Leo XIII Published Riddles Anonymously in His Latin Newspaper

Going by the pseudonym “X,” Pope Leo XIII anonymously crafted poetic puzzles in Latin for a Roman periodical at the turn of the 19th century.

The pope created lengthy riddles, known as “charades,” in Latin in which readers had to guess a rebus-like answer from two or more words that together formed the syllables of a new word.

Eight of his puzzles were published anonymously in “Vox Urbis,” a Rome newspaper that was printed entirely in Latin between 1898-1913, according to an article in the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano.

A reader who submitted the correct answer to the riddle would receive a book of Latin poetry written by either Pope Leo or another noted Catholic figure.

The identity of the mysterious riddle-maker, however, was soon revealed by a French reporter covering the Vatican for the daily newspaper Le Figaro.

Felix Ziegler published his scoop Jan. 9, 1899, a year after the puzzles started appearing, revealing that “Mr. X” was, in fact, the reigning pope, the Vatican newspaper said July 20.

Link to Catholic Spirit..

Latin Mass in Hanoi: Travel Impressions of a Healthy Church

(Hanoi) The situation of Christians in Vietnam, one of the last Communist "paradises", is very difficult. The regime varies in its dealing with the Catholic Church and sees it as a competitor of his absolute claim to power. Vietnam still triggers shudders from Americans of the middle and older generation and is equally known by Europeans. The north of the country in 1954 of Indochina under Communist control prosecuted a war against France, then south in 1975 during the Vietnam War against the United States. A success that was only possible because it was primarily a struggle for national liberation from foreign rule in both wars for many Vietnamese. "The prospect of seeing their own daughters grow up in a Communist, but Vietnamese country, the majority Buddhist Vietnamese were less horrified at that time less at a Communist takeover for them, than to imagine a future in brothels for GI's and rich Americans," [You mean the Socialists don't frequent brothels?] said a French Foreign Legionnaire, who fought at Dien Bien Phu. The Catholics chose between unfreedom and poor experience of freedom, for the latter variant, which could secure them the necessary freedom to develop and to deal with the scale of Christian freedom. The Americans were defeated in a fierce battle. Since 1976, Vietnam was reunited under the official designation Socialist Republic of Vietnam. For Christians, the country brought hards times. Already in 1954, all of the parishes of the North had fled to the South. Nevertheless, the Church has survived.

Elisabetta Galeffi has returned from a trip to the Southeast Asian country. She does not report on religio-political issues, including the persecution of Christians under the Red Flag. It is characterized by empathetic, attentive observations, the image of a vibrant, healthy Catholic community that experienced a large influx of vocations to the priesthood and the religious orders.

At Mass in Ho Chi Minh City

To cross the square, to reach Notre-Dame Cathedral in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), requires a cool head. The slalom between hundreds of motorcycles, the only escape for a breath of pedestrians in the maze, is a thrilling endeavor.

The large cathedral with two towers was built by the French in 1877-1880, with red bricks, which were specially imported from Toulouse. It is the largest Catholic church in the country. It forms the center of the Place de la Comune de Paris in the city traffic. The distinctive French main post office is on one side of the square. Opposite the gardens with the large statue of Mary, a true urban and literary monument in numerous articles of war correspondents from around the world and the novel The Quiet American by Graham Greene, which takes place in Saigon, is described. Here in the most elegant part of the economic center of Vietnam you can still imagine the old capital of Indochina. On Sunday the whole city convenes together here, sitting at the tables of the cafes or picnic on the expansive lawns of the gardens, the girls and boys have their pictures taken around the cathedral and the statue of Mary.

At 11 clock in the morning, a favorable time throughout the world, to attend the Sunday Mass that doors of Notre Dame remain closed like an impregnable fortress. Only in the early afternoon do they open and the cathedral is filled with believers within minutes. All benches are filled to the last seat. The people bring tiny folding stools and jostle in the aisles until not a meter in the church is free. The latecomers must celebrate the Mass in front of the entrance gates, many sit on their motor scooters, hundreds.

Once the celebration of Mass begins, the noise of the continuous space traversing motorcycles gives way to church music, which is transmitted via powerful speakers into the open so that they can be heard in the coffee houses and the side streets. There are often repetitive melodies in the standard national style, as you can encounter them in Buddhist temples, but are sung with Christian texts, as they are known in Western churches. It's a meeting of cultures, carried out by the graceful voices of the Vietnamese and their passion for the beautiful song.

In Hanoi, a concert of brass and drums happens at Ly Quoc Su, attracts at the center of the old town. At the end of the narrow streets appears unexpectedly, the majestic Cathedral of St. Joseph in neo-Gothic style, reminiscent of Notre Dame in Paris in miniature. A huge procession of devotees follow the white-clad brass band and children in long blue robes, carrying a canopy with a small statue of the Virgin Mary. The clergy in solemn liturgical vestments stops in front of the facade of the church to bless the faithful, incense rises in dense swaths. The Joseph Cathedral was built in 1886 by naked concrete. The concrete is old and dark, capable of displaying a place of deep spirituality.

A garden behind the church offers with tropical plants and fragrant flowers offers some cooling for the rectory, a school for poor children and a dormitory. A magical garden breaks the ranks of the small streets like an oasis in the bustling chaos of the densely populated residential area of Hanoi. The Mass is an ancient rite. For those in the Vietnamese capital 6 o'clock in the evening is an exciting return to the past. The women wear their best Ao dai for the occasion, the national dress with wide-legged silk trousers covered thinly over long tight knee-or ankle-length silk robes in bright colors. They look very elegant and move with the utmost grace. The liturgy is celebrated in Latin, which emphasizes the brotherhood, even here, in the midst of such a different culture, with an indecipherable signature. The familiar Latin invites you to join in the singing loudly, to share with these people a faith that seems so honest.

In Vietnam, 9-10 percent of the population are Catholics. [They were a majority before the War] The number of practicing Catholics is very high and the vocations are numerous. They form by the Buddhists, the second largest minority in a country that in its overwhelming majority is atheist, according to official figures.

Traveling the country from south to north, you will encounter along the main axis, numerous churches that were built during the French colonial rule from 1858 to 1954. In addition to the churches in the cities, especially the elegant religious architecture surprisingly amidst the emerald landscapes and before the deep blue backdrop of the great Vietnamese rivers, the South China Sea or the Gulf of Tonkin. Even the wood and straw hut churches in the north on the border with the People's Republic of China in the rice fields of the mountains around Sapa are inviting and decorated with pious devotion and all are filled with believers, no matter where you go, and with music and songs. For the Black Hmong, an ethnic minority of the Catholic faith, the churches are the center of life of their small farming communities.

Text: tempos
 Introduction / Translation: Giuseppe Nardi Image: Tempi
Trans from German: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMGD

Francisus: Very Popular Reception for Pope's Latin Twitter

The Latin Twitter account of Pope Francis has a surprising number of subscribers

Vatican / Washington (kath.net / CNA / jg) The Latin Twitter account of Pope Francis has a surprising number of subscribers, called "followers". Even more amazing is the high number of responses, which are also written in Latin.

With 123,000 followers, the papal Twitter messages ("tweets") in Latin have more prospects than their Polish, Arabic or German equivalents. "It is remarkable how lively the Latin Twitter account is," says Timothy Noone, professor of philosophy at the Catholic University of America to CNA. "I'm surprised how many people are able to write in Latin," he added. The variety of the Latin responses to the papal tweets contradict the view that Latin is a dead language, Noone said.

He and some of his colleagues were able to speak, Latin. The professor of medieval metaphysics and epistemology sees the Latin activities at the papal "tweets" to be quite positive. Knowledge of the language is essential to understand Western culture, he told CNA.

Benedict XVI. opened the papal Twitter account December 2012 and his first messages were sent in eight languages. Most popular are Spanish and English with 2.8 million and 2.7 million subscribers. In January 2013 Latin was added as the ninth after numerous inquiries to the Vatican had been received. Following the resignation of Benedict the Twitter account had been shut down. Pope Francis has enabled it again soon after his election.

Link to kath.net...

Cistercian Abbey in Czech Republic Restores Old Rite and Office

(Prague)  The Czech Cistercian Abbey, Vyssi Brod -- Hohenfurth has become an old ritual community.  The Holy Mass will be celebrated for the faithful in the ordinary as well as in the Immemorial Rite of the Mass.  The Cloister community itself has returned to a traditional choir and praying of the Cistercian Liturgy of the Hours and celebrates the "classical" form of the Roman Rite as of 2011 in the Autumn. The restoration of the classical Office was supported by a collaboration with the Trappist Abbey of Mariawald.  The life of the Monastic community begins at 4:15am with rising and ends at 7:15 pm (7:45 in Summer)  with the lecture in the Rule of St. Benedict, the Collations, Compline and Salve Regina.  After that, "strict nightly silence" is maintained.

Parts of the magnificent cloister may be viewed, this is valid for near the Abbey church and above all the impressive library and refectory.  "To participate in the tour, decent clothing appropriate to the place is necessary,"as it says on the internet site of the Cloister.

750 Years of Cistercian Ora et Labora in the South Bohemian Hohenfurt

The Cistercian Abbey of Hohenfurth was founded in 1259 in what was then German-settled southern Bohemia by Wok von Rosenburg and settled with monks from the Abbey of Wilhering near Linz.  The  hub of the Cloister community formed the market town of Hohenfurt with about 100 households in the surrounding area. During the Hussite Wars and the 30 Years War it was drawn by sympathy to undertake the renewal of pastoral care in the wake of the Protestant Revolt in numerous parishes.  Its involvement in the education system even allowed the Cloister to escape the destructive reforms of Josephismus.

After the First World War the area of Hohenfurt with its 1459 German and five Czech inhabitants, complete with the Cloister became part of the new Czech Republic.  The new State adopted a "hostile disposition" toward it, which was as ideological as it was also ethnically motivated and in the land reform which allowed up to 250 hectares almost all of the  Cloister property of more than 5,500 hectares of wood and farmland was confiscated.

The election of the 43rd and presently the last Abbot formed himself with difficulty in 1925.  The Czech authorities conveyed a not very pleasant talking "to" not to recognize the German candidates.  Although the ethnic question had never played a role in the Cloister, Hohenfurth operated like a German Cloister.   So it was a concern to find a virtuous candidate who the authorities were not "negatively inclined" to.  The election fell upon Father Tezelin Jaksch from Hackelhof born in Budweis,  who was then the pastor of Payerschau, "because of his refined bearing and his complete mastery of the Czech language."  Abbot Tezelin attempted to reclaim three quarters of the original Cloister property, which still hadn't been resold by the State.

The Abbey bloomed in 1938, in which the Abbey reached its high water mark with 70 monks, with the    Suddetenland of the Third Reich.  The Czech monks had to leave the monastery, Abbot Tezelin was imprisoned as a pretext and deported to the protectorate of Bohemia and Maehren. The convent then elected an Abbot Coadjutor with Father Dominik Kaindl.   After that the Cloister was repealed by the National Socialists after almost 700 years of unbroken existence.  Father Engelbert Blochl died in KZ Dachau, 21 monks were drawn to serve in the war in the Wehrmach, of whom 10 did not return,  while another died as a prisoner of war.  During the war, the Wehrmacht established a hospital in the Cloister and by the end of the war, American troops, who were sent to south Bohemia, made a military camp out of it.

After the Second World War Abbot Tezlin Jaksch (1885-1954) struggled for the re-establishment of the Cloister, which indeed succeeded statutorily, was in any case reduced ad absurdam, there where the German monks, and with them almost the entire convent, were driven out in the course of Czech directed ethnic cleansing with the rest of the German population.  The Czech authorities confiscated the entire property and declared that "the Cistercians of Hohenfurth are traitors and enemies of the Czech Republic".  Only a few Czech monks were allowed to return to the Abbey with great difficulty.

The Communist power transfer of 1948 almost seamlessly took up the National Socialist persecution.  Abbot Jaksch had to leave Cloister Hohenfurth in the same year and go to Austria.  The Cloister was closed by the Communists in 1950.  The last two still remaining Czech monks were interned and the Cloister was transformed into a military concern.  The exiled monks of Hohenfurth found refuge in Austrian and Bavarian Cisterician Cloisters above all in Stift Rein in Steyria, which has since 1959 in the event of the 700th foundation anniversary of Hohenfurth, took up the name Rein-Hohenfurth.

After the break up of the Communist dictatorship in 1990, the two Cistercians still living at Hohenfurth travelled back to Bohemia and began the new settlement of the Cloister.  In all there are still six Hohenfurth monks in various Cloisters of Austria and Bavaria, yet the other four are too old and fragile for a journey.

The restoration took place with great difficulty, since the Czechoslovakian State till 1994, and the Czech since 1994, shows no interest in the rebuilding of the Catholic orders. The return of the Cloister properties stolen from the State proved to be difficult and lengthy.  For the new beginning there was economic help also from the Cistercian Cloister of Heiligenkreuz.  In 1992 four novices were accepted into the Cloister.  Since then the Priory of Hohenfurth -- Vyssi Brod, which has been led since 2007 by Justinus Berka, is struggling for the restoration of the life of the Cloister and after the atheistic deforestation, for the evangelization of Bohemia.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Bild: Kloster Vyssi Brod (Hohenfurth)

Link to original katholisches....

Why Priests Have to Learn Latin

Edit: it sounds like candidates to the priesthood will not only have to be familiar with Latin, but will also be forced to use it in the classroom setting.
Gero P. Weishaupt am 25. Februar 2012 um 20:07


Vatican (kathnews)  Last Thursday, on the 23rd of February,  the Papal Institute for Latin Classics (Pontificium Institutum altioris Latinnitatis) at the Papal University of the Salesians in Rome held a congress on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Apostolic Constitution "Veterum Sapientia" Pope John XXIII. from 22 February 1962.  (Kathnews reported the event)

Founded by Pope Paul VI


The Pontificium altioris Latinitatis was brought to life by Pope Paul VI with the Motu Proprio Studie Latinitatis of the 22nd February 1964, therefore, toward the end of the Second Vatican Council.  There the Pope stressed as already had his predecessor two years before as well, the close connection between the study of the Latin language and the education for the priesthood as also the necessity of knowing the Latin language.

Secretary of the Congregation for Clergy was one of the Speakers


Probably with regard to Ash Wednesday, which fell on the 50th Anniversary, the Congress began a day later.  Next to the Prefect of the Congregation for Education, who is the Polish-born Curial Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, one of the most visible promoters of the Latin language, who presided over the Congress, and the other speaker, the Secretary of the Congregation of Clergy, Archbishop Celso Morga Iruzubieta,  held an informative lecture. He presented the theme "Why the Priest Must Study Latin" (Perche i preti debono studiare latino).

Decline of Latin

Pope John XIII had already directed his attention to the decline of Latin at a Congress for Latinists in 1959.  In his lecture, recalled the Secretary of the Congregation for Clergy:  "When one retrospectively considers the present situation,  everything from then on, that the words of Bl. John XXIII, which he directed to a Congress of  Latin experts on 7 September 1959,  not only trailed off unheard, but that the use and even the instruction of the Latin language even in ecclesiastical contexts  were already in the grip of a powerful decline."

Encouraging Development in Our Day

Although despite the difficulties today among priests, there is a conviction to be found, "that the return of Latin has a purpose, to come closer to a civilization and to estimate its values, interests and their values as well as their doctrines and to test their theoretical foundations in view of a critical understanding of the past", continued the Curial Bishop further. That is surely, "an encouraging sign in the Church of today, which is ready to understand the study of the past not as a superfluous  and backwards looking view.,  which  unnecessarily longs in some way to recapture the past, rather  as a direct and immediate recapitulation of the message of an extraordinarily rich doctrinal, cultural and pedagogical heritage, one to a wide ranging, fruitful and deeply rooted intellectual heritage, as that could allow a severing from these roots."

Latin - means to recover their own cultural identity

Then the second man in the Congregation for  Clergy: "Under present circumstances, it seems unlikely that one brings to the priest - at least in the initial phase of his training -  an  estimate of the value of Latin as the  language, which has a refinement of  structure and  vocabulary and is able to promote an accurate, rich and harmonious style, full of grandeur and dignity, the seriousness and clarity, and insofar as is appropriate, moreover, to foster any form of culture, "humanitatis cultus" among the nations. And in this recovering its own cultural identity is the significance of the presence of the Latin language in the school curriculum of the candidates for the priesthood. And it is in this recapturing of an actual cultural identity that lies the importance of the ability to use the Latin language in the scholastic curriculum of the candidates for the priesthood.  Thus, the Latin language is exempt from unduly simplistic and inaccurate and superficial questions about its practical usefulness, and it is again  replaced in its role as a comprehensive formative field of instruction.

Link to original....

Penance in Latin at the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore

In the Papal Basilica of Saint Maria Maggiore in Rome, Penance is heard in Latin. Father Jan Raffaele de Brabandere of the Dominican Order offers the languages of French, Italian, Dutch, English, German, Spanish, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian in the Basilica and the basic language of Latin for all the faithful from the world, who perhaps have a great need on their Rome pilgrimage for the purifying Sacrament of reconciliation and the forgiveness of sins.

Fr. de Brandadere, aged 1928, is residing directly at the Basilica, belongs to the 108 Dominicans active in the Holy City. At the Basilica, he is the Penitentiary and Almoner, and in addition serves as high ranking Prelate of the Papal Household. The doctoral Church Musician is also famous for his compositions in church music.

Text: Orbis catholicus/Giuseppe Nardi, from the German.

H/t Katholisches...

Church Latin Was Never the Everyday Language of the People

Editor: If you're queezy about the tone of the article from the Kreuz.net, just look at the arguments and conclusions from Father Lang. He's right you know.

At Least the New Massbook will Orient Itself on the Sacral Latin Language

The backwoods Council discovered the national languages exactly at the moment, when these were increasingly losing their significance after the end of Nationalism and National Socialism.

(kreuz.net, Vatikan) In every form of religion there is a sacral language -- Sanskrit in Hinduism, Pali in Buddhism or Koran-Arabic in Islam.

This was explained by German Oratorian, Father Uwe Michael Lang, this 30. May on the neo-Conservative snooze site, 'Zenit'.

Father Lang is a collaborator of the Roman Liturgical Congregation.

There are No Stable People's Languages

In Christian services there were -- says Father Lang -- in the course of history a variety of languages in use:

-Greek in the Byzantine Tradition,

-The language of the old oriental like Syriach, Armenian, Georgian, Coptic and Ethiopian,

-Church Slavonic.

-Ltain of the Roman and successors in the Western Rites.

Father Lang stresses that the increasingly stylized forms of speech were established. They differ from the common language:

"Often this division follows a linguistic development in the common language, which does not occur in the Liturgical language because of its sacred character."

Church Latin has been from start to finish -- probably also because of its regression to older Latin speech forms -- differentiated from daily Latin speech.

The Romans did not speak in the style of the canons or the Mass prayers -- Father Long stresses:

"As soon as Greek was displaced in the Roman Liturgy by Latin, a significantly stylized language was used, which serve in the service and which would have been very difficult for the average late antique Christian in Rome to understand."

Father Lang also pointed out that the Latin Liturgy would not have been understood by the Catholic Goths, Celts, Iberians and Punic peoples:

"All the same -- thanks to the foresight of the Church of rome and the unifying power of the Papacy -- Latin was the only Liturgical Language of Christendom, and consequently the foundation of Western culture."


The Council Fathers Limped Behind the Times

At this point Father Lang made a noteworthy about face.

Actually he had still shown that the Church Latin at no time part of the common language and generally understood.

Actually now he speaks of a growing "Gap between the Liturgical Lating and the people's language with the development of the national cultures and languages in Europe."

This -- which in any case existed during the entire history of the Church -- situation has "not promoted" supposedly "the active participation of the Faithful in the Liturgy".

For that reason the Pastoral Council desired to promote the use of the mother language -- said the priest.

The council Fathers had not intended that Latin would be displaced by the National languages -- Father Lang said as he attempted to rescue the long discredited honor of the Pastoral Council:

"The linguistic splintering of the Catholic Liturgy was so widely advanced that many Faithful these days can hardly recite any other prayers than an "Our Father" together --- he lamented.

In reality, the back woods Council had discovered National Languages exactly at the moment as these were just increasingly losing their importance after the end of Nationalism and National Socialism in the wake of US-Hegemony.

Link to original...

Without Latin There Can't Be Any Decent Music: Zenit Interview With Cardinal Bartolucci

It is a double-cross:  The new Mass doesn't want beautiful music and doesn't produce therefore any musicians.  Actually without exceptional artists there is no support for church music.

(kreuz.net, Rom) The Church music finds itself today in a crisis.  The Honorary Cardinal Domenico Bartolucci (93) said this in his interview for 'Zenit.'

The Cardinal and composer was dismissed from his job after forty years as Director of the Cappella Sistina in 1997 by John Paul II († 2005).

His naming to Cardinal has been observed as a sign of Benedict XVI's love for Church Music.

In an interview Cardinal Bertolucci explained that music once was known as the soul of the Liturgy.

Today there are still talented youth, but the musical education is poor.

John Paul II Had Been Defenestrated Behind his Back

The Cardinal described his personal way to Music.

His father was an enthusiastic singer in the church choir.

In the Seminary, the music had been very important.  Actually his inclinations had put him far from music.  They had to be managed with special care that his study of old languages wouldn't suffer.

After that the Cardinal directed various choirs in the Roman Basilica.

In 1956 Pius XII. († 1958) named him the Director of the Sistine Chapel for life.

Pope Pius XII. loved sacred music and played the violin to rest -- said Cardinal Bartolucci.

His ouster under John Paul II was not honorable: "I found it out as my successor was named."

Today Church Music Lives on Hope

The Cardinal praises the efforts of the Choir of the Sistine Chapel up to the second Vatican Council.

Actually, things changed then:  "After the liturgical reform our contribution to Papal liturgies decreased."

For this reason the choir began to take concert tours throughout the whole world.

To the question, if Church Music would be restored to its former glory, Cardinal Bartolucci said, that it will take time:

"The Masters of earlier times are gone, because the necessity of heir existence isn't seen any more.  We live only in hope."

Benedict XVI loves the Gregorian Choral very much and wants to promote the Latin language.

The Pope knows that the repertoire of the past without Latin,  will be archived.

Cardinal Bartolucci is promoting a return to a Liturgy which makes room for music.  More importantly, the Prince of the Church longs for a return to a truly holy Art.

Cardinal Bertolucci identified his favorite musician as that master of polyphony, the Italian Composure, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina († 1594), and the German Johann Sebastian Bach († 1750).

Translated from kreuz.net..here.

Also Repoted here:

Rorate Caeli

Inside Catholic

Six Stabbed in brawl between students from West Catholic and Boys' Latin

 By JULIE SHAW, BARBARA LAKER & REGINA MEDINA

Philadelphia Daily News

shawj@phillynews.com 215-854-2592

FISTS AND feet flew outside a West Philadelphia Market-Frankford El station yesterday morning as two groups of high-school students battled each other, with at least one student bringing out a knife or other sharp object, as blood spilled on the sidewalk.

Five students from Boys' Latin of Philadelphia Charter School were stabbed or slashed, as was one from West Philadelphia Catholic High, during the melee about 7:30 a.m. on Farragut Street near Market, just outside the busy 46th Street Station.

At a school assembly yesterday, David Hardy, CEO of Boys' Latin, on Cedar Avenue near 55th in West Philadelphia, implored students not to retaliate. Four of the five kids stabbed had been accepted into college already.

Read more: http://www.philly.com/dailynews/top_story/20110115_Six_stabbed_in_brawl_between_students_from_West_Catholic_and_Boys__Latin.html#ixzz1BDB0sgiA
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