St. Nicholas of Tolentino, Confessor

From his childhood St. Nicholas was a model of virtue and innocence. He entered the Order of St. Augustine and became a famous preacher. He died in 1310.

Lisa and Maria are in the air! If all goes well, after a layover in Atlanta, they'll be in Vienna tomorrow morning at 10:00 (4:00am Eastern Time) where I'll be waiting! Please say a prayer to St. Christopher for their safety.

Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost

Our Lord Jesus Christ has snatched us from eternal death, as He once snatched the young man of Naim from natural death. Doing this He shows the compassion which he feels for our mother the Catholic Church lamenting over sinners, just as He was moved by pity for the poor widow lamenting over her son.

One more note on yesterday's Mass at Mariazell with Pope Benedict XVI:

Appropriately enough, on the centennial of Pope St. Pius X's encyclical letter Pascendi Dominici Gregis, in which he condemned the modernist heresy with force and clarity, Pope Benedict XVI spoke the following yesterday in his homily at Mariazell:

"Only He [Jesus] is God and therefore only He is the bridge that truly brings God and man together. So if we Christians call him the one universal Mediator of salvation, valid for everyone and, ultimately, needed by everyone, this does not mean that we despise other religions, nor are we arrogantly absolutizing our own ideas; on the contrary, it means that we are gripped by him who has touched our hearts and lavished gifts upon us, so that we, in turn, can offer gifts to others. In fact, our faith is decisively opposed to the attitude of resignation that considers man incapable of truth - as if this were more than he could cope with. This attitude of resignation with regard to truth, I am convinced, lies at the heart of the crisis of the West, the crisis of Europe. If truth does not exist for man, then neither can he ultimately distinguish between good and evil."

Back to today:

This morning, for the second Sunday in a row, I was subjected to an emotive guitar Mass. Blithly assuming that the Byzantine Divine Liturgy would also be offered at 10:00 I arrived to find the Divine Liturgy already well underway, leaving me no other means by which to fulfill my Sunday obligation than by attending the Mass about to begin in the main chapel. I could not help recalling to mind again the words of Pope St. Pius X in his Instruction on Sacred Music, Tra Le Sollecitudini:

"It is vain to hope that the blessing of heaven will descend abundantly upon us, when our homage to the Most High, instead of ascending in the odor of sweetness, puts into the hand of the Lord the scourges wherewith of old the Divine Redeemer drove the unworthy profaners from the Temple."

Iesu dulcissime, cuius effusa in homines caritas, tanta oblivione, negligentia, contemptione, ingratissime rependitur, en nos, ante altaria tua provoluti, tam nefariam hominum socordiam iniuriasque, quibus undique amantissimum Cor tuum afficitur, peculiari honore resarcire contendimus...

The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

At the time of Mary’s birth the whole world was plunged in darkness. The heathen nations were steeped in vice and pride. The Jews, too, had corrupted their ways and departed from God. Everywhere there was sin and gloom, no bright spot on the face of the earth. But when Mary was born a light arose amid the darkness: the dawn of the glorious day that was to usher in the Redeemer. So, too, the darkness of the sinner’s soul is dispersed by Mary’s holy influence. Where the love of her is born in the soul, all becomes full of light, and Jesus comes to make his habitation there. Mary, in the first hour of her life, brought more glory to God than all the Saints of the Old Testament. In her were made perfect the obedience of Abraham, the chastity of Joseph, the patience of Job, the meekness of Moses, the prudence of Josue. It is because she is the model and pattern of these and all other virtues that she can communicate them to us.

In honor of our Blessed Mother's birthday and the 850th Anniversary of the most important Marian shrine in Central Europe, Pope Benedict XVI offered Mass this morning at the shrine in Mariazell as part of his three day pilgrimage in Austria (you can read his homily here). The shrine houses a miraculous wooden statute (below) of the Blessed Virgin holding the child Jesus, which was brought here by a monk named Magnus in 1157.

The ITI was represented at Mariazell by two busloads of faculty, staff, and students, myself among them. We departed from the Kartause at 5:30am, and, upon arriving, walked about 4km to Mariazell where Mass began at 10:30. We were rained upon the entire time, reminiscent of my experience of WYD in Toronto. It was quite a zoo, but worth it in order to pay my respects to the successor of St. Peter. In the picture below you can see that we weren't favored with the best location. The Pope offered Mass under the white canopy that you can see in front of the Church. We were only able to watch on the enormous television screen.

Upon arriving by car rather than helicopter due to the rainy weather, the Pope first went in to pray for a few moments at the shrine:

He then retired in order to be vested and came out again wearing what can only be described as tie-dyed rainbow vestments. [Update: The American Papist has linked the below photo taken by yours truly, a "Papist-on-the-ground"]

Here, at the beginning of the Mass, you can see that the cardinal is also vested in like manner. How disturbing! I can't seem to remember in which liturgical feast or season the rubrics call for such colors to be used!

First Friday Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Pious souls, deeply afflicted by the outrages that the Sacred Heart of Jesus receives from careless and impious Christians, consecrate to It, in the spirit of reparation, the First Friday of each month.

O sweet Jesus, whose overflowing charity for men is requited by so much forgetfulness, negligence, and contempt, behold us prostrate before Thine altar eager to repair by a special act of homage the cruel indifference and injuries, to which Thy loving Heart is everywhere subject... (Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus)

The Byzantine Divine Liturgy was offered in Romanian today, and following the celebration of the Mysteries, were devotions to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in honor of the first Friday of the month. I was delighted to find that such Western devotions are also practised by the Byzantines here.

In more mundane news, it finally stopped raining today. It seems like it's been raining ever since I got here, although I vaguely remember seeing the sun the first couple of days. It has rained so much here in the past week that the little stream that runs through the town has turned into a rushing river. Last week it was just winding gently along its way; you could even see the streambed quite clearly. Today, however, and it has already receded somewhat, it looks like this:

Opening Ceremonies

Tonight's opening of the new academic year was quite exhilarating. First, Mass at 5:15, at which the president of the University, Msgr. Hogan, presided. At 7:30 the whole school assembled in the baroque library, which has been called "the sistine chapel of the north" (see picture). There we were privileged to witness a performance by an opera singer and a pianist of some reputation (I heard mention of two of the opera houses in Vienna), as well as a very talented young violinist. Mozart and Bach, duets on the piano, violin accompanied by piano, selections from various operetta's, what an evening! High Austrian culture brought right into the Kartause. And afterwards bread and cheese, fruits and cakes, and wine, no shortage of good red wine.

The president of the University also gave an address on the subject of, "The Idea of a University," in which he posed the question, "Are Students Animals or Are They Beasts?" A provacative question indeed. Of course we are animals, rational animals, according to the definition of Aristotle. The speech focused in on the trend in modern society to treat beasts with more and more respect while at the same time treating men with less and less respect. It is no coincidence that animal rights movements go hand in hand with increased abortion and euthanasia, for the evolutionary theory has increasingly blurred the line between man and beast. What separates us from the beasts? Our rationality. And here we come to the purpose of the University: to form human beings in that which makes us human; to educate; not merely to impart knowledge, but to train the mind of the student in virtue.

St. Lawrence Justinian, Bishop, Confessor

St. Lawrence, of the noble family of Giustiniani, Bishop and first Patriarch of Venice, was “the pride and the ornament of the Catholic Episcopate.” He died in 1455.

The results are in from the first day of classes here, and, I have to say, I think I'm going to like it here. German this morning was entertaining and not too challenging; we started with cognates, and there are quite a few of them. Then in Political Philosophy I was quickly disabused of the notion that Plato generally expresses his own opinions through the mouth of Socrates in his dialogic writing style. After lunch, I had Natural Philosophy and St. Augustine's City of God. Except for German so far, there are exactly four students in each of my classes. It makes the seminar style classes, as opposed to lectures, a little more challenging, but hopefully my loquacious nature will serve me well in that regard.

Tonight, in preparation for tomorrow's class on the Synoptic Gospels, I am reading our Supreme Pontiff's recent book Jesus of Nazareth, as well as Romano Guardini's The Lord.

My First Reading Assignments

Tomorrow is my first day of classes here, and I have assignments to work on for almost every class already tonight. Welcome to grad school, I suppose.

For my German class, which meets at 8:00 tomorrow, I thankfully do not have any preparatory work. For Political Philosophy, my next class, I have begun to read Plato's republic. Socrates has already had a delightful exchange with a young interlocutor who proposes that "justice" is giving to each his due (a correct proposition in my own opinion).

I resume in the afternoon with Natural Philosophy, for which I have read a chapter of Josef Pieper in which he discusses our increasing inability to really see things as they are. For the same class I have also read two excerpts from Jean Henri Fabre (my first encounter with him) on his observations of processionary caterpillars and of grey crickets. After that comes Ecclesiology: The City of God, in which we are reading, naturally enough, St. Augustine's City of God. I have just finished the introduction, and, after an orientation meeting to which I must run off, I shall also read book one.

Wish me luck!

St. Pius X, Pope, Confessor

Joseph Sarto was born at Riese in Venetia on June 2, 1835. He was successively curate, parish priest, bishop of Mantua, patriarch of Venice. He was elected Pope on August 4, 1903. As chief pastor of the Church he realized to the full the value of the liturgy as the prayer of the Church and spared no effort to propagate the practice of frequent and daily Communion. In his encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis, he exposed and condemned the modernist heresy with force and clarity (1907). He died on August 20, 1914, and was canonized on May 29, 1954.

In local news, today was laundry day. Things are a little different here, but I think I'm starting to get the hang of it.



And, hat tip to Mary and Christina who ventured into the Germanies before us, I refreshed myself at lunch today with a Radler. Yes, that is a picture of lemons on the bottle. It says (in German), With Natural Lemonade! Quite delicious. I bought this on a whim because I could not locate the Stambrau that has been so highly recommended to me. But no worries, the search begins anew tomorrow.

Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Christian people should attend to their temporal interests without exaggerated preoccupation, for such anxiety offends God Who is our Father in heaven. We cannot serve two masters: the flesh and the spirit, at the same time. But let us serve the spirit given to us by the Holy Ghost, Who makes us lean towards the supernatural life.

Today, after Mass, I had brunch with a wonderful couple from India. Their son is just one month older than Maria. They made omelets and french toast and we drank pear juice and coffee -it was really quite nice. Afterwords, I went home and took a nap. I'm still tired and sore from yesterday's pilgrimage. And I must confess that I failed to take any pictures all day.

Commemoration of St. Giles, Abbot

St. Giles, an Athenian, fled to the south of France, where he lived as a hermit in a vast forest. Discovered by king Theodoric, he founded a renowned monastery and was so famous on account of his miracles that a great number of churches were dedicated to him. He died in the 6th century.

Today I woke up at 6am in order to go on pilgrimage to the Marian shrine at Mariazell. The shrine, the same which the Pope will visit next Saturday, houses an ancient miraculous statue of the Blessed Virgin. We walked for about 8 hours through some of the most beautiful country I have ever seen. Needless to say, my feet are now killing me, but if I manage to go to confession this week and detach myself from all venial sin, I will be the grateful recipient of a plenary indulgence. So, I'll deal with sore feet. Along the way we prayed together all 20 decades of the holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The few pictures that I managed to take do not do justice in the least to the awesome majesty of the Alpine Mountains. Nevertheless, here are a few of my favorites.

Our path winds right into the mountains.

Here you can see two of our party to give you a sense of scale.

For most of the day, we followed the path cut by this river as it winds its way through the mountains.

Here is our whole group together. All ITI students/staff except for three Ave Maria students here for the semester.

When there was no path, we made one.

And at long last, our destination came into sight. We heard Mass at 4:00, offered ad orientem to my great delight! And then piled into vans for the return trip. A magnificent experience that I wouldn't mind going through again in a year or so when my feet are fully recovered.

Sancta Maria, ora pro nobis!

Class Schedule for Fall Semester

Well, I registered for classes today and here are the results.

Monday/Wednesday
8:00-8:50 - Introduction to German
9:00-10:15 - Ancient Political Philosophy
2:15-3:30 - Natural Philosophy
3:45-5:00 - Ecclesiology: The City of God

Tuesday/Thursday
9:00-10:15 - Synoptic Gospels
3:45-5:00 - Prophets

St. Raymond Nonnatus, Confessor

With SS. Peter Nolasco and Raymond of Penafort, the Founders of the Order of Our Lady of Mercy, St. Raymond Nonnatus is the glory of his Congregation. He gave himself up to the Mohammedans in order to ransom a Christian. The Pope Gregory IX created him cardinal: he died on his return in 1240.

Well the sun is finally back out today, although it's still a little chilly. Here are a couple of pictures of the park that lies between the Kartause and our flat. It makes for a nice walk every day.