The Hermeneutic of Continuity

Fr Z reports on an upcoming film There Be Dragons, a drama set during the Spanish civil war which has various themes running through it, including the story of the young St Josemaria Escriva, the founder of Opus Dei. The film is made by Roland Joffe who directed The Mission.

At the official site, you can currently see a trailer but not much else. There is a Wikipedia page with more information, and Marcel at Aggie Catholics reports on a pre-release screening. The film is scheduled to be released later this year or early next year. I'm rather looking forward to it.

Mary's Dowry Productions have been busy preparing their next film: on the life of St Anne Line. Here is the trailer:



The film about St Margaret Clitherow is now out. I haven't had a chance to watch it yet but will post on it when I do.

Fr Anthony Ho has an article for Pax Sinaica (scroll down for the English version) in which he looks at St Francis de Sales and Blessed Marie Gabriella (right). Concerning St Francis de Sales, Fr Ho makes this observation:
St. Francis won the heart of the people gradually with his patience and kindness. The parents would not come to St. Francis, so he came to their children and played with them. When the parents saw how kind he was as he played with their children, they started to talk to him.

At the basilica of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, the tradition of Gregorian Chant has been kept alive over the past decades by the community of Benedictine nuns. There is now an initiative called "Cantantibus Organis" to help others to learn more about the chant.

Each Sunday, from 9.30am, there will be a half-hour practice of the chants to be used in that day's Mass (ordinary form). After the Masses, during Advent, there will be the following lectures from 11.15am-12noon:

1) "The Introits of the Sundays in Advent"
Luigi Pastoressa, choirmaster and organist at Santa Cecilia.

2) "The ‘sound’ of the Word: Gregorian chant in the liturgy."
Dr Jordi-Augustí Pique OSB, from the monastery at Montserrat and director of the Escolania de Montserrat, the oldest surviving music school in Europe, is at Sant' Anselmo this term. He was the organist when Pope Benedict visited Montecassino on 24 May.

3) "Introduction to Liturgical Spirituality"
Monsignor Crispin…

The book launch for "English Catholic Heroines" the other evening was a great opportunity to catch up with some friends, as well as being a well-deserved promotion for the new book which consists of 22 short lives of women who can certainly qualify as Catholic, and can reasonably be listed as both heroines and English (the introduction discusses the criteria.)

I have been reading some of the chapters, including a very good piece by Fr Anthony Conlon on Queen Mary Tudor, and an outstanding opening chapter by Sr Etheldreda Hession OSB on Sts Hilda and Etheldreda.

Many of the contributors are "linkable" so here are some examples. The Editor is Auntie Joanna (who also wrote the chapters on Caroline Chisolm and Elinor Brent-Dyer.) Other contributors include Fiorella Nash (Elizabeth Cellier), Mac McLernon (St Anne Line), Simon Caldwell (M Riccarda Hambrough) of the Catholic Herald, Leonie Caldecott (Caryll Houselander) of Second Spring, Dora Nash (Frences Wootten), author …

Terry at Idle Speculations has posted a collection of photographs of the Curé d'Ars after he had died in 1859.

The photographs were taken by Camille Dolard using the wet plate collodion process invented by the Englishman Frederick Scott Archer. They are kept at the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris.

A parishioner told me today of her grown up son who was getting annoyed because he could not find the SD card from his camera with important photos on it. In desperation, he said,

"Who's that saint you pray to for lost things?"

Mother replied with assurance,

"Saint Anthony."

So he duly prayed. After a short nap, the SD card was found - sticking to the back of his jumper.

On a visit to the London Oratory today, Fr Rupert McHardy kindly showed me the relics of St John Vianney which came to England soon after the death of the saintly Curé, brought by a French emigré family. They eventually found a home at St Edmund's College, Ware; the college has lent them to the Oratory. The collection is comprised of devotional items and other personal effects of the Curé.

The reliquary is displayed at the altar of Blessed Sebastian Valfré (1629-1710), a priest of the Oratory in Turin who was beatified in 1834. The altar is in a recess between the sanctuary and the sacristy door.

Thanks to the Christmas song, people in Britain at least know the name of the saint whose Mass I celebrated this evening. St Wenceslaus is the patron saint of the Czech Republic which Pope Benedict has been visiting.

Now we all know from "Good King Wenceslaus" that the page was able to keep warm in the snow by treading in the footsteps of the King which he was with him on their errand of mercy. St Alphonsus offers an explanation of why the King's footsteps were warm:" ... tender indeed was the devotion to the Most Blessed Sacrament of St. Wenceslas, Duke of Bohemia. This holy king was so enamored of Jesus there present that he not only gathered wheat and grapes and made the hosts and wine with his own hands and then gave them to be used in the Holy Sacrifice, but even during the winter he used to go at night to visit the church in which the Blessed Sacrament was kept. These visits enkindled in his beautiful soul such flames of Divine love that their ardour imparted i…

"Catholic" is the newspaper produced by the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer whose monastery is on the island of Papa Stronsay in the Orkneys. You can susbscibe at their blog Translapine Redemptorists. For £10 a year, you get four issues of "Catholic" and a substantial supplement with each issue.

With the latest issue comes "Gerardo": a biography of St Gerard Majella, which I have just enjoyed reading. It was written by Fr William Frean C.SS.R. in 1971 and the story of its publication is of interest:In its day this beautiful little work has caused considerable controversy because of its fidelity to continuity while those in power thought in terms of rupture - but it has survived to see a new era in the Church. Due to opposition from Redemptorist superiors it was never published and was given to us by the late Fr A.J. Cummins C.SS.R. for this purpose."Gerardo" is an affectionate and edifying life of the humble brother who was sought after by Bishops…

Well my evening was already good with Rosary and Benediction well attended. This put the icing on the cake :-)“If St. John Vianney himself were in many of our American parishes there would be an abundance of letters from concerned parishioners about the direction in which he was taking the parish.” Bishop Robert VasaH/T The Catholic Key Blog

Another new film recently released is St Cuthman of Steyning, by Mary's Dowry Productions.



The story of St Cuthman's life is told simply with some glorious photography of the Sussex countryside where he lived. The humble Saxon Shepherd was noted for his trust in God's providence and for building the Church at Steyning; Ethelwulf, the father of King Alfred the Great was buried there. St Cuthman is usually shown with a one-wheeled cart in which his disabled mother sat while he pushed her on their travels through the countryside.

King Edward the Confessor gave the Church to the Benedictine Abbey of Fécamp; the monks transferred the saint's remains to their Abbey and devotion to him began to spread on the continent.

The film can be ordered from the Mary's Dowry Productions website, priced £2.99

Fr Nicholas Schofield wrote about The Story of St Cuthman on his blog some time ago.

Iwene Tansi was born in 1903 at Igboezunu in Nigeria. When he was baptised at the age of nine, he received the name Michael. He worked as a catechist and teacher before entering the seminary. He was ordained a priest of the Onitsha diocese in 1937 at the age of 34. While serving as a priest in the diocese, his ministry was marked by great devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and by spending long hours in the confessional. He also baptised the future Cardinal Arinze and inspired him to respond to a priestly vocation.

In 1950, Fr Tansi came to England to join the Cistericians of Strict Observance (Trappists) at Mount St Bernard Abbey in Leicestershire. He remained there until his death in 1964. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 22nd March 1998, in Nigeria.

In the year of his beatification, the first pilgrimage to honour him took place at the Abbey. Since then it has been held annually in Grace Dieu Manor; but this year the pilgrimage returns to the Abbey on Sat 29 August, beginning wi…

St Bernadette first spent time at the village of Bartres, about three miles from Lourdes, when she was a baby. An accident had prevented her mother from breast-feeding her, and a lady in Bartres, Marie Lagues, who had just lost a baby, agreed to wet-nurse St Bernadette.

Her second stay was when she was 13, from the summer of 1857. St Bernadette returned to the Lagues farm to help with the housework, looking after two young children, and the sheep and goats that were kept in a field about five minutes' walk outside the village. Above is the sheepfold where St Bernadette used to shelter the sheep. Below, in a photo taken on the walk back from the sheepfold, you can see how the Church of St John the Baptist, dominates the scene.

The view from outside the Church across the fields is impressive:

Inside, the Church is quite beautiful:

Here are close-ups of the three panels above the High Altar: on the left, the Visitation:

In the centre, the Baptism of Our Lord:

and on the right, the head of …

LOL saints is an adaptation of the popular LOLCatz idea. I don't give it an unqualified recommendation because people aren't always good at discerning between harmless humour and mild to moderate blasphemy. Nevertheless, some of them are quite funny. I like the caption for the statue of St Paul.

There is also St Peter of Verona who was assassinate by the Cathars and is commonly depicted with an axe in his head:

Oh! and if you do a good one, you might win an iPod.

On Saturday, the Union of Catholic Mothers held a Garden Party with various things going on, including games for children (above) and a gathering in the presbytery garden:

It was a gloriously sunny day and an opportunity to have a glass of Pimms and a chat.

For others, the Hall was available to sample the delicious cakes inside:

This evening we had our annual Mass for children and young people in the parish who have died, and to pray for their families.

As it is the feast of St Maria Goretti, I took the opportunity to speak of her life and ask for her prayers. Here is my sermon for tonight's Mass:St Maria Goretti was born into a poor family in Italy in 1890. Her father died when she was nine years old and her mother had to work in the fields while Maria looked after the sewing and cooking at home. The family were uncomfortable with moving in next to the Serenelli family, a father and two young men. They were disturbed by the pictures (obscene by the standards of the day) which the fat…

Earlier today, the Holy Father authorised the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to promulgate a miracle attributed to the Venerable Servant of God, John Henry Newman.

The Westminster Diocesan website carries an article: Pope Benedict XVI recognises Newman miracle in which Archbishop Nichols is quoted:“I am delighted to learn this news, which will be warmly welcomed by Catholics around the world. To have Cardinal Newman among the Blessed is an occasion of great thankfulness to the Lord and of great pride to those associated with him in Birmingham and in Oxford. I am sure he will help us greatly in the task of protecting the Faith amidst the difficulties he foresaw so clearly.”There is also an article in the Daily Mail by Simon Caldwell: Pope Benedict clears way for Cardinal John Newman to become first English saint in 40 years

At Aylesford there is a reliquary containing the skull of St Simon Stock whose feast was celebrated last Saturday in the Archdiocese of Southwark. Here is the proper collect for his feast as found in the Southwark supplement to my old breviary:Plebs tibi, Domine, Virginique Matri dicata, beati Simonis solemnitate laetetur: et sicut per eum tantae protectionis signum obtinuit, ita praedestinationis aeternae munera consequatur.

O Lord, may the community dedicated to You and to the Virgin Mary rejoice at the solemnity of blessed Simon: and just as it obtained through Him a sign of such great protection, so may it gain possession of the gifts of eternal predestination.The "sign of such great protection" is a reference to the brown scapular. When Our Lady appeared to St Simon, giving him this distinctive Carmelite clothing, she said that whoever died devoutly wearing it would not suffer the fire. Promises such as these are never intended to be a "get out of jail free" ca…

Nuno Álvares Pereira fought against the Castilians for the independence of Portugal, later entering the Carmelites as Brother Nuno of Saint Mary. He was canonised by Pope Benedict XVI on 26 April this year.

H/T Alfonso Miguel at Tribuna

Last night I travelled into Waterloo and out again to New Malden for the celebration of the feast of St Joseph. The Parish Priest, Fr Peter Edwards, generously recognises the pastoral potential of the usus antiquior, and the assistant priest, Fr Richard Whinder, is happy to arrange occasional Masses.

I was invited to be celebrant for the Mass with Fr Nicholas Schofield as Deacon, and Fr Richard Whinder as Subdeacon. Fr Whinder preached an excellent sermon on St Joseph.