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July 18th - Sts. Camillus de Lellis & Symphorosa |
Posted by: Stone - 07-18-2021, 05:23 PM - Forum: July
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July 18 – St Camillus of Lellis, Confessor
Taken from The Liturgical Year by Dom Prosper Guéranger (1841-1875)
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The Holy Spirit, who desires to raise our souls above this earth, does not therefore despise our bodies. The whole man is his creature and his temple, and it is the whole man he must lead to eternal happiness. The Body of the Man-God was his masterpiece in material creation; the Divine delight he takes in that perfect body he extends in a measure to ours; for that same Body, framed by him in the womb of the most pure Virgin, was from the very beginning the model on which ours are formed. In the re-creation which followed the Fall, the Body of the Man-God was the means of the world’s redemption; and the economy of our salvation requires that the virtue of his saving Blood should not reach the soul except through the body, the Divine Sacraments being all applied to the soul through the medium of the senses. Admirable is the harmony of nature and grace; the latter so honors the material part of our being, that she will not draw the soul without it to the light and to heaven. For in the unfathomable mystery of sanctification, the senses do not merely serve as a passage; they themselves experience the power of the Sacraments, like the higher faculties of which they are the channels; and the sanctified soul finds the humble companion of her pilgrimage already associated with her in the dignity of Divine adoption, which will cause the glorification of our bodies after the resurrection.Hence the care given to the very body of our neighbor is raised to the nobleness of holy charity; for being inspired by this charity, such acts partake of the love wherewith our heavenly Father surrounds even the members of his beloved children. I was sick, and ye visited me, our Lord will say on the last day, showing that even the infirmities of our fallen state in this land of exile, the bodies of those whom he deigns to call his brethren, share in the dignity belonging by right to the eternal, only-begotten Son of the Father. The Holy Spirit, too, whose office it is to recall to the Church all the words of our Savior, has certainly not forgotten this one; the seed, falling into the good earth of chosen souls, has produced a hundredfold the fruits of grace and heroic self-devotion. Camillus of Lellis received it lovingly, and the mustard-seed became a great tree offering its shade to the birds of the air. The Order of Regular Clerks, Ministering to the sick, or of happy death, deserves the gratitude of mankind; as a sign of heaven’s approbation, Angels have more than once been seen assisting its members at the bedside of the dying.
The Liturgical account of St. Camillus’ life is so full that we need add nothing to it.
Quote:Camillus was born at Bachianico, a town of the diocese of Chieti. He was descended from the noble family of the Lellis, and his mother was sixty years old at the time of his birth. While she was with child with him, she dreamt that she gave birth to a little boy, who was signed on the breast with the cross, and was the leader of a band of children, wearing the same sign. As a young man he followed the career of arms, and gave himself up for a time to worldly vices, but in his twenty-sixth year he was so enlightened by heavenly grace, and seized with so great a sorrow for having offended God, that on the spot, shedding a flood of tears, he firmly resolved unceasingly to wash away the stains of his past life, and to put on the new man. Therefore on the very day of his conversion, which happened to be the feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, he hastened to the Friars Minors, who are called Capuchins, and begged most earnestly to be admitted into their number. His request was granted on this and on a subsequent occasion, but each time a horrible ulcer, from which he had suffered before, broke out again upon his leg; wherefore he humbly submitted himself to the designs of Divine Providence, which was preparing him for greater things, and conquering himself he twice laid aside the Franciscan habit, which he had twice asked for and obtained.
He set out for Rome and was received into the hospital called “Of Incurables.” His virtues became so well known that the management of the institution was entrusted to him and he discharged it with the greatest integrity and a truly paternal solicitude. He esteemed himself the servant of all the sick, and was accustomed to make their beds, to wash them, to heal their sores, and to aid them in their last agony with his prayers and pious exhortations. In discharging these offices he gave striking proofs of his wonderful patience, unconquered fortitude, and heroic charity. But when he perceived how great an advantage the knowledge of letters would be to him in assisting those in danger of death, to whose service he had devoted his life, he was not ashamed at the age of thirty-two to return again to school and to learn the first elements of grammar among children. Being afterwards promoted in due order to the Priesthood, he was joined by several companions, and in spite of the opposition attempted by the enemy of the human race, laid the foundations of the Congregation of Regular Clerks, Servants of the sick. In this work Camillus was wonderfully strengthened by a heavenly voice coming from an image of Christ crucified, which, by an admirable miracle loosing the hands from the wood, stretched them out towards him. He obtained the approbation of his Order from the Apostolic See. Its members bind themselves by a fourth and very arduous vow, namely, to minister to the sick, even those infected with the plague. St. Philip Neri, who was his Confessor, attested how pleasing this institution was go God, and how great it attributed towards the salvation of souls; for he declared that he often saw Angels suggesting the words to disciples of Camillus, when they were assisting those in their agony.
When he had thus bound himself more strictly than before to the service of the sick, he devoted himself with marvellous ardor to watching over their interests, by night and by day, till his last breath. No labor could tire him, no peril of his life could affright him. He became all to all, and claimed for himself the lowest offices, which he discharged promptly and joyfully, in the humblest manner, often on bended knees, as though he saw Christ himself present in the sick. In order to be more at the command of all in need, he of his own accord laid aside the general government of the Order, and deprived himself of the heavenly delights, with which he was inundated during contemplation. His fatherly love for the unfortunate shone out with greatest brilliancy when Rome was suffering first from a contagious distemper, and then from a great scarcity of provisions; and also when a dreadful plague was ravaging Nola in Campania. In a word, he was consumed with so great a love of God and his neighbor that he was called an Angel, and merited to be helped by the Angels in different dangers which threatened him on his journeys. He was endowed with the gift of prophecy and the grace of healing, and he could read the secrets of hearts. By his prayers he at one time multiplied food, and at another changed water into wine. At length, worn out by watching, fasting, and ceaseless labor, he seemed to be nothing but skin and bone. He endured courageously five long and troublesome sicknesses, which he used to call the “Mercies of the Lord;” and, strengthened by the Sacraments, with the sweet names of Jesus and Mary on his lips, he fell asleep in our Lord, while these words were being said: “May Christ Jesus appear to thee with a sweet and gracious countenance.” He died at Rome, at the hour he had foretold, on the day before the Ides of July, in the year of salvation 1614, the sixty-fifth of his age. He was made illustrious by many miracles, and Benedict XIV solemnly enrolled him upon the calendar of the Saints. Leo XIII, at the desire of the Bishops of the Catholic world, and with the advice of the Congregation of Rites, declared him the heavenly Patron of all nurses and of the sick in all places, and ordered his name to be invoked in the Litanies for the Agonizing.
Angel of charity, by what wonderful paths did the Divine Spirit lead thee! The vision of thy pious mother remained long unrealized; before taking on thee the holy Cross and enlisting comrades under that sacred sign, thou didst serve the odious tyrant, who will have none but slaves under his standard, and the passion of gambling was well nigh thy ruin. O Camillus, remembering the danger thou didst incur, have pity on the unhappy slaves of passion; free them from the madness wherewith they risk, to the caprice of chance, their goods, their honor, and their peace in this world and in the next. Thy history proves the power of grace to break the strongest ties and alter the most inveterate habits: may these men, like thee, turn their bent towards God, and change their rashness into love of the dangers to which holy charity may expose them! For charity, too, has its risk, even the peril of life, as the Lord of charity laid down his life for us: a heavenly game of chance, which thou didst play so well that the very Angels applauded thee. But what is the hazarding of earthly life compared with the prize reserved for the winner?
According to the commandment of the Gospel read by the Church in thy honor, may we all, like thee, love our brethren as Christ has loved us! Few, says St. Augustine, love one another to this end, that God may be all in all. Thou, O Camillus, having this love, didst exercise it by preference towards those suffering members of Christ’s mystic Body, in whom our Lord revealed himself more clearly to thee, and in whom his kingdom was nearer at hand.
Therefore, has the Church in gratitude chosen thee, together with John of God, to be guardian of those homes for the suffering which she has founded with a mother’s thoughtful care. Do honor to that Mother’s confidence. Protect the hospitals against the attempts of an odious and incapable secularization, which, in its eagerness to lose the souls, sacrifices even the corporal well-being of the unhappy mortals committed to the care of its evil philanthropy. In order to meet our increasing miseries, multiply thy sons, and make them worthy to be assisted by Angels. Wherever we may be in this valley of exile when the hour of our last struggle sounds, make use of thy precious prerogative which the holy Liturgy honors today; help us, by the spirit of holy love, to vanquish the enemy and attain unto the heavenly crown!
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Eighth Sunday after Pentecost |
Posted by: Stone - 07-18-2021, 04:46 PM - Forum: Pentecost
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INSTRUCTION ON THE EIGHTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
Rev. Fr. Leonard Goffine's The Church's Year
![[Image: ?u=https%3A%2F%2Fs-media-cache-ak0.pinim...f=1&nofb=1]](https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fs-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com%2F236x%2Fd5%2Fbc%2F4a%2Fd5bc4a265c4dcc9436ccb22aecabf69b--matthew-chapter--st-jerome.jpg&f=1&nofb=1)
INTROIT We have received thy mercy, O God, in the midst of thy temple: According to thy name, O God, so also is thy praise unto the ends of the earth: thy right hand is full of justice. Great is the Lord, and exceedingly to be praised in the city of our God, in his mountain. (Ps. XLVII.) Glory be to the Father, etc.
COLLECT Lord, we beseech Thee, mercifully grant us the spirit to think and do always the things that are right: that we, who can not subsist without Thee, may by Thee be enabled to live according to Thy will. Through etc.
EPISTLE (ROM. VIII. 12-17.) Brethren, We are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you shall die: but if by the spirit you mortify the deed of the flesh, you shall live. For whosoever are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For you have not received the spirit of bondage again in fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption of sons, whereby we cry: Abba (Father). For the Spirit himself giveth testimony to our spirit, that we are the sons of God. And if sons, heirs also: heirs indeed of God, and joint heirs with Christ.
Quote:Who live according to the flesh?
Those who follow the evil pleasures and the desires of corrupt nature, rather than the voice of faith and conscience. Such men are not guided by the Spirit of God, for He dwells not in the sensual man, (Gen. VI. 3.) they are no children of God, and will not inherit heaven, but eternal death. But he who is directed by the Spirit of God, and with Him and through Him crucifies his flesh and its concupiscence, is inspired with filial confidence in God. by the Holy Ghost, who dwells in him, and by whom he cries: Abba (Father.) Prove yourself well, Christian soul, that you may know whether you live according to the flesh, and strive by prayer and fasting to mortify all carnal and sensual desires that you may by such means become a child of God and heir of heaven.
ASPIRATION Strengthen me, O Lord, that I may not live according to the desires of the, flesh; but resist them firmly by the power of Thy Spirit, that I may not die the eternal death.
GOSPEL (Luke XVI. 1-9.) At that time, Jesus spoke to his disciples this parable: There was a certain rich man who had a steward: and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. And he called him, and said to him: How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for now thou canst be steward no longer. And the steward said within himself: What shall I do, because my lord taketh away from me my stewardship? To dig, I am not able: to beg I am ashamed. I know what I will do, that when I shall be removed from the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. Therefore calling together every one of his lord's debtors, he said to the first: How much dost thou owe my lord? But he said: A hundred barrels of oil. And he said to him: Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty, Then he said to another: And how much dost thou owe? Who said: A hundred quarters of wheat. He said to him: Take thy bill, and write eighty. And the Lord commended the unjust steward, forasmuch as he had done wisely: for the children of this world are wiser in their generations than the children of light. And I say to you: Make unto you friends of the mammon of iniquity, that when you shall fail, they may receive you into everlasting dwellings.
Who are represented by the rich man and his steward?
The rich man represents God, the steward is man - to whom God has confided the various goods of soul and body, of grace and nature: faith, intellect, memory , free will; and five senses, health, strength of body, beauty, skill power over others, time and opportunity for good, temporal riches, and other gifts. These various goods of soul and body God gives us not as our own, but as things to be used for His honor and the salvation of man. He will therefore demand the strictest account of us if we use them for sin, luxury, seduction, or oppression of others.
Why did Christ make use of this parable?
To teach us that God requires of every man a strict account of whatever has been given to him, and to urge us to works of charity, particularly alms-deeds.
What friends do we make by alms giving?
According to St. Ambrose they are the poor, the saints and angels, even Christ Himself: for that which we give to the poor, we give to Christ. (Matt. XXV. 40.) And: He that hath mercy on the poor, lendeth to the Lord, and he will repay him. (Prov. XIX. 17.) "The hands of the poor," says Peter Chrysologus, "are the hands of Christ," through whom we send our riches to heaven before us, and through whose intercession we obtain the grace of salvation.
Why did his lord commend the steward?
Because of his prudence and foresight, but not for his injustice; for he adds: The children of this world are wiser than the children of light: that is, the worldly-minded understand better hove to obtain temporal goods than do Christians to lay up treasures for themselves in heaven.
Why is wealth called unjust?
Because riches are often massed and retained unjustly, often lead man to injustice, and because they are often squandered, or badly used.
SUPPLICATON Grant me the grace, O my just God and Judge, that I may so use the goods of this earth confided to me by The e, that I mad make friends, who at my death will receive me into eternal joys.
✠ ✠ ✠
ON THE SIN OF DETRACTION
And the same was accused unto him. (Luke XVI. 1.)
The steward in the gospel was justly accused on account of the goods he had wasted; but there are many who lose their good name and honor by false accusations, and malicious talk! Alas, what great wrongs do detracting tongues cause in this world! How mean a vice is detraction, how seldom attention is paid to its evil, how rarely the injury is repaired!
When is our neighbor slandered?
When he is accused of a vice of which he is not guilty; when a secret crime is made known with the intention of hurting him, or when our duty does not require us to mention it; when we attribute an evil intention to him or entirely misconstrue his actions and omissions; when his good qualities or commendable actions are denied or lessened, or his merits underrated; when we remain silent, or speak ambiguously in cases where praise is due him; when we lend a willing ear to detractions, and make no effort to stop them; and lastly, when joy is felt in the detraction.
Is detraction a great sin?
Yes, for it is directly opposed to the love of our neighbor, therefore to the love of God, hence it is, as St. Ambrose says, hateful to God and man. By it we rob our neighbor of a possession greater than riches, (Prov. XXII. 1.) and often he is plunged by it into want and misery, even into the greatest vices; St. Ambrose says: "Let us fly from the vice of detraction, for it is altogether a satanic abyss, full of deceit." Finally, detraction is a great sin, because it can seldom be recalled, and the injury done by it is very great, and often irreparable.
What should we do when we have committed this sin?
We should retract the calumny as soon as possible and repair the injury done to our neighbor in regard to his name or temporal goods; we should detest this sin, regret it, and be cleansed from it by penance, we should daily pray for him whom we have injured, and in future guard against the like fault.
Are we ever allowed to reveal the wrongs of our neighbor?
To make public the faults of our neighbor only for the entertainment of idle people, or for the sake of news, and to satisfy the curiosity of others, is always sinful. But if after having reproached or advised our neighbor fraternally, without obtaining our end, we make known his faults to his parents or superiors for the sake of punishment and reformation, far from being a sin it is rather a duty, against which those err who are silent about the sins of their neighbor, when by speaking they could prevent the sin and save him much unhappiness.
Is it a sin to listen willingly to detraction?
Yes, for we thus give the detractors occasion and encouragement. Therefore St. Bernard says: "Whether to detract is a greater sin than to listen to detraction, I will not decide. The devil sits on the tongue of the detractor as he does on the ear of the listener." In such cases we must strive to interrupt, to prevent the detracting words, or else withdraw; or if we can do none of these, we must show in our countenance our displeasure, for the Holy Ghost says: The northwind driveth away rain, so doth a sad countenance a backbiting tongue. (Prov. XXV. 23.) The same demeanor is to be observed in regard to improper language.
What varieties of detraction are there?
There is a certain detestable kind of detraction which degrades and ridicules others by witty and sneering words. Still worse is that detraction which carries the faults of others from one place to another, thus exciting those who are on good terms to hard feeling, or making those who are living in enmity more opposed to each other. The whisperer and the double tongued, says the Holy Ghost, is accursed, for he bath troubled many that were at peace.
What should deter us from detraction?
The thought of the enormity of this sin; of the difficulty, even impossibility of repairing the injury caused; of the punishment it incurs, for St. Paul expressly says: Calumniators shall not possess the kingdom of God, (I Cor. VI. 10.). and Solomon writes: My son, fear the Lord, and the king: and have nothing to do with detractors; for their destruction shall rise suddenly. (Prov. XXIV 22.)
SUPPLICATON Guard me, O most loving Jesus, that I may not be so blinded, either by hatred or, envy, as to rob my neighbor of his good name, or make myself guilty of such a grievous sin.
CONSOLATION FOR THOSE WHO HAVE SUFFERED FROM DETRACTION
If your good name has been taken away by evil tongues, you may be consoled by knowing that God permitted this to humble you, to exercise you in patience and free you from pride and vain self-complacency. Turn your eyes to the saints of the Old and the New Law, to the chaste Joseph who was cast into prison on a false charge of adultery, (Gen. XXXIX.) to the meek David publicly accused by Semei as a man of blood, (II Kings XVI. 7.) to the chaste Susanna who was also accused of adultery, tried and condemned to death. (Dan, XIII.) Jesus, the king of saints, was called a drunkard, accused and condemned as a blasphemer, a friend of the devil, an inciter of sedition among the people, and like the greatest criminal was nailed to the cross between two thieves. Remember besides that it does not injure you in the sight of God, if all possible evil is said of you, and that He, at all times, cares for those who trust in Him; for he who touches the honor of those who fear God, touches, as it were, the pupil of His eye, (Zach. II. 8.) and shall not go unpunished. St. Chrysostom says: "If you are guilty, be converted; if you are innocent, think of Christ."
PRAYER O most innocent Jesus, who wert thus calumniated, I submit myself wholly to Thy divine will, and am, ready like Thee, to bear all slanders and detractions, as with perfect confidence I yield to land care my good name, convinced that Thou at Thy pleasure wilt defend and protect it, and save me from the hands of my enemies.
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'The Persecution Has Started' in the Wake of Traditionis Custodes |
Posted by: Stone - 07-17-2021, 04:11 PM - Forum: Vatican II and the Fruits of Modernism
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The Persecution Has Started: English Monastery Stops Celebrating (Tridentine) Roman Mass
gloria.tv (slightly adapted) | July 17, 2021
Following Francis' Traditionis Custodes and instructions from Clifton Bishop Declan Lang, 71, England, the two Glastonbury Benedictines end celebrating the Roman Rite.
Father Bede Rowe announced on his blog on July 17 that Saturday's 12.30pm Roman Mass at Glastonbury will be the last there.
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Screenshot July 17, 2021
Until now, the community, which was erected by Bishop Lang in August 2019, sang the Divine Office and the Conventual Mass according to the Roman Rite, which St Benedict already knew. The monks also serve Novus Ordo parishes. They are based in a presbytery and are thus at the mercy of the diocese.
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July 17th - St. Alexius, Confessor |
Posted by: Stone - 07-17-2021, 04:02 PM - Forum: July
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July 17 – Saint Alexius, Confessor
Although we are not commanded to follow the Saints to the extremities where their heroic virtue leads them, nevertheless, from their inaccessible heights, they still guide us along the easier paths of the plain. As the eagle upon the orb of day, they fixed their unflinching gaze upon the Sun of Justice; and, irresistibly attracted by his divine splendor, they poised their flight far above the cloudy region where we are glad to screen our feeble eyes. But however varied be the degrees of brightness for them and for us, the light itself is unchangeable, provided that, like them, we draw it from the authentic source. When the weakness of our sight would lead us to mistake false glimmerings for the truth, let us think of these friends of God; if we have not courage enough to imitate them, where the commandments leave us free to do so or not, let us at least conform our judgments and appreciations to theirs: their view is more trustworthy, because farther reaching; their sanctity is nothing but the rectitude wherewith they follow up unflinchingly, even to its central focus, the heavenly ray, whereof we can scarcely bear a tempered reflection. Above all, let us not be led so far astray by the will-o’-the-wisps of this world of darkness, as to wish to direct, by their false light, the actions of the saints: can the owl judge better of the light than the eagle?
Descending from the pure firmament of the holy Liturgy even to the humblest conditions of Christian life, the light which led Alexius to the highest point of detachment, is thus subdued by the Apostle to the capacity of all: “If any man take a wife, he hath not sinned, nor the virgin whom he marrieth; nevertheless, such shall have tribulation of the flesh, which I would fain spare you. This, therefore, I say, brethren: the time is short; it remaineth, therefore, that they also who have wives, be as if they had none; and they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as if they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; and they that use this world, as if they used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away.”
Yet it passes not too quickly for our Lord to show that His words never pass away. Five centuries after the glorious death of Alexius, the eternal god, to whom distance and time are as nothing, gave him a hundredfold the posterity he had renounced for the love of Him. The monastery on the Aventine, which still bears his name together with that of the martyr Boniface, had become the common patrimony of East and West in the eternal City; the two great monastic families of Basil and Benedict united under the roof of Alexius, and the seed taken from his tomb by the monk-bishop St. Adalbert brought forth the fruit of faith among the northern nations. The Church gives us the following very short notice of our hero:
Quote:Alexius was the son of one of Rome’s noblest families. Through his exceeding love for Jesus Christ, he, by a special inspiration from God, left his wife still a virgin on the first night of his marriage, and undertook a pilgrimage to the most illustrious Churches all over the world. For seventeen years he remained unknown, while performing these pilgrimages, and then his name was revealed at Edessa, a town of Syria, by an image of the most holy Virgin Mary. He therefore left Syria by sea and sailed to the port of Rome, where he was received as a guest by his own father who took him for a poor stranger. He lived in his father’s house, unknown to all, for seventeen years, and then passed to heaven, leaving a written paper which revealed his name, his family, and the story of his whole life. His death occurred in the Pontificate of Innocent I.
Man of God! such is the name given thee, O Alexius, by heaven; the name whereby thou art known in the East; and which Rome sanctions by her choice of the Epistle to be read in this day’s Mass. The Apostle there applies this beautiful title to his disciple Timothy, while recommending to him the very virtues thou didst practice in so eminent a degree. This sublime designation, which shows us the dignity of heaven within the reach of men, thou didst prefer to the proudest titles earth could bestow. These latter were indeed offered thee, together with all the honors permitted by God to those who are satisfied with merely not offending him; but thy great soul despised the transitory gifts of the world. In the midst of the splendors of thy marriage-feast, thou didst hear a music which charms the soul from earth; that music which, two centuries before, the noble Cæcilia, too, had heard in another palace of the queen city. The hidden God, who left the joys of the heavenly Jerusalem and on earth had not where to lay his head, discovered himself to thy pure heart; and being filled with his love, thou hadst also the mind which was in Christ Jesus. With the freedom, which yet remained to thee, of choosing between the perfect life, and the consummation of an earthly union, thou didst resolve to be a pilgrim and a stranger on the earth, that thou mightest merit to possess eternal Wisdom in thy heavenly fatherland. O wonderful paths! O unsearchable ways whereby that Wisdom of the Father guides all those who are won by love. The Queen of heaven, as of applauding this spectacle worthy of Angels, revealed to the East the illustrious name thou wouldst fain conceal under the garb of holy poverty. A second flight brought thee back, after seventeen years’ absence, to the land of thy birth, and even there thou wert able, by thy valiant faith, to dwell as in a strange land.
Under that staircase of thy home, now held in loving veneration, thou wert exposed to the insults of thy own slaves, being but an unknown beggar in the eyes of thy father and mother, and of the bride who still mourned for thee. There didst thou spend, without ever betraying thyself, another seventeen years, awaiting thy happy passage to thy true home in heaven. God himself made it an hour to be called thy God, when at the moment of thy precious death a mighty voice resounded through Rome, bidding all seek the “man of God.” Remember, O Alexius, what the voice added concerning that man of God: “He shall pray for Rome, and shall be heard.” Pray, then, for the illustrious city of thy birth, which owed to thee its safety under the assault of the barbarians, and which now surrounds thee with far greater honors than it would have done, hadst thou but upheld within its walls the traditions of thy noble ancestors. Hell boasts of having snatched that city from the successors of Peter and Innocent: pray, and may heaven hear thee once more, against the modern successors of Alaric. Guided by the light of thy sublime actions, may the Christian people rise more and more above the earth; lead us all safely by the narrow way to the home of our heavenly Father!
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SSPX Responds (?) to Traditionis Custodes |
Posted by: Stone - 07-17-2021, 07:04 AM - Forum: The New-Conciliar SSPX
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One can only find two articles on SSPX websites (and only one of those with actual commentary) on the motu proprio of Pope Francis' Traditionis Custodes of July 16, 2021, reversing Pope Benedict XVI's "permission" for the Tridentine Mass.
The first article is on the SSPX's Australian and New Zealand website (there is nothing so far on the website of the 'General House' nor the 'District of the USA') which is merely a reprinting of an article from Rorate Caeli, entitled, "Legal Considerations on the motu proprio Traditionis Custodes" - Restrictions demand strict interpretation by Fr. Pierre Laliberté, J.C.L.*.
The only SSPX website with a (brief) commentary on the Pope's new motu proprio is on the French SSPX site, La Porte Latine. Here is the (google-translated) English version of the commentary, which is then simply followed by the actual motu proprio and accompany Letter from Francis.
Quote:Pope Francis restricts the use of the traditional mass
Posted on July 17, 2021
No longer speak of "mass according to the extraordinary form of the Roman rite".
By his Motu proprio entitledTraditionis Custodes of July 16, 2021 to which is attached a covering letter to the bishops, Pope Francis has just decided that this distinction invented by Benedict XVI was null and void: only the new mass of Paul VI is entitled of city in the conciliar Church, the traditional mass is only tolerated.
Unity behind the New Mass
What is the status of the Tridentine Mass now? The answer is not given in these documents but what does it matter since the clearly stated objective is its disappearance. It is now permitted under drastic conditions for "those who need time to return to the Roman rite promulgated by Saints [sic] Paul VI and John Paul II ", that is to say say the new mass.
The means employed to succeed in stifling the Mass of all times are clearly indicated in the Motu proprio: severe limitation of the times and places of the celebration of the traditional Mass; firm control by the bishops of diocesan priests wishing to celebrate according to the old rite; removal of all protective supervision for Institutes under the former Ecclesia Dei Commission.
Unity behind Vatican Council II
The Pope thus intends to eradicate any pocket of resistance to the reforms of the Second Vatican Council. It was, he admits bluntly, the goal of the motu proprio of 1988 and 2007; their
implementation having on the contrary consolidated the positions leading to "doubting the Council", Pope Francis puts an end to the experiment. The groups which will still be authorized to celebrate according to the old rite will have to certify that they “do not exclude the validity and the legitimacy of the liturgical reform, of the precepts of the Second Vatican Council and of the Magisterium of the Sovereign Pontiffs ”, Thus adhering to the Council and the post-conciliar magisterium.
The point is brutal for those who believed they could put their trust in authorities still imbued with liberal values, when the Society of Saint Pius X can faithfully rely on the wisdom of its founder warning about the indult of 1984 granting the traditional mass a conditional freedom: "We cannot place ourselves under an authority whose ideas are liberal and which would condemn us little by little, by force of circumstances, to accept these ideas and their consequences, first of all. the new mass ”.
That's it. A big nothing-burger, as they say. A very short, crisp quote from Archbishop Lefebvre. A summary of the facts of the motu proprio. No defense of the true Mass, no rebuttal, no answer, no plan for how the SSPX will move forward. And all this only if one is able to read French (or at least know how to computer translate) ...
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CDC Director Rochelle Walensky Warns of “Pandemic of the Unvaccinated” |
Posted by: Stone - 07-17-2021, 06:27 AM - Forum: COVID Vaccines
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Here We Go: CDC Director Rochelle Walensky Warns of “Pandemic of the Unvaccinated” (VIDEO)
GP | July 16, 2021
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky on Friday sounded the alarm and warned of a “pandemic of the unvaccinated.”
Walensky’s warning comes as the Biden Administration sends goons door-to-door to harass unvaccinated Americans.
“There is a clear message that is coming through,” Walensky said during a Friday news briefing. “This is becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated. We are seeing outbreaks of cases in parts of the country that have low vaccination coverage because unvaccinated people are at risk.”
Biden’s Covid response coordinator Jeff Zients targeted Florida in his remarks on Friday and said the Sunshine State accounts for 20% of all new Covid infections.
VIDEO:
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Pope St. Pius X: Allocution delivered to newly-created Cardinals, against Religious Neo-Reformism |
Posted by: Stone - 07-16-2021, 02:52 PM - Forum: Papal Documents and Bulls
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Recently translated from the Italian by this site:
Accogliamo Colla Più Viva Compiacenza (1907)
Allocution which Pope Pius X delivered to newly-created Cardinals on Apr. 17, 1907, against Religious Neo-Reformism
We welcome with the most vivid delight the expressions of devotion and filial love for us and for this Apostolic See, which you have shown to us in your name and in the name of your most beloved brothers for the honor of the purple to which you were called [footnote: Card. Aristide Cavallari, Patriarch of Venice]. In accepting your gratitude, nevertheless, we have also to say that the same preeminent virtues by which you are adorned, the works of zeal which you have performed, and the other distinguished services which in different fields you have rendered to the Church, have made you worthy to be included in the register of Our Sacred Senate. And we are gladdened not only by the hope, but by the certainty, that clothed with the new dignity, you will always devote, as in the past, your talent and strength to assist the Roman Pontiff in governing the Church.
If the Roman Pontiffs have always needed external help to carry out their mission, this need is felt more vividly nowadays because of the very serious conditions of the time in which we live and by the continuous assaults to which the Church is subjected by her enemies.
And with regard to this, do not think, Venerable Brothers, that We mean to allude to the events, however painful, in France, because these are largely compensated for by the dearest consolations: by the admirable union of that Venerable Episcopate, by the generous unselfishness of the clergy, and by the pious steadfastness of the faithful willing to make any sacrifice for the preservation of the faith and for the glory of their homeland; once more it comes true that persecutions do nothing but highlight and hold up for universal admiration the virtues of the persecuted, and, at most, they are like the waves of the sea which, hitting the rocks in the storm, purify them, if necessary, from the mud that defiled them.
And you know, Venerable Brothers, that for this reason the Church did not fear, when the decrees of the Caesars ordered the first Christians either to abandon the cult of Jesus Christ or to die, because the blood of the martyrs was the seed of new converts to the faith. But the agonizing war, which makes her repeat: Ecce in pace amaritudo mea amarissima [“Behold in peace is my bitterness most bitter” — Isaias 38:17], is the one that derives from the aberration of minds by which her doctrines are rejected and the cry of revolt, for which the rebels were driven out of Heaven, is repeated in the world.
And, unfortunately, rebellious are those who profess and spread under subtle guises the monstrous errors regarding the evolution of dogma, the return to the pure Gospel — that is to say, stripped down, as they say, from the explanations of theology, from the definitions of the Councils, from the maxims of asceticism –, and the emancipation from the Church, but in a new way, without rebelling, so as not to be cut off, yet also without submitting, so as not to violate their own convictions; and, finally, concerning adaptation to the times in everything, in speaking, in writing, and in preaching a charity without faith, very accommodating to unbelievers, which unfortunately opens the way to eternal ruin for all.
You can see, Venerable Brothers, how We, who must defend with all our strength the deposit entrusted to Us, have reason to be in anguish in the face of this attack, which is not a heresy, but the synthesis and the poison of all heresies, which seeks to undermine the foundations of the faith and annihilate Christianity.
Yes, to annihilate Christianity, because Sacred Scripture for these modern heretics is no longer the sure source of all the truths that belong to the faith, but a common book; — for them, inspiration is restricted to dogmatic doctrines, which are nevertheless understood in their own way, and it differs little from the poetic inspiration of Aeschylus and Homer. The Church is the legitimate interpreter of the Bible, but she is subject to the rules of so-called critical science, which imposes itself on theology and enslaves it [according to the Modernists]. With regard to tradition, lastly, everything is relative and subject to change, and therefore the authority of the Holy Fathers is reduced to nothing. And all these and a thousand other errors they propagate in pamphlets, in magazines, in ascetic books and even in novels, and they wrap them in certain ambiguous terms, in certain nebulous expressions, in order always to leave a way open in their defense so as to avoid incurring an open condemnation and yet to take the unwary in their snares.
We, therefore, rely heavily also on your efforts, Venerable Brothers, so that if in your regions you, along with your suffragans, become acquainted with these sowers of weeds, you may join us in fighting by informing Us about the danger to which souls are exposed, denouncing their books to the Sacred Roman Congregations and, in the meantime, through using the faculties that are granted to you by the Sacred Canons, solemnly condemning them, in the conviction of the highest obligation you have assumed to help the Pope in governing the Church, to fight error and to defend the truth to the shedding of blood.
Moreover, we trust in the Lord, O beloved sons, who will give us the necessary help at the right time; and may the Apostolic blessing, which you have invoked, descend abundantly upon you, on the clergy and on the people of your dioceses, on all the venerable Bishops and the chosen sons who have adorned with their presence this solemn ceremony, on your and their relatives; and may it be for each and every one a source of the choicest graces and the sweetest consolations.
[Translated from the Italian in the Acta Sanctae Sedis, vol. XL (1907), pp. 266-269; italics given.]
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A Short Treatise: Ancient Confraternity of Our Blessed Lady of Mount Carmel , 1850 |
Posted by: Stone - 07-16-2021, 11:11 AM - Forum: Resources Online
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A Short Treatise on the Ancient Confraternity of Our Blessed Lady of Mount Carmel called,
The Scapular
by the Rev. R. J. Colgan, D.D. S.M.T, 1850
. . . . . Above all other confraternities, that of the blessed Scapular, or of the habit of the most blessed and ever glorious Virgin Mary, hath for these many years been the popular Devotion throughout the whole christian world; insomuch, that all states of life, both secular and ecclesiastical, have continually procured, and with earnest affection still do desire to be invested with this sacred livery, and have worn it day and night, as a most precious garment, as an earnest pledge from heaven, for those that devoutly receive it, both of temporal and spiritual graces: and also of eternal salvation, as the most holy Virgin promised to her beloved son, St. Simon Stock, general of the Order of the Carmelites, by a supernatural revelation, in which she presented him with the Holy Scapular of her Order, and a sign of her Confraternity, about the year 1251. See Carthegena, Hom. 4. Homil. de B. V. Maria de Monte Carmeli.
Wherefore the singular prerogatives of this holy Confraternity of the Scapular, above all others, are first, that it is no human invention, having its institution immediately from heaven. Secondly, that it is favored with the singular protection of the Queen of Heaven, who is the patroness and advocate of this Confraternity. Thirdly, that it hath the promise of eternal salvation. Fourthly, it avails much to abreviate the expiating pains of Purgatory. Finally, ever since its first institution it hath been favored by Almighty God with many graces and miracles, insomuch, that by means of the sacred Scapular, the sick have frequently been restored to their former health.
Women in travail have been miraculously assisted. This sacred habit also hath appeased violent tempests, when it hath been cast into the sea by those that were in danger. Briefly, it is known by daily experience, that the Scapular is a sovereign preservative and remedy against all the evils of this life.
God of his infinite mercy grant that this small labor may succeed for His glory, to the honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and Patroness of Mount Carmel, and finally to the eternal salvation of our souls.--pages 9 - 11
Download the book, "A Short Treatise on the Scapular"
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1852: Novena in Honor of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel |
Posted by: Stone - 07-16-2021, 11:05 AM - Forum: Novenas
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A Novena in Honor of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary of Mt. Carmel
There is no true Catholic who does not know that the intercession of the Most Holy Virgin Mary is a most powerful method of obtaining benefits and favours from the Majesty of God; since, as this Holy Queen is really and truly the Mother of God, Her dear Son will not deny Her any thing which She asks of Him. For this reason, Christian piety has discovered many ways of honouring this dear Lady, so that by Her powerful intercession She may obtain for us help in our necessities, consolation in our afflictions, and the fulfilment of any just desires. And the faithful, experiencing the power of Her intercession with God in the graces they constantly receive through Her, recognise Her as their Mother, and as such venerate and love Her. But above all, the Carmelites and those who wear the Holy Scapular ought to love this Blessed Virgin, for She enriched them with this singular privilege, so that by it they might be known and distinguished as Her children, and particularly under Her protection; confirming this favour by continual and great prodigies and miracles, which have been and still are experienced. And so that they may shew their love and gratitude towards this great Queen and most loving Mother, as also to implore Her especial assistance to obtain what they desire, this Novena has been written, in which Her most extraordinary favours are commemorated, and which is to be performed according to the following directions.
Directions for performing this Novena.
1.) The first thing to be remarked is, that this Novena may be made at any time of the year, either on nine consecutive days or on nine consecutive Saturdays (this day being chosen as consecrated to the Mother of God); but the proper time for performing it is in the month of July, beginning it on the eighth of July, and ending it on the sixteenth day of that month, which is the Feast of the Blessed Virgin of Mount Carmel; or beginning it on the fifteenth--that is, on the eve of the Feast,--and concluding it on the twenty-third, which is the last day of the Octave.
2.) The second is, that this Novena may be said in the person's own house before an image or picture of our Lady of Mount Carmel; but the best place to say it in is the church, before an altar of the Blessed Virgin, if there be one, or if not, a picture or medal may be used. And the Novena is to be said kneeling, if illness or any other just cause does not prevent.
3.) The third is, that the person who makes the Novena is to confess and communicate on the first day of the Novena if possible, or at least on some day during the course of it; and that, in order to be better prepared to recite this Novena, they are to make very devoutly the acts of faith, hope, charity, and contrition, as contained in the first prayer, in order to purify the soul to praise God and the Holy Virgin: for if a soul full of failings and imperfections were to offer to God and our Lady prayers and praises, it would be like presenting delicious viands in an unclean vessel, so that they could not be eaten; and it would also be well to confess and communicate on the last day of the Novena.
4.) The fourth is, that on the first day of the Novena, the person who performs it is to determine for what end or intention he wishes to make it,--that is, what he desires to obtain from God by the intercession of His Holy Mother; and he is to ask it with great humility and entire resignation to the will of God, only desiring it if it be for the greater glory of His Divine Majesty and good of his own soul; and also he is to be disposed, if he does not obtain what he asks, to be as satisfied as if God had granted his desire, preferring the Divine will and pleasure to his own.
5.) The fifth remark is, that any person who cannot read or hear the Novena read, can make it by saying every day five Salve Reginas and five Ave Marias, saying first an act of contrition, and observing as far as possible the directions here given.
6.) The sixth and last is, that the person who makes the Novena ought to offer to God and the Blessed Virgin some act of virtue every day during the Novena: as giving alms, hearing Mass, a short time of mental prayer, frequent acts of faith, hope, charity, and contrition, as also of conformity with the holy will of God. And he ought to have great confidence, through the intercession of the Holy Virgin, that he will obtain from the Majesty of God what he asks in this Novena, if it be for the good of his soul.--pages 3 - 7
Download the Novena here
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Prayers to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel |
Posted by: Stone - 07-16-2021, 11:01 AM - Forum: In Honor of Our Lady
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Prayer to Our Lady of Carmel
O beautiful Flower of Carmel, most fruitful vine, splendor of heaven, holy and singular, who brought forth the Son of God, still ever remaining a pure Virgin, assist us in our necessity. O Star of the Sea, help and protect us! Show us that thou art our Mother!
O Mary, conceived without sin!
Pray for us who have recourse to thee.
Mother and Ornament of Carmel! Pray for us.
Patroness of all who wear the Scapular! Pray for us.
Hope of all who wear the Scapular! Pray for us.
St. Joseph, friend of the Sacred Heart! Pray for us.
St. Joseph, chaste spouse of Mary! Pray for us.
St. Joseph, our Patron! Pray for us.
St. Simon Stock! Pray for us.
St. Therese, Little Flower of Jesus! Pray for us.
Prayer to the Queen of Carmel
O glorious Virgin Mary! Queen of Carmel, Mother of God and of poor sinners; special Protectress of all those who wear thy holy Scapular, I supplicate thee, by the glory that has been accorded thee by the Incarnate Word in choosing thee for His Mother, to obtain for me the pardon of my sins, amendment of my life, salvation of my soul, consolation in my pains, and in particular the grace I now ask, provided it be conformable to the will of thy divine Son. Amen.
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Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel - July 16th |
Posted by: Stone - 07-16-2021, 10:16 AM - Forum: Our Lady
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July 16 – Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Towering over the waves on the shore of the Holy Land, Mount Carmel, together with the short range of the same name, forms a connecting link to two other chains, abounding with glorious memories, namely: the mountains of Galilee on the north, and those of Judea on the south.
“In the day of my love, I brought thee out of Egypt into the land of Carmel,” said the Lord to the daughter of Sion, taking the name of Carmel to represent all the blessings of the Promised Land; and when the crimes of the chosen people were about to bring Judæa to ruin, the prophet cried out: “I looked, and behold Carmel was a wilderness: and all its cities were destroyed at the presence of the Lord, and at the presence of the wrath of his indignation.” But from the midst of the Gentile world a new Sion arose, more loved than the first; eight centuries beforehand Isaias recognized her by the glory of Libanus, and the beauty of Carmel and Saron which were given her. In the sacred Canticle, also, the attendants of the Bride sing to the Spouse concerning his well-beloved, that her head is like Carmel, and her hair like the precious threads of royal purple carefully woven and dyed.
There was, in fact, around Cape Carmel an abundant fishery of the little shell-fish which furnished the regal color. Not far from there, smoothing away the slopes of the noble mountain, flowed the torrent of Cison, that dragged the carcasses of the Chanaanites, when Deborah won her famous victory. Here lies the plain where the Madianites were overthrown, and Sisara felt the power of her that was called Mother in Israel. Here Gedeon, too, marched against Madian in the name of the Woman terrible as an army set in array, whose sign he had received in the dew-covered fleece. Indeed, this glorious plain of Esdrelon, which stretches away from the foot of Carmel, seems to be surrounded with prophetic indications of her who was destined from the beginning to crush the serpent’s head: not far from Esdrelon, a few defiles lead to Bethulia, the city of Judith, type of Mary, who was the true joy of Israel and the honor of her people; while nestling among the northern hills lies Nazareth, the white city, the flower of Galilee.
When Eternal Wisdom was playing in the world, forming the hills and establishing the mountains, she destined Carmel to be the special inheritance of Eve’s victorious Daughter. And when the last thousand years of expectation were opening, and the desire of all nations was developing into the spirit of prophecy, the father of prophets ascended the privileged mount, thence to scan the horizon. The triumphs of David and the glories of Solomon were at an end; the scepter of Juda, broken by the schism of the ten tribes, threatened to fall from his hand; the worship of Baal prevailed in Israel. A long-continued drought, figure of the aridity of men’s souls, had parched up every spring, and men and beasts were dying beside the empty cisterns, when Elias the Thesbite gathered the people, representing the whole human race, on Mount Carmel, and slew the lying prophets of Baal. Then, as the Scripture relates, prostrating with his face to the earth, he said to his servant: Go up, look towards the sea. And he went up, and looked and said: There is nothing. And again he said to him: Return seven times. And at the seventh time: Behold, a little cloud arose out of the sea like a man’s foot.
Blessed cloud! unlike the bitter waves from which it sprang, it was all sweetness. Docile to the least breath of heaven, it rose light and humble, above the immense heavy ocean; and, screening the sun, it tempered the heat that was scorching the earth, and restored to the stricken world life and grace and fruitfulness. The promised Messias, the Son of Man, set his impress upon it, showing to the wicked serpent the form of the heel that was to crush him. The prophet, personifying the human race, felt his youth renewed; and while the welcome rain was already refreshing the valleys, he ran before the chariot of the king of Israel. Thus did he traverse the great plain of Esdrelon, even to the mysteriously-named town of Jezrahel, where, according to Osee, the children of Juda and Israel were again to have but one head, in the great day of Jezrahel (i.e., of the seed of God), when the Lord would seal his eternal nuptials with a new people. Later on, from Sunam, near Jezrahel, the mother, whose son was dead, crossed the same plain of Esdrelon, in the opposite direction, and ascended Mount Carmel, to obtain from Eliseus the resurrection of her child, who was a type of us all. Elias had already departed in the chariot of fire, to await the end of the world, when he is to give testimony, together with Henoch, to the son of her that was signified by the cloud; and the disciple, clothed with the mantle and the spirit of his father, had taken possession, in the name of the sons of the prophets, of the august mountain honored by the manifestation of the Queen of prophets. Henceforward Carmel was sacred in the eyes of all who looked beyond this world. Gentiles as well as Jews, philosophers and princes, came here on pilgrimage to adore the true God; while the chosen souls of the Church of the expectation, many of whom were already wandering in deserts and in mountains, loved to take up their abode in its thousand grottoes; for the ancient traditions seemed to linger more lovingly in its silent forests, and the perfume of its flowers foretokened the Virgin Mother. The cultus of the Queen of heaven was already established; and to the family of her devout clients, the ascetics of Carmel, might be applied the words spoken later by God to the pious descendants of Rechab: There shall not be wanting a man of this race, standing before me for ever.
At length figures gave place to the reality: the heavens dropped down their dew, and the Just One came forth from the cloud. When his work was done and he returned to his Father, leaving his blessed Mother in the world, and sending his Holy Spirit to the Church, not the least triumph of that Spirit of love was the making known of Mary to the new-born Christians of Pentecost. “What a happiness,” we then remarked, “for those neophytes who were privileged above the rest in being brought to the Queen of heaven, the Virgin-Mother of him who was the hope of Israel! They saw this second Eve, they conversed with her, they felt for her that filial affection wherewith she inspired all the disciples of Jesus. The Liturgy will speak to us at another season of these favored ones.” The promise is fulfilled today. In the lessons of the feast the Church tells us how the disciples of Elias and Eliseus became Christians at the first preaching of the Apostles, and being permitted to hear the sweet words of the Blessed Virgin and enjoy an unspeakable intimacy with her, they felt their veneration for her immensely increased. Returning to the loved mountain, where their less fortunate fathers had lived but in hope, they built, on the very spot where Elias had seed the little cloud rise up out of the sea, an oratory to the purest of virgins; hence they obtained the name of Brothers of Blessed Mary of Mount Carmel.
In the twelfth century, in consequence of the establishment of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, many pilgrims from Europe came to swell the ranks of the solitaries on the holy mountain; it therefore became expedient to give to their hitherto eremitical life a form more in accordance with the habits of western nations. The legate Aimeric Malafaida, patriarch of Antioch, gathered them into a community under the authority of St. Berthold, who was thus the first to receive the title of Prior General. At the commencement of the next century, Blessed Albert, patriarch of Jerusalem and also Apostolic legate, completed the work of Aimeric by giving a fixed Rule to the Order, which was now, through the influence of princes and knights returned from the Holy Land, beginning to spread into Cyprus, Sicily, and the countries beyond the sea. Soon indeed, the Christians of the East, being abandoned by God to the just punishment of their sins, the vindictiveness of the conquering Saracens reached such a height in this age of trial for Palestine, that a full assembly held on Mount Carmel under Alanus the Breton, resolved upon a complete migration, leaving only a few friars eager for martyrdom to guard the cradle of the Order. The very year in which this took place (1245), Simon Stock was elected General in the first Chapter of the West held at Aylesford in England.
Simon owed his election to the successful struggle he had maintained for the recognition of the Order, which certain prelates, alleging the recent decrees of the Council of Lateran, rejected as newly introduced into Europe. Our Lady had then taken the cause of the Friars into her own hands, and had obtained from Honorius III the decree of confirmation, which originated today’s feast. This was neither the first nor the last favor bestowed by the sweet Virgin upon the family that had lived so long under the shadow, as it were, of her mysterious cloud, and shrouded like her in humility, with no other bond, no other pretension than the imitation of her hidden works and the contemplation of her glory. She herself had wished them to go forth from the midst of a faithless people; just as, before the close of that same thirteenth century, she would command her angels to carry into a Catholic land her blessed house of Nazareth. Whether or not the men of those days, or the short-sighted historians of our own time, ever thought of it: the one translation called for the other, just as each completes and explains the other, and each was to be, for our own Europe, the signal for wonderful favors from heaven.
In the night between the 15th and the 16th of July, of the year 1251, the gracious Queen of Carmel confirmed to her sons by a mysterious sign the right of citizenship she had obtained for them in their newly adopted countries: as mistress and mother of the entire Religious state she conferred upon them with her queenly hands, the scapular, hitherto the distinctive garb of the greatest and most ancient religious family of the West. On giving St. Simon Stock this badge, ennobled by contact with her sacred fingers, the Mother of God said to him: “Whosoever shall die in this habit, shall not suffer eternal flames.” But not against hell fire alone was the all-powerful intercession of the Blessed Mother to be felt by those who should wear her scapular. In 1316, when every holy soul was imploring heaven to put a period to that long and disastrous widowhood of the Church, which followed on the death of Clement V, the Queen of Saints appeared to James d’Euse, whom the world was soon to hail as John XXII; she foretold to him his approaching elevation to the Sovereign Pontificate, and at the same time recommended him to publish the privilege she had obtained from her Divine Son for her children of Carmel, viz., a speedy deliverance from Purgatory. “I, their Mother, will graciously go down to them on the Saturday after their death, and all whom I find in Purgatory I will deliver and will bring to the mountain of life eternal.” These are the words of our Lady herself, quoted by John XXII in the Bull which he published for the purpose of making known the privilege, and which was called the Sabbatine Bull on account of the day chosen by the glorious benefactress for the exercise of her mercy.
We are aware of the attempts made to nullify the authenticity of these heavenly concessions; but our extremely limited time will not allow us to follow up these worthless struggles in all their endless details. The attack of the chief assailant, the too famous Launoy, was condemned by the Apostolic See; and after, as well as before, these contradictions, the Roman Pontiffs confirmed, as much as need be, by their supreme authority, the substance and even the letter of the precious promises. The reader may find in special works the enumeration of the many indulgences with which the Popes have, time after time, enriched the Carmelite family, as if earth would vie with heaven in favoring it. The munificence of Mary, the pious gratitude of her sons for the hospitality given them by the West, and lastly, the authority of St. Peter’s successors, soon made these spiritual riches accessible to all Christians, by the institution of the Confraternity of the holy Scapular, the members whereof participate in the merits and privileges of the whole Carmelite Order. Who shall tell the graces, often miraculous, obtained through this humble garb? Who could count the faithful now enrolled in the holy militia? When Benedict XIII, in the eighteenth century, extended the feast of the 16th July to the whole Church, he did but give an official sanction to the universality already gained by the cultus of the Queen of Carmel.
The holy Liturgy gives the following account of the history and object of the feast:
Quote:When on the holy day of Pentecost the Apostles, through heavenly inspiration, spoke divers tongues and worked many miracles by the invocation of the most holy name of Jesus, it is said that many men who were walking in the footsteps of the holy prophets Elias and Eliseus, and had been prepared for the coming of Christ by the preaching of John the Baptist, saw and acknowledged the truth, and at once embraced the faith of the Gospel. These new Christians were so happy as to be able to enjoy familiar intercourse with the Blessed Virgin, and venerated her with so special an affection, that they, before all others, built a chapel to the purest of Virgins on that very spot of Mount Carmel where Elias of old had seen the cloud, a remarkable type of the Virgin ascending.
Many times each day they came together to the new oratory, and with pious ceremonies, prayers, and praises honored the most Blessed Virgin as the special protectress of their Order. For this reason, people from all parts began to call them the Brethren of the Blessed Mary of Mount Carmel; and the Sovereign Pontiffs not only confirmed this title, but also granted special indulgences to whoever called either the whole Order or individual Brothers by that name. But the most noble Virgin not only gave them her name and protection, she also bestowed upon Blessed Simon the Englishman the holy Scapular as a token, wishing the holy Order to be distinguished by that heavenly garment and to be protected by it from the evils that were assailing it. Moreover, as formerly the Order was unknown in Europe, and on this account many were importuning Honorius III for its abolition, the loving Virgin Mary appeared by night to Honorius and clearly bade him receive both the Order and its members with kindness.
The Blessed Virgin has enriched the Order so dear to her with many privileges, not only in this world, but also in the next (for everywhere she is most powerful and merciful). For it is piously believed that those of her children, who, having been enrolled in the Confraternity of the Scapular, have fulfilled the small abstinence and said the few prayers prescribed, and have observed chastity as far as their state of life demands, will be consoled by our Lady while they are are being purified in the fire of Purgatory, and will through her intercession be taken thence as soon as possible to the heavenly country. The Order, thus laden with so many graces, has ordained that this solemn commemoration of the Blessed Virgin should be yearly observed for ever, to her greater glory.
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Queen of Carmel, hear the voice of the Church as she sings to thee on this day. When the world was languishing in ceaseless expectation, thou wert already its hope. Unable as yet to understand thy greatness, it nevertheless, during the reign of types, loved to clothe thee with the noblest symbols. In admiration, and in gratitude for benefits foreseen, it surrounded thee with all the notions of beauty, strength, and grace suggested by the loveliest landscapes, the flowery plains, the wooded heights, the fertile valleys, especially of Carmel, whose very name signifies “the plantation of the Lord.” On its summit our fathers, knowing that Wisdom had set her throne in the cloud, hastened by their burning desires the coming of the saving sign: there at length was given to their prayers, what the Scripture calls perfect knowledge, and the knowledge of the great paths of the clouds. And when he who maketh his chariot and his dwelling in the obscurity of a cloud had therein shown himself, in a nearer approach, to the practiced eye of the father of prophets, then did a chosen band of holy persons gather in the solitudes of the blessed mountain, as heretofore Israel in the desert, to watch the least movements of the mysterious cloud, to receive from it their guidance in the paths of life, and their light in the long night of expectation.
O Mary, who from that hour didst preside over the watches of God’s army, without ever failing for a single day: now that the Lord has truly come down through thee, it is no longer the land of Judæa alone, but the whole earth that thou coverest as a cloud, shedding down blessings and abundance. Thine ancient clients, the sons of the prophets, experienced this truth when, the land of promise becoming unfaithful, they were forced to transplant into other climes their customs and traditions; they found that even into our far West, the cloud of Carmel had poured its fertilizing dew, and that nowhere would its protection be wanting to them. This feast, O Mother of our God, is the authentic attestation of their gratitude, increased by the fresh benefits wherewith thy bounty accompanied the new exodus of the remnant of Israel. And we, the sons of ancient Europe, we too have a right to echo the expression of their loving joy; for since their tents have been pitched around the hills where the new Sion is built upon Peter, the cloud has shed all around showers of blessing more precious than ever, driving back into the abyss the flames of hell, and extinguishing the fire of purgatory.
Whilst, then, we join with them in thanksgiving to thee, deign thyself, O Mother of divine grace, to pay our debt of gratitude to them. Protect them ever. Guard them in these unhappy times, when the hypocrisy of modern persecutors has more fatal results than the rage of the Saracens. Preserve the life in the deep roots of the old stock, and rejoice it by the succession of new branches, bearing, like the old ones, flowers and fruits that shall be pleasing to thee, O Mary. Keep up in the hearts of the sons, that spirit of retirement and contemplation which animated their fathers under the shadow of the cloud; may their sisters too, wheresoever the Holy Spirit has established them, be ever faithful to the traditions of the glorious past; so that their holy lives may avert the tempest and draw down blessings from the mysterious cloud. May the perfume of penance that breathes from the holy mountain purify the now corrupted atmosphere around; and may Carmel ever present to the Spouse the type of the beauties he loves to behold in his Bride!
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MA egislature mulls allowing kids of any age to be vaccinated without parental knowledge or consent |
Posted by: Stone - 07-16-2021, 10:08 AM - Forum: Against the Children
- No Replies
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Massachusetts legislature mulls allowing kids of any age to be vaccinated without parental knowledge or consent
The bills would either eliminate the religious exemption or else make the exemption much harder to obtain by incentivizing institutions to reject students who seek religious exemptions, allowing minors to get vaccines without parental approval, and letting schools make up their own vaccine requirements.
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BOSTON, Massachusetts, July 15, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) – Massachusetts is considering legislation that would allow children to be vaccinated without their parents’ knowledge or consent and weaken religious exemptions to current school vaccine requirements.
According to a press release put out by Health Choice 4 Action, a Massachusetts-based coalition of health care advocates, over 400 people signed up to testify before the Joint Committee on Public Health, which is considering several bills designed to change existing legislation related to immunizations.
Participants spoke for 3 minutes each at the 13-hour-long hearing which began at 10:00 a.m. on Monday, July 12 and ended 1:20 a.m. on Wednesday, July 13.
Health Choice 4 Action, which says it is “against medical coercion,” targeted a pack of new legislative proposals that would permit physicians to treat minors without parental consent in non-emergency situations, conceal medical records from parents, and do away with religious exemptions for students.
Among the most significant measures were Senate Bill 1517 and its companion House Bill 2271 (known as the Community Immunity Act) which were proposed by Democrat legislators Rep. Paul Donato and Sen. Becca Rausch, as well as House Bill 2411 filed by State Rep. Andy Vargas (D).
Opponents of the Community Immunity Act say the measure upends parents’ rights to be involved in their children’s medical decisions and gives schools authority to require whatever vaccines they choose.
The Act seeks to amend Section 12F, Chapter 112 of the Massachusetts General Laws, which grants physicians authority to treat minors without parental consent in emergency situations “when delay in treatment will endanger the life, limb, or mental well-being of the patient.”
Sen. Rausch said her bill “doesn't mandate vaccines” or “permit a young person to waltz into a pharmacy and get a vaccine."
However, the Act would expand existing law to allow health care providers to treat any minor, with no specified minimum age, for the “prevention” of any infectious diseases the child is “at risk of contracting,” with no prerequisite of a precipitating emergency and without notifying parents.
According to Health Choice, “[t]hese bills would allow children to be vaccinated without their parents’ consent or knowledge, even if the child is young or intellectually disabled. Parents might not ever know since medical records would be hidden from parents without a court order.”
The provision could create medical complications. Parents unaware that their children already received a shot without their consent could unwittingly have their children inoculated again with the same vaccine at a standard health care appointment.
Moreover, the bill fails to prevent authority figures from soliciting consent from minors without parental involvement.
Existing Massachusetts law does not require children to provide informed consent under Section 12F, which Health Choice said “is justifiable only on the basis that this statute is intended to provide for emergency treatments of minors, not preventative treatment.”
“At all times,” the coalition noted, “every person (and every minor) is at some level of risk of contracting illnesses. As such, these proposed amendments would permit a health care provider to administer any preventative treatment designed to prevent any infectious disease, including vaccines, to any minor regardless of their capacity to provide informed consent. This is a fundamental departure from established law in the Commonwealth.”
Arguing that “medical decision-making for children is a fundamental right of parents that needs to be preserved,” Health Choice suggested that “parents would likely be astonished and concerned by this provision.”
The press release said the bills would also “limit the criteria for medical exemptions” to a single list created by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which “was never meant to define all circumstances necessitating a medical exemption.”
“A one-size-fits-all approach is simply bad medicine,” Health Choice said.
The Community Immunity Act would additionally allow educational institutions to create their own immunization requirements, which might include vaccines not otherwise required by the Department of Public Health.
Further, the coalition says the legislation would “strongly incentivize” private daycares, schools, and camps “to refuse religious exemptions to avoid being publicly branded as an ‘elevated risk program.’”
The Massachusetts proposal is similar to a 2020 Washington, D.C. law which permits children eleven years old and older to consent to vaccination without parental knowledge. Four parents have filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court, seeking a court order declaring the law unconstitutional.
As Children’s Health Defense pointed out, the D.C. Act has dire implications for the health of children. If parents do not know their child was vaccinated at school, they may not recognize vaccine adverse reactions. Serious adverse reactions require immediate medical treatment and are contraindications to further vaccination. Also, if the family doctor is unaware the child was vaccinated at school, additional vaccines may be administered too close in time to those given at school. Vaccine manufacturers, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and government public health authorities publish strict warnings about the timing of vaccines. Children are typically unaware of their family medical history and any inherent contraindications to vaccines.
‘Systemic bias against those with differing religious beliefs’
In addition to the Community Immunity Act, Health Choice 4 Action also took aim at House Bill 2411 introduced by Rep. Vargas.
The bill would prevent students attending institutions ranging from daycare to college from obtaining religious exemptions, and force students with current exemptions to take the required vaccines in order to continue their education.
A summary of the bill produced by Health Choice said the measure “demonstrates systemic bias against those with differing religious beliefs.”
Rep. Vargas defended his move to strip out the religious exemption to vaccination, saying that “whether we like it or not, Americans, Massachusetts residents and human beings have a responsibility for the health and safety of one another.”
At the hearing early this week, concerned parents argued that the bills unfairly target families with strong religious beliefs and infringe on medical and religious liberty.
“When evaluating the proposed bills, please contemplate the following questions," said Timothy Murzycki, a father who testified at the committee, “Is this freedom? Is this a democracy? Is this a free and fair society?”
Beth Cook, another parent, called the bills “discriminatory toward families whose sincere moral and religious beliefs influence their decisions regarding vaccination and medical intervention.”
Many pro-lifers have concerns over the use of the bodies of aborted babies in vaccine development and/or production, and the fact that the only measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine available in the U.S. contains in the syringe DNA of aborted children (cell lines RA273, WI-38, MRC-5). Other parents may not want to follow the exact vaccine schedule recommended by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). That vaccine schedule, for example, recommends newborns be vaccinated for hepatitis B, which is spread through dirty needle sharing or sex with an infected person.
READ: Amount of aluminum in infant vaccines ‘akin to a lottery,’ researchers say
Despite differing approaches, Rep. Vargas said his bill and the Community Immunity bills are intended to accomplish the same goal, which he said is addressing “the high rates of vaccine exemptions in our state."
But Health Choice 4 Action says “there is no immunization problem in Massachusetts.”
“We enjoy the highest school vaccination rates in the country, without coercive measures, and have had no outbreaks of vaccine preventable illness in school-aged children in the past decade,” the coalition said.
Nonetheless, Vargas said that “as lawmakers, we have to reason with the facts, listen to trained experts, trust the science and make tough decisions to stop preventable death and illness. We learned this the hard way during the pandemic.’
Versions of the bills currently under consideration had been proposed in 2019 but were killed off or died in committee. They were revived this year amid renewed interest due to COVID-19.
RELATED: Parents sue Washington, DC for allowing minors to be vaccinated without parental knowledge or consent
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Pope Francis abrogates Pope Benedict’s universal permission for Old Mass |
Posted by: Stone - 07-16-2021, 09:01 AM - Forum: Pope Francis
- Replies (6)
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It'll be interesting to compare how this is different (or not) from Pope Paul VI's promulgation of the Novus Ordo in 1969...
BREAKING: Pope Francis abrogates Pope Benedict’s universal permission for Old Mass
The document, entitled 'Traditiones Custodes,' issues several restrictions on the celebration of the Latin Mass,
with the opening point containing a direct contradiction of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s 2007 document 'Summorum Pontificum.'
VATICAN CITY, July 16, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) – Pope Francis has today issued a new Motu Proprio restricting the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass, and declaring that the liturgy of Paul VI, or the Novus Ordo, is the “unique expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite.”
The document, entitled “Traditiones Custodes,” issues several restrictions on the celebration of the Latin Mass, with the opening point containing a direct contradiction of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s 2007 document Summorum Pontificum. Francis now declares that while Benedict had described an “ordinary” and an “extraordinary” form of the Roman Rite, now there is only one - the Novus Ordo.
Quote:“The liturgical books promulgated by Saint Paul VI and Saint John Paul II, in conformity with the decrees of Vatican Council II, are the unique expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite.”
Amongst the new restrictions, the Pope affords new power to diocesan bishops, effectively giving them the ability to stamp out centers where the Traditional Mass is being offered.
Describing Latin Mass attendees with the peculiar phrase, “these groups of the faithful,” Francis orders bishops to ensure that no further groups are allowed to grow dioceses. The local bishops are to additionally decide “whether or not to retain” the parishes which are currently offering the Traditional Mass.
The sting is in the final directive in the Pope’s text, in which he appears to abrogate Summorum Pontificum, with the words:
Quote:“Previous norms, instructions, permissions, and customs that do not conform to the provisions of the present Motu Proprio are abrogated.”
The text has prompted widespread comment among Catholics worldwide. Popular Catholic commentator Deacon Nick Donnelly has described it as “The Wither and Die Motu proprio.”
This story is developing. LifeSiteNews will have a full story and analysis of the Motu Proprio shortly.
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