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. . .

An Italian Festival Revived in New Jersey, Sept. 6

The faithful are invited to attend a celebration in honor of Our Lady of the Torrent on Saturday, September 6th, at St. Aloysius Church in Caldwell, New Jersey, with a High Mass in the Extraordinary Form starting at 11 am, followed by a procession and a light reception with a display of associated memorabilia. For more information, or to RSVP by claiming free tickets, please visit https://MariaSSDellaLavina2025.rsvpify.com or use the QR code. The church is located at 219 Bloomfield Ave.

Over the past few years, Fr. William Rock, a priest of the Fraternity of St. Peter and friend of NLM, has been working with the Italian Apostolate of the archdiocese of Newark to revive devotion to the Blessed Mother under the title of Our Lady of the Torrent (Madonna della Lavina) at his home parish. This devotion originated in Cerami, Sicily, Fr. Rock’s ancestral town through his maternal grandmother, with the abandonment and miraculous discovery of a Byzantine icon of the Virgin around 1630, (as related here.)

When they came to the United States, the Ceramesi immigrants brought devotion to Our Lady of the Torrent with them. In 1912, a Maria SS. della Lavina Mutual Aid Society was established in Caldwell, New Jersey, which had a large Ceramesi population, and a yearly feast was celebrated. The celebration grew into a multiday event with religious celebrations as well as a carnival, but came to dwindle over time. When Fr Rock was a child, the now one-day celebration consisted only of Mass and the procession of an image of the Madonna around town. Until recently, it had been completely neglected for many years, but not altogether extinguished. For example, when he was ordained in 2019, Fr. Rock chose the Maria SS. della Lavina image from his home parish for his holy card, due to the sentimental value it had for himself and for his family. Another devotee, Dr. Rosemary Intili Ferdinand, related the impact this devotion had in her life in this 2022 interview.

In 2023, as part of a larger effort of rejuvenation undertaken by the Italian Apostolate of the Archdiocese of Newark, Fr. Rock was invited to revive devotion to Our Lady of the Torrent, the progress of which he relates in this post from last year. The hope is to build on the events of previous years with the incorporation of customs such as the use of neckerchiefs typically worn at Sicilian festivals, the holding of votive laurel branches during the procession, and providing cavatieddi atturrati, cookies exclusive to Cerami, at the reception.

Incensation of the image of Our Lady of the Torrent during last year’s celebration.

“Hold Fast to the Traditions” - Guest Article by Mr Jay Rattino

Our thanks to Mr Jay Rattino for sharing with us this interesting article about the folk customs of Italian Catholics, and the efforts being made to preserve and revive them.

The Italian Catholic communities throughout New Jersey and the surrounding areas are filled with long-standing traditions, and there are renewed efforts going on to revive the devotional customs brought to this country by their ancestors. For those unfamiliar with these practices, witnessing them can evoke both awe and confusion, often prompting the question, “What exactly is this?” Many of these traditions fall under the umbrella of Catholic folk piety, which Gregory DiPippo defines as “devotional customs and practices which have arisen spontaneously among the people, and not from the Church’s official rites.” Phillip Campbell, in a video for Unam Sanctam Catholicam, further reflects on how these simple acts express profound theological truths.

A great example—recently highlighted in an article on New Liturgical Movement—comes from Dr. Peter Kwasniewski’s pilgrimage to Catania, Sicily. The patroness of the town is St. Agatha, who endured multiple tortures, including the cutting off of her breasts. During her feast, which spans three days, Dr. Kwasniewski witnessed “countless individual candles,” “hundreds of devotees wearing white garments and medallions,” a “giant silver reliquary,” depictions of St. Agatha in prison, and more. The picture of an entire city embracing its patroness with such dramatic public devotion is striking. This is a vivid and moving example of Catholic folk piety in action.

The Italian immigrants who came to the United States brought with them many of these folk devotions, and while they may not be on quite so grand a scale in New Jersey — or in the United States as a whole — one can still see traces of them, which we can perhaps also think of as seeds read to sprout again.

During March, you can see a plethora of tables presented to St. Joseph at churches like St. Joseph’s in Lodi, St. Mary’s in Nutley, Our Lady of Mount Virgin in Garfield, and more. As the blog Il Regno explains, the St. Joseph table is a popular tradition throughout Sicily, which dates back to medieval times, when the saint interceded during a severe drought and famine. It is customary for these tables to include a serving of Pasta con le Sarde (Pasta with Sardines); the pasta is topped with toasted breadcrumbs (a muddica), symbolizing the sawdust of a carpenter’s workshop—a tribute to St. Joseph the Worker.

The St. Rocco Society of Fort Lee carries their saint in a traditional procession, but at one point, they begin to run—a joyful tradition known as the Running of the Saint, which traces its origins back to their hometown in Italy.

At St. Lucy’s in Newark, you’ll find St. Gerard’s statue on full display before the novena begins. Shortly after, you’ll consistently see blankets of cash wrapped around the statue—an expression of gratitude by devotees for favors received.

The St. Joseph Society of Lodi celebrates their patron on (or around) March 19 and May 1—but also during Labor Day Weekend. According to society leaders, the founders chose this weekend without work to honor St. Joseph the Worker, dedicating it as a time of rest in his name.

These traditions (and many more) are alive—some thriving more than others, comparable to a pilot light: steady and quietly burning. But recently, that pilot light has been turned up to full blast, thanks to a fresh wave of energy from young people involved in the Italian Apostolate of the Archdiocese of Newark.

Under the direction of Eric Lavin, the Apostolate has been actively supporting these traditions across the archdiocese through promotion and participation. In addition to preserving the rich cultural and spiritual heritage of Italian communities, the group has organized pilgrimages (including to the Padre Pio Shrine and Mother Cabrini Shrine) and continues to support both an Italian-language RCIA program and Italian-language Masses throughout the archdiocese. Most notably, the Italian Apostolate is also helping to revive and bolster forgotten or fading Italian Catholic traditions—and even to bring to light devotions previously unknown to many.

In southern Italian tradition, sepolcri are donated to churches and presented at the Altar of Repose on Holy Thursday. As Il Regno explains, these are potted wheat or lentil sprouts that lack color because they are grown in darkness during the days leading up to Holy Week. The pale, yellow plants represent death, rebirth, and the Resurrection. Over the past two years, the Italian Apostolate has revived this custom by growing the plants and providing them to parishes across the archdiocese.

Courtesy of the blog Il Regno

In much of Italy, including the south, it is more common to distribute olive branches on Palm Sunday instead of palms. The branches are typically decorated with ribbons, paper flowers, and sometimes even caciocavallo cheese—a unique offering of beauty and abundance to begin Holy Week. The Italian Apostolate has embraced this tradition, organizing the distribution of these decorated olive branches to both Italian and non-Italian parishes throughout the archdiocese, continuing the legacy of southern Italian Catholic customs with renewed devotion.

Other examples of interesting devotions include two distinguished feasts—Madonna del Sacro Monte and the feast of Maria Santissima Incoronata—where young girls may dress as the Blessed Virgin Mary or an angel, and young boys as Saint Anthony of Padua or Saint Pio of Pietrelcina. The processions and reenactments are expressions of deep devotion, allowing children to embody the saints as part of the community’s act of worship and celebration.

Some other feasts have gone defunct, such as those of St. Rocco (Church of the Assumption in Emerson), St. Michael (St. Lucy’s in Newark), Our Lady of the Snows (same), and Maria SS. della Lavina (St. Aloysius in Caldwell). But this last has recently seen a promising revival, featuring a Solemn High Latin Mass, with the celebration resuming and growing steadily. Perhaps, with a little zeal, the others too may experience a revival.

Locally, the Italian Apostolate of the Archdiocese of Newark is working hard to bring people back to Mass, preserve long-held traditions, and revive those that were once lost. Beyond New Jersey, this trend is gaining traction among young Italian Catholics across America.

The Italian Mass Project of New York promotes Catholic initiatives for the Italian-American community throughout the New York area. In Denver, Colorado, La Società Maria SS. dei Sette Dolori seeks to restore religious and cultural traditions at their local parish, Our Lady of Mount Carmel. The Madonna del Lume Associazione is instituting an annual procession in Tampa, Florida—featuring a 24-man processional vara (platform) to carry their statue of Our Lady of Light. Under the patronage of St. Catherine of Alexandria, Italian Feasts promotes Italian celebrations and traditions nationwide, offering a current calendar of events that connects communities across the country.

“So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.” 2 Thessalonians 2, 15

True pious devotions and traditions need to be preserved. Lost ones need to be revived.

At Newark Italian Apostolate events and meetings, you'll find the familiar group of dedicated members working hard to preserve, revive, and support Italian Catholic traditions.

But perhaps the greater victory is this: the curious secular soul who observes one of these traditions and asks, “What is this?” They drop into a meeting or event, drawn by something they saw in person or on social media. There, they encounter Catholic folk piety—and then say to themselves, “I’d like to be a part of this.”

That’s because these traditions can be the hook a soul needs to draw close to Jesus. Many people are not yet ready for direct catechesis—but the taste of a St. Joseph pastry or a plate of pasta con le sarde can be the first door to a life of grace in Christ and His Church.

Rendiamo grazie a Dio!

The Feast of the Fourteen Holy Helpers

The eighth of August is kept in some places as the feast of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, sometimes called the Auxiliary Saints in English, who are venerated for their efficacious intercession and protection in certain regards, especially against a number of maladies and dangers. The devotion to these Saints as a group originated in Germany in the fourteenth century, during the period of the Black Death; they are called Nothelfer in German, ‘helpers in need’. The devotion spread to several other parts of Europe, and grew in popularity, being endowed with special indulgences by Pope Nicholas V (1447-55). It would seem from the liturgical books of that period that they were not kept with a feast per se, but a votive Mass in their honor is found in several Missals. In the Cracow Missal of 1483, we find the following rubric introducing the feast.

The Mass of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, approved by Pope Nicholas, …it is powerful on their behalf, however so much one is in great illness or anguish or sadness, or in whatsoever tribulation a man shall be. It is powerful also on behalf of the imprisoned and detained, on behalf of merchants and pilgrims, for those that have been sentenced to die, for those who are at war, for women who are struggling in childbirth, or with a miscarriage, and for (the forgiveness of) sins, and for the dead.

The Mass of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, in the Missal according to the Use of Cracow, printed in 1493. 

In the Missal of Bamberg, the collect of the feast reads as follows:

Almighty and merciful God, who didst adorn Thy Saints George, Blaise, Erasmus, Pantaleon, Vitus, Christopher, Denis, Cyriacus, Acacius, Eustace, Giles, Margaret, Barbara and Catherine with special privileges above all others, so that all who in their necessities implore their help, according to the grace of Thy promise, may attain the salutary effect of their pleading, grant to us, we beseech Thee, forgiveness of our sins, and with their merits interceding, deliver us from all adversities, and kindly hear our prayers.

The words “according to the grace of Thy promise” here refer to the tradition that each of these saints received a promise from God that their intercession would be particularly effective on behalf of those who honor the Saint. Thus, in the proper office of Saint Margaret of Antioch, we read the following antiphon, “Let all people magnify the holy name of the Lord, who at the last requests of Saint Margaret promised that, at the instance of her prayer, He would give the rewards of life to those who worthily keep her solemn feast; and may He make us their fellows, and mighty in love, unto His praise for all ages without end.”

The altarpiece of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, from the now-suppressed Heilbronn Abbey in the Baden-Württemberg region of Germany, 1498.

The Fourteen are all martyrs, except for Saint Giles; as is so often the case with the medieval conception of patron Saints, the diseases they are associated with refer in several cases to the manner of their martyrdom. Thus, Saint Acacius, who was crowned with thorns, and Saint Denis, who was decapitated, are invoked against headache. In some places, one or the other of the traditional fourteen was replaced with a more popular local Saint; in France, the Virgin Mary was added to the group, and they were called the Fifteen Helpers. Under this later title, the devotion was formally suppressed by the Sacred Congregation of Rites in 1628, the prohibition against it then being renewed on various occasions. It is not at all clear what lead the Congregation to this action; the decree of suppression associates the Mass of the Holy Helpers with certain Masses “circulated under the name of Saint Gregory for the living and the dead”, and another Mass “of the Eternal Father.” It may simply be that such Masses were regarded as inauthentic additions to the Roman Rite, being unknown at Rome itself. The devotion continued, however, and is still found in various places; there is a large pilgrimage shrine dedicated to them in Bad Staffelstein, Bavaria, and many churches have altars in their honor. In his 2009 series on the Catholic churches of Bamberg, Gregor Kollmorgen wrote about the Basilica, and provided some beautiful pictures.

A Liturgical Curiosity for the Feast of the Sacred Heart

Just as devotion to the Blessed Sacrament is older than the liturgical feast of Corpus Christi, devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus predates the formal institution of a feast in its honor, by many centuries in fact. For example, St Gertrude the Great, who lived from 1256 to the first years of the following century, writes of a vision of St John the Evangelist which she beheld on his feast day, in which he brought her to lay her head upon the breast of the Lord, as he himself had done at the Last Supper. St Gertrude than ask John if he had also heard the beating of the Lord’s heart as she did, and when he replied that he had, and that the sweetness of it had penetrated into his very marrow, she asked him why he had not written about this in the Gospel. St John replied:

My duty was to write to the young Church only about the uncreated Word of God the Father, ... To speak of the sweet beatings of (this heart) was reserved for modern times, so that from the hearing of such things, the world might grow warm again when it had become old and tepid in the love of God. (The Herald of Divine Piety, 4, 4)

The Last Supper, by Ugolino di Nerio, 1325-28

Like the feast of Corpus Christi, that of the Sacred Heart was first proposed in a vision vouchsafed to a nun; during a Forty-hours Devotion held within the octave of Corpus Christi in 1675, the Lord appeared to the French Visitandine St Margaret-Mary Alacoque, the consummation of a long series of visions. He then asked her to work for the institution of a feast in reparation for the ingratitude and indifference which so many show to Him “in the sacrament of love,” to be kept on the day after the Octave of Corpus; this day is of course Friday, the day of His Passion. Within the Saint’s lifetime, the feast had begun to be celebrated by her order and among certain other congregations; as it slowly gained ground, it was formally recognized and permitted by Pope Clement XIII in 1765, and extended to the universal calendar of the Church by Blessed Pius IX in 1856.

When the neo-Gallican Missal of Paris was issued in 1738 by the Archbishop Charles de Vintimille, the feast had not yet been formally approved by Rome or widely accepted outside a few religious orders; however, the new Parisian Missal did fulfill one aspect of the request made by the Lord to St Margaret Mary. Among the collection of votive Masses is a special Mass “for the reparation of injuries done to Christ in the Most Holy Sacrament.” This Mass is placed between the votive Mass of the Sacrament and that of the Passion; furthermore, a rubric after the Octave of Corpus Christi prescribes this Mass be said on the following day, which is now kept everywhere as the feast of the Sacred Heart. Here is the full text of the Mass. The translations of the prayers are my own; the Scriptural quotations are taken from the Douay-Rheims translation, with a few modifications necessary to the sense.

The Apparition of Our Lord to St Margaret Mary Alacoque; stained glass window in St Brendan’s Church, Birr, County Offaly, Ireland. (Image from Wikimedia Commons by Andreas F. Borchert, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE)

Introit Quanta malignatus est in- imicus in sancto! in terra pollue- runt tabernaculum nominis tui, Domine. Usquequo, Deus, irri- tat adversarius nomen tuum in finem?	What things the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary! they have defiled the dwelling place of thy name on the earth. How long, O God; doth the adversary provoke thy name forever?  Psalm 73
Psalm. Ut quid, Deus, repulisti in finem? iratus est furor tuus super oves pascuae tuae. Gloria Patri. Quanta malignatus...	O God, why hast thou cast us off unto the end: why is thy wrath enkindled against the sheep of thy pasture? Glory be. What things.
Oratio Gementes et dolentes su- per cunctis abominationibus quae fiunt in domo tua, propi- tius respice, Deus omnipotens; et pro contumeliis quibus in Sa- cramento sui amoris impetitur Dominus Jesus, ipsum fac pro nobis esse apudte propitiatio- nem. Qui tecum.	The Collect Look with mercy, God almighty, upon those who mourn and grieve for all the abominations that take place in Thy house; and for the injuries by which the Lord Jesus is assailed in the Sacrament of His love, make Him the propitiation before Thee for our sake. Who liveth and reigneth with Thee...

The Epistle, Hebrews 10, 22-31 Brethren: Let us draw near with a true heart in fullness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with clean water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering (for he is faithful that hath promised), And let us consider one another, to provoke unto charity and to good works: Not forsaking our assembly, as some are accustomed; but comforting one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching. For if we sin willfully after having the knowledge of the truth, there is now left no sacrifice for sins, but a certain dreadful expectation of judgment, and the rage of a fire which shall consume the adversaries. A man making void the law of Moses, dieth without any mercy under two or three witnesses: how much more, do you think he deserveth worse punishments, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath esteemed the blood of the testament unclean, by which he was sanctified, and hath offered an affront to the Spirit of grace? For we know him that hath said: Vengeance belongeth to me, and I will repay. And again: The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Graduale Viderunt altare profa- natum, et sciderunt vestimenta sua, et planxerunt planctu ma- no. V. Imposuerunt cinerem su- per caput suum, et ceciderunt in faciem super terram, et cla- maverunt in caelum.	They saw the altar profaned, and they rent their garments, and made great lamentation. V. They put ashes on their heads, and fell down to the ground on their faces, and they cried towards heaven. 1 Macc. 4, 38-40
Alleluja, alleluja. Zelus domus tuae comedit me, et opprobria exprobrantium tibi ceciderunt super me. Alleluja,	Alleluja, alleluja. Zeal of Thy house hath eaten me up, and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fal- len upon me. Alleluja. Ps. 68, 10

The Gospel, Matthew 22, 1-14 At that time: Jesus spoke again in parables to the chief priests and Pharisees, saying: The kingdom of heaven is likened to a king, who made a marriage for his son. And he sent his servants, to call them that were invited to the marriage; and they would not come. Again he sent other servants, saying: Tell them that were invited, Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my calves and fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come ye to the marriage. But they neglected, and went their own ways, one to his farm, and another to his merchandise. And the rest laid hands on his servants, and having treated them contumeliously, put them to death. But when the king had heard of it, he was angry, and sending his armies, he destroyed those murderers, and burnt their city. Then he saith to his servants: The marriage indeed is ready; but they that were invited were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways; and as many as you shall find, call to the marriage. And his servants going forth into the ways, gathered together all that they found, both bad and good: and the marriage was filled with guests. And the king went in to see the guests: and he saw there a man who had not on a wedding garment. And he saith to him: Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? But he was silent. Then the king said to the waiters: Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the exterior darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen.

Offertorium Ad Christum acce- damus cum vero corde in ple- nitudine fidei, aspersi corda a conscientia mala, et considere- mus invicem in provocationem caritatis, et bonorum operum.	Let us draw near to Christ with a true heart in fullness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil con- science, and let us consider one an- other, to provoke unto charity and to good works. Hebrews 10, 22 & 24
Secreta Deus, qui Unigenitum tuum in Cruce pro transgresso- ribus orantem exaudisti; quae- sumus, ut nos, qui in altari tuo ipsum offerimus pro contami- atoribus mensae illius orantes, clementer exaudire digneris. Per eundem.	The Secret O God, who didst harken to Thy Only-Begotten Son as He prayed upon the Cross for the trans- gressors; we ask that Thou mercifully deign to hear us, as we pray upon Thy altar for them that defile His table. Through the same.
Communio Quanta putatis me- reri supplicia, qui Filium Dei conculcaverit, et sanguinem testamenti pollutum duxerit, in quo sanctificatus est?	Communion How great punisments do you think he deserveth, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath esteemed the blood of the testament unclean, by which he was sanctified? Hebrews 10, 29
Postcommunio Domine Jesu Christe, qui zelo domus Dei succensus, vendentes et e- mentes de templo ejecisti: da comedentibus panem tuum, eodem zelo animari; et propter reos corporis tui aut tabescere gementes, aut ad prohibendum fortes ignescere. Qui vivis..	Post Communion Lord Jesus Christ, who, kindled with zeal for the house of God, didst cast out from the tem- ple them that bought and sold: grant to those that eat Thy bread, that they may be filled with the same zeal; and either to languish with mourning over those guilty of Thy body, or to burn mightily to stop them. Who livest and reignest.

A Marian Pilgrimage in Oxford

Transmiting the Faith, contributing to the culture, and building community amongst friends.

Here are some photos and of a pilgrimage that my wife Margarita and I undertook recently, on the Saturday morning before the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. The idea began because Margarita is on sabbatical at Blackfriars College, the Dominican house in Oxford. The Dominicans have a great devotion to Mary of course and Margarita offered a weekly breakfast seminar group, open to all, focusing on the role of Mary as Theotokos. It was offered especially for searchers who are looking at the Faith and the Catholic approach to Mary, including pilgrimages and devotions. It attracted many Protestants who were curious, as well as Catholic and Orthodox students. The core of this group was enthusiastic to go on a pilgrimage, and so we organized one together.

Our pilgrimage was a deliberately low key, do-it-yourself affair, but all the more joyous an occasion for it. It is another expression of our cultural mission of trying to offer the faith through personal connection and hospitality to others. The content, route and day were totally our own idea - we weren’t following any precedent that we were aware of. We just decided to create our own pilgrimage and invite people to be our friends along the way. It was planned and organized with an Oxford graduate student, Lauren Spohn, and we  had great support from a core of singers who helped us sing the eight stations along the towpath. Eleven people came along and braved the cold - it was below freezing the whole time and the coldest day of the winter so far.

We met for Mass at Holy Rood Catholic Church in Oxford, after which the pastor, Fr Daniel Lloyd, sent us on our way (well wrapped up!) with the Salve Regina, a blessing, and solemn recitation of a Pilgrims’ Prayer, in which St Rafael was implored to accompany us, as I am certain he did! Our destination was the beautiful 12th-century church of St Mary the Virgin in Iffley. If you want to see some simple phone video of our humble chant on the towpath follow this link here.

Leaving Holy Rood Catholic Church

Making our way to the towpath

Those who came were a range of people - several academics and university graduate students, a lawyer, and two Dominican Sisters. One was a grad student from China who was curious, and had no prior knowledge of Christianity.

We sang opening hymns and at each station we paused and boldly sang - for all nearby to hear - a verse of the Magnificat and a hymn called the Megalynarion. I led the line of people, holding an icon of the Theotokos, and we decided to progress in silence. At the first station, a man who was coaching a rowing eight in the River Thames stopped and looked at us. He beamed broadly and said, “How wonderful to hear the Magnificat sung like that!” Others looked at us quizzically, some smiled, some seemed less happy with what they saw, but none could avoid noticing that we we doing this for Our Lady!

The words of the Megalynarion are:

More wonderful than the cherubim and more glorious beyond compare than the seraphim. Who, without stain, bore God the Word, you are truly Theotokos, we magnify you.

When we got to the church in Iffley, we put down icons to the Theotokos, Christ on the Cross, Christ in Glory and St Michael. We sang the lines of the Magnificat, the Megalynarion, the Our Father, the St Michael Prayer and finally the Salve Regina. Overall it took less than two hours!

Praying in the church

The wonderful thing about pilgrimage is that it is relatively simple to organise, but requires all those present to make a sacrifice of time and give something of themselves. This inevitably opens the hearts of those present to the mysteries being contemplated in a way that attending a lecture could never do. The shared experience brought us together and established, one personal interraction at a time, an authentic culture of faith that has the power to draw others in, because all are so obviously invited.

We invite friends to our home regularly to sing the Office and for dinner, as part of our witness of the Faith. This is something else by which we re-establish a Christian culture of faith through personal contact. We hope to do many more pilgrimages like this in the future. We also hope to encourage people to think about organising their own. This format is adaptable - we can easily change the hymns to suit the place and the occasion.

This pilgrimage was consummated six days later for those who participated in the feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8th. Margarita and I attended a beautiful sung Mass at Holy Rood, the church from where we set out earlier that week.

Below I have posted an excerpt from the front sheet of the materials handed out on the day that explained the structure, and the poster that was circulated to attract people:

We will gather in the car park of Holy Rood Church immediately after Mass for the first station. We encourage you to walk silently together reflecting on words we have sung. We will pause six times along the way with a signal from the cantor. At each of these stations the cantor will sing a stanza of the Magnificat and then we will all sing the Megalynarion (the ancient hymn to Mary sung in the Byzantine liturgy daily). When we get to St Mary the Virgin, we will go into the church, gather before the altar with the icons set before it, and sing the final station and the closing prayers and hymns. We then adjourn for lunch at a nearby pub for any who wish to come.

Eight pilgrim stations - we have eight stations. The first seven represent the old covenant and the seven days of Creation. The eighth represents the new covenant ushered in by the life, death and resurrection of Our Lord, who is called the ‘eighth day’ of Creation. Also, seven repetitions, in the number symbolism of the Old Testament, constitute the equivalent of a single, perfected or continuous act. As the Psalmist says, ‘The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried by the fire, purged from the earth refined seven times.’ (Ps. 12, 6). For the Christian, eight repetitions represents superabundance, an overflowing of that old perfection into all things, made new in Christ. The governing number of the pattern of Christian liturgy is eight, rather than seven. For example, the weekly day of worship was moved from the Jewish celebration of the Sabbath (Saturday) on the seventh day, to the Lord’s Day (Sunday), which is simultaneously the eighth day of the previous week and the first of the next. This is why also we have octaves for feast days in the liturgy. There are many examples, through centuries of tradition, where we see the pattern of eight manifested in sacred time and, for example, in sacred art and architecture.

By chanting eight stations we hope to participate in the Pauline exhortation to pray without ceasing:

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thessalonians 5, 16-17)

The icons - we will lay down the three core and essential images for worship: Our Lady showing us Her Son, Christ on the Cross, the Risen Christ. These together communicate essential truths of salvation history, the person from whom Our Lord, who is both God and man, received his humanity; the life, the death, and the Resurrection of Our Lord. And they tell us that we participate also in that story, putting on Christ. St Augustine said that when we sing our prayers we pray twice. I would extend this argument and say that when we sing our prayers and engage with sacred art and consider our posture we engage the whole person, body and soul, in what becomes a multifaceted act of worship.

Searching Out the Origins of St Louis de Montfort in 17th-century Spain

In between the two great Marian feasts of the first half of Advent — the Immaculate Conception on the 8th and Our Lady of Guadalupe on the 12th — it seems appropriate to make mention of a recent publication, Slavery to the Mother of God, that brings an important Marian devotional work to light for the first time in English.

Two 17th-century Observant Franciscan Friars, Fray Juan de los Angeles and Fray Melchor de Cetina, authored two works, Fray Juan’s Marian Slavery (1609) and Fray Melchor’s Exhortation toward Devotion for the Virgin Mother of God, for the sake of a Confraternity founded by the Conceptionist Nuns of Alcalá de Henares in Spain. This Confraternity was “exported” to Belgium and France by the Spanish, and from there exercised an influence on the French School’s “total consecration to Mary” as we find it in culminating in the much-better-known St. Louis de Montfort.

For those who are devotees of St. Maximilian Kolbe, the manner in which Fray Juan and Fray Melchor develop their theology of consecration will be familiar, as it is based on the Immaculate Conception and on the Absolute Primacy of Christ as emphasized in the Franciscan tradition (Bonaventure, Scotus). Interestingly, while St. Maximilian shows no indication of having come across these works, he not only arrives at the same conclusions as his two 17th-century confreres, but even develops the same formulas — a confirmation of the profound basis of this school of spirituality in orthodox Christology and Mariology. The conclusion they reach is identical: unlimited consecration to Mary, for the sake of unlimited attachment to Jesus.

A volume of Franciscan mystical writings that includes the two works under discussion here

In the words of Fray Juán de los Ángeles:

From whence comes so much honor to such an infamous title in the laws of the world [viz., slave]? From the Virgin Herself and of Her Most Holy Son. She took possession of it, at the same moment that the divine Word took possession of Her heart, and cast Himself into Her womb, and became Her Son. She willed that alongside “Mother,” which calls for infinite respect, there should walk beside it a title of so great humility, which denotes and proclaims subjection:Ecce ancilla Domini—behold, the slave of the Lord…. The works of the slave, and all his actions, belong to his owner (they are his possession), as does the person himself (who is his property): everything belongs to him who purchased him. Who more belongs to the eternal Father than Christ?

And in the words of Fray Melchor de Cetina:

God, because he is the greatest Goodness, must be loved above all things; but since, after God, the Goodness of his Mother is the greatest, She must be, after Him, the most loved. This is the Power that the Virgin, Our Lady, has of carrying away after Herself hearts captured by Her supreme goodness. And what greater sign is there than that they wish to imitate the ways of this heavenly Princess and follow her footsteps: “Keep Her ways with all thy power,” since they trace her footsteps from the first steps of life when she set foot on the ground, which was Her Immaculate Conception?

These two short works count as important forerunners and contributors to de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary, insofar as this Spanish Confraternity and the devotional literature it carried served as the foundation for the wave of enthusiasm that spread throughout Christendom in the seventeenth century under the banner of “total Consecration to Mary as Her slaves” (“totus tuus,” a motto re-energized by John Paul II in opposition to the anti-Marian spirit that, with the smoke of Satan, had entered the late twentieth-century Church).

The Franciscan Friars who prepared this translation sought to rescue these works from the oblivion to which historical circumstances had consigned them. Given that they were among the sparks that prompted a “revolution” in Marian spirituality, it seemed long past time to make them available. At this link, those who are interested may read the four-page preface to the book, which is available for purchase here.

Visit Dr. Kwasniewski’s Substack “Tradition & Sanity”; personal site; composer site; publishing house Os Justi Press and YouTube, SoundCloud, and Spotify pages.

The Liturgical Rosary: A Unique New Devotional Book

A blogger once wrote: “We should liturgize devotion as far as we can, rather than devotionalize the liturgy.”

I was thinking about this sentiment when Alex Barbas of Arouca Press asked me if I would contribute a Foreword to a fascinating manuscript that he sent me. It takes the form of praying the Rosary, but within the framework of the liturgical calendar and the Divine Office, drawing heavily upon their texts as a source of enrichment. The goal is not to change anything about how the Rosary is prayed—all the same prayers are used—but, in the manner of a Scriptural Rosary, to bring it into closer connection with the Missal, the Hours, and even the music of the Roman Rite (since we are given concrete means for singing the Rosary or at least parts of it ad libitum: something I can see have great application in school settings or on pilgrimages).

Once I saw the manuscript, I eagerly agreed. And after a long and involved process of typesetting and publishing with offset printing in India, the book is finally finished:

The Liturgical Rosary: Meditations for Each Hour, Day & Season of the Liturgical Year, edited by the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

An overview of the Contents:

Foreword by Dr. Peter Kwasniewski: Should the Laity Pray the Breviary or the Rosary?

The Prayers of the Rosary in English and Latin
A Simple Method of Chanting the Rosary with Suggested Rubrics and Antiphons
The Fifteen Promises of Our Lady to Those Who Pray the Rosary
The Fifteen Mysteries of the Rosary Synoptically Recounted
Meditations Taken from…

• Each of the Canonical Hours for Each of the Days of the Week

• The Votive Masses for the Days of the Week
• Each of the Feasts of the Sanctoral Cycle
• Each of the Feasts of the Seasonal Cycle: Advent Through Pentecost
• The Common Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary
• The Common Masses of the Saints
The Votive Masses for Various Occasions, Including…
• For the Defense of the Church
• For Peace
• For the Sick
• For Pilgrims and Travelers
• For Any Necessity
• Of Thanksgiving
• For a Baptism
• For the Reception of Holy Matrimony
• In Preparation for Death

Details: 4.25 x 6.73 trim size | 528 pages | Paper type: 60gsm uncoated white | Black calf-skin cover | Alpha PU (Gold foiling) | Section Sewn | Hard Bound (Round Back) | HT Band & 3 Ribbons: Blue, Red & Black

$39.95 USD per copy (retail)

Bulk discounts applicable at checkout:  5–9 copies: $29.95 USD; 10 or more copies: $22.95 USD

Below are some pages from the book. I encourage lovers of the Rosary and of the traditional liturgy to pick up a copy. You can find a preview at the publisher's website; below are some further examples of pages.

(the 15 Scripture verses line up with the 15 mysteries)

Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary, pray for us!

Visit Dr. Kwasniewski’s Substack “Tradition & Sanity”; personal site; composer site; publishing house Os Justi Press and YouTube, SoundCloud, and Spotify pages.

The Feast of St Sebastian in Milan

In the year 1576, Milan was devastated by a particularly severe outbreak of the plague; several of the episodes later noted in the cause of St Charles Borromeo’s canonization relate to his pastoral care of the sick and dying in this period. As part of a vow made to end the disaster, the city government built a church dedicated to one of the most popular Saints to invoke in times of plague, St Sebastian, whose mother, according to St Ambrose, was a native of Milan. The cornerstone was laid in 1577, and the building completed in 1616; it is still to this day owned and administered by the city of Milan, and known in Italian as the “Tempio Civico” (civic temple) of St Sebastian. Each year on the patronal feast day, during the principal Mass, representatives of the municipality offer a certain number of candles, and enough oil to fill a votive lamp, as part of the fulfillment of the vow made in perpetuum, still being honored after almost four and a half centuries!

The following pictures come to us from our Ambrosian correspondent, Nicola de’ Grandi. We start, however, with two pictures (also provided by Nicola) of the same event from the days of the great Blessed Ildefonse Schuster. In the first of these, we see the lighting of the “faro”, a spherical metal frame covered in a thin layer of cotton, which is lit on fire at the beginning of the Mass in the Ambrosian Rite; this is done only on the feasts of Martyrs, and only in their own churches. Below, we also have a video of the lighting of the faro, very kindly provided by Mr Luca Geronutti, and edited for our use by Mr Marc Williams, with our thanks!

This appears to have been taken during the sermon; note the mitred canons!

The altar decorated for the feast, with the faro suspended in front of it.

A better view of the faro; note the palm branch and crown of martyrdom which decorate the Cross.

Continue Reading this Article. . .

The Seven Joys of the Virgin Mary

For a fairly brief period, today was kept by the Franciscans as the feast of the Seven Joys of the Virgin Mary. As an expression of the Seraphic Order’s devotional life, it corresponds to the feast of the Holy Rosary, which began among the Dominicans, and the observance on September 15th of the Seven Sorrows of the Virgin, which was originally the Patronal feast of the Servites. The principal contribution of the Franciscans to the Church’s cycle of Marian feasts is, of course, the Immaculate Conception, whereas the liturgical celebration of the Seven Joys is very late, and short-lived. It was granted to them in 1906, and at first fixed to the Sunday after the Octave of the Assumption; when the reform of St Pius X abolished the practice of fixing feasts to Sundays, it was permanently assigned to August 27th. In the Calendar reform promulgated in 1961, which aimed at reducing the number of feasts, and especially the so-called “feasts of devotion” (as opposed to those of Our Lord and the Saints), it was suppressed.

The Altarpiece of the Seven Joys, by the anonymous painter known as the Master of the Holy Family, ca. 1480; now in the Louvre.

The devotion to the Seven Joys in and of itself, however, is much older; the story of its origin is told thus in the Manual for Franciscan Tertiaries.

About the year 1420, a young man, deeply devoted to Our Lady, took the habit of St Francis. Before joining the Order, he had, among other practices, been accustomed daily to make a chaplet of flowers, and with it to crown a statue of the Blessed Virgin. Having in his novitiate no longer an opportunity of making this crown for his Most Beloved Queen, he, in his simplicity, thought that she would withdraw her affection from him; this temptation of the devil disturbed his vocation, and he resolved to abandon the cloister. The merciful mother appeared to him, and gently rebuking him, strengthened him in his vocation by telling him to offer her instead of the chaplet of flowers, a crown much more pleasing to her, composed of seventy-two Ave Marias and a Pater after each decade of Ave Marias, and to meditate at each decade upon the seven joys she had experienced during the seventy-two years of her exile upon the earth. The novice immediately commenced reciting the new crown or rosary, and derived therefrom many spiritual and temporal graces. This pious practice spread quickly through the whole Order, and even throughout the world… St Bernardin of Siena used to say that it was by the Crown of the Seven Joys that he had obtained all the graces which Heaven has heaped upon him.

A traditional Franciscan Rosary of the Seven Joys, still worn as part of the Order’s habit.

The Seven Joys listed in the Manual are the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Birth of Christ, the Adoration of the Magi, the Finding of the Christ Child in the Temple, the Resurrection and the Assumption, but other version of the list may be found. Two more Aves are added to make the number seventy-two mentioned above, and another Pater and Ave for the intentions of the Pope. The recitation concludes with a versicle and response, and the Collect of the Immaculate Conception.

V. In thy Conception, o Virgin, thou wast immaculate.
R. Pray for us to the Father, whose Son thou didst bear.
Let us pray. O God, Who by the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin, prepared a worthy dwelling place for thy Son; we beseech thee, that, as by the foreseen death of Thy same Son, Thou preserved Her from every stain, so Thou may grant us also, through Her intercession, to come to thee with pure hearts. Through the same Christ our Lord. R. Amen.

V. In Conceptione tua, Virgo, immaculata fuisti.
R. Ora pro nobis Patrem, cujus Filium peperisti.
Oremus. Deus, qui per immaculátam Vírginis Conceptiónem dignum Filio tuo habitáculum praeparasti: quaesumus; ut qui ex morte ejusdem Filii tui praevisa, eam ab omni labe praeservasti, nos quoque mundos ejus intercessióne ad te perveníre concedas. Per eundem Christum, Dominum nostrum. R. Amen.