How To Fold A Cassock (Explained in Italian)

Cardinal Burke Greets Readers of Fr. Z Blog

What the Ermine for a Wintertime Cappa Magna Mozetta Looks Like

 The ermine are sewn together and the tails are sometimes kept visible, adding a splash of evenly spread black tails.

Seen here is Cardinal Montini of Milan.

That of Cardinal Mindszenty can be seen HERE. 

"It's Better in Latin"

Pray for the World Youth Day in Poland!

Pray for the kids there that the Spirit of God may be upon them.  Oremus!

World Youth Day in Poland

“The command of Christ is impossible, but it is not insane; it is rather sanity preached to a planet of lunatics.”

– G.K. Chesterton

Kissing the Foot of Michelangelo's Pietà

Until the attack on the Pietà in Saint Peter's Basilica in 1972, it was customary for Catholic pilgrims to reverence the sacred foot of Christ by kissing it.  A worthy tradition.  

News of the 1970s attack can be read HERE.

Merciful Father

The crucifix I gazed upon as a boy, at our German parish, the Assumption.

Today, it is sadly in storage in the choir loft tower.

When I was a boy, it was in the stairwell leading up to the choir loft, visible for all to see and to gasp: "Merciful Father!"  

Hopefully, the pastor will have it returned, where the faithful can venerate it.  

"Jesus, I Trust In Thee!"

Edina, Minnesota. 

Catholic Art: Statuary

Assumption Church in Saint Paul, Minnesota.  

Our German parish.

Martyr for the Faith!

Teach Catholics Their Liturgial Roots

Introducing Catholics to the Liturgical Traditions of the Roman Rite: How It Works

Where Cardinal Pacelli Slept in Saint Paul (USA)

The historic old mansion where Cardinal Pacelli slept for one night in 1936 was constructed in 1887.  The Archdiocese had it as their chancery from 1918 - 1959.

It was torn down in a modernization effort in 1959, by order of Archbishop Brady.

Brady lived at St. Catherine's College during that time (where his sister, Sister Mary William Brady served as the fifth president of the College of St. Catherine from 1955 to 1961), while a "modern" episcopal residence was constructed.

This modern residence, today listed for sale, proved a reckless disaster, thanks to its flat roofs, which leaked from heavy melting snow every spring.   

Photos HERE.

The four poster bed the Cardinal slept in has survived and is today still in use in the Cathedral rectory.

All of my older relatives remember fondly seeing this city landmark before its untimely destruction.  It brings to mind the demolition of the Victorian Gothic Ryan Hotel, another Saint Paul city landmark, destroyed in 1962 to make room for a parking lot.  Or the demolition of Schuneman’s, now also an empty parking lot.      

Prayer

Quebec: Epicenter of Dissent

Crumbling Canadian Schools

NO to Assisted Suicide

My Uncle Edward P. Haider, Sgt., Paratrooper, 82nd Airborne

The Church Needs Missionaries: Fr. Greg Schaffer of Minnesota Served 50 Years in Guatemala

Shame on the Satanic Democratic National Convention and Democrat Political Party

Stop the Vatican's Goofy New Sex Ed Progam

It leaves out mention of parents and mortal sin.

Sex ed is exclusively of the realm of parents in the home.

We must be on guard.  The devil is on the march.  

See HERE.

What is Wrong With This Picture?

The new chapel at Saint Joseph's Hospital in Saint Paul, Minn.

No Mass is offered in the chapel.  And no Mass is offered on a Sunday.  Has Mass ever been celebrated here?

There is not even a daily service.   

Sunday is an "ecumenical" service (not sure what that means).  Two days a week there is a "Catholic" Communion service.  

This is a far cry from the good old days when the upstairs chapel of St. Joseph's Hospital was packed every day for prayer and penance, Baptisms and Masses.  My grandma even said they wheeled her in from the maternity ward in the 1940s after she had her babies in the to pray with the nuns and others.

The CSJ nuns ran a tight ship, until they went bonkers.  May the dead nuns who gave their lives to this institution over many decades pray it will make a return to its Catholic roots and heritage.    

Christmas Banner on Painted Canvas

This is how it's done. 

A prop hung on the wall behind the Christmas manger scene. 

Church of the Assumption in Saint Paul (U.S.A.)

The Sonnen family ancestral parish in downtown Saint Paul.

Many a Sonnen has been married and buried from here.

The cornerstone reads A.D. 1871.

All of my childhood was spent here.  It was a beautiful way to grow up -- in sanctuary and choir loft! 

Saint Joseph's Hospital

Where yours truly was born.  My mother worked here.  I grew up visiting here often.  Nuns always staffed the main entrance desk and knew me and my family members by name.  Those days are long gone.  The nuns are all deceased and no one has taken their place.  The Church is in need of nuns!  

The Nuns of Yesteryear: Visionary Leadership

"Fill your mind with great things and there will be no room for trivialities."

-Mother Antonia McHugh, CSJ

Yet Another Catholic Church Closed and Sold: St. James Church in St. Paul, Minnesota

A lovely old church with a magnificent stained glass window of Archbishop Ireland, the first Archbishop of Saint Paul.

Sold by the Archdiocese to a Protestant sect.

We will reap the harvest we have sown.  Fifty years of contraception, abortion and sterilization have given us empty pews.  We have no new humans to fill our churches and pay the bills. 

Childless families are a sure sign of a barren and fruitless church with no future.  That is what puts Islam ahead of us -- they make babies.     

In Memory of Holy Redeemer Parish in Saint Paul, Minnesota

Holy Redeemer was the lovely little Italian parish locate in downtown Saint Paul.  It was located across the street from the German parish, the Assumption, and down the street from the French parish, St. Louis.  Holy Redeemer was sadly torn down when St. Joseph's Hospital expanded in the seventies.  Many thanks to Dave Cossetta for keeping the memory alive -- he was married at the Assumption and has been active there as a good and faithful parishioner.   

Artistry of Satined Glass: Detail of Archbishop Ireland

Cathedral of Saint Paul. 

Holman Field: Airport Cardinal Pacelli Flew Into on Minnesota Visit

Under the shadow of downtown Saint Paul. 

High Altar at Assumption Church in Saint Paul, Minnesota

My entire youth was spent here.  My ancestors have worshiped at this altar for generations without end.  The altar dates from the 1870s.   

How to Talk About Euthanasia & Assisted Suicide

Teach Your Kids About Saint Perfectus: May He Pray for Us!

Source: From Facebook; Adoremus in Aeternum, a Catholic Tradition.  

Entry for St. Perfectus in the Roman Martyrology, 18 April: 

At Cordova, St. Perfect, priest and martyr, killed by the Moors for inveighing against the followers of Muhammad. 

AS HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF:

Beheaded by the Moors of the Umayyad Caliphate (Muslims), Saint Perfectus (Santo Perfecto, died 850) was charged with "blasphemy", denouncing Islam and Mohammed to the very end:

I have cursed, yea, and I will curse your pro-
phet : I have called and I do call him the spawn of devils, a magician, an adulterer, and a liar! I denounce the profanations of your sect to be the invention of hell!"
 
While uttering these truths, the scimitar separated his head from his body.

Perfectus, a Spanish priest who served at the basilica of St. Aciscius just outside the city walls, was stopped one day on his way to market by a group of Muslims. Seeing that he was a priest, they asked him to explain the "catholic faith" and to share with them his opinions about Christ and Muhammed. Fearing that he would only provoke his audience, Perfectus declined. But when the Muslims swore to protect him, he proceeded, in Arabic, to decry Muhammed as one of the false prophets foretold by Christ and as a moral reprobate who had seduced the wife of his kinsman.

Though angered by the harsh attack, the Muslims respected their oaths and let Perfectus go on his way. But a few days later the priest ran into some of the same group, who no longer felt constrained by their earlier promise. Seizing Perfectus, they took him before the magistrate and testified that he had disparaged the prophet. As they led Perfectus to prison to wait out the holy month of Ramadân, he repeatedly denied his guilt. Only when he realized that his fate was sealed did he repeat his denunciation of Islam. On April 18, 850, Perfectus was decapitated before the crowds that had gathered to celebrate the end of the feast. He died on Easter Sunday.

St. Perfectus was one of the Martyrs of Córdoba whose martyrdom was recorded by Saint Eulogius in the Memoriale Sanctorum.

~Christian Martyrs in Muslim Spain, ch 2, Kenneth Baxter Wolf

~History of Spain and Portugal, Martyrs of Cordova. 291, Dunham, S. A (1832)

~Entry for St. Perfectus in the Roman Martyrology, 18 April: At Cordova, St. Perfect, priest and martyr, killed by the Moors for inveighing against the followers of Muhammad.
___

Also see Saint Eulogius:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2857690/replies?c=28

Rev. Jacques Hamel: Requiem!

Photo Credit: New St. Thomas Institute.

Born in 1930.  Ordained priest in 1958.

A priest named James (Jacques), martyred on the Feast of St. James (the first Apostle to be martyred) in the same manner that St. James was slain, in the Church of St. Stephen (Étienne), the first martyr. 

Rome Quotes

"The hour is coming when everyone who kills you will think he is offering worship to God. They will do this because they have not known either the Father or me. I have told you this so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you. [...] I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world."

-John 16: 2-4, 33

Classical Rules for Building a Church Worthy of the Name

The Catholic architect of this Catholic temple found atop the upper banks of the mighty Mississippi River was trained at the Academy of Fine Arts in Paris.  His name was Emmanuel Masqueray.

Masqueray was taught the criteria for design used by the French philosophical eclectics earlier in his century.   The idea was to test the validity of an idea: truth, beauty and goodness.

According to the Beau-Arts tradition, truth demanded that the exterior of a church clearly reflect the purpose for which it was constructed.  Location and climate were taken into consideration.

Beauty and goodness were achieved by following that classical style so familiar and acceptable to the public and the Church.  Once having achieved its desired state, a design was never to be altered.

With his architect's pencil, Masqueray drew religion's meaning, history, and purpose in his cathedral, creating the structure as a beacon set on a hill.  It was decided the scale would be grand and the style would be classical revival with French Renaissance at the forefront.   

It can be done.  

Where to Buy Old Hand Missals

Yours truly took this picture at the St. Vincent de Paul store in Saint Paul, Minn.

You can usually find these treasures at a St. Vincent de Paul.  There were two other old missals at the store I purchased to give away as gifts. 

Beautiful Architecture of Cathedral of Saint Paul

Enraptured with the architecture he saw in Europe, Archbishop John Ireland, the builder of this cathedral, said of the cathedrals he saw in Europe: "They were truly monuments of faith and piety, and more eloquently than the most eloquent pages of written history they tell us that in older times the children of the Church were giants in devotion to religion." 

Plaque Commemorating Visit of Cardinal Pacelli (Venerable Pius XII) to City of Saint Paul

He celebrated Low Mass at this altar and preached from this pulpit. 

Bishop's Throne in a Cathedral

This is how it's done.

Seen at the Cathedral of Saint Paul in the City of Saint Paul.

Thanks, Fr. Johnson! 

Tomb of Monsignor Richard J. Schuler, PhD

Friend and mentor.

The grave is located at St. Mary's Cemetery in Minneapolis, Minnesota (U.S.A.).   He was born in Minneapolis and is buried next to his parents. 

Always an honor to sing Vespers here with him.  He lives through those whom he inspired. 

May his memory be eternal! 

The Glorious Cathedral of Saint Paul in Saint Paul, Minnesota

Pope Saint Pius X Window at Cathedral of Saint Paul

An exquisite North American window depicting papal vestments and his motto: "To Restore All Things in Christ." 

National Shrine of Saint Paul (USA)

False Gods Abound: The Homosexualist Movement

Many are being led astray. 

As we slide into a more heathen culture, you will see dumb idols multiply like ravaging fires before our eyes. 

How To Teach Kids About Catholic Culture?

Subscribe.  Try it for a year.

This is my favorite magazine on themes of Catholic culture. 

You will find a little bit of everything: history, homeschooling, music, art, family, etc.

Subscribe and support this valiant effort: http://www.latinmassmagazine.com/

Catholics in America: Attend the William Byrd Festival

This festival is one of the finest annual events in the Catholic Church today.

Check out the schedule here: http://www.byrdfestival.org/pages/festival_schedule.html.

The event includes three sung Pontifical Masses.

Catholic choristers, choir masters and seminarians should especially make an effort to be here.   

Life at SSPX Seminary in Winona, Minnesota (USA)

Pray the SSPX Will Return to Full Communion with the Holy Roman Church

Teach Your Kids How to Sing Sunday Vespers

A 1950s Convert Tells His Story

Liz Lovett RIP: A Catholic Saint!

A Terrific Annual Pilgrimage in Canada: Youth Groups and Parishes Participate!

http://www.marie-reine.ca/index_en.php

Help spread the word!

Annual FSSP Camping Trip in Canada

Annual FSSP Holy Family camping trip on Okanagan Lake in British Columbia, Canada.

The camp is held at Fintry Provincial Park, on the former estate of Captain J.C. Dun-Waters, the Laird of Fintry.

The trip was a huge success and a highlight of the year for the kids.  Many thanks to the clergy, families, the K of C and all the organizers, Carl, Mark and everyone.  

It was Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn who once said, "To destroy a people you must first sever their roots."  This has been true of the liturgy in many respects.  Latin rite Catholics of today have little or no knowledge of their liturgical roots.  This is problematic.  A turning toward the Extraordinary Form of the Roman rite is to make a return to our roots, to the same sources of light and founts of grace that fed our ancestors and the centuries.  It is to know our roots.