Visit to Lisieux

The Basilica is a very impressive building, but the nicest part of it is the Crypt, where we attended the Old Rite Mass on the Sunday morning. I didn't get any photos during the Mass, I felt a bit inhibited, since we'd had one old lady give us one of those severe French 'stares' (anyone who's ever visited France will understand what I mean by that!) when we entered the Chapel. The photo below is taken just after Mass, when the two young men were returning the altar to novus ordo-ability.

The Mass itself was somewhat bizarre, for those who are used to the Usus Antiquior over here. The Priest seemed very unsure of himself, presumably because it was so long since he'd celebrated this Mass, but what got us, was that the Epistle was read in French by a layman, from a lecturn facing the people, followed by the Gospel read in French by the Priest, at the same lecturn - neither had been read through in Latin prior to this. The other odd thing was that they all stood during the consecration. Still it was better than the New Rite Mass we attended in the Carmel; charity prevents me from saying too much about that - suffice to say, it seemed very modern there... (and what they've done to the interior decor of the Carmel chapel made me very sad).

But, the mosaics in the Crypt are lovely, and I especially liked this statue of the Child Jesus - it was hard to get a photo in focus.


The upper Basilica main altar looks like this ..

And there is a shrine with a reliquary containing Therese's arm at the side (not sure about the dancing figure on the cross above, though!)

Outside, round the back of the Basilica, we found the tombs of Louis and Zelie Martin. Although their relics have been translated, and will be placed in a new shrine in the Crypt in September, prior to their Beatification on October 19th this year, we found it a good place to pray and have our photies taken by our son ...



who had climbed up lots of steps to a lovely outdoor altar, which he pointed out would make a great place to say the Old Mass, and then he decided to oblige us with a few of the actions the Priest would make, if he were to celebrate Mass there!






As I've already mentioned above, there was a little disappointment re the actual Carmel - especially as the sisters now come "out" for Mass, and sit at the front of the chapel - no strict enclosure there anymore - but the side chapel with Therese's remains is a lovely place to pray. I have to admit, when I first saw it, I wondered whether she was incorruptible, but actually, that is a wax effigy atop the tomb - it is very beautiful though.


But the most moving place, I found, was the family home of Les Buissonets. I really enjoyed its ordinariness, (in a 19th century way!). I didn't take any photos there, but looking for some on the internet, I came across a wonderful set, here on a lovely blog I've just discovered, called Laudem Gloriae.

I prayed for the intentions of all those who read this blog, so I'm sure Therese, and her Ma and Pa are interceding for you!

Somebody Loves Me..

It's nice to come back from being away to find you've been given an award by someone, which Roses and Jessamine has kindly done.

She has nominated me for the Blogging Friends Forever (BFF) Award in the Recently New Category, and so I do hope our blossoming friendship can stand the test of time! She says the last time she won something was ABBA's Super Trouper album in a newspaper competition (when she was 10) - which brought back fond memories of a SteelEyeSpan album coming through the post when I was about 14.

The funny thing was that I hadn't a clue where it had come from for a while, until I remembered that months before, I had entered a competition in the Catholic paper, The Universe, with this as the prize - I hadn't realised that I had won it, and there was nothing with the LP to tell me I had either!! Ah well, it shows me age, I suppose, but I could still annoy my husband now, if I wanted to, by singing every one of the lyrics to "All Around My Hat".

Now, as with anything in life, there are always conditions attached to these things, so I have to abide by some rules, they being,

1. Only five people allowed.

2. Four have to be dedicated followers of your blog.

3. One has to be someone new, or recently new to your blog, or live in another part of the world.

4. You must link back to whoever gave you the 'Blogging Friends Forever' award.

Well, I've already done rule number 4, and phew, I'm relieved I only have to find 5 people devoted to my out-dribblings, but as to whether they can be officially classed as dedicated, mmmm, let me see, well, my newest reader seems to be Journey of Truth , and then there's my greatest blogging inspiration, Alexa. Now, as for dedication, well, I don't think Mrs Pea would waste her precious time away from her lovely children, but I love reading her blog so she gets one, and I know ukok checks in now and again, and then not to be too feminist about thing, I think Lacrimarum Valle should be my token male, if he's not too offended by such a suggestion!

Actually this has all been rather complicated, and taken up more time than I thought it would, so I won't be too surprised if these chaps don't get round to putting their awards on their blogs.

I thought I'd have time to write something about our trip to Lisieux, but I'll have to save that for another day.

Beautiful Buddleia-Basking Butterflies!

What a delight to come back to this view from beyond my grubby kitchen sink! There are so many butterflies feasting on the buddleia, that I had to dash out and capture some pics.
This one obliged with several poses..



And I just managed to get a shot of this chap before he flew away!


We're off to Lisieux for a few days tomorrow, so Happy Feast of the Assumption to one and all - we'll be popping in to Reading on the way for the EF Mass, and to visit some home-schooling friends. And then in Lisieux, on Sunday, they should be having one of the first Traditional Latin Masses in a long time, at the Basilica, (to which we were alerted by Fr Hermeneutic's blog!) so we hope to be able to attend that. It's funny, but when I first began to be drawn to the Traditional Mass, people used to try to convince me that the New Mass was a wonderful invention, that did away with the dry dull old one, and one thought would come to me, "But what about people like Saint Therese of Lisieux, and other great Saints - surely they were happy with the Mass the way it was?"
I shall remember the intentions of all you bloggers, and especially recommend the married ones to Louis and Zelie Martin, although I fear they may not be "in" at present - their bodies having been exhumed, due to the investigation in to their cause for canonisation. Apparently they won't be "home" again 'till September, still, I'm sure Therese will put in a word for us with her ma and pa!!

Been Busy!

Just to let those of you who are interested in art know what I've been up to for the last couple of weeks!

I am a pretty fast retoucher, and as my colleague had done all the ground work in getting this picture conserved, but has a bit of a backlog in the studio, she needed a helping hand to get the job finished; so I've been chained to the easel for a while!

This is what Our Lady and her surrounding Angels looked like prior to me getting the paint brushes and pigments out:-




And once the work was done...



And here are some "before" and "after" details of the top right angel, the second photo isn't very good as I took it in a rush at the end, but it gives some idea of the completed job.

Glamour,Baggy Pants and Feminist Pride

I remember a Priest once giving a sermon in which he described the idea of "glamour" as being harmful to our society. I was rather taken aback by this, having strived (most unsuccessfully) to be glamorous, for most of my art-school days. I was very much influenced by one of my fellow studentesses, a Glasweigian glamour queen named Susan; though, when I looked through the eyes of reality, I could see that two rather dumpy females below the height of 5'2", would never have made the grade! Yet, after mulling over this sermon, I began to realise that the Priest was right, in as much as so many young people waste so much time over vain things such as their looks, or rather someone else's look, and how to achieve it. It was a sad indictment of the Catholic schooling system in the 60's and 70's, that when Susan and I were in the first year of our Fine Art course, and were seated before the wonderful set of Poussin paintings of the Seven Sacraments, in the Art Gallery in Edinburgh, neither of us were able, after having acknowledged to the Art History tutor that we were the only Catholic representatives of the youthful gathering at his feet, to list what all the seven Sacraments were! But we certainly knew how to try and look 'cool' . I was brought up a Catholic, but I didn't really know my faith. I never missed Mass, but I didn't really know why. I distinctly remember loving the sermons of the Dominican priests at the Chaplaincy in Edinburgh, they appealed to my intellect, or maybe to my intellectual pride. I only had a few qualms when one of them decided to make me a "Eucharistic Minister" minutes before the Mass one day (before these things were generally allowed)- letting me know that it was only an accident of history, and our culture, that had stopped women being ordained, but it wouldn't be long now, before the Church changed.... I drank in the feminist gobbledegook that was spouted at the time.... I was able to believe what I wanted, form the opinions I chose to hold, but, I must have a wonderful Guardian Angel, and very prayerful parents, because somehow I never went too far astray. I was always interested in my Faith, and wanted to know what the Truth was, and because of that, I've never liked to rest until I am convinced one way or another about something. It is obvious that different Priests will give different opinions on what is right or wrong, and if we are intelligent, or even just bothered about where the Truth lies, we lay people sometimes have to research beyond what a certain Priest has said, and look to what the Church teaches. By the Grace of God, and the intercession of His Blessed Mother, and my Guardian Angel, I believe I was able to get rid of most of my "feminist" notions - and I have found this incredibly liberating! I eventually realised it was wrong for women to be considering that it was their "right" to stand at the altar alongside the Priest. It is the same with modesty - there are many different opinions out there about what constitutes modest dress.

Those Catholic women who love to show off their bottoms in trousers (or pants, as our American friends would call them) - and there's no denying that trousers show off bottoms, except perhaps for the ones I used to wear in my "arty" days, which my Father described as looking like an "elephant's arse hanging down" - they were otherwise known as 'harem pants' - love also to justify it along the lines of "if the men want to ogle, then it's their problem", and, "I have 24 daughters, so I know a thing or two about modesty, and it's all in their hearts, and God doesn't mind one iota whether they flaunt what they've got, coz He gave it to them". But is this really Catholic teaching, I would like to ask? Or is it just the opinion of some women (or men)? Why, may I ask, is their opinion more true than that of say, Pope Pius XII, where he says,

" With regard to clothing, modesty requires especially two things: first, care that one does not make purity difficult for oneself, or for others, by one's own mode of dress; and, second, a prudent but firm and courageous resistance to the styles and customs, no matter how popular or widespread, or adopted by others, which are a danger to purity ."

I think I would really have appreciated my mother teaching me that when I was a young woman. I might not have gone along with it, but I would definitely have kept coming back to it, because it is so True.
And I do think it so sad that so few of these women actually consider the purity of their sons, husbands, Priests, and fellow Christian men, who could be led to sin by their immodesty - surely their souls are as important to save as those of their glamorous daughters?
I suspect a lot of it is to do with residual feminist pride... Yet as a searcher for the Truth, I'm willing to be convinced otherwise, but not from unauthoritative opinions, please!

Transient Beauty

I was looking at other people's blogs, and admiring their garden pictures, especially their roses. I love roses, but wouldn't choose to grow them, simply because I don't have the knowledge or time to take care of them and get the best out of them; mine always seem to end up covered in some sort of dreadful aphid or black spot disease. Despite all this, though, the few rose bushes I inherited with the garden (and my principle is, if it's a nice plant, then keep it till it dies of its own accord, or too much vigorous pruning on my behalf) have produced some lovely flowers, and I thought I should rush out and take some photos before they all get ruined by the rain and wind that is a constant feature of our summer weather this year!




One very large rose bush which is well established, and surviving nicely by my kitchen window had roses in various stages of loveliness, and it got me to thinking about our perceptions of beauty.


We start out like this rose bud,











Then life causes a bit of wear and tear, but we still look blousy and attractive,














Even when we get storm - damaged we can retain touches of glory,














But, eventually, we must wither and die.


















However, the wonder of it is, that God sees us like this all the time ...






















And if we let Him, He will transform us into this,






















So that we can join all the Saints in glory, to Praise Him eternally.

Of Knights and Fair Maidens

I recently received a lovely medal in the post, from a dear homeschooling mum friend who has six boys. The envelope was rather large for the medal, which she had told me she was sending, so I was intrigued as to what else there might be in it. To my surprise, out dropped a relic from the dim distant past..




















A pair of chainmail Knight's trousers, which were somewhat past their "sell-by" date, along with a plea for something to be done about them!!! The fabric had not been easy to sew the first time round, but was now ripped apart at the seams, along with a few other damages caused by hearty warfare...





You see, when they were first made, it was to dress one little Knight of Our Lady, who, being an only child, and not having a great deal of contact with many other Knights, did not have a lot of opportunities for jousting, and armed combat, and the like; so I knew that despite the rather delicate nature of the chainmail, they would hold out for a while, long enough for him to grow out of them.
















They even survived the occasional lending to a sweet little maiden who needed to dress up as Joan of Arc for an All Saints party...


















So I hoiked out the old sewing machine, and got to work on repairing them, with the following rather good result (even if I do say so myself). Whether they will survive the onslaught of battle for long is another question, but since they will now probably only fit the youngest son of the six, and since the family's latest addition, to the shock, surprise, and delight of all, is a little girl, the trews probably don't need to survive much longer - (unless of course she decides she must be Joan of Arc)!




















Whilst the sewing machine was out, and since the household must be rather lacking in bonnets and bows with all those male siblings to the new baby, I thought I would turn these...

























into these.










Note the distinct lack of pink - it will take a while for mum to be weaned off blue...