“What do you miss most about your FSSP parishes and priests since the lockdown?”

We asked this question a few weeks ago on our Facebook page and received many thoughtful and wonderful replies–too many to reprint here. Here is a sample of what FSSP parishioners replied from across the District. 

“I miss being around the holiness of our FSSP parish priests. I know this sounds crazy, but there’s a beautiful supernatural presence around priests. There’s a holy and loving, yet terrifying majesty (like the presence of Christ) that surrounds the priests.” – Eve Barbieri

“The Eucharist, high mass, Adoration, choir, incense, processions, our priests, our community. Everything.” – Anastacia Schiele

“Missing all of it, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the inspirational homilies, Confession, receiving the Body of Christ, the bells and smells, the sacred music, the rosary before mass, the interior joy in my heart knowing I was in heaven on earth, sensing the presence of Angels and saints. Oh, how does one pick from such wonders. I can’t.” – Gerianne Storelli

“I missed being physically present and the ability to physically receive Our Lord, but I am eternally grateful for the FSSP priests continuing to say the Mass daily and knowing that, even if I can’t watch online, the Mass is still prayed with reverence and devotion. I know I’m not needed for this magnificent prayer to ascend to God for all of us. I missed the Sacraments and the music and seeing my fellow Catholics after Mass. It’s returning slowly here, but who knows what will happen next? I will never take it for granted again.” – Ellen Maschino Wrinn

“I miss the profound reverence of the priests in every deliberate move they make during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, that brings me to the realization that Jesus IS truly present on that altar. When one can come to that realization that Jesus is truly there, nothing else matters. It’s like you can be there, but not there; in the world but not in it. I long for public Masses to resume again. It’s like having a taste of Heaven, then having to go through withdrawals when it’s been taken away.” – Janet Jordan

“Mass. Our parish community. Our wonderful FSSP priests at St Mary’s. Their teachings and the many things going on in our parish. Essentially everything. At the same time, I am very thankful for all that our FSSP priests have done for us every day during lockdown. I’ve learned so much from their catechism classes and Bible studies. It has been such a huge gift and blessing.” – Jennifer Elizabeth

“Besides the Mass, I miss the more routine opportunity to go to confession on Sundays before Mass. I miss the magnificent sermons, although we can watch them online, the surrounding distractions will always put a bit of a damper on the overall impact of the sermons. I also miss our high Masses on special feast days such as St. Joseph in March and other lovely festivities outside of Sunday during the week. I greatly missed the Easter Vigil which I ardently enjoy.” – Martin Palihnich

“Community. Shared sense of vision. Besides the exquisite Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, I miss being surrounded by the faithful and their witness. I also miss the quiet and inspiring catechism of traditional church artwork in stained glass.” –Allison Girone

“What I miss most is being surrounded by the body of Christ celebrating together with the Holy Eucharist, the source and summit of our life. Seeing our priests in Persona Christi – the holy and sacred witness – offers a source of peace, comfort and strength in a world gone mad.” – Cindy Lou Teller

“The beauty, awe and reverence of the Latin Mass and the great dignity and faithfulness of the FSSP who offer it.” – Joann Veara Castricum

“Receiving our Lord. The beautiful and reverent liturgy. Confession always available. The faithful families and priests.” – Chelsea Elyse

“The whole parish standing to sing the Credo. Little people crying out in the back of the church. Candles, incense. The sensibility that we get to step into a great moment in history and join it.” – Silvia Dipippo Aldredge

“I miss my spiritual director, but I got one chance to see him at confession. He responds to the confession hotline and is always ready to step out of the rectory for a confession in the parking lot. Also love seeing him on YouTube now.” – Joe Johnson

Thank you to all who participated! To share your thoughts with fellow FSSP parishioners across North America and join in the discussion of our Missive articles, like and follow our Facebook page.

Priestly and Diaconal Ordinations for the FSSP North American District will take place at the Cathedral of the Risen Christ in Lincoln, Nebraska on Monday, June 1.

Please unite with us in prayer by joining in singing or reciting the Veni Creator Spiritus for the men being ordained to the priesthood for the District:

• Rev. Mr. Daniel Alloy, FSSP
• Rev. Mr. Eric Krager, FSSP  
• Rev. Mr. Joseph Loftus, FSSP
• Rev. Mr. David McWhirter, FSSP
• Rev. Mr. Javier Ruiz Velasco Aguilar, FSSP

as well as for those being ordained to the diaconate:

• Mr. John Audino
• Mr. Joseph Dalimata
• Mr. James Eichman
• Mr. Nicholas Eichman
• Mr. Joel Pinto Rodriguez
• Mr. Thu Truong

Our apostolate LiveMass.net will be live-streaming the ceremony on June 1st, from 10 AM – 3 PM Central Time.

Veni, Creator Spiritus,
mentes tuorum visita,
imple superna gratia
quae tu creasti pectora.

This week we celebrate back-to-back feasts of two great English saints–Bede the Venerable on May 27 and Augustine of Canterbury on May 28. Both of these men are recognized today as key figures in the early English Church–St. Bede who wrote the Ecclesiastical History of the English People and saved much history from oblivion, and St. Augustine who was appointed by Pope St. Gregory the Great to convert the Anglo-Saxons and become the Apostle to England.

Among many other treasures, Bede’s chronicle preserves an invaluable exchange between Augustine and Gregory. Augustine asks why communities who shared the same faith nevertheless had different liturgical expressions.

Pope Gregory answered back:

You know, my brother, the custom of the Roman church in which you remember you were bred up. But it pleases me, that if you have found anything, either in the Roman, or the Gallican, or any other church, which may be more acceptable to Almighty God, you carefully make choice of the same, and sedulously teach the church of the English, which as yet is new in the faith, whatsoever you can gather from the several churches. For things are not to be loved for the sake of places, but places for the sake of good things. Choose, therefore, from every church those things that are pious, religious, and upright, and when you have, as it were, made them up into one body, let the minds of the English be accustomed thereto.

Fourteen hundred years later, we are still coming to terms with similar issues.

The 1962 Missal has been the standard missal for FSSP parishes for so long–but many have long lamented that it is profoundly untraditional for a calendar to be “frozen in amber” without any new saints being added. For example, it feels quite unnatural to honor St. Pio of Pietrelcina everywhere but on our altars. Yet on the other hand, how would it be possible to add in 60 years of new saints while also respecting the integrity of the traditional calendar? It took until this very year to painstakingly work out a solution, through the Congregation of the Faith’s promulgation of the decree Cum Sanctissima.

Other scholars have looked back to earlier times and wondered whether it would not be truer to the classical Roman Rite to restore practices that were abolished by Pius XII’s liturgical changes of 1955. Rome has granted some limited allowances along these lines as well, with some FSSP parishes being provisionally allowed to use the pre-1955 Holy Week rites.

Like Augustine on his arrival on the British Isles, we find ourselves confronted with disparate liturgical books but a wish to harmonize them in a single “body” that best exemplifies the overall spirit of the classical Roman Mass. Our different missals are chronological rather than geographical, but the essential problem is the same.

A liturgical purist might well object that to foray outside the protective confines of the 1962 missal is, to use the vernacular expression, “picking and choosing.” That for something as vitally important as the liturgical books of the Roman Rite, we should simply stick to the commonly-used missal and be done, instead of embarking on a complicated synthesis that will lead (so the thinking goes) to inevitable liturgical chaos.

But thanks to the pens of both Augustine and Bede, we can put the question back to Pope St. Gregory for advice.

Gregory flatly stated that it pleased him for Augustine to “carefully make choice” from the liturgical practices of different churches.  Indeed, he himself was responsible for finalizing the Traditional Latin Mass as we know it today.

However, he is no reckless reformer. He naturally assumes that such a synthesis will only make use of those things that  “may be more acceptable to Almighty God”, and are “pious, religious, and upright”. In other words, the ingredients of that synthesis must be chosen from what is in accord with the faith that Christ has given us and that contributes most to God’s glory. This principle necessarily excludes from consideration any concept that stems from mere convenience, worldliness, current fashions, or hostility or embarrassment toward tradition.

As the spiritual descendants of the English Church founded by Augustine and chronicled by Bede, we ought to consider how to apply Gregory’s sage words to our own time and our own liturgical challenges. Granted, they do not give us minute instructions to that effect, but they do provide us with some key points to keep in mind.

For tradition, in its fullest and truest definition, is not so much the exclusive property of one Missal or another, but remains ever present, in varying degrees, as a unifying thread through all of them. May Sts. Bede, Augustine, and Gregory watch over us as we strive to preserve it.

by Rachel Shrader

A blessed and peaceful Memorial Day to all. Although today evokes thoughts of barbecues, get-togethers with family and friends, and the unofficial beginning of summer, much of what we would normally have planned for today may have been curtailed by recent events and the accompanying closures. But perhaps such restrictions give us a chance to pause and reflect on what this day is really about, and the relative isolation we may have to endure may be a fitting reminder of those who are no longer with us, and whose absence will remain even when the lockdowns are lifted.

Memorial Day is, of course, a tribute to those who have given their lives in the service of our country. Though different wars happen for different reasons in different eras with varying levels of popular support, what is common to them all is that many went, many returned, and some did not. All who went raised their right hand and swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution, with the implicit obligation to give their lives in its defense if necessary, and some fulfilled their oath to the letter. Some military children have rejoiced at their parents’ return from war; some have wept. Some parents have greeted their returning sons and daughters with laughter and “Welcome Home” signs; others have greeted flag-draped coffins with a sorrow that, unless experienced, is hard to comprehend. For some, remembering those who have made the ultimate sacrifice is something they do every hour of every day.

A couple years ago I visited Arlington National Cemetery with a friend. We both have relatives buried there. It was a drizzly day, the dreary weather and the thousands of identical gravestones cast across the green hills a somber reminder of the sacrifices of so many. We stopped at one of the most famous graves in the cemetery, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a monument to those unidentified dead and missing of the World Wars, Korea, Vietnam, and by extension all conflicts in which the U.S. has been involved. The U.S. Army’s 3rd Infantry Regiment maintains a constant presence there, guarding the Tomb day and night, every day of the year, and we watched the impressive changing of the guard that occurs every 30 or 60 minutes depending on the time of year. It is fascinating to me that the most carefully guarded and iconic of all graves in Arlington belongs to those who do not have so much as an identity, who are, in a sense, the least among the thousands of their brethren buried there, the least loved, the least known.

But in God’s view, not one is forgotten. Not even a sparrow falls to the ground without His knowledge (Matthew 10:29), and He knows the names of all the unknowns who lay buried in Arlington, in the fields of France, in the depths of the sea, or elsewhere in unmarked graves. He is a God well-acquainted with both obscurity and sacrifice, Who chose to live in obscurity most of His earthly life and allowed Himself to be counted with the transgressors in His death. He is the God Who told us that “greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13), the day before He gave us the most perfect example of sacrificial love when He died on the Cross.

Indeed, something about obscurity speaks deeply to the nature of sacrifice. A sacrifice is magnified when the giver gains no glory from it, in life or death, so the unnamed soldier stands as an example of a particularly high ideal of self-sacrifice. None of them chose to be unknown, but nonetheless, they and their known compatriots illustrated for us, when they took the road from which they would not return, the idea that some things are worth the sacrifice of our own life, our own future, and sometimes, our own name.

So let us remember today all who have made the ultimate sacrifice, especially, perhaps, those who are unknown. Not all of us can raise up physical monuments, but we can send up a prayer for the unknown soldier, that, in a busy and forgetful world, every one may be prayed for, thanked, and remembered. +

Réquiem ætérnam dona eis, Dómine: et lux perpétua lúceat eis. Requiéscant in pace. Amen.

Rachel Shrader was the editor and primary writer of the Missive from its inception in June 2017 until May 2020. She now contributes as a freelance writer, covering military topics, the international work of the FSSP, and FSSP parish life.

In the summer of 1629, about 50 Jumano Indians from western Texas appeared before the Spanish Franciscan friars at the town of Isleta, near modern-day Albuquerque, NM.

Smaller groups of the Jumano had been coming there for some years, each time asking for missionaries to teach their as-yet-uncatechized nation the faith of Christ. The friars inquired exactly how they had learned about Our Lord, and in return they would always tell the same rather odd story: that a mysterious “Lady in Blue” had been appearing among them and instructing them about God and the Christian religion. It was she, they said, who told them to come to this place and ask for Baptism.

Although the friars were sympathetic to the Jumanos’ need for missionaries, the tale about the Lady had been easily enough dismissed: there were no Spanish friars in that faraway region, let alone women.

But on this last embassy in 1629, that odd story struck a chord with their superior Fr. Alonso de Benavides, who had been charged to investigate these strange reports–and also to get to the bottom of strange rumors that a Spanish nun was somehow being mystically transported to the Americas. He interviewed the Jumano themselves, who pointed to a portrait of a nun and stated that the Lady in Blue, though younger in age, wore similar clothes.

Intrigued, he sent two missionaries to the Jumano homeland in western Texas. The missionaries found the people knowledgeable of the faith, and baptized a number of them. Benavides composed an account of what happened, then set off for Spain, trying to track down who the nun was. There he learned that it was Sister Maria of the convent of the Immaculate Conception in Agreda. Under obedience, she was directed to reveal these hidden aspects of her interior life, and she also described details of the country and the different peoples of the region. Benavides left the meeting completely convinced. Later, the ecclesiastical authorities investigated her and found her mystical gifts to be authentic.

To this day, American folklore reveres Venerable Mary of Jesus of Agreda as one of the founders of the Catholic faith in the state of Texas–despite her apparently never leaving her convent. But it is through her spiritual writing that she earned the most fame in her lifetime. Indeed, Benavides himself would later say that “I call God to witness that my esteem for her holiness has been increased more by the noble qualities which I discern in her than by all the miracles which she has wrought in America.”

Venerable Maria de Agreda–her cause for beatification is now ongoing–left her mortal life on May 24th, 1665, leaving behind a spiritual classic: the Mystical City of God.

And the locals continue to cherish a legend that when she said farewell to the Indians for the last time and faded away beyond the hills, she left the area blanketed in deep blue flowers the color of her robe–the Texas bluebonnet.

From the sermon of St. Leo the Great, on the Lord’s Ascension.

Dearly beloved brethren, let us also rejoice with worthy joy, for the Ascension of Christ is exaltation for us. And where the glory of the Head of the Church has passed into, there is the hope of the body of the Church called to follow. Let us rejoice with exceeding great joy, and give God glad thanks! On this day not only is the possession of Paradise made secure for us, but in the Person of our Head we have actually begun to enter into the heavenly mansions above.

Through the unspeakable goodness of Christ we have gained more than we ever lost by the envy of the devil. We, whom our venomous enemy thrust from our first happy home, — we, being made of one body with the Son of God, have by Him been given a place at the right hand of the Father; with Whom He liveth and reigneth, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.

Rogation Days are a very old and wonderfully “earthy” tradition in the Roman Rite–uniting both the supernatural world (prayer and the intercession of the saints) and the natural world (the land and the planting of crops).

The coronavirus shutdown has impeded the celebration of the Rogation Days in many places, but St. Mary’s on Broadway, our FSSP apostolate in Providence, not only carried out the traditional Rogation Day ceremonies but also recorded them for the benefit of the faithful everywhere.

As explained on the parish’s Youtube channel:

On the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before the Ascension, the Lesser Litanies can be celebrated. On these days, there can be a petitionary procession, in which fields are blessed, which is then followed by a violet petitionary Mass (the Rogation Mass, from the Latin “Rogare” which means “to ask, to ask for”).

Originally instituted in France (Vienne) for deliverance from calamities, the practice eventually became widespread. Their location on the Church’s calendar expresses how the joys of Easter are mingled with the sadness that these are the last days of Our Lord’s (liturgical) physical, risen presence among us.

Here are two of the videos just released earlier today, featuring a Rogation Day Procession, with the Litany of the Saints:

and the Rogation Mass, in violet vestments:

Even in the midst of quarantines and shutdowns, sacred tradition never ceases to glorify God!

Today we begin the period of Rogationtide in the traditional Roman liturgy: three days of prayer and fasting before Ascension. During these days we ask God (Latin rogare) for protection from calamities, and for the success of the harvest being sown.

Sunday’s Gospel and Office focused on St. John’s passage (ch. 16) “ask and you shall receive”, and now they turn to a similar passage in St. Luke (11:5-13): “Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you.” St. Ambrose of Milan’s homily discussing this passage is featured in three lessons from the Office of Matins for Rogation Monday:

Homily by St Ambrose, Bishop of Milan. {Bk. vii. on Luke xi.)

We gather from this commandment, among other things, that we ought to pray, not only by day, but also by night. You see how he who arose at midnight to ask three loaves of his friend, and endured in supplication, was not disappointed of that which he sought. Of what are these three loaves a figure, but of that our Mysterious Bread which comes down from heaven? You see that if you love the Lord thy God, you may win His bounty, not only for yourself, but for others likewise. And who can deserve more to be called our “Friend” than He who gave His Own Body for us?

From this Friend it was that David asked bread at midnight, and received it, as he said: “At midnight I rise to give thanks unto Thee.” (Ps. cxviii. 62.) Even thus did he obtain those loaves [of spiritual nourishment] which he still sets before us for our refreshment. How he asked it, we know from him saying: “Every night I wash my bed.” (Ps. vi. 7.) He knew that there was no fear of waking Him Who sleeps not. (Ps. cxx. 3.) Therefore let us keep in mind the things which are written for our learning, and be instant in prayer both by day and by night, to ask pardon of our sins.

If David, who was such a Saint, and whose time was so taken up by the cares of a kingdom, praised the Lord seven times a day, (Ps. cxviii. 164,) and was always present with godly zeal at the morning and evening sacrifice, what ought we to do, (who have so much more need to pray, as the weakness of our body and mind so much more often makes us to fall,) that we — wearied with this pilgrimage, and worn out by the gradual waning of our earthly days, and the changes of life — may not be starved of that life-giving Bread that strengthens man’s heart? The Lord teaches us to be watchful, all of us, and not at midnight only, but always. “And if He shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so — blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when He cometh, shall find watching.” (Luke xii. 37.)

This served as a powerful lesson as to how a priest should devote himself to his duty, despite the limitations that affect his parish.
– Mr. Joseph Duffy, FSSP

When Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary closed a few weeks ago out of caution regarding the coronavirus, the seminarians were sent either home or to various apostolates to finish their semester via online classes and to assist at the apostolates. While none of them was expecting the Spring 2020 semester to conclude in such unique fashion, and while none would consider it an ideal circumstance, the seminarians’ testimony of their experiences bears witness to the surprise graces and unlooked-for lessons that have featured strongly in their life in diaspora. We’ve gathered some of their stories, and they tell the tale that we’ve found to be the main thread of this coronavirus business – when trials abound, grace abounds all the more.

St. Joan of Arc Parish, Post Falls, ID

Two of this year’s priestly ordinandi, Deacon Joseph Loftus and Deacon Javier Ruiz Velasco Aguilar, headed to Deacon Loftus’ home territory of Post Falls, Idaho for their final weeks of seminary. They assisted at St. Joan of Arc’s pre-1955 Holy Week liturgies (Loftus as deacon), and continue to serve at daily Mass and assist with perpetual Adoration. They also have been helping at the nearby Carmel convent so that the sisters can have Solemn Masses on Sundays and special occasions, such as the recent entrance of a young lady into the convent.

One positive opportunity the scattered seminarians have received is the chance to learn about the priesthood firsthand from experienced pastors. Post Falls pastor Fr. Dennis Gordon has been teaching Deacons Loftus and Aguilar an informal “pastoral theology class” each week, sharing wisdom gained from his twelve years in ministry and offering advice for transitioning into life as a parish priest.

“Obviously, priestly formation outside of the seminary setting is not ideal, especially academically. Nevertheless, these unprecedented times and events do not fall outside of God’s good and loving providence and both Javier and I can see how He is providing and caring for us during this unusual last semester of seminary formation.” – Deacon Joseph Loftus

Mater Dei Parish, Irving, TX

It only made sense for two North Texans, Mr. Kyle Boor and Mr. Sam Florance, to be stationed in North Texas. Mr. Boor (5th year) hails from Mater Dei and Mr. Florance (3rd year) from St. Benedict Parish 4o min due west in Fort Worth. Among other things they helped out during the Holy Week liturgies at Mater Dei – here they are assisting at the Easter Vigil. Click the image to watch the video on Mater Dei’s Facebook page.

St. Stephen the First Martyr Parish, Sacramento, CA

3rd year seminarian Mr. Jacob Kasak, FSSP, found that the unique scheduling challenges posed by the coronavirus restrictions were a good opportunity to practice the elusive virtue of flexibility. St. Stephen’s is able to keep its church open for private prayer and Confession, and though Mr. Kasak can attend the private Masses of the priests, they are at varying times so as to avoid more than 10 people in the church. He also had the chance to assist at adult baptism, which again had to occur with a limited number of people in the church and occurred individually on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of Holy Week rather than at the Easter Vigil as is normally done. He finds that he has to be creative in order to adapt to all these singular circumstances while attending class and fitting in time for prayer, study and exercise.

“My time at this apostolate has contributed greatly thus far to my formation on a spiritual, academic, and material level…I’ve been building skills these past few weeks for surviving the most hectic days of being a priest.”
– Mr. Jacob Kasak, FSSP

St. Mary’s Church on Broadway, Providence, RI

Commitment and character shine their brightest when tested by adversity, and Mr. Joseph Duffy, FSSP, has been edified by the example of the priests with whom he has served during the past several weeks. The 3rd-year assisted with the pre-1955 Holy Week at FSSP Providence, which were livestreamed on the parish’s Youtube channel (we encourage you to visit the channel and check out the high quality DSLR recordings of these beautiful ceremonies). A sermon accompanied each liturgy, “in order,” as Mr. Duffy said, “to offer a little hope and spiritual encouragement during these hard times.” The priests offered Holy Communion and Confession as much as protocols allowed.

“In short, the priests worked just as hard, if not harder, to look after the spiritual well-being of their flock. This served as a powerful lesson as to how a priest should devote himself to his duty, despite the limitations that affect his parish.”

– Mr. Joseph Duffy, FSSP

At the moment Mr. Duffy and his fellow seminarian Anthony Fill, FSSP, are assisting at the private Low Masses celebrated at St. Stanislaus Parish, our apostolate in Nashua, NH.

St. Stanislaus Parish, Nashua, NH

When personnel is reduced to a minimum, one often gets the chance to take on more responsibility and practice new skills. That’s what Mr. Anthony Fill, FSSP, discovered during his time serving the Holy Week liturgies at FSSP Nashua. With only 5 servers and 1 or 2 sacristans able to assist, Mr. Fill carried out many of the tasks involved with preparing for and serving the ceremonies, which he was experiencing in their pre-1955 form for the first time. And he had to do a great deal of the singing, including readings from Tenebrae, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday, which, he says, was good practice in working outside the “protective shell” of a schola or choir.

“I was either singing by myself or with one other person. I never would have been able to do that two years ago, maybe even last year, but the amount of training with singing that we receive at the seminary is definitely making a difference.”

– Mr. Anthony Fill, FSSP

We can’t conclude without mentioning the marathons. Several seminarians had planned on participating in the Lincoln Marathon and Half-Marathon as a way to raise money for their studies, but the events were cancelled when the coronavirus hit. The organizers gave would-be participants the option to run the marathons on their own and submit their times, so some of the seminarians are doing just that, including Mr. Fill and first-year Patrick Shea. While supporters contributed online, Mr. Shea ran a 2.6 mile circuit around St. Mary’s Church in Providence ten times to complete the distance, the parish livestreaming pieces of it over Facebook. Temperatures in the 40s and high winds provided an extra dimension of penitence to the endeavor, but it could have been worse. Back at the seminary, 3rd year Stephen Wetzel ran his marathon in the snow! Altogether, 6 seminarians have run the marathon, with 4 more planning to do so, and at least 4 have run the half-marathon.

We ask you to please pray for our seminarians as they strive to finish the semester’s studies, accomplish their duties at their assigned apostolates and strive to absorb all the many graces available during this unusual time of diaspora. +

We wish a most happy and blessed Mother’s Day to all our mothers! Certainly one day is not enough to express the gratitude that we have towards our mothers, whose love is so often our first lesson in the tenderness and mercy of God. Mothers teach us so many lessons: our duties towards God and neighbor, our prayers and our manners, how to sit still at Mass and the dinner table. A mother’s heart demonstrates to us honesty, sacrifice, care for others, forgiveness, and innumerable other virtues. Truly, who can count the things we owe to our mothers?

And of course, we at the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter know just how much we owe to mothers, for it is mothers who nurture the seeds of holiness that spring up into vocations. With every new first-year seminarian that comes to our doors and every new priest we send out, we know we have a mother to thank for her prayers and sacrifices. If you attend a priest’s ordination, you’ll even witness an age-old custom that publicly recognizes the role of the mother. After the ordaining bishop marks the hands of the new priest with the sacred chrism, he binds them with a cloth – called the manutergium – which performs the practical function of catching the oil before it drips anywhere. The new priest then goes to the altar rail to meet his mother, who unties the manutergium from his hands and keeps it. When she dies, she is buried with it, so that, when God asks her at her judgment what she has done for Him, she can tell Him: “I have given You a priest.”

Let us pray today for our mothers and give thanks for them. God Himself chose to come to earth through a mother and gave her a central role not only in His own earthly coming but in the economy of salvation, making her the Mediatrix of All Graces, the giver of all His good gifts. She is truly our Mother and the model of motherhood, the Mother of priests and the Mother of the Church, so let us entrust our earthly mothers to her loving care this day and always. Happy Mother’s Day! +