Meet St. Agatha.  Today is her feast day.  Agatha was a young Sicilian noblewoman who was viciously raped and tortured to death under the Decian persecution in ARSH 251.  St. Agatha is commorated in the Canon of every Mass (the Canon is the fixed prayers from the Sanctus (Holy, Holy, Holy) to the Pater Noster (the Lord’s Prayer).  The invocation of St. Agnes comes after the Consecration, while Our Blessed Lord is upon the Altar.  In the Mass of the Ages, this comes at the NOBIS QUOQUE PECCATORIBUS…  In the Novus Ordo, well, I guess it is hit-and-miss.  The English translation of the Latin is:

To us also, Thy sinful servants, confiding in the multitude of Thy mercies, vouchsafe to grant some part and fellowship with Thy holy Apostles and Martyrs; with John, Stephen, Matthias, Barnabas, Ignatius, Alexander, Marcellinus, Peter, Felicity, Perpetua, Agatha, Lucy, Agnes, Cecily, Anastasia, and with all Thy Saints, into whose company we beseech Thee to admit us, not weighing our merits, but pardoning our offences.

One of St. Agatha’s tortures was to have her breasts cut off.  Hence, she is almost always pictured holding a plate with her two severed breasts upon it.  She endured incredible tortures, and was healed at one point by a miraculous appartition of St. Peter himself (pictured above).  Finally, after enduring more rape, torture with fire and mutilation, St. Agatha died from her torture in prison.

I especially like the Collect:

O God, Who among other wonders of Your power have given the victory of martyrdom even to the gentler sex, graciously grant that we who commemorate the anniversary of the death of blessed Agatha, Your Virgin and Martyr, may come to You by following her example.
Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

And, of course, the Gospel is Matthew 19: 3-12, in which Our Lord declares marriage to be indissoluble.  Because marriage between man and wife – indissoluble – is the image pointing to the greater reality of Christ’s espousal to His Church – indissoluble. It’s amazing the things a person can do and the sufferings one can bear if one knows and believes that they are espoused to God Almighty, and that He will never, ever abandon them.  What therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder.

St. Agatha is very close to Our Lord in heaven and thus has great intercessory sway with Him.  As we move closer to the Counter-revolutionary World War wherein the full demonic power of the Freemasonic-sodomite Anti-church, Marxism, islam and the animalistic and hell-spawned depravity of the rap/hip-hop culture will be turned loose upon the western world, ask St. Agatha to pray for you that you might be courageous in the face of any coming rape and torture, and die an exemplary and holy death, if it so happens that you should meet that fate and be thus martyred.  I know I sure do.

St. Agatha, pray for us!

https://edwardpentin.co.uk/trumps-early-decisions-expose-damage-caused-by-vatican-complicity-with-globalism-says-italian-scholar/

Today is the feast of St. Blaise.  He was a physician who became a bishop and was martyred in the persecution of the governor of Cappadocia and Lesser Armenia, Agricola, under the Emperor Licinius in ARSH 316.  St. Blaise was, before being beheaded, essentially skinned alive by being scraped with iron combs.  It is edifying to me that the Church has assigned saintly patronages with an undeniable sense of humor, reminding us to laugh at death.  St. Blaise, because he was skinned alive with iron combs, became the patron saint of wool producers – because wool fleece, when processed, is combed with metal combs.

But my favorite St. Blaise story is of the old woman who came to him because a wolf had absconded with her pig.  St. Blaise, being good with animals to say the least, promptly found the wolf and commanded it to return the old woman’s pig.  The wolf promptly complied, returning the pig whole and unscathed.  Because it is a low-down dirty thing to steal pork.  Hands (and paws) off the sweet, sweet swine.  When St. Blaise was imprisoned and awaiting his execution, the same old woman brought him candles for his cell.

Also, don’t forget to get your annual St. Blaise throat blessing today after Mass. A mother brought her young son who had a fish bone lodged in his throat to St. Blaise while he was in prison, and St. Blaise took two blessed candles that the old woman with the stolen pig had brought him (and remember that yesterday was Candlemas), crossed the candles over the lad’s throat and prayed. The lad promptly yakked up the lodged bone. Don’t laugh. Having a pin bone lodged deep in your snorkel in the early 300’s with no technology to remove it was a terrifying and potentially lethal ordeal.

St. Blaise, pray for us, and by your intercession may we always be protected and delivered from those who would steal our pork, both real and proverbial.

Predella Panel from Stories from Life of St. Blaise: The Wolf Returning the Pig to the Poor Widow, Sano di Pietro, 15th Century

“Presentation of the Infant Jesus in the Temple”, Giotto, ARSH 1320, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

Happy Feast of the Presentation, aka “Candlemas”! It is called “Candlemas” because of the words of Simeon (shown above holding the squirmy Baby Jesus Who, like any baby, has planted His little hand right on Simeon’s mouth.)  Simeon prophesied of Our Blessed Lord in Luke 2: 32 that He was, “A light to the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.” Hence the great association with light and candles today. Also remember that the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple is the Fourth Joyful Mystery of the Rosary, the fruit of which is Obedience and Love of the Law.

Touchingly, as I look at this masterpiece by Giotto, I think perhaps the Baby Jesus is shown reaching longingly towards His mother, who is likewise reaching to Him, with His hand on Simeon’s mouth because it was Simeon who prophesied that The Blessed Virgin would have her very soul pierced.  He knew what had to happen, and what had to happen to her.  Perhaps Giotto has depicted here Our Lord’s assurance to His mother of His consolation – that He would always proactively reach to her in love and help her through her sorrows and sufferings being prophesied to her in that moment  – as He does to all of us.

Shown on the far left is St. Joseph, holding the sacrifical dove – because the Holy Family was too poor to afford the normal lamb.  On the far right is the elderly prophetess Anna.

I’m sure Antipope Bergoglio and all of the satanic faggots in the Antichurch would find this whole scene revolting as these pharisaical lovers of the law cling to antiquated forms and practices in a self-absorbed display of faux-piety, idolatry and divination.  Because remember, according to those filthy wretches, the only way to be truly pious is to be impious.  The only way to truly love the law is to disregard it.  The only genuine devotional practice is the opposition to tradition. In other words, total satanic inversion.

Let’s end with a quote about Candlemas from a devout Catholic, Jacobus de Voragine, from The Golden Legend, circa ARSH 1275.

…if we will appear in this feast tofore the face of God, pure and clean and acceptable, we ought to have in us three things which be signified by the candle burning: that is good deeds, true faith, with good works. And like as the candle without burning is dead, right so faith is dead without works as Saint James saith, for to believe in God without obeying his commandments profiteth nothing. And therefore saith Saint Gregory: The good work ought to show withoutforth that thy intention abide good withinforth the heart, without seeking within any vain glory to be allowed and praised. And by the fire is understood charity, of which God saith: I am come to put fire in the earth, and whom I will, I will burn.

Madonna and Child with St Ignatius of Antioch and St Onophrius, Lorenzo Lotto, ARSH 1508, Borghese Gallery, Rome

Today is the feast of St. Ignatius of Antioch, who was a student of St. John the Apostle.  Not bad.  I love how in the image above, Our Lord is reaching toward St. Ignatius and handing to him His Sacred Heart, crowned with thorns, and pierced.

When I was reading my way into The Church (and being so scandalized by the Kennedys that I kept delaying my entry), one of the most helpful books I read was called “The Four Witnesses: The Early Church in Her Own Words“, which is a compendium of quotations by the early Church Fathers, namely Ignatius of Antioch (died ARSH 110), Clement of Rome (died ARSH 99, consecrated a bishop by St. Peter), Justin Martyr (died ARSH 165), and Irenaeus of Lyon (student of Polycarp who was a student of John the Apostle, died ARSH 202). If you are genuinely interested in what EXACTLY was going on in the days, weeks and decades after Our Lord’s Passion, Resurrection and Ascension, and the descent of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost, I highly recommend reading the words of the Church Fathers themselves.  It’s all there: the Mass, the Real Presence of Our Lord in the Eucharist, sacramental confession of sins, hierarchical structure of the Church Militant, everything.

Here is a quote from St. Ignatius. 

In like manner, everyone who has received from God the power of distinguishing and yet follows an unskillful pastor and receives a false opinion for the truth shall be punished…
Be not deceived: if any man follows him who separates from the truth, he shall not inherit the kingdom of God; and if any man does not stand aloof from the preacher of falsehood he shall be condemned to Hell.
-St. Ignatius of Antioch

Boy, how timely and relevant is this?  Remember folks, every one of us will stand ALONE before Christ at our Particular Judgment.  There will be no finger pointing, no blaming of others.  Every human being with the “power of distinguishing”, which means above the age of reason, and not suffering from mental retardation or other physical limitation to reasoned thought and apprehension of objective reality, will be held responsible for their actions.

Many people today are desperately trying to convince themselves and others that only degreed theologians or canon lawyers are competent to “distinguish”.  This is a LIE. And it is so transparently ridiculous a lie as to be laugh-out-loud-able.  We know from the Good Shepherd discourse, Our Lord’s words to the disciples of John the Baptist, the example of the Good Thief, and the witness of the Martyrs, many of whom were peasants, soldiers, and even children (St. Agnes of Rome was 13), coupled with the observation of the ever-escalating catastrophic failure of theologians and canonists of the past century, and plain old common sense, that “the power of distinguishing” belongs to all of us, and we are all expected to use it. 

Trailing off after an arch-heretic Antipope, and likely False Prophet Forerunner of the Antichrist, in the name of “obedience” and “humility” or even some perverse notion of “piety” will NOT go over well. “But… but… but…the wolves and faithless hirelings and people with doctorates from Pontifical Universities told me it was okay….” Balderdash.

But a stranger [the sheep] follow not, but fly from him, because they know not the voice of strangers.

Western Swing is that sublime intersection of Country, Bluegrass, Big Band, Jazz and Blues. It’s just about as quintessentially American as you can get. And Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys are peak Western Swing.

Enjoy “Milk Cow Blues”. Take it, Leon Rausch….

https://www.amren.com/features/2024/12/india-its-worse-than-you-think/

The thing that struck me hardest in this piece is the fact that the average I.Q. of Indians (dot, not feather) is a shockingly low 77. As I have said and written, the Indians we see in the West are all on the front side of the I.Q. bell curve, capable of studying and working in medicine, engineering and computer science. India, with a population of 1.4 billion, cherry picks brainpower from its population to export, but most Indians are of far lower intelligence than white Westerners, even though we have a misperception of the entire race being “above average.” Pile on top of that the fact that their culture is pagan and intrinsically depraved, without the advantage that Christianity and its moral code imparts, and it’s exactly as the author says: so much worse than we think.

Wow. It’s almost as if they should be colonized and converted to Catholicism FOR THEIR OWN GOOD, or something. It’s almost as if PROSELYTIZING IS A VIRTUOUS ACT OF CHARITY, EXPLICITLY COMMANDED BY CHRIST HIMSELF.

Do read the whole thing.

Women are destroying their human embryos from IVF they didn’t want anymore because they got their babies and who needs the other souls they created right? 😡 … anyhow they are putting their own deceased children in a ring. pic.twitter.com/fCInon8rnb

— 🌷 LIZZIE🌷 (@farmingandJesus) January 26, 2025