"It is very plain, that a Divine Being and a University so circumstanced cannot co-exist." Image: Wiki Commons, Public Domain Editors' Notes In Discourse II (‘Theology a Branch of Knowledge’) of his The Idea of a University, John Henry Newman considers the arguments of those who would exclude the teaching of theology from university – …
"... a sign of danger, secret pride, or coldness of charity." Murillo, Wiki Commons. Some line breaks added below, with some headings taken from the original Table of Contents. The following extract from Fr Coleridge's book on the ministry of St John the Baptist sheds an interesting light on more "recent" devotions adopted by the …
Continue reading St John the Baptist and recent devotions – Fr H.J. Coleridge SJ, 1882
"The trouble with your 'return to the sources' is that you used the phrase to hide your intent." Image: Dancing Skeletons - Judith's image in the extract. Wiki Commons. The following extract is taken from Fr Bryan Houghton's fascinating novel Judith's Marriage. It depicts a part of a conversation taking place during Vatican II between …
Continue reading Tradition and Antiquarianism in “Judith’s Marriage”, Fr Bryan Houghton
“It expresses either faith in a false religious body or rebellion against the true Church.” Photo by Andriy Tod on Unsplash Editors Notes In January 2023, the YouTube apologist Mr Michael Lofton made the following comments: "[O]ne can attend an SSPX mass in some qualified cases (see the Monsignor Perl document we have discussed), as …
Sometimes it can feel like Heaven uses dates in a providential way. Editors' Notes 13th May 1917 was the date of the first apparition at Fatima, in which Our Lady brought a vital message to a suffering world. But on the same day, Eugenio Pacelli, later Pius XII, was made a bishop by Benedict XV. …
Continue reading Why was St Robert Bellarmine declared a Doctor of the Church? Pius XI
"A consolatory thought for those who see their span of life crumbling away under their feet - and they, apparently, doing nothing." Image: Rubens, St Gregory of Nazianzus Wiki Commons CC Editor's Note: St Basil and St Gregory had a lifelong friendship, which nonetheless included tension towards the end of St Basil’s life. In 379, …
Continue reading St Gregory Nazianzen and the Crisis in the Church – Cardinal Newman
"The condition was accepted mockingly, as a thing impossible to be executed." Editors' Notes The narrative below comes from the very colourful text The Phantom World, by Dom Augustin Calmet, published first in 1746 and revised in 1751. This interesting work looks at accounts of vampires and other mythical creatures, and considers various possible explanations …
Continue reading St Stanislaus and the dead man in his grave
"Teach me, like Mary, to sit at Thy feet, and to hear Thy word." Image: Caravaggio, Supper at Emmaus, Wiki Commons, (source). 1. MY Lord Jesus, how wonderful were those conversations which Thou didst hold from time to time with Thy disciples after Thy resurrection. When Thou wentest with two of them to Emmaus, Thou didst explain …
Continue reading The Kingdom of God – Christ is Risen!” – meditation for Easter from Cardinal Newman
"It is over now, O Lord, as with Thy sufferings, so with our humiliations." Image: "Jesus is Placed in the Tomb", Cuypershuis, Wiki Commons, (source) 1. IT is over now, O Lord, as with Thy sufferings, so with our humiliations. We have followed Thee from Thy fasting in the wilderness till Thy death on the Cross. For forty …
Continue reading “It Is Consummated” – meditation for Holy Saturday from Cardinal Newman
"He gave the word and His heart broke." Image: El Greco, Jesus Carrying the Cross, (source) 1. His bodily pains were greater than those of any martyr, because He willed them to be greater. All pain of body depends, as to be felt at all, so to be felt in this or that degree, on the …
Continue reading The Bodily Sufferings of Our Lord – meditation for Good Friday from Cardinal Newman