Today, in England, is the festival of St George, our (novel) patron. To be honest I'm not enthusiastic about foreign saints, particularly if they supersede an old English one. St Edward the Confessor is the true (and traditional) patron saint of this country, and the Royal Family, and his feast day is not until October. Therefore I am celebrating the traditional feast of the holy Apostles Philip and James instead. For an erudite account of what happened to this feast in 1956, see here.
And now we come to a matter which touches me very near. You see one of the reasons I started blogging again is because the nasty little Traddie elite in one of many so-called ''traditionalist'' parishes, this time last year, decided (against my counsel) not to celebrate the traditional feast of Sts Philip and James on its proper day (as indicated in the St Lawrence Press Ordo) but the novel pseudo-feast of ''St Joseph the Worker,'' or aptly named in Italian San Giuseppe Comunista, invented by pope Pacelli in the 1950s (the golden age of Trad Catholicism) in deference to communism, because, I was told, ''the people have a devotion to St Joseph.'' Oh it was awful. Expecting Miranda and I was greeted by Caliban! I turned up to serve the first Saturday of the month Sung Mass, expecting red vestments and a decent Sung Mass in honour of the holy Apostles whose feast has been on this day since the first Millennium (and is even so in the Book of Common Prayer kalendar of saints), and the Traddies decided to put on a farce of Ultramontane crap. I only stayed because it was the First Holy Communion Mass of two friends of mine; otherwise I'd have departed in wrath (and probably shaken the dust from my feet). Listening to the strange plainchant of the new propers I was seething and took it upon myself to expose Traddieland for what it is. I mean, it is rather nauseating having to see on other blogs sycophantic nonsense such as ''oh what lovely lace father,'' ''oh how traditional, lovely Roman cut vestments and six candlesticks,'' extraordinary forms and mutual enrichment, and blah blah blah...
If anyone in their insolence would supplant the traditional feast of the holy Apostles Philip and James and celebrate the pseudo-feast of Joe Communist because of Ultramontanism and pastoral expediency, let him be anathema.
If anyone even names ''St Joseph the Worker'' in honour, let him be anathema.
If anyone disagrees with me on this point, let him be anathema.
I did celebrate the Feast of "Philip and James"...maybe not on the day appointed but still...
ReplyDeleteAnd St. Joe the Worker is the patron of our Cathedral and of our Diocese...sorry...can't help it;
and he's the patron of our Association.
I understand your grievances...really...but the Church is a living Organism; She does have the ability to progress, yeah?
Why does she have to progress? She is the Body of Christ, the Bride of the Lamb, and so forth...do you mean to say that the Body of Christ is subject to change. The human is subject to change, of course, but such change as tends to perfection...and giving in to the spirit of age, as trying to placate commies, does not constitute Perfection. Pastoral reasons...the imperative to Perfection supersedes 'pastoral reasons' which is but an exaltation of human weakness.
ReplyDeleteWe do not do what we can, but what we must.
Development, not change.
ReplyDeleteThe Church has, in her 2000+ years of existence, made many developments.
If we're going to settle on a certain date of when "everything was perfect"...what date do you propose?
I feel your pain! I myself am Eastern Orthodox so we have our own calendar, which does not include St. Joseph the spouse (or worker, for that matter).
ReplyDeleteRdr. James Morgan
On the contrary, we Orthodox DO commemorate Joseph the Betrothed in our kalendar—together with David the King and James the Brother of the Lord—, on the Sunday after Christmas.
ReplyDeleteI was under the impression that St. George became the patron saint during the late papal era and that St. Edmund was the patron saint during the Orthodox and early Medieval eras, despite an unsuccessful attempt to elevate the Norman asslicker.
ReplyDeleteWe are all entitled to our opinions (I don't much like the Workers feast myself) but you fail to realise the danger of setting yourself up as a Magisterium unto yourself. Anathematising even the Pope from your computer in Kent is absurd. I'd dismiss it as humor but for the history of this blog, my brother.
ReplyDelete-Knight Hospitaller
I agree with David that trying to anathematize the pope of Rome from a computer in Kent IS absurd; such popes have anathematized themselves over the last thousand years or so through their blasphemous claims. If one is looking for humour [spelt with a ‘u’, please note—just as anathematize has a ‘z’, pronounced “zed” and not “zee”], then one need look no further than the history of that absurd, pope-worshipping, sect known as Roman Catholicism.
ReplyDelete