The Dedication of the Lateran Basilica

The Lateran Basilica, or more properly the Archbasilica of the Most Holy Saviour and Sts. John the Baptist and the Evangelist at the Lateran is the seat of the Bishop of Rome, that is, the cathedral church of Rome. This surprises many people who assume that the cathedral of Rome is St Peter's Basilica.

9 November is the feast day of St John Lateran, and it's an important feast day for all Catholics as St John Lateran is our mother church - the highest "rankintg" church in all Christendom.

Happy feastday!

Stealing pictures from other blogs

Sometimes a picture is just to good to resist.

Pinched from Fr Tim Finigan

Great news for the Ordinariate

The Catholic Herald this morning is reporting that 5, yes 5, Anglican bishops are to join the Ordinariate!

From the headline article on the Catholic Herald website:

This morning, the Rt Rev Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury accepted the resignation of three flying Church of England and two retired assistant bishops in what is a major development in the move towards establishing an Ordinariate in Britain.

The Rt Rev Andrew Burnham, Bishop of Ebbsfleet, the Rt Rev Keith Newton, Bishop of Richborough and Rt Rev John Broadhurst Bishop of Fulham as well as the Rt Rev Edwin Barnes the emeritus Bishop of Richborough and the Rt Rev David Silk, an emeritus assistant bishop of Exeter released a statement announcing their resignations.

They said: “As bishops, we have even-handedly cared for those who have shared our understanding and those who have taken a different view. We have now reached the point, however, where we must formally declare our position and invite others who share it to join us on our journey. We shall be ceasing, therefore, from public episcopal ministry forthwith, resigning from our pastoral responsibilities in the Church of England with effect from 31st December 2010, and seeking to join an Ordinariate once one is created.”

Nearly home now Bishops! You are assured of our prayers.

Feast of St Malachy

Today, 3 November is the feast day of St Malachy.

Here's a snippet from the very first entry on this blog:

Malachy born in Armagh in 1094 and was bapised Maolmhaodhog Ua Morgair, usually Anglicised as Malachy O'More. He was successively vicar-general to St Cellach, abbot of Bangor, then bishop of Connor before becoming archbishop of Armagh in1094. His primary achievement as a bishop may well have been his success at replacing the Celtic liturgy with the Roman.

In 1138, Malachy resigned as archbishop of Armagh to go on pilgrimage to Rome, meeting and staying with St Bernard at Clairveaux for a time.

Malachy attempted a second Rome pilgrimage in 1148 but only made it as far as Clairveaux where he died in the arms of St Bernard. He was formally canonised by Pope Clement III in 1190.

No doubt most people know of Malachy because of his "prophecies of the popes". These prophecies are a list of 112 short Latin phrases supposedly describing 112 popes, beginning with Celestine II (1143) and ending with Peter II, who is of course, yet to be elected. After the election of Peter II or Petrus Romanus will come the destruction of Rome and the final judgement.

Malachy died in the arms of St Bernard of Clairveaux on 2 November 1148. His feast day is celebrated on 3 November so that it doesn't clash with All Souls Day.

Saint Simon and Saint Jude

28 October is the deast day of two of the apostles, Saints Simon and Jude.

The introductory note for todays Divine Office entry reads:

The name of Simon is placed eleventh in the list of apostles and nothing is known of him except that he was born at Cana and was known as the Zealot.
Jude, also known as Thaddeus, was the apostle who, at the Last Supper, asked the Lord why he showed himself only to his disciples and not to the world (John 14:22)

Saint Simon - pray for us
Saint Jude - pray for us

Return of the Papal tiara

Well sort of anyway.

A revised coat of arms appeared hanging from the window of the Apopostolic Palace during the Angelus address on Sunday.

Repeat the refrain - Restoration of our Catholic identity, restoration of our Catholic identity....

h/t: Transalpine Redemptorists and of course Fr Z

Antiquated dogma

So far as a man may be proud of a religion rooted in humility, I am very proud of my religion; I am especially proud of those parts of it that are most commonly called superstition. I am proud of being fettered by antiquated dogmas and enslaved by dead creeds (as my journalistic friends repeat with so much pertinacity), for I know very well that it is the heretical creeds that are dead, and that it is only the reasonable dogma that lives long enough to be called antiquated... I am very proud of being orthodox about the mysteries of the Trinity or the Mass; I am proud of believing in the Confessional; I am proud of believing in the Papacy.

G.K. Chesterton

St Bruno and happy birthday!

6 October is the memorial of St Bruno, priest and founder of the Carthusians. It is also the birthday of this blog which has been online for one year today. I suppose it's therefore appropriate to place the blog under his co-patronage henceforth!

According to the Divine Office entry, St Bruno was:

Born at Cologne about the year 1035. After being educated at Paris and ordained priest, he taught theology; but wanting to lead the life of a solitary he founded the monastery of La Grande Chartreuse. He was called to Rome by Pope Urban II to be his adviser and helper in the needs of the Church. He died at Squillace in Calabria in the year 1101.

The Labour Party and family friendly policy

The election of Ed Miliband as Labour leader shows exactly how far the moral compass of Britain has skewed from centre.

Presumably Miliband has been chosen as leader because the Labour Party (or at least the unions) believe he can lead the party back into government. In other words Labour believe Miliband is electable.

Here’s where the moral issue arises. Ed has a “partner” - Justine Thornton – not a wife. Ed and Justine have a son, born July 2009, and they're expecting their second child in November. Now it may very well be that Ed and Justine are very happy together and it may very well be that they are committed to each other but they are not married.

Clearly the Labour Party doesn’t think it matters to the Great British public that Ed and Justine will soon have two children without being married and the statistics seem to show they are right. After all nearly half of children in England and Wales are born out of wedlock.

And so the Labour Party firmly nail their real family policy colours to the mast.

Image from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1282589/Now-Ed-Miliband-new-baby-way.html

Saint Vincent de Paul

27 September is the memorial day for the well known saint, St Vincent de Paul. The Divine Office note about him says:

Born in Gascony in France in the year 1581. He completed his studies and was ordained priest in Paris. He founded the Congregation of the Mission (Vincentians) for the purpose of the spiritual formation of the clergy and the relief of the poor, and with the help of Saint Louise de Marillac he founded also the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity. He died at Paris in the year 1660.

Catholic Encyclopedia entry