Since we spent some time showing you the old basilica of "Snnta Maria Nova" (now known as Santa Francesca Romana), we may as well show you the other side of that coin (so to speak): Santa Maria Antiqua -- or "Old St. Mary's" as we would tend to say in English parlance. The fifth century Santa Maria Antiqua (like Santa Maria Nova / Santa Francesca Romana) is located within the Roman Forum ..read more

Sacra Domus Aurea has made a name for itself as a first-rate designer and tailor of bespoke liturgical vestments. The owner is Anamaria who has grown her business over the years and now her unique vestment creations can be seen everywhere.In these images we can see an example of her fine work, cut in the Neri style, a look that was often seen in Rome in the late sixteenth century and popularized ..read more

Throughout the world, wherever the cross of Christ has been planted, the wellspring of beautiful churches follows. This has been seen in virtually every corner of the world, giving rise to other-worldly beauty that nourishes the roots of faith and serves to give glory to God and inspire the Christian faithful to holiness. One such church, and one of the grandest churches in the United States ..read more

Malta is a small island nation located in the Mediterranean just south of Sicily, but what it lacks in goegraphic size, it more than makes up for in the magnanimity of its liturgical art -- specifically baroque liturgical art. Malta has seen many of the traditions of the Church preserved, including its use of hangings for particularly solemn occasions. It is also an island of grand, noble ..read more

The Gesu (or more properly the Church of the Holy Name of Jesus) in Rome is well enough known to many of our readers. It is the mother church of the Jesuits in Rome and one of the foremost examples of a baroque church in the Eternal City. One of the most famous altars found within this church is not the high altar, but rather the altar of St. Ignatius which includes a concealed statue of St ..read more

Our good friends at Arouca Press have published a wonderful new book that highlights the writings of Monsignor Schuler, penned over the span forty years for one of our favorite publications, Sacred Music, of which he was once the editor.  This new volume is a collection of his most significant articles, edited by his good friend Dr. Virginia A. Schubert.  Monsignor Schuler was a ..read more

The Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus located in Caterham, Surrey, England was built in the year 1881 and follows a classic gothic revival pattern, typical to the tastes of the time and place in which it was built, taking in many regards the template of a medieval parish church.  The church building proper was designed by Edward Ingress Bell (1837-1914). While the general architecture ..read more

There is a chasuble that is found in the treasury of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, Austria that for a long while I have sought to feature, but regrettably very little information is available about it, beyond the fact of where it is located. Some date the chasuble to the seventeenth century, but personally I would be more likely to place it in the very early eighteenth century. The ..read more

Photos courtesy of Allison Girone and FSSPThe National Shrine of St. Alphonsus Liguori looks with pardonable pride upon the city of Baltimore. Its majestic spire rears aloft within a block of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption, the first cathedral in the nation. The shrine is known as “Baltimore’s Powerhouse of Prayer.”  St. John Neumann adorns the list of ..read more

Continuing on with some of our considerations of vestments appropriate to the Easter Season, as well as our considerations of the exquisite vestment and embroidery work of Mother Marie Lemaire des Anges and the Ursulines of Québec, here today we take a quick look at what is informally referred to by the Musée des Ursulines du Québec as the "Jesuit chasuble" -- no doubt because it was ..read more