Official Statement

With the Bishop Hugh, O.S.B.and Fr. Benedict, O.S.B.
26th April, 2012,
Feast of Our Lady of Good Counsel.

Official Statement

 

From 23rd to 26th April, 2012

a Canonical Visitation of the community at Papa Stronsay

was undertaken by the local Ordinary

Rt. Rev. Hugh Gilbert, O.S.B.

accompanied by

V. Rev. Benedict Hardy, O.S.B.

The Visitation was positively received by the community.

Its outcome will be formally announced in due course,

pending canonically required consultations.

The Blessed Peacemaker.

Thanks be to God
for
Pope Benedict XVI
truly
Gloria Olivæ,
The Glory of the Olive.

The Blessed Peacemaker.
Blessed are the Peacemakers.
(Mt. 5:9)

Papa Stronsay 2005.

+ Looking back over the past, to the divisions which in the course of the centuries have rent the Body of Christ, one continually has the impression that, at critical moments when divisions were coming about, not enough was done by the Church’s leaders to maintain or regain reconciliation and unity.

One has the impression that omissions on the part of the Church have had their share of blame for the fact that these divisions were able to harden.

This glance at the past imposes an obligation on us today: to make every effort to enable for all those who truly desire unity to remain in that unity or to attain it anew. +

Pope Benedict XVI
Letter to the Bishops
7.7.2007

We have had seven years of plenty.
Pope Benedict XVI is a Priest of his word.
What he penned to the bishops
could never be said of him.
For
Pope Benedict XVI makes every effort
to enable all those who truly desire unity
to remain in that unity or to attain it anew.


For the good tidings that we hear
concerning Rome, Reconciliation,
Bishop Fellay and the Society of St Pius X
we must continue to pray
since nothing has actually been concluded yet.
Bishop Fellay's text has yet to be examined by the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
and submitted to the Holy Father's judgment.

The Te Deum must be put on hold.
We are hoping and praying for a successful outcome.

Feast of St Magnus the Martyr

St. Magnus, Earl & Martyr
Feastday

Patron of Orkney.

Hymn to St Magnus from XIII century.

[Orkney Image Library]

[From the site of our friend Henri Adam de Villiers]

Quasi modo Mercy!

Never in the sunset!
Ever the sunrise!
For the Light has come into the world
a Light that the darkness cannot over-power.
Surrexit Dominus, Alleluia!

~ In joy of Easter Light ~
the monastery boat loaded with Transalpine Redemptorists
crosses to Stronsay this morning in the white light of snow!
Alleluia!

Today is a true Feast!
The feast of Divine Mercy!
"Jesus I trust in Thee!"

We ask Our Lord to pour out His Divine Mercy
on Our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI:

Long may he guide and govern the barque of Peter
as His Vicar on Earth.

We beseech Our Lord to pour our His Divine Mercy
upon the Bishops and Fathers of the
Priestly Society of St Pius X:

May they receive the grace of reconciliation
with the Church.
~
To all our readers
we wish the blessings of this Feast:
our beloved,
ever ancient, ever new
Quasi modo Sunday.

Introit:
Quasi modo geniti infantes, alleluia:
rationabiles, sine dolo lac concupiscite,
alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
As newborn babes, alleluia!
desire the rational milk without guile,
alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

The Devotion in honour of the Burial of Our Lord.

Several readers have asked for more information about our devotions in honour of Our Lord's Burial.

We have had devotion in memory of the Burial of Our Lord for over 20 years. In early years we used some borrowed texts. But we do not use them now. As a result, the burial has been expressed through well known traditional Latin prayers that are part of our established spiritual life. This seems an improvement.

The devotion is a memorial (anamnesis) and logical completion of the day: Our Lord's Body is accompanind to the tomb. During the procession, His Passion is remembered yet again.

The devotion takes place like this:
1. After the Good Friday Liturgy the image of the Body of Our Lord is incensed and the Sixth Sorrow (1 Pater and 7 Aves) is said in memory of the descent of Our Lord's Body from the Cross. During this dolour, the people carrying relics of the Passion (Crown of Thorns, Nails etc.) prepare to form the cortege.

2. The procession departs reciting the first sorrowful mystery of the Rosary before reaching the station which is not far from the chapel.

3. At the station the body is placed on the way-side altar, it is incense and a lamentation from Matins is sung.

4. The procession resumes again and the sorrowful mysteries of the Holy Rosary are completed by the time everybody has entered into the sepulchre. Thus on the way to the tomb we are recalling the events of the Passion of Our Lord.

5. Inside the tomb the Body is incensed again; hymns concerning Our Lord's Passion are sung for as long as there are people to venerate the image by kissing it and anointing Our Lord's wounds with perfumed ointment.

6. Then the concluding section of the day's Passion from St. John is chanted.

7. Finally the Seventh Sorrow of the placing of Our Lord in the sepulchre is recited and the procession then returns slowly and silently back to the sacristy keeping the memory of Our Blessed Mother and the disciples leaving the tomb and returning home in mourning.

Communicantes et diem sacratissimum celebrantes

Paschal Vigil
Papa Stronsay

Incensing the Paschal Candle before the Exsultet.
O vere beata nox ~ O truly blessed night...
And the night shall be as light as the day,
and the night is my illumination in my delights.
Therefore the sanctification of this night blots out crimes,
washes away sins, and restores innocence to sinners,
and joy to the sorrowful.

The First Prophecy.

Dixitque Deus: Fiat lux.
Et facta est lux.
And God said: Be light made.
And light was made.

The Blessing of the Font.
Sicut cervus desiderat ad fontes aquarum...
As the stag panteth after the fountains of water...

Easter Day Mass
Stronsay

Solemn Sprinkling with Holy Water.
Vidi aquam egredientem de templo,
a latere dextro, alleluia! ...
I saw water coming forth from the temple
on the right side, alleluia!

et omnes ad quos pervenit aqua asta,
salvi facti sunt et dicent, alleluia!
and all those to whom this water came,
were saved, and shall say, alleluia!

We wish all our friends and families
a blessed and holy feast of feasts.

Communicantes...
Having communion in and celebrating
the most sacred day of the resurrection
of
Our Lord Jesus Christ
according to the flesh.

The Afternoon Liturgy and the Burial Devotions.

The Afternoon Liturgy.

Ecce lignum crucis
Behold the wood of the Cross.

The Evening Devotions of the Burial of Our Lord.

Incensing at the station on the way.

Incensing of the Body of Our Lord
inside the sepulchre.

O all ye that pass by

Good Friday Morning Stations of the Cross.

R. Caligaverunt oculi mei a fletu meo:
quia elongatus est a me, qui consolabatur me.
Videte omnes populi,
* Si est dolor similis sicut dolor meus.
V. O vos omnes qui transitis per viam, attendite et videte.
R. Si est dolor similis sicut dolor meus.
R. Caligaverunt oculi mei a fletu meo:
quia elongatus est a me, qui consolabatur me.
Videte omnes populi, *
Si est dolor similis sicut dolor meus.

Oratio.
Respice, quaesumus Domine,
super hanc familiam tuam,
pro qua Dominus noster Iesus Christus
non dubitavit manibus tradi nocentium,
et crucis subire tormentum:

Et sub silentio concluditur
Qui tecum vivit et regnat
in unitáte Spíritus Sancti
Deus per ómnia sǽcula sæculórum.
R. Amen.

R. Mine eyes do fail with tears,
because the Comforter that should relieve me
is far from me.
Behold, O all ye nations*
If there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow.
V. O all ye that pass by, behold, and see
R. If there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow.
R. Mine eyes do fail with tears,
because the Comforter that should relieve me
is far from me.
Behold, O all ye nations, *
If there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow.

Prayer
Look down, we beseech thee, O Lord,
on this thy family,
for which our Lord Jesus Christ
did not hesitate to be delivered up into the hands of wicked men,
and to suffer the torment of the Cross.

Finish silently
Who livest and reignest with God the Father,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, world without end.
R. Amen

... but with silence and compunction.

Holy Thursday Nocturnal Adoration.

The Majesty of our God
has withdrawn to that mysterious sanctuary,
into which we enter not
but with silence and compunction.
[Dom Guéranger]

Holy Thursday: The Office of Tenebrae

R. Amicus meus osculi me tradidit signo:
Quem osculatus fuero, ipse est, tenete eum:
hoc malum fecit signum, qui per osculum adimplevit homicidium.
* Infelix praetermisit pretium sanguinis,
et in fine laqueo se suspendit.
V. Bonum erat ei, si natus non fuisset homo ille.
R. Infelix praetermisit pretium sanguinis,
et in fine laqueo se suspendit.

R. Mine own friend hath betrayed Me by the sign of a kiss :
Whomsoever I shall kiss, That Same is He hold Him fast.
This was the traitorous sign which he gave,
even he who murdered with a kiss.

* Woe unto that man! He cast down the price of blood,
and went, and hanged himself.

V. It had been good for that man if he had not been born.

R. Woe unto that man! He cast down the price of blood,
and went, and hanged himself.

(Lectio 4 Resp.)

Five years of blogging.

Today we mark the 5th anniversary
of this blog:
Palm Sunday 2007 - Palm Sunday 2012.

This great and holy day commemorates
the last triumph of Our Lord Jesus Christ on earth
and the opening of Holy Week.
The Cross lies ahead and is the means of victory.
Holy Week begins joyfully acclaiming
Christ the King.

Distribution of the Palms.
Glory praise and honour to Thee,
O King Christ, the Redeemer:
to Whom children poured their glad and sweet
hosanna's song.
Gloria laus et honor tibi sit,
Rex Christe Redemptor...
[Hymn to Christ the King.]

V. Procedamus in pace.
Let us go forth in peace.
R. In Nomine Christi. Amen.
In the Name of Christ. Amen.

Let the faithful join with the Angels and children,
singing to the conqueror of death:
Hosanna in the highest!
[Antiphon 2]

Fulgentibus palmis prosternimur advenienti Domino...
We are prostrate amid shining palms before the Lord as He aproacheth;
let us all run to meet Him with hymns and songs,
glorify Him and say:
Blessed be the Lord!
Benedictus Domino!
[Antiphon 6]

Ingrediente Domino in sanctam civitatem...
As our Lord entered the holy city, Hebrew children,
declaring the resurrection of life with palm branches,
cried out: Hosanna in the highest.
[Responsory]

The chanting of the Passion
of Our Lord Jesus Christ
according to Matthew.

Prayers for the Reconciliation of the Society.

Fr. Franz Schmidberger.
The hour is grave.

During this time we remember in our Masses and prayers:
the superiors, priests and faithful
of the Society of St Pius X
and its allied religious communities.
Fr Schmidberger has always been a
man of the Church with a great love of "Romanitas".

Letter from Fr. Schmidberger.

Dear faithful,

On 16 March in Rome Cardinal Levada, Prefect of the Congregation, gave the Superior General of our Fraternity, Bishop Fellay a letter with statements in which we are asked ultimately to react more positively to the doctrinal preamble of September the 14th than we had done so far.

As a final deadline for a response is given the 15th of April 2012. Surely you have heard this already wholly or partially from the media. We have thus arrived at a crucial point.

Even if the letter strikes an unpleasant sound, there are legitimate hopes for a satisfactory solution. If this solution would be reached it would considerably strengthen all the orthodox forces in the church. If not it would weaken and discourage these forces. So it is not primarily about our brotherhood, but for the good of the Church.

Therefore we ask for the eager, insistent and imploring prayer of all our faithful and all Catholics, that God through the redemptive suffering of His only begotten Son, will lead His Church through this crisis and give her in the Holy Resurrection of Jesus life new strength and new prosperity.

Stuttgart, 22 March 2012

Father Franz Schmidberger,
District Superior

Source: Fr. Finigan