Quenta Nârwenion

2008-01-09T00:46:00.000-05:00

I heard this 'through the grapevine' some months ago....

But it's great to have some confirmation......
Beatification of Cardinal Newman "imminent" Vatican says .

2007-01-19T22:15:00.000-05:00

To clarify....
I don't drink alcoholic beverages at all, and never have. I just enjoy a good drinking song. I've never cheated or been cheated on, but can still enjoy a good 'done me wrong' song.
BTW, I'm going to try to get my rep as a steady blogger back, starting this weekend. (Real Life is getting a little more sane now...)

2006-10-05T15:48:00.000-04:00

The Catholic Carnival
is up.

2006-10-05T15:40:00.000-04:00

The Feast of St. Luigi Scrosoppi, C.O., Priest and Founder
is today. There is information on him here.
A blessed feast day to all the Oratorians, and all members of the Congregation of Sisters of Providence, out there !
It is also the memorial of Blessed John Hewitt, Priest and Martyr, Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos, C.SS.R., Priest , and Blessed Bartholomew Longo,O.P., Dominican Tertiary.

2006-09-01T21:45:00.000-04:00

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord...
and let perpetual light shine upon him.

2006-08-30T23:24:00.000-04:00

The fact that I live a loooong way from California...
usually is viewed by your Humble Scribe as a blessing. However, this week's Rat of the Week is in Sacramento.......
BABY...RAT..JUST... TOO...CUTE !.
OK, I've fought off the irrational impulse to buy a plane ticket.....

2006-08-30T16:15:00.000-04:00

The Memorial of Blessed Juvenal Ancina, C.O., Bishop
is today. There is information on him here.
According to the Times of London obituary, the last ecclesiastical function the Venerable took part in was a solemn triduo in honor of the beatification of Blessed Juvenal, on July 18, 19, and 20th of 1890.

2006-08-30T16:06:00.000-04:00

The blog is back....
I'll be working on updating my links soon.....

2006-05-25T14:46:00.000-04:00

I'm glad that certain Native Americans...
are opposing the opening of a 'clinic' on a reservation to kill their children off before birth.
Didn't some slimeball during the Indian Wars say "The only good Indian is a dead Indian" ? It's a crying shame that a few Native Americans seem to be buying that disgusting line now...

2006-05-25T14:45:00.000-04:00

St. Philip's Day...
is tommorow !

2006-05-25T14:43:00.000-04:00

The Feast of the Ascension of the Lord
is today. There is information on it here and here.

The Ascension of our Lord and Saviour is an event ever to be commemorated with joy and thanksgiving, for St. Paul tells us in the text that He ascended to the right hand of God, and there makes intercession for us. Hence it is our comfort to know, that "if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He is the propitiation for our sins." [1 John ii. 1, 2.] As the Jewish High Priest, after the solemn sacrifice for the people on the great day of Atonement, went into the Holy of Holies with the blood of the victim, and sprinkled it upon the Mercy-Seat, so Christ has entered into Heaven itself, to present (as it were) before the Throne that sacred Tabernacle which was the instrument of His passion,—His pierced hands and wounded side,—in token of the atonement which He has effected for the sins of the world.

Wonder and awe must always mingle with the thankfulness which the revealed dispensation of mercy raises in our minds. And this, indeed, is an additional cause of thankfulness, that Almighty God has disclosed to us enough of His high Providence to raise such sacred and reverent feelings. Had He merely told us that He had pardoned us, we should have had overabundant cause for blessing and praising Him; but in showing us somewhat of the means, in vouchsafing to tell what cannot wholly be told, in condescending to abase heavenly things to the weak and stammering tongues of earth, He has enlarged our gratitude, yet sobered it with fear. We are allowed with the Angels to obtain a glimpse of the mysteries of Heaven, "to rejoice with trembling." Therefore, so far from considering the Truths of the Gospel as a burden, because they are beyond our understanding, we shall rather welcome them and exult in them, nay, and feel an antecedent stirring of heart towards them, for the very reason that they are above us.

Venerable John Henry Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons

It is also the anniversary of the ordination of Fr. Drew Morgan, C.O., to the priesthood. Ad multos annos, Fr. Drew !

2006-05-24T00:57:00.000-04:00

I guess this should go in the "small world" file...
I was looking through the posts of the Catholic Carnival- and one of them turns out to be about an old friend of mine. It includes a picture of him and a link to his dissertation. (Eugene, if you're reading this, hi ! )

2006-05-24T00:54:00.000-04:00

The Catholic Carnival
is up.

2006-05-24T00:53:00.000-04:00

Two more days...
until St. Philip's Day...

2006-05-24T00:35:00.000-04:00

The Feast of Our Lady, Help of Christians
is today. There is information on it here.

Mary is the "Auxilium Christianorum," the Help of Christians
by Venerable John Henry Newman, C.O.

Our glorious Queen, since her Assumption on high, has been the minister of numberless services to the elect people of God upon earth, and to His Holy Church. This title of "Help of Christians" relates to those services of which the Divine Office, while recording and referring to the occasion on which it was given her, recounts five, connecting them more or less with the Rosary.

The first was on the first institution of the Devotion of the Rosary by St. Dominic, when, with the aid of the Blessed Virgin, he succeeded in arresting and overthrowing the formidable heresy of the Albigenses in the South of France.

The second was the great victory gained by the Christian fleet over the powerful Turkish Sultan, in answer to the intercession of Pope St. Pius V., and the prayers of the Associations of the Rosary all over the Christian world; in lasting memory of which wonderful mercy Pope Pius introduced her title "Auxilium Christianorum" into her Litany; and Pope Gregory XIII., who followed him, dedicated the first Sunday in October, the day of the victory, to Our Lady of the Rosary.

The third was, in the words of the Divine Office, "the glorious victory won at Vienna, under the guardianship of the Blessed Virgin, over the most savage Sultan of the Turks, who was trampling on the necks of the Christians; in perpetual memory of which benefit Pope Innocent XI. dedicated the Sunday in the Octave of her Nativity as the feast of her august Name."

The fourth instance of her aid was the victory over the innumerable force of the same Turks in Hungary on the Feast of St. Mary ad Nives, in answer to the solemn supplication of the Confraternities of the Rosary; on occasion of which Popes Clement XI. and Benedict XIII. gave fresh honour and privilege to the Devotion of the Rosary.

And the fifth was her restoration of the Pope's temporal power, at the beginning of this century, after Napoleon the First, Emperor of the French, had taken it from the Holy See; on which occasion Pope Pius VII. set apart May 24, the day of this mercy, as the Feast of the Help of Christians, for a perpetual thanksgiving.

It is also the the feast of St. Simeon Stylites the Younger, Priest .

2006-05-23T00:25:00.000-04:00

Only three days...
until St. Philip's Day !
Also, today is the 455th anniversary of the ordination of Filippo Romolo Neri to the priesthood. Happy anniversary, St. Philip !

2006-05-23T00:19:00.000-04:00

The Feast of St. John Baptist Rossi, Priest
is today. There is information on him here.

2006-05-19T14:53:00.000-04:00

From Parochial and Plain Sermons
by Venerable John Henry Newman

Let us weigh carefully our Lord's solemn announcements uttered shortly before His crucifixion, and, though addressed primarily to His Apostles, yet, surely, in their degree belonging to all who "believe on Him through their word." We shall find that consistent obedience, mature, habitual, lifelong holiness, is therein made the condition of His intimate favour, and of power in Intercession. "If ye abide in Me," he says, "and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be My disciples. As the Father hath loved Me, so have I loved you; abide ye in My love. If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love. Ye are My friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard of My Father, I have made known unto you." [John xv. 7-15.] From this solemn grant of the peculiarly Gospel privilege of being the "friends" of Christ, it is certain, that as the prayer of repentance gains for us sinners Baptism and justification, so our higher gift of having power with Him and prevailing, depends on our "adding to our faith virtue."

2006-05-19T14:44:00.000-04:00

One week....
until St. Philip's Day !

2006-05-19T14:39:00.000-04:00

The Feast of Pope St. Celestine V
is today. There is information on him here.
It is also the feast of St. Dunstan of Canterbury, O.S.B., Archbishop , and Blessed Peter Wright, S.J., Priest and Martyr .

2006-05-16T20:23:00.000-04:00

From Parochial and Plain Sermons
by Venerable John Henry Newman

All things here are against us but God; but if God be for us, who can really be against us? If He is in the midst of us, how shall we be moved? If Christ has died and risen again, what death can come upon us, though we be made to die daily? what sorrow, pain, humiliation, trial, but must end as His has ended, in a continual resurrection into His new world, and in a nearer and nearer approach to Him? He pronounced a blessing over His Apostles, and they have scattered it far and wide all over the earth unto this day. It runs as follows: "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you." "These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." [John xiv. 27: xvi. 33.]

2006-05-16T20:11:00.000-04:00

Please pray...
for our bishop, as he is reassigned to Washington, D.C., and for our diocese as we await news on his successor here.

2006-05-16T16:42:00.000-04:00

The Catholic Carnival
is up.

2006-05-16T16:40:00.000-04:00

Ten more days...
until St. Philip's Day !

2006-05-16T16:31:00.000-04:00

The Feast of St. Andrew Bobola, S.J., Priest and Martyr
is today. There is information on him here.
It is also the feast of St. Brendan the Navigator, Abbot, St. Simon Stock, O.Carm., and St. John Nepomucene, Priest and Martyr.