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The Imagined Citadel

René Guénon was one of the twentieth century’s most important traditionalist thinkers, as well as one of its strangest intellectual figures. In more than two dozen books, he claimed to reveal the hidden principles on which civilizations had rested since the dawn of humanity. His disclosure was . . . . Continue Reading »

The Latin Mass

In mid-July, Pope Francis issued Traditionis Custodes, a motu proprio concerning what’s popularly known as the Latin Mass. A motu proprio functions in papal administration much as do executive orders in our government. The aim of this papal directive is to curtail the . . . . Continue Reading »

How to Do Things with Words

A friend and I are arguing over the word traditionalist as applied to Catholics. He criticizes “traditionalists” but means only the “cranks,” he insists: No “sane person” would call himself a Catholic traditionalist; only cranks do that. When he writes “traditionalist,” my friend has in mind a careful definition that excludes the likes of Cardinal Burke and Pope Emeritus Benedict, but the word in general circulation has a broader range than that, and many gentle souls get caught in its net. Continue Reading »

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