The Feast of St Benedict 2026

Listen carefully, my child, to the master’s precepts, and incline the ear of your heart; willingly receive and effectively fulfill the admonition of your loving father, that by the labor of obedience you may return to Him from whom you had departed by the sloth of disobedience. To you, therefore, my discourse is now addressed, whoever you may be that renounce your own will to do serve under the Lord, Christ the true King, and take up the most mighty bright weapons of obedience. And first of all, as you begin to do any good work, beg of Him with most earnest prayer that it may be perfected, so that He who has now deigned to count us among His children may not at any time be grieved by our evil deeds. For we must always so serve Him with the good things He has given us, that He will never as an angry Father disinherit His children, nor ever as a dread Lord, provoked by our evil actions, deliver us to everlasting punishment as wicked servants who would not follow Him to glory. (The Prologue of the Rule of St Benedict.)

Saints Benedict and Bernard, by Diogo de Contreiras, 1542; painted for the Cistercian convent of Santa Maria de Almoster in Portugal. (Public domain image from Wikimedia.)

The second half of the Hour of Prime is sometimes called the Chapter Office, from the Benedictine custom of reading a part of the Rule of St Benedict at the end of it every day. The text of the Rule was divided into roughly 120 sections, and read in order over the course of four months, making for three full readings a year. At Citeaux, however, this reading began not on January 1st, as in most other houses, but on March 21st, which is both the feast day of St Benedict, and the day the abbey was founded in 1098. Beginning the reading of the Rule on this day became an annual reminder not only of the Order’s founding, but more specifically of the Cistercians’ role as the “strict constructionalists” of Benedictine monasticism, almost as if to say that the observance of the Rule itself began again with the coming of the new Order.

The first two pages of the Rule of St Benedict, with the Prologue to be read on March 21st, from a Cistercian Martyrology printed at Paris in 1689.

Ambrosian Vespers of the Fridays in Lent

In the Ambrosian Rite, the Fridays of Lent stand out from the rest of the week in two very notable ways. The first is that these days are “aliturgical”, meaning that no Mass is celebrated at all. (Exceptions are permitted only for the feasts of St Joseph and the Annunciation when they occur on Friday, the former being of very late institution.) As I have described many times before, the same custom once obtained in Lent in the Roman Rite, but on the Thursdays, and the Saturdays after Ash Wednesday and Passion Sunday, while it still holds in the Byzantine Rite for all the weekdays, likewise excepting only the Annunciation.

The other is that Vespers is celebrated in a special form which shares some characteristics with other liturgical days, but is in itself unique to these Fridays.

Ambrosian Vespers normally begins with a responsory called a lucernarium, which takes its name from the ancient custom that the church’s lamps were lit while it was being sung. The repertoire of these is very small, only twelve unique texts, one of which is sung only on these five Fridays. (On Good Friday, the lucernarium is simply omitted.) This particular one is much longer than is usually the case on a feria; just the opening words, “Dirigatur oratio mea sicut incensum in conspectu tuo. – Let my prayer be directed like incense in Thy sight”, have more notes than the whole of the default ferial text.

This is followed by the hymn Audi, benigne Conditor, which the Roman Rite sings at Vespers every day of Lent properly so called, and the Ambrosian Rite every day but Sunday. (The Ambrosian music is different.) The hymn is regularly followed by another responsory, called “in choro”, since in the cathedral it was sung by the clergy standing around the throne of the archbishop, who led the chanting of it. (Many features of the Ambrosian Office are assigned to specific offices within the cathedral chapter.) The repertoire of these is rather larger, numbering over sixty, but no recording is available of any of the ones that are sung on these days.

A photograph of the clergy and cantors around the archbishop at the high altar of Milan cathedral, during Vespers of the Epiphany. (Colorized by Nicola.)

At this point, there normally follows the psalmody, but on the Fridays of Lent, there are first read four lessons from the Old Testament, taken from Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, or one of the books of Kings. Each lesson is followed by a chant called a psalmellus, which is very similar in structure to the gradual of the Roman Mass, and then a prayer. A similar arrangement of readings, psalmelli and prayers is done at First Vespers of Christmas, Epiphany and Pentecost, and for these days, the material is all include in the Ambrosian Missal in an appendix, since they are followed by the Mass of the vigil. However, our Ambrosian expert Nicola de’ Grandi informs me that no modern printed edition of this material exists for the Friday Vespers of Lent. (In the following table of the lessons, I use the Vulgate naming of the books of Kings; modern Bibles which follow the Hebrew tradition call them 1-2 Samuel and 1-2 Kings.)

The Saturdays of Lent have a particular importance in the Ambrosian Rite. The day is treated almost like a feast, and the historical custom of Milan, already attested by St Ambrose himself (On Elijah and the fast, 34), is not to keep any fast on that day. The Masses have three readings, like a Sunday or a Saint’s day, where ferial days normally have only two. The Gospel of the first of these Saturdays, Matthew 12, 1-8, refers to this custom of not keeping it as a fast day.

“… Jesus went through the corn on the sabbath, and his disciples being hungry, began to pluck the ears, and to eat. And the Pharisees seeing them, said to him, ‘Behold thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do on the sabbath days.’ But he said to them, … ‘have ye not read in the law, that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple break the sabbath, and are without blame? But I tell you that there is here a greater than the temple. … For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath.”

Christ Defends the Plucking of Grain on the Sabbath, 1580-90, by the Flemish painter Martin van Valckenborch.

The following four Saturdays are each dedicated to the rites by which the catechumens were prepared for baptism during Lent, and the Gospels of these days refer to these rites very clearly. For example, on the third Saturday, the last verse of the Gospel, Mark 6, 6-13, is, “And they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them”, because this was the day on which the catechumens were anointed.

For this reason, Dr Cesare Alzati, one of the best modern scholars of the Ambrosian Rite, sees this special form of Vespers, including the readings, as a kind of vigil for these Saturdays. And indeed, the first reading on the third Friday, 1 Kings (Samuel) 16, 1-13a, is the story of King David’s anointing at the hands of the prophet Samuel. It should be noted, however, that the criterion for the choice of these readings is for the most part not so clear.

After the fourth prayer, Vespers returns to its normal order with the psalmody. The Ambrosian psalms for Vespers on Sunday and the weekdays are the same as those in the Roman Office before the Divino Afflatu reform of the psalter, so on Friday, they are 137-141. (Some of the corresponding antiphons have the same text as the Roman ones, but the music is quite different.) The regular prayer after the psalms of Friday is then said:

“Gratias tibi agimus, omnipotens Deus; quod, declinante jam die, nos vespertini luminis claritate circumdas; petimus immensam clementiam tuam, ut, sicut nos hujus luminis claritate circumvallas, ita Sancti Spiritus tui luce corda nostra illuminare digneris. Per ... in unitate ejusdem...

We give Thee thanks, almighty God, since as the day now declines, Thou dost surround us with the brightness of the evening light; we ask Thy boundless clemency that, just as Thou encompass us with the brightness of this light, so also may Thou deign to enlighten our hearts with the light of Thy Holy Spirit. Through our Lord… in the unity of the same Holy Spirit…”

The common order of Friday Vespers in the first official post-Tridentine edition of the Ambrosian breviary, published under the authority of St Charles Borromeo in 1582. The prayer “Gratias tibi agimus” cited above is in the lower part of the left column.

At this point, there would normally be sung first the Magnificat, then several other chants; these vary in their number and arrangement according to the day, and most of them are followed by a prayer. (Ambrosian Sunday Vespers typically has five collects of its own, plus those of any commemorations of occurring feasts.) However, on the Fridays of Lent, these are all completely omitted, including the Magnificat; this looks forward to Holy Week, in which both the Benedictus and the Magnificat are omitted on all the ferias. The only element which is retained from the order followed on other ferial Vespers of Lent is twelve Kyrie eleisons before the standard concluding formula.

Review of Fr. Robert Bradley’s Our Lady’s Psalter

Robert Ignatius Bradley (1924-2013) was born in Spokane, Washington, into a family of eight children, including three brothers who became priests. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1941 and was ordained a priest in 1955. He had two doctorates, one from Columbia University in New York and the other from the Angelicum in Rome. A careful and rigorous scholar, Bradley taught history and theology at Gonzaga University, Seattle University, the University of Dallas, Christendom College, and the FSSP’s Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary in Denton, Nebraska. He was also active in pastoral work. For almost ten years Father Bradley was the chaplain of the Poor Clare Nuns in Alexandria, Virginia, whom he affectionately called his “little brown sparrows” on account of the color of their habits. And for thirty years he was chaplain of Catholics United for the Faith, which he helped to found.

Ironically, Father Bradley remained a faithful Jesuit by steering clear of his confreres, once confessing to a friend that he sought assignments apart from the community because living with his fellow Jesuits “would only likely destroy him and his nerves, if not also his faith.” [1] The one happy exception to this rule was when he moved in with two other Jesuit titans of orthodoxy, Fathers John Hardon and Vincent Miceli, while they were all teaching at St. John’s University. Each priest had a telling and amusing reaction to the new dwelling:

Father Hardon immediately wanted to know where they were going to place the Blessed Sacrament; Father Bradley wanted to be sure that there was enough room on the provided book shelves for his military history volumes; and Father Miceli was especially concerned about the space and convenient conformation of the kitchen, so that he might regularly make for them his good pasta “al dente,” which, according to his cherished traditions, required some tossing aloft of the potentially desirable pasta. [2]

I first met Father Bradley when he was the chaplain of the Latin Mass community in Austin, Texas. His homilies were outstanding: thoughtful, orthodox, and geared to shed more light than heat on his traditionalist congregation. The only problem was that this brilliant man never quite mastered modern acoustics, speaking excitedly and quickly about his subject a mere centimeter away from the microphone. And on two occasions when announcing a tragedy, Father Bradley inadvertently forced a smile. In 2004 he asked us to pray for the 230,000 souls lost in the Indian Ocean Tsunami, even though, he confessed, he did not know what a tsunami was. On another Sunday, Father announced the tragic death of a young priest from the diocese who perished while vacationing with his family “on something that is apparently called… a ‘jet ski.’”

Father Bradley was also an extraordinary confessor. There was nothing pro forma about his administration of the sacrament. When he heard your confession, it felt as if you were the only one in the line: he was entirely attentive to your soul. Moreover, he somehow simultaneously made you see how ugly sin is and how much you should love God for forgiving you. Spending time with Father Bradley made you ache to be holy, as he was holy.

Happily, Father Bradley’s writing has the same salutary effect, as is evident in Our Lady’s Psalter: Reflections on the Mysteries of the Traditional Rosary. Published posthumously and lovingly edited by his dedicated niece Dr. Betty Borsage, O.S.F., the volume is unique even among the myriads of sound literature on the rosary, for it consists of a meditation not on each mystery of the rosary, but on each of the 150 Hail Mary’s that are in the decades of the traditional rosary. For example, the chapter on the first Joyful Mystery (the Annunciation) contains ten entries: the Immaculate Conception, the Birth of Mary, the Presentation of Our Lady, the Espousal of Our Lady, Nazareth, the Annunciation, Our Lady’s Discernment, Our Lady’s Fiat, the Incarnation, and the Mystery of the Annunciation. By the time you finish all 150 one-page entries, you have been thoroughly immersed into the Gospels.

The book is a byproduct of Father Bradley’s piety. Bradley had a deep devotion to Our Lady and prayed three rosaries a day (four, after the Luminous Mysteries were added). As Betty Borsage explains in the preface, the Holy Spirit spoke to Father Bradley as he prayed and meditated and, beginning in 1995, he began to take notes. By the time he finished in 2006, he had 150 hand-written reflections on a stack of yellow legal pads (he disliked computers). “Father Bradley considered these short essays to be his personal life-long love letter to our Blessed Mother,” Borsage relates. And as for the quality of this love letter, I would place Bradley in the same high category as Blessed Columba Marmion for his combination of brevity and exquisite profundity.

Before he died, Father asked Betty to promise him that she would get these meditations published because he believed that they would, with the help of our Blessed Mother, lead many souls back to Jesus. After much effort, she finally found the right home with Angelico Press, which is why they are now seeing the light of day twelve years after Bradley’s death. And as one has come to expect from Angelico, the volume is beautiful: handsomely bound, finely illustrated, and elegantly typeset.

In addition to the rich meditations on the lives of Our Lady and Our Lord, Our Lady’s Psalter includes an introduction by Father Bradley entitled “Modern Day Popes and the Holy Rosary: A Quest for Peace in the World.” As the subtitle suggests, Bradley canvases every Pontiff’s praise of the rosary from Leo XIII to Francis, and the one common theme he finds is the teaching that praying the rosary is essential to bringing peace to the modern world. To me, this was a revelation, as I tend to think of the rosary as a weapon against the devil on a personal and familial level, not as a fulcrum to peace on earth. Father Bradley’s introduction added international urgency to my daily recitation.

Our Lady’s Psalter affects everyone who reads it. I have learned from the publisher of Angelico Press that all the editors who worked on the manuscript were moved by its beauty and that she, the publisher, added these readings to her daily rosary. Online reviews show a similar impact:

What a gift this book has been for me! Father Bradley has inspired me to begin praying the Rosary again.

[This book] is really helping my prayer life… I find my mind and soul deeply reflecting on the words Father has written. Yes, these meditations were truly inspired by the Holy Spirit

Father Robert I. Bradley died on December 20, 2013, at the Jesuit Center in Los Gatos, California at the age of 89. One hour later, he appeared to one of his many nieces, having possibly spent that hour, and that hour only, in Purgatory. His niece woke up and saw Father at the foot of her bed dressed in his black clerics. “Father Bobby, what are you doing here?” she asked. “You’re supposed to be in California.” He answered, “My body is in California, but I’m in Heaven, and it’s very beautiful and peaceful here.” Then he disappeared. Five hours later, she received a call informing her that her uncle had passed. The niece, who had grown lukewarm in her faith, began going to daily Mass after that.

Later that same day Father Bradley appeared to his niece Betty, the editor of Our Lady’s Psalter, as she was driving her car. Stopped at an intersection, Betty saw two men on donkeys in the middle of the crossing: Saint Joseph on a brown donkey and Father Bradley, dressed in white, on a white donkey. Both smiled at her before disappearing into thin air. When Betty got home, the phone was ringing. Answering it, she learned that her uncle had died hours earlier. Betty speculates that the vision involved donkeys because Father Bradley’s little brother Don died at the age of three from a burst appendix in 1932 on the Feast of the Holy Innocents, but before passing away, Don told his parents that Saint Joseph had visited him and told him he was taking him to Heaven to ride on his donkey.

Quite the family, and quite the man. I am confident that Our Lady’s Psalter will have the same effect on your heart and the hearts of your loved ones as a direct visit from this holy priest.

This review originally appeared in The Latin Mass magazine 34:4 (Christmas 2025), pp. 68-69. Many thanks to its editors for allowing its publication here.

Notes

[1] Hickson, Robert. “Remembering Father Robert Bradley, S.J. and His Distinctive Manner of Prudence.” Catholicism.org, February 8, 2014. Retrieved August 17, 2025 from https://catholicism.org/remembering-fr-bradley.html, p. 3.

[2] Hickson, p. 1.

The Feast of St Joseph 2026

The Angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, fear not to take Mary as thy wife; for that which is conceived in Her is of the Holy Spirit; and She shall bear a Son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus.’ (The fifth antiphon of First Vespers of St Joseph, taken from the Gospel of the feast, Matthew 1, 18-21.)

St Joseph and the Christ Child, ca. 1617, by the workshop of Jan Breughel the Elder (1568-1625). Within the garland, five oval medallions represent the five Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary, beginning with the Annunciation at the upper left, and running clockwise.

Aña Angelus Dómini appáruit Joseph, dicens, ‘Joseph, fili David, noli timére accípere Maríam cónjugem tuam; quod enim in ea natum est, de Spíritu Sancto est: pariet autem fíilium, et vocábis nomen ejus Jesum.’

Thanks to an old friend, Dom Aelred Hawker of St Michael’s Abbey in Farnborough, England, for sharing these lovely pictures of the church’s altar of St Joseph decorated for today’s feast. The abbey is also England’s national shrine of St Joseph.

Farnborough was founded by the last French empress, Eugénie, the Spanish wife of the last emperor, Napoleon III, while she was living in exile in England, partly to serve as a mausoleum for her husband and son. These candlestick are decorated with the colors of the French monarchy and the fleurs-de-lys of their emblem. 

Another Chant for the Byzantine Liturgy of the Presanctified

Now the powers of heaven invisibly worship with us, for behold, the King of Glory entereth! Behold, the mystical sacrifice, being perfected, is carried forth in triumph. With faith and love, let us come forth, that we may become partakers of eternal life, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!

Нынѣ Силы Небесныѧ съ нами невидимо служать, се бо входитъ Царь Славы: се Жертва тайнаѧ совершена дориноситсѧ. Вѣрою и любовию приступимъ, да причастницы жизни вѣчныѧ будемъ. Аллилуїа, аллилуїа, аллилуїа.

Earlier this month, I posted a setting of Psalm 140, “Let my prayer rise as incense etc.”, composed for the Byzantine Liturgy of the Presanctified gifts, along with a brief description of the first part of the ceremony. For the second part, the Litany of Fervent Supplication and special litanies for the catechumens are said, after which the royal doors are opened. The first part of the chant above is sung, then the Presanctified gifts are carried out the side-door, and back through the royal doors, followed by the second part (“With faith and love...”). This chant, therefore, replaces the hymn “We who mystically represent the Cherubim,” which is sung at the Divine Liturgy as the bread and wine are brought to the altar. The rest of the service is basically identical to the regular order of the Divine Liturgy.

Here is the Greek version:

Νῦν αἱ δυνάμεις τῶν οὐρανῶν σὺν ἡμῖν ἀοράτως λατρεύουσιν· ἰδοὺ γὰρ εἰσπορεύεται ὁ Βασιλεὺς τῆς δόξης. Ἰδοὺ θυσία μυστικὴ τετελειωμένη δορυφορεῖται· πίστει καὶ πόθῳ προσέλθωμεν, ἵνα μέτοχοι ζωῆς ἀιωνίου γενώμεθα. Ἀλληλούϊα, Ἀλληλούϊα, Ἀλληλούϊα.

I also make note here of two particularly beautiful prayers which are said in this second part of the service. The first of these is read silently by the celebrating priest while the deacon chants the litany that leads into the Lord’s Prayer.

“O God of ineffable and unseen mysteries, with whom are the hidden treasures of wisdom and knowledge, who did reveal the service of this liturgy to us, and appointed us hast appointed us sinners through Thy great love for mankind, to offer unto Thee gifts and sacrifices for our sins and for the deeds of ignorance of the people: do Thou Thyself, unseen King, who dost great and inscrutable things, glorious and extraordinary, of which there is no number, look upon us, Thy unworthy servants, who stand at this Thy holy altar as if at Thy cherubic throne, upon which rests Thy only-begotten Son and our God in the dread mysteries set forth thereon; and having delivered us and Thy faithful people from every impurity, sanctify all our souls and bodies with the sanctification which cannot be taken away, so that, partaking of these divine, hallowed things with a pure conscience, with an unashamed face, and with an illuminated heart, and being enlivened by them, we may be united to Christ Himself, our true God, who said, ‘He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood, abideth in me, and I in him,’ so that as Thy Word, O Lord, dwelleth in us and sojourneth among us, we may become a temple of Thy all-holy and adorable Spirit, redeemed from every wile of the devil, done either by deed or word or thought, and may obtain the good things promised to us with all Thy saints who from the beginning have been well-pleasing to Thee.”

The second prayer, said just before dismissal at the end of the rite, is known as “the prayer behind the ambo” (ὀπισθάμβωνος εὐχή in Greek, молитва заамвоннаѧ in Church Slavonic), because in Hagia Sophia, it was said by a priest who exited the main sanctuary and recited it while standing behind the great ambo in the nave. (It is seen in this digital reconstruction of the Great Church at about 3:55.)

This prayer originally could vary according to the liturgical occasion, and often included references to the day’s Gospel; many texts of it are preserved in ancient manuscripts. It is now reduced to only two forms, one which is said at the Eucharistic liturgy, and the other at the liturgy of the Presanctified, as follows.

“O Master almighty, who made all creation in wisdom, who through Thy ineffable providence and great goodness hast brought us to these all-revered days for the purification of souls and bodies, for the restraint of passions, for hope of resurrection, who during the forty days didst hand over to Thy servant Moses the tablets (of the Law), letters divinely carved: grant also to us, o good one, to fight the good fight, to complete the course of the fast, to preserve the faith unchanged, to crush the heads of the invisible serpents, to shine forth as victors over sin, and without condemnation to attain unto and worship the Holy Resurrection. For blessed and glorified is Thy all-honorable and magnificent name, of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.”

Altar Cards and Portable Altars from Spanish Cathedrals

Given the ecclesiastical climate and the general lack of support for traditional liturgy in Spain, I was not prepared to see, when I visited a number of cities there last July, so many Tridentine altar cards left out on display, as it were. Granted, one might say that they are left there out of sheer inertia, or perhaps because someone thinks they are pretty, but it’s gratifying to notice these artifacts of continuity, which stand as concrete reminders of a tradition lost to these altars for now, but someday reclaimable.

Thus, in the cathedral of Sevilla, we have a side chapel in honor of St. Gregory the Great (you can see in the large center panel the famous scene of his miracle, one of the most frequently depicted subjects in Catholic sacred art), where the Last Gospel and Lavabo cards stand to left and right, while the main card is placed elsewhere in the chapel (note the handsome woodwork):

Already here, beneath the main reredos, we can see a feature that will recur through the churches of Spain: the words of consecration carved into wood or metal and placed right above the center of the altar, as if to ensure that, whatever else may be the case, these essential words are always available to the celebrant, and stand permanently as a verbal testimony to the mystery of transubstantiation.

The same cathedral shows us, elsewhere, a clear example in silver:

Now we come to the famous cathedral of Cordoba, a mosque converted into a cathedral beginning in 1236 (the Christians of the city claim that, prior to the mosque, there was a Visigothic church at the same location). One of the side chapels displays the aforementioned words, this time surrounded by gilt wooden swirls:

Another chapel retains the altar cards in their proper place:

Continue Reading this Article. . .

A Model Schema for Liturgical Art for All Catholic Churches

The Exciting and Beautiful Re-Ordering of St Mary’s Cathedral, Aberdeen, Scotland

All Roman Catholics should take note of what is happening at St Mary’s Cathedral in Aberdeen: the creation of a sacred space where art and architecture work together with a deep understanding of how both support worship. Drawing on both the Roman and Byzantine traditions, the reordering integrates imagery, materials, and form into a single Eucharistic vision – one rooted in the Church’s heritage, yet particular to its place. When complete, the harmony achieved here will, I believe, make St Mary’s a destination of pilgrimage for generations, and a model that churches of the Roman Rite elsewhere would do well to study closely.

Above: mock-ups of the proposed re-ordering; below: the cathedral as it is now.

This major project builds on Martin Earle’s award-winning Crucifixion, and establishes a well-conceived template for the layout of sacred art that could serve for churches of the Roman Rite elsewhere. The result is a proposal that is a harmony of imagery, form, and materials, rooted in the Church’s ancient traditions, yet particular to its place.

Read more about this project, and see images of the proposed art and reordering, at www.beautyforgod.org. The images of the proposed reordering come from this website. The key elements are:

• A redesigned altar, ambo (lectern), and bishop’s chair crafted from Scottish elm and stone

• A new tabernacle in wood, metal, and stone as the devotional focal point behind the altar

• A new painted mural on the East Wall by award-winning artist Martin Earle

• A new sanctuary floor with colored granite from across North-East Scotland

• Conservation of the Rose Window

I came to know Bishop Hugh of Aberdeen, who commissioned this work, during his years as abbot of Pluscarden, a community of Catholic Benedictine monks which is in the diocese of Aberdeen, and of which I am an oblate. (The abbey has a daughter house in Petersham, Massachusetts, also named St Mary’s.) Abbot Hugh was called to the episcopate by Pope Benedict in 2011. I am delighted to see what he has planned here. Many years ago, he commissioned a double-sided San Damiano crucifixion from me, which still hangs in the abbey. More recently, when he asked me to repeat the commission for St Mary’s in Aberdeen, I told him I was unable to take it on, but recommended Martin Earle as the best artist I know for such a commission. And what a spectacular job he did!

Many of you will already know Martin’s work (martinearle.com). He is an English Catholic iconographer who works in fresco, egg tempera, gilding, wood and stone carving, and mosaic. The nine-foot hanging Crucifix he completed for St Mary’s – the first phase of this grand vision – was awarded the Grand Prize in the Catholic Art Institute’s international sacred art competition in Chicago in 2023. Phase 2 now builds upon that foundation.

When I talked to Martin about it, he was at pains to emphasize how a team is working together on this project. First of all, he spoke of Bishop Hugh’s vision and initiative in bringing it about. Then Martin worked with fellow UK artist Jim Blackstone (dunstanicons.com, another old friend of the Scala Foundation), on the design of the wall painting. He also told me how important it was to work closely with the architect, David Chouman (dcarchitect.co.uk), who leads and coordinates all the moving parts in the project, and even the stone masons who worked hard to comb the diocese for suitable and interesting stone to create the inlaid pattern work on the floor, altar, and ambo.

Emphasizing the team is important. In a project like this, all these people contribute creatively to the final outcome. The lesson here is that such a commission is rarely simply the vision of one person.

At the heart of the new composition on the east wall behind the altar will be a large-scale wall painting of Pentecost. The design creates a single vertical axis that visually connects Christ on the cross, Our Lady, the tabernacle, and the altar, which represents the Body of Christ and bears the Agnus Dei on its front face. High up on the wall, the Trinitarian symbolism of the design at the center of the rose window crowns the whole. Notice how the arc of the arrangement of the Apostles echoes that of the lower curve of the rose window, creating a resonance between the artistic and architectural forms. The tabernacle doors bear the image of the Annunciation, echoing, albeit on a smaller scale, the typical imagery of the Royal Doors of the iconostasis in the Byzantine tradition, which are opened during the Divine Liturgy to reveal the altar. A procession of sheep moves toward the tabernacle, recalling the famous mosaic program at San Clemente in Rome, and integrating naturally with the Agnus Dei below it on the front of the altar.

Considering the composition in more detail (and drawing heavily here on the write up on the website, beautyforgod.org), we begin to see how it mirrors the Liturgy itself – making visible what happens invisibly when the Word is proclaimed, and the Eucharist is celebrated. We begin with the Church on earth, gathered at Pentecost: Mary at the center, the Apostles around her, the descent of the Spirit visually linked to the Crucifix above the altar, and Christ’s final giving up of his Spirit. Moving upward, we see the heavenly liturgy: the Lamb of God standing on the mountain from which flow the four rivers of Paradise, angels ministering around him, and the hand of the Father blessing from above. The depiction of the Lamb on the heavenly mountain is reminiscent of the Ghent Altarpiece, where the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb unites the heavenly and earthly realms in a single act of worship. By such visual devices, the point is made By such visual devices, the point is made that the earthly liturgy does not stand alone – it is the Church’s participation in the ideal and unceasing worship of her heavenly worship, so that what is offered at the altar below and what is offered before the Throne above are not two acts of worship but one: the single, unbroken sacrifice of the whole Church, in heaven and on earth..

The Prophets and Apostles frame this mystery. Isaiah receives the burning coal; Ezekiel eats the scroll – each prefiguring the Eucharist and the proclaimed Word. Paul and John carry the mission forward after Pentecost, and one could say that rivers of grace flow through their books, nourishing the faithful as the lambs below process toward the tabernacle.

A word about the images: do not be misled by the light, pastel tones of the watercolor mockup. Martin’s finished palette will be rich and vibrant. However, the description of form will be by color rather than by tonal contrast. The Crucifixion, which is intended to be at the heart of the schema, uses both color and tonal contrast. To explain, imagine a grayscale photo of the final color image. The grayscale image of the painting that uses tonal contrast as well as color contrast will be discernible as a black-and-white photo; whereas the greyscale image of the painting that relies on color contrast alone will not, so red and blue, for example, will be barely distinguishable in the black-and-white version. In this context, as Martin told me, the image on the east wall will rely “more towards a Castelseprio style, where forms are gently described and modeled using contrasting cool and warm colors (rather than leaning into tone). And not all forms will be outlined with dark lines. The idea is that the east wall will set off, rather than overwhelm, the cross, which will remain the central image of the sanctuary, with the altar the true axis mundi that connects heaven and earth. All other images in the sanctuary are derived from and direct us to the meaning of the cross and altar.”

An Italo-Byzantine fresco of Christ from perhaps the 9th century. AD) Image from Wikimedia Commons by Sailko, CC BY 3.0.

What emerges, taken as a whole, is a layout that is distinctly Roman and Eucharistic in its logic, yet one that will be familiar to anyone who has prayed before the image program of a Byzantine Catholic or Orthodox church, in which we see angels, prophets, apostles, Our Lady and Our Lord (both in glory and suffering), ordered to the same theological and liturgical principles. This makes the design not merely an image appropriate for Aberdeen, but also genuinely Catholic in the fullest sense.

The reordering also addresses the architecture itself. The bishop’s cathedra will be moved from its current position in the center. The floor will be laid in different colors of Aberdeen granite, a fitting material for a city known as the Granite City, and one that speaks also of the permanence of the Rock upon which the Church itself is built.

When complete, the harmony of art and architecture at St Mary’s will, I believe, make the cathedral a worthy site of artistic pilgrimage for generations.

As a postscript, for those who think that the strong visual emphasis on Christ suffering on the cross is much more a Roman than a Byzantine presentation: it is true that the traditional schema of the Eastern iconostasis plays down emphasis of Christ on the cross visually is the sense that it is of a small size compared to what we seen in Roman Rite churches. However, the cross is typically placed centrally and at the apex of the iconostasis, thereby ordering the whole schema in the mystery of redemption. Further, the emphasis in the liturgy on the importance of the cross in our redemption is stressed very strongly in other ways: by playing down the size of the cross visually, the impact of the sacrifice, the passion, death, and resurrection as re-presented on the altar becomes stronger; and through the repetition of troparia (liturgical hymns that emphasize the Holy Cross. Both approaches are sound, differing in emphasis in the means by which the same end is achieved.

I am also reminded of the brilliant book by the Chair of Theology at Notre Dame University, Khaled Anatolious, who is Melkite Catholic (one of the Byzantine Catholic churches), called Deification Through the Cross: An Eastern Christian Theology of Salvation.

A Special Mass for a Miracle of St Philip Neri

Among the many miracles worked by St Philip Neri in his lifetime was the raising to life of Paolo Massimo, the 14-year old son of his friend Prince Fabrizio Massimo, on March 16, 1583. St Philip had tended the boy spiritually during his long illness, and was sent for when it became clear that he was about to die. He was then living fairly close by at the church of San Girolamo della Carità, but he was celebrating Mass when the messenger arrived, and the boy died before he could finish and be informed. Coming to the Palazzo Massimo, he prayed at the boy’s bedside, sprinkled holy water on his face, and, like the Prophet Elijah, breathed upon his face. He then called his name loudly twice, and Paolo Massimo returned to life.

On seeing his spiritual father at his bedside, the boy asked to confess a sin that he had forgotten; St Philip heard his confession and absolved him of his sins. His family were then allowed back into the room, and witnessed the boy conversing with St Philip for a half an hour, as if he were in perfect health. Paolo’s mother and sister had died a few years earlier, and so St Philip asked him if he were now willing to die, at which the boy replied that he wished to see his mother and sister in Paradise. St Philip then said to him, “Go, and be blessed, and pray to God for me,” at which Paolo Massimo died peacefully in his arms.

In commemoration of this miracle, a special feast is normally celebrated each year on March 16 in the chapel of the Palazzo Massimo, which is still owned and lived in by the same family, and opened to the public on this one day of the year. (This year, however, the building is undergoing a major renovation, and the whole event had to be canceled.) Priests celebrate Mass all morning long at one of the chapel’s three altars, and a main Mass is said later in the morning at the main altar, usually by a cardinal. A proper Mass for the feast was granted by Bl. Pope Pius IX at the behest of Francesco Cardinal Massimo, a member of the family. Here are photographs of the Missal supplement with the proper Mass of the day, taken several years ago by a friend of mine, Mr John Egan.

Introit (Ps. 129) Out of the depths I have cried to thee, O Lord: Lord, hear my prayer. Let thy ears be attentive to the prayer of Thy servant. V. Because with the Lord there is mercy: and with him plentiful redemption. Glory be. Out of the depths.

The Prayer O God, who give us to rejoice by the merits and intercession of Blessed Philip, Thy confessor, grant in Thy mercy that we who through him ask Thy benefits, may obtain the gift of Thy grace. Through our Lord etc.

The Epistle is taken from Mass of Thursday of the Fourth Week of Lent, 4 Kings 4, 25-38, in which the Prophet Elisha raises from the dead the son of the Sunamite woman.

The Gradual (Ps. 70) O Lord, I will be mindful of thy justice alone. Thou hast taught me, O God, from my youth: and unto old age and grey hairs, O God, forsake me not. V. By thee have I been confirmed from the womb: from my mother' s womb thou art my protector. Of thee shall I continually sing.

The Tract (also from Ps. 70, but here incorrectly not labelled separately from the Gradual.) I am become unto many as a wonder, and Thou a strong helper; let my mouth be filled with Thy praise, that I may sing thy glory. V. But I will always hope; and will add to all thy praise. V. Thou hast taught me, O God, from my youth: and till now I will declare Thy wonderful works, until I show forth Thy arm to all the generation that is to come.

The Gospel is Luke 7, 11-16, the raising of the widow of Naim’s son, taken from the same Mass as the Epistle.

The Offertory (Luke 20) Now that the dead rise again, even Moses showeth, at the bush, when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. But He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for all live unto Him.

The Secret God, who establish and rule Thy people, though these offerings take away the sins by which it is assailed; that ever pleasing unto Thee by the prayers of Blessed Philip, it may also secure under Thy defense. Through our Lord etc.

The Preface (as stated in the decree below, this proper preface for St Philip was first granted to the Congregation of the Oratory in the Kingdom of Spain in 1803.) Truly it is worthy and just ... eternal God, who by the gifts of Thy grace, made the Blessed Philip to burn with the fire of love. And he, inflamed with this ineffable charity, established a new congregation for the profit of souls, and fulfilled in his works the saving counsels which he gave to others. We therefore beseech Thy clemency, that Thou give us joy in his festivity, drive us on by the example of his holy life, teach us by word of his preaching, and protect us by his pleasing supplication. And therefore with the Angels etc.

The Communion (Ps. 40) But do thou, O Lord, have mercy on me, and raise me up again: and I will requite them. By this I know, that thou hast had a good will for me: because my enemy shall not rejoice over me.

The Postcommunion May the ears of Thy mercy be open, o Lord, to the prayers of Thy supplicants; and that Thou may grant what they desire to those who ask, at the intercession of Blessed Philip Thy Confessor, cause them to ask for those thing that please Thee. Through our Lord etc.

The decree by which permission was given in 1846 to celebrate the Mass commemorating the miracle.

Abp Cordileone Celebrates a Pontifical High Mass in Croatia

During a recent visit to Croatia, His Excellency Salvatore Cordileone, archbishop of San Francisco, celebrated a Pontifical High Mass in the traditional rite at the church of St Blaise in Zagreb, for the feast of St Thomas Aquinas. This was the first such Mass celebrated in Croatia since the post-Conciliar liturgical reform. His Excellency also celebrated two prelatitial Masses, one at the same church on the following day, and another the previous day at the church of the Holy Trinity in Krašić. He also attended a liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts in the Greek-Catholic co-cathedral of Ss Cyril and Methodius. Our thanks to the organizers, the Benedictus Society (FIUV Croatia), for sharing these photos with us.

Anyone who has ever served this rite of Mass knows that it requires a fair amount of organizing and rehearsal to do properly; the reward is, of course, a ceremony which truly impresses upon one, forcibly and unmistakably, the power and majesty of what the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass really is. We can all take encouragement once again from the fact that none of the people who are making the effort and commitment to put this together are old enough to be doing so from any sense of “nostalgia”; what we see here is a true and sincere love for the richness of our Catholic liturgical tradition. Feliciter!

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The Feast of St Longinus

On March 15th, the Roman Martyrology commemorates St Longinus, who is traditionally said to be the soldier who pierced the Lord’s side with a lance on the Cross (John 19, 34), as well as the centurion who said “Truly, this man was the Son of God.” (Matthew 27, 54) His legend states that he suffered from a malady of the eyes, which was healed when the some of the blood that came forth from the Savior’s side touched him. The apocryphal “Letters between Pilate and Herod” also claim that he was one of the guards at Christ’s tomb, and not only witnessed the Resurrection, but spoke with the Lord Himself shortly afterwards. After preaching the Gospel and living a monastic life near Caesarea of Cappadocia (later the see of St Basil the Great), he was martyred by beheading.

An illustration from a Syriac Gospel book now kept at the Laurentian Library in Florence, known from the name of the scribe as the Rabula Gospels, dated 586 A.D. The name “Longinos” is written in Greek over the soldier on the left with the lance, but this may be an addition by a later hand. 

There are a great many variants to the story, which cannot be regarded as a reliable hagiography. The city of Lanciano in the Italian region of the Abruzzi claims him as a native son, and that his martyrdom took place there instead. The city of Mantua in Lombardy, birthplace of the poet Virgil, claims that he preached in that region, and was martyred there, and furthermore, that he brought to that city relics of the Lord’s Precious Blood, and the sponge which was used to give Him vinegar during the Passion. These are now kept in the crypt of the basilica of St Andrew, which was begun by the famous Renaissance architect Leon Battista Alberti in 1472, but only completed in 1732. Here are some photos of the church from Nicola de’ Grandi.

The chapel of St Longinus. The tomb on the left contains his relics, that on the right, some of the relics of St Gregory Nazianzen, given to Mantua by Matilda of Canossa. (Detailed photos below)

The story is told that the relics of Christ’s Blood brought to Mantua by St Longinus were hidden for safekeeping by Longinus himself, and discovered in 804 when St Andrew the Apostle appeared to someone to reveal their location. (Similar stories are told about many of the famous and more improbable relics of the Middle Ages.) The rediscovery of the relics is here depicted by Giulio Romano, a disciple of Raphael who did an enormous amount of work in Mantua under the Gonzaga dukes; the Crucifixion scene below is also his.

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Laetare Sunday 2026

Qui confídunt in Dómino, sicut mons Sion: non commovébitur in aeternum, qui hábitat in Jerúsalem. V. Montes in circúitu ejus, et Dóminus in circúitu pópuli sui, ex hoc nunc et usque in sáeculum. (The Tract of Laetare Sunday, Psalm 124, 1-2)

Tract They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Sion: he shall not be moved for ever that dwelleth in Jerusalem. V. Mountains are round about it: so the Lord is round about his people from henceforth now and for ever. (There is a particularly good word-painting effect in this tract, in the way the notes are arranged to rise and fall on the word “mountains”.)

The same text set as a very nice motet by the Slovene composer Jacob Handl (1550-91), also known as Jacobus Gallus.