Today is the Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter. Now, you might be thinking, “a feast for a piece of furniture?” Read on! Most […]
Supporting the Eucharistic Revival
General Instruction of the Roman Missal
Five Things Most Catholics Don’t Know about Celebrating Mass
Almost three years ago, in the letter accompanying the Motu Proprio Traditionis Custodes, Pope Francis asked the bishops of the world “to be vigilant in […]
Exhortations
Saint Benedict and the Work of God
Today is the feast of Saint Benedict of Nursia, who can safely be said to be the father of western monasticism. His monastic Holy Rule, […]
Resources and Reviews
resources
Practical Pilgrimage – Now Available!
My new book, Practical Pilgrimage, is now available for purchase. Subtitled “Useful Rules for Walking the Camino de Santiago”, it’s a deeper exploration and expansion […]
Review
A Digression on the Star Wars
Sometime in early June 1977, in a small theater in Hegewisch Illinois, I saw Star Wars for the first time. My grandfather took my sister […]
The Chair of Saint Peter
Today is the Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter. Now, you might be thinking, “a feast for a piece of furniture?” Read on! Most folks have seen some variation of this photo of Bernini‘s “Chair of Peter” in the Vatican. It’s a masterpiece of baroque art, found in every art textbook covering the period. The chair in question is […]
» Read moreOremus pro Pontifice nostro Francisco
As we continue to receive reports from the Vatican that Pope Francis is suffering from double pneumonia, please join me in praying this ancient prayer for the Pope. It has been frequently set to music, including in the venerable Liber Usualis. V. Let us pray for Francis, the Pope.R. May the Lord preserve him, give him a long life, make him […]
» Read moreSeptuagesima Sunday
Today is traditionally Septuagesima Sunday, the beginning of a liturgical season known as Septuagesima or Fore-Lent or Shrovetide. It consists of the three weeks immediately before the start of Lent, and indeed the name Septuagesima means seventy, in reference to Quadragesima – forty – which is the proper Latin name for Lent. This liturgical season, meant to prepare us for […]
» Read moreSaints Valentine, Cyril, and Methodius
The memorial of Saint Valentine was removed from the Roman calendar during the calendar reform of 1970. It seems a shame, since this is one of a vanishingly small number of saint’s feasts that have remained in the secular culture. It seems to me that it could be used as a touchstone for the new evangelization. Mind you, he’s still […]
» Read moreNew Optional Memorial
Vatican News is reporting that Saint Teresa of Calcutta has been added to the General Roman Calendar. The Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments releases the decree inscribing St. Teresa of Calcutta in the General Roman Calendar, along with the liturgical texts to accompany her feast day on September 5. You can read the full story […]
» Read moreSaint Scholastica: Called to Love More
Saint Benedict was the founder of Western monasticism; to this day, most monks and nuns worldwide follow some variation of his “Little Rule for Beginners“. Benedict had a twin sister, Scholastica, whose feast day is today. Under her brother’s guidance, she founded the first female monastery in the West. I often think that their parents had a sense of humour, […]
» Read morePractical Pilgrimage – Now Available!
My new book, Practical Pilgrimage, is now available for purchase. Subtitled “Useful Rules for Walking the Camino de Santiago”, it’s a deeper exploration and expansion of a blog post that appeared back in 2023, Thom’s Practical Rules for the Camino. Purchase on Amazon (affiliate link) This short book (about a hundred pages) is chock-full of photos and anecdotes from my […]
» Read moreCandlemas!
Today was once one of the most solemn feasts of the year. It’s gone by several names over the millennia: the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, Candlemas. Coming forty days after Christmas, it was once the end of the Christmas season. Even today, there are relics of this […]
» Read moreSaint Brigid of Kildaire
Today is the anniversary of the death of Saint Brigid of Kildaire. She founded the first monasteries in Ireland shortly after Saint Patrick’s mission. She was named after an ancient Celtic goddess, and over the course of history many of the attributes of the goddess have been attributed to her as well. As you might imagine, this makes a mess […]
» Read moreDom Prosper Guéranger
Today is the 150th anniversary of the death of Servant of God Dom Prosper Guéranger, OSB (1805-1875). He refounded Solesmes Abbey, from which an entire Congregation of Benedictine monasteries has since sprung. He is responsible for the restoration of monastic life in France, as well as promoting the sacred liturgy and spearheading the revival of Gregorian chant. I have quoted from his […]
» Read moreFaith and Reason
Faith and reason are the shoes on your feet. You can travel further with both than you can with just one. (J. Michael Straczynski, “The Deconstruction of Falling Stars“) Today is the Feast of the Universal Doctor of the Church and one of my name Saints, Thomas Aquinas. When (certain) people, told of my conversion, said to me “oh, you’re […]
» Read moreStill Roaring!
Today is both the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, and the seventeenth anniversary of the day I wed my beautiful bride. It is, as I have said before, a “moment when everything changed, celebrated on a day when everything changed”. It’s important to mark those changes in our lives. Francine actually changed the trajectory of my life not […]
» Read moreThe Life of Perfection and a Prayer for Writers
I can’t speak for anybody else, but I need all the help I can get. As a writer, I often find that I love having written much more than actually writing. I distract myself easily. It doesn’t help, I suppose, that I tend to write in bursts like I’m emptying my brain. Then I rather need to recharge the brain […]
» Read moreAgnes, in Agony
Happy Saint Agnes Day! Saint Agnes was a young Roman lady of 12 or 13 years old who suffered martyrdom in the persecutions of the Emperor Diocletian in about AD 304. She was one of the youngest of the early martyrs and one of the most moving and articulate. Agnes hastened to the place of torture as a bride to […]
» Read moreA Great Cloud of Witnesses
Today in the United States, we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., so I thought I’d tackle the question “are there non-Catholic saints?” Seems like a simple question. First off, what’s a saint exactly? We turn to our trusty Catechism once more and find the following: 823 “The Church . . . is held, as a matter of faith, to […]
» Read moreSaint Anthony Abbot: the Father of Monks
Today is the feast of the man many consider to be the founder of Christian monasticism, Saint Anthony the Great of Egypt, the “Father of Monks”. He was born in the middle of the third century in decidedly Pagan Middle Egypt to a well-to-do, comfortable family. He spent much of his life avoiding the sorts of comforts available to him […]
» Read moreThe End of Christmastide
Apologies for not posting yesterday, but it was a busy day at the parish. Yesterday was the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, celebrating that day when John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the Jordan River. Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to […]
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