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Showing posts with the label Italy

Symposium of The Roman Forum

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The Roman Forum , whose Director is Dr John Rao, is a renowned Catholic historian. I have listened with profit to several of his lectures while driving round the M25 to Wonersh or Parkminster. The website informs us that [ The Roman Forum ] was founded in 1968 in the wake of Humanae vitae by the great philosopher, Professor Dietrich von Hildebrand (1889-1977), whom Pope Pius XII called “the twentieth century Doctor of the Church”. It is dedicated to a systematic teaching of the True, the Good and the Beautiful and promotes the revival of Christian culture, defending "the one force that can pull all of the aspects of nature and the supernatural together", namely Catholicism. This July The Roman Forum is holding a Symposium in Italy (on the Gardone Riviera) on the subject " The Politics of Faith and Reason? Or the Triumph of the Will? ". HLI, the Remnant, Inside the Vatican and the FSSP are all represented. There is sung Mass every day in the usus antiquior .
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Sentenza N. 311

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Here's a nugget I noted before Christmas but did not get round to posting. I think it is worth bringing to your attention. You will remember back in November that the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) upheld a complaint by Soile Lautsi, a Finnish woman with Italian citizenship, that her children had to attend a state school that displayed a crucifix in each classroom. She got an order for 5000 euro compensation to be paid by the Italian Government. It seems that this has concentrated the minds of the Italian Constitutional Court which has issued Sentenza N.311 which states that where rulings by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) conflict with provisions of the Italian Constitution, such decrees “lack legitimacy”. See: Gerard Warner Who'd ha thunk it? Italian Constitutional Court tells ECHR to take a hike, asserts national sovereignty
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Anagni, St Thomas Becket and the infamous "Slap"

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My good friend Hilariter , who must by now be near to finishing his Doctorate on St Hilary of Poitiers, doesn't update his blog very often but when he does, it is worth reading. Yesterday he had a fascinating account of a trip to Anagni. Although the museum was " in restauro " (closed for restoration) - an expression with which you become wearily familiar in Italy, the intrepid Father managed to get in, courtesy of a couple of priests who were around. They got to see the mitre of St Thomas Becket and other relics. The frescoes depicting the death of the martyr Bishop St Magnus owe much to the story of St Thomas Becket. As in all good Italian gite, the day included lunch at a "good but cheap trattoria " - that is one of the great blessings of life in Italy. You can have a large bowl of pasta, fresh local bread, and a carafe of local wine for about as much as you would pay for a sandwich and a "smoothie" in London. In another tradition of such days out, ...
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Oggi festa!

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Today is the patronal feast of my parish of Our Lady of the Rosary. I feel that we are especially blessed since we can also celebrate the feast on Rosary Sunday. Today, we had an English Mass in the morning, with some of our favourite Marian hymns. This afternoon, I will celebrate Mass in Our Lady of the Rosary Primary school, and this evening we will have a Missa Cantata (EF) in the Church. The feast day was instituted to celebrate the victory of the european Holy League at the battle of Lepanto. Here is a rather "blood and thunder" account of the battle I found it rather curious that the film ends by describing the battle as a victory for "humanism". Pope St Pius V instituted a rosary campaign to pray for victory in the battle, in which the Christian forces were outnumbered. The original title of the Feast was "Our Lady of Victory" but it was shortly after changed to Our Lady of the Rosary. It is possible that the dedication of my own Church was made be...
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FSSP Venice

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Thanks to Fr Ray Blake , I have been looking through the website of the FSSP in Venice . Don Konrad zu Loewenstein FSSP has care of the Church of San Simòn Piccolo near the railway station. There are some photos from last Sunday's Mass at NLM ( San Simeon Piccolo, Venice ). The above photo is from the website - taken on the feast of St Mark. As Fr Blake remarks, San Simòn seems to be the place for young Venetians. It is rather heartbreaking to realise that he is also probably right in describing the Church as "not that significant" in Venetian terms. Venice is one place in Italy that I have not yet visited: I'm rather keen to go there now. When I do, I think I'll ask them if I can take home one of their more ordinary Churches - perhaps one that they wouldn't really miss too much. The FSSP Venice website is very well put together and it is the only website I can remember which has had background music that I have not turned off.
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Day with Mary Pilgrimage to Italy

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The Day with Mary team is running a pilgrimage to Italy from 3-11 September, taking in Rome, Collevalenza and Assisi. The chaplain will be one of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate so you can be sure of sound spiritual direction throughout. I had to get the pdf converted to a jpeg to post here ( click to enlarge ). Here is a link to the pdf of the poster at Scribd . Contact for further information is Trevor Downs .
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Even now, "Churches" like this

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The Italian blog Cantuale Antonianum has news of a building in Foligno Indovina che cos'è ("Guess what it is") It is, in fact, the Church of ... (sorry, I couldn't find that anywhere), a symbol of the rebirth of Foligno after the earthquake. Apparently, its cubic dimension refers to the book of Revelation (Rev 21.16) although there is no jasper, emerald, amethyst, pearl etc. The light which comes in vertically and horizontally reminds of the light of Christ, you see. What a tragedy that Churches like this are still being built! Here is the official site: Nuova Chiesa di Foligno H/T Ponte Sisto
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Popular posts from this blog

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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Our Easter Faith: Not a Pious Crème Fraiche

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In public life, some basically well-meaning figures have the graciousness to wish us well at Easter and to recognise the importance of the Christian feast day. Perhaps they might assure us that their thoughts are with us at this time. That is kind of them and in Christian charity we should thank them for their kindness, but Easter should be a great deal more than that for us. We must believe that Our Lord Jesus Christ is risen from the grave, in the flesh, and lives for eternity. We cannot treat Easter as a jolly holiday that heralds spring, or the remembrance of a significant event from the past. It must change us today and every day, change who we are and what we do. The Christian faith cannot be a mild custard or blancmange of religiosity. (I am showing my age. Nowadays, I should say that it cannot be reduced to a pious crème fraiche .) We bow down and adore the King of Kings, risen from the tomb, who, “[…] continues for ever,...
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Blessing of the New Painting of St Bede at Clapham Park

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This morning, the parish priest at Clapham Park, Fr Marcus Holden, blessed a new picture of the parish's patron, Saint Bede, painted by James Tildsley. It is sited over a recently installed side altar near the rear of the Church. The altar itself was acquired from Antique Church Furnishings . The website gives the information that the altar was built and carved by a nun in a convent near Liverpool. It is a beautiful piece of work and it is always a joy when such works of art find a suitable and dignified home. The inscription on the gradine is AMANS AMATUS AMOR. The sellers translate this as “Loving is the object of love” which is a reasonable stab at “dynamic equivalence”. Today the parish's relic of St Bede was exposed for veneration in its distinctive brightly-coloured reliquary. After the blessing, there was High Mass with Fr Holden as celebrant, Fr Littleton deacon, and myself subdeacon. That gave me the enjoyable task of chant...
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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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Portiuncula indulgence tomorrow (and indulgences generally)

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Tomorrow, 2 August, you can gain a plenary indulgence under the usual conditions ( see below ) by visiting a parish Church and there reciting the Our Father and the Creed . This is called the Portiuncula indulgence and goes back to St Francis of Assisi. Fr Z has the details . Don't forget that you can also gain a plenary indulgence by visiting a Church on the day of the titular feast, and there reciting the Our Father and the Creed . I made a list of other indulgences: please see the post Plenary indulgences for particular days which has a link to the list. The post has some background information which you may find helpful since indulgences are not well understood today - which is not surprising since indulgences are not included in most Catholic education curricula, and most priests never preach about them. Therefore many Catholics are left with whatever silly, half-baked, ill-informed nonsense about indulgences happens to be current. If you want to understand the theology...
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