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| Fr. Peter Scott Answers: Is it true to say that now there is a "conciliar" Church? |
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Posted by: Stone - 03-06-2021, 09:46 AM - Forum: Q&A: Catholic Answers to a Catholic Crisis
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Is it true to say that now there is a "conciliar" Church?
Answered by Fr. Peter Scott
The term "conciliar" is an adjective that has long been used to describe those things that relate to the Second Vatican Council, such as the documents, commissions, or novel teachings such as Religious Liberty and Ecumenism. The question raises the objection as to whether this adjective can be used to describe the Catholic Church after the Second Vatican Council.
In order to respond to the question a clear distinction has to be made. If by the term "church" is understood the visible, hierarchical structure, founded upon the rock of St. Peter, then clearly there can only be one Church, the Catholic Church. If we were to call the Catholic Church after Vatican II "conciliar" in this sense, then we would claim that it is no longer Catholic at all, but instead a separate visible, hierarchical structure. However, this is manifestly false, both because the adepts of Vatican II have hijacked the visible hierarchical structure of the Catholic Church, and because they profess publicly to be Catholics.
However, there is another sense in which the term "conciliar" can rightly be applied to the majority of persons who profess to be Catholic, as well as to their ideas and opinions, profoundly influenced as they are by the Second Vatican Council.In this sense "conciliar" refers to the persons who have embraced and who promote the novelties of Vatican II, as well as to the novelties themselves. There are varying degrees of influence of the modern errors, from liberal Catholicism through rash opposition to Tradition to outright apostasy. The term conciliar or post-conciliar can consequently be applied to the modernist church, not as it is a canonical institution, but inasmuch and to the degree that it promotes the revolutionary errors of Vatican II.
Archbishop Lefebvre understood this reality very clearly, and the grave danger brought about by the infiltration of all these modernist principles within the very bosom of the Catholic Church. He had this to say of Rome in 1974, in his famous declaration of November 21:
Quote:We hold fast, with all our heart and with all our soul, to Catholic Rome, Guardian of the Catholic Faith and of the traditions necessary to preserve this Faith, to Eternal Rome, Mistress of wisdom and truth.
We refuse, on the other hand, and have always refused to follow the Rome of neo-Modernist and neo-Protestant tendencies which were clearly evident in the Second Vatican Council and, after the Council, in all the reforms which issued from it.
In his book Spiritual Journey, Archbishop Lefebvre explained how the end result of this Conciliar Church is to separate its members little by little from the true Catholic Church established by Our Lord. By this he means that its revolutionary principles of freedom at all cost separate the clergy and faithful little by little from Tradition and produce indifferentism for all religions, eventually destroying the Catholic faith in the one true Church, and bringing about a generalized apostasy, even of those persons who outwardly appear to still be members of the Catholic Church.
Quote:Certainly, the Church itself guards its sanctity and its sources of sanctification, but the control of its institutions by unfaithful popes and apostate bishops ruins the faith of the faithful and the clergy, sterilizes the instruments of grace, and favors the assault of all the powers of Hell which seem to triumph. This apostasy makes its members adulterers, schismatics opposed to all Tradition, separated from the past of the Church, and thus separated from the Church of today, in the measure that it remains faithful to the Church of Our Lord. [p.54]
[Emphasis mine.]
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| Fr. Peter Scott: Is the Novus Ordo Mass invalid, or sacrilegious, and should I assist at it? |
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Posted by: Stone - 03-06-2021, 09:24 AM - Forum: Q&A: Catholic Answers to a Catholic Crisis
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From the SSPX Archives - Catholic FAQs [2003]:
Is the Novus Ordo Mass invalid, or sacrilegious, and should I assist at it when I have no alternative?
Answered by Fr. Peter Scott
The validity of the reformed rite of Mass, as issued in Latin by Paul VI in 1969, must be judged according to the same criteria as the validity of the other sacraments; namely matter, form and intention. The defective theology and meaning of the rites, eliminating as they do every reference to the principal propitiatory end of sacrifice, do not necessarily invalidate the Mass. The intention of doing what the Church does, even if the priest understands it imperfectly, is sufficient for validity. With respect to the matter, pure wheaten bread and true wine from grapes are what is required for validity. The changes in the words of the form in the Latin original, although certainly illicit and unprecedented in the history of the Church, do not alter the substance of its meaning, and consequently do not invalidate the Mass.
However, we all know that such a New Mass celebrated in Latin is an oddity, doomed to extinction by the very fact of the reform. The validity of the New Masses that are actually celebrated in today’s parishes more than 30 years later is a quite different question. Additives to the host sometimes invalidate the matter. The change in the translation from the words of Our Lord, "for many" to the ecumenically acceptable "for all" throws at least some doubt on the validity of the form. Most importantly, however, is the fact that the intention of the Church of offering up a true sacrifice in propitiation for the sins of the living and the dead has been obliterated for 30 years. In fact, most liturgies present the contrary intention of a celebration by the community of the praise of God. In such circumstances it is very easy for a priest to no longer have the intention of doing what the Church does, and for the New Mass to become invalid for this reason. The problem is that this is hidden and nobody knows. Whereas the traditional Mass expresses the true intention of the Church in a clear and unambiguous manner, so that everyone can be certain of the priest’s intention, the New Mass does no such thing. Consequently, the doubt of invalidity for lack of intention, especially in the case of manifestly modernist priests, cannot be easily lifted or removed.
Clearly, an invalid Mass is not a Mass at all, and does not satisfy the Sunday obligation. Furthermore, when it comes to the sacraments, Catholics are obliged to follow the "pars tutior," the safer path. It is not permissible to knowingly receive doubtful sacraments. Consequently nobody has the obligation to satisfy his Sunday obligation by attending the New Mass, even if there is no other alternative.
However, even if we could be certain of the validity of the Novus Ordo Masses celebrated in today’s Conciliar churches, it does not follow that they are pleasing to God. Much to the contrary, they are objectively sacrilegious, even if those who assist at them are not aware of it. By such a statement, I do not mean that all those who celebrate or assist at the New Mass are necessarily in mortal sin, having done something directly insulting to Almighty God and to our Divine Savior.
Sacrilege is a sin against the virtue of religion, and is defined as "the unbecoming treatment of a sacred person, place or thing as far as these are consecrated to God" (Jone, Moral Theology, p.108). The moral theologians explain that sacrilege is in itself and generally a mortal sin (ex genere suo), but that it is not always a mortal sin, because it can concern a relatively small or unimportant thing. Here we are speaking of a real sacrilege, the dishonoring of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, by the elimination of the prayers and ceremonies that protect its holiness, by the absence of respect, piety and adoration, and by the failure to express the Catholic doctrine of the Mass as a true propitiatory sacrifice for our sins. Here there are varying degrees. Just as it is a grave sacrilege and objective mortal sin for a lay person to touch the sacred host without reason, so it is, for example, a venial sin to do the same thing to the chalice or the blessed linens, such as the purificator or pall.
Likewise with the New Mass. It can be an objectively mortal sin of sacrilege if Holy Communion is distributed in the hand or by lay ministers, if there is no respect, if there is talking or dancing in church, or if it includes some kind of ecumenical celebration, etc. It can also be an objectively venial sin of sacrilege if it is celebrated with unusual respect and devotion, so that it appears becoming and reverential to Almighty God. This in virtue of the omissions in the rites and ceremonies, which constitute a true disrespect to Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament and to the Blessed Trinity, and of the failure to express the true nature of what the Mass really is. In each case, the subjective culpability is an altogether other question that God only can judge.
However, regardless of the gravity of the sacrilege, the New Mass still remains a sacrilege, and it is still in itself sinful. Furthermore, it is never permitted to knowingly and willingly participate in an evil or sinful thing, even if it is only venially sinful. For the end does not justify the means. Consequently, although it is a good thing to want to assist at Mass and satisfy one’s Sunday obligation, it is never permitted to use a sinful means to do this. To assist at the New Mass, for a person who is aware of the objective sacrilege involved, is consequently at least a venial sin. It is opportunism. Consequently, it is not permissible for a traditional Catholic, who understands that the New Mass is insulting to Our Divine Savior, to assist at the New Mass, and this even if there is no danger of scandal to others or of the perversion of one’s own Faith (as in an older person, for example), and even if it is the only Mass available.
[Emphasis mine.]
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| The Passion of the Holy Martyrs Perpetua and Felicity |
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Posted by: Stone - 03-06-2021, 09:00 AM - Forum: The Saints
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Fathers of the Church > The Passion of Perpetua and Felicity (Tertullian)
The Passion of the Holy Martyrs Perpetua and Felicity
![[Image: ?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi.pinimg.com%2F236x%2F4...f=1&nofb=1]](https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi.pinimg.com%2F236x%2F46%2F22%2F73%2F4622732024ac67e921aa808bb7f15458--catholic-saints-roman-catholic.jpg&f=1&nofb=1)
Preface
If ancient illustrations of faith which both testify to God's grace and tend to man's edification are collected in writing, so that by the perusal of them, as if by the reproduction of the facts, as well God may be honoured, as man may be strengthened; why should not new instances be also collected, that shall be equally suitable for both purposes — if only on the ground that these modern examples will one day become ancient and available for posterity, although in their present time they are esteemed of less authority, by reason of the presumed veneration for antiquity? But let men look to it, if they judge the power of the Holy Spirit to be one, according to the times and seasons; since some things of later date must be esteemed of more account as being nearer to the very last times, in accordance with the exuberance of grace manifested to the final periods determined for the world. For in the last days, says the Lord, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh; and their sons and their daughters shall prophesy. And upon my servants and my handmaidens will I pour out of my Spirit; and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. And thus we — who both acknowledge and reverence, even as we do the prophecies, modern visions as equally promised to us, and consider the other powers of the Holy Spirit as an agency of the Church for which also He was sent, administering all gifts in all, even as the Lord distributed to every one as well needfully collect them in writing, as commemorate them in reading to God's glory; that so no weakness or despondency of faith may suppose that the divine grace abode only among the ancients, whether in respect of the condescension that raised up martyrs, or that gave revelations; since God always carries into effect what He has promised, for a testimony to unbelievers, to believers for a benefit. And we therefore, what we have heard and handled, declare also to you, brethren and little children, that as well you who were concerned in these matters may be reminded of them again to the glory of the Lord, as that you who know them by report may have communion with the blessed martyrs, and through them with the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and honour, for ever and ever. Amen.
Chapter 1. Argument.— When the Saints Were Apprehended, St. Perpetua Successfully Resisted Her Father's Pleading, Was Baptized with the Others, Was Thrust into a Filthy Dungeon. Anxious About Her Infant, by a Vision Granted to Her, She Understood that Her Martyrdom Would Take Place Very Shortly
1. The young catechumens, Revocatus and his fellow-servant Felicitas, Saturninus and Secundulus, were apprehended. And among them also was Vivia Perpetua, respectably born, liberally educated, a married matron, having a father and mother and two brothers, one of whom, like herself, was a catechumen, and a son an infant at the breast. She herself was about twenty-two years of age. From this point onward she shall herself narrate the whole course of her martyrdom, as she left it described by her own hand and with her own mind.
2. While says she, we were still with the persecutors, and my father, for the sake of his affection for me, was persisting in seeking to turn me away, and to cast me down from the faith —'Father,' said I, 'do you see, let us say, this vessel lying here to be a little pitcher, or something else?' And he said, 'I see it to be so.' And I replied to him, 'Can it be called by any other name than what it is?' And he said, 'No.' 'Neither can I call myself anything else than what I am, a Christian.' Then my father, provoked at this saying, threw himself upon me, as if he would tear my eyes out. But he only distressed me, and went away overcome by the devil's arguments. Then, in a few days after I had been without my father, I gave thanks to the Lord; and his absence became a source of consolation to me. In that same interval of a few days we were baptized, and to me the Spirit prescribed that in the water of baptism nothing else was to be sought for bodily endurance. After a few days we are taken into the dungeon, and I was very much afraid, because I had never felt such darkness. O terrible day! O the fierce heat of the shock of the soldiery, because of the crowds! I was very unusually distressed by my anxiety for my infant. There were present there Tertius and Pomponius, the blessed deacons who ministered to us, and had arranged by means of a gratuity that we might be refreshed by being sent out for a few hours into a pleasanter part of the prison. Then going out of the dungeon, all attended to their own wants. I suckled my child, which was now enfeebled with hunger. In my anxiety for it, I addressed my mother and comforted my brother, and commended to their care my son. I was languishing because I had seen them languishing on my account. Such solicitude I suffered for many days, and I obtained for my infant to remain in the dungeon with me; and immediately I grew strong and was relieved from distress and anxiety about my infant; and the dungeon became to me as it were a palace, so that I preferred being there to being elsewhere.
3. Then my brother said to me, 'My dear sister, you are already in a position of great dignity, and are such that you may ask for a vision, and that it may be made known to you whether this is to result in a passion or an escape.' And I, who knew that I was privileged to converse with the Lord, whose kindnesses I had found to be so great, boldly promised him, and said, 'Tomorrow I will tell you.' And I asked, and this was what was shown me. I saw a golden ladder of marvellous height, reaching up even to heaven, and very narrow, so that persons could only ascend it one by one; and on the sides of the ladder was fixed every kind of iron weapon. There were there swords, lances, hooks, daggers; so that if any one went up carelessly, or not looking upwards, he would be torn to pieces and his flesh would cleave to the iron weapons. And under the ladder itself was crouching a dragon of wonderful size, who lay in wait for those who ascended, and frightened them from the ascent. And Saturus went up first, who had subsequently delivered himself up freely on our account, not having been present at the time that we were taken prisoners. And he attained the top of the ladder, and turned towards me, and said to me, 'Perpetua, I am waiting for you; but be careful that the dragon do not bite you.' And I said, 'In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, he shall not hurt me.' And from under the ladder itself, as if in fear of me, he slowly lifted up his head; and as I trod upon the first step, I trod upon his head. And I went up, and I saw an immense extent of garden, and in the midst of the garden a white-haired man sitting in the dress of a shepherd, of a large stature, milking sheep; and standing around were many thousand white-robed ones. And he raised his head, and looked upon me, and said to me, 'You are welcome, daughter.' And he called me, and from the cheese as he was milking he gave me as it were a little cake, and I received it with folded hands; and I ate it, and all who stood around said Amen. And at the sound of their voices I was awakened, still tasting a sweetness which I cannot describe. And I immediately related this to my brother, and we understood that it was to be a passion, and we ceased henceforth to have any hope in this world.
Chapter 2. Argument. Perpetua, When Besieged by Her Father, Comforts Him. When Led with Others to the Tribunal, She Avows Herself a Christian, and is Condemned with the Rest to the Wild Beasts. She Prays for Her Brother Dinocrates, Who Was Dead
1. After a few days there prevailed a report that we should be heard. And then my father came to me from the city, worn out with anxiety. He came up to me, that he might cast me down, saying, 'Have pity my daughter, on my grey hairs. Have pity on your father, if I am worthy to be called a father by you. If with these hands I have brought you up to this flower of your age, if I have preferred you to all your brothers, do not deliver me up to the scorn of men. Have regard to your brothers, have regard to your mother and your aunt, have regard to your son, who will not be able to live after you. Lay aside your courage, and do not bring us all to destruction; for none of us will speak in freedom if you should suffer anything.' These things said my father in his affection, kissing my hands, and throwing himself at my feet; and with tears he called me not Daughter, but Lady. And I grieved over the grey hairs of my father, that he alone of all my family would not rejoice over my passion. And I comforted him, saying, 'On that scaffold whatever God wills shall happen. For know that we are not placed in our own power, but in that of God.' And he departed from me in sorrow.
2. Another day, while we were at dinner, we were suddenly taken away to be heard, and we arrived at the town-hall. At once the rumour spread through the neighbourhood of the public place, and an immense number of people were gathered together. We mount the platform. The rest were interrogated, and confessed. Then they came to me, and my father immediately appeared with my boy, and withdrew me from the step, and said in a supplicating tone, 'Have pity on your babe.' And Hilarianus the procurator, who had just received the power of life and death in the place of the proconsul Minucius Timinianus, who was deceased, said, 'Spare the grey hairs of your father, spare the infancy of your boy, offer sacrifice for the well-being of the emperors.' And I replied, 'I will not do so.' Hilarianus said, 'Are you a Christian?' And I replied, 'I am a Christian.' And as my father stood there to cast me down from the faith, he was ordered by Hilarianus to be thrown down, and was beaten with rods. And my father's misfortune grieved me as if I myself had been beaten, I so grieved for his wretched old age. The procurator then delivers judgment on all of us, and condemns us to the wild beasts, and we went down cheerfully to the dungeon. Then, because my child had been used to receive suck from me, and to stay with me in the prison, I send Pomponius the deacon to my father to ask for the infant, but my father would not give it him. And even as God willed it, the child no long desired the breast, nor did my breast cause me uneasiness, lest I should be tormented by care for my babe and by the pain of my breasts at once.
3. After a few days, while we were all praying, on a sudden, in the middle of our prayer, there came to me a word, and I named Dinocrates; and I was amazed that that name had never come into my mind until then, and I was grieved as I remembered his misfortune. And I felt myself immediately to be worthy, and to be called on to ask on his behalf. And for him I began earnestly to make supplication, and to cry with groaning to the Lord. Without delay, on that very night, this was shown to me in a vision. I saw Dinocrates going out from a gloomy place, where also there were several others, and he was parched and very thirsty, with a filthy countenance and pallid color, and the wound on his face which he had when he died. This Dinocrates had been my brother after the flesh, seven years of age, who died miserably with disease — his face being so eaten out with cancer, that his death caused repugnance to all men. For him I had made my prayer, and between him and me there was a large interval, so that neither of us could approach to the other. And moreover, in the same place where Dinocrates was, there was a pool full of water, having its brink higher than was the stature of the boy; and Dinocrates raised himself up as if to drink. And I was grieved that, although that pool held water, still, on account of the height to its brink, he could not drink. And I was upset, and knew that my brother was in suffering. But I trusted that my prayer would bring help to his suffering; and I prayed for him every day until we passed over into the prison of the camp, for we were to fight in the camp-show. Then was the birthday of Geta Cæsar, and I made my prayer for my brother day and night, groaning and weeping that he might be granted to me.
4. Then, on the day on which we remained in fetters, this was shown to me. I saw that that place which I had formerly observed to be in gloom was now bright; and Dinocrates, with a clean body well clad, was finding refreshment. And where there had been a wound, I saw a scar; and that pool which I had before seen, I saw now with its margin lowered even to the boy's navel. And one drew water from the pool incessantly, and upon its brink was a goblet filled with water; and Dinocrates drew near and began to drink from it, and the goblet did not fail. And when he was satisfied, he went away from the water to play joyously, after the manner of children, and I awoke. Then I understood that he was translated from the place of punishment.
Chapter 3. Argument. Perpetua is Again Tempted by Her Father. Her Third Vision, Wherein She is Led Away to Struggle Against an Egyptian. She Fights, Conquers, and Receives the Reward
1. Again, after a few days, Pudens, a soldier, an assistant overseer of the prison, who began to regard us in great esteem, perceiving that the great power of God was in us, admitted many brethren to see us, that both we and they might be mutually refreshed. And when the day of the exhibition drew near, my father, worn with suffering, came in to me, and began to tear out his beard, and to throw himself on the earth, and to cast himself down on his face, and to reproach his years, and to utter such words as might move all creation. I grieved for his unhappy old age.
2. The day before that on which we were to fight, I saw in a vision that Pomponius the deacon came hither to the gate of the prison, and knocked vehemently. I went out to him, and opened the gate for him; and he was clothed in a richly ornamented white robe, and he had on manifold calliculæ. And he said to me, 'Perpetua, we are waiting for you; come!' And he held his hand to me, and we began to go through rough and winding places. Scarcely at length had we arrived breathless at the amphitheatre, when he led me into the middle of the arena, and said to me, 'Do not fear, I am here with you, and I am labouring with you;' and he departed. And I gazed upon an immense assembly in astonishment. And because I knew that I was given to the wild beasts, I marvelled that the wild beasts were not let loose upon me. Then there came forth against me a certain Egyptian, horrible in appearance, with his backers, to fight with me. And there came to me, as my helpers and encouragers, handsome youths; and I was stripped, and became a man. Then my helpers began to rub me with oil, as is the custom for contest; and I beheld that Egyptian on the other hand rolling in the dust. And a certain man came forth, of wondrous height, so that he even over-topped the top of the amphitheatre; and he wore a loose tunic and a purple robe between two bands over the middle of the breast; and he had on calliculæ of varied form, made of gold and silver; and he carried a rod, as if he were a trainer of gladiators, and a green branch upon which were apples of gold. And he called for silence, and said, 'This Egyptian, if he should overcome this woman, shall kill her with the sword; and if she shall conquer him, she shall receive this branch.' Then he departed. And we drew near to one another, and began to deal out blows. He sought to lay hold of my feet, while I struck at his face with my heels; and I was lifted up in the air, and began thus to thrust at him as if spurning the earth. But when I saw that there was some delay I joined my hands so as to twine my fingers with one another; and I took hold upon his head, and he fell on his face, and I trod upon his head. And the people began to shout, and my backers to exult. And I drew near to the trainer and took the branch; and he kissed me, and said to me, 'Daughter, peace be with you:' and I began to go gloriously to the Sanavivarian gate. Then I awoke, and perceived that I was not to fight with beasts, but against the devil. Still I knew that the victory was awaiting me. This, so far, I have completed several days before the exhibition; but what passed at the exhibition itself let who will write.
Chapter 4. Argument. Saturus, in a Vision, and Perpetua Being Carried by Angels into the Great Light, Behold the Martyrs. Being Brought to the Throne of God, are Received with a Kiss. They Reconcile Optatus the Bishop and Aspasius the Presbyter
1. Moreover, also, the blessed Saturus related this his vision, which he himself committed to writing:— We had suffered, says he, and we had gone forth from the flesh, and we were beginning to be borne by four angels into the east; and their hands touched us not. And we floated not supine, looking upwards, but as if ascending a gentle slope. And being set free, we at length saw the first boundless light; and I said, 'Perpetua' (for she was at my side), 'this is what the Lord promised to us; we have received the promise.' And while we are borne by those same four angels, there appears to us a vast space which was like a pleasure-garden, having rose-trees and every kind of flower. And the height of the trees was after the measure of a cypress, and their leaves were falling incessantly. Moreover, there in the pleasure-garden four other angels appeared, brighter than the previous ones, who, when they saw us, gave us honour, and said to the rest of the angels, 'Here they are! Here they are!' with admiration. And those four angels who bore us, being greatly afraid, put us down; and we passed over on foot the space of a furlong in a broad path. There we found Jocundus and Saturninus and Artaxius, who having suffered the same persecution were burnt alive; and Quintus, who also himself a martyr had departed in the prison. And we asked of them where the rest were. And the angels said to us, 'Come first, enter and greet your Lord.'
2. And we came near to place, the walls of which were such as if they were built of light; and before the gate of that place stood four angels, who clothed those who entered with white robes. And being clothed, we entered and saw the boundless light, and heard the united voice of some who said without ceasing, 'Holy! Holy! Holy!' And in the midst of that place we saw as it were an old man sitting, having snow-white hair, and with a youthful countenance; and his feet we saw not. And on his right hand and on his left were four-and-twenty elders, and behind them a great many others were standing. We entered with great wonder, and stood before the throne; and the four angels raised us up, and we kissed Him, and He passed His hand over our face. And the rest of the elders said to us, 'Let us stand;' and we stood and made peace. And the elders said to us, 'Go and enjoy.' And I said, 'Perpetua, you have what you wish.' And she said to me, 'Thanks be to God, that joyous as I was in the flesh, I am now more joyous here.'
3. And we went forth, and saw before the entrance Optatus the bishop at the right hand, and Aspasius the presbyter, a teacher, at the left hand, separate and sad; and they cast themselves at our feet, and said to us, 'Restore peace between us, because you have gone forth and have left us thus.' And we said to them, 'Are you not our father, and you our presbyter, that you should cast yourselves at our feet?' And we prostrated ourselves, and we embraced them; and Perpetua began to speak with them, and we drew them apart in the pleasure-garden under a rose-tree. And while we were speaking with them, the angels said to them, 'Let them alone, that they may refresh themselves; and if you have any dissensions between you, forgive one another.' And they drove them away. And they said to Optatus, 'Rebuke your people, because they assemble to you as if returning from the circus, and contending about factious matters.' And then it seemed to us as if they would shut the doors. And in that place we began to recognise many brethren, and moreover martyrs. We were all nourished with an indescribable odour, which satisfied us. Then, I joyously awoke.
Chapter 5. Argument. Secundulus Dies in the Prison. Felicitas is Pregnant, But with Many Prayers She Brings Forth in the Eighth Month Without Suffering, the Courage of Perpetua and of Saturus Unbroken
1. The above were the more eminent visions of the blessed martyrs Saturus and Perpetua themselves, which they themselves committed to writing. But God called Secundulus, while he has yet in the prison, by an earlier exit from the world, not without favour, so as to give a respite to the beasts. Nevertheless, even if his soul did not acknowledge cause for thankfulness, assuredly his flesh did.
2. But respecting Felicitas (for to her also the Lord's favour approached in the same way), when she had already gone eight months with child (for she had been pregnant when she was apprehended), as the day of the exhibition was drawing near, she was in great grief lest on account of her pregnancy she should be delayed — because pregnant women are not allowed to be publicly punished — and lest she should shed her sacred and guiltless blood among some who had been wicked subsequently. Moreover, also, her fellow martyrs were painfully saddened lest they should leave so excellent a friend, and as it were companion, alone in the path of the same hope. Therefore, joining together their united cry, they poured forth their prayer to the Lord three days before the exhibition. Immediately after their prayer her pains came upon her, and when, with the difficulty natural to an eight months' delivery, in the labour of bringing forth she was sorrowing, some one of the servants of the Cataractarii said to her, You who are in such suffering now, what will you do when you are thrown to the beasts, which you despised when you refused to sacrifice? And she replied, Now it is I that suffer what I suffer; but then there will be another in me, who will suffer for me, because I also am about to suffer for Him. Thus she brought forth a little girl, which a certain sister brought up as her daughter.
3. Since then the Holy Spirit permitted, and by permitting willed, that the proceedings of that exhibition should be committed to writing, although we are unworthy to complete the description of so great a glory; yet we obey as it were the command of the most blessed Perpetua, nay her sacred trust, and add one more testimony concerning her constancy and her loftiness of mind. While they were treated with more severity by the tribune, because, from the intimations of certain deceitful men, he feared lest they should be withdrawn from the prison by some sort of magic incantations, Perpetua answered to his face, and said, Why do you not at least permit us to be refreshed, being as we are objectionable to the most noble Cæsar, and having to fight on his birth-day? Or is it not your glory if we are brought forward fatter on that occasion? The tribune shuddered and blushed, and commanded that they should be kept with more humanity, so that permission was given to their brethren and others to go in and be refreshed with them; even the keeper of the prison trusting them now himself.
4. Moreover, on the day before, when in that last meal, which they call the free meal, they were partaking as far as they could, not of a free supper, but of an agape; with the same firmness they were uttering such words as these to the people, denouncing against them the judgment of the Lord, bearing witness to the felicity of their passion, laughing at the curiosity of the people who came together; while Saturus said, Tomorrow is not enough for you, for you to behold with pleasure that which you hate. Friends today, enemies tomorrow. Yet note our faces diligently, that you may recognise them on that day of judgment. Thus all departed thence astonished, and from these things many believed.
Chapter 6. Argument. From the Prison They are Led Forth with Joy into the Amphitheatre, Especially Perpetua and Felicitas. All Refuse to Put on Profane Garments. They are Scourged, They are Thrown to the Wild Beasts. Saturus Twice is Unhurt. Perpetua and Felicitas are Thrown Down; They are Called Back to the Sanavivarian Gate. Saturus Wounded by a Leopard, Exhorts the Soldier. They Kiss One Another, and are Slain with the Sword
1. The day of their victory shone forth, and they proceeded from the prison into the amphitheatre, as if to an assembly, joyous and of brilliant countenances; if perchance shrinking, it was with joy, and not with fear. Perpetua followed with placid look, and with step and gait as a matron of Christ, beloved of God; casting down the luster of her eyes from the gaze of all. Moreover, Felicitas, rejoicing that she had safely brought forth, so that she might fight with the wild beasts; from the blood and from the midwife to the gladiator, to wash after childbirth with a second baptism. And when they were brought to the gate, and were constrained to put on the clothing — the men, that of the priests of Saturn, and the women, that of those who were consecrated to Ceres — that noble-minded woman resisted even to the end with constancy. For she said, We have come thus far of our own accord, for this reason, that our liberty might not be restrained. For this reason we have yielded our minds, that we might not do any such thing as this: we have agreed on this with you. Injustice acknowledged the justice; the tribune yielded to their being brought as simply as they were. Perpetua sang psalms, already treading under foot the head of the Egyptian; Revocatus, and Saturninus, and Saturus uttered threatenings against the gazing people about this martyrdom. When they came within sight of Hilarianus, by gesture and nod, they began to say to Hilarianus, You judge us, say they, but God will judge you. At this the people, exasperated, demanded that they should be tormented with scourges as they passed along the rank of the venatores. And they indeed rejoiced that they should have incurred any one of their Lord's passions.
2. But He who had said, Ask, and you shall receive, John 16:24 gave to them when they asked, that death which each one had wished for. For when at any time they had been discoursing among themselves about their wish in respect of their martyrdom, Saturninus indeed had professed that he wished that he might be thrown to all the beasts; doubtless that he might wear a more glorious crown. Therefore in the beginning of the exhibition he and Revocatus made trial of the leopard, and moreover upon the scaffold they were harassed by the bear. Saturus, however, held nothing in greater abomination than a bear; but he imagined that he would be put an end to with one bite of a leopard. Therefore, when a wild boar was supplied, it was the huntsman rather who had supplied that boar who was gored by that same beast, and died the day after the shows. Saturus only was drawn out; and when he had been bound on the floor near to a bear, the bear would not come forth from his den. And so Saturus for the second time is recalled unhurt.
3. Moreover, for the young women the devil prepared a very fierce cow, provided especially for that purpose contrary to custom, rivalling their sex also in that of the beasts. And so, stripped and clothed with nets, they were led forth. The populace shuddered as they saw one young woman of delicate frame, and another with breasts still dropping from her recent childbirth. So, being recalled, they are unbound. Perpetua is first led in. She was tossed, and fell on her loins; and when she saw her tunic torn from her side, she drew it over her as a veil for her middle, rather mindful of her modesty than her suffering. Then she was called for again, and bound up her dishevelled hair; for it was not becoming for a martyr to suffer with dishevelled hair, lest she should appear to be mourning in her glory. So she rose up; and when she saw Felicitas crushed, she approached and gave her her hand, and lifted her up. And both of them stood together; and the brutality of the populace being appeased, they were recalled to the Sanavivarian gate. Then Perpetua was received by a certain one who was still a catechumen, Rusticus by name, who kept close to her; and she, as if aroused from sleep, so deeply had she been in the Spirit and in an ecstasy, began to look round her, and to say to the amazement of all, I cannot tell when we are to be led out to that cow. And when she had heard what had already happened, she did not believe it until she had perceived certain signs of injury in her body and in her dress, and had recognised the catechumen. Afterwards causing that catechumen and the brother to approach, she addressed them, saying, Stand fast in the faith, and love one another, all of you, and be not offended at my sufferings.
4. The same Saturus at the other entrance exhorted the soldier Pudens, saying, Assuredly here I am, as I have promised and foretold, for up to this moment I have felt no beast. And now believe with your whole heart. Lo, I am going forth to that beast, and I shall be destroyed with one bite of the leopard. And immediately at the conclusion of the exhibition he was thrown to the leopard; and with one bite of his he was bathed with such a quantity of blood, that the people shouted out to him as he was returning, the testimony of his second baptism, Saved and washed, saved and washed. Manifestly he was assuredly saved who had been glorified in such a spectacle. Then to the soldier Pudens he said, Farewell, and be mindful of my faith; and let not these things disturb, but confirm you. And at the same time he asked for a little ring from his finger, and returned it to him bathed in his wound, leaving to him an inherited token and the memory of his blood. And then lifeless he is cast down with the rest, to be slaughtered in the usual place. And when the populace called for them into the midst, that as the sword penetrated into their body they might make their eyes partners in the murder, they rose up of their own accord, and transferred themselves whither the people wished; but they first kissed one another, that they might consummate their martyrdom with the kiss of peace. The rest indeed, immoveable and in silence, received the sword-thrust; much more Saturus, who also had first ascended the ladder, and first gave up his spirit, for he also was waiting for Perpetua. But Perpetua, that she might taste some pain, being pierced between the ribs, cried out loudly, and she herself placed the wavering right hand of the youthful gladiator to her throat. Possibly such a woman could not have been slain unless she herself had willed it, because she was feared by the impure spirit.
O most brave and blessed martyrs! O truly called and chosen unto the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ! Whom whoever magnifies, and honours, and adores, assuredly ought to read these examples for the edification of the Church, not less than the ancient ones, so that new virtues also may testify that one and the same Holy Spirit is always operating even until now, and God the Father Omnipotent, and His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, whose is the glory and infinite power for ever and ever. Amen.
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| Archbishop Viganò on Italy's New PM (Arrivederci, Catholic Italy) |
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Posted by: Stone - 03-05-2021, 03:50 PM - Forum: Archbishop Viganò
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Taken from The Remnant [March 4, 2021]
Viganò on Italy's New PM (Arrivederci, Catholic Italy)
Written by + Carlo Maria Viganò, Archbishop
Super aspidem et basiliscum ambulabis, et conculcabis leonem et draconem. (On the asp and the viper you will tread, And trample the lion and the dragon.) -Ps. 91:13
ET CONCULCABIS LEONEM ET DRACONEM
Up until the last century in Italy, free thinkers could spread ideas that were imbued with Masonic principles and rhetoric, because the social body was not liberal. They could stand in front of church on Sunday mornings and spread their lies, even while their own wives and children went to Mass, received catechism lessons, and were instructed by the Church and the State in the moral principles and shared values of honesty, the sense of duty, and love of country.
They could send millions of young lives to die in war in the name of ideals that were still tied to a world that was essentially Christian, even profoundly Catholic and Roman – the world in which our soldiers at the front recited the Rosary, prayed for their loved ones and for their beloved Italy, a land blessed by Providence, the cradle of civilization and the seat of the Papacy.
That was Italy then. Today, these liberal and Masonic principles, although denounced by the Popes and combated by Bishops, preachers, and theologians, have broken through into our society, especially after the Second World War and even more so after the fateful year of 1968.
We have thus found ourselves, through the inevitable change of generations, having an entire ruling class that was formed in the school of liberal thought, Masonic ideology, religious indifferentism, the secular nature of the State, and the consequent moral crisis of the Nation. Decades of indoctrination have cancelled out the Catholic inheritance of Italy, leading Italians to be ashamed of Italy’s glorious past and even to renounce two thousand years of Christianity in Italy.
It had to be a choice of progress, without favoring the truth at the expense of error, without recognizing the primacy of good over evil, without imposing laws and doctrines with force but rather promoting the application with a conscious choice; we now find ourselves to be a corrupt Nation, which approves concubinage and abortion, promotes sodomy and perversion, recognizes the right to commit crime and derides or even condemns honesty, righteousness, and virtue.
In the name of tolerance, we Italians were asked to grant legitimacy to evil, reassuring ourselves that in any case the good would not be hindered: today the State guarantees and protects evil and even outlaws the good. One may commit the most abominable crimes, like killing an innocent creature in the mother’s womb or the helpless elderly person and the terminally ill lying on their hospital bed, but it is prohibited to defend life, the family, and Religion.
On the other hand, the essence of liberalism – which, I repeat, is the political application of the principles of Masonry – lies precisely in progressively disarming the majority of the good, and at the same time in supporting and reinforcing the minority of the corrupt, under the pretext of an alleged and absurd equality of rights. And yet it should not be terribly difficult to understand that the very idea of equality is absurd, because it presupposes a flattening of all differences, a homologation of all diversity, which in fact ends with cancelling out that which vice-versa ought to make the social body – and thus logically the ecclesial body as well – efficient in all its members, diverse but harmoniously connected.
Pretending that a foot can see or that a hand can hear or reducing the functions of the organs to the lowest common denominator, is an absurd and wicked operation, just as it would be to expect that in a car the clutch could perform the function of the wheels or that the motor could do the work of the headlights. And yet in public affairs, those who are not constituted in authority are allowed to command, it is permitted to define as a family a union that by nature is destined to the sterility of vice, and the right to decide if a law is just is attributed not to those who have the wisdom and prudence to do so, but to those who place their own particular interests ahead of the common good. We end up adoring the golden calf, refusing to give exclusive worship to the living and true God. In this way democracy reveals its weakness, since it lays down as a postulate a belief in the innate goodness of the multitude, which instead is inclined to evil and sin and which needs to be guided by an authority that has transcendent values as its model.
This race towards the abyss has the very clear connotations of Nemesis,[1] the punishment of a hubris that knows no restraints, that challenges Heaven, which in the height of rebellion and chaos refuses any hierarchy and order impressed by the Creator and Lord of all things.
Only in this way can we understand the nefarious decisions of our rulers, from the management of the pandemic emergency to the indiscriminate welcoming of illegal immigrants; only in this way will we succeed in seeing the folly that unites various facts that are apparently unrelated into one single design.
Looking for some reasonableness in the words of the so-called expert who imposes masks to protect the population from an influenza virus—or in the order given by the authorities to close schools and restaurants while on public transportation citizens are forced to be crammed together—continues this madness, recognizing in these orders a rationality and logic it cannot have.
Just as it is absurd to dispute the alleged inevitability of the loans that Italy ought to request from the European Union, after the EU, using criminal methods worthy of the worst usurers, scientifically created the social and economic premises of the economic crisis.
It is just as absurd to ask why the treatments for Covid are boycotted in order to favor the so-called experimental vaccines that have been produced using aborted fetuses and whose long-term effects are still unknown, when it is obvious that the pandemic was planned with the aim of disproportionately enriching the pharmaceutical lobby on the one hand and imposing measures of control that would be otherwise unacceptable on the other.
But if this constructive and open attitude of ours could in some way be justified and excused up until a few years ago in the name of a partial comprehension of the global picture, today it risks degenerating into a sort of obtuse complicity, because the presumption of good faith on the part of our interlocutors has been amply disavowed. The recent events of the second crisis of the Conte government and the trust placed in the government of President Draghi are no exception, and if the general enthusiasm of the parties and even of the so-called opposition is not surprising, we are left disturbed by the consent of the victims to the appointment of an executioner far worse than the lawyer from Volturara Appula [the obscure village of origin of the former Italian prime minister Conte].
Indeed, it seems that the advent of the cynical technocrat was greeted with relief, after a year of thunderous proclamations and blatant failures of his predecessor and all of his grotesque array of unpresentables. If in fact there were those who up until yesterday deplored the terrible management of the pandemic by the DPCM [Decrees of the President of the Council of Ministers] with measures as illegitimate as they were devastating, today the efficiency in the pursuit of the same plan seems to represent an improvement, as if the one condemned to death rejoices that the blade of the executioner’s axe has been sharpened, while willingly lowering his head onto the block to receive the blow.
The Italian people, reduced to awe and servitude by the pounding of the media and an operation of mass manipulation, have been even more obedient than other apparently more disciplined Nations. While in our cities some politician recommends social distancing during timid protest demonstrations, in many European countries the citizens are spontaneously streaming into the squares and are facing the violent repression of the police.
While our “opposition” is scandalized by the inefficiency of Commissioner Arcuri in the distribution of the vaccines, in other countries groups of lawyers and doctors are denouncing the danger and are opposing the obligation to take the vaccine, obtaining a ban on the distribution of the vaccine from the same authorities. And if there are those who violate blatantly illegitimate rules out of exasperation, in Italy they are criticized as irresponsible by the very people who, if only for political calculation, ought to sit astride the revolt and demonstrate how absurd it is to close commercial activities in the absence of scientific evidence that legitimizes the adoption of such drastic measures.
Mario Draghi represents the quintessence of the tyranny of the New World Order, in its cynical competence, in the professionality of its devastating action, and in the efficiency of its functionaries. And it is not surprising that he was educated, like Joe Biden and many other globalist leaders, in the ideological school of the Jesuits. It is not surprising, since only a structure that was strongly hierarchical and almost military could have manipulated the young consciences of entire generations to, with diabolical foresight, prepare for the advent of tyrannical and inhuman society.
We have seen it in Italy, long before 1968, when the university professors greeted with unbridled enthusiasm the election of Roncalli, who was the friend of the modernist Bonaiuti, well aware that his apparent bonhomie concealed a mind poisoned by the doctrines fought against by Saint Pius X and still opposed by Pius XII right up to his death.
We have seen it in the universities of half of Europe and in the American Catholic universities, too, from which the protagonists of Vatican II and the post-council emerged, the agitprops of the Student Movement and the left-wing unions, the terrorists of the Red Brigades and the ideologies of Liberation Theology, the theorists of sexual liberation, divorce, and abortion.
We could say that in recent decades there has not been one political, social, cultural, or religious event that has not found a powerful inspiration in the Jesuits, who after renouncing their oath and the vows they pronounced on the day of their profession, have made available to their new master their network of relationships and their capacity to infiltrate into key posts of politics, public administration, education, culture, media, enterprise and finance. A network that replicates, perhaps with even greater efficiency and incisiveness, the no less subversive one of the Masonic sects and the cliques of conspirators.
Giuseppe Conte, the homo novus supported in the Vatican by Prelates who are widely compromised with the worst Christian-Democrat and Catholic-Communist politics, performed his function as inconsistent puppet with ambitions as ridiculous as they were unrealistic. His parabola permitted the pursuit of a project of social engineering that included precisely a sine nomine lawyer as an ignorant executor of the orders of the globalist puppeteer, who precisely by leveraging Conte’s vanity was able to use him to impose devastating decisions on the population, without any ratification of Parliament and even less the will of the voters.
But Conte’s clearly temporary role, almost like an extra, had to be exhausted the moment his inconsistency and inexperience had become evident on all fronts. At that moment, it became necessary that “regime change” which already last summer some astute observer of Italian politics foresaw would come with the advent of Mario Draghi – the former Managing Director of Goldman Sachs International, the former Governor of Bank of Italy, the former Governor of the European Central Bank – exponent of the financial lobby, and the natural heir of Mario Monti.
We could see a parallel to this situation in the speculating role that the Jesuit Jorge Mario Bergoglio was assigned by the so-called Saint Gallen Mafia. The Argentine, too, who was almost unknown until then, was elected Pope in order to demolish the last vestiges of the Catholic Church. And like Conte, Bergoglio too believes that he is the author of a radical and irreversible change while those who manipulate him have already designated his replacement. Bergoglio’s vanity, egocentrism, and even delusions of omnipotence prevent him from understanding that he is being used and that the support he enjoys today will be transformed into ruthless cynicism as soon as his mistakes are skillfully emphasized by the media.
Conte and Bergoglio have a similar destiny, as does Joe Biden, whose Vice President Kamala Harris awaits with impatience the moment when the script calls for the ousting of the corrupt Democrat under the pretext of his failing mental health.
It is therefore extremely important, and equally unavoidable, that those who have the fate of their beloved homeland at heart, that they will understand that President Draghi will in no way deviate from the globalist agenda, except for the greater efficiency with which he will implement it. Nurturing the hope that the technocrat who is responsible for the devastation of Greece, will somehow fail in his task is naive, just as every form of support for this government can only lead inexorably to the further loss of national sovereignty and complete subservience to the New World Order.
Let us not forget that the Prime Minister’s cabinet includes individuals like Vittorio Colao and Roberto Cingolani, for whom the Great Reset is now in an advanced stage of completion, with or without the consent of the voters. Those who govern today, in Italy as in the United States, do not consider it the least bit relevant that their own power is usurped with palace maneuvers or electoral frauds, nor that the totem of democracy, thanks to which they have been able to deceive the masses, has been replaced by a cruel dictatorship, with or without the alibi of the pandemic emergency. We know well that it was all planned for years, and that in order to fully implement the globalist project, the élite will not hesitate to violate fundamental rights, under the pretext of doing so “for our good.” But we know also that the closer we get to the end of time, the more Providence multiplies graces for the pusillus grex that remains faithful to the Lord.
If we are able to understand that what is happening in Italy is part of a single script under a single direction, then we will succeed in grasping the coherence between facts that are apparently heterogeneous, and above all we will understand that the motivations that are adopted in order to legitimize measures in violation of the natural freedoms of individuals are nothing other than pretexts, as false as they are rationally incongruent. And since everything is based on a colossal lie, it will be enough for only one of the deceptions to collapse to make the entire globalist Tower of Babel collapse, its hierarchs, its priests, its courtiers, its servants. Cadent a latere tuo mille, et decem millia a dextris tuis; ad te autem non appropinquabit: Psalm 91 reminds us of the protection of the Most High and the punishment that awaits sinners; it urges us to place our trust in God, Who will send his angels to protect us along our way.
Let us not allow ourselves to be seduced by the apparent inevitability of evil. Satan is the eternally defeated one, whether he seeks to destroy the Church of Christ – an unshakeable rock in the Savior’s own words – or rages against what remains of the human consortium. And if there really is to be a Great Reset of our society, it will be accomplished only with repentance for the public sins of nations, with a new Renaissance of Christianity, with a return to the Law of God.
Fiat voluntas tua, we recite in the Our Father: may this be our agenda, following the example of the Most Holy Virgin, Our Lady and Queen, who first trampled the snake and the dragon and then crushed the head of the lion and the dragon.
+ Carlo Maria Viganò, Archbishop
3 March 2021
Official translation
[1] The Greek goddess Nemesis was the goddess of divine retribution and revenge, who would show her wrath to any human being that would commit hubris, arrogance before the gods.
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| Jean Madiran: The Four Unshaken Arguments Concerning the Mass |
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Posted by: Stone - 03-05-2021, 12:20 PM - Forum: In Defense of Tradition
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The Angelus - June 1980
The Four Unshaken Arguments Concerning the Mass
The author of this article, Jean Madiran, is editor of the French monthly, Itinéraires. He is a long-time and faithful supporter of Archbishop Lefebvre. Appearing originally under the title "Situation de la Messe en 1980" in the March 1980 issue of Itinéraires, it has recently been reprinted in Approaches, and represents only a portion of the original editorial. Acknowledgments to both of the above named periodicals.
So Mgr. Schmitt [Bishop of Metz, France] finds it more convenient, and thinks it fitting, to tilt against windmills, which exist only in his imagination. "In the name of the Church," no less, he says a bit of this and that about everything or about nothing. He says not a word about the objections and demands we have been presenting seriously for ten years. Is he doing that on purpose? Or is it that he cannot manage, even after ten years, to get the point at issue?
Our demands and objections about the Mass come down to four chief arguments which we have called Arguments A, B, C, and D. We have repeated them in all kinds of way in Itinéraires during 1970 and 1971. They appear at the head of the first edition, 1972, of our small book, La Messe, état de la question, and they are at the head of all subsequent editions, including the fifth, which is still available at the Itinéraires office and from Dominique Martin Morin.1 Will those of our readers who know them by heart please have patience: it is necessary to set out the clear demonstration over and over again; the four decisive arguments must be repeated, for they have never been refuted or taken into account by the tyranny which oppresses us; and Mgr. Schmitt, in his turn, avoids coming to grips with them.
For the past ten years we have been asserting: The crisis over the Mass consists essentially in this; since 1969, by all sorts of administrative machinations and deceptive decrees, and attempt has been made to persuade the clergy and the Christian people that the Mass, the Catholic Traditional and Gregorian Mass, according to the Roman Missal of St. Pius V, is from now on a forbidden Mass.
Especially in France, the clergy and the Christian people are brought to believe that there is an obligation, that of celebrating Mass no matter how, provided it is not in accordance with the traditional Roman Missal. In fact, diversity and even pluralism in the manner of celebrating Mass include all kinds of inventions, even music-hall pantomime, but exclude only the old Mass with its old Canon. It is that which constitutes the tragedy of the Mass in the last ten years. The situation has not changed in essence, it has just got worse.
In face of that situation we have for ten years been presenting objections and demands which are summed up in four arguments which have not even been dented let alone destroyed.
Argument A - The Traditional Mass Has Not Been Forbidden
The Bull of Saint Pius V, Quo Primum, has not been abrogated. Paul VI's Apostolic Constitution, Missale Romanum, 3 April 1969, did not invest the new missal with a strictly juridical obligation imposing its use and excluding that of the earlier missal. Cardinal Ottaviani declared at Pentecost, 1971:
Quote:"The traditional rite of Mass according to the Ordo of St. Pius V has not, so far as I know, been abolished."
Paul VI's official documents ordered the bishops to permit the celebration of the New Mass. Fraudulently, with the de facto agreement of the Holy See, people were made to believe that Paul VI had permitted the bishops to order the New Mass as an obligation. The real juridical position of Paul IV's New Mass is that it exists as a particular derogation from the prescriptions, which are not abrogated, of Saint Pius V's Bull Quo Primum: the traditional Mass is not forbidden.
Argument B - The Traditional Mass Could Not Be Forbidden
Not only has the traditional Mass not been abolished or forbidden by an official document of the Holy See having the force of law, but also it could not be abolished or forbidden. A millenary custom gives it an imprescriptible right. Such a custom could be abolished only on condition of its being declared bad: and that is impossible. Or by discovering that it had, of itself, ceased to exist.
Saint Pius V forbade none of the Church's rites: Latin, Dominican, Ambrosian, or that of Lyons, which were founded on irreproachable and uninterrupted custom. As for the Roman Rite itself, he limited himself to fixing the authentic traditional text, freed from impurities.
We wrote, pointing this out, to Pope Paul VI in 1972, without being contradicted:
Quote:Give us back the traditional Catholic Mass, Latin and Gregorian, according to the Roman Missal of St. Pius V. You let it be said that you have forbidden it. But no pontiff, without an abuse of power, could strike the millenary rite of the Catholic Church, canonized by the Council of Trent, with an interdict. Obedience to God and to the Church demands resistance to such an abuse of power if it has really happened, and not a silent submission.
Argument C - The Whole Liturgical Reform Is Legitimately Suspect
The suspicion is based on a variety of considerations. One of the most serious arises from a statement by Cardinal Gut, Prefect of the Roman Congregation for the Liturgy, which he made in July, 1969. Speaking precisely of the Ordo of the Mass, he revealed that, in reforming it, Paul VI had frequently yielded against his will. The reforms were not the result of a free decision of the Pope but of pressure exerted on him which he could not resist.
Argument D - We Are Being Subjected To Deceit
The reforming bishops, promoting evolution and mutations, make out that Paul VI's new Missal is obligatory, but they made that claim solely against the traditional Mass. The new Masses which are in fact celebrated derive from Paul VI's Mass, but they differ from it, they depart further and further from it without concealment, they are even flaunted on television. There is no longer a New Mass: there are new Masses, each one tending to be the only one of its kind. Paul VI's Mass, in fact, was a breach, a bridge, a transition, and even an incitement, to the proliferation of new Masses increasingly without law or faith. The new Ordo is not a rule, it is not a law. For ten years it has been incapable of slowing down, of holding in, of regulating the incessant development of way-out liturgies. The administrative authority does not even try, most of the time, to impose on the unsated innovators what it calls the obligatoriness of the new Ordo. That "obligatory" character is invoked only to forbid the traditional Mass and to persecute those faithful to it. That is knavery, and knavery cannot call for obedience.
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Mgr. Schmitt simply ignores those arguments, as though they did not exist. Mgr. Coffy did the same in January 1975. If it were easy to refute these four arguments, the bishops would rush to do so. But, on the contrary, they are obstinate in not facing up to them. We know why.
The New Mass Is An Instrument With An Ulterior Purpose
The phrase "with an ulterior purpose" brings into consideration the supplementary purpose that a certain intention can add to the normal purpose of anything. For example: the purpose of a bicycle chain is to impart the movement of the pedals to the back wheel; the purpose of a pick-axe handle is to make it possible to use the pick-axe.
But if, in a riot, the police catch you carrying a pick-axe handle or a bicycle chain, don't bother telling them that it is a respectable pick-axe handle or a peaceful bicycle chain. Respectable in itself, it could be; peaceful, yes: but in the circumstances they are instruments with an added purpose, the purpose you have given them yourself, the supplementary purpose conferred on them by your intention.
In a riot it is the intention which matters, for it overshadows the natural qualities and the ordinary use of the object in question.
In the same way, Paul VI's New Mass is a weapon against the traditional Mass, at least it has this added purpose, and it has in fact been used to establish a prohibition which could not have been decreed in formal terms.
There are many different opinions about what the New Mass is in itself. Among those who accept it, some think it is marvelous, others count it as a lesser evil or as an evil which is unavoidable for the time being. Those who reject it call it inadequate, or equivocal, or poisoned, or near to heresy, or even heretical. But what apparently nobody can deny, whether in praise or in condemnation, is that it is, at least in purpose, the instrument serving to make the traditional Mass disappear. That fact and its consequence should be reckoned with much more than has been done until now.
The most immediate consequence is this: even if (for the sake of argument) we were to be shown that the New Mass is fully Catholic, that demonstration would have demonstrated nothing—no more than the statement that an honest-to-goodness pick-axe handle is no more than a tool, peaceful and lawful. The FINALITY of the New Mass, its PURPOSE, is what is worst about it. Once that finality and that purpose have been ascertained, it is a secondary matter to discuss what the New Mass is in itself. It is an instrument intended to be used against the Catholic Mass. By intention it is an anti-Catholic weapon. It is therefore primarily its intention that we attack.
That intention becomes manifest and is realized in practice, when clergy and faithful are induced to believe that the New Mass is invested with an obligation compelling its use to the exclusion of any other rite. Ever since 1970 we have continually asserted that it is there that the tragedy of the Mass is to be found. This is not to deny or to disregard other aspects; but it is to establish, or rather to recognize, a hierarchy in those aspects, those concerned with finality being rightly acknowledged as the most decisive. It follows that what must be taken from the New Mass is at least its finality, at least it murderous intention. This can be effected by admitting that it is not obligatory. And that admission will be genuine and effective if it is stipulated that the traditional Mass is not forbidden but is fully authorized and recommended.
At this point a number of critics object that it would be insufficient and even insulting simply to declare that the traditional Mass is "permitted." They are not wrong from their point of view, which is legitimate; but it is not the only one. It goes without saying that for the traditional Mass we demand more than an official acknowledgment that it is "permitted." But to admit that it is "permitted" is at once to open a door, it is to create a new situation which logically and inevitably will bring about its full recognition. If the traditional Mass is declared "permitted," the New Mass is no longer considered obligatory; and if it is not obligatory it is lost. There is no middle way: if it is no longer obligatory it is optional, and if it is admitted to be optional it can never be forced on anyone. It is therefore neither a "reciprocal recognition" nor a "coexistence of the two Masses" as the more excitable believe in their panic. Coexistence is impossible: inevitably the one will supplant the other. The New Mass, when it is obligatory, supplants the traditional Mass. The traditional Mass will drive out the New Mass when the New Mass is plainly optional: not in one day, but in several; and not without a fight—but whoever said that we should ever cease to fight? It seems to us, therefore, that Mgr. Lefebvre should eventually obtain from the Holy See, under one form or another, for example under the form of "permission" for the traditional Mass, an official acknowledgment that it is neither abolished nor forbidden, and that thus the New Mass is deprived of its criminal purpose.
1. Editors Note: For those of our readers who are French-speaking, Mr. Madiran's book may be ordered from Dominique Martin Morin, 96 rue Michel-Ange, Paris 75016.
[Emphasis - The Catacombs]
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| The Recusant: Twelve Questions for Sedevacantists |
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Posted by: Stone - 03-05-2021, 11:52 AM - Forum: Sedevacantism
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Taken from The Recusant - Issue 23 [January-February 2015]
Twelve Questions for Sedevacantists
Aimed chiefly at the “hardline” non-una-cum brand of sedevacantist, some of the following questions will nonetheless apply and could well be asked of sedevacansitsts generally...
1. Sedevacantism does not appear to have been anywhere in evidence until the early 1970s, and we are unaware of there having been one single priest who thought that Paul VI was not Pope until around 1970, or possibly the late 1960s at the very earliest. We are unaware of a single example of a priest charging John XXIII with being an anti-Pope while he was alive or leaving his name out of the Mass. At the same time we are told that Mass offered “una cum” an anti-Pope is not pleasing to God. If it is true that the last true Pope was Pius XII, does that mean there no was true sacrifice being offered in a way pleasing to God for some 10 to 15 years? Did God really leave the entire earth bereft of this true sacrifice for ten or more years?
2. If sedevacantism is not just a theory, but is a binding conclusion, why do we not hear about it in the decades/centuries before the council? If on the other hand it is a theory, is it not in one sense yet another previously unheard-of, post-conciliar novelty?
3. If sedevacantism is merely a question of applying Catholic principles (Sanborn) or merely a simple matter of logic, something that you just have to think about clearly enough (Cekada), why aren’t we all sedevacantists? Why aren’t we almost all, or even mostly all? Is it reasonable (or Catholic?) to propose or even to imply that everyone who is not a sedevacantist is either ignorant or of bad will?
4. If sedevacantism is a probable or reasonable conclusion, how can it be that virtually no sedevacantists agree with one another, even about non-theological matters? Why is it that even those who have not fallen out with each other and who work together (e.g. Cekada & Sanborn) nevertheless do not agree (e.g. ‘pure’ sedevacantism vs. sede-privationism; “CMRI can be collaborated with” (Cekada) vs. “CMRI should be disbanded” (Sanborn), etc.)
5. If “Do-not-attend-non-sedevacantist-Masses!” is an obvious or reasonable proposition, why is it that its main proponents previously mocked this very same proposition, calling it “Follow me or die!” Catholicism?
6. If it is so clear and obvious that the whole Church has been ruled by anti-Popes for fifty-plus years, with no possibility of relief anywhere to be seen, why no mention of this at Fatima? Why no mention of it at Quito? Why did Padre Pio have nothing to say on the subject: did he think it not important enough? Why not one single “old-guard” Cardinal (Siri, Stickler, Oddi, etc.), bishop or even Vatican Monsignor to have admitted as much on his death-bed or in his posthumously-published memoires?
7. If the matter is not quite as absolutely black-and-white or clear cut as we are led to believe, is it not both prudent and reasonable to hold on only to what is known and can be trusted, what has been tried and tested from before the Council, and exclude any novelty; to leave the fascinating theoretical questions on hold until better times when we may examine them at leisure?
8. What are the fruits of sedevacantism? Where are the sedevacantist soup kitchens? Where is the sedevacantist League for the Kingship of Christ? Where are all the sedevacantist distributists? Why are sedevacantist chapels generally filled with supporters of democracy and capitalism, who hear nothing from their priest with which they could disagree? Where are the fruits of forty years of sedevacantist missionary activity in third-world countries all over the world?
9. If everything was 100% perfect in the Church right up until 1958, how do we account for the revolution of Vatican II apparently coming out of nowhere? Did it really have no roots, no precursors, no avant-garde? If, on the other hand, the rot does go back beyond Vatican II, and if in fact things were not entirely as they ought to have been in the decades before the council, does this not seem to indicate that Gloriously Reigning Popes can make errors of judgment, scandalous decisions, cause large numbers of souls to lose the Faith and deny our Lord like St. Peter? How do we explain Pius XI giving his full and enthusiastic support to the League of Nations and sending a personal note of congratulation to the second Spanish
Republic? How do we explain the failure of the 19th century Popes to use their full authority to comprehensively condemn Charles Darwin and his ideas? How do we account for the Church’s teaching on usury not being taught or enforced for some 200 years? Or the condemnation of Galileo being secretly ignored and, to all practical purposes, overturned?
10. Why is there no unanimous opinion among theologians on the question of a heretical Pope? Why is there not one example in the history of the Church of a Pope leaning towards heresy being threatened with the loss of his office, and why does Sacred Scripture uphold so strongly the keeping of office by heretical Sovereign Pontiffs of the Old Testament?
11. In Hell, those responsible for the damnation of so many souls because of their elevated office will burn as Popes, Cardinals, Bishops and Priests. This is called the Principle of Authority or responsibility. Our ancestors used to represent hell with a lot of clergy in it, why should it be different now, as the damage caused by them is far greater than the mostly moral scandal that they were giving in the past? “Eveque, c'est par toi que je meurs” said St. Joan of Arc to Bishop Cauchon. “Bishop it is by thee that I die”. God ascribes a precise culprit for whatever damage is done, as showed in the prophets of the Old Testament or in Matthew XXIII. If pope Francis is just a charlatan, if he is just a con man, a joker, a clown, but not really responsible, he would get just a clowny spank. If he and his six predecessors do not really bear the burden of responsibility of the Apostasy of Nations, since they are not really true Popes, who does bear this responsibility?
12. Is it not the case that the general idea of sedevacantism has a certain appeal, it is easier to summarise to non-Catholic or non-Traditional friends and relations, and that it appears to offer a simple response to the whole painful crisis? Ought this not to put us on our guard, knowing what we do about human nature? Equally, does not experience show that for both laity and priests, “becoming a sedevacantist” is not infrequently followed by a slackening of morals, standards of dress or behaviour, a weakening of general fervour and in particular a weakening of the counter-cultural and apostolic spirit? Once again, ought this not to put us on our guard?
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| Fr. Hewko Sermon/Transcript [2014]: “Nothing has changed!” |
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Posted by: Stone - 03-05-2021, 11:39 AM - Forum: Rev. Father David Hewko
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Taken from The Recusant - Issue 22 [November-December 2014]
An Extract from a Sermon by Fr. David Hewko
14th September, 2014
Milton, Ontario (Canada)
If we want to have the True Mass we must hold the True Faith. How many Orthodox Masses today, Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Ukrainian Orthodox Masses - they’re heretics,
they don’t have the true Faith. They reject the primacy of Peter. They don’t believe that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the Son. They don’t have the Catholic Faith. - but their Masses are valid! It’s a mysterious thing. But we cannot go to their Masses. But they’re valid. But they don't hold the True Faith, that’s why we cannot go to them. And then also, all those priests who don’t hold the True Faith, or those who compromise the True Faith, we cannot go to their Mass.
It sounds difficult. And people do say: “I need the sacraments! We need the Mass! We need Holy Communion!” But there is a grave danger to your Faith if you go to the Indult Mass,
the Motu Proprio Mass, the Fraternity of St. Peter Mass - and now we have to say also, the Society of St. Pius X Mass. Why? Because the leader, the Superior General has officially, in
an official capacity, compromised the Catholic Faith.
And I ask you: pray for Bishop Fellay, pray for his soul. Pray that before he dies, he will publicly reject his betrayal of Our Lord. That he will publicly make reparation for signing that Doctrinal Declaration which if any of us signed, we’d know that we’d compromised the Faith. I know if I had signed it, I’d know I’d go to Hell. Because I would know I had compromised the True Catholic Faith, I’d be saying that the Tradition of the Church can be enlightened by a heretical Council, Vatican II. I can’t sign that and hope to save my soul!
If I sign a text to say that this thing is legitimate, I betray Our Lord Jesus Christ, I betray all the Popes of Tradition, I betray our founder Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. So I beg you, pray for Bishop Fellay. What he has done is very serious. What he has done is to turn the ship - better to use Bishop Williamson’s term, the lifeboat, because that’s all the Society of St. Pius X ever was, it’s not the Catholic Church - now, with this Doctrinal Declaration and the General Chapter Statement and the Six Conditions and all the proofs of the modernism of the Society of St. Pius X now, it has turned towards the iceberg, and it has already been ripped open.
In 1912 when the Titanic had already been ripped open all along the side and was sinking, all the people above were still busy toasting with their wine and eating their hors-d’oeuvres, and discussing their plans for what they would do when they got to New York. But the Captain knew, he knew they were in big trouble. He didn’t say anything, and they were still hoping there was a way they could save the ship, with all their wonderful, new, modern engineering they could save the ship. But the compartments were filling up one by one and overflowing.
And so the ship was going down and sinking, but it wasn’t tilting yet. It was still flat. And the men on board, including the Captain’s men were saying: “Well, nothing’s changed.
Everything’s the same.” Ever heard that one?
“Nothing has changed!”
- Yes, but what about Bishop Williamson being expelled?
“Nothing has changed!”
- What about the Doctrinal Declaration that betrays the Faith, that overturns the whole fight that the Society was all about?
“Nothing has changed!”
- But it’s been signed and sent to Rome, it’s alive and kicking!
“Nothing has changed!
Everything’s the same!”
- What about the letter of Bishop Fellay and the Superiors to the three bishops? Completely modernist ideas, and it even mocks the three bishops!
“Oh, nothing has changed! Everything’s the same!”
- OK, well what about the CNS and DICI interviews by Bishop Fellay? He actually said ‘Well if we have to come under the local bishops, since when is life without difficulties?’
“Nothing has changed! Everything’s the same!”
Well, my dear faithful, this is happening! I wish it weren’t, because I love the Society of St. Pius X. We all understood the fight, and how Archbishop Lefebvre was prophesied by Our
Lady of Quito as the one who would save the Catholic Priesthood and the True Mass. And now it has all been completely overthrown.
And now if you try to bring it up with the lay people or priests, you get told “Nothing has changed! Everything is the same!”
And yet during all that time the Titanic was slowly sinking. And only in the last 45 minutes it tilted, and then part of it broke off. One of the survivors said that at baseball games if they
heard the crowd screaming, it reminded them of the terrible screaming in those last 45 minutes, the voices rising in terror as the ship went under. And within five minutes it was
completely under. But for hours and hours before “everything” was “the same,” nothing appeared to have changed.
And what was the beginning of the disaster? It was hitting the iceberg. What was the disaster for the Society of St. Pius X? It was 2012, the General Chapter Statement which says: “No
longer will we wait for Rome to comeback to Catholic Tradition, for the Pope to be perfectly Catholic, we’re not going to wait for this any more. Now we’re going to seek an agreement
despite Rome’s conversion.”
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| Articles about the SSPX and Abortion-Linked Vaccines |
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Posted by: Stone - 03-05-2021, 08:12 AM - Forum: The New-Conciliar SSPX
- Replies (3)
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From an SSPX parishioner...
The Vexatious Vaccine Versus Catholic Integrity – SSPX “Lifeboat” Leaking…
Martin Blackshaw, aka blogger Athanasius, has penned another very strong correction to the Pope Francis-inspired permission for Catholics to take the abortion-tainted Covid-19 vaccines.
During the current diabolical disorientation within the Church – otherwise fondly known as the Barque of Peter – many Catholics, seeking liturgical relief, took refuge in the “lifeboat” provided by the Society of St Pius X (SSPX).
Returning to the traditional Latin Mass and Sacraments, plus the reassurance that the Society preaches only that which is found in Catholic Tradition, has kept a lot of us afloat, this past half-century. It is, therefore, hugely disappointing and, indeed, shocking, to discover that the “lifeboat” is leaking – that the SSPX has decided, for example, to go along with the Vatican line on the Covid-19 vaccines.
Having discussed our concerns about this already here, we feel the need to return to the topic, given the ongoing confusion and unrest felt by many lay people, including those long devoted to the SSPX. Martin Blackshaw writes…
Background
Most of us, I’m sure, could never have imagined just one year ago that in as short a period as 12 months the global economy would be smashed to pieces, millions would be put out of work, Christians would be denied their fundamental right to the public worship of God and the vast majority of the citizens on earth would be deprived of their natural freedom and liberties. Yet, in the name of a respiratory virus, which is relatively harmless for most people, this apocalyptic scenario has come upon the human race with lightening speed.
The culture shock resulting from such a transformation of our way of life is not new to Traditional Catholics who witnessed a similar evil sweep through the universal Church following Vatican II, trampling all that had been held sacred and secure for generations, thus paving the way for the present victory of Communist totalitarianism over the nations.
Archbishop Viganò has more than once cited this work of iniquity as a coalition effort between operatives of the “deep Church” and operatives of the “deep State”, working together to bring about a New World secular Order over which Lucifer will usurp the Kingship of Christ.
That we are in fact living through the chastisement revealed by Our Lady in the Third Secret of Fatima is beyond question. Ours is a time largely of apostasy from God, even at the highest levels in the Church, resulting in victories for the anti-Christian forces beyond anything they, or we, could ever have imagined possible.
We know through faith of course that this time of trial will pass, as all such assaults of the devil on the Church and the world have passed. Our Lady will have the final victory and all will be restored in grace, though we know not how or when this will come about. What we do know is that matters are presently racing to a conclusion in this final battle between the serpent and she who will crush his head, so an end to it is not too far distant.
So much for the black and white of opposing forces in the present supernatural warfare, by which I mean the obvious evil and the obvious good as well as the happy outcome that those who are well disposed can see. But what about the grey areas, those danger zones which, like minefields, have to be traversed cautiously if we are to arrive safely at our destination when the war is won?
One such grey area has recently appeared before us and it threatens to wipe out a good many good souls who, in my opinion, have imprudently diverged from the safe path of the Church’s traditional and authentic moral teaching in favour of a more convenient, less arduous route only recently mapped out and offered non-authoritatively for alternative use.
I write of course about COVID-19 vaccines produced from or tested using the stem cell lines of aborted fetuses and the quite shocking position of the SSPX hierarchy in relation to their use.
If the faithful needed reminding that no particular institution in the Church is 100% safe at a time when the legitimate authorities themselves, the successors of St. Peter and the Apostles, are failing so manifestly in their duty to teach and to sanctify, it is in the SSPX position that such vaccines may be licitly taken in cases of necessity where moral alternatives are unavailable.
I first read (and re-read) this astounding and dangerously flawed guidance on the SSPX U.S. website some months back and I couldn’t believe my eyes. My Catholic conscience immediately alerted me to the falsehood before me.
I guess many other simple faithful were likewise seriously disturbed by this development, for the aforesaid website guidance was quickly taken down and replaced with a message announcing that an SSPX moral theologian was examining it, together with superiors, and would post an update soon.
Well it didn’t take long before the same guidance was back up on the website, only in a much longer text which read remarkably like sophistry.
The next I heard was that a certain Fr. Loop had been designated to present a conference on the subject to the faithful of Post Falls, Idaho – one of the largest Traditional Catholic enclaves in the U.S. I can only presume that many of the faithful remained troubled and Fr. Loop’s job was to reassure them. As far as I can tell from some comments I’ve read online, Fr. Loop failed in his task.
While this was ongoing I wrote to Fr. Fullerton, the U.S. District Superior, expressing my concern on the basis of the alternative (authentic) teaching of a number of tradition-leaning prelates whose counsel is that Catholics are not permitted to take vaccines tainted with the stem cell lines of aborted fetuses under any circumstances, given the very grave nature of the sin of abortion.
I wrote similarly to Fr. Loop, to Fr. Seligny, the SSPX moral theologian responsible for the U.S. website article and to Fr. Brucciani in the UK, who has sadly put out the same erroneous and dangerous advice. Not one of these priests granted me the courtesy of a response, which is extremely disturbing.
I did, however, receive a prompt and kind response from another SSPX superior who shall remain nameless for reasons of prudence.
Sadly, though, while evidently of upright intention, this superior is also on board with the “party line” (to use a crude term), convinced that the moral principle of “remote material co-operation” expressed in the works of St. Alphonsus may be applied in the case of grave necessity to abortion-tainted COVID vaccines.
Here is the proposition summarised in paraphrase: ‘The faithful are generally not permitted to receive abortion-tainted vaccines. However, in cases of grave necessity where moral alternatives are unavailable it is licit to receive such vaccines provided that objection is first made to the method of manufacture. This exception to the general rule, in cases of grave necessity only, amounts to “remote material co-operation”, a much lesser sin than formal co-operation.’
Juxtaposed to this proposition we have the joint letter of Cardinal Pujats, Archbishops Peta and Lenga and bishops Strickland and Schneider, reminding us of the authentic moral teaching of the Church. Here are a few excerpts of that letter which can be read in full here.
![[Image: foetus-1.jpg?w=300&h=183]](https://catholictruthblogdotcom1.files.wordpress.com/2021/02/foetus-1.jpg?w=300&h=183)
Quote:“In the case of vaccines made from the cell lines of aborted human fetuses, we see a clear contradiction between the Catholic doctrine to categorically, and beyond the shadow of any doubt, reject abortion in all cases as a grave moral evil that cries out to heaven for vengeance (see Catechism of the Catholic Church n. 2268, n. 2270), and the practice of regarding vaccines derived from aborted fetal cell lines as morally acceptable in exceptional cases of “urgent need” — on the grounds of remote, passive, material cooperation. To argue that such vaccines can be morally licit if there is no alternative is in itself contradictory and cannot be acceptable for Catholics…
…The theological principle of material cooperation is certainly valid and may be applied to a whole host of cases (e.g. in paying taxes, the use of products made from slave labor, and so on). However, this principle can hardly be applied to the case of vaccines made from fetal cell lines, because those who knowingly and voluntarily receive such vaccines enter into a kind of concatenation, albeit very remote, with the process of the abortion industry. The crime of abortion is so monstrous that any kind of concatenation with this crime, even a very remote one, is immoral and cannot be accepted under any circumstances by a Catholic once he has become fully aware of it. One who uses these vaccines must realize that his body is benefitting from the “fruits” (although steps removed through a series of chemical processes) of one of mankind’s greatest crimes…
…More than ever, we need the spirit of the confessors and martyrs who avoided the slightest suspicion of collaboration with the evil of their own age. The Word of God says: “Be simple as children of God without reproach in the midst of a depraved and perverse generation, in which you must shine like lights in the world” (Phil. 2, 15)…”
Bishop Athanasius Schneider reiterates the position thus In a separate LSN interview, the full transcript of which can be read, or video viewed, here.
Quote:“…I repeat, it is the most anti-pastoral and counterproductive, that in this time, exactly in this historical hour, [that] Catholics will justify their use of abortion-tainted vaccines with the theory of material remote cooperation. It is so illogical – we have to recognize this in this historical hour in which we are living…”
In yet another interview with LSN, Bishop Schneider warns:
Quote:“…some bishops, even good ones, are making a huge explanation to me in a sophistic manner, of the principle of moral cooperation only, without your will, without your consent. But this is for me as sophism which cannot be applied to this concrete case, because it is evident to simple common sense that when you know this – that this vaccine is from aborted babies – then you cannot apply this moral principle, or theory, to this concrete case. And therefore we have to be very careful not to be induced into error because of this sophistic argument, even when it comes from good, traditional priests. This is the danger, and we have to resist this…” Read the full transcript here.
Finally, in a May 8 “Appeal for the Church and the World”, signed by a number of prelates including Cardinals Gerhard Müller, Zen & Pujats, Archbishop Viganò , Bishop Schneider and other senior Churchmen as well as countless Catholic journalists, physicians, academics and associations, we find this declaration:
Quote:“… Let us also remember, as Pastors, that for Catholics it is morally unacceptable to develop or use vaccines derived from material from aborted fetuses…” – click here to read the Appeal for the Church and the World.
Writing in reply to the aforementioned SSPX District Superior, whose identity is not important here, I upheld this authentic moral teaching of the traditional prelates and other Catholics in the following words:
Quote:“I share the view of Bishop Athanasius Schneider and the other traditional prelates in this instance, who insist that abortion is so uniquely and gravely sinful as to render the normal considerations of “necessity” and “remote material co-operation” moot. These are general moral principles that are weighed in matters pertaining to sins common to fallen human nature, not to sins that are against nature and which cry to heaven for vengeance. Hence, the “material co-operation” argument is misapplied in the case of abortion-tainted vaccines and is therefore fallacious…
…I would like to clarify that it was never my intention to contend that those who seek to benefit from these vaccines are guilty of formal co-operation in the sin of abortion itself, but rather that they are guilty of formal co-operation in the use of evil means, i.e., the immoral process of using aborted fetal cells in the production and/or testing of the vaccine. In other words, they are guilty of using an evil means in order to accomplish good–which is never allowed. I apologise if I did not make myself clear on this point in my previous communication.”
Summary
For whatever reason, whether by simple error or for reasons of avoiding direct confrontation with this vaccine-pushing Pope and his various national hierarchies, the SSPX is seriously ill-advising the faithful for the first time in the 35-years I have been associated with it.
Therefore every Catholic with a sense of the faith, whose conscience automatically balks at the suggestion that we may, in circumstances of grave necessity, do evil that good may come from it, must disregard this SSPX advice along with that of other churchmen, be they Traditional or Modernist, Pope or priest, who propose the “remote material co-operation” fallacy in the case of abortion-tainted vaccines.
We are never at liberty to benefit from an evil means, not even when our lives depend on it. This is the authentic moral teaching of the Church and the faith of the martyrs, who could so easily have burned a mere grain of incense before the pagan deities to save their lives using similar argument in their minds, but who chose instead to die a cruel death rather than offend God.
Let us consider just one example of such ardent faith – the martyrdom of the early Christian St. Sophia and her three young daughters, aged 11, 10 & 9 years.
All four steadfastly refusing before the Roman emperor Hadrian to burn incense before the goddess Artemis, Hadrian proceeded to have the children horribly tortured one after the other in full view of their mother.
At length, when the children finally succumbed to the unspeakable sufferings inflicted upon them, St. Sophia was granted leave to take them for burial, the idea of the pagan emperor being that she should live with the torment in her heart.
But Our Lord had other plans. After three days of mourning her beloved children He took her from this world to enjoy eternal beatitude in heaven.
Compare this example of great faith with that of Catholics today who advise that it is licit under certain strict circumstances to use products made from or tested with the stem cells of brutally murdered little babies. Yes, it is wholly scandalous!
Comments by Catholic Truth blogger:
There will be people who attend SSPX churches who read this and become angry at the very idea that anyone should criticise the SSPX for just about anything. It’s an immature attitude, if not completely childish. There will be comments flowing into me by email and newcomers to the blog who will languish in the moderation file, telling me to stop attending the SSPX church if I don’t like it etc. blah blah. Martin will, needless to say, get it in the neck as well.
So, please be assured; we fully appreciate the SSPX clergy providing us with Mass and the Sacraments. Just as we appreciate that the Scottish Bishops are counted among the successors of the apostles. Doesn’t mean we cannot comment on their statements or actions as we may comment on the statements and actions of other professionals. After all, priests are the most important of all professionals.
Other professionals are limited to catering for the well-being of people in this world alone, while priests are charged with the immensely more important work of preparing souls for eternity in Heaven.
So, folks, please don’t expect replies to any emails calling us names for expressing our concerns about this matter. A measured comment – absent any nasty personal remarks – submitted for publication on our blog, is a different matter. Feel free.
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| Articles by SSPX Parishioners on Abortion-Linked Vaccines |
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Posted by: Stone - 03-05-2021, 08:12 AM - Forum: Pandemic 2020 [Spiritual]
- Replies (3)
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From an SSPX parishioner...
The Vexatious Vaccine Versus Catholic Integrity – SSPX “Lifeboat” Leaking…
Martin Blackshaw, aka blogger Athanasius, has penned another very strong correction to the Pope Francis-inspired permission for Catholics to take the abortion-tainted Covid-19 vaccines.
During the current diabolical disorientation within the Church – otherwise fondly known as the Barque of Peter – many Catholics, seeking liturgical relief, took refuge in the “lifeboat” provided by the Society of St Pius X (SSPX).
Returning to the traditional Latin Mass and Sacraments, plus the reassurance that the Society preaches only that which is found in Catholic Tradition, has kept a lot of us afloat, this past half-century. It is, therefore, hugely disappointing and, indeed, shocking, to discover that the “lifeboat” is leaking – that the SSPX has decided, for example, to go along with the Vatican line on the Covid-19 vaccines.
Having discussed our concerns about this already here, we feel the need to return to the topic, given the ongoing confusion and unrest felt by many lay people, including those long devoted to the SSPX. Martin Blackshaw writes…
Background
Most of us, I’m sure, could never have imagined just one year ago that in as short a period as 12 months the global economy would be smashed to pieces, millions would be put out of work, Christians would be denied their fundamental right to the public worship of God and the vast majority of the citizens on earth would be deprived of their natural freedom and liberties. Yet, in the name of a respiratory virus, which is relatively harmless for most people, this apocalyptic scenario has come upon the human race with lightening speed.
The culture shock resulting from such a transformation of our way of life is not new to Traditional Catholics who witnessed a similar evil sweep through the universal Church following Vatican II, trampling all that had been held sacred and secure for generations, thus paving the way for the present victory of Communist totalitarianism over the nations.
Archbishop Viganò has more than once cited this work of iniquity as a coalition effort between operatives of the “deep Church” and operatives of the “deep State”, working together to bring about a New World secular Order over which Lucifer will usurp the Kingship of Christ.
That we are in fact living through the chastisement revealed by Our Lady in the Third Secret of Fatima is beyond question. Ours is a time largely of apostasy from God, even at the highest levels in the Church, resulting in victories for the anti-Christian forces beyond anything they, or we, could ever have imagined possible.
We know through faith of course that this time of trial will pass, as all such assaults of the devil on the Church and the world have passed. Our Lady will have the final victory and all will be restored in grace, though we know not how or when this will come about. What we do know is that matters are presently racing to a conclusion in this final battle between the serpent and she who will crush his head, so an end to it is not too far distant.
So much for the black and white of opposing forces in the present supernatural warfare, by which I mean the obvious evil and the obvious good as well as the happy outcome that those who are well disposed can see. But what about the grey areas, those danger zones which, like minefields, have to be traversed cautiously if we are to arrive safely at our destination when the war is won?
One such grey area has recently appeared before us and it threatens to wipe out a good many good souls who, in my opinion, have imprudently diverged from the safe path of the Church’s traditional and authentic moral teaching in favour of a more convenient, less arduous route only recently mapped out and offered non-authoritatively for alternative use.
I write of course about COVID-19 vaccines produced from or tested using the stem cell lines of aborted fetuses and the quite shocking position of the SSPX hierarchy in relation to their use.
If the faithful needed reminding that no particular institution in the Church is 100% safe at a time when the legitimate authorities themselves, the successors of St. Peter and the Apostles, are failing so manifestly in their duty to teach and to sanctify, it is in the SSPX position that such vaccines may be licitly taken in cases of necessity where moral alternatives are unavailable.
I first read (and re-read) this astounding and dangerously flawed guidance on the SSPX U.S. website some months back and I couldn’t believe my eyes. My Catholic conscience immediately alerted me to the falsehood before me.
I guess many other simple faithful were likewise seriously disturbed by this development, for the aforesaid website guidance was quickly taken down and replaced with a message announcing that an SSPX moral theologian was examining it, together with superiors, and would post an update soon.
Well it didn’t take long before the same guidance was back up on the website, only in a much longer text which read remarkably like sophistry.
The next I heard was that a certain Fr. Loop had been designated to present a conference on the subject to the faithful of Post Falls, Idaho – one of the largest Traditional Catholic enclaves in the U.S. I can only presume that many of the faithful remained troubled and Fr. Loop’s job was to reassure them. As far as I can tell from some comments I’ve read online, Fr. Loop failed in his task.
While this was ongoing I wrote to Fr. Fullerton, the U.S. District Superior, expressing my concern on the basis of the alternative (authentic) teaching of a number of tradition-leaning prelates whose counsel is that Catholics are not permitted to take vaccines tainted with the stem cell lines of aborted fetuses under any circumstances, given the very grave nature of the sin of abortion.
I wrote similarly to Fr. Loop, to Fr. Seligny, the SSPX moral theologian responsible for the U.S. website article and to Fr. Brucciani in the UK, who has sadly put out the same erroneous and dangerous advice. Not one of these priests granted me the courtesy of a response, which is extremely disturbing.
I did, however, receive a prompt and kind response from another SSPX superior who shall remain nameless for reasons of prudence.
Sadly, though, while evidently of upright intention, this superior is also on board with the “party line” (to use a crude term), convinced that the moral principle of “remote material co-operation” expressed in the works of St. Alphonsus may be applied in the case of grave necessity to abortion-tainted COVID vaccines.
Here is the proposition summarised in paraphrase: ‘The faithful are generally not permitted to receive abortion-tainted vaccines. However, in cases of grave necessity where moral alternatives are unavailable it is licit to receive such vaccines provided that objection is first made to the method of manufacture. This exception to the general rule, in cases of grave necessity only, amounts to “remote material co-operation”, a much lesser sin than formal co-operation.’
Juxtaposed to this proposition we have the joint letter of Cardinal Pujats, Archbishops Peta and Lenga and bishops Strickland and Schneider, reminding us of the authentic moral teaching of the Church. Here are a few excerpts of that letter which can be read in full here.
Quote:“In the case of vaccines made from the cell lines of aborted human fetuses, we see a clear contradiction between the Catholic doctrine to categorically, and beyond the shadow of any doubt, reject abortion in all cases as a grave moral evil that cries out to heaven for vengeance (see Catechism of the Catholic Church n. 2268, n. 2270), and the practice of regarding vaccines derived from aborted fetal cell lines as morally acceptable in exceptional cases of “urgent need” — on the grounds of remote, passive, material cooperation. To argue that such vaccines can be morally licit if there is no alternative is in itself contradictory and cannot be acceptable for Catholics…
…The theological principle of material cooperation is certainly valid and may be applied to a whole host of cases (e.g. in paying taxes, the use of products made from slave labor, and so on). However, this principle can hardly be applied to the case of vaccines made from fetal cell lines, because those who knowingly and voluntarily receive such vaccines enter into a kind of concatenation, albeit very remote, with the process of the abortion industry. The crime of abortion is so monstrous that any kind of concatenation with this crime, even a very remote one, is immoral and cannot be accepted under any circumstances by a Catholic once he has become fully aware of it. One who uses these vaccines must realize that his body is benefitting from the “fruits” (although steps removed through a series of chemical processes) of one of mankind’s greatest crimes…
…More than ever, we need the spirit of the confessors and martyrs who avoided the slightest suspicion of collaboration with the evil of their own age. The Word of God says: “Be simple as children of God without reproach in the midst of a depraved and perverse generation, in which you must shine like lights in the world” (Phil. 2, 15)…”
Bishop Athanasius Schneider reiterates the position thus In a separate LSN interview, the full transcript of which can be read, or video viewed, here.
Quote:“…I repeat, it is the most anti-pastoral and counterproductive, that in this time, exactly in this historical hour, [that] Catholics will justify their use of abortion-tainted vaccines with the theory of material remote cooperation. It is so illogical – we have to recognize this in this historical hour in which we are living…”
In yet another interview with LSN, Bishop Schneider warns:
Quote:“…some bishops, even good ones, are making a huge explanation to me in a sophistic manner, of the principle of moral cooperation only, without your will, without your consent. But this is for me as sophism which cannot be applied to this concrete case, because it is evident to simple common sense that when you know this – that this vaccine is from aborted babies – then you cannot apply this moral principle, or theory, to this concrete case. And therefore we have to be very careful not to be induced into error because of this sophistic argument, even when it comes from good, traditional priests. This is the danger, and we have to resist this…” Read the full transcript here.
Finally, in a May 8 “Appeal for the Church and the World”, signed by a number of prelates including Cardinals Gerhard Müller, Zen & Pujats, Archbishop Viganò , Bishop Schneider and other senior Churchmen as well as countless Catholic journalists, physicians, academics and associations, we find this declaration:
Quote:“… Let us also remember, as Pastors, that for Catholics it is morally unacceptable to develop or use vaccines derived from material from aborted fetuses…” – click here to read the Appeal for the Church and the World.
Writing in reply to the aforementioned SSPX District Superior, whose identity is not important here, I upheld this authentic moral teaching of the traditional prelates and other Catholics in the following words:
Quote:“I share the view of Bishop Athanasius Schneider and the other traditional prelates in this instance, who insist that abortion is so uniquely and gravely sinful as to render the normal considerations of “necessity” and “remote material co-operation” moot. These are general moral principles that are weighed in matters pertaining to sins common to fallen human nature, not to sins that are against nature and which cry to heaven for vengeance. Hence, the “material co-operation” argument is misapplied in the case of abortion-tainted vaccines and is therefore fallacious…
…I would like to clarify that it was never my intention to contend that those who seek to benefit from these vaccines are guilty of formal co-operation in the sin of abortion itself, but rather that they are guilty of formal co-operation in the use of evil means, i.e., the immoral process of using aborted fetal cells in the production and/or testing of the vaccine. In other words, they are guilty of using an evil means in order to accomplish good–which is never allowed. I apologise if I did not make myself clear on this point in my previous communication.”
Summary
For whatever reason, whether by simple error or for reasons of avoiding direct confrontation with this vaccine-pushing Pope and his various national hierarchies, the SSPX is seriously ill-advising the faithful for the first time in the 35-years I have been associated with it.
Therefore every Catholic with a sense of the faith, whose conscience automatically balks at the suggestion that we may, in circumstances of grave necessity, do evil that good may come from it, must disregard this SSPX advice along with that of other churchmen, be they Traditional or Modernist, Pope or priest, who propose the “remote material co-operation” fallacy in the case of abortion-tainted vaccines.
We are never at liberty to benefit from an evil means, not even when our lives depend on it. This is the authentic moral teaching of the Church and the faith of the martyrs, who could so easily have burned a mere grain of incense before the pagan deities to save their lives using similar argument in their minds, but who chose instead to die a cruel death rather than offend God.
Let us consider just one example of such ardent faith – the martyrdom of the early Christian St. Sophia and her three young daughters, aged 11, 10 & 9 years.
All four steadfastly refusing before the Roman emperor Hadrian to burn incense before the goddess Artemis, Hadrian proceeded to have the children horribly tortured one after the other in full view of their mother.
At length, when the children finally succumbed to the unspeakable sufferings inflicted upon them, St. Sophia was granted leave to take them for burial, the idea of the pagan emperor being that she should live with the torment in her heart.
But Our Lord had other plans. After three days of mourning her beloved children He took her from this world to enjoy eternal beatitude in heaven.
Compare this example of great faith with that of Catholics today who advise that it is licit under certain strict circumstances to use products made from or tested with the stem cells of brutally murdered little babies. Yes, it is wholly scandalous!
Comments by Catholic Truth blogger:
There will be people who attend SSPX churches who read this and become angry at the very idea that anyone should criticise the SSPX for just about anything. It’s an immature attitude, if not completely childish. There will be comments flowing into me by email and newcomers to the blog who will languish in the moderation file, telling me to stop attending the SSPX church if I don’t like it etc. blah blah. Martin will, needless to say, get it in the neck as well.
So, please be assured; we fully appreciate the SSPX clergy providing us with Mass and the Sacraments. Just as we appreciate that the Scottish Bishops are counted among the successors of the apostles. Doesn’t mean we cannot comment on their statements or actions as we may comment on the statements and actions of other professionals. After all, priests are the most important of all professionals.
Other professionals are limited to catering for the well-being of people in this world alone, while priests are charged with the immensely more important work of preparing souls for eternity in Heaven.
So, folks, please don’t expect replies to any emails calling us names for expressing our concerns about this matter. A measured comment – absent any nasty personal remarks – submitted for publication on our blog, is a different matter. Feel free.
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| Indonesia to begin imposing fines on those who refuse COVID vaccine |
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Posted by: Stone - 03-04-2021, 07:43 PM - Forum: Pandemic 2020 [Secular]
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Indonesia to begin imposing fines on those who refuse COVID vaccine
The Asian country prepares to inject a ‘target of 181.5 million people.’
JAKARTA, Indonesia, March 3, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — The president of Indonesia decreed last month that steep financial penalties could be imposed on citizens who do not comply with mandatory vaccination drives for the COVID-19 jab, including fines and the removal of social welfare benefits.
Jakarta, the nation’s bustling capital, houses some 10 million people and is the first region in the country, and the world, to put the new rules into action, imposing fines up to 5 million Indonesian rupiah (approximately $350) for vaccine non-compliance. The remaining 33 provinces, which have prerogative in applying the president’s new rules, have not yet elected to impose the harsh penalties.
Jakarta’s deputy governor, Ahmad Riza Patria,, defended the new enforcement measures, warning any potential dissenters, “If you reject it, there are two things, social aid will not be given, (and a) fine.” A health ministry official, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, qualified that “(s)anctions are our last effort to encourage people’s participation,” as the country prepares to inject a “target of 181.5 million people.”
Indonesia’s health ministry reported that 65 percent of Indonesians are willing to have a COVID-19 vaccine, with just 8 percent admitting they would outright refuse the jab.
Dr. Febi Dwirahmadi, PhD, an Indonesian associate lecturer at Australia’s Griffith University, called the measures “coercive.”
“Social trust is absent. People are still questioning whether this is safe for the elderly, or pregnant women,” she said.
Usman Hamid, a director at Amnesty International Indonesia, criticized the Indonesian government for imposing a “blanket mandate on vaccination, especially one that includes criminal penalties,” calling it “a clear violation of human rights.”
A number of governments around the world — while not mandating vaccination — is beginning to implement strict measures that are tantamount to forcing vaccine uptake.
Israel leads in this regard, having just started reopening parts of its economy to citizens who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 after a two-month lockdown and the recent release of a vaccine tracking app. Those who have not yet received the COVID vaccine, or who have refused to take the jab, will remain unable to access a number of venues and businesses.
Furthermore, Israeli authorities have passed a law allowing the personal information of those who have refused the COVID-19 experimental vaccines to be collected and shared to various government bodies by the health ministry. The legislation extends to those who have received their first dose of the COVID vaccine, but did not return for the second.
As the government considers legislation that would allow private businesses to take up the mantle of imposing vaccination, Mobileye, an Israeli self-driving car developer and subsidiary of Intel, announced it will ban employees who reject a coronavirus vaccination from working on-site, CEO Amnon Shashua said.
Similarly, in Sweden, coercive measures are being implemented which make life increasingly difficult for those who refuse COVID-19 vaccines, be it on moral, medical, or religious grounds.
Currently, Swedes who have received the vaccine are eligible for a certificate proving their vaccine status. Sweden’s minister for digital development, Anders Ygeman, announced that “When Sweden and the countries around us start to open up, it will probably be required to have a vaccination certificate to travel and take part in other activities,” including access to entertainment and recreational businesses.
U.S. President Joe Biden, as well, signed an executive order in January directing the government to evaluate the “feasibility” of vaccine passports.
But the international effort to coerce populations into receiving the experimental COVID-19 vaccines is producing deadly results. Israeli health ministry data confirmed that Pfizer’s mRNA experimental vaccine killed “about 40 times more (elderly) people (in Israel) than the disease itself would have killed” during a recent five-week vaccination period. Among the younger class, these numbers are compounded to death rates at 260 times what the COVID-19 virus would have claimed in the given time frame.”
The authors of the study into Israel’s health records demonstrated that among “those vaccinated and above 65 (years old), 0.2 percent … died during the three-week period between doses, hence about 200 among 100,000 vaccinated. This is to be compared to the 4.91 dead among 100,000 dying from COVID-19 without vaccination.”
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| Romano Amerio: Iota Unum |
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Posted by: Stone - 03-04-2021, 12:25 PM - Forum: Resources Online
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Iota Unum
by Romano Amerio
Romano Amerio
Notice To The Reader
Iota Unum
Chapter I: The Crisis
Methodological and linguistic definitions.
Denial of the crisis.
The error of secondary Christianity.
The crisis as failure to adapt.
Adapting the Church's contradiction of the world.
Further denial of the crisis.
The Pope recognizes the loss of direction.
Pseudo-positivity of the crisis. False philosophy of religion.
Further admissions of a crisis.
Positive interpretation of the crisis. False philosophy of religion.
Further false philosophy of religion.
Chapter II: Historical Sketch: The Crises Of The Church
The crises of the Church: Jerusalem (50 A.D.).
The Nicene crisis (325 A.D.).
The deviations of the Middle Ages.
The crisis of the Lutheran secession. The breadth of the Christian ideal.
Further breadth of the Christian ideal. Its limits.
The denial of the Catholic principle in Lutheran doctrine.
Luther's heresy, continued. The bull Exsurge Domine.
The principle of independence and abuses in die Church.
Why casuistry did not create a crisis in the Church.
The revolution in France.
The principle of independence. The Auctorem Fidei.
The crisis of the Church during the French Revolution.
The Syllabus of Pius IX.
The spirit of the age. Alexander Manzoni.
The modernist crisis. The second Syllabus.
The pre-conciliar crisis and the third Syllabus.
Humani Generis (1950).
CHAPTER III: The Preparation of The Council
The Second Vatican Council. Its preparation.
Paradoxical outcome of the Council.
Paradoxical outcome of the Council, continued. The Roman Synod.
Paradoxical outcome of the Council, continued. Veterum Sapientia.
The aims of the First Vatican Council.
The aims of Vatican II. Pastorality.
Expectations concerning the Council.
Cardinal Montini’s forecasts. His minimalism.
Catastrophal predictions.
CHAPTER IV: The Course of The Council
The opening address. Antagonism with the world. Freedom of the Church.
The opening speech. Ambiguities of text and meaning.
The opening speech. A new attitude towards error.
Rejection of the council preparations. The breaking of the council rules.
The breaking of the Council’s legal framework, continued.
Consequences of breaking the legal framework. Whether there was a conspiracy.
Papal action at Vatican II. The Notapraevia.
Further papal action at Vatican II. Interventions on mariological doctrine. On missions. On the moral law of marriage.
Synthesis of the council in the closing speech of the fourth session. Comparison with St. Pius X. Church and world.
CHAPTER V: The Post-Conciliar Period
Leaving the Council behind. The spirit of the Council.
Leaving the Council behind. Ambiguous character of the conciliar texts.
Novel hermeneutic of the Council. Semantic change. The word “dialogue.”
Novel hermeneutic of the Council, continued. “Circiterisms.” Use of the conjunction “but.” Deepening understanding.
Features of the post-conciliar period. The universality of the change.
The post-conciliar period, continued. The New Man. Gaudium et Spes 30. Depth of the change.
Impossibility of radical change in the Church.
The impossibility of radical newness, continued.
The denigration of the historical Church.
Critique of the denigration of the Church.
False view of the early Church.
CHAPTER VI: The Post-Conciliar Church, Paul VI
Sanctity of the Church. An apologetical principle.
The catholicity of the Church. Objection. The Church as a principle of division. Paul VI.
The unity of the post-conciliar Church.
The Church disunited in the hierarchy.
The Church disunited over Humanae Vitae.
The Church disunited concerning the encyclical, continued.
The Dutch schism.
The renunciation of authority. A confidence of Paul VI.
An historic parallel. Paul VI and Pius DC
Government and authority.
The renunciation of authority, continued. The affair of the French catechism.
Character of Paul VI. Self-portrait. Cardinal Gut.
Yes and no in the post-conciliar Church.
The renunciation of authority, continued. The reform of the Holy Office.
Critique of the reform of the Holy Office.
Change in the Roman Curia. Lack of precision.
Change in the Roman Curia, continued. Cultural inadequacies.
The Church’s renunciation in its relations with states.
The revision of the concordat, continued.
The Church of Paul VI. His speeches of September 1974.
Paul VI’s unrealistic moments.
CHAPTER VII: The Crisis of the Priesthood
The defection of priests.
The canonical legitimation of priestly defections.
Attempts to reform the Catholic priesthood.
Critique of the critique of the Catholic priesthood. Don Mazzolari.
Universal priesthood and ordained priesthood.
Critique of the saying “a priest is a man like other men.
CHAPTER XV: Pyrrhonism
Theological setting of the argument.
Pyrrhonism in the Church. Cardinals Léger, Heenan, Alfrink and Suenens.
The discounting of reason. Sullivan. Innovators’ rejection of certainty.
The discounting of reason, continued. The Padua theologians. The Ariccia theologians. Manchesson.
CHAPTER XVI: Dialogue
Dialogue and discussionism in the post-conciliar Church. Dialogue in Ecclesiam Suam.
Philosophy of dialogue.
Appropriateness of dialogue.
The end of dialogue. Paul VI. The Secretariat for Non-Believers.
Whether dialogue is always an enrichment.
Catholic dialogue.
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| Pope Paul VI [1969]: Address to General Audience on Introduction to the New Mass |
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Posted by: Stone - 03-04-2021, 12:18 PM - Forum: Vatican II and the Fruits of Modernism
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CHANGES IN MASS FOR GREATER APOSTOLATE
Address to a General Audience
November 26, 1969
Our Dear Sons and Daughters:
1. We ask you to turn your minds once more to the liturgical innovation of the New Rite of the Mass. This New Rite will be introduced into our celebration of the holy Sacrifice starting from Sunday next which is the first of Advent, November 30 [in Italy].
2. A new rite of the Mass: a change in a venerable tradition that has gone on for centuries. This is something that affects our hereditary religious patrimony, which seemed to enjoy the privilege of being untouchable and settled. It seemed to bring the prayer of our forefathers and our saints to our lips and to give us the comfort of feeling faithful to our spiritual past, which we kept alive to pass it on to the generations ahead.
3. It is at such a moment as this that we get a better understanding of the value of historical tradition and the communion of the saints. This change will affect the ceremonies of the Mass. We shall become aware, perhaps with some feeling of annoyance, that the ceremonies at the altar are no longer being carried out with the same words and gestures to which we were accustomed—perhaps so much accustomed that we no longer took any notice of them. This change also touches the faithful. It is intended to interest each one of those present, to draw them out of their customary personal devotions or their usual torpor.
4. We must prepare for this many-sided inconvenience. It is the kind of upset caused by every novelty that breaks in on our habits. We shall notice that pious persons are disturbed most, because they have their own respectable way of hearing Mass, and they will feel shaken out of their usual thoughts and obliged to follow those of others. Even priests may feel some annoyance in this respect.
5. So what is to be done on this special and historical occasion? First of all, we must prepare ourselves. This novelty is no small thing. We should not let ourselves be surprised by the nature, or even the nuisance, of its exterior forms. As intelligent persons and conscientious faithful we should find out as much as we can about this innovation. It will not be hard to do so, because of the many fine efforts being made by the Church and by publishers. As We said on another occasion, we shall do well to take into account the motives for this grave change. The first is obedience to the Council. That obedience now implies obedience to the Bishops, who interpret the Council's prescription and put them into practice.
6. This first reason is not simply canonical—relating to an external precept. It is connected with the charism of the liturgical act. In other words, it is linked with the power and efficacy of the Church's prayer, the most authoritative utterance of which comes from the Bishop. This is also true of priests, who help the Bishop in his ministry, and like him act in persona Christi (cf. St. Ign., ad Eph. I, V). It is Christ's will, it is the breath of the Holy Spirit which calls the Church to make this change. A prophetic moment is occurring in the mystical body of Christ, which is the Church. This moment is shaking the Church, arousing it, obliging it to renew the mysterious art of its prayer.
7. The other reason for the reform is this renewal of prayer. It is aimed at associating the assembly of the faithful more closely and more effectively with the official rite, that of the Word and that of the Eucharistic Sacrifice, that constitutes the Mass. For the faithful are also invested with the "royal priesthood"; that is, they are qualified to have supernatural conversation with God.
8. It is here that the greatest newness is going to be noticed, the newness of language. No longer Latin, but the spoken language will be the principal language of the Mass. The introduction of the vernacular will certainly be a great sacrifice for those who know the beauty, the power and the expressive sacrality of Latin. We are parting with the speech of the Christian centuries; we are becoming like profane intruders in the literary preserve of sacred utterance. We will lose a great part of that stupendous and incomparable artistic and spiritual thing, the Gregorian chant.
9. We have reason indeed for regret, reason almost for bewilderment. What can we put in the place of that language of the angels? We are giving up something of priceless worth. But why? What is more precious than these loftiest of our Church's values?
10. The answer will seem banal, prosaic. Yet it is a good answer, because it is human, because it is apostolic.
11. Understanding of prayer is worth more than the silken garments in which it is royally dressed. Participation by the people is worth more—particularly participation by modern people, so fond of plain language which is easily understood and converted into everyday speech.
12. If the divine Latin language kept us apart from the children, from youth, from the world of labor and of affairs, if it were a dark screen, not a clear window, would it be right for us fishers of souls to maintain it as the exclusive language of prayer and religious intercourse? What did St. Paul have to say about that? Read chapter 14 of the first letter to the Corinthians: "In Church I would rather speak five words with my mind, in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue" (I Corinthians 14:19).
13. St. Augustine seems to be commenting on this when he says, "Have no fear of teachers, so long as all are instructed" (P.L. 38, 228, Serm. 37; cf. also Serm. 229, p. 1371). But, in any case, the new rite of the Mass provides that the faithful "should be able to sing together, in Latin, at least the parts of the Ordinary of the Mass, especially the Creed and the Lord's Prayer, the Our Father" (Sacrosanctum Concilium n. 19).
14. But, let us bear this well in mind, for our counsel and our comfort: the Latin language will not thereby disappear. It will continue to be the noble language of the Holy See's official acts; it will remain as the means of teaching in ecclesiastical studies and as the key to the patrimony of our religious, historical and human culture. If possible, it will reflourish in splendor.
15. Finally, if we look at the matter properly we shall see that the fundamental outline of the Mass is still the traditional one, not only theologically but also spiritually. Indeed, if the Rite is carried out as it ought to be, the spiritual aspect will be found to have greater richness. The greater simplicity of the ceremonies, the variety and abundance of scriptural texts, the joint acts of the ministers, the silences which will mark various deeper moments in the rite, will all help to bring this out.
16. But two indispensable requirements above all will make that richness clear: a profound participation by every single one present, and an outpouring of spirit in community charity. These requirements will help to make the Mass more than ever a school of spiritual depth and a peaceful but demanding school of Christian sociology. The soul's relationship with Christ and with the brethren thus attains new and vital intensity. Christ, the victim and the priest, renews and offers up his redeeming sacrifice through the ministry of the Church in the symbolic Rite of his Last Supper. He leaves us His Body and Blood under the appearances of bread and wine, for our personal and spiritual nourishment, for our fusion in the unity of his redeeming love and his immortal life.
17. But there is still a practical difficulty, which the excellence of the sacred renders not a little important. How can we celebrate this New Rite when we have not yet got a complete Missal, and there are still so many uncertainties about what to do?
18. To conclude, it will be helpful to read to you some directions from the competent office, namely the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship. Here they are: "As regards the obligation of the rite:
1) For the Latin text: Priests who celebrate in Latin, in private or also in public, in cases provided for by the legislation, may use either the Roman Missal or the New Rite until November 28, 1971. If they use the Roman Missal, they may nevertheless make use of the three new anaphoras and the Roman Canon, having regard to the provisions respecting the last text (omission of some saints, conclusions, etc.). They may moreover recite the readings and the prayer of the faithful in the vernacular. If they use the new rite, they must follow the official text, with the concessions as regards the vernacular indicated above.
2) For the vernacular text. In Italy, all those who celebrate in the presence of the people from November 30 next, must use the Rito delta Messa published by the Italian Episcopal Conference or by another National Conference. On feast days readings shall be taken: either from the Lectionary published by the Italian Center for Liturgical Action, or from the Roman Missal for feast days, as in use heretofore. On ferial days the ferial Lectionary published three years ago shall continue to be used. No problem arises for those who celebrate in private, because they must celebrate in Latin. If a priest celebrates in the vernacular by special indult, as regards the texts, he shall follow what was said above for the Mass with the people; but for the Rite he shall follow the Ordo published by the Italian Episcopal Conference.
19. In every case, and at all times, let us remember that "the Mass is a Mystery to be lived in a death of Love. Its divine reality surpasses all words. . . It is the Action par excellence, the very act of our Redemption, in the Memorial which makes it present" (Zundel).
With Our Apostolic Benediction.
[Emphasis mine.]
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| Petition to Jesus Crucified - Devotion to the Passion |
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Posted by: Hildegard of Bingen - 03-04-2021, 12:17 PM - Forum: In Honor of Our Lord
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DEVOTION TO THE PASSION
Petition to Jesus Crucified
(Taken from St. Alphonsus’ Prayer-Book – pages 452)
Ah, my crucified Jesus, Look on me with the same love with which Thou didst look on me when dying on the cross for me; look on me, and have pity on me; give me general pardon for all the displeasure I have given Thee; give me holy perseverance; give me Thy holy love; give me a perfect conformity to Thy will; give me paradise, that I may love Thee there forever. I deserve nothing; but Thy wounds encourage me to hope for every good from Thee. Ah, Jesus of my soul, by that love which made Thee die for me, give me Thy love. Take away from me all affection to creatures, give resignation in tribulation, and make Thyself the object of all my affections, that from this day forward I may love none other but Thee. Amen.
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| To Jesus Dead on the Cross - Devotion to the Passion |
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Posted by: Hildegard of Bingen - 03-04-2021, 12:10 PM - Forum: In Honor of Our Lord
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DEVOTION TO THE PASSION
To Jesus dead on the Cross.
Had He not loved me He would not have died for me!
(Taken from St. Alphonsus’ Prayer-Book – pages 451-452)
O Saviour of the world, O my Jesus, behold to what Thy love for men has at length reduced Thee! I thank Thee that Thou hast been willing, Thou, Our God, to lose Thy life that we might not lose our souls. I thank Thee for all men, but especially for myself. And who is there more than I that Has reaped the fruits of Thy death! I through Thy merits, without even so much as knowing it, was, by baptism, made a child of the Church; through Thy love my sins have been often forgiven, and I have received many special graces; through Thee I have the hope of dying in the grace of God, and of loving Thee eternally in paradise.
O my beloved Redeemer, what gratitude do I not owe Thee! Into Thy pierced hands I commend my poor soul. Make me well understand the excess of that love which made God die for me: would that I could die for Thee! But what would the death of a wicked slave weigh against the death of his Lord and God? Would that I could, at least, love Thee with my whole heart; but without Thy help, O my Jesus, I can do nothing. Oh, help me! And, through the merits of Thy death, make me die to all earthly affections, that so I may love Thee only, Who dost deserve all my love. I love Thee, O infinite Goodness. I love Thee, my chief Good. O Mary, my Mother, intercede for me. Amen.
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