The Hermeneutic of Continuity

Photo: Elton Melo La Nacion from Argentina reports on the large numbers of pilgrims in Buenos Aires for the 25th anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady of the Rosary to Gladys Motta in the Parish of San Nicolás de los Arroyos. Over 800,000 people passed through the Basilica to venerate the statue of Our Lady of the Rosary during the 24 hour period and 100,000 joined the outdoor procession and Mass. In this photo from La Nacion , you can see three Argentine Bishops wearing Marian blue vestments, a privilege allowed at major Marian shrines. There is more information about the apparitions at the Mother of All Peoples site .

The feast of the Assumption seems a good day to promote devotion to Our Lady of Good Success. A reader kindly sent me the DVD, "Our Lady of Good Success: History, Miracles, Prophecies" produced by Pro Multis Media . In recent months, I have received several other items related to this devotion. There is a good website run by "Tradition in Action" which has a " Basic Questions " page by Dr Marian Therese Horvat who wrote the book " Our Lady of Good Success. Prophecies for our Times. " Another dedicated website, Our Lady of Good Success has various articles and photos, from which the above is taken. The first question any good Catholic will want to ask is "Is this devotion authorised?" The answer is unambiguously affirmative. It was approved in the 17th century by the local bishop and has been supported by his successors. Pope John Paul authorised a solemn public coronation of the statue. Our Lady appeared to Mother Mariana de Jesus To...

If you don't know about Walsingham, here is the Wikipedia article (could do with some more information there if anyone has time) and here is the official site . I was there today to say Mass for the members of the Latin Mass Society who were participating in the Walsingham Pilgrimage of their parish, St Mary's Ryde. The Mass was in the Reconciliation Chapel which is a mile away from the village of Walsingham itself. It is near the last of the ancient Slipper Chapels that marked the Walsingham Way. On a future visit, I would like to celebrate the older form of the Mass in the Slipper Chapel itself. The Shrine have always been very accommodating for pilgrims wanting to celebrate the older form of the Mass. I advised the organisers of today's Mass to ask the Shrine to provide the vestments - they duly brought out a fine Roman set that had been recovered from a closing seminary and improved with a beautiful medallion of Our Lady of Walsingham. I left home a little early becau...

The daily liturgical timetable for weekdays at Pluscarden is as follows: 4.45am - Vigils (similar to Matins of the Roman Breviary) and Lauds - approximately an hour and a half c. 6.55am (half an hour after Lauds) - Prime 8.45am - Conventual Mass and Terce 12.35pm - Sext (followed by lunch) 2.15pm - None 6pm - Vespers, followed by prayer before the Blessed Sacrament in the Lady Chapel (Supper is at 7pm) 8pm - Compline The offices and conventual Mass are all chanted in Latin. The community are using the new books edited by Solemnes as they are produced. The older Antiphonale Monasticum is used where necessary. Mass in in the Novus Ordo , using the new Graduale Romanum (readings in English). One of the pamphlets I read spoke of the chanting of the psalms as an image of eternity. This could be joked about, especially at Vigils when, for example, we chanted the whole of psalm 77 - on a monotone as are all the psalms at Vigils. However, I think there is an important point in seeing this ...

After an interval of nearly 400 years, Benedictine monastic life began anew at Pluscarden. After the Reformation, the Priory had been in the hands of lay owners. In 1897, John Patrick Crichton-Stuart, the 3rd Marquess of Bute, and author of the eccentric but enormously useful translation of the Roman Breviary, purchased the Priory from the Duke of Fife. A devout and wealthy philanthropist, he helped the Presyterian congregation who had been using the ruins for services to build a Church in the glen, and arranged for Catholic Mass to be celebrated in the Prior's Chapel by Dom Sir David Oswald Hunter Blair Bt OSB of Fort Augustus Abbey. On the death of the Marquess, the property passed to his son, Lord Colum Crichton-Stuart who was eager for a monastic community to take up residence. Eventually, he found Abbot Wilfred Upson of Prinknash willing to found a new monastic community and in 1948, five monks began to live the Benedictine life once more in the Priory. The community has carri...

Today is the 90th anniversary of the first appearance of Our Lady to the children in Fatima on 13 May 1917. I first visited Fatima in 1998, leading a Pilgrimage not long after coming to Blackfen. We went there again in 2000 and 2003. In recent years, we have stuck to Lourdes in order to ensure that we established a sense of Pilgrimage rather than simply holiday and to get used to running all the bookings ourselves. But it may be time to go to Fatima again soon. If you want to go to Fatima independently, it is not that difficult. You can take a flight to Lisbon. From there you get a bus to Fatima (or "Cova da Iria") which is 88 miles to the north. Accommodation in Fatima is very cheap: the top hotel (4 star) is the "Hotel Do Fatima" right next to the shrine which has rooms for about £50 a night and the cost goes down from there. The hotels run by the Paulists and the Verbites are very near to the shrine and perfectly comfortable. You need to arrange your trip so that...

Claudio told me on Saturday of an interesting place of Pilgimage: the shine of Volto Santo in the village of Manopello, about 30 Km from Pescara. The shrine is home to the sudarium or veil that is reputed to be that with which Veronica wiped the Holy Face of Our Lord. No paint has been found to exist on the veil and the image has historically been regarded as ảχειροποίητος, "not made by (human) hand." The image has been found to map exactly onto the image of Our Lord's face on the Holy Shroud of Turin. On 1 of September 2006, Pope Benedict XVI visited the village of Manoppello to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the arrival of the sacred Veil.

One of my readers sent me a link to this page telling of the shrine in Argentina of Our Lady of Luján . If you read spanish, try also this website of Nuestra Señora de Luján . The veneration of the image has been officially approved by the Church and the sanctuary at Luján was made a Basilica by Pope Pius XI in 1930. Every year, 6 million people make pilgrimages to Luján, many of them walking from Buenos Aires. The annual pilgrimage recently was attended by 1.2 million people. The closing Mass was celebrated by Cardinal Bergoglio. It never ceases to amaze me that the life of the Church is so rich around the world. I had never heard of Our Lady of Luján - a devotion in which millions of people participate every year.