Conditor Alme Siderum

ADVENT BEGINS tonight at First Vespers. Following is an Advent hymn, Conditor Alme Siderum:

CONDITOR alme siderum, aeterna lux credentium, Christe, redemptor omnium, exaudi preces supplicum.	CREATOR of the stars of night, Thy people's everlasting light, Jesu, Redeemer, save us all, and hear Thy servants when they call.
Qui condolens interitu mortis perire saeculum, salvasti mundum languidum, donans reis remedium,	Thou, grieving that the ancient curse should doom to death a universe, hast found the medicine, full of grace, to save and heal a ruined race.
Vergente mundi vespere, uti sponsus de thalamo, egressus honestissima Virginis matris clausula.	Thou camest, the Bridegroom of the Bride, as drew the world to evening tide, proceeding from a virgin shrine, the spotless Victim all divine.
Cuius forti potentiae genu curvantur omnia; caelestia, terrestria nutu fatentur subdita.	At whose dread Name, majestic now, all knees must bend, all hearts must bow; and things celestial Thee shall own, and things terrestrial Lord alone.
Te, Sancte, fide quaesumus, venture iudex saeculi, conserva nos in tempore hostis a telo perfidi.	O Thou whose coming is with dread, to judge and doom the quick and dead, preserve us, while we dwell below, from every insult of the foe.
Sit, Christe, rex piissime, tibi Patrique gloria cum Spiritu Paraclito, in sempiterna saecula. Amen.	To God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit, Three in One, laud, honor, might, and glory be from age to age eternally. Amen.

Hymn from Preces Latinae.

Click here for Fr. John Zuhlsdorf's analysis of this hymn.

Advent begins a new liturgical year. ‘Advent’ comes from the Latin word adventus meaning ‘coming’ or ‘arrival’, and the word was most specifically was used to describe a visit by a king or emperor. The end of the liturgical year invites us to consider the Four Last Things of Death, Judgement, Heaven and Hell, and recognizes the Kingship of Christ over all creation. We wait in fear and hope for the Return of the King who will judge the nations: this theme is continued at the beginning of the new liturgical year; only later does the emphasis changes to the first Advent, the coming of the Christ Child in Bethlehem.

A Forest Road

A forest road, named “Christy Avenue”, in Rockwoods Reservation, in Glencoe, Missouri.

This is a hand-held photo, taken in near darkness.

Photo of the Christian Brothers Retreat House, in Glencoe, Missouri

A photo of the La Salle Retreat Center, located in Glencoe, Saint Louis County, Missouri. From the center's website:

La Salle has been the home of the Christian Brothers since 1886. Until 1977, it served as the provincial Motherhouse with the house of formation and studies for young men discerning to become Christian Brothers. It also housed the Brothers on staff & faculty and a retired community of Brothers as well as the provincial offices. Since then, smaller communities of Christian Brothers have lived at La Salle and several Brothers now serve in the ministry of retreat work here.

The De La Salle Christian Brothers are a group of lay religious men devoted to education. They trace their beginnings to John Baptist De La Salle, a French priest, who established their society in 1680....

The retreat house has a beautiful hilltop site in the Ozarks, and is close to Rockwoods Reservation, a tiny steam railroad open to tourists, the Al Foster Trail, and a Marianist retreat house. The La Salle center is located near the Meramec River:  click here for some of my photos taken nearby.  Click here for a painting of this area, done in the Hudson River School style.  Click here for a history of Glencoe.

An old vocational postcard from the Christian Brothers describes its Ozark setting in flowery fashion:

What sight is so rare as Glencoe in spring! Then the gay landscape is arrayed in virgin green, and from uplands to bottom lands flowers heavy with sunshine climb and descend, as bright a vision as Jacob's ladder of angels. And what charm to eye, ear, and nostril are wasted on earth and air! A wealth of promised glory blossoms forth in the orchard, swollen brooks rush and grumble, gorgeous spectacles of rosestrewn morning on dewy hilltops and of changeful evening glory bathing western heights put the mind into a golden doze. With blankest unconcern one stands a gaze, drinking in the beauteous display of one of the most charming scenes on God's earth. The mellow glory of fall's yellow afternoons, when the air is crisp and a golden haze hangs over hill and glen, also makes the heart leap up and life merry as the music of the sapless leaves. "October's holocaust" in Glencoe, "Burned gold and crimson over all the hills, the sacremental mystery of the woods," cannot be surpassed for regal richness anywhere else on this beautiful globe. Glencoe is a highland village, imposing in its share of tilled and wooded hills and valleys, decked with flowers and waiving harvests. It is a village of hills within hills. To one standing in the lowlands, the whole has the appearance of an immense amphitheatre, Again, so many eminences are here huddled together that one is curiously reminded from higher points of observation of a herd of mammoths. the scene is one of wild irregularity . Vain is the search of uniformity and likeness. No hill has a fellow in outline, slope or crest. It is the same with the narrow strips of valleys: There is no feature of family resemblance. All about is a mad riot of rugged grandeur and picturesque pell-mell, a happy disorder of craggy summits and rounded tops, of grassy knolls and rocky descents, of park like plateaus and jagged ledges. Here climbing the heights is the unconquerable oak, there beneath is the chill cave of mystery; here under a shelf of protecting rock is the den of wild beast, across the way, the impetuous creek hews a circuitous path over stony channels, Everywhere nature is gay with wildest grandeur. Glencoe is a miracle of repose. Brooks whisper in the voice of dreams and the moist scent of flowers and grass and leaves is wafted in a fragrant chorus. Such is the solemn stillness in this sanctuary of silence, and as the eyes feast on the tranquil landscape or gaze on the far-off horizon one is moved to speak, to commune with the Creator of all things. No one returns from a visit to Glencoe without being impressed that this is the place to take sanctuary from a world of spiritual assassins. It is choice out of ten-thousand for a Novitiate, Fitter spot the most fastidious fancy could not picture for the formation of those who would run in the ways of God and escape the small economies and blighting scandals of a grinding world, where strength is taxed to little purpose and where even rare spirits often lower to the level of their labours. How different it is at Glencoe. There the environment has the virtue to lift "a man to match his mountain, not to creep dwarfed and abased below it".

Click here for another postcard.

Click here for a map of the area.

Month of the Holy Souls

READERS UNFAMILIAR with The Lion and the Cardinal, the blog belonging to Daniel Mitsui, may want to take a look at his remarkable series of postings for November — the month of the Holy Souls in the Catholic liturgical year. Included are photos of Requiem vestments, the Dance of Death, tombs, bone chapels, and other art to remind us of the Four Last Things: Death, Judgement, Heaven, and Hell.

http://www.danielmitsui.com/hieronymus

A Proclamation of Thanksgiving

By the President of the United States of America. a Proclamation.

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor--and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me "to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness."

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be--That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks--for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation--for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his Providence which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war--for the great degree of tranquillity, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed--for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted--for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

and also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions--to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually--to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed--to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn kindness onto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord--To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and us--and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand at the City of New-York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.

Go: Washington

— George Washington, first President of the United States. From the Papers of George Washington at the University of Virginia.

Mosaic of Christ the King

Mosaic of Christ the King, at Resurrection Cemetery, in Shrewsbury, Missouri. Christ is shown in royal scarlet garments, which not only symbolize his kingship, but also his passion. In the background are shown the Old Cathedral and Old Courthouse in downtown Saint Louis, which symbolize his kingship over the Church and the world.

The Feast of Christ the King only dates from the early 20^th century, and nowadays is mainly observed on the last Sunday before Advent. As the liturgical texts at the end of the church year emphasize the end of times, this feast nowadays has a mainly eschatological character; however, the original feast emphasized Christ's Kingship in his Passion and the here and now. Here is the original hymn from the Office of Matins for the feast:

Lord of the ages evermore,
Each nation's King, the wide world o'er,
O Christ, our only Judge thou art,
And Searcher of the mind and heart.

Through Sin with rebel voice maintain,
We will not have this Christ to reign,
Far other, Lord, shall be our cry,
Who hail thee King of kings most High.

O thou eternal Prince of peace,
Subdue man's pride, bid error cease,
Permit not sin to wax o'er-bold,
The strayed bring home within the fold.

For this thou hangedst on the Tree
With arms outstretched in loving plea;
For this thou shewedst forth thy Heart,
On fire with love, pierced by the dart.

And yet that wounded side sheds grace
Forth from the altar's holy place,
Where, veiled 'neath humblest bread and wine,
Abides for man the life divine.

Earth's noblest rulers to thee raise
Their homage due of public praise;
Teachers and judges thee confess;
Art, science, law, thy truth express.

Let kings be fain to dedicate
To thee the emblems of their state;
Rule thou each nation from above,
Rule o'er the people's homes in love.

All praise, King Jesu, be to thee,
The Lord of all in majesty;
Whom with the Father we adore,
And Holy Ghost for evermore. Amen.

This mosaic dates from 1974 and was made by the Ravenna Mosaic Company of Saint Louis, and is one of a series of outdoor mosaics located between two chapels in the cemetery.

The gray days of winter have not arrived yet. These photos were taken on Saturday.

Sunset over Washington, Missouri

Sunset over Washington, Missouri, taken from the Highway 47 bridge over the Missouri River.

Dusk over Pacific, Missouri

A view of Pacific, Missouri, during dusk, taken last Saturday evening. This is the view from the top of the sandstone bluff on the north side of town, as seen in my photos of Saint Bridget Church.

“The Revival of Flannery O'Connor”

KANSAS CATHOLIC links to a video, in the article The Revival of Flannery O'Connor.

The celebrated American literary writers of our past and present are very far from the orthodoxy of Christ's Church, and are far even from the uncertain faith of the bulk of the American people. Flannery O'Connor (1925-1964) is one of the very few orthodox Christians among the great American literary writers, but her success is due to following the example of Christ.

A writer who proclaims the Gospel plainly will often be merely “preaching to the choir”, which is not a bad thing, but the world will not listen. Instead, the writer who wants to preach to the world must follow the example of Our Lord and speak in parables: straightforward stories with a literal meaning that also have deeper moral and spiritual meanings.

O'Connor was a Catholic who lived in Milledgeville, Georgia, in the deep American South. Her stories of the distinctive people of that region are parables that have a spiritual meaning that might not be obvious to the worldly reader, and therein lie their success.