Requiem in St Benet's Hall

Don't forget to attend, if you can, Cardinal Burke's celebration of the LMS' Annual Requiem: this Saturday, 14th November, 2pm Westminster Cathedral.

A work of pietas undertaken by current and former members of St Benet's Hall, to offer Mass for the repose of former members and benefactors of the institution, facilitated by the Latin Mass Society.

If a Catholic institution of any kind does not have an annual requiem for this intention, then it should do.

Cardinal Burke in London this Saturday and Sunday

The last time Cardinal Burke visited England, he celebrated an EF Low Mass
at SS Gregory & Augustine in Oxford

Cardinal Burke is coming to England at the invitation of the Latin Mass Society, and also of CIEL UK. He will be taking part in the following public events.

Saturday 14th November:
11:00 am Confirmations in St James', Spanish Place.
2:00 pm Pontifical Requiem Mass in Westminster Cathedral (with homily): LMS Annual Requiem

Sunday 15th November:
9:00 am Prelatial Low Mass at the London Oratory
2:00 pm Address to the Annual Conference of CIEL UK, St Wilfrid Hall, London Oratory.

Don't miss your chance to see and hear him.

Support the work of the LMS by becoming an 'Anniversary Supporter'.

LMS launches a new Ordinary Booklet

Members of the Latin Mass Society are this weekend receiving their copies of the quarterly magazine, Mass of Ages: with this edition is enclosed a brand new booklet missal or missalette, with Ordinary Prayers of the Mass, Benediction, and other prayers and devotions.

This new book has a clear, accurate, and readable new translation of all the Ordinary of the Mass, taking account of the improved ICEL translation of the Novus Ordo where applicable, but using traditional language ('thee' and 'thou' etc.).

It has new illustrations showing the postures of the priest at different points during the Mass.

New book about the Prayer to St Michael

Pope Leo XIII & the Prayer to Saint Michael, by Kevin Symonds

Available here.

The Prayer to St Michael, which forms part of the traditional Prayers After Low Mass, is one of the most widely known and popular Catholic prayers of modern composition. Its author was Pope Leo XIII, and its composition is associated with a story, told in a number of versions, of Pope Leo having a vision in which Satan asked for, and was granted, power over the Church for a certain time, as he was given over Job, in Job 1:12:

Then the Lord said to Satan: Behold, all that he hath is in thy hand.

Dixit ergo Dominus ad Satan: Ecce universa quae habet in manu tua sunt.

It is easy to dismiss such stories, but the composition of the prayer does need explanation. Pope Leo inherited the idea of the Prayers After Low Mass, which had been ordered to be said in the Papal States for their protection against attack, by Pope Pius IX, but it was Leo who made them universal, and added the Prayer to St Michael. Why did he want Catholics all over the world to recite this heartfelt plea for the protection of the Church from satanic attack?

Embroidery training in Oxford with the Guild of St Clare

I'm delighted to promote something genuinely useful and enjoyable: training in the techniques of embroidery, taking place in Oxford on 12th December, and open to all.

'This is a very unusual opportunity to study techniques not often taught in day courses. Please email me at lucyashaw@gmail.com if you would like to know more, or to book a place on the course. The price is £80 plus materials, and the course runs from 10am till 4pm. Space is limited so please don't delay!'
The details are here.

Support the work of the LMS by becoming an 'Anniversary Supporter'.

The Synod: fornication as a path to holiness

I've just read Bishop Schneider's excellent critique of the Synod's Final Relatio, paragraphs 84-86. Here I want to say something about paragraph 71, translated by Rorate Caeli.

71. The choice of civil marriage or, in several cases, simple cohabitation, is often not motivated by prejudice or resistance against the sacramental union, but from cultural situations or cultural contingents. In many circumstances, the decision to live together is a sign of a relationship that actually wants to navigate towards the prospect of stability. This will, which translates into a lasting bond, reliable and open to life can be considered a commitment on which to base a path to the sacrament of marriage, discovered to be God's plan for [the couple's] lives. The path of growth, which can lead to sacramental marriage, will be encouraged by the recognition of the distinguishing characteristics of a generous and lasting love: the desire to seek the good of others before their own; the experience of forgiveness requested and given; the aspiration to build a family that is not closed in on itself but open to the good of the ecclesial community and of the entire society. Along this route those signs of love that properly correspond to the reflection of God should be valorized into an authentic conjugal project.

I'm not going to go into who 'won' the Synod, what the Pope meant in his concluding remarks and post-Synod sermon, or the latest Sclafari interview. If we want public documents, whose wording has been pored over and voted on, this is quite enough. It is not a document with magisterial authority, but then none of the key moves in this game are about documents of magisterial authority.

Photos of the liturgies for the FIUV in Rome

Procession to St Peter's, from San Lorenzo in Damaso

For the first time, the FIUV General Assembly and the Latin Mass Society pilgrimage to Rome were coordinated with the Summorum Pontificum Pilgrimage to Rome, which meant that the LMS and the FIUV sponsored some of the music for the SP Pilgrimage, and offered additional liturgies for the SP Pilgrims.

Bishop Laise processes into the Chapel of the Throne at St Peter's for Mass.

Matthew Schellhorn's choir from London, Cantus Magnus, sang for the Eucharistic Adoration which preceded the procession to St Peter's, for the Sunday Mass in Sta Trinita dei Pellegrini, for two Vespers in the Domus Australia where the FIUV General Assembly took place, and a final High Mass on Monday morning in the same venue.