Wouldn't You Know It?!

Well, all my plans for sharing "vacation" pictures and stories have temporarily flown out the window. My computer went "kaput" on me a few days ago and Mom took it home with her for fixing. Dad will be bringing it back with him when he comes to visit. (That arrangement is quite Providential!) In the meantime (about two more weeks), I am without a computer of my own... meaning, without all the pictures I took while Mom and Linds were here and with only very limited time online.

So, the pictures and stories will have to wait. Suffice it to say, it was a very good visit - although the weather certainly didn't cooperate!! It was sooo great to see Mom and Lindsey again and get to share a little bit of France with them. The highlights of their visit were the evening we ate outside at le Soubise (sp?) here in St. Germain-en-Laye, the rendez-vous with Thomas, and the visits to Bayeux, Lisieux, and Versailles... of course, there were many lesser but also enjoyable things in between. :)

Anyway, I hope you're all hanging in there. I am, although Passiontide has not missed me in its doling out of crosses. :P I hope your Lent is wrapping up well and wish you all the best, until the next time!

(For more news, head over to my other blog!!!)

Checking In... and Right Back Out Again

Just thought I'd pop in and say that all is going well. I'm having a wonderful time with Mom and Linds here (and Rose was in town over the weekend too! :))... although, of course, my quota of sleep has been drastically reduced, juggling work and evenings out!

So, just on to refresh the blog page before we head to Normandy tomorrow, for the weekend!

Leaving you with a picture from Sunday. :D LOL!

30 Years of Tradition at St. Nicolas

(The thirtieth anniversary of the SSPX at St. Nicolas du Chardonnet is one of many topics that I have not covered sufficiently on this blog. I will probably be returning to all sorts of topics, out of chronological order, to attempt to do them justice. But for now, I will write a little bit about this event at St. Nicolas, at which I was privileged to be present.)

At the banquet held in celebration of the anniversary, I sat next to an elderly woman who had lived in Paris all her life. She was there when one of the only places in Paris with the Latin Mass was the Salle Wagram. She went there every Sunday for Mass... One Sunday, she showed up at the usual hour only to discover that there were no clerics to be found! She was told that there wouldn't be Mass at the Salle Wagram that day because they were gone, taking a church in the fifth district of Paris! That was February 27, 1977.
Several members of the MJCF (an association of French Catholic youth) stayed in the church all night to help stake their claim. An all-night prayer vigil was held (with one woman in particular staying there, praying the entire night through!). The local clergy held onto the sacristy even after the SSPX had taken the church itself, causing some inconvenience. However, thanks to the fact that the French government officially owns all church buildings (not actually a good thing at all, but it turned out favorably in this circumstance), the local Novus Ordo clergy did not have a complete say in the matter and the entirety of the building was not long in being turned over to the SSPX. I don't know all the details, but I believe that is the skeleton of the story.

Once the church was obtained, there was a corps of valiant souls who gave their time, money, prayers, and effort to establish Tradition where it ought to have always stayed. Monsignor Ducaud-Bourget, a stalwart soldier in the war for the Faith of All Time, was particularly instrumental in this movement.

Since then, the parish has flourished and grown, as souls desperate for the truth flock to it. To sum up the past thirty years at St. Nicolas in numbers (although this only BARELY scratches the surface of how much has been accomplished), I present you with these statistics...

IN THE PAST THIRTY YEARS:
Baptisms: 3393, being 113 per year, of which 461 have been adult baptisms (and one of those adult baptisms is now a priest in the SSPX!)
Weddings: 592, being 20 per year
Private Communions: 1494, being 50 per year (I think this refers to FIRST Communions)
Solemn Communions: 1474, being 49 per year
Confirmations: 4125, being 137 per year
Ordination: 1 (AT St. Nicolas - more than one from the parish, I'm sure)
Extreme Unctions: 207 since 2000 (the numbers for this are very incomplete)
Annual Hours of Guard (this meaning that there is a priest physically present in the office, at the faithful's disposal): 2754, being 54 per week (!)
Hours of Confession during Holy Week: more than 200
Faithful per Sunday (between November and May): about 3500
The church seats: 1200
Number of communions, monthly: 15,000
Age of St. Nicolas du Chardonnet: 100 years; it was created in 1907 by the curé Fr. Lenert
1937: the year the church was consecrated

~ ~ ~

Tout ce qui est catholique est notre.
-Louis Veuillot

All that is Catholic is ours.

This is the quote below the header on the parish monthly bulletin at St. Nicolas du Chardonnet. Perfectly apropos for all Traditionalists, it is particularly so for this courageous group who reclaimed a house of God for the practice of the True Faith, and have held onto it in ever-growing numbers for three decades.

But for the grace of God, there go we. The glory is His!
DEO GRATIAS for this small but consistent battle for the Mass instituted by Jesus Christ!!

Long live Christ the King!

A Beggar's Right

On Sunday, February 11, my customary weekend outing took me to the church of St. Germain-des-Près, whose beginnings are among the oldest of all the churches in Paris (and there're a LOT!), dating from about the 6th century. It used to be a large abbey, but since the Revolution, the church is all that remains. After touring the church and taking lots of pictures (about 2/3 of which got lost... but that's another story), I went outside to eat my lunch. I was famished, for it was about 1 pm and breakfast had been many hours before. I sat down on the two or three steps in front of the church and opened my picnic lunch. I turned my iPod to some enjoyable music and began my mid-day meal.

When I was a bit more than halfway finished, a man approached the church with a package. He set the package against a door that was proximate to me, but obviously closed. I figured he was leaving it for the rector or secretary and thought little more of it. A few minutes later, the package was still there. And so was the man who had brought it. He was wandering back and forth in front of the steps. "Okay, maybe he's just waiting for someone," thought I, and continued to finish my lunch.

Another couple of minutes passed. This stranger said something to me, but - having music playing in my headphones - I did not understand him at first. He repeated himself, "Are you finished? ...Are you finished??" (In French, of course.) Ummm... "Yes," I said, hesitantly. That seemed an odd question. "You eat and eat and eat! This is my place," he said, gesturing toward his package, which I now recognized as a beggar's bundle of blankets and cardboard, "I have been waiting and waiting." Well, gee, why didn't you say so? "Yes. I'm finished." I replied, rather coldly, although I clearly was only halfway through the little "gâteau" I had for dessert. I got up and left. If I had had a better grasp on French, I'm sure I wouldn't have hesitated to give him a piece of my mind and/or stay put until I was thoroughly finished, for I was fairly steaming. As it was, I just left. I think body language probably conveyed my feelings sufficiently. :)

But after a little while (say, a few days or a week!), when I was recounting the tale to a friend of mine, I was able to see the humor in it. It was HIS PLACE???? I didn't realize that beggars had assigned seating! I mean, seriously, I was sitting on the far side of the steps. Could he not just as easily set himself up on the OTHER side of the steps??

Or are donations really better when sitting on the "epistle side" of the church steps?!

Naming Customs

As far as I am aware, in the United States, there is no traditional method of selecting your child's name. He can have one or six given names (or any number any between ;)) and, in general, these depend entirely upon the parents' tastes. The child is generally called by his first given name, but I am a living example of one exception to that rule. ;) So, for all intents and purposes, there is no customary way to name American children. No method to the madness.
The French, however, do use a method. I have been told that it is customary to give the child four names.
Girls are given: a name chosen by the parents, Our Lady's name (usually as "Marie," but the forms can vary), the godmother's name, and the maternal grandmother's name.
Boys are given: a name chosen by the parents, Our Lady's name (although I know some families replace this with "Louis" for the boys), the godfather's name, and the paternal grandfather's name.

I don't know if these names are given in the order listed above, but I think it's close to that.
Just a little point, but it's cultural and there you have it.

(If any of my readers know differently, please let me know!)

* * * * * * * * * * *

On afterthought, what would my name be if done according to these guidelines?
It would be a little redundant I think, depending on whether I take my first name or the name I'm actually called by for the name given by my parents. In the former case, my name would be Mary Mary Mary Jeanne. LOL! In the latter case, I would be Monica Mary Mary Jeanne.

What would your name be?

I Challenge You

I am assigning you an exercise in synonyms today. Your homework is to try to go a full day, speaking English, without using any form of the word "get." You will then understand one of the difficulties I ran into, speaking French, a little while back. They don't have any one equivalent for our (ever-so-handy!!) word, "get." I have since gotten past this difficulty, but thought you'd like to share my misery. :P

Can you do it? Let me know how you make out!

BIG NEWS!!!

We interrupt this (ir-)regularly scheduled program to announce not one, but TWO! momentous news items. (They do not bear equal weight, but they do both bear more weight than the usual news I post. :))

The first one being that MOM AND LINDSEY ARE COMING TO VISIT!!!!! They will be here in under 12 days!!!! It was a really quick - and thoroughly Providential!! - deal, as well as complete surprise to Mom. "Shock" may be a better word to describe her reaction. You see, Dad bought her ticket and everything before she ever heard even a whisper of the conspiracy!! :D So, how cool is that??

The second item, most hot off the press, is that I have finally (!!) - after nearly four years - renewed contact with Thomas, the French kid who was at SMC in 2002/2003. He is the world's worst correspondent, :) so when I e-mailed him casually a few days ago, I didn't expect a reply. What a surprise then to hear from him today!! And better luck yet! He arrives in Paris tomorrow and will be in town for two weeks!!

Will wonders never cease.

:)