Be quiet? Be quiet for what?! What do you mean people will be praying? Can't they do that at home before they leave the house? Sheesh.

Of course I have a rosary. Didn't you see it hanging from my rearview mirror? That's not what it's for? I'm supposed to pray with it? Before Mass? To get what? An Indulgence? What's an Indulgence?

I don't hear the piano. Where's the piano player? There's always a piano player warming up. Somebody shot the piano player!

Hey, what are all those people doing standing in line over there? "Confession"? Oh, you mean Reconciliation. How come they're doing that now? It ain't Easter ya know. Duh.

I can't wait for the before, during and after public service announcements, you know why? Becau... What?? You don't have those either?? But I wanted them to announce my birthday! How will the people know it is my birthday?!?

What do you mean no homily? You mean I have to sit through a sermon? But what if he says something.....you knowww...unpleasant?! Well,... if his jokes are good I guess it'll be okay.

Don't shout out my responses? Pray from the heart?? Enter the "Sacred Mystery"?? "Christ present on the Altar"?? Well, that's just great.

You don't have liturgical dancers? Saaaaaaaayyyyy....what kind of Church is this anyway??

What about the Sign of Peace? We still get to do that, right? I mean I got my eye on a real cutie and I can't wait to...what's that you say? No Sign of Peace? You mean I don't get to do no huggin' and kissin'? Dang. There goes my chance for happiness.

I don't even get to sing???!!? First no piano player and now this. I mean...whatdya expect me to do for an hour??

TLM Reminder

This Sunday, 1:30 p.m. at St. Stanislaus Church, corner of Hudson Avenue and Norton Street, the timeless, ageless Tridentine Latin High Mass will be celebrated. Father William Lawrence, FSSP, will preach. Father Lawrence is a native of the Rochester diocese and is priest with the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter. He is a very good and pointed speaker.

We have plenty of room. So, by all means bring your children, grandchildren, friends, neighbors, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, grandma and grandpa, even great-grandmothers and great-grandfathers too. "All are welcomed in this place."

If this is your first time at a Tridentine Latin Mass, just attend. Don't try and follow along in the red missals. Just take it in. Stop! Look and Listen! Even smell the incense.

If you sit near the center aisle you might get sprinkled with Holy Water during the Asperges. The Asperges happens before Mass. It is not a part of the Holy Sacrifice; but a blessing of the people. It's all part of the true Catholic experience that so many Catholics have been denied for years.

This is OUR heritage. Our patrimony. This is how many of your parents and grandparents worship for centuries. The Mass in the Extraordinary Form as it is called, traces its origins back to the Mass of the Pre-Sanctified from Good Friday.

Our local "Schola Roffensis" will chant the Propers parts of the Mass and our Polyphonic Choir will sing the Ordinary parts. The Propers change from day-to-day; the Ordinary parts do not change from day-to-day. We will be singing the complete "O Magnum Mysterium" Mass by Tomas Luis Victoria. There will be two motets. One during the Offertory and the other during Holy Communion.

Communion is received kneeling at the altar rail and on the tongue ONLY and there is no need to say "Amen". The priest will recite "Corpus Domini nostri Jesus Christi custodiat animam tuam in vitam aeternum. Amen" over each person before he puts the Sacred Host on your tongue. It is ever so reverent. It's easy to get use to. Imagine you get time to kneel at the altar rail before the priest gets to you. This gives you time to pray and recollect yourself before receiving Our Lord in the Eucharist. No long, cattle lines going up the aisle for Holy Communion. And then, the even better part is, right after you receive Holy Communion, you can kneel at the rail for awhile longer and pray before you leave and return to your pew to give thanksgiving to Our Lord.

Come and see what you have been missing all these years.

Yes, I forgot.

We have an elevator for handicapped accessiblity , security guards who are very friendly and courteous, inside "flush" toilets.

There is even a large narthex in case the "kids" act up and you want to sequester them. The narthex is the area between the front door of the Church and the door before you go into the church itself. There is a very well stocked book table that is manned (can I use that word?) by some very nice guys and gals (can I use those words too, or am I being sexist?).

Parking: You can park in back of the church or, on Hudson Avenue in front of the church or across Hudson Avenue in the parking lot. The bus even stops in front of the church. Our guards, Clint and Brad, patrol all over the grounds while Mass is going on. They would gladly walk you to your car if you would like that too.

Music: Our Polyphonic Choir is under the very capable direction of Mr. John Morabito, an Eastman School of Music student studying organ. He's been in some major world-wide organ competitions. And our director of the Schola is Mr. Joel Morehouse, a devoted student of Gregorian Chant and a very good organist and teacher too. We hope not to hit any wrong notes, but we're human too! And we LOVE being Catholic.

And, yes, this Mass is approved by the local Diocese of Rochester.

YA'LL COME NOW!!!

or as it is said in Latin

ADESTE FIDELES

CCHD - It's worse than we thought

Another horror story about CCHD.

Our Lady of Fatima, Our Lady of Kazan

A friend shared this with me on Facebook recently. I thought that all of you would enjoy it as much as I did:

The icon we are going to see is the icon of Our Lady of Kazan.

It is the icon which was kept by Pope John Paul II in his own apartment for 11 years, from 1993 to 2004. I personally saw it there, when don Stanislaw Dziwisz, the Pope’s personal secretary, now Cardinal Dziwisz of Cracow, invited me once up to the papal apartment to see it.

This revered Russian icon, which depicts Mary holding the child Jesus, was first discovered under mysterious circumstances by a young Russian girl named Matrona in 1579.

Very early on, miraculous healings were attributed to it, and this prompted the Czar to call for it to be brought to Moscow. Over the following centuries, whenever Russia was in grave military danger, including against Napoleon, the Russian Czar and people would pray before the icon, and on each occasion, the nation was preserved from defeat. And for this reason, the icon came to be popularly known as “the Protection of Russia.”

In 1918, during the Bolshevik revolution, when religious objects were being destroyed and churches turned into latrines, the icon was also in danger, but it escaped. It was spirited out of the country and into the hands of an art dealer in Warsaw. Through many twists and turns, the icon found its way, it is believed (the story still needs to be thoroughly reconstructed) from Warsaw to London, from London to New York, and from New York to… Fatima, Portugal.

Yes, for many years, this most famous Marian icon of Russia was in Portugal, in a special chapel built especially for it next to the site of the apparitions of the Madonna to the three children of Fatima in 1917.

During the 1970s and 1980s, many Russians began to hear that it was kept there, and journeyed to Fatima to venerate it.

Then, in 1991, on Christmas Day, Mikhail Gorbachev signed the document dissolving the Soviet Union. Open religious persecution in Russia was over. The icon could return to Russia without danger of being destroyed.

Immediately, Pope John Paul II went into action. He wrote to Fatima, asking that the icon of Our Lady of Kazan be brought to him in Rome. (I have seen copies of the letter.)

The icon left Fatima and came to Rome in 1993. It was placed on the wall of the Pope’s own private study, and I have been told that the Pope prayed before it almost every day, sometimes for half an hour.

For the next 11 years, John Paul sought a way to carry the icon himself back to Russia — to return Mary, “the Protection of Russia,” back to Russia.

But there was resistance in Russia to inviting the Pope to visit the country. And the invitation never came.

Finally, in 2004, knowing that he would die soon, and would never be able to bring the icon back to Russia himself, Pope John Paul decided simply to send the icon back. “Mary wants to return to Russia,” Dan Stanislaw once said to me.

And so, in August 2004, John Paul sent a special delegation to Moscow, and the icon was handed over to Patriarch Alexi II, and returned to Russia on August 28 of that year.

The question then arose of what would be the fate of the icon, now that it was back in Russia.

The decision was made to return it to Kazan, and to build a pilgrimage center there. In this way, the “protection of Russia” could be venerated by the Russian Orthodox, but also by Kazan’s Muslims, who have a great veneration for the icon and for Mary, and also by Catholics and others, making Kazan into a type of symbolic “city of peace” in a world where religious warfare, despite centuries of secularization, seems to loom darkly over our future.

And the planning for this pilgrimage center was entrusted to my two friends, Maxim Gritschkin and Dmitri Khafizov. (Khafizov in 2001 wrote articles for Inside the Vatican about how much the people of Kazan longed for the return of “their” icon, articles I was told were read by the Pope and moved him deeply, perhaps influencing his decision to return the icon to Kazan.)

“Robert!” Dmitri shouted, when we drove up to the sanctuary gate with Father Diogenes. “Welcome!” And he enfolded me in a Russian-style bear-hug.

We entered through the sanctuary gates, and made our way toward the wide stairway which leads up to the second floor where the icon is kept.

I remembered coming here in the summer of 2000 and climbing these same steps, and on the second floor a choir of Russian children had been gathered to sing for us. Their voices had seemed to bring human song to the portals of heaven, and that song had moved me deeply, and was a factor in my decision to try to work for a brighter future for such children, and now I was back again in this same place, experiencing what Walker Percy calls “repetition” — the memory of “then” and the experience of “now” in one place, mirroring and so intensifying one’s experience of reality.

The icon is in the far corner of the upper room, behind protective glass. There are two steps in front of it, and a stand of candles.

Next to the icon is another case which contains the tiny piece of the robe of the Virgin Mary, and other relics, brought last year from Rome by Immacolata. Click for article on Immacolata’s gift.

The moment comes to venerate the icon.

What does veneration mean? Why venerate a painting? Is it something superstitious, or silly?

The iconoclasts of all ages have thought so, and they have destroyed the images and icons which they feel distract men and women from the awesome transcendence of God. This has always been a tendency within Christianity (remember not only the Iconoclasts, but also those Protestant groups which have shattered stained glass windows and religious statues in their righteous zeal for the greatness of God), within Judaism, and especially within Islam, where it reaches its most radical form — no images whatsoever, only geometric patterns.

But an icon is not a painting. No painter paints an icon. The painter disappears, and the Holy Spirit does the painting, and what is painted is not an image, but a window, from this time into that one, from time, into eternity. It is something other than what the iconoclasts imagine, and that is why they can be forgiven, for they know not what they do.

As one draws closer to the icon, one feels a certain warmth, as if from a holy fire.

It isn’t just the candles, although the candles, too, are warm, and bright. How many prayers are contained in the wax of those candles, which are being oxidized by the flame from the wick, which flickers upward toward heaven?

We are never worthy to pray, to ask for the deep things we long for. We long for them, and wish for them, and hope for them. And these are the gifts that prayer brings, even before it rises to God. For it elicits from our own heart the clarity of what our deepest longings are: good things for our families, peace for our friends, prosperity for all, patience for ourselves in the face of many difficulties, joy even in sorrow.

It would be a poor world in which prayers no longer were prayed.

And now I am directly in front of “the Protection of Russia,” the icon of Our Lady of Kazan.

Silence.

Lighten Up

This video shows two native priests of the Rochester diocese. Fathers Frank Fusare at about 2:43 and Louie Capparicchio about 2:49. Both are natives of Elmira. Father Fusare was ordained for Rochester and I'm not sure about Father Capparicchio.

Laudate Dominum, Omnes Gentes

"Praise the Lord, all peoples."

Praise and worship have come to be words easily infected by the liberals amongst us, for they tell us with much arm-waving and bongo-banging that the lofty prayers of old, offered with dignity and royal majesty, were unpleasing to Our Lord. "He would want that money and thought to go to the poor."

But Our Lord also reprimanded the traitor bishop Judas when at the house of St. Martha:

"Then one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, he that was about to betray him, said: 5 Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence and given to the poor? 6 Now he said this not because he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief and, having the purse, carried the things that were put therein. 7 Jesus therefore said: Let her alone, that she may keep it against the day of my burial. 8 For the poor you have always with you: but me you have not always."

So the verdict of Our Lord is, of course, to love and serve the poor as we would love and serve Christ Himself, but when confronted with His Real Presence, we should venerate and spare no expense for Him. "For the poor you have always with you."

Indeed, the liberal notions of "praise" and "worship" deal not with the honoring of God, but with the honoring of humanity. There is nothing so humbly full of praise than a simple chanted Sequence, nothing so humbly offered as the rising clouds of incense about the altar of God. Our Lord would be affronted by any showing of disrespect - look no further than his reaction to the irreverence and worship of humanity He found in the Temple in Jerusalem. He reacted to this unbridled lust for money out of love for two things: love for the poor and love for Divinity. For both were being disrespected.

Disrespect was not tolerated by Our Lord. Indeed, it was the only thing in the Gospels to which he violently reacted. The liberal mindset ends here: "Jesus punished excess." The truly Catholic mindset continues forward to the statement, "Jesus punished excess, but there can be no notion of 'excess' when God is the recipient." The majesty of God is so great that gold is as dirt before Him. This is no reason whatsoever to literally place Him, present in the Holy Eucharist, into clay pots and wooden chalices. Of course Jesus didn't have anything better at the Last Supper! For the Jews and Gentiles did not grasp the notion that God was among them. If they had, rest assured, Our Lord would have been draped in the purple garb of royalty in honest adoration as opposed to the mockery of His Passion when the soldiers so disdainfully declared, "Behold the King of the Jews!"

"Great is the Lord, and worthy to be praised." Yes, He is great indeed, and worthy to receive our praise. No expense should be spared, for at the Mass God comes into our presence, descending "meekly, lowly at the words of the priest." What a Divine mandate! That we should be so honored that the God of all descends onto our tables of stone and timber, and takes His dwelling in vessels of silver and gold!

The goal of beauty and of musical splendor is to render to God the glory due unto His Name, not to deprive the poor or to give power and riches to the Church. No, praise and worship constitute the humble offerings of the best things we have on this Earth which, when compared to the inestimable majesty of Heaven, seems as mere dust. Remember this the next time your priest brings Our Lord down to us into a clay pot. Remember this the next time you see your "pastoral administrator" self-communicating without so much as a bow, in deference to God's omnipotence. Remember this the next time you see altar girls whose albs are so short as to reveal the latest fad underneath. Remember this the next time a guitar is pulled out to render glory unto God.

We are unworthy enough as it is, so why compound our state even more by lowering God to be "just another parishioner?" He is God, and could wish all existence out of being in the time it takes to read just one more word. Do not be a Judas, and attempt to remove from Our Lord the laud which all people must render to Him. "Laudate Dominum, Omnes Gentes."

"Let God Arise"

As promised, I have embedded some of Handel's work in the music bar to the right. Enjoy!

A "Put Up or Shut Up Moment" CCHD Boycott

This video says it all. The announcer should really tuck in his shirt, don't you think?



To get a coupon to toss into the collection basket, click on the link:
http://www.reformcchdnow.com/coupon/coupon.pdf

Read this link too:
www.pewsitter.com/view_news_id_26176.php

It Makes One Tremble

Most of the time, I try to hold my tongue. However, several things have happened of late which must be addressed, lest I commit a sin of omission.

• "The Immaculate Conception - anyone who thinks it's true is sick and perverted. I mean, really, it's disgusting to even think of something like that happening."
  (Does this really require any comment on my part?)
• "With the Father and the Son She is worshiped and glorified." For the final time: the Church has been around for 2,000 years. We've been around for less than a century, most of us being around for less than half of a century. So why do we, in our sheer arrogance, think that our opinions (and that's just what they'll remain) have an affect on the Church? She is timeless. To refer to a person of the Trinity based more on the pantheistic faiths of the Greeks and Romans than on our own Christian Tradition is to commit a most grievous error. Sorry, but it is. Catholics believe that St. Jerome was moved by God Himself to translate the original texts of the Bible into Latin for liturgical and devotional purposes. Yeah, that means there was some kind of "Divine Revelation" going on there. In his translating, he used without deviation the word "spiritus" to describe the Person of the Holy Ghost. "Spiritus" is a masculine noun, and St. Jerome made specific use of that, with MANY nouns and adjectives relating to this "spiritus" using the same masculine declension. In the words of Sr. Joan, "it is what it is."
• "And that's when the Church said it was okay to use contraceptives. I mean, if two people really love each other, what's the big deal?" The Church has NEVER said it is alright to use contraceptives. If you were led to believe such a thing, your instructor, whomever he or she might be, is in grave error concerning the Church's teaching. For anyone suffering from he delusions of indifference like this young individual was, go to the Vatican's website and read Humanae Vitae. Seriously. Do it.
• "It really doesn't matter if there's a religious Truth or not. I mean, we all worship the same God or gods, so we're all going to heaven." It does matter. The Church professes that if you are given the religious Truth, i.e. Jesus Christ and His Church, and that you knowingly and willingly reject it, you are, indeed, putting your immortal soul at a huge risk. This young lady was doing just that.
  

Apathy and ignorance are just more than "kissing cousins." They are two notions which are so incestuously inbred with sin and liberalism that one can not by any means remove them from the thorny thicket of error.

Do not let yourself become apathetic. Act on your convictions. Don't be ashamed of your Faith! Spread it gently and with compassion, for we all know that the enemy has no way to defend against lovingly-given Truth. I am not saying these things out of some distorted sense of arrogance and pride, but rather, a sense of Faith, for this Faith is what is our defense against error. Knowledge is of God, and error is of Satan. Pick your side, for we're at war.

St. Anne Church Financial Statement

A cordial nod of the miter to the dedicated reader who supplied us with this document. Seeing as how I don't have immediate access to a scanner at present, I'll just quote various relevant portions of the document released in recent weeks by the administrators (administraitors?) of St. Anne/Our Lady of Lourdes Parish. As you know, many of the readers have attended these parishes over the past several years, so anything of relevance to them is relevant to us as a whole. The following comes from the St. Anne Financial Statement handout:

"Collection (sic) were down 21% from that budgeted, with overall revenues down 12%. St. Anne finished the year with a net operating loss of $103,011, which resulted in an outstanding payable to Monroe County Catholic Schools for a portion of the year's school assessment and CMA underage owing to the Diocese of Rochester."

So, evidently the philosophy of voting with one's wallet is working. There are so many things one could throw back into the face of Sr. Sobala, things which she herself said, but for the sake of Christian charity, I will not. (The comment box is conveniently located below this post.)

But wait! There's more!

"Several changes were implemented to turn around the Church's financial condition, which include lower personnel costs, a lowering of the school assessment costs, restructuring of the Canandaigua National Bank mortgage, and the hiring of the Cunneen Group to help increase weekly collections."

"Several changed were implemented to turn around the Church's financial condition." The Church? No, I think you mean "the church," as in "little-c" church, as in "not the Universal Church."

"Lowering personnel costs." I have a plan to reduce them even further - one administrator, one priest, no subversive nuns who have nothing but contempt for Truth and Tradition.

"A lowering of school assessment costs." Ah, yes, because the people of St. Anne would rather have their money go to the "Sr. Joan alb fund" as opposed to Catholic Schools.

"The hiring of the Cunneen Group to help increase weekly collections." The Cunneen Group . . . In my personal opinion (which is a proven fact), orthodoxy pays more than "offertory enhancement." Is it really so hard to grasp that people left because they were a. told to, b. made to feel unwelcome and unwanted, c. ostracizied by the new administration, and d. because the music and liturgical prowess of the parish have died? The majority of the altar servers, according to a reader, are irreverent altar girls who have no sense of decorum or grace. The Saturday evening Mass now has NO scheduled altar servers, boys or girls. It speaks volumes that even the little children whom the Lord calls unto Him have fled for greener pastures.

Note to self: it's amazing how vibrant the Progressive parishes are. Really - it's amazing.

"Let God Arise, and Let His Enemies Be Scattered"

We will be commencing on our next leg of "Everything English Month" this afternoon. The featured music will be by the famous English/German composer Handel, whose grasp of sacred choral music, be it Protestant or Catholic, was absolutely majestic.

And, of course, we mustn't forget that we listen to Handel's Messiah every year at Christmas time. We'll explore some lesser-known parts of this famous work.

Also included will be portions from his coronation anthems and selections from his "Music for the Chapel Royal." I hope to have these up by around three o'clock today - if they're not up, I apologize.

For The Sake of Inclusivity

Just an observation:

Those who yearn for inclusivity in the Mass often do the following: describe God using "it" pronouns, putting "people" in place of "men," declaring that we pray for "God's Church," not "His Church etc. . .

However, why is it that the same doesn't hold true for the use of "womankind" and "amongst women" in Marian prayers and hymns? As a person of the male persuasion, I feel injured by the lack of inclusive language in the Hail Mary. Oh? Mary's blessed among all women? Well what about men? If we can turn Jesus into a transgendered God, why can't we do the same to Mary, who is not God?

Oh, that's right - because we're the sane ones.

Jesus - fully God and fully man. That means He was a male human for those of you who don't like the "m" word.

Mary - Blessed Virgin, Mother of God. Note the whole "woman" theme here.

Things were made to be for a reason - don't make Jesus a "non-gendered" person. Liberals tend to have respect enough not to neuter Mary, but perhaps this "respect" is more aptly named "apathy?"

Our Lady of Good Counsel, pray for us and for them who so desperately need it!

How to Worship Video

From the Crescat blog. I guess the parishioners at Assumption in Fairport have watched this video from what I saw on their video.

The Martyrdom of St. John Fisher

While we're on the subject of noble deaths, none can be more spiritually noble than that of St. John Fisher. I'm sure that by this point in time, many of you would have availed yourselves of the opportunity to watch the dramatized execution in the dedication portion to the right. However, this literary description is truly beautiful and deserves your consideration, as well.

His lips were moving in prayer, as they carried him to Tower Hill. And when they reached the scaffold, the rough men of his escort offered to help him up the ladder. But he smiled at them: "Nay, masters, now let me alone, ye shall see me go up to my death well enough myself, without help." And forthwith he began to climb, almost nimbly. As he reached the top the sun appeared from behind the clouds, and its light shone upon his face. He was heard to murmur some words from Psalm 33: Accedite ad eum, et illuminamimi, et facies vestræ non confundentur. The masked headsman knelt - as the custom was - to ask his pardon. And again the cardinal's manliness dictated every word of his answer: "I forgive thee with all my heart, and I trust on Our Lord Thou shalt see me die even lustily." Then they stripped him of his gown and furred tippet, and he stood in his doublet and hose before the crowd which had gathered to see his death. A gasp of pity went up at the sight of his "long, lean, slender body, nothing in manner but skin and bones ... the flesh clean wasted away, and a very image of death, and as one might say, death in a man's shape and using a man's voice." He was offered a final chance to save his life by acknowledging the royal supremacy, but the saint turned to the crowd, and from the front of the scaffold, he spoke these words:

"Christian people, I am come hither to die for the faith of Christ's Catholic Church, and I thank God hitherto my courage hath served me well thereto, so that yet hitherto I have not feared death; wherefore I desire you help me and assist me with your prayers, that at the very point and instant of my death's stroke, and in the very moment of my death, I then faint not in any point of the Catholic Faith for fear; and I pray God save the king and the realm, and hold His holy hand over it, and send the king a good counsel."

The power and resonance of his voice, the courage of his spirit triumphing over the obvious weakness of his body, amazed them all, and a murmur of admiration was still rustling the crowd when they saw him go down on his knees and begin to pray. They stood in awed silence while he said the Te Deum in praise of God, and the Psalm [70] In Thee O Lord have I put my trust, the humble request for strength beyond his own. Then he signed to the executioner to bind his eyes. For a moment more he prayed, hands and heart raised to heaven. Then he lay down and put his wasted neck upon the low block. The executioner, who had been standing back, took one quick step forward, raised his axe and with a single blow cut off his head. So copious a stream of blood poured from the neck that those present wondered how it could have come from so thin and wasted a frame. There was certainly divine irony in the fact that 22 June, the date of the execution, was the Feast of St. Alban, the first Martyr for the Faith in Britain. If the king had realized this he would certainly have arranged for the execution of Cardinal Fisher to take place on another day.

Tridentine Latin Mass at Holy Spirit Church

Sorry for the late notice, but there will be a Tridentine Latin Missa Cantata at Holy Spirit Church on Saturday, the 14th at 8 a.m. The celebrant will be Father Gerard McMahon. The church is located at the corner of Plank and Hatch Road in Penfield. The ordinary and propers of the Mass will be sung by Schola Roffensis, directed by Joel Morehouse.

Link to British Catholic Blogs

Falling in line with our British theme here at CF, I found a link for British Catholic blogs.

http://britcat.blogspot.com/

Here is a link to a Monarchy blog.
http://themonarchist.blogspot.com/


TTFN!!

Just, and Firm of Purpose Are We

I thought that, given our new heading and the quotes thereon, we should look for a moment at some of the unsung martyrs of the past century. Though you may say, "Hey, this is English Month, not Russian Month," I should like to remind you that these Orthodox souls were related to the English royal family. Who am I talking about?

Why, none other than the Romanov family, the line of czars that ruled Russia for three hundred years. While many people know that the Russian royal family was deposed and executed in the Russian or "Bolshevik" Revolution, few know that the Czar, his wife, their five children, and four household servants were canonized in the Russian Orthodox Church which, in a sense, makes them "half-saints" of the Catholic Church. We may not have been the actual "canonizers," but I think we in the Latin Church can still appreciate the trials they went through and which contributed to their being named "Passion Bearers" for Christ in recent years.

Here is a summary of the last few days of the Romanov family:

"Gradually these guards were humanised by contact with their prisoners. They were astonished at their simplicity, attracted by their gentleness, subdued by their serene dignity, and soon found themselves dominated by those whom they thought they held in their power. The drunken Avdiev found himself disarmed by such greatness of soul; he grew conscious of his own infamy. The early ferocity of these men was succeeded by profound piety."

When this would happen, the inhuman Bolsheviks would replace the guards who had been so touched with crueller and more animalistic ones.

Seldom being allowed to go to church, they nevertheless nourished their souls with home prayers and greatly rejoiced at every opportunity to receive the Divine sacraments. Three days before their martyrdom, in the very house in which they were imprisoned, there took place the last church service of their suffering lives. As the officiating priest, Fr. John Storozhev, related: "'It appeared to me that the Emperor, and all his daughters, too, were very tired. During such a service it is customary to read a prayer for the deceased. For some reason, the Deacon began to sing it, and I joined him... As soon as we started to sing, we heard the Imperial Family behind us drop to their knees' (as is done during funeral services)... Thus they prepared themselves, without suspecting it, for their own death - in accepting the funeral viaticum. Contrary to their custom none of the family sang during the service, and upon leaving the house the clergymen expressed the opinion that they 'appeared different' - as if something had happened to them."

The Tsaritsa (wife of Nicholas II, the czar) used to say:

"We are one, and this, alas, is so rare today. We are tightly united together... a small, tightly knit family..."

Inseparable in life, they were now to remain unseparated in death.

After midnight on July 4/17, 1918, the entire family, with their doctor and two faithful servants, was brought to the basement of the house of their confinement under the pretext of moving them once again. There they were brutally and mercilessly murdered, the children as well as the adults, under the cover of darkness - for "men loved the darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil" (John 3.19). The Tsar was shot as he stood forward to defend his family. Tsaritsa Alexandra was able to make the sign of the Cross before she, too, fell. The first bullets did not bring death to the youngest ones, and they were savagely clubbed, bayoneted and shot at point-blank range.

Those killed were: the Tsar (born 1868), the Tsaritsa (1872), Olga (both 1895), Tatiana (1897), Maria (born 1899), Anastasia (born 1901), Alexis (born 1904), the Tsar's physician Eugene Botkin, the Tsaritsa's chamber-maid Anna Demidova, the cook Kharitonov and the servant Trupp. The sailor Clement Nagorny, who had looked after the Tsarevich since early childhood, and Sergius Sednev, the servant to the Grand Duchesses, both of whom had defended the Royal Family from robbery and insults in Ekaterinburg, were taken away to prison and shot there. Those who were refused permission to stay with the Royal Family at Ekaterinburg, and who were also shot in prison were General Elias Tatishchev and Prince Basil Dolgorukov. The maid-of-honour, Countess Anastasia Hendrikova, and the court teacher, Ekaterina Schneider, were taken to Perm and shot there.

The Romanovs, as history has been able to remove the spin of Soviet Russia, have been put in a different light. Nicholas did not delight in the sufferings of his people - he wished to join them in suffering. They lived in opulence - but they also gave much to their country and much to God. The royal family would often meet trains of troops going to the front in WWI, and hand each soldier, personally, a prayer card.

There are accounts of Alexei, the son of the Czar and a hemophiliac, fighting from his sick bed with a guard who attempted to steal his Chotki, an Orthodox version of the Rosary.

If only all royalty would have had such courage and love for their faith!

A Nod of the Miter Goes to . . .

. . . the Crescat, for this hilarious little snippet:

New Header - Feedback?

I'm trying out a new header, as you can plainly see.

Comments? Critiques? Suggestions?

Please let me know. Send an email to cleansingfire@live.com or just leave a comment below.

Veterans Day - Armistice Day

Few people actually understand why Veterans' Day is celebrated on November the Eleventh. On November 11, 1918, at 11 AM, the First World War effectively ended with the signing of an Armistice agreement between the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire) and the Allied Powers (Great Britain, France, Italy, United States, Japan). In honor of the millions who have died unsung deaths is this poem dedicated:

It is the Soldier, not the minister
Who has given us freedom of religion.

It is the Soldier, not the reporter
Who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the Soldier, not the poet
Who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the Soldier, not the campus organizer
Who has given us freedom to protest.

It is the Soldier, not the lawyer
Who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the Soldier, not the politician
Who has given us the right to vote.

It is the Soldier who salutes the flag,
Who serves beneath the flag,
And whose coffin is draped by the flag,
Who allows the protester to burn the flag.

-Charles M. Province

"Come, Come Ye Sons of Art Away!"

After eleven days of reveling in renaissance polyphony, I should like to inaugurate the second part of "Everything English Month." This next set readings and musical selections come from the years after the English Civil War, anti-Catholic legislation passed by Puritans, and the "Glorious Restoration" of the English monarchy in 1660. We pick up our exploration in the era now typically called "Baroque."

The first dose of Anglo-Catholic/Roman-Catholic Baroqueness will be a selection of pieces from the illustrious composer Henry Purcell, who lived from 1659 until 1695, preceding Handel, whose work we shall hear later this month. Enjoy!

One piece featured in the music bar to the right is "Come Ye Sons of Art Away," and adroitly describes the sentiment of Rochester Catholics when the countdown reaches 0 . Even though Purcell himself wasn't a Catholic, I think we can all agree he got music spot on, if not doctrine. The lyrics are:

Come, come ye sons of art, come, come away.
Come, come ye sons of art, come, come away.

Tune all your voices and instruments play,
To celebrate, to celebrate this triumphant day.

Tune all your voices and instruments play,
To celebrate, to celebrate this triumphant day.

SLAP - Survivors of Liturgical Abuse in Parishes

SLAP is an international organization trying to recover some semblance of sanity in parishes with regard to the sacred Liturgy.Join up and tell your story.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=163446277798&ref=nf

From Father Z's blog, here is a parody on "Gather Us In"

Here in this place, our comfortable parish,
All of the statues carried away,
See in each face a vacuous visage,
Brought here by guilt or by R.C.I.A.

Gather us in, by Beemer or Hummer,
Gather us in, so we can feel good,
Come to us now in this barren Zen temple,
With only a shrub and an altar of wood.

We are the young, our morals a mystery,
We are the old, who couldn’t care less,
We have been warned throughout all of history,
But we enjoy this liturgical mess.

Gather us in, our radical pastor,
Gather us in, our unveiled nun,
Call to us now, with guitars and bongos,
Hang up your cellphones and join in the fun!

Next High Mass @ St. Stanislaus

The next High Mass at St. Stanislaus will be November 22 at 1:30 p.m. The church is at the corner of Hudson Avenue and Norton Street. Free parking can be had in the parking lot off of St. Stanislaus Street, or on Hudson Avenue or the church parking lot on Northeast Avenue. There will be security guards patrolling the lots, restrooms are in the back of church, the handicapped elevator is on the north side of the church. Confessions will be heard after Mass.

The choir will sing Victoria's "O Magnum Mysterium" for the ordinary parts of the Mass. The schola will sing the Gregorian propers.

The choir motets will be "Miserere" by Antonio Lotti and Claudio Monteverdi's 6-part motet "Domine, ne in furore".

Here are previews of both motets.



and the Monteverdi --



By tradition, the Church dedicates each month of the year to a certain devotion. In November, it is the Holy Souls in Purgatory, those faithful Christians who have died and gone before us but who still must atone for their sins. The time they spend in Purgatory cleanses them so that they may enter Heaven free from all effects of sin.

Praying for the dead, especially for those we have known, is a requirement of Christian charity. Our own prayers and sacrifices can be offered up to relieve their suffering.

Please try and attend the High Mass in order to pray for the relief of the souls in Purgatory.

The Trial of St. Thomas More

In honor of our continuing "All Things English Month," I have deigned it wholly appropriate and necessary to post the following clips from A Man for All Seasons. It focuses on the trial of St. Thomas More, and is, from what I have read on the matter, rather accurate.

For The Sake of Solidarity

I received an email from one of my friends who clicks "Forward to everyone" at least five times per day. Usually, that's pretty annoying. However, this email was somewhat thought-provoking. In it, the original author noted how in the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995, Timothy McVeigh, "a Roman Catholic from Lockport, New York," was responsible for a massive loss of life. The message goes on to ask that all people, for the sake of solidarity, not hold Muslims culpable for the heinous acts of the one individual who went on a murderous rampage at Fort Hood. I agree with that, however I think it's interesting how the argument works: A man who happens to be Catholic blows up a building because of his contempt for the government compared to a man who yells Allahu Akbar before killing American soldiers because, in his opinion, "Muslims need to stand up and wage jihad against America." I have nothing but compassion for the worldwide Muslim community who may be targeted by ignorant and closed-minded individuals, but I think we need to stop dancing around the facts:

A Muslim committed an act of terrorism because his interpretation of his faith led him to do so.

One need not say that this interpretation of the Qur'an was flawed - that's too obvious for words. I sincerely hope that, for the true sake of solidarity, all who read this blog offer a few moments of prayer for the perpetrator, those of his faith who will now suffer unduly, and those among us who have nothing but contempt for Islam. The Catholic Church holds that all faith has some measure of Truth within it, but that some faiths contain more Truth than others. As Catholics we must, as I have said time after time, hate the sin but love the sinner. While Islam has tended to be a religion more of subjugation of others, not subjugation to God, many Muslims have done noble things for the world. Pray for them as we pray for all people: that they may, in time, see the whole Truth of God and His Church. After all, as Our Lord Himself says, we cannot come to the Father but through the Son.

British Weather Forecast using Anglican chant motif

Photo Caption Contest #8

Here's a new photo for your caption-making delight. The original title was "Whispering Altar Boys." Remember, the winner gets five free Cleansing Fire prayer cards! Check back often!

Fishers of Men Videos

These vocation videos were put out by the USCCB. They are excellent. You may have seen them before but they are definitely worth watching again. If you know any young men that might make a good priests, have them watch them. Please pray that our diocese gets many, many more vocations to the priesthood.

Part One


Part Two

Flu Concerns at OLV

At First Friday Mass yesterday and at Holy Saturday Mass today at Our Lady of Victory, an announcement was made not to "touch hands," per Father Antinarelli. It was suggested that we nod or wave peace to each other. I just want to "shake Father's hand," but I guess I can't.

The Death of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots

The following comes from eyewitnesshistory.com.

"On February 7, 1587, the representatives of the English Queen, reached the Castle of Fotheringay, where the Queen of Scotland was confined at that time, between two and three o'clock in the afternoon. In the presence of her jailer, Paulet, they read their commission regarding the execution of the prisoner, and said that they would proceed with their task the next morning between seven and eight o'clock. The jailer was then ordered to have everything in readiness.

Without betraying any astonishment, the Queen thanked them for their good news, saying that nothing could be more welcome to her, since she longed for an end to her miseries, and had been prepared for death ever since she had been sent as a prisoner to England. However, she begged the envoys to give her a little time in which to make herself ready, make her will, and place her affairs in order. It was within their power and discretion to grant these requests. The Count of Shrewsbury replied rudely:

'No, no, Madam you must die, you must die! Be ready between seven and eight in the morning. It cannot be delayed a moment beyond that time.' "

Mary spent the rest of the day and the early hours of the next morning writing farewell letters to friends and relatives, saying goodbye to her ladies-in-waiting, and praying. We rejoin de Bourdeille's account as Mary enters the room designated for her execution and is denied access to her priest:

"The scaffold had been erected in the middle of a large room. It measured twelve feet along each side and two feet in height, and was covered by a coarse cloth of linen.

In Captivity

The Queen entered the room full of grace and majesty, just as if she were coming to a ball. There was no change on her features as she entered.

Drawing up before the scaffold, she summoned her major-domo and said to him:

'Please help me mount this. This is the last request I shall make of you.'

Then she repeated to him all that she had said to him in her room about what he should tell her son. Standing on the scaffold, she asked for her almoner, (chaplain) begging the officers present to allow him to come. But this was refused point-blank. The Count of Kent told her that he pitied her greatly to see her thus the victim of the superstition of past ages, advising her to carry the cross of Christ in her heart rather than in her hand. To this she replied that it would be difficult to hold a thing so lovely in her hand and not feel it thrill the heart, and that what became every Christian in the hour of death was to bear with him the true Symbol of Redemption."

Standing on the scaffold, Mary angrily rejects her captors' offer of a Protestant minister to give her comfort. She kneels while she begs that Queen Elizabeth spare her ladies-in-waiting and prays for the conversion of the Isle of Britain and Scotland to the Catholic Church:

"When this was over, she summoned her women to help her remove her black veil, her head-dress, and other ornaments. When the executioner attempted to do this, she cried out:

'Nay, my good man, touch me not!'

But she could not prevent him from touching her, for when her dress was lowered as far as her waist; the scoundrel caught her roughly by the arm and pulled off her doublet. Her skirt was cut so low that her neck and throat, whiter than alabaster, were revealed. She concealed these as well as she could, saying that she was not used to disrobing in public, especially before so large an assemblage. There were about four or five hundred people present.

The executioner fell to his knees before her and implored her forgiveness. The Queen told him that she willingly forgave him and alI who were responsible for her death, as freely as she hoped her sins would be forgiven by God. Turning to the woman, to whom she had given her handkerchief, she asked for it.

She wore a golden crucifix, made out of the wood of the true cross, with a picture of Our Lord on it. She was about to give this to one of her women, but the executioner forbade it, even though Her Majesty had promised that the woman would give him thrice its value in money.

After kissing her women once more, she bade them go, with her blessing, as she made the sign of the cross over them. One of them was unable to keep from crying, so that the Queen had to impose silence upon her by saying she had promised that nothing of the kind would interfere with the business in hand. They were to stand back quietly, pray to God for her soul, and bear truthful testimony that she had died in the bosom of the Holy Catholic religion.

Execution

One of the women then tied the handkerchief over her eyes. The Queen quickly, and with great courage, knelt dawn, showing no signs of faltering. So great was her bravery that all present were moved, and there were few among them that could refrain from tears. In their hearts they condemned themselves far the injustice that was being done.

The executioner, or rather the minister of Satan, strove to kill not only her body but also her soul, and kept interrupting her prayers. The Queen repeated in Latin the Psalm beginning In te, Damine, speravi; nan canfundar in aeternum. When she was through she laid her head on the block, and as she repeated the prayer, the executioner struck her a great blow upon the neck, which was not, however, entirely severed. Then he struck twice more, since it was obvious that he wished to make the victim's martyrdom all the more severe. It was not so much the suffering, but the cause, that made the martyr.

The executioner then picked up the severed head and, showing it to those present, cried out: 'God save Queen Elizabeth! May all the enemies of the true Evangel thus perish!'

Saying this, he stripped off the dead Queen's head-dress, in order to show her hair, which was now white, and which she had been afraid to show to everyone when she was still alive, or to have properly dressed, as she did when her hair was fair and light.

It was not old age that had turned it white, for she was only thirty-five when this took place, and scarcely forty when she met her death, but the troubles, misfortunes, and sorrows which she had suffered, especially in her prison."

Goodbye Bad Bishop

Found in the Remnant Newspaper - Guess who is listed first.

http://www.goodbyebadbishops.com/

Margaret Thatcher on Socialism

Nod of the miter to "Little Gimli the Dwarf" for sharing this video.

The Tudor Truth and Protestant Perpetrations Part II

Last time we spoke of the Tudor Truth and Protestant Perpetrations, I noted that we would begin next time with "battle lines being drawn." Well, no better way to do this than to show that the current debate about Canon Law and Lay Involvement (which shouldn't be a debate because Rome has spoken) was just as wide-spread in the 16th Century as it is now. Note that back then, this resulted in murder, intrigue small-scale genocide and a general loathing of anything Traditional.

Lay Supremacy:
Reform of the canon law of England from Henry VIII to
Elizabeth I (1529-1571)

Lay Supremacy
From the very outset the reform of the canon law was driven first and foremost
by the constitutional necessity inherent in Henry VIH s claim to the
title of headship in relation to the Church of England. In the preface to his
edition of the Reformatio, John Foxe briefly recounts the tortuous history of
efforts to constitute the Royal Commission which eventually drafted the text
of the revised code presented to Parliament by Thomas Cranmer in 1553.
The earliest suggestion for such a committee originated with the clergy in
Convocation more than twenty years earlier in the midst of political manoeuvres
surrounding Henry's quest for a divorce from Queen Catherine—
"the King's great matter." In 1529 the first in a series of statutes was passed
by Parliament denouncing papal authority as a usurpation of the traditional
jurisdiction of the English ecclesiastical courts, and reasserting the doctrine
of the late-fourteenth century Statutes of Praemunire." Clearly recognizing
the anti-papal writing on the wall, the clergy in Convocation initiated a preemptive
attempt at a systematic overhaul of the canon law four years before
the break with Rome was formally sealed.' The canon law together with
its complex apparatus of courts, procedures, and precedents was so closely
bound up with papal authority that the flexing of royal claims to supreme
ecclesiastical jurisdiction provided an irresistible impetus to constitutional
and legal reform.

On 28 April 1532, in the Answer of the Ordinaries,' the English hierarchy
defended for the last time their constitutional status to conduct their affairs
independently of the civil power. A fortnight later on 16 May, the bishops
voted a formal Act of Submission' which they presented to Henry. In their
submission they promised not to make or promulgate any new ecclesiasticallaws without the license and assent ofthe Sovereign, thus eflFectively abjuring
the papal supremacy. The bishops also offered the entire corpus of the canon
law for royal evaluation by a committee of Parliament. The 'Act of Submission
ofthe Clergy' contains the first reference to a Commission of thirty-two
members charged with the reform of the canon law of England, although
twenty years were to elapse before concrete action was taken to this end (note: the letter "r" often appears as "t"):
So that finally whichsoever ofthe said constitutions, ordinances ot canons ptovincial ot synodal shall be thought and detetmined by yout grace, and by the most patt ofthe said thitty-two persons, not to stand with God's laws, and the laws ofthe tealm, the same to be abtogated and taken away by yout gtace, and the cletgy. And such of them as shall be seen by yout gtace, and by the most patt of the said thitty-two persons to stand with God's laws, and the laws of yout tealm, to stand in full strength and powet, yout grace's most toyal assent and authority once obtained fully given to the same."

In rapid succession Archbishop Warham died (August 1532); Cranmer
was appointed his successor to the see of Canterbury; Henry married Anne
Boleyn (25 January 1533); Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon was pronounced
invalid (23 May 1533); Anne was crowned Queen (1 June 1533);
and Henry was excommunicated by Clement VII on 11 July 1533.''' The
thread of hierarchy which linked England through the papacy to the sacramentally
interconnected framework of Christendom was cut. Confirming
the new constitutional reality of royal ecclesiastical supremacy, the 'Act in
Restraint of Appeals' passed by Parliament in 1533 declares England to be an
'empire,' Henry's crown 'imperial,' and dissolves all juridical ties to the see of
Rome on the ground that the English Church is 'sufficient and meet of itself,
without the intermeddling of any exterior person or persons.''