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Driving on Liturgical Interstate 80Peter Kwasniewski
Grand Teton, WY (source) - you won’t see this from Route 80Metaphors are often the best way to grapple with that which is too large or too complex for pure conceptual analysis, or where a full account risks being tedious in its details. A well-chosen metaphor cuts to the heart of the matter. When I first read Graham Greene’s novel The Power and th...

Interesting Saints on May 13thGregory DiPippo
May 13th is now occupied by two different feasts on the general calendar, one in the Ordinary Form, and one in the Extraordinary Form. For most of the history of the Roman Rite, it was not occupied by any feast of general observance at all, but an interesting collection of local feasts and observances is kept on this date. St Robert Bellarmine, t...

Eastward Ho! How the Western Church Looked to Eastern Iconography For Inspiration in Sacred ArtDavid Clayton
If I had been writing about sacred art 100 years ago for a Catholic readership, I would have ignored entirely any reference to traditional Byzantine art. Until the middle of the last century, the Roman Catholic world was largely unaware of or, at the very least, uninterested in Byzantine iconography. Anyone who knew about this style was as likely a...

A History of the Popes Named Leo, Part 1: Introduction, and St Leo I Gregory DiPippo
The ancient Romans had a saying, “Nomen est omen – a name is a sign”, i.e., a presage about the person who bears it. Of course, this is not always or in all ways true; during my very sleepy teenage years, my mother used to joke that Gregory, which derives from the Greek word for “watchful”, was about as inappropriate a name as they come. But it is ...

Byzantine Vespers for the 1,700th Anniversary of the Council of Nicea, May 31, in Philadelphia Gregory DiPippo
The Durandus Institute for Sacred Liturgy & Music is pleased to announce its first collaboration on a liturgical event in the Byzantine Rite. On Saturday, May 31 – the eve of the seventh Sunday of Pascha and the Sunday of the Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council – we will be praying a Great Vespers & Lytia at the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic...

The Easter Gospels of the Byzantine RiteGregory DiPippo
At the Divine Liturgy of Easter Sunday, the Byzantine Rite does not read one of the various Gospel accounts of the Resurrection, but rather, the Prologue of the Gospel of St John, 1, 1-17. (This is three verses longer than the Roman version read at the day Mass of Christmas, and at the conclusion of almost every Mass.) There are several reasons fo...

A Litany for the New PopePeter Kwasniewski
With our new pope, Leo XIV, we might consider praying this beautiful litany originating from Silverstream Priory, invoking every canonized or beatified pope in the history of the Church. The Litany is divided up according to days, with repeated opening and closing sections.(At the bottom of this post is a 4-page printed version, if anyone prefers...

St Antoninus of FlorenceGregory DiPippo
The Dominican Order celebrates quite a few of its own Saints within a very short period in late April and early May. On the traditional calendar, St Agnes of Montepulciano is kept on April 20th, Peter Martyr on the 29th, Catherine of Siena on the 30th, Pope Pius V on May 5th, and St Antoninus of Florence on the 10th. In the post-Conciliar Rite, Pe...

Prayers for Pope LeoGregory DiPippo
We are glad to share this image from Pax inter Spinas, the printing house of the Monastère Saint-Benoît in Brignole, France, with the traditional prayers for the Pope said at Benediction and other occasions, and the name of the newly elected Leo XIV added in its proper place to the “Oremus pro Pontifice nostro” and in the collect.I make bold to sha...

The Suscipe Sancta TrinitasMichael P. Foley
Lost in Translation #125 After the lavabo, the priest goes to the middle of the altar, looks up to Heaven, and, bowing, asks the Triune God to receive his entire offering: Súscipe, sancta Trínitas, hanc oblatiónem, quam tibi offérimus ob memoriam passiónis, resurrectiónis, et ascensiónis Jesu Christi, Dómini nostri, et in honórem beátae Maríae s...

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