“The fourth sacrament is penance, the matter of which is, as it were, the acts of the penitent, which are divided into three parts.” This description from the Council of Florence (1439) does not define penance’s matter, full stop, but its matter “as it were”— quasi materia. This does not suggest that, alone among the […] The post From Contrition to Absolution: Form and Matter of Penance appeared first on Adoremus.| Adoremus
Christendom College in Front Royal, VA, inaugurated classes at its new Institute for Liturgical Formation this summer, welcoming its first cohort of students to campus to study and grow in their faith over several weeks in the Shenandoah Valley. The Institute, launched earlier this year, seeks to educate and train individuals in preparing for and […] The post Christendom’s New Liturgical Institute Welcomes First Students with Summer Session appeared first on Adoremus.| Adoremus
When we think about angels our thoughts may wander to the common depiction in art of the little naked cherubs fluttering in space and resting on clouds in a lackadaisical manner. Such artistic renderings do not, however, do justice to the angels, who play a very prominent role in our lives, and especially in the […] The post Spirits in a Liturgical World: Praying with the Angels at Mass appeared first on Adoremus.| Adoremus
St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) can justifiably be called a “liturgist” in the deepest sense, as his life and work consistently advanced the understanding, celebration, and practice of Christian worship. Through his exhortations to friars and the faithful, Francis fostered not only a doctrinal grasp of the Eucharistic mystery, but also a genuine and solid […] The post Francis of Assisi, Liturgist appeared first on Adoremus.| Adoremus
Prior to the Novus Ordo Missae, priests had an entire ritual for putting on vestments for Mass. Each vestment had its own short prayer, often alluding either to the vestment’s symbolic meaning and/or a moral allusion. In the Latin rite, those prayers fell into disuse though some priests have apparently recently tried to recover them. […]| Adoremus
In the previous entry of this series, I have offered an overview of the discussions on the sacred liturgy at the Council of Trent, especially during its third and last period from January 1562 to December 1563. There was a consensus among the council fathers that a revision of liturgical books was needed, but it […]| Adoremus
