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| Video: Philadelphia Announces DOUBLE Mask Mandate For Government Workers |
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Posted by: Stone - 08-13-2021, 01:19 PM - Forum: Pandemic 2020 [Secular]
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Video: Philadelphia Announces DOUBLE Mask Mandate For Government Workers
After September 1st ALL new hires MUST be vaccinated; Everyone else has to go back to masking indoors or proving vaccination status
![[Image: Screen-Shot-2021-08-13-at-12.06.39-pm.png]](https://cdn.summit.news/2021/08/Screen-Shot-2021-08-13-at-12.06.39-pm.png)
Summit News | 13 August, 2021
The Mayor and Health Commissioner of Philadelphia dropped an announcement Wednesday that unvaccinated city employees will need to wear two masks while working indoors and that all new hires after September 1 will have to be vaccinated.
The Philadelphia Inquirer noted the details of Mayor Jim Kenney and acting Health Commissioner Cheryl Bettigole’s announcement.
During a remote press briefing, Bettigole demonstrated that wearing two masks is “cumbersome,” and stated that “Luckily there is something else that you could do to protect yourself: You could be vaccinated.”
Watch: Video
More broadly, the rules in Philadelphia on masks to enter events spaces and businesses are somewhat unclear because it will fall on businesses themselves to enforce the measures. Business owners are faced with either mandating masks indoors or setting up their own vaccination status checking system for both customers and employees.
The report states:
Quote:Businesses seeking to avoid the mask mandate should have clear signage at their entrances indicating they will be verifying customers’ vaccination status… Those found out of compliance will first be warned and given time to correct, then could be forced to close and pay a $315 fine for re-inspection.
Outdoor events will see those in attendance having to wear masks if there are more than 1000 people, unless everyone is seated.
ABC6 News also reported on the new confusing mask mandate in the city.
Watch: Video
Mayor Kenney declared that “It goes without saying that none of us want to be here discussing restrictions and policies needed to stem the spread of COVID-19. The science is clear: These measures will protect Philadelphians and save lives.”
When Kenney was asked if even more restrictive policies could be put into place going forward, he replied “Not if everyone acts like a mature adult.”
“I’m upset that people just can’t act in the way they are supposed to act … and do what’s good for everybody,” Kenney continued.
”Please, just get the vaccine,” Kenney said, adding “This could all be avoided if we did that.”
This all comes just two months after the city lifted its 14-month-long mask mandate and other limits on businesses and events.
As we have noted, several other cities are beginning to enforce draconian vaccine mandates, essentially locking out those who haven’t taken the shots.
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| USA: SSPX Refuse Letters of Religious Exemption for Conscientious Faithful Facing “No Jab, No Job” |
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Posted by: Stone - 08-13-2021, 12:37 PM - Forum: The New-Conciliar SSPX
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I know not all SSPX priests based in the US are refusing to sign Religious Exemption letters but it is alarming nonetheless that the faithful are being formally abandoned by any priest in the Society in a time where there is great need to stand for what the Faith teaches and not transgress God's Commandments.
I know of a person who approached their SSPX priest in Virginia and while he did sign the employer's form for religious exemption from the mandated vaccine, he didn't explain at all on the form why Catholics reject vaccines linked to aborted fetal cells. He just put down his phone number and signature ...
USA: SSPX Refuse Letters of Religious Exemption for Conscientious Faithful Facing “No Jab, No Job”
CatholicTruthScotland | August 12, 2021
The Church has always emphasised the importance of following our – fully informed – consciences in matters of grave morality.
I was very surprised, then, to say the least, to read the following information which arrived in an email from Athanasius (Martin Blackshaw):
Quote:“I have concerns about a letter from Fr. Paul Robinson (SSPX) in response to the faithful in Colorado who have been asking the SSPX to supply priest letters preventing them from being forced into vaccination in order to keep their jobs. This is the new law in Colorado that comes into effect in September. Anyway, to cut a long story short, Fr. Robinson says the SSPX priests don’t need to sign letters because the faithful have their own human rights to stand on. He attaches a template letter for them to use if they have a conscience issue with the vaccines, but reiterates the SSPX position that it approves the vaccines under certain circumstances. In other words, don’t look to us for leadership, it’s every conscience for itself and the choice is yours. Very worrying! “
Here is the link to the article on the SSPX website, [an attempt at!] justifying the use of material from aborted babies in the Covid vaccines, which we have discussed on this blog more than once, and which Fr Robinson shamelessly included in his letter of reply to those Catholics seeking a letter of exemption, on conscience grounds, from their priest. This might be interpreted as an attempt to either stifle consciences, or to otherwise deter people from refusing the vaccine. To read our previous discussions on the subject of the SSPX support for the vaccines click here and here.
Is there any justification – however remote – for refusing to support these conscientious faithful, who are possibly at risk of losing their livelihood? Is providing a template letter and leaving them to it, good enough?
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| Report: ‘Confidential’ Documents Reveal Pfizer Does Not Mandate Vaccines for Employees |
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Posted by: Stone - 08-13-2021, 12:07 PM - Forum: COVID Passports
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Report: ‘Confidential’ Documents Reveal Pfizer Does Not Mandate Vaccines for Employees
![[Image: Pfizer-coronavirus-vaccine-covid19-getty...40x480.jpg]](https://media.breitbart.com/media/2021/04/Pfizer-coronavirus-vaccine-covid19-getty-images-640x480.jpg)
Breitbart | 12 Aug 2021
Internal documents suggest the Pfizer, the drug manufacturer responsible for one the world’s leading coronavirus vaccines, does not require coronavirus vaccination of its employees.
Images of a purported “confidential” Pfizer booklet written by Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer Payal Betcher indicate the company has defied President Joe Biden’s push to have private companies mandate vaccination and only requires testing of its unvaccinated employees.
“Please note that if you have declared you are not been vaccinated, decline to declare your status, or have a medial or a religious accommodation, Pfizer will require that you participate in a COVID-19 [Chinese coronavirus] polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing regimen,” images of the literature read.
The documents also indicates over 80 percent of company employees opted to receive the vaccine, suggesting slightly under 20 percent of the Pfizer workforce remain unvaccinated.
The leaked documents come after Biden met with airline executives to convince them to mandate vaccinations for their employees.
“But companies have wrestled with the extent of their authority to require shots,” Reuters reported. “Among the concerns is the possibility that companies will be exposed to discrimination lawsuits as they call staff back to their desks after 18 months of pandemic-induced work from home.”
That risk has not stopped Biden’s efforts. “I will have their backs and the backs of other private and public sector leaders if they take such steps,” he said on August 3.
According to a survey by consultants at Mercer studying over 200 American companies, 14 percent require staff to be vaccinated to work in the office.
Biden stated Wednesday he has federal government lawyers looking into if he can mandate vaccinations for all Americans. “People are dying and will die who don’t have to die. If you’re out there unvaccinated, you don’t have to die,” he said July 29.
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| Biden eyes tougher vaccine rules... maybe even interstate vaccine requirements |
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Posted by: Stone - 08-13-2021, 12:03 PM - Forum: Pandemic 2020 [Secular]
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Biden eyes tougher vaccine rules without provoking backlash
Even as President Joe Biden becomes more aggressive in pressuring Americans to get vaccinated, he has refrained from using all his powers
ABC News | 13 August 2021
WASHINGTON -- When the pace of vaccinations in the U.S. first began to slow, President Joe Biden backed incentives like million-dollar cash lotteries if that's what it took to get shots in arms. But as new coronavirus infections soar, he's testing a tougher approach.
In just the past two weeks, Biden has forced millions of federal workers to attest to their vaccination status or face onerous new requirements. He's met with business leaders at the White House to press them to do the same.
Meanwhile, the administration has taken steps toward mandating shots for people traveling into the U.S. from overseas. And the White House is weighing options to be more assertive at the state and local level, including potential support for school districts imposing rules to prevent spread of the virus over the objection of Republican leaders.
“To the mayors, school superintendents, educators, local leaders, who are standing up to the governors politicizing mask protection for our kids: thank you,” Biden said Thursday. "Thank God that we have heroes like you, and I stand with you all, and America should as well.”
But even as Biden becomes more aggressive, he has refrained from using all his powers to pressure Americans to get vaccinated. He's held off, for instance, on proposals to require vaccinations for all air travelers or, for that matter, the federal workforce. The result is a precarious balancing act as Biden works to make life more uncomfortable for the unvaccinated without spurring a backlash in a deeply polarized country that would only undermine his public health goals.
Vaccine mandates are “the right lever at the right time," said Ben Wakana, the deputy director of strategic communications and engagement for the White House COVID-19 response, noting the public's increasing confidence in the vaccines and adding that it marks a new phase in the government's campaign to encourage Americans to get shots.
Many Republicans, particularly those eyeing the party's 2024 presidential nomination, disagree and warn of federal overreaching into decisions that should be left to individuals. Biden and Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, an epicenter of the latest virus wave, have spent weeks feuding over the proper role of government during a public health crisis.
There is notable support for vaccine mandates. According to a recent poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation, 51% of Americans say the federal government should recommend that employers require their workers to get vaccinated, while 45% say it should not.
For now, Biden has required most federal workers to attest to their vaccination status under potential criminal penalties, with those who have not received a dose required to maintain social distancing, test weekly for the virus and face other potential restrictions on their work.
Health workers at the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Health and Human Services will be required to get vaccinated, and the Pentagon has announced that it intends to mandate vaccines for the military by next month.
The sharper federal approach comes as nearly 90 million eligible Americans still have not been vaccinated and as Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, says shots are the only path for the nation to contain the delta variant.
White House officials say Biden wanted to initially operate with restraint to ensure that Americans were ready for the strong-arming from the federal government. The federal moves have been carefully calibrated to encourage a wave of businesses and governments to follow suit.
Biden administration officials briefed prominent Washington trade groups, including the Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable, ahead of the federal announcement in hopes their members would follow suit. White House officials have fielded dozens of calls from business executive in recent weeks about how to implement their own vaccination mandates, officials said, sharing best practices and tips for how to protect their workforces.
“Through vaccination requirements, employers have the power to help end the pandemic," White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients said Thursday, naming companies, universities and local governments that have implemented them.
The new restrictions appear to be having the desired effect. The rules — combined with fresh concerns about the surging delta variant — have nearly doubled the average rate that Americans are getting newly vaccinated from last month to about 450,000 per day.
Zients said the White House still has no plans to develop the infrastructure for so-called vaccine passports, despite some criticism from businesses that the patchwork of local and state verification systems leaves them without a clear way to enforce mandates. The Biden administration had promised to share frameworks for verification systems, but ultimately left them all to the private sector and local governments, in part because of political sensitivities.
Still, while more severe measures — such as mandating vaccines for interstate travel or changing how the federal government reimburses treatment for those who are unvaccinated and become ill with COVID-19 — have been discussed, the administration worried that they would be too polarizing at this time. An administration official said the interstate travel vaccination requirement was not under consideration at the moment.
That's not to say they won't be implemented in the future, as public opinion continues to shift toward requiring vaccinations as a means to restore normalcy.
Lawrence Gostin, a professor of health law at Georgetown University, said Biden would likely need to continue to turn up the pressure on the unvaccinated. “He’s really going to have to use all the leverage the federal government has, and indeed use pressure points,” Gostin said. “And I think there are a few that he can do but he hasn’t done yet.”
“The country is completely fatigued with lockdowns, business closures and masking,” added Gostin, “and vaccines are literally our only tool. We’ve tried masking, distancing, occupancy limits, even entire lockdowns now for coming along nearly two years. And the virus just keeps raging back. And the vaccines are the only thing we have now to defeat the virus. We need to use that tool and we need to use it vigorously. And I think there will be large public support for that.”
[Emphasis mine.]
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| Tyson Employees Walk Off Job To Protest Vaccine Mandate |
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Posted by: Stone - 08-12-2021, 12:52 PM - Forum: COVID Passports
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Tyson Employees Walk Off Job To Protest Vaccine Mandate
ZH | AUG 12, 2021
A group of around a dozen Tyson Foods employees in West Tennessee took to the streets of Newbern on Wednesday to protest the company's new vaccine mandate.
The employees say they're risking their jobs to fight against the recent corporate decision to require all employees to take the Covid-19 vaccine, according to KFVS12.
While nobody from the group would speak on camera to news crews - citing their employment agreements, one local business owner spoke on their behalf.
"Nobody wants to be pressured to do anything, especially to their own body, that they don’t want to do," said Jill Blessing. "For Tyson to actually say, hey, get the shot or you lose your job, and some of these people, I talked to a girl who has worked here 30 years. And that’s a huge thing to put on somebody when that’s their livelihood."
Around 650 people work at this particular plant.
One woman, Tristin Garland, says two family members work at two different Tyson locations and are at risk of losing their jobs over the vaccine.
"It’s been very stressful for all of us," said Garland. "I am a nurse and have seen the good and bad due to this vaccine. And trying to decide between your beliefs, when you are so unsure, or keeping your job of 25 years has just been miserable for us."
Quote:Lee Doughten, who is a maintenance worker at the Tyson Plant in Union City, said he’s heard similar protests, and walkouts are being planned there. Doughten said he doesn’t want to get the vaccine and will likely lose his job in November.
“I wish the governor could stop it,” said Doughten. “We were once essential workers, and now we are expendable.” -WREG
Tyson announced last week that all of their 120,000 employees nationwide will need to be vaccinated by Nov. 1 unless they are exempted for medical or religious reasons. Around half of the company's employees are currently vaccinated, while front-line employees who receive the jab are eligible for a $200 bonus and up to four hours of pay if they are inoculated outside of work.
The protest comes one week after the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union raised objections to to the mandate because the vaccine has not been fully approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
"While we support and encourage workers getting vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus, and have actively encouraged our members to do so, it is concerning that Tyson’s is implementing this mandate before the FDA has fully approved the vaccine," said UFCW International president Marc Perrone in a statement.
"We believe the FDA must provide full approval of the vaccines and help address some of the questions and concerns that workers have. Additionally, employers should provide paid time off so that their essential workers can receive the vaccine without having to sacrifice their pay, and can rest as needed while their body adjusts to the vaccine and strengthens their immune system to fight off the virus."
The UFCW represents 250,000 workers in the US meatpacking and food processing industries, including 24,000 Tyson employees.
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| New Policy: Baltimore Archdiocese drops fees for annulments in effort to quicken the process |
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Posted by: Stone - 08-12-2021, 08:09 AM - Forum: Vatican II and the Fruits of Modernism
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New policy: No contribution needed for annulment cases in Baltimore Archdiocese
![[Image: 080521_Tribunal_SeitzInOffice_5897_900x6...68x512.jpg]](https://catholicreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/080521_Tribunal_SeitzInOffice_5897_900x600_Horz_Template-768x512.jpg)
Father Gilbert J. Seitz, judicial vicar, leads the Office of the Tribunal for the Archdiocese of Baltimore. (Kevin J. Parks/CR Staff)
Catholic Review | August 10, 2021
The Tribunal of the Archdiocese of Baltimore will no longer request a contribution to process an annulment case.
Archbishop William E. Lori implemented the policy change, which went into effect July 1. It was in response to a request by Pope Francis in 2015 to make the annulment process quicker and less expensive for couples.
In documents reforming the annulment process released by Pope Francis in 2015 – especially “Mitis Iudex Dominus Iesus” (“The Lord Jesus, the Gentle Judge”) for the Latin-rite church – the pope’s chief aim was to reaffirm the indissolubility of marriage while offering pastoral care, mercy and a welcoming hand to people whose broken unions were defective from the beginning.
Father Gilbert J. Seitz, judicial vicar for the archdiocese, told the Catholic Review, “The Holy Father has been trying to impress upon the ministers of justice throughout the world – both in Rome and in other dioceses all over – to eliminate any and all obstacles that would keep people from approaching a Tribunal and see a resolution of the question regarding a marriage bond.
“As a result of that, Archbishop Lori thought that it appropriate, particularly in this year, as we celebrate the year of the Eucharist, that we in Baltimore take the action that the Holy Father has suggested and remove that obstacle,” Father Seitz said.
In the past, the archdiocese requested a contribution of no more than $550 per case, but the contribution was not required. “It wasn’t actually a fee; it wasn’t as if you had to make that payment or you would not receive a final decree from us,” he said.
If people could make the contribution, the Tribunal was happy to accept it to help defray its costs to review and process the case.
Many people believed that there was a “charge” for an annulment, but that was not the case.
“If they were unable to make the contribution, under no circumstances would our service to them or our ministry to them in this matter be interrupted because of the lack of payment,” Father Seitz said. “We simply asked folks for that contribution and if they could, if their means allowed them, then we were very welcoming to receive that, but if their means didn’t allow it, then it became inconsequential.”
As a result of the new policy, there is no longer any financial contribution or financial commitment connected with the ministry the Tribunal offers to those who need it, he added.
“The concern of the archbishop, as was the concern of the Holy Father, is that any and all obstacles be removed so that folks can approach Tribunals when they have that need without being (financially) burdened,” Father Seitz said.
Since the Tribunal’s approach to finances has been so accommodating in the past, he said, some people approaching the Tribunal to begin the annulment process are not surprised that no contribution is being requested, but they are “extremely thankful that the financial burden has been lifted, especially in in the midst of a pandemic and the uncertainty of the economy. I think folks are just grateful that’s a burden that they don’t have to worry about,” he said.
Dominican Father D. Reginald Whitt, tribunal judge, left, discusses a case with Father Gilbert J. Seitz, judicial vicar, Aug. 5, 2021 in the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s Office of the Tribunal. (Kevin J. Parks/CR Staff)
The archdiocesan Tribunal processes between 150 and 180 marriage cases per year using the formal process. Father Seitz said one of the reforms instituted by Pope Francis’ 2015 letters to make the process more “user-friendly” was to eliminate “the need for an automatic appeal if a decision of a lower court is in favor of the invalidity of the marriage,” that is, to grant the annulment.
That alone made a significant difference in the speed of the process. Since each Tribunal in the Province of Baltimore – which includes much of Maryland and the states of Delaware, Virginia and West Virginia – spent time reviewing cases of nullity from other dioceses, the lesser workload allows the Tribunal to complete cases more quickly.
“Usually in the Archdiocese of Baltimore right now, as in other dioceses in the province, it would be realistic to complete a case in about six months,” Father Seitz said.
He said that resolving marriage cases brought before the Tribunal is essentially pastoral care in the form of a process in Canon Law, the law of the church.
“Our ministry, more than anything else, is about enabling people to encounter the Lord Jesus,” the judicial vicar said. “So many folks, because of the hurt and pain of divorce, feel themselves alienated from former family members, perhaps from their own family members, from the church.
“And they come to us pained and burdened with those hurts and those pains, and our hope is that in utilizing the juridic process that the church establishes in a very pastoral way, we can help facilitate some healing for those folks, which would then enable them to recognize themselves as a member of the Body of Christ, wounded but healed, and as one who has encountered the risen Jesus, wounded and healed,” he said.
“And it’s amazing what can be accomplished when you take that woundedness, and that sense of healing and share it with others.”
Father Seitz said he often reminds his staff that they can follow the legal procedures well and with untold precision, but “if we have not done it in a way that enables folks to meet the risen Christ, we have not fulfilled our service to them, as we should.”
He said one of the tactics he employs is to carefully review a request for a petition or a petition to begin a case, before launching the formal case process.
If the petition is weak, or lacks something, he won’t accept it, sometimes encouraging the minister working with the party to dig deeper into the grounds for annulment. In that way, if and when the petition is accepted and the case begins, the questions the Tribunal asks can be better targeted to get the information the judges need to make a determination.
Without that care and concern, the case could go to completion and get a negative decision. “That, to me, will only add to the hurt and pain that folks have experienced,” Father Seitz said.
Even so, the process is not always easy for those going through it, because they need to address and acknowledge some things about their failed relationship that they would prefer not to admit.
“Hopefully, we can do that in a way that folks feel safe and not judged,” Father Seitz said. “And if we do that right, we can help people to grow and heal. And that’s our first concern because ultimately that gets to their salvation.”
He said that, in some cases, the decree of nullity may also allow people to return in full to the sacraments. He emphasized that it is incorrect that all divorced Catholics are unable to receive the Eucharist. Only those who are divorced and remarried outside the church are not to receive the Eucharist.
“If we grow and heal, we can find ourselves closer to the Lord Jesus and when we are closer to the Lord Jesus, we are that much closer to our salvation,” he said.
Father Seitz said he hopes that no longer being asked for a financial contribution for the annulment process enables people to “make a financial contribution or a contribution of their talent to other needs of the archdiocese or to the wider church. Perhaps the monies that would have come to us because of our service to someone could be given to a shelter for homeless people or to further the cause of justice in the archdiocese,” Father Seitz said.
“Maybe because of our service to folks, they will find themselves in a position to contribute their time more generously to a cause that furthers the Gospel.”
To begin the annulment process, Father Seitz said parishioners can contact their local parish or contact the Tribunal directly.
For more information, visit www.archbalt.org/marriage-tribunal.
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| August 12th – St Clare, Virgin |
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Posted by: Stone - 08-12-2021, 07:46 AM - Forum: August
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August 12 – St Clare, Virgin
The same year in which St. Dominic, before making any project with regard to his sons, founded the first establishment of the Sisters of his Order, the companion destined for him by heaven received his mission from the Crucifix in the church of St. Damian, in these words: “Go, Francis, repair my house which is falling to ruin.” The new patriarch inaugurated his work, as Dominic had done, by preparing a dwelling for his future daughters, whose sacrifice might obtain every grace for the great Order he was about to found. The house of the Poor Ladies occupied the thoughts of the seraph of Assisi, even before St. Mary of the Portiuncula, the cradle of the Friars Minor. Thus, for a second time this month, Eternal Wisdom shows us that the fruit of salvation, though it may seem to proceed from the word and from action, springs first from silent contemplation.
Clare was to Francis the help like unto himself, who begot to the Lord that multitude of heroic virgins and illustrious penitents soon reckoned by the Order in all lands, coming from the humblest condition and from the steps of the throne. In the new chivalry of Christ, Poverty, the chosen Lady of St. Francis, was to be the queen also of her whom God had given him as a rival and a daughter. Following to the utmost limits the Man-God humbled and stripped of all things for us, she nevertheless felt that she and her sisters were already queens in the kingdom of heaven: (Regula Damianitarum, viii); In the little nest of poverty,” she used to say, “what jewel could the bride esteem so much as conformity with a God possessing nothing, become a little One whom the poorest of mothers wrapped in humble swathing bands and laid in a narrow crib?” And she bravely defended against the highest authorities the privilege of absolute poverty, which the great Pope Innocent III feared to grant. Its definitive confirmation, obtained two days before the Saint’s death, came as the long-desired reward of forty years of prayer and suffering for the Church of God.
This noble daughter of Assisi had justified the prophecy, whereby sixty years previously, her mother Hortulana had learned that the child would enlighten the world; the choice of the name given her at her birth had been well inspired. “Oh! how powerful was the virgin’s light,” said the sovereign Pontiff in the Bull of her Canonization; “how penetrating were her rays! She hid herself in the depth of the cloister, and her brightness transpiring filled the house of God.” From her poor solitude which she never quitted, the very name of Clare seemed to carry grace and light everywhere, and made far-off cities yield fruit to God and to her father, St. Francis.
Embracing the whole world where her virginal family was being multiplied, her motherly heart overflowed with affection for the daughters she had never seen. Let those who think that austerity embraced for God’s sake dries up the soul read these lines from her correspondence with Blessed Agnes of Bohemia. Agnes, daughter of Ottacar I, had rejected the offer of an imperial marriage to take the religious Habit, and was renewing at Prague the wonders of St. Damian’s. “O my mother and my daughter,” said our Saint, “if I have not written to you as often as my soul and yours would wish, be not surprised: as your mother’s heart loved you, so do I cherish you; but messengers are scarce, and the roads full of danger. As an opportunity offers today, I am full of gladness, and I rejoice with you in the joy of the Holy Ghost. As the first Agnes united herself to the immaculate Lamb, so it is given to you, O fortunate one, to enjoy this union (the wonder of heaven) with him, the desire of whom ravishes every soul; whose goodness is all sweetness, whose vision is beatitude, who is the light of the eternal light, the mirror without spot! Look at yourself in this mirror, O queen! O bride! unceasingly by its reflection enhance your charms; without and within adorn yourself with virtues; clothe yourself as beseems the daughter and the spouse of the supreme King. O beloved, with your eyes on this mirror, what delight it will be given you to enjoy in the divine grace! … Remember, however, your poor Mother, and know that for my part your blessed memory is for ever graven on my heart.”
Not only did the Franciscan family benefit by a charity which extended to all the worthy interests of this world. Assisi, delivered from the lieutenants of the excommunicated Frederick II and from the Saracen horde in his pay, understood how a holy woman is a safeguard to her earthly city. But our Lord loved especially to make the princes of holy Church and the Vicar of Christ experience the humble power, the mysterious ascendancy, wherewith he had endowed his chosen one. St. Francis himself, the first of all, had in one of those critical moments known to the Saints, sought from her direction and light for his seraphic soul. From the ancients of Israel, there came to this virgin, not yet thirty years old, such messages as this: “To his very dear Sister in Jesus Christ, to his mother the Lady Clare, handmaid of Christ, Hugolin of Ostia, unworthy bishop and sinner. Ever since the hour when I had to deprive myself of your holy conversation, to snatch myself from that heavenly joy, such bitterness of heart causes my tears to flow, that if I did not find at the feet of Jesus the consolation which his love never refuses, my mind would fail and my soul would melt away. Where is the glorious joy of that Easter spent in your company and that of the other handmaids of Christ? … I knew that I was a sinner; but at the remembrance of your supereminent virtue, my misery overpowers me, and I believe myself unworthy ever to enjoy again that conversation of the Saints, unless your tears and prayers obtain pardon for my sins. I put my soul, then, into your hands; to you I entrust my mind, that you may answer for me on the day of judgment. The Lord Pope will soon be going to Assisi; Oh! that I may accompany him, and see you once more! Salute my sister Agnes (i.e. St. Clare’s own sister and first daughter in God); salute all your sisters in Christ.”
The great Cardinal Hugolin, though more than eighty years of age, became soon after Gregory IX. During his fourteen years’ pontificate, which was one of the most brilliant as well as most laborious of the thirteenth century, he was always soliciting Clare’s interest in the perils of the Church, and the immense cares which threatened to crush his weakness. For, says the contemporaneous historian of our Saint, Luke Wadding: “He knew very well what love can do, and that virgins have free access to the sacred court: for what could the King of heaven refuse to those, to whom he has given himself?”
At length her exile, which had been prolonged twenty-seven years after the death of Francis, was about to close. Her daughters beheld wings of fire over her head and covering her shoulders, indicating that she to had reached seraphic perfection. On hearing that a loss which so concerned the whole Church was imminent, the Pope, Innocent IV, came from Perugia with the Cardinals of his suite. He imposed a last trial on the Saint’s humility, by commanding her to bless, in his presence, the bread which had been presented for the blessing of the sovereign Pontiff; heaven approved the invitation of the Pontiff and the obedience of the Saint, for no sooner had the virgin blessed the loaves than each was found to be marked with a cross.
A prediction that Clare was not to die without receiving a visit from the Lord surrounded by his disciples was now fulfilled. The Vicar of Jesus Christ presided at the solemn funeral rites paid by Assisi to her who was its second glory before God and men. When they were beginning the usual chants for the dead, Innocent would have had them substitute the Office for holy Virgins; but on being advised that such a canonization, before the body was interred, would be considered premature, the Pontiff allowed them to continue the accustomed chants. The insertion, however, of the Virgin’s name in the catalogue of the Saints was only deferred for two years.
The following lines are consecrated by the Church to her memory:
Quote:The noble virgin Clare was born at Assisi, in Umbria. Following the example of St. Francis, her fellow-citizen, she distributed all her goods in alms to the poor, and, fleeing from the noise of the world, she retired to a country church, where blessed Francis cut off her hair. Her relations attempted to bring her back to the world, but she bravely resisted all their endeavors; and then St. Francis took her to the church of St. Damian. Here our Lord gave her several companions, so that she founded a convent of consecrated virgins, and her reluctance being overcome by the earnest desire of her holy father, she undertook its government. For forty-two years she ruled her monastery with wonderful care and prudence, in the fear of God and the full observance of the Rule. Her own life was a lesson and an example to others, showing all how to live aright.
She subdued her body in order to grow strong in spirit. Her bed was the bare ground, or, at times, a few twigs, and for a pillow she used a piece of hard wood. Her dress consisted of a single tunic and a mantle of poor coarse stuff; and she often wore a rough hair-shirt next to her skin. So great was her abstinence, that for a long time she took absolutely no bodily nourishment for three days of the week, and on the remaining days restricted herself to so small a quantity of food, that the other religious wondered how she was able to live. Before her health gave way, it was her custom to keep two Lents in the year, fasting on bread and water. Moreover, she devoted herself to watching and prayer, and in these exercises especially she would spend whole days and nights. She suffered from frequent and long illnesses; but when she was unable to leave her bed in order to work, she would make her sisters raise and prop her up in a sitting position, so that she could work with her hands, and thus not be idle even in sickness. She had a very great love of poverty, never deviating from it on account of any necessity, and she firmly refused the possessions offered by Gregory IX for the support of the sisters.
The greatness of her sanctity was manifested by many different miracles. She restored the power of speech to one of the sisters of her monastery, to another the power of hearing. She healed one of a fever, one of dropsy, one of an ulcer, and many others of various maladies. She cured of insanity a brothers of the Order of Friars Minor. Once when all the oil in the monastery was spent, Clare took a vessel and washed it, and it was found filled with oil by the loving kindness of God. She multiplied half a loaf so that it sufficed for fifty sisters. When the Saracens attacked the town of Assisi and attempted to break into Clare’s monastery, she, though sick at the time, had herself carried to the gate, and also the vessel which contained the most Holy Eucharist, and there she prayed, saying, “O Lord, deliver not unto beasts the souls of them that praise thee; but preserve thy handmaids whom Thou hast redeemed with thy precious Blood.” Whereupon a voice was heard, which said: “I will always preserve you.” Some of the Saracens took to flight, others who had already scaled the walls were struck blind and fell down headlong. At length, when the virgin Clare came to die, she was visited by a white-robed multitude of blessed virgins, amongst whom was one nobler and more resplendent than the rest. Having received the Holy Eucharist and a Plenary Indulgence from Innocent IV, she gave up her soul to God on the day before the Ides of August. After her death she became celebrated by numbers of miracles, and Alexander IV enrolled her among the holy virgins.
O Clare, the reflection of the Spouse which adorns the Church in this world no longer suffices thee; thou now beholdest the light with open face. The brightness of the Lord plays with delight in the pure crystal of thy soul, increasing the happiness of heaven, and giving joy this day to our valley of exile. Heavenly beacon, with thy gentle shining enlighten our darkness. May we, like thee, by purity of heart, by uprightness of thought, by simplicity of gaze, fix upon ourselves the divine ray, which flickers in a wavering soul, is dimmed by our waywardness, is interrupted or put out by a double life divided between God and the world.
Thy life, O Virgin, was never thus divided. The most high poverty, which was thy mistress and guide, preserved thy mind from that bewitching of vanity which takes off the bloom of all true goods for us mortals Detachment from all passing things kept thine eye fixed upon eternal realities; it opened thy soul to that seraphic ardor wherein thou didst emulate thy father Francis. Like the Seraphim, whose gaze is ever fixed on God, thou hadst immense influence over the earth; and St. Damian’s, during thy lifetime, was a source of strength to the world.
Deign to continue giving us thine aid. Multiply thy daughters; keep them faithful in following their Mother’s example, so as to be a strong support to the Church. May the various branches of the Franciscan family be ever fostered by thy rays, and may all Religious Orders be enlightened by thy gentle brightness. Shine upon us all, O Clare, and show us the worth of this transitory life and of that which never ends.
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| Archbishop Viganò Calls On Clerics Worldwide To Recite Exorcism on Vigil of Assumption |
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Posted by: Stone - 08-12-2021, 06:26 AM - Forum: Archbishop Viganò
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ARchbishop Viganò Calls On Clerics Worldwide To Recite Exorcism
August 12 Statement by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò
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INVITATION TO BISHOPS AND PRIESTS FROM AROUND THE WORLD TO A DAY OF FASTING AND THE RECITATION OF THE EXORCISM OF LEO XIII
ON THE VIGIL OF THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY INTO HEAVEN
In this moment of very serious spiritual and material crisis in which the public authorities support the plans of the New World Order and the shepherds are silent accomplices in the face of the destruction of society and of the Church of Christ Herself, it is our sacred duty to unite ourselves to the spiritual battle, aligning ourselves without hesitation under the banners of Christ our King and Mary our Queen.
The Lord has given to bishops and priests the power to cast out demons in His name. Already, on Holy Saturday of 2020, many of them welcomed my appeal with generosity and a supernatural spirit.
Today, I intend to renew this appeal.
I ask, therefore, my venerable brothers in the episcopate and priesthood to dedicate the vigil of the Assumption of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary to prayer and fasting and to reciting the Exorcismus in Satanam et Angelos Apostaticos of Leo XIII (Rituale Romanum, Tit. XII, Caput III), at the hour of 12 noon in Rome.
This sacramental will be placed under the mantle of the most fearful adversary of the infernal powers so that the choral prayer of the ministers of God will remove from the Church and the world the snares of the enemy of mankind, which today threaten society, families, individuals and, in a particular way, the faithful of Christ.
The secularized world and, along with it, not a few shepherds, will be able to mock this appeal and the exorcism itself, considering it the legacy of a past to be cancelled along with the Faith of our fathers.
But we know well that, although we are unworthy sinners, a power has been given to us by Our Lord which terrorizes the Gates of Hell and its servants.
In the silence and fasting which prepares us for the Feast of the Assumption of the Queen of Heaven, let us invoke the Most Holy Virgin, terrible as an army set in battle array, and St. Michael the Archangel, the patron of the Holy Church and prince of the heavenly hosts.
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