“if only to feel normal again, just for a short while”

Posted on 21 May 2025 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

YouTube thumbnailYouTube icon

Posted in SESSIUNCULA | 6 Comments

ROME 25/5– Day 41: It almost turned my tongue inside out

Posted on 21 May 2025 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I begin to tear up as I realize I am in my last days…

Sunrise: 5:42

Sunset: 20:32

A… yeah yeah… 20:25

I slept a lot today. I think I finally understand this to be a relief from a kind of PTSD. Moral Injury.

Anyone else feeling that?

Before supper I visited the church around the corner (literally!) with the remains of St Pipo.

Maybe someone with a kind and warm heart will tackle this lovely epitaph.  You want to cry all over.

Supper with a highly visible and read and watched Catholic commentator:

Zucchini flowers.

The bitterest amaro on the planet:

Actually, now I think of it.. there are worse.  It was great but it was not.  It wasn’t one of those where they leave the bottle on the table.  When they do that, … well we need  whole post about that.

 

Lastly,….. BUY NORCIA BEER!

The just put out a new edition of the PRE-55 MISSALE ROMANUM.

This is important.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA | 6 Comments

SSPX-USA Letter about Pope Leo XIV

Posted on 21 May 2025 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

The following is a letter on the election of Pope Leo XIV from Fr. John Fullerton, the District Superior of the Society of Saint Pius X in the United States.  HERE  My emphases and comments.

Dear faithful,

The election of Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost as the 267th Pope of the Catholic Church has been a momentous occasion. Taking the name Leo XIV, it seems that everyone from professional “Vaticanists” to the everyman in the pew is scrutinizing every word uttered from the Sovereign Pontiff’s lips and every gesture he makes in public. Moreover, the entire pontificate of his predecessor, Leo XIII, is being examined to see if it may provide some insight into what the future holds for Leo XIV’s reign and, indeed, the Catholic Church.  [Hey! Wait!  What if in accepting the election Prevost really said “Lío” not “Leo”?!?  After all, he does have a bit of an American accent in his Latin.   Think about it.  /ironic fun trolling/]

As an apostolate of the Catholic Church, the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) [I have argued in the past that they seem at least to have a status as an association of the faithful.] prays for Pope Leo XIV at every Mass and offers prayers daily for the success of his reign. The task he has been called to is formidable. The state of the world appears dire, and the Church remains beset by a crisis that has lasted for nearly six decades. Now this man, born and raised in our own country, is charged with the care of 1.4 billion souls across the globe. As such, it is imperative that all of us—the priests, religious, and lay faithful who attend the Society’s chapels—pour out our prayers for the Pope with all the fervor we can muster.

I know it is tempting to go on social media to see what the “experts” are saying about this Pontiff. Certainly, his past statements on some of the most polarizing issues in the Church are a matter of public record. However, I would encourage you not to be overly influenced by the “online world” and especially in these early days of his pontificate. In a spirit of charity, I would urge all of us to keep the Holy Father in your prayers and hold him in your hearts.

For our part, we pray that, with the help of God’s grace, we will continue the mission of our heavenly patron, St. Pius X, to “restore all things in Christ,” especially the Sacred Traditions of Holy Mother Church while continuing to form holy priests who will travel this great land of ours—the land of Pope Leo XIV—to provide the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and all sacraments to the faithful in accordance with the traditional Roman Rite.

May Pope Leo XIV faithfully fill the shoes of St. Peter and strengthen the faithful, spread the Gospel, and never waver in telling the world that what it needs above all else is Our Lord Jesus Christ, whose death and resurrection gives all men and women hope of eternal life.

Priests of the SSPX whom I have met – NB: In the USA! – have been outstanding.  As a matter of fact, in one of my darkest hours as a priest not so long ago, when priests of the diocese where I was treated me with silence and distance, two of the three locally involved priests who contacted me to see if I needed anything were from the local SSPX chapel.

Some time later, in speaking with one of their regional superiors, I learned how much at the heart of what they do as a “fraternity of priests” is aimed precisely at helping priests, SSPX, religious, diocesan, any who are jammed up.

There’s always more to the story, friends.

There’s more to Leo XIV, too.  We have to give him time for him to get his bearings.

Posted in Leo XIV | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Leo XIV: “a very ‘say the black, do the red’ kind of priest”

Posted on 21 May 2025 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

It’s great to see a phrase you have popularized for so long that people now use it rather commonly.

It’s even better when that phrase is used to describe our new Pope Leo XIV.

Also of note in that screen shot

  • he always wore a chasuble, regardless of the comfort
  • he knows that the Sacrament of Penance is liturgical

Frankly, he could also have said cassock with surplice and stole.

And…

Click

 

 

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Leo XIV, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000 | Tagged | 8 Comments

Posted on 21 May 2025 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

“Shut up, pray for the man, keep doing your thing and stay out of sight. Winter is not over. The wolves are not dead yet.” HERE

Posted in SESSIUNCULA | Comments Off on

ROME 25/5– Day 40: Pure joy

Posted on 20 May 2025 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

At 5:43 the sun rose upon Rome. It will set at 20:31.

Were the Ave Maria Bell to ring, it would do so for the Curia at 20:45.

Welcome registrant:

SPLisa

Today is the Feast of St Aurea of Ostia, martyr.

It is also the Feast of St. Bernardin of Siena (+1444), the most dynamic speaker of his era.  He was deeply devoted to the Most Holy Name.  Bernardin was a fierce preacher against the sin of sodomy.  For example:

“No sin in the world grips the soul as the accursed sodomy; this sin has always been detested by all those who live according to God.… Deviant passion is close to madness; this vice disturbs the intellect, destroys elevation and generosity of soul, brings the mind down from great thoughts to the lowliest, makes the person slothful, irascible, obstinate and obdurate, servile and soft and incapable of anything; furthermore, agitated by an insatiable craving for pleasure, the person follows not reason but frenzy.… They become blind and, when their thoughts should soar to high and great things, they are broken down and reduced to vile and useless and putrid things, which could never make them happy…. Just as people participate in the glory of God in different degrees, so also in hell some suffer more than others. He who lived with this vice of sodomy suffers more than another, for this is the greatest sin.”  (Prediche volgari s. 39)

A while back I mentioned the bar/cafe on the Campo de Fiori where I often meet people for a pre-prandial and the owner’s dog.  At a certain point fido goes into the piazza, turns and starts barking back the bar.  Then, out comes the pink flamingo toy which conveys this furry critter into paroxysms of joy.   Today, I was walking past the place just as the ecstasy had begun.

YouTube thumbnailYouTube icon

These are the tiny strawberries, fragoline, from Nemi south of Rome.  Here I’ve prepared them with lemon and sugar.  This is the best time of the season for fragoline.  The traditional pinnacle is the Feast of St. Phili Neri.

The classic ways of serving these little berries is with lemon or balsamic vinegar or white wine.

White to move and mate in 4. HERE

Yes, there is also a daily puzzle in addition to what is above.  The one above to too instructive not to share.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA | 9 Comments

20 May – St. Aurea, “Golden Girl” of Ostia, and a link to St. Augustine’s mother, Monnica

Posted on 20 May 2025 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Today is the feast of St. Aurea of Ostia, a martyr from the 2nd century about whom we know nothing for sure, except that she worked miracles, refused to sacrifice to the gods and was murdered in the 3rd c.

St. Aurea of Ostia figures in the ongoing story of St. Augustine of Hippo and his mother St. Monnica (a legit alternative spelling for Monica, a name from ancient Punic origin).

To find out why St. Aurea or “Golden Girl” figures in the history of this saintly N. African family, read this excerpt from an article I wrote for Inside the Vatican when St. Augustine’s relics were brought to Rome and, for a brief few days, reunited with his mother.

Most visitors to the Eternal City find it puzzling and wondrous that Monnica’s remains would be in Rome and even more so that Augustine’s should be in northern Italy, or that we have them at all.

How did this come to pass?

Monnica died at age 56 of a malarial fever at Ostia, Rome’s port city, not far from where modern Rome’s port, DaVinci airport, is situated.  After Augustine’s baptism in 386 by Milan’s bishop St. Ambrose (+ AD 397), Monnica and Augustine together with his brother Navigius, Adeodatus the future bishop’s son by his concubine of many years whom Monnica had forced Augustine to put aside, and friends Nebridius, Alypius and the former Imperial secret service agent (agens in rebus) Evodius were all waiting at Ostia to return home to Africa by ship.  They were stuck there for some time because the port was blockaded during a period of civil strife.

As she lay dying near Rome, Monnica told Augustine (conf. 9): “Lay this body anywhere, let not the care for it trouble you at all. This only I ask, that you will remember me at the Lord’s altar, wherever you be.”  She was buried there in Ostia.

In the 6th century she was moved to a little church named for St. Aurea, an early martyr of the city, and there she remained until 1430 when her remains were translated by Pope Martin V to the Roman Basilica of St. Augustine built in 1420 by the famous Guillaume Card. D’Estouteville of Rouen, then Camerlengo under Pope Sixtus IV.

As fate or God’s directing have would have it, in December 1945, some children were digging a hole in the courtyard of the little church of St. Aurea next to the ruins of ancient Ostia.  They wanted to put up a basketball hoop, probably having been taught the exciting new game – so different from soccer – by American GIs.  While digging they discovered the broken marble epitaph which had marked Monnica’s ancient grave.

Scholars were able to authenticate the inscription, the text of which had been preserved in a medieval manuscript.

The epitaph had been composed during Augustine’s lifetime by no less then a former Consul of AD 408 and resident at Ostia, Anicius Auchenius Bassus, perhaps Augustine’s host during their sojourn.  It is possible that Anicius Bassus placed the epitaph there after 410 which saw the ravages of Alaric the Visigoth and the sacking of Rome and its environs.

One can almost feel behind these traces of ancient evidence Augustine’s plea to his old friend sent by letter from the port of Hippo Regius over the waves to Ostia.  Hearing of the devastation to the area, far more shocking to the ancients than the events of 11 September were for us, did Augustine, now a renowned bishop, ask his old friend to tend the grave of the mother whom he had so loved and who in her time had wept for her son’s sins and rejoiced in his conversion?

The inscription reads:

HIC POSVIT CINERES GENETRIX CASTISSIMA PROLIS
AVGVSTINE TVI(s) ALTERA LUX MERITI(s)
QVI SERVANS PACIS CAELESTIA IVRA SACERDOS
COMMISSOS POPVLOS MORIBVS INSTITVIS
GLORIA VOS MAIOR GESTORVM LAVDE CORONAT
VIRTVTVM MATER FELICIOR SVBOLE

Here the most virtuous mother of a young man set her ashes
as a second light to your merits, Augustine.
As a priest, serving the heavenly laws of peace, you teach
the people entrusted to you by your character.
A glory greater than the praise of your accomplishments crowns you
mother of virtues, more fortunate yet because of her offspring.

 

 

Posted in Saints: Stories & Symbols | Tagged , | Comments Off on 20 May – St. Aurea, “Golden Girl” of Ostia, and a link to St. Augustine’s mother, Monnica

ROME 25/5– Day 39: meat

Posted on 19 May 2025 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I remain tired.  Or, psychologically relieved.  PTSD/Moral Injury for years.

On this day we celebrate the one whom Dante put in Hell for having made “the great refusal”.  Just goes to show that quitting the papacy is not recommended.  We did have a lovely day for it, which began with sunrise at 5:44 and ended at 20:30.

I didn’t hear an Ave Maria ring at 20:45.

It was also the feast of Crispin of Viterbo and Ivo.

Please remember me when shopping online and use my affiliate links.  US HERE – UK HERE  WHY?  This helps to pay for health insurance (massively hiked for this new year of surprises), utilities, groceries, etc..  At no extra cost, you provide help for which I am grateful.

Tonight I stayed in and make a monstrous ribeye.

Before, I met friends for drinks, including a retired Marine officer, OORAH.

Which drink is mine?

 

The reason I would not eat out tonight.  Before shot with my treatment of white pepper and oregano.

Why do potatoes taste better here?  They aren’t even from here!

I’ll eat this for about 3 days.  Done in clarified butter.

Today I swept my kitchen and did laundry which I put out to dry in my itty bitty patio courtyard corner (the laundry not the kitchen).  I slept more and said my prayers and celebrated Mass and had many contacts with people who (at the end of my time here) are getting around to wanting to get together.

BTW… dessert was a couple of squares of 85% cacao chocolate and some bourbon.

 

Posted in SESSIUNCULA | 11 Comments

Circi mei omnes omnesque simiae.

Posted on 18 May 2025 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

A new line?

Circi mei omnes omnesque simiae.

Fr. Z swag HERE.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA | 10 Comments

ROME 25/5– Day 38: light and emotion

Posted on 18 May 2025 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

On this Sunday when we saw the Inaugural Mass of the Pontificate of Leo XIV, the sun rose over Rome at 5:45.

After we celebrate Vespers tonight, our Roman evening will grow golden to the setting of the sun at 20:29.

The Ave Maria Bell is slated for 20:45.

It is the Feast of the martyr Pope John I (+256)

Here is the puzzle, right away.  It isn’t forced, but there is a race.

White to move. Can you see it? Explain!

This is from chess.com (and I am an affiliate).  There is at least one person who works for chess.com who reads here.   I wonder what the recent stats are like for them….

Lately, I’ve been to a couple of usual places for usual fare and so I have usual shots of usual things.

Last night Pasta alla Norma (mine this time).

Today at lunch one person had angolotti alla norcina.

I skipped pasta and went to the pheasant.  Wow.

These guys have game.

About 3 hours before sundown, on my way to Vespers.  The light is magnificent.

Can’t catch in photos.

I was celebrant for Vespers and Benediction.  We sang the prayers “Oremus pro pontifice Papa nostro Leone…”.  I was terribly moved by it.  Alas, I have no pics of Vespers.

Please remember me when shopping online and use my affiliate links.  US HERE – UK HERE  WHY?  This helps to pay for health insurance (massively hiked for this new year of surprises), utilities, groceries, etc..  At no extra cost, you provide help for which I am grateful.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA | 1 Comment