Tradition and Sanity

Jan 30 2025 128 ep. 43 mins 3
Tradition and Sanity Podcast artwork

The best in Catholic culture, the Latin Mass, Sacred Music, theology, and more, brought to you from Tradition and Sanity Substack by Peter and Julian Kwasniewski. Visit traditionsanity.substack.com!

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Gregorian Chant: Music of the Holy Spirit (Part 1)

Jan 30 2025 40 mins  
"If the Holy Ghost must aid in the accomplishment of the smallest good work, how much more must He have helped those who were to give this music its definitive expression in the liturgy! For this was precisely the objective of their efforts: from these texts, of which most were inspired in the highest sense, they must uncover the expression buried within, placed there by the Holy G

The Acorn and the Oak Tree

Jan 23 2025 32 mins  
The genius of Catholicism in both theology and worship has been to add on, not to destroy; and modifications have usually taken the form of prunings. Pruning means to trim the branches already there, not to cut down the tree and plant a new one. A confidence in the guidance of the Church by the Holy Spirit should extend to all that the piety of Catholics has cultivated over the age

Building the Mystical City of God from Womb and Hearth: St. Thomas on Christian Marriage (Part 2)

Jan 16 2025 25 mins  
We saw in our last post that St. Thomas Aquinas’s view of Christian marriage is both lofty and realistic: he appreciates its sacred signification but he also defends its honest-to-goodness physicality; for him, sexuality is not dirty, as it was for the Manichaeans, but part of God’s good creation—affected by the Fall, to be sure, but still inherently good, beneficial, and hol

The Leonine Prayers after Mass (Part 3: Conclusion)

Jan 09 2025 18 mins  
In the final part of this three-part series on the Leonine Prayers, I look more closely at the figure of St. Michael, the vision of Leo XIII in 1884 that led to the composition of the short and long exorcism prayers, and the developing intentions for which we pray these prayers. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus

The Leonine Prayers after Mass (Part 1)

Jan 02 2025 14 mins  
Today we'll look at the origins of the Leonine Prayers and begin to consider their richness and beauty, looking in particular at how they invoke the intercession of the saints and thus teach us to do the same in our personal prayer. We also look at when, and why, they were suppressed. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to

Catholic Ritual’s Appeal to Imagination: Émile Zola’s Low Mass

Dec 26 2024 20 mins  
Today, I treat my readers and listeners to a delightful passage from a nowadays seldom-read work of French literature: the author is Émile Zola, the novel is Abbé Mouret’s Transgression, the passage is chapter 2 of Book I, so very near the start. What I find so striking about this chapter is how vividly and beautifully Zola can narrate the words and rituals of a Low Mass in spi

Why the Epistle Should Be Read Eastwards and the Gospel Northwards (Part 2: Conclusion)

Dec 19 2024 30 mins  
In the first part, we laid the groundwork for understanding why the classical Roman Rite reads the Epistle to the east. It is not because the pope in his private chapel happened to do it this way, since there was no reason to bother to turn around. No, this custom of reading toward the east was widespread in many local uses and seems to have developed organically when the ambos of

Pastime with Good Company: Five Ideas for the Holidays

Dec 12 2024 18 mins  
If Gregorian chant is so dang important, where do I start learning it? What pieces should I sing first? Look no further! Here I will introduce you to a list of pieces, provide recordings of all of them, and supply you with a free PDF download containing all the chants at the end of the article. Excluding the Mass Ordinary (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus, Asperges, Vidi Aquam,

In the Footsteps of St. Paul (Part 3: Conclusion)

Dec 05 2024 19 mins  
Today we visit the House of the Virgin Mary outside of Kusadasi, stroll through the well-preserved ruins of ancient Ephesus, marvel at the exquisite craftsmanship of Turkish rugs, stoop to enter the Cave of the Apocalypse, travel back almost 4,000 years to Minoan civilization, and more. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access t

“Heaven and Earth Shall Pass Away…”

Nov 29 2024 15 mins  
In the classical Roman Rite, the Mass for the last Sunday after Pentecost and the Mass for the first Sunday of Advent feature parallel Gospel pericopes about the end of the world. These Gospels contain a number of striking verses that seem more relevant than ever — an abomination of desolation in the holy place, the warning against false Christs and false prophets so persuasive o