Clear Creek Benedictine Ordinations

by Shawn Tribe

Recently the Benedictines of Clear Creek had the ordination of one of their monks to the diaconate. They have posted a few photos of this event, which also gives you a view into their ongoing monastic building project.



(reproduced with permission from The New Liturgical Movement)

Age limits

A reader asks:

What is the age limit for traditional vocations? I have heard of gentlemen up to 75 being admitted, but I think many are in their 40's and 50's these days. Though, I am hearing of many in their 40's and 50's being denied, too, from the Texas dioceses. Also, there are dioceses which preclude men from entering the seminary if they have been divorced.

Are you able to help? I know the FSSP, for example, has a general age limit of 35 years, but will consider individuals over that on a case-by-case basis.

Spera in Deo - new TLM resource

by Fr Tim Finigan

Patrick Cheng has started a new blog "Spera in Deo" to provide online resources for the usus antiquior of the Roman Rite. He collects together a collection of resources for Sundays and feast day. These include online propers, leaflets, chants and other background materials, including links to the relevant page of Guéranger's L'Année Liturgique.

(reproduced from The Hermeneutic of Continuity")

Chapter of the Institute of Christ the King

by Gregor Kollmorgen

The Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest's annual Chapter has been meeting in Gricigliano. They were visited by two eminent prelates, Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard and Archbishop Raymond L. Burke. Cardinal Ricard is Archbishop of Bordeaux, in whose archdiocese the Institute has a Mass apostolate. He is also President emeritus of the National Conference of French bishops and the vice-President of the International Conference of European bishops. His Eminence remarkably told the chapter:

"I thank you in the name of the French bishops for the good work of the priests of the Institute in the dioceses of France."

Archbishop Burke, during his visit, blessed and crowned an antique statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Here are some pictures:

Cardinal Ricard assisting at the throne at a Solemn Mass:

Archbishop Burke blessing and crowning the statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus:

Archbishop Burke with Msgr. Schmitz:

Note that the Archbishop is wearing a tufted fascia (instead of the fringed one) which used to be worn with choir dress. I hope we can discuss this reasonably, but it is certainly interesting that the Archbishop who is one of the foremost canonists and known for his meticulous observation of the law does wear this item of vesture when many argue that its abolition by Paul VI is still in force. However, let us not only focus on this one rather specific point at such a splendid occasion.

Read the accounts with more pictures here and here.

(reproduced with permission from The New Liturgical Movement)

Apostolates of the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius

by Shawn Tribe

One of the interesting things I learnt through Fr. Dennis Kolinski of the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius, was that the Canons Regular do operate in more than just their famed parish church of St. John Cantius itself.

The Canons now also have an additional parish apostolate, that of St. Peter's Parish in Volo, Illinois.



While on their website, you might also want to look at the beautiful retreat chapel of the Canons Regular, St. Anne's Chapel in Lawton, Michigan. The Eastern feel to the building is no mistake, having been constructed in Poland and then re-constructed in the United States for the Canons Regular.




(reproduced with permission from The New Liturgical Movement)

Ordinations at Le Barroux

Recently, Cardinal Rodé conferred priestly ordinations at the Benedictine Abbey of Le Barroux in France, on the 26th of July.

Here are a few photos, courtesy of The New Liturgical Movement (see the full photo album for more):-

Photos from ICRSS Ordinations

The New Liturgical Movemement reports that the Institute of Christ the King has now released a comprehensive collection of photographs from recent priestly and other ordinations hat took place inside the beautiful Santi Michele e Gaetano church in Florence, Italy.

Here is a selection:

This year's new seminarians of the Institute after having been invested with the soutane:


Minor orders being conferred by Bishop Basil Meeking (em. of Christchurch, NZ):


Ordination to the Diaconate, also by Mgr. Meeking:


Priestly ordinations by Archbishop Raymond Burke, Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, in the Institute's splendid Florentine church:

Mgr. Burke vesting - you can see that he is wearing the rochet under the amice:




The newly ordained concelebrating:

The ordaining bishops were Bishop Basil Meeking, Emeritus of Christchurch, and Archbishop Raymond L. Burke.

Please see the website for more photos.

Can you help us?

“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harmful. It behooves all of us to preserve the riches which have developed in the Church’s faith and prayer, and to give them their proper place…”

– Pope Benedict XVI in his Letter accompanying Summorum Pontificum

For five months now this Traditional Vocations blog has been featuring Traditional societies and religious orders using the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite. We need your assistance to continue this.

In particular, there are many Traditional societies, institutes and religious communities which are not listed here, mainly because we cannot locate information about them in English. Could you translate materials about them out of their original languages and into English?

Alternatively, if you know of communities not featured here, with information in English, then please do comment!

Here are some other things you can do to help:

Spread the word!

• Can you feature this site on your blogs? Or ask your friends to do the same?

• Would your Parish or Diocese feature this in a newsletter, on a website? Would you ask them?

• Are there other websites we should be featured on, or linked from?

Be our eyes and ears

• Is there content we ought to feature? If so, tell us!

• Do you have information on courses of studies in various seminaries, entrance requirements, website links?

• Have you personal experience of one of the communities featured here? Share your experiences with us!

And remember, if you know others discerning their vocations, point them this way! May the Lord send us more holy Priests, monks and nuns than we can know what to do with!

FSSP 20 years old!

Congratulations to the
Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP)
on its twentieth anniversary!

Institute of St Philipp Neri

The Institute of St. Philipp Neri, is a spiritual Community, in union with the Holy Father and the Archbishop of Berlin, which fosters the traditions of the Catholic Church. Founded in February 2003, it currently has charge of the Church of St Afra, in Berlin.

Building on the basic idea of Philipp Neri's oratory the Institute works against the evident decline of the faith and the increasingly growing incompatible polarization towards differing, internal-ecclesiastical directions of thought. Its primary apostolate is to celebrate the liturgy in its traditional form combined with present-day pastoral work.

On the 25th of May 2004 the Institute was officially recognized by the Holy See as a community of Apostolic Life under papal law.

For further information, contact:

• Dr. Gerald Goesche
  Graunstr. 31
  13355 Berlin
  Germany
  Phone: +49 30 20606680
  web: www.institut-philipp-neri.de

Shrine of Christ the King

Recently discovered online, two videos about the Shrine of Christ the King in Chicago, Illinois:

The former St. Clara/St. Gelasius church on the south side of Chicago was designed and built by the masterful Henry J. Schlacks in 1923. Schlacks applied classical models from Italy, most particularly Rome, to the many magnificent churches he designed in Chicago during the early twentieth century. Among these historical edifices that he built, the church of St. Clara/St. Gelasius stands out as his life's masterpiece, with its application of concepts from the many triumphal arches of antiquity, including the three arched doorways, and the four imposing statues placed above the pediment.

Saved from demolition, this beautiful Church was given to the Institute of Christ the King, who now labour to restore the former church of St. Gelasius. Please consider donating to this most worthy project.

More information can be found at www.historic-landmark.org.

Institut religieux de Sainte-Croix

The religious community of Sainte-Croix (Holy-Cross) celebrates the liturgy according to the extraordinary form of the Latin rite, under the provisions of the motu proprio "Summorum Pontificum".

Founded by the Father Revet in the 1960s, the monastic community also supervises a children's village and scouting activities. Its statutes confer a double origin to it: bénédictine (the monks are oblats Benedictines) and scouting. The frieze and the dress of ceremony refer to religious military orders. The main symbol is the potencée, distinguished cross of the scouts of France and originating from the cross of kingdom of Jerusalem.

For more information, please see the Institute's website:

• riaumont.net (French language)

Do you have more information about Riaumont? If so, please comment to this post.