Ordinations at Campos

by Gregor Kollmorgen

This Sunday, 6 December, Msgr. Fernando Arêas Rifan ordained two new priests for the Personal Apostolic Administration of Saint John Mary Vianney dedicated to the usus antiquior in Campos, Brazil. Salvem a Liturgia has some images.

(reproduced from The New Liturgical Movement)

Priests Training Conference (Ushaw)

LMS Residential Training Conference for Priests Wishing to Learn the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite (Traditional Latin Mass) at Ushaw College, Durham.

The Latin Mass Society of England and Wales (LMS) is organising a residential training conference for priests wishing to learn the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite (Traditional Latin Mass) at Ushaw College, Durham, one of England’s most prestigious seminaries.

The conference will run from Monday 12 April to Friday 16 April 2010 (i.e. Low Week) and will feature Traditional liturgies in Ushaw’s magnificent neo-Gothic St Cuthbert’s Chapel together with a Gregorian Chant schola and polyphonic choir.

Expert tuition in the celebration of Mass in the Usus Antiquior will be provided on a small group basis. There will be tuition in Low Mass, Missa Cantata and Missa Solemnis and there will be streams for beginners and more advanced students. There will be a keynote lecture and 1962 Missals and altar cards will be available.

There will be opening and closing High Masses, daily Mass and Devotions, and Rosary. There will also be a closing Conference dinner with guest speaker.

The subsidised fee to participants is only £115.00 which includes all accommodation, meals and training materials. There are limited places and priests are asked to register as soon as possible.

Further details and registration forms can be obtained from the LMS office (Tel: 020 7404 7284, e mail: info at latin-mass-society.org) or from the conference organiser, Mr Paul Waddington (Tel: 01757 638027, e mail: paul at gooleboathouse.co.uk).

Paul Waddington said, “This is the second time the LMS has organised such a training conference at Ushaw College and we are delighted to be going back. I hope the laity will tell their priests about this wonderful opportunity to learn the Usus Antiquior in the setting of one of England’s finest Catholic seminaries.”

Latin Mass Society, 11-13 Macklin Street, London WC2B 5NH
Tel: 020 7404 7284
E mail: info at latin-mass-society.org
Website: latin-mass-society.org

(photo: Fr Ray Blake)

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

Papa Stronsay Calendar

by Fr Tim Finigan

The Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer on Papa Stronsay have a beautiful and original calendar for 2010 featuring photos of Liturgy and manual work on the island. For information, see: Into a New Year with the Papa Stronsay Calendar. There are some copies left after their regular mailing to subscribers so it would be good if they were able to sell them. The first page has a list of "n00th" anniversaries through the centuries, such as the 1800th anniversary of the birth of St Cyprian. Each day has the celebration listed according to the liturgical calendar of 1962.

You can get a copy via paypal by using the order link on the sidebar of the Papa Stronsay blog, or you can order one from ebay. Price £5.

(reproduced, with permission, from The Hermeneutic of Continuity)

The Voice of... Pope Leo XIII (Part III)

On 8th February, 1884, Pope Leo XIII issued his Encyclical Nobilissima Gallorum Gens to the Archbishops and Bishops in France on the religious questions in France:

"8. All this good, which affords the best hopes for the future of France, must not only be pre served, but increased by united efforts and constant watchfulness. Above all, care must be taken that the ranks of the clergy shall be more and more filled with worthy and capable men. Let the authority of their Bishops be sacred to the priest; let the latter be convinced that their ministry will be neither holy, nor profitable, nor respected, if it be not exercised under the guidance of their Bishops. The prominent laymen also, those devoted to Our common Mother the Church, and who are able to render useful service to the Catholic religion by their word and by their pen, must multiply their efforts in the defense of the Church. To obtain these results, it is an absolute necessity that wills should be in harmony, and the action unanimous. There is certainly nothing more wished for by Our adversaries than dissensions between Catholics, who should avoid nothing with greater care than any disagreement, mindful of the Divine words: "Every kingdom divided against itself shall be made desolate.""

Historic homecoming for the Knights of Malta

by Gerald Warner

West Lothian witnessed an historic event as the Knights of Malta returned after 450 years to Torphichen Preceptory, their mediaeval headquarters in Scotland lost at the Reformation, to celebrate the Latin Mass.

The occasion was presided over by Fra' Fredrik Crichton-Stuart, Grand Prior of England of the Order of Malta, accompanied by knights and dames of the order (above).

The traditional Mass was arranged by Una Voce Scotland, the Scottish branch of the International Latin Mass Federation. Una Voce has been conducting Masses in the extraordinary form in different historic venues in Scotland and at the end of October they celebrated an Old Rite Mass at Cambuskenneth Abbey [Stirling].

The celebrant was Mgr Hugh Boyle; Fr John Emerson, of the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter, was seated in the sanctuary beside the Grand Prior. The splendid vestment worn by Mgr Boyle, which attracted much attention, were 19th-century French cloth of gold.

Fred Stone of Una Voce explained that when they were taken to the Burrell Collection for expert assessment the museum was anxious to acquire them, but they are still very much in service and far from becoming museum.

Torphichen Preceptory near Bathgate in West Lothian was granted to the Knights Hospitaller by King David I in the 1140s, but there had been a church there from very ancient times, allegedly established by St Ninian around 400AD and said to have been visited by King Arthur a century later.

Torphichen was the Scottish Commandery of the Knights of Hospitaller of St John (known from 1530 as the Knights of Malta, after they took possession of that island.) Before and after the Battle of Falkirk in 1298, it was visited respectively by William Wallace and Edward I Longshanks, the Hammer of the Scots.

After the Reformation the building was partly demolished; only the foundations of the knight's cloister remain. The nave of the cross-shaped church became the parish kirk, but that too was demolished in 1756 and replaced by the present parish church.

Of the original commandery building all that remains is the central tower and transepts of the mediaeval church. These portions only surive because they were for a time used as a courthouse. The tower was at one point ruinous, but was re-roofed in 1947.

The building, now in the care of Historic Scotland, is still impressive. The vaulted ceiling is fine example of mediaeval craftmanship and, as the Una Schola schola discovered, provides excellent acoustic for Gregorian plainsong. They sang the Mass and then Te Deum, concluding with the Salve Regina.

In his homily Mgr Boyle invoked the historic nature of the occasion and the ancient link that Torphichen represented with the Order of Malta and Scottish Catholicism. At the end of Mass, Fra' Freddy Crichton-Stuart led the knights in reciting the prayer of the Order of Malta.

(photo © Martin Gardner;
reproduced from The Scottish Catholic Observer, 27.11.09)

The Voice of... Pope Leo XIII (Part II)

On 15th February, 1882, Pope Leo XIII issued his Encyclical Etsi Nos to the Archbishops and Bishops and the Other Ordinaries of Italy on conditions in Italy:

"18. But your chief cares and thoughts, Venerable Brethren, must have for their object the due appointment of fitting ministers of God. For if it be the office of Bishops to use very much labor and zeal in properly training the whole of their youth, they ought to spend themselves far more on the clerics who are growing up as the hope of the Church, and are to be some day sharers in the most sacred duties. Indeed, grave reasons, common to all times, demand in priests many and great graces; but this time in which we live demands that they should be even more and greater. In truth the defense of the Catholic Faith, in which the industry of priests ought specially to be employed, and which is in these days so very necessary, demands no common nor ordinary learning, but that which is recondite and varies; which embraces not only sacred, but even philosophical studies, and is rich in the treatment of physical and historical discoveries. For the error which has to be eradicated is multiform, and saps all the foundations of Christian wisdom; and very often a battle has to be waged with adversaries well prepared, pertinacious in disputing, who astutely draw confirmation from every kind of science. Similarly, since in these days there is great and far extended corruption of morals, there is need in priests of singular excellence of virtue and constancy. They can by no means avoid associating with men; by the very duties of their office, indeed, they are compelled to have intimate relations with the people; and that in the midst of cities where there is hardly any lust that has not permitted and unbridled license. From which it follows that virtue in the clergy ought at this time to be strong enough peacefully to guard itself, and both conquer all the blandishments of desire and securely overcome dangerous examples. Besides a paucity of clerics has everywhere followed the laws which have been enacted to the injury of the Church, so plainly, that it is necessary for those who by the grace of God are being trained to Holy Orders, to give double attention, and by increased diligence, zeal, and devotion to compensate for the sparse supply. And, indeed, they cannot do this advantageously unless they possess a soul resolute of purpose, mortified, incorrupt, ardent with charity, ever prompt and quick in undertaking labors for the salvation of men. But for such tasks a long and diligent preparation must be made; for one is not accustomed to such great things easily and quickly. And they indeed will pass their time in the priesthood holily and purely, who have exercised themselves in this way from their youth, and have so advanced in discipline that they seem not so much to have been instructed to those virtues, of which We have spoken, as to have been born to them."

"19. For these reasons, Venerable Brethren, the Seminaries of clerics demand a very great portion of your zeal, care, and vigilance."

"20. As to virtue and morals, it does not escape your wisdom with what precepts and instruction the youth of clerics must be surrounded. In graver studies Our Encyclical Letters, "Aeterni Patris," have pointed out the best way and course. But since in such a condition of mental activity many things have been wisely and usefully discovered, which it is not fitting to ignore especially when wicked men are accustomed to turn, as new weapons, against divinely revealed truths, every addition of this kind which the day brings -- take care, Venerable Brethren, as far as lies in your power, that the young clerics be not only better instructed in natural sciences, but also properly educated in those arts which have connection with the interpretation or authority of the Sacred Scriptures. Of this surely we are not ignorant, that many things are needful for perfection in the highest studies, the means for which in the religious seminaries of Italy hostile laws are taking away or diminishing. But in this also the time demands that by their bounty and munificence Our children should strive to merit well of the Catholic religion. The pious and beneficent goodwill of our ancestors had admirably provided for necessities of this kind; and this the Church had been able by prudence and economy to accomplish, so that she had no necessity whatever to recommend to the charity of her children the care and preservation of sacred property. But her legitimate and sacred patrimony, which the attacks of former ages had spared, the tempest of our times has dissipated; so that there is again a reason why those who love the Catholic name should be induced to renew the liberality of their ancestors. Illustrious indeed are the proofs of munificence on the part of Frenchmen, Belgians, and others in a cause not very dissimilar from this munificence most worthy the admiration not only of contemporaries, but also of posterity. Nor do We doubt but that the Italian people, moved by the consideration of their common circumstances, will, in proportion to their means, act so as to show themselves worthy of their father, and will imitate the example of their brethren."

Cardinal Barbarin Establishes Seminary for Both Forms of the Roman Rite

by Gregor Kollmorgen

Recently there was a meeting of French faithful attached to the usus antiquior, the rencontre pour l’Unité Catholique (Meeting for Catholic Unity), in Versailles, France. In the course of the meeting, Fr. Laurent Spriet of the Association Totus Tuus made an important announcement.

(The Association Totus Tuus, which was established in 2007 by the Archbishop of Avignon and this year recognised canonically by Cardinal Barbarin, the Primate of Gaul and Archbishop of Lyon, is itself attached to the celebration of the usus antiquior, without excluding saying Mass in the Ordinary Form if so requested by the bishop. Msgr. Jean-Pierre Batut, former pastor of the Parisian parish of Saint Eugène-Sainte Cécile, which is equally dedicated to both forms of the Roman Rite, who was appointed auxiliary of Lyon last year, functions as the protector of this association.)

Fr. Spriet announced, that Cardinal Barbarin will open next year in Lyon a "bi-formalist" seminary, i.e. a seminary dedicated to both forms of the Roman Rite, which will be both taught and celebrated there. This is the first diocese in France after that of Toulon which offers this possibility to its seminarians. Cardinal Barbarin's project will even go further than that of Toulon: not only will the seminarians have the opportunity to be formed according to the extraordinary form, Mass according to the usus antiquior will be celebrated every day in the seminary, open to all seminarians, including those of the ordinary form.

(reposted from The New Liturgical Movement)

Priestly Ordination to be Conferred

from FSSP North American District / Una Voce Carmel:

Priestly Ordination of Rev. Mr. Jose Zepeda, F.S.S.P. by Bishop Salvatore Cordileone

December 19, 2009, at 11:00 A.M.

St. Jarlath Church
2620 Pleasant St.
Oakland, CA
website: www.stjarlath.org

For more info please contact Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary at (+1) 402-797-4400.

On November 7th in the Year of Our Lord 2009, The Most Reverend James D. Conley, Auxilary Bishop of Denver, ordained 14 seminarians of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter to the Minor Orders and one to the Diaconate. The ordination Mass took place at St. Francis of Assisi Roman Catholic Church in Lincoln Nebraska. Please keep the newly ordained in your prayers as they continue their ascent to the Altar of our Lord.

The Voice of... Pope Leo XIII (Part I)

On 3rd December, 1880, the feast of St. Francis Xavier, S.J., Pope Leo XIII issued his Encyclical Sancta Dei Civitas to all the Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, and Bishops of the Catholic World regarding Mission Societies.

If I may interject a personal prejudice here, I would thoroughly recomment the Encyclicals of Pope Leo XIII to everyone of every rank, degree, condition, state or age for spiritual reading. They are models of style and form and, in my opinion, unsurpassed for the clarity and comprehensiveness of their content, coupled with a brevity that is as delightful as it is wonderful. Sadly, but too few examples will be included on this blog, restricted as I am by the theme of 'The Holy Year for Priests' but the devout reader cannot fail to be impressed by the sheer variety of subjects. The Encyclicals of Pope Leo XIII are, without reservation or qualification, my favourite spiritual reading. Herewith an extract from Sancta Dei Civitas:

"7. On the other hand many and grave necessities weigh upon and oppress the Apostolic missions, since the number of sacred laborers decreases every day, nor do We find that as many or as zealous missionaries replace those whom death has carried off, whom age has enfeebled, or whom work has broken down. For We see Religious communities, whence a large number of missionaries came forth, dissolved by iniquitous laws, the clergy torn away from the altar and obliged to undergo military service, and the goods of both orders of clergy almost everywhere put up to sale and proscribed."

"8. In the meanwhile new routes have been opened, in consequence of more complete exploration of places and populations, towards countries hitherto accounted impracticable; numerous expeditions of the soldiers of Christ have been formed, and new stations have been established; and thus many laborers are now wanted to devote themselves to these missions, and contribute seasonable help. We pass over in silence the difficulties and obstacles arising from contradictions. For it often occurs that deceivers, sowing error, simulate the Apostles of Christ, and, being abundantly furnished with human resources, interfere with the ministry of Catholic priests, or creep in after their departure, or raise pulpit against pulpit, thinking it sufficient to render the way of salvation doubtful to the persons who hear the word of God interpreted in different ways. Would that their artifices had no success! This is certainly to be regretted, that even those who are disgusted with such teachers, or have never met with them, and who desire the pure light of truth, should often have no man at hand to instruct them in wholesome doctrine and to bring them into the bosom of the Church."

"9. Truly the little ones ask for bread, and there is none to break it to them; the regions are white for the harvest, and the harvest is plenteous, but the laborers are few and will soon, perhaps, be fewer still."

Contemplative Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate

by Fr Joseph M Taylor

I imagine many readers of the NLM will already know the name Lanherne. Lanherne Convent in Cornwall, in the far south west of England, is the home of the Contemplative Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate in the UK. This branch of the Franciscan Order has four contemplative houses for women religious in the world. Two in Italy (Citta Di Castello and Albenga), one in the Philippines, and Lanherne. Someone with a vocation first enters the apostolic sisters where she does her postulancy, novitiate and takes temporary vows and probably final vows also. It is only after some years – perhaps five, six or seven - that a sister feels her vocation is to the contemplative life. Perhaps the superiors think that this sister is called to the contemplative life. Therefore at this stage a sister might well pass from one way of the religious life to the other vocation. My point being one does not enter the contemplative life direct from “the world”.

After the promulgation of Summorum Pontificum in 2007 the FSI superiors decided that these four contemplative houses would take up the full and exclusive use of the 1962 liturgical books.

I wrote an article several months ago for the Latin Mass Society’s magazine, The Mass of the Ages which gives a brief resumé of what goes on at Lanherne and gives a history of the convent and of the Carmelites who own the house and lived in it for about two hundred years. Yes, indeed, the Carmelites (the few remaining ones are in a Carmel in the north of England) have been very generous towards our Franciscan nuns as on vacating Lanherne, they then welcomed the Franciscans to live there as their “guests”. Eight years have now passed and quite naturally the Franciscans are concerned about the future of the convent building. It would be a wonderful work of Providence if our nuns were more secure at Lanherne.

Several good things have happened at Lanherne Convent since my article appeared in Mass of the Ages in the early part of this year. In fact, the full Office (1962) has been sung since Christmas Eve 2008 and the Little Office of Our Lady has been recited (in full on a daily basis) over the last couple of months. The Little Office is said every day except on Mondays, when the Office of the Dead is recited.

I thought the readers of this journal might well be interested in the liturgical timetable of the nuns. Perhaps you could say some Office at the same time as the community or the rosary or other devotions. Just as the sisters are praying for you, so you can pray for them and for the intentions for which they offer the Office. A real union in prayer.

• Rise at midnight - Matins and Lauds at 12.10 am
• 5.35 am - Lauds of Our Lady (in cell)
• 6 am - Prime followed by Little Office Prime
• Meditation and Terce and Little Office Terce
• 7.30 am - Conventual Mass (sung daily)
• 12.20 pm - Sext (+ Little Office Sext)
• 1.20 pm - None (+ Little Office None)
• 3 pm - Vespers (Little Office – in cell)
• 3.15 pm - Vespers
• 3.45 pm - Rosary and Litany
• 4.15 pm - Meditation and anticipated Little Office Matins until 5.40 pm
• 8.25 pm - Compline (followed by Little Office Compline in cell)

• Stations of the Cross – Fridays at 8.20 pm
• Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and Benediction – Fridays 8.40 am – 1 pm

The Sunday timetable varies very slightly – the main difference is that the Conventual Mass is at 10 am

It is important to remember that at Lanherne we have a contemplative community. Therefore there is a strict observance of “enclosure”. Today enclosure is much misunderstood. People, including many Catholics, ask such questions as how can such a life be justified in view of the Gospel, which invites Christians to become a light in the world and to proclaim the “good news” to all people? Historically enclosure was freely chosen from the very beginning by the nuns themselves in order that they could be truly free to get on with their daily business of the praise and worship of Almighty God. It was much later that enclosure became an object of canonical legislation.

When writing before I explained that the nuns at Lanherne live entirely on the alms of the faithful. They are truly poor! As the community is the only one we have in England and Wales which offers Holy Mass and the Divine Office according to the 1962 liturgical books it is very important that we should support them by our prayers and our donations. I am aware that Lanherne is a long way from almost everywhere else in the UK and is therefore difficult to visit, but perhaps the readers of the article should be thinking about a visit to Cornwall during 2010.

By the time you read this article another sister will have joined the Lanherne community, this will bring the total to fourteen sisters. At this stage there will be a problem. Fourteen is about the maximum number that Lanherne can accommodate. You will ask what next? Indeed a good question. An additional house will soon be needed and it is here that you may be able to help. Do you know of any convent which is either up for sale or about to be up for sale? The Sisters would need a property to be bought by a benefactor(s) as they themselves own nothing. The ideal building would be one with an existing enclosure and therefore we are thinking of ex-Carmelite, Poor Clare, Benedictine, etc. but other buildings might be suitable also. Let me have any suggestions and thoughts on ways of raising funds!! Please write to me:- Father Joseph M Taylor c/o Lanherne Convent (address below).

Reverend Mother at Lanherne wishes me to thank you all for your gifts during the last year. If you have donated you have no doubt received a little note from Mother. At present we are in need of funds for a number of liturgical items, in particular a Tenebrae Hearse (used at the Sacred Triduum to hold the 15 unbleached candles). This year we had to made do and mend with something very unsuitable! We also are in need of a good, very good ombrellino (an “umbrella” for transferring the Blessed Sacrament from one altar to another and Reliquaries (we have the relics, but not the containers).

Please continue to be generous – the address for benefactions is:- Reverend Mother, Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate, Lanherne Convent, St Mawgan, Newquay, Cornwall, TR8 4ER UK. Cheques can be made payable to "Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate".

~~*~~

Fr. Taylor also sends in some photos from the convent and the life of the nuns there.


















The Skull of English Martyr, St. Cuthbert Mayne
(all photos by and copyright Wayne Perry;
reproduced from The New Liturgical Movement)

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)