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

Sacerdotal Ordinations for the Institute of the Good Shepherd

In another splendid step forward for this young Institute, which approaches the third anniversary of its foundation, two Priests have been ordained for the IBP in the Basilica of Sainte-Anne d'Auray, a magnificent example of Breton neo-Romanesque architecture. The City is a stronghold of the Breton language.

The Basilica was built to honour St. Anne, the patroness of Brittany, who appeared to Yves Nicolazic during the years 1624-5. The apparitions were approved by the Local Ordinary and pilgrimages, known locally as pardons began. The Basilica was particularly favoured by Queen Anne of Austria and her husband, Louis XIII, especially by the donation of a relic of the Saint brought from the Holy Land during the Crusades, and the sponsorship of the erection of a Confraternity of St. Anne there. The miraculous statue of St. Anne was publicly burnt at Vannes during the Revolution. The Shrine continued to be popular in spite of athiestical machinations and reached its zenith during the reign of Blessed Pius IX, who raised to Confraternity to an Archconfraternity, commanded the image of St. Anne to be crowned, once the new Basilica, begun in 1866, was complete, and donated the High Altar.

C'est notre mère à tous;

mort ou vivant, dit-on,

A Sainte-Anne, une fois,

doit aller tout Breton.

The ceremony was performed on 4th July, 2009, by Mgr Ennio Appignanesi, the Archbishop Emeritus of Potenza-Muro Lucano-Marsico Nuovo in Italy, who had just celebrated his 84th birthday and will celebrate the 60th anniversary of his own ordination early next year. In May last, Archbishop Appignanesi, who is a Canon of St. Peters Basilica, ordained three members of the IBP to the Subdiaconate in the Church of Santa Lucia in Rome.

FSSP Pilgrimage to the Holy Land

by Gregor Kollmorgen

In April, roughly a month before Pope Benedict, the seminarians of the European seminary of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter at Wigratzbad, Germany, made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. They now have published some images. Here is a selection:

Mass in the Holy Sepulchre:


In the Catholic chapel of the Nailing of the Cross on Golgotha:


In the Austrian Hospice of Jerusalem:


On Mount Carmel:


In the Church of the Primacy of St. Peter in Tabgha where Jesus appeared the third time after his resurrection (John 21:1-24) and said to St. Peter "Feed my sheep!":


In Qumran:


They also were received by the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem:

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

Chartres 2009

The Paris-Chartres Pilgrimage is a three-day walk from Notre-Dame de Paris to Notre-Dame de Chartres, approximately 75 miles. Pilgrims are organized into groups of 20-65 people, that are referred to as "chapters". The "walk" is through the streets of Paris, and then into the countryside. It can be muddy, rocky, and demanding-and the rewards of such a penitential exercise are eternal. Good sturdy shoes are a must. Each chapter is accompanied by at least one chaplain, who hears confession and gives spiritual direction to each pilgrim who avails himself of the priest's presence en route. This pilgrimage originated in the 12th century.

The official photos are available on the website of Notre-Dame de Chrétienté:

Further links:

• New Liturgical Movement
• The Hermeneutic of Continuity
• Saint Mary Magdalen
• YouTube: Chartres 2009 video
  

IBP Seminary Pilgrimage to Lisieux

The Basilica at Lisieux

On Friday, 5th December, the Seminary of the Institute of the Good Shepherd made a pilgrimage to the Basilica at Lisieux, built over the tomb of St. Therese of Lisieux, 'the Little Flower' who became a Doctor of the Church because of her writings on 'the little Way'.

Mass in the Crypt of the Basilica

Surely, St. Therese, as well as being Patroness of the Missions is a heavenly Patroness of Vocations. Throughout her short life she strived to discern and to live a vocation. When her elder sisters Pauline, Marie and Leonie left the devout home of the Martin family to become enclosed nuns, Therese felt compelled to follow, even to the extent of approaching Pope Leo XIII, while on a pilgrimage to Rome, to beg him to allow her to enter Carmel before the canonical age. Her zeal was admirable but her docility to authority was exemplary: "Well, my child, do what the superiors decide" was the Pope's reply and it was not until a year later that she was received as a postulant.

Gospel of the Mass

In proposing her 'Little Way', St. Therese proposes to us the eternal truth that sanctity is the vocation of every Catholic. She wrote: "Love proves itself by deeds, so how am I to show my love? Great deeds are forbidden me. The only way I can prove my love is by scattering flowers and these flowers are every little sacrifice, every glance and word, and the doing of the least actions for love."

Seminarian Pilgrims and Schola

St. Therese made her religious profession on 8th September, 1890, at the age of 17. That is, upon the same day, the feast of the Nativity of Our Lady, precisely 116 years before the foundation of the Institute of the Good Shepherd.

The Relics of Bl. Louis and Bl. Zelie Martin
In the Crypt of the Basilica at Lisieux

The Beatification, on 19th October last, of both of her parents, Blessed Louis and Blessed Zelie Martin is a sign, also, of the call to sanctification in the married state and to sanctification within the Catholic family founded upon Marriage.

The tomb of St. Therese of Lisieux

St. Therese died on 30th September, 1897 at the age of 24 years. She had written: “Until the end of the world, I will spend my heaven doing good upon the earth" and "I will let fall from Heaven... a shower of Roses". Let those Roses be faithful and persevering vocations!

Images taken from the website of the Seminary of Saint Vincent de Paul, IBP: http://www.seminairesaintvincent.fr/