Celebrate Epiphany as it is meant to be!

It is absurd that in the nervous disorder, this most ancient feast is celebrated as early as January 2 and as late as January 7.

You can do something about it.

The Holy Name of Jesus - Blasphemed by the world, disregarded by the Modernist Church

According to the wreckers and the Pope who aided and abetted these criminals - Paul VI, today is either the Second Sunday after Christmas or where the Bishops think you're too lazy to go to Mass on the actual Epiphany, the Twelfth Day of Christmas on January 6, it is the transferred Epiphany. The joke of this is that it can be as early as January 2 and, as it will be in 2017, on January 7, actually the day after the actual date of Epiphany.

Confused yet?

Well, it is also January 3, which means that in the Ordinary Form of the Mass according to the same wrecked Missal of Paul VI, it is the Holy Name of Jesus but it is an Optional Memorial, if January 3 was to fall on a day other than Sunday. Now, some more confusion? It was actually not part of the Missal of Paul VI, he did not seem to care enough about this Feast and approved the Bugnini calendar that displaced it all together. When Pope St. John Paul II issued the revised Roman Missal requiring the proper translation, he restored this Feast to the appointed day of January 3 as the "Optional Memorial." Imagine that, an Optional Memorial on the Holy Name of Jesus! Well, at least it is in the Missal in two languages at least, Latin and English. Friends, the rest of the world has still not implemented the Roman Missal 2002 of John Paul II which restored this and other Feasts and was required to be properly translated under his authority as expressed in Liturgiam Authenticum. Imagine, in Italian, Spanish, French, German and so on, this Feast to the Holy Name does not exist in their calendar or Missal!

Now, if you have escaped all of the liturgical insanity described above and you follow according to the Roman Missal of 1962, the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, the Sunday after the Octave and before Epiphany, is the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus, which coincidentally, is January 3 this year and is the same in the OF, except it is displaced by either the Second Sunday after Christmas or Epiphany of the Lord.

On the Octave Day of Christmas - the Circumcision of the Lord in the EF and Mary, Mother of God in the OF, the Gospel was about Our Blessed Lord being taken to the Temple on the 8th day for his naming and circumcision. Therefore, it was natural that the Church would take this "empty" Sunday and use it to exalt His Most Holy Name.

Some day, this will all get fixed. One calendar, one Lectionary and a reformed Ordinary Form Missal which would be essentially what the Ordinariate now has - the "Tridentine Mass" in English with a restoration of these great Feasts and end to the transfer to Sunday of at least Epiphany and Ascension, a return to the Pentecost Octave (OF) and the lost Epiphany Octave (EF and OF) and a restoration of the Gesima Sundays, Rogations and Embers.

Let us pray that it be sooner rather than later. In the meantime, read and listen below what they Paul VI stole from you.

The Office Hymn for today is Jesu Dulcis Memoria dating from the 12th century and ascribed to the prolific hymn writer, St. Bernard of Clariveaux.

IESU, dulcis memoria,

Jesu the very thought of  Thee,

dans vera cordis gaudia,

with sweetness fills my breast,

sed super mel et omnia,        

but sweeter far Thy face to see,

eius dulcis praesentia. 

and in Thy presence rest.

Nil canitur suavius, 

Nor voice can sing, nor heart can frame,

nil auditur iucundius, 

nor can the memory find

nil cogitatur dulcius,   

a sweeter sound than Thy blest Name,

quam Iesus Dei Filius. 

O Saviour of mankind!

Iesu, spes paenitentibus,

O hope of every contrite heart

quam pius es petentibus!

O joy of all the meek,

quam bonus te quaerentibus!

to those who fall, how kind Thou art!

sed quid invenientibus?

how good to those who seek!

Nec lingua valet dicere, 

But what to those who find? 

nec littera exprimere: 

Ah this nor tongue nor pen can show:

expertus potest credere,

the love of Jesus, what it is

quid sit Iesum diligere.  

none but His loved ones know.

Sis, Iesu, nostrum gaudium,

Jesu, our only joy be Thou,

qui es futurus praemium:

As Thou our prize wilt be:

sit nostra in te gloria,

Jesu, be Thou our glory now,

per cuncta semper saecula.

Forever through eternity.

Amen.    

                         

Jorge Bergoglio "presumes" Jesus had to "beg forgiveness." Was the Holy Family "irregular" too?

The Feast of the Holy Family was long celebrated in the Coptic Church. Egypt, of course, was a Christian country from apostolic times long before it was overrun by the Mohammedans and tragically arabised, something that happened to my own ancestral land of Lebanon. Some day, the Lord and Our Lady and St. Joseph will free this suffering people in gratitude for the refuge they gave the Holy Family. 

A cult had been established in Quebec and a Confraternity established by Saint François de Laval, One could say that this feast is a contribution of Quebec and Canada to the universal calendar. In the Roman Church, it is a relatively new Feast from the 1920's and was appointed to the First Sunday after Epiphany whose Mass already contained the Gospel of the Child Jesus in the Temple and the beautiful communion antiphon. The remaining Proper was changed and the historical Mass of the First Sunday after Epiphany is now celebrated on the next ferial day. The liturgical wreckers of the Novus Ordo changed the date to the Sunday within the Octave, thus we have Jesus as 12 before he is circumcised and named on the 8th day. Whatever! The liturgy is not intended to always be chronological, except; it is an "Octave" when liturgical time stops and a Feast is prolonged, but what did the liturgical wreckers care about these liturgical nuances. By the way, the feast of Mary, the Mother of God was/is celebrated in the traditional calendar but in September and is a commemoration of the declaration of Her as Theotokos - the God-bearer from where we get, Mother of God! There was no justification for changing the date or downplaying the Circumcision of the Lord. The silliness of these reformers is that the Gospel, remains the same - the circumcision!

Those wreckers can only be topped by Jorge Bergoglio's latest fantasy. I say "Bergoglio" because as I wrote previously, when he is in accord with tradition he is Pope Francis, when he breaks into one of his off the cuffs or insults or theological nuttiness, he is Jorge Bergoglio. 

Before considering what he said, let us consider this. 

Mary and Joseph knew exactly who their Son was. They knew he was God come into the world in the Flesh. Mary understood this from the very beginning and it was made clear to Joseph. There is much that we do not know that the angel told St. Joseph, we know he was told not to "be afraid." There was no doubt, much, much more.  

Consider this. How do we know what the Gospel of Luke tells us about the Child Jesus in the Temple? Luke was not there, he may not even have been born. We know because Mary told him. The only living witness of these events was the mother of Jesus. She told Luke what happened in his early life. She told Matthew, Mark and John and the other Apostles of the important events in their lives. She was the "eyewitness." 

We have no place to assume what is not there in Scripture. Even if we are Pope! Nowhere, in history or homilies of the great Saints have I ever read the ingenious theological conclusion of Jorge Bergoglio as in this missive launched in last Sunday's homily. 

I'm surprised he didn't follow the Rosica philosophy that along with Jesus begging forgiveness, the Holy Family was also, irregular. Here is an excerpt of the homily given at St. Peter's on the Feast of the Holy Family:

At the end of that pilgrimage, Jesus returned to Nazareth and was obedient to his parents (cf. Lk 2:51). This image also contains a beautiful teaching about our families. A pilgrimage does not end when we arrive at our destination, but when we return home and resume our everyday lives, putting into practice the spiritual fruits of our experience. We know what Jesus did on that occasion. Instead of returning home with his family, he stayed in Jerusalem, in the Temple, causing great distress to Mary and Joseph who were unable to find him. For this little “escapade”, Jesus probably had to beg forgiveness of his parents. The Gospel doesn’t say this, but I believe that we can presume it. Mary’s question, moreover, contains a certain reproach, revealing the concern and anguish which she and Joseph felt. Returning home, Jesus surely remained close to them, as a sign of his complete affection and obedience. Moments like these become part of the pilgrimage of each family; the Lord transforms the moments into opportunities to grow, to ask for and to receive forgiveness, to show love and obedience.

So Jorge says that being "about his Father's business" was an "escapade. I guess he was galavanting around Jerusalem, too. Such a disobedient, uncaring child to do such a thing. If the Pope believes that Jesus needed to "beg forgiveness" then that means that he must have done wrong, that he committed a sin!

This is heresy.

Does he believe Jesus was God? After all, he still didn't genuflect at the altar after the elevations as I saw on Christmas Mass from St. Peter's.

Does this Pope believe that Jesus was God, or not? Does he believe He is truly present in the Holy Eucharist, or not?

He may be Pope, but he cannot be allowed to get away with this kind of non-magisterial theological and historical nuttiness that someone will believe and promote because he said it.

St. Thomas Becket knew what today is denied

St. Thomas Becket knew. In the Office of Readings, or Matins, for this Christmastide Feast, we read in his Letter, 

"As successors of the apostles, we hold the highest rank in our churches; we have accepted the responsibility of acting as Christ’s representatives on earth; we receive the honour belonging to that office, and enjoy the temporal benefits of our spiritual labours. It must therefore be our endeavour to destroy the reign of sin and death, and by nurturing faith and uprightness of life, to build up the Church of Christ into a holy temple in the Lord.

There are a great many bishops in the Church, but would to God we were the zealous teachers and pastors that we promised to be at our consecration, and still make profession of being."

I print below the latest Letter to Friends and Benefactors of the Society of St. Pius X in Canada. It refers to the scandalous statement by the Vatican that the Jews do not need conversion to Christ. This is the third time I have posted on this because I am so disgusted that our so-called Shepherds, would make such statements as they did a few weeks ago.

They deserve public rebuke for it. 

St. Thomas Becket knew.

So do those in the Society of  St. Pius X. 

It is my firm belief that the day will come when the Church will declare Blessed, Marcel Lefebvre and it will be fully realised that the Holy Spirit was acting through him to preserve the Faith from the those, the likes of which we have not seen for many decades, who know raise their heads with such heterodoxy.

http://sspx.ca/en/publications/newsletters/january-2016-district-superiors-letter

"There is no other Name under Heaven..."

Dear Friends and Benefactors,

2016 A.D. i.e., anno Domini – in the year of the Lord.   Let us never hesitate to tell people of the meaning of these two little Latin letters that remind us all year long of the historical coming of the Saviour.  The Freemasons in the French Revolution did try to put the years back to zero in their attempt to eliminate any reference to the Divine Saviour.  They failed, but others continue to attack the very fact that “the Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us” (Jo 1:14) and that “this day, is born to you a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord, in the city of David” (Lk 2:11).  The Incarnation is an objective, historical fact, -- “when the fullness of the time was come, God sent his Son, made of a woman” (Gal 4:4) --and with Our Lord’s death on the Cross, the Old Testament came to an end, as was proven by the veil of the Temple being torn from top to bottom.  When one writes a new will, it supersedes all previous wills.

Modernism, moral or doctrinal, puts subjective conscience above the need to submit to anything objective.  For modernists, just as your conscience replaces the objective moral law, similarly your ideas or religious feelings replace the objective Revelation. St Pius X called that “vital immanence”. “If you think it is true, then it is true for you, but don’t try to impose your truth on someone else.”

The Modernists at the Vatican produced more bad fruit on December 10 in a document called: “The gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Council’s document Nostra Aetate.

At the start, it is truly scandalous to publish such a document a mere two weeks before Christmas, and to take for its title a quote from the epistle to the Romans (11:29), an epistle all geared at proving that the Jews, in order to be saved, must accept Our Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior: “For the end of the law is Christ, unto justice to everyone that believeth” (10:4).  This document “is not a magisterial document or doctrinal teaching of the Catholic Church, but is a reflection prepared by the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews”.  But being published by the Vatican, signed by a cardinal (Koch), it will be quoted as an official document.  Here are the key blasphemies and heresies (what other theological notes apply here?) of this text:

• The New Testament does not supersede the Old Testament, the Old Testament has not been revoked; (nn.17, 23, 33) “33. In this covenant community it should be evident for Christians that the covenant that God concluded with Israel has never been revoked but remains valid on the basis of God’s unfailing faithfulness to his people.”
  ‐‐ But then, what about the tearing of the veil of the Holy of Holies by Angels: “And behold the veil of the temple was rent in two from the top even to the bottom” (Mt 27:51)? This tearing expressed the abrogation of the Old Law with the fulfilment of the redemption of the New Law (cf. Pirot Clamer, Cornelius a Lapide).
   
• The Jews do not have to believe in Our Lord to be saved: “36. From the Christian confession that there can be only one path to salvation, however, it does not in any way follow that the Jews are excluded from God’s salvation because they do not believe in Jesus Christ as the Messiah of Israel and the Son of God. Such a claim would find no support in the soteriological understanding of Saint Paul…”
  – But what about Our Lord’s words: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by Me” (Jo 14:6)?
   
• The Catholic Church has no mission to convert Jews (n.37, 40‐43) “The Church is therefore obliged to view evangelization to Jews, who believe in the one God, in a different manner from that to people of other religions and world views. In concrete terms this means that the Catholic Church neither conducts nor supports any specific institutional mission work directed towards Jews.” (n.40)
  – But what about: “And He said to them: Go ye into the whole world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be condemned” (Mk 16:15‐16)?
• 
  The Word of God is present to today’s Jews by means of the Torah, and to today’s Christians through Jesus Christ: “Whoever observes the Torah has life in its fullness. By observing the Torah the Jew receives a share in communion with God. In this regard, Pope Francis has stated: "The Christian confessions find their unity in Christ; Judaism finds its unity in the Torah. Christians believe that Jesus Christ is the Word of God made flesh in the world; for Jews the Word of God is present above all in the Torah.” (n.24).
  – But what about: “Jesus answered: Amen, amen, I say to thee, unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (Jo 3:5)?

This shocking document is one of the worst in the last 50 years! “The Christians believe this… The Jews believe that… whatever you like is fine!” The Word made flesh or the word of God in the Torah – these are word games in the mind and have no basis in historical reality.”

We object with all our soul and strength! At the start of this New Year “of the Lord”, we do profess that Our Lord Jesus Christ is the only Saviour, born in Bethlehem 2016 years ago, that He is the only way to Heaven, that without the shedding of His blood, without baptism, there is no redemption for anyone, Jews or Gentiles. “There is no other Name under Heaven whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

---

News of the District: Last November 27, Rev. Father Paul Greuter, from Nanaimo, BC, left us “strengthen with the rites of holy Mother Church”. Born in Holland, Father Greuter was ordained in Calgary on April 3, 1954, and, after some parish and hospital work, moved to Vernon, BC as early as 1973 in order to save his priesthood and to remain faithful to the mass of his ordination. He was the last (of perhaps 6) priest in Canada ordained before Vatican II who never said the new mass. Then on December 12, it was Fr. Stephen Somerville who died near Toronto after a long illness. Having been part of the ICEL team (International Commission on English in the Liturgy), he had the courage to renounce his work and come back to Tradition in 2002. May they rest in peace.

Father Daniel Couture
District Superior

In Rama was there a voice heard, weeping and great mourning; Rachel weeping for her children. Because they were no more.

As we rejoice in this Christmastide, we are reminded for the second time of those who gave their lives for Our Lord Jesus Christ. First, it was Stephen, the Protomartyr, who said as recorded in the Book of Acts

51"You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit! 52 Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him-- 53 you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it."

I dare say that St. Stephen would be scandalised by the Church of Christ's refusal to speak truth to the Jews today.

Stephen died for Christ. Now, we have the great feast of the Holy Innocents, the first Martyrs of Our Lord who did not know Him but now rejoice in Him and who died in place of Christ.

Are we blind to the Holy Innocents of today who suffer slaughter in the womb  of their mothers

 All hail, ye little Martyr flowers,

Sweet rosebuds cut in dawning hours!

When Herod sought the Christ to find

Ye fell as bloom before the wind.

First victims of the Martyr bands,

With crowns and palms in tender hands,

Around the very altar, gay

And innocent, ye seem to play.

All honour, laud, and glory be,

o Jesu, Virgin-born to thee;

All glory, as is ever meet

To Father and to Paraclete.

Amen.

V. Herod being wroth, slew many children.

R. In Bethlehem of Juda, the city of David.

A sermon of St Quodvultdeus

Even before they learn to speak, they proclaim Christ

A tiny child is born, who is a great king. Wise men are led to him from afar. They come to adore one who lies in a manger and yet reigns in heaven and on earth. When they tell of one who is born a king, Herod is disturbed. To save his kingdom he resolves to kill him, though if he would have faith in the child, he himself would reign in peace in this life and for ever in the life to come.

  Why are you afraid, Herod, when you hear of the birth of a king? He does not come to drive you out, but to conquer the devil. But because you do not understand this you are disturbed and in a rage, and to destroy one child whom you seek, you show your cruelty in the death of so many children.

  You are not restrained by the love of weeping mothers or fathers mourning the deaths of their sons, nor by the cries and sobs of the children. You destroy those who are tiny in body because fear is destroying your heart. You imagine that if you accomplish your desire you can prolong your own life, though you are seeking to kill Life himself.

  Yet your throne is threatened by the source of grace, so small, yet so great, who is lying in the manger. He is using you, all unaware of it, to work out his own purposes freeing souls from captivity to the devil. He has taken up the sons of the enemy into the ranks of God’s adopted children.

  The children die for Christ, though they do not know it. The parents mourn for the death of martyrs. The child makes of those as yet unable to speak fit witnesses to himself. See the kind of kingdom that is his, coming as he did in order to be this kind of king. See how the deliverer is already working deliverance, the saviour already working salvation.

  But you, Herod, do not know this and are disturbed and furious. While you vent your fury against the child, you are already paying him homage, and do not know it.

  How great a gift of grace is here! To what merits of their own do the children owe this kind of victory? They cannot speak, yet they bear witness to Christ. They cannot use their limbs to engage in battle, yet already they bear off the palm of victory.

Responsory       

They worshipped him who lives for ever and ever, and laid their crowns before the throne of the Lord their God.

They fell on their faces before the throne, and blessed him who lives for ever and ever, and laid their crowns before the throne of the Lord their God.

A blessed Christmas to you all

To all who pass this way,  - may the WORD MADE FLESH in Bethlehem pour out his grace upon you. May He let His face shine upon you in all your comings and goings. May you be blest with courage and strength and may He keep you always in His love. May His gracious and blessed Mother Mary, console you, St. Joseph guide you and St. Michael the Archangel protect you.

A blessed Christmas to you all and thank you for all of your prayers and kindness.

Fox and Vox

“What a tragedy: how many souls are being shut out of heaven and falling into hell, thanks to you!” St. Francis Xavier

A few weeks ago, Jorge Bergoglio the Bishop of Rome said to a gathering of Catholic teachers in Rome:

One cannot speak of Catholic education without speaking of humanity, because, precisely, the Catholic identity is God who became man. To go forward in attitudes, in full human values, opens the door to the Christian seed. Then faith comes. To educate in a Christian way is not only to engage in catechesis: this is one part. It is not only engaging in proselytism—never proselytize in schools! Never!

http://www.ncregister.com/blog/reilly/did-pope-francis-say-dont-proselytize/#ixzz3tG6Pqc91

In his audience yesterday, he stated:

The pope appealed to all young people, calling on them to reflect on their vocation and "to not exclude the possibility of becoming a missionary" and to preach with their lives, not by proselytizing.

"Those who are looking for something else are the ones that (proselytize)," he said. "Faith is preached first through witness then with words -- but slowly." 

http://www.catholicnews.com/services/englishnews/2015/missionary-spirit-means-giving-witness-not-proselytizing-pope-says.cfm

We can add this to his previous statements to Scalfari, publisher of La Repubblica, the only newspaper he allegedly reads, that "proselytizing is solemn nonsense."

When Catholics help the poor as the example he gave in Africa, they do it because they are Catholic not because the people in need are. In Toronto, the hospital that does the most caring and research for people with AIDS is St. Michael's Hospital, founded by the once great and mighty Sisters of St. Joseph. All people are helped, not just Catholics. Nobody has to right a test to receive help from a Catholic charity, Where does he get this idea?

Today is the Feast of St. Francis Xavier, the "second Apostle" to India after St. Thomas the Apostle. When one sees the situation with our Jesuit Pope, and other media talking head and twitterati Jesuits, it is a far cry from the spirit of Francis and Ignatius and Jean de Brebeuf and Isaac Jogues and companions or Paul Miki, these great Saints of God. I wonder what they would think of the above. Oh for Jesuits such as these.

What follows is from Matins today.

Third Reading from Matins according to the 1961 Divine Office:

Francis was born of noble family at Xavier in the diocese of Pamplona. In Paris, he joined the companions and disciples of St. Ignatius, and in a short time became a shining example of austerity of life and untiring contemplation of divine things. Paul III made him apostolic nuncio to India, and he traveled about through countless provinces, always on foot and often barefoot. He brought the faith to Japan and six other regions. In India he converted many hundreds of thousands to Christianity, cleansing many princes and kings in the holy waters of baptism. His humility was so great that, when he wrote to St. Ignatius, his general, he always did so on his knees. By many and wonderful miracles, the Lord confirmed his zealous work in spreading the Gospel. Finally, on the Chinese island of Sancian, he died on the 2nd of December, rich in merits and worn out with his labors. Gregory XV enrolled him among the Saints, and Pius X, appointed him the heavenly patron of the Society of the Propagation of the Faith and of its work.

The Second Reading from the Liturgy of the Hours

A letter from St Francis Xavier to St Ignatius

Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel

We have visited the villages of the new converts who accepted the Christian religion a few years ago. No Portuguese live here, the country is so utterly barren and poor. The native Christians have no priests. They know only that they are Christians. There is nobody to say Mass for them; nobody to teach them the Creed, the Our Father, the Hail Mary and the Commandments of God’s Law.

I have not stopped since the day I arrived. I conscientiously made the rounds of the villages. I bathed in the sacred waters all the children who had not yet been baptized. This means that I have purified a very large number of children so young that, as the saying goes, they could not tell their right hand from their left. The older children would not let me say my Office or eat or sleep until I taught them one prayer or another. Then I began to understand: “The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

I could not refuse so devout a request without failing in devotion myself. I taught them, first the confession of faith in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, then the Apostles’ Creed, the Our Father and Hail Mary. I noticed among them persons of great intelligence. If only someone could educate them in the Christian way of life, I have no doubt that they would make excellent Christians.

Many, many people hereabouts are not becoming Christians for one reason only: there is nobody to make them Christians. Again and again I have thought of going round the universities of Europe, especially Paris, and everywhere crying out like a madman, riveting the attention of those with more learning than charity: “What a tragedy: how many souls are being shut out of heaven and falling into hell, thanks to you!”

I wish they would work as hard at this as they do at their books, and so settle their account with God for their learning and the talents entrusted to them.

 This thought would certainly stir most of them to meditate on spiritual realities, to listen actively to what God is saying to them. They would forget their own desires, their human affairs, and give themselves over entirely to God’s will and his choice. They would cry out with all their heart: Lord, I am here! What do you want me to do? Send me anywhere you like – even to India.

St. Francis Xavier, pray for us, interceded for the Church.

FOR ALL THE SAINTS

I, John, saw another angel come up from the East, holding the seal of the living God. He cried out in a loud voice to the four angels who were given power to damage the land and the sea, “Do not damage the land or the sea or the trees until we put the seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.” I heard the number of those who had been marked with the seal, one hundred and forty-four thousand marked from every tribe of the children of Israel.

After this I had a vision of a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice:

“Salvation comes from our God, who is seated on the throne, and from the Lamb.”

All the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They prostrated themselves before the throne, worshiped God, and exclaimed:

“Amen. Blessing and glory, wisdom and thanksgiving, honor, power, and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”

Then one of the elders spoke up and said to me, “Who are these wearing white robes, and where did they come from?” I said to him, “My lord, you are the one who knows.” He said to me,

“These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb.”  

For all the saints, who from their labours rest,
Who Thee by faith before the world confessed,

Thy Name, O Jesus, be forever blessed.

Alleluia, Alleluia!

Thou wast their Rock, their Fortress and their Might;

Thou, Lord, their Captain in the well fought fight;

Thou, in the darkness drear, their one true Light.

Alleluia, Alleluia!

For the Apostles’ glorious company,

Who bearing forth the Cross o’er land and sea,

Shook all the mighty world, we sing to Thee:

Alleluia, Alleluia!

For the Evangelists, by whose blest word,

Like fourfold streams, the garden of the Lord,

Is fair and fruitful, be Thy Name adored.

Alleluia, Alleluia!

For Martyrs, who with rapture kindled eye,

Saw the bright crown descending from the sky,

And seeing, grasped it, Thee we glorify.

Alleluia, Alleluia!

O blest communion, fellowship divine!

We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;

All are one in Thee, for all are Thine.

Alleluia, Alleluia!

O may Thy soldiers, faithful, true and bold,

Fight as the saints who nobly fought of old,

And win with them the victor’s crown of gold.

Alleluia, Alleluia!

And when the strife is fierce, the warfare long,

Steals on the ear the distant triumph song,

And hearts are brave, again, and arms are strong.

Alleluia, Alleluia!

The golden evening brightens in the west;

Soon, soon to faithful warriors comes their rest;

Sweet is the calm of paradise the blessed.

Alleluia, Alleluia!

But lo! there breaks a yet more glorious day;

The saints triumphant rise in bright array;

The King of glory passes on His way.

Alleluia, Alleluia!

From earth’s wide bounds, from ocean’s farthest coast,

Through gates of pearl streams in the countless host,

And singing to Father, Son and Holy Ghost:

Alleluia, Alleluia!

Toronto Solemn Latin Mass - Ascension "THURSDAY" of the Lord.

While the Una Voce Toronto Schola Tridentina and all ready themselves for this, we have this important work for the Lord and His Church and people of Toronto to do on Ascension Thursday.

Our Lady of Fatima, Pray for us.

Candlemas in the Extraordinary Form - southern Ontario

Down with the rosemary, and so

Down with the bays and the mistletoe;

Down with the holly, ivy and all,

Wherewith ye dress'd the Christmas Hall

Robert Herrick (1591-1674)

"Ceremony upon Candlemas Eve"

This Saturday is the final feast of the great Christmastide, Candlemas; from the Anthem, Lumen..."A light unto the Gentiles." 

There will be four Masses in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite in the Archdiocese of Toronto plus a Sung Mass at St. Patrick's Kinkora in the Diocese of London at 10:00AM. and St. Aloysius in the Diocese of St. Catharines at 9:00AM.  

TORONTO ORATORY at HOLY FAMILY, Parkdale

Read Mass at 8:30AM

ST. LAWRENCE THE MARTYR, Scarborough

Read Mass at 10:00AM

ST. MARY IMMACULATE, Richmond Hill

Solemn Mass at 10:30AM 

ST. ISAAC JOGUES, PICKERING

Read Mass at 11:00AM 

The Rorate Mass at St. Patrick's Kinkora

From the blog of the Toronto Tradtional Mass Society - UNA VOCE TORONTO; more information is available at their Facebook page.

The word "Rorate" has its place in the Advent liturgy of the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church in both Forms of the Roman Rite. It is the Advent Prose - as highlighted in this video; it is also the first word of the Introit or Entrance Antiphon for the Mass on the Fourth Sunday of Advent (in the Ordinary Form - Novus Ordo as well) and it is the first word from the same Introit used in the Votive Mass for Our Lady in Advent and it appears frequently in the Divine Office or Liturgy of the Hours.

When there is no feast on the day, the Votive Mass can be celebrated. In the new rite, the Ordinary Form, the lectionary specifies the Readings consistent with the Temporal Cycle, but in the old rite or Extraordinary Form, the Sanctoral Cycle specifies the readings for that feast or Votive Mass. As the Mass often can reasonably take its name from the first word or words of the Introit -- Missa Quasimodo, Missa Suscepimus, Missa Puer Natus Est -- this Mass is known as the "Rorate Mass."

While it is not a rubrical requirement, there is a tradition from Bohemia and Poland and Bavaria that the Mass be celebrated in the pre-dawn hours by candlight ending just as the light from the East shines softy from below the horizon and the windows are softy revealed. From darkness into light - the darkness without Christ to being in His light.

The Blessed Mother is the bearer of that light. It grew in her womb for nine months. It was God, the very God come to earth as a baby, taking the flesh and blood of this pure and immaculate young girl of probably 15 in the little town of Nazareth. This woman was the one who would crush the serpent. She is the new "ark of the covenant" that carries within it the law of God as in the Ten Commandments, the power of God as in the Rod of Aaron and the Bread of Life which came down from Heaven, just as the manna in the desert. When this baby was  born he was laid in a manger. Why?; because from the manger the creatures were fed. We are fed the Bread of Life and that He was laid by this new mother in a manger is of no coincidence. This mother is Our Mother, this woman is the Woman. She is the truly the Mother of God, the God who came to earth as a baby to save us. As Father Nicholson said in his homily, "the virginal work of the bee, manufacturing wax and producing honey is a prophet of nature, pointing to the Work of the Immaculata. She gave us more honey, She gave us the BREAD of Life and "it sweet to taste". She gave us more then wax, she gave us LIGHT"

This is the truth of the faith and this is why we offer Sacrifice to God in the Holy Mass and why we honour His most perfect creature, the one who bore Himself.

In the little hamlet of Kinkora in the Diocese of London in Ontario and 160km from Toronto a Rorate Mass was celebrated. In the cold and dark of a December morning they came. From Toronto, Kitchener, Cambridge, London, Walkerton, Waterloo and from places in between. At 5:30 A.M, they gathered to pray and to honour the truth of God and His Mother. Some rose three hours earlier, children in tow to a drive to a beautiful church in the middle of farming country including half of the Board of Directors of the Toronto Traditional Mass Society-UNA VOCE TORONTO who are honoured to have assisted this priest of this parish, Father Paul Nicholson, with the organisation and promotion of this Mass. Three years ago, seven people attended and we gathered for breakfast around the generous table of the Kinkorites Sharon and Patrick. This year there were more than ten times that number and all gathered in the local school gymnasium for a community breakfast. The TTMS-UNA VOCE TORONTO has in its mandate, the assistance to the suffragan dicoceses of the Toronto Metropolitian See with the development and support of the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.

Drop down ye heavens from above, and let the clouds rain down the Just One.

The Epiphany of the LORD

Whether it was Friday (as it was for me in the EF) or Saturday night (as it was for me where I sang the Vigil Mass) or today if you worship in the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite, may you have a blessed Epiphany. For me, it is Holy Family today and let us pray that some day, Epiphany in Canada will be transferred back to January 6 and that we will also have a unified calendar between the OF and EF.

Now that should prompt an interesting discussion, so let us have it.

If there was a new calendar for the OF and EF, what should it look like? Now, let us assume that it is not going to be one or the other but a blending of the best with a hermeneutic of continuity.

So, I shall start with this.

Return the Octave of Epiphany to both (it was done away with in 1962).
Restore the Octave of Pentecost to the OF.
Restore the Gesima Sundays to the OF as a "pre-Lent."

But enjoy this first.

 Here is the trio in English

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Toronto Missa Cantata-Epiphany of the LORD

Una Voce Toronto has announced that a Missa Cantata in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite will be celebrated on Friday, January 6, 2012 at 7:30PM at St. Lawrence the Martyr Catholic Church.

If you are in Toronto, please make an effort to attend and support the growth of the Traditional Latin Mass.

More information can be found here on Facebook or at http://www.unavocetoronto.blogspot.com/
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O Mary, conceived without sin...

You are all beautiful, Mary,
and the original stain is not in you.
Your clothing is white as snow,

and your face is like the sun.
You are all beautiful, Mary,
and the original stain is not in you.
You are the glory of Jerusalem,
you are the joy of Israel,
you give honour to our people.
You are all beautiful, Mary

Corpus Christi to return to Thursday?

Antonio Cardinal Cañizares Llovera is the Prefect for the Congregation of Divine Worship and the Sacraments. When he signs a document on liturgy and gives an instruction, it is with the approval of the Pope and we must obey; when he opines, as in this case, we need to listen and observe that where we are going. Enough of this lazy Catholic idea of transferred feasts to Sunday. Let's not forget Ascension THURSDAY and Epiphany on JANUARY 6 and the Octave of Pentecost and Gesima Sundays. These could be returned to the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite (of which he is speaking, with little trouble. There are already Mass texts in the Missal for the three Sundays which these feasts impose. The Octave of Pentecost and Gesima Sundays would require a little more adjustment to the Propers.

This from Zenit:

Liturgy Official Backs Return of Corpus Christi to Thursday

Notes Desire That Christians Proclaim Christ's Presence

VATICAN CITY, JUNE 28, 2011 (Zenit.org).- The prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments says he thinks the feast of Corpus Christi should be returned to its traditional Thursday celebration, to better highlight the link with Holy Thursday and show how Christ is the center of everything.

Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera spoke to Vatican Radio about the feast, celebrated in many countries last Sunday, but traditionally marked on the Thursday before, as it still is in Rome.

"I think that to exalt the feast of Corpus Christi on its own, separate from Sunday, would be a very joyful and very hopeful reality, which would mean saying to all people in mid week that Christ is truly the center of everything," he said.

Corpus Christi is lived as an obligatory day to attend Mass in countries where it is celebrated on Thursday, such as Mexico.

In countries where the feast is moved to the Sunday following, the celebration is combined with normal weekend Masses.

Shining more than the sun

Cardinal Canizares proposed that if the feast is lived intensely, even if on Sunday, the time will not be far off when "Corpus Christi will be celebrated again on Thursday, as it was historically, which evokes, in some way, Maundy Thursday."

The 65-year-old Spanish cardinal also referred to an adage that reflects the popular tradition in Spain of celebrating the feast of the Eucharist: "There are three Thursdays in the year that shine more than the sun: Corpus Christi, Maundy Thursday and Ascension Thursday."

In the majority of Spanish cities today the feast of Corpus Christi is celebrated on Sunday; the preceding Thursday is a working day.

However, some local churches, such as Toledo, Seville and Granada celebrated the feast on Thursday.

"My personal wish has been for a long time that we return to Corpus Christi Thursday," said the former archbishop of Toledo and primate of Spain.

For the cardinal, this feast means "to recognize that God is here." To go out in procession through the streets with the Most Holy Sacrament is an invitation to adore the Lord, a public confession of faith in him and an acknowledgment that to go "with the Lord is what truly matters for the renewal and transformation of society."

"It is a day of very great joy, especially in Spain," he recalled. The cardinal noted his hope that all Christians would proclaim "that Christ is present in the Eucharist, that Christ is with us."

Music for the Toronto Missa Solemnis on Corpus Christi

Here friends is the music program for tomorrow evening's most Holy Mass.

• Organ Prelude: Master Tallis' Testament, Herbert Howells
• Processional Hymn: Father, We Thank Thee Who Hast Planted, Rendez et Dieu
• Introit: Cibavit eos, Gregorian
• Kyrie: Mass for Three Voices, William Byrd
• Gloria: Mass VIII, Missa de Angelis
• Gradual: Oculi omnium, Gregorian
• Alleluia: Caro mea, Gregorian
• Sequence: Lauda Sion, Gregorian
• Credo: Credo III with Wm. Byrd ("et incarnatus...")
• Offertory: Sacerdotes Domini, Gregorian
• Motet: Jesu! Rex Admirablis, G.P. da Palestrina
• Sanctus: Mass VIII, Missa de Angelis
• Agnus Dei: Mass for Three Voices, William Byrd
• Communion: Quotiescumque, Gregorian
• Motet: Qui pacem ponit, J-F. Lallouette
• Procession-Pange Lingua, Sacris Solemniis, Verbum supernum, Salutis humanae Sator, Aeternae Rex Altissime,
  
• Te Deum
• Tantum Ergo
• Adoremus in aeternum
• Recessional Hymn: Alleluia! Sing to Jesus
• Organ Postlude: Prelude, Fugue and Chaconne; D. Buxtehude
  

Ascension Thursday-Our Liturgical Loss

Jesus went up to heaven 40 days after Easter, not 43.

There are 9 days between Ascension and Pentecost, not 7.

These things are important.


The Canadian Bishops amongst others need to restore Ascension to Thursday along with Epiphany to January 6, from where we get Twelfth Night and the Twelve Days of Christmas.

These things are important.

Now there is the Octave of Pentecost and the Gesima Sundays.

Mandatum novum

Nos autem gloriari oportet in cruce Domini Nostri Jesu Christi: in quo est salus, vita et resurrectio nostra per quem salvati et liberati sumus.

Candlemas

Today is Candlemas, when we celebrate the traditional conclusion of Christmastide. This is the day of the Presentation of the LORD in the Temple and the Purification of Mary.

Last year in Toronto was an occasion not to be forgotten part of which is captured below. The first Solemn High Mass on Candlemas for generations. The celebrant was Father Howard Venette, FSSP. The Deacon and Subdeacon were transitional Deacons and are now priests in parishes in the Archdiocese of Toronto and the Diocese of Hamilton. Many of the Acolytes and Servers were Seminarians at St. Augustine's Seminary and others at Serra House in Toronto.

In a few weeks we will recall the one year mark since the loss of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter from Toronto.