Seen this?

Right now I'm fairly sure that the blogosphere has been buzzing with people looking at reports of yesterday's Pontifical High Mass at Westminster Cathedral, so I thought something a little different might be in order.

At the risk of displaying preferential treatment, Oliver has put up a little piece on allegiance to the Queen. If your latin is as bad as mine, then you may find it a tad difficult, but you shouldn't find the point too hard to understand.

In what I believe may be a first (possibly even a historic moments) Bishop Williamson has given an interview which is unusually free from outrageous and hilarious statements. Fr Z has given his customary reply with points. I can't help but feel that a radio or TV discussion between these two would be very interesting.

Finally, the Ceremoniere has a post many of us may identify with.

The restoration of Our Lady

Thanks to today's Moment with Mary bulletin, I found out that today is the date when in 1866 Blessed Pope Pius IX gave the image of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour (this title has been changed to Our Lady of Perpetual Help-much to the annoyance of my friend Oliver) to the Redemptorists.  The church of Saint Matthew which had housed the icon had been destroyed by troops during the Napoleonic invasion, but the image of Our Lady was saved by a good soul.  Pio Nono exhorted the Redemptorist Fathers (who had built the church of St Alphonsus on the site where St Matthew's had been) to "Make her known!  Make her loved!  She will save the world".

This makes me wonder how we can harness devotion to Our Lady as a means to evangelisation.  A number of converts to Catholicism have rightly owed their decision to enter the Church to the intercession of Our Lady, one of whom is St Alphonsus Ratisbonne.

Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, pray for the salvation of the world.