A Pretty Strong Hunch

Just so everyone is aware, Fr. Z over at What Does the Prayer Really Say is reporting that a news source, in German, stated that Cardinal Bertone has given the MP to 30 explicitly chosen bishops and the release date has been announced for July 7th. Although this seems to be from a reliable source and contains some specific information there are still some questionable holes in the story. Now, I can't read German, so I only know what is in the article by the little bits of Fr. Z's translation. However, if the MP is this close there still remains the question of a title. If the MP is truly only a week and a half away, what is it called? Perhaps we will find at the end of this week, however if the title isn't released by Monday I would suspect that this is just more of the proverbial carrot on a stick.

BTW, here is the link to Fr. Z's original post on the subject. Motu Proprio
Oremus

St. Louis Part 4, St. Francis de Sales Oratory

OK, so you thought the Basilica of St. Louis and the ordinations were the capstone to my trip? Oh, how wrong you were. All in all, the trip had absolutely no low points, but if I had to pick a favorite part, it would be this. One of the young newly ordained priests, Father Matthew Talarico, had his first Mass there. I was privileged to witness it.





These first pictures are just of the St. Francis de Sales. The church is an amazing German Gothic design. It has 7 altars (including the high altar, pictured last) and 4 confessionals (none of which are storage closets.





Also, if any of you are considering a charitable donation this year, please consider St. Francis de Sales Oratory. The church is in a threatening condition in which the bell tower is slowly pulling away from the main part of the building due to foundation problems. The oratory has to raise a stunning $4 million to save it and receives no help from the Archdiocese or the Institute as a whole. The church is worth saving folks, so please consider it (and no I haven't been asked to say that.)





Here are the pictures of the stunning church:



Altar 1:

Altar 2:

Altar 3:

Altar 4:

Altar 5:

Altar 6:

And at last the High Altar, altar 7:

The organ was also a fine instrument and an intriguing design:

The Pulpit is awe inspiring as well:

And lastly, the outside. The bell tower seems at least 4 stories tall when standing at it's bottom. This is what is threatening the whole structure, and again, it's worth saving. These pictures do not do the church justice. It's a must see if ever in St. Louis.

Awesome isn't it?

Well, I will do the pictures from Fr. Talerico's first Mass on my next post as it is getting late here. I hope you all have enjoyed my pictures.

COMING SOON: Fr. Talerico's first Holy Mass!!!

EDIT: If you wish to help out St. Francis de Sales Oratory, please click this link for contact information.

The Basilica Cathedral of St. Louis and the ordinations for the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest

OK, here it is folks. My camera died after taking pictures of the ordinations, so I didn't get a whole lot of pictures of the basilica itself. Also, my camera wasn't the best, so some of these pictures are a little blurry and grainy. I apologise for that. I'll let the pictures do the talking though.


The Basilica was awsome, as you can see from these pictures. This is the way that altar is really supposed to be set up. ;-)

I just want to highlight something unseen in this picture. For those of you who have never seen a bishop vested in full pontifical regalia here's what he's wearing. He's wearing a cassock, surplice, alb, amice, subdeacons tunicle, deacons dalmatic, chasuble, pallium, bishops gloves, zuchetta (I'm not sure if I spelled that correctly), precious miter, and of course, his crosier. I'm not quite sure if he was wearing his special boots. Knowing the Institute, he probably was, but I never got a good look.

This last picture is the coolist I think. If you look closely you can see that one of the newly ordained priests still has his hands wrapped. This is some amazingly powerful symbolism folks. From that point on this mans hands are consicrated to touch the sacred species. Like St. Thomas, he has been invited to place his finger into the wounds of Christ. The only proper response to this being "my Lord and my God."

Deo Gratias!

Old Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis King of France

Time for my second post on my trip to St. Louis. My second stop in the Rome of the west was to the Old Basilica Cathedral of St. Louis King of France.

The design of the Church is fairly simple in a Greek revival style. In this very simple church, however, great noble designs are found. The church itself is made of sandstone and the church (in my estimation) is solid as a rock.

Here you can see the entirety of the sanctuary. Again the design is very simple but at the same time it is very evident that those who designed and worshipped in this church wished to reflect the glory of Christ and His Church in all that they did. This is unlike the modern notion of simplicity which can be defined as only cheap.

Being Greek Revival, everything in the church was white (except the modern carpet.) All of the statues were not colored but simply white. This effect gave the impression of an ancient Greek temple. The organ itself aided in the process being made of very dark wood with silver pipes and silver accents. It is one of the most beautiful organs I have seen.
By far the highlight of this church is the quality of the artwork. Notice the great detail in the crucifix and the station pictured. They are absolutely exquisite. Also the statuary, as mentioned before, matches the style of the church and gives a marble like quality to the interior.

The last peice I'll highlight is this painting of the Coronation of St. Louis IX. I'm not going to explain the painting, as the plaque does a better job than I could. Again, this is another example of the tremendous artwork inside the old cathedral.

This church, despite being quite simple, is breathtaking. My only question is to exactly what modifications were made after the Second Vatican Council. If anybody has any information on that please inform me. Also, if anybody happens to have any pictures of the Cathedral prior to 1970, I would appriciate getting them to compare.

The Shrine of St. Joseph

Ok, here's my first post about my trip to St. Louis. This is the shrine of St. Joseph.

As you can see from the front of the shrine, it is still being restored. The Shrine sits on a rather large piece of land, which would be great for pilgrimages and festivals. As you can see from the picture, there is a rather large piazza in front.

Here is the breathtaking high altar. It's called the altar of miracles and you can find out why at the shrines website.

Here are the two side altars. The second one, called the Jesuit altar, it particular interesting. At one point in time, the church was under the control of the Jesuits and statues of Jesuit saints fill the church.

One such Jesuit saint, Peter Clavier, is particularly honored at the shrine. Why? It's because of the confirmed miracle that took place here. The Shrine of St. Joseph is the only place in America that has a confirmed miracle. The miracle (the details of which I don't know but again is available on their website) helped in the canonisation process of St. Peter Clavier.

I was extremely impressed with the statuary in the church. Before the church was restored, all of these statues were badly damaged and dry rotted (they're all wood). This statue here, depicting the death of St. Joseph, is by far my favorite. I nearly wept when I saw it.The ceiling seems to be all stencil work. If I'm right, that that makes the ceilings even more amazing. The church was full of color. It was literally like looking into heaven.

These last two pictures, of one of the windows and one of the two confessionals, were some simple details I wished to highlight. The windows are patterned windows, and despite being plain, are very noble and speak volumes to the artistic and sacred treasure that is the Shrine of St. Joseph.

If you're ever in the St. Louis area, a trip to the shrine is a must. It would be great for a family pilgrimage as well as a pilgrimage for lovers of art and sacred architecture.

My next post will be about my trip to the Old Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis King of France.

Coming Soon!

Greetings!

I'm back from St. Louis where I had an amazing pilgramage. I will be sharing pictures with you soon of my visit to the Rome of the west. I have pictures of my visits to the Shrine of St. Joseph, the Old Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis King of France, the New Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis King of France and St. Francis de Sales Oratory under the care of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest. I also have pictures of the first ordinations of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest in the United States at the Cathedral Basilica with Archbishop Raymond Burke. I took 277 pictures (sorry I can't post them all here) so I will get some up as soon as I can, however, right now I'm very tired.

I also want to give a plug to St. Louis Catholic who, with his wonderful family, took me in for 3 days to make my pligramage possible. Thanks again.

Deo Gratias!

Off to St. Louis

The Lord has provided me a great opportunity coming up. I will be heading out to St. Louis this upcoming Thursday to attend the first ordinations for the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest in the United States. I imagine it will be pretty amazing! I'm looking forward to talking to some of the seminarians and priests in the Institute as well as spending some quality time in discernment and prayer while I'm out there. I will be sure to post pictures here on the website to show all of the grandeur and symbolism of ordinations in the Traditional Roman Rite. I will see you all when I get back! Please prayer for me. St. Christopher pray for me!

oremus pro invicem

The Funniest thing I have ever seen: Deacon Payne

You guys will love this. I just found this last night and I just about fell off of my chair. I won't say much about it. Just check it out!

Deacon Payne