Vox Clara Ecce Intonat

Here is my rendering of the Advent hymn for Lauds. Like the Vespers hymn below, it may be sung to the corresponding tune in the...

Conditor Alme Siderum

This is my translation of Conditor Alme Siderum. When Advent rolls round and I sing this hymn, I see in my mind’s eye Van Gogh’s...

Missus est Gabriel Angelus

In the Cistercian liturgy the center piece of First Vespers of the First Sunday of Advent is Missus est Gabriel Angelus, a magnificent Great Responsory...

Respice in Faciem Christi Tui

Today, being the First Friday of the month, we had exposition and adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament at the monastery. Saint Gaetano Catanoso used...

30 November, Saint Andrew, Apostle

ENTRANCE ANTIPHON The Lord saw two brothers along the sea of Galilee, Peter and Andrew, and he called to them: Come after me, and I...

Ecce Mater Tua

Thirty–Fourth Wednesday of the Year II Apocalypse 15:1–4 Psalm 97:1, 2–3ab, 7–8, 9 (R. Apocalypse 15:3b) John 19:5b–27 The Heart in Pilgrimage Ubi Petrus, ibi...

Recommended Reading

I have never made a secret of it: Blessed Abbot Marmion has been for me a spiritual master, a father, and a friend from the...

Clean Hands and a Pure Heart

Monday of the Thirty–Fourth Week of the Year II Revelation 14:1–3, 4b–5 Psalm 23:1–2, 3–4ab, 5–6 (R. 6) Luke 21:1–4 Prayer for the Holy Father...

A Wonderful Day

I offered Holy Mass in thanksgiving for my twenty years of priesthood today, gathering with family and friends in the little church of the Monastery...

We Are Thine and Thine We Wish To Be

In 1925 Pope Pius XI decreed that the Consecration of the Human Race to the Sacred Heart of Jesus first carried out by Pope Leo...

Holy Mass: Our Great Thanksgiving

Votive Mass In Thanksgiving to God 1 Kings 8:55-61 Psalm 144: 2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9, 10-11 John 15:9-17 “Solomon stood before the altar of the...

Thanksgiving: A Papistical Approach

Being a Papist and not a Puritan, I have always felt somewhat ambiguous about the Thanksgiving holiday . . . not about the domestic observance...

Et Ecce Ostium Apertum in Caelo

Thirty–Third Wednesday of the Year II Memorial of Saint Cecilia, Virgin and Martyr Revelation 4:1–11 Psalm 150:1–2, 3–4, 5–6 (Rev 4:8b) Luke 19:11–28 Heaven’s Open...

Ecce, Sponsus Venit!

Strong, Serene, Majestic, Invincible When in 1867 Abbot Prosper Guéranger set about opening a Benedictine monastery for women at Solesmes, he placed the whole enterprise...

Mater Ecclesiae

Forty–two years ago today, on 21 November 1964, Pope Paul VI solemnly declared the Blessed Virgin Mary Mother of the Church. Pope John Paul II...