St. Bernard on St. Joseph the 'Just Man'

Stained glass of St. Joseph's Dream (from Matthew 1:20-21), created in the 13th century, and located at the Cistercian abbey of Lilienfeld, Austria
[The following is excerpted from "The Glories of St. Joseph," compiled by the Monks of St. Joseph's Abbey in Flavigny, France.]

"Joseph her husband, being a just man and not willing publicly to expose her, was minded to put her away privately [Matthew 1: 19]. It was right of Joseph not to accuse Mary since he was just. He would not have been just if he had concealed adultery, nor could be be just if he condemned one whom he knew to be innocent. Being just and unwilling to expose Mary publicly, he preferred to send her away privately."

"Why did he want to send her away? Listen to this which is not my opinion, but that of the Fathers. The reason Joseph wanted to separate from Mary is the one invoked by St. Peter himself to avoid the Lord: Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord [Luke 5: 8]; and by the centurion to keep Him from his house: Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldst enter under my roof [Matthew 8: 8]. So it was with St. Joseph, too. Feeling himself to be unworthy and sinful, he thought: 'She is so perfect and so great that I do not deserve that she should share her intimacy with me any longer; her astonishing dignity surpasses me and frightens me.' He saw with sacred fear that she carried the clear marks of a divine presence. As he could not fathom the mystery, he preferred to leave her. Fear struck Peter at the greatness of the Lord's power; fear seized the Centurion at the majesty of His presence; fear seized St. Joseph quite naturally as it would any man at the uncanniness of the extraordinary miracle, at the depth of the mystery, and that is why he wanted to separate from her privately."

"Can we be surprised that St. Joseph thought himself unworthy to live with the Blessed Virgin when we are told that even St. Elizabeth trembled with awe in her presence. Here are her words: Whence is this to me, that the Mother of my Lord should come to me? [Luke 1: 43]"

"That is why St. Joseph wanted to put her away; but why privately and not publicly? To avoid all inquiry into the motives for the separation and to escape the obligation of accounting for it. If he had given his opinion and the proof he had of the purity of Mary, the Jews would have derided him and stoned Mary. How would those Jews believe in the Truth still silent in His Mother's womb, when, later, they scorned His outcry in the temple? What would they have done to Christ, as yet invisible, when, later, they laid sacrilegious hands upon Him although He shone with the splendor of His miracles? In order not to be reduced to telling lies or to laying an innocent open to blame, it was quite right of St. Joseph, the just man, to separate from Our Lady in secret."

Dominican Rite Mass in New York City

I had the high blessing of being present when the Dominicans of the Eastern Province of the United States offered their first Missa Cantata according to their proper Dominican Rite at their parish in New York City, St. Vincent Ferrer. Fr. Austin Dominic Litke, O.P. offered the Mass on the traditional feast day of St. Thomas Aquinas, with the assistance of layman servers and Dominican friars from the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC, who chanted the propers of the Mass.


The high altar in St. Vincent Ferrer before Mass.




Father Litke and the servers process up the high altar.


The celebrant's Confiteor - notice the difference in the position of the servers in the Dominican Rite, compared to the Traditional Latin Mass.



The chanting of the Gospel.


Father James Brent, OP, gave an excellent sermon on St. Thomas Aquinas and our modern problem of secularism.



Fr. Litke incenses the high altar.



The elevation of the chalice containing the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ - instead of kneeling at the bottom of the steps and to the right, as in the "extraordinary form" of the Latin Rite, the censer and boat-bearer kneel behind the priest.


The celebrant extends his arm in a cruciform posture immediately after the consecration, but only for a short period of time.



Taken at some point after the consecration but before Communion.



The Dominican schola makes a full prostration as the made their Confiteor before Communion.



The schola receives the Blessed Sacrament.



The ablutions and the missal is brought back to the epistle side of the altar - the high altar and its reredos are absolutely stunning.

Blessed Lojze Grozde, Martyr

Painting of Blessed Lojze Grozde, taken from
Bl. Alojzij Grozde v Beli Krajini

[Excerpted from the February 2012 issue of Magnificat magazine]

"...Lojze Grozde of Trzisce, Slovenia...a youth of exceptional intelligence...joined the Catholic Action lay apostolate. He attended Mass Daily, prayed often before the Blessed Sacrament, and developed a deep devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary...Lozje decided to visit [his mother] and stepbrothers for New Year's Day of 1943....Upon learning of a disruption to train service...he attempted to complete his journey on foot. A stranger offered to take him the rest of the way. This proved to be a trap. Lozje was arrested by Communist militants, who upon searching him found rosary beads, a Latin missal, a copy of The Imitation of Christ, and pamphlets about Our Lady of Fatima....the Communists unleashed their atheistic fury upon the nineteen-year-old youth, torturing him without mercy. His body was found on February 23, 1943."

Lojze Grozde was beatified on June 13, 2010, the anniversary of the second apparition of Our Lady of Fatima. Pope John Paul II praised the martyr during a 1996 visit to Slovenia: "Lojze Grozde is just one of innumerable innocent victims of Communism that raise the palm of martyrdom as an indelible memory and admonition. He was a disciple of Christ."

A Prophecy That Has Largely Come True - God Helps Us All

"Responsible men can become more deeply convinced of the truth of the doctrine laid down by the Church on this issue if they reflect on the consequences of methods and plans for artificial birth control. Let them first consider how easily this course of action could open wide the way for marital infidelity and a general lowering of moral standards. Not much experience is needed to be fully aware of human weakness and to understand that human beings—and especially the young, who are so exposed to temptation—need incentives to keep the moral law, and it is an evil thing to make it easy for them to break that law. Another effect that gives cause for alarm is that a man who grows accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods may forget the reverence due to a woman, and, disregarding her physical and emotional equilibrium, reduce her to being a mere instrument for the satisfaction of his own desires, no longer considering her as his partner whom he should surround with care and affection."

"Finally, careful consideration should be given to the danger of this power passing into the hands of those public authorities who care little for the precepts of the moral law. Who will blame a government which in its attempt to resolve the problems affecting an entire country resorts to the same measures as are regarded as lawful by married people in the solution of a particular family difficulty? Who will prevent public authorities from favoring those contraceptive methods which they consider more effective? Should they regard this as necessary, they may even impose their use on everyone. It could well happen, therefore, that when people, either individually or in family or social life, experience the inherent difficulties of the divine law and are determined to avoid them, they may give into the hands of public authorities the power to intervene in the most personal and intimate responsibility of husband and wife."

-Pope Paul VI, Encyclical Humanae Vitae, 25 July 1968, Paragraph 17

The Martyrdom of Blessed Elias Nieves

Painting of Blessed Elias Nieves,
taken from Blessed Elia del Soccorso (Matteo Nieves), March 10
(The following is excerpted from Chapter III of "Mexican Martyrdom," by Father Wilfrid Parsons, S.J., reprinted in 1987 by TAN Books.)

"...Father Elias Nieves, an Augustinian...stuck to his post as parish priest [in the town of La Cañada de Caracheo]...he moved out of the rectory to the hut of a native. On March 8 [1928] a company of soldiers arrived and asked for the priest. His house [the rectory] was locked and silent. They began to break down the door. The news spread like wildfire in the vicinity and in no time a crowd...had made a solid phalanx around the church, for fear it, too, would be destroyed....someone tipped off the soldiers....and Father Nieves was dragged forth. Two...made a hopeless effort to protect him, and they, too, were taken along....The Captain [Manuel Marquez Cervantes]...offered the two...their liberty, even urged it upon them. They stolidly refused to leave their pastor, and the Captain shrugged his shoulders...."

"Father Nieves and the others were called early [the morning of March 10], and the troops kept the villagers cowed. The two...knelt down for Confession and absolution, and they stepped forward together. 'We are ready,' they announced. One after the other they took the hail of bullets without flinching."

"It was the priest's turn. As he walked to the wall beside the two motionless bodies, he turned and asked for a few moments to recollect himself. He knelt a long while, and then standing, said: 'I am ready.' But at the moment that the soldiers lifted their rifles, he raised his hand."

"'Kneel down,' he said, 'I will give you the blessing of a priest - and along with it my pardon for what you are about to do.'"

"Every one of the simple soldiers knelt down and piously received the blessing of the priest, making the Sign of the Cross on their bodies. The Captain laughed."

"'Even for you there is a blessing and my pardon,' said Father Nieves. For answer the Captain drew his revolver and shot him dead. [Another account of the martyrdom adds that "The Father had time to shout too, clearly: 'Long live Christ the King!'" Of course, that slogan is ¡Viva Cristo Rey! in Spanish.] Then, to make sure, he stepped forward and gave him the coup de grace in the temple, blowing his brains out."

"His funeral the next day was a triumph for the countryside, and his body was laid beside those of his two faithful companions."

[Father Nieves was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 12 October 1997.]

Every priest who preaches the Word of God in times of persecution has no escape; he will die like Jesus on the Cross, with arms tied. -Blessed Elias Nieves

Alleluia Chant for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception

"Alleluia. alleluia. Thou art all fair, O Mary, and the original stain is not in thee. Alleluia." (taken from the 1962 edition of the Roman Missal)

Last Sunday in October - Feast of Christ the King

[Image of Christ the King, taken from Pius XI: The Kingship of Christ]
(The following is excerpted from the supplement in Volume XIV of the 1983 Marian House edition of the English translation of Dom Prosper Guéranger's 'The Liturgical Year' by the Benedictines of Stanbrook. As the feast of Christ the King wasn't instituted until the 1920s, Dom Guéranger likely didn't write this entry, but a later Benedictine religious.)

"The Kingdom of Heaven - Holy Church - is seen bringing forth out of her treature 'things new and old.'....Hence, guided by the Holy Spirit, of [H]im who has promised to be with her not merely for a few centuries but unto the end of the world, she defines or emphasizes certain points of doctrine as she sees fit, considering the needs of the times. We have an example in the institution of the feast of the Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ by the Sovereign Pontiff, Pope Pius XI, in the jubilee year 1925, and explained to the faithful in the Encyclical Quas Primas."

"Christians have ever hailed our divine Lord as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. It was as a King that the representatives of the Eastern world came to adore [H]im in a manger; it was as a King, albeit not knowing what he did, that the official representative of the Western world lifted [H]im up upon the Cross. The patriarchs and prophets of the old dispensation foretold [H]is royalty; [H]e spoke constantly of [H]is kingdom: when asked plainly whether [He] were in truth a king by the representative of Caesar, [H]e acknowledged that such indeed [H]e was, though of a kingdom not of this world...."

"Yet though [H]is is a spiritual kingdom, opposed to no just earthly polity, 'it would be a grave error to say that Christ has no authority whatever in civil affairs, since by virtue of the absolute empire over all creatures committed to [H]im by the Father, all things are in [H]is power. All men, whether collectively or individually, are under the dominion of Christ. In [H]im is the salvation of the individual, in [H]im is the salvation of society.'"

"To-day, we sadly behold 'a world undone,' largely paganized in principles and outlook, and, in recent years, in one country even glorying in the name 'pagan.' At the best, governments mostly ignore God; and at the worst, openly fight against [H]im, as we of to-day are witnessing in the Old World and in the New. Even the statesmen's well-meant efforts to find a remedy for present ills and, above all, to secure world peace, prove futile because, whereas peace is from Christ, and possibly only in the Kingdom of Christ, [H]is [N]ame is never mentioned throughout their deliberations or their documents. Christ is kept out of the State schools and seats of higher education; and the rising generations seem to be taught anything and everything save to know, love, and serve [H]im. Art and literature all too frequently reflect the same tendencies."

"And since the spirit of evil reigns inevitably wherever the spirit of Christ has ceased to reign, in public and in private men are flouting the moral laws of God, and some of the worst abominations of ancient paganism are becoming matters of every-day life. Moreover, be it remembered, modern paganism is worse than that of the ancient world, in that the former knows what ides as the latter did not. There is now an intense, positive hatred of Jesus Christ in the militant atheist, which differs in kind from the attitude of the fiercest Roman or Eastern persecutor: 'If I had not come and spoken to them... if I had not done among them the works that no other man hath done, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated both me and my Father' [John 25: 22, 24]."

"Ever as practical as she is supernatural, the Church is not content with merely deploring the evil, nor even with counteracting it by sound teaching. She would also make definite reparation to the divine majesty thus denied and defied; to [H]im whose royalty is slighted and insulted. Something must be done by those who, in a measure, understand and love, in order to atone for those who do not. 'To repair the crime...which denies God's rights over the human society whose author [H]e is, we must exalt Jesus Christ as King over all individuals, families, and peoples. If [H]is universal royalty be proclaimed and [H]is reign in society recognized, one of the principal evils of the modern world - the secularizing of public and private life - will be attacked at its roots' [quoted from L'Amour de Dieu et de la Croix de Jesus, P. Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P.]. Hence we have the special exhortation of the Vicar of Christ, and the institution of the feast of this divine Kingship...."