English Catholic History blog

Ad Universalis Eccelsiae is a recently started blog by Dr Simon P. Johnson dedicated to English Catholic history from 1558. The photo above, lifted from the blog, is of the library at Oscott College. I am grateful to Dr Johnson for his use of Scribd which led me to investigate this useful online tool.

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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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Request for Novena to Blessed Pius IX

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A priest friend of mine is ill in hospital. He has a special devotion to Blessed Pius IX. Could I ask you, of your charity, to say a Novena for his speedy recovery. Novena In Honour of Blessed Pius IX Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, hear our prayers and glorify your servant Pius IX, who consecrated the Universal Church to you. (Our Father...) O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you, hear our prayer and glorify your servant Pius IX who declared you Immaculate. (Hail Mary...) Saint Joseph, spouse of the most pure Virgin Mary, hear our prayer and glorify your servant Pius IX who declared you the Patron of the Universal Church. (Glory be...) Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Immaculate Mary, our Hope, and Saint Joseph hear our prayers and glorify your servant Pius IX , granting to us through his merits and intercessions the graces which we ardently desire: that the glory of God be revealed through Father's illness. (Our Father..., Hail Mary..., Glory be...
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Responding to the Tablet

CENSORED! The Tablet have asked me to remove this post because it is a breach of copyright for me to quote their article in full while commenting on it. A new copyright-compliant version is available at the post: Responding to the Tablet - legally compliant version It is hilarious to see the Tablet failing utterly to grasp the concept of publishing on the internet.
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The eternal truths and the threefold remorse of the damned

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CZAS UCIEKA WIECZNOŚĆ CZEKA (Time flies. Eternity waits.) Left footer reports on this  text on a sign near the sanctuary where he attended Mass. (H/T Mundabor ) The photo above is from the Cathedral at Trier - the inscription says "You do not know at what hour the Lord will come" and applies both to the second coming and to our own death. St Alphonsus Liguori used to quote St Augustine "God promises us His grace, He does not promise us tomorrow." At this time of year I devote four Sunday sermons to the four last things. It is easy to gloss over the eternal truths even though they are an obviously major part of the teaching of Jesus Christ in the gospels. St Alphonsus, in his Sermons for every Sunday of the year focussed mainly on the four last things. His sermons were what we would today call "talks" or "conferences" - they were not given during Mass but at a separate devotional service. His aim was to bring people back to the practice of...
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... a certain loss of faith

Last week, Agenzia Fides, the news service of Propaganda Fide, ran an interview with Archbishop Ranjith (Italian). I mentioned this on Saturday but did not read the interview carefully enough and missed a significant point. Looking at my blog feeds the other day, I saw that Andrea Tornielli , and Luigi Accattoli picked up his reference to communion in the hand. Here is my translation of the relevant section: Let us distinguish carefully. The post-conciliar reform was not entirely negative; on the contrary, there are many positive aspects in what has been realised. But there are also changes introduced without authorisation which continue to be carried forward despite their harmful effects on the faith and liturgical life of the Church. I speak for example of a change that was brought about in the reform which was not proposed either by the Council Fathers or by Sacrosanctum Concilium , that is, communion in the hand. This contributed in a way to a certain loss of faith in the real Pr...
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