Tu Ne Cede Malis

  Modernism is a distortion of reality, standing opposed to Modernism is Orthodoxy. Modernism is the continued change of what is currently accepted. It is promoted as discovery and improvement, but that is its big flaw. It cannot stop assaulting what currently exists and therefore on,y ends when all is destroyed.  It is a continuous rebellion; not so coincidently the cause of the fall of Lucifer and 1/3 of the angels. A form of it is called Communism as that is a continual effort to overthrow the ruling class by the underclass, but that creates a new ruling class to be overthrown as the large underclass always remains, “For the poor you have always with you…” (Matthew 26:11).   Orthodoxy, as with all good words, can be defined by it’s entomology or origins. “Ortho” = “true” or “straight”. We use that prefix when describing shapes in geometry. “Orthocenter” is the true center and “Orthogonal” for lines that are truly aligned. We use it in medicine where “Orthoped...

  Easter Sunday Roman Station is the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore  (Basilica of Saint Mary Major, aka Our Lady of the Snows). Here, for 1,400 years, the remains of the “Holy Cradle” in which the newborn Jesus was laid have been preserved. It consists of some wooden planks, with characteristics compatible with them being from a maple tree that grew 2,000 years ago in Paenstine. In 431 the Council of Ephesus proclaimed the dogma of the divine motherhood of Mary. The following year Pope Sixtus III decided to build a chapel inside the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore that would reproduce the “cave of the Nativity” in Bethlehem. For this reason, the basilica was also called “Santa Maria ad praesepem” (“St. Mary at the Manger”). The relics of the Holy Cradle arrived in Rome in the mid-7th century. The patriarch of Jerusalem, Sophronius, gave them to Pope Theodore I and they were placed in that chapel. In the 16th century the relics (indeed the whole chapel) were moved under the ...

  Holy Saturday we revisit the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran bookending Friday with the same Roman Station as Thursday. This is a view of Plaza San Giovann with the Church to the right. Adjacent to St. John Lateran is the Sancta Sanctorum. The Sancta Sanctorum (Italian: Chiesa di San Lorenzo in Palatio ad Sancta Sanctorum) is a Roman Catholic chapel entered via the Scala Sancta (Holy Staircase) of the Lateran Palace in Rome. It was the original private chapel of the papacy before it moved to Avignon, and later to the Vatican Palace. The chapel is the only building from the old Lateran Palace that was not destroyed during its reconstruction. The spelling is Sancta, the neuter plural form of the Latin adjective "holy": this is a reference to the multiple relics preserved there (i.e. "the most holy things") and to the Holy of Holies in Jerusalem, traditionally called in Latin both sanctum sanctorum (the singular form) or sancta sanctorum. You will find there the S...

Good Friday we revisit the Roman Station is Basilica di Santa Croce in Gerusalemme (Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem) again (we were here almost two weeks ago, Sunday). I was incorrect yesterday saying we were only visiting Papal Bascilicas during these Holy days, this is the exception, but it's fitting as you may recall the foundation is packed with soil from the Holy Land. I'll keep this short and show Chapel of the Passion Relics and some relics. Chapel of the Passion Relics, opened in 1930. The Passion Relics are held in a glass case at the back of the chapel. The Relics are: • Splinters of the True Cross • Fragments from the Pillar of the Scourging • The finger that St Thomas placed in Christ's side. • On the left side is a part of the good thief's cross. On the left is the Reliquary of the Nail, on the right a piece of the Titulus Crucis. In a small narrow room on the right of the chapel is displayed a copy of the Shroud of Turin, useful because the origina...