Catholic Oxford blog

Great news in my inbox today - there is a Catholic Oxford blog which started earlier this month. Apparently it started following discussion at a meeting of the Newman Society - of which I was President in Hilary Term 1979.

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1962 Missal pdf online

The Church Music Association of America and Jeffrey Tucker of the New Liturgical Movement have made available the 1962 Missal online in pdf format (72Mb). The file is hosted at Musica Sacra , the website of the CMAA, thanks to a generous gift from Fr Robert Skeris While you are at it, take a look at the articles clarifying the rules for music at Low Mass and music at High Mass .
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Saint Gabriel

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The angels call for our veneration and awe as part of God’s creation. Part of the destructive modernism of the 1970s included advice to Catholic school teachers that they should not talk to children about angels. This wrought lasting damage which continues to need rectifying. We should include in our prayers a heartfelt recourse to our own Guardian Angels. The Archangel Gabriel “God is my strength” would be terrifying were he to appear to any of us. Our Lady was “troubled” at the word of Saint Gabriel and wondered at the manner of the salutation. Immediately, according to his mission, the awesome messenger explained himself. Modern retelling of the event is often reduced to the jejune “Mary said Yes to God”. In fact, she said “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word”. This conveys more accurately the flawless faith and trust of the Immaculata. In the infinitely wise providence of the Father, we now know the structure of the event in even more detai...
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Plenary indulgences not impossible

Dilexit Prior in Letters from a Young Catholic asked some useful questions today about indulgences. I thought it would be best to do a post here especially to cover the controversial question of detachment from venial sin. But first the other questions: The conditions for gaining a plenary indulgence Pope Paul VI set down a number of norms relating to indulgences at the end of Indulgentiarum Doctrina . Norm 7 states: To acquire a plenary indulgence it is necessary to perform the work to which the indulgence is attached and to fulfil three conditions: sacramental confession, Eucharistic Communion and prayer for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff. It is further required that all attachment to sin, even to venial sin, be absent. If this disposition is in any way less than complete, or if the prescribed three conditions are not fulfilled, the indulgence will be only partial, except for the provisions contained in n.11 for those who are “impeded.” It is worth reading the other norms bec...
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Hand Illuminated Altar Cards

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If you need a set of Altar Cards, Breviarium Romanum now offers you a set of free copies of hand illuminated altar cards . Don't use the one above which is just a low-res example to illustrate this post. Go to the original site and download the high-res versions, prepared over six months by the mother of a priest; print them out and frame them. Suggested donation is $30 for the support of a Catholic family. H/T New Liturgical Movement
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Walsingham - the Anglican shrine

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Fr (Alfred) Hope Patten was appointed the Vicar of Walsingham in 1921 and wished to encourage devotion to Our Lady of Walsingham by having a new statue made, based on that depicted on the seal of the medieval Priory. In 1931, a "Holy House" was dedicated, enclosed within a small Church. In 1938, that Church was enlarged to for the present Anglican Shrine. Here is a rather fine ceramic of the Annunciation which is at the back of the shrine: The shrine at Walsingham traces its origin to the vision received in 1061 by the Saxon Lady Richeldis de Faverches. In her vision, she was taken to the Holy House at Nazareth. It was difficult at that time for Christians to visit the holy land because of their occupation by Muslim forces. Our Lady asked the Lady Richeldis to build an exact replica of the Holy House at Walsingham and hence Walsingham became known as "England's Nazareth." There are some curiosities at the Anglican shrine. Here is a statue of Charles, King and Ma...
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