Guest Post: A Papist song for today's feast

From AmP reader (and classmate) Domenic:

Alas, this year, the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter (today) falls on a Sunday and has been trumped by the 7th Sunday of Tempus per Annum. In honour and thanksgiving for gift of St. Peter's commission and his successors, especially Pope Benedict XVI, I recommend singing or reading the composition below. The author, Cardinal Wiseman, oversaw the restoration of the hierarchy in England in the mid-nineteenth century, and had much first hand experience of the opposite sentiment to what his song expresses.

Full in the panting heart of Rome
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Full in the panting heart of Rome
Beneath the apostle's crowning dome.
From pilgrim's lips that kiss the ground,
Breathes in all tongues one only sound:

GOD BLESS OUR POPE, GOD BLESS OUR POPE,
GOD BLESS OUR POPE, THE GREAT THE GOOD!

The golden roof, the marble walls,
The Vatican's majestic halls,
The note redoubles, till it fills
With echoes sweet the seven hills

GOD BLESS OUR POPE, GOD BLESS OUR POPE,
GOD BLESS OUR POPE, THE GREAT THE GOOD!

Then surging through each hallowed gate,
Where martyrs glory, in peace await
It sweeps beyond the solemn plain,
Peals over Alps, across the main.

GOD BLESS OUR POPE, GOD BLESS OUR POPE,
GOD BLESS OUR POPE, THE GREAT THE GOOD!

From torrid south to frozen north,
The wave harmonious stretches forth,
Yet strikes no chord more true to Rome's,
Than rings within our hearts and homes.

GOD BLESS OUR POPE, GOD BLESS OUR POPE,
GOD BLESS OUR POPE, THE GREAT THE GOOD!

- Nicholas Cardinal Wiseman, Archbishop of Westminster (1802 - 1865)

Picture: The Pope's ... Cologne?! {updated}

{updated 12:00am - see below}


It claims - wait for it - to be the "Private Formula of Pope Pius IX." I'm not kidding.

If anything deserved to be in Pope Pius IX's Syllabus of Errors - this is it!

update: from (someone claiming to be) the actual manufacturer of the Cologne:

I make The Pope's Cologne from the private formula of PiuS IX. It is an aristocratic, Old World cologne with surprising freshness. It isn't some joke like "Pope on a Rope". It provides an interesting look into the mid 19th century, a very important time in the history of the Church.
At first I thought it strange that a pope would be wearing cologne but in my research, I found that it was very fashionable at the time for aristocrats to have their own perfumers compose colognes for them. And Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti was an aristocrat.
It is really a nice aftershave and my three sons and I all wear it.
I hope some of you readers may be able to enjoy it.
Fred Hass

Picture: Papist Plotting in Florida

I just met someone and I think he possesses excellent taste in personalized plates.

Can you guess why? ;-)

Haha! I love it. Send me your own related submission and - if it's worthy - I'll post it!

Video: Cardinal Arinze on NFP and "overlapping of rosaries"

From the Cardinal Arinze Webcast YouTube channel:

More information at their website.

Contributions Call: World Youth Day desktop wallpaper needed

I have a problem: I can't find any good desktop wallpapers for the upcoming World Youth Day 2008 celebration in Sydney, Australia .... and I don't find that acceptable. So, I'm asking my gifted readers to create some and send them to me. The best submissions will be posted for all your fellow papists to joyfully set as their wallpaper. If you run a website or blog it's a great way to promote that as well. Why are you still here? Get to it!

FYI: extra kudos if someone fashions a dynamic wallpaper with a countdown timer!