Weep the little children

Deo Gratias!

I would like to offer my most heartfelt thanks to God for a great and very generous grace GRANTED to my family today. Trust in the Lord - He will NEVER let you down. Ask anything in the Father's name and it will be granted! Amen!

BEST musical Te Deum ever by Charpentier (our wedding processional)

Te Deum Laudemus!

What we have lost IV - The chapel veil

No, I am not a stuffy ultra conservative type. Actually I prefer the Novus Ordo mass Ad Orientem with chant as the only music. Actually the Church has stated officially that the organ is the preferred instrument, chant is the preferred liturgical accompaniment and Latin is the be given pride of place.

I am not actually interested in my own preferences and opinions but rather I STRIVE to care about God's opinion. Therefore we ought to set aside our petty opinions to which was are so attached and study what God reveals to us through His Holy Catholic Church.

But I digress....we have thrown away and simply cast off so much of the beauty, formality of the Mass and along with it reverence and piety. Hot on the heels of this we've lost belief in the Truths of our Catholic Faith. The way I see it - we restore the Mass we restore belief.

Sacred Scripture presents several reasons for wearing the chapel veil. St. Paul tells us in his first letter to the Corinthians (11:1-16) that Christian women must cover their heads because it is a Sacred Tradition commanded by our Lord Himself and entrusted to Paul: "The things I am writing to you are the Lord's commandments" (1 Cor. 14:37). "That is why a woman ought to have a veil on her head, because of the angels" wrote St. Paul (1 Cor. 11:10).

A veil or head covering, is both a symbol and a mystical sacrifice that invites the woman wearing it to ascend the ladder of sanctity. When a woman covers her head in the Catholic Church it symbolizes her dignity and humility before God. It should not surprise us why so many modern women have so easily abandoned the tradition of the chapel veil (head covering) when the greatest meaning of the veil is modesty. It is purely an anti-Catholic culture that frowns on modesty.

What we have lost III - the Catafalque and my inherent sarcasm

Yes its been months since I've posted. Yes, the feast of Our Lady's Sorrows and most of Lent has gone by and I've not posted, not once. Yes well...I'm busy and stressed and not feeling very virtuous, or talkative, or social or....well you get the picture. Quite frankly I don't feel I have a single thing to say of any value whatsoever. Shortly this will become glaringly obvious...

And no I'm not having a "dark night" I find it irritating when folks jump to the "oh, you're having a dark night" experience. Are you kidding me? The dark night of the soul of which SAINT John of the Cross speaks about is for SAINTS, people very advanced in the spiritual life. That is not me. Not even close. This is not what people like me go through. No...I'm afraid this is quite mundane, more like the Dark Knight maybe but not THE dark night.

Nope, I'm in the desert eating the liturgical sand along with everyone else. Nope, no oasis IN SIGHT

Anyway...one of the many things of which I mourn the loss of in the Happy Clappy MODERNE Catholic church in which I exist is any sort of clear thinking about death. Yes death. That's what I said. We ought to think alot about death. It is the most important moment of our lives. The state in which we die in determines WHERE we spend ALL ETERNITY. We have a serious disrespect and disconnect from death.

I do not dwell on death but I do not feel disconnected to it. Perhaps this is the result of having experienced the death of my sister in a car accident when we were children. I grew up with death, under the spectre of death. Death came to live in our house. No, I'm not feeling sorry for myself. I believe very strongly that my sister is in Heaven because she died young, this was what God caused or allowed and so I long ago accepted this. She died shortly after her first Holy Communion and was buried in her lacy white dress. Weeks after First Communion is a very good time to die actually. I thank God she missed all the disgusting mess that was the 70's drug, sex and garbage scene.

Anyway...here's more on the catafalque:

From New Advent:

"Catafalque, derived from the Italian word catafalco, literally means a scaffold or elevation, but in its strictly liturgical sense the word is employed to designate the cenotaph-like erection which is used at the exequial offices of the Church, and takes the place of the bier whenever the remains are not present. It is covered with a black cloth or pall, on which there is a cross either of white or some other colour (De Herdt, Praxis Sac. Lit., II, 328). The catafalque is usually placed immediately outside the sanctuary, and is the centre of the ceremonies of that part of the exequial office known as the absolution, receiving the same attention as the corpse would if present. Hence it is that lights burn around the catafalque during the function, and it is aspersed with holy water and incensed. During the absolution at the catafalque the cross-bearer should always stand between it and the door of the church, the celebrant or officiant being at the other end, between it and the sanctuary. When it is not possible for any reason to have a catafalque, its place may be supplied by a square piece of black cloth (pannus niger), which should be laid in front of the lowest step of the altar, and be sprinkled with holy water and incensed at the proper time by the officiant. Formerly the word was used to designate the bier or structure on which the corpse rested. No flowers should be used in connection with it, but it is allowable in the case of deceased prelates to mount their insignia to show the dignity, and in the case of nobles to display the family coat of arms, together with coronets, orders, and other insignia, to show the rank of the deceased. A very notable monument of this kind was that erected to the memory of Michelangelo by his brother artists on the occasion of his funeral in the Church of Santa Croce, Florence. "

(Source)

What We Have Lost II - The Pulpit

Notre Dame Basilica

Montreal Quebec, Canada

No longer used

"The desire to be more plainly understood was the reason why the preacher's platform was pushed towards the centre of the nave; which change led to its assuming the present form. It was not until modern times that the two terms attained clearly distinct meanings. At present the pulpit no longer serves for the reading of the Epistles and Gospels, nor as the tribune for singing, hence the eagle or dove formerly used as support of the book now has little meaning. A position in which the preacher could be heard throughout the church became necessary, and the pulpit was then adapted to receive a greater amount of adornment, having reference to the preaching of the Gospel. "

Source: Catholic Encyclopedia

I do not claim to be any sort of authority on Church architecture. I only know that I am a Catholic who sorely misses all that was so thoughtlessly and wrecklessly dismantled in the last 45 years. My first memory of mass was in the 70's modern parish where a skylight was right over the plain altar and a hippy looking man with a long beard sat in the light strumming on a guitar....(heavy sigh)

I am not a sedevacantist, I am not an "ultra traditionalist" But I will say I often interiorly groan at Mass and I long for with all my heart beauty, solemnity, piety, orthodoxy - in a word authentic Catholocism. Not some remade neo-catholic-protestantism - which is what so many of our parishes have become.

Look at the visual emphasis placed upon the Church's readings and the Priest's homily to be said from such a pulpit. Where has this gone? See what we have lost?

What We Have Lost Part I

Altar Rail or Communion Rail

The railing which guards the sanctuary and separates the latter from the body of the church. It is also called the communion-rail as the faithful kneel at it when receiving Holy Communion.

It is made of carved wood, metal, marble, or other precious material; it should be about two feet six inches high, and on the upper part from six to nine inches wide. The "Rituale Romanum" (tit. iv, cap. ii, n. I) prescribes that a clean white cloth be extended before those who receive Holy Communion. This cloth is to be of fine linen, as it is solely intended as a sort of corporal to receive the particles which may by chance fall from the hands of the priest. It is usually fastened on the sanctuary side and when in use is drawn over the top of the rail. It should extend the full length of the rail, and be about two feet wide, so that the communicant, taking it in both hands, may hold it under his chin. Its very purpose suggests that it is not to be made of lace or netting, although there is nothing to forbid its having a border of fine lace or embroidery.

Instead of this cloth a gilt paten, larger than the paten used at the altar, to which a handle may be attached, or a small gilt or silver salver, or a pall, larger than the chalice pall, may be used. These latter are usually passed from one communicant to the other, and when the last at the end of the rail at the Gospel side has received Holy Communion the altar boy carries the paten to the first communicants at the Epistle side. A consecrated paten may never be placed for this purpose in the hands of lay persons.

Written by A.J. Schulte. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume I. Published 1907. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Nihil Obstat, March 1, 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York

For a return of the altar rail I am currently fighting at my parish. Recently my husband attended a Catholic men's group and a parish historian spoke. He related that shortly after Vatican II the entire parish came one Sunday for Holy Mass and the altar rail was GONE. No preparation, no explanation, no nothing. Just gone....I choke up just thinking about it. The priests had it removed and no one knows where it went. Next to go was the pulpit....

God have mercy on your people, save us from wolves in sheep's clothing who lead your flock astray and do not instruct the faithful of Your True Presence in Holy Communion. May we again recieve you with due reverence on our knees. Amen+