A Recently Painted St. Philip Statuette

During his visit to London around St. Philip's Day this past spring, Frater David Latorre purchased a statuette of St. Philip at the Oratory gift shop. As can be seen in the photo below, it initially came unpainted. As Fratellino pointed out, besides some details in the cassock, this gift shop statuette is a very faithful depiction of St. Philip. Paintwork was done by a friend of Frater Roberto Lionello and his wife Grace.

During our usual conclusion of Monday night practice with Compline, Frater David placed the statuette on the mantle next to the crucifix. This recently painted statuette makes a wonderful addition to the Brothers' devotional objects, and it was recommended to the San Diego Brothers' current postulants that they themselves should obtain something similar during their visit to London for admissions.

(Courtesy: David)

Throwback to a 2008 San Diego Brother

Those who keep up with New Liturgical Movement may have seen that our Brother Robert Keim has been welcomed as a new member of NLM's writing staff. Congratulations to him!

Frater Robert was part of the group of Brothers admitted to the Oratory in 2008, the others being the late John J. Velasco, his son Christopher, Wayne Lam, Richard Dawes, and George Pecoraro. 

Frater Robert reading from
Fr. Bacci's life of St. Philip in a
 Precious Blood robe.

It seems that all our articles that mention him are nearly 15 years old or older! There are some great photos included, so we encourage you to take a look.

• 23 Jan. 2008 - "New Oratorian Brothers for San Diego"
  
• 23 Jan. 2008 - "Six new San Diego Brothers admitted in London"
  
• 27 May 2008 - "Brothers in our Prayers and General Intentions this Philiptide"
  
• 8 Jun. 2009 - "St. Philip's Celebrations 2009"
  

Additionally, Frater Robert accompanied Fratellino and Frater Richard to sing for a Solemn High Mass in Orange County over a decade ago.

St. John the Evangelist, Costa Mesa, 2013

For those interested in Mr. Keim's first few articles from New Liturgical Movement, we have them linked below.

• The Exsultet, The Happy Fault, and the Queen of Heaven
  
• The Bells of Easter, Part 1: The Golden Bells of the High Priest
• The Bells of Easter, Part 2: Bell-Song of the Risen Christ
  

Additionally, he is one of the twenty-six authors included in Dr. Peter Kwasniewski's book Ultramontanism and Tradition: The Role of Papal Authority in the Catholic Faith, with some of the other authors including Cardinal Burke, Bishop Schneider, and Dr. Joseph Shaw of the Latin Mass Society, as well as fellow Southern Californians Dr. Ed Feser and Charles A. Coulombe. Dr. Kwasniewski has information on the book here.

More Photographs from London Admissions Day for San Diego Brothers 20/1/08

During the nine day trip to London, each of the nine persons in the group took somewhere around 300 photographs, for a grand total of approximately 2700 trip photos...which are going to take some time to sort out! So Brothers, and reader, bear with us while they trickle in (it is hoped to have the group picture party on the 2nd Monday after Easter, 31/3/08 - stay tuned for more information).

But for now a couple of more pictures from our glorious San Diego Admissions Day. In the first photo, taken (unusually) during Brother's Exercizes in the Little Oratory, the new brothers are blessed with the relic of St. Philip by Fr. Ronald Creighton Jobe, reverently assisted by London Brother James Cross. In the second, father-and-son Brothers John and Christopher Velasco stand for a portrait in the ornate nave of the Little Oratory, following their admission. Well done, John and Chris!

Brompton's "Little Oratory" (across the courtyard from the main church) has just undergone a complete cleaning and restoration, and is truly one of London's special interiors, the more so for being much less seen than other churches, and will be the subject of a photo-essay at a future date.