“Instaurare omnia in Christo”

The Middle East
Archbishop Lefebvre and
the Muslims in Senegal
The Situation of the Chaldean Christians
in Iraq
Catholics in the Middle East

May - June 2017

The Dome of the Rock is an Islamic shrine located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of
Jerusalem. It was initially completed in 691 at the order of Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik during
the Second Fitna. It was built on the site of the Roman temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, which had
in turn been built on the site of Herod’s Temple, destroyed during the Roman Siege of Jerusalem
in 70 AD. The original dome collapsed in 1015 and was rebuilt in 1022–23. The Dome of the Rock
is in its core one of the oldest extant works of Islamic architecture.
The site’s significance stems in part from religious traditions regarding the rock, known as the
Foundation Stone, which bears great significance for Jews and Muslims as the site of Abraham’s
attempted sacrifice of his son (Isaac according to Genesis 22:2; Ishmael according to Islamic
belief).
For centuries Christian pilgrims still were able to come and experience the Temple Mount, but
escalating violence against pilgrims instigated the Crusades. The Crusaders captured

Jerusalem in 1099 and the Dome of the Rock was given to the Augustinians, who turned it into a
church while the Al-Aqsa Mosque became a royal palace.
Jerusalem was recaptured by Saladin on October 2, 1187, and the Dome of the Rock was
“reconsecrated” as a Muslim shrine. The cross on top of the dome was replaced by a crescent,
and a wooden screen was placed around the rock below.
A few hours after the Israeli flag was hoisted over the Dome of the Rock during the Six-Day
War in 1967, Israelis lowered it on the orders of Moshe Dayan and invested the Muslim waqf
(religious trust) with the authority to manage the Temple Mount / Haram al-Sharif, in order to
“keep the peace.”
In 1993, the golden dome covering was refurbished following a donation of $8.2 million by King
Hussein of Jordan.

Letter
from the
Publisher
Dear readers,
The Middle East is the cradle of the Christian Faith. This vast region, including not only
Jerusalem but also Damascus and Babylon, is the theater of familiar biblical history. But, for the
last 1400 years, it has been overrun by the Quran, which imposes its despotic rule over vast expanses of the Fertile Crescent. If Islam tries to present a soft face to the gullible West, it always
reverts to Muhammad’s logic of holy war against and servitude of the “infidels”.
At least in living memory, the Middle East has never enjoyed a lasting and real peace.
Lately, however, because of the internal wars among diverse Muslim factions, the conflict has
shifted and broadened. Not a day passes without news from the war front, which ranges from
Damascus to Baghdad, and passes through Aleppo and Mosul. The Middle East epitomizes violence, explosions, and displaced families. Horror and devastation are the order of the day, and
this has ensued relentlessly for years. And, as the waves of refugees are crossing its borders,
the West is reluctantly forced to take a greater interest in the question, and hopefully will deal a
final blow to the new beast coming from the land, ISIS.
There is little doubt in the minds of us all that this religious conflict is spreading throughout
all European countries and is even spilling out into the Americas. Nature abhors a vacuum, and
for a materialistic and spineless West, Islam will advance and soon impose itself. To counter
the twin Islamist religious and demographic peril, can there be any other remedy than strong
Catholic nations as well as young adults proud of their true faith and eager to raise a large family
to carry Christ’s name to all nations?
What are the reasons for the conflict, its hidden springs, its repercussions in the Western
world? Europe first, and then, perhaps America? How much will immigration destabilize the old
continent and lead to civil war before the end of this generation? These and other related topics
frame this issue of our journal.
Fr. Jürgen Wegner
Publisher

May - June 2017
Volume XL, Number 3
Publisher
Fr. Jürgen Wegner
Editor-in-Chief
Mr. James Vogel
Managing Editor
Fr. Dominique Bourmaud
Copy Editor
Mrs. Suzanne Hazan
Design and Layout
credo.creatie
(Eindhoven, The Netherlands)
Mr. Simon Townshend
Director of Operations
Mr. Brent Klaske

		
U.S.
Foreign Countries

Subscription Rates
1 year 2 years
3 years
$45.00 $85.00 $120.00
$65.00 $125.00 $180.00

(inc. Canada and Mexico)

All payments must be in U.S. funds only.
Online subscriptions: $20.00/year. To subscribe visit:
www.angelusonline.org. Register for free to access
back issues 14 months and older. All subscribers to the print
version of the magazine have full access to the online version.

Contents
Letter from the Publisher

4

Theme: Middle East
––Archbishop Lefebvre and the Muslims in Senegal
––The Situation of Chaldean Christians in Iraq
––A Closer Look at Immigration
––Christians in the Middle East

6
10
15
20

Faith and Morals
––Orientalium Dignitas
––Mount Carmel

26
30

Spirituality
––Bastion of the Faith
––“Thou Shalt not Discriminate”
––Test your Mastering Ability over Modern Media
––The Pilgrimage of Life

36
40
42
45

Christian Culture
––Saint John the Baptist in Art
––Islam and the American Civil Religion
––Education in Cleanliness

48
56
60

“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.
PH (816) 753-3150; FAX (816) 753-3557.
Periodicals Postage Rates paid at Kansas City, MO.
Manuscripts and letters to the editor are welcome
and will be used at the discretion of the editors.
The authors of the articles presented here are solely
responsible for their judgments and opinions.
Postmaster sends address changes to the address above.
©2017 BY ANGELUS PRESS. OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE
PRIESTLY SOCIETY OF SAINT PIUS X FOR THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA

––Questions and Answers

64

News from Tradition
––Church and World
––Converting Muslims in Lebanon
––Letter to the Editor
––The Last Word

70
74
82
87

Theme Middle East

Archbishop
Lefebvre
and the Muslims in Senegal

by Bishop Bernard Tissier de Mallerais, SSPX

Archbishop Lefebvre arrived in Dakar as Apostolic Vicar in 1947. Even with
his experience in Gabon, where he had tripled Christianity’s numbers, he found
himself faced with an entirely new situation: 50,000 Christians (Roman and
Maronite), but also 1.5 million hundred Muslims! How to convert them?

The Situation in Dakar
Yes, the situation of the Church in Dakar was much better than it is in
the Middle East, where the Christians are “dhimmis,” second-class citizens,
held to special taxes and the object of general disdain, and even periodically
persecuted and massacred by Muslims.
In the 1950s, Senegal was ruled by Catholics (alas, sometimes by
Freemasons), and the future held the promise of a Catholic government in a
Muslim country that was soon to acquire its independence.
The relations of the future archbishop of Dakar with the Muslims followed
three bywords: cordial relations, warnings against the Marxism conveyed by
Islam, and protection of Catholic life against Muslim influence.
6

The Angelus

May - June 2017

Muslim Friendships
1

Fideliter, SeptemberOctober 1987, #59,
“Archbishop Lefebvre Mes
quarante ans d’épiscopat”
(“My Forty Years as
Bishop”), p. 29.

2

Ibid.

3

Fadiouth is an island
situated where a river joins
the ocean; it was entirely
Catholic.

4

Fideliter, ibid. p. 30.

First of all, Archbishop Lefebvre’s wisdom led him to cultivate the most
cordial relations with the Muslim religious leaders. He even spoke of what
unites Catholics and Muslims: “Belief in one God.” He realized, thanks to the
universities and the study circles organized by the Catholics, that “the Muslim
elite looks towards the Church.” Ababacar Sadikhe Thiam was a dear friend
to him, and considered him as “more than a friend, a brother, a true spiritual
guide, a man of God and of faith.” God alone knows if such a Muslim was able
in this way to receive the grace of an “implicit baptism of desire.” Archbishop
Lefebvre acted gently, careful never to be rough with souls. For Archbishop
Lefebvre, evangelization had to go hand in hand with a Catholic political
influence. Catholicism had to maintain its power, at a time when Islam was
starting to make worrisome progress.
“We must reread the letters that Pope St. Pius V addressed to the king of
Spain. The pontiff judges Islam, and he, the victor of Lepanto, knows what he
is talking about! He denounces the dangers it presents for Catholicism. The
pope asks Philip II to act strongly and courageously against Islam, to keep the
immorality it spreads from contaminating Catholic society. Everyone knows
that at the time, many Catholics in the south of Spain were seduced by Islam
7

Theme Middle East
5

Ibid., p. 31.

6

Echos de Sta Chiara,
January 1957—Conference
given on November 19,
1956. For further reading
see, Marcel Lefebvre: The
Biography, p. 240.

and apostatized. It was a very difficult time.” “Remember that according to
Koranic law, the children born of a mixed marriage between a Muslim man and
a Catholic woman are necessarily Muslim.”1
“In Senegal and Mali, black women go about freely. They are not locked
up, there are no harems. But the most frightful immorality reigns: constant
divorces, sharing wives is a common practice, as is open prostitution. In Dakar,
there were neighborhoods where this sort of prostitution was essentially run
by the Muslims. There were no Christian women—thank God—and no pagan
women. It was a ‘commerce’ publicly run by the Muslims.”2
“I once had to impose an interdict on the island of Fadiouth, because the
Christians had contracted debts towards Muslim traders, who demanded
as reimbursement young boys who would serve as slaves… The interdict
(suspension of the cult) served its purpose: the Muslim merchants were
expelled from the island.”3
“Islamization is accomplished through the Arabian language. So it was
important not to favor the teaching of this language! In Koranic schools, the
children are directed by a young man who has them repeat the surahs of the
Koran all day long even though they don’t understand a word of them. It is
the Arabian myth: anyone who is “Arabian” is Muslim; anyone who is Muslim
speaks Arabian. It is also the religious language and that is a strength for
Islam—we who have abandoned the Latin language that united us, we can
no longer go from one church to another because we no longer understand
anything: our rites have become no more than dust in the wind.”4
Is it possible to convert the Muslims? In his mind, Archbishop Lefebvre
thinks that “we can scarcely hope for more than the conversion of the
intellectual elite, those who are in our universities. They earn diplomas that
make it possible for them to practice a profession and earn a livelihood for
themselves and their families, and no longer depend on their fathers, their
uncles… When held by their families, if they make the ‘mistake’ of converting,
especially the women, they risk retributions and even being poisoned.”

The Young Muslims in the Catholic Schools
“We could scarcely hope to convert the Muslim children in our schools,
either, although there were many of them; but we did not want to go over a
proportion of 15% of our overall number. Because as soon as Muslims feel that
they are the majority, strong and important, they impose their will. As long as
they are a minority, they are willing to submit to the discipline and the studies.
‘The hand they cannot cut off, they leave in peace’, as one of their proverbs
goes.”
“We were able,” adds Archbishop Lefebvre, “to convert the Animists, at least
the children, the small, the weak, and those subjects to the chiefs. But the
chiefs were powerful and polygamous and rarely converted to Catholicism,
for they would have had to give up their wives. It was very difficult for them to
give up their arrogance, the totalitarianism that even the small village chiefs
practiced.”
“Islam made headway in the non-Arabian populations because unlike
Catholic morality, the Muslim religion encourages their vices: ‘If you come over
8

The Angelus

May - June 2017

7

International Congress of
Regroupment of the African
Political Parties, Dakar,
January 11-13, 1957. Paul
Auphan, Histoire de la
décolonisation (History
of the Decolonization),
France-Empire, Paris 1957,
p. 160.

8

“Fr. Louis Carron CSSP,
Interview by Bishop Tissier
de Mallerais” in Marcel
Lefebvre: The Biography, p.
240.

to Islam, you will become an even greater chief, you will be even richer, you can
have even more wives, you can have even more slaves.’ These incentives were
accompanied by flattery, gifts, cloths, fetishes[.]”5
“So, as I have said before, either Africa will become Muslim, with the
development of slavery, immorality, and polygamy, or Africa will become
Catholic and will acquire the order willed by God and preserve her natural
virtues of simplicity, joy, and hospitality.”
In 1956, when speaking of the French Seminary in Rome, Archbishop
Lefebvre revealed the antagonism that exists in West-African Islam between
the traditional brotherhoods and the reformist, purist, pan-Arabian movement
propagated by Cairo. The black students who return home from the university
of El-Azhar “preach hatred for the Western world and the missionaries in
their mosques.” The Archbishop explained that this pan-Arabianism favors
Communism:
“Did not the Congress of Addis-Abela, that African capital where the Marxist
influence tends towards anarchism, conclude with: ‘We must spread Islam in
order to spread Communism.’?” As Cardinal Tisserant said: “Those who believe
that Islam is a rampart against Communism are entirely mistaken.”6
Did not the Senegalese Muslim Mamadou Dia, future head of the Mali
Federation of Senegal and French Sudan, consider in 1957 that Senghor’s dream
of a federation of French-speaking Africans was “only valid if it rallied to the
teachings of Marx and Lenin”?7
At the request of a writer from the newspaper Le Devoir, Archbishop
Lefebvre penned on November 2, 1957, an article entitled “Are the Christian
States going to hand Black Africa over to the Star?” in which he wrote:
“The countries that break off the most quickly from the West and turn to
Communist methods are the countries that have a majority of Muslims…;
fanaticism, collectivism, enslavement to families.” The Islamic customs are
particularly open to these methods. Guinea and Sudan (soon to be Mali) were
already internally organized “according to the Marxist methods.”

Trouble and Peace
The article was republished on December 18, 1959, by La France catholique
and distributed in Senegal. Mamadou Dia, then head of State, who had just
been received by John XXIII, had “an unbelievable fit of rage.”8 Bishop Georges
Guibert, Archbishop Lefebvre’s auxiliary, had to go out that very night—like
Nicodemus—and bring an explanation from the Archbishop to the Grand Mufti
Seydou Norou Tall in order to appease the Muslim wrath.
But fortunately the rupture between Senegal and Mali that occurred on
August 20, 1957 reassured the Archbishop of Dakar: Senegal would become
neither an Islamic republic nor a popular democracy. Although he was a
socialist (the African version of socialism), Catholic Leopold Sedar Senghor
remained for many years the prudent and respected head of the independent
state of Senegal. Although he did not convert many Muslims, Archbishop
Lefebvre did succeed in giving the young West-African state a Christian
direction for many years to follow. In so doing, he perfectly realized the entire
goal of his mission: a State that would respect the law of Christ.
9

Theme Middle East

Chaldean
Christians
in Iraq
Interview with a priest of the Chaldean Catholic Church

The following is an interview with a priest of
the Chaldean Catholic Church concerning the
situation of his church in Iraq. The conversational
style has been retained throughout.
Angelus Press: Father, you are a Chaldean
priest who left Iraq in the early 1990s and arrived
in the United States as a refugee. You have now
ministered to Chaldean communities throughout
the country. The readers of The Angelus are
eager to know more about the origin of the
conflict in the Middle East. Why do they fight in
Arab countries?
Father: For me, only one thing accounts for
this warfare that has been going on for over 1,400
years. Today we are focused on ISIS. But this and
all other groups are practicing the religion as
they have in the book, the Koran. They are legally
10

The Angelus

May - June 2017

following what is in the Constitution of Iraq:
Sharia Law.
Angelus Press: Do you mean the Jihad?
Father: They are practicing the Jihad, but the
Sharia includes other elements of the law like
the dhimmi. If you are Christian, then you are a
second or third rate citizen. Some in the Church
hierarchy refuse to call us Chaldeans and prefer
to call us Christians, so that we are virtually
forced to agree to what the Koran says, and, as
a counterpart, we are protected by the Muslim
country, constitution, and leader.
Angelus Press: Given the present situation in
Iraq, would not this be a half-way decent way of
life?
Father: This servile situation goes against my

civil status. I am a Chaldean and I am a citizen
by right. I was there before Islam came, that land
is mine. The Chaldeans are the original ethnic
people, the Babylonians, whereas the Arabs were
the invaders. We own Iraq, but we have no power.
We have the original culture, race, and language.
Angelus Press: Father, you seem to be talking
of Chaldea as a race. Does that encompass also
the Chaldean Rite?
Father: Among those who share the Chaldean
ethnicity, most are Christians, but some are
unbelievers or Muslims. Among the Christians,
the large majority is Catholic (with various rites:
Chaldeans, Armenian, or Roman), whereas
the other Christians (Nestorians, Syrians,
Armenians, Protestants) represent only 20% of

the Chaldeans. The Chaldean Rite as well as the
Syro-Malabar Rite are Syro-Oriental rites, and
in this, they differ from other oriental rites, like
the Maronite Rite (Syro-Occidental Rite) or the
Armenian Rite. All the Catholic rites share in the
threefold unity of the Catholic Church: the same
Faith, the same valid seven sacraments, and the
same higher authority of the pope.
Angelus Press: Could you give us some
numbers as to how much the Catholic population
has decreased in your country?
Father: At the time of Saddam Hussein, there
were 1.5 million Christians, including Protestants
and, among these, the Catholic Chaldeans
counted 800,000. In today’s Iraq the total number
of Christians is only 300,000. Most of them

Chaldean Church in Syria

11

Theme Middle East
live in the north of Iraq because the north has
recovered stability after the war with ISIS since
2015. At the height of the conflict, they had come
down to Bagdad.
Angelus Press: There has been an enormous
bleeding in the last few years.
Father: Few are those who can make it
back and return to their home. Each day one or
two families go to Turkey, Lebanon, or Jordan.
They are waiting to go also to the United
States, Canada, and Australia because in these
countries, the Chaldeans have an important
minority. In the U.S., they number about 300,000.
There are about 50,000 Chaldeans in Canada as
well as in Australia. As you can see, today, the
Chaldean population is virtually as large in the
U.S. as in Iraq.
Angelus Press: Why should Iraq be the stage
of constant conflict? Is this different from what
happens in Syria?
Father: This is mostly because the
neighboring countries have an interest there. One
hundred years ago, it was set up by the British
that the president would be Sunni and the Prime
Minister Shiite. Later on, the government was
completely in the hands of the Sunni whereas the
Shiites represent about 65% of the population.
Saddam Hussein was Sunni, but he ruled over
a country with a Shiite majority. He was not
good for his own people. He had total control
but, instead of leaving people to live as humans,
he forced them to live as Arabs. Even with him,
there was already a religious war, organized to
wipe out his own nation.
Angelus Press: We understood that Hussein’s
regime was favorable to the Christians. Is this
correct?
Father: In his time, there was the division
between the government and the Shiites. And
it was the minorities who paid the price, and
especially the Christian Chaldeans, who have no
power. It was only under the embargo, when the
government wanted to impress the media, that
Hussein’s regime allowed the public practice of
religion, but this was pure propaganda to fool
the West. At least, in his time, Christians could
12

The Angelus

May - June 2017

live at peace. The Chaldeans were good servants,
not leaders, but peaceful people. They were a
minority and a source of peace between the
opponent parties because they have no power to
harm anyone or take over the power.
Angelus Press: Were you affected by the war?
Father: I came from the northern part of Iraq,
and my village is between Syria, Iraq, and Turkey.
It was destroyed, and we have not been paid
back. Because there was war between Saddam
Hussein and the Kurdish group, my people paid
the price and there was no one coming to protect
us. As citizens, we did our part to serve the
country. So, the families took refuge in Bagdad.
Angelus Press: Could you practice your faith
sometimes?
Father: The Christian religion is suffering
from undue pressure. Then as today, you could
practice your religion in your own church, but
not in the streets. Ten years ago, our Christian
names were changed into Arab names like Rami
or Sala. There is a law that no church should be
higher than the mosque. Muslims who wish to
convert and join the Chaldean Catholic Church
cannot publicly convert, even to date. If the
converts were to return to Islamism, they are
called redda—which means return—and they
would be sentenced to death, too. If any Christian
parents become Muslims, automatically, the
children become Muslims. ISIS has shown their
true colors by sending Christians this message:
either convert to Islam or pay taxes or gifts. ISIS
was present in Iraq for only two years and, now
they are gone. But their agenda—the agenda of
Islam—has been implemented for 1,400 years:
new name, same agenda. The laws never change.
Angelus Press: What is the present condition
in Iraq?
Father: The war started in 2003 and virtually
ended in 2015. Today the situation is worse than
in Hussein’s time because it is chaos. ISIS was
here for two years only, but the fight with the
different Muslim factions will go on to no end.
There will always be a struggle between Sunnis
and Shiites, but also Kurds vs. Kurds, Sunni vs.
Sunni, Shiites vs. Shiites, etc. It is necessary

that one man alone take control of the country.
When everyone says “I am the leader,” it does
not work. To return to proper order, the country
needs a good dictatorship, that is to say, a leader
who cares for his own people, who will allow
all citizens to have good schools, hospitals, and
work. Good and innocent people just want to
practice their religion and culture in peace. Only
a person with military and political power can
really provide for the country’s prosperity. This
is not going to happen unless the U.S. is present.
The U.S. went into the Iraq War for the oil and
for the strategic situation of Iraq. But, at this
juncture, the U.S. does not want to be involved
and pay the price for Iraq’s stability.
Angelus Press: Is Iraq ready for democracy?
Father: For us, to talk about democracy is a
big joke under Sharia Law, which means giving
all privileges to Islam and crushing any Christian
liberties. Do not imagine they will ever give the
same right to Christians as to Arabs. Turkey
today is a very dictatorial country, back to its
Islamic roots. By way of example, in Bagdad,
Muslims have means to show that Christians
are not welcomed. The Christians who ran
convenience shops have been forbidden to open
shops in Iraq. Needless to say, most clients were
Muslims. But that was a way for the government
to put pressure on the minorities.
Angelus Press: What is the state of the Iraq
Christians today? Is there a shortage of priests?
Father: It depends. In the north, we have
practices and we have churches. There are
priests but, due to shortages, many among them
are married priests. There are other parts of the
country where priestly ministry is not forbidden,
but it is not safe to go out and have public
Masses. They have their own churches, and even
the government helps them to have money to
build the church. The problem is that the money
given to Christians is a grant, not a right. It is not
the Constitution of Iraq, which only recognizes
Islam.
Angelus Press: What do you mean?
Father: Religious minorities take some money
from the government to build churches as a

religion, but they are not viewed as full citizens.
In such an unfavorable situation, it would be
best to separate Church and State. But Islam
is a political religion and separation will never
happen. Money is not a problem in Iraq, but when
the Muslim government is granting money to
Christians to have their own church, corruption
is not far away. The heads of the Catholic Church
have money and grants for their own projects, but
they lose some of their liberty in the process.
Angelus Press: As you are presently living
in the United States, how can you help the
Christians in Iraq?
Father: The best thing which can be done
is to appeal to the White House and ask for
the Chaldeans to be admitted into the U.S. as
refugees. Many among my own Chaldean people
have decided to leave the country and want to
come to the U.S., to be part of their new country
and, in the future, American citizens who can
practice their faith.
Angelus Press: Would it not be a good idea
for Christians to remain there in the hope of
bringing the Faith back where it had existed
since the Apostolic times?
Father: Today, Christians stay in Iraq simply
because they need a place to live, but there is no
future for them there. The best example I can give
you is that of St. John Baptist. Why could he not
stay in the Temple? Because there was corruption
there! It is like the Jewish people. In the year 70,
the Christian Jews fled from Jerusalem. This is
the present situation of Christian Iraqis today.
We leave, yet Babylon is our own nation; it is our
spiritual and cultural homeland. Unfortunately,
in Iraq, we cannot live our faith. If you go to the
churches, there is no more Chaldean language
spoken at Mass. The hierarchy is pushing the
Arabic language down our throats. The future
in Iraq is that they will lose their own language.
Why cannot they name their children with
Chaldean names? Little by little, they will give
way and lose their legacy. Going to America is the
way to preserve our heritage. Maybe some time in
the future, it might be good to go back to Iraq, but
not now. Today any person who remains runs the
risk of being killed.
13

718 pp. – Hardcover with dust jacket – Illustrated – Index – STK# 8035 – $34.95

Marcel Lefebvre:
The Biography

This comprehensive work by Bishop Tissier de Mallerais is an insightful look at the life of one of
the most influential bishops in the 20th Century and in the history of the Church. Here is a life that
cannot be overlooked. The biography takes us through his early childhood in a deeply Catholic
family in France, through his days in the French Seminary in Rome. From there it carries us to his
missionary days in Africa, and his meteoric rise through the Church’s ranks, including his role as
Superior General of the Holy Ghost Fathers. Finally, much attention is given to the most profound
and important chapter in his life: the founding and direction of the Society of St. Pius X. A true gem
for anyone interested in this Athanasius of our time, and indispensable for anyone studying the
history of the Catholic Church.

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

A Closer
Look at
Immigration
Interview with Fr. Gregory Celier, SSPX

Angelus Press: Has there been much
magisterial writing on the issue of immigration?
Fr. Celier: Since the Council, this theme
has frequently been broached with the “Annual
Migrants’ Day.” Yet, prior to Pope Pius XII, there
is almost nothing written, although the 19th
and 20th centuries saw massive emigration. Aid
societies were founded, but few speeches are to
be found. As for theologians, the majority of them
have ignored the migrations of modern times.
Angelus Press: Where should we start this
issue?
Fr. Celier: We need to start by defining the
word immigrant. According to the dictionary,
to immigrate means to enter a foreign country
for the purpose of settling there. It involves
both the notion of changing countries and the

notion of settlement. Among other scenarios,
a tourist visiting a foreign country does not
fit this definition. That being established, it is
appropriate to make a few distinctions.
Angelus Press: What distinctions?
Fr. Celier: Some enter a country called by
their employer in his professional capacity.
These are what we call “expatriates,” and few
of them stay long in the host country. Hence,
they are closer to tourists than to immigrants.
Then, some may arrive in a country as a result
of being violently expelled from their home
country. This is the case of “displaced persons,”
a rather massive reality since World War II.
Finally, there are those who, of their own choice,
enter a country to find a better life and work. Of
this group, some are legal, and some illegal,
15

Theme Middle East
immigrants. You see right away the importance of
these distinctions. Having established these, we
can seek the principles that regulate the question
of immigration. It seems to me that they are to be
found in the Church’s doctrine on property rights.
Angelus Press: I do not quite see the relation
between property and immigration.
Fr. Celier: You will readily understand. The
theologians unanimously teach that the earth and
what it encompasses was given by the Creator
to mankind in general for him to dwell in and
to use for his subsistence. This universal and
primitive destination of the earth remains despite
all subsequent appropriations. Nevertheless,
solid reasons (hard work, upkeep, order, peace,
etc.) have pushed mankind to adopt private
property. This appropriation can be the act of an
individual, a family, a society (e.g., a business),
but also of a city or nation that attributes to itself
a definite portion of the earth (a country).
Angelus Press: Applying this to the question
of immigration, does this means that the nation
can accept or refuse the entrance of foreigners on
its territory?
Fr. Celier: Exactly! As the proprietor of the
land it occupies, a nation can agree to share it or
not with others. This is the principle of private
property: I allow into my home whomever I
wish. Of course, an immigration is preceded by
an emigration: an emigrant is someone who has
left his own country, his own nation, his family,
his culture, and often his own language. Some
emigrate out of a taste for adventure, but most
are forced by poverty. It is in this context that
on July 23, 1957, Pope Pius XII spoke of “the
abnormal situation” of emigrants. Their misery is
principally caused by a lack of natural resources,
climactic catastrophes or the like, war and
corrupt governments. It placed the immigrant in a
“state of necessity.”
Angelus Press: What were Pius XII’s
arguments in favor of immigration?
Fr. Celier: Pope Pius XII was writing on
the aftermath of the WWII, which produced 60
millions casualties in Europe. If there can be
requisitions in the case of a natural disaster, it
16

The Angelus

May - June 2017

is normal also that moral authorities set some
rules about it. It was in these terms that Pius XII
called for international legislation concerning
immigration, in the Apostolic Constitution Exsul
Familia Nazarethana of August 1, 1952. He
reiterated what he called “the general principles
of the natural law.”
“Our planet...is not, at the same time,
without habitable regions and living spaces
now abandoned to wild natural vegetation and
well suited to be cultivated by man to satisfy
his needs….Then, according to the teaching of
Rerum Novarum, the right of the family to a
living space is recognized. When this happens,
migration attains its natural scope as experience
often shows. We mean, the more favorable
distribution of men on the earth’s surface suitable
to colonies of agricultural workers; that surface
which God created and prepared for the use of
all.”
Angelus Press: The Pope then quoted his
letter to the American Bishops of December 24,
1948, on the general principles of natural law:
Fr. Celier: “The natural law itself, no less
than devotion to humanity, urges that ways
of migration be opened to these people. For
the Creator of the universe made all good
things primarily for the good of all. Since land
everywhere offers the possibility of supporting
a large number of people, the sovereignty of the
State, although it must be respected, cannot be
exaggerated to the point that access to this land
is, for inadequate or unjustified reasons, denied
to needy and decent people from other nations,
provided of course, that the public wealth,
considered very carefully, does not forbid this.”
Angelus Press: Can you recall the case of
normal immigration?
Fr. Celier: It is that of someone who enters
legally a country to find a better work and
better life. As guest to the host country, if he
enjoys some rights, he has also some obvious
duties. Like any citizen, he is bound to respect
the law, the moral law firstly, and then the
civil law. More so this is necessary for the
immigrant, since he is enjoying another country’s
hospitality. He needs to show this gratitude by

his attitude. As Pius XII put it on July 23, 1957,
the immigrant “must be conscious of what he
owes the people that welcomes him and tries to
facilitate his progressive adaptation to his new
way of life.” The immigrant must also do his job
conscientiously, and more so than any citizen,
since the work contract was the key to his
entering the country.
Angelus Press: Does the immigrant have a
duty to become integrated into the host country,
to learn the language, and to accept local
customs?
Fr. Celier: The notion of hospitality will
enlighten us here. When I am someone’s guest,
I bend myself somewhat to his way of doing
things. But this depends upon how long I’ll be
staying with my host. If it is just for dinner, this
accommodation will be rather superficial. If I am
spending a long holiday or vacation at his home,
I’ll make greater efforts. But a young lady hired
to be a nanny in a foreign country, for example,
obviously must model herself much more on the
customs of the family receiving her.
Angelus Press: Must the country foster
assimilation?
Fr. Celier: If, on the contrary, the country is
welcoming immigrants to settle permanently,
it must, to avoid the progressive dislocation of
national unity, promote an adequate assimilation.
However, while striving to guarantee a certain
homogeneity of the population, the State must
not transform itself into a totalitarian monster
nor violate the most elevated rights of its citizens,
especially the supernatural rights of baptism. As
Pope Pius XII said on July 23, 1957, assimilation
must not be effected “at the expense of natural
rights and to the detriment of religious and moral
values.” A Muslim State cannot force a Catholic
to apostatize under the pretext that it is inhabited
by Muslims.
Angelus Press: What distinctions can a
country put in place for immigrants?
Fr. Celier: Let’s recall one of the principles
guiding our reflection. The nation is the
legitimate proprietor of the territory it occupies,
with its resources both natural and human; it

can share them with whomever it wishes, within
certain limits to which we shall turn later. The
public authority is firstly and principally in
charge of the common good of this nation, and
not that of the other countries of the world. The
public authority must therefore be sure that the
welcoming of immigrants favors the common
good and does not harm it. As Pope Pius XII
said on March 13, 1946, “a certain restriction on
immigration” is admissible, for “in this matter,
it is not only the interests of the immigrants, but
also the prosperity of the nation that must be
consulted.”
Angelus Press: In what way?
Fr. Celier: I think that the public authority
must first determine the country’s capacity
to accept immigrants, especially regarding
employment, which is in general the immigrant’s
main goal. It is entirely abnormal to allow in
immigrants for work when thousands, and even
millions, of citizens are unemployed and willing
to take the work. That is obviously wrong and
absurd. A nation’s natural resources must equally
be taken into account: a country that is just selfsufficient in food production must not allow in a
large number of immigrants because it will not be
able to feed them and its own population.
Angelus Press: In case immigration fosters
development, shouldn’t the public authority just
open the borders?
Fr. Celier: This is not always opportune.
The public authority is at the service of the
common good of the nation as a whole. It cannot
therefore stop at purely economic considerations.
The influx of a massive number of immigrants
creates problems of coexistence. This is because
immigrants from the same nation quite naturally
tend to settle in the same place, spontaneously
creating de facto “ghettos,” potential sources of
conflict with the natives. A government worthy
of the name has a duty to regulate immigration
and avoid these tensions. A policy of quotas as
it is practiced in the US, a country inhabited
almost exclusively by immigrants, is a wise and
balanced policy. In that vein, it seems judicious
for a country to be more open to immigrants
from countries which share much of the same
17

Theme Middle East
culture, language and religion.
Angelus Press: But, today, the real problem is
illegal immigration.
Fr. Celier: To approach this difficult question,
let’s try to understand better the reasons for
emigration and immigration. The principal cause
of emigration, as we have said, is poverty, misery.
Now what are the causes of immigration, that
is, the choice to enter one country rather than
another? For starters, there are two obvious
reasons. First, immigration is desired by the
host country to obtain workers to fill the jobs
that the citizens don’t do (hard work, paltry
pay, difficulties, etc.). Second, immigration is
chosen by the immigrant based on the peace and
prosperity of the host country.
But then, there are two less obvious reasons.
Politics is the art of what can be done based on
what is. The first reality to take into account
is the “biological” reality. A country whose
population is stagnating, diminishing, or aging,
creates a vacuum for younger, more active,
poorer peoples. The second reason is a corollary
of the first. A country that no longer has children
is a country that has lost confidence in itself, its
culture, its history and its values. It is plagued
with “cosmopolitanism” meaning, not so much
a generous welcome of others, but rather the
stagnation which preludes death. The immigrants
sense that, in this depressed country, they can
keep their own customs while benefiting from the
local wealth, for the natives no longer have a zest
for life and camouflage this death wish beneath a
false notion of welcome and sharing.
Angelus Press: Your vision, if realistic, is
hardly optimistic.
Fr. Celier: For me, when a prosperous country
suffers from a real and persistent problem of
immigration, the causes are more internal than
external. The earth is huge. So, why would
immigrants choose a particular country if they
were not sure of finding a niche for their family?
A strong country, proud of its values, young
mentally and demographically, whose citizens
are ready to make themselves respected, will
know how to regulate immigration. A country
aging mentally and demographically, because of
18

The Angelus

May - June 2017

its refusal to give life and to believe in itself, is an
easy prey for the uncontrolled migratory masses.
Angelus Press: Why are the current
European governments so ineffectual against the
phenomenon of immigration?
Fr. Celier: Each one is the guardian of its
laws. A people that no longer wants to do hard
work will be invaded by the immigrants who
offer their hands. A nation which no longer
wants to have children will be invaded by prolific
immigrants. A nation that no longer wants to
defend itself will have an army of immigrants.
Such is the hard law of life: old nations have no
seat at the banquet of humanity.
Angelus Press: Is there a solution?
Fr. Celier: Solutions resembling palliative
care have seen the day, trying to limit
immigration. But the solution is the rebirth of our
nations. And this happens only by demographic
growth, by a taste for work, by the love of one’s
own values, by fidelity towards our history.
And, this should come along with an effective
political policy of co-development to enable the
poor populations to stay at home in peace. The
question of immigration is certainly a political
question. But it is pre-eminently a philosophical
question touching on the purpose of life. Do our
people still have a zest for life? Are they ready to
make efforts in proportion to the end? As I see
it, it is only a renewed Christianity which can
restore to our nation a taste for eternal life, and
then, for life on earth.
From the archives of The Angelus. The original texts have
been edited for clarity and consistency.

330 pp. – Softcover – STK# 8425 – $18.95

The Battleground
Syria and Palestine, the Seed Plot of Religion

In this religious-biblical oriented history, Belloc provides a full and fair treatment of the ancient
Jews and other Middle Eastern cultures and their impact in history and in today’s world. He affirms
a special divine design in the story of Syria and particularly of Israel, reaching a climax in the event
of the Crucifixion of Christ. His famous motto, “Europe is the Faith, the Faith is Europe” has been
interpreted as a form of religious ethnocentrism. But he was making the point that what we regard
as the greatest cultural, political, and artistic achievements of Western civilization stem from the
old creed. Without the one, the other would not exist.

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

Theme Middle East

Christians
in the Middle
East
by Gabriel S. Sanchez

The Middle East, the historic birthplace of
Christianity, remains home to a diverse but
dwindling Catholic population, along with several
non-Catholic confessions. For 1,400 years, the
children of the false prophet of Mohammed have
subjected Mid-Eastern Christians to innumerable
persecutions, often forcing those left living to
survive as little more than second-class citizens.
Even ostensibly secular states such as Turkey
continue to actively discriminate against its
native Christian populations. With the rise of
the so-called Islamic State (ISIS), along with
numerous uprisings falsely known as the “Arab
Spring,” Christians have once again found the
Muslim sword at their throats. Moreover, the
destabilization of Iraq and Syria has emboldened
numerous Islamic groups to wage war against
each other while trampling over Christians
20

The Angelus

May - June 2017

and other religious minorities. The situation
for Christianity in the region is dire, with some
opining that this already modest population may
be reduced to a mere remnant in the coming
decades.
This article surveys briefly the situation of
Mid-East Catholics with discussions of the
region’s other Apostolic Christian communions.
It is important to note that these churches can be
broken into four distinct groups, none of which
are in official communion with one another:
(1) Catholics belonging to several sui iurius
(autonomous) churches made up of distinct
rites, along with several small Latin Catholic
populations; (2) Eastern Orthodox churches
following the Byzantine Rite in communion with
one another, but which broke communion with
Rome during the early centuries of the second

millennium; (3) Oriental Orthodox churches in
communion with one another, but which broken
communion with the rest of Christendom over
the interpretation of the Council of Chalcedon
in 451; and (4) The Assyrian Church of the
East, which became separated from the rest of
Christendom in the early 5th century and is in
communion with no other church. All of these
non-Catholic Apostolic churches retain a valid
hierarchy and Eucharist and, though they remain
out of communion with Rome, face no less
persecution by the Muslims than their estranged
Catholic brethren.

Egypt’s Coptic Christians
The largest extant Christian population in
the Middle East are Copts, who reside primarily
in Egypt, but also have small communities in
Israel, Jordan, Cyprus, Tunisia, and Lebanon.
Copts are also the largest Christian population
in Sudan and Libya. Although estimates vary,
there are approximately 15-20 million Copts in
the Middle East and Coptic Christians make
up 10% of Egypt’s overall population. Most of
these Christians belong to the Coptic Orthodox
Church of Alexandria, an Oriental Orthodox
communion that broke ties with the Catholic
Church in the 5th century over the interpretation
of the Council of Chalcedon. While Muslim
dominance in the region restricted ties between
Catholics and Copts, several attempts were made
over the centuries to bring the Coptic Orthodox
Church into communion with Rome. In 1442,
at the Council of Florence, a Coptic delegation
signed the document of reunification, Cantate
Domino, though the gesture had little practical
effect in Egypt. In the following century, several
Latin Catholic missionary groups, including the
Franciscans, Capuchins, and Jesuits came to the
region, leading to a brief reunification between
Rome and Alexandria in the 18th century that
failed to last.
Under the direction of Pope Benedict XIV
in 1781, a bishop was appointed for a small
population of Copts who joined the Catholic
Church. Then, in 1824, a short-lived and mainly
titular patriarchate was created for the Coptic

Catholic Church which was reestablished in 1895
by a decree from Pope Leo XIII. The first (new)
Catholic Patriarch of Alexandria was Cyril II,
whose reign was mired by controversy due in
part to the introduction of Latin liturgical and
disciplinary practices (e.g., mandatory clerical
celibacy); he resigned in 1908 and a new patriarch
was not elected until 1947. Today, the Coptic
Catholic Church is overseen by Patriarch Ibrahim
Isaac Sidrak, who was elected in 2013 and has
162,000 adherents. The Coptic Catholic Church
follows a recension of the Alexandrian Rite and
retains the use of Coptic (a language derived from
ancient Egyptian) in its liturgy.
Today, Coptic Christians face significant
persecution and remain officially discriminated
against by Egypt’s government. With the
onset of the so-called “Arab Spring” which
destabilized Egypt’s government, Copts have
found themselves targeted by militant Muslims.
In December 2016, for instance, an ISIS suicide
bomber killed 29 Copts during a Sunday
liturgical service. On Palm Sunday 2017, ISIS
took responsibility for two church bombings—
including the Coptic Orthodox cathedral of
St. Mark’s—that left over 40 Christians dead and
wounded 126 others. Given the tense political
situation in Egypt today, coupled with the fact
that ISIS continues to spread terror throughout
the Middle East, it is unlikely that these barbaric
attacks will end anytime soon.

The Assyrian Christians
The most confessionally diverse group of
Middle Eastern Christians are the Assyrian
(or Syriac) Christians, whose population of
approximately 2-3 million persons is spread
between the Chaldean Catholic Church,
the Assyrian Church of the East, the Syriac
Orthodox Church (an Oriental Orthodox church
in communion with the Coptic Orthodox
Church), and several small Protestant groups.
Assyrian Christians are located primarily in
Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey,
and northwestern Iran. Before the United States
invasion in 2003, Iraq had approximately 1.2
Assyrian Christians; massive persecution,
21

Theme Middle East
including a targeted extermination campaign
by ISIS in the northern part of the country, has
reduced Iraq’s Assyrian population to between
300,000 and 500,000 souls.
While the largest Assyrian Christian confession
is the Syriac Orthodox Church with around
4 million members worldwide, only a small
portion are Assyrian; current estimates suggest
that only around 250,000 ethnic Syriac Orthodox
live in the Middle East today. The next largest
Assyrian communion, the Chaldean Catholic
Church, was historically a part of the Assyrian
Church of the East, which broke communion
with the Catholic Church in the early fifth
century. Plagued by persecution, infighting,
and jurisdictional disagreements, portions of
the Assyrian Church of the East began to enter
communion with the Catholic Church starting
in the 16th century, though this process was
disrupted and it would not be until 1830 that the
Chaldean Church stabilized its relations with
Rome. Unfortunately, this came at a time of
renewed Muslim hostility toward the Assyrians
as a whole. Numerous acts of gross violence were
brought upon Assyrian Christians, including the
Assyrian Genocide carried out by the Ottoman
Empire, which left 300,000 Assyrians of all
confessions dead.
Today, the Chaldean Catholic Church numbers
approximately 650,000 souls worldwide, though
exact numbers are difficult to come by due to the
dispersion of Chaldeans brought about by Muslim
persecution. Liturgically, the Chaldeans adhere to
the East Syrian Rite and celebrate the Eucharist
using a modified form of the ancient Liturgy of
St. Addai and Mari. (The version used by the
Assyrian Church of the East does not include the
Words of Institution in its anaphora [canon].)
ISIS-led violence in Iraq has ravaged the Chaldean
Catholic Church and prompted concerns that this
church may be all but extinguished in its ancient
homeland in the coming years.

The Maronites
The next largest non-Arab Christian population
in the Middle East are the Maronites, whose
population of 1.2 million souls mainly reside in
22

The Angelus

May - June 2017

Lebanon, with small numbers living in Cyprus,
Syria, and Israel. The Maronites of the Middle
East belong primarily to the Syriac Maronite
Catholic Church, which boasts 3.5 million
members worldwide. The Maronite Church, along
with the Italo-Albanian Greek Catholic Church, is
unique among the 23 sui iuris Eastern Catholic
churches in that it never broke communion with
Rome despite centuries of relative isolation
from the West. Founded originally in the fourth
century by the great ascetic monastic St. Maron
in Syria, the spread of Islam in the Middle East
led to the Maronites immigrating to Lebanon,
where they were largely unheard from for 400
years due to Muslim dominance in the region.
As part of his campaign to liberate the Middle
East during the First Crusade, Count Raymond
of Tolhouse made contact with the Maronites
who affirmed their allegiance to the Church
of Rome by assisting in his efforts. In the 13th
century, the Maronite Patriarch Jeremias II
traveled to Rome to participate in the Lateran
Council. While the Maronites adhere to the West
Syrian Rite, they have adopted numerous Latin
practices over the centuries, including some of the
liturgical practices brought about following the
Second Vatican Council. However, there remains
a concentrated movement within the Maronite
Church to restore their ancient liturgical norms.
Like other Christians in the region, Maronites
have been on the receiving end of harsh treatment
by their Muslim neighbors. Between 1915-18,
a famine was forced on Lebanon’s Maronites
by the Ottoman Empire, which confiscated
the Maronite’s food in order to supply the
Ottoman army and administration. The death
toll is estimated at around 200,000. After the
establishment of the Lebanese state by France
in 1920, the Maronites found considerable social
and political success until the end of the Lebanese
Civil War in 1989. Although Maronites still retain
some key roles of power, such as the country’s
presidency, and presidency of the Lebanese
Central Bank, their influence over Lebanese
national life has waned significantly over the past
two decades.

Arab Christians
Another significant population of MidEast Christians are of Arab descent, and are
split between those that adhere to one of the
patriarchates of the Eastern Orthodox Church
such as Antioch, or Jerusalem, and those who
are part of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church.
Prior to the 18th century, the Melkites were part
of the Patriarch of Antioch and had been out
of communion with Rome for several centuries
following the repudiation of the Council of
Florence by most of the Eastern Orthodox
churches. Even so, Latin missionaries working
in Syria and other parts of the Middle East
had established ties with the local Orthodox
populations, leading to a blurring of confessional
lines at points. This led to the formation of a
“pro-Western” or “pro-Catholic” contingent
within the Antiochian Patriarchate which elected
a like-minded patriarch, Cyril VI, in 1724. Not
wishing to see the Antiochians draw closer to
Rome, the Patriarch of Constantinople ostensibly
invalidated Cyril’s election and installed his own
patriarch. After an appeal to Pope Benedict XIII,
Cyril was recognized as the legitimate patriarch
and his followers became part the Melkite Greek
Catholic Church, which has around 1.5 million
members worldwide. Like the Eastern Orthodox,
the Melkites use the Byzantine Rite and have
been particularly virulent about upholding
the integrity of their liturgical, spiritual, and
theological patrimony, which has sometimes
caused its leadership to clash with certain Latin
Catholic trends.
Like the Orthodox, Melkites have been
subjected to frequent persecution and
discrimination. With its headquarters in
Damascus, Syria, the ongoing civil war in the
country—along with the rise of ISIS—has
brutalized Syria’s Christian population. Now
with the United States looking to exacerbate
the problem by attacking the Syrian army and
looking to remove the country’s secular ruler,
Bashar al-Assad, the future of Syria’s Christians,
and Arab Christians in general, looks grim.

A Closing Word on Other
Christian Populations
In closing, it should be noted that other
Christian populations also exist in the Middle
East. Despite enduring a terrible genocide under
the Ottoman Turks, Armenian Christians—
some of whom belong to the Catholic Church—
continue to live in the region, with the largest
population of around 200,000 residing in Iran.
Greeks, too, endured genocide and expulsion
from Turkey after World War I; the largest
concentration of Greek Christians, most of whom
are Orthodox, can be found in Cyprus, the only
Christian-majority country left in the Middle
East. Additionally, small populations of Aramean,
Georgian, Ossetian, and Russian Christians also
reside in the Middle East and belong primarily to
the Oriental or Eastern Orthodox communions.
As stated at the outset of this article, MidEast Christians, regardless of their respective
confessional commitments, have been subjected
to Muslim violence for over a millennium.
While it is easy for Catholics living in the West
to draw clear lines between these different
communions, separating out Catholics from
non-Catholics, their Islamic persecutors rarely
care for such distinctions. A follower of Christ,
by their demented lights, is an enemy of Allah,
unworthy of just treatment if not life. Catholics
suffer and die side-by-side with the Orthodox,
and all because they refuse to submit to the false
teachings of Islam.
Gabriel S. Sanchez is an attorney and Assistant Editor
of Angelus Press who resides with his family in Grand
Rapids, MI.

23

In an especially solemn fashion, Christ accentuated
Peter’s precedence among the Apostles, when, after Peter
had recognized Him as the Messiah, He promised that he
would be Head of His flock.
Statue of St. Peter, Pulpit St. Peter’s Church, Malmö, Sweden

Faith and Morals

Orientalium
Dignitas
Excerpts from Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical Orientalium Dignitas

Editor’s Note: The following are excerpts from Pope Leo XIII’s papal encyclical Orientalium
Dignitas, which was promulgated on November 30, 1894. Nearly half-a-century earlier, Blessed Pius
IX dispatched his Epistle to the Easterners which, among other things, invited the patriarchs of the
Eastern Orthodox Church to reestablish communion with Rome. These efforts would be continued
during the reigns of St. Pius X, Benedict XV, Pius XI, and Pius XII, all of whom took positive action to
both uphold the rights and dignity of the sui iuris Eastern Catholic churches in communion with Rome
and extend a hand of friendship toward the non-Catholic populations of the East in the service of unity.

The Churches of the East are worthy of the
glory and reverence that they hold throughout
the whole of Christendom in virtue of those
extremely ancient, singular memorials that they
have bequeathed to us. For it was in that part of
the world that the first actions for the redemption
of the human race began, in accord with the allkind plan of God. They swiftly gave forth their
yield: there flowered in first blush the glories
26

The Angelus

May - June 2017

of preaching the True Faith to the nations, of
martyrdom, and of holiness. They gave us the
first joys of the fruits of salvation. From them has
come a wondrously grand and powerful flood of
benefits upon the other peoples of the world, no
matter how far-flung. When blessed Peter, the
Prince of the Apostles, intended to cast down the
manifold wickedness of error and vice, in accord
with the will of Heaven, he brought the light of

divine Truth, the Gospel of peace, freedom in
Christ to the metropolis of the Gentiles.
It has most especially been the habit of the
Roman Church, the head of all the Churches,
to render to the Churches of the East a great
degree of honor and love in remembrance of the
Apostles, to rejoice in her turn in their faithful
obedience. Amidst changing and difficult times,
she has never failed in any way in farsightedness
and acts of kindness to sustain them against the
forces that would strike them again and again, to
hold fast to those that were overwhelmed, to call
back those in discord with her. Nor was it the last
expression of her watchfulness that she guard
and preserve in them whole and entire forever
the customs and distinct forms for administering
the sacraments that she had declared legitimate
in her wise jurisdiction. Examples of this are the
many decisions of Our Predecessors, in the first
place Pius IX of happy memory, promulgated in
their own pontifical acts or through documents
issuing from the Sacred Congregation for the
Propagation of the Faith. We ourselves have
felt the prompting of no lesser zeal. At the very
beginning of Our Pontificate, We turned eyes full
of love towards the Christian nations of the East.
We made haste, in fact, to direct Our solicitude
to alleviating their state of want. We then saw
the beginning of other opportunities for bearing
witness to Our feelings of kind regard and
expressing them in deeds. But nothing was nor
is more important, nothing more sacred than to
kindle the ardor, to elicit fruitfulness in the Faith
in those souls in union with the Apostolic See,
so that they shine forth as renewed proofs of the
excellence and glory of their ancestors.
It has been possible to offer these Churches
some assistance. We have founded in this very
City a college for the formation of Armenian and
Maronite clergy, likewise at Plovdiv and Edirne
for those of the Bulgarian rite. We have decreed
the construction of the Leonianum in Athens. We
have fostered in larger measure the Seminary
of St. Anne that was begun for the instruction
of the Greek Melkite clergy in Jerusalem. Our
activity includes increasing the number of
Syrian students in the Urbanianum, restoring
the Athanasianum for the Greeks to its pristine
condition. This is the institute that Gregory
27

Faith and Morals
XIII, its generous founder, wisely wished built.
From it have issued men of great renown. We
ardently wish—now all the more intensely—that
We shall be able to cause and see with Our own
eyes more activity of this and like type. God
willing, We shall bring this plan long considered
to completion by a unique letter of appeal to all
leaders and peoples of the world, calling them
to blessed unity in the divine Faith. Clearly, out
of all the Christian nations that have been torn
away from Us, We have striven to call out to the
Christians of the East in the first place, to exhort
them, to beseech them with the most heartfelt
and paternal love.
We have begun to have hope, We are fostering
it because its realization would be a great
cause for joy, and, it is a fact, We are pursuing
more strenuously this work so profitable for
the salvation of many. Our goal is to discharge
to the utmost degree whatever may be hoped
for from the prudent direction of the Apostolic
See. The reasons for rivalry and suspicion must
be removed; then the fullest energies can be
marshaled for reconciliation. We consider this
of paramount importance to preserving the
integrity proper to the discipline of the Eastern
Churches. For Our part, We have ever rendered
extreme attention and concern for this endeavor.
In this vein, We have already given instructions
for establishing schools to form young clerics of
their nationalities. We shall give a like instruction
for erecting other institutes. In them the students
will cultivate their rites with the greatest
devotion, observe them, and have full knowledge
of their usages. In point of fact there is more
importance than can be believed in preserving
the Eastern rites. Their antiquity is august, it is
what gives nobility to the different rites, it is a
brilliant jewel for the whole Church, it confirms
the God-given unity of the Catholic Faith.
For that very reason, even as her Apostolic
origin is all the more proven especially by
these Churches of the East, at the selfsame
moment there shines out and is made manifest
these Churches’ original, complete unity with
the Roman Church. Nothing else, perhaps, is
so breathtakingly effective for illustrating the
mark of Catholicity in God’s Church than that
striking sight of differing forms of ceremonies
28

The Angelus

May - June 2017

and noble examples of the tongues of the ancient
past—made all the more noble by their use
by the Apostles and Fathers—rendering their
submission to the Church. This is almost an
image of that most excellent submission that was
rendered to the newly-born Christ, the divine
Founder of the Church, when the Magi were
drawn from the different regions of the East and
came to adore Him (Matt. 2:2).
At this place it is opportune to notice the fact
that the sacred rites, although not instituted
specifically for proving the truth of the dogmas
of the Catholic Faith incontrovertibly, are
effectively the living voice of Catholic Truth,
the oft-sounded expression of it. For that very
reason the true Church of Christ, even as she
shows great zeal to guard inviolate those forms
of divine worship—since they are hallowed
and are not to be changed—sometimes grants
or permits something novel in the performance
of them in certain instances. This she does
especially when they are in conformity with their
venerable antiquity. By this means, her vitality
does not appear ever-aging; she stands out more
wondrously as the very Bride of Christ whom
the wisdom of the Holy Fathers recognized in
prefigurement in the words of David: The queen
stood at your right hand arrayed in apparel
embroidered with spun gold, she is clothed with
embroidery of diverse figures and spun gold
fringe (Ps 44:14-15).
Inasmuch as this diversity of liturgical
form and discipline of the Eastern Churches
is approved in law, besides its other merits, it
has redounded tremendously to the glory and
usefulness of the Church. They ought not figure
any less as subjects of Our charge. So much is
this the case that it is in the best interest of all
that their discipline not haphazardly borrow
anything that would be ill-suited from Western
ministers of the Gospel whom love for Christ
compels to go to those peoples. The decisions
that Our illustrious Predecessor Benedict XIV
in his wisdom and foresight decreed in the
Constitution of 24 December 1743 remain in
force. This constitution was addressed as a letter
to the Greek Melkite Patriarch of Antioch and
to all the Bishops of that rite subject to him. The
truth is that in the long course of time, given that

the state of affairs has changed in those regions,
that Latin rite missionaries and institutes have
multiplied there as well, it now happens that
some of the special concerns of the Apostolic See
on the new conditions should be set out.
Frequently in recent years We recognized
that this would be very useful: Our Venerable
Brethren, the Patriarchs in the East, confirmed
Our desires in very similar terms more than
once in correspondence. That the result of this
deliberation might be made more plain and
intelligible and that well-suited, far-sighted
plans be defined, We thought it well to invite
those same Patriarchs to Rome and confer with
them over what they might advise. Then We
convened in Our presence a meeting with them
that was well attended by some of Our beloved
sons, the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church,
to deliberate on this matter. After weighing
carefully and with due reflection all those
matters that were put forward and discussed in
conference, We resolved to make more explicit
and far-reaching certain of the measures set out
in the Constitution of Benedict XIV that would
be more in keeping with the new state of affairs
prevailing in these nations. For the execution
of this, We single out this directive from among
them as their fundamental condition for success:
Latin rite priests are to be sent to those regions
by the Apostolic See only for the purpose of
assisting or helping the Patriarchs or Bishops
there. The former are to be careful not to use
the faculties granted them for acting in a way
prejudicial to the Patriarchs or Bishops or for
reducing the number of their subjects (Const.
Demandatam, 13) By the force of these laws,
evidently, the duties of the Latin clergy are to be
kept within their proper limits in their relations
with the Eastern rite hierarchy.
[Leo XIII then sets forth rules and regulations
governing the relationship between Latin and
Eastern churches, including the extension of the
Greek Melkite Patriarch’s canonical jurisdiction
to the entire Ottoman Empire. These rules have
since been substantially modified by the 1990
Codex Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium.]
Assuredly, Our Venerable Brethren, the
Patriarchs, Archbishops, and Bishops of

whatever Eastern Catholic rite will undertake
with all reverence and obedience each and every
of these Our decrees in virtue of that piety that
they manifest for the Apostle’s Chair and for
Ourselves, as also in virtue of their solicitude for
their own Churches. In their zeal they will cause
their complete observance by those whom these
decrees concern. The abundance of fruits that
may thereby then rightfully and with certainty
be expected will come forth especially from
the labor of those who represent Our Person
throughout the Christian East. It is Our will
that the Apostolic Delegates respect with due
reverence the traditions established by the
ancestors of these nations as a highly esteemed
prize.
They are to pay suitable honor to the authority
of the Patriarchs, and take pains that this honor
be given. In the conduct of their duties with
them, they will follow the Apostle’s counsel:
Anticipate one another with honor (Rom. 12:10).
They are to act with enthusiasm and good will
for the bishops, clergy, and people, recalling in
themselves that spirit with which the Apostle
John conducted himself when he gave the
Apocalypse to the seven Churches that are in
Asia, greeting them: Grace be to you and peace
from him who is and who was and who is to come
(Rev. 1:4).
In every course of action let them show
themselves true heralds and peacemakers of holy
unity between the Eastern Churches and the
Roman Church, which is the center of unity and
charity. In accord with what We herein exhort
and command, Latin rite priests who go to these
excellent labors in the regions of the East for
the eternal salvation of souls are to display like
sentiments, conduct themselves in like fashion.
God will truly give abundant increase to those
who toil religiously in obedience to the Roman
Pontiff.
Given at Rome, at St. Peter’s, the thirtieth of
November, in the year of Our Lord’s Incarnation
one thousand eight hundred ninety-four, the
seventeenth of Our Pontificate.

29

Faith and Morals

Mount Carmel
by Fr. Christopher Danel

Where the Middle East meets the Mediterranean, Mount Carmel, the refuge of prophets and haven of
monks, towers over the Levantine coast just as its influence has continued to tower over the spiritual
life of the Church mystically. “Our Lady of Mount Carmel has had an immense influence in spirituality
and in the life of the Church along the centuries. It is good for us to recall a little of the history of the
Carmelite Order, especially as today, with the grace of God, we are witnessing alongside our Society—
we could almost say in our Society—the resurrection of authentic Carmels, in which we rejoice greatly”
(Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, July 14, 1985).

Mount Carmel has been described as a
“privileged place of silence and beauty—lieu
privilégié de silence et de beauté” (Archbishop
Lefebvre). It is not a tall, isolated peak like Sinai,
Tabor, or Hermon. Rather, it is a fifteen-mile long
range only ten miles west of Nazareth which
ends at a high promontory at the coast near the
Crusader city of Acre. It is covered with a verdant
forest of pines and oaks, much of which is a
30

The Angelus

May - June 2017

national park, with a spring gushing clear water
from the south side, known as the spring of the
Prophet. The range has many caves, and it was to
these that the prophets sought refuge to be alone
with God. It is a place that was certainly wellknown and visited by Our Lord, Our Lady, and
the Apostles.
Much of the life of the Prophet Elias was spent
on Carmel. On its summit he prepared the famous

sacrifice in challenge to the prophets of Baal,
during which he called down fire from heaven.
From Carmel he likewise called down rain after
having shut the heavens for three years and six
months, which was recalled by Our Lord (Luke
4:25). “Elias went up to the top of Carmel, and
casting himself down upon the earth put his face
between his knees” (III Kings 18:42). His prayer
was answered by a little cloud which arose out
of the sea and which then grew and provided
the refreshing rain. The cloud has often been
interpreted as an image of the Blessed Virgin
Mary.

St. Elias and the Prophets
Elias was renowned among the prophets for
his greatness. His successor Eliseus entreated, “I
beseech thee that in me may be thy double spirit”
(IV Kings 2:9), and even St. John the Baptist came
“in the spirit and power of Elias” (Lk 1:17). At the
end of his life, he was taken up into heaven still
alive in the chariot of fire, with a role yet to fulfill
in the final combat on the last day. The saint’s
feast day is July 20.
Elias is recognized as the founder of the
Carmelite Order because he gathered together
the Sons of the Prophets on the holy mountain
to live in an eremitical recollection in the many
caves there. Elias’ own cave has been a place of
veneration since his own lifetime, and in AD 83
was made into a chapel in honor of Our Lady of
Mount Carmel, as it remains to this day.

Development of the Order
Since the time of St. Elias, zealous souls made
the caves into hermitages. They were many,
sometimes up to a thousand. Their religious
life continued to flourish until AD 612, when
the Persians and later the Muslims brought
destruction to the religious institutions and
martyrdom to most of the religious. A true
resurgence of monastic life on the mountain
would later take place as a benefit of the
Crusades. Aymeric of Malifay, legate of Pope
Alexander III, consolidated the hermits into a

defined religious Congregation, and appointed
a Superior for them. As their Congregation took
on some of the elements of community life,
the Superior petitioned Albert, Patriarch of
Jerusalem, to provide them with a more defined
Rule of life in 1207, which is known as the Rule of
St. Albert. Our Lady appeared to Pope Honorius
III, instructing him to favor her Order and to
confirm the Rule, which he willingly did in 1226.
The Rule was amplified a bit further in 1248,
and is still the Rule followed by the Discalced
Carmelites. Everything pertaining to the Order,
its spirituality, its life, even its monasteries, refers
back to St. Elias and the mountain, going simply
under the name Carmel.

The Scapular
After the Muslims gained victory in Palestine
in 1244, all but sealing the fate of Christians
remaining there, the Order took refuge in Europe.
Among the most illustrious of the religious
there was the Prior-General, St. Simon Stock of
Aylesford, England. Our Lady appeared to him
on July 16, 1251, giving him the Brown Scapular
and saying to him, “This shall be a privilege for
thee and all Carmelites; whosoever shall die
wearing it shall not suffer everlasting fire.” To
the Scapular Promise is added the Sabbatine
Privilege: that the soul who dies wearing the
31

Faith and Morals
Scapular, if he go to Purgatory, will be taken
into Heaven on the Saturday following his death.
The Carmelite religious wear the full length
scapular, while Tertiaries wear a midsize one (7"
by 10"), and many others are enrolled in the small
confraternity scapular. St. Pius X furthermore
attached all privileges to the scapular medal, as
some are unable to wear the cloth scapular due to
their individual circumstances.

The Teresian Reform
The fervent discipline of St. Simon Stock’s day
was later to wane, alas. During the fourteenth
and fifteenth centuries, laxity crept into religious
life universally. In the sixteenth century, St.
Teresa of Avila brought about a reform of the
Order and a return to the observance of the
Rule, with the aid of St. John of the Cross. The
monasteries which benefitted from this return
to the original Carmelite zeal (zelo zelavi, as the
motto puts it), formed the Order of Carmelites
Discalced, or O.C.D. This branch has given the
Church many exemplary religious and some
renowned saints such as St. Elizabeth of the
Trinity and St. Thérèse of Lisieux, the Little
Flower.
Just as in the sixteenth century God instilled
a renewed zeal within the Carmelite Order by
means of the reform of St. Teresa of Avila, so in
the twentieth century, amidst the devastating
collapse the Second Vatican Council caused in
most religious orders, including the Carmelites,
God would preserve the Carmelite spirit within
the Traditional framework of the Church and
raise up numerous vocations to the Carmels of
Tradition.

The Carmels of Tradition
The Providential instrument for the
establishment of these Carmels was the sister of
Archbishop Lefebvre, Mother Marie Christiane.
The Carmel of Tourcoing, where she had entered,
established a convent in Parkes NSW, Australia
in 1949, and Mother Marie Christiane was
transferred there. In the seventies, while the
32

The Angelus

May - June 2017

Archbishop was directing the rapidly growing
Society of Saint Pius X, Mother Marie Christiane
was at the same time, on the other side of the
globe, also seeking to remedy the crisis in
the Church with the foundation of traditional
Carmels, oases of prayer keeping the true spirit of
the Order amidst the post-Conciliar destruction.
The Archbishop had previously been
instrumental, despite many difficulties, in
the establishment of a Carmel in Senegal, at
Sébikotane. He strongly desired this Carmel so
that the Senegalese apostolate, especially the
seminary, would be supernaturally sustained by
the prayers and sacrifices of the Carmelite nuns.
In 1977, the Archbishop manifested this same
desire of supernatural protection for Ecône and
the Society by the establishment of a traditional
Carmel. He wrote to his sister in Australia, “I
pray for all your intentions, particularly for a
Carmelite foundation in France. There is no
shortage of vocations…”
Bishop Tissier de Mallerais describes
the foundation as follows: “At the time, the
Archbishop did not know that his sister had
decided to make this foundation. She was joined
by another nun, Sister Marie Pierre, who like
her had come to Australia from the Carmel in
Tourcoing. Soon they moved provisionally to be
near Fr. Paul Schoonbroodt in Belgium, and then
they bought a convent at Quiévrain on the French
border which became the Carmel of the Sacred
Heart. Vocations flooded to them, and Mother
Marie Christiane would later found five other
Carmels: two in France, one in Germany, one
in Switzerland, and one in the USA. Archbishop
Lefebvre encouraged her in this: as at Sébikotane,
he followed the motto “One seminary, one
Carmel” (Bishop Bernard Tissier de Mallerais,
Marcel Lefebvre: The Biography, p. 518). The
American convent is the Carmel of the Holy
Trinity in Spokane Valley, Washington, near Post
Falls, Idaho.

Archbishop Lefebvre on
the Spirit of Carmel
On Sunday, July 14, 1985, two days before
the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the

Archbishop gave a sermon entirely dedicated
to the history and spirit of the Carmelite Order,
which he described as follows:
“What is the spirit of Carmel? Why has it had
such success? We must not forget … the great
St. Thérèse, who was called “Little Thérèse.”
Thérèse of the Child Jesus gave to Carmel a
worldwide renown by her simplicity, by her spirit
of childhood. Having died at the age of twentyfour, after some years in the Carmel, she became
known throughout the world. And we see in her
precisely the spirit of Carmel. Carmel is attractive
because of its spirituality of divine simplicity. The
spirit of Carmel is above all a spirit of hermitage
rather than of monastic life…The Carmelite
lives in her cell with the Good God. She retires
from the world, she separates herself from the
things of this world…[Carmelites] have acts of
community life: they take their meals together,
they pray together, they have their recreation
together, but their manner of life generally is one
of hermitage within the Carmel, to find God, to
live with God, in the presence of God.
“Carmel is distinguished equally by its
devotion to Our Lady. Carmel is fundamentally
Marian. Carmelites have kept this devotion
which St. Simon Stock communicated to them,
ever deeper and ever greater. They have thereby
given birth to other families with the spirit of
Carmel, in particular the Carmelite Third Order,
which has this spirit of simplicity and childhood
before God, and at the same time a great devotion
towards the Most Blessed Virgin Mary.”
The Archbishop then made an appeal to
Catholic families to preserve this religious spirit:
“I wholeheartedly exhort you to acquire this
spirit of Carmel, this spirit of simplicity, this spirit
of childhood before God, this spirit of refuge from
the world. Make your families like little Carmels,
in a certain measure, away from the world, where
the influence of the world no longer penetrates.
This worldly influence is destructive. It poisons
Christian families, it drives out the spirit of God,
and estranges the Good Lord from families….If
Christian families want Our Lord Jesus Christ to
remain with them, they must keep the spirit of the
Church and not seek after the spirit of the world.
Keeping the spirit of the Church means keeping
the spirit of prayer, of simplicity, of detachment

from the things of this world, of making God
present in their family. Then the Spirit of God can
truly reside in their midst. From these Christian
families, where Jesus resides with the parents and
the children, vocations are born, as well as new
Christian families” (Sermon extracts translated
from Ecône, Chaire de Vérité, p. 755ff).

The Carmelite Third Order
Within Carmel, there is a long history of
laymen being associated to the Order and clothed
in the Scapular, not the least of whom are St.
Louis (†1270) and King Edward II of England
(†1327), who wore the scapular publicly. Under
Pope Benedict XV in 1921, the current Rule of
the Third Order was issued. It is ordered toward
fostering the interior life so that the tertiary
will aim for Christian perfection according to
his state in life and according to the spirit of the
Discalced Carmelites, aiding holy Mother Church
by his prayers. St. Teresa wrote, “All of us who
wear the holy habit of the Carmelites are called
to prayer and contemplation. This was the object
of our Order, and for this we came here. Our holy
Fathers of Mount Carmel sought in solitude and
utter contempt of the world for this treasure,
this precious pearl [contemplation] of which
we speak, and we are their descendants” (Fifth
Mansions).
A Carmelite Father of the seventeenth century
wrote, “The Order originated in mountains, in
deserts, in solitude. From its earliest traditions it
receives the inclination and even the obligation to
foster a life wholly interior, retired, and hidden,”
adding that St. Elias, Patriarch of Carmel, does
not hesitate to preserve contemplation as the
principal and essential aim of his Order as it
gives ever greater honor to the August Queen of
Heaven and Flower of Carmel.
Flos Carmeli
Flos Carmeli, vitis florigera;
Splendor caeli, virgo puerpera, singularis!
Flower of Carmel, tall vine blossom-laden;
Splendor of heaven, childbearing yet maiden,
none equals thee!
33

“Regina Coeli,” Queen of Heaven, is one of
the many titles of Queenship designating
the Virgin Mary. The title derives in part
from the ancient Catholic teaching that
Mary, at the end of her earthly life, was
bodily and spiritually assumed into heaven,
and that she is there honored as Queen.
Church of our Lady of Chains , Zell am Harmersback, Germany

Spirituality

Bastion
of the Faith
by Fr. Dominique Bourmaud, SSPX

Alfredo Ottaviani (1890-1979) was born in
Rome in a humble family, as his father was
a baker. He studied with the Brothers of the
Christian Schools across the Tiber, at the
Pontifical Roman Seminary and the Athenaeum
S. Apollinare, from which he received his
doctorates in philosophy, theology, and canon
law. He was ordained to the priesthood in March
1916.

A Life Sketch
He was soon nominated Professor of
Scholastic Philosophy and of Ecclesiastical
Public Law (his preferred discipline) at the
Urbanian University and, later, at the Juridical
Atheneum of San Apollinare. He became
36

The Angelus

May - June 2017

successively a substitute at the Secretary of
State and advisor to the Supreme Congregation
of the Holy Office. After 17 years of labor, in
1959, he became its Pro-Prefect—the Pope
holding the title of Prefect. That is when he was
consecrated a bishop by Pope John XXIII, taking
the Episcopal motto Semper Idem—Always the
same—which reflected his conservative theology.
Already as a seminarian, Alfredo was formed
by the struggle against the Church’s fierce
enemies, “Freemasonry and Hebraism reign
by means of the Minister Sidnei Sonnino.” In
1937, Pius XI used his services in the writing of
Divini Redemptoris against communism, which
he called “intrinsically perverse.” His political
studies, which led to the publication of the
Institutiones Juris Publici Ecclesiastici, made
him the herald of Christ the King against the

trends of John Courtney Murray and the liberals.
Here are some of his most salient teachings on
this matter:
“I have said, first of all, that the State has the
duty of professing its religion socially. Men
united socially are no less subject to God than
when they are taken as individuals, and the civil
society, no less than individual men, is in God’s
debt, under Whom, as Author, it is gathered
together, by whose power it is preserved, by

if God were non-existent or cast off the care of
religion as something foreign to themselves or of
little moment.”
Pius XII quickly became preoccupied by the
advances which some Western Church leaders
were making toward the Communists, and also
by the inroads Neo-Modernists were making
within the Church. The Pope secretly convoked
Ottaviani for the formation of a preparatory
commission for a future ecumenical council
for the “redefinition of various points of the
Catholic doctrine threatened by errors, not only
theological, but also moral and philosophical,
and even sociological.” But, seeing that division
reigned within the commission itself, Pius XII
blocked everything. The only outcome was to be
the forceful encyclical Humani Generis of 1950,
with Ottaviani’s contribution, which condemns
the Nouvelle Théologie launched by Fr. Henri de
Lubac in the spirit of Teilhard de Chardin.
Cardinal Ottaviani participated in the 1963
papal conclave, which selected Giovanni Battista
Montini as Pope Paul VI. He was also the Dean
of Cardinals during the conclave, and as such, he
had the honor of crowning with the tiara, on 30
June, the very pope who would give it away. That
was to be the only conclave he attended since,
in 1976, the age restriction of 80 was already in
effect.

Pre-Vatican II Battles

Cardinal Ottaviani

whose goodness it has received the great treasure
of good things which it enjoys. Thus, as it is not
licit for any individual to fail in his duty to God
and to the religion by which God wills to be
honored, in the same way, states cannot, without
serious moral offense, conduct themselves as

No sooner was Pius XII buried than changes
were in the wind. At the beginning of 1962,
Cardinal Ottaviani had notified the Jesuit
superiors that the theologian Karl Rahner had
been placed under Roman pre-censorship and
could not lecture or write without permission.
Only months later, Pope John XXIII appointed
Rahner to be peritus to the Second Vatican
Council. Virtually the same strategy was adopted
with Henri de Lubac and Yves Congar who,
though suspected of Neo-Modernism, were
subsequently granted the title of Council periti
nominated by the Pope.
The pre-Conciliar battles which were taking
place were inaugurating a new type of Council,
a triangular power (Pope—Curia—Council),
37

Spirituality
given that the Pope was secretly adverse to the
Curial position and open to the novelties of the
avant-garde theologians. Ottaviani, the power
behind the Curia, would soon become isolated
and ill-tolerated. In season and out of season, he
felt that his duty was to uphold doctrinal purity
and integrity, whatever the cost. Cardinal Siri
rendered this testimony: “In him [Ottaviani], the
firmness of the decisions was expressed in the
strongest accents: he was afraid of no one. In the
defense of the Faith, his temperament rendered
him very combative.”
One of the heated discussions which took
place during the pre-Vatican II sessions dealt
with the salvation of the infidels and the dogma
Extra Ecclesiam: outside the Church there is
no salvation. To this sub-commission belonged
Monsignor Fenton, a close friend of Ottaviani.
Several cardinals—Leger, Dopfner, Konig, and
Bea—had made substantial modifications.
Ottaviani reacted rather fiercely against Bea’s
“very dangerous” idea that people could be
members of the Mystical Body without being
members of the Church, which would put
into jeopardy the infallibility of the Church’s
Magisterium. He reminded him that, “The
Catholic Church and the Mystical Body are
identical. There is no salvation outside the
Church. The meaning of this traditional phrase
is well explained in the Letter of the Holy Office
sent to the Cardinal of Boston, when it treated
the Feeney question, who exaggerated the force
of this phrase. The phrase should not now be
reduced to meaninglessness, however, so that it
can serve to tranquilize...those who are outside
the Church.”
During the last of the Council’s preparatory
sessions, two cardinals butted heads over the
subject of religious liberty, Ottaviani and Bea.
Ottaviani, while opposed to the separation of
Church and State and granting equal rights
to all religions, supported religious tolerance.
Archbishop Lefebvre, an eyewitness of the
confrontation, explained that Ottaviani arose
and said to Bea: “Eminence, you have no right to
make this schema, because this is a theological
schema and, thus, it belongs to the Theological
Commission.” And Bea, rising, said: “Excuse
me. I have the right to produce this schema
38

The Angelus

May - June 2017

as President of the Commission for Unity. If
something regards unity, it is the question of
religious liberty.” And, facing Ottaviani, he added:
“I am radically opposed to whatever you affirm
in your schema De Tolerantia Religiosa.” The
debate became so intense that Cardinal Ruffini
had to intervene, noting how disappointed he was
to have witnessed such a “serious discussion.”
They would only increase throughout the long
debates over the issue of religious liberty until
the adoption of the schema Dignitatis Humana.

The Hurricane of Vatican II
Ottaviani was the leader of the curial
conservatives during the Second Vatican Council
(1962–1965), despite being nearly blind. Besides
the issue of religious liberty, his powerful voice
was heard during the debates on the liturgy and
on the sources of Divine Revelation.
The most striking case of the change of
guard and the dismissal of the Curia occurred
in October 30, 1962 when Cardinal Ottaviani
made a stirring appeal in defense of the ancient
Roman Rite: “Are we seeking to stir up wonder,
or perhaps scandal, among the Christian people,
by introducing changes in so venerable a rite,
that has been approved for so many centuries
and is now so familiar? The rite of Holy Mass
should not be treated as if it were a piece of cloth
to be refashioned according to the whim of each
generation.” As he had long passed the 10 minute
limit, his microphone was shut down. After
tapping the microphone to check that it was off,
the half-blind Ottaviani stumbled back to his seat
in humiliation while applause broke out in the
council hall.
During the Council the news media often went
to Ottaviani for colorful reactions to stormy
working sessions. In one such incident, reacting
to constant cries for “collegiality” among the
more liberal bishops, Ottaviani pointed out
that the Bible only records one example of the
Apostles acting collegially—at the Garden of
Gethsemane when…”They all fled.” On this very
issue, another historical encounter took place
with Cardinal Frings on November 8, 1963.
Ottaviani defended the papacy against the mere

honorific Papal Primacy proposed by the liberal
Rhine Alliance. “Whoever wishes to be a sheep
of Christ must be led to the pasture by Peter the
Shepherd. It is not the sheep [the bishops] who
must lead Peter, but Peter who needs to lead the
sheep [the bishops] and the lambs [the faithful].”

The Dismantling of
the Holy Office
Vatican II had not yet closed its doors when
a Papal motu proprio, Regimini Ecclesiae
Universale, did away with the title of “Supreme”
for the Congregation of the Holy Office, which
was supplanted by the Secretary of State. From
then on, politics would prevail over the purity of
Faith.
Ottaviani commented thus on the change:
“Remember, this is a black day for the history
of the Church, because this change does not
affect only the title but the substance. In fact,
until now, the supreme principle of government
in the Church was the revealed doctrine, the
preservation and right interpretation of which
has been entrusted firstly to the Pope, who used
the Supreme Congregation of the Holy Office
for this. Now, I fear that, the leading criterion of
government of the Church which will prevail will
be diplomatic and contingent. I foresee that the
Church will suffer much damage.”
Blind as he might have been, he had a keen
insight of future events. In 1967, he offered his
resignation, not willing to contribute to the
dismantling of the Holy Office.

Ottaviani’s Last Battle
On September 25, 1969, Ottaviani, along with
Cardinal Bacci, wrote a poignant letter to Paul
VI in support of a study by a group of theologians
who, under the direction of Archbishop Marcel
Lefebvre, criticized the Novus Ordo Missae,
which was to see the light of day months later.
Ottaviani wrote the following:
“The attached brief critical study is the work
of a select group of theologians, liturgists,
and pastors of souls, and however brief it may

be, it examines the novel elements implicit
in the Novus Ordo Mass, which may be given
different interpretations. In doing so, this study
demonstrates sufficiently that the Novus Ordo
Missae represents, overall and in its details, a
striking departure from the Catholic theology
of the Mass as it was elaborated in Session XXII
of the Council of Trent, which, by permanently
fixing the “canons” of the rite, erected an
insurmountable barrier against any heresy which
could undermine the integrity of the Mystery.”
“Recent reforms have amply demonstrated
that new changes in the liturgy cannot be made
without scandalizing the faithful, who are already
showing that these changes are unbearable
and will undoubtedly diminish their faith. In
consequence, the greater part of the clergy is now
undergoing an agonizing crisis of conscience,
which we see daily and in countless numbers. We
are certain that these considerations which are
directly inspired by the vibrant voice of both the
pastors and the flock will find their echo in the
paternal heart of Your Holiness, who is always so
deeply attentive to the spiritual needs of the sons
of the Church. Nevertheless, those for whom laws
are made have the right and even the duty to ask
the legislator to abrogate such laws when they
prove to be harmful.”
Cardinal Palazzini, in his presentation of Il
Balluarto, explained that the key to reading the
person and work of Cardinal Ottaviani was that
truth makes us free. “He knows how to perceive
with exceptional acumen and impressive vision
the intimate disorder and the bitter developments
of the novelty which began to creep in during the
1940’s and which exploded during Vatican II.” In
the course of the year 1965, Ottaviani had written
in his diary: “I pray God to allow me to die before
the end of this Council. Thus, at least I shall die a
Catholic.”
Fr. Dominique Bourmaud has spent the past
26 years teaching at the Society seminaries
in America, Argentina, and Australia. He is
presently stationed at St. Vincent’s Priory,
Kansas City, where he is in charge of the priests’
training program.

39

Spirituality

The Novel Commandment:

“Thou
Shalt not
Discriminate”
by R. Pa (SiSiNoNo, Sept. 15 2016)

The recurring temptation to falsify the Gospel,
reducing it to an insipid moralism, is inspired by
the suggestion that leads not a few “Catholics”
to regard dogmatic tolerance, which considers
all doctrines as equally good, as the supreme
criterion guiding personal and social behavior.
Its obstinate insinuation breaches the
consciences preemptively subjected to the
multiple corrupting influences of the school and
the media. These spread subtly the paralyzing
sophisms aimed at violating the social Kingship
of the Incarnate Word for the benefit of the
Babelic syncretism promoted by the champions
of ideological confusion and moral degradation.
Tolerance, in virtue of its own implicit
indifferentism, can be identified with the
worthlessness typifying a world culpably
dedicated to the sacrifice of the inalienable rights
40

The Angelus

May - June 2017

of divine Religion to the idols of the eroding
democratic societies. But it would be naïve
to think that tolerance would resolve in the
generic disposition to keep with our neighbors
relationships characterized by a respectful and
cordial benevolence. In the pretense of the neutral
pluralistic “game,” truth in its categorical essence
gets dissolved by the somersaults of a “dialectic”
marked by its tacit and prejudicial negation.
This aforementioned deception, constructed
on the coexistence on an equal basis of the most
discordant philosophical and theological views,
takes advantage of the psychological prohibitions
implicit in the praxis of “dialogue,” which,
constraining the interlocutors not to impose the
inexorable difference between truth and error,
precludes any reference, however minimal, to the
true religion and the true morality.

It is so that “conciliar” Catholics behave as if
they had no beliefs at all, or as if they were not
convinced of the truth of the Christian religion,
as if they were dealing with a trivial or indifferent
subject, or as if they considered truth and error to
be by all means relative positions.

One would rather say that, playing
carefully on the assonance between the words
“discrimination” and “crime,” the agents of chaos
have reached truly remarkable results in their
purpose to criminalize and silence the Catholics
accused of “integralism.”

Searching for Dogmatic
Neutralization

Resisting the Spirit of the World

The unacceptable search for a dogmatic
neutralization of Catholicism and of its
progressive “integration” with false religions,
raised by neo-modernistic arrogance to
providential “paths of salvation,” reveals the
aberrant irenic goals of the above mentioned
“dialogue”; renouncing the conversion of the
infidels in the name of a presumed primacy of
individual conscience vis a vis metaphysical and
religious questions, clerical progressivism has
determined to impose with the Second Vatican
Council a positive assessment of the culture
of the modern world that had been repeatedly,
authoritatively, and justifiably condemned by the
Magisterium.
The liturgy of the “aggiornamento” and the
fanciful ecumenical aspirations, resulting in
a generic religiosity deprived of the original
supernatural dimension and of the rigorous
theoretical foundations of Catholicism, objectively
have facilitated the surrender to secularism.
This process, that now has produced its
extreme outcomes, tends to diminish Christian
Revelation in the murky climate generated by
expanding linguistic and conceptual confusion,
which, complying with the destructive plans
of demo-oligarchic globalism, condemns as
an absurd claim the fitting and reasonable
discrimination between true and false, between
good and evil.

Observing the ruinous adaptation of the
ecclesiastical hierarchy to the spirit of the world,
one is dismayed by the equivocal utterances in
which Pope Francis, in one of his habitual and
anomalous conversations with journalists, has
stated that the Church should “apologize to the
gays.”
Such an unprecedented and troubling
declaration reveals an unmentionable and hidden
regret for the constant condemnation that the
Church has always levied on homosexuality, in
total fidelity to Sacred Scripture and Apostolic
Tradition.
Lacking any clarification that could dissipate
its fundamental ambiguities, the wish of Pope
Francis lends itself, unfortunately, to reinforce
the demolishing and desecrating logic “of the
aggiornamento.”
Nevertheless, in the asphyxiating pollution
that covers our time, we are spurred on by the
conviction that the doctrine of the Church cannot
change and that the participation of the Church
to the Passion of Her Divine Founder anticipates
the dawn of a spiritual and civic resurrection.
Viva Cristo Rey!
Translated by Angelo Gattozii from the September 15, 2016
Italian edition of SiSiNoNo

41

Spirituality

Test your Mastering Ability over

Modern Media
by Fr. Philippe Bourrat

The dangers and the insidious but real harm
of the invasive digital world, which fascinates
and modifies the behavior of all age strata of the
population, are often under-estimated by those
who are in charge of education. Yet, the stakes
are high.

The Invasion of the Device
We cannot deny that a regular use—not even
an intensive use—of the internet and digital
screens deeply modifies the habits of life and the
amount and nature of leisure, and are the object
of habitual worries of the mind. Rare are those
who, today, escape the power of this tentacular
beast.
Who can doubt that the spiritual life itself is
42

The Angelus

May - June 2017

not affected? The spirit of prayer and the life
of contemplation are inevitably diminished,
mortified. Although prayer is not a technique, it
demands some natural conditions and a proper
environment in order to grow. The houses of
prayer, churches, and monasteries, have always
been places where silence was duly cultivated.
The Christian soul and, a fortiori, the soul
dedicated to God, must be a house of prayer and,
for this purpose, avoid what turns it into a slave
of technological tools which perturb and excite
the imagination.
The constant glare of the internet and its
infinite variety of words and images cause
the user to become dependent on change and
entertainment, accustoming the brain to ask
always for more novelty, stimuli, excitement.
Curiosity becomes the main motive of action

in a mind less and less disposed to reflecting,
synthesizing, judging, memorizing, and more
and more to reacting according the principles of
pleasure and novelty.

The Loss of Thinking
What is growing among the users of digital
tools are the flaws of superficiality, laziness,
selfishness, impatience, irascibility, and a pride
of presuming to know everything with just a few
clicks. And, more basically, there comes the loss
of the sense of an elementary courtesy which
demands that, when speaking to someone in
person, we should cease responding immediately
to the least solicitation of phone calls or emails.
As for the judgments of value, which some

apply in the more superficial conversations which
they hold about “true life,” these judgments are
now dictated by bits and parcels of information
collected and memorized during the brief length
of a coffee break conversation or meal. Beyond
this, everything of depth and breadth is forgotten,
evacuated, dissolved. The memory is relegated to
the smartphone or the engine search…
Thus, verbal exchanges are dictated by what
has been seen or consulted, by the opinion of
those who pretend that majority makes truth,
that sentiments can replace thought, that social
life means sharing the same inept judgments
on things, thereby leveling reality to the rank
of insignificant, sacralizing the trivial to the
detriment of the doctrinal or philosophical, and
senselessly repeating the opinion of those who
refuse to think beyond 140 bytes…
43

Spirituality
The future of intelligence is rather bleak
because what is imposed on it, besides a
relativist and subjectivist philosophy, is mostly
its replacement by the device which invades most
parts of the intellectual life.
If most teenagers cannot even imagine
spending one day without their smartphone, and
if their life is connected to many social networks,
there are yet many adults who still have the
illusion that a reasonable use of the digital will
allow them to escape the drifting we mention
here. Yet, to be certain that this “reasonable use”
of the technique is possible, they need to prove
that the user is still dominating the use of the
machine and not the other way around, as long
as he has on hand the “antique” means which
used to develop the potentialities of the human
mind. Although not impossible, this has become
very difficult for many. Clerics and layfolk alike:
many are already slaves to the device but have
the best intentions in the world and the good
conscience of one who is sure of doing good…
since everybody does it!
The following test could serve as a check:
1. How many times per hour, per day, per week,
do I consult the Internet or my emails?
2. How much time do I spend on these devices?
3. How often could I have dispensed myself from
using them?
4. How many serious books do I read monthly?
5. How much time do I spend, daily, praying to
God and the Blessed Virgin?
The fear of looking old fashioned, reactionary,
or outdated, but especially the addiction
contracted by the regular use of the devices, all
prevent many from self-examination and check
ups. They may realize that the drift of this new
way of life is not the best, but the pull for them is
too strong.
Paradoxically, among those who self check and
refuse to let the digital lay claim over their minds,
many have a life goal that differs from ours. But,
at least, they have preserved the idea anchored
within them that real life has more worth than
virtual life, and that the human faculty of
thinking, as well as the social and political life,
are more precious than technological formatting
44

The Angelus

May - June 2017

and slavery to the almighty digital world, which
have created a totalitarian consensus.

Traditional Catholics
and the Future
These men and women need to be aware of
the stakes. They will belong to the future elite,
those who know how to read, to understand what
they have read, to reflect and put into perspective
through philosophy and history, and to judge
according to true principles. These are the
persons who will be given responsible charges
because they will possess psychological and
human ability and a rare moral life. The Church
counts on their generosity, their fidelity to the
doctrinal combat, their skill to live against the
stream of ease, and their sense of the common
good which will engage them in offering their life
to His service, if God so calls them, or to settle a
Christian family.
Because they will have understood that the
slavery which is being prepared for them is a
traitorous snare, these are the ones who will
recall that man’s destiny is heaven and that this
goal demands they preserve their intelligence,
their memory, and their will ordained to God,
so that the work of grace may grow in them and
through them.

The
Pilgrimage
of Life
by a Benedictine Monk

The ancestors of the majority of U.S. citizens
were, more or less recently, pilgrims from a
foreign country. Amongst the others, waves
of Catholic immigrants came to this country
seeking work, a better standard of living, or, in
some cases, simply survival. They came with
the hope of one day becoming a citizen. They
struggled to adapt themselves to our country
and its laws while at the same time holding onto
their ethnic traditions which in no way were a
threat to the common good of our country. We
thrive on the variety of cultures of which we are
composed insofar as all contribute to strengthen
the common good of the nation.
In a Catholic household, the head of the family,
in the name of charity, should receive a poor man
offering a meal and if possible lodging for a brief
time. Our Lord says that what has been done to

the least of these would be considered as if done
to Himself. God will reward all Christian charity
and hospitality.
Imagine the scenario of a poor refugee
becoming obstinate and violently forcing the
generous family to let all of his relatives come
and stay in this same house, thus obliging the
host family to seek shelter elsewhere. The head
of the family must defend the common good
of his household. The immigrant is no longer
seeking refuge, but a military conquest. He has
no intention of adapting himself to the rules
of the household, but of imposing his rule and
abolishing the rules and rights of the legitimate
owner. Immigration is quite different from
invasion.
In a monastery the monks are like foreign
pilgrims. As one author puts it “The Rule of
45

Spirituality

46

St. Benedict was written for the roughest of
rogues and the gentlest of gentlemen.” This
range of characters is possible only because
the soul seeking admittance is put to the test
before admission. His desire and motivation
are carefully examined in order to maintain
order in the house. In chapter 58 of his Rule,
St. Benedict prudently explains how to receive
a monk seeking to enter. “When anyone newly
cometh to be a monk, let him not be granted
an easy admittance; but, as the apostle saith:
Test the spirits, to see whether they come from
God. If such a one, therefore, persevere in his
knocking, and if it be seen after four or five days

In the space of a year the Rule is read at least
three times to the novice desiring to enter the
monastery. If he does not wish to observe it he
may freely depart, but no one enters without fully
embracing the law of the house. The newcomer
must adapt himself to the monastic way of life
without expecting the monastery to change its
own identity in order to maintain the newcomer’s
customs and his worldly desires.
In a sense, we are all pilgrims seeking refuge
from this hostile world governed by the Prince
of lies. We are travelling through the trials
and hardships of this life seeking the kingdom
of heaven. Our Fatherland is the Heavenly

that he bears patiently this harsh treatment and
the difficulty of admission and persists in his
petition, then let admittance be granted to him.
... Let a senior be assigned to them (the novices)
who is skilled in winning souls that he may watch
over them with utmost care. Let him examine
whether the novice truly seeks God, and whether
he is zealous for the work of God, for obedience,
and for humiliations. Let him be told all the
hardships and trials through which we travel to
God.”
St. Benedict wants the newcomers to be tested
to see if they truly seek God. Nothing else really
matters in a monastery. The social condition, the
standard of life, the nationality, language, and
even the education of the candidate are of little
importance. The one thing that unites all the
members of the community is the common desire
to contemplate the beauty of God. The necessary
condition to become a member of the community
is to faithfully observe the Rule of the house.

Jerusalem of St. John’s Apocalypse, where God
our Father wishes to restore us to the kingdom
that we willfully abandoned. Where hatred
and jealously are forever forbidden. Where the
impurity of egotistical sensuality is dethroned
and the Internet is no more. Where unjust wars
and the cruelty of abortion will never again
rear their bloody heads. Where the law of God
will be respected out of love and gratitude for
the Lawgiver. Where Charity, the Spirit of God
Himself, will unite all of the citizens to their
Creator and through Him to one another. Where
the Lamb of God freely bestows citizenship upon
the blessed immigrants into this kingdom, where
all are bound by the most sacred obligation to
love one another.
“And God shall wipe away all tears from their
eyes: and death shall be no more, nor mourning,
nor crying, nor sorrow shall be anymore, for the
former things are passed away. And He that sat
on the throne said: Behold I make all things new.”

The Angelus

May - June 2017

224 pp. – Softcover – STK# 8635 – $16.95

The Price to Pay
A Muslim Risks All to Follow Christ

The Price to Pay is the powerful story of Joseph Fadelle’s conversion to Catholicism. He risks
everything—family, friends, his inheritance and home, and even his life—in order to follow Christ.
In a dramatic and personal narrative style, Fadelle reveals the horrible persecution endured by
Christians living in a violent and hostile Muslim world.

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

Christian Culture

Saint John
the Baptist
by Dr. Marie-France Hilgar

“Verily I say unto you: Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John
the Baptist” (Mt. 11:11); and from Honorius of Autun: “He is proclaimed greater than all saints, he is
equal to angels only, that is why he is also, and rightfully so, called angel” (Speculum Ecclesiae).
St. John the Baptist, the Prodrome (the one who runs ahead to make an announcement) has given
many painters and sculptors the occasion of representing him in art form. We will in this article divide
the life of Our Lord’s cousin into six sections: the announcement of his birth to Zaccharias, his birth and
youth, his predication, the baptism of Our Lord, his decapitation, and his incineration.

The Announcement
“There was in the days of Herod a certain
priest named Zaccharias of the house of Abia:
and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and
her name was Elizabeth....And they had no child,
because that Elizabeth was barren, and they both
were now well stricken in years....According to
the custom of the priest’s office, his lot was to
48

The Angelus

May - June 2017

burn incense when they went into the temple of
the Lord. And the whole multitude of the people
were praying without...And then appeared unto
him an angel of the Lord...the angel said unto him
‘Fear not Zaccharias for thy prayer is heard; and
thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou
shalt call his name John’” (Lk. 1:5-13).
Among the many representations, we have
chosen a sculpture by Andrea Pisano on

Florence Baptistery - South Portal by Andrea Pisano- 1336. Histories of St John the Baptist

Christian Culture
the first door of the baptistry of Florence. The
sculptor showed only the two people, the angel
and Zaccharias talking near an altar surmounted
by a single arcade destined to recall in schematic
form the place of the apparition. He remembered
a precise detail from St. Luke’s text: Zaccharias
was offering incense. The priest, wearing a tiara,
is balancing a censor with his right hand.
Andrea Pisano is one of the few western artists
who represented the second scene narrated by St.
Luke: “And, behold, thou shall be dumb, and not
be able to speak” (1:20). Five Jews stand in front
of the priest, and one of them in the front turns
towards his companions to explain to them how
to interpret Zaccharias’ gestures.

Birth and Youth
No artist has given a more charming

50

The Angelus

May - June 2017

representation of the birth of St. John than Jean
Fouquet in a miniature of the Heures of Etienne
Chevalier, which can be seen in the Condé
Museum in Chantilly. Many women are busy
watching while two midwives are boiling water in
a large vat which will be used for the baby’s bath.
All we see of Elisabeth is her face and her white
coif. Sitting at the foot of her bed is Zaccharias,
who is carefully writing the name of his son while
the Virgin Mary, the only one adorned with a halo,
holds little St. John on her lap.
One of the most famous paintings of St. John
and Our Lord as children is found in the Prado
Museum in Madrid and is signed by Murillo.
Nino de la Concha shows the child Jesus
standing up and graciously leaning toward
St. John, who is half kneeling and holding a
cross with a long staff with a pennant. Jesus
is holding a shell, whence the name of the
painting, and gives St. John a drink. A crouching

lamb is watching the peaceful scene.

The Baptist’s Prediction
“In those days came John the Baptist
preaching in the wilderness of Judea” (Mt. 3:1).
“Annas and Caiaphas being high priests, the word
of God came unto John, the son of Zaccharias,
in the wilderness” (Lk. 3:2). We understand that
John obeys the mysterious voice of grace, an
interior appeal.
The greatest work of art inspired by the
Predication of St. John the Baptist is the painting
of Rembrandt housed in the museum of Berlin
The artist opposed in powerful contrast, the
passion which animates the Precursor, standing
on a hill, his body slightly leaning forward,
his left hand on his chest as if controlling the
violence of his heart, his right hand raised as

if calling and welcoming his listeners, and the
motley feelings of argumentative Jews who
listen to him with shades of skepticism, two of
them turning their backs to him to discuss the
impossibility of the prophecy they are hearing.

The Baptism of Christ
Christ’s Baptism is an essential scene in the
life of the Precursor. It was the first to enter
Christian iconography. It is also the one to which
the most numerous works of art have been
dedicated. “Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to
Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. But John
forbade Him, saying ‘I have need to be baptized
of thee, and cometh thee to me’? And Jesus
answering said unto him: ‘Suffer it to be so now;
for this it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness.’
Then he suffered Him. And he saw the Spirit of

51

Christian Culture
God” (Mt. 3:13-16).
One person always present and almost
inseparable of every scene of Our Lord’s baptism
is the angel who holds his clothes. St. John wears
a large coat to cover his sheep skin. He is usually
represented with beard and long hair. In the
Cathedral of Amiens, two angels are holding a
banderole which forms an arc of triumph in front
of God the Father, who is seen in the upper part
blessing His Son. The Jordan covers little more
than Our Lord’s ankles, and St. John uses a cup
to pour water on Our Lord’s head: baptism not so
much by immersion but rather by effusion.

Arrest and Decapitation
Arrest. Two new persons are entering the
scene. “For Herod himself had sent forth and laid
hold upon John...for Herodias’ sake, his brother
Philip’s wife, for he had married her. For John
had said unto Herod, ‘It is not lawful for thee to
have thy brother’s wife’” (Mk. 6:17-18). Having
told the couple that their relationship was both
adulterous and incestuous, John was thrown in
jail.
Andrea Pisano dedicated four medallions
to the story. At the top of the door on the right
we see Herod and Herodias sitting next to
each other on a throne. We can guess by John’s
attitude that he speaks calmly. Herod looks
unmoved, Herodias furious. The presence of a
guard announces what is to follow. In the next
medallion, we see two disciples of John with a
few Jews at the door of the prison, talking to an
invisible John.
Decapitation. It is not necessary to recall here
the events which brought forth the death of the
Precursor. Different artists have represented the
scene differently, some if Salome did not herself
witness the decollation. “An executioner...went
and beheaded him in the prison and brought his
head on a charger and gave it to the damsel (Mk.
6:27-28). But Caravaggio has chosen to show
Salome in both his Beheading of Saint John the
Baptist and in Salome with the head of John the
Baptist. The first is the largest painting produced
by the artist. It was completed in 1688. It depicts
the saint at the moment of his martyrdom. The
52

The Angelus

May - June 2017

executioner holds down John’s head while the
janitor instructs him to finish the job. An old
lady clasps her in horror while the young woman
(Salome?) holds a large charger to receive the
head. Caravaggio’s name is scrawled in the blood
oozing out of St. John’s neck.
The second painting is a late work by the
artist. He painted it in the last three years of his
life. No longer concerned with the incidentals of
the narrative, he focuses on the essential human
tragedy of the story. Two women seem to grow
out of one body, contrasting the stages of youth
and age. The executioner takes no joy in what he
was commanded to do. He feels only a stunned
emotion in keeping with the somber tones that
Caravaggio adopted.

Incineration
The most interesting work of art consecrated
to the relics of the Precursor is a painting by
Gerard de Saint Jean in the museum of Vienna.
It is part of a reredos which he painted for the
knights of Saint John. On the top left the disciples
are seen burying the decapitated body of their
master while the head is entombed by Herodias.
On the front his bones are burnt by servants in
the presence of the Emperor Julian the Apostate.
The disciples of the Precursor had originally
buried his body in Sebaste, Palestine, where
many miracles took place. Julian the Apostate
first ordered the bones to be dispersed, but
since it was not sufficient, he had them burnt.
But monks behind the tomb take out the bones
which they carry to Jerusalem. A procession,
with crosses and banners, comes to meet them.
The accidents of the countryside, with much
ingenuity, separate the diverse episodes one
from the other, and the brutal expression of
the servants form a stark contrast with the
recollection of the monks and with the sickening
adulation of the courtesans listening to the
emperor’s explanations.
We have seen some of the splendor of Saint
John the Baptist in art and must not forget the
greatness of Zachary and Elizabeth’s son in the
Church.

The Lepanto Lectures
Bring history alive with these fascinating talks by Christopher Check

The Knights Templar
Who are the Knights Templar? Who were the men who inspired St.
Bernard and stirred the hearts of all Europe, but met an infamous

1CD – 64 minutes
STK# 8557Q – $9.95

end at the hands of the King of France, accompanied by a papal
suppression of this knightly order? This talk presents the true
story of this military religious order, born in the heroic age of the
Crusades, and which was only brought down as victim to the greed
and treachery of others.

Lepanto—The Battle
That Saved the West
3 CDs – 94 minutes
STK# 8458 – $29.95

On October 7, 1571, the Battle of Lepanto decided the future of
Europe, yet few Europeans, and even fewer European Americans,
know the story, much less how close Western Europe came to suffering an Islamic conquest. Christopher Check tells the exhilarating story of Lepanto, first in his own words and then through the
poem of G. K. Chesterton.

Understanding
the Inquisition
With his characteristic clarity, Christopher Check reviews one of
the modern world’s most frequent attacks against the Catholic

1 CD – 61 minutes
STK# 8555Q – $9.95

Church, the Inquisition. In this talk he examines the origins of the
Inquisition, its purposes and procedures, and explains that far
from being a horrible institution, the Inquisition was a merciful
court that protected and saved Europe in many ways.

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

Every year, thousands of pilgrims participate in this
three-day, 65-mile SSPX pilgrimage from Chartres to
Paris. Pictured here is one of the children’s chapters.
Around 876 the Cathedral of Chartres acquired the
Sancta Camisa, the tunic worn by the Blessed Virgin
at the time of Christ’s birth. The relic was given to the
Cathedral by Charlemagne, who received it as a gift from
Emperor Constantine V during a crusade to Jerusalem.

Christian Culture

Islam
&
American
Civil Religion
by Dr. John Rao

Chesterton describes the feeling of a Catholic
entering a mosque as that of “the presence of
absence.” Having been in a number of mosques
myself, I know exactly what he means. There
is much about their very structure that seems
familiarly Eastern Christian, and the sight of
many sincere people fervently praying within
them can easily remind a believer of the scene
at a Christian pilgrimage site. Nevertheless,
the central substantive element of Catholic
worship—the tabernacle of the living God—is
missing. What speaks to us from the place which
should be occupied by the Word Incarnate comes
only from the mouth of the Moslem preacher and
prayer leader.
At first hearing, the words that he speaks
might appear to express simplicity itself, making
their acceptance and conversion to Islam a very
56

The Angelus

May - June 2017

easy matter for almost anyone. After all, the
religion really has only a single doctrine: the
reality of the one, omnipotent Creator God, and
the need to obey His commands. But this surface
simplicity is deceptive. For one actually gets a lot
more “bang for the buck” from the simple surface
teaching of Islam, and there are three crucial
reasons for this.

The Emergence of Islam
The first of these is due to the fact that Islam,
like Christianity, emerged at a certain “fullness of
time.” It came out of an Arabia which had become
a dumping ground for wandering Jews, Christian
missionaries (orthodox and heretical), Gnostics,
Zoroastrians, grumpy pagans, avaricious

merchants, and holy men of every conceivable
persuasion and shade of honesty. Islam poured
the ideas and expectations of all of these
opposing elements into its peculiar religious
cocktail. Their “real presence” can readily be
uncovered by studying the different pillars of
Moslem teaching and practice: the suras, or
chapters of the Koran; the hadith or so-called
“sayings of the Prophet”; the shari’a, or law, itself
commented upon by the ulama, the manifold
juridical authorities arising from the various
legal schools active throughout the Islamic
World; and the Sufi mystic traditions nurtured at
centers of prayer, study, action, and pilgrimage
built through the work of a rich diversity of
charismatic figures.

Political Opportunism
A second Moslem bang for the buck can be
attributed to political opportunism. Islam really
took formal shape after 622 when Mohammed,
fleeing from Mecca, founded in Yathrib (the
future Medina) the joint religious and political
community referred to as the umma. Since the
faithful were taught that God willed the survival
of the Islamic community, they also grew to
accept the idea that He would bless whatever
actions the changing circumstances of daily
life dictated to assure its success. The actions
in question began with attacks on caravans to
Mecca and expanded to involve the overrunning
of the Persian and Roman Empires due to the
manpower provided by Bedouin converts.
Unfortunately, such conquests brought a
plethora of ethnic, cultural, and administrative
problems in their train, all of them presenting
profound questions regarding how to guarantee
the success of the umma, leading to many
actions which Catholic moralists would deem to
be quite improper. Intra-Islamic battles ensued,
out of which emerged the basic Sunnite and
Shi’ite division, the latter spiced with further
exotic and disruptive speculations regarding the
whereabouts of the descendants of Mohammed’s
nephew Ali, whose leadership they deemed
essential to the umma. Both these camps were
also torn apart by the speculations of contrasting

legal and Sufi mystical schools, many of them
presiding over fiercely loyal sub-communities
for whose basic material needs they also often
provided. Leaders of all these differing groups
and sub-groups, from caliphs to imams to Sufi
masters, firmly tied their widely dissimilar
positions back to the politically charged question
of the needs of God’s umma and ensuring its
maintenance and success.

Islam and Fideism
That brings us to the third factor transforming
an easy convert’s support for Islam’s seemingly
simple message into commitment to something
quite different than he might have first
expected: the religion’s fideism. For Islam
founds acceptance of its single doctrine upon
an obedience to the inscrutable will of a God
whose commands cannot ultimately rationally
be explicated but merely asserted in the ritual,
pious slogan taught by the Founder: “There is
no God but Allah, and Mohammed is His (last
and greatest) Prophet.” By this point we have
come full circle. Commitment to “simple” Islam
actually entails blind commitment on the part of
what may well be honest believers with sincere
religious aspirations and a thirst for godliness to
“whatever works” for the success of the umma.
Once again, the recipe for that “success” can
be provided in varied ways by the varied willful
forces competing for the guidance of God’s umma
and seeking to protect their interpretations from
investigation with reference to their being the
inscrutable will of the omnipotent God Himself.
With no official Magisterium to decide among
them, surface Islamic simplicity, community
needs, and doctrinal mantra backing up the
whole project ends by masquerading an endless
diversity of “infallible,” “unquestionable”
“Islams”: philosophically alive internally despite
the underlying fideism or totally brain dead;
morally secularist or magical and superstitious;
libertine or puritanical; teetotaling or bottlefriendly; militant or peaceful; Arabic and Wahabi;
Persian and Shi’ite; Indian, Southeast Asian and
exotically syncretist in character. Give me the
locally strongest force and I will show the will
57

Christian Culture
of the Moslem God.
Many contemporary American Catholics
are terrified by the menace of a violent, PanIslamic conspiracy. This I think is a misguided
preoccupation. The Islamic World today remains
the divided umma that it has always been. Yes,
it is true that numerous militant groups with
terrorist intent are among those divisions,
and vigorously active among us. Such violent
militants still emerge from the predictable legalmystical-cultural centers that have regularly
engendered them throughout Moslem History.
No Catholic can view these circles with anything
other than hostility. Everyone should be grateful
for their unmasking and defanging.

Pluralism Stimulating
Radical Islamic Growth
Nevertheless, a stimulus to the growth of the
“Moslem threat” that is much more dangerous
than that posed by any recruitment sergeant for
ISIS lies right before our Catholic eyes; one that is
active in each and every aspect of our daily lives:
Pluralism. This Pluralism, which is at the heart
of the American Civil Religion, shares all of the
characteristics of Islam, with its sole “doctrine”
of offering nothing other than a “practical
method” of creating an orderly and successful
umma through acceptance of the principle
of equal freedom for all ideas and life styles,
sending it on its confident hunt for easy converts.
But Pluralism offers a complicated bang for the
buck in exactly the same manner as Islam does.
Why?
For one thing, because Pluralism, enshrined
in the American Civil Religion, also emerged
in a certain “fullness of time.” It is the heir of
centuries of pre-Protestant, Protestant, and
Enlightenment heresy and naturalist materialism,
with all of the revolutionary political and social
clout that these forces pack. All of its supporters
carry this enormous mass of creedal baggage
with them, shaping in diverse manners what the
supposedly simple, non-doctrinal, pragmatic
methodology of Pluralism really means.
Moreover, American Pluralism, like Islam,
shares a similar openness to a gross opportunism
58

The Angelus

May - June 2017

operating in the name of the community it
shapes. Supporters of the pluralist umma insist
that its primary duty is to make it “succeed,”
passing itself off as “the last and best hope” for
peace, order, and freedom for mankind. Alas,
the heretical and naturalist presuppositions
underlying this faith community incarnate varied
forms of the basic Protestant teaching on the
total depravity of men, for whom “no virtue can
be legislated.” These then work together with
an interpretation of freedom that allows each
individual to wreak his particular choice of
materialistic havoc upon his equally free and
naturalist neighbors.
But what really happens wherever Pluralism’s
writ runs is that the strongest of the passionate,
the criminally depraved, and the ideologically
and sensually unchained dominate, bend to their
will, and define the very nature and boundaries of
the community which is supposed to protect the
general “freedom” and “materialist success” of
all. Hence, it is a self-interested, criminal-friendly,
pluralist umma which must be preserved as
God’s gift to mankind, and to which every knee
and every intellect and every concept of morality
is expected to bend forever.
Finally, to complete our analogy, Pluralism’s
surface simplicity is complicated by its Moslemlike demand for blind faith in this single truth. It
anathematizes any investigation into its purely
“practical” teaching as unbearably divisive,
and therefore dangerous to the umma’s and the
individual’s “success.” Its non-doctrinal doctrine
is then associated with the inscrutable will of
God, in the form of the “common sense” God of
the Moderate Enlightenment, as revealed most
fully in the work of the Founding Fathers. The
final product is vivified through the ritual phrase
that all are expected to recite from gestation to
the grave: “There is no hope except through God’s
Pluralist System, and the Founders are its last
and greatest Prophets.”

The Delusion of Pluralism
It should be no surprise, therefore, that
the Pluralist American umma, like that of
Islam, is dominated and manipulated by

strong, willful men, who, in this case, recite
mantras proclaiming such domination to be the
absolutely infallible guarantee of godly order,
freedom, and “success” for everyone. It is used
to being “open” to “new ideas” reflecting still
more radical, mind-bending consequences of
its Protestant and Enlightenment roots. It will
label what is “black” as being “white,” and adore
today what it yesterday reviled, so long as the
manipulators of the day explain that practical
survival and success demand such twists and
turns as born in heaven. In our own day, this
has meant learning to praise a godly, Founderfriendly, free, successful, social order signifying
whatever the local combination of international
money-grubbers, drug dealers, neo-conservative
madmen, supporters of Greater Israel, and sex
maniacs wish such an umma to mean.
Still, what this has produced is another form
of the “presence of absence” rightly decried by
Chesterton. Here, the “presence” is a promise
of godly materialist “success” promoted by
institutions that still look historically familiar
and use familiar language to confirm the
impression of Pluralism’s preservation of
traditional “values.” Here, that “presence” is
rendered worthless by the total “absence” of
any spiritual vision that could shape and give it
at least some higher meaning, however twisted,
erroneous, and perverse that might be.
Edmund Burke said that one would have
expected a thousand French swords to leap
spontaneously from their scabbards to avenge
the slightest insult offered to the lovely Marie
Antoinette. He was shocked that this did not
happen. One would have thought that the
American Catholic faithful would have leapt as
one man to battle against a vision of life which
sucks the individual of all that perfects him,
leaving the community in which he lives as one
stripped of the presence of the transforming
Word of God. But, unfortunately, the ruling ethos
of the American Catholic world—indeed of the
post-conciliar Catholic world in general—is that
of the American Pluralist Regime. It prefers the
“presence of absence” to the real presence of the
Incarnate Word of God and the natural world
substantively informed by Him. It is divided in
its uniform conversion to the godly and simple

teaching of Pluralism only with respect to
whether its hidden message of domination by
the willful strong is best interpreted by libertine
liberals or materialist conservatives.
At the moment, the only force that is truly
frightening to American Pluralism and its
converts is Islam, and this because of the
fact that at least some of its elements retain a
substantive belief in something that they refuse
to have entirely sucked out of them in the name
of purely material success. This is not a happy
situation for two reasons: on the one hand,
because the ever more rootless and soulless
environment of the American Pluralist Regime
is precisely the kind of milieu that cannot last
for any length of time, and lends itself to easy
conversion to anything with some smidgen of
“spiritual” value to it; and, on the other hand,
because that smidgen of Islamic spiritual value
is erroneous and ultimately equally quixotic in
its direction. It can serve, for a moment, as the
punishing sword of the living God, but it does not
represent His Word. Would that Traditionalist
Catholics, who do have the “presence” that is
absent from both Pluralism and Islam could
regain the vigor that could frighten both of
them and fend off the common threat they both
represent.

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.

59

Christian Culture

Education in
Cleanliness
by SSPX Sisters

“Once upon a time there was a great king
who reigned from his throne in a magnificent
palace…everything was beautiful, and clean,
and wonderfully decorated, and everyone in the
palace had only one desire: to please the king with
their dress, their words, their attitude, and their
actions….Children, the greatest king, the King of
kings, lives in our heart, and we get to please Him,
to honor Him.”

Mother Begins her Story
The little ones ask their mother questions, they
do not understand very well, and with eyes full of
wonder they learn that their soul is more beautiful
60

The Angelus

May - June 2017

than the most beautiful palace on earth, since
Jesus Himself has been living in it since their
baptism! If our soul is a temple, our body must
reflect the beauty of this interior treasure and our
whole exterior must always radiate Jesus.

Virtue of Cleanliness
Dear mothers, even little ones can understand
this, and it is both the starting point and the
deepest reason for an education in cleanliness
and modesty. For a Christian, it is not so much
a question of social conventions, it is a question
of true virtue: my personal cleanliness must be
to honor the Divine Guest in my soul. From their

earliest childhood, children can learn through the
little acts of daily life to respect the life of grace in
them and to show this deference on the outside by
their cleanliness and modesty.
Practically speaking, very young children
should form good hygiene habits and little by little
learn to remember them on their own. Around the
age of 3 or 4, we teach a child by doing things with
him, then we let him do them on his own and check
the results: “You didn’t forget your teeth? Show
me your nails.” Around the age of 7, when children
start going to summer camps, they need to be
able to fend for themselves. Going against their
sense of decency on the pretext of saving time, is
a serious danger to be avoided: no collective baths
and showers, and children mustn’t go from their
room to the bathroom naked. Baths and showers
should be quick; taking care of the body must not
degenerate into sensuality…and the step is so
easily taken ever since original sin! The bathroom
is not a playroom. Children must learn to use it
quickly and “efficiently”!
Washing up is a chore for younger children, but
as they grow older, it can become a pastime and
a pursuit, especially for girls. We have to limit the

time they spend and kindly but firmly put an end
to these excesses: virtue lies in the happy medium.
We mustn’t wait before addressing budding defects:
repeated acts are what form good or bad habits.

Cleanliness and Modesty
Cleanliness and modesty in dress go along with
bodily cleanliness. Clothing should be clean and
unwrinkled, but does not necessarily need to be
changed every day. Without being obsessive about
cleanliness, we can teach children to be careful
with their clothes; clean clothes do not grow in
dressers on their own; they are the result of a
mother’s hard work washing and ironing. And it
is important to have ordinary clothes for playing
during the week and nice Sunday clothes that are
treated more carefully. It helps children learn to
have a special respect for God.
As St. Francis de Sales says, we must be clothed
with “grace, decorum and dignity.” So let us begin
preparing our little ones with the cleanliness and
simplicity becoming of children of God.

61

The month of May is the month which the piety of the faithful has especially dedicated to Our
Blessed Lady. During this month Christians, both in church and in the privacy of the home,
offer up to Mary from their hearts an especially fervent and loving homage of prayer and
veneration.
Chapel of Our Lady, Borne, Netherlands

189 pp. Softcover. STK# 8208. $15.95

Ten Dates Every Catholic
Should Know
Dr. Diane Moczar
Excellent for any Catholic who wants to understand the history of our Faith.
But it will give you more than knowledge: you’ll close this book with renewed
confidence that no matter how dark and dangerous the times may be, God has
never abandoned his people...and never will.

189 pp. Softcover. STK# 8486. $13.95

Seven Lies About
Catholic History
Dr. Diane Moczar
From Galileo to the Inquisition, modern historians have distorted facts or
invented falsehoods to make the Church and Christendom seem backward
and corrupt. Diane Moczar tackles the most infamous and prevalent historical myths about the Church and reveals the truth about them. A must-have for
anyone interested in defending our glorious Catholic history.

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

Christian Culture

by Fr. Juan-Carlos Iscara, SSPX

What age is required for being
a godparent at baptism?
As the spiritual life—the life of grace—begins
at baptism, the Church considers the minister of
baptism and the godparents as spiritual parents of
the person baptized.
From the very early centuries of the Church,
it was understood that this spiritual relationship
imposes grave obligations on the godparents:
together with the parents, they become guides and
guardians of their godchild’s religious formation,
64

The Angelus

May - June 2017

assuming a life-long engagement to help him to
persevere in the faith after baptism.
Thus, the 1917 Code of Canon Law clearly
states that the godparents must consider their
spiritual child as perpetually entrusted to their
care and guide him by their example and teaching
so that his whole Christian life fulfills what the
godparents promised on his behalf in the solemn
ceremony of Baptism (c. 769). Canon law insists
forcefully on the rigorous duty of watching over
the religious instruction of the child, incumbent
primarily on the parents, but complemented by the

godparents (cf. c. 1335).
Consequently, on account of the moral and
canonical obligations assumed by godparents,
canon law establishes that, to validly contract the
spiritual relationship, the godparent must himself
be baptized, have attained the use of reason
and having also the intention of performing the
functions of a godparent (c. 765 §1). To contract
licitly that relationship, however, the godparent
must be at least 14 years old, having a sufficient
knowledge of the faith and, it is understood, an
upright moral life (c. 766 §1-2), for, otherwise, how
could he help and guide the godchild in living a
Christian life?
The pastor or the diocesan Bishop may
dispense from the age requirement for a just
reason. As the law does not require a grave
reason, canonists consider that it can be even for
a slight one (for example, being a close relative,
or because a benefactor has asked). But in that
case, again on account of the grave obligations
assumed, the young godparent should have an
uncommon moral and spiritual maturity.
The 1983 Code of Canon Law slightly modified
the discipline, raising the age requirement to
16 years old (c. 874 §1), but allowing a similar
dispensation from the pastor or diocesan Bishop,
and for the same reasons.
Unfortunately, in these times when faith and
morals are exposed to such great dangers, the
role of godparent is not taken quite as seriously as
the Church intended and often it becomes simply
a social convention with religious overtones.
It is therefore our duty as traditional Catholics
to follow as closely as possible the mind of the
Church in this important matter, and choose
spiritually and morally sound godparents for our
children—and we must keep this qualification
foremost in our minds if we are to choose a minor
as godparent for a child of ours.

Are the Orthodox churches
opposed to contraception?
Contraception is the intentional prevention
of the conception of a child. While Orthodoxy
is unanimous in the condemnation of abortion
and of contraceptive methods or means that
may cause the abortion of the fetus, there are
conflicting opinions regarding non-abortifacient
contraception.
Some Orthodox churches and theologians allow
any contraceptive method that does not cause
abortion, leaving the matter to be decided by the
conscience of the spouses. In spite of their claims
of continuity with Tradition, such theologians
disregard the biblical emphasis on fruitfulness
in marriage and its assessment of child-bearing
as one of the greatest of God’s blessings, a sign
of God’s favor (cf. Ps. 127:3, 128:1-4), and the
condemnation of those who frustrate or reject
God’s blessing by using unnatural methods of
birth control (cf. Gen 38:8-10). They also disregard
the clear assertions of the Church Fathers and
earlier ecclesiastical laws, dismissing them as
not making proper distinctions between abortion
and contraception and having moreover a faulty
understanding of the biology of reproduction, thus
rendering their opinions worthless in the present
day. Such an appraisal, of course, contradicts
historical fact, for the ancient Romans knew
enough biology to make the distinction between
abortion and contraception. It also contradicts
the many clear expressions of the Fathers, such
as St. Augustine, who condemned those who use
poisons of sterility [i.e. a chemical contraceptive],
and if those do not work, extinguish and destroy
the fetus in the womb [i.e. an abortifacient] (“On
marriage and concupiscence,”1.15.17).
Going to the opposite extreme, a small minority
of local Orthodox churches and theologians
simply reject any contraceptive method, including
periodic continence, and only allow perfect
abstinence from marital relations as a method of
regulating pregnancies, while still some others
share the Roman Catholic position of allowing
the method of periodic continence, that is, the
restriction of marital relations to infertile periods
(but in the Catholic Church such permission must
fulfill the strict conditions set forth by Pius XII).
65

Christian Culture

Is it sinful for a Catholic
American citizen to marry
an illegal immigrant?
The following considerations obviously assume
that we are talking of the sacrament of marriage,
the marriage contracted according to the laws
of the Church, the only one into which a Catholic
may validly enter. With this in mind, it is clear
that Catholics who contract only civil marriage,
knowing that they are not truly married, thus not
intending to live as husband and wife, but solely
for the purpose of obtaining the legal effects of
a civil marriage for the illegal immigrant, violate
just civil laws by fraud, commit a sin, and are
liable of civil penalties. This understood, let us
proceed to answer this question in an orderly
manner.
First of all: is it sinful for a Catholic
to remain in the US in violation of the
immigration laws?
As any just civil law obliges in conscience,
its deliberate violation not only carries
proportionate civil penalties, but it also
constitutes a sin. The immigration laws are
sanctioned by the legitimate authority, exercising
its rights of national sovereignty, for the
preservation of the common good of the country.
Although some, due to their particular situation,
may think them to be unfair and imperfect, they
are nonetheless objectively just. Hence, they
oblige in justice and their violation is sinful.
The gravity of the sin committed by the
violation of any just civil law will depend, on
the one hand, on the matter, motive and force
66

The Angelus

May - June 2017

of the particular law and, on the other hand, on
the concrete circumstances of the person who
violates such law (personal motives, state of
necessity, etc.). In the case of immigration laws,
there does not seem to be sufficient matter for
a mortal sin, but their violation as just laws is
certainly venially sinful. Moreover, their violation
may lead to many other sins which, by accident,
may become mortal: lies or fraud to cover illegal
status, the unjust appropriation of resources
or benefits that legitimately correspond only to
citizens, etc.
Secondly: is it an impediment to sacramental
marriage if one of the parties is an illegal
alien, purposely remaining so?
According to ecclesiastical law, there is no
impediment. The only impediments for the
sacrament of matrimony are those explicitly
listed in the Code of Canon Law, which certainly
do not include the immigration status of one of
the would-be spouses.
Moreover, there is no civil law preventing
an illegal immigrant marrying a U.S. citizen.
Nonetheless, it is uncertain whether the illegal
immigrant would be able to obtain the license
necessary to contract a marriage that will have
civil recognition and effects (for example, federal
law requires having a SSN to obtain the marriage
license, but, on the other hand, as the regulation
is haphazardly applied in different states and
even counties, they may perhaps obtain it…).
In principle, if the illegal immigrant has
entered the country legally and has later
overstayed the original visa, after the marriage
he/she may apply for adjustment of status as
“immediate relative” of the American spouse,
without needing to leave the country. Whether
the immigrant has been legal or illegal now
becomes irrelevant, as people in the “immediate
relative” category (spouse, minor children, or
parents of U.S. citizens) are not required to be
in a legal immigration status in order to adjust
status.
Finally: are there any objections to such a
marriage?
Well, yes, there are serious prudential
objections to such a marriage. First of all, there
is a question of the bona fides, the “good faith”
of one or both of the would-be spouses: is the

marriage contracted only to obtain the legal
residence in the U.S. and the “spouses” do not
intend to live as husband and wife? If that is
the intention, it is a sacrilegious abuse of the
sacrament, a mortal sin, and it invalidates the
marriage.
Once that question is settled, there remain the
legal and moral problems that will arise from
the irregular status of one of the spouses. The
legal process for adjustment of status will be
long and difficult. The illegal immigrant will have
to meet all the eligibility criteria, such as being
in a legally recognized marriage, offering proof
that they are not simply getting married to get
a green card, that certain types of crimes have
not been committed, that there will be no need
for welfare assistance, etc. The scrutiny of the
case by immigration officials will be invasive
and stressful, as it will imply probing into the
background of the spouses, their motives,
finances, cohabitation, way of life, etc.

Finally, the successful outcome of the process
is in no way assured, and it may end in a denial of
adjustment of status, leading to deportation and
breaking up of the family.
Therefore, the would-be spouses should be
encouraged to reconsider their decision in view
of the possible consequences.

344 pp–Hardcover–STK# 8343✱–$25.55

The 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.
–– Marriage, Parenting, Family Life
and Rearing Children
–– Science and Medical Matters

–– Trinity, Jesus Christ, Virgin Mary,
Angels,
and Saints

–– Life After Death

–– Mass and the Liturgy

–– Church Practices and Customs

–– SSPX and the Crisis

–– The Papacy and the Church
Teachings
–– Bible and Biblical Matters

67

News from Tradition
Amoris Laetitia: The Confusion Continues
Although we are fast approaching the one
year anniversary of Pope Francis issuing his
now infamous Apostolic Exhortation on the
family, Amoris Laetitia, the confusion caused
by it does not abate.
In the past few months, the bishops of Malta
and the German Episcopal Conference have
issued statements saying that the divorced
and remarried may receive the sacraments
of Penance and Holy Communion while
continuing to live in a state of adultery,
basing their statements on the pope’s words
in Amoris Laetitia. At the same time, Bishop
Steven Lopes of the Personal Prelature of the
Chair of St. Peter (former Anglicans who are
now Catholic) issued a pastoral letter to his
priests and faithful stating that those living in
a state of adultery are necessarily prevented
from receiving the sacraments. Additionally,
various bishops in the United States have
issued conflicting “pastoral guidelines” for their
priests on the proper way to implement the
Apostolic Exhortation — some take the stance
of the Maltese and German bishops while
others reiterate the perennial teaching of the
Church that those persisting in an adulterous
relationship are excluded from the sacraments.
Sadly, these conflicting statements make it
appear that adultery becomes a mortal sin
based upon your location!
Aside from the serious danger this poses to

68

The Angelus

May - June 2017

the salvation of souls, many priests have been
put in very difficult positions as to leading their
parishes. A priest in the Diocese of Pereira,
Colombia, was suspended for the serious
crime of preaching that the divorced and
remarried may not approach the sacraments
if they continue to live as husband and wife.
The bishop of the diocese, Rigoberto Corredor
Bermudez, stated in his decree suspending the
priest that he had separated himself from the
Church by not following the teaching of Pope
Francis in this matter. For Bishop Corredor, it
does not matter what our Lord or the Church
has always taught, what matters is what the
current pope says is the Catholic faith — a
frightening statement from a successor of
the apostles. Happily, soon after the decree
was made public and the absurdity of Bishop
Corredor’s statements was pointed out in
the blogosphere, the priest in question was
reinstated and the suspension removed.
While we certainly must pray for Pope
Francis and the bishops who have joined him in
promoting the reception of the sacraments for
those persisting in the mortal sin of adultery,
we must also keep in our prayers those priests
who are now being persecuted for teaching and
preaching the Catholic faith.

More Nonsense Regarding Martin Luther
Following on the “celebration” of the Protestant
Reformation by Pope Francis last October in
his visit to Sweden, the Vatican postage stamp
honoring Martin Luther, and the statement from
the Vatican that Luther was a “witness to the
Gospel,” Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the
Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity,
has added something even more unsettling.
The cardinal, in an interview published in the
Osservatore Romano, the official newspaper of
the Vatican, stated that doctrinal condemnations
expressed by the Council of Trent against the
Protestants “have no more value today.” Thus we
have a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church
publicly stating that a dogmatic Ecumenical
Council of the Church no longer has value—and
this statement is published in the official Vatican
newspaper.

Of course, this sort of statement has been the
hallmark of most of the hierarchy since Vatican II
— implicitly (and often explicitly) adhering to the
Modernist teaching that the dogmas of the Church
are not absolute and can change with the passage
of time.
The perverse irony here is that Cardinal Koch
would be the first to insist that in order to be a
Catholic “in good standing” one must absolutely
and completely accept the teaching found in the
pastoral Second Vatican Council. He has also
fallen into the logical contradiction that by denying
the perduring validity of the Council of Trent, he is
also denying the perduring validity of any council,
including Vatican II.
Simply put, your Eminence, one cannot have
it both ways. Though in the Rome of Pope Francis,
maybe one can.

The Collapse Continues
The Archdiocese of New York has filed a petition
asking a judge’s permission to mortgage a valuable
piece of Manhattan real estate in order to finance
the settlements of various abuse claims against the
Archdiocese. A number of months ago Cardinal
Dolan, the Archbishop of New York, announced
a plan whereby a fund would be established to
compensate victims, thereby avoiding costly
lawsuits. By mortgaging the Madison Avenue
property upon which the historic Villard Mansion
rests, the Archdiocese will be able to establish the

fund with the 100 million dollar income.
The mansion was originally built by Henry
Villard in the early 1880s on Madison Avenue
between 50th and 51st Streets. Villard was
president of the Northern Pacific Railway.
Eventually the Mansion passed into the hands
of the Archdiocese of New York, which used the
building for its Chancery Office until the 1970s,
when it was decided to consolidate the many
Archdiocesan offices into one building. This
building was constructed on First Avenue at
69

News from Tradition
56th Street at the site of the Church of St. John the
Evangelist, which had been condemned because of
structural issues. The Archdiocese eventually sold
the mansion, located across Madison Avenue from
St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and it was incorporated
into the newly constructed Helmsley Palace Hotel,
but it retained ownership of the property. It is this
property that is being mortgaged to establish the
abused victims fund.

Archdiocese of New York also announced the
planned sale of Our Lady of Peace Church,
located in Manhattan, to the Egyptian Coptic
Orthodox Church. Our Lady of Peace parish was
merged with St. John the Evangelist Parish in the
“reorganization” of parishes in the Archdiocese
during 2015. Since then, parishioners of Our
Lady of Peace have been appealing the closure
to Rome, but while the case is still in its appeal
stage, the Archdiocese has allowed
the Coptics to use the church for
their Divine Liturgy, a move which
has further angered faithful of
the parish. Once again, valuable
Manhattan property is being
sacrificed in order to meet the
ordinary operating expenses of the
Archdiocese, further indicating the
financial straits prevalent in New
York.
More on this story can be
found here: https://www.nytimes.
com/2017/03/05/nyregion/feelingsof-betrayal-after-catholic-churchis-leased-to-coptic-parish.
html?_r=0

Villard Mansion on Madison Avenue between 50th and 51st Street
Our Lady of Peace Church, East 62nd Street, Manhattan

According to the court filing,
the mortgage is to be for only
364 days when the principal is
to be paid off, with only interest
payments being made monthly. The
Archdiocese did not indicate where
the funds to pay off the mortgage
would come from. The fact that the
Archdiocese had to mortgage such
a valuable piece of property to
meet its financial obligations is just
one more indication of not only the
spiritual collapse that is so evident
but also of the financial collapse
which is facing most dioceses in
the United States.
In addition to the mortgaging
of the Villard property, the
70

The Angelus

May - June 2017

12 Compact Disc Set – STK# 8661 – $59.95

2016 Angelus Press Conference Audio Recording

The Missions:
Teaching All Nations

The 2016 Angelus Press Conference presented 11 important lectures from traditional Catholic
speakers. Topics included: The Three Ages of a Mission’s Life, The Jesuit Missions in Paraguay, Decline of the Missionary Spirit Since Vatican II, The Gate of the Beautiful: A Conversion
Story, Islam and the Middle East, A Traditional Approach to Protestantism Today, The Jesuit
Response to Protestantism, Mexico and Central America, Archbishop Lefebvre the Missionary,
Charles de Foucauld, The Catholic Church as the New Israel, and, Round Table Q&A.

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

The Council of Trent (Sess. XXIII, can. 3) defined that, besides the
priesthood, there are in the Church other orders, both major and
minor. Though nothing has been defined with regard to the number
of orders, it is usually given as seven: priests, deacons, subdeacons,
acolytes, exorcists, readers, and doorkeepers. The priesthood is
thus counted as including bishops.
Priestly Ordinations, Ecône, Switzerland

Theological Studies

Converting
Muslims in
Lebanon
by Fr. Patrice Laroche, SSPX

Editor’s Note: The following are the prepared
remarks of Fr. Patrice Laroche which were given at
the 2016 Angelus Press Conference, The Missions.
In order to remain faithful to Fr. Laroche’s intentions,
the original style of the remarks has been retained
throughout. Fr. Laroche’s final, oral version of the
talk can be purchased through Angelus Press.
Before proceeding with my talk, let me give you
some background on Lebanon and the challenges
facing the Society’s apostolate there.
Lebanon is a small country of 10,400 square
kilometers. It is 50 times smaller than France, but
is populated with almost five million inhabitants,
to which we now have to add about one and a half
million refugees from Iraq and Syria who are fleeing
the war.
Although we have had contacts in Lebanon for

74

The Angelus

May - June 2017

nearly 30 years, our mission in this country is still a
modest one.
The principal reason for that is that most of the
Christians who are leaving there belong to an oriental rite: in general they are Maronite Catholic, Greek
Catholic, or Greek Orthodox. Since the 6th century,
Lebanon has been a refuge for all Christian communities that were persecuted in the Middle East.
Those who belong to the Latin rite are only a small
number, about 15,000. This means that it is not in
search of the Tridentine Mass that many faithful in
the region come to us, which is the usual way people
seek our assistance.
The second reason our apostolate in Lebanon
remains small is the war, which lasted 15 years
(1975-1990) and the general insecurity that led
many people to leave. Many of the first Christians we
met in Lebanon have since fled to France, Canada,

or Australia.
It is also important to keep in mind that the
Christians in Lebanon are very involved in daily
political and economic difficulties; they don’t want to
be involved in an ecclesiastical problem which they
mainly see as a problem for the Latin Church.
Last but not least is the fact that we do not have
enough priests to visit this country more often: once
a year at the beginning, now two or three times a
year.
However, during my visit in Lebanon some weeks
ago, some young people came to my mass and
asked after mass: “We need the Society of St. Pius
X in Lebanon. Why do you have priests all over the
world and no priory or school in the Middle East?”
And they said as a kind of joke: “Anyhow, it can be
safer today to live in Lebanon than in France or in
Germany.” Next week some of these men will come
to Menzingen with a priest, in order to speak with
Bishop Fellay about the foundation of the SSPX in
their country.
I will now divide this speech in two parts:
First, I will speak about the war in the neighboring
country Syria.
Secondly, I will talk about the conversions of
Muslims that are taking place.

War in Syria
Bechir Gemayel, the elected President of
Lebanon, who was killed in September 1982 before
he could begin his office, used to say concerning
the war in Lebanon: “We have been aggressed as
Christian; we have defended us as Lebanese.” By
this he meant to say that Christians are the true
citizens of the Middle Eastern countries.
At the end of the Lebanese war that lasted from
1975 to 1991, the Christians lost some of the influence they had at the political level. As before, the
President of the republic has to be a Christian (a
Maronite Catholic), but Lebanon has become a kind
of parliamentary regime and is no more a presidential regime. Moreover, now one half of the deputies
are Christians; the others are Muslims. The same
must be said concerning the number of ministers.
As before, the president of the ministers is a Sunni,
the president of the parliament is a Shiite, and the
chief of the army is a Maronite.
When the Lebanese war started, one half of the

population was Christian, the other Muslim. Now
with the emigration of Christians and the higher
birth-rate of the Muslims, there are about 1/3
Christians and 2/3 Muslims.
Therefore the Lebanese war has weakened
Christianity in the Middle East. Nevertheless
Christians continue to play a big role in Lebanese
political life, which is something unique in the Arab
world.
Since the end of the Lebanese war, the country
had been under the influence of Syria. Today it has
become free from this influence, but enjoys only a
fragile internal unity. And it is a real miracle that in
spite of many attempts to destabilise the country,
Lebanon could remain free from the war which is
ravaging Syria. No doubt this should be attributed
to the consecration of Lebanon to the Immaculate
Heart of Mary, which the bishops carried out with
members of the government four years ago.
What is happening today in Iraq and Syria is
not something new, since the mortal opposition
between Sunnite and Shiite has been raging since
the death of Mohammed and the visceral disagreement among his followers concerning his rightful
successor.
Today, however, the violence in this confrontation
is amplified through destructive new war technologies and seemingly endless financing by large
foreign states like the US, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and
Israel on one side, and Russia and Iran on the other
side.
In Iraq, during the regime of Saddam Hussein, a
Sunni minority was ruling and oppressing a Shiite
majority. The fall of Saddam Hussein opened the
doors to a bloody confrontation between Shiites
and Sunnis. The latter have found in the so-called
Islamic State or ISIS a means to avenge themselves.
In Syria, since 1970, an Alawite minority (the
Alawites are relatives to the Shiites and form about
10% of the Syrian population) is leading the country,
where there is a Sunni majority: about 70%. For this
reason the fall of President Assad is the aim of the
Sunni dynasties of the Saudis and Qatar. Therefore,
mercenaries from the whole Sunni world are involved in this war in the name of the Jihad, the holy
war. On the other side, Iran and the Shiite Lebanese
Hezbollah are supporting the Alawites in this war for
life or death.
As a peaceful minority in Syria (about 10% of

75

Theological Studies
the population), Christians are trying to stay in this
land to which they are the elder inhabitants. And
quite naturally, the minorities are helping each other.
Saddam Hussein, a Sunni (Sunnites were a minority
in Iraq), had good contacts with the Christians. And
also in Syria, the Christian communities did not suffer
much under the Alawites, at least in the last years.
Why is there war in Syria? Because the more
someone takes the Koran seriously, the more he
is keen to become violent. He becomes violent
because he finds in the Koran the justification of
his violence. Since politics and religion in Islam
are joined together, it is very easy to manipulate
the Islamic population, either Sunnite or Shiite, for
political goals in the name of Allah. The international
political forces that wants disorder in the Middle
East are, in a very Machiavellian manner, taking
advantage of this and of the native hatred between
Sunnites and Shiites.

76

Conversion of Muslims

was the case of the Christians under the Ottomans,
except in Lebanon, where the Christians could generally enjoy a relative autonomy.
2. In recent decades there has been a revival of
radical and violent Islam. Why is that? I think it is due
to the following reasons:
–– The foundation of the State of Israel following the
dislocation of the Ottoman Empire has been felt
by the Muslims as a terrible humiliation.
–– The discovery of petroleum (crude oil) has given
Muslims a big financial power.
–– There is a reaction against modernity: Islam is not
able to adapt itself to the modern world without
renouncing its principles. That’s why many young
Muslims are frustrated and believe that the
problems of the modern world come from the
infidelity to true Islam; thus, they are throwing
themselves into terrorism.
–– Because of the decadence of the Occident, that
is, the Western world, they think that their hour
has come and that they have to hasten it with war
and terrorism.

What is the attitude of Muslims towards Christians?
The coexistence between Muslims and
Christians in Lebanon is nothing new. Usually they
lived together peacefully and the Christians were
not discriminated against, as in the other countries
of the Middle East. But religion was not a subject of
conversation between Christians and Moslems.
In Lebanon you can find indeed villages where
Christians cohabitate with Shiites, with Sunnis, with
Druses (who are a sect that split from Shiite Islam
1,000 years ago), but you do not find villages that
are exclusively Shiite-Sunnite, Druze-Sunnite, or
Druze-Shiite. The reason for this is that Christians
have been and remain a stabilizing and peaceful
force, not just in Lebanon, but other parts of the
Middle East as well.
Terrorism and organized attacks against
Christians is nothing new, even though there have
been periods of relative peace in the past. But why
are we witnessing a new radicalization of Muslims
and a revival of the violent, militant Islam which existed in the past? 1. According to Islamic law, when
Christians are a minority, they can be tolerated
under certain conditions: they have to pay a special
tax, the jyzia, in order to be protected, and access
to higher positions and professions is forbidden. It

Is it possible for a Muslim to convert?
The Islamic law forbids a conversion from Islam
to Christianity. Such a conversion is punished by
death. The Sharia, the Islamic law, is usually part of
the constitutions of the Muslim countries. Even if
this is not the case, as in the still secular Turkey or
in Lebanon, the Islamic mentality within the families
makes it very difficult for someone coming from
Islam to receive baptism. His family can kill him. At
the very least he can expect his friends and family to
shun him, and he may even lose his job.
All these difficulties explain that, up until now, the
conversion of Muslims has been rare. Archbishop
Lefebvre observed that in Senegal, in the Christian
schools, the Muslim children learned also the catechism and a few were moved by grace and asked
for baptism. But they had to wait until adulthood and
then leave the country.
One must say that, in the course of history, there
have been very few apostolic missions in favor of the
Muslims which were successful. There were some
during the 13th century in the Christian states established in the Middle East after the Crusades, but
this lasted only one century, since these states were
definitely lost in the end.
The Muslims lived in their own corner, and the

The Angelus

May - June 2017

Christians in the other. The relations were of war or
of commerce, according to the places and times.
The Religious Orders which were established in the
Middle East could only care for the Christian prisoners of the Turks or those travelling through these
lands. Let us listen to what St. Vincent de Paul, a
holy missionary, told his religious confreres:
“You must avoid a reef among the Turks and the
renegades: in the name of Our Lord, have no contact
with these people; do not expose yourself to the
dangers which could issue because, while exposing
yourself, you would jeopardize everything and you
could do great harm to the poor Christian slaves who
would be denied your assistance and you would shut
the door in the future for the liberty which we still
enjoy of rendering God some services in Algiers and
other places.
See the evil which you would create for a small
apparent good. It is easier and more important to
prevent many slaves from perversion than to convert
one single renegade. A doctor who preserves others
from evil has more merit than he who cures. Your
duty is not towards the souls of the Turks or renegades, and your mission does not extend upon them,
but upon the poor captive Christians.”
The apostolate with the Muslims is not possible
in a country ruled under Islamic law, but it may be
possible where there are Islamic populations living
under non-Muslim governments.
This had been the case in North Africa, but the
secularized French put up endless obstacles to
missionary activity. It could also have been the case
in France itself when, after the Algerian independence, many Muslim families, faithful to France and
afraid of reprisals in their own country, immigrated
to France. But that was the period of the Second
Vatican Council, and afterward the bishops themselves refused to work for the conversion of the
Muslims.
After his return from Algeria, a French priest, Fr.
Maurice Avril, worked at evangelizing these Muslim
immigrants, but only one French bishop encouraged
him. Here is the letter the bishop addressed to him:
“As I return from Ireland this morning, I am reading with a profound emotion your report inspired by
the Holy Ghost. Thus, I hurry to tell you my joy, my
admiration and to assure you of my prayers. This

is what all priests and all missionaries in Islamic
territories should believe and practice with prudence, yet with fortitude and perseverance. Ah! If
all missionaries and all Christians were convinced
of what you are expressing, which is nothing else
than the pure and clear Truth, much good would be
accomplished.
Alas! Needless to say, this type of report is not at
all according to the taste of our epoch, which promotes religious liberty, which, under the pretense
of “Human Dignity,” refuses to preach and convert.
Faith has declined.”
The prelate who wrote these words was
Archbishop Lefebvre.
Today, the Muslims are in our own lands. The
secular society is incapable of integrating them and
many of them turn radical. But many, too, ask themselves about the Catholic faith, especially when they
meet fervent Christians.
In his book, Islam and Terrorism, Mark Gabriel,
former professor of Islamic History at the Al-Azhar
university of Cairo, who converted to Christianity,
gives ten practical pieces of advice for the apostolate among the Muslims.
1. Use the Word of God, because the Muslims
respect the holy books. The Gospels in particular
are the best starting points.
2. Pray without ceasing: what touches hearts is
God’s grace.
3. Be for them a true friend: dedicate time for them,
help them with their problems.
4. Raise questions which may lead them to reflect
and question their way of life. For instance: are
you sure that God pardons your sins? May I show
you what the Bible says about it?
5. Listen with attention: this is simple courtesy.
6. Speak openly of your faith, without excuses.
Bring up in particular the theme of sin and its
consequences.
7. Prepare your arguments, but do not go for
discussions which humble or harass your
listeners.
8. Never manifest any scorn towards Mohammed or
the Quran.
9. Respect the customs and sensibilities of the
Muslims: for instance, if you invite one of them
77

Theological Studies
to your home, do not offer them pork or alcohol.
10. Persevere: the Muslims raise many questions
when confronted by the Gospel. It is through
humility and friendly words that we open their
hearts.
Conversion of Muslims in Islamic countries
Nowadays it seems that more Muslims are converting to Christianity than in the past. I will give you
some examples that I personally know.
–– Victor et sa mère. At the Zaitzkofen seminary,
we had a Turkish resident baptized by one of our
priests in Germany twenty years ago. His first
contact was on a train because a priest talked to
him. This summer, he himself went to Turkey and
baptized his very old mother along with one of his
nieces.
–– Father Elias Gharios in Baalbek. This priest is a
monk of the OLM (Maronite Lebanese Order) to
which Saint Charbel Makhlouf belonged. He is
in charge of the Maronite parish of Baalbek, the
priest of which was killed during the war. He has
also four other parishes in the Bekaa, the big plain
which separates the land of Lebanon and that of
Antilebanon. His church in Baalbek is near the
ruins of one of the most beautiful temples from
the time of the Roman Empire.
Catechism through microphone
Once a week, this priest used to give a public
catechism, making use of a loudspeaker and microphone in the streets where he would compare the
teaching of Our Lord and the Koran.
Procession in the streets
On the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
(14th of September) and other occasions (for
example, the feast of Rosary), this priest makes a
big procession in the streets of the city. Some years
ago, three priests were riding on the back of camels and the faithful were accompanying them with
prayers and religious chants. Now the priest stands
on the back of a huge metal dove that is put of the
top of a car. It means: Jesus come peacefully for the
conquest of the souls.
After learning this, I asked Fr. Gharios the following: “Father, do you have a method for converting
the Muslims?”
He answered:
78

The Angelus

May - June 2017

1. First, we have to live poor;
2. We should have an authentic Christian life.
3. We also need a good knowledge of the Koran
and of the Moslem faith, because many words of
Mohammed can be used against Islam.
4. Finally, we have to understand Christ’s love in the
Incarnation: Christ has given that which was his
own in order to give it us; Mohammed has taken
from the others to make it its own.
Then I asked, “Father, do you meet much opposition?” He said:
At the beginning they tried to intimidate me. They
came to throw dirt in the court of the presbyter.
Now, rather often, Muslims come to insult me or to
discuss with me. Therefore I prepare now for their
attacks. It is very important not to be defeated when
arguing with Muslims.
Unhappily, opposition comes also from the ecclesiastical authority. I answer: “Christ has not taught
us to handle things with diplomacy and has not
preached ecumenism. ‘Go and teach’ is the order
given to the apostles. In our country there are thousands of priests. What are they doing? We are losing
compared to the Muslims. As St. Paul says, we need
to have the love of the Cross. A married man must
be faithful to his wife and love her during his whole
life. And we priests have renounced an earthly family in order to bring others into Christ’s family, and
shall we not therefore love Christ above all and teach
others about His love?”
Catechumenate—preparation for baptism
Fr. Gharios explained to me that the preparation for baptism lasts usually three years, though
sometimes this has to be shortened in certain cases.
Last August he told me that he is now preparing 212
catechumens for baptism. He has about 60 to 80
catechumens per year. Besides the necessary knowledge of the Catholic Faith, he observes whether the
catechumen has shed his Islamic habits. For example, he will suddenly poke him with a needle, and
if the catechumen shouts, as they are accustomed
to shout in such circumstances: “Ya Muhammad —
O Mohammed,” he says: “You must still wait to be
baptized; you haven’t lost your Muslim habits.”
If someone comes and says he is interested in
becoming a Christian, Fr. Gharios says he has to
be very prudent. Sometimes there are intelligence

agents who come and try to accuse Fr. Gharios of
proselytizing, and so he would have to test their
sincerity. But somebody told him once: “Father I
know already the Koran. I would like that you speak
about Jesus, the Christ.” “So I have known that he
was sincere and began his Christian formation,” Fr.
Gharios said to me.
Baptism of Patrick
Some years ago, in 2000 or 2001, I witnessed the
baptism of a young man in Fr. Gharios’s church.
It was 3 pm. We were in Baalbeck speaking with
Fr. Gharios. He suddenly stopped the conversation,
took out his phone and made a call. He said: “Hello,
Ahmed speaking. Could I speak with Ali?” The
priest, who had known some days ago that we would
visit him, was using a false name to call one of his
catechumens at his work place. Father Gharios told
the catechumen, “The friends I spoke to you about
have arrived. Go home, change your clothes and
come to the church.”
The bell rang and Father Gharios went to open
the door. He introduced Ali, a young 25-year-old
mechanical worker. “He will be baptized today.” For
some minutes they spoke together. Then Fr. Gharios
explained to us that the young man was in jail for
two weeks because his cousins, knowing that he
wanted to become a Christian, had accused him of
stealing a car by finding four false witnesses against
him. The cousins also said they would kill Ali if he
became a Christian.
I asked: “Who will be the godfather and godmother?” Fr. Gharios designated a man and a
lady who were accompanying us. “What will his
Christian name be?” “What’s your name?” he asked.
“Patrice.” “O.K , he will be named Patrick.”
We went to the church. The sacristan had already
begun to prepare everything for baptism.
There were only nine people in the church, the
priest and catechumen included. Some pictures
were taken. While going back to the priestly house
to sign the register, Patrick asked me not to publish
the photos.
Later, Patrick was no longer allowed to work at
the garage. Fr. Gharios had to find a new place for
him to work in Beirut. When I visited Fr. Gharios
some weeks ago, I ask for him about Patrick and
Father said that he is a good Christian, is married
and has now two children.

Meeting with Benine
Five years ago, there was a conversion which
has been known in all Lebanon: It was a young lady,
about 21 years old, daughter of a Shiite sheikh (a
religious chief) of Baalbek. Her father didn’t accept
the conversion of his daughter and tried to hinder
it. He maltreated her. But it became such a scandal,
and the television reporters came, so that the young
lady could testify that she wanted quite freely to
become a Christian.
Some weeks ago, at the time of my last visit in
Lebanon, I met her when I visited Fr. Gharios. So
I took the opportunity to ask her, “Would you tell
me how you had found the way to believe in Jesus
Christ?” She answered that when she read the
Koran, she was surprised at the violence and the
wickedness of Allah. She couldn’t understand why
God wouldn’t be good. When she asked questions
of the educated Muslims they could not give her a
satisfying answer.
Once she visited a cousin and she found among
his books a copy of the New Testament. She opened
it and found the chapters of St. Matthew’s Gospel
which are known as the “Sermon on the Mount.” She
read them and thought: “He, who is speaking in that
way, is the true God.” And since this time, she said,
she wanted to become a Christian.
Of course, sometimes fanatic Moslems have tried
to intimidate Fr. Gharios, but he is not impressionable and is not influenced by these attempts. Twice,
five years ago, after the conversion of this young
lady, and two and half years ago, when two boys of
a fanatic family received baptism, and a sheikh also
converted, Hezbollah came and took Father Gharios
prisoner for five days. They beat him, they gave him
burns. But Father said that he was happy to suffer
for Jesus and that he will be happy to give his life for
Him. Nowadays Hezbollah leaves him in peace and
acts as if they are friends, because they are occupied fighting the Islamic State.
Fr. Gharios is the most famous of the priests
who are working for the conversion of Muslims in
Lebanon. There are others. Some years ago I met in
Zahle (one of the big Christian towns in Lebanon) a
young lady, a doctor. I met her with the priest who
baptized her. She was dressed as if she still were a
Muslim, I mean with the covered head. Nobody in
her family nor in her workplace had known about her
conversion. It would have been too dangerous for
79

Theological Studies
her. She came, I think, from a Sunni family.
Hanna and her aunt
Last year I went to a Syrian Catholic convent,
which is also the summer residence of the Syrian
Catholic Patriarch. An Iranian lady whose husband
had been killed and who had fled from Iran with her
two children some months before was preparing to
become a Christian. She and her children were baptized by the Patriarch. And she, who was a university
professor of Persian philology in Iran, was then
working as a cook in the kitchen while waiting for a
Visa for Canada.
The special interest of this story is that for
about one year now, the deacon who was with
me in Lebanon and kept contact with this family
received an email from the lady. She wrote that her
niece, Hanna, had taken the opportunity to flee to
Germany. She asked if we could help her. She wanted to become a Christian, too. We had the priest of
the nearest priory (in Hamburg) make contact with
her. He gave her catechism and since she could
speak neither German nor English, her sister, who
is still a Muslim and lives in Germany, translated the
catechism. Hanna was baptized last July.
Conclusion
I would like to draw some conclusions from what
I have said.
First of all, we should always thank God for the
grace of faith. It is great gift of God that is not given
to everybody.
Second, let us thank God that we know His love.
As Saint Paul says to the Ephesians: “May you be
able to comprehend with all the saints what is the
breadth and length and height and depth of Christ’s
love which surpasses any knowledge.”
And finally, conversions, and especially those of
Muslims, are not at all impossible, but are obtained
through prayers and sacrifices. It is the law of the
communion of Saints. As Our Lord said: “No one
can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw
him” (John 6, 44). Only God can move the human
heart and lead others to conversion. But usually God
the Father is waiting for our prayers in order to give
this grace that people understand who the true God
is and begin to regret their sins. This is the grace of
conversion. God is watching after our apostolate in
order to give the grace of illumination: This means
80

The Angelus

May - June 2017

God will not usually reveal the Faith directly, but
work indirectly through us as His instruments.
Let us also better understand the words of Our
Lady in Fatima: “Pray, pray much. Do sacrifices for
the sinners: indeed many souls are going to hell,
because there is nobody who sacrifices oneself
for them.” St. John saw Our Lady with the moon
under her feet. I think this means the Islamic world,
and the Virgin Mary will conquer it if we are her
instruments.

The Kadisha (Holy) Valley is the site of some
of the most ancient Christian monastic
communities of the Middle East. The valley’s
natural caves, being comfortless, scattered,
and difficult to access, provided monks and
hermits sufficiently isolated and inhospitable
conditions to live out Christian solitude,
contemplation, and devotion.

Letters to the Editor

Dear Angelus Press,
Thank you for your January-February publication of The Angelus on the
theme of politics. While I have reservations about some of the structure
and content, I completely agree that we need to be as sensitive as possible
to the fact that liberalism in our country has infected its very life-blood. As
Archbishop Lefebvre used to say about our times: liberalism is in the air we
breathe; it’s as easy to avoid the infection of liberalism as to avoid germs in
the air…
That being said, I was surprised to see nothing about America’s current,
concrete political situation, except for a few passing and usually negative
references. Against the backdrop of a startling and historical election cycle,
whose results no one would call insignificant, wasn’t there anything to
say about the issues at stake, the policies being debated, the values being
challenged, or the war being waged?
I know of many good people who spent this time on their knees, begging
God by their prayers and by their tears, to save their country, communities
and families from some unprecedented evils. I think they are right to see, in
an outcome largely unexpected and unexplained, a positive answer to their
prayers. Was it a complete, final answer? Absolutely not. Was it an act of God
who continues to show His mercy? Absolutely. Can we speak to any of these
things in future publications?
With every assurance of my support!

Dear X,
Many thanks for your letter. We understand how you might be frustrated
that we didn’t address some of the more practical questions related to
American politics today. Here are, hopefully, a few reasons to explain why
we stayed at the level of principles:
1. Under American law (the Johnson Amendment), non-profit organizations
are not allowed to endorse or condemn candidates for federal offices.
Since we’re a non-profit organization, we are limited to what we can say.
It’s the same reason priests cannot mention candidates from the pulpit.
Perhaps the law will change one day, but for now, we play it safe.
2. Behind the scenes at The Angelus, we are working months in advance
to produce each issue: this means, although this particular issue arrived

82

The Angelus

May - June 2017

only recently for you, we had finished work on it before the election was
even held. Not being prophets, we couldn’t offer any analysis at the time.
This doesn’t preclude us from saying something in the future as far as
specific policies go.
3. While it’s undoubtedly true that many prayers and sacrifices were made
leading up to the recent election—and are hopefully continuing!—we
believe it’s too early to say that Heaven has definitively intervened. While
certain evils may have been avoided, and there might be reason for hope,
we take a longer view as a journal, not a newspaper, and will “wait and
see.”
Fortunately, the principles involved don’t change, and we are trying to
focus on those. Men can and should debate the prudent application of these
principles, and the reality of political life in 2017 is that there is much work
to be done everywhere by Catholics. Whomever is in office, let’s re-double
our efforts to increase Catholic Action anywhere we can.
May God bless you!
Pax et bonum,
James Vogel

83

393 pp. – Softcover – STK# 8439 – $21.95

Isabel of Spain: The Catholic Queen
One of the most powerful and compelling figures of all history, Isabel of Spain was a force
with which to be reckoned and should rightfully eclipse the better-known Elizabeth of England, both as a woman and as a national leader. The first full scholarly biography of Queen
Isabel in English for nearly 75 years, Isabel of Spain is extensively annotated and eminently
readable.

336 pp. – Softcover – STK# 8407 – $11.95

Saint Fernando III
A Kingdom for Christ
Personally leading his armies into battle, he took back more territory from Islam than
any other king in history. First cousin of St. Louis IX of France, he died a saintly death
in the year 1252. His incorrupt body can still be seen in the Cathedral of Seville, and his
feastday, May 30th, is a holy day of obligation in Spain.

152 pp. – Softcover – STK# 8271 – $13.95

Saint Francis of Assisi and the
Conversion of the Muslims
Tells the authentic story of St. Francis’s trip to the Sultan in Egypt and efforts to convert
him to the one true Faith. Also includes a brief biography of St. Francis, including his stigmata; the Franciscans; St. Clare; and St. Francis’s view of the Crusades. A book greatly
needed in our era of false ecumenism.

190 pp. – Softcover – STK# 8509 – $14.95

Crusader King
A new historical novel about the unusual life of King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem, the leper crusader king who—despite ascending to the throne at only 13, his early death at 24, and his debilitating disease—performed great and heroic deeds in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.
Teenagers and avid readers of all ages will be amazed at this story and be inspired by a faith
that accomplished the impossible!

345 pp. – Hardcover – STK# 8485 – $23.45

The Lion and the Crescent
The Life of Don John of Austria
Follow the exciting and blessed life, as told most excellently by Margaret Yeo, of Don John
of Austria, a valiant warrior and hero of Christendom, as he embarks on his numerous and
epic adventures throughout sixteenth-century Europe. The life of Don John of Austria makes
for the most astounding of stories. From his earliest days as an unknown child of Emperor
Charles V through his role as the great hero of Lepanto, and finally to his death in poverty
and apparent failure, the life of Don John of Austria will stir the heart and awaken deeply
Catholic inspirations.

188 pp. – Hardcover – STK# 8121 – $16.95

The Blood Red Crescent
It was fall 1570, and rumors of an invasion by the Turks were spreading throughout Venice.
Down by the docks, Guido Callata listened to the sailors as they discussed past battles and
speculated about more fighting in the future. From the altar of St. Mark’s, a message from
His Holiness Pope Pius V had been read, calling for crusade to repel Turkish advances. A fleet
of Venetian and Spanish vessels would be assembled, and Guido’s father, like other wealthy
Venetians, had agreed to build and equip a galley for the Christian fleet... How Guido finally
manages to join the fleet and help to defeat the Turks in the memorable Battle of Lepanto is
a colorful tale of danger, suspense, and adventure in 16th-century Italy. (First published in
1960.)

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

Simply the Best Journal of
Catholic Tradition Available!
“Instaurare omnia in Christo”

For over three decades, The Angelus has stood
for Catholic truth, goodness, and beauty
against a world gone mad. Our goal has always
been the same: to show the glories of the
Catholic Faith and to bear witness to the constant teaching of the Church in the midst of
the modern crisis in which we find ourselves.
Each issue contains:
• A unique theme focusing on doctrinal
and practical issues that matter to you,
the reader
• Regular columns, from History to
Family Life, Spirituality and more
• Some of the best and brightest Catholic
thinkers and writers in the Englishspeaking world
• An intellectual formation to strengthen
your faith in an increasingly hostile
world

Subscribe Today
Don’t let another year go by without reading
the foremost journal of Catholic Tradition.

PRINT SUBSCRIPTIONS
Name______________________________________________________________________________________________
Address____________________________________________________________________________________________
City______________________________ State______________ ZIP______________ Country_______________________
 CHECK  VISA  MASTERCARD  AMEX  DISCOVER  MONEY ORDER
Card #_______________________________________________________ Exp. Date______________________________
Phone # _____________________________________E-mail_________________________________________________
Mail to: Angelus Press, PO Box 217, St. Marys, KS 66536, USA

PLEASE CHECK ONE
United States
 1 year $45.00
 2 years $85.00
 3 years $120.00

Foreign Countries (inc. Canada & Mexico)

 1 year
 2 years
 3 years

$65.00
$125.00
$180.00

All payments must be in US funds only.

ONLINE ONLY SUBSCRIPTIONS
To subscribe visit: www.angelusonline.org.
Everyone has FREE access to every article from issues of The Angelus over two years old, and selected articles from recent issues.
All magazine subscribers have full access to the online version of the magazine (a $20 Value)!

The
Last
Word
Dear readers,
Grace and Rock & Roll
About seven years ago, Fatimah’s boyfriend played in a rock band. One day, as the
group’s photographer, she accompanied the band for a concert to one of the main cities in
the Middle East, outside her country. After the concert, on her way to her hotel to meet her
mother, she wandered in the neighborhood looking to take a few good shots.
Lo and behold, at the turn of a street, she sees a Roman Catholic church—truly a surprising sight in such an Islamic country. She knew of the Catholic Faith, having seen an old
black and white movie on the Virgin Mary in her youth. She had never entered a Catholic
church before in her life, but something was strongly inviting her to step in. It was mysterious, fairly dark, and with many stained-glass windows.
As she slowly moved towards the front, she noticed that some of the people were going
down a little staircase on the side, probably to go to a private chapel. She began heading in
that direction when a security lady stopped her, inquiring if she was Catholic. With a negative answer (and her “rock & roll concert attire” certainly didn’t help), she was told not to go
any further. She saw in another part of the church a beautiful statue of Our Lady of Lourdes
and, drawn to it, she was again held back, this time by a rope blocking the entrance to Our
Lady’s Chapel.
Overwhelmed by these two refusals, she sat down and began to weep. A moment later,
looking around for someone to help her, she saw two men kneeling. (They had just finished
saying the Rosary.) Fatimah got up and approached them. She knew enough English to express her confusion. One of the men was a priest of the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX),
and the other a seminarian. They were coming back from one of their missions, and had
stopped over for a few hours to visit this historic city.
The priest, a good soul-hunter, invited Fatimah outside for a coffee, and talked with her
for over an hour. They finally exchanged email addresses, as the young lady expressed a
strong desire to convert. Contacts have been kept ever since, but distance and local conditions are major issues to proceeding further.
Seven years later, having briefly met two more SSPX priests and gone through hours of
catechism, she is still burning with the desire to be baptized, but has not yet been able to
leave her country. Please pray to St. Rita for her.
Fr. Daniel Couture

The Society of St. Pius X is an international priestly society of common life
without vows, whose purpose is the priesthood and that which pertains to it.
The main goal of the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X is to preserve the Catholic
faith in its fullness and purity, to teach its truths, and to diffuse its virtues.
Authentic spiritual life, the sacraments, and the traditional liturgy are its
primary means of bringing this life of grace to souls.
The Angelus aims at forming the whole man: we aspire to help deepen your
spiritual life, nourish your studies, understand the history of Christendom,
and restore Christian culture in every aspect.

$ 9.00
RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO: THE ANGELUS, 480 MCKENZIE STREET, WINNIPEG, MB, R2W 5B9