Regula Pastoralis

Hodie Summus Pontifex Regulam Pastoralem eminentissimi praedecessoris sui Gregorii laudavit. Dictae Regulae, necnon aliorum Sancti operum, textum latinum legere potes hic: http://iteadjmj.com/PATROP/patrop.htm

Sicne Augustinus locutus?

Roma locuta, causa finita est: "Rome has spoken, the case is ended." This famous dictum is attributed to St Augustine, but in fact only the latter half of it is from him. What he actually says, in Sermon 131, is the following:

Iam enim de hac causa duo concilia missa sunt ad Sedem Apostolicam; inde etiam rescripta venerunt. Causa finita est; utinam finiatur error! "Two delegations have already been sent about this case to the Apostolic See; and rescripts have come back from there. The case is ended; would that the error were ended!"

Of course, what Augustine says about the rescripts coming from the Holy See is tantamount to "Roma locuta", but those words he does not use. However, the final words quoted above deserve wider circulation. So perhaps we should spread abroad the following, utterly genuine Augustinian quote:

Causa finita est: utinam finiatur error!

May all the good decrees from Rome on the litugy, etc., actually be put into practice.

Sermon 131 continues, and concludes, with the following beautiful wish:

Ergo ut advertant monemus, ut instruantur docemus, ut mutentur oremus. Conversi ad Dominum... "Therefore we admonish that they may pay heed, we teach that they may be instructed, we pray that they may be changed. Turned towards the Lord..."

More Solitude

Solitude

Laugh, and the world laughs with you;
Weep, and you weep alone.
For the sad old earth must borrow it's mirth,
But has trouble enough of its own.
Sing, and the hills will answer;
Sigh, it is lost on the air.
The echoes bound to a joyful sound,
But shrink from voicing care.

Rejoice, and men will seek you;
Grieve, and they turn and go.
They want full measure of all your pleasure,
But they do not need your woe.
Be glad, and your friends are many;
Be sad, and you lose them all.
There are none to decline your nectared wine,
But alone you must drink life's gall.

Feast, and your halls are crowded;
Fast, and the world goes by.
Succeed and give, and it helps you live,
But no man can help you die.
There is room in the halls of pleasure
For a long and lordly train,
But one by one we must all file on
Through the narrow aisles of pain.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Pope on Solitude

I.
How happy he, who free from care
The rage of courts, and noise of towns;
Contented breathes his native air,
In his own grounds.

II.
Whose herds with milk, whose fields with bread,
Whose flocks supply him with attire,
Whose trees in summer yield him shade,
In winter fire.

III.
Blest! who can unconcern'dly find
Hours, days, and years slide swift away,
In health of body, peace of mind,
Quiet by day,

IV.
Sound sleep by night; study and ease
Together mix'd; sweet recreation,
And innocence, which most does please,
With meditation.

V.
Thus let me live, unheard, unknown;
Thus unlamented let me die;
Steal from the world, and not a stone
Tell where I lie.

Authenticity

2 May 2006

The Most Reverend William Skylstad
Bishop of Spokane
President, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Prot. n. 499/06/L

Your Excellency,

With reference to the conversation between yourself, the Vice President and General Secretary of the Conference of Bishops of which you are President, together with me and other Superiors and Officials when you kindly visited our Congregation on 27 April 2006, I wish to recall the following:

The Instruction Liturgiam authenticam is the latest document of the Holy See which guides translations from the original-language liturgical texts into the various modern languages in the Latin Church. Both this Congregation and the Bishops’ Conferences are bound to follow its directives. This Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments is therefore not competent to grant the recognitio for translations that do not conform to the directives of Liturgiam authenticam. If, however, there are difficulties regarding the translation of a particular part of a text, then this Congregation is always open to dialogue in view of some mutually agreeable solution, still keeping in mind, however, that Liturgiam authenticam remains the guiding norm.

The attention of your Bishops’ Conference was also recalled to the fact that Liturgiam authenticam was issued at the directive of the Holy Father at the time, Pope John Paul II, to guide new translations as well as the revision of all translations done in the last forty years, to bring them into greater fidelity to the original-language official liturgical texts. For this reason it is not acceptable to maintain that people have become accustomed to a certain translation for the past thirty or forty years, and therefore that it is pastorally advisable to make no changes. Where there are good and strong reasons for a change, as has been determined by this Dicastery in regard to the entire translation of the Missale Romanum as well as other important texts, then the revised text should make the needed changes. The attitudes of Bishops and Priests will certainly influence the acceptance of the texts by the lay faithful as well.

Requesting Your Excellency to share these reflections with the Bishops of your Conference I assure you of the continued collaboration of this Congregation and express my religious esteem,

Devotedly yours in Christ,

+Francis Card. Arinze

Prefect, Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments

Sepe seppellito

Today the Holy Father has cleared out another murky stable, that of Propaganda Fide. In a move every bit as dramatic as the banishment of Archbishop (only) Fitzgerald to Cairo, the sinister Sepe has been sent down (not only geographically) to Naples. Sepe has been buried.
Those who wish to know the background for this move will find it by clicking the title of this post.

Diseased Legion

It seems certain that accusations against the founder of the Legion of Christ have been substantiated.

Truly traditional Catholics have never really liked the Legion. We smelled a rat. Much of the outward show of a traditional religious order was present, but there was something not quite right about it all. There was the wooden nature of their characters, the obvious brainwashing, the annoying, deliberately naif attitude to the internal problems of the Church today. Modernist lacunas gaped in the midst of orthodox teaching; stiff and formal liturgies embraced novelties, albeit it stiffly and formally.

In my limited contact with them, I noticed a distinct lack of fervor towards Pope Benedict, and on ongoing, enthusiastic veneration for his predecessor.

Thank God for the shrewdness of our Pope.

Whither the Legion now? One would hope that an enlightened superior would lead them along a more solidly traditional path. But how is an enlightened leader to emerge from such brainwashed ranks? Still, it is an intention worth praying for. We cannot ignore that much good has been done by the Legion, and it would be a pity to see that wasted. Tantus labor non sit cassus.

Taking the biscuit

I love the way the Fraternity of St Peter can do the most over the top things and yet not seem camp about it!