Pompei, in the region of Campania, was our next stop after San Giovanni Rotondo. Arriving on Sunday afternoon, the pilgrims first took a guided tour of the ruins of the city that was destroyed by an eruption of the nearby volcano Vesuvius in 79 A.D. The group then walked a short distance to the magnificent Pontifical Shrine of the Blessed Virgin of the Rosary of Pompei, a minor basilica and the cathedral of that area. The grand edifice was commissioned in the latter half of the 19th century by Blessed Bartolo Longo, a former Satanic priest who became, as Pope St. John Paul II named him, the “Apostle of the Rosary”.

The origins of the Basilica are tied up with those of the miraculous image of Our Lady of the Rosary that hangs above the high altar. The painting was given to Blessed Bartolo in 1875, who placed it in a run-down church that he was repairing. Miracles began to take place immediately, and the Bishop of Nola suggested that Blessed Bartolo construct a larger church. Hence, work began on the current structure in 1876, its consecration taking place in 1891. It was reconsecrated as a basilica in 1901 and expanded in 1939. The pilgrims venerated Blessed Bartolo’s relics that rest in a chapel there.

We checked into Vico Equense that evening, just across the bay from Naples. It is probably safe to say that the next day set a new standard for Monday mornings. We took off early for the Amalfi coast, Italy’s version of Highway 1, and were awed by a stunning coastal drive along dizzying cliff-faces that stand high above the sparkling blue waters of the Mediterranean. But the natural beauty that we saw paled in comparison with the real jewel of that region, the town of Amalfi’s Cathedral of St. Andrew, where the Apostle’s relics are housed. There, at a side altar, we celebrated a votive Mass of St. Andrew.

Our next destination was the town of Ravello, in the center of which rises the Cathedral of St. Pantaleon, a doctor from what is now Turkey who was martyred in the 4th century under Diocletian. His blood, like that of St. Januarius whom we would see in Naples the next day, has been preserved and miraculously liquefies on his July feast day. Usually, we were told, it coagulates again about a week later, but this year it has remained in a liquid state for longer than normal, and we were privileged to venerate the liquefied blood that is held in a vial in the Cathedral.

Despite a bout of bad weather that rolled into Ravello that afternoon and left us royally drenched, a vibrant rainbow accompanied us on the long drive home, and as we pulled into our home base of Vico Equense, it lingered peacefully over the towns that lie near the city of Naples where we would head for our next and last day in Italy.

We’re back! The pilgrimage came to an end on Wednesday, October 24th, when we flew unwillingly back to the United States. But we are going to spend the next week on the Missive continuing our narrative of our adventures – there is still so much to tell.

On Saturday, October 20th, we spent the day at San Giovanni Rotondo, having arrived the evening prior. We visited the Capuchin monastery and church where Padre Pio lived most of his life and carried out his priestly ministry, and were blessed to venerate his body that rests at the Padre Pio Pilgrimage Church nearby and to see many relics from his life.

In the afternoon we took a short bus trip to the nearby Sanctuary of Monte Sant’Angelo, a cave wherein St. Michael appeared several times. It is the only basilica in the world never to be consecrated by human hands, as the angelic saint chose and consecrated it himself when he appeared there in the 5th century.

After receiving such blessings at San Giovanni and Monte Sant’Angelo, we certainly were not looking for more (at least not until we left for Vico Equense the next day), but as we were soon to discover, the generosity of God is without limits. On Sunday, we were originally scheduled to celebrate Mass at the hotel chapel at 7:30, but we found ourselves in quite a different chapel at our new Mass time of 8:45. We were granted the immense privilege of celebrating Mass in the chapel of the town’s hospital, the Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza, or the House for Relief of the Suffering. A hospital chapel may not sound like an ideal setting for a sung Sunday Mass, but this is no ordinary hospital: set high upon the summit of the town alongside the monastery, it was founded by Padre Pio himself, who walked its halls and visited the sick that came there. He celebrated Mass in that very chapel, on that very altar. And the chalice that held the Blood of Our Lord during Mass that day was the very one that Padre Pio himself used.

Though it was a Mass to remember for all the pilgrims, it had a particular meaning for the celebrant, North American Superior Fr. Michael Stinson. When his parents, both serving in the Navy, were stationed in Italy, they wrote to Padre Pio asking to be his spiritual children. Receiving a positive response, they asked this favor for their children also, and again received a positive answer. And so, Fr. Stinson, a spiritual child of Padre Pio, was able to follow in his footsteps in a uniquely profound way.

Before Mass we received a small tour of the hospital, which includes a room dedicated to the relics of Padre Pio. The guide explained to us that the Casa is an international center of research and is the best hospital in Southern Europe. In the spirit of its founder, it welcomes all who come to its doors, regardless of their ability to pay.

It was a weekend spent in the company of an angel and a saint, a time of great and sometimes unexpected blessings, and we had much to be thankful for as we left San Giovanni Rotondo later that day and headed southwest towards the Mediterranean Sea.

Greetings from Vico Equense on the Bay of Naples! There is much to catch you up on. We departed Rome on Friday morning after Mass at Santissima Trinità, and arrived at San Giovanni Rotondo that evening after a beautiful drive through the mountains and dales of southern Italy. Our visit to the home of Padre Pio and the nearby shrine of St. Michael at Monte Sant’Angelo was truly extraordinary, and we will tell you about that very soon in another post. 

In the meantime we will take you on a more extensive tour of what we did in Rome. We spent three days total there, and perhaps everyone was a little sorry to leave it: countless jewels of our Faith are to be found within its walls, and you could spend years there and never see it all. It is the Eternal City, the heart of the Church, whose history is told by the beautiful churches and holy sites where so many great saints and sacred relics reside. Our time may have been short, but we were both grateful and joyful for the days that we had and for all the holy places we were able to visit. Here is a little more from our sojourn there.

St. Peter’s Basilica

Mass at the tomb of St. Peter

Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini

The FSSP’s parish in Rome, where we heard Mass on Thursday and Friday

Santa Maria Sopra Minerva

Resting place of the body of St. Catherine of Siena

The Gesù

Mother church of the Jesuit Order, resting place of St. Ignatius Loyola and the arm of St. Francis Xavier

Sant’Agostino

Resting place of St. Monica

On October 18th, 2018, the FSSP gave thanks to God for 30 years of service and fidelity to Him and His Church. The Confraternity of St. Peter’s 30th anniversary pilgrimage to Rome is currently underway, and at 8 o’clock this morning, Fr. Zachary Akers, who is leading the pilgrimage, offered Mass at the tomb of St. Peter for the intentions of the supporters of the FSSP.

Later, pilgrims attended a Solemn High Mass of thanksgiving at Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini, our parish in Rome, offered by FSSP Superior General Fr. Andrzej Komorowski with North American Superior Fr. Michael Stinson and one of our priests from France, Fr. La Croix, assisting. Fr. Komorowski and Fr. Jean-Cyrile Sow, pastor of Santissima Trinità, joined Fr. Akers, Fr. Stinson and the pilgrims for a festive dinner that evening with the sisters of St. Bridget, who run the Casa Santa Brigida where some of our pilgrims stayed.

We hit the ground running in Rome when we arrived here on Tuesday, and we will be posting more pictures soon from all the holy sites that we have been privileged to visit. Here are a few highlights – click on a photo to learn more!

On Saturday, September 15th, 2018, Mater Dei Parish, our apostolate in Dallas, Texas, hosted a sold-out symposium on Blessed Karl von Habsburg, the last emperor of Austria-Hungary. The event included the presence of several guests of honor, including the granddaughter of Blessed Karl, Princess Maria-Anna Habsburg Galitzine, and delegates from the Emperor Karl Prayer League. To learn more, we talked to David Ross, parishioner of Mater Dei and organizer of the event.

The event kicked off at 9:30 a.m. with a reception in the parish hall featuring a smorgasbord of Austrian sweets, handmade by the parishioner-owned Little Polish Bakery and representing the former territories of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. A series of talks on Blessed Karl followed at 10 a.m., beginning with some opening remarks by Mr. Ross pertaining to the historical backdrop of the reign of Blessed Karl, who ascended to the throne of the Empire in the midst of World War I. Suzanne Pearson, North American Delegate of the Emperor Karl Prayer League, then gave a talk entitled Blessed Karl, Fatima & the Great War: A Centennial Retrospect, in which she touched on the Emperor’s exemplary leadership during the War and his desire for peace, and his marriage with Servant of God Empress Zita. Fr. Boniface Hicks, OSB, priest delegate of the League, in a talk entitled Blessed Emperor Karl for Today, then spoke on Blessed Karl’s virtues and spirituality and how they guided his governance of the Empire.

At 11:45, Mr. Ross conducted an interview with Princess Maria-Anna, whose parents were married by the Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen in New York City in 1953. Among the topics they discussed were the princess’ time living with her grandmother, Empress Zita, and what she learned from her about her grandfather and the years during and after the War. At the conclusion of the program, three beautiful images of Blessed Karl were raffled off.

The event culminated with a Sung Mass at 12:30 p.m., where the choir of Mater Dei sang Austrian composer Joseph Haydn’s Little Organ Mass. They also sang his Kaiserhymn with the congregation during the veneration of a first-class relic of Blessed Karl.

About 275 people attended the event, traveling from different cities in Texas and even other states, and it was immensely well-received: Mr. Ross explains that he received emails, phone calls and even cards in the mail praising it. Saturday’s happenings were preceded by a free event in the auditorium of the Allen Public Library on Thursday, September 13th, with a similar but shorter program. That event was also packed.

To learn more about Blessed Karl, you can visit the Prayer League’s website at www.emperorcharles.org, and among other events you can attend is the yearly Solemn High Mass in honor of Blessed Karl at St. Mary Mother of God Parish in Washington, D.C., which will be celebrated this year on Saturday, October 20th. You can read our article about last year’s Mass, including a brief bio of Blessed Karl, here. +

In six days’ time, the FSSP’s 30th anniversary pilgrimage to Rome commences! But if you can’t make it to Italy with us this year, that doesn’t mean you have to miss out. The Missive will be there, posting from the road, so just tune in to follow the trip every step of the way. From Monday, October 15th through Wednesday, October 24th, the Missive will be dedicated exclusively to the pilgrimage, featuring pictures, videos, reflections and reports from our travels.

The troop of pilgrims, composed of members and friends of the Confraternity of St. Peter, will be led by FSSP Director of Development Fr. Zachary Akers and accompanied by North American Superior Fr. Michael Stinson. We will travel to Rome for the Fraternity’s October 18th anniversary, on which we will attend a Solemn High Mass of thanksgiving celebrated by our Superior General, Fr. Andrzej Komorowski, at Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini, our parish in Rome. We will also offer Mass at the tomb of St. Peter for all the friends and supporters of the FSSP. From there we will continue on to many other destinations in central and southern Italy over the course of the ten-day journey, including Pompeii, Naples, the shrine of Padre Pio at San Giovanni Rotondo and that of St. Michael at Monte Sant’Angelo.

Please send us your intentions to take with us as we travel to these holy sites at missive@fssp.com. We will place them near the altar at each Mass.

We’re going to be publishing updates almost every day, so be sure to sign up for our Missive email list to receive post alerts automatically and ensure you don’t miss a thing. Just enter your email address in the blue box right below this post.

Last month we told you a bit about the origins of the Sacred Heart devotions in which many of you participate on the first Friday of each month. First Friday is upon us once again, and tomorrow is First Saturday, a day similarly dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Our Lady. As promised, we share with you today the origins of First Saturday.

The Five First Saturdays have their beginnings in the message of Fatima, where Our Lady mentioned that she would request Communions of reparation be made on the first Saturday of every month. She explained the details of the devotion to Sr. Lucia in a later apparition in December of 1925, and the great promise given to those who practice it. She said:

“I promise to assist at the hour of death with the graces necessary for salvation all those who, in order to make reparation to me, on the First Saturday of five successive months, go to Confession, receive Holy Communion, say five decades of the Rosary, and keep me company for a quarter of an hour, meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary.”

The devotion, therefore, is performed with the intention of making reparation to the Immaculate Heart and includes four elements: Confession, Communion, the Rosary and a fifteen-minute meditation on the mysteries of the Rosary. The latter meditation does not necessarily need to encompass all fifteen decades; one can meditate on one or more of the mysteries for the required time. Additionally, the Confession can be made within several days before or after the Saturday.

Our Lord, in an apparition to Sr. Lucia in 1930, explained why the devotion comprised five Saturdays, as opposed to another number such as nine or seven. He said that there are five kinds of offenses committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary:

– blasphemies against her Immaculate Conception

– against her Perpetual Virginity

– against her Divine Maternity, refusing to accept her as the Mother of God and Mother of all mankind

– for those who try to publicly implant in children’s hearts indifference, contempt and even hate for this Immaculate Mother

– for those who insult her directly in her sacred images

The union of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary is illustrated by the First Friday and First Saturday devotions, which are usually, as they are this month, consecutive. This weekend is the perfect time to begin or continue our devotions to these holy Hearts, to make reparation to Them for own sins and for the innumerable insults and offenses to which They are subjected, and to obtain the great graces and promises attached to these devotions.

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!

Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!

Fr. Michael Cunningham, FSSP, ordained this past May in Omaha and currently serving his first assignment at the National Shrine of St. Alphonsus Liguori, our apostolate in Baltimore, was recently interviewed by the National Catholic Register! Fr. Cunningham speaks about his experiences in the world of professional baseball, his call to the priesthood, his work at the Shrine and how we should “play” the Faith.

www.ncregister.com/daily-news/former-pro-baseball-player-completes-transition-to-priesthood

Our thanks to Amy Proctor for her photos of Solemn High Mass at St. Alphonsus, celebrated by Fr. James Smith with Fr. Cunningham and pastor Fr. Joel Kiefer assisting. Fr. Cunningham gave first blessings after Mass.

A happy and most joyful feast day of the Holy Guardian Angels! Following closely on the feast day of St. Michael the Archangel, this feast was officially added to the Church’s calendar by Pope Paul V in the early 17th century, and made obligatory for the whole Church by Pope Clement X.

Our Guardian Angels are our protectors in this life from physical and most especially spiritual harm, and are a particular guide to each of us in our journey towards Heaven. We ought to maintain a daily devotion to them, through the familiar prayer to our Guardian Angel in the morning and evening and through regular conversation with them. Your own angel – what an extraordinary gift from God! Let us not forget them or take them for granted, but let us maintain an active friendship with them, call upon them in our struggles, share with them our successes and joys and avoid the things that may displease them.

“In this, therefore, brethren, let us affectionately love His angels as one day our future coheirs; meanwhile, however, as counselors and defenders appointed by the Father and placed over us. Why should we fear under such guardians? Those who keep us in all our ways can neither be overcome nor be deceived, much less deceive. They are faithful; they are prudent; they are powerful; why do we tremble? Let us only follow them, let us remain close to them, and in the protection of the God of heaven let us abide.”

– from a sermon by St. Bernard of Clairvaux

A happy and most blessed feast of St. Michael the Archangel, the leader of the heavenly armies and the great enemy of Satan! Today is a first class feast and a day for much rejoicing. If we are not in the habit of saying the Prayer to St. Michael often, today is a perfect day to start. We ought to invoke his powerful intercession frequently in our struggle against our own sins and imperfections, and for the protection and defense of the Church. If you don’t have a copy of the prayer, you can print out the one below.

The St. Michael Prayer is included among the Leonine Prayers, that is, the prayers which Pope Leo XIII in 1884 ordered to be said after Low Mass. These prayers originally comprised three Hail Marys and the Hail Holy Queen, and in 1886, Pope Leo composed the St. Michael Prayer and added it to the original formula. Although the Leonine Prayers are not mandated in the Ordinary Form, several U.S. bishops have asked their priests to once again recite the St. Michael Prayer with their congregations at the end of Mass in response to the current crisis in the Church.

We also wish a happy patronal feast day to St. Michael Parish, our apostolate in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and to all our priests, parishioners and friends named for St. Michael!

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the Devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, cast into Hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.