Christus Resurréxit! Resurréxit Vere! Sunday May 1, is the Second Sunday after Easter (also known as Good Shepherd Sunday) and it is also the feast of St. Joseph the Workman, a more recent feast, instituted by Pope Pius XII to counter the communist May Day “celebrations”. Since our country (and our Church?) is now facing a socialist/Marxist takeover from a global dictatorship, is there not a better time to Ite Ad Joseph (Go to Joseph), the patron saint against communism and socialism, and ask for his intercession?

• As custom, we share an article by Dr. Mike Foley on this important feast day: http://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2021/04/the-feast-of-saint-joseph-worker.html

• Additionally, we share Pope Pius XI’s 1937 encyclical, Divini Redemptoris (On Atheistic Communism), proclaiming St. Joseph the patron against Communism. Learn more here:  http://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_19370319_divini-redemptoris.html

1^st Sunday Latin Mass at Sacred Heart parish Today: This First Sunday there will be a 4pm Latin Mass offered by Fr. Joseph Wasswa at Sacred Heart parish in Salisbury this Sunday, followed by a potluck in Brincefield Hall (please bring a dish or snack to share). For questions or to join their e-mail list, visit the Salisbury Latin Mass Community: www.salisburylmc.org

St. Peter of Verona Palms Available at St. Ann today (12:30pm Mass)

Friday was the feast of St. Peter of Verona, and there is an ancient custom only in the traditional rite to bless palms on his feast day. Tradition holds when the palms are buried around the 4 corners of one’s property, they protect against natural disasters. Father Reid has kindly blessed the palms and we will be handing out these our Latin Mass welcome table after Mass while quantities last. Please note: If you already received one in prior years, you do not need new palms year (unless you moved). We also thank Fr. Reid for taking the time to bless the palms. To learn more about St. Peter of Verona, the 13^th century Dominican martyr, please visit: https://charlottelatinmass.org/2021/04/29/feasts-of-ss-peter-of-verona-and-joseph-the-workman/

(also see our note about Blessed Carino, St. Peter’s assassin below)

Relics of St. Bernadette Coming to Linville, NC:

St. Bernadette parish in Linville (2 hours northwest of Charlotte) will be hosting the relics of its patron, St. Bernadette provided by the Sanctuary in Lourdes, France from May 9 – 11.  This will probably be one of the most important relics visiting the diocese in recent years – perhaps exceeding St. Maria Goretti’s relics a few years ago. To attend, one needs to be familiar with the special transportation setup for the relic visit. To learn more visit and about the parking arrangements please visit: https://www.catholicnewsherald.com/88-news/fp/8166-lourdes-to-linville  or visit: www.lourdestolinville.org

Latin Mass & Traditional News

• Conversion of St. Peter of Verona’s Assassin: As noted earlier, Friday April 29 was the feast of St. Peter of Verona, a 13 century Dominican who was martyred for defending the faith against heresy in Italy. However, there is actually more to the story. Like many saints, St. Peter’s martyrdom resulted in the conversion of his assassin, who is now beatified. To learn more about this story visit: http://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2021/04/blessed-carino-assassin-of-st-peter.html

• The Tomb of St Peter Martyr in Milan’s Portinari Chapel: Greg DiPippo of New Liturgical Movement shares some great photos of St. Peter of Verona’s tomb at the Basilica of St. Eustorgio in Milan: https://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2022/04/the-tomb-of-st-peter-martyr-in-milans.html#.Ym4BtNPMKHt

• Diabolic Influence (the Priest Edition) with Fr. Ripperger: Steve Cunningham with Sensus Fidelium has another intriguing interview with Fr. Chad Ripperger, this time on his new book for priests entitled Diabolic Influence (see links in video page): https://youtu.be/2zinoi8Fd3g

• Holy Thursday 2022 Photopost (Part 1): If any of our readers had doubts that Charlotte was one of the few – or only – dioceses to strangely cancel their Triduum (even Rome, Chicago, Raleigh and Knoxville had them), one can cast aside all reservations as New Liturgical Movement begins to share Holy Week photos from Latin Mass Triduums offered around the country and the world starting with Holy Thursday: https://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2022/04/holy-thursday-2022-photopost-part-1.html#more

• Announcing the Release of Mass of the Ages Episode II: The sequel to the ground breaking documentary on sacred liturgy and the Latin Mass, Mass of Ages, will be released later this month online. It will focus on “What Went Wrong after Vatican II”, and examine how the new Mass was manufactured. To learn more visit: https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2022/04/announcing-release-of-mass-of-ages.html#more

• A Qualified Defense of St Pius X’s Breviary Reform: Often times, newcomers to the Latin Mass believe all the problems in the Church and the liturgical reforms began in the 1960s. As readers know with the Pre-55 Triduum, this is not so. Modernizers were working for decades prior to 1960 to undermine the liturgy. One early example comes actually from Pope St. Pius X, who approved some quite untraditional changes to the Divine Office (as noted by Bishop Schneider in 2018). Greg DiPippo however examines those changes and offers an alternative view which we share: https://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2022/04/a-qualified-defense-of-st-pius-xs.html#.YmoLMNPMKHs

The Importance of Ceremonies in the Catholic Church

This past week, New Liturgical Movement also posted a 2012 article from Latin Mass magazine by Dr. Mike Foley, which examines the importance of ceremonies in the practice of the Catholic faith. In this lengthy but worthy piece, Foley examines the history and need for ceremonies, and how they differ from the Old Testament ceremonies, yet retain some qualities about them. As we have noted in prior updates, the Church did not continue explicitly Old Testament ceremonies and related feasts but does subtly recognize them throughout the liturgical year and with its accompanying rituals. We share some excerpts which begin to touch upon this topic:

“Since man is composed of soul and body,” Saint Thomas explains, he needs both external and internal worship, with the external ordered to the internal. (ST I-II.101.2) Good Aristotelian that he is, Aquinas holds that as human beings we ascend to the intelligible through the sensible. This ascent is not obliterated by the gift of supernatural faith; on the contrary, grace presupposes nature, healing and elevating it. Rather than eliminate man’s basic need for external gestures, Christianity fulfills that need with appropriate ceremony.

In terms of external worship, the early Church did not replicate the altar of incense in the Holy Temple, but she has used incense in her own way. She did not duplicate the High Priest’s vestments and ephod, but she has embraced the practice of sacred vestments with a style all her own (indeed, several styles varying with time, place, and liturgical patrimony). And she did not face west when she offered sacrifice like the Levites on the Temple Mount, but she did adopt the concept of directional prayer by facing east and orienting her altars accordingly. [7] While servile reproduction is forbidden, resourceful and prudent development is an entirely different matter. [8]

The example that Aquinas gives is how the “solemnities of the Old Law are supplanted by new solemnities” in the liturgical year. The Lord’s Day replaces the Sabbath. Good Friday and Easter replace the Passover. Pentecost or Whitsunday replaces the Jewish Festival of Weeks, or Shavu’ot. Lady Day, the Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, replaces the monthly feast of the New Moon, or Rosh Chodesh, for it is with the Annunciation that there “appeared the first rays of the sun, i.e. Christ, by the fulness of grace.” The feasts of the Apostles replace the Feast of Trumpets, or Rosh Hashanah. The feasts of martyrs and confessors replace the Feast of Expiation, Yom Kippur. Feasts celebrating the commemoration of a Church replace the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths, or Sukkot. Michaelmas, or the Feast of the Angels, and All Saints’ Day replace the feast of the Eighth Day of Assembly, Shemini Atzeret. (ST I-II.103.3.ad 4)

The 1962 Roman Missal provides additional examples of this principle. The September Embertide hearkens to the Feast of Tabernacles and to Yom Kippur, not only by virtue of the time of the year during which it takes place but by its biblical readings. And the same can be said for the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost, which echoes the Jewish fast day of Tisha B’Av that commemorates the Roman destruction of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem in A.D. 70. In the Gospel reading for the Ninth Sunday (which like Tisha B’av occurs sometime in July or August), our Lord sheds tears over Jerusalem’s fate after coming from the Mount of Olives, the spot where, more than thirty years later, the Roman legions would commence their devastating campaign against the holy city. By remembering the Destruction of the Temple in this way, the Church offers not only a sober reminder of divine justice and the need for our repentance and conversion, but she also locates our pilgrimage within sacred history and connects our lives to it.

Professions of Faith: the Perennial Value of Ceremony, According to the Angelic Doctor: https://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2022/03/professions-of-faith-perennial-value-of.html#.Ym4MhtPMKHt

Today is Sunday, what Mass are you attending today?