What’s Wrong With Dies Irae?

November 2, All Souls Day, is the one of last liturgical remnants of the doctrine of Purgatory and the need to pray for the souls therein. Since the Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, which called for funeral rites to “express more clearly the paschal character of Christian death,” the homilies and general aura of Catholic funerals have often ignored Purgatory and instead canonized the deceased among the heavenly blessed… . Continue Reading »

O Saints, Teach Us What You Know!

For a while, as each year wound down, a friend of mine would ask me if I would like her to “pull a patron” for me”a spiritual guide and teacher for the upcoming year. She had an impressive stack of holy cards, and if you wanted, she would randomly pull one for you, and that saint would then become your “patron” for the year. “Saint Titus!” she served up, one year. Really, I thought. A guy about whom almost nothing is known? Great… . Continue Reading »