Author Archives: Fr. John Larson

Venerable Bede on Purgatory

By | November 15, 2022

The Venerable Bede died in 735. His tomb is at Durham Cathedral in England, currently an Anglican Cathedral. They sell the book of his History of the Church in England at their bookstore. Ironically, it contains a rather vivid description of purgatory, although the term “purgatory” did not yet exist when it was written. Here… Read More »

The Courage of Christ

By | November 15, 2022

From The Courage of Christ by Fr. Henry Schuyler, S.T.L. His experience, in the eyes of His fellow-men, was limited. Yet the mind of Christ was greater than the world He lived in. Through the supernatural light that filled it, He saw plainly before Him the one great work He was to accomplish. This and… Read More »

Commentarii in Sacram Scripturam (links to Latin texts)

By | October 28, 2021

The famous commentary of Cornelius a Lapide… links to the complete Latin texts Tomus I: Commentary on the Pententeuch Tomus II: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Kings I-IV, and Paralipomenon I-II, Ezra, Nehemiah, Tobit, Judith, Esther, and Machabees Tomus III: Proverbs Tomus IV: Ecclesiastes, Canticle of Canticles, and Wisdom Tomus V: Ecclesiasticus Tomus VI: 4 Major Prophets:… Read More »

Books about the Immaculate Conception from the 17th Century (in Latin, of course)

By | September 17, 2021

You might expect I’m going to link to full texts of some of these classics. De Immaculata Beatae Virginis Conceptione ab omni originali peccato immuni Libri Quatuor, dicati sacrae maiestati Philippi 3 Hispaniarum regis by Aegidius a Presentatione. 1617. Translation: On the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Immune from all Original Sin. Horizon Marianus… Read More »

New Dawn in Scotland Online Conference

By | July 8, 2021

The pandemic is… mostly over in Scotland, but not enough to have a regular event The Catholic Church in Scotland has an annual event which is still “virtual” this year, but that means we can all participate. Last year the videos were rather primitive, but this year (I’m guessing) they will improve the results. CLICK… Read More »

Benjamin Franklin on Dissent

By | January 2, 2018

It’s rather unusual for me to be quoting Ben Franklin, but I happen to be watching a TV special John Wayne put together called Swing Out, Sweet Land, and it had this quote from Franklin… a quote that is found barely anywhere on the Internet. This is the attitude we who are old enough to… Read More »

Best Films?

By | January 1, 2018

It’s not unusual to see a “best films list” these days. So, why not do one myself? I’m thinking here of films that have a message that is worth paying attention to. Although some of these are fairly big movies, they are not Casablanca or Lawrence of Arabia. I am trying to look at movies… Read More »

The Return of the Blog

By | February 2, 2017

It was down for a while there, but it’s back. At this time, I would just like to quote from an Angelus address of St. John Paul II: Mary, in fact, when considered in the fullness of the Church’s mystery and mission, not only expresses its independent personality, at the apex and at the beginning… Read More »

Catholic Documentaries

By | June 21, 2016

I’ve decided to highlight two Catholic documentaries I’ve seen recently. One that is quite touching is La Mama: An American Nun’s Life in a Mexican Prison. Here a clip from the beginning of the documentary: The story is quite amazing. Antonia Brenner (1926-2013) shows such a particular charism–something that this one woman achieved, and that… Read More »

Charles Untz

By | November 26, 2015

It doesn’t hurt to ask… Well, here’s the prayer to ask for the intercession of Charles Untz, a teenager who died in 2000 and some consider to have been a rather holy young man. A very simple website testifies to him: My Lady’s Knight. A prayer asking his intercession: Oh, Jesus, in these most difficult… Read More »