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| Satanic Temple to open telehealth abortion clinic in Maine on President Trump’s birthday |
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Posted by: Stone - 06-12-2025, 08:23 AM - Forum: Abortion
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Satanic Temple to open telehealth abortion clinic in Maine on President Trump’s birthday
The telehealth center will offer abortion pills for a flat fee of $91. Patients must be physically located in Maine at the time of consultation and dispensing.
![[Image: abortion-pill-e1749719953844-810x500.jpeg]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/abortion-pill-e1749719953844-810x500.jpeg)
fizkes/Shutterstock
Jun 11, 2025
(LifeSiteNews [slightly adapted, not all hyperlinks from original included]) — The Satanic Temple has launched a new abortion-by-mail provider in Maine, expanding its network of telehealth providers offering chemical abortions under the name TST Health.
Set to open June 14 – President Donald Trump’s birthday – the new facility bears a deliberately provocative name, the “President’s Yuge Most Beautiful Tremendous Satanic Abortion Clinic.”
Erin Helian, TST’s executive director, described the operation as a “magnificent, regal birthday present.”
READ: Satanic Temple head: ‘More than 50% of our membership is LGBTQ’
The Maine clinic follows earlier launches in New Mexico and Virginia. It will offer abortion pills for a flat fee of $91. Patients must be physically located in Maine at the time of consultation and dispensing, but all services are conducted via telehealth.
According to TST, the clinic aims to support its “Satanic Abortion Ritual,” a ceremony intended to frame abortion as a religious act.
The ritual, guided by an “ordained minister,” includes affirmations such as “By my body, my blood. By my will, it is done.”
The Satanic Temple describes itself as a non-theistic religious organization, and is formally recognized by the IRS as a church. Its public messaging mixes shock value with advocacy for secular causes, particularly on abortion and contraception access.
Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, TST has argued that its abortion ritual merits protection under the First Amendment’s free exercise clause. It recently challenged Idaho’s pro-life laws in a case heard by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, filed on behalf of its New Mexico-based “Samuel Alito’s Mom’s Satanic Abortion Clinic.”
The case was dismissed at the district level for lack of standing.
The group says it is “heartbroken” by the closure of abortion clinics nationwide but intends to continue expanding its clinics. Maine currently has loose abortion laws that allow the lethal procedure to be performed past the point of viability when “it is necessary in the professional judgment of a physician,” a loophole that can render the viability restriction practically meaningless.
TST has not disclosed how many abortions it expects to provide in Maine, but said it hopes the new clinic will be part of a “growing network” of telehealth operations across the United States.
Satanic activity in the United States has become increasingly public and aggressive in recent years, with other groups like the Kansas-based Satanic Grotto staging “black masses” and plans to hold more protests involving Wiccans and self-described “witches,” often near state capitols.
These events often target Christian symbols and practices, and have drawn both media attention and backlash from Catholic leaders and lawmakers.
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| Archbishop Viganò: Address to the Forum of the Future 2050 |
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Posted by: Stone - 06-11-2025, 06:15 AM - Forum: Archbishop Viganò
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Dear Friends,
Allow me to offer my greetings to the civil and religious authorities present today and to thank the organizers of this Forum for the invitation extended to me.
The presence of illustrious scientists, philosophers, intellectuals, and sociologists, leads me to give my intervention an eminently theological imprint. The increasingly frenetic evolution of the events of recent years – precisely because of this race towards the precipice that recalls the Latin saying Motus in fine velocior – certainly requires a great capacity for analysis of contingent facts, but it also requires an overall vision that cannot disregard the spiritual dimension of our being. Without this transcendent vision we exclude the fundamental aspect of our existence as rational creatures, restored to the life of Grace in Baptism and destined to love, adore and serve God our Lord and Creator. Without this transcendent vision, we disregard the ontological reality – which the Most Excellent Prelates of the Orthodox Church share with the Catholic Church – of the universal Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ, who as true God and true Man is truly Pantocrator, the Sovereign of earthly societies, the Prince of Time and History, the Alpha and Omega.
In this conference many of you will hear proposals and projects for an alternative Great Reset that counters the coup d’état of the globalist elite; for a “world order” based on national sovereignty, on the common good, on the primacy of man over machine, of reason over passions, of the spirit over the body. This new order already exists, and it is new because it is founded on Christ, King and High Priest: it was inaugurated with the Incarnation, accomplished with the Passion and Death of the Savior, crowned with victory with His glorious Resurrection, and has been perpetuated down the centuries through the sanctifying action of Grace through the Sacraments. This “order” – which we could more properly call κόσμος, in opposition to the χάος of the Revolution – is the societas christiana, which the Eastern Roman Empire was able to embody in the sacred vision of Authority, and in the equating of the person of the Emperor – the Cæsar, from which derives the Russian title Czar – with the Apostles, not only due to the prestige of the function of government, but also and above all due to the moral responsibility that rests on rulers. The Sovereign, in the Byzantine Christian vision and then in the medieval European vision, is Christ’s lieutenant, and his authority is exercised within the limits and with the purposes established by Christ. And it is precisely against this fundamental point that the destructive fury of the Revolution has been unleashed: in order to oust the legitimate rulers, to deprive them of the sacredness of their royal Anointing, to make them self-referential and therefore potentially tyrannical. The illusion that the people can govern themselves has served to transfer the exercise of temporal authority into the hands of an elite that is answerable to no one, neither to God nor to the people. And today, amidst the moral rubble of an apostate and rebellious West, which has reached the point of trampling on the most sacrosanct principles of the Natural Law, this subversive élite gathered in very powerful lobbies and in possession of enormous financial resources is preparing to make the citizens’ vote useless and superfluous, after having interfered in electoral processes and subverted the popular will. Emissaries of supranational organizations have infiltrated governments, the heads of institutions, ministries, courts, law enforcement, universities, the world of culture, and even the Church. It is no mystery that they are linked to their masters by very serious conflicts of interest and kept under blackmail because of their corrupt vices and perverse lifestyle. The arrogance of this treacherous political class is justified only by the presumption of impunity and the illusion of being able to escape Justice.
It is not for me, as a Successor of the Apostles, to give indications as to how to solve the problems that loom on the international scene. I can, however, point out to you the infallible principles which our holy religion has shown to be amply valid and tested by the experience of the centuries: they are enunciated in the Gospel, proclaimed in the Divine Liturgy, and depicted in the mosaics of our ancient basilicas, from Hagia Sophia in Constantinople to San Marco in Venice, from Saint Basil in Moscow to Saint Vitale in Ravenna. These principles can be summed up in the image of Christ seated on a throne, with the royal robes, the crown, the scepter and the sphera mundi. The Kingship of Our Lord is the foundation of social order, concord among peoples, the prosperity of nations, and the salvation of the human race. If the work of Satan is so fierce in opposing the Lordship of Christ, it is because it is the true and only bulwark against barbarism and against the establishment of the kingdom of the Antichrist. Where Christian society has been replaced by the ideologies of the world, it is only ruin and destruction. Where Christ reigns, and where the rulers recognize Christ as their King, the Revolution recedes defeated.
You have set yourselves the deadline of 2050: you have twenty-five years to organize a spiritual rebirth that will form the upcoming generations in the Faith and Morals of your fathers. Begin therefore with training, education, schools, and universities: they must be forges in which the ruling class of tomorrow can rediscover the pride of calling itself Christian, a Christian ruling class that lives out in daily life those principles it professes. Protect the natural family, founded on the indissoluble union between man and woman and aimed at procreation and the education of children. Encourage all forms of agriculture, livestock, fishing, crafts, and business that ensure independence and autonomy for families and small communities. Give protection to all those inalienable rights that globalism threatens and tramples on. And punish with the rigors of the Law all those subversive associations and organizations that interfere in the sovereignty of nations: the tolerance shown these cabals of criminals devoted to evil is an unforgivable weakness, especially when they – as we know – attack the very existence of the human race and plan the reduction of the population through wars, famines, epidemics, mass sterilization, and the moral destruction of man.
Restore to Christ the Nations that belong to Him, because only by doing so will you restore that divine Order – the κόσμος – which the Revolution wants to subvert. There can be no peace or justice where the Prince of Peace and the Just Judge do not reign. Believing that we can disregard this reality is an illusion, a chimera that is a prelude to the most terrible failure. The Divine Master taught us: “Without Me you can do nothing” (Jn 15:6). How then will we be able to hope for the end of this infernal nightmare which the globalist elite desires to impose if not by returning to Christ? This epochal battle between Good and Evil, between God and Satan, can only be won if we side with Christ, who on the Cross conquered the world. And in the Cross of Christ – sign of contradiction, scandal for the Jews, foolishness for the Gentiles (1 Cor 1:24) – we will be able to understand that the trials, even terrible ones, to which we are subjected can be the premise of victory, if we know how to face them, not with human strength, but by placing all our hope in the One who is truly Almighty.
On May 29, 1453, Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos defended the walls of Constantinople to the death, besieged by the Turks. This marked the end of the Eastern Roman Empire and, for historians, the end of the Middle Ages. The legacy of Constantinople has partly passed to the Christian Russia of the Tsars, the last victims – along with Charles of Habsburg – of the murderous fury of atheistic materialism and the conspiracy of the Masonic Lodges. But still much of that heritage of faith, culture, history, and heroism remains alive and throbbing: just as the faith of Christians persecuted by the communist regime remained alive and throbbing for seventy years. When we recite the Our Father, we say Thy kingdom come: this is no mere wish, but a program of life, inseparable from Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Because the κόσμος unites earth to heaven, just as Our Lord sums up in Himself the divine nature and the human nature.
I urge you, dear friends, to make my wishes your own. If Christ – the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End – will be the center of your private and public life, you will be able to give concrete application to the principles that inspire you, and you will be able to recognize and effectively combat all that opposes them.
Through the intercession of the Theotokos, Our Lady and Our Queen, Queen of families, of societies, of nations, and of the whole world, I invoke upon all of you the Blessings of the Most Holy Trinity.
+ Carlo Maria Viganò, Archbishop
June 10, 2025
Feria III infra Oct. Pentecostes
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| Archbishop Viganò: Homily on Pentecost Sunday |
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Posted by: Stone - 06-11-2025, 06:06 AM - Forum: Archbishop Viganò
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Veni, Sancte Spíritus,
et emítte cǽlitus
lucis tuæ rádium.
Veni, pater páuperum,
veni, dator múnerum,
veni, lumen córdium.
Come, O Holy Spirit: send down from heaven a ray of Your light. Light of Truth of the Father and the Son, Fire of Charity that proceeds from Both, Flame of hope in the midst of tribulations. Make Your heavenly perfections shine on this poor rebellious world, on this Your Church eclipsed by false shepherds and mercenaries, on the faithful and their priests, on every soul that the Eternal Son of the Father, with Your Divine cooperation, has redeemed by Incarnating Himself and facing the Passion for the Redemption of our sins. Make Your Church, today humiliated, once again Domina gentium: let the Light of Truth that Our Lord has ordered her to preach shine forth; let the voice of holy Pastors, Doctors of the Faith, resound once more in the faithful transmission of the unchanged doctrine.
Come, Light of hearts: enlighten the intellect and inflame the heart of pope Leo so that he may no longer be Simon, but Peter. May he recognize and condemn the errors and deviations of the conciliar and synodal church, restoring the Bride of the Lamb to her role as Mother and Teacher of all peoples, the only Ark of Salvation, the only safe harbor in the raging storm. Come, O Paraclete, and make resound from our pulpits what Our Lord taught us: This is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent (Jn 17:3).
Come and guide Leo in the restoration of the Church and the Papacy, so that he may fully exercise the authority that the Supreme and Eternal Pontiff has conferred on Peter and his legitimate Successors. Inspire in him docility to Your counsels, determination to guard and confirm the Flock of the Lord in the unity of the one Catholic and Apostolic Faith, and trust in Your infallible help to face the enemies of Christ, not with human strength, but in the humble following of the Savior and in conformity with His Divine Will.
Come, O Father of the poor: come to fill with Your gifts those who humbly recognize themselves as being in need of everything, those who realistically understand that without Your supernatural light our hearts wander in darkness.
Consolátor óptime,
dulcis hospes ánimæ,
dulce refrigérium.
In labóre réquies,
in æstu tempéries,
in fletu solácium.
Come, Consoler: instill peace in Your faithful, shaken by the storm that rages, in our hearts torn by the Passion that the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ now faces, dragged before a new Sanhedrin, following in the footsteps of the Divine Master. Descend, O Spirit, to dwell in our soul, making it a worthy dwelling place of the Most Holy Trinity. Grant a truce to the suffocating battle that Your servants face daily in bearing witness to the Son, from Whom with the Father You proceed.
Give rest to our labors, coolness in the sultry heat of the desert that we cross on our way toward the heavenly Homeland, and relief to the tears of Your Bride humiliated by unworthy ministers and lukewarm faithful.
You who vomit those who are mediocre from Your mouth (Rev 3:16), compensate with Your Grace for our infidelities, our weaknesses, our hesitations. Make us courageous soldiers of Christ, guide the Ministers of Your Church so that they may be an example to us and not a scandal, and so that they may allow themselves to be guided by You on the path of eternal salvation along with the flock that the Lord has entrusted to them.
O lux beatíssima,
reple cordis íntima
tuórum fidélium.
Sine tuo númine,
nihil est in hómine
nihil est innóxium.
You who are the purest light that leads to the glory of Heaven, fill the hearts of Your faithful, so that we recognize that without You, without Your protection, we are nothing, and nothing in us is without fault. In the midst of our present trials, in the pressing siege of a world hostile to the True and the Good, renew in us and in the entire ecclesial body the certainty of the final victory, and the awareness that the Cross that Our Lord has assigned to us can be carried only with Your help, only with Your Grace.
Lava quod est sórdidum,
riga quod est áridum,
sana quod est sáucium.
Flecte quod est rígidum,
fove quod est frígidum,
rege quod est dévium.
Wash away the sins with which the Pastors of Your Church are stained; irrigate Her parched clods with the regenerating water of Your Grace and with the zeal of holy preachers of the Gospel; heal the bleeding wounds that afflict Her because of the infidelity of Her Hierarchy and its members. Bend, O Paraclete Spirit, the stiffness of our necks, too often inclined to compromise; warm our hearts hardened by the chill of insensitivity and selfishness; give support to our weaknesses, restoring by Grace the Divine Order that our sins have shattered.
Purify the ecclesial body, O Consoling Spirit. Cleanse the filth that disfigures the face of Your Bride; eradicate the errors and deviations that frustrate Her mission; restore to Her the triple crown that encircles Her head, the scepter of Her Apostolic mission, the authority and authoritativeness of her Apostles.
Da tuis fidélibus,
in te confidéntibus,
sacrum septenárium.
Da virtútis méritum,
da salútis éxitum,
da perénne gáudium. Amen.
Grant to your faithful, who place their hopes in you, the supernatural help of your Gifts. Grant the recognition of merit for our good deeds, the grace of eternal salvation in abandoning this valley of tears, the joy of blessedness in contemplating the Most Holy Trinity. And, just as after the humiliation and torments of the Passion the Victorious Savior rose from the dead, so now may the passio Ecclesiæ that leads her to Calvary soon turn into triumph and glory, showing again to the people the true face of the Mother of the Saints, image of the Supernal City (A. Manzoni).
Come, Divine Consoler: descend on the Font in which souls are reborn to the life of your Grace. Descend upon your Priests, and confirm with your power what their hands bless; cleanse the souls they absolve; accompany in their agony the dying who entrust themselves to you. Descend upon Christian spouses, who today are exposed to the fierce attack of the enemy: inspire in them the determination to protect and educate their children in Your Holy Law. Descend upon our altars, O Sanctifying Spirit: descend and make the Holy Sacrifice offered by your Ministers acceptable to the Most Holy Trinity. Come and bless the offering and the expiation that they raise to the Divine Majesty on behalf of Your holy people.
Come, O Holy Spirit: fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the Flame of Your Charity. You who are Infinite Charity that proceeds from the Father and the Son. To you, the One and Only Trinity, be honor and glory forever and ever. And so may it be.
+ Carlo Maria Viganò, Archbishop
8 June MMXXV
Dominica Pentecostes
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| New York legislature passes bill to legalize assisted suicide |
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Posted by: Stone - 06-11-2025, 06:01 AM - Forum: General Commentary
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New York legislature passes bill to legalize assisted suicide
New York’s ‘Medical Aid in Dying’ Act would let patients who are deemed ‘terminally ill’ obtain euthanasia drugs with the approval of two doctors.
![[Image: GettyImages-2200914734.jpg]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/GettyImages-2200914734.jpg)
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
Jun 10, 2025
ALBANY (LifeSiteNews [Slightly adapted - not all hyperlinks included from original]) — The New York legislature has given final approval to a bill to make New York the latest state to allow assisted suicide, requiring only far-left Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul’s signature to become law.
The so-called “Medical Aid in Dying Act” would allow patients given a prognosis of six months or fewer to live to be prescribed euthanasia drugs, upon affirmation by two doctors that they have “decision-making capacity.”
“I’m overjoyed that the Senate is now joining the Assembly in passing the Medical Aid in Dying Act — a truly historic and compassionate step forward for New York,” said Assembly sponsor Amy Paulin of the bill, which has the endorsement of the Medical Society of the State of New York, New York State Academy of Family Physicians, the New York State Psychiatric Association, the New York State Nurses Association, the New York State Bar Association, and Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York.
“After more than a decade of advocacy, we are finally on the brink of giving terminally ill New Yorkers the autonomy and dignity they deserve at life’s end,” Paulin, a staunchly pro-abortion Democrat, said.
Many have a considerably more negative view, with the New York Post editorial board urging Hochul to veto and warning that the bill contains “no real mechanism for tracking how many deaths it brings: Some commissioner is supposed to review a ‘sample’ of patient medical records and produce a yearly report to the Legislature on how it’s going; that’s it.”
“Beyond the details, this is fundamentally about a reinvention of the medical profession: Out goes ‘do no harm,’ in comes a ‘calculation’ as to whether a given life is still worth living,” it continues. “With the state, and insurance companies, having a clear financial interest in ending ‘marginal’ lives and those whose care costs ‘too much.’”
Last month, Bishop Joseph Strickland reminded New York that “[t]rue compassion does not eliminate suffering by eliminating the one who suffers. Rather, it means walking with the sick and dying and offering authentic palliative care, emotional support, and spiritual accompaniment. It is in these moments – when we are most vulnerable – that we must be reminded that our worth is not measured by our health, our productivity, or our independence, but by the fact that we are beloved children of God who are made in His image and likeness.”
Patients Rights Action Fund (PRAF) executive director Matt Vallière recently described how current euthanasia programs in the United States constitute discrimination against patients with life-threatening conditions in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, as when a state will “will pay for every instance of assisted suicide” but not palliative care, “I don’t call that autonomy, I call that eugenics.”
Live Action’s Bridget Sielicki further notes that “because a paralytic is involved, a person can look peaceful, while they actually drown to death in their own bodily secretions. Experimental assisted suicide drugs have led to the ‘burning of patients’ mouths and throats, causing some to scream in pain.’ Furthermore, a study in the medical journal Anaesthesia found that a third of patients took up to 30 hours to die after ingesting assisted suicide drugs, while four percent took seven days to die.”
With the addition of New York, 12 U.S. states plus the District of Columbia will allow assisted suicide, according to the Post. Another bill to legalize euthanasia recently failed in Maryland, however.
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| Muslim prayer event in front of Montreal cathedral drowned out by church bells |
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Posted by: Stone - 06-11-2025, 05:58 AM - Forum: General Commentary
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Muslim prayer event in front of Montreal cathedral drowned out by church bells
A video has gone viral that shows the people continuing to pray, but they can no longer be heard.
![[Image: Shutterstock_1651761475.jpg]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Shutterstock_1651761475.jpg)
Shutterstock
Jun 10, 2025
MONTREAL (LifeSiteNews [Slightly adapted - not all hyperlinks included from original]) – After a group of Muslims staged a prayer event in front of one of Canada’s main Catholic cathedrals, church bells soon drowned them out.
A video of the event has now gone viral. The video, posted originally on June 8 by user Mariffe that has been shared widely online, shows a group of Muslims in Montreal praying in front of one of Montreal’s cathedrals. When the church bells ring, the people in the video continue to pray but can no longer be heard.
The video of the event, which happened over the weekend, has close to 35,000 views as of publication time.
It is not clear why the people were praying at that exact spot in Montreal. However, it has become commonplace for Muslims to hold mass prayers in public places in Canada and notably in Europe.
Some asked in the comments if the praying was reversed, that is, if Christians chose to pray in front of a mosque, would they be tolerated?
“Don’t we have anti-loitering laws in Canada? If yes, why aren’t they enforced? Would Christians be treated the same way if they decided to pray in front of mosques across Canada?” X user Silvia Pencak observed regarding the video.
One X user simply offered a prayer after viewing the video, writing, “Our Lady, Queen of Heaven, defend your Son’s Church! Jesus Christ, our Lord, send your angels to defeat the powers of darkness that encircle this Montreal parish.”
The reality of Quebec, however, is that despite being historically a mostly Catholic province, plummeting birth rates have resulted in Christianity slowly taking a back seat to other religions.
Since Vatican II, Mass attendance has plummeted and the provinces birth rate has nosedived to all-time lows. The province also has high abortion and euthanasia numbers, indicating a serious departure from the practice of the Catholic faith.
New Canada Prime Minister Mark Carney, despite being a practicing yet pro-abortion Catholic, recently sparked controversy after suggesting that “Muslim values” are “Canadian values,” with many pointing out that Canada is a nation founded by Christians, not Islam.
The provincial government has gone after public displays of faith, but it remains to be seen how equally such laws would be enforced.
As reported by LifeSiteNews, the province is moving ahead to expand its so-called religious symbols’ ban to now include all school staff, meaning no one who works at a school would be allowed to wear crucifixes or crosses of any kind.
Premier François Legault in December 2024 tasked his top cabinet officials with putting in place a law that would ban all praying in public in Canada’s only historically and culturally Catholic province.
Canada is historically a nation founded on Christian ideals and principles. European settlers who came to Canada from France and then later from what is the modern-day United Kingdom were Christian and included missionaries who tried to spread Christian beliefs to the local Indigenous populations.
Canada has observed Christmas since 1641, well before its official founding, according to historical records.
Under the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Canada let in a record number of immigrants, many from Muslim nations.
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| How Gregorian Chant Benefits the Health of the Body…and Soul |
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Posted by: Stone - 06-11-2025, 05:53 AM - Forum: General Commentary
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How Gregorian Chant Benefits the Health of the Body…and Soul
![[Image: how-gregorian-chant-benefits-the-health-...d-soul.jpg]](https://www.tfp.org/content/uploads/2025/03/how-gregorian-chant-benefits-the-health-of-the-bodyand-soul.jpg)
John Horvat II [Slightly adapted - not all hyperlinks included from original] | June 2, 2025
One longstanding Church practice oriented to the worship of God has been the chanting of psalms and hymns. From the earliest times, monks engaged in liturgical chanting that complemented their often grueling lives. These monks managed to accommodate hours spent in choir while providing for their material needs.
French author, Dr. Alftred Tomatis, tells the fascinating story of how he discovered the “secret” of the monks’ vigor amid their rigorous schedule.
Dr. Tomatis, an ear specialist, recounts how a particular French monastery had followed St. Benedict’s rule for centuries, which entailed several hours of chant a day.
After the Second Vatican Council in the sixties, the monks changed their centuries-old practices. They stopped chanting in Latin and explored the possibility of continuing their chant in the vernacular. When no agreement was reached on how to do this, they decided to stop chanting altogether and replace it with more updated and perhaps more “pastoral” ministries in line with the reforms.
The new schedule had major consequences on the lives of the monks. For centuries, Benedictines have thrived with little sleep. These monks now became fatigued and listless. Even when given more hours of sleep, they continued to be constantly tired.
A decision was made to change the centuries-old vegetarian diet to include meat in the hopes of giving the monks more energy. However, their health did not improve. There seemed to be no way to find the cause of their problems, and the proposed solutions only seemed to make matters worse.
At this point, Dr. Tomatis visited the monastery to test the monks’ hearing. He was surprised to see that many of them suffered from hearing impediments. Upon examining the sequence of changes, he determined the only change related to hearing was the cessation of chanting the psalms together in choir.
He recommended that the chanting resume to see if their conditions might change.
When the monks returned to their old routine of chanting the hours of the office, they experienced an amazing transformation. Most of them became energized and could function again with little sleep. They did not need the new diet. Gregorian chant sufficed to fix their health problems.
In an interview on a Canadian radio station, Dr. Tomatis explained what had happened from his professional perspective. He has long studied the effects of sounds and frequencies on a person. He said the cerebral cortex can become “charged” or positively stimulated by sounds like Gregorian chant.
Thus, he held that the daily chanting sessions brought energy to the monks’ bodies and minds. The regularity and rhythms of the chants have an impact that orders the monk and allows him to do extraordinary things.
Of course, the physical effects of the music are only part of the story. However, it is a fascinating part in an unbelieving world that values only material benefits. Other experts have also studied the effects of chant and found that it can lower blood pressure and help reduce anxiety and depression.
However, the real story is the spiritual impact of the chanting upon the soul. Such music is supernatural in that it lifts the person up toward heaven and the things of God. Its beauty fills the souls with admiration and love of God. When the practices of Faith put the soul in order, the body naturally becomes ordered.
The real conclusion from this story is not how Gregorian chant can serve as a health aide. It is that putting the soul in order should be the first priority. Afterward, everything falls into place.
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| Please pray for Mrs. Hewko |
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Posted by: Deus Vult - 06-10-2025, 10:54 PM - Forum: Appeals for Prayer
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Dear friends,
In your charity and kindness, please keep Fr. Hewko's mother, Mrs. Lucette Hewko in your prayers. She is in the hospital with a broken hip and bleeding on the brain.
Litany of the Sick
(For Private Devotion)
Lord, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
God the Father of heaven,
Have mercy on us. *
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, *
God the Holy Ghost, *
Holy Trinity, one God, *
Jesus, Who art near to all those who invoke Thee, *
Jesus, Who through mercy helpest all who confide in Thee, *
Jesus, Who didst go to seek and cure the sick, *
Jesus, Who didst stay up the weak and suffering, *
Jesus, Who dost refresh those who labor and are heavily burdened, *
Jesus, Who didst console the stricken hearts, *
Jesus, Who didst raise the dead unto life, *
Jesus, Who didst bear all our pains, *
Be merciful, spare us, O Jesus.
Be merciful, hear us, O Jesus.
From all evil,
Deliver us, O Jesus. **
From all sin, **
From all diseases and infirmities, **
From impatience and despondency, **
From the snares of the devil, **
From a sudden and unprovided death, **
From eternal damnation, **
Through Thy toils and hardships, **
Through Thy affliction and tears, **
Through Thine agony and bloody sweat, **
Through Thy holy wounds, **
Through Thy precious blood, **
Through Thy Passion and cross, **
Through Thy bitter death, **
Through Thy glorious resurrection, **
Through Thy marvellous ascension, **
In the Day of Judgment, **
We, poor sinners, beseech Thee, hear us.
That Thou wouldst spare us,
We beseech Thee, hear us. ***
That Thou wouldst pardon us, ***
That Thou wouldst bring us to true penance, ***
That Thou wouldst give us a contrite heart, ***
That Thou wouldst strengthen us in our weakness, ***
That Thou wouldst preserve us in patience, ***
That Thou wouldst relieve our pains, ***
That Thou wouldst restore us to health of body and soul, ***
That Thou wouldst grant us perseverance in good, ***
That Thou wouldst grant us a happy death, ***
That Thou wouldst receive our spirit into Thy hands, ***
That Thou wouldst preserve us from the fire of purgatory, ***
That Thou wouldst bring us to the joys of heaven, ***
Son of God, ***
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.
Christ, hear us,
Christ, graciously hear us.
Lord, have mercy on us,
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Our Father (secretly).
V. And lead us not into temptation,
R. But deliver us from evil. Amen.
V. Save, O Lord, Thy servants.
R. Who hope in Thy mercy.
V. Lord, hear our prayer.
R. And let our cry come unto Thee.
Let us Pray:
O Heavenly Father, have mercy on Thy servant, who is sick. Confirm him [her] in faith, strengthen his [her] hope, fill him [her] with the fire of Thy love. Give him [her] enduring patience, that he [she] may victoriously go through the fight and suffer everything for Thy greater glory and the salvation of his [her] soul. Lessen his [her] pains, forgive him [her] his [her] sins, and bring him [her] to life everlasting. Through Christ, Our Lord. Amen.
Jesus, Mary, Joseph, I give you my heart and my soul.
Jesus, Mary, Joseph, assist me in my last agony.
Jesus, Mary, Joseph, may I breathe forth my soul in peace with you.
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| Traditional Catholicism’s Enemies Routinely Fail These Three Common Sense Checks |
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Posted by: Stone - 06-10-2025, 09:32 AM - Forum: Articles by Catholic authors
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Traditional Catholicism’s Enemies Routinely Fail These Three Common Sense Checks
Robert Morrison [Emphasis mine] | June 9, 2025
All of this is like a Monty Python skit except that it is only humorous to the enemies of God and His Catholic Church. God has permitted the crisis in the Church to reach this point to which those who persecute Traditional Catholics are unmistakably wrong.
Although we pray that the tide will turn with Pope Leo XIV, one of the most astoundingly bizarre realities in the world today is that Traditional Catholics are persecuted by the putative leaders of the Catholic Church. The crime committed by Traditional Catholics is that we seek to adhere to what the Catholic Church has taught for two-thousand years. Although relatively few clerics actively carry out the persecution against these “backward” Catholics, millions of Catholics watch the spectacle with tacit approval. As we can see from the three examples below, the failure to decry the preposterous injustice committed against Traditional Catholics suggests a thorough lack of common sense, or worse, among so many who consider themselves exemplary Catholics.
Unity in Diversity. Those persecuting Traditional Catholics often cite the need for unity as the justification for seeking to silence those who adhere to what the Church has always taught. This would be far more persuasive were it not for the obvious fact that these persecutors do all they can to foster diversity of belief and practice among those whom they do not persecute. To get a sense of this phenomenon, we can look at three passages from the Final Document of the Synod on Synodality’s October 2024 session:
- “Deepening the link between liturgy and synodality will help all Christian communities, in the diversity of their cultures and traditions, to adopt celebratory styles that make visible the face of a synodal Church.”
- “The whole Church has always been comprised of a plurality of peoples and languages, of vocations, charisms and ministries at the service of the common good, as well as of local Churches. In turn, these local Churches have always possessed their own rites and disciplines as well as their own distinctive theological and spiritual heritage. The unity of this diversity is realised by Christ, the cornerstone, and the Holy Spirit, the source of all harmony. This unity in diversity is precisely what is meant by the catholicity of the Church.”
- “The appreciation of contexts, cultures and diversities, and of the relationships between them, is key to growing as a missionary synodal Church and to journeying, prompted by the Holy Spirit, towards the visible unity of Christians.”
Any reasonable person — Catholic or otherwise — reading this would naturally conclude that the desired diversity would encompass those who truly sought to believe and practice the same religion that was followed by St. Pius X, St. Therese, St. Pius V, and St. Thomas Aquinas. But they would be mistaken — everyone is welcome in the diverse Synodal Church except for those who truly seek to follow what the Church has always taught.
The Mass. The most common and effective punishment for many Traditional Catholics is to impair their ability to attend the Traditional Latin Mass. This, again, is generally justified in terms of promoting unity: allowing Catholics to attend the Traditional Latin Mass, they say, compromises the liturgical unity. This is self-evidently preposterous because the Novus Ordo Mass is itself a radical sign of disunity, with the manner of celebration differing from parish to parish within even the same cities, without even considering the fact that it is in different languages around the world.
Conversely, Traditional Catholics witness the ultimate sign of liturgical unity when they attend the Traditional Latin Mass in foreign countries — other than the sermon, it is substantially identical to the Mass they would attend in their home parish. Not only that, Traditional Catholics are unified with their ancestors in their worship according to the Traditional Latin Mass. And so it is almost impossible to imagine that serious people could actually believe that banning the Traditional Latin Mass promotes any sort of unity.
The Bishop of Charlotte, North Carolina, Michael Martin, added another dimension of absurdity recently when he condemned Traditional Catholics because they cannot really “participate” if they attend the Traditional Latin Mass:
“Latin is used from place to place for various and different motivations. However, the faithful's full, conscious, and active participation is hindered wherever Latin is employed. Most of our faithful do not understand and will never comprehend the Latin language, especially those on the periphery. It is fallacious to think that if we employ Latin more frequently, the faithful will get used to it and finally understand it. Our ancestors ‘heard' the Mass in Latin every Sunday but never understood it.”
The translation: these poor fools who think they can best worship God by attending the Traditional Latin Mass need to be deprived of the primary means by which they participate in the life of the Church because some of their ancestors may not have understood the Mass. When these opponents of the Traditional Latin Mass make such statements it is difficult to imagine that they are not being malicious. How, in other words, can we imagine that they are actually so confused?
Religious Liberty. As we know, one of the most touted innovations of Vatican II, was to overturn what the pre-Vatican II popes taught about religious liberty. To see this, we can simply consider the following contradictory statements:
- “From which totally false idea of social government they do not fear to foster that erroneous opinion, most fatal in its effects on the Catholic Church and the salvation of souls, called by Our Predecessor, Gregory XVI, an ‘insanity’ . . . that ‘liberty of conscience and worship is each man’s personal right, which ought to be legally proclaimed and asserted in every rightly constituted society; and that a right resides in the citizens to an absolute liberty, which should be restrained by no authority whether ecclesiastical or civil, whereby they may be able openly and publicly to manifest and declare any of their ideas whatever, either by word of mouth, by the press, or in any other way.’” (Blessed Pope Pius IX’s, Quanta Cura)
- “This Vatican Council declares that the human person has a right to religious freedom. This freedom means that all men are to be immune from coercion on the part of individuals or of social groups and of any human power, in such wise that no one is to be forced to act in a manner contrary to his own beliefs, whether privately or publicly, whether alone or in association with others, within due limits.” (Dignitatis Humanae, Vatican II’s Declaration on Religious Freedom)
It is one of the most truly remarkable absurdities in the history of Christianity that those who support Vatican II’s declaration on religious freedom deny the religious freedom of those who seek to follow what Pius IX taught on the subject. By their words and deeds, they tell us that you can believe anything in the world other than what all the Catholic saints believed prior to Vatican II.
All of this is like a Monty Python skit except that it is only humorous to the enemies of God and His Catholic Church. God has permitted the crisis in the Church to reach this point to which those who persecute Traditional Catholics are unmistakably wrong. We can pray for these enemies of the unadulterated Faith, but it is foolish to imagine that God calls us to compromise the religion He gave us to placate those who have completely abandoned reason. Never before has it been more clear that God asks us to endure any persecution from Rome rather than sacrifice one iota of the Faith.
Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!
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| The Catholic Trumpet: The Fight Continues – Rosaries at Noon, A Convent Rises |
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Posted by: Stone - 06-10-2025, 09:19 AM - Forum: The Catholic Trumpet
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The Fight Continues – Rosaries at Noon, A Convent Rises
The Catholic Trumpet | June 9, 2025
Dear Trumpeters,
The world is collapsing under the weight of its own apostasy. The Church, our Holy Mother, is disfigured and mocked. But the Sacred Heart of Jesus still beats. He calls. And we must respond.
This month belongs to that Sacred Heart-pierced, crowned with thorns, burning with mercy, and yet despised by His own. But it is in this rejection that we find our strength. If He is wounded, we must be wounded with Him. If He is silent, we must speak for Him.
Every Sunday at noon, God willing, facing the East, we lift our eyes and our Rosaries to Heaven. We pray fifteen decades, invoking the Immaculate Heart of Mary, that one day soon a Pope, united with all the bishops of the world, will at last obey the command of Heaven and consecrate Russia, precisely and without alteration, to her Immaculate Heart.
We know this request was made in 1929. We know it has not yet been fulfilled. We know the world will not have peace until it is.
And so, we continue.
We are few. We are imperfect. We stumble often. But we cling to the Cross and we keep praying. As we wrote in January, 2025 is a year of public witness, God willing. And so we have tried: quietly, imperfectly, often unnoticed—to be more faithful in action than in appearance.
We have been more present offline than online, because we believe prayer in the streets, reparation in public, and fidelity in obscurity accomplish more for God than any digital noise.
We invite all who still hold the Catholic Faith to join us.
Every Sunday. At noon. Wherever you are. However few you may be.
This crusade does not end until the Consecration is fulfilled, precisely as Heaven asked.
A CONVENT UNDER SAINT JOSEPH’S GUARD
In a sermon published this past Sunday, Father Hewko shared a development. A property has become available, and—by the help of Saint Joseph—he is moving forward to establish a convent of traditional Catholic nuns, formed entirely outside the influence of Vatican II, untainted by modernist errors, and guided by the light of true Catholic doctrine.
We do not speak in his name. We are only listeners. But we rejoice in this news as the faithful always rejoice when a new tabernacle of sacrifice is raised in the desert.
Imagine it. A house of silence. Of prayer. Of poverty. Of joy. A light that will shine in this dark age, not because it is large, but because it is pure.
If The Catholic Trumpet has been of any benefit to you, we ask not for ourselves, but for this. For the salvation of souls. For the rebuilding of all that has been torn down. Support Father Hewko’s convent project here:
https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/FrHewko
We have never sought donations for this platform. And we never will. But for this work of God, we kneel and ask.
VANDŒA IMMACULATÆ
A Catholic Resistance Group
We unite publicly and prayerfully for the full Consecration of Russia, that the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary may begin, and that the Social Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ may be restored.
“In the end, My Immaculate Heart will triumph.”
Can anyone pray the Rosary with us?
Yes. All souls of goodwill may join us in the Most Holy Rosary.
Can anyone join the organization?
No. Only those who publicly and fully profess the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Faith, exactly as it was always held and taught before the Second Vatican Council, may be part of Vandœa Immaculatæ.
We reject the counterfeit religion of Vatican II and hold fast, without compromise, to the unchanging doctrine of the Catholic Church.
Heaven awaits obedience. Hell never sleeps.
Our Lady stands ready. And we—poor, unworthy, and weak—offer her our fiat.
It is our feeble attempt to fight. To pray. To endure.
And by the grace of God through the Blessed Virgin Mary, to remain faithful until the end.
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| Pope Leo XIII: Divinum Illud Munus - On the Holy Ghost |
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Posted by: Stone - 06-09-2025, 07:54 AM - Forum: Encyclicals
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DIVINUM ILLUD MUNUS
On Reparation the Holy Ghost
To Our Venerable Brethren, The Patriarchs, Primates,
Archbishops, Bishops, and other Local Ordinaries having
Peace and Communion with the Holy See.
Venerable Brethren, Health and the Apostolic Benediction.
That divine office which Jesus Christ received from His Father for the welfare of mankind, and most perfectly fulfilled, had for its final object to put men in possession of the eternal life of glory, and proximately during the course of ages to secure to them the life of divine grace, which is destined eventually to blossom into the life of heaven. Wherefore, our Saviour never ceases to invite, with infinite affection, all men, of every race and tongue, into the bosom of His Church: "Come ye all to Me," "I am the Life," "I am the Good Shepherd." Nevertheless, according to His inscrutable counsels, He did not will to entirely complete and finish this office Himself on earth, but as He had received it from the Father, so He transmitted it for its completion to the Holy Ghost. It is consoling to recall those assurances which Christ gave to the body of His disciples a little before He left the earth: "It is expedient to you that I go: for if I go not, the Paraclete will not come to you: but if I go, I will send Him to you" (1 John xvi., 7). In these words He gave as the chief reason of His departure and His return to the Father, the advantage which would most certainly accrue to His followers from the coming of the Holy Ghost, and, at the same time, He made it clear that the Holy Ghost is equally sent by-and therefore proceeds from-Himself and the Father; that He would complete, in His office of Intercessor, Consoler, and Teacher, the work which Christ Himself had begun in His mortal life. For, in the redemption of the world, the completion of the work was by Divine Providence reserved to the manifold power of that Spirit, who, in the creation, "adorned the heavens" (Job xxvi., 13), and "filled the whole world" (Wisdom i., 7).
The Two Principal Aims of Our Pontificate
2. Now We have earnestly striven, by the help of His grace, to follow the example of Christ, Our Saviour, the Prince of Pastors, and the Bishop of our Souls, by diligently carrying on His office, entrusted by Him to the Apostles and chiefly to Peter, "whose dignity faileth not, even in his unworthy successor" (St. Leo the Great, Sermon ii., On the Anniversary of his Election). In pursuance of this object We have endeavoured to direct all that We have attempted and persistently carried out during a long pontificate towards two chief ends: in the first place, towards the restoration, both in rulers and peoples, of the principles of the Christian life in civil and domestic society, since there is no true life for men except from Christ; and, secondly, to promote the reunion of those who have fallen away from the Catholic Church either by heresy or by schism, since it is most undoubtedly the will of Christ that all should be united in one flock under one Shepherd. But now that We are looking forward to the approach of the closing days of Our life, Our soul is deeply moved to dedicate to the Holy Ghost, who is the life-giving Love, all the work We have done during Our pontificate, that He may bring it to maturity and fruitfulness. In order the better and more fully to carry out this Our intention, We have resolved to address you at the approaching sacred season of Pentecost concerning the indwelling and miraculous power of the Holy Ghost; and the extent and efficiency of His action, both in the whole body of the Church and in the individual souls of its members, through the glorious abundance of His divine graces. We earnestly desire that, as a result, faith may be aroused in your minds concerning the mystery of the adorable Trinity, and especially that piety may increase and be inflamed towards the Holy Ghost, to whom especially all of us owe the grace of following the paths of truth and virtue; for, as St. Basil said, "Who denieth that the dispensations concerning man, which have been made by the great God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ, according to the goodness of God, have been fulfilled through the grace of the Spirit?" (Of the Holy Ghost, c. xvi., v. 39).
The Catholic Doctrine of the Blessed Trinity
3. Before We enter upon this subject, it will be both desirable and useful to say a few words about the Mystery of the Blessed Trinity. This dogma is called by the doctors of the Church "the substance of the New Testament," that is to say, the greatest of all mysteries, since it is the fountain and origin of them all. In order to know and contemplate this mystery, the angels were created in Heaven and men upon earth. In order to teach more fully this mystery, which was but foreshadowed in the Old Testament, God Himself came down from the angels unto men: "No man bath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He bath declared Him" (John i., 18). Whosoever then writes or speaks of the Trinity must keep before His eyes the prudent warning of the Angelic Doctor: "When we speak of the Trinity, we must do so with caution and modesty, for, as St. Augustine saith, nowhere else are more dangerous errors made, or is research more difficult, or discovery more fruitful" (Summ. Th. la., q. xxxi. De Trin. 1 L, c. 3). The danger that arises is lest the Divine Persons be confounded one with the other in faith or worship, or lest the one Nature in them be separated: for "This is the Catholic Faith, that we should adore one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity." Therefore Our predecessor Innocent XII, absolutely refused the petition of those who desired a special festival in honour of God the Father. For, although the separate mysteries connected with the Incarnate Word are celebrated on certain fixed days, yet there is no special feast on which the Word is honoured according to His Divine Nature alone. And even the Feast of Pentecost was instituted in the earliest times, not simply to honour the Holy Ghost in Himself, but to commemorate His coming, or His external mission. And all this has been wisely ordained, lest from distinguishing the Persons men should be led to distinguish the Divine Essence. Moreover the Church, in order to preserve in her children the purity of faith, instituted the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity, which John XXII. afterwards extended to the Universal Church. He also permitted altars and churches to be dedicated to the Blessed Trinity, and, with the divine approval, sanctioned the Order for the Ransom of Captives, which is specially devoted to the Blessed Trinity and bears Its name. Many facts confirm its truths. The worship paid to the saints and angels, to the Mother of God, and to Christ Himself, finally redounds to the honour of the Blessed Trinity. In prayers addressed to one Person, there is also mention of the others; in the litanies after the individual Persons have been separately invoked, a common invocation of all is added: all psalms and hymns conclude with the doxology to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; blessings, sacred rites, and sacraments are either accompanied or concluded by the invocation of the Blessed Trinity. This was already foreshadowed by the Apostle in those words: "For of Him, and by Him, and in Him, are all things: to Him be glory for ever" (Rom. xi., 36), thereby signifying both the Trinity of Persons and the Unity of Nature: for as this is one and the same in each of the Persons, so to each is equally owing supreme glory, as to one and the same God. St. Augustine commenting upon this testimony writes: "The words of the Apostle, of Him, and by Him, and in Him are not to be taken indiscriminately; of Him refers to the Father, by Him to the Son, in Him to the Holy Ghost" (De Trin. 1. vi., c. 10; 1. i., c. 6). The Church is accustomed most fittingly to attribute to the Father those works of the Divinity in which power excels, to the Son those in which wisdom excels, and those in which love excels to the Holy Ghost. Not that all perfections and external operations are not common to the Divine Persons; for "the operations of the Trinity are indivisible, even as the essence of the Trinity is indivisible" (St. Aug., De Trin., I. 1, cc. 4-5); because as the three Divine Persons "are inseparable, so do they act inseparably" (St. Aug., i6.). But by a certain comparison, and a kind of affinity between the operations and the properties of the Persons, these operations are attributed or, as it is said, "appropriated" to One Person rather than to the others. "Just as we make use of the traces of similarity or likeness which we find in creatures for the manifestation of the Divine Persons, so do we use Their essential attributes; and this manifestation of the Persons by Their essential attributes is called appropriation" (St. Th. la., q. 39, xxxix., a. 7). In this manner the Father, who is "the principle of the whole God-head" (St. Aug. De Trin. 1 iv., c. 20) is also the efficient cause of all things, of the Incarnation of the Word, and the sanctification of souls; "of Him are all things": of Him, referring to the Father. But the Son, the Word, the Image of God is also the exemplar cause, whence all creatures borrow their form and beauty, their order and harmony. He is for us the Way, the Truth, and the Life; the Reconciles of man with God. "By Him are all things": by Him, referring to the Son. The Holy Ghost is the ultimate cause of all things, since, as the will and all other things finally rest in their end, so He, who is the Divine Goodness and the Mutual Love of the Father and Son, completes and perfects, by His strong yet gentle power, the secret work of man's eternal salvation. "In Him are all things": in Him, referring to the Holy Ghost.
The Holy Ghost and the Incarnation
4. Having thus paid the due tribute of faith and worship owing to the Blessed Trinity, and which ought to be more and more inculcated upon the Christian people, we now turn to the exposition of the power of the Holy Ghost. And, first of all, we must look to Christ, the Founder of the Church and the Redeemer of our race. Among the external operations of God, the highest of all is the mystery of the Incarnation of the Word, in which the splendour of the divine perfections shines forth so brightly that nothing more sublime can even be imagined, nothing else could have been more salutary to the human race. Now this work, although belonging to the whole Trinity, is still appropriated especially to the Holy Ghost, so that the Gospels thus speak of the Blessed Virgin: "She was found with child of the Holy Ghost," and "that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost" (Matt. i., 18, 20). And this is rightly attributed to Him who is the love of the Father and the Son, since this "great mystery of piety" (1 Tim. iii., 16) proceeds from the infinite love of God towards man, as St. John tells us: "God so loved the world as to give His only begotten Son" (John iii., 16). Moreover, human nature was thereby elevated to a personal union with the Word; and this dignity is given, not on account of any merits, but entirely and absolutely through grace, and therefore, as it were, through the special gift of the Holy Ghost. On this point St. Augustine writes: "This manner in which Christ was born of the Holy Ghost, indicates to us the grace of God, by which humanity, with no antecedent merits, at the first moment of its existence, was united with the Word of God, by so intimate a personal union, that He, who was the Son of Man, was also the Son of God, and He who was the Son of God was also the Son of Man" (Enchir., c. xl. St. Th., 3a., q. xxxii., a. 1). By the operation of the Holy Spirit, not only was the conception of Christ accomplished, but also the sanctification of His soul, which, in Holy Scripture, is called His "anointing" (Acts x., 38). Wherefore all His actions were" performed in the Holy Ghost" (St. Basil de Sp. S., c. xvi.), and especially the sacrifice of Himself: "Christ, through the Holy Ghost, offered Himself without spot to God" (Heb. ix., 14). Considering this, no one can be surprised that all the gifts of the Holy Ghost inundated the soul of Christ. In Him resided the absolute fullness of grace, in the greatest and most efficacious manner possible; in Him were all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, graces gratis datae, virtues, and all other gifts foretold in the prophecies of Isaias (Is. iv., I; xi., 23), and also signified in that miraculous dove which appeared at the Jordan, when Christ, by His baptism, consecrated its waters for a new sacrament. On this the words of St. Augustine may appropriately be quoted: "It would be absurd to say that Christ received the Holy Ghost when He was already thirty years of age, for He came to His baptism without sin, and therefore not without the Holy Ghost. At this time, then (that is, at His baptism), He was pleased to prefigure His Church, in which those especially who are baptized receive the Holy Ghost" (De. Trin. 1., xv., c. 26). Therefore, by the conspicuous apparition of the Holy Ghost over Christ and by His invisible power in His soul, the twofold mission of the Spirit is foreshadowed, namely, His outward and visible mission in the Church, and His secret indwelling in the souls of the just.
The Holy Ghost and the Church
5. The Church which, already conceived, came forth from the side of the second Adam in His sleep on the Cross, first showed herself before the eyes of men on the great day of Pentecost. On that day the Holy Ghost began to manifest His gifts in the mystic body of Christ, by that miraculous outpouring already foreseen by the prophet Joel (ii., 28-29), for the Paraclete "sat upon the apostles as though new spiritual crowns were placed upon their heads in tongues of fire" (S. Cyril Hier. Catech. 17). Then the apostles "descended from the mountain," as St. John Chrysostom writes, "not bearing in their hands tables of stone like Moses, but carrying the Spirit in their mind, and pouring forth the treasure and the fountain of doctrines and graces" (In Matt. Hom. L, 2 Cor. iii., 3). Thus was fully accomplished that last promise of Christ to His apostles of sending the Holy Ghost, who was to complete and, as it were, to seal the deposit of doctrine committed to them under His inspiration. "I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now; but when He, the Spirit of Truth, shall come, He will teach you all truth" (John xvi., 12-13). For He who is the Spirit of Truth, inasmuch as He proceedeth both from the Father, who is the eternally True, and from the Son, who is the substantial Truth, receiveth from each both His essence and the fullness of all truth. This truth He communicates to His Church, guarding her by His all powerful help from ever falling into error, and aiding her to foster daily more and more the germs of divine doctrine and to make them fruitful for the welfare of the peoples. And since the welfare of the peoples, for which the Church was established, absolutely requires that this office should be continued for all time, the Holy Ghost perpetually supplies life and strength to preserve and increase the Church. "I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Paraclete, that He may abide with you for ever, the Spirit of Truth" (john xiv., 16, 17).
6. By Him the bishops are constituted, and by their ministry are multiplied not only the children, but also the fathers-that is to say, the priests-to rule and feed the Church by that Blood wherewith Christ has redeemed Her. "The Holy Ghost hath placed you bishops to rule the Church of God, which He bath purchased with His own Blood" (Acts xx., 28). And both bishops and priests, by the miraculous gift of the Spirit, have the power of absolving sins, according to those words of Christ to the Apostles: "Receive ye the Holy Ghost; whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven them, and whose you shall retain they are retained" (John xx., 22, 23). That the Church is a divine institution is most clearly proved by the splendour and glory of those gifts and graces with which she is adorned, and whose author and giver is the Holy Ghost. Let it suffice to state that, as Christ is the Head of the Church, so is the Holy Ghost her soul. "What the soul is in our body, that is the Holy Ghost in Christ's body, the Church" (St. Aug., Serm. 187, de Temp.). This being so, no further and fuller "manifestation and revelation of the Divine Spirit" may be imagined or expected; for that which now takes place in the Church is the most perfect possible, and will last until that day when the Church herself, having passed through her militant career, shall be taken up into the joy of the saints triumphing in heaven.
The Holy Ghost in the Souls of the Just
7. The manner and extent of the action of the Holy Ghost in individual souls is no less wonderful, although somewhat more difficult to understand, inasmuch as it is entirely invisible. This outpouring of the Spirit is so abundant, that Christ Himself, from whose gift it proceeds, compares it to an overflowing river, according to those words of St. John: "He that believeth in Me, as the Scripture saith, out of his midst shall flow rivers of living water"; to which testimony the Evangelist adds the explanation: "Now this He said of the Spirit which they should receive who believed in Him"(John vii., 38, 39). It is indeed true that in those of the just who lived before Christ, the Holy Ghost resided by grace, as we read in the Scriptures concerning the prophets, Zachary, John the Baptist, Simeon, and Anna; so that on Pentecost the Holy Ghost did not communicate Himself in such a way "as then for the first time to begin to dwell in the saints, but by pouring Himself forth more abundantly; crowning, not beginning His gifts; not commencing a new work, but giving more abundantly" (St. Leo the Great, Hom. iii., de Pentec.). But if they also were numbered among the children of God, they were in a state like that of servants, for "as long as the heir is a child he differeth nothing from a servant, but is under tutors and governors" (Gal. iv., I, 2). Moreover, not only was their justice derived from the merits of Christ who was to come, but the communication of the Holy Ghost after Christ was much more abundant, just as the price surpasses in value the earnest and the reality excels the image. Wherefore St. John declares: "As yet the Spirit was not given, because Jesus was not yet glorified" (John vii., 39). So soon, therefore, as Christ, "ascending on high," entered into possession of the glory of His Kingdom which He had won with so much labour, He munificently opened out the treasures of the Holy Ghost: "He gave gifts to men"(Eph. iv., 8). For "that giving or sending forth of the Holy Ghost after Christ's glorification was to be such as had never been before; not that there had been none before, but it had not been of the same kind" (St. Aug., DeTrin., 1. iv. c. 20).
8. Human nature is by necessity the servant of God: "The creature is a servant; we are the servants of God by nature" (St. Cyr. Alex., Thesaur. I. v., c. 5). On account, however, of original sin, our whole nature had fallen into such guilt and dishonour that we had become enemies to God. "We were by nature the children of wrath" (Eph. ii., 3). There was no power which could raise us and deliver us from this ruin and eternal destruction. But God, the Creator of mankind and infinitely merciful, did this through His only begotten Son, by whose benefit it was brought about that man was restored so that rank and dignity whence he had fallen, and was adorned with still more abundant graces. No one can express the greatness of this work of divine grace in the souls of men. Wherefore, both in Holy Scripture and in the writings of the fathers, men are styled regenerated, new creatures, partakers of the Divine Nature, children of God, god-like, and similar epithets. Now these great blessings are justly attributed as especially belonging to the Holy Ghost. He is "the Spirit of adoption of sons, whereby we cry: Abba, Father." He fills our hearts with the sweetness of paternal love: "The Spirit Himself giveth testimony to our spirit that we are the sons of God"(Rom. viii., 15-16). This truth accords with the similitude observed by the Angelic Doctor between both operations of the Holy Ghost; for through Him "Christ was conceived in holiness to be by nature the Son of God," and "others are sanctified to be the sons of God by adoption" (St. Th. 3a,q. xxxii., a. I). This spiritual generation proceeds from love in a much more noble manner than the natural: namely, from the untreated Love.
9. The beginnings of this regeneration and renovation of man are by Baptism. In this sacrament, when the unclean spirit has been expelled from the soul, the Holy Ghost enters in and makes it like to Himself. "That which is born of the Spirit, is spirit" (John iii., 6). The same Spirit gives Himself more abundantly in Confirmation, strengthening and confirming Christian life; from which proceeded the victory of the martyrs and the triumph of the virgins over temptations and corruptions. We have said that the Holy Ghost gives Himself: "the charity of God is poured out into our hearts by the Holy Ghost who is given to us" (Rom. v., 5). For He not only brings to us His divine gifts, but is the Author of them and is Himself the supreme Gift, who, proceeding from the mutual love of the Father and the Son, is justly believed to be and is called "Gift of God most High." To show the nature and efficacy of this gift it is well to recall the explanation given by the doctors of the Church of the words of Holy Scripture. They say that God is present and exists in all things, "by His power, in so far as all things are subject to His power; by His presence, inasmuch as all things are naked and open to His eyes; by His essence, inasmuch as he is present to all as the cause of their being." (St. Th. Ia, q. viii., a. 3). But God is in man, not only as in inanimate things, but because he is more fully known and loved by him, since even by nature we spontaneously love, desire, and seek after the good. Moreover, God by grace resides in the just soul as in a temple, in a most intimate and peculiar manner. From this proceeds that union of affection by which the soul adheres most closely to God, more so than the friend is united to his most loving and beloved friend, and enjoys God in all fulness and sweetness. Now this wonderful union, which is properly called "indwelling," differing only in degree or state from that with which God beatifies the saints in heaven, although it is most certainly produced by the presence of the whole Blessed Trinity- "We will come to Him and make our abode with Him," (John xiv. 23.) -nevertheless is attributed in a peculiar manner to the Holy Ghost. For, whilst traces of divine power and wisdom appear even in the wicked man, charity, which, as it were, is the special mark of the Holy Ghost, is shared in only by the just. In harmony with this, the same Spirit is called Holy, for He, the first and supreme Love, moves souls and leads them to sanctity, which ultimately consists in the love of God. Wherefore the apostle when calling us to the temple of God, does not expressly mention the Father or the Son, or the Holy Ghost: "Know ye not that your members are the temple of the Holy Ghost, who is in you, whom you have from God?" (1 Cor. vi. 19).The fullness of divine gifts is in many ways a consequence of the indwelling of the Holy Ghost in the souls of the just. For, as St. Thomas teaches, "when the Holy Ghost proceedeth as love, He proceedeth in the character of the first gift; whence Augustine with that, through the gift which is the Holy Ghost, many other special gifts are distributed among the members of Christ." (Summ.Th., la. q. xxxviii., a. 2. St. Aug. de Trin., xv., c. 19). Among these gifts are those secret warnings and invitations, which from time to time are excited in our minds and hearts by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost.
Without these there is no beginning of a good life, no progress, no arriving at eternal salvation. And since these words and admonitions are uttered in the soul in an exceedingly secret manner, they are sometimes aptly compared in Holy Writ to the breathing of a coming breeze, and the Angelic Doctor likens them to the movements of the heart which are wholly hidden in the living body. "Thy heart has a certain hidden power, and therefore the Holy Ghost, who invisibly vivifies and unites the Church, is compared to the heart." (Summ. Th. 3a, q. vii., a. I, ad 3). More than this, the just man, that is to say he who lives the life of divine grace, and acts by the fitting virtues as by means of faculties, has need of those seven gifts which are properly attributed to the Holy Ghost. By means of them the soul is furnished and strengthened so as to obey more easily and promptly His voice and impulse. Wherefore these gifts are of such efficacy that they lead the just man to the highest degree of sanctity; and of such excellence that they continue to exist even in heaven, though in a more perfect way. By means of these gifts the soul is excited and encouraged to seek after and attain the evangelical beatitudes, which, like the flowers that come forth in the spring time, are the signs and harbingers of eternal beatitude. Lastly there are those blessed fruits, enumerated by the Apostle (Gal. v., 22), which the Spirit, even in this mortal life, produces and shows forth in the just; fruits filled with all sweetness and joy, inasmuch as they proceed from the Spirit, "who is in the Trinity the sweetness of both Father and Son, filling all creatures with infinite fullness and profusion." (St. Aug. de Trin. 1. vi., c. 9). The Divine Spirit, proceeding from the Father and the Word in the eternal light of sanctity, Himself both Love and Gift, after having manifested Himself through the veils of figures in the Old Testament, poured forth all his fullness upon Christ and upon His mystic Body, the Church; and called back by his presence and grace men who were going away in wickedness and corruption with such salutary effect that, being no longer of the earth earthy, they relished and desired quite other things, becoming of heaven heavenly.
On Devotion to the Holy Ghost
10. These sublime truths, which so clearly show forth the infinite goodness of the Holy Ghost towards us, certainly demand that we should direct towards Him the highest homage of our love and devotion. Christians may do this most effectually if they will daily strive to know Him, to love Him, and to implore Him more earnestly; for which reason may this Our exhortation, flowing spontaneously from a paternal heart, reach their ears. Perchance there are still to be found among them, even nowadays, some, who if asked, as were those of old by St. Paul the Apostle, whether they have received the Holy Ghost, might answer in like manner: "We have not so much as heard whether there be a Holy Ghost" (Acts xix., 2). At least there are certainly many who are very deficient in their religious practices, but their faith is involved in much darkness. Wherefore all preachers and those having care of souls should remember that it is their duty to instruct their people more diligently and more fully about the Holy Ghost-avoiding, however, difficult and subtle controversies, and eschewing the dangerous folly of those who rashly endeavour to pry into divine mysteries. What should be chiefly dwelt upon and clearly explained is the multitude and greatness of the benefits which have been bestowed, and are constantly bestowed, upon us by this Divine Giver, so that errors and ignorance concerning matters of such moment may be entirely dispelled, as unworthy of "the children of light." We urge this, not only because it affects a mystery by which we are directly guided to eternal life, and which must therefore be firmly believed; but also because the more clearly and fully the good is known the more earnestly it is loved. Now we owe to the Holy Ghost, as we mentioned in the second place, love, because He is God: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength" (Deut. vi., 5). He is also to be loved because He is the substantial, eternal, primal Love, and nothing is more lovable than love. And this all the more because He has overwhelmed us with the greatest benefits, which both testify to the benevolence of the Giver and claim the gratitude of the receiver. This love has a twofold and most conspicuous utility. In the first place it will excite us to acquire daily a clearer knowledge about the Holy Ghost; for, as the Angelic Doctor says, "the lover is not content with the superficial knowledge of the beloved, but striveth to inquire intimately into all that appertains to the beloved, and thus to penetrate into the interior; as is said of the Holy Ghost, Who is the Love of God, that He searcheth even the profound things of God" (1 Cor. ii., 10; Summ. Theol., la. 2ae., q. 28, a.2). In the second place it will obtain for us a still more abundant supply of heavenly gifts; for whilst a narrow heart contracteth the hand of the giver, a grateful and mindful heart causeth it to expand. Yet we must strive that this love should be of such a nature as not to consist merely in dry speculations or external observances, but rather to run forward towards action, and especially to fly from sin, which is in a more special manner offensive to the Holy Spirit. For whatever we are, that we are by the divine goodness; and this goodness is specially attributed to the Holy Ghost. The sinner offends this his Benefactor, abusing His gifts; and taking advantage of His goodness becomes more hardened in sin day by day. Again, since He is the Spirit of Truth, whosoever faileth by weakness or ignorance may perhaps have some excuse before Almighty God; but he who resists the truth through malice and turns away from it, sins most grievously against the Holy Ghost. In our days this sin has become so frequent that those dark times seem to have come which were foretold by St. Paul, in which men, blinded by the just judgment of God, should take falsehood for truth, and should believe in "the prince of this world," who is a liar and the father thereof, as a teacher of truth: "God shall send them the operation of error, to believe lying (2 Thess. ii., 10). In the last times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to spirits of error and the doctrines of devils" (1 Tim. iv., 1). But since the Holy Ghost, as We have said, dwells in us as in His temple, We must repeat the warning of the Apostle: "Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed" (Eph. iv., 30). Nor is it enough to fly from sin; every Christian ought to shine with the splendour of virtue so as to be pleasing to so great and so beneficent a guest; and first of all with chastity and holiness, for chaste and holy things befit the temple. Hence the words of the Apostle: "Know you not that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? But if any man violate the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy, which you are" (1 Cor. iii., 16-17): a terrible, indeed, but a just warning.
11. Lastly, we ought to pray to and invoke the Holy Spirit, for each one of us greatly needs His protection and His help. The more a man is deficient in wisdom, weak in strength, borne down with trouble, prone to sin, so ought he the more to fly to Him who is the never-ceasing fount of light, strength, consolation, and holiness. And chiefly that first requisite of man, the forgiveness of sins, must be sought for from Him: "It is the special character of the Holy Ghost that He is the Gift of the Father and the Son. Now the remission of all sins is given by the Holy Ghost as by the Gift of God" (Summ. Th. 3a, q. iii., a. 8, ad 3m). Concerning this Spirit the words of the Liturgy are very explicit: "For He is the remission of all sins" (Roman Missal, Tuesday after Pentecost). How He should be invoked is clearly taught by the Church, who addresses Him in humble supplication, calling upon Him by the sweetest of names: "Come, Father of the poor! Come, Giver of gifts! Come, Light of our hearts! O, best of Consolers, sweet Guest of the soul, our refreshment!" (Hymn, Veni Sancte Spiritus). She earnestly implores Him to wash, heal, water our minds and hearts, and to give to us who trust in Him "the merit of virtue, the acquirement of salvation, and joy everlasting." Nor can it be in any way doubted that He will listen to such prayer, since we read the words written by His own inspiration: "The Spirit Himself asketh for us with unspeakable groanings" (Rom. viii., 26). Lastly, we ought confidently and continually to beg of Him to illuminate us daily more and more with His light and inflame us with His charity: for, thus inspired with faith and love, we may press onward earnestly towards our eternal reward, since He "is the pledge of our inheritance" (Eph. i. 14).
12. Such, Venerable Brethren, are the teachings and exhortations which We have seen good to utter, in order to stimulate devotion to the Holy Ghost. We have no doubt that, chiefly by means of your zeal and earnestness, they will bear abundant fruit among Christian peoples. We Ourselves shall never in the future fail to labour towards so important an end; and it is even Our intention, in whatever ways may appear suitable, to further cultivate and extend this admirable work of piety. Meanwhile, as two years ago, in Our Letter Provida Matris, We recommended to Catholics special prayers at the Feast of Pentecost, for the Re-union of Christendom, so now We desire to make certain further decrees on the same subject.
An Annual Novena Decreed
13. Wherefore, We decree and command that throughout the whole Catholic Church, this year and in every subsequent year, a Novena shall take place before Whit-Sunday, in all parish churches, and also, if the local Ordinaries think fit, in other churches and oratories. To all who take part in this Novena and duly pray for Our intention, We grant for each day an Indulgence of seven years and seven quarantines; moreover, a Plenary Indulgence on any one of the days of the Novena, or on Whit-Sunday itself, or on any day during the Octave; provided they shall have received the Sacraments of Penance and the Holy Eucharist, and devoutly prayed for Our intention. We will that those who are legitimately prevented from attending the Novena, or who are in places where the devotions cannot, in the judgment of the Ordinary, be conveniently carried out in church, shall equally enjoy the same benefits, provided they make the Novena privately and observe the other conditions. Moreover We are pleased to grant, in perpetuity, from the Treasury of the Church, that whosoever, daily during the Octave of Pentecost up to Trinity Sunday inclusive, offer again publicly or privately any prayers, according to their devotion, to the Holy Ghost, and satisfy the above conditions, shall a second time gain each of the same Indulgences. All these Indulgences We also permit to be applied to the suffrage of the souls in Purgatory.
14. And now Our mind and heart turn back to those hopes with which We began, and for the accomplishment of which We earnestly pray, and will continue to pray, to the Holy Ghost. Unite, then, Venerable Brethren, your prayers with Ours, and at your exhortation let all Christian peoples add their prayers also, invoking the powerful and ever-acceptable intercession of the Blessed Virgin. You know well the intimate and wonderful relations existing between her and the Holy Ghost, so that she is justly called His Spouse. The intercession of the Blessed Virgin was of great avail both in the mystery of the Incarnation and in the coming of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles. May she continue to strengthen our prayers with her suffrages, that, in the midst of all the stress and trouble of the nations, those divine prodigies may be happily revived by the Holy Ghost, which were foretold in the words of David: "Send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created, and Thou shalt renew the face of the earth" (Ps. ciii., 30).
15. As a pledge of Divine favour and a testimony of Our affection, Venerable Brethren, to you, to your Clergy, and people, We gladly impart in the Lord the Apostolic Benediction.
Given at St. Peter's, in Rome, on the 9th day of May, 1897, in the 20th year of Our Pontificate.
LEO XIII
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