The FSSP's Roman Pastor on Tradition in the Modern Church

by Gregory DiPippo


The Catholic News Service has posted the following video to its youtube channel, a brief interview with Fr. Joseph Kramer, F.S.S.P., the pastor of the Fraternity's Roman parish, Santissimà Trinita dei Pellegrini.  In it, Fr. Kramer discusses a few of the cultural premises behind the liturgical reform of the 1960s, and the attitude of the young people of today to those cultural premises. I strongly recommend to our readers that they watch the video, and then read more about the matter on the CNS website here.

The words of Bl. John XXIII to which Fr. Kramer refers in the interview, from the opening speech of the Second Vatican Council. (full text here.) 

Our task, our primary goal, is not a discussion of any particular articles of the fundamental doctrine of the Church, nor that we repeat at greater length what has been repeatedly taught by the Fathers and by ancient and modern theologians, and which we think to be well known and familiar to all. For this a Council was not necessary. But at the present time what is needed is that the entire Christian teaching with no part omitted, be accepted by all in our time with fresh zeal, with serene and tranquil minds, as it still shines forth in the Acts of the Council of Trent and First Vatican Council. It is necessary that as all sincere cultivators of the Christian, Catholic, and apostolic reality ardently desire that the same doctrine be more fully and deeply understood that consciences be more deeply imbued and formed by it; it is necessary that such certain and immutable doctrine, to which we owe the obedience of faith, be scrutinized and expounded with the method that our times require. One thing is the deposit of faith and the truths contained in our venerable doctrine, another thing is the way they are announced, with the same meaning and the same content.

The text of Paul VI to which he refers, from the Wednesday audience of November 26, 1969, the last given before the Novus Ordo Missae came into general use on the following Sunday. (full text here.)

No longer Latin, but the spoken language will be the principal language of the Mass. The introduction of the vernacular will certainly be a great sacrifice for those who know the beauty, the power and the expressive sacrality of Latin. We are parting with the speech of the Christian centuries; we are becoming like profane intruders in the literary preserve of sacred utterance. We will lose a great part of that stupendous and incomparable artistic and spiritual thing, the Gregorian chant. We have reason indeed for regret, reason almost for bewilderment. What can we put in the place of that language of the angels? We are giving up something of priceless worth. But why? What is more precious than these loftiest of our Church's values? The answer will seem banal, prosaic. Yet it is a good answer, because it is human, because it is apostolic. Understanding of prayer is worth more than the silken garments in which it is royally dressed. Participation by the people is worth more—particularly participation by modern people, so fond of plain language which is easily understood and converted into everyday speech.

(reposted from The New Liturgical Movement)

Pilgrimage to Trier

Building Religious Communities - Part VI

NUNS' VOWS (aka LADYWELL CONVENT)

Ora pro populo, interveni pro clero, intercede pro devoto femineo sexu!

Building Religious Communities - Part V

FARMING NUNS

Ora pro populo, interveni pro clero, intercede pro devoto femineo sexu!

Building Religious Communities - Part IV

NUNS AT WORK

Ora pro populo, interveni pro clero, intercede pro devoto femineo sexu!

Building Religious Communities - Part III

NUNS LEARN WOODWORK

Ora pro populo, interveni pro clero, intercede pro devoto femineo sexu!

Building Religious Communities - Part II

NUNS BUILD SCHOOL IN AUSTRALIA

Ora pro populo, interveni pro clero, intercede pro devoto femineo sexu!

Building Religious Communities - Part I

CONVENT BUILDERS

Ora pro populo, interveni pro clero, intercede pro devoto femineo sexu!

New DVD - "Men Apart"

Des hommes à part
Uploaded by deshommesapart. - Discover more webcam videos and video blogs.

Who are they, these men dressed in black, wearing a cassock in the world as a sign of their belonging to God? Where do they come from, with their youth breathing eternity? What do they say to the world of tomorrow, which makes everyone feel cared for?

"I'm thirty-five years old. I have been a priest of the Fraternity of St. Peter for ten years now, having given myself to God to better serve mankind. An ordinary life? No. Each day brings new joys and incredible experiences. Bringing God to the world today is a real adventure, physical as well as spiritual. I am as happy now as when I first made my choice."

"You did not choose me, no, I chose you; and I commissioned you to go out and to bear fruit, fruit that will last; so that the Father will give you anything you ask of him in my name. My command to you is to love one another." (Gospel according to St. John, 15:16-17)

~~*~~

In the summer of 2008, two directors, Yvon Bertorello and Eddy Vicken - Marcel Jullian Prize 2010 winners for their documentary "Watchers in the Night" - and a team of cameramen and sound engineers observed the various ministries of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter around the world.

Their goal? To make a movie for television, presenting the life of priests and seminarians today. Who are these men, mostly young, who give themselves totally to Christ and whose life poses many questions and sometimes criticism? To answer this question, this documentary, titled "Men Apart" looks for the first time at the heart of their community, revealing a few secrets of their lives.

More than a year of filming was required. We travel the world, discover the Seminary at Wigratzbad, and follow the lives of student-priests. See the anniversary of the Fraternity in Rome in their personal parish, attend a priestly ordination, see daily parish life of priests in France, and even in the distant missions of Colombia.

Several more months were needed in studio for editing, cutting the footage, recording in Prague with an original score written by Thierry Malet, subtitles in five languages, - english, french, german, italian, spanish - and a commentary with the famous voice of Michael Lonsdale.

~~*~~

English-language enquiries to:
fssp_dvd@catholic.org

Price: £20 / €23 , including postage and packaging in Europe.

Transalpine Redemptorist Final Profession

On August 15th 2010, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, Br. Martin Mary, F.SS.R. made his final vows in the Congregation of the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer on Papa Stronsay. His mother, father, sister and two brothers were also there for the occasion, and his father and brothers sung in the schola. This video is mostly made up of clips from the ceremony. In the evening we held our annual bonfire and BBQ, to which the residents of Stronsay are also invited, to celebrate the profession and the feast.

More photographs from the occasion are available here.

Monastery Address:
Golgotha Monastery Island
Papa Stronsay
Orkney, KW17 2AR
Scotland, UK
papastronsay.blogspot.com

New video: To God Who Giveth Joy To My Youth

The Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter is pleased to announce the completion of a 28 minute film entitled "To God Who Giveth Joy To My Youth".

The title, taken from the opening words of Mass in the Extraordinary Form, captures the essence of the Fraternity's total formation process and life at Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary.

Intended for generous, young men discerning a priestly vocation, this production provides an visual description of daily life within the walls of Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary. Thus, this film will prove to be an informative and instrumental tool in their vocational process.

In the Church, the members of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter's have the unique charism of sanctifying themselves through the celebration of Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite. Throughout the seminary's intensive seven year program, each of the various aspects and stages of formation has this purpose in mind, the worthy celebration of the Mass.

Explore how this seminary, drawing from the Church's rich tradition of priestly formation, seeks to form zealous priests in various areas including Thomistic philosophy and theology, spiritual direction, Gregorian Chant, manual labor and recreation. Discover how one seminary receives a man and prepares him for his transformation into an Alter Christus, "Another Christ".

Living the Liturgy: The Benedictine Monks of Clear Creek

by Shawn Tribe

We recently made mention of a video which was produced about the Benedictine Abbey of Fontgombault in France, and which aired on EWTN. Now it has come to our attention that the following video, "Living the Liturgy: Clear Creek Monastery", has also been made available through EWTN, this time about the daughter-house of Fontgombault, Clear Creek Abbey in Oklahoma.

While the video is 52 minutes in length, I would encourage you all to make the time to watch it at some point. The video is excellent and guides you through the monastic life and day, particularly through the lens of the sacred liturgy. (A thought strikes me as well: parishes, Catholic schools and other institutions which endeavour to have vocations related materials should try to ensure they have resources such as this video to also inform men and women about the possibilities of monastic life; an all too easily forgotten and neglected vocational consideration.)



* * *

To give you a taste, here a few screenshots showing some of the liturgical aspects within the video:













(reposted from The New Liturgical Movement)

Ordinations videos from Wigratzbad

by Martin Bürger

Yesterday, five deacons were ordained at Wigratzbad, Germany, for the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter, including two from Germany. The Ordination, performed by Cardinal Cañizares Llovera, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, was broadcast live on K-TV and excerpts have already been uploaded to gloria.tv.

The German translation of Cardinal Cañizares Llovera's homily was presented by Fr Franz Karl Banauch, Rector of the seminary in Wigratzbad:

The main part of the Ordination ceremony:

We are still waiting on the official pictures of the Ordination. I will announce when these are available.

(tr. from EXSVLTET.net)

Dedication of Seminary Chapel

Wednesday 3 March: 4pm-9pm UK time: watch live the Solemn Dedication of the FSSP seminary Chapel in the U.S.A. by Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz, with Cardinal Levada and dozens of clergy in choir.

Please pray for the spiritual success of the Dedication of the Chapel of Sts Peter and Paul at our US seminary, on Wednesday 3rd March. Fr de Malleray, FSSP will be there, bringing the prayers of many British faithful for more holy priests.

• You may read the booklet of consecration here: www.fsspolgs.org/chapel_consecration.pdf.
• See pictures of various stages of construction here: www.fsspolgs.org/chapel.html.
• Watch ceremony live from 4PM (UK time) on EWTN (Sky Channel 589): www.ewtn.com/tv/NAAdv0310.asp.

FSSP Solemn Mass in Guadalajara

by Carlos Antonio Palad

The Priestly Fraternity of St Peter (FSSP) maintains an apostolate in Guadalajara, the Capellania de San Pedro Apostol, which is one of the two places in Mexico where weekly regular and public Traditional Latin Masses that fulfil the Sunday obligation are available under diocesan auspices (according to the list of Una Voce Mexico.) The other place is a parish in the Archdiocese of Monterrey that has an "anticipated" Sunday TLM every Saturday at five in the afternoon.

Most TLM's in Mexico continue to be offered by the SSPX.

The following video recently posted on Youtube has excerpts of the Solemn Mass offered on October 12, 2009 by Fr. John Berg FSSP.


(reproduced from Rorate Cæli blog)

The Benedictine Nuns of Kergonan

An extended film on the Benedictine Nuns of Kergonan (French language):

Abbaye SAINT-MICHEL de Kergonan
Monastère des Bénédictines
56340 PLOUHARNEL
Morbihan FRANCE
Tél : 02 97 52 32 14
Fax : 02 97 52 37 66
Congrégation de Solesmes
econome.smk@orange.fr

The Latin Mass is for All

Roundup: Mariawald

Mariawald Abbey, the German Trappist abbey which last year had received the privilege conceded by the Holy Father of a complete return to the Liturgy and the Observance in use in the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (Trappists) until 1963/64, announces that this Wednesday 23 September took place the first clothing of a novice according to the old use...

Here follow some recent news pieces about the event:

• NLM: News from Mariawald
• Exsultet: First Impressions from Mariawald (German language)
• Exsultet: More Pictures from Jubilee in Mariawald (German language)
• Exsultet: Three current videos from Mariawald (German language)
• NLM: Pontifical Mass for Centenary of Mariawald Abbey
  

The Story of Clear Creek

Cistercian Tradition

Regular readers of this blog will recall that the Abbey of Mariawald, the only Abbey of the Order of Cistercium of the Strict Observance (OCSO), that is, the Trappists, in Germany, was granted permission, pursuant to the provisions of Summorum Pontificum to return to the Liturgy and Observances of the Order current in 1963/4 known as the Use of Monte Cistello.

Strangely, this permission is dated 21st November, 2009, on the website of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei. Nice to see the Holy See ahead of the game!

Two video clips of the Gregorian Rite Liturgy in Mariawald have recently been posted on gloria.tv. The first (above) is the Preface and Sanctus. The second (below) is of the Pater Noster and Pax Domini.

There are five Trappist houses for men in Ireland and one in Scotland. None of them have sought or been given permission to revert to the Use of Monte Cistello - nor is it likely that they will. Those houses in Ireland are, in order of foundation, Mount Melleray Abbey (1832), Mount Saint Joseph (1878), New Mellifont Abbey (1938), Our Lady of Bethlehem Abbey (1948), and Bolton Abbey (1965). Sancta Maria Abbey is in Scotland.

There is one Trappistine house for ladies in Ireland, St. Mary's Abbey. It is equally unlikely to seek permission for the Use of Monte Cistello.