This is a Test
With any luck, this is the first post to this blog using the WordPress app on my phone. If this works properly, that’s one more thing I can check off my to-do list! (Originally posted to Pilgrims on the Way.)
» Read moreIt’s the Epiphany! (again)
Happy Epiphany! Today is the traditional date of this great Solemnity, and in many places throughout the world (like, I dunno, Rome for instance) it is still celebrated today. In my monastic diurnal, certainly, today’s Divine Office is for the Epiphany. For more information on this feast, you can read last Sunday’s article. Whenever you celebrate it, I pray the […]
» Read moreTwelfth Night
Happy twelfth day of Christmas! This evening is called Twelfth Night, traditionally the vigil of the Epiphany. This was traditionally a time of feasting and festivity (all of which seem to include various varieties of enormous pastries) marking the end of Christmastide and the beginning of Epiphanytide. These days, of course, the calendar has been moved around a bit and […]
» Read moreSaint Elizabeth Ann Seton
Happy eleventh day of Christmas! I’ve been sick in bed the past few days, so there’s no coherent post today – just some scattered notes. Today is the memorial of the first native-born citizen of the United States to be canonized: Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton. The first end I propose in our daily work is to do the will of […]
» Read moreIt’s the Epiphany!
(More or Less)
Happy tenth day of Christmas! Today, we celebrate the great Solemnity of the Epiphany. Traditionally, this feast would have been celebrated on the day following the twelfth day of Christmas, the 6th of January, but like many other feasts it fell victim to the “move it to a Sunday” mania that has gripped the Church these past few decades. For […]
» Read moreThe Cappadocian Doctors
Happy ninth day of Christmas! Today the Church turns to the east for her celebrations, honouring Saints Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen, bishops and Doctors of the Church. They both lived in the middle of the fourth century – in fact, they knew each other and were friends. Interestingly, this is not infrequently the case with two great Doctors […]
» Read moreMary, Mother of God
Happy eighth day of Christmas, a very happy new year, and a most blessed Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God to you! First, a word about the eighth day, and then we’ll move on to Mary. Christmas is celebrated as a day, an octave, and a season. The celebration of the octave – that is, the day and the week […]
» Read moreSaint Sylvester
Happy seventh day of Christmas! Today the Church celebrates the optional memorial of Saint Sylvester I, pope and confessor. He was born in the southern Italian town of Sant’Angelo a Scala to two Roman citizens, Rufinus and Justa. He was ordained by Pope Saint Marcellinus just before the persecutions of Diocletian got underway. He survived those years of terror and […]
» Read moreNot No Saints
Happy sixth day of Christmas! Today is the first day of the Christmas Octave that is not otherwise also a solemnity, feast, or memorial. That does not mean, however, that there aren’t other saints we could celebrate today in some form. Today might be a good time to talk about the Roman Martyrology. This is one of those liturgical books […]
» Read moreOn Pilgrimage
Happy fifth day of Christmas! Today the Church celebrates the martyrdom of the splendid Saint Thomas Becket. Having the birth name “Thomas”, I take Becket and Aquinas as patrons. Each year, I write something about the saint here. Previous articles on Saint Thomas Becket: 2014: A Happy Death (Thoughts on the saint’s martyrdom and the grace of a happy death) 2012: […]
» Read moreNinety Days
The number of days to our next Camino continues to drop precipitously. Less than three months to go! At this point, equipment and footgear is all acquired. For shoes and socks, I have stuck with Keen. Their “garage” store is in downtown Portland, and it’s well worth a drop-by if you’re in the area. The shoes are rugged and comfortable […]
» Read moreThe Holy Innocents
Happy fourth day of Christmas! Today we pause a moment in our revelry for the feast of the Holy Innocents. When Herod realized that he had been deceived by the magi, he became furious. He ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had ascertained […]
» Read moreJohn
Happy third day of Christmas! Were today not a Sunday (and the Feast of the Holy Family!), it would be the feast of Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist. In our life of faith, we are given a name at Baptism, and we choose a new name at Confirmation. It was a little different for me, as I was baptised and […]
» Read moreThe Twelve(ish) Days of Christmas
The rest of the world thinks Christmas is over, with the possible exception of those who celebrate Boxing Day today or those fond of partridges in pear trees. Oh, how wrong they are! For like Easter, Christmas isn’t just one day, but a whole season! It continues from Christmas Day through the Epiphany (January 6). In some places, this season […]
» Read moreO Magnum Mysterium!
O great mystery, and wonderful sacrament, that animals should see the new-born Lord, lying in a manger! Blessed is the Virgin whose womb was worthy to bear Christ the Lord. Alleluia! O magnum mysterium, et admirabile sacramentum, ut animalia viderent Dominum natum, jacentem in praesepio! Beata Virgo, cujus viscera meruerunt portare Dominum Christum. Alleluia.
» Read moreWhat’s it all About?
Rejoice! Rejoice!
As I do every year, I shall end this Advent chant sequence with the hymn assembled from the O Antiphons. I‘ve also posted one of my favourite carols, which is particularly appropriate in the deeps of Christmas Vigil. Come to Mass! For those of you in Tacoma and environs, I invite you to come to our parish of Our Lady […]
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