On All Saints Day, the Church celebrates the glory of the Church Triumphant, which is the glory of all the saints that fill heaven and enjoy forever the beatific vision of God. It is surely the feast of all the saints that have been canonized and that we remember during the liturgical year: above all others Most Holy Mary, Virgin and Mother of God, Queen of all the Saints and our Mother, of the angels, the martyrs, the Apostles, confessors and of all the virgins and holy women.

At this time of year nature begins her long sleep of Winter, awaiting its resurrection next Spring. How appropriate this Feast now with its message of detachment from material things before ascending to the riches of an Eternal Spring. The Epistle lifts the veil, beholding “a great multitude which no man could number” entering Heaven. Oh, the comforting thought that it is a great multitude! This view and foretaste of Heaven calls for work to be done on earth.

The Gospel, therefore, sets forth the laws of entrance, the Eight Beatitudes, which make us “blessed,” that is “happy” clearly proving that the Christian Life is not a “giving up” of present things but rather an “exchange” of natural for supernatural things designed to merge sooner or later with those blessings of beatific vision and beatific union, eternal, without end.

The Church is divided in the following manner:
The Church in Heaven, All Saints.
The Church in purgatory, All Souls.
The Church on earth, All Sorts.

(Msgr. Ronald Knox)

My Jesus, by the sorrows Thou didst suffer in Thine agony in the garden, in Thy scourging and crowning with thorns. in the way to Calvary, in thy crucifixion and death, have mercy on the souls in purgatory, and especially on those that are most forsaken; do Thou deliver them from the dire torments they endure. Call them and admit them to Thy most sweet embrace in paradise.

Our Father,
Hail Mary,
Eternal rest, etc.

All you angels of consolation, go and visit those patient sufferers. Offer for them the merits of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, and obtain their speedy union with Jesus, Whose vision is bliss and Who yearns to have them with Him.

O sweet brethren, so mightily afflicted, knowing your fear and love of God and your charity for souls, pray for us that we may speedily obtain what we ask for our urgent needs and also the grace of a good life and a holy death.

Reward, O Lord, with eternal life, all those who do us good for Thy Names sake. (Plenary Indulgence if said daily for a month, under the usual conditions.)

As you know I was part of the official LMS delegation at the Foederatio Internationalis Una Voce General Assembly in Rome over the last weekend.

A task I helped perform was the counting of the votes of the constituent members gathered and proxies for the new council.

A record number of candidates made elongated this task but more difficult was attempting to pronounce the names of the successful candidates to the assembly post count - may I offer my apologies now for any mis-pronounced names!

My congratulations go to the new President of the Federation, Sr. Felipe Alanís Suárez from Monterrey, México. I understand this is the first time the presidency has been held by an association from the Americas.

The new president has made the following address post election:

Dear Members of the Foederatio Internationalis Una Voce,

It is with great expectations that I write this letter to all of you, in my new capacity of President of our beloved International Federation.

As you might have been noticed previously, this weekend, thanks to the hard work of our former President, Col. James Bogle (to whom I’m deeply grateful), the biennial Statutory General Assembly has taken place in Rome, with its last event being the Monday’s morning Mass. In this special occasion and according to our statutes, last Saturday the delegates of the FIUV associations proceeded to the election of the new Council, for which we had the largest number of candidates in the history of our organization, coming from all around the world. This single fact demonstrates the wonderful health and relevance that the Una Voce movement has reached, and if you allow me to say, was the greatest way to start the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of its creation.

Five decades ago, in 1965, the first Una Voce meeting took place in Rome with delegates from six European countries in order to gather in defence of the Church's liturgical heritage. Two years later, in 1967, the Foederatio Internationalis Una Voce was formally erected when 20 associations approved its statutes, elected a council and a founding President: my predecessor Dr Erich Vermehren de Saventhem.

Currently, in 2015, we have 45 member associations from every continent and the legacy from our former Presidents: the above mentioned Dr. de Saventhem, Mr. Michael Davis, Mr. Ralf Siebenburger, Fra' Fredrik Crichton-Stuart, Mr. Jack Oostveen, Mr. Leo Darroch and Col. James Bogle. This legacy is so important and fruitful that, as the first non-European FIUV President, I neither represent a choice for a change of spirit nor pretend to be a renewed beginning: on the contrary, it is a natural development of a steady and organic growth of the institution worldwide, in the more Catholic sense of the Church, which can be enriched with the different gifts that God gives to his children.

And if someone could dare to affirm that nowadays the Traditional Mass only fits well within a very specific cultural background, our new Council proves it to be very wrong, as could be seen in the list of our new elected councillors and officers whose names I have the great honour to communicate you:

President: Felipe Alanís Suárez (myself) – Una Voce México
Vice-President: Patrick Banken – Una Voce France
Secretary: Juan Manuel Rodríguez González-Cordero – Una Voce Sevilla (Spain)
Treasurer: Monika Rheinschmitt – Pro Missa Tridentina Germany

Councillors:
Alain Cassagnau – Una Voce France
Albert Edward Doskey – Una Voce Cuba
Eduardo Colón – Una Voce Puerto Rico
Fabio Marino – Una Voce Italia
Hajime Kato – Una Voce Japan
Johann von Behr – Una Voce Germany
Joseph Shaw – Latin Mass Society of England and Wales
Marcin Gola – Una Voce Poland
Oleg-Michael Martynov – Una Voce Russia
Othon de Medeiros Alves – Una Voce Natal, Brazil
Rodolfo Vargas Rubio – Roma Æterna, Barcelona (Spain)

All of us, blessed by the physical or moral presence of our Presidents d’honneur:

Professor Count Neri Capponi; M. Jacques Dhaussy; His Excellency Dr. Helmut Ruckriegel.


With special joy, I can announce that the Council has decided to create the honorary office of President’s Personal Consultant, with the informal role of closely and personally advising the President in the main questions raised about the governance of the Federation. This is to recognize and take benefit of the experience of former FIUV Presidents. So, each of them is allowed and respectfully asked to bear this new position personally and exclusively attached to the President in charge, who assumes, of course, the whole responsibility of the decisions he makes. I take the occasion to express my sincere and deep gratitude to my predecessors. As we could verify in our very first Council meeting, to leave our humble skills in the hands of the our Lady who, under the mystery of her Immaculate Conception, will allow us to work in a beautiful concord and unity ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam animarumque salutem.

I would like to assure the member associations of the best of my efforts in this period as President of the Federation and also encourage them not to be afraid to go out and keep fighting together –always with Charity, Joy, Respect and Humbleness– the spiritual combat for the sake of the souls, that in the present and in the future, will be saved by the Holy sacrifice of Christ in the Altar of the Mass.

¡Viva Cristo Rey!

Felipe Alanís Suárez
President of the Foederatio Internationalis Una Voce

In Rome, 25 October 2015

Here we are again in Rome for our pilgrimage to the tombs of the two Holy Apostles, St Peter and St Paul. As pilgrims, you have come to perform the external task of walking, to give a visible sign of devotion and reverence, but you are more important task is along the inner path of Faith, as you look for the living God and try to strengthen your bond of love with Him.

We are living in difficult times, but we must not be discouraged or yield to resignation and pessimism. We must never forget that there are many other people around us who, although they do not recognise the Faith they have been given, are still trying to find a sense of meaning in their lives. This search for meaning is a real “preamble” to Faith, because it will lead them along the road up to the mystery of God.

It will be difficult for these searchers for something spiritual to find the True God and the True Church if we have not borne credible witness to them. What the world needs now is the credible testimony of good Catholics, so that many hearts and minds will open to God and the real meaning of life, which will never fade away.

The Catholic mission is not simply passing on a message. It means helping people to know Jesus and experience His love and His mercy as deeply and intimately as possible. We have to come out of ourselves to evangelise, and this is what it means to live a catholic life. Your pilgrimage to Rome is tangible proof that you want to come out of yourselves to pass the joy of knowing God on to other people who do not yet know Him or who have forgotten Him. Your pilgrimage must make you feel you belong to a community of missionary disciples.

In St Mark’s Gospel, we hear about a seed which grows even when the man who cast it is sleeping (Mk. 4, 26-29). The intimacy between the Church and Our Lord is itinerant, and on this pilgrimage the Church is a Missionary Community, as Pope Francis has reminded us.

At this point question comes to mind: what can we give others if we have not felt it first within ourselves? How could we help others to meet Our Lord and the living God if we had not already met Him and not already contemplated the mystery of God in our lives?

Where is the best and safest place to live, contemplate, and internalise this meeting with the mystery of God?

The greatness of the Sacred Liturgy does not consist in watching some sort of spiritual entertainment; rather, it is letting ourselves be touched by the mystery of God coming down to us. If this were not so, we should never be able to reach Him with our own forces.

The Holy Sacrifice of Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite brings out certain elements and aspects which are indispensable in letting us understand the sacredness of the Rite, the real presence of Christ, and the sacrificial nature of the Mass which is the very sacrifice of Our Lord. All of this helps and serves in the building of the body of Christ which is the Church.

The ancient Liturgy is not a relic of the past: it is a living reality within the Church, and it helps bring the inheritance of sanctity and prayer which Tradition passes on to us into our modern lives.

The old Liturgy of Mass also makes us extremely aware that we participate in the Liturgy to worship the mystery of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. The greatness and power of the Sacred Liturgy teach us how to worship: only adoration matures a deep experience of meeting the living God. The very act of adoring the Blessed Sacrament also matures the missionary spirit in us. It pulls down the barriers between us, and is the best way of pulling down those which stop both reconciliation between us and our brethren, and harmony in this life.

During your pilgrimage to Rome, and at the start of the Jubilee Year of Mercy, stand up and profess your Catholic Faith!

We know that Our Lord defeated evil and death. With this Faith we can turn to Him: Jesus Christ here among us to fight the power of the Evil One; and the Church, the visible community of His mercy, is a sign of our ultimate reconciliation with God the Father.

In this ancient church, dedicated to the Mother of God, we see that Our Lord wanted to live in the temple which was Our Lady. In this way He sent into the world His real home and this home is our Faith in Mary, the Mother of all Christians. Our Faith is a real home in this world and it leads us into the Church, where we are all brothers and sisters. Let us ask the Holy Mother of God to keep tender watch over us and our families, so that as pilgrims we learn from this pilgrimage how to continue towards our final destination, the eternal City, and our eternal happiness in our heavenly home. Amen.

The Good Counsel Network (GCN) quietly carry on their work from their North London base.

A Catholic pro-life group who have saved many babies from abortion and have provided mothers with support just when they need it. They may be London based but I admire their work and am happy to support and promote it!

On Tuesday 27th October, 48 years since the Abortion Act 1967 became law, the GCN ask us to join in on a national day of fasting. See the flyer below for details.

I am very privileged to be one of the official delegates of the Latin Mass Society at 50th anniversary General Assembly of the Foederatio Internationalis Una Voce in Rome. Addtionally, the annual Summorum Pontificum pilgrimage is also taking place.

A full programme of liturgical events has been taking place since last Thursday, including Pontifical High Mass at the Chair of St Peter's Basilica yesterday (Saturday)  Celebrated by the Rt Rev Msgr Laise, Bishop Emeritus of San Luís, Argentina.

The pilgrimage group had earlier taken part in Eucharistic Adoration at San Lorenzo in Damaso presided over by Rev Don Marino Neri, secretary of Amicizia sacerdotale Summorum Pontificum.

After the Benediction, we processed to St Peter's led by Rt Rev Dom Jean Pateau OSB, Abbot of Fontgombault and below are a few photographs, they are as they are .... I take no accolades for photography! I just wanted to share these special grace filled days. Deo grátias!

Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen
Divine Intimacy

The liturgy today is truly a triumphant hymn celebrating the Kingship of Christ. From the First Vespers of the Feast, the figure of Jesus is majestically portrayed, seated on a royal throne and dominating the entire world; “His Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom, and all kings shall serve and obey Him…. He shall sit and rule and shall speak peace unto the nations.”

The Mass opens with the apocalyptic vision of this extraordinary King whose majesty is intimately linked to His immolation for the salvation of souls…. “The Lamb that was slain is worthy to receive power and divinity and wisdom and strength and honor. To Him belong glory and power forever and ever” (Introit).

In the Epistle (Col 1:12-20) St. Paul enumerates the titles which make Christ King of all kings: He is “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature; for in Him were all things created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible.” These titles belong to Jesus Christ inasmuch as He is God, perfect image of the Father, exemplary cause of all earthly and heavenly creatures and, at the same time, Creator, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, of all that exists, for nothing has existence without Him, but “all things were created by Him and in Him … by Him all things consist.”

Then come His titles to Kingship as Man: “He is the Head of the Mystical Body, the Church…. Through Him [God] … reconciled all things unto Himself, making peace through the Blood of His Cross.” He, who is already our King by reason of His divinity, is also King through His Incarnation, which has constituted Him the Head of all humanity, and through His Passion, by which at the price of His Blood He has regained our souls, which already belonged to Him as His creatures.

Jesus is our King in the full sense of the word: He has created us, redeemed us, vivified us by His grace, He nourishes us with His Flesh and Blood, He governs us with love, and by love He draws us to Himself. In the face of such considerations, the cry of St. Paul rises spontaneously from our heart: “Giving thanks to God the Father … who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption … the remission of sins."

Mass for the Feast of Christ the King will be celebrated at:

St Winefride Catholic Church
Well Street
Holywell
CH8 7PL

1130am on Sunday 25th October 2015

“The Kingdom of heaven is likened to a king who would take an account of his servants.”

Today’s Gospel refers to the account which all men will one day be called upon to give. It is a serious thought, which makes us reflect, as we did last Sunday on the state of our conscience. Yet, as we continue the reading of this parable, our hearts are comforted. God, represented by the king, manifests such kindness, mercy, and compassion to the poor servant who cannot pay his debt; He forgives him everything and sets him free.

The debt of that servant was not a trifling one: ten thousand talents; our debts to God are much greater and cannot be computed in talents, nor in silver and gold; they must be reckoned according
to the price of our redemption, the most precious Blood of Jesus.

Our debts are our sins which need ed to be washed away in the Blood of a divine Victim. In spite of our good will, we increase these debts each day, to a greater or lesser extent, if only by faults of frailty and weakness. Is there one who can say at the day’s end that he has not contracted new debts with God? If, at the end of life, God should place before us an exact account of our deficit, we should find ourselves in a much more embarrassing position than that of the servant in the parable.

But God, being infinite goodness, knows and has pity on our misery; each time we place ourselves before Him and humbly acknowledge our faults with sincere repentance, He immediately pardons us and cancels all our debts.

God is magnificent when He pardons: He does not reproach us for the faults over which we have already wept, nor does He keep any account of them; His pardon is so generous, so great and complete, that it not only annuls our debts but destroys even the memory of them, as if they had never existed.

It is enough for Him to see us repentant; then every wound, even the most grievous and repugnant, is completely healed by the precious Blood of Jesus. Christ’s Blood is like an immense sea which has the power to cleanse and destroy the sins of all mankind, provided they are sincerely repented of. Every minute of every day we can take the burden, heavy or light as it may be, of our sins and infidelities and make it disappear in this ocean of grace and love, certain that not one trace of it will remain.

The second part of the parable speaks of our forgiveness of others. Returning home, the fortunate servant whose debts had all been cancelled, met one of his fellow servants, who owed him a hundred pence, a very small sum compared with the ten thousand talents which had been cancelled for him. Yet he who had been treated with so much mercy, showed none to his fellow servant; he would neither listen to his pleadings, nor heed his tears, but “went and cast him into prison, till he paid the debt.”

The parable describes the punishment inflicted on the cruel servant by his master: “And his lord being angry, delivered him to the torturers until he paid all the debt;” and the conclusion follows: “So also shall My heavenly Father do to you, if you forgive not your brothers from your hearts.”

If we wish God to be generous in pardoning us, we must be generous in forgiving others; we shall be forgiven according to the measure in which we forgive, which means that we ourselves gi ve to God the exact measure of the mercy He is to show to us.

'Divine Intimacy' by Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, OCD

Today in 1584, St Richard Gwyn was martyred at Wrexham.

The time next year, we hope to have a Mass in the Extraordinary Form for the feast of our local Saint and co-patron of the LMS aptly at the Cathedral in Wrexham.

You can read more about St Richard here.

Extraordinary Faith is a 30 minute television programme on EWTN that celebrates the beauty of classical Catholic sacred art, architecture, music, and the Extraordinary Form liturgy.

On Tuesday 20th October, the next edition is to be broadcast.

It will include how members of the Juventutem chapter in Miami help organise Latin Masses and social events that emanate from the Latin Mass attending community.

The tradition of women wearing mantillas and how many converts have been brought across the Tiber due to the traditional form of the Mass.

The programme goes out at 0200, 0800 and 2100

After much anticipation, the new North West based mission of the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter at St Mary's, Warrington will commence with a Polyphonic Solemn High Mass in the presence of the Archbishop of Liverpool, the Most Reverend Malcolm Patrick McMahon OP on Saturday 21st November 2015 at 12 noon, the Feast of the Presentation of Our Lady.

The full postal address of the church is St Mary’s Priory Church, Buttermarket Street, Warrington WA1 2NS and a map is provided below  .....