Somewhere between a fantasy and a fairy tale

See - they're actors!

Many find "Downton Abbey" fun to watch, but let's hope nobody believes its depiction of below stairs life to be remotely accurate.  Fr. Alexander Lucie-Smith has more here.

Hail, St. Stephen of Hungary, model of Catholic manhood

St. Stephen of Hungary

Yesterday was the feast of St. Stephen of Hungary.  The Office of Readings for the Feast includes a letter from St. Stephen to his son, admonishing the young man to be "strong," "humble," "gentle" and "honorable."  Wise advice to young men of all times and places.   Fr. Alexander Lucie-Smith has more here.

We confess a sentimental attachment to St. Stephen of Hungary, as Filius was baptized in St. Stephen of Hungary Church in Manhattan.

St. Stephen of Hungary, pray for us.

This is why we have bishops

Sr. Margaret Farley
Catholic grammar school alumni will be familiar with this expression

To tell "theologians" like Sister Margaret Farley that her views on sexuality lie outside the bounds of Catholic teaching.  Fr. Alexander Lucie-Smith has more here. 

In the old days, even listening to the radio could be intellectually demanding

Frederick Copleston, SJ

And stimulating.   Filius often insists that we listen to pop radio in the car, which we find neither intellectually demanding nor stimulating.  Things were different in 1947 AD, when the BBC broadcast a debate between Bertrand Russell and Frederick Copleston, SJ on the existence of God (transcript, with some audio portions, here).  Fr. Alexander Lucie-Smith reflects on the striking decline in the tone of our debate with unbelievers between then and now.   In the end, says Fr. Lucie-Smith, winning the debate with unbelievers will require "new saints, and we need to communicate our joy in being Catholic."
Let's all be joyful saints, then.


RELATED: AtheistCon approaches.

Pretty sounds shorn of meaning

                                                       "Last Judgment" by Hans Memling

The inquiry into UK press standards, which is focusing on certain press properties of Rupert Murdoch, has produced the following minor revelation: At his 1999 wedding to his present wife, Mr. Murdoch insisted that the famous Welsh singer Charlotte Church perform Pie Jesu.  Ms. Church, who was 13 at the time, rightly objected, pointing out that Pie Jesu is from the Dies Irae, and is proper music for a funeral, not a wedding.  Mr. Murdoch was not persuaded, and so Ms. Church sang it.  I expect the great majority of guests on the wedding yacht  in NY harbor, having never attended a Requiem Mass, were delighted by the pretty song.  Which shows that, as contact with traditio is lost, any gaucherie, barbarism or even sacrilege may easily pass muster, so long as it is pretty, or entertains.  Kind of explains what I see at the local parish on Sunday.  Fr. Alexander Lucie-Smith's reflections here.

Surely there are rosaries in Britain?

                                                     Our Lady of Walsingham

Fr. Lucie-Smith believes Britain would be a more hopeful place if it could recover its devotion to Mary.  However, devotion to Mary having been largely exterminated in Britain more than four centuries ago, Fr. Lucie-Smith wonders how it can be revived.

I don't mean to sound cheeky, Fr. Lucie-Smith, but Our Lady gave us the rosary for just such big jobs as this one.

In celebration of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Father Alexander Lucie-Smith's reflections here.

On a more melancholy note, the image above is taken from eBay; this stained glass window of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is for sale.

It's the Feast of Corpus Christi

                                                    The carpet of flowers


In Arundel, England it is.  They celebrate the feast in a magnificent manner.

Fr. Alexander Lucie-Smith has related reflections here.

No one who turns to her for help is left unaided

During World War II, the parish of Cospicua on the heavily bombed island of Malta decided to send their statue of the Virgin and the painting of the Virgin from above their high altar away for safe-keeping, "vowing that if their church were spared, they would bring both back with suitable solemnity."

Their church was indeed spared.  Fr. Alexander Lucie-Smith tells the rest of the story here.