Month: April 2015

Infused, Not Acquired

Franceschini, Baldassare. St. Catherine of Siena. 17th century. Dulwich Picture Gallery, London.
Franceschini, Baldassare. St. Catherine of Siena. 17th century. Dulwich Picture Gallery, London.

Catharína, virgo Senénsis, piis orta paréntibus, beáti Domínici hábitum, quem Soróres de Poeniténtia gestant, impetrávit. Summa eius fuit abstinéntia et admirábilis vitæ austéritas. Cum Pisis morarétur, die Domínico, refécta cibo cælésti et in éxtasim rapta, vidit Dóminum crucifíxum magno cum lúmine adveniéntem, et ex eius vúlnerum cicatrícibus quinque rádios ad quinque loca sui córporis descendéntes. Mystérium advértens, Dóminum precáta, ne cicatríces apparérent, contínuo rádii, colóre sanguíneo mutáto in spléndidum, in formam puræ lucis pervenérunt ad manus, pedes et cor eius. Tantus vero erat dolor, quem sensibíliter patiebátur, licet vúlnerum cruénta signa non apparérent, ut, nisi Deus minuísset, brevi se créderet moritúram. Doctrína eius infúsa, non acquisíta fuit. Aveniónem ad Gregórium Papam undécimum profécta, illi votum eius de peténda Urbe, soli Deo notum, sese divínitus cognovísse monstrávit, et auctor fuit, ut Póntifex ad Sedem Románam personáliter accéderet. Anno ætátis suæ tértio círciter et trigésimo migrávit ad Sponsum. Quam Pius secúndus sanctárum Vírginum número adscrípsit. Brevarium Romanum.

A Waddin Toast

A Highland Dance (1780) by David Allan, Scottish National Gallery.
A Highland Dance (1780) by David Allan, Scottish National Gallery.

Be as the swans that glimmer ower the loch
Waddit for life, until Daith dis them pairt
Be as the Cushie Doos, that coort foraye
Their dearies, wi a douce an tender-hairt

Be as the Ernes, sae fierce, an yet sae leal
Far reengin, yet wi a returnin wing
Be as the Hoolets, bosied in the laft
Inbye their nest, fur comfort see them cling

As burnie seeks the sea, an trees seek the air
The merriege o a man an wife should be
As blythe as blossom in the aspen’s hair
As merry as the rowan on the lea

It merks the stert o halvin life’s lang tcyaave
Fin twa lie doon tae taste life’s sweets thegither
Sae let the bells ring oot, the whisky poor
Let aa gweed wishes bless this pair foriver

— A Waddin Toast by Sheena Blackhall.

Forget Not

Arms of the Earl of Argyll, folio 10 recto, "Scottish Armorial" English MS 4, Rylands Collection, University of Manchester Library. The 16th century manuscript has been partially destroyed by fire.
Arms of the Earl of Argyll, folio 10 recto, “Scottish Armorial” English MS 4, Rylands Collection, University of Manchester Library. The 16th century manuscript has been partially destroyed by fire.

Ne obliviscáris voces inimicórum tuórum: supérbia eórum, qui te odérunt, ascéndit semper.

Psalmus lxxiii. 23.

Mine Own Word Alone

Portrait study of Sir Thomas More by Hans Holbein the Younger, black and coloured chalks on paper, 40.2 × 30.1 cm, Royal Collection, Windsor.
Portrait study of Sir Thomas More by Hans Holbein the Younger, black and coloured chalks on paper, 40.2 × 30.1 cm, Royal Collection, Windsor.

Howbeit what faith my words will have with him in these mine own causes, I cannot very surely say, nor yet very greatly care. And yet stand I not in so much doubt of myself, but that I trust well that among many good and honest men, among which sort of folk I trust I may reckon him, mine own word would alone, even in mine own cause, be somewhat better believed than would the oaths of some twain of this new brotherhood in a matter of another man. St. Thomas More, Apology (1533).

Sine Ulla Condicione

Pope Benedict XVI.
Pope Benedict XVI.

Ei Nos, sicut Petrus, quoque fidelitatem Nostram sine ulla condicione promissam renovamus. Ei uni servire cogitamus Nosque totos eius Ecclesiae ministerio devovere. Primum nuntium Summi Pontificis Benedicti XVI post concelebrationem eucharisticam cum cardinalibus electoribus in Capella Sistina, die XX mensis Aprilis, anno Domini MMV.

Harrowing Inroads

“Viking Raider Stone” from Lindisfarne, thought to depict the Northmen who attacked the monastery in A.D. 793.
“Viking Raider Stone” from Lindisfarne.

Her wæron reðe forebecna cumene ofer Norðhymbra land, ⁊ þæt folc earmlic bregdon, þæt wæron ormete þodenas ⁊ ligrescas,⁊ fyrenne dracan wæron gesewene on þam lifte fleogende. Þam tacnum sona fyligde mycel hunger, ⁊ litel æfter þam, þæs ilcan geares on .vi. Idus Ianuarii, earmlice hæþenra manna hergunc adilegode Godes cyrican in Lindisfarnaee þurh hreaflac ⁊ mansliht.

This year came dreadful fore-warnings over the land of the Northumbrians, terrifying the people most woefully: these were immense sheets of light rushing through the air, and whirlwinds, and fiery dragons flying across the firmament. These tremendous tokens were soon followed by a great famine: and not long after, on the sixth day before the Ides of January in the same year, the harrowing inroads of heathen men made lamentable havoc in the church of God in Holy-island, by rapine and slaughter.

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, A.D. 793.

The Glory of Brightness

Image of the Enthroned Virgin and Child from a 12th century copy of St. Augustine's commentary on the last fifty psalms. It was produced at the Benedictine Abbey of Eynsham and displays Anglo-Saxon stylistic elements rare in a manuscript of this date. MS. Bodl. 269 fol. iii recto.
Image of the Enthroned Virgin and Child from a 12th century copy of St. Augustine’s commentary on the last fifty psalms. It was produced at the Benedictine Abbey of Eynsham and displays Anglo-Saxon stylistic elements rare in a manuscript of this date. MS. Bodl. 269 fol. iii recto.

Quam si diligentius aspicias, nihil virtutis est, nihil speciositatis, nihil candoris gloriae, quod ex ea non resplendeat.1

Der Pseudo-Hieronymus-Brief IX “Cogitas me”, ed. Ripberger, §92.

Nis heo nanes haliges mægnes bedæled, ne nanes wlites, ne nanre beorhtnysse; and forðy heo wæs ymbtrymed mid rosen and lilian, þæt hyre mihta wæron mid mihtum underwriðode, and hire fægernys mid clænnysse wlite wære geyht.2

The Homilies of the Anglo-Saxon Church, Vol. I.

1If you consider most diligently, there is nothing of excellence, nothing of beauty, nothing of the glory of brightness, which does not shine brightly from her.

2She is void of no holy virtue, nor any beauty, nor any brightness; and therefore was she encircled with roses and lilies, that her virtues might be supported by virtues, and her fairness increased by the beauty of chastity.

Blameless Woman and Hallowed Man

Tree of Life and Death, painted by Berthold Furtmeyr and found in the third volume of a five-volume missal (circa 1481) commissioned by Bernhard von Rohr, Archbishop of Salzburg.
Tree of Life and Death, painted by Berthold Furtmeyr and found in the third volume of a five-volume missal (circa 1481) commissioned by Bernhard von Rohr, Archbishop of Salzburg.

Benedicta, inquit, tu inter mulieres, quae uitam et uiris et mulieribus peperisti. Ede, inculpabilis femina, inuiolabilem uirum; et sic et feminam saluabis et uirum. Mater generis nostri poenam intulit mundo; genetrix Domini nostri salutem et feminae gessit viro…

Pseudo-Augustine, Sermo cxx, PL 39, 1985.

MacMillan’s Cross at Kilmory

MacMillan's Cross, Plate XXXIII, Sculptured Stones of Scotland, Vol. 2, 1856.
MacMillan’s Cross, Plate XXXIII, Sculptured Stones of Scotland, Vol. 2, 1856.
Bottom of rear face of MacMillan’s Cross.
Front face of MacMillian’s Cross.

 

Detail of inscription on the rear face of MacMillan's Cross.
Detail of inscription on the rear face of MacMillan’s Cross.

The chapel of Kilmorie, in South Knapdale, has been already referred to as having traditionally been erected by St. Charmaig (Cormac). Its walls are still almost complete, and it is surrounded by a burying-ground. In both the chapel and graveyard are many slabs ornamented with the sword and shears. The cross figured in this Plate is in the churchyard. On one side is represented the crucifixion of our Lord, with figures which may be meant for the Blessed Virgin and St. John. Beneath is a two-handed sword. On the other side of the shaft is a stag-hunt, the dogs being represented with collars, as on some of the early east cross slabs, and lower down is an armed man holding in his hand a battle-axe, with a large horn suspended from his shoulder. Beneath his feet is the inscription — HEC EST CRVX ALEXANDRI MACMVLEN. The Macmillans, according to their traditions, were connected with the clan Chattan, and a branch of them possessed the greater part of Southern Knapdale, where their chief was known under the title of Macmillan of Knap; but although they were at a very early period in Knapdale, they probably obtained the greater part of their possessions there by marriage with the heiress of the chief of the Macneils in the sixteenth century. To an early part of this century the cross is probably to be ascribed. A drawing and notice of this monument occurs in Archæologia Scotica, vol. iv. p. 377.

— Sculptured Stones of Scotland, Vol. 2, 1856.

An Incalculable Error

Alfred Cardinal Ottaviani in October, 1958.
Alfred Cardinal Ottaviani in October, 1958.

Today, division and schism are officially acknowledged to exist not only outside of but within the Church. Her unity is not only threatened but already tragically compromised. Errors against the Faith are not so much insinuated but rather an inevitable consequence of liturgical abuses and aberrations which have been given equal recognition.

To abandon a liturgical tradition which for four centuries was both the sign and the pledge of unity of worship (and to replace it with another which cannot but be a sign of division by virtue of the countless liberties implicitly authorized, and which teems with insinuations or manifest errors against the integrity of the Catholic religion) is, we feel in conscience bound to proclaim, an incalculable error. Short Critical Study on the New Order of Mass.

Empress of Hell

Icon of the enthroned Virgin and Child with SS. George, Theodore and angels, 6th century, Saint Catherine's Monastery.
Icon of the enthroned Virgin and Child with SS. George, Theodore and angels, 6th century, Saint Catherine’s Monastery.

Aue Marie mater Domini nostri Iesus Christi regina celi domina mundi imperatrix inferni misere mei & totius populi Christiani Amen. / Dia do betha a Muiri a mathair ar Tigerna .i. Isa Crist a righan nimi a bantigerna in domuin a banimpir ifirn / dena trocuiri orum agus ar in pobul ar c[h]ena.

Antiphon from the Saltair Mhuire, attributed to Domhnall Albannach Ó Troighthigh, in manuscript dated 1477.

Under the Red Duster

Merchant Navy poster from the Second World War.
Merchant Navy poster from the Second World War.