Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira on the Carmelites

There are certain religious orders that have a perennial role in the Catholic Church. They irradiate a certain spirit that is indispensable to the Church. It is a perfume that God wants His Church to have since it is a part of her very physiognomy. So God conserves those religious orders that maintain these characteristics. Other religious orders, however, which God judges as not indispensable to the Church, decline and disappear.

Among the orders in the first category, none has so wonderful a continuity as the Order of Carmel. According to a very respectable tradition, it was founded by Elias the Prophet, that is to say, long before the birth of Our Lord. It passed through trials and sufferings, brilliant successes and great failures until the coming of St. John the Baptist, who would be a member of this spiritual family and the greatest successor of Elias. Our Lord Himself would have been close to those religious, who for a certain period would be part of the movement of the Essenes.

Then, with the New Covenant and the dispersion of the Hebrew people, the Order took the name it has today and remained at Mount Carmel until the Muslim persecutions obliged it to flee to the West. In Europe it was at the point of closure when Our Lady appeared to St. Simon Stock – who was the General of the Order – and gave him the scapular devotion. With this, a torrent of graces came to the Order.

Later, St. Teresa of Ávila and St. John of the Cross reformed a part of the Carmelite Order. This branch of reform influenced the whole trunk, and it continued to shine until it produced one of its most beautiful flowers, which was St. Therese of Lisieux. Afterward, a phenomenon of general decay set in until it experienced the tornado of bad consequences coming from Vatican, which we know.

You see that Divine Providence wants to conserve the Order of Carmel. According to private prophecies, this Order will never disappear. It will continue – from one glory to another and one trial to another – until the moment that its founder, Elias the Prophet, will return and be present in the last days of History to fight against the Antichrist, who will kill Elias. Then he will be resurrected, and see the return of Our Lord Jesus Christ for the Final Judgment.

There is, therefore, a mystery of predilection of Our Lady for this spiritual family. For this reason, it has greater longevity than other orders.

Nitolbu għall-Provinċja Karmelitana Maltija

 

A church to be turned into a mosque?

 

According to traditional Catholic sites, apparently American, the Archdiocese of Malta is considering the selling of one of the Carmelite churches that are expected to pass from the Carmelite Order to the Archdiocese. It is rumoured that it will be sold for usage as a mosque.

Fgura appears to be one of the churches that the Provincial Chapter of the Maltese Carmelite Province is considering to release. Hopefully, such drastic measures will not be put in place, considering also that Fgura is just one parish. 

As Pro Tridentina (Malta) we're not informed whether the above websites are correct or not. But, as Maltese Catholics, it's important that clarifications are made.

The SSPX is de facto split

Arch. Lefebvre lying in state

Bishop Richard Williamson, consecrated by Archbishop Lefebvre in 1988, and subsequently expelled by the SSPX earlier this year, has preached a retreat between 17 and 21 December 2012 for the newly founded Society of St. Pius X of the Strict Observance (SSPX-SO). This event has signalled the de facto split between the SSPX under Bishop Bernard Fellay and a growing group of former SSPX priests. 

Bishop Williamson is now touring several independent (read sedevacantist) traditional groups, including the SSPX-SO, two religious communities in Brazil, and other independent churches and chapels around the world. The SSPX-SO has already received applications from men who wish to enter its seminary. The SSPX-SO has in fact announced the formation of a seminary for September 2013 in Boston, Kentucky, under the patronage of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel.

The SSPX-SO comprises a growing number of former SSPX priests in the United States, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Mexico and South America. Apparently, priests from Europe and Australia are also toying with the idea of leaving the SSPX and joining the SSPX-SO.

Such a scenario may lead to further divisions in the Roman Catholic Church, something unwarranted considering that negotiations are ongoing between the Holy See and the SSPX to heal the current situation. It could also be a blessing in disguise because certain ideas - like sedevacantism - have no place in the Catholic Church and cause unnecessary harm to traditional Catholics worldwide.

Important Notice - Tridentine Mass Cancelled

The Tridentine Mass that was originally to be held on the 16th July 2011 on the occasion of the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel at St. Theresa Church, Cospicua has been cancelled.

Tridentine Mass 16 July 2011

Tridentine Mass will be held on the 16th July 2011 on the occasion of the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

Venue: St. Theresa Church, Cospicua

Time: to be announced

Brief information about this church: The church and friary of the Discalced Carmelites were built in 1625 and for over two centuries they were the only church and friary which the Discalced Carmelites had in Malta. The church has a small crypt underneath. Dedication date 18th March 1797.

Latin Liturgy: A Natural And Beautiful Thing

 

http://www.latinliturgy.com/

By Thom Nickels
15.JUL.09

There's something "new" and exciting on the (Roman Rite) Catholic Philadelphia landscape, and that's the return of the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM).

After 40 years of buried obscurity, the traditional rite or the so-called Mass of the Ages (Pope Urban VII in 1634 said that the Roman Mass was the envy of souls in Heaven) is being made more available in parishes throughout the Archdiocese. Although there have been random TLM's at various parishes in and outside the City for years, momentum kicked in after Pope Benedict XVI's Motu Proprio in July of 2007. At that time the Pontiff urged easy accessibility to the ancient rite. For the first time since the close of the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, Catholics in parishes throughout the world were told that if they wanted a TLM in their parish, all they had to do was form a small group and request it from their church pastor.

In the Philadelphia-Lancaster-New Jersey area, the number of parishes hosting TLM's are growing. Every month seems to bring in a new parish, a new inquiry. The traditional Masses are attracting people of all ages, from the middle aged to the very young.

Traditional Catholic seminaries like the Fraternity of Saint Peter, as well as traditional convents and monasteries are also reporting a boom in religious vocations.

Beginning on October, 25, 2009, there will be a weekly TLM at St. Paul's church in South Philadelphia. This is good news to St. Paul's pastor, Father Gerald Carey, who calls the October change, "A very natural and beautiful thing." Fr. Carey, who was ordained in 1998, says he first offered the TLM last year during the Year of Saint Paul. "Out of it came requests from the faithful. That's what Motu Proprio is all about. I did get requests from parishioners and outside parishioners, so I asked the Archdiocese how I might accommodate them," Fr. Carey said.

Over 400 people attended the Year of Saint Paul TLM at Fr. Carey's church. The event was so successful a woman came up to Fr. Carey after the Mass and said that after years of being away from the Church, she was coming back.

Years ago, Center City's St. John Evangelist church held regular TLM's but those Masses were eventually moved to Holy Saviour Parish in Norristown. St. Patrick's church on Rittenhouse Square once held Latin Novus Ordo Masses (or the Mass of Pope Paul VI) twice a month until the death of its pastor, Father Fitzpatrick.

TLM's have also been a regular staple of the Carmelite Monastery at 66th Avenue and Old York Road. On Thursday, July 16th, on the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, a Traditional Latin Solemn High Mass will be held at 7:30 p.m., complete with monastery choir and guest soprano, Dolores Ferraro. The nuns will sing the traditional Carmelite chant, the Flos Carmeli.

Fr. Carey says that shortly after the Motu Proprio was issued, he availed himself of an official TLM training session the Archdiocese was offering to priests.

He explains that the process of instituting a TLM is more than just a language thing. Planning a TLM means that the church in question must have altar rails (for traditional kneeling at communion), and altar boys trained in the Latin responses. (If an altar rail has been removed from a church, it's possible to improvise a "substitute") In a TLM, the priest as well as the congregation will face east, and the tabernacle must be on the main altar.

Facing East is considered a symbol of the rising Son of God.

"The Motu Proprio is a major step, but to approbate it takes time," Fr. Carey said. "You have to make sure if priests want to do this, are you going to ensure that they're going to do it well? And thank God the Cardinal was on our side and really worked hard and provided these workshops. Priests need to know the rubrics. Years ago people grew up with this Mass, they saw it all the time so when you became a priest you sequayed into it. But now you have to study it."

Since the early 1970s The Latin Liturgy Association, Inc. has worked hard to keep the old rite alive.

"When Motu Proprio was first issued," says Philadelphia Latin Liturgy Association Chairman Dr. Rudolph Masciantonio, "the Association sent the Cardinal a proposal asking that the TLM initially be made available in each of the vicariates of the Archdiocese-North and South Philadelphia, and each of the suburban counties. We thought this would be a start to have a TLM in each of the vicariates.We also pitched for a traditional parish in Center City, much like Mater Ecclesiae Roman Catholic Church in Berlin, New Jersey, where all the Masses and rites are traditional."

Dr. Masciantonio says that while the Association didn't receive a written response from the Cardinal, it got something better.

"The Cardinal acted on it. He appointed a priest to be the facilitator of the TLM in the Archdiocese, Msgr. Charles L. Sangermano in Norristown, and he made it a rule that all seminarians train in the traditional rite, as well as the new rite. And he specifically authorized a weekly TLM at St. Paul's beginning October 25th."

"We're very grateful for that," Dr. Masciantonio says, "and the future looks good."

While there are still no traditional Catholic parishes in Center City, Dr. Masciantonio believes that this will change. "More and more people are interested in the traditional Latin Mass. The TLM is one of the best things that the Church has going for it," he said.

The Latin Liturgy Association advocates the preservation of Latin in the Church, even in the "new" Mass of Pope Paul VI. The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy at Vatican II decreed that, "The use of Latin is to be preserved in the Latin rite." As to the question, "Why Latin?" the Association's website answers that question by reminding readers that "Latin helps us overcome limitations of time and place, and helps us participate in the universal reality of the Catholic Church, linking us with the generations who have worshipped before us."

"Once people get used to these Masses again, and understand how valuable they are spiritually and aesthetically there will be a real reluctance to give them up," Dr. Masciantonio says.

Father Adrian Fortescue, an English liturgical historian and author of the book, "The Mass: A Study of the Roman Liturgy," believed that "the Mass of the Roman Rite is the most venerable in Christendom."

Like historic architecture, how can this venerable rite not be preserved?

"I can assure you that all the priests I know, even if they don't have a familiarity with the Latin language, are very supportive of the TLM," Fr. Carey says. "Most of them say the Mass as the Church directs them, and if they make a mistake it is unintentional. These younger guys really aren't about innovation; they just want to say the Mass."