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"allowing its priests to name Rebecca Charlier-Alsberge, episcopal delegate to the Vicariate of Walloon Brabant, in the Eucharistic Prayer at Mass, directly after the [heretical] pope and local bishop."

Well that is innovative! Apart from the novelty, is there room to wonder which is more scandalous: the heretical ordinaries named (cause), or the naming of R.C.-A. (symptom)?

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That is a fine question!

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Thank you - and a Happy New Year, Dr K!

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I am struck by the Virgin's hair in the nativity scene. Is there a "canon" of sacred art (so to speak) that governs when our Lady is and is not veiled? I know this representation is not novel, but is it the minority report?

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I don't know the answer to your good question . . .

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I would ask Hilary White at her substack Sacred Art.

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An FYI that the link to Edelweis House appears to be "v" instead of "ctrl+v".

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Thanks. I just updated the post. Here's what the link should be:

https://edelweisshouse.org/

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Happy Onomastico to your daughter!

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Thank you, and the same to you!

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"One of the dumbest of the many dumb ideas that invaded the liturgical reform..." Hahaha! That is the best line to describe Vatican II's butchering of Christmas!

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I'm actually not a fan of the pre-1955 calendar in that chart. Those overlapping Octaves never really fully blossom because the Octaves of St. Stephen, St. John the Evangelist, and the Holy Innocents are simple Octaves, which means that only the Octave Days are commemorated. However, I disagree that removing these Octaves, as was done in 1962, was the appropriate solution. This whole distinction between the simple and the common Octave did not exist until Pius X's Divino Afflatu in 1911, and it led to a lot of unnecessary complexity and confusion. I use the pre-1911 Office myself, and so I did commemorations of those feasts every day of their respective Octaves. The rolling Octaves create a sense of rhythm that, rather than competing with the great feast of the Nativity, actually complements it.

This next part may be controversial, but in my view, the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus is a bit of a redundancy, given that the Feast of the Circumcision already covers the naming of Our Lord. The replacement of the Octave of the Epiphany with the Feast of the Holy Family also hasn't actually done much to stop divorce, which was the original reason for instituting it. The artificial institution of these two feasts led to some disruption of the natural rhythm of the liturgical calendar. Sometimes one should simply let traditions and customs speak for themselves, instead of making everything as explicit and literal as possible in response to very specific problem of particular eras. The latter approach takes as a presupposition the (very modern) idea that concepts and information ought to be primarily conveyed explicitly through words, rather than implicitly through symbols, ritual, etc., one of the primary causes of the liturgical destruction that has occurred in the last century.

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We do February 3rd in our home. Just love to play Carols for as long as possible.

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Dear Peter, happy new year and a good Christmas season! I'm not 100% sure, but I think that traditionally the Vigil of the Epiphany would have taken precedence over the Holy Name of Jesus, as I recall it being a privileged vigil, to be celebrated even if it falls on a Sunday, much as that of Christmas. See the different "date" options at the Divinum Officum website (although I don't know how accurate its commemorations system is). What would you make of that?

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I'm afraid I don't know quite enough to be able to answer this question. Many things shifted under Pius X. To my mind, either scenario has merit. But several pre-55 experts looked at this chart and said it was all correct.

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This is an argument for going pre-1911. The Feast of the Holy Name also seems redundant, given that the Feast of the Circumcision already includes the naming of Our Lord. The feast falling between January 2nd and January 5th also messes up the rhythm of the overlapping Octaves of St. Stephen, St. John the Evangelist, and the Holy Innocents, a process which did begin under Pius X with his new distinction between simple and common Octaves.

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Wonderful resources, as always! Any ideas about where traditional or tradition minded priests might go for retreats? I would like to make an Ignatian Retreat but as Saint Ignatius intended it, not as the Modernist Jesuits do it with their pseudo-psycho spirituality. I wish to be formed, not de-formed. I’ve had enough de-formation.

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Thank you, Dr. K., and a happy new year to you.

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