A Vocation’s Unexpected Turns
Birth, Passion, Death Each year the Church gives us two feastdays of Saint John the Baptist: the first on June 24th to mark his nativity,...
The Things That Are Above
A Commentary on the Mass of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary There is no better way to enter into the mystery of any...
Adoration and Reparation for Priests
Today I am continuing my translation of Mother Mectilde’s introduction to her Constitutions on the Rule of Saint Benedict and, once again, adding something in...
Did anyone else notice this?
The Modification of a Collect A few days ago, on the feast of Saint Jean-Marie Vianney, the holy Curé of Ars, I preached on the...
Should diocesan priests live in community?
“I believe that celibacy becomes a very meaningful sign, and above all becomes possible to live, when priests begin to form communities. It is important...
Irish Litany to the Mother of God
(Translated from the Irish of the Eighth Century.) O GREAT MARY, Mary, greatest of Marys, Most great of women, Queen of the angels, Mistress of...
A Eucharistic Intercession
This prayer may be a suitable intercession for souls in need of a deeper experience of Our Lord’s real presence in the Sacrament of His...
A Petrine Heritage
Driving up the mountain today with Padre Antonio, O.F.M., the Guardian of the Convento of Santa Maria Occorevole, we talked about the origins of Christianity...
Saint Michael the Archangel
The devotion to Saint Michael the Archangel is very strong in Campania. It would seem that the Basilian Monks, who fled Greece to settle in...
Maria Santissima del Bagno
Last night’s festivities in honour of la Madonna del Bagno began with Holy Mass at 7:00 p.m. The Father Guardian of the Franciscan Solitude of...
Time for another “Tra le sollecitudini”
The Primacy of Gregorian Chant The Holy Father’s Letter to the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music (13-5-11) has prompted me to share with the readers...
Festa di San Marcellino, Sacerdote e Martire
June 2nd is the feast of Saint Marcellino, priest and martyr, the very one named in the Roman Canon. San Marcellino fills Piedimonte d’Alife with...
Mountains of the Lord, bless the Lord!
Today, in the company of my Biondi relatives, I had the wonderful experience of going to the summit of Monte Acero in Faicchio, Province of...
Benedict XVI at Saint Mary Major
My Musings Returning to Sepicciano, where the church bells ring out the quarter hour and the parish church is truly the heart of the village;...
Tornato a Sepicciano
How can I express the joy that I feel here? I arrived yesterday afternoon in the ancestral home of my great-grandmother in Sepicciano, Piedimonted’Alife. The...
Saint Paschal Baylon
Today was the commemoration of Saint Paschal Baylon, Franciscan laybrother, who died on Pentecost Sunday, 17 May 1592 as he had foretold. Illiterate, Paschal Baylon...
Archbishop Nichols on the Carthusian Martyrs
Here is the sermon preached last Wednesday by His Grace, Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster for Solemn Evensong and the Commemoration of the Carthusian Martyrs...
A Priest’s Prayer to Blessed John Paul II
I have prayed this little prayer daily for the past five years. Recently, my good friend Monsignor Arthur B. Calkins proposed that I include in...
Akathist to Blessed John Paul II
AKATHIST TO OUR FATHER AMONG THE SAINTS, JOHN PAUL THE GREAT, POPE OF ROME (Written by Alexander Roman, PhD, Toronto, Canada for private recitation) Kontakion...
All my trust is in Him
The Day Which the Lord Hath Made We have arrived at the sixth day of the One Day that is Pascha, “the day which the...