The St. Gallen Mafia and Orwellian Francis
In George Orwell’s 1984, no one is supposed to know about anything predating the Revolution that put the now-dominant Party in power. InOrwell’s dystopian prophecy, the records must all be redacted, the memories must all be censored, and the statues must all been renamed to align with the Party’s official account of history. In an […]
It’s Time to Purchase your Sacred Heart Flag for June
Dear OnePeterFive Donors, Supporters and readers, Christ is risen! Tomorrow is Easter Friday as well as First Friday, when we promote the heart and soul of our organisation, the Crusade of Eucharistic Reparation. We are also two months out from June, the month of the Sacred Heart, which a particularly important month for our editorial […]
The 1934 Easter Miracle of Music
Above: St. Peter’s square before the Via della Conciliazione was built in 1936. In the radiant setting of Easter Sunday in 1934, the Church also rejoiced at the elevation to the altars of John Bosco (†1888) by Pope Pius XI (†1939). Among the elements that made this celebration even more memorable, there was the musical […]
My Experience of the Pre-55 Easter Vigil
Above: a photo from Peter Kwasniewski’s first pre-55 Triduum. In the context of meditation, I always thought I would prefer vigils in darkness. It’s easier to establish the compositio loci for a meditation about waiting for the Risen Christ overnight if the church is actually dark and if it’s dark outside. As much as I […]
Diebus Saltem Dominicis: Easter Sunday – Christ our Pasch was sacrificed
We have looked at the Epistle Reading for Easter Sunday in the past offerings of this column. However, because of present developments in the modern Church, it bears both reviewing and extending. As always, we need contexts. I like to think of the contraption used during eye examinations, the one with various lenses that get […]
The Prayer of Jesus in the Garden
The Last Supper being over, the discourse finished, and the hymn of thanksgiving said, Jesus leaves the supper-room with his eleven Apostles and enters the Garden of Gethsemane. Consider: 1. Jesus is in the habit of retiring after the fatigues of the day, to pass the night in solitude and prayer. Even on this last […]
The Bombing of Japanese Catholicism
Above: Urakami Cathedral, 7 January 1946. On a bright but cloudy morning on 9 August 1945, a B-29 bomber, named “Bocks Car”, of the US Army Air Force, flew over the Japanese port city of Nagasaki and dropped a highly radioactive Plutonium implosion bomb onto the city, 300 yards from the second largest Roman Catholic […]
Bishop Chaput Resists Francis Ahead of New Document
Above: Charles Joseph Chaput, Archbishop Emeritus of Philadelphia. On March 8 of this year it was revealed that Cardinal Fernández and Pope Francis are working on a new document to be published in early April, just in time for your Easter meditation. This morning Diane Montagna confirmed that His Holiness had a meeting with His […]
The Mystery of Passiontide and Holy Week
Above: Christus mit der heiligen Veronika auf dem Weg zum Kalvarienberg, possibly from the Danube school, c. 1520. From The Liturgical Year. The holy liturgy is rich in mystery during these days of the Church’s celebrating the anniversaries of so many wonderful events; but as the principal part of these mysteries is embodied in the […]
Diebus Saltem Dominicis: Palm Sunday – Don’t be a froward ass.
The journey we began even as early as the pre-Lent “Gesima” Sundays, has brought us to this last time of trial and transformation, the four days remaining in Passiontide and the last three, their own set, the Sacred Triduum. Some people will take the road of the least they can do, and perhaps attend Mass […]