‘Nother Orwell’s Picnic post, about restarting civilization, and letting Modernia just rot out. (I’m certain to get back to Bergugs and the End of the World ™ soon…”soon-soon”… )   ~ Strength and Virtue – a good place to start again “Yesterday Annamaria was telling me what sort of fertilizers to put on the tomatoes, and we were in the big garage under my flat where they keep all their contadini stuff.

I know, it’s been even sparser than usual. I really do regret not being able to blog as much as before, and I’m trying hard to get back to it. I’ve only this weekend managed to get the house into shape, and today my classes started. I’m going to be in town every morning on weekdays for a month, or possibly more. But I’ve got my internet recharged for another month, and a huge backlog of writing work, all of which is very research-heavy.

First Mass in the village today. As with all the strange carnival of the Novus Ordo world, it had its ups and its downs. For various reasons, this was the Sunday for attending the local parish, ad experimentum. I’m happy to report that the parish in San Martino in Campo is quite a flourishing one, as Italian rural parishes go. People seem to go because they want to, which is good (better than Norcia where you get the impression that no male over the age of six darkens the door of a church if he isn’t being carried in by six of his friends and relations.

The story of the Knights of Malta, Fra Matthew Festing, Albrescht von Boeselager, Pope Francis, the condoms for “sex trade workers” in Malaysia and the multi-million dollar Swiss trust fund, just keeps getting better and better. Today, Pope Crankypants had a few snide comments about holy obedience… Something on your mind, holiness? Maybe this. “…He is a man with a spine, not put off by danger. A man who comes from fighting stock.

So, just got caught by the Curiosity Ray when I saw someone yet again posting this ugly thing the pope sent Vatican employees for Easter. Apparently it’s the Risen Christ. Yeah, I realize it’s not obvious. Well, I just wondered what sort of other stuff the (Argentinian) artist, Victor Delhez, so favoured by this pope, generally produces. Feast your eyes. Uhhh… yyyyeaaahhhh… Not exactly Gustav Dore. It’s called “The Three Virtues.

The annual Good Friday procession of the dead Christ in Norcia, past our broken walls, given a special significance this year. (Pics thanks to Emanuele Persiani at ABC Online) Santissima Trinita dei Pellegrini, Rome parish of the FSSP On Holy Thursday, it is the custom in Rome to visit the “Sepolcri,” the altars of repose, set up with special care and magnificence in most of the churches in the centro storico.

Of your charity, please pray for the repose of the soul of my dear friend and mentor, Monsignor Ignacio Barreiro, whose kindness, good cheer, and deep faith combined with a boundless energy, made him one of the great men of the Church in our troubled times. Five years ago, he was diagnosed with aggressive cancer. We had the same doctor and Dr. Walbrecher told me he didn’t expect him to live more than a few weeks.

One of the things I always have trouble with in my own prayer life is mixing up the Sorrowful Mysteries with the Stations of the Cross. Mostly I guess it just shows that I don’t do either often enough. The scourging at the pillar is the Sorrowful Mysteries, right? Ever since that Mel Gibson movie came out I’ve come back again and again in my mind to this horrific episode in Salvation History.

Look at this pic for a moment: Muslims in Milan “praying” in a mass-demonstration in the piazza of the Duomo, one of Italy’s most powerful images of the Catholic Church, triumphant. People who don’t think about things much, might look at this photo and think, “Well, they’re praying. And since the Church assures us that Muslims and Christians worship the same God, I guess it’s more or less OK.

Credit where it’s due: the normally-bonkers Novusordowatch gives an uncharacteristically sober analysis of the latest outrage. Bergoglio blasphemes again: Jesus Christ “made Himself the Devil”!   But really, how hard can it be with the bar this low, to ask that the pope not call Jesus the devil? ~