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"Angels at Mass" by Fr Giovanni Pede

4/19/2022

ANGELS AT MASS. A CROSS-READING OF THE WRITINGS OF CATALINA RIVAS AND CHARLES WEBSTER LEADBEATER.
by Revd Fr Giovanni Pede

The mystic and the theosophist. Same phenomena, different readings.
I recently came across the story of the Roman Catholic mystic Catalina Rivas, who wrote down an account of her visions of what happens at Mass. The strength and clarity of the images she gives reminded me of the Liberal Catholic bishop Charles Webster Leadbeater's description of the liturgy and its "workings" in his magnum opus "The Science of the Sacraments" (1920). Obviously the latter refers to the Liberal Catholic Liturgy (1919) and the Tridentine liturgy with which it shows many similarities. Catalina Rivas's visions, on the other hand, date from the late 1990s and thus the rite of the Mass to which she refers is the Roman Novus Ordo.
The differences in the rite do not concern us in this article, as what I propose here is a cross-reading of the two testimonies.

A few words about Rivas and Leadbeater before taking up some fragments from their writings.

Catalina Rivas [1944 - ] is a Bolivian mystic who during the last decade of the last century was chosen by Jesus to become "his secretary" (as the mystic refers to herself and her ministry). Rivas received several messages full of mystical and religious significance, which she transcribed into several notebook pages, later published with the imprimatur of the Archbishop of Cochabamba. In the opinion of the Church, and of the mystic herself, the complexity of these texts was considered too high for her level of education and theological instruction. Catalina Rivas also received the stigmata in 1996.

Charles Webster Leadbeater [1854 - 1934], a former Anglican priest, became an exponent of the Theosophical Society and, in the 1910s, together with Bishop James Ingall Wedgwood, initiated the Liberal Catholic Church. The Liberal Catholic Church, initially known as the Old-Catholic Church of the British Isles, became an independent Catholic church when it broke away from the Utrecht Union. It was traditionalist in liturgy and ceremony, progressive socially and liberal theologically. Today, the Liberal Catholic Church is fragmented into various ecclesial realities of varying size, but with a global presence.

What happens during the Mass?

Let us now turn to the testimony of the two authors. Catalina Rivas wrote "La Santa Misa" in 2000, an account of a Mass she attended in the company of Our Lady, from whom she received various teachings and revelations. Rivas, moreover, touched by the Lord, is able to perceive "presences, energies and subtle forces" that come into play during the celebration. In particular, she witnesses the presence of angelic visitors who appear during the Offertory:

Suddenly some characters, whom I had not seen before, began to stand up. It was as if from the side of each person present in the Cathedral, another person emerged, and soon the Cathedral became full of young, beautiful people. They were dressed in very white robes, and they started to move into the central aisle and, then, went towards the Altar.
Our Mother said: “Observe. They are the Guardian Angels of each one of the persons who are here. This is the moment in which your guardian angel carries your offerings and petitions before the Altar of the Lord.”
In the Liberal Rite, at the end of the incensing of the offerings, after the Offertory, the priest addresses this request to God:

Let Thy holy Angels encompass Thy people and breathe forth upon them the spirit of Thy blessing.

Leadbeater describes what happens next:

it is a most beautiful sight to see them [the Angels] swoop down the church shedding their influence over the congregation...

Rivas continues in describing her vision:

Some of them were carrying something like a golden bowl with something that shone a great deal with a golden-white light. The Virgin Mary said: “They are the Guardian Angels of the people who are offering this Holy Mass for many intentions, those who are conscious of what this celebration means. They have something to offer the Lord.”

In “The Science of the Sacraments”, Leadbeater himself reports that the role of the Angels is precisely to gather the energies and intentions of those present and bring them to the Altar. The Liberal Catholic tradition places great emphasis on the formation of the faithful in liturgical matters, so that they are aware of what is happening during the Mass and so that they can conform their intentions and thoughts to the mystery being celebrated.

In the Preface of the Liberal Rite, the help of the angelic hosts is invoked, whose voices the celebrants and the faithful must join in singing the Sanctus. Leadbeater says:

It is indeed a marvellous and a glorious sight for the clairvoyant to see these celestial visitors flash into their appointed positions in response to their traditional words of power. While the Angel of the Eucharist stands usually beside the celebrant, or floats just above his head, the illustrious ambassadors of the nine Orders always range themselves behind the Altar facing the celebrant. Behind them in turn stand numbers of human beings as well, whose members generally take their places opposite the ends of the Altar, though they frequently also fill the upper part of the nave, hovering above those who are still in the body.
Catholics who during their physical lives have delighted in the Services of the Church naturally continue to attend them after the death of their bodies; [...] the worshippers whom most people cannot see are often far more numerous than those perceptible to all.

Let’s go back to Rivas’ vision. At the singing of the Sanctus, Catalina sees a host of Angels…
Behind the left side of the Archbishop, thousands of Angels appeared in a diagonal line, small angels, big angels, angels with immense wings, angels with small wings, angels without wings. As the previous ones, all were dressed with tunics like the white robes of the priests or altar boys. Everyone knelt with their hands united in prayer, and bowed their heads in reverence. Beautiful music was heard as if there were many choirs with different voices, all singing in unison together with the people: Holy, Holy, Holy…

..and many people dressed in robes of various colours. Mary reveals to her that they are “all the Saints and the Blessed of Heaven, and among them are the souls of your relatives who already enjoy the Presence of God”.
She continues as follow:
Before the Altar, there appeared some shadows of people in a gray color with their hands raised. The Holy Virgin said: “These are the blessed souls of Purgatory, who await your prayers to be refreshed. Do not stop praying for them. They pray for you, but they cannot pray for themselves. It is you who have to pray for them, in order to help them depart so that they can be with God and enjoy Him eternally.

In the Liberal Catholic tradition the concept of Purgatory is different from that of the Roman Church. The interpretation, and therefore the explanation that the two authors give of the vision is different, but what they see happening is very similar: the souls of the dead are also present during the celebration of the Holy Mass.

We now come to the moment of the Consecration. Rivas continues her narration in this way.

The celebrant said the words of the Consecration. He was a person of normal height, but suddenly, he began to grow, becoming filled with light, a supernatural light between white and gold that enveloped him and grew very strong around the face. And because of it, I could not see his features. When he raised the Host, I saw his hands, and on the back of his hands, he had some marks from which emanated a great deal of light. [...]
Immediately, the Archbishop said the words of the Consecration of the wine and, as the words were being said, lightning appeared from the heavens and in the background. The walls and ceiling of the church had disappeared. All was dark, but for that brilliant light from the Altar.

Leadbeater wrote 'The Science of the Sacraments' following a similar vision he had during a Roman Catholic celebration he attended on a visit to Sicily, reported in an article in The Theosophist magazine in 1910:

At the moment of consecration the Host glowed with the most dazzling brightness; it became in fact a veritable sun to the eye of the clairvoyant, and as the priest lifted it above the heads of the people I noticed that two distinct varieties of spiritual force poured forth from it, which might perhaps be taken as roughly corresponding to the light of the sun and the streamers of his corona. The first rayed out impartially in all directions upon all the people in the church; indeed it penetrated the walls of the church as though they were not there, and influenced a considerable section of the surrounding country

All those present are touched by that light, which emanates from the Blessed Sacrament onto all the people. This also happens according to the vision of Rivas:

From within this resplendent light, a small light, like a very brilliant, very small dove, came forth and flew swiftly all over the Church. It came to rest on the left shoulder of the Archbishop..

We now come to the moment of Communion. Catalina observes the faithful waiting to receive the Body of Christ. Jesus himself appears at the side of the mystic to instruct her.

When the Priest placed the Sacred Host on her tongue, a flash of light, like a very golden white light, went right through this person, first through her back, then surrounding her from the back, around her shoulders, and then her head. The Lord said: “This is how I Myself rejoice in embracing a soul who comes with a clean heart to receive Me.”
Leadbeater, for his part, reports that the communicant, in taking Holy Communion, draws enormous "waves of force" to himself.

Not only is the communicant stimulated and strengthened in every way by coming into so close a relation with this splendid manifestation of the divine power, but he himself becomes for the time a subsidiary centre of that power, and radiates it in turn upon those around him [...] [He] becomes a radiant sun among his brethren.

The Liberal Catholic Post-Communio reads as follows: “We who have been refreshed with Thy heavenly gifts, do pray Thee, O Lord, that Thy grace may be so grafted inwardly in our hearts, that it may continually be made manifest in our lives”. Leadbeater explains that this prayer is intended to ensure that the stimulus we receive does not turn into a mere feeling, but continues to do its work within us. Ordinary life continues under the radiance of the Eucharistic light.

Catalina, after having observed the faithful taking Communion, asks the Lord how long He remains present after Mass. Jesus answers her thus: "All the time that you want to have Me with you. If you speak to Me all day long, offering Me some words during your chores, I will listen to you. I am always with you. It is you who leaves Me".

Both authors agree that the effects of the Eucharist do not end with the reception of the Blessed Sacrament, but continue in the course of everyday life, according to the intention, conscience and desire of the partaker.

Sources:

Michaeljournal.org. The Holy Mass explained to Catalina by Jesus and Mary.<online>
Leadbeater C.W., 2007. The Science of the Sacraments. European-Americal University Press.
Leadbeater C.W., 1910. The Magic of the Christian Church in The Theosophist No. 12 September 1910.

Myth and Ritual in Christianity

3/29/2022

Excerpted from a review of Alan Watts's "Myth and Ritual in Christianity" by Revd Fr Giovanni Pede

This book is a useful tool for understanding the relationships between Christianity and other traditions (Alan Watts was a Buddhist and writes about Christianity, validating its deeper meaning) and how they can all be traced back to a single source, the perennial philosophy. External differences of doctrines are matched when one searches for the true meaning of the myth, they vanish when one looks at the experience of the mystics and those who have realised their true nature, those who have realised the non-duality of reality.

Distant peoples have similar symbols and images in their myths. Man, however different, draws true Knowledge from the same source: what Jung calls the collective unconscious, which is probably nothing more than a supra-individual state of being that transcends the limits of time and space of the single individuals who are part of it.

Christian myths are no exception. They contain universal truths. They are narratives of the one Tradition.
There is a problem, however, as Watts points out. Christians tend to interpret the stories literally and not see the deeper meaning hidden behind them. Moreover, there is a certain 'Christian provincialism' that leads the faithful (and the authorities) to exclude any manifestation of the perennial philosophy other than their own. This is true for Catholics and Orthodox, but also for Protestant denominations. In the latter case perhaps even more so because they are much more constrained by biblical theology and literalism.

However, a specific point must be made. It is true that Christians tend to interpret the mythology of their faith literally and historically. But - and herein lies the uniqueness of Christianity - it is equally true that the stories underlying this mythology have their own place in space and time. They have an undeniable historicity. We have, in christianity, a real mixture of universal reality and contingent reality. We can speak of a Historical Jesus, because there was a Jesus born in Nazareth, an itinerant preacher who challenged the religious status quo and was put to death at the time of Pilate. This is not surprising: just as the macrocosm is reflected in the microcosm of man, i.e. in the reality of the individual, so must it find correspondence in the reality of a multitude of individuals, and this reality is history. As the author rightly points out, the birth of Christ is a historical fact. History has eternal value only if it also becomes myth, where past facts symbolise present reality.

That is why in history we find the incarnation of cosmic principles such as the Logos and Prima Materia as a correspondence with what was in the beginning.

According to the author, the problem of the Western world is that it has tried to explain the ineffable reality that precedes the facts with science, the same science that is used to investigate the facts. Metaphysics cannot have language and its knowledge comes through intuition, contrary to the rational and sensitive knowledge typical of science. This has created confusion and, as Plato would say, knowledge based more on opinion than on True Science.

Actually, metaphysics needs no explanation as it is a type of knowledge already present in man. The problem is that man is distracted, he is off centre. He is focused on illusions and conventions, such as the ego, the illusion of the future, pleasures and, generally, chasing after wind (Ecclesiastes 1, 14).

The myth of the Tower of Babel warns against trying to understand ultimate reality with only the intellect. Metaphysics approached with rationality and verbal language only creates confusion. In the myth of Babel, God punishes man's arrogance by confusing languages. Pentecost is the antithesis: the man who realises his nature, who lets go of the ego to make room for the Spirit, has the gift of speaking in languages, understands (by intuition) reality as it is.

In essence, the problem of the western vision lies in theology itself: like all positive sciences, it measures everything in human terms and carries with it all the preconceptions derived from human perception. One of these is time, that for us is something linear. From this cognition of time comes the conception we have, for example, of eternity: an infinite extension of time. Eternity should be understood as outside time, in an atemporal dimension. And even time itself is not really linear, but circular as events tend to be cyclical (eternal cycle of life and death, history that is cyclical, economy as well).

This has repercussions on the eschatological vision. The Kingdom, eternal life, is projected into an indefinite future. Something that has to come, that has to be realised in time, rather than something that is realisable within us (Luke 17, 20-21) and is realisable in the present, provided that we can at least manage to stop identifying ourselves with the heap of memories that constitute the past and with the expectations, dreams, illusions that project the self into the future. As the myths remind us, salvation always becomes a liberation from the slavery of the past: think of Israel's liberation from Egypt.

The incarnation itself is to be understood not as an event of the past, but as an event that is out of time and that reproduces itself eternally in the present moment.

Pentecost should be seen in the same light. It was not a unique and unrepeatable event, but is reproduced inwardly where the ego identifies itself with the divine Self. Just as the Spirit does not descend until Jesus has ascended, so until the ego is emptied, the spirit cannot descend to fill this void. There is no divinisation of man until he recognises his eternal nature and realises how attached he is to his illusory reality.

Talking about eschatology, eternal damnation is something that is not really convincing. As Watts rightly says, a reality in which supposed eternity still contrasts a Heaven (where the good are) and a Hell (where the bad are) still presupposes a dual reality. I see Hell and Paradise as realities that are realised now, in the sensible world we live in and perhaps in other states that are not the ultimate reality. I agree with Watts that the “sense” of heaven and hell are to be found in samsara and its cyclical nature. The cycle of samsara is eternal as long as one travels through life along the circumference. The purpose of life is to seek the way to the centre, the only eternal and unchanging point, from which one has a marvellous view of everything that moves around.

I found very interesting the reflection on the figure of Mary and its correspondence with the oriental concept of Maya, the non-thing that when dismembered becomes things, the first uncreated matter at the basis of creation, immaculate, that is not altered by the passage of contingent, created things, and always remains virgin. This first matter represents the very nature given to Christ in his incarnation and is therefore our very nature. Man's realisation involves the realisation of this true nature of his, from the beginning immaculate. This "cosmic" correspondence of Mary supports the thesis that sees the Virgin as a co-redemptrix.

A "Pilgrim's Tale" by the Revd Br Paul-Bernarde of the Blessed Sacrament OSBA

2/10/2022

On a late summer’s afternoon (Wed 9th September – 2015), I parked my car in front of the war memorial of a small commune on the edge of the Dombes plateau, around 40km north of the city of Lyon in France.

I left the car, and walked past the village church - dedicated to, if I remember correctly, St Sixtus and St Blaise - down a rather steep short hill, over the Formans brook, and took the road towards Miserieux.

Walking up an equally steep short incline, the road flattened out; and on the right was a neatly hedged and gravelled square, known as the Monument to the Encounter.

It was a significant moment for me, nearly six and a half years ago – because at that spot two hundred and four years ago – 9th February 1818 to be precise - at roughly the same time of day, a young priest paused, whilst pushing a barrow of possessions towards his first posting as a priest. He asked a young shepherd boy in the fields if he was on the right road for his destination; and that boy walked with him, back along the way I had just trod to the presbytery in the village of Ars.

‘You have shown me the way to Ars’ said M. Vianney, ‘I will show you the way to heaven.’ That is the inscription on the statue of the young priest and shepherd boy now standing in that square.

Little did the world or the church know what wonders of transformation would be seen at the hands of this priest over the next forty-one years, through his dedication to the sacraments of the Eucharist and of penance. Later the Cure d’Ars would be proclaimed as St Jean Vianney, the patron saint of priests.

After several minutes recovering my breath, I walked back to the village, and received communion at the daily 6pm celebration of Mass in the Basilica, built on to the east end of the old church.

That was the first visit to the Basilica during a very brief forty hour stay in Ars, culminating on the Friday morning in receiving communion at the side-altar above which the saint now lies, looking at his face, and into his eyes.

There are moments in life where the veil between heaven and earth is so close that it can be palpably felt, and the divine presence is an undeniable living reality. This was one of those moments.

Pastoral Letter - St Bride's Day and Candlemas 2022 - from The Rt Revd Dom Alistair Bate OSBA,, M.A.Div.

1/27/2022

Dear Members and Friends,
I am deliberately varying the times of my pastoral letters so that we have some variety of seasonal themes. Last Michaelmas I wrote to you about St Michael, and for the first letter of this year I thought I’d write a little about one of our most important Celtic saints, St Brigid.

It is a blessing that St Brigid of Kildare is becoming better known and appreciated, globally, in the 21st century. In Ireland, her feast day is due to become a national holiday, and with the surge of interest in Celtic spirituality many people are displaying an affection for our saint, although sadly many still have little real understanding of the true nature of the Celtic church in the first millenium. This is especially the case with modernist revisionists, who do their best to hijack our saint for their ideological purposes each year, however, it is often said that “any publicity is good publicity” and those of us who know the truth about St Brigid’s abbatial status will continue to honour her and spread authentic devotion to her as best we can.

The first thing that must be acknowledged concerning the life of St Brigid is that there are few known historical facts. Evidently she lived between the years 451 – 525 A.D and was an influential and much respected Abbess of Kildare in the province of Leinster in Ireland. We know that Kildare means Church of the Oak and that from ancient times the nuns at Kildare have kept a sacred fire burning there, suggesting the druidical origins of the foundation. The Sacred Flame was extinguished in the Middle Ages but is once more enshrined at Solas Bhride, the retreat and pilgrimage centre of the Brigidine Sisters in Kildare. Tradition tells us that St Brigid was the daughter of Dubhthach, a pagan chieftain in Leinster, and Brocca, his Christian Pictish slave. Their daughter was named Brigid after one of the more important goddesses of northern Europe, variously known as Brighid, Brigid, Brigantia and Bride. The name possibly shares a common etymology with our word “bright” and also possibly means “Fiery Arrow”. In any case the association of Brigid with fire, smithcraft, poetry and healing has been pervasive throughout the Celtic countries.

Statue of St Brigid in Kildare

Despite 20th century wishful thinking of a benign matriarchal antiquity, on the part of some devotees of Brigid, it is actually quite clear that the coming of Christianity to the Celtic countries improved the lives of women in general, who began to be treated with greater respect, though it is also true that Christianity had little tolerance for the warrior Queen types exemplified by lengendary popular heroines such as Maeve of Connaught and Boudicca. Within the traditional feminine roles sanctioned by the church there has been ample opportunity for women to thrive spiritually, and they certainly did so at Kildare and other Brigidine foundations and continue to do so within Catholicism, Orthodoxy and, until more recent decades, also Anglo-Catholicism.

The hagiography of St Brigid is replete with charming stories displaying her miraculous powers, compassion towards all and the hospitality for which she is particularly renowned. My own favorite story recounts the time when she turned a whole lake into beer for some visiting bishops! Undoubtedly some of these stories were inspired by earliar stories of the deity for whom she was named, so at Kildare, there was a seamless transition from the old to the new religion and through it all Brigid remained, loved and honoured, just as she had been since time immemorial.

"I'd like to give a lake of beer to God" St Brigid

For those who are interested in further study, many books have been written about St Brigid, but one of the best is “The Rites of Brigid: Goddess and Saint” by the late Sean O Duinn OSB, monk of Glenstal Abbey. I will not go into further detail here on the details of her life, but intend just to draw your attention to St Brigid’s relation to Our Lady and to the Holy Spirit.

For the Irish and Scots in particular there has always been a strong correlation between Our Lady and St Brigid, to the extent that St Brigid has often been accoladed as “Mary of the Gael”, not to detract from the World Mother in the slighest, to whom the Gael has always been devoted, but rather to exalt Brigid to the status of Mary’s handmaid. There was, for example a popular story of Brigid being miraculously transported to Israel to assist as midwife at the birth of Our Lord. This became the subject of a wonderful painting by artist of the Celtic twilight, John Duncan.

Painting of St Bride by John Duncan, 1913

Mary and Brigid (or Bride) are coupled together in several ancient Gaelic prayers. This one comes from the Hebridean oral tradition. Notice the blurring of prayer and magic, which is quite typical of the Celtic folk tradition.
INCANTATION of the seeing eye,
Incantation of the guiding star,
Incantation of the King of all kings,
Incantation of the God of life,
     Incantation of the King of all kings,
     Incantation of the God of life.

Incantation of Bride of the locks of gold,
Incantation of the beauteous Mary Virgin,
Incantation of the Virtue of all virtues,
Incantation of the God of glory,
     Incantation of the Virtue of all virtues,
     Incantation of the God of glory.

Incantation of Peter and of Paul,
Incantation of Ariel and John of love,
Incantation of the God of all gods,
Incantation of the God of grace,
     Incantation of the God of all gods,
     Incantation of the God of grace.

Feast of Mary, Feast of God,
Feast of cleric and of priest,
Feast of Christ, Prince of power,
Who established the sun with strength,
     Feast of Christ, Prince of power,
     Who endowed the sun with strength.

"Brigid of Kildare" by John Duncan

It should be obvious to the reader by now that St Brigid’s feast day was most probably not the day of her death, unless there was some providential synchronicity at work! No, her feast day was the ancient festival of Imbolc, when the ancient Irish and Scots celebrated the returning light, the first signs of spring and the flow of ewe’s milk for newborn lambs, however, our ancestors had a charming, if unlikely. story of how the day was chosen. Lady Augusta Gregory, in her book of St Brigid stories told it thus:
“There was a poor man, and a poor woman, living in an ancient place in Ireland, a sort of a wilderness. The man used to be wishing for a son that would be a help to him with the work, but the woman used to say nothing, because she was good. They had a baby at last, but it was a girl, and the man was sorry and he said "We will always be poor now." But the woman said, for it was showed to her at that time, "This child will be the Mother of God." The girl grew up in that ancient place, and one day she was sitting at the door, and our Saviour sent One to her that said "Would you wish to be the Mother of God?" "I would wish it" said she. And on the minute, as she said that, the Saviour went into her as a child. The Messenger took her with him then, and he put beautiful clothing on her, and she turned to be so beautiful that all the people followed them, crowding to see the two beautiful people that were passing by. They met then with Brigit, and the Mother of God said to her, "What can we do to make these crowds leave following us?" "I will do that for you" said Brigit "for I will show them a greater wonder." She went into a house then and brought out a harrow and held it up over her head, and everyone of the pins gave out a flame like a candle; and all the people turned back to look at the shining harrow that was such a great wonder. And it is because of that the harrow is blessed since that time. The Mother of God asked her then what would she do for her as a reward. "Put my day before your own day" said Brigit. So she did that, and Saint Brigit's day is kept before her own day ever since. And there are some say Brigit fostered the Holy Child, and kept an account of every drop of blood he lost through his lifetime, and anyway she was always going about with the Mother of God.”
So that, according to the old Irish, is why we keep St Brigid’s Day on the day before Candlemas!
The stories of St Brigid’s relationship with the Christ child as mid-wife or even foster-mother are well known, but there is another less well known aspect that St Brigid shares with Our Lady which may be worth pondering. Just as Our Lady is the Spouse of the Holy Spirit, overshadowed by Him and later filled with Him at Pentecost, so St Brigid has her own particular relationship with the Holy Spirit, though to consider it we need to look once more to pre-Christian antiquity for some clues. Brigid as a fire goddess and later saint of the Sacred Flame at Kildare naturally brings to mind the flame of the Holy Spirit descending at Pentecost, but more profoundingly there is an association with Sophia, Holy Wisdom or the Shekina,traditionally envisioned as feminine, whose scriptural symbol is the dove.

The relationship between Holy Wisdom and the Holy Spirit has never been satisfactorily defined theologically, but perhaps as an essentially feminine mystery is doesn’t need to be, and can be better accessed by the intuition than the intellect. Then, additional to the Jewish angle, we can also consider the fact that the Romans identified Brigantia (Brigid of the northern Britons) with the Roman Goddess of Wisdom, Minerva, as well as with a local variation, the Romano-Celtic deity, Sulis Minerva, patroness of the hot springs at Bath, whose priestesses, like the nuns at Kildare, guarded a sacred and perpetual flame. Once more we see the connection of Fire, Spirit and Wisdom, so whatever else our saint may be, wisdom is certainly one of her characteristics, though hers is certainly a homely wisdom, the wisdom of hearth and home, of weaving, milking, cooking, motherhood and hospitality - in fact, such wisdom as the world needs now more than ever.

I have been a devotee of St Brigid of Kildare all my life, taught at my grandmother’s knee how to make St Brigid’s crosses and a regular visitor to her Holy Wells at Kildare. It is a blessing to see the pilgrimages growing and the wonderful pastoral work achieved by the Brigidine Sisters, however, among the initiates of our Templar Order there is another Brigidine tradition which many of us find spiritually enriching, which comes from England rather than Ireland, as Dion Fortune recounts in “Glastonbury: Avalon of the Heart”, …. “St Patrick crossed the Irish Sea in his frail craft and came here, organising the solitary hermits under a discipline. St Bride too, sweetest of solitaries, had her cell at Beckary, a low rise of ground beyond Wearyall. There she left her weaving-tools behind her, and a few years ago a bronze bell of most ancient workmanship was found there by a shepherd, and was given by him to Chalice Well for the Chapel, where its two sweet notes used to give the call to prayers, morning and evening. That it was a woman's bell is certain for the finger holes by which it is held are so small that only a woman's fingers could use them.”

icon of St Brde of Beckary by an unknown artist

It was there, at St Bride’s Well in Beckary in 1906 that three young ladies, Kitty Tudor Pole and Christine and Janet Allen, discovered the artifact now known as the Glastonbury Blue Bowl, thought for quite a while, and by quite a few people, to be the Holy Grail. The girls set up a shrine for the bowl at the Allen home near Bristol but after a few years they went their separate ways. Christine married the aforementioned Scottish painter, John Duncan, and Janet became Sr Brigid OSB at Stanbrook Abbey, whilst Kitty remained as guardian of the bowl for many years until it was taken to its permanent home at Chalice Well Gardens. For the Blue Bowl girls there was an indefinable connection between their mystical experience with the bowl, St Brigid and the Holy Spirit, beautifully expressed in this prayer to St Bride that they wrote together, and which remains my favourite daily prayer to St Brigid:
O Thou Most Holy Virgin Bride, we greet Thee.
Thou who comest robed in the Greater Glory of the Holy Spirit.
Bride of Supreme Wisdom, Beauty and Truth.
Come on Wings of Deliverance, bearing the shield of a Dove.
Whisper to the saddend Heart of My Humanity that Redemption draweth Nigh.
Come O Bride, Thy Servants do Wait,
Come O Bride, Thy Servants do Wait,
Come O Bride, Thy Servants do Wait,
Come in the Light of the Shining Moon,
Come in the Dawning of the Day.
Here our cry, O Bride, Most Glorious Virgin of Supreme Loveliness.
Be Gracious unto thy Servants. Amen.

The Glastonbury Blue Bowl

Since our Pastoral Letter of last Michaelmas, we have rejoiced in the Consecration of Dom Gregorio OSBA to the Episcopate in Italy as well as the following ordinations: Fr Hugh Abhishiktananda (Priest) in the USA; Revd Rafael (Deacon) in Brazil, Revd Br Paul-Bernarde OSBA (Deacon) in England; Revd Fra Pietro Maria OSBA (Deacon) in Italy; Stephen (Subdeacon) the USA, and also the incardination of Subdeacon Juan Carlos in Colombia, so in spite of major inconveniences due to the present global crisis the work of the church continues, thanks to the zeal of our bishops, clergy, deaconesses and members of various orders.

As the state of the world is hardly improving, perhaps the less said the better. It behoves us more than ever to continue to RESIST the demonic new world order, whenever we can, in any way we can, and to continue to stand up for human rights and personal autonomy, alongside many traditional Catholics, Orthodox, Evangelicals and people of other faiths and none. There are no prizes for compliance in this church, but where our members are forced to comply by employers and governments, empathy and support is the most appropriate response.

I would like to recommend to you all the familiar and unbeatable Benedictine formula of Prayer, Work, Study & Recreation, as a tried and tested recipe for stability in this uncommonly dangerous time for humanity. It does work, if you work at it. Keep the faith!

As far as I am concerned, the aim of our church this year is to Maintain, Conserve and Consolidate, and to continue to be an example of the hospitality of Our Holy Mother St Brigid as we strive to bring the Light and Warmth of Christ into a world that sometimes appears to be dark and cold.

I shall close this “ramble through the brambles” of history and mythology by wishing you all a blessed St Bride’s Day and Candlemas,

+Alistair OSBA,
Titular Abbot-Bishop of Glendalough
& Primus

Our Lady of the Candles pray for us

Wedgwood's Collected Works - Review

1/7/2022

A Review of "The Collected Works of
Bishop J. I. Wedgwood" by the Revd Giovanni Pede

Blessed James ingall Wedgwood, Bp.

No one may has a monopoly on the Sacraments.

Wedgwood's book has great merit: it describes spiritual and theological topics without confusing the reader and wasting ink in useless arguments that lead nowhere. This avoids leaving the reader with questions such as "But, so what? What are they getting at? Why do they waste so much time discussing something that so transcends the limits of man and that does not need speculation to be understood but rather experienced?".

An example on how Bishop Wedgwood deals with not very productive debates extant in the world of the churches, can be found in the section of the book where he talks about the different ways in which the churches understand the Eucharist and the Real Presence. In my opinion he does this in a masterly way, in a way corroborating all views. Christ is always present, in the universe, in the world, in man, so the presence is always verified and verifiable. However, only those Churches that have maintained valid apostolic succession and a proper form of the rite can make His presence more effectively and tangibly concentrated so that it becomes an element of spiritual evolution for the celebrant, the assembly and the surroundings of the place where the Eucharist is celebrated. Moreover, the rite is always effective ex opere operato. And this applies to all sacraments. In churches that do not maintain apostolic succession, the efficacy of the sacraments falls into the category of rites efficacious ex opere operantis. It is quite comical to think that this principle “ex opere operantis” applies to churches that usually deny the role of individual works in God’s project of salvation (sola fide, sola gratia).. as it seems that the effectiveness of their ceremonies (or rites) depends on the individual dispositions, devotion, temperament of the celebrant. How can one say that individual work does not have any role here?

The chapter on Holy Orders is also particularly interesting. Wedgwood compares ordination within the Liberal Catholic Church to the ordinations given in the Roman Catholic Church, stating that the only element that is lost (in the case of the LCC) is that of jurisdiction. By necessity a priest ordained in the LCC cannot have any jurisdiction in the Roman Church. However, he is a priest in the same way as his Roman counterparts, the sacrament imparts character and grace is not withheld, but is bestowed in the same way through the imposition of the bishop's hands. Even the question of oikonomia within the Orthodox churches seems to be a confirmation of the validity of LCC ordinations: if clergy ordained in non-Orthodox churches (so this is true also for Roman Catholics..) apply to be incardinated, there will not be any re-ordination but only zje celebration of a ceremony of entrance. Orthodox churches claim this ceremony would 'release' the grace that was withheld during the first ordination and give them jurisdiction in the church. This is an exclusive approach and even a little arrogant. It is like saying: “we are the only real church, we alone have the power to control God’s grace”. No church may claim having a switch with an ON/OFF button to release grace.
Churches that believe themselves to be the only authentic and true holders of grace in my view contravene the instructions of Christ, who empowers those outside the inner circle of disciples to act in His name. In Mark 9, 38-41 Jesus tells the disciples not to forbid those who cast out demons in his name to do so: "there is no man who shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me. For he that is not against us is on our side". Something similar happened to Moses. When he selected seventy elders to assist him in his ministry, on the day of their consecration, two of them decided not to go to the Tent of Meeting for the consecration and remained in the camp. The Spirit of God rested on those present in the tent, but also reached the two elders that stayed outside that started prophesying. Joshua, son of Nun, asked Moses to stop them. Moses answered: “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!” (Nm 11, 26-30). What can we learn from this? The Spirit blows where it will (John 3, 8), not where any church minister commands.

Additionally, it is Christ the High Priest who performs the sacraments, no church should arrogate to itself the right to be the sole representative of Christ on earth. All churches are part of God's plan and work for the building of the Kingdom. In the perfect world, the relationship should be one of collaboration and never one of conflict and obstruction. But man is not perfect, and less so are agglomerations of humans.

The Tent of Meeting. The portable dwelling place of the Divine Presence (Shekhinah) used by the Israelites from the Exodus to the conquest of Canaan.

Is it right to venerate the Virgin Mary?
Mary is one of the mysteries of Christianity, so to relegate her to a simple model to follow is limiting. There is much more to the historical and biblical story of Mary and there is nothing wrong with the Marian cult. Popular faith can be genuine and effective, even more so than the faith of those who have just memorised doctrines or for whom faith is just a matter of erudition. Besides, the Lord looks at intention and devotion. To the sick woman who touched his cloak, Jesus, healing her, said: "Go, your faith has saved you" (Mt 9, 20-22; Mr 5, 25-34; Lk 8, 43-48). The woman does not turn to Jesus directly (she thought maybe that it was the cloak that had the power to heal her) , but nevertheless Jesus accepts the woman's genuine act of request. Even in the extreme cases where the worship of Mary takes the place of the worship of Our Lord, why should the Lord ignore a prayer just because it is addressed to Mary rather than to Him directly?
As Wedgewood says, Mary receives the love and devotion of her adherents as a channel through which it passes to Christ and through Her passes the Love of Christ in that it comes in response to prayers.

The Intercession of Christ and the Virgin, by Lorenzo Monaco (1402)

Salvation and Liberation. Same thing?

Wedgwood says that salvation has more to do with good health, it keeps us away from falling into “involution”. Liberation is something that goes beyond, it can be experienced to varying degrees. There are many small liberations, in addition to the supreme liberation pursued somewhat by all who are on a spiritual path. To paraphrase, perhaps the salvation offered to us is what guarantees our process of evolution. It is a continuous process of refinement in this life and the next. In liberation we reach the true end of religion(s), we are brought back to our true home in God. And there will be no more evolution but union.

Pastoral Letter - Michaelmas 2021

9/27/2021

Pastoral Letter - Michaelmas 2021
from the Rt Revd Dom Alistair Bate OSBA, M.A.Div., Primus

Dear Members and Friends

Since my last pastoral letter, in May of this year once more Dom Bruno and I have had a massive change of circumstances as we moved the HCCI “Mother House” to our new home in Norway. It has been a very positive change indeed, not least because as soon as we crossed the border we no longer had to wear masks in public places. Mask wearing is a minor inconvenience in the greater scheme of things, but I for one detest the fact that being compelled to wear a mask is a sign of submission to the new world order and their demonic “Great Reset”.

As I mentioned in the Pentecost Pastoral Letter, due to the present restrictions, travelling between countries is made much more difficult, if not impossible, for most of our seminarians and clergy, nevertheless, we were very happy to welcome the Revd Giovanni Pede for his ordination to the diaconate and his partner Sr Hallyson Abigail Boldrini who has taken the Brigidine habit and begun the process of training for admittance as a deaconess. It is wonderful to see our Deaconess Society gaining new members, for as well as the four Deaconesses currently incardinated we have two Sisters in training in Serbia; one in Italy, one in Canada and another possible in Brazil! It is so important to the balance of masculine and feminine energies in the church that women are encouraged to engage in pastoral service as deaconesses and vowed life as Sisters, for just as the clergy are called to act “in persona Christi”, in all things, but most especially at the altar, so our deaconesses are called to act “in persona Maria” as their complimentary ministry follows the pattern of the life of Our Lady.

Since our last Pastoral Letter in May we have also been able to rejoice in the ordination to the priesthood of our dear Fr Raul in Uruguay and also the Episcopal Consecration of our beloved Archpriest Melkior in Serbia, at the hands of our dear friend Bishop Gergely from Hungary. Subsequently we have also been glad to hear of the ordination of Zoltan to the diaconate in Serbia! Thanks be to God that despite the travel restrictions the church is still flourishing. We also rejoice in the recent incardination of Mons Enrique in Mexico and the Episcopal Consecration of Dom Rolando OSBA which will be celebrated in Cuba on St Michael’s Day!

I wanted to take this opportunity, writing at Michaelmas, for a change, to say a few words about angels. Our Liberal Catholic and Celtic traditions have both put more emphasis on the ministry of angels than may be found in most churches, something which often proves to be a great blessing for us, as we know from experience that to properly invoke the aid of particular angels, is a time tested aid to enlisting angelic assistance in our daily lives, and it really works!

The Festival of St Michael and All Angels is one of very few festivals to have a proper collect and readings in the Liberal Catholic Liturgy. Bishops Leadbeater and Wedgwood both had a strong personal devotion to the angels and were as aware of them as is humanly possible. Bishop Leadbeater, in particular, does not hold back on his personal locutions regarding angelic activity in the course of the liturgy, something which can prove a bit challenging to our more skeptical seminarians!

In the ancient Celtic churches too, the presence of angels and human interaction with them was taken for granted. Reports abound of Celtic saints and their angelic encounters, for example the three patrons of Ireland; St Patrick, St Brigid and St Columba, are all said to have interacted with angels, and in the case of St Patrick, on a weekly basis, but then Ireland, like all the Celtic countries is a “thin place”, a place where the veil between worlds is thin and folk are naturally inclined to awareness of the spiritual worlds that overlap our own.

Among all the angels, Celts have always had a particular love of St Michael, the Prince of the Heavenly Host. Churches dedicated to him abound on hilltops and wild costal locations throughout the Celtic countries. His name meaning “like unto God”, as well as the fact that Sunday is his designated day, suggest a strong connection with the Solar Logos. He is the patron of all those to seek their life purpose, as well as all true priests, warriors and all those who take up arms against evil. It is sometimes assumed that for the early Celtic Christians he took the place of their primary indigenous solar hero, the God Lugh, who shares some of the same characteristics, as indeed does the dragon slayer St George, who some see as the earthly counterpart to the heavenly St Michael.

St Michael

At this difficult time of global transition, over which we appear to have no real control; a time when the powers of evil seem to be in the ascendency, it may give us some strength of heart to draw close to St Michael. We would not be incarnate here and now if there was not a lesson to be learned and progress towards enlightenment to be gained. The dragon may terrorise us for a while, but we may rest assured that he will be slain in God’s good time.

In the mean time I leave you with this beautiful ancient Celtic prayer poem from the Carmina Gadelica (Scottish Hebridean tradition) and wish you all a joyful and empowering Michaelmas:

MICHAEL, THE VICTORIOUS

"Thou Michael the victorious
I make my circuit under thy shield,
Thou Michael of the white steed,
And of the bright brilliant blades,
Conqueror of the dragon,
Be thou at my back,
Thou ranger of the heavens,
Thou warrior of the King of all,
O Michael the victorious,
My pride and my guide,
O Michael the victorious,
The glory of mine eye.

I make my circuit
In the fellowship of my saint,
On the machair, on the meadow,
On the cold heathery hill;
Though I should travel ocean
And the hard globe of the world
No harm can e'er befall me
'Neath the shelter of thy shield;
O Michael the victorious,
Jewel of my heart,
O Michael the victorious,
God's shepherd thou art.

Be the sacred Three of Glory
Aye at peace with me,
With my horses, with my cattle,
With my woolly sheep in flocks.
With the crops growing in the field
Or ripening in the sheaf,
On the machair, on the moor,
In cole, in heap, or stack.
Every thing on high or low,
Every furnishing and flock,
Belong to the holy Triune of glory,
And to Michael the victorious."

Blessings to you all from Norway!

St Michael with Glastonbury Tor, Uffington White Horse & Silbury Hill, all places situated on the St Michael Ley Line.

Pastoral Letter - Ascensiontide 2021

5/16/2021

Pastoral Letter - Ascensiontide 2021

Dear brethren, sisters and friends,

As you know, I like to write a few words of encouragement to you a couple of times a year, usually in Eastertide and Advent. The last six months have not been particularly eventful as the plandemic is still disrupting our usual opportunities to travel, therefore, at times such as this net-working with fellow bishops in similiar jurisdictions becomes particularly helpful as our seminarians cannot always travel to their nearest HCCI bishop for ordination. Such was the case, when last December our good friend, Bishop Tom Simota, kindly ordained Fr Sergio to the priesthood for us, a cause of great joy. We have also been delighted to welcome Deaconess Consuelo and several new seminarians.

Notwithstanding the disruption to regular church business, the last few months have been momentous for Dom Bruno and I as we gradually dismantled our old life at St Gall’s Retreat and moved to a rented apartment in Ticino. Letting go of a lot of clutter has been liberating, though the process of moving was exhausting. We love our new locality and feel accepted by the local community, which is a great blessing after nearly a decade in Avers. Although the people here in Leventina are as secularised as most other Europeans it seems to me that there is still an underlying and understated spirituality lingering here, like warm embers beneath the ash of the hearth, that might be fanned into flame if there were a sufficient influx of Spirit.

This has been a good move for us, yet we have suffered a drastic drop in income, which to myself especially has been a considerable source of stress. Dom Bruno has bought a new house in Norway, and though we cannot travel there as yet we do hope that later in the year we may be in a position to open our guest rooms there and that we’ll see some of you there before too long. Watch this space!

I must confess that it has not been so easy to muster joy this Eastertide but one must try, as joyfulness is one of the true marks of a disciple of the Master Jesus. This is something much deeper than always looking “on the bright side of life”, though of course positivity helps too. No, a Christian can be sorrowful, perhaps suffering from the loss of loved ones; or loss of health or wealth; and still have access to a deep well of joy within, a blessed assurance that in the midst of trials the Holy Spirit, the Parakletos, the Comforter, is but a breath away. So let us breathe deeply of the Holy Spirit this Pentecost knowing that awareness of the indwelling Holy Spirit will bear the fruit of love, joy and peace.

Here, in this part of Valle Leventina the parishes are all served by the Capuchin Friars who have had a convent in Faido since 1612. This order works hard to preserve the true spirit of St Francis, who was one of the great saints of joy, so when I see the friars about the local villages they remind me of St Francis who once described his religious order as a “society of joy” and exhorted his brothers to “Always be joyful”.

Franciscan corner of our oratory here in Carì

As we approach Pentecost some of you may feel, as I do, that you’re all out of joy, the well is dry, yet if we will but pray with an awareness of the indwelling Holy Spirit he will supply the eternal joy of the Trinity, that we may lack. The fountain of joy may well up with within us, as if miraculously. One way to reclaim our joy, which I have used effectively on several occasions, is to pray a novena of the rosary of the Seven Joys of Mary, otherwise known as the “Franciscan Crown” or in Liberal Catholic circles the “Rosary of the Seven Rays”. On one long pilgrimage to Lourdes a few years ago I prayed it every day for three weeks, offering each decade for the specific intentions of those who asked for my prayers, thereby killing two birds with one stone, in thinking of others, as well as finding my own joy, which had been mislaid somewhere along the way.

Franciscan Crown Rosary

The various orders connected with our church continue to attract vocations in small numbers. Few prospective candidates really understand the concept of the “new monastic movement” and amongst those who do even fewer understand our own more traditionalist approach to new monasticism, nevertheless, as Karl Rahner famously said, “the Christian of the future will be a mystic or he will not be at all” so we are confident that our emphasis on the personal spiritual formation of each individual will bear some fruit, especially within the context of the various Benedictine, Franciscan, and other contemplative traditions associated with the Congregation of St Romuald.

When we prioritise our contemplative life and regularly immerse ourselves in the presence of God, hopefully some of His light will stay us and shine through us, so that we in turn, in our own little way, may be a light in the darkness of these times, guiding wayfarers to their eternal home.

As a final thought for Pentecost I would like to leave you with some sayings of the Camaldolese monk, Blessed Paul Giustiniani, which if reflected on may help you to draw forth the fountain of joy.

"Love the profound tranquility of holy solitude."
"Savour the sweetness of retreat in cell."
"Go to Church for the work of God, not by habit or duty, but rather driven by the interior desire to praise our Creator."
"Celebrate holy Mass in the joy of the Spirit."
"Take delight in the daily practice of the private recitation of the psalter."
Rejoice in the modest measure and simplicity of food and drink."
"Be happy to live at the hermitage".

If these few recomendations seem difficult to achieve in a busy life then perhaps appeal to the Holy Spirit for a secret place in the heart, some interior space, where your spiritual hunger may be satisfied.

For “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith.” (Gal. 5: 22)

Your brother in Jesus and Mary,

+Alistair OSBA,
Primus.

"Jesus, Mary, I love you, save souls." Sr Maria Consolata pray for us!

Advent 2020 - Pastoral Letter from the Primus

12/12/2020

Pastoral Letter - Advent 2020

Gaudete Sunday 2020

Dear Friends,
To write a pastoral letter at the close of such an unprecedented year as this is no easy task and whilst it would be relatively easy to attempt to console you with some one-size-fits-all pious encouragement I am not going to waste your time, or my own, with that kind of exercise, especially when the mainstream churches do it so well. There is a time for milk sops and a time for meat and we what need now is a high protein diet to sustain us.

If, like myself, you only watch alternative media then you should be aware of the great evil that has been unleashed on the world, the like of which we have not seen since the 2nd World War. Unlike the 1918 Pandemic, Corona is no natural disaster, rather, it is an unnatural disaster in so many ways.

I have never been given to millenialism and apocalyptic beliefs, particularly those based on the bible, and view them with a large dose of scepticism, yet apocalyptic language does seem to be the most apt in considering the events of this year.

Our Lady & St Michael doing battle with the many headed Dragon

At the very least what I can say with total conviction is that undoubtedly there are sinister links between the “plandemic" and the combined evils of the “Great Reset”; “Big Tech” and “Big Pharma”; the Chinese Communist Party; Climate Change Alarmists; Socialists (particularly the immoral and criminally corrupt Democrats); Islamic jihad and even the Vatican with its Globalist puppet at the helm. Undoubtedly well-intentioned though some of them are, in their state of spiritual blindness, these groups are not on the side of the Light.

As a fairly liberal church we are increasingly finding ourselves out of sympathy with fellow liberals (who are either complicit or oblivious to what is really happening) but we are finding allies in unlikely directions, primarily amongst Conservatives, Classical Liberals and Libertarians of all shades, … yes, even some Evangelicals, Orthodox and traditional Catholics, all of whom are a little out of our comfort-zone, but if commitment to the principles of Freedom, Truth and Justice are our priority then we’ll need to find allies wherever we can find them. It is a simple process of re-alignment that the times demand for those who are spiritually aware and politically informed.  

Moving swiftly on to the spiritual dimension - actually inextricable from the political. If the above appraisal of the global situation be a fair and accurate one – then how should we be comporting ourselves, one might ask? When I was a boy some people used to say that the IRA had a rosary in one hand and an armalite in the other. I am not recommending this strategy, but I would say we would do well to have a rosary in one hand and the Sword of the Spirit in the other. Thinking about this today I was reminded of part of a prayer that the bishop says at the sacrament of Confirmation:   …..“We offer unto thee the lives which thou today hast blessed, that they, whom thou hast accepted as servants in thy church on earth, may so bear themselves as true and faithful knights in thy service, that they may be found worthy hereafter to stand before thee in the ranks of thy holy church eternal. O thou great King of Glory, to whom be praise and adoration from men and from the angel host. Amen.”

If ever there was a time to remember that we are all called to be Knights it is now! “Onward Christian Soldiers, marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus, going on before”. As St Constantine discovered at the Milvian bridge, in extremely challenging times it is the cross that wins the battle.

Demons flee from both the Cross and Our Lady, so let our devotions be squarely founded on the Blood of Christ and on Our Lady of Grace, at least until such time as we may be able to return to some semblance of how things were, pre-Corona. We cannot and must not allow the Great Reset, but rather we must do all in our power to further the Great Awakening.
Fortunately, we have a great deal in our arsenal of prayer that may be potent in the times ahead. I would recommend for daily use the mindful recitation of the Lord’s Prayer. We take it for granted, but said with conviction it has great power. I would also recommend St Patrick’s Breastplate; the Memorare (Remember O most Gracious Virgin Mary …) and the prayer to St Michael. We are surrounded by Angels of Light who will do all in their considerable power to strengthen us in the battles ahead if we but ask in faith.  

I expect many of you recall the story of the Christmas ceasefire in the trenches during the First World War, so I pray that this Christmas, you and your loved ones may also enjoy some “time out”, relief from stress and may be consoled by the knowledge that our true life is in heaven.

St Thérèse of the Child Jesus letting fall a shower of roses on the battlefields of WW1

In this earthly school of the Lord’s service we are called only to be true to whatever lights we have received by God’s grace and to help bear the burdens of one another.
  
And so may the baby Jesus and His immaculate Mother cheer your hearts and give you hope for brighter days ahead,

+Alistair OSBA, KTPP

Pastoral Letter - Eastertide 2020

4/17/2020

St Gall’s Retreat, Switzerland
Easter Saturday 2020

Dear brethren, sisters and friends,
Eastertide greetings to you all. Christ is Risen, Alleluia!

I expect many of you, like myself, are thinking, well that was probably the strangest Easter ever! It certainly does seem like we’ve had more of the Cross and less of the Resurrection this year. My heart goes out to those of you who have lost beloved friends and relatives in this pandemic, and yes, some of our clergy and seminarians have been directly affected. Our love and prayers are with you

For Mons Bruno and I, things have not been so different. We have had many cancellations and have certainly taken a hit financially, but we did have a few guests over Easter, for whom I was cooking, so we were kept busy and of course we celebrated the usual Easter Triduum services. At a time like this, we clergy in the HCCI, are so fortunate to have private oratories and not to have to worry about “getting to church”, but I know that some of our seminarians, particularly in Italy, have been feeling very isolated!

Just the other day one of our clergy in America, posted this picture, which for me sums up perfectly my feelings about the Cross.

Being of the Liberal Catholic tradition we tend not to dwell too much on sin and even less on vicarious atonement, yet the idea of a God who suffers alongside us remains one of the most beautiful aspects of Christianity, at its best. As we have seen with this pandemic, we don’t need to go looking for crosses for they will surely find us, but when they do we have the companionship of the God who suffered willingly for our sake to show us how to suffer with dignity and hope.

Our liturgy reminds us that Jesus is “the eternal High Priest, (who) forever offers Himself as the eternal Sacrifice” and that he is the “Lamb slain from the beginning of the world”. What this tells us is that from the dawn of time God has been pouring his life blood out into the universe in one eternal act of total self-giving Love, and for us Christians, that out-pouring of Love has a pivotal point in time, in 1st century Israel, in the sacrificial death and resurrection of Our Lord. The self-sacrifice of our God would indeed be a tragedy were it not for the miracle of the resurrection which gives us faith in our final victory and enables us to perceive His continuing and eternal Presence with us in the Holy Eucharist.

Tomorrow, being Low Sunday, the collect we will say articulates more beautifully and succinctly the sentiments I have been trying to convey:

O Lord Christ, by whose eternal sacrifice we exist, and in whose victory we triumph, grant that, in joy or in sorrow, we may never lose our grateful memory of thine encouraging love, who livest and reignest God throughout all ages. Amen.

May recollection of the Mercy, Empathy and Compassion of our God remain ever in our hearts and minds as we continue this Eastertide journey together.

Ad Jesum per Mariam,
+Alistair of the Child Jesus OSBA

A Review of "The Science of the Sacraments" by Br Ethan Ritter Ob.H.C.

2/23/2020

for St. Gall’s Seminary
a review of ‘The Science of the Sacraments’ by Charles W. Leadbeater

17 January, 2020
Feast of St. Mildred of Thanet, Ab.

It is difficult to know what to say about Science of the Sacraments. Previously I had been familiar with Leadbeater’s magnum opus only abstractly, or from gleanings from other texts like Yoga of the Sacraments; reading the text itself and being able to have a full, original understanding of Liberal Catholic sacramental theology was extremely rewarding. My assertion, when reading Yoga of the Sacraments, that Burke’s interpretation could be read as a key to that of Leadbeater, seems to have been on-the-nose and I look forward to revisiting his work in light of that.

The main thrust of Science of the Sacraments, and the lynchpin around which the author arranges Liberal sacramental theology, can be singled out easily: astral architecture. Outlined in the book is an an energy-centric interpretation of the sacraments’ ultimate purpose and function; positing that there exists a ‘great reservoir of spiritual force’ set aside by God, and that ‘[t]he plan adopted by the Christ with regard to this religion is that a special compartment of [that reservoir] is set apart for its use, and that a certain order of officials is empowered, by the use of appointed ceremonies, words and signs of power, to draw upon it for the benefit of mankind.’ The most striking and laboriously-elucidated example of this channeling of divine power is the Holy Mass.

Leadbeater’s (and subsequently Liberal Catholicism’s) interpretation of the Mass is one of the LCC’s most seminal and original contributions to Christian philosophical discourse. Framed in the context of divine energies Leadbeater presents to us a liturgy and Eucharist which is at once familiar, yet alien. In the traditional (which is to say Latin) interpretation of the Eucharistic drama the Mass is a holy and eternal sacrifice; an Atonement offered again and again at every altar of the Lord. Venerable Fulton Sheen, famed television evangelist and later Archbishop of Rochester, once spoke of the Mass as the firm planting of the Cross on Golgotha; holding before us the true reality of Christ crucified. This view of the Mass is in many ways beautiful and profound, but is also utterly and completely at odds with the Liberal understanding of the Eucharist.

Whereas the Latin rite of the Mass is avowedly sacrificial, and maybe even penitential, Leadbeater interprets it in a new and joyous fashion; one that is profoundly influenced by the time in which he lived while at the same time revealing to us the true and eternal purposes for which Christ first instituted the Blessed Sacrament. It is here where astral architecture comes into play. As mentioned before the essential purpose of the sacraments is the utilisation of the ‘great reservoir of spiritual force’ which has been fashioned by the Lord. With this in mind we can better understand the methods by which the Mass accomplishes this. Says the Bishop:

Each of the great services of the Church (and more especially the celebration of the Holy Eucharist) was originally designed to build up a mighty ordered form, expressing and surrounding a central idea — a form which would facilitate and direct the radiation of the influence upon the entire village which was grouped round the church. The idea of the service may be said to be a double one: to receive and distribute the great outpouring of spiritual force, and to gather up the devotion of the people and offer it before the throne of God.

The creation of that ‘mighty ordered form’ and the subsequent functioning of that form is, in essence, the true purpose of the Mass (and to a variously lesser extent, the other sacraments as well) in Liberal Catholic theology. It is for this reason that Leadbeater often harshly dismisses the Latin Rite as inadequate for its true purpose; too weighed down with a fixation on sin to best receive and distribute the great outpouring of God’s energeia upon the world. Utilising his natural clairvoyant gifts the Bishop had an unsparing vision of the astral results of that fixation; describing a flat-roofed building that ‘is often a dead level of nervousness and anxiety, full of ugly hollows and pits of depression caused by the exaggerated confessions of vileness and abject appeals for mercy’ which pervaded the Roman canon. Seeing this, he was struck with the nature of the astral building as it should be:

Every such hollow should be replaced by a pinnacle of fervid devotion, updrawn by utter confidence in the love of God, so that the thought-form should show a forest of gleaming spires, like Milan Cathedral, instead of the flat or sagging roof which it often bears at present, in order that by sympathetic influence its soaring lines might guide men’s thoughts upward, and wean them away from servile fear to trust, adoration and love.

Our Holy Fathers in Christ were inspired to address this deficiency in purpose by substituting joy for sorrow in their selection of verses and psalms, and taking a more measured attitude toward the ‘cringing’ verses which they abhorred: ‘it was especially impressed upon us that no words should be put into the mouth of the priest or the congregation which they could not really mean.’ As Leadbeater noted in that passage, this was quite successful in relation to the type of thoughtform the Liberal Mass produces. Likewise I am again moved to agree with Fr. Sten von Krusenstierna that ‘we realize now that the new Liturgy was a masterpiece, and undoubtedly the two Bishops were deeply inspired when compiling and writing it.’

Having said that, however, I am once more reminded of the criticism I levelled at Esther de Waal’s lack of emphasis on the suffering and crucified Christ. Here I am distressed by what I feel is an unfair and possibly harmful negativity toward suffering expressed by both Leadbeater and, to a lesser extent, Bl. James I. Wedgwood. There is no doubt that their removal of such passages has resulted in something holy, but I wonder if something is not worse off for the total exclusion. Frequently in the examples of Roman liturgy in Science the Psalmist is of a sorrowful mind, crying out in danger or anguish for the strong arm of the Lord. These passages are uniformly jettisoned. Instead their Liberal counterparts speak of beauty, holiness, and joy. While this is of course wonderful and uplifting to the heart, I know I can often find solace in the entreaties alone of the Psalms. We often, perhaps most often, turn to Christ in times of hardship and I’m not sure that’s something which should be wholly excised from corporate worship.

There are so many things I found edifying from this book. Leadbeater’s remarks on angels and nature-spirits deserve ample commentary, and I haven’t even scratched the surface of what could be said only of the Eucharist. One thing, though, deserves specific consideration: the objective necessity of beauty. I am struck by the degree to which beauty is seen as imperative; and this is nowhere more clearly seen than in Leadbeater’s extensive discussion of thought-forms — necessary in the scheme of the Creator for the proper functioning and flow of divine energy. Thought-forms best suited to the purpose for which Christ instituted the sacraments have an objective look, and that look is… beautiful. Gothic spires and soaring elegance contrasted against the ugly Le Corbusier edifices which are the objective result of deficiencies.

I believe this stakes out a uniquely Liberal Catholic position on beauty. Although many branches of Christ’s Etz Chaim make some acknowledgement of the ontological reality of beauty we alone claim that beauty is necessary to the economy of Salvation. To us, high-churchmanship is not an aesthetic preference to be bulldozed by aesthetic architectural fashions — without beauty the divine energies of Christ struggle to be brought down and dispensed throughout the world. Leadbeater tells us that the objective astral shape of dismal, ineffective worship bears a striking resemblance to Brutalism or Minimalism. Surely those are not suitable garments for Houses of the Lord, nor their furnishings, nor for vestments and vessels of the Work of God; and surely we can do better by imitating the graceful beauty of those edifices which channel best the energeia of Life Himself.

In The Science of the Sacraments I found the definitive proof that this branch of Faith, this holy understanding we call Liberal Catholicism, is a thing of joy and majesty given up to the Lord. I feel incredibly blessed to have ended up here, approaching ordination in this lineage of the Risen Master, as opposed to the many places I could have ended up at this point in my journey — that I have found rest with this Christ.

The Rt Revd C. W. Leadbeater

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ANGELS AT MASS. A CROSS-READING OF THE WRITINGS OF CATALINA RIVAS AND CHARLES WEBSTER LEADBEATER.
by Revd Fr Giovanni Pede

A Review of "The Collected Works of
Bishop J. I. Wedgwood" by the Revd Giovanni Pede

Pastoral Letter - Michaelmas 2021
from the Rt Revd Dom Alistair Bate OSBA, M.A.Div., Primus