On 24th December, 1894, Pope Leo XIII issued his Encyclical Letter Christi Nomen regarding the Propagation of the Faith and the Eastern Churches:
"3. To ensure that the Eastern Christians who have seceded will return to the one true Church, it is necessary to provide them with an abundance of holy ministers who, endowed with doctrine and piety, may persuade the others to accept the desired unity. In addition, Catholic wisdom and life must be made known and imparted to them in such a fashion that it will fit their national character congenially. Therefore houses must be opened wherever expedient for the sacred education of the youth, a sufficient number of high schools should be available, distributed according to population. Their power of exercising each rite may thus be supplied with dignity. Genuine knowledge of religion, should be extended to all by making the best literature available. You can easily understand the costs of these and similar ventures. You also understand that the Eastern Churches by themselves cannot meet all these expenses. Nor can We Ourselves in these hard times offer the help We would like. Suitable aid must be asked principally from the Society for the Propagation of the Faith which We have just now praised. Its purpose is entirely consonant with what We now have in mind. But lest apostolic missions, deprived in part of the aids by which they are sustained, suffer any harm, We must insist that the generosity of the Catholics toward the Society become greater. It is fitting that a similar concern also be applied to the Society for the Schools of the East whose growth We encouraged, especially since its directors have openly promised to contribute as much as possible for this worthy cause."
Friday, 22 January 2010
Tuesday, 19 January 2010
Oratory of St. Philip Neri established in Tilburg
A very positive development in the diocese of ’s Hertogenbosch for vocations and the priesthood in general. In Tilburg, newly installed priest and dean, Fr Jeroen Miltenburg, and his chaplain, Fr. Karel Loodts. are working to establish a so-called Oratory of St. Philip Neri. Established in the 16th century, by St. Philip Neri, a priest in Rome, an oratory is a house where priests live, work and pray together. In St. Philip’s time it was a great boost to vocations and the education of priests, who not only lived together, but also organised regular discussion meetings about all manner of topics, but always with the goal of furthering theological and pastoral awareness.
Fr. Miltenburg: “Of course there are practical advantages when it comes to dividing tasks, but the fundamental idea is praying, offering Mass and doing pastoral work together.”
And about St. Philip Neri he says: “Typical for Neri was his passionate and loving discussion of Jesus Christ. Through his attention on prayer, conversation, song, music and pilgrimage the first oratory developed against the spirit of the Reformation.”
On 17 June of last year, Bishop Hurkmans allowed the establishment of an ‘Oratory of St. Philip Neri in Development’ in Tilburg. Since an oratory needs a core of three priests it is open for growth.
(reproduced from In Cælo et in Terra)
Sunday, 17 January 2010
Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer Seminarians Assist in Texan Cathedra
On Monday, January 11 in the year of Our Lord 2010, the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer (Transalpine Redemptorists) graciously assisted Holy Mass during a Tridentine Rite (EF, TLM, etc.) Mass at St. Mary's Cathedral in Austin Texas.
According to the New Liturgical Movement:
This means that yet another Catholic Bishop in the United States has opened his Cathedral to Masses said in the Extraordinary Form from the Roman Missal of 1962 (every Sunday at 3:30 pm). Deo gratias! As a witness to this, the Transalpine Redemptorists themselves said that the Rector of the Cathedral of St. Mary himself celebrated the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass:
The New Liturgical Movement also provided pictures of the architecture in the Cathedral.
All that seems to be missing in the cathedral is the presence of the altar (Communion) rail.
The news of the Sons of the Holy Reedemer assisting this Mass does not only show the beauty of their traditional charism in the Church, but this also shows how they are being well accepted and welcomed into the Church ever since they left the SSPX (Society of St. Pius X)--just as the FSSP (Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter) did.
Another interesting fact about this Mass is that it took place during a time when the Diocese of Austin, Texas was having a priests' retreat in Belton, TX. What a great way to offer up prayers for the priests on the retreat if you were to offer up this Holy Mass for them.
Support the Sons of the Holy Redeemer by visiting their blog at: http://papastronsay.blogspot.com/
According to the New Liturgical Movement:
"The Deacon was Fr. Tommy Chen, assistant priest at St. Cyril and Methodius Church in Shiner, TX, a parish which offers both forms. The subdeacon is Br. Jean Marie, FSSR, of the Translalpine Redemptorists. Other Transalpine Redemptorists functioned within this Mass as well."
"This Solemn Mass was celebrated by Father Albert Laforet the Rector of St. Mary's Cathedral, Austin, Texas."
The New Liturgical Movement also provided pictures of the architecture in the Cathedral.
It is interesting how the altar has a tree carved onto it in stone--referencing more of the "Sacrifice" of the Mass--rather than focusing mostly on the altar being like a table (as many modern churches try to relate it to more often than the altar of Our Lord--the cross). You will also notice that this high altar has the tabernacle directly on it like a pre-Vatican II church would. Making notice of this, we come to find that there is, in fact, no Novus Ordo altar present here in this Cathedral at the time of this Mass. This is clearly seen in the photo below:
The news of the Sons of the Holy Reedemer assisting this Mass does not only show the beauty of their traditional charism in the Church, but this also shows how they are being well accepted and welcomed into the Church ever since they left the SSPX (Society of St. Pius X)--just as the FSSP (Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter) did.
Another interesting fact about this Mass is that it took place during a time when the Diocese of Austin, Texas was having a priests' retreat in Belton, TX. What a great way to offer up prayers for the priests on the retreat if you were to offer up this Holy Mass for them.
Support the Sons of the Holy Redeemer by visiting their blog at: http://papastronsay.blogspot.com/
Little Sisters Disciples of the Lamb
The Little Sisters Disciples of the Lamb are a contemplative community that enables girls with Down’s syndrome to respond to a religious vocation.
To Offer Oneself to God in witness to the Gospel of Life
Together for a contemplative life
To consecrate one’s life to God, offering it for love of the weakest and most deprived of our neighbours, this is our vocation! By accompanying them, we want to enable young, intellectually disabled girls to offer a consecrated life to God and to the Church.
To allow those who have the “last place” in the world, to hold in the Church the exceptional place of spouses of Jesus Christ. To allow those who depend on others for their everyday life to take in charge, in their prayer, the intentions that are entrusted to them. To allow those whose life is held in contempt to the extent of being in danger from a culture of death, to witness by their consecration to the Gospel of Life.
The Institute of the Little Sisters Disciples of the Lamb, a contemplative vocation, offer young girls with Downs the possibilty of realising their religious vocation. This realisation is made possible only by the support of sisters without this disability, who have responded to a special call to consecrate themselves to God with their disabled sisters to form one community with them.
Today, more girls with Down’s Syndrome are knocking at our door. To respond to their request, our family needs new vocations. Vocations to share a contemplative life with “the smallest in the Kingdom”.
Together in work and prayer
Guided by the wisdom of St Benedict, we teach our little disabled sisters the manual labour necessary for their development. We live poverty in putting ourselves at their disposal. With them, we share the work of everyday life.
The office, adoration and the praying of the rosary are adapted to their rhythm and their capacities. In a spirit of silence, our prayer feeds every day on the Eucharist and on the meditation of the Gospel.
Close to the abbey of Fontgombault, we benefit from its spiritual support.
The Institute of the Little Sisters Disciples of the Lamb
The community was founded in 1985, and canonically recognised in 1990 as a public association by the Archbishop of Tours. It settled in Blanc in 1995, and was erected as a religious institute of contemplative life by the archbishop of Bourges in 1999.
The Little Sisters now have at their disposal a priory on the edge of the town. Here, for a period of vocational discernment, they can receive young girls touched by the spirit of poverty and dedication, ready to offer a whole existence to the service of Christ in the person of their sisters with Down’s Syndrome.
At the school of St Therese of the Child Jesus
We follow every day the “little way” taught by Saint Therese; knowing that “great actions are forbidden to us”, we learn from her to receive everything from God, to “love for the brothers who fight”, to “scatter flowers for Jesus”, and to pray for the intentions entrusted to us.
The community was founded with the encouragement of Jerome Lejeune, and is currently supported by, among others, the Lejeune Foundation, according to this page. One sister made her perpetual profession last June.
This youtube clipe is taken from a 26 minute documentary on the community produced by the French Exaltavit.
Here I’ve added a post with two interviews with the sisters, and an article on a Franciscan community for men with Down’s syndrome.
(reproduced from Ex Laodicæa)
Saturday, 16 January 2010
Pontifical Mass in Copenhagen
by Gregor Kollmorgen
First images of the Pontifical Mass sung by the Bishop of Copenhagen, His Excellency Czeslaw Kozon (who had previosuly celebrated missa cantata in the usus antiquior), in his cathedral on 10 January 2010 have become available via Katolsk Tradition.
The Bishop was assisted by Fr. Josef Bisig and Fr. Martin Knudsen, both of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter.
(reproduced from The New Liturgical Movement)
First images of the Pontifical Mass sung by the Bishop of Copenhagen, His Excellency Czeslaw Kozon (who had previosuly celebrated missa cantata in the usus antiquior), in his cathedral on 10 January 2010 have become available via Katolsk Tradition.
The Bishop was assisted by Fr. Josef Bisig and Fr. Martin Knudsen, both of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter.(reproduced from The New Liturgical Movement)
Friday, 15 January 2010
Cardinal Levada to Bless New Chapel of the Northern American FSSP Seminary
by Gregor Kollmorgen
The new chapel of the Northern American Seminary of Our Lady of Guadalupe of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter in Denton, Nebraska, will be dedicated on 3 March 2010.
The ceremony will be performed by His Eminence Cardinal William Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and, since last year's motu proprio Ecclesiae unitatem, President of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei. This will be, as far as we are aware, the first public function in the usus antiquior which Cardinal Levada carries out in his new capacity.
The new chapel of the Northern American Seminary of Our Lady of Guadalupe of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter in Denton, Nebraska, will be dedicated on 3 March 2010.The ceremony will be performed by His Eminence Cardinal William Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and, since last year's motu proprio Ecclesiae unitatem, President of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei. This will be, as far as we are aware, the first public function in the usus antiquior which Cardinal Levada carries out in his new capacity.
The Voice of... Pope Leo XIII (Part IX)
On 2nd September, 1893, Pope Leo XIII issued his Encyclical Letter Constanti Hungarorum regarding the Church in Hungary:
"12. Above all, We wish you to direct your zeal and devotion towards the education of children and adolescents. It is not Our intention to repeat now what We have already written in the same letter that We mentioned in the beginning of this one. We cannot, however, refrain from touching briefly upon certain serious matters. In respect to primary schools, you must insist that pastors and others who are in charge of souls be constantly vigilant in their behalf and consider it their most important duty to teach sacred doctrine to children. This special service should be undertaken by themselves and valued as a sacred trust. It is certain that a wholesome and pious education in childhood ensures in great measure not only the preservation of the family. but of the state itself. Nor should you spare any industry or ingenuity to help these schools increase and develop successfully. It would be most appropriate to appoint in each diocese supervisors of schools for both the diocese and the deaneries. The bishops could confer with them annually on the condition of the schools as well as on other matters pertaining to faith, morals, and the care of souls. If it should be necessary to build new schools in answer to local needs or enlarge those already established, we are fully confident that your liberality and likewise that of all Catholics will be prompt and generous."
"13. Regarding high schools and graduate schools, care should be taken that the good, planted like seeds in the minds and hearts of children, be not sadly destroyed in their adolescence. See that dangers of that kind be removed or diminished. Most especially, your pastoral concern should avail in selecting learned and virtuous teachers of religion and in removing those causes that too often hinder fruitful results."
"14. For the rest, We appreciate your concerted efforts to maintain the seats of highest studies under the authority of the Church and bishops in accord with the will of their founders. We, nevertheless, exhort you to continue to fulfill this obligation. It would certainly not be equitable to deny Catholics that which is granted adversaries of the Catholic cause. It is of common interest, moreover, that what our predecessors established so piously and wisely should never be used to the detriment of the Church and Catholic faith, but for the protection and defense of both and hence, for the continuous good of the state itself."
"15. Finally, these recommendations also apply to seminarians and priests. You should expend even greater effort on them that they may be worthy of the priesthood and that they may manifest virtue fitting the times. For this reason, the sacred seminaries justly claim the greater part of your attention. Direct them in the best way possible and provide them with all that is necessary so that through the dedication of selected teachers, seminarians will be trained in the morals and virtues required by their order and, moreover, in all the beauty and glory of doctrine, both human and divine."
"16. For your clergy, the times require a very particular unanimity in your guidance. concern and love in admonishing and exhorting them, and extraordinary firmness in defending ecclesiastical discipline. In turn, all priests should have strong faith in their bishops, accept their directives, and support their undertakings. In their sacred duties and their pastoral work, they should always be ready and zealous, guided by love.
Because, moreover, priests set an example, they should be living models of virtue and constancy. They should be cautious, however, not to get too involved in civilian or political affairs, and let them often recall this passage from St. Paul, 'No one serving as God's soldier entangles himself in worldly affairs, that he may please him whose approval he has secured.'"
"17. To be sure, as St. Gregory the Great admonishes, it is not right to abandon foresight in external matters in one's anxiety for spiritual matters. Explicitly, when it is a question of defending religion or promoting the common good, the latter is not to be disregarded. A priest must be cautious not to overstep his dignity and deportment lest he seem more concerned for human than heavenly affairs. Most aptly the same Gregory the Great says, 'Therefore, worldly occupations are sometimes to be tolerated out of compassion, never however to be pursued out of love; lest they, by burdening the mind of the lover, overwhelm him and make him sink under their weight from heaven into the depths.'"
"12. Above all, We wish you to direct your zeal and devotion towards the education of children and adolescents. It is not Our intention to repeat now what We have already written in the same letter that We mentioned in the beginning of this one. We cannot, however, refrain from touching briefly upon certain serious matters. In respect to primary schools, you must insist that pastors and others who are in charge of souls be constantly vigilant in their behalf and consider it their most important duty to teach sacred doctrine to children. This special service should be undertaken by themselves and valued as a sacred trust. It is certain that a wholesome and pious education in childhood ensures in great measure not only the preservation of the family. but of the state itself. Nor should you spare any industry or ingenuity to help these schools increase and develop successfully. It would be most appropriate to appoint in each diocese supervisors of schools for both the diocese and the deaneries. The bishops could confer with them annually on the condition of the schools as well as on other matters pertaining to faith, morals, and the care of souls. If it should be necessary to build new schools in answer to local needs or enlarge those already established, we are fully confident that your liberality and likewise that of all Catholics will be prompt and generous."
"13. Regarding high schools and graduate schools, care should be taken that the good, planted like seeds in the minds and hearts of children, be not sadly destroyed in their adolescence. See that dangers of that kind be removed or diminished. Most especially, your pastoral concern should avail in selecting learned and virtuous teachers of religion and in removing those causes that too often hinder fruitful results."
"14. For the rest, We appreciate your concerted efforts to maintain the seats of highest studies under the authority of the Church and bishops in accord with the will of their founders. We, nevertheless, exhort you to continue to fulfill this obligation. It would certainly not be equitable to deny Catholics that which is granted adversaries of the Catholic cause. It is of common interest, moreover, that what our predecessors established so piously and wisely should never be used to the detriment of the Church and Catholic faith, but for the protection and defense of both and hence, for the continuous good of the state itself."
"15. Finally, these recommendations also apply to seminarians and priests. You should expend even greater effort on them that they may be worthy of the priesthood and that they may manifest virtue fitting the times. For this reason, the sacred seminaries justly claim the greater part of your attention. Direct them in the best way possible and provide them with all that is necessary so that through the dedication of selected teachers, seminarians will be trained in the morals and virtues required by their order and, moreover, in all the beauty and glory of doctrine, both human and divine."
"16. For your clergy, the times require a very particular unanimity in your guidance. concern and love in admonishing and exhorting them, and extraordinary firmness in defending ecclesiastical discipline. In turn, all priests should have strong faith in their bishops, accept their directives, and support their undertakings. In their sacred duties and their pastoral work, they should always be ready and zealous, guided by love.
Because, moreover, priests set an example, they should be living models of virtue and constancy. They should be cautious, however, not to get too involved in civilian or political affairs, and let them often recall this passage from St. Paul, 'No one serving as God's soldier entangles himself in worldly affairs, that he may please him whose approval he has secured.'"
"17. To be sure, as St. Gregory the Great admonishes, it is not right to abandon foresight in external matters in one's anxiety for spiritual matters. Explicitly, when it is a question of defending religion or promoting the common good, the latter is not to be disregarded. A priest must be cautious not to overstep his dignity and deportment lest he seem more concerned for human than heavenly affairs. Most aptly the same Gregory the Great says, 'Therefore, worldly occupations are sometimes to be tolerated out of compassion, never however to be pursued out of love; lest they, by burdening the mind of the lover, overwhelm him and make him sink under their weight from heaven into the depths.'"
Tuesday, 12 January 2010
Canons Regular of St. John Cantius Vocations Reminder for Prayers
This all took place in the beautiful parish of St. John Cantius Catholic Church in Chicago, IL."were vested on the Feast of the Assumption with the Roman cassock. Now their religious habits are amplified as they are vested with the Rosary of the Blessed Virgin, the fascia with fringe, and the Roman Collar."
The Canons Regular of St. John Cantius do indeed wear a Roman cassock with a fascia (more commonly called a cincture) around it. Wrapped around the cincture itself is a black colored Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary. A Roman collar is also worn. This beautifully shows that these men are not only dedicated to the beautiful traditions of the Latin (Roman) Rite of the Catholic Church, but the fact that they wear that big, black rosary shows also their dedication to the Blessed Mother.
Provided by www.canons-regular.org
These vestments are more clearly seen in the following picture:
Provided by New Liturgical Movement
Notice the canon on the far right side of the photo photo. There's no way that his rosary will go unnoticed. To those who are discerning a vocation to the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius: you ought to consider praying the Rosary as often as possible. For, just as any good Catholic mother gladly prays for her children and their vocations, our Blessed Mother will do the same for us. Our Blessed Mother indeed loves the priesthood, thus she loves the seminarians in a special way, and she wants to protect them. Welcome her into your life--into your vocation! Could there be more of a traditional thing to do? Look at St. John, one of the first bishops of the Church, he indeed welcomed Mother Mary into his vocation at the command of Christ as He suffered on the cross. Carry a rosary in your pocket, what a defense for your vocation! Not only is it such a powerful spiritual weapon, but if you one day do so happen to become one of these canons, you'll be ready to carry that rosary around as a witness to the love of God through a devotion to Mother Mary (in having that rosary around the cincture). How greatly does this speak of Mother Mary's love and protection of chastity while the rosary is wrapped around the reminder of chastity/humility (the surplice/cincture)?
We should all also pray for the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius: their parish, their priests, novices, etc.
A special reminder to pray for these two men: http://www.canons-regular.org/go/news/read/seminarians-receive-minor-orders/
Vocations Page: http://www.canons-regular.org/go/vocations/
Other news from the Canons-Regular:
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6 - 6:00 PM
Return on Saturday, February 6 at 6:00 pm for a Piano Recital by Concert Pianist Ana Fau. Click here to get your tickets to hear music of Handel, Debussy, Tchaikovsky and more.
(from: http://www.cantius.org/go/news/detail/musical_concerts_at_st_john_cantius/)
Sunday, 10 January 2010
Pontifical Mass at Campocavallo
by Gregor Koillmorgen
On the Feast of the Epiphany, Cardinal Castrillón celebrated Pontifical Mass at the Marian shrine of Campocavallo (Osimo, Province of Ancona, Italy) with the Franciscans of the Immaculate who celebrate the Extraordinary Form there every Sunday. Rinasicmento Sacro has images and a report (in Italian). Some more images on Elsas Nacht(b)revier.
(reproduced from The New Liturgical Movement)
Friday, 8 January 2010
Investitures with the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles
by Gregor Kollmorgen
The Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles, celebrated the investiture of four postulants as well as the first profession of a novice on Wednesday, 6 January 2010, the Feast of the Epiphany, during Pontifical Mass sung by Bishop Finn of Kansas City-Saint Joseph. Kansas Catholic has images of the occasion (investiture part I, investiture part II, first profession, Pontifical Mass). Here are some impressions:
The sisters pursue as their apostolate the making of vestments, reappropriating traditional techniques, a most worthwhile undertaking. They made this cappa magna for bishop Finn:
Note: You can find more photos at the site Kansas Catholic.
(reproduced, with permission, from The New Liturgical Movement)
The Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles, celebrated the investiture of four postulants as well as the first profession of a novice on Wednesday, 6 January 2010, the Feast of the Epiphany, during Pontifical Mass sung by Bishop Finn of Kansas City-Saint Joseph. Kansas Catholic has images of the occasion (investiture part I, investiture part II, first profession, Pontifical Mass). Here are some impressions:
The sisters pursue as their apostolate the making of vestments, reappropriating traditional techniques, a most worthwhile undertaking. They made this cappa magna for bishop Finn:
Note: You can find more photos at the site Kansas Catholic.(reproduced, with permission, from The New Liturgical Movement)
The Voice of... Pope Leo XIII (Part VIII)
On 24th June, 1893, Pope Leo XIII issued his Encyclical Ad Extremas on Seminaries for Native Clergy:
7. "...there must be respect for antiquity; whatever we see advantageously established in times past must be religiously preserved. Now, it was the practice of the Apostles first to instruct the multitude in Christian precepts, then to select several from the people and initiate them into the sacred mysteries and even elevate them to the episcopacy. This example was followed afterwards by the Roman pontiffs. Their custom has always been to direct missionaries to exert every means to select a native clergy wherever the Christian community grew sufficiently large..."
7. "...there must be respect for antiquity; whatever we see advantageously established in times past must be religiously preserved. Now, it was the practice of the Apostles first to instruct the multitude in Christian precepts, then to select several from the people and initiate them into the sacred mysteries and even elevate them to the episcopacy. This example was followed afterwards by the Roman pontiffs. Their custom has always been to direct missionaries to exert every means to select a native clergy wherever the Christian community grew sufficiently large..."
Sunday, 3 January 2010
In Memoriam - Fr. Franck Quoex
a tribute to Fr Franck M. Quoëx (1967-2007),
by Gregory DiPippio
Today is the third anniversary of the death of Fr. Franck Quoëx, a priest of the Diocese of Vaduz in Lichtenstein, and one of the foremost liturgists of our times. I had the great honor to serve alongside Fr. Quoëx at the traditional Masses in Rome for many years, and some of the most beautiful rites I have ever seen were put together and guided by his phenomenal expertise. He had and deserved a reputation throughout Europe as a highly talented Master of Ceremonies; many have remarked that if the Pope should ever decide to do the ancient Papal Mass again, Fr. Quoëx would have been one of the few people
who could have arranged it properly. I am always put in mind of him most especially during Holy Week; he had a great love of these most solemn rites of the Church, and the rehearsals he led were filled with interesting asides on the origin and symbolic meaning of the ceremonies. In the year 2000, he was the first master of ceremonies for a Rorate Mass celebrated by His Eminence Alphonse-Maria Cardinal Stickler, at the church of San Pietro in Montorio. Like most of the servers, I had never been involved in Pontifical Mass before, and we were all extremely nervous; Fr. Quoëx steered us through a magnificent ceremony with grace and calm. In 2005, I was master of ceremonies for a Requiem Mass celebrated on behalf of Pope John Paul II at the F.S.S.P.’s former Roman chapel, San Gregorio de’ Muratori; my two very small mistakes were immediately spotted and corrected by Fr. Quoëx. He always behaved with the most perfect courtesy to myself and the other servers, and his criticisms, if I can even call them such, were easy to bear, because they were not born from a lack of charity, or a desire to lord over others. They came, rather, from a profound liturgical piety, and love of the Church’s tradition, even in its smallest details, which permeated his whole life as a priest. His own Masses, whether sung or read, were a lesson to all who saw them in devotion to the sacred liturgy, and he rejoiced to see the growing interest in the Tridentine rite among priests and seminarians in Rome. The Fraternity of Saint Peter’s European seminary, at Wigratzbad in Bavaria, was blessed to have him for some years as a professor. His knowledge of the sacred rites was both practical and theoretical; among his scholarly achievements, his thesis on the virtue of religion in the writings of St. Thomas earned the praise of Cardinal Ratzinger, and he edited and published out of the Sorbonne critical editions of the liturgical codices of the use of Vercelli, in northern Italy.
In May of 2006, Abbé Quoëx was diagnosed with cancer, which took his life less than nine months later. In the final days of his illness, when he had become too weak to celebrate Mass, he would have friends sit at his bedside and read the Mass to him. He passed away at the age of thirty-nine, on January 2, the feast of the Holy Name of Jesus, and is buried in the cemetery of Lausanne, Switzerland, where he had been serving the faithful of the traditional Mass community. The joy of his eternal rest has most surely been increased beyond measure by the promulgation of the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, and the flourishing of the traditional Mass to which he dedicated his all-too-brief life in this world.
by Gregory DiPippio
Today is the third anniversary of the death of Fr. Franck Quoëx, a priest of the Diocese of Vaduz in Lichtenstein, and one of the foremost liturgists of our times. I had the great honor to serve alongside Fr. Quoëx at the traditional Masses in Rome for many years, and some of the most beautiful rites I have ever seen were put together and guided by his phenomenal expertise. He had and deserved a reputation throughout Europe as a highly talented Master of Ceremonies; many have remarked that if the Pope should ever decide to do the ancient Papal Mass again, Fr. Quoëx would have been one of the few people
who could have arranged it properly. I am always put in mind of him most especially during Holy Week; he had a great love of these most solemn rites of the Church, and the rehearsals he led were filled with interesting asides on the origin and symbolic meaning of the ceremonies. In the year 2000, he was the first master of ceremonies for a Rorate Mass celebrated by His Eminence Alphonse-Maria Cardinal Stickler, at the church of San Pietro in Montorio. Like most of the servers, I had never been involved in Pontifical Mass before, and we were all extremely nervous; Fr. Quoëx steered us through a magnificent ceremony with grace and calm. In 2005, I was master of ceremonies for a Requiem Mass celebrated on behalf of Pope John Paul II at the F.S.S.P.’s former Roman chapel, San Gregorio de’ Muratori; my two very small mistakes were immediately spotted and corrected by Fr. Quoëx. He always behaved with the most perfect courtesy to myself and the other servers, and his criticisms, if I can even call them such, were easy to bear, because they were not born from a lack of charity, or a desire to lord over others. They came, rather, from a profound liturgical piety, and love of the Church’s tradition, even in its smallest details, which permeated his whole life as a priest. His own Masses, whether sung or read, were a lesson to all who saw them in devotion to the sacred liturgy, and he rejoiced to see the growing interest in the Tridentine rite among priests and seminarians in Rome. The Fraternity of Saint Peter’s European seminary, at Wigratzbad in Bavaria, was blessed to have him for some years as a professor. His knowledge of the sacred rites was both practical and theoretical; among his scholarly achievements, his thesis on the virtue of religion in the writings of St. Thomas earned the praise of Cardinal Ratzinger, and he edited and published out of the Sorbonne critical editions of the liturgical codices of the use of Vercelli, in northern Italy.In May of 2006, Abbé Quoëx was diagnosed with cancer, which took his life less than nine months later. In the final days of his illness, when he had become too weak to celebrate Mass, he would have friends sit at his bedside and read the Mass to him. He passed away at the age of thirty-nine, on January 2, the feast of the Holy Name of Jesus, and is buried in the cemetery of Lausanne, Switzerland, where he had been serving the faithful of the traditional Mass community. The joy of his eternal rest has most surely been increased beyond measure by the promulgation of the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, and the flourishing of the traditional Mass to which he dedicated his all-too-brief life in this world.
From his essay The Mass, Our Treasure:
The legacy of the Lord, the Mass is the Sun of our lives and our treasure. We love it due to the fact that it is substantially and principally of the Lord's [own] institution. But we love it also as the Church, to which Jesus entrusted its celebration, has transmitted it to us down through the centuries by means of the various liturgical traditions. Because the prayers and rites developed through the centuries in order to explain and manifest before the eyes of the entire Church the unfathomable riches of the essential rite bequeathed by the Lord. ... We cannot in any way forswear a heritage slowly built by the faith of our fathers, their burning devotion, and the theological reflection around the sacrament of the Passion of the Lord. In contact with the Mass of Saint Pius V -- in which we also contemplate the purest masterpiece of Western Civilization, hierarchical as well as sacral -- our souls lift up and our hearts expand, while our minds taste the most authentic Eucharistic doctrine. This is why we wish to understand and love, at all times more, the Traditional Mass, our treasure, and we will not cease to defend and advance it.
Le Baptistere, March 2003; translation courtesy of Rorate Caeli.
Photo courtesy of Orbis Catholicus.
~~*~~
Here is the tribute from his best friend translated into English, courtesy of The New Liturgical Movement.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
