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| June 8th: St. William |
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Posted by: Stone - 06-08-2021, 06:40 AM - Forum: June
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June 8 – St. William, Bishop and Confessor
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At the head of the holy Confessors admitted by the Church on the monumental page of her Martyrology for today is inscribed the illustrious name of William: “At York, in England,” thus runs the text of the Golden Book of heaven’s nobility, “the memory of Saint William, Archbishop and Confessor, who, amongst other miracles wrought at his tomb, raised three dead persons to life, and was inscribed amongst the Saints by Honorius III.” The divine Spirit who adorns the Church with variety in the virtues of her sons, reproduces in them the life of the Divine Spouse, under multiplied aspects. Thus there is no situation in life that bears not with it some teaching drawn from the example given by our Lord and his saints, under similar circumstances. However vast be the field of trial for the elect here below; however multiplied and unexpected, sometimes, be the limits of endurance, or the circumstances; herein, as ever, does that word of Eternal Wisdom chime in: Nothing is new under the sun; neither is any man able to say: Behold this is new: for it hath already gone before, in the ages that were before us.
The election of William to the metropolitan see of York was signalized by the apparition of a miraculous cross, a presage of what his life was to be. Verily the heaviest cross one can have to bear is that which originates on the part of the servants of God—from our own brethren, or from our own superiors, in the spiritual order of things: now, this was the very cross that was not to be spared to William. For our instruction (specially for us who so easily believe that we have gone to the furthest limits of endurance, in point of suffering) God permitted that, after the example of his divine Master, William should drink the chalice to the dregs and should become even to saints a sign of contradiction and a rock of scandal.
Both to the more numerous portion of the Flock, as well as to the better minded among them, the promotion of the Archbishop elect of York, was indeed a cause of great joy; but thereby also, diversely interested views among several, had been crossed. In their simplicity, some of the sheep gave ear to certain perfidious insinuations and whisperings; they were led to suppose that it would be a good deed, if they strove to break the staff that guided them to wholesome pastures; and they allowed themselves to be so far worked upon as to make formal and grave accusations against their Shepherd. Then, at last, most virtuous persons, beguiled by the craftiness of the intriguers, were to be seen espousing their cause and putting at their service the very zeal wherewith the hearts of the former were really inflamed for the House of God. After hearing as above, from the lips of Holy Church in the Martyrology, her own judgment, glorious as it stands and without appeal, it is not without feelings of wonder and even of bewilderment, that we read passages such as the following, in letters written at the time.
“To our well beloved Father and Lord, Innocent, by the grace of God, Sovereign Pontiff, Bernard of Clairvaux. The archbishop of York hath approached you; that man regarding whom we have so often already, written to your Holiness. A sorry cause indeed is his; as we have learned from such as are worthy of credit, from the sole of his foot to the top of his head, there is not a sound place in him. what can this man stripped of all justice, have to seek at the hands of the Guardian of justice?” Then recommending the accusers to the Pontiff, the Abbot of Clairvaux fears not to add: “If any one be of God, let him join himself unto them! If the barren tree still occupy the ground, to whom must I attribute the fault, save to him unto whom the hatchet belongs?”
The Vicar of Christ, who can look at things from a higher level and can see more exactly than even saints can, having taken no step to prevent William’s consecration, Saint Bernard pens these words, confidentially, to the abbot of Rievaulx, in Yorkshire: “I have learned what has become of this archbishop, and my sorrow is extreme. We have labored all we could against this common pest, and we have not obtained the desired measure; but for all that, the fruit of our labor is none the less assured from Him, who never suffers any good deed to pass unrewarded. What men have refused to us, I am confident we shall obtain from the mercy of our Father who is in heaven, and that we shall yet see this cursed fig-tree rooted up.”
Such grave mistakes as these can sometimes be made by saints. Cruel mistakes indeed they are, but very sanctifying for those saints on whom the blow falls; and though veritable persecutions, yet are they not without one sweet consolation for such saints as these, inasmuch as there has been no offense to God on either side.
Innocent II being dead, Bernard, convinced that the honor of the Church was at stake, repeated his supplications more urgently than ever to Pope Celestine II and the Roman Court: “The whole world is aware of the devil’s triumph,” he exclaimed, and with such fiery zeal that we somewhat modify the strength of his expression; “The applause of the uncircumcised and the tears of the good, resound far and wide … If such were to be the finale of this ignominious cause, why not have left it in its darksome nook? Could not that infamous man, the horror of England and the abomination of France, have been made bishop, without Rome also witnessing the general infection to pervade as far as the very tombs of the Apostles … Well, be it so: this man has received sacrilegious consecration; but still more glorious will it be to precipitate Simon from midair, than to have prevented his mounting thus far. Otherwise, what will you do with the Faithful, whose sense of religion makes them suppose that they cannot with a safe conscience, receive the sacraments from this leprous hand? Are they then, to be forced by Rome, to bend the knee to Baal?”
Rome, however, was slow in letting herself be convinced; and neither Celestine, nor Lucius II who succeeded him, was willing to find in the great services and justifiable ascendency of the Abbot of Clairvaux, a sufficient reason to pronounce a condemnation, the justice of which was far from being proved to their eyes. It was only under the pontificate of Eugenius III, his former disciple, that Saint Bernard by new and reiterated instances at last obtained the deposition of William, and the substitution, to the see of York, of Henry Murdach, a Cistercian and abbot of Fountains, near Ripon.
“All the time that his humiliation lasted,” writes John, Prior of Hexham, “William never let a murmur of complaint escape him; but with a silent heart and with his soul at peace, knew hot to keep patience. He reclaimed not against his adversaries; nay, further still, he would turn aside his ear and his very thought from those who judged them unfavorably. None of those who shared his grace, showed themselves so continually given up as he to prayer and labor.”
Five years afterwards (8th July, 1153), Eugenius III died, as also the abbot of Clairvaux (on the 20th of August), and Henry Murdach (on 14 October). The canons of York once more elected William and he was reinstated in the plenitude of his metropolitan rights by Anastasius IV. But God had willed to affirm here below the justice alone of his cause: thirty days after his triumphant return to York, he died, having only just solemnized the festival of the Holy Trinity for whom he had suffered all.
We here give the few lines wherein the Liturgy records the trials and virtues of Saint William.
Quote:Blessed William born of most noble parents (to wit, Count Hubert being his father, and Emma sister of King Stephen being his mother) was remarkable from earliest youth for singularly great virtue. Growing in merit as he advanced in ages, he was made Treasurer of York: in which office he so behaved, as to be held by all, the father of the needy in general. Nor indeed did he esteem anything a more precious treasure, than to despoil himself of his wealth, that he might more easily minister to the wants of those laboring under poverty.
Turstan the Archbishop being dead, he was elected to succeed him, though some few of the Chapter dissented. But Saint Bernard, on the ground of this election being faulty according the the sacred Canons, appealed against him to the Apostolic See, and hence he was deposed, by Pope Eugenius the Third. The which thing was in no ways taken as a grievance by this holy man but rather, as offering an excellent occasion of exercising humility and of serving God with greater freedom.
Wherefore fleeing worldly pomps, he withdrew into solitude, where he could attend solely to his own salvation, undistracted by any care of exterior things. But, at last, his adversaries being dead, he was again with the full consent of all, elected archbishop, and was confirmed by Pope Anastasius.
Having entered upon his see he was shortly afterwards attacked with sickness; and full of days as well as dear to God by reason of his alms-deeds, vigils, fasts and good works, he passed out of this life, on the sixth of the Ides of June, in the year of man’s salvation, one thousand, one hundred and fifty-four.
O William, thou didst know how to possess thy soul! Under the assaults of contradiction, thou didst join the aureola of sanctity to the glorious character of a bishop. For well didst thou understand the twofold duty incumbent on thee, from the day thou wast called by the suffrages of an illustrious Church, to defend her here below, under most difficult circumstances; on the one hand, not to refuse the perilous honor of upholding to the last the rights of that noble bride who proffered thee her alliance; on the other, to show thy flock, by the example of thy own submission, that even the best of causes can never be dispensed from that absolute obedience owed by sheep, just as much as by lambs, to the supreme Shepherd. He who searcheth the heart and the reins knew how far the trial could go, without either altering the admirable simplicity of thy faith, or troubling, in consequence, the divine calm wherein lay thy strength. Yearning to raise thee to the highest degree of glory, nigh to that Altar, yonder in heaven, fain was He to assimilate thee fully, even here below, to the eternal Pontiff, erstwhile misunderstood, denied, and condemned by the very princes of His own people. Thy refuge was in that maxim, from the lips of this divine Head: Learn of me, because I am meek and humble of heart, and ye shall find rest to your souls; and thus, the yoke that would bear down such weak shoulders as ours, a burthen, beneath which the strongest of us well might quail, far from daunting thee, seemed fraught with such sweetness, that thy step became all the lighter for it, and from that hour, thou didst appear not only to walk, but to run like a giant in the way of heroism, wherein saints are formed.
Help us, O William, to follow thy steps at least afar off, in the paths of gentleness and energy. Teach us to count for little, all personal injuries. Our Lord indeed probed the delicacy of thy great soul, when He permitted that to befall thee, which to us would have proved a very core of bitterness, namely, that thy hottest adversaries really should be true saints, who in every measure they undertook against thee, were wishful only for the honor and glory of the divine Master—thine and theirs alike. The mysterious oil that for so long flowed from thy tomb, was at once a sign of the ineffable meekness which earned for thee that constant simplicity of thy soul’s glance, and a touching testimony rendered by heaven in favor of thy pontifical unction, the legitimacy of which was so long contested. God grant that this sweet oil may ooze out once again! Spread it lovingly on so many wounded souls, whom the injustice of men embitters and drives to desperation; let it freely flow in thine own Church of York, alien though she now be, to thine exquisite submission to Rome and to her ancient traditions. Oh! would that Albion might cast aside her winding-sheet, at that blessed tomb of thine, whereat the dead have oft returned to life. In one word, may the whole Church receive from thee, this day, increase of light and grace, to the honor and praise of the undivided and ever tranquil Trinity, to Whom was paid thy last solemn homage here below.
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| Week within the Octave of Corpus Christi |
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Posted by: Stone - 06-08-2021, 06:27 AM - Forum: Pentecost
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Monday Within the Octave of Corpus Christi
Christum regem adoremus dominantem gentibus, qui se manducantibus dat spiritus pingudeninem.
Let us adore Christ, the King, who ruleth the nations; who giveth fatness of spirit to them that eat him.
The Lord hath sworn, and he will not repent him of his oath: he hath sworn: “Thou art a Priest for ever, according to the order of Melchisedech!” Thus did the sons of Levi sing, to the expected Messias, in one of the loveliest of their Psalms. This noble and privileged family, this corona fratrum, standing, in all its glory, around the altar, whence there daily ascended the smoke of the victims burned on it,—this community of brethren celebrated, on the sacred harp, the Priesthood of the good things to come, and announced their own being set aside. Shadow and figure as it was, their own priesthood was to disappear, when the brightness of the divine realities of Calvary came. They were indebted to the infidelity of the nations, for their being called to perpetuate the worship of the true God, in his one single Temple; but this precarious honor would cease when the reconciliation of the world took place. Being son of Juda, through David, the High Priest Christ receives nought of Aaron. When the inspired Psalmist sings a hymn in honour of our Jesus’ Priesthood, he goes back, in thought, to the ages beyond Moses; he passes the time of the twelve Patriarchs and their father Israel; and there, in the distant past, he meets with the type of a Priesthood, which is to have no limits, either of place or time: it is Melchisedech. Melchisedech receives, through Abraham, the homage of Abraham’s son, Levi; the priest of the uncircumcised nations gives a blessing to the venerable holder of the promise; and this mighty blessing, which is extended to the patriarch’s entire race, derives its efficacy from a mysterious sacrifice:—the peaceful offering of bread and wine to the Most High.
The priesthood of the King of justice and peace not only precedes that of Aaron as to time, but it is also to outlive it. And observe, it is at the very time when God was making a covenant with one single race, and thereby seemed to be turning away from all other nations, and was establishing the priestly order to their exclusion,—it is precisely then that the King-Priest of Salem, who has neither beginning of days nor end of life suddenly comes before us as the imposing image of our Eternal Priest, who offers the divine Memorial, which is to perpetuate the great Sacrifice on the earth, and forever take the place of the bloody sacrifices of the Mosaic dispensation.
The Sacrifice of the Cross lasts all ages of time and fills eternity. And yet, as to time, it was the offering of one single day; and as to place, it was made but on one spot. It matters not: in every place, in every age, man must have the sacrifice ceaselessly offered up in his presence; he must have its offering renewed daily in his midst. As we have already seen, sacrifice is the center of the whole of religion; and man cannot dispense with religion, for it unites him to God as the sovereign Lord, and constitutes the primary bond of social life. As, then, to satisfy the imperious necessity, which showed itself from the very beginning of the world, divine Wisdom appointed those figurative offerings, which foretold the one great Sacrifice, and from which they derived what merit soever they possessed; so, in like manner, once the oblation of the great Victim made, it is again to supply the demands of mankind, and provide the world with a permanent Sacrifice; it is to be a Memorial, and not a Figure; it destroys not the unity of the Sacrifice of the Cross; and it applies the fruits of that one Sacrifice to each member of each future generation.
We will not here describe the Lord’s Supper, and the institution of that new Priesthood, which is as far above its predecessor as the promises it holds are more glorious, and the covenant, of which it forms the basis is more divine. We have had all the details of that marvellous history related to us on Maundy Thursday. It was on that day,—that day expected from all eternity; it was at that hour (cum facta esset Hora), that Hour so long put off, that divine Wisdom sat down to the supper and banquet of the New Covenant; he sat down, having with him the Twelve Apostles, who represented mankind. Putting an end to figures by a final immolation of the Paschal Lamb, Jesus exclaimed: With desire (that is, with immense desire), I have desired to eat this Pasch with you! The Man-God thus eased his Sacred Heart, which had so long waited for this Hour; he had so loved it! and it is now come! Then, forestalling the Jews, he immolates his victim,—the divine Lamb, signified by Abel, foretold by Isaias, shown by John the Precursor; and, by a miraculous anticipation, there is already in the holy chalice the Blood which, in a few hours hence, is to be flowing on Calvary; bread now changed into his Body, which has become the ransom of the world: Take, says this Jesus, take ye and eat: this is my Body, which shall be delivered for you! Take and drink this Chalice, which is the new testament in my Blood! This do ye for the commemoration of me: that is, “As I am now anticipating, for your sakes, the death I am to suffer on the morrow, so you, when I have left this world, do this same for the commemoration of me.”
The covenant, the alliance, is now made. The New Testament is declared, and like its predecessor, is sealed by Blood. If as yet it be of no force, save in prevision of the Testator’s real death, the reason is because this Jesus, who is the victim of the divine vengeance for the salvation of the whole world, has made a solemn covenant with his eternal Father, that this universal redemption is not to be effected but by the morrow’s cruel work. He has made himself the Head of guilty mankind; he has made himself responsible to God for the crimes of his own race; for the destruction of sin, therefore, he willingly submits to the stern laws of expiation, and by the torments he undergoes, reveals to the world how immense are the claims of eternal justice. Notwithstanding all this, the earth, from that very Thursday night, is in possession of the Chalice which is to announce the Saviour’s death until he come, by communicating to each member of the human family Christ’s real and true Blood, shed for our sins. And surely it was most fitting that our adorable High Priest himself, and without all that display of outward violence,—which, a few hours later, is to disconcert the whole Apostolic college,—should offer himself, with his own hands, as a true sacrifice to his Father; he would thus evince how spontaneous was his death, and do away with our ever having such a thought as that the treachery, or violence, or crime, of a handful of men, could be the origin and cause of the whole world’s salvation.
It is on this account that, lifting up his eyes to his Father (et elevatis oculis in cœlum ad te Deum Patrem suum omnipotentem), and giving thanks, he says, and in the present (as the Greek text gives the words): This is my Body, which is given for you; this is my Blood, which is shed for you. These words,—which he bequeaths, and with all their efficacy of power, to the representatives of his Priesthood,—really produce what they express. They not only change the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ; but as a mystical sword, they truly separate under the twofold species, and as far as their own power is concerned, they offer separately to the Father, the Body and Blood of our Lord, which are, indeed, united, but they are so by the omnipotent will of the infinite Majesty of God, who was abundantly and eternally satisfied by the offering made on Calvary. As often, then, as the words of Consecration, which may be likened to those which drew the world out of nothing, are pronounced over wheaten bread and wine of the grape, by the mouth of a Priest,—no matter how long may be the time, or how distant the place, from the Sacrifice offered on Calvary,—that same moment, the august Victim, our Jesus, is then and there really present. It was one and the same Victim both at the Last Supper, and on the Cross, and It continues the same in the oblation made to the Father, now and to the end of time, and in all places, by the One High Priest, Christ our Lord, who borrows and makes them his own, the hands and voice of the Priests of his Church, who have been chosen and consecrated, in the Holy Ghost, for this dread Ministry.
Oh! how great will not these men be, who have been taken from among the rest of men, by the imposition of hands! New Christs, that is, new anointed Priests, identified, by their ministry, with the Son of Mary, they are the privileged members of divine Wisdom; they are closely united, by love, with the power which he himself has; they are the companions of this Jesus in the doing that grand work which he, Wisdom, is ever doing throughout all ages: that is, the immolation of the great Victim, and the mingling of the Chalice, wherein our humanity, blended with its Head in the unity of the one same Sacrifice, derives also love for both its God and its fellow members, and is made to be partaker of the divine nature, as St. Peter words the mystery of union.
Praise, then, and glory be to our Jesus, the sovereign High Priest, for these noble sons of the human race! they are a marvel to heaven, and the pride of our earth! Surrounded by them, as is the palm tree with its victory-speaking palms, or the cedar, with its incorruptible branches, this divine Pontiff of ours comes forward like the olive tree budding forth its young plants, in which he puts, and with such an overflowingness, dignity, power, and holiness. And as the cypress tree that rears itself on high, hides its vigorous trunk beneath the forest of its ever-green branches,—so hiding his own direct action, and, as it were, retreating behind the countless Priests on earth, who derive all their power and unction from Him, our true High Priest draws them all to unity with his own adorable Self.
On that night ever blessed, that night of the divine Supper, when, as he said, the hour had come for the Father and Son to glorify one the other; it was just as he was on the point of ascending the blood-stained steps of the altar of the Cross, where was to be consummated the perfection of glory; yes, it was then, and thus early, that he manifested the power of his own divine Priesthood. Under the likeness and name of Simon, Son of Onias, who did such great things for the Temple, and saved his people from destruction; we have our Jesus, whose praises are inspired and celebrated by the Holy Spirit, in that last of the Books descriptive of eternal Wisdom,—Ecclesiasticus. It is into the as yet feeble hands of his Apostles, whom he vouchsafes to call his friends, and his Brethren, that our Lord entrusts the oblation, which was to immortalize, and so, in a manner, extend his sacrifice to the King of Ages. His divine hands are stretched out, offering, as a libation, the blood of the grape: he pours it forth at the very foot of the altar, which is already being put up; and the fragrance of that offering makes its way to the Most High Prince. Our High Priest saw into the future; he heard the songs of triumph which would hymn the praises of the divine Memorial; he heard the sacred Psalmody, which would fill the great House, the Church, with ceaseless and sweet harmony, around the Tabernacle of his Presence; he saw millions prostrate in the adoration of Him, the Lord their God, and paying to the Almighty their now perfect homage. Then did he rise from the table of the Supper; he went out in his strength and his love, that he might, for a whole long day, stretch forth his hands in presence of the crowd of unbelieving and hostile children of Israel; he renewed his oblation, consummated his Sacrifice by his Blood, for, by the Cross, he wished to show the power of God.
“The evening Sacrifice, which was the Passion of Christ,” says St. Augustine, “became, in his Resurrection, the oblation of the morning.” It was a Sacrifice whose mysterious transformation was signified under the Law by the solemnly presenting to the Lord of a sheaf of the first-fruits of the wheat harvest; the presentation was to be made on the third day following the slaying of the Paschal Lamb. But the time for offering the very bread itself, the true wheat and food of souls, was not as yet come; and the law subjoined as follows: Ye shall count, therefore, from the morrow after the Sabbath, wherein ye offered the sheaf of the first-fruits, seven full weeks, even unto the morrow after the seventh week be expired, that is to say, fifty days: and then ye shall offer a new Sacrifice unto the Lord:—two loaves of flour,—the first-fruits of the Lord.
Fifty days were to transpire, in the New Covenant, before the divine agent came, who alone could transform these gifts, this Bread and Wine. Pentecost, the glorious Pentecost, arose at last; and the creating Spirit came with a mighty wind. The flesh of the Word, and the divine Blood, which he formed at the very onset, and are still in his keeping, awaited for their being reproduced in the sacred Mysteries, the incommunicable operation of Him whose glorious masterpiece they are. “It was by Him who is eternal Fire, that is, by the Spirit,” says the Abbot Rupert, “that Mary conceived; it was by him that Jesus offered himself, a living Victim, to the living God; and it is by the same Fire that he now burns on our altars, for it is by the operation of the Holy Ghost that the Bread is changed into his Body.” So, too, St. Denis the Areopagite, the great disciple of the Apostle St. Paul, teaches us that our Jesus, the supreme Hierarch, when he called his disciples to share in his sovereign priesthood,—although, as God, he was the author of all consecration, yet did he leave the consummation of their priesthood to the Holy Ghost; and he bade his Apostles not to depart from Jerusalem, but there wait for the promise of the Father, that is, for their being baptized with the Holy Ghost a few days later on.
“The Priest,” says St. John Chrysostom, “comes forth, carrying, not fire, as under the Law, but the Holy Ghost.” “It is a man who appears before us, but it is God who works.” How shall this be done, said Mary to the Angel, for I know not man. Gabriel answers her: The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee. “And thou now askest me,” says St. John Damascene to an inquirer, “’How do the bread and wine and water become the Body and Blood of Christ?’ I answer thee: The Holy Ghost overshadows the Church, and achieves this Mystery, which is beyond all word and all imagination.”
Therefore it is that, as St. Fulgentius observes, “the Church cannot have any better reason for praying the coming of the Holy Ghost, than for the consecration of the Sacrifice, wherein, as under the shadow of the Spirit in the Virgin’s womb, the Wisdom of the Father united himself with the Man chosen by him for the divine espousal, so the Church herself is united, by the Holy Ghost, to Christ, as a bride is to her spouse, or the body to its head.” It is on account of all this that the hour of Tierce (our hour of nine o’clock), the hour wherein the divine Paraclete came into this world, is the one set apart, by the Church, on each of her Festivals, for the solemn celebration of the great Sacrifice, over which this Blessed Spirit presides in the omnipotence of his operation.
O holy hour of Tierce! O sacred Nine o’Clock, as men call that third hour! it is then that the Bride, the Church of Christ, feels an alleviation of her exile; for though still on earth, she gives to her God an homage that is worthy of him, and receives back from him every grace wherewith to bless her dear children. In this sense, the Mass is her fortune, her dower; it belongs to her to regulate its celebration, to prescribe the formulas and the ceremonies, and to receive its fruits. The Priest is her minister: she prays; he immolates the Victim, and gives her prayer an infinite power. The indelible character of the Priesthood, stamped by God himself, on the Priest’s soul, makes him the exclusive depositary of the marvellous, the divine, power, and gives to the Sacrifice, offered by his hands, a validity which no human power can control; but he may not, licitly and lawfully, make the oblation, save in and with the Church.
This mutual dependence, this union which confounds not, of the Priest and the Church in the Sacred Mysteries, was deeply impressed on the minds of the early Christians. In the cemetery of Saint Callixtus,—that central point of the Roman cemeteries, and the one set apart for the burial of the Bishops of the Mother Church during the entire 3rd Century,—there is a whole series of paintings going back as far as the beginning of the Catacomb itself. These were a symbolic teaching of the initiated how the dogma of the Eucharist was instituted by our Lord, as basis of the religion, whereof the Popes, who were buried there in the papal crypt, had been the faithful guardians. The repast of the seven disciples, for whom, during their mysterious fishing, Jesus himself has been preparing bread and a fish roasted on hot coals, is painted in one of the rooms, on the center of the wall facing the entrance door. On either side of this central subject, there are two other smaller ones: one is the sacrifice of Abraham, with its well known meaning; the other represents a non-historic scene, which, however, evidently forms a counterpart with the one on the other side; it speaks of the Sacrifice of the Christian Church; and symbolism so thoroughly hides the secret of the Mysteries from the profane, that we may expect the symbolism to be deep in proportion. On a table lies a loaf, whose meaning is made plain enough by the fish, the eucharistic icthus, being placed near it. On the spectator’s right hand is an aged female; she is standing, with her arms stretched out as an Orante, and is offering up her prayer to heaven; on the left is the figure of a young man; he wears a simple pallium, which was the usual garb of the Christian cleric in the 2nd Century; with an air of authority, he is holding his open hands over the table and its gifts. We know the meaning of all this; it is the Church, who is united, in the consecration, with the Priest, her minister and her son.
With what fidelity does not this queen, who is in mourning for her Spouse, carry out the Testament which left her in the Sacrifice, the eternal and undying remembrance of his Death,—and he gave her that Testament at his Last Supper! While he gives his whole Self to her in the mystery of love, she is forcibly reminded, by the state of immolation in which she sees Him, that she is not to be taken up so much with the joy this sweet presence of his causes her, as with the duty of completing and continuing his work, by immolating herself together with Him. Under the Altar, where she and her Jesus meet, she, the valiant woman, has laid the relics of her Martyrs, for she is aware that the Passion of her Lord demands, from her children, who are his members, a something which will fill up what is wanting of his sufferings. She was produced from his open Side, when on his Cross, and she was espoused to him in Death; that first embrace, which, from her very birth, put her Spouse’s Bleeding Body into her arms, has communicated to the soul of this second Eve the same inebriation of devotedness and love, which sent the heavenly Adam into his deep sleep on Calvary.
To this Church, then, to this Mother of the living, the immense human family runs with all its manifold miseries and countless wants. She makes good use of the treasure confided to her; that treasure is the Mass, and it supplies every necessity; and, by that same, she is enabled to fulfill all her duties, both as Bride and Mother. Each day identifying herself, more and more, with the universal Victim, who imparts to her sacrifice his own infinite worth, the Church adores God’s sovereign Majesty, gives him thanks for his favors, sues for the pardon of the past and present sins of her children, and asks for them the bestowal of blessings temporal and eternal. The precious Blood of her Jesus flows from her Altar upon the suffering souls in Purgatory, assuages their fire of expiation, or leads them to the place of refreshment, light, and peace.
So great is the power of the Sacrifice offered in the Church that, of itself, and (as far as the principal effect is concerned) independently of the merits of the Priest or the people present, it fulfils those four ends, whose realization includes the sum total of religion,—that, is Adoration, Thanksgiving, Propitiation, and Impetration;—yes independently of the merits of the human Priest,—for it is the Victim, which gives this Sacrifice its worth; and the Victim on our Altars is the Same that was on Calvary; it is a Victim equal to the Father, who offers himself, as he did on the cross, for these same ends, and in one same Oblation. The Creator of space and time is not bound to observe their laws, and he has proved his divine independence in this mystery. “Just as though offered in many places, it is one and the same Body, and not several bodies,” says St. John Chrysostom, “so is it with the unity of the Sacrifice, though offered in different ages.” Between the Altar and the Cross, there is but the difference of the manner of the offering. Bloody on the Cross, unbloody on the Altar, the offering is one, notwithstanding this diversity of mode. The immolation of the august Victim on the Cross was a visible one, for it was amidst all the cruel horrors which slew Him; but the violence of the executioners concealed the Sacrifice offered to God, by the Incarnate Word, in the spontaneity of his generous love. At our Altar, the immolation is not visible; but the religious worship of the Sacrifice is as patent as the noon-day brightness, and as splendid in its glorious ritual. Upon the earth, which on that terrible Friday, had drunk the stream of its shedding, the precious Blood left the malediction of deicide; but the chalice of salvation held by the Church’s hand sheds benediction throughout our planet.
O glorious condition of this Earth of ours, from whose surface, the Lamb that is slain, who is now receiving, on the Throne of God, the homage due to his triumph, is presenting, each day, in his state of infinite lowliness as Man, total satisfaction to his Father for the sins of the world, and a glory adequate to the perfections of the divine Majesty! The Angels are in admiration as they look down upon this our globe, mere speck as it is amidst the bright heavenly spheres, and yet so loved, from the very onset, by eternal Wisdom; they surround, trembling the while, this Altar on earth, so closely resembling, so one with theirs in heaven, that on the two, the one same High Priest pays homage to the one same God in the one same infinite Offering. Hell from its deepest depths trembles at it; and raging, as it does, against God and vowing vengeance against man, there is no object so hateful to it as this Sacrifice. What untiring efforts has not Satan been making, what artful designs has he not planned, in order to make this much detested Sacrifice cease! And alas! there has been, even in the very heart of Christendom, some partial success to those efforts and designs,—there has been the protestant heresy, which has destroyed thousands of our Altars, especially in our own dear fatherland,—and there is still the spirit of Revolution which is spreading as our modern times grow older, and whose avowed aim is to shut up our Churches, and do away with the Priests who offer sacrifice!
So it is: and therefore, our world, which heretofore used to be set right again after the storms that swept its surface, now complains that the impending ruin is a universal one, and one wherein there is no strength, save in the very chastisements sent by God. It vainly busies itself with its plans of safety, and at each turn, feels that the human legislation it would trust to is but an arm of human folly stretched out to support a decrepit age of proud weakness. The Blood of the Lamb, once the world’s power, no longer flows upon it with its former plenty. And yet, the world goes on; it does so because of that same Sacrifice, which, though despised and in many lands totally suspended, is still offered in thousands of happy spots on earth; and on the world will go, for the time yet to come, until, in a final access of mad frenzy, it shall have put the last Priest to death, and taken away from every Altar here below, the eternal Sacrifice.
The incalculable influence of the Eucharistic Sacrifice, and its unlimited power, are brought forward in the following beautiful formula, which is a continuation of what we have already taken from the Apostolic Constitutions.
Constitutio Jacobi
Poscimus te ut super hæc dona placate respicias, tu qui nullius indiges Deus, et beneplaceas in eis ad honorem Christi tui, atque supra hoc sacrificium mittas sanctum tuum Spiritum, testem passionum Domini Jesu: ut participes illius ad pietatem confirmentur, remissionem peccatorum consequantur, diabolo ejusque errore liberentur, Spiritu sancto repleantur, digni Christo tuo fiant, vitam sempiternam impetrent, te illis reconciliato, Domine omnipotens.
We beseech thee that thou mercifully look down upon these gifts, thou, O God, who standest in need of none of our things; and be thou well-pleased in them, for the honor of thy Christ; send down upon this sacrifice thy Spirit, he that was witness of the Lord Jesus’ sufferings; in order that they who are partakers of his (Body and Blood) may be strengthened unto piety, may obtain the remission of their sins, may be delivered from the devil and his deceit, may be filled with the Holy Ghost, may be made worthy of thy Christ, and may obtain life everlasting, by thy being reconciled to them, O almighty Lord.
Adhuc oramus te, Domine, pro santa Ecclesia tua, quæ a finibus ad fines extenditur, quam acquisisti pretioso sanguine Christi tui: ut eam inconcussam ac minime fluctuantem conserves usque in sæculi consummationem! item pro universo episcopatu recte verbum veritatis tractante ac distribuente, pro omni presbyterio, pro diaconis, ac universo clero: ut omnes sapientiam a te donatos Spiritu sancto impleas.
We further pray thee, O Lord, for thy holy Church, which is spread from one end of the world to the other, which thou hast purchased by the precious Blood of thy Christ: preserve it unshaken and free from disturbance until the consummation of time; we also pray for the whole episcopacy which rightly treats and distributes the word of truth; for the whole presbytery, for deacons, and the entire clergy; that, having enriched them with Wisdom, thou mayst fill them with the Holy Spirit.
Adhuc rogamus te, Domine, pro rege et iis qui in sublimitate sunt et pro cuncto exercitu, ut res nostræ ni pace versentur; quo totum vitæ nostræ tempus in quiete et concordia trajicientes, te per Jesum Christum spem nostram gloria afficiamus.
We further pray thee, O Lord, for the king and them that are in authority, and for the whole army, that all our affairs may be in peace; that, thereby, spending the whole time of our life in quietness and concord, we may glorify thee, through him who is our hope, Christ Jesus.
Adhuc offerimus tibi pro omnibus sanctis qui a sæculo placuerunt tibi, patriarchis, prophetis, justis, apostolis, martyribus, confessoribus, episcopis, presbyteris, diaconis, subdiaconis, lectoribus, cantoribus, virginibus, viduis, laicis et omnnibus quorum tu nosti nomina.
We further offer thee (this Sacrifice) for all the saints who have been pleasing to thee from the beginning: patriarchs, prophets, righteous, apostles, martyrs, confessors, bishops, priests, deacons, subdeacons, lectors, chanters, virgins, widows, laity, and all whose names are known to thee.
Adhuc offerimis tibi pro populo hoc: ut eum in laudem Christi tui exhibeas regale sacerdotium, gentem sanctam; pro iis qui in virginitate et castitate vivunt; pro viduis Ecclesiæ; pro iis qui in nuptiis honestis degunt; pro infantibus plebis tuæ: uti nostrum neminem rejiciendum habeas.
We further offer it to thee for this people, that thou wilt make them, to the praise of thy Christ, a kingly priesthood and a holy nation; for them that live in virginity and chastity; for the Church’s widows; for them that live in honorable wedlock; for the infants of thy people: that thou mayst not cast any one of us away.
Adhuc poscimus te pro urbe hac et habitantibus in ea; pro ægrotis, pro dura servitute afflictis, pro exsulibus, pro proscriptis, pro navigantibus et iter facientibus: ut sis auxiliator, omnium adjutor ac defensor.
We further beseech thee for this city and its inhabitants; for the sick; for them that are in cruel servitude; for them that are in banishment; for them that are in prison; for them that are travelling by sea or land: that thou be their supporter, thou the helper and defender of all.
Adhuc rogamus te pro iis qui oderunt nos et propter nomen tuum nos persequuntur, pro iis qui foris sunt ac errant: ut adducas eos ad bonum, et furorem eorum mitiges.
We further beseech thee for them that hate and persecute us for thy name’s sake; for them that are without, and are astray: that thou lead them to what is good, and appease their fury.
Adhuc rogamus te et pro Ecclesiæ catechumenis, et pro iis qui ab adversario jactantur, et pro pœnitentiam agentibus fratribus nostris: ut primos quidem perficias in fide, alteros vero mundes a vexatione mali, tertiorum autem pœnitentiam suscipias, condonesque cum iis tum nobis quæ delinquimus. We further also beseech thee for the Church’s catechumens, and for the possessed by satan, and for our brethren the penitents: that thou mayst perfect the first in faith, cleanse the second from the attacks of the wicked one, and accept the penance of the third, pardoning both them and us the offenses committed by us.
Offerimus quoque tibi pro aeris temperatura et frugum ubertate: ut indesinenter bona a te collata percipientes, asidue laudemus te qui das escam omni carni.
We offer it to thee, likewise, for favorable weather and abundant crops: that ever receiving the good things thou bestowest, we may cease not to praise thee, who givest food to all flesh.
Etiam rogamus te pro iis qui ob causam probabilem absentes sunt: ut omnes nos in pietate conservatos a te, in Christi tui, Dei universæ naturæ sub sensum et intelligentiam cadentis, regisque nostri regno congreges, immutabiles, inculpatos, irreprehensos.
We also beseech thee for them that are absent for a just cause: that thus, being maintained in holiness by thee, thou mayst unite us all, immoveable, blameless, and without reproach, in the kingdom of thy Christ, who is the God of every creature both sensible and intellectual, and is also our king.
Quoniam tibi omnis gloria, veneratio, gratiarum actio, honor, adoratio: Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto, nunc, et semper, et in infinita ac sempiterna sæcula sæculorum.
For to thee be all glory, worship, thanksgiving, honor, adoration, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, now, and ever, and for endless everlasting ages.
Atque omnis populis Amen respondeat. And let all the people answer: Amen.
We have taken the following fine Sequence from Daniel’s Thesaurus Hymnologicus. Unlike so many other liturgical pieces composed, in the 14th and 15th Centuries, in honor of the Blessed Sacrament, we find in it somewhat of the soul and spirit of the great Christian poets of earlier times.
![[Image: ?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi.pinimg.com%2Foriginal...f=1&nofb=1]](https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi.pinimg.com%2Foriginals%2F08%2Fe5%2F80%2F08e580cd9803fc6a8271cf6d1d753baf.jpg&f=1&nofb=1)
De S. Sacramento
Infra Septuagesimam et Quadragesimam.
De superna Hierarchia,
Vera descendit Sophia
In uterum Virginis:
Optatus Dux in hac via
Venit natus de Maria,
Esse portans hominis.
True Sophia, true Wisdom, came down, from the hierarchy of heaven, into the Virgin’s womb: our long-desired Guide in this life, came, born of Mary, having the nature of Man.
Magnæ Matris magnus Natus,
Modo miro mundo natus,
Mundi tollit crimina:
Aufert morbos, dat salutem,
Ante suos fert virtutem,
Hostis fugans agmina.
Noble Son of noble Mother, born into this world in a wonderful manner, he takes that world’s sins away: he expels disease, bestows health, leads on his people with power, and puts the hostile ranks to flight.
Zelator mirabilis,
Effectus passibilis,
In cruce damnatur:
Legislator veteris
Legis plagis asperis
Pro nobis plagatur.
He that is wonderful in his love, having become passible, is condemned to the Cross: he that is the giver of the Old Law is, for our sakes, wounded with cruel wounds.
Agnus in Cruce levatus,
Et pro nobis immolatus,
Fit salutis hostia:
Vitæ nostræ reparator,
Et virtutum restaurator,
Cœli pandit ostia.
The Lamb being lifted up on the Cross, and immolated for us, is made the Victim of salvation: the repairer of our life, the restorer of all virtues, opens heaven’s gates.
Sacramenta dictat prius,
Cœna magna, bene scius
Quæ jam erant obvia:
Præbens panem benedicit;
Hoc est corpus meum, dicit;
Sit mei memoria.
At the great Supper, he first declares his mysteries, knowing well what awaited him. Taking bread, he blesses it, This, he says, is my Body: be it a remembrance of me!
Data benedictio
Fit a Dei Filio
Vini propinati;
Et cum benedicitur,
Tunc sanguis efficitur
Verbi incarnati.
The wine in the cup which he presents, is blessed by him, who is Son of God; and when blessed, it becomes the Blood of the Word made Flesh.
Deo nota sunt hæc soli:
Credi debent atque coli,
Amoto scrutinio:
Justus tantum expers doli
Sumat illa:—sed tu noli
Involute vitio.
To God alone are these things understood; we are to believe and worship them, without prying into their depths: let the just man alone approach to receive them, who is of simple faith: if thou art cloaked in vice, approach not!
Cave, Juda, ne damneris:
Petre, sume et salveris:
Cibus est fidelium:
Ad cujus mensam armatur
Justus, reus et nudatur,
Præda factus hostium.
Take heed, thou Judas! for thou wilt find thy condemnation! Thou, O Peter, take and find salvation! This is the food of Believers. At this Table, the just man is clad with armor; but the guilty one is stripped, and is made a prey to the foes.
Tua, Christe, sunt hæc mira;
Serva sumentes ab ira Judicii:
Orna nos veste gratiæ,
Defende nos a facie Supplicii.
Reparator salvifice,
Dignos cibo nos effice
Medecine cœlice.
These, O Christ, are thy marvelous works: O save us, who receive them, from an angry judgment. Adorn us with the garb of grace! Defend us from punishment. O thou restorer of salvation! O heavenly Physician! make us worthy of the food thou givest us!
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| June 7th: St. Paul, Bishop & St. Robert, Abbot |
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Posted by: Stone - 06-08-2021, 06:06 AM - Forum: June
- Replies (1)
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ST. PAUL, M., BISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE
ST. PAUL was a native of Thessalonica, but deacon of the church of Constantinople in 340, when the bishop, Alexander, lying on his death-bed, recommended him for his successor. He was accordingly chosen, and being a great master in the art of speaking, and exceeding zealous in the defence of the Catholic faith, he was a terror to the Arians. Macedonius, who was passionately in love with that dignity, and supported by a powerful faction of the heretics, spread abroad many calumnies against the new bishop. But the accusation being destitute of all probability, he was obliged to drop the charge; and he so well acted the part of a hypocrite, that he was soon after ordained priest by St. Pau1.1 However, Eusebius of Nicomedia, who was the ringleader of the Arians, and had been already translated from the see of Berytus to that of Nicomedia, against the canons, began to cast his ambitious eye on that of Constantinople, revived the old slanders, and impeached Paul falsely, alleging that he had led a disorderly life before his consecration: and secondly, that he ought not to have been chosen bishop without the consent of the two neighboring metropolitans of Heraclea and Nicomedia. The election of Paul had happened during the absence of Constantius. This was made a third article of the impeachment; and the two former having been easily confuted, this was so much exaggerated to that prince, as a contempt of his imperial dignity, that St. Paul was unjustly deposed by an assembly of Arian prelates, and the ambitious Eusebius placed in his see in 340. Our saint, seeing himself rendered useless to his flock, whilst Arianism reigned triumphant in the East, under the protection of Constantius, took shelter in the West, in the dominions of Constans. He was graciously received by that prince and by St. Maximinus at Triers, and, after a short stay in that city, went to Rome, where he found St. Athanasius, and assisted at the council held by pope Julius in 341, of about eighty bishops, in the church, in which, as St. Athanasius informs us, the priest Vito was accustomed to hold assemblies of the people; that is, as priest of that parish. This is that Vito who, with Vincent and Osius, was legate of St. Sylvester in the council of Nice.1 By this synod. St. Athanasius, Marcellus of Ancyra, and St. Paul were ordered to be restored to their respective sees. And pope Julius, as Socrates and Sozomen relate,* by virtue of his authority in the church, sent them back with letters to the eastern bishops, requiring them to restore them to their bishoprics. The excellent letter of pope Julius to the oriental bishops, is preserved by St. Athanasius.2 The pope particularly reproves the persecutors for having presumed to judge bishops, even of the principal sees which the apostles had governed without having first written to him, according to custom.†
St. Paul went back to Constantinople, but could not recover his see till the death of his powerful antagonist, who had usurped it, made way for him in 342. Though the Catholics took that opportunity to reinstate him in his dignity, the Arians, who were headed by Theognis of Nice, and Theodorus of Heraclea, constituted Macedonius their bishop. This schismatical ordination was followed by a furious sedition, in which almost the whole city ran to arms, and several persons lost their lives. Constantius, who was then at Antioch, upon the news of these commotions, ordered his general, Hermogenes, who was going into Thrace, to pass by Constantinople and drive Paul out of the city. The general found the mob in too violent a ferment, and while he endeavored to execute his commission by force, lost his own life. This outrage drew Constantius himself to Constantinople in the depth of winter. At the entreaty of the senate he pardoned the people, but banished Paul. Nevertheless he refused to confirm the election of Macedonius, on account of his share in the late sedition. St. Paul seems to have retired back to Triers. We find him again at Constantinople in 344, with letters of recommendation from the emperor of the West. Constantius only allowed his re-establishment for fear of his brother’s arms, and the saint’s situation in the East continued very uneasy; for he had much to suffer from the power and malice of the Arian party. He hoped for a redres from the council of Sardica, in 347. The Eusebians, withdrawing to Philipopolis, thundered out an excommunication against St. Paul, St. Athanasius, pope Julius, and several other pillars of the Catholic faith. The death of Constans in 350 left Constantius at full liberty to treat the Catholics as he pleased. Upon application made to him by those of his party, he sent from Antioch, where he then was, an order to Philip, his Præfectus Prætorii, to drive Paul out of the church and city of Constantinople, and to place Macedonius in his see. Philip, being attached to the Arian party, but fearing a sedition from the great affection which the people bore their pastor, privately sent for him to one of the public baths of the city, and there showed him the emperor’s commission.
The saint submitted cheerfully, though his condemnation was in every respect notoriously irregular. The people, suspecting some foul design, flocked about the door; but Philip caused a passage to be made by breaking down a window on the other side of the building, and sent him under a safeguard to the palace, which was not far off. From thence he was shipped away to Thessalonica, and at first allowed to choose the place of his exile. But his enemies soon repented of this mildness; and he was loaded with chains, and sent to Singara in Mesopotamia. From thence he was carried to Emesa in Syria, and afterwards to Cucusus, a small town on the confines of Cappadocia and Armenia, famous for its bad air and unhealthful situation, in the deserts of mount Taurus. Here he was confined in a close dark place, and left to starve to death. After he had passed six days without food, he was, to the great disappointment of his enemies, found alive. Upon which they strangled him, and gave out that he died after a short sickness. Philagius, an Arian officer, who was upon the spot when this was executed, told the whole affair to several persons, from whom St. Athanasius had it.3 His martyrdom happened in 350 or 351. The divine vengeance soon overtook Philip, who the same year was deprived of his honors and estate, and banished. The Arians from this time remained masters of the church of Constantinople, till the year 379, when St. Gregory Nazianzen was chosen bishop. The body of St. Paul was brought to Ancyra in Galatia, and, by the order of Theodosius the Great, was thence translated to Constantinople in 381 about thirty years after his death. It was buried there in the great church built by Macedonius, which from that time was known by no other name than that of St. Pau1.4 His remains were removed to Venice in 1226 where they are kept with great respect in the church of St. Laurence, belonging to a noble monastery of Benedictin nuns.5
The Arian emperor Constantius objected to the Catholics the prosperity of his reign, as a proof of the justice and truth of his cause; but he had not then seen the issue. When Polycrates of Samos boasted that fortune was in his pay, he little thought that he should shortly after end his life at Sardis on a cross. The smiles of the world are usually, to impenitent sinners, the most dreadful of all divine judgments. By prosperity they are blinded in their passions, and “resemble victims fattened for slaughter, crowned for a sacrifice,” according to the elegant expression of Minutius Felix.6 Of this we may understand the divine threat of showing them temporal mercy: Let us have pity on the wicked man, and he will not learn justice.7 Upon which words Saint Bernard cries, “This temporal mercy of God is more cruel than any anger. O Father of mercies, remove far from me this indulgence excluding from the paths of justice.”8 Who does not pray that if he err he may rather be corrected by the tenderness of a father, than disinherited as a castaway? Even the just must suffer with Christ, if they hope to reign with him. He who enjoys here an uninterrupted flow of prosperity, sails among rocks and shelves.
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| Judge orders Texas father of 4 to be vaccinated before seeing his children |
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Posted by: SAguide - 06-07-2021, 01:13 PM - Forum: COVID Vaccines
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Divorce court judge orders Texas father of four
to be vaccinated before seeing his children
Chris Staley explained his understanding that his ‘civil rights were kind of
violated there, whenever a judge is ordering me to take a vaccination.’
June 4, 2021 ( LifeSiteNews) – A Texas man has been ordered by the judge presiding over his divorce to receive a vaccine against COVID-19 in order to see his four children, FOX26 Houston reported.
In fact, a May 10 court summary detailed the judge’s requirement that “[b]oth parents are to get vaccinated for COVID by end of this week.”
Staley, who lives roughly two hours from his wife and four children, stated that he “didn’t agree” with the judge’s vaccine order on the grounds that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ® signed an April 5 executive order “prohibiting state agencies or political subdivisions in Texas from creating a ‘vaccine passport’ requirement, or otherwise conditioning receipt of services on an individual’s COVID-19 vaccination status.”
Staley explained his understanding that his “civil rights were kind of violated there, whenever a judge is ordering me to take a vaccination,” emphasizing that, as things stand, the available vaccines for COVID are “not FDA approved.”
Staley’s concern arises from the terms under which all of the currently available vaccines against COVD-19 are marketed in the U.S. As things stand, the mRNS vaccines produced by Pfizer and Moderna, as well as the attenuated viral vaccine from Johnson & Johnson, are all approved for use under the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) “emergency use authorization” (EUA) protocol.
EUAs are granted to medications for which there is a perceived immediate need but which have not yet been through the rigors of a fully FDA-licensed drug. This renders EUA products experimental, with attending legal differences from their licensed counterparts.
“[T]hey really have no idea what the side effects could be down the road, you know — what it could do to me in a year or five years,” Staley said.
The FDA states that as EUA products, each vaccine is “an investigational vaccine not licensed for any indication,” and the agency requires that all “promotional material relating to the COVID-19 Vaccine clearly and conspicuously … state that this product has not been approved or licensed by the FDA, but has been authorized for emergency use by FDA.”
Furthermore, federal law states, “to protect public health,” that all manufacturers of products authorized for emergency use are required to provide “[a]ppropriate conditions designed to ensure that individuals to whom the product is administered are informed … of the option to accept or refuse administration of the product[url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/definitions/uscode.php?width=840&height=800&iframe=true&def_id=21-USC-309474065-1242874613&term_occur=999&term_src=title:21:chapter:9:subchapter:V:part:E:section:360bbb%E2%80%933][/url], of the consequences, if any, of refusing administration of the product, and of the alternatives to the product that are available and of their benefits and risks.”
In fact, based on federal law, Children’s Health Defense (CHD) chairman Robert F. Kennedy Jr. filed a citizen petition with the FDA to immediately overturn the EUA given to COVID vaccines, in the hope that full licensing may be prohibited.
Kennedy cited the stipulation “that to grant EUA status, no other effective intervention may exist.” But since ivermectin has been proven to reduce the severity of illness arising from the SARS-CoV-2 virus, as well as working as an effective prophylactic, Kennedy said the FDA should fulfil its obligation to “immediately amend its existing guidance for the use of chloroquine drugs, ivermectin, and any other safe and effective drugs against COVID.”
Kennedy also made efforts to remind FDA officials that they are duty bound to “ensure all parties are aware of the ‘option to accept or refuse’ administration of all EUA products and that alternatives are available.”
Despite Staley’s hesitation and justifiable concerns about vaccine safety, the judge “pretty much told me and her both that we were to get a COVID vaccination,” he said.
Staley refused to take one of the experimental jabs before the deadline against the advice of not only the judge, but also his own lawyer, Lana Shadwick, who counseled Staley to take the vaccine and not to challenge Kitchens’ ruling.
Shadwick advised that Kitchens will be “the one who’s going to set my visitations and be the one that handles all my stuff — pretty much be the lawyer who oversees my case until my kids are 18 and that it would be in my best interest not to upset him, and she pretty much said you probably should just go get [the vaccine],” informed Staley.
Regardless, the father of four decided to spend the following weekend with his children, technically in violation of the court order. “[I] kind of rolled with it and just kind of took my kids for the day without anyone saying whether I’ve gotten this vaccination or not,” he said.
Neither Staley nor Shadwick were able to be reached for comment before publishing.
Staley is reportedly awaiting a court hearing in July to determine custody of his children.
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| 12-year-olds to be vaccinated without parental consent in San Francisco |
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Posted by: Stone - 06-06-2021, 06:44 AM - Forum: Against the Children
- No Replies
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12-year-olds to be vaccinated without parental consent in San Francisco
The coronavirus vaccines are not fully approved by the FDA, but merely granted emergency use authorization.
SAN FRANCISCO, June 4, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — In a health order released April 28, 2021, the City of San Francisco officially allowed children as young as 12 to take the coronavirus vaccine without parental notification or consent.
The health order was issued even though the vaccines have not been fully approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but are merely given an emergency use authorization.
Indeed, the order argues that “In the coming months, not only is it likely that the authorization for such vaccines will be expanded (both in terms of the numbers of vaccines but also in terms of non-emergency approval), but it is also likely that the age range of those who are authorized to receive the vaccine in the United States will be expanded to allow for more minors to receive the vaccine.”
The document urged that “although many people have received the COVID-19 vaccines, it is critical from a public health perspective that as many people as possible, including minors, receive the vaccine.”
The San Francisco Department of Health justified this decision by referring to prior cases that allowed for children to give their own consent: “This ability to consent is similar to the concept used elsewhere in state law that minors 12 years old or older may consent to the diagnosis or treatment of infectious diseases, including specifically COVID-19, without parental consent. Allowing prevention of the disease via vaccination is just as important as allowing a minor to be tested for that disease or to be treated for it.”
LifeSiteNews reached out to Executive Director, Michael Ramey of ParentalRights.org, a non-profit political action group working to pass legislation that protects families, to comment on the issue of consent.
“The U.S. Supreme Court recognized decades ago that most children, even in adolescence, are not yet ready to make the kind of long term, potentially life-altering decisions often involved in their medical care,” he said. “The Court rightly declared that it is the proper role of parents to make those judgments. Yet today, we are seeing a flood of orders like this one that ignore this vital parental role. Claiming to give a child ‘freedom’ to make their own decision, all they really do is rob the child of the protection that fit, loving, older and wiser parents can give them from a wrong decision. Such orders put children’s lives at risk, and should be discarded for the unconstitutional rubbish that they are.”
“It isn’t ‘freedom’ if the only time the law empowers a minor to defy her parents is when she’s making the decision the government wants her to make in the first place,” Ramey continued. “That's not freedom: it’s coercion of a minor who has been stripped of her defenses.”
Children and vaccines
The coronavirus is no grave threat for children and teenagers.
America’s Frontline Doctors issued a white paper indicating that the survival rate of children under 19 years that have contracted the coronavirus is 99.997%. There are known complications with the vaccines, the white paper declares, including the immune enhancement whereby “antiCOVID antibodies, stimulated by a vaccine, amplify the infection rather than prevent its damage.” Other possible side effects, as listed by the FDA, include death, heart attacks, stroke, and blood disorders.
Dr. Paul Alexander, a physician writing for the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER) explains that there are almost no instances of asymptomatic spread of the virus. Further, he is arguing that children do not need to be vaccinated, and that herd immunity can happen through day-to-day contact in schools. Alexander told Laura Ingraham on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle” that “[t]he risk to children is so small, there is no reason to put our children in harm’s way at this point. Not with these untested vaccines. This is reckless.”
Alexander said, “Ludvigsson published a seminal paper in the New England Journal of Medicine on COVID-19 among children 1 to 16 years of age and their teachers in Sweden. From the nearly 2 million children that were followed in school in Sweden, it was reported that with no mask mandates, there were zero deaths from COVID and a few instances of transmission and minimal hospitalization.”
There is hesitancy to vaccinate children due to “lack of confidence in the vaccine” according to the WHO.
Emergency Use Authorization for vaccines
The FDA has issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for three coronavirus vaccines. An EUA can only granted to a medication or vaccine if there are no alternative treatments available, but it doesn’t amount to an actual approval of that medication of vaccine, with proper testing before.
On May 10, 2021, the FDA officially extended the EUA to include children aged 12 to 15 for the Pfizer vaccine. The Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines have still not been given an EUA for adolescents.
The Order, the San Francisco Department of Health claims, is both reasonable and necessary because it is “issued based on evidence of continued community transmission of COVID-19 within the City, throughout the Bay Area, across California, and across the United States; evidence that most COVID-19 infections are caused by people who have no symptoms at all of illness.”
The health risks, the department argues, are serious enough to warrant such an order.
“[T]he age, condition, and health of a significant portion of the population of the City places it at risk for serious health complications, including death, from COVID-19; further evidence that others, including younger and otherwise healthy people, are also at risk for serious outcomes including death; evidence that breakthrough infections can occur in fully vaccinated people; and the reality that SARS-CoV-2 infections and COVID-19 diagnoses remain prevalent throughout the world.”
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| Stem Cell Research now allowed on human embryos older than 14 days |
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Posted by: Stone - 06-06-2021, 06:39 AM - Forum: Abortion
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International Society for Stem Cell Research updates rules to allow experimentation on human embryos older than 14 days
Students for Life of America president Kristan Hawkins slammed the decision as 'abhorrent.'
SKOKIE, Illinois, June 4, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — A group of scientists have called for an end to rules preventing research on unborn babies older than 14 days gestation.
Last month the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) published new guidelines expanding research on living human embryos. British geneticist Robin Lovell-Badge celebrated the recommendations in a May 26 article published in the online Nature magazine. The article is misleadingly entitled, “Stem-cell guidelines: why it was time for an update.”
“The updated guidelines, published this week, are the product of a task force, which I chaired,” Lovell-Badge wrote.
“It comprised 45 international experts, including scientists, clinicians, ethicists, lawyers and policy specialists,” he continued.
“We deliberated over 18 months and more than 100 Zoom calls. We consulted relevant polls and public-engagement projects. The guidelines were then peer reviewed by a similar set of experts.”
Lovell-Bridge said the most “striking” change the Society recommended was “relaxing the ‘14 day rule’, the limit to culturing intact human embryos in the laboratory, which has been written into law by some dozen countries, including the United Kingdom and Australia.”
According to current rules, after two weeks of being experimented on, human embryos must be killed. According to Lovell-Bridge, this is because the “first signs” of their central nervous systems would appear shortly afterwards. He argued, however, that although the limit has previously “served science well,” it prevents “study of a critical period, between 14 and 28 days, when the beginnings of tissues are established.” This is to say, he believes scientists should be allowed to experiment on unborn babies whose brain, heart, and spinal cord have begun to form.
Apparently, scientists can already use stem cells to grow “structures” very much like human embryos, and Lovell-Bridge believes that it would be helpful to compare them to real human embryos to “assess their relevance” and “use them for experiments that would otherwise require embryos.” Here the scientists seem to be arguing that some human embryos should be subject to experimentation so as to spare … other human embryos.
Lovell-Bridge believes that the “14-day rule” helped research that was “essential” for “many assisted-conception techniques” — that is, artificial conception — to flourish despite “strong opposition, notably from religious groups.” And there were “even” some scientists who were “reluctant to discard” this “workable compromise.” But, he says, the rule was composed 40 years ago, when it was impossible to keep an embryo alive for experimentation for more than five days. Times have changed.
Many religions, notably Catholicism, believe that innocent human life is sacred from conception until natural death. All human beings have the right to live and possess an inherent dignity by virtue of their participation in the human family, made in the image and likeness of God.
In Donum Vitae, promulgated in 1987, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith completely vetoed harming living embryos or violating their integrity, saying:
Quote:Medical research must refrain from operations on live embryos, unless there is a moral certainty of not causing harm to the life or integrity of the unborn child and the mother, and on condition that the parents have givers their free and informed consent to the procedure. It follows that all research, even when limited to the simple observation of the embryo, would become illicit were it to involve risk to the embryo’s physical integrity or life by reason of the methods used or the effects induced. As regards experimentation, and presupposing the general distinction between experimentation for purposes which are not directly therapeutic and experimentation which is clearly therapeutic for the subject himself, in the case in point one must also distinguish between experimentation carried out on embryos which are still alive and experimentation carried out on embryos which are dead. If the embryos are living, whether viable or not, they must be respected just like any other human person; experimentation on embryos which is not directly therapeutic is illicit. (29) No objective, even though noble in itself, such as a foreseeable advantage to science, to other human beings or to society, can in any way justify experimentation on living human embryos or fetuses, whether viable or not, either inside or outside the mother’s womb.
Early in his article, Lovell-Bridge acknowledged that people find such embryonic exploitation as creating human-animal hybrids “scary and uncomfortable.” He wrote that the International Society for Stem Cell Research has offered a “solution” to opposition to research on older embryos by requiring “review and approval of proposals” to study them.
“Importantly, each proposal should be judged individually, on whether the research is justifiable in terms of the value of the information obtained, whether there are alternative ways to obtain the information and so on. The more embryos that would be used, or the longer they would be kept in culture, the higher the bar,” he wrote.
This is unlikely to placate people who hold the lives of every unborn human sacred, however. The same day Lovell-Bridge's article was published, Students for Life Action President Kristan Hawkins called the ISCCR recommendations to allow experimentation on older embryos “abhorrent.”
“Just because something can be done isn’t an argument for allowing it to be done,” she added.
“This kind of policy undermines the respect we owe to human beings not yet born and further empowers abortion vendors who profit by degrading preborn life,” Hawkins continued.
“Allowing research on human life opens hideous doors that historically we have fought to close. Congress and those leading our scientific communities should end this type of research before it begins.”
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| June 6th - St. Norbert |
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Posted by: Stone - 06-06-2021, 06:15 AM - Forum: June
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June 6 – St Norbert, Bishop and Confessor
![[Image: St_-Norbert-with-altar-boys.jpg?resize=642%2C1024&ssl=1]](https://i1.wp.com/sensusfidelium.us/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/St_-Norbert-with-altar-boys.jpg?resize=642%2C1024&ssl=1)
The helpful influence of the Holy Ghost is more and more multiplied along the Church’s path. It seems as though he would show us today how the divine power of his action is not crippled by the lapse of years: for here we have, twelve centuries after his first coming among us, miracles of grace and conversion quite as brilliant as those that marked his glorious descent upon earth.
Norbert, in whose veins flowed the best blood of emperors and kings, was from the very breast of his mother, Hedwige, supernaturally invited to a nobility loftier still: yet did he devote, to the unreserved enjoyment of pleasure, three and thirty years of a life that was to number but fifty in all. The Holy Ghost at length hastened to the conquest. There bursts a sudden storm, a thunderbolt falls right in front of the prodigal, throwing him to the ground and making a frightful chasm between him and point whither, a moment ago, he was hastening in pursuit of new vanities that needs must fail, as all others had done, to fill the hopeless void in his heart. Then, in the very depths of his soul resounds a voice such as Saul once heard on his way to Damascus: “Norbert, whither goest thou?” Like another Paul he replies: “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” He is answered: “Depart from evil and do good; seek after peace and pursue it.” Twenty years later—and Norbert is in heaven, seated amidst pontiffs, upon a glorious throne, and all radiant with that special brilliancy that distinguishes the Founders of the great Religious Orders when they have reached the eternal Home.
Deep are the traces left by him on earth, of his few years of penitential life. Germany and France receive his preaching; Antwerp is delivered from a shameful heresy; Magdeburg is rescued by this her Archbishop, from the irregularities that were sullying the House of God: such are his works; and though these alone would have sufficed to a long life of holiness, yet they are not the only titles, nor the most brilliant which Norbert has to the Church’s gratitude. Before being called, against his will, to the honors of the episcopate, this once gay courtier, made choice of an uninhabitable solitude amidst the forests of the diocese of Laon, wherein to devote himself to prayer and to the maceration of his flesh. The renown of this holy penitent gained rapidly, and Prémontré soon beheld her swampy marshes invaded by a vast multitude, formed of the fairest names of picked nobility, pressing thither to learn the science of salvation, from the lips of the saintly anchorite. There too did Our Lady show to him, in vision, the white habit wherewith his disciples were to be clothed; and Saint Augustine, in like manner, delivered to him his own Rule. Thus was founded the most illustrious branch of the Order of Canons Regular. They add to the obligation of solemnizing the Divine Office, the austerities of an uninterrupted penance; and devote themselves, moreover, to the service of souls, by preaching and the administration of parishes.
In the foregoing century, the episcopacy and papacy had been raised by the monks, from out the reach of feudal servitude; and Norbert was now raised up to give the needed completion to their work. Although, on principle, the monastic life excludes no sort of labor useful to the Church, the monks could not (numerous they might be) quit their cloisters in order to undertake charge of souls. Yet great were the wants of the lambs of the flock at that time, for many unworthy pastors of secondary order, slaves to simony and immorality, still continued to lead astray the simple laity. The religious life was alone capable of raising the priesthood from such degradation, whether on the pinnacles of the hierarchy or amongst the lowest degrees of sacred Orders. Norbert was the man chosen by God to effect, in part at least, this immense work: and the importance of his mission explains the sublime prodigality wherewith the Holy Ghost multiplied vocations to his standard. The number and rapidity of foundations permitted succor to be promptly and everywhere afforded. Even into the far East did the light of Prémontré reach, almost at its first dawn. In the eighteenth century, notwithstanding the devastations of the Turks and the ravages of the pretended Reform, the Order, divided into twenty-eight provinces, still contained, in nearly each one of its houses, as many as from fifty to one hundred and twenty Canons; and the parishes that continued under their care might be counted by thousands.Nuns, whose holy life and prayers are the ornament and aid of the Church militant, occupied from the very beginning the place deservedly their due in this numerous family. In the time of the founder, or soon after his death, there were more than a thousand of them, at Prémontré alone. Such an incredible sum gives us an idea of the prodigious propagation of the Order from its very origin. Norbert moreover extended his charity to persons who, like Thibault Count of Champagne, would gladly have followed him into the desert, but who were retained by God’s will in the world; he thus made a prelude to those pious associations, which we shall see Saint Francis and Saint Dominic organizing, in the thirteenth century under the name of “Third Orders.”
The Liturgy thus condenses the life of this great servant of God:
Quote:Norbert, born of parents of the highest rank, thoroughly educated in his youth, in worldly knowledge, and then a member of the imperial court, turned his back upon the glory of the world, and chose rather to enlist himself as a soldier of the Church. Being ordained priest, he laid aside all soft and showy raiment, clad himself in a coat of skins, and made the preaching of the word of God the one object of his life. Having renounced the ecclesiastical revenues which he possessed and which were very considerable, he distributed likewise his patrimony among the poor. He ate only once a day and that in the evening, and then his meal was of Lenten fare. His life was of singular austerity, and he was used even in the depth of winter, to go out with bare feet and ragged garments. Hence came that mighty power of his words and deeds, whereby he was enabled to turn countless heretics to the faith, sinners to repentance, and enemies to peace and concord.
Being at Laon, the bishop besought him not to leave his diocese, and he therefore made choice of a wilderness, at a place called Prémontré, whither he withdrew himself with thirteen disciples, and thus he founded the Order of Premonstratensians, whereof he received the Rule in a holy vision, from Saint Augustine. When, however, the fame of his holy life became every day more and more noised abroad, and great numbers sought to become his disciples, and the Order had been approved by Honorius II and other Popes, many more monasteries were built by him, and the Institute wonderfully extended.
Being called to Antwerp, he there gave the deathblow to the shameful heresy of Tanchelin. He was remarkable for the spirit of prophecy and for the gift of miracles. He was created (albeit against his will) archbishop of Magdeburg, and as such, was a strong upholder of the discipline of the Church, especially as regards celibacy. At a council held at Rheims, he was a great help to Innocent II, and went with other bishops to Rome, where he repressed the schism of Peter de Leon. At last, this man of God full of good works and of the Holy Ghost, fell asleep in the Lord, at Magdeburg, in the year of Salvation eleven hundred and thirty-four, on the sixth day of June.
Thou didst indeed know how to redeem the time, as was fitting in those evil days, wherein thou thyself, O Norbert, led away by the example of the senseless crowd, hadst for so long frustrated the designs of God’s love. Those years, at first refused by thee to the true Master of the world, thou didst at length return unto Him, multiplied a hundredfold, through those countless sons and daughters thou didst train up in sanctity. Even thy personal works, in but twenty years’ space, filled the whole earth. Schism crushed; heresy confounded to the glory of the Most Holy Sacrament which it had already dared to attack; the rights of the Church, intrepidly defended against worldly princes and unjust retentions; the priesthood restored to its primitive purity; the Christian life strengthened on its true basis, namely prayer and penance; such and so many victories achieved in so few years, are due to the generosity which prevented thee from looking back for one moment from the day wherein the Holy Ghost touched thy heart. Do thou make all understand that it is never too late to begin to serve God. Were it even, as in thy case, the evening-fall of life, what yet remains of time would quite suffice to make us saints, if we would but generously give that little, fully to Heaven.
Faith and Patience were thy cherished virtues; make them flourish once more, in this sad world of ours, which vaunts itself on doubting of everything, and with gibe and jeer hurries onward to the abyss of hell. Forget not, dear Apostle, now that thou art in heaven, the countries thou didst formerly evangelize: we implore this of thee, despite their forgetfulness, despite their criminal return to the deceits of the devil.
Holy Pontiff, Magdeburg has lost her ancient faith, and therewith, the precious relics of thy body, which she no longer deserved to possess: Prague is now the favored spot of thy repose. But while blessing this hospitable city, pray still for the ungrateful one that has cast aside her double treasure. O thou Founder of Prémontré, smile once more on France, who derives from thee one of her fairest glories. Obtain of God that for the salvation of these calamitous times, thine Order may recover something of its former splendor. Bless, few as they are, those sons and daughters of thine who, despite the ridiculous hostility of the powers that be, seek to shed once more their beneficent influence on France. May our own England benefit also of their return to her midst, and may their fruits be multiplied in every direction. Maintain thine own spirit among them; may they find in interior peace, the secret of triumph over Satan and his crew; may the full magnificence of the divine worship solemnly carried out, be ever unto their souls, as the dearly loved mount, whence Moses like, they may declare the Will of the Lord, unto the new Israel, the Christian people.
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| Sunday within the Octave of Corpus Christi |
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Posted by: Stone - 06-06-2021, 05:53 AM - Forum: Pentecost
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INSTRUCTION ON THE SECOND SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
From Fr. Leonard Goffine's Explanations of the Epistles and Gospels for the Sundays, Holydays, and Festivals throughout the Ecclesiastical Year 36th edition, 1880
INTROIT. The Lord became my protector, and He brought me forth into a large place: He saved me, because he was well pleased with me. (Ps. xvii.) I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength: the Lord is my firmament, and my refuge, and my deliverer. Glory, &c.
PRAYER OF THE CHURCH. Make us, O Lord, to have a perpetual fear and love of Thy holy name; for Thou never failest to help and govern those whom Thou dost establish in Thy steadfast love. Thro'.
EPISTLE. (i John iii. 13 — 18.) Dearly beloved, Wonder not if the world hate you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not, abideth in death; whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in himself. In this we have known the charity of God, because he hath laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. He that hath the substance of this world, and shall see his brother in need, and shut up his bowels from him, how doth the charity of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word nor in tongue, but in deed and in truth.
EXPLANATION. People who are really pious, have always something to suffer from the wicked world, as Jesus foretold, but they do not cease to love their persecutors as their best friends, and are ready, if necessary, to give their life for their enemies, as Christ did. Thus should all Christians act; for the love of our neighbor and even of our enemies is a universal command, a law that binds all; it is the life of the soul. Hatred deprives the soul of this life and makes man a murderer, because hatred is the beginning of murder, and often ends in homicide. By love we know the true Christians. (John. xiii. 35.) St. John even considers love the certain sign of being chosen for eternal life, when he says: We know, we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. Alas! how few will be chosen from among the Christians of to-day, because there is so little love among them! Empty compliments, assurances of friendship, &c. love appears only in words, only on the tongue, and such idle, ephemeral, worthless love is found everywhere in this world; but that which is love in truth and reality, which shows charity to the suffering, how rare it is! and yet only to this love is promised eternal life, because it alone rests on the love of God.
GOSPEL. (Luke . 16 — 24.) At that time, Jesus spoke to the Pharisees this parable: A certain man made a great supper, and invited many. And he sent his servant, at the hour of supper, to say to them that were invited, that they should come, for now all things are ready. And they began all at once to make excuse. The first said to him: I have bought a farm, and I must needs go out, and see it; I pray thee hold me excused. And another said: I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to try them; I pray thee hold me excused. And another said: I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. And the servant returning, told these things to his lord. Then the master of the house being angry, said to his servant: Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the feeble, and the blind, and the lame. And the servant said: Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. And the Lord said to the servant: Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. But I say unto you, that none of these men that were invited shall taste of my supper.
✠ ✠ ✠
What is to be understood by this great supper?
The Church of Christ on earth, in which His doctrine and His most precious Flesh and Blood are given as food to those who belong to her; also the Church triumphant in heaven, in which God Himself, in the beatific vision, is the nourishment. This supper is called great, because God Himself has founded the Church ; because the Church embraces heaven and earth, hence many belong and will belong to her; and because having ended the contest on earth, she will last forever in heaven. There the saints of God will enjoy the Highest Good for all eternity, and will have nothing to wish for, since all their desires will there be realized. O, what happiness it is that we are invited to His supper, and as guests are nourished by the teachings of Christ, and by His most sacred Flesh and Blood.
Who is it that prepares the supper?
It is Christ, the God-Man; who for our benefit has not only instituted His Church to which He has entrusted His doctrine and the Sacrament of His Flesh and Blood, but has gained eternal salvation for us by His passion and death, and who has invited us first by the prophets, who foretold Him and His divine kingdom, and afterwards by His apostles, and their successors to His great supper.
Who are they who excuse themselves?
They are principally the Jews who bound by pride and avarice to earthly possessions, and blinded by the pleasures of the world, did not recognize Jesus, and remained outside of His church. By him who said he had bought a farm are understood those who by constant anxieties about the possession of earthly goods, and the riches of this world, become indifferent to eternal salvation. By him who had bought five yoke of oxen, is to be understood that sort of busy men, who are so burdened with worldly affairs that they find no time to work for heaven, for they even appropriate Sundays and festivals to their worldly affairs. By him who had taken a wife, and could not come, are represented the carnal, impure men who have rendered themselves by their lusts incapable of spiritual and heavenly joys. Since these different classes of people do not wish to have part in the heavenly banquet, God has excluded them and called others.
Who are meant by the poor, the feeble, the blind, and the lame?
The humble and submissive Jews, the publicans, also the Samaritans and the Gentiles, who did not reject Jesus
and His doctrine as did the proud, high-minded, carnal Scribes and Pharisees to whom Jesus spoke this parable. The former faithfully received Him, entered His Church, and became participators in eternal happiness. This is daily repeated, because God excludes from the kingdom of heaven those proud, avaricious, and carnal Christians who are ever invited by His servants, the priests, to the enjoyment of holy Communion, but who reject the invitation. On the contrary God welcomes the poor, despised people, the penitent sinners, by separating them from the love of the world by the inspiration of His grace, and by the adversities which He sends them measure, He forces them take part. Thus, in in the spiritual joys of a sincerely pious life in His Church on earth, and in the heavenly bliss of His Church in heaven.
SUPPLICATION. I thank Thee, O most merciful Jesus that Thou hast called me into Thy Church, permitting me so often to share in the banquet of Thy love, and that by Thy sufferings and death Thou hast obtained the joys of heaven for me. Urge me as seems pleasing to Thee, compel me by temporal trials that by the use of these graces I may obtain the place which Thou hast prepared for me in heaven.
MORAL LESSONS CONCERNING THE VICE OF IMPURITY
I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. (Luke xiv.- 29.)
FROM this foolish excuse it would seem as if married life were an obstacle to arriving at the heavenly banquet, whereas lawful, chaste, Christian marriage is, on the contrary, a means of eternal salvation for those to whom the gift of continency is not given. The excuse of this married man was not grounded on his station in life, but on his inordinate inclination for carnal pleasures which render the one who gives way to it, unfit for spiritual or heavenly things, for the sensual man perceiveth not the things that are of the Spirit of God. (i Cor. ii. 14.)
Unfortunate indeed are they who suffer themselves to be carried away by their sensual lusts, who give away the priceless jewel of chastity and purity of heart which makes man equal to the angels, (Matt. xxii. 30.) who for a momentary enjoyment of sinful pleasure lose that white and precious garment in which chaste souls will shine for ever in heaven before the face of God! What benefit does the impure man derive from the gratification of vile lust? He gains the anger and contempt of God; intolerable disgust when the sin is consummated; the torment of a remorseful conscience, and unless he repent, the eternal torments of hell, for the apostle says: Do not err: neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate shall possess the kingdom of God. (i Cor. vi. 9, 10.)
It is seen from the examples of the Old Law, how much God hates and abominates the sins of impurity. Why did God regret having created man? (Gen. vi. 6.) Why did He destroy all except a very few, by a universal deluge? (Gen. vi. 17.) Why did He lay the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha in ashes by pouring upon them fire and brimstone? (Gen. xix.) Why did He punish the two brothers Her and Onan, by a sudden death? (Gen. xxxviii. 7. 10.) Why did He permit the whole tribe of Benjamin to be extirpated? (Judges xx.) Because of their detestable sins of impurity.
And is not this vice an object of the just wrath of God? By these sins an impure man disgraces his body which should be a member of Christ, a temple of the Holy Ghost; he disgraces his soul the image of God, purified and purchased by the precious blood of Christ, and lowers himself beneath the animal, which, void of intellect, follows its instinct; he weakens the power of his body and soul, and ruins his health; he loses the respectof the good, scandalizes his fellowmen, voluntarily separates himself from the communion of saints, deprives himself of the sanctifying grace of God and participation in the merits of Jesus and His saints, and, if he continues like an animal to wallow in this vice, he finally falls into such blindness and hard-heartedness that eternal truths, death, judgment, hell, and eternity no longer make any impression upon him; the most abominable crimes of impurity he considers as trifles, as human weaknesses, no sin at all. He is therefore but seldom, if ever converted, because the evil habit has become his second nature, which he can no longer overcome without an extraordinary grace from God. This God seldom gives, because the impure man generally despises ordinary means and graces, and therefore despairs and casts himself into the pool of eternal fire, where the worm
dies not, and where with Satan and his angels the impure shall be for ever tormented.
Do not suffer yourself to be deceived, Christian soul, by the words "love and friendship", which is sought to cover this vice and make it appear a weakness clinging to man. This impure love is a fire which has its origin in hell, and there it will eternally torment the bodies in which it has prevailed. That which God so much detests and so severely punishes, certainly cannot be a trifle, a human weakness! Impress deeply on your heart that all impure thoughts desires, and looks, to which you consent, all impure words, songs, exposures, touches, jokes, and such things, are great sins which exclude you from the kingdom of heaven, into which nothing defiled can enter. Remember that he who looks at a woman with a lustful desire, has already, as Christ says, committed adultery in his heart. [Matt. v. 28.) We must, then, carefully guard against "such trifles", as the wicked world calls them, if we do not wish to expose ourselves to the greatest danger of losing our souls. Although it is difficult for an impure person to be converted, yet he should not despair. God does not cast away even the greatest sinner; Jesus forgave the adulteress in the temple, and forgave and received Mary Magdalen. But he who wishes to repent must make use of the proper means to regain the grace of God, and prevent a relapse.
Those who have not defiled themselves by the sin of impurity can make use of the following means:
Quote:1. Constant prayer. Hence the admonition of the wise King; As I knew that I could not otherwise be continent, except God gave it, I went to the Lord and besought him. (Wisd. viii. 21.)
2. Mortification of the flesh by fasting and abstinence. Jesus says these impure spirits can in no other way be cast out but by prayer and fasting. (Matt. xvii. 20.)
3. The frequent meditation on the four last things, and on the bitter sufferings of our Lord; for there is, says St. Augustine, no means more powerful and effective against the heat of lust than reflection on the ignominious death of the Redeemer.
4. The quiet consideration of the temporal and eternal evils which follow from this vice, as already described.
5. The love and veneration of the Blessed Virgin who is the mother of beautiful love, the refuge of all sinners, of whom St. Bernard says: "No one has ever invoked her in his necessity without being heard."
6. The careful mortification of the eyes. The pious Job made a covenant with his eyes, that he would not so much as look upon a virgin. (Job xxxi. 1.)
7. The avoidance of evil occasions, especially intercourse with persons of the other sex. "Remember," says St. Jerome, "that a woman drove out the inhabitants of paradise, and that you are not holier than David, stronger than Samson, wiser than Solomon, who all fell by evil intercourse."
8. The avoidance of idleness: for idleness, says the proverb, is the beginning of all evil.
9. The immediate banishing of all bad thoughts by often pronouncing the names of Jesus and Mary, which, as St. Alphonsus Ligouri says, have the special power of driving away impure thoughts.
10. The frequent use of the holy Sacraments of Penance and of the Altar. This last remedy in particular is a certain cure if we make known to our confessor our weaknesses, and use the remedies he prescribes. The Scripture says that frequent Communion is the seed from which virgins spring, and the table which God has prepared against all temptations that annoy us.
PRAYER OF THE CHURCH. Inflame, O Lord, our reins and hearts with the fire of Thy Holy Spirit, that we may serve Thee with pure bodies, and please Thee with clean hearts. Amen.
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| Increased cases of cardio problems in adolescents & young adults, but CDC continues to recommend vax |
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Posted by: Juan Diego - 06-05-2021, 09:44 PM - Forum: COVID Vaccines
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This is criminal!
This "health advisory" was issued from the CDC May 28 and here it is a week later and only now getting reported.
The Pennsylvania Dept. of Health - Link, - as I understand all state health departments are circulating the same info.
PENNSYLVANIA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH 2021–PAHAN –574–06-01-ADV
Myocarditis and Pericarditis after Receipt of mRNA
COVID-19 Vaccines Among Adolescents and Young
Adults
Summary
Since April 2021, increased cases of myocarditis and pericarditis have been reported in the United States after mRNA COVID-19 vaccination (Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna), particularly in adolescents and young adults. There has not been a similar reporting pattern observed after receipt of the Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine (Johnson & Johnson).
In most cases, patients who presented for medical care have responded well to medications and rest and had prompt improvement of symptoms. Reported cases have occurred predominantly in male adolescents and young adults 16 years of age and older. Onset was typically within several days after mRNA COVID-19 vaccination, and cases have occurred more often after the second dose than the first dose. CDC and its partners are investigating these reports of myocarditis and pericarditis following mRNA COVID-19 vaccination.
CDC continues to recommend COVID-19 vaccination for everyone 12 years of age and older given the risk of COVID-19 illness and related, possibly severe complications, such as long-term health problems, hospitalization, and even death.
Background
Myocarditis is inflammation of the heart muscle, and pericarditis is inflammation of the lining outside the heart. In both cases, the body’s immune system is causing inflammation in response to an infection or some other trigger. Symptoms can include chest pain, shortness of breath, or palpitations.
The severity of cases of myocarditis and pericarditis can vary. For the cases reported after mRNA COVID-19 vaccination, most who presented to medical care have responded well to medications and rest. -Page 1of 3–Advisory# 574
The Department of Health (DOH) is releasing the following information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) about myocarditis and pericarditis that has been reported following mRNA COVID-19 vaccination.
Recommendations for Clinicians
•CDC continues to recommend COVID-19 vaccination for everyone 12 years of age and older given the greater risk of other serious complications related to COVID-19, such as hospitalization, multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), or death.
•Report all cases of myocarditis and pericarditis post COVID-19 vaccination to VAERS.
•Consider myocarditis and pericarditis in adolescents or young adults with acute chest pain, shortness of breath, or palpitations. In this younger population, coronary events are less likely to be a source of these symptoms.
•Ask about prior COVID-19 vaccination if you identify these symptoms, as well as relevant other medical, travel, and social history.
•For initial evaluation, consider an ECG, troponin level, and inflammatory markers such as C-reactive protein and erythrocyte sedimentation rate. In the setting of normal ECG, troponin, and inflammatory markers, myocarditis or pericarditis are unlikely.
•For suspected cases, consider consultation with cardiology for assistance with cardiac evaluation and management. Evaluation and management may vary depending on the patient age, clinical presentation, potential causes, or practice preference of the provider.
•For follow-up of patients with myocarditis, consult the recommendations from the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology.
•It is important to rule out other potential causes of myocarditis and pericarditis. Consider consultation with infectious disease and/or rheumatology to assist in this evaluation. oWhere available, evaluate for potential etiologies of myocarditis and pericarditis, particularly acute COVID-19 infection (e.g., PCR testing), prior SARS-CoV-2 infection (e.g., detection of SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid antibodies), and other viral etiologies (e.g., enterovirus PCR and comprehensive respiratory viral pathogen testing).
For more information
•NIH materials on myocarditis and pericarditis
•Frequently asked questions about VAERS reporting for COVID-19 vaccinesVAERS –FAQs (hhs.gov)
•How to report toVAERSPlease call DOH at 1-877-PA-HEALTH or your local health department if you have any questions about this condition or if you have any cases you would like to report.
Page 2of 3–Advisory# 574
Categories of Health Alert messages: Health Alert: conveys the highest level of importance; warrants immediate action or attention. Health Advisory: provides important information for a specific incident or situation; may not require immediate action. Health Update: provides updated information regarding an incident or situation; unlikely to require immediate action. This information is current as of June 1, 2021butmay be modified in the future. We will continue to post updated information regarding the most common questions about this subject.
Page 3of 3–Advisory# 574
The advisory to the states came from: CDC link |
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| German Cdl. Marx offers resignation: Church has reached ‘dead end’ |
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Posted by: Stone - 06-05-2021, 08:22 AM - Forum: Vatican II and the Fruits of Modernism
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German Cdl. Marx offers resignation: Church has reached ‘dead end’
‘I continue to enjoy being a priest and a bishop of this Church and I will keep committing myself in pastoral matter, wherever you deem it reasonable and useful,’ Marx told the Pope.
![[Image: Cardinal-Marx1000_810_500_75_s_c1.jpg]](https://assets.lifesitenews.com/images/made/images/remote/https_www.lifesitenews.com/images/local/Cardinal-Marx1000_810_500_75_s_c1.jpg)
MUNICH, June 4, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — In a move that appears to have been totally unexpected, Cardinal Reinhard Marx has revealed that he has tendered his resignation to Pope Francis as Archbishop of Munich and Freising. The German cardinal, who also holds top positions in the Vatican, obtained permission from the Pope to make public the letter of resignation he had sent him on May 21; it was posted on the Archdiocese’s website this Friday morning, together with a statement from Marx, who also answered questions at a press conference in the early afternoon.
The reason Marx gave for his offer to resign, long before the “legal” age of 75 (he is only 67 and has stressed that he is not “tired of office or demotivated”) was the personal responsibility he feels for the failure of people in the Church, but also of the Church itself as an institution, in handling the sex abuse crisis over the last decades.
The Church has reached a “dead end,” the cardinal stated.
Beyond the acceptance of personal accountability — not only does the resignation place the cardinal in a favorable light, it also automatically puts pressure on others to take similar steps — the rationale behind the move is quite clear: It makes out that the Church’s profound state of crisis requires new solutions, including the “Synodal Path” which has been undertaken by the Catholic Church in Germany, opening the way to revolutionary consensus with its most progressive sections.
Indeed, in some ways the resignation appears as a way or even a maneuver to promote Pope Francis’ own project of a “synodal” Church — although the more cynical are saying that Marx wants to step down to preempt problems related to his own management of the sex abuse crisis that are sure to come to the light in the near future. Die Welt called the resignation a “humility maneuver” prompted by the fact that Marx would soon be facing further accusations of mishandling the sex abuse crisis.
Whether this is true or not is not the main issue. The resignation appears to be more of a gesture than anything else, as Reinhard Marx has not voiced any intention whatsoever of backing down from his eminent roles in the Vatican, both as a member of Pope Francis’ “privy council” of cardinal advisers for the reform of the Curia, now known as the C6, and as the president of Francis’ Council for the Economy.
It will now be up to the Pope to accept or refuse his resignation; meanwhile, Cardinal Marx will remain at the head of his archdiocese for business as usual. One senior Vatican source is even of the opinion that Pope Francis wants to call Cardinal Marx to Rome.
What is plain to the eyes is that even in his resignation letter Marx is using language and ideas that are in agreement with Pope Francis’ objectives. From there to wondering whether this is a deeply “political” move is but a step.
In his May 21 letter, whose English translation was made available online together with the original German text, cardinal Marx said the present crisis affecting the Church in Germany and in the whole world “has also been caused by our own failure, our own guilt.” “My impression is that we are at a ‘dead end’ which, and this is my paschal hope, also has the potential of becoming a ‘turning point,’” he added in the opening lines of his letter.
Which clearly puts his initiative in a dynamic setting: the objective is change.
Marx’s decision to offer his resignation was a personal one, he stated in his letter.
Quote: “In essence, it is important to me to share the responsibility for the catastrophe of sexual abuse by Church officials over the past decades. The investigations and reports of the last ten years have consistently shown that there have been many personal failures and administrative mistakes but also institutional or ‘systemic’ failure. The recent debates have shown that some members of the Church refuse to believe that there is a shared responsibility in this respect and that the Church as an institution is hence also to be blamed for what has happened and therefore disapprove of discussing reforms and renewal in the context of the sexual abuse crisis.”
Marx is on a different path, his letter made clear. He wrote:
Quote:“I firmly have a different opinion. Both aspects have to be considered: mistakes for which you are personally responsible and the institutional failure which requires changes and a reform of the Church. A turning point out of this crisis is, in my opinion, only possible if we take a ‘synodal path,’ a path which actually enables a ‘discernment of spirits’ as you have repeatedly emphasized and reiterated in your letter to the Church in Germany.”
Both expressions: “Synodal Path” and “discernment of spirits” are dear to the Pope and have been used repeatedly to justify developments beyond the traditional doctrine and discipline of the Church. They point to a democratic approach to power and the definition of what is to be believed and to be done, with a possibility of change as a result of the will of the people, both the ordained and the laity. They also point to a subjective understanding of morality, where circumstances trump principles.
In Germany, under Cardinal Marx’s leadership — he was at the head of the country’s bishops’ conference until 2020 — the Synodal Path is open to the progressive German laity and is set to promote all manner of modern reforms, from the place of women in the Church to the revamping of sexual morality, as the German grumbling at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s responsum regarding the impossibility of blessing same-sex unions has shown.
By focusing not on the faults and errors of individual pastors of the Church in the sex abuse crisis, but by taking the responsibility for it as a bishop who represents “the institution of the Church as a whole,” Marx has actually designated the Church as responsible. In his letter to Pope Francis, he wrote:
Quote: “I feel that through remaining silent, neglecting to act and over-focusing on the reputation of the Church I have made myself personally guilty and responsible.”
But the words make clear that in the cardinal’s mind, it is the Church as such that is guilty and responsible.
Quote:“In the aftermath of the MHG survey commissioned by the German Bishops’ Conference I stated in the Cathedral of Munich that we have failed. But who is this ‘We’? In fact, I also belong to this circle. And this means I must also draw personal consequences from this. This is becoming increasingly clear to me,” he wrote.
But by the resignation through which he wants to assume responsibility, Marx wants to obtain results. He says it very plainly at the end of his letter:
Quote:“In doing so, I may be able to send a personal signal for a new beginning, for a new awakening of the Church, not only in Germany. I would like to show that not the ministry is in the foreground but the mission of the Gospel.”
Is Marx talking about a great reset of the Church? Where priesthood (“ministry”) is downplayed — as well as the Tradition of the Church — to go back to “the Gospel”?
Interestingly, the new papal Nuncio in Paris, Archbishop Celestino Migliore, had not unsimilar thoughts to offer to the clergy of the diocese of Rennes in Brittany, France, earlier this year. In his January 28 conference, Migliore explained that he wanted to present Pope Francis’ vision for the Church in a secularized world that is experiencing not a “time of change” but a “change of times.”
Quote:“Pope Francis has understood that the Church, similar to the human society inside of which it is placed, has reached a breaking point. Not a break with its biblical foundations, its doctrine and its tradition, but truly a break with its way of incarnating the Word of God, the doctrine and the tradition of the Church. A break in the domain of governance and the relations between the different members of the Church … In our world, the faith shall only be saved if it returns to the power of its original Word: the Word of Jesus Christ and, therefore, the Word transmitted by the four evangelists.”
He also stressed “another focus dear to Pope Francis, synodality,” which he equated with an “outward-going Church” that meets the world in “dialogue” in a “mystique of fraternity” while abandoning “ecclesio-centrism.”
He went on to complain about the excessive focus (in his view) on the Eucharist — “so much so that when the urgency of the pandemic in practice made its public celebration impossible, the whole edifice collapsed and it seemed that nothing was left standing.”
This is a far cry from Bossuet’s definition of the Church: “Jesus Christ spread and communicated.”
“There is a serious risk of regression — after fifty years of conciliar reform — to a conception of the sacrament as a rite that always functions, because it is endowed with a supernatural automatism,” said Migliore. He went on to speak about synodality which calls for going beyond “certain paradigms … such as the concentration of responsibility in the ministry of Pastors.”
This exposé of the Pope’s politics for the Church by one of his senior ambassadors strongly resonates with Marx’s latest move — Marx who is so close to Francis, and whose publication of his private resignation letter was approved, if not willed by the Pope.
In Germany, cardinal Marx’s resignation elicited both praise and dismay from the most progressive faction of the Church. Bishop Georg Bätzing, the current head of the bishops’ conference, expressed “great respect” for the cardinal’s decision, acknowledging his role in showing the way for the “Church in Germany” at the head of that institution. Recalling the sex abuse crisis, Bätzing added:
Quote:Cardinal Marx sees his offer of resignation from office as a personal response to this situation. Irrespective of this, however, the German Bishops’ Conference and the dioceses must continue to fulfill their responsibility to continue on the path of coming to terms with the cases of sexual abuse that they embarked upon in 2010. The Synodal Path was launched to search for systemic answers to the crisis. The fundamental theological discussions that inform the Synodal Path are therefore an essential and important part in this process.
Confirming the importance of Marx’s offer of resignation from the point of view of Church politics, Bätzing’s statement concluded:
Quote:“I can understand Cardinal Marx’s decision. His offer of resignation makes it clear that the Church in Germany must continue the Synodal Path it has embarked upon. Pope Francis himself emphasizes that he wants synodality and the Synodal Path as a discernment for the whole Church.”
The president of the progressive Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK, one of the official interlocutors of the Synodal Path), Thomas Sternberg, said he was “deeply shocked” by Marx’s offer to step down. “There goes the wrong one,” he told the Rheinische Post. “What Marx achieved in ecumenism, in the Synodal Path, and also in dealing with abuse, was very important.”
Sternberg added that Marx intended to spend part of his private fortune to fund the “Spes and Salus” Foundation created by the cardinal of Munich and Freising to help those affected by sexual abuse: the €500,000 gift (more than $600,000) was announced last December.
Others, such as the German child protection expert from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome,” the Jesuit priest Hans Zollner, said the offer of resignation was an “extremely important sign that deserves great respect.” The word “respect” frequently appears in the reactions of German leaders, while Maria Flachsbarth, president of the Catholic German Women’s Association, added her thanks for Marx’s “clear words for the renewal of the Church and for the continuation of the Synodal Path.”
Marx himself wrote:
Quote:An American journalist asked me during a conversation about the sexual abuse crisis in the Church and the events of the year 2010: „Eminence, did this change your faith?“ And I replied: „Yes, it did!“ Afterwards it became clearer to me what I had said. The crisis not only concerns a required improvement of the administration — although it does concern it — but it is even more about the question of a renewed form of the Church and a new way to live and proclaim faith today.
Finally, in his letter to Pope Francis, Cardinal Marx said:Quote: “I continue to enjoy being a priest and a bishop of this Church and I will keep committing myself in pastoral matter, wherever you deem it reasonable and useful. In the next years of my service, I would like to increasingly dedicate myself to pastoral care and support an ecclesiastical renewal of the Church which you also call for incessantly.”
[Emphasis mine.]
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| SiSiNoNo (2002): What Should We Make of Assisi 1986? |
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Posted by: Stone - 06-05-2021, 07:36 AM - Forum: In Defense of Tradition
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SiSiNoNo [emphasis mine]- February 2002 No. 45
WHAT SHOULD WE MAKE OF ASSISI 1986?
Archbishop Lefebvre's Letter to Eight Cardinals About Assisi 1986
Quote:Your Eminence,
Confronted with events taking place in the Church that have John Paul II as their author and faced with those he intends carrying out at Taizé and Assisi in October, I cannot refrain from addressing you and begging you in the name of numerous priests and faithful to save the honor of the Church never before humiliated to such an extent in the course of her history.
The speeches and actions of John Paul II in Togo, Morocco, and the Indies cause a righteous indignation to rise up in our heart. What do the Saints, the holy men and women of the Old and New Testaments make of this? What would the Holy Inquisition do if it were still in existence?
He who now sits upon the Throne of Peter mocks publicly the first article of the Creed and the first Commandment of the Decalogue.
The scandal given to Catholic souls cannot be measured. The Church is shaken to its very foundations. If faith in the Church, the only ark of salvation, disappears, then the Church herself disappears.
Is John Paul II to continue ruining the Church, in particular at Assisi, with the planned procession of religions in the streets of the town of St. Francis and the sharing out of religions in the chapels of the basilica with a view to practicing their worship in favor of peace as conceived by the United Nations?
It is what Cardinal Etchegaray, in charge of this abominable congress, has announced.
Is it conceivable that no authoritative voice has been raised in the Church to condemn these public sins? Where are the Machabees?
Eminence, for the honor of the one true God and of our Lord Jesus Christ, make a public protest, come to the help of the still faithful bishops, priests and Catholics.
Eminence, if I took the step of contacting you it is because I do not doubt your sentiments in this matter.
I am also addressing this appeal to those Cardinals named below so that eventually you may be able to work together.
May the Holy Ghost come to your aid, and please accept, Eminence, my devoted and fraternal greetings in Christ and Mary.
Archbishop Lefebvre, Emeritus Bishop-Archbishop of Tulle
Econe, August 27, 1986
It is a truism that men come to accept anything if they see it often enough; hence it is good to recall the theological criteria by which to judge this kind of undertaking. The review SISINONO published an excellent study in 1986 which is reprinted here because of its timeliness.
What Should We Make of Assisi?
It has been said, with undoubtedly unintended exactness, that the "prayer meeting" at Assisi is a "personal initiative" of Pope John Paul II. In so far as it is only a "personal" initiative, it does not engage his mandate as "pastor and teacher of all Christians" (Vatican I). By conforming itself to the political theme set by the United Nations, which proclaimed the year 1986 an "international year of peace," neither does it concern doctrine.
At Assisi, next October 27, not only will the Catholics gather at Assisi, but also "the representatives of the world's other religions" will join them in an assembly for peace.[1] Those whom Pope John Paul II has called "the representatives of the other religions" the Church has always more appropriately called infidels. "Broadly speaking, infidels are those who do not possess the true faith; in the strict sense infidels are the unbaptized. They are divided into monotheists (Jews and Moslems), polytheists (Hindus, Buddhists, etc.), and atheists."[2]
What Pope John Paul II has called the "other" religions, the Church has more properly called the false religions. A false religion is any non-Christian religion "in so far as it is not the religion that God revealed and wants to see practiced. Moreover, every non-Catholic Christian sect is false in so far as it neither accepts nor faithfully practices the entire content of Revelation."[3]
This having been said, in light of the Catholic Faith, the prayer meeting of religions at Assisi can be considered tantamount to:
1) an insult to God;
2) a denial of the universal necessity of Redemption;
3) a lack of justice and charity towards the infidels;
4) a danger and a scandal to Catholics; and
5) a betrayal of the Church's and Peter's mission.
I) An Insult to God
All prayer, including petition, is an act of worship.[4] As such, it must be addressed to Whom it is due, and in the right way. To whom it is due: The one true God, Creator and Lord of all men, the one to whom the Lord Jesus Christ has brought them back (I Jn. 5:20) by confirming the first commandment of the Law. "I am the Lord thy God ...Thou shalt not have strange gods before me ....Thou shalt not adore them, nor serve them..." (Ex. 20:2-5).[5] In the right way: Thus, it must be prayer that corresponds to the fullness of Revelation without admixture of error: "But the hour cometh and now is, when the true adorers shall adore the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father also seeketh such to adore him" Jn. 4:23).
Prayer which is addressed to false gods or inspired by religious opinions differing in whole or in part from divine Revelation, is not an act of worship, but of superstition. It does not honor God; it offends Him. At least, objectively, it is a sin against the first commandment.[6] To whom are the persons to gather at Assisi going to pray, and in what way? Invited in their capacity as "representatives of the other religions," "everyone will pray in his own way and customary style." This was explained by Cardinal Willebrands, President of the Secretariat for Non-Christian Religions.[7] This was confirmed last June 27 by Cardinal Etchegaray at a press conference published by Documentation Catholique of September 7-21, 1986, under the rubric "Acts of the Holy See": "It involves respecting each one's prayer, and allowing everyone to express himself in the fullness of his faith, of his belief."
On October 27 at Assisi, superstition will be widely practiced in its most serious forms, from the "false worship" of Jews who, during the era of grace, pretend to honor God by denying His Christ,[8] to the idolatry of Hindus and Buddhists who offer a cult to creatures instead of to God.[9]
The Catholic hierarchy's apparent approbation of this is especially insulting to God, for it supposes and allows it to be supposed that He looks with equal complacency upon acts of true worship and acts of superstition, upon manifestations of faith and manifestations of incredulity, upon the true religion and upon the false religions; in short, upon truth and upon error.
2) Denial of the Universal Necessity of Redemption
There is but one Mediator between God and men: the Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God and true man (I Tim. 2:5). By nature, men are "children of wrath" (Eph. 2:3); by Him, they have been reconciled with the Father (Col. 1:20), and it is only by faith in Him that they can have the boldness to approach God with entire confidence (Eph. 3:12). To Him was given all power in heaven and on earth (Mt. 28:18), and at His name every knee must bend, in heaven, on earth, and under the earth (Phil. 2:10,11).
No one goes to the Father save by Him (Jn. 14:6), and there is no other name under heaven given to man by which he must be saved (Acts 4:12). He is the Light that enlightens every man who comes into the world (Jn.1:9), and whoever does not follow Him wanders in darkness (Jn. 8:12). Who is not with Him is against Him (Mt. 13:30), and who does not honor Him also dishonors His Father who sent Him (as the Jews do) (Jn. 5:23). To Him has the Father given the judgment of men, but he who refuses belief has already been judged, because he has not believed in the name of the Only Son of God (Jn. 3:18), nor in the Father who sent Him (Jn. 17:3). He is, moreover, the Prince of Peace (Is. 9:6),[11] for divisions, conflicts, and wars are the bitter fruit of sin from which man cannot free himself by his own virtue, but only in virtue of the Redeemer's blood.
What place will the Lord Jesus Christ have at Assisi in the prayer of the "representatives of the other religions"? None, for to them He remains either unknown, or a stumbling block, or a sign of contradiction. The invitation that was addressed to them to pray for peace in the world supposes, and inevitably allows it to be supposed, that there are people - the Christians - who must approach God by the mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ and in His name, and others - the rest of the human race - who can approach God directly and in their own name, without regard to the Mediator; that there are some men who must bend the knee before the Lord Jesus Christ, and some who are exempt; some men who must seek peace in the reign of the Lord Jesus Christ, and others who can obtain peace outside His reign and even in opposing it.
This is the idea that comes from the declarations of the two cardinals quoted above: "While for us Christians Christ is our peace, for all believers peace is a gift of God" [12]; "for Christians, prayer goes through Christ."[13]
The "prayer meeting" of Assisi, then, is the public negation of the universal necessity of Redemption.
3) A Lack of Justice and Charity Towards the Infidels
"Jesus Christ is not optional," said Cardinal Pie. There are not some men who are justified by faith in Him, and others who are justified without regard to Him: Every man is either saved by Christ or is lost without Him. Nor are there any purely natural ends for which a man can opt instead of his unique supernatural end. If, gone astray in sin, he finds himself out of Christ, the unique Way (Jn. 4:6) by which to attain the end for which he was created, all that is left him is everlasting ruin.
Real faith, and not mere "good faith," is the subjective condition for salvation for everyone, even for the pagans. Since it is a necessity of means, "if it is lacking (even involuntarily) it is absolutely impossible to effect eternal salvation."[14] Voluntary infidelity, St. Thomas explains, is a fault and involuntary infidelity is a punishment. In fact, the infidels who are not lost because of the sin of incredulity, that is, by the sin of not having believed in Christ about whom they never knew anything, are lost by their other sins, the remission of which cannot be given to anyone without the true faith."[15]
Nothing, then, is more important for man than to accept the Redeemer and union with the Mediator: it is a matter of eternal death or life. This is what the infidels have a right to hear announced by the Catholic Church, in conformity to the divine command.[16] And this is what the Catholic Church has always announced to the infidels by praying, not with them, but for them.
What will happen at Assisi? They certainly won't pray for the infidels, thus presuming implicitly and publicly that they no longer need the true faith. Instead of that, they will pray in union with them, or rather, according to the rabbinical subtlety of Radio Vatican, they will pray near them, presuming thus implicitly and publicly that prayer dictated by error is received by God as much as prayer made "in spirit and in truth." "It involves respecting each one's prayer," Cardinal Etchegaray explained in his brief declaration. That means that the infidels who will gather at Assisi, who, let us be clear, are not "savages brought up in the forest" who have "never known anything about the faith," as the theologians hypothesize when discussing the problem of the salvation of infidels,[17] will be "respectfully" left "in the darkness and in the shadow of death" (Lk. 1:79).
Authorized to pray in their distinctive costumes as "representatives of the other religions" and in conformity with their erroneous religious beliefs, they are even encouraged to persevere in sins, at least material, against the faith: infidelity, heresy, etc… Invited to pray for peace in the world, defined as a "fundamental" and "supreme" good,[18] they are turned away from the eternal goods towards a temporal good, towards a secondary natural end, as if they didn't need to procure their supernatural last end, which really is fundamental and supreme: "Seek first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all these things shall be added unto you" (Mt. 6:33). For all these reasons, the "prayer meeting" of Assisi is, at least viewed from the outside, a lack of justice and charity towards the infidels.
4) A Danger and a Scandal to Catholics
True faith is indispensable for salvation. Catholics are thus obliged to avoid every proximate danger to their faith. Among the exterior dangers is contact with infidels when it is not the result of genuine necessity. This contact is illicit in virtue of divine and natural law even without considering ecclesiastical law, and even in the case where ecclesiastical law does not prohibit it, for example in social relations: Haereticum hominem devita (Avoid the heretic) (Tit. 3:10).
Moreover, out of maternal concern, the Church has always forbidden not only what might be a danger to the faith but also an occasion of scandal.[19] As for the false religions, the Church has always refused them the right to public worship. She has tolerated it when it was necessary, but tolerance always means "in relation to an evil to be allowed for a proportionate reason."[20] In any case, she has always avoided and forbidden any apparent approval of non-Catholic rites.
What is going to happen at Assisi? Catholics and infidels "will gather to pray" (even though it will not be "to pray together"...). That simply means that they will pray together at Assisi, first simultaneously in their own residences, and then, by turns when united at the closing ceremony before the basilica of St. Francis. And this is not being done in order to protect the faith of Catholics or to at least avoid scandalizing them. Rather, it is to allow all to pray "according to their own manner and style," and to "respect each one's prayer" and to "allow everyone to express himself in the fullness of his faith, of his belief."[21] All this constitutes at least an exterior approbation of: 1) false religions, to which the Church as always denied any right; 2) religious subjectivism, which she has always condemned under the names of indifferentism or latitudinarianism, and which "seeks to justify itself under the pretended claims of liberty, failing to recognize the rights of objective truth which are made manifest either by the lights of reason or by Revelation.[22]
Religious indifferentism, which is "one of the most deleterious heresies" and which "places all religions on an equal footing," inevitably leads one to consider the truth of religious belief as merely a matter of utility for a well-regulated life .... "One ends by considering religion as an entirely individual thing which can be adapted to the dispositions of each one, letting everyone form his own personal religion, and by concluding that all the religions are good even though they contradict each other."[23] But with this point of view we are outside the Catholic act of faith, and have reached something ...like an act of incredulity towards divine Revelation.
Revelation is a reality, a fact, a truth accredited by God by sure signs, because error in this domain would have had disastrous consequences for men.[24] But in the presence of an undeniable fact or of an evident truth, one cannot be tolerant to the point of approving the attitude of those who consider them to be non-existent or false. That would suppose that we do not really believe or are not fully convinced of the truth of our position, or that we are (or deem ourselves to be) dealing with a matter that is absolutely banal or indifferent, or that we would consider truth and error to be purely relative positions.[25]
And since the "prayer meeting" is characterized by all of that, it is an occasion of scandal for Catholics and of grave danger to their faith. Because of ecumenism, they find themselves united to the infidels, but in their "common ruin."[26]
5) Betrayal of the Mission Confided to Peter and to the Church
The Church's mission is to announce to all nations that
1) there is one true God, who revealed Himself for the benefit of all men in our Lord Jesus Christ;
2) that there is only one true religion, the only one by which God wishes to be honored, because He is Truth, and everything in the false religions which goes against the truth is repugnant to Him: doctrinal errors, immoral laws, unseemly rites;
3) that there is only one Mediator between God and men, by whom men can hope to be saved, because all are sinners and remain in their sin if they are deprived of the Blood of Christ;
4) that there is one true Church, the perpetual guardian of this Blood, and that "it is necessary to believe that no one can be saved outside the apostolic Roman Church, which is the unique ark of salvation, and those who do not enter it will perish in the deluge[27]; moreover, among their moral dispositions must be the desire, explicit or implicit, to fully accomplish the will of God, if their ignorance is truly invincible.[28]
The Church's proper mission is to announce all this: "Going therefore, teach ye all nations: baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you" (Mt. 28:19-20). "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be condemned" (Mk. 16:16).
So that the Church could accomplish with assurance this mission throughout the centuries, our Lord Jesus Christ conferred on St. Peter and his successors the mission of visibly representing Him (Mt. 16, 17-19; Jn. 21:15-17)
The Vicar of Jesus Christ is not charged with establishing a new doctrine with the help of new revelations, nor of creating a new order of things, nor of instituting new sacraments: such is not his function. He represents Jesus Christ at the head of His Church, whose constitution has been finalized. This essential constitution, that is to say, the creation of the Church, was Jesus Christ's proper task which He, Himself, had to conclude, and of which He said to the Father: "I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do" (Jn. 17:4). Nothing more needs to be added; it only remains to maintain this creation, to assure the Church's work and preside over the functioning of its organs. Two things are necessary for this: govern it, and perpetuate the teaching of the truth. Vatican Council I reduced to these two points the supreme function of the Vicar of Jesus Christ. Peter represents Jesus Christ under these two aspects.[29]
There is no power in the Church like Peter's, but it is power as vicar, and as such, is no wise absolute, but limited by the divine right of Him whom he represents. "The Lord confided to Peter, not Peter's sheep, but His own in order to pasture them, not in his own interest, but God's."[30] It is not within Peter's power, therefore, to promote initiatives in disaccord with the mission of the Church and of the Roman Pontiff, as clearly is the "prayer meeting" of Assisi. The Vicar of Him who said: "Begone, Satan, for it is written, ‘The Lord thy God thou shalt adore, and him only shalt thou serve’" (Mt. 4:10; Deut. 6:13), cannot invite "the representatives" of the false religions to pray to their false gods in places consecrated to the faith in the true God. The Successor of him who obtained the primacy by his act of faith when he said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Mt. 16:16; cf. Jn. 6:69-70), cannot authorize anyone to treat Jesus Christ as irrelevant. The Successor of him who received the commission to confirm his brethren in the faith (Lk. 22:32), has no right to be a stumbling block for their faith.Ω
1. Cf. L'Osservatore Romano, Jan. 26-27, 1986.
2. Roberti-Palazzini, Dizionario di teologia morale, p.813.
3. Ibid.
4. Summa Theologica, II-II, Q.83.
5. . Mt. 4:3-10; Jn. 17:3; Tim. 2:.5. See also on this topic Pietro Cardinal Palazzini, Vita a virtu cristiane, p.52, and Garrigou-Lagrange, De Revelatione (Rome-Paris: 1918), vol. 1, p.136.
6. Cf. Summa Theologica, II-II, QQ 92-96.
7. See L'Osservatore Romano, January 27-28, 1986, p.4.
8. Summa Theologica, Il-II, Q92, Art.2, ad 3, and I II, Q10, Art. 11
9. Cf. Acts 17:16.
10. Cf. Summa Theologica, II-II, Q94, Art. 1.
11. Cf. Eph. 2:14 and Mich. 5:.5.
12. Cardinal Willebrands in L'Osservatore Romano cited above.
13. Cardinal Etchegaray, cited above in Documentation Catholique.
14. Dizionario di teologia morale, p.66.
15. See Mk. 16:15-16; Jn. 20:31; Heb. 11:6; Council of Trent in Denzinger 799 and 801; Vatican II, Dz. 1793. Cf. Summa Theologica, II-II, Q. 11, Art. 1.
16. Mk. 6:16; Mt. 28:19-20.
17. St. Thomas Aquinas, De Veritate, 14, 11.
18. John Paul II and Cardinal Willebrands in L'Osservatore Romano, April 7-8, and Jan. 27-28, 1986, respectively.
19. See the 1917 Code of Canon Law, canons 1258 and 2316; and Summma Theologica,II-Il, Q. 10, Art. 9-11.
20. Dizionario de teologia morale, p.1702.
21. See the declarations of Cardinals Willebrands and Etchegaray cited above.
22. Dizionario de teologia morale, p.805.
23. Ibid.
24. Pope Leo XIII, encyclical letter Libertas, 1888.
25. Dizionario di teologia morale, p.1703.
26. Pope Pius XII, Humani Generis, 1950.
27. Pope Pius IX, Dz.1647.
28. Ibid.
29. Dom Adrien Gréa, De l’Eglise et de sa divine constitution; cf. Vatican I, constitution Pastor Aeternus, Ch. 4
30. St. Augustine, Sermon 285, No.3.
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| June 5th – St. Boniface |
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Posted by: Stone - 06-05-2021, 07:11 AM - Forum: June
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June 5 – St. Boniface, Apostle of Germany, Bishop and Martyr
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The Son of Man, proclaimed King in the highest heavens on his triumphant Ascension Day, leaves to his Bride on earth the task of making his sovereign dominion recognized here below: this is her glory. Pentecost gives the signal for the Church’s work of conquest; now does she awake, aroused by the breath of the Holy Ghost; replenished with this Spirit of Love, she is all eagerness, as he is, to be possessed at once of the whole earth. We have already seen the Franks and the Anglo-Saxons, pledging in her hands their oath of fealty to Christ, to whom is given all power on earth and in heaven. Today, we see how Winfrid realizes the fair name of Boniface, of well-doer, given him by Pope Gregory II. Lo! he presents himself before us, surrounded by the multitudes he has snatched, at one blow, from paganism and barbarism alike. Thanks to the Apostle of Germany, the hour is nigh when the Church may constitute in this world, apart the spiritual dominion of souls, an empire more powerful than any that has ever been or is to be.
The Eternal Father draws to his Son not men only, but nations; thee are on earth no less his inheritance than heaven is for all eternity. Now, the good pleasure that God takes in the Word made Flesh could never be content with merely seeing nations to come, one here, another there, offering an isolated homage of recognition to his Christ as their Lord and Master. No; it was the whole world that was promised as his possession, without distinction of nations, without limits, save the confines of the round orb itself; recognized or not, his power is universal. In the case of many, no doubt, the contempt or the ignorance of this regal claim of the Man-God is to last on throughout ages; for revolt, alas! is always possible and to all. Yet did it behove the Church to profit, as soon as might be, of her influence over baptized nations, so as to gather them together in one public acknowledgement of the Royalty of Christ, the source of every kingly power. At the Pontiff’s side, there seemed to be a fitting place for a mailed chieftain of Christendom—such a one, that is, as should be but lieutenant of Christ, who alone is Lord of lords and King of kings. Thus would be realized, in all its plenitude, the magnificent principality announced by the Prophets for the Son of David.
Such an institution was indeed worthy of the name it was to receive of the Holy Empire: in it we have the final result of our glorious Pentecost, as being the consummation of the testimony rendered by the Holy Ghost to Jesus, both as Pontiff and as King. In a few days, Leo III, the illustrious Pope called by the Holy Spirit to crown this, His divine work, will proclaim, to the joy of the whole world, the establishment of this new empire beneath the scepter-sway of the Man-God, in the person of Charlemagne, the representative of the King of kings. This marvellous work was not prepared on a sudden. Vast regions, destined to form the very nucleus of this future empire, for long centuries knew not so much as the very name of the Lord Jesus; or at best, preserved but confused notions of truth, derived from some earlier evangelization that had been stifled in its birth by the turmoil of invasions—a mere mixture of Christian practices and idolatrous superstitions. At length we behold Boniface arise, endued with power from on high, the worthy pecursor to Leo III. Born of those “Angel-faced” Angles, by whom ancient Britain was transformed into the “Island of Saints,” he burns to carry into the heart of Germany, whence his ancestors had sprung, the light which first shone upon them, in the land of their conquest.
Thirty years of monastic life, begun in childhood despite the tears and caresses of a tender father, had braced his soul. Matured by this long period of retreat and silence, filled with divine science and accompanied by the prayers of his cloistered brethren, he could now in all security set forth to follow the attraction of a divine call. But first and foremost, Rome beholds him at the feet of the Sovereign Pontiff, submitting his plans and prospects to him who is the only source of all “mission” in the Church. Gregory II, in every way worthy of the great Popes that have borne that name, was at that time watching with apostolic vigilance over the Christian world. Amidst the rocks and shoals of Lombard astuteness and of the heretical infatuation of Leo the Isaurian, his firm and prudent hand was safely guiding the bark of Peter, towards the glorious sovereignty that awaited the Church, in the coming eighth Century. In the humble monk prostrate at his feet, the immortal Pontiff could not but recognize a potent auxiliary sent to him by heaven; and so, armed with the Apostolic benediction, Winfrid, now become Boniface feels the powerful attraction of the Holy Spirit, drawing him irresistibly to conquests, of which ancient Rome had never dreamed.
Beyond the Rhine, farther than Roman legions ever penetrated, the Bride of the Man-God now advances into this barbarous land, along pathways tracked for her by Boniface; overturning in her victorious march, the last idols of the false gods, civilizing and sanctifying those savage hordes, the scourge of the old world. This Anglo-Saxon, a true son of Saint Benedict, gives to his work a stability that will defy the lapse of ages. Everywhere, monasteries arise, rooting themselves to the very soil, for God’s sake; and by force of example and beneficence, fixing around them its various nomad tribes. From the river banks, from the forest depths, instead of cries of war and of vengeance, is wafted the accent of prayer and of praise to the Most High. Sturm, the beloved disciple of Saint Boniface, presides over these pacific colonizations, far superior to those of pagan Rome, planted though they were by her noblest veterans and manned by the best forces of her Empire.
Lo! another sight: here, where violence has hitherto reigned supreme, in these savage wilds, a novel kind of army is organized, formed of the gentle Brides of Christ. The Spirit of Pentecost, like a mighty wind, has blown over the land of the Angles; and even as in the Cenacle, holy women had a share in its influence, consecrated Virgins, obedient to the heavenly impulse, have quitted the land of their birth, yea even the monastery that has sheltered them from childhood. Having for a while administered only, at a distance, to Winfrid’s needs and copied out for him the sacred books in letters of gold: they have at length come to join the apostle. Fearlessly have they crossed the sea and, guided by their divine Spouse, have come to share the labors undertaken here for his glory. Lioba is at their head; Lioba whose gentle majesty, whose heavenly aspect uplifts the thought from things terrene; Lioba, who by her knowledge of the scriptures, of the Fathers, and of the sacred Canons, is equal to any of the most celebrated Doctors. But the Holy Ghost has still more richly gifted the soul of Lioba with humility and Christian heroism. Behold the chosen Mother of the German nation! Germany’s scornful daughters, athirst for blood, who on their wedding day disdained all other gift save a steed, a buckler, and a lance, are to learn from her the true qualities of the valiant woman. No more shall they be seen intoxicated with slaughter, leading back to the field of battle the vanquished husbands; but the virtues of the wife and of the mother shall replace in them the fury of the camp; family life is to be founded on the Germanic soil and therewith, the “Fatherland.”
This was the thought of Boniface, when he called to his aid Lioba, Walburga, and their companions. Worn out with toil but still more with the incessant wear and fret of petty jealousies (never spared to men of God, on the part of such as would cover their paltry complaints under the cloak of false zeal), our athlete of Christ was not ashamed to come to Lioba, his well-beloved daughter, humbly seeking from her that enlightened counsel and comfort, never denied. Estimating at its true worth the share she had borne in his work, he was desirous that she should be laid to rest in the same tomb prepared for him in his Abbey of Fulda.
But not yet was his labor ended, nor the evening of life at hand. The spiritual weal of his numberless converts must be secured, and at their head must be placed such as the Holy Ghost designated for the government of God’s Church. By his means, the hierarchy was constituted and developed; the land was covered with churches; and beneath the crosier-sway of holy bishops chosen by God, these once wandering tribes now began to life a life of glory to the Most Blessed Trinity in a country, but yesterday, pagan, and wherein Satan had hoped to perpetuate his own domination.
Nor was this our saint’s only work in Germany: in certain isolated parts on the confines, the seeds of Arianism and Manicheeism had been silently taking root by means of an intruded clergy, half pagan and half Christian in their rites; and these would inevitably prove a serious scandal to his recent converts that came within reach of their influence. Even as Christ, armed with a whip of cords, drove the buyers and sellers from the temple, so did Boniface, by vigorous measures, rid the land of these sectarian priests, who, with hands polluted by heathenish sacrifices to the vanquished deities of Valhalla, dared to offer also the spotless victim to the Most High.
The powerful action of Boniface, as the precursor of the Holy Empire, was not confined to preparing the German race alone, for its share in so high a destiny. His beneficent influence was now to be exercised, and at a most critical moment upon the France, the eldest daughter of the Church; for she was chosen, in the person of her Princes, to be the first to bear the emblem of Christ’s universal kingship. The descendants of Clovis had preserved naught of his royal inheritance, save the vain title of a power that had now just passed into the hands of a new family, a more vigorous branch of his stock. Charles Martel, the head of this race, measuring his strength with the Moors had crushed their entire army near Poitiers: but in the flush of victory, the hero of the day had well nigh brought the Church of France to the brink of ruin by distributing to his comrades in arms the episcopal sees and abbeys of the land! Unless a situation no less disastrous than would have been the triumph of Abderahman was to be accepted, these usurped crosiers must at once be wrested from the hands of such strange titularies. To effect this, as much gentleness as firmness were needed, together with an ascendency belonging only to virtue, if the hero of Poitiers and his noble race were to be gained over, to respect the rights of holy Church. This victory, more glorious than had been the defeat of the Moors, was won by Boniface, a veritable triumph of disarmed holiness, as profitable to the vanquished as to the Church herself! Of this fierce warrior, he was to make the worthy father of a second dynasty, the glory whereof should far surpass the brilliant hopes of the first race of Frankish kings.
Boniface, now Legate of Pope St. Zachary, as he had formerly been of Gregory III, fixed his episcopal see at Mainz, the better at one and the same time to hold fast to Christ, both Germany, the conquest of his earlier apostolate, and France more recently rescued by his labors. Like another Samuel, he himself, with his own hands, consecrated this new regal dynasty, by conferring the sacred unction on Pepin le Bref, son of Charles Martel. This was in the year 752. Another Charles, as yet a child, who was one day to inherit that throne thus firmly fixed, attracted the notice of the aged Saint, and received his benediction; it was the future Charlemagne. But to the hand of a Sovereign Pontiff would be reserved the anointing of that royal brow; and a diadem more glorious still than that of a king of the Franks, was one day to rest thereon, exhibiting in his person the head of the new Roman Empire, the lieutenant of Christ, the King of kings.
The personal work of Boniface was now accomplished; like the old man Simeon, his eyes had seen the object of all his ambition, of all his life-long toil, the salvation prepared by God for this new Israel. He too had now no desire left save that of departing in peace to his Lord; but could the entering into peace, for such an Apostle, be by other gate than that of martyrdom? He understands this well: his hour has sounded: the old warrior has chosen his last battlefield. Friesland is still pagan: half a century ago, at the opening of his apostolic career, he had avoided this country, in order to escape the bishopric which Saint Willibrord, at that early date, was anxious to force upon him: but now that she has naught, save death, to offer him, he will enter this land. In a letter of sublime humility, prostrate at the feet of Pope Stephen III, he remits to the correction of the Apostolic See, the “awkward mistakes,” as he terms them, and the many faults of his long life; to Lullus his dearest son, he leaves the Church of Mainz; he recommends to the care of the Frankish king the several priests scattered all through Germany, the monks and virgins who from distant homes have followed him hither. Then ordering to be placed amongst the few books which he is taking with him, the winding sheet that is to enwrap his body, he designates the companions chosen by him for the journey, and sets out to win the martyr’s palm.
Let us now read the liturgical record of this grand life.
Quote:Boniface, formerly called Winfrid, was a native of Anglia, born towards the end of the seventh century. From his very childhood, he turned away from the world and set his heart upon becoming a monk. His father tried in vain to divert him from his wishes by the beguilements of the world, and he entered a monastery, where under blessed Wulphard he was instructed in all virtuous discipline and every kind of knowledge. At the age of twenty-nine years he was ordained Priest, and became an unwearied preacher of the word of God, wherein he had a special gift, which he used with great gain of souls. Nevertheless, his great desire was to spread the kingdom of Christ, and he continually bewailed the vast number of barbarians, who were plunged in the darkness of ignorance and were slaves of the devil. This zealous love of souls increased in him in intensity day by day, till having implored the divine aid by prayers and tears, he at last obtained the permission of the Prior of the monastery to set out for Germany.
He sailed from Anglia with two companions and reached the town of Dorestadt in Friesland. A great war then raging between Radbod, king of the Frieslanders, and Charles Martel, he preached the Gospel without fruit: for which reason returning to Anglia, he betook himself again to his former monastery, the government of which, against his will, he was forced to accept. After two years, he obtained the consent of the Bishop of Winchester to resign his office, and he then went to Rome, that by the Apostolic authority he might be delegated to the mission for the converting of the heathens. When he arrived at the City, he was courteously welcomed by Gregory II, who changed his name from Winfrid to Boniface. He departed thence to Germany and preached Christ to the tribes in Thuringia and Saxony. Radbod King of Friesland who bitterly hated the Christian name, being dead, Boniface went a second time among the Frieslanders, and there, with his companion St. Willibrord, preached the Gospel for three years with so much fruit, that the idols were hewn down, and countless churches arose to the true God.
Advancing into Germany, he reclaimed thousands of the Hessians from devilish superstition. Pope Gregory sent for him, to Rome, and after receiving from him a noble profession of his faith, consecrated him a bishop. He again returned to Germany, and thoroughly purged Hesse and Thuringia from all remains of idolatry. On account of such great works, Gregory III advanced Boniface to the dignity of an archbishop, and on the occasion of a third journey to Rome, he was invested by the Sovereign Pontiff with the powers of Legate of the Apostolic See. As such, he founded four bishoprics and held diverse synods, among which is especially to be remembered that of Lessines held in Belgium, in the diocese of Cambrai, at which time he made his strongest efforts to spread the Faith among the Belgians. By Pope Zachary, he was named Archbishop of Mainz, and by command of the same Pope, he anointed Pepin to be king of the Franks. After the death of Saint Willibrord, he undertook the government of the Church of Utrecht, at first by the ministry of Eoban, but afterwards by himself, when being released from the care of the Church of Mainz, he established his see at Utrecht. The Frieslanders having again fallen back into idolatry, he once more betook himself to preach the Gospel among them, and while he was busied in this duty, he won the palm of martyrdom being slain by some impious barbarians, who attacked him together with his fellow bishop Eoban, and many others, on the river Born. In accordance with the wish expressed by himself during life, the body of Saint Boniface was carried to Mainz and buried in the Monastery of Fulda, of which he had been the founder, and which he has rendered illustrious by numerous miracles. Pope Pius IX ordered his Office and Mass to be extended to the universal Church.
Thou wast, O great Apostle, the faithful servant of Him who chose thee as the minister of his word and propagator of his kingdom. When the Son of Man quitted earth to receive the delighted homage of the heavenly hosts, in recognition of his kingship over them, he nonetheless remained King of his lower world, which he has left but for a little while. He counted on his Church to guard his principality here below. Small indeed was the number of those who recognized him on the day of his glorious Ascension as their Master and their Lord. But that faith deposited in these first chosen souls was a treasure which they, like skillful bankers, knew how to work, and how to multiply by apostolic commerce. Transmitted from generation to generation, up to the day of the Lord’s return, this precious capital was to go on yielding, to the absent Lord, more and more accumulated interest. Thus was it with thee, O Winfrid, in that age wherein thou didst bring in to the Church that tribute of labors which she requires, though in very different proportion, at the hands of each one of her sons. Beyond these of others, thy works appeared well-done and profitable to the common Mother; in her gratitude forestalling the Spouse himself, she would, even in this world, call thee by that new name whereby thou art known in heaven.
Indeed, when did riches such as thou didst bring, come pouring at once into the hands of the Bride? When did the spouse appear to be so fully and truly Head of the whole world, as in the eighth century, in which the Frankish princes, formed by thee to their noble destinies, constituted the temporal sovereignty of the Church, and gloried in being, at the side of the Vicar of the Man-God, the Lieutenants of Christ the King? To thee, O Boniface, is the Holy Empire indebted, for the very possibility of its existence. But for thee, France would have perished, debased by a simoniacal clergy, even before a Charlemagne had appeared; but for thee, Germany would have remained a prey of pagan barbarians, enemies of all civilization and progress. O thou that didst rescue both Germans and Franks, receive our grateful homage.
At the sight of thy works, and remembering the great popes and princes of colossal build, whose glory is indeed derived from thee—our admiration equals our gratitude. But pardon us dear Saint, if the thought of those grand centuries of yore, so far removed, alas, from anything of these our days, should make us mingle sadness over ourselves, with joy over thee. Viewed in the light of thy holy policy and its results, O glorious precursor of the confederation of Christian nations, how do we not bewail the fatal errors of those princes and statesmen, so renowned in the seventeenth century, and so foolishly admired by a world whose ruin they were hastening. For by isolating Catholic nations from one another, the ties that bound them to the Vicar of Christ became loosened: princes, forgetful of their true position as representatives of the divine King, made friends with heresy in order to assert their independence of Rome, or mutually to lower one another’s power. Therefore Christendom is no more. Upon its ruins, like a woeful mimicry of the Holy Empire, Protestantism has raised its false Evangelical Empire, formed of naught but encroachments, and tracing its recognized origin, to the apostasy of that felon knight, Albert of Brandenburg.
The complicities that rendered such a thing possible have received their chastisement. Be then God’s Justice at last satisfied! O Boniface, cry out with us unto the God of armies, for Mercy. Raise up in the Church servants of Christ, powerful in word and work, as thou wast. Save France from anarchy; and restore to Germany a right appreciation of true greatness, together with the Faith of her ancient days.
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| June 4th - St Francis Caracciolo |
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Posted by: Stone - 06-04-2021, 09:33 AM - Forum: June
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June 4 – St Francis Caracciolo, Confessor
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The good things brought unto this world by the Divine Spirit continue to be revealed in the holy Liturgy. Francis Caracciolo is given to us this day as another type of the sublime fecundity produced on earth by Christianity. Now, Faith is the principle of this supernatural fecundity in the Saints, just as it was in Abraham, the Father of all believers; it brings forth unto the Church isolated members or entire nations alike: from it too proceed the multitudinous families of Religious Orders who, in their fidelity in following the diverse tracks traced out for them by their founders, are the chief portion of that royal and varied adornment wherewith the Bride is resplendently bedecked, at the right hand of her Divine Spouse. This is the very thought expressed by the Sovereign Pontiff, Pius VII, on the day of the canonization of our Saint, wishing, as he said, “to right the judgment of such as may, perhaps, have appreciated the religious life at a low rate, according to the vain conceits of a worldly point of view, and not according to the just measure of the knowledge of Jesus Christ.”
That century of universal ruin, in which the voice of Christ’s Vicar was raised addressing the whole world on this solemn occasion, resembled, but in still darker hue, the calamitous age of the pretended Reform, in which Francis, like so many others, had proved by his works and by his life the indefectibility of the Church’s Holiness. Let us listen once more to the words of the same Pontiff: “The Bride of Christ, the Church, is now become accustomed to pursue her pilgrim career amidst persecutions from men and consolations from God. Through the saints raised up in all ages by his almighty hand, God fulfils his promise; making her ever to be a city seated on a mountain, a beacon, the clear light of which must needs reach the eyes of all who do not, through prejudice, voluntarily shut their eyes, not to see. The while her enemies band together, vainly plotting her destruction, saying: when will she die? when will her name perish? crowned with ever increasing splendor by the new warriors she sends as victors to heaven, the Church remaineth ever glorious, ever declaring unto all coming generations, the might of the Lord’s strong Arm.”
The sixteenth century heard at its birth the most terrific blasphemy ever uttered against the Bride of the Son of God; that, whereby she was named the harlot of Babylon. Yet did she, all spotless Queen, in the very teeth of heresy impotent to produce one real virtue upon earth, prove herself to be the legitimate Bride, by reason of her admirable efflorescence in new Orders, sprung up from her bosom in but a few years’ space, and ready to meet the exigencies of the novel situation created by Luther’s revolt. The return of ancient Orders to their primitive fervor, the establishment of the Society of Jesus, of the Theatines, of the Brothers of Saint John of God, of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri, of the Clerks Regular of St. Jerome Emilian, and those of St. Camillus de Lellis—sufficed not to the Divine Spirit. As though on purpose to mark the superabundant fruitfulness of the Bride, He raised up, at the close of the same century, another religious family, the special characteristic of which was to be the organization of mortification and continual prayer amongst its members, by the incessant use of Christian penance and by the perpetual adoration of the Most Holy Sacrament. Sixtus V received with joy these new recruits for the great campaign. To distinguish them from all other Orders of Clerks Regular, and as a proof of his specially paternal affection, the illustrious Pontiff, himself a Friar Minor, embodied a title so dear to his own heart, in that which he assigned to these newcomers, calling them The Minor Clerks Regular. With a like view of approximation to the Seraphic Order, our Saint of today, the first General of this Institute, changed his name Ascanius for that of Francis.
It seemed as though Heaven too would weld together the patriarch of Assisi and Francis Caracciolo, by giving to each the same span of life, namely, forty-four years. The founder of the Minor Clerks Regular (like his glorious predecessor and patron) was one of those men of whom Holy Scripture says that having lived a short space they fulfilled a long time. Numerous prodigies revealed, during his lifetime, the virtues which his humility would fain have concealed. Scarce had his soul left this earth, and his body been interred, than crowds flocked to the tomb, where the constant voice of miracles bore witness to the high favor with God, enjoyed by him whose mortal remains therein reposed.
But solely to the sovereign authority constituted by Jesus Christ in the Church, is it reserved to pronounce authentically upon the sanctity of any, even the most illustrious, of her dead. As long as the judgment of the Supreme Pontiff has formulated nothing, private devotion is quite free to testify gratitude or confidence, in regard to the Departed worthy thereof. But all such demonstrations as, more or less, resemble public cultus, are prohibited by a rigorous and wise law of the Church. Unfortunately, certain imprudence, contrary to this law formulated in the celebrated Decrees of Urban VIII, drew down, twenty years after the death of our Saint, all the severity of the Inquisition, upon some of his spiritual children, and retarded by a whole century, the introduction of his cause to the tribunal of the Sacred Congregation of Rites. It was necessary that the witnesses of the abuses which had incurred the law should first disappear from the scene; but consequently, the witness of the holy life of Francis had likewise disappeared. Being, therefore, obliged to recur to mere auricular testimony in her pronouncing of judgment on the heroic virtues practiced by him, Rome now exacted from ocular witnesses, the proof of four instead of the usual two, miracles required in a process of Beatification.
It would be out of place here for us to show how these precautions and delays, which demonstrate the prudence of Holy Church in these matters, at last ended in making the sanctity of Francis shine forth all the more strikingly. Let us now turn to the narrative of his life.
Quote:Francis, formerly called Ascanius, was of the noble family of Caracciolo. He was born in the town of Santa Maria della Villa in the Abruzzi. From his earliest years, he showed great marks of piety. When he was a young man, he had a severe illness, and on his recovery determined to serve God and to give himself up to the service of his neighbor. He betook himself to Naples, where he was ordained priest, enrolled himself in a devout confraternity, and gave himself up to the contemplation and the gaining of souls to God, in which work he showed himself an unwearied comforter to such persons as were condemned to death. It came to pass that those two great servants of God, John Augustine Adorno and Fabricius Caracciolo, wrote a letter to a certain person, wherein they exhorted him to share in the foundation of a new religious Institute. This letter came, by mistake, to be delivered to Francis Caracciolo. The newness of the idea, and the strange ways of God’s Providence took possession of his mind, and he joyfully added himself to their company. They withdrew themselves to the solitude of the Camaldolese, and there concerted the rules of the new Order. Thence they went to Rome, and obtained the confirmation of their work from Sixtus V, who wished that they should be called Minor Clerks Regular, since they added to their three accustomed vows, a fourth binding themselves not to seek preferment in the Church.
Having made his solemn profession, Ascanius Caracciolo, moved by the special love and devotion he had to the holy Francis of Assisi, took the name of Francis. After two years, John Adorno departed this life, and Francis, against his own will, was made head of the Order: in which office he gave a brilliant example of all virtues. Devoted to the prosperity of the Institute, he earnestly sought the blessing of God upon it, by assiduous prayer, tears, and constant maceration of his body. In this work he thrice travelled to Spain in the guise of a pilgrim, begging his bread from door to door. In these journeys he suffered very great hardships, and was wonderfully helped by the Almighty, especially in this instance: the ship in which he was, being in great danger, he saved it by his prayers. He had to toil hard in these countries to attain his wishes; but through the noble generosity of the most Catholic Kings Philip II and Philip III, he overcame with his fortitude of soul, the opposition of all that withstood him, and founded several houses of his Order, which he eventually did in Italy, likewise.
He so excelled in humility that, when he came to Rome, he betook himself to an almshouse, and there chose to be associated to a leper: moreover he firmly refused all the ecclesiastical dignities offered to him by Paul V. He preserved his virginity unspotted, and when certain shameless women set themselves to attack his chastity, he took the occasion to gain over their souls to Christ. Towards the most divine mystery of the Eucharist he was drawn with burning tenderness of love, and would pass almost whole nights without sleep, in adoration. This holy custom he established in his Order, to be kept up for ever, as its peculiar mark. He was a zealous propagator of the cultus of the Virgin Mother of God. He was all aflame with the love of his neighbours. He was gifted with prophecy and the discerning of spirits. In the forty-fourth year of his age, whilst he was continuing long at prayer in the holy house of Loreto, it was made known to him that the end of his earthly life was at hand. He straightway took his road to the Abruzzi and was there seized with a mortal fever, at the house of the disciples of St Philip Keri, in the town of Agnone. He received with great devotion the Sacraments of the Church, and upon the day preceding the Nones of June, in the year sixteen hundred and eight, it being the eve of the feast of Corpus Christi, he most calmly fell asleep in the Lord His sacred body was carried to Naples, and there honourably buried in the church of St Mary Major, where he had laid the first foundations of his Order. As he became distinguished for miracles, Pope Clement XIV enrolled his name, with solemn pomp, amongst those of the blessed, and Pope Pius VII, in the year eighteen hundred and seven, finding his mighty prodigies continue, added it to the list of saints.
Well was thy love for the divine Sacrament of the Altar rewarded, O Francis; thou hadst the glory of being called to the banquet of our eternal home, at the very hour when the Church on earth was chanting the praises of the sacred Victim, at the first Vespers of the great festival, that year by year hails this Mystery of mysteries. Thine own feast day occurring, as it ever does, close to this solemnity of Corpus Christi, continues still to invite us men, as thou wast wont to do in life, to come and peer in adoration into the depths of this Mystery of Love. The mysterious harmony of the cycle is all disposed by divine Wisdom, seeing that his sweet Providence fixes the season at which each saint is summoned to receive the crown of bliss; thus the post of honor earned by thee is in the sanctuary itself close to the divine Host upon our altars.
The zeal of thy house hath eaten me up: this was thy heart’s cry upon earth. These words, less those of David than of the Man-God himself, did indeed fill thine heart to overflowing so that, after thy death, they were found engraven on the lifeless flesh of thy heart, proving, as it were, what had been the one impetus of its every pulsation and of thy desires. Hence resulted the need thou hadst of continual prayer, as well as that ever correlative ardor of thine for penance, the twofold characteristic of thy religious family, and which thou wouldst fain have seen in the hearts of all. Prayer and penance; yes, these two alone fix man in his right position before God. Vouchsafe to preserve this precious deposit amidst thy spiritual sons, O Francis; so that by their zeal in propagating the spirit of their Father, they may make it become the treasure also of the entire world.
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