The Days of the Moon

by Fr. William Rock, FSSP

From the Calendar Published by the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer.  Note the phases of the moon on the 3rd, 11th, and 19th (source)

There is a plethora of Catholic calendars with varying degrees of detail and information.  Interestingly, some of them, such as those published by the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer and Sophia Press, indicate the phases of the moon.  The question naturally arises as to why such calendars include this information.  Some might even object that such a thing smacks of paganism.  The answer, however, has its roots in the calendar of the Old Testament.

The Hebrew people used a lunisolar calendar where the length of the 12 months was determined by the cycle of the moon, resulting in months which were 29 or 30 days long (the lunar part of the calendar).  As this would fall short of the solar year, an additional month would be added in intervals to realign the lunar months with the solar year (the solar part of the calendar).  The month would start with the new moon,1 which is when the moon is at its minimum visibility at the start of a period of increase (i.e., the first visible crescent when the moon begins to wax).  The days of the month, for their part, were counted, inclusively, from the most recent new moon.  The days of the month, then, are really days of the moon, with the first day of the moon, the first day of the month, corresponding to the new moon.

Blowing the Trumpets at the Feast of the New Moon.  Note the small, waxing crescent (source)

The beginning of the month, the new moon, was kept as a festal day.  God commanded the Hebrew people through Moses that “on the first days of your months [that is, the day of the new moon], you shall sound the trumpets over the holocausts, and the sacrifices of peace offerings, that they may be to you for a remembrance of your God.  I am the Lord your God” (Num 10:10).  Again, in the Psalms is found: “blow up [bucinate, sound] the trumpet on the new moon, on the noted day of your solemnity” (8o:4).

The feasts of the Torah, which were to be kept on certain days of the month, were determined by counting days from the start of their respective months, that is from the new moon which began the month.  The most important of these feasts for our purposes here is the Feast of Passover which was to be kept in “the first month, the fourteenth day of the month at evening” (Lev 23:5).  It is important to note here that the full moon occurs “about 14 days”2 after the new moon.  This means that the celebration of the Passover was associated with, but not determined by, the full moon.

In the early Church, there was a controversy over when the feast of the Lord’s Resurrection, the Feast of Easter, should be kept.  The greater number of the churches kept this feast on Sunday, while the churches of Asia Minor kept the feast on the fourteenth day of the first Hebrew month regardless of which day of the week it fell.  This controversy came to an end at the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea.  The Old Catholic Encyclopedia explains as follows:

It is generally held that the Last Supper took place on the Jewish Feast of the Passover, which was always kept on the fourteenth day of the first month of the old Jewish calendar.  Consequently, since this month always began with that new moon of which the fourteenth day occurred on or next after the vernal equinox, Christ arose from the dead on Sunday, the seventeenth day of the so-called paschal moon.  It is evident, then, that an exact anniversary of Easter is impossible except in years in which the seventeenth day of the paschal moon falls on Sunday.  In the early days of Christianity there existed a difference of opinion between the Eastern and Western Churches as to the day on which Easter ought to be kept, the former keeping it on the fourteenth day and the latter on the Sunday following.  To secure uniformity of practice, the Council of Nicæa (325) decreed that the Western method of keeping Easter on the Sunday after the fourteenth day of the moon should be adopted throughout the Church, believing no doubt that this mode fitted in better with the historical facts and wishing to give a lasting proof that the Jewish Passover was not, as the Quartodeciman heretics believed, an ordinance of Christianity.3

The calendar being used by these Christians was the Julian Calendar, the months of which, by this time, no longer had any ties to the lunar cycles.  Resulting from the need to determine the relevant “fourteenth day of the moon,” the early Christians adopted the Greek Metonic Lunar Cycle, also known as the Cycle of Golden Numbers, founded on the work of Meton of Athens (5th century B.C.).  A key part of Meton’s work is summarized as follows:

In the year now known as 432 B.C., Meton, an Athenian astronomer, discovered that 235 lunations (i.e. lunar months) correspond with 19 solar years, or, as we might express it, that after a period of 19 solar years the new moons occur again on the same days of the solar year.  He therefore divided the calendar into periods of 19 years, which he numbered 1, 2, 3, etc. to 19, and assumed that the new moons would always fall on the same days in the years indicated by the same number.  This discovery found such favour among the Athenians that the number assigned to the current year in the Metonic Cycle was henceforth written in golden characters on a pillar in the temple, and, whether owing to this circumstance or to the importance of the discovery itself, was known as the Golden Number of the year.4

And so, the Nicaean calculation of Easter was based not only on the Julian determination of the Spring Equinox (solar), which was observed on March 21st, but also the relevant 14th day of the moon of the Metonic Lunar Cycle (lunar), which, as was stated above, is associated with the full moon.  The Church, then, not only had a solar calendar in the Julian, but also an independent lunar calendar.

A 17th Century Numerological Table used to Calculate the Date of Easter from Rutilio Benincasa’s Almanacco Perpetuo.  Note the Golden Numbers on the inner ring (source)

The method for determining Easter established by the Council of Nicaea is generally summarized as follows: “Easter falls on the first Sunday following the first full moon following the Spring Equinox.”  And, while this is helpful, it should be more actually expressed as: “Easter is to be celebrated on the first Sunday following the 14th day of the Moon of the Metonic Lunar Cycle which occurs after March 21st of the Julian Calendar, when the Spring Equinox is observed.”  Because there might be some discrepancy between the astronomical events and their observances in the calendars, in order to avoid confusion, the Julian March 21st is referred to as the Paschal or Ecclesiastical Equinox, while the associated 14th day of the moon is referred to as the Paschal or Ecclesiastical full moon.  As such, a more proper rendering of the first would be: “Easter falls on the first Sunday following the first Ecclesiastical full moon following the Ecclesiastical Spring Equinox.”

At the time of the First Council of Nicaea, the astronomical Spring Equinox did regularly occur on or around the Julian date of its observance and the astronomical Paschal full moon regularly occurred on or around the associated 14th day of the moon.  However, as the centuries progressed, the shortcomings in the Julian Calendar resulted in the astronomical Spring Equinox and its Ecclesiastical observation becoming more and more disassociated from each other.  Additionally, “it was found that the paschal moon of the Metonic Cycle was losing all relation to the real paschal moon”5 due to its shortcomings.  For these reasons, Pope Gregory XIII (d. A.D. 1585) undertook a reform of the calendar, which not only corrected the shortcomings of the solar Julian Calendar (reassociating the astronomical Spring Equinox with the calendar’s March 21st), but also the independent lunar calendar (reassociating the 14th day of the lunar month with the astronomical Paschal moon).  From this point, the Gregorian March 21st and the Gregorian 14th day of the moon became the Paschal/Ecclesiastical Equinox and Paschal/Ecclesiastical full moon, respectively, used in the determination of the date of Easter (at least for those who accepted the reform).

Commission for the Reform of the Calendar, Pope Gregory XIII Presiding (source)

The Church has never lost track of the fact that she is indeed using two different calendars, one solar and one lunar, to calculate not only the Feast of the Resurrection, but also all the observances which depend on this date – Septuagesima, Ash Wednesday and Lent, the Spring Ember days, the days of Holy Week, the Minor Rogations, the Ascension, Pentecost, the summer Ember Days, Corpus Christi, and the Feast of the Sacred Heart.  In fact, Roman Liturgical books contained detailed explanations, in the section entitled “The Year and its Parts” (De Anno et ejus Partibus) on how to determine Easter, and thus the associated moveable feasts, a calculation which involves, among other things, the Gregorian Golden Number of the lunar calendar.  Additionally, in her daily proclamation of the Roman Martyrology at the Office of Prime, where the entry for the following day is read, the lector begins not only by indicating the entry’s Gregorian calendar day (solar), but also its Gregorian day of the moon, the day of the lunar calendar, with the first day associated with the new moon.  The antiquity of this practice is attested to by Pope Gregory XIII in his decree promulgating his reformed calendar (Inter gravissimas [A.D. 1582], 10).

So now, when you, dear reader, look upon a Catholic calendar which shows the phases of the moon, you can think back to this article and remember the prominent role the moon and its phases play in the shaping of our liturgical year.

Fr. William Rock, FSSP was ordained in the fall of 2019 and is currently assigned to St. Stanislaus Parish in Nashua, NH.

In support of the causes of Blessed Maria Cristina, Queen, and Servant of God Francesco II, King 

  1. Old Catholic Encyclopedia, s.v. Jewish Calendar.  See also Bickerman, E. J. (Elias Joseph). Chronology of the Ancient World. (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1968), pp. 16-21.
  2. See What is the moon phase today? Lunar phases 2024 | Space
  3. Old Catholic Encyclopedia, s.v. Epact.
  4. Ibid.
  5. Ibid.

August 2, 2024

Election of the Assistants and Councillors of the Superior General

Communiqué of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter

Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary
Denton, Nebraska, USA

The General Chapter of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP), which is taking place from July 3 to July 18, 2024 at the International Seminary of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Denton, Nebraska, elected in a plenary session the Assistants and Counselors of the Superior General as follows:
Assistants: Fr. Hubert Bizard, Fr. Andrzej Komorowski and Fr. Arnaud Evrat;
Counselors: Fr. Josef Bisig and Fr. Benoît Paul-Joseph

July 15, 2024

General Chapter elects Fr. John Berg as Superior General

Communiqué of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter
Wednesday, July 10, 2024,
Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary,
Denton, Nebraska, USA

The General Chapter of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP), which takes place from July 3 to July 18, 2024 at the International Seminary of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Denton, Nebraska, in plenary session elected Fr. John Berg as Superior General for 6 years.  This election, at which the 32 capitulants were present, took place on Tuesday, July 9. In succeeding Fr. Andrzej Komorowski, Fr. John Berg intends to continue the work undertaken these last six years in the service of the Fraternity.

The election of the Assistants and Counselors will follow in the next few days.

An American priest born in 1970, Fr. John Berg studied philosophy at St. Thomas Aquinas College (California, USA) and theology at the International Seminary of St. Peter in Wigratzbad (Bavaria, Germany). Fr. Berg holds a licentiate from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome.  Ordained a priest in 1997, Fr. Berg was a professor at the International Seminary of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Nebraska, USA).  He served as Superior General of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter from 2006-2018.  For the past six years he returned to parochial work with the faithful as the Pastor of the Fraternity parishes in Providence, Rhode Island and Omaha, Nebraska.

 

July 11, 2024

Lauds – The Office of Light

by Fr. William Rock, FSSP

In current usage, the day, running from midnight to midnight, is divided up into 24 hours of equal length.  The Romans, however, kept time in a different manner.  Their day was divided between the time when there was daylight (the day) and the time when it was dark (the night).  The Roman day was divided into 12 hours of equal length, regardless of how much time of daylight there might be on a given day.  So, as the year progressed, the length of each of these daylight hours would increase or decrease.  The Third Hour (Hora Tertia), for its part, marked when the sun was halfway to its zenith, the Sixth Hour (Hora Sexta) when it reached it the zenith, and the Ninth (Hora Nona) when the sun was halfway down.  This way of telling time is still reflected in the Divine Office – which divides the 150 Psalms among the days of the week and then distributes the Psalms assigned to each day to different parts of the day, each part called an “Hour,” along with other readings from Scripture, ecclesiastical compositions, and prayers – where the Minor Hours of the day are called Prime (the First Hour – Hora Prima), Terce (the Third Hour), Sext (the Sixth Hour), and None (the Ninth Hour).

Ancient Roman Time Keeping (source)

The Roman night was also divided up into 12 hours of equal, yet variable length, but these hours were organized into four Watches (Vigilia).  As Mr. Gregory DiPippo has explained, the first three Watches correspond to the three Nocturns in the Office of Matins, while the fourth Watch, which ends with the dawn, corresponds to the Office of Lauds.It is no surprise, then, that one commonly finds in the Office of Lauds references to the dawn, light, and the morning.

T. de Leu’s God Creating Light (source)

Prior to the changes made to the Roman Psalter under Pope St. Pius X, every Lauds contained Psalm 62,2 which proclaims: “O God, my God, to thee do I watch (vigilo) at break of day…I will meditate on thee in the morning,” and Psalm 66 which prays: “May God have mercy on us, and bless us: may he cause the light of his countenance to shine upon us, and may he have mercy on us.”  Just as the material sun was beginning to shine its rays upon them, the faithful would pray for the supernatural light of God, the God for Whom they had been keeping vigil throughout the night and Whose arrival is symbolized by the rising sun.3  Being followed by the variable Old Testament Canticles and the three Psalms of Praise which conclude the Psalm-portion of Lauds (Psalms 148, 149, and 150; the Laudate Psalms from which the name Lauds is derived), Psalms 62 and 66 serve as a fitting culmination to the night Watches.  Further, it is also becoming that the praise of the Laudate Psalms breaks forth with the symbolic arrival of the Watched-for-One.

T. de Leu’s God Creates the Sun, Moon and Stars (source)

In addition to the daily praying of Psalms 62 and 66, Psalm 5 (“For to thee will I pray: O Lord, in the morning thou shalt hear my voice.  In the morning I will stand before thee, and I will see: because thou art not a God that willest iniquity”) was recited on Mondays; Psalm 42 (“Send forth thy light and thy truth: they have conducted me, and brought me unto thy holy hill, and into thy tabernacles”) on Tuesdays; Psalm 64 (“Thou shalt make the outgoings of the morning and of the evening to be joyful”) on Wednesdays; Psalm 89 (“In the morning man shall grow up like grass; in the morning he shall flourish”) on Thursdays; Psalm 142 (“Cause me to hear thy mercy in the morning; for in thee have I hoped”) on Fridays; and Psalm 91 (“It is good to give praise to the Lord: and to sing to thy name, O most High.  To shew forth thy mercy in the morning”) on Saturdays.4

The Lauds ferial Chapter (a short reading from Scripture), taken from Romans 13:12-13, fittingly marks the transition from night to the day at the dawn and the associated spiritual lessons Christians should learn from this daily occurrence:

The night is passed and the day is at hand.  Let us, therefore cast off the works of darkness and put on the armour of light.  Let us walk honestly, as in the day.

References to light are also regularly found in the feria Lauds hymns throughout the year (the hymns sung when no when feast is kept).  The relevant portions of the hymns of each day will be presented in turn.

In the Sunday Lauds hymn Æterne rerum conditor (St. Ambrose), which is used “from the Octave of the Epiphany until the first Sunday of Lent, and from the Sunday nearest the [First] of October until Advent,”5 the Church hymns the following:

Now the shrill cock proclaims the day,
And calls the sun’s awak’ning ray—
The wand’ring pilgrim’s guiding light,
That marks the watches night by night.

Roused at the note, the morning star
Heaven’s dusky veil uplifts afar:
Night’s vagrant bands no longer roam,
But from their dark ways hie them home.6

The hymn Ecce jam noctis (St. Gregory the Great), also used for Sunday Lauds “from the third Sunday after Pentecost until the Sunday nearest the [First] of October,”7 contains the following:

LO, the dim shadows of the night are waning;
Lightsome and blushing, dawn of day returneth;
Fervent in spirit, to the world’s Creator
Pray we devoutly:

Monday’s hymn, Splendor paternæ gloria (St. Ambrose), uses the theme of light to praise the Son Who is from the Father as “Light from Light” (Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed) and Who mutually indwell in one another:

O SPLENDOR of God’s glory bright,
O Thou that bringest light from light,
O Light of Light, light’s Living Spring,
O Day, all days illumining.

O Thou true Sun, on us Thy glance
Let fall in royal radiance,
The Spirit’s sanctifying beam
Upon our earthly senses stream.

Rejoicing may this day go hence,
Like virgin dawn our innocence,
Like fiery noon our faith appear,
Nor know the gloom of twilight drear.

Morn in her rosy car is borne;
Let Him come forth our Perfect Morn,
The Word in God the Father One,
The Father perfect in the Son.

The hymns for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were written by the great Christian poet Prudentius (A.D. 348-413).  Found in his Cathemerinon, “it will be observed that they are replete with figurative expressions.  As darkness and mists are symbolical of sin and unbelief, so light is a symbol of truth and of Christ.”8

The hymn for Tuesday Lauds, Ales diei nuntius, begins by referencing the birdsong which accompanies the dawn:

AS the bird, whose clarion gay
Sounds before the dawn is grey,
Christ, who brings the spirit’s day,
Calls us, close at hand:

“Wake!” He cries, “and for my sake,
From your eyes dull slumbers shake!
Sober, righteous, chaste, awake!
At the door I stand!”

Lord, to Thee we lift on high
Fervent prayer and bitter cry:
Hearts aroused to pray and sigh
May not slumber more:

Break the sleep of Death and Time,
Forged by Adam’s ancient crime;
And the light of Eden’s prime
To the world restore!

Nox, et tenebræ, et nubila is sung on Wednesdays, the day the Sun was created according to the Genesis account:

DAY is breaking, dawn is bright:
Hence, vain shadows of the night!
Mists that dim our mortal sight,
Christ is come! Depart!

Darkness routed lifts her wings
As the radiance upwards springs:
Through the world of wakened things
Life and color dart.

Thee, O Christ, alone we know:
Singing even in our woe,
With pure hearts to Thee we go:
On our senses shine!

In Thy beams be purged away
All that leads our thoughts astray!
Through our spirits, King of day,
Pour Thy light divine!

Thursday’s hymn, Lux ecce surgit auria, begins as follows:

SEE the golden sun arise!
Let no more our darkened eyes
Snare us, tangled by surprise
In the maze of sin!

From false words and thoughts impure
Let this Light, serene and sure,
Keep our lips without secure,
Keep our souls within.

Friday’s hymn, Æterna coeli gloria (Ambrosian, 5th century), contains the lines:

The morning star fades from the sky,
The sun breaks forth; night’s shadows fly:
O Thou, true Light, upon us shine:
Our darkness turn to light divine.

Within us grant Thy light to dwell;
And from our souls dark sins expel;
Cleanse Thou our minds from stain of ill,
And with Thy peace our bosoms fill.

In the last hymn of the week, Aurora jam spargit polum (Ambrosian, 4th or 5th century), sung on Saturdays, is found the following:

THE dawn is sprinkling in the east
Its golden shower, as day flows in;
Fast mount the pointed shafts of light:
Farewell to darkness and to sin!

Finally, the daily Benedictus (Canticle of Zacharias, Luke 1:68-79) references Christ as “the Orient [or Dawn] from on high” sent “to enlighten them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.”

Thus does the Office of Lauds, preeminently the Office of Light, express the sentiments which our Christian forefathers associated with the dawn, the daily coming of light, and the morning.  May we strive, through the praying of this Hour, to make them our own.

Fr. William Rock, FSSP was ordained in the fall of 2019 and is currently providing coverage at the FSSP Apostolate in Edmond, Oklahoma.

In support of the causes of Blessed Maria Cristina, Queen, and Servant of God Francesco II, King 

  1. What is now called Lauds was called at one point “Laudes matutinæ” or “Morning Praises” while what is currently called Matins was called “Vigilia,” “Vigils” or “Watches.”  Over time, “Laudes” came to be applied to just the dawn Office, while the “matutinæ” (Matins) was applied to the previous.  The term “Vigil” was then used to indicate a day of preparation, usually penitential in nature, immediately before a major feast day.  It is important to note for this discussion that Matins and Lauds originally constituted only one Hour.  This explains why, unlike when other Hours are prayed continuously, Matins and Lauds can be concluded together with only one oration rather than one at the end of Matins and the other at the end of Lauds, which would be the case for the other Hours.  This also helps explain why, historically, both Matins and Lauds were able to be anticipated on the day before.
  2. All Psalm numbers are given according to the Vulgate numbering.
  3. In the reform of Pope Pius X, Psalm 62 was assigned to be recited only on Sundays and Psalm 66 only on Tuesdays.
  4. The reform of Pope Pius X maintained these Psalms on the above mentioned days.
  5. Britt, Matthew. The Hymns of The Breviary and Missal. (New York: Benziger Brothers, 1936), p. 51.
  6. The translation of this and the following hymns are taken from Britt, Matthew. The Hymns of The Breviary and Missal. New York: Benziger Brothers, 1936.
  7. Britt, p. 54.
  8. Ibid., p. 60.

July 10, 2024

Pray with us!

Ss. Peter & Paul Novena, Jun 20-28, 2024

As we prepare for the feast of Ss. Peter and Paul, the FSSP will be praying a novena to our great patrons for the good of the North American Province, from Jun 20 to Jun 28th.

Novena prayer pamphlets will be available at your local apostolate, and a printable version can also be downloaded here.

To receive daily meditations during the novena via email, visit our signup page.

June 17, 2024

God – Above All, Principle of All, Removed from All

by Fr. William Rock, FSSP

St. Thomas Aquinas with Aristotle and Plato from Benozzo Gozzoli’s Triumph of St Thomas Aquinas (source)

When treating of the Names of God in his Theological Summa, St. Thomas Aquinas remarked that “the name ‘God’ signifies the divine nature, for this name was imposed to signify something existing above all things, the principle of all things and removed from all things; for those who name God intend to signify all this” (S.T. I, q. 13, a. 8, ad 2).  In these few words, as he does, St. Thomas expresses very sublime and deep truths which will be explored below.

God is Above All Things – In these words, St. Thomas does not intend to indicate God’s physical location.  He is not implying that God is somehow physically located above creation, both material and spiritual.  Rather, he is expressing that God’s perfections are above all created perfections.  It is very easy to fall into believing, perhaps without even realizing it, that God is a “big man in the sky with a beard,” with perfections like His creatures, just to a much greater degree, a maximum degree.  The truth St. Thomas is here expressing, however, is that God’s perfections, while not completely dissimilar to those of His creatures, differ not only by degree, but also by kind or order.

Equilateral Polygons within Circles (source)

A common analogy used to explain the difference between God’s perfections and created perfections is that of comparing a series of equilateral polygons (polygons whose sides are all the same length) with an increasing number of sides to a circle.  The series starts with an equilateral triangle, then a square, then an equilateral pentagon, then an equilateral hexagon, and so on.  As the number of sides continues to increase, it is clear that the series is approaching, or converging to, a circle.  But, no matter how many sides are added, the series will never actually reach a circle.  No matter how many sides an equilateral polygon may have, there will always be angles and joints, which a circle does not have.  The circle is the limiting case of the series, what the series is converging to, but is itself outside of the series.

In this analogy, the equilateral polygons represent created perfections, while the circle represents divine perfections.  No matter how “maxed out,” as it were, created perfections may be, they will never make the jump to the level of the divine perfections, just as the equilateral polygon series will never make the jump to a circle.  Again, it is a difference not just in degree, but also in kind or order.  Further, just as equilateral polygons are not completely dissimilar to circles, after all they are all plane figures, so the created perfections are not completely dissimilar to divine perfections.  This is why created perfections can be used to discuss divine perfections analogously (expressing sameness yet also difference at the same time).  So, while perfections such as “power,” “wisdom,” and the like are attributed to God, these must be understood as “limiting cases” when compared to the same attributed to creatures.  God’s power, then, for example, is not just a maxed-out power such as that which creatures have but is actually the “limiting case” of creaturely power, completely beyond what any creature could possess.  The same, of course, can be said for all of God’s other perfections (see S.T. I, q. 4).

Antonio Tempesta’s God Creating Heaven and Earth (source)

God is the Principle of All Things – God, as expressed in the Creeds, is the Creator of all things, material and spiritual.  Further, He is also the cause of all being, of all that is ontologically one, true, and good (see S.T. I, qq. 4445).  No being falls outside of God’s causality.  But it is not just that God freely created all things which exist outside of Him, without any necessity or compulsion, ex nihilo (out of nothing, i.e., without recourse to anything besides His own power), He also continuously maintains His creation in existence (see S.T. I, q. 104, aa. 12).  Were He to remove this divine preservation, creation would return to nothingness.  God, then, is the principle not of some things, or even a majority of things, but of all things outside of Himself.

God is Removed from All Things – Even though God is the principle of all things, He is not mixed with His creation (here excluding considerations of the Incarnation).  Here, St. Thomas is setting up a safeguard against pantheism, the idea that God is somehow part and parcel with His creation.  In truth, God is one thing; His creation is another (see S.T. I, q. 3, a. 8).  But this does not mean that God is not present to His creation.  As St. Thomas explains, God is present to His creation by presence (all of creation is known by God), essence (all is maintained in existence by God), and power (God can act immediately on any portion of creation) (see S.T I, q. 8, a. 3).

These above reflections help express how truly other God is from His creation.  As was said above, there is always the danger of seeing God as the “big man in the sky with a beard.”  Knowing, however, that God is “above all things, the principle of all things and removed from all things,” serves as a safeguard to this misconception.

Fr. William Rock, FSSP was ordained in the fall of 2019 and is currently assigned to Regina Caeli Parish in Houston, TX.

In support of the causes of Blessed Maria Cristina, Queen, and Servant of God Francesco II, King 

June 11, 2024

Ordinations 2024 Photopost

On May 29th, 2024, 11 men were ordained to the priesthood at the Cathedral of St. Cecilia in Omaha by His Grace Archbishop Terrence Prendergast. Video here:

More photos of the ceremony can be found at the Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary website.

 

 

 

 

 

 

May 31, 2024

Eleven Priests Ordained for the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter

Thanks be to God! On May 29th, eleven new priests of the FSSP were ordained at the Cathedral of St. Cecilia in Omaha, by His Grace Archbishop Terrence Prendergast Archbishop emeritus of the archdiocese of Ottawa-Cornwall. Congratulations to our new priests and their families. Ad multos annos!

Ordinandi:

Rev. Fr. Jeremy Chua
Rev. Fr. Joseph Duffy
Rev. Fr. Christopher Eichman
Rev. Fr. Benjamin Feuerborn
Rev. Fr. Anthony Fıll
Rev. Fr. Samuel Florance
Rev. Fr. Matthew Kane
Rev. Fr. Jacob Kasak
Rev. Fr. Brian Myers
Rev. Fr. Charles Ohotnicky
Rev. Fr. Stephen Wetzel

If you missed the livestream, you can watch the ceremony again below:

May 30, 2024

Marian Masses for the Month of May

by Fr. William Rock, FSSP

The Master of Frankfurt’s Christ Appearing at His Mother (source)

Prior to Pope Pius XII instituting the Feast of the Queenship of Mary in 1954, the month of May, Mary’s month, had no universal Marian feasts.  In his seminal work The Liturgical Year, Servant of God Dom Prosper Gueranger, Abbot of Solesmes, explained the situation thus:

Ever since our entrance upon the joys of the Paschal season, scarcely a day has passed without offering us some grand mystery or Saint to honour; and all these have been radiant with the Easter sun.  But there has not been a single feast of our blessed Lady to gladden our hearts by telling us of some mystery or glory of this august Queen.  The feast of her Seven Dolours is sometimes kept in April-that is, when Easter Sunday falls on or after the 10th of that month; but May and June pass without any special solemnity in honour of the Mother of God.  It would seem as though Holy Church wished to honour, by a respectful silence, the forty days during which Mary enjoyed the company of her Jesus, after his Resurrection.  We, therefore, should never separate the Mother and the Son, if we would have our Easter meditations be in strict accordance with truth-and that we surely must wish.  During these forty days, Jesus frequently visits his disciples, weak men and sinners as they are: can he, then, keep away from his Mother, now that he is so soon to ascend into heaven, and leave her for several long years here on earth?  Our hearts forbid us to entertain the thought.  We feel sure that he frequently visits her, and that when not visibly present with her, she has him in her soul, in a way more intimate and real and delicious than any other creature could have.

No feast could have given expression to such a mystery; and yet the Holy Ghost, who guides the spirit of the Church, has gradually led the faithful to devote in an especial manner to the honour of Mary the entire month of May, the whole of which comes, almost every year, under the glad season of Easter.  No doubt, the loveliness of the month would, some time or other, suggest the idea of consecrating it to the holy Mother of God; but if we reflect on the divine and mysterious influence which guides the Church in all that she does, we shall recognize, in this present instance, a heavenly inspiration, which prompted the faithful to unite their own happiness to that of Mary, and spend this beautiful month, which is radiant with their Easter joy, in commemorating the maternal delight experienced, during that same period, by the immaculate Mother when on earth.1

While there were no Marian feasts on the universal calendar during this time, Roman Missals printed in 1920 and 1943 do contain the Masses for Marian feasts kept in particular places.  They are found in a special section near the back of the Missal (Missæ Pro Aliquibus Locis).  On May 24th is found the Mass for the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of Help of Christians (B. Mariæ Virg. titulo Auxilium Christianorum).  May 31st has two Masses listed.  The first is that of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of All Saints and Mother of Fair Love (B. Mariæ Virg. Reginæ Sanctorum Omnium et Matris pulchræ dilectionis), and the second is that of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mediatrix of All Graces2 (B. M. V. Omnium Gratiarum Mediatricis).  Depending on how Easter falls in a given year, the Mass for Our Lady, Queen of the Apostles (B. Mariæ Virg. Reginæ Apostolorum), which is assigned for the Saturday after the Ascension, and the Mass of the Most Pure Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Purissimi Cordis B. M. V.), which is assigned for the Saturday following the Octave of the Feast of Corpus Christi (i.e., the Saturday after the Feast of the Sacred Heart), may also fall in May.

Philippe de Champaigne’s The Annunciation (source)

In the 1962 Roman Missal, the Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of All Saints and Mother of Fair Love and the Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mediatrix of All Graces are listed under May 8th along with the Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Beatae Mariae Virginis D. N. a S. Corde lesu).  This last is not present in the earlier two Missals.  Perhaps the two Masses were moved so that they would not conflict with the newly established Feast of Our Lady’s Queenship.  The Masses for the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of Help of Christians and for Our Lady, Queen of Apostles are listed as they were in the two earlier Missals.  The Mass for Most Pure Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary is no longer listed.

For the sake of completion, considering the quote above, the Missals also have two Marian Masses listed for June – the Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Grace (B. Mariæ V. Matris de Gratia) on June 9th, and the Mass of Our Lady of Perpetual Help (B. Mariæ Virg. de Perpetuo Succursu) on June 27th.

All of these Masses are proper, except for the Mass of Our Lady, Help of Christians which, while it has proper orations, uses the common of feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Mass of Our Lady, Mother of Grace, which, except for a proper collect, is the Mass of the Feast of the Holy Name of Mary (September 12th).  As such, a treatment of all of the texts of each of these Masses would be burdensome for a single article.  However, an investigation into their respective Gospels would be fruitful.

The Gospel for the Mass of Our Lady, Help of Christians is Luke 11:27-28: “as Jesus spoke to the crowd, a certain woman from the crowd, lifting up her voice, said to him: Blessed is the womb that bore thee and the paps that gave thee suck.  But he said: Yea rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it.”  Here, Our Lord is explaining that His Mother’s supernatural relationship with Him is more important than, and is the foundation for, her physical motherhood.  As this Gospel is, as was stated above, taken from the common, it was not specifically chosen for this feast.

William Holman Hunt’s The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple (source)

The Gospel for the Mass of the Most Pure Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary is fittingly Luke 2:48-51, the finding of the Lord in the Temple, where it is related that Mary “kept all these words in her heart.”  Luke 1:26-38, the Annunciation, where the Archangel Gabriel declared Our Lady “full of grace” who would conceive and give birth to “the Son of God,” is the Gospel for the Mass of Our Lady of Grace.  The connection between the Angel’s announcement and this particular Marian title is found in the collect which states that God bestowed the grace of restoration on the human race by means of the fruitful virginity of Blessed Mary (Deus, qui humano generi beatæ Mariæ virginitate foecunda reparationis gratiam contulisti: concede).  The Mass of Mary’s Queenship is also the account of the Annunciation but ending at verse 33 as verses 32-33 proclaim the kingship of Our Lord and, thus implicitly, the queenship of Our Lady.

The Gospel of the Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart of Jesus recounts the miracle at the wedding feast at Cana (Joh 2:1-11).  This Gospel reading, where Our Lord provided miraculous wine at the request of His Mother, matches well with the collect which asks that by the intercession of her heart, we may receive the riches of Christ’s Heart (Domine lesu Christe, qui, beata Maria Virgine intercedente, in nos divitias Cordis tui dignaris effundere…), for according to Cornelius a Lapide’s commentary on this event, “wine is the most fitting symbol of the grace, charity, devotion, fervour, strength, with which Christ endues His own.”

The rest of these Masses have John 19:25-27 assigned as their Gospels:

There stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalen.  When Jesus therefore had seen his mother and the disciple standing whom he loved, he saith to his mother: Woman, behold thy son.  After that, he saith to the disciple: Behold thy mother. And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own.

Eustache Le Sueur’s Christ on the Cross with the Magdalen, the Virgin Mary and Saint John the Evangelist (source)

This Gospel pericope, which is part of St. John’s Passion proclaimed on Good Friday, is also used in the Saturday Mass of Our Lady during Paschaltide (but not, however, in any of the other Saturday Masses of Our Lady).  By the use of these verses for these Paschal Marian Masses, the Church would have us return to that moment when Our Lord, about to expire on the Cross, entrusted each of the faithful to His Mother in the person of the unnamed Beloved Disciple (which tradition identifies as the Apostle John).  By this, the Church teaches the faithful that the foundation of Mary as Queen of All Saints, as the Mediatrix of All Graces, as the Queen of the Apostles, and as Our Lady of Perpetual Help is her offering of her Son back to God the Father as He hung upon the Cross and her accepting the faithful as her adopted children.  Even her joy at being with her risen Son during these days find their roots in this scene.  For if there were no crucifixion, there could not be the joy which follows.

Fr. William Rock, FSSP was ordained in the fall of 2019 and is currently assigned to Regina Caeli Parish in Houston, TX.

In support of the causes of Blessed Maria Cristina, Queen, and Servant of God Francesco II, King 

  1. Guéranger, Prosper. The Liturgical Year, vol. 8 (Paschal Time, Book II). Trans. Shepherd, Laurence. (Fitzwilliam: Loreto Publications, 2000), pp 537-538.
  2. According to Ott [2018] (p. 229): “Mary is designated mediatrix of all graces in a double sense: 1. Mary gave the Redeemer, the Source of All graces, to the world, and in this way she is the channel of all graces.” [Sent. certa.]; 2. Since Mary’s Assumption into Heaven no grace is conferred on man without her actual intercessory cooperation. [Sent. pia et probabilis.]”

May 21, 2024

OLGS Deacons Singing the Litany of Loreto

Please pray for this class of deacons at Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary, who will be ordained to the sacred priesthood later this month, on May 29th, 2024.

May 7, 2024