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  St. Alphonsus Liguori: Daily Meditations for Twenty-third Week after Pentecost
Posted by: Stone - 11-05-2023, 06:21 AM - Forum: Pentecost - Replies (6)

Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost

Morning Meditation

PATIENCE IN SICKNESS


Patience in the time of sickness is the touchstone by which the spirit of a Christian is proved to be pure gold, or only alloy. Some are patient, devout, cheerful as long as they enjoy good health, but when visited by some illness they commit a thousand faults. The gold is found to be only base metal.


I.

We must practise patience in the time of sickness. This is the touchstone by which the spirit of a Christian is proved to be pure gold or only alloy. Some are patient, devout, cheerful as long as they enjoy health, but when visited by some illness they commit a thousand defects: they appear to be inconsolable; they are impatient with all, even with the person who attends them through charity; they complain of every pain or inconvenience they suffer; they complain of everybody and everything, saying that they are treated with neglect and inattention. The gold is found to be base metal. But such a person may say: I suffer so much, and can I not even complain, or tell what I endure? You are not forbidden to make known your pains when they are severe, but when they are trifling, it is a weakness to complain of them to all, and to seek sympathy and compassion from every one who visits you. And should the remedies prescribed not remove your pains, you should not yield to impatience under them, but resign yourself in peace to the will of God.

Another may say: Where has charity gone? See how I am forgotten and abandoned on my bed of sickness! I pity you; not on account of your bodily infirmities, but on account of your want of patience under them, which makes you doubly sick — in body and soul. You are forgotten? But you have forgotten Jesus Christ Who died abandoned for your sake on the Cross. And what profit do you derive from complaining? Complain of yourself because you have but little love for Jesus Christ, and therefore have so little patience. St. Joseph Calasanctius used to say: “If the sick had patience there would be no more complaints.” Salvian writes that there are many persons who, had they good health, could not be Saints. With regard to saintly women, we know from their published Lives that they were almost all continually afflicted with various infirmities. For forty years St. Teresa was not free from pain for a single day.


II.

Some one will say: I do not refuse to accept sickness, but I regret that on account of my infirmities I am not able to go to Communion, or to make mental prayer, and that I am a burden to all. Allow me to answer all these excuses one by one. Tell me, why do you wish to go to the church in order to communicate? Is it not to please God? Well, but if it be God’s will and pleasure that you are not to go to the church to communicate, but that you are to remain in bed to suffer, why should you be troubled? Blessed John of Avila wrote to a priest labouring under sickness: “Friend, do not stop to examine what you would do if you had health, but be content to remain sick as long as it shall please God. If you seek the will of God, it matters not whether you are in sickness or in health.” St. Francis de Sales has even said that “we serve God better by sufferings than by works.” You say that in sickness you cannot make Mental Prayer, and why can you not? I grant that you cannot apply the mind to reflection, but why can you not look at the Crucifix, and offer to your crucified Saviour the pains you suffer? And what prayer can be better than to suffer, and to resign yourself to the Divine will, uniting your sufferings to those of Jesus Christ, and presenting them to God in union with the sufferings of His Son? You say that in sickness you are useless, and a burden. But as you conform yourself to the Divine will, so you ought to suppose that others also conform to it, when they see that you are a burden, not through your own fault, but by the will of God. Ah! such desires and complaints spring, not from the love of God, but from self-love; for we would want to serve the Lord not in the manner that pleases Him, but in the way that is agreeable to ourselves!


Spiritual Reading

HOLY HUMILITY


XII. PATIENCE IN BEARING CONTEMPT

The Saints have not been made Saints by applause and honours, but by injuries and insults. St. Ignatius Martyr, a saintly Bishop who won universal esteem and veneration, was sent to Rome as a criminal, and on his way, experienced from the soldiers who conducted him nothing but the most barbarous insolence. In the midst of his suffering and humiliations he joyfully exclaimed: “I now begin to be a disciple of Christ.” I now begin to be a true disciple of my Jesus, Who endured so many ignominies for my sake. St. Francis Borgia, when travelling, slept one night in the same room with his companion, Father Bustamente, who, in consequence of a severe attack of asthma, coughed much, casting spittle unconsciously on the Saint, and frequently on his face. In the morning Father Bustamente perceived what he had done, and was greatly afflicted at having given so much cause of pain to the Saint. Father, said St. Francis, be not disturbed; for there was no part of this room so fit for the reception of spittle as my face.

Standing once before the Crucifix, Blessed Mary of the Incarnation said to her sisters in Religion: “Is it possible, dear sisters, that we refuse to embrace contempt when we see Jesus Christ reviled and scoffed at.” A certain holy Religious having been insulted, went before the Blessed Sacrament, and said: Lord, I am very poor; I have nothing to present to Thee: but I offer Thee the injury that I have just received. Oh! how lovingly does Jesus Christ embrace all who embrace contempt for His sake! He soon consoles and enriches them with His graces. Father Anthony Torres was once unjustly charged with disseminating false doctrines, and in punishment of his supposed transgression was for many years deprived of faculties to hear Confessions. But in a letter to a certain friend he says: “Be assured that during the whole time I was calumniated the spiritual consolations that the Lord gave me surpassed any I ever received from Him.”

To suffer contempt with a serene countenance not only merits a great reward, but also serves to draw others to God. “He,” says St. John Chrysostom, “who is meek is useful to himself and to others.” For nothing is more edifying to a neighbour than the meekness of a man who receives injuries with a tranquil countenance. Father Maffei relates that a Jesuit Father, while preaching in Japan, having been spat upon by an insolent bystander, removed the spittle with his handkerchief, and continued his sermon as if nothing had happened. One of his auditors exclaimed, that a doctrine that teaches such humility must be true and Divine, and was instantly converted to the Faith.* Thus, also, St. Francis de Sales converted innumerable heretics by his meekness in bearing the insults he received from them.

*We have a shining example of the same forbearance recorded of one of the Canonized Children of St. Alphonsus’ own Congregation, St. Clement Mary Hofbauer. Clement entered the Redemptorist Congregation in Rome, 1784. St. Alphonsus, then in extreme old age, sent him encouragement and his blessing. Father Clement became afterwards the Apostle of Warsaw and Vienna, and the renowned Propagator of the Redemptorist Congregations North of the Alps. The story is recorded that while the Saint was one day begging for his poor in Warsaw, he requested an alms of a man sitting at an inn. The man sprang up, and after heaping abuse on Father Clement, spat in his face. The priest wiped away the spittle and said: “That was for myself: give me now, please, something for the orphans.” The man was astonished at the gentleness of the Saint, as well he might, and gave him generous alms for the poor. He afterwards went to Confession to Father Clement and changed his life. — EDITOR.

Let us be persuaded that to be persecuted in this life is the highest glory of the Saints. And, says the Apostle, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution (2 Tim. iii. 12). The Redeemer says, If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you (Jo. xv. 20).

Some will say: I attend to my own business; I give offence to no one: why should I be persecuted? But all the Saints have been persecuted; Jesus Christ, the Head of the Saints, has been persecuted: and will you not submit to persecution? But what greater favour, says St. Teresa, can God bestow upon us than to send us the same treatment He wished His beloved Son to suffer on earth? “Believe me,” says Father Torres, in a letter to one of his penitents, “that one of the greatest graces that God can confer upon you is to make you worthy to be calumniated by all, without being esteemed by any.” When, then, you see yourself disregarded and despised, rejoice, and thank Jesus Christ, Who wishes you to be treated in the same manner in which He Himself was treated in this life. And to prepare your soul to accept humiliations when they occur, represent to yourself in the time of Meditation all the contempt, contradictions, and persecutions which may happen to you, and offer yourself, with a strong desire and resolution to suffer them all for the sake of Jesus Christ, and thus you will be better prepared to accept them.

You must not only accept humiliations in peace, but must also be glad and exult under them. The Venerable Louis da Ponte could not at first conceive how a soul could delight in contempt; but when he became more perfect he experienced joy in abjection. By our own strength we certainly cannot rejoice in humiliations, but by the aid of Jesus Christ we can imitate the Apostles, who went from the presence of the council rejoicing that they were accounted worthy to suffer reproach for the name of Jesus (Acts v. 41). There are some, as St. Joseph Calasanctius says, who suffer reproach, but not with joy. To teach the perfect spirit of humility to St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi, St. Ignatius came down from heaven and assured her that true humility consists in taking pleasure in whatever inspires self-contempt.

Worldlings do not delight as much in honours as the Saints do in contempt. Brother Juniper, of the Order of St. Francis, received insults as he would the most costly gems. When derided by his companions, St. John Francis Regis was not only pleased with their ridicule, but even encouraged it. Thus from the Lives of the Saints it would appear that sufferings and humiliations were the sole objects of their wishes. With a Cross on His shoulder and a Crown of thorns on His Head the Redeemer once appeared to St. John of the Cross and said: “John, ask of Me what thou wilt.” “Lord,” replied the Saint, “I desire to suffer and to be despised for Thy sake.” Lord, seeing Thee oppressed with sorrow and saturated with opprobrium for the love of me, what can I ask from Thee but pains and ignominies? The Lord once assured St. Angela of Foligno that the surest means by which a soul can ascertain whether its lights are from God is to examine if they have inspired and left behind a strong desire of being despised for His sake. Jesus wishes that under injuries and persecutions we not only be not disquieted, but that we even rejoice and exult in expectation of the great glory that He has prepared for us in Heaven as the reward of our sufferings. Blessed are ye when they shall revile you and persecute you … be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in heaven (Matt. v. 11, 12).

To those who are about to enter Religion it is my custom to recommend, above all things, the practice of obedience, and of patience under contempt. I have been anxious to treat the latter at full length, because I am convinced that, without bearing contempt, it is impossible for anyone to advance in perfection; and because I hold as certain that the Religious who cheerfully embraces humiliations will become a saint. “He that is humble of heart,” says St. Paulinus, “is the Heart of Christ.” Humilis corde Cor Christi est. He who is humble of heart or who delights in contempt is transformed into the Heart of Jesus Christ. Be assured, then, that if you are to be a saint you must suffer humiliations and contempt. Though all your companions were saints, you will, notwithstanding, by the ordination of God, meet with frequent contradictions; you will be frequently put below others, held in little esteem, and will have to submit to accusations and reproofs. To render you like Himself, Jesus Christ will easily find the means of making you an object of contempt. Hence, I entreat you to practise, every day, the beautiful advice of Father Torres to his penitents: “Say, every day, a Pater and Ave in honour of the life and ignominy of Jesus, and offer yourself to suffer, not only in peace, but even with joy, for the love of Him, all the contradictions and reproaches which He will send you, begging always His assistance to be faithful to Him in bearing patiently all injuries and humiliations.”


Evening Meditation

PATIENCE IN SICKNESS


I.

If you really wish to please God, and at the same time give good example to others, embrace with peace all the infirmities God sends you. Oh, how great is the edification he gives, who in spite of all his pains and even the danger of death with which he may be threatened, preserves a serene countenance, abstains from all complaining, who thanks all for their attention, whether it be much or little, and accepts in the spirit of obedience the remedies applied, however bitter or painful they may be! St. Lidwina, as Surius relates, lay for thirty-eight years on a board, abandoned, covered with sores, and tortured by pains. She never complained of anything, but peaceably embraced all her sufferings. Blessed Humiliana of Florence, a Franciscan nun, being afflicted with several painful and violent diseases, used to raise her hand to Heaven, and say: “Mayest Thou be blessed, my Love! Mayest Thou be blessed!” St. Clare was likewise continually sick for twenty-eight years, and the smallest complaint never escaped her lips. St. Theodore, abbot, had a painful ulcer during his whole life, and he would say that the Lord sent it in order to give him occasion to thank God unceasingly, as he was accustomed to do. When we suffer any pain, let us cast a glance at so many holy Martyrs, whose flesh was torn in pieces with iron hooks, or burnt with red-hot plates, and let us at the sight of their torments take courage to offer to God the pain by which we are afflicted.

Patience under the severity of the Seasons accompanies patience in infirmities. When cold or heat is intense, some are disturbed and complain, particularly if they have not the clothes or other comforts that they wish for. Be careful not to imitate their example; but bless these creatures as ministers of the Divine will, and say with Daniel: O ye fire and heat, bless the Lord … O ye cold and heat, bless the Lord (Dan. iii. 66, 67).


II.

In the time of sickness, we should above all accept death should it come, and the death that God wills. What is this life but a continual tempest, in which we are always in danger of being lost? St. Aloysius, though he died in the flower of youth, embraced death with joy, saying: “Now I find myself, as I hope, in the grace of God: I know not what might happen to me hereafter. I therefore gladly quit this earth, if it now please God to call me.” But you will say: St. Aloysius was a Saint, and I am a sinner. But listen to the answer of Blessed John of Avila: Every one who finds himself even moderately well disposed should desire death, in order to escape the danger of losing the grace of God, to which he is always exposed as long as he lives on this earth. What more desirable than, by a good death, to be secure of being no longer able to lose God! But, you reply, hitherto I have gained nothing for my soul: I would wish to live in order to do something before I die. But if God does not call you now to the other life, how do you know that for the future you will not be worse than you were hitherto? And that you will not fall into other sins and be lost?

And if we had no other motive, we ought to embrace death with peace when it comes, because it delivers us from the commission of new sins. In this life no one is exempt from all sins — at least from all venial sins. Hence, St. Bernard says: “Why do we desire life, in which the longer we live the more we sin?” Why do we desire to live, since we know that the greater the number of our days, the more shall our sins be multiplied? Moreover, if we love God, we should sigh to see and to love Him face to face in Heaven. But, unless death opens the gate to us, we cannot enter into that happy country. Hence the enamoured St. Augustine exclaimed: “Oh Lord, may I die, that I may see Thee.”

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  Pope Francis Drafting New Document to Reform the Papal Conclave
Posted by: Stone - 11-05-2023, 05:05 AM - Forum: Pope Francis - Replies (2)

Pope Francis Drafting New Document to Reform the Papal Conclave

[Image: e92e0bb53fc4bcbecc6e21dd7442b37c_L.jpg]


By: Diane Montagna | Vatican Journalist
REMNANT EXCLUSIVE [Emphasis mine] | VATICAN CITY, November 4, 2023 — The Remnant has learned that a Vatican document is currently under review by Pope Francis that would reform the papal conclave to exclude cardinals over the age of eighty from its preparatory phase, radically reshape the General Congregations, and potentially revolutionize who elects the Pope by having laity and women religious comprise twenty-five percent of the vote.

Well-informed Vatican sources have confirmed to the Remnant that a series of meetings have been held at Santa Marta since late spring between Pope Francis and Italian Jesuit canonist Cardinal Gianfranco Ghirlanda, with one specific goal: to reform Pope John Paul II’s 1996 apostolic constitution on the vacancy of the Apostolic See and election of the Roman Pontiff, Universi Dominici Gregis.

Since the end of August, these meetings have become more frequent and were held on a weekly basis until the start of the Synod assembly in early October.

The document under review would exclude from the General Congregations preceding the beginning of a papal election all non-voting cardinals, that is, all cardinals who have reached the age of eighty. Many contend that the Pope is made in the General Congregations, as it is in this preparatory phase that the problems facing the Church, and the qualities needed in a suitable candidate, are discussed. Given the long experience of the cardinals who are over eighty and the pivotal role they play in shaping the ideas of the cardinal-electors, their exclusion would widely be seen as wounding the Sacred College and the papal conclave. It would also reduce to an even smaller minority within the discussions those cardinals who had not been appointed by Pope Francis.

The document would also radically change the procedures and organization of the General Congregations, eliminating plenary sessions (wherein all the cardinals convene as a body) and establishing small working groups with a head to guide discussions, similar to the October 2023 synodal assembly.

The Remnant has also learned that Cardinal Ghirlanda is seeking to convince Pope Francis to undertake a truly revolutionary act, by revolutionizing who elects the Pope. Professing to “return to the early Church”, the idea would be to have cardinal-electors, the majority of whom Pope Francis has chosen, comprise seventy-five percent of the vote, while the remaining twenty-five percent would be made up of laymen and women and religious sisters, papally appointed by Pope Francis in advance of the Apostolic See becoming vacant.

If promulgated, the document would widely be seen as representing an ecclesial and theological upheaval of papal elections. While Pope Francis is said to be intent on reforming the papal conclave in a more “synodal” style, we are told he has not yet given a definitive “yes” to the document which, if promulgated, will surely meet with considerable resistance from members of the Sacred College.

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  Saint Charles Borromeo addressing cowardly and unfaithful Bishops
Posted by: Stone - 11-04-2023, 07:07 AM - Forum: The Saints - No Replies

Saint Charles Borromeo addressing cowardly and unfaithful Bishops

[Image: AVvXsEigT1QAaV5XwBVadncmSsPfS1LL6RZApNRj...=w405-h640]


cathcon.com | November 4, 2023

“Let us fear lest the angered judge say to us: If you were the enlighteners of My Church, why have you closed your eyes? If you pretended to be shepherds of the flock, why have you suffered it to stray? Salt of the earth, you have lost your savour. Light of the world, they that sat in darkness and the shadow of death have never seen you shine. You were apostles; who, then, put your apostolic firmness to the test, since you have done nothing but seek to please men? You were the mouth of the Lord, and you have made that mouth dumb. If you allege in excuse that the burden was beyond your strength, why did you make it the object of your ambitious intrigues?” (St. Charles Borromeo, address to fellow bishops at Synod)


Cathcon: The crisis then as now is nothing if not episcopal.

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  Marie Julie Jahenny speaks of anti-popes AFTER the Victory of the Great Monarch in France
Posted by: Stone - 11-03-2023, 06:51 AM - Forum: Sedevacantism - No Replies

The following is taken from the blog Marie-Julie Jahenny: Prophecies For Our Times:


Ecstasy date September 28, 1882 – More on the evil times that will take over Paris before the arrival of the King - Scientists will rock Paris – More on the Armies that will Invade

St. Michael: “A very short respite will follow this great entry into the evil that will be complete, especially in the Centre (Paris) and the surrounding area. May 24, it will happen between the people who call themselves winners and elevated in science, a brightness that will shake this Big City where blood has so often reddened the pavement and this motion will not appease them. You know the number 14 has been chosen by me."

(Observations [from the blog author]: will men of science create a new weapon of destruction and launch it over Paris? The word 'brightness' it is tempting to think of a nuclear weapon of some kind. Or they will announce a new scientific discovery, a 'brightness' in the realm of worldly knowledge, but it will be diabolical against God's order of Creation and shake up the city morally speaking?)

St. Michael: "The second and violent crisis will commence and go up to 45 days. France will be invaded to the diocese where Brittany begins. The strongest army will fall on Orleans and invade areas of land that I cannot restrict. With one stroke, they will reach the vicinity of the Great City (Paris). They will penetrate there only in the middle of the crisis. "


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


IMPORTANT UPDATE (added to this page Nov. 13, 2022): 

Ecstasy date September 29, 1882: (Source: “Marie-Julie Jahenny: Une Vie Mystique, Henri Boucier, pp. 288-289)

Saint Michael: “As soon as France is delivered, the ordeal will begin for Rome. Five months after peace is restored to France by King Henry V of the Cross, an unprecedented revolution will break out in Rome. The dreadful war in Italy will be long; it will last more than two years. The Church will have its seat vacant for many months.”



::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


TWO ANTI-POPES DURING THE TIME OF CRISIS


Ecstasy Date September 29, 1882 ("Friends of Marie-Julie" Website)



Marie-Julie Jahenny: "The Church will have its seat vacant for long months ... (...) There will be two successive anti-popes that will reign all this time over the Holy See …"


(IMPORTANT OBSERVATIONS ON THIS REVELATION [from the author of the blog]: since I have finally discovered an additional text stating when the papal seat will be vacant in Rome due to two successive anti-popes will rule, thanks to Henri Bourcier's book, we now know that it will actually happen during the bloody wars that will break out in Italy, and when Henry V has already arrived and is establishing peace in France. Why the “Friends of Marie-Julie Jahenny” did not release this detail on their site baffles me as it is important - this is proof Marie-Julie's prophecies do NOT support the current heresy of Sedevacantism in that the papal seat has been vacant for decades with no true successor present.  She foretells an anti-pope period that will only last 'long months'.  Also we know a 'holy pope', the true successor will be present at this time who will "be difficult to find" according to an earlier prophecy stating that this 'vacancy' will happen when a pope suffers a martyrdom, and the 'holy pope', possibly the 'Angelic Pontiff,' will be difficult to find amidst the physical ruins of Rome, see post  #143, click here.

So, this and the rest of Marie-Julie Jahenny's prophecies in NO WAY supports the current movement of Sedevacantism that proposes the Seat of Peter has been left vacant for many decades.

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  Maine’s radical new law allowing abortion up to birth takes effect
Posted by: Stone - 11-03-2023, 05:41 AM - Forum: Abortion - No Replies

Maine’s radical new law allowing abortion up to birth takes effect
The Pine Tree State’s new law makes it one of only a few states that provide almost no protections for the unborn.

[Image: mills.jpg]

Maine Governor Janet Mills speaks during a press conference about the mass shooting on October 26, 2023 in Lewiston, Maine.
Photo by Scott Eisen/Getty Images

Nov 2, 2023
AUGUSTA, Maine (LifeSiteNews) — A radical new law in Maine that will permit abortions up to the moment of birth at the discretion of abortionists took effect last week.

Maine’s LD 1619, which was signed by Democratic Gov. Janet Mills in July, officially took effect Wednesday, October 25.

State law previously specified that abortions after a baby was deemed viable, usually about 20 weeks’ gestation, could only be performed if a woman’s “life or health” were at risk. That language, as well as criminal penalties for any non-licensed person who performs or helps to perform an elective abortion, have been stripped out.

Preborn babies in Maine are now left with virtually no protections under the new law, which authorizes abortionists to kill unborn babies at any stage of pregnancy as long as they determine the procedure “necessary in [their] professional judgment.” Pro-lifers point out that the deliberate killing of a preborn baby is never medically necessary.

Ahead of signing the radical legislation, Gov. Mills argued that specific abortion restrictions cannot be implemented at the legislative level.

“Maine law should recognize that every pregnancy, like every woman, is different, and that politicians cannot and should not try to legislate the wide variety of difficult circumstances pregnant women face,” Mills said.

The Pine Tree State’s new law makes it one of only a few states that provide almost no protections for the unborn.

“Maine is now among a handful of states with the least restrictions on abortion rights [sic],” The Portland Press Herald reported.

Alaska, Colorado, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, and Vermont have similar laws.

Maine’s legislation at least partially inspired by the tragic story of a mother who traveled from Maine to Colorado to abort her 32-week-old baby boy who was diagnosed with skeletal dysplasia and was predicted not to survive delivery.

“The fetus’ bones were fracturing in the womb, and [he] was suffering,” the outlet reported, adding that, if his mother had given birth to him, he “likely would have died a horrible death at birth, with delivery crushing his bones … ”

“If he somehow survived the birth, he wouldn’t have been able to breathe, she said, and would have died immediately,” The Portland Press Herald reported.

Pro-life advocates do not deny the existence of difficult pregnancies or severe fatal fetal anomalies but do argue that the intentional killing of an innocent child is not an acceptable response. Moreover, prenatal diagnoses are frequently wrong, and intentional murder does not spare a child from a horrific death.

According to the Charlotte Lozier Institute, “Abortions performed after 20 weeks’ gestation, when not done by induction of labor (which leads to fetal death due to prematurity), are most commonly performed by dilation and evacuation (D & E) procedures.”

“These particularly gruesome surgical techniques involve crushing, dismemberment and removal of a fetal body from a woman’s uterus,” the organization states.

If not dismembered, the late-term babies are murdered through lethal injection and then delivered deceased.

Mike McClellan, policy director for the Christian Civic League of Maine, argued that the “tragic” and “sad” story promoted by the media ahead of the passage of the new law didn’t justify the changed legislation, which will enable women to kill their babies at any stage of pregnancy after simply attaining the go-ahead from a physician.

Moreover, while tragic and complicated stories like those of the Maine woman with the disabled baby are often used to justify sweeping pro-abortion laws, the vast majority of abortions are not sought for medical reasons, but for social, career, or financial considerations.

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  What Happens to Aborted Babies after They are Killed?
Posted by: Stone - 11-03-2023, 05:35 AM - Forum: Abortion - No Replies

Where do aborted babies go after they are killed? The answer may shock you
Many of them, it turns out, are treated as biomedical waste and burned for fuel – babies with perfect hands and feet, with faces and eyes and little mouths.

[Image: baby-810x500-1.jpg]

Aborted baby obtained by Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising from Washington Surgi-Clinic

Nov 2, 2023
(LifeSiteNews) — On March 25, 2022, a truck driver who works for the biomedical waste company hired to dispose of children aborted at the Washington Surgi-Clinic looked the other way to give pro-life sidewalk counselor Lauren Handy the opportunity to take two boxes. Stuffed inside the medical waste containers within were the remains of 115 children. A.J. Hurley, a Californian pro-life activist, drove down to help her and her companions, members of the group Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising, and to photograph the bodies. It was a surreal experience, Hurley said. The women “were beside themselves.” As they photographed the babies, the activists frequently broke down, but to photograph the children was to validate their existence.

“You look at these bodies – it felt cold, it felt sterile, it felt dark, there was a sense of abandonment,” Hurley told me. “My mind couldn’t separate the depravity of what I was witnessing from the image-bearers of God it happened to. It was pure evil. Something so pure being treated in such a wicked way – I remember leaving the room, just beside myself, thinking: I will never be the same. Everything inside of me is energized to fight this evil. I hope these pictures will break the spell our country is under.”

Of the 115 children, 110 were buried in an undisclosed cemetery; the five late-term children were reported to the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department’s Homicide Unit, which came to Handy’s house and picked up the bodies. Despite physician testimony indicating that the children were likely killed beyond the legal limit (what a phrase), the Metropolitan Police Department declared that they wouldn’t be commissioning autopsies: “Those fetuses were aborted in accordance with D.C. law, so we are not investigating this incident along those lines. There doesn’t seem to be anything criminal in nature about that now except for how they got into this house.”

Where do aborted babies go after they are killed? Where were the 115 children killed in Cesare Santangelo’s clinic and boxed up in little buckets headed on the biomedical waste truck? A press release issued by Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising on October 17 offers a gut-wrenching answer. Curtis Bay Medical Waste, “the facility responsible for transporting the box of 115 aborted babies found by PAUU last year, was fined $1.7 million for a criminal penalty after pleading guilty to over 40 charges related to environmental violations.” Among these violations were “failing to properly incinerate medical waste before dumping it into landfills.” Those 115 babies that PAUU took from the truck driver? They were on the way to be incinerated – burned – for fuel to “provide energy to residents of Baltimore.”

Where do aborted babies go after they are killed? Many of them, it turns out, are burned. As PAUU reported: “Curtis Bay has a long history of collecting and burning aborted babies for energy in the Baltimore area. They are the leading medical waste pick up service for abortion facilities in the DMV area. These 40 charges were all related to the improper disposal and treatment of medical waste, including fetal remains. One of the investigators on the case was quoted saying, ‘Our evidence shows that they knew they were failing to do what they were required to do. They failed, and they were caught.’” The reality behind that summary is the specter of a waste company dumping half-burned babies into a garbage dump. Our society, however, permits killing the babies – it just demands that they are properly incinerated once they’ve been murdered.

“Any step towards justice for the babies murdered by Cesare Santangelo is a victory for the pro-life movement,” said Caroline Smith, executive director of PAUU. “Curtis Bay is a collaborator in the pervasive mass murder of abortion, and they must be held accountable for burning the bodies of thousands of aborted human beings. Curtis Bay must be shut down and their assets must be liquidated for the good of the community.” PAAU founder Terrisa Bukovinac, one of the activists who found the box of the aborted babies, stated, “I know first hand that Curtis Bay burns aborted children because I intercepted a box of baby remains outside an all-term DC abortion business bound for a Curtis Bay incinerator. Curtis Bay must be held accountable for exposing the Baltimore community to toxic incinerated human bodies.”

Somehow, accountability for “exposing the Baltimore community to toxic incinerated human bodies” seems like a criminally flaccid response to the fact that we are – well, burning babies. Babies with perfect hands and feet; with faces and eyes and little mouths. They weren’t biomedical waste. They were people – but we burned them anyway. God have mercy on us.

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  Allegri & Palestrina: Lamentations
Posted by: Stone - 11-02-2023, 08:49 AM - Forum: Catholic Hymns - No Replies

Allegri & Palestrina: Lamentations



From the video description:

Quote:This recording brings together music composed in a variety of contrasting yet complemetary forms, from Gregorian chant to more elaborate, polyphonic music, set to words that explore the rawest human emotions, death, sin and repentance. The death of a loved one is a particularly distressing experience, and over the centuries composers have chanelled their grief into their most moving and emotional works. In the 1850s Brahms composed the German Requiem after he lost his mother, and Fauré’s Requiem was also composed after his mother died. Britten produced the imposingly bleak and Mahlerian Sinfonia da Requiem after the death of his parents. In this recording, the grief of Mary, the mother of Christ, is portrayed in Palestrina’s masterful setting of the Stabat Mater, composed for Pope Gregory XIV. Another moving portrayal of grief is Weelkes’s intimate depiction of the pain of David upon learning of his son Absalom’s death, When David heard.

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  WEF co-founder’s son calls for the arrests of COVID jab pushers for ‘democide’
Posted by: Stone - 11-02-2023, 06:56 AM - Forum: Great Reset - No Replies

World Economic Forum co-founder’s son calls for the arrests of COVID jab pushers for ‘democide’
‘The WEF, the WHO, GAVI, Big Pharma, Big Tech, Bill Gates all advocated a global humanity injection by a bioweapon, injecting nano lipids into 5.7 billion people... We can no longer tolerate any entity that promotes poison to be injected into humanity.'

[Image: Pascal-Najadi-e1698841028421.png]

Oct 31, 2023
(LifeSiteNews) — Pascal Najadi, the son of World Economic Forum co-founder Hussain Najadi, called for the arrests of those responsible for the forced COVID-19 “vaccinations” of 5.7 billion people around the world, saying the injections are a bioweapon leading to “democide.”

“Democide” is a term coined a few decades ago that refers to government mass murder and extermination of civilian populations via either direct action or indifference.

“Everything evil in the world related to democide, unfortunately, comes from Geneva,” Najadi said as he listed the global organizations headquartered in Geneva that played major roles in mandating the COVID jab, which has proved deadly to an estimated 50 million souls around the globe and medically debilitating to tens of millions more.

Among those organizations based in Geneva are the World Economic Forum (WEF), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the Global Alliance for Vaccine Immunization (GAVI).

“The World Economic Forum – of which my father was a co-founder and left Klaus Schwab out of disgust in the early 1980s – has diplomatic immunity” from the Swiss government, Najadi noted.

“I, as a Swiss citizen, right here now, declare that the WEF is not eligible anymore for diplomatic immunity,” Najadi said. “I call on the Swiss authorities and security to arrest those people immediately.  Why?”

The WEF, the WHO, GAVI, Big Pharma, Big Tech, Bill Gates all advocated a global humanity injection by a bioweapon, injecting nano lipids into 5.7 billion people.

And we Swiss are hosting them? We can no longer tolerate any entity that promotes poison to be injected into humanity.

“I’m a victim. I’m dying from it, and my mother too,” said Najadi, who has described previously that he experienced severe bodily harm when Swiss doctors injected him with “poison.”

Najadi said that as a result of the Pfizer jab he now suffers from a terminal autoimmune condition. Doctors have told him that his lifespan will now be reduced by up to 25 years.

“It’s ‘democide,’” he reemphasized.

“It will be corrected in the name of humanity,” he predicted.


“The victims curve is going up, steep,” Najadi said during an interview in June. “The turbo cancer cases in Europe are exploding. Children are dropping dead. This is unforgivable.”

“This genocide is driven by the WHO. We’re talking about more than 50 million people worldwide killed, murdered by those injections,” Najadi continued. “This is a genocide of biblical dimensions.”

“Fauci, the CDC, the WHO, Pfizer, and the government officials and media that were in [on] this, in my personal view, they’ll face God very soon and they’ll have to answer tough questions,” he mused.

Najadi referred to the Big Pharma corporations as “gangsters,” adding that a long line of political and medical industry leaders and unelected bureaucrats “belong behind bars.”

In March, Najadi filed a civil lawsuit in the Supreme Court of the State of New York in Manhattan against Pfizer, Inc. which he hopes will bring a halt to the manufacture and implementation of the COVID mRNA injection and its accompanying adverse effects.

Late last year, Najadi filed criminal charges against Swiss President Alain Berset for abuse of public office concerning his role in his government’s push to inject citizens with an experimental drug without informed consent.

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  Latest Motu Proprio: Pope Francis Orders "New Theology"
Posted by: Stone - 11-02-2023, 06:35 AM - Forum: Pope Francis - Replies (1)

Motu Proprio: Francis Orders "New Theology"

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gloria.tv | November 1, 2023


In yet another motu proprio, entitled in Latin "Ad theologiam promovendam" (November 1) but published only in Italian, Francis issued new statutes for the irrelevant Pontifical Academy of Theology.

“Promoting theology in the future cannot be limited to abstractly re-proposing formulas and schemes of the past,” Francis repeats one of his abstract formulas of the past.

A Church that is “synodal", "missionary", and "going forth” also needs a theology that “goes forth”, says the Motu Proprio, while the Council Church is neither synodal nor missionary and regresses every year together with its infantile theology.

Francis calls for a “a paradigm shift” and a "cultural revolution”, two ideological terms borrowed from outdated Marxism. The Gospel should be read and interpreted “in the conditions in which men and women daily live” - but what are these conditions concretely?

The motu proprio is embarrassingly self-referential with Francis mostly quoting himself.

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  "Not A Crisis. It's An Invasion": Massive Migrant Caravan Prepares To Cross US Border
Posted by: Stone - 11-02-2023, 06:29 AM - Forum: Global News - No Replies

"Not A Crisis. It's An Invasion": Massive Migrant Caravan Prepares To Storm US Border


ZH [adapted] | NOV 02, 2023


While everyone is laser-focused on World War III threats across the Middle East, President Biden's border crisis is only worsening as a new migrant caravan departed from southern Mexico on Monday and is headed north to the US southern border.

According to Reuters, 5,000 migrants from Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, and Venezuela are on foot near the city of Tapachula near the Guatemalan border.

One of the caravan's organizers, Irineo Mujica, told Reuters that civil protection officials and ambulances are escorting the migrants.


Mujica said the migrants departed from Tapachula over their inability to secure humanitarian visas. He added that some migrants had asked local authorities to help with recovery efforts in the hurricane-stricken port of Acapulco in trade for visas. Authorities responded with "No."

Videos are flooding 'free speech' platform X, showing the massive migrant caravan.


Elon Musk commented on one of the videos with a "Wow."


Fox News published new US Border Patrol data which reveals President Biden's disastrous open border policies have led to the release of 900,000 illegal immigrants into the interior US this year, including 150,000 in September alone. This offers new insight into the invasion the Biden administration allowed at the southern border (remember this?).

The migrant invasion comes as the US military-industrial complex is funding two wars, one in Eastern Europe and the other in the Middle East.

One major worry is that some migrants from countries associated with terrorism have flooded the US. There has been no vetting of these folks, and no understanding, if any, have been radicalized - this is a huge national security threat.

"People approved for walkovers include individuals from Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, with some of the largest numbers coming from Muslim-majority former Soviet republics such as Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan," the NYPost said.

It's very evident the radicals in the White House are allowing people from terror countries into the country.

Days ago, former UK politician Nigel Farage spoke with Tucker Carlson about how migrants flooding the Western world from current conflicts are posing national security threats.


Meanwhile, major Democrat cities, such as New York, are imploding after receiving more than 100,000 migrants this year. Some city streets have been transformed into a third-world-like state, and Mayor Eric Adams recently warned the city's immigration crisis could "break the bank."

On Tuesday, Fox News' Peter Doocy pressed National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on the increased terror threat to Americans.

Doocy asked Kirby whether there was a possibility that a migrant could carry out a terror attack in the US since the southern border has been wide open.

Kirby responded: "I couldn't possibly answer that question, Peter. All I can do is tell you that we have remained vigilant to that potential threat."

The federal government's lack of intervention on the southern border is a telling sign they don't have the interest of the vast majority. At the same time, they're mysteriously catering to a fringe minority that promotes open borders. And this is all before the 2024 presidential election cycle. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this one out.

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  The True Story of the Diabolically Possessed children in Alsace
Posted by: Stone - 11-02-2023, 06:16 AM - Forum: Resources Online - Replies (2)

The True Story of the Diabolically Possessed children in Alsace
Part I of III


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  Bishop Huonder to Consecrate an SSPX Church in Switzerland
Posted by: Stone - 11-01-2023, 07:04 AM - Forum: The New-Conciliar SSPX - Replies (3)

Taken from the Non Possumus blog [machine translated]:


Saturday, October 28, 2023

ONE MORE STEP INTO THE ABYSS: BISHOP(?) HUONDER WILL CONSECRATE AN SSPX CHURCH IN SWITZERLAND

[Image: pape-Mgr%20Huonder.jpg]


The official German  website of the Neo-SSPX announces that Bishop (?) Huonder will consecrate the church of Oberriet Priory, Switzerland, on November 18.

This is a new step in the strategy of gradual rapprochement between the Fraternity and the official liberal clergy.

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  Archbishop Viganò: Homily for the Feast of Christ the King
Posted by: Stone - 10-31-2023, 07:12 AM - Forum: Archbishop Viganò - No Replies

Archbishop Viganò: Homily for the Feast of Christ the King
October 29, 2023
Taken from here.


Editor’s note: The following essay is taken from Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò’s homily on the feast of Christ the King.


Regnum eius regnum sempiternum est, et omnes reges servient ei et obedient
For his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.

Once upon a time there was a king. Thus began the fairy tales we heard as children, at a time when ideological indoctrination had not yet come to corrupt children in their innocence and we could serenely speak of kings, princes, and princesses, and it was normal to think that at least in the world of fairy tales there could be a social order not subverted by the Revolution. Realms, thrones, crowns, honor, loyalty, and chivalry were all references that went beyond time and fashions, precisely because of their coherence with the divine cosmos, with the eternal and immutable hierarchy of the celestial orders.

There were also kings in the parables with which the Lord instructed His disciples, and He proclaimed Himself to be a king as He stood before Pilate clothed in mockery with a purple robe, crowned with thorns, holding a reed instead of a scepter. He was mocked by the scoundrels for being a king, and the governor of Judea recognized Him as king when He had the plaque affixed to the Cross indicating the reason for His condemnation to death: “Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudæorum.” The Sanhedrin would have liked to correct that inscription:

Do not write: ‘The King of the Jews,’ but: ‘This man said, ‘I am the King of the Jews.’’ (Jn 19:21)

And even today there are those who want to deny Our Lord that title which so disturbs His enemies, because of all that it implies. But at the very moment when the wicked shake off Christ’s gentle yoke and openly declare their rebellion against His sovereign authority, they are forced to fill that void, just as those who deny the true God end up worshiping idols.

Pilate said to the Jews, ‘Behold, your king.’ But they cried out, ‘Away! Away! Crucify him!’ Pilate said to them, ‘Shall I crucify your king?’ The chief priests answered, ‘We have no king but Caesar.’ (Jn 19:15)

It is very sad to see how misguided minds, in order not to recognize an evident and salvific reality, prefer to make themselves slaves of a far inferior power, such as that of the state, and an invading state at that. On the other hand, those who serve Satan are also ready to serve the Antichrist as king and to recognize his kingdom, of which the New World Order is an ominous prelude. But isn’t that ultimately what we do every time we disobey God? Do we not deny universal and absolute Lordship to Him who holds it by divine right and by conquest, and then attribute it to creatures or usurp it ourselves? Do we not set ourselves up as supreme legislators whenever we pretend to take the place of the one on Sinai who gave Moses the tablets of the law? Did not our first parents do the same when they listened to the enticements of the serpent and broke the Lord’s command by eating the fruit of the tree? Or the Jews in the wilderness, when they worshipped the golden calf?

Kingly power is inextricably linked to divinity: the kings of Israel and the sovereigns of the Catholic nations considered themselves vicars of God, vested with a sacred power that was conferred by a quasi-sacramental rite. The exercise of kingly authority – and more generally of government – must therefore be consistent with the will of God Himself, from whom all authority emanates.

This coherence implies the recognition, on the part of the public authority, of the supreme power of God and the obligation to conform the laws of the state to the natural and divine law. He who believes that he can use the power of authority, whether civil or ecclesiastical, for a purpose different from, or even opposed to, that for which authority was instituted by God, is deluding himself miserably, and his destiny will be no different from that which providence has reserved for tyrants and sovereigns who rebel against the divine will.

This applies not only to temporal power, but also – and above all – to spiritual power, which by the hierarchical superiority of ends is intrinsically superior to temporal power, and precisely for this reason those who hold spiritual power must conform even more faithfully to what God has taught and ordained. And if it is true that it is an inconsistency when those given authority do not act in their private lives in accordance with the principles of faith and morals, it is quite unheard of that such inconsistency could extend to the exercise of authority itself.

For this reason the stains which weigh upon the personal conduct of an Alexander VI are incomparably less serious than those of a pope who, although having a life which is not scandalous, commits acts of government contrary to the end of the papacy. And today we must also come to terms with the reality of a “papacy” in which the personal scandals of Jorge Mario Bergoglio are even obscured by those that he commits by virtue of the authority that is – at least momentarily – recognized to him.

The Lord, who is a jealous God (Ex 20:5), wants to reign over His people, and He exercises this kingdom through His vicars in temporal and spiritual matters. He intended His Church to be monarchical. He did not intend to leave the Pope free to decide what he wants, but rather to act as Christi Vicarius and Servus servorum Dei, so that He would be the only High and Eternal Priest, the mediator between God and men, the universal king and Lord, so as to reign by means of the pope.

The idea of a democratic Church is not only a theological aberration and a blatant violation of the Lord’s hierarchical structure, but it is a nonsense that is refuted by its own proponents, since it is based on the false premise that it is possible to exercise authority apart from the good, perverting it into tyranny. Ecclesiastical and civil authority, by divine decree, are the expression of the supreme, absolute and universal Lordship of Christ, cujus regni non erit finis. Too often we forget that the Lord is not God as a result of universal suffrage. Dominus regnavit, decorem indutus est (Ps 92:1). The Lord reigns in all the universe: He has clothed Himself with majesty. Sacred Scripture here uses a verbal form with which it expresses the eternity, indefectibility, and finality of the Kingdom of Christ.

Regnum meum non est de hoc mundo” (Jn 18:36): these words of Our Lord to Pilate are not to be understood in the sense that heretics and modernists are accustomed to give you, that is, that Jesus Christ does not claim authority over the government of nations and that He leaves them free to legislate as they wish, following the errors of secularism and liberalism. On the contrary, precisely because the Kingdom of Christ does not derive from earthly power, it is eternal and universal, total and absolute, direct and immediate. Ego vici mundum, the Lord reassures us. Therefore, not only is the world not at the origin of His authority, but rather it becomes its enemy as soon as it withdraws from it in order to serve the Princeps mundi huius, who is precisely a prince, who is also hierarchically subject to the supreme power of God, who allows him to act only in order to obtain greater good from it.

I have conquered the world, therefore, means that the world, however much it deludes itself that it can oppose the plans of providence and hinder the action of grace, can do nothing against the one who has already conquered it. That victory, which is total and irreversible, was accomplished through the Cross, a sign of the infamy reserved for slaves, with the passion and death of the Savior in obedience to His Father. Regnavit a ligno Deus. The Cross is the throne of glory, because through it Christ has redeemed us, that is, he has ransomed us from slavery to Satan.

Today both the state and the Church are held hostage by the enemies of God, and their authority is usurped by criminal subversives and heretics who arrogantly show their determination to do evil and their aversion to the law of the Lord. The betrayal of rulers and the apostasy of prelates are the punishment we deserve for having disobeyed God.

And yet, while they destroy, we have the joy and honor of rebuilding. And there is a still greater happiness: a new generation of laity and priests are participating with zeal in this work of reconstruction of the Church for the salvation of souls, and they do so well aware of their own weaknesses and miseries, but also allowing themselves to be used by God as docile instruments in His hands: helpful hands, strong hands, the hands of the Almighty.

Our fragility highlights the fact that this is the Lord’s work even more, especially where this human fragility is accompanied by humility. This humility ought to lead us to instaurare omnia in Christo, beginning with the heart of the faith, which is the Holy Mass. Let us return to the liturgy which recognizes Our Lord in His absolute primacy.

If Our Lord is King by hereditary right (since he is born of the royal line of David), by divine right (in virtue of the hypostatic union), and also by right of conquest (having redeemed us by His sacrifice on the Cross), we must not forget that, in the plans of divine providence, this divine sovereign has at his side, as Our Lady and queen, His own august Mother, Mary Most Holy. There can be no Kingship of Christ without the sweet and maternal Queenship of Mary, whom Saint Louis Marie Grignon de Montfort reminds us is our mediatrix before her Son’s majestic throne, where she stands as queen interceding before the king. Regina, Mater Misericordiae, Spes nostra, Advocata nostra.

The premise of the triumph of the divine king in society and in nations is that He already reigns in our hearts, our souls, and our families. May Christ also reign in us, and may His Most Holy Mother reign along with Him. Adveniat regnum tuum: adveniat per Mariam.

And so may it be.

+ Carlo Maria Viganò, Archbishop

October 29, 2023
Domini Nostri Jesu Christi Regis

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  LFSPN - Catholic Social Teaching and Action for Our Times - Part II
Posted by: Stone - 10-31-2023, 06:41 AM - Forum: LFSPN - No Replies

LFSPN - Catholic Social Teaching and Action for Our Times
by Paul Whitburn

Part II of II
September 2023



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  How the Fleur-de-lis Became the Symbol of France
Posted by: Stone - 10-30-2023, 06:27 AM - Forum: General Commentary - No Replies

How the Fleur-de-lis Became the Symbol of France
by Margaret C. Galitzin


The lily has long been associated with the Virgin Mary, who lived a lily among the thorns, (1) as a symbol of purity, innocence and beauty. With the conversion of Clovis, the Franks adopted a stylized lily – the fleur-de-lis – as a symbol to commemorate the conversion of its first Catholic King. The fleur-de-lis became the symbol of the French Monarchy.

We find our legend in the late 13th century poem written at the Abbey of Joyenval at Chambourcy. (2)


Now it so happened that Clovis was at war with another pagan, King Conflac. One day he set out to do battle with the King of the Alamanni, in what today is known as the Battle of Tolbiac (496). However, as he took up his shield to enter the battle, he saw that the three frogs that had been the insignia on his weapon had been transformed into three lilies on an azure ground. Clovis, still with toads on his tunic, entered the battle bearing lilies on his shield.

[Image: H249_Clo.jpg]

The shield of Clovis, from The Bedford Book of Hours, c. 1423, below, a medieval manuscript records the change from frogs to lilies

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banner france toads frongThe rest of the story is well known to readers of History. During the heat of the battle with the Alemanni, Clovis called out to the “God of Clotilde” and made a vow to convert if he were victorious. God heard his plea and gave him the victory.

When Clovis returned to his castle, he sought out the mysterious meaning of the three golden fleurs-de-lis. Clotilde told him that the three petals of the flower symbolized the Holy Trinity Who had given him the victory. For God did not want him to bear such a shield with frogs any longer, but had sent to him those three fleurs-de-lis on a blue field so that he would be provided fittingly after he became Catholic.

“Hereby the Holy Trinity gives you victory, my Lord Clovis, so that just as the unity of the three flowers is like gold to your shield, so in perpetuity will your authority reign supreme in golden sovereignty.” (3)

From that time forward the fleur-de-lis replaced the frog and became the symbol of France and its Kings.

And how was it that the three lilies came to appear on the shield of Clovis?

There was a pious hermit who lived nearby the castle, next to a place where the Monastery of Joyenval would later be built. Queen Clotilde at times would consult this holy monk. One day when the hermit was praying an Angel appeared to him with a shield upon which were placed the three fleurs-de-lis against a background the color of a serene blue sky.

The monk told Clotilde of this vision, and she ordered that the frogs should be scratched from Clovis’ shield and replaced with the lilies. With this new symbol from Heaven, delivered in message by an Angel, Clovis won his battle against Conflac. And with this victory, a new era of peace and harmony came to all of France.

And thus the virginal and immaculate lily provided the perfect symbol of the virtue, power and stability of the French Monarchy, under the protection of the Holy Trinity and the Virgin Mary. From the beginning to the end of the Capetian line, the heraldry and iconography of the French Kings included, virtually without exception, a fleur-de-lis either held in a hand, placed atop a scepter or placed on royal robes, shields and seals.

I doubt not that thou art the Lily, the King,
For the lily is painted on thine armor.

Te lillium regem non dubito,
Nam lilium armis depingitur
. (4)

[Image: H249_VIII.jpg]

The wedding of King Louis VIII & Blanche of Castile, 1223

By the 13th century the fleur-de-lis was adopted also by the chivalric orders as a symbol of the virtues. Guillaume de Nangis praised the fleur-de-lis and noted its significance thus:

“But since Our Lord Jesus Christ wishes above all other Kingdoms to illuminate the Kingdom of France with the three aforementioned attributes, that is, faith, learning and chivalry, it has become customary for the King to bear on his coat of arms and on his banner the flower of the lily with three petals, as if the three petals said to the whole world: Faith, learning and chivalry thrive more abundantly in our Kingdom than in any other Kingdom, serving us through the care and grace of God. … For faith is governed and ruled by knowledge and is defended by chivalry.

“And furthermore, as long as the aforesaid three are together in the Kingdom of France and are firmly united to each other, the Kingdom will also remain firm. If, however, they should be separated from each other or be torn asunder, everything will be reduced to desolation and will fall into ruin.”


1. Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons, ed. J. Leclercq and H Rochais, S. Bernardi Opera, 5 (Rome, 1958), Sermon 48, pp. 67-73.
2. Michael Randall, “On the Evolution of Toads in the French Renaissance.” Renaissance Quarterly, vol. 57, no. 1 (Spring, 2004), pp. 126-164.
3. Mary Channen Caldwell, “Flower of the lily': late-medieval religious and heraldic symbolism in Paris,” Bibliothèque Nationale de France, ms français 146, vol. 33 (2014), p. 18, https://www.jstor.org/stable/43304729
4. Ibid.

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