The Incarnation, the Passion, and the Eucharist as Keys to Rightly Interpreting the Song of Songs

If you’ve ever read the Song of Songs (also called the Canticle of Canticles) in the Old Testament, you probably had more than a few questions about it! What is this very sensuous book about a lover and a beloved doing in the canon of Scripture? Are the modern biblical exegetes right when they say it’s just a loose collection of ancient Near Eastern erotic poetry that accidentally found its way into the Hebrew scriptures? Were the Jewish rabbis closer to the truth when they said it depicts the tender and tempestuous relationship between YHWH and Israel?

In his new book Wounded I Sing: The Song of Songs and the Incarnation of the Son of God, Dr. Timothy Kelly, a professor of theology at the International Theological Institute in Trumau, Austria, argues that Christians are uniquely positioned to unlock the mysteries of this book, which opens its secrets more and more as we read it in and through the Heart of Christ.

When the Word became flesh, the transcendent God of love reached down into our mortal, passible nature to join it as a man joins his betrothed, and upon the Cross He accomplished a bodily-spiritual nuptial covenant with the Church and every baptized soul that He renews, day after day, in fleshly-and-spiritual Eucharistic communion.

What the Hebrews longed for as yet-to-be-attained in the Messianic age, the Christian receives as now accomplished in the sacrifice and sacrament of the Lord's Passion—yet this, in turn, is the foretaste and pledge of something far greater: the eternal wedding feast of the Lamb. The dynamism of eros that characterizes the Song reveals both the fiery love of the Divine Lover and the yearning of His beloved to be inseparably one, but in a manner that is incarnate, ecstatic, total, irrevocable, blissful beyond what mind can conceive or imagine.

This is the essence of the Christian life and no book in the entire Bible conveys it better. No wonder the Fathers and Doctors wrote more commentaries on the Song of Songs than on any other book. No wonder it entices and baffles us: it speaks to our deepest desire, and yet does so with all the enigmas of salvation history and of our pilgrimage under the invisible hand of Providence.

And we can be thankful to Dr. Kelly for synthesizing all of this—drawing especially on St. Bernard of Clairvaux, St. Thomas Aquinas, and Matthas Scheeben—into a readable guide that opens one magnificent vista after another. An exemplary work of Thomistic synthesis, with the clarity of Garrigou-Lagrange and the eloquence of Pieper.

Readers of NLM will be particularly interested in Kelly's extensive discussion of the Passion narratives (pp. 63-96), which play so pivotal a part in the ancient Roman Rite's celebration of Holy Week (with all four being read between Palm Sunday and Good Friday); how Christ's spousal office is necessarily priestly, sacrificial, and nutritive of His bride, the Church and the Christian soul; and how baptism and the Holy Eucharist, in particular, are nuptial sacraments with analogous aspects of unity and fecundity (pp. 97-149).

Without necessarily intending to be an apologetics work for the Catholic Faith, in fact Kelly's argument shows that both the Old Testament as a whole and the Passion of Christ make no salvific sense if there is not an immediate physical-spiritual communion possible with the Son of God, and in that sense proves that the Protestant account of personal salvation (through faith, by Scripture, by grace alone, etc.) is in tension with the entire trend of salvation history and of the life of Christ.

The early readers of this manuscript—including some of the greatest living Catholic biblical scholars—loved it.

Scott Hahn, editor of the Ignatius Bible’s commentary on the Song of Songs, wrote: “Rarely will you see a book that brings biblical, dogmatic, and mystical theology together so artfully and lucidly as this remarkable and readable synthesis does. Timothy Kelly refreshingly resets the entire question of the Song’s literal and spiritual meanings.”

John S. Bergsma, who co-authored A Catholic Introduction to the Bible with Brant Pitre, and wrote a book called The Bible and Marriage, had this to say: “An exquisite contemporary reading of the book, which I hope will contribute to returning the Song to its rightful and central place within Catholic biblical theology.”

Stephen K. Ray, author of commentaries on Genesis and the Gospel of John, summed it up as “an illuminating guide to a sublime and mysterious book.”

Fr. John Saward, author of some of the finest theological works of recent decades, declared: “Writing with a poet’s sensitivity to language, Dr. Kelly shows us how the Nuptial Mystery of Christ and His Church, of which the Song of Songs speaks with the authority of divine and prophetic inspiration, stands at the very centre of the Catholic faith.”

To find out more or “look inside,” visit the publisher’s site or any Amazon site.

Here’s a short video introduction, including a reading of part of the text:

Historian Breaks New Ground in Vatican II Research, with Special Attention to Liturgical Reform

People today often ask questions like: “What in the world happened at the time of Vatican II, that the Church seemed in such an unholy hurry to change? Why were the changes so drastic and so sudden? What were the causes, the motives, the expectations, the assumptions about reform and its expected fruits? Who were the main actors? Was it planned out or random? Who benefited (cui bono)? How responsible were the bishops for it, versus the middle managers, versus the laity?” and so forth. It can be very hard to disentangle so many threads.

This is why professional historians exist. Professor Hanael Bianchi has spent 10 years researching, at the nitty-gritty level, how Vatican II was received and implemented in a particular (and very important) diocese, using archival materials, period documents, and firsthand accounts. The resulting book, A Liberal Revolution: The Implementation of Vatican II in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, will leave a permanent mark henceforth on all studies of the period.

Bianchi answers the above questions, one after the next – and brings the receipts. In an era of endless podcasting and spitballing, the disciplined work of research is more necessary than ever if we wish to gain a well-documented and well-organized account of complex events, while overturning faulty theories and clumsy generalizations from (…yes…) every part of the ecclesiastical spectrum.

While the Second Vatican Council has generated a large scholarly corpus, A Liberal Revolution is the first close-up history to be written of a single diocese in the years immediately following it. Using the see of Baltimore as a case study and drawing exclusively on primary sources, Bianchi reconstructs how the decrees of the Council in faraway Rome – and, more tellingly, the new ideas and attitudes prompted by it – were implemented and experienced on the local level, in parishes, seminaries, religious communities, retreat centers, and chancery offices.

The claim that the Church “embraced the modern world” after Vatican II is well known; this book sharpens it by focusing specifically on liberalism as the framework through which implementation took place. The study begins by tracing the dismantling of inherited traditions, then turns to the rise of individualism within Catholic life and governance, before arriving at its most original contribution: an analysis of the emergence of a dense church bureaucracy that embodied and enforced a liberal worldview.

Although the story told in these pages is a tragedy, A Liberal Revolution is no polemic; rather, it is a work of careful historical analysis grounded in years of research. It will not only contribute to the scholarly understanding of Vatican II and its aftermath but also offer guidance to Catholics seeking a path toward genuine renewal, grounded in a thorough and accurate assessment of what actually happened. Understanding the whats, hows, and whys of postconciliar disruption – a topic that, so far from fading into the past, has grown to be a most urgent task for the present – finds in Bianchi a uniquely capable guide.

NLM readers will find especially valuable Part 1, “Attack on Tradition and the Rise of the New,” divided into “The Priesthood Revolts,” “Novelty in Music and Architecture,” and “Liturgical Confusion.” Among other topics, Bianchi's presentation of the data concerning how the different age groups reacted to new policies shows that radical change was in fact extremely popular with the younger set of seminarians and priests (at least, until they left the seminary or the priesthood, as many of them did), and, at the same time, that diocesan policies repeatedly found ways to empower these reformatory forces while marginalizing older priests who were skeptical of the changes or even wished to continue with the traditional Mass in Latin. There is also liturgically relevant material in Parts 2 and 3.

Famed sociologist Dr. Stephen Bullivant, Professor of Theology and the Sociology of Religion and Director of the Benedict XVI Centre for Religion and Society at St. Mary’s University in London, calls A Liberal Revolution “a richly detailed account... an impressive piece of scholarship, beautifully written, very compelling, and highly recommended.”

Dr. Anne Hendershott, Professor of Sociology at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, concurs: “With historical precision and narrative force, this book shows how reforms reshaped Catholic life in unexpectedly negative ways, with consequences that still reverberate through the Church today.”

Veteran journalist and founder of the Catholic Culture site, Philip Lawler, finds in the book a crucial tool for understanding the bureaucratic mentality that has morphed into synodality: “[Bianchi documents how] the post-conciliar era saw a spectacular proliferation of offices, boards, and commissions at the diocesan level. This new bureaucracy developed its own interests in spurring change, regardless of either the formal directives of the Council or the wishes and needs of the faithful.”

Finally, poet and liturgist Barry Spurr sums up the effusive reactions of the book’s initial readers: “The importance and necessity of this book cannot be overstated. Bianchi reveals the destructive effects of the late 1960s mindset at the parochial level.”

A Liberal Revolution is available in paperback, hardcover with dust jacket (both pictured here), or ebook, either directly from the publisher Os Justi Press or from any Amazon site around the world. At both places, you can “look inside” to read the Introduction.

A Memoir on the Battle to Bring the Latin Mass to the Military

David Sonnier, a 1981 West Point graduate, loved the Army and worked to be a model soldier. A bend in his career path brought him into contact for the first time with the traditional Mass. His life, with that of his family, was changed forever—something quite a few Catholics can relate to!

Naturally, he wanted to share this great good with fellow soldiers, many of whom, as he discovered, were already longing for something more reverent and traditional than they were getting in their chapels.

Sonnier began respectfully petitioning for a traditional Latin Mass to be offered on the bases where he served, in accordance with the policy of John Paul II's letter Ecclesia Dei. He watched in disbelief as chaplains at every level and several bishops, over the course of six years, made every effort to thwart his efforts, stopping at nothing and stooping to any ruse.

In his gripping memoir Rites and Wrongs: One Man's Struggle for the Latin Mass in the U.S. Army, just released by Os Justi Press, Lt. Col. Sonnier relates—documentary evidence in hand—the tangled web of lies, backstabbing, slander, double-crossing, bureaucratic manipulation, letters intercepted and undelivered, veiled threats, and secret meetings, all to ensure that no Latin Mass would ever be celebrated on a military installation, even when willing priests were available. 

The 97-percent-Christian chaplaincy at the time allowed chapels to be used for Protestant praise & worship services and even Wiccan pagan ceremonies (!), but the TLM was subjected to a perpetual ban. When an exasperated Sonnier finally took his story to the press, it was taken up in major newspapers and eventually reached the floor of Congress in Washington, DC.

A true story from a dark period (those who do not know how bad things were before Summorum Pontificum can use this as a crash course), Sonnier's first-person account ranges through the world of the Colombian Army, Special Operations, Fort Bragg, NATO, and the Vatican. A cast of colorful characters enters the drama: Michael Davies, Bishop Timlin, Msgr. Calkins, Msgr. Perl, Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos, and clergy from the Institute of Christ the King and the Society of St. Pius X, together with a whole roomful of multi-star generals and their entourages—plus authoritarian chaplains who launch into spittle-flecked nutties at the slightest mention of Latin, chant, or anything reminiscent of Catholicism before the 1960s. also play a role.

Though active or retired servicemembers and lovers of military history will especially appreciate this memoir, Rites and Wrongs is a captivating read for any Catholic who relishes a story full of life-changing realizations, backroom intrigues, surprising reversals, and hard-earned wisdom. Lt. Col. Sonnier's candor and courage shine through these pages, full of valuable lessons for life, faith, and freedom.

For a brief video introduction to the book:

To look inside, see the endorsements, or order a copy in paperback, hardcover, or ebook, visit this page.

Rites and Wrongs is also available from any Amazon site around the world (e.g., in the USA here).

Abbé Henri Dutilliet’s “Little Liturgical Catechism” Now in English

On this feast of St. Pius V, I am pleased to share with NLM readers the latest release from Os Justi Press, Abbé Henri Dutilliet’s Little Liturgical Catechism. Inspired by the efforts of Dom Prosper Guéranger, Dutilliet’s remarkable work, first published in French in 1860, offers a comprehensive distillation of the Roman liturgy and the Church’s annual cycle of worship.

This fine but forgotten book was rediscovered by the decadent-novelist-turned-Benedictine-oblate Joris-Karl Huysmans, who saw it back into print in 1896 as a remedy for “ignorance of the Sacred Liturgy.” Nor has the need for education ceased 130 years later, when the traditional rite so beautifully expounded in these pages has returned to so many churches. It is thus fitting to bring Dutilliet’s marvelous aid to light for our times, even as Huysmans did for his.

Expanded with notes that explain unfamiliar terms or point out differences between various editions of the old Roman rite, this first-ever English translation of Dutilliet’s text offers the faithful “the enduring enchantment of the admirable year of the Church” and the understanding that “all in her worship is full of meaning; nothing is left to hazard; no detail, however minute, is without purpose.”

The book is enriched by a substantial appendix that offers a catechism in Ecclesiastical Chant.

Reading the Little Liturgical Catechism is a painless way to acquire much learning in a short time. It would be especially useful to seminarians, MCs, altar servers, musicians, and catechists or religious educators, not to mention bookstores or bookstands.

Augustin Hacquard, bishop of Verdun, described this book as “the fruit of serious research, composed with as much method as precision. We commend this valuable work alike to those who instruct and to those who seek to be instructed.” Frédéric Victor Duval praised it in like manner: “This booklet is very appealing due to its catechetical form. If it were more widely distributed, Catholics would follow the services with greater enthusiasm, and their piety, less ignorant of the liturgy, would be deeper and more lively.”

You may “look inside” the publication at this link, but here are a few sample photos for convenience:

Also of possible interest to readers, here are some other recent publications:

Continue Reading this Article. . .

St. Thomas Aquinas on St. Paul’s Letter to the Hebrews and the Theology of Salvation

Os Justi Press has released two major Thomistic publications that will no doubt be of interest to many readers of NLM, given their extensive engagement with liturgical matters.

In Lent and Paschaltide, we reflect on Jesus as the lion who has conquered (Rev. 5, 5). But what has Jesus conquered? And how has he done so? The Bible also repeatedly refers to Jesus as our “savior.” But what does Jesus save us from, and how does he do so?

Daniel Robert Waldow’s The Lion Has Conquered is an unsurpassed introduction to soteriology – the branch of theology that seeks to answer these questions – as expressed in Scripture and Tradition. It guides the reader through the fundamental principles, issues, and questions, such as:

• the nature of and relationship between sin, death, hell, the devil, and punishment

• the purpose of ritual and moral sacrifices in the Old Testament

• the salvific function of the Incarnation, public ministry, and Paschal Mystery of Christ

• the objective work of Christ and our subjective participation in that work

• cooperation between grace and good works

• the salvific function of Baptism, Penance, and the Eucharist

• the relation between the sacrifice of the Cross and the sacrifice of the Mass.

Dr. Matthew Levering: “Aquinas scholar Daniel Waldow offers a theology of Christ and salvation that readers will treasure for its insight and clarity. The first part is a biblical tour-de-force, while the second part systematizes these insights with the aid of magisterial documents. A marvelous final chapter leads us through Catholic soteriology as inscribed in Western and Eastern Eucharistic rites, calling us to live liturgically the salvific path revealed by God.”

 

Complementing Waldow is The Transcendent Christ: St. Paul’s Letter to the Hebrews. This fine collection of essays includes, among others:

• Dr. Nathan Schmiedicke’s brilliant defense of the Pauline authorship of Hebrews (as testified by the unanimous liturgical tradition, East and West – but discarded in the Novus Ordo)

• Rev. Cassian Folsom OSB on the letter’s biblical and liturgical typology

• Rev. Thomas Crean OP on how the Mass is a true and proper sacrifice

• Dr. John P. Joy on the theology of atonement

• Dr. Daniel Lendman on the headship of Christ

I contribute a chapter on liturgy as “the sacrifice of praise” (sacrificium laudis, in the words of the Roman Canon). The transcript of a live scholastic debate with Fr. Thomas Crean as magister is included, focusing on the relationship between the Old Law and the New Law. The book concludes with the divisio textus of Hebrews provided by St. Thomas.

Scott Hahn: “This series of essays offers rich theological reflections prompted by the Book of Hebrews. Each essayist shows how the argument of Hebrews is illumined by St. Thomas’ commentary and the light that living Tradition sheds, especially on the Sacrifice of the Mass and our celestial High Priest.”

Karl Keating: “The contributors offer unexpected insights, with ramifications well beyond the Mass. Despite my familiarity with the Epistle, I found myself repeatedly surprised—and delighted. That will be the reaction of any reader.”

Steve Ray: “The book of Hebrews is rich with complex imagery, liturgy, and theology from the Old Covenant. It can be daunting. The Transcendent Christ delves into these treasures, illuminating Christ’s fulfillment of every expectation.”

Shane Kapler: “Reading these essays is akin to eavesdropping on the great universities of the past.”

 

Both are available in paperback, hardcover, or ebook. To “look inside” either one and to see more endorsements, visit their product pages at the Os Justi Press shop (The Lion Has Conquered, The Transcendent Christ).

The books are also available from Amazon sites around the world.

May Christ, our Eternal High Priest, interceding for us at the right hand of the Father, have mercy on us and save us, for He is gracious and loves mankind. And may St. Thomas Aquinas, the Angelic Doctor, intercede for us at the throne of God.

The Good News and Bad News of African Catholicism

The following essay was published on January 2 by Jozef Duháček at the Slovak website Christianitas and is given here in translation, with permission.—PK

Catholic priest celebrates Mass in Kenya

When you study history, it often happens that what you thought was a historical fact turns out to be just a story with no basis in reality. For example, many Americans grew up believing that the Boston Tea Party took place because the colonists disagreed with the tax imposed on tea by the British government. However, I recently discovered that all the tea was dumped into the sea in Boston in protest against the British government’s plan to subsidize the East India Tea Company and grant it a monopoly in the colonies, with the aim of making British tea cheaper than that which Boston merchants imported from India. The tea party was not a protest against expensive tea, but an act of protectionism against cheap tea. The story of the protest against the British tea tax was just a widespread narrative—and a completely reversed one at that.

Boston Tea Party

Another widespread false historical narrative is that in the Middle Ages, people believed that the earth was flat and that it was Galileo and Columbus who proved that this was not the case. This is a simple, blatant lie. Ancient Greek scholars (Aristotle, Eratosthenes) already knew that the Earth was round, and Eratosthenes even calculated its diameter with relative accuracy (he was off by about 10 percent). The fact that the Earth is round was taught at medieval universities, and the lie about the flat Earth dates back to the 19th century as part of an effort to discredit the Catholic Church.

Another false story says that Marie Antoinette told the French people that if they had no bread, they should eat cake. This is also a complete lie. There is no evidence that she said this, and it was attributed to her during the revolution as propaganda to justify her execution. Many history textbooks mindlessly repeat this story in order to discredit the old regime and glorify the atrocities of the revolution.

History is full of such narratives, and the older we get, the better we are at exposing them. Narratives are repeated, but they are never substantiated. They are used as evidence in other discussions, but they are rarely the subject of discussion themselves. They are convenient, providing an easy sense of certainty without effort (the truth, on the contrary, requires patience, diligence, and careful sifting through details). Narratives are often nested within each other like Russian matryoshka dolls, with smaller narratives forming the building blocks of larger ones, until a monumental edifice of fiction is created, where the individual parts reinforce each other and hold the whole structure together.

A beautiful example of such a construction is the so-called Black Legend, which describes the atrocities committed by the Spanish in the New World. It originated in England and the Netherlands as a propaganda attack by Protestants on the Catholic Spanish Empire. It contains a number of lies, here and there developed from facts taken out of context, which were intended to portray the Spaniards as extremely cruel colonizers, fanatical inquisitors, and racially and culturally backward tyrants.

Perhaps no event in Catholic history has generated as many narratives as the Second Vatican Council. From claims such as “the new lectionary contains more of the Holy Scriptures” to “Eucharistic Prayer II comes from the earliest days of the Church,” decades of fabricated myths have been woven to justify the reforms of the Council and explain the obvious demographic decline. One such widespread myth is: “Although the Church in the West is in crisis, the reforms of the Council have been successful in Africa! Catholicism is flourishing in Africa! The African Church has many vocations, is missionary, and is growing promisingly.” This is what “Catholic” portals, newspapers, and dailies tell us, and many of us believe it without bothering to seek any proof.

Second Vatican Council

In 2023, in an episode of his show “Word on Fire,” Bishop Barron responded to two articles by Ross Douthat in the New York Times about the Second Vatican Council and its failure as follows: Argument No. 1: Blaming the Second Vatican Council for the decline of Catholicism in the West is a logical fallacy known as “post hoc, ergo propter hoc.” Argument No. 2: The growth of the Church in Africa after the Second Vatican Council is due to that very council.

It is not difficult to see that Msgr. Barron is guilty of the same logical fallacy of which he accuses Douthat and others. Nevertheless, this oft-repeated argument about Africa deserves closer examination, as it is one of the great myths of our time.

To be honest, any examination of the state of Catholicism in the “global south” must include the fact that, although Catholicism is growing in absolute numbers due to population growth, Protestant and Pentecostal sects are growing much faster in percentage terms—and tragically attracting many former Catholics into their ranks. This does not sound like an indisputable “success story.”

It is noteworthy that the growth of Catholicism in Africa was proportionally much higher before 1970, i.e., at the end of the so-called “Tridentine” period. The conclusion is inevitable: if the Second Vatican Council was intended not only to preserve the status quo of the 1950s, but also to launch a new evangelization and missionary expansion, then it has failed in Africa.

What we see in the claims about the excellent state of African Catholicism—a myth that is refuted by the facts—is very similar to what we see in almost every discussion about the successes of Vatican II or liturgical reform: an enormous willingness to ignore evidence or perhaps even distort the truth—for ideological reasons.

In Africa, which is very often presented as a showcase for the “successes of Vatican II,” the number of Catholics receiving the sacraments per 1,000 inhabitants has fallen by half since the Council until 2015, as statistics from religionnews.com show: “More Catholics, fewer receiving sacraments: A new report maps a changing church.”

In 1900, Catholics made up 2% of Africa’s population. By the Second Vatican Council, this proportion had risen to 13%. After the Council, the number of Catholics rose to about 18% (according to the World Christian Database), while Protestants doubled their share from 15% to 29% during the same period. The increase in the number of “Catholics” is mainly due to the fact that the population has tripled in absolute terms. In other words, the growth after the Second Vatican Council is mainly due to higher fertility rates and not to conversions or evangelization. In the first 70 years of the 20th century, the number of African Catholics increased sixfold. In the 60 years since the Council, it has only grown by half. What caused this change? Would it have been “worse without the Council,” as the usual phrase goes?

This topic is addressed in a book published by Os Justi Press entitled Is African Catholicism a “Vatican II Success Story”?. This concise book, which brings together contributions by four authors, effectively challenges this narrative by referring to history, liturgy, and common sense.

The well-known claim that Catholicism is flourishing in Africa—that it is the only continent where Vatican II has borne rich fruit—is not consistent with the available data and descriptions, as shown by the reports of the late George Neumayr from Ivory Coast. Moreover, a Nigerian seminarian analyzes the harmful inculturation imposed on Africans by racially stereotyping European liturgists. Claudio Salvucci asks critical questions about the so-called Zairean rite based on Congolese history, and Peter Kwasniewski evaluates the evangelizing potential of preconciliar faith, life, and worship. In Africa, as elsewhere, traditional Catholicism won over entire nations and stimulated enormous cultural creativity. However, under the reign of the new ecclesiology, new ecumenism, and new liturgy of progressive Western intellectuals, more and more people are turning to Protestant sects and uprooted secularism.

It was Neumayr’s articles on this topic in the American Spectator magazine that brought this issue to the forefront of a broader discussion. Neumayr had long questioned the African narrative and traveled to Ivory Coast, one of the most Catholic regions in Africa, to find out the true state of Catholicism there. Unfortunately, Neumayr fell ill and died in Africa in 2023. Only a few of his essays have been published so far, which can be found in this book and are an excellent introduction to the question of African Catholicism. On January 13, 2023, Neumayr posted this comment on social media: “As Freemasons grew stronger in Ivory Coast, they were condemned not by Catholic bishops, but by Pentecostal preachers. (Catholic) bishops only criticized them weakly, out of fear after it came to light that they had allowed the head of the lodge to receive Holy Communion.”

In his final weeks, he published a series of articles in The American Spectator that are instructive, albeit depressing, and testify to the decline of Catholicism in Ivory Coast and the many parallels with other parts of post-conciliar Africa. Neumayr was a man of keen observation, and he wittily shows that Catholicism in Ivory Coast is very, very far from its heyday. Neumayr effortlessly introduces foreigners to the issues of contemporary African culture and liturgical life through an interesting travelogue. His visit to Ivory Coast, especially its capital city, offers a valuable insight into the decline caused by the post-colonial situation. We learn that the rule of Western states (whatever its shortcomings) was not the only stabilizing factor that has been removed over the past seventy years. The ancient Roman liturgy, which once evangelized and united these countries, has been replaced by a rite that has become a source of division owing to the multitude of local dialects; speakers are humiliated when this or that dialect, not their own, is chosen as the language of celebration for a particular Mass.

The longest contribution to the book is by an anonymous African seminarian who discusses in detail the problems of inculturation in Africa. His section is extremely instructive and reveals the failures of inculturation.

As this seminarian shows, the enormous fragmentation is further exacerbated by the political progressivism of many parish priests who promote socialism from the pulpit and allow heresy to flourish in their communities. One of the officially tolerated forms of heresy, as the seminarian explains, is liturgical inculturation, which has been spreading in Africa since the Second Vatican Council. Based on numerous scholarly sources, he explains how inculturation differs from adaptation, which was a healthy way in which the Church once integrated its liturgical rites into the healthy aspects of a culture. It is worth noting that the idea of an “inculturated” African liturgy did not originate with Africans themselves, but with European experts who speculated on what would best suit their African brothers.

One of the most interesting reflections in the book comes from this essay, where the author rejects the idea that liturgy in indigenous languages can save those languages:

Latin has never been a threat to the Igbo language, but English is. And this is not because English is taught in school or sometimes used in the church, but principally because Igbo is no longer spoken in many Igbo homes, no longer the mother tongue; making it the liturgical language does not help. The English language may indeed threaten the identity of the Igbo people, but post- Christian Western values, torn as it were from God and from the natural law, pose a mortal and infernal danger. A largely sentimental revitalization of traditional Igbo customs and its incorporation into the liturgy stand little chance in stemming the surging and sophisticated onslaught of the decadent West. (p. 67)

This section is indeed very interesting and is complemented by chapters by Claudio Salvucci, which describe what the adaptation of the liturgy before the Council looked like in practice. Salvucci writes about the Catholic Kingdom of Congo and points out that efforts to inculturate a kind of constructed “paradisiacal” African heritage actually ignore the real history of African Catholicism and erase the very heritage that we claim to want to respect. Unlike the modern “Zairean rite,” which includes ceremonies that were never part of traditional African Catholic culture, the Mass in the presence of the King of Congo had several elements that organically integrated his royal role into the liturgy—without violating a single prescribed rubric of the Mass. Salvucci asks: “How can we speak of the inviolability of non-Catholic customs and demand their preservation in the Church when at the same time we discard our own native Catholic customs and culture?”

Unfortunately, this is exactly what has happened in Africa over the past 70 years, and the alleged fruits of these changes do not correspond to the simple narrative we have all heard—namely, that “the Church in Africa has experienced a genuine renaissance since the Council!” On the contrary, as the Nigerian seminarian and Dr. Peter Kwasniewski clearly show in graphs depicting quantitative data, the pace of growth on the continent has slowed dramatically since 1970, even though the number of Catholics continues to increase due to population growth. This change cannot be fully explained by secularization, as the growth rate of Protestant sects is increasing while that of Catholicism is declining.

Kwasniewski describes the unifying power of the old Mass, whose homogeneity and rituality have brought millions of Africans to Catholicism in past centuries. The revival of the old Mass in several places on the continent gives great hope for its spread in the future, so that the important task of cultural adaptation and flourishing can continue unhindered. Kwasniewski recalls that Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre was a missionary in Africa from 1932 to 1959, and under his leadership, Catholicism spread extensively in the regions of Africa for which he was responsible. These included twelve archdioceses, thirty-six dioceses, and thirteen Italian apostolic prefectures.

As elsewhere in the world, Africans were denied something that was already a precious part of their Catholic heritage. Several thriving parishes with traditional Latin Masses in Africa, particularly in Nigeria and Gabon, suggest that African Catholics would perhaps flock to these Masses if they were more accessible. Their inaccessibility cannot therefore be used as an argument against their appeal or power.

Another significant problem that the proponents of the success story of Vatican II in Africa tactfully conceal is the shameless mixing of pagan practices into Catholic liturgy and faith.

Rev. Edwin Ezeokeke, a doctoral student in systematic theology at the John Paul II Catholic University in Lublin, wrote a thesis entitled Theological Analysis of Syncretic and Pagan Beliefs and Customs in Catholic Funerals in Igboland, Nigeria, in which he lists a number of animistic rituals and beliefs that tarnish the beautiful image of the African Church. He concludes his thesis with the words:

Many people in Igboland are Catholics but Catholic faith and the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ especially his teachings on death and resurrection are yet to take deep root in their lives. This is why many Catholic faithful incorporate lots and lots of pagan practices and beliefs in the Catholic burials and funerals. Many see this as inculturation. But as I have said above, inculturation is never and will never be syncretism. They are two different things with totally different meanings. Inculturation is recommended for evangelization. It entails a sincere and honest appreciation of the dimensions of other cultures in so far it does not alter the main essence of the Church’s identity. Syncretism alters the main essence and meaning of the Church’s identity. This is exactly what the above pagan practices do to Catholic Church in Igboland especially as it concerns her burial and funeral rites. These practices completely alter the entire essence and meaning of the Catholic burials and funerals.

Der Spiegel magazine published an article by Thilo Thielke entitled “Christianity in Africa: Jesus in the Morning, Voodoo in the Evening,” in which he vividly describes how animism mixes with the Christian faith. In the text, he quotes voodoo shaman John Odeh:

“Christianity has destroyed our culture. The people have lost faith in our ancient gods and values,” the animist priest laments. Ape skulls, amulets and shells are laid out on the concrete floor of the adjacent garage. Figures of Ogun, the god of iron, Orunmila, the god of wisdom, and Olokun, the god of waters, adorn this unusual shrine. Osalobua, the supreme God, punishes theft swiftly and without mercy, says Odeh. And the dead hear every lie told by the living. “The pastors go to church in the morning and preach Christianity,” says the voodoo priest. “And in the evening they come to me and speak with their forefathers.”

I personally heard the testimony of a priest from France, where the shortage of local priests is being remedied by importing priests from former African colonies. This priest said that Africans first celebrate a new Mass in the church and then spend the whole evening drumming and chanting their pagan rituals in the rectory. “But without the Council, it would probably have been worse…” (!).

However, the overall message of this introductory book is very positive. Perhaps it will open the door to further study of the Church in Africa, as it would be helpful to see an even stronger emphasis on demography.

Mark Twain once said, “The trouble with the world is not that people know too little; it’s that they know so many things that just aren’t so.” This book is an excellent response to those who “know so many things that simply are not true” about Africa. The book Is African Catholicism a “Vatican II Success Story”? can be obtained from Os Justi Press or from any Amazon outlet.

Book Announcement: “Prayers in Honor of Saint Thomas Aquinas”

If you’ve been paying attention to the Dominican world, you’ll know we’ve hit some huge Thomistic anniversaries recently:

• in 2023, the 700th of Aquinas’s canonization;
• in 2024, the 750th of his death;
• and in 2025, the 800th of his birth.

To me, as a writer and publisher, it seemed that a special celebratory publication was in order!

Now, books that contain Aquinas’s own prayers and poems are fairly plentiful. That may not have been the case decades ago, but thanks to the efforts of Fr. Paul Murray and others who have rescued Aquinas from the false accusations of proto-rationalism, we are in a good spot today when it comes to familiarity with and use of a broader range of the saint’s writings, including scripture commentaries, sermons, expert opinions, and the like. But when it comes to collecting traditional prayers and devotions in honor of St. Thomas into a single book, the story’s rather different. As far as I can tell, such a thing has never been done. I am therefore delighted to announce the latest release from Os Justi Press, a beautiful prayerbook that brings together the finest of this literature, researched and edited by Thomas O'Sullivan:

• The Little Office of St. Thomas Aquinas
• Antiphons & Responsories from the Office of St. Thomas Aquinas
• Prayer of the Angelic Warfare Confraternity
• Prayers to St. Thomas, Patron of Catholic Schools
• Prayer Before Studying St. Thomas
• Litany in Honor of St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church & Patron of Chastity
• The Six Sundays in Honor of St. Thomas Aquinas

These devotions help us to relate to the Angelic Doctor as first and foremost the Lord’s beloved friend, a miracle-worker, an intercessor before the throne of God, a powerful member of the Mystical Body in its heavenly glory—one who merited to be hailed as “the holy teacher, citizen of the heavenly courts, splendor of the world, guide and light of the faithful, pattern, path, and law of all morality, vessel of virtues.”

Prayers are given in both Latin and English, on facing pages. The meditations for the Six Sundays are in English.
 

Continue Reading this Article. . .

Liturgical Travels Through France: A New Publication from Canticum Salomonis

We are very pleased to share with our readers this announcement of a new publication by our good friends at Canticum Salomonis, the first-ever English translation of Jean-Baptiste des Marettes’ Liturgical Travels Through France.

Gospels chanted atop rood lofts, the Blessed Sacrament reserved in hanging pyxes, processions with dragons and banners, Lenten expulsion and reconciliation of penitents, manipled choirboys, communion under two species – even, perhaps, nuns serving as acolytes! These are but some of the bygone French liturgical practices and rituals that await discovery by the reader of Liturgical Travels Through France (1718).

His guide is the learned Jean-Baptiste Le Brun des Marettes, a cleric at the turn of the eighteenth century whose abiding interest in pagan and ecclesiastical antiquity spurred him to travel his fatherland to document its diverse liturgical traditions. His account recreates a ritual world where vast cathedrals and abbeys sustained an integral and triumphal celebration of the holy mysteries accompanied by the enthusiasm of the multitudes – a world soon to be obliterated by the vicissitudes of revolution.

Translated for the first time into English by Gerhard Eger and Zachary Thomas, and published by Os Justi Press, Liturgical Travels Through France speaks directly to the concerns of our own unsettled moment as well. Early modern France enjoyed a rich and regionally varied liturgical life, shaped by centuries of faithful observance, artistic cultivation, and civic devotion, elements conspicuously absent from the flattened ceremonial landscape of today. Far from being a mere antiquarian curiosity, Le Brun des Marettes’ work offers a salutary challenge to modern preconceptions about the unicity of the Roman rite, reminding us that organic liturgical development once yielded a dazzling diversity within unity.

The book’s contemporary relevance is brought into focus by Abbé Claude Barthe, whose foreword situates the work within the context of the neo-Gallican movement as well as twentieth-century debates between rupture and continuity. An appendix by Shawn Tribe explores the art-historical aspects of Le Brun des Marettes’ account, while the French scholar François Hou offers a fascinating study of the cathedral chapters that sustained the French Church’s mighty edifice of worship.

Liturgical Travels Through France is more than a picturesque record of vanished rites (illustrated here not only in prose but in 55 plates); it is a vital source for understanding the nature and history of liturgical reform. Written at a time when the French church stood at a crossroads – torn between renewed zeal for tradition and pressures for rationalization and adaptation – it documents a moment of extraordinary tension and creativity.

The early eighteenth century, particularly in France, witnessed a flourishing of ressourcement in the fields of Scripture, patristics, and liturgy, carried out under the long shadow of the Council of Trent. As national pride swelled under Louis XIV, diocesan churches, once eager to conform to Roman norms, began asserting the legitimacy of their local customs. The revocation of the Edict of Nantes further complicated the pastoral landscape, as churchmen were forced to reconcile the needs of both lifelong Catholics and recently converted Protestants.

The sanctuary of Notre-Dame de Paris as it looked before its rood screen was taken down in the 18th century.

It was in this climate that the so-called “neo-Gallican” rites emerged: diocesan liturgical books often marked by classical sensibilities, didactic preoccupations, and a mixture of reverent innovation and archaeological curiosity. While some of these reforms culminated in the excesses of the Synod of Pistoia (1786), whose decrees were rightly rejected by both pope and faithful, many others reflected a sincere effort to recover the spirit of the Fathers, and to reform abuses without compromising the integrity of worship.

Le Brun des Marettes’ work belongs to this milieu. His accounts do not merely chronicle local curiosities; they bear witness to a Church still deeply rooted in sacramental practice, even while grappling with the challenges of modernity.

The significance of this moment has not escaped historians of twentieth-century liturgical reform. Many have sought in the eighteenth century the remote prelude to the innovations of the Liturgical Movement, and ultimately, the creation of the rite of Paul VI. Hence, this edition of the Liturgical Travels provides a cautionary counterpoint to easy narratives of rupture or progress. It reminds us that the impulse to reform, if divorced from the lived tradition and ecclesial piety that nourishes it, risks destroying the very thing it claims to renew.

In our own day, Le Brun des Marettes’ work stands as a witness to the fruitful tension between tradition and reform. Both traditionalists and progressives may be tempted to use the past he describes to justify liturgical experiments of one kind or another. The greater value of his work lies in its ability to broaden our understanding of what the Latin liturgical tradition has been – and what it might yet become. For readers today, it offer not a blueprint, but a horizon: a vision of sacred order instantiated in a particular place and time, which can inspire our own efforts to restore the sacred.

The book is available in hardback, paperback, and ebook directly from Os Justi Press. It may likewise be purchased on Amazon US or any other Amazon outlet (UK, Canada, Australia, Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Italy, and Japan).

Launching “Theological Classics”: Newman on the Virgin Mary, St Vincent on Novelty & Heresy, Guardini on Sacred Signs

At a time of turmoil, nothing could be better or more important than rooting ourselves more deeply in the Catholic tradition. One of my favorite quotations is by St. Prosper of Aquitaine (390-455), writing in his own age of chaos: “Even if the wounds of this shattered world enmesh you, and the sea in turmoil bears you along in but one surviving ship, it would still befit you to maintain your enthusiasm for studies unimpaired. Why should lasting values tremble if transient things fall?”

Enter Os Justi’s new Theological Classics series. Noticing that many indispensable works of ancient, medieval, and more recent centuries are no longer (or were never) available in worthy print editions, we decided to do something about it. Our series, which could be compared to St. Vladimir Press’ Popular Patristics, will feature handsome, convenient, and affordable books, equipped with superb historical and doctrinal introductions.

The series commences with three masterpieces.

Placing Our Lady at the head of all (as is only fitting) the first in the series is St. John Henry Newman’s incomparable apologia for Marian doctrine, The Virgin Mary as New Eve: A Letter Addressed to the Rev. E. B. Pusey, which some consider the single best response to Protestant objections ever penned. This volume features an in-depth historical and doctrinal introduction by Fr. Thomas Crean, OP, and, for the first time, full translations of all the Latin passages quoted by Newman.
 

The second in the series is St. Vincent of Lérins’ Commonitory for the Antiquity and Universality of the Catholic Faith Against the Profane Novelties of All Heretics, a work that enunciates and illustrates the famous “Vincentian canon”: “In the Catholic Church, every care should be taken to hold fast to what has been believed everywhere, always, and by all”—which has resounded as a battle cry for defenders of dogmatic tradition; indeed, it served as an inspiration and catalyst for Newman’s Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine. Os Justi’s new edition features the original Latin text side-by-side with a flowing translation into modern English, accompanied by ample notes and interpretive essays by Alan Fimister, Peter Kwasniewski, and Phillip Cambpell. Astonishingly, there has been no acceptable English edition of this very famous Patristic work in print for decades—until now.

 

The third in the series is Romano Guardini’s Sacred Signs, in which the author sets himself the task of “seeing and feeling” the basic language of signs out of which worship is composed: the human person and the objects, movements, and awarenesses of time and space that pervade everyday life. Its piercing insight, radiant piety, and almost fairy-tale-like style make it unique in the annals of liturgical writing. Os Justi’s edition is graced with the original line drawings as well as a pedagogically rich introduction by Benedictine Fr. Samuel F. Weber.

These books deserve to reach the hands of serious readers everywhere; they would serve well not only for private study but also as texts for university, seminary, homeschool, or adult enrichment courses.

Here’s a short video that gives a substantial peak inside the pages:

Os Justi Theological Classics are available directly from the publisher or from any Amazon site across the world.

A Comprehensive Guide to the Theology and Practice of Veiling

The latest release from Os Justi Press is a revised and expanded new edition of Anna Elissa’s Mantilla: The Veil of the Bride of Christ, this time in full color. (It first came out 9 years ago in Indonesia and quickly become a favorite of many readers until it sold out; it was time for a superior presentation, with better distribution channels. You can find NLM’s original review of the black-and-white first edition here, posted on August 31, 2016.)

Mantilla: The Veil of the Bride of Christ is the most thorough, insightful, and serene guide to veiling ever written—one that will equip you with answers to your own questions as well as the never-lacking questions of friends, relatives, and strangers.

Resting her account on Scripture and Tradition as interpreted by the Church Fathers, St. Thomas Aquinas, and papal, liturgical, and canon law texts, Anna Elissa—a wife, mother, psychiatrist, and lay Dominican—offers arguments of fittingness on behalf of veiling, responds to common objections against it, offers practical advice for choosing, wearing, and even designing mantillas, and shows how the veil contributes to a Eucharistic way of life that treats femininity as a gift, a treasure, and a mystery.

To illustrate and verify her points, Elissa presents a substantial collection of testimonials from women of all ages about their experience adopting and wearing the veil—and from men, too, including clergy, about why they value the practice and its return.

Appropriately for a work about the language of signs and beauty, “Mantilla” is also graced with exquisite artworks in color.

In his foreword, Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Antonio Guido Filipazzi describes the book as a “beautiful surprise.” Whether you are a long-time veiler, a skeptic of veiling, or simply curious to learn more, this is the book for you!

Paperback, 5” x 8”, 152 pp. $16.95. (Hardcover and ebook also available.) Available from Os Justi Press or any Amazon outlet.

“The Masses of Holy Week & Tenebrae”: A Publication to Assist in Pre-55 Services

Those who are blessed with access to Holy Week in the Tridentine Rite, that is, the rite celebrated for a thousand years and more prior to Pius XII’s changes in the mid-1950s, may find helpful a resource published by Os Justi Press, The Masses of Holy Week & Tenebrae, which contains the liturgy (in Latin with English translation) for Palm Sunday, the Triduum Masses, and the Office of Tenebrae, including the complete Gregorian chants. Summary rubrics are indicated. No page turning is required. The book features many medieval illustrations as well.

Ideal for scholas, for personal study, or as a congregational worship aid, the book is handsomely printed with readable type and weighs in at nearly 500 pages. The cost is $19.95. Bulk discounts are available (and for multiple countries, not just the USA) by contacting the publisher. The book is also available through Amazon, including all of its international sites.

The cover is shown above. Below are some sample pages; more may be found here. 

N.B.: The paperback’s illustrations are printed in grayscale, not in color. The hardcover is in color. Please be aware that these volumes are printed “on demand” rather than offset-printed, and, as a result, the binding is not sewn but glued.