WDTPRS – Fr. Z's Blog: Recent Episodes
Fr. John Zuhlsdorf
Formerly entitled: "What Does The Prayer Really Say?" - Clear, straight commentary on Catholic issues, liturgy and life by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf o{]:¬)
The Collect for the 10th Sunday after Pentecost in the Extraordinary Form survived, sort of survived, to live in the post-Conciliar, reformed Missale Romanum! You can find it, somewhat wounded, for the 26th Sunday of Ordinary Time in the Ordinary Form Missale … Read More →
When the priest, alter Christus, says our prayers during Holy Mass, Christ, Head of the Body, speaks. His words have power to form us. Formed according to the mind of the Church, we Catholics then go out from Mass to … Read More →
Shall we look at the Collect for this upcoming Sunday’s Holy Mass in the Ordinary Form? It will the 17th Sunday of Greater Meatloaf…. Ordinary Time. COLLECT (2002MR): Protector in te sperantium, Deus, sine quo nihil est validum, nihil sanctum, multiplica super … Read More →
We have been cheated of the beauty of our Catholic worship in Latin, which is our common patrimony. In fact, the swindle is far deeper. People have been denied the opportunity to learn Latin, which pretty much every more or … Read More →
The Collect for Mass and the Office for this upcoming 8th Sunday after Pentecost is found in the ancient Veronese Sacramentary and the Gelasian and the so-called Gregorian. It survived the liturgical snipper with their scissors and paste pots to live on in the … Read More →
In the traditional Roman calendar this Sunday is the 7th Sunday after Pentecost. Today’s Collect survived the cutting and pasting experts of the Consilium to live on as the Collect for the 9th Sunday of Ordinary Time. COLLECT (1962MR): Deus, … Read More →
This week, the 15th Ordinary Sunday in the Novus Ordo calendar, we have a good example of the dramatic difference between the old, Obsolete ICEL version we suffered with for decades, and the Latin with the Current ICEL version. The … Read More →
I’m at the annual conference for priests held by the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology. They have these three times a year. I’ve been going for year and wouldn’t miss it. There is great fraternity and the presentations, on … Read More →
On the weekend in the wake of our 250th celebration of Independence Day, our Collect for the 14th Ordinary Sunday offers the image of material creation as an enervated body, weakened by sin, lying in the dust whence it came. … Read More →
Please flip open your own trusty copy of the Liber Sacramentorum Romanae Aeclesiae edited by Leo Cunibert Mohlberg, OSB (in other words the Gelasian Sacramentary and yes, it is “Aeclesiae”.). You will find Sunday’s ancient Collect in the second group of … Read More →
At work in the Collect for the 13th Sunday of Ordinary Time are themes of divine adoption, the liberation of the children of God, the peril of error, and the splendor of Truth. Here is the Collect: Deus, qui, per … Read More →
This Sunday’s prayer is at least as old as the Gelasian Sacramentary. It has survived the post-Conciliar revisions to live again on the 20th Sunday of Ordinary Time. The version in the Novus Ordo, however, adds a comma after ut. COLLECT – (1962 Missale Romanum): … Read More →
This coming Sunday’s Collect is wonderful to sing! It is stark and lavish, carefully balanced, quintessentially Roman. This week’s Collect, also in 1962 Missale Romanum for the 2nd Sunday after Pentecost, was in the ancient Gelasian Sacramentary for the Sunday after the Ascension (Thursday). … Read More →
At some point we wind up taking a stab at explaining the Trinity to someone. Results vary. Since this coming Sunday (at the traditional close of the Octave of Pentecost) we observe Trinity Sunday, appropriate after Easter and Pentecost. To … Read More →
Let’s have a look at the Collect for today’s Mass of Pentecost Monday. COLLECT (1962MR): Deus, qui Apostolis tuis Sanctum dedisti Spiritum: concede plebi tuae piae petitionis effectum; ut, quibus dedisti fidem, largiaris et pacem. I found this prayer in … Read More →
The Fiftieth Day Feast, Hebrew Shavuot or Greek Pentekosté, for the Jews commemorated the descent of God’s Law to Moses on Mount Sinai, wreathed in fire, fifty days after the Exodus. But Jewish feasts also looked forward even as they … Read More →
From a reader… QUAERITUR: Something I’ve wondered about for a while. Old books and hymns have Holy Ghost and new ones have Holy Spirit. I know they are the same third person of the Trinity, but what’s going on with … Read More →
I am going to drag you – again – through my standard and sustained rant about liturgy, punctuated by Latin vocabulary and Neoplatonism. Consider this a different sort of “food post”. I will apply what I rant about to the … Read More →
We’ve come to the 4th Sunday after Easter according to the older, traditional Roman calendar. Today’s Collect survived the slash and hack editors of the Novus Ordo. You can find it in the Novus Ordo for the 21st Sunday … Read More →
[A special note for priests alone at the end. Nobody else look! o{];¬) ] COLLECT (1962MR & 2002MR): Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, da nobis ita dominicae passionis sacramenta peragere, ut indulgentiam percipere mereamur. This prayer was in the 1962MR on Tuesday … Read More →
In the traditional Roman calendar this Sunday is the 7th Sunday after Pentecost. Today’s Collect survived the cutting and pasting experts of the Consilium to live on as the Collect for the 9th Sunday of Ordinary Time. COLLECT (1962MR): Deus, … Read More →
In the older, traditional calendar of the Roman Rite, today is the 3rd Sunday after Pentecost. This is a yummy oration. Let’s have a taste. COLLECT (1962MR): Protector in te sperantium, Deus, sine quo nihil est validum, nihil sanctum: multiplica super nos … Read More →
In the traditional Roman calendar for the 1962 Missale Romanum yesterday, Thursday, was the Feast of Corpus Domini, or Corpus Christi. In the post-Conciliar Missal’s calendar today is also Corpus Christi. In the Novus Ordo – Vetus too, with “external celebration” … Read More →
This time of year many new priests are being ordained and, consequently, many priests observe their own anniversaries. In the traditional, Vetus Ordo of the Roman Rite a priest can add orations for himself, Pro seipso sacerdote, on the anniversary … Read More →
Pentecost Sunday’s Collect is the same as we recite after chanting the Veni, Sancte Spiritus. COLLECT – (1962MR): Deus, qui corda fidelium Sancti Spiritus illustratione docuisti: da nobis in eodem Spiritu recta sapere, et de eius semper consolatione gaudere. I am … Read More →
Today’s prayer – for Sunday with Ascension – because that’s what it is – survived the Consilium’s scissor and gluepot ministrations to live in the 2002 Missale Romanum as the alternative Collect for Mass on the day of Ascension. Rather, the … Read More →
As we journey from the passion and Easter toward Ascension and Pentecost, the Church in Holy Mass leads us through meditations on the fruits of the Resurrection and our baptism. Our mysterious procession was made possible by the Cross. Our … Read More →
This is the 4th Sunday after Easter according to the older, traditional Roman calendar. Today’s Collect survived the slash and hack editors of the Novus Ordo. You can find it in the Novus Ordo for the 21st Sunday of Ordinary … Read More →
In the midst of chaos, we need to bring our minds to work at hand, our work of sacred liturgy, the renewal of which is our only hope for true revitalization of the Church. This Sunday’s Collect survived the knives … Read More →
This Sunday in the Novus Ordo is the 3rd Sunday OF Easter. This Sunday in the Traditional Calendar is the 2nd Sunday AFTER Easter. This probably reflects how, traditionally Romans tend to count. But I am already digressing. Let’s see … Read More →
The term “Spy” Wednesday is probably an allusion to Christ’s betrayal by Judas. In the ancient Roman Church at the time of St. Pope Leo I, “the Great” (+461), there was no Mass during the day. Instead, many of the … Read More →
Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week. The Sacred Triduum (triduum from tres dies – “three day space”) were once days of obligation when people were freed from servile work so that they could attend the liturgies, once celebrated … Read More →
Congratulations to all those who belong to the Ordinariate of the Chair of Peter a fine feast day. Today is an opportunity to reflect of the will of the Savior about a necessary element for His Church: the Petrine Ministry. … Read More →
In our traditional Roman calendar, Sunday is Quinquagesima, Latin for the symbolic “Fiftieth” day before Easter. This is one of the pre-Lenten Sundays which prepare us for the discipline of Lent. The priest’s vestments are purple. No Gloria. No Alleluia. The prayers … Read More →
Today is the final “peak” arising from the liturgical cycle of Advent/Christmas/Epiphany. Today, called in the traditional way and according to the older Roman calendar the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Holy Church would cease to … Read More →
In honor of the Apostle to the Gentiles let us make a rapid comparison of the Collects for today’s feast of the Conversion of St. Paul. We’ll look first at the 1962 Missale Romanum and then the 2002 edition. The … Read More →
On the SIXTH of January, Epiphany, we prayed liturgically with the three mysteries of the Lord’s life revealing Him as divine: the adoration of Jesus by the Magi, the changing water to wine at Cana, and His baptism by John in the … Read More →
On December 17th we enter into that final stretch of our Advent preparation. In the Church’s solemn prayer of the hours, at Vespers, the great “O Antiphons” are sung. Today we have the first. Years ago, I made a little … Read More →
Our Novus Ordo Collect (once called the “Opening Prayer”) for the 2nd Sunday of Advent was not in the pre-Conciliar Missale Romanum but it was in the so-called Rotulus (“scroll”) of Ravenna, dated perhaps as early as the 5th century. … Read More →
In both the Vetus Ordo and Novus Ordo there is a strong interlinking with the upcoming Season of Advent, which is thematically more about the Second Coming of Christ than it is about His First Coming at Bethlehem. In the … Read More →
As we approach the end of another liturgical year, an odd thing happens in the Church’s traditional, pre-Conciliar calendar. The Sundays left over after Epiphany, after Christmas, are finally dusted off and prayed until the liturgical year is concluded. This has … Read More →
The Collect for the 31st Ordinary Sunday, which was in the ancient Veronese Sacramentary, is also found in the Extraordinary Form on the 12th Sunday after Pentecost. Omnipotens et misericors Deus, de cuius munere venit, ut tibi a fidelibus tuis … Read More →
While some bishop might obliterate the obligation by transferring it to a Sunday (what’s the point of that?), as All Saints falls on a Wednesday this year, it is a Holy Day of Obligation. The Church can determine our obligations … Read More →
In the Novus Ordo this Sunday it is the 30th Sunday of what an old friend of mine (rest in peace) called “Greater Meatloaf Season”. Let’s look at upcoming Sunday’s Novus Ordo Collect. This prayer has a precedent in the … Read More →
Let’s have a look at the Collect for the upcoming Sunday in the TLM – 1962 Missale Romanum. This Collect has been in use at least since the time of the Liber Sacramentorum Gellonensis, which is a variation of the … Read More →
At the “Walking Together about Walking Togetherity” (aka “W-T-F” – explained HERE) and in papal interviews there is increasing talk about blessing same-sex couples, which would effectively a betrayal of God who made man male and female. God made us … Read More →
Today is the Feast of St. John Leonardi whose remains are at not too distant S.M. in Campitelli. St. John is the patron of pharmacists. He was one and had a shop before priesthood if memory does not fail. He … Read More →
This Sunday’s Collect for the Extraordinary Form survived the snipping and pasting of the Consilium and the late Annibale Bugnini’s liturgical experts to be used in the Ordinary Form on Tuesday of the 2nd week of Lent. Figure that one … Read More →
Let’s have a look in advance of the Collect for Sunday in the Novus Ordo, which I assume most of you attend (perforce or not). COLLECT – (2002MR): Deus, qui fidelium mentes unius efficis voluntatis, da populis tuis id amare … Read More →
The Collect for the 20th Ordinary Sunday, found also in the 8th century Gelasian Sacramentary, is in the 1962 Missale Romanum for the 5th Sunday after Pentecost. Deus, qui diligentibus te bona invisibilia praeparasti, infunde cordibus nostris tui amoris affectum, … Read More →
With a minor variation this week’s Collect was in the ancient Gelasian Sacramentary. It survived the cut to live on in the Novus Ordo Missale Romanum as the Collect on the 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time. Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui … Read More →
The Collect for the 19th Sunday of Ordinary Time was not in previous editions Missale Romanum before the 1970 Novus Ordo. It has roots in the 9th century Sacramentary of Bergamo and thus is ancient text. Note that for the 2002 … Read More →
Shall we look at the Collect for this upcoming Sunday’s Holy Mass in the Ordinary Form? It will the 17th Sunday of Greater Meatloaf…. Ordinary Time. COLLECT (2002MR): Protector in te sperantium, Deus, sine quo nihil est validum, nihil sanctum, multiplica super … Read More →
This week’s Collect, which historically was in the 8th century Liber sacramentorum Gellonensis, was also the prayer over the people, or Super populum, in the 1962MR for Wednesday of the 4th Week of Lent. It was not, I believe, in the 1970MR … Read More →
Today’s Collect – for Mass and the Office on this 8th Sunday after Pentecost – is found in the ancient Veronese Sacramentary and the Gelasian and the so-called Gregorian. It survived the liturgical tailors with their scissors and thread to … Read More →
We have been cheated of the beauty of our Catholic worship in Latin, which is our common patrimony. In fact, the swindle is far deeper. People have been denied the opportunity to learn Latin, which pretty much every more or … Read More →
A thought for you: Though we all may be different in height or sex or shape of eye and color of skin, we all bleed the same red Our Savior bled for our sins. Our unifying human blood, divinely infused, … Read More →
In the older, traditional calendar of the Roman Rite, today is the 3rd Sunday after Pentecost. This is a yummy oration. Let’s have a taste. COLLECT (1962MR): Protector in te sperantium, Deus, sine quo nihil est validum, nihil sanctum: multiplica super nos … Read More →
Today is Pentecost Monday, during the Octave of Pentecost. It is also called Whit Monday, a reference to the white garments of the newly baptized. We observe the Octave in the Traditional Roman calendar. It was tragically, ridiculously, foolishly eliminated … Read More →
The Fiftieth Day Feast, Hebrew Shavuot or Greek Pentekosté, for the Jews commemorated the descent of God’s Law to Moses on Mount Sinai, wreathed in fire, fifty days after the Exodus. But Jewish feasts also looked forward even as they … Read More →
This Sunday, in the Novus Ordo calendar, is called the 3rd Sunday of Easter. Let’s have a look at the Collect. This Sunday’s Collect, it seems to me, reflects a conscious attempt on the part of Holy Church to remind … Read More →
This Sunday in the Novus Ordo is the 3rd Sunday OF Easter. This Sunday in the Traditional Calendar is the 2nd Sunday AFTER Easter. This probably reflects how, traditionally Romans tend to count. But I am already digressing. Let’s see … Read More →
The term “Maunday” or “Maundy” Thursday refers to Christ’s mandate (mandatum) in John 13:34 to His apostles in the service of the Church. It is also called sometimes “Shere” Thursday, perhaps from “shere” indicating “tolerance” and “remedy”, in the sense … Read More →
The term “Spy” Wednesday is probably an allusion to Christ’s betrayal by Judas. In the ancient Roman Church at the time of St. Pope Leo I, “the Great” (+461), there was no Mass during the day. Instead, many of the … Read More →
[A special note for priests alone at the end. Nobody else look! o{];¬) ] COLLECT (2002MR): Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, da nobis ita dominicae passionis sacramenta peragere, ut indulgentiam percipere mereamur. This prayer was in the 1962MR on Tuesday of Holy … Read More →
Traditionally this upcoming Sunday is called First Passion Sunday or First Sunday of the Passion. “Passiontide” begins. It is also known as Iudica Sunday, from the first word of the Introit of Mass (from Ps 42/41), and sometimes Repus (from … Read More →
The nickname Laetare originated from the first word of the Introit chant for Sunday’s Mass, “Rejoice!” On Laetare Sunday there is a slight relaxation of Lent’s penitential spirit, because we have a glimpse of the joy that is coming at Easter, … Read More →
Here is the Collect of the 2nd Sunday of Lent, a new composition for the Novus Ordo based on a precedent in the Liber Mozarabicus Sacramentorum: Deus, qui nobis dilectum Filium tuum audire praecepisti, verbo tuo interius nos pascere digneris, ut, spiritali … Read More →
The Roman Station for the 1st Sunday of Lent is St. John Lateran. COLLECT – LATIN TEXT (2002MR): Concede nobis, omnipotens Deus, ut, per annua quadragesimalis exercitia sacramenti, et ad intellegendum Christi proficiamus arcanum, et effectus eius digna conversatione sectemur. Quadragesima is the … Read More →
With this 1st Sunday of Lent we are fully into our forty day season of purification and preparation. Speaking of forty, the Latin for Lent is Quadragesima, “fortieth”. St Leo the Great (d 461) used the phrase quadragesimale ieiunium, “the … Read More →
In our traditional Roman calendar, Sunday is Quinquagesima, Latin for the symbolic “Fiftieth” day before Easter. This is one of the pre-Lenten Sundays which prepare us for the discipline of Lent. The priest’s vestments are purple. No Gloria. No Alleluia. The prayers … Read More →
On this coming Sunday, Holy Church begins to sing in a new key. We have come around, in the traditional calendar, to Pre-Lent. The “Gesima Sundays” have Roman Stations. Today we are at St. Lawrence “outside the walls”. Being in … Read More →
This Collect sometimes winds up at the end of the liturgical year, depending on when Easter, and therefore Pentecost, falls. This year, because Easter is a little later, we have it before Septuagesima (next week… already). COLLECT (1962MR): Deus, qui … Read More →
On the SIXTH of January, Epiphany, we prayed liturgically with the three mysteries of the Lord’s life revealing Him as divine: the adoration of Jesus by the Magi, the changing water to wine at Cana, and His baptism by John in the … Read More →
In the Novus Ordo calendar the observance of Epiphany (12 days after Christmas – the reason it is called “Twelfth Night”) is in some places moved to the Sunday. They reason that more people will celebrate the important feast that … Read More →
An old photo for this blog, but a good one. Shot from my old apartment. In the traditional calendar, it is the Feast of the Dedication of the Basilicas of St. Peter, in the Vatican, in 1626 and St. Paul, … Read More →
A while ago, I ran into a claim that in the near future devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus would be more and more important. Think about how our ecclesial shepherds have, through neglect and even expressions of contempt, … Read More →
This coming Sunday, the last of October, is the Feast of Christ the King in the Church’s 1962 calendar. In the Novus Ordo it is the last Sunday of the liturgical year before Advent begins. The shift of calendar locations … Read More →
This 20th Sunday after Pentecost’s ancient Collect is found without variation in the Liber Sacramentorum Gellonensis, written perhaps in Meaux, near Paris, between 790-800. The Gellone Sacramentary, which has Frankish influences, is a strand in the complicated web of manuscripts … Read More →
When this Sunday comes around, with its snappy Collect, I am minded of the early 4th c. martyr St. Expeditus. Here is the Latin and my own slavishly literal version. Omnipotens et misericors Deus, universa nobis adversantia propitiatus exclude: ut … Read More →
The elegant Collect for the 28th Ordinary Sunday has been used for centuries on the 16th Sunday after Pentecost according to the traditional Roman calendar. This is a lovely prayer to sing. Tua nos, quaesumus, Domine, gratia semper et praeveniat … Read More →
Is this prayer appropriate today or what?!? This Sunday’s Collect prayer – in the Vetus Ordo: Da, quaesumus, Domine, populo tuo diabolica vitare contagia: et te solum Deum pura mente sectari. So dense! Concise. The phrase diabolica vitare contagia is a glory of … Read More →
This Sunday’s dense Collect survived the scissors and paste-pots of the Consilium during the 1960’s and lived on in the post-Conciliar Missale Romanum as the 28th Sunday of Ordinary Time. This prayer, used for centuries, is in the Sacramentarium Hadrianum, … Read More →
This Sunday’s Collect for Holy Mass in the Traditional Roman Rite survived the long knives of the Consilium to live on the in the Novus Ordo editions of the Missale Romanum on Monday of the 3rd Week of Lent. Figure that … Read More →
Working up a translation of a liturgical text is many layered. For many years I wrote a weekly column comparing the Latin and the translations. This blog was born of that effort, for I originally thought that it would … Read More →
The Collect for the 23rd Ordinary Sunday – this Sunday – was not in any pre-Conciliar edition of the Roman Missal, but it was in the 8th century Gelasian Sacramentary in a section for evening prayers during Paschaltide. You have … Read More →
Cross posted with One Peter Five: This week’s task is scary. The Gospel for this 8th Sunday after Pentecost presents probably the most difficult of the Lord’s parables to explicate. This week we hear the Parable of the Unjust Steward … Read More →
We have been cheated of the beauty of our Catholic worship in Latin, which is our common patrimony. After such a gap of time, it will be difficult to grasp these tightly woven ancient Latin Collects with their lovely rhythms, … Read More →
Sunday’s prayer is found in ancient sacramentaries, such as the Veronese and the “Hadrian” version of the Gregorian, and the so-called Gelasian. It is unchanged in the “Tridentine” form of the Missale Romanum as my trusty copy of the 1570MR … Read More →
The Fiftieth Day Feast, Hebrew Shavuot or Greek Pentekosté, for the Jews commemorated the descent of God’s Law to Moses on Mount Sinai, wreathed in fire, fifty days after the Exodus. But Jewish feasts also looked forward even as they … Read More →
The Collect for the 4th Sunday after Easter, in the traditional Roman calendar, is the same as the Collect for the 21st Ordinary Sunday in the post-Conciliar calendar. Or… the other way around! Let’s look at the structure. Deus, qui … Read More →
In the midst of chaos, we need to bring our minds to the work at hand, our work of sacred liturgy, the renewal of which is our only hope for true revitalization of the Church. This Sunday’s Collect survived the … Read More →
From a reader… QUAERITUR: “While” is an unusual word in English. It can be used as a verb, a noun, an adverb, a conjunction, and even a preposition. Most English translations of the final prayer of the Holy Rosary say … Read More →
The Post Communion prayer for today’s Mass in the Ordinary Form caught my eye because of it’s interesting beginning. Exuberet, quaesumus, Domine, mentibus nostris paschalis gratia sacramenti, ut, quos viam fecisti perpetuae salutis intrare, donis tuis dignos efficias. This prayer … Read More →
Let us look at the Collect for the upcoming 7th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Novus Ordo. Praesta, quaesumus, omnipotens Deus, ut, semper rationabilia meditantes, quae tibi sunt placita, et dictis exsequamur et factis. Note the spiffy separation of et dictis…et … Read More →
This Sunday is another liturgical unicorn, that rarity of coinciding prayers in the Vetus and Novus Ordo. This Sunday’s Collect is the same in the pre-Conciliar, 1962 Missal for the 5th Sunday after Epiphany and in the new-fangled Missal that … Read More →
COVID-1984 (aka the cursed Wuhan Devil) Media lies and political collaboration Mass psychosis formation Suppression of freedoms Open persecution of traditional Catholics Cancel culture in the Church I can’t think of a time when it was more important to beg … Read More →
The hatred shown for traditional sacred liturgical worship of the Roman Church, and the excuses claimed for its marginalization and extirpation are rooted in more than “Spirit of Vatican II” ideology and it’s companion specter, the papalatrous “Spirit of Vatican … Read More →
In the Novus Ordo this Sunday it is the 30th Sunday of what an old friend of mine (rest in peace) called “Greater Meatloaf Season”. Let’s look at upcoming Sunday’s Novus Ordo Collect. This prayer has a precedent in the … Read More →
We explore the mystery of true mercy this 26th Ordinary Sunday. Perhaps we can pick up something helpful for dealing with the cruelty with which those of a traditional leaning are being treated by the papalatrous Modernists right now. Perhaps … Read More →
Let’s look at the Collects for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross in both the Ordinary and the Extraordinary Form, Novus Ordo (1970MR etc.) and the Vetus Ordo (1962MR of St John XXIII). These are now, apparently acknowledge … Read More →