2010 Stats

This blog's most viewed post of 2010 was a note about an OC Register article on St. Michael's, with a whopping 105 pageviews. That's interesting. But the most viewed posts during this year were actually posted over a year ago in 2009: a re-post of an NLM article on the Pontifical Midnight Mass in the Premonstratensian Rite; and, on the date of its (latest) theatrical release, a famous Star Trek quote put into Latin.  The plot thickens. 

Five reforms ideas for the Vatican Press Office

Joshua Mercer of Catholic Vote has five reforms ideas for the Vatican Press Office.
The first two are the most essential & urgent, but read the whole article.

    1. The Vatican Press Office has to become a 24/7 operation.

    2. Assume the press is either hostile or ignorant (or both!) of Catholicism.

Christmas Midnight Mass

A confrere and I sat in choir with the Franciscans of the Immaculate for the midnight Mass at Sta. Maria Maggiore.  Not nearly so crowded and hectic as St. Peter's, the basilica was full, but with enough seats for all.  It was a beautiful liturgy.  During the Gloria the principal celebrant venerated the relic of the crib with incense.  The local secular canons concelebrated.  Most of the Mass was sung in Latin, including the Gospel & Responsorial Psalm.  The first readings, homily and intercessions were in Italian.

When was the Nativity?

One of our cherished customs as Canons Regular is singing the proclamation of our Savior's nativity on the morning of December 24th.  This morning here at the Collegium in Urbe was no exception. 

Anno a creatione mundi, quando in principio Deus creavit coelum et terram, quinquies millesimo centesimo nonagesimonono:
A diluvio vero anno bis millesimo nongentesimo quinquagesimoseptimo:
A nativitate Abrahae anno bis millesimo quintodecimo:
A Moyse et egressu populi Israel de Aegypto, anno millesimo quingentesimodecimo:
Ab unctione David in regem anno millesimo trigesimosecundo:
Hebdomoda sexagesimaquinta juxta Danielis prophetiam:
Olympiade centesima nongentesimaquarta:
Ab urbe Roma condita anno septingentesimo quinquagesimosecundo:
Anno imperii Octaviani Augusti quadragesimosecundo, toto Orbe in pace composito, sexta mundi aetate, Iesus Christus aeternus Deus, aeternique Patris Filius, mundum volens adventu suo piisimo consecrare, de Spiritu Sancto conceptus, novemque post conceptionem decursis mensibus, in Bethlehem Iudae nascitur ex Maria Virgine factus homo:
NATIVITAS DOMINI NOSTRI IESU CHRISTI SECUNDUM CARNEM.

Tu Scendi Dalle Stelle

This is one of the best & most popular of Italian Christmas Carols.  Tu Scendi Dalle Stelle (You came down from the stars), by St. Alfonso di Liguori.

What Christmas Is All About

Rosarium Latine: The Rosary in Latin

Living as we do in a clerical house of study in Rome, it should come as no surprise that our daily community rosary is prayed in Latin. For any who wish to join us, the form we use is below. The list of intentions is particular to our own college, but might serve as a template for anyone with moderate knowledge of Latin to write their own.

Rosarium Beatae Mariae Virginis

V. Deus in adiutorium meum intende,
R. Domine ad adiuvandum me festina.

Credo in Deum Patrem omnipotentem, Creatorem caeli et terrae. Et in Iesum Christum, Filium eius unicum, Dominum nostrum, qui conceptus est de Spiritu Sancto, natus ex Maria Virgine, passus sub Pontio Pilato, crucifixus, mortuus, et sepultus, descendit ad inferos, tertia die resurrexit a mortuis, ascendit ad caelos, sedet ad dexteram Dei Patris omnipotentis, inde venturus est iudicare vivos et mortuos.
*Credo in Spiritum Sanctum, sanctam Ecclesiam catholicam, sanctorum communionem, remissionem peccatorum, carnis resurrectionem, vitam aeternam. Amen.

Pro Summi Pontificis intentionibus.

Pater Noster, qui es in caelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum. Adveniat regnum tuum. Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra.
*Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie, et dimitte nobis debita nostra sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. Et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos a malo. Amen.

Ut virtutes fidei, spei, caritatisque in animis nostris accrescant.

Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus.
*Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.

Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spirítui Sancto.
*Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

Deus, tibi offerimus hoc rosarium pro Summo Pontifice atque intentionibus eius, pro omnibus ordinis nostrae canonicis monialibusque, pro huius collegii habitantibus, pro vocationibus ardentibus, [pro N.(abl.) in eius festo/natale], pro humanae vitae praesidio, pro mundi conversione, et pro requie aeterna [N.(gen.) et] omnium in Purgatorio animarum.

O mi Iesu, dimitte nobis debita nostra, libera nos ab igne inferni, conduc in caelum omnes animas, praesertim illas quae maxime indigent misericordia tua.

Quinque Mysteria (Gaudiosa, Luminosa, Dolorosa, Gloriosa):
(Primum, Secundum, Tertium, Quartum, Quintum) Mysterium

Gaudiosum:
* Annuntiatio Gabrielis Archangeli ad Beatam Mariam Virginem
* Visitatio Beatae Mariae Virginis ad Elisabeth
* Nativitas Domini Nostri Iesu Christi
* Presentatio Iesu Infantis in templo
* Inventio Iesu in templo

Luminosum:
* Baptisma in flumine Iordano
* Revelatio sui ipsius ad nuptias Cananenses
* Proclamatio Regni Dei simul cum invitatio ad conversionem
* Transfiguratio
* Institutio Eucharistiae

Dolorosum:
* Agonia Iesu in horto Gethsemani
* Flagellatio Domini Nostri Iesu Christi
* Coronatio Iesu spinis
* Portatio crucis suae a Iesu
* Crucifixio Domini Nostri Iesu Christi

Gloriosum:
* Resurrectio Domini Nostri Iesu Christi
* Ascensio Iesu in Coelum
* Descensio Sancti Spiritus super Mariam et Apostolos
* Assumptio Beatae Mariae Virginis in coelum
* Coronatio Beatae Mariae Virginis in reginam coeli

Salve, Regina, mater misericordiae, vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve. Ad te clamamus exsules filii Evae. Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes in hac lacrimarum valle. Eia, ergo, advocata nostra, illos tuos misericordes oculos ad nos converte. Et Iesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui, nobis post hoc exsilium ostende. O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria.

V. Ora pro nobis, sancta Dei Genetrix.
R. Ut digni efficiamur promissionibus Christi.

Oremus. Deus, cuius Unigenitus per vitam, mortem et resurrectionem suam nobis salutis aeternae praemia comparavit, concede, quaesumus: ut haec mysteria sacratissimo beatae Mariae Virginis rosario recolentes, et imitemur quod continent, et quod promittunt assequamur. Per eundem Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

Sancte Ioseph, Dei Genetricis Sponse,
*Ora pro nobis.

O!

Today the Advent season moves into its final stage with the Great O Antiphons.  Brief explanations of these can be found at NLM & PT.

 These antiphons (O Sapientia; O Adonai; O Radix Jesse; O Clavis David; O Oriens; O Rex Gentium; O Emmanuel) begin for most of the Latin Church tonight, the 17th of December, but it should be noted that the Praemonstratensians and a few others began with O Sapientia last night, so as to add O Virgo virginum on the evening of the 23rd:

O Virgo virginum, quomodo fiet istud? Quia nec primam similem visa es nec habere sequentem. Filiae Ierusalem, quid me admiramini? Divinum est mysterium hoc quod cernitis. 

"O Virgin of virgins, how will this be? For you seem to have an equal neither before nor following."  "Daughters of Jerusalem, what do you wonder at in me? The mystery you see is divine." 

The excitement is building.  Christmas is beginning.  Beginning?  Shouldn't I say, "just around the corner"?  

The popular culture here in the U.S. and many other countries begins celebrating the Christmas season the day after Thanksgiving, building up until the season's climax on the 25^th of December.  Advertisements, sales and radio music may begin even earlier, but it seems that for most Americans the season doesn't  really begin until the last weekend of November, or even the beginning of December.  The season ends for most on Christmas Day itself, though there are not a few who remember to continue the festivity until New Year's Day. 

Those of us who are active in a certain traditional Christian culture, however, are used to hearing this anticipation of Christmas decried as an abuse.  Cite the change of liturgical seasons:  The time before Christmas begins on the 25^th is called Advent, which lasts three or four weeks and serves as a preparation (preferably a penitential one) for the joy of Christmas.  The season of Christmas continues, depending on whom you ask, until New Year's Day, or Epiphany, or the Lord's Baptism, or the Purification. 

Therefore, it is said, lights and ribbons ought not to be put up, parties ought not to be celebrated, and above all, Christmas music must not be played or sung until the evening of the 24^th of December.  Advent is to be a penitential season of prayer, fasting and alms-giving, just like Lent.  The vestments are purple, after all (although last Sunday they were rose colored in honor of the Madonna of Guadalupe, but that's another story).  If you must sing seasonal music, please limit yourself to O come, o come, Emmanuel (which at least is based on the O Antiphons). 

I propose that this attitude toward Advent is an overreaction against the secular culture.  The true nature of Advent is in fact a joyful increase of celebration, with a grand crescendo in the last week or so before Christmas Day. 

The O Antiphons?  We who pray the Divine Office, or breviary, are familiar with these special Magnificat antiphons which are sung each evening from December 17^th (or 16^th in my order) until the 23^rd.  Each elaborates on a prophetic title of Our Savior, and is sung with increasing excitement and solemnity to the ringing of the bell and clacking of the thurible.  Beyond these antiphons, the liturgy as a whole is marked by increasing joy during these last days before Christmas.  Contrast this with the liturgical character of the days leading up to Easter, and the theory that Advent is supposed to be like Lent falls apart.  The character of the Divine Office on Good Friday and Holy Saturday is very low, recto-tone, stark.  We are expected in the Triduum to accompany Christ in death, to reach rock-bottom so as to  make the miracle of the Resurrection all the more dramatic.  (On this note, cf. Tolkien's notion of eucatastrophe in his essay On Fairy Stories.) 

In Advent, on the other hand, we are to accompany the Hebrew people on their journey through history, as they wait for the promised Messiah.  What, then, should this imply about the character of the season?  Does prophecy mean first of all that we must wait until later to celebrate?  No.  The reception of prophecy is and was itself an occasion for joy.  Consider the experience of those to whom it was first addressed:  You will be saved from your sins by God.  Rejoice, therefore!  The history of God's people begins out of the darkness in which our world and species were left after the fall.  Then comes Abraham and the promise of the covenant; then Moses and the Law; David and Solomon and the Temple, and so on with increasing clarity in revelation, until the Hebrews are finally able to observe the covenant upon the return from exile, epitomized later in the Maccabees' faithfulness.  This increasing faithfulness is related to the increasing joy in the covenant.  Notice also that the prophecies were often delivered in the present tense (unto us a Child is born).  These were not merely notices that in some distant day God would save their descendants; rather, the prophecies were messages of salvation for them.  You will be saved from your sins by God.  Rejoice, therefore! 

Consider also the natural symbolism of the season.  Parents expecting a child do not insist on putting off all celebrations until the birth has occurred, but rather their joy builds until the climactic moment of the child's  entrance into the visible world.  

Therefore, do not feel ashamed to begin caroling and having your Christmas parties this week.  Advent is not a time to pretend that Christ has not yet come into the world.  Advent is itself the Christian Life, which is the joyful pursuit of heaven.  Advent is this: to keep Christmas in your heart all year long.  



[Update: Vatican Christmas Tree To Be Lit In A Ceremony Today]
[Update 19 Dec: An Advent Memory at Solesmes]

Mage Newman

Today in the Collegium Norbertinum our monthly day of reflection was given by Fr. M.P. Gallagher, S.J., who compared Bl. J. H. Newman to the magi from St. Matthew's Gospel.  In this light, consider the hymn:

Journey of the Magi (1902) by James Tissot

The Pillar of the Cloud

LEAD, Kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom

Lead Thou me on!

The night is dark, and I am far from home—

Lead Thou me on!

Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see

The distant scene—one step enough for me.

I was not ever thus, nor pray'd that Thou

Shouldst lead me on.

I loved to choose and see my path, but now

Lead Thou me on!

I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,

Pride ruled my will: remember not past years.

So long Thy power hath blest me, sure it still

Will lead me on,

O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till

The night is gone;

And with the morn those angel faces smile

Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile.

At Sea. June 16, 1833.

Appendix: 
"While tra­vel­ing in Ita­ly as a young priest, John New­man fell ill and stayed at Castle Gi­o­van­ni al­most three weeks. Fi­nal­ly, he was well enough con­tin­ue his jour­ney to Pa­ler­mo:  "Before start­ing from my inn, I sat down on my bed and began to sob bit­ter­ly. My ser­vant, who had act­ed as my nurse, asked what ailed me. I could only an­swer, “I have a work to do in En­gland.” I was ach­ing to get home, yet for want of a ves­sel I was kept at Pa­ler­mo for three weeks. I began to vis­it the church­es, and they calmed my im­pa­tience, though I did not at­tend any ser­vices. At last I got off in an orange boat, bound for Mar­seilles. We were be­calmed for whole week in the Straits of Bon­i­fa­cio, and it was there that I wrote the lines, “Lead, Kind­ly Light,” which have since be­come so well known.""

2500th anniversary of the Battle of Marathon

At 2:57 p.m. Wednesday, Congress passed the following:

H. Res. 1704

In the House of Representatives, U. S.,
December 8, 2010.

Whereas in 490 BC, Athenian warriors defeated foreign invaders and won against overwhelming odds in one of the most significant battles in human history;
Whereas the Athenian victory helped continue the development of a new form of government called `democracy';
Whereas according to legend, a messenger named Phidippides ran from the battlefield of Marathon, Greece, to Athens 26 miles away to carry news of the victory and it is said, that upon delivering the news to the citizens of Athens, Phidippides died from exhaustion;
Whereas Phidippides' run inspired the spiritual origin of what has become the sport of marathoning;
Whereas the first official marathon race was introduced in the first modern Olympics in 1896 held in Athens, Greece;
Whereas officials from the Boston Athletic Association brought the long distance Olympic running event to Boston, Massachusetts, where it has been run annually since 1897;
Whereas a ceremony took place in Marathon, Greece, in 2007 at the Tomb of the Athenians, the burial cite of the Greek warriors who gave their lives defending their country;
Whereas this ceremony created the symbolic Flame of Marathon that embodies the strength of the human spirit, fair competition, and peace;
Whereas Hopkinton, Massachusetts, and Marathon, Greece, have a twin-city relationship, the Flame of Marathon traveled from Marathon, Greece, and was presented to the Town of Hopkinton in 2008;
Whereas the Flame of Marathon has burned continuously in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, since its arrival in the United States;
Whereas the Flame of Marathon reminds us of the sacrifice of the United States Armed Forces and their families, the defenders of democracy;
Whereas the 35th Marine Corps Marathon received the Flame of Marathon as part of its celebration of the 2500th anniversary of the Battle of Marathon; and
Whereas the Flame of Marathon was displayed at events leading to and including the Marine Corps Marathon in view of 30,000 runners who embodied the marathon spirit as they ran through Washington, DC:
Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives joins with the Greek Embassy in Washington, DC, the people of Hopkinton, Massachusetts, the people of Marathon, Greece, and the hundreds of thousands of runners participating in marathons throughout the United States, in celebrating the 2500th anniversary of the Battle of Marathon, Greece, one of the most significant battles in human history.

The formatting is mine.  Thanks to Brad Birzer for drawing this to our attention.

Mary in the Bible

One of the better apologetic videos I've seen.

One of the good Catholic colleges.  Notice our confrere, Fr. William.

What's new?

A few simple changes to this blog, reflecting the fact that I'm now a student again rather than a teacher (of course one cannot be one without being the other, but, yeah).  I plan to resume posting various items of interest (to me and possibly to you) on occasion.  So, basically (as they say) the title is now more casual.  See you around.