“Instaurare omnia in Christo”

The True Notion of Mercy
Devotion to the Sacred Heart
The Jubilee of Mercy
The Visitation Order

May - June 2016

“Not a few children of the Church
mar, by their too many sins and
imperfections, the beauty of this
Mother’s features which they reflect
in themselves. Not all Christians
are distinguished by that holiness
of behavior to which God calls
them; not all sinners have returned
to the Father’s house, which they
unfortunately abandoned, that they
may be clothed once again with the
‘first robe.’”
(Pius XII, Haurietis Aquas)
Apse in the church of the Sacred Heart, Paris

Letter
from the
Publisher
Dear readers,
Credidimus Caritati, the familiar motto of our founder, Archbishop Lefebvre, represents
a theme most fitting for he who was a missionary throughout his long life, whether as an
Apostolic Delegate in equatorial West Africa, or as the tireless envoy travelling the world
as the head of the Holy Ghost Fathers or of the Society of St. Pius X. Credidimus Caritati is
indeed the heart-felt theme of every devout missionary.
“God is Charity.” And from that source came the Word made flesh, who gave us His Heart
on Good Friday. This divine Heart is the symbol of God’s love for us, poor sinners. When man
mirrors this divine gift, that charity has a name: sanctifying grace. St. Paul, in the twilight of
his life, exclaimed with enthusiasm: “God’s charity urges us on. God’s grace has not been vain
in me.”
St. Paul is the prototype of the missionary. His life was poured out as a libation for saving
souls from perdition through his many works. Our catechism lists the various physical and
spiritual works of mercy being performed by those souls whose love of God takes on flesh by
their caring for the wounds of others in soul and body.
Mercy takes on many aspects, and God may call us in myriad ways to practice it at home
and on street corners, in the seclusion of private prayer, on a bed of suffering, or in the defense of God’s rights before judges and society.
The first charity is that of the truth. Ours is a world dying of half-truths, of “truths diminished by the sons of men—diminutae sunt veritates a filiis hominum” (Psalm 11). In today’s
media world, replete with truths so pruned as to please the listeners’ ears and put them to
sleep, “mercy” echoes through every screen as a mantra. Yet, without the other related virtues of justice and fortitude, mercy towards God’s enemies means simply surrender, mercy
towards sin means only merciless and anti-pastoral presumption.
May and June are months of grace, and graced twice as much by the Jubilee Year dedicated to divine mercy. May this issue dedicated to the keystone virtue of Christian charity and
the Jubilee of Mercy help us make the Christian discernment between the Gospel’s integral
message and the seductively merciless “mercy”. May the divine Heart of Jesus be fully acknowledged and adored by all families and societies!
Fr. Jürgen Wegner
Publisher

May - June 2016
Volume XXXIX, Number 3

Contents
Letter from the Publisher

Publisher
Fr. Jürgen Wegner
Editor-in-Chief
Mr. James Vogel
Managing Editor
Fr. Dominique Bourmaud
Copy Editor
Mrs. Suzanne Hazan
Design and Layout
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(Eindhoven, The Netherlands)
Mr. Simon Townshend
Director of Operations
Mr. Brent Klaske

		
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4

Theme: The True Notion of Mercy
––Devotion to the Sacred Heart
––The Jubilee of Mercy
––“You Visited Me”
––The Visitation Order
––The Whole Law

6
13
18
22
26

Faith and Morals
––Paschaltide and Ascension
––Haurietis Aquas

32
37

Spirituality
––An Anti-Liberal Theologian
––The Order of Charity

41
45

Christian Culture
––Invention and Exaltation
––Paintings of the Crucifixion
––Spiritual Infancy in Old Age

50
54
58

“Instaurare omnia in Christo”

The Angelus (ISSN 10735003) is published bi-monthly
under the patronage of St. Pius X and Mary,
Queen of Angels. Publication office is located at
PO Box 217, St. Marys, KS 66536.
PH (816) 753-3150; FAX (816) 753-3557.
Periodicals Postage Rates paid at Kansas City, MO.
Manuscripts and letters to the editor are welcome
and will be used at the discretion of the editors.
The authors of the articles presented here are solely
responsible for their judgments and opinions.
Postmaster sends address changes to the address above.
©2016 by Angelus Press. Official Publication of the
Priestly Society of Saint Pius X for the United States and Canada

––Educating Boys
––The St. Mary’s Down Under
––Questions and Answers

62
65
69

News from Tradition
––Church and World
––The Meaning of a Jubilee
––The Last Word

73
79
87

Theme The True Notion of Mercy

Devotion to
the Sacred
Heart
by Fr. Pierre Duverger, SSPX

Theologians tell us that we adore at once
Jesus’ Heart of flesh, symbol of love, and the love
symbolized by this Heart, inseparable from each
other, one and indivisible. They tell us also that
our worship is directed to the Person of the Word,
made manifest by this Heart and its love. Thus,
in the fullest sense, the Sacred Heart is the whole
of Jesus, as He reveals Himself to us through the
Incarnation.
The liturgy considers the Heart of flesh
at times, in the Litany for instance, with the
invocations “Heart of Jesus, formed by the Holy
Ghost in the womb of the Virgin Mother” and
“Heart of Jesus, pierced with a lance”, and at
other times its love, as in this invocation: “Heart
of Jesus, burning furnace of charity, have mercy
on us.” But the invocation is always addressed to
the Person Himself, to this divine Person who can
6

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May - June 2016

take pity on us, console us, and heal our misery,
because He is possessed of infinite majesty and
infinite power. Always before us is the all-lovable
and all-loving Person of Christ Jesus.
The love and the lovability of His Person are
revealed in many ways, especially through His
virtues, for we can say that the virtues of Jesus
are as it were the charm, the flower of His charity.
But virtues are nourished by grace, their fertile
source, and grace itself suggests the idea of
redeeming blood. Devotion to the Sacred Heart
reveals the virtues of Jesus to us: Cor Jesu,
virtutum omnium abyssus; the graces of Jesus,
and this is why the Litany invokes the Sacred
Heart as a source of life and of sanctity: Cor Jesu,
fons vitae et sanctitatis; the blood of Jesus, and
this is again why the Litany invokes the Sacred
Heart as a propitiation for our sins: Cor Jesu,

propitiatio pro peccatis nostris, in the same way
as St. John said, “The blood of Jesus Christ his
Son cleanseth us from all sin.”

Love of Reparation
Devotion to the Sacred Heart contemplates
and adores in Him the love of the Savior, the
source of all His blessings, from the Nativity to
the consummation of the Redemption in heaven.
Of this devotion another, more special devotion
is the magnificent fruit: the devotion to the
Eucharistic Heart of Jesus.
It consists, according to His Holiness Leo
XIII, in “rendering love, gratitude, veneration
and homage to this act of supreme dilection in
virtue of which our Divine Redeemer, pouring
out all the riches of His Heart, instituted the
adorable sacrament of the Eucharist, to remain
with us until the end of time.” (Brief of Leo XIII,
establishing the Pontifical Church of St. Joachim
as the general centre of the Archconfraternity
of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, February 16,
1903.)
St. Margaret Mary did not receive the mission
of revealing this devotion, which sprang up well
before her time. Her mission was nonetheless
of great nobility and importance: she was
the instrument chosen by God to set forth
the fullness of the devotion in its spirit and
its practices, and impress upon it a universal
movement and reach.
“My Divine Heart,” our Lord once told her,
“is so impassioned with love for men, and for
you in particular, that, no longer able to contain
within Itself the flames of Its ardent charity,
it must spread them through you and make
Itself manifest to mankind to enrich them
with these precious treasures that I reveal to
you, which contain the sanctifying and saving
graces necessary to bring them back from
the edge of perdition. I have chosen you as an
abyss of unworthiness and ignorance for the
accomplishment of this great plan, so that all
will be done by Me.” (Apparition of December 27,
1673).
Before St. Margaret Mary, this devotion was
practiced not only by a few privileged souls, such

as St. Gertrude and St. Catherine of Siena, but
also, thanks to St. John Eudes, by a large part of
the Christian people. What, then, was lacking?
First of all, the spirit of the devotion was
perfected. Until this time those devoted to the
Sacred Heart had chiefly rendered praise and
thanksgiving to Him. There was no emphasis on
reparation. It was, however, our Lord’s desire
that we realize how unknown is His love and
make reparation. Recognition of the infinite
tenderness of the Divine Love is important, but it
is of equal import to make reparation for the sins
of the world. Of course fervent souls had already
thought of this. But in a time where the Faith was
weakening and the Divine Love was increasingly
disregarded and insulted, it became important
to emphasize reparation. It was Margaret Mary’s
mission to draw the attention of loving souls
toward this aspect of the devotion and to inspire
souls to reparation, inviting them to turn to the
forgotten and scorned Love:
“Behold this Heart which has loved men so
much that It has spared nothing, exhausting
and consuming Itself to show them Its love:
and in return I receive from most of them only
ingratitude, by their irreverence and their
sacrileges and by the coldness and scorn that
they have for Me in this sacrament of love. But
what is even more painful to Me is that it is
hearts that are consecrated to Me that act this
way.” (Apparition of June 16, 1675.)
This incomprehensible scorn of the love of God
calls for reparation. Jesus asked His servant for
reparation, and through her He asks all generous
souls: “You, at least, give Me the pleasure of
making up for their ingratitude, as much as you
are able…”

Importance of Holy Communion
But here is another important aspect: it is
to Jesus in the Eucharist that this reparation
must primarily be addressed, either because the
Eucharist is, together with the Passion, the most
expressive testimony of God’s love for mankind,
or because it is in the tabernacle and especially
at the Holy Table that we find the Heart of
Jesus nearest to us. Thus the chief reparatory
7

Theme The True Notion of Mercy
practices are related to Communion:
“First of all, you shall receive Me in the Blessed
Sacrament as often as obedience permits…
“Moreover, you shall receive Communion on
the first Friday of each month…
“I ask you that the first Friday following
the octave of Corpus Christi be dedicated to a
special feast to honour My Heart, by receiving
Communion on that day and making honorable
reparation and amends to make up for the
indignities it has borne when exposed in the Holy
Eucharist upon the altar…”

Remedy to Lukewarmness
Lastly, our Lord wished this blessed devotion
to spread across the whole earth as the supreme
remedy to the misfortune of the world dragged
down by the times. Even more than during
St. Gertrude’s time, the world had become
lukewarm. It was time to complete the revelation
of His Divine Heart so that “this world in decline
should regain heat and burn with a new flame.”

8

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May - June 2016

The Savior wishes Christians to comprehend the
gravity of this new advance of love. He invites
His friends to a new effort in spreading to the
farthest-flung parts a devotion to which He has
added multiple promises:
“He showed me,” the saint tells us, “that His
ardent desire to be loved by men and to save
them from the road to perdition down which
Satan rushes them in crowds, caused Him to
form this intention of manifesting His Heart to
men with all the treasures of love, mercy, graces,
sanctification and salvation it contains, so that
He may enrich all those who wish to give Him
and obtain for Him all the love, honor and glory
within their power with an abundance and a
profusion of divine treasures…It is as if this
devotion were a final effort of His love which
wished to favor men in these last centuries with
such a loving redemption to withdraw them from
the empire of Satan…and bring us into the sweet
liberty of the empire of His love, which He wishes
to reestablish in the hearts of all those who
embrace this devotion.” (Gauthey, Vie et Oeuvres
[Life and Works] vol. II, p. 567, Paris, 1915.)

Requirements
What does devotion to the Sacred Heart
require of us?
Devotion to the Sacred Heart does not involve
any new commandments: it is founded on the
basic act of all Christian and supernatural life:
the act of love. This cult consists in an attitude
of the soul, a disposition of all our faculties to
return to our Lord love for love.
All the writings of St. Margaret Mary show
that the fundamental act of our devotion towards
the Divine Heart is an act of love. One day, our
Lord removed her heart and set in its place a
burning flame, telling her, “Here, My beloved,
is a precious token of My love; enclosed in your
side is this little spark of My love’s most burning
flames, to be a heart to you and consume you
until your last moment.” (ibid., pp. 69-70.) From
then on, the saint’s life was consumed with love
for the Master’s Heart. She wrote to Mother de
Saumaise, “He will reign despite His enemies
and will become the Master and possessor of our
hearts, for the principal purpose of this devotion
is to convert souls to His love.” The voice of the
Church confirmed these words. In his encyclical
of June 28, 1888, Leo XIII wrote, “Jesus has no
more burning desire than to see the fire of love
which devours His own Heart ignited in souls!
Let us then go to Him who in exchange for His
charity asks only the return of His love.”
What is new about the devotion to the Sacred
Heart is first of all the consideration of the love of
Jesus for us specifically, a love symbolized by His
Heart of flesh.
The act of love asked of us is directed towards
a particular object: our Lord’s love for us.
However, that is not all. It is not only divine
love considered in itself, in the infinite richness
of its gifts, it is this same love disregarded and
outraged. Our Lord Himself complained of this
to St. Margaret Mary, speaking of the Eucharist:
“As for recognition, I receive from most only
ingratitude through their irreverence and their
sacrileges, and through the coldness and the
contempt they show Me in the sacrament of love.”
The love of the divine Master, disregarded
and outraged: such is the particular object of the
devotion to His Sacred Heart. From this follows

the chief element in its practice, the spirit of
reparation.
The idea of reparation in devotion to the
Sacred Heart does indeed seem to be the chief
element, established by our Lord Himself to St.
Margaret Mary. Not, indeed, that this idea was
new to Christianity, for it is on the contrary
an integral part of the Redemption. Before St.
Margaret Mary, however, it was not related to
devotion to the Sacred Heart.
Therein lies the originality of St. Margaret
Mary’s work. The Sacred Heart and reparation
are inseparable in her thought and her writings:
“The Sacred Heart,” she writes, “asks for
someone to do reparation, who will very humbly
ask God’s pardon for all the injuries done Him in
the most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.” An act of
love addressed to the Sacred Heart of our Lord,
in the spirit of reparation for His disregarded
love, such is the complete formula of devotion to
the Sacred Heart.

Compensation of Justice
The decree of 1765 establishing the feast of
the Sacred Heart, comments that through this
devotion “the memory of the love that brought
the Son of God to take a human nature is
symbolically renewed.” From this authorized
interpretation of devotion to the Sacred Heart, it
can be concluded that its reparative aspect is in
the same spirit in which our Lord accomplished
the Redemption.
The fundamental concept of the Redemption is
the idea of satisfaction. Satisfaction implies first
of all an idea of justice, a wrong done for which
satisfaction is due. Although the satisfaction
of Christ was superabundant, it is nonetheless
the will of the Master that we should bring, in a
certain measure, our cooperation not only for
ourselves but for others.
This satisfaction, considered a compensation
of justice, finds its place in the reparation
required by the cult of the Sacred Heart. To
compensate, in justice, is to bring what is lacking,
to give what was at first refused by oneself, or
what others refuse to give. It is to pay a price for
oneself or others.
9

Theme The True Notion of Mercy
Our Lord, speaking of the abandonment to
which men have subjected Him, told St. Margaret
Mary, “But, at least, give Me the pleasure of
making up for their ingratitude as much as you
are able.” And as the saint showed Him her
weakness, our Lord filled her with His love,
saying to her, “Take this, it will compensate for
what you lack.” (ibid. p. 72.)
Our Lord requires our love, but a love that pays
and compensates for that which others do not
give Him.
The first characteristic of this reparation is
compensation, making up for those who do not
recognize the Divine Love.
The second characteristic makes the
reparation no longer a compensation in justice,
but a compensation of love: it is suffering in
union with the Master.

Compensation of Love
In February 1669, the time of the disorder of
the Carnival, St. Margaret Mary wrote to Mother
de Saumaise: “This charitable Heart seemed to
ask me if I would not keep Him company on the
Cross at this time where He is so abandoned by
the rush each one is in to seek amusement, and
that, by the bitterness that He gives me to taste,
I could in some way alleviate that which sinners
pour into His Sacred Heart; that I should weep
unceasingly with Him to obtain mercy so that sin
does not reach its worst excess.”
Thus to the idea of making satisfaction to God
is added the idea of compassion, which touches
the God-Man directly. The act of love required
by devotion to the Sacred Heart is therefore an
act of love mingled with sorrow. This last aspect
shows how much this devotion expresses the
pure essence of Christianity. The Redemption is
only a sorrowful satisfaction because it is a fruit
of love.
A solemn feast in honor of the Divine Heart,
Holy Hour, Communion in reparation, veneration
of His image: all these forms of the devotion
suggest this characteristic of consolatory
reparation that is essential to this cult.
“I ask you that the first Friday following
the octave of Corpus Christi be dedicated to a
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May - June 2016

special feast to honor My Heart, by the reception
of Communion on that day and by making
honorable reparation and amends to make up for
the indignities It has borne when exposed in the
Holy Eucharist upon the altar.”
A Holy Hour in particular is requested by His
love. “Every night of Thursday to Friday,” our
Lord told St. Margaret Mary, “I will make you
share in the mortal sadness that I desired to feel
in the Garden of Olives. To accompany Me in the
humble prayer that I made then to My Father,
you will rise between eleven and midnight; you
will prostrate yourself one hour with me, face
on the ground, as much to pacify divine anger by
begging for mercy for sinners, as to sweeten in a
fashion the bitterness that I felt when My apostles
abandoned Me, unable to watch even for one hour
with Me.”
The Church has long blessed the nocturnal
prayer required of its monks. Our Lord seems to
consecrate it anew and clarify its meaning: in
the homage of satisfaction it brings to God for
those who do not know Him, it adds, through
the sacrifice it imposes on nature, this consoling
reparation to the Heart of the God-Man, who
makes this hour of prayer into the hour of
Gesthemane.

Fruits of the Devotion
The fruits of this devotion have been listed by
the virgin of Paray, St. Margaret Mary herself,
when she included in her writings the promises
made by the Divine Savior to all those who would
practice this vital devotion. (These promises are
given according to the texts verified with the
greatest care at Paray-le-Monial; the diocesan
authority guarantees their authenticity.)
1. For those who work for the salvation of souls:
“My divine Savior gave me to understand that
those who work for the salvation of souls will
have the skill of touching the most hardened
hearts and will work with marvelous success,
if they themselves are filled with a tender
devotion to His Divine Heart.
2. For communities: “He promised me…that He
will spread the sweet unction of His ardent
charity” on all the communities that honor

Him and place themselves under His special
protection; that He will hold back all the blows
of divine justice to return them to grace when
they fall.
3. For lay persons: “For lay persons, they will
find through this amiable devotion all the help
necessary to their state in life: that is peace
in their families, relief in their labors, the
blessings of heaven on all their enterprises,
consolation in their afflictions; and it is in the
Sacred Heart that they will find their refuge all
their lives and above all at the hour of death.”
4. For homes where an image of the Sacred
Heart is exposed and honored: “Assuring
me that He takes singular pleasure in being
honored under the form of this Heart of flesh,
He wished this image to be exposed in public,
in order, He added, to touch the hard hearts
of men; promising me that He would bestow
abundantly on the hearts of all those who
honored him all the gifts of which He disposes;
and that anywhere this image was exposed
and especially honored, it would draw down all
kinds of blessings.”
5. Promises of graces for all those who devote
themselves to Him: “I feel as if I were lost in
this divine Heart, if I mistake not [this manner
of speech, habitual with the saint, does not
indicate a doubt in her mind, but rather comes
from her humility], as in a bottomless depth,
where He shows me treasures of love and
graces for the persons who will consecrate
themselves and will make sacrifices to give
Him and procure for Him all the honor, love
and glory that is in their power.”
6. Promise of salvation for all those who devote
and consecrate themselves to Him: “Then He
confirmed to me that the pleasure He takes
in being loved, known and honored by His
creatures is so great that, if I am not mistaken,
He promised me that all those who should
devote and consecrate themselves to Him
should never perish.”
7. Promise of a good death for those who
receive Communion on nine consecutive first
Fridays of the month: “One Friday, during
Holy Communion, He said these words to
His unworthy slave, if she is not mistaken:
‘I promise you, in the excessive mercy of My

Heart, that His all-powerful love will grant
to all those who receive Communion on
nine consecutive first Fridays of the month,
the grace of final repentance; they will not
die unprepared or without receiving the
sacraments; My divine Heart will be their
refuge in their final moments.’”
8. Promise of the reign of the Sacred Heart: “Fear
nothing; I will reign despite my enemies and all
those who would oppose it.”
“This Sacred Heart will reign in spite of Satan
and all those he has raised up against Me.”
She heard Him repeat these words: “Heaven
and earth shall pass away, but My word shall not
pass.”
These promises are infinitely sweet. To this
Master all power has been given on heaven
as on earth; nothing resists Him, not even the
rebellious heart. But above all He is a friend who
wishes to be loved at any price and who, without
waiting to be loved in return, makes the interests
of those touched and enveloped by His freely
given love, His own. He sends a wave of love
throughout the world revivifying the priesthood,
renewing religious communities, spreading
through Christian souls, penetrating every home
where the image of the Sacred Heart is honored.
It is a true flood of mercy that purges the
defiance sown by perfidious and glacial heresies,
bringing with it the most consoling assurances
of help during life and at the hour of death. The
culmination of these promises is the mysterious
promise of a terrestrial reign of the Sacred Heart.
The proper grace of the devotion to the Sacred
Heart is the revival of charity in souls. It returns
to religion its true concept and form: that is, not
only an assembly of ritual practices, but above
all a reciprocal love from man to God who gave
him His only Son, to Jesus Christ who delivered
Himself up for us as an oblation and as a sweetsmelling Victim. This reciprocity brings about a
fusion between Jesus Christ who is our head and
we who are His members. Therein lies the true
Christian life.

11

The Jubilee
of Mercy
and the participation of the Society of Saint Pius X

by SSPX Headquarters, Menzingen, Switzerland

An Extraordinary Jubilee
1

Brief Pontifices Maximi (15
February 1879).

2

Brief Militans Jesu (12
March 1881).

3

Encyclical Letter Quod
Auctoritate (22 December
1885).

4

In 1851, in 1854 (for three
months), in 1858 and in
1869-1870.

5

Encyclical Letter Ad Diem
Illum (2 February 1904).

6

Apostolic Letter Magni
Faustique (8 March 1913).

The Holy Year convoked by Pope Francis is an extraordinary jubilee,
since it does not correspond to the 25-year cycle. Church history attests
to the existence of dozens of extraordinary jubilees since 1518. The popes
convoked them both to commemorate anniversaries of coronations or of
ordinations and to avert all sorts of dangers from plague and war or attacks
against the Church by modern States. For example, Pope Leo XIII convoked
an extraordinary jubilee lasting three months at the beginning of his
pontificate,1 then another from March 19 to December 31, 1881,2 and a third
for the year 1886.3 His predecessor had convoked four,4 and his successor,
St. Pius X, organized two extraordinary jubilees, one lasting three-and-ahalf months for the fiftieth anniversary of the definition of the dogma of the
Immaculate Conception,5 the other lasting eight months to commemorate the
peace of Constantine.6
The occasion for the opening of the Holy Door is the fiftieth anniversary
of the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council on December 8, 1965. The
choice of this date to begin the Jubilee Year is the cause of the difficulty.
13

Theme The True Notion of Mercy
7

Cf. Saint Thomas Aquinas,
Summa Theologiae, I-II, q.
7, a. 3, ad 3; q. 18, a. 5, ad 4;
q. 18, a. 10, corpus et ad 1 et 2;
etc.

8

Address on 9 May 1973,
translated from the French
text in Documentation
Catholique, no. 1633 (3
June 1973): 501-503. The
Press Office of the Holy See
explained: “In the present
circumstances, the next Holy
Year acquires particular
importance because it
coincides with the tenth
anniversary of the conclusion
of the Second Ecumenical
Vatican Council, which
intended to be a solemn
appeal of the Church to all her
members that they commit
themselves to an in-depth
renewal of their minds, of
structures and of pastoral
organization for the salvation
of the world” (ibid., 504).

9

Bull of Indiction
Apostolorum Limina of
the Holy Year 1975, abridged
translation in The Tablet (15
June 1974): 20.

But this circumstance does not affect the essence of the jubilee; its act,
ordered to its object, remains the plenary indulgence and the sanctification
of the faithful people. For this occasion or circumstance to affect the jubilee
and distort it, it would be necessary for it to become the specific object or
end thereof.7 Now the conditions for obtaining the indulgence, as spelled out,
are traditional (prayer, confession and communion, visit to a jubilee church).
In the letter containing instructions that he addressed to Cardinal Fisichella
on September 1, 2015, the Pope expresses his intention that “the celebration
of the Holy Year [may] be for all believers a true moment of encounter with
the mercy of God. It is indeed my wish that the Jubilee be a living experience
of the closeness of the Father, whose tenderness is almost tangible, so that
the faith of every believer may be strengthened and thus testimony to it
be ever more effective.” In the Bull of Indiction Misericordiae Vultus, the
purpose of this Holy Year is identical: to celebrate the mercy of the Father
whose face is Jesus Christ (no. 1); to be merciful with others as the Father is
with us (no. 13); to make it “possible for many of God’s [estranged] sons and
daughters to take up once again the journey to the Father’s house” (no. 18);
to promote personal prayer (no. 14), confession (nos. 17-18) and corporal and
spiritual works of mercy (no. 15), etc.

Spirit of Vatican II
The nature of the jubilee does not change because it is marred by
reference to the documents, the spirit, or the reforms of Vatican II (cf. the
choice of the date of the opening in no. 4 and the ecumenical theme in
no. 23), unless one were to maintain that every act of the Pope becomes
illegitimate by that very fact. But if that assumption is granted, then it is easy
to show that the preceding jubilees were illegitimate too, yet the Society did
not abstain from participating in them. It was enough to keep our distance
from the ceremonies for the anniversary of Vatican II, in which we cannot
take part.
In 1975, Paul VI wondered about whether it was opportune to convoke
such a demonstration in our era. But finally he linked the Holy Year to
the renewal desired by the Council that had ended ten years earlier: “The
celebration of the Holy Year can be linked consistently with the spiritual
approach of the Council itself, to which We are anxious to give faithfully a
suitable follow-up....”8 In the Bull of Indiction Apostolorum Limina (May
23, 1974), he pointed out that “ten years after the end of the Ecumenical
Vatican Council II, the Holy Year, it seems to Us, should somehow mark the
completion of a time dedicated to reflection and reform, and start a new
phase of construction, thanks to theological, spiritual and pastoral work....
Thus, during the Holy Year, real progress may be made in the renewal of the
Church and also in the pursuit of certain goals which We have especially
at heart, in accordance with the farsighted spirit of the second Vatican
Council.” “Now that ten years have passed since the second Vatican Council
began the great and salutary work of renewal in the fields of the pastoral
ministry, the practice of penance and the sacred liturgy, We consider it
altogether fitting that this work should be reviewed and carried further....We

14

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10

Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical
Letter Redemptor Hominis
(4 March 1979), no. 8.

11

Bull of Indiction
Incarnationis Mysterium
of the Great Jubilee of the Year
2000 (29 November 1998).
[English translation at Vatican
website.]

12

“In practice, our attitude must
be based on a preliminary
distinction, made necessary
by the extraordinary
circumstances of a pope won
over by liberalism. This is the
distinction we must make:
when the pope says something
in keeping with Tadition, we
follow him; when he says
something that goes against
the Faith, or encourages it, or
allows something to be done
that attacks the Faith, then
we cannot follow him! The
fundamental reason for this
is that the Church, the pope,
and the hierarchy are at the
service of the Faith. They do
not make the Faith, they must
serve it. The Faith cannot be
made; it is immutable, and it
is handed on.” Abp. Lefebvre,
They Have Uncrowned
Him (2009). We find this
preliminary distinction
again on the occasion of the
pilgrimage in the year 2000 in
articles penned by the Superior
of the District of France
published in Fideliter no. 135,
p. 1 and no. 138, p. 2.

shall pursue the application thereof with even more zeal.” Among the steps
to be taken, Paul VI recalled the strength of “the ecumenical movement,
to which the Catholic Church adheres as far as she is able.”9 This tenth
anniversary of the Council did not prevent Archbishop Lefebvre and the
seminary in Ecône from traveling to the great pilgrimage organized in Rome
that year, on May 24-25, 1975.
The Jubilee Year 2000 was the occasion for unworthy apologies, speeches
in the Masonic spirit, interreligious ceremonies, etc., and one cannot
maintain that Pope John Paul II had a clear, orthodox explanation of the
mystery of the Incarnation of Christ, since he developed a modernizing
theology of universal redemption based on Gaudium et Spes 22.2. No
one maintained that one must not participate in that jubilee because of a
false concept of the Incarnation that the Pope promoted.10 The same goes
for the weaknesses of the doctrine about mercy that is currently being
invoked. Moreover, the Bull of Indiction of the Jubilee Year 2000 decisively
declared that it was faithful to Vatican Council II: “The coming of the Third
Millennium prompts the Christian community to lift its eyes of faith to
embrace new horizons in proclaiming the Kingdom of God. It is imperative
therefore at this special time to return more faithfully than ever to the
teaching of the Second Vatican Council, which shed new light upon the
missionary task of the Church in view of the demands of evangelization
today. At the Council, the Church became more deeply conscious both of
the mystery which she herself is and of the apostolic mission entrusted to
her by the Lord. This awareness commits the community of believers to
live in the world knowing that they must be ‘the leaven and, as it were, the
soul of human society, destined to be renewed in Christ and transformed
into the family of God’ (Gaudium et Spes, no. 40). In order to meet this
commitment effectively, the Church must persevere in unity and grow in the
life of communion (Apostolic Letter Tertio Millennio Adveniente [November
10, 1994], no. 36). The imminent approach of the Jubilee offers a powerful
stimulus in this direction.”11
On the contrary, it is obvious that this fiftieth anniversary of the Council
could not be cause for rejoicing, since we denounce and continue to
denounce the errors and the harmful nature of the reforms undertaken in the
Church since Vatican II (ecumenism, religious liberty, the liturgical reform,
etc.). This is the reason why, although we can benefit from the extraordinary
jubilee of Pope Francis to gain the indulgence and to sanctify ourselves as
Roman Catholics, we cannot participate in the official ceremonies which,
anyway, will be organized around the New Mass. As in 1975. As in 2000.

Our Conduct
In his Letter to Friends and Benefactors dated May 24, 2015, the Superior
General of the Society of Saint Pius X clearly indicated the course to follow:
“When the floodgates of grace are opened wide, we must receive
abundantly! A Holy Year is a great grace for all the members of the Church.
We live, after all, by true mercy, as all the pages of the Gospel and of the
traditional liturgy teach us. In keeping with the ‘preliminary discernment’12
15

Theme The True Notion of Mercy
on which Archbishop Lefebvre based the conduct of the Society of Saint Pius
X, in these times of confusion, we reject a diluted mercy and live fully by
whole mercy....
“Let us take this appeal to mercy seriously, as the inhabitants of Nineveh
did! Let us go in search of the lost sheep, let us pray for the conversion of

16

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13

Quoted by Fr. D. Joly, “Vers
Rome: gagner aux pieds
des Apôtres les indulgences
du salut”, in Fideliter 135
(2000): 10.

14

Cited in Manuel des
Indulgences, Thésaurisons
pour le Ciel (Éditions D.F.T.,
2005), 6.

15

Saint Thomas Aquinas,
Summa Theologiae, Suppl.
q. 25, a. 2, ad 1.

souls, let us perform as much as we can all the works of mercy, both material
and especially the spiritual works, for there is a serious shortage of the
latter....
“As for us, dear brothers and sisters in the Faith, we must take advantage
of this Holy Year to ask the God of mercy for an ever deeper conversion
to holiness and implore the graces and pardons of His infinite mercy. We
will prepare for the centennial of the apparitions of Our Lady in Fatima by
practicing devotion to her Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart and propagating
it with all our strength, as she demanded. We will keep begging that her
requests, particularly the consecration of Russia, will be carried out properly
at last. There is no opposition between these thoughts turned toward Mary
and the Year of Mercy—on the contrary! Let us not separate what God wants
to see joined: the Two Hearts of Jesus and Mary, as Our Lord explained to
Sister Lucy of Fatima. Every district of the Society will inform you of the
particular works to be performed in order to benefit from all the graces that
Divine Mercy will grant us during this Holy Year. And in this way we will
offer as well as possible our collaboration with the merciful will of God to
save all people of good will.”
Because of the centennial of the apparitions in Fatima and the major
international pilgrimage to Portugal that we will organize in 2017, God
willing, the General House has planned no major pilgrimage to Rome during
this jubilee of mercy. But nothing prevents seminaries, districts, and priories
from organizing them, as it is possible to gain the jubilee indulgence in all the
dioceses of the world.

Conclusion
It is a truth of faith proclaimed by the Council of Trent (Session 25) that
“the use of indulgences is very salutary for the Christian people,”13 and the
1917 Code of Canon Law asks all Catholics to set great store by it (canon 911).
It would be paradoxical if, just because we want nothing to do with the failed
council that was Vatican II, we ended up scorning a truth proclaimed at the
Council of Trent and encouraged by the whole Tradition of the Church!
Saint Alphonsus de Liguori used to say that “in order to become a saint,
it is enough to gain as many indulgences as possible!”14 No one endangers
his salvation by participating in the Jubilee of mercy, unless he calls into
question the power of the keys which Francis legitimately holds. And “if,
however, [the one granting an indulgence] remits punishment without
sufficient reason...the indulgence is [nevertheless] gained fully.”15
The joy of the jubilee does not consist of rejoicing in the Second Vatican
Council, but in the grace poured out by the head of the Church who draws
from the treasury of the infinite merits of Christ and of all the saints. The
grace poured out profusely will always be a cause of joy for those who are
well disposed to receive it.

17

Theme The True Notion of Mercy

“You
Visited
Me”
Interview with Mike Banschbach on the prison apostolate in central Texas

Mr. Michael Banschbach resides in Midland,
TX with his large family. Under the auspices
and with the blessing of Society priests, he has
started a prison apostolate which has borne
much fruit across the State.
Angelus Press: How did the apostolate begin?
Mike Banschbach: Each of us has wished
God would send us a postcard expressly stating
His will. In 2008, this express-wish postcard
came to us at St. Michael’s in the form of a
lengthy letter from an offender at a West Texas
prison who requested the Latin Mass. At the time
we were apprehensive and were definitely not
looking to get involved in a prison “ministry”.
Angelus Press: Of what does the apostolate
consist?
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The Angelus

May - June 2016

Mike Banschbach: The apostolate brings the
Sacrifice of the Mass and personal instruction
in the Catholic Faith and the study of Sacred
Scripture to two West Texas prisons. The
apostolate also mails books (Douay Rheims
Bible, The Imitation of Christ, 1962 Missal,
Christian Warfare, Rosary Warfare, etc.) to
offenders in more than 40 Texas prisons. We have
in the past sent a couple of newsletters, written
primarily by offenders, which resulted in a huge
increase in interest. Fr. Katzaroff, based in El
Paso at Jesus and Mary Chapel, is the unofficial
chaplain who offers the Mass and writes many
response letters.
Angelus Press: What is an average offender
like?
Mike Banschbach: Virtually all were born

after Vatican II, so they tend to be very poorly
catechized, if at all. Many were baptized, received
their first Holy Communion, and some their
confirmation; after that they promptly left the
Church. Very few had a father figure in their
lives during their formative years. Few have a

formal education past high school, but they are
not stupid—ignorant of many things, slow to
understand, but not stupid. Most, but not all,
are sincere in their desire to learn about the
Faith and make up for lost time. They soak up
the information, are very inquisitive, and ask

19

Theme The True Notion of Mercy
intriguing questions. Quite a few who write to
St. Michael’s have some knowledge of the Latin
Mass and the SSPX. Since many have been
abandoned by their families, they want to know
that someone actually cares about them.
Angelus Press: Why might someone want to
get in involved in a prison apostolate?
Mike Banschbach: We are all familiar with
chapter 25 of the Gospel of St. Matthew: “I was
in prison, and you came to me.” But earlier in
Chapter 25 we read that “he that had received
the five talents coming, brought another five
talents, saying: ‘Lord, thou didst deliver to me five
talents, behold I have gained another five over
and above.’” We all know that God has blessed us
with certain “talents” to use in bringing others to
the gold mine that is the Catholic Faith, and those
talents take the form of sharing our abilities,
sometimes our money, but most of all, our time
and energy. And we all need to be mindful that
“after a long time the lord of those servants came,
and reckoned with them,” and that we will be
held accountable for the use of the talents given
to us.
Angelus Press: What can others do?
Mike Banschbach: These men need prayer,
the true Mass, books, personal classroom
instruction, and letters. While getting the Mass
to them is challenging for many reasons (but
not impossible), we all can pray and all can
write letters. Many of the offenders receive
very few letters, and some none at all for many
years. Writing is made easy because offenders
can receive “email,” so that if you send a letter
electronically, the prison will print it out. Many
request a pen-pal, just someone who will take an
interest in them and write, even if it is just once a
month.
Angelus Press: What if I am interested in
providing personal classroom instruction?
Mike Banschbach: Those who live within
driving distance of a prison, after a very
short training session to become an approved
volunteer, can go into any Texas prison to
conduct a two-hour class one or more times a
month. Normally, the prisons are accommodating
20

The Angelus

May - June 2016

Paolo Bona | shutterstock.com

to volunteers, as they realize that religious
instruction can aid morale within the walls and
reduce recidivism outside the walls. One of the
best things about teaching the Catholic Faith is
that you don’t need to be original! We frequently
read the Epistle and Gospel from a recent
Sunday, and using scholarly sources (Cornelius A
Lapide or Fr. Haydock, for example), we provide
an explanation of the Scripture passages. This
normally leads to numerous questions, lots of
rabbit trails (many of them quite interesting),
lively discussion, all of which benefits offenders
as well as the instructor: in the words of Anna
in The King and I: “If you become a teacher, by
your pupils you’ll be taught.” We also play CDs
of recorded lectures and sermons by Fulton
Sheen or by other trusted sources, or show video
productions (For Greater Glory, 13th Day, etc.).
Angelus Press: What is the importance of
books?
Mike Banschbach: Religion is a muchdiscussed topic in prison. Even those who
nominally identify themselves as Catholics are
mercilessly attacked (verbally) by Protestants
and Muslims, and because they are so poorly
catechized, they are easy prey, and many leave
the Faith. Books, however, provide a constant
source of truth and support, and since these
men have many idle hours each day, they read
and re-read books like Sacred Scripture, The
Imitation of Christ, My Daily Bread, Open
Letter to Confused Catholics, This is the Faith,
books on the Saints, and many others. These
readers give the books to other offenders and
even to the guards. As books are passed along
containing the stamp of “St. Michael’s Catholic
Church” or as offenders talk with others living on
their unit about the books they have received, we
get letters every week from offenders who have
never written to us before. Typically, we send
3-4 basic books at first, and many write back for
more advanced material (The Incorruptibles,
Catechism of Council of Trent, Interior Castle,
Confessions of St. Augustine, for example). We
currently mail about 40-50 packages a month. If
you have traditional Catholic books, pamphlets
and holy cards, and particularly anything in
Spanish that you would like to donate, we will

gladly accept those and put them to immediate
use.
Angelus Press: How does all this get funded?
Mike Banschbach: We have been fortunate
that publishers like Angelus Press and others
have given us generous discounts. However, even
with discounts, it is easy to invest $50-$100 for a
given offender. While St. Michael’s is fortunate to
have financial benefactors, we will always accept
donations to further the apostolate, which grows
every week with new requests.
Angelus Press: Are there any difficulties?
Mike Banschbach: The consistent thing about
the Texas Department of Criminal Justice—
probably like prisons in other states—is its
inconsistency; what may be the norm one week
may not be the norm the next week. While the
staff is for the most part friendly, the offenders
many times are of a higher caliber than the
employees (prison work doesn’t pay very well).
When taken collectively, the staff and offenders
are like a bunch of bickering kids; the guards will
tell the offenders that class was cancelled that
day, although the offenders know very well that
we are coming. We normally work through paid
prison chaplains (very few of whom are Catholic),
and in those cases we have to deal with the
typical anti-Catholic bias. And for those prisons
that do have the New Mass, we have to contend
with the typical Latin Mass and SSPX rhetoric.
But all these are minor inconveniences.
Angelus Press: Can the sacraments be given
within the prison walls?
Mike Banschbach: SSPX priests routinely
administer the sacrament of Penance before
Mass as well as the Eucharist. We often hear
the lament: “I really need the Sacraments”.
Occasionally, prisoners are also baptized, and the
following account was given by an offender about
to be baptized by an SSPX priest:
“As the date for my baptism draws nearer,
it would seem that the demonic opposition
intensifies. Some heretics here have begun to
indirectly persecute me. What I mean by this
is that, although they usually do not directly
attack me for my faith, nevertheless, they gather

together and slander it, knowing that I am
around. And they tend to do so mockingly....I
won’t pretend this does not bother me, because it
does! But I won’t let it discourage me!”
Angelus Press: Are there any success stories?
Mike Banschbach: We have often told
offenders they will convert more to the Faith
on the inside than on the outside. We routinely
have, and welcome, non-Catholics attending the
Mass and the classes; one non-Catholic offender
agreed to come to class but made it clear he was
not converting to Catholicism; a year later he was
baptized and began serving Fr. Katzaroff’s Mass
each month! While we could quote numerous
letters, the following excerpts provide a glimpse
of the importance of getting truly Catholic
material to these men:
“The Bible I received is the most precious gift
I have received in my entire life, outside of God’s
grace, redemption and salvation! I nearly had
tears in my eyes when I opened that envelope and
discovered the Divine Office and Bible.”
“When I talk about writing you and receiving
materials from you I am immediately told that the
SSPX is not in communion with the Church. To
be quite honest I feel it is the other way around.
If I was a Catholic, I would want to be a member
of the SSPX because so far from what I have seen
they are the ones holding the Church together.”
“For the first time in my life I’m learning what
I’m supposed to learn. Every time I come across a
brother in here and they have received a package
from you, they are always full of smiles and they
yell ‘Hey, I heard from St. Michael’s!’ Every time
I hear that I know the Catholic community here
is about to get even stronger in our knowledge of
true Catholicism.”
“I cannot believe how much you blessed me.
When I received your beautiful gifts (books), I
almost cried. I was so overwhelmed by all of your
generosity, I was beside myself.”
If you would like to donate books, pamphlets,
holy cards, or religious pictures, you may send
those St. Michael’s Catholic Church, Prison
Apostolate, c/o Michael Banschbach, 1703 W.
Storey, Midland, Texas 79701. You may direct any
questions to mikeb@mbanschbach.com or call at
432-686-7709.
21

Theme The True Notion of Mercy

The
Visitation
Order
by Fr. Jonathan Loop, SSPX

“Unworthy” … “Ignorant” These are the traits God noted in the seer He chose to reveal to the world, in
1675, the devotion to His Sacred Heart. In the first of the recorded revelations, Our Lord Jesus Christ—
before He even identified what St. Margaret Mary’s mission was to be—told her: “I have chosen you as an
abyss of unworthiness and ignorance, so that everything might be accomplished by me alone.” If Our Lord
had this view of His seer, what must He have thought of the order to which she belonged, the Visitation?
Could it be that He judged it, as well, to be the least of the orders in the Church, and that if He could have
found a congregation more unfit to be the channel of His message, He would have preferred it?

What is the Order of the Visitation?
What indeed did the Visitation have to
commend it? It was founded relatively recently
(it had existed a mere six decades since before
the revelations), and therefore had no storied
history of great saints on which it could pride
itself, such as, for example, the Carmelites or
the Benedictines. The Visitation refrained from
22

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May - June 2016

commanding the great austerities which had
characterized so many of the traditional orders;
its founders, St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane de
Chantal, envisioned it primarily as a refuge for
widows, such as St. Jane herself, or infirm women
whose age or health did not permit them to
undertake the penances common to religious life.

It drew its aspirants mainly from the poorer and
uneducated families, meaning that it did not have
the same prestige as most other congregations.
Indeed, St. Francis, in a conference addressed to
the sisters, remarked:
“The daughters of the Visitation will always
speak humbly of their little congregation, and,
as regards honor and esteem, will prefer all
others to it; but, as regards love, they will prefer
it to all others… Let us frankly own that other
Congregations are better, richer, and more
excellent, but not more lovable or desirable for
us.”
It would certainly seem that, humanly
speaking, there was nothing to recommend
such a congregation to be the one chosen by
Our Lord to be permanently associated with the
revelation of His Sacred Heart. Of course, this
would certainly accomplish the aim indicated by
Our Lord by highlighting that the spread of this
devotion was most certainly the work of Jesus
Christ Himself, and not the human organization
to which it was commended.

orders. At this point, he notes that a spirit is
the particular manner in which religious strive
to practice the virtue of charity, in which the
perfection of all religious rules consists. St.
Francis then turns his attention to the Visitation
itself, and confidently declares: “I have always
considered that it is a spirit of profound humility
towards God, and of a great gentleness with
our neighbor… The spirit of gentleness is so
absolutely the spirit of the Visitation that any
one who should wish to introduce into it any
more austerities than there at present, would
instantly destroy the Visitation.” In other words,
the Visitation was designed to forego the

A Humble and Gentle Order
Perhaps, though, there is another reason why
Our Lord chose the Visitation as the nursery
of the devotion to the Sacred Heart in these
latter days. In addition to the lack of human
resources, might we not also consider the spirit
of the congregation? Was there anything in the
character of this religious order which made
it fitting background for the revelation of the
Sacred Heart to St. Margaret Mary?
To answer this, we should consider what St.
Francis de Sales considered to be the essential
characteristics which set the Visitation apart
from other orders. He explains this most fully in a
conference given precisely to answer the question
of at least some of its members as to what exactly
was the spirit of their religious life: “You propose
a most difficult question to me when you ask
what is the spirit of your Rules, and how you
ought to understand it.”
Our saint first explains what the “spirit” of
a rule can be through several examples taken
both from the New Testament and from other
23

Theme The True Notion of Mercy
physical austerities and penances which were
more common in other orders so as to cultivate in
its members two particular virtues: humility and
gentleness or meekness.
At this point, we should notice that these two
virtues have been combined already by another
person. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself unites
them: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are
burdened, and I will refresh you. Take My yoke
and learn of Me, for I am meek and humble of
heart.” In other words, the Visitation is founded
on the two virtues which Our Lord explicitly
linked with His Sacred Heart during His apostolic
labors in this life. Thus, we are not surprised
to hear St. Francis say: “since [the sisters of
the Visitation] treat the body with less severity,
[they] must all the more foster kindliness of
heart.” The sisters were meant especially to
practice kindness of heart and sweetness to
their neighbor; precisely the virtues which most
characterized the public life of Our Lord Jesus
Christ.

“Learn From Me…”
Indeed, St. Francis points out that this was the
“spirit” of Our Lord, which He himself contrasted
with the “spirit and power of Elias,” the same
spirit in which St. John the Baptist had come.
St. Francis notes that “spirit of Elias was one
of severity” and that his power “was a strength
which went forth from his spirit to punish and
destroy sinners.” An example of this can be seen
in 1 Kings, where Elias convinces the people of
Israel that the prophets of Baal are charlatans
and commands the people to put them to the
sword (cf. I Kings 18, 10ff).
Our Lord neatly distinguished his own spirit
from this attitude—proper for the Old Law and
for His own precursor—during His final journey
to Jerusalem, during the course of which He had
to pass through Samaria. After Jesus was refused
lodging by one of the towns of the countryside,
two of the apostles, James and John, asked
leave to call down fire from heaven to destroy
its inhabitants on account of their impiety. Their
request, it should be noted, was remarkably
similar to Elias’s prayer that if he were a prophet
24

The Angelus

May - June 2016

of God, fire would descend from heaven and
consume the messengers of King Ahab (2 Kings,
1, 10ff). As St. Francis relates, Our Lord refuses
the apostles’ request and tells them “you know
not what spirit you are.”
St. Francis explains that Our Lord’s response
can be explained as follows: “Do you know
that we are no longer in the time of Elias, who
had a spirit of severity? You do not act right in
imitating him. On the other hand, Christ is not
come to punish and confound sinners, but to
draw them gently to penance and to follow Him.”
In other words, Our Lord’s spirit was precisely
a humble and gentle call to sinners to abandon
their follies in order to follow Him. Our frailties
and weakness no longer call forth the judgment
and punishment of God, but the gentleness of His
Sacred Heart.
Thus, in calling on the sisters of the Visitation
to cultivate gentleness of heart and sweetness
toward their neighbors, St. Francis was already
encouraging them to imitate in its deepest way
the spirit of the Sacred Heart. In this way, we
can understand that there was already a deep
sympathy between the spirit of the Visitation and
the devotion to the Sacred Heart. Furthermore,
by emphasizing the goodness and sweetness
of Our Lord, St. Francis was encouraging
an immense confidence in His mercy and
forgiveness.
Thus, St. Francis boldly says in another of his
conferences to the sisters: “Not only can the soul
which knows her misery have great confidence
in God but, unless she has such knowledge, she
cannot have true confidence in Him; for it is this
true knowledge and confession of our misery
which brings us to God.” Thus, the knowledge
of one’s own nothingness before God—which
knowledge is precisely what St. Francis meant
by the virtue of humility—ceases to be any kind
of obstacle to approaching Him. Indeed, it is
even a claim to His mercy. One might say that
the soul who is most unworthy has the greatest
claim to God’s kindness and gentleness. Thus,
we might better understand why Our Lord chose
St. Margaret Mary and her order of the Visitation
to be the instrument of the revelation of the
kindness, goodness, and gentleness of His Sacred
Heart.

64 pp. – Softcover – Full-color throughout – STK# 8388Q – $9.55

Holy Hour of Reparation

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Includes litanies, acts of consecration, and many, many prayers. Contains the complete text of the encyclical Miserentissimus Redemptor on
reparation to the Sacred Heart. This gorgeous reprint of the Holy Hour of
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Please visit our website to see our entire selection of books and music.

Theme The True Notion of Mercy

The Whole
Law
Meditations on the Gospel (John 13:1, 33, 34, 35) by Bishop Jacques Bénigne Bossuet

My little children (Jn. 13:33, etc). Recall to
mind these words of the Savior. Having loved
His own who were in the world, He loved them
unto the end (Ibid.). And now He gathers all His
tenderness, to announce the precept of fraternal
charity. For to establish His law of love, He
wished to make His disciples feel His heart fully
penetrated with tenderness. My little children:
He had never called them thus; He had never
called them His children. And, to say something
more tender, He says: My little children, as if to
say: Now is the time when I shall give birth to
you, I have been in the pangs of labor all my life;
but now it is time for the last efforts and cries
by which you will be born: My little children.
So listen to these fatherly words. Yet a little
while I am with you: so take advantage of this
time to hear My last wishes. You shall seek me:
26

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a time will come when you give anything for the
consolation of hearing My words, and as I said
to the Jews: Whither I go you cannot come, so
I say to you now; so take advantage for a little
while longer of the time I have to spend with
you: for whither I go you cannot come, as I said
to the Jews. What is He leading up to with this
preparation and this demonstration of a special
tenderness? Let us listen, let us hear, let us
believe.

New Commandment
A new commandment I give unto you: That
you love one another, as I have loved you, that
you also love one another (Jn. 13:34). Why is
this a new commandment? Because the spirit

of the new law is to act with love, and not with
fear, because, although the precept of fraternal
charity exists in the Old Testament, it had never
been explained as well as in the new, and on
this point you can read St. Luke, chapter 10,
verses 29 to 37, in which Jesus Christ explains
and decides that all men are our neighbor and
there is no longer any stranger for us. Thirdly,
this commandment is new because Jesus Christ
adds to it this important circumstance, that we
must love one another as He has loved us. He
has preceded us with His love, when we were not

thinking of Him: He came to us first; He is not
repelled by our infidelities, by our ingratitude:
He loves us in order to make us holy, to make us
happy, disinterestedly; for He does not need us,
nor does He need our services: with a love that
flows naturally and is never deterred. So go and
do likewise.
Why do I see bizarre hatreds among you,
temper against temper, person against person,
enmities, jealousies, sharpness, anger and hidden
loathing? Is that how Jesus Christ loved us? And
why do I see on the other hand flatteries, false

27

Theme The True Notion of Mercy
or excessive deference? Is that how Jesus Christ
loved us? And why do I see among you exclusive
friendships, leagues and plots against each other?
Is that how Jesus Christ loved us? And why make
persons progress or regress depending on your
inclination for them? Is that how Jesus Christ
loved us?
He did show more of an inclination, if we
may dare to speak thus, for St. John: It was
the disciple that Jesus loved. But what was
this inclination, according to the tradition
of the holy doctors, but a special love for the
virginal chastity that He found and preserved
in St. John! And as for the other qualities of
this beloved disciple, what was the love He had
for him but a love of the goodness, gentleness,
simplicity, candor, cordiality and tenderness
and contemplation by which he was particularly
suited to his Master? So love in this way. And
did this special love with which He honored St.
John make Him any more indulgent when he was
wrong? And did it stop Him from saying to him
along with his brother St. James: You know not
what you ask (Mt. 20:22), and another time: You
know not of what spirit you are (Lk. 9:55)? So
do the same. And did His tenderness make Him
prefer John to the others? Is it not Peter whom He
placed at the head of the apostolic college and of
the entire Church? In the end, He entrusted His
holy mother to St. John. Who was better suited
to her and to him by all the qualities we have
mentioned and in particular his virginity? He was
His family, His servant, and He preferred St. John
who, on top of everything we have mentioned,
was His close relative. So love in this way: have
the consideration that blood demands, but base
the heart of your affections upon virtue. And
how far did Jesus take His love? To the point of
giving His life for those He loved. Do not doubt
that there are occasions when you must do the
same for your brother. Love as I have loved, that
is My new precept: the model of your love is Mine.
Listen, My little children: do as I have done.

Distinguishing Love
But now comes the last word, more pressing
than all the others: By this shall all men know
28

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that you are my disciples, if you have love one
for another (Jn. 13:35). This is the character of
the Christian, the disciple of Jesus Christ. He who
renounces charity renounces the Faith, abjures
Christianity, and leaves the school of Jesus
Christ, that is to say, His Church. So tremble,
hardened hearts; tremble, the insensitive;
tremble, all you whose hatred is implacable, and
whose enmities are irreconcilable: you are no
longer disciples of Jesus Christ; you are no longer
Christians; you have renounced your baptism.
See the Church being born: one heart and
one soul; all things were common unto them.
And they were all with one accord in Solomon’s
porch (Acts 4:32, Acts 5:12), without dissension,
envy or self-interest: And all the people admired
them; and they said: Those are the disciples of
Jesus; that was their special character. Envy, selfinterest and hatred reign among all other men:
the innocent flock of Jesus knew not these evils.
My Savior, where are Your disciples now? Where
is charity? Where is brotherly love? How rare it
is! That is why You said that the time will come
when scandals and iniquity will abound, and
the charity of many will grow cold (Mt. 24:12);
and that when You return You will scarcely find
faith upon the earth (Lk. 18:8), faith animated by
charity.
Let us weep, brethren, let us weep for charity
grown cold in the multitude, among most of
those who call themselves Christians; but also
grown cold in our own hearts. Let us rekindle it:
let us come to Jesus, let us listen tenderly to His
last words, tenderly to what He said so tenderly.
Fraternal charity becomes commendable to us
for these reasons: because of the tenderness
with which Jesus Christ recommends it to us,
because of the time He chose to recommend
it to us, because of the model He gives us of
fraternal charity in His person, and because of
the character of Christian that He attaches to this
divine virtue. Let us be disciples of Jesus Christ;
let us be Christians; that is to say, let us love our
brothers; and how? As Jesus Christ has loved us.
At these words He stopped, and left us to taste
this new commandment of the law of grace.

Ignatian Retreats
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The Sacré-Cœur Basilica, Paris
The Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris,
commonly known as Sacré-Cœur Basilica and
often simply Sacré-Cœur, is a minor basilica,
dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in Paris,
France. A popular landmark, the basilica is
located at the summit of the butte Montmartre,
the highest point in the city. Sacré-Cœur is a
double monument, political and cultural, both
a national penance for the defeat of France in
the 1871 Franco-Prussian War and the socialist
Paris Commune of 1871 crowning its most
rebellious neighborhood, and an embodiment
of conservative moral order, publicly dedicated
to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which was an
increasingly popular vision of a loving and
sympathetic Christ.
The Sacré-Cœur Basilica was designed by
Paul Abadie. Construction began in 1875 and
was finished in 1914. It was consecrated after
the end of World War I in 1919.

Faith and Morals

Paschaltide
and Ascension
by Fr. Christopher Danel

“If you love feasts, you will find plenty among
us Christians; not merely feasts that last only
for a day, but such as continue for several days
together… Put all the feasts of the Gentiles
together, and they do not amount to our fifty days
of Pentecost,” Tertullian boasted in the third
century.

Paschaltide
St. Maximus of Turin (†450) also gives his
praise of Paschaltide, writing, “These fifty
days are for us a continuous festal-time (per
hos quinquaginta dies nobis est continuata
festivitas). Each of these days is reckoned as
Sunday. The Lord disposed that, just as we should
be saddened by His Passion in the fasting of Lent,
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so we should be made joyful by His Resurrection
in Paschaltide.” The period of fifty days between
Easter and Pentecost are indeed the highlight
of the liturgical year and are a continuous
celebration of the Resurrection of Christ. The
testimony of St. Irenaeus and many other Church
Fathers shows that the season already at their
time was considered to be particularly solemn,
spent in the midst of the most vivacious joys.
The Latin term Tempus Paschale is rendered
in English with the various terms Paschaltide,
Paschal Time, and Eastertide. In more ancient
times, as seen by Tertullian’s statement above,
the whole period was called Pentecost, from the
Greek for fifty days (pentekosté). This latter
term has given its name since then to the fiftieth
day itself, the feast of the Descent of the Holy
Ghost. From Easter to Pentecost there are eight

Sundays, which is therefore an octave of Sundays,
and, as St. Hilary of Poitiers wrote, “a week of
weeks.” After Pentecost, the season continues in
a way, with the Octave of Pentecost, albeit with
some differences which distinguish that week
from Paschaltide proper.

The Octave of Easter
The season opens with the Octave of Easter.
During this week following Easter, it was the
custom in ancient times for the newly baptized
catechumens (called neophytes) to wear white
tunics, along with a binding-cloth or veil which
covered the place on their heads where they had
received the Sacred Chrism after their baptism.
They would visit the baptistery each day in
procession, and would there receive continued
instruction in the Faith. They would originally
wear these tunics until Sunday, but in the seventh
century the last baptistery catechism and the
setting aside of the tunics was anticipated to
Saturday. The Epistle still used on the Saturday
of the Octave of Easter was originally a final
exhortation to these new Catholics: “As newborn
babes, desire the rational milk without guile,
that thereby you may grow unto salvation… You
are a chosen generation, a kingly priesthood,
a holy nation, a purchased people: that you
may declare His virtues, Who hath called you
out of darkness into His marvelous light” (I
Peter 2:1-10). At Hippo, St. Augustine used the
occasion to reiterate the Catholic teaching on
the resurrection of the body as a hallmark of the
Christian religion (which is why cremation has a
distinctly anti-Christian overtone).
The Sunday following Easter was called
Dominica in albis depositis (shortened to in
albis), referring to the neophytes’ having “set
down” their tunics the day before. The English
term Low Sunday may also refer to the same
concept, or it may be a reference to a Sarum
Introit. The other name for the day is Quasimodo
Sunday, from the Introit of the Mass—
Quasimodo geniti infantes—which itself refers
to the Epistle cited above. With the theme being
that of spiritual childhood, the station church is
that of the fourteen-year-old martyr St. Pancras.

Among the liturgical features of the Octave,
there are the antiphon Haec dies, which is
given particular importance in the Divine
Office, and the continuation of the texts of the
Easter Mass, such as the sequence Victimae
paschali laudes, the proper Hanc igitur and
Communicantes, and the abundant use of the
Alleluia throughout the Mass and Office, which
is even added twice to the Ite Missa est. Among
the liturgical features of Paschaltide as a whole,
there is the ancient tradition of using the Gospel
texts most frequently from St. John, with only
a few exceptions. In addition, there is a special
common for martyrs during Paschaltide. In the
usual common, there is frequent reference to
their dolorous passion (e.g., tormenta passi
sunt), whereas in the Paschal common, the
references are more often to the glorious triumph
of the martyrs and their glory in Heaven (e.g.,
gloriam regni tui dicent).

The Major Litanies
The joy of Paschaltide is briefly interrupted
by the penitential processions of the Rogations,
that is of the major litanies, which take place
on April 25, the Feast of St. Mark, and the minor
litanies, which take place on the three days
preceding the Ascension, called the Rogation
Days for that reason.
The major litanies, known as such since at
least the time of Pope St. Gregory the Great,
refer to the great Springtime procession which
has been historically used to beseech from God
a successful outcome to the sowing of crops.
Similar processions were known in ancient
Rome as the ambarvalia, the most important
of them known as the robigalia, which took
place on April 25. When the Church instituted
the procession of the major litanies, perhaps as
a form of Christianizing the previous custom, it
initially maintained even the same processional
route through the city and out of the Flaminian
Gate. The procession would then double back to
St. Peter’s, where a solemn stational Mass would
be celebrated.
The procession has a penitential character,
despite its placement in Paschaltide.
33

Faith and Morals
A liturgical Ordo from the twelfth century
describes how the pope, together with the
bishops, cardinals, and all the other clergy of
every order, would depart from the Lateran
residence barefoot and process towards St.
Peter’s, stopping for a brief repose at the
churches along the way. Arriving at St. Peter’s
Basilica, and having washed his feet—ablutis
pedibus—the pope celebrated the Mass.

The Rogation Days
The minor litanies are a Gallican custom
rather than Roman, although they eventually
took on great importance at Rome as well. They
are attributed to St. Mamertus, the bishop of
Vienne en Dauphiné. In AD 470, there was a
series of severe earthquakes and other calamities
which struck the area. The holy bishop, with
the Ascension of the Lord coming up, decreed
a three-day fast among the people with sighs
and contrition (appropinquante ascensione
Domini, indixit jejunium triduanum in populo
cum gemitu et contritione), accompanied
by a procession with the litanies. Similar
processions had been held in Vienne in years
previous, but had fallen into disuse. With the
painful impression of the recent calamities, the
processions were completely revived and spread
from there.
Bishop Sidonius Appolinaris (†488) instituted
them in his diocese of Auvergne. Shortly
thereafter, the synod of Orleans (AD 511)
prescribed the processions and definitively
fixed them to the three days before Ascension
Thursday, consecrating them as Rogation Days.
Sometime later, St. Caesarius of Arles (†543)
wrote, “The Church in the whole world regularly
celebrates these three days (istos tres dies
regulariter in toto mundo celebrat Ecclesia),”
though he was referring to the whole of Gaul.
In Rome they were introduced later, at the
beginning of the ninth century under Pope Leo
III (†816). In England they were called “gangdays”
(from gangen, to walk); the processions were
held with hymns, canticles, and litanies, with
prayers offered at different stopping points or
stations for the blessing of the fields, as still
34

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seen in the Litany of the Saints today: Ut fructus
terrae dare et conservare digneris—That Thou
vouchsafe to give and preserve the fruits of the
earth.
All Catholics of whatever rank took part
in the processions, even kings, princes, and
magistrates, going barefoot, clad in sackcloth
and ashes. The holy emperor Charlemagne used
to walk barefoot from his palace to the stational
church. At Milan and other places, there was
a ritual imposition of ashes like that of Ash
Wednesday. The processions were very long
and the return home was not until the evening.
Psalms were chanted along the processional
route, with lessons from Sacred Scripture read
at the various stations. At the last station, Mass
was celebrated, and the fast was broken. The
Rogation Days are no longer days of fast, nor
have they been for centuries—it is Paschaltide,
after all—and the penitential practice is noted
only in the procession and Mass, both in violet.
While litanic prayers were nevertheless used
for these processions in the first three centuries
of their existence, the Litany of the Saints
in the form now used is from a later date. Its
origin is traced to the Abbey of Saint-Riquier
around AD 802-803. The ritual of the Rogations
processions there prescribed that as soon as the
procession left the cloister, psalms were sung
in alternation, then the schola puerorum would
sing the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, the
Athanasian Creed, and then begin the litania
generalis, corresponding to the Litany of the
Saints. After the Litany, the Laudes Regiae was
intoned, which is the ancient hymn imploring
the prosperity of Christendom, and from which
Christus Vincit is taken.
The participation of the saints in the Rogation
processions is edifying. St. Elizabeth of Hungary
would walk in company of the poorest women,
clad in course cloth. St. Charles Borromeo
celebrated them with extraordinary rigor in
Milan, fasting on only bread and water, and
starting the procession early in the morning
with the sprinkling of ashes at the Duomo;
the procession on each of the three days was
universally attended by clergy and laity.

The Ascension of Jesus and Pentecost on the windwopane in
St. Jacob’s church, Brugge, Belgium
shutterstock.com | Sedmakova

35

Faith and Morals
Ascension Thursday
St. Augustine (†430) attests that the Ascensio
Domini in coelum, the feast of the Ascension of
the Lord into Heaven, was observed everywhere
at his time. St. John Chrysostom (†407) regarded
it as an ancient and universal feast. Around
AD 325, St. Eusebius referred to it as a “solemn
day,” and there are references by St. Gregory of
Nyssa (†394) and in the Apostolic Constitutions
to the feast under the name still used by the
Greeks: the Assumption of the Lord (analépsis),
corresponding to the terminology of the Acts of
Apostles and the Gospels: He was taken up into
heaven, assumptus est in caelum. Two sermons
of St. Leo the Great for the Ascension are extant,
in which he underscores that the Ascension of
Christ advances us (Christi ascensio nostra
provectio est).
The Mass is found in all of the ancient
Sacramentaries, and the Anamnesis of the
Roman Canon (Unde et memores) calls it His
“glorious Ascension.” The texts of the Mass
express the jubilation of Heaven in the triumph of
Christ and His return to the Father. The preface
of the Mass is a fusion of two prefaces given in
the Leonine Sacramentary, while the special
Communicantes used in the Canon is from St.
Leo the Great (†461) with a slight adjustment
from the hand of St. Gregory the Great (†604).
On Ascension Day, the Paschal Candle is
extinguished after the Gospel, which concludes
with the brief description of the Ascension
by St. Mark. The rubric is clearly given in the
1570 Missal of St. Pius V and is the conclusion
of the Paschal Candle’s role as a symbolic
representation of the Risen Christ; the Candle is
to be retired until the next Easter Vigil. For the
Ascension Mass in the Ambrosian Rite of Milan,
the Paschal Candle is slowly lifted up to the
ceiling in a more vivid reenactment of the sacred
event.
In the early fifth century, John Cassian
wrote, “The ten days between the Ascension
and Pentecost must be celebrated with the
same solemnity and joy as the forty days that
precede them.” Therefore, the joys of Paschaltide
continue, and during the nine days leading to
the Vigil of Pentecost (Saturday), the Church
36

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implores the pouring out of the Holy Ghost upon
all her members in a particular way during the
upcoming Feast.

Conclusion
The liturgical texts for the grace-laden days
of Paschaltide are a fitting glorification of the
triumph of Christ, Who conquered sin and death,
and Who, in both His divinity and His humanity,
hypostatically ever-joined, is seated at the right
hand of the Father. He has opened the gates
of Heaven for His chosen people, the faithful
members of His Mystical Body, the Church, and
He responds to the Church’s plea by preparing
the hearts of the faithful for the outpouring of the
Paraclete upon them in every age, until He comes
again in glory.
Fr. Christopher Danel was ordained in
2000. After completing the philosophical and
theological curriculum, he took up specialization
in the study of sacred liturgy, and is stationed in
Atlanta, Georgia.

Haurietis
Aquas
Extracts of the Encyclical of Pius XII on the Sacred Heart (May 15, 1956)

Pope Pius XII begins his letter by stressing the fruits of the devotion
to the Sacred Heart and responding to its opponents. He then unfolds the
scriptural foundation of God’s love as well as the theological feature, i.e.
the mystery of Redemption. Below is the Pope’s description of the physical
Heart of Our Lord and its wondrous effects upon souls.

Pope Pius XII

41. Hence, since there can be no doubt that Jesus Christ received a true
body and had all the affections proper to the same, among which love
surpassed all the rest, it is likewise beyond doubt that He was endowed
with a physical heart like ours; for without this noblest part of the body
the ordinary emotions of human life are impossible. Therefore the Heart
of Jesus Christ, hypostatically united to the divine Person of the Word,
certainly beat with love and with the other emotions. But these, joined to a
human will full of divine charity and to the infinite love itself which the Son
shares with the Father and the Holy Spirit, were in such complete unity and
agreement that never among these three loves was there any contradiction of
or disharmony.1
42. However, even though the Word of God took to Himself a true and
37

Faith and Morals
1

Cfr. Sum. Theol. III, q. 15, a.
4; q. 18, a. 6: ed. Leon., vol.
X(1) ,1903, pp.189, 237.

2

Cfr. I Cor. 1:23.

3

Enarr. in Ps. LXXXVII, 3: P.
L. XXXVII, 1111.

4

“De Fide Orth.,” III, 6 P.G.
XCIV, 1006.

5

Ibid. III, 20: P.G. XCIV, 1081.

6

Col. 2:9.

7

Cfr. Sum Theol. III, q. 9 aa.
1-3: ed. Leon., vol. XI, 1903,
p. 142.

8

Cfr. Ibid. Ill, q. 33, a. 2, ad
3m; q. 46, a: ed. Leon., vol.
XI, 1903, pp. 342, 433.

perfect human nature, and made and fashioned for Himself a heart of flesh,
which, no less than ours could suffer and be pierced, unless this fact is
considered in the light of the hypostatic and substantial union and in the
light of its complement, the fact of man’s redemption, it can be a stumbling
block and foolishness to some, just as Jesus Christ, nailed to the Cross,
actually was to the Jewish race and to the Gentiles.2

Incarnation and Redemption
50. But St. Augustine, in a special manner, notices the connections that
exist between the sentiments of the Incarnate Word and their purpose, man’s
redemption. “These affections of human infirmity, even as the human body
itself and death, the Lord Jesus put on not out of necessity, but freely out of
compassion so that He might transform in Himself His Body, which is the
Church of which He deigned to be the Head, that is, His members who are
among the faithful and the saints, so that if any of them in the trials of this
life should be saddened and afflicted they should not therefore think that
they are deprived of His grace. Nor should they consider this sorrow a sin,
but a sign of human weakness. Like a choir singing in harmony with the note
that has been sounded, so should His Body learn from its Head.”3
51. More briefly, but no less effectively, do the following passages from St.
John Damascene set out the teaching of the Church: “Complete God assumed
me completely and complete man is united to complete God so that He might
bring salvation to complete man. For what was not assumed could not be
healed.”4 “He therefore assumed all that He might sanctify all.”5
54. For these reasons, the Heart of the Incarnate Word is deservedly and
rightly considered the chief sign and symbol of that threefold love with which
the divine Redeemer unceasingly loves His eternal Father and all mankind.
55. It is a symbol of that divine love which He shares with the Father and
the Holy Spirit but which He, the Word made flesh, alone manifests through a
weak and perishable body, since “in Him dwells the fullness of the Godhead
bodily.”6

Symbol of Sensible Love
56. It is, besides, the symbol of that burning love which, infused into His
soul, enriches the human will of Christ and enlightens and governs its acts
by the most perfect knowledge derived both from the beatific vision and that
which is directly infused.7
57. And finally—and this in a more natural and direct way—it is the
symbol also of sensible love, since the body of Jesus Christ, formed by the
Holy Spirit, in the womb of the Virgin Mary, possesses full powers of feelings
and perception, in fact, more so than any other human body.8
58. Since, therefore, Sacred Scripture and the official teaching of the
Catholic faith instruct us that all things find their complete harmony and
order in the most holy soul of Jesus Christ, and that He has manifestly
directed His threefold love for the securing of our redemption, it
38

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9

Tit. 3:4.

10

Mt. 27:50; Jn. 19:30.

11

Mt. 23:37.

12

Mt. 21:13.

13

Mt. 21:13.

14

Sum. Theol. III, q. 66, a. 3m:
ed. Leon., vol XII, 1906, p.
65.

unquestionably follows that we can contemplate and honor the Heart of
the divine Redeemer as a symbolic image of His love and a witness of our
redemption and, at the same time, as a sort of mystical ladder by which we
mount to the embrace of “God our Savior.”9
59. Hence His words, actions, commands, miracles, and especially those
works which manifest more clearly His love for us—such as the divine
institution of the Eucharist, His most bitter sufferings and death, the loving
gift of His holy Mother to us, the founding of the Church for us, and finally,
the sending of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and upon us—all these, We
say, ought to be looked upon as proofs of His threefold love.
60. Likewise we ought to meditate most lovingly on the beating of His
Sacred Heart by which He seemed, as it were, to measure the time of His
sojourn on earth until that final moment when, as the Evangelists testify,
“crying out with a loud voice ‘It is finished.,’ and bowing His Head, He yielded
up the ghost.”10 Then it was that His heart ceased to beat and His sensible
love was interrupted until the time when, triumphing over death, He rose
from the tomb.

Eternal Love for Man
61. But after His glorified body had been re-united to the soul of the divine
Redeemer, conqueror of death, His most Sacred Heart never ceased, and
never will cease, to beat with calm and imperturbable pulsations. Likewise,
it will never cease to symbolize the threefold love with which He is bound to
His heavenly Father and the entire human race, of which He has every claim
to be the mystical Head.
66. But the Heart of Jesus Christ was moved by a more urgent charity
when from His lips were drawn words breathing the most ardent love. Thus,
to give examples: when He was gazing at the crowds weary and hungry, He
exclaimed: “I have compassion upon the crowd”;11 and when He looked down
on His beloved city of Jerusalem, blinded by its sins, and so destined for final
ruin, He uttered this sentence: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that slayest the
prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have
gathered together thy children, as the hen doth gather her chickens under her
wings, and thou wouldst not!”12 And His Heart beat with love for His Father
and with a holy anger when seeing the sacrilegious buying and selling taking
place in the Temple, He rebuked the violators with these words: “It is written:
My house shall be called a house of prayer; but you have made it a den of
thieves.”13
77. Concerning the meaning of this symbol, which was known even to
the earliest Fathers and ecclesiastical writers, St. Thomas Aquinas, echoing
something of their words, writes as follows: “From the side of Christ, there
flowed water for cleansing, blood for redeeming. Hence blood is associated
with the sacrament of the Eucharist, water with the sacrament of Baptism,
which has its cleansing power by virtue of the blood of Christ.”14
78. What is here written of the side of Christ, opened by the wound from
the soldier, should also be said of the Heart which was certainly reached by
the stab of the lance, since the soldier pierced it precisely to make certain
39

Faith and Morals
15

Eph. 5:2.

16

Cfr. Leo XIII, Encl. “Annum
Sacrum: Acta Leonis,” vol.
XIX, 1900, p. 71 sq; Decree
of the Sacred Congregation
of Rites, 28th June, 1899,
in Decr. Auth. III, n. 3712;
Encl. Miserentissimus
Redemptor: A.A.S. 1928, p.
177 sq.; Decr. S.C. Rit., 29
Jan. 1929: A.A.S. XXI, 1929,
p. 77.

17

Lk. 15:22.

that Jesus Christ crucified was really dead. Hence the wound of the most
Sacred Heart of Jesus, now that He has completed His mortal life, remains
through the course of the ages a striking image of that spontaneous charity
by which God gave His only begotten Son for the redemption of men and by
which Christ expressed such passionate love for us that He offered Himself
as a bleeding victim on Calvary for our sake: “Christ loved us and delivered
Himself for us, an oblation and a sacrifice to God for an odor of sweetness.”15
79. After our Lord had ascended into heaven with His body adorned with
the splendors of eternal glory and took His place by the right hand of the
Father, He did not cease to remain with His Spouse, the Church, by means
of the burning love with which His Heart beats. For He bears in His hands,
feet and side the glorious marks of the wounds which manifest the threefold
victory won over the devil, sin, and death.

Fruitful Devotion
113. We therefore urge all Our children in Christ, both those who are
already accustomed to drink the saving waters flowing from the Heart of
the Redeemer and, more especially those who look on from a distance like
hesitant spectators, to eagerly embrace this devotion. Let them carefully
consider, as We have said, that it is a question of a devotion which has long
been powerful in the Church and is solidly founded on the Gospel narrative.
It received clear support from tradition and the sacred liturgy and has been
frequently and generously praised by the Roman Pontiffs themselves. These
were not satisfied with establishing a feast in honor of the most Sacred Heart
of the Redeemer and extending it to the Universal Church; they were also
responsible for the solemn acts of dedication which consecrated the whole
human race to the same Sacred Heart.16
116. But although, venerable brethren, devotion to the Sacred Heart of
Jesus has everywhere brought forth fruits of salvation for the Christian life,
all are aware that the Church militant on earth, and especially civil society,
has not yet attained in a real sense to its essential perfection which would
correspond to the prayers and desires of Jesus Christ, the Mystical Spouse
of the Church and Redeemer of the human race. Not a few children of the
Church mar, by their too many sins and imperfections, the beauty of this
Mother’s features which they reflect in themselves. Not all Christians are
distinguished by that holiness of behavior to which God calls them; not
all sinners have returned to the Father’s house, which they unfortunately
abandoned, that they may be clothed once again with the “first robe”17 and
worthily receive on their finger the ring, the pledge of loyalty to the spouse
of their soul; not all the heathen peoples have yet been gathered into the
membership of the Mystical Body of Christ.

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An
Anti-Liberal
Theologian
by Fr. Dominique Bourmaud, SSPX

The Man
Louis Cardinal Billot (1845-1931), a native of
Lorraine in France, joined the Jesuits early in life
and soon was appointed teacher of theology in
France. In 1885 he was summoned to Rome by
Pope Leo XIII to teach dogmatic theology at the
Gregorian University. For 26 years (1885-1911)
he was the unchallenged teacher of generations
of ecclesiastical students, future bishops, and
cardinals.
Leo XIII already had had to fight against those
who wished to remove Father Billot from Rome.
To keep him at the See of Peter, in 1909 St. Pius X
appointed him as a consultant of the Holy Office,
and in 1911, prevailing over the Jesuit tradition of
not accepting dignities, nominated him Cardinal
Deacon.

On February 12, 1922, Pope Pius XI was
crowned. The cardinal deacon who should have
placed the tiara on the head of the new pontiff
was ill and Cardinal Billot was appointed to
replace him. When receiving the tiara from
Cardinal Billot, Pope Ratti had no idea that, five
years later, he would have to take back from
those same hands the cardinal’s hat.
In 1927, Cardinal Billot “retired” so as “to
prepare himself for death.” These words accorded
to the official statement, although the real reason
lay elsewhere, as we shall presently see. But, this
was no sinecure for the octogenarian. He was
occupied with the re-publication of his works,
retaining up to the end his intellectual vigor, as
evidenced by his correspondence of that time
and his talks with those who would visit him.
This “passionate lover of God, the Church and
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Spirituality
Christ the King of France,” as he was graciously
called, died in the Jesuit novitiate of Galloro at
age 86.
Father Henri Le Floch, who had been rector of
the French Seminary in Rome for twenty-three
years, a position he resigned three days after the
resignation of Cardinal Billot, wrote a tribute to
him, man of the Church, theologian, professor,
patriot, and defender of truth against the errors
of Liberalism, Modernism, and Sillonism. The
title of his book reveals its tenor: Le Cardinal
Billot, Iumière de la théologie”—Cardinal
Billot, Light of Theology.

Ruffling Feathers with the
Government of Pius XI
Pius XI, who wished to resume the work of
the previous Council, consulted his cardinals
on the suitability of convening a council for
the conclusion of Vatican I. According to the
investigations of Father Giovanni Caprile, 26
responses are preserved in the Vatican archives.
Only two responded negatively: Austrian
Cardinal Andreas Frühwirth (1845-1933) and

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Cardinal Billot. The latter reasoned that, because
of their difficulties and dangers, the era of
ecumenical councils seems to have definitively
ended, especially the danger that the Modernists
would take advantage of the Council “to make a
revolution, a new 1789, the object of their hopes
and dreams.”
Being French, Billot could not but be very
much upset by seeing the turn of events in the
France of the 1920s. The papal nuncio in Paris
seemed to have supported the Masonic left-wing
coalition of Herriot-Blum. Some days later, in a
papal audience, Pius XI complained bitterly to
Cardinal Billot:
“Your Eminence, your French have voted very
badly.”
“Your Holiness, your nuncio has done
everything that was needed for that.”
“My nuncio? My nuncio? He follows my orders!
It is my politics, my politics, my politics...”
On another issue, some pages of Charles
Maurras, leader of the monarchical movement
Action Française, had the enviable privilege
of being reproduced in the treatise of Cardinal
Billot, De Ecclesia, regarding relationships
between religious authority and secular authority.

It is worth quoting Maurras on his view of the
democratic rule.
“We have too much respect for the nation
to tell it: It is enough to count the incompetent
voices so as to resolve questions of a very general
interest which require long years of study, of
practice or meditation. It is enough to collect and
add the suffrages of the ignoramuses to succeed
in the most delicate choices...The government by
the number tends to the disorganization of the
country. It destroys by force everything which
tempers it, everything which naturally differs:
religion, family, traditions, classes, organization
of all types, etc.”
Cardinal Billot had a firsthand knowledge
of Action Francaise, which he described as
“esteemed by the good and feared by the wicked.”
He had to face Cardinal Gasparri, Secretary
of State, on the eve of the condemnation of
the movement. This unfortunate meeting saw
the duel between two great minds, arguably
the greatest theologian and the greatest
canonist disputing over a political movement.
The canonist only invoked “the higher will”.
There is little doubt that, in the trial of Action
Française, the pagan works of Maurras were
not ruffling feathers so much as his sharp
counter-revolutionary spirit. In a letter, Billot
expressed his thoughts: “It’s not so much the
Chemin de Paradis or Anthinée they hate, but
his anti-liberalism, anti-democraticism, and
anti-republicanism.”
On September 19, 1927, Cardinal Billot was
divested of the purple that he had only accepted
in order to obey his venerated Pius X, receiving
in exchange a small statue of the Virgin; and then
he retired. The cardinal, who had never been
consecrated bishop, returned to being Father
Louis Billot of the Society of Jesus.

Pius XII and Cardinal Billot
Pius XII was no sooner elected than he lifted
the excommunication which had weighed heavily
upon the Action Française and all its affiliated
members.
On October 1, 1939, in a special audience,
Father Le Floch presented his work on Cardinal

Billot to Pius XII, who showed much appreciation
for it. Likewise, in his allocution on the fourth
centenary of the Gregorian University, October
18, 1953, Pius XII had a moving reminiscence
of the Cardinal, the only teacher explicitly
mentioned among all those of his youth:
“For those of you who are older, let us gladly
recall our teachers such as Louis Billot, to
name one, who, with spiritual distinction and
intellectual acumen, incited us to venerate
the sacred studies and love the dignity of the
priesthood.”
The doctrinal influence of Cardinal Billot in
Rome lasted many years after his death. Here is
a random example: The Letter of the Holy Office
to the Archbishop of Boston, dated August 8,
1949, against Fr. Feeney on the baptism of water,
literally reproduced an article of the cardinal’s
which had been published in Etudes.

The Anti-liberal Theologian
Cardinal Billot was one of the theologians
who saw more clearly the intrinsic wickedness
of neoliberalism which emerged from the
Revolution. Speaking about the Sillon, the
Christian political movement which was finally
condemned by St. Pius X for its ideological
principles, Billot explains: “The Christianity of
the Sillon is always based on their Democratism,
and that Christian Democratism in its
revolutionary ideology is a distortion of the
Gospel.”
No one gave a clearer judgment of Liberalism,
the Revolution’s offspring, than the “iron
theologian”. When analyzing its intrinsic
discrepancy with the principles of hierarchy and
authority, he puts in full light its divisive social
consequences. In his book on the De Ecclesia,
especially the section on the relation of Church
and State, Cardinal Billot strikes at the essence
of the French Revolution, quoting President
Clemenceau: “Since the Revolution, we are in
a state of revolt against the divine and human
authority, which we finished off with one stroke
on January 21, 1793 [date of the murder of Louis
XVI].” A longer text explains the historical setting
of this Herculean struggle.
43

Spirituality
“Without a doubt, religion had spread
thoroughly through the whole body of society,
from the soles of its feet to the top of its head.
Our civilization arose entirely from Christianity,
and clergymen everywhere obtained a prominent
and exalted place in the political structure, so
that everywhere civil and religious institutions
could be seen to interpenetrate each other in a
remarkable manner....It can now be seen why
the anti-religious rage of the impious fomenters
of Revolution brought with it as a necessary
consequence a hatred of social institutions, since
the nature of the latter was such that it was
wholly impossible to divorce them from religious
faith....So they decreed that they should be razed
to the ground and completely destroyed, so that
the field was clear for a new social and political
order, which was fitted to the primary and
principal goal of destroying all religion.”
“The pretext for installing this new social
order was liberty; its code was the social
contract; its method was demagoguery; and its
ultimate rationale was the creation of a colossal
atheistic State...with absolute dictatorial power to
prescribe what is allowed and what is forbidden.
Under this State, the reviled name and worship
of God would be abolished forever.....This is
the end to which everything else is ordered as
means. This is the reason for the destruction of
the family; this is the reason for the destruction
of the corporations; this is the reason for the
destruction of the liberties of municipalities and
provinces—so that there will finally be left one
remaining authority, that of the impious State.....
This is the objective that is aimed for, not civil
liberty. Liberty is a pretext, liberty is an idol to
seduce the people...an empty god behind which
Satan is preparing to reduce the nations to a
far worse slavery than that in which he held
the ancient world with the physical idols of
paganism.”

Against Liberal Catholics
Therefore, Cardinal Billot thought that the
most urgent task was to combat the Revolution
that had infiltrated Catholics, the fruit of which
are “Jacobin anticlericalism and pseudo-Catholic
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liberalism.” His solid doctrinal formation not only
prevented him from baptizing the compromises of
“Catholic” Liberalism, but moreover considered
it necessary “to fight this great evil of the present
time that is pretending to please God without
offending the devil or, to put it better, to serve the
devil without offending God.”
He scorned Catholic liberalism as a “perfect
and absolute incoherence.” This type of
“Catholic” professes both his catechism, in which
he believes that man is made to serve God in all
things, and at the same time the Declaration of
the Rights of Man of 1789, placing man as utterly
independent of God, separating civil and religious
life. The Catholic liberals are incoherent, too,
in that they admit the Catholic principles but
refuse to put them into practice. They add that,
in principle, the union of Church and State is
good but, in practice, it is always harmful to the
Church. In their mind, liberty is always the last
instance, and we know all too well that liberty,
left to itself, leans to the side of evil and impiety.
That which is presented as the great remedy is
the cause of all evil.
One example will suffice to illustrate the
method of these Catholic Liberals: Regarding
religion, the Catholic position is that there is only
one true religion and that the State must adopt
it. The liberals, on the contrary, profess an open
indifferentism, to the effect that all religions are
equal. They conclude that religious pluralism
is the ideal condition for the State. The liberal
Catholic, in a weak spirit of conciliation, admits
that the Catholic religion is true and that it must
direct individuals and families, but refuses to
conclude that the State should be subject to it,
and professes openly religious liberty.
The Catholic Liberal, subject of The Liberal
Illusion (the title of Louis Veuillot’s book), in
struggling with this incoherence, ends up being
despised both by God and by men. He realizes
within himself the dualism mentioned by Sacred
Scripture: “When one buildeth up, and another
pullet down, what profit have they but the labor?
When one prayeth, and another curseth, whose
voice will God hear?” (Eccles. 34: 28).

The Order
of Charity
by a Benedictine Monk

“Ordinavit in me caritatem—He hath established in me the order of charity” (Cant. 2:5).
Charity is love, though not all love is charity. There is an order of charity. It is the same order
contemplated in the three persons of God, which is understood as the order of love. It is the order
of all restoration, of all recovery, the re-ordered vision which is the achievement of the grace of
conversion. It is the work of God, to see all things now by the deifying light as described in the
opening lines of the Rule of St. Benedict, in which charity, as the first cause of eternal happiness,
will lead us forward from virtue to virtue, from strength unto strength. In the order of charity,
men will do battle, and God will give the victory.
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy
whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with
thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength.
This is the first commandment…
Charity is first and primordial by nature. It is
also necessary, being the very essence of God.
It is always the first answer. Charity is the first
commandment, and beyond faith and hope, it will
outlive our present existence.

There is within charity the reality of totalness.
In the Latin, we read, “ex toto corde, tota anima,
tota mente, tota virtute.” Charity has something
of the absolute, the superlative, and the maximum
as its ordinary character. It concerns everything.
Since charity is from God, and since God is
charity, Deus caritas est, He gives as He is, totally,
without half-measures, even in the little doses and
foretastes of eternal happiness He gives us to
45

Spirituality
encourage us and to give us strength in order to
persevere through purifying trials and hardships.
There is nonetheless something infinitely beyond
the needed measure in the gift of charity. Yet it is
an error to separate too much the gift from the
Giver, for God is in everything that He gives, and in
charity He gives Himself.
If only you knew the gift of God! The gift is given
to us in order to love God as He must be loved,
the Holy Ghost moving the will to love, but in
such a way that we are principal causes. It is now
completely ours, we take full responsibility for this
love and thus does it gain for us salutary merit.
The fourth chapter of the Rule of St. Benedict
is a list of the 72 instruments of good works. It
begins in the same way: “The first instrument of
good works is to love God, and later, let nothing be
preferred to charity.” Charity, though often through
human shortcomings is deposed from its place of
privilege, will ultimately regain the first place. Our
rationalist and science-biased minds do battle to
always want reasons, and to justify our actions
that fall short of charity. For to love God is greater
than to know Him. Before he refers to charity
some 16 times, St. Benedict gives the reason for
the measure of strictness in discipline, saying it is
for the preservation of charity that it has been thus
legislated.

Christian Sweetness
Scientia inflat, caritas vero ædificat—
Knowledge boasts, but charity builds.” Such was
the ideal of Fr. Jean-Baptiste Muard, founder of
the Benedictines the Sacred Heart of Jesus and
the Immaculate Heart of Mary, in the design of
Pope Pius IX, who saw the restoration of this
contemplative order as an essential part of the
counter-reformation strategy of his pontificate.
The crisis exists because the worship of God has
been emptied of its contemplative substance of
adoration, which is the liturgical form of charity.
Christian sweetness attracts and takes the lead
all through a simple disposition of charity. It is the
“Caritate perpetua . . . —With a perpetual charity
have I loved thee, wherefore have I attracted thee,
having mercy on thee” (Jer. 31).
Hardly a weakness, removed from the
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sentimental or saccharin, Christian mansuetude is
rather a strength, the communication of the divine
attraction, without which man is disoriented. It
is the outstretched divine hand reaching towards
struggling man, drawing him away from himself.
Charity always begins in its original source which
is God, and continues the one thing pleasing to
God: man’s use of it in order to properly adore
Him, which is the divine element assimilated by
the human. Impossible odds shall be overcome,
in Christian sweetness, charity and its allies shall
overcome, quoniam supervenit mansuetudo—
because mansuetude hath overcome us, we have
been corrected (Ps. 89).
Amor facit exstasim—Love causes exstasy.
To be beside oneself, beyond oneself, to surpass
oneself, this is the ex-stasis, the standing outside
of one’s human limits under the influence of
charity, wherein the one loving is now the object of
divine love.
In meditatione mea exardescet ignis—In my
meditation a fire has flamed forth” (Ps. 38). Charity
is the not only the fire, but also its lighting, a
bursting into flames, a meditation more of God than
of the mortal. It is a mesmerizing fire of attraction
from which the eyes can hardly be turned away.
Such is the radiance of contemplative prayer in
which God acts more upon the soul than the soul is
able to act upon God.

The Recovery of Charity
“I have something against thee, because thou
hast left thy first charity” (Apoc. 2:4). “How
happeneth it, O Israel, that thou are in thy
enemies’ land? Thou art grown old in a strange
country. Thou art defiled with the dead. Thou
art counted with them that go down into hell”
(Baruch 3,10). The first charity is the state of your
first charity when you were fervent, which has
been lost through extremes, the vacillations of
passion and mediocrity, laxity, and lukewarm love.
“Do penance, and do the first works” (Apoc. 2:
5). Many receive penance, but few do it. Embrace
the Cross, the station of charity, at the foot of
which stand the three types of the disciples of
charity: the Pure, the Priestly, the Penitent: Our
Lady, St. John, St Mary Magdalene. Navigate by the

Cross, oriented to the East, the Resurrection, and
contemplate its dimensions, and comprehend what
is the breadth, the length, the height and depth, of
charity.
Convertimini ad Me in toto corde vestro—
Convert unto me with thy whole heart.” Charity
is the principle of conversion, and as charity is
divine and constant, so must conversion have this
constancy of daily progress, the interior, moral
movement upward or forward, on the itinerary
of charity. Symbolized by the monastic cloister,
closed on all sides to the world, open only to
heaven, in which monks make procession thrice
daily, praying, beseeching…yet they go nowhere
in distance or time. Ut quid perditio haec—unto
what good is such a waste?” The monks are
following the lead of Eternity.

Militant Charity
Caritas vincit omnia. Little is said of the
Apostle’s departure from the security of the
Cenacle, immediately going out unto the crowds of
pilgrims under the first influence of the Holy Ghost.
The outpouring of excessiveness, the Fire of Love,
they acted under the impulse of charity. Caritas
urget nos—charity presses us.
We are not ready, we are too weak, too
ignorant…we shall be over-exposed against all
prudence. By nature, charity takes the lead. It is
always a few steps ahead, so that we will follow.
Our Lord commanded his Apostles to trust this
spirit of charity, at a time when they thought
his bodily departure was premature. Through
the spirit of charity they would be taught and
instructed in everything. Such is the pattern of
charity: life commitments seem too soon, the vows
of religion or of matrimony. Charity demands
change in our degree of trust, from timorous
wishing to living it in concrete reality.
The charity of the Holy Ghost forced the
Apostles from the shelter of the upper room
outward into a hostile world. Therein they would
henceforth mingle with the enemy, living amidst
heresy and error and the entrenched hatred
of those who rejected the Messias. Yet, in this
seeming contradiction of circumstances there
would be hundreds of thousands of conversions.

Thus was the beginning of the Church militant.
This is the first condition of the Church and every
move forward through heresy and persecution
in historical time has required a repetition of it.
Ultimately martyrdom would be the end of their
earthly lives, but only the beginning of an eternal
mission.
The faith and loyal obedience of soldiers have
given us the source of charity. Domine non
sum dignus, ut intres sub tectum meum, sed
tantum dic verbo. The words of a Roman officer, a
centurion, have become the form for the reception
of the Holy Eucharist, which is the privileged
channel of charity. Of such a soldier our Lord
would cry out, “I have not found such great faith,
not even in Israel.” From one who lives by the
giving and the taking of orders, “say but the word,
and my soul shall be healed.”
Another centurion, Longinus, who in the darkest
hour of history, at the foot of the cross, would
proclaim the divinity of our Savior: “Truly this
man was the Son of God.” This same Roman officer
would open to all generations, the fornax ardens
caritatis—the burning furnace of charity—with
his issued weapon, a lance, in the transpiercing of
the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Charles Peguy, soldier, poet and playwright,
authored The Mystery of the Charity of St. Joan
of Arc. In militant charity this saint took up arms
in order to restore the reign of charity, that the
divine order and the temporal order might be
one and the same, as it should and must be, on
earth as it is in heaven. Her greatest complaint
in the face of the battles to be waged to end the
war and restore the throne of the King of Heaven
on earth, was the consistent defeated failure
of vain charities—fainthearted truces, empty
and futile human prudence, pale shadows of the
heroic charity that wrought our salvation. Only
the wielding of the sword of charity would oust
the enemy and restore peace. Ending her life with
imprisonment and death by fire, closely imitating
that of Our Redeemer, she would live out the words
of the Canticle: Because of charity, I have lost
everything… yet, I do trust in God, and tonight
with his with aid, I will be in Paradise.

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As a virtue, charity is that habit or power which
disposes us to love God above all creatures for
Himself, and to love ourselves and our neighbours
for the sake of God. When this power or habit is
directly infused into the soul by God, the virtue is
supernatural.
Detail of one of the doors of the Cathedral in Würzburg, Germany

Christian Culture

Invention and
Exaltation
by Daniel Mitsui

This is a revised version of a lecture given by
artist Daniel Mitsui to open an exhibition of his
work in September 2015.
The name of this exhibit and lecture,
Invention and Exaltation, refers to the two
liturgical feasts dedicated to the True Cross. The
Invention of the Holy Cross, celebrated on May 3,
commemorates events that occurred in the early
fourth century.
At that time, St. Helen, the mother of the
emperor Constantine, travelled to Jerusalem to
seek this relic. One of the Jewish scholars of the
city knew its location; the secret had been passed
down through his family since the time of the
Passion. He revealed it to Helen after intensive
inquiry; there, three crosses were found. To
distinguish the cross of Jesus Christ from the
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crosses of the thieves, each was held over a
corpse. The deceased came to life upon touching
the True Cross.
The relics of Our Lord’s Passion occupy a and
degree and type of veneration within Catholic
tradition closely akin to that of holy images.
Comparable veneration is given to each, and
their histories are tightly interwoven. The
Invention of the Holy Cross inaugurated the first
great era of Christian art; Christian art, which
includes holy images in mosaic, sculpture, and
painting, emerged from underground after the
persecutions along with the sacred wood from
the soil of Jerusalem. As described by the art
historian Emile Mâle:
“The discovery of the Holy Sepulcher and the
True Cross in 326 must be considered as one of
the great events in the history of Christianity;

Christian Culture
it was seen as a genuine miracle. Constantine
immediately had magnificent monuments built
on the site of rediscovered Calvary.... Countless
pilgrims from the remotest parts of the world
flocked to Jerusalem. It was not enough for them
to venerate the Holy Sepulcher; they visited all
of the places consecrated by the Gospels, and
everywhere they found magnificent basilicas....
All of these buildings were decorated with
mosaics” (Emile Mâle, Religious Art in France:
The Twelfth Century. Translated by Marthiel
Matthews. Princeton University Press, 1978).
Sacred art from this period is confident,
dogmatic, and grand; its figures no longer wear
the disguises of Classical antiquity, as they did in
the art of the catacombs. Pilgrims to Jerusalem
collected holy oil from the shrines in tiny flasks;
these were decorated with the same images seen
in the mosaics. Through portable objects such as
these, the artistic traditions reached the ends of
civilization.
In the early seventh century, the army of
the Persian king Chosroës took Jerusalem
and carried away the relic of the True Cross.
According to the Golden Legend of Jacobus de
Voragine:
“Chosroës wanted to be worshipped as God.
He built a gold and silver tower studded with
jewels, and placed within it images of the sun,
the moon and the stars.... He sat on a throne in
the shrine as the Father, put the wood of the
cross on his right in place of the Son, and a cock
on his left in place of the Holy Spirit” (Jacobus
de Voragine, The Golden Legend. Translated
by William Granger Ryan. Princeton University
Press, 1993).
The emperor Heraclius led a crusade to
recover the relic. Victory having been achieved,
he personally restored the True Cross to the
Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The feast of the
Exaltation of the Holy Cross commemorates this.
How beautiful that the Catholic Church
celebrates the finding of things that have been
lost, and the retaking of things that have been
stolen. This seems especially relevant in our own
age; at times I feel that much of my religion has
been lost, or stolen from me.

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Religious Art Trivialized
The Apostle Paul commands all Christians to
stand fast, and hold to the traditions they have
learned. But where is a religious artist to stand
when he has learned, in one sense, nothing at all
from the void of modernity? There is not now any
tradition of sacred art that is handed down with
a simple and ingenuous faith. There is not now
any common mind and spirit among the faithful
that might move them to build together, over
centuries, a great cathedral. It is difficult enough
to gather two or three who agree.
In our time, tradition is not a thing that is
handed down so much as a thing that must be
excavated. And once an artist begins to dig, he
finds, in a different sense, altogether too much.
The part of the artistic heritage of the Catholic
Church that has survived the rust and moths that
consume, the iconoclasts and revolutionaries, has
been documented, photographed and circulated
as never before. Innumerable museums, libraries
and treasuries display digital photographs of
their collections on the Internet.
This can be a help to education and research;
I rarely begin a drawing without examining
photographs of manuscript miniatures in the
Digital Scriptorium, or of panel paintings in
the Wikimedia Commons. In a drawing I once
made of the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary
I borrowed elements from paintings by Hans
Holbein the Elder, Jan Polack, Hieronymus
Bosch, Gerard David, Martin Schongauer, Rogier
van der Weyden and Nikolaus Obilman; two
decades ago, I would have found maybe half of
these paintings reproduced in the books available
to me. Two centuries ago, I would have needed to
cross an ocean to see any of them.
But in this superabundance of information,
another problem emerges: the holy images are
not lost, but reduced to triviality. Anyone can
download a photograph of the Chi-Rho page from
the Lindisfarne Gospels, the Incarnation Window
at Chartres, or the Ghent Altarpiece. He can
print it on a t-shirt, a coffee mug or the case of
his smart phone. He can ‘like’ it on Facebook, or
‘tweet’ it, or ‘pin’ without even taking a close look
at it.
The image thus becomes his means of

constructing and projecting a persona, his means
of saying: I am this sort of individual, this sort
of Catholic, because I like this sort of art. What
does selecting Fra Angelico say about him?
Or Caravaggio? Or William Bouguereau? Does
putting one painting by each in his screensaver
prove his broadness of mind? Does adding one by
Georges Rouault prove his boldness?
At that point, religious art ceases to be about
God and His angels and His saints. It is not even
about the artist who made it; it is about the
person who chooses to like it. It is like a relic of
the Holy Cross placed on a table to the right of a
king’s throne: not destroyed, not forgotten, but
not exalted either. It is set beside, rather than
above, him.

True Appreciation
In our time, invention and exaltation describe
well the duties of a religious artist. Invention here
has the older definition of the word; it does not
mean creating from nothing, but rather finding. If
the artistic traditions have been buried, his task
is to discover them; if they have been stolen, his
task is to retake them. Once they are found or
retaken, his task is to bring them to their proper
place and give them honor as high as his abilities
make possible; that is, to exalt them. This is like
carrying the stolen relics back to Jerusalem, as
Heraclius once did.
About this, the Golden Legend says: “Heraclius
rode down the Mount of Olives, mounted
on his royal palfrey and arrayed in imperial
regalia, intending to enter the city by the gate
through which Christ had passed on His way
to Crucifixion. But suddenly the stones of the
gateway fell down and locked together, forming
an unbroken wall. To the amazement of everyone,
an angel of the Lord, carrying a cross in his
hands, appeared above the wall and said: When
the King of heaven passed through this gate to
suffer death, there was no royal pomp; he rode
a lowly ass, to leave an example of humility to
his worshippers.... With those words the angel
vanished. The emperor shed tears, took off his
boots and stripped down to his shirt, received
the cross of the Lord into his hands, and humbly

carried it toward the gate. The hardness of the
stones felt the force of a command from heaven,
and the gateway raised itself from the ground and
opened wide to allow passage to those entering.”
Here is a lesson for those who seek to
reintroduce the traditions; no project, even a
righteous one, will meet divine favor unless it is
undertaken with humility. It is not the artist that
is to be arrayed, celebrated and exalted. God
would rather brick him out of the Holy City than
admit him to the ruin of his soul.
I often quote one of the fathers of the Second
Council of Nicea, which was convoked in the
year 787 to end the first iconoclast crisis. He
said: “The execution alone belongs to the painter;
the selection and arrangement of subject belong
to the Fathers” (Mâle, The Gothic Image). I
consider the selection and arrangement of subject
that belong to the Fathers to be something like
a relic, and the execution that belongs to the
painter to be something like the making of a
reliquary. Artistry without tradition is like an
empty reliquary: beautiful perhaps, but unworthy
of veneration. Tradition without artistry is
like a relic kept in a cardboard box: worthy of
veneration, but deserving of better treatment.
I believe that the traditions of sacred art
deserve exaltation for the same reason the relics
of Our Lord’s Passion deserve it—because they
touched God.

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Paintings
of the
Crucifixion
by Daniel Mitsui

Few ever have understood the power of
touching God so well as that woman afflicted for
twelve years by an issue of blood, who touched
the hem of His garment and was made whole.
This woman, called St. Veronica, is an important
figure in the history of sacred art. Early
ecclesiastical historians attest that she erected a
statue in Paneas commemorating the miraculous
cure. Eusebius of Cesarea recounted:
“There stood on a lofty stone at the gates of
her house a bronze figure of a woman, bending
on her knee and stretching forth her hands like
a suppliant, while opposite to this there was
another of the same material, an upright figure
of a man, clothed in comely fashion in a double
cloak and stretching out his hand to the woman....
This statue, they said, bore the likeness of the
Lord Jesus. And it was in existence even to our
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day, so that we saw it with our own eyes when we
stayed in the city” (Eusebius, The Ecclesiatical
History. Translated by J.E.L. Oulton. Harvard
University Press, 1932).
The statue was mutilated during the reign
of Julian the Apostate; the whereabouts of its
remains are unknown.
Veronica means “true image”. The name is
shared with another woman who touched God.
This St. Veronica pressed a cloth to the face of
Christ as he walked to Calvary; a true image was
left upon it. Even though monumental sculpture
fell out of practice in the Catholic Church
until the early Gothic era, and even though
printmaking did not flourish as a sacred art until
the late Middle Ages, both forms of art were
present at the very beginning of Christianity!
As was painting: numerous works are

attributed to the Evangelist Luke, including
ones still venerated in Rome, Smolensk and
Czestochowa. Now analysis of the materials in
such paintings does not always indicate a firstcentury origin. However, it certainly is plausible
that images venerated today are copies of a Lucan
original, or copies of copies. The conviction
of the faithful in patristic and medieval times
was that Christian art is as old as the Church.
This conviction does not depend on any specific
painting’s authenticity.

Dogmatic Art
I sometimes say that I am a Spirit of Nicea
II Catholic. That is a joke, but its point is that I
keep that ecumenical council at the forefront of
my mind, living as I do in a time similar to the
iconoclastic crises. I do not seek to interpret its
doctrine regarding art and tradition beyond what
its words actually say; what they actually say is
bold enough. Its dogmatic decree states:
“Those, therefore who dare to think or teach
otherwise, or as wicked heretics to spurn the
traditions of the Church and to invent some
novelty, or else to reject some of those things
which the Church has received (the Book of
the Gospels, or the image of the cross, or the
pictorial icons, or the holy relics of a martyr), or
evilly and sharply to devise anything subversive
of the lawful traditions of the Catholic Church ...
if they be bishops or clerics, we command that
they be deposed; if religious or laics, that they
be cut off from communion” (Second Council
of Nicea, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers,
Second Series, Volume XIV. Translated by Henry
Percival. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature
Publishing, 1900).
I do not think that anyone can honestly
interpret those words that refer to the image
of the cross, or the pictorial icons, or the holy
relics of a martyr in an abstract sense. They refer
to cults of devotion, to traditions that exist in
fact. These may not be inerrant or infallible, but
they nonetheless have a permanent content that
endures through the centuries.
This recent drawing of mine depicts a
miraculous vision of Christ surrounded by the

instruments of His Passion, a vision which St.
Gregory the Great saw while celebrating Mass.
More broadly, the drawing is about Christian
knowledge: how and whence it is received.
St. Gregory was the Bishop of Rome, and thus
the inheritor of the authority of Saints Peter and
Paul (whom I drew in the bottom corners). He
was the codifier of the Roman Mass and its music
(which is why I wrote the words Sanctus Sanctus
Sanctus in the bas-de-page, together with the
chant neumes from the Missa Kyrie Fons
Bonitatis). Shown here, he is the recipient of a
mystical vision, one of those divine reminders of
a holy truth: in this event, the selfsameness of the
Man of Sorrows and the Sacrament of the Altar.
But Christian knowledge is not altogether
dependent on personalities as great as St.
Gregory; so great a pope, theologian, liturgist
and mystic may never again walk the earth until
the resurrection of the flesh. Nor is Christian
knowledge altogether dependent on a privileged
communication between Christ and His vicar on
earth; events such as the Miraculous Mass of St.
Gregory are worthy of artistic treatment precisely
because they are extraordinary.
Fundamentally, the reason we know anything
about Jesus Christ— that He was born of the
Virgin Mary, was crucified, died and was buried,
rose again and ascended into heaven—is because
these things actually happened, and someone
saw or heard them happen. Before they were
written as scriptures, before they were declared
as doctrines, they were kept as memories.
If the Blessed Virgin Mary had told nobody
what the Archangel Gabriel had said to her at
the Annunciation, we would not know it. If Jesus
Christ had told nobody that His sweat became as
blood while He prayed in Gethsemane, we would
not know it. Even St. Luke, writing with divine
inspiration, knew about these events according
as they have delivered them unto us, who from
the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers
of the word.
In the upper corners of the picture, I drew
two theologians of the fifth century, St. Prosper
of Aquitaine and St. Vincent of Lerins. During
their earthly lives, these men were theological
opponents, more so even Saints Peter and Paul. I
consider it a mark of providence that from their
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disputations, two beautifully complementary
ideas emerged.
St. Prosper articulated the well-known maxim:
“The law of worship establishes the law of belief.”
Worship was the first way by which the memories
of those who saw, heard and touched Jesus
Christ were carried forward. Because the law of
worship predates such things as the settlement
of the canon of scripture and the definitions of
the ecumenical councils, it is the first criterion of
orthodoxy. Thus it is the first criterion of sacred
art as well. Sacred liturgy and sacred art must
be concordant, for they are records of the same
memories.
St. Vincent wrote in his Commonitoria:
“We hold to what has been believed always,
everywhere and by all.” Universality, antiquity
and consensus are the marks by which a true
tradition can be told from a false. Elsewhere
in the same book, he describes the legitimate
development of tradition, which he compares to
the growth of a body:
“Men when full grown have the same number
of joints that they had when children; and if there
be any to which maturer age has given birth these
were already present in embryo, so that nothing
new is produced in them when old which was not
already latent in them when children. This, then,
is undoubtedly the true and legitimate rule of
progress ... that mature age ever develops in the
man those parts and forms which the wisdom of
the Creator had already framed beforehand in the
infant. Whereas, if the human form were changed
into some shape belonging to another kind,
or at any rate, if the number of its limbs were
increased or diminished, the result would be that
the whole body would become either a wreck or
a monster, or at the least would be impaired and
enfeebled” (St. Vincent of Lerins, Nicene and
Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Volume XI.
Translated by C. A. Heurtley. New York: Cosimo,
2007).
Catholic tradition is based on real memories
of real events. Something either is part of that
tradition or it is not, just as something either
is part of a body or is not. If it is part of that
tradition, this is evident in the law of worship
and the agreement of the Church Fathers; these
are the epistemic bridges between the age of the

eyewitnesses and our own.
As Catholics we have the benefit of the
Magisterium exercised by the successors of the
Apostles, our bishops. They have been given the
authority to judge disputes over tradition and
to bind the faithful to assent. But they do not
create tradition themselves. They receive their
knowledge from existing sources, and these are
sources that anyone can seek and find.
By looking to liturgical and patristic sources, a
religious artist can draw a more complete picture,
he can dig deeper, than by looking to magisterial
documents only. He may unearth something
wonderful. Discovering a tradition that has been
lost is thrilling; it is like knocking the dirt from a
buried piece of lumber and finding that it can yet
raise the dead.

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Christian Culture

Spiritual
Infancy in
Old Age
by Michael J. Rayes

“He paddled us, all three of us altar boys right
there in the sacristy. I’ll never forget it.”
The 72 year-old Italian-American related the
events of his childhood mischief. His full head of
gray hair bobbed up and down as he spoke with
animated gestures. “Our pastor walked in on us
right when I had the wine bottle up to my mouth. I
didn’t think they would miss any.”
Today, the former altar boy is no longer Catholic.
He went from dabbling with alcohol as a youth, to
alcoholism and drug abuse, but finally, emotional
growth and decades of sobriety. Today, he is a
sophisticated, intellectual professional preparing
to retire from the health-care field. His memory of
the Catholic Church, however, is limited to what
he was told to do and the consequences of not
obeying the priests and nuns of his youth.
Many other elders have regaled me with
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countless stories of nuns knocking little fingers
with rulers, mothers demanding that children go
to confession, and a Latin Mass that had very little
meaning for them. Perhaps some pre-conciliar
educators and pastors needed a better approach
when dealing with children, but the deeper
problem was, and remains, the lack of spiritual
and moral growth among many members of the
Catholic laity.

Infantile Reactions
What is spiritual infancy in old age? This refers
to someone with an old biological age (think of
grandparents or great grandparents) but who
remains a spiritual infant. Paradoxically, and
without implying any disrespect, they could be

called “infantile elders” to utilize a phrase which
may help to identify this phenomenon.
The idea comes from the spiritual writers of the
Church. A quote attributed to St. Pio of Pietrelcina
(Padre Pio) makes the point clear. It is a mistake,
writes the saint, “to measure the soul’s love for its
Creator by the delightful feelings it experiences
in loving God. This kind of love belongs to those
who are still spiritually immature…. On the other
hand, the love of those who have left this spiritual
infancy behind them is a love which experiences
neither taste nor delight in what is called the
sensitive part of the soul. We have a sure sign that
these people really love God when we observe their
readiness to keep God’s holy law….”
The infantile elder was raised in the preconciliar Church and had a Catholic pedagogical
formation, but never took it to heart. Typically, an
event or circumstance several decades ago pushed
the then-tepid Catholic out of the Church, such as
the implementation of the Novus Ordo Missae,
or being told that he could not marry his fiancée
because of Church laws, or an interpersonal
conflict with a priest or nun. These Catholics did
not follow the encouraging exhortation of St.
James to consider tribulations a joy, because they
perfect us (Jac. 1:2-4).

How To Respond
A single encounter with a spiritually infantile
elder will probably not generate a dramatic
conversion. The elder usually has already built
a lifestyle based on grave matter: for example,
living with a non-Catholic second or third spouse,
attending a non-Catholic “church,” and so on. The
problem goes deeper than the person’s immoral
behavior. The elder has rejected the teachings of
the Catholic Church. He rejected the God who gave
joy to his youth; instead, he formed himself his
own way, based on easier theology. This becomes
apparent when the elder speaks of being “spiritual
but not religious” or completely rejects Purgatory,
or very quickly in the conversation accuses others
of being “judgmental.”
The infantile elder never seemed to fully accept
the truth that the Catholic Faith is grounded in
reason, and spirituality is rooted in belief, which

should be based on love. In the fourth century,
St. Basil thus wrote to St. Gregory Nazianzen an
exhortation to join him, “as the day brightens,
to betake ourselves, with prayer attending on it
throughout, to our labours, and to sweeten our work
with hymns…. Pious exercises nourish the soul
with divine thoughts.” This is merely one example
of the Church’s consistent blending throughout
the centuries of practice and belief, both of which
animated the daily lives of its members.
Regarding other areas of life, an elderly person
today may be logical, clear-headed, intelligent,
and practical. In the natural order of things, we
owe them our respect and we can seek them out
for their advice. Yet, when it comes to religion,
the same elderly person may seem to make all his
decisions based on emotions rather than reason.
He falsely believes that he made an intelligent
choice, because he had “twelve years of Catholic
schooling” or will justify his apostasy by giving a
surface example of some education he received as
a child. However, he may say, he grew up and found
a way that works for him to connect with God.
If other vulnerable people are within earshot of
the elderly’s indiscriminate attack on the Church
(for example, your own children), you may have a
duty to defend the Church. This should be prudent,
concise, and charitable. It could simply be a
statement such as, “I certainly wish you well, but
my personal faith comes through the same Church
you grew up in as coming from Christ Himself. I
can’t imagine practicing my spirituality outside
of the authority and structure of the Catholic
Church.”
This statement alone will throw the elder off
guard and will give everyone else something
to ponder, as they have probably never heard
anyone say this. If you really want to get into an
argument, you could use the phrase “one and only
true Church” but be prepared to use charity and
reason. Relating this truth may invoke outrage.
Our Lord is very clear about prudence in genuine
evangelization: “Give not that which is holy to
dogs; neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest
perhaps they trample them under their feet, and
turning upon you, they tear you” (Mt. 7:6).
The purpose of contradicting or gently
challenging an elder apostate is twofold: one,
to plant a seed in their mind; and two, to
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Christian Culture
give reassurance and hope to others who are
discouraged by the elder’s anti-Catholic rant and
lifestyle. Elderly lapsed Catholics may have a lot of
guilt and pain in their hearts, and the closer they
get to death the more intense will be their anxiety
over the true Church. They may finally repent and
reconcile on their deathbed, although waiting this
long is gambling with eternal stakes. The fact that
you remained faithful may be the catalyst for their
acceptance of actual graces from the Holy Ghost.

A Missionary Spirit
Instead of encouraging immature adult
Catholics to continue growing in the traditional
practice of their faith, exhorting them to hope
for heaven, and inculcating spiritual love for our
Lord, the reformers of Vatican II destroyed these
theological virtues in fragile souls by repeated
changes in previously unchanged liturgical
practices. How, for example, were tepid adult souls
supposed to grow closer to the Blessed Virgin
Mary when conciliar revolutionaries removed her
statues from parish churches?
Immature, worldly Catholics could have
continued their worldly path and rejected the
Church even without these changes, but they
needed stable spiritual practices to at least have
hope in an unchanging God. St. John of the Cross
noted these dangers 400 years before Vatican II. “A
soul that is hard because of self-love grows harder.
O good Jesus, if you do not soften it, it will ever
continue in its natural hardness” (Sayings of Light
and Love, 28).
It falls to us, today’s practitioners of the true
Faith, to pick up the pieces and help the aging
lapsed Catholic population. Today’s elderly had a
decent Catholic formation before the 1960s, but
many rejected it in practice; the next generation
(my generation) born in the ‘60s and ‘70s are
practically clueless about real Catholic doctrine,
but they can sing heretical hymns and make
them sound appealing. The generation of souls
after us seem bewildered as they struggle to put
together true and false spirituality, feminism,
traditionalism, modernism, and the bits of doctrine
that get filtered down to them. If this sounds
like a recipe for neuroticism, you have a good
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understanding of why we need a missionary spirit
right here, right now.
Traditional Catholic life is thus truly in your
hands. Whether you appreciate this or not, others
watch your behavior, your parenting techniques,
your spiritual practices, and your language. You
represent the one true Church to those who have
rejected it either completely or in practice as
they pick and choose which moral teachings to
accept. To be a Catholic missionary today, all you
need to do is continue raising a Catholic family,
obey the Ten Commandments, and maintain your
devotional practices. This alone makes you a living
contradiction to the modern world.
The spiritually infantile elderly will notice
your quiet but resolute efforts. Your peers notice.
Your family definitely notices. Those whom God
chooses to put into your path, whether they admit
it or not, are edified by your devout Catholic way
of life. Your perseverance is thus a sign of spiritual
maturity.
Michael J. Rayes holds master’s degrees
in professional counseling and business
administration, and a B.A. in education. He
and his wife are lifelong Catholics with seven
children. Rayes is the author of 28 Days to
Better Behavior and Bank Robbery!

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary,
that never was it known that anyone who fled to
your protection,
implored your help, or sought your intercession,
was left unaided.
Inspired by this confidence,
I fly unto you, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother.
To you do I come, before you I stand, sinful and
sorrowful.
O Mother of the Word Incarnate,
despise not my petitions,
but in your mercy, hear and answer me.
Amen.
Statue of Our Lady, Notre Dame de Paris, France

Christian Culture

Educating
Boys
Advice from the Sisters of the Society of St. Pius X

“Look, Mom, they are all dressed the same
way!” Some young people, clad in jeans and
jackets, are chatting in front of a high school:
same clothes, same behavior; the hair cut makes it
hard to tell: boy or girl? The Revolution has done
its work: it wants neither man nor women but only
gender. While Satan fights tirelessly to destroy
human nature and the proper mission of man and
women, we want real boys.

Physical Strength and
Healthy Aggressiveness
“Bertrand can’t sit still, he is like a lion in a
cage!” Boys are generally more robust, muscular
and athletic than are girls. This strength helps
them later on to practice a professional activity
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that requires vigor and endurance even in tough
circumstances, for nervous fatigue and worries
are easier to bear with a virile body. How many
of our young men give up their first job because
they have been caught up in the comfort and ease
of modern life and are too exhausted to carry
on. To develop their virility and their endurance,
boys need tiring physical activities: gardening, big
cleaning jobs, moves, hikes, sports ... These allow
a boy to “use up his batteries,” his energy, to renew
himself and thus strengthen his nervous balance
in a disciplined way. Requiring him to sit properly
at table or in the living room is a basis for teaching
him to master his body.
“Mom, we won 6 to 2!” Boys have an innate
taste for competition: they need to measure up
to others, and through emulation they learn to
conquer their fatigue, go to the limits of their

strength, and outdo themselves. This taste for
effort in all sorts of physical or intellectual
activities will enable tomorrow’s adult to go
forward and not to give up in the thousand
and one difficulties that are sure to arise.
Encouragement and congratulations for a boy who
has fought well or given of himself (even if it was
an apparent failure) will give him tenacity and
confidence.
“Oh my, what a child, he’ll break his neck!” A
taste for adventure, risk and danger is a masculine
trait that must be channeled and often developed,
for our children live in a soft and overprotective
atmosphere. How many young men are anxious
and fearful because as children they never had
the opportunity to conquer their fear in the
little things: going to the cellar alone, walking
in the dark, climbing a tree, going to the top of
a mountain, speaking to a stranger... That was
how the “fearless knights without reproach”
began. War games, combat sports (fencing, judo...)
are necessary to master and develop a healthy
“aggressiveness” for those who are to become the
defenders of their family and of their country.

Work and Responsibility
“Dad, may I change the tire?” Boys find

their bearings easily because they are good at
evaluating angles, distances and speed. They have
coordination skills (eyes, hands, feet) that can be
developed in games that require dexterity, balance
or teamwork such as basketball and rugby. Manual
activities, work camps, and models develop the
manual skills and knowledge that are so useful to
those who will later practice a manual profession
or one involving observation. Working with Dad
is also important because it attaches boys to their
home and teaches them to save.
“Father made me head of the team!” Our boys
are to be tomorrow’s leaders, and capable of
exercising their authority so as to seek the good
of their family and their company. They must first
learn to obey in order that they may know how to
lead. Within the family, it is easy to put the boys
in charge of their younger brothers and sisters
sometimes: little by little, they understand that a
beneficial authority is neither a tyrannical power
nor a demagogy, but a service made of goodness,
firmness and wisdom. Encourage your boy in
his exercise of authority, advise him, assess it
afterwards; you will be doing him a favor. There
are so many selfish young men who love a solitary,
easy and peaceful life! Draw his attention to the
miseries of others who are weaker; it will broaden
the heart that is later to become a defender of
the good cause. Catholic youth groups help

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Christian Culture
boys to devote themselves to others and to
sacrifice themselves. There will be so much to do
tomorrow: society needs to be rebuilt to manifest
the Faith and the Christian life. It is the parents
who inspire them with this Christian spirit of
hope and conquest, so unlike the defeatism and
withdrawal that paralyzes and sterilizes.

Cleanliness and Purity
“Antoine, run a comb through that hair, and
brush your teeth!” Boys have less of a sense
of hygiene than do girls: learning order and
cleanliness, without excessive care and with a
certain austerity, develops good habits against the
sloppiness and materialism that would make them
soft: it is normal for them to make their beds, put
their things away, and keep clean; washing with
cold water, bearing the heat and wearing simple
clothes favor the freedom of the soul.
“Mom, may I have some more fries?” Because
they exert themselves more, boys need more food
than do girls. They tend to be voracious if their
parents are not careful to teach them moderation:
to think of their neighbor, not to eat too much
or too quickly. And a temperate boy will have
an easier time protecting his purity in his teen
years since he will have learned to master his
body. Boys are tempted earlier and more often
than girls in the domain of purity. Fathers must
instruct their boys, and vigorously denounce
vice by punishing vulgar gestures and words and
unhealthy curiosities. The walls of our cities,
contact with contaminated children, and Internet
offer so many dangers! The recitation of the rosary
and a devotion to Mary, along with the practice of
the sacraments, enabled St. Dominic Savio to go
through adolescence without tarnishing the lily of
his purity.

The Father’s Presence
“My father is a genius, he knows the answer to
everything!” Boys are naturally drawn to admire
their fathers and imitate them. It is important for
fathers to be present at home and available to
form their boys, despite the requirements of their

professional lives. Along with the solution to their
problems and the answers to their questions on
modern life, boys will learn from their fathers
common sense and the hierarchy of values, a
wisdom so necessary in our artificial world. It
is up to the head of the family to supervise his
child’s books and friendships, to encourage a solid
culture, permeated with the Faith and in keeping
with our Christian ideal. Good discussions,
“orator jousts,” and chosen books form a lively,
enlightened and combative spirit. Chosen
information gives knowledge of today’s society
along with the desire to do something for society
tomorrow.
“Son, start over!” Especially when they get to
be about 9 or 10, boys need to be able to rest their
weakness and instability on the paternal authority
that will little by little strengthen their weak wills
through advice, encouragement, and punishment.
By supervising schoolwork and homework, a
father teaches his son to do his duty of state fully
and well. This care for the finished product will
also give the self-confidence of a responsible
young man who can be counted upon. By helping
their fathers build something or direct an activity,
boys acquire a sense of decision and learn to keep
their promises even against odds. Boys thus come
to realize that with the help of God’s grace, they
are capable of acting and succeeding, and ready to
take on responsibility.

Spirit of Faith
“God first.” That was the principle that guided
St. Joan of Arc in restoring the kingdom of France
when all was lost. It is the same principle that
must guide our boys, and it requires a strong faith,
a balanced piety, and a serious Christian life.
If they receive this religious formation in their
families and from the priests, our boys will be
determined to make of their lives something great
and beautiful, at the service of their families, of
society, and of the Church. If we conquer human
respect, if we are not afraid to be in the front rows
at the church, to say our grace in public, to show
we are Christian at soccer practice, to say the
Rosary every day, then manly souls will grow in
our homes for tomorrow’s restoration.

The
St. Mary’s
Down Under
Interview with Fr. Michael Fortin

Angelus Press: Father, could you please give
a little background on yourself?
Fr. Fortin: I was raised in the state of
Virginia, and received priestly formation in
Winona. After ordination in 2009, I was assigned
for three years in New Zealand, then three years
in the Philippines. Presently I am stationed in
Tynong, Australia, with the responsibility of
being Principal of St. Thomas Aquinas College.
Angelus Press: Have you always been
involved with schools, Father?
Fr. Fortin: Yes, happily so! It has been a great
priestly blessing to paternally serve in schools
since ordination.
Angelus Press: And what were your first
impressions upon arrival in Australia?

Fr. Fortin: I would say that I was impressed
in Tynong mainly with two things: first, the
great number of faithful souls who attend the
Masses and who come to confession on the
Sundays (there must be about 1,000); and second,
how serious the youth are in serving the sacred
liturgy. This is very impressive indeed, realizing
how utterly secular society has permeated the
world, with the consequential effect of producing
irresponsible youth. One would have to be blind
not to see the wondrous pouring of grace upon
these many families which we serve in our parish
and school!
Angelus Press: What is the school like?
Fr. Fortin: At St. Thomas Aquinas College
in Tynong we have 300 students, both boys and
girls. We teach all grade levels, preparatory to
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Christian Culture
year 12. Most of the families have relocated here
from all parts of Australia in order to find a true
Catholic education for their children. The school
was started in 1997 under Fr. Angele and has
grown fairly rapidly up to the present.
Angelus Press: Does the school differ much
from our schools here in the States?
Fr. Fortin: In respect to the goal, no. All of
our schools are established in order to assist
parents in forming saints. But each of our
schools have a special character of its own.
At St. Thomas Aquinas, we focus on Catholic
professionalism and leadership.
Angelus Press: How is that done in practice?
Fr. Fortin: It is common for private schools
here to have a “House” system. At St. Thomas
also, each student is assigned to a House, which
is a type of team or family. These Houses have
their captains and vice-captains; and each team
receives ratings based on academics, punctuality
and professional appearance, conduct, sports

performance, and leadership. Over all the
Houses, there is a Student Council, which
meets with the Principal each week to receive
directives, but also just as important, they give
feedback to me on the spirit of the students. All
student leadership positions are chosen through
voting of the student and faculty body.
Angelus Press: Do you find this system to
work well?
Fr. Fortin: There is a phrase which I recently
learned: “The best way to raise a child is to focus
on raising an adult.” This is brilliant! It is very
true, that from day one we must begin to form
ones who will seek truthful knowledge even on
their own, and from day one we wish to develop
their responsible use of the great gift of freewill. If
the youth do not have opportunity to exercise this,
they will be open targets for godless “intelligence”
and licentious living. Certainly, then, we are in
favor of giving as much real responsibility to the
youth as they are capable of carrying.
Angelus Press: How do you view the

continual development of the school?
Fr. Fortin: It is interesting to note firstly how
our dear Society of St. Pius X has been more and
more “forced” by Divine Providence toward the
important work of the education of youth. Forced
by need, since mainstream Catholic schools
have abandoned their mission; and forced by
circumstance, since there is no one else but the
traditional orders to take up the charge. And that
is not rocket science, we have willingly received
the handed-down perennial principles, and we
pass them on to our youth. Other schools, on the
contrary, have for the most part abandoned the
stability of truth and the happiness of the moral
order, leaving very little to offer. So, just as the
Jesuits did in their former days of glory, we work
to establish more and more perfect schools,
firstly in the realm of grounding our children
in the Catholic Faith, but also in our efforts to
provide excellent curriculums delivered with the
best of teaching, while offering (as we are able)
good programs of the various arts and sports.
Slowly then, we reconquer our nations with

the injection of confident and integral Catholic
gentlemen and ladies, polite and noble citizens of
service.
Angelus Press: Is technology used much in
your subject programs?
Fr. Fortin: It seems that schools are
well on their way to resembling our modern
supermarkets, where you find a computer for
self-checkout rather than a human cashier. It is
the current rave and even priority in most schools
to place an ipad in the hands of each child for all
their classes, even beginning from kindergarten!
This is madness! Technology will always be a
tool, and just that. Tools can assist in learning,
but human teachers can never be replaced, just
as human parents are essential in raising a child.
Therefore, we use technology at St. Thomas
only to assist, in its limited place, but not to
block the development of wisdom. It is necessary
also to develop in today’s world a responsible
use of technology; otherwise the exiting student
will find himself swallowed up in stupefied

Christian Culture
fascination of new technological gadgets and the
Internet.
Angelus Press: What of training students who
are more geared toward trade work?
Fr. Fortin: It is true that Don Bosco sought to
cater for this in his schools run by the Salesians.
At St. Thomas Aquinas College, we seek to
challenge each student in academic achievement
especially through the adoption of Cambridge
International standards. But saying this, we
realize that some students are gifted more so in
the practical fields. So happily, St. Thomas is able
to offer a range of subjects such as woodworking,
home economics, art, and agriculture. I wish all
the students could take classes in agriculture,
where one has the splendid opportunity to learn
under Fr. Fox the life lessons of raising crops and
animals with the sweat of one’s brow!
Angelus Press: Do many priests assist at the
school?
Fr. Fortin: There are five of us priests who
reside in community life. Monday through Friday
we rush off in the morning to the school. Each
section of the school (primary, secondary boys,
and secondary girls) is assigned a chaplain to
care spiritually for his flock of students. All the
priests also teach at least a few subjects.
We also are very blessed to have the
Dominican Sisters of Wanganui teaching at St.
Thomas. Teaching is their specialized apostolate
and they carry this task out daily with a joyful
spirit and with wonderful organizational skill.
Presently they are teaching subjects for the high
school girls and also many of the religion courses
in the primary section.
This order of Sisters now has many vocations
coming in, so the building of a convent is
absolutely necessary so they may re-locate to
new quarters from their overcrowded rental
house. We beg assistance with this big and
important project, so please see the website of
the Dominican Sisters of Wanganui to help in this
worthy cause.
Angelus Press: Are there other staff besides?
Fr. Fortin: Yes, about 30. We meet together
each week in order to stay together as a team,
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May - June 2016

especially in regard to our Catholic mission
of formation. We seek the wisdom of the great
Angelic Doctor in our weekly conferences.
The College also looks forward to special
guests during the year. This year we have the
honor of receiving Fr. Stehlin, who will give
recollection days on true devotion to our Lady
and encourage an entire student body enrolment
in the Militia Immaculata. We also will joyfully
welcome Dr. Peter Chojnowski, who will present
a week-long series of conferences on the grand
philosophy of virtue, friendship, and happiness.
Angelus Press: May I ask if you enjoy being a
principal?
Fr. Fortin: I must confess that being a
principal was never in my dreams, but the Good
Lord likes to surprise us! And yes, it is a joy! I
recognize that I had a huge grace in being sent
to St. Mary’s Academy, Kansas by my beloved
parents for my last two years of high school;
and it is a fact that we receive from God in order
to give and pass on to others. Besides this, just
seeing the smiles of the children, the precious
“little ones” of our Lord, is reward enough for
quelling the paternal worries which arise.
Angelus Press: Thank you very much Father,
is there anything else you would like to add?
Fr. Fortin: I remember The Angelus magazine
ever since my family had the grace to discover
spiritual lifesaving Tradition. I was in high school
at the time. Even if many of the articles were
difficult for me to follow at the time, I recognized
and appreciated the Catholic wisdom contained
throughout the pages. It is certain that the work
of Catholic publications and the work of Catholic
schools go hand in hand for the restoration of all
things in Christ. So, thank you for your splendid
and great work! And if you please allow me to
beg your many readers to send a prayer for our
dear students here in Australia, that we may grow
together in the spirit of consecration, in the spirit
of family, and in the spirit of greatness!

by Priests of the Society of Saint Pius X

Has the Pope’s recent
book (The Name of God
is Mercy) been analyzed
critically by theologians?
Fr. Matthias Gaudron, SSPX, wrote a book
review this past February which appeared
on the sspx.org website.1 In fact, he found the
book rather inspiring by and large, although the
actions and the on-the-fly statements of the Pope
often contradict the teaching of the book.

Could you mention some
positive things?
Among them, the Pope mentions clearly the
notion of sinner and sin. “Sin is more than a
spot. Sin is a wound which must be dressed
and treated.” To the adulteress, our Lord “does
not say: ‘Adultery is not a sin,’ but He does not
condemn her according to the law.” We are
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Christian Culture
sinners “because of original sin...our humanity
is wounded.” Shame is not a negative sentiment:
“When someone feels God’s mercy, he is ashamed
of himself, of his personal sin. Shame is ...
something positive, because it makes us humble.”

What does the Holy Father
say about confession?
The Pope gives great importance to the
Sacrament of Penance. Indeed, the second
chapter of his book is titled “The Gift of
Confession.” Bishops and priests “become...
instruments of God’s mercy. They act in persona
Christi, which means in the place of Christ.”
Also, there are cases in which the confessor must
deny absolution to the penitent, e.g., because
the penitent is continuing to live in a sinful
relationship and is unwilling to end it.

Does the Pope explain
his famous comment
“Who am I to judge?”
The Pope’s explanation on this point is far
from clear. He affirms that he only wanted to
say that individuals should be treated sensitively
and not marginalized. “I would prefer that
homosexuals come to confession, that they stay
close to the Lord, that we can pray together. One
can advise them to pray, to have good will, show
them the way and accompany them.”
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A Catholic response would not have been
difficult to give. A homosexual who is fighting
against his inclination and is not living in a
“homosexual marriage” or similar relationship
can, of course, come to confession and receive
absolution, even if at times he falls again into sin.
However, if he is unwilling to give up his
homosexual preferences and wants to continue
to live in that way, one can only counsel him to
continue to pray and to go to Mass, so as not to
lose contact with God completely.
The Pope’s statements can be understood in
an orthodox sense of leading them to genuine
conversion, but one gets the impression that he is
afraid of clearly indicating that homosexuality—
better named homosexual acts—is a sin.

Does Pope Francis seem to
focus on a certain Pharisaism
among Catholics?
Certainly there are and will always be
Pharisaical Catholics. But is it the first major
obstacle to grace? Is it not rather the case
that many Christians today have lost the
consciousness of sin altogether? Homosexuals,
cohabitating couples, those who do not practice
the Faith, etc., do not want to hear the message of
mercy, but want the Church to approve and bless
their situation.
Without faith, man is indifferent to God’s
mercy. It is only through the light of faith that
man becomes aware of his sins and understands
that he needs God’s mercy. Unfortunately, as long
as this proclamation of the Faith teaching the
Divine Law does not occur, initiatives like the
“Year of Mercy” will remain largely ineffective.

Are the Pope’s words on
relativism a needed corrective
to other things he has said?
A. We can hardly deny the obvious
contradiction between what the book states,
which condemns relativism in no uncertain
terms, and what the same author said and did
elsewhere. He released a video this past January
giving the impression that Christianity, Judaism,
Islam, and Buddhism are ultimately only different
paths to the same goal. During his visit to the
Lutheran church in Rome last November, he
made it clear that the difference touching on
faith were ultimately insignificant. Actions speak
louder than words!

At that time, however, the Vatican promptly
retracted these unsound statements.
But, now, the same issue comes up again with
the use of birth control allowed for tough cases,
and, not only is it not retracted, but it is even
confirmed by the Vatican spokesman. Yet, this
statement is inadmissible from the perspective of
the Faith. “No reason,” Pius XI teaches in Casti
Connubii (#54), “however grave, may be put
forward by which anything intrinsically against
nature may become conformable to nature and
morally good.” Pius XII recalls this in his Address
to Midwives (October 29, 1951): “No ‘indication’
or necessity can turn an intrinsically immoral
action into a moral and licit act.” Humanae Vitae
of Paul VI clearly states that the use of artificial
means to prevent conception is intrinsically
immoral. St. Paul condemned the opinion that
evil may be done so that good may come of it (see
Rom. 3:8).

What of the notion
of “graduality”?
Cannot we also speak of moral
relativism with what the Pope
said, this past February, about
allowing artificial birth control
against the Zika virus?

Certain anecdotes told by Pope Francis
suggest indeed that those living in sin could be
shown mercy from the confessor because of their
state, without compensation on their part. See
particularly the example of his nephew or that of
the non-repentant dying man.

He explained that contraception may be “the
lesser of two evils.” The method of gradual
morality in particular cases is now extended to
the unnatural act of contraception. This is the
same argument which had been put forward by
Benedict XVI with regards to male prostitution
in 2010: “[The Church] of course does not regard
[the condom] as a real or moral solution,” but
nevertheless the pope allows it “in certain cases.”
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Christian Culture
Are there any salutary
reminders in text on
divine mercy?

that the Pope’s idea of mercy is germane to the
Protestant vision, with its faith with no works
and no penance.

There are indeed, as we have seen. And yet, it
seems as if some words are absolutely taboo and
silenced. Not a word is uttered on the need for the
penitent to make reparation for his sins; on the
need to flee from the proximate occasions of sin,
and on the eternal truths: judgment and hell. God
is caricatured as a goody grandfather. And, in a
document with long passages on the sacrament
of penance, we see no reminder on the firm
purpose of amendment or on the severe words
of Christ. We leave this reading with the feeling

1

http://sspx.org/en/news-events/news/
review-pope-francis-new-book-13952

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The best questions and the best answers of 30 years of The Angelus. This will
be a family’s heirloom reference book for everyday Catholic living to match
the Catholic Faith we believe and the Latin Mass we attend. Over 300 answers
classified under 30 subtitles, authored by Frs. Pulvermacher, Laisney, Doran,
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–– Marriage, Parenting, Family Life and Rearing Children
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–– Mass and the Liturgy
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72

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May - June 2016

Father Lasance Prayerbooks
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Catholic Girl’s Guide
A gentle, well-written guide for young ladies. This is every young Catholic girl’s best source for
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Fr. Lasance provides practical counsels, reflections and prayers for young
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This is a two part book, the first containing prayers said throughout the day, including morning
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News from Tradition
Archbishop Robert Carlson and the Girl Scouts
In February, Archbishop Robert Carlson of
St. Louis, caused somewhat of an uproar in
the secular media by publishing a letter calling
into question whether Catholics can any longer
be associated with the Girl Scouts of America
because of the support by the group of practices
which are contrary to Catholic morality (indeed,
even the natural law). Although the Archbishop’s
letter may well be considered “too little, too
late” by many, he should still be commended for
taking a public stand, something very few of the
members of the American episcopate chose to do.
Archbishop Carlson begins by stating the
issues very clearly: For several years, the
Archdiocese of St. Louis, along with the United
States Conference of Catholic Bishops, has been
investigating concerns regarding Girls Scouts
USA (GSUSA). These concerns also extend to
the parent organization of GSUSA, the World
Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts
(WAGGGS). They include, but are not limited to:
WAGGGS’ continued promotion of contraception
and “abortion rights” on behalf of its girl
members, the majority of whom are minors;
financial contributions from GSUSA to WAGGGS,
based on number of registered GSUSA members;
GSUSA resources and social media highlight and
promote role models in conflict with Catholic
values, such as Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan;
Organizations that GSUSA promotes and partners
with are conflict with Catholic values, such as
Amnesty International, Coalition for Adolescent
Girls, OxFam, and more. This is especially
troubling in regards to sex education and
advocacy for “reproductive rights” (i.e., abortion
and contraceptive access, even for minors).
In November of 2014, the Catholic Youth
Apostolate issued a letter of concern to pastors
and the faithful of the archdiocese regarding
these issues. Since then, GSUSA and Girls
Scouts of Eastern Missouri (GSEM) have tried
to downplay and distance themselves from
these issues; however, we continue to have more
questions than answers.
In addition to speaking about the Girl Scouts,
Archbishop Carlson also spoke of issues
surrounding the Boy Scouts of America. He
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May - June 2016

writes: Concerns are also continuing to surface
with Boy Scouts of America (BSA). While the
new BSA leadership policy currently offers some
protections to religious organizations, I continue
to wonder in which direction this once trusted
organization is now headed.
The Archbishop also notes that these groups
have, for decades, been trusted organizations
in assisting parents in the development of good
character and morals in their children and
adolescents, but that can no longer be assumed,
despite the presence in local troops of leaders
who are devoted to Catholic moral principles.

The Archbishop’s letter can be found here:
archstl.org/files/field-file/Scout%20Letter%202%20
18%2016.pdf

Celebrating the Lutheran Heretical Revolt?
On January 25 (the Feast of the Conversion
of St. Paul!), Vatican Radio confirmed that
Pope Francis will travel to Lund, Sweden on 31
October 2016 to join in a prayer service with the
World Lutheran Federation to commemorate
the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the
Reformation.
Although no information has yet been released
on what form this joint “prayer service” will take,
it would seem likely that it will follow a prayer
booklet issued jointly by the Lutherans and the
Vatican entitled “Common Prayer: From Conflict
to Communion: Lutheran—Catholic
Common Commemoration of the Reformation
in 2017.” One example of a prayer taken from
the service should provide the reader with the
overall tenor of the service: Thanks be to you
O God for the many guiding theological and
spiritual insights that we have all received
through the Reformation. Thanks be to you
for the good transformations and reforms that
were set in motion by the Reformation or by
struggling with its challenges. Thanks be to you
for the proclamation of the gospel that occurred
during the Reformation and that since then has
strengthened countless people to live lives of
faith in Jesus Christ. Amen.

The entire event will be just one more example
of the false ecumenism which has taken hold
within the Vatican since the Second Vatican
Council. This ecumenism has led many souls
to perdition and confused countless others, in
addition to leading to the syncretism so prevalent
throughout the Church.

Pope Francis and the Mandatum
In Holy Week 2013, Pope Francis broke with
centuries of papal tradition by not celebrating
the Holy Thursday Mass In Cena Domini in
the Basilica of St. John Lateran (the Cathedral
Church of the Pope as Bishop of Rome). Instead,
he celebrated the Mass in a juvenal detention
center in Rome. Although this departure
from the norm of papal procedure raised
some eyebrows amongst many conservative
Catholics, the most startling issue was that at
the Mandatum (the rite of washing of the feet
in emulation of our Lord’s action of washing
the apostles’ feet at the Last Supper), the Pope

washed the feet not of twelve men, as the
rubrics of the Mass dictate, but of nine men and
three women, one of whom was a Muslim.
As was expected, this action was followed
by the usual conservative Catholic sources
critiquing the action of Pope Francis because he
did not follow the rubrics. The “neocons” were
merely concerned that the Pope did not follow
liturgical law, not that he was quite clearly
overturning centuries of liturgical tradition.
Thankfully for the “neocons,” Pope Francis has
made a change so as to quash their scruples. On
January 21, the Congregation for Divine Worship

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News from Tradition
(headed by Robert Cardinal Sarah, hailed
by many “neocons” as traditionally minded)
issued a decree stating that the former rubric
of allowing only the feet of men to be washed

the Novus Ordo rubrics for the Mandatum
have been unceremoniously “sacrificed” by a
Roman Congregation. These priests endured
much pressure from feminist parishioners

during the Mandatum is to be changed to
include those of women.
Once again we see that those pastors who
fought for years to maintain faithfulness to

and, in many cases, from their fellow priests
and bishops, to allow women to be part of the
ceremony. It appears their efforts were in vain.

Islamic State Continues Its Attacks on Christianity
Although the Islamic State (ISIS) has
continued to perpetrate atrocities involving
the murder of any persons who obstruct their
establishment of a caliphate, it must also be
noted that ISIS has continuously been waging
war on any person or entity that could remind the
world of the existence of Christianity. Earlier this
year, this group leveled the Chaldean Catholic
monastery of St. Elijah in Mosul, Iraq. The
monastery had stood for over 1400 years, and,
although it had no longer housed a community
of monks, it still served as a place of worship.
Most recently, the monastery served American
servicemen who were stationed in Iraq prior to
the withdrawal of United States troops.
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May - June 2016

Because of the violence aimed at Christians
in Iraq, the Christian population in that country
has dropped from 1.3 million in 2003 to 300,000 in
2015. It should be noted that 2003 marked the USled invasion of Iraq; although Saddam Hussein
certainly was a ruthless dictator, his time in
power did represent a period of relative peace for
Christians in Iraq.
With the destruction of the St. Elijah
monastery, the total number of sacred Christian
sites and other non-Muslim historic sites in Iraq
and Syria leveled by ISIS has grown to over
100. The monastery is named for St. Elijah, the
Assyrian Christian monk who built it during the
years from 582 to 590 AD. It had been a holy site

for Iraqi Christians for
centuries, part of the
Mideast’s Chaldean
Catholic community.
ISIS is not the first
group of Muslims
who has attacked the
monastery. In 1743, 150
monks who refused to
convert to Islam were
massacred under the
orders of a Persian
general. he monastery
was damaged at that
time. We must continue
to pray for the Catholic
community in Iraq and
Syria as they face daily
threats of torture and
death.

United States: ISIS declared guilty of “genocide”
In October 2015 the State Department of the
United States had announced that the term
“genocide” would be applied to the actions of
Islamic State (IS) against the Yazidi minority
(a Kurdish religious minority), but not to
the persecutions of Christians in the Near
East. There were strong reactions to that
announcement and, in response to the growing
controversy, Congress demanded that the State
Department make a decision by mid-March at
latest.
The Knights of Columbus report
That is why the Knights of Columbus, a
fraternal Catholic organization based in the
United States, published on March 9, 2016,
together with the association In Defense of
Christians, a 278-page report on the atrocities
committed against Christians by ISIS: the
Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria and in North
Africa, with testimonies—collected between
February and March 2016—about forced

displacements, thefts, murders, tortures, sexual
slavery and acts of violence. The document,
entitled Genocide against Christians in the
Middle East, was sent to the State Department;
it declares that the term “genocide” does not
require the extermination of an entire group
of persons, but rather a campaign aimed at
destroying that group “wholly or in part”. Thus,
the forced deportation or reduction to slavery
suffered by Christian women can be considered
as genocidal actions. The report publishes the
lists drawn up between 2003 and the rise of
IS in 2014, which identify by name 1,131 Iraqi
Christians killed, with the places and dates of
their execution, as well as the 125 Iraqi churches
that have been profaned, with their names,
dates, towns and the types of attack.
In mid-March 2016, the U.S. House of
Representatives approved by a large majority
a resolution condemning as “genocide” the
atrocities committed against Christians and
other religious minorities in Iraq and Syria by
77

News from Tradition
the jihadist group ISIS (also referred to by
its Arabic acronym “Daesh”). Although the
decision is not binding on the government,
it increases pressure on the Obama
administration, Associated Press emphasized.
Statement by the Secretary of State
On March 17, John Kerry, the American
Secretary of State, declared that Christians,
Yazidis, Shiite Muslims and other religious
and ethnic minorities were victims of a
campaign of “genocide” on the part of ISIS.
The Obama administration, hesitant to include
Christians among the victims, finally yielded
to the pressure exerted by some circles. The
announcement by the State Department is
“revolutionary”, because the term “genocide”
is rarely used to describe atrocities committed
by groups or States, the Catholic News Agency
(CNA) commented. The last declaration of
genocide had been made in 2004, concerning
the massacres in Darfur in Sudan. According
to the terminology adopted by the United
Nations, genocide is the “crime of crimes”,
because it involves the intentional destruction
of a whole people “in its entirety or in part”.
The European Parliament, in February
of this year, also pronounced in favor of the
designation of genocide in the Middle East.
Defenders of Christians estimate that these
two declarations will help to increase pressure
on the U.N. Security Council to declare a case
of “genocide” and refer it to the International
Criminal Court (ICC), which is in charge of
judging those responsible.
In the background, rivalry between the
United States and Russia
On March 18, 2016, Abp. Jacques Behnan
Hindo, Titular Syrian Catholic Archeparch of
Hassakè-Nisibi, commented in an interview
with the Vatican news agency Fides on the
statements by the American Secretary of State,
John Kerry, on the “genocide” perpetrated
by militants of the so-called “Islamic State”
against Christians and other minority groups.
Denouncing a “geopolitical operation that
exploits the category of genocide for its
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May - June 2016

own interests,” Abp. Hindo criticized this
“proclamation of genocide that was made
by spotlighting the so-called ‘Islamic State’,
while censoring all the acts of complicity and
the historical and political processes that
led to the creation of the jihadist monster,
starting with the war in Afghanistan against
the Soviets, through the support of armed
Islamist groups.” The prelate pointed out an
“intention to erase all the foreign factors that
contributed to the rapid, abnormal emergence
of the so-called ‘Islamic State’”, recalling that
some recent “Turkish and Saudi pressures—
countries allied with the United States” were
working to get “the jihadists of al-Nusra
to distance themselves from the Al-Qaida
network so as to be classified as ‘moderate
rebels’ and thus aided by the West…!”
It is misleading to present Christians as
the only victims or the primary victims of the
violence of ISIS, the Archbishop continued.
“These fools,” Abp. Hindo said indignantly, “kill
Shiites, Alawites, and even any Sunnis who
do not submit. The Christians are a minimal
part of the 200,000 who have died in the Syrian
conflict and, in some cases, Christians are
allowed to flee or to pay the submission tax
(jizya), whereas for non-Christians, the only
solution is death.”
The declaration of “genocide against
Christians” on the part of the American
administration is, in Abp. Hindo’s view,
an attempt to regain ground in light of the
increased prestige of Russia among the people
of the Near East. “The Russian intervention
in Syria has increased Moscow’s authority
in a vast sector of the peoples of the Near
East, and not only among the Christians,” he
emphasized. “Some powerful groups in the
United States fear it and now they are playing
the protect-the-Christians card. It would that
we have returned to the nineteenth century,
when the protection of the Christians in the
Near East was also a tool for geopolitical
operations aimed at increasing influence in the
region,” the prelate concluded.
(Sources: apic/ap/cna/fides – DICI no. 333 dated March
25, 2016)

Theological Studies

Reflections
on the
Jubilee and
Mercy
by Fr. Jean-Michel Gleize, SSPX

The Meaning of a Jubilee
Since December 8, 2015, the Extraordinary
Jubilee published by Pope Francis has been running
its course. The successor of St. Peter chose this
opening date “because of its rich meaning in the
recent history of the Church.”1 The Sovereign Pontiff
announced his intention to open the Holy Door “on
the fiftieth anniversary of the closing of the Second
Vatican Ecumenical Council.” He did so; and this
explains the profound meaning behind his act: in
keeping with the last council, the goal of this Jubilee
Year, to be lived in a spirit of mercy, is to drive out
“every form of discrimination.”2 Francis explained
this very clearly,3 explicitly referring to his predecessors. At the opening of Vatican Council II, John XXIII
made sure to warn the Catholic faithful that “the
Bride of Christ wishes to use the medicine of mercy
rather than taking up arms of severity.” These words

of the Pope were echoed by those of his successor Paul VI at the same council’s closing: “The old
story of the Good Samaritan has been the model of
the spirituality of the Council.” In the Gospel, this
story is a parable that indicates in an illustrated
way what mercy is. Fifty years later, Pope Francis is
simply persevering, with all the brilliance and media
publicity involved in the initiative of a Jubilee, in the
new vision adopted by John XXIII and Paul VI. “The
Church’s first duty,” he recently repeated, “is not
to hand down condemnations or anathemas, but to
proclaim God’s mercy, to call to conversion, and to
lead all men and women to salvation in the Lord.”4
What mercy? What conversion? What salvation?
And so lastly, what indulgence? These are the questions put more and more often to Catholic consciences over the last fifty years. And the opening of
the latest Jubilee highlights their urgency.

79

Theological Studies
True Mercy5
Mercy is a virtue, distinct from any other, since it
has its own proper object and motive. The object of
mercy is to relieve the misery of another. The motive
of mercy is the consideration of another’s misery as
one’s own.
The Object of Mercy.
Misery is an evil, and in the order of human
things, evil can be adequately divided into sin and
punishment. The capital difference between these
two sorts of evils is that sin is committed, whereas
punishment is undergone. Indeed any evil undergone involuntarily6 is a punishment, since all evil is
undergone precisely as a consequence of sin, original or personal, of which it is the just providential
chastisement. Any evil committed voluntarily is a
sin, since any evil is precisely committed against the
eternal divine law. So if we consider things with full
precision, we understand that sin and punishment
are opposites: one and the same evil cannot be both
one and the other in the same respect, since it cannot be at once and in the same respect committed
and undergone. If we remain in the line of this precision, we can say that sin, because it is a voluntarily
committed evil, and to the extent that it is so, in
itself calls for justice and therefore a chastisement
or punishment; punishment, on the contrary, because it is an evil that one undergoes against one’s
own will, can arouse mercy, to the extent that the sin
which merited the said punishment has become for
the sinner an object of efficacious regret, that is to
say, penance.
The misery that is the object of mercy is precisely
the evil of punishment that is undergone. So from
the point of view of mercy, there is no need to distinguish between the sinner (who merited the mercy)
and the sin (that is to be reproved), for example,
between the homosexual and homosexuality, or the
adulterer and adultery. As such, the sinner is defined
as he who willfully commits sin, the homosexual
as he who willfully commits the unnatural act, the
adulterer as he who willfully commits the injustice
of infidelity to his spouse. The sinner in so far as he
willfully sins merits the same reprobation as his sin,
and that is why he merits no mercy. The distinction
is possible on another level, since different aspects
can be found in one and the same thing. A sin, which
is necessarily willful, can result at the same time

80

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May - June 2016

both from the free consent and from many other
factors that led to it and that are weakness and
infirmity; this is where the involuntary aspect, that
diminishes the sin, enters in; for under this aspect
it ceases to be an evil committed and becomes an
evil undergone, and therefore misery; and it calls,
rather, for excuse and pardon: mercy. Consequently,
if there is a distinction to be made, it must be made
between sin and misery, between the sinner and the
miserable, between homosexuality (or the homosexual) and the weakness of an unnatural concupiscence, between the adulterer and the weakness
of an unfortunately all too common concupiscence.
By accident, the sinner (and not his sin) can be the
object of mercy, not insofar as he willfully commits
an evil act, but insofar as he involuntarily undergoes
the weight of an evil concupiscence, which urges
him in spite of himself to contradict the injunctions
of the divine law. It is in this sense that it is true to
say that we must rather pity the sinner and help him
than be indignant and condemn him. This is because
here we formally consider him under the aspect in
which he is misery, under the aspect in which he
seems to have an excuse; we explain it by everything
involuntary that was able to introduce itself into
him. And we also consider him under the aspect in
which he comes to detest the evil act he committed
and seeks to repair it. Under these aspects, but only
under these aspects, mercy can seek to relieve the
misery of the sinner.
The Motive of Mercy.
The motive of mercy is always the consideration
of another’s misery as one’s own. This is easy to
understand if we remember that mercy is fundamentally sadness, and that we could not “be sore at
heart” at the sight of someone’s misery if we were
not touched by it. And misery touches us because
we share it, that is to say, when we make it our own.
So the whole question is to know why we make
someone else’s misery our own.
There exists a certain natural, humanitarian, or
philanthropic mercy, by which all men naturally love
those like them and therefore share their misery
which is that of the human nature in general as such.
This mercy is ultimately based on a real and objective bond (which depends neither on our knowledge,
nor on our affection, be it sensible or voluntary) that
stimulates a practically spontaneous tendency of

human nature. We say of those who go against it
that they are “unnatural.” This tendency urges every
normal man to lend his help to anyone in danger, to
anyone undergoing an evil, and to refuse this help
sometimes even constitutes a misdemeanor, penalized by positive human law, which in this case clarifies the natural law. But while natural and humanitarian mercy radically inviscerate, are instinctive, in
every man, this mercy does not take into account
the knowledge of the profound roots of evil. Evil undergone, that is, misery, does not at once appear as
the consequence of an evil committed, that is, sin.
And precisely because of this ignorance of the relation between the two, this natural tendency of man’s
always runs the risk of being mistaken.
Supernatural mercy goes much farther; it supposes charity. Here our motive for relieving misery
is the friendship that attaches us to God, according
to grace. For the love of God, it wishes to relieve all
those whom misery can touch, both spiritual and
corporal misery. And in this misery that touches
one’s neighbor, it sees the consequence of sin; in the
evil undergone it sees the result of the evil committed. It therefore also sees to what extent it is just to
relieve the punishment incurred: to the extent that
the sin justifying the infliction of this punishment
ceases to be willed by him who committed it, to the
extent that the sinner hates his sin, and to the extent
that the sinner had extenuating circumstances. Or
at least to the extent that the exercise of mercy,
whose intention is to diminish or even suppress
the evil of a punishment, does not contradict the
requirements of justice, whose intention is to neutralize the evil of a sin. And that is the heart of the
matter.

True Mercy and Justice7
Justice is the constant and perpetual will to
render to each his due. So its goal is to regulate
our relations with others. And it can do so in two
ways: either with others considered individually, or
with others considered as members of a society.
There are therefore two forms of justice: particular
justice and general or legal justice. Particular justice
renders his due to an individual taken as such. It can
do so by rendering to this individual what is due to
him either from another individual (in which case
it is commutative justice) or from society (in which

case it is distributive justice). General or legal justice
renders to the common good of society what is due
to it from each of its members. For the good of every
virtue, both those that ordain man to himself and
those that ordain him to others, must be referred to
the common good to which this justice ordains us. In
this way, the acts of all the virtues can come under
justice insofar as this latter ordains man to the
common good. And in this sense justice is a general
virtue. And because it is the role of the law to ordain
us to the common good, this general justice is called
legal justice; for by it man is in agreement with the
law that ordains the acts of all the virtues to the
common good.
Distributive justice implies the power to punish
with chastisements, in order to preserve the social
order. Indeed, society (as such or by the intermediary of the authority) renders his due to the individual
who causes disorder. Now what the society owes the
cause of disorder is the punishment or chastisement
that reestablishes order. Among these chastisements prominently figures discrimination, that is,
the fact of not enjoying the same freedom of public
action as the other members of the society. As with
any chastisement, discrimination is not an evil but
a good, from the precise viewpoint of the common
good, whose order it preserves. In other words, it is a
good for all, since it is the necessary means to effectively preserve the common good of virtue against
the bad example of vice. It is also an evil in a way (the
evil of punishment of which we have already spoken),
for the one who undergoes it. This evil undergone
involuntarily by the discriminated person (and by him
alone) is his misery, which mercy can consider and
remedy. But it is not the evil of a fault, a sin voluntarily committed by the authority that inflicts the
punishment and imposes the discrimination (as a
so-called lack of charity or mercy would be). Nor is it
an evil of punishment involuntarily undergone by the
society; on the contrary, it is this latter’s good, for it
is a work of justice. There is therefore a formal difference within one and the same reality: what is a good
from the viewpoint of the common good (and as a
good, the object of particular, distributive justice) is
an evil of punishment from the viewpoint of the particular good (and as an evil of punishment, the object
of mercy). It is up to general (or legal) justice to harmonize the two. Which means that particular mercy
and justice are dependent on general justice. This

81

Theological Studies
latter ordains particular justice and mercy to each
other, and the principle of this order is the common
good. Only from this superior viewpoint of the common good can one ordain mercy and justice as they
should be within a society. Which means that in the
Holy Church as in a civil society, the requirements
of the common good will always remain the rule and
measure of mercy. And let us take care never to
forget that the common good par excellence, and the
measure of all other, is the divine good, God Himself,
in Whom justice and mercy are identified without
confusion.

The Council’s and
Francis’s False Mercy
Ever since the Second Vatican Council, says John
XXIII, “the Bride of Christ considers that rather than
condemning, she responds better to the needs of
our times by highlighting the wealth of her doctrine.”
More exactly, to quote Paul VI’s words,
“errors were condemned, indeed, because charity demanded this no less than did truth, but for the
persons themselves there was only warning, respect
and love.” Error and evil are denounced as such, but
persons are considered beyond their reach. Or at
least as if the consideration of the truth and goodness should take precedence over what is erroneous
and evil. Paul VI even evokes a “wave of affection
and admiration” for these persons. The relation
has therefore been inversed: until now the requirements of justice prevailed over those of mercy in
the external public domain, for the gravity of sin
prevailed over that of the punishment, and so the
need to impose discriminations in order to preserve
society from the sins committed by people prevailed
over the desire to have mercy on members of the
society. Now, the desire to recognize and promote
the good in people prevails over the desire to protect
the common good of society. Or rather, the common good of society is confused with the sum of
the particular goods of the members of society. The
Council wished to ratify the acquisitions of modern
thought and in order to do so, to place the Church in
a personalist and pluralist society.
So Pope Francis’s statement is in perfect keeping with that of Vatican II: “[May] this Jubilee Year,
celebrating mercy, [...] drive out every form of
discrimination.” Indeed, did not the Council say:

82

The Angelus

May - June 2016

“With respect to the fundamental rights of the
person, every type of discrimination, whether social
or cultural, whether based on sex, race, color, social
condition, language or religion, is to be overcome
and eradicated as contrary to God’s intent.”8 “The
Church reproves, as foreign to the mind of Christ,
any discrimination against men or harassment of
them because of their race, color, condition of life,
or religion.”9 “The government is to see to it that
equality of citizens before the law, which is itself
an element of the common good, is never violated,
whether openly or covertly, for religious reasons.”10
The declaration on religious liberty makes nondiscrimination a principle. This principle is justified
by the preeminence of the particular good over
the common good. And by this very fact, Dignitatis
Humanae places mercy (whose object is to relieve a
penalty insofar as it is an evil for a particular person)
over justice (whose object is to inflict a penalty insofar as it is the good of all).
And yet it should be obvious (and so it was for
twenty centuries) that the power of the civil society and the ecclesiastical power both have the
duty to impose discrimination on those whose sins
threaten the public order, if only because they represent a scandal, that is to say, an occasion of sin.
Discrimination is necessary because of the social or
religious condition of the troublemakers. Religious
condition if there is a public cult contrary to the true
religion. Social condition if there is behavior contrary
to the divine natural law (illegitimate matrimonial
union; homosexual unions). But the Council reproves
all forms of discrimination: the good that is absolutely indispensable for preserving the social order
is eliminated, on the pretext that it represents the
all too relative evil of a punishment (and therefore a
misery) for the persons involved. And this elimination
is conducted in the name of “the primacy of mercy.”11
But by the very fact that it places the particular good
above the common good, this mercy is redefined in
a personalistic sense that is foreign to the traditional
doctrine of the Church.
More precisely, it becomes a humanitarian, philanthropic mercy, no longer able to grasp the connection
between the evil of sin and the evil of the punishment. It is because the punishment is merited by the
sin that it becomes a good: the common good of a
justice that is common to all of society and the whole
Church. If we do not grasp this connection, we can

see nothing but evil in discrimination: the common
evil of an injustice common to all individuals and all of
humanity. It is clear that the Catholic dogma “Outside
of the Church there is no salvation” expresses a discrimination and includes the condemnation of “other
religious traditions.” The new conception inherited
from Vatican II claims that the value of mercy “goes
beyond the confines of the Church”12 and most logically (although implicitly) leads Pope Francis to see
in the teaching of his predecessors an injustice that
goes against mercy: “I trust that this Jubilee year
celebrating the mercy of God will foster an encounter
with these religions and with other noble religious
traditions; may it open us to even more fervent
dialogue so that we might know and understand one
another better; may it eliminate every form of closedmindedness and disrespect, and drive out every form
of violence and discrimination.”13

4

Francis, “Address for the Conclusion of the Extraordinary Synod
on the Family”, Saturday, October 24, 2015.

5

St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, IIa IIae, question 30;
Jacques, De caritate, vol. II, # 922-988; Michel-Marie Labourdette,
«Cours de théologie morale», ad locum.

6

The physical evil of the body, such as death, blows and wounds,
sickness, old age, poverty; the spiritual evil of the soul such
as solitude or lack of friends, separation from one’s family,
dishonor, weakness of mind; the evil of concupiscence and that of
temptation, that both urge to sin.

7

St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, questions 58 and 61.

8

Gaudium et Spes, §29, #2.

9

Nostra Aetate, §5.

10

Dignitatis Humanae, §6.

11

MV, §20.

12

MV, §23.

13

MV, §23.

14

Gregory XVI, encyclical Mirari Vos, August 15, 1832, §15.

What Indulgence?
The blindness with which the men of the Church,
and even the first among them, have been afflicted
for the past fifty years is a great misery. But it is
doubtless the just punishment merited by the great
sin committed during the Council: for let us not
forget: liberalism is a sin. And it is precisely this sin
of liberalism that was at the principle and foundation
of the whole Council. John XXIII said it and repeated
it: “the Bride of Christ considers that rather than
condemning, she responds better to the needs of
our times by highlighting the wealth of her doctrine.”
That is exactly the error of liberalism as condemned
by Pope Gregory XVI in the encyclical Mirari Vos:
“Some are so carried away that they contentiously
assert that the flock of errors arising from them is
sufficiently compensated by the publication of some
book which defends religion and truth.”14 Francis’s
false mercy is the daughter of John XXIII and Paul
VI’s false liberty. The Council gave birth to a monster, and this monster is the chastisement for its
sin, the punishment for this adulterous marriage
between the men of the Church and the Revolution.
This punishment is today’s great misery.

1

Misericordiae Vultus, §4.

2

MV, §23.

3

MV, §4.

83

22 pp. – Softcover – STK# 8433✱ – $3.15

Enthronement of the
Sacred Heart In the Home

Enthronement 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!”
Includes: the Promises of the Sacred Heart of Jesus; What is Enthronement?; What Must I do
to Enthrone the Sacred Heart in My Home; the Ceremony of Enthronement; Renewal of the
Family Consecrations; Suggested Devotional Practices.

700pp. – Softcover – STK# 8666 – $34.95

True or False Pope?
Refuting Sedevacantism and Other Modern Errors

John Salza and Robert Siscoe
Foreword by His Excellency, Bishop Bernard Fellay
“A comprehensive and definitive refutation, firmly grounded in ecclesiology, has been
sorely needed. We thus pray that True or False Pope? finds its way to many Catholics of
good will. Mr. Salza and Mr. Siscoe’s book will surely afford much clarity to the reader.”
“True or False Pope? is simply luminous. Covering a vast territory with unique clarity, it
surpasses every work of its kind and is arguably one of the most important books written on the post-conciliar crisis.”—Fr. Steven Reuter, SSPX, Professor, Natural Law Ethics,
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192 pp. – Hardcover – STK# 8665 – $16.00

Pope Leo XIII and the
Prayer to St. Michael
Mention is often made of Leo XIII and a famous vision of an attack being made or
planned by the devil against the Church. The facts about this vision, however, have
been unclear for many decades, for there are different versions of what occurred, and
of what was or was not said in that vision. To provide clarity about Pope Leo's vision,
Kevin J. Symonds began a historical investigation to arrive at the facts, to distinguish
between rumor and the authentic history of the event, as well as to explain its meaning
for our time and in particular of the contemporary Popes.
Related to this vision is the well known Prayer to St. Michael and a special prayer of Exorcism. What became known as the Leonine Prayers began to be recited after Masses
throughout the world, taking their name from Leo XIII, but their origin came from his
predecessor, Blessed Pius IX. Moving into the twentieth century, the author then examines the relationship between Pope Leo's vision and Fatima, and the decision of Pius XI,
after the Vatican's reconciliation with the Italian government, to continue the Leonine
Prayers while adding the conversion of Russia as their intention.
Foreword by Bishop Athanasius Schneider

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The
Last
Word
Dear readers,
“Such false apostles are deceitful workmen, transforming themselves into the apostles of
Christ. And no wonder: for Satan himself transformeth himself into an angel of light.” (2 Cor.
11:13-14)
One of the gems of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius is no doubt his Rules for the
Discernment of Spirits, so much needed in this time of diabolical disorientation.
“Satan into an Angel of light”? Yes. Not all that glitters is gold. Not all that seems good is
good. Just as our modern world excels in copying, forging, and imitating anything, so does
the devil, who is prince of the world and the father of lies. Today he is having a field day, harvesting on the ignorance of so many. But the saints have given us the weapons to see through
him. “The evil spirit begins by suggesting thoughts that are suited to a devout soul and ends
by suggesting his own” (Spiritual Exercises n. 332). How many people are caught!
Examples of this deceitful light, this apparent good, are plenty.
–– “Let’s make the Holy Mass more understandable by using only the vernacular.” Yet, the
Holy Mass will always remain a mystery which we can never fully understand—in any
language! Thus they “throw out the Divine Baby and the bath water,” reducing the Holy
Sacrifice to a mere celebration of man.
–– “Accept the traditional Mass, as long you also accept the New Mass and the ideas behind
it, i.e., Vatican II.” Yet, these were the very causes of the demolition of the sacred liturgy!
–– “Let’s dialogue with heretics and schismatics, and let’s be friends.” Yet, this move is not
aimed at converting and leading to the one true fold of Christ. The obvious result is a
drastic drop in the number of conversions.
–– “We are for Tradition!” For them, this means “yes” when they mean the Living Tradition,
that is, today’s modern errors; but “No” when they mean the pre-Vatican II teaching!
–– “Mercy!” Even that most divine reality has been gutted of its traditional meaning. Does
it mean God’s grace pulling a soul out of sin to infuse in it the divine life, or merely a
merciless condoning of the very state of sin?
Last October’s Synod asked for discernment. But this discernment is no longer to distinguish between good and evil; we are being asked to discern in order to approve evil. “Woe to
you that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light, and light for darkness!” (Is.
5:20)
Have mercy on us, O Lord! Exsurge, Domine!

Fr. Daniel Couture

The Society of St. Pius X is an international priestly society of common life
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