Given the fever-pitch excitement (or anxiety) in many quarters over Francis's upcoming consecration of Russia, it seems a good time to republish this 1953 text from Msgr Alfredo Ottaviani. He was later made the prefect of the Holy Office, and was chief signatory of the Short Critical Study of the Novus Ordo Missae ("The Ottaviani …
Continue reading An “Ottaviani Intervention” on Signs and Wonders
Here are some brief reflections on what the latest announcement may mean for us. 1. Our Lady said Russia, not Russia and the World, or Russia and Ukraine, or the USSR, or the individual Soviet republic, or the Russian Federation. Without this being a problem - why can't we just do what we're asked? 2. …
Continue reading Thoughts on the Consecration of Ukraine and Russia
We are told that on 13 October 1884, His Holiness Pope Leo XIII had a vision in which he saw Satan ask God for one hundred years to the destroy the Catholic Church. Satan’s task is impossible and will never be accomplished. The Church today is what she has always been. She is One, Holy, …
"I am the priest whom he intends to prepare him for death." Featured image: Louis XVI avec son confesseur Edgeworth, un instant avant sa mort. Wiki Commons One the most heartbreaking sections of Louis XVI’s will and testament is this: I pray God to forgive me all my sins. I have sought to know them …
Continue reading L’Abbé Henry Essex Edgeworth, Louis XVI’s heroic Anglo-Irish confessor
"I finish by declaring before God and ready to appear before Him, that I do not reproach myself for any of the crimes which are brought against me." As many know, January 21st marks the anniversary of France’s regicide. King Louis XVI of France was condemned to death on January 20th 1793, and the next …
Continue reading The Last Will and Spiritual Testament of Louis XVI, King of France
"Ye play with your palms and crowns beneath the very altar." There are many moments of beauty and pathos in the Church's year. But, in my opinion, few are so equally filled with both bitterness and glory as the feast of the Holy Innocents. It is very noticeable that Christ's coming to the world is …
This is the third part of our series on the Holy Face devotion. In this part we take up the account of the revelations where we left it at the end of Part II. Readers will recall that Our Lord Jesus Christ, in a series of revelations between August 1843 and June 1845 made known …
Continue reading Holy Face Part III: the “exterior object” of reparation
This essay consists of two parts: Part I - Review of Baronius Press's edition of the Roman Catechism Part II - The Roman Catechism itself Historical background The authority of the Roman Catechism Clergy and theologians on the Catechism Comparison with the modern catechism The Roman Catechism and the crisis in the Church The nature …