JULY 2011 $4.45 “Instaurare omnia in Christo” A JOURNAL OF ROMAN CATHOLIC TRADITION INSIDE Our Lady of Good Success: Her Importance for Our Time Interviews with Frs. Beauvais and Duverger Beatification and Canonization Since Vatican II CONCLUSION Brideshead Revisited, A Commentary Integrating Language Arts With Spiritual Life Our Lady of Fatima Correspondence Catechism Fr. Michael McMahon, FSSPX EDUCATION OF THE YOUTH: THE FUTURE OF THE CHURCH St. Joan of Arc Classic Catholic Meditations Meditations to Help You Banish Your Spiritual Lethargy and Grow Closer to God. Fr. Bede Jarrett Without regular reminders of God and a sure routine of prayer and meditation, your inner life shrivels up, your prayers grow listless, the sacraments become habits, and even the Mass seems routine. Daily meditation is a proven remedy for such dangerous spiritual lethargy, and in our day it’s more important than ever before. Each meditation calls to your attention some truth of revelation to help you keep in mind that God wants you to be a saint and to help you attain that lofty goal, no matter how secular your circumstances may be or how dry your spirits. You don’t know how to meditate? No problem. Fr. Jarrett teaches you here in a page or two. Once you learn it, you’ll find yourself reaping the rich spiritual harvest that regular meditation brings. In fact, within days of taking up these pages, you’ll be surprised to find yourself habitually addressing yourself to God—and not merely during crises, but also in the ordinary course of your day, regularly calling on Him for strength and quietly speaking to Him out of the fullness of your heart. Classic Catholic Meditations will calm your soul, enrich your faith, and help you pray. Why not begin today? 478 pp. Softcover. STK# 8507 ✱ $21.95 Growth in Holiness Fr. Faber Typical of Fr. Faber's keen and probing insight into all matters bearing on true religion, Growth in Holiness is probably his greatest book. Here he digs deeply into every important aspect of the spiritual life and the development of the human soul. Covering such topics as What Holds Us Back, The Signs of Progress, The Ruling Passion, and Spiritual Idleness, he examines in detail all the problems we encounter in our efforts to attain perfection—and ultimately salvation. Comprehensive in his treatment of the great task of spiritual development and salvation, Fr. Faber also continuously displays in this book a completely optimistic attitude about success—manifesting an optimism which arises from a thorough knowledge of the job at hand. Growth in Holiness concerns itself with the principal issue of man's life, for upon this growth depends our eternal salvation. 368 pp. Color Softcover. STK# 8476✱ $19.95 A Year with the Church Fathers The wisest, most practical teachings and exhortations from the Fathers of the Church. Mike Aquilina In A Year with the Church Fathers, popular Patristics expert Mike Aquilina gathers the wisest, most practical teachings and exhortations from the Fathers of the Church, and presents them in a format perfect for daily meditation and inspiration. The Fathers were the immediate inheritors of the riches of the Apostolic Age, and their intimacy with the revelation of Jesus Christ is beautifully evident throughout their theological and pastoral writings: a profound patrimony that is ours to read and cherish and profit from. Learn to humbly accept correction from St. Clement of Rome. Let Tertullian teach you how to clear your mind before prayer. Read St. Gregory the Great and deepen your love for the Eucharist. Do you suffer from pain or illness? St. John Chrysostom's counsels will refresh you. Do you have trouble curbing your appetite for food and other fleshly things? St. John Cassian will teach you the true way to moderation and self-control. Beautiful gift edition, with two-tone ultra soft cover, ribbon marker, and designed interior pages. 365 pp. Two-tone imitation leather ultra soft cover. Ribbon. STK# 8487 ✱ $44.95 Spiritual Combat Lorenzo Scupoli This book has been loved by saints and sinners alike ever since it was written 400 years ago. St. Francis de Sales carried a copy in his pocket! Its wisdom formed his soul; it inspired him to a life of the deepest devotion, and ultimately it helped him become one of the Church’s greatest saints. Now this book can do the same thing for you. It offers sensible advice to help you overcome spiritual obstacles and achieve perfection. Best of all, Spiritual Combat doesn’t just tell you what you ought to do—it also shows you how to do it. 240 pp. Softcover. STK# 8454✱ $15.95 The Soul of the Apostolate Dom Jean-Baptiste Chautard A favorite book of Pope St. Pius X. Outlines the close connection between the active and contemplative life and shows how to integrate them. Jesus as the only Source of divine life. Failure by the apostle to realize this principle creates the illusion that he can produce supernatural life in himself and others without Jesus Christ. Learn: ● dangers of the Active Life ● special temptations of those working for Christ ● steps to grow in the Interior Life ● usefulness of the Mass. 336 pp. Softcover. STK# 8257✱ $12.50 www.angeluspress.org ● 1-8 00-9 6 6-73 37 Please visit our website to see our entire selection of books and music. The “Instaurare omnia in Christo — To restore all things in Christ.” ngelus Volume XXXIV, Number 7 JULY 2011 English-language Editor and Publisher for the International Society of Saint Pius X PUBLISHER Fr. Arnaud Rostand EDITOR Fr. Markus Heggenberger ASSISTANT EDITOR Mr. James Vogel Motto of Pope St. Pius X Contents 2 LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Fr. Markus Heggenberger, FSSPX 3 EDUCATION OF YOUTH: THE FUTURE OF THE CHURCH Fr. Michael McMahon, FSSPX OPERATIONS MANAGER Mr. Michael Sestak EDITORIAL ASSISTANT 7 OUR LADY OF FATIMA CORRESPONDENCE CATECHISM Miss Anne Stinnett Sisters of the Society of St. Pius X DESIGN AND LAYOUT Mr. Simon Townshend COMPTROLLER Mr. Robert Wiemann, CPA A sister works in the catechism office CUSTOMER SERVICE Mr. John Rydholm SHIPPING AND HANDLING Mr. Jon Rydholm “To publish Catholic journals and place them in the hands of honest men is not enough. It is necessary to spread them as far as possible that they may be read by all, and especially by those whom Christian charity demands we should tear away from the poisonous sources of evil literature.” –Pope St. Pius X 11 INTEGRATING LANGUAGE ARTS WITH SPIRITUAL LIFE Collected by Fr. Hervé de la Tour, FSSPX 14 OUR LADY OF GOOD SUCCESS: HER IMPORTANCE FOR OUR TIME Fr. Andreas Mählmann, FSSPX, and Elini Felinska 19 THE ANGELUS ENGLISH-LANGUAGE ARTICLE REPRINT Beatification and Canonization Since Vatican II The State of Necessity CONCLUSION 27 BRIDESHEAD REVISITED, A COMMENTARY PART 5 Dr. David Allen White SUBSCRIPTION RATES US Foreign Countries (inc. Canada & Mexico) 1 year 2 years 3 years $35.00 $65.00 $100.00 $55.00 $105.00 $160.00 31 THE CIVITAS INSTITUTE INTERVIEWS FR. XAVIER BEAUVAIS La Porte Latine All payments must be in US funds only. Procession in honor of St. Joan of Arc, Paris, France ONLINE SUBSCRIPTIONS $15.00/year (the online edition is available around the 10th of the preceding month). To subscribe visit: www.angelusonline.org. 34 INTERVIEW WITH FR. LOÏC DUVERGER Register for free to access back issues 14 months and older plus many other site features. 37 CHURCH AND WORLD The Angelus (ISSN 10735003) is published monthly under the patronage of St. Pius X and Mary, Queen of Angels. Publication office is located at 2915 Forest Ave., Kansas City, MO 64109. PH (816) 7533150; FAX (816) 753-3557. Periodicals Postage Rates paid at Kansas City, MO. ©2011 by Angelus Press. Manuscripts will be used at the discretion of the editors. Postmaster sends address changes to the address above. La Porte Latine 41 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Fr. Peter Scott, FSSPX 43 THE LAST WORD PLEASE NOTE DUE TO THE SUMMER HOLIDAYS, THE ANGELUS WILL NOT HAVE AN AUGUST ISSUE. INSTEAD, A DOUBLE-ISSUE WILL BE PRINTED IN SEPTEMBER 2011. Fr. Régis de Cacqueray ON OUR COVER: Statue of St. Joan of Arc, Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris. Letter from the 2 E Editor xtreme positions are sometimes despicable, but they sometimes help to clarify things. Let me therefore quote a “defense” of the late Pope John Paul II, written by an American priest trained in Rome; it is a defense against what he considers an unjustified attack by the SSPX. I will quote–for the sake of brevity–only the first two points of his “defense,” but they will sufficiently illustrate the line of reasoning. 1. Assisi: What is wrong with the Pope praying for peace in the world with the representatives of world religions? Jesus said that those who are not against you are for you. There is a bit of the Catholic Church in all of these religions, as Vatican II has taught us. If the Society of St. Pius X refuses to act and think along with the Catholic teaching, but prefers to formulate its own particular ecclesiology, they should leave Catholicism and form their own sect. 2. Kissing the Koran: I did not see Pope John Paul II do this, but even if he did, it is a form of giving honor to and recognizing the positive, common and truthful teachings of that religion. The Pope is not kissing the jihad or errors of the book, but the common truths contained in it. When we kiss a picture of our mother or girl friend, we are not honoring the failings and sins she has, but rather her positive values and the goodness she possesses. The Society of Saint Pius X kisses the old Roman Missal, which THE ANGELUS • July 2011 www.angeluspress.org is representative of a grave sin of disunity, much worse than kissing the Quran. This is patently fallacious reasoning. Normal human beings will expect that the outward manifestation of honor given to the Koran will indicate inward adherence to its tenets. Normal people will not say the pope is not accepting all of Islam, which includes jihad, blasphemy against Our Lord, the Holy Trinity, etc. When we kiss an image of someone, as we do with sacred images, we honor that person. There is no such honor that can be given the Koran without accepting it at its face value. I will not undertake here “a refutation of the refutation.” At a certain point arguments do not make it possible to come to a common conclusion; they rather show an irreconcilable difference of arguments. The Age of the Martyrs had to do with being faithful to the Credo and not giving up your convictions. Things seem to be different now. You pray “for peace,” and it does not seem to matter any more with which religions you do that. The end seems to justify the means (compare to Rom. 3:8: “let us not do evil, that there may come good”). We are dealing here with a priest who has studied in Rome; he is attacking Catholics because they understand the Gospel, the teaching of Christ, and the doctrine of the Church literally. They evidently must be some crazy fundamentalists… There is a whole crowd that attacks the S S PX because of “schism” or “splitting from the Catholic Church.” But all their arguments are not adapted to the fact that you have an impossible situation inside the Church. The faithful are presumably too “fundamentalist” as not to be scandalized by a priest trained in Rome and nevertheless defending the most liberal positions. It is my guess that many are “too fundamentalist” right now. The day they will no longer be “fundamentalist,” the Church will lose its basis of existence: A church that is adapted to the world will not be able to change it. “Nolite conformari huic saeculo, sed reformamini in novitiate sensus vestri– And be not conformed to this world; but be reformed in the newness of your mind (that you may prove what is the good…)” (Rom. 12:2). The “theologians” who are officially approved by Rome and teaching absolutely non-Catholic positions are myriad. The ecclesiastical authorities have not reacted, or have done so very halfheartedly for decades. This creates a situation which will require a very high price one day. Those who insult the ones who want to continue in the steps of their fathers are wrong; and they do not help rebuild the Catholic Church, but make themselves rather an instrument of its destruction… Instaurare Omnia in Christo, Fr. Markus Heggenberger 3 THE dEfEnSE of TrAdITIon Education of the Youth: The Future of the Church Fr. Michael McMahon, FSSPX This is an edited transcript of the conference given on October 17 at the SSPX’s 40th anniversary Conference in Kansas City. fidelity Archbishop Lefebvre often said that we prepare the future by remaining faithful to the past. As the title of this talk indicates, the education of youth is the future of the Church. St. Pius X himself taught that there can be no restoration without a proper formation, without religious instruction, without schools. Pope Pius XII wrote that not only the fate of the country, but that of the Catholic Church itself depends to a large extent on our schools. We can see clearly the importance of this topic and the role education and true Christian formation played in the life of the Archbishop, both before the Society and with the Society. The word “fidelity” summarizes everything in this regard. In remaining faithful to the past, the Archbishop ensured he could build for the future. Our Lord Jesus Christ is meant to be King; He is meant to rule. He is also the Priest; He is meant to sanctify. In addition, He is the Prophet; He is meant to teach. He cannot rule or sanctify, however, unless He first teaches. This is the great mission statement of the Church given by her Divine Founder: “Go forth and teach all nations.” Our Lord first says to teach, to form people, souls properly, that they might be sanctified and get to Heaven. This formation and education in schools was always dear to the heart of the Archbishop. In response to his critics, he often responded that he had 2,000 years of Tradition on his side. We can apply this also to education, to the formation of priests, and to the formation which necessarily precedes the formation of priests, the formation done in our schools. Teaching, he said, lies at the very heart of the Catholic Church and her mission. There can be nothing more important than the formation of our children. As the popes have said, as the Magisterium has taught, as any wise man has thought, there is nothing more important than the proper formation of the next genera- tion. All of our hope depends upon that. The Education of Archbishop Lefebvre As the saying goes, the child is the father of the man. The Archbishop’s own formation and education were of critical importance; to know a man well, look at his formation. In this case, look at his family, his schools, and his time spent at the seminary in Rome. His parents, René and Gabrielle, were profoundly Catholic. We know just how important this is. The Faith was truly lived in their home. It was not something that was merely part of their lives, one component; it permeated everything. The home became a sanctuary, which resulted in service outside the family as well. Both of the Archbishop’s parents were educated in boarding schools. They were married in 1902. For a honeymoon, so indicative of a Catholic family, they went to Lourdes. They went to praise the www.angeluspress.org THE ANGELUS • July 2011 4 2010 confErEncE Blessed Virgin Mary, to thank her for blessings received thus far, and to implore blessings for the future. Then they went to Rome to receive the benediction of newlyweds from the Pope. René was a strong man, a hard worker, and a devout Catholic. He lived and died for his principles, as we see with his death in the prison camp in 1944. The Archbishop himself said of his mother that she was an elite soul. She had made a vow to always do what was more perfect. She was a beautiful Catholic mother and soul. She herself was formed to give life, both physically and spiritually. The family attended daily Mass as often as possible or at least received Holy Communion. At that time, there was a custom to give Communion to the workers in the morning. So even if they could not attend Mass daily, they would at least receive Communion. Then, they participated in true Catholic Action, carrying the Faith into the world. They participated in the St. Vincent de Paul Society. Mrs. Lefebvre volunteered to be with the most difficult and sickest cases in the hospital. What a beautiful example of the charity which serves God and neighbor. We can summarize by saying that it was a true Catholic home, shown by its fruit: of their eight children, five had vocations, including two priests, one of whom was the great Archbishop. The future of a country depends upon fruitful Catholic marriage, both materially and supernaturally. So the home was the cradle from which the Archbishop would come. He went first to a primary school run by the Ursuline Sisters, then on to the Sacred Heart School, founded in the 1700’s. It was dedicated in 1871, after the Revolution, to the Sacred Heart. There were 35 teaching priests there. He was there from 1912 to 1923. The Archbishop noted that the entire school was centered upon the vast chapel, where he often served Mass at the altar of THE ANGELUS • July 2011 www.angeluspress.org sacrifice. Everything pointed to and emanated from the Holy Sacrifice. As he noted, he received Holy Communion as often as possible. Hundreds would receive Communion during his years there. School was in session from 8 AM to 6:30 PM. There were some breaks and studying between, but it was a rigorous intellectual formation. Every day began with Mass and ended with a spiritual conference. The curriculum was based on the classical humanities: literature, Latin, Greek, rhetoric, culminating in philosophy, with a course of religion throughout. During the war and outside the classroom the Archbishop learned sacrifice and suffering. Providence disposed things in this way. At his “finishing” school, the French Seminary in Rome, run by the Holy Ghost Fathers and headed by Fr. Henri Le Floch, he learned the famous phrase, sentire cum Ecclesia (to think with the Church) and the beautiful principle pietas cum doctrina (piety with doctrine). We see this integral continuity in all stages of his education. It was the way Catholic men were formed for centuries: a good Catholic home, with good Catholic schools, and, if God wills, a good Catholic seminary. It is important to return to the influence of his formation. He was a good student and became a good teacher. All of this led to a continual crusade for Christ the King. During the Archbishop’s seminary years, Pius XI’s encyclical on Christ the King, Quas Primas, was published. The proposal was simply to be faithful to the truths of the Catholic Church and what she has always taught. Now we have a man–truly educated–and a priest formed, ready to set out and form others. The Archbishop as Educator The Archbishop then became an educator, as every priest is. We get his philosophy from writings, sermons, and actions as well. He emphasized, as the Church did, the role of Almighty God and His grace, and the true, supernatural end of man which must predominate. But, as a realist, he understood that grace does not simply float in the air; it is meant to be put into souls. Thus, he says that grace cannot act except in well-disposed souls, it must perfect a well-formed nature. There is the key to Catholic education: disposing souls to receive the grace of God. It is a Providential coincidence that in the year of his ordination, 1929, Pius XI published the encyclical on education, Divini Illius Magistri. It is a summary of Catholic wisdom on education. As the Archbishop begins his priestly life, the Church gives us this encyclical. The importance of education cannot be over-emphasized. In 1945, the Archbishop said that schools are the highway to the complete Christianization of the country; without them, we can no longer hope. This is a striking quote. Proper formation is necessary; first, it serves the common good and greatly aids in Christianizing a country. In 1987, he said: “The future of the Catholic Church and her mission lies in teaching, especially in schools run by priests and religious who preach by word and example. For society to be converted, we need Catholic schools.” Also, for vocations and families, he said that the future of seminaries, vocations, and families, lies with Catholic schools. For the Archbishop, what is the purpose of our schools? The formation of a Catholic elite. The true object of our schools, as he said at the first principals’ meeting in Paris, in 1982, was the formation of this Catholic elite. The Elite It merits a pause to ask what this means. What are the characteristics and qualities of this elite? The word elite comes from the Latin eligere, to choose. It is being chosen first by Almighty God and, then, once properly formed, choosing to give oneself freely to God for the Christianization of society. It is a spiritual elite, a call to be holy, to value those treasures the Church has given us. 2010 confErEncE When we say that the mission of the Church is to continue Our Lord’s role as prophet, as teacher, what does that mean? It means to enlighten man about what he is, and his end. It is about teaching him about his true liberty, to understand the spiritual life. “Be ye perfect,” Our Lord says. A Catholic soul is one that constantly strives for excellence. We should have great desires, since Heaven is the greatest desire. Look at the elect of the Old Testament: Abraham, Jacob, King David, and the Maccabees. Look at the New Testament with the Apostles. Look at Archbishop Lefebvre. Even in Africa, Bishop Tissier tells us that the Archbishop insisted on founding secondary schools for boys to develop a Catholic elite. It was an ideal which captivated and constantly motivated him. In such a way, the education begun in the family could be finished. According to a famous quotation of Pius XI it was no longer permitted for us to be mediocre. The Archbishop took this to heart. The qualities and characteristics of this Catholic elite were enunciated by the Archbishop. First of all, it is true piety, piety with doctrine. The center of Catholic education is the Mass, an understanding, loving, and living of it, which is the heart of Christian culture. Whatever we do in the political or social order must be founded upon the life of prayer and essentially on the Mass. Prayer life should not be based upon emotions, but upon the teachings of Our Lord and His Holy Church. We must use our minds to realize the mystery of the Cross, the mystery of the Mass, and the sacrifice of Our Lord, with ourselves united to it. An elite soul knows how to speak to Almighty God. Also importantly, he knows how to listen. The next quality is a proper intellectual formation. Classroom teaching is important, with the reflection upon it by the student, called homework. What is the modern world about? The destruction of the intellect. As a famous Jesuit educator stated: “The illogical mind is almost as incorrigible as the devil himself.” The Archbishop says that an elite soul is taught the importance and reality of truth. The truth is no longer important today; objective, natural truth barely exists in the minds of men, let alone supernatural truths. St. Ambrose says all truth comes from the Holy Ghost. Thus, the primacy of humanities: literature and language, important because they help form the soul, awaken it to reality and truth, then more capable to receive God’s grace. In 1982, in a letter to friends and benefactors, the Archbishop wrote: We need Catholic schools where young people will learn to love the Liturgy, Latin and chant, and where they will be formed in a manly and Christian fashion by sacrificing themselves for the love of Jesus Christ under the care and guidance of their heavenly Mother. Theory in Practice In practice, the Archbishop, according to Bishop Tissier, was a man of practical experience, contemplative rather than intellectual, active and methodical, with remarkable judgment, a strong personality with set and firm convictions. This man realized, and was in a position to act on his convictions throughout his life, one of which was that Catholic schools were necessary. His educational philosophy was Catholic. The domain of education is so critical and necessary that, as he said, without it, there is no hope. His first assignment after ordination in 1929 was as parish curate, or assistant, in Our Lady of Lourdes parish. He was in charge of liturgical preparations, training the servers, and, as is often the lot of newlyordained priests, preparing children for their First Communion, teaching them catechism. He was also in charge of the young men’s group, where he insisted on priests having proper and prudent contact with the youth; young men especially must 5 be around priests to see what they are and do. After entering religion, he was sent to St. John’s Seminary in Libreville, where he taught dogmatic theology and Sacred Scripture from 1932 to 1934. It was noted by his associates that he already had a special talent for training priests. He was a man who put his formation into forming others. He then became Rector within five years of his ordination. Bishop Tissier notes that he kept his eye on everything, not hesitating to get rid of the bad element. If someone was disruptive or not fostering the elite, they had to be gotten rid of. He also kept the spiritual primary, without ever neglecting the material. Even when he goes back to the scholasticate in France, the food wasn’t very good, and some of the rooms were dark and dingy. Like Pius XI says in his encyclical on Christian education, the environment in which we learn is very important. Man is not an angel; he is a body and soul. He needs this material element. So while the spiritual is primary, we must take into account the material, as the Archbishop did. It was in 1945 that he returned to the scholasticate in France. In 1947, he becomes the Vicar Apostolic in Senegal and is consecrated bishop. The first thing he does is found schools and improve the schools which are there, including their curricula. He appoints a Director of Education specifically in charge of this matter. Bishop Tissier, in the biography, says, “Bishop Lefebvre was convinced that the training of the Catholic elite was essential for the future of Senegal and French West Africa.” These young people had to be properly formed to convert these countries. Bishop Tissier continues: “Without a shadow of a doubt, the works dearest to his heart were his seminary and his school.” The SSPX We now come to the period which directly affects us, the time of the Society of St. Pius X and its founding. If you look at the Statutes, www.angeluspress.org THE ANGELUS • July 2011 6 2010 confErEncE what is the Society’s purpose, the reason it was founded in this period and time? “The priesthood and all that pertains to it.” The Statutes continue to discuss what actions will get us to this goal. First, the formation and sanctification of priests. The Society is for the priesthood, both for the members themselves and for other priests outside who need help in this crisis. What is the very next activity or work, right after the priesthood? Schools. From the Statutes: “Schools, really free from external constraint, so as to be able to give a thoroughly Christian education to the young, will be fostered and even founded by members of the Society of St. Pius X. From these schools will come vocations and Christian homes.” You can see how every effort we make on behalf of our schools coincides perfectly with the greater object of the Society: the salvation of souls and the glorification of God. Our Lord must rule; He must be King; He must sanctify as priest, and teach as prophet. On November 1, 1970, the Society was founded. By 1982, when Fr. Schmidberger was elected Superior General, there were already seven schools and a university in France; in America, we had four schools, including St. Mary’s. The first principals’ meeting was held in 1982 to ensure that they were doing what the Church had in mind. The Archbishop himself, to mark the occasion, presided and blessed the meeting. Allow me to quote the Archbishop from the Paris meeting: This apostolate, foreseen in our statutes, has taken off more rapidly than anticipated. This effort must be sustained. It will save the Church. If we celebrate this man, as we should, and we take his words seriously, we must take this quote to heart. It should inspire us to give more and more to our schools. To give you some current statistics in America, we have 26 schools in 16 states, from primary education to the college level. We also have teaching sisters, between the FranTHE ANGELUS • July 2011 www.angeluspress.org ciscans and the Dominicans on both coasts. We teach over 2,000 students in this District. We’re blessed to have the largest traditional Catholic school in the world, St. Mary’s Academy, which is approaching 700 students alone. St. Mary’s College is seeking accreditation and working on attracting our best students. In 2010 alone, we have started a new school in Kentucky and, overseas, new foundations have been made in Switzerland and the Philippines. Our Lady of La Salette now has 64 boys and will approach 80 next fall, with more than 50 applicants or more every year. People want and need education for their children. This is what the Catholic Church does. We have been conducting principals’ meetings here in America. A Director of Education has been appointed. We have been working on our curricula, on teaching sessions, improving both. A great effort is being made on our schools, which is very much necessary. In 2004, Bishop Fellay, speaking at the 30th anniversary of St. Joseph’s in Armada, Michigan, said that we must now concentrate on our schools since they are our future. If we speak about fidelity, what does it mean? Fidelity to what? To the Providence of Almighty God. When we look at the Archbishop’s life—and he himself said this—it was not him we were to follow; we were following Jesus Christ in this Catholic man. In his life, we see Providence, and we bow down before Divine Providence. The 20th century, especially at the end, during this time of crisis, needed this man. Of course, God could have done whatever He wanted; He could have chosen someone else. But concretely, he chose this man. When we look at his life, we see how Divine Providence disposed him to do what he did. But there needed to be this fidelity. conclusion: Hope In conclusion, if we look at St. Pius X’s first encyclical, E Supremi Apostolatus, he writes that the world, even at that time, was so bad that one might be tempted to believe that the “man of perdition” was already born. Imagine, in 1903, being tempted to think the Antichrist was on the earth? We look around at our small forces of good, numerically insignificant, and perhaps we are tempted to despair. What can we really do? Is there anything we can do? St. Pius X gives us the answer–God will win! He quotes Psalm 77 which says Almighty God will be like a very strong man who has drunken too much wine and has fallen asleep. But when that man wakes up, he will render justice to the household. If God will win, perhaps we might be tempted to the other extreme: if He is going to take care of business, let’s play golf! St. Pius X tells us we have work to do. We must hasten the victory of God. At Cana, Our Lord told Our Lady it is not yet His time, yet He consents to work the miracle at her insistence. Analogically, we must hasten the victory of God. Our efforts, sacrifices, and works are necessary. This is the Divine plan! St. Pius X says that children’s souls are worth heroic sacrifice. In other words, no sacrifice is too great for them. We see that God has greatly blessed the Society in this area. What is our hope? With every birth and baptism, there is hope. Every time a school year starts, there is hope. Therefore we can and should hope. This hope rests squarely upon the actions and their consequences of one great man: Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. I will finish with a quote of the Archbishop, where he talks about Fr. Le Floch. I think we can place these same words on our own lips and apply them to the Archbishop himself: “I thank him from the bottom of my heart because he showed us the path of truth.” Fr. Michael McMahon is Headmaster of Notre Dame de La Salette Boys Academy, Georgetown, Illinois. 7 Our Lady of Fatima Correspondence Catechism Sisters of the Society Saint Pius X “S ister, you have not shown them the Catechism; they have to see the Catechism!” Such was the gentle reproach that Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre rather frequently made to the Sisters of the Correspondence Catechism when he came with guests to our motherhouse in France. Indeed, the Archbishop and his sister, Mother Mary Gabriel, (founders of the Sisters of the Society Saint Pius X) loved the Catechism by Correspondence very much. We could ask ourselves why. The answer is simple: missionaries by vocation, they were driven by the missionary spirit that was so deeply anchored within them by a whole missionary past. Both of them saw right away the influence of this work for the good of many souls. crisis in the Church. Modernism, the cause of so much destruction, had been condemned by Saint Pius X in his encyclical Pascendi. This holy Pontiff gave IGNORANCE as the principal cause of the spread of this error. Concerning this ignorance, Benedict XIV had already affirmed that “a large part of those who are damned to the eternal torments of hell undergo this everlasting chastisement because of their ignorance of the mysteries necessary to know and to believe in order to be placed among the elect.” Archbishop Lefebvre, seeing very clearly the terrible consequence of ignorance, asked the Sisters of the Society Saint Pius X to undertake this work of the Correspondence Catechism. In fact, he wanted very much that the Sisters do it: it would be one of the means of carrying out our vocation as auxiliaries of the priests, and of reachorigin and development ing many souls. of the catechism by During the lifetime of our foundcorrespondence er, the idea of a Correspondence The Correspondence Catechism Catechism by mail was unknown is an apostolic work provided by in Europe, though this system of the Sisters of the Society Saint Pius X. This work was brought about, homeschooling by correspondence as was our Congregation, by the already existed in America. The Archbishop came to know of it while traveling to Canada in 1982 where he met Sister John Bosco, a member of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate in Winnipeg. Her Congregation had begun a Catechism by Correspondence, which it later abandoned. Our Sisters, encouraged by the Archbishop to undertake a similar work, took inspiration from the English Canadian Catechism to develop their own program adapted to the needs of a generation which had practically no spiritual support. The first year of the new program appeared in France in 1984, developing over a period of ten years into seven levels with more than 600 individual registrations. This work being accomplished through the mail, it was not limited to one region or one country but reached many other Frenchspeaking students in other countries, bringing spiritual help to families of various conditions, some being completely isolated from the presence of a priest. The program being well established in France by 1995, its translation into the English language then began. Thus it was that www.angeluspress.org THE ANGELUS • July 2011 8 EducATIon the first lessons in the English language were sent out from Browerville, Minnesota, in 1998 to about 90 young students in various parts of the U.S.A. who began this first level, Year A. Each year saw the program’s development with the addition of another level until 2007 when the program in the English language reached nine levels. The program’s development, however, has not ceased, since it is presently crossing another frontier, that of Germany, offering the same course to many families of the German language. necessity of religious Instruction and a Help for Parents The crisis in the Church makes the task of Catholic parents very difficult. Nevertheless, they still have the serious duty of raising their children as good Catholics. Pope Pius XI in his encyclical letter Mit Brennender Sorge addresses these very firm words to them: that they are not sufficiently instructed themselves and, conscious of their duties, are frightened to have to give religious instruction to their children. “Nemo dat quod non habet,” says a well-known axiom: “No one can give what he does not have.” The Correspondence Catechism provides a solution for these families and helps them to develop the whole person of their child: intellect, heart, and will. Numerous are the mothers who write to us in order to express their satisfaction and joy: Thank you for your dedication to the education of our little ones God has entrusted to us. Your catechism has been a blessing to our family.... We are truly inspired with each new lesson (our entire family!). We enjoy the illustrations for the little ones to look at as the older ones read aloud the stories. We start each day with Catechism, and very seldom do the children grumble to do it as they do with other subjects. They even ask to do it! Even ‘Dad’ and I learn from it and strengthen our faith as we teach them.... We rejoice to see that this Catechism answers the expectations and needs of so many parents. The Correspondence Catechism, of course, does not replace what would be given in a truly Catholic school where there is co-operation between teachers in the classroom and the parents’ guidance at home. The Correspondence program offers, however, a temporary solution and prepares the children for these good schools. We are thus happy to see several of our former Religious instruction must then students enrolled in schools such begin in the family. Who will deny as La Salette Academy, Holy Name the primordial influence of the Academy, and others. There are also mother in the bosom of the home many catechism groups and small to produce, increase and maintain schools who purchase our lessons the flame of faith and piety in the and homework to use in their cursouls of her children? The Corre- riculum. spondence Catechism favors and develops this family life. The young A Modern Work child needs his mother’s help to rooted in Tradition This Catechism does not conlearn his catechism, and the lessons are the occasion to call and unite the tain any novelty of doctrine. Catholic doctrine is integrally expounded whole family together. Many parents, as a consequence in it without change or modification. of the crisis in the Church, realize The efficacious traditional “quesMeanwhile do not forget this: from the bond of responsibility established by God that binds you to your children, no earthly power can loose you. No one of those who today are oppressing you in the exercise of your rights in education and pretend to free you from your duty in this matter, will be able to answer for you to the Eternal Judge when He asks you the question: “Where are those whom I have given you?” May everyone of you be able to answer: “Of them thou hast given me, I have not lost anyone....” THE ANGELUS • July 2011 www.angeluspress.org tion—answer” system has been used, and is the foundation and conclusion of an explanatory text with pictures, stories, and homework activities. Each level contains about 34-42 lessons, including a homework page as well as Advent and Lent projects. Let us take a quick look at the whole program which presently contains nine levels. The first three levels are particularly adapted to very young minds. Year A, the kindergarten level, leads them through the most basic notions of the Faith and gives them the knowledge of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the One who is the very center of religion and therefore of all religious instruction that is to be received in the future years. Year B introduces the child to the study of the Creed on a basic level, as well as accompanies him through the liturgical year with an explanation of the feast days and seasons as they occur. This Year, adapted to the first grade level (6-7 years old) may also be used in preparation for First Holy Communion; to this end, a First Communion Supplement is available which, together with this year, completes the necessary instruction for this sacrament. Year C, corresponding to the second grade level (or 8 years old), covers the Creed, the Commandments, and the Sacraments, and throughout the year, draws the child’s attention to the greatness and beauty of the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist as well as the importance of preparation for it, by stories, examples, and other means of encouragement. This level has been thus made in view of preparing children for their First Holy Communion, or of deepening faith in and love of the Holy Eucharist in those students who have already begun receiving this sacrament at an earlier age. Each lesson of these early levels also contains an activity suited to the child’s age—coloring, cutting and pasting, matching ideas, etc.—some work that will help him to spend a little more time assimilating the lesson learned. Besides a few questions or prayers to learn by heart, these first three levels provide EducATIon some suggested questions for parents to ask their child orally about the lesson; these not only help the parents in their teaching task, but also foster discussion and aid the assimilation of the lesson. Starting at Year D (about 9 years old), the study of the Catechism becomes deeper, and, consequently, more challenging. From this point on, one full year will be given to the study of each part of the Catechism: the Creed (Year D), the Commandments (Year E), Grace and the Sacraments (Year F). Each of these levels, explaining its subject in depth, gives the student a thorough grasp of the subject matter and guides him in putting this knowledge into practice in his own life. Here, each lesson alternates with a brief study of the Old or New Testament, especially those stories which are linked with the doctrine being covered. In this way, the person of Christ is placed again at the center of religious instruction. The level of presentation of the material progressively becomes higher, to adapt to the maturity of the child. These higher levels also provide two semester tests per year. To relieve the intensity of these studies, two intermediate levels, D/E and F/G, have been introduced. Following Archbishop Lefebvre’s advice, the original course has been enriched by a year on the Christian virtues (Years F/G and G) which prior to this had not been treated, or had been very little developed, in other existing catechisms. The Archbishop deplored this absence, and he showed concern that our young students grow in virtue: “I hope that your apostolate of the Correspondence Catechism will develop and will help all these children’s souls to grow in the true Faith and in the virtues” (Letter of September, 1987). In asking us to compose a year on this subject of the virtues, the Archbishop gave us, as a fundamental book, the Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas—which was not easy to adapt to young intellects. It nevertheless responds to a present need clearly detected by the Archbishop. To help every soul of good will to imitate Our Lord Jesus Christ, it is necessary to bring it to practice the virtues, which is none other than the practice of the Christian life. Besides the doctrinal teaching, the students also benefit from the contact made through the Sister’s correction of their work and her little notes of practical advice or of encouragement in moments of struggle. Many parents, like this mother, thank the Sisters for the blessings received from these exchanges: N. has learned so much and loves corresponding with you....Your 9 letters mentioning sacrifices and the Cross really helped her. She is very encouraged to carry her Cross thanks to you. “Can this Catechism be used by adults?” has been a question not infrequently asked by those inquiring about the program. This Catechism, although addressing young people, is nevertheless not limited to them. Its in-depth study of the truths of faith, especially in the higher levels, makes it a modest challenge, appreciated even by the parents of our young students: “Thank you for Our Lady of Fatima Correspondence Catechism. The lessons www.angeluspress.org THE ANGELUS • July 2011 10 EducATIon explain the catechism and Bible better than I could, and we have many good discussions because of them.” And another mother writes: I must say these lessons are excellent and very challenging. I grew up in the ’70s and never learned my religion like this! It is wonderful for me to learn. I’ve been given a second chance to learn about the faith. An Attractive catechism The illustrations accustom the children to what is beautiful by giving them a taste for it: “Your classes won us over by their presentation, quality, and the beauty of the drawings, the texts. Everything is made for the child and to give him the sense of what is beautiful....” They also efficaciously contribute to communicate to their souls marks of true piety due to the attitudes of the personages represented—reverence to God, to the Blessed Virgin Mary. This piety is also given proper direction by practical advice. The paragraph “For My Life” helps these souls to put the lessons that have been learned into their life and the actions of each day, in a word, to make their Faith living. This is an important point which has always been recommended by the Sovereign Pontiffs. Let us listen to the advice given by Pope Pius XII to Catholic teachers: As Catholic teachers you should be particularly careful that children learn religion in a clear, organic and therefore lively manner. “Lively” it should be made above all, not only in the sense of interesting, but also in the sense that religion is life. It is not only a solution to doubts and uncertainties, but also an aid in winning life’s battles, small today but great tomorrow. It is a refuge in early temptations to sin and a light and guide for children’s actions.... A Work of the Sisters The Sisters are happy to dedicate their energies to a work which is so necessary to the Christian life. How does the program work in practice? After the preliminary THE ANGELUS • July 2011 www.angeluspress.org work of preparing the text, drawings, printing masters, etc., has been completed, there is the direct work of the apostolate, the contact between the Sisters and the families. Enrollments for the next school year start already in May. Then in August, the Sisters begin the work of preparing the individual packets containing the first few lessons and homework for each student. At the end of August—and this will be repeated during the nine months following— the Sisters fill each family’s envelope with the appropriate group of lessons and send them out to their destination. The students will then return their completed homework sheets about once a month. Throughout the course of the year, our “Correcting Sisters” can be found silently working at their desks in the Catechism room, concentrating on discerning the orthodoxy or, at least, the accuracy of our young—or older—students’ answers; or, for the littlest ones, it is the task of guiding them to put care into their coloring or pasting, since all must be done well for God! These careful corrections, together with a personal note for the child, will be sent back to the student on the next scheduled mailing day with a new set of lessons and homework to study. What about late enrollments, delays in returning homework, etc., brought about by difficulties of health, of work, and similar conditions? The Correspondence Catechism is flexible enough to work with these conditions. It can be started or continued again as soon as there is the possibility. At the beginning of this article, it was related how the Archbishop and Mother Mary Gabriel loved the work of the Correspondence Catechism and wanted its expansion. Today, when this work has reached an average number of 600 student registrations annually in France and 350 each year in the U.S.A., we remember their help and their advice with gratitude. The program owes its origin and development to our founders, and it is one of the fruits of their apostolic and missionary zeal. This work has, moreover, inherited the last teachings and examples of our founders, who wanted to pass on to us their missionary spirit. Indeed, Mother Mary Gabriel encouraged the apostolate of the Catechism and efficaciously worked with it when her declining strength no longer allowed her to do any heavy work. Her soul, still that of a missionary, could there expand again since she saw in it the continuation of her missionary work. Mother Mary Gabriel spent hours folding the catechism sheets with a smile. Her thumb became sore from sliding it across the pages so many times, but each day she began again as if nothing were wrong. Everything was completely given for God and the salvation of souls. The final end of every apostolic work is the glory of God and the salvation of souls. Thus it is for the Correspondence Catechism program. Turning the mind towards the True while giving it sure and precise knowledge of this truth, it directs the will towards the true Good, enlightening the choices that must be made throughout our short life here below—allowing us to live as men and Christians and therefore to attain eternal happiness. God wants this true happiness for every soul that He creates, and every soul attaining this end will glorify Him eternally. For further information, prices, or to obtain an enrollment form for the Correspondence Catechism, the Sisters can be contacted at the following address: Correspondence Catechism 540 West 8th Street Browerville, MN 56438 (Phone and fax:) 320-594-2944 Nevertheless, it is certain that God, through His grace, is the most efficacious sculptor of these souls, and that is why during our hours of adoration close to Our Lord, our prayers are often for all our little students and their families. 11 Integrating Language Arts with Spiritual Life Collected by Fr. Hervé de la Tour, FSSPX r eading is the most useful subject in the school program. It is not an end in itself, but a means to it. It possesses vast powers for good or evil. Man is normally imitative. The greatest part of his knowledge, both of nature and of men, is frequently from books. Literature, taking the word in its broadest meaning, is one of man’s greatest earthly treasures. It gives expression to deep thought and noble emotions and teaches some of life’s most important lessons. The sense of beauty and the sense of conduct are satisfied by good reading, and it also supplies the expulsive power of a higher emotion. Give a boy a passion for good books and you give him a lever to lift the world. A priest writes, “We that believe in souls, in spirits that are like to God, should know the holiness and sanctity of literature, for it is the king of the sanctuary of souls. It tells the things men speak when they think as God thinks. If a man be not taught to read in his youth, then he is starved forever.” (Dominican Sisters) Vital appreciation should therefore be the perpetual aim of the teacher of literature. If at the end of the course he has succeeded in awakening in his students a love of good books and taught them the true appreciation of literary works, he has given them a treasure of inestimable value for their whole lives; for during their whole lives they will love to listen to and commune with the master minds of the ages, with the noblest of God’s noblemen— a benefit which has even spiritual value, for we have the testimony of Father Faber that a taste for good reading is the most important of all the personal non-supernatural qualifications for an interior life, www.angeluspress.org THE ANGELUS • July 2011 12 EducATIon almost equal to a grace. (A Franciscan Teacher) Eight reasons for reading Literature: 1. To experience delight, thus providing rest for our soul. Literature should be so taught as to possess little of the irksomeness of duty, but much of the sweetness of pleasure. To train students to love literature one must teach them to find enjoyment in it. The success of a teacher of literature who develops a taste for literature in his pupils, will live on long after the “final examinations” are forgotten. Students read literature mainly because they are taught to love it, and they are taught to love it by being taught to appreciate and enjoy it. (Fr. Clement) 2. To see God and the world, and God in the world, so that seeing we may love. One of the darkest of educational heresies is that which supposes that education means simply the imparting of information. There are two kinds of knowledge; knowledge about things and knowledge of things—information and vision. As faith, which is knowledge about God, is fulfilled in vision of God, so the information which is knowledge about the world is fulfilled in awareness and vision of the world. We need information in order to create; but we shall never create, however well-informed we are, unless we see. Nor shall we create unless we love; but it is seeing that begets love. (Fr. Vann, O.P.) THE ANGELUS • July 2011 www.angeluspress.org 3. To gain important lessons about human nature. The right reading of the right works of fiction affords endless possibilities of religious correlation. Because the novel touches life so intimately and at so many points, because it is so essentially concerned with human nature, human character, human motives, human conduct and human problems, it cannot avoid the moral and religious implications of life; and those religious implications the novel reader must perforce recognize and learn to evaluate. An eminent statesman once said that in order to widen and rectify and humanize his conception of any given period of history he was wont to read as many novels as he could get hold of that dealt with the life and customs of that period. Similarly it might be said that if we seek to widen and rectify and humanize our conceptions of Catholic life and of the moral aspects of existence, we shall do well to read and ponder those works of fiction which either directly or indirectly picture the careers of men and women actuated by Catholic ideals and either positively or negatively exemplifying the infl uence of moral forces. (Brother Leo) 4. To educate our emotions by a wholesome enkindling of the imagination. The teacher of literature must possess a vivid imagination; he must be able to grasp the hidden beauty and relations of things, and to translate with ease and vigor all truth from the abstract to the concrete. He must teach his students to admire the tropes, the metaphors and simi- les, found in good writings, and to appreciate the beauty of the ideas which they show forth. The teacher of literature must lift his subjects out of dead books and transfer them to the warm, living imaginations of his pupils. His objective should be to teach his pupils to use their imaginations properly, how to think, how to imagine, how to find for “airy nothing a local habitation and a name,” how to express the emotions which their imaginations have aroused with words that charm and inspire. Literature is inspirational, it must also be taught with that view in mind. (Fr. Clement) 5. To form our judgment and to direct our desires towards what is noble. It is the duty of the teacher to cultivate in her pupils such a taste for good literature as will lead them to choose the good and reject the bad; a taste that will insure for them the culture and ideals that good literature gives. Books, good or evil, are more powerful than armies and parliaments. We can no more escape their influence than we can escape the sunlight or the air that surrounds us. It penetrates our homes, it colors our thoughts, it furnishes motives for our actions. The youth who spends his leisure hours in reading good books strengthens his Catholic principles. Fresh oil is poured into the lamp of his piety; its flame burns brighter; he feels the vital bond between religion and morals; food on which his mind is feeding is forming his future career. (Dominican Sisters) EducATIon 13 The teacher of literature must possess a vivid imagination; he must be able to grasp the hidden beauty and relations of things, and to translate with ease and vigor all truth from the abstract to the concrete. 6. To arouse enthusiasm for the catholic ideal. Good teaching is a short-cut to sanctity. Our problem: the place of English in the short-cutting. English has long been heaped with opprobrium and showered with wild praise for what it does and does not do. For some English is a house of correction in spelling, punctuation, speech. But a study of English is more. It must help bridge the abyss between knowing and doing. For want of the bridge many fall by the way. The special realm of English is not knowledge, although it makes use of knowledge, nor is it action, although it leads into the activity becoming to a Christian. No good teacher, and certainly no good English teacher in a Catholic school, can live on the surface of life. More than knowledge the teacher needs maturity, emotional and social as well as intellectual. If he is not paying for his convictions, is not turning a critical eye on our present way and means of living, is not jealous of the truth, is not honest with his own mind, refuses to make mature judgments, does not see and work at his own teaching as his contribution to the working of the Church, does not worship as he works, is not making his supernatural life his real life, he should be locked out of the classroom. (Sister Rosenda) 7. To train in thinking and thereby reach maturity. The English teacher goes ahead opening up doors and windows, introducing students to the mystery and worth, sorrow and loveliness, of human living, showing them the deep-down meanings in life, straightening out their loves and hates, changing the very texture of their living. One of the first requisites for an English teacher is that he realize how much English matters in the maturing of whole people. The true English teacher knows that his major work is the special and difficult job of teaching students to contemplate the beautiful in literature. Immediately he is involved in what a true novel or poem is and, above all, in what true human living is. He is involved at once, too, in the discussions and observations and questions, the training in thinking, that follows. It is as the splendor of the truth lays hold of him, as his emotional responses are ordered, that a student builds his attitudes and convictions for living—a slow, very slow process and no pressure allowed. Writing, informative and creative, belongs to the study of English–not cold-storage writing for the sake of skill, but flesh-and-blood writing about ideas that matter now, that are an immediate part of living. Nothing so burns the truth into a student’s mind as drawing an idea so far down into himself that he can bring forth a new and fitting body for it. (Sister Rosenda) 8. To prepare the soul for spiritual reading and ultimately for supernatural contemplation. The average person does not have the virtue or wisdom or power of concentration to be able by himself to enjoy a contemplative view of the world. When reading a fine novel, a great play, or listening to beautiful music, he is awakened, perhaps for the first time, to the wonder of contemplation. It is for him a foretaste or pledge of what he may achieve by a life of effort to find wisdom. That is why Plato so wisely told us that philosophy or the pursuit of wisdom begins when the soul is awakened by the beauty of poetry and art. Without this foretaste of the joy of contemplation we would never make the effort to attain it. This value of fine art is very great. (Fr. Ashley) The vital relationship of religion and poetry inheres in the illuminating truth that both are manifestations of God, that both are avenues of approach unto God. Poetry is essentially an appeal to the emotions of man, especially to his thirst for fineness, for sublimity, for beauty. Now, God is Infinite Beauty. Ultimately, the reason why we human beings need poetry, why we make poetry, why we seek in poetry consolation and delight, is summarized in the immortal–and eminently poetical–words of the Psalmist: “As the hart panteth after the fountain of waters, so doth my soul pant after Thee, O God.” The beauty of the great poem is caught from the Ideal Beauty; it is a reflection, necessarily fleeting and imperfect, of the Face of the Creator. (Brother Leo) Fr. Herve de la Tour was ordained in 1981 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and immediately assigned to teach at St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary (then in Ridgefield, CT). From 1982-89, he was Rector and Headmaster at St. Mary’s College & Academy, KS. Other assignments have included Holy Cross Seminary in Australia, St. Anthony’s Priory in New Zealand, St. Michel de Cannes Boys’ School in France, and Immaculate Conception Academy in Post Falls, ID. Since 2008, he has been at St. Mary’s College & Academy. www.angeluspress.org THE ANGELUS • July 2011 14 our Lady of Good Success: Her Importance for our Time HISTOry, Fr. Andreas Mählmann, FSSPX and Elini Felinska MIraCLES, PrOPHECIES example, by reciting the Litany On February 2, 2011, a Introduction This jubilee has more than of Loreto after the prayer that is special jubilee occurred: regional significance, because the reprinted at the end of this article. the 400th anniversary of Mother of God combined her the blessing and solemn appearances there with prophecies Life of the Venerable the 20th and 21st cen- Mother Mariana de Jesus enthronement of the concerning turies—our times! The recipient of Torres miraculous statue of Our these prophecies was a simple nun Little is known about the life Lady of Good Success in from the convent just mentioned, of Mother Mariana. The followMariana de Jesus Torres. ing information is taken from the the convent of the Third Mother Mary spoke to her, warning about a notes which a Franciscan priest from Order Franciscan Sisters of worldwide crisis of faith and morals Quito, Fr. Manuel Sousa Pereira, the Immaculate Conception that would come over the Church in published in 1790 and which are the 20th century, but also explainused for the beatification proin Quito, Ecuador. ing how this crisis would finally end. being cess that was begun in 1986. These Here we offer a partial survey of the events of that time, while encouraging the reader to participate in the novena in preparation for the anniversary...from January 25 through February 2. This can be done, for THE ANGELUS • July 2011 www.angeluspress.org notes are available in English under the title The Admirable Life of Mother Mariana, translated by Marian Therese Horvat. Mariana Francisca was born in 1563 in Spain, the first child of our LAdy of Good SuccESS Diego Torres y Cadiz and his wife Maria Berriochoa y Alvaro. She was her parents’ pride and joy and at a very early age already showed signs of a special vocation. God revealed to her that she was called to religious life when she was only nine years old. In the 16th and 17th centuries Spain was ruled by the Habsburgs, who wanted to extend their rule not only in Europe but also on other continents. A half century after Columbus’ voyage to the New World, the Spanish Empire took possession of large parts of [North and South] America. After the discovery of Ecuador in 1534, the city of San Francisco de Quito was founded. Twenty years after its founding, several influential and pious Spanish ladies from Quito submitted a request to the Spanish king in which they asked him to establish in their colony the first convent of Third Order Franciscans of the Immaculate Conception in the New World. This congregation had been founded in the 15th century by Beatriz da Silva. The King of Spain, Philip II, granted the request and assembled a group of founding sisters. He chose as the Superior Mother Maria de Jesus Taboada. Among the founding sisters, Mother Maria de Jesus also recruited her niece Mariana, who at that time was only 13 years old, because at that point it was already evident that she had a genuine vocation “to follow the voice of her Beloved” and to enter the convent in the New World. The decision to leave her parents’ house was not an easy one for Mariana, but she completely surrendered herself as a burnt offering, since she knew in her heart that God wanted this sacrifice from her. On December 30, 1576, the founding sisters arrived in Quito. Two months later the monastic foundation took place and the nuns were able to take possession of their convent. The founding sisters made their profession and Mariana entered the novitiate. After she had followed the religious rule for two years and her obedience and conformity to religious life had been tested, she was allowed to make her profession, in which she received the name Mariana de Jesus. Over the course of her life Mother Mariana experienced more than 40 apparitions. These concerned her own life, her convent, and especially the Church in the 20th century. Our Lady appeared to Mother Mariana for the first time in 1599. When Mother Mariana asked her who she was, the Mother of God answered that she was the Mother of Good Success. In this apparition she prophesied to her, among other things, that the colony would soon become a free republic with the name Ecuador and that an authentically Christian President in the 19th century would consecrate it to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Through this consecration the Catholic religion would be upheld during the unfortunate years that were to come. Before Our Lady left Mother Mariana, she ordered her to have a statue made, promising that she would send heavenly aid to complete it. She also promised that she would help all those who invoked her under the title of “Our Lady of Good Success.” In the years before her death, Mother Mariana devoted herself to the restoration of convent life and the formation of the novices. Her counsel was sought by her sisters in religion and her charity was prized by the inhabitants of Quito. During her long, penitential life she received from God many astonishing gifts of grace: prophecies, ecstasies and visions. On January 16, 1635, she received her eternal reward. In 1885 her completely incorrupt body was exhumed and transferred, along with the likewise incorrupt bodies of seven founding sisters, in the restored crypt of the Convent of the Immaculate Conception in Quito. 15 The Miraculous Statue of our Lady of Good Success The center of Marian devotion in Quito is the life-size statue of Our Lady of Good Success, which is displayed to the faithful three times a year over the altar of the convent Church of the Immaculate Conception. It radiates an extraordinary, supernatural charm that is indescribable. The story of this miraculous statue began in the late 16th century. Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres (1563-1635) was the Superior of the convent when she received from Our Lady the assignment to have a statue made in which she would be honored under the title of “Our Lady of Good Success.” This apparition took place on January 16, 1599. The Mother of God gave detailed instructions: The statue should represent her as Mother Mariana saw her in the apparition, i.e. with the Child Jesus on her left arm. On account of the political unrest at that time, Mother Mariana hesitated to carry out this assignment. The real obstacle, however, was that she did not know how she could have someone produce a statue that was so indescribably beautiful. Our Lady of Good Success then promised that she herself would make sure that the statue would be produced according to her specifications. According to the tradition, she told Mother Mariana her height by asking the sister to take off her cincture [belt], to hold one end on the ground with her foot and to give her the other end. Mary gave that end to the Child Jesus, whom she was carrying on her arm, who then held it up to the top of her head. The statue is 1.80 meters [5 feet 11 inches] tall, and this height alone makes it quite impressive, especially for the people of Ecuador who, at that time and still today, are rather small in stature. www.angeluspress.org THE ANGELUS • July 2011 16 our LAdy of Good SuccESS When Mother Mariana, in keeping with the will of Mary, finally asked permission from the Bishop of Quito, Bishop Salvador de Ribera, he scolded Mother Mariana for not coming to him sooner, for the Mother of God had revealed her wish to him too in a dream. Our Lady of Good Success herself named the sculptor who was to produce her statue. She gave the reason for her choice: the man whom she had chosen was a practicing Catholic, and that was why he was worthy to make her statue. Shortly before the statue was completed, the sculptor traveled to Europe to purchase the most precious paints for the faces of the Mother of God and of the Child Jesus. He promised to return by January 16, 1611, and to finish the statue then. On the day before his return a miracle took place: Mother Mariana was praying at dawn in the upper choir of the church, when suddenly the whole church was brightly illuminated, the tabernacle opened and she saw the Three Persons of the Most Holy Trinity in the Sacred Host. At that moment she recognized the great love of the Most Holy Trinity for the Virgin Mary. Furthermore the nine choirs of angels filled the church with their song in honor of our heavenly Mother. Then the three archangels, Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, knelt down before the altar. It seemed to Mother Mariana as if they were commanded to show their reverence for the Mother of God. A moment later they were in the choir, where the unfinished statue was being kept. There Mother Mariana saw how the statue was instantaneously completed. St. Francis of Assisi was present also. He took his cincture off and girded the statue with it. After that the Virgin Mary herself entered into the statue, which you can imagine as the entrance of sunlight into a crystal. Then she sang the Magnificat. That was how the statue was completed! THE ANGELUS • July 2011 www.angeluspress.org When the sculptor and painter returned, he fell on his knees before the statue and testified that no human power, but only a divine power could have finished that statue. He immediately set down in writing his testimony that this work was not his but that of the angels. The document is found today in the archive of the convent. Afterward he went immediately to the Bishop of Quito, who from the beginning had followed the production of the statue with great interest. He too fell to his knees before the statue and likewise wrote a letter testifying that this statue had been transformed overnight and that it was the work of angels. On February 2, 1611, exactly 400 years ago, Bishop Salvador de Ribera solemnly consecrated the statue and handed over to her both the keys of the convent and also his episcopal crozier; on that occasion he reverently said, “My Lady, I commend to Thee the care of this convent and of my flock!” Our Lady of Good Success had expressed to Mother Mariana the desire to become the Superior of the convent and to remain so until the end of time. The sisters fulfilled her request, and ever since then the statue of Our Lady of Good Success has been enthroned over the Mother Superior’s chair in the upper choir of the convent! Three times a year she is removed from this place, which is not accessible to the public, and displayed over the main altar of the church for the veneration of the pilgrims: in the months of May and October and during the Novena to Our Lady of Good Success, that is, from January 25 to February 2, her feast day. Over the centuries many miracles took place in connection with this statue. One of the most famous occurred in 1941. The Mother Superior of the convent at the time tells the story: There was an acute danger then that Ecuador would suffer great territorial losses in a war with Peru. During that period of great turmoil Cardinal Carlos Maria Torres ordered that the miraculous statue of Our Lady of Good Success be brought to the church and that a novena for peace be prayed in its presence. On the fifth night of the novena, while Holy Mass was being said, a miracle occurred at 10:30 p.m.: At the moment of the Consecration the statute opened and closed her eyes, looked first at the choir, where her daughters were gathered, and then up to heaven. Many people were present at that Mass and witnessed the miracle, which lasted until 3:00 the following morning. The country’s newspapers reported it. On that day the war ended and peace was restored. Some of the witnesses are still alive today. Prophecies of our Lady of Good Success That Have Already Been fulfilled During her appearances, Our Lady of Good Success prophesied many things about the future of Ecuador, of the convent, and of the Catholic Church. Most of the prophecies have already come true, for example the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in 1854 and the dogmatic declaration of the infallibility of the pope in 1870. In relation to Ecuador she said that during the 19th century there would be a truly Catholic president of strong character. This president would dedicate the country to the unsullied heart of her most holy Son. As a result the Catholic faith in Ecuador would be preserved during the coming years, in which the Church would suffer persecutions. However he would finally be murdered by the enemies of the Church. These prophecies were fulfilled almost two hundred years later down to the smallest detail: There was a bloody revolution and a civil war, through which the Spanish colony Ecuador became a republic. A bad government followed, our LAdy of Good SuccESS 17 (Above) The incorrupt bodies of Mother Mariana and other Superiors of the convent in a casket in the Convent of the Immaculata Sisters, Quito. (Left) Main entrance to the Church of the Immaculate Conception, where the miraculous statue is displayed several times a year. and soon afterward chaos began to spread through the land. The Jesuits were expelled from Ecuador. At that moment of darkness there was, however, a light for Ecuador: in 1860 Don Gabriel Garcia Moreno became President of Ecuador at the age of 39. (He was president from 1860-1865 and from 1869-1875). He re-established the government and important institutions, got rid of the enormous burden of debt and reintroduced stability throughout the country. Garcia Moreno was both a man of action and also a man of great faith, full of the fear of the Lord. One of the first things he did was to enter into a concordat with Rome in which he promised that Ecuador from then on would protect the rights of the Church in Ecuador. The President was murdered on August 6, 1875, on the steps of the cathedral of Quito by enemies of the Church. His last words were, “I am dying, but God does not die.” Prophecies of our Lady of Good Success concerning Our Time As impressive as the fulfillment of these prophecies may be, Our Lady of Good Success made her most important and at the same time most terrifying prophecies about the 20th and 21st centuries! These prophetic messages have a connection with the miraculous comple- tion of the statue, because Our Lady gave them to Mother Mariana after “entering” the statue. With incredible precision Our Lady of Good Success revealed the whole gamut of the current crisis of faith at the beginning of the 16th century to this unassuming nun. As a sample of what the Mother of God foretold in Quito about our time, we reprint here quotations from her message: There will be an almost complete and universal decline in morality. In those unhappy times an unlimited luxury will come about which will lead many, many people astray into sin. How many frivolous souls will be lost forever!…Innocence will not often be found any more in children, nor modesty in women.…The Sacrament of Matrimony, which symbolizes the communion of Christ with His Church, will be attacked and profaned. Disgraceful laws will make it very easy to live in sin.… Children will be born without being received into the communion of the Church.…The devil will try ceaselessly, through wicked men with great power, to annihilate the Sacrament of Penance. The same will happen with Holy Communion. Ah! How it pains me to have to reveal to you the many horrifying sacrileges that will occur both publicly and also in secret through the profanation of the Holy Eucharist!…During this time people will think little of Extreme Unction, so that many of them will die without receiving it.…The Sacrament of Holy Orders will be ridiculed, suppressed, and despised. The devil will try to persecute the priests of the Lord in every possible way. With subtle cunning he will work to draw them away from the spirit of their vocation and to ruin many of them. Our Lady of Good Success said that in that time fewer and fewer priests will follow the divine compass, that they will lose their way and fall away from Our Lord, Our Lady, and the Church. They will lose their priestly spirit: These vicious and immoral priests, who will cause a scandal among the Christian peoples, will stir up the hatred of many bad Catholics and of the enemies of the Roman, Catholic, Apostolic Church so that it falls on all priests. In this situation of utmost affliction within the Church, some who ought to speak will remain mute. The Mother of God says also, however, that in this time of the crisis in faith foretold for the 20th century, God will send a prelate, i.e. a bishop who will renew the Catholic priesthood: Pray urgently…and ask Our Father in Heaven to put an end to such sinister times as soon as possible for the love of the Eucharistic Heart of my most holy Son, and to send to the Church of that time a prelate who will restore the characwww.angeluspress.org THE ANGELUS • July 2011 18 our LAdy of Good SuccESS ter of his priests. We will equip this son of mine, whom I love exceedingly, with extraordinary abilities, with a humble heart, with docility to divine promptings, together with strength to defend the rights of the Church and a meek and compassionate heart, so that like a second Christ he can care for both the great and the small, without in the least despising even the most unfortunate. The scales of the sanctuary will be placed in his hand, so that the true weight and measure might prevail again for the worship of God. The lukewarmness of consecrated souls will hinder the swift success of this prelate and at the same time be the reason why Satan will take possession of these countries; he will succeed at everything because so many foreign men without faith, like a black cloud, will darken the pure sky of the republic, which will previously have been consecrated to the most Sacred Heart of my Divine Son. With this cloud all the vices will arise, and because of them all sorts of punishment will overtake them, including plague, famine, conflicts at home and abroad, and the loss of faith, through which a great number of souls will be lost. A terrible war will break out, in which the blood of friend and foe, of secular and religious priests and also of nuns will flow. This night will be the most terrible, because from a human perspective evil will triumph…. The most encouraging thing about this distressing prophecy of Our Lady, however, is that it does not end with a depressing message: …Then my hour will come, in which I will dethrone that proud, damned spirit Satan in an astonishing way. I will crush him under my foot and cast him bound into the abyss of hell and thus liberate the Church and the fatherland from his cruel tyranny. Just as in Fatima, Mary announces her triumph, which will come at the moment when apparently no solution remains! That will be for the faithful a great trial, but Mary will intervene miraculously so as to break the power of the Evil One and to free the Church. THE ANGELUS • July 2011 www.angeluspress.org Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres Ecclesial Approval of the Apparitions A r ch b i s h o p S a l v a d o r d e Ribera—the eighth bishop of Quito— was the one who approved the apparitions that had been granted to Mariana. He wanted to know everything about the graces that had been bestowed upon her, and he was impressed and edified. He approved the apparitions and arranged that all the special graces and heavenly apparitions that Mariana received should be written down. All his successors in the episcopal see of Quito followed him in granting this approval. His immediate successor asked Mother Mariana to write an autobiography, and he ordered her spiritual director to compose an account of Mariana’s life. All these reports are in the archive of the convent. Moreover it was determined in 1906—when Mariana’s coffin was opened—that her body and the bodies of six other nuns who were foundresses of the convent, are incorrupt. Thus, although Mother Mariana, in keeping with the prophecy, remained unknown until the end of the 20th century, the preservation of her incorrupt remains is still a proof of her sanctity in our time. In 1968 the Archbishop of Quito, the Most Reverend Antonio Gonzales, introduced the cause of Sister Mariana’s beatification. In an episcopal decree he certified the holiness of her life, her heroic practice of the virtues, and also the authenticity of her charismatic and supernatural gifts! Another sign in favor of the authenticity of the apparitions was the canonical crowning of Our Lady of Good Success as Queen of Quito in 1991. This coronation of Our Lady was carried out by the local Ordinary on the basis of a papal decree by John Paul II. Msgr. Luis E. Cadena y Almeida is the postulator of Mother Mariana’s cause of beatification. He has written many books about her and also about the revelations. All of these books have received the Church’s imprimatur. He devoted one book to the prophetic messages that have already been fulfilled. Only one has not yet come true: Mary’s triumph. But the exact fulfillment of what had been foretold in the past gives us hope for the future! The Jubilee year 2011: 400 years of our Lady of Quito From January 24 to February 2, 2011, a public novena [was] prayed in Quito in preparation for the feast day of Our Lady of Good Success (on February 2). Mary prophesied that especially from the 20th century on “the Church would go through a difficult crisis,” and that she herself would have an important mission under this title (of Our Lady of Good Success) and through this statue. Let us participate in this novena [during this Jubilee Year] so as to pray to her that the Church will overcome this crisis. Prayer O Mary, Our Lady of Good Success, our Queen and our Mother, in the name of Jesus and in His Love we ask you to take charge of our concerns and to bring them to a good success! Pray for us and pray for the Church in her affliction! Litany of Loreto…. THE ANGELUS ENGLISH-LANGUAGE ARTICLE REPRINT Let your speech be “Yes, yes: no, no”; whatever is beyond these comes from the evil one. (Mt. 5:37) ● July 2011 Reprint #98 Beatification and Canonization Since Vatican II CONCLUSION THE DIFFICULTIES ARISING FROM THE COUNCIL Second Difficulty: Collegiality An attentive examination of the new norms reveals that the legislation reverts to what was in place before the 12th century: the pope leaves it to the bishop to make a direct judgment of the causes of saints and reserves to himself only the power to confirm the judgment of the Ordinaries. As John Paul II explained it, this regression is a consequence of the principle of collegiality: “In light of the doctrine of the Second Vatican Council on collegiality, We also think that the Bishops themselves should be more closely associated with the Holy 19 THE ANGELUS ENGLISH-LANGUAGE ARTICLE REPRINT See in dealing with the causes of saints.”1 But the legislation of the 12th century merged beatifications and canonizations as two non-infallible acts.2 This is what keeps us from simply assimilating the canonizations proceeding from the [conciliar] reform to the traditional acts of the extraordinary teaching authority of the Sovereign Pontiff; in these acts the pope is satisfied with certifying the act of a local Ordinary. This constitutes a first reason warranting a serious doubt that the conditions required for the infallibility of canonizations have been met. The Motu Proprio Ad Tuendam Fidem of June 29, 1998, reinforces this doubt. The purpose of this document is to insert certain norms into the 1983 Code of Canon Law, additions made necessary by the 1989 Profession of Faith. First, the infallibility of canonizations in principle is established. The 1989 Profession of Faith in effect distinguishes three categories of truths that constitute the object of the teaching of the supreme Magisterium: truths formally revealed and infallibly defined, truths taught authentically, and truths proposed definitively and infallibly because of a logical link or historical connection with formal Revelation. In the Instruction Donum Veritatis of 1990, which is the authentic commentary of this Profession of Faith, Cardinal Ratzinger gives as examples of this third category: the reservation of priestly ordination to men, the unlawfulness of euthanasia, and the canonization of saints. The 1998 Motu Proprio [Ad Tuendam Fidem] confers a greater authority to these two documents: the Pope teaches them as expressing his own teaching and inserts them into the Code of Canon Law. But then the text of Ad Tuendam Fidem establishes distinctions which diminish the range of the infallibility of canonizations, since it becomes clear that this infallibility is no longer to be understood in the traditional sense. At least this is what comes across from a reading of the document drafted by Cardinal Ratzinger to serve as an official commentary of the 1998 Motu Proprio.3 This commentary specifies in what way the pope can henceforth exercise his infallible teaching authority. Up to now we had a personally infallible and definitive act of the locutio ex cathedra as well as the decrees of ecumenical councils. Hereafter we Apostolic Constitution Divinus Perfectionis Magister, A.A.S., 1983, p. 351: Putamus etiam prælucente doctrina de collegialitate a concilio Vaticano II proposita valde convenire ut ipsi episcopi magis Apostolicæ Sedi socientur in causis sanctorum tractandis.”This statement of John Paul II is quoted by Benedict XVI in his Message to the Members of the Plenary of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints of April 24, 2006. 2 Such is the opinion of Benedict XIV in his treatise On the Beatification and Canonization of Saints, Bk. I, Ch. X, No. 6. 3 Section 9 of the Note of the Sacred Congregation for the Faith published in the A.A.S. of 1998, pp. 547-548. 1 20 shall also have an act that will be neither personally infallible nor definitive of itself but which will remain an act of the pope’s ordinary magisterium: the object of this act will be to discern doctrines as infallibly taught by the ordinary and universal magisterium of the episcopal College. Consequently, under this third category, the pope exercises an act of the magisterium which is infallible by reason of the infallibility of the episcopal College; and this act will be neither definitive of itself, for it will be limited to indicating what the episcopal College teaches.4 Now, if one observes the new norms promulgated in 1983 by the Apostolic Constitution Divinus Perfectionis Magister of John Paul II, it is clear that in the precise case of canonizations the pope, for the sake of collegiality, will exercise his teaching authority according to this third mode. Taking into account both the Apostolic Constitution Divinus Perfectionis Magister of 1983 and the Motu Proprio Ad Tuendam Fidem of 1998, when the pope exercises his personal teaching authority [magisterium] to proceed to a canonization, it seems that his will is to intervene as the organ of the collegial magisterium; thus canonizations are no longer guaranteed by the personal infallibility of the pope’s solemn magisterium. Would they be so in virtue of the infallibility of the ordinary and universal magisterium of the College of Bishops? Until the present, the entire theological tradition has never said that such was the case, and has always regarded the infallibility of canonizations as the fruit of a divine assistance granted only to the personal magisterium of the pope, which can be likened to ex cathedra pronouncements [locutio ex cathedra]. This constitutes a second reason authorizing us to entertain serious doubts about the infallibility of the canonizations carried out in conformity with the postconciliar reforms. Third Difficulty: Heroic Virtue The formal object of the magisterial act of canonization is the saint’s practice of the virtues in a heroic degree. Just as the magisterium is traditional because it always teaches the same immutable truths, so also is canonization traditional because it ought always to point out the same heroic practice of the Christian virtues, beginning with the theological virtues. Consequently, if the pope sets forth as an example the life of one of the faithful departed who had not practiced the virtues in the heroic degree, or if he shows them under a new perspective, as inspired more by the dignity of human nature than 4 For example, the Apostolic Letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis of May 22, 1994, is presented by Cardinal Ratzinger as an infallible act of the infallibility of the ordinary magisterium of the College of Bishops. In the explicit intention of the Holy See, this text cannot be assimilated to a locutio ex cathedra. THE ANGELUS • July 2011 www.angeluspress.org by the supernatural action of the Holy Spirit, one cannot see in what way this act would constitute a canonization. To change the object is to change the act. This change of perspective is indicated to us by a sign. Since Vatican II, the number of beatifications and canonizations has taken on unheard of proportions. John Paul II alone conducted more canonizations than each of his predecessors of the 20th century in addition to all those of his predecessors combined since the creation of the Congregation of Rites by Sixtus V in 1588. The Polish Pope himself explained the reason for this increase in the number of canonizations during a speech to the Cardinals during the consistory of June 13, 1984: Sometimes it is said that today there are too many beatifications. But besides reflecting the reality that, by the grace of God, is what it is, this also corresponds to the express desires of the Council. The Gospel is so diffused in the world and its message has so deeply taken root that it is precisely the large number of beatifications which reflects in a vital manner the action of the Holy Spirit and the vitality that He causes to spring forth in the domain the most essential for the Church, that of holiness. For it is in fact the Council that has spotlighted in a special way the universal call to holiness. Hence this quantitative change is caused by a qualitative change. If beatifications and canonizations are henceforth more numerous, it is because the holiness to which they attest has taken on a different meaning: holiness is no longer something rare, but something universal. This makes sense because holiness since Vatican II is considered a common gift. The idea of a universal vocation to holiness is the central theme of Chapter V of the Constitution Lumen Gentium; universal vocation brings about two consequences. Firstly, it is remarkable that this text does not mention at all the distinction between the remote call to holiness which in principle comes to all, and on the other hand the proximate (and efficacious) call which in fact does not come to all.5 Secondly, it is also remarkable that the text is silent about the distinction between a common sanctity and heroic sanctity in which holiness properly so-called consists.6 The very term “heroic virtue” This confusion implies a predestination of the entire People of God to sanctity and salvation. And that also implies a definition of the Church in the Protestant sense. On the contrary, as Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange remarks (Christian Perfection and Contemplation, II, 419-427 [French edition], called does not mean elect or predestined. And this is the sense of the parables in the Gospel (Lk. 18:7; Mt. 20:16, 22:14, 24:34; Mk. 13:20-22). All Christians are called to sanctity in virtue of the grace of baptism and insofar as they belong to the Church; but all are not elected, which leads to the negation of the proposition that the Church is the society of the predestined. 6 The distinction between common virtue and heroic virtue is an essential distinction: as remarks, among others, Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, heroic sanctity corresponds to a divine mode of acting that remains specifically 5 www.angeluspress.org THE ANGELUS • July 2011 does not appear anywhere in Chapter V of the Constitution Lumen Gentium. And in fact, since the Council, when theologians speak of the act of heroic virtue, they tend more or less to define it by distinguishing it from an act of simply natural virtue, instead of distinguishing it from an ordinary act of supernatural virtue.7 This is a first reason authorizing us to doubt that the beatifications and canonizations accomplished since Vatican II are identical with what the Church has always intended to do until then by such acts. This change of perspective also appears if one observes the ecumenical orientation of sanctity since Vatican II. The ecumenical orientation of sanctity was affirmed by John Paul II in the Encyclical Ut Unum Sint as well as in the Apostolic Letter Tertio Millennio Adveniente. The pope alludes to a communion of holiness transcending the different religions, manifesting the redemptive action of Christ and the outpouring of His Spirit on the whole of mankind.8 As for Pope Benedict XVI, one has no alternative than to recognize that he defines salvation in the same ecumenical sense, which falsifies by the very fact the notion of sanctity, distinct from the human mode, and this distinction is much more than a simple difference of degree. The divine mode takes place when the intervention of the gifts of the Holy Ghost, which is common to all the baptized, no longer remains frequent but hidden or rarely manifested, but becomes both frequent and manifest. See Christian Perfection and Contemplation, I, 404-405 [French edition]. 7 For example, Jean-Michel Fabre in his work La Sainteté canonisée (Tequi, 2003), pp. 104-105. Even in the context of ordinary supernatural life, the baptized is already under the influence of the gifts of the Holy Ghost, which is characteristic of supernatural activity in general, and not the formal element that would distinguish it from heroic action. As Father Garrigou-Lagrange points out, this element would rather be the influence of the gifts not as gifts, but as preponderant and manifest. 8 “Perhaps the most convincing form of ecumenism is the ecumenism of the saints and of the martyrs. The communio sanctorum speaks louder than the things which divide us.” (Tertio Millennio Adveniente, 37); “In the radiance of the ‘heritage of the saints’ belonging to all Communities, the ‘dialogue of conversion’ towards full and visible unity thus appears as a source of hope. This universal presence of the Saints is in fact a proof of the transcendent power of the Spirit. It is the sign and proof of God’s victory over the forces of evil which divide humanity.” (Ut Unum Sint, 84); ”Albeit in an invisible way, the communion between our Communities, even if still incomplete, is truly and solidly grounded in the full communion of the Saints—those who, at the end of a life faithful to grace, are in communion with Christ in glory. These Saints come from all the Churches and Ecclesial Communities which gave them entrance into the communion of salvation. When we speak of a common heritage, we must acknowledge as part of it not only the institutions, rites, means of salvation and the traditions which all the communities have preserved and by which they have been shaped, but first and foremost this reality of holiness. (Ut Unum Sint, 84); “The witness to Christ borne even to the shedding of blood has become a common inheritance of Catholics, Orthodox, Anglicans and Protestants, as Pope Paul VI pointed out in his Homily for the Canonization of the Ugandan Martyrs.” (Tertio Millennio Adveniente, 37). THE ANGELUS ENGLISH-LANGUAGE ARTICLE REPRINT 21 THE ANGELUS ENGLISH-LANGUAGE ARTICLE REPRINT Three serious reasons authorize the faithful Catholic to doubt the merits of the new beatifications and canonizations. Firstly, the reforms that followed the Council have produced as a consequence certain inadequacies in the process; Secondly they have introduced a new collegial intention, two consequences that are incompatible with the soundness of beatifications and the infallibility of canonizations. Thirdly, the judgment that occurs in the process involves a conception of sanctity and heroic virtue at the very least equivocal and hence dubious. a correlative of supernatural salvation.9 This is a second reason why one can only hesitate to see in the acts of the new beatifications and canonizations a real continuity with the Tradition of the Church. Conclusion Three serious reasons authorize the faithful Catholic to doubt the merits of the new beatifications and canonizations. Firstly, the reforms that followed the Council have produced as a consequence certain inadequacies in the process10; and secondly they have introduced a new collegial intention, two consequences that are incompatible with the soundness of beatifications and the infallibility of canonizations. Thirdly, the judgment that occurs in the process involves a conception of Benedict XVI, Speech given at the Ecumenical Meeting at the Prague Archdiocese, Sunday, September 27, 2009: “[T]hose who fix their gaze upon Jesus of Nazareth with eyes of faith know that God offers a deeper reality which is nonetheless inseparable from the ‘economy’ of charity at work in this world (cf. Caritas in Veritate, 2): He offers salvation. The term is replete with connotations, yet it expresses something fundamental and universal about the human yearning for well-being and wholeness. It alludes to the ardent desire for reconciliation and communion that wells up spontaneously in the depths of the human spirit. It is the central truth of the Gospel and the goal to which every effort of evangelization and pastoral care is directed. And it is the criterion to which Christians constantly redirect their focus as they endeavour to heal the wounds of past divisions…” [www.radiovaticana. org.]. 10 [See part one of this article in The Angelus, June 2011.–Ed.] 9 22 sanctity and heroic virtue at the very least equivocal and hence dubious. In the context resulting from the postconciliar reforms, the pope and the bishops offer to the veneration of faithful Catholics authentic saints, but canonized at the conclusion of an inadequate and doubtful procedure. Thus there can be no doubt that Padre Pio, canonized after Vatican II, practiced the virtues in a heroic degree even though the new style of process that concluded with the proclamation of his virtues can only give one pause. On the other hand, the same procedure makes possible canonizations that would have once been unthinkable, in which the title of holiness is conferred upon faithful departed whose reputation is controversial and in whom the exercise of virtue in the heroic degree is not particularly outstanding. Is it certain that for the popes who have accomplished these newfangled canonizations, heroic virtue is what it was for all their predecessors until Vatican II? This unwonted situation can be explained by the confusion introduced by the postconciliar reforms. It cannot be dispelled without getting to the root cause and examining the soundness of these reforms. Fr. Jean-Michel Gleize Translated from Courrier de Rome, February 2011, pp. 5-7. THE ANGELUS • July 2011 www.angeluspress.org THE STATE OF NECESSITY Why do the priests of the Society of St. Pius X exercise a ministry even though they lack an “official” canonical structure? In the following article, the author demonstrates that the present “extraordinary” situation which has become the ordinary state of affairs in the Church for the last 40 years necessitates recourse to the “extraordinary rules” provided by the Code of Canon Law. These rules not only justify but also obligate these priests to exercise their ministry in behalf of souls, whose salvation is the supreme law. “And answering them, he said: Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fall into a pit and will not immediately draw him out, on the sabbath day?” (Lk. 14:5) Even after the lifting of the so-called excommunications, about the invalidity of which so much has been written and which I shall address later in this article, the ministry of the priests of the SSPX continues to be labeled illegitimate because it is exercised without due canonical form. In point of fact, these priests hear confessions and administer the sacraments like parish pastors, when the authorities of the Church have not granted them the right to exercise any kind of ministry. Our goal in this article is to examine by what right, and on the basis of what divine and juridical rules, the priests of the SSPX continue to exercise their ministry. They often invoke a “state of necessity”: what is this state, and the exercise of what juridical powers does it justify? Is the state of necessity a kind of jungle, a regression to a pre-social state, or is it on the contrary an extraordinary situation in which extraordinary rules apply, and in which it would be wrong to try to apply ordinary rules to the letter? In other words, does there exist, de jure and de facto, a situation that renders impossible or inexpedient or even harmful the application of ordinary positive law and which calls for, on the contrary, recourse to the application of higher laws, which are not arbitrary but which have been provided for by legislation and by divine law? We intend to show in this article that the ministry exercised by the Society of St. Pius X is absolutely legitimate, opportune, and adequate. Necessity: Definition and Degrees We speak here of a spiritual state of necessity, that is, the need to receive the sacraments (and, www.angeluspress.org THE ANGELUS • July 2011 secondarily, the helps that predispose the soul to their reception–everything from sacramentals to instruction according to the various spiritual works of mercy). We are not considering the state of corporal necessity, which concerns the obligation in charity to bring relief according to the corporal works of mercy. The state of necessity can be of three kinds, if distinguished according to its gravity: 1) Extreme necessity, the necessity of someone who cannot evade a certain and proximate danger of losing his soul without the help of someone else. It is the case of a child in danger of dying without baptism, or of a sinner at the point of death who does not know how or is unable to make a perfect act of contrition, be he believer or unbeliever. 2) Grave necessity, the kind of necessity that cannot be overcome without great difficulty; for example, in case of proximate danger of losing the faith or grace. This necessity is that of a sinner in danger of death (the difference from the preceding case is in the fact that here it is supposed that he can save himself by an act of perfect contrition), but also that of someone who, without help, runs the risk of being lost. 3) Common necessity, the necessity of someone who, unless helped, could fall into sin, even if the danger can be overcome without this help. Here the adjective common indicates the fact that this situation is the usual situation of the majority of situations in the lives of men. It is clear that pastors of souls are bound in justice to help their flock in these cases of necessity, sinning more or less gravely according to the type of necessity in which the faithful find themselves; other priests (and also laymen, at their level) can be held in charity to lend to those who are in spiritual need, THE ANGELUS ENGLISH-LANGUAGE ARTICLE REPRINT 23 THE ANGELUS ENGLISH-LANGUAGE ARTICLE REPRINT each according to his means and with more or less urgency according to the gravity of the necessity. The Current Situation: General Grave Necessity Now let us ask what is the current situation? in what state of necessity do the faithful of the Church today find themselves? Then we shall try to understand how one can and one ought to remedy this type of situation. There exists today in the whole Church a crisis recognized by all, and we have often decried its manifold aspects. The crisis consists essentially in the fact, publicly recognized up to a certain point even by the supreme authority of the Church, that today it is nearly impossible to still live as a Catholic in the ordinary framework of the Church (this is not to deny the indefectibility of the Church, for the extraordinary means the Church is endowed with come into play, as we shall see in this article). Every aspect of Catholic life has become problematic: first of all, the unambiguous, full and external profession of the faith, but also the liturgy, sacramental life, the life of prayer, the teaching of the faith in the catechism as well as in the training of priests, moral teaching in conformity with doctrine in all its aspects, the frequentation of an environment dangerous to faith, etc. To give just one concrete example, just consider the objective difficulty the average faithful meets with when having recourse to the sacrament of penance: supposing he finds a confessor inclined to hear him and who still really believes in this sacrament, the faithful no longer has–generally speaking–the necessary guarantees of going to confession and being instructed, guided and absolved according to the moral teachings that have always characterized Catholic praxis, with particular reference to sin, to the drama of mortal sin, to the knowledge of what sin is, to the necessity of grace to be forgiven and to be saved, etc.1 These factors obviously do not all have the same general character, nor do they all have the same importance; they are not all necessarily found together, and they are not all equally approved or caused by the authorities themselves. We can divide them into two major groups, the first general and uniform, the second extremely variable. First of all, every member of the laity and every priest today must take a stand against the errors which are commonly spread through the diocesan episcopacy. In practice, the totality of diocesan bishops profess, at least exteriorly, the major errors of Vatican II (as for the content of these errors, we refer the reader to the numerous articles that have 24 appeared in this publication and to the numerous studies available). And this exterior profession of error (or at least tacit agreement) is required of all the clergy, including those who celebrate the traditional rite, in order to be able to claim to be included among the official structure of the hierarchy and to receive charge of souls in the usual manner. The very rare examples of priests or other ordinary pastors who retain their posts all the while taking a clear stand against the new doctrines and the new liturgy changes nothing of the substance of the problem; rather, they confirm it by their exceptional character. The Catholic (and in particular the priest) finds himself in the objective difficulty of not falling into a profession of faith at least ambiguous as regards the new doctrines, and of not participating in or approving a rite which, according to the famous expression of Cardinals Ottaviani and Bacci, departs in a striking manner from the Catholic doctrine on the holy Mass defined at Trent. This state of things, we emphasize once again, is universal: we find ourselves, in this respect, faced with a general common necessity: the permanence of this situation would be in and of itself sufficient to invoke the state of necessity. In the second place, to this universal situation are added the thousands of obstacles to Catholic life posed by the pastors themselves, what we could call the “abuses” of all kinds: from pastoral and liturgical abuses (going even beyond the new norms) to the doctrinal enormities that go much further than the letter of Vatican II and which are taught from children’s catechism to the seminaries and pontifical universities, passing through many episcopal sees. The supreme authority sometimes condemns, sometimes tolerates, and sometimes encourages this state of affairs; but it rarely rises to truly effective action, and this is so because the situation has become ungovernable, the result of the absence of genuine acts of the supreme teaching authority (the act of the will follows the principles to which the reason adheres). A vast literature, from SiSiNoNo to the books of Gnocchi and Palmaro [or Michael Davies and Romano Amerio–Ed.], document these innumerable situations. These abuses may be either more less grave, more or less manifest, or even non-existent: they aggravate or diminish the state of necessity, but they do not change its nature: because of what was stated in the previous point, the situation remains grave and general. If the situation described in the first point were to disappear, the state of necessity would also disappear, for then we could emerge from the “abuses” in the ordinary way, without having recourse to exceptional means. We say “could,” but we do not say that this would be easy: very many priests and faithful, even without contesting Vatican II, do not manage to avoid these abuses which go against the new laws THE ANGELUS • July 2011 www.angeluspress.org themselves because of the pressure they exert on the environment in which they are found. Imagine how difficult it would be, for example, for a parish priest to act in such a way as to render extraordinary Eucharistic ministers truly extraordinary (not to mention a pastor who would like to re-establish the old Mass in his parish). What One Can or Should Do in a State of General Grave Necessity According to the Dictionarium Morale et Canonicum of Cardinal Pietro Palazzini, a kind of summa of these sciences published on the eve of the Council by the greatest Roman canonists and moralists, which incorporates the most certain doctrines and most official interpretations, common grave necessity corresponds to the extreme necessity of the individual by reason of the pre-eminence of the common good over the private good. This point has corollaries, the first on the level of duty, the second as regards the powers granted in this situation. According to the precepts of charity, it is a greave duty to go to the aid of one’s neighbor in extreme necessity, and following what has been said above, also in a case of common grave necessity. Palazzini explicitly affirms that every priest, even without care of souls, is bound ex caritate to help sub gravi his neighbor in case of extreme spiritual necessity by giving him the sacraments, even at the risk of his own life. He is bound to do the same in a case of common grave necessity. In other words, when a whole community finds itself in difficulty, whoever is in a position to help must do so according to his means. This duty of charity also establishes the faculties the Church gives priests in these cases: in particular, all the acts of the power of orders become licit, and jurisdiction for hearing confessions is granted to all priests. As the canons (c. 882; n.c. 976) explicitly allow, every priest can licitly and validly absolve a Catholic in danger of death, that is, in a state of extreme necessity; but to this extreme necessity of the individual corresponds a common grave necessity, not only as regards the duties but also as regards the faculties granted for enabling these duties to be fulfilled. Thus presently every priest can come to the aid of a Catholic who asks him for absolution, receiving at that precise moment the necessary jurisdiction to do it in accordance with the law. We cite as analogous examples the situations in some countries where persecution exists and where every priest able to help the faithful may do so even if they are not in danger of death and are not subject to him. A Symmetrical Principle To the notion of grave necessity corresponds symmetrically the problem of grave inconvenience. In general, a grave inconvenience (or impediment) in the spiritual order is any notable moral injury to the soul of a person or another party. There exists a fundamental moral and legal principle, admitted by all the canonists and moralists (cf. Can. 20): Lex positiva non obligat cum gravi incommodo–The positive law does not oblige in cases of grave inconvenience. In the presence of a grave inconvenience, every purely positive law (that is to say human, not the natural law or divine law) loses its binding character. The current grave necessity precisely rests on the fact that a grave inconvenience for the faith exists, and even often a veritable obstacle to its profession in respect to numerous positive and even ecclesiastical laws. To give a different example: a priest imprisoned by persecutors can and should celebrate Mass and communicate, especially if death is imminent for himself or others, provided that he observe what is of divine law, that is, that he have wheaten bread and grape wine, and that he say the words of consecration; but indubitably, he is not bound to observe the liturgical laws, nor to have the vestments, etc., nor to pronounce all the words in the Missal: all of which are serious prescriptions but of ecclesiastical provenance, which do not oblige him in the circumstances since it is the divine precept to communicate in danger of death that takes precedence. The Society of St. Pius X would be completely paralyzed in its work if, for example, it were constrained to observe the purely ecclesiastical laws concerning the opening of new houses or places of worship, concerning ordinations with the accord of the local Ordinary, concerning the limitations posed by the right to the licit exercise of the power of orders, etc. In effect, it would be impeded from doing all these things unless it accepted in some way the new doctrine (this is undoubtedly the situation at present), which would be far more than an inconvenience–a real injury for the profession of faith. This does not imply a descent into anarchy, but simply an understanding that the role of positive law (and of the orders of prelates) is subordinate to the observance of the divine precepts, among which is to be found at the head the obligation not to fall into ambiguity in the expression of the faith, especially on the points of doctrine that may be at risk in a given era. One does not descend into illegality, but rises to the observance of higher laws. The common good demands that, in such grave THE ANGELUS ENGLISH-LANGUAGE ARTICLE REPRINT www.angeluspress.org THE ANGELUS • July 2011 25 THE ANGELUS ENGLISH-LANGUAGE ARTICLE REPRINT cases, everyone act according to his possibilities, which for priests are those of the power of order (cf. St. Thomas, Suppl. Q. 8, Art. 6). This same general grave inconvenience justifies, for example, the fact of not addressing one’s local parish priest when planning to marry, given the objective risk of having to participate in marriage classes or ceremonies of questionable doctrine, which is certainly a great danger for the greater good, the preservation of the faith. One may then, and in many cases one ought to, have recourse to the canonical extraordinary form of marriage, explicitly foreseen by the canons in case of grave inconvenience, in the presence of witnesses only, and eventually of a priest who can bless the marriage (c. 1098; nc. 1116). A last remark for now on a topic that would merit lengthier treatment: in the last analysis, when scrutinized, it is the same principle, with that of general grave necessity, which allowed the consecration of four bishops by Archbishop Lefebvre in 1988. If it is against the divine law to claim to confer episcopal jurisdiction, which is reserved to the Roman Pontiff, it is not the same for the consecration of bishops for the sake of the power of order without the Pope’s consent (and in effect this act, until Pius XII, was only punished by the penalty of suspension, a sign that it involves disciplinary measures). Consequently, faced with the grave necessity for the general good to transmit the power of order without being obliged to submit oneself to the grave inconvenience (or rather injury) of accepting an ambiguous profession of faith, the positive laws obliging the obtention of the Pope’s accord for the consecration of bishops ceased, and with it the penalties tied to this act (as is explicitly foreseen by the law itself, which excuses from the penalty anyone who acts out of necessity: c. 2205, § 2; nc. 1323. Response to an Objection and Conclusions The real disagreement of the innovators with this reasoning does not bear so much upon everyone’s faculties or duties in a state of necessity such as we have described, but upon the existence of this state of necessity. It is clear that if one accepts and promotes or justifies the new doctrines, perhaps even affirming that they are not new but in continuity with the preceding authoritative teaching [magisterium], one cannot grant the first reasons we advanced for establishing the universal gravity of the present situation. As for the second point, many nowadays are disposed to admit its existence, and 26 the authorities themselves seem to want to take the “abuses” in hand; in this the defenders of continuity are disposed to grant our case, blaming the current situation on a bad reading of the Council. However, this would not be sufficient justification for employing the extreme means to which Archbishop Lefebvre resorted with his Society. And especially one reproaches the Society with having invoked a state of necessity denied by the authorities, at least in its essential aspects. In reality, it must be said that one cannot expect those who are the cause of the state of necessity, that is to say, the authorities themselves, to recognize its existence. The absolute specificity of this state of necessity lies in this fact. Indirectly, it is the very proponents of continuity who attribute to conciliar doctrines the cause of the present situation. The documents, according to them, have been the object of a bad reading which is on-going to this very day–which at the very least shows that they are problematic. It has to be simply understood that those who deny the existence of a state of necessity are the vey ones who accept, albeit in differing manners and in differing measures, the errors of Vatican II: therefore the recognition of these errors by the authorities, which we hope might be the fruit of the doctrinal discussions [between Rome and the Society of St. Pius X] and of our prayers, will ipso facto involve the recognition of the state of necessity, at least in its essential elements. As for ourselves, we hold that for the Society not to resort to an extraordinary ministry would constitute a grave omission and an unforgivable lack of assistance to the souls that are victims of the current crisis gripping the Church and had no choice in being born in this period of time. For extreme evils, extreme remedies apply. It goes without saying that no one claims to arrogate to himself a mission he lacks: it is simply charity that urges every priest to go to the aid of his brethren in spiritual necessity with instruments proportionate to the state of this necessity. Suprema lex salus animarum. Don Mauro Tranquillo Courrier de Rome, January 2011 1 Obviously, no one denies that there are priests who still believe in this sacrament and administer it in a manner in conformity with the Church’s perennial practice, without making of it a banal exercise or reducing it to a simple conversation with psychotherapeutic overtones. Nevertheless the general guarantees of finding such priests in any given parish no longer exist: this absence of assurances is already sufficient to establish a general state of necessity on this very delicate point. Moreover, it should be noted that not a few priests or religious have been systematically reprimanded (and sometimes transferred) by their superiors precisely because they are refractory in adopting the new pastoral criteria for the administration of the sacrament of penance. THE ANGELUS • July 2011 www.angeluspress.org 27 Brideshead Revisited A commentary Part 5 Dr. David Allen White In Part 5 of Dr. white’s lecture on Brideshead revisited, he continues his analysis of the novel, focusing on character development and the artistic depth of the plot. T he major responsibility for what has happened to the family in Brideshead Revisited rests on Lord Marchmain. He fails as a father. He has not been present to raise his children. He turned and he ran. There can be little doubt that part of the problem Sebastian faces is that he has never really had a father. All through this novel, there are no fathers. Lord Marchmain has deserted his children and Charles Ryder’s father is extremely eccentric–distant, selfabsorbed, unfeeling. This bizarre portrait of Charles’s father is said to be based on Waugh’s own father. When Charles arrives at Oxford, the novel reads: “I had been warned against the dangers of these rooms by my cousin Jasper, who alone, when I first came up, thought me a suitable subject for detailed guidance. My father offered me none.” His father gave him no guidance. Curiously, his cousin says: “I suppose this is the time I should give you advice. I never had any myself except once from your cousin Alfred.” There are no fathers in this novel. Even Anthony Blanche only has a stepfather. www.angeluspress.org THE ANGELUS • July 2011 28 LITErATurE Throughout the novel, men have deserted their families. They have quit. In Charles’s case, it is even worse. Sebastian does not want Charles to meet his family and we get this dialogue: “I don’t keep asking you questions about your family.” “Neither do I about yours.” “But you look inquisitive.” “Well, you’re so mysterious about them.” “I hoped I was mysterious about everything.” “Perhaps I am rather curious about people’s families—you see, it’s not a thing I know about. There is only my father and myself. An aunt kept an eye on me for a time but my father drove her abroad. My mother was killed in the war.” “Oh...how very unusual.” “She went to Serbia with the Red Cross....” Unable to live any longer in the house, Charles’s mother left home to do charity work. The depictions of Charles dining with his father give us insight into this. There is a complete removal from the natural joys of life. This is part of the reason Charles is a failed young man in the beginning of the novel. He has grown up in a dead, lifeless, loveless, bleak home, in which there has been no sense that God created a world full of delightful and glorious wonders. It lacks the Catholic sense, the Catholic sense that recognizes that bread, wine, and water are good in themselves and may be transformed into eternal and lasting things. This awareness tells us that the things of the world can be beautiful and are here for our use. We cannot be attached to them since they will pass. But we can appreciate them and understand higher truths through them. So when Charles gets to Oxford, coming out of that dead world and meets Sebastian, he begins to grasp the glory of the created world. Charles is discovering life, something he has never known. This is how he speaks about it. When he THE ANGELUS • July 2011 www.angeluspress.org first gets invited to lunch at Sebastian’s, he says: I went there uncertainly, for it was foreign ground and there was a tiny, priggish, warning voice in my ear which in the tones of Collins told me it was seemly to hold back. But I was in search of love in those days, and I went full of curiosity and the faint, unrecognized apprehension that here, at last, I should find that low door in the wall, which others, I knew had found before me, which opened on an enclosed and enchanted garden, which was somewhere, not overlooked by any window, in the heart of that gray city. He is seeking magic in the midst of grayness. The next sentence tells us that Sebastian lives at Christ Church, his college. Sebastian may be running from the Faith; he may hate his mother; but it is through Sebastian that Charles is first introduced to and comes to know the Faith. Before this, Charles has known no human attachment. When Sebastian at Brideshead breaks a small bone in his foot, he sends a note telling Charles to come to Brideshead at once. When Charles informs his father, his father says: “Why exactly is your presence so necessary? You have no medical knowledge. You are not in holy orders. Do you hope for a legacy?” “I told you, he is a great friend.” “Well, Orme-Herrick is a great friend of mine, but I should not go tearing off to his deathbed on a warm Sunday afternoon.” Here again we see the absence of love, an absence of human connection. But Charles will break out of this dead, gray home and, at the end, far beyond his own father’s seeming indifference to death, he will kneel by Lord Marchmain’s bedside when the old man is in extremis and utter what may be his first prayer: “O God, if there is a God, forgive him his sins, if there is such a thing as sin.” The prayer is barely authentic, and is stumbling, but God uses this prayer for authentic ends. Energy and love come into Charles’s life. But it is a false love, a romantic friendship. It is somewhat inappropriate. He himself says: “I was given a brief spell of what I had never known: a happy childhood.” He speaks of those days with Sebastian as a childhood, since he never has had a chance to be a child and romp in the joys of the world, which is what children should do. And though its toys were silk shirts and liqueurs and cigars and its naughtiness high in the catalog of grave sins, there was something of nursery freshness about us that fell little short of the joy of innocence. This is the older Charles looking back and judging himself. What he focuses on is the joy of discovering the world of Sebastian, whether it is eating exotic eggs or going to Venice. But Sebastian, who is the center of Book One, is a tortured soul. He cannot guide himself through the world in any way. He is a character lacking direction and control. He is also willful and singleminded. Charles himself says at one point: “Sebastian’s life was governed by a code of such imperatives. ‘I must have pillar-box red pajamas,’ ‘I have to stay in bed until the sun works round to the windows,’ I’ve absolutely got to drink champagne tonight!’” This is witty and funny but it is willful. It is the willfulness of a child. Of course, Sebastian is still a child. He will not give up his teddy-bear. He clings to his childhood. But he names his teddy-bear St. Aloysius, patron saint of Catholic youth. He is watched over by the prayers of his mother. But when Sebastian returns home to Brideshead, he wants to visit his nanny. There is an attachment. When he goes fox-hunting, his horse’s name is Tinkerbell. It is part of his charm, but it is also unhealthy. Cara, when she talks to Charles in Venice, tells him that LITErATurE Sebastian drinks too much, and not in the way others drink. He is a self-indulgent child. Cara says of him that he is in love with his own childhood. Every time Sebastian is mentioned, there is discussion of shadows. The first time we go to Brideshead, it is a beautiful, sunny day. Sebastian and Charles drink wine, eat strawberries, and lie quietly in nature, enjoying the child’s sense of timelessness. But it is false. Sebastian says: “I should like to bury something precious in every place where I’ve been happy and then, when I’m old and ugly and miserable, I could come back and dig it up and remember.” Charles says: “That day was the beginning of my friendship with Sebastian, and thus it came about, that morning in June, that I was lying beside him in the shade of the high elms watching the smoke from his lips drift up into the branches.” The shade is already there; the shadows keep encroaching. When we see Sebastian’s room at Oxford the place is a jumble. It makes no sense; things don’t go together: His room was filled with a strange jumble of objects–a harmonium in a Gothic case, an elephant’s-foot waste-paper basket, a dome of wax fruit, two disproportionately large Sevres vases, framed drawings by Daumier. It is very similar to Nanny Hawkins’s room at Brideshead. The difference is that her room is filled with gifts from her “children.” Her room is just as jumbled, but there is a different spirit about her, with her rosary in her hand, praying half-drowsily. She was the Catholic influence on the children when they were young. Her room is elevated, high up next to the dome. During the war, Charles still finds her there, rosary still in hand. The one room that makes sense aesthetically belongs to Lady Marchmain. Keep in mind that the house is a palace of art. It contains many beautiful objects, but it has been neglected by its owner. When Sebastian first shows the house, he has to open all the curtains as huge sections of the house are closed off. The heart of the house, however, is Lady Marchmain’s room. If the father has deserted them, the children are preserved by the love of the mother, whose room is the heart of the home: This room was all her own; she had taken it for herself and changed it so that, entering, one seemed to be in another house. She had lowered the ceiling, and the elaborate cornice which, in one form or another, graced every room, was lost to view; the walls, once paneled in brocade, were stripped and washed blue and spotted with innumerable little water-colors of fond association; the air was sweet with the fresh scent of flowers and musty potpourri; her library in soft leather covers, wellread works of poetry and piety, filled a small rosewood bookcase; the chimney-piece was covered with small personal treasures–an ivory Madonna, a plaster St. Joseph, posthumous miniatures of her three soldier brothers. When Sebastian and I lived alone at Brideshead during that brilliant August we had kept out of his mother’s room. That room, the Catholic mother’s room, is the Catholic heart of the house. When Sebastian and Charles are reveling in worldly delights, they do not go near it. This heart is always there, but it is pierced with sorrow. Constantly there are references associating Lady Marchmain with the Seven Sorrows of our Lady. She watches her husband leave, Sebastian fall to pieces, Julia enter into a bad marriage, and, finally, she submits calmly to the cancer that eats her away. She suffers. But there is the repeated question: “Who is going with me to chapel tonight?” Off the family will go to say their rosary and pray. She is constantly praying for the family, for the renegades, for those who have run away–for her husband, for Sebastian, for Julia. Because she prays, the hope of an 29 answer becomes possible, a resolution she does not live to see. She says to Charles at one point: “I prayed for you too in the night.” That prayer will also be answered. We learn of two characters throughout the novel who pray for Charles–Lady Marchmain and Cordelia. The prayers are answered. We have a sense of the power of prayer, but Waugh does not blast it home; we see the effects of the prayers in what happens to Charles at the end. Nevertheless, Lady Marchmain is human. There is a moment where she openly accuses Charles of being wicked, when he gives money to Sebastian so he can leave the fox hunt and get drunk. She says, “How could you be so wicked? Did you hate us all the time?” We learn she has a bad conscience. One reason she feels guilty is because Charles is not the only one who has been giving money to Sebastian; later we learn that Cordelia has been sneaking money to him also. Cordelia. She is obviously named after the good daughter in King Lear who is the truth-teller. This Cordelia plays the truth telling role in this novel as does her namesake in Shakespeare’s great tragedy. I have pointed out that this novel is without fathers; sadly, it is also without children. There seems to be no future generation. Julia has one child who dies during child-birth. Sebastian obviously has no children. Cordelia never marries. Bridey marries a woman past child-bearing age and inherits a family, but has no children of his own. Curiously, however, the only two characters who are associated with living children are Bridey, who, eccentric though he is, will presumably be a good step-father, and Cordelia, who sponsors black children in Africa. “You send five bob to some nuns in Africa and they christen a baby and name her after you. I’ve got six black Cordelias already. Isn’t it lovely?” www.angeluspress.org THE ANGELUS • July 2011 30 LITErATurE From [Chesterton’s] story Waugh takes the title for Book Two of Brideshead Revisited, “A Twitch upon a Thread.” The whole line reads: “For I caught him with an unseen hook and an invisible line that will allow him to travel to the ends of the earth and come back with a twitch upon the thread.” This is an image of God’s regard for each human soul. He has got us; we can break the line and run where we want, but God’s hook is in us. But there is a wonderful sense that God works everywhere. When I first became a traditional Catholic, I remember going back one day after Mass to ask a question of my priest. I had to wait as a little girl had already approached the priest with her new baby hamster that she wanted to have blessed. As I waited, I remember thinking: “This is Catholic.” When that little girl left, she was beaming, and the animal had been sanctified. So we may laugh at Cordelia, but she is Catholic to the core. God guards everything we love. The life in this book comes from this vision. As the truth-teller, Cordelia plays her role openly. There is the moment when she promises to pray for Charles. She is the one who goes to see Sebastian when he is too drunk to come downstairs. Charles lies and says Sebastian has a cold, but Cordelia returns from her visit and states quite openly that Sebastian is drunk. (This incident occurs on the night that Lady Marchmain is reading aloud one of G. K. Chesterton’s Father Brown stories to the family. From this story Waugh takes the title for Book Two of Brideshead Revisited, “A Twitch upon a Thread.” The whole line reads: “For I caught him with an unseen hook and an invisible line that will allow him to travel to the ends of the earth and come back with a twitch upon the thread.” This is an image of God’s regard for each human soul. He has got us; we can break the line and THE ANGELUS • July 2011 www.angeluspress.org run where we want, but God’s hook is in us.) Consider the moment when Julia announces that she is going to marry Rex outside the Church. Cordelia says “I hate you, Julia!” and runs away, weeping. And then we learn that on the morning of the wedding in the shabby Protestant church, Cordelia has come to Julia’s room with a gift, telling her sister that she hopes she will always be happy. This is a real feminine love, another beauty that sadly has mostly vanished from the world. At the end of the novel, Cordelia is talking with her father, who is thinking about his life, remembering what he’s done: “There used to be a chaplain until the war. Do you remember him?” “I was too young.” “Then I went away–left her in the chapel praying. It was hers. It was the place for her. I never came back to disturb her prayers. They said we were fighting for freedom; I had my own victory. Was it a crime?” “I think it was, papa.” Suddenly, he is filled with guilt as his daughter has spoken a harsh truth to him, accusing him of a crime against his family. Her comment is as succinct and direct as her namesake’s response to her kingly father in the first scene of Shakespeare’s tragedy. Let me say a few words about Bridey. Bridey is also a truth-teller, but he is not exactly aware of when he is telling the truth. This leads to his dropping bombshells. Bridey has no social sense at all. He puts his foot in his mouth all the time. It is probably part of the reason he has not had a vocation; he just cannot connect with other people. He is a good man, but he is so eccentric that his life eventually narrows down to marrying Mrs. Muspratt and tending to her late husband’s matchbox collection. He has no real sense of purpose as to what he should be doing in the world. He is completely adrift. Yet he sparks the resolution of the novel, through a moment of truth, when he says to Julia that Mrs. Muspratt cannot spend the night under the same roof as Julia and Charles as they are openly adulterous and Mrs. Muspratt is a good Catholic woman. Charles immediately rebukes Bridey, but Bridey points out that Julia already knows this fact. Many eccentric characters in literature at first seem odd, but many of them we eventually warm up to. They are real. Bridey is real. To conclude, we will consider the art and architecture of the novel. How is Brideshead constructed? What does Waugh say about art in this novel? A major theme of the novel is the glory of art but the failure of art as well. Dr. David Allen White taught World Literature at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, for the better part of three decades. He gave many seminars at St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Winona, Minnesota, including one on which this article is based. He is the author of The Mouth of the Lion and The Horn of the Unicorn. 31 THE CIvITaS InSTITuTE InTErvIEwS Fr. XavIEr BEauvaIS Fr. Beauvais is the prior of St. nicolas-du-Chardonnet and is in charge of the Civitas Institute’s training in the Church’s Social Doctrine. Father, for the sake of those who may not yet know you, would you be so kind as to introduce yourself? I was born in 1957 into a family of seven children of deeply Catholic parents who had been trained in the Cité Catholique movement. After my secondary education and a year of philosophy at the Institute of Comparative Philosophy, I completed my six years of seminary at Ecône, interrupted by military service in the 6th RPl, ending in my ordination by Archbishop Lefebvre on June 29, 1983. I was named prior at Lourdes in 1983, then at Marseilles in 1984. After seven years at Marseilles, I spent twelve years in South America as district superior, and I’ve been prior of St. Nicolas du Chardonnet since 2003. As a man of God, how would you define the Civitas Institute? What relevance has the action of Civitas in civic life? In the first place, the Civitas Institute is not a discussion club, still less a worldly salon for point- lessly talking politics. It is indeed an institute of political formation with a very specific purpose: to ground our convictions on the principles that ought to guide our political action for the social reign of our Lord Jesus Christ; hence: the formation and political action of lay Catholics, and toward this goal, secondarily a network of friends in agreement on the same principles and the same means of action. This training and action will obviously result in counter-revolutionary combat, for it is indeed the Revolution under all its modernist, secularist, and globalist guises that we have to fight. It is not just a question of knowing political doctrine well, though this is necessary. The action of Civitas in public life concerns imparting the necessary tools and enthusiasm mingled with generosity and commitment for the rechristianization of society, or at least the maintenance and development within divers institutions of a Catholic leaven, so as not to merit the reproof leveled by Jean Jaurès at the liberal Catholics when the law of separation between Church and State was being debated: Have our adversaries replied to us? Have they opposed doctrine with doctrine, ideal with ideal? Have they had the courage to range Catholic thought against the thought of the Revolution? No! They funked it. They niggled about the details of organization, but never once affirmed clearly the principle which is the soul of the Church. [ Jean Ousset, Action, p. 34] Jaurès, while far from being a master for us, does indicate to Civitas what to do and what not to do. You are replacing Fr. Duverger. What do you hope to accomplish in your new charge? What message would you like to get across, especially to the youth which today is bereft of a moral compass? Following Fr. Duverger, I hope to contribute the same infectious enthusiasm for the cause of the social kingship of our Lord Jesus Christ, to encourage the strengthening of our convictions, to take www.angeluspress.org THE ANGELUS • July 2011 32 InTErVIEW action by the grace of God, and, as my duties at St. Nicholas permit, to encourage you in counterrevolutionary combat. If there is a message to convey to the youth, it is this: Don’t be afraid to get involved. Leave conformity in the closet. Be brave enough not to follow the world or fashions, or care what everybody else thinks. Take up the interior combat by living a profoundly integral Christian life, and by an intellectual formation! Get involved in the exterior combat when it means not refusing to get into the fray–that is the “political charity” spoken of by Pope Pius XI. Today young and not-so-young people read fewer good books. What are the three books you would recommend and which you consider to be indispensable to a good intellectual formation? It is impossible for me to recommend three books indispensable to a good intellectual formation because three are not enough. But They Have Uncrowned Him by Archbishop Lefebvre, the works of Fr. Calmel, and those of Professor Marcel De Corte are valuable tools, not to forget the doctrine of Cardinal Pie. To inspire enthusiasm, one can retrace the steps of St. Paul, St. Francis Xavier, and Charles de Foucauld. Among profane authors, there are some very good texts by some activists whose works I can always recommend…. The goal of politics is to take power. Electoral action has failed. How can we take power? The goal of politics is not first and foremost taking power. It is, as Henri Charlier said, “after serving God, the highest function to which one can aspire, for its object is the common good of men, to secure it as much as possible.” Power is obviously a means by which to work for the common good. And this THE ANGELUS • July 2011 www.angeluspress.org common good, Charlier says, “consists in being able to find readily the necessaries of life, and in removing the material obstacles of both body and soul: misery, discord, and the occasions of vice and sin.” 2010 under the sole banner of Civitas proved that the Civitas Institute in collaboration with the SSPX could assemble as many or even more people on its own initiative and in the same spirit. On May 9, 2010, Civitas organized its first procession in honor of Joan of Arc, which attracted 2,600 people. This figure entitles it to be called a success. How do you explain it? How many people do you expect to attract on May 8, 2011? Wouldn’t it be possible to organize a single procession with Action Française, the historical initiator of the procession in honor of our national patron saint? For some time blogs and Web sites by Catholics have flourished on the Internet. Is this a matter of a growing Catholic consciousness or is it a mere fad? Yes, the homage to St. Joan of Arc was frankly a success. How to explain it? It was a moment of recognition of the importance of perpetuating this French tradition of homage as Catholics and patriots. She is the saint of our nationhood. The state of decline in which our country finds itself inspires our prayers: it is the hour for prayer, certainly, but it is also the hour for us to profess our Catholic faith. The politico-religious character of this assembly also allowed the joining together of the Catholics in the pew with those in the vestibule. The illusion of the importance of numbers is a democratic idea, but it is true that we are not angelic beings, and numbers can be reassuring. Also, why not think of being a bit more numerous next year? One single procession seems to me a good solution as a demonstration of force. I think, however, that a certain diversity proper to each group can be retained. Our procession does not compete in anyway with the others, and what’s more, makes our Catholic character stand out more. This being said, all the national and Catholic organizations could meet up in the afternoon for a great procession. The formula in “Blogs and Web sites by Catholics have flourished on the Internet,” as you say. There’s something for every taste. Many of them, unfortunately, are swayed by feelings, without depth, very superficially. There also may be, in the face of the rise of Islam and galloping “Cathophobia,” an identity reflex, a rediscovery of our Christian roots. This is very positive, but it is necessary to go further in the analysis of the evil and not be afraid to tackle the real roots of the revolutionary evil, which is the revolt against God, the “non serviam” of Lucifer. Could you name for us some historical heroes who, in your opinion, ought to inspire our youth? The historical heroes who can inspire young people may be of several orders: the order of holiness, the order of Christian politics, the order of the mind, the order of the combat for the faith, and even the order of bravery. Since we live in an atmosphere of ideological terror, it is better not to name certain names, so I shall not give any. What would you like to say in conclusion? We are not doomed to fight without hope of winning. This should be very clear in our minds. Do we want to work effectively for the triumph of truth? Is it normal for truth to be continually sterile? Is it normal for lies to continually triumph? Now is the time to remember what St. InTErVIEW 33 Joan of Arc would say: “The men at arms will give battle, and God will grant them victory.” So then, no smug trust in Providence, no passive indifference concerning action, and no practical naturalism or activism either. For the last word, I shall quote a passage from Jean Ousset’s Action, beginning with his quotation of Cardinal Ottaviani: “The frequency and power of crime,” writes Cardinal Ottaviani, “have blunted Christian sensibility, even alas! among Christians. Not only as men, but as Christians, they do not react, do not leap to their feet. How can they feel themselves to be Christians if they are insensitive to the wounds which are being inflicted on Christianity. Life shows its existence by the sensation of pain, by the vivacity (an expressive word) by which it reacts to a wound, by the promptness and vigour of the reaction. In the midst of rottenness and decomposition there is no reaction.”1 There is no organization, no party, no sect, today, which has not a plan to propose and is not committed to getting it accepted. Only we Christians allow ourselves to be dragged along–capable at the most of occasional bursts of energy. So we lose ourselves in nostrums and trifling concerns–in short term efforts, in inconsequential chatter. Waiting to be saved by some lightning operation, empiricists seeking quick returns, we seem incapable of learning anything from experience. Professing concern for order and method, we act chaotically. Canonizing zeal and labour, we do little or nothing. Desperately and blindly overcome by passion as soon as we take to action, we nevertheless proclaim that we always wish to be guided by reason. And while we never cease prattling about the forces of mind and spirit, in practice we have less confidence in these forces than self-confessed materialists. Things have indeed gone so far that if the Revolution were to triumph tomorrow, its triumph would be merited. For two hundred and fifty years (reckoned from the foundation of Freemasonry in 1717) the Revolution’s waves of assaults have followed one after another, tirelessly renewed, ever more ingenious, shrewd and efficacious. It can therefore be truly said that the Revolution has merited its conquest of the world. Its cadres have known how to fight and how to persist; how to expend their efforts obstinately–and also how to open their purses when necessary.2 Interview conducted by Franck Abed for Civitas in November 2010. Translated with permission from Civitas. 1 2 L’Église et la Cité, p. 44. Jean Ousset, Action (IHS Press, 2002), pp. 31-32. www.angeluspress.org THE ANGELUS • July 2011 34 InTErvIEw wITH Fr. LOïC DuvErGEr Superior of the District of africa Father, the Civitas Institute has benefited from your advice and counsel for a long time. Now that you’ve been reassigned from your position as first assistant of the District of France to head the District of Africa, Civitas would like to interview you in order to profit one last time from your thoughts and judgments. The observation that “everything is going wrong” is not hard to make. Wailing and whining is just as easy. In our circles, the in-depth analysis of our societal decadence and the search for its causes was achieved long ago; the books treating of it are legion. They give ideal solutions to the political and economic crises we are undergoing. These works are necessary. Everyone interested in civic life should read and study them. But then you have to start taking action. Now, it has to be admitted that for decades Catholics have withdrawn from the res publica. THE ANGELUS • July 2011 www.angeluspress.org Why don’t Catholics make themselves heard any more on political issues? The root of this retreat comes from two major causes: The first is liberalism, which twists minds and pushes the Catholics who are still involved in politics to no longer uphold the Church’s social doctrine under the mistaken pretext that “the Catholic way is no longer viable nowadays” and therefore to seek the least common denominator in their alliances with non-Catholics. By and by, their words and deeds have nothing particularly Catholic about them. The second cause results from a certain kind of idealism and perfectionism. Aren’t they looking for solutions that fall from heaven, which would relieve men of the need to join in the battle? People are looking for a restoration that would remake Christian France with a wave of a magic wand. People talk, discuss, theorize; time passes and France becomes more and more dechristianized, abandoned to men without faith or law. These two attitudes are at the root of the silence of Catholic voices in politics today. They have demobilized men of good will and destroyed their resolve to pursue the reign of Christ the King. Are Catholic solutions really to be looked for in a dechristianized society? The Church’s social doctrine is more relevant than ever. It is the only solution for our dechristianized societies. It is not a simple theory that cannot be put into practice. All the Popes till Pius XII inclusive have preached it magnificently. Unfortunately, too often the Catholics have not known how or have not wanted to put it entirely into practice. If the first Christians had neglected the social reign of Christ, Christian civilization would never have existed. The political situation in their era was not worse than ours. To say that the reign of Christ the King is no longer possible because society is no longer Christian is to lack the virtue of hope; this attitude is unworthy of Catholics. The good Lord always wants to save souls, and in a Christian society souls can be saved much more easily. Civil InTErVIEW peace and concord cannot exist without Jesus Christ. If He does not reign over hearts, families, and polities, disorder quickly descends and societies sign their death warrant. Society will not become Christian again overnight. It will take decades of fight to give France back a Catholic government. How can we assert our intention to restore the reign of Christ when the Church herself is quite reticent on the topic? Unfortunately, the Church since the Council no longer preaches Christ’s reign. The bishops and priests have not upheld this policy, the only one in conformity with Church teaching. Often, they’ve been actual allies of dechristianization. But this clerical betrayal of the Catholic cause cannot prevent Catholics from doing their duty. The cause may be more difficult, but not impossible. Besides, if Catholics had been more stalwart in defending our Lord’s rights, perhaps they would have avoided the treason of many clerics. The Church’s social doctrine continues to be true and achievable in spite of the many faults and failings of churchmen. Catholics are often reproached with lacking political vision. In Catholic circles, including those of Tradition, is there not a tendency to forsake political involvement for strictly Catholic endeavors? The crisis that has been shaking the Church for the last 50 years forced Catholics to defend their faith and to provide for themselves the means to survive spiritually. But the fight cannot stop at the establishment of these bastions of resistance constituted by the priories, chapels, and schools. Now is the time to seize the initiative in the political field in order to protect these bastions from the attacks of the enemies of Christian society, who will do everything to destroy this remnant of the Catholic thing. If the Catholics do not take up this cause, the Catholic priories, chapels, and schools so dearly built will be hampered by iniquitous laws that make even family life impossible. 35 May conciliar Catholics be mobilized in this combat? Why not? In this huge fight, all men of good will are welcome. Only one condition is needful for this combat: a tenacious will to want nothing else than the reign of Christ in strict conformity with Catholic doctrine. Unfortunately, there is no alternative but to realize that these Catholics, imbued with the modern errors, often lack the needed convictions for this cause, which admits of no compromise. May unbaptized men of good will also be mobilized, even though our commitment is resolutely Catholic? Why not? What we say as regards modernists is true for all persons of good will. These, having been disappointed by atheistic political theories that lead to impasses or catastrophes may join in the fight with Catholics. They will swell the ranks and fight for our Lord’s reign. It may be their road to Damascus. But in these alliances with groups or individuals, we must be prudent so as not to let ourselves be corrupted by erroneous ideas or www.angeluspress.org THE ANGELUS • July 2011 36 InTErVIEW “It is Catholics who will remake the Catholic France of tomorrow, and they will only do it by political involvement at the local level.” compelled to participate in actions that are Catholic in appearance only. In short, the main rule is always to keep the initiative in the battle; the non-Catholics have to submit to Catholic doctrine and not vice versa. Moreover, control over the actions to be undertaken must remain in integrally Catholic hands. It is not only the finality of an action that determines whether we can participate in it, but also the rectitude of its fundamental principles and the intention of the leaders. So, to desire to fight against abortion without any supernatural reference is illusory and sterile. The SSPX has always refused to participate in the mass demonstrations against abortion which refuse to pose the Catholic Faith as the basic reason for the demonstrations; contrariwise, it joins in the Rosaries for Life led by Dr. Dor. Significant work remains to be done to convince today’s Catholics to get involved in political action. How do you explain their reluctance, even though they are the bearers of the Truth and should be eager to spread it in society? The two causes we expounded above to explain the disappearance of Catholics from politics give part of the reason for Catholics’ aversion from politics. The other explanation comes from the fear of losing one’s soul in the fight and of believing oneself to be incapable of getting into it, tied to “I don’t have time” and “what’s the use?” Certainly, not everyone is made for participation in political life, but very many there are who could but dare not. In a municipality, before participation in its govern- THE ANGELUS • July 2011 www.angeluspress.org ment by becoming a town councilor or mayor, there is a whole range of activity with one’s neighbors that can be done: social action, aid to the needy, participation in the town’s local activities in order to get to know one’s neighbors. It is necessary to get interested and involved in the life of the community, to accept without hesitation small responsibilities and to infuse a Catholic spirit in them. This genuine political action enables a Catholic to do a lot of good. Civitas recommends this kind of municipal action, well within reach of the young and less young; of course, it is easier to do in small communities. It is Catholics who will remake the Catholic France of tomorrow, and they will only do it by political involvement at the local level. Isn’t professing one’s faith an impediment to immediate effectiveness? How could the Faith be an obstacle to effectiveness? These are the errors that have led Catholics to their loss. The defense of the Faith does not require making grand declarations everywhere and all the time. While it is necessary to know how to defend the faith intelligently, forcefully, and charitably when opportune, in municipal action, acting as a Catholic is already an excellent sermon. Aren’t people too inclined to go after big numbers? Numbers have nothing to do with it. For example, it is interesting to note that opposition is more violent against Dr. Dor’s Rosaries for Life, which only attract a few, often elderly, people (where are the youngsters?), than the mass demonstrations where the Faith is not asserted. But we should not fall into the opposite excess and fear numbers. The more Catholics will be numerous in fighting for Christ the King, the more His reign will extend. What thoughts come to your mind about the activities of Civitas? The goal of Civitas is clear and well defined: to act in the City to advance the reign of our Lord Jesus Christ. This goal is put into action in its plan to train Catholics so that they will get involved in municipal life. Study circles are necessary for this formation and to support by their activities those who get involved in local politics. The Civitas Institute is the only one to focus its political action chiefly on municipal politics. This action is necessary for the renewal of a Christian France, it is within the scope of Catholics, and it produces beneficial results quickly. Formation in the Church’s doctrine for Catholic political action cannot be effective without a solid spiritual formation and a deep prayer life. It is in the Mass and the reception of the sacraments that the members of Civitas will get the lights necessary for making good decisions and the supernatural strength for this difficult mission. More than ever, Joan of Arc’s saying must resound within our hearts: “Men must do battle before God gives the victory.” The interview was given in December 2010. Translated from the French with permission of Institut Civitas. Church and World 37 commentary on the Instruction Universae Ecclesiae A nnounced as early as December 30, 2007, by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Instruction Universae Ecclesiae on the application of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum ( July 7, 2007) was made public on May 13, 2011, by the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei. Signed by Cardinal William Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and by Msgr. Guido Pozzo, Secretary of the Ecclesia Dei Commission, this Roman document is being issued after the bishops throughout the world had the opportunity to send to Rome an account of their experiences in the three years that have passed since the publication of the Motu Proprio, in keeping with the wish expressed by Benedict XVI in his accompanying letter dated July 7, 2007. This major delay shows the extent to which the application of Summorum Pontificum has met with difficulties as far as the bishops are concerned. So much so that the official purpose of Universae Ecclesiae is “to guarantee the proper interpretation and the correct application of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum” (No. 2), but also and above all to facilitate the application thereof, to which the Ordinaries [generally speaking] only grudgingly consent. The foreseeable discrepancy between the de jure right to the traditional Mass, recognized by the Motu Proprio, and its actual, de facto recognition by the bishops had been foretold by Bishop Fellay in his Letter to the faithful of the Society of St. Pius X as early as July 7, 2007. This factual situation obliges the Roman document to recall several points: ● By this Motu Proprio, the Supreme Pontiff Benedict XVI promulgated a universal law for the Church, with the intention of giving a new regulatory framework for the use of the Roman Liturgy that was in effect in 1962. (No. 2) ● The Holy Father returns to the traditional principle, recognized since time immemorial and necessarily to be maintained into the future, that “each particular Church must be in accord with the universal Church not only regarding the doctrine of the faith and sacramental signs, but also as to the usages universally handed down by apostolic and unbroken tradition. These are to be maintained not only so that errors may be avoided, but also so that the faith may be passed on in its integrity, since the Church’s rule of prayer (lex orandi) corresponds to her rule of belief (lex credendi).” (No. 3) ● The Motu Proprio proposes: a) To offer “to all the faithful the Roman Liturgy in the Usus Antiquior, considered as a precious treasure to be preserved”; b) To guarantee and ensure effectively the use of the Extraordinary Form “for all who ask for it,” given that the use of the Latin Liturgy in effect in 1962 “is a faculty…granted for the good of the faithful and therefore is to be interpreted in a sense favourable to the faithful who are its principal addressees”; c) To promote reconciliation at the heart of the Church. (No. 8) www.angeluspress.org THE ANGELUS • July 2011 38 Likewise, because of the legal disputes caused by the paucity of good will on the part of the bishops in applying the Motu Proprio, the Instruction grants the Ecclesia Dei Commission additional authority: ● The Pontifical Commission exercises this power, not only by virtue of the faculties previously granted by Pope John Paul II and confirmed by Pope Benedict XVI (cf. Motu Proprio Summorum Pontifi cum, articles 11-12), but also by virtue of its power to decide, as hierarchical Superior, upon recourses that are legitimately sent to it against an administrative act of an Ordinary which appears to be contrary to the Motu Proprio. (Universae Ecclesiae, No. 10 §1) ● In the case of a legal dispute or of well-founded doubt concerning celebration in the Extraordinary Form, the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei will decide. (Summorum Pontificum, No. 11) Provisions are made, however, for a possible appeal: ● “The decrees by which the Pontifical Commission decides recourses may be challenged ad normam iuris before the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura.” (No. 10, §2) It will be advisable therefore to watch carefully in the coming months whether these regulations prove to be effective and whether the de facto actions of the bishops really conform to the de jure regulations that the Ecclesia Dei Commission is in charge of enforcing. The diplomatic character of this Roman document is easy to discern, THE ANGELUS • July 2011 www.angeluspress.org Church an since it is attentive to cases of resistance and very careful to treat divergent viewpoints with respect. Thus the reader finds several paradoxes which, despite the declared desire for unity, betray the dissensions that it had to take into account: ● Oddly, the bishops interested in applying the Motu Proprio generously may not be able to ordain seminarians from their dioceses in the traditional rite. Indeed, No. 31 stipulates: “Only in Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life which are under the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, and in those which use the liturgical books of the forma extraordinaria, is the use of the Pontificale Romanum of 1962 for the conferral of minor and major orders permitted.” In this regard the document recalls the post-conciliar legislation that suppressed the minor orders and the subdiaconate. Candidates to the priesthood are incardinated only upon entering the diaconate, but it will nevertheless be permissible to confer the tonsure, minor order and the subdiaconate in the old rite, without ascribing the least canonical value to them, however. This point is directly opposed to the principle recalled in No. 3 concerning adherence to “the usages universally handed down by apostolic and unbroken tradition.” ● Paradoxically, the Roman document excludes from its regulations those priests who are most attached to the Traditional Mass as a “precious treasure to be preserved” (No. 8), and who for that reason are not bi-ritual. Indeed, No. 19 declares: “The faithful who ask for the celebration of the forma extraordi- naria must not in any way support or belong to groups which show themselves to be against the validity or legitimacy of the Holy Mass or the Sacraments celebrated in the forma ordinaria or against the Roman Pontiff as Supreme Pastor of the Universal Church.” The reader will note here a nuance: the Instruction speaks about “validity” or “legitimacy” in the same context in which the Letter of Benedict XVI to the Bishops dated July 7, 2007, called for “recognition of [the] value and holiness” of the Novus Ordo Mass and the nonexclusive celebration of the traditional form. Nonetheless this article No. 19 just might provide bishops with the opportunity to neutralize the Instruction effectively by paralyzing its stated wish for a broader application of the Motu Proprio “for the good of the faithful” (No. 8). Certain rash commentaries led some to believe that the Priestly Society of St. Pius X was also excluded because of its opposition to the Roman Pontiff, which is not correct, since the “excommunications” of its bishops were lifted precisely because Rome considered them not to be in opposition to the primacy of the pope. The decree dated January 21, 2009, in fact, adopted the terms used in a letter by Bishop Fellay dated December 15, 2008, addressed to Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos: “firmly believing in the primacy of Peter and in his prerogatives.” The paradoxes in this Instruction reflect the diplomatic compromises made in order to facilitate the hitherto laborious application of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, but they substantially rest on the oft-repeated affirmation that there and World is doctrinal continuity between the Tridentine Mass and the Novus Ordo Missae: The Roman Missal promulgated by Pope Paul VI and the last edition prepared under Pope John XXI I I are two forms of the Roman Liturgy, defined respectively as ordinaria and extraordinaria: they are two usages of the one Roman Rite, one alongside the other. Both are the expression of the same lex orandi of the Church. (No. 6) Now, on this point we can only note the opposition between two Prefects of the Congregation for the Doctrine for the Faith, Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani, in his Short Critical Study of the New Order of Mass [the “Ottaviani Intervention”], and his [remote] successor, Cardinal William Levada, signer of the present Instruction. In his study, submitted to Paul VI on September 3, 1969, Cardinal Ottaviani wrote: “The Novus Ordo represents, both as a whole and in its details, a striking departure from the Catholic theology of the Mass as it was…definitively fixed” by the Council of Trent. And Cardinal Alfons Maria Stickler, librarian of the Holy Roman Church and archivist of the Secret Archives of the Vatican, wrote on November 27, 2004, on the occasion of the reprinting of the Short Critical Study by Cardinals Ottaviani and Bacci: The analysis of the Novus Ordo made by these two cardinals has lost none of its value nor, unfortunately, of its relevance…. The results of the reform are considered by many today to be devastating. It was to the credit of Cardinals Ottaviani and Bacci that they discovered very quickly that the change of the rites led to a fundamental change of doctrine. Indeed, it is because of the serious failings and omissions of the Novus Ordo Missae and of the reforms introduced under Paul VI that the Priestly Society of St. Pius X seriously questions, if not the validity in principle, then at least the “legitimacy of the Holy Mass or the Sacraments celebrated in the forma ordinaria” (No. 19), since it is so difficult, as Cardinal Ottaviani had already noted in 1969, to consider the Mass of St. Pius V and that of Paul VI to be in the same “apostolic and unbroken tradition” (No. 3). No doubt the Instruction Universae Ecclesiae, which continues along the lines of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, is an important stage in recognizing the rights of the traditional Mass, but the difficulties in applying the Motu Proprio which the Instruction strives to address will be fully resolved only by a study of the profound divergence, not so much between the Society of St. Pius X and the Holy See, as between the Traditional Mass and the Novus Ordo Mass. This divergence cannot be the subject of a debate about the form (“Extraordinary” or “Ordinary”), but about their doctrinal basis. 39 flavigny: The Seminary of the Holy curé d’Ars celebrates Its 25th Anniversary O n Saturday, June 4, on the occasion of the 25th anniversar y of its foundation, the International Seminary of the Saint Curé of Ars at Flavigny will welcome Fr. Niklaus Pfluger, first assistant of the Society of Saint Pius X, who will celebrate the Mass of Thanksgiving at 10:15 a.m. A repast will be served at 12:30 p.m. followed by a play, Hell Versus the Altar, performed by the seminarians at 3:00 p.m. An exposition of photographs will trace the history of the seminary. (Souce: DICI) A new Papal Tiara A delegation of Catholics and Orthodox Christians offered a tiara to Pope Benedict XVI. The tiara was ordered by the German business man Dieter Philippi. It was made by Orthodox Christians in Bulgaria. (Source: DICI, No. 235, May 19, 2011) www.angeluspress.org THE ANGELUS • July 2011 40 Church and World Allies urged Pope Pius XII’s “Silence” ROME, MAY 17, 2011.–The United States and Great Britain discouraged Pope Pius XII from speaking out against Nazi brutality, warning the Pope that a public protest could have grave consequences. The Allies’ recommendation is reported in a document unearthed recently by the New York-based Pave the Way Foundation, founded by an American Jew, Gary Krupp. Krupp asserted that these revelations help to give context for the way in which Pius XII handled the Nazi horror. The document is correspondence between the British representative to the Holy See, Sir D’Arcy Osborne, and Myron Taylor, his U.S. counterpart. A Nov. 7, 1944, note signed by Taylor’s assistant, Franklin C. Gowen, reports to Taylor that Osborne “called and said that he feared the Holy Father may make a Radio appeal on behalf of Jews in Hungary and that in his appeal he may also criticise what the Russians are doing in occupied territory.” “Sir D’Arcy said something should be done to prevail upon the Pope not to do this,” the note added, “as it would have very serious political repercussions.” documents destroyed Another note between the envoys’ offices references a letter about help for Jewish refugees. The note “clearly states that the letter must be destroyed in order to prevent it from falling into enemy hands,” Krupp said. Osborne wrote the May 20, 1944, note to Harold Tittman, another of Taylor’s assistants. The British representative tells the U.S. envoy’s assistant that he will destroy the letter, saying that if it were to fall into enemy hands it would incrimiTHE ANGELUS • July 2011 www.angeluspress.org nate a priest called Father Benedetto. Krupp observed that the destruction of documents was necessarily common during the war. “There are some critics who do not seem to understand that this is why so many written orders also had to be destroyed,” Krupp noted. Ronald Rychlak, a professor at the University of Mississippi Law School and an author of books about Pius XII, also participated in the discovery of the documents. other documents Further information about the Catholic response to the Holocaust has been uncovered by Dimitri Cavalli, a journalist, researcher, and contributor to Pave the Way archives and publications. He has located documents from an international Jewish press called the JTA (Jewish Telegraph Agency). One release dated June 28, 1943, reports Vatican Radio denunciations of the treatment of Jews in France. Cavalli also discovered a May 19, 1940, Jewish Chronicle magazine published by B’nai B’rith featuring Pope Pius XII’s picture on the front cover with the lead article titled “The Pope’s Jewish scholars.” This article reports how the Vatican was hiring Jewish academics who were fired by Italian institutions due to Mussolini’s anti-Semitic laws. On January 15, 1943, the JTA also reported a confrontation between Cardinal Pierre-Marie Gerlier, archbishop of Lyons, when he was visited by Nazi authorities in France. The Nazis told the archbishop they would leave the Church alone if the cardinal and other clergy would not oppose the anti-Jewish laws and would stop protecting Jews. The cardinal responded that the French clergy did not engage in politics but “is obeying the Pope.” He cut short the confrontation telling the Nazis, “You no doubt know that the Holy Father has condemned the anti-Semitic laws and all antiJewish measures.” Another JTA article published in the review Advocate, from Feb. 5, 1943, reported a strong condemnation of Nazi theories from Cardinal Jusztinián Györg Serédi, O.S.B., archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest. The declaration, broadcast on Radio Vatican, forcefully condemned Nazi racial theories and demanded that Hungary protect “all those in danger because of their convictions or their race.” On the same page is a short article on how Mussolini is reported to be relaxing his Jewish racial laws in order to try to strengthen his relations with the Vatican. The Jewish Chronicle of London dated Sept. 9, 1942, reports that Joseph Goebbels, minister of propaganda in Nazi Germany, printed ten million pamphlets in multiple languages for distribution in Europe and Latin America, condemning Pope Pius XII for his pro-Jewish stance. Proof Krupp told ZENIT that these recently discovered documents are but a drop in the bucket compared to the “over 46,000 pages of news articles, original documents, research materials, along with numerous eyewitness testimonies” amassed to date by Pave the Way Foundation confirming the aid to Jews provided by Pius XII. This material is available at the Pave the Way site. (Source: Zenit; Pave the Way Foundation) QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 41 Fr. Peter R. Scott, FSSPX Is Vatican II the cause of the world-wide pedophile scandal? Pope Benedict XVI’s March 20, 2010, Pastoral Letter to the Catholics of Ireland goes a long way towards answering this question, for it is the first Papal document to analyze the causes of the scandal. It is historical for more than one reason. It is first of all an admission of a grave and sinful decadence in the Church, such as has not been seen since the Council of Trent: “I can only share in the dismay and the sense of betrayal that so many of you have experienced on learning of these sinful and criminal acts and the way Church authorities in Ireland dealt with them” (§1). It is secondly an admission that the bishops are responsible for these faults, and that these were not just administrative faults, but grievous, and indeed mortal, sins. To the bishops, he has to say: “It cannot be denied that some of you and your predecessors failed, at times grievously, to apply the longestablished norms of canon law to the crime of child abuse” (§11), and to the priests and religious he apologizes for the sins of the bishops: “All of us are suffering as a result of the sins of our confreres who betrayed a sacred trust or failed to deal justly and responsibly with allegations of abuse”(§10). Thirdly, it is an admission that this scandalous moral breakdown is the worst thing that has happened to the Church in Ireland since the Protestant revolt of the 16th century, and that it has done more harm to the Church in Ireland than four centuries of persecution of Catholicism by the British invaders: [They] “have obscured the light of the Gospel to a degree that not even centuries of persecution succeeded in doing” (§4). CAUSES OF CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE Such moral corruption in the higher echelons of the Church must have a cause, and it is the fourth and most important admission made by the Pope. We are grateful to Benedict XVI to have analyzed the reasons that brought this about in Ireland. His conclusions apply elsewhere, and are a real indictment of the post-conciliar church. He first of all gives the principal causes, and then lists some contributing factors in a brutally truthful and real analysis of the problem. First of all the principal causes: All too often, the sacramental and devotional practices that sustain faith and enable it to grow, such as frequent confession, daily prayer and annual retreats, were neglected. Significant, too, was the tendency during this period [recent decades], also on the part of priests and religious, to adopt ways of thinking and assessing secular realities without sufficient reference to the Gospel [= humanism and secularism]. The programme of renewal proposed by the Second Vatican Council was sometimes misinterpreted and, indeed, in the light of the profound social changes that were taking place, it was far from easy to know how best to implement it. In particular, there was a well-intentioned but misguided tendency to avoid penal approaches to canonically irregular situations. It is in this overall context that we must try to understand the disturbing problem of child sexual abuse, which has contributed in no small measure to the weakening of faith and the loss of respect for the Church and her teachings. (§4) While still exempting Vatican II itself from responsibility, the Pope makes it quite clear that it is the new man-centered religion which is the source of the problem, which is nothing other than the adaptation of the Church to the world so much wanted by Vatican II (Gaudium et Spes). He admits that it is a result of the lack of faith, and that this lack of faith is a direct consequence of the abandonment of those traditional practices that express and enliven our faith in the divinity of Christ (such as frequent confession, daily prayer and retreats), that constantly purify the soul from its faults, that maintain a spirit of prayer and contemplation, so necessary for the separation from the world. Furthermore, and this is of fundamental importance, he admits that nobody really knew how to implement Vatican II and yet maintain the spirit of faith. It is the beginning of asking the fundamental question: what kind of pastoral council could it have been that was so difficult to understand and interpret that the Pope himself admits “that is was far from easy to know best how to implement it”? A true pastoral council is one that gives direction, not one that causes confusion. One example the Pope himself gives of the failure to know how to correctly implement the Council has been the constant refusal to apply the Church’s canonical penalties. However, this was clearly done for a reason. The Pope does not yet admit it, but clearly it was that the Council’s novel consideration of human dignity excludes in practice the need for discipline, just as God’s all-mercifulness evacuates the need for justice. This avowal by the Sovereign Pontiff is historical and is very close to admitting that it was the humanism and secular spirit of Vatican II itself that undermined the Faith in its practical implementation, and that consequently brought about this moral corruption. The Pope goes on to list some of the contributing factors: inadequate screening of candidates for the priestly and religious life, insufficient formation, authoritarianism and the “failure to apply existing canonical penalties” (§4). Although the latter is the more serious, it could www.angeluspress.org THE ANGELUS • July 2011 42 only have happened on account of a general, widespread lukewarmness, bringing with it indifference to the gravity of the sin and offences against Almighty God. Although the Pope does not state the obvious explicitly, he does request the conversion that is the logical consequence of it, and this as his first “decisive action” that he asks of the bishops: “This must arise, first and foremost, from your own self-examination, inner purification and spiritual renewal. The Irish people rightly expect you to be men of God, to be holy, to live simply, to pursue personal conversion daily” (§11). It is certainly a horrifying disgrace that it takes civil investigations to bring to light a degree of moral corruption so perverse and so opposed to even natural goodness and uprightness as to cause disgust and anger amongst pagans and those who have no religion–and this in the very Church, Christ’s own mystical body, of which Our Lord said: “You are the light of the world.…So let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven” (Mt. 5:14, 16). We are greatly saddened that it has taken such a scandal to awaken Catholics to the consequences of nearly a half century–two generations–impregnated with the spirit of Vatican II. Fr. Peter Scott was ordained by Archbishop Lefebvre in 1988. After assignments as seminary professor, U.S. District Superior, and Rector of Holy Cross Seminary in Goulburn, Australia, he is presently Headmaster of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Academy in Wilmot, Ontario, Canada. TheLasTWord In Praise of the Archbishop’s Prudence (continued from p. 43) If then he consecrated the four bishops, it is because he deliberated at length and thought that the crisis in the Church stood a good chance of lasting a long while and that it was necessary to provide for the renewal of the Catholic priesthood; that most likely there would not be bishops who would step forward to succeed him and that the single bishop Rome had finally permitted him to consecrate would not sufficiently guarantee the survival of the work of Tradition he had conducted; and lastly, because he took all the precautions necessary so that the consecrations would not make of the Society in potency an autocephalous church. On such subjects some are shocked to think that Archbishop Lefebvre came to a decision over such inherently fallible conjectures and assessments of circumstances. But the everyday difficulty of leaders is the need to discern unceasingly among different hypotheses those that seem most likely, in order to come to a decision. Of course, we do not wish to minimize the precious interior lights Archbishop Lefebvre received from the Holy THE ANGELUS • July 2011 www.angeluspress.org Ghost when he had to make his way through such difficult circumstances. We wish simply to say that these inspirations did not dispense him from going through all the conjectural and prudential reasoning, and that the same applies to us in every decision we have to make throughout our lives. The decision to consecrate bishops, which will go down in the history of the Church as the most illustrious and important of his life, was the culmination of a long and admirable prudential development. Archbishop Lefebvre only took this resolution when he knew that it was henceforth the sole means left to him to assure the perpetuity of the priesthood and of the Catholic faith. …We conclude that time has shown Archbishop Lefebvre to be right. Situated on a summit between the impasse of the sedevacantist positions and the muzzling of the canonically correct societies, the Society of St. Pius X owes to the fidelity and prudence of Archbishop Lefebvre the fact that it has been able, all these years, to be free to confess the faith. Clearly, the Society more than ever owes this confession of faith to God so that revealed truth may continue to be transmitted on earth. It owes it to souls, for faith is necessary for salvation. It owes it to the misguided authorities of the Church in order that a voice may still be heard and give them a chance to find the path from which they have strayed. Dear friends, we must never weary of standing firm in the faith of our fathers. Let us not flag in the grand combat, which we ask the grace to lead until our last breath for the honor of our Lord Jesus Christ and for the transmission of our divine heritage to succeeding generations. To the contrary, let us bring forth good from evil and strive to grow every day in faith, hope, and charity in the midst of this time of adversity. Let us ask the signal grace of an increase in the theological virtues in our souls every day of our lives, so as to correspond ever more to the admirable designs of God concerning us. Excerpted and translated from Fr. de Cacqueray’s Letter to Friends and Benefactors #78, May 2011. The full text [French] is available online at laportelatine.org. TheLasTWord 43 Fr. Régis de Cacqueray, FSSPX In Praise of the Archbishop’s Prudence T wenty years ago, on the Feast of the Annunciation in the year 1991, Archbishop Lefebvre entered into eternity. Gratitude urges us not to let this anniversary pass by without paying homage to our venerated founder.…As you know, his most important act, his decisive act, his heroic act, was the consecration of four bishops in 1988 despite the pope’s interdiction. It is for this act of the episcopal consecrations that we are most beholden to him because it is thanks to him that the priesthood and the Catholic Mass have been perpetuated whole and entire. We would like first to recall the steps that led Archbishop Lefebvre to decide upon the consecrations before saying a word about how subsequent events have validated the spirit of wisdom that inspired this decision. As we read in his Open Letter to Confused Catholics, for a long time Archbishop Lefebvre hoped that one or several other bishops would take a stand at his sides to lead the combat for the safeguarding of Catholic Tradition against the current devastating the Church. But the years passed; Archbishop Lefebvre and Bishop de Castro Mayer were getting old. If undoubtedly a few rare bishops privately confided to him their support or their nearness, none announced his intention in the short or long term of coming to his aid. But the crisis in the Church over the course of John Paul II’s pontificate continued to reveal the outlandish extremes to which the new conciliar dogmas led: not only was there no sign of an about-face from these errors, but a libertarian wind pushed the scandals ever further, even unto the Assisi meetings and the kissing of the Koran. The spectacle of a lesser evil. Who the Church’s plight, then would manage to hold out in such the path along which its leaders were drivan outcome?... ing it, thus showed If Archbishop Archbishop Lefebvre Lefebvre reached the the persistence of prudent conviction the state of necessity that he ought to conin which Catholics secrate bishops, it was found themselves. It because he had suchad been the state of ceeded in discerning necessity that deteramong the multiple mined him to found conjectures suggested to him those that his Fraternity and to seemed most likely. ordain priests to come Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre to the aid of souls, as these were ex- St. Thomas Aquinas, in his analyposed to a real spiritual distress for sis of the virtue of prudence, places which no respite appeared forth- foresight [providentia = providence or coming. The necessity was grave foresight] among the “quasi-integral” because of the proximate danger of parts of the virtue, that is, the differlosing faith or grace, and this neces- ent virtues that concur for the persity was common because it was the fect act of a virtue. Foresight “imhabitual situation of the life of Cath- plies the notion of something distant, olics worldwide. The existence of a to which that which occurs in the genuine state of necessity was even present has to be directed.” Archacknowledged, to a certain point, by bishop Lefebvre applied himself to some official voices in the Church. know how the crisis in the Church But who knew how long heresy would most likely evolve. Had he would continue to hold sway in the prognosticated that it would be rapChurch? And if the crisis were to idly resolved and that the state of be prolonged, what would happen necessity would cease, he would if there were not bishops to succeed have dispensed with the consecraArchbishop Lefebvre? The priests tions. Had he hoped that after his ordained by him would try until death bishops would arise to take death–of this he had no doubt–to re- up the relay, he would not have conmain faithful and to come to the aid secrated bishops either. Had he asof souls. But even during this peri- sumed, in view of the one bishop od, who would confirm the children Rome had declared itself ready to and who would ordain new priests? concede him, that the Society would And especially what would become be able to continue freely its work of future generations deprived of for the Church, he perhaps would priests, deprived of Masses, per- not have proceeded with the epishaps reduced to subsisting with copal consecrations. Lastly, had only the sacrament of baptism? Re- he deemed that the consecrations turn to their parishes? But the faith- would ineluctably lead the Society ful had left them precisely to keep into becoming a little independent the faith! To advise them to return church, he would not have consethere would be criminal! To stay at crated bishops. home to pray their missals appeared (continued on p. 42) www.angeluspress.org www.angeluspress.org THE ANGELUS • July 2011 The Blessed Sacrament Prayerbook Fr. Lasance This book is split into two parts. The first contains prayers needed throughout one’s day, including morning and evening prayers, the Ordinary of the Mass, the Propers for many common feasts and Masses. The second part of the book contains many novenas and prayers to a variety of different saints as well as some indulgenced prayers, and a special emphasis on all of the prayers necessary and recommended for devotional visits to Our Lord present in the Blessed Sacrament. 1248 pp. Gold-embossed leather cover. Ribbon. STK# 8462✱ $49.95 The Raccolta The official collection of all indulgenced prayers This is the official collection of all indulgenced prayers (800+) in 1957. Numerous hardto-find prayers for specific needs. These prayers touch practically every spiritual and physical need. 752 pp. Leather hardcover. STK# 6765✱ $39.95 The King of the Golden City An Allegory for Children Mother Mary Loyola The King of the Golden City is a fascinating tale which breathes into the heart of the child a deep understanding of Holy Communion while fostering a profound love for Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. Originally published in 1921, this classic tale has long been a favorite of young and old. This quality gift edition features 8 full-color paintings which bring the story to life for young readers. A perfect book for preparing and celebrating a child's First Holy Communion! This book was originally written for a young child who asked Mother Loyola what she must do to prepare for her First Holy Communion. 120 pp. Softcover. STK# 8504. $16.95 My Daily Bread Fr. Anthony J. Paone One of the greatest practical guides on the spiritual life ever written. A pocket summary of spiritual doctrine divided into three sections, each covering one of the three steps of spiritual growth: Purification, Imitation, and Union. A perennial classic. 439 pp. Leatherette cover. STK# 6438. $8.50 Blessed Be God Frs. Callan & McHugh Blessed Be God has been the most popular Catholic prayer book in America for generations. Newly reprinted in a deluxe pocket-size edition that closely resembles the original specifications. This edition includes a bonded leather softcover, rounded corners, sewn binding, gilded page edges, a marking ribbon and more. Along with the usual array of traditional morning and evening prayers, litanies, novenas, Stations of the Cross, prayers for the sick and dying, it also includes rare devotions for Holy Days, Special Feasts, Holy Week, Paschaltide, Ember Days, Rogation Days, Days of the Week, Seasons of the Year, and Months of the Year. In addition, there is a entire collection of prayers for Eucharistic Devotion, including a Holy Hour and the famous Forty Hours’ Adoration once practiced in every parish church! INCREDIBLY COMPREHENSIVE. 754 pp. Gold-embossed bonded leather cover. Gilded edges. Ribbon. Index. STK# 8164✱ $34.00 Imitation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Back in print for the first time in nearly 100 years Rev. Peter J. Arnoudt, S.J. “This book will lead souls to sanctity.” Full of wisdom for every type of person, and written with such natural simplicity. Some say this book is even more inspiring than The Imitation of Christ. Written in a format in which Our Lord speaks to the reader through the holy author, Fr. Arnoudt, S.J., it “points out the path to every virtue and perfection.” 734 pp. Black leatherette hardcover. Pocket Size. STK# 8447. $33.00 Letters to an Altar Boy Fr. Rosage This is a book of letters for all altar boys who, from the smallest one up, are the most important people in their parishes. 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An extremely practical book, it leaves not one phase of the altar boy’s life untouched. . . 120 pp. Softcover. Color photographs. STK# 8497 ✱ $15.95 Christians Courageous Bold heroes of the Faith Aloysius Roche For every half-dozen heroes antiquity could muster, Christendom produced thousands. Instead of drying up the spirit of adventure, the Fire of Pentecost kindled it anew and made it burn with an unquenchable flame. The Master’s parting instructions to His followers resulted in a host of enterprises quite as daring as any to be found in Homer. Some of these are brought vividly to life in these stories about courageous Christians from the earliest days of Christianity to modern times. Although written primarily for youthful readers, they are sure to interest all those to whom the achievements of their fellow Christians are a matter of pride and encouragement. Here you’ll read about, among others: 192 pp. Softcover. STK# 8404✱ $14.95 The pagan actor whose mockery of the Faith led him to convert and even die a Christian martyr ● The blind boy who became an adviser to great saints ● The brave bishop who successfully defended the true Faith—against his fellow bishops and even the Emperor! ● The monk who was martyred in the Coliseum trying to stop the bloodshed of the gladiators there ● The priest who suffered cruel deprivations to convert a savage tribe—with a dictionary! ● The Irish monk who crossed the Sea of Darkness to discover America ● The celebrated Spanish novelist who helped save Christendom from the Turks at the Battle of Lepanto ● The unarmed bishop who, with words alone, drove Attila the Hun from the gates of Rome. The stirring adventures of these brave Christian souls remind us that God has in hand for each of us a unique mission, worthy of all our imagination and of all our daring. Crusader King Susan Peek 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! 190 pp. Softcover. STK# 8509✱ $13.95 Saint George: Knight of Lydda Anthony Cooney Anthony Cooney has re-examined the historical sources for the life of St. George, and has forged these into a stirring and original historical novel. Here we rediscover St. George as Giorgios Theognosta, the Roman cavalry officer from Lydda in Palestine, a Christian during the last days of the pagan Empire, a brave man who stands up for his faith during the final great wave of persecution. The action-filled narrative reveals much about the Christian Church of the third century, about life in the Roman army, and about how extraordinary legends can arise through the affectionate exaggeration and symbolic story-telling of a devoted scribe. 320 pp. Softcover. STK# 8387✱ $24.95 The Song at the Scaffold Gertrude Von Le Fort A novelette set in the time of the French Revolution, an epoch that vividly demonstrated man's capacity for both heroism and brutality. It is a very intense story dealing primarily with the Carmelite Convent at Compiegne but also encompassing the Paris mob, the Reign of Terror, women revolutionists, etc., climaxing in the martyrdom of sixteen Carmelite nuns. Excellent reading for both students and adults! 111 pp. Hardcover. STK# 8438. $16.00 CONSECRATING YOUR HOME Sacramental Record: Consecration to the Sacred Heart and Immaculate Heart Encourage the family (or at least yourself), to consecrate themselves to the Sacred Heart and record it with this beautiful reproduction of the Sacred Heart. Also suitable for Enthroning the Home to the Sacred Heart. Has an area to record your official consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary as well. This print will last for generations to come. Printed on Quality, Acid Free Paper. 11" x 14" STK# 8418 $7.95 Enthronement of the Sacred Heart Record This beautiful print will serve as a memento of the Enthronement that will last for generations to come. The print has an area to record the date of the enthronement and the name of all family members. 11" x 14" STK# 8459✱ $7.95 8" x 10" STK# 8460✱ $4.95 Enthronement of the Sacred Heart in the Home The Enthronement of the Sacred Heart is a crusade to establish the Social Reign of the Sacred Heart in society through the family, the social cell. It is based on Our Lord's statement to St. Margaret Mary, “I will reign through My Heart!” This booklet contains an organized campaign to restore Christ to the family through a program of litanies and other prayers that carefully guide you through the Enthronement Ceremony. 18 pp. Softcover. STK# 8433✱ $2.95 Consecration of a Child to the Immaculate Heart of Mary This elegant booklet gives the parents’ consecration formula with a brief explanation of the importance of the act on the back. It can also serve as a memento as it contains a place on the inside to record the event. Text and image printed on all four pages in dark blue on speckled ash-blue cover stock. 4 pp. STK# 8362. $0.50 SHIPPING & HANDLING 5-10 days 2-4 days USA For eign Up to $50.00 $50.01 to $100.00 Over $100.00 $4.00 $6.00 FREE 25% of subtotal Up to $50.00 $50.01 to $100.00 Over $100.00 $8.00 $10.00 $10.00 FLAT FEE! ($10.00 minimum) 48 Contiguous States only. UPS cannot ship to PO Boxes. angelus Press 2915 Forest Avenue Kansas City, Missouri 64109 www.angeluspress.org ● 1-8 00-9 6 6-73 37 Please visit our website to see our entire selection of books and music.