Holy Coat Pilgrimage 2012 - Pontifical Mass with Cardinal Brandmüller

by Gregor Kollmorgen


As mentioned previously, the quincentenary pilgrimage to the Holy Coat of Trier is currently taking place.

In addition to the Extraordinary Form Mass celebrated as one of the six daily pilgrimage Masses, last Saturday, 21 April, a pilgrimage of the Ecclesia Dei communities took place. About 2,500 pilgrims took part. Due to the great number of pilgrims, the liturgical functions took place in the former abbey church of St. Maximin's. The church belonged to one of the oldest European monasteries, having been founded, according to tradition, by St. Maximin, bishop of Trier, in the 4th century, and it is also the burial place of St. Agritius, bishop of Trier, who brought the Holy Coat to Trier, along with the body of St. Matthias the Apostle. It was sadly profaned at the secularisation of 1802, being used for various profane purposes since, but was prepared for the sacred actions with the generous help of the diocese.

On the morning, His Eminence Cardinal Walter Brandmüller celebrated Pontifical Mass. The Cardinal and the pilgrims were greeted by the local ordinary, H.E. Msgr. Stephan Ackermann, who attended the entire Mass in choir, together with the Provost of the Cathedral Chapter. The ministers of the Mass were provided by the FSSP, while the music was performed by a choir and instrumentalists from the Servi Jesu et Mariæ and the Catholic Scouts of Europe.

Msgr. Ackermann greeting the pilgrims

Card. Brandmüller's sermon

At the end of Mass, the German District Superior of the FSSP announced the Apostolic Blessing with a plenary indulgence granted by the Holy Father
After Mass, the pilgrims went in procession to Trier Cathedral, where - after waiting more than two hours due to the number of pilgrims - they venerated the Holy Tunic.

In the afternoon, Card. Brandmüller, served by the ICRSS, sung Pontifical Vespers followed by Benediction.

The event was reported on both the diocesan and the pilgrimage's official website. Here is a video with parts of the Mass and the procession:


The photos shown above, as well as an additional report, were sent in by reader Dr Schilling from Trier.

(reposted from The New Liturgical Movement)

Pilgrimage to Trier

Ordinations in Florence

by Shawn Tribe

This past July 7th, Cardinal Burke ordained four new priests for the ICRSS at the beautiful Florentine church of San Michele e Gaetano. A full photo gallery can be found, but as always, we wanted to pick a few highlights to feature.

(reposted from The New Liturgical Movement)

Lourdes Pilgrimage 2011- ICKP

The Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest on May 28th-29th made a pilgrimage to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes. A friend of the Institute and traditionalists orders (Canon Regulars of New Jerusalem) Cardinal Burke joined the pilgrimages. In all there were about 700 pilgrimages. For pictures of the pilgrimage visit http://www.institute-christ-king.org/news/176/92/Lourdes-Pilgrimage-2011/.

Also a little while ago the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest American Province held it's annual priests retreat in the beautiful St Francis de Sales Oratory in St. Louis.

Institute of Christ the King takes up permanent residence in Ireland

by Mgr. Wach

Canon Lebocq celebrates Holy Mass at St. Patrick's Church in Limerick

Dear Friends of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest,

For the last four years Divine Providence has permitted the Institute of Christ the King to exercise a ministry in the Diocese of Limerick with the permission of the Most Reverend Bishop Murray, then Bishop of Limerick, whom I had the pleasure to meet several times on my visits.

Thanks to your prayers and perseverance, and also to Father Irwin, Pastor of St. Patrick Church, we have celebrated mass more and more often in Limerick.

This year as every year, I have asked all the canons of our Institute to come together at our mother house and seminary at Gricigliano, near Florence, Italy, for the first week of September. Canon Lebocq knows this house well, having received his priestly formation here and having spent another seven years here as vice-rector and choirmaster.

Our 57 young priests have thus come together this year, first of all, to pray together and also to cultivate a spirit of family and true brotherhood. It is also the occasion when I receive them individually and announce to them the place where they will exercise their ministry for the next year.

As you know, Canon Lebocq has been coming regularly from Italy for several years to tend to your souls. Thanks to your prayers, patience and perseverance, I have the pleasure to announce to you that Canon Lebocq will soon stay in Ireland permanently; you will thus be able to attend the extraordinary form of the mass every Sunday in Limerick, as encouraged by our Holy Father, Benedict XVI. Monsignor R. Michael Schmitz, my Vicar General, whom many of you know, will assist me as Provincial for Ireland. The Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest is a Society of Apostolic Life of Pontifical Right in canonical form, which means that all the priests of our community are canons. This title is not first of all an honour but above all a duty. The principal duty of a canon is to make the prayer of the Church public by chanting the divine office in community. For this reason, I have asked a seminarian and an oblate to form a community life with him. They will pray together, study and work in St. Joseph House in Graigacurragh, Granagh, to advance the reign of Christ the King on your beautiful island.

I will have the pleasure to come visit you soon and to sing the mass again at St. Patrick Church. In the meantime, I ask you to give thanks to God for sending you our young community which, by the Catholic priesthood, will bring to you the wonders of God in a spirit of great love for the Church. I thank each one of you for supporting by your prayers and fidelity this apostolate which we have placed under the patronage of St. Joseph, foster father of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Msgr Wach
Prior General of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest

(reproduced from Rorate Caeli)

ICRSS in Ireland

by Shawn Tribe

The following photos were sent in of a Mass organized by the Latin Mass Society of Ireland, offered at St. Mary's Church, Navan in the Diocese of Meath. The celebrant was Fr. Wulfran Lebocq, the deacon Aaron Huberfeld, the subdeacon Fedrico de Martin Pazat de Lys. Music was provided by the Lassus Scholars under the direction of Ite O'Donovan.










(reposted from The New Liturgical Movement)

Procession for the Immaculate Conception

A Torchlight Procession in honour of Mary Immaculate to take place in Rome on 8th December, 2009, at 7 p.m., for the feast of the Immaculate Conception. The pilgrim statue of Our Lady of Fatima will be carried n the Torchlight Procession 'aux flambeaux,' through the Via del Corse, presided over by a Cardinal.

The procession will leave the Church of Gesù e Maria at 45, Via del Corso, (in front of San Giacomo) and will arrive at 8 p.m. at the Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva for Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.

Information can be obtained from Canonico Don Giuseppe Luzuy of the Institute of Christ the King, Sovereign Priest:

Tel./fax: 06 66 24 922
Cell: 335 345 163
e-mail: roma@icrsp.org

Reception of the Habit

On 31st January last, Sr. Alexandra of the Holy Face received the habit of a novice in the Sisters Adorers of the Royal Heart of Jesus, the sister Congregation of the Institute of Christ the King, Sovereign Priest, based near Fesiole, just outside Florence, Italy, and now flourishing in Ireland.

A full pictorial record of the ceremonies is available here. The Most Reverend Dr. Luciano Giovannetti, Bishop of Fesiole performed the ceremony and celebrated Pontifical High Mass.

It is traditional for the future bride of Christ to come to the ceremony attired as any bride and sometimes accompanied by her father, or, in this case, her brother, to the ceremony.

The Holy Ghost is invoked by the hymn Veni Creator Spiritus.

The putitative novice must express her free desire to be received as a novice.

The ceremony of tonsure is performed as a sign of the abandonment of the world and an old life in the world.

The habit of a novice is imposed.


The Sisters Adorers of the Royal Heart of Jesus gather with their new sister and the Bishop of Fesiole after the ceremony. A remarkable gathering a mere five years after the first Sisters Adorers were professed.

Anyone interested in finding out more about their life and vocation can apply to:

La Rév.de Mère,

Adoratrices du Cœur Royal de Jésus-Christ Souverain Prêtre,
Maison du Cœur Royal,
Via di Gricigliano, 45,
50065 - SIECI (FI),
Italy.

Immaculate Conception in Rome

by Shawn Tribe

The following comes in from the ICRSS in Rome:

On December 8, Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest organized a candlelight Marian procession through the very heart of Rome for the closing of the Lourdes Jubilee year. Lead by Canon Joseph Luzuy, the procession began at the Church of Jesus and Mary (Chiesa Gesu e Maria), which serves as the church of the Institute’s apostolate in Rome. A very large crowd of more than a 1000 faithful then filed down the Via del Corso, an avenue which serves as a main artery to the center of the city, to Chiesa Santa Maria in Aquiro (Piazza Capranica), where the plenary indulgence for the Lourdes Jubilee was made available to the faithful (Chiesa Giubulare). It was here in this church that the image of Our Lady of Lourdes was publicly offered for the veneration of the faithful for the first time in Italy.

(reproduced, with permission, from The New Liturgical Movemement)

Immaculate Conception at Gricigliano

by Shawn Tribe

The ICRSS seminary near Florence has up a number of pictures from their festal celebrations for the Immaculate Conception.

Here are a few, including some nice views of seminary life on feast days as well.

Catholic culture and liturgical life is made up both of the splendour of the liturgy itself, which is primary, and secondarily from other celebrations which surround these days. (cf. my piece on this, Re-learning the Keeping of Feast Days and Festivals).

Seeing full celebrations such as these are a very great thing indeed. They help to create powerful associations and memories (particularly beneficial for children, but even for adults) and also help the liturgy of the Church to further penetrate into our lives. Be it a seminary or be it a parish or home, we should strive to attain these things to the levels we can for feast days that are of particular importance to us as a family, as a parish, or so on. In many cases this will no doubt mean beginning these customs anew.

(reposted from The New Liturgical Movement)

news from Scandinavia

There is a new Finnish website devoted to the activities and visits of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter in Finland. There is also a homepage for the Saint Gregory Society, which will continue to be the general point of reference for traditional liturgy in Finland.

The independent blog Summorum also continues to provide news of various items of Catholic interest in Finland.

The Finnish Catholics also ask our prayer for a good new Bishop for Finland - let us pray for a Bishop who is an enthusiastic teacher of the faith and is willing to support and encourage the traditional liturgy in Finland.

From the Summorum blog, here is a clip of Pilvi Listo playing part of Francois Couperin's Messe Pour les Paroisses at the Agricola Church in Helsinki:



Meanwhile, for 3.5 years, the Institute of Christ the King has been visiting Sweden, with the blessing of the Bishop of Stockholm, H.E. Anders Arborelius, OCD. Msgr Schmitz, Vicar General of the Institute, has met with His Lordship twice. Most of the time, it is Father Marcus Künkel who comes for Mass. There have already been weddings and baptisms in the "usus antiquior". In Rome, one the the Swedish diocesan seminarians helps serving the Institute´s mass on Sundays and feasts.

Beside these visits, there are now, thanks to "Summorum pontificum", three diocesan priests and two Religious (a Franciscan and a young Dominican) who regularly celebrate holy Mass in the classical rite. Mass in the traditional rite is presently being celebrated regularly in Stockholm, Göteborg (Gothenburg), Jonsered and Lund.

One may visit the website of the Association to the Memory of Cardinal Dante, where a certain amount of information and Mass schedules are given also in English and French. The Association is working torwards a renaissance of the Gregorian liturgy and Gregorian chant in Sweden.

The Association also keeps a blog, available here.

Bp. Athanasius Schneider at ICRSS Rome Apostolate

by Gregor Kollmorgen

His Excellency, Athanasius Schneider ORC, auxiliary bishop of Karaganda, Kazakhstan, and well known to NLM readers from his book "Dominus est" in favour of a return to the traditional practice of receiving Holy Communion directly on the tongue while kneeling, recently celebrated Pontifical Low Mass in the Roman chruch of Gesù e Maria, Via del Corso, where the Apostolate of the Institute of Christ the King in Rome has its Sunday Mass. This apostolate, by the way, after having been present in Rome for over 15 years, has now been canonically erected by the Vicariate of Rome. The images of this Mass also show some of the ceremonial before and after Mass, recently addressed by Shawn.







For more pictures go here.

(reproduced from The New Liturgical Movement)

ICRSS Pilgrimage to Lisieux

by Gregor Kollmorgen

This Sunday, as we mentioned in August, the parents of St. Thérèse of Lisieux have been raised to the honour of the altars. On this occasion, the Institute of Christ the King made a pilgrimage for vocations to Lisieux. Here are some impressions:





Note the new dress of their altar boys, which I first noticed here.


Afterwards there was Benediction:


The Founder of the Institute of the Holy Cross of Riaumont, Fr Argouac, was also present:


For more pictures go here.

(reproduced from The New Liturgical Movement)