Away for a few days

This is the interior of the 12th century monastery church of the Benedictine nuns of Our Lady of Rosano, an ancient Benedictine house near Florence. I'm going there for the weekend to have some quiet time.



Some few months ago, I visited some nice American nuns who were making a foundation here. During one of my chats with one of these very friendly sisters, she asked, "what is stopping you from saying the full Divine Office every day?"

The only possible answer to that question is, "Me".


As far as I can figure, these nuns in Rosano, whose community has been there since AD 780, are the only ones in the country who do the full Monastic Office in Latin. It's also the place where Cardinal Ratzinger liked to take his retreats. Everyone says it's very nice. They are also one of the most invisible sets of nuns I've ever seen. They have no internet access, no computer, no email address and no website.

Perfect!

So, I'll be away for the weekend. You may all talk quietly amongst yourselves until the bell rings. Dale, you're in charge. Please take attendance. If there's any noise from you lot, I'll know about it when I get back on Sunday afternoon.



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Your country on "democracy"

and Calvinism.

Charles I, b. 19 November 1600 - ex. 30 January 1649

"I go from a corruptible to an incorruptible crown, where no disturbance can be, no disturbance in the world."


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I'm in the mood tonight to write an alternate history story in which English Catholic refugees in France build a dirigible and sailing over the channel just in the nick of time to rescue Charles I from the clutches of the Calvinists.


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Shock archeology news!

Archeologists digging around under modern Rome have found...

ANCIENT ROME!!

Who knew?



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This one's for you, brah

You know who you are...



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The "Lost" Vatican II

Remember those "schemas" the modernists threw out at the beginning of Vatican II, when the whole thing came crashing down (and was never the same again)?

Yep, someone's put them online. Because on the internet, the past is never over.

And it turns out that their content should hardly surprise us today:

The source material is interesting as well. An examination of the footnotes of the discarded schemas reveals an abundant number of citations from Pascendi, Mortalium Animos, the Syllabus and even the anti-Modernist oath, none of which are cited in the 1992 Catechism of the Catholic Church, for example.

The tone is markedly different; instead of the humble "searching for truth" [1] that we note in the conciliar documents, the original schemas lucidly and authoritatively proclaim the truth, as well as about the errors which pervert it.

How Novusordoism was born.



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Feel the luuurve...

The next time someone asks you what homosexuality and abortion have to do with each other, tell them, "I dunno, why don't you ask these guys. I'm sure they'll be able to fill you in on the Big Picture."



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How Dan Brown ruined my life

“Thank you for your email. Why no, I hadn’t heard that Pope Francis is keeping clones of himself in a vat in the basement of the Vatican. Please tell me more.”

Actually, no, please don’t tell me more.



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Fun stuff from around the 'net for Tues

Terry Gilliam's latest cry for existential help, for deliverance from the modern world's impoverished metaphysics.


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Ever wonder what a real Welsh accent sounds like?

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Someone quoted me!

The other day, LifeSiteNews writer Hilary White posted an interesting question: “A question that has been haunting me lately: given what we know, given what is happening in the world, what business do we have pursuing a quiet, ordinary life?” That depends, I suppose, on your definition of quiet and ordinary

...

Dr. Monica Miller, in her superb book Abandoned: The Untold Story of the Abortion Wars, describes this realization better than anything I’ve read or heard so far:

“I opened the door to the refrigerator to retrieve a carton of milk,” she wrote, “In the midst of reaching into the refrigerator my hand stopped. I was gripped by a realization. I thought, I’m not living in a normal world anymore. Standing there, suspended in time with one arm in the fridge, I realized that ‘normal’ could not apply to a world in which the murder of the unborn was protected by law, and that I could no longer consider myself a normal person. I knew that I could not live my life in the expected way: get an education, get a job, get married, buy a house. I felt I could not deal with those things. No, I had to be seized by a radical act. I had to drop everything—forget about milk and lunch. Babies are being murdered. They are being murdered down the street, in my own town. I know about it and I have to give up my life and do something about it.”

Everyone I've ever talked to who is involved in the kind of work I do has had the same experience. Mine was on a bus in Halifax when I looked around at everyone on the bus and realised that nearly every one of them, if asked, would probably say it was OK to kill people. It was a terrifying experience, and I went home that day and didn't come out of my apartment for three days.

I am asking the question more and more. Far from receding into the background buzz of my brain, it comes to me now clearly at any time of the day or night: why am I trying to live a quiet normal life in the middle of a war? And if not the normal pursuits, then what?

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Best yet from Kathy: when Monty Python sketches become documentaries.

"So, you want to donate your liver, then?"

Yes, and from now on, I want you all to call me Loretta.

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Archeology nerds! Sunken ancient things! Coo-Whul!

A 1500-year-old basilica was unearthed during excavations conducted on the bed of Lake Iznik.



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Nope, no vocations crisis over here...

There are a lot of reasons I live here and not in Angloland. One of which is the superabundance of monasteries, and the fact that the Italians retain the faith that includes an appreciation of the worth of monasticism.

Imagine any of the state broadcasters in the Commonwealth countries doing a series, consisting of dozens of episodes, on "a day in the life" of every monastery in the country. Well, TV 2000 has been doing it for years, and it's pretty popular.

Maybe one of the reasons there isn't much of a "vocations crisis" in Italian monastic life? People see it, on tv, all the time.

Well, now that we've got YouTube, so can you.

I passi del silenzio



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How to make Bird's Custard awesomely!

It's a British institution. If you were English or raised by English people in an English colonial town, you will know that Birds custard, hot, makes everything better.

It's about 99% corn starch, so if you just follow the instructions on the tin, it can be a little dull, however. Esp. if you've been a pastry chef and know the difference between Bird's Custard and creme anglais.

One tbsp Bird's custard powder
1/2 pint milk + 200 mls fresh cream
tbsp vanilla extract
tbsp sugar (or substitute)
2 egg yolks

Mix the Bird's with the sugar and a little of the milk. Whisk in the egg yolks while the rest of the milk n' cream are heating. When the milk mix is just about to boil (this is called "scalding"), pour it into the custard and whisk vigorously. Pour it all back into the pot for a couple of minutes while stirring.

Voy-Lah! cheap, simple custard that almost tastes like real Creme Anglais.



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