Durandus on Prayer for the Dead (Part 2)

The following is taken from the entry on All Souls’ Day in William Durandus’ Rationale Divinorum Officiorum (7.35), the Summa Theologiae of medieval liturgical commentaries. This is one of the longest sections of the seventh book, which covers the Sanctoral cycle, and will be presented in several parts in this month especially dedicated to prayer for the dead. Click here to read part 1.

On a (major) feast day, an anniversary Requiem ought not to be celebrated, nor should a Mass for the dead be said unless the body is present. But in every season the Mass for the dead can be celebrated if the cadaver is present, except on Good Friday, since on that day the body ought not to be buried, but rather reserved for the next day. And then on Saturday the Mass can be sung for it, and the body buried. Likewise, if anyone should die on Easter, let his body be laid aside for the next day, and then be buried with the celebration of the Mass, for a body ought not to be buried without a Mass, although the contrary is done in very many places.

And although according to the Council of Chalon, prayer and sacrifice should be offered for the dead daily, on the aforementioned days (the third, seventh and thirtieth after burial, and on the anniversary), this is done especially by the friends (of the deceased). Indeed, some people generally pray for the dead at the evening and morning Office in all seasons, excepting only feast days; others celebrate Mass for them daily, others at the beginning of each month sing nine psalms, nine readings and nine responsories (i.e. the Office of the dead with three nocturns at Matins), and indeed, it is a holy thought and profitable to salvation to pray for the dead, that they may be released from sin. (2 Macc. 12, 46; from the Epistle for the anniversary Requiem.)

In some places the Office of the dead is not said in church from Holy Thursday until the octave of Pentecost, since they say that all the offices of that time ought to be brief, and also not on Sundays. And the story is told that a certain abbot prohibited his monks from celebrating for the dead on Sundays, but because of this, the dead themselves afflicted him with harsh beatings, and therefore he revoked this prohibition.

Note also that the prayers which are offered in the churches for the dead who are very good are acts of thanksgiving; for those souls which are perfectly good, as soon as they go out of their bodies, fly to the heavens and have no need of our assistance. For the moderately good, expiations are made, or mitigations of their pains, since they enter purgatory, because while they were alive, they did not complete the penance enjoined upon them, by means of which the alms, prayers, fasts and sacrifices which are done for them benefit them. … as for the very evil, prayers are rather consolations of the living, for the help we proffer does them no good, since their souls immediately go down to hell.

Also note this, that according to Jerome, when a psalm or Mass is said for all souls, it is received no less than if it were said for each one of them … but if they are said for a specific intention, they benefit those for whom they are especially made, rather than others. If they are done in general or in common, they benefit rather those who had greater merit in this life… For according to Augustine *, although they do not benefit all those for whom they are done, nevertheless, because we do not know whom they benefit and whom they do not, they ought to be done for all, so that no one may be left out. For it is better that they be superfluous to those they neither harm nor benefit, and that they should be lacking to those whom they benefit, and therefore the anniversary day is celebrated, as is said above.

* De cura pro mortuis gerenda, chapter 18, a passage added to the Office of the Dead for All Souls by the breviary reform of St Pius X.

The Four Latin Doctors of the Church, 1632, by the Dutch painter Abraham Bloemaert (1564-1651). Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.

But can the prayers of him who because of mortal sin is not in charity benefit one who died in charity? I answer that sacramental works such as the Mass, the Office of the dead, the collection of alms, and the like, done by such a one, are very powerful, and do benefit the dead, both because they have their efficacy from God, and not from the one who does them, and because he does them not in his own name, but as the representative of all, which it to say, he acts in the name of the whole church…

For if we condemn the prayers of men whose conscience reproves them for sin, the dead will be helped by the prayers of few. Therefore, it seems we ought to say that the prayers of the man who is still in faith, even though he is not in charity, do not benefit the one who dies in charity from the merit of the life of the one who makes them. Nevertheless, because these prayers are made according to the teaching of the Church, through one who is in faith, and for one who has merited to receive such benefits, where the charity of the doer fails, the merit of faith supplies, as does the charity of the Church that commands him to make the prayer, and the capacity of the dead man who receives them, and also the generosity of the merciful God, who according to Ambrose does not revoke His benefits, but rather makes even greater His overflowing generosity, and in that generosity, considers a good work done by someone as if it were done by the one whom it benefits.

For even according to the laws (of man), if someone pays the debt of another, the debtor himself is set free … and according to Augustine, even though nothing is begotten from a stone trough, nevertheless, the water that passes through it makes the earth fertile. And Jerome says, “If perchance you see someone do things that are just, even in the midst of many sinful works, nevertheless God is not unjust, such that He should forget the few good things for the sake of the many evil ones.”

Dante and Vergil converse with the envious on the second ledge of Purgatory. Illustration by Priamo della Quercia, in a manuscript of the Divine Comedy produced in Siena in the mid-15th century, now known as the Yates Thompson Dante. Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.

The dead know of the prayers which are done for them in three ways according to Augustine: first, by divine revelation, when God reveals this to them; second, through the representation of good angels, for the angels who are always present here with us … can go down to them and announce them to them immediately; third, through what they learn from those souls that depart from the earth (i.e. the newly arrived in Purgatory); fourth, by experience, namely, when they feel that they are released from their pains.

It should be known that the dead who are very bad do not know what is done by the living, except insofar as it is permitted to them to know it. Likewise, neither do the moderately good know, those who are still in the fire of purgatory, and do not yet enjoy the vision of God, except insofar as it is permitted to them to know by one of the ways mentioned above. But the very good, who now enjoy the vision of God, know very well what is going on here on earth, according to what Gregory say, “What is there that they do not know, those who see the One who sees all things?” Nevertheless, others say that they know all the things which are necessary to them, but not other things…

As to whether the dead have any care for the living, Augustine treats of this extensively in his book On the care to be taken for the dead. Furthermore, as Augustine says, “Many believe that some of the dead appear to the living, either in dreams or in some other way”, and we find in Gregory’s Dialogues that they have often given indication where their bodies lay unburied, or urged that burial be arranged for them, and countless other things of this sort, and those things are true, and so it is found in a great many other authentic writings.

Nevertheless, as the same Augustine says in the aforementioned book, although the dead seem to indicate or ask such things in dreams, we ought not therefore to think that they know of these things. For the living also very often appear in dreams to those who are asleep, but do not know that they appear to them, … for which reason, we ought rather to believe that these are the workings of angels, done through God’s Providence for some form of consolation of the living. ….

The Feast of All Saints 2026: The Apostles

From the Breviary according to the use of the Roman Curia, 1529, the continuation of the sermon for the third day in the Octave of All Saints.

Thus far, we have mentioned the most holy fathers of the Old Testament, like the stars of night, who awaited the sun of justice, Christ the Savior. And at His coming, the darkness of ignorance and of prophecy unfulfilled was driven away, the night of sin began to shine with the light of truth, and in the knowledge of it, the errors of earlier times became like noon itself. But let us look upon the rays of this true sun, brethren, and consider what sort of guardians our fathers had when the time of the synagogue was coming to its end, and the Church was beginning: fishermen and princes, that is, the most holy Apostles and Evangelists, and other disciples of Christ. By their zeal and skill, the net of preaching drew a great multitude of the nations into the ship of the Church; and by their saving teaching, in wondrous manner the Church militant shines forth, and in her triumph, rejoices in their glorious merits.

The Calling of the Apostles, one of the panels from the reverse of the large altarpiece of the Cathedral of Siena known as the Maestà, by Duccio di Buoninsegna, 1308-11; now in the Cathedral Museum (Museo dell’ Opera Metropolitana del Duomo)

A New Edition of an Early Dominican Breviary

We are happy to share this news from Mr Alan Liang about a new edition of the breviary of Humbert of Romans, the form of the Dominican Divine Office as standardized in 1256. This comes from a manuscript now preserved at the church of Santa Sabina in Rome, where the generalate of the Order is located; this manuscript enshrines the prototype of the entire Dominican Use as it would be celebrated regularly until 1969. This edition does not contain any feasts added to the Order’s calendar since then (the number of which is very great indeed), nor the psalter as reformed by Pope St Pius X. Mr Liang has also produced an ordo, so the book can actually be used to pray the Office. 

For more information, and to order the books, see this post on his substack:

https://alanl399.substack.com/p/announcing-breviarium-predicatorum

and this one on a dedicated website:
https://breviariumpredicatorum.pages.dev/ 

There are many more sample pages, and images of the original codex, beneath the break.
 

Some sample pages of the book, which keeps the orthography and the use of colored letters found in the original manuscript.

Continue Reading this Article. . .

The Feast of All Saints 2026: The Patriarchs and Prophets

From the Breviary according to the use of the Roman Curia, 1529, the continuation of the sermon for the third day in the Octave of All Saints.

Having invited the orders of the heavenly army and accompanied them with due honors, let us hasten to recite the merits of those who, being of like origin with us, of the earth and upon it, through the grace of God and their own merit, much greater than our own, obtain blessedness in Heaven. Among those chosen by the divine goodness before the Law and under the Law stands the praiseworthy company of the holy Fathers, Patriarchs and Prophets. And the greatest among them all, John the Baptist, holds the first place, who was conceived at the message of the same angel as Christ. At the beginning of his preaching and baptism for the forgiveness of sins, he recognized Him that takes away the crimes of the world on sight, and with his own finger pointed him out. Rightly is he called the precursor of the Lord, the herald of the Judge, and prophet of the most High, since when not yet born, he preceded Christ into this world with wondrous exultation, and in his glorious passion went before Him as He descended into the next.

The Virgin and Child with Ss John the Baptist and Stephen, by Michelangelo Anselmi, ca. 1530

Display of Relics at Trinità dei Pellegrini for All Saints’ Day

Since today is the day on which the feast of the Holy Relics has most commonly been kept since St Pius X’s reform of the breviary and calendar, it’s a good day to show these pictures taken by a friend at the Fraternity of St Peter’s church in Rome, Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini. For many years now, it has been the church’s custom to expose all its relics for the veneration of the faithful on All Saints’ day. In the evening, before Vespers, each reliquary is presented before the congregation, and the name of the Saint or Saints whose relics in it are read out.

The high altar decorated for Mass of the feast.

The busts seen here on the upper level were made in 1622 for the canonization of St Philip Neri, who founded the church’s confraternity. On the left side are two Saints of the era of the Fathers, Gregory the Great and Augustine, and on the right, two of the Counter-Reformation, Pope Pius V and Charles Borromeo; the two popes are placed closer to the cross. The silver busts on the lower level contain relics of Saints from the catacombs; to either side of each one are statues of Apostles, Peter and Paul, John and Matthew, the latter because he is the patron of the confraternity.

Many more reliquaries are placed on the altar of St Matthew in the right transept, with one of St Philip in a place of special prominence in the middle.  (The church has another very beautiful reliquary of him in bronze, which is, however, too heavy to easily lift when the relics are presented to the faithful.)

Over the altar are written the words of the Apostles’ Creed, “I believe in the Communion of the Saints”, because in the church’s original set up, this altar was intended to the used primarily for Masses for the Dead. 

At the back of the church on the left side is an altar dedicated to the Holy Cross. This altar is also for the celebration of Requiem Masses; since the FSSP took over the running of the church, it has been decorated with an image of Our Lady of Sorrows, and a set of wooden candlesticks painted black. For the exposition of relics, the church’s piece of the True Cross is set here by itself as a place of special honor.

Continue Reading this Article. . .

The Feast of All Saints 2026: The Angels

From the Breviary according to the use of the Roman Curia, 1529, the continuation of the sermon for the third day in the Octave of All Saints.

Accordingly, let us invite the most sacred orders of blessed spirits to the joy of our solemnity, that today they may work along with us more earnestly than usual, offering the incense of our prayer before the golden altar which stands before the eyes of the Lord. There let them faithfully intercede for us, and here (in this world) vigilantly protect and defend us against the attempts of the ancient enemy. For we urgently ask this of them by a certain right of law, and by that confidence in the privilege (given to us) by which we hope that through God’s grace, we shall be their fellow citizens in heaven. Firmly certain of their beatitude, they are sent as ministering spirits to us, who (rightly) fear the (spiritual) losses we may suffer in the uncleanness of our bodily condition. All the more generously then, must they come to our aid, as they see how much more we need their help.

From a manuscript of the Commentary on the Apocalypse by Beatus of Liébana, written and illustrated in 1047 for King Ferdinand I (ca. 1015-1065, crowned 1037) and Queen Sancha of León (ca. 1018-1067). This page illistrates the words of chapter 8, 2-4, “And I saw seven Angels standing in the presence of God; and there were given to them seven trumpets. And another Angel came, and stood before the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given to him much incense, that he should offer of the prayers of all Saints upon the golden altar, which is before the throne of God. And the smoke of the incense of the prayers of the Saints ascended up before God from the hand of the angel.” – (Biblioteca Nacional de España, VITR/14/2, folio 162v, cropped: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

Discovering the Delightful, Trenchant, Spiritually Profound Writings of Leonardo Castellani

A prolific author of about fifty books and a thousand articles, Leonardo Castellani (1899 – 1981) is widely revered as one of the greatest modern Argentine writers in multiple genres. Yet until now, English-speaking audiences have had almost no access to his remarkable body of work – a lacuna decisively changed by this new anthology, Christ and the Pharisees & Other Short Works, equipped with a substantial introduction by the translator, Sebastián Randle.

A student of Cardinal Billot’s, a pugilist for orthodoxy at a time of progressive disarray, and a faithful old-school Jesuit who fell afoul of his superiors and suffered years of marginalization, Castellani was at the same time unafraid to poke holes in conventional pieties, and complained about unhealthy trends in the Church years before the Vatican II debacle brought many latent weaknesses to light.

In many ways he can be (certainly nowadays) classified as a traditionalist, as these typical remarks show, from his 1954 essay “The Destruction of Tradition”:

It’s rather unpleasant to find oneself speaking like a prophet of misfortunes, knowing all the time that to act instead the part of a soothsayer proclaiming good tidings would always brings home the bacon; and anyway, I would always prefer, God willing, to be an incompetent prophet of doom. But the destruction of tradition in the Western world is glaringly obvious, and denying it is equivalent to closing your eyes while crossing a street. In any case, opening our eyes could be the cure, following the poet’s lines:

Prior to any other one,
the first of all medicines
is to identify the disease.

There is no rectilinear and uniform progress in the sense that the Marquis of Condorcet understood it – the myth and dogma of Indefinite Progress. But there is a certain type of progress or, to put it more precisely, something more like two parallel and yet invisible lines of progress. “Tell us, when shall these things be?” the disciples asked Jesus (Matt. 24, 3). We find the answer at the end of the Book of Revelation: “The time is at hand. He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly” (22, 10-12); that is to say, there’s a certain progress in humanity, but this must be properly understood. The progress of which I’m speaking happens in men’s inner selves – that “inner self” of which we have spoken so much; and consequently, good and evil imbue more and more the “inside” of men, and, because of that, they become more conscious and therefore more refined and concentrated. In this sense, Kierkegaard is more “interior” (or “inward wise”) than St. Augustine; and on the other hand, Sartre, for instance, is more of a pervert than the worse heathen authors: compared to Sartre, Petronius looks as innocent as a newborn babe. Humanity marches toward history’s dramatic denouement, a drama which includes one protagonist and plenty of hostile enemies.

Tradition is that ideal world of human values that we inherit when we are born, without deserving it . . . and for which we show ourselves pretty ungrateful. But not all that we inherit belongs to tradition. A son inherits from his father a house and, say, tuberculosis; the house is tradition – tuberculosis is not a tradition. It could be that tuberculosis runs in the family, but that sort of tradition must be interrupted as soon as possible. But nowadays, morally speaking, homesteads are being broken, and tuberculosis is being cultivated. [...]

What is tradition? To repeat, tradition is that ideal world of human values that we inherit when we are born, without deserving it – and for which we seem to be rather ungrateful too. For me, when I was born, tradition was represented by a firmly established family, some Italian grandparents with a mind full of European legends – my grandmother used to tell me about the Council of Trent in an entirely legendary form – full of tenacious customs and even one or two healthy obsessions (with the persistence that is a badge of never-changing tradition)...

We cannot create the civilization into which we’re born: but we can destroy it—in our very selves, for a start. Believe it or not, it would be easier for men to create the whole physical universe than to produce the moral and intellectual universe that makes up humanity’s vacillating heritage. Hard to believe, perhaps, but that’s how it is.

Above all, Fr. Castellani was a supremely observant reader of Scripture and one of its finest modern commentators, capable of breathtaking insights into familiar texts, especially the Book of Revelation. All these characteristics are on full display in this enlightening and entertaining little volume, an ideal introduction to the wide scope of Castellani’s genius.

Here’s a video in which I talk more about the book, and read two passages from it (different from the one above):

“In my life as a reader, I have savored many moments of wonder; but none as immense and enduring as the one provided by the Argentine Leonardo Castellani. A passionate polemicist, a relentless critic of modernity and all its ideological filth, Castellani is above all a champion of orthodoxy, which, as we already know, is the only form of heterodoxy that our age repudiates. Castellani reveals himself to be a consummate apologist and a formidable polemicist, endowed with a vibrant style and a sardonic humor in the tradition of Cervantes that allows him to tear down the thick walls of lies as if they were made of sculpted sugar. In all his works, Castellani displays intellectual depth and an admirable ability to stir in the mind a response of joyful acceptance (or of scathing rejection, if the mind is infested with politically correct nonsense). The fact is, our author was what the French call a maître à penser-someone who not only spurs our intellect but also nourishes it, fortifies it, provides it with a sturdy framework, and, at the same time, propels it down paths never before traveled. No wonder such a dangerous writer has been equally reviled by the godless, the snobs, and the self-righteous, both in life and in death.” – Juan Manuel de Prada

“Castellani was the man sent by Divine Providence to my homeland and to everyone who can access his legacy to shed light on the purpose of the Christian life: the Parousia. Castellani’s books are full of good humor, and this makes them very human, free of ethereal theological jargon. He knows how to laugh at the ridiculous. His work has no set progression; you can dive in from any angle, much like a Pampas-style barbecue.” – Daniel Francisco Giaquinta

“Castellani is undoubtedly a rich, multifaceted, and transcultural figure.” – Javier Navascué

Available from the publisher, Os Justi Press, in paperback, hardcover, or ebook (at this link you can also “look inside” to see a sample), or from any Amazon outlet.

The Feast of All Saints 2026: The Virgin Mary

From the Breviary according to the use of the Roman Curia, 1529, the continuation of the sermon for the third day in the Octave of All Saints.

Among all those whom the world has brought forth from the beginning of God’s creation, the Holy Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary rightly holds the highest place of sanctity and dignity, who has the joy of a mother with the honor of a virgin, and brought forth the king of Angels, while the seal of Her virginity remained intact. Indeed, human nature has produced nothing more excellent than Her; the flesh has brought forth nothing holier than Her, apart from the only-begotten Son of God and Herself. It is She that stands between the Old and New Testaments, and thus joins them both together, so that what those who were inspired by the Holy Spirit to foretell what would come to pass through a Virgin, might be saved by Christ the Redeemer, and so confess that it was fulfilled through the Virgin Mary; and thus rightly might all the choir of the elect venerate Her and proclaim Her the Queen of Heaven and Lady of the Angels.

An icon of the Virgin and Child known as the Madonna of Clemency, painted ca. 700, now in the church of Santa Maria in Trastevere in Rome. The figure kneeling at the lower right (a portion of whose face can be seen in the middle), is believed to be Pope John VII (705-7), a Greek from southern Italy who was particular fervent in his devotion to the Virgin; if this is correct, this would be one of the very first known icons with a portait of the donor in it. (Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.)

Baroque Sacred Art: Hope that Transcends Suffering (Part 2)

How the tradition spread across Europe, and the two great tendencies within it

Last week, in Part 1, I introduced the Baroque sacred tradition: its origins in the Counter-Reformation directives of the Council of Trent, its founding principles as illustrated in the work of Federico Barocci and José de Ribera, and the visual logic that makes the style work in harmony with how we actually perceive the world. This week I turn to how the tradition spread across Europe, to the two main tendencies that developed within it, and to the important practical question of how sacred art differs from portraiture.

Job Mocked by his Wife, by the French artist Georges de La Tour, French, c. 1625-50. This is an example of Baroque Naturalism

The Organic Spread of the Tradition

The works discussed in these posts illustrate the tradition’s principles. Artists of the time did not subscribe to a Baroque manifesto requiring conformity to a particular style; the word ‘Baroque’ did not come into use until much later. The adoption of this style, which spread across Europe, was an organic process driven by the striking beauty of the new form. Patrons saw the art being produced and wanted more. In the context of the time, artists sought not to establish a distinctive personal style, but to show patrons their ability to work within whatever was considered the highest and most noble form. The descriptions of a general pattern offered here are, inevitably, generalizations; there are always exceptions, whether artists who consciously resisted the norms or those who lacked the skill to follow the prototype. Even so, when we look back at this period and try to discern a pattern, the degree of conformity to the principles described in Part 1 is striking.

Within this broad conformity, different influences produced distinct tendencies among master artists. Some proponents of what is called Baroque Classicism, including Nicolas Poussin and Annibale Carracci, sought a more classical look, closer to the High Renaissance, which in turn looked to the styles of ancient Greece and Rome for inspiration. They produced composite paintings from drawings of models or from Greek and Roman statuary, sometimes presenting biblical scenes anachronistically, with figures in classical dress and hairstyles. These artists also painted scenes from Greek and Roman history and mythology, often intending them to be interpreted as Christian allegories.

Here is an example by Carracci: the Pietà, in which the Mother of God embraces Christ after he is taken down from the cross. The name comes from the Italian word for pity.

Annibale Carracci, Pietà, c. 1600

Carracci’s work includes the stylistic elements described in Part 1, but he has also consciously drawn on the classical tradition. The classical influence is clearly visible in the putti, the playful, chubby infant figures derived from ancient Greek and Roman sculpture. From the 16th century onward, artists widely adopted these motifs in Christian sacred art to represent cherubs, as in the angels described in Scripture, and occasionally to symbolize God’s omnipresence. This convention also gave rise to the modern use of ‘cherubic’ to describe a beautiful, plump baby. The classical influence is also visible in the facial features of both Christ and Our Lady, which are informed by the idealized forms used by ancient Greek sculptors for their gods and goddesses and subsequently by High Renaissance artists for their saints. For comparison, here is the Venus of the Louvre, a Roman copy of an earlier Greek original dating from the 2nd century BC.

Venus (Capitoline type), 2nd century BC. Roman copy of a Greek original

Other artists pushed back against Carracci’s method of synthesizing composite designs from numerous preparatory drawings and studies. Instead, they championed a more rigorously naturalistic approach, emphasizing direct observation from life and, where possible, painting straight onto the canvas with minimal preliminary work. Caravaggio became the most radical and influential figure in this tendency, inspiring artists such as the French painter Georges de La Tour and the Spanish school of Baroque Naturalism, whose leading representative was Diego Velázquez. José Ribera, whose work we examined in Part 1, also belongs firmly to this current. While the contrast between the two approaches should not be overstated, both stood within the Baroque tradition, valuing both drawing from nature and selectively modifying appearances to draw out invisible truths; the Caravaggesque painters prioritized raw immediacy and dramatic lighting over classical harmony and compositional refinement. Here is one of Velázquez’s most celebrated religious paintings: his Crucifixion.

Diego Velázquez, Christ Crucified, c. 1632

Notice that Christ’s face is largely in shadow. In paintings of Christ or the saints, the artist must depict the figure as a distinct individual while also emphasizing the universal human qualities that viewers can emulate. After all, we cannot imitate what is uniquely personal to a saint or to Christ; we can only strive to imitate those virtues we share through our common humanity. For this reason, sacred art tends to place less emphasis on the face alone and instead highlights the whole person. This poses a challenge: how does the artist convey the subject’s inner spiritual state when we typically read emotion and mood primarily through facial expressions? Baroque painters addressed this by using more pronounced gestures, prioritizing what we would today call body language. This accounts for the dramatic style of many Baroque paintings. That is not to say that Baroque artists sought only to convey drama. In this painting, in which a peace that transcends suffering is conveyed, Velázquez gives the stationary torso far greater prominence than he would in a conventional portrait, where the face would dominate.

Sacred Art and Portraiture: An Important Distinction

A common flaw in the work of contemporary artists who attempt sacred art in naturalistic styles is to dress a model in biblical clothing and then paint a portrait. The facial expression becomes the dominant element, and the result, however skillfully rendered as portraiture, looks exactly like what it is: the girl or boy from next door dressed up as Jesus or the Virgin Mary. The effect is closer to a staged Victorian tableau vivant than to authentic sacred art.

Sacred art differs from portraiture in that its primary goal is to emphasize the universal aspects of the human person, so that the way a saint incarnates those qualities in his life can serve as a model for us. Portraiture, by contrast, emphasizes what is unique to the individual. Those qualities, precisely because they are unique, cannot be emulated by anyone else. That is not to say that what is unique to the person is ignored altogether in sacred art; we always access the universal through the particular, and so the saint must retain the characteristics that identify and distinguish him from all others. It is a matter of differing emphasis.

The Middle Ground: Rubens and Reni

The two poles of Baroque style, Classicism and Naturalism, do not look strikingly different to most modern eyes. To the artists and connoisseurs of the period, however, they appeared hugely distinct, and artists in each camp argued, sometimes bitterly, over which represented the most authentically Christian approach. Between the two extremes, a broad spectrum included naturalism and classicism in varying degrees.

Artists generally considered to occupy the middle ground between Baroque Naturalism and Baroque Classicism include Rubens and the Italian painter Guido Reni. The painting below, St James the Greater by Reni, was painted between 1636 and 1638 and represents this balance: the idealization characteristic of the classical tendency is present, but the warmth and directness of feeling are firmly Baroque in spirit.

Guido Reni, St James the Greater, 1636-38

The Baroque sacred tradition, whether in its classical or naturalistic tendency, produced a body of work of extraordinary range and beauty. It was from this wellspring that the secular art to be explored in future posts would flow, as the same visual principles and habits of perception, formed in the service of the liturgy, found their natural extension into every aspect of the visible world.

The Feast of All Saints 2026: The Praise of God in His Creation

From the Breviary according to the use of the Roman Curia, 1529, the continuation of the sermon for the third day in the Octave of All Saints.

Therefore, first let us reverently rise today to praise Him, whom all the world obeys, who also Himself praises His servants, and makes them worthy of praise. For He is God Almighty, whose understanding is superior to all, whose being is most mighty, whose power and will are great above all; the sole beginning and creator of all things spiritual and corporeal; substance that surpasses all understanding, maker of such works that in their goodness and perfection, commend Him as their creator and declare him in very deed, namely, the world, and the rational creatures. And in His might, He made those things that are very great, the world, that is, in its immensity; and in His wisdom, He made those things which are very beautiful, to wit, the rational creatures which are capable of understanding; and in His goodness, He made those things which are useful, each one most excellent in its kind, distinct in their various ways, and arranged in a most becoming order. And by their service, we are helped to serve Him, and spurred on to praise Him here (in this world) and forever.

God Creating the World, from a Bible Moralisée made for King St Louis IX of France in 1226-34, now kept at the cathedral of Toledo, Spain. (Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.)

Durandus on Prayer for the Dead (Part 1)

The following is taken from the entry on All Souls’ Day in William Durandus’ Rationale Divinorum Officiorum (7.35), the Summa Theologiae of medieval liturgical commentaries. This is one of the longest sections of the seventh book, which covers the Sanctoral cycle, and will be presented in several parts as we begin the month especially dedicated to prayer for the dead.

This Office follows the feast of All Saints, and three consecutive days are dedicated to three mysteries. For the vigil of All Saints is a day of affliction; the solemnity is a day of exultation; but today is a day of prayer. On the first day, we afflict ourselves by fasting, as we remember the misery of this present life. On the second, we rejoice together with the blessedness of the Saints, bringing thanksgivings to the Lord. On the third, we pray for those who are detained in purgatory, obtaining for them with our prayers either a lesser suffering, or full absolution.

The commemoration of all the faithful departed was instituted by the Church on this day so that they might be helped by general services… for as Peter Damian says, St Odilo (born 962; abbot of Cluny from 994-1049), upon learning that at the volcano of Sicily (i.e. Mt Etna) frequent voices and wails of weeping demons were heard, because the souls of the deceased were being snatched away from their hands through almsgiving and prayers, decreed that in his monasteries, after the feast of All Saints, there should be a commemoration of the departed, which was afterwards approved by the whole Church. …

A statue of St Odilo of Cluny in the basilica of St Urban in Troyes, France. As the inventor of All Souls’ Day, he is shown standing in the middle of the flames of Purgatory. (Image from Wikimedia Commons by GO69, CC0 1.0)

This Office had its beginning in the Old Law, for, just as Ambrose says, when Jacob was dead, Joseph and his other brothers with many Egyptians brought him to Hebron, but first they wept for forty days in Egypt, and afterwards wept for him for seven days in the field of Harad. And again, we read in Deuteronomy that when Moses was dead, the people of Israel wept for thirty days, as they had done for Aaron and Miriam. Again, Solomon says, “The mourning for the dead is seven days: but for a fool and an ungodly man all the days of their life”, because they die forever. (This is actually in Sirach 22, 13, which medievals often spoke of, inexplicably, as if it were written by Solomon.)

Note that some people keep the memorial for the dead on the third day, or for three days, representing the three days of the Lord’s burial, looking to the resurrection of Christ, who rose on the third day, and desiring the resurrection with Christ for the dead; or else, looking to the Trinity; or so that the sins which they committed may be forgiven them, because while they were living they sinned in three ways, namely in thought, word and deed.

A Cretan icon of the 1490s.

Others have Mass celebrated for seven days, and both of these customs are shown in the book of Numbers (19, 11) where it is said, “he that touches the cadaver of a man, and for this sake shall be unclean for seven days, shall be sprinkled of this water on the third day and on the seventh, and thus shall he be cleansed.” Clearly, the one unclean because of the cadaver signifies the soul of the dead man, polluted because of dead works.

Therefore the Mass is celebrated for seven days, first, so that the dead man may be able to come the more quickly to the Sabbath of eternal rest; second, so that all the sins may be forgiven him which he committed in life, life lived over seven days. (This refers to the classical idea of the seven ages of man.) Third, because of the sevenfold nature of soul and body; for the soul has three powers, namely the rational, the concupiscent, and the irascible, while the body is made of the four elements. Therefore, in order that the sins which a man has committed through this sevenfold nature … may be deleted, a sevenfold celebration is made for the dead. Fourth, just as the sons of Jacob wept for seven days when he died, as mentioned above, so also the Church celebrates the Office for its Dead for seven days.

Others have Mass celebrated for the Dead for thirty days, or on the thirtieth day, in the first place because the sons of Israel wept that many days for Moses and Aaron, as is mentioned above; in the second place, because three times ten makes thirty, and by three we understand the Trinity, by ten the decalogue. Therefore, we make three tens for the dead, so that the sins they have committed in the observation of the decalogue or the precepts of Christ, and against the Trinity, maybe forgiven them by the mercy of God. In the third place, because the number of the moon is perfected in thirty days; therefore the Office is done for the dead for thirty days, so that their works may be understood to be full before God.

The Last Testament, Death and Burial of Moses, 1482, by Luca Signorelli. Fresco on a wall of the Sistine Chapel.

Some also celebrate forty Masses for a period of forty days, so that the sins which they have committed against the teaching of the Four Gospels and in the ten precepts of the Law may be forgiven them. Again, those who keep the fortieth day represent the Lord’s burial, desiring that the dead have glory with Christ who for forty hours lay in the tomb, counting from the hour in which He breathed forth his spirit to the last hour of Sunday night, on which He rose, according to Augustine. They represent also that which is said above, that when Jacob had died, his sons mourned him for forty days.

Others keep a period of fifty days. In the Gloss (i.e. the Glossa ordinaria, the standard Biblical commentary of reference in the Middle Ages), Bede and Gregory comment on the place in which it is written that Abraham asked of the Lord who wanted to destroy Sodom (Genesis 18, 16-33), “ ‘if there should be fifty therein, will thou destroy them?’ and the Lord answered, ‘No’, ” saying that fifty is a perfect number, which signifies the jubilee year, that is, the eighth age, in which there shall be forgiveness and full liberty. Therefore, so that the souls of the dead may obtain full liberty and remission of their sins, they celebrate the office for them for fifty days.

Others keep a period of sixty days, since the sixtieth day signifies the grief of the Church for the absence of Her Spouse… so do they represent grief for the absence of the deceased person. And for their consolation, and the expiation of the soul of the dead, sacrifices offered to the Lord, and alms are distributed to the poor.

Some also keep the hundredth day, so that the dead may pass from the right to the left, from striving to triumph, from earth to heaven, from misery to glory, from death to life. For they long for them eternal blessedness, which is indicated by the 100th day.

Two folios of the Gellone Sacramentary, ca. 780 AD, showing Masses for the Dead. The Mass which begins on the bottom of the left side is that for the third, seventh and thirtieth days after death; the second prayer on the right side is for the anniversary Mass.

Now some others observe the anniversary for three reasons. First, so that the dead may come from the years of calamity to the years of eternity, or rather to eternal life which is without end, like a year which always returns to itself, and because there is sameness and no variety shall be found.

Second, because just as we celebrate the anniversary of the Saints for their honor and for our benefit… so also we celebrate the anniversary of the dead for their benefit and our devotion.

Third, the day of the anniversary is repeated for the dead for this reason, because according to Augustine, we do not know how it goes with them in the other life, and it is better that the benefit (of our prayers) be superfluous for them than that it be lacking (where needed.)

But if an anniversary falls on a Sunday or a solemnity, it ought not to be moved to the following day, as is done with the feasts of the Saints; but rather, it should be done on the preceding day, so that help may be given more quickly to the pains of the deceased which they bear in purgatory; for the dead need our help and benefit, the Saints do not.

The Feast of All Saints 2026

From the Breviary according to the use of the Roman Curia, 1529, the beginning of the sermon for the third day in the Octave of All Saints.

Today we venerate the memory of all the Saints in a single commemoration; in order that we may at least pay this service of our devout celebration to them all together, since on their individual birthdays (into Heaven), we cannot show them all their due honor in veneration, whether for the very multitude of the Saints, or our business about the needs of the body. For the Pope of the Apostolic See, Boniface, fourth from Saint Gregory and sixty-ninth from Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, taking occasion from the superstition of the gentiles, who kept this day as a solemnity in honor of all the gods, prudently discerning that the Roman people could scarcely be turned away by reason from evil customs that please the sensual appetite, piously converted to religion that which was instituted in deception; and having ask for the temple from the Emperor, turned the profane cult into a most salutary act of worship.

Solemn Mass celebrated in the traditional Ambrosian Rite in the Pantheon, May 2, 2010. The celebrant of this Mass, Monsignor Angelo Amodeo, a good friend of the NLM, passed away in 2012, on the fifth anniversary of the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum; please remember him in your prayers especially tomorrow. Our own Nicola de’ Grandi is seen here serving as the MC, while the Mass was sung by the Schola Sainte Cécile, led by Henri de Villiers.

On the feast of All Saints and on each day of the Octave, the pre-Tridentine Roman Breviary has a sermon at Matins which tells the legend of the feast’s institution, and then gives 7 lessons on the Saints in the order of the hierarchy of Heaven: God, the Virgin Mary, the Angels, the Patriarchs and Prophets, the Apostles, the Martyrs and the Confessors. The last lesson is taken from a homily of St Augustine on the Gospel of the day, which is also read in the Breviary of St Pius V. The anonymous sermon assigned to the third day of the Octave, which we will follow this year, differs in one detail from those of the feast itself and the second day, which we read last year and the year before: the Virgins and other holy women are not mentioned along with the Virgin Mary.

Aña Angeli, Archángeli, Throni et Dominatiónes, Principátus et Potestátes, Virtútes caelórum, Chérubim atque Séraphim, Patriarchæ et Prophétæ, sancti legis Doctóres, Apóstoli, omnes Christi Mártyres, sancti Confessóres, Vírgines Dómini, Anachorítæ, Sanctíque omnes, intercédite pro nobis. – Angels, Archangels, Thrones and Dominions, Principalities and Powers, Virtues of the heavens, Cherubim and Seraphim, Patriarchs and Prophets, holy Doctors of the Law, Apostles, all Martyrs of Christ, holy Confessors, Virgins of the Lord, Hermits, and all Saints, intercede for us! (The antiphon of the Magnificat at First Vespers of All Saints, here set as a motet by the Flemish composer Heinrich Isaac (1450-1526))