Laudetur Iesus Christus! Sunday is the seventh Sunday after Pentecost and ancient vigil of St. James the Apostle. We provide the commentary for the Sunday propers: https://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2020/07/fruit-free-will-and-providence-seventh.html#.XxPG3xJ7nwc   

Additionally we share Dom Prosper Gueranger’s commentary for Sunday, courtesy of Sensus Fidelium: https://sensusfidelium.com/the-liturgical-year-dom-prosper-gueranger/the-time-after-pentecost/seventh-sunday-after-pentecost/

Diocesan Latin Masses This Week

• Wednesday July 27: Commemoration of St. Pantaleon, 6pm Latin Mass, St. Ann parish
• Thursday July 28: Feast of Ss. Nazarius and Celsus; Pope St. Victor I, and Pope Innocent I, 7pm St. Thomas Aquinas
• Friday July 29: Feast of St. Martha (“octave day” of St. Mary Magdalene), 7am Latin Mass St. Ann parish, 12:30pm Latin Mass, St. Mark parish

Community News

• Holy Face Devotions: Tired of some Church leaders disparaging the Latin Mass? Why not push back by praying the powerful Holy Face devotion of reparation? As background, in 1843, Sr. Mary of St. Peter, a Carmelite nun in the monastery in Tours, France, received a series of revelations from Jesus telling her that reparation for certain sins were an imperative, and that it was to be done through devotion to the Holy Face.  The primary purpose of this apostolate is to, by praying certain prayers, make reparation for the sins committed against the first three Commandments of the Lord: The denial of God by atheism (communism), blasphemy, and the profanation of Sundays and Holy Days. Devotion to the Holy Face has been referred to as the devotion for Jesus Crucified.  It should be noted that Communists hate the Latin Mass. The schedule is as follows:

• St. Mark – Mondays 2-3pm
• St. Thomas Aquinas – Tuesdays 6am in the main church
• St. Ann – Tuesdays 7:30am in the chapel after the Novus Ordo Mass (uses the booklet which takes 15-20 minutes)

• Traditional Vespers Tonight July 24, 7pm, Our Lady of Grace, Greensboro, NC: To conclude the Sacred Music seminar at Our Lady of Grace parish in Greensboro, there will be Traditional Vespers sung at 7pm tonight Sunday July 24. Please note: This will be the 1962 Vespers, which is aligned with the Traditional Latin Mass different from St. Joseph’s College Seminary’s Novus Ordo Vespers offered certain Sundays at St. Ann in Charlotte. This is a rare opportunity to participate in the traditional Divine Office. Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church, 2203 W. Market St. Greensboro, NC 27403

Latin Mass & Traditional News

• Archdiocese of Washington Suppresses All Parish Latin Masses: As expected, Cardinal Wilton Gregory in Washington has suppressed many of the diocesan Latin Masses and relegated them to Sunday-only Latin Masses at non-diocesan chapels.Also suspended were the Easter Triduum, Easter Sunday, Pentecost, and Christmas (and presumably feasts).https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2022/07/archdiocese-of-washington-suppresses.html

CLMC note: There are a few questions worth asking: 1) What will the Latin Mass priests of the Archdiocese of Washington do in response to this suppression? Will they defend the Mass Christ loved so much he allowed this august sacrifice to be offered for 1,600 years and counting? Will they risk poverty, loss of reputation, even loss of material comforts to defend the Latin Mass and their flock? 2) What will Latin Mass priests in Charlotte Diocese so if a similar decree is issued here? The moment of truth may be arriving soon. The March 2020 COVID lockout of the Catholic faithful from Mass here by Charlotte priests was not a good sign of things to come. In addition to praying for Cardinal Gregory, and our own Bishop, Peter Jugis, please consider praying for the Latin Mass priests. How they act in this crisis will not just impact the Latin Mass faithful, but will be an important instruction for all the future priests who are also watching (e.g. the seminarians and future vocations).

• Diocese of Arlington parish expands Latin Mass to EVERY DAY: While one diocese in the DC area has suppressed Latin Masses, another is expanding them. On Friday July 8, the parish of St. John the Baptist in Front Royal, Virginia announced that Arlington Bishop Michael Burbidge has given permission for the parish to offer a Traditional Latin Mass every day. The parish already offered a weekday Latin Mass each Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. Now it is daily.

CLMC note: Interestingly, the announcement was made in the presence of two diocese of Charlotte seminarians who happened to be visiting and served the Latin Mass there that morning.  As the Diocese of Charlotte is too a “Latin Mass friendly” diocese, the CLMC is still searching for that lone diocesan parish in Charlotte which offers the Latin Mass daily (and perhaps at least twice Sunday), which is a minimum criteria for a “Latin Mass friendly” diocese. If our readers find such a parish, please contact us.

• Fr. Z – Offer Mass for Cardinal Cupich on Monday August 1: As we mentioned in last Sunday’s update, the Archdiocese of Chicago is reportedly considering taking action on the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, a Latin Mass religious order of priest, which may impair their ability to offer Mass at the parish they serve in Chicago. No statement has been issued by either the Archdiocese or Institute. To spiritually affect the matter in a positive way, Fr. Z is inviting priests to offer a Latin Mass on August 1 for Cardinal Cupich, pray for him and his conversion on the matter of the Traditional Latin Mass.  https://wdtprs.com/2022/07/action-item-proposal-to-priests-on-1-august-say-holy-mass-for-blase-cupich/

• The Legal Positivism of the Pro-Life Movement: OnePeterFive posted an interesting essay on how most Catholics, particularly conservative Catholics, blindly follow legal positivism instead of the traditional teaching of the Church with respect to laws and authority. The author, citing St. Thomas Aquinas, opines that if a proposed law does not meet St. Thomas’ criteria for a law, it is not actually a law at all and should be ignored. This should be applied with abortion, where Catholic public officials should have ignored Roe vs. Wade and banned abortion anyway: https://onepeterfive.com/legal-positivism-pro-life-movement

Latin Mass Feasts of July (and Commentary)

• The Feast of St Elijah the Prophet: This past Wednesday July 20, was the ancient feast of St. Elijah the Prophet. It is not celebrated in the Traditional Latin Mass, only in the Byzantine Rite, and in the Carmelite Rite (which is similar to the Traditional Latin Mass). Greg DiPippo of the New Liturgical Movement explains along with some history of the Carmelite order: https://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2022/07/the-feast-of-st-elijah-prophet.html#.YtzbNYTMKHt

• St John XXIII on St Lawrence of Brindisi: Thursday July 21 was the feast of St. Lawrence of Brindisi, a doctor of the Church from the 17th century. Greg DiPippo shares Pope St. John XXIII’s commentary on this saint: https://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2020/07/st-john-xxiii-on-st-lawrence-of-brindisi.html#.Ytzdh4TMKHt and Fr. Z. also has a write-up on how St. Lawrence led a victory over the Islamists of his time:  https://wdtprs.com/2022/07/forward-he-cried-showing-them-the-crucifix-victory-is-ours-st-lawrence-of-brindisi-3/

• The Feast of the Thunderous Heel-Grabber: Monday July 25 is the feast of St. James the Apostle who first evangelized Spain before returning to Jerusalem for his martyrdom, and Dr. Mike Foley pens an excellent article on the connection of St. James and the famous traditions associated with him, including the famous Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage that many have undertaken: https://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2022/07/the-feast-of-thunderous-heel-grabber.html#.YtuP2ITMKHs

• Feast of St. Christopher: Monday July 25 also happens to be the feast St. Christopher, the Christ-Bearer, as the St. Andrew Missal notes: He was a native of Chanaan, a generous soul, was martyred around 250 AD, and is one of the 14 Holy Helpers (saints who have had been noted for the “efficacy of their intercession”), who is invoked in storms, plagues, and avoiding of accidents in travel. Sadly, St. Christopher was thanked for his many intercessions by having him removed from the new Novus Ordo liturgical calendar promulgated in 1969. The CLMC thanks St. Christopher by sharing Dom Prosper Gueranger’s The Liturgical Year: https://staging2.sensusfidelium.com/the-liturgical-year-dom-prosper-gueranger/july/july-25-saint-christopher-martyr/

The Soul of the Child – St. John Chrysostom

With the overturning of Roe vs. Wade  one month ago today, Saturday’s monthly Respect Life Mass, and the Mass of the Angels Mass on Thursday, these are all reminders of the importance of defending the sanctity of human life and the innocence of a child, especially in a state of grace. Moreover having the innocence and purity of a child is important and necessary for anyone who seeking to enter the Kingdom of Heaven (as Father Leo Haydock’s Catholic Bible Commentary notes for Mark 10:14). To emphasize this teaching, a reader providentially pointed us to the beautiful words of St. John Chrysostom, on “the soul of the child”, which were fittingly quoted by Dom Gueranger for the feast of St. Jerome Æmilian this past Wednesday July 20:

“‘The soul of the child,’ as the Church tells us to-day by the golden mouth of St. John Chrysostom, ‘is free from all passions. He bears no ill-will towards them that have done him harm, but goes to them as friends, just as if they had done nothing. And though he be often beaten by his mother, yet he always seeks her and loves her more than anyone else. If you show him a queen in her royal crown, he prefers his mother clad in rags, and would rather see her unadorned than the queen in magnificent attire; for he does not appreciate according to riches or poverty, but by love. He seeks not for more than is necessary, and as soon as he has had sufficient milk he quits the breast. He is not oppressed with the same sorrows as we, nor troubled with care for money and the like; neither is he rejoiced by our transitory pleasures, nor affected by corporal beauty. Therefore our Lord said: Of such is the kingdom of heaven, wishing us to do of our own free will what children do by nature.’[1]

Their guardian angels, as our Lord Himself said, gazing into those pure souls, are not distracted from the contemplation of their heavenly Father: for He rests in them as on the wings of Cherubim, since baptism has made them His children. Happy was our saint to have been chosen by God to share the loving cares of the angels here below, before partaking of their bliss in heaven.”

July 20 – Saint Jerome Æmilian, Confessor~ Dom Prosper Gueranger

The Latin Mass is often noted for its welcomeness to young children and large families. What Mass are you attending Sunday?