The Presentation of Our Lady in the Temple

Today is the feast of the Presentation of Our Lady in the Temple, by her parents, St. Joachim and St. Anne.

These praises and prayers I lay at thy feet, O Virgin Most Holy! O Virgin Most Sweet! Be thou my true guidethrough this pilgrimage here: and stand by my side when death draweth near.

This performance of Schubert's Ave Maria sung by Dianna Durbin in the unhappily titled 1940 film It's a Date reminds us of the deep respect which popular culture once held for our Catholic Heritage - in the days when we Catholics held our Heritage in respect too. Durbin had earlier recorded the Bach-Gounod Ave Maria with the Vienna Boys Choir and reprised it in Mad about Music in 1938.

Mass in Stamullen, Co. Meath

Fr. David Jones, O.Praem., of Duleek, Co. Meath, has just advised us that the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass will be offered in the Gregorian Rite (1962 Missal) every Sunday from the First Sunday of Advent at 10.45 a.m. in the Visitation Convent, Stamullen, Co. Meath.

Fr. Jones preaching in Emo

This Visitation Convent is located in what was formerly Silverstream House, built about 150 years ago as a dower house to the Preston family of Gormanston Castle. In 1941 it passed to the Order of St. John of God and in 1955, they passed it to the Visitation Nuns. This first Irish foundation at Silverstream was led by Mother Theresa O'Dwyer, with 8 sisters, 3 sisters from America and 5 from England. It was a foundation of the Visitation Convent in Snellville, Georgia, USA.

Saint Jane Frances de Chantal

The Congregation of the Visitation was founded on Trinity Sunday, 6th June, 1610, by St. Francis de Sales, Bishop of Geneva, and Baroness, later Saint, Jane Francis de Chantal, seen here in the traditional habit, including the barbette or white wimple that is still a part of the habit of Visitation Nuns today.

Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque
Receives the Vision of the Sacred Heart

The Visitation Order was privileged to receive, through one of its members, Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, the revelation of Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In the same regard, we can say that Fr. Jones also advises that a High Mass is celebrated at the Hermitage in Duleek, Co. Meath, every First Friday at 12 noon.

To the Sacred Heart of Jesus, thanks; to the Visitation Sisters of Stamullen, blessings; to Father Jones, many years; to the Mass on Sundays at 10.45 a.m., much fruit!

Mass for St. Paul in Emo, Co. Laois

Pictures have recently become available from the Mass organised in July to honour the Holy Year of Saint Paul. In light of news from Meath (see next post), we release them today.

On a fine July morning, members and friends of St. Conleth's Catholic Heritage Group travelled to the Church of St. Paul in the small village of Emo, Co. Laois, for the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in the Traditional Latin or Gregorian Rite.

Fr. David Jones, O.Praem., who is a Norbertine Priest living in a hermitage in the village of Duleek in the County and Diocese of Meath, celebrated the Mass, which was a votive Mass of the Holy Ghost for Vocations.

A congregation of 65 members and friends of St. Conleth's Catholic Heritage Association were present for Fr. Jones' stirring sermon on reverence for the House of God and the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. He went on to say that the same spirit of reverence must be shown for the ecclesia domestica, the Catholic Family. The Catholic Family, like the House of God, must be permeated by a spirit of silence, a spirit of prayer and a spirit of devotion to our proper duties. We mustn't neglect the duties of our station in life.

While a small schola sang the propers of the votive Mass, the proper of the Mass and vernacular hymns such as O Sanctissima, Soul of My Saviour, Salve Regina and Faith of Our Fathers were sung by the whole congregation.

Following Mass, the De Profundis was recited. This is a venerable custom in Ireland after Low Masses, endorsed by the Holy See, to pray for the souls of the Faithful departed who died during the long years of persecution when they may have gone without the Last Rites or even a Catholic Funeral during those centuries of British Rule when being a Priest or Bishop in Ireland was a criminal offence, as was the carrying out of any 'Popish Rites'. The Irish are deeply conscious of the debt they owe to those who suffered to preserve the Faith in Ireland and the duty we owe to pray for their souls.

The Church of Saint Paul is the only Church dedicated solely to the Apostle of the Gentiles in the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin, although several Churches in the Diocese are dedicated to him jointly with St. Peter. Dr. Comerford tells us:

"The handsome parish church of Emo, the site of which was a gift from Lord Portarlington, was erected during the pastorate of the Very Rev. T. O'Connell, but chiefly through the zealous exertions of the Rev. William Hooney, then resident curate. The bell-tower was completed by the Rev. John Phelan, P.P. Father Hooney died, to the great grief of his many friends, on the 3rd of May, 1872, and was interred in his native parish of Suncroft. The Altar of the Sacred Heart, at Emo, and another under the same invocation, at Suncroft [dismantled during later re-ordering!] have been erected to his memory. The commodious parochial house, and land attached to it have been granted by the Earl of Portarlington at a nominal rent. In the burial-ground hard-by, the Rev. James Murray lies interred; the inscription over his grave records that he was Parish Priest of this parish for 18 years, and that he died on the 18th of May, 1823, aged 80.

A monument to the memory of Aline, late Countess of Portarlington, has been erected in this church by her husband, the present Earl. It is a recumbent effigy in Carrara marble, by the eminent sculptor, Boehm, and is reputed to be one of his best works. This lady became a convert to Catholicity in 1867, from which time to the period of her death, she resided chiefly at Emo Park, edifying all by the earnestness with which she devoted herself to her own sanctification, to works of charity, and to the promotion of the beauty of God's worship. Her lamented death took place on the 15th of January, 1874."

After Mass, many members and friends went to Emo Court, which was built by James Gandon as the seat of the Earls of Portarlington. Emo Court forms part of our Catholic Heritage, not just as the seat of the Catholic Lady Portarlington but as the home of Noviciate of the Irish Jesuit Province for about 30 years from 1934. The house was purchased from the Jesuits by its most recent owner, Major Cholmeley Harrison, who did so much to rescue the house from ruin and who died this year. He donated it to the People of Ireland in 1994.

November - Month of the Holy Souls

Raccolta #137. FIVE PATERS AND AVES, WITH THE V. TE ERGO, ETC.

Pope Pius VII., by a Brief dated Feb,. 7, 1817, the original of which is kept in the Archivium of the Chapter of the Cathedral Church of Arezzo, whose bishop first prayed for this Indulgence, granted -

i. An indulgence of 300 days, to all the faithful who, being contrite in heart, and devoutly meditating on the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, shall say in suffrage for the faithful departed five Pater Nosters and five Ave Marias, with the versicle Te ergo quaesumus, tuis famulis subveni, quos pretioso sanguine redemisti, or, who shall say the ejaculation, "Eternal Father, we pray Thee help the souls of Thy servants, whom Thou hast redeemed with the blood of Jesus Christ;" and the Requiem Aeternam.

ii. A plenary indulgence and remission of all sins to all who shall have practised this pious exercise every day for a month, on any one day in each month when, being repentant, they shall, after Confession and Communion, pray for our holy Mother the Church, &c., and for the eternal repose of the departed.

November - Month of the Holy Souls

The Sequence of the Requiem Mass, the Dies Irae, is the foremost of the hymns for the Holy Souls. Removed from the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite, it is now only heard at concerts or at Masses for the Dead in the Extraordinary Form.

Annibale Bugnini, the architect of the Ordinary Form, in his work The Reform of the Liturgy : 1948–1975, (The Liturgical Press, 1990), Chap. 46.II.1, p. 773, explains why it was removed: "They got rid of texts that smacked of a negative spirituality inherited from the Middle Ages. Thus they removed such familiar and even beloved texts as the Libera me, Domine, the Dies Irae, and others that overemphasized judgment, fear, and despair. These they replaced with texts urging Christian hope and arguably giving more effective expression to faith in the resurrection".

This first video is of the Requiem Mass celebrated by the Institute of Christ the King, Sovereign Priest, on EWTN recently. Their superb schola cantorum renders the Dies Irae during the Mass. The Institute of Christ the King, Sovereign Priest, has recently received the approval of its statutes by the Holy See and has been given the status of 'Pontifical Right' under the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei.

The text of the Dies Irae seems to be derived from the first Chapter of the Book of the Prophet Sophonias (Zephaniah, if you're reading a non-Catholic Bible) and is usually attributed to Thomas of Celano, who was a Franciscan during the lifetime of St. Francis of Assisi. Thomas of Celano is also attributed with the Vita Prima or first biography of St. Francis.

Like so many texts of the Traditional Latin Liturgy, it has inspired the finest composers for two millennia to create some of their most sublime masterpieces. The most obvious example is that of Mozart in his Requiem Mass, the first movement of which can be found in the second video. If this setting can just be considered more liturgical than operatic, it is in contrast with the later and more obviously operatic settings of, for example, Verdi in the third video.

Although we can clearly see that later settings often seek more for emotional effect than to inspire devotion and repentence among the living and prayer for the dead, it is certainly true that the texts of the Traditional Latin Liturgy stand for something that answers deeply to the yearning of the human heart. The following words are from the plea addressed to Pope Paul VI at the time when he proposed to reform the Liturgy and to consign, as it then seemed, to the rubbish heap of history, so much of our Catholic Heritage:

"...The rite in question, in its magnificent Latin text, has also inspired a host of priceless achievements in the arts - not only mystical works, but works by poets, philosophers, musicians, architects, painters and sculptors in all countries and epochs. Thus, it belongs to universal culture as well as to churchmen and formal Christians. In the materialistic and technocratic civilisation that is increasingly threatening the life of mind and spirit in its original creative expression - the word - it seems particularly inhuman to deprive man of word-forms in one of their most grandiose manifestations. The signatories of this appeal, which is entirely ecumenical and non-political, have been drawn from every branch of modern culture in Europe and elsewhere. They wish to call to the attention of the Holy See, the appalling responsibility it would incur in the history of the human spirit were it to refuse to allow the Traditional Mass to survive, even though this survival took place side by side with other liturgical reforms."

Source: Latin Mass Society of England and Wales website.

Mother of Sorrows, pray for the Holy Souls in Purgatory!

Second Monthly Mass in the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin

The second Monthly Mass in the Extraordinary Form provided by the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin took place this afternoon in the Church of Our Lady (Cill Mhuire), Newbridge, Co. Kildare, Ireland. The baptism ceremony of a local child, attended by more than 100, was just finishing at 1 p.m. So, when they were invited to leave by a visitor from Dublin, Mass was able to start not very long after the scheduled time.

Fr. Brendan Gerard, FSSP, celebrated the Mass of the Feast of the Dedication of the Latern Basilica for a congregation of almost half the number who attended last month, including a very healthy number of young children with their parents. Once again, the organisers were fortunate to have a significant number of visitors from Dublin in attendance. Unfortunately the Dublin choir who sang at last month's Mass was not present today. On the other hand, the Low Mass was much the more familiar form when the Latin Mass was universal in the Parishes of Ireland.

Fr. Gerard noted in his sermon what a pleasure it was to fly in from Rome to witness the dedication of the Cathedral of that Diocese being celebrated in Churches throughout the world - a forceful sign of the universality of the Church.

[Apologies for the quality of images. This Church, despite being very modern in design, is not remarkably photo-friendly.]

November - Month of the Holy Souls

Raccolta #136. THE "DE PROFUNDIS" AT THE FIRST HOUR AFTER THE "AVE MARIA."

Pope Clement XII. was the first who, in order to move the piety of Christians to pray for the souls in Purgatory, granted, by a Brief of Aug. 4, 1736, Coelestes Ecclesiae thesauros -

i. The indulgence of 100 days to all the faithful, every time that at the sound of the bell, at the first hour after the evening Ave Maria, they say devoutly on their knees the psalm De profundis, with a Requiem aeternam at the end of it. (The evening Ave Maria in Rome varies with the season; it is commonly taken as 6 o’clock.)

ii. A plenary indulgence to those who perform this pious exercise for a year at the hour appointed, once in the year, on any one day, after Confession and Communion. Those who do not know by heart the De Profundis, may gain these Indulgences by saying in the way already mentioned for the De profundis, one Pater noster and one Ave Maria, with the Requiem aeternam.

Observe also, that the aforesaid Clement XII. declared, Dec. 12, 1736, that these Indulgences might be gained by saying the De profundis, &c., as above, although, according to the custom of a particular church or place, the "signal for the dead," as it is called, be given by the sound of the bell either before or after one hour after the evening Ave Maria. Pope Pius VI., by a Rescript of March 18, 1781, granted the above-named Indulgences to all the faithful who should chance to dwell in any place where no bell for the dead is sounded, and who shall say the De profundis or Pater noster, as aforesaid, about the time specified above.

Ps. 129. De profundis clamavi ad te, Domine: * Domine, exaudi vocem meam. Fiant aures tuae intendentes: * in vocem deprecationis meae. Si iniquitates observaveris, Domine: * Domine, quis sustinebit? Quia apud te propitiatio est: * propter legem tuam sustinui te, Domine. Sustinuit anima mea in verbum ejus: * speravit anima mea in Domino. A custodia matutina usque ad noctem: * speret Israel in Domino. Quia apud Dominum misericordia: * et copiosa apud eum redemptio. Et ipse redimet Israel: * ex omnibus iniquitatibus ejus. Requiem aeternam * dona eis, Domine. Et lux perpetna luceat eis.Requiescant in pace. Amen. End at pleasure with the following:

V. Domine, exaudi orationem meam, R. Et clamor meus ad te veniat.

Oremus. Fidelium Deus omnium conditor et redemptor, animabus famulorum famularumque tuarum remissionem cunctorum tribue peccatorum: ut iudulgentiam, quam semper optaverunt, piis supplicationibus consequantur. Qui vivis et regnas in saecula saeculorum. R. Amen.

V. Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine. R. Et lux perpetua luceat eis.

V. Requiescant in pace. R. Amen.

[Customarily recited at Low Mass in Ireland after the Last Gospel and before the Leonine Prayers for the souls of those who died during the ages of persecution.]

Of your Charity, pray for the dead!

Film of Pope Leo XIII (r. 1878-1903)

In this month of the Holy Souls, let us not forget to pray for the predecessors of our Pastors: our deceased Priests; our deceased Bishops; and our deceased Popes.

May their sweet souls, and the souls of all the Faithful departed, rest in peace!

Saint Natfrioch of Kildare

Saint Natfrioch of Kildare

A monastery for the canons of St. Augustine was founded at Kildare, of which St. Natfrioch is said to have been the first Abbot – he was the Priest who attended the institution of St. Brigid before the appointment of its first Bishop – he is spoken of as the companion of St. Brigid, and to have remained with her all his life, notwithstanding the superintendence of Conlaeth, and it is also stated that he was wont to read in the refectory while the nuns were at their meals.

P. 486, Ecclesiastical History of Ireland by Rev. Thomas Walsh

Saint Natfrioch of Kildare, pray for us!

China (20th) Jubilee of the FSSP

Several members of St. Conleth's Catholic Heritage Association were in Rome to celebrate with the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter the 20th Anniversary of their Foundation.


Some members of the Irish Sodality of Our Lady can be seen (above) at the top right in their blue cloaks. The ceremonies were held in the Church of the Fraternity's Personal Parish in Rome, Santissima Trinita dei Pellegrini (the Church of the Most Holy Trinity of the Archconfraternity of Pilgrims), located near the Piazza Farnese. In the Sanctuary (seen below at Solemn Vespers), the Altarpiece is The Holy Trinity painted by Guido Reni in 1625.

A Pontifical High Mass (below) was celebrated on Saturday, 18th October, by His Eminence, Darío Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos, President of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei.


It will be remembered that His Eminence, at a Press Conference in London, on 14th June, 2008, was asked by a reporter from the english Daily Telegraph newspaper: "So would the Pope like to see many ordinary parishes making provision for the Gregorian Rite?" His Eminence replied as follows:

"All the parishes. Not many - all the parishes, because this is a gift of God. He offers these riches, and it is very important for new generations to know the past of the Church. This kind of worship is so noble, so beautiful - the deepest theologians’ way to express our faith. The worship, the music, the architecture, the painting, makes a whole that is a treasure. The Holy Father offers to all the people this possibility, not only the groups who demand it, but so that everybody knows this way of celebrating the Eucharist in the Catholic Church."

Source: Website of the Latin Mass Society of England and Wales.

Ad multos annos, your Eminence!

St. Ethbin of Kildare

St. Ethbin was born in Great Britain; and died in Kildare about the year 600. He was of noble birth. His father died when he was only about 15 years of age. His widowed mother then entrusted his education to his countryman, Saint Samson of Dol Abbey in Brittany.

One day, while Ethbin was at Mass, he really heard the words: "Every one of you that cannot renounce all that he possesses, cannot be my disciple." He immediately resolved to renounce the world. Because he was a deacon, Ethbin sought the permission of his bishop to withdraw from the world. Upon receiving it, Ethbin retired to the abbey of Taurac. This was about the year 554.

For his spiritual director, this saint chose another: Saint Winwaloë. The community of Taurac was dispersed by a Frankish raid in 556 and Winwaloë died soon thereafter.

Ethbin then crossed over to Ireland, where he led the life of a hermit for 20 years in a forest near Kildare, now unidentifiable, called Nectensis. Historically, there was no cultus for Saint Ethbin in Ireland. His relics are claimed by Montreuil and Pont-Mort in France. The date assigned to his feast, for example, in the Martyrology of Donegal, is 19th October.

St. Ethbin of Kildare, pray for us!

First Monthly Mass in the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin

The First Monthly Mass in the Extraordinary Form provided by the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin took place this afternoon a little after 1 p.m. in the Church of Our Lady (Cill Mhuire), Newbridge, Co. Kildare, Ireland.



Following intensive publicity in print and radio media by the Diocesan Communications Office, a congregation of almost 60 was in attendance. That congregation of almost 60 included the Most Reverend Bishop James Moriarty of Kildare and Leighlin, as well as Fr. Brendan Gerard, FSSP, resident in Rome, who was celebrant and who preached a short homily, together with Mr. John Heather, from Dublin.

Also in the congregation were Mr. Kieron Wood of the Sunday Business Post, together with his family, from Dublin, and Mr. David McEllin, former Chairman of both the Latin Mass Society of Ireland and Ecclesia Dei - Ireland, also from Dublin. The music was provided by the Lassus Scholars from Dublin.

Bishop Moriarty welcomed the many people who had come from Dublin for this Mass but noted that it cannot be expected that they will attending Mass in Kildare in the future.

Christus Vincit! Christus Regnat! Christus Imperiat!

Announcing the forthcoming issue of 'Christus Regnat', the journal of St. Conleth's Catholic Heritage Association. Articles will include:

• Most Reverend Bishop Thomas Keogh, D.D.


• The Origins of the Laudes Regiæ


• Tranquillity and the Sacrifice of Calvary


• Roman Conference Report

Potential contributors or subscribers can obtain further details from: catholicheritagegroup@catholic.org

50th Anniversary of Pope Pius XII

On this day in 1958, His Holiness, Pope Pius XII died. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam uasail.

Bishop invites priests for Latin Mass

At the invitation of Bishop Moriarty and in response to Pope Benedict's Apostolic Letter Summorum Pontificum, priests from the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter will celebrate a Latin Mass for the faithful of the Diocese attached to the older ("extraordinary") form of the Roman Rite (liturgical books of 1962). This Mass will be celebrated on the 2nd Sunday of every month in Cill Mhuire Church, Newbridge, Co. Kildare, beginning on Sunday, 12th October, at 1.00 p.m.

From St. Conleth's Parish Newsletter for Sunday, 5th October, 2008.

Most Extraordinary!

Soli Deo Gloria!

St. Erk of Slane

St. Erk of Slane, Bishop
Friend of St. Brigid of Kildare, co-consecrator of St. Conleth, first Bishop of Kildare.

“St. Erk, ‘the sweet spoken judge’, was, in all probability, a native of Munster; and is said to have been page to King Laoghaire at the time he showed this respect to St. Patrick. [Lanigan, vol. 1, p. 346] He was consecrated some time before the year 465, and was the first bishop of the ancient diocese of Slane, and abbot of the monastery which was erected there by St. Patrick. He is said to have been the preceptor of St. Brendan, and was an intimate friend of St. Brigid. At the synod of Magh-Femyn, in Tipperary, it is related that Erk spoke highly of the great abbess of Kildare, and of the miraculous favours with which she was endowed by the Almighty. He assisted at the consecration of Conlaeth, first bishop of Kildare, and took an active part in all the ecclesiastical movements of the age… Colgan says that, in the old calendars, Ercus is treated of on 2nd of October and 2nd of November Probus, writing of him in the tenth century, says: “Hercus, filius Dego, cujus reliquae nunc venerantur in civitate, quae vocatur Slane.”

From: The Diocese of Meath, Ancient and Modern, by Rev. A. Cogan, C.C., Published in Dublin, 1862.

St. Erk of Slane, pray for us!

13th Annual Novena

“Each year, the Association shall keep a novena for the perpetuation of the Traditional Latin Liturgy from 29th September to 7th October.” From the Statutes of St. Conleth’s Catholic Heritage Association.

In 1996, in preparation for their first request to the Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin for the regular provision of the Traditional Latin Mass for the people of the Diocese, a novena of prayer and penitence was made. The letter was delivered to the Bishop’s House on the last day of the novena.

This year, the theme of the novena is: “What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harmful. It behooves all of us to preserve the riches which have developed in the Church’s faith and prayer, and to give them their proper place.” From the Holy Father’s letter to Bishops accompanying Summorum Pontificum.

You are invited to join by your prayers and penances in this novena for the perpetuation of the Traditional Latin Liturgy – particularly in the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin.

Forgotten Saints

The Feast of the All the Saints of Ireland is celebrated on 6th November. Very many of the Saints of Ireland are still remembered by the people today but very many more are forgotten. This may be for two reasons, first, because of their multitude in number, since the celebration of the feast of each Saint of Ireland would surely deprive us of the opportunity to celebrate so many Saints on the Universal Calendar of the Church, and, secondly, because the brilliance of many outshines the luminous sanctity of so many more.

“Archbishop Usher, on the authority of some very old and authentic manuscript, which throws much light on our ancient ecclesiastical history, divides the saints who flourished in Ireland during the fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries into three classes.

Dr. Lanigan is of opinion that this catalogue was written before the year 715, the period at which the disputes about the tonsure and the Paschal cycle had concluded.

The first class consisted of one hundred and fifty bishops, who were all founders of churches and eminent for sanctity. Those bishops were Romans, Britons, Franks, and Scots (Irish)… This class was called most holy.

The second class commenced from the year 542, the latter end of the reign of Tuathal, and continued to AD 598 or 599. This class consisted of three hundred saints, few of whom were bishops, the greater part having been priests… This order was called very holy.

The third order of saints consisted or holy priests and a few bishops, in all one hundred in number, who dwelt in deserts, and lived on herbs, water, and alms… The first order (or class) most holy; the second very holy; the third holy. The first burns brightly like the sun, the second like the moon, and the third like the stars.”

From: The Diocese of Meath, Ancient and Modern, by Rev. A. Cogan, C.C., Published in Dublin, 1862.

However, these holy men and women should not be forgotten.

“…we are greatly helped not only by theological investigation but also by that great heritage which is the “lived theology” of the saints. The saints offer us precious insights which enable us to understand more easily the intuition of faith, thanks to the special enlightenment which some of them have received from the Holy Spirit…” John Paul II, Novo Millennio Ineunte, 27

“The saints are like beacons; they show men and women the possibilities open to human beings. They are therefore also culturally interesting, independently of the cultural, religious or investigatory approach to them.” Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, C.M.F., Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints

We hope to restore to memory some of the Saints associated with the Diocese of Kildare.

The Benedictine Nuns of the Abbey of St. Michael at Kergonan

You can see their video here.

Annual General Assembly

The Annual General Assembly of St. Conleth’s Catholic Heritage Association will be held next Friday, 12th September. For further details contact: catholicheritagegroup@catholic.org.