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Home ... the One, True, Holy, Catholic
Church
“That
understanding of its sacred dogmas must be perpetually
retained, which Holy
Mother Church once declared; and there must never be
a recession from that meaning under the specious name
of a deeper understanding”
(Blessed Pope Pius IX, 1st Vatican Council, S.3, C.2
on Revelation, 1870 ex cathedra)
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“Whosoever therefore
will be a friend of this world, becomes an enemy of God.”
(Saint James 4.4)
It is NOT a “Happy”
new year. It is the inauguration of greater suffering, trial,
testing, and confirming in Holy Mother Church.
She has been thrown to Her knees — and those who will scourge
Her most cruelly are in Her very bosom; those who profane Her
remorselessly will be those who have taken Holy Orders, Vows,
and Promises that they will mock by what they say and what they
do — and fail to do! It is likely a year of great, great
apostasy …
Do not seek solace in anointing these days “The Purification
of the Church” — for to be purified is to be submitted
to fire — fire that cleanses all the putrefaction and purulence
that infects, corrupts, and disfigures the Body of Christ —
which is His Church.
She will be lacerated and afflicted — agony
will be Her daily bread, and the most bitter draught the wine
of Her affliction — but
“by these stripes
She will be healed”.
The suffering to
come we cannot imagine any more than the beauty to be revealed
beyond it.
Miserere, Domine. Miserere!
Editor
Boston Catholic Journal
January 1, 2019
Printable PDF Version
Comments? Write us:
editor@boston-catholic-journal.com
The Gate of Glory
“Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute
you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for
My sake.
Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in Heaven. ”
(Saint
Matthew 5:11)
Christ came down
to earth that we might go up to Heaven.
This, then, is our wish for you this Christmas:
that you be rewarded for your life in Christ by joining Mary,
all the Angels and Saints, and the Company of Martyrs in Heaven
for all eternity!
No less a figure than Saint Peter told us how
this is possible:
“If
you be reproached for the name of Christ, you shall be blessed:
for that which is of the honor, glory, and power of God, and
that which is his Spirit, resteth upon you.”
(1 St. Peter 4.14)
What is more, we read in the Acts of the Apostles that
“The
apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because
they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.”
(Acts 5.41)
It
was, however, Our Blessed Lord Himself Who promised it first:
“Blessed
shall you be when men shall hate you, and when they
shall separate you and shall reproach you and cast out your
name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake
...
Be glad
and rejoice, for your reward is very great
in Heaven!”
(Saint Matthew 5:11, Saint Luke 6.22)
We have reason, then — and the means through
which to rejoice — in this holy Season of Christmas!
But will we avail ourselves of it? Will
we as Catholics open ourselves to disgrace and
mockery, ridicule and reproach, by doing what Christ
would have us do — and suffer —
for His Name’s sake ...
and account as nothing the mockery
and contempt of the world?
We know what following Christ will entail
for us here
on earth — especially in these dark and evil times — sadly,
both in the Church
and in the world. We have just been told: we will
be hated, ridiculed, disdained, mocked, separated from the society
of the “socially correct” — we may lose our friends and, quite
possibly, our jobs! Such prospects alone will separate the wheat
from the chaff.
What
can we give God?
We can give nothing to God that He has not given us first
— with one absolutely vital exception: our uncompromising
love for Him.
God has endowed
us with a free will — and with that will, which is totally
our own, we — we can choose to love and serve
God (as the Holy Angels did long before Creation, and so entered
into beatitude) — or we can willfully exempt Him from
our love, deny it to Him, withhold it from Him
— and choose, instead, ourselves as the axis of
the universe (as the Rebellious Angels did and so were cast
into Hell). God gives us that freedom! He respects our will
and will not revoke our choices — to love Him ... or
the world — and the two are not simply incompatible,
but mutually exclusive. “Nemo
potest duobus dominis servire —
No man can serve two masters.” (Saint Matthew 6.24)
And we
are completely free to choose!
If we choose Him, it will be a
TOTAL LOVE — a love above everyone and everything
else that we love: a love so proximately absolute that we can
only attain to it by expressing it in the total oblation,
the unstinting offering of ourselves to Him in everything we
do, everything we say, everything we think, everything we will,
everything we desire, everything we are:
Love that will accept:
-
Ridicule for His Sake (yes, even by ones
own family and friends)
-
Mockery for His Sake
-
Being hated for His Sake
-
Being marginalized — especially by other
Catholics ... for His Sake
-
Being considered spiritually retrograde
because of your total devotion to Him and your defiance
of the world.
-
Being deemed “regressive” because your piety
and devotions, your prayers and gestures, do not conform
to “modernized” and “progressive” practices that fail to
reflect a genuine understanding of Who God IS,
Where God is, and How He comes to us in the Seven
Sacraments — before “piety” and “devotion” became “incorrect”
and an embarrassment in today’s “progressive” Catholic
Church of Accompaniment and the God of Surprises.
You Will Pay Tribute
Do not be deceived or naïve: you will
pay tribute. The world will crown us according
to our love: for the world a Crown of Laurels ... for
God a Crown of Thorns.
Can you give Him that gift? Every day? And
in all company? in all places?
It means:
-
Praying Grace before every meal — and
making the Sign of the Cross in public restaurants
— not the shrinking, “as-fast-and-as-hidden-as-possible”
Sign of the Cross that declares how ashamed you are
of your holy Catholic Faith — after all, people may be astonished,
scandalized (and perhaps some even converted …)
-
Bowing your head at the Sacred Name of
Jesus (Philippians 2.10) — no matter how often it is
uttered — and if it is uttered blasphemously, “finishing”
the blasphemous utterance with a silent “have mercy on
us” and so make a prayer of a sacrilege.
-
Confessing Christ openly when it is
least beneficial to you: you cannot take refuge
in silence about Him
“Who will
deny you before His Angels in Heaven if you deny
Him before men.” (Saint Matthew 10.33)
-
Genuflecting when you pass by
Him in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar —
how dare you pass Him by without anything less
than a bent knee! Do you not know that He is really
and truly present — Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity
— in the Tabernacle and that He deigns to
greet you ... who refuse to so much as acknowledge
Him … because you fear being thought “pious” in the
eyes of others — as though piety were a sin!
-
Believing — and so acting upon! —
everything Christ commanded us: taking the
lowest seat, being the last, being despised … for His
sake. In other words, all that deprives you of
honor in this world and solicits the obsequious admiration
of men.
Probably one out of a thousand — no, ten
thousand — Catholics have the FAITH to do these things
— all of which are obligatory to us! And because
they are required of us, we must not dare applaud ourselves
when we have done these things — and secretly esteem ourselves
holy because we have done them. We have been admonished in no
uncertain terms about this self-flattery beforehand:
“When you have
done all that you were commanded, you should say,
‘We are worthless servants; we’ve only done our duty.’
” (Saint Luke 17.10)
This, then, is your only possible
gift to God: acknowledging Him openly by loving Him
sincerely and obeying Him diligently in all that you do.
This — and only this — you can give Him
Who gave all else to you first.
Your will is totally free: free
to acknowledge Him and love Him — or to ignore Him and reject
Him!
Freedom is meaningless without responsibility
and responsibility is meaningless without consequences.
Not idly did God speak:
“Behold I set forth in your sight this day a blessing
and a curse: A blessing, if you obey the commandments
of the Lord your God,
which I command you this day: A curse, if
you obey not the commandments of the Lord your God,
but revolt from the way which
now I show you, and walk after strange gods which
you know not.”
(Deuterononomy 11.26-28) |
We wish you a most Blessed Christmas and
Christmastide … and pray that you have the willingness to
be mocked and marginalized for His sake … that you may
know immortally the inexpressible joy awaiting those who pass
through the crucible of faith to the Collector of Crosses Who
knows His own through the Sign by which they are forever sealed
— the Sign that brought them cruel contempt from the world —
and transfiguration into glory in Heaven.
May you be humiliated for His Name’s sake! For so were
His Apostles. (Acts 5.41)
It is the gate of glory and the pledge of things
everlasting to come.
Editor
Boston Catholic Journal
December 21, 2018
Printable PDF Version
Comments? Write us:
editor@boston-catholic-journal.com
The Odor of Sulfur ... not Sanctity
Who has
not Smelled it?
Obedience
to the pope presumes the pope’s obedience to Christ
—
and to the nearly 2000 year old Sacred Deposit of Faith
that Christ entrusted to His Bride the Church. In Holy Scripture,
in Sacred Tradition, and in the Deposit of Faith
we find the fullness of truth and the unerring certainty of
the will of God in all things. Who defects from any of the three
defects from all and who teaches otherwise teaches heresy. He
is separated from the Church. 1
No one is exempt because no one is immune
to grievous sin — sin so grave that excommunication is incurred
latæ sententiæ (automatically: as soon as the sin is
committed). Canon Law 1463 states:
“Certain
particularly grave sins incur excommunication, the most severe
ecclesiastical penalty, which impedes the reception of the sacraments
and the exercise of certain ecclesiastical acts, and for which
absolution consequently cannot be granted, according to canon
law, except by the Pope, the bishop of the place or priests
authorized by them.”
But what if
the pope himself is the excommunicate (latae sententiae)?
Who is not confused?
In the face of the near daily assaults — by the
present papacy itself and an episcopacy in apparent complicity
with him — on 2000 years of the consistent teaching of the Church,
on the very Deposit of Faith, and on the validity of Sacred
Scripture itself, what Catholic has not asked — in the fearfully
deep and most secret recesses of his soul — the question
“Whence?” From whom and from what comes this
relentless scourging of faith — even at the vertex of the Church
itself — this overwhelming defection from all that is
holy to all that is vile?
“There is smoke in the sanctuary”
and instinctively we perceive it, recoil from
it. It is proffered as incense but is pungent to our senses
— as the fume of smoldering sulfur.
We are confused between the Word of God become
Man and the word of man become god.
What a fearful divide rends the Body of Christ
anew! See how the sheep are scattered! Need we tell
you who is the father of confusion and lies ...?
No Longer Inconceivable
...
Imagine
... the pope himself as the principle cause
of confusion — and defection — in the Catholic Church.
It is nothing less than ... diabolically clever.
It is
Francis indeed whom satan has sought to sift
like wheat 2 — and sadly, it would appear,
with much success and to great measure.
Manifest Complicity with Evil
— and the "Father of Lies" himself
In our obligation to Charity (one of the three
Theological Virtues: Faith and Hope being the other two),
we should pray that Francis, together with the cardinals and
bishops complicit with him, should renounce their complicity
with satan, the father of lies and their collaboration with
the manifest evil that they have embraced and propagated — and
through which they would pull down the walls of the Church and
make Christ a liar! Indeed, did not Jesus speak of this current
Brood of Vipers when He said:
“You are of your father the devil,
and the desires of your father you will do.
He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood
not in the truth; because truth is not in him.
When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own:
for he is a liar, and the father thereof.”
(St. John 8.44)
Mass Defection
A frightening
number of
cardinals, bishops, and priests have lost their faith altogether
and no longer believe what Christ Himself and Holy Mother the
Church taught for 2000 years. Formally, this is called apostasy.
They have defected from the Bride of Christ because She
is pure and their desires are evil — She is not of
this world — but they are! Her Body is chaste and
their desires are perverse, corrupt, and defiled. It is precisely
in the paradigm of the
The Third Temptation of Christ
that we find the provenance of this defection (apostasy.
What Jesus Christ spurned (worldly “power and glory”
), they have lusted
for — and in exchange for it have given the required tribute
to the “father of lies” — satan — who openly boasts of
the “power” and “the glory of this world”, that:
“to me they
are delivered, and I give them to whom I will”
(St. Luke 4.5-6).
The Tribute due to the father
of lies
And what is that
tribute? LIES. If the father is a liar, then his
brood can only be liars, too. Christ has already told
us:
“the
desires of your father you will do ... for he is a liar,
and the father thereof.”
In exchange for power and
perversion they have traded lies: lies about Christ’s
teaching, about the authentic teaching of the Catholic
Church, about the Sacred Deposit of Faith, about Catholic Doctrine
and Dogma, about morals, about Heaven and Hell — about Sacred
Scripture itself! They have lusted for power
— perhaps even more than they have shamefully and perversely
lusted for other men — and to acquire this power they have
traded truth for lies!
It is, we
will find, through the Faithful, the Laity, that the Church
will be delivered — just as it was in the days of the early
heresies when miter and crozier, cardinal and bishop, were bent
in submission to apostasy from the Faith — apostasies to which
the laity, having learned the truth in holy simplicity, gave
no heed. They could smell a wolf under the greatest abundance
of wool.
Christ Himself
is the Good Shepherd.
“The
sheep follow Him, because they know His voice.
But a stranger they follow not, but fly from him, because
they know not the voice of strangers.”
(Saint John 10:4-5)
Hold fast to
the Faith of our Fathers! Cleave to Christ and to what He
has taught us, to what Holy Mother Church taught us
prior to Vatican II — and fear nothing, and no one — no matter
his power or how ruthlessly he demands submission.
“For
there is no other name under Heaven given to men, whereby we
must be saved.”
(Acts 4.12)
Did not Christ
Himself promise:
“I
will not forsake you.”
(Saint John 14.18)?
Nor must we
ever forsake Him through any inducement to sin
— by whomsoever.
________________________
1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excommunication_(Catholic_Church
)
2 Saint Luke 22.31
Editor
Boston Catholic Journal
Printable PDF Version
Comments? Write us:
editor@boston-catholic-journal.com
The State vs. Frankie
(a.k.a. Francis)
Capo di tutti
capi
“Pope
Francis’
sexual abuse
prevention summit
planned for winter’s
end
[next year!] in
Rome with the world’s
bishops
will apparently
not address
protections for
the demographic
found in recent
months to be at
significant risk
from sexual predators
in the Church:
seminarians.”
Lifesite news
“Your Excellency! ... the House in on fire!”
“Forsooth! Convene a synod next year to look into the
matter!”
“But, my lord, we did that 20 years ago when we smelled the
smoke then and left it smoldering. It is now a conflagration
that threatens the entire Castle!”
“Just do as you’re told, man! Put it on the calendar
— for next year.
NEXT YEAR!
How is THAT for Urgency?
This
is a vignette of the state of the Church today under Francis
and the cardinals and bishops complicit with him.
In other words,
while the house is on fire
and crumbling around us,
while
predator homosexual priests
continue to rape our youngsters and young men — Francis the
Merciful will schedule yet another ... “conference”
—
next
February ...
five months away...
to “look into” the issue —
rather than address the unmitigated and relentless
disaster NOW!
FOR
CHRIST'S
SAKE, MAN — literally—
DO SOMETHING
— NOW!
NOW!!!
How Many Will it Take?
Every day that you deliberately
delay redressing this monstrous calamity, the faith (to
say nothing of the butchered virginity) of a child, a
young man, is violently torn from him! How many will it take
before you act, Francis? How many ruined lives, how much shattered
trust must be lost before you look beyond
“the
applause of the world”
to the agony of these children, their parents, their siblings,
their friends, their parishes ... the world ... the
trust
in you that you utterly and callously betrayed?
How many will it take to motivate you to the most primal moral
instinct to protect innocence?
Your carefully orchestrated campaign to monumentalize yourself
— instead of Christ —
as the meek embodiment of humility immortalized — has become
increasingly tenuous, tainted by recurring episodes of rage,
anger, vengefulness and autocratic duplicity —
but most of all
in your apparent indifference
to the lurid and metastasizing
malignancy of homosexuality in the priesthood
— and the horrific scandal of perverse sexual predation that
you have consistently deprecated in favor of more
“presssing
issues”
such as
Environmentalism,
Plastic in the Sea,
and
Unemployment
... In a word, Frankie, your pathological pursuit of
“humility
as eponymous with Francis”
... is utter imposture
— a fraud that will only carry copy as long as it is rank with
your sanctimony!
But it is your
refusal to act in crisis, Francis, which is itself
your most notable defect — and if not defect, your most detestable
act! You play to the world with the lives of the Little
Ones ... and seem careless of the depths of the sea that await
those who bring scandal to Christ through the loss of the Little
Ones! Each one is a Millstone and the sea beckons the betrayer.
This is nothing less than madness, insanity, criminal irresponsibility,
deafness, blindness — commitment to a “progressive” Leftist
agenda at all costs, in this life and the next. I reiterate,
it is MADNESS! And if it is not madness, worse still it is cowardice
and complicity: don’t
do the deed yourself, simply savor its being done! By
your silence you shrewdly recognize that you can maintain
“plausible
deniability”
before the world — indeed, your inactions speak volumes — but
the God you do not know sees the heart, the mind, the will ...
in all its corruption.
In the meanwhile, shall we pretend that it is not happening
(as we have pretended for over 50 years) until — to our everlasting
shame — the arm of the
State
in the form of Grand Juries and subpoenas forces the
Church’s
hand to comply with
Justice
(a Cardinal Virtue, remember?) and turn over to competent authorities
what documents they have not yet shredded — but in the ensuing
5 months will have plenty of time to.
Right in the
Slammer!
If the Church obstinately refuses to punish her own children
for crimes, then the State will address what are no less
than felons unsparingly — as it should. No one should get a
pass, no matter the color of his biretta or the trim of his
robe — from priest to pope!
Put them right in the slammer!
— for God’s sake if only to protect the young and
innocent. What a parody of the Church: the State
must occupy the moral high ground and attempt to justly
incarcerate those whom the Church has no manifest intention
of defrocking or denouncing as reprobate — and expelling them
from the Body of Christ! There are sins that incur automatic
excommunication no matter what ecclesiastical office is occupied!
That is the interior court of Justice — the
conscience — that tribunal before God Himself which cannot
be escaped or eluded — and in which there is no plea-bargaining.
One may cleverly elude the State ... but forever remains
on the crucible of his guilt — which will exact its tribute.
Now or later. With apodictic certainty!
Consider the following:
 |
PENNSYLVANIA:
over a thousand children
and youths were
raped by over 300 homosexual priests.
Three hundred! Three hundred! The number
is staggering! |
|
|
MASSACHUSETTS:
“At
least 789 children and probably more
than 1,000 have been sexually abused by 250
priests
in Massachusetts.”
(New
York Times)
If the Archdiocese ever comes clean, the numbers
in Pennsylvania will very likely pall before the
overwhelming predation of children, minors, youths,
and young men that has occurred here is sacristies,
rectories, and seminaries. |
Over the years in my own parish (typical Novus Ordo)
I knew, over the years, that certain priests were homosexual
(the sashaying, lisping, the feminine hand gestures, the many
movements we associate with women) and was once even propositioned
in the Confessional in a Church the next town over.
One priest at my parish left the priesthood (presumably) to
“marry” another priest. I would never have suspected him.
Never. And that is scary. No feminine gestures. No clues
— which means that you cannot tell — until the hand is on your
thigh. At Saint John’s Seminary in Brighton in the late
70’s I attended some “Days of Recollection” for young
men considering the priesthood. At once I could sense, see,
the femininity of the young men — and more troubling still,
the priests themselves who led the “Days of Recollection.” After
attending several times I found myself set apart and alone ….
marginalized — presumably because it must have been apparent
that I was not one of the girls. The atmosphere was permeated
by homosexuality … without the merest hint of the “odor of sanctity”.
 |
FUMIGATE
IT!
|
Saint John’s Seminary in Brighton,
Massachusetts, was (and most likely still is) in desperate
need of fumigation. It reeked of homosexuality. I considered
contacting the Chancery about this openly scandalous state of
affairs but had learned that any letter to any bishop was answered
politely but dismissively by one of his assistants (who himself
may have been homosexual and not particularly sympathetic to
any request for addressing the issue.)
Talking with other young men later — who were married and with
children — their experience was the same. They chose
the vocation to the priesthood but were not allowed
to go beyond the pink doors — because they were straight, or
worse still, straight and adherent to Church teaching.
After much soul-searching they found their vocation elsewhere
— just as I did. There were, I found, lots of
vocations to the priesthood — but their fidelity and masculinity
were an impediment that did not sit well with those who
made the decisions. No scent of Lavender? Then the Pink
Door slams in your face.
Religious Orders? Fumigate them, too
As I searched and searched for a Religious Order (surely Religious
Orders were not infected …) as an External Postulant for the
Capuchin Franciscans (who, at the time, had a monastery in Milton)
my Vocation Director, a certain Father Matthias, asked me if
I believed all that the Church taught. Unhesitatingly I truthfully
answered “yes”. WRONG ANSWER! “No”, he replied at once.
“We must question.” The Catholic Church?
As a philosophy student in graduate school I well knew the subtleties
of inquiry together with the spurious and absurd “imperative”
that a scholar — especially in philosophy — accept nothing
as certain (the “doctrine” of nearly every university
in America). “That is not good”, Father Matthias continued —
as I processed in my mind everything from Saints Augustine,
Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, Saint Anselm and a dozen others
as we walked. I briefly wondered if I had wandered into a Jesuit
retreat house. They, too, lost God after Vatican II. But
Father Matthias wore a habit — that more than likely cloaked
his disbelief. Jesuits do not and are generally contemptuously
unapologetic about it. I thought of a Barren Fig Tree.
But Father Matthias was the one whose skewed and illogical “spirituality”
I had to get around if I hoped to make it to the Order’s
main monastery in Garrison, NY (now
The Garrison
Institute for Transformational and Contemplative Ecology
— a non-sectarian pseudo-sanitarium dedicated to “The Science
of Contemplative Practice and neuroplasticity” where people
actually pay to be indoctrinated with “climate change
and environmental advocacy, neuro-, behavioral and evolutionary
economics, psychology, social networking, policy-making, and
investing and social media to work together on ways to shift
behavior on a large enough scale to realize substantial emissions
reductions.” It’s true.
I never made it to Garrison because God had other plans for
me that included a wife and four children — I never looked back.
But now, over my shoulder, and with inexpressible anguish in
my heart — I see Rome burning. And Nero fiddling.
I find it ... queer ... that the vast majority of this homosexual
insinuation into the priesthood — and the subsequent horrendous
rape of our children and the perversion of Catholic morality
— occurred in the years following the
“ecumenical”
decadence we have come to know as Vatican II and its
abjuration of the One, True, Holy and Catholic Church — that
preceded it for 2000 years ... and which ever survives those
who lay siege to Her?
Aggiornamento! Ah, the reek of the world that rushed
in when John XXIII — of unhappy memory — famously
“flung
open the windows”!
How the incense of all that is holy poured out — while the effluence
and fume of the world seeped in!
Geoffrey K. Mondello
for the Boston Catholic Journal
October 8, 2018
Printable
PDF Version
Comments? Write us:
editor@boston-catholic-journal.com
Further
Reading on the Papacy of Francis:
Martyrology for today:
ROMAN MARTYROLOGY
Friday January 18th
in the Year of Grace 2019
Time after Epiphany
This Day, the Eighteenth Day of January
The Chair of the Apostle St. Peter. This
festival was instituted to commemorate the establishment of the Holy
See at Rome.
In the same place, under the emperor Claudius, the passion of
St. Prisca, virgin and martyr, who, after
undergoing many torments, was crowned with martyrdom.
In Pontus, the birthday of the holy martyrs Moseus
and Ammonius, soldiers, who were first condemned to work in the
metal mines, and then cast into the fire.
In the same country, St. Athenogenes, an aged
divine, who, on the point of enduring martyrdom by fire, joyfully
sang a hymn, which he left in writing to his disciples.
At Tours, in France, St. Volusian, bishop,
who was made captive by the Goths, and in exile gave up his soul to
God.
In the same place, St. Leobardus, anchoret,
a man of wonderful abstinence and humility.
In Brittany, St. Deicola, abbot, disciple
of St. Columban.
At Como, St. Liberata, virgin.
And elsewhere in divers places, many other holy martyrs, confessors,
and holy virgins.
Omnes sancti Mártyres,
oráte pro nobis. ("All ye Holy Martyrs, pray for us", from the
Litaniae Sanctorum, the Litany of the Saints)
Response: Thanks be to God.
|
Roman
Martyrology by Month
Why the
Martyrs Matter
Each day we
bring you a calendar, a list really,
of the holy Martyrs who had suffered
and died for Christ, for His Bride the
Church, and for our holy Catholic Faith;
men and women for whom — and well they
knew — their Profession of Faith would
cost them their lives.
They could have repudiated all three
(Christ, Church, and Catholic Faith)
and kept their lives for a short time
longer (even the lapsi only postponed
their death — and at so great a cost!).1
What would motivate men, women, even
children and entire families to willingly
undergo the most evil and painfully
devised tortures; to suffer death rather
than denial?
Why did they not renounce their Catholic
Faith when the first flame licked at
their feet, after the first eye was
plucked out, or after they were “baptized”
in mockery by boiling water or molten
lead poured over their heads? Why did
they not flee to offer incense to the
pagan gods since such a ritual concession
would be merely perfunctory, having
been done, after all, under duress,
exacted by the compulsion of the state?
What is a little burned incense and
a few words uttered without conviction,
compared to your own life and the lives
of those you love? Surely God knows
that you are merely placating the state
with empty gestures …
Did they love their wives, husbands,
children — their mothers, fathers and
friends less than we do? Did they value
their own lives less? Were they less
sensitive to pain than we are? In a
word, what did they possess that we
do not?
Nothing. They possessed what we ourselves
are given in the Sacrament of Confirmation
— but cleaved to it in far greater measure
than we do: Faith and faithfulness;
fortitude and valor, uncompromising
belief in the invincible reality of
God, of life eternal in Him for the
faithful, of damnation everlasting apart
from Him for the unfaithful; of the
ephemerality of this passing world and
all within it, and lives lived in total
accord with that adamant belief.
We are the Martyrs to come. What made
them so will make us so. What they suffered
we will suffer. What they died for,
we will die for. If only we will! For
most us, life will be a bloodless martyrdom,
a suffering for Christ, for the sake
of Christ, for the sake of the Church
in a thousand ways outside the arena.
The road to Heaven is lined on both
sides with Crosses, and upon the Crosses
people, people who suffered unknown
to the world, but known to God. Catholics
living in partibus infidelium, under
the scourge of Islam. Loveless marriages.
Injustices on all sides. Poverty. Illness.
Old age. Dependency. They are the cruciform!
Those whose lives became Crosses because
they would not flee God, the Church,
the call to, the demand for, holiness
in the most ordinary things of life
made extraordinary through the grace
of God. The Martyrology we celebrate
each day is just a vignette, a small,
immeasurably small, sampling of the
martyrdom that has been the lives of
countless men and women whom Christ
and the Angels know, but whom the world
does not know.
“Exemplum enim
dedi vobis”, Christ said to His
Apostles: “I have given you an example.”
And His Martyrs give one to us — and
that is why the Martyrs matter.
Geoffrey K. Mondello
Contributing Editor
Boston Catholic Journal
Note: We suggest that you explore
our newly edited and revised
“De SS. Martyrum Cruciatibus — The Torments
and Tortures of the Christian Martyrs”
for an in-depth historical account of
the sufferings of the Martyrs.
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INTRODUCTION TO THE ROMAN
MARTYROLOGY
By
J. Cardinal
Gibbons, Archbishop Baltimore
THE ROMAN MARTYROLOGY is an official
and accredited record, on the pages of which are
set forth in simple and brief, but impressive words,
the glorious deeds of the Soldiers of Christ
in all ages of the Church; of the illustrious Heroes
and Heroines of the Cross, whom her solemn verdict
has beatified or canonized. In making up this long
roll of honor, the Church has been actuated by that
instinctive wisdom with which the Spirit of God,
who abides in her and teaches her all truth, has
endowed her, and which permeates through and guides
all her actions. She is the Spouse of Christ, without
spot or wrinkle or blemish, wholly glorious and
undefiled, whom He loved, for whom He died, and
to whom He promised the Spirit of Truth, to comfort
her in her dreary pilgrimage through this valley
of tears, and to abide with her forever. She is
one with Him in Spirit and in love, she is subject
to Him in all things; she loves what He loves, she
teaches and practices what He commands.
If the world has
its
“Legions
of Honor”,
why should not also the Church of the Living God,
the pillar and the ground of the truth? If men who
have been stained with blood, and women who have
been tainted with vice, have had their memory consecrated
in prose and in verse, and monuments erected to
their memory, because they exhibited extraordinary
talents, achieved great success, or were, to a greater
or less extent, benefactors of their race in the
temporal order, which passeth away, why should not
the true Heroes and Heroines of Jesus, who, imitating
His example, have overcome themselves, risen superior
to and trampled upon the world, have aspired, in
all their thoughts, words, and actions, to a heavenly
crown, and have moreover labored with disinterested
zeal and self-forgetting love for the good of their
fellow-men, have their memories likewise consecrated
and embalmed in the minds and hearts of the people
of God? If time have its heroes, why should not
eternity; if man, why should not God?
“Thy
friends, O Lord, are exceedingly honored; their
principality is exceedingly exalted.”
Whom
His Father so dearly loved, the world crucified;
whom the world neglects, despises, and crucifies,
God, through His Church, exceedingly honors and
exalts. Their praises are sung forth, with jubilation
of heart, in the Church of God for ages on ages.
The wisdom of the
Church of God in honoring her Saints is equaled
only by the great utility of the practice thus consecrated.
The Saints are not merely heroes; they are models.
Christ lived in them, and Christ yet speaks through
them. They were the living temples of the Holy Ghost,
in whose mortal bodies dwelt all the riches of His
wisdom and grace. They were in life consecrated
human exemplars of divine excellence and perfection.
Their example still appeals to our minds and to
our hearts, more eloquently even than did their
words to the men of their own generation, while
they were in the tabernacle of the flesh. Though
dead, they still speak. Their relics are instinct
with sanctity, and through them they continue to
breathe forth the sweet odor of Christ. The immortality
into which they have entered still lingers in their
bones, and seems to breathe in their mortal remains.
As many an ardent, spirit has been induced to rush
to the cannon's mouth by reading the exploits of
earthly heroes, so many a generous Christian soul
has been fired with heavenly ardor, and been impelled
to rush to the crown of martyrdom, by reading the
lives and heroic achievements of the Saints and
Martyrs of Christ. Example, in its silent appeal,
is more potent in its influence on the human heart
and conduct than are words in their most eloquent
utterances.
The Church knows
and feels all this, in the Spirit of God with whom
she is replenished ; and hence she sets forth, with
holy joy and exultant hope, her bright and ever-increasing
Calendar of Sanctity of just men and women made
perfect and rendered glorious, under her unearthly
and sublime teachings. In reading this roll of consecrated
holiness, our instinctive conclusion is, precisely
that which the great soul of St. Augustine reached
at the very crisis of his life, the moment of his
conversion
“If
other men like me have attained to such sanctity,
why not I? Shall the poor, the afflicted, the despised
of the World, bear away the palm of victory, the
crown of immortality, while I lie buried in my sloth
and dead in my sins, and thus lose the brilliant
and glorious mansion already prepared for me in
heaven? Shall all the gifts, which God has lavished
upon me, be ingloriously spent and foolishly wasted,
in the petty contest for this world's evanescent
honors and riches, while the poor and contemned
lay up treasures in heaven, and secure the prize
of immortal glory? Shall others be the friends of
God, whom He delights to honor, while I alone remain
His enemy, and an alien from His blessed Kingdom?”
It is a consoling
evidence of progress in the spiritual life in this
country to find the Martyrology here published,
for the first time, in English, and thereby made
accessible, in its rich treasures of Sanctity, to
all classes of our population. It will prove highly
edifying and useful, not only to the members of
our numerous religious Communities of both sexes,
but also to the laity generally. Every day has here
its record of Sanctity; and there is scarcely a
Christian, no matter how lowly or how much occupied,
who may not be able to daily peruse, with faith
and with great profit, the brief page of each day's
models of Holiness. These belong to all classes
and callings of life; from the throne to the hovel,
from the Pontiff to the lowest cleric, from the
philosopher to the peasant, from the busy walks
of life to the dreary wastes of the desert.
Let all, then, procure
and read daily the appropriate portions of this
Martyrology. Its daily and pious perusal will console
us in affliction, will animate us in despondency,
will make our souls glow with the love of God in
coldness, and will lift up our minds and hearts
from this dull and ever-changing earth to the bright
and everlasting mansions prepared for us in Heaven!
Imprimatur,
J. Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop Baltimore, Maryland
1916
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THE APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTION
“QUO
PRIMUM
”
(and what
“Forever”
really means)
“From
the very first,
upon Our elevation to the chief Apostleship,
We gladly turned our mind and energies
and directed all out thoughts to those
matters which concerned the preservation
of a pure liturgy, and We strove with
God's help, by every means in our power,
to accomplish this purpose. For, besides
other decrees of the sacred Council
of Trent, there were stipulations for
Us to revise and re-edit the sacred
books: the Catechism, the Missal and
the Breviary. With the Catechism published
for the instruction of the faithful,
by God's help, and the Breviary thoroughly
revised for the worthy praise of God,
in order that the Missal and Breviary
may be in perfect harmony, as fitting
and proper —
for it is most
becoming that there be in the Church
only one appropriate manner of reciting
the Psalms and
only one rite for the
celebration of Mass
— We deemed
it necessary to give our immediate attention
to what still remained to be done,
viz, the re-editing of the Missal
as soon as possible.
Hence, We decided to entrust this work
to learned men of our selection. They
very carefully collated all their work
with the ancient codices in Our Vatican
Library and with reliable, preserved
or emended codices from elsewhere. Besides
this, these men consulted the works
of ancient and approved authors concerning
the same sacred rites; and thus
they have restored the Missal itself
to the original form and rite of the
holy Fathers. When this work
has been gone over numerous times and
further emended, after serious study
and reflection, We commanded that the
finished product be printed and published
as soon as possible, so that all might
enjoy the fruits of this labor; and
thus, priests would know which prayers
to use and which rites and ceremonies
they were required to observe from now
on in the celebration of Masses.
Let all everywhere adopt and observe
what has been handed down by the Holy
Roman Church, the Mother and Teacher
of the other churches, and let
Masses not be sung or read according
to any other formula than that
of this Missal published by Us.
This ordinance applies
henceforth, now, and
forever,
throughout all the provinces of the
Christian world, to all patriarchs,
cathedral churches, collegiate and parish
churches, be they secular or religious,
both of men and of women — even of military
orders — and of churches or chapels
without a specific congregation in which
conventual Masses are sung aloud in
choir or read privately in accord with
the rites and customs of the Roman Church.
This Missal is to be used by all churches,
even by those which in their authorization
are made exempt, whether by Apostolic
indult, custom, or privilege, or even
if by oath or official confirmation
of the Holy See, or have their rights
and faculties guaranteed to them by
any other manner whatsoever.
This new rite alone is to be used
unless approval of the practice of saying
Mass differently was given at the very
time of the institution and confirmation
of the church by Apostolic See at least
200 years ago, or unless there has prevailed
a custom of a similar kind which has
been continuously followed for a period
of not less than 200 years, in which
most cases We in no wise rescind their
above-mentioned prerogative or custom.
However, if this Missal, which we have
seen fit to publish, be more agreeable
to these latter, We grant them permission
to celebrate Mass according to its rite,
provided they have the consent of their
bishop or prelate or of their whole
Chapter, everything else to the contrary
notwithstanding.
All other of the churches referred to
above, however, are hereby denied the
use of other missals, which are to be
discontinued entirely and absolutely;
whereas, by
this present Constitution,
which will be valid henceforth, now,
and
forever,
We order and enjoin that nothing must
be added to Our recently published Missal,
nothing omitted from it, nor anything
whatsoever be changed within it under
the penalty of Our displeasure.
We specifically command each and every
patriarch, administrator, and all other
persons or whatever ecclesiastical dignity
they may be, be they even cardinals
of the Holy Roman Church, or possessed
of any other rank or pre-eminence, and
We order them in virtue of holy
obedience to chant or to read the Mass
according to the rite and manner and
norm herewith laid down by Us
and, hereafter, to discontinue and completely
discard all other rubrics and rites
of other missals, however ancient, which
they have customarily followed; and
they must not in celebrating Mass presume
to introduce any ceremonies or recite
any prayers other than those contained
in this Missal.
Furthermore, by these presents [this
law], in virtue of Our Apostolic authority,
We grant and concede in perpetuity that,
for the chanting or reading of the Mass
in any church whatsoever,
this Missal is hereafter to be followed
absolutely, without any scruple of conscience
or fear of incurring any penalty, judgment,
or censure, and may freely and lawfully
be used. Nor are superiors,
administrators, canons, chaplains, and
other secular priests, or religious,
of whatever title designated, obliged
to celebrate the Mass otherwise than
as enjoined by Us. We likewise declare
and ordain that no one whosoever is
forced or coerced to alter this Missal,
and that
this present document
cannot be revoked or modified,
but remains always valid and retain
its full force
notwithstanding
the previous constitutions and decrees
of the Holy See, as well as any general
or special constitutions or edicts of
provincial or synodal councils, and
notwithstanding the practice and custom
of the aforesaid churches, established
by long and immemorial prescription
— except, however, if more than two
hundred years' standing.
It is Our will, therefore, and by the
same authority, We decree that, after
We publish this constitution and the
edition of the Missal, the priests of
the Roman Curia are, after thirty days,
obliged to chant or read the Mass according
to it; all others south of the Alps,
after three months; and those beyond
the Alps either within six months or
whenever the Missal is available for
sale. Wherefore, in order that
the Missal be preserved incorrupt throughout
the whole world and kept free of flaws
and errors, the penalty for
nonobservance for printers, whether
mediately or immediately subject to
Our dominion, and that of the Holy Roman
Church, will be the forfeiting of their
books and a fine of one hundred gold
ducats, payable ipso facto to the Apostolic
Treasury. Further, as for those located
in other parts of the world, the penalty
is excommunication latae sententiae,
and such other penalties as may in Our
judgment be imposed; and We decree by
this law that they must not dare or
presume either to print or to publish
or to sell, or in any way to accept
books of this nature without Our approval
and consent, or without the express
consent of the Apostolic Commissaries
of those places, who will be appointed
by Us. Said printer must receive a standard
Missal and agree faithfully with it
and in no wise vary from the Roman Missal
of the large type (secundum magnum
impressionem).
Accordingly, since it would be difficult
for this present pronouncement to be
sent to all parts of the Christian world
and simultaneously come to light everywhere,
We direct that it be, as usual, posted
and published at the doors of the Basilica
of the Prince of the Apostles, also
at the Apostolic Chancery, and on the
street at Campo Flora; furthermore,
We direct that printed copies of this
same edict signed by a notary public
and made official by an ecclesiastical
dignitary possess the same indubitable
validity everywhere and in every nation,
as if Our manuscript were shown there.
Therefore, no one whosoever
is permitted to alter this notice of
Our permission, statute, ordinance,
command, precept, grant, indult, declaration,
will, decree, and prohibition. Should
anyone dare to contravene it, know that
he will incur the wrath of Almighty
God and of the Blessed Apostles Peter
and Paul.”
Given at St. Peter’s
in the year of the Lord's Incarnation,
1570, on the 14th of July of the Fifth
year of Our Pontificate.
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