Since today is the first day of the Chartres pilgrimage, we are very pleased to share with our readers some more of the fascinating research work of Mrs Sharon Kabel, who has put together this wonderful collection of historical documentations of past pilgrimages, going back nearly 100 years. (I am sure our readers have already heard that this year, for the first time ever, the number of people enrolled was so high that the organizers had to close registrations.) Félicitations à tous les pélérins!
From Sharon: To start off, here’s a photo from the 1948 pilgrimage. (from The Catholic World in Pictures, 18 June 1948: https://thecatholicnewsarchive.org/?a=d&d=cwp19480618-01.2.14&srpos=2)Saturday, May 27, 2023
Historical Images of the Chartres Pilgrimage, from Sharon Kabel
Gregory DiPippoThe Vigil of Pentecost 2023
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The Crossing of the Red Sea, by Jacques Cortois, 1621-76. Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.) |
Friday, May 26, 2023
St. Philip Neri: A Patron Saint of Traditionalism
Michael P. Foley![]() |
St Philip Neri in Ecstasy, 1614 by Guido Reni |
As a boy, Saint Philip Romolo Neri (1515-1595), whose feast we celebrate today, was so charming and kind that he was nicknamed Pippo Buono or “Good Little Philip.” Pippo Buono was full of high spirits: when he was eight years old, he saw a donkey laden with fruit standing unattended in a courtyard and jumped onto its back. The startled beast bolted and hurled both itself and its rider into a deep cellar.
Philip left his native Florence at the age of sixteen to learn the business of his father’s cousin, and even though the impressed kinsman wanted to make him his heir, Philip felt called to Rome two years later. He arrived in the Eternal City penniless and took a job as a tutor to the young sons of a fellow Florentine. After another two years he became a student himself, studying philosophy and theology (He had a special fondness for St. Thomas Aquinas). But when after three years Philip felt that his studies were complete, he sold his library and gave the proceeds to the poor. Even decades later, scholars marveled at his theological erudition.The one who is totally free of egoism, who has given himself completely, is the one who has found perfect joy. Egoists are always the saddest of men, while unclouded joy follows from humility. [7]
Saint Philip Neri put his trust in the positive, in grace. What is meant is shown by his way of dealing with many of the evil habits of his day. He did not reject the immoral fashions or the excessive wealth. He did not forbid the luxurious creations of the contemporary culture. He trusted in the love of God, which would do its work in men of itself like a fire or a seed—unnoticed and hidden at first, but already growing. [10]
Thursday, May 25, 2023
Interesting Saints on May 25th: Rome, Florence and Milan
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St Urban I Converts St Valerian; 1505-6, attributed to Giovanni Maria Chiodarolo and Cesare Tamaroccio. This is the second of ten panels depicting the legend of St Cecilia in an oratory dedicated to her in Bologna. (Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.) |
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The next panel in the series: Pope Urban Baptizes Valerian. (Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.) |
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St Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi Having a Vision of the Risen Christ and the Virgin Mary, by the Spanish painter Pedro de Moya (1601-74). Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons. |
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The coat of arms of the Pazzi family, made in terracotta (whence the protective net over it) by Luca della Robbia, and mounted on the inside of the cupola of the family’s chapel at the Franciscan basilica of the Holy Cross in Florence, 1442-3. (Image from Wikimedia Commons by Sailko, CC BY 3.0) |
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The relics of Pope St Gregory VII, in his chapel within the cathedral of St Matthew in Salerno. The words of Psalm 44 quoted above are written along the bottom edge of the casket. (Image from Wikimedia Commons by NicFer, CC BY-SA 3.0) |
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A full view of the chapel. (Image from Wikimedia Commons by Adert, CC BY-SA 4.0) |
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Episodes of the Life of St Zenobius, 1500-5 ca. by Sandro Botticelli. From left to right: he rejects the marriage arranged for him by his parents; his baptism; the baptism of his mother; his consecration as bishop of Florence by Pope St Damasus I. (Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.) |
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The relics of St Dionysius, in the cathedral of Milan. (Image from Wikimedia Commons by A ntv, CC BY-SA 3.0) |
Historical Falsehoods about the Liturgy from George Weigel
Gregory DiPippoIn our conversations, Dr Kwasniewski has occasionally referred to liturgical discourse within the Church as something like a game of whack-a-mole. Every time a falsehood or series of falsehoods about the liturgy is refuted, more spring up to take its place. Case in point: no sooner does a book replying to the absurd claims of Drs Cavadini, Healy and Weinandy come out, than someone brings to my attention this video, in which George Weigel repeats several of the common falsehoods about the liturgy, which are no less false for being common.
Unfortunately, this is merely an excerpt of a much longer video in which a great deal more that is false but commonly believed about the liturgy is repeated, and I simply do not have time to write a refutation of all of it. There is more than enough to deal with in this span of less than six minutes.– He begins by taking issue with the term “Mass of the Ages” used to describe the Traditional Latin Mass, and of course made especially popular of late by the on-going documentary series of that name. (In the longer video, Mr Weigel says that he hasn’t seen the documentary, which is hardly surprising.) He then makes the false claim that the Roman Rite was always “constantly evolving.” While it is true that many small adjustments were made to the liturgy, by far the largest portion of the material found in the Missal of St Pius V, (the order of the audible parts of the Mass, i.e. Introit, Kyrie, Gloria, etc., the chants, prayers and readings of the temporal cycle and the oldest Saints’ feasts, the Canon) are already fixed in their places in the earliest liturgical books of the Roman Rite.
– He goes on to say that the Missal of 1962 is not “the Missal that was used in the 12th century.” This ignores the fact that a very considerable amount of that same material found in the oldest books of the Roman Rite would in fact also be found in any Missal from either 1162, 1562, or 1962. (But of course, in defiance of the explicit commands of the Second Vatican Council, much of it is NOT found in the Missals of 1969 or 2002.)
The end of the Preface, the Sanctus (written in Greek letters), and the beginning of the Canon, in the Gellone Sacramentary, ca. 780 AD, one of the oldest surviving books of its kind. |
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(Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons) |
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For example |
Wednesday, May 24, 2023
Vestments for the Recent Coronation by Watts & Co.
Gregory DiPippoOur thanks to Mr Robert Hoare, managing director of Watts & Co., London-based makers of ecclesiastical vestments and furnishings, for this account of some vestments which his firm contributed to the recent coronation of King Charles III.
St Gregory of Nyssa on the Ascension
Gregory DiPippo“Lift up your gates, o ye princes, and be ye lifted up, o eternal gates: and the King of Glory shall enter in. Who is this King of Glory? the Lord who is strong and mighty: the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your gates, O ye princes, and be ye lifted up, O eternal gates: and the King of Glory shall enter in. Who is this King of Glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of Glory.” (verses 7-10)
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A silver icon of the Ascension made in Georgia in the 11th or 12th century; note the Angels at the top opening the gates of Heaven. |
… The gatekeepers therefore ask ‘Who is this King of glory?’ They answer them, and show Him strong and mighty in battle, Who came to fight against him who held human nature captive and in servitude, and to ‘destroy him that had the power of death’ (Hebr. 2), so that, that most oppressive enemy being conquered, he might win mankind back unto freedom and peace.
The guardians come to meet him, and order the doors to be opened, that He might once again receive glory in their presence. But they do not recognize Him, who was clad in the sordid stole of our (earthly) life, whose garments are red from the winepress of our evils. (Isa. 63) Therefore His companions are asked once again by those voices ‘Who is this King of glory?’ And they answer no longer ‘He that is strong and mighty in battle’, but rather ‘The Lord of hosts’, Who hath obtained the rule of the world, Who hath gathered together all things in Himself, who hath restored all things to their prior state; He is the King of Glory!”
It is a very ancient tradition of the Fathers to understand the passage from Isaiah 63 cited here as a prophecy of the Incarnation. St Gregory’s namesake, friend and fellow-bishop (of Nazianzus), has a very similar passage in his Oration 45, 25.
“And if He ascend up into Heaven, ascend with Him. Be one of those angels who escort Him, or one of those who receive Him. Bid the gates be lifted up, or be made higher, that they may receive Him, exalted after His Passion. Answer to those who are in doubt because He bears up with Him His body and the tokens of His Passion, which He had not when He came down, and who therefore inquire, ‘Who is this King of Glory? that it is the Lord strong and mighty, as in all things that He has done from time to time and does, so now in His battle and triumph for the sake of mankind. And give to the doubting of the question the twofold answer. And if they marvel and say as in Isaiah’s drama ‘Who is this that comes from Edom and from the things of earth?’ or ‘How are the garments red of Him that is without blood or body, as of one that treads in the full wine-press?’ set forth the beauty of the array of the Body that suffered, adorned by the Passion, and made splendid by the Godhead, than which nothing can be more lovely or more beautiful.”
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An 11th-century mosaic of St Gregory of Nyssa, from the cathedral of St Sophia in Kyiv. (Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.) |
Tuesday, May 23, 2023
A Video of Solemn Pontifical Vespers from the Throne
Gregory DiPippoThis past Sunday, His Excellency William Lori, the Archbishop of Baltimore, preached and then celebrated Pontifical Solemn Vespers from the throne, followed by Benediction, at the National Shrine of St Alphonsus Liguori in Baltimore. In 2017, the Archbishop Lori entrusted the church, which had had an indult Mass since 1992, to the Fraternity of St Peter; we thank His Excellency for his paternal solicitude for the faithful attached to the traditional rite.
Science, Art and the Sacred: A Conversation with Brandon Vaidyanathan of CUA
David ClaytonHere is a recent interview I did with Brandon Vaidyanathan of Catholic University of America for his Beauty at Work podcast. I met Brandon at the Scala Foundation conference in Princeton last year, and caught up with him again at this year’s conference.
Brandon is a sociology professor at the Catholic University of America in Washington DC, and his channel is about how beauty works in our world and shapes the work we do, exploring the meaning of beauty in relation to science, justice, morality, food, religion, work, and other aspects of our lives. Through the interviews he conductsm he examines how beauty works -- how it shapes our personal and social lives in ways that may both contribute to and impede our flourishing.I talk about my work as a painter and how my training at university in science has contributed to that. I expand further on how I feel that training as a painter might contribute to creativity in scientific research.
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The Abduction of Proserpina, 1621-22 |
Bernini deliberately cut deeply into the stone to generate sharp shadows, and create a rhythmical array of lines that mimic the mathematical parabolas and ellipses that the physicist uses to describe the natural order.

Posted Tuesday, May 23, 2023
Labels: Beauty and the Liturgy, Bernini, David Clayton, Natural Science, Sacred number
Monday, May 22, 2023
Lutherans in America Using Latin in Ordinations in 1703
Peter KwasniewskiThe following excerpt is taken from A Year with American Saints, written by an Episcopalian pastor, Christopher L. Webber, and a Lutheran pastor, G. Scott Cady (Church Publishing, 2006). The book tells stories about Christians of various denominations who played a role in caring for their communities during the whole span of American history, from the Jamestown colony to the Civil Rights Movement. Of special interest to me, however, is the following vignette about Latin as a unifying language in early American Protestantism, which showed in this case a common sense that is utterly lacking in the ethnically-charged, politicallly motivated multilingual large-scale Catholic liturgies of today.—PAK
There was a kind of extended parish of Lutherans in this area, many of whom had Dutch roots. Andreas Rudman had been a good pastor to them, but his health was declining, so the parish wondered where they would find a qualified replacement. Justus Falckner [November 22, 1672–September 21, 1723] eventually became that leader, but he never sought out the role. In fact, the prospect was something of a conflict of conscience for him. As a Swedish pastor, Rudman wrote him, asking: “What shall I do forsaking my little flock? Looking everywhere, I find no one better fitted than you to whom I may safely entrust my sheep.” Though complimented, Falckner remained hesitant. He was German, and not fluent in Dutch. He had studied theology, but instead chose to be a land agent and surveyor. He questioned the legitimacy of ordination in the absence of regular church procedures for calling and ordaining new pastors on North American soil.
At thirty-one, Falckner was finally convinced that Rudman’s request was indeed a true call to ministry. There were Lutheran precedents for what we would now call “presbyteral ordination”—the use of parish clergy to ordain new parish clergy—in the New World. The mission of the church can be hampered by too much rigidity about specific details, especially in times and places that are simply too far removed from the normal apparatus of traditional ecclesiastical structures. Rudman had authorization from his bishop in Sweden to ordain new pastors in the colonies. In addition, Falckner’s own inner call began to be irresistible. In a letter to one of his former teachers, he wrote: “After much persuasion, also prompting of heart and conscience, I am staying as a regular preacher with a little Dutch Lutheran congregation, a state of affairs which I had so long avoided.”
On November 24, 1703, three Swedes, including Rudman, participated in the ordination of Falckner in Philadelphia. In his book The World of Justus Falckner, Delber Wallace Clark describes the event that needed to take into account Swedish, Dutch, German, and American traditions and understandings:
“The arrangements for the ordination were made with a speed which, in those days, was breathtaking. Just three weeks after the acceptance of the call, Rudman had reached Philadelphia and ordained the candidate who was already preparing to leave for New York. There was much to be done in this brief period. The Swedish ministers had to assemble, approve the plan, and settle upon a procedure.
“The three-way reference of the act made certain precautions necessary. The ordination must be in a form consistent with Falckner’s German tradition and the standards of the Dutch Lutherans to whom he would minister, and it must be the kind the Swedes could validly confer. There were minor questions, such as language, vestments, and even music. They met linguistically upon the common ground of Latin, the learned language. There were just about enough vestments to go around for all involved in the ceremony and some tact had to be used in deciding who should wear which.”
Thus began the official ministry of the first Lutheran pastor ordained in what would become the United States.
Falckner proved an able and energetic leader. He studied Dutch to make his preaching to his congregation more meaningful. He traveled the course of the Hudson River in his ministry of visitation to his far-flung parish. He covered an area that took in parts of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania and became known as a missionary and a pastor. He taught, organized, and baptized not just new European immigrants and their children, but also converts within the black and Native American communities. Despite all his pastoral duties, he also found time to develop a manual of Christian teachings and even contribute to the growing body of hymnody.
When a pastor died, others in the area would fill in, covering his duties as best they could until a new pastor could be found. Falckner’s own workload expanded until it was no longer possible for one man to fulfill it. He died at fifty-one, during a pastoral visitation journey up the Hudson River. His demise was probably hastened by the previous death of a colleague, The Rev. Josua Harrsch, which markedly increased his own obligations.
Some of Falckner’s records survive. They contain heartfelt prayers following many of the notes of baptisms and other pastoral duties in the course of twenty years of ministry. Although all reference to the date and place of his burial has been lost, his faithfulness keeps his memory alive. A hymn he wrote while still a student in Halle might serve as his epitaph:
When His servants stand before Him,
each receiving his reward;
when His saints in light adore Him,
giving glory to the Lord:
“Victory,” our song shall be,
like the thunder of the sea!
NLM comment: Even with today's lax standards of canonizaton, we do not suggest that Falckner is an “American saint,” strictly speaking. However, only a proud man would fail to be challenged by the example of his evident devotion to his flock and to his obligations, which led to an early death from exhaustion. Perhaps this, too, shall soon be the lot of some traditional priests who will not renounce the Roman Rite in favor of the modern rite, and who will end up traveling far and wide to provide the sacraments and the blessings in their traditional form.
Sunday, May 21, 2023
The Sunday after the Ascension
Gregory DiPippoHear, o Lord, my voice, with which I have cried to thee.” After the first anointing, which they had received in the death of Christ, as He breathed upon them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit”, the Apostles awaited the second anointing which the Lord had promised, saying, “If I shall go; I shall send the Paraclete to you.” Therefore, as they await, they sing in the Introit, “Hear.”
Introitus Ps 26 Exaudi, Dómine, vocem meam, qua clamávi ad te, allelúia: tibi dixit cor meum, quaesívi vultum tuum, vultum tuum, Dómine, requíram: ne avertas faciem tuam a me, allelúia, allelúia. V. Dóminus illuminatio mea et salus mea: quem timébo? Glória Patri... Exáudi, Dómine...Folio 14r of the breviary of René of Anjou (1409-80). This image is placed before the ferial Office of Monday, on which the nocturn begins with Psalm 26,“a psalm of David, before he was anointed.” At the lower left, is the election of David as king, and at the right, his anointing and coronation (2 Samuel 5). |
– from the Mitrale of Sicard, bishop of Cremona, Italy, (1155 ca. - 1215), book 7, chapter 9. This work was one of the major sources for William Durandus’ Rationale Divinorum Officiorum, the Summa of medieval liturgical commentaries, and in the parallel chapter, Durandus cites Sicard by name (or rather, almost by name, since he called him “Richard.”) However, in this case, Sicard’s commentary is much clearer than Durandus’.