We have a pope, Pope Leo XIV! One of the newly minted Holy Father’s “first visits” was to the beautiful image of Our Lady of Good Counsel: Here is a picture of the painting of Our Lady of Good Counsel visited by Pope Leo XIV: I wrote the following about this painting of Madonna and Child in April of 2021: The icon of Our Lady of Good Counsel remains in the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Counsel in Genazzano, Italy. The image is quite beautiful and reminds me of the mingling halos of Jesus Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary mentioned by G.K. Chesterton in the following: “You cannot chip away the statue of a mother from all round that of a newborn child. You cannot suspend the new-born child in mid-air; indeed you cannot really have a statue of a newborn child at all. Similarly, you cannot suspend the idea of a newborn child in the void or think of him without thinking of his mother. You cannot visit the child without visiting the mother, you cannot in common…
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May the 8th: The Supplica
The commemoration of Our Lady of Pompeii occurs on May the 8th. The day is celebrated all over the world with the recitation at Noon of a prayer called The Supplica which was written by Blessed Bartolo Longo (born 1841- died 1926). Blessed Longo wrote The Supplica years after he converted from being a Satanist priest to the Catholic Faith. After his conversion, Longo spent his life promoting the Rosary, and building up a shrine to Our Lady in Pompeii, Italy. The shrine is massive and one can see it from a great distance, as I did in April of 2024. It is stunning, and a testament to the faith of Blessed Bartolo Longo, and the Catholic people of the region, and beyond. As we await a new pope, our Catholic devotions and traditions do not change, including the recitation of The Supplica at Noon on May the 8th. Here is a text of The Supplica: O August Queen of Victories, O Sovereign of Heaven and Earth, at whose name the heavens rejoice and the abyss trembles, O glorious Queen…
The Blessed Virgin Mary: Our Mother, Our Confidence
Mater Mea, Fiducia Mea. My Mother, My Confidence. The Roman Catholic people have loved Our Lady in the beautiful image of Our Lady of Confidence (above) for generations. They have invoked her aid by the simple prayer, “My Mother, My Confidence.” We posted about this prayer, and image, in November of 2020, and, since then, nothing has changed; nor will it. This devotion is not a novel way that changes with the so-called “times.” May this tradition, of invoking Our Lady in our daily needs, continue in us, in our homes, and in our families. If you are interested in reading more about Our Lady in the light of Church teaching and tradition, The Glories of Mary by St. Alphonsus Ligouri is an excellent place to start. #rememberIsabelle May God bless you all. ~SCF ~Totus Tuus, details. ~Top image –Our Lady of Confidence, prints may be purchased here (we have no affiliation with this store)
Christmas 2024
“Any one thinking of the Holy Child as born in December would mean by it exactly what we mean by it; that Christ is not merely a summer sun of the prosperous but a winter fire for the unfortunate.” ~G.K. Chesterton (b. 1874- d. 1936) It is moving closer to the Nativity of Our Lord, the 25th day of December. On that day, we will gather about the homeless God, and find our hearts at home (paraphrase, G.K. Chesterton, aka, G.K.C.). Yes, no matter where our mortal bodies might be, we can be home for Christmas; for we may find the sense of home beside the crib of Our Infant Savior. Christ, the winter fire for the unfortunate (G.K.C.), is coming; and the story of His first day is wonderfully described in the following poem, The House of Christmas, by the English writer G.K. Chesterton: “There fared a mother driven forthOut of an inn to roam;In the place where she was homelessAll men are at home.The crazy stable close at hand,With shaking timber and shifting sand,Grew a stronger thing to abide and standThan the…
The Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 2024
“As the vine I have brought forth a pleasant odour: and my flowers are the fruit of honour and riches. I am the mother of fair love, and of fear, and of knowledge, and of holy hope. In me is all grace of the way and of the truth, in me is all hope of life and of virtue. Come over to me, all ye that desire me, and be filled with my fruits. For my spirit is sweet above honey, and my inheritance above honey and the honeycomb. My memory is unto everlasting generations. They that eat me, shall yet hunger: and they that drink me, shall yet thirst. He that hearkeneth to me, shall not be confounded: and they that work by me, shall not sin. They that explain me shall have life everlasting.” ~from today’s Mass, Eccli. 24:23-31 [Sirach] Today is the feast of the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary which commemorates the first of the four Marian dogmas: the Divine Motherhood of Mary, and for this happy day I am re-posting the bit that follows: Dom Gueranger…