This is a republished reflection on the life of Saint Clare of Assisi that was published oringinally seven years ago. The reflection speaks to the timeless virtues of detachment from the world, self-denial, modesty and a total embrace of holy poverty for love of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and His Holy Church.

This reflection emphasizes Saint Clare’s rejection of worldliness and worldly pleasures. No matter what our own sins and failings with respect to worldliness might be now and have been in the past, Saint Clare’s life and holy example inspires us to quit the world once and for all and to prepare for the world to come by storing up treasures in Heaven that do not rust or fade away, and that no thief can take away from us. 

I will have an update later today concerning the next original commentary. I did publish one such commentary on Sunday, August 11, 2024, the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost and the Commemorations of Saints Tiburtius and Susanna and, in some places, Saint Philomena and Saint Emigdius. 

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Saint Clare of Assisi, pray for us.

Saint Francis of Assisi, pray for us.

Blessed Agnes of Prague, pray for us.

With all that is happening in the world now President Donald John Trump is considering declassifying the harmful hallucinogen called marijuana as a “less dangerous” drug, and he is considering doing this at the behest of marijuana growers and retailers without having any qualm about physical harm caused by drug and, of course, without even a clue about this substance’s moral harm.

Finally, there is a very urgent need to raise $1500 by Friday, August 15, 2025. the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Non-tax-deductible financial gifts are thus needed at this time. Thank you in advance for your generosity.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Saint Philomena, pray for us.

Saints Tiburtius and Susanna, pray for us.

This is a brief reflection, written originally in 2009 and revised over the years, to honor our great Wonder Worker, Saint Philomena and also the commemoration of the feast of Saints Tiburtius and Susanna.

Although our Wonder Worker is not on the universal calendar of the Roman Rite, her cultus was confirmed by none other than Pope Saint Pius X. That's good enough for me! Jansenists and rationalists will have to find some other website to surf as this one makes no room for any skepticism about Saint Philomena and the honor and power with which she has been crowned by Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

This reflection includes text from a 1945 book, Wonder Worker: Saint Philomena, Virgin Martyr, which was written by Cathy Hallack and published with ecclesiastical approbation of the Archdiocese of Dublin, Ireland, in 1945, which takes note of Saint Philomena's vow of virginity, which she made at eleven years of age, and mentions the fact that Diocletian was married to Prisca from 286 A.D. to the time he resigned as Roman emperor in 305 A.D. This means that Diocletian's proposal of marriage was indeed adulterous and bigamous, analogous to that of Herod the Tetrarch himself.

It was thus very touching for us to receive Mass propers for the Wonder Worker's feast from an 1898 Missal that included an entire Mass in her holy honor. This gift was sent to us by a friend of ours, one who does not agree with us concerning the true state of the Church Militant in this time of apostasy and betrayal but has not cast us out into the wilderness and down the Orwellian memory hole as lunatics These Mass propers are a tremendous treasure, one that our friend wanted us to share with true priests so that they can offer her Mass, perhaps as a votive Mass on a ferial day, in honor of our Wonder Worker, Saint Philomena. We thank our friend very much for making these propers available for those true priests who may not have had them prior to now. The link to the Mass text can be found within the body of the republished reflection: Feast of Saint Philomena Mass Propers. A Latin-English translation of these propers completed by Mr. Michael Creighton can be found by clicking here--Latin-English Mass Propers for the Feast of Saint Philomena.)

We are very devoted to Saint Philomena and pray the chaplet in her honor as a family every Saturday evening after Our Lady's Most Holy Rosary. I pray her chaplet every day. 

Pope Saint Pius X, who raised the Confraternity of Saint Philomena to an Archconfraternity, told Italian priests in an allocution given in 1912 that no one could claim to be holy while dissenting from the pope:  

Therefore, when we love the Pope, there are no discussions regarding what he orders or demands, or up to what point obedience must go, and in what things he is to be obeyed; when we love the Pope, we do not say that he has not spoken clearly enough, almost as if he were forced to repeat to the ear of each one the will clearly expressed so many times not only in person, but with letters and other public documents; we do not place his orders in doubt, adding the facile pretext of those unwilling to obey – that it is not the Pope who commands, but those who surround him; we do not limit the field in which he might and must exercise his authority; we do not set above the authority of the Pope that of other persons, however learned, who dissent from the Pope, who, even though learned, are not holy, because whoever is holy cannot dissent from the Pope. (Pope Saint Pius X, Allocution Vi ringrazio to priests on the 50th anniversary of the Apostolic Union, November 18, 1912, as found at: “Love the Pope!” – no ifs, and no buts: For Bishops, priests, and faithful, Saint Pius X explains what loving the Pope really entails.)

"Whoever is holy cannot dissent from the Pope."

How ironic it is that those within the Society of Saint Pius X (and the groups or priests who have splintered off from it while maintaining the false, Gallican "resist while recognize" position) and others in the "resist while recognize" movement claim that the conciliar "popes" have been true and legitimate Successors of Saint Peter while dissenting vocally--and very publicly so--from their teaching and disciplinary decisions.

Saint Philomena wants us to be holy, and no one who is holy can dissent from a true pope no matter how many times they protest that they can and not matter how many decades it has been that oneself or one's group has taken a position that is based on a false ecclesiology that has done, if possible, more harm to the authentic Catholic teaching on the papacy than that done by the conciliar revolutionaries themselves.

We are very devoted to Saint Philomena and pray the chaplet in her honor as a family every Saturday evening after Our Lady's Most Holy Rosary. I pray her chaplet every day. 

Our Lady of the Universal Living Rosary Association, pray for us.

Saint Philomena, pray for us.

Saints Tiburtius and Susanna, pray for us.

This is a very brief reflection for this feast of Saint Lawrence the Martyr. 

I hope to have another original commentary tomorrow, the Feast of Saint Philomena and the Commemoration of Saints Tiburtius and Susanna and, although not on the universal calendar, the Commemoration of Saint Emigdius. I continue to battle with the sickness that is refusing to away after hanging around for the past sixteen days. Yes, penance is better than ever in 2025.

Today is also the one hundred forty-first anniversary of the birth of my late paternal grandfather, Edward Martin Droleskey in Elmira, New York. Please pray for the repose of his immortal soul. Thank you. 

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Saint Lawrence Martyr, pray for us.

Saint John Mary Vianney is the patron of diocesan priests, a man who humbly recognized that he was not the brightest pupil, that he was, to use even his own description, slow in his studies. He had great difficulty learning his Latin. Other studies came hard to him as well. He did not give up. Helped by a wonderful mentor, Father Balley, who had worked as a carpenter during the French Revolution so as to hide his identity as a Catholic priest as he offered Mass in various hideaways and without any "communion" with the bishops and priests of the "constitutional church," John Mary Vianney persevered time and time and time again, praying to Saint John Francis Regis for help and guidance.

Yes, he was tempted to quit his studies, believing himself to unworthy of priestly ordination because of his lack of intellectual aptitude. Father Balley told him very pointedly, "You've decided to give in to the devil?"

That knocked some sense into our Saint, and it should knock some sense into any young man today who might have experienced some difficulties and perhaps even gross injustices in their own pursuit of the priesthood.

Never give up. We need priests, especially now in this time of apostasy and betrayal.

Always close to Our Lady, Saint John Mary Vianney was brought to the point of his priestly ordination on August 13, 1815. His superiors judged that his moral qualities had overcome any academic deficiencies that would have held others back from being ordained to the priesthood, and they were vindicated in their judgment by the long and devoted service that he gave to the people of Ars.

Oh yes, sure, he tried to run away from his people on three occasions, wanting to seek the solitude of a monastery. Each time, however, he responded to the pleas of his sheep who loved their shepherd, who spent so much time in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament and in the confessional to hear the confessions of the thousands of people who flocked from all over the world to the merits of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus applied to their souls through his priestly ministry, and returned home to Ars.

Saint John Mary Vianney, who knew failure in his studies for the priesthood, was a firm supporter of the "patron of failures," Pauline Jaricot, the foundress of Society of the Propagation of the Faith and the Universal Living Rosary Association, and zealously devoted to the cause of our great wonder worker, Saint Philomena.

Saint John Mary Vianney spent himself tirelessly in behalf of the flock that was entrusted to his pastoral care. We need to invoke his intercession so that our own true bishops and priests will be fortified by his example as they seek to serve faithful Catholics, the scattering and wandering sheep of this time of apostasy and betrayal, unto eternity.

A new commentary will appear tomorrow, the Feast of Saint Lawrence the Martyr and the Commemoration of the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost.

Our of the Rosary for us.

Saint Lawrence the Deacon, pray for us. 

Saint Romanus, pray for us.

This is part four of a continuing series.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Saints Cyriacus, Largus, and Smaradgus,

This a reminder, relying largely upon Pope Pius XII's Sertum Laetitiae, November 1, 1941, not to be deceived by the bread and circuses of Judeo-Masonic naturalism.

Another original article shoud appear in a day or two. Thank you.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Pope Saint Xystus II and Saints Felicissimus and Agapitus, pray for us.

Today is the great Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ on Mount Thabor in the presence of the Apostles Peter, James and John and in the company of Moses and Elias. God the Father repeated the proclamation that He had made as His Co-Equal Son made Flesh in Our Lady's Virginal and Immaculate Womb was baptized by His cousin, Saint John the Baptist in the Jordan River prior to the assumption of His Public Ministry, "This is My beloved Son, hear ye Him."

Our Lord was transfigured in the glory that He shared with the God the Father and God the Holy Ghost for all eternity in Heaven in order to show forth His Sacred Divinity to Saints Peter, the first Pope, Saint James, the first Bishop of Jerusalem and the first of the Apostles to be martyred, and Saint James's brother, Saint John, the beloved Apostle and the Apostle of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, to help console them during the events of His Passion and Death. It is our goal to be transfigured in glory for all eternity in Heaven.

The only path to the heavenly Mount Thabor, however, is by climbing atop Mount Calvary every day of our lives, willingly bearing our crosses in reparation for our sins and those of the world as we offer whatever merit we gain for the patient and joyful endurance of these crosses to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Indeed, our climb to Heaven by ascending first to Mount Calvary is signified every day a true bishop or a true priest completes the prayers at the foot of the altar and ascends the three steps (mystically symbolic of the Thee Persons of the Most Blessed Trinity and of the three stages of the interior life) to the altar itself.

If we desire to be transfigured in all glory in Heaven we must, therefore, be willing to be shamed and humiliated by the the ignominy associated with the Holy Cross. The glories of Heaven are worth such temporary shame and humiliation and ignominy, are they not?

May Our Lady, who awaits us in the heavenly Mount Thabor and intercedes for us from there, help us to ascend to Mount Calvary every day in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass so that we can keep her company at the foot of the Cross every day our lives as a a preparation for spending all eternity in the glories of Heaven with her and Saint Joseph and all of the angels and the saints.

A new article should appear within twenty minutes of this posting.

A blessed Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to you all.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Saint Peter, pray for us.

Saint John the Evangelist, pray for us.

Saint James the Greater, pray for us.

Pope Saint Sixtus, Saints Felicissimus and Agapitus, pray for us.

I am still working on the next original commentary, which is nearing completion.

As the hour is late, however, and I am still suffering from the penitential affliction that is now in its twelfth full day, I am offering a brief reflection on this feast of the Dedication of the Basilica of Our Lady of the Snows—the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore.

Our Lady of the Snows, pray for us.

Today, Monday August 4, 2025, is the Feast of Saint Dominic de Guzman, who had such great zeal for souls from his earliest days in seminary. As is well known, it was a conversation with an innkeeper in the Albigensian stronghold of Toulouse, France, changed the whole direction of his priesthood as he sought to win back souls from the darkness of an early forerunner of Calvinism, Albigensianism.

Our Lady, sent by her Divine Son out of the ineffable Mercy that He has in His Most Sacred Heart, which was formed out of her own Immaculate Heart, to bring back the lost sheep (and not to beat up on the sheep when their souls are sorely distressed) out of the new form of Manicheaism that had arisen in southern France, gave Saint Dominic her Most Holy Rosary to the be the weapon to crush the Albigensian heresy. Saint Dominic de Guzman used the weapon of Our Lady's Most Holy Rosary very well and taught others how to do so.

Every Catholic, of course, owes a great deal to Saint Dominic, who walked between southern France and Rome several times during his life--and who accompanied two of the first Dominicans, Saints Hyacinth and his brother, Saint Ceslaus, on the first leg of their trip in Italy back to Krakow before he, Saint Dominic, had to turn back.

Finally, as I am still fighting off the illness from which I have been suffering for the past ten days, a bit of relapse of the illness that had laid me low two weeks ago, I was unable to complete my next original article, but I will be back at work later today.  

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Saint Dominic de Guzman, pray for us.