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| French court removes 6 children from British parents of 10 after dispute over Catholic schooling |
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Posted by: Stone - 05-28-2021, 10:18 AM - Forum: Against the Children
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French court removes 6 children from British parents of 10 after dispute over Catholic schooling
Clare and David Graham's daughters, age 9 and 10, have been placed in the care of an Algerian man who has been teaching them 'Muslim prayers.’ The Grahams told LifeSiteNews that French social workers repeatedly made rude comments about their family size and laughed with the police about putting the terrified family in cells.
Quatre enfants de la famille Graham / Four of the Graham children
Read this story in French HERE.
ORNE, France, May 27, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — A British couple who hoped a judge could help settle a dispute over their children’s schooling in France was stunned when the court decided to put the children in foster homes instead.
The six children are all Catholics, and the two little girls — age 9 and 10 — have been placed with a couple who, the mother reports, refuses to take them to Mass but has taught them how “to do Muslim prayers.”
One of children’s adult sisters told LifeSiteNews by email that the four older siblings are “very upset” at the seizure of the six minors and that the younger siblings just want to come home.
“Me and my elder brothers and sister are very upset about them being put in care, and it is very hard when the children ask, ‘When can we come home?’ and we don't know the answer,” said Georgina Graham, 21.
David and Clare Graham first moved to France in 2005 for “a better life” as Clare told LifeSiteNews. As Britain was then part of the European Union, Britons were free to live and work in France. The cost of living in the French countryside was cheaper than living in the U.K., and the Grahams could afford a larger house there.
At the time, the couple had four British-born children. Today, they have 10 children in all, six born in France. The eldest four are grown up and two of them, boys, are in Britain. Two of the girls, age 22 and 21, still live in France and help their parents with their four youngest brothers and two little sisters. David has maintained his family by continuing his profession as a builder in France, carrying out renovations and fixing roof, usually for fellow expatriate Britons.
Whereas David, 55, does not have a religion, Clare, 51, is a devout Catholic. Because she objected to the “rubbish” taught in secular state schools in the family’s neighbourhood — and because the schools give contraception to their students, among other reasons — four years ago the Grahams took four of their children out of the state school system.
Clare’s original idea was to home-school her kids. A parent at the children's school then reported her to French social services when the children no longer attended it. After sending the surprised Grahams a letter, the social workers appeared at their home. This was to be the beginning of a long and very rocky relationship between the Grahams and the various arms of the French social welfare apparatus.
‘I did find their questions intrusive, like they desperately wanted to find something wrong with my parents. I believe they didn't like how my mum is religious and has a lot of children, or the fact that my parents are British.’
Georgina Graham told LifeSiteNews that she had experienced racism and bullying in French state schools.
“I went to the local public schools and had very bad experiences with racism and physical and verbal bullying,” she said.
“(This) is one of the reasons my mother wanted to send my younger siblings to Catholic schools, so that they wouldn't have to go through what my older sister and I did.”
Georgina said, “At school I was tormented for being English and experienced racial slurs daily by students and teachers. I was also assaulted on numerous occasions: head-butted, punched, kicked (...) dog feces put in my schoolbag, chewing gum put in my hair. I had things thrown at me during all of my classes, so it was very difficult to concentrate on the lesson.”
Georgina confirmed that the social workers first “came into (their) lives around four years ago” when a parent reported her parents for taking her brothers out of school. Being questioned by them was a disagreeable experience.
“I did find their questions intrusive, like they desperately wanted to find something wrong with my parents,” she said
“I believe they didn't like how my mum is religious and has a lot of children, or the fact that my parents are British,” she continued.
“They have always been very rude to my parents.”
Traditional Catholic schools
Worried about social services removing her children but also that her children would be morally damaged by the state schools, Clare found sympathetic hearts at private Catholic schools. The two boys (now 15 and 12) continued their studies at a Catholic boarding school in the South of France, and the two girls (now 9 and 10) were enrolled in a Catholic boarding school nearer home. The one-income family is not wealthy, and the children were accepted by both schools on very generous terms. When their two youngest sons (now 7 and 5) were old enough to go to school, the Grahams enrolled them in the local primary school. Clare’s hope was that the little boys would also go to their brothers’ school when they were fluent in French.
The parents did not — and still do not — see eye to eye on the children’s education. David Graham told LifeSiteNews that he doesn’t mind his children being Catholic or going to Catholic schools, but he misses them very much when they are at boarding schools, and he knows that they miss being at home. He would prefer them to go to the local state schools nearby until the family returns to England.
Clare and David had separated on a previous occasion, when Clare had taken their children and gone to live in England for nine months. Eventually, tensions at home, exacerbated by the social workers, once again became too much for Clare, and in November 2020, she went to live in a rented house in another district of Normandy, Calvados, closer to the girls’ school, taking the two youngest boys with her. Clare told LifeSiteNews that she just “needed a break.” David told LifeSiteNews that one of the social workers had suggested that Clare move to Calvados so as to “take the heat off” from social services. Only an hour away, the children saw their father often during the brief separation.
Unfortunately, the move exacerbated the Grahams’ money troubles, already strained by an injury the self-employed David had sustained to his back. Because she had changed addresses, Clare’s family allowance and social security payments were blocked. Thanks to red tape, this situation continued from December 5 until May 11. Clare and the children squeaked by in Calvados on loans from her mother in England.
‘They’ve asked me umpteen times why I have so many children’
Clare and David both maintain that their children were healthy, well-cared for, and happy despite their parents’ troubles. Neither Clare nor David is fluent in French, which made dealing with employees of social services, who frequently arrived to interview any children at home, difficult.
Like her daughter Georgina, Clare believes that the social workers despise her Catholic faith and told LifeSiteNews that they had made inappropriate remarks about the size of her family. When social workers first came to the Graham home, they attempted to discuss contraception with the married Catholic mother.
Five of the Graham children after church
“They’ve asked me umpteen times why I have so many children,” Clare said.
In April 2019, French social services passed the Grahams’ file to the “open environment educational action service” (that is, Service d’action éducative en milieu ouvert, or AEMO). AEMO was supposed to check on the family’s welfare overall — for example, to make sure they had enough money for their needs.
The family’s AEMO case worker seemed to befriend Clare, and it was she, Clare says, who advised her to leave her husband and go to Calvados. The AEMO case worker also suggested that Clare and David work out their disagreements about the children’s schooling in front of a children’s judge. When this led to the children being seized, Clare said, the AEMO worker apologized for setting up the hearing. However, David thinks the caseworker is actually responsible for the court’s decision to take his children.
“I am pretty sure the social worker is the one who swayed the judge even before we went to court,” he told LifeSiteNews.
“I got the feeling the judge just wanted an excuse to place our children.”
The hearing, in late November, was a disaster from the start. On the way to court, one of the little girls threw up on her brother, soiling his shoes. As a result, the boy appeared in court without them, which made a bad impression on the judge. The court documents state also that none of the four children wore a coat to the hearing. Two of the boys were not present, as they been sent back to school in the South of France, and when she found out, “the judge went mad,” Clare told LifeSiteNews, “banging the table, really threatening behavior.”
The children who were present huddled together. They were not forthcoming when they were questioned because they were frightened and intimidated by the court, Clare said. This also made a bad impression on the judge.
“They didn’t speak much to the judge because she was very intimidating,” the mother said.
“I found her intimidating, so heaven knows what they thought of her.”
David appeared with a lawyer; Clare did not. Nettled by the lawyer, Clare accused David of throwing a cot at her—which he had, over twenty years earlier, he admits—and of being mentally ill, which David denies. David, stung, accused Clare of throwing a cup and of pointing a knife at him. He also made unwarranted criticism of the elder boys’ school, which he now regrets. Clare regrets badmouthing her husband to the judge, telling LifeSiteNews her motive was to be able to keep her daughters in the Catholic school they love.
“So we really messed up,” David told LifeSiteNews.
“Neither one of us is violent, but I think we could not have made a bigger mess of the hearing that day.”
The court documents—which were never translated into English for the Grahams, and with which the Grahams take issue—make for sad reading. They allege that the family’s financial situation was “extremely precarious,” with many bills unpaid. Social workers alleged in October that the two youngest boys weren’t in school and that the two older boys didn’t want to go back to their boarding school. They also alleged that David thought this school was too strict and even that Clare had announced she wanted to divorce her husband and leave with the children during the October school break. (Clare denies she wants or wanted a divorce.)
The documents discuss the November separation and the state school’s surprise when the boys didn’t turn up for class. They say David had declared he was afraid to object to their removal to Calvados, for he thought Clare might report him as demented to emergency services. They say he was also afraid Clare might leave France with the children. They also say Clare claimed David was psychotic, had a criminal record back in the U.K., and had abused her.
Three of the Graham children
Clare strenuously disagrees with many of the statements in the court papers.
The documents also indicate that the social workers thought Clare’s Catholic objections to the local state schools were to her discredit: “Mrs. Graham says it would be terrible for [child] who can’t read and write to go to a public school... She considers that the teachings of the secular school are inadequate and immoral.”
Clare told LifeSiteNews that the AEMO caseworker she thought was her friend stood up at the hearing and said that Clare did not want her children in the state schools because they gave out contraceptives. Clare felt humiliated by the stares that followed this announcement.
The documents also claim that the children can’t speak French, which Clare says is “a lie,” adding that her youngest daughters had been at the French convent school for three years, and that the teachers have reported the girls are fluent. The two youngest boys, she admits, are not yet fluent as they have not been at school for long. The documents also suggest that the children have had inadequate schooling, which Clare vehemently denies.
The judge’s decision shocked both parents. Instead of siding with one or the other on the schooling issue, the judge ruled that the children should be removed from their care:
Quote:Although separated materially because of the departure of Mrs. Graham in the department of Calvados shortly before the hearing, the usual residence of the minors was not granted to either of the two parents, this situation having vocation to last insofar as Mrs. Graham indicated not to consider a judicial separation for the moment from her husband. She speaks of difficulty in entrusting the children to the father, which the social services were unable to verify. Finally, it must be noted that although Mr. Graham deplores the choices made by his wife, considering them to be contrary to the interests of their common children, he has never taken a position for the protection of the children until now. In these conditions it is impossible to entrust the minors to one or the other of the parents. No person is capable to be designated as a trustworthy third party and no member of the family seems to reside on the national territory, and it should be recalled that the family was very isolated in the Orne region.
The minor children, who are living with their mother in Calvados, will therefore be placed for 6 months. The parents obtain mediate visits (in presence of third parties) every 15 days in alternation, with the possibility of lightening of these measures. [Emphasis added.]
Clare Graham told LifeSiteNews that her eldest daughter, who is 22, asked to take charge of her brothers and sisters so that they could be together, but her plea was refused. At least one of her adult daughters does, in fact, “reside on the national territory.”
Georgina Graham told LifeSiteNews on behalf of all her siblings that their parents have never neglected them.
“We have never been neglected by our parents in any way,” she said via email.
“They have always put their children first.”
‘It was like a nightmare’
The judge’s decision was not immediate, for she had said she needed to think about it. Then Clare was stunned when she received a letter about two weeks later saying that the children would be “placed,” that is, put into foster care. At first there had been a long delay, and Clare thought it was because there was no foster family that would take all six children. Her court-appointed solicitor had also made an appeal, and apparently a court of appeal was willing to suspend the placement if Clare could prove the children were in school. By then, all four of the boys were enrolled in state schools in Calvados, and the youngest were even receiving extra tuition.
“I thought it was done,” Clare said, meaning the threat of the children being taken away.
When the “placement people”—two women—came to Clare’s house on Friday, March 13 to tell her the children would be taken away on Monday, the mother had just received a letter from the court of appeal, asking her to provide certain papers.
The police eventually burst open the bedroom door, and one of the boys was so frightened, he wet himself. Georgina said that as they drove her to the station, the police laughed over the youngest child’s terror. ‘Whilst I was in the police car, I heard the police laughing hysterically at how their colleague had screamed and kicked down the door where my siblings were hiding and scared my five-year-old brother to death,’ she told LifeSiteNews.
“They contacted the judge who told the placement people to split the children up as no family would take six children together,” Clare alleged.
“I told the placement people that everything was well with the children; they were all at school [and] we had no problems. They dismissed me, saying the judge wants them in care so they will be going into care.”
Clare was devastated.
“We ran,” she said. “I couldn’t sit back and let them get taken like that.”
The social workers had told Clare to pack suitcases and prepare the children to leave for their foster homes. Clare and one of her adult daughters did pack up, but they fled the small house in Calvados on Monday with the children. These included the girls, who had come home from their boarding school on Friday.
Clare’s British passport had run out, and although she had applied for them, she hadn’t yet received British passports for the children. As a result, they moved from place to place in France before finally returning to David and the family home in Orne. There they must have let their guard down, Clare believes, for as she looked out the window early on Tuesday, April 6, she saw the police arrive.
“I’ve never been so frightened in my life,” she said.
The house in Orne is made of two dwellings joined together. The police “tore apart” one of them before entering the wing where Clare was hiding with the children in a bedroom.
“We heard them all next door, me and the children, and [the children] were terrified,” she recalled.
Georgina Graham described what it was like to be on the other side of the wall:
Quote:I woke up around 7 a.m. to my dad telling me to hurry downstairs — “The police are here to see you.” When I got down, I was confronted with about ten or twelve police in the kitchen. The chief approached me and was very aggressive and frustrated because they had still not found my mum and the six children after three weeks of searching for them. He raised his voice and said that he has been made a fool of because of me and my family. He then said, ‘I am going to ask you one last time where they are, and if you don't tell me, you will be arrested right now and put in custody until you do.’ I answered, 'I still don't know where they are’ and was then arrested, searched and put in a cell.
The police eventually burst open the bedroom door, and one of the boys was so frightened, he wet himself.
“My [5] children were pulled from my arms by social services and quickly rushed into cars and driven away extremely distressed,” Clare said.
“Nothing prepared me for that; it was like a nightmare.”
The Grahams’ 15-year-old son was taken away by police, alone and frightened, for questioning. Clare and David were arrested and charged with kidnapping their own children, and their adult daughters were also arrested and charged. The latter were kept in police cells for three hours, their mother said.
Georgina said that as they drove her to the station, the police laughed over the youngest child’s terror.
“Whilst I was in the police car, I heard the police laughing hysterically at how their colleague had screamed and kicked down the door where my siblings were hiding and scared my five-year-old brother to death,” she told LifeSiteNews.
The situation did not improve at the separate police stations to which the Grahams were taken.
“My treatment by the police was terrible,” Clare recalled.
“I was kept for 11 hours and not even offered a drink of water. The policeman interviewing me persistently shouted in my face, and two others present with him thought it was amusing.”
Clare accuses the social workers, too, of finding their situation laughable. When the social workers came to her house in March to say they were taking her children, Clare heard them laughing and asking each other who spoke the best English, she said. When the “placement people” came to the police station to take her 15-year-old son, they laughed with the police about putting the family in cells. Later, when social services returned a call by one of the adult daughters, they left a message on her phone, forgot to hang up, and “could be clearly heard to be laughing about it in the background,” Clare said.
The children were divided and put in different families, ones that do not share their faith and do not take them to Sunday Mass. The two girls, aged 9 and 10, were placed with an Algerian Muslim man and his French wife, against Clare’s wishes. Clare’s daughters have told her that their carer has said he wants to take them to visit Algeria. Meanwhile, when Clare expressed surprise that her dress-loving daughter was dressed, on a visit, in black jeans bought by their foster parents, a social worker told her that it was a good thing the children were in placement, for that way they could “express themselves.”
No Catholic schools, no Catholic Mass — but Muslim proselytism from foster parents okay?
Clare says she has seen her children only twice since April 5 even though most people get to visit their children in foster care once a week. The children are permitted to call her and speak to her for only up to 15 minutes, and only on weeks they haven’t seen her. Meanwhile, her request that her children continue to attend Catholic schools has been denied. Last week she was told it would help her case if she would sign a form saying that she will now place all her children in state schools.
“So I’ll get the children back so long as I follow what they say I’ve got to do,” she said.
‘I think it was done deliberately. [The placement workers] knew they were girls from a Catholic convent school, and yet they were placed with a Muslim man and his wife.’
And although the children have not been permitted to go to Mass, two of them are receiving religious instruction from quite a different quarter.
“I spoke with my daughters tonight, and they are not happy at all,” Clare told LifeSiteNews on May 13.
“[They] keep asking when they can come home. Shockingly, they asked if they could attend [Ascension Day] Mass today, but instead they were told how to do Muslim prayers,” she continued.
“I think it was done deliberately. [The placement workers] knew they were girls from a Catholic convent school, and yet they were placed with a Muslim man and his wife.”
Meanwhile, the siblings in the different fostering households are not permitted to see each other, and their sister Georgina’s request to visit them in person has been denied.
The court of appeal in Caen will give a judgement on the case in June.
Friends and family in Britain support the Grahams: ‘They were just a normal family’
An appeal has been made to raise funds for the Grahams to pay a private lawyer to get their children back home. Both parents have told LifeSiteNews that they wish to return to England with the children. Clare intends to homeschool them with the support of her extended family.
Gemma Lloyd, the English woman who set up the fundraiser, told LifeSiteNews that she is a family friend of the Grahams, having known Clare from their church community in Yorkshire since she was a little girl.
“I was told at Mass one week by Clare’s mother that this is happening to Clare, so I thought I should try to help in lots of different ways, contact some people who could help her in France, and then [realized] that she needs financial help,” Lloyd said.
The fundraiser was delayed while Clare worked with the court-appointed lawyer, but when this proved fruitless, Lloyd launched the giving page.
“We wanted to get her the best, really,” she said.
Lloyd last saw Clare and her children when they were last in Yorkshire, when the youngest was a baby, and she said the children were “as normal as they come.”
“They were just a normal family,” she asserted.
Asked why she thought the French state took away the Grahams’ children, Lloyd indicated that she believes secular ideology is behind it.
“They want to control the children’s minds and take away anything to do with God, anything to do with religion,” she continued.
“And to me the Catholic country that France was, is no longer Catholic. It’s more or less communist, like our Lady of Fatima warned us of.” [Emphasis The Catacombs]
Clare’s mother Sheila Campbell told LifeSiteNews that she and her husband are very distressed with the whole situation.
“We have 18 grandchildren and have tried to be involved with them all, as I believe that grandparents have a lot to offer the young ones in giving them a broader experience in life,” Mrs. Campbell said via email.
“George (my husband) and I both had grandparents who passed on a love of our Catholic faith, as well as sound advice on life itself,” the grandmother continued.
“I am therefore so upset that my younger grandchildren have been taken away in these circumstances, for no reason that I can understand. We have been refused permission to speak to them for the reason that we would speak to them in English and they would not understand what was being said. We would hardly be planning to take over the world!”
Campbell was distressed again to hear that her youngest granddaughters were being instructed in Islamic prayers.
“I know it was Eid, but more importantly, it was Ascension Day, and they should have been at Mass, not at a Muslim celebration,” she said.
Like her daughter, she thinks the girls were placed in that particular home because they were just completely their third year in a convent school when they were taken away.
“[The girls] were asking Clare last night why they can’t go back to the nuns, where they were settled and happy,” the grandmother wrote.
“I cannot begin to properly express how distressed and emotional I feel about this situation. We all just want the children back with the family and as soon as possible to be back in Yorkshire with their extended family who are all incredulous about the whole affair.”
Clare Graham has not received help from British authorities, even though her mother has contacted her MP and written to many others, including Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The British Embassy in Paris has been of limited use. Clare told LifeSiteNews that the British Embassy had been helping repatriate the family back to the U.K., but “all that came to a stop” after the hearing. Clare believes that when she contacted the British Embassy, when she was on the run, the official she spoke to called social services to report the conversation. One of the difficulties of the case is that Clare doesn’t believe that her six youngest children are French citizens, but the French bureaucrats they have dealt with say that they are.
Meanwhile, Clare’s medical doctor in France has been supportive and recently wrote two letters to the court to say, Clare says, that the mother “has always looked after the children well and didn’t have any mental health problems.”
According to the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child, a child has, “as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents.” The Convention states also that the child has the right “to preserve his or her identity, including nationality, name and family relations as recognized by law without unlawful interference.” The child also has the right to “freedom of thought, conscience and religion.”
Article 30 of the Convention is very clear about the rights of ethnic minority children, as the English-speaking Graham children are in France:
Quote: “In those States in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities or persons of indigenous origin exist, a child belonging to such a minority or who is indigenous shall not be denied the right, in community with other members of his or her group, to enjoy his or her own culture, to profess and practise his or her own religion, or to use his or her own language.”
LifeSiteNews has reached out to the Mother Superior of the convent school in which the girls were pupils, but she would not comment on the case. LifeSiteNews also reached out to the British Embassy in Paris, but its spokeswoman would not speak on record.
To assist the legal fund for the Graham family, click here.
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| Pope Francis appoints UK bishop known for criticizing traditional liturgy as head of the CDW |
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Posted by: Stone - 05-28-2021, 09:53 AM - Forum: Pope Francis
- No Replies
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Pope Francis appoints UK bishop known for criticizing traditional liturgy as head of the Congregation for Divine Worship
Archbishop Arthur Roche, the new Prefect of the Congregation for Divine WorshipLumen Civitatis / YouTube
VATICAN CITY, May 27, 2021 (LifeSiteNews - adapted) – Pope Francis appointed Archbishop Arthur Roche as the new Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments (CDW), replacing Cardinal Robert Sarah and potentially ushering in a new era of active opposition to the Extraordinary Form of the Mass. ...
The press release from the Holy See, issued May 27, announced the news of Roche’s appointment, alongside that of the new Secretary and under-Secretary of the Congregation.
Archbishop Roche, formerly bishop of Leeds, U.K., served as Secretary of the Congregation from 2012 through this year, having been appointed to it by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.
Roche previously served as bishop of Leeds from 2004 through 2012, and auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Westminster from 2001 through 2002, under Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor.
Commenting on the news, CNA Europe editor Luke Coppen wrote that Roche’s appointment demonstrated the level of influence that was enjoyed by Cardinal O’Connor, who was one of the group of clerics dubbed the “St. Gallen mafia,” a group that wished to radically change the Church and make it “much more modern.”
Roche is joined by Bishop Vittoria Francesco Viola, O.F.M., of Tortona as the new Secretary of the Congregation and Monsignor Aurelio Garćia Marćias, the current Head of Office of the Congregation since 2016, as the new under-Secretary, raising him to the episcopate at the same time.
Roche set to lead a new-look CDW
The appointment of Roche comes in light of fears that Pope Francis is about to restrict the celebration of the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite (also referred to as the Traditional Latin Mass, or the Tridentine Mass). Reports have emerged in recent days stating that Francis has spoken to the Italian Bishops Conference, telling them that he has finished the third draft of a document that will restrict the offering of the Extraordinary Form.
Vatican journalist Diane Montagna announced today that Messa in Latino, the original source of the news, had confirmed to her that the information was trustworthy and had come to them from three bishops and two high ranking members of the Roman Curia, who were all present at the event.
Indeed, Pope Francis recently initiated a peculiar investigation into the CDW. Archbishop Roche sought to downplay the news, but Rome sources confirmed to LifeSiteNews at the time that it was far from a regular event. Italian newspaper Il Messagero has called it a “decidedly unusual extraordinary act personally ordered by the Pope to ‘straighten out’ the Congregation of Divine Worship.”
Given that it came shortly after the announcement of new restrictions being placed on celebrating the traditional Mass in the Vatican, the news has led to speculation that it is part of an effort by Francis to remove from the Congregation those members who are more sympathetic the traditional Latin liturgy and its theology.
Roche’s history on the Latin Mass and Vatican II
Various commentators have noted that Archbishop Roche has taken action several times to limit the celebration of the traditional Catholic liturgy.
Following Pope Benedict XVI’s Summorum Pontificum, which gave priests permission to offer the traditional Mass without seeking permission from their bishop, Roche swiftly declared that the power of the bishops to prevent the Latin Mass was still in effect, and issued guidelines on the matter.
In 2020, he penned a letter to the bishops of the world attacking the traditional Mass and praising the Second Vatican Council’s paradigm shift in its view of the Church, hailing the fact that the Council had removed the notion of the Church as a “perfect society and a world power to be contended with,” and instead was viewed as “constantly open to reform and conversion.”
The 71-year-old prelate styled the new rite of the Mass, the Novus Ordo, as the “good fruit from the tree of the Church.” He called it an “ecclesiastical duty” to implement the Novus Ordo, criticizing how the Extraordinary Form did not promote the community celebration by the laity, and how the Extraordinary Form had “the priest alone as celebrant.”
Roche called the Novus Ordo missal of Paul VI “a witness to unchanging faith and uninterrupted tradition.”
He also strongly advocated the community celebration over the priestly celebration, condemning the so-called “passive” role played by the congregation at the Traditional Latin Mass.
The Novus Ordo was a result of the “dawning consciousness” that moved away from the “solely clerical version of the liturgy,” wrote Roche.
However, traditional theologians have warned of the dangers of such language around community celebration, warning of a blurring of the lines between priest and people. In his work on the liturgy, The Destruction of the Roman Rite, Don Leone warns that with this teaching, “the congregation no longer unites itself spiritually with the unfathomable mysteries of the Mass, but usurps the functions of the clergy.”
Indeed, in his encyclical Mediator Dei, Pope Pius XII warned of the dangers of Roche’s view, describing as erroneous the position that “they look on the eucharistic sacrifice as a ‘concelebration’ in the literal meaning of that term and consider it more fitting that priests should ‘concelebrate’ with the people present than that they should offer the sacrifice privately when the people are absent.”
The “good fruit,” which Roche proclaims, has previously been described by liturgy expert Dr. Peter Kwasniewski as responsible for diminishing belief in the Real Presence. Kwasniewski stated that the “liturgical reform cruelly diminished” the liturgical gestures of love and reverence for the Blessed Sacrament, “and introduced other practices, now habitual to the point of being immovable, that suggest we are dealing with common food and drink.”
Commenting on Roche’s 2020 letter, Una Voce Scotland described it as “a feeble attack on the Extraordinary Form of the Mass.”
Aside from promoting the new style of liturgy, Archbishop Roche has also declared that Vatican II, described as “pastoral” in the opening address of John XXIII, was in fact of far greater weight, perhaps even than any council before.
“The Second Vatican Council for the first time ever solemnly proclaimed a body of doctrine on the Church which is now part of the Church’s Magisterium,” Roche wrote in February 2020.
Roche and Holy Communion
While acting as Secretary for the CDW, Roche gave his name to a controversial letter sent from the CDW, which supported a U.S. bishop in his decision to ban the faithful from receiving Holy Communion on the tongue during the COVID-19 disruption.
“As has already been enunciated in the circular letter of Card. Robert Sarah of August 15, 2020, and approved for publication by His Holiness Pope Francis, ‘in times of difficulty (e.g., wars, pandemics), Bishops and Episcopal Conferences can give provisional norms which must be obeyed’, even clearly, as in this case, to suspend for whatever time might be required, reception of Holy Communion on the tongue at the public celebration of the Holy Mass,” the letter states.
While missing the all-important signature of Cardinal Sarah, the letter bore the signature of Archbishop Roche instead.
As reported by LifeSiteNews at the time, Roche’s letter contradicted a 2009 letter from the same Congregation regarding the same question in the midst of the H1N1 influenza pandemic. At that time, the Vatican under Pope Benedict, wrote that Church law on the subject stipulates, “each of the faithful always has the right to receive Holy Communion on the tongue” and that it may not be abrogated.
Furthermore, Roche was acting in violation of the 2004 instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum, which holds that “each of the faithful always has the right to receive Holy Communion on the tongue.”
Speaking to LifeSiteNews at the time, Kwasniewski mentioned that Roche’s letter “undermines the universal norms and tradition of the Church, reiterated many times, concerning the most appropriate and reverent manner for receiving the Holy Eucharist.”
A new era of anti-traditionalism in the Vatican
With the appointment of Archbishop Roche to head the CDW, the Vatican appears set to begin a renewed campaign against the traditional movement in the Church.
The upcoming Vatican conference, entitled “For a fundamental theology of the priesthood,” due to take place in early 2022, is also set to discuss one of Roche’s key interests - the relationship between the ordained priesthood and the priesthood of the faithful. It is expected by many that the conference may well further undermine traditional teaching regarding the sacrament of holy orders, clerical celibacy, and female deacons.
The conference will take place with the Church is in the midst of Pope Francis’s newly announced Church-wide two-year synod on synodality, following the German example of the synodal church, which has been described by concerned traditional Catholics as “Vatican III.”
Noting his concerns to LifeSiteNews, Kwasniewski called the upcoming “Vatican III” a “continual submersion in bureaucracy, a surrender to the modern mentality of administration as the cure for all evils, which keeps the Church busy gazing at its navel while real evangelization withers and the pews empty out.”
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| May 28th - St. Augustine of Canterbury |
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Posted by: Stone - 05-28-2021, 08:37 AM - Forum: May
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May 28 – St Augustine, Bishop, Apostle of England
![[Image: 527augustine3.jpg?w=479&ssl=1]](https://i0.wp.com/sensusfidelium.us/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/527augustine3.jpg?w=479&ssl=1)
Four hundred years had scarcely elapsed since the glorious death of Eleutherius, when a second Apostle of Britain ascended from this world, and on this same day, to the abode of eternal bliss. We cannot but be struck by the fact that the names of our two Apostles appear on the Calendar together: it shows us that God has his own special reasons in fixing the day for the death of each one among us. We have more than once noticed these providential coincidences, which form one of the chief characteristics of the Liturgical Cycle. What a beautiful sight is brought before us today, of the first, Archbishop of Canterbury, who—after honouring on this day the saintly memoRy of the holy Pontiff from whom England first received the Gospel, himself ascended into heaven, and shared with Eleutherius the eternity of heaven’s joy! Who would not acknowledge in this, a pledge of the predilection wherewith heaven has favoured this Country, which, after centuries of fidelity to the Truth, has now for more than three hundred years been an enemy to her own truest glory?
The work begun by Eleutherius had been almost entirely destroyed by the invasion of the Saxons and Angli; so that a new Mission, a new preaching of the Gospel, had become a necessity. It was Rome that again supplied the want. St. Gregory the Great was the originator of the great design. Had it been permitted him, he would have taken upon himself the fatigues of this Apostolate to our Country. He was deeply impressed with the idea that he was to be the spiritual Father of these poor islanders, some of whom he had seen exposed in the market-place of Rome. that they might be sold as slaves. Not being allowed to undertake the work himself, he looked around him for men whom he might send as Apostles to our Island. He found them in the Benedictine Monastery where he himself had spent several years of his life. There started from Rome forty Monks, with Augustine at their head, and they entered England under the standard of the Cross.
Thus the new race that then peopled the Island received the Faith, as the Britains had previously done, from the hands of a Pope; and Monks were their teachers in the science of salvation. The word of Augustine and his companions fructified in this privileged soil. It was some time of course before he could provide the whole nation with instruction; but neither Rome nor the Benedictines abandoned the work thus begun. The few remnants that were still left of the ancient British Christianity joined the new converts; and England merited to be called, for long ages, the “Island of Saints.”
The history of St Augustine’s Apostolate in England is of thrilling interest. The landing of the Roman Missioners, and their marching through the country, to the chant of the Litany; the willing and almost kind welcome given them by king Ethelbert; the influence exercised by his queen Bertha (who was French and a Catholic), in the establishment of the Faith among the Saxons; the baptism of ten thousand Neophytes, on Christmas Day, and in the bed of a river; the foundation of the metropolitan See of Canterbury, one of the most illustrious Churches of Christendom on account of the holiness and noble doings of its Archbishops; all these admirable episodes of England’s conversion are eloquent proofs of God’s predilection of our dear Land. Augustine’s peaceful and gentle character together with his love of contemplation amidst his arduous Missionary labours, gives an additional charm to this magnificent page of the Church’s history. But who can help feeling sad at the thought that a Country, favoured as ours has been with such graces, should have apostatized from the faith? have repaid with hatred that Rome which made her Christian? and have persecuted with unheard-of cruelties, the Benedictine Order, to which she owed so much of her glory?
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We subjoin the following Lessons on the Life of our Apostle, taken from an Office approved by the Holy See:
Quote:Augustine was a Monk of the Monastery of Saint Andrew, in Rome, where also he discharged the office of Prior with much piety and prudence. He was taken from that Monastery by St. Gregory the Great; and sent by him, with about forty Monks of the same monastery, into Britain. Thus would Gregory carry out, by his disciples, the conversion of that country to Christ—a project which he at first resolved to effect himself. They had not advanced far on their journey, when they became frightened at the difficulty of such an enterprise; but Gregory encouraged them by Letters which he sent to Augustine, whom he appointed as their Abbot, and gave him letters of introduction to the kings of the Franks, and to the Bishops of Gaul. Whereupon Augustine and his Monks pursued their journey with haste. He visited the tomb of St. Martin, at Tours. Having reached the town of Pont-de-Cé, not far from Angers, he was badly treated by its inhabitants, and was compelled to spend the night in the open air. Having struck the ground with his staff, a fountain miraculously sprang up; and on that spot, a Church was afterwards built, and called after his name.
Having procured interpreters from the Franks, he proceeded to England and landed at the Isle of Thanet. He entered the Country, carrying, as a standard, a silver Cross, and a painting representing our Saviour. Thus did he present himself before Ethelbert, the king of Kent, who readily provided the heralds of the Gospel with a dwelling in the city of Canterbury, and gave them leave to preach in his kingdom. There was, close at hand, an Oratory which had been built in honour of St. Martin, when the Romans had possession of Britain. It was in this Oratory that his queen Bertha (who was a Christian, as being of the nation of the Franks) was wont to pray. Augustine, therefore, entered into Canterbury with solemn religious ceremony, amidst the chanting of psalms and litanies. He took up his abode for some time near to the said Oratory; and there, together with his Monks, led an apostolic life. Such manner of living, conjointly with the heavenly doctrine that was preached, and confirmed by many miracles, so reconciled the islanders, that many of them were induced to embrace the Christian Faith. The king himself was also converted, and Augustine baptized him and a very great number of his people. On one Christmas Day he baptized upwards of ten thousand English, in a river at York; and it is related that those among them who were suffering any malady, received bodily health, as well as their spiritual regeneration.
Meanwhile, the man of God Augustine received a command from Gregory to go and receive Episcopal ordination in Gaul, at the hands of Virgilius, the Bishop of Arles. On his return he established his See at Canterbury, in the Church of our Saviour, which he had built, and he kept there some of the Monks to be his fellow-labourers. He also built in the suburbs the Monastery of Saint Peter, which was afterwards called “Saint Augustine’s.” When Gregory heard of the conversion of the Angli, which was told to him by the two Monks Laurence and Peter, whom Augustine had sent to Rome,—he wrote letters of congratulation to Augustine. He gave him power to arrange all that concerned the Church in England, and to wear the Pallium. In the same letters he admonished him to be on his guard against priding himself on the miracles which God enabled him to work for the salvation of souls, lest pride should tum them to the injury of him that worked them.
Having thus put in order the affairs of the Church in England, Augustine held a Council with the Bishops and Doctors of the ancient Britons, who had long been at variance with the Roman Church in the keeping of Easter and other rites. And in order to refute, by miracles, these men, whom the Apostolic See had often authoritatively admonished, but to no purpose, Augustine, in proof of the truth of his assertions, restored sight to a blind man in their presence. But on their refusing to yield even after witnessing the miracle, Augustine, with prophetic warning, told them of the punishment that awaited them. At length, after having laboured so long for Christ, and appointed Laurence as his successor, he took his departure for heaven on the seventh of the Calends of June (May 26th) and was buried in the Monastery of Saint Peter, which became the burying-place of the Archbishops of Canterbury, and of several Kings. The Churches of England honoured him with great devotion. They decreed that each year his feast should be kept as a holyday, and that his name should be inserted in the Litany, immediately after that of St. Gregory, together with whom Augustine has ever been honoured by the English as their Apostle, and as the propagator of the Benedictine Order in their Country.
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We also give the following hymn in honour of our Apostle, which has also been approved by the Holy See:
Hymn
Fœcunda sanctis insula,
Tuum canas apostolum;
Et filium Gregorii
Laudes piis concentibus.
O Isle fruitful in Saints, sing a hymn to thine Apostle! Praise, in holy song, the son of Gregory!
Ejus labore fertilis,
Messem dedisti plurimam,
Quæ sanctitatis floribus
Diu refulges inclyta.
Made fertile by his toil, thou gavest a rich harvest, and, for ages, wast famed for thy flowers of Sanctity.
Turma quadragenaria
Stipatus intrat Angliam:
Vexilla Christi proferens,
Dux pacis adfert pignora.
He enters England, having with him his forty Brethren. He bears the Standard of Christ. He is the Leader, and brings the pledges of Peace.
Crucis trophæum promicat,
Verbum salutis spargitur:
Fidem quin ipse barbarus
Rex corde prompto suscipit.
The trophy of the Cross glitters in the air; the word of salvation is spread through the land. Yes, the king himself, though a barbarian, receives the Faith with a ready heart.
Mores feros gens exuit,
Undisque lota fluminis,
Ipsa die renascitur
Qua sol salutis ortus est.
The nation casts aside its savage ways; it is baptized in the river’s stream, and is born to its New Life, on the very Day that the Sun of Justice rose upon our earth.
O Pastor alme, filios
E sede pascas siderum:
In matris ulnas anxiæ
Gregem reducas devium.
O kind Shepherd! from thy heavenly throne, feed thy children. Thy flock has gone astray; lead it back to its anxious Mother’s love.
Præsta, beata Trinitas,
Quæ rore jugi gratiæ
Vitem rigas: ut pristina
Fides resurgens floreat.
Amen.
O Blessed Trinity, that art ever pouring the dew of grace upon thy Vine! grant that the ancient Faith may rise again and flourish in our Land! Amen.
O Jesus, our Risen Lord! thou art the Life of Nations. as thou art the Life of our souls. Thou biddest them know and love and serve thee, for they have been given to thee for thine inheritance; and at thine own appointed time, each of them is made thy possession. Our own dear country was one of the earliest to be called; and when on thy Cross thou didst look with mercy on this far Island of the West, In the second Age of thy Church, thou didst send to her the heralds of thy Gospel; and again in the Sixth, Augustine, thine Apostle, commissioned by Gregory, thy Vicar, came to teach the way of Truth to the new pagan race that had made itself the owner of this highly favoured Land.
How glorious, dear Jesus, was thy Reign in our Fatherland! Thou gavest her Bishops, Doctors, Kings, Monks, and Virgins, whose virtues and works made the whole world speak of her as the “Isle of Saints;” and it is to Augustine, thy disciple and herald, that thou wouldst have us attribute the chief part of the honour of so grand a conquest. Long indeed was thy Reign over this people, whose Faith was lauded throughout the whole world; but, alas! an evil hour came, and England rebelled against thee; she would not have thee to reign over her. By her influence. she led other nations astray. She hated thee in thy Vicar; she repudiated the greater part of the truths thou hast revealed to men; she put out the light of Faith, and substituted in its place the principle of Private Judgment, which made her the slave of countless false doctrines. In the mad rage of her heresy, she trampled beneath her feet and burned the Relics of the Saints, who were her grandest glory; she annihilated the Monastic Order. to which she owed her knowledge of the Christian Faith; she was drunk with the blood of the Martyrs; she encouraged apostasy, and punished adhesion to the ancient Faith as the greatest of crimes.
She, by a just judgement of God, has become a worshipper of material prosperity. Her wealth, her fleet, and her colonies—these are her idols, and she would awe the rest of the world by the power they give her. But the Lord will, in his own time, overthrow this Colossus of power and riches; and as it was in times past, when the mightiest of kingdoms was destroyed by a stone which struck it on its feet of clay,—so will people be amazed, when the time of retribution comes, to find how easily the greatest of modem Nations was conquered and humbled. England no longer forms a part of thy Kingdom, O Jesus! She separated herself from it by breaking the bond that had held her so long in union with thy Church. Thou hast patiently waited for her return; yet she returns not. Her prosperity is a scandal to the weak; so that her own best and most devoted children feel that her chastisement will be one of the severest that thy Justice can inflict.
Meanwhile, thy Mercy, O Jesus, is winning over thousands of her people to the Truth, and their love of it seems fervent in proportion to their having been so long deprived of its beautiful light. Thou hast created a new people in her very midst, and each year the number is increasing. Cease not thy merciful workings; that thus these Faithful ones may once more draw down upon our Country the blessing she forfeited when she rebelled against thy Church.
Thy mission, then, O holy Apostle Augustine! is not yet over. The number of the Elect is not filled up; and our Lord is gleaning some of these from amidst the tares that cover the land of thy loving labours. May thine intercession obtain for her children those graces which enlighten the mind and convert the heart. May it remove their prejudices, and give them to see that the Spouse of Jesus is but One, as he himself calls her; that the Faith of Gregory and Augustine is still the Faith of the Catholic Church at this day; and that three hundred years’ possession could never give Heresy any claim to a country which was led astray by seduction and violence, and which has retained so many traces of ancient and deep-rooted Catholicity.
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| 18 Connecticut teens hospitalized for heart problems after COVID vaccines |
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Posted by: Stone - 05-27-2021, 09:36 AM - Forum: COVID Vaccines
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18 Connecticut teens hospitalized for heart problems after COVID vaccines, White House says young people should still get the shots
The mother of 17-year-old Gregory Hatton, diagnosed with pericarditis within days of his second dose of the vaccine, said her son 'basically has a heart condition now and it’s terrifying.'
May 27, 2021 (Children’s Health Defense) — One week after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced it was investigating heart inflammation in recently vaccinated young adults, Connecticut reported 18 new cases of heart problems among teens who had received a COVID vaccine.
All 18 cases resulted in hospitalization — the vast majority for a couple of days, reported NBC Connecticut. The cases were reported to the Connecticut Department of Public Health by vaccine providers, said Deirdre Gifford, acting health commissioner.
“One individual that we’re aware of is still hospitalized,” Guifford said Monday. “The other 17 have been sent home and they’re doing fine.”
The first case at Connecticut Children’s was Rachel Hatton’s 17-year-old son, Gregory.
“It’s terrifying,” said Hatton. Her son started complaining of severe chest pain three days after his second vaccine dose. It worsened on the fourth day, causing back pain.
After blood work and an x-ray, doctors diagnosed Gregory with pericarditis, an inflammation of the tissue surrounding the heart that can cause sharp chest pain and other symptoms.
“They hooked him up to a heart monitor, did more EKGs, echocardiograms. Infectious disease actually came and ran their own set of blood work to try to figure out if it could have been caused by something else, some sort of infection, something else, like Lyme disease. They tested him for all sorts of things and one by one those tests came back negative,” said Hatton.
Doctors couldn’t confirm Gregory’s condition was caused by the COVID vaccine, but two more recently vaccinated patients presented to the hospital with similar symptoms. A spokesperson from Connecticut Children’s said patients have presented with both pericarditis and myocarditis
Myocarditis is inflammation of the heart muscle that can lead to cardiac arrhythmia and death. According to the National Organization for Rare Disorders, myocarditis can result from infections, but “more commonly the myocarditis is a result of the body’s immune reaction to the initial heart damage.”
Mayo Clinic doctors say treatment focuses on the cause of the condition and symptoms, such as heart failure and shortness of breath.
Hatton said her son is now out of work, on medication and hooked up to a heart monitor. He will have another MRI in June to see if his condition has improved.
“I don’t sleep because … if I hear my son sneeze or if he sounds like he’s out of breath when I call him on my break at work, I get nervous because I just don’t know what else could happen. He basically has a heart condition now and it’s terrifying,” she said.
NBC Connecticut spoke with other parents of teens who received their first dose of COVID vaccine and are scheduled to get their second.
“I can’t believe the government would really put out a shot that would really negatively impact the health of my child so I’m behind the vaccine 100%,” said Heather Salgado.
“I’m just trusting the science and the recommendation is to get the vaccine,” said Theresa Galizia.
Other parents, like Siobhan Cefarelli, had reservations. “It’s one thing for me to get the vaccine, but for my child to get the vaccine, it’s kind of scary not knowing what’s going to happen and not having a lot of research having been done on it.”
Hatton said she shared her son’s story because she wanted parents to be aware. Despite doctors saying the condition is rare, Hatton explained it doesn’t feel rare when it’s affecting your own child.
The CDC has not determined if vaccines were the cause of the reported heart condition in the Connecticut cases. But the CDC safety committee released an advisory May 17 alerting doctors to reports of myocarditis, which seemed to occur predominantly in adolescents and young adults, more often in males than females, more often following the second dose and typically within four days after vaccination with Pfizer or Moderna vaccines.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said during a press briefing Monday the Biden administration will continue to advise young people to get vaccinated, despite reported cases of myocarditis.
“Our health and medical experts still continue to convey that it is the right step for 12- to 15-year-olds to get vaccinated, that these are limited cases, and that, obviously, the risks of contracting COVID are certainly significant even for people of that age,” Psaki said.
According to CDC data, the death rate among adolescents ages 0 to 17 who get COVID and are subsequently hospitalized is 0.7%, with many experiencing either mild or no symptoms at all. The COVID death rate in all adolescent age categories is less than 0.1%.
While the CDC numbers appear to contradict Psaki’s assessment of young people’s risk of getting COVID, new research suggests that even the CDC’s numbers are too high.
As The Defender reported, two papers published May 19 in the journal of Hospital Pediatrics found pediatric hospitalizations for COVID were overcounted by at least 40%, carrying potential implications for nationwide figures used to justify vaccinating children.
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| May 27th - Sts. John I and Bede the Venerable |
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Posted by: Stone - 05-27-2021, 08:33 AM - Forum: May
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May 27 – St John I, Pope and Martyr
![[Image: Ioannes_I.jpg?w=320&ssl=1]](https://i0.wp.com/sensusfidelium.us/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Ioannes_I.jpg?w=320&ssl=1)
The palm of martyrdom was won by this holy Pope, not in a victory over a pagan persecutor, but in battling for the Church’s Liberty, against a Christian King. But this king was a heretic, and therefore an enemy of every Pontiff that was zealous for the triumph of the true faith. The state of Christ’s Vicar here on earth is a state of combat; and it frequently happens that a Pope is veritably a martyr, without having shed his blood. St. John the First, whom we honour today, was not slain by the sword; a loathsome dungeon was the instrument of his martyrdom; but there are many Popes who are now in heaven with him, martyrs like himself, who never even passed a day in prison or in chains: the Vatican was their Calvary. They conquered, yet fell in the struggle with so little appearance of victory, that heaven had to take up the defence of their reputation, as was the case with that angelic Pontiff of the eighteenth century, Clement XIII.
The Saint of today teaches us, by his conduct, what should be the sentiment of every worthy member of the Church. He teaches us that we should never make a compromise with heresy, nor approve the measures taken by worldly policy for securing what it calls the rights of heresy. If the past ages, aided by the religious indifference of Governments, have introduced the “Toleration of all Religions,” or even the principle that “all religions are to be treated alike by the State,”—let us, if we will, put up with this latitudinarianism, and be glad to see that the Church, in virtue of it, is guaranteed from legal persecution; but as Catholics, we can never look upon it as an absolute good. Whatever may be the circumstances in which Providence has placed us, we are bound to conform our views to the principles of our holy faith, and to the infallible teaching and practice of the Church—out of which, there is but contradiction, danger and infidelity.
The holy Liturgy thus extols the virtues and courage of our Saint:
Quote:John, by birth a Tuscan, governed the Church during the reign of the Emperor Justin the Elder. He undertook a journey to Constantinople, in order to solicit the Emperor’s protection against the heretical king Theodoric, who was persecuting the faithful of Italy. God honoured the Pontiff, during this journey, by several miracles. When about to visit Corinth, a certain nobleman lent him a horse, which he kept for his wife’s use, on account of its being so gentle. When the Pontiff afterwards returned, and gave the horse back to the nobleman, it was no longer a tame creature as before; but, as often as its mistress attempted to ride it, would snort and prance, and throw her from its back, as though it scorned to bear a woman’s weight, after it had carried the Vicar of Christ. They therefore gave the horse to the Pontiff. But a greater miracle was that which happened at Constantinople. Near to the Golden Gate, and in the presence of an immense concourse of people, who had assembled there together with the Emperor to show honour to the Pontiff, he restored sight to a blind man. The Emperor also prostrated before him, Out of a sentiment of veneration. Having arranged matters with the Emperor, he returned to Italy, and immediately addressed a letter to all its bishops, commanding them to consecrate the churches of the Arians, that they might be used for Catholic services. He added these words: “For, when at Constantinople, for the interests of the Catholic religion and on account of king Theodoric, we consecrated all the Arian churches we could find in that country, and made them Catholic.” Theodoric was exceedingly angry at this; and, having craftily induced the Pontiff to come to Ravenna, put him in prison. There, from the filth of the place, and from starvation, he died in a few days. He reigned two years, nine months, and fourteen days; during which time he ordained fifteen bishops. Theodoric died soon after; and St. Gregory relates that a certain hermit saw him plunged into a pit of fire at Lipari, in the presence of John the Pontiff, and the Patrician Symmachus, whom he had murdered: thus they whom he had put to death stood as judges condemning him to punishment. The body of St. John was taken from Ravenna to Rome, and buried in the Basilica of Saint Peter.
Thy fair palm, O holy Pontiff, was the reward of proclaiming the spotless holiness of the Church of Christ. She is the glorious Church, as St Paul calls her, having neither spot nor wrinkle; (Ephesians 5:27) and, for that very reason she can never consent to yield to Heresy any of the inheritance given her by her Divine Lord. Nowadays, men form their calculations on the interests of this passing world, and are resolved to regulate society independently of the rights of the Son of God, from whom proceeds all social order, as well as all truth. They have deprived the Church of her external constitution and influence; and at the same time, they give encouragement to the sects that have rebelled against her. So has it been, within the last few years, with Catholic Mexico; and how severely has not the crime been punished! O holy Pontiff, awaken in our hearts the sentiment of what Divine Truth is, and how error can never create prescription against her rights. Then shall we submit to the unhappy necessities handed down to us by the fatal triumph of heresy, without accepting, as a progress, the principle and law that “all Religions are on an equality.” In thy prison, brave martyr! thou proclaimedst the rights of the one only Church; preserve us, who are living during that Revolt which was foretold by the apostle, (2 Thessalonians 2:3) from those cowardly compromises, dangerous prejudices, and culpable want of solid instruction, which are the ruin of so many souls; and may our last words, on leaving this world, be those that were taught us by our Jesus himself: Heavenly Father! Hallowed be thy Name! May thy Kingdom come!
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| Chicago archdiocese: Parishioners must show ‘proof of vaccination’ to be maskless |
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Posted by: Stone - 05-27-2021, 08:22 AM - Forum: Pandemic 2020 [Spiritual]
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Chicago archdiocese: Parishioners must show ‘proof of vaccination’ to be maskless
‘Fully vaccinated individuals’ may show their faces ‘as long as they bring proof of vaccination and the parish’s
greeter/hospitality team has the capacity to validate attendees’ vaccination status.’
CHICAGO, Illinois, May 26, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) – The third largest diocese in the United States has announced that parishioners can return to Mass unmasked but only if they can provide “proof of vaccination.”
The Archdiocese of Chicago, led by Cardinal Blase Cupich, issued a statement Friday offering two options for parishes “given the recent announcements by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, local health departments and state and city officials,” easing COVID-19 restrictions.
Option 1 for Masses and liturgies allows “fully vaccinated individuals to refrain from wearing masks as long as they bring proof of vaccination and the parish’s greeter/hospitality team has the capacity to validate attendees’ vaccination status.”
“The pastor and leadership team should clearly communicate to all parishioners and registered attendees the expectation that vaccinated individuals should bring a written record of completed vaccination to show the greeter/hospitality team upon entering the church,” warns the archdiocesan guidance.
“Please note that a picture of the vaccination card on the parishioner’s phone will suffice,” it added. It is unclear if parishioners will be forced to show photo identification, too.
Option 2 requires “masks for all attendees at Masses and liturgies. This option is best if a parish does not have a sufficiently staffed, dedicated greeter team to assume the added responsibility of validating attendees’ vaccination status.”
The second option will remain in effect until the state reaches Phase 5, “at which time it is expected that all mask mandates will be lifted,” according to the statement.
“It is critical that the pastor consult with his Parish COVID-19 Reopening Team and Parish Council to gather input into the decision and process to move forward,” continues the directive.
“Registration for Mass and liturgies must continue until we reach Phase 5.”
The strict instructions from the Chicago archdiocese to its nearly 300 parishes leave some questions unanswered:
1. How exactly will such a vaccine card-checking system work? Will vaccine cards be checked at every Mass by a “greeter/hospitality team”? Will parishes keep lists of vaccinated parishioners?
2. What will happen in the case of a person who cannot receive the vaccine (for example, because of allergies) or who chooses not to receive the vaccine (for example, due to conscientious objection over the vaccines’ connections to abortion, which the Vatican recognizes as valid) yet also cannot wear a mask (for example, due to a disability or condition like pregnancy)? Will such individuals be allowed in churches at all, or will they be denied access to Mass and the Sacraments?
3. Are priests of the Archdiocese of Chicago required to receive the vaccine as a condition of employment?
LifeSiteNews reached out to the Archdiocese of Chicago for comment, but did not receive a response by publication time.
Chicago Catholic schools will continue to require that all individuals wear masks “regardless of vaccination status, in all archdiocesan schools and at all archdiocesan school events, whether indoor or outdoor, through the remainder of the school year.”
“Since the vast majority of students and children are not yet vaccinated, this application of the mask mandate makes it easier to administer on the part of school leadership and continues our ongoing efforts to keep young people safe,” claims the archdiocesan statement. “This also remains in accord with Illinois State Board of Education guidance.”
Richard Kijowski, a veteran who is an archdiocesan parishioner, told ABC7 Chicago that he has thought for a long time that mask-wearing has been unnecessary.
“I don't think you need them,” said Kijowski. “I disagree with the whole shebang that we've had here the last 15 months.”
The Archdiocese of New York recently announced it will segregate vaccinated and unvaccinated parishioners, and only those who have received the abortion-tainted injections will be permitted to sing in the choir or serve on the altar.
“Some pastors and choir directors will ask singers for proof of vaccination, but others may use the honor system. It will vary from parish to parish and choir to choir,” an Archdiocese of New York spokesman told the New York Times.
The nearby Diocese of Brooklyn has a similar segregation policy.
LifeSite has reported recently on a number of cases where parishioners were left out from the fullness of parish life due to not having had the experimental coronavirus injection.
The large parish of St. Joseph in the Archdiocese of St. Louis was forced to walk back plans for segregating the congregation based on vaccine status, although the parish hall is reserved for use only by those who have had coronavirus injections.
Meanwhile, New Mexico Archbishop John C. Wester stated that singing in the church choirs, as well as distribution Holy Communion on the tongue, would be reserved for those who had been injected.
Such a stipulation was echoed by St. Cloud’s ordinary, Bishop Donald J. Kettler, who wrote to the diocesan clergy to “strongly encourage that only vaccinated individuals – including priests – distribute Holy Communion.”
Contact information for respectful communication:
Archdiocese of Chicago
Cardinal Blase Cupich
835 North Rush Street
Chicago, IL 60611-2030
+1 (312) 534-8200
RELATED:
Archdiocese of New York to segregate vaccinated, unvaccinated parishioners
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| Pope Francis wants to “reform” Summorum Pontificum “for the worse”? |
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Posted by: Stone - 05-26-2021, 05:33 PM - Forum: Pope Francis
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Fears Traditional Latin Mass will be suppressed renewed in wake of Pope’s alleged comments to Italian bishops
The unsigned article in 'Messa in Latina' (MIL or messainlatina.il) alleges that the pontiff told the Italian Bishops at the opening of their General Assembly yesterday that he had finished the third draft of a document that will restrict the use of the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, also called the Traditional Latin Mass or Tridentine Mass.
ROME, Italy, May 25, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — A website dedicated to promoting the Traditional Latin Mass has warned that “multiple sources” within the Conference of Italian Bishops say that Pope Francis wants to “reform” Summorum Pontificum “for the worse.”
The unsigned article in “Messa in Latina” (MIL or messainlatina.il) alleges that the pontiff told the Italian Bishops at the opening of their General Assembly yesterday that he had finished the third draft of a document that will restrict the use of the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, also called the Traditional Latin Mass or Tridentine Mass.
“After once again warning against accepting ‘rigid’ (that is, faithful to doctrine) young men into the seminary, Francis told the bishops that he had reached the third draft of a text that contains measures restricting the celebration by Catholic priest of Mass in the Extraordinary Form made accessible by Benedict XVI, who according to [Pope Francis] wished with Summorum Pontificum to encounter only the followers of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre,” Messa in Latina reported.
Pope Francis then suggested, the website alleged, that there are many young priests who want to celebrate the “Tridentine Mass” even if they don’t know Latin. The sources also apparently told Messa in Latina that the pontiff told a characteristic story about a supposedly rigid young priest and his wise, in the eyes of Francis, bishop.
“To illustrate he told the story of a bishop to whom a young priest had turned to express his intention to celebrate in the Extraordinary Form,” MIL reported.
“When asked if he know Latin, the young priest told the bishop that he was learning it. At that the bishop told him that it would be better to learn Spanish or Vietnamese because there were many Hispanics and Vietnamese people in the diocese.”
The MIL blogger fears that there will be a return to the days of the “indult” — when priests could say the Traditional Latin Mass only with the permission of their bishop, or an even stricter situation, in which they can celebrate it only with the Vatican’s approval, “ghettoizing” priests and laypeople dedicated to the ancient rite. He contrasted the Pope Emeritus and Pope Francis in dramatic terms.
“After Moses the liberator, the Pharaoh would return,” he wrote.
The unknown author also underscored, correctly, that Benedict XVI did not address only “Lefebvrians” with his 2007 motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, but the whole Church. As evidence, MIL pointed to an interview the Pope Emeritus gave to Peter Seewald, in which he explicitly said that he had not written Summorum Pontificum as a concession to the SSPX (the Society of St. Pius X priests).
Although the English-language blog Rorate Caeli swiftly posted MIL’s story, it was greeted with scepticism by liturgical expert Gregory Di Pippo. Upon hearing the allegations that Pope Francis wants to water down Pontificum Summorum, Di Pippo, editor of New Liturgical Movement, said, “Again? How many times have we heard this in the last 8 years?"
It is a matter of public record that Pope Francis opened the socially-distanced 74th General Assembly of the Conference of Italian Bishops at the four-star Ergifle Palace Hotel yesterday afternoon. The theme of the four-day meeting, which will end on Thursday, is “To announce the Gospel in a time of rebirth; to start a synodal journey.”
According to the Sala Stampa, the Vatican Press Office, the pontiff gave an “off-the-cuff" address to the assembled Italian bishops, followed by an interview with those present. It did not publish Pope Francis’s remarks.
[Emphasis mine.]
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| May 26th - Sts. Eleutherius and Philip Neri |
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Posted by: Stone - 05-26-2021, 08:04 AM - Forum: May
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May 26 – St Eleutherius, Pope and Martyr
![[Image: ?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mediastorehouse.com...f=1&nofb=1]](https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mediastorehouse.com%2Fp%2F164%2Fpope-eleutherius-14273947.jpg&f=1&nofb=1)
This twenty-sixth of May is also honored by the memory of one of those early Pontiffs who, like Urban, were the foundations of the Church in the Age of Persecution. Eleutherius ascended the Papal Throne in the very midst of the storm that was raised by Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. It was he that received the embassy that was sent to Rome by the Martyrs of Lyons’ and, at the head of them that were thus sent, was the great St. Irenæus. This illustrious Church, which was then so rich in Martyrdom, would offer its palms to Christian Rome, in which, to use St. Irenæus’ own expression, it recognized “the highest Sovereignty.”
Peace, however, was soon restored to the Church, and the remainder of Eleutherius’ pontificate was undisturbed. In the enjoyment of this peace, and with his name, which signifies a Freeman, this Pontiff is an image of our Risen Jesus, who, as the Psalmist says of him, is free among the dead.
The Church honors St. Eleutherius as a Martyr, as she does the other Popes who lived before Constantine, and of whom almost all shed their blood in the Persecutions of the first three centuries. Sharing, as they did, in all the sufferings of the Church, governing it amidst perils of every description, and seldom or never knowing what peace was—these three and thirty Pontiffs have every right to be considered as Martyrs.
A special glory for Eleutherius is his having been the Apostle of our own dear Country. The Romans had made Britain one of their colonies, and thus brought the island into intercourse with the rest of the world. Divine Providence chose the peaceful years of Eleutherius as the time for uniting it to the Church, at least in some measure. This was the 2nd Century. But later on, our England was to become the Island of Saints; and this same day gives us our second Apostle—St. Augustine.
Quote:Eleutherius was born at Nicopolis in Greece. He was a Deacon of Pope Anicetus, and was afterwards, that is, during the reign of the emperor Commodus, chosen to govern the Church. At the beginning of his pontificate, he received letters from Lucius, king of the Britons, begging him to receive himself and his subjects among the Christians. Wherefore Eleutherius sent into Britain Fugatius and Damian, two learned and holy men; through whose ministry, the king and his people might receive the Faith. It was also during this Pontificate, that Irenæus, a disciple of Polycarp, went to Rome, and was kindly received by Eleutherius. The Church of God was then enjoying great peace and calm, and the Faith made progress throughout the whole world, but nowhere more than at Rome. Eleutherius governed the Church fifteen years and twenty-three days. He thrice held Ordinations in December, at which he made twelve Priests, eight Deacons, and fifteen Bishops for divers places. He was buried in the Vatican, near the body of St. Peter.
Thy name, O Eleutherius, is the name of every Christian that has risen with Christ. The Pasch has delivered us all, emancipated all, made us all freemen. Pray for us, that we may ever preserve that glorious Liberty of the Children of God, of which the Apostle speaks. By it were we freed from the chains of sin, which consigned us to death; from the slavery of Satan, who would fain have robbed us of our Last End; and from the tyranny of the world, which was deceiving us by its false maxims. The New Life given to us by our Pasch is one that is all of heaven, where our Jesus is awaiting us in glory; to lose it would be to return to slavery. Holy Pontiff! pray for us, that, when the Pasch of next year comes, it may find us in that happy Liberty which the fruit of our having been redeemed by Christ.
There is another kind of Liberty of which the world boasts, and for the acquiring which it sets men at variance with men. It consists in avoiding as a crime all subjection and dependence, and in recognizing no authority except the one appointed by our own elections, which we can remove as soon as we please. Deliver us, O holy Pontiff, from this false Liberty, which is so opposed to the Christian Spirit of obedience, and is simply the triumph of human pride. In its frenzy, it sheds torrents of blood; and with its pompous cant of what it calls the Rights of Man, it substitutes egoism for duty. It acknowledges no such thing as Truth, for it maintains that Error has its sacred rights; it acknowledges no such thing as Good, for it has given up all pretension to preventing Evil. It puts God aside, for it refuses to recognize him in those who govern. It puts upon man the yoke of brute force: it tyrannizes over him by what it calls a “Majority;” and it answers every complaint, that he may make against injustice, by the jargon of “Accomplished Facts.” No—this is not the Liberty into which we are called by Christ, our Deliverer. We are Free, as St. Peter says, and yet make not Liberty a cloak for malice.
O holy Pontiff! show thyself still a Father to the world. During thy peaceful reign, thy throne was near to that of the Cæsars, who governed the Seven Hilled City. They were the Rulers of the world, and yet thy name was revered in every part of their Empire. While the material power held the sword suspended over thy head, the Faithful of various distant lands were flocking to Rome, there to venerate the Tomb of Peter, and pay homage to thee his Successor. When Lucius sent ambassadors from his Island, they turned not their steps to the Emperor’s Palace, but to thine humble dwelling. They came to tell that that a people was called by divine grace, to receive the Good Tidings, and become a portion of the Christian family. The destinies of this people, which thou wast the first to evangelize, were to be great in the Church. The Island of the Britains is a daughter of the Roman Church; and the attempts she is now making to disown her origin are useless. Have pity on her, O thou that wast her first Apostle! Bless the efforts which are being everywhere made to bring her back to unity with the Church. Remember the faith of Lucius and his people; and show thy paternal solicitude for a Country which thou didst lead to the Faith.
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| Shock Doctrine Comes Home: Interesting [Secular] Commentary |
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Posted by: Stone - 05-26-2021, 07:50 AM - Forum: Socialism & Communism
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Shock Doctrine Comes Home
American Sun | MAY 25, 2021
Whether on the streets or on social media, no one can miss the fried mental status of Americans. Some of us have carried on with normal lives during covid lockdowns or the scare, but we see millions living lives of fear and hysteria. It does seem overblown. Using a framework from a pre-financial crisis pop economic book, it is easy to see America is going through an oligarchical imposed episode of shock doctrine. A tool used so effectively in the empire has now been turned inward.
Shock Doctrine is a great title to label the multiple instances where the machinery of big business, the US foreign policy apparatus, and academia could install economic policies known as the Washington Consensus. In short, create a crisis, install a new government, while everyone is reeling this team installs the new economic policies and if there is failure and chaos, keep instituting more and more free trade, free floating prices and wages, and austerity. It is a banker’s delight. Capital can move freely and speculate for quick gains while the masses get burned by the economic shock.
It is not economic shock though, not on its own. Shocks are usually political but can be disaster or war related. Everyone is confused. As the economic changes create chaos, people clamor for the new regime to do anything to ease the pain. Klein uses very clear examples of political disruption (Chile, Poland, Russia, etc) creating an opening for the neoliberal economic agenda and wholesale pillaging of national assets. Post-Asian Flu economic reforms were forced on nations and transformed the entire region. It was always for the same suite of policies: the Washington Consensus. At the end, there is always this stance of changes being set in stone because the IMF & World Bank are there to enforce the rules. No reforms, no loans. No loans if you go back on your reforms. Klein is a standard issue Canadian liberal, but the subject matter and narrative read much clearer today. It was alien and foreign then.
Shock Doctrine was published in 2007, and the 2008 global financial crisis and consequences look straight out of shock doctrine’s neoliberal playbook. Municipal assets have been auctioned off to crony insiders to pay bankers whole. Bailouts made hedge funds and Wall Street bondholders whole while impoverishing Greeks, Italians, etc. The West even saw an austerity wave in the EU to settle the ship after trillions in bailouts and liquidity injections to keep banking institutions alive. We bound our nations to keep a specific piece of the system whole rather than the reverse.
Looking at this book in 2020, you see it all around you. Covid hit. Major state governments took the most aggressive lockdown stance across the US. The political class stabbed its citizenry and then the aid it provided was a one time check and some unemployment bonus. Evictions were paused. Student debt payments were paused under certain conditions. The major winners in the CARES Act were big business interests. The 2021 Democrat covid bill used family checks as a shield for public relations to bail out blue states horrible finances and pension problems.
How many people cared? This is why the shocks have been steady and the hysteria has been so long going despite the truth that 99.9% of people under 65 survive covid. All those states could have taken a different approach. Big business sectors like travel might have suffered or might have had an all Millenial and Zoomer clientele. The lockdowns were the shock to justify aid. The never ending hysteria drove people to want some help due to the deadly virus, forgetting it was their governments that choose the lockdown forever path.
Never let a crisis go to waste. Fits here. The year long hysteria is creating shell shocked people who won’t bother to object to the silly hold up of relief checks because the rest of the bill needs to be hammered out. Too large a mass of people are in a daze or has had their brains fried by the hysteria to not demand a one page up and down vote for cash. They can’t even protest that ridiculous hold up of $1400 checks for all Americans, but first we need to send a trillion to states and businesses. Protesting would be bad in this deadly plague.
Klein documented how the success in getting Chile and Argentina emboldened the neoliberal academics to repeat the process at every opportunity, even helping make opportunities. The dark but probable prediction for America is that shock doctrine has come home to stay. They don’t need to bring the banking system to a near fail anymore. They don’t even need a real plague. They just need to create a climate of fear on a steady enough basis for just enough of the population to wither in until legislation is signed.
[Emphasis mine.]
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| The Conciliar Bishop Huonder celebrates the Pontifical High Mass for Pentecost at the SSPX seminary |
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Posted by: Stone - 05-26-2021, 07:14 AM - Forum: The New-Conciliar SSPX
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Normally, when a Conciliar priest or bishop leaves the Conciliar Church to join Tradition, this is indeed something to praise and celebrate.
But when a Conciliar bishop, known to be a personal friend of a great modernist like Pope Francis, "retires" to live amongst traditionalists, as Bishop Huonder did in 2019 when he retired to live with the SSPX in Switzerland, this leaves one questioning if such an action is as innocent at it seems?
Archbishop Lefebvre repeatedly warned that the goal of modernist Rome was to re-absorb the traditional groups. They have done this many times already, with Fraternity of St. Peter, Institute of Christ the King, etc.:
Quote:Upon reflection, it appears clear that the goal of these dialogues is to reabsorb us within the Conciliar Church, the only Church to which you make allusion during these meetings.” (Letter of Archbishop Lefebvre to Cardinal Ratzinger, May 24, 1988)
It is of paramount importance to note that this Conciliar Bishop Huonder has yet to formally renounce his Conciliar beliefs, as Archbishop Viganò has done many times, for example (see here and here). Bishop Huonder did not come to the SSPX as a traditionalist, he came as a Conciliarist. When Bishop Lazo came to the SSPX in the 1990's, he fully converted to Tradition. (See #27 here). When Bishop Huonder arrived at the SSPX, it was with Pope Francis' express permission and without an abandonment of the erorrs of the Second Vatican Council. The phrases, Trojan Horse and Wolf in Sheep's Clothing, come to mind.
Perhaps it is not lost on some that Bishop Huonder's silence on Conciliar error is eerily similar to two other bishops of Tradition!
Bishop Fellay has yet to retract/renounce the Doctrinal Declaration of 2012 which he signed on behalf of the SSPX, which calls the New Mass legitimately promulgated, which accepts the New Code of Canon Law, enshrining Vatican II, etc.
And of the False Resistance, Bishop Williamson has yet to retract his promotion of the New Mass as grace-giving, among several other errors and issues.
It seems 'pretending it never happened' is a successful ploy to lull followers to sleep. How different from Our Lord's direction: "But let your speech be yea, yea: no, no: and that which is over and above these, is of evil." [Matthew 5:37]
It would appear that Bishop Huonder is taking on a more public presence in the SSPX. He has already been giving catechism and hearing confessions. This past Sunday (Pentecost Sunday) the Bishop said a high pontifical Mass livestreamed at the SSPX seminary in Zaitzkofen, Germany. A slow, persistent drip of the presence of a Conciliar bishop in their midst will surely continue to lull the SSPX faithful (and more importantly, the SSPX seminarians!) into accepting into their very midst this working alongside those who accept error.
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| Chinese Communists Arrest Bishop, Ten Priests, as Church Prays for China |
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Posted by: Stone - 05-25-2021, 11:43 AM - Forum: Anti-Catholic Violence
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Chinese Communists Arrest Bishop, Ten Priests, as Church Prays for China
Breitbart | 25 May 20210
ROME — Officials of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) have arrested the bishop of Xinxiang along with 10 priests, in an apparent attempt to apply further pressure to the illegal underground Catholic Church, Asianews reported Monday.
Police took the bishop and priests to a hotel where they have been kept in solitary confinement and subjected to “political sessions” to indoctrinate them with the CCP’s understanding of religious freedom, reported AsiaNews, the official press agency of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions.
On May 24, the Catholic Church marked the World Day of Prayer for the Church in China, a yearly feast established by Pope Benedict XVI in 2007. The bishop of Yangon in neighboring Myanmar, Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, called this year for a special week-long prayer campaign for the Chinese people.
Cardinal Bo has been a stern critic of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) under the guidance of General Secretary Xi Jinping, which he has called “despotic” and “impossible.”
Bishop Giuseppe Zhang Weizhu of the prefecture of Xinxiang (Henan) is a member of the underground Catholic Church faithful to Rome and is recognized by the Holy See but not by China’s communist government. This is not the first time authorities have imprisoned him.
The 10 priests arrested with Bishop Zhang are also considered criminals for their refusal to join the state-run Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA) as required by the New Regulations on Religious Activities.
Asianews reported that the 63-year-old bishop and the priests were arrested on May 20 and 21 in a major police operation involving 100 officers from Cangzhou, Hejian, and Shaheqiao. Local members of the faithful insist that the indoctrination sessions to which the clergy are being subjected amount to “brainwashing.”
Police also detained 10 seminarians studying theology at a local underground seminary operating out of a factory. The students were later delivered to their families and prohibited from continuing with their theology studies.
China’s updated religious regulations, which came into force on May 1, only allow religious practice in the country in places registered and controlled by the Communist Party and Catholic personnel can only function legally if they enlist in the CCPA.
The rules specify that clergy may not “organize, host, or participate in unauthorized religious activities held outside the authorized places of religious activities.”
Religious practice in China is managed by the United Front and the Ministry of Religious Affairs, which is independent of the Foreign Ministry and therefore not subject to any agreements made by the ministry with the Holy See.
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| Pope Francis Calls for ‘Green Economics,’ ‘Green Education,’ ‘Green Spirituality’ |
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Posted by: Stone - 05-25-2021, 10:25 AM - Forum: Pope Francis
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Pope Francis Calls for ‘Green Economics,’ ‘Green Education,’ ‘Green Spirituality’
Pope Francis leaves after a visit to Radio Vaticana offices in Rome Monday, May 24, 2021. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino
Breitbart | 25 May 20210
ROME — Pope Francis issued a dire report on the state of the planet Tuesday, insisting the earth is suffering the worst environmental crisis of its history.
For a long time, the earth “has suffered from the wounds that we cause due to a predatory attitude, which makes us feel like owners of the planet and its resources and authorizes us to irresponsibly use the goods that God has given us,” the pope declared in a video message for the launch of the Laudato Si platform, a seven-year ecological project.
“Today, these wounds are dramatically manifested in an unprecedented ecological crisis that affects the soil, air, water and, in general, the ecosystem in which human beings live,” he warned in his Spanish-language address.
“The current pandemic has also brought to light even more acutely the cry of nature and that of the poor, who are the ones who suffer the most,” he added.
The pontiff went on to call for “a new ecological approach” to transform “the way humans inhabit the world, our lifestyles, our relationship with the earth’s resources and, in general, our way of seeing human beings and living life.”
As he has done on other occasions, the pope urged the adoption of an “integral human ecology,” which entails “environmental issues but also man in his totality and becomes capable of listening to the cry of the poor and of being a leaven for a new society.”
Francis also warned that “our selfishness, our indifference, and our irresponsibility” threaten the future of the generations to come.
“I therefore renew my appeal,” he said, “let us take care of our Mother Earth, let us overcome the temptation of selfishness that makes us predators of resources, let us cultivate respect for the gifts of the Earth and creation, let us finally inaugurate an eco-sustainable lifestyle and society.”
“From the hands of God we have received a garden; we cannot leave our children a desert,” he declared.
The pope went on to praise the work of the Laudato Si project, adding that the pursuit of integral ecology entails “responding to the cry of the Earth, responding to the cry of the poor, green economics, adopting a simple lifestyle, green education, green spirituality, and community engagement.”
“There is hope,” he concluded. “We can all collaborate, each with their own culture and experience, each with their own initiatives and capacities, so that our mother Earth recovers her original beauty and creation can shine again according to God’s plan.”
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| May 25th - Sts. Urban and Gregory VII, Popes |
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Posted by: Stone - 05-25-2021, 09:53 AM - Forum: May
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May 25 – St Urban, Pope and Martyr
![[Image: french-school-17-the-martyred-saint-ceci...=397&ssl=1]](https://i2.wp.com/sensusfidelium.us/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/french-school-17-the-martyred-saint-cecilia-blessed-by-pope-saint-urban-i.jpg?w=397&ssl=1)
This day is beautified by the triumph of two sainted Popes; and the Seventh Gregory, when he quitted this earth, was introduced into the court of Heaven by one of the predecessors. Urban was a Martyr by the shedding of his blood; Gregory was a Martyr by the sufferings he had to endure during his whole pontificate. Both fought for the same glorious cause. Urban laid down his life, rather than obey an earthly potentate, who bade him degrade himself by adoring an idol; Gregory preferred to endure every temporal suffering, rather than allow the Church to be the slave of Cæsar. Both of them adorn the Paschal Season with their beautiful palms. Our Risen Jesus said to Peter: Follow me!—and Peter followed him, even to the Cross. Urban and Gregory were Peter’s successors, and, like him, they were the devoted Disciples of the same Divine Master. We honor them both on this day; and, in their triumph, we have a proof of the invincible power which, in every age, the Conqueror of death has communicated to them whom he appointed to bear testimony to the truth of his Resurrection.
The labors and merits of the holy Pope Urban are thus commemorated in the Liturgy.
Quote:Urban, a Roman by birth, governed the Church during the reign of the Emperor Alexander Severus. By his learning and holy life, he converted many to the Christian Faith. Among these were Valerian, the husband of St. Cecily, and Tiburtius, Valerian’s brother; both of whom, afterwards, courageously suffered martyrdom. Urban wrote these words regarding property that is given to the Church: “Things that have been offered to the Lord by the Faithful, should not be put to any other use than such as is for the benefit of the Church, the Brethren in the Christian faith, or the poor: because they are the offerings of the Faithful, the return made for sin, and the patrimony of the poor.” He reigned six years, seven months, and four days. He was crowned with martyrdom, and was buried in the cemetery of Prætextatus, on the eights of the Calends of June (May 25). In five ordinations held in the Decembers of different years, he ordained nine Priests, five Deacons, and eight Bishops for divers places.
Holy Pontiff! the joy of this day of thy triumph is enhanced by its being the anniversary of the entrance into heaven of thy illustrious successor Gregory. Thou hadst watched his combats here on earth, and his courage delighted thee, as being equal to that of the Martyrs. He, when dying at Salerno, thought of thy Martyrdom, and the thought inspired him with energy for his last trial. How admirable is the union that exists between the Church triumphant and militant! How sublime the brotherhood that exists between the Saints! What a joy it is for us to know that we may share in it! Our Risen Jesus invites us to be united with him for all eternity. Each generation is sending him its elect, and they cluster around him, for he is their Head, and they are the Members that complete his mystical body. He is the first-born of the dead; and he will give us to share in his Life, in proportion to our having imitated him in his Sufferings and Death. Pray, O Urban, that we may become more and more inflamed with the desire of being with Him, who is the way, the truth, and the life; that we may be detached from earthly things, and comport ourselves, here below, as men who believe themselves to be exiles, who are absent from the Lord.
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| May 24 - Feast of Our Lady, Help of Christians |
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Posted by: Stone - 05-25-2021, 09:48 AM - Forum: Our Lady
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May 24 - Feast of Our Lady, Help of Christians
Ever since our entrance upon the joys of the Paschal Season, scarcely a day has passed without the Calendar’s offering us some grand Mystery or Saint to honor; and all these have been radiant with the Easter sun. But of our Blessed Lady, there has not been a single Feast to gladden our hearts by telling us of some mystery or glory of this august Queen. The Feast of her Seven Dolors is sometimes kept in April—that is, when Easter Sunday falls on or after the 10th of that month; but May and June pass without any special solemnity in honor of the Mother of God. It would seem as though Holy Church wished to honor, by a respectful silence, the forty days during which Mary enjoyed the company of her Jesus, after his Resurrection. We, therefore, should never separate the Mother and the Son, if we would have our Easter meditations be in strict accordance with truth—and that, we surely must wish. During these forty days, Jesus frequently visits his Disciples, weak men and sinners as they are: can he, then, keep away from his Mother, now that he is so soon to ascend into heaven, and leave her for several long years here on earth? Our hearts forbid us to entertain the thought. We feel sure that he frequently visits her, and that, when not visibly present with her, she has him in her soul, in a way more intimate and real and delicious than any other creature could have.
No Feast could have given expression to such a mystery; and yet the Holy Ghost, who guides the spirit of the Church, has gradually led the Faithful to devote to the honoring Mary, in an especial manner, the entire Month of May, the whole of which comes, almost every year, under the glad season of Easter. No doubt, the loveliness of the May Month would, some time or other, suggest the idea of consecrating it to the Holy Mother of God; but if we reflect on the divine and mysterious influence which guides the Church in all she does, we shall recognize, in this present instance, a heavenly inspiration which prompted the Faithful to unite their own joy with that of Mary’s, and spend this beautiful Month, which is radiant with their own Easter joy, in commemorating the maternal delight experienced, during that same period, by the Immaculate Mother when on earth.
Today, however, we have a Feast in honor of Mary. True—it is not one of those Feasts which are entered on the general Calendar of the Church; yet is it so widely spread, and this with the consent of the Holy See, that our Liturgical Year would have been incomplete without it. Its object is to honor the Mother of God as the Help of Christians—a title she has justly merited by the innumerable favors she has conferred upon Christendom. Dating from that day, whose anniversary we are soon to be celebrating, and on which the Holy Ghost descended upon Mary in the Cenacle, in order that she might begin to exercise over the Church Militant her power as Queen—who could tell the number of times that she has aided, by her protection, the Kingdom of her Son on earth?
Heresies have risen up, one after the other; they were violent; they were frequently supported by the great ones of this world; each of them was resolved on the destruction of the True Faith—and yet, one after the other, they have dwindled away or fall into impotency; or are gradually sinking by internal discord; and Holy Church tells us that it is Mary who “alone destroys all heresies throughout the whole world.” (Gaude, Maria Virgo! cunctas hæreses sola interemisti in universo mundo.—Office of the Blessed Virgin; Matins, vii. Antiphon.) If public scandals or persecutions, or the tyranny of secular interference have, at times, threatened to stay the progress of the Church—Mary has stretched forth her arm, the obstacles were removed, and Jesus’ Spouse continued her onward march, leaving her foes and her fetters behind her. All this was vividly brought before the mind of the saintly Pontiff, Pius the Fifth, by the victory of Lepanto, gained, by Mary’s intercession, over the Turkish Fleet, and he resolved to add one more title to the glorious ones given to our Lady in the Litany: the title he added was, Auxilium Christianorum, Help of Christians.
Our present century, the 19th, has had the happiness of seeing another Pontiff, also named Pius, institute a Feast under this same title—a Feast which is intended to commemorate the Help bestowed on Christendom, and in all ages, by the Mother of God. nothing could be happier than the choice of the day on which this Feast was to be kept. On the 24th of May, in the year 1814, there was witnessed in Rome the most magnificent triumph that has yet been recorded in the annals of the Church. That was a grand day, whereon Constantine marked out the foundations for the Vatican Basilica in honor of the Prince of the Apostles; Sylvester stood by and blessed the Emperor, who had just been converted to the true Faith: but important as was this event, it was but a sign of the last and decisive victory won by the Church, in the then-recent persecution of Dioclesian. That was a grand day, whereon Leo the Third, Vicar of the King of kings, crowned Charlemagne with the imperial diadem and, by his apostolic power, gave continuance to the long interrupted line of Emperors: but Leo the Third, by this, did but give an official and solemn expression to the power which the Church had already frequently exercised in the newly constituted nations, which received from her the idea of Christian government, the consecration of their rights, and the grace that was to enable them to fulfill their duties. That was a grand day, whereon Gregory the Ninth took back to the City of Peter the Papal Throne, which had been pent up at Avignon for seventy sad years: but Gregory the Ninth, in this, did but fulfill a duty, and his predecessors, had they willed it, might have effected this return to Rome, which the necessities of Christendom so imperatively called for.
Yes, all these were glorious days; but the 24th of May, of 1814, surpasses them all. Pius the Seventh re-entered Rome amidst the acclamations of the Holy City, whose entire population went forth to meet him, holding palm branches in their hands, and greeting him with their hosannas of enthusiastic joy. He had been a captive for five years, during which the spiritual government of the Christian world had suffered a total suspension. It was not the Allied Powers, who had made common cause against his oppressor, that broke the Pontiff’s fetters; the very tyrant who kept him from Rome, had given him permission to return at the close of the preceding year; but the Pontiff chose his own time, and did not leave Fontainebleau till the 25th of January. Rome, whither he was about to return, had been made a part of the French Empire five years previously, and by a Decree in which was cited the name of Charlemagne! The City of Peter had been reduced to a head-town of a Department, with a Prefect for its administrator; and, with a view to making men forget that it was the City of the Vicars of Christ, its name was given as a title to the heir-presumptive of the Imperial crown of France.
What a day that 24th of May, which witnessed the triumphant return of the Pontiff into the Holy City, whence he had been dragged, during the night, by the soldiers of an ambitious tyrant! He made the journey in short stages, meeting, on his way, the Allied Armies of Europe, which recognized his right as King. This right is superior, both in antiquity and dignity, to that of all other monarchs; and all, no matter whether they be heretics, schismatics, or Catholics, must admit it, were it only on the strength of its being a historical fact.
But what we have so far said is not sufficient to give an adequate idea of the greatness of the prodigy thus achieved by our Lady, the Help of Christians. In order to have a just appreciation of it, we must remember that the miracle was not wrought in the age of Sylvester and Constantine, or of St. Leo the Third and Charlemagne, or of the great prophetess Catharine of Sienna, who made known the commands of God to the people of Italy and to the Popes of Avignon. The age that witnessed this wondrous event was the 19th, and that, too, when it was under the degrading influence of Voltairianism, and there were still living the authors and abettors of the crimes and impieties that resulted from the principles taught in the 18th century. Everything was adverse to such a glorious and unexpected triumph; Catholic feeling was far from being roused as it now is—the action of God’s providence had to show itself in a direct and visible manner: and to let the Christian world know that such was the case, Rome instituted the annual Feast of the 24th of May as an offering of acknowledgment to Mary, the Help of Christians.
Let us now weigh the importance of the twofold Restoration which was wrought on this day by the intercession of the Holy Mother of God. Pius the Seventh had been forcibly taken from Rome and dethroned; on this 24th of May, he was reinstated in Rome, both as Pope and as Temporal Sovereign. On the respective Feasts of St. Peter’s Chair at Rome and Antioch, we gave our readers the doctrine of the Church, which teaches us that the succession to the rights conferred by Christ upon St. Peter belongs to the Bishop of Rome. From this it follows that the residence in the City of Rome is both the right and obligation of the successor of St. Peter, save in the case of his deeming a temporary absence to be demanded by circumstances. Whosoever, therefore, by means of physical force, keeps the Sovereign Pontiff out of Rome, or prevents him from residing there—is acting in opposition to the Divine Will; for the Pastor ought to be in the midst of his flock; and Rome having been made, by Christ, the head of all Churches, these have a right to find in Rome him who is both the Infallible Doctor of Faith, and the source of all spiritual jurisdiction. The first blessing, therefore, for which we are indebted to Mary, on this day, is that she brought back the Pastor to his flock, and restored the supreme government of holy Church to its normal state.
The second is her having reinstated the Pontiff in possession of his Temporal Power, which is the surest guarantee of his being independent in the exercise of his Spiritual Power. We have but to consult history, and we shall learn what miseries and dangers have followed from the Popes being the subject of any earthly Monarch. The experience of the past shows us that the City of Rome, if under any other government than that of the Papacy, excites the mistrust of Christendom as to the liberty necessary for the due election of the Supreme Pontiff. God, in his all-seeing wisdom, provided against what would have been a perpetual source of anarchy in the Church. From the earliest commencement of the Christian Era, he prepared the foundation of the temporal dominion of the Papacy over Rome and its territory, even before the sword of the Franks was drawn for the defense, the establishing, and increasing this precious Domain, which is the property of Christendom. Whosoever dares to invade it, attacks the liberty of the entire Church; and we know, as St. Anselm says, that “there is nothing in this world more loved by God than the Liberty of his Church:” hence the severe punishments that have ever followed such as offered violence to it.
The Pontifical Sovereignty over Rome and the States belonging to the Church, has arisen from necessity—but that necessity belongs to the supernatural order of things. It follows that this Sovereignty surpasses all others in dignity, and that, in consequence of its being consecrated to God’s service on earth, it is to be considered as a sacred thing. He that dares to invade it is guilty not only of a spoliation, but of sacrilege; and the anathemas of the Church lie heavily upon him. Here again, we have history telling us how terrible has been the lot of all those who, despising the anathema, refused to make restitution to the Church, and dared to defy the justice of Him who conferred on Peter the power of binding and loosing.
Finally, Authority being the basis of every society, and its maintenance being of the utmost importance to the preservation of order and justice—it should be mainly respected and upheld in the Roman Pontiff, for he is the highest representative of Authority on earth, his temporal Power is by far the oldest in existence, and his Kingly character is enhanced by the union of supreme Spiritual power. He, therefore, that attacks or overthrows the Temporal Sovereignty of the Pope is an enemy to every Government; for there is no other that can bear comparison with this in merit and rightful possession; and if it be not spared, no other is safe.
Let us, then, give thanks to the Blessed Mother of God, on this feast of the twenty-fourth day of May, which has been instituted in commemoration of the twofold blessing she thus brought upon the world—the preservation of the Church, and the preservation of Society. Let us unite in the fervent acclamations of the then-loyal citizens of Rome and, like them, sing, with all the glad joy of our Easter Alleluia, our greetings of Hosanna to the Vicar of Christ—the Father of that dear Land, our common Country. The remembrance of St. Peter’s deliverance from prison, and his restoration to liberty, must have been vividly on the minds of that immense concourse of people, whose love for their Pontiff was redoubled by the sufferings he had gone through. As the triumphal chariot, on which he had been placed, came near the Flaminian Gate, the horses were unyoked, and the Pontiff was conveyed by the people to the Vatican Basilica, where a solemn thanksgiving was made, over the Tomb of the Prince of the Apostles.
But let us not close the day without admiring the merciful intervention of our Lady, the Help of Christians. If the protection she gives to the Faithful sometimes necessitates her showing severity to them that were the tyrants—her maternal heart is full of compassion for the vanquished, and she extends her Help even to them. Thus it was with the haughty Emperor, over whom she triumphed on the twenty-fourth of May;—she would then bring him back to humble repentance and to the practice of his religious duties. A messenger from the Island of Saint Helena was one day ushered into the presence of Pius the Seventh. The exiled Napoleon, whom he had consecrated Emperor in the Church of Notre Dame, and whose after conduct brought him under the ban of excommunication, now besought the Pontiff, the true and only King of Rome, to allow him to be re-admitted to those spiritual blessings of which he had been justly deprived. Our Lady was preparing a second victory.
Pius the Seventh, whose name the fallen Emperor could never pronounce without emotion, and whom he called “a lamb,”—Pius the Seventh, who had so courageously braved public opinion by giving hospitality, at Rome, to the members of the unfortunate Napoleon family—readily complied with the request thus made to him; and the holy Sacrifice of the Mass was, shortly afterwards, offered up in the presence of the illustrious exile of Saint Helena. Our Lady of Help was advancing her conquest.
But before granting pardon, the Justice of God had required a full and public expiation. He who had been the instrument of salvation to millions of souls, by restoring Religion to France, was not to be lost; but he had impiously imprisoned the Sovereign Pontiff in the castle of Fontainebleau; and it was in that very castle that he had afterwards to sign the deed of his own abdication. For five years he had held captive the Vicar of Christ; for five years, he himself had to endure the sufferings and humiliation of captivity. Heaven accepted the retribution, and left Mary to complete her victory. Reconciled with the Church, and fortified by the holy Sacraments which prepare the Christian for eternity, Napoleon yielded up his soul into the hands of his Maker on the 5th of May—the Month that is sacred to Mary, and gives us the Feast we are keeping today. The day chosen by God, from all eternity, for Napoleon’s death, was the Feast of St. Pius the Fifth; on which same Feast, Pius the Seventh was receiving the congratulations of his faithful Romans. The name Pius signifies compassion and mercy; it is the glorious name which our lips have been repeating for the last five and twenty years, the name of Pius the Ninth. It is one of the names given to God, in the Sacred Scripture: Pius et misericors est Deus: God is compassionate and merciful. Mary, too, is compassionate; it is the title we give her in one of our prayers: O clemens, O Pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria! She is ever ready with her aid, be the danger one that affects the Church at large, or a single individual soul: she is the Help of Christians, and, as such, we honor her on this Feast. God has willed her to be so; and we are but complying with his wishes, when we have an unreserved confidence in the protection of this powerful Queen, this loving Mother.
Let us now read the account, as given in today’s Liturgy, of the great event that prompted the institution of our Feast.
Quote:The Faithful have frequently seen it proved, by miraculous intervention, that the Mother of God is ever ready, with her Help, to repel the enemies of Religion. It was on this account, that, after the signal victory gained by the Christians, over the Turks, in the Gulf of Lepanto, through the intercession of the most Blessed Virgin, the holy Pope Pius the Fifth ordered, that to the other titles given to the Queen of Heaven, in the Litany of Loretto, there should be added this of Help of Christians. But, one of the most memorable proofs of this her protection, and one which may be regarded as an incontestable miracle, is that which happened during the Pontificate of Pius the Seventh. By the intrigues and armed violence of certain impious men, the Pontiff had been driven from the Apostolic See of Peter, and was kept in close confinement, mainly at Savona, for upwards of five years.
During this period, by a persecution unheard of in any previous age, every possible means was resorted to in order to prevent his governing the Church of God. When lo! suddenly and to the surprise of men, he was restored to the Pontifical Throne, to the great joy, it might be almost said, with the concurrence, of the whole world.
The same thing happened also a second time, when a fresh disturbance arose and compelled him to leave Rome, and go, with the Sacred College of Cardinals, into Liguria. Here again, the storm that threatened great destruction was appeased by a most prompt interference of God’s providence, and the Pontiff’s return to Rome filled Christendom with new joy. Before returning, however, he would carry out an intention, which his captivity had hitherto prevented him from doing: with his own hand, he solemnly placed a golden crown on the celebrated statue of the Mother of God that was venerated at Savona, under the title of Mother of Mercy. The same Sovereign Pontiff, Pius the Seventh, who was so thoroughly acquainted with every circumstance of these events, rightly attributed their happy issue to the intercession of the most holy Mother of God, whose powerful help he himself had earnestly besought, besides urging all the Faithful to obtain it by their prayers. He therefore instituted a solemn Feast in honor of the same Virgin-Mother, under the title of Help of Christians. It was to be kept, every year, on the twenty-fourth of May, the anniversary of his own most happy return to Rome. He also sanctioned a proper Office for this Feast, in order that the remembrance of so great a favor might ever be vividly on the minds of the Faithful, and secure the thanksgiving it deserved.
The two beautiful Hymns which follow are from the Office of this Feast. They admirably express the gratitude we should feel towards the Blessed Mother, whose intercession has so often wrought the Church’s deliverance.
1st Hymn
Sæpe dum Christi populus cruentis
Hostis infensi premeretur armis,
Venit adjutrix pia Virgo cœlo
Lapsa sereno.
Ofttimes, when the Faithful of christ have been threatened by the blood-stained sword of a ruthless foe, the compassionate Virgin came down from bright heaven, and was their Help.
Prisca sic patrum monumenta narrant,
Templa testantur spoliis opimis
Clara, votivo repetita cultu
Festa quotannis.
We know it from the venerable documents of our fathers; it is attested by the sacred edifices which are enriched with the trophies taken from our enemies, and by the yearly recurrence of our solemn Feasts.
En novi grates liceat Mariæ
Cantici lætis modulis referre
Pro novis donis, resonante plausu
Urbis et Orbis.
Lo! a new favor demands of us today a new canticle of grateful and glad thanks to Mary:—it is the favor that made both Rome and the world resound with joy.
O dies felix, memoranda fastis,
Qua Petri sedes fidei magistrum
Triste post lustrum reducem beata
Sorte recepit!
O happy and ever memorable day! whereon the See of Peter was blessed with the return of the teacher of Faith, after a sad exile of five years.
Virgines castæ, puerique puri,
Gestiens clerus, populusque grato
Corde Reginæ celebrare cœli
Munera certent.
Let chaste maidens, and innocent youths, and the glad clergy, and the people, vie with each other in celebrating, with grateful hearts, the favors granted by heaven’s Queen.
Virginum Virgo, benedicta Jesu
Mater, hæc auge bona; fac, precamur,
Ut gregem Pastor Pius ad salutis
Pascua ducat.
O thou Virgin of virgins! Blessed Mother of Jesus! add favors still to these:—pray, we beseech thee, that the good Pastor may lead the flock to the pastures of salvation.
Te per æternos veneremur annos,
Trinitas, summo celebranda plausu;
Te fide mentes, resonoque linguæ
Carmine laudent.
Amen.
O holy Trinity, to whom all praise is due! grant that we may praise thee through eternal years. May our souls by their faith, and our lips by their hymns, laud thy holy name. Amen.
2nd Hymn
Te Redemptoris Dominique nostri
Dicimus Matrem, speciosa Virgo,
Christianorum decus, et levamen
Rebus in arctis.
O beautiful Virgin! we acknowledge thee to be the Mother of our Savior and God; but thou art, too, the solace and Help of Christians, in their adversities.
Sæviant portæ licet inferorum,
Hostis antiquus fremat, et minaces,
Ut Deo sacrum populetur agmen,
Suscitet iras.
The gates of hell may rage; the old enemy may, in his wrath, stir up anger which may threaten to destroy the people of God;
Nil truces possunt furiæ nocere
Mentibus castis, prece quas vocata
Annuens Virgo fovet, et superno
robore firmat.
But this wild passion can do no hurt to those pure souls, whose prayers have won protection and heavenly strength from the Virgin ever Blessed.
Tanta si nobis faveat patrona,
Bellici cessat sceleris tumultus,
Mille sternuntur, fugiuntve turmæ,
Mille cohortes.
If she be our Patroness and help us, the din of wicked war must cease, and our enemies must fall by thousands, or be put to flight.
Tollit ut sancta caput in Sione
Turris, arx firmo fabricata muro,
Civitas David, clypeis et acri
Milite tuta:
As on the holy mount of Sion there was a tower and citadel with its well-built wall, and the City of David was safe with its shields and valiant men:
Virgo sic fortis Domini potenti
Dextera, cœli cumulata donis,
A piis longe famulis repellit
Dæmonis ictus.
So the Virgin, made strong by the mighty hand of God, and laden with heaven’s gifts, wards off from her devoted clients the blows of Satan.
Te per æternos veneremur annos,
Trinitas, summo celebranda plausu;
Te fide mentes, resonoque linguæ
Carmine laudent.
Amen.
O holy Trinity, to whom all praise is due! grant that we may praise thee through eternal years. May our souls by their faith, and our lips by their hymns, laud thy holy name. Amen.
I have lifted up mine eyes to the mountains, from whence Help shall come to me: my help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. Thus prayed the Israelites of old—thus also prays the Church—though, for her, the help is nigher and comes more speedily. The Psalmist’s petition has been granted: the heavens have bowed down, and the divine Help is now close by our side. This Help is Jesus, Son of God, and Son of Mary. He is unceasingly fulfilling the promise made us by his Prophet: In the day of thy salvation, I have helped thee. But this King of kings has given us a Queen, and this Queen is Mary, his Mother. Out of love for her, he has given her a throne, on his right hand, as Solomon did for his mother Bethsabee; and he would have her, also, be the Help of Christians. It is the Church that teaches us this, by inserting this beautiful title in the Litany; and Rome invites us, on this day, to unite with her in giving thanks and praise to our Blessed Lady of Help, for one of the most signal of her favors.
O Queen of Heaven! our Paschal joy is increased on this the anniversary of thy giving back to Rome her Pastor and her King. Yes, it was thy intercession that achieved the grand victory, and we offer thee the homage of our grateful rejoicings. This Month is thine in an especial manner; but its twenty-fourth day makes us redouble our devotion. It encourages us to entreat thee, with all the earnestness of our souls, that thou wouldst protect Rome and its Pontiff, for new dangers have arisen. The Rock, set by thy Jesus, has again become a sign of contradiction, and the billows of impiety and violence are beating against it. We know the great promise:—the Rock can never be swept away, and on it safely stands the Church; but we know, too, that this Church is one day to be taken up to heaven, and then the Judgment! Meanwhile, thou, Mary, art our Help: Oh! stretch forth that arm of thine, which nothing can resist. Be mindful of Rome, where thou art so devoutly honored, and where thy glory is proclaimed by so many sumptuous sanctuaries. The end of the world is not yet come; the holiest of causes requires thine aid. Never permit the Holy City to be desecrated, by her falling into the power of impious men; suffer her not to be deprived of the presence of her Pontiff; and uphold the Independence which the Vicar of Christ must possess, if the Church is to be rightly governed.
But Rome is not the only spot on earth that needs thy powerful Help, O Mary! The Vineyard of thy Son is everywhere being laid waste by the wild beast. Vice and error and seduction are everywhere. There is not a country where the Church is not persecuted, and her Liberty trampled upon. Society has lost its Christian traditions; it is at the mercy of revolutions, against which it has no power. O thou that art the Help of Christians, aid the world in these its perils! Thou hast the power to save it from danger! Wilt thou permit the people to be lost, who were redeemed by the Blood of Jesus, and whom he, from his Cross, entrusted to thy care?
Thou, O Mary, art the Help of each Christian soul, as well as of the entire world. That same enemy, who is bent on the destruction of the whole human race, is seeking to drag each one of us into perdition. He hates the image of thy Son, which he sees reflected in our human nature. Oh! come to our assistance; save us from this roaring lion of hell. He knows thy power, and that thou canst procure our deliverance, so long as we are left in this present life. Thou hast gained the most stupendous victories for the salvation of thy clients; tire not, we beseech thee, in aiding poor sinners to return to their God. When Jesus spoke of them that were invited to the Marriage-Feast, and told us how the King said to his servants: Compel them to come in: it was thee that he had mainly in view. Lead us then to our King!
Our supplications to thee, O Help of Christians, are thus earnest, because our wants are great; but we are not, on that account, the less mindful of the special honor that we owe thee at this holy Season of Easter, when the Church contemplates the joy thou hadst in thy Risen Jesus’ presence. She congratulates thee on the immense happiness that thus repaid thee for thine anguish on Calvary and at the Sepulcher. It is to the Mother consoled by and exulting in her Son’s triumphant Resurrection that we offer this sweet Month, whose loveliness is so in keeping with thine own incomparable beauty, dear Mother! In return for this homage of our devotion, pray for us, that our souls may persevere in the beauty of grace given to them by this year’s union with our Jesus; and that we may be so well prepared for the Feast of Pentecost as to merit to receive the Gifts of the Holy Ghost, who comes that he may perfect the work of our Paschal Regeneration.
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