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Pope Pius VI: Auctorem Fidei |
Posted by: Stone - 04-15-2021, 08:27 AM - Forum: Papal Documents and Bulls
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Auctorem Fidei
A Bull issued by Pius VI, 28 August, 1794, in condemnation of the Gallican and Jansenist acts and tendencies of the Synod of Pistoia (1786).
AUCTOREM FIDEI
Errors of the Synod of Pistoia
[Condemned in the Constitution, "Auctorem fidei," Aug. 28, 1794]
A. Errors about the Church
Obscuring of Truths in the Church [From the Decree de Grat., sec. I]
1. The proposition, which asserts "that in these later times there has been spread a general obscuring of the more important truths pertaining to religion, which are the basis of faith and of the moral teachings of Jesus Christ,"—heretical.
The Power Attributed to the Community of the Church, in Order That by This the Power May Be Communicated to the Pastors
2. The proposition which states "that power has been given by God to the Church, that it might be communicated to the pastors who are its ministers for the salvation of souls"; if thus understood that the power of ecclesiastical ministry and of rule is derived from the COMMUNITY of the faithful to the pastors,—heretical.
The Name Ministerial Head Attributed to the Roman Pontiff
3. In addition, the proposition which states "that the Roman Pontiff is the ministerial head," if it is so explained that the Roman Pontiff does not receive from Christ in the person of blessed Peter, but from the Church, the power of ministry, which as successor of Peter, true vicar of Christ and head of the whole Church he possesses in the universal Church,—heretical.'
The Power of the Church for the Establishing and the Sanctioning of Exterior Discipline
4. The proposition affirming, "that it would be a misuse of the authority of the Church, when she transfers that authority beyond the limits of doctrine and of morals, and extends it to exterior matters, and demands by force that which depends on persuasion and love"; and then also, "that it pertains to it much less, to demand by force exterior obedience to its decrees"; in so far as by those undefined words, "extends to exterior matters," the proposition censures as an abuse of the authority of the Church the use of its power received from God, which the apostles themselves used in establishing and sanctioning exterior discipline—heretical.
5. In that part in which the proposition insinuates that the Church "does not have authority to demand obedience to its decrees otherwise than by means which depend on persuasion; in so far as it intends that the Church has not conferred on it by God the power, not only of directing by counsel and persuasion, but also of ordering by laws, and of constraining and forcing the inconstant and stubborn by exterior judgment and salutary punishments" leading toward a system condemned elsewhere as heretical.
Rights Attributed to Bishops Beyond What is Lawful
6. The doctrine of the synod by which it professes that "it is convinced that a bishop has received from Christ all necessary rights for the good government of his diocese," just as if for the good government of each diocese higher ordinances dealing either with faith and morals, or with general discipline, are not necessary, the right of which belongs to the supreme Pontiffs and the General Councils for the universal Church,—schismatic, at least erroneous.
7. Likewise, in this, that it encourages a bishop "to pursue zealously a more perfect constitution of ecclesiastical discipline," and this "against all contrary customs, exemptions, reservations which are opposed to the good order of the diocese, for the greater glory of God and for the greater edification of the faithful"; in that it supposes that a bishop has the right by his own judgment and will to decree and decide contrary to customs, exemptions, reservations, whether they prevail in the universal Church or even in each province, without the consent or the intervention of a higher hierarchic power, by which these customs, etc., have been introduced or approved and have the force of law,—leading to schism and subversion of hierarchic rule, erroneous.
8. Likewise, in that it says it is convinced that "the rights of a bishop received from Jesus Christ for the government of the Church cannot be altered nor hindered, and, when it has happened that the exercise of these rights has been interrupted for any reason whatsoever, a bishop can always and should return to his original rights, as often as the greater good of his church demands it"; in the fact that it intimates that the exercise of episcopal rights can be hindered and coerced by no higher power, whenever a bishop shall judge that it does not further the greater good of his church,—leading to schism, and to subversion of hierarchic government, erroneous.
The Right Incorrectly Attributed to Priests of Inferior Rank in Decrees of Faith and Discipline
9. The doctrine which states, that "the reformation of abuses in regard to ecclesiastical discipline ought equally to depend upon and be established by the bishop and the parish priests in diocesan synods, and that without the freedom of decision, obedience would not be due to the suggestions and orders of the bishops," 1-false, rash, harmful to episcopal authority, subversive of hierarchic government, favoring the heresy of Arius, which was renewed by Calvin.
10. Likewise, the doctrine by which parish priests and other priests gathered in a synod are declared judges of faith together with the bishop, and at the same time it is intimated that they are qualified for judgment in matters of faith by their own right and have indeed received it by ordination,—false, rash, subversive of hierarchic order, detracting from the strength of dogmatic definitions or judgments of the Church, at least erroneous.
11. The opinion enunciating that by the long-standing practice of our ancestors, handed down even from apostolic times, preserved through the better ages of the Church, it has been accepted that "decrees, or definitions, or opinions even of the greater sees should not be accepted, unless they had been recognized and approved by the diocesan synod,"—false, rash, derogatory, in proportion to its generality, to the obedience due to the apostolic constitutions, and also to the opinions emanating from the legitimate, superior, hierarchic power, fostering schism and heresy.
Calumnies Against Some Decisions in the Matter of Faith Which Have Come Down from Several Centuries
12. The assertions of the synod, accepted as a whole concerning decisions in the matter of faith which have come down from several centuries, which it represents as decrees originating from one particular church or from a few pastors, unsupported by sufficient authority, formulated for the corruption of the purity of faith and for causing disturbance, introduced by violence, from which wounds, still too recent, have been inflicted,—false, deceitful, rash, scandalous, injurious to the Roman Pontiffs and the Church, derogatory to the obedience due to the Apostolic Constitutions, schismatic, dangerous, at least erroneous.
The So-called Peace of Clement IX
13. The proposition reported among the acts of the synod, which intimates that Clement IX restored peace to the Church by the approval of the distinction of right and deed in the subscription to the formulary written by Alexander VII (see n. 1ogg),—false, rash, injurious to Clement IX.
14. In so far as it approves that distinction by extolling its supporters with praise and by berating their opponents,—rash, pernicious, injurious to the Supreme Pontiffs, fostering schism and heresy.
The Composition of the Body of the Church
15. The doctrine which proposes that the Church "must be considered as one mystical body composed of Christ, the head, and the faithful, who are its members through an ineffable union, by which in a marvelous way we become with Him one sole priest, one sole victim, one sole perfect adorer of God the Father, in spirit and in truth," under-stood in this sense, that no one belongs to the body of the Church except the faithful, who are perfect adorers in spirit and in truth,—heretical.
B. Errors about Justification, Grace, the Virtues
The State of Innocence
16. The doctrine of the synod about the state of happy innocence, such as it represents it in Adam before his sin, comprising not only integrity but also interior justice with an inclination toward God through love of charity, and primeval sanctity restored in some way after the fall; in so far as, understood comprehensively, it intimates that that state was a con-sequence of creation, due to man from the natural exigency and condition of human nature, not a gratuitous gift of God, false, elsewhere condemned in Baius and in Quesnel, erroneous, favorable to the Pelagian heresy.
Immortality Viewed as a Natural Condition of Man
17. The proposition stated in these words: "Taught by the Apostle, we regard death no longer as a natural condition of man, but truly as a just penalty for original guilt," since, under the deceitful mention of the name of the Apostle, it insinuates that death, which in the present state has been inflicted as a just punishment for sin by the just withdrawal of immortality, was not a natural condition of man, as if immortality had not been a gratuitous gift, but a natural condition,—deceitful, rash, injurious to the Apostle, elsewhere condemned
The Condition of Man in the State of Nature
18. The doctrine of the synod stating that "after the fall of Adam, God announced the promise of a future Redeemer and wished to con-sole the human race through hope of salvation, which Jesus was to bring"; nevertheless, "that God willed that the human race should pass through various states before the plenitude of time should come"; and first, that in the state of nature "man, left to his own lights, would learn to distrust his own blind reason and would move himself from his own aberrations to desire the aid of a superior light"; the doctrine, as it stands, is deceitful, and if understood concerning the desire of the aid of a superior light in relation to the salvation promised through Christ, that man is supposed to have been able to move himself to conceive this desire by his own proper lights remaining after the fall, —suspected, favorable to the Semipelagian heresy.
The Condition of Man under the Law
19. Likewise, the doctrine which adds that under the Law man "be-came a prevaricator, since he was powerless to observe it, not indeed by the fault of the Law, which was most sacred, but by the guilt of man, who, under the Law, without grace, became more and more a prevaricator"; and it further adds, "that the Law, if it did not heal the heart of man, brought it about that he would recognize his evil, and, being convinced of his weakness, would desire the grace of a mediator"; in this part it generally intimates that man became a prevaricator through the nonobservance of the Law which he was powerless to observe, as if "He who is just could command something impossible, or He who is pious would be likely to condemn man for that which he could not avoid" 1) false scandalous, impious, condemned in Baius.
20. In that part in which it is to be understood that man, while under the Law and without grace, could conceive a desire for the grace of a Mediator related to the salvation promised through Christ, as if "grace itself does not effect that He be invoked by us"]),—the proposition as it stands, deceitful, suspect, favor-able to the Semipelagian heresy.
Illuminating and Exciting Grace
21. The proposition which asserts "that the light of grace, when it is alone, effects nothing but to make us aware of the unhappiness of our state and the gravity of our evil; that grace, in such a case, produces the same effect as the Law produced: therefore, it is necessary that God create in our heart a sacred love and infuse a sacred delight contrary to the love dominating in us; that this sacred love, this sacred delight is properly the grace of Jesus Christ, the inspiration of charity by which, when it is perceived, we act by a sacred love; that this is that root from which grow good works; that this is the grace of the New Testament, which frees us from the servitude of sin, makes us sons of God"; since it intimates that that alone is properly the grace of Jesus Christ, which creates in the heart a sacred love, and which impels us to act, or also, by which man, freed from the slavery of sin, is constituted a son of God; and that that grace is not also properly the grace of Jesus Christ, by which the heart of man is touched through an illumination of the Holy Spirit]), and that no true interior grace of Christ is given, which is resisted,—false, deceitful, leading to the error condemned in the second proposition of Jansen as heretical, and renewing it.
Faith as the First Grace
22. The proposition which declares that faith, "from which begins the series of graces, and through which, as the first voice, we are called to salvation and to the Church": is the very excellent virtue itself of faith by which men are called and are the faithful; just as if that grace were not prior, which "as it precedes the will, so it precedes faith also" suspected of heresy, and savoring of it, elsewhere condemned in Quesnel, erroneous.
The Twofold Love
23. The doctrine of the synod about the twofold love of dominating cupidity and of dominating charity, stating that man without grace is under the power of sin, and that in that state through the general influence of the dominating cupidity he taints and corrupts all his actions; since it insinuates that in man, while he is under the servitude or in the state of sin, destitute of that grace by which he is freed from the servitude of sin and is constituted a son of God, cupidity is so dominant that by its general influence all his actions are vitiated in themselves and corrupted; or that all his works which are done before justification, for whatsoever reason they may be done, are sins; as if in all his acts the sinner is a slave to the dominating cupidity,—false, dangerous, leading into the error condemned by the Tridentine Council as heretical, again condemned in Baius, art. 40
24. But in this part, indeed, no intermediate affections are placed between the dominating cupidity and the dominating charity, planted by nature itself and worthy of praise because of their own nature, which, together with love of the beatitude and a natural inclination to good "have remained as the last outline and traces of the image of God"; just as if "between the divine love which draws us to the kingdom, and illicit human love which is condemned, there should not be given a licit human love which is not censured" false, elsewhere condemned.
Servile Fear
25. The doctrine which in general asserts that the fear of punishment "cannot be called evil if it, at least, prevails to restrain the hand"; as if the fear itself of hell, which faith teaches must he imposed on sin, is not in itself good and useful as a supernatural gift, and a motion inspired by God preparing for the love of justice,—false, rash, dangerous, injurious to the divine gifts, elsewhere condemned [see n. 746], contrary to the doctrine of the Council of Trent [see n. 798, 898], and to the common opinion of the Fathers, namely "that there is need," according to the customary order of preparation for justice, "that fear should first enter, through which charity will come; fear is a medicine, charity is health”.
The Punishment of Those Who Die with Original Sin Only
26. The doctrine which rejects as a Pelagian fable, that place of the lower regions (which the faithful generally designate by the name of the limbo of children) in which the souls of those departing with the sole guilt of original sin are punished with the punishment of the condemned, exclusive of the punishment of fire, just as if, by this very fact, that these who remove the punishment of fire introduced that middle place and state free of guilt and of punishment between the kingdom of God and eternal damnation, such as that about which the Pelagians idly talk,—false, rash, injurious to Catholic schools.
C. Errors about the Sacraments, and First about the Sacramental Form with a Condition Attached
27. The deliberation of the synod which, under pretext of clinging to ancient canons in the case of doubtful baptism, declares its intention of omitting mention of the conditional form,—rash, contrary to practice, to the law, to the authority of the Church.
The Partaking of the Victim in the Sacrifice of the Mass
28. The proposition of the synod in which, after it states that "a partaking of the victim is an essential part in the sacrifice," it adds, "nevertheless, it does not condemn as illicit those Masses in which those present do not communicate sacramentally, for the reason that they do partake of the victim, although less perfectly, by receiving it spiritually," since it insinuates that there is something lacking to the essence of the sacrifice in that sacrifice which is performed either with no one present, or with those present who partake of the victim neither sacramentally nor spiritually, and as if those Masses should be condemned as illicit, in which, with the priest alone communicating, no one is present who communicates either sacramentally or spiritually,—false, erroneous, suspected of heresy and savoring of it.
The Efficacy of the Rite of Consecration
29. The doctrine of the synod, in that part in which, undertaking to explain the doctrine of faith in the rite of consecration, and disregarding the scholastic questions about the manner in which Christ is in the Eucharist, from which questions it exhorts priests performing the duty of teaching to refrain, it states the doctrine in these two propositions only:
1) after the consecration Christ is truly, really, substantially under the species;
2) then the whole substance of the bread and wine ceases, appearances only remaining;
it (the doctrine) absolutely omits to make any mention of transubstantiation, or conversion of the whole substance of the bread into the body, and of the whole substance of the wine into the blood, which the Council of Trent defined as an article of faith [see n. 877, 884], and which is contained in the solemn profession of faith [see n. 997]; since by an indiscreet and suspicious omission of this sort knowledge is taken away both of an article pertaining to faith, and also of the word consecrated by the Church to protect the profession of it, as if it were a discussion of a merely scholastic question,—dangerous, derogatory to the exposition of Catholic truth about the dogma of transubstantiation, favorable to heretics.
The Application of the Fruit of the Sacrifice
30. The doctrine of the synod, by which, while it professes "to believe that the oblation of the sacrifice extends itself to all, in such a way, how-ever, that in the liturgy there can be made a special commemoration of certain individuals, both living and dead, by praying God specially for them," then it immediately adds: "Not, however, that we should believe that it is in the will of the priest to apply the fruit of the sacrifice to whom He wishes, rather we condemn this error as greatly offending the rights of God, who alone distributes the fruit of the sacrifice to whom He wishes and according to the measure which pleases Him"; and consequently, from this it derides "as false the opinion foisted on the people that they who give alms to the priest on the condition that he celebrate a Mass will receive from it special fruit"; thus understood, that besides the special commemoration and prayer a special offering itself, or application of the Sacrifice which is made by the priest does not benefit, other things being equal, those for whom it is applied more than any others, as if no special fruit would come from a special application, which the Church recommends and commands should be made for definite persons or classes of persons, especially by pastors for their flock, and which, as if coming down from a divine precept, has been clearly expressed by the sacred synod of Trent (sess. 23, c. I de reform; BENED. XIV, Constit. "Cum semper oblatas," sec. 2),—false, rash, dangerous, injurious to the Church, leading into the error elsewhere condemned in Wycliffe [see n. 599]
The Suitable Order to Be Observed in Worship
31. The proposition of the synod enunciating that it is fitting, in accordance with the order of divine services and ancient custom, that there be only one altar in each temple, and therefore, that it is pleased to restore that custom,—rash, injurious to the very ancient pious custom flourishing and approved for these many centuries in the Church, especially in the Latin Church.
32. Likewise, the prescription forbidding cases of sacred relics or flowers being placed on the altar,— rash, injurious to the pious and approved custom of the Church.
33. The proposition of the synod by which it shows itself eager to remove the cause through which, in part, there has been induced a forgetfulness of the principles relating to the order of the liturgy, "by recalling it (the liturgy) to a greater simplicity of rites, by expressing it in the vernacular language, by uttering it in a loud voice"; as if the present order of the liturgy, received and approved by the Church, had emanated in some part from the forgetfulness of the principles by which it should be regulated,— rash, offensive to pious ears, insulting to the Church, favorable to the charges of heretics against it.
The Order of Penance
34. The declaration of the synod by which, after it previously stated that the order of canonical penance had been so established by the Church, in accord with the example of the apostles that it was common to all, and not merely for the punishment of guilt, but especially for the disposition to grace, it adds that "it (the synod) recognizes in that marvelous and venerable order the whole dignity of so necessary a sacrament, free from the subtleties which have been added to it in the course of time"; as if, through the order in which without the complete course of canonical penance this sacrament has been wont to be administered, the dignity of the sacrament had been lessened,—rash, scandalous, inducing to a contempt of the dignity of the sacrament as it has been accustomed to be administered throughout the whole Church, injurious to the Church itself.
35. The proposition conceived in these words: "If charity in the beginning is always weak, it behooves the priest, in obtaining an increase of this charity in the ordinary way, to make those acts of humiliation and penance which have been recommended in every age by the Church precede; to reduce those acts to a few prayers or to some fasting after absolution has already been conferred, seems to be a material desire of keeping for this sacrament the mere name of penance, rather than an illuminating and suitable means to increase that fervor of charity which ought to precede absolution; indeed we are far from blaming the practice of imposing penances to be fulfilled after absolution; if all our good works have our defects always joined to them, how much more ought we to fear lest we admit very many imperfections into the very difficult and very important work of our reconciliation"; since it implies that the penances which are imposed, to be fulfilled after absolution, are to be considered as a supplement for the defects admitted in the work of our reconciliation, rather than as truly sacramental
penances and satisfactions for the sins confessed, as if, in order that the true reason for the sacrament, not the mere name, be preserved, it would be necessary that in the ordinary way the acts of humiliation and penance, which are imposed as a means of sacramental satisfaction, should precede absolution,— false, rash, injurious to the common practice of the Church, leading to the error contained in the heretical note in Peter of Osma [see n. 728; cf. n. 1306 f.].
The Previous Disposition Necessary for Admitting Penitents to Reconciliation
36. The doctrine of the synod, in which, after it stated that "when there are unmistakable signs of the love of God dominating in the heart of a man, he can deservedly be considered worthy of being admitted to participation in the blood of Jesus Christ, which takes place in the sacraments," it further adds, "that false conversions, which take place through attrition (incomplete sorrow for sins), are not usually efficacious nor durable," consequently, "the shepherd of souls must insist on unmistakable signs of the dominating charity before he admits his penitents to the sacraments"; which signs, as it (the decree) then teaches (sec. 17), "a pastor can deduce from a firm cessation of sin and from fervor in good works"; and this "fervor of charity," moreover, it prescribes as the disposition which "should precede absolution"; so understood that not only imperfect contrition, which is sometimes called by the name of attrition, even that which is joined with the love with which a man begins to love God as the fountain of all justice [cf. n. 798], and not only contrition formed by charity, but also the fervor of a dominating charity, and that, indeed, proved by a long continued practice through fervor in good works, is generally and absolutely required in order that a man may be admitted to the sacraments, and penitents especially be admitted to the benefit of the absolution,—false, rash, disturbing to the peace of souls, contra
The Authority for Absolving
37. The teaching of the synod, which declares concerning the authority for absolving received through ordination that "after the institution of dioceses and parishes, it is fitting that each one exercise this judgment over those persons subject to him either by reason of territory or some personal right," because "otherwise confusion and disturbance would be introduced"; since it declares that, in order to prevent confusion, after dioceses and parishes have been instituted, it is merely fitting that the power of absolving be exercised upon subjects; so understood, as if for the valid use of this power there is no need of ordinary or delegated jurisdiction, without which the Tridentine Synod declares that absolution conferred by a priest is of no value,—false, rash, dangerous, contrary and injurious to the Tridentine Synod [see no. 903], erroneous.
38. Likewise, that teaching in which, after the synod professed that "it could not but admire that very venerable discipline of antiquity, which (as it says) did not admit to penance so easily, and perhaps never, that one who, after a first sin and a first reconciliation, had relapsed into guilt," it adds, that "through fear of perpetual exclusion from communion and from peace, even in the hour of death, a great restraint will be put on those who consider too little the evil of sin and fear it less," contrary to canon 13 of the first Council of Nicea, to the decretal of Innocent I to Exuperius Tolos, and then also to the decretal of Celestine I to the Bishops of Vienne, and of the Province of Narbon, redolent of the viciousness at which the Holy Pontiff is horrified in that decretal.
The Confession of Venial Sins
39. The declaration of the synod about the confession of venial sins, which it does not wish, it says, to be so frequently resorted to, lest confessions of this sort be rendered too contemptible,—rash, dangerous, contrary to the practice of the saints and the pious which was approved [see n. 899] by the sacred Council of Trent.
Indulgences
40. The proposition asserting "that an indulgence, according to its precise notion, is nothing else than the remission of that part of the penance which had been established by the canons for the sinner"; as if an indulgence, in addition to the mere remission of the canonical penance, does not also have value for the remission of the temporal punishment due to the divine justice for actual sins,—false, rash, injurious to the merits of Christ, already condemned in article 19 of Luther [see n. 759].
41. Likewise, in this which is added, i.e., that "the scholastics, puffed up by their subtleties, introduced the poorly understood treasury of the merits of Christ and of the saints, and, for the clear notion of absolution from canonical penance, they substituted a confused and false notion of the application of merits"; as if the treasures of the Church, whence the pope grants indulgences, are not the merits of Christ and of the saints,—false, rash, injurious to the merits of Christ and of the saints, previously condemned in art. 17 of Luther [see n. 757; cf. n. 550 ff.].
42. Likewise, in this which it adds, that "it is still more lamentable that that fabulous application is meant to be transferred to the dead,"—false, rash, offensive to pious ears, injurious to the Roman Pontiffs and to the practice and sense of the universal Church, leading to the error fixed [cf. n. 729] in the heretical note in Peter of Osma, again condemned in article 22 of Luther [see n. 762].
43. In this, finally, that it most shamelessly inveighs against lists of indulgences, privileged altars, etc., —rash, offensive to the ears of the pious, scandalous, abusive to the Supreme Pontiffs, and to the practice common in the whole Church.
The Reservation of Cases
44. The proposition of the synod asserting that the "reservation of cases at the present time is nothing else than an improvident bond for priests of lower rank, and a statement devoid of sense for penitents who are accustomed to pay no heed to this reservation,"—false, rash, evil-sounding, dangerous, contrary to the Council of Trent [see n. 903], injurious to the hierarchic power.
45. Likewise, concerning the hope which it expressed that "when the Ritual and the order of penance had been reformed, there would be no place any longer for reservations of this sort"; in so far as, considering the careful generality of the words, it intimates that, by a reformation of the Ritual and of the order of penance made by a bishop or a synod, cases can be abolished which the Tridentine Synod (sess. 14, c. 7 [n. 903]) declares the Supreme Pontiffs could reserve to their own special judgment, because of the supreme power given to them in the universal Church the proposition is false, rash, derogatory, and injurious to the Council of Trent and to the authority of the Supreme Pontiffs.
Censures
46. The proposition asserting that "the effect of excommunication is merely exterior, because by its nature it merely excludes from exterior communion with the Church"; as if excommunication were not a spiritual punishment, binding in heaven, obligating souls,—false, dangerous, condemned in art. 23 of Luther [see n. 763], at least erroneous.
47. Likewise, the proposition which teaches that it is necessary, according to the natural and divine laws, for either excommunication or for suspension, that a personal examination should precede, and that, there-fore, sentences called "ipso facto" have no other force than that of a serious threat without any actual effect, false, rash, pernicious, injurious to the power of the Church, erroneous.
48. Likewise, the proposition which says that "useless and vain is the formula introduced some centuries ago of general absolution from ex-communications into which the faithful might have fallen,"—false, rash, injurious to the practice of the Church.
49. Likewise, the proposition which condemns as null and invalid "suspensions imposed from an informed conscience,"—false, pernicious, injurious to Trent.
50. Likewise, in that decree which insinuates that a bishop alone does not have the right to make use of the power which, nevertheless, Trent confers on him (sess. 14, c. I de reform.) of legitimately inflicting suspensions "from an informed conscience,"—harmful to the jurisdiction of the prelates of the Church.
Orders
51. The doctrine of the synod which says that in promoting to orders this method, from the custom and rule of the ancient discipline, was accustomed to be observed, "that if any cleric was distinguished for holiness of life and was considered worthy to ascend to sacred orders, it was the custom to promote him to the diaconate, or to the priesthood, even if he had not received minor orders; and that at that time such an ordination was not called `per saltum,' as afterwards it was so called,"
52. Likewise, the doctrine which intimates that there was no other title for ordinations than appointment to some special ministry, such as was prescribed in the Council of Chalcedon; adding that, as long as the Church conformed itself to these principles in the selection of sacred ministers, the ecclesiastical order flourished; but that those happy days have passed, and new principles have been introduced later, by which the discipline in the choice of ministers for the sanctuary was corrupted;
53. Likewise, that among these very principles of corruption it mentions the fact that there has been a departure from the old rule by which, as it says (Sec. 5) the Church, treading in the footsteps of the Apostle, had prescribed that no one should be admitted to the priesthood unless he had preserved his baptismal innocence, since it implies that discipline has been corrupted by decrees and rules:
1) Whether by these ordinations "per saltum" have been forbidden;
2) or by these, for the need and advantage of churches, ordinations without special title of office are approved, as the ordination for the title of patrimony, specifically approved by Trent, that obedience having been assured by which those so ordained are obliged to serve the necessities of the Churches in fulfilling those duties, for which, considering the time and the place, they were ordained by the bishop, just as it was accustomed to be done from apostolic times in the primitive Church;
3) or, by these a distinction was made by canon law of crimes which render the delinquents irregular; as if, by this distinction, the Church departed from the spirit of the Apostle by not excluding in general and without distinction from the ecclesiastical ministry all, whosoever they be, who have not preserved their baptismal innocence,—the doctrine is false in its several individual parts, rash, disturbing to the order introduced for the need and advantage of the churches, injurious to the discipline approved by the canons and especially by the decrees of the Council of Trent.
54. Likewise, the doctrine which notes as a shameful abuse ever to offer alms for the celebration of Masses, and for administering the sacraments, as well as to accept any offering so-called "of the stole," and, in general, any stipend and honorarium which may be offered on the occasion of prayers or of some parochial function; as if the ministers of the Church should be charged with a shameful abuse because they use the right promulgated by the Apostle of accepting temporal aids from those to whom they furnish spiritual ministrations [Gal. 6: 6],—false, rash, harmful to ecclesiastical and pastoral right, injurious to the Church and its ministers.
55. Likewise, the doctrine by which it professes to desire very much that some way be found of removing the lesser clergy (under which name it designates the clerics of minor orders) from cathedrals and colleges by providing otherwise, namely through approved lay people of mature age, a suitable assigned stipend for the ministry of serving at Masses and for other offices such as that of acolyte, etc., as formerly, it says, was usually done when duties of that sort had not been reduced to mere form for the receiving of major orders; inasmuch as it censures the rule by which care is taken that "the functions of minor orders are to be performed or exercised only by those who have been established in them according to rank" (Conc. prov. IV of Milan), and this also according to the intention of the Tridentine Council (sess. 23, c. 17) "that the duties of sacred orders, from the diaconate to the porter, laudably received in the Church from apostolic times and neglected for a while in many places, should be renewed according to the sacred canons, and should not be considered useless as they are by heretics,"—a rash suggestion, offensive to pious ears, disturbing to the ecclesiastical ministry, lessening of the decency which should he observed as far as possible in celebrating the mysteries, injurious to the duties and functions of minor orders, as well as to the discipline approved by the canons and especially by the Tridentine Synod, favorable to the charges and calumnies of heretics against it.
56. The doctrine which states that it seems fitting that, in the case of canonical impediments which arise from crimes expressed in the law, no dispensation should ever be granted or allowed,—harmful to the canonical equity and moderation which has been approved by the sacred council of Trent, derogatory to the authority and laws of the Church.
57. The prescription of the synod which generally and indiscriminately rejects as an abuse any dispensation that more than one residential benefice be bestowed on one and the same person: likewise, in this which it adds that the synod is certain that, according to the spirit of the Church, no one could enjoy more than one benefice, even if it is a simple one,—for its generality, derogatory to the moderation of the Council of Trent (sess. 7, c. 5, and sess. 24, c. 17).
Betrothals and Matrimony
58. The proposition which states that betrothals properly so-called contain a mere civil act which disposes for the celebrating of marriage, and that these same betrothals are altogether subject to the prescription of the civil laws; as if the act disposing for the sacrament is not, under this aspect, subject to the law of the Church, false, harmful to the right of the Church in respect to the effects flowing even from betrothals by reason of the canonical sanctions, derogatory to the discipline established by the Church.
59. The doctrine of the synod asserting that "to the supreme civil power alone originally belongs the right to apply to the contract of marriage impediments of that sort which render it null and are called nullifying": which "original right," besides, is said to be "essentially connected with the right of dispensing": adding that "with the secret consent or connivance of the principals, the Church could justly establish impediments which nullify the very contract of marriage"; as if the Church could not and cannot always in Christian marriages, establish by its own rights impediments which not only hinder marriage, but also render it null as regards the bond, and also dispense from those impediments by which Christians are held bound even in the countries of infidels, —destructive of canons 3, 4, 9, 12 of the 24th session of the Council of Trent, heretical [see n. 973 ff.].
60. Likewise, the proposal of the synod to the civil power, that "it remove from the number of impediments, whose origin is found in the Collection of Justinian, spiritual relationship and also that one which is called of public honor"; then, that "it should tighten the impediment of affinity and relationship from any licit or illicit connection of birth to the fourth degree, according to the civil computation through the lateral and oblique lines, in such a way, nevertheless, that there be left no hope of obtaining a dispensation"; in so far as it attributes to the civil power the right either of abolishing or of tightening impediments which have been established and approved by the authority of the Church; likewise, where it proposes that the Church can be despoiled by the civil power of the right of dispensing from impediments established or approved by the Church,—subversive of the liberty and power of the Church, contrary to Trent, issuing from the heretical principle condemned above [see n. 973 ff.].
D. Errors Concerning Duties, Practices, Rules Pertaining to Religious Worship
And First, the Adoration of the Humanity of Christ.
61. The proposition which asserts that "to adore directly the humanity of Christ, even any part of Him, would always be divine honor given to a creature"; in so far as, by this word "directly" it intends to reprove the worship of adoration which the faithful show to the humanity of Christ, just as if such adoration, by which the humanity and the very living flesh of Christ is adored, not indeed on account of itself as mere flesh, but because it is united to the divinity, would be divine honor imparted to a creature, and not rather the one and the same adoration with which the Incarnate Word is adored in His own proper flesh (from the 2nd Council of Constantinople, 5th Ecumenical Council, canon 9 [see n. 221; cf. n. 120]),—false, deceitful, detracting from and injurious to the pious and due worship given and extended by the faithful to the humanity of Christ.
62. The doctrine which rejects devotion to the most Sacred Heart of Jesus among the devotions which it notes as new, erroneous, or at least, dangerous; if the understanding of this devotion is of such a sort as has been approved by the Apostolic See,—false, rash, dangerous, offensive to pious ears, injurious to the Apostolic See.
63. Likewise, in this that it blames the worshipers of the Heart of Jesus also for this name, because they do not note that the most sacred flesh of Christ, or any part of Him, or even the whole humanity, cannot be adored with the worship of latria when there is a separation or cutting off from the divinity; as if the faithful when they adore the Heart of Jesus, separate it or cut it off from the divinity; when they worship the Heart of Jesus it is, namely, the heart of the person of the Word, to whom it has been inseparably united in that manner in which the bloodless body of Christ during the three days of death, without separation or cutting off from divinity, was worthy of adoration in the tomb,—deceitful, injurious to the faithful worshipers of the Heart of Jesus.
The Order Prescribed in the Undertaking of Pious Exercises
64. The doctrine which notes as universally superstitious "any efficacy which is placed in a fixed number of prayers and of pious salutations"; as if one should consider as superstitious the efficacy which is derived not from the number viewed in itself, but from the prescript of the Church appointing a certain number of prayers or of external acts for obtaining indulgences, for fulfilling penances and, in general, for the performance of sacred and religious worship in the correct order and due form,—false, rash, scandalous, dangerous, injurious to the piety of the faithful, derogatory to the authority of the Church, erroneous.
65. The proposition stating that "the unregulated clamor of the new institutions which have been called exercises or missions . . . , perhaps never, or at least very rarely, succeed in effecting an absolute conversion; and those exterior acts of encouragement which have appeared were nothing else than the transient brilliance of a natural emotion,"—rash, evil-sounding, dangerous, injurious to the customs piously and salutarily practiced throughout the Church and founded on the Word of God.
The Manner of Uniting the Voice of the People with the Voice of the Church in Public Prayers
66. The proposition asserting that "it would be against apostolic practice and the plans of God, unless easier ways were prepared for the people to unite their voice with that of the whole Church"; if understood to signify introducing of the use of popular language into the liturgical prayers,—false, rash, disturbing to the order prescribed for the celebration of the mysteries, easily productive of many evils.
The Reading of Sacred Scripture
67. The doctrine asserting that "only a true impotence excuses" from the reading of the Sacred Scriptures, adding, moreover, that there is produced the obscurity which arises from a neglect of this precept in regard to the primary truths of religion,—false, rash, disturbing to the peace of souls, condemned elsewhere in Quesnel [sec. 1429 ff.].
The Reading of Proscribed Books Publicly in Church
68. The praise with which the synod very highly commends the commentaries of Quesnel on the New Testament, and some works of other writers who favor the errors of Quesnel, although they have been proscribed; and which proposes to parish priests that they should read these same works, as if they were full of the solid principles of religion; each one in his own parish to his people after other functions,—false, rash, scandalous, seditious, injurious to the Church, fostering schism and heresy.
Sacred Images
69. The prescription which in general and without discrimination includes the images of the incomprehensible Trinity among the images to be removed from the Church, on the ground that they furnish an occasion of error to the untutored,—because of its generality, it is rash, and contrary to the pious custom common throughout the Church, as if no images of the Most Holy Trinity exist which are commonly approved and safely permitted (from the Brief "Sollicitudini nostrae" of Benedict XIV in the year 1745).
70. Likewise, the doctrine and prescription condemning in general every special cult which the faithful are accustomed to attach specifically to some image, and to have recourse to, rather than to another,— rash, dangerous, injurious to the pious custom prevalent throughout the Church and also to that order of Providence, by which "God, who apportions as He wishes to each one his own proper characteristics, did not want them to be common in every commemoration of the saints (from St. Augustine, Epistle 78 to the clergy, elders, and people of the church at Hippo).
71. Likewise, the teaching which forbids that images, especially of the Blessed Virgin, be distinguished by any title other than the denominations which are related to the mysteries, about which express mention is made in Holy Scripture; as if other pious titles could not be given to images which the Church indeed approves and commends in its public prayers,—rash, offensive to the ears of the pious, and especially injurious to the due veneration of the Blessed Virgin.
72. Likewise, the one which would extirpate as an abuse the custom by which certain images are kept veiled,—rash, contrary to the custom prevalent in the Church and employed to foster the piety of the faithful.
Feasts
73. The proposition stating that the institution of new feasts derived its origin from neglect in the observance of the older feasts, and from false notions of the nature and end of these solemnities,— false, rash, scandalous, injurious to the Church, favorable to the charges of heretics against the feast days celebrated by the Church.
74. The deliberation of the synod about transferring to Sunday feasts distributed through the year, and rightly so, because it is convinced that the bishop has power over ecclesiastical discipline in relation to purely spiritual matters, and therefore of abrogating the precept of hearing Mass on those days, on which according to the early law of the Church, even then that precept flourished; and then, also, in this statement which it (the synod) added about transferring to Advent by episcopal authority the fasts which should be kept throughout the year according to the precept of the Church; insomuch as it asserts that it is lawful for a bishop in his own right to transfer the days prescribed by the Church for celebrating feasts or fasts, or to abrogate the imposed precept of hearing Mass,—a false proposition, harmful to the law of the general Councils and of the Supreme Pontiffs, scandalous, favorable to schism.
Oaths
75. The teaching which says that in the happy days of the early Church oaths seemed so foreign to the model of the divine Preceptor and to the golden simplicity of the Gospel that "to take an oath without extreme and unavoidable need had been reputed to be an irreligious act, unworthy of a Christian person," further, that "the uninterrupted line of the Fathers shows that oaths by common consent have been considered as forbidden"; and from this doctrine proceeds to condemn the oaths which the ecclesiastical curia, having followed, as it says, the norm of feudal jurisprudence, adopted for investitures and sacred ordinations of bishops; and it decreed, therefore, that the law should be invoked by the secular power to abolish the oaths which are demanded in ecclesiastical curias when entering upon duties and offices and, in general, for any curial function,—false, injurious to the Church, harmful to ecclesiastical law, subversive of discipline imposed and approved by the Canons.
Ecclesiastical Conferences
76. The charge which the synod brings against the scholastic method as that "which opened the way for inventing new systems discordant with one another with respect to truths of a greater value and which led finally to probabilism and laxism"; in so far as it charges against the scholastic method the faults of individuals who could misuse and have misused it,—false, rash, against very holy and learned men who, to the great good of the Catholic religion, have developed the scholastic method, injurious, favorable to the criticism of heretics who are hostile to it.
77. Likewise in this which adds that "a change in the form of ecclesiastical government, by which it was brought about that ministers of the Church became forgetful of their rights, which at the same time are their obligations, has finally led to such a state of affairs as to cause the primitive notions of ecclesiastical ministry and pastoral solicitude to be for-gotten"; as if, by a change of government consonant to the discipline established and approved in the Church, there ever could be forgotten and lost the primitive notion of ecclesiastical ministry or pastoral solicitude,—a false proposition, rash, erroneous.
78. The prescription of the synod about the order of transacting business in the conferences, in which, after it prefaced "in every article that which pertains to faith and to the essence of religion must be distinguished from that which is proper to discipline," it adds, "in this itself (discipline) there is to be distinguished what is necessary or useful to retain the faithful in spirit, from that which is useless or too burden-some for the liberty of the sons of the new Covenant to endure, but more so, from that which is dangerous or harmful, namely, leading to superstitution and materialism"; in so far as by the generality of the words it includes and submits to a prescribed examination even the discipline established and approved by the Church, as if the Church which is ruled by the Spirit of God could have established discipline which is not only useless and burdensome for Christian liberty to endure, but which is even dangerous and harmful and leading to superstition and materialism,—false, rash, scandalous, dangerous, offensive to pious ears, injurious to the Church and to the Spirit of God by whom it is guided, at least erroneous.
Complaints Against Some Opinions Which are Still Discussed in "Catholic Schools"
79. The assertion which attacks with slanderous charges the opinions discussed in Catholic schools about which the Apostolic See has thought that nothing yet needs to be defined or pronounced,—false, rash, injurious to Catholic schools, detracting from the obedience to the Apostolic Constitutions.
E. Errors Concerning the Reformation of Regulars
The "three rules" set down as fundamental by the Synod “for the reformation of regulars"
80. Rule I which states universally and without distinction that "the regular or monastic state by its very nature cannot be harmonized with the care of souls and with the duties of parochial life, and therefore, can-not share in the ecclesiastical hierarchy without adversely opposing the principles of monastic life itself"—false, dangerous to the most holy Fathers and heads of the Church, who harmonized the practices of the regular life with the duties of the clerical order,—injurious, contrary to the old, pious, approved custom of the Church and to the sanctions of the Supreme Pontiff; as if "monks, whom the gravity of their manners and of their life and whom the holy institution of Faith approves," could not be duly "entrusted with the duties of the clergy," not only without harm to religion, but even with great advantage to the Church. (From the decretal epistle of St. Siricius to Himerius of Tarraco c. 13 [see n. 90].)
81. Likewise, in that which adds that St. Thomas and St. Bonaventure were so occupied in protecting Orders of Mendicants against the best of men that in their defenses less heat and greater accuracy were to be desired,—scandalous, injurious to the very holy Doctors, favorable to the impious slanders of condemned authors.
82. Rule II, that "the multiplicity and diversity of orders naturally produce confusion and disturbance," likewise, in that which sec. 4 sets forth, "that the founders" of regulars who, after the monastic institutions came into being, "by adding orders to orders, reforms to reforms have accomplished nothing else than to increase more and more the primary cause of evil"; if understood about the orders and institutes approved by the Holy See, as if the distinct variety of pious works to which the distinct orders are devoted should, by its nature, beget disturbance and confusion, —false, calumnious, injurious not only to the holy founders and their faithful disciples, but also to the Supreme Pontiffs themselves.
83. Rule III, in which, after it stated that "a small body living within a civil society without being truly a part of the same and which forms a small monarchy in the state, is always a dangerous thing," it then charges with this accusation private monasteries which are associated by the bond of a common rule under one special head, as if they were so many special monarchies harmful and dangerous to the civic commonwealth,—false, rash, injurious to the regular institutes approved by the Holy See for the advancement of religion, favorable to the slanders and calumnies of heretics against the same institutes.
Concerning the "system" or list of ordinances drawn from rules laid down and contained in the eight following articles "for the reformation of regulars"
84. Art. I. "Concerning the one order to be retained in the Church, and concerning the selection of the rule of St. Benedict in preference to others, not only because of its excellence but also on account of the well-known merits of his order; however, with this condition that in those items which happen to be less suitable to the conditions of the times, the way of life instituted at Port-Royal is to furnish light for discovering what it is fitting to add, what to take away;
Art. II. "Those who have joined this order should not be a part of the ecclesiastical hierarchy; nor should they be promoted to Holy Orders, except one or two at the most, to be initiated as superiors, or as chaplains of the monastery, the rest remaining in the simple order of the laity;
Art. III. "One monastery only should be allowed in any one city, and this should be located outside the walls of the city in the more retired and remote places;
Art. IV. "Among the occupations of the monastic life, a proper pro-portion should be inviolably reserved for manual labor, with suitable time, nevertheless, left for devotion to the psalmody, or also, if someone wishes, for the study of letters; the psalmody should be moderate, be-cause too much of it produces haste, weariness, and distraction; the more psalmody, orisons, and prayers are increased beyond a just proportion of the whole time, so much are the fervor and holiness of the regulars diminished;
Art. V. "No distinction among the monks should be allowed, whether they are devoted to choir or to services; such inequality has stirred up very grave quarrels and discords at every opportunity, and has driven out the spirit of charity from communities of regulars;
Art. VI. "The vow of perpetual stability should never be allowed; the older monks did not know it, who, nevertheless, were a consolation of the Church and an ornament to Christianity; the vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience should not be admitted as the common and stable rule. If anyone shall wish to make these vows, all or anyone, he will ask advice and permission from the bishop who, nevertheless, will never permit them to be perpetual, nor to exceed the limits of a year; the opportunity merely will be given of renewing them under the same conditions;
Art. VII. "The bishop will conduct every investigation into their lives, studies, and advancement in piety; it will be his duty to admit and to dismiss the monks, always, however, after taking counsel with their fellow monks;
Art. VIII. "Regulars of orders which still survive, although they are priests, may also be received into this monastery, provided they desire to be free in silence and solitude for their own sanctification only; in which case, there might be provision for the dispensation stated in the general rule, n. II, in such a way, however, that they do not follow a rule of life different from the others, and that not more than one, or at most two Masses be celebrated each day, and that it should be satisfactory to the other priests to celebrate in common together with the community;
Likewise "for the reformation of nuns"
"Perpetual vows should not be permitted before the age of 40 or 45; nuns should be devoted to solid exercises, especially to labor, turned aside from carnal spirituality by which many are distracted; consideration must also be given as to whether, so far as they are concerned, it would be more satisfactory to leave the monastery in the city;
The system is subversive to the discipline now flourishing and already approved and accepted in ancient times, dangerous, opposed and injurious to the Apostolic Constitutions and to the sanctions of many Councils, even general ones, and especially of the Council of Trent; favorable to the vicious calumnies of heretics against monastic vows and the regular institutes devoted to the more stable profession of the evangelical counsels.
F. Errors About Convoking a National Council
85. The proposition stating that any knowledge whatsoever of ecclesiastical history is sufficient to allow anyone to assert that the convocation of a national council is one of the canonical ways by which controversies in regard to religion may be ended in the Church of the respective nations; if understood to mean that controversies in regard to faith or morals which have arisen in a Church can be ended by an irrefutable decision made in a national council; as if freedom from error in questions of faith and morals belonged to a national council,--schismatic, heretical.
Therefore, we command all the faithful of Christ of either sex not to presume to believe, to teach, or to preach anything about the said propositions and doctrines contrary to what is declared in this Constitution of ours; that whoever shall have taught, defended or published them, or anyone of them, all together or separately, except perhaps to oppose them, will be subject ipso facto and without any other declaration to ecclesiastical censures, and to the other penalties stated by law against those perpetrating similar offenses.
But, by this expressed condemnation of the aforesaid propositions and doctrines, we by no means intend to approve other things contained in the same book, particularly since in it very many propositions and doctrines have been detected, related either to those which have been condemned above, or to those which show an attitude not only of rash contempt for the commonly approved doctrine and discipline, but of special hostility toward the Roman Pontiffs and the Apostolic See. Indeed, we think two must be noted especially, concerning the most august mystery of the Most Holy Trinity, sec. 2 of the decree about faith, which have issued from the synod, if not with evil intent, surely rather imprudently, which could easily drive into error especially the untutored and the incautious.
The first, after it is rightly prefaced that God in His being remains one and most simple, while
immediately adding that God is distinct in three persons, has erroneously departed from the common formula approved in institutions of Christian Doctrine, in which God is said to be one indeed "in three distinct persons," not "distinct in three persons"; and by the change in this formula, this risk of error crept into the meaning of the words, so that the divine essence is thought to be distinct in persons, which (essence) the Catholic faith confesses to be one in distinct persons in such a way that at the same time it confesses that it is absolutely undivided in itself.
The second, which concerns the three divine Persons themselves, that they, according to their peculiar personal and incommunicable properties, are to be described and named in a more exact manner of speaking, Father, Word, and Holy Ghost; as if less proper and exact would be the name "Son," consecrated by so many passages of Scripture, by the very voice of the Father coming from the heavens and from the cloud, and by the formula of baptism prescribed by Christ, and by that famous confession in which Peter was pronounced "blessed" by Christ Himself; and as if that statement should not rather be retained which the Angelic Doctor,' having learned from Augustine, in his turn taught that "in the name of the Word the same peculiar property is meant as in the name of the Son," Augustine 2 truly saying: "For the same reason he is called the Word as the Son."
Nor should the extraordinary and deceitful boldness of the Synod be passed over in silence, which dared to adorn not only with most ample praises the declaration (n. 1322 ff.) of the Gallican Council of the year 1682, which had long ago been condemned by the Apostolic See, but in order to win greater authority for it, dared to include it insidiously in the decree written "about faith," openly to adopt articles contained in it, and to seal it with a public and solemn profession of those articles which had been handed down here and there through this decree. Therefore, surely, not only a far graver reason for expostulating with them is afforded us by the Synod than was offered to our predecessors by the assemblies, but also no light injury is inflicted on the Gallican Church itself, because the synod thought its authority worth invoking in support of the errors with which that decree was contaminated.
Therefore, as soon as the acts of the Gallican convention appeared, Our predecessor, Venerable Innocent XI, by letters in the form of a Brief on the 11th day of April, in the year 1682, and afterwards, more expressly, Alexander VIII in the Constitution, "inter multiplices" on the 4th day of August, in the year 1690 (see n. 1322 ff.), by reason of their apostolic duty "condemned, rescinded, and declared them null and void"; pastoral solicitude demands much more strongly of Us that we "reject and condemn as rash and scandalous" the recent adoption of these acts tainted with so many faults, made by the synod, and, after the publication of the decrees of Our predecessors, "as especially injurious" to this Apostolic See, and we, accordingly, reject and condemn it by this present Constitution of Ours, and we wish it to be held as rejected and condemned.
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Pope Gregory XVI: Mirari Vos - On Liberalism and Religious Indifferentism |
Posted by: Stone - 04-15-2021, 06:46 AM - Forum: Encyclicals
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MIRARI VOS
On Liberalism and Religious Indifferentism
Pope Gregory XVI - August 15, 1832
To All Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, and Bishops of the Catholic World.
Venerable Brothers, Greetings and Apostolic Benediction.
1. We think that you wonder why, from the time of Our assuming the pontificate, We have not yet sent a letter to you as is customary and as Our benevolence for you demanded. We wanted very much to address you by that voice by which We have been commanded, in the person of blessed Peter, to strengthen the brethren.[1] You know what storms of evil and toil, at the beginning of Our pontificate, drove Us suddenly into the depths of the sea. If the right hand of God had not given Us strength, We would have drowned as the result of the terrible conspiracy of impious men. The mind recoils from renewing this by enumerating so many dangers; instead We bless the Father of consolation Who, having overthrown all enemies, snatched Us from the present danger. When He had calmed this violent storm, He gave Us relief from fear. At once We decided to advise you on healing the wounds of Israel; but the mountain of concerns We needed to address in order to restore public order delayed Us.
2. In the meantime We were again delayed because of the insolent and factious men who endeavored to raise the standard of treason. Eventually, We had to use Our God-given authority to restrain the great obstinacy of these men with the rod.[2] Before We did, their unbridled rage seemed to grow from continued impunity and Our considerable indulgence. For these reasons Our duties have been heavy.
3. But when We had assumed Our pontificate according to the custom and institution of Our predecessors and when all delays had been laid aside, We hastened to you. So We now present the letter and testimony of Our good will toward you on this happy day, the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin. Since she has been Our patron and savior amid so many great calamities, We ask her assistance in writing to you and her counsels for the flock of Christ.
4. We come to you grieving and sorrowful because We know that you are concerned for the faith in these difficult times. Now is truly the time in which the powers of darkness winnow the elect like wheat.[3] "The earth mourns and fades away....And the earth is infected by the inhabitants thereof, because they have transgressed the laws, they have changed the ordinances, they have broken the everlasting covenant."[4]
5. We speak of the things which you see with your own eyes, which We both bemoan. Depravity exults; science is impudent; liberty, dissolute. The holiness of the sacred is despised; the majesty of divine worship is not only disapproved by evil men, but defiled and held up to ridicule. Hence sound doctrine is perverted and errors of all kinds spread boldly. The laws of the sacred, the rights, institutions, and discipline -- none are safe from the audacity of those speaking evil. Our Roman See is harassed violently and the bonds of unity are daily loosened and severed. The divine authority of the Church is opposed and her rights shorn off. She is subjected to human reason and with the greatest injustice exposed to the hatred of the people and reduced to vile servitude. The obedience due bishops is denied and their rights are trampled underfoot. Furthermore, academies and schools resound with new, monstrous opinions, which openly attack the Catholic faith; this horrible and nefarious war is openly and even publicly waged. Thus, by institutions and by the example of teachers, the minds of the youth are corrupted and a tremendous blow is dealt to religion and the perversion of morals is spread. So the restraints of religion are thrown off, by which alone kingdoms stand. We see the destruction of public order, the fall of principalities, and the overturning of all legitimate power approaching. Indeed this great mass of calamities had its inception in the heretical societies and sects in which all that is sacrilegious, infamous, and blasphemous has gathered as bilge water in a ship's hold, a congealed mass of all filth.
6. These and many other serious things, which at present would take too long to list, but which you know well, cause Our intense grief. It is not enough for Us to deplore these innumerable evils unless We strive to uproot them. We take refuge in your faith and call upon your concern for the salvation of the Catholic flock. Your singular prudence and diligent spirit give Us courage and console Us, afflicted as We are with so many trials. We must raise Our voice and attempt all things lest a wild boar from the woods should destroy the vineyard or wolves kill the flock. It is Our duty to lead the flock only to the food which is healthful. In these evil and dangerous times, the shepherds must never neglect their duty; they must never be so overcome by fear that they abandon the sheep. Let them never neglect the flock and become sluggish from idleness and apathy. Therefore, united in spirit, let us promote our common cause, or more truly the cause of God; let our vigilance be one and our effort united against the common enemies.
7. Indeed you will accomplish this perfectly if, as the duty of your office demands, you attend to yourselves and to doctrine and meditate on these words: "the universal Church is affected by any and every novelty"[5] and the admonition of Pope Agatho: "nothing of the things appointed ought to be diminished; nothing changed; nothing added; but they must be preserved both as regards expression and meaning."[6] Therefore may the unity which is built upon the See of Peter as on a sure foundation stand firm. May it be for all a wall and a security, a safe port, and a treasury of countless blessings.[7] To check the audacity of those who attempt to infringe upon the rights of this Holy See or to sever the union of the churches with the See of Peter, instill in your people a zealous confidence in the papacy and sincere veneration for it. As St. Cyprian wrote: "He who abandons the See of Peter on which the Church was founded, falsely believes himself to be a part of the Church."[8]
8. In this you must labor and diligently take care that the faith may be preserved amidst this great conspiracy of impious men who attempt to tear it down and destroy it. May all remember the judgment concerning sound doctrine with which the people are to be instructed. Remember also that the government and administration of the whole Church rests with the Roman Pontiff to whom, in the words of the Fathers of the Council of Florence, "the full power of nourishing, ruling, and governing the universal Church was given by Christ the Lord."[9] It is the duty of individual bishops to cling to the See of Peter faithfully, to guard the faith piously and religiously, and to feed their flock. It behooves priests to be subject to the bishops, whom "they are to look upon as the parents of their souls," as Jerome admonishes.[10] Nor may the priests ever forget that they are forbidden by ancient canons to undertake ministry and to assume the tasks of teaching and preaching "without the permission of their bishop to whom the people have been entrusted; an accounting for the souls of the people will be demanded from the bishop."[11] Finally let them understand that all those who struggle against this established order disturb the position of the Church.
9. Furthermore, the discipline sanctioned by the Church must never be rejected or be branded as contrary to certain principles of natural law. It must never be called crippled, or imperfect or subject to civil authority. In this discipline the administration of sacred rites, standards of morality, and the reckoning of the rights of the Church and her ministers are embraced.
10. To use the words of the fathers of Trent, it is certain that the Church "was instructed by Jesus Christ and His Apostles and that all truth was daily taught it by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit."[12] Therefore, it is obviously absurd and injurious to propose a certain "restoration and regeneration" for her as though necessary for her safety and growth, as if she could be considered subject to defect or obscuration or other misfortune. Indeed these authors of novelties consider that a "foundation may be laid of a new human institution," and what Cyprian detested may come to pass, that what was a divine thing "may become a human church."[13] Let those who devise such plans be aware that, according to the testimony of St. Leo, "the right to grant dispensation from the canons is given" only to the Roman Pontiff. He alone, and no private person, can decide anything "about the rules of the Church Fathers." As St. Gelasius writes: "It is the papal responsibility to keep the canonical decrees in their place and to evaluate the precepts of previous popes so that when the times demand relaxation in order to rejuvenate the churches, they may be adjusted after diligent consideration."[14]
11. Now, however, We want you to rally to combat the abominable conspiracy against clerical celibacy. This conspiracy spreads daily and is promoted by profligate philosophers, some even from the clerical order. They have forgotten their person and office, and have been carried away by the enticements of pleasure. They have even dared to make repeated public demands to the princes for the abolition of that most holy discipline. But it is disgusting to dwell on these evil attempts at length. Rather, We ask that you strive with all your might to justify and to defend the law of clerical celibacy as prescribed by the sacred canons, against which the arrows of the lascivious are directed from every side.
12. Now the honorable marriage of Christians, which Paul calls "a great sacrament in Christ and the Church,"[15] demands our shared concern lest anything contrary to its sanctity and indissolubility is proposed. Our predecessor Pius VIII would recommend to you his own letters on the subject. However, troublesome efforts against this sacrament still continue to be made. The people therefore must be zealously taught that a marriage rightly entered upon cannot be dissolved; for those joined in matrimony God has ordained a perpetual companionship for life and a knot of necessity which cannot be loosed except by death. Recalling that matrimony is a sacrament and therefore subject to the Church, let them consider and observe the laws of the Church concerning it. Let them take care lest for any reason they permit that which is an obstruction to the teachings of the canons and the decrees of the councils. They should be aware that those marriages will have an unhappy end which are entered upon contrary to the discipline of the Church or without God's favor or because of concupiscence alone, with no thought of the sacrament and of the mysteries signified by it.
13. Now We consider another abundant source of the evils with which the Church is afflicted at present: indifferentism. This perverse opinion is spread on all sides by the fraud of the wicked who claim that it is possible to obtain the eternal salvation of the soul by the profession of any kind of religion, as long as morality is maintained. Surely, in so clear a matter, you will drive this deadly error far from the people committed to your care. With the admonition of the apostle that "there is one God, one faith, one baptism"[16] may those fear who contrive the notion that the safe harbor of salvation is open to persons of any religion whatever. They should consider the testimony of Christ Himself that "those who are not with Christ are against Him,"[17] and that they disperse unhappily who do not gather with Him. Therefore "without a doubt, they will perish forever, unless they hold the Catholic faith whole and inviolate."[18] Let them hear Jerome who, while the Church was torn into three parts by schism, tells us that whenever someone tried to persuade him to join his group he always exclaimed: "He who is for the See of Peter is for me."[19] A schismatic flatters himself falsely if he asserts that he, too, has been washed in the waters of regeneration. Indeed Augustine would reply to such a man: "The branch has the same form when it has been cut off from the vine; but of what profit for it is the form, if it does not live from the root?"[20]
14. This shameful font of indifferentism gives rise to that absurd and erroneous proposition which claims that liberty of conscience must be maintained for everyone. It spreads ruin in sacred and civil affairs, though some repeat over and over again with the greatest impudence that some advantage accrues to religion from it. "But the death of the soul is worse than freedom of error," as Augustine was wont to say.[21] When all restraints are removed by which men are kept on the narrow path of truth, their nature, which is already inclined to evil, propels them to ruin. Then truly "the bottomless pit"[22] is open from which John saw smoke ascending which obscured the sun, and out of which locusts flew forth to devastate the earth. Thence comes transformation of minds, corruption of youths, contempt of sacred things and holy laws -- in other words, a pestilence more deadly to the state than any other. Experience shows, even from earliest times, that cities renowned for wealth, dominion, and glory perished as a result of this single evil, namely immoderate freedom of opinion, license of free speech, and desire for novelty.
15. Here We must include that harmful and never sufficiently denounced freedom to publish any writings whatever and disseminate them to the people, which some dare to demand and promote with so great a clamor. We are horrified to see what monstrous doctrines and prodigious errors are disseminated far and wide in countless books, pamphlets, and other writings which, though small in weight, are very great in malice. We are in tears at the abuse which proceeds from them over the face of the earth. Some are so carried away that they contentiously assert that the flock of errors arising from them is sufficiently compensated by the publication of some book which defends religion and truth. Every law condemns deliberately doing evil simply because there is some hope that good may result. Is there any sane man who would say poison ought to be distributed, sold publicly, stored, and even drunk because some antidote is available and those who use it may be snatched from death again and again?
16. The Church has always taken action to destroy the plague of bad books. This was true even in apostolic times for we read that the apostles themselves burned a large number of books.[23] It may be enough to consult the laws of the fifth Council of the Lateran on this matter and the Constitution which Leo X published afterwards lest "that which has been discovered advantageous for the increase of the faith and the spread of useful arts be converted to the contrary use and work harm for the salvation of the faithful."[24] This also was of great concern to the fathers of Trent, who applied a remedy against this great evil by publishing that wholesome decree concerning the Index of books which contain false doctrine.[25] "We must fight valiantly," Clement XIII says in an encyclical letter about the banning of bad books, "as much as the matter itself demands and must exterminate the deadly poison of so many books; for never will the material for error be withdrawn, unless the criminal sources of depravity perish in flames."[26] Thus it is evident that this Holy See has always striven, throughout the ages, to condemn and to remove suspect and harmful books. The teaching of those who reject the censure of books as too heavy and onerous a burden causes immense harm to the Catholic people and to this See. They are even so depraved as to affirm that it is contrary to the principles of law, and they deny the Church the right to decree and to maintain it.
17. We have learned that certain teachings are being spread among the common people in writings which attack the trust and submission due to princes; the torches of treason are being lit everywhere. Care must be taken lest the people, being deceived, are led away from the straight path. May all recall, according to the admonition of the apostle that "there is no authority except from God; what authority there is has been appointed by God. Therefore he who resists authority resists the ordinances of God; and those who resist bring on themselves condemnation."[27] Therefore both divine and human laws cry out against those who strive by treason and sedition to drive the people from confidence in their princes and force them from their government.
18. And it is for this reason that the early Christians, lest they should be stained by such great infamy deserved well of the emperors and of the safety of the state even while persecution raged. This they proved splendidly by their fidelity in performing perfectly and promptly whatever they were commanded which was not opposed to their religion, and even more by their constancy and the shedding of their blood in battle. "Christian soldiers," says St. Augustine, "served an infidel emperor. When the issue of Christ was raised, they acknowledged no one but the One who is in heaven. They distinguished the eternal Lord from the temporal lord, but were also subject to the temporal lord for the sake of the eternal Lord."[28] St. Mauritius, the unconquered martyr and leader of the Theban legion had this in mind when, as St. Eucharius reports, he answered the emperor in these words: "We are your soldiers, Emperor, but also servants of God, and this we confess freely . . . and now this final necessity of life has not driven us into rebellion: I see, we are armed and we do not resist, because we wish rather to die than to be killed."[29] Indeed the faith of the early Christians shines more brightly, if with Tertullian we consider that since the Christians were not lacking in numbers and in troops, they could have acted as foreign enemies. "We are but of yesterday," he says, "yet we have filled all your cities, islands, fortresses, municipalities, assembly places, the camps themselves, the tribes, the divisions, the palace, the senate, the forum....For what war should we not have been fit and ready even if unequal in forces -- we who are so glad to be cut to pieces -- were it not, of course, that in our doctrine we would have been permitted more to be killed rather than to kill?...If so great a multitude of people should have deserted to some remote spot on earth, it would surely have covered your domination with shame because of the loss of so many citizens, and it would even have punished you by this very desertion. Without a doubt you would have been terrified at your solitude.... You would have sought whom you might rule; more enemies than citizens would have remained for you. Now however you have fewer enemies because of the multitude of Christians."[30]
19. These beautiful examples of the unchanging subjection to the princes necessarily proceeded from the most holy precepts of the Christian religion. They condemn the detestable insolence and improbity of those who, consumed with the unbridled lust for freedom, are entirely devoted to impairing and destroying all rights of dominion while bringing servitude to the people under the slogan of liberty. Here surely belong the infamous and wild plans of the Waldensians, the Beghards, the Wycliffites, and other such sons of Belial, who were the sores and disgrace of the human race; they often received a richly deserved anathema from the Holy See. For no other reason do experienced deceivers devote their efforts, except so that they, along with Luther, might joyfully deem themselves "free of all." To attain this end more easily and quickly, they undertake with audacity any infamous plan whatever.
20. Nor can We predict happier times for religion and government from the plans of those who desire vehemently to separate the Church from the state, and to break the mutual concord between temporal authority and the priesthood. It is certain that that concord which always was favorable and beneficial for the sacred and the civil order is feared by the shameless lovers of liberty.
21. But for the other painful causes We are concerned about, you should recall that certain societies and assemblages seem to draw up a battle line together with the followers of every false religion and cult. They feign piety for religion; but they are driven by a passion for promoting novelties and sedition everywhere. They preach liberty of every sort; they stir up disturbances in sacred and civil affairs, and pluck authority to pieces.
22. We write these things to you with grieving mind but trusting in Him who commands the winds and makes them still. Take up the shield of faith and fight the battles of the Lord vigorously. You especially must stand as a wall against every height which raises itself against the knowledge of God. Unsheath the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, and may those who hunger after justice receive bread from you. Having been called so that you might be diligent cultivators in the vineyard of the Lord, do this one thing, and labor in it together, so that every root of bitterness may be removed from your field, all seeds of vice destroyed, and a happy crop of virtues may take root and grow. The first to be embraced with paternal affection are those who apply themselves to the sacred sciences and to philosophical studies. For them may you be exhorter and supporter, lest trusting only in their own talents and strength, they may imprudently wander away from the path of truth onto the road of the impious. Let them remember that God is the guide to wisdom and the director of the wise.[31] It is impossible to know God without God who teaches men to know Himself by His word.[32] It is the proud, or rather foolish, men who examine the mysteries of faith which surpass all understanding with the faculties of the human mind, and rely on human reason which by the condition of man's nature, is weak and infirm.
23. May Our dear sons in Christ, the princes, support these Our desires for the welfare of Church and State with their resources and authority. May they understand that they received their authority not only for the government of the world, but especially for the defense of the Church. They should diligently consider that whatever work they do for the welfare of the Church accrues to their rule and peace. Indeed let them persuade themselves that they owe more to the cause of the faith than to their kingdom. Let them consider it something very great for themselves as We say with Pope St. Leo, "if in addition to their royal diadem the crown of faith may be added." Placed as if they were parents and teachers of the people, they will bring them true peace and tranquility, if they take special care that religion and piety remain safe. God, after all, calls Himself "King of kings and Lord of lords."
24. That all of this may come to pass prosperously and happily, let Us raise Our eyes and hands to the most holy Virgin Mary, who alone crushes all heresies, and is Our greatest reliance and the whole reason for Our hope.[33] May she implore by her patronage a successful outcome for Our plans and actions. Let Us humbly ask of the Prince of the Apostles, Peter and his co-apostle Paul that all of you may stand as a wall lest a foundation be laid other than that which has already been laid. Relying on this happy hope, We trust that the Author and Crown of Our faith Jesus Christ will console Us in all these Our tribulations. We lovingly impart the apostolic benediction to you, venerable brothers, and to the sheep committed to your care as a sign of heavenly aid.
Given in Rome at St. Mary Major, on August 15, the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin, in the year of Our Lord 1832, the second year of Our Pontificate.
1. Lk 22.32.
2. I Cor 4.21.
3. Lk 22.53.
4. Is 24.5.
5. St. Celestine, Pope, epistle 21 to Bishop Galliar.
6. St. Agatho, Pope, epistle to the emperor, apud Labb., ed. Mansi, vol. 2, p. 235.
7. St. Innocent, epistle 11 apud Constat.
8. St. Cyprian, de unitate eccles.
9. Council of Florence, session 25, in definit. apud Labb., ed. Venet., vol. 18, col. 527.
10. St. Jerome, epistle 2 to Nepot. a. 1, 24.
11. From canon ap. 38 apud Labb., ed Mansi, vol. 1, p. 38.
12. Council of Trent, session 13 on the Eucharist, prooemium .
13. St. Cyprian, epistle 52, ed. Baluz.
14. St. Gelasius, Pope, in epistle to the bishop of Lucaniae.
15. Heb 13.4.
16. Eph 4.5.
17. Lk 11.23.
18. Symbol .s. Athanasius.
19. St. Jerome, epistle 57.
20. St. Augustine, in psalm. contra part. Donat.
21. St. Augustine, epistle 166.
22. Ap 9.3.
23. Acts 19.
24. Acts of the Lateran Council 5, session 10, where the constitution of Leo X is mentioned; the earlier constitution of Alexander VI, Inter multiplices, ought to be read, in which there are many things on this point.
25. Council of Trent, sessions 18 and 25.
26. Letter of Clement XIII, Christianae, 25 November 1766.
27. Rom 13.2.
28. St. Augustine in psalt. 124, n. 7.
29. St. Euchenius apud Ruinart. Acts of the Holy Martyrs concerning Saint Maurius and his companions, n. 4.
30. Tertullian, in apologet., chap. 37.
31. Wis 7.15.
32. St. Irenaeus, bk. 14, chap. 10.
33. St. Bernard, serm de nat. b.M.v., sect. 7.
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Prominent Jesuit calls for young people to be banned from traditional Mass |
Posted by: Stone - 04-14-2021, 04:30 PM - Forum: Vatican II and the Fruits of Modernism
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Prominent Jesuit calls for young people to be banned from traditional Mass
‘Children and young people should not be allowed to attend such Masses,’ the dissident priest demanded.
Fr. Thomas Reese SJ University of California Television (UCTV) / YouTube
April 14, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — The dissident former editor of Jesuit-run America Magazine, Fr. Thomas J. Reese, S.J., has launched a scathing attack on traditional Catholics and the traditional Mass, declaring that the form of the Mass which was the norm before the Second Vatican Council should “disappear,” and that children should be banned from attending it.
Fr. Reese’s April 13 piece appeared at Religion News Service, and was entitled “The future of Catholic liturgical reform.”
He hailed the “revolutionary liturgical reforms” which were proposed by Vatican II and furthered by Pope Paul VI, declaring that it was now time for a “second phase” in their implementation. Reese thus offered his own arguments, as a way to “get the conversation going” on the topic, and asking liturgical scholars to consider his proposals.
A New Liturgical Revolution
The former editor of America Magazine began by calling for the incorporation of contemporary culture in the Catholic Church’s liturgy, saying that the various bishops’ conferences should “gather scholars, poets, musicians, artists and pastors to develop liturgies for their specific cultures.”
Liturgy becomes “boring and dies” if “out of touch with local culture,” he declared.
The Jesuit also offered his own solutions to face the vocations crisis in large parts of the Church, suggesting that the liturgy no longer be the place only for “celibate, male, full-time employees,” and opening up the sacraments of anointing of the sick and confession to deacons or even the laity.
Reese bemoaned what he described as clergy focusing “exclusively on the consecration” while “ignoring” the actual meaning of the prayer. More important than the act of consecration, by which the bread and wine are transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ, was the “transformation of the community into the body of Christ so we can live out the covenant we have through Christ,” wrote Reese.
“The church needs more and better Eucharistic prayers based on our renewed understanding of the Eucharist,” he declared. After mentioning a desire for “more biblical language,” the former columnist for the National Catholic Reporter called for Eucharistic prayers focusing on the “church’s concern for the poor, or for justice, peace, healing and the environment.”
Attacking the Traditional Latin Mass
Some of Reese’s strongest passages came in reference to the traditional Latin Mass. In three short paragraphs he delivered an attack on the Mass which the Church has celebrated for centuries, and calling for its extermination.
“After the Pauline reforms of the liturgy, it was presumed that the ‘Tridentine’ or Latin Mass would fade away. Bishops were given the authority to suppress it in their dioceses, but some people clung to the old liturgy to the point of schism.”
The dissident priest objected to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s 2007 Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, which once again promoted the traditional Mass, and suggested that provision of the traditional liturgy marked a subversion of episcopal authority in the diocese.
“The church needs to be clear that it wants the unreformed liturgy to disappear and will only allow it out of pastoral kindness to older people who do not understand the need for change,” he continued.
“Children and young people should not be allowed to attend such Masses.”
Reese’s attack on the traditional Mass, particular its young attendees, and the implicit suggestions that the modern Mass is more relevant, comes as reports show the Jesuit order to be in a steep decline.
Catholic apologist Dr. Taylor Marshall noted the Jesuits have declined 41.5% since 1977. In 2018, their numbers were just 15,842, less than half of the figure seen in at their peak in 1965.
Meanwhile, traditional communities such as the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP), and the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest (ICKSP) are steadily growing year on year. Only 23 years old, the FSSP now numbers 300 priests and over 150 seminarians from just two seminaries, while the 21-year-old ICKSP has around 100 priests, and 90 seminarians from just one seminary.
Ecumenism Trumping Doctrine
Known for his unorthodox and anti-Catholic viewpoints on matters of liturgy, doctrine, and morality, Reese continued this trend by proposing ecumenical developments in the liturgy, at the cost of the preservation of the Church’s sacred rites.
He called for the “fermentum,” the particle of the sacred Host which is dropped into the chalice during the Mass after the consecration, to be used as a tool of ecumenism.
Reese suggested that the particle, which is at that point the Body and Blood of Christ, should be sent to the “Ecumenical Patriarch or other Christian bishops,” during Holy Week, as “ecumenical relations improve.”
“Popes have already shared episcopal rings and croziers with non-Catholic bishops; sharing the fermentum would be a logical next step,” he reasoned, thus defending his promotion of the reception of Holy Communion by non-Catholics.
[Conciliar] Clergy Respond: defend the Mass and the Church
Fr. Reese’s hit piece on the traditional liturgy, but also on the Church’s commitment to doctrine, has been met with instant scorn by numerous clergy.
U.K. Catholic commentator Deacon Nick Donnelly noted the similarities between Reese’s words and the totalitarian measures taken against the Church by communist China: “Looks like the Jesuits are taking a leaf out of the playbook of the Chinese Communist Party, that also bans young Catholics from attending Mass.”
Donnelly also expressed his concern that Reese’s proposed ban on the traditional Mass was a sign of things to come, especially given the recent unprecedented restrictions on the Latin Mass in the Vatican.
A diocesan priest from the U.K., Fr. Timothy Finigan, also hit back at Fr. Reese, noting the proliferation of young attendees at the traditional liturgies, whom Reese wished to ban: “Saying the TLM in different places regularly, I find that as I get older, I need to … practice greater patience with the follies of young adults. They form such a large component of those attending, serving, singing …”
Similar concerns were expressed by Fr. Mark Elliott Smith, an ordinariate priest and rector of the Shrine of Our Lady of the Assumption in London, in comments to LifeSiteNews. He described the article as “really rather insulting: first to those he deems too old to understand and accept change; second to those who are too young and too naive to embrace tradition.”
“He seems to want to impose a rigid uniformity which takes little account of the fact that Catholic liturgical praxis is characterized by richness and diversity.”
So also thought Br. Martin Navarro of the Oblates of St. Augustine. “Reese … suggests two reforms that he would like to see: the suppression of the Traditional Latin Mass, and the sharing of the ‘fermentum’ with non-Catholics as a symbol of ecumenism and unity.”
In his comments to LifeSiteNews, Br. Martin suggested that despite his expressed intention, Reese had no desire to offer solutions or even a scholarly debate. “Regarding the former, Fr. Reese remarks that some Catholics have ‘clung to the old liturgy to the point of schism.’ Regarding the later, Fr. Reese proposes we share the Holy Eucharist with schismatics, many of which are theologically closer to traditionalists than ‘post-conciliarists.’ It’s easy to see in this logic that the purpose of Fr. Reese’s article is merely provocative and not to propose real solutions.”
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Prophecies of Bl. Sister Elena Aiello |
Posted by: Hermenegild - 04-14-2021, 08:28 AM - Forum: Catholic Prophecy
- Replies (2)
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Bl. Sister Elena Aiello (1895-1961)
Bl. Elena Aiello was born on April 10, 1895 and died on June 19, 1961 in Italy. She was the daughter of Pasquale and Teresa Aiello, and was graced to have lived in a very Christian and exemplary family environment. Bl. Elena had quickly shown a keen intelligence, at four years old, she was already answering a certain number of catechism questions. In 1901, when she was only six years old, she was sent to the Sisters of the Very Precious Blood in order to attend elementary school and continue her religious education.
Her early life was an indication of what was to come – a life of sacrificial suffering and of miraculous heavenly consolations. She made her First Communion on 21 June 1904, however it was after a spiritual retreat in preparation for receiving her First Communion when she and some other girls later obtained permission to wear a penitential belt. En route to receive the belt she had an accident to where two of her front teeth were knocked out, but she put them in her handkerchief and continued on the path to receive the penitential belt despite the pain. Another odd accident occurred when she inhaled water from a glass while laughing that afterwards caused a constant cough for over fourteen months at night and her voice strength decreased due to this, treatment only made it worse. Bl. Elena begged Our Lady to heal her and she came to her in a vision at night, assuring her that it would be so. Tragedy in the family then came when her mother died in 1905 when Bl. Elena was only ten years old, leaving her father with eight children to raise: Emma, Ida, Elena, Evangelina, Elisa, Riccardo, Giovannina and Francesco. Everyone, depending on their age, helped with the household chores.
Bl. Elena discerned she had a vocation to become a nun, but due to the outbreak of WWI, her father asked her to postpone entering the religious life until things improved. She obeyed her father and dedicated her time taking care of the victims of the Spanish Flu epidemic that raged throughout the country, which even included helping to make wooden coffins to bury the dead.
The Sisters to whom she went to school with and also helped began to regard her as their own. Her father finally gave his assent for her to enter the religious life. On August 18, 1920, Bl. Elena entered the Most Precious Blood Sisters, but she did not stay long with this order.
One day she was found practically lifeless on the floor of the laundry room. They quickly lifted her and put her to bed to find that her left shoulder was black up to the neck. The doctor that attended her suggested surgery but then delayed operating on it because of the persistent fever she suffered. The sisters then decided to call in the community doctor.
On March 25, 1921 (Good Tuesday), in the dormitory itself, tied to a chair, Bl. Elena underwent the excruciating surgery to remove the necrotic black flesh on her shoulder without any anaesthesia. For courage she held a wooden crucifix in her hands and touched on her forehead an images of Our Lady of Sorrows.
The doctor was not skilled for the task at hand, while cutting in he had damaged the nerves which paralysed her shoulder as well as tightening her mouth. The after effects of the surgery were also terrible, for about forty days she was tormented by vomiting. However, despite all this, she wished to take part in the spiritual exercises of the community and while the wound was still open attempted to get up and continue so she could be vested with the religious habit, but the Superior saw it was out of the question due to her health condition. The Father Director advised her to return home to her family to receive proper care before attempting to return back to the Community.
Of interest, Bl Elena recorded in her notebook that before she left, she had twice received an invitation from the Lord Himself to leave this convent and to accept what He had arranged, which included an invitation to embrace the cross that He was preparing for her.
The Cross did come. She was in a terrible condition when she arrived home. She was greatly wasted to the point of being unrecognisable. She could neither wash nor comb her hair, her left arm was paralysed and on her shoulder the open sore remained, which soon began to fill with vermin. Very concerned about her condition, her father took her to a specialist in Cosenza who noted there was nothing he could do as the doctor who had operated on her was not a surgeon and had damaged her nerves "Only a miracle can resolve your state of health; now your wound may be affected by gangrene!" Angry, her father wanted to sue the Community, but Bl. Elena talked him out of it.
Some time later, she began to suffer gastric disturbances, and was diagnosed with stomach cancer. Bl. Elena then said a fervent prayer to St. Rita, patron saint of impossible cases, asking for a cure. While praying, she saw the statue of the Saint become surrounded with a dazzling light. During the night, the Saint appeared to tell her that she would like to have her cult instituted to revive the faith of the people and asked Bl. Elena to start a triduum in her honour.
The next day, Bl. Elena returned to Montalto and began a triduum in honour St. Rita. After finishing, St. Rita appeared again and asked the triduum to be repeated if she wished her stomach to be cured. As for her shoulder, she would have to keep this agony and suffer it to atone for the sins of humanity.
On October 21, 1921, she received the grace of a complete recovery from her gastric tumour. Her sister Evangelina, who was lying in the adjoining room, saw a bright light come out at this moment. Believing that it was a fire, she immediately ran into Bl. Elena's room ad found her passed out. When the other family members entered the room, Bl. Elena was completely awake and healthy. She then told them of the visit of St. Rita, the healing, the words of the vision; then she asked them for something to eat.
On March 2, 1923, the first Friday of the month, an event took place for the first time that would repeat itself every year until her death. In the morning, after Holy Communion, an internal voice announced in advance a new kind of suffering chosen for her by the Lord.
Around 3:00 p.m. she was in bed suffering greatly from the wound on her left shoulder. The Lord appeared dressed in white and wearing the crown of thorns. Bl. Elena agreed to share in His sufferings. The Lord removed the crown from his Head and placed it on hers. Upon contact, a profuse flow of blood occurred. The Lord explained that He needed this suffering to convert sinners; for the many sins of impurity, and that she was to be a victim soul to satisfy Divine Justice.
A family servant named Rosaria was about to leave after finishing work for the day; hearing suspicious noises coming from Bl. Elena's bedroom, she went upstairs to see what was going on. Surprised to see so much blood, she went immediately to warn the family, believing that Bl. Elena had been murdered.
They were so surprised to see Bl. Elena in this state that they called a priest and a doctor. Dr. Adolfo Turano washed the wound, but blood continued to flow from her head. After three hours of continuous bleeding, the phenomenon stopped by itself. All were surprised, confused, and also impressed because they could not explain in any way what had happened.
The second Friday of March before 3 p.m. Doctor Turano was brought home as well as other people to see if the same phenomenon would repeat. It happened again.
The Doctor tried to stop the blood with a handkerchief, but at this contact, the skin of the injured part on her head was irritated to the point of making the pores enlarge, which caused great pain to Bl. Elena.
Bl. Elena then remained in a drowsy state interrupted however by the painful ecstasies, during which she remained with her arms open as on a cross and, her eyes wide open, terrified, as if they were looking at a frightening distant vision. When she woke up, she explained she had witnessed the Passion of Our Lord.
On the third Friday of the same month, Virginia Manes, mother of Dr. Aristodemo Milano, was sent by her son to find out about the incident and soak a tissue in the blood.
The woman, left alone in Bl. Elena's small cell, dried her forehead with a handkerchief, which she then folded and kept. Returning to San Bénedetto, she inexplicably found the handkerchief completely clean and without the slightest trace of blood. The son, after listening to his mother's story, converted and asked to be baptised.
Regarding all this blood and suffering Our Lord appeared to Bl. Elena and explained that it was He who made her suffer; that she must be His victim to the world; that He would give her the wounds of His Passion, which would be visible for everyone to see.
On the fourth Friday in March, Elena found the same sores on her body.
Jesus then said to her, "You too must be like Me, for you must be the victim for so many sinners and satisfy the justice of My Father so that they will be saved".
At about 5 p.m. Jesus said to her:
"My daughter, look how I suffer! I shed all My blood for the world and now it's going to ruin; nobody realises the perfidies with which it is covered. Consider the intensity of My pain caused by so many insults and contempt that I receive from so many provocateurs and libertines ... ".
The following Friday, to all the other wounds on the hands and feet was added the Wound in her side.
The day of Corpus Domini the pain in the wounds was renewed with a new bloodshed and, at the end of the ecstasy, they were perfectly healed.
Returning to her life as a victim soul, her sufferings of Good Friday would continue. What was remarkable was that Bl. Elena, in a state of deep prostration during which more than once people feared for her life, on the morning of Holy Saturday, she rose from her bed joyful and full of energy, she gave orders, watched over everything. She resumed her life of work and charity, as if nothing had happened to her.
But these phenomena attracted the attention of the ecclesiastical authorities, and often complicated her life. She was colloquially known as the “bleeding sister” or “the holy nun” and people came to her for help and advice.
(Image below - Bl. Elena in later life witnessing the Passion and suffering the Stigmata.)
Bl. Elena announced several times that she would be cured of her shoulder pain.
She wrote in a letter dated May 10, 1924 to Monsignor Mauro:
"Reverend Father, around 3 p.m. yesterday, Jesus appeared to me and said to me, 'My dear daughter, do you want to be healed or do you want to suffer?' So I replied "Suffering with you, my Jesus, we can suffer everything". And Jesus said to me again “Ah! well, I will heal you, but every Friday I will bring you into darkness; you will be closer to Me.” After telling me this, He disappeared."
She suffered terribly from the open wound in her shoulder. There is an account of her attempting to remove the vermin that continued to infest it by looking over her shoulder with the aid of a mirror. On the night of May 21, 1924, Bl. Elena dreamt that St. Rita told her that she would be healed the next day at 3:00 p.m. The next day, after reciting the Rosary, Bl. Elena began to pray before the statue, the door of the shrine was was open.
Her sister says, “Helped by me, she got up and approached the statue. We had the impression that the outstretched hand of St. Rita, the one holding the crucifix, had moved aside to reach the hand on Elena's injured side and lift it up, and that a vibration was shaking the statue and its protection. Elena, in front of our astonishment and our incredulity, repeated: "I am healed! I am healed! When I leaned over to see the wound, it was closed, remaining just a scar."
In 1926, the sufferings of Friday in March and Good Friday were repeated regularly. The Lord, in the visions, made clear to Elena that He wanted the Work to be started.
In 1928, at the age of 33, she founded the Order of the Sisters of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
The first task at hand in the new Order was that of educating children of the populace. A hundred were collected and instructed. Bl. Sr Elena, helped by Sister Gigia, gathered children and young girls from the houses, and instructed them on religious truths and prepared them for their First Communion. While she did have detractors against her who decried her as a fake, the work was blessed by God and encouraged by the ecclesiastical authorities, and eventually attracted the good people of Cosenza who did not fail to encourage and support it with the cooperation of Christian charity. Many times the order and the school was consoled and aided by miracles sent by Divine Providence.
Once, St. Teresa of the Child Jesus appeared to all the little children who worked in the workshop while reciting their prayers. The excited noise that ensued made Bl. Sir Elena, who was then upstairs, come running to see what the commotion was about. The girls exclaimed they had "seen" the Holy Carmelite. Going back upstairs, Bl. Elena also received the grace of a tender and heavenly smile from St. Teresa.
The house was poor, and the founder and director of the local rural bank put the old bank building at their disposal. Sr Elena and Sr Gigia then transferred their Institute to these much larger premises, which enabled them to accommodate, at the same time, a greater number of orphans and Sisters. They also helped a greater number of poor, but often their resources were stretched ….
On September 11, 1935, there was absolutely nothing in the kitchen for lunch.
While Sr Angela came to ask the Superior for money, a priest entered the house and asked to celebrate Mass, immediately going to the sacristy. Sr. Elena, who had not the slightest penny, asked Sr Angela to go to attend Mass, that the Lord, in any way whatsoever, would provide for this problem at the time. The fervent prayers of Bl Sr. Elena, the sisters and the orphans was quickly answered by the Lord: after the Elevation, an exquisite perfume spread throughout the chapel, as if the Lord desired to signal the obtaining of their petition. Bl. Elena then recited the Office of the Virgin and in her booklet, between two pious images (the Madonna of Sorrows and St. Theresa of the Child Jesus) , she found a note of 50 lire. She was sure she never put it there. When the Mass was finished, she gave Sr. Angela the 50 lire for the expenses of the day. She then returned to the chapel with the sisters and the children to thank the Lord for having heard them. Another miracle came in order to prove that it was in no way an oversight but that the 50 lire note was really sent by Providence. The same evening, when the Community met for the last prayers, the same perfume came from the chapel. The sisters opened the booklet again and between the two pious images they found another fifty-lire note, with a small message, written in green pencil in the white circle: "50 + 50 = 100" and some letters of the Greek alphabet. The next morning, Bl. Sr. Elena told the confessor, Canon Mazzuca, who wanted to examine the message in the second fifty-lira note, but the previous day's message had disappeared.
In 1934, on the eve of the feast of St. Joseph, they had to pay for some oil, but Sr. Elena had nothing, so she gathered her orphans around the altar and together they asked this great saint to come to their aid. The funds were unexpectedly provided when a benefactor came to the Institute and offered her the exact amount she needed to pay off her debt.
Another visible aid from Divine Providence came in 1937 when Bl. Sr. Elena realised that she had no bread and interiorly addressed a fervent prayer to the Lord: at the same time a municipal guard knocked on the door and graciously delivered to the Institute 36 kg of bread, requisitioned the same morning.
In January 1948, by a decree emanating from the Secretariat of the Sacred Congregation for Religious, the Institute of the Minimal Sisters of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ was elevated to the rank of Congregation of Pontifical Law. The Institute thus obtained legal recognition, by a Presidential Decree of July 8, 1949. October 3, 1949, at age 54, that Bl. Sr. Elena made her perpetual vows.
Sr Elena opened eighteen houses in Italy. The reputation of sanctity of the “holy nun” was such that the Prefect Guido Palmardita spoke of Bl. Sr Elena to Mussolini, who took a keen interest in it and even sent help to the House of Cosenza.
Of interest, in 1929, Mussolini signed the Lateran Treaty with the Vatican, ending decades of struggle between the Italian state and the Papacy, and recognised the independence of Vatican City, which ended the period of 'Prisoner Popes' which had started under Pius IX. No doubt it was due to this treaty and his generous help to Sr. Elena's order that the Lord would give him a signal grace, even if Mussolini's charity might have been tinged with personal interest and for personal gain to win over the populace. No good deed goes without its reward from Heaven. He was sent a message of warning to save himself and Italy. Sr. Elena wrote a letter for Mussolini, which was given to his sister Edvige Mussolini. Edvige delivered it to him a few days later on May 6, 1940, which was on the eve of WWII:
"To the Head of Government Benito Mussolini,
Duce,
I come to You in the name of God to tell you what the Lord has revealed to me and what he wants from you. I didn't want to write, but yesterday, the 22nd, (i.e apparently April 22), the Lord appeared to me again, forcing me to let you know the following:
“The world is in ruins because of the great number of sins and especially those of impurity which have reached their peak before the Justice of My Heavenly Father.
So you will have to suffer and be an expiating victim for the world and especially for Italy, where my Vicar's seat is located. My Kingdom is a kingdom of peace; the world, on the other hand, is at war.
Those who govern the peoples are obsessed with the acquisition of new territories! Poor blind people! ... They don't know that where God is sidelined there can be no conquest! In their hearts there is only wickedness and they only outrage and despise Me! They are demons of discord, destroyers of peoples and seek to overthrow, in this terrible scourge, Italy, where God is in the midst of so many souls and where His Vicar, the Angelic Pastor resides.
France, very dear to my Heart, because of its many sins, will quickly fall into ruins and will in turn be ravaged like ungrateful Jerusalem. In Italy, because the seat of My Vicar is there, I sent Benito Mussolini, to save her from the abyss to which she was rushing, otherwise, she would be in the same conditions as Russia.
In the midst of so many dangers I have always saved him; now he must keep Italy out of the war, because Italy is civil and is the seat of My Vicar on earth. If he does that, I will grant him extraordinary favours and I will make all the other Nations ally with him. On the other hand, he decided to declare war, but he must know that if he does not prevent it, he will be punished by my Justice! ”.
This is what the Lord told me. Above all, don't think, O Duce, that I am involved in politics. I am only a poor sister busy with the education of abandoned little ones and who prays a lot for your salvation and the salvation of our Fatherland.
I am, with sincere esteem, Sister Elena Aiello ”.
On May 15, 1943, Bl. Sr. Elena sent another letter to Edvige Mussolini:
"Excellence,
My long silence may have made you think that I had forgotten you, while I think of you every day in my poor prayers, always following the painful events of our beautiful Italy. (...) The reason for this letter and that of turning to you again, as in May 1940, when when I came to Rome, presented by Baroness Ruggi, to deliver to you, in writing, the revelations that I have had of the Lord, concerning the Duce.
Remember, when on May 6, 1940 we said that the Duce had made the decision to go to war, when the Lord, by my letter, let him know that he had to save Italy from the war, otherwise he will undergo the rigours of divine Justice?
“In the midst of so many dangers - said Jesus ―I have always saved him; now he must keep Italy out of the war, because Italy is civil and is the seat of my Vicar on earth. If he does that I will grant him extraordinary favours and I will make all the other Nations ally with him. On the other hand, he has decided to declare war, but he must know that if he does not prevent him, he will be punished by my Justice! ”
Ah! ... if the Duce had listened to the words of Jesus, Italy would not have been in such a sad situation now! ... I think the Duce must be very saddened to see Italy, a flowered garden, transformed into a desert, crowded with suffering and death. But why continue this terribly cruel war, if Jesus said that no one would have the real victory?
This is why, my very dear Donna Edvige, I ask you to say on my behalf to the Duce that this is the last warning that the Lord sends him. He can still save himself if he puts everything in the hands of the Holy Father.
If he does not do this, said the Lord, soon Divine Justice will fall on him. Even the other Heads of State who will not listen to the advice and directives of My Vicar will be affected and punished with my Justice. Do you remember when on July 7 of last year you asked me what would happen to Le Duce. And I replied that if he did not remain allied with the Pope, he would end up worse than Napoleon?
Now I repeat the same words to you: If the Duce does not save Italy by relying on what he is counselled to do and told to do by the Holy Father, soon he will fall. Even Bruno asks for the salvation of Italy and that of your brother. (NOTE: Bruno – this must be a reference to Musolini's son who died in an air accident while flying a bomber on a test mission, August 7, 1941. This seems to indicate he was saved and was interceding for his father and Italy.)
The Lord often says that Italy will be saved by the Pope, the expiating victim of this scourge, and that there will be no other way for peace and the salvation of the people apart from what will be traced by the Holy Father.
Dear Donna Edvige, think carefully about everything the Lord said that has come true. Who caused the ruin of Italy? Was it not the Duce who did not want to listen to the words of Our Lord Jesus Christ? He can still fix it by doing what the Lord says. As for me, I will continue to pray ”.
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As we can see from history, Mussolini did not listen, he joined with Adolf Hitler, and ended up worse than Napoleon at the end of the war. Napoleon was exiled to a distant island and was reconciled with the Church before he died, and, despite his eventual defeat is regarded as a great figure in a historical sense despite whatever errors he committed. On the other hand, Mussolini died in total disgrace: in late April 1945, in the wake of near total defeat, Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci attempted to flee to Switzerland, but both were captured by Italian communist partisans and summarily executed by firing squad on 28 April 1945 near Lake Como. His body was then taken to Milan, where it was hung upside down at a service station to publicly confirm his humiliating defeat.
Returning to Bl. Sr. Elena, her life continued in suffering and growth sanctity, and also prophetic gifts. She also predicted her own death. In 1961, in addition to the usual physical suffering, there was a continuous high fever, which the doctors failed to find an explanation.
On June 12, 1961, Mother Elena was transported to San Giovanni Hospital in Rome. During the night of June 12 to 13, the nurses noticed a strong fragrant odour in the room where she was interned. They told her, "Mother, tomorrow is the feast of St Anthony and, certainly he will obtain your healing". With great serenity, the patient replied: "Tomorrow, neither Saint Anthony nor Saint Rita nor even Our Lady will do miracles. "
Sunday, June 18, around two o'clock, the priest assisted by don Franco administered to Bl. Sr Elena the Anointing of the sick and together recited the prayers for the dying. Around 5.30 am Don Franco celebrated Holy Mass in the Chapel which was almost opposite the Mother's room. After Holy Mass ended, Bl. Sr Elena died on June 19, 1961. She was sixty and and her death came as surprise even though she had foretold it. Her body was transferred to the Chapel, all adorned with white flowers. On June 21, the body arrived in Cosenza.
The news of Bl. Elena's death spread very quickly and the large crowd came to pay a last tribute.
Her cause for canonisation was opened in 1982. She was declared Venerable in 1991, and Blessed in 2011.
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Prophecies Collected From her Visions
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1947: describes a "A storm of fire never seen before". Bl. Elena will see it several times in her visions.
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Vision of January 7, 1950 - Prophecy of a sign in the sky that will announce the coming chastisement
Our Lady: “An unholy propaganda has spread countless errors all over the world, even causing persecution, ruin and death.
If men do not stop offending my Son, the time is near when the Father's Justice will send to earth the punishment it deserves and it will be the greatest punishment that humanity has ever known.
When an extraordinary sign appears in the sky, men will know that the world's punishment is near!"
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From the visions of April 7, 1950
"Satan reigns and triumphs on earth! See how many souls fall into Hell. See how high the flames are, and the souls that enter it like snowflakes look like transparent embers! How many sparks! How many cries of hatred and despair! How much pain!
See how many priestly souls! Look at the sign of their consecration in their translucent hands! (In the palm of their hands, she sees the sign of the cross, glowing)
Our Lady: What torture, My daughter, for my maternal Heart! How sad I am to see that men do not change! Father's justice demands reparation, otherwise many will be lost! "
"See how Russia will burn!"
Sr. Elena: Before my eyes stands an immense field covered with flames and smoke, souls have been immersed there, as in a sea of fire!
"And this fire" says the Virgin "Will not be the work of men but will be lit by the angels. Therefore, I ask for prayer, penance and sacrifice, so that I can act as mediator for my Son in order to save souls ”
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Friday, April 11, 1952
“I want people to know that the punishment is near: a fire never seen before will descend on the earth and a large part of humanity will be destroyed…
Those who remain will be under the protection of the mercy of God, while those who do not want to repent of their faults will perish in a tide of fire! ...
Russia will be almost completely burned. Some nations will disappear.
Italy will be partly saved by the Pope. "
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Good Friday April 16, 1954
Our Lord: “They have become ungrateful to My Sacred Heart and abuse graces and they have turned the world into a scene of crimes.
The countless scandals bring souls to ruin, especially those of the young. They indulged without restraint in the pleasures of the world which are degenerate and perverse. The bad example of parents produced in families scandals and infidelities rather than virtue and prayer. The home, source of faith and holiness, has become defiled and corrupt.
The stubbornness of men does not change and they go further and further into their sins. The punishments and afflictions that God sends to make them reasonable are severe, but men are furious like wounded beasts and harden their hearts against the grace of God.
Glowing clouds and a firestorm will pass over the world and the scourge will be the most terrible in the history of men.
It will last seventy hours. (NOTE: THREE DAYS of DARKNESS)
The ungodly will be crushed and eliminated. Many will be lost because they will harden themselves in the sin; it is then that we will see the power of light on darkness.
I bend over the world and brake the justice of God; otherwise these things would be done now.
You must pray and make sacrifices so that men return to God and to my Immaculate Heart, mediator in God and men; so at least part of the world will be saved. ”
“The world no longer deserves forgiveness but fire, destruction and death.
It takes a lot of penance and prayer on the part of the faithful to mitigate the deserved punishment which is near now and is only delayed by the intervention of My Holy Mother who is also the Mother of all men.
The punishment that will cleanse the whole earth from evil is near. Divine Justice cries out for revenge for the many offences and all the evils that cover the earth. Nothing more will be tolerated. Men in their obstinacy are hardened in their mistakes and therefore they no longer turn to God.
People no longer submit to the Church and despise priests because some of them are reasons for scandal.
Listen carefully to what I am telling you and announce it to all. My Heart is saddened by so many afflictions that threaten the world.
The Justice of our Heavenly Father is seriously offended. Men persist in living in their sins… ”
(...)
"The world has plunged into unimaginable corruption ... Those who govern have become real embodied demons, and while they speak of peace, they prepare the deadliest weapons ... to destroy peoples and nations. "
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Visions of April 16, 1955
"The wrath of God is near and the world will be tormented by a great calamity, by bloody revolutions, by strong earthquakes, by famines, by epidemics and by terrible hurricanes, which will cause rivers and seas to overflow!
The world will be completely turned upside down by a new and terrible war.
The deadliest weapons will destroy peoples and nations.
The dictators of the earth, real infernal monsters, will destroy the Churches with the Sacred Ciboria and will eliminate peoples and nations and things most dear.
During this sacrilegious battle, because of the fierce impulse and the relentless resistance of many, everything that has been done by the hand of man will be destroyed.
Clouds with gleams of fire will finally appear in the sky and a storm of fire will fall on the whole world.
The terrible scourge, never seen in human history, will last seventy hours. (NOTE: THREE DAYS).
The wicked will be pulverised and many will be stubbornly lost in their sin.
Then we will see the power of light on the power of darkness. ”
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Message received by Sister Elena on December 8, 1957, as reported by Monsignor Spadafora:
"It is natural that we ask the meaning of such a phenomenon: why this blood? Do these unusual manifestations have a language? The answer may be on a simple sheet of paper that I have in my hands, light as a breath of wind. Its content however seems rather serious: it has the warmth and the content of a page of the Apocalypse; it contains urgent warnings, terrible announcements; a broad vision that embraces all nations, a deep look that goes back to the distant and very high origins of human events.
Here are the most salient sentences (i.e taken from her prophecies for that day):
“Men offend their God too much. If I showed you how many sins are committed each day, you would die of pain.
The times are serious.
The world is completely turned upside down because it has become worse than during the flood. Materialism advances and continues its march marked by blood and fratricidal struggles.
There are obvious and dangerous signs for peace.
The punishment passes over the world like the shadow of a threatening cloud, to mount to men that the justice of God hovers over humanity and that the power of the Mother of God still slows the bursting of the storm.
Everything is suspended like a thread: when it breaks, Divine Justice will fall on the world and it will then be the great purification.
All nations will be punished because innumerable are the sins that are like a tide of filth, have covered the earth.
The evil forces are ready to unleash themselves in every part of the world with terrible violence. Unimaginable distress will ensue.
I have been warning men in many ways for a long time.
The Governments of the peoples, warning them of the grave threats hanging over them; but they do not want to recognise that, to avoid punishment, it is necessary to bring society back to a truly Christian life.
How sad My heart is to see that men no longer even think of a return to God!
But time is running out: the whole world will be turned upside down.
Much blood will be shed: the righteous, the innocent, holy priests, and the Church itself will suffer greatly. Hatred will reach its peak.
Italy will be humiliated, purified in the blood, and will have to suffer a lot, because there are many sins committed in this privileged nation. Seat of the Vicar of Christ.
You cannot imagine what will happen!
A great revolution will take place and the streets will be reddened with blood. The Pope will suffer a lot and all this suffering will be for him like an agony which will shorten his pilgrimage on earth.
His successor will guide the boat in the storm.
But the punishment of the ungodly will not take long.
This day will be appalling, in the most terrible way: the earth will tremble and shake all humanity.
The wicked will perish in the most dreadful rigours of God's justice.
Send a message to immediately warn all people on earth, as far as possible, that they will return to God through prayer and penance. "
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September 15, 1958: “Materialism has spread an organisation on the surface of the earth like never before seen (…) If you don't pray, my daughter Italy will be invaded by Russian troops.”
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Vision of December 8, 1958: Feast of the Immaculate Conception
“The times are serious. The whole world is in confusion, because it has gotten worse than during the flood!
Everything is in suspense, like a thread, when this thread breaks, God's justice like a thunderclap will carry out its terrible purification ”
Sister Elena asks: "What will become of Italy?"
"Italy, My daughter, will be humiliated, purified in the blood, and she will suffer a lot, because many are the sins of this beloved country, seat of the Vicar of Christ.
You can not imagine what will happen!
In these sad days, there will be a lot of anguish and tears.
There will be a great revolution, and the street will be red with blood ”.
"The Pope will suffer a lot, and all this suffering will be like an agony, which makes his earthly pilgrimage. His successor will guide the boat in the storm.”
"However, the punishment of the ungodly will be cut short.
This day will be the most frightening there has been in the world! The earth will tremble, humanity will be shaken! ”
"There will be a real and great duel between me and Satan ...
Materialism advances rapidly in all nations and continues its march marked with blood and death!
If men do not return to God, a great war from East to West will come, a war of terror and death, and finally the purifying fire will fall from the sky like snowflakes on all peoples and a large part of it. humanity will be destroyed. "
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March 27, 1959:
“The rulers and the people are outside the light of God, and in particular those of Italy (…) The Christian family no longer exists. Rome will be punished. Russia will invade the whole earth (…) and will plant the red flag on the dome of Saint Peter! "
(NOTE: Russia was fully Communist at that time. Possibly, Russia might return to her old errors of Communism if people do not pray and do what is asked.)
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Vision of 1959
"Russia will march on all the nations of Europe, particularly on Italy, and will raise its flag on the dome of Saint Peter.
I will express My predilection for Italy, which will be preserved from fire; but the sky will be covered with dense darkness and the earth will be shaken by terrible earthquakes which will open deep abysses, and cities and provinces will be destroyed; and everyone will cry that it is the end of the world!
Even Rome will be punished according to justice for its many and serious sins, because the scandal has reached its height.
The good, however, who will suffer and be persecuted by justice, and the just souls must not fear, because they will be separated from the ungodly and stubborn sinners, and will be saved! "
"Russia will invade all the nations of Europe, especially Italy, and will set its flag on the Dome of Saint-Peter.
Italy will be seriously diminished by a great revolution, and Rome will be purified in the blood of its many sins, especially those of impurity!
The flock is about to be dispersed and the Pope will have to suffer a lot! ”
"Humanity has moved away from God and, obsessed with earthly goods, has forgotten Heaven and has rushed into unheard-of corruption, even worse than during the flood!" ...
But now the justice of God is near and it will be terrible! ...
And if men do not surrender, during these plagues, to the calls of Divine Mercy and do not return to God by a truly Christian life, another terrible war will come from East to West, and Russia with all its weapons secret, fight America, overthrow Europe and we will especially see the Rhine river of Germany full of corpses and blood.
Even Italy will be wrought by a great revolution and the Pope will have to suffer a lot. "
(NOTE: a reminder again that Russia was openly Communist during the time this prophecy was given – it's possible Russia may return to its old ways if the world does not do what Heaven asks, and, will overrun Europe. Here we also see that the old 'Birch Tree Prophecies' of Germany are true.)
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August 22, 1960:
"The Rhine will be bloodied from Switzerland, it will carry corpses".
"The enemy, like a roaring lion, will advance on Rome and its gall will poison entire peoples and nations ..."
“My maternal warnings are not heeded, and therefore the world sinks more and more into the abyss of iniquity.
Nations will be shaken by terrible disasters, causing destruction and death ” .
"Russia, under the impulse of Satan, will seek to extend its domination to the whole world and, by bloody revolutions, will propagate its false teachings in all the nations, in particular in Italy. The Church will be persecuted and the Pope and the priests will not suffer much. ”
Sr. Elena: "Oh, what a horrible vision I see! A great revolution is taking place in Rome! They enter the Vatican. The Pope is alone, he prays.
They hold the Pope. They take him by force. They hit him until they knock him down. They bind him. Oh my God ! Oh my God ! They kick him.
What a horrible scene! This is terrible! ...
Our Lady approaches. These evil men fall to the ground like corpses! Our Lady helps the Pope to rise by taking him for the arm, She covers him with her mantle and says to him: “Do not fear!”
“Flagstaffs (flying both the red flag on the dome of Saint-Pierre and elsewhere), frustration and seduction comes out of the lodges these sinister brutes.
These atheists cry out 'never!' : we do not want God to reign over us; we want Satan to be our master! "
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Good Friday 1961:
“Russia is ruled by Satan, (…) The Church will be persecuted. (...) They enter the Vatican to seize the Pope ”.
"My daughter, Rome will not be saved, because the Italian leaders have abandoned the divine light.
Only a small number of people really love the Church.
But the day is not far when all the wicked will perish, under the enormous blows of Divine Justice. "
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April 14th - Sts. Tiburtius, Valerian, and Maximus, Martyrs and St. Justin, Martyr |
Posted by: Stone - 04-14-2021, 07:58 AM - Forum: April
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April 14 – Sts. Tiburtius Valerian, and Maximus, Martyrs
Let us affectionately welcome the brave triumvirate of martyrs, presented today to our Risen Jesus by the Roman Church of the second century. The first is Valerian, the chaste and noble spouse of Cecily; he wears on his brow a wreath of roses and lilies. The second is Tiburtius, Valerian’s brother, and like him, a convert of Cecily; he shows us the triumphant palm he won so speedily. Maximus is the third; he witnessed the combat and the victory of the two brothers, imitated their example, and followed them to heaven. The immortal Cecily is the queen of this holy group; she taught them to be martyrs; she has a right to our remembrance on this day of their feast. She herself shared in their glorious privilege of suffering and dying for the name of Christ. She won the crown five months later, on September 16, according to the most ancient calendars; her feast, however, is no longer kept on that day. The solemnity of November 22, formerly preceded by a vigil, is marked in the Roman breviary as the day of her martyrdom; it is, in reality, the anniversary of the dedication of her magnificent basilica in Rome.
The Church makes a commemoration of our three great martyrs today.
The following lesson is extremely short. The reason is that this feast is very ancient; and in the early ages of the Church, simple offices, as they are called, were extremely frequent; and it was only for great feasts that three nocturns were said, each with three lessons.
Quote:Valerian, a Roman by birth, and of a noble family, was married to the blessed Cecily, who was of equal nobility. By the advice of this virgin, he and his brother Tiburtius were baptized by the holy Pope Urban, in the reign of the Emperor Alexander Severus. Almachius, the City Prefect, having been informed that they had become Christians, had distributed their patrimony among the poor, and were burying the bodies of the Christians, summoned them before him, and severely rebuked them. Finding, however, that they persevered in confessing Christ to be God, and in proclaiming the gods to be but vain images of devils, he ordered them to be scourged. But they were not to be induced, by this scourging, to adore the idols of Jupiter; they continued firm in the profession of the true faith: they were therefore beheaded four miles out of Rome. One of the Prefect’s officials, by name Maximus, who had been appointed to lead them to execution, was filled with admiration at seeing the courage wherewith they suffered, and professed himself to be a Christian, as did likewise several other servants of the Prefect. Not long after, they were all beaten to death with whips loaded with plummets of lead; and thus, from being slaves of the devil, they became martyrs of Christ our Lord.
Holy and precious fruits of the great Cecily’s apostolate! we this day unite with the blessed Spirits in celebrating your entrance into the court of heaven. Thou, O Valerian, wast led to faith, and to the sublimest of all virtues, by thy noble spouse; thou wast the first to enter into the joy of the Lord; but in a few days thy Cecily followed thee, and the love begun on earth was made eternal in heaven. Speaking of thee and her, an angel said that your roses and lilies should never fade; their fragrance of love and purity is sweeter by far now than when they bloomed here below. Thou, O Tiburtius! brother of these two angels of earth! thou owest to them thy beautiful palm; thou art a sharer in their eternal happiness, and the three names, Cecily, Valerian, and Tiburtius, are to be forever united in the admiration of angels and men. The sight of the two brothers suffering so bravely for Christ inflamed thy ambition, O Maximus, to imitate them; the God of Cecily became thine; thou didst shed thy blood for him; and he, in return, has placed thee in heaven near Cecily, Valerian and Tiburtius, to whom, while on earth, thou wast so inferior by birth and position.
Now, therefore, O holy martyrs, be our protectors, and hear the prayers we address unto you. Speak in our favor to the immortal King, for whom you so bravely fought and died; ask him to fill our hearts with his love, and make us generous like you. You despised this fleeing life; we too must despise it, if we would share in the happiness you now enjoy, the sight of our Risen Lord. The battle we have to fight may, perhaps, be different from yours; but the reward that awaits us is, like your own, everlasting. Rather than betray Christ, you laid down your lives; our duty is the same—we must die rather than sin. Pray for us, O holy martyrs, that our lives may henceforward be such as will honor this year’s Pasch. Pray also for the Church of Rome, your Mother; her days of trial have returned; she has a right to count upon your intercession for the help she needs.
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Something doesn't seem right about the suspension of the J&J vaccine |
Posted by: Stone - 04-14-2021, 06:28 AM - Forum: COVID Vaccines
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Things that make you go, 'hmmm.'
While one would normally applaud any halting of dangerous vaccines that cause potentially life-threatening conditions, something doesn't seem right about this suspension of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. They tell us it has caused blood clots in six recipients, yet the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines have caused over 2,000 deaths according to the CDC's own website.
Why the selective concern about six blood clots from the J&J vaccines but the passing over in silence of over 2,000 deaths from the mRNA vaccines?
One would almost be tempted to wonder if such selective concern and suspension isn't to give a wider field of operations for the mRNA vaccines of Moderna and Pfizer? Again, things that make you go, 'hmmm.'
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US pauses Johnson & Johnson vaccine, citing ‘rare’ blood clots
The CDC and FDA called for a temporary but immediate halt to the use of J&J’s COVID vaccine
while they investigate at least six cases of potentially dangerous blood clots in people who received the vaccine.
April 13, 2021 (Children’s Health Defense) — Federal agencies today said they will stop using the single-shot Johnson & Johnson (J&J) COVID vaccine at mass vaccination sites while they investigate the vaccine’s possible link to potentially dangerous blood clots. States and other providers also are expected to pause vaccinations.
In a joint statement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the agencies said they are investigating six cases of blood clots in the U.S. All six occurred in women between the ages of 18 and 48, and symptoms occurred six to 13 days after vaccination.
One woman died and a second woman in Nebraska was hospitalized and is in critical condition, The New York Times reported.
The CDC will convene a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices Wednesday to further review the cases and assess their potential significance. The FDA will review that analysis, according to the joint statement.
The agencies said that until “that process is complete, we are recommending a pause in the use of this vaccine out of an abundance of caution.”
In addition to advising healthcare workers to report any adverse reactions to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, the agencies recommended people who have received the J&J vaccine and develop severe headache, abdominal pain, leg pain or shortness of breath within three weeks after vaccination should contact their healthcare provider.
Blood clots have also been linked to AstraZeneca’s COVID vaccine, which has not yet been approved in the U.S.
EU regulators on April 7 said they identified a “possible link” between AstraZeneca’s vaccine and blood clots, but said the benefits of the vaccine outweighed the risks. At the time, the European Medicines Agency said it was also investigating several reports of blood clots in recipients of the J&J vaccine.
On Monday, the FDA confirmed it is investigating blood clots in people who received the J&J vaccine.
The AstraZeneca and J&J vaccines use similar, though not identical, technologies involving a modified adenovirus vector, while the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines use mRNA technology.
The FDA issued an Emergency Use Authorization for the J&J vaccine on Feb. 28. The company committed to delivering 20 million doses of the vaccine to the U.S. government by the end of March, but later had to extend the deadline and roll back the number of doses.
As The Defender reported Monday, J&J’s rollout in the U.S. has been anything but smooth. Last week, J&J vaccine sites in four states had to shut down after reports of adverse reactions. News reports did not disclose the nature of the reactions that, in some cases, resulted in vaccine recipients having to be hospitalized.
There have also been recent reports of COVID breakthrough cases in people who received the vaccine, marketed under its subsidiary, Janssen.
At the beginning of the month, the vaccine maker had to throw out 15 million doses of its vaccine after they were contaminated with AstraZeneca vaccine ingredients at an unapproved manufacturing plant in Baltimore. The setback contributed to last week’s announcement that the company won’t be able to deliver on its promise of 24 million additional doses of its one-shot vaccine by the end of April.
On Monday, the company faced backlash from investors after its CEO was awarded a 17% pay raise while billions are being paid out for the company’s role in the nation’s opioid epidemic.
Last month, The Defender reported on J&J’s long history of civil and criminal lawsuits, resulting in the company having to pay billions in fines to settle lawsuits, including some involving product recalls.
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‘Horrific’ video shows police force-vaccinating disabled and special needs people |
Posted by: Stone - 04-14-2021, 06:13 AM - Forum: Pandemic 2020 [Secular]
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‘Horrific’ video shows police force-vaccinating disabled and special needs people
A Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department vaccine campaign targets disabled, mentally ill, and homeless people.
LOS ANGELES, California, April 13, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) – A video circulating on social media shows members of the Los Angeles Sherriff’s Department (LASD) forcibly injecting people who are disabled and mentally handicapped with Johnson & Johnson’s now-suspended coronavirus vaccine.
The LASD launched “Operation Homebound” – “a program to vaccinate the most underrepresented, homebound, and underserved disabled residents in our communities, including those experiencing homelessness” – in January, according to the department website.
The footage shows two adults and a uniformed officer restraining a woman with special needs who is clearly terrified as a second uniformed officer jabs the needle into her arm.
Another clip shows a woman who is barely able to move and unable to speak being vaccinated. “It’s OK, hon. It’s OK. We just gave you a vaccination,” an officer says to the woman, who appeared to be asleep and awoke when the injection went in her arm.
“The video is horrific,” psychiatrist Peter Breggin, a champion of the right to informed consent who successfully campaigned in the 1970s against the psychiatric practice of surgical lobotomy for mental illness, told LifeSiteNews.
“It represents the worst of psychiatry, public health, and progressive politics coming all together in the service of globalism,” he said.
No one who is incapable of giving consent – which includes children, those with severe illnesses, and those in institutions including prisons, hospitals, and nursing homes – should be given a vaccine that is experimental and still undergoing clinical trials, said Breggin.
All of the vaccines in circulation to date are not approved or licensed by the Food and Drug Administration but have only been granted Emergency Use Authorization because they are experimental.
“It is a well-established constitutional right that prohibits experimentation on the mentally ill,” said Breggin, who is the author of the forthcoming book COVID-19 and the Global Predators.
Under the Sherriff’s program, approximately 500 LA residents have been vaccinated to date using the Johnson & Johnson one-shot COVID vaccine that U.S. health officials said Monday should not be used until investigations into six reported cases of severe brain blood clots after receipt of the injection are completed.
To date, 2,342 deaths have been reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) in association with COVID-19 vaccines as well as 4,972 reports of hospitalizations.
Deputy Trina Schrader of the LASD said the sheriff’s office suspended Operation Homebound today because of the FDA’s “pause” on Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine. She said that “public health would deal with” any reports of adverse events among those the sheriff’s office had vaccinated, rather than the sheriff’s department.
Vaccinating officers who are certified paramedics and emergency medical technicians were sent out in response to requests from people with legal authority over disabled and homebound people, many of whom are unable to attend special education classes or access other community programs and services if they are not vaccinated, she added.
“We’re not running around LA county tackling people and vaccinating them. These have all been requested,” Schrader claimed.
Withholding services to the disabled is a form of coercion itself, said Breggin, who called the acts of forced vaccination “utterly humiliating” with the additional effect of “forcing everybody watching into fear and docility.”
“No one living in America today, whether in an institution or at home, is sufficiently free of coercion to voluntarily accept COVID-19 vaccines,” he added.
Schrader said that homeless people had not been vaccinated in the program, although a March 25 letter from Sherriff Alex Villanueva to the County of Los Angeles Board of Supervisors said, “We also have a plan in place to vaccinate our homeless population.”
“They give it to them because they can,” Breggin said, citing the program as a clear violation of the Nuremberg Code, a set of ethics that arose after the prosecution of Nazi criminals following the Second World War and begins with the principle of “voluntary consent” of patients being “absolutely essential.”
American history is littered with precedents of experimentation masked as “medical treatment” for the mentally ill and disabled, however. From the 1950s to 1972, disabled children at the Willowbrook State School in Staten Island, New York were subjected to vaccine experiments, for example. New York University pediatrician Saul Krugman was one of the researchers involved who deliberately infected children with viral hepatitis by feeding them an extract made from the feces of patients infected with the disease.
In another example, government forced sterilization of those deemed mentally ill and “undesirables” continued in some states until the 1980s.
A paper on prioritization of mentally ill people for COVID-19 vaccination published in the Lancet in February said that “compulsory medical interventions” can be “traumatic” and so “should only be considered as a last resort.”
The paper said that people with severe mental illnesses such as psychosis can have underlying conditions such as obesity and Type 2 diabetes that raise their risk of mortality from COVID-19.
Breggin said such patients are doubly victimized by the system, however, because their susceptible underlying conditions are almost always caused by the psychiatric drugs they are given.
“What we do in psychiatry is we poison the patient and then we accuse them of having shortened lifespans and excessive illnesses when we’ve given them to them,” he said.
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Vatican to host event on ‘theology of the priesthood,’ could discuss celibacy, women ‘deacons’ |
Posted by: Stone - 04-13-2021, 10:34 AM - Forum: Pope Francis
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The sledge-hammering against the last remaining bastions of the Faith continues...
Vatican to host event on ‘theology of the priesthood,’ could discuss celibacy, women ‘deacons’
Cardinal Marc Ouellet refused to rule out the discussion of female deacons or priestly celibacy at the symposium.
VATICAN CITY, April 12, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) –– The Vatican today announced a three-day symposium entitled “for a fundamental theology of the priesthood,” due to be held next February. The event looks to examine the relation between the ordained priesthood and the priesthood of the faithful, and will potentially undermine traditional teaching regarding the sacrament of holy orders: Cardinal Marc Ouellet refused to rule out the discussion of female deacons or priestly celibacy at the symposium.
Announcing the symposium, Cardinal Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, declared that the conference would further Pope Francis’s desire for “synodality,” building on themes proposed by the Second Vatican Council, and revealing that topics such as female deacons and clerical celibacy would also be discussed.
The symposium, which began its organizational process a year ago, will be held February 17 through February 19, 2022.
Intended particularly for bishops, but also priests, seminarians and those forming men in the seminary, Ouellet stated that it would “deepen our understanding of vocations and the importance of communion between the different vocations in the Church.”
Fr. Vincent Siret, rector of the Pontifical French Seminary in Rome and Professor Michelina Tenace, professor of theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University, both joined the cardinal in the press conference. All three stated that the upcoming symposium did not intend to “offer practical solutions to all the pastoral and missionary problems of the Church,” but rather to understand and re-examine the vocation of the priesthood, with Tenace saying it would offer a new reflection and understanding of the priesthood.
The three days of the symposium will be devoted to different themes, with “Tradition and New Horizons” on the first day, “Trinity, Mission, and Sacramentality” on the second, and “Celibacy, Charism, and Spirituality” on the third.
Demonstrating the importance which the Vatican is seemingly attributing to the symposium, each half day will be chaired by a different cardinal, with prefects from the Congregation of the Clergy, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, and the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life among the prelates. Cardinal Ouellet and Cardinal Tagle, a known favorite of the Pope’s who has lamented the Church’s “harsh” and “severe” stance towards homosexuals, will also be present.
Pope Francis will also address the event, delivering the closing address.
Clericalism, priestly celibacy, priesthood of the baptized
In light of the lack of priestly vocations, Ouellet noted that a key focus of the symposium would be the relation between the laity and the ordained clergy.
Describing the link between Christ’s priesthood and the Church’s participation in this, as a “crucial question for our time,” Ouellet commented that it could only be understood by examining the “fundamental relationship between the priesthood of the baptized, which the Second Vatican Council has enhanced, and the priesthood of ministers, bishops and priests, which the Catholic Church has always affirmed and specified.”
This “rapport,” would require “pastoral readjustments,” involving “ecumenical questions not to be ignored, as well as the cultural movements that question the place of women in the Church,” explained the 75-year-old.
He referenced the widespread dearth of vocations, local “tensions” stemming from “divergent pastoral visions,” as well as “multiculturalism and migrations,” and “ideologies that condition the witness of the baptized and the exercise of the priestly ministry in secularized societies.”
“In this context, how can we live a missionary conversion of all the baptized without a new awareness of the gift of the Holy Spirit to the Church and to the world through the Risen Christ?”
This was also alluded to by Fr. Viret, who declared that “it does not suffice to repeat” previous teaching on the priesthood and the communion of the whole Church, but called for this reflection to be repeated “without ceasing” and always in a renewed manner.
The symposium is being proposed as an answer to “clericalism,” a term often employed by Pope Francis, and one which he has directly linked to “rigidity,” the term by which he attacks traditional clergy, particularly those who offer the ancient liturgical rites of the Church and dress in traditional attire, such as the cassock.
Echoing Cardinal Ouellet, Fr. Viret declared that the symposium is “in the path of synodality. This way is in fact the only way to escape ecclesial clericalism.”
Outlining the particular themes to be dealt with in the symposium, Tenace revealed it would examine the relation between the “ministerial priesthood and the common priesthood” of the faithful, and “deepen the theology of the priesthood,” thus reaffirming the “essential traits of Catholic tradition of the identity of the priest, and maybe freeing it from a certain clericalization.”
She added that clericalism was a danger to both priests and the wider Church, since it linked the priesthood with “power” instead of service, and which viewed the priesthood as a “privilege” instead of a “responsibility that concerns all the faithful.”
In questions following the three statements, Cardinal Ouellet refused to rule out the discussion of female deacons or priestly celibacy at the symposium.
Suspicions that these topics would be part of the symposium were further evidenced by Tenace herself, who stated that the “question of celibacy must be addressed.”
“The question raised is that the priestly function does not require celibacy,” she said, noting, however, that it is required in the “Latin tradition.”
The symposium’s program also reveals that a round table discussion is indeed planned to address “women and ministry,” while another session is dedicated to looking at priesthood and celibacy in the Church today.
In addition, Tenace alluded to possible changes to “sacramental theology and the liturgy,” saying that they were areas that must be “re-proposed” at the conference.
She called for a movement of the Church with the current times, stating that “each age elaborates an updated ecclesiology.”
Possible effect of the symposium
Tenace mentioned the image of the priest as the ordained minister who leads the parish and administers the sacraments, as being “a very limiting vision,” suggesting that “there is urgency” for the symposium to correct this view, “because the entire community must be considered.”
Tenace’s insistence on a new understanding of the priesthood in reference to the community, appears to align closely with an error condemned by Pope Pius XII in his encyclical Mediator Dei (1947), who warned of the false nature of the following position: “they assert that the people are possessed of a true priestly power, while the priest acts only in virtue of an office committed to him by the community.”
In his Mass and the Sacraments, the 20th century theologian Fr. John Laux warned of the dangers that are inherent in the widespread and un-clarified promotion of the priesthood of the faithful, since it was this which Martin Luther used to rebel against the ecclesial authorities.
Laux also noted that while there is a universal priesthood of the faithful, it is not the only form of priesthood since there is the greater form of sacrifice and priesthood instituted by Christ, the Mass and the ordained descendants of the apostles:
“All the faithful are indeed ‘an elect race, a royal priesthood,’ but they are not the representatives of Christ at the altar, they do not, in the Mass, change the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, they are not the ‘dispensers of the mysteries of God,’ not to them did Christ say: ‘Do this in remembrance of Me.’”
[Emphasis mine.]
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Pentagon working on microchip to detect Covid-19 |
Posted by: Stone - 04-13-2021, 06:49 AM - Forum: COVID Passports
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Pentagon Scientists Working in Secretive Unit Create Microchip to be Inserted Underneath Skin, Which Will Detect Covid-19
Gateway Pundit | April 12, 2021
Pentagon scientists working in a secretive united created a microchip to be inserted underneath the skin, that can detect Covid-19 before the body exhibits symptoms.
60 Minutes interviewed retired Colonel Matt Hepburn, an army infectious disease physician, who spent years with the secretive defense advanced research projects agency or DARPA, working on technology he hopes will ensure COVID-19 is the last pandemic.
“Dr. Hepburn showed us a few current projects, some sound like they’re from an episode of “Star Trek.” Consider a ship like the USS Theodore Roosevelt — hobbled last year when 1,271 crew members tested positive for the coronavirus. What if everyone on board had their health monitored with this subdermal implant, now in late-stage testing. It’s not some dreaded government microchip to track your every move, but a tissue-like gel engineered to continuously test your blood,” 60 Minutes host Bill Whitaker said.
Dr. Hepburn told 60 Minutes that the microchip is like a “check engine light.”
“That tiny green thing in there, you put it underneath your skin and what that tells you is that there are chemical reactions going on inside the body and that signal means you are going to have symptoms tomorrow,” he said.
Dr. Hepburn said that DARPA also created a filter which would be passed through an individual’s blood to remove the Covid virus, “It takes the virus out, and puts the blood back in.”
So far, doctors have used this filter to treat 300 critically ill patients.
The Pentagon told 60 Minutes that the government isn’t seeking to track your every move with the microchip technology.
WATCH:
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Biography of St. Gemma Galgani [Feast: April 11th] |
Posted by: Stone - 04-12-2021, 01:39 PM - Forum: The Saints
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Born: March 12, 1878
Extraordinary Mystical Experiences begin: 1898
Miraculous Cure: Friday, March 3, 1899 -1st Friday of the month (Sacred Heart devotion)
Received Stigmata: June 8, 1899 -Vigil of the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Died: Holy Saturday, April 11, 1903
Beatified: May 14, 1933 by Pope Pius XI
Canonized: May 2, 1940 by Pope Pius XII
Patron Saint of Students, Pharmacists, Paratroopers and Parachutists, loss of parents, those suffering back injury or back pain, those suffering with headaches/migraines, those struggling with temptations to impurity and those seeking purity of heart.
Feast Day: April 11th (or May 16th for those in the Passionist Congregation).
BLESSED GEMMA GALGANI (1878-1903)
Translated from the Italian by FATHER OSMUND THORPE, C.P., 1935
Published by Burns, Oates, and Washbourne, London.
NIHIL OBSTAT: EDUARDUS J. MAHONEY, S.Th.D., Censor deputatus.
IMPRIMATUR: JOSEPH BUTT, Vic. Gen.
In obedience to the decrees of Urban VIII, and to the Apostolic Constitution ' Officiorum' of Leo XIII, we declare that we claim no authority for what is written in this book other than that which is purely human and historical.
[Webmasters note: Of all the books on St Gemma in english, this is the one that I personally most treasure, first and foremost because it is extremely well written, with lots of unique and original information on the holy life of Saint Gemma that is not availible in other books in english, but also because the english version of this book is so rare! After literally several years of searching on the world wide web for a copy of this book in English, I was finally able to acquire a copy from a used book dealer in Great Britain. And so, while this book is not that difficult to find in the original Italian, it is extremely rare in the english translation. Therefore given the original and unique information provided in this rare english translation, I felt it necessary to preserve this information on this website. I was deeply edified and inspired when I read this book, and I pray that those who read it may also be inspired and may be drawn ever deeper into the Heart of Jesus, through the intercession of Saint Gemma. -St Gemma, pray for us!]
BLESSED GEMMA GALGANI (Part 1 of 2)
CHAPTER I - BIRTH AND EARLY YEARS
A day of rejoicing occurred on March 12, 1878, in the home of the chemist of Camigliano, a smiling village at the foot of the blue Pizzorne near Lucca in Italy. Another child had come to gladden the hearts of Enrico Galgani and Aurelia Landi, who already had three children. Three more children were yet to bless their marriage, and therefore the child born in 1878 was to hold the middle place and to be as it were the heart of the family.
Because they considered their children to be the gifts of God, these virtuous parents rejoiced at every new birth. They had indeed every claim to be considered virtuous. Enrico on his mother's side was descended from the family of Blessed John Leonardi, and his character harmonized with the sanctity of .the stock from which he sprang. Aurelia, according to the witnesses whose evidence was taken during the processes for the Beatification of her daughter, was a model mother and a saintly woman. From among many depositions made concerning them, that of a priest, Francis Ghilardi, is very short and to the point: 'The Galgani family occupied a good position in society, bore an exemplary character, and was most exact in the fulfillment of its religious duties.' [All quotations unless otherwise stated are from the Summarium Proc, super virtutibus.]
The child was baptized the day after her birth by Don Peter Quilici, parish priest of Camigliano. There had been a disagreement in the family about the name she should be given. A paternal uncle, a captain of the army medical staff, wished her to be called Gemma. Her mother objected. The parish priest of Gragano, Don Olivo Dinelli, was asked to settle the question. Aurelia explained to him why she was reluctant to agree to her brother-in-law's suggestion. 'How can the child get to heaven,' she asked, 'if there is no saint of the name of Gemma?' 'But,' replied the priest, 'there are gems in heaven, and let . us hope that she may become a gem of Paradise.' So it was agreed to give the child the auspicious name of Gemma, to which were added Maria Umberta Pia.
EARLY EDUCATION
A month after Gemma's birth the family moved to Lucca with a view to living there permanently. Guido, the eldest child, explained that his father made this change of residence in order that he might the better attend to the education and training of his children. The story of Gemma's first years is best told by her aunt, Elisa Galgani, who figured prominently in her life, and who became a most important witness during the processes for her Beatification :
‘Gemma passed her childhood and youth in her own home under the watchful eye of her parents. At three years of age Gemma, together with her sisters and her very young brothers, was sent to a private school conducted by some sisters named Vallini. No complaints were ever made regarding Gemma, and her parents were assured that she was good and obedient. There she learned to say her prayers and to do very simple knitting. She was removed- from this school after her mother's death when she was seven. At this time she was always obedient and respectful to everyone and was never wayward. She was plump and good-natured, so much so that she used to amuse my brother.
‘When she was about four she came to our home at Porcari for a few days to enjoy the country air. My mother, in whose room Gemma slept in a little bed by herself, found her there one day on her knees, with hands joined, before a picture of the Heart of Mary. She called my brother, the army doctor, saying: "Come and see how Gemma prays," and together they watched her. "What are you doing, Gemma?" asked my brother. Gemma answered: "Go away, please; I am saying the Hail Mary." As they retired my brother said: "If I had a camera I would have taken her photograph! "’
Gemma's mother said morning and evening prayers daily with her children, and also taught the older ones to make little meditations. On Sundays she took them to Mass and to the evening devotions in the parish church. The children also went with her to the catechetical instructions for adults but she did not allow them to attend the catechetical instruction for children, preferring to instruct them herself or to bring a teacher into the house for that purpose. One of these teachers, Isabella Bastiani, made the following deposition in the processes:
‘The Galgani’s wanted someone to look after the sick and take charge of the children. My stepmother, Maddalena, was chosen. In this way I came to know the family and Gemma. My stepmother asked me if I would undertake to teach the children their prayers and catechism. I then began to teach Gemma and her brother Tonino the catechism, after which I used to bring Gemma to the Church to visit the Blessed Sacrament and say the Rosary and the other prayers I knew . Nothing seemed as pleasing to Gemma as to go to the Church to say her prayers. She never grew tired. When she had said an Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be to the Father in honour of her Angel Guardian, she used to turn to me and say, "To whom should I pray now?" If I told her a pious story she always wanted another one and said repeatedly, " Tell me more, tell me more." Although so very young, when she was in the Church she always remained kneeling with her hands joined, and she was quite recollected.'
The evidence of the Vallini sisters completes the picture of Gemma and her family, given by Elisa Galgani and Isabella Bastiani.
‘Our family had a villa and some property in the neighborhood of Porcari about six miles from Lucca, and in consequence we formed a close friendship with Carlo Galgani, the district doctor. On the Feast of St. Michael to whom our Church was dedicated, he and his wife and children used to dine with us, and we returned the visits. In the course of time Carlo Galgani's son, Enrico, came to live at Lucca, and knowing that we kept a school there, with his wife's consent willingly entrusted to us his five little children, the second of whom was Gemma, then not more than two years of age.' [Elisa Galgani said that Gemma was three years of age when she first went to school, and since she was usually most exact in her statement she is not likely to be wrong on this occasion.]
Even at this tender age Gemma had reached the use of reason and her intellect was prematurely developed. We could teach her prayers that lasted twenty-five minutes without her ever growing tired. At five she could read the Breviary like an experienced person. She was assiduous at her work and learned all that was taught to her. She was loved by all her companions for these good qualities. All the time she was with us, we had no occasion to punish her; a word of reproof was enough for the defects inseparable from her age. Her two brothers and two sisters were with her at school, but never once was she known to be angry with them. She allowed them to select the best fruit, and at dinner she was always contented, whatever she had, the smile that played on her lips being the only sign that she was pleased or displeased.'
EARLY GROWTH IN HOLINESS
If Gemma's good qualities were pleasing to all who knew her, they were certainly a source of great consolation to her parents. To her father she was , the light of his eyes.' He seemed unable to do without her, his first question on returning home always being: 'Where's Gemma?' He used to say that he had only two children, Gemma and Gino. Gino was two years older than Gemma and was her rival in virtue. Of him Gemma wrote in her Autobiography: 'I really loved him more than all the others, and we were always together. During the holidays we used to amuse ourselves by making little altars. . . .' [Autobiographia, p, 26]
Enrico Galgani's preference for his eldest daughter reminds one of the particular affection between St Therese of Lisieux and her father. Her clothes had to come from the best shops. She very frequently accompanied him and whenever they were in the city at the dinner hour, it was made evident that in his opinion the best hotel was her due.
This favoritism did not altogether please her: she seems to have recognized the friction and jealousy it might cause. 'Am I your only child? ' she asked her father one day. 'I love all the children,' he answered, 'but remember, you are my eldest daughter.' When he took her on his knees to caress her, she used to break away from him crying: , Papa, do not touch me.' 'But I am your father,' he would expostulate. ' Yes, Papa, but I do not want anyone to touch me.' Enrico, puzzled but not displeased, used to say: ' I wonder what will become of my Gemma! '
So great indeed was her objection to being touched in any way by anyone that she even preferred to wash herself rather than permit her Aunt Elisa to do so. Once, when she was only six or seven, a cousin who came on horseback to deliver a parcel at her home, paid dearly for trying to kiss her, as she ran to take the parcel from him. He held her outstretched hand and bent down to caress her, but she repulsed him so violently that he lost his balance and, falling off the horse, hurt himself. Gemma was punished for this conduct by having her hands tied behind her back for a whole day.
Her mother's love, though not less tender, was certainly more solid. She, too, preferred Gemma. Was she not the child of prayer-the fulfillment of a long desire to have a daughter? The knowledge that her health was being undermined by tuberculosis, and that her days were numbered, made Aurelia even more affectionate towards Gemma, who years later wrote in her Autobiography: ' I remember that when I was very small my mother often took me in her arms, and many times in doing so, she wept. "I prayed so long that Jesus might send me a daughter," she said to me. " He has consoled me, it is true, but too late. I am sick and I must die and leave you." , '
In the face of death Aurelia sought comfort in prayer and until the end did her utmost to fulfill her duties towards her children. When oppressed with fever, even when wearing plasters to relieve her cough, she rose very early to go to Holy Communion. Every Saturday she brought her children to the Church and prepared them there herself for the Sacrament of Penance. Their frequent presence in the Church was noticed by the Parish Priest, Don Raphael Cianetti, who afterwards described Gemma as ' a silent child whose demeanor edified all who saw her.'
Sometimes this holy woman, emulating the mother of St. Paul of the Cross, the Founder of the Passionists, would take her daughter on to her lap and pointing to the Crucifix would speak to her of the sufferings of Jesus. 'Look, Gemma, this good Jesus has died on the Cross for us !' It was a scene that must have filled the Angels with admiration. Gemma drank in eagerly the story of the Passion. Looking now at the Crucifix, now at her mother, she used to say: 'Tell me more, Mom, tell me more.' Often when Aurelia was busy in the house she felt her dress plucked and heard Gemma's pleading voice: 'Mom, speak to me for a little while about Jesus.'
But the disease that was consuming Aurelia was making implacable progress. The coming separation from her seven children who needed her so much, added to her sufferings. The thought of leaving Gemma pained her most of all. 'Gemma,' she said to her one day, ' if you were able, would you come with me to the place to which Jesus is calling me ? ' Where? ' asked Gemma. 'To Paradise with Jesus and the Angels.' This invitation filled Gemma with joy and an indefinable yearning. With an ingenuousness that was her constant characteristic she wrote sixteen years. later: 'I t was Mom who made me as a child long to go to Heaven. And now,' she added, alluding to a prohibition that she must not ask God to let her die, ' if I still desire Heaven and want to go there, there is almost an outcry.' So anxious indeed was the child Gemma to go to Heaven that she was loath to leave her mother's side lest she might flyaway without her.
THE FIRST SACRIFICE
But Aurelia could not take Gemma with her to Heaven, so she directed all her thoughts towards the child's spiritual future. To whom was she to entrust her soul? To the Holy Ghost, concluded Aurelia. At once she began to complete her religious instruction in preparation for the Sacrament of Confirmation, which Gemma received from Archbishop Nicholas Ghilardi, on May 26, 1885, in the Basilica of St. Michael in Foro.
At the end of the ceremony Gemma assisted at a Mass of Thanksgiving. The Holy Ghost Who had found her soul so well disposed for His gifts, willed to ask of this child of scarcely seven years the greatest sacrifice she could make. 'I was assisting as best I could,' wrote Gemma in her Autobiography, 'and praying for Mom, when on a sudden a voice in my heart said to me: "Are you willing to give me your mother?" "Yes," I replied," if you take me also!" "No," said the voice, " give me your mother of your own will. For the present you must remain with your father. I will take you to her in Heaven later." I had to say yes, and when the Mass was finished I ran home.'
This constitutes the first celestial conversation to occur in the life of Blessed Gemma Galgani. It is also the first in a long chain of sacrifices which God was to demand of this generous soul. Her life was to be a succession of pains and sufferings, which were to be for her the key that opened the treasures of God's grace.
Gemma arrived home to find her mother almost at the point of death, and on seeing her she burst into tears and wept unrestrainedly. She could not tear herself away from the bed. She had indeed made the sacrifice, but she could not help wishing to go to heaven with her.
The imminent danger of death passed, but only for a short time, and within four months Aurelia was dead. Gemma was not present at the end. The story of the last days is told in the processes by Elisa Galgani: 'Gemma had the misfortune to lose her mother when she was seven years of age. Although only a child she tried to assist her sick mother as best she could and did not want to be separated from her. Sometimes she would climb on to the bed and put her arms around her mother's neck and kiss her. The doctors often suggested that the children, especially Gemma, who was the eldest daughter and the most thoughtful and affectionate, should be kept away from the sick-room because the patient had tuberculosis. Gemma was, therefore, sent to St. Gennaro to stay with an uncle, Anthony Landi, who owned much property in that district. The place was not new to Gemma, for her mother used to spend a month there every year with her children.'
Gemma was at St. Gennaro for three months, according to her aunt Elena Landi, when her mother died on September 17, 1886, aged thirty-nine. Her five years of slow martyrdom had purified her soul and made it more worthy of Heaven.
Shortly before her death she said: 'I offer my life willingly to God that I may obtain the grace of having my eight children with me in Paradise.'
‘Gemma received the news of the death from her aunt at St. Gennaro with whom she was staying,' continues Elisa Galgani. 'Her only words then were: "Mom is in Heaven." Although she loved her mother deeply she did nor cry, but remained serene and calm, and submissive to God's will. Her first words to me on returning home from St. Gennaro were: " Why are you weeping? Mom is in Heaven and suffers no longer; oh, how much she suffered ! You must now try to regain your own health so that you can help us." ,
THE LOSS OF HER MOTHER
The loss of a mother is always a great calamity in a family, especially when all the children are still young. At Aurelia's death, the youngest child, Julia, was not yet three. What was Enrico Galgani to do? Already his sister Elisa was living with him while she recovered from the effects of an accident sustained at Lucca. So he decided to invite another sister, Elena, to look after his home and the children. As for Gemma, she had already chosen in place of her earthly mother, a heavenly one-Mary, the Mother of God.
In addition to the void left in the family by his wife's death, there was the void made in Enrico's heart by Gemma's absence. About Christmas time, therefore, he arranged for the homecoming of his children who for some months had been staying with various relatives. Gemma was to leave St. Gennaro. There were difficulties, however. She had grown into the hearts of her uncle and aunt, and they were reluctant to part with her. 'Gemma was always good and obedient to all,' said Elena Landi.
‘When her mother sickened, she asked me to take charge of this child, saying: "If there is no objection at your home, I should be very pleased if you would keep Gemma with you." One day the aunts and nephews came to say that since Gemma was the eldest daughter she should return home to her brothers and sisters, and that if I wanted one of the children I could have one of the younger girls. I loved Gemma so much that I did not wish to have anyone else in her place, and I became indignant. The poor child seeing me cry became upset, and said to me resignedly: "Oh Aunt, let me go to please them; I will come again soon." Hearing these words from a child of seven only made me more indignant. I cannot describe how displeased I was.'
But even before Elena and Elisa had set out to bring back Gemma from St. Gennaro, there was one who had been praying fervently for her return home. This was Gino. To Enrico, Gino and Gemma were one, and this was an added reason that made him determined that there should be no delay about Gemma's return. So at Christmas the members of the scattered family were once more reunited. But it was a sad Christmas. No one could fill their mother's place and she was missed at every turn. Everyone was sad except Gemma, who with a strength above her years encouraged them all. , Why should we weep? ' she said, ' Mom is in Heaven.'
CHAPTER II - CHILDHOOD- ENTRUSTED TO THE CARE OF THE SISTERS OF ST. ZITA
After probably the saddest Christmas in his life, Enrico came to an important decision regarding Gemma, who since his wife's death had become doubly dear to him. Gemma had already left the infants' school kept by the sisters Vallini, and it was therefore necessary to send her to a more advanced school where her rare gifts of mind and heart might be cultivated to the best advantage. Like a good Catholic, Enrico could think of nothing better than to place her under the care of a very holy nun, Sister Elena Guerra, who had founded in Lucca a religious institute, the Oblates of the Holy Ghost, commonly called Zitine Sisters.
What, one conjectures, were the feelings of the holy foundress when she first came face to face with Gemma Galgani? Sometimes it happens that saintly souls when meeting on the pathway of life experience an unusual spiritual attraction for one another. When in 1907 Sister Elena Guerra heard that steps were being taken to have Gemma raised to the altars of the Church, she wrote: 'My poor heart rejoices in the knowledge that they are working for the glorification of my holy pupil, Gemma Galgani.' On her side Gemma, as it were in gratitude for the care bestowed upon her, seems to have obtained for this noble woman the grace of dying on Holy Saturday as the Easter bells were ringing out, on April 11, 1914 -the anniversary of her own death. Sister Elena is said to have influenced Leo XIII to issue his Encyclical on devotion to the Holy Ghost.
Gemma was delighted with her new school. ‘I began to go to the Nuns' school’ she wrote in her Autobiography, 'and I was in Heaven.' It could not have seemed otherwise to such a child. She lived in an atmosphere of piety, under the guidance of religious who were still filled with that fervour which characterizes, more particularly, the first members of a new religious Institute.
'I WILL STRIVE TO BE A SAINT'
Gemma's longing for divine knowledge, already seen in her conversations with her mother, began to be manifested more clearly now. She asked Sister Catherine Vagliensi to tell her something about the sufferings of Christ in His Passion, and drank in every word so eagerly, and allowed herself to be so penetrated by the recital, that she became ill. , I told my mistress of my desire (of knowing Jesus Crucified),' wrote Gemma, ' and she began to tell me something every day, choosing an hour for the recital when the other children were in bed.
One evening she described the Crucifixion, the crowning with thorns, and all the other sufferings of Jesus so vividly, that the sorrow and compassion I felt brought on a high fever and I had to remain in bed the whole day after.'
Fortunately, when the processes for the Beatification were set on foot, Sister Julia Sestini, who on the death in 1888 of Sister Catherine Vagliensi, became Gemma's mistress and confidante, was still living, and able to make important depositions concerning her pupil. One incident she mentioned recalls something similar in the life of Blessed Bartolomea Capitanio, Foundress of the Sisters of Charity of Milan. One day a teacher in school asked Bartolomea and her companions which of them desired to be a saint. They answered with one voice: all wanted to be saints. Who would be a saint first? The teacher decided to solve the question by casting lots. . She procured as many straws of unequal length as there were pupils, and holding them in her hand declared that whoever drew the longest straw should be a saint first. Bartolomea drew the longest straw. She was so surprised that she at once ran to the Chapel to pray.' [Le Beata Bartolomea Capitanio, Fondatrice delle Suore de Carita, Venice, 1926, p. 27] Gemma did not run to the Chapel when in a similar way she drew the longest straw. According to Sister Julia Sestini, she danced with joy and cried out: ‘Yes! I will strive to be a saint.'
Another incident, related by Elisa Galgani, again reveals the innocence and artlessness of this singular child. One day when she came home from school she said to her aunt: 'The Superior, Sister Elena Guerra, said to me: "Gemma, Gemma, you have committed an act of pride to-day." Aunt, what are acts of pride? Explain to me what an act of pride means; I do not know this sin.' Her aunt suggested that she should ask the Mother Superior herself for a definition of an act of pride. She did so, and was greatly relieved to find that she had not committed it. She returned home. on the evening of that day very pleased and said: 'No, I have done nothing wrong, but I am glad also to know what this sin is.' Years later she wrote in her Autobiography: 'Yes, I did indeed commit this sin, but Jesus knows whether I recognized it or not. I often went to all the teachers, to all the pupils, to the Mother Superior, to ask pardon for this sin. In the evening and very often at night, I wept over it alone. Without being aware of it I fell into this sin many times a day.'
STRUGGLING TO FORM CHARACTER
It will be interesting to know why this holy child was accused of pride. From what has been said, it is clear that she herself was often responsible and she knew it-for these accusations. She even admitted in her Autobiography that pride was the only defect of which she was accused and for which she was punished. 'The teacher,' she wrote, ' often called me a proud girl.'
According to Father Germanus, her first biographer-and everyone who knew her at this time agrees with him-Gemma was 'by nature vivacious. , Whoever watched her closely,' he says, ' could not but observe that she had a sanguine temperament and that her blood was easily fired. Only the violence she did to her natural bent prevented her from becoming what indeed some said she was, a little imp. Alert and perspicacious as she was, this inclination might easily have dominated her whole character. ' [“Life of Gemma Galgani”, by Father Germanus, C.P.] This may explain the almost contradictory depositions made concerning her at this period of her life. Sister Julia Sestini declared she had a lively disposition. Another witness said that she was accustomed to hold in check a rather spirited temperament. On the other hand, according to Don Andrew Bartoloni, she was of a quiet and calm disposition, and Sister Julia Sestini in another deposition says: 'She was so obedient that only a sign was necessary to recall her to her duty .... She was noted for her application to study and her assiduity at her work, and she obtained several prizes. . . . She was generally well liked by the children, and she knew how to keep silent.'
The truth is that Gemma was even now seriously endeavoring to correct her faults of character, and for this purpose was opposing her own will and nature. What was pleasing to her she refused, what she disliked she welcomed. Nevertheless, her first steps in the way of perfection were not accomplished with ease. Her demeanor suggested that she was watching over her conduct with effort and excessive attention, and this made her appear serious-minded, unsociable and too silent for her age. Her motives could not be known to all nor could they be always understood. That is why she was said to be unintelligent, blunt in speech, off-hand and even rude in manner. Some said she was proud and disdainful, others, more kind-hearted, that she was shy; a few declared that she was stupid. Compliments never came Gemma's way, at any time. She certainly never sought them. 'Oh!' she used to say, ' How can I please people? I am indeed stupid, and what does it matter if I am taken for what I am ?' When charged with being proud she answered: 'What is the meaning of pride? I never even think of it. I do not reply to questions because I do not know what to say. If I do answer, I am at a loss afterwards to know whether I answered right or wrong, and so I remain silent.'
As the years rolled by, however, Gemma made such progress in virtue that even before she left school she had acquired almost complete self-mastery. Whatever was artificial or forced in her manners or conduct disappeared, and virtue seemed to become a second nature.
YOU BELONG TO JESUS
Whatever the attitude of others, Sister Julia Sestini was Gemma's friend. But even Sister Julia often said: 'Gemma, Gemma, if I did not read you in your eyes, I would judge you as the others do.' She understood the soul-struggles of this holy girl and did her best to keep her on the right path. Her predecessor,. Sister Catherine Vagliensi, had often said to Gemma: 'Gemma, you belong to Jesus and you must give yourself entirely to Him. . . . He is pleased with you, but you are in need of great assistance from Him. Your greatest pleasure ought to be to meditate on His Sacred Passion and death.' So well did she know her pupil that Gemma wrote in her Autobiography: 'This good teacher had guessed what was in my mind.' Sister Julia Sestini's influence was not less efficacious. 'Under her direction,' wrote Gemma, ' I began to have a greater desire for prayer. Every evening after school, I went home and shut myself in a room where I recited the whole Rosary on my knees. Often at night, I got up for a quarter of an hour to recommend my poor soul to Jesus.'
It was also at this time that she began to long to practice penance, and this desire burst into flame whenever she meditated upon the Sacred Passion.
‘Every day,' she wrote, ' I had a part of the Passion explained to me. Often when reflecting on my sins and on my ingratitude towards Jesus we began to weep together. During these four years this good teacher also taught me to practice some little penance for love of Jesus. The first was to wear a cord around my waist . . . but so far as I was able I obtained permission from my confessor. Then she taught me to mortify my eyes and my tongue, and I succeeded in becoming better, but it was hard work.'
Her spirit of piety in these years was well remembered by Sister Julia Sestini :
'We were accustomed, especially during Lent, to explain the Passion of our Divine Lord. Gemma listened most attentively, and never grew tired of it. I have seen her weep sometimes. One day she and another child stood up, and Gemma asked: "What is the book out of which you read these things, because we should like to get one in order to study and meditate upon them better?" I advised the children to make five minutes' meditation in the morning, and to devote a few minutes every evening to an examination of conscience. I saw Gemma smile. When I questioned her I found that she had already the habit of making meditation and that she spent much more than five minutes at it.'
With a heart already so united to God, it is not surprising that Gemma was remarkable for the way in which she attended to the altars in the Chapel and classrooms, devoting her time to keeping them clean and becomingly decorated, nor is it surprising to know that she had no interest in the amusements which delight other children. 'She had no inclina-tion or desire for games,' said Sister Julia Sestini, , and when obedience compelled her to take part in school plays or concerts her demeanor was always edifying and serious. In the daily recreations she preferred to be alone or with the teacher. . . . When her companions invited her to accompany them I used to advise her to do so, saying: "Go along, Gemma, and don't be singular." Then she went gladly and quite willingly.'
Elisa Galgani's recollections of Gemma's piety at this time are more detailed:
‘She had a deep love for the Blessed Virgin and prayed to Her with great fervor and devotion, often repeating: "Holy Mary, make me a saint." She had also a very special devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Whom she ardently loved and to Whom she prayed
with extraordinary fervor. I remember that when she was a child at school, she used to pray for success in her examinations so that her father especially might be pleased. She not only prayed, but carried on her person little pictures of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Once I saw her dip her finger in the oil of the lamp that was burning before the Blessed Sacrament, then touch her tongue with it in order that she might be able to answer the examiners well .... She often read books about the Blessed Virgin, which were given to her by Monsignor Volpi or by the parish priest of St. Leonard's. Sometimes she read them aloud to her brothers and sisters and even to her aunts. Every day she said the Rosary with the family .... She made triduums or novenas for every feast of the Blessed Virgin and not only attended the special devotions held in Our Lady's honor during the months of May and October in the Church, but also repeated them at home with her brothers and sisters.'
THE QUEEN OF VIRTUES
Among the virtues that adorned Gemma's soul, the queen virtue shone conspicuously. And indeed charity or love for her neighbor for God's sake was one of her most outstanding characteristics even as a girl. Her brother Guido speaks of her' special charity towards the poor.' If she met a beggar on her way to or from school she would be sure to part with whatever money she had, and found more pleasure in its loss than she would have found in anything it could have purchased. It was this charity united to a profound humility which made Gemma keep silent under unmerited reproof, thus screening the actual offenders. 'Why don't you tell. your teacher and let her know that you are not guilty? ' said Sister Julia Sestini, who did not like to see her unjustly accused. 'Oh let the matter rest,' Gemma answered, ' it is better so.'
But already in these early years Gemma's zeal for the spiritual welfare of her neighbor was noticeable. She listened with particular interest when the Sister read to the pupils in school the Annals of the Foreign Missions.
‘Gemma was filled with a great desire for the universal reign of Christ,' deposed Sister Julia Sestini, ' and worked for the conversion of infidels not only by prayer, but also by contributing whatever money she had.' The pupils of the Sisters of St. Zita were all enrolled in the Associations called Propagation of the Faith and Holy Childhood, and Gemma paid her subscription regularly.
God was pleased with her zeal for the salvation of souls, and seems to have given proof of His pleasure on an occasion which was recalled by Sister Julia Sestini: 'It was during the Carnival,' she said, , and we were rehearsing for our Concert when the Mother Superior entered the Hall and asked for prayers for a dying man who had refused to receive the last Sacraments. We stopped the rehearsal and said some prayers. When they were over Gemma came up to me and whispered: "Our prayers are answered." That same evening I heard of the man's sincere conversion and that he had died with all the comforts of religion.'
A MODEL PUPIL
Gemma was, as we have seen, her father's joy, and her return every . evening from school with a smile on her lips helped not a little to assuage the troubles of the day. He anticipated great things for her and watched with pleasure her progress not only in virtue, but also in her studies. Elisa Galgani had distinct recollections of Gemma at this time :
‘Once she had to confess to me that she had passed very well in all subjects in her class, and in French had secured very high marks. Some of her companions having failed were sad and sore about it. She said to me: "I am sorry that some of my companions did not pass. I should have liked all to pass, for then I should have been happier myself." She did not like amusements or games, not even those suited to her age, and did not play with dolls. I remember that on one occasion her father wanted her to go to hear the city band which was to play in the Piazza. "Gemma," he said, "take your sister this evening to hear the band." But she answered: "No, Daddy, let us go to the Walls; there we shall enjoy ourselves better." The people of Lucca being gathered round the band the path on top of the walls was deserted. They would also be able to go along in good time to the evening devotions in the parish church. Unlike other children Gemma never went alone into the City.'
Although Gemma did not enter for the public examinations, because it was not customary at the College, she did well at the examinations which were held by a visiting professor. According to her teacher, she attained a high degree of proficiency in literature, science and mathematics. But it was in the knowledge of her religion, the catechism, the Bible and ecclesiastical history, that she shone conspicuously. In a competition amongst the children of the city she won the gold medal for Christian Doctrine. This success elated her father, who thought of sending her later on to the University. But Gemma's answer to the suggestion was uncompromising: 'No, the University is not for me.'
Man proposes, but God disposes. God was preparing Gemma for another mission in life, and her thoughts were already turned away from this world. Sister Julia Sestini gives us a glimpse of Gemma's soul:
‘She used always to say that her hopes were in Jesus, and often repeated: "How dreary it is upon earth! " and raising her eyes to Heaven, " How pleasant to be up there !" She used to turn towards the Chapel where Jesus dwelt behind closed doors and say: "Faith breaks down all barriers and love stands chained to Jesus." When we suggested to the children on one occasion some act of mortification, advising them to practise these acts frequently, Gemma said: "What wealth! We can go to Heaven with overflowing riches!" She often said: " Gemma is good for nothing, but Gemma and Jesus can do all things!" It was thus she encouraged herself to overcome obstacles.'
CHAPTER III - HER FIRST HOLY COMMUNION -‘GIVE ME JESUS!’
The most important event which occurred while Gemma was at the College of the Zitine Sisters was her first Holy Communion, an event which had a profound influence upon her subsequent life. The desire to draw near to Jesus and receive Him in Holy Communion had very early inflamed her heart. The example of her mother, for whom the Eucharist was daily bread during her long sickness, certainly helped to intensify this desire, and we may be sure that in answer to the oft-repeated request: 'Talk to me about Jesus,' Aurelia poured into the heart and mind of her child her own ardent longings for the Divine Guest of the Altar.
That Gemma yearned to receive the Bread of Angels, we have the testimony of her aunt Elisa, who also deposed in the processes for the Beatification that the curate of St. Leonard's parish where the Galgani family lived, had said to Gemma: , You will receive Holy Communion when you are seven; you are too young now.' But her seventh birthday came without the fulfillment of this promise. There was then a universal prejudice against allowing young children to receive Holy Communion. If Gemma had lived a few years longer she would have seen a Pope, the saintly Pius X, open to innocent hearts the Tabernacles of the world, and would have grieved that she had been born too soon to be able to enjoy this privilege.
When, after her mother's death, Gemma was sent to the College of the Zitine Sisters, the desire of being united to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament grew more ardent. I t became her only thought, the one aspiration of her heart. She now said to her teachers at the College what she had already often said at home: 'Give me Jesus, and you will see how good I shall be. I shall be different; I shall not commit any more sins. Give Him to me; I long for Him so much that it is becoming unbearable.' But her age, according to the then prevailing custom, was against her. Besides, because of her delicate appearance she looked like a child, not of nine, but of six years, and all her tearful requests were in vain. In her humility, Gemma seems never to have realized why her repeated requests were refused, for in her Autobiography she attributes it to her sins: '. . . I early manifested the desire to receive Holy Communion, but I was found so bad and ignorant that they were afraid to allow me to do so. They began to instruct me and to give me good advice, but I always became worse.'
Finally, the spiritual director of the College, Mgr. John Volpi, was conquered by the child's insistence and decided to plead her cause with her father. Mgr. Volpi, who was Gemma's ordinary confessor until her death, and who was in 1897 consecrated Auxiliary Bishop to the Archbishop of Lucca, and later became Bishop of Arezzo, died in Rome, June 19, 1931, as titular Archbishop of Antioch in Pisidia. He was a man of outstanding piety and integrity, a father to the orphans and the poor. Leo XIII used to call him' the saint of Lucca.' Everywhere he went he left the imprint of his charity and indefatigable zeal. Before his death he gave a considerable sum of money as the first subscription towards the enlargement and beautifying of the Chapel of the Passionist Nuns, where Gemma's body now lies, and where he himself desired to be one day buried.
The argument used by Mgr. Volpi to overcome Enrico's reluctance was the most likely one to touch a father's heart. He pointed out to Enrico that he was in this dilemma, either he must give his permission or see his child die of sorrow. The permission was immediately granted.
Gemma's joy was unbounded, but in her Autobiography all she says is: 'I had only one desire, to make my first Communion soon, and it was known to be so strong that my request was very soon granted.'
PREPARING FOR HER FIRST HOLY COMMUNION
Gemma, however, was not yet fully satisfied and began to think of the best way of preparing herself for this first meeting with Jesus in the sacrament of His love. Nothing seemed more appropriate than to spend the ten days usually devoted to spiritual exercises with the Sisters at the Convent. But how was she to obtain permission from her father, who did not like to be separated from her for even a few days? But there was one sure means of getting her own way with him, and she knew it-tears. So Enrico capitulated and even promised not to visit her or disturb her recollection in any way.
This settled, Gemma turned all her attention to preparing her soul for the coming of Jesus.
‘In the evening I received permission to go,' she wrote, ' and in the morning I went to the Convent. During this time I saw none of the family. But how happy I was; it was Heaven! '
Of those days it is better to let her speak for herself:
'I had scarcely reached the Convent and settled down before I ran to the Chapel to thank Jesus and ask Him to prepare me well to receive Him in Holy Communion. But I also had another desire. When I was very small Mom used to show me the Crucifix and tell me that Jesus had died on the Cross for mankind, and afterwards I heard the same from my teachers, but I never understood properly, and I would have liked to know perfectly the Life and Passion of Jesus.'
What a sublime aspiration for a young child, to know Jesus and Him crucified, to know Him in His Passion in order to know Him better in the Eucharist. Jesus in the Eucharist and Jesus on the Cross would be throughout her life the inseparable objects of her love. '0 Jesus,' she was later on heard to say in an ecstasy, ' You hear what the confessor asks me: What do you do when you are before Jesus ? If I am with Jesus Crucified, I suffer; if I am with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, I love.' For Gemma, to suffer and to love were the same thing. , Oh, yes, Jesus,' she said in ecstasy, ' whoever loves Thee truly, suffers willingly. . . . 0 Jesus, to love Thee and to suffer for Thee!' This was her heart's cry and her life's sole objective.
At this point in her Autobiography, Gemma describes the effects which the story of the Passion, as related by Sister Catherine Vagliensi, had upon her and the fever it brought on, and her father's displeasure when he knew she was sick.
Referring to these facts, Sister Gesualda in her Life of Gemma asks whether so deep an impression could be made upon a child by the mere description of the Passion, however vivid, and suggests that it was rather the result of the direct action of Jesus Who desired to prepare her for the gift He was later on to bestow upon her, that of participating in His Passion. 'Jesus filled her with a. love for His Passion,' she says, 'because the lively sorrow she would experience in meditating upon it would awaken in her an ardent desire to be associated with Him in His sufferings and to share in them, to give love for love.'
Gemma listened very attentively to the priest who gave the spiritual exercises to the children. One thing he said struck her particularly. It was a paraphrase of the words of the Gospel: 'Whoever eats the Flesh of Jesus shall live by His life.' 'These words,' she wrote, ' filled me with consolation, and I said to myself that when Jesus is with me I shall . live no longer, but Jesus will live in me. I was burning with desire for the moment to arrive when I could say: "Jesus lives in me." Consumed with desire I passed entire nights in meditating upon these words.'
To crown her days of preparation Gemma decided to make a general confession. She was only a child of nine years of age, most innocent, almost angelic, and yet she tells us that with the help of the Sisters she prepared herself for a general confession and completed it at a third visit to her confessor, Mgr. Volpi. One wonders what such an angel had to confess?
RECEIVED HER FIRST HOLY COMMUNION
A truly happy day for Gemma was June 17, 1887, the Feast of the Sacred Heart.
She had jotted down on the previous evening, the resolutions she had made during the retreat: (1)' I will go to confession and Communion each time as if they were to be my last. (2) I will often visit Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, especially when I am in trouble. (3) I will prepare for every Feast of the Blessed Virgin by some mortification, and every evening I will ask the blessing of my heavenly Mother. (4) I desire to remain always in the presence of God. (5) Every time the clock strikes I will repeat three times, " My Jesus Mercy." She would have added more had she not been observed by a wise and prudent teacher who told her to be content with what she had already written.
She then wrote to her father :
‘DEAR PAPA,
The vigil of my first Holy Communion day has come, a day of unbounded happiness for me. I am writing to assure you of my affection, and to ask you to pray to Jesus for me that when He comes to me for the first time, He may find me well disposed to receive all the graces He has prepared for me. I ask your pardon for having been disobedient to you, and for all the trouble I have caused you, and I beg of you this evening to forget the past and to give me your blessing.
‘Your most affectionate daughter,
‘GEMMA.'
The long expected day at length arrived. Gemma thus wrote of it in her Autobiography:
‘Sunday morning came at last. I got up immediately and hastened to ,meet Jesus for the first time. All my longings were finally satisfied. I understood then for the first time the promise of Jesus: "He that eateth Me, the same also shall live by Me." I cannot express in words what passed between Jesus and me in that moment. Jesus made Himself felt, oh, so strongly, in my poor soul. I realized that the delights of. heaven are not the same as those of earth. I desired intensely to make that union with God continuous. I felt myself more and more detached from the earth and more and more disposed to recollection.'
It was related by one who had the happiness of making her first Holy Communion on the same day, that after receiving the Blessed Sacrament, Gemma said, pointing to her heart: 'I feel a fire here . . . I feel myself burning; do you feel like that?' Another witness deposes that Gemma made her first Holy Communion with such enthusiasm and devotion that she was unable to restrain her joy.
Two days later Gemma again received Holy Communion, this time in her own parish Church of St. Frediano.
Gemma never forgot the impressions of that happy day. I t can be said in fact that henceforward she lived only for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. For a few years she communicated once, and occasionally twice, a week, and on the other days satisfied her longings for union with Jesus by spiritual Communions, according to Sister Julia Sestini, always making more than the number suggested to the children.
The Feast of the Sacred Heart, which always reminded Gemma of her first meeting with Jesus, became her special day of devotion. Every year she used to unite herself with those who were making their first Communion, and make the spiritual exercises with them in spirit.
Fourteen years later, in 1901, when she wrote the following letter to her spiritual Director, the memory of that day was still very green :
‘I do not know, Father, whether you have heard that the Feast of the Sacred Heart is indeed my Feast day. Yesterday, Father, was a heavenly day; I was with Jesus all the time, I was happy with Jesus, I wept with Jesus. An interior recollection kept me more than usually united to my dear Jesus, but my happiness was even greater, when in the evening Jesus blessed me. I heard Him say these words:
"Dearest daughter, I am pleased with you to-day!" I answered: "0 Jesus, would that I could please Thee always." And I cried in the depths of my heart: "Oh chilling thoughts of the world, go far from me; I want to be always with Jesus, and with Jesus alone." Poor Jesus! He abases Himself to come and dwell in this vile body of mine. And when my dear Jesus lovingly says to me that all His joy is to be with me, I ask Him: "0 my Jesus, what is there in me to give Thee pleasure? You come to a soul that has a thousand times rebelled against Thee, that has in a thousand ways outraged and even dishonoured Thee! But Jesus, do You bear with me. The more I think, the more I realize that I can be happy only by casting myself upon Thine Infinite Mercy. 0 Jesus most merciful!" Father, where have my thoughts carried me to? To that beautiful day of my first Communion. Yesterday, the Feast of the Sacred Heart, I experienced once again the joy of that happy day . Yesterday, I again tasted the pleasures of Paradise. But what is the enjoyment of a day compared with the ages of eternity? I can say with truth that on that day of my first Communion my heart was most on fire with love for Jesus. How happy I was when with Jesus in my heart I could say: "0 my God, Thy Heart is like mine; what gives Thee pleasure, can make me happy also. What then am I in need of? Nothing.~' If I compare the peace of heart that was mine on the day of my first Communion with that which I experience now I find no difference .... '
Throughout the whole of her life she lived only for Holy Communion. '0 Jesus, what would I do if there was no Holy Communion? ' she said, 'if You were not there. . . . You, the object upon which my heart is set, how my love would languish away! If You wert in Heaven only, my heart, for certain, would go astray. But wonders Thy Mercy has worked! I will love Thee always. When the morning dawns, when the evening darkens into night, at every hour of the day, at every moment I will love Thee always, always, always! I will never leave Thee.' She told her spiritual director that if it were possible she would live in the Tabernacle. 'And if Jesus allowed me to enter the holy Tabernacle where His Body and Blood is present, would it not be like being in Paradise? '
Gemma did indeed understand in its fullness of meaning the promise of Jesus: 'He that eateth Me, the same also shall live by Me.' And she could repeat in all sincerity the words of St. Paul : ‘I live, now not I, but Christ liveth in me.'
CHAPTER IV - PRECIOUS ORNAMENTS -HER GUARDIAN ANGEL CHIDES HER
When Gemma received the gold medal for Catechism from Archbishop Nicholas Ghilardi at his Palace in Lucca, she wore a specially-made frock and a necklace with a gold pendant, which her father had given her. She had also a gold watch, which, it seems, had once belonged to her mother; This is not certain, since Justina Giannini deposed in the processes that she had heard that Gemma had received as a present a gold watch from Countess Guinigi, who had been her sponsor at Confirmation, which, however, she had worn only once.
Although Gemma says in her Autobiography that she had looked forward to wearing these ornaments, so as to please her father and those at home, nevertheless on her return home as she was taking off the necklace, she saw her Angel Guardian looking severely at her. 'Remember,' he said, 'that the ornaments of a spouse of a Crucified King are thorns and the Cross.' Her Guardian then disappeared. This is the first mention of those angelical apparitions which are such a remarkable feature of her life.
The visit and the reproof of the Angel made a deep impression. She immediately gave the offending ornaments to her brothers. 'Out of love for Jesus and to please Him, I will never wear or even speak of such vanities.' This was the resolution she then made and we know from her own words how well she kept it: 'From that day forward,' she wrote, ' I have had nothing to do with them.'
Gemma Galgani, the chosen bride of Christ, was to appear before the eyes of her heavenly Spouse, richly and splendidly arrayed in the precious ornaments mentioned by the Angel. Even at the time of the angelic visit, towards the end of 1893, the shadow of the Cross had appeared in her path, and thorns had torn her heart.
A YEAR OF DESOLATION
But it must not be thought that Gemma's life was full of that sweetness and peace of mind which she experienced on the day of her first Holy Communion; such is not the lot of those who follow the Crucified. Very soon the Divine Spouse of souls pressed to her lips that chalice of bitterness and sorrow which in her short life she drank to the very dregs. Her trial at this time was a deep dejection of mind, which she felt all the more because until now she had lived entirely and only for her heavenly Spouse. If all earthly helps and consolations were taken away, she would have accounted it as nothing, as will be seen from the following pages. But to feel no longer the presence of Jesus, to be as it were almost abandoned by Him, this was a torment too hard to bear. Those hours of desolation are terrible to souls on fire with love for God, and this trial is for them a decisive experience. If they struggle and conquer and persevere in their love, the way of great and rapid strides towards perfection and union with God is opened to them; if they give up the struggle and lay down their arms, they take a path that leads away from God, perhaps to eternal ruin.
Though Gemma came out of this trial victorious, it was only after a long and painful struggle. Instead of having consolation and pleasure in serving God, and ease in the practice of virtue, she now experienced repugnance for prayer and every exercise of piety, and weariness and sadness. Jesus seemed far away and unreal. She wept and cried out in her anguish, but her tears were in vain. Yet she persevered. The more God seemed to fly from her, the more earnestly did she seek Him.
During the whole course of this trial, which lasted a year, Gemma, although her heart was heavy, faithfully followed the path of duty. Nevertheless, she found in herself only faults. and failings. She believed she was giving scandal to everybody and often asked pardon for this with great humility. She even wanted to make another general confession, but her confessor prudently withheld his consent. 'I tried to make another general confession,' she wrote in her Autobiography, 'but I was refused permission. I confessed to Jesus, however, and He filled me with such great sorrow that I even feel it still. I asked the teachers to forgive me for all the annoyance I caused them. But this change in me did not please my father or my brothers. I was often reproved by one of my brothers for getting up early to go to Mass. Jesus, however, from then on helped me more than ever. At that time, owing to the death of my grandfather and an uncle, two of my father's sisters came to live with us.'
Gemma, in the above passage, reveals another source of sorrow and another temptation, which might have led a soulless strong than hers to become somewhat relaxed in the practice of piety. Her family did not understand her ever-growing desire for greater union with God, or her manner of life which was becoming every day secluded. Even her father, who was as we have seen a truly pious man, sided with the rest of the family in reproving her. They disapproved of her going to church both morning and evening, and wished her to lead what they considered an ordinary life to amuse herself, wear more fashionable clothes and to go out and about more often. It must have been a hard struggle for Gemma, but she persevered in her resolutions in the face of all opposition. To reward her fidelity God dispelled the darkness that had enveloped her and her soul, which emerged from the trial purified and strengthened. At length the attitude of her family changed and she was able to pursue in peace her pious practices.
SPIRITUAL EXERCISES, 1891
A long-desired opportunity to make closed retreat was offered to Gemma at this time, when the Zitine Sisters announced that a course of spiritual exercises was to be given at the College. She participated in them with zest. 'It seemed impossible,' she wrote, ' that I should ever again be able to concentrate my mind upon Jesus. . . . I well understood that Jesus gave me this opportunity in order that I might know myself better and become purified and more pleasing to Him.'
In her Autobiography she gives the notes she took at this Retreat: they are headed thus: 'A Retreat made in the year 189 I in which Gemma must change and give herself entirely to Jesus.' Then she continues:
'. . . I remember that the priest said: "Let us keep in mind that we are nothing and that God is all. God is our Creator; all that we have and are comes from Him." A few days later the preacher gave a meditation on sin, and then it was that I understood how worthy of being despised by all I was, because I was so full of sin and so ungrateful to God. During the meditation on Hell I realized how much I had merited it, and I made this resolution: I will make acts of contrition during the day, especially when I have committed some fault. . . . Finally during the last days of the Retreat we considered the examples of meekness, obedience and patience left to us by Jesus and as a result I made the following resolutions : (1) To make a visit to the Blessed Sacrament every day and to speak to Jesus more with the heart than with the tongue. (2) I will try as much as possible to speak of heavenly rather than of indifferent things.'
FURTHER TRIAL
The graces which Gemma received at this Retreat prepared her for another trial-another precious ornament with which to make herself more pleasing to her Crucified Master. This trial took the form of the early death of her brother Gino. He had also given himself entirely to God and had received Minor Orders in the Seminary of St. Michael in Foro, where he had been for some years, when God marked him as an acceptable victim and took him to Heaven.
Gino's death was preceded by a long sickness, in which he was nursed with the most loving care by Gemma. Despising the danger of infection Gino was attacked by the same disease that killed his mother-she attended him night and day until his death in September, 1894. Her grief was so great that she became seriously ill herself and for several months came very near to death. Her father was broken-hearted. First the death of his wife, then the death of Gino had overwhelmed him with sorrow, but he could not bear the loss of Gemma.
‘I cannot describe the care everyone took of me,' wrote Gemma, ' especially my father. I often saw him weep, and heard him ask Jesus to let him die instead of me.' It seems that his prayer was answered, for he died within three years, after three months of intense pain, whereas Gemma was completely restored to health.
At this point in her life we are confronted with several discrepancies in the accounts given by her biographers and the witnesses in the Processes for her Beatification. The former state that after the sickness just mentioned, Gemma left school for good, and that shortly afterwards she was taken ill with the decay, or caries, of a bone in her foot. On the other hand, Sister Julia Sestini declared that Gemma suffered from this complaint while she was still at College, and Elisa Galgani agrees with this opinion. This is the account Elisa Galgani gave in the processes :
‘Gemma got ill with a bad foot. There had been a swelling on the instep, and she would have said nothing about it, if a bench had not fallen on it when she was at school with the Zitine Sisters. This accident, however, burst the tumour and she was then compelled to tell her father about it. He at once summoned a doctor who said that an immediate operation was necessary. in order to clean the wound and scrape the bone. Gemma accepted this illness and the accompanying pain with great patience and resignation, so much so that when I said to her: "You have suffered a great deal, Gemma?" she just answered with a smile. She suffered so much indeed that I could not bring myself to watch her being operated upon. My sister Elena, however, and my nephew Guido, who remained to see the operation, said that at no time did she make any complaint. When the operation was over one of the doctors, named Gianni, said to Gemma :
"Well done, Gemma: You have been very brave!" And she smiled again.'
Sister Julia Sestini remembered that when Gemma was sick all the children prayed for her, and that when she was better she came to the school to thank everybody. She even kissed her teacher. 'This was in May, I believe,' continued Sister Julia.
‘When her foot was bad she suffered much, but she was calm and resigned. She had on her bed several objects of devotion, among them a Crucifix which she kissed frequently.'
From this time Gemma's path in life ran through thorny places. The further she proceeded along the road that leads to perfection, the sharper grew the thorns, so as to make her in the end the living image of her Crucified Redeemer.
CHAPTER V AT HOME -THE ANGEL OF THE HOME
The kiss Gemma gave to Sister Julia Sestini was the final expression of her gratitude . for the care bestowed upon her at the school where her soul had made such progress in virtue. Her sickness had so weakened her that the doctor advised her father to take her away from the College. She was, also, inclined to study too assiduously and frequently such remarks as these were addressed to her: 'Why so much study! Don't you know enough already?' Her father and friends, although proud of her scholastic attainments and the prizes she won, were more anxious that her health should be completely restored, and therefore welcomed the doctor's suggestion.
Gemma obeyed and settled down to the daily round in the home where she always gave 'an example of humility and patience.' According to her brother Guido, she was always meek and submissive, the peacemaker in all their childish quarrels, , the bearer of the olive branch.' Her Aunt Elisa reports how willingly she performed her domestic duties and that she directed her attention especially towards helping her younger brothers and sisters in every possible way, and in teaching them their prayers. 'Her example not only encouraged her brothers and sisters, but was the admiration of us, her aunts, and of her father.'
Alessandrina Maggi, a domestic servant of Gemma's uncles at Camaiore, made the following deposition :
‘I know that when at her father's wish she left school and remained at home, she carried out her duties to the admiration of all, and was occupied more with her brothers' and sisters' education than with material cares. I remember that sometimes she had to suffer much from one of her sisters. She never, however, was wanting in charity, nor became impatient with her .... Gemma always liked to say the morning and evening prayers with her brothers and sisters. She used to take the younger ones to Church, where every evening she taught them to say the Rosary and other family prayers.'
Guido also remembered that Gemma used to teach catechism not only to the children at home, but also to the children of the neighbourhood, and that she used to sew and embroider articles for the Church. She greatly venerated whatever pertained even indirectly to the Mass. On one occasion she made a piece of point lace to decorate an altar cloth for the private chapel of Mgr . Volpi.
SACRIFICE AND RENUNCIATION
It was not always easy for Gemma to be the bearer of the olive branch. In her home, as in every other home, the various members of the family did not always see eye to eye. One of the members of the household, irritated by the piety of Gemma and her aunts, shrugging the shoulders, used to say: ‘You are hypocrites!' Others, among them one of her sisters, disliked Gemma's ways and let her know it. To all offensive remarks, however, she replied patiently and sweetly. Years later when the sister in question asked forgiveness for her unkindness, Gemma bade her forget it and think rather of being good and of not offending God.
It should be remembered that when these things were happening Enrico was either dead or was already in the grip of the terrible disease-cancer of the throat-that caused his death. Otherwise no one would have dared to treat his favorite daughter so unkindly.
Two episodes in particular caused her virtues to shine forth conspicuously, and these virtues, which were the fruit of self-sacrifice, are eminently imitable. For it must not be forgotten that, according to the witnesses in the processes, Gemma had a lively and impulsive disposition, and only appeared outwardly calm and self-possessed because of her virtue and strength of will. The first episode is thus related in the Processes :
‘One of her brothers wished to attend the theatre one evening but had not enough money. Gemma tried to dissuade him from going and to put the matter out of his head. This upset him and matters were not improved by Gemma saying smilingly: "It's not worth getting upset about." His vexation then reached such a pitch that he gave her a blow in the eye that left a mark .... The next day, when asked what had happened to her, she answered with wonderful reticence: "I richly deserved it.".
The second episode was related by her Aunt Elisa:
‘In her dealings with her brothers and sisters she was always humble, even though, as the eldest daughter, she could have insisted upon her authority being respected. One day she reproved one of her sisters for standing at the window, and tried to induce her to come away, saying: "Our brothers do not like it, and besides, it is not the proper thing for us to do." Her sister turned round and becoming violently angry, caught Gemma by the hair. The noise quickly brought my sister Elena to the scene. When Elena reproached Gemma's sister with her want of self-control and with the evil she had done, Gemma, even in these circumstances, calm and collected, intervened by saying: " Aunt, it's all right, there is nothing to worry about." Afterwards she asked us not to speak of the incident to her brother Guido, who would certainly have punished the culprit.'
In spite of her dislike of amusements Gemma knew how to adapt herself occasionally to the wishes of her brothers. Once Mgr. Volpi persuaded her to go with them and her little sisters, accompanied by an aunt, to see a children's play in which her brother Anthony was taking part. As a rule, however, she not only abstained from such amusements, but even induced others not to attend them. At home she sometimes took part with her brothers and sisters in some game or other, but it was only out of politeness.
LOVE OF HER NEIGHBOUR
Gemma's charity, which indeed made her the angel of her home, was not restricted to her family. She practiced this virtue over a wide field according to the circumstances in which she found herself. She wrote in her Autobiography:
‘Every time I went out I used to ask father for money, and if, as sometimes happened, he refused I would take bread and flour and other things. And God arranged that I should often meet poor people, every time I left the house. To the poor who. came to the door I gave clothes and whatever else I had. Then my confessor forbade me to do this, and I did not do it any more, and by this Jesus worked in me a new conversion. F or since my father no longer gave me money and I could not take anything from the house, when I went out and the poor came to me, I had nothing to give them. This was a great sorrow and always made me weep, that in the end I only left the house when it was absolutely necessary to do so.'
Elisa Galgani had some interesting things to say about this aspect of Gemma's life:
‘She often visited the sick in the Hospital, to whom she brought a little money or something else, and whom she comforted especially by speaking of God. She also overflowed with charity for the poor and used every means in her power to help them. Sometimes she would take something from the house to take to an old man who lived at the corner of our street. At that time we ourselves were in reduced circumstances, so that I felt compelled to tell her : " There will be nothing left for our own supper." Gemma used to answer: "Providence will give us plenty." And indeed, several times things were brought to us to give to the sick or the poor. She also used to work for the poor, made them stockings and mended for them. Naturally she could not spend much money upon these charities, but she was large-hearted and longed for opportunities to work for her neighbour.'
Besides the old man already mentioned, there was a young country girl to whom Gemma gave a frock, and another person for whom she procured some Marsala wine when he was sick. These acts of charity made her Aunt Elisa uneasy, and she told Gemma that if she continued to be so liberal she would leave nothing for herself. Gemma replied calmly that one frock was all she needed.
SPIRIT OF PIETY
Love for God was the inspiring motive behind Gemma's charity towards her neighbor. 'Her life was a continual prayer,' said Father Gentile Pardini, a Franciscan who knew her very well and who often heard her confession. 'For her the Crucifix was a book.' According to another witness Gemma's thoughts were always centered upon God. Every day she made a meditation upon one of the mysteries of Faith, most often upon the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ. She was sometimes seen seated in an arm-chair rapt in profound recollection as she looked at a picture of Our Lady of Sorrows which she held in her hand. When she was ill in bed her Aunt Elisa was sometimes astonished to hear her say' incomprehensible things.' Does this refer to ecstasies which later on became so numerous? It would seem so, if one takes into account what Gemma wrote about herself at this time. 'I began to feel another desire, a longing to love Jesus Crucified with all my heart, and to be able to help Him in His sufferings.' This desire eventually became so intense that one day on fixing her attention upon an image of the Crucified, she fell unconscious to the ground. When she recovered, her father reproved her for remaining indoors so much. There were two mornings when she could not go to Mass, and she told her father: ' I suffer when I am not near Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.' Hearing which her father became still more uneasy. She said that she then locked herself in her room and gave vent to her feelings, for the first time with Jesus alone. 'I want to follow Thee whatever the cost in suffering-to follow Thee fervently. No, Jesus, I shall no longer displease Thee by serving Thee in a lukewarm way as I have done until now .... '
This outpouring of her heart to God resulted in the following resolutions: 'Greater fervour in prayer; more frequent reception of Holy Communion; Jesus, I want to suffer, to suffer so much for Thee; prayers will be always on my lips.' And indeed occasions of suffering were not wanting. Her crucified Master bestowed these precious gifts so bountifully upon her that she could write: ' I can say with truth that since the death of mother I have not passed a day without suffering something, however little, for Jesus.'
Gemma's devotion towards Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament was even at this time remarkable. Elisa Galgani deposed:
‘Once when she was ill in bed with fever I told her that to get up too soon would make her worse. "How can I live without Jesus?" she replied. " When I have Jesus I have everything." When I had left the room she arose and went to receive Communion, in her house slippers. Afterwards I told her that I would ask Mgr. Volpi to forbid her to go. "Obedience is a holy thing," she answered, and the following morning she did not go. She made her preparation and thanksgiving for Holy Communion with great devotion, and when, owing to sickness, she was unable to make her thanksgiving in the Church she completed it at home. Sometimes after receiving Communion she went into ecstasy, or so it appeared to me.'
How great was her fervour and how deep the impression she made on those who saw her receive Holy Communion may be learned from the deposition of a convert from Protestantism, Miss Ethel Rose, a woman of great faith and piety and of an heroic spirit of charity.
‘One day I saw her in the Church of St. Michael and I was most edified at the way she received Holy Communion. I had come to go to confession to Monsignor Volpi and was waiting in the Church until my turn came, there being several persons before me. In the meantime a priest came to give Holy Communion and among those who received was a young girl who impressed me very much, not only by her modesty and recollection, but also by the extreme pallor of her face. She attracted my attention and aroused my interest so much that I watched her for about a quarter of an hour. I saw how she received Jesus and how having received Him her face flushed with burning love as she knelt in profound recollection with hands joined before her breast, her fingers entwined and her head slightly bowed. She seemed a statue.'
To complete this picture of Gemma's fervor and piety at this period of her life, a few details out of the many given in the Processes for the Beatification follow. One witness speaks of her devotion to the Blessed Virgin, and remembered that she was accustomed to say: 'The Lord indeed has taken away my mother, but He has left us the Blessed Virgin.' The Blessed Virgin was often the subject of her meditations. She made novenas in preparation for her Feasts and loved to attend sermons in her honor. Another witness spoke of Gemma's love for the saints, especially for St. Anthony of Padua, because, she said, he was the friend of God. She liked to have pictures of the saints to distribute, so as to spread devotion to them. Elisa Galgani said about this aspect of her life :
'No matter where Gemma was she was always praying and meditating, whether it was in Church or at home, or in bed. Sometimes she used books to help her to meditate. She often said : " Mental prayer is better than vocal prayer." And I remember that during the long winter evenings she and her sister Julia used to stop their work in turns in order to read passages from the lives of the saints. Sometimes she commented upon the reading. "See how the saints practiced penance. We must try to imitate them." And when I objected: "But they were saints!" she answered, "And we can be saints also." So that I can say that Gemma prayed without ceasing, and preached to us all, not only by example, but also by word.'
Yes, she preached. In the house she would not tolerate a doubtful book or paper. And she also knew how to console and comfort her brothers and sisters in their troubles, so that it was commonly said: ' There's no one like Gemma.'
But from Gemma's deep spirit of piety there were other fruits besides those which have been mentioned. When she was at the College of the Zitine Sisters, she became proficient at painting, some of her water-colors being so good that they were judged worthy of public exhibition. Because of this her Aunt Elisa tried to persuade her to paint a picture so as to let her father see how capable she was. But she could not be induced to do so, and she gave this as her reason: 'No, because it might afterwards be hung in the drawing-room, and everyone would see what Gemma has done. That is vanity and I do not want it. Besides, you praised me the other day for a trifle I did for you, and I did not like it because I do not wish to be praised.' On another occasion her aunt asked her to give French lessons, but the only answer she received was: , Really, I am very ignorant.'
Another incident illustrates her angelic purity.
While her father was still living, a chemist's assistant had the audacity to address improper words to her and make improper suggestions. She was horrified and took to flight immediately, leaving the vile tempter very much confused.
Once she greatly surprised her aunt by asking her to take her to a milliner's shop. Her aunt did so, wondering all the while what was going to happen. When they reached the shop, Gemma asked for a hat with a wide rim that turned down over her face -so that no one could see her face when she was out. The store owner remarked that a hat like that was not in fashion, and that it did not suit a girl who was as good-looking as she was. Gemma, however, replied: 'Make it as I ask, because I want it like that.' The reasons for this choice will be seen in the pages that follow.
CHAPTER VI - THE INHERITANCE OF THE ELECT -IN THE CRUCIBLE
The years 1896 and 1897 were years of anxiety and sorrow for the Galgani family. At this time Enrico Galgani's affairs were no longer flourishing. The long sickness of his wife and of his son Gino, added to the sickness of his sister Elisa and of Gemma, exhausted his resources and he was compelled to sell not only his country house but even his home in Lucca. So dire did things become in the end that he was unable to pay Gemma's school fees and had to keep her at home. 'Gemma once told me,' deposed Sister Julia Sestini, 'that she could no longer pay the monthly pension, and I therefore spoke to the Superior about it, and she allowed her to come to the College as usual.'
But the hardest blow the family received was given by Enrico Galgani himself, unintentionally of course. He was a very charitable man, simple and incapable of deceiving anyone. His one fault was that he could not believe that anyone would deceive him. In this world there are only too many who live in bad faith and who have no scruple about the means they employ to attain their own ends. When some bills of exchange fell due, the ruin of the family was complete. All he possessed was seized. Only his religion and the prayers of his holy daughter Gemma sustained him in this trial.
However, his affliction was so great that his health gave way and he never recovered. He developed a cancer in the throat and was in great pain. (Gemma looked after him with all the affection of a daughter,' said Elisa Galgani, ( and made certain that he received the Last Sacraments in good time, and had all the comforts and blessings of the Church.' Although Gemma, like all the family, had much to endure during these sorrowful days, she was always resigned to the dispositions of Providence. She herself confessed that when she saw everyone around her cast down, especially after the loss of their property, she used to go to her room, feeling herself unable to take part in such exhibitions of hopeless sorrow. On the contrary, she was inclined to be pleased that God had treated her family in that way, and thanked Him for His Goodness. Such sentiments could be felt only by one whose life was animated by the liveliest faith.
It was indeed her lively faith that sustained Gemma. This is seen in her Autobiography, where she declares in her humility that this perfect resignation to the Divine Will arose from her insensibility and hardness of heart.
‘I alone was without heart and indifferent in the midst of all this sorrow. The thing that saddened the others most was that, added to the illness of my father, we were deprived of all means of support. I understood one morning the greatness of the sacrifice that Jesus was asking. I wept a great deal, but He made Himself felt so much in my soul in those days of sorrow, and my father was so resigned to die, that I was strong enough to bear this heavy misfortune calmly." [Autobiographia, pp. 35, 36]
HER FATHER'S DEATH
On November II, 1897, Enrico Galgani died in his fifty-seventh year. A cousin of Gemma's, Luigi Bartelloni, remembered the sorrowful scene well :
‘It is impossible to describe the scene that met our eyes when we reached the house, the prospect of their father's death had so cast down all the members of the family. Gemma was not weeping; rather she seemed petrified. This is not hearsay, for I saw it with my own eyes. We found the father in a comatose state. But as soon as Gemma had recovered from the first shock, she helped her brothers with all the sorrowful arrangements which have to be made in such circumstances . . . and she gave an example of resignation, fortitude and forethought, especially to her younger brothers and her elderly aunts.'
Gemma was not present when her father died and it was the family doctor, Del Prete, who brought her the news. Calling her aside he said he had something to tell her. (How is father?' she asked. 'He is gone to Heaven,' was the answer. Then from her heart a cry burst forth-a cry long withheld, but which was henceforth to be always uppermost: 'Now it is time for me to be a nun.' But strong as was her will-power, nature must have its tribute also. She fainted. When she recovered she reproached herself for having allowed herself to weep, because tears are unworthy of a spouse of Jesus Crucified. She wrote afterwards in her Autobiography:
‘The day father died Jesus forbade me to give way to cries and useless tears, and I passed the day in prayer, being very resigned to the will of God Who had then become my earthly Father as well as my heavenly Father.' [Autobiographia, PP' 35, 36]
Elisa Galgani deposed in the Processes for the Beatification :
‘Gemma felt the death of her father very much and wept a great deal, but she resigned herself to God's will ... and began at once to help the soul of her poor father with prayers and Communion. The morning after his death she would have liked to go to Church to receive Communion, but I said that we should receive together after the body had been removed from the house. She acquiesced in this arrangement and on the following day went to Communion, and thus began a practice she continued ever afterwards.'
CRUELTY AND HEROISM
But all the details have not yet been disclosed of what happened around the deathbed of that honest and upright man, while his seven children looked on helplessly, stunned by the blow they had received. It seems impossible that men should be so cruel, or that greed for money should so deaden the most elementary feelings of compassion.
Scarcely had the news of Enrico Galgani's death got abroad when his creditors arranged with the authorities to send police and bailiffs to close his shop and seize all his furniture. They went further. They searched the children's pockets and made them hand over every penny they had. Gemma mentioned this herself: 'They put their hands in my pocket and took the five or six soldi I had.' Cecilia Giannini, Gemma's adopted mother, who will be frequently met with in these pages, said:
‘Gemma knew the name of the man who had put his hand in her pocket but she would never tell me his name. I found it out later on, and I know that he died in the hospital. Nor did she ever speak of the other creditors.'
REDUCED TO DIRE WANT
Thus the Galgani family was in the literal sense of the word thrown out on the roadside, with nothing left except their tears. To crown their misfortune their aunts, who had signed over their property to their brother, also lost all they possessed. This family of nine was therefore reduced to absolute poverty. The sad story is told by two witnesses. Cecilia Giannini deposed:
‘The family was ruined and at times reduced to such straits that it was necessary to solicit help from others ... to beg. Elisa Galgani told me that it was she who went out to try and get something for a family that was dying of hunger, and how she met a man who gave her a franc with which she bought a loaf of bread and a few things to bring home. During the months in which Gemma came to us and returned home in the evening, she used not to stay for dinner, because we dined late, and I usually accompanied her home after Benediction. Once I said to her: " You won't be offended if I buy you a couple of eggs ? You can eat them when you get home." She answered that she certainly would not be offended, so I bought them and gave them to her. I afterwards learned that she had used them to make an omelette on which the family dined. But she told me this only when I insisted, and on condition that I would not divulge it. Having thus come to know of their poverty, I used to give things to the aunts, who willingly accepted what I gave. When about to set out to accompany Gemma home in the evening, I sometimes said to her: "Do you want anything? Have you something to eat when you get home?" And sometimes she would say: "Let me have a little wine and that will do for my supper." And that was all she wanted; she used to say even that it was too much. When she reached home she would say that she had already had her supper.'
Justina Giannini on her side deposed that the Galgani family was so badly off that often they had nothing to eat, and that it was said that collections were made throughout the city for these poor people who had once known ease and comfort, and who in consequence were ashamed to beg and thus make their poverty known.
According to Elisa Galgani this state of affairs lasted a long time. 'We had nothing. The Court and the creditors took all. In the beginning we depended upon the charity of the good, but afterwards Guido got a position as chemist at the City Hospital.' Gemma, however, was not appalled by the poverty to which she and her family were reduced, because she considered poverty and the sorrows of life as precious gifts from God-as an ignored inheritance reserved by Him for the elect.
‘This is the state of life God desired for us,' she often said to the family, and was content thus to fulfil the will of God. 'And not only did she love to be poor,' continued her aunt, ' but she encouraged us to love it also. And at this time we were in want even of necessaries!' According to her own account she tried to bear the heaviest burdens that arose from this state of affairs and to alleviate the sufferings which the others endured as a result of their poverty. 'No matter how small it was,' said Elisa Galgani, ' Gemma always reserved the smallest portion for herself.' And another witness declared that she ate very little in order to have more to give to her brothers.
Gemma knew how to inspire others with her own confidence in God. A domestic servant from her uncle's home at Camaiore, deposed:
‘In these sad circumstances Gemma found a means of exciting even myself to have confidence in the Providence of God. She used to say to me: "Say the Rosary of five decades with these words: 'Providence of God, have mercy on me.' When you have said that ten times, add: 'Providence of God, You have provided for me,' or, 'Providence of God, You will provide.' "
Gemma also expressed the same sentiments to her Aunt Elisa, ' Have patience, have patience, God will provide.' And God always did provide.
CHAPTER VII - AT CAMAIORE WITH HER UNCLE AND AUNT
In order to relieve the distress of the family, at least partially, Gemma's uncle and aunt who lived at Camaiore decided to take her to live with them. She was their favorite niece. For seven or eight years Gemma had been accustomed to spend a few months every year at Camaiore with the Lencioni family, who now did their best to make her forget her recent sorrow by surrounding her with every possible care. Elisa Galgani has left us an account of this visit :
‘After the death of her father, her uncle and aunt invited her to go to Camaiore so as to distract her mind and to restore her health. These our relatives were very good to the family and affectionate towards all, but especially towards Gemma. Besides they were rich and wanted Gemma to make her permanent home with them. One day her uncle said to her: "If you will remain with us I shall leave you as much money as I shall leave my other niece who lives with us." To which Gemma demurred: "Oh no! I am going to be a nun. However, if you will give me something for a dowry I shall be very grateful."’
Her cousin Luigi Bartelloni gave the following evidence concerning her conduct during her stay at Camaiore:
‘Every morning Gemma went with my sister Rosa to hear Mass and receive Holy Communion. Afterwards they attended to their household duties and served in the drapery shop with my uncle until about twelve o'clock. which was dinner time. After dinner, at about half-past twelve, they visited the Church called Badia, where they remained in prayer until a quarter to two. They then returned to the shop until about six, when they again went to pay a visit to the Blessed Sacrament. After the evening meal the family recited the Rosary and other prayers together and then passed about a half an hour in conversation before all retired to their rooms, and this was done with a method and a precision proper to my Uncle Dominic's home.
‘I have been referring until now to Gemma's external life. What I can say about her interior life is little, but it manifests her sanctity. First of all she fulfilled with exactness, generosity and delicacy all her duties, not only towards her uncle and aunt and cousins, but also towards the domestic, Alessandrina Valsuani, and all others. Serving in the shop with her uncle and her cousin, as I have said, she had plenty of opportunity for gossiping, but she avoided the temptation by retiring to one of the upper rooms. Towards all she showed charity, respect, tolerance and politeness. Sometimes she acted as peacemaker, especially between my uncle and Alessandrina Valsuani ... whom she often assisted in her duties. I believe, nay, I am certain that Gemma and my sister were often so recollected in prayer when in the shop that my uncle had to reprove them. Gemma used to try very hard to reconcile my father and grandmother, whom worldly interests had estranged. '
The picture is so well drawn, and therefore we could not refrain from giving Bartelloni's evidence in its entirety, so that the reader might miss none of the perfume of Gemma's charity in her dealings with her neighbor. Further details from the recollections of other witnesses in the Processes bring into clearer light her conduct during this short interlude in her short life.
Alessandrina Valsuani when called upon to give evidence still retained the sweet impressions which Gemma's attitude had left with her. ' Poor Gemma! ' she said. 'Many times after I had shown her some kindness or other she said to me: "If I cannot reward you in this life for all you have done for me I shall reward you when I am dead." And indeed I feel that Gemma has kept her promise and thought of me. . . . She ate very little and never made any complaint or remarked upon the food that was provided, so much so that her aunt sometimes looked after Gemma's food herself, in the hope of inducing her to eat or drink a little more. . . . Gemma was equally indifferent to what was pleasing or displeasing to her; she never asked for anything, or desired that we should make any effort in regard to her nourishment.'
According to her cousin Luigi Bartelloni, Gemma and his sister spent nearly the whole of every Sunday and feast day in prayer in the Church. He never once heard her speak of frivolous things. , In a word,' he concluded, ' Gemma possessed and practiced all the virtues in an extraordinary manner -a heroic manner. It can be said that there was something divine about her.'
A SEVERE JUDGEMENT OF HERSELF
Very different is the account of herself which Gemma gives in her Autobiography which-it must not be forgotten--she intended to be what she called 'the book of her sins.' 'My aunt had another niece staying with her,' she wrote, ' and we became friends. In getting into mischief we were equally proficient. Our aunt told us to go out alone together, and I see clearly now that if Jesus had not had pity on my weakness, I should have fallen into grave sins, for the love of the world was slowly taking possession of my heart.' But who was this niece with whom Gemma declared herself to have been a competitor in mischief? Why did she speak so severely about herself?
The young girl mentioned by Gemma was the sister of Luigi Bartelloni whose evidence has been given above. Certainly from what he reported it would be very difficult to see anything wrong in their conduct. We know, however, that the saints are severe judges of themselves and their actions.
Rosa Bartelloni was an angelic creature, of the same age as Gemma and like her in many respects. When Gemma died, Rosa wept indeed, but also rejoiced because--she said--she knew her heart's friend was in Heaven and would think of her. She herself was always in delicate health and died a holy death in 1918.
Luigi and Rosa were the grandchildren of Dominic Lencioni whose daughter their father had married. On her death, however, their father married Carola Galgani, Enrico Galgani's sister.
A few more details will be added so as to understand more clearly the severity of Gemma's self judgment. Gemma had always edified the Camaiore household by her many virtues, and her return each year was keenly anticipated. Her stay there is well remembered even to-day. 'Nearly every morning she could be seen praying in an attitude of the greatest recollection, yet without affectation. The way she was dressed, almost like a nun, attracted one's attention. Besides the Collegiata, she used also to attend the Badia where her confessor, Canon Dominic Masini, was stationed, being then in charge of that venerable Sanctuary. . . . There are many who remember finding Gemma Galgani kneeling before the altar of the Pieta, and leaving her there. Sandrina Maggi, then Valsuani, formerly a domestic servant at the Lencioni home, and one who was in Gemma's confidence, declared that Gemma often told her that when kneeling before the Pieta she experienced a great and almost irresistible feeling of love for the Passion of Jesus Christ and the sorrows of His holy Mother, along with a feeling of distaste for everything life offered to youth, and that before that image she had sworn to give herself entirely and forever to God ....
'Sandrina Maggi maintained relations with Gemma until her death, and she records with emotion her beautiful gifts of mind and heart, in particular her desire to help the needy. . . . One evening when passing along the Vado road, they met an old woman who asked an alms of them, saying that she was suffering from the cold because she was insufficiently clad. As it happened that very morning Gemma had finished renovating a heavy under-skirt which her aunt had given her. Seeing a sheltered doorway, she entered it and taking off the under-skirt gave it to the old woman, saying: " Pray for me that the Lord may set me on fire with His love." She was clever at everything a woman should know how to do. Sandrina Maggi possessed a well worked out design for a coverlet Gemma had made, which was exhibited when her evidence was taken during the Processes for the Beatification.' [Versa it Santuario, a monthly magazine, published at Camaiore, 1930]
ALL FOR JESUS AND HIM ALONE
After her father's death, however, Gemma disliked living at Camaiore. The crosses received again and again from the hand of God had more and more detached her heart from the world, and had filled her with an indescribable longing to raise herself as far above earth as she could and to unite herself with God. She did not feel at home in a drapery shop, notwithstanding the affection and piety of her relatives. So she spent the greater part of the day away from the shop. Furthermore, she was in a sad state of spiritual aridity, and felt in great need of Monsignor Volpi's help. But he was far away in Lucca. What was she to do -go back home?
Gemma was neither tall nor thin-according to Sister Gesualda who knew her -but good-looking, attractive, with fine features, big, luminous eyes, an enchanting smile, and a sweet expression. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that several. men should fall in love with her. Already at Lucca, when she was about sixteen years of age, when her father was still alive, she was sought after officially by a young cavalry lieutenant. Elisa Galgani tells the story:
‘I used to accompany Gemma to the College of the Zitine Sisters. One day Gemma said to me: "Come with me always to the gate, because there "-she pointed to a corner of the street- "that silly fellow awaits my coming and stares at me." One day when I was taking Gemma for a walk, I was stopped by a lieutenant whom I recognized as the man whom she had called a" silly fellow." He said: " Signora, I wish to speak to you." "Speak," I answered, " what do you want?" "I should like to become betrothed to that young girl who is standing by. Please, I am serious. Is she your daughter?" To which I replied: "She is still but a child, and besides she does not want to be married." The lieutenant stood frowning for a while and then exclaimed: " I am very sorry. She appears to be such a good girl. And I am a respectable young man and come from a good family. If you want to know about me I will tell you who I am and about my family, and where we live." But Gemma came up to me hastily and said: "Let us go, let us go home." We went, as usual, to a church to visit the Blessed Sacrament, and say our prayers. I noticed that for some time the lieutenant followed Gemma. He contented himself, however, with passing the house and looking up at the windows, at which no one appeared. When these things were known Gemma used to say to me: "I don't want any men around." ,
At Camaiore young man of distinguished family fell in love with Gemma, and came with his father to interview her uncle. This turn of events appeared to be a providential means of retrieving the fortunes of her family. But Gemma already had given her life to her Crucified Savior, and her desires were not those of earth. It is easy to imagine the efforts that were made to change Gemma's mind, but none of them succeeded in altering her determination to give no love a place in her heart save the love of Jesus.
There was another young man from Camaiore-a chemist-who wanted to marry Gemma. Let Alessandrina Valsuani, a witness well known to the reader, tell this incident in her own words :
‘ . . . This man went so far as to ask me to tell Gemma that he loved her. When I scornfully refused to do that.: he had the effrontery to write a letter to her and to make me be the bearer of it. Gemma, with an expression of disgust and disapproval, said: " Look at that foolish fellow! Wait a moment, I will write a few words to him and you can take the letter to him." But when I refused to take it she thought for a moment and then said : " I shall go myself," and she tore up the letter. And, indeed, Gemma went with me to the garden of a man named Ghivizzona, whose house was near to the chemist's shop and to our house. I told Ghivizzona that Gemma wished to speak to a young man from the chemist's and that she would be obliged if he would allow them to meet in his garden in his presence. Then leaving Gemma and Ghivizzona together, I went to the chemist's to tell the young man. " Gemma wants to speak to you," I said, " and she is with Ghivizzona in his garden waiting for you. Go, she expects you." He went at once and found Gemma where I said. I was not present at the meeting because I went to tell her aunt what had happened. But I had hardly done this when I returned to Ghivizzona's garden. Gemma was already on her way home. The young man had returned to the shop. As soon as she saw me (Ghivizzona was still with her) Gemma exclaimed: "You will see whether I shall be left alone. Do you know what I said to him? I told him not to think of me, not even to look at me, because I belong to Jesus, and that all my thoughts and affections were for Him alone." And indeed the young man, although I believe he continued to think of her, manifested his regard for her.'
RETURN TO LUCCA
All these happenings saddened Gemma and made her long for the poverty of her own home where at least she would be free from such importunities. But it was not going to be easy to find an excuse to return home. The affection her uncle and aunt bore her was one of the chief difficulties. Therefore with lively faith she began to beg of God-as sometimes in the early centuries of the Church the virgins and martyrs begged of God-to come to her aid and to free her, even at the cost of her health, from the dangers which threatened her. And God heard her prayer. She was struck down with a serious illness. ‘All of a sudden,' she tells us, ' I began to suffer from curvature of the spine and to experience violent pains in my back." [Autobiographia, p. 37]
To Gemma this seemed a suitable opportunity for suggesting to her relatives the advisability of returning home to her own family. She had made up her mind to do so . and nothing could turn her from her decision. All were sorrow stricken, and even her Uncle Dominic, reputed to be an unemotional man, shed tears, but they had to yield to her wishes.
So Gemma returned to Lucca, where her illness, far from being cured, grew steadily worse owing to the privations necessarily imposed by the poverty of her family.
CHAPTER VIII - FROM DEATH TO LIFE -NAILED TO THE CROSS WITH JESUS
Elisa Galgani was very surprised at Gemma's return to Lucca; not that she was not glad to see her, but the poverty of the home was so great! Furthermore, she did not appear to be in good health. Elisa Galgani therefore could not refrain from putting a leading question. , Oh! Why have you come back, Gemma? Perhaps they did not treat you well ?' 'Yes, I was treated well and I am well, but you know, there were persons there who wanted to marry me. But... I want to belong entirely to Jesus.'
‘At home Gemma once more began her daily round of household duties and her practices of piety. But the illness that showed itself at Camaiore continued its implacable course. The pains in her back became so severe and the spinal curvature so marked that she was compelled to make her sufferings known to her aunt. The evil,· however, had made great progress before she spoke about it. Elisa Galgani decided that a doctor should be summoned, but she hesitated somewhat because of Gemma's modesty. As a child Gemma had been struck by the words of St. Paul, the Apostle: ' Your bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost.' Ever since that time she had guarded her body with the utmost jealousy. She did not allow herself even now to look so as to find out what might be the cause of her present suffering. No wonder her aunt hesitated to send for a doctor. Gemma experienced a feeling of extreme repugnance at the very idea. She mentions these details herself in her Autobiography:
‘Already for a long time I had felt pain in that part, but I did not want to touch it or look at it, because when I was a little child I had heard in a sermon that our bodies were the temples of the Holy Ghost. These words impressed me, and so far as I have been able I have carefully guarded my body. What agony I suffered when I had to submit to a medical examination. Every time I heard the doctor coming I used to cry. [Autobiographia, pp. 38-39]
But Gemma's condition was growing worse. She was now subject to violent headaches. She became deaf. Her hair fell out, and her members became paralyzed. The doctor was sent for. Elisa Galgani made good use of the authority she had over Gemma, for she knew that her desire to be obedient was the only means of overcoming her repugnance to seeing a doctor.
At his first examination, the doctor-his name was Del Prete-found that Gemma had an advanced abscess in the lumbar region, which seemed to communicate with the spine. To make sure he decided upon a consultation, and the result was a verdict that she was suffering from tuberculosis of the spine -a serious disease and very difficult to cure.
The first abscess was followed by another. It was lanced again and again and medicated glycerine injected into it. When Gemma heard that among other remedies the doctor intended to try the cauterizing iron, she asked him smilingly as if the question referred to some other person: 'Doctor, are you going to do the cauterizing ?' During that operation the patient, as is easy to understand, suffers a great deal, but on the testimony of the doctors Gemma never uttered a word, and bore the pain calmly and almost with indifference.
These remedies made her no better, and she passed her days and nights lying in the same position, unless someone helped her to change it. And in this state she remained for a year. After the operation referred to above she had to wear an iron corset, which had to be ordered from a man in Pisa named Redini, who came on purpose to Lucca to fit it on. I t was very heavy and uncomfortable according to Elisa Galgani-and Gemma, who wore it day and night with only her hands free, was as it were crucified.
The financial state of the family had not improved during this time. Far from becoming better, things had come to such a pass that it was impossible to find a person who was willing to lend them anything. To find money to provide the remedies prescribed for Gemma was not the greatest hardship, however. Gemma's known virtue brought to her bedside a number of visitors who liked to be edified by the sight of her patient endurance of such terrible sufferings. But no one was allowed to know the extent of the family's poverty. Gemma did not speak of it because, loving to suffer, she did not wish to be deprived of this means of making herself more like her crucified Spouse. The others did not speak of it because the memory of the ease and comfort they had once enjoyed filled them with an extreme repugnance to make known their present misery.
A SCHOOL OF VIRTUE
Even in her poverty Gemma found a means of giving alms. The following is an account of her charity given by Elisa Galgani :
‘She was always praying for sinners, and often said to me : " You ought to pray for them also, because if you save a soul you will go to heaven." My nephew Anthony who used to be at the Giannini Pharmacy found out that the water woman who brought water to our house was living in sin with a certain man. He therefore wanted to dismiss her there and then, but spoke of the matter only to Gemma and me. " Let me speak to her," Gemma said .. "Why send her away without giving her time to reflect? Jesus did not send Mary Magdalen away, but received her kindly." Her brother said: "Do as you like." The next day the water carrier came and Gemma spoke to her kindly about the evil life she was leading. The woman admitted the evil, but said that she was living with him because he paid the rent. Gemma answered: "If that is the reason, I shall pay the rent myself, provided you leave that man, and that you go to confession to the Father Prior of St. Peter's here in Lucca and return to the friendship of God." The woman did as she had promised and never ceased to thank Gemma for the grace she was the means of obtaining for her. She used to say : "She is a saint .... I used to think it was impossible to forsake the life of sin into which I had fallen." True to her word Gemma as long as she lived paid the woman's rent from the little money she received every month from her aunt at Camaiore. She never lost sight of her and saw to it that she was given a cup of coffee every morning.'
The names of only a few of those who visited Gemma during her illness will be mentioned. Sister Mary Angela Ghiselli, of the Nursing Sisters of St. Camillus, deposed that in the midst of all her sufferings Gemma never uttered a word of complaint, but was always the same, patient, silent and good. Palmira Valentini is another whose name will be met with frequently in these pages. She has left us an account of how she first came to visit Gemma during this illness. , Victoria Mallegni spoke to me about her,' she explained. 'I went without any introduction to see her in her home in the Via del Biscione. She welcomed me kindly, and asked me if I went to Holy Communion every day. When I answered yes, she gave me a smile of pleasure and praise.' When Gemma was restored to health, she returned these numerous visits to Palmira Valentini, who has declared that when Gemma came to her house, she felt she was unworthy of having such a visitor.
Another who helped Gemma by her visits was Signora Martinucci. She it was who, with the intention of encouraging her to pray for a cure, lent her the Life of St. Gabriel, the Passionist-at that time not yet beatified-who was filling the world with the fame of the miracles worked at his tomb. The book belonged to Cecilia Giannini, who later on was to play such an important part in the life of Gemma, although as yet she did not know her. This is Cecilia Giannini's account of how the book came into Gemma's hands-until this time Gemma had not even heard of St. Gabriel.
'In the beginning I was acquainted with neither Gemma nor her family, though I often heard a certain chemist named Galgani spoken of. The first time I heard the family mentioned was when Gemma was sick and her aunts sent to me to ask for a relic of St. Gabriel who was then only Venerable. I did not know the aunts to speak to then, but I sent the relic and some pictures of the saint. I had lent the Life of St. Gabriel to Signora Martinucci, who is now dead, and she sent to ask me if she might lend it to a sick girl who was very anxious to have it. I agreed and she kept it for some months. When it was not returned I asked Signora Martinucci to get it for me. I found out afterwards that Gemma felt the parting with it so much that she wept.'
Another visitor who saw Gemma frequently was her former school teacher, Sister Julia Sestini. She deposed in the Processes:
‘At the unveiling of the statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, about 1899, I met Gemma's aunt, who told me that she was ill and that she would like to see me. I asked permission of the Superior and then I went to see her on Thursday and Sunday during the walk hour. We made triduums and novenas together, but she used to say to me that it didn't matter whether she got better or not, provided Jesus was pleased. It was at this time that I gave her a little blessed Crucifix, and she afterwards told me that she had received signal graces through it. The last novena we made was to the Sacred Heart and to Blessed Margaret Mary Alacoque.'
The name of St. Margaret Mary was as new to the servant of God as that of St. Gabriel. Her confessor, Monsignor Volpi, who was at this time spiritual director to the Visitation Nuns at Lucca, had spoken about her, and so had Don Andrew Bartoloni, the parish priest of St. Frediano's, who came frequently to visit her and to bring her Holy Communion. The latter deposed:
‘Every Saturday I brought her Holy Communion. She used to go to confession to Monsignor Volpi, who is my cousin. She was attacked by a disease which some said was spinal; others said it was paralysis, others Pott's disease. I could not say exactly. It was for the fifteen Saturdays called the Saturdays of Pompeii that I brought her Holy Communion. I brought her Holy Communion on a few other occasions, for she was ill for many months. On one occasion when I visited her I had just returned from France, where I had said Mass at Paray-le-Monial. She seemed very interested in the Sanctuary there and asked me about the devotion to Blessed Margaret Mary which was practiced there.'
And while Don Andrew Bartoloni was answering Gemma's questions, on his side he received, in compensation, great edification. He tells us this himself:
'Through her illness she was, as it were, rigid. She could raise only her head and shoulders a little. She used to say to me: " See, I am crucified; I cannot move." But nevertheless she never uttered a word of complaint. She was always jovial, smiling and peaceful. I t seemed to me that she had a most extraordinary resignation. She had her Rosary or a holy picture always in her hand or under her pillow. Even the family seemed peaceful, because Gemma was so calm. Sometimes when I was leaving the house, they said to me: " Isn't Gemma very resigned? "
REPROOF AND COMFORT FROM ABOVE
Before continuing Gemma's story, it is necessary to go back a little in order to follow the different phases of her illness. She suffered a great deal not only from the actual pains of her disease, but also from the straitened circumstances of the family. Sometimes she thought she detected a certain weariness in the general demeanor of those about her. , Even Aunt Elisa,' she said, ' appears to care for me no longer, but it is the will of God.' Her Divine Spouse, however, Who desired to make His chosen one a woman truly strong, reproved her for these outbursts. This is how Gemma referred to it :
'One morning after I had received Holy Communion at home, I was particularly conscious of the presence of Jesus within me. He reproved me severely, saying that I was a weak soul. "It is your wicked self-love "-He said -" that is the cause of your being annoyed when you cannot do what others can do, and the cause of your feeling confused when you have to accept -the help of others. If you were dead to yourself you would not be so upset." [Autobiographia, pgs 41-42]
From that day Gemma in the midst of her sufferings lived in entire abandonment to the will of God.
The biography of St. Gabriel which Signora Martinucci lent to Gemma did not at once excite her to direct any devotion to him. She took the book, put it under her pillow, and thought very little about it, even though she knew that her family were praying to him for a cure. But one day she was more than usually depressed, a profound melancholy having taken possession of her. The enemy of souls who had provoked this tempest filled her mind with wicked suggestions : ' If you will only listen to me, I shall free you from all your pains, cure you and make you happy.' At the height of the struggle when, according to herself, she was almost on the point of yielding, realizing who the tempter was she remembered St. Gabriel and the power he had with God. She invoked his aid, crying out: 'The soul first and then the body !' The Devil did not give in, but made another furious assault. Gemma, making the Sign of the Cross, again invoked St. Gabriel, and immediately a deep calm inundated her soul.
It was now that Gemma, after thus experiencing the efficacy of St. Gabriel's intercession, remembered his biography. She began to read it with the greatest enthusiasm. The following is her own account:
‘I remember that I began to read the Life of Confrater Gabriel that same evening. I read it many times. I never grew tried of reading it and of admiring his virtues .... From the day on which my new protector had saved my soul, I began to have a special devotion to him. I could not go to sleep unless I had a picture of him under my pillow, and from that time I began to see him near me. I cannot explain what I mean here; I felt his presence; at all times, in every action, Confrater Gabriel came to my mind.' [Autobiographia, p. 44]
Soon, however, she had to return the biography to Signora Martinucci, but in parting with it, she wept. But St. Gabriel, to compensate and comfort her on the loss of the book, appeared to her. This is how she describes the incident:
‘But that Saint of God wished to reward the little sacrifice I made, and in a dream that night he appeared to me all clothed in white, but I did not recognize him. Noticing that I did not know him, he opened his white robe, and allowed me to see his Passionist habit. Then I soon recognized him. I remained silent before him. He asked me why I had wept when I had to give up his Life. I did not know what to answer, but he said to me: "Be good, and I shall come back to see you." [Autobiographia, pp. 45-46]
So under the auspices of St. Gabriel began the great and extraordinary favors that were to mark the rest of Gemma's life--ecstasies, visions, raptures, apparitions of angels; saints, the Blessed Virgin, and even of Christ Himself.
On the vigil of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, 1898, she had as usual a visit from the Barbantine Sisters, who brought with them a postulant who was too young to receive the habit. Upon seeing her Gemma experienced an unusual emotion. Never before had she felt like that, and she took it as an inspiration from Heaven, and made up her mind that if she was cured she would imitate her. Gemma spoke of this intention to Sister Leonilda, the Mistress of Novices, . who made her a promise that she would be clothed in the habit at the same time as the young postulant. When Monsignor Volpi came that same day to hear her confession, she told him of her decision. He not only approved of it, but allowed her to do what she had long desired, to make a perpetual vow of virginity. It is impossible to describe the joy that filled her soul upon receiving this permission. Hitherto she had indeed lived only for Jesus, but now she would be bound to Him by new ties--by ties that would never be broken. She had reached the pinnacle of her desire.
A sweet calm overflowed her soul, and as she thought of the following morning when with Jesus in her heart she would take the longed-for vow, she felt a strange sense of well-being stealing over her limbs, and then before her, she saw St. Gabriel. 'Gemma,' he said, 'take of your own free-will a vow to become a religious, but add nothing further.'
Gemma did not understand what these words meant, and asked why her vow was to be thus limited. The Saint did not reply except to say: , Sorella mia' (my sister). 'I did not understand all this, but to thank him I kissed his habit." [Autobiographia, pp. 48, 49]
Thereupon St. Gabriel gave her the sign of the Passion which Passionists wear upon their habits. 'And again,' continues Gemma, ' he called me " Sorella mia " and then disappeared.' On the following morning after Holy Communion she pronounced her vows. That day was for her a heavenly feast.
RECOVERY HOPELESS. NOVENA SUGGESTED
A little less than a month later, however, Gemma's health had shown no improvement. The doctors tried a new operation and applied the cauterizing iron to twelve places along her spine. The heroic girl, more solicitous for the preservation of her modesty than for the restoration of her bodily health, underwent this operation without the aid of a general anesthetic. This happened on January 4, 1899. On January 28, another complication set in to aggravate the condition of the poor sufferer. A tumour on her head caused violent spasmodic pains. The doctors again met in consultation, but on account of her extreme weakness, decided that nothing could be done for her and that she was doomed.
Nothing remained for Gemma now except to wait for death in the midst of her sufferings. On February 2 she received the Viaticum. 'I went to confession,' she said, ' and then waited for the moment when I should be united with Jesus. 'But how slow it was! The doctors, believing that I could no longer hear, said among themselves that I could not survive midnight." [Autobiographia, pp. 48, 49] The doctors were wrong and the malady pursued its relentless course.
On February 19 Monsignor Volpi visited her, and suggested that she should make a novena to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. Gemma was not enthusiastic. She would have longed to be cured had not her soul been so filled with desire for union with God. As she had already said, it did not matter whether she was cured or not provided Gad was pleased. But in obedience to her confessor, she began the novena. She forgot all about it the next day, and then began over again, only to forget it in the same way.
DIVINE INTERVENTION
After the second breaking - of the novena, she began for the third time on February 23. This is her own account of what happened:
‘On the 23rd I began for the third time, that is I intended to begin it, but it was now only a few minutes to midnight, and I heard the sound of a Rosary and I felt a hand placed on my forehead. A voice then began to say the Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be to the Father, nine times. I hardly knew what to say I was so weak with pain. The same voice that had said the Our Father, asked me: "Do you wish to be cured ?" "It is all the same to me," I replied. "Yes," he continued, " you will be cured. Pray with faith to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Every evening until the end of the novena I shall come and we shall pray together to the Sacred Heart." "And what about Blessed Margaret Mary?" I asked. " Add the Glory be to the Father three times in her honour."
‘This I did for nine evenings in succession.
The same person (it was St. Gabriel) came every evening and placed his hand on my forehead as before. We recited together the Our Father to the Sacred Heart, and then he made me add the Glory be to the Father in honor of Blessed Margaret Mary. . . . The novena was to end on the first Friday of March. I sent for the priest the evening before and went to confession. Early the following morning I received Holy Communion. 0 what happy moments I spent with Jesus! He said to me: "Gemma, do you wish to be cured ?" I was so overcome with emotion that I could not speak. . . . Poor Jesus! The grace was granted; I was cured. . . . That morning I wept with Jesus, and Jesus, always good, always tender, was saying: "I shall always be with you, my daughter. I am thy father," and, pointing to Mary the Mother of Sorrows, " she will be your mother. A father's help will never be wanting to whoever puts himself in My hands. Although I have taken away from you every support and consolation on earth, nothing will ever be wanting to you." [Autobiographia, pp. 50-52]
Gemma was indeed cured. 'Two hours later I got up,' she tells us. 'All at home were weeping for joy. I was pleased, not because I had regained my health, but because Jesus had chosen me for His daughter. And, indeed, before leaving me that morning He had said very clearly to my heart:
"To the grace I have given you this morning others greater will be added." ,
Elisa Galgani deposed that after receiving Holy Communion, Gemma asked for her clothes in order to get dressed. But her aunt was afraid to do her bidding, believing her to be delirious. It was her little sister Julia who finally gave them to her.
Sister Julia Sestini had also suggested that Gemma ought to make a novena, and she advised that it should be made to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. The following is what she deposed in the Processes:
'I said to her: "Gemma, I know that a miracle by Blessed Margaret is needed for her canonization. Let her perform one for you and they will make her a saint." We agreed that this novena should end on the first Friday of March. The prayers were only a few Our Fathers. I brought her the Manual of our holy foundress. It was entitled" Preghiamo " and contained the Holy Hour, which I made Gemma promise to practise every first Thursday of the month. The novena began on Thursday, and I went to visit her on the following Sunday. " Do you know with whom I am making the novena? " she asked me. "With your aunts or your sisters," I replied. Smilingly she answered: "No," adding: "With little Confrater Gabriel who comes to help me to say the Our Fathers." To which I replied: "Isn't the Lord good to send His saints just as He sends our guardian angels to us?"
‘She spoke so calmly and simply that I could not doubt then and I do not doubt now that she was in her normal state of mind, and that she was telling the truth. This conversation between Gemma and myself was short, for the other Sister was talking with Gemma's aunt at the time. I visited her again on the following Thursday, the eighth day of the novena, when she again stated that Confrater Gabriel had been with her during all the novena helping her to say the prayers. And I remember with certainty that she told me in these very words that " Jesus also made His presence felt." She was nevertheless always calm and serene. "Who knows what will happen to-morrow? " she said to me. And in this way one may say she allowed to appear her certain conviction of her cure. She was so certain about it that I said: "If anything does happen to-morrow tell them to call me !" The next day I received a message from our Mother Foundress: "Have you heard? Gemma is cured and wants to see you. You may go after schoo1." So after four o'clock I went. Her aunts told me that Gemma had been up, but that for safety's sake they had made her go back to bed. Gemma got up and sitting on the bed embraced me, saying: " Jesus has granted the grace." Then in a low voice she told me of the promise she had made to make the Holy Hour every Thursday, explaining that she had made it the evening before when Jesus had caused a feeling of emotion in her heart.'
This long deposition has been set down in its entirety because it mentions Gemma's great devotion to the Holy Hour, during the practice of which she was to receive extraordinary favors from God, as will presently be seen.
The cure that was in everyone's opinion instantaneous and complete, was preceded and accompanied by heavenly communications. For instance, Letizia Bertuccelli, formerly a servant in the Galgani home, spent a night near Gemma in order to assist the aunts in taking care of her. In her evidence Letizia stated that on the night the miracle happened, she saw Gemma's room filled with an unusual bright light, so bright indeed that she ran to call the aunts that they might see it also. On the same occasion she heard Gemma talking with a person she could not see. The following are the words she heard: 'If you are cured will you become a nun ?-Yes, indeed, but now that my parents are dead, I am in want of everything that is necessary .-That does not matter, because the Lord will provide. And if it should happen that you cannot be a nun or that the nuns should decline to have you, I shall find persons who will take care of you, and who will give you all that will be necessary.' These words have been italicized because they seem to be a prophecy of what did actually happen to Gemma.
Letizia Bertuccelli came to see Gemma the following day and meeting on the stairs a number of people who were going up and down, she asked if Gemma was dead, but received no answer. When she entered the room and saw the crumpled bed, she began to think that Gemma was indeed dead and burst out crying. But Gemma, who had been sitting in a corner of the room, came over to her and said that thanks to the Blessed Virgin she was alive. Then she continued: 'You were very much afraid yesterday evening! But until I am professed you will say nothing to anyone about what you saw.' That day, however, was never to arrive.
Gemma's miraculous cure was soon known throughout Lucca, and for a while everyone was talking about it. For many years she was known as 'la ragazzina della grazia '-the little girl who received the heavenly favour; by all but a few she was called by that name. Even the doctors who had given her up were astonished when they heard that she was out of danger and that she was perfectly restored to health. One of them wished to test the reality of the cure himself and visited her. 'How are you, Gemma? ' he asked. 'So you don't need me any more.' When Gemma replied that that was so, he went away and never returned.
Another of the doctors was astonished when he heard the news from Elisa Galgani. It was Doctor Tommasi who had operated on Gemma the day before the cure, and diagnosed the latest complication as 'A purulent condition of the ear, with acute inflammation affecting the mastoid gland, and with perforation and inflammation of the membrane of the middle ear.' When he saw Gemma on the evening following the miracle, and verified the complete nature of the cure, he said nothing except these words: 'Pray for me, Gemma.' And he, too, went away and never came back.
Six days after her cure Gemma wrote to tell a relative of the grace she had obtained: 'Let whoever read these lines know that I have been granted the cure of my soul and body, not through my own merits, but through the prayers of so many good people who have had pity on me. I could not have obtained anything….'
Holy and precious humility! how pleasing both to God and men.
CHAPTER IX - SEEKING THE WAY -HER HEART'S DESIRE
Having been cured in such an extraordinary way from a disease that would certainly have caused her death, Gemma henceforth considered that her life was not her own, but belonged to God -to Jesus, towards whom all her aspirations were now directed. For her a new life was opening-a life more angelical than human. Our minds must be raised high above the earth in order to follow with the eyes of Faith the heavenly flights of her soul. Nearer and nearer she approached the eternal Sun of Justice, allowing nothing to distract her attention or delay her progress, until she should reach her goal and blissfully lose herself in God.
Gemma's first thought upon regaining her health was to consecrate herself to God in the religious state. She spoke to her family about it and received no opposition, although maybe they thought that in view of her past illness, it might not be easy to carry out her intention.
It was of course natural that Gemma should desire to become a religious. Nevertheless her vocation seemed rapt in mystery. The question on which she had to make up her mind was what order she should select.
St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, a Visitation nun, had had an important part in her cure, and it seemed to Gemma that out of gratitude she to embrace the kind of life the Saint had followed. For the same reason Monsignor Volpi urged her to take this step. It would appear that Heaven was leading her towards the Convent of the Visitation.
On the day of her cure, before she got up, a voice had said to her: 'Renew all the promises you have made, and add that in the month consecrated to Him you will also consecrate yourself entirely to Him.' In an account written six days after her cure, she confessed: 'I should like to flyaway immediately to where Blessed Margaret Mary wishes me to be. a how badly off are those who live in the world! From the moment I left my bed I have experienced an aversion for everything-· an aversion I cannot explain.' Whilst she was thus feeling a distaste for everything that did not concern God, she also had an immense hunger for Him, that is, for Holy Communion-a hunger she thought she could never appease except in the religious state.
On March 10, therefore, Gemma went to the Visitation Convent to thank her heavenly benefactress, and to ask her-these .are her own words that everything might be arranged for the best, that is, as she explained, that she might be able to shut herself within the walls of that Convent. Because it seemed so long to wait until June, the nuns promised that they would take her in the month of May, and that in June, if she so desired and if she had a true vocation, they would receive her into the Convent for good.
AT THE FEET OF JESUS CRUCIFIED
The long days from March to the beginning of May passed, and finally Gemma found herself within the Convent. To compensate her for the pain of that time of waiting, God had showered upon her an abundance of heavenly graces. On Holy Thursday she wished to make the Holy Hour that had recently been taught to her by Sister Julia Sestini. Making the Holy Hour for the first time in good health, she wished to prepare for it by a general confession of her whole life. The following is her own description of what took place on that occasion:
‘I began therefore to make the Holy Hour for the first time out of bed, but I felt such an intense sorrow for my sins that I spent days of continual martyrdom. In the midst of this sorrow, however, I had one consolation, one source of relief, namely, tears. I passed the whole hour praying and weeping. Being extremely tired I sat down, the feeling of sorrow continuing. A few moments later I felt my whole being wrapped in recollection. Then, all of a sudden, I began to lose the use of my senses. I tried with all my strength to get up to lock the door of my room. Where was I? I found myself there and then before Jesus Crucified. Blood was flowing from all His wounds. I lowered my eyes immediately, and feeling very much disturbed I made the Sign of the Cross. Great peace of mind followed, but I continued to experience intense sorrow for my sins. Lacking courage I did not raise my eyes to look at Jesus. I bent down with my forehead upon the ground, and remained in that position for several hours. . . . Then I recovered, but from that time I began to have a great horror for sin, and this is the biggest grace that Jesus has granted me. The Wounds of Jesus remained so that I have never since then forgotten them.’ [Autobiographia, pp. 56, 57, 58]
Such was the impression that Jesus, covered with blood, made upon her that she determined to Him with all her heart, no matter what the cost. At the same time there arose in her heart the desire, to suffer for Him Who had suffered so much for her. And Gemma's resolutions were no mere idle words.
On the following day, Good Friday, Gemma, after spending the whole day, no doubt, in union with Jesus in His Passion, wished to take part in the devotions of the Three Hours Agony, but being unable to obtain permission, she decided to go through the devotions privately in her own room.
She herself tells us what happened in that short space of time:
‘It was the first time, and the first Friday that Jesus made Himself felt so strongly in my soul. Although I had not received Holy Communion-because it was impossible-from the hands of a priest, Jesus Himself came to me and communicated Himself to me. So intimate was this union that I remained lost in amazement. Oh how forcibly did Jesus speak to my soul! [Autobiographia, p. 60]
In the days before Gemma's entry into the Convent, Jesus often spoke to her. According to her own words ' Jesus in His infinite goodness was not ashamed to humble Himself'2 and become her teacher. And what were the teachings of this sublime Master? One April evening when Gemma was alone in her room Jesus Crucified appeared and pointing to His open Wounds, said: 'Look, My daughter, and learn how to love! This Cross, these thorns, these nails, these bruises, these scars, these wounds, this blood-these are the effects of an infinite love! See to what extent I have loved thee! Do You really desire to love Me? Learn how to suffer first-suffering will teach thee how to love.' [Autobiographia, p. 65]
At this awful sight Gemma swooned, but there was then enkindled in her heart a burning fire of love that would never be extinguished.
WITH THE VISITANDINE RELIGIOUS
At last the long expected day arrived. On May 1, at three o'clock in the afternoon, Gemma entered the Convent. To her it seemed like going to Heaven. A course of spiritual exercises was being given at the time, and Gemma, in order to take part in them with great recollection, told her family that she did not wish to be visited.
To tell the truth, if Gemma was ardently desirous of becoming a Visitandine, the nuns on their side were just as anxious to have her among them. They had heard about her virtues, and they knew that she had been miraculously cured through the intercession of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. In the hope that this miracle would hasten the canonization of their Sister, they looked forward to hearing from Gemma's own lips an account of her cure .. To facilitate her entrance into their order they were willing to dispense with the usual dowry, being satisfied with the great fund of virtue with which her soul was endowed.
At the Convent Gemma was treated with every care, one might say with veneration. Exceptions to the general rule were made for her. She had not to attend the exercises of the retreat like the other externs, but was allowed to follow the regular observance of the Community. Even the Superior displayed her esteem and made Gemma sit beside her in the refectory, and during the day often called her aside to speak to her.
During all this time the Lord was pouring His grace and consolation more abundantly in Gemma's heart. 'Jesus in spite of my misery,' she wrote:
‘I consoled me and made Himself continually felt within my soul.'
But Gemma was not altogether satisfied. The life of the Visitation nuns, she felt, was not for her. She had need of a more austere mode of life. But where would she go? Would she not have to return to the world in order to find another religious order more in keeping with her desires-to the world that was now so far away? And then to what order? She was in a religious house now, at any rate, and that was better than going back into the world. However God had not destined her to become a Visitandine. And He would bring about the accomplishment of His designs in her regard.
At Gemma's request the nuns approached Archbishop Ghilardi for permission to accept her-a permission he did not wish to grant. He hesitated because of her delicate health. The only favour he would grant was that she might stay in the convent until May 21 in order to be present at the profession of several novices. Gemma, however, was not told of this decision until the very last moment. She was so impressed by the ceremony that forgetful of herself she continued her prayers until the afternoon, when nature got the upper hand and she felt she was going to faint. The nuns, upset over their forgetfulness, tried immediately to make reparation for their neglect.
The Superior then called Gemma and with regret told her of the Archbishop's decision. Gemma felt it very much. In an instant all her hopes were dashed to the ground. But she was as usual resigned, knowing that God would manifest His will. I At five o'clock in the evening of May 21, 1899, I had to leave,' she wrote in her Autobiography. 'Weeping I asked the blessing of the Mother Superior and said good-bye to the nuns. My God, what sorrow '
To alleviate Gemma's sorrow somewhat, the nuns held out the hope that she would later on be accepted. She was therefore constantly at the convent to inquire whether the Archbishop had yet given the desired consent. She still remembered, no doubt, that her Divine Master had told her that she was to lead a more austere life. But she was so anxious to leave the world that she felt compelled to go every day to the convent. But instead of diminishing, difficulties increased. The question of a dowry now arose, but what dowry could a family reduced to such poverty provide? Her aunt at Camaiore had bought all that was necessary for her entrance into the convent, but Gemma never needed the clothes, which were given to her sister Angiolina, much against Gemma's will, as she wanted them to be given to the poor. But this outfit was not a dowry. In the end it appeared this talk of a dowry was only an excuse for not telling her the whole truth, which was that she could not be received unless four doctors certified her to be in perfect health. The poor girl endeavoured to procure these certificates but without success. She obtained one, at a time when it was too late to be of use: it bore the date of December 27, 1899. It was with the idea, it seems, of entering another order, the Mantellates, that she secured this certificate, but it did not help her. In the end Gemma began to realize the meaning of all these difficulties, these demands, these evasions. She begged light from God and understood that her vocation did not lie in that direction.
But what was the reason of it all? Writing some years later to her director, Father Germanus, she said:
‘Already for several years I had been conscious of a desire to be a religious, but I spoke to no one about it, except my confessor and the family. All were satisfied. So on May 11, I went to make a retreat and after eighteen days the matter was settled. It was arranged that I was to enter for good in June. I was very happy. Yet when I was told that I could come, I experienced a strange inner conviction that all my efforts to enter would be of no avail. I also often heard a voice whispering: " You shall not enter there." I did not mention these things to my confessor because I wanted to enter a convent so that I could devote myself entirely to God. And I knew that all Rules were good. But when the time came for entering, the confessor of the convent opposed my entrance and nothing could move him from his decision.' [Lettere ed estasi, p. 40.]
The confessor that opposed Gemma's entrance acted at the instigation and on the suggestion of the doctor, who said that her mother had died of tuberculosis. The Lord was leading Gemma along another path. His ways are not our ways!
CHAPTER X - THE STIGMATA -IN THE HOME AGAIN
When Gemma realized that the doors of the Visitation Convent at Lucca were definitely closed against her, she felt like one who had been shipwrecked and who was on the point of reaching the shore, only to be dashed back again into the open sea. Once more she was amongst the things she imagined she had said good-bye to for ever. How would she be able to adapt herself again to home life? However, the will of God which she always sought to know and to follow sustained her in this circumstance. God would certainly make known what He desired of her, but in the meantime she would return to her family and apply herself earnestly to the faithful fulfilment of her duties.
At home Gemma continued to follow the mode of life which was interrupted by those twenty days with the same zeal in the practice of the domestic virtues and in the exercise of piety. Her fervor was remarkable. One witness states that people who saw her so often in the church could not help admiring her demeanor and her devotion, and said one to another: What a saint she will yet be.
On festival days after Mass and Holy Communion Gemma was accustomed to go with her sister Angiolina (who now held in her affections the place once occupied by Gino) to the cemetery in order to pray at the grave of her parents and to take part in the services for the dead that were held there. Sometimes it happened that the gates were locked, and then she and her sister prayed until they were opened. A charitable woman who had seen them several times thus waiting outside the gates, invited them into her cottage. But she was often away from home and Gemma and Angelina had to wait patiently in the open air. In the evening, having satisfied their piety, they returned to the city, and then having attended Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament in some church or other, they returned home. Frequently they thus spent the day without breaking their fast.
INTENSE DESIRE TO SUFFER
But in Gemma's heart there was an unaccustomed and indefinable yearning. A burning fire seemed to consume her. What did Jesus want her to do? When He had allowed her to see Him crucified with blood pouring from His most precious Wounds, it caused her to run to the well in the house, and taking the rope, to knot it in several places and tie it round her waist. She felt an intense desire to suffer and to love Jesus-a desire she was never able to satisfy completely. The instruments of penance with which this innocent and penitent girl-as the Decree which declared her Venerable calls her chastised her virginal body at a time when it was still weak from the effects of her long sickness, would make the delicately nurtured bodies of many Christians shudder.
She tormented herself with a hair shirt, and was most mortified in all things. Elisa Galgani attests that she saw in a box belonging to Gemma a knotted cord, and that often finding rust-colored stains on the sides of her dresses, came to the conclusion that they were caused by an instrument of penance. ‘She used to hide her sufferings from me,' continued her aunt, 'because she did not want to displease me.' On one occasion, however, her aunt asked her what the knotted cord was for. Gemma looked at her with wide-open luminous eyes, and smilingly evading the question answered: ' Would you like a little cord also?' 'That will do now,' said her aunt. 'Tell me what you do with that little rope.' Gemma, however, again evaded the question and went away.
This burning thirst for suffering had its origin in the words spoken to her by Jesus which have already been mentioned: 'Do You desire to love Me? Learn to suffer first. Suffering teaches one how to love.' And these lessons of heavenly wisdom continued after she left the Visitation Convent. 'Take courage,' a mysterious voice said to her. 'Forget everything and abandon yourself without reserve to Him. Love Jesus much; do not place any obstacle in the way of His designs and you will see what progress you will make in a short time without your perceiving it. Be afraid of nothing, because the Heart of Jesus is a throne of Mercy where the most miserable are the best welcomed.' Gemma would then cry out: '0 my Jesus, I want to love Thee so much, but I do not know how.' And the voice would answer: 'If You desire to love Jesus, never cease for one moment to suffer for Him. The Cross is the throne of the true lovers of Jesus ; the Cross is the inheritance of the elect in this life.' [Life of Gemma Galgani, by Father Germanus, p. 58. (Sands, London.)
Once when making the Holy Hour she seemed to see Jesus with the Cross upon His shoulders and she heard a voice that said: 'Gemma, do You desire this Cross? Behold, this is the gift I have prepared for thee!' She answered: '0 my Jesus, do give it to me, but give me also the strength to bear it, because my shoulders are weak. But, my Jesus, if I suffer is that a sign that I love Thee? ' And Jesus answered that the clearest sign He could give a soul dear to Him was to make that soul suffer, and to make it walk on the road to Calvary.
I AWAIT THEE ON CALVARY
The vigil of the Feast of the Sacred Heart, June 8, 1899, was drawing near. A little while before, Gemma had heard Jesus say to her heart after Holy Communion: 'Gemma, courage! I am waiting for thee on Calvary towards which You art journeying. '
Hitherto, Gemma's path in life had been a thorny one, but worse still was to come. Her ardent desire to become like Jesus Crucified, which until now had so filled her heart, was to be satisfied in a manner permitted to only a few of the greatest saints in the Church of God. She was to become the living image of Jesus Crucified, and to receive in her flesh the mark of His Wounds. The sublime, generous prayer she was to utter later on in ecstasy, revealing the ardent aspiration of her life, was granted. , When my lips shall draw near to Thine to kiss Thee, make me taste the bitterness of Thy chalice. When my shoulders shall rest upon Thine, make me feel the scourges. When Thy flesh shall be com-municated to mine, make me share in Thy Passion. When my head shall lean upon Thine, make me know the pain of the thorns. When my side shall be near Thine, make me feel the lance.' [Lettere ed estasi, p. 213.]
That morning, therefore, Jesus made it understood that He desired to meet His spouse on Calvary, and for that reason made her feel in her heart that she was to receive that evening a most extraordinary grace. Gemma did not understand clearly what this grace was to be, but nevertheless she went to confession and obtained a general absolution for her sins, and so put herself in a right disposition to receive the gift of God. The evening came. Before she began the Holy Hour, an intense sorrow for her sins took possession of her. Of what occurred then it is best to give her own touching account :
THE MARKS OF JESUS
'It was in the evening. Suddenly I began to feel a great interior sorrow for my sins, so great indeed that I had never experienced anything like it before. That sorrow, I might say, almost brought me to death's door. Then I felt all the powers of my soul in recollection. One thought alone possessed my understanding -the thought of all the transgressions by which I had offended God; my memory brought them all before me, and at the same time I recalled all the torments which Jesus endured for my salvation; my will detested all my sins, and I promised that I would bear all possible sufferings to atone for them. Then one thought rapidly succeeded another in my mind -thoughts of sorrow, love, fear, hope and consolation. This recollection was quickly followed by a great rapture. I found myself in the presence of my heavenly Mother, with my guardian Angel on her right. He bade me recite an act of contrition, and when I had finished my loving Mother addressed me in these words: "Daughter, in the name of Jesus, let all thy sins be forgiven." Then she added: "Jesus my Son loves thee much, and wishes to confer a favour on thee. Canst You render thyself worthy of it ?" My nothingness knew not what to answer. Whereupon she continued: "I will be a Mother to thee; will You show thyself a true daughter of mine? " She then opened her mantle and covered me with it. The same instant Jesus appeared with all His Wounds open, but instead of Blood, flames as it were of fire issued from them. In an instant those flames touched my hands, feet and heart. I felt as if I were dying, and had not my heavenly Mother supported me, under her mantle, I should have fallen to the floor. I remained in that position for several hours. . . . When I came to, I found myself kneeling upon the floor. I still felt intense pain in my hands, feet and heart. As I arose to lie down on my bed I became aware that blood was flowing from those parts where I felt pain. I covered them as well as I could, and, assisted by my Guardian Angel, I succeeded in reaching my bed.' [Autobiographia, pp. 76-78.]
Gemma had so often prayed that she might be made like unto Jesus. She wished to be nailed to the Cross with Him, a prayer which later on she was heard to utter when in ecstasy: '0 Cross ! is there no place for me at the side of Jesus.' Her ardent desire is now satisfied. In her virginal flesh she bears the wounds of her Divine Spouse. Now she can say with St. Paul the Apostle: 'I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.' From now on, she is to become more and more like unto her Crucified God.
GREAT SUFFERINGS ARE FORETOLD
During this same month of June, after Gemma had made the Holy Hour, Jesus revealed to her all the humiliations and sorrows she would have to undergo in the course of the few years that yet remained to her on earth. The following is Gemma's account of what was then disclosed :
‘After the Holy Hour Jesus made me understand all that I would have to suffer during the rest of my life. He said that He, would soon test me to see if I truly loved Him and whether the offering I had made to Him was sincere. He told me that He would know this when my heart would appear to have become like a rock ; when I should experience nothing but aridity of spirit and be afflicted and tempted; when all my senses would rebel and would become like so many hungry wild beasts. He told me that my fidelity would be shown when I felt myself inclined to evil, when the pleasures of the world appear to be worth while and memory would recall to mind what I did not desire; when what is contrary to God's law would perforce present itself to me and it would seem that I had lost all relish for the things of God. He said that He would not allow my heart to taste comfort.
‘ "The demons with My permission will make continual efforts to overcome your soul. They will put evil thoughts into your mind, and give you a great distaste for prayer, and you will never be without many terrors and fears. You will suffer outrages and injuries; no one will believe in you any longer. You will receive no comfort from anyone, not even from your superiors. On the contrary everyone will mortify you, and you will be greatly confused. What will pain you most will be that Heaven will seem deaf to your pleadings. Jesus will seem to you to be so severe. You will find it difficult to pray. When you will seek Jesus you will not find Him; to you it will seem that He casts you from Him and departs from you. You will desire to be recollected and instead you will be distracted. You will call upon the Blessed Virgin and the saints, but no one will have pity on you and it will seem that you have been abandoned by all. When you receive Holy Communion or go to confession, you will feel no fervor; these things will be wearisome to you. You will go through your accustomed exercises of devotion as it were through mere routine, and you will think it merely time lost. Nevertheless you will believe, but as if you did not believe; you will hope, but as if you no longer had hope; you will love Jesus, but as if you did not love Him, because during all this time you will be without feeling. Furthermore, you will grow tired of life and yet be afraid of death; you will not be able to find refuge even in tears."
‘When I was about to finish the Holy Hour, Jesus said to me that He was going to treat me as His heavenly Father had treated Him." [Life of Gemma Galgani, by Father Germanus, C.P (Sands, London.)]
What a terrifying picture! A soul less heroic than Gemma's would have been utterly dismayed. From now on, however, she had but one desire-to suffer, for did' not suffering make her more like Jesus? 'Jesus is the Man of Sorrows,' she said, ‘and I desire to become the daughter of sorrows.'
SEE WHAT JESUS HAS DONE TO ME
The morning after the extraordinary ecstasy in which she received the Stigmata, Gemma was in a quandary. Holy souls are profoundly humble, indeed humility is at the root of their sanctity. God bestows His gifts upon the humble because they know how to keep jealously hidden the secrets of the King.
Her wounds were still bleeding. The phenomena did not cease until three o'clock in the afternoon of the Feast of the Sacred Heart. It was repeated unfailingly every week from about eight o'clock on Thursday evening until three o'clock in the afternoon of the following day. This lasted until February, 1901, when it ceased by a command of obedience. How was she to hide that bleeding? She must go out to Holy Communion. She procured a pair of gloves, as she said, ' in order to hide my hands.' Her feet were also paining her and she could scarcely stand up. It seemed to her that at every step she was going to die. Nevertheless she was able to go to Church and receive Holy Communion. How fervent must have been her Communion the day after she received that extraordinary favour. More truly than ever Gemma could say: 'Now I no longer live but Christ liveth in me.'
After Holy Communion the blood continued to flow, and she realized that she must tell someone about it, but she did not know what to say. She thought that such graces were usually conferred upon those who had consecrated themselves to God, and began timidly to ask various people whether they had certain wounds and what was usually done under the circumstances. She found no one who understood what she meant, her inquiries being met with pitying smiles. What then was she to do? Arriving home she opened her mantle and stretching out her hands towards her aunt she said with candor and simplicity: ' Aunt, see what Jesus has done to me !' Her aunt was amazed, but did not understand the meaning of this strange phenomenon.
The following description of Gemma's stigmata. It is an abridgement of the account written by Father Germanus. His description agrees with that of all the other witnesses who gave evidence in the Processes, and it is given because, as the spiritual director and the first biographer of Gemma, he includes all the stigmata, whereas the other witnesses spoke of one or other manifestation of the phenomena.
Scarcely had the ecstasy begun when there appeared on the back of both hands and in the middle of the palms a reddish mark, and then one saw under the epidermis a rent being made little by little in the flesh inside-s-oblong on the backs of the hands and irregularly round in the palms. A little later the skin itself broke and the opening took on all the characteristics of a fresh wound-about a centimeter in diameter in the palms and two millimeters in diameter and twenty millimetres in length on the back of the hands. Sometimes the laceration appeared to be only on the surface; at other times it was almost imperceptible to the naked eye. As a rule, however, it was very deep and seemed that it would pass through the hand and that the upper and lower wounds would meet. One could not make certain of this latter appearance because the apertures were filled with blood, in part congealed but for the most part freely flowing, and when the blood stopped, they closed quickly; being in ecstasy the violence of the pain caused her hands to be convulsively closed. The wound in the palm became covered with a hard fleshy protuberance in the form of the head of a nail, raised and not adhering, about the size of a penny (soldo). In the feet, the wounds were wider and surrounded towards the edges with livid flesh, and the difference in size was the opposite to the wounds in the hands, the wound on the top of the left foot being bigger than that of the sole of the right foot. The aperture of the wound in the side was in the form of a crescent lying on its back with the two points turned upwards. Its length in a straight line was six centimetres and its width in the middle, three millimeters, forming with its two opposite sides an angle half a centimeter in length from top to bottom. The blood that came from the aforesaid wound was copious, .as could be seen from her under-garments, which were soaked with it. She did her best to hide this fact and made use of several folds of linen, which' she applied to her side repeatedly, but in a short time they were blood-soaked. She would then hide them in order to wash them herself later on in secret. The Friday ecstasy ceasing, the flow of blood from the side also ceased, and the raw flesh on the hands and feet began to dry up, the mass of lacerated tissues drawing in and becoming firmer little by little. On the following day or on Sunday at the latest, not a trace of those deep wounds remained, neither in the centre nor at the sides, the flesh on top becoming quite natural and quite similar to that of the parts that had not been torn. A white mark alone remained to show that on the previous day there had been raw wounds in those places, which at the end of five days would open again as before, and close again in the same manner. Two years after the phenomena of the stigmata had ceased, at the time of her death, the aforesaid marks still remained and could easily be observed on her body, particularly on her feet, which when she was alive and in ecstasy had been very difficult to uncover.
CHAPTER XI - 'YOU WILL BE A DAUGHTER OF MY PASSION' -DIFFICULTY Occasioned BY HER HUMILITY
Monsignor Volpi, who had heard Gemma's confession on that memorable June 8, was perhaps expecting her to return to him with an account of what happened. But Gemma had never been able to bring herself to reveal to him the extraordinary favors she had received from God. From the first apparition of Jesus Crucified, that is, from before her entrance into the Visitation Convent, she had been told again and again by her Guardian Angel to tell her confessor about them, and had been reproved for not doing so. 'It is very wrong of you,' the Angel said--she mentions this in her Autobiography, 'to hide these things from your confessor. Remember-and I am speaking to you about it for the last time-if you keep silent again about this matter, I shall not let you see me again.' But how was she to make known such unusual and mysterious happenings?
The fact is that all these wonderful favors, instead of making her vain, filled her soul with extreme confusion. She esteemed herself unworthy of them and also feared that when people and even her confessor heard of them, they would be scandalized, for she deemed herself a great sinner. It was so easy for her to confess a fault that would lower her in the world's esteem, but it was a far different matter to lay claim to divine favors. This it was which prevented her from speaking.
But to the difficulties already mentioned there was another difficulty which seems a further justification of Gemma's attitude. Father Germanus refers to it, and so does another of her biographers, Sister Gesualda, a Carmelite nun, who also came from Lucca and was only a year younger than Gemma. Sister Gesualda also went to confession to Monsignor Volpi. 'The confessional of Monsignor in the Basilica of St. Michael,' she wrote, 'was always surrounded with people, for as a director of souls he had the reputation of being a second St. Francis de Sales. And as Auxiliary Bishop to the Archbishop of Lucca he was kept very much occupied. Gemma felt that she would take up too much of his time. It is true that she could have written to him; yet she knew that after all to receive an answer she would have to take her place among those waiting around his confessional. External difficulties were not lacking, but the greatest difficulty was within herself." [Un flore di Passione nella citta del Volto Santo, p. 101] As previously mentioned this interior difficulty was her humility.
MEETS THE PASSIONISTS FOR THE FIRST TIME
God in His mercy desired to put an end to her difficulty and therefore came to her aid in a manner that at first sight would seem to be purely fortuitous, but which was undoubtedly a beautiful manifestation of His Providence.
In 1899, in preparation for the opening of a new century, Pope Leo XIII ordered that missions should be given in every city throughout Italy. The Passionist Fathers were chosen for Lucca, and the mission in the Cathedral began on June 25, and lasted until July 9. It was a great success.
Gemma did not attend the mission from its beginning. During the month in which she had received from Jesus such an abundance of heavenly favors she had but one desire, to hear Him and His love spoken of, and therefore she had attended a course of sermons on the Sacred Heart which were being preached in another church. It was only at the close of the month of June that she felt herself inspired to go to the Cathedral of St. Martin. But what was her astonishment when she saw that the missioners were clad exactly as she had seen St. Gabriel dressed! The impression thus made upon her was indescribable. From that moment, she confessed some years later, she began to have a special. affection for them, and attended every sermon of the mission.
A few miles outside Lucca, in a district known as Angelo, near Vinchiana, the Passionists have one of the most beautiful houses of their Congregation. The nature of their work often brought them to Lucca, but Gemma had never met any of them. In the heart of the city and in the midst of her family, she lived as in a convent.
Her first meeting with the Passionists had such an important influence upon the course of her life that it is best to set down here her own ac-count of how it happened:
‘We had come to the last day of the holy mission. All the people were gathered in the church for the General Communion. I also was taking part with the others, and Jesus, Who was pleased, it seems, made Himself clearly felt in my soul, and asked : " Gemma, do you like that habit with which the priest is clothed? " And He indicated a Passionist in my vicinity. It was not necessary for me to answer Jesus in words, for my heart was speaking with its palpitations.-" Would you also like to be clothed in a habit like that?" Jesus added.- "Mio Dio," I exclaimed.-"Yes," Jesus continued, "you will be a daughter of My Passion, and a favorite daughter. One of these children of Mine will be a father to you. Go and make everything known to him." [Autobiographia, pp. 83-85.]
At that moment Gemma felt she had strength enough to speak-a strength that she had lacked for so long, and she at once went towards the confessional of one of the missioners, Father Ignatius of St. Theresa, who was the Superior of the mission. ‘But,' she tells us, 'no matter how much I tried I could not bring myself to speak of my affairs to him.' What was the cause? Was it perhaps the great crowd that gathered around his confessional, or was it another attack of that repugnance she had felt against revealing the secret of the King?
A witness in the Processes supplies an answer to these questions, though not a very satisfactory answer. 'Gemma,' deposed Cecilia Giannini, 'told me later on in confidence that Jesus had commanded her to go to confession to Father Ignatius, and to tell him everything, even what until then she had kept hidden from her own confessor. Gemma obeyed, but felt such contraction in her throat that she was unable to speak. She then went to Father Gaetano. Whether this was by order of Jesus or by her own free will, I do not remember, and I cannot say.'
Father Ignatius, who died in 1927, was a man of great virtue and left behind him a reputation for sanctity. Gemma therefore went to another confessional and to another missioner, and with the greatest ease explained to him, in two or three separate confessions, the story of her life and the heavenly favors she had received including, last of all, the marks in her hands, feet and side, and how she found it very difficult to speak properly about these latter to her ordinary confessor.
The missioner listened without interrupting her, not knowing what to say, to the account which the humble girl gave of the marvels which God had worked in her soul. But her candor and ingenuousness convinced him that he had before him one of those privileged creatures which God at times bestows upon the earth. However, he was reluctant to offer an opinion at the moment, and after giving her certain permissions she had sought told her that he would think about the matter and that on his next visit to Lucca would listen to her again, but that in the meantime she would have to reveal everything to her ordinary confessor.
Gemma wanted to be a nun. After the last words of Jesus it seemed to her that she now knew the secret of her vocation. Nor had she forgotten the salutation of St. Gabriel when he called her 'Sorella mia' (sister mine). And had not Jesus asked her whether she would like to be clothed in the habit the missioners wore? Did He not say to her: ‘You will be a daughter of My Passion'? She longed to anticipate the joy of being a nun and therefore sought permission to take the vows of religion. She had already taken a vow of perpetual virginity, but the missioner allowed her to add for private devotion the vows of poverty and obedience until September 8, when with the consent of her ordinary confessor she might renew them for short periods. As she herself attests, the day she took these vows was one of the happiest of her life.
Gemma had also asked permission to practise certain corporal mortifications, but the missioner refused his consent, thinking rightly that God would supply her with abundant opportunities for suffering. On the contrary, he deprived her of the instruments of penance with which she had been torturing her innocent body.
The missioner's name was Father Gaetano of the Child Jesus. He was an excellent missioner and endowed with fine qualities. Gemma's meeting him was a blessing for her. And afterwards, even from Heaven, she remembered his kindness, and paid him back with a generosity of which only the saints are capable.
Before proceeding with Father Gaetano's report upon the extraordinary things which had been thus made known to him, other happenings must be related which had an important influence upon Gemma's life. The ways of Providence in her regard are henceforward so manifestly wonderful that we write of them with diffidence and veneration.
CHAPTER XII - 'THE WAYS OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE' -A PROVIDENTIAL MEETING
While Gemma was following with such a transport of faith and devotion the practices of the month of the Sacred Heart in the Church of the Visitation Nuns, a pious woman whom the reader knows by name was also there for the same purpose. This woman who was afterwards to occupy such an important place in Gemma's life-to become in fact a second mother to her-had not met her at this time. But she had often seen her before this and being greatly edified by her devotion had inquired into her identity and had been told that she was the daughter of the late Signor Galgani, the chemist.
When the month of the Sacred Heart was over, Cecilia Giannini like Gemma went to the mission at the Cathedral. Without knowing it these two were following one another. In the Cathedral Gemma, accompanied by her aunt, was seen a few times by her future adopted mother, but the matter ended there.
A few days after the mission Cecilia Giannini received a letter from Father Gaetano, who was staying in the Retreat near Lucca, informing her that he would call upon her on a certain day and asking her to find Gemma and tell her that on that day she was to come to see him. Gemma, accompanied by one of her aunts, therefore came to see Father Gaetano at the Giannini home. After speaking to him for a little while, she left the house and went to the Church of Santa Maria Bianca. Father Gaetano followed her there and heard her confession. Before Gemma left Cecilia Giannini had asked her to return the next day. She did so in the afternoon. Cecilia liked to have Gemma near her, it did her good, she said. She would have liked to have her as a frequent visitor, especially when she learned that the family was living in such poverty. She could not but feel a certain veneration for Gemma. However, there were already many in the house, for more than twenty sat down to dinner every day. But her brother, Matthew Giannini, the head of the house, saved her from her difficulty by saying: 'Let her come and let her stay for dinner also.' Thus began the relations between Gemma and the Giannini family.
Before she had met Gemma and when she had got to know who she was and the wretched conditions under which she lived, Cecilia Giannini had mentioned these facts to her brother. He showed himself very willing to receive her into the family, for he was a man good-hearted and full of charity. , I knew nothing about the extraordinary graces,' he deposed in the Processes. 'I only knew that she was a good girl and knowing the condition of the family I wanted to perform an act of charity. The permission of Gemma's aunts was asked, and they were very pleased.'
VISITS TO THE GIANNINI HOME
Gemma therefore began to spend a few hours every day at the Giannini home. Subsequently she used to stay the whole day. God Who, in the designs of His Providence, had arranged that these two holy souls, Gemma and Cecilia Giannini, should meet on the pathway of life in order to assist one another to sanctify their souls and become better instruments of His Glory, also awakened in their hearts from their first meeting an undying affection for one another. Cecilia Giannini as before mentioned experienced in Gemma's presence a sense of spiritual well-being. ‘I prayed more,' she said. 'I was more recollected, and in trouble and difficulties I was more at peace. She was generally silent, but when I asked her a question or mentioned any of my trials, a word from her was enough to tranquillize me.' This was the reason why she wanted Gemma near her. On her side Gemma wished to be with her friend and says so expressly in her Autobiography: 'From then I loved her as if she were my mother-and I have always regarded her as such.'
It was not only Aunt Cecilia-she will be so called henceforth, for it was by that name she was known in the Giannini household-who experienced a sense of spiritual well-being in Gemma's society. The other members of the family felt her attraction. Signora Justina, the mother of this excellent family, desired Gemma to become the friend of her grownup daughters, knowing that they would be safe in her company and would also be edified by her virtue. She records with pleasure in the Processes the first time she saw Gemma speaking to her eldest daughter Annetta.
These meetings were few, however, because in the beginning of July the family went to the country and did not return until November. Aunt Cecilia remained at Lucca. Being alone she desired more than ever to have Gemma with her, and with the consent of Gemma's aunts, she called for her every morning, and brought her back home every evening. Sometimes Gemma stayed with her at night.
If Aunt Cecilia was pleased to have Gemma's company, Gemma was no less pleased to have hers, for she was conscious of being in a congenial atmosphere where she was understood.
MISUNDERSTOOD BY HER OWN
The Galgani family was gradually growing smaller.
One brother had set out or was about to set out for America; another for military service. There were left then, only Gemma, her two aunts, her brother Anthony and her two sisters. Death was soon to make other gaps. However, in her own family Gemma was not understood and never could have been. She had endeavored to keep secret the extraordinary things that were happening to her, not only because of her humility and her innate repugnance at revealing them, but also because she had been warned not to do so, by her confessor, her Guardian Angel, and even by Jesus Himself. But no matter how much she tried to hide her affairs, they became known and were discussed outside the family. Gemma suffered in consequence. She remembered the warnings of Jesus Who had said to her often that if she allowed these things to be known in her family she would have to suffer. Besides there was one at home who, being unable to understand these sublime things, used nevertheless to speak of them publicly. Gemma was spied upon continually, laughed at and ridiculed, even outside the house.
What Gemma felt and to what a pass things had come is easily understood from a letter she wrote to her confessor :
'. . . I am terrified. N. N. knows everything about me. This morning she was speaking about my affairs as if it did not matter. She and my brother were making fun of them. I am not a bit afraid of their ridicule, you know. From eleven o'clock this morning until three I have not been left alone. She says she wants to see everything. She is like a little imp. Besides, my aunts look on and smile, so that I could almost cry. . . . She has even brought her school companions to the house, saying to them, in order to make fun of me: "Let us go and see Gemma in ecstasy." Yesterday she shouted out these words outside the front door for everyone to hear." [Life of Gemma Galgani, by Father Gennanus, C.P.]
Sometimes, however, the phenomena appeared in such a way that she was unable to hide them. Her friend, Palmira Valentini, attested that on one occasion she met her with clotted blood all over her forehead and temples. She was not surprised at what she saw, but as Gemma did not realize that anything extraordinary had happened, she said to her: 'Gemma, one of yours has taken place.' Then she invited her into her house to wash herself. Gemma entered and washed, but not before her friend had wiped some of the blood away with her handkerchief, which she afterwards treasured with veneration. Palmira Valentini was well aware of the extraordinary things that were happening to Gemma, for she herself had told her about them. She gave the following evidence in the Processes :
'One day Gemma asked me: "Do you know what a beautiful present Jesus has given to me?" And I answered: "Tell me, Gemma, what Jesus has given to you." Gemma replied: "Guess what it is. Even Sister Julia guessed." I believe from the way Gemma spoke that she thought it was an ordinary gift received by all who loved Jesus. In fact, I know this was what she thought. And I insisted that she should tell me what it was that Jesus gave her. Gemma then replied: "Jesus has given me the marks of His Wounds." I prudently said no more than: "Did it have to take so long to tell me that!" ‘
But others were not as prudent and as charitable as Palmira Valentini and because of their imprudence Gemma had to suffer much. During a quarrel in the home a member of the family blasphemed. Gemma was horrified and began to sweat blood all over her body. But how was she to hide this blood? One of her aunts- 'who is so good and the one who loved me so much ' -as Gemma described her in a letter to her confessor, followed her into her room that evening to find out the cause of the blood. But it is better to quote the letter in which she mentions these facts:
'Monsignor, do you know what one of my aunts did to me yesterday? When I arrived home I went to my room. She followed me, very angry, and said: "This evening Julia is not here to defend you, and you must let me see where all that blood comes from or, if not, I shall beat you until you do." As I remained silent, she grew angrier, and holding me by the throat with one hand, with the other she tried to take off my clothes, but did not succeed, for the bell rang and she left me. . . . But the matter did not end there. When I was going to bed she came to me and said it was time I gave up all my tomfoolery, and that I had given people enough to talk about. "Mind," she said to me, "if you do not tell me where that blood comes from, I shall not allow you out of the house alone nor shall I send you anywhere." As you can imagine, at these words I began to cry, and I did not know what to do. At last I decided to tell her and I answered in this way: "The blasphemies of your nephew are the cause of it." "What!" my aunt said. "The blasphemies cause this blood to flow?" "Yes," I answered. "When I hear blasphemies I see Jesus suffering and I suffer with Him, and I suffer in my heart and the blood comes." That appeared to calm her a little, and she said: "Is it only when your brother blasphemes that you suffer and not when others do so ?" "I suffer always when I hear blasphemies, but there is a difference. His blasphemies make me suffer much more." And in saying this I cried bitterly."
Yes, again and again this innocent victim sweated blood, and even wept tears of blood when she heard her Jesus blasphemed. It can be easily understood that Gemma had much to endure in her own home. However, being so meek and resigned, she was not the one to lessen the weight of the burden of crosses and humiliations that were placed upon her shoulders. She remembered what Jesus had said about not allowing His divine favors to be known, and fearing therefore that He would be offended she asked her confessor to arrange for her to enter a convent. But her confessor was at a loss what to do. Knowing that she was visiting the Giannini’s, he used his influence with Cecilia Giannini and asked her to keep Gemma with her as long as possible. This is known on the authority of Euphemia Giannini who, afterwards as a Passionist nun, bore the name of Mother Gemma of Jesus. 'My family,' she said, 'was fortunate in having Monsignor Volpi as a friend. He used to visit us, and my aunt sometimes went to confession to him. Knowing the situation in which Gemma was placed at that time in her own home…’he desired my aunt to keep her at our home as long as possible.'
So to the exhortations of the Passionists who had been the first to speak of Gemma, as the Processes attest, and in particular, of Father Gaetano who, according to Annetta Giannini's deposition, ' desired that the Giannini’s should see her and afterwards receive her into their home as a member of the family because they would be blessed through her " there was now added the authoritative and welcome advice of the Auxiliary Bishop, Monsignor Volpi, who strengthened Cecilia Giannini in the resolve she had not only made but had already put into practice. God, therefore, Who had formerly come to the help of His servant when she was tormented with interior anxieties, by making the Passionists known to her, continued to show His care of her, and fulfilled the promise made to her when He cured her of the sickness that would otherwise have proved fatal: 'And if it should happen that you cannot become a nun, or that the nuns should send you away, I will find persons who will take care of you, and who will give you all that will be necessary.'
Cecilia Giannini therefore took every opportunity of having Gemma near her. On her side, Gemma was eager to take advantage of the invitation and her aunts' permission to remain all night occasionally at the home of her benefactor, especially on Thursday and Friday, in order to hide as far as possible what happened to her on those days.
In the beginning, however, Cecilia Giannini was somewhat perplexed about these extraordinary manifestations. But being an intelligent and prudent woman, she concealed her perplexity, and watched Gemma continually. When she saw what did happen to the holy girl, she was not upset, and it was not long before. she was convinced that Gemma was a privileged creature, and she thanked God from her heart that she had an Angel such as Gemma for a companion.
MORE THAN A MERE GUEST, A MEMBER OF THE FAMILY
But the family after spending the summer months at Viareggio, S. Casciano di Controne and other places, now returned to Lucca, and Cecilia Giannini was wondering what she ought to do. Was she to be deprived of the companion from whom she had received such spiritual good? Must she send Gemma back to suffer in her home? She took courage and said to her brother: 'God has placed this angel in my care. Could she not remain with us ? We have eleven children in the house; one more will not matter.'
This last remark was not really made in order to introduce a total stranger into the family permanently. They also knew that Gemma's mother had died of consumption. Was it prudent to bring her into contact with healthy children? But no one . knows what hearts filled with the charity of Christ may venture. God willed it so, anyway, and no one can go against the will of God. Matthew Giannini was most agreeable, and so was his wife and all the children, and the priest named Laurence Agrimonti who, holding a benefice at the Cathedral, lived with the family. Even the domestic staff was pleased, a thing rare enough, and all the more remarkable in this case because Gemma was coming not as a servant but as a member of the family.
Aunt Cecilia, having been so readily granted what she desired, went at once to Gemma's home. Her aunts, who in spite of what had occurred really loved Gemma, hesitated a little before giving their consent. Their realization of the poverty of the family, and the fact that such unusual things were happening to Gemma, things they could not understand, caused them to yield at least in part. They consented to allow Gemma to spend half her time at the Gianninis' and declared that she had to spend the other half at home. Finally in September, 1900, they gave their full consent, and Gemma then took up her residence permanently with the Gianninis, and never left them, except for a few days before her death, and then on the doctor's advice. Gemma's brother deposed in the Processes that she never visited her home again except on a few occasions to visit her Aunt Elisa. But the latter came to see Gemma more frequently at the Giannini home.
WITH THE 'MANTELLATES'
The first months Gemma passed outside her own home were spent between Aunt Cecilia and the , Mantellate ' .nuns who are known in Lucca as 'Suorine.' A deposition of one of these nuns, Sister M. Julia of St. Joseph, declares that Gemma was with them from August, 1899, to March or April, 1900. This is what she says:
'I know that Monsignor Volpi, through Signora Cecilia Giannini, was looking for some means of getting Gemma away from her home, in order that when in ecstasy she might not be observed by strangers. I know for a fact that Gemma was once found rapt out of her senses and that she had to be carried to her room. . . . Signora Cecilia Giannini would have liked to have taken her immediately to her own home, but decided against it because there were so many little children in the family, and she therefore asked us to keep her in the Convent, on the understanding that she would afterwards repay us for what we spent on her. We readily consented. And Gemma then began to frequent our parlours, the little church and the rooms next the sacristy. Gemma came to us in the month of August, 1899, it seems, and remained until March or April, 1900.'
The words ' it seems ' are italicized because there is a doubt whether these dates are correct. Here is the deposition on the same subject made by the Superior at that time, Sister M. Agnes Galli:
'I believe Gemma began to frequent our Convent here when she had been miraculously cured. As I have said, she came here every day, presented and recommended to us by Signora Cecilia Giannini. The reason why Gemma was sent here by Signora Giannini was this : to be able to be alone with Jesus and to pray at her ease and as long as she liked. We welcomed her because we knew from Signora Giannini that she was good-a holy soul she called her. She came here after she had finished at home, or in the church, at about half-past eight. We gave her coffee with milk and a little bread because she said she did not want much, and she took the coffee in the parlor near the front door. Afterwards she went through the sacristy to the priest's room. For the midday meal she took very little, some soup, a piece of something else, and on a rare occasion a little wine, which she never asked for, but took only when I pressed her to do so. She passed the whole time between breakfast and dinner in our little church, except for a short time spent in holy conversation . . . or in knitting stockings for Signora Cecilia Giannini. After dinner she returned to the church and remained there until Signora Giannini or her aunts came to bring her home. I think that Gemma was living in the Via Biscione at that time.'
These depositions are quoted at length, especially the last one, in order to prove that when Gemma frequented the Convent of the ' Mantellate ' nuns, she was already in contact with the Giannini family, and that the nuns came to know her through Signora Cecilia, who was a fervent tertiary of the Servants of Mary, and that if, as is true, Gemma sometimes spent the night at the Convent, it was not because she had been abandoned by her relatives.' [L'Osservatore Romano, January 25 and 26, 1932]
Gemma stayed with the ' Mantellate' nuns for a few days on another occasion. Her first visit was accompanied by many extraordinary facts which will be mentioned later on in this book. We shall also have to relate the steps she took in an endeavor to become a religious in this same Convent.
CHAPTER XIII - HER NEW FAMILY -THE GIANNINIS
In order to give the reader an account of Gemma's new family there is set down here in its entirety the description given of it by the Carmelite nun Sister Gesualda:
'The Giannini family was really and profoundly Christian and reminded one of the ancient patriarchal families. At its head was Matthew Giannini, tall, dignified, with a long white beard-a fine type of man from whose countenance goodness and kindness beamed. His was a sincere, upright, pious soul. His wife, a diligent and intelligent mother, was not less pious. At that time her eleven children formed a stairway, from the eldest, who was at the University and about to take his degree, to the youngest who was not yet out of long clothes. . . . An aunt completed this family-Aunt Cecilia, whose watchful care made her loved by all. Because Signora Justina was often sick, it fell to Aunt Cecilia's lot to look after the affairs of the household, and it was a task that was not always easy. Nevertheless she was able to find time for works of charity and zeal. To understand how she was able to get through so much work, it was enough to see her. Slim, energetic, good, there was a resoluteness and masculine intelligence in her look. Her piety was not merely emotional, but enlightened, genuine, deep. Her sincerity-a marked characteristic of hers-could be read in her counte-nance. . . . Christ was King of this household, and the Gianninis made no mystery about it. The family drew its income, a large part of which was given to the poor and religious orders, from a pharmacy, a chandler's shop and several properties in the country. A certain part of the house was set aside for the use of the Passionist Fathers, who when they came to Lucca ... knew that they had at their disposal at the Gianninis' , special rooms, a little chapel, and a refectory with a crucifix looking down upon the table as in their own monastery.” [Un flore di Passione nella citta del Volto Santo, PP. 104-105]
The Giannini family, therefore, must always be associated with the name of Blessed Gemma Galgani, and be blessed and venerated by all who love and honor her. This family is a shining example of how pleasing and acceptable to God is charity, and of how He rewards it even in this life. The name of this family will be remembered through the centuries, and their house will be regarded as a holy sanctuary where a saint has left the perfume of every virtue.
HER EDIFYING CONDUCT
Before proceeding with the story of Gemma's, life it is thought well to mention here some of these virtues, gleaned from the evidence of witnesses. It is to be regretted that the most authoritative witness of all in the Giannini household did not live long enough to take part in the ceremonies of the Beatification. Aunt Cecilia died at eighty-four years of age, on December 24, 1931, less than a month after the Sovereign Pontiff had declared that Gemma had practiced virtue in an heroic degree, and had bestowed upon her the title of Venerable.
Upon entering her new home Gemma had but one thought, to love as ardently as possible that God who had come to her rescue in her spiritual and temporal necessities, and also to show her gratitude to the hospitable and good family by edifying and assisting them as far as she could. Matthew Giannini thus spoke of Gemma's conduct in his home:
'When she was with my sister Cecilia, especially on Sundays when we went out for a walk, I believe she occupied her time either in reading or in conversation. In the evening they went to Benediction. As far as I know Gemma never went out alone, for she went to the church both morning and evening with my sister, and we never sent her on errands or anything of that sort. We treated her as one of the family. Even when she visited her family or the Zitine Sisters she was with my sister, or another member of the family went with her. She was a source of edification to my sons and daughters, who held her in great esteem, as did also my wife and even the servants. People thought it extraordinary that we should keep her in our home. They called her stupid because she never spoke to them. She dressed in a humble fashion, kept her eyes lowered and was always recollected, and never took part in the children's games. She used to go with my sister to the Rosa church and also to that of S. Martino, which was nearer. She often went to Santa Maria Bianca, which was our parish church, and to a few other churches on special feast days. They went out early, in winter from half-past six to seven o'clock, and in summer from six o'clock to half-past six. I have said they heard two Masses, that is, when there were two. Otherwise they spent that time in private prayers ; Gemma was never idle. We had a piano and the children played and sang, but not Gemma. Towards the end of her life I learned with surprise that she understood music and could sing, and embroider. I do not know exactly whether she could play the piano.'
Aunt Cecilia confirms and completes this deposition of her brother:
‘Before Gemma came to reside permanently at our. house, for some months I used to call for her at her home, and frequently I found that she had gone to church, for she assisted at Mass and went to Holy Communion daily, then and afterwards, except on one or two mornings when through indisposition she could not go .... At first she used to work at crocheting, but she preferred knitting or mending stockings, because, I believe, it enabled her to keep more recollected. And she worked constantly, for she looked after the stockings of the entire household. She did whatever there was to do. H the need arose she put the rooms in order or helped the children with their lessons. Although she could not cook, she sometimes lit the kitchen fire. She was always humble, obedient, calm and silent ... .'
The eldest boy of the family, Joseph, who became a lawyer, deposed that although no particular work was assigned to her in the house, she helped everyone gracefully and without ostentation. 'She taught the little children,' he continued, ' without, however, undertaking the more delicate tasks reserved to others. Her demeanor was always such that she was an edification to us all.'
It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that Gemma should have won the love and esteem not only of the family, but also of strangers who visited the house. In regard to this matter Signora Justina deposed:
'As regards the esteem in which she was held in the house I can say that I never saw her commit the slightest fault. All the others in the house had the same opinion of her. For instance, when I told my eldest boy that I was afraid that I had cancer in the stomach, he said to me: "Did not Gemma tell you that you hadn't, and why don't you believe her? " Even visitors came to hold her in high regard.'
The evidence of many witnesses is summed up in the words of Brother Famiano of the Heart of Jesus, a Passionist whose work often brought him to the house: 'She was like an angel, she spoke only when she was addressed. When she had finished eating she retired immediately from the table. The whole household regarded her as a soul that belonged entirely to Jesus.'
The one who, above all others, rejoiced in having Gemma in the house, was, it is needless to say, Cecilia Giannini, who at a certain time every day used to retire, saying: 'Now let me enjoy my Gemma.' And then she and Gemma would go into the courtyard at the back of the house or into a little room where they would work and talk about Jesus. These were precious hours in which Cecilia Giannini endeavored by innocent artifice to make Gemma reveal her intimate secrets-secrets that otherwise would have remained hidden. 'With Gemma,' said Cecilia, ' I was at rest. Merely to see her near me made me feel more recollected, more patient, more able to bear the weight of fatigue, and the bitterness of my troubles. What an account I should have had to render to God if I had not appreciated the gift He had bestowed in giving me this angelic creature, and if I had not reaped some profit for my soul through it! '
In spite, however, of the esteem in which Gemma was held and the confidence reposed in her, she never forgot that she did not belong to the family, and regulated her conduct with admirable delicacy and prudence. Never by any word or act did she cause the least disturbance in the family. She never meddled in affairs that did not concern her, or discussed the domestic arrangements. When visitors came to the house she slipped away unobtrusively, and it was this reserve and silence which made them think she was stupid. Canon Andreuccetti, seeing her on one occasion retire on his arrival, asked the reason why, and was told that it was her usual practice on such occasions. She acted in the same way even with Doctor Tommasi, whom she knew well.
The hearts of Saints are extremely delicate, and Gemma felt deeply the duty of gratitude she owed to her adopted family. She prayed constantly for them all. 'Mom,' she was once heard to say in an ecstasy as she was addressing the Blessed Virgin, 'my confessor has obliged me to do something. He has asked me to pray for this family. I have done so already. Will you do what I cannot do ! Obtain for them great graces, an infinite number of graces. Mom, you understand, an infinite number. If at times Jesus desires to send them trials, tell Jesus to show His mercy towards them .... ' And on another occasion she prayed: 'Mother mine, I recommend this house and this family to you. Tell Jesus to help them in the hour of tribulation, but if He should be about to lay His hand, heavily upon them, I am here, and let Him lay it on me instead. I recommend this matter to you very fervently. Tell Jesus that it is very important."
Gemma realized how great was the care that was bestowed upon her, and she wished to make some return, but not being able to do so, she showed her gratitude in a thousand ways. 'I shall pray to Jesus for you,' she often said to anyone who helped her in any way. But she did not want to be treated well. t I don't want them to do anything for me,' she wrote to her director. 'If you could only see what they do! How they put a foot-warmer in my bed at night, and all this for one who deserves to be treated like the fowls. Is this right? I am heaped round with comforts. And in spite of all I am not able to say a word of thanks. If I could only help them with my poor prayers! [Lettere ed estasi.]
In the same way she complained to Aunt Cecilia: 'You must not bother about me at all. I am to be considered no more than the duster in the kitchen; otherwise Jesus will not be pleased. I do not desire any care and attention from you.' She knew she was poor and wanted to be treated as a poor person. ' You may think, perhaps,' she wrote to her director, ' that I regret that I have to live on the charity of others. No, No! I do not regret that, for is it not that which makes me like to Jesus? '
It was this understanding of her actual position economically which urged her no doubt to treat the domestic staff with such consideration, even though she received in return from some of the servants only rebuffs and criticism. Knowing that this was done because they were jealous of the care Aunt Cecilia bestowed on her, Gemma used to say on these occasions: 'Have patience, the Lord will repay you for what you do for me. What I want you to do is to act as if I was not in the house.' On her side Gemma tried to be very attentive to them in order to take away any cause for jealousy, so that one of them was heard to say: 'That poor girl would like to help us, only she hasn't got the strength.'
A PROOF OF HER GRATITUDE
A duty which she wished to be reserved for herself alone, was the care of the sick in the home. For this provided her with an excellent means of showing her gratitude. 'When she was with me,' attests Aunt Cecilia, 'she looked after those who were sick and showed them the greatest care and attention, being always punctual with the medicine, visiting them regularly, taking note of their temperature. We should have forgotten many things, but she was always so attentive and so exact. She had no favorites. She acted just the same whether it was my sister-in-law who was often sick, or Don Laurence, or a servant, or one of the children. She was always prepared, but spoke very little, and all this she did for the love of God.'
On one occasion Signora Justina was seriously ill with what was thought to be a cancer in the stomach. Notwithstanding all the remedies that were tried, she grew worse from day to day, and it was feared that she was dying. Gemma gave her every care. Justina herself deposed as follows in the Processes:
‘During my long sickness, Gemma of her own accord undertook to write down every day an account of the progress of the disease and filled several pages of a day-book .... I asked Doctor Nerici to read Gemma's manuscript in order that he might know the history of my sickness, and when he had done so he said: "One would think it had been written by a doctor." ‘
In order to obtain Justina's cure a friend of the family had arranged for a triduum in honor of the Sacred Heart in the Church of S. Giovanni. All the household took part in it. But Gemma . . . she whose heart was burning to be near Jesus-remained with the sick woman, and recited with her the prayers that were being said in the church. According to the testimony of Signora Justina, Gemma sometimes spent entire days in the sick-room without saying a word. And what was she meditating in that long silence? She was praying and making a heroic resolve-she was thinking of offering to Jesus her own life which seemed to her of no account, in exchange for the life of her benefactress who was also the mother of twelve 'children. She began to think it was her positive duty. She therefore approached her confessor and her director to obtain their consent. She wrote to the latter:
'Father, the mother is very seriously ill. I have been thinking this way: when I was sick she was ready to help me even more than she was able, but I have had no opportunity of showing them gratitude. Perhaps the time has come? The mother is sick and I cannot make any return for all she has done for me. Up to the present I have offered for her only a little suffering, some little mortifications .... This morning I spoke to Jesus, and afterwards I said to my confessor: "I should like to give my life for the poor mother!" He said:
"No. Absolutely no." I then said: "Two years, at least? May I not give at least that much!" Jesus was satisfied, and said: "Yes, you may. However, on condition that the Father director is also satisfied!" I want to make this promise, this vow, to-morrow morning, but I cannot unless I get the permission of the Father director. Father, you will not refuse, will you? Two for Serafina, and two for the mother, more if there is need. I am most anxious that you should reply immediately.'
Serafina was a friend of Gemma who had mentioned her to her spiritual director before. 'I have only about eight years to live,' she wrote to him. 'I should like to give three to Serafina and keep the others for myself.' After several refusals and many evasions, Gemma at length obtained the desired consent. Signora Justina was cured except for an inconvenience of another nature which Gemma herself had foretold. Gemma, however, became seriously ill with stomach trouble, and was in violent pain. To make Aunt Cecilia realize how much she was suffering, she said that the effect of swallowing a drop of water was like a burning fire in her stomach. Father Germanus attests that the two women mentioned above got better, but that Gemma died at the exact end of the period she had bargained to live.' [Lettere ed estasi, pp. 35-36]
If the laying down of one's life out of love for a person who returns it, is according to the Gospel an act of the greatest charity, what must be said of that charity by which one is impelled to offer one's life and one's services on behalf of a person by whom one is actually despised? There was a servant in the house who had a disgusting wound in the leg, which was dressed by Gemma with every care even though she received only abuse in return. Mother Gemma Giannini said that when passing the room where the servant was, she saw Gemma on her knees kiss and dress the sore.
After her death Gemma continued to prove her gratitude to her benefactors. Chevalier Matthew Giannini well recognized this and in his evidence before the ecclesiastical tribunal he said:
‘For my part I must say this, that although my five sons were all at the war, exposed to the greatest danger, they all came back safe and sound, and one who had been appointed to a very dangerous post, was not sent. All this I owe, I believe, to the intercession of Gemma, to whom we have always prayed. And I think that it is to her I also owe the success of all my sons. They are a great consolation to me, for they go to Holy Communion every day, and are much occupied in promoting Catholic Action. Of my daughters, five are nuns, one has remained at home and one is married.'
Notwithstanding all this, Gemma feared that she was a source of scandal to her benefactors. Thus she wrote to a nun: 'Say a prayer for me, Mother, that Jesus may give me the grace to set a good example to this family and not to be a scandal to it." [Lettere ed estasi, p. 141.]
HELPING THE NEEDY
The reader will remember how charitable Gemma was as a child, how she was even still more charitable when her family fell from prosperity to absolute want. In the Giannini household, the desire she had of assisting the poor, did not meet with so many obstacles, and she was able to satisfy it to her heart's content. The Gianninis, knowing her kind-heartedness, made her the channel of their charities to the poor, and Aunt Cecilia's recollections give us an insight into this aspect of Gemma's virtue. The poor have a way of finding out where they will be well treated, and there was always a goodly number who knocked at the Gianninis' door. Gemma knew their knock, being able to distinguish it from others. She went, therefore, to offer whatever Aunt Cecilia had set apart for the poor. Sometimes, however, there was a disagreement between Gemma and her adopted mother. But we had better give Aunt Cecilia's own account:
‘In order to be able to help her neighbor, Gemma was willing to go hungry. She would have liked to give away everything. On the contrary I did not approve of this and I scolded her because, I said, I did not want to encourage the poor to come to the house in a procession. Besides, in case of any trouble I should not have been able to help Gemma. At table she usually put aside something for the poor, and then when there was a knock at the door, she would ask my permission to give it away. I used to answer: " Yes, but you must not bring them into the house." She then took whatever she could and brought it to them. She used to sit with the poor person at the back of the stairs in the loggia, and it was while I watched from a window looking on to the stairs that I heard the good advice she gave her poor.'
Gemma used to give the poor short and comprehensive instructions in the Catechism, hoping thereby to raise their thoughts to Heaven and thus make the sorrows of life more tolerable.
Aunt Cecilia declared that Gemma often urged her to visit certain sick people who otherwise would never have been visited, and for this purpose put forward such arguments that she was obliged to yield, and Mother Gemma attests that it can truly be said that all her aunt's charities were inspired by Gemma.
In fact Gemma had to be closely watched, for she would have given away everything that belonged to her, although she was scrupulous in her care of the goods of the house. She had not much to give, however. Her furniture consisted of a rough chest of drawers in which she kept her linen, and a little table. Every month her aunt at Camaiore sent her five or six lire, but her various charities claimed this money immediately. When she first came to the Gianninis' she had about thirty lire which she had given to Palmira Valentini for safe keeping. A certain person in need asked for it, and Gemma would have given it away at once, only she was accustomed to ask permission in such circumstances from Aunt Cecilia. However, both Aunt Cecilia and Monsignor Volpi opposed this, and the former kept the money for the use of Gemma and her family.
But Gemma's charity was not confined to the material sphere. Matthew Giannini deposed that when she went with them to the country, 'she instructed the men and the boys, teaching them their catechism, and giving good advice to all.' And Joseph, the lawyer, adds: 'She taught the little children to have devotion to the Blessed Virgin and to their Guardian Angels.' Once when Euphemia gave way somewhat to vanity on going out for a walk with her father, Gemma met her on the stairs, and smilingly said: 'Whoever tries to please men, does not succeed in pleasing Jesus.' These words haunted the girl during the whole walk. Gemma never let slip a chance of doing good. On another occasion Euphemia asked her to give her a thought that would serve as a headline when practicing handwriting, and Gemma suggested the following words: 'If every one would endeavor to know and love God, this world would be changed into a Paradise.'
LIFE OF FAITH
Having studied Gemma's relations with her neighbor, we must now examine her relations with God. Leaving to another chapter the more particular and the extraordinary manifestations of her union with God, there will be recorded a few of the many depositions made in the Processes for the Beatification.. The following is by Aunt Cecilia:
“The Eucharist was her principal devotion. Communion meant everything to her, and she prepared for it the night before. In the church she remained beside me, with her eyes fixed upon the Tabernacle. When the moment came to receive Holy Communion I got up first and she followed me, and she always kept beside me with her hands under her mantle. Afterwards we went to some place where there were no people, because as she herself used to say, she went, as it were, out of herself. People often came to ask her prayers. She used not to answer, and therefore lest they might perceive something, I asked Monsignor Volpi what I ought to do, and he said that I should tell them that she did not speak because after Holy Communion she was making her thanksgiving and did not want to be distracted. . . . Some criticized her for this silence, although good people remarked upon her recollected and edifying demeanor. As a rule we heard two Masses, if there were two and if there was time. She continued her thanksgiving right through the morning, even after she went home and was occupied with her household duties. We used to go to several churches . . . and I did this in order that she might escape being noticed by people, although I did not tell her my reason for so doing.
‘At Benediction in the evening she was as recollected as in the morning, with her eyes fixed upon the Tabernacle. Sometimes we made the Stations of the Cross, and one evening after we had made them with greater devotion and recollection than usual, she said: "Let us always make them like that !" And I believe she said this because we had prayed a little longer, especially at the Death of Jesus. . . . We went to the church also for the Forty Hours or to hear a sermon, but we never went to the general Communions or to functions where there were great crowds, although we paid visits to churches where particular feasts were being celebrated. Sometimes she said to me: "We do not know how to behave when we are in the church. It would not be so if we could see how the Angels and the Seraphim around the Altar behave."
Her love for the Blessed Virgin was deep and full of understanding. 'I have now no earthly mother,' she used to say. "But instead I have a Heavenly Mother.' It gave her great pleasure to call the Blessed Virgin, Mom. One day when she was before the altar of Our Lady of Sorrows in the Servite Church, she said to Aunt Cecilia: 'You also call her Mom, and you will see how pleased she will be !' Aunt Cecilia well remembered that day. It was May 8, the Feast of Our Lady of Pompeii. All the days consecrated by the Church to the Blessed Virgin were indeed festival days for her, but on this day after she had returned home from Holy Communion and Aunt Cecilia had begun the day's work, she immediately went into ecstasy. She spoke of the Holy Communion she had received, of the joy she had experienced, and the joy she would experience. As they were alone in the house, Aunt Cecilia allowed her to remain quiet, and the ecstasy lasted until midday.
She had also a great devotion to the Rosary, which she frequently recited. According to Aunt Cecilia, Gemma usually carried in her pocket but two things, her Rosary and her handkerchief. It happened, however, that she seldom got beyond the first decade, . either of the ordinary Rosary, or of the Rosary of the Seven Dolours, without going out of herself, as she called it, that is, without going into ecstasy, with the beads in her hands and her flushed face and bright eyes fixed on Heaven. Mother Gemma Giannini attests that Gemma taught her and wrote out for her a beautiful prayer to the Blessed Virgin composed by St. Alphonsus. And Joseph Giannini, the Advocate, testified that it was Gemma's delight to speak of the Blessed Virgin Mary with children.
In contact thus with Heaven, Gemma lived as if she were not of this earth. We have already spoken of her perfect detachment from everything that was not Jesus. We shall complete what we have said with the following deposition of Aunt Cecilia.
‘If she had formed any friendships before she met me, I could not know of them. I believe she spoke freely with some friends, knowing them to be pious souls. After she came to me, she wanted me to accompany her everywhere, and would rather wait until I was free than go with other people. . . . Of politics or affairs like that she never spoke, and when they were spoken of she appeared not to understand or even not to hear. Gemma's world, especially during her last years with me, was very limited. Her acquaintances were restricted to the persons in the house, and to a few others whom she met only through absolute necessity and obedience. Whether they were seculars or religious, men or women, priests or nuns, she preferred not to have to meet them.'
Gemma had such a wealth of beautiful thoughts to occupy her, that she wished to avoid distraction. Seated on a stone near the kitchen door or in the courtyard of the Giannini home, calm, silent, smiling, she worked at knitting or mending stockings while her mind was far from the things of earth. Happy girl! She knew how to taste in exile the joys of the eternal Fatherland! Blessed was the family that gave shelter to such a guest!
CHAPTER XIV - HER SHARE IN THE SACRED PASSION -'I AM A FLOWER OF THY WOUNDS'
The great and overpowering desire of the Saints has always been to make themselves as like as possible to Jesus Crucified who is the sublime model for all the predestined. This resemblance is principally achieved in the soul, within, but in a few Saints it has been made manifest externally, and they have borne visibly in their bodies the marks of Christ's Passion. However; all the Saints have not participated equally in drinking the chalice of the Savior’s sufferings, but Gemma was privileged to drink so deeply of it that her Divine Spouse could say to her: 'My daughter, there are a few of your age in Heaven to whom it has been given to share so largely in My sufferings.' [Lettere ed estasi.]
One by one Gemma did indeed experience all the sorrows of the drama of the Sacred Passion, so that the prayer she had uttered was completely answered : , Jesus is the Man of Sorrows, and I desire to become the daughter of sorrow.' This was always the one desire of her heart. 'When will the time come when I can embrace the Cross, and feel the thorns, the nails, the pains . . . and be as it were immersed in the Wounds of my Saviour? . . .' She did indeed become so steeped in the Passion of Christ that she could say: 'I am fruit of Thy Passion, a flower of Thy Wounds.' [Lettere ed estasi.]
THE SUFFERINGS OF GETHSEMANI
Before the Redeemer of the world suffered the awful torture of the scourging, the crowning with thorns, and the Crucifixion, He underwent the Agony in the Garden, in which He shed His blood so copiously. As we have already seen, Gemma participated in this sorrow of the Passion by sweating blood when anyone blasphemed in her hearing.
Among the causes that contributed to the Agony of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemani were the sins and the ingratitude of mankind. The same considerations made Gemma not only sweat blood, but even shed tears of blood, as was testified by witnesses in the Processes for her Beatification. One of these, Mother Gemma Giannini, asserted that so great was Gemma's grief over the sins of the world and for those which she thought she herself had committed, that she often sweated blood and even wept tears of blood. 'She used to sweat blood because of the sins that gave such great offence to God,' declared Aunt Cecilia, ' often saying in ecstasy: "Revenge Thyself on me, but spare all sinners!"
This mysterious phenomenon manifested itself particularly once during a whole month when she was praying very earnestly for priests. The sweat and the tears of blood took place about the same time as the Stigmata, and according to Father Germanus, from time to time on certain days.
THE THORNS
One of the most exquisite torments suffered by Jesus in His Passion was the crowning with thorns. For a long time Gemma was ambitious to wear this diadem, and her desire grew all the more ardent when Jesus Himself allowed her to see Him crowned with thorns, and asked her whether she would like to be crowned in the same way.
The first time that she mentioned this matter in her diary was on July 19, 1900. She wrote:
‘This evening at last, after six days of suffering through Jesus withdrawing Himself from me, I am somewhat recollected. I began to pray as I am accustomed to do every Thursday. I began to think of the Crucifixion of Jesus. At first I did not feel anything, but after a few moments I became a little recollected, Jesus was near. To the recollection there succeeded what usually happens. I went into ecstasy and I found myself with Jesus Who was suffering excruciating pains. What was I to do, seeing Jesus suffer without being able to help Him? I felt then a great desire to suffer and I asked Jesus to grant me this grace. He granted my wish immediately and did what He had done on other occasions.'
And here, after having described how she received the crown of thorns from Jesus, she continued: , And so I remained an hour suffering with Jesus. I should have liked to remain there the whole night.' On the following day, July 20, she wrote again: 'At three o'clock I was again in the presence of Jesus .... He took off the crown from my head, and put it on His own head again, and I ceased to suffer pain.'
But Gemma began to live these ' sorrowful, but happy moments' long before this date. Her own words imply this: 'He did what He had done on other occasions.' Perhaps the King had placed His precious diadem upon the head of His beloved Gemma before He had allowed her to bear the marks of His Wounds. If we are not to confuse it with the sweat of blood over her whole body, of which we have spoken, this phenomenon took place during her first stay with the 'Mantellate' nuns. It was deposed in the Processes that one of these religious on arranging Gemma's hair noticed to her great surprise that every hair had a drop of blood on it.
Besides, the several witnesses who spoke of the manifestations of the Stigmata also mentioned that blood flowed freely from her head. But the evidence given by the priest, Laurence Agrimonti, deserves to be quoted. In his account of the extraordinary things that happened to Gemma during the first months of her stay with the Giannini family, that is in 1899 before she came to live permanently there, he writes: 'On August 20, I, the undersigned, saw Signorina Gemma Galgani, sitting in a chair, she being as in a trance, with her face .and hands all stained with blood, and on her forehead certain marks in the form of a crown of thorns.'
Matthew Giannini deposed: 'I saw her and it seemed as if she had a drop of blood on every hair. It was her own blood. I saw the stains left on the cloths with which my sister wiped away the Mood, and these cloths were afterwards sent to the laundry. At first the blood exuded from the skin near the hair. Afterwards it came out all over her forehead, as if there was a crown of small red drops dripping down upon her face.' Similar descriptions were given by other members of the Giannini family. Joseph Giannini, the lawyer, gave the following evidence under oath:
'I saw on one occasion, I think it was on Good Friday ... something like a circle of blood on her forehead. Some drops were running down her temples, and it really seemed to me that she was exuding blood from the skin. I did not touch her, but my aunt wiped away the blood with white cloths and these showed the true red stain of blood. The blood, however, continued to come. It was certainly a sweat of blood. She was in ecstasy, and suffered much. The circle of blood reached across her forehead from the hair on one side to the hair on the other. I do not know, and I did not try to find. out, whether the circle continued its way through the hair. The width of this circle was some millimetres in the top part of the forehead, leaving unaffected a little space between the circle and the beginning of the hair, as well as the lower part of the forehead upon which the blood was dripping.'
'The wearing of the crown commenced on Thursday at the usual hour,' said Mother Gemma Giannini, 'and ceased on Friday evening.' This same religious likewise deposed that she heard certain words spoken by Gemma in an ecstasy that preceded -the manifestation of this phenomenon. From this testimony one must conclude that her Guardian Angel appeared to her, holding two crowns, one of roses and one of thorns, and invited her to choose. Gemma said: 'Better that which belongs to Jesus. As you well know, my dear Angel, I recognize that which is His. Give it to me .... ' It was observed that on Thursday she suffered more than on Friday evening, and when she was asked why this was, she explained that on Thursday the thorns were driven in, and on Friday they were taken out. Once it was noticed that there remained for a short time in the middle of her forehead near her hair a triangular wound, very distinct and visible. The pain of this coronation was intense. 'She lay stretched out on the bed with only her head to be seen,' said Mother Gemma Giannini. 'Blood was flowing in drops from her forehead, from her eyes like unto tears which afterwards coagulated, from her nose even, and was running down upon her neck like two streamlets, so that gathering under her throat it formed a small mass of blood. In the morning she got up and washed and then not a trace of the phenomena I have described remained. She went to Mass and fulfilled her usual duties.'
Aunt Cecilia speaks of a special manifestation of this phenomenon which took place on Good Friday, 1902. Gemma was occupied with the devotion of the Three Hours' Agony, when there opened on her forehead a punctured wound which later on almost disappeared, only to come again every Thursday, and this continued until the end of June of the same year.
Cecilia Giannini, who more frequently than anyone was a spectator of these phenomena, in order to give an idea of how Gemma looked when she participated in the crowning with thorns, likened her to an Ecce Homo. And what a martyrdom Gemma must have suffered at these times! Certainly it would melt a heart of stone to hear her repeat in ecstasy: ' 0 Jesus, my head! I t is too much-I cannot bear it any longer, I cannot bear it any longer! ... My Jesus, help me!' Nevertheless she wanted all this pain, as a proof that Jesus loved her, and as a demonstration of the love she bore Him in return. '0 Jesus, show me that You love me. At other times when I asked Thee, You didst allow me to feel the Wounds of Thy Passion, the thorns ... I give myself to Thee, 0 Jesus. . . . 0 God, more, more, 0 Jesus . . . still more ! Now, Jesus, I know that You love me!' [Lettere ed estasi, p. 159.] THE WOUNDS AND SCOURGING
Gemma desired a still deeper participation in the Passion. She wanted to bear the wounds, and with the wounds, the pain of the scourging. '0 my God, give me Thy wounds; they are mine and no longer Thine; give them to me. Quick, 0 Jesus; if You wait I shall die!' In her abounding love, she longed for a share, not in a few, but in every one of the torments of the Passion. '0 Jesus, let me share in all Thy sorrows; let me suffer while I love, suffer for Jesus who loves, and die suffering for Jesus ! '
God answered the prayers of Gemma, not only by satisfying these desires, but also by sharpening them still more.' This morning after Holy Communion,' she wrote, ' Jesus said to me: " If it is true that you love Me so much as you say, I want you to bear My image impressed upon you. Look at Me ! You will see Me ill-treated, despised by all, dead on a Cross. And I invite you also to die on a Cross for me.'" Then He showed her the instruments of the Passion. How such a sight made her heart beat! This is how she writes to her spiritual Father: 'It seems impossible; Jesus is so determined. He came yesterday evening before I began to suffer. He came and He had in His hands all the instruments of the Passion. I do not know what He meant. He showed them to me one by one. When He had finished I wanted to say something, but at that moment I could not say' a word, and Jesus went away and left me alone .... ' But she consoles herself with the thought that Thursday is near. 'Father, this evening is Thursday evening !' And in another letter she explains why she looks forward with such joyous expectation to the Holy Hour: 'How happy I am after I have spent an hour compassionating Jesus! When Thursday evening draws near, I feel absolutely different, so happy: For me Friday is always a festival day.' [Lettere ed estasi, p. 30.]
These divine favors added new fuel to the fire of love that burnt within her, and she cried out to Jesus: ' Love has indeed slain Thee! My Jesus, make me also die of love! Life will be a torment. There is no one in the world who can satisfy my affections, only You. The thorns, the Cross, the nails, all are the work of love.' 'Yes, I love the Cross, the Cross alone, because I see it always on Thy shoulders. I see well, my Jesus, that all my love is for Thee and Thy sufferings.' 'The Wounds of Jesus speak to me with such sweet violence that I should like . . . 0 my Jesus, I should like my heart to be possessed with but one desire, such as the saints had, that I might be able in some way to love Thee.'
The phenomena which we have described continued to be manifested in Gemma until February, 1901, when by order of her spiritual director, she prayed to Jesus to be freed from them. Her prayers were heard. But although the Stigmata disappeared, a new torture took their place-s-the scourging. The following is the account she gave of it to Father Germanus, her spiritual director:
'Something has happened which I never experienced before. . . . You know that on Thursday and Friday Jesus gives me a little present, and this week another still more dear to me was added. He allowed me to feel some of the blows of His scourging over all the body, very painful, Father, but it was nothing compared with the merciless blows which Jesus received. You remember, we prayed together that Jesus might take away every external sign, and behold Jesus has added another in its place. Viva Gesu! May He be infinitely thanked! Nevertheless He assured me that to please me He would take away the external signs . . . but He added: " Your sufferings will increase and a different life will begin for you…’
To Monsignor Volpi she afterwards wrote thus:
‘It was just at the time when I was praying Jesus to take away all external signs, but Jesus instead added another. He allowed me to feel a few blows of His scourging. To the pain in the hands, feet, head and heart, this was also added. May He be for ever thanked!
'So about five o'clock I began to feel so great a sorrow for my sins that I seemed to be beside myself through fright; but to this there succeeded almost immediately a hope in the mercy of God which calmed me. I did not feel any pain yet. After about an hour I seemed to see my Guardian Angel who was holding two crowns in his hands, one of thorns made in the form of a hat, and the other made of the whitest lilies. The sight of the Angel caused me as usual to be a little afraid, but afterwards it caused me joy. Together we adored the Majesty of God ... and then showing me the two crowns, he asked me which one I should like. I did not want to answer because the Father had forbidden me to do so, but he insisted, saying that it was he who was commanding it, he blessed me and made an offering of me to the Eternal Father, saying to me that I was to forget myself and think only of sinners that night. I was persuaded by these words, and I told the Angel that I would have chosen that of Jesus. He showed me the one of thorns. . . . I kissed it several times, and after he had placed it on my head the Angel disappeared. I began then to suffer in my hands, feet and head, and later on in all the body, and I felt heavy blows. I spent the night in that way, and in the morning I forced myself to get up, so that no one would know these things. The blows and the pain I felt until about two o'clock. At that time the Angel came back, and to tell the truth I could scarcely bear it any longer-and he made me feel well, saying that Jesus had had compassion on me because I was yet a little one, and incapable of suffering with Jesus until the hour in which He expired. . . . But I was worried about one thing, the marks had not disappeared. In the morning when I received Holy Communion I prayed very fervently to Jesus that the marks would be taken away, and He promised that on the day of His Passion He would take them away.'
From the documents quoted, it must be inferred that Gemma began to suffer the new torment of the scourging about February 7 or 8, 1901, and that the Stigmata ceased on February 12, the Feast of the Commemoration of the Passion. The phenomenon was repeated on the four Fridays of March, and on a few other occasions, as we can see from her letters, although we cannot say exactly how many times they occurred because they passed unobserved. The following is an account given by Cecilia Giannini of the phenomena that happened in March. We have compressed it somewhat:
‘Some weeks she suffered neither the Stigmata nor the crowning with thorns. I was pleased. One evening, however, I saw that she was suffering very much, and went to bed earlier than usual, and seeing this I watched her. I thought she was ill and I was not thinking of the extraordinary things, when suddenly I saw little streaks of blood on the backs of her hands. I uncovered her neck and her arms, turning the sleeves of her nightdress up a little. Gemma was in ecstasy. But I was not thinking of what it could be, and believing that it was her own blood that was trickling from her skin, I tried to wipe away the blood from the back of the hand with a cloth which became stained. It was her own blood. I could not imagine how the thing was happening, but I heard her say in the ecstasy: "Are these Thy lashes, Jesus?" And that made me think it was the scourging. This was on the first Friday of March, the manifestation having commenced on the Thursday evening before. It lasted until about four or five in the afternoon of Friday. This was repeated on the Thursday and Friday of the next three weeks of March. In these other ecstasies the scourging was more extensive. In the second I noticed that the skin opened under the streaks of blood. In the third the wounds were wider, and I counted eleven wounds of which three were near the neck, two on the knees, and the others on the calves of the legs and on the arms. I did not uncover from under the neck to the knees, but I noticed that her nightdress was all stained with blood. I did not uncover her shoulders nor her back. On the shoulder of the nightdress, on the right shoulder, I believe, there was a big blood-stain, and besides there was blood all over the bed. . . . A few days after the fourth Friday I said to her: " But tell me this. At first there were only red streaks, and now there are cuts and wounds. Why?" She answered: "At first they were whips, and now they are scourges." ‘
As happened with the other wounds of which we have spoken, all signs of this phenomenon disappeared after two or three days. On one occasion Aunt Cecilia bandaged two of these wounds on her shin, but they would not heal and even festered, whereas left unbandaged they healed of their own accord.
The wound on her shoulder mentioned by Cecilia Giannini was so big and so deep as to compel her to walk bent over towards that side. She felt the effect of it longer than the effects of the other wounds. One witness deposed that having placed a hand a few times on Gemma's shoulder, she said that she felt great pain there. These things happened until April 5 of the same year, when at the voice of obedience the phenomena disappeared.
The following extracts were taken down while she was in ecstasy contemplating the sorrowful mystery of the scourging.
‘0 Jesus to what a state You art reduced! Oh, the holy Person of Jesus has become a plaything for all! They blaspheme Thee, my Jesus, they treat Thee roughly, they curse Thee .... 0 Jesus, I am surprised that although I see Thee in the midst of these humiliations, I do not wish to hear them spoken of. Oh, if I were able, Jesus, with .my blood I should wish . . . I should wish to wash with my blood all those places where I see Thee outraged! ... No more blows on Thee, 0 Jesus. You have not deserved them; I, yes; You, no ! It is I who am the sinner, You art innocent.' , To-night, 0 Jesus, I wish to suffer all; if You also wish to suffer, let us suffer together. Let me be one victim with Thee. Art You pleased, oh Jesus? Strengthen me for this, oh Jesus; I do not ask Thee anything more. Poor Jesus! What a number of blows, poor Jesus! Those bad men are not sparing Thee, but Thy patience is not exhausted. Leave Jesus alone, beat me! Why revenge yourselves upon Jesus; revenge yourselves upon me. More still, 0 Jesus; more, oh God! . .. Still more, Jesus-and more, Jesus, more! My Jesus, help me in this hour! Oh Jesus, to whom do You wish that I go for help? '
And the blows rained down upon the sufferer, so that the spectators of this scene sometimes thought she would die of pain.
ADDED SUFFERINGS
Although the exterior manifestations ceased God allowed her to suffer just as much as before in those places. She did not shed blood, but that very fact made her pain all the greater, for the flowing of the blood had given her some alleviation.
God, however, did grant her relief in the mouthfuls of blood which came from her heart. This is how she writes to her spiritual director: 'My Father, my heart being small needs to be enlarged, but there is no room. . . . It desires to expand, but I am so small; Jesus is infinite . . .' And on another occasion: 'Live, Jesus! Towards half past one my little heart could not contain itself and I began to spit up blood in great quantities.' And again: 'I have disobeyed Monsignor. In forbidding me all those things on Friday, he has forbidden me also to spit blood. Until now I have obeyed, but this morning-it was the Feast of St. Paul of the Cross, who himself had suffered so much from the same most desirable infirmity-about an hour after Communion, in a violent movement of my heart, a little of it came away.'
Gemma's heart, all on fire as it was with love, could not but be affected by such ardent desires, and indeed it was so affected that three of her ribs were displaced on that side. 'Imagine,' she wrote, , Jesus told me some time back that they (the feelings of oppression in her heart) would every day grow more painful so that I should become unconscious, that in one of these, I do not know how to explain it, I should die. Live, Jesus !' But of these phenomena which have been verified we shall speak later on.
To make the image of Jesus Crucified in Gemma more complete something was yet wanting. Jesus had been despised, humiliated, mocked, spat upon in His Passion, and so was Gemma. Let us take a few facts from the Processes. 'Imagine anyone paying attention to an hysterical girl like that!' This was what she sometimes overheard. And often when she went to the church for confession, she was made to wait a long time because no one would tell the priest she was there, or she was found fault with because she went to confession so frequently. At times they were slow in calling the priest to give her Holy Communion, and often her requests received this answer: 'Go and see whether you can succeed in bothering another priest.' Gemma, however, was always calm and patient, and excused them, saying: 'They would come if they were able.'
According to Thecla Natali, Gemma was frequently worried by the street urchins because of the Crucifix she wore, and because of the way she dressed, but she never lost her patience with them. On one occasion in the Via Zecca when she was on her way from the convent she was seriously molested by some boys. She was rescued by some people, who then accompanied her home. Although the boys had gone so far as to spit in her face, she remained calm throughout. These humiliations, far from upsetting her, united her all the more to Jesus. , One evening,' deposed Annetta Giannini, 'when Aunt Cecilia, Gemma and I were entering the Church, some boys began to annoy Gemma, but she was not in the least angry and said: "By being despised by the world I am hoping to become a saint." ‘
The outrageously scornful words which were cast at her in the Giannini home by a religious from whom she least expected them, resulted in her love for humiliations being more clearly manifested. , You worthless consumptive and tiresome nuisance, when will you die and cease to soil this house with your presence?' Gemma, far from being upset, answered calmly: 'You are right; what you say is true.'
Gemma was to know the pain even of the Crucifixion, including the contraction of the limbs, the displacement of the bones, the terrible hours of agony, and a desolate death while abandoned by ~ Heaven and earth. All this we shall see in its place. She had to experience in life the atrocious torment of thirst which Jesus felt when dying. This is what she wrote to her spiritual director about this thirst :
‘Yesterday was Friday and I felt ill. All my nerves were racked, and this caused a tremendous thirst….I have had this thirst before but never so great as this time. And then I noticed this curious thing. Water, or anything one drinks, ought to quench my thirst, but instead it only increased my thirst and tormented me more.'
Of a final trait of resemblance between Jesus and Gemma we shall have to speak later on. Here we shall only mention it. The Gospel relates of Jesus that after His death His side was pierced by the lance of a soldier, and that from the wound blood and water came forth. Gemma was also wounded in the side after death and from that wound blood came forth. Truly a creature that thus bore in her soul and body the lineaments of Jesus Crucified must be considered predestined.
SUPERNATURAL INSTRUCTION
Participating thus abundantly in the sufferings of her Divine Redeemer, it is not to be wondered at that Gemma was ever increasing in her love for Him and ever more eager to suffer. These were the lessons that she learned daily at that school. 'Jesus has always two flames in His hand,' she wrote, ‘and He explained to me that one is the flame of love and the other the flame of sorrow.' And these flames did indeed penetrate into the happy soul of the Servant of God, and ended by setting it on fire. Here are some of the heavenly teachings which Gemma received on this subject from her Angel or directly from Jesus:
‘The Angel says to me that by means of suffering I can become like to Jesus, and show Him my love and be assured of that of Jesus.'
“Sometimes Jesus says to me: "See, My daughter, the greatest gift that I can make to a soul that is dear to Me, is the gift of suffering." And then I cannot resist throwing myself at the feet of Jesus and thanking Him so much, because it seems to me that He may give even to me some little thing to suffer for His sake.'
The Angel added: "Look at this Cross! It is the Cross that your Father presents to you. It is a book which you must read every day. Promise me, my child, promise me, that you will carry this Cross with love, and that you will esteem it better than all the joys of the world." ‘I promised him all he asked and with trembling hands I embraced the Cross.'
'After an hour of suffering the Angel came. I did not receive him at all well; I asked him to go away. As always, these visions at first afflict me a little, but afterwards my heart becomes filled with happiness. "What is it that pleases Jesus most? " he asked me. "Suffering," I answered. "And do you wish to please Him-to suffer-and how much?" "Very much," I replied in my mind. He said to me that my desire that Jesus remain in my heart should be satisfied, and that I should have to suffer very much. The Angel then blessed me and went away, crying out: "Live, Jesus, live, the Cross of Jesus! "’
‘The Angel said: "The measure of suffering is according to the weight that the hand of Jesus gives to it, that is, according to the amount He desires to be felt."’
‘And Jesus: "Embrace the Cross, My daughter, and be certain that whilst you are satisfying your desire of suffering you are satisfying My heart; and remember, the more bitter the Cross seems to your heart, the more agreeable it is to Mine."
‘Jesus has said to me: "Do you know why I desire to send crosses to the souls that are dear to Me? I desire to possess them entirely, and for that reason I surround them with crosses, and I shut them in with tribulations so that they may not escape out of My hands; for that reason I spread thorns everywhere so that giving their affections to no one they may seek all their pleasure in Me alone. My daughter, if the Cross was not felt, it could not be called a Cross. Be certain that if you stand beneath the Cross you will never be lost. The Devil has no power over those souls who weep near the Cross. My daughter, how many would have abandoned Me, if I had not crucified them. The Cross is a very precious gift, and many virtues can be learned through it." ‘
"When I shall be a spouse of blood to you "said Jesus-" I will love you, but you must be as one crucified. Prove your love for Me as I have proved My love for you; and you know how-by suffering pains and crosses without number. You must consider yourself honored when I treat you thus, and when I lead you through thorny and sorrowful paths. It is with My permission that the Devil torments you, that the world fills you with disgust, that the persons dearest to you cause you affliction. . . . And you, My daughter, must think of only one thing during this time, that is, of exercising great virtues. Keep on the path of the Divine will, and humble yourself, and be convinced that if I nail you to the Cross, I love you." ‘
"My daughter "-Jesus said to me- "if you truly love Me, you will love Me even in darkness." The Lord delights in playing with souls that are very dear to Him, but He plays with them because He loves them. Now He consoles them, now He allows them to become well esteemed by mankind, and afterwards He allows them to become a laughingstock to the world. At one time He makes them so courageous that Hell has no terrors for them, and at another time, He allows them to be frightened at the least thing. Whoever thinks that he is suffering, knows little; but whoever suffers and yet thinks that he suffers little or naught, is enlightened. Whoever is humiliated on earth, is in Heaven and on the Cross; whoever has the first place on earth, has the last before God. He who knows the Cross, desires it; he who does not know it, runs away from it.'
Gemma was meditating on and even living the Passion of Jesus Christ, and from this meditation she drew all her consolation. 'To meditate on Thy Passion, 0 Jesus, has always been a great relief to holy souls.' And this is how she wrote of the fruits she gathered from this meditation. 'Every day I make a meditation, but always on the Passion. If I did not do so, it would seem to me that Jesus would reprove me thus: "See, My daughter, here I am on the Cross, through love, a victim for your many faults. Consider well My sufferings, and then deny Me, if you can, the tender compassion that I deserve."’
'When I see Jesus weep, my own heart is transfixed with sorrow; I think . . . I think how I have by my sins aggravated the oppression which Jesus suffered in the Garden. At that time Jesus saw all my sins, all my omissions, and besides, He saw the place I should have occupied in Hell, if Thy Heart, oh Jesus, had not granted me pardon.'
‘When I am looking at the Crucifix, it seems to me that Jesus turns to me with words of reproof and says: "If you allow yourself to sin you will crucify Me anew. Are not these sufferings enough?" Mio Dio! After these words could I hold out any longer? But Jesus turning to me, very pleased, added and repeated: "Love Me as much as you can, and I shall give you all that you desire. Love Me with all your heart and I shall forgive you all your sins." Oh the infinite goodness of Jesus! All He asks of me is love! '
‘Many times I have asked Jesus to teach me the true way of loving Him, and it seems to me that then Jesus allows me to see all His open Wounds, and that He says: "Look, My daughter, look how I have suffered! Do you see this Cross, these nails, these thorns? They are the works of love. Look and learn how to love." [All the above quotations in this and in the following section have been taken from the “Lettere ed estasi.”]
HEROIC RESOLUTIONS
The lessons which were taught in this school of love and suffering penetrated into the soul of the holy girl. The resolutions which she was thereby induced to make are among the most heroic that can be conceived, and the maxims she formulated almost divinely sublime.
‘I shall compensate Thee, 0 Jesus,' she exclaims, , by treating myself as Thy slave, and by putting my shoulders under Thy Cross.'
‘Suffering will raise my spirits, and far from discouraging me will give me the strength necessary to correspond with Thy grace.'
‘Oh, how much I realize that by doing what the goodness of Jesus wills, every cross is changed into joy, suffering even becomes too pleasant! He has neither cross nor fear who is closely united with Jesus.'
‘My heart possesses Jesus and possessing Jesus I feel that I can smile even in the midst of so many tears. I feel, yes, I feel happy even in great suffering.'
‘0 Jesus, whether You caress me or strike me, it is the same to me. Yea, when You do strike me, I am all the more pleased, because it is really what I deserve.'
‘It ought not be that suffering should adapt itself to us, but we ought to adapt ourselves to suffering. '
'Whoever loves Jesus has sufficient strength to suffer any cross whatsoever.'
‘Whoever truly loves, suffers gladly.'
‘The more a cross is contrary to my desires, the more it is like to Thine, 0 Jesus.'
‘The masters of this world teach always with the voice, but You with suffering.'
‘Who knows how many would have abandoned Thee, if You had not held them to the Cross.'
‘In loving it is You who delight my soul, and in suffering it is I who delight Thy Soul.'
'Why are you so. afflicted, 0 my soul? You offend your Beloved if you do not embrace the Cross with gladness. If you do not send your thoughts to Calvary, you are not concerned about Paradise.'
‘0 Jesus, You give crosses to them who love Thee! '
‘0 Cross, when I am near thee I feel strong! '
'All my days are sown with crosses. 0 holy Cross, I have embraced thee!'
‘May my life be a continual sacrifice! May You increase my sufferings, my humiliations! '
‘If I had to live in the world without suffering I should say to Thee: "Let me rather die now…Either crucify my soul or make me die!'
Upon hearing a cry like this-a cry that only the love of the Crucified could inspire, there remains only one thing for us to do, that is, to throw ourselves on our knees and exclaim with Blessed Gemma herself: 'Oh Passion of Christ! Ye Angels of Heaven, bow down with me in honor of the Passion of Jesus; together let us catch the Blood of Jesus! 'Passion of Jesus, I love Thee! Angels of Heaven, come, let us all adore the Passion of Jesus.
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Covid War Games? |
Posted by: Marcel - 04-12-2021, 10:17 AM - Forum: Pandemic 2020 [Secular]
- Replies (2)
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2017 Johns Hopkins Document Called “SPARS 2025-2028” Mirrors Today’s COVID Crisis
April 5, 2021
SPARS 2025-2028 Mirrors COVID-19 Global Response
NOTE: Facebook has banned all CentipedeNation.com links from the platform. It is an honor, but it’s also a nuisance for others that want to spread the word. If you want to share this link, it’s best to not include “https://” in front of the url. Instead, copy & paste this: centipedenation.com/transmissions/2017-johns-hopkins-document-called-spars-2025-2028-mirrors-todays-covid-crisis.
A 2017 document by Johns Hopkins is currently going viral which details plans for a global medical response under a hypothetical ‘exercise’ pandemic named “SPARS 2025-2028”, mirroring today’s world scenarios under COVID-19.
From John Hopkins’ centerforhealthsecurity.org:
The Center’s SPARS Pandemic exercise narrative comprises a futuristic scenario that illustrates communication dilemmas concerning medical countermeasures (MCMs) that could plausibly emerge in the not-so-distant future.
[…]
The self-guided exercise scenario for public health communicators and risk communication researchers covers a raft of themes and associated dilemmas in risk communications, rumor control, interagency message coordination and consistency, issue management, proactive and reactive media relations, cultural competency, and ethical concerns.
The most interesting thing about this document is how it mirrors and outlines the entirety of the current Plandemic. The similarities are uncanny, including strategies for the MSM, presidents and celebrities being used to sell the vaccines – to the actual fatality rates being ‘predicted’ along with the numbers, to tweets and marketing campaigns, to “isolation procedures”. They even planned in advance how to counter people’s arguments on social media that question the side effects of the experimental vaccines, including calling everyone questioning the main narrative a conspiracy theorist.
Some people on social media have commented that the paper was basically a retrospective on the past year, and asked the questions about where the breakdowns in communication were. The interesting part is that while it reads like a retrospective of the past year, the John Hopkins website says that it was completed in October 2017.
Highlights
- “After showing no adverse side effects for nearly a year, vaccine recipients slowly began to experience symptoms.”
- “As time passed and more people across the United States were vaccinated, claims of adverse side effects began to emerge.”
- “As the investigations grew in intensity, several high-ranking officials at the CDC and FDA were forced to step down and withdraw from government.”
- “Nearing the end of 2027, reports of new neurological symptoms began to emerge.”
- “Several parents claimed that their children were experiencing neurological symptoms.”
- “Small groups of individuals spread throughout the country, for example, who felt that natural cures such as garlic and vitamins would be more effective at treating SPARS than an “untested” drug, were much less likely to accept Kalocivir as a treatment option or even seek medical attention for SPARS-like symptoms. Similarly, some ethnic minorities, and particularly ethnic groups who lived close together in large, tight-knit communities, also rejected Kalocivir.”
- “As the pandemic tapered off, several influential politicians and agency representatives came under fire for sensationalizing the severity of the event for perceived political gain. As with many public health interventions, successful efforts to reduce the impact of the pandemic created the illusion that the event was not nearly as serious as experts suggested it would be. President Archer’s detractors in the Republican Party seized the opportunity to publicly disparage the President and his administration’s response to the pandemic, urging voters to elect “a strong leader with the best interests of the American people at heart.” “
- “In an effort to further reach certain population subgroups, agency officials enlisted the help of well-known scientists, celebrities, and government officials to make short videos and Zap clips and, in a few cases, give interviews to major media outlets. Among those chosen were former President Jaclyn Bennett; BZee, a popular hiphop star; and Paul Farmer, co-founder of Partners in Health and a renowned global health expert… While common messaging resulted in more cohesive traditional media coverage, the celebrity outreach campaign was more problematic.”
- “What are the roles of a media-literate staff and organizational capacity to communicate via both social and traditional media platforms critical to understanding and influencing public debates about an MCM like Kalocivir?”
- “What communication strategies might be effective for breaking into, and engaging with otherwise self-isolating groups who oppose a recommended MCM like Corovax and might be placing themselves and others at risk during the outbreak?”
- How might federal health authorities avoid people possibly seeing an expedited SPARS vaccine development and testing process as somehow “rushed” and inherently flawed, even though that process still meets the same safety and efficacy standards as any other vaccine?
- “That month, a group of parents whose children developed mental retardation as a result of encephalitis in the wake of Corovax vaccination sued the federal government, demanding removal of the liability shield protecting the pharmaceutical companies responsible for developing and manufacturing Corovax.”
- “Given the positive reaction to the federal government’s response and the fact that the majority of US citizens willing to be vaccinated had already been immunized, the negative publicity surrounding adverse reactions had little effect on nationwide vaccination rates.”
- “A widespread social media movement led primarily by outspoken parents of affected children, coupled with widespread distrust of “big pharma,” supported the narrative that the development of SPARS MCMs was unnecessary and driven by a few profit-seeking individuals. Conspiracy theories also proliferated across social media, suggesting that the virus had been purposely created and introduced to the population by drug companies or that it had escaped from a government lab secretly testing bioweapons.”
- “In order to prioritize distribution of limited Corovax supply, the federal government requested that states report summary information for patient electronic health records (EHRs) to estimate the number of individuals in high-risk populations. This effort was met with resistance from the public, who protested the federal government accessing their private medical information.”
- “The Corovax vaccination program met resistance from several groups: alternative medicine proponents, Muslims, African Americans, and anti-vaccination activists. Initially operating independently, these groups banded together via social media to increase their influence.”
- “Japan announced that it would not approve Corovax for use in Japan in favor of developing and producing its own vaccine.”
https://centipedenation.com/first-column...id-crisis/
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Study finds COVID variant affects vaccinated individuals more than unvaccinated |
Posted by: Stone - 04-12-2021, 09:42 AM - Forum: COVID Vaccines
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Study finds COVID variant affects vaccinated individuals more than unvaccinated
Washington Examiner | April 11, 2021
The South Africa variant of the coronavirus affects vaccinated individuals more than those who are unvaccinated, according to a new study from Tel Aviv University and Israel’s largest healthcare provider.
The study, which was published Saturday and still requires peer review, looked at 400 individuals who tested positive for the coronavirus despite receiving at least one dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and compared the prevalence of the South African variant, B.1.351, with the same number of people who have not yet received a vaccination.
"We found a disproportionately higher rate of the South African variant among people vaccinated with a second dose, compared to the unvaccinated group," said Adi Stern of Tel Aviv University. "This means that the South African variant is able, to some extent, to break through the vaccine’s protection."
Not only could the variant “break through” protections offered by the Pfizer vaccine, but it uniquely affects those who have been vaccinated (around eight times higher) than those who have not received the vaccine — 5.4% to 0.7%.
Stern said the result came as a surprise, based on larger patterns.
“Based on patterns in the general population, we would have expected just one case of the South African variant, but we saw eight,” Stern told the Times of Israel. “Obviously, this result didn’t make me happy.”
The South Africa variant is generally rare, making up only about 1% of all coronavirus infections.
"Even if the South African variant does break through the vaccine’s protection, it has not spread widely through the population," Stern added.
The study has not yet been peer-reviewed, but Clalit Research director and professor Ran Balicer said the study is still important as it is “the first in the world to be based on real-world data.”
Tel Aviv University clarified the study focused on the Pfizer vaccine, which 53% of Israel’s 9.3 million citizens have received, and omitted the Moderna vaccine, which is only rarely used in the country. About a third of the country is under the age of 16 and is not eligible to receive any vaccine.
The study is also not intended to point to the overall effectiveness of the vaccines, as it specifically included those who tested positive for the coronavirus.
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Courrier de Rome: A Historical Analysis of the New Mass |
Posted by: Stone - 04-12-2021, 07:20 AM - Forum: Vatican II and the Fruits of Modernism
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A Historical Analysis of the New Mass
The book Il card. Ferdinando Antonelli a gli sviluppi della riforma liturgica dal 1948 al 1970 [i.e., Cardinal Ferdinando Antonelli and the Development of the Liturgical Reform from 1948 to 1970] by Nicola Giampietro, O.F.M. Cap. is a valuable contribution to the history of the "liturgical reform" of Pope Paul VI.
Fr. Antonelli, O.F.M., was Reporter General of the "Historical Section" of Rites. From 1948-60 he was a member of the Pontifical Commission for Liturgical Reform instituted by Pope Pius XII. From 1959 he was Promoter General of the Faith in the Sacred Congregation for Rites. He was an expert and Secretary of the Commission on the Sacred Liturgy at the Second Vatican Council and a member of the Consilium ad exsequendam Constitutionem de Sacra Liturgic. Fr. Antonelli is a direct witness of the shipwreck of the sound liturgical renewal begun under Pope Pius XII and which had already been envisaged by Pope St. Pius X and Pope Pius XI.
Under Pope Pius XII, Fr. Antonelli had been a cornerstone of the re-establishment of the Paschal Vigil (1951) and of the liturgical reform of Holy Week (1955). Initially he shared the illusion of those who thought that the Council would bring safely to harbor the prudent liturgical renewal which had produced its first good fruits under Pope Pius XII, a renewal which, with the Encyclical Mediator Dei, seemed to have reset the course of the "liturgical movement" by correcting its deviations and disciplining its aberrant tendencies (cf. Catholic Encyclopedia, "Mediator Dei").
When, on December 4, 1963, Pope Paul VI promulgated the conciliar Constitution on the Liturgy, Fr. Antonelli wrote in his diary, "The bones of Pope St. Pius X will be rejoicing. The Constitution on the Liturgy is nothing other than the precious fruit of a small seed originally sown by him" (op.cit. p.204).
First Doubts
However, in an address of September 8, 1964, Fr. Antonelli seems already perplexed: he wonders if the present time is propitious for realizing the liturgical reform, and says, "I do not know .... [S]ome things perhaps need more time to mature" (p.208). Meanwhile the implementation of the conciliar Constitution on the Liturgy had been entrusted to the notorious Consilium. On March 3, 1964, after an interview with Cardinal Larraona, Prefect of the Sacred Congregation [of Rites], Fr. Antonelli noted down their mutual perplexity in his diary:
The implementation of the Liturgy Constitution is handed over to the "Consilium." But unless the contrary be proved it is the Congregation [of Rites] which is the organ of government: if a different organ of government is created, confusion will ensue (p.227, note 12).
The '"Working Method" of the Consilium
After the first meeting of the Consilium, Fr. Antonelli writes: "Grand ideas, but it will not be easy to put them into practice" (p.228). He still believes that it is a question of painstaking work with a prudent respect for liturgical tradition, as it had been under Pope Pius XII, but very soon he will come to see that it is not so anymore. After the second meeting of consulters he wrote:
I am not enthusiastic about the work in hand ,...we have a collection of people who are very incompetent and, what is worse, they are "advanced" in promoting novelties. The discussions are entirely avant-garde in tendency, based on impressions and chaotic desires. What upsets me most is that the reports of the presentations and the corresponding questions are always "advanced" in approach and phrased in a biased way. Direction is weak (p.229).
This first negative impression is confirmed in the second meeting of the Consilium. Fr. Antonelli wrote,
Everything that is "advanced," is passed ...because that is Consilium's climate of thought. As a result, there is a great hurrying to get on, and people do not take time to reflect ...no sooner has the text been distributed but the examination begins, without anyone having had time to reject ,...There ought not to be such haste. But people's minds are excited and they want to press ahead (p.229).
Doubts continue to trouble Fr. Antonelli, for example, on concelebration (p.230); and, after the third meeting of Consilium, his fundamental doubt resurfaces concerning the opportuneness of liturgical reform at this particular historical moment:
I dislike the whole spirit of innovation; I dislike the tone of the discussions, which is too hasty and sometimes too excited, I dislike the way the President [Lercarol does not get the participants to speak by asking their views. After all, the issues to be decided on are important ones, and I don't know whether this is a good time (p.230).
After the fifth session, Fr. Antonelli is seriously worried by the spirit of innovation of the Consilium members:
This was a constructive session. But I am unhappy about the atmosphere. There is a spirit of criticism and intolerance towards the Holy See which cannot lead to a good conclusion. Then the whole approach to the liturgy is rationalistic; there is not concern for true piety. I am afraid that one day we shall have to say of this whole reform...: accepit liturgia recessit devotio-As the liturgy progressed devotion goes backwards (p.234).
Doctrinal Concerns
It is not, however, only a question of devotion. During the seventh session, when the Rite of Priestly Ordination is being discussed, Fr. Antonelli "notes with surprise that, in the context of the priest's functions, there is no mention of his principal work: sacrificium eucharisticum offerre" (p.236).
For the moment he is held back by an accident, due to the incompetence of the. "legal corps" and the "haste to get on." But Pope Paul VI's address of April 19, 1967 makes him think even more seriously about this Pope's responsibilities:
Paul VI said that he was saddened because some people were making capricious experiments in the Liturgy, and even more distressed by certain tendencies towards desacralizing the Liturgy. On the other hand he re-affirmed his confidence in the Consilium." And the Pope does not see that all the ills come from the way in which the "Consilium" organizes everything in this reform (p.237ff).
And all the time, as Fr. Antonelli makes it clear, "it is certain that Pope Paul VI followed the work of this `Consilium' most attentively" (p.237ff). Fr. Antonelli does not cease to be amazed at the method of working of the Consilium, or rather, the absence of any method in its working. On April 23, 1967, he notes in his diary:
The schemas multiply without arriving at a form that is really thought-out. Cardinal Lercaro is not the man to direct a discussion. Fr. Bugnini is interested only in one thing: To go ahead and get it finished. The voting system is worse. Generally votes are made by raising hands, but no one counts the number of hands raised in favor and the number against; no one says "so many in favor and so many against"-It is a real scandal. Secondly, we have never been able to find out-although the question has been asked many times-what majority is necessary: a two-thirds majority or an absolute majority ....Another grave defect is the absence of minutes of the sessions, this has never been mentioned and certainly no such minutes have ever been read.
A "Continuation of the Council," or, the Permanent Council
Finally, after three years of anarchy, or rather, of dictatorship, by Fr. Bugnini, the "Consilium" wished to have its own "statutes," and a draft was presented to Pope Paul VI who, in turn, passed it on eventually to Fr. Antonelli for his comments. Antonelli, who, in addition to being a member of the "Consilium," was also Secretary of the Congregation of Rites, submitted his "observations" to Cardinal Larraona, Prefect of this Congregation, and he returned them to Pope Paul VI. In his "general observations" Fr. Antonelli emphasizes that "there is a noticeable and widespread anxiety with regard to these continual changes in a large section of the clergy and the faithful," and that "this state of instability and uncertainty about the future is favorable to abuses, eroding more and more the holy respect for liturgical laws."
Among other things he points out the anomaly of there being "two organs of the Holy See, both concerned with liturgical life, namely, the Sacred Congregation of Rites and the `Consilium."' Then, in his "particular observations," Fr. Antonelli notes that, according to the statutes, four-fifths of the members of the "Consilium," "including the Cardinals," are to be appointed by the Presidency and only one-fifth by the Pope. This is inadmissible: "this system," writes Fr. Antonelli "is absolutely new and is nothing but a continuation of the Council-which has no precedent in history. For, even after the Councils of Trent and Vatican I, once the Council had ended the Holy See entered once more into in full autonomy."
In his observations Fr. Antonelli also asked that the system of counting votes should be clearly fixed, because, he wrote,
...[Up] to now ...if a certain number of hands went up, they would press ahead without anyone counting how many were in favor and how many were against. Then, in the discussions which followed people often appealed to the fact that the vote had been in favor, and no one could prove that it had really been in favor.
After Fr. Antonelli's observations, the question of the "statutes" got bogged down. Pope Paul VI, as we shall see, opted for a different solution that would take Fr. Antonelli away from the liturgical reform and leave Bugnini's hands free. For the present, however, Antonelli had to endure Bugnini's violent reaction-which showed that he was privy to Antonelli's consultation with Pope Paul VI, whereas the latter had told Antonelli that the matter was "strictly reserved" (p.242).
Fr. Antonelli Begins to See Clearly
We are now at the end of 1967 and Fr. Antonelli writes in his diary:
No one has any longer an awareness of the sacred and binding character of liturgical law. The work of desacralization, which is now called secularization, continues on a grand scale. It is clear from this that the liturgical question ...is part of a far bigger set of problems, which are fundamentally doctrinal, so the big crisis is the crisis of traditional doctrine and the magisterium.
The blindfold starts to fall from Fr. Antonelli's eyes. It is not only a question of incompetence, of an appalling superficiality, of working at breakneck speed; it is a much more serious phenomenon. The liturgical reform is an instrument in the hands of triumphant "innovators" (in the same way that the liturgical movement had been, in part, in the hands of "rampant Modernists").
On July 23, 1968, Fr. Antonelli tells Cardinal Benelli of his ...
...anxieties concerning the liturgical reform which is going further and further astray. I mentioned in particular:
1. Liturgical law, which was something holy until the Council, no longer exists for many of them. Each one regards himself as authorized to do what he wants...
2. The Mass, above all, is the sore point...; now they are starting to pull confession apart.
3. In the "Consilium" there are few Bishops who have had a specific liturgical training, and very few who are real theologians....And this is dangerous. In the liturgy, every word, every gesture imparts an idea which is a theological idea. Since, at present, the whole of theology is up for discussion, the theories current among the "advanced" theologians bring ruin upon the formula and the rite: the very grave result is that, while the theological discussion remains at an elevated level among men of culture, once it has descended into the formula and the rite, it begins to wreak havoc among the people (p.257ff).
The Church's "Auto-Demolition"
All this, with the connivance of Pope Paul VI, signifies the death-knell of any sound liturgical renewal. The liturgy is made the instrument of doctrinal demolition. Now Fr. Antonelli is aware of this and expresses his pain:
But what is sad ...is the very basis, a mental attitude, a pre-established position, namely, that many of those who are influential in the reform...and others, have no love, no veneration for what has been transmitted to us. Right from the start they despise everything which exists at present. This is an unjust and poisonous negative mentality. Unfortunately even Pope Paul VI has something of this attitude. They all have the best of intentions, but, given this mentality, they are bound to demolish, not to restore (p.258).
On February 10, 1969, in connection with the Rite of Baptism, Antonelli writes:
At the end of the doctrinal chapter, I ask: how is it that in this entire chapter we have been talking about Baptism for the remission of sins, but there has been no mention of original sin?
And on February 20:
This very morning I had to observe that, even where one would expect a clear reference to original sin, such as in a little catechetical homily, it seems that they avoid speaking of it. It is this debased new theological mentality which so upsets me (p.224).
Fr. Antonelli's observations are always serious and concerned. Apropos the discussion on the Praenotanda on Confirmation, he writes:
How can people be expected to give their views on these questions-some of which are very grave-when the text is changed at the last moment and presented to us while we are actually in session? This is not a serious way of working ....Personally I ask myself, what authority and what training do we have, to be discussing such complicated questions of theology? (p.246).
The Question of the "Novus Ordo"
The "question of the Ordo Missae" erupted in 1969. Fr. Antonelli speaks of it not only in his diary, but also in his personal notes on the liturgical reform. Let us see what he says. On October 31, 1969, he writes:
A few days ago Fr. Stickler, a Salesian, told me that Cardinal Ottaviani had produced a doctrinal critique of the Ordo Missae and of the Instructio annexed to it. Then the news appeared in the newspapers. Msgr. Laboa told me that the Pope had written a two-page letter to Cardinal Seper, asking him to examine the question. Alarmed, Cardinal Seper had spoken about it to Cardinal Gut, who was deeply concerned and had mentioned it to Fr. Bugnini. Yesterday morning, the latter told me that, some days ago, Cardinal Villot had written to Fr. Bugnini instructing him to refrain from all comment regarding the Ordo Missae. Mgsr. Laboa has seen this letter. Then there was the unexpected publication of the Instructio...to kill the press campaign before it got off the ground. Then, this evening, October 31, there was the communique of the CEI (Italian Episcopal Conference), saying that the Italian version would be published on November 30, and would apply throughout Italy-when the CEI had already stated that that would not be possible. We are in the realm of confusion. And it makes me so sad, because there will be dire consequences (p.259).
Fr. Antonelli himself is of the opinion that there are no "heresies," either in the Instructio or in the Ordo Missae, "even if it is undeniable that the matters dealt with in the Instructio are confused and that even the way in which they are formulated is anything but clear and limpid" (p.260). In particular, he admits, "the insistence on the idea of the meal (coena) seems to imply the downgrading of the idea of sacrifice." The idea of sacrifice is "indirect, whereas the idea of the meal recurs frequently and in a direct manner. In addition; certain omissions have done nothing to promote clarity" (p.260)-which was also the case with the "imprudent formulation of Paragraph 7" (p.261). Once again, more than anything, Fr. Antonelli is utterly amazed at the way in which the question is handled. On October 31, he writes,
I am distressed about the matter of the Ordo Missae. I do not understand why people were so upset about Cardinal Ottaviani's critique and then, when the press started to make a fuss, they reacted with the untimely publication of the Instructio...and the communication of the CEI, directing all arrangements to be in force from 30 November-although the texts don't yet exist, but are promised for November 15. How can a change of such magnitude be prepared for in 10 days? (p.259).
Thus we come to the final scene. On May 8, 1969, with the publication of the Apostolic Constitution Sacrum Rituum Congregatio, Pope Paul VI had already split the Sacred Congregation of Rites into two congregations: the Congregation for Saints and the Congregation for Divine Worship. Bugnini had been appointed Secretary of the new Congregation for Divine Worship and Antonelli was made Secretary of the Congregation for Saints (p.264). The last session of the "Consilium" (April 9, 1970) coincided with the first session of the new Congregation for Divine Worship, which, as Cardinal Gut made clear, "is a continuation of the Consilium" (p.244). So Fr. Antonelli left (or perhaps, more exactly, was excluded from) this stage of the "liturgical reform."
A Judgment We Cannot Share
The author of this book, whose intention is to vindicate the quality and work of "Antonelli the liturgist," writes:
It is a pity that Antonelli had so little a part to play in the work of the reform, particularly after his Congregation of Rites was suppressed. He remains an embittered man. Perhaps this is the destiny of all pioneers: they blaze a trail but it is left to others to forge ahead, leaving the pioneers by the wayside (p.247).
No. Fr. Antonelli is not embittered. He would have good reason to be so, but he is not. His notes never give the impression of personal resentment. For example, when Pope Paul VI excluded the Prefect of the Congregation of Rites, the "conservative" Cardinal Larraona, from the liturgical reform and entrusted the latter to the "Consilium" presided over by the "progressive" Cardinal Lercaro, flanked by Bugnini, Fr. Antonelli's sole concern-and rightly-was with the inevitable conflicts which would arise between two organisms responsible for the same matters. Similarly, when Pope Paul VI excluded him from the "liturgical reform" and preferred Bugnini, Fr. Antonelli says no more than this:
I could say a lot of things about this man. I would have to add that he has always been supported by Paul VI. If I am not mistaken, the most important thing that Fr. Bugnini lacks is theological formation and sensitivity. I have the impression that large-scale concessions have been made, especially as regards the Sacraments, to the Protestant mentality. I do not say that Fr. Bugnini himself made these concessions. Not at all: he did not make them. He used many people and-I do not know why-he brought to this "work" people who were skilful, but of a "progressive" theological hue.
Generously, Fr. Antonelli adds: "So, either he did not notice, or he didn't (or couldn't) resist certain tendencies" (p.264).
Fr. Antonelli's judgment concerning the "lack of theological formation and sensitivity" of Fr. Annibale Bugnini coincides, in substance, with the following judgment-which, while humorous, is yet far more incisive-once given by Dom Alfonso Pietro Salvini, O.S.B.:
In the bulletin of the Diocese of Pisa (no. 12, Mar. 25, 1973) I read that Bishop Bugnini...would have liked to replace the homily at Mass by dancing. The kind of savage he is would like such things-and worse (Divagazioni di una lunga vita, ed. Stella del Mare, Livorno).
As regards the incredible "method of working" of the authors of the "liturgical reform," we need only re-read Professor Romano Amerio's description of the notorious examples of decadence in the Roman Curia and its organisms (Iota Unum. A Study of Changes in the Catholic Church in the XXth Century, Sarto House 1996):
Apart from bad Latin and a lack of precision, the Curia can be criticized for the cultural inadequacy implicit in recent papal documents, which were for centuries distinguished by an irreproachable perfection (p.164).
Finally, when we come to Fr. Antonelli's puzzlement about Pope Paul VI and his responsibilities, it is sufficient to note that Fr. Antonelli even manages to find something good in the address in which Pope Paul VI tells the members of the Consilium that the liturgy "is like a vigorous tree, rooted in the earth, its trunk putting forth new branches which are covered with new foliage every year" (p.200). Fr. Antonelli stays with the "roots" which are well fixed in the soil of Tradition, and refrains from plucking the novelties from this "trunk" with its "new foliage every year." Has the like ever happened before in the 2,000-year history of the liturgy? Cardinal Ottaviani had strongly underlined this at the Council when he said:
Are we seeking to stir up wonder, or perhaps scandal, among the Christian people, by introducing changes in so venerable a rite, that has been approved for so many centuries and is now so familiar? The rite of Holy Mass should not be treated as if it were a piece of cloth to be refashioned according to the whim of each generation (R. Wiltgen, The Rhine Flows into the Tiber, 1967, Tan Books, 1985), p.28.
Under Pope Pius XII, Fr. Antonelli had been accustomed to serious and deliberate work, with respect for the liturgical tradition. Here we find him in some perplexity, reasonably enough, and then, little by little, he becomes more and more concerned about the change of course the "liturgical reform" is taking. No longer is it a case of "pioneers blazing a trail and others pushing further along it"; now what is happening is a real deviation, with the liturgy subordinated to neo-Modernism-in the guise of "new theology"-and, as Fr. Antonelli well understood, once it has begun to "bring ruin upon the formula and the rite, it begins to wreak havoc among the people" (p.257 cit.).
If any reproach could be made to Fr. Antonelli, it is that he is not "embittered." On the contrary, he found it hard to understand (and perhaps he has never fully understood) the gravity of what was happening. But it is precisely his initial optimism and his willingness to be of service to a sound liturgical renewal that make him a priceless witness against the "savage liturgical amputation which has been touted as a reform" (G. Ceronetti, La Stampa, July 18, 1990).
- Martinus
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The Recusant: Logical Fallacies of Evolutionists |
Posted by: Stone - 04-12-2021, 06:44 AM - Forum: General Commentary
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Logical Fallacies of Evolutionists
Like Mathematics, logic is a science, it is the study of correct and incorrect reasoning and as with mathematics, using logic, one can arrive at certainties which one can know to be true. A logical fallacy is not a false conclusion, it is a fault in the process of reasoning which leads to
a false conclusion.
Studying the physical sciences, it seems, it no guarantee that one has any kind of a firm grasp of logic. Here is a selection of some of the more common fallacies to be often found amongst believers in evolution.
The Fallacy of Reification. This is when one treats a thing as though it were a person. For instance: “Science says/declares/tells us…” - no, science is not a person and therefore “science” does not say anything. Scientists say things. Spot the difference: not quite the same is it? Scientists are, after all, only human like the rest of us. Likewise, the “fossil record,” carbon dating, comparative anatomy or whatever else, don’t actually tell us anything… the men who refer to those things and cite them as evidence are the ones telling us things, but those men are prone to misinterpreting the evidence, as well as being subject to the same human weaknesses (envy, pride, human respect, laziness and so forth) as the rest of us. Even the word “evidence” is used in this fallacious way. “Evidence says…” - in fact, no, the evidence does not do any talking, it does not say anything. You, the scientist, the evolutionist, the one who is interpreting the evidence, you are the one who says (whatever it is). “Creationists say this, but science says that...” - spot the difference! Why is it “science” and not “scientists”..?
The Fallacy of Equivocation. This is where the meaning of a word is shifted during the course of the argument. I gather it is also known as “bait and switch” in North American English. It is very common amongst evolutionists, some of whom don’t even seem to realise that they are committing it. The most obvious example is the very word ‘evolution’ itself. The textbook will say: “We see evolution around us all the time,” and will point to how new and different breeds of dog can be produced; or how certain animals or species can become extinct. That kind of “evolution” is what we see, yes. The first is sometimes called “micro evolution” but in reality it is just lots of variety within the gene pool; the second thing is just extinction, something which results in less variety and not more, it involves a loss and not a gain. Then there is the other sort of “evolution” - where rocks and water somehow become a “primordial soup” and organic matter appears from inorganic matter, or where amoebas turn into fish, fish into land animals, reptiles into birds and monkeys into humans. Clearly that is not the same thing at all, but it is given the same name. The first “evolution” is then used to, as it were, “prove” the second one.
Another example is the word ‘science.’ An evolutionist will say: “You believe in science, don’t you? Well evolution is science, so you should believe in evolution.” Even if we take for granted the modern habit that “science” really means the physical sciences, the “science” which we believe in means the tools God has given us to learn more about the physical attributes of His creation, the method or procedure, or what-have-you. On the other hand, evolution is only “science” in the sense that it is one particular model of origins (and not a very good one at that) - not the same thing. Add to that the fallacy of reification (see above) and you have two fallacies in one - “How can you not believe in evolution when science has declared it to be true.” It sounds and looks ridiculous in the cold light of day, and yet this kind of talk is common because, on most people, it works.
“Evolution is a theory, just like gravity is a theory, and you believe in gravity don’t you?” - gravity is a scientific theory, meaning it is supported by evidence and experiment. Evolution is only a “theory” in the commonplace meaning of the word, an idea, a supposition. The way in which textbooks talk of evolutionary change as happening through “beneficial mutations” is another example of this fallacy. “Here’s a picture of a fruit fly with curly wings, or a cow with five legs...mutations such as these are harmful, but it is the good mutations which make evolution happen.” So why don’t you present us with evidence of “good mutations”? Could it be because there aren’t any, because it doesn’t happen? All the mutations we
know about involve already existing genetic information being misplaced or scrambled (for instance, the cow’s fifth leg is still a cow leg; the fruit fly’s curly wings are still fly wings) - whereas the mythical “mutations” required by evolution, the ones which nobody has ever seen, are “mutations” involving the sudden and unaccountable appearance of new, additional genetic information which was not previously there. In effect, the “mutations” required for evolution are something quite different and therefore ought not to be given the same name, and there is no evidence that any such thing has ever taken place.
The Fallacy of Affirming the Consequent. This is when one says “If A then B ...B, therefore A.” For instance, “If it is raining, the grass will be wet. The grass is wet, therefore it must be raining.” What if somebody turned on the sprinklers, or some kids have just had a water fight, or someone was washing his car? “If evolution were true, we’d expect to see lots of fossils in layers, and similarities in the anatomy of different animals. We do see those things, therefore evolution must be true.” Hold on a moment - what about other possible explanations, such as a worldwide flood and a common designer? Incorrect theories can make correct predictions - even if the “prediction” is true (and let’s leave to one side whether it is really a prediction if you already know it!), that still does not prove that the theory is true.
The Fallacy of Denying the Antecedent. As above, only in a negative form. “If it’s raining the grass will be wet. It’s not raining, therefore the grass must not be wet.” If A is true then B is true. Very well. But if A is not true, B might still nevertheless be true, for all we know. “If
dinosaurs and humans were found in the same rock layers, it would prove that they were alive at the same time. They are not found in the same rock layers, therefore they did not live at the same time.” The first half is true, the second a fallacy. Just because you haven’t found humans and dinosaurs in the same rock layers, that doesn’t prove that they didn’t live at the same time.
The Fallacy of False Dichotomy. Sometimes known as “false dilemma” or “bifurcation,” this consists of presenting two (and only two) options or possibilities when that is not the case. “Either there are laws governing nature, or God works miracles.” Why aren’t both possible? “You believe what your Church teaches, but I follow my reason!” Actually, I believe and follow both, and arguably one cannot be being fully rational if one rejects the existence of the God who made everything. Almost without fail, the evolutionist commits this fallacy every time he talks about “science versus religion.” “Which do you believe, science or the teachings of your religion?” Both, in fact. The same is true of both the title and the concept of Fr. Paul Robinson’s book, implying that there is a tension between “science” and “religion” pulling in Logical Fallacies of Evolutionists opposite directions, which can only be avoided by steering a “realist” path between the two. If anyone is tempted to doubt that, let him carefully consider what is being implied by Fr. Robinson’s words when he says that the creationist view “makes science an enemy of reason.”
The ‘No True Scotsman’ Fallacy. This is a form of circular reasoning, whereby one makes a universal statement and then eliminates or isqualifies the evidence which disproves it. It tends to go something like this: “All serious scientists believe in evolution.” Or, “no serious scientist has a problem with…” When you point out a scientist who does not agree with evolution (or global warming, or whatever it might be…) you will be told that that scientist is not a serious scientist. Why isn’t he a “serious” scientist, you might enquire? Well, the answer would be, for one thing, he believes the earth is 6,000 years old - how can anyone take someone like that seriously! No serious science journal would accept a paper from a creationist. All the leading academics agree that... (insert contentious statement here!). It’s so obvious. And yet they do it all the time, so one can only suppose that many people are nevertheless taken in by it.
Begging the Question. This is another form of circular reasoning, where the conclusion of an argument is already embedded into one of the premises. In a fallacy of this sort, the error lies in the underlining assumption which is there from the start. “How do I know that evolution is true? Because it’s a fact!” That one is a bit obvious. Here’s another, slightly more subtle example: “Creationists are wrong because the geological column shows that the earth is billions of years old and the fossil record shows how life evolved.” The very existence of such a thing as the “geological column” outside the textbooks is one of the main things young earth creationists dispute. The same goes for the “fossil record.” Yes, there are fossils, but they don’t form a “record.” The fossils are a fact, the “record” is a matter of interpretation, nothing more. We say instead that the layers of rock and the fossils were deposited all in one go and are evidence of a worldwide flood. Saying that we are wrong about the fossil record because of the fossil record (which is in effect what almost all “billions-of-years” exponent say, Fr. Robinson included) is, when you stop to think about it, not very intelligent and not really very helpful either. Appealing to the very thing under dispute solves nothing, but is the essence of begging the question.
Fr. Paul Robinson seems to be prone to this particular fallacy. In saying that we “Biblicists” (his own made-up word) are wrong because we “make science an enemy of reason,” he assumes two things: first that evolutionary timescales are synonymous with science, and second that reason is on the side of this so-called “science” - even though this is appealing to the very thing at issue (we maintain that those ideas are irrational and don’t count as “science”!). He commits the same fallacy when he says that the Genesis account of creation can’t be taken as reliable because it would mean that God was deliberately choosing “to deceive our minds by creating a world in an instant that appears to have developed over long periods of time.” (See Recusant 46, p.45). Notice that his argument assumes that the world really does appear to have developed over long periods of time, although again, that is precisely the very thing which is disputed.
The Complex Question. The classic example is: “Are you still beating your wife?” Either yes or no might lead to a false conclusion. The reason it is called “complex” is because it is one question which really ought to be divided into two. “Did you ever beat your wife and if so, do
you still do it?” Likewise, “Why are you creationists against science?” “Which of the contradictory accounts in the Bible do you accept?” and so forth.
The “Ad Hominem” Fallacy from its name in Latin, the “argumentum ad hominem” (“an argument directed at a person,” and not at the words, ideas or reasoning which that person puts forth and represents, in other words). This is similar to the idea of shooting the messenger who brings bad news: the character of the person is attacked in order to discredit what they are saying. “I met him once, he's a really horrible person, so I wouldn’t listen to anything he says.” That may be true, he might be the most anti-social, mean spirited man ever to have lived, perhaps he has bad breath and doesn’t wash his socks, but that still doesn’t mean he hasn’t got a really good, water-tight argument in spite of his personal failings.
This fallacy is, in the experience of this writer, alarmingly common amongst Traditional Catholics. One of the signs to look out for is a failure to quote at length from the person in question and show why they are wrong by using their own words. Ask yourself: does the one doing the attacking engage with the actual argument as laid out by his opponent? Or am I being invited to focus on the imagined (or even true) faults or failings of his opponent, rather than such facts as are both undeniable and relevant, such as their words on a given subject or their actions in a given dispute?
The Fallacy of the Irrelevant Thesis. This is where the information provided is true but irrelevant. A thing can be true and yet still provide no kind of explanation. For instance, imagine telling an eager news reporter: “How come I am the only survivor of a horrific plane crash in which every single other person died? Because otherwise I wouldn’t be here to tell you all about it.” That may be true, but it is irrelevant: it doesn’t answer the original question. “Why do living creatures have complex parts which function together so perfectly? Because if they didn’t they would have died off.” That may be true - yes, they would have died off - but it still doesn’t answer the question: ‘why?’
The Appeal to Ignorance. This is when something is claimed simply on the basis that no one has proved it false. “There must be life in outer space. No one has ever proved that there isn’t.” If someone has not disproved a claim, that does not mean that the claim is true. Appeals to ignorance are reversible: one might equally say, “There is no life in outer space. No one has ever proved that there is.”
The Appeal to Authority. “Look at all these fancy scientists, Doctors, Professors, T.V. personalities, who all believe in Evolution, Big Bang and billions of years…” God is the only authority (and by extension, Sacred Scripture and His Church) to whom one can appeal without it being a fallacy. Those scientists with the fancy letters after their names and the lengthy biographies on Wikipedia don’t even claim to be infallible. They can be wrong. “Trust me, I’m a doctor!” was always a terrible argument, but it is perhaps the thing which is the most effective on the majority of people.
The Straw Man Fallacy. The one everyone always remembers: misrepresenting your opponent, refuting the things you wish he’d said but didn’t. For example, do we creationists really think and claim that God deliberately deceives everyone by creating the world with evidence of an old earth built into it because he wants us all to mistrust our reason? No..? And yet that is what Fr. Paul Robinson says of us. He also points out that that is not a Catholic attitude, to which we reply: “True, but irrelevant” (see above).
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