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| February 13th - St. Catherine of Ricci |
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Posted by: Elizabeth - 01-10-2021, 02:56 PM - Forum: February
- Replies (1)
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Saint Catherine of Ricci
Virgin
(1522-1590)
Alexandrina of Ricci was the daughter of a noble Florentine. At the age of thirteen she entered the Third Order of Saint Dominic in the monastery of Prato, taking in religion the name of Catherine, in honor of her patron and predecessor of Siena. Her special attraction was to the Passion of Christ, in which she was permitted miraculously to participate. During the Lent of 1541, being then twenty-one years of age, she had a vision of the crucifixion so heartrending that she was prostrated and confined to bed for three weeks, and was only restored on Holy Saturday, by an apparition of Saint Mary Magdalene and the risen Jesus.
During twelve years Saint Catherine passed every Friday in ecstasy. She received the sacred stigmata, the wound in the left side, and the crown of thorns. All these favors gave her continual and intense suffering, and inspired her with a loving sympathy for the yet more bitter tortures of the Holy Souls. In their behalf she offered all her prayers and penances; and her charity toward them became so famous throughout Tuscany that after every death the friends of the deceased hastened to Catherine to secure her prayers.
Saint Catherine offered many prayers, fasts, and penances for a certain great man, and thereby obtained his salvation. It was revealed to her that he was nonetheless in purgatory; and such was her love of Jesus crucified that she offered to suffer all the pains which would be inflicted on that soul. Her prayer was granted. The soul entered heaven, and for forty days Catherine suffered indescribable agonies. Her body was covered with blisters, emitting heat so great that her cell seemed on fire. Her flesh appeared as if roasted, and her tongue like red-hot iron. She remained calm and joyful, saying, I long to suffer all imaginable pains, that souls may quickly see and praise their Redeemer. She conversed with the Saints in glory, and frequently with Saint Philip Neri at Rome without ever leaving her convent at Prato. She died, amid angels' songs, in 1590.
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| The Recusant #54 - Epiphany 2021 |
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Posted by: Stone - 01-10-2021, 07:04 AM - Forum: The Recusant
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Quote:Greetings once again, fellow extremists, radicals and gulag-dodgers!
World Communism is almost upon us. Each day that passes we seem to be getting one step closer to the World Government through which the ‘Lord of the World’ will one day rule. The stakes, though still hidden from many, are nonetheless extremely high. Bear that in mind the next time someone looks at you disapprovingly for not wearing a face-muzzle in public. If only they knew. Bear in mind also, that Our Lord will, of course, have the last say. ...
Contents
•Archbishop Lefebvre: 1978 ‘Spotlight’ Interview
•DICI Interview with the SSPX Superior General (Analysis)
•Don’t Get the Vaccine!
•Novus Ordo Bishops speak out against the vaccine
•The Old SSPX spoke out against vaccines
•The New SSPX gives green light to the new vaccine
•Bishop Williamson changes his mind concerning the vaccine.
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| February 12th - The Seven Holy Servite Founders and St. Benedict of Anian |
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Posted by: Elizabeth - 01-10-2021, 12:13 AM - Forum: February
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The Seven Holy Servite Founders
(Mid 13th century)
Can you imagine seven prominent men of any large modern city banding together, leaving their homes and profession, and going into solitude for a life directly given to God? That is what happened in the cultured and prosperous city of Florence in the middle of the 13th century. At this time, the city was torn with political strife as well as by the heresy of the Cathari; morals were low and religion neglected.
On the feast of the Assumption in 1233, seven of the members of a Florentine Confraternity devoted to the Holy Mother of God were gathered in prayer under the presidency of Alessio Falconieri. The Blessed Virgin appeared to the young men and exhorted them to devote themselves to Her service, in retirement from the world. It was in 1240 that they decided to withdraw together from the city to a solitary place for prayer and the service of God. The eldest was Buonfiglio Monaldo, who became their leader. The others were Alexis Falconieri, Benedict dell'Antella, Bartholomew Amidei, Ricovero Uguccione, Gerardino Sostegni, and John Buonagiunta. Their aim was to lead a life of penance and prayer, but they soon found themselves disturbed by increasing numbers of visitors. They next retired to the deserted slopes of Monte Senario near Florence, where the Blessed Virgin appeared to them again. There the nucleus of a new Order was formed, called Servants of Mary, or Servites, in recognition of their special manner of venerating the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady.
In 1244, under the direction of Saint Peter of Verona, O.P., this small group adopted a religious habit similar to the Dominican habit, choosing to live under the rule of Saint Augustine. The new Order took a form resembling more the mendicant friars than the older monastic Orders. One of the most remarkable features of the new foundation was its wonderful growth. Even in the fourteenth century, the Order had more than one hundred convents in several nations of Europe, as well as in India and on the Island of Crete. The Rosary of the Seven Sorrows is one of their regular devotions, as is also the Via Matris, or Way of the Cross of Mary.
![[Image: saintb18.jpg]](https://catholicsaints.info/wp-content/uploads/saintb18.jpg) Saint Benedict of Anian
Abbot
(750-821)
Saint Benedict of Anian was the son of Aigulf, Governor of Languedoc, and was born about 750. In his early youth he served as cup-bearer to King Pepin and his son Charlemagne, under them enjoying great honors and possessions. Grace entered his soul at the age of twenty, and he resolved to seek the kingdom of God with his whole heart. Without relinquishing his place at court, he lived there a very mortified life for three years; then a narrow escape from drowning made him vow to leave the world, and he entered the cloister of Saint Seine, near Langres.
In reward for Saint Benedict's heroic austerities in the monastic state, God bestowed upon him the gift of tears, and inspired him with a knowledge of spiritual things. As procurator for the monastery, he was very solicitous for the wants of the brethren, and most hospitable to the poor and to guests. Declining to accept the abbacy, he built himself a little hermitage on the Anian brook, and lived some years in great solitude and poverty.
When the fame of his sanctity drew many souls to him, he was obliged to build a large abbey, and within a short time governed three hundred monks. He became the great restorer of monastic discipline throughout France and Germany. First, he drew up with immense labor a code of the rules of the first Saint Benedict, his patron, which he collated with those of the chief monastic founders, showing the uniformity of the exercises in each. He enforced by his Penitential their exact observance; secondly, he minutely regulated all matters regarding food, clothing, and every detail of life; and thirdly, by prescribing the same regime for all, he precluded jealousies and insured perfect charity. In a Provincial Council at which he was present, held in 813 under Charlemagne, it was declared that all monks of the West should adopt the rule of Saint Benedict of Anian. He died February 11, 821. |
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| Thoughts of the St. Cure of d'Ars (St. John Mary Vianney) |
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Posted by: Hildegard of Bingen - 01-09-2021, 10:33 PM - Forum: The Saints
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St. John Mary Vianney
The Cure of Ars
1786-1859
Patron of Parish Priests
THOUGHTS OF THE CURE OF D'ARS
Compiled and Arranged by W.M. B.
Booklet available from TAN Books
"We have nothing of our own but our will. It
is the only thing which God has so placed in
our own power that we can make an offering
of it to Him." - The Cure of Ars
Page 7
Oh! how I love those words said the first thing in
the morning: I will do and suffer everything this
day for the Glory of God . . . nothing for the world
or personal interest, all to please my Saviour!
- Counsel (T.)
Does our conduct correspond with our Faith?
- Sermon on the Incarnation, I.
God does not require of us extraordinary things.
- Catechism on Pride (Sp.).
A PURE soul is with God, as a child with its mother.
It caresses and embraces her, and its mother returns
all its endearments.
- Catechism on the Soul (M.).
With the name of Jesus we shall overthrow the
demons; we shall put them to flight. With is Name,
if they dare to attack us, our battles will be victories. . .
- Sermon on Temptation (Sp.).
The Saints were so completely dead to themselves
that they cared very little whether others agreed with
them or not.
- Catechism on Pride (Sp.)
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| Feast of the Holy Family |
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Posted by: Stone - 01-09-2021, 05:12 PM - Forum: Christmas
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Feast of the Holy Family
INTROIT (Proverbs 23-25) The father of the Just rejoiceth greatly, let Thy father and Thy mother be joyful, and let her rejoice who bore Thee. -- (Ps.88. 2, 3). How lovely are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of Hosts! my soul longeth and fainteth for the courts of the Lord. V.: Glory be to the Father . . . -- The father of the Just . .
COLLECT. O Lord Jesus Christ, who, being subject to Mary and Joseph, didst sanctify home life with unspeakable virtues: grant, that, by the aid of both, we may be taught by the example of Thy Holy Family, and attain to eternal fellowship with it: Who livest and reignest, with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God . . .
EPISTLE. (Colossians 3: 12-17) Brethren, Put ye on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, the bowels of mercy, benignity, humility, modesty, patience: bearing with one another and forgiving one another: even as the Lord hath forgiven you, so do you also. But above all these things have charity, which is the bond of perfection: and let the peace of Christ rejoice in your hearts, wherein also you are called in one body: and be ye thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you abundantly, in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual canticles, singing in grace in your hearts to God. All whatsoever you do in word or in work, do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God and the Father by Jesus Christ our Lord.
GRADUAL. (Psalms 26: 4) One thing I have asked of the Lord, this will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. V. (Ps. 88. 5). Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house, O Lord, they shall praise Thee for ever and ever.
LESSER ALLELUIA. Alleluia, alleluia. V. (Isaias 45. 15). Verily Thou art a hidden King, the God of Israel, the Savior. Alleluia.
TRACT. Hebrews 10:5. Sacrifice and oblation Thou wouldst not, but a body Thou has fitted unto me. V. Burnt-offering and sin-offering Thou didst not require: then said I: Behold I come. V. In the head of the book it is written of Me that I should do Thy will.
GREATER ALLELUIA. ALLELUIA, alleluia. V. Blessed is the man that heareth Me and that watcheth daily at My gates, and waiteth at the post of My doors. Alleluia. V. Our life is hidden with Christ in God. Alleluia.
GOSPEL. (Luke 2: 42-52) When Jesus was twelve years old, they going up into Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast, and having fulfilled the days, when they returned, the Child Jesus remained in Jerusalem, and His parents knew it not. And thinking that He was in the company, they came a day's journey, and sought Him among their kinsfolk and acquaintences. And not finding Him, they returned into Jerusalem, seeking Him. And it came to pass that after three days they found Him in the Temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, hearing them and asking them questions. And all that heard Him were astonished at His wisdom and His answers. And seeing Him they wondered. And His Mother said to Him: Son, why hast Thou done so to us? Behold Thy father and I have sought Thee sorrowing. And He said to them: how is it that you sought Me Did you not know that I must be about My Father's business? And they understood not the word that He spoke unto them. And he went down with them and come to Nazareth, and was subject to them. And His Mother kept all these words in her heart. And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and grace with God and men.
OFFERTORY. (Luke 2:22) The parents of Jesus carried Him to Jerusalem, to present Him to the Lord.
SECRET. We offer unto Thee, O Lord, this propitiatory Sacrifice, humbly entreating Thee: that the intercession of the Virgin Mother of God, with blessed Joseph, Thou wouldst firmly establish our families in Thy peace and grace. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost God, world without end. Amen.
PREFACE. (Preface of the Epiphany) It is truly meet and just, right and for our salvation, that we should at all times, and in all places, give thanks unto Thee, O holy Lord, Father almighty, everlasting God; for when Thine only-begotten Son was manifested in the substance of our mortal flesh, with the new light of His own Immortality He restored us. And therefore with Angels and Archangels, with Throne and Dominations, and with all the hosts of the heavenly army, we sing the hymn of Thy glory, evermore saying: Holy, Holy, Holy...
COMMUNION. (Luke 2:51) Jesus went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them.
POST COMMUNION. Make us, O Lord Jesus, whom Thou dost refresh with heavenly sacraments, ever to follow the example of Thy Holy Family: that in the hour of our death, the glorious Virgin Thy Mother with blessed Joseph may come to our aid, and we may be found worthy to be received by Thee into everlasting tabernacles. Who livest and reignest, with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost . .
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INSTRUCTION FOR THE FIRST SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY
GOSPEL (Lk. 2:42-52). And when Jesus was twelve years old, they going up into Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast, and having fulfilled the days, when they returned, the child Jesus remained in Jerusalem; and his parents knew it not. And thinking that he was in the company, they came a day's journey, and sought him among their kinsfolks and acquaintance. And not finding him, they returned into Jerusalem, seeking him. And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple sitting in the midst of the doctors, hearing them and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his wisdom and his answers. And seeing him, they wondered. And his mother said to him: Son, why hast thou done so to us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. And he said to them: How is it that you sought me? did ye not know that I must be about my Father's business? And they understood not the word that he spoke unto them. And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth; and was subject to them. And his mother kept all these words in her heart. And Jesus advanced in wisdom, and age, and grace with God and men.
Why did our Savior go with His parents to Jerusalem to the temple?
Because God commanded (Deut. 16:16) that all the male Israelites should appear, three times a year on certain festivals, and offer sacrifice to Him in the temple; Jesus fulfilled this commandment to set us an example that we, according to the will of the holy Catholic Church, should willingly and devoutly be present at the services of the Church on Sundays and holydays of obligation. Neither the distance from the church nor the difficulties of the way should prevent our attendance, since Jesus did not shun a three days' journey to the temple.
Why does the gospel say according to the custom of the feast?
That we may understand, that like Mary and Joseph, we should be punctual in observing the ecclesiastical festivals and holy usages, and like true Catholics, should observe them. Parents should require their children at an early age to take part in prayer, attend church and school, and see that they conduct themselves quietly and reverently while there. Mary and Joseph took the holy Child Jesus with them to the temple.
Why did the child Jesus remain in Jerusalem?
Because of His love of prayer and communion with His Heavenly Father, and to show, even then, some rays of His divinity, by which to make known that He had come for the glory of His Father, and to procure our salvation. The glory of God and the salvation of our souls should be our chief object in life.
Why did Mary and Joseph search so diligently for Jesus?
Because they were fearful lest they should lose Him Whom they loved so exceedingly. We should learn from this, how careful we should be not to lose Jesus by sin, or having lost Him, how anxiously we should seek by penance to find Him. The parents of Jesus, by their diligent search and inquiries for the divine Infant, teach and rebuke those parents who care less for the Christian education of their children than for their temporal advantages, who pay no attention to the persons with whom their children associate, nor to the places which they frequent, whether they learn things that are useful to them, and who for the sake of some temporal advantage permit their children sinful intimacy with evil-minded persons. From these parents God will one day demand the souls of their children with severest justice.
Why was our Savior found in the temple in the midst of the doctors, hearing them, and asking them questions?
To teach us that we ought to seek the knowledge necessary for our salvation, and attend carefully to the sermons and instructions on Christian doctrine; we should by no means be ashamed to ask questions of our pastors when we are in doubt, and should listen to their answers. Was Christ, the Eternal Wisdom, ashamed to ask questions and to answer? Why should we ignorant people hesitate? It is much to be regretted that persons who have many important things concerning their spiritual welfare on their minds, through pride and false shame, would rather go to perdition than ask advice, solely for fear of showing their ignorance.
Why did Mary say: Son, why hast thou done so to us?
These words were forced from her by pain at the absence of her Son, Whom she loved above all things, and not by indignation, for He was blameless. Mary's conduct should teach parents to remember their duty of caring for their children, and punish them when they do wrong.
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INSTRUCTION ON THE VIRTUE OF OBEDIENCE
He was subject to them (Lk. 2:51).
From this all Christians should learn to be obedient to the commandments of God and of the Church. God has united life or death, blessing or malediction with obedience or disobedience to His commandments, and the Bible (I Kings 15:22) shows that obedience pleases God more than sacrifices or the fat of rams, and that He despises disobedience as He does witchcraft and idolatry. We must be obedient to the Church, because Christ Himself with His holy Spirit lives in her, and governs her, and has said: Who hears not the Church, let him be to thee a heathen and a publican, therefore, shut out from eternal life. We must be obedient to our parents, because they are placed over us by God, and we are indebted to them, under Him, for life and many benefits. Those children who do not assist their parents when they are old, poor, and helpless, or are ashamed of them, have reason to be afraid, since even Christ Jesus, the God-Man, was obedient and subject in all things to His poor mother, and to a humble mechanic who was only His foster-father. Cursed be he that honoreth not his father and mother (Deut. 27:16); how much more cursed those who despise, deride and abandon their parents? Their eyes will one day be picked out by ravens (Prov. 30:17). If God commanded obstinate and disobedient children to be stoned (Dent. 21:20), what do those not deserve who even strike or abuse their parents?
How did Jesus advance in age, wisdom and grace?
He showed new effects of the wisdom and grace with which He was filled, as He advanced in years, and thus teaches us to progress the more in virtue, and fulfill the duties of our state in life that we may attain perfection hereafter.
ASPIRATION Most amiable Jesus! Who in the twelfth year of Thy age, didst permit Thyself to be found in the temple by Thy parents, and, as an example for us, wast humbly obedient to them, grant that we may diligently attend to the important affair of our salvation, willingly carry the yoke of Thy law from our youth, and be always obedient to the laws of Thy Church, to our parents, and superiors. Prevent uneducated youth from growing reckless, and preserve them from a scandalous life. Give parents wisdom and grace to educate their children according to Thy will in all virtue. Grant to us all, that we may never lose Thee by sin, or if we have lost Thee, anxiously to seek Thee, happily find Thee, and with Thy grace more and more increase in wisdom and in virtue. Amen.
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TRUE PIETY
They found Him in the temple (Lk. 2:46).
Many people deceive themselves in regard to true piety, because their imagination represents it to them according to the effect produced by their passions or disposition of mind. He who fasts often and willingly believes that he is pious, though in his heart he nourishes a secret hatred, and while he fears to wet the tip of his tongue with wine, even with water, lest he should not live temperately enough, finds pleasure in detraction and slander, that unquenchable thirst for the blood of his neighbor. Another, because he is accustomed daily to recite a long string of prayers, esteems himself pious, though he gives vent afterwards to haughty, bitter, offensive language, hurting people at home and abroad. Another keeps his purse open for the poor, but keeps his heart ever closed to the love of his enemy, whom he will not forgive; another forgives his enemy with all his heart, but will not pay his creditors, until forced by law. All these think themselves pious, and are perhaps so regarded by the world, but in truth they are far from being pious. In what then does true piety consist? In the perfect love of God. This love is called the beautiful love, because it is the ornament of the soul, and attracts to itself with complacency the eyes of the Divine Majesty. When it strengthens us to do good, it is called the strong love; when it causes us to do that good quickly, carefully, and repeatedly, it is called piety. The ostrich has wings, it is true, but never uses them to fly; the chickens fly heavily and not high; but the eagles, the doves, and the swallows, fly high and swiftly, and do not easily tire. The sinners are but earthly people, they creep upon the ground; the just, who are still imperfect, rise, it is true, towards heaven but seldom, and then but slowly and heavily. But there are some, true, pious souls, who like the doves and the eagles soar high on strong, swift wings to God. In a word, piety is nothing else than a certain active, swift energy of the spirit, with which the strong love in us, or we with it, performs, as far as it is possible to us, all good. As the strong love urges us to keep God's commandments, the perfect love, that is, piety, urges us to keep them carefully and with all possible zeal.
No one is just or pious who does not keep all God's commandments without exception; for, to be just we must possess the strong love, and to be pious we must possess besides, a certain eagerness to profit by all the occasions of doing good, that present themselves. Thus St. Francis de Sales writes in his Philothea, from which it is seen that true piety consists not in special devotions, or the practice of special good works, but in the zealous, earnest, continuous obedience to the commandments and performance of duty for the love of God.
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| Litany for the Holy Souls in Purgatory |
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Posted by: Hildegard of Bingen - 01-09-2021, 04:32 PM - Forum: For the Souls in Purgatory
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Litany for the Holy Souls in Purgatory
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
God the Father of Heaven ,
Have mercy on the Souls of the Faithful departed.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world,
Have mercy on the Souls of the faithful departed.
God the Holy Ghost,
Have mercy on the Souls of the faithful departed.
Holy Trinity, One God,
Have mercy on the Souls of the faithful departed.
Holy Mary ,
Pray for the Souls of the faithful departed.
Holy Mother of God,
Pray for the Souls of the faithful departed.
Saint Michael, etc.
Saint Gabriel,
All ye holy Angels and Archangels,
Saint John the Baptist,
Saint Joseph,
All ye holy Patriarchs and Prophets,
Saint Peter,
Saint Paul,
Saint John,
All ye holy Apostles and Evangelists,
Saint Stephen,
Saint Lawrence,
All ye holy Martyrs,
Saint Gregory,
Saint Ambrose,
All ye holy bishops and confessors,
Saint Mary Magdalen,
Saint Catherine,
All ye holy Virgins and widows,
All ye Saints of God,
Make intercession for the Souls of the faithful departed.
Be merciful,
Spare them, O Lord.
Be merciful,
Hear them, O Lord.
From all evil,
O Lord, deliver them.
From Thy wrath,
O Lord, deliver them.
From the flame of fire, etc.
From the region of the shadow of death,
Through Thine Immaculate Conception,
Through Thy Nativity,
Through Thy Most Holy Name,
Through the multitude of Thy tender mercies, Through Thy most bitter Passion,
Through Thy most Sacred Wounds,
Through Thy most Precious Blood,
Through Thine ignominious death, by which
Thou hast destroyed our death,
We sinners,
We beseech Thee, hear us.
O Thou Who didst absolve the sinner woman and hear the prayer of the good thief,
We beseech Thee, hear us.
That thou wouldst release our deceased parents, relations and benefactors
from the bonds of their sins and the punishment for them, etc.
That Thou wouldst hasten the day of visiting Thy faithful detained in the receptacles
of sorrow, and wouldst transport them to the city of eternal peace,
That Thou wouldst shorten the time of expiation for their sins and graciously
admit them into the holy sanctuary, into which no unclean thing can enter,
That through the prayers and alms of Thy Church, and especially by the inestimable
Sacrifice of Thy Holy Altar, Thou wouldst receive them into the tabernacle of rest
and crown their longing hopes with everlasting fruition,
Son of God,
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,
Grant them eternal rest.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,
Grant them eternal rest.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,
Grant them eternal rest.
Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Our Father, Who art in Heaven, etc.
V. And lead us not into temptation,
R. But deliver us from all evil. Amen.
V. From the gates of Hell,
R. Deliver their Souls, O Lord.
V. May they rest in peace.
R. Amen.
V. O Lord, hear my prayer ,
R. And let my cry come unto Thee.
Let Us Pray.
O God, Creator and Redeemer of all the faithful, grant to the Souls of Thy
departed servants the remission of all their sins, that through our pious
supplications they may obtain the pardon which they have always desired.
Through Jesus Christ Our Lord. R. Amen.
O God, the Giver of pardon and the Lover of the salvation of men, we beg Thy clemency on behalf of our brethren, kinsfolk and benefactors
who have departed this life, that by the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of all the Saints, Thou wouldst receive them into the joys of
Thine everlasting kingdom.Through Christ Our Lord. R. Amen.
O God, to Whom it belongs always to have mercy and to spare, be favorably propitious to the Souls of Thy servants and grant them the remission
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| Litany of Our Lady of Perpetual Help |
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Posted by: Hildegard of Bingen - 01-09-2021, 04:30 PM - Forum: Marian Litanies
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THE LITANY OF OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL HELP
Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy. Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us.
God, the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the World, have mercy on us.
God the Holy Ghost, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, One God, have mercy on us.
Holy Mary, pray for us.
Holy Mother of God, pray for us.
Holy Virgin of virgins, pray for us.
Mother of Christ, pray for us.
Queen conceived without the stain of Original Sin, pray for us.
Queen the most Holy Rosary, pray for us.
Our Lady of Perpetual Help, pray for us.
O Mother of Perpetual Help, Come to my aid, O loving Mother.
That I may love God with all my heart, Come to my aid, O loving Mother.
That I may in all things conform my will to that of thy Divine Son, Come to my aid, O loving Mother.
That I may always shun sin, the only real evil, Come to my aid, O loving Mother.
That I may always remember my last end, Come to my aid, O loving Mother.
That I may often and devoutly receive the Sacraments, Come to my aid, O loving Mother.
That I may avoid every proximate occasion of sin, Come to my aid, O loving Mother.
That I may never neglect prayer, Come to my aid, O loving Mother.
That I may ever remember to invoke thee, particularly in time of temptation, Come to my aid, O loving Mother.
That I may always be victorious in the hour of temptation, Come to my aid, O loving Mother.
That I may generously pardon my enemies, Come to my aid, O loving Mother.
That I may arise quickly, should I have the misfortune of falling into mortal sin, Come to my aid. O loving Mother.
That I may courageously resist the seductions of evil companions, Come to my aid. O loving Mother.
That I may be strong against my own inconstancy, Come to my aid. O loving Mother.
That I may not delay my conversion from day to day, Come to my aid, O loving Mother.
That I may labor zealously to eradicate my evil habits, Come to my aid, O loving Mother.
That I may ever love to serve thee, Come to my aid, O loving Mother.
That I may lead others to love and serve thee, Come to my aid, O loving Mother.
That I may live and die in the friendship of God, Come to my aid, O loving Mother.
In all necessities of body and soul, Come to my aid, O loving Mother.
In sickness and pain, Come to my aid, O loving Mother.
In poverty and distress, Come to my aid, O loving Mother.
In persecution and abandonment, Come to my aid, O loving Mother.
In in grief and dereliction of mind, Come to my aid, O loving Mother.
In time of war, famine and contagion, Come to my aid, O loving Mother.
In every danger of sin, Come to my aid, O loving Mother.
When assailed by the evil spirits, Come to my aid, O loving Mother.
When tempted by the allurements of a deceitful world, Come to my aid, O loving Mother.
When struggling against the inclinations of my corrupt nature, Come to my aid, O loving Mother.
When tempted against the holy virtue of purity, Come to my aid, O loving Mother.
When death is nigh, Come to my aid, O loving Mother.
When the loss of my senses shall warn me that my earthly career is at an end, Come to my aid, O loving Mother.
When the thought of my approaching dissolution shall fill me with fear and terror, Come to my aid, O loving Mother.
When at the decisive hour of death, the evil spirit will endeavor to plunge my soul into despair, Come to my aid, O loving Mother.
When the priest of God shall give me Extreme Unction, Come to my aid, O loving Mother.
When my friends and relations, surrounding my bed moved with compassion, shall invoke thy clemency on my behalf, Come to my aid, O loving Mother.
When the world will vanish from my sight, and my heart will cease to beat, Come to my aid, O loving Mother.
When I shall yield my soul into the hands of its Creator, Come to my aid, O loving Mother.
When my soul will appear before its Sovereign Judge, Come to my aid, O loving Mother.
When the irrevocable sentence will be pronounced, Come to my aid, O loving Mother.
When I will be suffering in Purgatory, and sighing for the vision of God, Come to my aid, O loving Mother.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Have mercy on us.
V. Pray for us, our powerful Mediatrix,
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray.
Almighty and merciful God, Who, in order to succor the human race, hast willed the Blessed Virgin Mary to become the
Mother of Thy only-begotten Son, grant, we beseech Thee, that by her intercession we may avoid the contagion of sin and serve
Thee with a pure heart, through the same Christ Our Lord. Amen.
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| Novena to Our Lady of Good Success |
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Posted by: Hildegard of Bingen - 01-09-2021, 04:22 PM - Forum: Novenas
- Replies (2)
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Novena to Our Lady of Good Success
Long Version
(Begin January 24th)
ACT OF REPENTANCE (To be said 1st, each day of the novena)
I believe in Thee, O my God.
Strengthen, O Lord, my faith.
I hope in Thee, O my God.
Affirm, O Lord, my hope.
I love Thee, O my God.
Increase, O Lord, my love.
I repent of having offended Thee.
O my God, help me to have contrition,
So that I may, with the help of Thy grace
And the powerful patronage of
Holy Mary of Good Success,
Never sin again.
O Lord, have pity and mercy on me.
Amen.
OPENING PRAYER
O most Excellent and Immaculate Queen of Heaven,
Holy Mary of Good Success,
Most favored Daughter of the Eternal Father,
Most beloved Mother of the Divine Son,
Most cherished Spouse of the Holy Ghost,
Sublime throne of the Divine Majesty,
August Temple of the Holy Trinity,
In whom the Three Divine Persons
Have placed the treasures of
Their Power, Wisdom, and Love!
Remember, Virgin Mary of Good Success,
Whom God has made so great
So that thou canst give succor to miserable sinners;
Remember that thou has often promised to show thyself
A merciful Mother to those who have recourse to thee.
I come to thee then, Mother most merciful,
And I beg thee, for thy love of the Most High,
That thou shouldst obtain for me from God the Father
A lively Faith that never loses sight of the eternal truths;
From the Son, a firm Hope that always aspires to reach that glory
That He won for me with His Blood;
And from the Holy Ghost,
A charity so inflamed that I will always live
Loving the Supreme Goodness and thee,
Most Holy Virgin, until, through thy intervention,
I should love and enjoy thee eternally in glory.
Amen.
We salute thee Mary, as the Favored Daughter of God the Father.
Hail Mary....
We salute thee Mary, as the Chosen Mother of the Divine Son .
Hail Mary...
We salute thee Mary, as the Singular Spouse of the Holy Ghost.
Hail Mary...
Glory be to the Father...
(Go to the Day of the Novena)
Act of Thanksgiving to the Blessed Virgin
O Virgin blessed among all women! We lack the words to give thee thanks for the innumerable blessings that we have received from thy hand. The day of thy birth can be called the day of thanksgiving, happiness, and consolation. Thou art the honor of mankind, the joy of Paradise, the beloved gift of God, and the well being of our country. What merit do we have, Blessed Virgin of Good Success, to deserve to have thee as our Mother? May God be forever blessed Who has desired it so! Blessed also art thou, Virgin Mary, because, despite our ingratitude, thou showest us thy propitious favor.
Thus art thou, most clement Mother, our consolation on earth, our refuge, our help and our protection in both our public and private needs. Safeguard us from war, pestilence, hunger, storms, earthquakes and all the calamities, which we merit by our guilt.. Pray for the Holy Church and for her visible head. Hear the supplications of those who invoke thee. Be thou our Advocate, our Mother, for as thus do we place our confidence in thee. To thee do we have recourse, and through thy intercession we hope to achieve from thy Son pardon for our sins and perseverance in grace until death.
Amen.
Here, each one raising up his heart to God, should ask, through the intercession
of Blessed Mary of Good Success, that grace or favor which he desires to receive.
Praises to the Holy Virgin
O Virgin Mary, our Mother preeminent above all on earth.
Response: Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.
Above all others, thou were attentive to the Word of the Father, who does great things in thy honor.
Response: Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.
Thou art the most worthy temple of the Most Holy Trinity.
Response: Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.
In thee is that same purity the Angels enjoy.
Response: Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.
The Christian world proclaims that thou doth reign on the right side of the King of Kings.
Response: Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.
O Mother of Grace! O our hope! Port for the shipwrecked and star of the sea.
Response: Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.
Gate of Heaven, health of the sick, light in the darkness.
Response: Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.
Through thee, we will find ourselves before God in the court of the Saints, where He lives and reigns.
Response: Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.
Guide our steps and help us, O sweet Mary, in our last hours.
Response: Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.
Receive this praise from our tender lips, which cannot express thy singular grandeur.
Response: Come to our assistance and show us mercy, because thou art our Mother.
Antiphon: Holy Mary save the miserable, help the weak, intercede for the afflicted, plead for the
people, intercede for the clergy, petition for the faithful. Permit all those who celebrate
thy holy memory to experience thy favor and assistance.
V. Pray for us, O Virgin of Good Success!
R. So that we may be made worthy to receive the promises of Christ.
Final Prayer
We ask thee, Our Lord and God, that Thou grant us health of soul and body through the intercession of the glorious Virgin Mary. Through her merits and those of her sovereign Child Jesus, we hope to be freed from the present evils and to attain eternal happiness.
Amen
First Day
Act of Repentance and Opening Prayer...
Consider how great and incomparable are t he wonders of God Omnipotent, manifesting the treasures of His Mercy in favor of those He redeemed. Therefore, if we admire the excesses of His Goodness in the many benefits with which he has enriched us, how much more should we marvel at and be filled with gratitude for the greatest blessing of His Right Hand, that most excellent and privileged creature, Mary most holy, whom He gave us for our consolation, especially for those who serve and love Him with all their hearts, and inspired the diverse titles and invocations that honor her. Through these devotions, we receive great favors by means of her succor and protection. This has been the experience of true devotees of the Mother of God, and especially of those who have recourse to her by means of the marvelous Statue of Good Success, which is placed in the Church of the Royal Hospital in the City of Madrid, miraculous from the beginning in the special and unexpected way that this Treasure was found in the wilderness. As God said to the Prophet Isaiah, He would seek out those who had not come seeking for Him, and would set aside those who had not believed in His goodness and largesse. Thus also did the Most High made clear His Will that His Holy Mother be honored and venerated under the avocation of Good Success.
Prayer:
O Lord of infinite goodness, by the miraculous making of this image of Mary Most Holy, Thou hath given us a powerful intercessor to whom we might have recourse with total confidence in her amiable protection in our necessity. Grant us the assistance that we are asking with fervor and confidence so that we might know, honor and serve the Blessed Virgin, and so that, by her intercession, we may achieve on this earth our sanctification and afterwards, be happy with her in Heaven.
Amen.
Act of Thanksgiving Prayer and Praises to the Holy Virgin...
Second Day
Act of Repentance and Opening Prayer...
Consider how the providence of the Most High desired to so favor mankind by manifesting the hidden treasure of the precious statue of Holy Mary under the avocation of Good Success. After the death of Brother Bernandine de Obrego n, founder of the Brotherhood of the (Friar) Minors for the Service of the Sick (the Order of St. Francis of Paola), Gabriel de Fontaned was elected to replace him. Accompanied by Guillermo Rigosa, he traveled to Rome to ask the Supreme Pontiff for his official approval of the Institute and the habit with the purple cross that distinguishes the order.
As they were passing through the town of Traigueras (under the jurisdiction of Tortosa in the Principate of Cataluna), they were caught in a terrifying hailstorm with lightening and thunder so strong that their hearts were filled with terror.. They begged God to provide them with a shelter where they could take refuge so that they might prepare to die in peace, for the unrelenting rigor of the storm had persuaded them that they would not survive it. But God in His Divine Mercy so disposed that this search for shelter should be a presage of a good fortune. In a burst of lightning, they were able to discern a turnoff in the path. Following it, they could see the contours of a cave set far up in the hill above them. Even from the distance, they could see a bright light illuminating its interior and smell a sweet and heavenly aroma, more intense than anything on earth. Their souls were inundated with a great happiness as well as a sentiment of reverent admiration. At the same time, they felt an interior impulse to know the cause of such wonders.
Prayer:
O God, admirable in all Thy works! May Thou always convert the most hazardous occurrences of life into proofs of Thy mercy, and in the most desperate storms may Thou show the preludes of Thy prodigies in our favor, just as Thou did with the Minorite brothers by means of that terrifying storm. Grant to us, through the intercession of the Queen of Good Success, the virtue of patience, to suffer with a resigned spirit the trials sent us by Thy Divine Will, because at any moment Thou can change them to consolations in this life and afterwards grant us Thy eternal reward in Heaven, where we will always sing Thy praise and the praise of Holy Mary.
Amen
Act of Thanksgiving Prayer and Praises to the Holy Virgin...
Third Day
Act of Repentance and Opening Prayer...
Consider how the travelers, impelled by grace and attracted by curiosity to examine such surprising wonders, set out for the site offering them refuge. Taking off their shoes, they climbed the hill with great difficulty, helping each other over large boulders and sharp cliffs. When they reached the cave, which they were able to see in the flashes of lightening, how great was their surprise of joy and admiration! For they saw that this cave had been delicately carved by nature as a spacious temple. It protected a beautiful Statue of the Holy Virgin holding the Christ Child in her left arm, and carrying a scepter in her right hand. A precious crown rested on her forehead. Her dress, like that of the Infant, was simple but elegant, and both were made in the same material and style.
The site was adorned with various types of flowers that carpeted the floor and climbed on the walls, filling the air with an exquisite fragrance for the Queen of Heaven. Set in the rock was a lamp so expertly craft ed that it gave off the illumination of many lights. Such beauty and delight to honor such an admirable Lady! Such surprise and admiration for the overwhelmed travelers! The ecstatic pair contemplated this little part of Heaven and calmed their overwrought hearts in the presence of their Mother, who, after the terrible storm, had come to them so unexpectedly, radiant with beauty and tender of feature, to provide them with refuge and consolation in that desperate and difficult juncture.
So also my soul is calmed before the image of Mary. When the burdens of life and its imminent dangers bring us close to despair, let us go, then, to her with tranquility and confidence, thanking God Who in His Omnipotence permitted that portentous statue to be miraculously found in that hidden place for the honor of the Immaculate Virgin and so that all might venerate Her under that precious avocation of Good Success.
Prayer:
O God of Mercy, Who never abandons in desolation one who faithfully and fervently serves Thee amid the misfortunes and dangers of life, and Who leads us to find our Mother and advocate as a refuge in our adversities, grant us a tender and fervent heart to search for Mary and find her, always loving and protective, so that we might serve her and merit, through Thy intercession, to lead a good and Christian life and afterwards be with her forever in Heaven.
Amen.
Act of Thanksgiving Prayer and Praises to the Holy Virgin...
Fourth Day
Act of Repentance and Opening Prayer..
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Consider the indescribable joy of the good Minorite brothers upon contemplating these prodigies. The Statue of our beloved Mother shone before them like a resplendent star, and they reverently prostrated themselves before her to praise and thank her for a gift so unique and an event so extraordinary. Their thoughts and sentiments were raised to heavenly considerations and they believe themselves favored by something supernatural. For everything they saw and felt within those walls of rock in such an inaccessible place so far from any other houses seemed made by more than human hands. They repeated their prayers of thanksgiving with fervor.
Then, asking light and grace from Heaven to know what they should do, they decided to try to discover the origin of that sanctuary and Statue by seeking the pious persons or community who were caring so prodigiously for this cult. Even though it seemed impossible to them that such magnificence was the work of men in a place so retired and inaccessible, prudence and piety cautioned them to first make a cautious investigation about the matter. They inquired at the hamlets nearest the cave, which were more than three leagues in distance, but found no one who could give them the least information about the Statue. Not even the persons they questioned who were 80 and 100 years old had ever heard about the statue or any such devotion in those outlying woods or any other place near the region.
Consider, then, the astonishment and holy joy of the Brothers, now the owners of the extraordinary finding, as they humbled themselves again before the Holy Statue, offering her their warmest thanks with embraces and warm emotion, choosing her as their special patron and mediatrix under the very significant title of Mother of Good Success. The heart is moved by sentiments of pious gratitude and admiration for such a prodigious favor as this that was granted to the Holy Brothers.
Let us unite with them in their tender embraces of Mary, loving her and lavishing her with generous resolutions, because we also have mercifully found her on the dangerous pathway of life amid the horror of the storm of our passions.
Prayer:
O God of infinite love! Thou hath given us in our Mother a precious shelter and consolation, placing her in the pathway of our hazardous lives so that she might be a shield to defend us in persecutions and dangers as Our Mother of Good Success. Thankful for Thy goodness, may we correspond with the practice of virtue and a tender and constant devotion to Mary Most Holy, so that through her intercession we might find Heaven.
Amen.
Act of Thanksgiving Prayer and Praises to the Holy Virgin...
Fifth Day
Act of Repentance and Opening Prayer...
Consider how the holy travelers, now convinced that their precious discovery belonged to them, placed the Statue in a basket, and with this so amiable and powerful companion they continued easily and happily on their trip to Rome, where they were graciously received by His Holiness Paul V, a very chaste and pious man. They informed him of how they had found the Statue of the Virgin. Seeing her so precious and radiating with a supernatural presence, he prostrated himself before her and hung his precious gold and enamel pectoral around the neck of the Statue, granting graces and indulgences to all who venerated her.
He charged the fortunate religious who had found the image in such a marvelous way to honor the statue and zealously spread her devotion everywhere. They saw in this, and even in the name of Our Lady of Good Success that the Pope gave her, all the signs that this was a supernatural discovery. This prodigious gift soon became an inexhaustible source of graces and wonders which were experienced by the inhabitants of the city of Valencia where the religious brothers took her. Later the Statue was transferred with solemn splendor to the magnificent Church of Madrid, the capitol of Spain, where the venerated Statue continues to work wonders, her cult extending throughout Europe and even to the farthest regions of our America.
Animate yourself, my soul, in the presence of Mary, that this encounter might carry you through the most difficult junctures of life, consoling you with her sweet and smiling visage. See, then, the Holy Father of the faithful prostrate in her presence, offering you this most priceless treasure and charging you to be devout and faithful in the service of Mary. Be content with the state in which God has placed you, because you have Mary, who serves you as companion and protectress. Praise her, bless her, and present her with the pectoral of your love, placing at her feet your dominant passion, offering your efforts to overcome yourself with determination and constancy in order to obtain the exceptional favors that so many pious people have received from this Holy Statue of Good Success.
Prayer:
O Sovereign God! Thou hath given us Thy highest counsel, the Most Holy Virgin of Good Success, as a companion to accompany us in our pilgrimage, so that she might serve us as guide, guard and protectress amid its conflicts. We go, then, to her, filled with confidence and finding the way easily on the journey to the dwelling place of our Eternal Father, where all that we desire will be granted. Enflame our hearts with love for the Most Holy Virgin of Good Success so that we might offer them to Our Holy Mother, with the gift of gratitude, a firm and constant love, and the conquering of our passions by means of the great graces received from Thy Merciful Hands. Thus might we always have her favor in this life and her sweet assistance at death, so that we might merit eternal salvation. Amen.
Act of Thanksgiving Prayer and Praises to the Holy Virgin...
Sixth Day
Act of Repentance and Opening Prayer...
Consider how the city of Quito and its oldest Convent, the Convent of the Conceptionists, also experienced the special favor of the glorious Mother of Good Success, who appeared prodigiously to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres, a Spaniard and one of the Founding Mothers of this Convent, in the year 1610, after the Convent had already been founded for 33 years. This fortunate and pious sister was praying alone with tender devotion, imploring the help of Mary under the avocation of Good Success for the needs of her own soul, for her sisters in the cloister, and for all mankind. In the fervor of her pleas, made with such profound faith and confidence, she raised her eager eyes to Heaven, calling on her Mother to come and save her and grant what she humbly asked with sincere interest for the good of her Convent and for all the Catholic Church.
Suddenly a refulgent light flooded the church, and the good sister fell into ecstasy. Her mind was overcome by a sudden astonishment and her heart was moved by an inexplicable joy. Her faith grew and her devotion increased as the light diffused itself before her astonished and dazzled gaze. A singular joy entered her heart, and she redoubled her pleas in an ecstasy of unlimited confidence.
Thus is the soul invited to leave the mean Earth and look to Heaven with the eyes of a lively and penetrating faith. Heaven opens for it a path to the light of divine clarity and inundates it with the splendors of divinity. "The just live by faith." So indeed do the Just make their Heaven here on the lowly earth, attracting by their faith the light that does nothing to diminish the morning stars.
Let us also strengthen our faith in the revealed mysteries. Let us see with the eyes of intelligence, following the example of true religious souls, all the actions of our lives, leaving aside all thoughts of this lowly material life and focusing our understanding with efforts of faith on the ways of Divine Providence. It is principally by prayer that we leave this earth and transfer our thinking to matters of Heaven, where the Omnipotent God and Mary, his Daughter, Mother, and Spouse, dwell, awaiting our humble entreaties as pilgrims who, prostrate at their feet, implore the graces that we need.
Prayer:
O, inaccessible light of supernatural truth that illuminates our being with its celestial splendor and leads us to Thee, illuminate our minds with the light of the firm and living faith. It was such a faith that moved Our Mother of Good Success to show herself to the eyes of that blessed Conceptionist religious Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres.. Because we are anxious to enjoy the supernatural goods, help us to be less concerned about the things of this earth. With the protection of Holy Mary and a constant and sure faith in the revealed mysteries, help us to live contemplating the brilliance of our final end and anticipating the joy of seeing Thee and Mary Most Holy for all eternity.
Amen.
Act of Thanksgiving Prayer and Praises to the Holy Virgin...
Seventh Day
Act of Repentance and Opening Prayer...
Consider how the fortunate religious, in the fervor of her pleas and illuminated by that bright light that inundated her, fixed her eyes upon the source of that brilliance, finding before her a Lady of extraordinary beauty and kindness of face. As the light dissolved, she saw that the Lady was carrying in her left arm a Child, shining and bright like a morning star, full of grace and goodness, His features tender and kind. In her right hand she held a beautiful l scepter of shining gold and precious stones, and around her forehead was a magnificent crown with dazzling stones. She wore a garment similar to the that of the Statue (in Spain) of Mary of Good Success, whose miraculous discovery was recounted earlier and to whom the pious Conceptionist sister had been praying when she received the favor of this vision.
The good religious was at the same time transported with joy and confused to be thus visited by her Celestial Mother. Her soul was filled with a joy and gratitude without limit, and her heart flooded by holy sentiments. As thoughts of lively faith and valiant love and confidence overwhelmed her being, she asked: "Who art thou? And what dost thou desire?"
Then, O marvel of goodness! In a sweet and suave voice, the Lady responded:
"I am Mary of Good Success whom you invoked with such tender affection. Your prayer has pleased me very much. Your faith has brought me here. You love has invited me to visit you."
Ponder, O my soul, the singular privilege of this blessed sister, who merited by her faith, devotion, and fervor in prayer to attract the presence of Mary Most Holy and to thus contemplate her so lovely, so pure, and so beautiful, to be dazzled by her splendors, to enjoy her intimacies, and to hear her most amiable voice. Ah! Fortunate creature! How great your love for your Celestial Mother! How strong your inclination to humble yourself and bless her! How ardent your desire to be with her! How continuous, attentive, and devout your prayers!
This goodness of Mary should thus encourage us to invoke her with deep faith under the title of Good Success and to pray always with attention and confidence, considering that only a living faith and vigilant attention in prayer will make us deserve to be heard and favored by the Holy Virgin, who will respond not with privileged visions, but with other gifts of grace that will help us triumph over our passions and the enemies of religion.
Prayer:
O God of goodness, Who doth deign to reward the faith and zealous sentiments of piety of Thy chosen souls with visits of Mary Most Holy, hear also our prayers that the presence of this Statue of Good Success might illuminate our faith and increase our confidence that she will benignly hear our prayers. Grant us a never increasing faith in Thy paternal goodness, make us ever more confident that we will receive what we ask for. Make us also ever more fervent in our prayers, so that, supported by the great valor of our powerful Patroness, we might be freed from the dangers that threaten us, serve Thee better, and win the honor of being in Thy company and that of Mary Most Holy in Heaven for all eternity.
Amen.
Act of Thanksgiving Prayer and Praises to the Holy Virgin...
Eighth Day
Act of Repentance and Opening Prayer...
Consider that the Holy Virgin, on appearing to the sister, did not desire to favor her alone with a single transitory grace, for God does not bestow His special gifts except with the providential plan of increasing the piety, stimulating the moral progress, and improving the religious discipline of all the members of a community, a country, or the whole Church. For this reason Mary Most Holy of Good Success told the Conceptionist sister, "It is the Will of God that I command you to have a statue made that would represent this apparition in all its details, so that it might be placed in the choir where all the religious pray directly above the Abbess' chair, so that they might consider this memorable Statue as their principal Abbess." Thus would this Statue stimulate perpetual gratitude, special attentiveness in prayer, perfect obedience, a firm faith, a confident hope, and an ardent love for Mary Most Holy who thus offered herself to preside over and govern this Convent.
Ah, if we had a living faith! With what veneration and respect would we place ourselves before that Statue! How keenly we would recall her apparition so full of goodness and her promises and favors! How confident would we be in our supplications, how attentive in our prayers, how fervent in our devotions, how spontaneous in our obedience, how regular in our observance of the Commandments and the duties of our state of life!
Enliven, O my soul, your faith and if you are lacking in it, ask God and Mary of Good Success to grant it to you. Thus, by taking advantage of the special gift and singular privilege of having Mary of Good Success as our intercessor, we may not be responsible for a disdain or lack of appreciation for the gift that Providence has given us to increase our piety and encourage us in the practice of the virtues of faith, confidence, charity, obedience, and the fulfillment of all our duties and obligations.
Prayer:
O God, loving guardian of pious persons, families, and Communities, Who in Thy Providence doth guard and protect them because of their attention to prayer and fulfillment of their duties of life, hear now our prayers. Be attentive to our cries, enflame the light of our faith in Thy powerful protection, so that we fear not our enemies. For if Thou doth assist us, nothing can harm us. G r ant us unlimited confidence in Mary Most Holy of Good Success and the grace of obedience to and observance of our Rule (or to the fulfillment of the duties of our particular state of life), so that we might be worthy of a Mother so holy and a Protectress so powerful. May we always be Thy grateful and docile subjects so that one day we may sing with glory Thy praises in Heaven, Thou Who hath favored Mary as Daughter, Mother and Spouse of the Most Holy Trinity, the one God who lives forever and ever.
Amen.
Act of Thanksgiving Prayer and Praises to the Holy Virgin...
Ninth Day
Act of Repentance and Opening Prayer...
Consider how the humble sister felt on hearing the command of Holy Mary to have a statue made of the same size and appearance as the apparition. She excused herself saying that it would be impossible, that no sculptor could reproduce such rare beauty or render with precision its proper proportions. The beautiful Lady, with most amiable forbearance, replied to her: " Do not fear for this reason. Take off the cord around your waist and measure my height."
Since, from a natural fear, the religious did not dare to touch Mary with her hands, the Heavenly Queen herself took the end of the cord and held it to her head, while the sister touched it to her feet to measure the exact height of the marvelous vision. Then Holy Mary said: " Here, as I told you, you have the height for the statue that you should order to be made, and the rest of the measurements should be in proportion to it. Place the statue in the place I have indicated with a crosier and the keys of the cloister in my right hand, for I desire to be Advocate and Protectress of this Convent." Having said this, the vision disappeared.
The heart of the sister who had just received so signal a favor and so pleasing a mission was penetrated, filled with gratitude and warm sentiments for Mary Most Holy! Ah! Search, o my soul, in your heart for those sentiments, and be dissolved in gratitude for Mary of Good Success, our Advocate and Protectress. Let me venerate her Image with the most tender gratitude and the vehement desire of corresponding to such singular graces by leading a life that is holy, obedient, and observant of all the duties of my state of life.
Then the holy sister who had been favored with this vision sent for a capable sculptor to begin the work on this statue that Mary herself had ordered to be made. And thus this statue, full of sweetness and majesty, will last until the end of time. Venerated in the upper choir of this Convent, the religious there always have recourse to her in their most grave conflicts. So also has she been the refuge of all the people who come to her in their necessities, and through her intercession many portentous favors and special graces have been obtained.
The measurements given by Mary symbolize the measure of her humility, obedience, and love of God and neighbor, which she gives to us so that we might strive to reproduce them. Imitate her, and you will also carry an image of the Virgin Most Holy in your heart. Strive like that holy sister to make the moral image of your Virgin Mother in your customs and sentiments, in your bearing and way of acting, in your fidelity to the rule and your prayers, in your meekness and your candor, in your purity and your detachment from earthly things, thus aspiring only to heavenly goods.
Prayer:
Oh God! Tender Father of Thy creatures Who in every manner demonstrates Thy paternal care and guidance for us, principally by giving us Mary Most Holy as our Advocate, Protectress and model ideal of virtue, infuse our hearts with a constant desire to imitate our Mother and Queen, modeling our thoughts, desires, and actions after those of Mary Most Holy so that we might be like Her in all that our fragile nature permits. Assisted by Thy Divine Grace , may we conquer our passions and receive the choicest graces that our Mother grants to her children who confidently come to her as Advocate in their pressing needs. May we find her ready to assist us in the last difficult moment of life, and afterward enjoy the pleasure of her company in Heaven forever and ever.
Amen
Novena to Our Lady of Good Success
Short Version
(Begin January 24th)
Hail Mary Most Holy, Beloved Daughter of God the Father
Through the intercession of Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres,
grant thy good success to this request (name request)...
Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be... Saint Michael, pray for us.
Hail Mary Most Holy, Admirable Mother of God the Son
Through the intercession of Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres,
grant thy good success to this request (name request) ...
Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be... Saint Gabriel, pray for us.
Hail Mary Most Holy, Most Faithful Spouse of the Holy Ghost
Through the intercession of Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres,
grant thy good success to this request (name request) ...
Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be... Saint Raphael, pray for us.
Hail Mary Most Holy,
Temple and Sacrarium of the Most Holy Trinity.
St. Michael, St. Gabriel, St. Raphael, pray for us.
Our Lady of Good Success,
thou who art the all-powerful intercessor before the Most Holy Trinity,
deign to hear and answer my request — so long as it contributes to the salvation
of my soul and the glory and exaltation of Holy Mother Church.
Salve Regina…(Hail holy Queen...)
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| 9 Hour Novena to the Infant Jesus of Prague |
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Posted by: Hildegard of Bingen - 01-09-2021, 04:10 PM - Forum: Novenas
- No Replies
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NOVENA TO THE INFANT JESUS OF PRAGUE
(This Novena is to be said at the same time every hour for NINE CONSECUTIVE HOURS in just one day.)
O Jesus, Who hast said,
ask and you shall receive,
seek and you shall find,
knock and it shall be opened to you,
through the intercession of Mary,
Thy Most Holy Mother,
I knock, I seek,
I ask that my prayer be granted.
(Make your request)
O Jesus, Who hast said,
all that you ask of the Father in My Name,
He will grant you.
Through the intercession of Mary,
Thy most Holy Mother,
I humbly and urgently ask Thy Father
in Thy Name that my prayer be granted.
(Make your request)
O Jesus, Who hast said,
"Heaven and earth shall pass away
but My word shall not pass",
through the intercession of Mary,
Thy Most Holy Mother,
I feel confident that my prayer will be granted.
(Make your request)
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| Little Litany of the Holy Family |
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Posted by: Stone - 01-09-2021, 03:58 PM - Forum: Litanies
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Little Litany of the Holy Family
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,
Hear us.
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,
Help our family.
That we may love poverty,
Holy Family, hear us.
That we may love humility,
Holy Family, hear us.
That we may love labor,
Holy Family, hear us.
That we may love order,
Holy Family, hear us.
That we may love quiet,
Holy Family, hear us.
That we may love kindness,
Holy Family, hear us.
That we may love charity,
Holy Family, hear us.
That we may love courtesy,
Holy Family, hear us.
That we may love peace,
Holy Family, hear us.
O Lord God Who on earth loved poverty and humility, teach us to live in our families in peace and quiet order and with charity to all. Amen.
Source
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| Man Beats French Priest During Mass |
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Posted by: Stone - 01-09-2021, 02:07 PM - Forum: Anti-Catholic Violence
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Man with ‘Psychiatric Problems’ Beats French Priest During Mass
Breitbart | Jan 20210
A man in his twenties described as displaying psychiatric problems attacked and beat a priest during Mass in the city of Colmar, France.
The incident began at the St Paul’s Church on Paris Avenue at around 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday when the priest asked a man sitting near the altar to take a seat in a pew.
The man immediately became aggressive and began making threatening statements towards the priest. The clergyman attempted to calm the man, and in reaction, he headbutted the cleric, punched him, and knocked him to the ground, L’Alsace reports.
Quote:French Police Investigate Suspicious ‘Allahu Akbar’ Letters Sent to Priests https://t.co/AUL0r7Whrl
Parishioners intervened to aid the priest and subdue the man until police arrived. When officers did come, the suspect asked for their weapons so he could kill the clergyman.
While the man was not known to either the cleric or churchgoers, he is known to authorities for violence and other criminal acts. He has a previous conviction, according to the newspaper.
The local prosecutor’s office has ordered a psychiatric evaluation after the man exhibited mental problems while in police custody and was admitted to a healthcare facility.
Investigators also claimed that, so far, “there is nothing in this man’s behaviour to suggest that these acts were committed in connection with religious radicalisation, or for racist reasons”.
In recent years, there have been several attacks against clergymen in France, including the killing of Father Jacques Hamel in 2016 by two radical Islamic terrorists.
In October of last year, the Nice terror attack saw a Tunisian illegal migrant kill three in a church and put France on its highest terror alert level.
Just a day later, a lone male shot a Greek Orthodox priest in Lyon with a sawn-off shotgun. The 40-year-old was taken into custody and later admitted to the attack, claiming that he had personal issues with the cleric.
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| The Liturgical Year: January 9th - Fourth day within the Octave of the Epiphany |
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Posted by: Stone - 01-09-2021, 01:13 PM - Forum: Christmas
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January 9 – Fourth Day within the Octave of the Epiphany
Taken from The Liturgical Year by Dom Prosper Gueranger (1841-1875)
The Star foretold by Balaam having risen in the East, the three Magi, whose hearts were full of the expectation of the promised Redeemer, are immediately inflamed with the desire of going in search of him. The announcement of the glad coming of the King of the Jews is made to these holy Kings in a mysterious and silent manner; and hereby it differs from that made to the Shepherds of Bethlehem, who were invited to Jesus’ Crib by the voice of an Angel. But the mute language of the Star was explained to them by God himself, for he revealed his Son to them; and this made their Vocation superior in dignity to that of the Jewish Shepherds, who, according to the dispensation of the Old Law, could know nothing save by the ministry of Angels.
The divine grace, which spoke directly and by itself to the souls of the Magi, met with a faithful and unhesitating correspondence. St. Luke says of the Shepherds that they came with haste to Bethlehem; (Luke 2:16) and the Magi show their simple and fervent eagerness by the words they addressed to Herod: We have seen his Star in the East, they say, and we are come to adore him. (Luke 2:2)
When Abraham received the command from God to go out of the land of Chaldea, which was the land of his fathers and kindred, and go into a strange country, he obeyed with such faithful promptitude as to merit the being made the Father of all them that believe; (Romans 4:11) so, likewise, the Magi, by reason of their equally docile and admirable faith, have been judged worthy to be called the Fathers of the Gentile Church.
They too, or at least one or more of them, went out from Chaldea, if we are to believe St. Justin and Tertullian. Several of the Fathers, among whom are the two just mentioned, assert that one, if not two, of these holy Kings was from Arabia. A popular tradition, now for centuries admitted into Christian Art, tells us that one of the three was from Ethiopia; and certainly, as regards this last opinion, we have David and other Prophets telling us that the colored inhabitants of the banks of the Nile were to be objects of God’s special mercy.
The term Magi implies that they gave themselves to the study of the heavenly bodies, and that, too, for the special intention of finding that glorious Star whose rising had been prophesied. They were of the number of those Gentiles who, like the centurion Cornelius, feared God, had not been defiled by the worship of idols, and maintained, in spite of all the ignorance which surrounded them, the sacred traditions of the religion that was practiced by Abraham and the Patriarchs.
The Gospel does not say that they were Kings; but the Church applies to them those verses of the Psalm where David speaks of the Kings of Arabia and Saba that should hereafter come to the Messias, bringing their offerings of gold. The tradition of their being Kings rests on the testimony of St. Hilary of Poitiers, of St. Jerome, of the Poet Juvenal, of St. Leo, and several others; and it would be impossible to controvert it by any well-grounded arguments. Of course, we are not to suppose them to have been Monarchs whose kingdoms were as great as those of the Roman Empire; but we know that the Scripture frequently applies this name of King to petty princes, and even to mere governors of provinces. The Magi, therefore, would be called Kings of they exercised authority over a considerable number of people; and that they were persons of great importance, we have a strong proof in the consideration and attention showed them by Herod, into whose palace they enter, telling him that they are come to pay their homage to the newborn King of the Jews. The city of Jerusalem is thrown into a state of excitement by their arrival, which would scarce have occurred had not the three strangers, who came for a purpose which few heeded, been attended by a numerous retinue, or had not attracted attention by their imposing appearance.
These Kings, then, docile to the divine inspiration, suddenly leave their country, their riches, their quiet, in order to follow a Star: the power of that God who had called them, unites them in the same path, as they were already one in faith. The Star goes on before them, marking out the route they were to follow: the dangers of such a journey, the fatigues of a pilgrimage which might last for weeks or months, the fear of awakening suspicions in the Roman Empire towards which they were evidently tending—all this was nothing to them; they were told to go, and they went.
Their first stay is at Jerusalem, for the Star halts there. They, Gentiles, come into this Holy City (which is soon to have God’s curse upon it) and they come to announce that Jesus Christ is come! With all the simple courage, and all the calm conviction of Apostles and Martyrs, they declare their firm resolution of going to him and of adoring him. Their earnest inquiries constrain Israel, who was the custodian of the divine prophecies, to confess one of the chief marks of the Messias—his Birth in Bethlehem. The Jewish Priesthood fulfills, though with a sinful ignorance, its sacred ministry, and Herod sits restlessly on his throne, plotting murder. The Magi leave the faithless City, which has turned the presence of the Magi into a mark of its own reprobation. The Star reappears in the heavens and invites them to resume their journey. Yet a few hours, and they will be at Bethlehem, at the feet of the King they are in search of.
O dear Jesus! we also are following thee; we are walking in thy light, for thou hast said, in the Prophecy of thy beloved Disciple: I am the bright and morning Star. (Apocalypse 22:16) The meteor that guides the Magi is but thy symbol, O divine Star! Thou art the morning Star; for thy Birth proclaims that the darkness of error and sin is at an end. Thou art the morning Star; for after submitting to death and the tomb, thou wilt suddenly arise from that night of humiliation to the bright morning of thy glorious Resurrection. Thou art the morning Star; for by thy Birth and the Mysteries which are to follow, thou announcest unto us the cloudless day of eternity. May thy light ever beam unto us! May we, like the Magi, be obedient to its guidance, and ready to leave all things in order to follow it! We were sitting in darkness when thou didst call us to thy grace, by making this thy light shine upon us. We were fond of our darkness, and thou gavest us a love for the Light! Dear Jesus! keep up this love within us. Let not sin, which is darkness, ever approach us. Preserve us from the delusion of a false conscience. Avert from us that blindness into which fell the City of Jerusalem and her king, and which prevented them from seeing the Star. May thy Star guide us through life, and bring us to thee, our King, our Peace, our Love!
We salute thee too, O Mary, thou Star of the Sea, that shinest on the waters of this life, giving calm and protection to thy tempest-tossed children who invoke thee! Thou didst pray for the Magi as they traversed the desert; guide also our steps, and bring us to Him who is thy Child and thy Light eternal.
† † †
Let us close this day with the expressions of divine praise offered us by the ancient Liturgies. Let us begin with the continuation of the Hymn of Prudentius, on the vocation of the Gentiles. The following are the concluding stanzas.
Hymn
O Bethlehem! greater than the greatest of cities! ’Twas thy happy lot to give birth to the Prince of our salvation, who had become incarnate by the heavenly mystery.
’Twas thou didst nurse him who is the Only-Begotten Son and Heir of the eternal Father; he was made Man by the power of the Spirit of the God who darts the thunderbolts; and this same Jesus is God under human flesh.
His eternal Father, who bears witness to him, bids him enter on his kingdom and inherit it. The Prophets, who are his witnesses and vouchers, were the proclaimers of the Father’s will.
This kingdom of Jesus includes all things—the firmament, the sea, the earth from where the sun rises to where he sets, and hell and heaven.
He is the King of those ancient judges who ruled the race of Jacob: he is the King of the Church, the Mistress of the earth: he is King of both temples, the new and old.
The children of Ephraïm and the holy family of Manasses worship him; the tribes of the twelve Brethren, sons of Jacob, also receive him as their God.
The degenerate race too, which, observing the rites of idolatrous worship, had framed in hot furnaces the statue of the cruel Baal.
Now turns to worship Chist, leaving for his sake the smoke-grimed gods of their fathers, stones and metals and stocks, planed, hewn and chiselled by the hands of man.
Rejoice, all ye nations of the earth! Judea, Rome and Greece, Egypt, Thrace, Persia, Scythia! Ye are now all under the one same King!
Praise your King, O all ye people! just and sinners, living, weak and dead, give him praise. None must die henceforth!
† † †
The following beautiful prayer, from the Mozarabic Missal, will assist us to celebrate,
in a becoming manner, the triple Mystery of the Epiphany.
O God, who to lighten the labors of this present life hast conferred upon us the various consolations and joys of thy gifts which we commemorate in the yearly recurrence of the festivals: thou grantest us now, on this present solemnity, to unite in the mysteries celebrated by thy Church. Havin kept, a few days past, the feast of the Nativity of our Lord and Savior, who was born unto us in time and yet was born of thee from eternity, and preceded and created all ages and time; having, eight days after that, with like devotion and with the same solemn sacrifice, honored the Circumcision, that feast resplendent with the light of thine Only Begotten Son; we now on this day worship the Epiphany, which revealed unto us the divinity of hum wo had assumed our Humanity. We proclaim those various manifestations, whereby our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son made known his having come into this world. We proclaim his having sent from the heavens that Star which announced his own rising, and by whose Magi to the cradle where he lay in his assumed Infant Flesh. We proclaim his sanctifying, unto the cleansing of all nations, the waters by his own Baptism, when he entered the bed of the Jordan, and where by thy Spirit hovering in the shape of a dove over him, thou didst show and by thy paternal voice didst declare that he was thy beloved Only-Begotten Son. We proclaim his first miracle wrought in Cana of Galilee, when, at the marriage-feast, he changed the water into wine, teaching us, by a sublime and admirable mystery, that he had come in order to be united to the Church, the Spouse he had, for ages, chosen to himself, and that the faith in the promises was henceforth to be changed into the wine of sweet spiritual wisdom. Thus it is, that in the three wonders which are the object of our faith on this day’s solemnity, our Lord Jesus Christ, thy Son, achieves both the operation of thy power, and the preparation of our salvation. Wherefore, we beseech thee, O Lord, grant us, agreeably to these three prodigies, that there may abide in us the soundness of spiritual grace, that our hearts may relish the wine of prudence, and that the star of justice may shine forth in our works. Amen.
† † †
The ancient Paris Missal of 1584 contains the following Sequence
for one of the days during this Octave. It is full of unction.
Sequence
The Star of the Cross has risen; let us most earnestly seek the King of kings.
Let us seek him in humility, for it is to humble hearts alone that he shows himself.
He lies in a crib, for he scorns a regal couch, and lives in poverty.
He thus teaches them that seek him to despise the things of earth, and love those of heaven.
Let us turn away from Herod, and follow without delay, the Magi, and pay our homage to Jesus.
They are led by the Star, and hasten to the King, whom they proclaim as the everlasting Ruler.
Let us mystically offer the gifts, which they really offered him so magnificently:
Let us offer Incense to Jesus, as our God; our Myrrh to him, as Man; our Gold to him, as King.
Do thou, O Mary, pure Lily! pray for us to thy Son, who is full of sweetness, that these our gifts may render him propitious;
That so, being freed from this world, we may live with him for ever in the heavenly land above. Amen.
† † †
Hymn
How gentle art thou, dear Babe! How mighty is the omnipotent and irresistible power of thy judgments! How sweet and amiable is thy love! Who can withstand thee?
Thy Father dwells in the high heavens; thy Mother stands on the lowly earth; who can understand thee? If the earthly man investigate thy nature, which surpasses the ken of mortals, it is found in the highest heavens, hid in the vast bosom of the divinity.
If, again, one wish to see thy Body made visible to the eye of man, lo! it lies upon the earth: it has issued from the narrow womb of Mary, and all may see it. The soul knows not what to think, and the mind grows bewildered in the calculation of thy ways, O Jesus! rich Lord and God!
Thy divinity is shut beneath a twofold barrier; yet art thou, and I confess it, an immeasurable ocean to him who attempts to fathom thee, even now that thou has humbled thy greatness to our littleness. When we seek for a sight of thee, we see thee a Man, having hoped to see thee as the great od: and when we wish to look upon thee as Ma, then straightway is our eye struck and dazzled by the bright splendor of thy Divinity.
And who would think thee to be the Heir of David’s throne? Instead of costly furniture, thou hast but a Crib: instead of the regal palaces, thou has but a Cave: instead of the richly caparisoned steeds, there stands near thee one poor ass.
Yet, dear Babe, how lovely art thou! accessible to all, and meeting with thy smile all wo come to thee! Thy love is verily the love of one who longeth after men, as a hungry man that longeth after bread.
Thou welcomest to thee, with a like affection, strangers and thy kindred, women and thy Mother, impure prostitutes and the Virgin that feeds thee at her Breast. And how is this? Is is the sweet condescension of thy heart, or is it the love wherewith thou lovest all things thou hast made, that has brought thee to this excess of affection?
What is it that induces thee to stoop thus towards all, rich and poor, and run even to them that ask thee not to come? Whence hast thou this inclination to love us men so much?
What charity is this, that if a man insult thee, thou art not indignant? or if he threaten thee, thou fearest not to go to him? or if he treat thee with cruelty, there is not a wrinkle on thy brow? Ah! thy charity is of another sort from theirs who persecute them that do them wrong and who seek revenge upon their enemies.
† † †
Let us honour the Virgin -Mother, by addressing to her these stanzas of a Hymn composed by St. Joseph the Hymnographer. It is in the Menaea of the Greek Church.
Die iv Januarii
Let us honor the divine Palace of the King, in which it was his will to dwell: the virgin and incomparable Mother of God: let us sing our praises to Her by whom we were raised up to God.
Thou, O truly Virgin-Mother, wast pure before thy delivery, and in thy delivery, and after thy delivery; for thou didst give birth to that God whom the Apostolic College made known to the world by their preaching.
The most blessed choir of the Prophets of old, divinely inspired by the Spirit, did, in their sacred prophecies, call thee, O most chaste one, the Gate and the Mountain o’ershadowed.
Enlighten, O Virgin! the eyes of my heart, and send within me the bright ray of compunction; deliver me from eternal darkness; O thou Gate of Light, and Refuge of all Christians faithfully praising thee.
I praise thee, the creature alone worthy of all praise; I glorify thee, O thou that hast ever been glorified by God; and I bless thee, O Virgin, thou most happy in a divine blessedness, who art called Blessed by all generations.
O most pure one! thou hast been made the propitiatory of them that sin often, for thou didst miraculously bring forth Christ, who taketh away the sins of the world, and to whom we cry: Blessed art thou, O Lord and God of our fathers!
O miracle that surpasseth all miracles! How is it, O most chaste Spouse of God, that thou bearest a Child, yet remainest a Virgin? Thou hast given birth to the Word, co-eternal with the Father, to whom we all thus sing: Praise him, all ye his works, and magnify the Lord above all for ever.
The bright splendor of thy delivery has shone forth, and has shed a most joyful light over the whole earth, and has destroyed the prince of darkness, O most chaste Mother of God, thou joy of the Angels, and protectress of all who honor thee with their unceasing praises.
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| Abp. Viganò: Abolition of anti-Modernist Oath is ‘a desertion, a betrayal of unheard-of gravity’ |
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Posted by: Stone - 01-09-2021, 12:32 PM - Forum: Archbishop Viganò
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Abp. Viganò: Abolition of anti-Modernist Oath is ‘a desertion, a betrayal of unheard-of gravity’
In a wide-ranging response to LifeSite, Archbishop Viganò not only covers the history of the 1910 Oath Against Modernism and its abrogation and replacement by another formula of profession of faith, but he also discusses the influence of Jacques Maritain upon Pope Paul VI, the Gramscian-Communist method of cultural infiltration and subversion of the Catholic Church, and the person of Joseph Ratzinger as such.
January 6, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) – In a new statement, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò presents the history of Pope Saint Pius X's Oath Against Modernism, with the help of which this Pope tried to fight back against heresy in the Church. The Italian archbishop praises this attempt and adds that the 1967 abandonment of this oath by Pope Paul VI was a “desertion,” and a “betrayal,” suggesting that Modernism was no longer rejected. Those clergymen who participated at the Second Vatican Council and were involved in its innovations, such as then-Professor Joseph Ratzinger, all had still taken that anti-Modernist Oath. Viganò explains that Ratzinger “‘played a crucial role in overturning the preparatory schemas of the Council and initiating a completely new approach,’ and that in doing so he violated the Oath.”
Archbishop Viganò adds: “It would, however, be desirable that he, above all in consideration of the Divine Judgment that awaits him, would definitively distance himself from those theologically erroneous positions – I am referring in particular to those in Introduction to Christianity – which are still disseminated today in universities and seminaries which boast to call themselves Catholic.”
Archbishop Viganò kindly responded to a set of questions that I, together with my husband Dr. Robert Hickson, presented to him in a published September 28, 2020 article. In our set of questions, we highlighted the close proximity between the July 23, 1967 Land O'Lakes statement of leaders of U.S. Catholic educational institutions who declared their independence from the Church's magisterial authority and the abandonment of the 1967 Oath Against Modernism only a few days earlier.
We had also reviewed aspects of a new biogaphy of Pope Benedict XVI, in which its author, Peter Seewald, showed the crucial role of then-Joseph Ratzinger at the Second Vatican Council's reform and change of spirit. Thus, we had asked Archbishop Viganò whether then-Professor Ratzinger not effectively perjured himself, since he himself also had taken previously the Oath Against Modernism.
In a wide-ranging response, Archbishop Viganò not only covers the history of the 1910 Oath Against Modernism and its abrogation and replacement by another formula of profession of faith, but he also discusses the influence of Jacques Maritain upon Pope Paul VI, the Gramscian-Communist method of cultural infiltration and subversion of the Catholic Church, and the person of Joseph Ratzinger as such.
First, the Italian prelate honors the Oath Against Modernism, which was demeaned as a sort of “a climate of witch-hunting,” but which “unquestionably had the merit of flushing out the enemies of the Church who lurked within her,” he explains. “If we think of heresy as a pestilence that afflicts the ecclesial body,” Viganò continues, “we ought to recognize that Saint Pius X acted with the wisdom of a doctor in eradicating the disease and isolating those who contributed to its spread.”
But with the 1967 abandonment of the Oath Aginst Modernism, as well as the Index of prohibited books the year before, the Church abandoned her combat against heresy in the Church. Here, Archbishop Viganò refers to one of the founders of the Communist Party in Italy, Antonio Gramsci, and his method of a cultural revolution that takes over a culture and with it the minds of the people. He states: “If we apply Gramsci’s recommendations to what has happened in the heart of the Church in the last century, we can see that the work of conquering the ecclesiastical 'casemates' was conducted with the same subversive methods; certainly the infiltration of the deep state into civil institutions and of the deep church into Catholic institutions corresponds to this criterion.”
The prelate reminds us that “all the bishops who participated in the Second Vatican Council and all the clerics with positions in the commissions swore the Iusiurandum Antimodernisticum together with the Professio Fidei.” That means that “those who at the Council rejected the preparatory schemas prepared by the Holy Office and played a decisive role in the drafting of the most controversial texts violated their oath sworn on the Holy Gospels.”
Furthermore, explains the Italian prelate, the abolition of the Oath Against Modernism “was part of a plan to dismantle the disciplinary structure of the Church, precisely at the moment in which the threat of the adulteration of Faith and Morals by the Innovators was greatest.” The abolition of this Oath “deprived the Hierarchy of the disciplinary means with which to guard and defend itself,” and therefore it “was a desertion, a betrayal of unheard gravity, especially in those terrible years: as if in the middle of full combat the commander-in-chief ordered his men to lay their arms down before the enemy just as they were getting ready to invade the Citadel.”
Viganò goes on to discuss also the crucial role of then-Professor Joseph Ratzinger who, as peritus of Cardinal Josef Frings, was deeply involved in the changes that were worked out at the Council. Referring back to the protective discipline established by Pope Saint Pius X, the prelate points out that they were also applied to Ratzinger who in 1955 “himself was accused of Modernism by the assistant supervisor of his dissertation for his teaching habilitation, Professor Michael Schmaus, against his colleague Gottlieb Söhngen, who shared the opposite approach with Ratzinger. The young theologian had to correct his dissertation in the points in which it insinuated a subjectivization of the concept of Revelation.”
Viganò goes on to state: “It is obvious that Joseph Ratzinger is to be counted among those who swore the Oath; that he “played a crucial role in overturning the preparatory schemas of the Council and initiating a completely new approach,” and that in doing so he violated the Oath, is equally indisputable. Whether in doing this Ratzinger had full knowledge of committing sacrilege, only God knows, who scrutinizes the depths of the heart.”
While we do not know Ratzinger's heart at the time and today, Viganò faces the fact that Ratzinger's own writings have been influenced by Modernist thoughts: “It also seems to me undeniable that there are many of his writings in which both his Hegelian formation as well as the influence of Modernism emerge, as Professor Enrico Maria Radaelli has illustrated very well in his essays and as the new biography of Pope Benedict XVI by Peter Seewald confirms with an abundance of particulars and numerous sources.” In light of these facts, for the Italian prelate it seems “obvious that the declarations of the young Joseph Ratzinger reported by Seewald largely contradict the hermeneutic of continuity which Benedict XVI later theorized, perhaps as a prudent retraction of his former enthusiasm.” (See here an analysis of Ratzinger's role at the Second Vatican Council as described by Peter Seewald.)
Ratzinger, in Viganò's eyes, seems to have changed his heart during his ecclesiastical career, “his role as Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith,” and “his election to the Throne” having contributed “to at least some sort of a change of heart about the mistakes he committed and the ideas he professed.” However, Viganò still hopes that Ratzinger “above all in consideration of the Divine Judgment that awaits him, would definitively distance himself from those theologically erroneous positions – I am referring in particular to those in Introduction to Christianity – which are still disseminated today in universities and seminaries which boast to call themselves Catholic. Delicta juventutis meae et ignorantias meas ne memineris Domine (Ps 25: 7).”
This new statement by Archbishop Viganò is of great historical and moral worth and hopefully will help many Catholics to understand more deeply the history of Modernism and the Church's abandonment of resisting it, with major Modernist thinkers becoming the leading figures and inspirations of the modern hierarchy.
Please see here Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò's full statement:
After I turned away, I repented;
When you made me understand, I beat my breast;
I am ashamed and confused,
because I carry the infamy of my youth.
Jer 31:19
In an article that appeared on LifeSiteNews last September 28, [1] Dr. Maike Hickson asked me some questions to supplement my statements concerning the Second Vatican Council reported by Marco Tosatti [2].
THE OATH AGAINST MODERNISM
The points made in this analysis refer to the Oath against Modernism, which Saint Pius X promulgated with the Motu Proprio Sacrorum Antistitum of September 1, 1910,[3] three years after the publication of the Decree Lamentabili[4] and the Encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis.[5] Article VI of Pascendi established the institution, “as soon as possible [quanto prima]” of a vigilance commission in every diocese, while article VII ordered that a “diligent and sworn statement” be sent “to the Holy See” within a year, and then every three years after that, on the implementation of the prescriptions of the Encyclical and “on the doctrines that run among the clergy,” later simply known as the “Pascendi report.”[6]
It will be noted that the Holy See had a quite different approach to the very serious doctrinal crisis of those years, as compared to the totally opposite approach adopted after the end of the pontificate of Pius XII.
The Innovators complained about what they called “a climate of witch-hunting,” but which unquestionably had the merit of flushing out the enemies of the Church who lurked within her, by means of an action of control and prevention. If we think of heresy as a pestilence that afflicts the ecclesial body, we ought to recognize that Saint Pius X acted with the wisdom of a doctor in eradicating the disease and isolating those who contributed to its spread.
THE ABOLITION OF THE OATH AND INDEX
In taking up the ideological link that I had highlighted between the Council and the Land O’Lakes Statement of July 23, 1967, Maike and Robert Hickson opportunely pointed out another interesting “coincidence”: the abolition, on July 17, 1967, of the obligation for all clerics to swear the Oath against Modernism which had been prescribed up until that time. An abolition that passed almost in silence, by means of replacing the preceding formula – which called for the Professio Fidei and the Jusjurandum Antimodernisticum – with the Nicene Creed and this brief phrase:
Quote:Firmiter quoque amplector et retineo omnia et singula quae circa doctrinam de fide et moribus ab Ecclesia, sive solemni iudicio definita sive ordinario magisterio adserta ac declarata sunt, prout ab ipsa proponuntur, praesertim ea quae respiciunt mysterium sanctae Ecclesiae Christi, eiusque Sacramenta et Missae Sacrificium atque Primatum Romani Pontificis.
The explanatory note of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith stated: “[i]Formula deinceps adhibenda in casibus in quibus iure praescribitur Professio Fidei, loco formulae Tridentinae et iuramenti antimodernistici [Henceforth this formula is to be used in cases in which the law prescribes the Profession of Faith, in place of the Tridentine formula and the Oath against Modernism].”[7]
It should be noted that this innovation followed the abolition of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum, which took place on February 4, 1966, after Paul VI redefined the competencies and structure of the Congregation on December 7, 1965, and changed the ancient name of the Holy Office to its present name, with the Motu Proprio Integrae Servandae:
Quote:But, because there is no fear in love (1 Jn 4:18), the defense of the faith is now better served by promoting doctrine, in such a way that, while errors stand corrected and those who err are gently called back to the truth, heralds of the Gospel may find new strength. Moreover, the advance of human culture, whose importance the religious field must not overlook, is that the faithful follow the directives of the Church with greater adhesion and love, if, insofar as in matters of faith and morals it is possible to make clear to them the reasons for definitions and laws.[8]
The abolition of the Iusiurandum Antimodernisticum was part of a plan to dismantle the disciplinary structure of the Church, precisely at the moment in which the threat of the adulteration of Faith and Morals by the Innovators was greatest. This operation confirms the intention of those who, in the face of the ultra-progressive attack initiated at the Council, not only allowed the enemy to have freedom of action but also deprived the Hierarchy of the disciplinary means with which to guard and defend itself. And it was a desertion, a betrayal of unheard gravity, especially in those terrible years: as if in the middle of full combat the commander-in-chief ordered his men to lay their arms down before the enemy just as they were getting ready to invade the Citadel.
THE INADEQUACY OF THE NEW FORMULA
The inadequacy of the 1967 formula was also admitted by Father Umberto Betti, O.F.M., in the Doctrinal Considerations which appeared in 1989 after the promulgation of the new formula of the Profession of Faith:
Quote:This all-encompassing affirmation, if commendable for its brevity, was not immune to a two-fold disadvantage: that of not clearly distinguishing the truths proposed for belief as divinely revealed from those proposed in a definitive way even though not divinely revealed; and that of passing over in silence the teachings of the supreme magisterium which do not have the connotation of the divinely revealed or the definitive proposition.[9]
It seems to understand that the solicitude of the Congregation was motivated by the necessity of including in the Oath of Fidelity both the Council itself and the Magisterium that does not have “the connotation of the divinely revealed or the definitive proposition,” after which with lightness – on the wave of the conciliar dismantling – the first formula had substantially allowed it to be understood that the content of the Oath against Modernism no longer had any value, and that therefore one could adhere – as effectively happened – to the heterodox doctrines of Modernism.
THE REBELS MAKE THE APPLICATIONS OF COMMUNISM THEIR OWN
I cannot affirm with certainty that Father Theodore M. Hesburgh was aware of the imminent abolition of the Professio Fidei and the Oath against Modernism when he prepared the Land O’ Lakes Statement. Nonetheless, I believe it is evident that the climate of rebellion of those years in Europe and the United States largely contributed to the belief that Rome approved, if not the most scandalous excesses, certainly the forms of compromise with progressivism.
I recall that Cardinal Alfrink, on October 9, 1966, had presented the Dutch “New Catechism” in Utrecht, as an expression of all the errors that the spirit of the Council considered by then to have been established. The following year, on October 10, 1967, during the Third World Congress for the apostolate of lay people reunited in Rome, the death of Ernest Che Guevara was commemorated after he had died the previous day in a guerrilla action. In the following months there followed the violent student occupations of the universities, including the Catholic University of Milan, in protest against the Vietnam War. And on December 5, 1967, thanks to the offices of [Secretary of State] Agostino Casaroli, the president of the student body of the Catholic University of Milan, Nello Canalini, was received in audience by the Substitute of the Secretary of State, Msgr. Giovanni Benelli. On December 21, 1967, despite the appeals of their Order, three priests and a sister joined the guerrillas in Guatemala, and two days later, on the occasion of the visit of President Lyndon Johnson to the Vatican, there were protests from progressive Catholics, including the Maritain Circle of Rimini. There followed the condemnation of the Vietnam War by Cardinal Lercaro (January 1, 1968) and the anti-imperialist proclamation of Fidel Castro, written by four priests. On January 31, 1968, the Brazilian bishop Jorge Marcos defended the revolution during a television interview. On February 16, 1968, the national presidents of FUCI [Italian Catholic Federation of University Students], Mirella Gallinaro and Giovanni Benzoni, sent an open letter to the university professors in which they laid out the reasons for the student protest. From that point on, the protests multiplied, including violent ones, giving rise to the sadly famous “1968 Movement” [in which all Italian universities were occupied]. No wonder: Che Guevara was formed in a Jesuit College in Santiago, Cuba, and the revolution in the political sphere always proceeds from a revolution in the theological sphere.
THE SURRENDER OF THE HIERARCHY TO SUBVERSION
It is obvious that the political climate of those years was the breeding ground of the Revolution, and equally evident that the Church did not react with the firmness and determination that would have been necessary; moreover, even on the part of national governments the response was entirely ineffective. It is therefore understood that the climate of rebellion in which the heretical instances of Catholic progressivism could not fail to involve the self-styled intellectuals and theologians both of Land O’Lakes as well as of many universities throughout the world. The hierarchy, instead of asking itself about the cause of such agitations, clumsily sought merely to deplore the excesses, precisely because the cause lay in Vatican II and in its protesting thrust, despite the proclamation of Paul VI:
Quote:After the Council the Church enjoyed, and still is enjoying, a great and magnificent awakening, which we are the first to be pleased to recognize and favor; but the Church has also suffered and still suffers from a whirlwind of ideas and facts, which are certainly not according to the good Spirit and do not promise that vital renewal which the Council has promised and promoted. An idea of double effect has also made its way into certain Catholic circles: the idea of change, which for some has replaced the idea of aggiornamento, foreshadowed by Pope John of venerable memory, thus attributing, against the evidence and against justice, to that most faithful Pastor of the Church criteria that are no longer innovative, but at times even subversive of the teaching and discipline of the Church herself.[10]
These “criteria that are no longer innovative, but at times even subversive of the teaching and discipline of the Church herself” are today right before our eyes, and they were there just a few years later, when the new Mass was imposed on the entire Christian people, the summa of subversion in the liturgical sphere.
I recall very well the climate of those years, and the dismay of so many pastors, professors, and theologians in the face of the arrogance of the rebels and the violence of their supporters. But I also recall the timidity and fear of fueling the clashes: the fruit of that sense of inferiority which had afflicted above all the highest levels of both Church and State. On the other hand, after the operation undertaken by Roncalli and Montini to dismantle the solemn and sacerdotal nature of the pontificate of Pius XII, that feeling of failure was the only response on the part of an episcopate habituated to blind obedience, especially in the face of the impunity enjoyed by their brother bishops who were Modernists. It was the era in which the Benedictine abbot of Michaelsberg (Germany) asked for reduction to the lay state in order to protest against the “authoritarian methods” of the Vatican, and ended up getting married shortly thereafter. It was the era of the Letter of the Seven Hundred, in which 774 French priests and laity wrote to Paul VI to challenge the positions of the hierarchy, asking it to renounce temporal power and be closer to the poor. Today these seven hundred insurrectionists would carry Bergoglio in triumph, who has brought to completion what the Council suddenly began.
THE “CASEMATES” IN THE ECCLESIASTICAL SPHERE[11]
On the eve of ’68, cancelling the Professio Fidei and the Oath against Modernism was an unfortunate decision, because, like the storming of the Bastille, it was prepared in the secret meetings of the Masons, and thus the Revolution of 1968 found its ideological base in the Catholic universities and formed its most excited protagonists there, some of whom were political exponents of the extreme left. Not asking the professors of these universities and the chaplains of the lay associations to swear the Oath was the equivalent of authorizing them to transmit their heterodox ideas, suggesting that the condemnation of Modernism had fallen. This allowed the Innovators to take power, according to the methods analyzed by Antonio Gramsci, who identified in the apparatus of the State – schools, parties, trade unions, the press, associations – the “casemates” of the enemy to be conquered in a parallel action to the war in the trenches.[12]
In this regard, Alexander Höbel notes in one of his essays on Gramsci, a founding philosopher of the Communist Party of Italy:
Quote:[The communist party], before taking political power, must fight for hegemony in civil society, which means hegemony on the ideological and cultural level, but which also means conquering – during a long “war of position” which alternates in phases with a “war of movement” – the “casemates” – the trenches, the myriad small and large centers of popular power (or resistance) which are the trade unions, the cooperatives, the local governments, the associations, and the entire network of structures that make our civil society today immensely more complex than that of Gramsci’s time. It is in the course of this process that the subordinate class “becomes a historical subject,” a class for itself; it thus becomes the ruling class and lays the foundations also to become the dominant class; that is, conquering political power on the basis of consensus and mass sharing, an expression of a new “historical block.” In this hegemonic battle the proletariat not only constructs a politics of alliances, but it brings to the light of the political conscience those changes that have already happened on the structural level, of the development of productive forces, making clear that political and social transformation is also not only possible but necessary. In this context, it is clear that in the approach with respect to potential allies “the only concrete possibility is compromise, since force can be used against enemies, not against a part of oneself that wants to quickly assimilate.”[13]
If we apply Gramsci’s recommendations to what has happened in the heart of the Church in the last century, we can see that the work of conquering the ecclesiastical “casemates” was conducted with the same subversive methods; certainly the infiltration of the deep state into civil institutions and of the deep church into Catholic institutions corresponds to this criterion.
THE EXEMPTION FROM THE OATH FOR GERMAN UNIVERSITIES
With regard to the exemption from the Oath for the Catholic departments at German universities at the time of Saint Pius X, I seem to understand – from the documentation I consulted[14] – that this derogation was not actually granted but rather was de facto extorted against the wishes of the Holy See, thanks to the indulgence of certain members of the German episcopate. Cardinal Walter Brandmüller has highlighted the consequences of this exemption on the theological school in Germany. For my part, I limit myself to noting that they are evident in the formation of Joseph Ratzinger, who attended the Higher Institute of Philosophy and Theology of Freising, the Herzogliches Georgianum Seminary of Munich in Bavaria, and Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. In addition, the Jesuit Karl Rahner, among others, was formed in Germany: his curriculum earned him an appointment as peritus at the Council on the initiative of John XXIII, who was a friend of the Modernist Ernesto Buonaiuti.
In this regard it is interesting to note what Professor Claus Arnold has observed in his study The Reception of the Encyclical Pascendi in Germany:
Quote:From an overall investigation, it can be reconstructed that the encyclical Pascendi was implemented only in a very approximative way, at least according to the standards of a regular centralized bureaucracy. From this perspective, one recognizes a high level of indolence and episcopal resistance, also in Germany. Pius X had every reason to be disappointed: the suspected secret sect of the Modernists within the Church could not be discovered by the bishops, and the anti-Modernist Oath of 1910 can be seen as an expression of dissatisfaction over this episcopal blindness. However, the high level of deviation from the reporting obligation and the responses of the bishops that were often formalized and of an interpretative immunization should not lead us to undervalue the effect of the encyclical.[15]
Certainly the discipline then in force both in the Roman Dicasteries as well as in the Dioceses of the world prevented the complete boycott of the provisions providentially imparted by Saint Pius X. So much so that in 1955 Joseph Ratzinger himself was accused of Modernism by the assistant supervisor of his dissertation for his teaching habilitation, Professor Michael Schmaus, against his colleague Gottlieb Söhngen, who shared the opposite approach with Ratzinger. The young theologian had to correct his dissertation in the points in which it insinuated a subjectivization of the concept of Revelation.[16]
THE OATH AT THE COUNCIL
I confirm that, according to the canonical norms then in vigor, all the bishops who participated in the Second Vatican Council and all the clerics with positions in the commissions swore the Iusiurandum Antimodernisticum together with the Professio Fidei. Certainly those who at the Council rejected the preparatory schemas prepared by the Holy Office and played a decisive role in the drafting of the most controversial texts violated their oath sworn on the Holy Gospels; but I do not think that for them this posed a serious problem of conscience.
THE CREDO OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD
The Credo of the People of God pronounced by Paul VI on June 30, 1968, in the Cappella Papale which concluded the Year of Faith was supposed to represent the response of the Apostolic See to the mounting wave of doctrinal and moral contestation; we know that it was strongly recommended by certain cardinals. Jacques Maritain collaborated in its drafting, who through Cardinal Charles Journet was received in audience by Paul VI between 1967 and 1968 and submitted a draft for a Profession of Faith that would in some way oppose the heretical Dutch Catechism which had just been published and was being examined during those months by a commission of cardinals which included Journet. Prior to this, also at the request of Paul VI, another profession of faith was prepared by the Dominican Yves Congar, which was rejected. But there is another detail:
Quote:...in one section, Maritain had explicitly mentioned the common testimony that Israelites and Muslims give to the unity of God together with Christians. In his Creed, however, Paul VI gives thanks to the divine goodness for the “many believers” who share with Christians faith in the one God, but without explicitly mentioning Judaism and Islam.[17]
We thus discover that, if it were not for the providential revision of the Holy Office, the Credo would have introduced the doctrine of Nostra Ætate which was later taken up by the Successors of Montini and which with Bergoglio has met its coherent expression in the Abu Dhabi Declaration.[18]
THE ABDICATION OF APOSTOLIC AUTHORITY
And here we discover another punctum dolens of the way of acting that united Maritain and Montini:
Quote:In the introduction to the text prepared at Journet’s request, Maritain added some suggestions regarding method. According to Maritain, it was opportune that the Pope would use a new procedure, confessing his profession of faith as a pure and simple witness: “The testimony of our faith, this is what we want to bear before God and men.” According to Maritain, the pure and simple “confessio fidei” would better help the multitude of troubled souls, without having to present the profession of faith as a mere act of authority: “If the Pope were to have the air of prescribing or imposing his profession of faith in the name of his magisterium, either he would have to speak the whole truth, thereby raising storms, or he would have to use consideration, avoiding dealing with the most dangerously threatened points, and this would be the worst thing of all.” The most efficacious and necessary thing was to confess clearly and strongly the integrity of the faith of the Church, without anathematizing anyone.[19]
Saying the whole truth, according to Maritain, would have raised storms. The alternative, namely using consideration, “avoiding dealing with the most dangerously threatened points,” had already been adopted by the Council. Thus, once again, compromise was chosen. Mediocritas was erected as a method of governance in the Church, the sum total of the new merely propositional magisterium that avoided “any allusion to the anathematic form. But in the name of the one who presently occupies the Chair of the Apostle Peter. So that all ambiguities will be excluded.”[20] The Holy Office also added an interesting comment that we can re-evaluate today, especially after Fratelli Tutti:
Quote:According to Duroux, the clarification should also be added that when the Church deals with temporal questions she does not aim at establishing a paradise on earth, but simply at rendering the present condition of men less inhuman. An insertion that would serve to clear the field of ambiguous interpretations regarding the positions taken by large ecclesial sectors, especially in Latin America in the face of political and social injustice.[21]
With that profession of faith, “without being a dogmatic definition properly so-called, and albeit with some development, required by the spiritual conditions of our time,[22] there was an attempt to have the Pope say what the Council had been silent about: it will be noted that the text of the Credo contains 15 citations from Lumen Gentium, while it mentions the acts of the preceding infallible Magisterium 16 times, however only giving the reference number in Denzinger.
In any case, this Profession of Faith was never adopted along with the Oath, and served more to silence the exasperated souls of pastors and the faithful[23] rather than to lead rebels back to Catholic orthodoxy.
I would like to point out another element present in Maritain’s declarations that should not be underestimated: “If the Pope were to have the air of prescribing or imposing his profession of faith in the name of his magisterium...” Here is the main point on which the whole question hinges: the abdication of authority on the part of authority itself. According to this approach, the pope must not give even the impression of prescribing or imposing anything, and if per accidens Paul VI did so, today we find ourselves in the situation that the French thinker hoped for fifty years ago: certainly Bergoglio does not have the air “of prescribing or imposing his profession of faith in the name of his magisterium,” and the use of “consideration, avoiding dealing with the most dangerously threatened points” has now changed into a blatant and brazen affirmation of a counter-magisterium which, despite being canonically devoid of any apostolic authority, nevertheless has the explosive power of the words of him whom the world recognizes as the Vicar of Christ, the Successor of the Prince of the Apostles, the Roman Pontiff. Thus, despite not having the air of doing so, Jorge Mario Bergoglio exploits his authority and the visibility that the mainstream media give him to demolish the Church of Christ. And if error can assert itself with impunity “without anathematizing anyone,” the “anathematic form” is widely used against those who defend Catholic orthodoxy or denounce the fraud in progress. It goes without saying that the use of “consideration, avoiding dealing with the most dangerously threatened points” today includes not only doctrinal aspects, but also moral ones, supporting the very serious deviations in the area of gender theory, homosexuality, trans-sexualism, and cohabitation.
RATZINGER AND THE OATH AGAINST MODERNISM
It is obvious that Joseph Ratzinger is to be counted among those who swore the Oath; that he “played a crucial role in overturning the preparatory schemas of the Council and initiating a completely new approach,” and that in doing so he violated the Oath, is equally indisputable. Whether in doing this Ratzinger had full knowledge of committing sacrilege, only God knows, who scrutinizes the depths of the heart.
It also seems to me undeniable that there are many of his writings in which both his Hegelian formation as well as the influence of Modernism emerge, as Professor Enrico Maria Radaelli has illustrated very well in his essays and as the new biography of Pope Benedict XVI by Peter Seewald confirms with an abundance of particulars and numerous sources. In this regard, I believe it is obvious that the declarations of the young Joseph Ratzinger reported by Seewald largely contradict the hermeneutic of continuity which Benedict XVI later theorized, perhaps as a prudent retraction of his former enthusiasm.
I think, however, that the passage of time, his role as Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, and finally his election to the Throne have contributed to at least some sort of a change of heart about the mistakes he committed and the ideas he professed. It would, however, be desirable that he, above all in consideration of the Divine Judgment that awaits him, would definitively distance himself from those theologically erroneous positions – I am referring in particular to those in Introduction to Christianity – which are still disseminated today in universities and seminaries which boast to call themselves Catholic. Delicta juventutis meae et ignorantias meas ne memineris Domine (Ps 25: 7).
+ Carlo Maria Viganò, Archbishop[/i]
7 December 2020
[i]S. Ambrosii Episcopi et Confessoris[/i]
References
[1] https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/quest...abrogation
[2] https://www.marcotosatti.com/2020/09/14/...la-chiesa/
[3] Saint Pius X, Motu Proprio[i] Sacrorum Antistitum, quo quaedam statuuntur leges ad Modernismi periculum propulsandum, 1 September 1910. Note that the Holy See publishes this document on its website only in the Latin text, without translation into any current language, unlike all other recent texts.
[4] Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office, Decree Lamentabili sane exitu, 3 July 1907.
[5] Saint Pius X, Encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis on the Errors of the Modernism, 8 September 1907.
[6] Cf. La Civiltà Cattolica, 1907, 4, 106: “We will and ordain that the Bishops of all dioceses, a year after the publication of these letters and every three years thenceforward, furnish the Holy See with a diligent and sworn report on all the prescriptions contained in them, and on the doctrines that find currency among the clergy, and especially in the seminaries and other Catholic institutions, and We impose the like obligation on the Generals of Religious Orders with regard to those under them” (art. VII of Encyclical Pascendi). See in this regard: Alejandro M. Dieguez, Tra competenze e procedure: la gestione dell’operazione, in The Reception and Application of the Encyclical Pascendi, Studi di Storia 3, edited by Claus Arnold and Giovanni Vian, Edizioni Ca’ Foscari, 2017.
[7] Cfr. AAS, 1967, p. 1058.
[8] Paul VI, Apostolic Letter Given Motu Proprio Integrae Servandae, 7 December 1965.
[9] Doctrinal considerations on the Profession of Faith and the Oath of Fidelity, in Notitiae 25 (1989) 321-325.
[10] Paul VI, General Audience, April 25, 1968.
[11] Translator’s note: A casemate is a fortified position on a warship from which guns are fired, from the Old Italian casamatta.
[12] Cf. A. Gramsci, Quaderni del carcere, edited by V. Gerratana, Turin, Einaudi, 1975, pp. 1566-1567.
[13] Cf. Alexander Höbel, Gramsci e l’egemonia. Complessità e trasformazione sociale.
[14] La Civiltà Cattolica, year 65, 1914, vol. 2, La parola del Papa e i suoi pervertitori, p. 641-650. In relation to the speech of Pius X at the Consistory of May 27, 1914, (AAS, 28 May 1914, year VI, vol. VI, n. 8, pp. 260-262): “The Pope here refers to the Oath against Modernism, which about five years ago was to be imposed on the professors of theology of the universities of the Empire” (p. 648). The passage of the speech of Pius X to the Consistory is this: “If you ever encounter those who boast of being believers, devoted to the Pope, and who want to be Catholic but would consider it the utmost insult to be called “clerical,” tell them solemnly that devoted sons of the Pope are those who obey his word and follow him in everything, and not those who study the means to evade his orders or to obligate him with insistence worthy of a better cause to grant exemptions and dispensations that are all the more painful the more they are harmful and scandalous.” On May 30, 1914, L’Osservatore Romano responded with a note: “We have seen that some newspapers, commenting on the speech the Holy Father gave on Wednesday to the new cardinals, have insinuated either to confuse ideas and disturb souls, or for other reasons, that His Holiness, speaking of harmful exemptions or dispensations which they insist on obtaining from him, was alluding to the Oath against Modernism in Germany. This is completely false, and it seems to us that the misunderstanding in this regard should not be possible. The only passage in that speech that refers specifically to Germany, even if not exclusively so, is the part about mixed associations, and in it the Pope only confirmed once again the principles which he laid out in the Encyclical Singulari Quadam.”
[15] “In a global survey it can be reconstructed that the encyclical Pascendi was implemented very inchoately, at least according to the standards of a centralized bureaucratic rule. In this perspective, a high degree of episcopal indolence and resistance can be acknowledged, even in Germany. Pius X had every reason to be disappointed: the suspected secret sect of the Modernists within the Church could not be uncovered by the bishops, and the Oath against Modernism of 1910 can be seen as an expression of dissatisfaction with this episcopal blindness. However, the high deviance from the reporting requirement and the often formalized and interpretative-immunizing responses of the bishops should not lead us to underestimate the effect of the encyclical” (p. 87). See Claus Arnold, The Reception of the Encyclical Pascendi in Germany (Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Germany), in The Reception and Application of the Encyclical Pascendi, Studi di Storia 3, edited by Claus Arnold and Giovanni Vian, Edizioni Ca’ Foscari, 2017, p. 75 ff.
[16] “For Schmaus the faith of the Church was communicated with definitive, static concepts which define perennial truths. For Söhngen the faith was mystery and was communicated in a story. At that time there was much talk of the history of salvation. There was a dynamic factor, which also guaranteed an openness and a taking into consideration of new questions.” Interview with Alfred Läpple of Gianni Valente and Pierluca Azzaro, Quel nuovo inizio che fiorì tra le macerie, in 30 Giorni, 01/02, 2006.
[17] Sandro Magister, Il Credo di Paolo VI. Chi lo scrisse e perché, 6 June 2008.
[18] Sandro Magister notes: In the 1950s, Maritain was close to being condemned by the Holy Office for his philosophical thought, which was suspected of “integral naturalism.” The condemnation was not carried out, in part because he was defended by Giovanni Battista Montini, the future Paul VI, who at the time was the Substitute of the Secretariat of State and was tied to the French thinker by a long friendship.” Ibid.
[19] Gianni Valente, Paolo VI, Maritain e la fede degli apostoli, in 30 Giorni, 04, 2008.
[20] So the Dominican Benoît Duroux suggested on April 6, 1968, who at the time was a collaborator of the secretary of the former Holy Office, Msgr. Paul Philippe. Ibid.
[21]Ibid.
[22] Paul VI, Homily for the Solemn Concelebration at the Conclusion of the Year of Faith in the Centenary of the Martyrdom of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, 30 June 1968.
[23] “We are aware of the restlessness that agitates some modern environments in relation to faith. They do not escape the influence of a world in profound transformation, in which such a large number of certainties are challenged or questioned. We also see Catholics who allow themselves to be seized by a kind of passion for change and novelty.” Ibid.
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| London Mayor Demands Shuttering of Churches and Other Places of Worship |
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Posted by: Stone - 01-09-2021, 12:12 PM - Forum: Pandemic 2020 [Spiritual]
- No Replies
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London Mayor Sadiq Khan Demands Shuttering of Churches and Other Places of Worship
Breitbart | 9 Jan 2021
London mayor Sadiq Khan has written to Boris Johnson requesting the immediate closure of all places of worship to curb the spread of coronavirus cases.
Churches and other places of worship have been allowed to stay open during the current lockdown, but Mr Khan has asked that they be forced to close in a letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
The mayor has declared a “major incident” as the coronavirus infection rate has surpassed one per cent in the Greater London area. Khan said that such a state of emergency is justified because London’s hospitals risk being “overwhelmed.”
“Our heroic doctors, nurses and NHS staff are doing an amazing job, but with cases rising so rapidly, our hospitals are at risk of being overwhelmed,” Khan said Friday. “The stark reality is that we will run out of beds for patients in the next couple of weeks unless the spread of the virus slows down drastically.”
“We are declaring a major incident because the threat this virus poses to our city is at crisis point,” Khan said.
“If we do not take immediate action now, our NHS could be overwhelmed and more people will die,” he added. “Londoners continue to make huge sacrifices and I am today imploring them to please stay at home unless it is absolutely necessary for you to leave.”
In his letter to the prime minister, Mr Khan also passed along requests from London council leaders for the closure of places of worship, as well as for greater financial support for Londoners, for daily vaccination data, and for a face mask mandate including out of doors.
Comparing the coronavirus situation to a “war,” Khan noted that hospitalisations in London increased by 27 per cent from December 30th to January 6th.
Quote:Sadiq Khan Lights Up London Sky with BLM Fist for New Year Fireworks https://t.co/0vdGvtkRFd
The Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, has insisted that the spiritual life of citizens is also essential, while questioning the need for closing churches.
“Our responsibility is to follow public health guidance, as set by central government, and make places of worship as safe as possible,” the cardinal said through a spokesman. “This we have done, following the strict guidelines on the wearing of face masks, social distancing and consistent cleaning, and the latest judgment of central government is that our churches are safe.”
“Furthermore, the government recognises that the regular practice of faith in God is a well-established source of personal resilience and dedicated service to those in need,” he said.
“There is no evidence that Churches are places where infection is spreading,” the spokesman added. “We will continue to abide by the public health guidance and work with government to ensure the continued safety of all who come to our churches for prayer and public worship.”
Bishop John Sherrington of the Westminster archdiocese has also defended keeping churches open.
The decision to leave churches open for prayer and communal worship “is based on two factors: the recognition that our churches are safe, and that the service they offer is essential,” Bishop Sherrington said.
“Our churches are making a significant contribution to the personal resilience and inner strength of people which is much needed at this time,” the bishop added. “Many are hubs from which essential support is offered especially to those most in need, extending well beyond the faith communities which use them.”
“At this phase of the pandemic, which is causing alarm and fear, our churches will exercise their role with increased diligence to ensure continuing safety and service,” he said.
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| Abortion center assures man it won’t report statutory rape |
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Posted by: Stone - 01-09-2021, 11:31 AM - Forum: Abortion
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‘We don’t need to put anything on your record’: Abortion center assures man it won’t report statutory rape
A LifeSiteNews investigator posing as a 22-year-old who impregnated a 15-year-old was assured the facility would help abort the baby and not involve police.
TORONTO, January 8, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) – An employee of the Canadian abortion center Women’s Care Clinic told an undercover LifeSiteNews investigator posing as a 22-year-old who committed statutory rape to impregnate his 15-year-old girlfriend that he shouldn’t worry about legal trouble.
After the LifeSiteNews investigator began to express concerns about police involvement because the girl he claimed to impregnate was underage, the abortion worker assured him, “We don’t need to put anything on your record.”
The undercover investigative call highlights gaping holes in Canadian law, and laws in other countries, that do not always require physicians to report statutory rape to the police.
According to the Criminal Code of Canada, youth aged 14 or 15 “can consent to sexual activity with a person who is less than five years older.” Sexual activity with someone five years older or more is considered to lack “valid consent,” and therefore legally constitutes an instance of sexual assault.
In Ontario, there is a duty to report abuse, including sexual abuse, of a child to the Children's Aid Society (CAS) if the child “is or seems to be under 16.”
However, Canada’s Criminal Code also states, “A physician does not have a duty to report a criminal sexual offense to the police.”
Canadian law considers reporting such a sexual offense a “breach of confidentiality” unless the “mature minor” patient consents, or the patient’s legal guardian consents.
The age of consent in the U.S. varies by state and thus statutory rape laws vary by state, although generally doctors, teachers, counselors, and those in similar positions are “mandatory reporters” and required to report suspected child abuse to authorities.
A guide to state laws on statutory rape explains, “Approximately one-half of all states require child protective services or some other human services agency to conduct the initial investigation,” while only one-fifth of states hold local law enforcement agencies responsible for conducting initial investigations.
The guide emphasizes that, “Generally, law enforcement is responsible for conducting investigations into criminal acts, whereas child protective services and human services agencies are primarily concerned with the well-being of the victim.”
The Women’s Care Clinic in northwest Toronto, where LifeSiteNews conducted its undercover call, is an abortion mill where pro-life activist Mary Wagner has been repeatedly arrested for entering to speak to women intending on aborting their children. Wagner is well known for her pro-life apostolate, which involves approaching women in abortion facilities to give them a rose while gently encouraging them not to abort their children. She has spent a total of six years in jail for her efforts to help save unborn children. Her apostolate inspired the Red Rose Rescue movement in the U.S.
American abortion centers are notorious for refusing to report cases of statutory rape. In its “Sexual Abuse Cover Up” investigation, the pro-life group Live Action “found eight Planned Parenthood facilities in six different states were willing to cover up sexual abuse, including disregarding mandatory reporting laws of suspected statutory rape. Facilities also provided instructions on how to circumvent parental consent laws.”
It also caught Planned Parenthood aiding and abetting pimps who said they needed help obtaining abortions for underage sex trafficking victims.
Live Action also released a seven-part investigative report of what it describes as “systemic cover-up of child sexual abuse” at Planned Parenthood.
In 2019, 52-year-old Florida man was arrested for raping a young woman, aged 21 at the time of his arrest, more than 500 times since the victim was 12 years old. According to the police report, the man took his victim to have an estimated seven abortions at clinics in Orlando and Ft. Lauderdale. it is unknown whether the abortion centers ever reported suspected sexual abuse.
The pro-life group Operation Rescue has also extensively documented the American abortion industry’s refusal to report child sex abuse.
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