“Instaurare omnia in Christo”

The Social Doctrine
of the Church Today
Christ, the King of the Economy
Archbishop Lefebvre and Money
Interview With Traditional
Catholic Businessmen

July - August 2016

It is not surprising that the Cross no longer triumphs,
because sacrifice no longer triumphs. It is not
surprising that men no longer think of anything but
raising their standard of living, that they seek only
money, riches, pleasures, comfort, and the easy ways
of this world. They have lost the sense of sacrifice”
(Archbishop Lefebvre, Jubilee Sermon, Nov. 1979).
Milan — fresco from San Marco church, Jesus’ teaching on the duty to render
to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God, the things that are God’s.

Letter
from the
Publisher
Dear readers,
Because he is body and soul, man has basic human needs, like food, drink, clothes, and
shelter, which he cannot obtain unless he has basic, minimal possessions. The trouble is
that possessions quickly engender love for them; love breeds dependence; and dependence is only one step away from slavery. Merely human wisdom, like Virgil’s Aeneid, has
stigmatized it as “the sacrilegious hunger for gold.”
For the Catholic, the problem of material possessions is compounded with the issue
of using the goods as if not using them, of living in the world without being of the world.
This is the paradox best defined by Our Lord in the first beatitude: “Blessed be the poor in
spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Our civilization is fast heading towards decomposition partly for not understanding
these basic truths. Besides, the social fabric has suffered greatly from a twin process
which only increases the crisis. Firstly, we have witnessed the reduction of politics to
mere economy. To this is added the issue that the financial world, to the amount of 98%,
is a vast lottery, a mere speculation without real exchange.
It is difficult to not see in this the ultimate descent into the abyss of lucre, butting
heads with the evangelical wisdom. “Where is our heart, there is our treasure.” We all
know the worries and sweat parents undergo to provide their children with a Catholic
school and education. They deprive themselves of many things which they would enjoy
had they given in to selfish pursuits. Selfishness thinks twice when it comes to give life,
but very little when it comes to succumbing to a gratifying pleasure.
Our Lord, who suffered hunger and cold, is aware of even our smallest needs. In His
mercy, He wanted us to go through life as exiles in this vale of tears, so as to long for the
other life “where neither rust nor moth consume, and where thieves do not break through
nor steal” (Mt. 6:20). There is something deeply human and refreshing at throwing a well
earned dollar in the beggar’s hat for the sake of Christ who told us that there will always
be poor in this world.
Fr. Jürgen Wegner
Publisher

July - August 2016
Volume XXXIX, Number 4

Contents
Letter from the Publisher

Publisher
Fr. Jürgen Wegner
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Managing Editor
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Copy Editor
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(Eindhoven, The Netherlands)
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4

Theme: The Social Doctrine of the Church Today
––Traditional Catholic Businessmen
––Spiritual Poverty
––Christ the King of the Economy
––Mammon Said….

6
10
16
24

Faith and Morals
––Pentecost and the Sundays of the Year
––Papal Teachings

27
31

Spirituality
––Pope Sarto’s Éminence Grise
––The Archbishop and Money
––Father of the Poor

36
42
47

Christian Culture
––Music and Catharsis
––Rediscovering the Obvious
––John Shakespeare

49
54
58

“Instaurare omnia in Christo”

The Angelus (ISSN 10735003) is published bi-monthly
under the patronage of St. Pius X and Mary,
Queen of Angels. Publication office is located at
PO Box 217, St. Marys, KS 66536.
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Postmaster sends address changes to the address above.
©2016 BY ANGELUS PRESS. OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE
PRIESTLY SOCIETY OF SAINT PIUS X FOR THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA

––Character Formation
––Questions and Answers

62
68

News from Tradition
––Church and World
––Chapter 8 of Amoris Laetitia
––The Synod
––The Last Word

70
74
78
87

Theme The Social Doctrine of the Church Today

Interview with

Traditional
Catholic
Businessmen
Interview conducted by Angelus Press

The Angelus recently asked a handful of
traditional Catholic businessmen some questions
related to the Faith and their daily work. We have
kept the responses anonymous.
Angelus Press: Can you tell us how the Faith
influences your business practices?
“I try to see every major decision in the
light of the Faith, which keeps me grounded
on moral questions, especially principles of
justice. Thoughts of eternity or even just the
quiet presence of the Blessed Sacrament help put
things in perspective, making even big problems
manageable.”
“The Catholic Faith influences our business
decisions in as much as we try to treat others as
Christ told us: to love our neighbor as ourselves
for the love of God.”
6

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July - August 2016

“One area where the Catholic Faith has
influenced me directly is in my hiring practices. In
the early days of my business career, I would go out
of my way to give a chance to traditional Catholics
with little or no background in my company’s line
of work to help build up their experience and set
them on the pathway to successful careers. Also,
in accordance with principles of justice and the
social teaching of the Church, I would make sure
to pay married men with families higher wages
than unmarried men, even if the latter were more
experienced or skilled.”
Angelus Press: Is there any particular aspect
of the Church’s social doctrine which you have
found relevant?
“Every business owner or manager ought to
read and re-read Rerum Novarum.”

“Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those
who trespass against us.”
“We demonstrate our love of God by loving our
neighbor and helping him to prosper.”
Angelus Press: How do you balance prosperity and success with detachment and humility?
“Statistically speaking, most businesses fail—
even good ones—within a few years of their
founding. There are a multitude of things that can
and do go wrong which are nearly impossible to

foresee. Assuming you are fortunate enough to
succeed in some measure, it has little to do with
your personal talents or worth. There are too
many moving parts. To the extent that I succeed
it is only by the grace of God and the hard work
and loyalty of my employees. To take too much
personal credit for success would be a mistake, I
think.”
“This is done by keeping in mind that all that
we have is a gift from God and all that is ours is
our sins.”

St. Patrick’s Church, New York, reflected in facade of office buildings.

7

Theme The Social Doctrine of the Church Today
“It is a constant battle to keep balance. Even
if one has financial means, practicing frugality
will help keep you grounded in a spirit of poverty.
It also helps to remember that we are only
caretakers of the wealth that we have and that
God can take it from us at any time.”
“Always remember that what God has given
God can take away! Try to have an image of the
Righteous Job in your mind and have an attitude
of detachment. It’s okay to be successful, but
never lose sight of those less fortunate. You could
find yourself in their position someday.”
Angelus Press: Are there any particular
crosses for Catholics in the business world today?
“None that can’t be overcome with
perseverance, courage, hard work, and—above
all—confidence in God.”
“Yes, but I try to look for the advantages, too.
In an age when anyone can put up an online
advertisement promising all sorts of benefits
from whatever goods or services they may be
selling, honesty and treating others well goes a
long way in setting your business apart. If you
run your business in accordance with Catholic
principles and customers or clients see this, they
will be more likely to remain loyal and, just as
importantly, spread positive words about your
enterprise to others.”
“The most profound cross is understanding
the great duty we have to our employees, and
keeping that balanced with the financial success
of the business. The family also bears the cross
of sharing your time with the business for the
common good.”
Angelus Press: What are some difficulties
particular to today in paying employees a living
wage?
“For my part, the first difficulty is knowing
what a living wage actually is in every
circumstance. Take, for instance, two families
with similar earnings and similar expenses:
one family may live in relative comfort by being
frugal and the other family may live in perpetual
dire financial straits. In my opinion, getting along
financially is influenced as much by spending
habits as it is by earnings.”
“The difficulty is not so much in paying a living
8

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July - August 2016

wage itself, but rather maintaining a successful
business which can pay such wages. If a business
is run poorly and cannot generate sustainable
profits, it cannot pay the bills, let alone pay its
employees a living wage.”
“In the context of large companies and
corporations, payroll is the biggest expense
and thus the one they seek to reduce whenever
possible. This is often achieved by laying off
more experienced and well-paid workers in
favor of entry level employees; slashing health
and retirement benefits; and foisting additional
responsibilities on the extant work staff so they
don’t have to hire on more hands. When large
companies depress wages in this way, it makes it
difficult for competing firms not to do the same
without risking profitability and sustainability.
Any competing business looking to pay a living
wage will have to find other ways to cut costs,
which is not always feasible in our current
economic system.”
Angelus Press: What struggles in business
have you had that taught you lessons you’d like to
share?
“Struggles in life in general or business
are overcome by perseverance, hard work,
the willingness to assume risk, fortitude, and
reliance on God’s generosity.”
“Reality wins. If something doesn’t work,
there generally is a reason. A huge struggle in
business is to have the self-awareness to watch
for mistakes and future failures. Often I have
blamed someone or something else for things
going wrong when, in reality, it was my fault
for not having the right mechanisms in place to
prevent the failure and guide our operations to be
successful. Another struggle is taking the time to
make sure the numbers work. So often we want
to just try something and there are times when
that is the only way to learn. However, most of
the time if we take the time to plan it out we can
tell if an idea will work or not.”
“One important lesson that emerges from the
struggle to maintain a successful business is the
value of truth and honesty, not to mention doing
little things well. In the sales and service sectors,
for example, relationships are key for building
trust and drawing in more business. I have seen

many of these relationships last decades and be
the difference-maker between having a healthy,
successful business rather than a failed one.”
Angelus Press: What advice do you have to
young men and women about to enter the world
to earn their daily bread?
“Find a job that you will enjoy for a lifetime.
Think outside the box when applying for a job.
For example, there are many traditional college
students pursuing careers in the teaching field
and yet there are only so many teaching positions
available at traditional schools. Keep in mind
that large corporations have internal training
departments, external education departments, a
need for technical writers, and so forth. Don’t be
afraid to expand your horizons when pursuing a
job. Start thinking about your work years before
you start knowing that you will need references,
a resume, and experience to help boost your
odds of finding a good position. Be willing to
start at the bottom and work your way up in
the organization, and don’t expect to graduate
college and run the company (unless it’s your
own).”
“My advice to young men is do not neglect a
good education for the sake of a job. In other
words, focus on your formation with a liberal arts
foundation and you will have many doors opened
to you. Do not be content with just getting by in
life. If you are, you will end up feeling robbed of
precious years and time better spent with your
family. My advice to young ladies is develop your
mind with the liberal arts, too, as they will help
you to be a real support to your husband and a
true partner in all his endeavors. Do not marry
a man who desires to be mediocre. You will not
save him, and he may destroy your future and the
future of your children.”
“In my opinion, in today’s world, nursing,
teaching, skilled trades, and engineering
would be areas to gravitate towards. Also, the
importance of being prepared to work long, hard
hours at some useful endeavor is invaluable.”
“Set goals for life: spiritual, family, financial,
career, social, and personal goals are all needed.
Without goals, it is hard to stay on the path
towards a good and helpful life.”

Angelus Press: As a Catholic, how do you view
the worth of money?
“I view money as ammunition in the culture
war in which we are engaged. It is a volatile
type of ammunition, which, if mishandled, will
explode and destroy your own people. If handled
with detachment, it can be utilized to fight our
enemies, primarily through promoting those
things that are good, true, and beautiful. When
we treat money as an end, it has already begun to
backfire. It really is just ammunition—we need
more, and need to control it. If you have it, pray
hard for protection.”
“Money is a tool like any other that allows us to
accomplish worthwhile objectives. In and of itself
it has little appeal.”
“Money is needed in one form or another, but
it is not the goal but rather simply a necessary
means which is generally needed to reach our
goals. How much a person needs depends largely
on their circumstances and what they seek to
achieve. A businessman seeking to build-up a
successful enterprise in the fields of engineering
or medicine is obviously going to need more than
a parish priest or bookseller. We should always be
mindful of how much we truly need in relation to
our goals and talents and ask God always for the
gift of discernment in such matters.”
Angelus Press: After years of business
practice, would you do things differently if you
were to start over?
“In the big picture, only God really knows
if we have followed our calling as He desires.
There are mistakes I have made which I would
certainly change if I could, but all I can do is
seek forgiveness from those I have failed and ask
our Lord for the strength to carry on further in
accordance with His will.”
“I am thankful that by and large I wouldn’t
do much differently. I pray that my success in
business, which comes from God, has allowed
me to better service both the Church and my
neighbors.”
“I hope that I have been able to serve my
neighbor and the Church well.”

9

“Not all poor people are happy. For in itself poverty is neither good nor evil.
You can have poor people who are good, and you can have poor people who
are bad. Unless of course we understand ‘blessed are the poor’ in the same
sense as did the prophet when he said: ‘Better a poor man who is honest
than a rich man who is a liar’ (Proverbs 19:22). Blessed was the poor man
who cried out, and the Lord heard him (cf. Psalm 33:7)… In short, blessed
are those who are poor in imitation of Him who, even though He was rich,
made Himself poor for us (cf. 2 Corinthians 8:9). Matthew puts it plainly
when he says: ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit.’”
St. Ambrose of Milan, Commentary on the Gospel According to Saint Luke
Church of the Beatitudes, Holy Land

Theme The Social Doctrine of the Church Today

Spiritual
Poverty
by Fr. Ceslas Spicq O.P., classes given in 1973 at Ecône on St. Luke’s gospel.

“Blessed are the poor” is the first Beatitude given both in St. Matthew, who counts eight such
blessings, and in St. Luke, who counts only four. In St. Luke, the stress is on all forms of poverty,
including suffering, mourning, and hunger. The same author also adds the four opposite curses: riches,
satiety, exuberant joy, and popularity. All too often, a quick read has led to the belief that only the poor
are God’s chosen ones and the rich are cursed as such, and that these Gospel maxims could be the logo
of the Theology of Liberation. Nothing can be further from the truth, as we will see by analyzing the
proper scriptural meaning of the Beatitudes.

The Poor in Spirit
This Beatitude of the poor is given an abstract
touch in St. Matthew by the addition: “poor…
in spirit.” This means that not all the poor are
blessed but only those who are spiritually so. The
best translation from the original is: “Blessed are
those who have the sense of their indigence.”
The same concept of spiritual poverty is
12

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July - August 2016

evoked with the other Beatitudes mentioned
by St. Luke: “Blessed are those who [presently]
suffer hunger after justice’s sake; they shall be
satiated.” Hunger is the mark of poverty and
privation. We are again dealing with the poor:
oppressed and defenseless persons who have no
hope but in God. Far from being the exception,
this was the life of the immense majority in
antiquity, which enjoyed no citizenship, no

protection, and no rights whatsoever, with only
too rare exceptions. Such too was the lot of much
of Israel’s political situation: a country ravaged by
wars and tribulations within and without.
The imprecation which St. Luke brings up
against the rich follows the meaning we gave
to the blessings. Jesus does not curse the
human riches, satisfaction, and joy as such. The
curse falls only upon those who are not, and
refuse to become, His disciples. Jesus directs
His discourse to two clear-cut and abstract
categories: the type of the rich like Dives, and the
type of the poor like Lazarus of the same parable.
What He means is that the poverty of the latter is
as much a help to Christ’s disciples as the riches
of the former is rather an obstacle.

care for them.
The Greek term for “poor,” ptochos, comes
from ptosso, which means “to diminish
oneself,” “to shrink.” Hence, it has the sense
of humiliation, oppression, and not of mere
physical indigence. St. Albert the Great defines
the poor as the one who is not self-sufficient.
The human creature has been described as
“an ardent vacuity which, though open to all
things, is a congenital naught.” This nuance runs
through the psalms which are characterized by
the resignation and submission of the creature
to God’s will. We are light years away from the
atheistic workman so praised in some circles

We are Begging Creatures
“Blessed are the poor.” The Greek ptochoi has
a definite realistic sense of “beggar,” “vagabond,”
and “tramp.” In St. Luke, Our Lord seems to
direct His words specifically to His disciples,
using the term “you” rather than the “they” of St.
Matthew. Hence, the sense would be that: “For
you, my disciples, without money or possession,
who have left behind the means of subsistence,
poverty is a blessing, because now, you are really
dependent on God and you are entitled to expect
everything from Him.” It has inspired the practice
of all evangelical counsels lived by monks and
nuns who profess the three vows. It is interesting
to notice also that the practice of the vows is
intimately connected with the theological virtues.
One practices poverty because one hopes and
expects all from God; obedience because one
believes and submits himself to God; chastity
because one loves God above all else.
And this is in line with the Biblical tradition
which praises those who know that they are
nothing and are happy to be so. In the Bible, God
in person takes care of the birds, which neither
amass nor sow the fields. Spiritual poverty, that
is, poverty of heart, means dependence. For St.
Thomas Aquinas, poverty deserves the dignity of
virtue only when we recognize ourselves as the
clients of divine Providence. The apostles left all
for Christ and became thus dependent on Him to
13

Theme The Social Doctrine of the Church Today
for being poor. Such a one will not deserve the
divine blessings in the mind of the psalmist.
In Biblical terms, “poverty” is another term
for the religious soul, which is the beneficiary of
God’s good pleasure. Israel as the penitent nation
is the “poor” which moves God to pity (Is. 49:13),
God protects the poor (Ps. 9:13-19; 34:7; 35:10),
and the Messiah will deliver him (Ps. 72:2-4 and
12-13). The poor is the man of low condition,
mistreated, humbled, awaiting all his help from
God. He is the client of God and all his joy lies
in the expectation of the messianic kingdom (Is.
61:1). He is presumably the first beneficiary of
the messianic kingdom which will benefit the
religious men. Resigned and abandoned as he
is to Providence, prompt to obey God’s orders,
he will become the pious man and deserve
the praiseworthy epithet of ‘just’ which was
attributed to St. Joseph among others.

The Kingdom of Heaven
The “kingdom of heaven” is a Biblical
expression, which replaces the “kingdom of God,”
since the Jews avoided scrupulously using God’s
name for fear of misusing His name in vain. What
“the kingdom of heaven” refers to is the totality of
good to hope for, the sum total of the aspirations
of the pious nation of Israel. In other words, it
means the messianic era (Dan. 2:44), the kingdom
which the God of heaven will raise forever
through the Messias.
Estin: means “is,” with the verb in the present
tense. The meaning is: “To you the kingdom!”
This is not a promise but a contract; and this
contract, this kingdom of God, is inaugurated
here and now. The poor have already started
to penetrate the kingdom and are presently in
possession of its riches. Hence, the paradox of “to
you who are poor is the true riches!”
Our Lord, in His Magna Charta of Christian
morality (Mt. Ch. 5-8), wishes to change nothing
to the social or political landscape, and does not
even denounce the crying injustice. Since the
outer circumstances are not going to be reformed
overnight, He advocates for reforming the way
the soul deals with its lot. He calls “blessed”
those who suffer…Why? because God will calm
14

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July - August 2016

their hunger. This “justice” which they hunger for
is the messianic salvation. For, by it, their right
will be recognized and no tyrant will ever steal
it away from them. This is the logical conclusion
of the state of the poor, and a leitmotiv of the
prophecies and the Psalms: the messianic
salvation will bring about peace (Ps. 17:14; Jer. 34:
23).
The idea is reinforced with the next beatitudes
of those who mourn and those who are hated.
Those who, for centuries, have been afflicted,
miserable, and have awaited the salvation of
Israel, shall be consoled (Is. 61:1; Sir. 48:24). Just
recall Simeon’s prophecy at the Presentation in
the Temple: “Now let your servant, Lord, go in
peace.” It is the sigh of an impatient soul saying:
“I have suffered enough! It is high time for me
to return to you.” The miserable troop of those
who lament is drawn from the defenseless, the
poor, and the humble, easy prey open to injustice
and violence. Hence, the Messias will have
another task at hand: to bring consolation (the
“Paraclete” of Jn. 16:20; Apoc. 7:17; Is. 49:3; 51:12;
66:13). Indeed, another typical designation of the
Messias is that of “the Consoler” (Lk. 4:18; Apoc.
21:4).
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, theirs is the
kingdom of heaven.” What poverty is suggested
by Our Lord here? He speaks of a spiritual
poverty, of detachment of heart from the goods
of this life, as is commonplace in Scripture. All
the aspects of poverty, including hunger and
persecution, are blessed in as much as they favor
the interior virtues, gateway to the kingdom of
heaven. And, when St. Luke contrasts the fourfold
blessings with the four opposite curses of riches,
satiety, exuberant joy, and popularity, he stresses
that they are commonly the source of dangerous
temptations. The “poor in spirit” really points to
souls that thirst for God, are dependent on Him,
and rely upon His justice and mercy; therefore,
they expect nothing from a world passing like a
shadow. These poor creatures are rich with the
only lasting riches: the adopted filiation by God
and the certitude of its eternal inheritance.

186 pp. – Softcover – STK# 8534 – $13.95

2011 Conference

Reflections on the
Kingship of Christ

“The Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father; and he shall reign in the house of
Jacob forever.”
Throughout the centuries of faith, one ideal kept various nations and peoples united: the Kingship
of our Lord Jesus Christ over individuals and nations. Rejected by the Protestant revolutionaries, attacked by the architects of the Enlightenment, and ignored and derided in our own age, ignorance of
the doctrine of Christ’s Kingship lies at the heart of the present crisis.
This little book provides the reader with the key texts to understand, love, and defend this teaching.
Along with biographical information about the speakers at the 2011 Angelus Press Conference, this
book presents the relevant encyclicals from Popes Leo XIII, St. Pius X, Pius XI, and Pius XII in their
entirety, plus articles from the late Cardinal Pie, Fr. Juan Carlos Iscara, FSSPX, and Dr. John Rao. A
must-have for those Catholics committed to restoring all things in Christ.

Visit www.angeluspress.org — 1-800-966-7337
Please visit our website to see our entire selection of books and music.

Theme The Social Doctrine of the Church Today

Christ the
King of the
Economy
by Brian M. McCall

Christ the King of the Economy: Refuting
the Errors of Economic Liberalism1
1

16

This article is a condensed
version of the argument
contained in Brian M.
McCall, To Build the City
of God: Living as Catholics
in a Secular Age (Angelico
Press, 2014).

The Angelus

July - August 2016

The term “economics” originally meant the study of household
management. The art of household management, or economics, is not
merely an internal art, whereby financial management of the household, its
labor and material allocation, and services acquisition, for example, take
place within the scope of a single household. Rather, households are not
completely self-sufficient but must interact with one another and with the
wider community in order to meet their needs. Exchange transactions among
households are the basis of economic activity. Reality and reason posit that
such exchanges are under the control of Christ’s direction. All of economics,
all of society, must be regulated by the eternal law, the constitution of Christ
the King. The dogma of the Kingship of Christ over all societies means that
all of human life must be under the empire of Christ the King. Just as there
can be no separation between Church and state, there can be no separation
between the Church and economy. Christ is King not only of political
societies but of economies as well.

2

Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum,
no. 16 (emphasis added).

3

Pius XI, Quadragesimo
Anno, no. 41.

Some argue that the phrase “Catholic economics” is nonsensical because
there can be no “Catholic” economics; there is only economics. Those
making such claims fail to understand that economic activity involves
human action—investing, buying, selling, laboring, etc.—which has moral
implications and is therefore subject to the law of Christ. We are whole
beings. We cannot compartmentalize our existence or actions. We cannot be
Catholics on Sunday or Catholics with respect to our religion but something
else Monday through Friday at the office. To claim economics is somehow
devoid of moral significance is to deny that it is a human activity.
In the same vein economic liberals will often seek to disqualify the
Church from speaking on economics, claiming “it is just a science.” Even if
economics were a science, which it is not, it cannot on its own answer the
important questions about what we should do. Leo XIII shortcut this line of
argument when he said in Rerum Novarum, “We approach the subject with
confidence, and in the exercise of the rights which manifestly appertain
to Us.”2 Pius XI echoed this statement more strongly in Quadragesimo Anno
when he proclaimed, “there resides in Us the right and duty to pronounce
with supreme authority upon social and economic matters,” and later stated
that these issues are “subject to Our supreme jurisdiction.”3 This was not
a new idea. These pontiffs were not stating a new truth, but they were
merely reminding people that this has been the case since the beginning of
Christianity. Church history is filled with cases of economic issues being
settled by the Church in councils, papal decretals, ecclesiastical courts, and
various synods. The very first Ecumenical Council of the Church, in Nicea,
issued canons dealing with an economic issue, usury. The papal archives
are littered with these questions, from Naviganti, dealing with sea loans,
to In Civitate, dealing with credit sales, to Vix Pervenit, summarizing the
teaching on usury.
Catholic economic doctrine is not new. The Church did not create a social
and economic doctrine in recent times to supplement its sexual morality.
The doctrine Leo XIII and Pius XI teach is merely the continuation of a
long tradition going back to the ancient pre-Christian world. Aristotle had
placed economics as a sub-discipline of politics (itself a part of ethics) and
which Christians later understood to be itself subordinate to theology. The
principles expounded in Rerum Novarum and its progeny are part of the
perennial teaching of the Catholic intellectual tradition. Leo XIII and Pius XI
certainly have applied this constant teaching to new situations (fractional
reserve banking, the rise of communism, organized labor activities), but the
doctrine they apply is not new.

Unlimited Greed or Rational Constraint?
The central assumption underlying all of liberal economic thought in
contrast to Catholic economic doctrine is greed. Now economic liberals do
not always use that word; they may call it “profit motive” or “self-interest” or
“wealth maximization,” but all of these terms boil down to the same thing.
More clever economic liberals will mask this principle by saying that it is
only valid within the economic “framework.” Once wealth is generated,
17
Paolo Bona | shutterstock.com

Theme The Social Doctrine of the Church Today
morality may have something to say about what one does with it; but within
the analysis of the process of production, profit maximization is the supreme
criterion for evaluating economic choices: which alternative generates
more wealth is the key to choosing human action (even if some concede
that morality can put demands on the further use of this wealth). All other
considerations eventually distill to this sole criterion. Social responsibility,
charitable giving, concern for the safety of workers, and other values may be
considered by economic liberals, but only after maximum profit or wealth
maximization is attained. A decision to donate computers to a school is
justified for a board of directors only to the extent the enterprise hopes
to derive at some point a greater amount of wealth than expended in the
donation through advertising or customer good will. This is why participants
in a system controlled and ruled by liberal economic thought may be decent
people, men who want to make moral choices, but their philosophy precludes
the “intrusion” of such morals into the decisions of a business enterprise,
wherein the generation of profit is the complete good to be sought. This
move exempts economic liberals from the moral (divine and natural) law’s
requirements of justice and fairness. Again, some economic liberals make
exceptions for a few egregious offenses against the natural law, such as fraud
and violence. Yet man is subject to the entire divine and natural law. We
are not free to pick and choose which norms to observe and which to leave
outside of our artificial “framework.”
Now one with a sensus Catholicus likely knows this philosophy is flawed.
We will explore Catholic economic doctrine to see exactly why it is flawed.
As St. Thomas teaches, relying on Aristotle, men act in accordance with
ends. We choose actions that, in light of all the relevant facts, appear to
attain a particular end. Now some ends are incomplete; they do not perfect
all of the aspects of man’s nature. Some ends are more complete; they
encompass more aspects of man’s nature. The ultimate or most complete end
of man is eternal salvation, the beatific vision. In attaining this end, man’s
nature is perfected. Below this perfect end are other necessary ends that
must be pursued in order to make the perfect end attainable. The highest
natural end is the living of a virtuous life in peaceable society. Below this
complete natural end, the creation of sufficient temporal wealth is one of
the incomplete ends comprising it. In order to come to know, love, and
serve God and live well with our neighbor in this world so as to attain his
ultimate end, happiness in heaven, man must satisfy the physical needs of
his bodily nature. The satisfaction of human temporal needs provided by
wealth is therefore one of the ends towards which man’s nature, and hence
natural law, directs him. We cannot lose sight of the fact that this end is only
intermediate, incomplete. Wealth or profit is not a final end in and of itself; it
is a means to other ends and as such must be morally evaluated as a means.
It must therefore be limited to the extent it conforms to the ultimate natural
and supernatural ends of man. We see here that the economic liberal’s
fatal error is that he makes of an incomplete end the complete criterion
of decision within a “framework” he arbitrarily uses to insulate economic
activity from the same degree of moral scrutiny that governs other human
activity.
The effect of doing so is that the attainment of wealth becomes infinite.
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4

Henry of Hesse, De
contractibus, in Gerson,
Opera omnia, 4, cap. 12, fol.
191ra.

5

St. Bernard of Clairvaux, De
consideratione, 47.

When an incomplete end is treated as a complete end it is distorted, and
the proper orientation of man towards his true end is obscured. This is
why man is required to place limits on the increase of wealth as a criterion
of economic decision making just as he must place due limits on his
concupiscent appetite. The desire for wealth, much like the desire for other
things, is not bad in and of itself but it needs to be constrained and properly
oriented to a higher end. The generation of wealth according to Catholic
economic doctrine must be placed under constraint just as the desires of
concupiscence must be subjected to reason. Henry of Hesse explains it thus:
“Whoever has enough for these things [to sustain oneself, to perform pious
works, to make reasonable provision for future emergencies, or to support
offspring] but still works incessantly to gain riches or a higher social status,
or so that later he may live without working, or so that his sons may be rich
and great—all such are driven by damnable avarice, physical pleasure, and
pride.”4 To possess enough for all this and still desire more exceeds the
bounds of prudence. Constraints on the desire for wealth are not excessive
but rather very prudent. There is an outer limit to acquisitiveness.
Saint Bernard agrees with this conclusion: “In themselves, as regards
man’s Spiritual welfare, they [riches] are neither good nor bad, yet the use of
them is good, the abuse is bad; anxiety about them is worse; the greed of gain
still more disgraceful.”5 The proper use of wealth is virtuous; its abuse—the
greed of gain—is vice.
Liberal economic philosophy says any choice that increases net wealth is
a good choice; the principle acknowledges no limit. The profit motive in the
economic liberal’s philosophy cannot accept the limit defended in Catholic
economic philosophy. Profit is always good and more profit is always
better—again, within the “framework” that economic liberals use to exempt
“economics” from full moral scrutiny, while protesting that outside the
“framework” people can be moral and generous when it comes to deciding
how they will use their wealth.
Before proceeding in this argument I must pause to clarify that
recognizing a necessary moral restraint on the profit motive is not
analogous to asserting that the government must impose this restraint in all
circumstances. The question of what is the appropriate balance among the
Church’s public law, local government, national government, and personal
restraint as directed by a confessor is a question about the appropriate
means. This is a large topic in itself; for centuries and in light of differing
circumstances, the balance between the internal forum (confession) and the
various external fora (civil and ecclesiastical courts) has gone on and will
continue. Yet proponents of economic liberalism often attempt to confuse
the issue by raising this topic as a red herring. They conflate the argument
that morality requires this restraint with the advocacy of a totalitarian police
state. Economic liberals in doing so avoid having to argue the real issue:
the profit principle cannot be the sole criterion of evaluating the justice and
morality of economic choices.
Returning to the necessary restraint, recall it is the other ends of
man’s existence. What are these other ends? They are none other than
the supernatural and natural ends of man. For example, living justly or
rendering to others their due is an end of the social nature of man. Justice
19

Theme The Social Doctrine of the Church Today
6

Thomas Woods, The Church
and the Market (New York:
Lexington Books, 2005), 31.

7

Ibid., 50ff.

8

Ibid., 31.

9

Ibid., 31.

10

Ibid., 16.

11

Ibid., 43.

is one of the cardinal virtues man must strive to perfect on his path to the
complete end. Thus, it is illicit to obtain profit by use of means that violate
commutative justice (which includes more than fraud). Liberal economic
thought rejects this constraint. This is to say nothing of the divine law, in
light of which man’s actions must be judged.

The Old Economic Liberal Canard:
Economics Is Just a Science!
The Catholic economic liberal Dr. Thomas E. Woods, Jr. has argued
that “economics is a science whose purpose is to employ human reason
to discover how man’s ends can be reached. What those ends should be
is a matter for theology and moral philosophy to decide.”6 Whatever most
efficiently gets us to the chosen end is the right economic choice. Yet Catholic
morality does not permit ambivalence about means. Even if one’s ends
are good (as determined by theology and moral philosophy, as Dr. Woods
would say), the means chosen must also be morally just. Thus, to claim that
economics is merely the science of “means” is defective. The choice of means
is not morally neutral. Means have moral implications.
A typical argument is that a low wage (one below the intrinsic value of
the work performed for that wage) is acceptable if the free market will bear
such wage (due to a large number of unemployed workers, for example).7 It
is argued that even the worker paid an unjust wage is better off in the end
because the profit made by the employer increases overall wealth for society,
or put in a favorite expression of economic liberals, a rising tide raises all
boats. Conceding for the moment that this assertion is factually true (despite
its being counterintuitive), Catholic economic doctrine prohibits paying an
unjust wage as a means to this end. Even if more wealth is created for the
economy or more people have jobs, if this end is achieved by a violation of
justice, this end cannot justify an unjust means. A worker has been paid less
than the value of the work performed. Society may have more wealth, but the
end of man called justice has been violated by the use of an unjust means.
So economics is “value free”8 simply because it refuses to consider the moral
values that restrain making use of unjust means.
Now the reason economic liberals cannot see the error of the ends
justifying the means is that they assert that economic actions are amoral—
they have no moral implications. Tom Woods, for example, says “absolutely
nothing in the body of economic law derived through praexology involves
normative claims” and “it is absolutely senseless to argue that . . . economic
law should be subordinate to moral law.”9 Dr. Woods asserts this based on
an understanding of economics as merely the study of human action to
discover independent natural laws or operations.10 Since these laws are part
of “nature,” they are not moral or immoral; they just exist. He even compares
economic laws to the law of gravity.11 The fatal flaw in this thinking is
that all human actions involve choice. Human actions are not like gravity,
predetermined and independently operating. Choices always have moral
implications; they are either morally licit or illicit choices. Dr. Woods is
correct; economics involves the study of human actions. Yet unlike the study

20

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12

See ibid., ch. 2.

13

Summa, II-II, Q. 77, art. 1.

14

Woods, The Church and the
Market, 46–47.

15

Ibid., 47.

of naturally existing gravity, all chosen human acts have moral implications
and natural and divine restraints.
Take for example one of Dr. Woods’s favorite examples of an “economic
law” akin, in his mind, to gravity: supply/demand price relationships.12
When supply goes down or demand goes up, prices go up. He asserts that
empirically this can be observed and therefore the movement of prices up
as supply declines, or demand increases, is morally neutral; it just happens
by force of an economic “law of nature.” This assertion is false. Prices are
not autonomous forces independent of human choice. Prices go up because
people choose to increase them. Now, it may be true that since the dawning
of the Liberal Age people raise prices in these contexts because they believe,
erroneously, that they have no choice: “Since prices always rise with supply

Dr. Thomas E. Woods, Jr.

decreases, I have to raise my prices.” In a Catholic age, however, when people
were not drunk with the propaganda of economic liberalism, this was not the
normal reaction. The causes, nature, and duration of the supply shortage, or
demand increase, had to be considered before a guild, or a public authority,
or a father confessor would permit a merchant to increase prices. Thus,
prices could be altered, but only if there existed a morally licit reason to do
so, such as a sustained increase in the cost of transportation of the goods.
Further, unlike liberal economics as defended by Dr. Woods, Catholic
economics holds it morally impermissible to increase prices due to a
particular need of a buyer of goods or services. St. Thomas teaches that it
21

Theme The Social Doctrine of the Church Today
is unjust for a seller to charge more because a buyer is in particular need of
a good.13 To use another example offered by Dr. Woods,14 if a crisis such as
the terrorist attacks in New York were to occur and people were deprived of
their homes, it is unjust to increase the cost of a hotel room by 185 percent
simply because more people want rooms. Dr. Woods claims, however, that
allowing this price-gouging is a good thing because it allows the resource—
the room—to go to the person who values that resource the most. Actually
it allows the room to go to those with the most wealth, who may not be the
people who value the room the most. A person of modest means who has
no other place to find shelter for his family may place a greater value on the
room than a millionaire who just does not want to spend a night with his
in-laws. The difference is the man of moderate means has less wealth with
which to express his greater value of the room.
Dr. Woods raises a red herring at this point, arguing that keeping room
rates in a time of crisis at normal levels will cause a waste of limited
resources with a family taking up two rooms when they would only use one
if the prices were higher.15 First of all, it is precisely the wealthier roomrenter, not the lower-income family, that is more likely to take more rooms by
renting more than one for his comfort, so the argument fails on that account.
In any case, since this outcome again involves human choice, it is not
inevitable. This hotel owner can simply require that in emergencies a family
of four may only rent one room so that others in need can occupy the second
room. There is no need to increase the price by 185 percent to achieve a just
rationing of scarce resources. Since Dr. Woods has started from the false
moral premise that prices and other economic decisions are independent
of human moral choice, he argues falsely that economic choices should be
allowed to fall where they may, as a ball dropped can only fall to the ground
due to the law of gravity.
In the end, this obscuring of the human moral choice involved in all
economic actions becomes a façade behind which wealth can be pursued
without moral limits. No, economics is not a discipline about invariable
independent forces such as physics. It is the study of human actions relating
to the means of creating temporal goods. Every human action and all means
to ends must be oriented to and limited by the ultimate ends of man. This
simple truth has been under attack for centuries by economic liberals. It
is time that Christ’s truth, the natural law, be given its proper place within
the discipline of economics. The only desire of man that can morally be
unlimited is the desire for God. The desire for wealth must be subject to just
limits, with God and his law in view at all times.

Dr. Brian McCall, a professor of law at the University of
Oklahoma's College of Law, a contributor to The Angelus,
Catholic Family News, and The Remnant, in addition to
other journals, as well as a speaker at the 2011 Angelus Press
Conference for Catholic Tradition on the Kingship of Christ.

22

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264 pp. – Softcover – STK# 5240 – $15.95

They Have Uncrowned Him

If we wish to see Christ reign, we must first
understand how they have uncrowned Him.
This work is the fruit of a lifetime of service and study for Christ the King. Beginning by tracing the origins
and nature of liberalism, it examines how that liberalism infected the Church in the 19th and 20th centuries. Moving from there, the Archbishop shows how that same liberalism, so long condemned, triumphed
in a “revolution in tiara and cope.”

Visit www.angeluspress.org — 1-800-966-7337
Please visit our website to see our entire selection of books and music.

Theme The Social Doctrine of the Church Today

Mammon
Said….
by a Priest (from Fideliter, No.229, pp.14-16)

It isn’t easy for a Christian to remain free
from the influence of money. To illustrate this
difficulty, here is the fictitious story of a family
father who has not yet succeeded. The articles
that follow will offer him some paths he could
take.
He is a good Catholic. He is an executive and
earns a good living. And it’s a good thing, too, for
there are mouths to feed at home. He has often
meditated on Our Lord’s words: “You cannot
serve two masters, God and Mammon.” This
morning he sets off for a typical day of work.
He begins the day with his little morning
ritual: a quote from the Bible on one of his cell
phone applications. Today the quote reads,
“For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart
also.” He immediately follows this reading with
24

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a quick look at his bank account on his My
Online Banking application. Rent has to be
paid tomorrow, and he needs to make sure how
much money is there; after checking, he finds
pretty much the same amount as there is every
month: he has not yet started saving up. But let’s
be honest: he checks his account even when he
is not expecting any transactions… This little
habit allows him to give thanks to God on the
25th of every month. For a quote from Scripture
that inspired him? No, because it’s his payday:
Alleluia!
Stopped on his way to the office by a red light
next to a little shop, he smiles inside at all those
modest people he sees doing the same thing
every day: buying lottery tickets that have them
dreaming of winning a fortune. What madness
to waste so much money on mirages! But his

thoughts quickly darken as he remembers how
he himself pursued like a Holy Grail the bonus
promised by his manager, justifying workdays
that lasted long into the night for over a month!
And that to the detriment of his family life. But
it’s the crisis: the eagerly awaited bonus was
never paid. Was it such a very different ambition?
Was it really reasonable? Just then, the radio
reporter announces: the top regret in the office
world is to have chosen one’s profession for
the wrong reasons, that is, for money and not
passion. If even the radio starts at it…
Arrival at work. He has his system down. He
summons the suppliers all at the same time and
has them placed in different rooms. Then he goes
from room to room: “I got this price, can you offer
me better?” The competing suppliers obviously do
not all have the same level of services to offer, but
he always quotes the lowest offer. Put on the spot,
it is impossible for them to get their bearings--but
he doesn’t lie to them. It’s just that this simple
competition forces them to come up with a new
offer on the spot. Do they run the risk of making
a losing deal? They’ll make up for it somehow.
This overwhelming competition is everywhere:
why should he take offense at it? Everyone runs
after profit. He himself has to put up with Oliver,
who nags the entire floor, wanting to know their
bonuses and yearly raises to compare them with
his own without letting them know his own level.
He doesn’t lose his temper and considers himself
all but heroic for it.
Next he turns to the other matter of the day
that he needs to take care of: these thefts at the
office. He spends his time buying ink cartridges,
as if the service printed The Encyclopedia
Britannica every day! But he has an idea: he
plans to buy a top of the line model that costs
several thousand dollars: surely none of the
employees will have that model at home and the
cartridges will stop disappearing. His brotherin-law, who gave him the idea, assured him
that with the savings made on the thefts the
investment had paid off for him in less than a
year. And this situation does not revolt him: isn’t
fraud everywhere? Don’t companies themselves
cheat? His company, like all the companies in the
country, is taxed on the rate of work accidents
for the year. How is it that certain companies

that work in risky sectors and at night--which
increases the risk--never declare any accidents?
Would it be to keep their taxes down? After all,
it is not up to him to work out all the world’s
injustices.
While it is not very fulfilling, his work has
the advantage of providing him with a security
that he did not have before when he was selfemployed. And that on every level: when they got
married, Jane did not understand at first why he
opted for separate property, and took it as a lack
of trust. He reassured her: this choice was only a
way of protecting her if he were to go bankrupt.
And he did not regret his choice when that very
cross was sent his way.
Return home after his day of work. A quick
hello to his wife and finally he can relax! Internet.
Paul is chasing Louis and shouting in the
apartment (which is too small, but it is a house
with a yard and reasonable commutes; it’s like
a dream, given the prices of real estate--and of
gas); Francis just upset his sister’s puzzle, and
now she is screaming. The last thing he feels like
doing is getting up; he just needs to shut the door.
Doesn’t he already do enough earning money
every month with his work? But he recovers
quickly from this hasty and unjust thought:
taking care of the children, the grocery shopping,
the time spent running the house: the needs of
the home are not only measured in dollars-- and
Jane, who stays at home, has her fair share to do.
Besides, his attention is diverted by what he
has been impatiently awaiting: the price of the
high-quality race bike he has had his eye on for
a long time has dropped even lower! Two days
ago, a categorical “no” from his wife: still too
expensive despite the 50% off. But now the price
is really good. A quick check with his wife, who
says “yes.” A minute later, a huge smile: the bike
is bought! Already? Yes, the greatly desired prize
has been in his shopping cart for a month now
waiting for her to consent; it only takes thirty
seconds to get the credit card number out! Jane
doesn’t dare say anything: didn’t she give in to
the temptation of trying “shopping therapy,”
which she afterward regretted when she saw the
uselessness of what she had bought in too great
haste? But it is so easy to give in on the Internet:
no time to think… Besides, after dinner, it
25

Theme The Social Doctrine of the Church Today
will be time to bring up the subject that has her
preoccupied: yet another financial dilemma, but
a little more serious. Paul and Louis are getting
bigger and they are asking for certain activities
she thinks would be good for them: learning an
instrument at school would be a good way to
teach them beauty. But first there is the private
school tuition to pay, and government aid to
families has dropped so much in the past five
years: is the week at the ski resort going to have
to be sacrificed?

Another little ritual every evening (he is not
obsessive, just precise): reading an article from
The Angelus that encourages the practice of the
spirit of poverty in this world ruled by money. At
the end of the article, he marks his page with a
little insert delivered with this edition: a call for
donations for the construction of a monastery…
Night prayers, then examination of conscience.
Of what spirit am I? What were the dominant
preoccupations of my day? Oh, that St. Ignatius
can be disagreeable!

344 pp – Hardcover – STK# 8343✱ – $25.55

Duties of the
Catholic State
Justice and reason forbid the State to be godless

Cardinal Ottaviani, in a 1953 lecture, explains why the Church teaches that
the State has the duty of professing the Catholic religion and that rulers are to
insure that the moral principles of the True Religion inspire the social activity
and the laws of the State.
This is the true Catholic doctrine trampled upon by the Vatican II document
Dignitatis Humanae.

26

The Angelus

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Pentecost and
the Sundays
of the Year
by Fr. Christopher Danel

The series of Sundays which follow Pentecost are an extension, subtle and serene, of this mystery
which flows into the days of summer and later into those of fall, and we know this period simply as
the Time after Pentecost. As Dom Guéranger explains it, the Holy Ghost “wishes to take up His abode
within us, and to take our life of regeneration entirely into His own hands. The liturgy of this Time after
Pentecost signifies and expresses this regenerated life, which is to be spent on the model of Christ’s
and under the direction of His Spirit” (The Liturgical Year, vol. X, p. 4). Therefore, we first examine the
source of this sanctification of liturgical time by considering the history and liturgy of Pentecost.

The History of Pentecost
The splendor of the Paschaltide liturgy reaches
its conclusion on the fiftieth day (pentekosté),
which is the annual commemoration of the
descent of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost. Among
the Hebrews, there was a feast also known as
Pentecost or the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot). Along
with Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles
(Sukkot), it was one of the three great pilgrimage

feasts for which devout souls travelled to the
Temple in Jerusalem in accord with the Law, as
expressed in several passages of Exodus and
Deuteronomy, e.g., “Thrice a year shall all thy
males appear before the Lord thy God” (Ex.
23:17). The Holy Family’s participation in these
annual pilgrimages is seen in the Gospels, and
it is for this reason that such large numbers
27

Faith and Morals
of pilgrims were in Jerusalem at the times both
of the Crucifixion and of the Descent of the Holy
Ghost.
The original feast of Pentecost had a dual
purpose in the Old Testament and has a close
parallel mystically to the Christian feast. It was
tied agriculturally to the harvest of the firstfruits, and spiritually to the promulgation of
the Law on Mount Sinai, which occurred fifty
days after the exodus of the Israelites from
Egypt. It was therefore a type of completion:
first deliverance from bondage (crossing the
Red Sea), then the “descent” of the Law from the
summit of Sinai to guide them the rest of the
way towards the time when the Messias would
come. It is thus a prefiguring of the dispensation
of the New Covenant: first deliverance from sin
(baptism), then the descent of the Holy Ghost
from Heaven to guide the Church the rest of the
way towards the second coming of the Messias in
power and glory. The Christian Pentecost fulfills
and surpasses the old one, because as Saint Paul
reiterates so clearly, the Spirit is greater than the
Law. The Spirit gives life.
At what point was the feast of Pentecost
introduced into the liturgical calendar of
the Church? Taking into account the close
connection between Passover and Pentecost
among the Hebrews, the same connection can
reasonably be supposed to have been made
between Easter and Pentecost (with its superior
importance) in Christian worship. There is a
reference to Pentecost in the liturgical calendar
already in Saint Paul’s first epistle to the
Corinthians: “But I will tarry at Ephesus until
Pentecost” (I Cor. 16:8). The second century
Epistula Apostolorum also attests to the
existence of Pentecost in the Catholic liturgy. The
Church historian Eusebius of Caesarea (†340)
recalls in his Life of Constantine that the death
of the Emperor occurred on this feast, and calls
Pentecost “Omnium festivitatum maximam
diem – the greatest day of all feasts,” and the
same is confirmed throughout texts of the
fourth and fifth centuries. On Pentecost St. John
Chrysostom (†407) exclaimed, “Today we have
been led to the very source of all good things!”
and remarked that such a massive throng of the
faithful had gathered for the festal liturgy that his
28

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church was bursting at the seams.

The Vigil of Pentecost
The development of the feast was influenced
greatly by the practice of conferring baptism at
Pentecost for those who had not been baptized
at Easter. It was celebrated in a way very similar
to that of the Paschal liturgy, with a nocturnal
vigil culminating in the festal Mass at dawn.
Eventually the Vigil with baptism was transferred
to Saturday morning or afternoon, in some places
at the hour of Sext and at others at None, and the
Mass of the Vigil of Pentecost was thus separated
from the Mass of Pentecost proper. The Vigil
featured the same series of rites as the Paschal
Vigil from the lessons onward (lessons, blessing
of the font, litany, Mass), although the lessons did
not number twelve as in the ancient Paschal Vigil,
but were originally only four, then six. At the
same time the Paschal Vigil was reformed under
Pope Pius XII, the lessons and font ceremonies of
the Vigil of Pentecost were suppressed, leaving in
place the Vigil Mass similar to the vigils of other
major feasts of the year, such as the Ascension
and Christmas.
The Vigil of Pentecost became a day of
fast sometime after the fourth century,
notwithstanding the ancient prohibition of fasting
during Paschaltide. The Leonine Sacramentary
of the fifth and sixth centuries lists a series of
prayers for the vigil with references to the fast,
and the Gelasian Sacramentary of the eighth
century contains a collect for the vigil which
reads, “Grant, we beseech Thee, O Lord, by the
grace of the Holy Ghost, a new discipline of the
spiritual observance of Thy Paraclete, so that
our minds, purified by the holy fast, may be
made more apt in all things for His gifts.”

The Feast of Pentecost
The Mass for the Day of Pentecost takes some
of its parts from Psalm LXVII, Exurgat Deus,
which could be called the Pentecost Psalm. The
same psalm is used in the Rite of Confirmation,
particularly the text “Confirma hoc Deus quod

operatus es in nobis—Confirm, O God, what
Thou hast wrought in us.” The sequence Veni
Sancte Spiritus, which carries the sobriquet “the
golden sequence,” is attributed to Archbishop
Langdon of Canterbury (†1228). His composition
replaced an earlier sequence from the tenth
century, which was “Sancti Spiritus adsit nobis
gratia—May the grace of the Holy Ghost be upon
us.”
The Mass contains a special Preface,
Communicantes, and Hanc Igitur. The Preface
has always been Qui ascendens super omnes
cœlos (Who ascending above all the heavens), but
its conclusion has undergone some retouching
over the centuries. The Leonine and Gelasian
Sacramentaries give a conclusion describing
the exultation of Pentecost: “Unde lætantes
inter altaria tua, Domine virtutum, hostias
tibi laudis offerimus per Christum Dominum
Nostrum—Therefore, joyful at Thy altar, O
God of hosts, we offer Thee sacrifices of praise

Holy Trinity, Cathedral of Den Bosch, Netherlands

through Christ Our Lord.” St. Gregory the Great
(†604) substituted this conclusion with another
one lifted from an Easter preface, which is now
used: “Quapropter profusis gaudiis, totus in
orbe terrarum mundus exultat—Wherefore
does the whole world rejoice with exceeding
great joy.” The Communicantes speaks of the
innumerable tongues of flame which descended
upon the Apostles (innumeris linguis). The
Hanc Igitur is the same as the proper text used
for Easter, and refers to those reborn through
baptism.
In the Medieval period, from at least the
twelfth century onward, there were some
particular customs in Italy and France associated
with the Pentecost Mass. It was the custom
in some places to have white doves fly around
inside the church during the Mass. The more
widespread custom was carried out during the
Sequence of the Mass, or sometimes during Terce
(i.e., nine o’clock in the morning, when the Holy
Ghost descended), at which point red rose petals,
various flowers, and sometimes burning wads of
flax, were dropped down from the church rafters
in a vivid simulation of the tongues of fire. This
gave Pentecost the title “Pasqua rosata,” or “Rose
Easter” in Italy. For the Papal Liturgy, the shower
of rose petals was anticipated to the previous
Sunday, when the station Mass was held at the
Church of St. Mary of the Martyrs, formerly the
Pantheon. At that place, the outpouring of petals
from the large, open oculus in the roof provided a
particularly brilliant effect.

The Octave, Ember Days,
and Trinity Sunday
The Easter Cycle was originally concluded
with the day of Pentecost, bringing the sacred
fifty days to their close. In the Apostolic
Constitutions, there is a reference to celebrating
Pentecost for a whole week, but it was not until
the second half of the sixth century that the
feast was graced with an Octave in the universal
calendar. There may be three reasons for the
addition: simply to embellish and honor the
feast by this addition, from which several other
feasts of the calendar benefitted, and which
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Faith and Morals
was certainly due to a feast as important as
Pentecost; to make a firmer association with the
Easter Mass and its Octave; or to add seven days
in honor of the seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost,
which is the motive given by Amalarius of Metz
(†850).
The ember days of summer were originally
assigned to the week after Pentecost since
the “fastless” time of Easter would have been
past. However, with the addition of the Octave,
the ember days were moved to the following
week, and it was St. Gregory the Great who
moved them back to their primitive and current
placement, which led to the unusual penitentialfestal character of these days. The Masses
are essentially festal, deeply imbued with the
character of Pentecost, except for their additional
lessons and two minor elements on Ember
Saturday, when there is a tract before the Gospel
and a Secret which refers clearly to the fast. In
some places, the restoration of the ember days
to Pentecost week was not adopted, and in other
places which did adopt the change, two Masses
were then celebrated on those days, one for the
Ember Day Mass, the other for the Octave. It
was not until the eleventh century, due to the
vigorous work of St. Gregory VII (†1085) and
Urban II (†1099), that liturgical uniformity was
again achieved and all local churches adopted the
disposition of Pope St. Gregory with one Mass of
the day.
The origin of Trinity Sunday is traced, like so
many things, to the Abbey of Cluny, where around
1030 AD, a liturgical feast dedicated to the Holy
Trinity began to be celebrated on the first Sunday
after Pentecost. Cluny’s choice of that particular
Sunday was due to the fact that the ancient ember
liturgy, as a night vigil, filled both Saturday and
Sunday, and once the ember Mass was celebrated
earlier on Saturday, it left Sunday with a liturgical
void. In some places, a feast of All Saints was
inserted, whereas at Cluny a new feast was
ingeniously created. Due to the monastery’s vast
influence, the feast soon spread. There was some
opposition to it, even from several Popes, due to
the principle that the entire liturgy, every Mass
and every ritual, is directed to the praise and
glory of the Triune Godhead. Nevertheless, the
feast enjoyed ever-increasing devotion north of
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the Alps, and the eventual adoption of the feast
by the Roman liturgy was due to the long sojourn
of the Papal Court in Avignon, and to the French
Pope John XXII, who approved it there in 1334.

The Sundays of the Year
The Sundays between Pentecost and Advent
were originally grouped into four categories:
those after Pentecost, those after Sts. Peter
and Paul (29 June), those after St. Lawrence (10
Aug), and those after St. Michael (29 Sept). The
Gelasian Sacramentary abandoned this system
so that they would all be Post Pentecosten. It lists
sixteen interchangeable formulæ (collects, etc.)
for them, which would eventually be assigned
permanently to the V to XX Sundays. The lessons
are those, with few exceptions, given in the
eighth century Comes of Murbach. The first
five Sundays continue the Catholic Epistles (St.
James, St. Peter, St. John), after which begin
the Pauline Epistles in sequential order, which
reflects the ancient lectio continua arrangement.
The Gospels are taken principally from the
second half of each of the synoptic Gospels,
as the first parts of these had been used in the
Sundays after Epiphany.

Conclusion
While the Sundays after Pentecost may be
viewed in isolation from each other, a view of
the whole season can be had by which the sure
and steady living out of the mystery of Pentecost
dans les choses quotidiennes, can be profitably
seen. Green is the color of the whole season, and
it takes its origin from vegetation, evoking that
steady stream of lymph in plants which makes
them grow from mere seeds into lush, vibrant
foliage. In fact, green is the color of Pentecost in
the Eastern rites, and the Roman Rite uses it in
this season to express this steady and discreet
interior action of the Life-giving Spirit in the soul,
sanctifying, inspiring, directing, propelling ever
forward.

Papal
Teachings
Motu Proprio, Fin Dalla Prima Nostra, concerning popular Catholic action, by Pope Pius X, Dec. 18, 1903

In our first Encyclical to the Bishops of the
world, in which we echo all that our glorious
predecessors had laid down concerning the
Catholic action of the laity, we declared that this
action was deserving of the highest praise, and
was indeed necessary in the present condition of
the Church and of society…
Our illustrious predecessor, Leo XIII, of holy
memory, traced out luminously the rules that
must be followed in the Christian movement
among the people in the great Encyclicals Quod
Apostolici Muneris, of December 28, 1878;
Rerum Novarum, of May 15, 1891, and Graves
de Communi, of January 18, 1901; and further
in a particular Instruction emanating from
the Sacred Congregation for Extraordinary
Ecclesiastical Affairs, of January 27, 1902.

And we, realizing, as did our predecessor, the
great need that the Christian movement among
the people be rightly governed and conducted,
desire to have those most prudent rules exactly
and completely fulfilled, and to provide that
nobody may dare depart from them in the
smallest particulars. Hence, to keep them
more vividly present before people’s minds, we
have deemed it well to summarize them in the
following articles, which will constitute the
fundamental plan of Catholic popular movement.
I. Human society, as established by God, is
composed of unequal elements, just as the
different parts of the human body are unequal;
to make them all equal is impossible, and
would mean the destruction of human society.
(Encyclical Quod Apostolici Muneris.)
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Faith and Morals
II. The equality existing among the various
social members consists only in this: that all
men have their origin in God the Creator, have
been redeemed by Jesus Christ, and are to be
judged and rewarded or punished by God exactly
according to their merits or demerits. (Encyclical
Quod Apostolici Muneris.)

III. Hence it follows that there are, according to
the ordinance of God, in human society princes
and subjects, masters and proletariat, rich and
poor, learned and ignorant, nobles and plebeians,
all of whom, united in the bonds of love, are
to help one another to attain their last end in
heaven, and their material and moral welfare
here on earth. (Encyclical Quod Apostolici
Muneris.)
IV. Of the goods of the earth man has not merely
the use, like the brute creation, but he has
also the right of permanent proprietorship
and not merely of those things which
are consumed by use, but also of those
which are not consumed by use.
(Encyclical Rerum Novarum.)
V. The right of private property,
the fruit of labor or industry, or
of concession or donation by
others, is an incontrovertible
natural right; and everybody
can dispose reasonably of
such property as he thinks
fit. (Encyclical Rerum
Novarum.)
VI. To heal the breach
between rich and poor, it
is necessary to distinguish
between justice and charity.
There can be no claim for
redress except when justice
is violated. (Encyclical
Rerum Novarum.)
VII. The following are
obligations of justice binding
on the proletariat and the
workingman: To perform fully
and faithfully the work which
has been freely and, according to
equity, agreed upon; not to injure
the property or outrage the person
of masters; even in the defense of
their own rights to abstain from acts of
violence, and never to make mutiny of their
defense. (Encyclical Rerum Novarum.)

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VIII. The following are obligations of justice
binding on capitalists: To pay just wages to their
workingmen; not to injure their just savings by
violence or fraud, or by overt or covert usuries;
not to expose them to corrupting seductions and
danger of scandal; not to alienate them from the
spirit of family life and from love of economy; not
to impose on them labor beyond their strength,
or unsuitable for their age or sex. (Encyclical
Rerum Novarum.)
IX. It is an obligation for the rich and those
who own property to succor the poor and the
indigent, according to the precepts of the Gospel.
This obligation is so grave that on the Day of
Judgment special account will be demanded of its
fulfillment, as Christ Himself has said (Matthew
25). (Encyclical Rerum Novarum.)
X. The poor should not be ashamed of their
poverty, nor disdain the charity of the rich, for
they should have especially in view Jesus the
Redeemer, who, though He might have been born
in riches, made Himself poor in order that He
might ennoble poverty and enrich it with merits
beyond price for heaven. (Encyclical Rerum
Novarum.)
XI. For the settlement of the social question
much can be done by the capitalists and workers
themselves, by means of institutions designed
to provide timely aid for the needy and to bring
together and unite mutually the two classes.

Among these institutions are mutual aid
societies, various kinds of private insurance
societies, orphanages for the young, and, above
all, associations among the different trades and
professions. (Encyclical Rerum Novarum.)
XIX. Finally, let Catholic writers take care, when
defending the cause of the proletariat and the
poor, not to use language calculated to inspire
aversion among the people of the upper classes
of society. Let them refrain from speaking of
redress and justice when the matter comes within
the domain of charity only, as has been explained
above. Let them remember that Jesus Christ
endeavored to unite all men in the bond of mutual
love, which is the perfection of justice, and which
carries with it the obligation of working for the
welfare of one another. (Instruction as cited in
introduction)
But as words and energetic action are of
no avail unless preceded, accompanied and
followed constantly by example, the necessary
characteristic which should shine forth in all the
members of every Catholic association is that of
openly manifesting their faith by the holiness of
their lives, by the spotlessness of their morals
and by the scrupulous observance of the laws of
God and of the Church. And this because it is the
duty of every Christian, and also in order that he
“who stands against us may blush, having nothing
evil to say of us.” (Tit. ii, 8.)

Commentaries by Archbishop Lefebvre on
Pius XI’s Encyclical on Communism
(Against the Heresies, Angelus Press 2003, pp.317-319)
Commentaries on Counterfeit Redemption of the
Poor

The Communism of today, more emphatically
than similar movements in the past, conceals in
itself a false messianic idea.
This is how the Pope understands
Communism. Communism presents itself to the
world as the redemption of the lowly, coming to
bring salvation to the poor, the wretched, the

hungry. It is a counter-redemption, so to speak,
as the devil is wont to do; he imitates, to a certain
degree, the Christian religion, as it was Our Lord
who truly came to bring redemption to souls
and Christian civilization, the most beautiful
of civilizations. So to destroy this Christian
civilization, it is necessary to present to the world
a kind of counterfeit redemption. They have
concocted this strategy: present themselves to
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Faith and Morals
the world as those who bring redemption to the
lowly:
A pseudo-ideal of justice, of equality and
fraternity in labor impregnates all its doctrine
and activity with a deceptive mysticism....
And indeed, the Communists present
themselves as animated by a real mystique, as
having a new religion and a new gospel. This is
the means they use to ensnare the humble, by
calling themselves the liberators of the poor and
the workers:
....which communicates a zealous and
contagious enthusiasm to the multitudes
entrapped by delusive promises. This is
especially true in an age like ours, when unusual
misery has resulted from the unequal distribution
of the goods of this world.

The Capitalist Economy: Fruit of the Revolution

With the capitalist economic system, which
is the fruit of the French Revolution, the same
people distilled the poison of this
so-called freedom, because behind it—as the
Pope says—were the secret societies. It was
they who broke with every social structure that
existed to protect the workers: the corporations,
the guilds. All was broken at the time of the
Revolution. The worker then found himself
standing alone face to face with his employers;
and at the same time unrestricted freedom was
granted: “liberal” economy, freedom of trade,
freedom of industry, etc. Clearly, those who
possessed money profited from the situation to
accumulate immense fortunes at the expense of
the workers, who found themselves defenseless.
They were no longer united by any bond; all the
guilds had been broken up and disbanded.
Nonetheless, during the 19th century, it must
be recognized that thanks to the efforts of the
Catholic Church, the efforts of Pope Leo XIII and
French Catholics like La Tour du Pin, and in other
countries, for example Germany, they tried to
restore to the workers some kind of organization
in order to defend them against those who
exploited their work and their weakness.
All these sufferings and injustices are the
fruit of the modern errors, and not those of the
Christian civilization inaugurated by the Church.
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Rather they are the fruits of the errors that had
been propagated initially by Protestantism, and
then by the Revolution: the liberal spirit, that
gave total freedom to trade and industry, whereas
before there had been rules. No one could set up
an industry just anywhere, crush others, destroy
the small businessmen, form trusts, as is done
now. These are all practically the result of the
liberal economy. It is not the work of the Church.
Even priests often accuse the Church,
saying that the current miseries are the result
of Christian civilization. This is absolutely
false. It is the work of the Revolution! The
revolutionaries broke the social framework
that existed previously, which protected the
worker and united together patron and worker
in associations, the corporations, which often
took on a religious aspect: they had a patron
saint and even religious feasts. These were
organizations established for the sake of the
work, the trade, the profession; all was done in
a Christian spirit. The whole edifice was torn
down! The defenseless workers found themselves
face to face with lawless immoral men, who
profited from the situation to abuse the workers.
It has to be acknowledged: there were enormous
abuses, and shameful forms of exploitation of the
workers.
Unfortunately, it was at that moment that
Communism presented itself as the liberator.
They arrived on the scene at the very moment
when they could find an enormous well-disposed
audience amongst the populace, especially
among the workers. The Pope continues:
This is especially true in an age like ours,
when unusual misery has resulted from the
unequal distribution of the goods of this world.
This pseudo-ideal is even boastfully advanced
as if it were responsible for a certain economic
progress. As a matter of fact, when such progress
is at all real, its true causes are quite different, as
for instance the intensification of industrialism
in countries which were formerly almost without
it, the exploitation of immense natural resources,
and the use of the most brutal methods to insure
the achievement of gigantic projects with a
minimum of expense.

Spirituality

Pope Sarto’s
Éminence
Grise
Compiled by Fr. Dominique Bourmaud

Pope St. Pius X and Rafael Merry del Val: It is
hard to imagine two personalities more different.
The former was born in the Venetian countryside
to a humble family which knew hardship and
probably hunger as well. Before his election to the
papacy, his entire life was spent in rural rectories
and provincial chanceries, far from the spotlight
and from places of power.
Merry del Val (1865-1930), on the other hand,
came from one of the most prominent families
of the continent, had received a cosmopolitan
and polyglot education, and was at home in
the embassies and most exclusive circles of
every European capital. The lives of these two
ecclesiastics, which seemed destined to travel on
separate ways, crossed almost by accident and
ended up so closely interwoven that it is hard to
separate them even today.
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From Ambassador’s Son to
the Pope’s Ambassador
According to Merry del Val’s biographer, Pio
Cenci, Leo XIII himself placed del Val at the
Academy for Noble Ecclesiastics due to his noble
lineage and linguistic skills, as he had mastered
perfectly the main European languages. Not yet a
priest, the Pope used him for diplomatic missions
in England, Germany, and Austria. In a pontifical
curia that was laboriously seeking to regain its
international role and scope after the loss of
temporal power in 1870, this descendant of the
illustrious English Merry family and of the even
more illustrious Spanish house of del Val was a
God-send. Merry del Val’s rapid ascent was due,
in addition to his family background, to his solid
historical-juridical education, his innate capacity

to relate to anyone, and to the “swiftness,” as
Benedict XV would later say, with which he
solved problems.
After graduating from the Pontifical
Gregorian University, he became an influential
figure of pontifical Rome, especially on the
Anglican question. His perfect knowledge of
the environment, his frequent trips across the
English Channel, and the esteem of Cardinal
Vaughan gave him great authority. Entrusted by
Leo XIII with the thorny question of the validity
of Anglican orders, he led the Holy See to the
negative response, made official in September
of 1896 with the bull “Apostolicae Curae,” of
which he was the main architect. On the basis of
practice that had stood for three hundred years,
and of an exhaustive historical investigation, Leo
XIII confirmed the “nullity” of the “ordinations
carried out with the Anglican rite,” thereby

denying the apostolic succession of those
bishops.
The following year, he went on a long mission
in Canada as apostolic delegate. Young Canadian
Catholicism, torn between the opposing
temptations of severity and laxness, had asked
for help from Rome. Merry del Val acted with
moderation there, especially in relation to the
problem of the Catholic schools in Manitoba, and
was publicly recognized by the pope for this in
the encyclical Affari Vos of December 1897.

From Conclave Secretary
to Secretary of State
At the time the Conclave of 1903 convened
after the passing of Leo XIII, Merry del Val
was a bishop and president of the academy

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Spirituality
of ecclesiastical nobles. By a concourse of
circumstances, he was promoted in extremis
secretary of the Conclave at the death of Leo XIII.
Hence, although he could not vote as he was not
a cardinal, Bishop del Val had to shoulder the
heavy burden of preparing and conducting the
most difficult conclave of the past two centuries.
The first meeting with Cardinal Sarto took
place during the Conclave, the one in which
Austria vetoed the election of Cardinal Mariano
Rampolla del Tindaro, and which over the span
of four days, at the seventh ballot, brought to the
papacy, with the name of Pius X, the relatively
unknown Patriarch of Venice, Giuseppe Sarto.
The young Merry del Val, who was sent to fetch
him and encourage him to accept his nomination,
had a first glimpse of the sanctity of ‘his’ Pope,
whom he found lost in prayer before the Blessed
Sacrament, begging to elude the cross of the
papacy. As the Conclave was coming to an end,
Sarto had seen the prelate in action and was
able to evaluate him. Hence, a few hours after
he became pope, Sarto informed him, to his
astonishment, that he had decided to keep del Val
as interim Secretary of State. “I don’t have anyone
so far,” he is said to have told him nonchalantly.
“Stay with me. Then we’ll see.”
But St. Pius X, with his keen intuition,
observed and scrutinized del Val daily, and
delayed not in understanding that this was the
“man of God” whom Providence had placed
beside him in his Pontificate. After a trial
period of just two months, Pius X dispelled the
uncertainty, and on October 18, 1903, appointed
him Secretary of State and made him a cardinal.
He blessed him and with paternal affection
said: “Accept: it is the will of God. We will work
together, and suffer together for love of the
Church,” echoing in this way, the “Courage,
Eminence” which Merry del Val had whispered
to Cardinal Sarto a few months previously, when
encouraging him to accept the Pontificate.
Pius X had certainly taken into account
another of Merry del Val’s qualities: his life of
piety. The praise that Pope Sarto addressed to
him on November 11, 1903, the day he received
the cardinal’s berretta, is so unusual in its
language that it deserves to be quoted in full.
“The good odor of Christ, lord cardinal, that
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you have spread in every place, even in your
temporary dwelling, and the many works of
charity to which you have dedicated yourself
constantly in your priestly ministry, especially
in this our city of Rome [he ran a youth club in
the Trastevere with his own subsidies], have won
for you, with admiration, universal esteem.” An
essentially religious pope chose for himself a
secretary of state with his own characteristics.
French novelist René Bazin praised the move
by Pope Pius X, who “in naming Cardinal Merry
del Val as his Secretary of State, showed that
he possessed one of the primary qualities of a
Prince, which is to know men and to choose
his ministers for the good of the kingdom.
To suddenly place the young prelate in such
a high position, required courage: but Pius
X had recognized in Rafael Merry del Val
an extraordinary character and a superior
intelligence.”
In his first Consistory, the pope explained to
the cardinals that he had personally observed
his “noble gifts of soul and of character, as well
as his outstanding prudence in dealing with the
affairs of the Church. I chose him because he is a
polyglot: born in England, educated in Belgium,
of Spanish nationality, and living in Italy; the
son of a diplomat, and himself a diplomat, he is
acquainted with the problems of all countries.
He is very modest, he is a saint. He comes here
every morning and informs me of the all the
questions concerning the world. I need never
make an observation to him, and he knows no
compromise.”

Church Curia and
Church Reform
Merry del Val moved gracefully in the
diplomatic world, could handle the problems
of international politics, and understood the
Roman curia perfectly. One might say that the
new secretary of state had everything the pope
lacked. St. Pius X usually referred to Merry del
Val as “his” cardinal. Camille Bellaigue had heard
the pope saying to him: “To separate myself from
Cardinal del Val? I would rather be separated
from my head.” On several occasions, he said that

“he knew not how to thank Our Lord enough for
giving him such a precious collaborator.”
The task of “foreign policy” was not quite
as primordial in St. Pius X’s agenda as it had
been for Leo XIII. Yet, the pope had to deal with
various international crises which demanded all
his attention and that of his faithful collaborator,
the most noteworthy being France’s dramatic
separation of Church and State in 1905. Faced
with an obvious blackmail, with a single blow,
the pope’s firmness wiped out three centuries
of Gallicanism, of a national Church, bringing
French Catholicism back to complete fidelity to
Rome. Merry del Val supported this policy with
loyalty and conviction, just as he did with Pius
X’s decisions of radical Church reform: from the
suppression of the right of veto in the conclave,
continuing with the reform of the curia, and
including the codification of canon law.
The reform of the Roman curia, approved
in 1908, directly concerned the expansion of
its powers, but in such a wise as to have the
secretariat of state second from the bottom
among the five Vatican offices. The heart of Pius
X’s curia was not the secretariat of state, as it
would be under the reform of Paul VI sixty years
later. The heart was represented by the eleven
congregations, with the Holy Office placed at
the top. This may be the reason why the role of
Merry del Val coincided, almost to the point of
merging, with that of the pope, unlike the role of
his predecessors and successors. By engaging in
little or no politics, and attending to governing
and renewing the Church, Pius X took away from
the secretariat of state much of the leeway that
made it an autonomous actor, and strengthened
its bond with the papacy itself.
On the deadly threat of modernism and the
decisive action of the papacy during this inside
crisis, much has been written and many have
criticized the pope’s actions, deemed too harsh
on the protagonists. Again, Merry del Val more
than anyone else, had the keen understanding of
the gravity of the situation and could not afford
the universal flock to be gangrened by such
internal toxins. The cardinal’s anti-modernism
predated his elevation to the office of Secretary
of State. He opposed the heresy of Americanism,
condemned by Leo XIII’s Apostolic Letter of

1899, Testem benevolentiae. That same year, he
spoke out against the book, External Religion,
written by future modernist George Tyrrell, and
wrote to Cardinal Vaughan about the heresies
of the scientist St. George Jackson Mivart. He
promised papal approbation of Vaughan’s plan for
the hierarchy’s joint pastoral letter condemning
Liberal Catholicism in 1900.
Once in a position of authority as the pope’s
right arm, Merry del Val wrote the cover letter
to Cardinal Richard of Paris for the decree of
the Holy Office to place five of the Abbé Alfred
Firmin Loisy’s books on the Index of Forbidden
Books, and repudiated Loisy’s subsequent limited
submission. He wrote the letter of 1904 dissolving
the Italian Opera dei Congressi, thereby bringing
this Italian lay body directly under the Church’s
authority, in accordance with the principles of
legitimate Catholic Action. He favored a similar
subordination to the Church of the center party
in Germany. In 1910, he participated in the papal
condemnation of the French Liberal movement of
the Sillon.
After the pope’s death, Cardinal Merry del
Val maintained a boundless devotion to Pius X:
he was at the origin of the petition that opened
his canonization process. On the 20th of each
month, the day of the pope’s death, he celebrated
a Mass for the repose of his soul. He asked to be
buried “as close as possible to my most beloved
father and pontiff Pius X.” At his death in Rome
in 1930, his body was carried by young men from
the Trastevere to the crypt of St. Peter’s and
buried near the tomb of Pius X. The inscription
on his marble cenotaph reads Da mihi animas—
Coetera tolle (“give me souls—take the rest”), a
mystical application of Abraham’s words, “Give
me the persons, and the rest take to thyself”
(Gen. 14:21). At the request of the Spanish
hierarchy the cause for his canonization was
introduced in 1953. The informative process was
completed in 1956 and published in 1957. His
cause, however, has made little progress since
Vatican II.
Note. Much of this article is borrowed from De vita
Contemplativa, Franciscan Sister of the Immaculate,
Italy, http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.
cfm?recnum=9263

39

A tiny wooden chapel in Steingaden,
Germany honoring the scourged savior
suddenly became, on June 14, 1738, a place
of pilgrimage when a miracle occurred
there through a statue depicting Our
Scourged Lord. This statue had been
originally made in 1730 from various parts
of previous statues, covered in linen at the
body joints, and completely painted. It
was routinely carried in the Steingaden
Good Friday processions until 1735, when it
was set out of sight in the monastery attic
because the congregation became upset
by the striking and pitiful appearance of
Our Saviour’s body covered with blood and
wounds. In 1738 the statue was moved to a
farmhouse in Wies, where tears were seen
flowing down the face of the sacred image.
Pictured is the church and statue today.

Spirituality

The
Archbishop
and Money
by Bishop Bernard Tissier de Mallerais, SSPX

Marcel Lefebvre, the son of the boss of a midsized business in northern
France, inherits the qualities of initiative and organization from his
ancestors. “He could have been director of a factory,” esteems his Vicar
General of Dakar, the Swiss Fernand Bussard, “and even CEO of Nestlé
without a problem.” And a Swiss knows the price of money and the use one
can make of it!
Marcel will always be careful about how his subordinates use the
subsidies he grants them, a practice he continued to employ, whether he
was superior of a missionary station in Gabon, the Archbishop of Dakar in
Senegal, or the founder of the Society of St. Pius X.

Money? It Is About a Good Investment
From his mother, besides his sense of order, Marcel inherits the virtue
of order. He loves to set order to things and people, and to organize them to
their ends, that is to say, for apostolic success. Employing the financial and
human resources he has at hand, he manages the goals and final realization
42

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1

Father Henri Gravand,
témoignage, Aiguebelle,
Nov. 20, 2000.

2

Circular Letter “Towards
an ever more fruitful
Apostolate,” Dakar, May 1,
1952. in Pastoral Letters,
Angelus Press Kansas City,
MO, 1992, p. 36.

of his projects in a rational way, knowing how to maintain the balance
among the diverse activities which money and talents afford him.
For instance, he exhorts his missionaries to “not invest everything in
constructions and restorations at the expense of evangelization”: the car
travels are expensive, and they must secure the payment of the catechists.
“Yet, certain priests spend everything in buildings; they need everything, and
then they have nothing left to start the apostolate.”1
“To inventory the means we dispose of, to organize them and put them
to good use with moderation, with order, is to grant our help to the work of
Providence.”2
Experience will teach Marcel Lefebvre that, if he disposes of the third
of the total sum needed for a project, he may initiate the construction:
Providence will follow up, so to speak. With this rule of thumb in mind, he
will begin the construction of each of the three new sections of the seminary
of Écône, from 1971 to 1973. For the first section, the St. Pius X building, he
convokes a meeting with the architect Delaloye and the contractors, Pedroni,
Porcellana, etc. “One million five hundred thousand francs” is the estimation
of the architect at the end of the session. Archbishop Lefebvre thinks: “I do
not even have the third. I cannot begin, I give up!” Lo and behold, he is called
on the phone. His bursar is calling him from Paris: “A benefactor has just put
on your account 500.000 francs.” He returns and declares to these men: “Sirs,
I have what I need to start. It is fine. This is the green light from Providence!”
He loves to explain how one needs to exercise the simple virtue of

“There is a way of organizing our pastoral work like a business, an indutstry, or any secular
activity. Why should we use less intelligence than worldly people to organize our ministry with
the providential means that are given to us? (Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre)

43

Spirituality
3

Ibid. p.36-37.

4

Ibid. p. 37.

5

“The Church and Social and
Political Evolution” in Ibid.
p. 79.

prudence “in three acts”: consiliari, praecipere, perficere: think it over (and
ask advice); judge and decide; execute and finish!
“Faced with a shortage of resources and with the relative inefficiency
of those we have, and considering how much work there is to be done and
the strength of our desire to accomplish it, it is easy to become impatient
and critical of those who are supposed to be helping us, to keep letting our
bitterness show, and to be constantly distraught and distressed, or else
to become disillusioned, weary of making useless appeals, tired of not
being obeyed by our assistants, discouraged at not producing the expected
results. All this can lead one to slip into a routine existence, with all effort
abandoned, and all zeal gone. This will not do! The zealous missionary well
knows the difficulties he faces and the poverty of his resources. He also
knows that it is Providence that has placed him on a given day, at a given
hour, in the area entrusted to him. He considers, takes advice, reviews the
resources available and then sets to work with what he has, never becoming
dispirited or rebellious.”3
And the bishop sets clearly his principle, drawn from the Gospel: “Pastoral
work requires organization comparable to that needed in commerce or
industry or any other secular enterprise. Why should we use less intelligence
than do worldly folk when we set about perfecting the organization of our
ministry, using the resources which Providence has given us, and seeking to
augment them to the extent the same Providence sees fit?”4

Grace is Powerful, but Some Money
and Organization Are Needed
Wealth allows one to use modern means which the progress of science and
technology place at the disposal of the missionaries and priests.
At Libreville, and later at Lambaréné, in the bush, Father Marcel mounts
an electric generator, bought by French benefactors, and shipped by
boat, despite the risk of being torpedoed. He prepares the faithful for this
innovation by giving them a full-fledged course in physics, on electricity, and
the Catholic scientists. Then he jump-starts the system: the mission and the
whole town is lit. The indigenous proclaim: “Behold! Behold! Here is the man
of Lambaréné who is bringing us the light!”
Marcel will also acquire a radio wave transmitter with which he will be
able to receive news during the war. In Dakar, he will request that each
mission station of Senegal have its own refrigerator. At the Mortain seminary
of Normandy, he will install a cold room to preserve meats and vegetables.
But, when he comments on the advantages of the material progress
which money gives access to, a progress which comes from Europe and its
civilization—as it could come from North America and its own civilization—
he affirms that the true superiority of a civilization results “less from the
level of their technologies than from the power of Christian principles, the
foundation of civilization.”5
Even more, he minimizes wealth and material means when he compares
the activity of the Catholic missions to those of their Protestant rivals, which
are often established before the Catholics ones: “Do not copy the methods of
44

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6

“The Apostolate,” in Ibid.

7

Fr. Charles Berclaz, CSSP,
interview at Bouveret, April
3, 1997.

the Protestants,” he writes to his missionaries. “This would be to forget that
the Holy Ghost is the soul and spring of our apostolate, and it would move
us to copy the adversaries of the Church, to search for expedients, purely
temporal means, to put our trust in a systematic and rational organization,
to bring forward “hygienic,” “social,” or “economical” endeavors instead of
placing the souls in contact with the divine source from which come all the
benefits, spiritual and material, eternal and temporal.”6
And so that this use which the priest makes of his material resources be
blessed by God, so, too, that the priest or the missionary may organize this
use by his virtue of prudence, Archbishop Lefebvre loves to start his building
meetings with a prayer. One of his Holy Ghost confreres, Fr. Charles Berclaz,
testifies: “I went to see him once or twice at Écône. I had been involved in
buildings in the Valais: “Saint-Amé” at St. Maurice; “Le Castel” of Martigny.
So, he asked my advice when he started to build Écône. He asked to see
me. I was very edified during the building meeting which I attended. I truly
admired the spiritual touch, the spirituality which he was able to impart to
the building meeting. He began with a prayer and a good number of the men
present came more or less as free laborers.”7
In conclusion: For Archbishop Lefebvre, money is made to serve the
grace of God and the apostolic zeal. It must be spent wisely, in line with
an organization as perfect as that of a business or a factory. Grace is all
powerful, but it needs a tiny bit of money and organization!

Grace Does Not Suppress Nature,
but Elevates and Transforms It
One day, Archbishop Lefebvre is invited to give a conference. The
immense size of the room allows him to speak before a large audience. At the
end, as he was leaving, he asked a question to the priest, one of his spiritual
sons, who had organized the session.
“Have you thought of getting a collection? … so as to offset the rent of the
room and the travel expenses of the speaker?” The priest apologizes for not
having thought of it. Then, the Archbishop replies: “That is great. We wish to
be supernatural! But we forget the nerve of the war!”
In fact, the Archbishop depends totally on his benefactors. Meanwhile,
personally, he is penniless. Yet, his person, his office, and his private items
evoke an admiration for their cleanliness and order. For him, poverty is not
indigence or negligence. For his works, he solicits his benefactors, knocks at
doors, begs at the Pontifical Mission Funds. It is humbling, for humility does
not kill but rather elevates those who practice it.
One day in Rome, he asks for some contributions of the cashier of the
Propaganda Fide and faces the bad will of the clerk. It is only by insisting
that the clerk throws him, over the desk, a bundle of dollars, which fall to the
ground all spread out on the floor. The Archbishop bends down to collect the
bills, while saying: “Let me do it. I can take care of this.” Simplicity!
An old infirm lady sends him a monthly five-dollar check. His bursar
remarks: “Excellency, would it not be better to tell her to send one lump
sum every six months? Each time, I pay two dollars in commission.” The
45

Spirituality
8

Joseph Lefebvre, interview
at Mousserolles, March 4
1997.

9

Fr. Jean-Yves Cottard,
testimony, Marcel Lefebvre,
Angelus P

prelate replies: “No! Just think about the widow of the Gospel!” Gratitude is
called tenderness.
The Archbishop loves to visit his benefactors in order to thank them. He
crosses Switzerland to express his gratitude to Mrs. Elserer, who makes the
famous Swiss knifes at Schwyz. He uses also a trip to California to thank
Lady Kinnoull, his great American benefactress. “Extremely rich,” Mr. Joseph
Lefebvre tells me. “She owned a large portion of the tobacco business in the
US, and do you know that she founded a hospital for dogs, because she loved
animals?”8 Thus the founder Archbishop was receiving the left-overs from the
dogs: When Lady Kinnoull died, he requested prayers from the whole Society
for the repose of her soul. Claude Kinnoull, had helped him considerably in
the time of the Holy Ghost Fathers and for funds for the Society of St. Pius X.

The Virtue of Magnificence, or the
Art of Spending Generously
Among the Holy Ghost Fathers, the Archbishop left the reputation of a
prelate who knew how to spend generously. His bursars often had to “draw
the tongue” as they say. Yet, the money was always coming in, although they
had no idea how.
This is because Archbishop Lefebvre knew how to reconcile two
apparently contrary virtues: the virtue of poverty (which is not stinginess)
and the virtue of magnificence (which is not to be spendthrift).
Of his seminarians he demands the exercise of the virtue of poverty
by being economical: “Moderate the heat in your cells and your personal
spending, take care of the community property.” But to his priests, he gives
the example of magnificence, opposed to avarice, which is the art of spending
great sums for the production of great works. This virtue is the daughter
of magnanimity, which wants to achieve great things, “especially those
which deserve great honor,” says St. Thomas Aquinas, because they render
testimony both to the greatness of soul of their author and for grand use for
society, for souls, and for God’s glory.
Spending money, according to Archbishop Lefebvre, is a good and
apostolic thing, as long as it is in order. He reminds his priests: “Be thrifty:
Saint Joseph helps us in as much as we do not waste what the benefactors
deprive themselves of for us.” However, on the other hand, “Don’t hoard your
money, spend what is given you!”9 “Above all, do not make Our Lord into a
liar: ‘Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all the rest will
be given unto you.’ Because if you seek money, money will flee from you. Be
apostolic and St. Joseph will always be generous.”10

Bishop Bernard Tissier de Mallerais was one of the first members of
the Society of St. Pius X. He was ordained in 1975, and was consecrated
bishop in 1988. He is perhaps best known to Americans as the author of
the definitive biography of Archbishop Lefebvre. He resides in Chicago,
Illinois.

46

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Father
of the
Poor
by a Benedictine monk

“Veni Pater pauperum, veni dator munerum,
veni lumen cordium.”
“O come Father of the poor, O come giver of
gifts, O come light of hearts.”
These words of the sequence of the Mass of
Pentecost help us to understand the concept of
religious poverty. It is only when the soul has
willfully stripped itself of its dependence upon
material goods that it can call upon God as
the “Father of the poor.” The soul that depends
exclusively upon God knows true joy. This
spiritual dependence begets a confidence that
surpasses all material riches. It is through this
confidence that the religious soul tastes the
freedom of being a child of God. St. Francis
of Assisi explained to his brothers that by
renouncing material possessions, they receive all

as a gift directly from God. The bitter pilgrimage
of this life becomes like the delightful pathway
of a child strolling through his father’s garden.
The child possesses nothing, but receives all he
needs from a loving Father. This gives the soul
great peace. The only difference between the
child of God and the man of materialism is that
the former knows that he receives all from God
and the latter does not. The materialist imagines
that his possessions depend upon his personal
excellence and cleverness. The religious soul
is aware that he is loved by God and desires to
love Him in return, hoping to rejoice eternally
with Him in heaven. The anxiety of the miser is
the fear of losing his wealth in this life and the
absolute certainty of losing it at the moment of
death. For the materialist there is no lasting hope.
To be able to see God a certain spiritual
47

Spirituality
nakedness is required. A Carthusian monk once
wrote: “Man can see God with the naked eye... [in
many souls] it is the nakedness that is lacking.”
Clear-sightedness comes from this spiritual
nakedness. A soul detached from sin and from
all the encumbering obstacles which separate
it from God is the hallmark of this nakedness.
The spiritual stripping of the soul is the example
left to us when Our Lord was stripped of His
garments thereby showing us His confidence in
His Father. It was Christ, poor and naked, nailed
to a cross that obtained for all of humanity the
exceedingly great riches of eternal life. He invites
us to imitate Him by renouncing enslavement to
the possession of material goods. This does not
mean that the religious soul possesses nothing:
“O Lord, You are my inheritance. You are the
one who will restore my inheritance to me.”
The cleric says these words each time he puts on
the surplice to serve mass or chant the office.
The office of matins for the feast of St. Agnes
contains a beautiful passage concerning the
wealth of St. Agnes. She was a thirteen-year-old
girl stripped of her possessions and tortured,
and when about to be put to death, she joyfully
encourages her executioner to strike without
fear. Our Holy Mother the Church describes her
as being completely covered with jewels and
precious stones. How can this poor, tortured
child on the brink of death be presented as
someone covered with so much wealth? Her
wealth is obviously spiritual. She is covered with
the virtues which she practiced during her short
life. They are a gift from God that she joyfully
offers to her Father. In the book of Ecclesiasticus
we read: “In every gift show a cheerful
countenance, and sanctify thy tithes with joy.
Give to the most High according to what He
has given to thee...” Every virtue that the saints
practice is a gift from God. They are given the
light to recognize this and the delicacy to return
these gifts, united with their hearts, to God.
Everything comes to us from God and flows
into our souls, and all must return to God,
including our souls. The wealth of the soul that
has vowed poverty, or at least has gratefully
accepted it as coming from God, is the practice of
the virtues flowing from God into the soul. True
beauty and wealth of the soul is the possession
48

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of God dwelling and living therein by grace. In
this way God Himself exercises His virtues in
and with the soul. Material goods become only
a means by which the soul practices virtue. A
story from the desert fathers illustrates this truth.
A monk was once given a basket of deliciouslooking fresh figs. He decided through charity
to give the figs to another he considered to be
in greater need than himself. The second monk
thought of another who should receive them,
and the third monk offered them to still another
until the figs returned to the first monk without
so much as one missing. They became the figs of
charity. In a certain way this is how the Father
of the poor comes to visit His children. He gives
a true gift that will last for eternity. He pours into
their hearts the necessary light to be spiritually
adorned with the practice of virtue. The gift of the
material object itself becomes the means to love
Our Father. The love of God is our true wealth.
“O come Father of the poor, O come giver of
gifts, O come light of hearts.”

Music and
Catharsis
by Dr. Andrew Childs

1

Ingram Bywater, trans.

We can—and, I would argue, we must—develop our ability to undergo
and endure catharsis, the release of human tensions and perplexities, even
monumental and complex emotions, through our habitual exposure to great
art, simply because we ultimately benefit from it. Catharsis teaches the limits
of human experience through vicarious exposure, recalls past experience
and emotion in ‘purified’ artistic form, consoles in times of present or
lingering suffering, and prepares us for the overwhelming experiences we
will inevitably face. Music, in particular, allows controlled access to those
emotional heights and depths, infrequently but universally experienced;
when forced to operate under extreme psychological conditions, endurance
may depend on our meaningful participation in—and submission to—this
prior experience.
Catharsis in the Classical literary sense represents a purgative or
purifying evocation of pity or fear through tragedy. In his Poetics, chapter 4,
Aristotle states, “Imitation is natural to man…and it is also natural to delight
in works of imitation. The truth of this second point is shown by experience:
though the objects themselves may be painful to see, we delight to see the
most realistic representations of them in art…”1 Two chapters later, he
49

Christian Culture
2

Webster’s College
Dictionary

3

Fetal heart rate increases
steadily from weeks 5-12,
gradually stabilizing
between 120 and 160
beats per minute. Initially,
however, the hearts of the
mother and child beat at the
same rate.

4

“Ebb,” Edna St. Vincent
Millay

defines tragedy as “the imitation of an action that is serious and also, as
having magnitude, complete in itself…with incidents arousing pity and fear,
wherewith to accomplish its catharsis of such emotions.” We have come to
accept a much more general sense of the word as meaning, “the purging of
the emotions or relieving of emotional tensions, especially through a work of
art, as of tragedy or music.”2 It remains in either sense, a matter of the heart.
At the Feast of the Annunciation, the Word became flesh in order to dwell
among us. Twenty-one days later, the Sacred Heart beat for the first time
inside the womb of His mother, and two immaculate hearts beat as one.3
Thirty-three years later, this Heart beat its last—emptied and crushed by
the weight of history’s sins. God took on our nature, our will, our flesh—our
“muddy vesture of decay”—primarily to redeem us, but also to teach us of
the overwhelming immediacy and intimacy of His love for us. The Sacred
Heart teaches us of this love; He teaches us also of our own capacities, and
that our hearts can feel incomprehensible joy, and unimaginable sorrow. The
heart is designed to beat—in an average lifespan, nearly three billion times—
and it is designed to break. Excruciating or exquisite, the pain of heartbreak
in many ways defines the human condition. It certainly represents one of the
most profound connections we have with God.

“Imitation is natural to man…and it is also natural to
delight in works of imitation. The truth of this second
point is shown by experience: though the objects
themselves may be painful to see, we delight to see the
most realistic representations of them in art…” (Aristotle)

The modern reader-listener lacks comprehension not because he cannot
read literally or hear accurately; rather, he lacks imagination and empathy,
having detached from the reality of overwhelming emotion through the
creeping numbness of an increasingly virtual and therefore unreal modern
condition. As we habituate to the convenience of not knowing how to do,
we hardly notice that we have forgotten how to feel; in the end, we risk not
knowing how to be. We risk, literally and figuratively, losing heart; what
remains of it, in the words of the poet, is “like a hollow ledge, holding a little
pool left there by the tide, a little tepid pool, drying inward from the edge.”4
The heart still exists, but one that, lacking the energy to break, can only
gradually dry up.
We know by faith, however, that the Sacred Heart breaks continuously for
us; scientific proof exists for this. In 2013, a Eucharistic miracle occurred in
50

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5

Reported in the SSPX
Bulletin, May 4, 2016 (sspx.
org/news-events)

6

Plato speaks of music as
imitating the emotions,
and beyond this, of its
usefulness in accustoming
the listener to particular
emotional states (Laws,
book 2; Republic, books 3,
4).

Poland, in which a dropped consecrated Host began to bleed while purified
in water. Sanctioned medical tests revealed heart tissue; further, “DNA tests
also determined the tissue to be of human origin, and found that it bore signs
of distress”—in fact, the Sacred Heart breaking for love of us.5 How can
we answer the call to greatness of heart? In part, as with the acquisition of
virtue, through habit.6 Though Aristotle compels us to cathartic purgation
and purification particularly through tragedy, the greatest artists of every
age have put stunningly realistic depictions of painful realities before us to
effect these things in nearly every genre. Whether through the agonies of
Oedipus or King Lear, or the ecstasies of Bach or Beethoven, we have but to
see and hear, and know ourselves in the process.

The modern reader-listener lacks comprehension not because
he cannot read literally or hear accurately; rather, he lacks
imagination and empathy, having detached from the reality of
overwhelming emotion through the creeping numbness of an
increasingly virtual and therefore unreal modern condition.
As we habituate to the convenience of not knowing how to
do, we hardly notice that we have forgotten how to feel.

Aristotle distinguishes literary tragedy for its seriousness as the proper
means to catharsis, but music has its equivalents. Technically, such music
will tend toward minor rather than major tonality (though not necessarily)
for the depth of the emotions evoked; move slowly rather than quickly to
allow for a more measured contemplation; explore extremes of the dynamic
range, often for extended periods of time to heighten emotional tension; and
it will lead deliberately and unmistakably to overwhelming climaxes inviting
cathartic release. Size does matter, but not decidedly: a Mozart orchestra
typically contains fewer than 40 players, yet the famous trio from his opera
Don Giovanni (1787) contains some viscerally fearsome music. We do not
pity the Don as he refuses the directive of the Commendatore to repent, but
we shudder when, after a relentless build-up of musical and dramatic tension,
the floor collapses, and we see him fall into hell.
Overwhelming effect based primarily on size requires the orchestras of
Wagner, Richard Strauss, or Gustav Mahler, all 120 players or more. The
immolation scene of Wagner’s Götterdämmerung comes in the 23rd hour of
the 24-hour, four opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen. In the 1995 Seattle
Opera production in which I sang, 100 choristers, a dozen soloists and a
51

Christian Culture

52

7

Richard Osborne wrote an
excellent one volume primer
(The Operas of Richard
Wagner); the performance
led by Sir Georg Solti on
London Records remains
the standard.

8

In order of preference:
Lucia Popp/Klaus Tennstedt
(EMI); Jesseye Norman/
Kurt Masur (Phillips)

9

The ‘last word’ on
overwhelming scale is
perhaps the finale of
Mahler’s 8th, the “Symphony
of 1000.”

10

“Dante,” Selected Essays

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July - August 2016

horse occupied the stage; 125 orchestra players in the pit below promised—
and delivered—stupefying sonic menace. For good measure, two firemen
in full gear stood offstage, in case the six-foot flames coming from the
propane pipes in the stage floor caused actual rather than merely theatrical
immolation. We do not, of course, identify in any practical way with
Brünnhilde, a Valkyrie demi-goddess lamenting the death of her half-god
half-nephew husband as she decides to burn—to the ground— him, herself,
the aforementioned steed, and Valhalla—the palatial abode of the gods, but
seeing and hearing the spectacle brings us as close to a realization of the last
judgement as we dare.7
Richard Strauss’s orchestra in his Four Last Songs equals Wagner’s
in size, but has more benevolent intentions; the soprano, who could sing
Brünnhilde, chooses rather to navigate Strauss’s expansive settings of
Hermann Hesse and Joseph von Eichendorff poems which explore the depth
of marital love which ends only in death.8 The composer, 84 when he wrote
the last of these songs, “Im Abendrot,” knew exactly the debt he called.
Each of us who gives the heart completely to another perceives the initial
investment, and fears the ultimate cost. The bond of marital love prepares
the united heart to bend and swell and break, but never to separate—until
the inevitable death of the one takes the greater part of the heart that
remains with the other. Strauss chooses to play this ultimate separation ob
scena: we hear the couple, voiced by the soprano alone, face the ultimate
question—“is this, perhaps, death?”—in utter serenity. The final minute
of music belongs to the hushed orchestra alone. It sounds to the younger
ear poignantly sentimental; to the older, as the crushing confluence of
realization and necessary resignation made bearable only by the promise of
eternity.
The cathartic event need not involve a cast of hundreds.9 In the case
of Art Song, it requires only two. T.S. Eliot famously wrote regarding the
literary consideration of the human condition, “Dante and Shakespeare
divide the modern world between them. There is no third.” He attributed
to Shakespeare mastery of breadth, to Dante, height and depth.10 Risking
literary blasphemy, Art Song taken as a genre, is a worthy third. I quickly,
deferentially, remind the Masters’ disciples that in the case of song, two
artists collaborate to amplify a single sentiment, a great advantage. The poet
frames the scenario, the composer weeps—or rages, or swoons—with him.
The results frequently defy belief, both in terms of the depth of psychological
exploration, and the immediacy of narrative depiction.
The fatal illness of a child is an event from which complete emotional
recovery is scarcely conceivable. In his song Erlkönig, Franz Schubert
requires that his singer voice four distinct characters. He depicts a father
galloping through a misty forest clutching his terrified young son: the
narrator dramatically paints the scene, the right hand of the accompaniment
relentlessly hammers the keyboard, the Erl King, figure of death, whispers
in the ear of the child who cries out in fear; the father arrives at safety only
to find the child dead in his arms. Mahler goes further in his song cycle
Kindertotenlieder (Songs on the Death of Children), exploring parental
coping with the death of a child from every imaginable angle.11 Mahler set
only five of Friedrich Rückert’s group of 428 poems written after his two

11

Mahler orchestrated these
songs as well

12

In order of preference:
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson;
Brigitte Fassbender

13

Definitive recording, in my
estimation: Bernstein, BBC
Symphony Orchestra. Two
minutes longer than most
readings, every second
needed.

children died of scarlet fever. Mahler engages the subject with relentless
force, as the text demands: “Now the sun wants to rise brightly, as if nothing
terrible had happened during the night,” (song 1); “When your mommy
[Mütterlein] steps through the door, my gaze falls not first on her face, but on
the place nearer the doorstep where your face would be,” (song 3); in the final
song, as a storm rages in the accompaniment, the father sings repeatedly, “In
this weather, this gale, I would never have sent the children out…” Finally,
purged by his own catharsis, he can sing “In this storm, they rest as if in their
mother’s house: frightened by no storm, sheltered by the Hand of God.” It is
intentionally, necessarily, unbearable. We need catharsis and the tears that
often result not to lose control, but to gain understanding and peace.
But tears do not always come as the result of sadness. Robert Schumann
maps a constellation of cathartic events—mostly positive—in the life of
a woman in his 1840 song cycle Frauenliebe und Leben (Woman’s Love
and Life).12 In the 6th song, “Süsser Freud du blickest mich verwundert an”
(Sweetest friend, you look on me with wonder), Schumann depicts the first
night of the newly married couple with unmistakable accuracy, yet treats this
moment of ultimate intimacy with such noble delicacy that no discomfort
results. She begins in tears of pure love, “Do you not know, sweetest friend,
why I can cry?” Words fail; she presses him to her chest and her heart speaks
for her; we hear, for a moment, the dazzling beauty of God’s plan.
But God would have an even higher union with us, that of true friendship
between our heart and His; an ultimate, mutual outpouring of love. The
Enigma Variations of Sir Edward Elgar takes friendship as a point of
departure, writing each variation on the anonymous—hence enigmatic—
theme as a depiction of a friend, whom he indicates with initials or a pet
name. He represents his wife, himself, friends and associates, even a
friend’s bulldog—these are all masterful, most of them charming, some
poignant. The 9th variation, “Nimrod,” however, approaches the sublime,
and though the climax cannot rival Wagner or Mahler in size, it is equally
effective; a series of cresting waves, at least one more than expected. Elgar,
transcending the particulars of his subject, created an utterance of pure love,
a conversation between hearts.
It is the last piece of music I play for my students.13 In a very important
way, the art that we share prepares them to accept overwhelming joys with
gratitude, and to embrace purifying devastations with peace of soul, and
trust in God. The heartbreak defining their human condition will come for
them as it has for all of us, yet through these great works—which teach,
console, support—we know more immediately and confidently that God’s
heart beats, breaks, and mends with ours.
Jesus, so great of Heart: make us meek and humble, so that our hearts may
belong entirely to Yours.

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Christian Culture

Rediscovering
the Obvious
Having Christ as King Requires A Catholic Social Doctrine

by Dr. John Rao

Alexander Solzhenitsyn once noted that
anyone having grown up under the Soviet regime
later found it very difficult to escape the general
influence of Marxist-Leninist presuppositions,
the way in which these distorted the definition of
words, and the conclusions one drew from them.
The same is true for those who have been raised
in the liberal western pluralist world, Roman
Catholics included.
Even we, who call ourselves traditionalists
and firmly believe that Christ is meant truly
to be King of the universe, find anti-Christian
presuppositions regarding the individual, society,
and freedom so much part of our historical
baggage that we are often tempted to define
that regal authority in terms which assume the
naturalist perspective. Like Solzhenitsyn, in his
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Leninism, we, too, find it difficult to shake off
the remaining chains encompassing our minds,
hearts, and souls, chains engendered by our
Enlightenment-inspired pluralist environment.
These chains, unfortunately, prevent us from
recognizing basic truths that should be clear,
perhaps even obvious, to a believer.
Among these basic truths, themselves often
only partially understood or accepted, is the
fact that proclaiming Christ as our King binds
us to the work of building a world quite different
from the fallen one which currently denies Him
from reigning. The explanation, promotion,
and defense of this arduous but essential
transformation of all things in Christ has come to
be known to us as “Catholic Social Doctrine.”
Even a brief glance at the history of
Christendom indicates that both ecclesiastical

and political authorities had understood that
acceptance of the Faith requires substantive
social changes regarding the ultimate
sovereignty of Christ as King. Yes, many
dramatic international battles involving various
caesaro-papist forces had illustrated both the
continuing imperial resistance to such changes
as well as the efforts to control and secularize
them. Nevertheless, a steady conquest of the
public forum, backed by imperial authority,
characterized the bulk of the fourth century,
while the Theodosian (438), Justinian (529-534),
and Ecloga (726) law codes regulated more
and more all manner of social concerns—from
marriage to economics to entertainment—in a
Christian spirit markedly different from that of
the imperial past.
Meanwhile, barbarian rulers eager to gain
legitimacy by demonstrating a commitment
to Catholic Christianity sought to outdo their
imperial predecessors in their assault on various
practices of their pagan societies. One sees this
clearly in the revision of the Salic Law under
Pepin/Pippin the Short in 763, and much more in
the comprehensive legislation of Charlemagne
and Louis the Pious. Some of them, such as
Czar Boris of the Bulgars (852-889), in his
correspondence with Pope Nicholas the Great
(858-867) in 866, requested detailed ecclesiastical
instructions on exactly what social changes were
demanded of a converted people, and how these
might most effectively be accomplished.
Perhaps most importantly of all, the history of
the High Middle Ages cannot be fully understood
without recognizing the superhuman effort to
ensure Christ’s kingship over a world desperately
in need of supernatural correction. It was this
attempt to shake off the dead weight of the
“business as usual” mentality that shaped the
preliminary attempts to change fallen human
men and institutions. Attempts to change
fallen human men and institutions undertaken
by the Abbots of Cluny and their allies in war
torn tenth and eleventh century Europe; these
propelled the manifold political, social, and
general cultural deductions taught and put into
practice throughout the remaining “Christian
centuries” by so many popes, bishops, monks,
mendicants, scholars, princes, guilds, and saintly

souls. In short, it was this superhuman effort that
developed a body of ideas and standard operating
procedures suitable for uniting individuals and
the innumerable corporate societies in an ascent
of Mount Carmel, turning sons of Adam into sons
of God.
Nevertheless, the actual term “Catholic Social
Doctrine” is modern, and the first person who
appears to have actually utilized it was Luigi
Taparelli d’Azeglio (1793-1862), one of the editors
of the Jesuit journal La Civiltà Cattolica. In an
article of 1855 entitled “On the Divine Element
in Society,” he describes that “doctrine” as
something the Church would inevitably have
to develop more systematically and more
dogmatically in modern times.
It will come, there is no doubt about it. A
day will come in which social and juridical
theory will shine forth with that certitude with
which morality shines forth in the Church
today, defined in precepts and canons. But
before this hoped-for progress can be realized,
long studies must be pursued on the nature of
society; studies in which the human intellect…
prepares the material for the infallible voice of
the Church: that Church which leaves research
and discussion to its learned ones before
proclaiming [as in councils] that “it seems good
to the Holy Spirit and to us” [to proclaim a
Catholic dogma]….
(Series II, Volume 9, 1855, 390).
Taparelli believed that the Church required a
conscious development of her Social Doctrine
for two reasons. The first reason was the clear
need to answer the violent and sustained
Enlightenment attack upon the claim that
Christian teachings must impact upon all natural
social and individual conduct by means of an
equally self-conscious and complete Catholic
mobilization of every intellectual and practical
tool at the Church’s disposal. He was convinced
that such an all-out Catholic “social” counter
offensive had to be founded upon an elaboration
of the doctrines of the Incarnation and the
Mystical Body of Christ, an elaboration that was
more profound than any previously known to
Church History. Taparelli insisted that a love
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and nurturing of these two specific doctrines
were the only solid means of grasping exactly
why a good but fallen nature was dependent
upon the life and grace of Christ in order to fulfill
and surpass its original raison d’être. He also
insisted that the two doctrines explained why
the individual must walk down the pathway to
salvation and his personal “divinization” through
membership in and submission to authoritative
social bodies: first and foremost, in and through
Christ and His Church, and, secondly, in and
through all the other natural social organizations
willing to accept Christ’s corrective and
transformative kingship over them.
This coeur di cri for a full awareness of the
meaning of the Incarnation and the Mystical
Body leads us directly to a second reason for
securing the development of Catholic Social
Doctrine in modern times: the ease of Catholic
cooption by Enlightenment propaganda without
it. For Taparelli saw just how readily proponents
of anti-Catholic ideas and institutions could
seduce believers down the naturalist path
through calls that mimicked the concerns of the
faith while actually turning them into impotent
accessories to the victory of irrational, arbitrary
human will over truth and justice. He saw this
because he himself had once experienced their
pseudo-Christian sirène call, and did not wish to
succumb to it ever again:
I will candidly add that in the past I
experienced in myself the force of social
influences that rendered plausible and just
to me many of those institutions the fallacy,
insufficiency, contradiction, and iniquity of
which I see today so plainly, and have seen
ever since the facts of experience constrained
me to bring a new light of examination to the
principles that inform them. (The Modernizers
of the Papal States,” Series II, Volume 11, 1855,
176).
Experience, Taparelli believed, had shown that
Catholics easily succumbed to Enlightenment
propaganda by taking seriously the claims
of naturalists to promote, on the one hand, a
seemingly Christian-like appreciation for the
basic unity and equality of all men, and on
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the other, a seemingly Christian approval of
the liberty and dignity of the individual. The
Abbé Félicité de Lamennais (1782-1854) and his
disciples and allies demonstrated a propensity
to follow the first path. The so-called “Liberal
Catholics,” whose seductive arguments had
caused Taparelli’s own personal lamentation,
followed the second. Neither group saw that
they both were obsessed with a truncated
understanding of man—totally social on the
one hand and totally individualist on the other.
Neither saw that they thus created an unnatural
“human nature” guaranteed to build an order
of things deaf to the complete message of the
Incarnation and the Mystical Body, with its
unification of society and the individual for the
earthly benefit of both and the supernatural
salvation of the second. Neither was willing to
admit that freedom, justice, and equity, which
encompass absolutely everything human,
including the family, education, and economic
life, required more from them than they wanted
to give: the social minded to the individual, and
the individual to society.
From nineteenth century onwards, Catholic
Social Doctrine was indeed developed much
more profoundly, from the reign of Blessed
Pius IX through that of Pius XII, and even in
some limited respects up until the present day.
Unfortunately, the chief movers and shakers of
our world today have been either the equality- or
the liberty-obsessed Enlightenment forces, the
Marxists and the Pluralists. To these forces,
the disciples of Lamennais and of the Liberal
Catholics accommodate themselves. It is
noteworthy that the heirs of these disciples, in
admittedly different ways, include both American
liberals and conservatives.
Marxists and pluralists control the
environment in which we live and the language
with which that environment is defended. They
forge the cultural bonds that we in the Pluralist
West find as difficult to break as Solzhenitsyn
did those in the old Marxist East. One means
of breaking the bonds is by “surging headlong”
into the consummate teachings of Catholic
Social Doctrine, effecting the liberating fracture.
Such teachings are found in the encyclicals of
a century of noble pontiffs and the writings of

those men who inspired such popes and, in turn,
were inspired by them. There is no justification
for Catholic men and women to neglect such
“emancipation” in times still more perilous
than those in which Taparelli wrote. Every
traditionalist must do so. We have nothing to lose
but our chains.
John Rao, Ph.D., is a professor of history at
St. John’s University in New York, New York.
He is the author of Removing the Blindfold,
in addition to articles written for The Angelus,
The Remnant, and other periodicals.

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Christian Culture

The Spiritual Testament of

John
Shakespeare
by Mary Buckalew, Ph.D.

Sometime during the late 1700s—more than 250
years after Henry VIII had begun, and almost 200
years after Elizabeth I had all but completed, the
destruction of the Catholic Faith in England—a
curious thing happened in the town of Stratfordon-Avon in the home which had once belonged to
John Shakespeare, father of England’s greatest
literary boast, William Shakespeare. Between
a roof tile and a rafter, a worker named Joseph
Moseley discovered a crudely constructed fivepage paper booklet purporting to be the spiritual
testament, or will, of John Shakespeare.
The booklet was turned over to Edmund
Malone, the most respected Shakespearean scholar
of the day. After diligent study, Malone pronounced
the document authentic and included it in his first
(1790) edition of Shakespeare’s works. Subsequent
scholars disagreed with Malone and, on the basis
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of style, spelling, and penmanship inconsistent
with Elizabethan writing, pronounced it a fake and
consigned it to oblivion. The original disappeared
altogether, but fortunately two copies had been
made, one of them by Malone himself.
It was not a fake.
But it would be another hundred and fifty years
before its peculiarities, how it had come into being,
and why it had been so carefully hidden would be
understood.
Its style was inconsistent with Elizabethan
writing because it had been composed by an
Italian Catholic cleric—in fact, none other than
St. Charles Borromeo, Cardinal Archbishop of
Milan; because it had been translated into English
and copies handwritten by priests trained for
the English mission in the overseas college, its
spelling and penmanship “tended towards uniform

roman script and the modernization of spelling so
striking in the testament.”1 These priests, among
whom was the brilliant and eloquent St. Edmund
Campion, had spent two weeks as the guests of
Cardinal Borromeo before departing for England
in 1580. It was no doubt during this extended visit
that the Cardinal had recommended the spiritual
testament to these zealous and fearless priests, no

We might therefore consider doing what John
Shakespeare did by writing our own names in the
blanks St. Charles’s spiritual testament provides
for the purpose. So here it is, its spelling and
punctuation modernized.

The Spiritual Testament
less than sixty of whom would become martyrs,
for wide distribution among England’s persecuted
Catholics.
The spiritual testament was a form which
provided blanks in which Catholics could write
their names so that should they be arrested for
their Catholic faith and weaken under the threat
of torture and execution, or should they face death
without the assistance of a priest, they would
have taken such steps as they could, while of
sound mind and body, to assure the good God that
they willed with all their hearts to die as faithful
Catholics, come what may.
It seems that John Shakespeare acquired one of
these copies and wrote his name into the spaces
left blank for the purpose. That the will was found
hidden away where it could not be found in case
of a search grimly reveals the danger of being
Catholic at that time and in that place.
The danger was real. In 1583, as a result of a
suspected conspiracy based on nothing more than
the ravings of a deranged Catholic man bereft of
the sacraments, close relatives of the Shakespeares
had been imprisoned, tortured, and executed on no
evidence whatsoever.
Though our faith and our priests are not yet
proscribed, a hierarchy false to its divine charge
has betrayed it, them, and us; and so priests in
our time, as then, are few and widely scattered.

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
the most holy and blessed Virgin Mary, mother
of God, the holy host of archangels, angels,
patriarchs, prophets, evangelists, apostles, saints,
martyrs, and all the celestial court and company of
heaven. Amen.
I. Item I,____________________, an unworthy
member of the Holy Catholic religion, being at
this my present writing in perfect health of body
and sound mind, memory, and understanding; but
calling to mind the uncertainty of life and certainty
of death, and that I may possibly be cut off in the
blossom of my sins and called to render an account
of all my transgressions externally and internally,
and that I may be unprepared for the dreadful
trial either by sacrament, penance, fasting, or
prayer, or any other purgation whatever, do in the
holy presence above specified of my own free and
voluntary accord make and ordain this my last
spiritual will, testament, confession, protestation,
and confession of faith, hoping thereby to be made
partaker of life everlasting, through the only merits
of Jesus Christ my Saviour and Redeemer who
took upon himself the likeness of man, suffered
death, and was crucified upon the cross for the
redemption of sinners.
II. Item I,____________________, do by this
present protest, freely acknowledge and confess
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Christian Culture
that in my past life I have been a most abominable
and grievous sinner and therefore unworthy to be
forgiven without a true and sincere repentance
for the same. But trusting in the manifold
mercies of my blessed Saviour and Redeemer, I
am encouraged by relying on his sacred word, to
hope for salvation and to be made partaker of his
heavenly kingdom, as a member of the celestial
company of angels, saints, and martyrs, there to
reside for ever and ever in the court of my God.
III. Item I,____________________, do by this
present protest and declare that as I am certain I
must pass out of this transitory life into another
that will last to eternity, I do hereby most humbly
implore and entreat my good and guardian Angel
to instruct me in this, my solemn preparation,
protestation, and confession of faith at least
spiritually and in will. Adoring and most humbly
beseeching my Saviour that he will be pleased
to assist me in so dangerous a voyage, to defend
me from the snares and deceits of my infernal
enemies, and to conduct me to the secure haven of
his eternal bliss.
IV.	  Item I,____________________, do protest
that I will also pass out of this life, armed with the
last sacrament of extreme unction, the which if
through any let or hindrance I should not then be
able to have, I do now also for that time demand
and crave the same; beseeching his Divine Majesty
that he will be pleased to anoint my senses both
internal and external with the sacred oil of his
infinite mercy and to pardon me all my sins
committed by seeing, speaking, gusting [tasting],
smelling, hearing, touching, or by any other way
whatsoever.
V. Item I,____________________, do by
this my present protest that I will not through
any temptation whatsoever despair of the divine
goodness, for the multitude and greatness of my
sins: for which although I confess that I have
deserved hell, yet will I steadfastly hope in God’s
infinite mercy, knowing that he hath heretofore
pardoned as many and as great sinners as myself,
whereof I have good warrant sealed with his sacred
mouth, in holy writ, whereby he pronounces that he
is not come to call the just but sinners.
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VI. Item I,____________________, do protest
that I do not know that I have ever done any good
work meritorious of life everlasting; and if I have
done any I do acknowledge that I have done it
with a great deal of negligence and imperfection,
neither should I have been able to have done the
least without the assistance of his divine grace.
Wherefore let the devil remain confounded, for I do
in no wise presume to merit heaven by such good
works alone, but through the merits and blood of
my Lord and Saviour, Jesus, shed upon the cross
for me, most miserable sinner.
VII. Item I,____________________, do protest
by this present writing that I will patiently endure
and suffer all kinds of infirmity, sickness, yea and
the pain of death itself, wherein if it should happen,
which God forbid, that through violence of pain
and agony or by subtlety of the devil I should fall
into any impatience or temptation of blasphemy or
murmuring against God, or the Catholic faith, or
give any sign of bad example, I do henceforth and
for that present repent me, and I am most heartily
sorry for the same, and I do renounce all the evil
whatsoever which I might have then done or said,
beseeching his divine clemency that he will not
forsake me in that grievous and painful agony.
VIII. Item I,____________________, by
virtue of this present testament I do pardon all the
injuries and offences that any one has ever done
unto me, either in my reputation, life, goods, or any
other way whatsoever; beseeching sweet Jesus to
pardon them for the same; and I do desire that they
will do the like by me, whom I have offended or
injured in any sort howsoever.
IX. Item I,____________________, do here
protest that I do render infinite thanks to his divine
majesty for all the benefits that I have received as
well secret as manifest and in particular, for the
benefit of my Creation, Redemption, Sanctification,
Conservation, and Vocation to the holy knowledge
of him and his true Catholic faith; but above all for
his so great expectation of me to penance, when
he might most justly have taken me out of this life
when I least thought of it, yea even then when I was
plunged in the dirty puddle of my sins. Blessed be
therefore and praised for ever and ever, his infinite

patience and charity.
X. Item I,____________________, do
protest that I am willing, yea I do infinitely desire
and humbly crave, that of this my last will and
testament, the glorious and ever Virgin Mary,
mother of God, refuge and advocate of sinners,
whom I honour specially above all other saints,
may be the chief Executrix together with those
other saints my patrons, ____________________,
all whom I invoke and beseech to be present at the
hour of my death that she and they may comfort
me with their desired presence and crave sweet
Jesus that he will receive my soul into peace.
XI. Item In virtue of this present writing
I,____________________, do likewise most
willingly and with all humility constitute and
ordain my good Angel, for defender and protector
of my soul in the dreadful day of Judgment, when
the final sentence of eternal life or death shall be
discussed and given, beseeching him that as my
soul was appointed to his custody and protection
when I lived, even so he will vouchsafe to defend
the same at that hour and conduct it to eternal
bliss.
XII. Item I,____________________, do
in like manner pray and beseech all my dear
friends, parents, and kinfolks, by the bowels of
our Saviour Jesus Christ, that since it is uncertain
what lot will befall me, for fear notwithstanding
least by reason of my sins, I be to pass and stay
a long while in purgatory, they will vouchsafe
to assist and succour me with their holy prayers
and satisfactory works, especially with the Holy
Sacrifice of the Mass, as being the most effectual
means to deliver souls from their torments and
pains; from the which if I shall by God’s gracious
goodness and by their virtuous works be delivered,
I do promise that I will not be ungrateful for so
great a benefit.

live, perpetually enclosed in that eternal habitation
of repose there to bless for ever and ever that
direful iron of the lance which like a sharp cutting
razor formed so sweet and pleasant a monument
within the sacred breast of my Lord and Saviour.
XIV. Item Lastly I,____________________,
do protest that I will willingly accept of death in
whatsoever manner it may befall me, conforming
my will unto the will of God; accepting of the
same in satisfaction for my sins and giving
thanks unto his divine majesty for the life he
hath bestowed upon me. And if it pleases him to
prolong or shorten the same, blessed be he also
a thousand thousand times; into whose most
holy hands I commend my soul and body, my life
and death: and I beseech him above all things
that he never permit any change to be made by
me,____________________, of this my aforesaid
will and testament. Amen.
I,____________________, have made this
present writing of protestation, confession, and
charter in presence of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
my Angel guardian, and all the Celestial Court
as witnesses hereunto, the which my meaning is
that it be of full value now, presently, and forever,
with the force and virtue of testament, codicil, and
donation in course of death; confirming it anew,
being in perfect health of soul and body and signed
with my own hand; carrying also the same about
me and for the better declaration hereof my will
and intention is that it be finally buried with me
after my death.
Pater Noster, Ave Maria, Credo, Jesus, Son of
David, have mercy on me. Amen.
Dr. Mary Buckalew, Professor Emerita of English,
University of North Texas, has been an active member of the
Society of Saint Pius X’s mission in Sanger, Texas, for more
than forty years.
1

XIII. Item I,____________________, do by
this my last will and testament bequeath my soul
as soon as it shall be delivered and loosened from
the prison of this my body to be entombed in the
sweet and loving coffin of the side of Jesus Christ
and that in this life-giving sepulcher it may rest and

Clara Longworth de Chambrun, Shakespeare Rediscovered
by Means of Public Records, Secret Reports, & Private
Correspondence Newly Set Forth as Evidence on His Life and
Work (New York: Scribner’s, 1938), p. 77. This account of the
Spiritual Testament of John Shakespeare is taken from Chapter IV;
the Spiritual Testament itself occurs as the Appendix.

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Character
Formation
From SSPX Oblate sisters (Iesus Christus, No. 153, January 2016)

The heart of the child is formed along with the formation of his character. During the first few years
of the child’s life, it is the mother’s responsibility to form his heart because he spends more time with his
mother than with his father, who is usually away from home during the day to provide for the needs of
the family. It is the father’s role, however, to perfect this formation as the child grows up. The child looks
up to his mother to learn how to conduct himself and to imitate her. As well, he looks up to his father,
who represents strength, courage, and manliness; each of these are characteristics the child will need in
order to become a fully mature adult.

A Generous Heart
To develop the heart of a child, let us first bring
forth to him good examples, in order to teach him
to love good things and goodness itself. And we
believe the first example to present to the child
is that of Our Father in Heaven, our Creator.
From the time of his baptism, your child’s soul
possesses sanctifying grace, which makes it a
temple of God, a house of God. Naturally, you
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will speak of the goodness of God, who is called
the Good God because He is good. The child’s
pure soul does not need to “understand” in order
to believe. The child believes what his mother
tells him; he believes in this God that lives in his
heart. The mother also believes and loves the
Good God; her example is paramount here. That
is enough for the child. Ah, dear mothers, if you
only knew the power you wield by the mere fact
of being his mom, to fill your little one’s heart

with notions of Christian life!
No one can replace you, or your vocation, at
this stage of your child’s life. In order to foster
in his soul the growth of the Faith received in
baptism, you need to know to “consecrate” your
time through talking to him about the God that
lives in him. The more your child (and you!) live
in the presence of this truth, the easier will be the
formation of his heart. It is never too soon; the
younger the child is when these ideas are being
instilled, the more he will learn to live with a
good heart. Keep in mind always that it is easier
to correct a little one’s imperfections before the
habits have been acquired. That is why we should
start as soon as possible—and why not from the
cradle? The child is already testing his parents’
reactions.
To encourage the life of the heart, the senses
need to be tamed, mastered. A misdirected
sensibility guided by selfishness desecrates
the heart, extinguishes its life, and leads to its
distortion.

Let us explain this. To love is to give oneself
and to give to another. To be sensual is to look
out for oneself, to gather for oneself. As you
see, sensuality is opposed to love. That is why
it is necessary to fight the faults that are, in
essence, the childish and adolescent forms of
vices. What we don’t correct now will grow
into vices and sinful habits later on. All sin is a
form of selfishness; it is to prefer oneself, one’s
whims and will, over another’s will (that is, over
God’s will made known to the child through his
mother). The best way to correct selfishness is to
provide occasions for positive acts of love, acts of
charity.

Little Things Matter
It is up to you, dear moms, to teach your child
the small, seemingly insignificant acts, the seeds
of which will germinate in his heart. Let us take
a look at St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus. After

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she observed her parents feeding and clothing the
poor, Thérèse could not wait till she, too, gave her
shoes to a barefoot little girl. Granted, nowadays
there are not as many needy, but there are other
occasions to foster generosity in the child’s heart:
for instance, to give his toys to children that lack
them (On this note, it is shocking to see these
days how many toys children get at Christmas!).
Other occasions would be to teach the child to
do favors for others, to tidy up a room, to make
his bed. A child can be taught from an early age
to love—to truly love—order and cleanliness. It
is necessary to demand firmly (at all times and
persistently) as well as with kindness and love.
The child must find his mother’s heart in all her
demands; “the heart” in this case means love,
but not a sentimentalism akin to softness. This
motherly love shows the child that his mother
intends to better him. Every child is glad to
perform a good action which pleases his mother,
but it is important for the mother to remember to
take the time to show her satisfaction with a job
well done. The encouragement the child craves
helps him in turn to repeat the good deed. Hence,
the importance of the mother’s vigilant attention.

Self Discipline
Which are some other faults requiring
correction? For some, gluttony or jealousy; for
others, vanity or pride, or the desire to be the
boss. All these tendencies that remain behind
after original sin must be opposed courageously,
or else they will consume the heart. There
is often the case of a very talented child, his
mother’s pride and joy, whose heart is selfcentered because he wants only to shine and be
praised. Dear mothers, if among the children
God gave you there is one particularly talented,
guard his humility by encouraging an abundant
generosity, and especially, make sure never to
fawn over him—that would prove fatal! Generally
speaking, a talented child has more abilities
than others, so he has to learn to share the gifts
God has given him, not merely to enjoy them. He
has to learn to share his time with others less
fortunate. Humility is truth. Even if we are very
learned, what is that compared to God? It is less

than nothing. Let us, therefore, teach the child to
remain in his place and not consider the talents
he has received.
We frequently hear that children are ungrateful
by nature. Yes, indeed, because they have a
tendency to be self-centered. What are we
doing to correct this? Dear moms, it is your
duty to teach your children to say “Thank you,”
an expression which means so much when it
comes from the heart. This is a habit that has
been lost in the new generation; it is so rare
to find nowadays a child who uses that simple
expression, “Thank you!” What a pity!
A “Thank you” is the impulse from one heart
to another. For instance, instead of withdrawing
with the tempting sweet he has just received, the
child is to be taught to look at who offered the
candy and say, “Thank you, mom.” This may be
considered trivial, yet it is necessary to sow many
seeds in the field to ensure an abundant crop.
We are dealing with forming the soul of a child
to be a temple of Almighty God, for His glory. If
his own mother has not taught the child to be
grateful, how is he to learn to be grateful to God?
What a responsibility! That is what He invites
us to do every day, with the help of His almighty
grace. Keep it in mind.
To come out of oneself, to forget our own little
world, to be humble, and yet to ennoble oneself
in an enterprise that surpasses and elevates one’s
strength: in this we find the secret of happiness.

350 pp – Softcover – STK# 8602 – $34.95

The Church and the Usurers
Dr. Brian McCall
Considers the question of usury and its application to the modern age. It looks at this subject in
light of Sacred Scripture, Aristotelian philosophy, and the constant and decisive teachings of the
Church. Those inclined to dismiss the Church’s teaching as outdated or somehow changed will
be in for a shock.

296 pp – Softcover – STK# BD374 – $16.95

To Build the City of God
Dr. Brian McCall​
Much has been written on the general outlines of Catholic social, economic, and political
thought, but what Catholics need today is a guide on how to live out these principles in their
daily lives. Chapters on marriage and the family, dress, education, profit and wealth, debt,
politics in the age of Obama, and more.

200 pp – Softcover – Afterword – Bibliography – Index – STK# 8623 – $14.95

Removing the Blindfold
Dr. John Rao
Dr. Rao explains the conundrum Catholics face in dealing with the current socio-political climate
and traces the roots of this problem back to the French Revolution. Shows how many modern
Catholics have embraced some form of revolutionary thought without even being aware of it.

142 pp – Softcover with dust jacket – STK# 8256 – $22.95

The Restoration of Christian Culture
Dr. John Senior
Dr. Senior warns of the extinction of the cultural patrimony of Greece and Rome and medieval
Europe. He offers ideas for recapturing and living the cultural traditions of classical and Christian civilization by bringing the wisdom of Aristotle, Augustine, and Aquinas into touch with the
social, political, and personal life of “modern man.”

Visit www.angeluspress.org — 1-800-966-7337
Please visit our website to see our entire selection of books and music.

The Council of Trent emphasize the intimate connection
between the Sacrifice of the Mass and the priesthood (Sess.
XXIII, cap. 1): “Sacrifice and priesthood are by Divine
ordinance so inseparable that they are found together under
all laws. Since therefore in the New Testament the Catholic
Church has received from the Lord’s institution the holy
visible sacrifice of the Eucharist it must also be admitted that
in the Church there is a new, visible and external priesthood
into which the older priesthood has been changed.”

Christian Culture

by Fr. Franz Schmidberger, SSPX

What might a Christian Social Order look
like in our own day and age?
The Christian Social Order rests upon
the natural law implanted in every man
and expressed objectively in God’s Ten
Commandments. In addition, it recognizes the
obligation to the one and only religion, instituted
by God, the Catholic Church with its Deposit of
Faith and its treasure of grace. Power in the state
and in society has for its origin not the people,
but God. (Rom. 13:1).
Christian Social Order, of course, grants civil
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recognition to marriages celebrated in church,
whereas it gives no recognition to civil divorce.
The indissolubility of marriage is even one of
its basic pillars. Thus it condemns unmarried
couples living together with relations prior to
or outside of marriage. It forbids the sale of
contraceptives. Likewise it bans blasphemy,
homosexuality, and pornography from public
life; it punishes abortion; and proscribes both
euthanasia and drugs.

How does the Christian
Order judge the massive
move towards large cities?
In what does society’s welfare
or common good consist?
The welfare of society does not consist in
material well-being alone, but primarily in the
virtuous life of the citizens and in the tranquility
which is the essence of peace, whether inward or
outward.

What can Christianity offer
to what has been called the
social question, that is,
to bridge the gap between
various classes of society?
To overcome trade unions and strikes
polarizing employers and employees, it would
be wise to form guilds, that is to say, groups
bringing together employers and employees
within the same trade to safeguard their common
interests. Employers are always fathers of their
workmen. They must not only pay them a just
wage but also take moral and even spiritual
responsibility for them. So they must care for
their workmen’s families, and give them a good
example of attending Mass and receiving the
Sacraments.

To a Christian Social Order belong, in
particular, the love of the land, love of nature,
love of one’s people, love of work, and love of
one’s homeland with its customs and traditions.
The uprooting of men and their flight from the
land and into the big cities, with their high-rise
apartments where the children have no room to
play and no contact with God’s creation, are not a
blessing but a curse.

What are we to think
of war today?
A people who have no will to defend their
country or its inhabitants, their frontiers or
culture, or, especially, to defend their faith or the
Kingdom of God, is in the process of dissolution.
Between the missionary and the soldier there is
a close connection: the first proclaims the Faith
and builds up God’s Kingdom, the second defends
both against enemies at home and abroad.

69

News from Tradition
Mother Angelica dies
Mother Angelica, the Poor Clare nun who
founded Eternal Word Television Network
(EWTN), died on Easter Sunday after years
of declining health following a severe stroke
towards the end of 2001. Although in the minds
of most traditional Catholics, EWTN has become
synonymous with the mainstream Novus Ordo
Catholic media, it should be noted that Mother
Angelica herself had begun to embrace more and
more of traditional Catholicism. EWTN began to
take on its clearly Novus Ordo identity soon after
Mother Angelica relinquished direct control over
the network.
In 1993, following
a “living” Stations of
the Cross, performed
in the presence of
Pope John Paul II
during World Youth
Day in Denver, in
which a woman
portrayed our Lord,
Mother Angelica
broadcast her
famous rebuke of the
state of affairs of the
Church. Among much
else, she said: “They
have changed our
churches. They have
closed them. And
now we’re not even
allowed to kneel
when that awesome
Presence comes
down into that one
little Host. I’m tired
of your witchcraft. I’m tired. I’m tired of being
pushed in corners. I’m tired of your inclusive
language that refused to admit the Son of God is
a man. I’m tired of your tricks. I’m tired of your
deceits...I’m so tired of your liberal Church....
This is not an accident. We’ve swallowed this
for thirty years. And I’m tired of it...I’m a Roman
Catholic... You spread your errors to children,
and our children don’t even know the Eucharist
anymore, they don’t understand that it is the
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July - August 2016

Blessed Sacrament, that it’s the body and blood
of Jesus Christ. Your catechisms are so watered
down. I don’t like your Church. You have nothing
to offer. You do nothing but destroy.”
Soon after this broadcast, Mother Angelica
returned to the traditional habit of the Poor
Clares and to her monastery. She also famously
critiqued a pastoral letter regarding the
Eucharist written by Cardinal Mahony (then the
Archbishop of Los Angeles), in which she cited
the heresy rampant in the document, and for
which she gained much opprobrium from many

bishops in the United States.
Clearly, by God’s grace, Mother Angelica
had come to see the reality of the supposed
“springtime” in the Church ushered in by
Vatican II and had the courage to speak out,
even though she still embraced the documents
of Vatican II. May she rest in peace.

New Apostolic Nuncio to the United States
Pope Francis has appointed French Archbishop
Christophe Pierre as the new Apostolic Nuncio
(Ambassador) to the United States. He replaces
the Italian Archbishop Carlo Viganò, who turned
75 in January and had represented the Vatican in
Washington since 2011.
The Apostolic Nunciature is a relatively recent
position for the US, since formal diplomatic
relations between the Vatican and the United
States were established only in 1984. Previous
to this, the pope was represented in the United
States by an Apostolic Delegate. While the
Apostolic Nuncio is an ambassador of the Vatican,
his role in the United States is mostly confined
to ecclesiastical affairs, particularly with the
choosing of candidates who are to be named
bishops and being the channel by which American
bishops communicate with the Holy See.
Archbishop Pierre is only the second Frenchspeaking prelate to represent the Pope in the

United States. The only other was the Belgian
Archbishop Jean Jadot, who was Apostolic
Delegate from 1973 until 1980. It was Jadot who
was largely responsible for helping to shape
the rather progressive nature of the American
episcopate during the waning years of the
pontificate of Paul VI.

344 pp–Hardcover–STK# 8343✱–$25.55

Best of Questions
and Answers
The best questions and the best answers of 30 years of The Angelus. This will be a family’s heirloom reference book for everyday Catholic living to match the Catholic Faith we
believe and the Latin Mass we attend. Over 300 answers classified under 30 subtitles,
authored by Frs. Pulvermacher, Laisney, Doran, Boyle, and Scott.
–– Marriage, Parenting, Family Life and Rearing Children
–– Science and Medical Matters
–– Life After Death
–– Church Practices and Customs
–– The Papacy and the Church Teachings
–– Bible and Biblical Matters
–– Trinity, Jesus Christ, Virgin Mary, Angels, and Saints
–– Mass and the Liturgy
–– SSPX and the Crisis

71

News from Tradition
Cardinal Kasper gives another Interview
On April 22, retired German Cardinal Walter
Kasper gave yet another interview to a German
newspaper. This interview concerned itself

with the intended reforms of Pope Francis and
also the Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia,
and comes across as the Cardinal taking a
“victory lap.” Always
haughty in tone,
Kasper jubilantly
praises the pope
for his “humane”
approach to the
Gospel and for trying
to make the Church
more “obviously
merciful.”
In the interview,
it is possible to see
the Cardinal stating
quite succinctly
what Pope Francis
intended when he

Euthanasia Deaths are on the Rise
It should come as no surprise that the number
of deaths from euthanasia are on the rise in the
two countries which have led the way in legalizing
assisted suicide: The Netherlands and Belgium.
Aside from the obvious attack on the moral law,
the most worrying aspect of this rise is the fact
that people are being pressured into ending their
lives so that their organs can be “harvested” and
used to “save” the lives of others.
Over the past number of years, we have been
alerted to the current practice of taking the organs
from patients declared “brain dead” while they are
clinically alive, so that these patients are actually
murdered on the operating table. Many families are
often pressured to allow this to happen by rather
unscrupulous medical professionals, but a new low
has been reached when the patient himself is being
subjected to pressure to end his life. Additionally,
there are some who advocate that the person
choosing euthanasia should be able to donate his
organs while still clinically alive.
On a much happier note, Abigail Kopf, the
fourteen-year-old who was shot in the head by
72

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July - August 2016

a crazed gunman in February and subsequently
declared brain dead by her doctors, began to walk
with assistance in her rehabilitation hospital.
She is a keen example of why we all must be very
wary of medical professionals who rather quickly
declare patients “brain dead,” especially when a
desire may be there to use the patients’ organs for
transplants.

wrote Paragraph 3 of Amoris Laetitia.1 Kasper
states: The door is open [with regard to the
admittance of “remarried” divorcees to the
Sacraments]…There is also some freedom
for the individual bishops and bishops’
conferences… Not all Catholics think the way
we Germans think… Here [in Germany]
something can be permissible which is
forbidden in Africa. Therefore, the pope gives
freedom for different situations and future
developments. Simply put, according to Kasper,
mortal sin has now become geographical! This
is, unfortunately, not just an “open door” to
those living in adulterous civil marriages to
receive Holy Communion, but an invitation to
each Conference of Bishops to define faith and
morals based upon their country’s “culture.”
Thus we have the error of collegiality born in
Vatican II coming to its full stature and inviting
wholesale confusion amongst an already

bewildered faithful.
With this understanding of the papacy in
relation to the various episcopal conferences,
Francis is seemingly setting up a structure
which is more in line with the Anglican
Communion. Needless to say, this structure has
not served the Anglicans well at all, since their
“communion” is disintegrating at an alarming
pace.
1

Paragraph 3 reads in part: Since “time is greater than space,”
I would make it clear that not all discussions of doctrinal,
moral or pastoral issues need to be settled by interventions of
the magisterium. Unity of teaching and practice is certainly
necessary in the Church, but this does not preclude various
ways of interpreting some aspects of that teaching or drawing
certain consequences from it. This will always be the case as
the Spirit guides us towards the entire truth (cf. Jn 16:13),
until he leads us fully into the mystery of Christ and enables
us to see all things as he does. Each country or region,
moreover, can seek solutions better suited to its culture and
sensitive to its traditions and local needs.

Preacher of the Papal Household praises Martin Luther
The Preacher of the Papal Household, Capuchin
Franciscan Father Raniero Cantalamessa, used
his Good Friday sermon in St. Peter’s Basilica
to, among other things, praise the heretic Martin
Luther. Cantalamessa stated: But all of this means
nothing if one does not first understand what
the term “righteousness of God” actually means.
When you hear talk of the righteousness of God
and misunderstand this, then there is a risk to
be put off by it, rather than feel encouraged. In
other words, the righteousness of God is the act
by which those people who believe in his son, are
justified and made pleasing to him. It is not a
matter of making “justification” but “to making
the righteous.” To Luther comes the merit of
having brought this truth to light again after
the Christian message had lost the sense of it for
centuries. That is essentially what Christianity
owes the Reformation whose fifth centenary
will soon take place. About this discovery, the
Reformer later wrote: “I felt even reborn entirely
and as I had entered through open gates of
paradise itself.”

Given the Vatican’s continued efforts to
“celebrate” the 500th anniversary of Luther’s
rebellion and heresies, which have caused the loss
of many souls, Fr. Cantalamessa’s comments should
come as no surprise. Over and above everything
else, what is most distressing in Cantalamessa’s text
is the continuing implication that it was not until
Vatican II that the Church “finally got it right” and
corrected some 1900 years of errors! This sermon is
not the first time Fr. Cantalamessa has made use of
this high profile opportunity to praise Protestantism
at the expense of Catholic doctrine. He did so on
Good Friday of 2013 when he stated: We know
what the impediments are that can restrain the
messenger [i.e., the missionary]: dividing walls,
starting with those that separate the various
Christian churches from one another, the excess of
bureaucracy, the residue of past ceremonials, laws
and disputes, now only debris.
Fr. Cantalamessa was appointed Preacher of
the Papal Household by Pope John Paul II in 1980
and is a member of the Catholic Delegation for the
Dialogue with the Pentecostal Churches.
73

Theological Studies

Chapter 8
of Amoris
Laetitia
by Fr. Jean-Michel Gleize, SSPX

Father Jean-Michel Gleize, professor of
ecclesiology at the SSPX seminary of St. Pius
X in Ecône, comments on the chapter 8 of the
post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation Amoris
Laetitia released on April 8, 2016.
1. The Apostolic Exhortation is striking in both
its amplitude and its structure. It is divided into
nine chapters and includes over 300 paragraphs.
The most sensitive issues are dealt with in Chapter
8 (¶291-312), starting with ¶293. After discussing
Catholic marriage and the Catholic family, the document examines “situations of weakness.” We will
restrict ourselves here to this long-awaited section.
We are of course aware of other points worthy of
consideration and analysis, such as ¶250 on homosexuals, the section on the erotic aspects of love,
“a specifically human manifestation of sexuality”
(¶150 -152), as well as the positive and more normal

74

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aspects of the document, wherein it recalls the doctrine of marriage, its grandeur, and indissolubility.
All this will be examined in due time: since we cannot
say everything at once, we will make distinctions…
and making distinctions does not mean denying or
forgetting!
2. The Exhortation speaks first of all of purely civil
unions and cohabitation, in ¶293-294:
“The choice of a civil marriage or, in many cases,
of simple cohabitation, is often not motivated by
prejudice or resistance to a sacramental union, but
by cultural or contingent situations. In such cases,
respect also can be shown for those signs of love
which in some way reflect God’s own love.” […] “‘All
these situations require a constructive response
seeking to transform them into opportunities that
can lead to the full reality of marriage and family in
conformity with the Gospel. These couples need to
be welcomed and guided patiently and discreetly.’

That is how Jesus treated the Samaritan woman (cf.
Jn. 4:1-26): he addressed her desire for true love, in
order to free her from the darkness in her life and to
bring her to the full joy of the Gospel.”
3. The Pope states here that unions heretofore
deemed illicit are “signs of love which in some way
reflect God’s own love” and that they can be used
as “opportunities that can lead to the full reality of
marriage and family.” Is an occasion of sin therefore
no longer an occasion of sin, but an opportunity for
marriage? Curious theology! What is its source and
on what doctrinal grounds could Pope Francis found
it? The document introduces here what it calls the
principle of gradualness in pastoral care, which
John Paul II had called a “law of gradualness” in the
Exhortation Familiaris Consortio of 1981, ¶34.
“This is not a ‘gradualness of law’ but rather a
gradualness in the prudential exercise of free acts
on the part of subjects who are not in a position to
understand, appreciate, or fully carry out the objective demands of the law.”  
4. This is a play on words. It is true that prudence
requires pastors to take into account the state
of souls; such prudence might mean temporarily
abstaining from telling persons that their manner of
living is wicked, but nonetheless it must never mean
telling them that their manner of living is good. It is
one thing to refrain from immediately denouncing
a state of sin for what it is, but another to say that a
situation already sinful is a path towards the good,
or that something against charity is a sign of love.
Whether one likes it or not, the “law of gradualness”
leads to gradualness of law and moral relativism.
5. Next, the document turns to what it calls “irregular situations,” that is, the situation of public
sinners in general and especially the divorced and
remarried - public adulterers. The principle established is the same:
“There is a need ‘to avoid judgements which do
not take into account the complexity of various situations’” (¶296); “the discernment of pastors must
always take place ‘by adequately distinguishing’ with
an approach which ‘carefully discerns situations.’
We know that no ‘easy recipes’ exist” (¶298). “If we
consider the immense variety of concrete situations
such as those I have mentioned, it is understandable
that neither the Synod nor this Exhortation could
be expected to provide a new set of general rules,
canonical in nature and applicable to all cases. What

is possible is simply a renewed encouragement
to undertake a responsible personal and pastoral
discernment of particular cases, one which would
recognize that, since ‘the degree of responsibility is
not equal in all cases,’ the consequences or effects
of a rule need not necessarily always be the same”
(¶300).
6. If it is true that prudence may provide a variety
of solutions depending on circumstances, these
solutions are all based on one single principle. In this
sense, the consequences of the rule are always the
same, as they are founded on the same principle.
If, for instance, we must keep holy the Lord’s day
(Third Commandment of the Decalogue), applying
this rule will result in keeping the Lord’s Day holy, in
one way or in another. What may vary is the manner in which we accomplish the duties imposed on
us by the virtue of religion. Generally speaking, this
would be by attendance at Holy Mass; exceptionally, where attendance at Mass is impossible or very
difficult, by increased prayer. But in every case, the
practice of the virtue of religion is necessarily required. In this way, the accomplishment of the Third
Commandment will always be the same. Likewise,
the objective situation of the divorced and remarried is a public sin of adultery. Every Christian must
publicly disapprove of this situation, in one way or
another. However done, the censure must be public.
7. Such is clearly not the Pope’s point of view.
To be convinced of this, it is enough to read what
follows:
“It is reductive simply to consider whether or not
an individual’s actions correspond to a general law
or rule, because that is not enough to discern and
ensure full fidelity to God in the concrete life of a human being” (¶304).
8. So is every priest being overly simplistic when,
in hearing confessions, he judges the conformity
of his penitents’ actions with the Law of God? And
does whoever examines his conscience in order to
make a good confession incur the censure of Pope
Francis? If sometimes this examination is insufficient, it is still necessary. And often it does suffice.
Does not Holy Scripture tell us about the law of God
that it is “unspotted, converting souls,” and “giving
wisdom to little ones” (Ps. 18:8)?
9. But the next part of this same ¶304 clearly
displays the sophistry underlying all this renewal of
pastoral theology:
75

Theological Studies
“It is true that general rules set forth a good
which can never be disregarded or neglected, but in
their formulation they cannot provide absolutely for
all particular situations. At the same time, it must be
said that, precisely for that reason, what is part of a
practical discernment in particular circumstances
cannot be elevated to the level of a rule. That would
not only lead to an intolerable casuistry, but would
endanger the very values which must be preserved
with special care” (¶304).
10. As always, the sophistry is founded on a confusion of ideas. To dispel it one need only remember
a distinction of capital importance. It is true that
human law (civil or ecclesiastical) cannot foresee
every possibility, cannot “provide absolutely for all
particular situations.” Thus there are exceptional
cases when one is obliged to return to the first
principle of this human law (which is divine law) to
derive from it a practical conclusion not foreseen by
the human law. Sanctifying the Sunday is a wellknown example of such a case. God says that we
must keep this day holy, and the Church says we
must keep it holy by attending Mass. When attending Mass is impossible, we keep the Lord’s day holy
in an equivalent manner, for instance by praying the
rosary or by reading and meditating on the propers of the day in the missal. On the contrary, when
it comes to divine law we are faced with the work
of a sovereignly wise and infallible legislator, both
all-powerful and all-foreseeing. The divine legislation
has foreseen everything, absolutely everything, and
the infallible foresight of God includes absolutely
all particular situations. Therefore the natural law
and the revealed law found in the Gospel cannot be
subject to dispensation or appeal in the principles
they reflect. Now, the necessity and indissolubility
of marriage are both determined by this divine law.
In questions of moral laws regarding marriage, we
are on the level of divine law (natural and revealed).
This law is founded on absolute principles to which
no exceptions can be made: God the legislator has
foreseen every possibility, and no concrete situation
can have escaped his forethought. As the Council
of Trent teaches, God always gives man the means
to obey His commandments. “For God does not
command impossibilities, but by commanding admonishes thee to do what thou canst and to pray for
what thou canst not, and aids thee that thou mayest
be able.” Faced with a particular situation, the prac76

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July - August 2016

tical discernment of the pastor is obliged, sooner or
later, to bring the actions of his flock into conformity
with the rule of this divine law, whether natural or
revealed. And he is able to do so for the very reason
that the grace of God is sufficient and efficacious.
This is what the Church has always said and done.
And this is what the Exhortation of Pope Francis - in
this very passage - evades and implicitly denies,
in playing on words and in creating confusion. The
magic expression “intolerable casuistry” belongs to
a rhetoric prejudicial to the salvation of souls.
11. The Pope’s words here are of unparalleled
gravity, because by the practice they authorize in
the name of “an approach which ‘carefully discerns
situations,’” they strike a deadly blow to divine law
itself. If put into practice on all the points set forth
above, this pastoral Exhortation will be concretely
no more and no less than an exhortation to sin; in
other words, it is a scandal. After recalling in theory
in the opening chapters (¶52, 62, 83, and 123) the
Church’s unchanging doctrine on the indissolubility
of marriage and the efficacy of supernatural grace,
the document encourages the denial of this same
doctrine in practice. And let no one rush to point out
that in ¶299 the Pope says that “any occasion of
scandal” must be avoided, because it is undeniable
that having allowed such confusions, his words cannot but lead to scandal.
12. What follows is, unfortunately, the logical
consequence. After having thus facilitated the
practical relativization of the principles of Catholic
moral theology, all that remains is to draw favorable
conclusions for the case of public sinners. Here we
have a ready-made justification for ceding to all the
demands of libertines.
13. The supreme rule is no longer the law:
“A pastor cannot feel that it is enough simply to
apply moral laws to those living in ‘irregular’ situations, as if they were stones to throw at people’s
lives” (¶305).
14. One does not fail to see the allusion: applying
the law means stoning the woman taken in adultery,
and contradicting the mercy of the Good Shepherd.
But He Himself told the unfortunate woman, “Go, and
sin no more.” And just what is sin, if not everything
said or done against the law of God? The Pope’s
rhetoric should have gone no further. But what comes
next is even worse, for it introduces into a papal document the protestant principle of private judgment:

“Along these same lines, the International
Theological Commission has noted that ‘natural law
could not be presented as an already established
set of rules that impose themselves a priori on the
moral subject; rather, it is a source of objective inspiration for the deeply personal process of making
decisions’” (¶305).
15. The natural law is therefore no longer a law
which would be the expression of an obligatory command. It is reduced to a mere counsel, an encouragement, a recommendation. A source of inspiration. We find here the proposition condemned by St.
Pius X in the Decree Lamentabili: “Truth is no more
immutable than man himself, inasmuch as it evolves
with him, in him, and through him” (DS 3458).
16. If there be no more law, there is no sin either,
or rather, sin cannot be recognized in the external
forum, and no authority in the Church or any member of society can render a judgment concerning sin.
God alone will judge. Who are we to judge?... That
is truly the signature expression of Pope Francis.
“Hence it can no longer simply be said that all those
in any ‘irregular’ situation are living in a state of mortal sin and are deprived of sanctifying grace” (¶301).
17. At most one might admit that “it is not possible to deny that some, among all those in any
‘irregular’ situation, do not live in the state of mortal
sin and are not deprived of sanctifying grace.” But it
is impossible to accept the Pope’s words. They imply
that it is impossible to consider illicit unions as sinful
or as occasions of sin. The divorced and remarried
and cohabiting couples are no longer to be considered public sinners then. Once again, who are we to
judge? What total moral confusion this is: confusion
between good and evil on the level of public actions.
18. If the supreme rule is no longer God’s law, it is
replaced by man’s conscience.
“Recognizing the influence of such concrete factors, we can add that individual conscience needs
to be better incorporated into the Church’s praxis in
certain situations which do not objectively embody
our understanding of marriage. … [Conscience] can
also recognize with sincerity and honesty what for
now is the most generous response which can be
given to God, and come to see with a certain moral
security that it is what God himself is asking amid
the concrete complexity of one’s limits, while yet not
fully the objective ideal. In any event, let us recall
that this discernment is dynamic; it must remain

ever open to new stages of growth and to new decisions which can enable the ideal to be more fully
realized” (¶303).
19. Christian marriage may perhaps remain the
ideal in the eyes of the Church, but what counts is
the idea that each individual conscience has of the
ideal. What is good is not what is objectively good,
but what the conscience considers to be good. Even
if one supposes that the consciences of the married are more enlightened than those of others and
thus conceive a higher ideal, it is still the conscience
that determines the ideal. The difference between
the ideal of the married and the ideal of others is a
difference of degree, a difference of greater or lesser
fullness. Now this is total subjectivism and therefore
total relativism. Relativism comes from subjectivism: situation ethics, which is moral relativism, is the
result of morality founded on conscience. And such
is the new morality of Pope Francis.
20. One of its possible consequences was widely
anticipated. Here it is at last:
“I am in agreement with the many Synod Fathers
who observed that ‘the baptized who are divorced
and civilly remarried need to be more fully integrated into Christian communities in the variety of ways
possible, while avoiding any occasion of scandal’”
(¶299).
21. “In the variety of ways possible:” why not,
then, in admitting them to Eucharistic Communion?
If it is no longer possible to say that the divorced and
remarried are living in a state of mortal sin (¶301),
why should the fact of giving them Communion be
an occasion for scandal? And at that point, why
refuse them Holy Communion? The Exhortation
Amoris Laetitia is clearly moving in this direction.
In so doing, it represents an occasion of spiritual
ruin for the entire Church; or in other words, what
theologians call a “scandal” in the full sense of the
term. And this scandal is the consequence of a practical relativization of the truth of the Catholic Faith
concerning the necessity and indissolubility of the
sacramental union of marriage.

77

Theological Studies

The Synod
The decentralization of the Church offends
the Faith and common sense

by Robeto de Mattei

On October 17, 2015, Pope Francis announced
how the Synod on the Family is going to conclude. In
the few days just before the end of the work by the
assembly of bishops, they have reached an impasse,
and the way out of it, according to the Pope, would
be the decentralization of the Church.
This impasse is due to the division among those
within the hall: between those who refer with firmness to the perennial Magisterium on marriage,
and those “innovators” who want to overturn two
thousand years of Church teaching, but above all,
to overturn the Truth of the Gospel. It is, in fact, the
Word of Christ, the natural and Divine law, that a valid marriage, celebrated and consummated [ratum et
consummatum] by the baptized, cannot, under any
circumstances, be dissolved by anyone.
A single exception to this would annul the absolute, universal value of this law, and if it were to

78

The Angelus

July - August 2016

fall, the entire moral edifice of the Church would
collapse. Marriage is either indissoluble or it isn’t
and a disassociation between the principle and its
practical application cannot be admitted. Between
thoughts and words and between words and facts,
the Church insists on a radical coherence, the coherence the martyrs have borne witness to throughout history.
The principle that doctrine doesn’t change, but
its pastoral application does introduces a wedge
between two inseparable dimensions of Christianity:
Truth and Life. The separation of doctrine and praxis
is not of Catholic doctrine, but of Hegelian and
Marxist philosophy, which turns upside down the
traditional axiom according to which agere sequitur
esse. Action, in the perspective of the innovators,
precedes being and conditions it; experience does
not live the truth but creates it.

This is the sense of Cardinal Christoph
Schönborn’s discourse commemorating the 50th
anniversary of the Synod, the same day Pope
Francis spoke. “The faith cannot be represented,
only witnessed,” stated the Archbishop of Vienna,
reaffirming the primacy of “bearing witness” over
that of doctrine. “Martyr” in Greek means witness,
but for the martyrs bearing witness, it meant living
in the truth, whereas for the innovators it means
betraying it, by reinventing it through experience.
The primacy of pastoral practice over doctrine is
destined to have these catastrophic consequences:
1) The “virtual” Synod, which had already happened at the Second Vatican Council, is destined
to prevail over the real one. The message of the
mass-media which will accompany the conclusions
of the work will be more important than the contents
of the documents. The Circulus Angelicus C’s Relatio
on the first part of Intstrumentum laboris asserts
clearly the need for this revolution in language: “Like
Vatican II this Synod needs to be a language-event,
which is more than cosmetic.”
2) The post-Synod is more important than the
Synod itself, since it represents its “self”- fulfillment.
The Synod, in fact, will entrust the fulfillment of its
objectives to pastoral praxis. If what is changed is
not doctrine, but pastoral care, this change cannot
come about in the Synod, it has to happen in the everyday life of Christian people and thus outside the
Synod, after the Synod, in the parish and diocesan
life of the Church.
3) The “self”-fulfillment of the Synod comes
with the insignia of experience in particular
churches, that is, of ecclesiastical decentralization.
Decentralization authorizes the local churches to
experiment with a plurality of pastoral experiences.
However, if there is not one praxis coherent with the
one and only doctrine, it means that there are many,
all of them worthy of experiment. The protagonists
of this revolution in praxis will then be the bishops,
the parish priests, the Episcopal conferences, and
the local communities, each one according to its
own freedom and creativity.
There emerges the hypothesis of a “twospeed Church” or, again using the language of the
Euorcrats in Brussels, to “variable geometry.” Faced
with the same moral problem it will be regulated in
different ways according to situation ethics. To the
church of “Catholic adults” of German language and

belonging to the “First World,” the “quick march”
of “missionary witnessing” will be allowed; to the
church of “under-developed” Catholics, the Africans
or the Poles, who belong to the “Second or Third
World,” the “slow march” of attachment to their own
traditions will be allowed.
Rome would remain in the background, devoid of
all real authority, with the sole function of “charismatic impetus.” The Church would be “de-vaticanized,” or better still, “de-romanized.” The Romancentric Church will be substituted by a poly-centric
or polyhydric Church. The image of the polyhedron
has been used frequently by Pope Francis “The
prism,” he stated, “is a unity, but all its parts are different; each has its own peculiarity, its own charisma. This is unity in diversity. It is on this path that we
Christians do what we call by the theological name
of ecumenism: we seek to ensure that this diversity
may be more harmonized by the Holy Spirit and become unity” (Discourse to Pentecostals at Caserta,
July 28th 2014 [taken from Vatican site]).
The transfer of powers to the Episcopal Conferences
was already foreseen from a passage in Evangelii
Gaudium where it is conceived as “subjects of
specific attributions, including authentic doctrinal
authority.[…]Excessive centralization, rather than
proving helpful, complicates the Church’s life and
its missionary outreach” (n.32). Now Pope Francis
enunciates this “principle of synodality” as a final
outcome of the meeting in progress.
The old heresies of Gallicanism and Ecclesiastical
Nationalism are appearing again on the horizon. The
primacy of jurisdiction of the Supreme Pontiff, in
whom resides the supreme authority of the Church,
over all pastors and over all the faithful, and independent of any other power, is, in fact, a dogma
of faith, promulgated by the First Vatican Council.
This principle guarantees the unity of the Church:
unity in government, unity in faith, and unity in the
sacraments. Decentralization is a loss of unity,
which leads inevitably to schism. Schism is, in fact,
the rupture which inexorably occurs when a central
point of reference is missing, a unitary criteria, on
the doctrinal level as well as those of discipline and
pastoral care. The particular Churches, divided on
praxis, but also on doctrine which praxis comes
from, are destined inescapably to be in conflict and
produce fractures, schism, and heresies.

79

Theological Studies
Decentralization not only damages the Roman
Primacy, but also denies the principle of non-contradiction, that: “A thing cannot be A and not A at the
same time and in the same sense, be what it is and
not be what it is.” It is only on basis of this primary,
logical, and metaphysical principle that we are able
to use our reason and grasp the reality which surrounds us.
What happens if the Roman Pontiff renounces,
even partly, the exercise of his power to delegate
it to the Episcopal Conferences or individual bishops? A diversity of doctrine and praxis among the
Episcopal Conferences and among dioceses is
created. What is prohibited in one diocese will be
admitted in another, and vice-versa. The commonlaw husband or wife will be able to approach the
Sacrament of the Eucharist in one diocese and not
another. However, sin is–or it isn’t. The moral law is
the same for everyone or it isn’t. And it is either one
or the other: or the Pope has primacy of jurisdiction
and exercises it, or, in actual fact, someone else
governs other than him.
The Pope admits the existence of a sensus fidei,
but it’s precisely the sensus fidei of bishops, priests,
and lay folk that is scandalized today at the strange
things they hear coming out of the Synod Hall.
These strange things offend common sense even
before they offend the sensus Ecclesiae of the faithful. Pope Francis is right when he affirms that the
Holy Spirit doesn’t only assist the Pope and bishops
but also the entire faithful (on this point: Melchior
Cano, De locis Theologicis (Lib. IV, chap. 3, 117I). The
Holy Spirit nonetheless is not a spirit of novelty; He
guides the Church, infallibly assisting Her Tradition.
Through fidelity to Tradition, the Holy Spirit still
speaks to the ears of the faithful. And today, as in
the times of Arianism, we may say with St. Hilary:
Sanctiores aures plebis quam corda sacerdotum,
“the ears of the faithful are holier than the hearts of
the priests.” (Contra Arianos, vel Auxentium, n. 6, in
PL, 10, col. 613).
Roberto de Mattei, Il Foglio, October 20, 2015. October 22,
2015. [Published on: Rorate Caeli – Translation: Francesca
Romana]

80

The Angelus

July - August 2016

While many Marian feasts are among the first feasts to have
been celebrated universally by the Church, East and West, the
celebration of the Visitation, even though it is found in Luke’s
Gospel, is a relatively late development. It was championed by
Saint Bonaventure, and adopted by the Franciscans in 1263.
When it was extended to the universal Church by Pope Urban
VI in 1389, the date of the feast was set as July 2, the day
after the octave (eighth) day of the feast of the Birth of Saint
John the Baptist. The idea was to tie the celebration of the
Visitation, at which Saint John had been cleansed of Original
Sin, to the celebration of his birth

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Letters to the Editor

Dear Angelus Press,
Two weeks ago we attended the funeral service of a friend of ours: she was
Episcopalian. St. Matthew Episcopal Church was not unfamiliar to us, as we
had been there previously for some concerts. The church has a rather spacious
lobby, almost as large as the worship space proper, which also includes a
balcony, much like a theater.
Although we had never been there for any religious ceremony, we felt, as
the service began, as if we had seen it all before: the hall-like unadorned
walls, save for the imposing but generally hollow banners; the demeanor
and attire of the people; the multiple concelebrants; the number of women in
clerical garb moving around on the platform. All of this reminded us of the
Novus Ordo church we left twelve years ago, never to return again. As the
service progressed, our uncomfortable sense of déjà vu was further deepened:
the ritual, the mannerism, the prayers, the songs, the very words used were
practically identical to those used in our former church. Only two things
differed from that of the Novus Ordo mass we used to attend.
First, the presider (it took us a while, but eventually we figured out who
he was) used the words “…shed for you and for many” in his prayer over the
chalice, instead of the devious mistranslation which had been used in our old
Novus Ordo “ …shed for you and for all” (we understand that this has been
changed, at last, almost 50 years after the institution of the new rite and five
years after the papal injunction to do so).
Second, in the Episcopalian service everyone in the assembly was invited to
partake of communion under both species, without distinction of faiths. This
did not happen in our former church, but our seeing many people whom we
knew were Catholics going to the Episcopalian communion during the funeral
service made us wonder what may be going on today in the Novus Ordo.
Perhaps the Protestant lady who was in the RCIA class we used to give in our
church (nostra culpa, nostra culpa, nostra maxima culpa) was right, after all,
when she said: “Why should I convert? Your service is very much like the one in
my church!” In fact, she eventually left. Today, the similarity of the Novus Ordo
Missae and the Episcopalian rite is indeed striking. On our way home we asked
ourselves who actually copied from whom. In any case, the end result is the
same: religious syncretism. May the Lord have mercy on us all!
Respectfully yours in Christ,
Angelo and Marianna Gattozzi

83

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The
Last
Word
Dear readers,
“Make unto you friends of the mammon of iniquity.” (Lk. 16:9)
There is a profound agere contra in this evangelical principle concerning the use of
money. Instead of using it to increase our attachment to this temporal world, and thus decrease our charity towards God, Our Lord urges us to turn it into a means to sanctify our
soul and secure our way to Heaven. Indeed, with a proper use of temporal goods, charities can only increment real charity. The history of the Church is a lasting witness to it.
Behind all the schools, the hospitals, the religious congregations, the missionary apostolate of every kind, there has been and will always be souls giving the much needed material means to accomplish these “works of mercy.”
Saint Paul praised the young church of Macedonia for having understood this principle
very well when he made a general collection for the persecuted Christians of Jerusalem:
“Amid much testing of tribulation, their overflowing joy and their very deep poverty have
resulted in deep generosity. For according to their means, beyond their means, they gave
earnestly begging us the favor of sharing in the ministry that is in behalf of the saints…” (2
Cor. 8:2-4) And he continues: “He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly…God loves a
cheerful giver!” (2 Cor. 9:6-7) Money can be turned into grace!
Let us add another observation: Making “friends with the mammon of iniquity” is not
just a matter of recommended charity. This duty to alleviate the needs of others can even
become a grave obligation under pain of mortal sin. Early in his pontificate, St. Pius X issued an important but little known Motu Proprio on popular social action, Fin dalla Prima
Nostra (Dec. 18, 1903), which partly deals with this matter. He teaches there that the inequality of creatures is willed by God for the harmony of creation in order to oblige everyone to practice certain virtues proper to his condition. In section IX of his Motu Proprio,
the pope teaches: “The rich and those who have goods have an obligation in charity to
alleviate the poor and the needy according to the precept of the Gospel. This precept
obliges so gravely that in the day of judgment a special account will have to be given of the
fulfillment of this according to the words of Christ himself (Mt. 25).”
“He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” (Mt. 13:9)
Fr. Daniel Couture

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