Defending the 12th century since the 14th; blogging since the 21st.

Catholicism, Conservatism, the Middle Ages, Opera, and Historical and Literary Objets d'Art blogged by a suburban dad who teaches law and writes stuff.


"Very fun." -- J. Bottum, Editor, FIRST THINGS

"Too modest" -- Elinor Dashwood

"Perhaps the wisest man on the Web" -- Henry Dieterich

"Hat tip: me (but really Cacciaguida)" -- Diana Feygin, Editor, THE YALE FREE PRESS

"You are my sire. You give me confidence to speak. You raise my heart so high that I am no more I." -- Dante

"Fabulous!"-- Warlock D.J. Prod of Didsbury

Who was Cacciaguida? See Dante's PARADISO, Cantos XV, XVI, & XVII.


E-mail me

 
Henry Hyde, RIP. Cue Siegfried's Funeral March.
posted by Cacciaguida at 8:41 PM

 
John Allen reports on the Church in Mongolia -- which dates all the way back to 1992. Yep, your Iraqi Catholics can boast of Chaldean traditions that make Byzantium seem nouveau, and parts of the Church in India stake a plausible claim to have been founded by the Apostle Thomas. But Mongolia? 1992.
posted by Cacciaguida at 8:41 PM

 
I've been concerned that the pro-life views of -- of -- of

*

Sayyy dee n-a-a-a-a-a-a-m-e!

OK -- the pro-life views of R-R-R-RRRRRon Paul (there, I said it!), yes, his pro-life views, arising out if his decades-long practice as an obstetrician, have not been getting enough attention. But comes now an Arizona Republic letter-writer who is incensed that Paul "thinks the government has no right to tax us, but it does have a right to limit our family planning choices."

Sounds to me like whole package!
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:38 PM

 
The current key question about Summorum Pontificum

There's this Motu Proprio, see? And it says that whereas before, bishops had been permitted to permit the Tridentine Mass, now it was no longer up to them, but would henceforth be the privilege of every priest.

In response (as Fr. Zuhlsdorf has exhaustively chronicled), quite a few bishops (not all or even most, but enough to constitute a problem) suddenly appointed themselves "chief liturgists" of their dioceses and started making elaborate announcements about how Summorum Pontificum would be "implemented" in their diocese, or, in extreme cases, whether it would be implemented at all.

But as Damien Thompson noted, it's harder these days for this sort of horsedookey to go unnoticed in Rome, so this week, the Vatican's Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith (watch him: he's a rising star) delivered an official statement that in effect, though not in terms, raises the question that many of us have for some time wanted to put to certain bishops:

What part of "Get stuffed" don't you understand?

Here is a report on Archb. Ranjith's remarks. Catholic World News points out: "[B]ecause the archbishop's immediate superior at the Congregation for Divine Worship, Cardinal Francis Arinze (bio - news), has been utterly silent about the motu proprio, it seems likely that the encouragement has come from Pope Benedict himself."
posted by Cacciaguida at 4:53 PM

 
Counter-revolution coming in music at the Sistine Chapel: Gregorian chant and Renaissance polyphony to be revived.

I know, one learns with shock that they were ever in danger, but apparently even the Sistine Chapel and the Lateran Basilica have their own in-house Mauty Haugens. Or had.

Fr. Zuhlsdorf blogs it up; the Daily Telegraph reports.
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:38 AM

 
Worst headline of the past month
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:11 PM

 
An emerging theme on some of the hardline military blogs: we should get out of Iraq, not because we can't win, but because we already have!

(Sort of takes some of the sting out of the squirrelier views of You Know Who -- but more on that later.)
posted by Cacciaguida at 5:30 PM

 
Daily Telegraph columnist celebrates Pope Benedict's goals and denounces obstructionist Left-overs in the English hierarchy. "He reminds me of another conservative revolutionary, Margaret Thatcher, who waited a couple of years before taking on the Cabinet 'wets' sabotaging her reforms." Hard to believe it can get even better than that, but it does!
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:21 PM

 
Lió: my new favorite comic strip. It's Charles Schulz meets Charles Addams, dialogue suppressed.

In the short time I've been a regular reader, young Lió has eagerly and successfully sought abduction by aliens; nearly trampled a doomsaying street prophet while driving an ant-shaped car contraption; costumed a space alien as himself for trick-or-treat purposes; met the Grim Reaper after school when the sly fellow sent him what looked like a billet doux; and accidentally nuked his home town by playing with fissible material in class. I can't wait for more!
posted by Cacciaguida at 9:53 PM

 
One more reason Amtrak is the new Greyhound.

Had to get out in New York? It couldn't have been some place where a cheap hotel costs less that $400/night? (What was New Rochelle -- closed for renovations?)

Stuck in a tunnel? Rather than that, get me stuck at an airport any day.
posted by Cacciaguida at 9:46 PM

 
Smoking suitcase taken off plane in Phoenix. Of course: suitcases aren't allowed to smoke!
posted by Cacciaguida at 4:58 PM

 
A-a-a-a-a-and -- notwithstanding his recent complete exposure as a posturing buffoon on the abortion issue -- the National Right to Life Committee endorse-e-e-e-e-zzzzzzz -- Fred Thompson!

I hate endorsements. It's been National Cred-Shred Week for so many.
posted by Cacciaguida at 6:51 PM

 
Fred Thompson is through. The linked Novak piece makes it clear that Fred doesn't have a pro-life bone in his body. While I'll take a good faker if I'm convinced he'll keep faking as president, Thompson can't even fake long enough to get the nomination. Kaput. Over. Finito.

Though Fred is still #2 in national GOP polls, this story shows that he's now at the back of the pack in New Hampshire, at 5%, behind Mike Huckabee and He Who Must Not Be Named Lest You Receive Dozens of Canned Comments From Overwrought College Students Who Otherwise Never Visit Your Blog, who are tied at 7% each.

Romney, whom I guess I should now be for but whom I'm having a hard time getting excited about, is at 33% in NH, and Rudy at 21%.
posted by Cacciaguida at 7:22 PM

 
A spot of encouragement from Commonweal's blog (called -- is your cute-o-meter ready? -- dotCommonweal):

This week, Monsignor Valentín Miserachs Grau, director of the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music--a non-curial office dedicated to teaching sacred music--ramped up the volume. In an interview with L'Osservatore Romano, (reprinted by Zenit), Grau called for a centralized Roman authority over liturgical music, which he said has been the arena of greatest abuse since Vatican II:

"How far we are from the true spirit of sacred music, that is, of true liturgical music," he lamented. "How can we stand it that such a wave of inconsistent, arrogant and ridiculous profanities have so easily gained a stamp of approval in our celebrations?"

It is a great error, Monsignor Miserachs said, to think that people "should find in the temple the same nonsense given to them outside," since "the liturgy, even in the music, should educate all people -- including youth and children."

posted by Cacciaguida at 7:10 PM

 
Happy Birthday, U.S. Marine Corps! The original Lejeune birthday order, plus a great story, here.
posted by Cacciaguida at 8:43 PM

 
Fighting aid to overseas abortions: The USCCB has placed this ad, in support of the "Mexico City policy" restricting U.S. support of foreign aid organizations that do abortions, in several Capitol Hill publications.

Well done -- but I note that not a cent of the USCCB's budget went towards this ad: it was all paid for by the Knights of Columbus. So it's no reason to up your contrib to those USCCB "second collections," or even to start giving to them in the first place.

Instead, Catholic gentlemen, join the K of C and buy some insurance from them. I can't promise that your local council will be what you might call intellectually stimulating (unless you're in a major metropolitan area where Knights with nous may perhaps be found). But I assume you have other sources for that, and that you might be interested in supporting an organization that, at the national level, does a heckuva lot of good for the Church and the world.
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:16 PM

 
THE OLD BARONESS:
What could you have seen in such a man?
When I was young a man came into this house like a conqueror
carrying his love with pride;
but this Anatol, oh, this cautious knight,
who entered our house like a thief,
what kind of a man is he?

-- Barber/Menotti, VANESSA
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:58 PM