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| The Spirituality of Time and the Use of Traditional Catholic Calendars |
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Posted by: Stone - 36 minutes ago - Forum: Resources Online
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The Spirituality of Time and the Use of Traditional Catholic Calendars
Fatima.org | January 16, 2026
Introduction
In his meditations for the Christmas Season, St. Alphonsus writes: “Time is a treasure of inestimable value because in every moment of time we can gain an increase of grace and eternal glory. Time is a treasure which can only be found in this life: it is not to be found in the next, in hell or in Heaven. If the Blessed in Heaven could grieve, they would do so for having lost so much time; and in hell the lost souls are tormented with the thought that there is now no more time for them. “According to St. Bernadine of Siena, a moment of time is of as much value as God; because in each moment a man can, by acts of contrition or of love, acquire the grace of God and eternal glory.” This excerpt is taken from Meditations and Readings for Every Day of Christmas by St. Alphonsus Liguori (The Fatima Center, 2023), p. 66.
A Catholic Understanding of Time
We should never forget that time itself is a creation of God. It is hard for us to define exactly what time is.1 We can never return to the past nor can we move into the future. We can only live in the moment that is “now” and yet by the time you have read this sentence that moment is gone, and we exist in a different, unique, and irrepeatable “now.” In the final analysis, perhaps all we can do is be conscious of our existence in time. Our only way of “grasping” time is by measuring it, which we do through the movement of the celestial bodies. God also created these bodies and has likewise decreed their proper place and motion. To sanctify time is to sanctify life itself. God, Who created all things “in measure, and number, and weight” (Wis. 11:21), also ordained time as the arena of man’s salvation. The Church, as the Mystical Body of Christ, extends the sanctification wrought by the Incarnation into every hour and season through her liturgical life. The traditional Catholic calendar – rich with feasts, octaves, vigils, fasts, and commemorations – is more than a schedule of devotions. It is a spiritual architecture that orders our days according to the mysteries of Christ and His saints. In contrast, the modern world treats time as a commodity to be managed, filled, and spent. But in the traditional Catholic view, time is not money; it is grace.
Time as a Sacred Reality
From the very beginning, God sanctified time. “God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it” (Gen. 2:3). In this act, the Creator set apart one day for Himself, establishing the rhythm of worship and rest. After the Fall, man’s labor became toilsome, yet even then, God continued to mark His dealings with humanity through sacred times and seasons – the Sabbath, the Passover, the Jubilee. With the coming of Christ, time itself was redeemed. The eternal Word entered history at a particular hour: “When the fullness of the time was come, God sent His Son” (Gal. 4:4). As St. Augustine explained: “The Lord did not change times by abolishing them, but by filling them” (Sermon 219). Thus, the Church inherited not only the truths of the Gospel but a new sanctification of time: the liturgical year, wherein the mysteries of Christ’s life unfold from Advent through Easter to Pentecost and beyond.
The Traditional Calendar and the Sanctification of Life
Before the reforms of the mid-twentieth century, the Church’s calendar presented a profound interplay of fasts, feasts, vigils, and octaves – a structure that formed the rhythm of Catholic civilization. The year was not secular time punctuated by holy days; it was sacred time intersecting with earthly realities. Each feast carried both theological meaning and practical grace. Advent prepared the soul for Christ’s coming; Lent purified the heart for Easter; Pentecost spurred missionary zeal. The ‘triduum’ of All Hallows Eve, All Saints, and All Souls proclaimed the mystery of the communion of saints by bringing into sharp relief the Church Militant, Church Triumphant, and Church Suffering, respectively. Every season has great Marian feasts keeping Our Lady at the forefront of our minds. These feasts conveyed the chief dogmas and honors of Our Lady – which in turn always defend the truths of Christ and man. The feasts of saints filled the year with models of virtue and heavenly intercession. The octaves extended great mysteries across eight days of joy or contemplation. Fr. Pius Parsch summarized this spiritual pedagogy: “The liturgical year is Christ Himself, ever living in His Church. Each day the Church places before us a mystery of Christ’s life, that we may live by it and thus transform our whole being into Him” (The Church’s Year of Grace, vol. 1).
The Hours of the Day: A School of Prayer
Just as the liturgical year sanctifies the seasons, the Church sanctifies each day through the Divine Office – the liturgical hours of Matins, Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, and Compline. In the traditional rhythm of monastic and clerical life, these hours mark the passage of time with psalmody and prayer. Dom Prosper Guéranger, in The Liturgical Year, wrote: “The Hours are the echoes of that divine hymn which the Son of God sang upon earth when He glorified His Father in all the moments of His human life.” By uniting with the Church’s prayer, the faithful learn to perceive every hour as a meeting place with God. Even for the laity, the spirit of the Divine Office can be lived by praying the Angelus at morning, noon, and evening; saying Compline before bed; or meditating on a psalm corresponding to the hour. Time thus becomes not a sequence of empty intervals but a succession of sanctified moments.
The Domestic Church and the Liturgical Year
Traditional Catholic families once shaped their homes and routines according to the Church’s feasts and fasts. Ember Days reminded them of gratitude for creation; rogation processions sanctified the land; and saints’ days were occasions for celebration and virtue. In a home faithful to the liturgical year, children learn the faith not merely from books but through living memory: lighting the Advent wreath, fasting on Fridays, blessing homes at Epiphany, crowning statues of Our Lady in May, spreading the Rosary in October, and praying for the dead in November. Pope Pius XII praised this harmony of home and Church: “The family, sanctified by the sacraments and animated by the spirit of the liturgy, becomes the first school of Christian life and the first altar of God” (Mediator Dei, no. 78).
Modern Disruption and the Loss of Sacred Time
The twentieth century’s liturgical and social revolutions have obscured the Catholic sense of time. The suppression of octaves, the reduction of fasting, and the calendar’s simplification, while presented as reforms, stripped the faithful of spiritual milestones that once shaped Catholic life. The result has been a flattening of the sacred year into an indistinct sequence. The rich cycle of preparation, feasting, and recollection gave way to a rhythm indistinguishable from the secular calendar. Sundays have lost their primacy, and Feast Days once celebrated as Holy Days of Obligation are ignored or transferred for convenience. Pope Pius XI foresaw this danger when he warned that modern man, “forgetful of the divine majesty, makes an idol of time and labor” (Divini Cultus, 1928).
Recovering the Sanctification of Time
To recover Catholic time is to recover Catholic life. This begins with rediscovering the traditional calendar and observing it within the family and parish. Even in the absence of full liturgical observance, the faithful can sanctify time by:
- Praying the Angelus morning, noon, and evening.
- Observing the traditional fast and abstinence days, especially Ember Days and Fridays.
- Praying the Mass Propers of the day, meditating upon the Roman Martyrology, or reading the life of the saint honored each given day.
- Praying the Stations of the Cross, especially in Lent, but also on any Friday during the year.
- Making First Fridays and First Saturdays in honor of the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts.
- Celebrating Feast Days with appropriate joy, meals, or hymns, and especially devotions. There are countless examples; here are just a few:
- Blessing of candles at Candlemass, Feast of the Purification.
- Blessing of throats on St. Blase’s Feast Day.
- Praying monthly litanies.
- Participating in Eucharistic processions on the Feasts of Corpus Christi and Christ the King.
- Organizing a public Rosary on October 7.
- Giving of small presents on the Feast of St. Nicholas.
In this way, Catholics begin to re-enter the sacred rhythm of time – a rhythm that forms souls in patience, gratitude, and dependence on grace.
Time and Eternity
The ultimate goal of sanctifying time is to prepare for eternity. Every day and season is a rehearsal for that eternal Sabbath which has no evening. As Dom Marmion taught: “By sanctifying our time, we make our life a continual preparation for that eternal day when time shall be no more”(Christ the Life of the Soul). See also “Blessed Columba Marmion on Living a Daily Catholic Life.” The faithful soul learns to see hours, days, and years as opportunities for showing our love of God. The ticking clock becomes not an enemy but a teacher – a reminder that every moment draws us closer to the vision of God.
Conclusion
The traditional Catholic calendar is not nostalgia; it is theology lived through time. It transforms the days of labor and the hours of rest into occasions of grace. It reminds us that history is not random but ordered by Providence and redeemed by the Cross. To sanctify time is to acknowledge God as Lord of all moments. As the psalmist prayed, “My lots [times] are in Thy hands” (Psalm 30:16). Let us then recover the ancients’ reverence for time – beginning with our homes and hearts – so that every hour may echo with the rhythm of Heaven.
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| Leo XIV-led Vatican sends Diwali message to Hindus |
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Posted by: Stone - 1 hour ago - Forum: Pope Leo XIV
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Leo XIV-led Vatican sends Diwali message to Hindus
The Vatican extended its ‘warmest prayerful and festive wishes’ to Hindus on Diwali
while suggesting the ‘spirit of Assisi’ could help Christians and Hindus ‘forge pathways of peace’ together.
![[Image: Shutterstock_2416146333.jpg]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Shutterstock_2416146333.jpg)
Giant golden statue of Hindu god Lord Murugan
Paul Maguire/Shutterstock
Nov 2, 2026
(LifeSiteNews [adapted - not all hyperlinks included from original]) — The Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue (DID) under Pope Leo XIV on Friday published a special message to Hindus ahead of their Diwali holiday next week, stressing the Vatican’s commitment to peace “in the spirit of Assisi.”
In its October 30 message, published the day before Allhallowtide and signed by Cardinal George Jacob Koovakad and Monsignor Indunil Janakaratne Kodithuwakku Kankanamalage – prefect and secretary of the DID, respectively – the dicastery offered its “warmest prayerful and festive wishes” to Hindus who will celebrate the Diwali “festival of lights.” The dicastery also emphasized its commitment to fraternity and interreligious peace “in the spirit of Assisi.”
“The Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue extends its warmest prayerful and festive wishes to you as you celebrate Deepavali on 8 November this year. May God, the fount of all that is good, bless you, your families, loved ones and communities with abundant joy, peace and prosperity!” the message stated.
The dicastery highlighted how just over 40 years ago the first Assisi “World Day of Prayer for Peace” took place, calling it “a historic encounter, in which people of various religions came together to pray, convinced that religions and interreligious solidarity can help address global crises and promote peace.” They added that Pope John Paul II called this the “spirit of Assisi.”
“In the face of the many challenges facing humanity today, especially those arising from wars, conflicts, and the use of religion for political ends, the commemoration of the 1986 Assisi gathering offers us the opportunity to reflect with you on how Hindus and Christians can forge pathways of peace together, drawing inspiration from the spirit of Assisi,” the dicastery wrote.
“One such pathway is to come together to pray with a shared spiritual commitment to peace, each according to his or her own religious tradition, while respecting that of the other. Indeed, genuine prayer overcomes differences and disarms hearts, minds and lives, transforming us into men and women of compassion and peace,” it added.
Contrary to the tone of the dicastery’s message, the Catholic Church teaches that it is the one true Church founded by Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the one true God. Sacred Scripture also states that the “gods” worshipped by members of false religions are “devils.”
Furthermore, the DID’s message implies that true peace can be achieved through interreligious dialogue, whereas the perennial teaching of the Church is that true peace is achieved through Christ alone.
The message came within a week of the Vatican’s international ecumenical meeting commemorating the 40th anniversary of the first interfaith “World Day of Prayer for Peace” in Assisi.
During that meeting, the female Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally, scandalously processed and offered prayers alongside Catholic Cardinals Kurt Koch, president of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, and Matteo Zuppi, ecclesiastical assistant to the Community of Sant’Egidio. In another scandal, the meeting also included a Jewish rabbi who told Vatican News that “God can be found outside the Catholic Church.”
Perhaps worst of all, in a video address to the meeting, Pope Leo also avoided speaking about the need to evangelize the world and instead focused on a supposed need for dialogue, seemingly among equals.
“The world needs dialogue,” Leo said. “The path of Assisi calls religious leaders to foster a climate of dialogue amongst the faithful and within society, so that the language of arrogance may give way to the language of peace, negotiation and understanding. This will help to “gradually (lead) humanity away from the cycle of violence.”
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| Requiem Mass in New Jersey - November 4, 2026 |
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Posted by: Stone - Yesterday, 01:43 PM - Forum: November 2026
- No Replies
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Holy Sacrifice of the Mass - Requiem Mass for Richard Schwarz
[Grandfather to one of the Seminarians]
Date: Wednesday, November 4, 2026
Time: Confessions - 9:00 AM
Holy Mass - 10:00 AM
Location: Falco, Caruso, Leonard Funeral Home
6600 W. Browning Rd
Pennsauken, NJ 08109
Contact: 315-391-7575
sorrowfulheartofmaryoratory@gmail.com
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| Catholic Kingship and Monarchy: The Ideal Form of Government |
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Posted by: Stone - Yesterday, 10:40 AM - Forum: Resources Online
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Catholic Kingship and Monarchy: The Ideal Form of Government
![[Image: monarch-king-charlemagne.avif]](https://fatima.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/monarch-king-charlemagne.avif)
Fatima.org | October 24, 2026
Last year marked the centenary of Quas Primas (1925), the great encyclical of Pope Pius XI establishing the Feast of Christ the King. In that text, the Holy Father reminded the faithful that Christ reigns not only in Heaven but also in society and in the hearts of men:
“He must reign in our minds, which should assent with perfect submission and firm belief to revealed truths and to the doctrines of Christ. He must reign in our wills, which should obey the laws and precepts of God. He must reign in our hearts, which should spurn natural desires and love God above all things. He must reign in our bodies and in our members, which should serve as instruments for the interior sanctification of our souls” (Quas Primas, no. 33).
As we reflect on this recent centenary, it is fitting to recall that the Social Kingship of Christ once found visible expression in the political order itself. For centuries, Christendom upheld the Catholic monarchy as the ideal form of government, uniting temporal authority to the spiritual order under Christ the King.
Scriptural Foundations of Monarchy
Sacred Scripture presents kingship not as a human invention but as a divinely sanctioned institution. God Himself gave Israel a king in Saul, and later David, of whom He said: “I have found David the son of Jesse, a man according to My own heart, who shall do all My wills” (Acts 13:22).
The Davidic monarchy prefigured the eternal reign of Christ, the Son of David, Whose Kingdom is everlasting. Moreover, Our Lord confirmed Pilate’s words that He was indeed a King, declaring: “My kingdom is not of this world…[1] Thou sayest that I am a king. For this was I born, and for this came I into the world; that I should give testimony to the truth” (John 18:36-37).
Thus, monarchy is not contrary to Christian revelation but finds its perfection in Christ the King.
Patristic and Medieval Witness
The Fathers of the Church recognized monarchy as the natural and most stable form of governance. St. Gregory of Nazianzus wrote: “Monarchy is the most ancient and most fitting image of the divine government” (Orationes, 3). Note his use of the term “image.” Men are made in the image of God. Thus, the order of our earthly government is best when it images the order of heavenly rule. Heaven is most definitely a monarchy. Our time on earth is meant to be a “practicing” for Heaven and thus our finite political forms of government ought to prepare us to better participate in the eternal order of Heaven.
Likewise, St. Augustine, though acknowledging the abuses of corrupt rulers, affirmed that righteous kingship is a great good when subordinated to God: “Justice being taken away, then, what are kingdoms but great robberies?” (City of God, IV, 4)
The Scholastic theologians, especially St. Thomas Aquinas, gave the most systematic defense of monarchy. In De Regno, Aquinas argued that monarchy best secures the unity and common good of a people, just as the universe is governed by the one God:
Quote:“It is manifest that it is better for a multitude to be governed by one man, than by many: for there is nothing worse than for the multitude to be without unity” (De Regno, I, 2).
Thus, monarchy reflects both the unity of divine governance and the order of nature itself.
Papal Teaching on Catholic Monarchy
The Popes of the Church have consistently upheld monarchy as a legitimate and even ideal form of rule, so long as it is subordinated to Christ and His Church.
Pope Leo XIII, in Diuturnum Illud (1881), explained:
Quote:“The authority of the rulers is not greater than that of God, and it is not lawful for them to command or ordain anything against His will. … The right to rule is not bound up with any particular form of government; it may take this or that form, provided only that it be of a nature to ensure the general welfare.”
While the Church did not bind Catholics to monarchy as the only permissible form of government, she consistently taught that monarchy most perfectly mirrors the divine kingship of Christ when properly ordered to God’s law.
Pope Pius XI himself, who instituted the Feast of Christ the King, lamented that nations had rejected the gentle yoke of Christ and sought instead to found their laws apart from Him:
Quote:“Then, truly, will many evils be cured … when all the world shall have recognized the authority of Christ and every tongue shall confess that our Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father” (Quas Primas, no. 19).
The implication was clear: Societies governed under Christ the King – often embodied in Catholic monarchs – flourished in faith and culture, while those rejecting His reign fell into disorder.
Historical Witness of Catholic Monarchs
History itself testifies to the fruitfulness of Catholic monarchy. Charlemagne, crowned by Pope St. Leo III in 800 A.D., sought to defend Christendom and advance the Faith. St. Louis IX of France reigned not only as a wise administrator but also as a saint, embodying the Catholic ideal of kingship:
Quote:“I prefer to see my kingdom destroyed and reduced to a desert rather than receive the mark of a mortal sin” (St. Louis IX’s advice to his son).
The Holy Roman Empire under Henry II and his wife, Cunigunde; England under Edward the Confessor; Russia under Vladimir the Great; Spain under Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand; Austria under the Habsburgs; and Portugal under King John II – all reveal how monarchs could foster Catholic culture, defend orthodoxy, and uphold the social reign of Christ.
The Decline of Catholic Monarchy
The Protestant Revolt, the Enlightenment, and the French Revolution dealt devastating blows to Catholic kingship. The dethronement and even execution of kings in Europe reflected not merely political upheaval but the rebellion of man against the Kingship of Christ.[2] The rise of liberal democracies, founded on religious indifferentism and the separation of Church and State, was condemned repeatedly by the Popes of the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Pope Pius IX’s Syllabus of Errors (1864) rejected the proposition that “the Church ought to be separated from the State, and the State from the Church” (no. 55). Monarchy had once embodied the opposite principle: the union of Altar and Throne for the glory of Christ the King.
Why Monarchy Is Superior
From a theological and philosophical perspective, monarchy remains the superior form of government because:
- Unity of Rule – Reflects the divine governance of the universe by one God.
- Stability – Provides continuity across generations, rooted in dynastic succession.
- Symbolism – Embodies the Kingship of Christ and His reign over men.
- Paternal Authority – The king serves as a father to his people, reflecting natural law and the family structure.
The Jesuit theologian Suárez, while acknowledging that sovereignty originates in the community, taught that monarchy is the form that most perfectly secures order:
Quote:“Among the legitimate forms of government, monarchy is to be preferred, since the unity of the ruler corresponds most closely to the unity of divine governance.” (De Legibus ac Deo Legislatore, Bk. III, c. 4)
And St. Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621), a Doctor of the Church, confirmed monarchy’s preeminence but insisted it must remain bound to the Faith:
Quote:“The best form of government is that of one just prince, tempered by laws and counsel, for this most nearly resembles the government of God over the universe” (De Laicis, c. 6).
As St. Thomas succinctly taught, “The best government is that of one who rules with a view to the common good” (Summa Theologiae, I-II, q. 105, a. 1). And that is found in a true Catholic monarchy.
Lessons from History
It is important for Catholics today to recall that an “absolute monarchy” is not the only form of monarchy. European history saw the rise of totalitarian (or absolute) monarchies in the late 17th Century, notable examples include Louis XIV (†1715), the Sun King in France; Frederick the Great (†1786) in Prussia; Joseph II (†1790) in Austria; and Peter the Great in Russia (†1725). All too often people living today associate ‘monarchy’ with the abusive rule of these kings. Their sinful rule actually paved the path for their demise by opening the path for revolutionary ideas to take root in the zeitgeist of their age.
Earlier forms of Christian monarchy had a built-in system of checks and balances. The monarch depended on the support of his high-ranking vassals, and this ensured he acted with greater justice. The Church also exerted a great deal of influence upon the ruling class and frequently pressured them into acting in favor of their people’s common good.
An absolute monarch on this earth, without any checks and balances, will almost always fall into corruption. (There is a reason why we have the saying ‘absolute power corrupts absolutely.’) However, a virtuous Christian monarch with proper limits, checks and balances is clearly the best form of government here on earth.
We all know that, given the reality of original sin, every human government is liable to succumb to corruption. In a democratic form of government, with rule by the many, it is nearly impossible to enact real and lasting reform. Likewise, it is very difficult to reform an oligarchy because the majority of the ruling class would all need to convert. A communist or socialist form of government is even further beyond repair because the very materialistic principles of the system reject God and His grace. However, a monarchy, ruled by a single family, is the structure which can most easily undergo conversion and reform. Moreover, virtuous royal parents can have a profound impact on raising saintly children and forming them from infancy in the art of governing according to the common good and Christian principles.
Proof of this is easily found in how many monarchs have been canonized by Holy Mother Church. The list includes many of the good kings listed above, as well as St. Hermenegild (Visigoths), St. Magnus (Orkney), St. Ferdinand III (Castille), St. Stephen (Hungary), St. Canute (Denmark), St. Olaf (Norway), St. Wenceslaus (Bohemia), St. Clotilde (Franks), St. Elizabeth (Hungary), St. Adelaide (Holy Roman Empire), St. Hedwig (Bavaria), St. Jadwiga (Poland), St. Isabel (Portugal), and many others. Contrast this with the complete absence of canonized rulers in democratic systems of government.[3]
Conclusion: Restoring the Kingship of Christ
With the passing of the centenary of Quas Primas, Catholics are called to renew their faith in Christ the King – not only as a personal devotion but as a social and political reality. While monarchies have largely disappeared in the modern world, their theological justification remains. They remind us that political authority is from God and must be exercised in union with His law and His Church.
The restoration of Catholic monarchy may not be immediate, but the restoration of the Kingship of Christ in our homes, communities, and nations is urgent! For as Pius XI taught:
“When once men recognize, both in private and in public life, that Christ is King, society will at last receive the great blessings of real liberty, well-ordered discipline, peace and harmony” (Quas Primas, no. 19).
In a world of chaos, Catholic monarchy stands as a forgotten but enduring witness to the truth that only Christ reigns, and only under His reign can men and nations find peace.
ENDNOTES:
[1] This phrase does not mean that Christ’s kingdom has no influence or power in the world. Rather it means His kingdom is not made of the things of this world. The things of which earthly kingdoms are made (money, resources, military force, etc.) is not what makes up Christ’s kingdom. It is precisely because Christ’s kingdom is of eternal, infinite, spiritual, and true realities that His kingdom is supreme and universal.
In a similar phrase, it is often said that Christians are ‘in the world but not of the world.’ [As I have heard it (& based on Jn 15:19; 17:14-16)] This means Christians are not to be governed by the same values and false maxims which govern the world, which is under the dominion of the prince of darkness. But we do live in this vale of tears and must fight for the common good of the world.
[2] The French Revolution attacked both Altar and Throne because both Bishop and King are meant to represent Christ’s Kingship in Church and State, respectively. This revolution destroyed the French monarchy, and the Italian Revolution devastated the Papal monarchy. The English monarchy never recovered its splendor after Henry VIII’s schism, and the Spanish monarchy was never able to recover after the Communist Revolution of the 1930’s. World War I dealt a final “death blow” to monarchies by dethroning the Austrian (Holy Roman) Emperor and the Russian Tsar. It was Divine Providence that Our Lady would appear at Fatima to restore God’s right order in the midst of the crumbling of Christendom’s monarchies.
[3] Gabriel Garcia Moreno (1821-1875), former Catholic President of Ecuador, is perhaps the only ruler of a democratic republic that deserves the title of saint. It is highly unlikely that any elected ruler of a democracy or republic which does not confess the Catholic Faith as its official state religion would ever be able to rule in such a manner as to be canonized.
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| Praying for the Pope’s Intentions: The 6 Intentions of the Holy Father |
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Posted by: Stone - Yesterday, 10:06 AM - Forum: Church Doctrine & Teaching
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Praying for the Pope’s Intentions: The 6 Intentions of the Holy Father
Fatima.org | March 20, 2019
St. Clement Mary Hofbauer once said: “A Christian who does not pray for the pope is like a child who does not pray for his father.” Yet, in our age when the Faith is under attack, when the Pope himself seems to be propagating errors and advancing heresy, and when the Church allows the scandal of the sexual abuse of children to advance, how can we possible pray “for the intentions of the Holy Father”?
Often, you may hear people praying for the intentions of the Holy Father at the end of their Rosaries or other prayers since this is usually a requirement to gain an indulgence. For instance, praying an Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be for such intentions always concludes the Way of the Cross. But should we join in such prayers if the Pope’s personal, private intentions seem contrary to the Church’s intentions?
Yes. In fact, we should! By offering our prayers for the intentions of the Holy Father we are not praying for the personal intentions of Pope Francis but rather for the six objective intentions of the Holy Father as the Church Herself teaches.
What are the 6 intentions of the Pope? The 6 objective intentions of the Holy Father are as follows:- The Exaltation of the Church
- The Propagation of the Faith
- The Extirpation of Heresy
- The Conversion of Sinners
- The Concord between Christian Princes
- The Further Welfare of the Christian People
Exaltation of the Church
It is not an exaggeration that the Church Herself is in a great tempest as She is under assault from both the liberal, modernist forces within Her as well as from the secular, atheistic external forces that beset Her from outside. With immoral and scandalous priests within and with corrupt governments and politicians assaulting Her rights, it is imperative that we pray for the exaltation of the holy Catholic Faith, without which it is not possible to be saved.
Propagation of the Faith
We have before our eyes the example of St. Francis Xavier, among others, who labored for years in great trials and sufferings to save souls and propagate the saving Faith to all peoples. St. Francis converted more people in his life than anyone since the Apostle St. Paul. He baptized over 50,000 in 10 years, converted the entire town of Goa in India, and he labored long in Japan. Where are our missionaries today? Have they vanished in large parts because we no longer pray for them?
Extirpation of Heresy
We live in dangerous times when error is advanced as progress. The average Catholic today is exposed to more heresies and errors than arguably ever before in our history. Modernism, the synthesis of all heresies, along with relativism, subjectivism, religious liberty, and false ecumenism poisons the mind of many in the Church. And this disease of heresy is so pervasive it has infected many clergy as well. What are we doing to stop it? What are we doing to help counter this heresy? Do we pray for God, through Our Lady, to crush heresy?
Conversion of Sinners
Our Blessed Mother at Fatima said that many souls go to Hell because there is no one to pray for them. What are we doing to counsel the doubtful, to correct the erring in charity, and to make satisfaction to God for the sins of others? We can make Holy Hours of Reparation, pray Rosaries of reparation, or offer up all our daily prayers and actions for this intention.
Concord between Christian Princes
Only 100 years ago the world was plunged into the “war to end all wars” as Catholic nations fought and annihilated each other. As the Faith has further been eroded within society especially in Europe, we have seen the rise of democratic, atheistic nations. God is no longer the King of all ages. Nations claim to receive their power from the governed and there is no room for God. But what would our world look like today if the kings of old – the King of France, the King of Bavaria, the King of Belgium – were to reign today as true sovereigns who advanced the rights of God and restored true charity to all? Do we pray for truly Catholic governments to return like France of old or Ecuador under Garcia Moreno?
Further Welfare of the Christian People
The Holy Father, the Servant of the Servants of God, can teach us by example how to love our neighbor and perform both the corporal as well as the spiritual works of mercy. If you have read How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization by Thomas Woods, you will recall how Dr. Woods relates the varied, countless achievements from monasticism. Among them, we have not only the preservation of literacy and the priceless books of antiquity but countless works of charity, the first wide scale use of water power, the cultivation of agriculture, the clearing of immense areas of previously uninhabitable land, the creation of complex astronomical clocks, the creation of champagne, and dozens of other significant accomplishments. We owe a deep debt to the monks for their work in building our society. The welfare of the Christian people can only be advanced when we return to God and exalt the Holy Catholic Church again. Indeed, part of this restoration must involve prayer for the growth of monastic vocations. May we one day see this happy day return when monasteries and convents blanket our lands and these holy souls pray to God day and night for their fellow Christians.
Conclusion
Alas, if we have fallen from the habit of praying for the intentions of the Holy Father out of despair or sadness for what has been occurring in our Church, let us renew our rigor to say our prayers for the intentions of the Holy Father. As we do so, we should keep these six intentions at the forefront of our minds.
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| Contemplatives: Their Place in the Church Militant |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-01-2026, 04:42 AM - Forum: Resources Online
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Contemplatives: Their Place in the Church Militant
By A Carthusian Monk
This work, originally written by French Carthusians circa 1895 and adapted to the situation in England by the Carthusians of St. Hugh's Charlerhouse, Parkminsler in 1920, has been adapted by The Angelus to address the needs of the modern post-Conciliar apostolate.
Imprimi potest
Fr. JACOBUS MARIA, Prior Cartusiae. In domo Lucae, 4 Maii 1920.
Nihil obstat
Fr. THOMAS BERGH, O.S.B. Censor deputatus. 7 Junii 1920.
Imprimatur
+ PETRUS, Episcopus Southwarcensis. 9 Junii 1920.
![[Image: 3.jpg]](http://www.angelusonline.org/images/articles/2001_May/3.jpg)
The Angelus [Emphasis - The Catacombs]- May 2001
We are certain that God has not permitted all the destruction in Church and civil society in recent years without intending to bring good out of it. If the great "Reconstruction" is ever to occur, then we must take our part in it and we ought to do so particularly by working for the revival of the monastic orders which are given to prayer and penance. But various objections are raised against this view; it is the task therefore of the following pages to answer some of them.
Such complete absorption in the things of God as is involved in the contemplative life, it is said, could be understood in the ages of faith, when out of a society almost wholly Christian, religious vocations sprang up in lavish profusion. In the vast monastic family of those days, contemplatives had their chosen place in the front rank. But nowadays things are changed, and contemplation seems to be another word for selfishness. It is the day of active apostolate. The enemies of Christianity have banded together all the forces of evil for a last assault against the Church; it is, then, our urgent duty to gather in the same way all the vital forces of Catholicism and throw them into the breach. To hold aloof is to act the part of a deserter. And, they add, it is the more regrettable that men such as the Carthusians should stand apart from the fight, since they hold back from the Church Militant in action, not only well-trained soldiers, but even born leaders, the solitary life demanding qualities of mind and heart, and strength of character greater than that of other religious vocations. It will be seen that we do not seek to minimize the force of this objection; but to its plain statement we shall give an equally plain and frank answer.
Active Life or Contemplative?
That it is the day of active apostolate is quite true. In the present fight there is room for all men of good will, and to hold aloof is to act the part of a deserter; with this we are in hearty agreement. But let us make clear what we mean by that. What are we to understand by "activity"? Does it consist in bustle and noise, in feverish movement to start and keep going works of propaganda? Some might think so; they, however, judge by outward appearances only. Thinking men and theologians judge differently, accustomed as they are to descry beneath the exterior, the essence of things.
The marvelous force of activity increases in a being in proportion with the perfection and simplicity of its nature; so that it increases by leaps and bounds as we pass from animal to man, from man to angel, from angel on to God Himself. Grounding his argument on that of Aristotle, Saint Thomas Aquinas (ST, II-II, Q. 182, A. 1) shows the greater excellency of the contemplative over the active life, both in its origin and in its object, as well as being more meritorious and more fruitful in results.
If we let our faith reply, the answer is even more decisive. For indeed, God Himself is the unchangeable and eternal Contemplative; but is He not at the same time pure activity as well, always acting ad intra, within Himself, even supposing creation not to have taken place? Again, on earth where do we find the most intense activity but in the Tabernacle on our altars? Yet, where is there less appearance of activity? Our divine Lord seems to be sunk in a death-like slumber. Nevertheless, what is certain is that the world draws its life from the divine Contemplative of our altars, the world, that is, both material and spiritual. The day when the last altar shall have disappeared will be the day of doom, when the world shall fall asunder.
What Is True "Activity"?
"It is the day of active apostolate." Certainly, if we take due account of the above principles. But let us place the question on a practical footing. For men of light and leading, in what does this activity consist, which is their duty and on which the salvation of society depends?
Of late, much breath has been spent and much ink spilt in the attempt to formulate the principles upon which the campaign at this crisis must be conducted. Meeting after meeting has been held, plans have been multiplied, resolutions affirmed and reaffirmed; a kind of artillery preparation before attack. And indeed, the outcome has been that many well-tried institutions have taken a new lease on life, while new societies or associations are rising to meet new situations. But is there not the danger of forgetting that the true principles underlying all Reconstruction, the divinely traced program, is something simpler and of wider scope than all this; something simple with heaven's simplicity, since thence it was brought to earth when angels sang their Gloria in excelsis on Christmas night over a sleeping world: "Glory to God in the highest; and on earth peace to men of good will" (Lk. 2:14).
First of all, then, we are to give glory to God. That is to say, we must first seek the kingdom of God and His justice (cf. Mt. 6:33). Peace and happiness for the individual, the family, for society at large and the Church will follow in the nature of things and as a necessary consequence.
Now, it was for the realization of this program that God gave us His Son, the Word made Flesh, who is the principle and the essence of His activity. Bethlehem, Nazareth, and Calvary, His indwelling in the Blessed Sacrament, tell us with masterly eloquence how this glory has been given to God and peace brought to men.
But look more closely into the life on earth of Jesus Christ. It lasts but for three and thirty years; and of those, thirty are given to silence, to prayer and to hidden toil. Three only does He consecrate to His public ministry, and even then, during that short time, see how again and again our Savior goes apart from His disciples by day and by night to give Himself to prayer. For amidst all the comings and goings of the divine Word on earth, never for a moment does He lose sight of His Father's glory. As Fr. Faber says,
Quote:If we look at (our Lord's life on earth) in general, so as to get a view of its characteristics, it seems to us, first of all, a life of oblation. Worship was its predominant idea. Adoration was the mold in which it was cast. It continually reflected God. Yet it was not a private life, not a life which looked only to God and itself and so was sanctified. Its oblations were not simply its individual worship of God, but they belonged to all creation and were offered in its name....The business set before it was to consume itself for the glory of God. Thus it was incense, as well as victim....Its human soul was the thurible in which it was fragrantly consumed, offered asleep or waking, by night or by day, with every pulse of its human life. (Bethlehem, 78-79, 1860 ed.)
The entire work of the Incarnation, it is true, received its fullness of perfection and power from the sacrifice of Calvary; but dare we say that the years of hidden life at Nazareth were void of merit? Surely not; that would be blasphemy. No,
Quote:the secret life of the simple union of the two Natures in the divine Person is a vast series of wonders, whose scene is the house of Nazareth, but whose grandeur outshines that of all creation beside....Here was God adoring God. Here was a finite nature out of which infinite worship was streaming. Here was a created life which was in a most awful way a double of the Holy Trinity. (Faber, op. cit., 328, 331 of all cr)
Rerum Ecclesiae Gestarum
On the Foreign Missions, Pope Pius XI, February 18, 1926:
Quote:"Now what great store We set by the contemplative life...that by the foundation of monasteries, their stricter form of contemplative life may be introduced and widely spread in missionary territories, so likewise in season and out of season do We pray you, Venerable Brethren and your beloved sons, to interest yourselves therein, for it is marvelous what measure of heavenly graces such solitaries would call down upon your labors....Whence it is perfectly clear that our anchorites keeping unbroken the Rule and spirit of their Founder, and taking no part in the life of action, can be daily of no small help towards the success of your holy apostolate. So that if the superiors of such Orders give ear to your appeals and set up houses, wherever you may agree together that they should, they do a thing in the first place helpful to the salvation of a vast crowd of heathen and one which, in addition, will be acceptable and agreeable to Us beyond the bounds of belief." (A.A.S., Vol. 18, p. 78)
The Divine Contemplative
Our divine Savior did not limit this active power, the source of glory to God and of the world's salvation, to the few years of His earthly life; He continues it down the centuries in a twofold manner: through His real and through His mystical body, that is, in the Holy Eucharist and in the Church.
In the Holy Eucharist, despoiled of all, even of the accidents of His human nature, poorer even than when on the Cross, He continues in a true manner His contemplation and sacrifice; He lives only for prayer: "ever living to make intercession for us" (Heb. 7:25).
In the Church, which is His mystical body, He wills that each of the states of His mortal life should be reproduced in its entirety, otherwise the parallel would be incomplete. Now from what we have said above, the one that excels all the rest, the fountain, so to say, of all the others, is His state of contemplation, His self-immolation.
This, then, must be reproduced. But by whom? Principally by souls dedicated to a particular mode of life and giving themselves exclusively to penance and prayer. It is in continuing one of these states, the highest of our Lord's earthly life, by the strict observance of the evangelical counsels, that the contemplative orders find their reason for being. They take no part in the general government of the Church, nevertheless they belong to the essence of her constitution, and undoubtedly her divine Founder has given them their mission.
We speak here of the contemplative orders only. The proposition in a more general sense and extended to other religious institutes would cease to be true. St. Bernard says that the religious life is so much of the Church's essence that it began with it, or rather, the Church was begun by it, Qui primus fuit in Ecclesia, imo a quo coepit Ecclesia (Patr. Lat., t. 182. co1. 912. Cf. also, The Ideal of the Monastic Life, by Dom Germain Morin, 69,
Quote:"This then is our model, the life of the first Christians: the life which sprang up with the beginning of the Church, etc.").
We do not see them at work as corporate bodies in apostolic times, because then, in this particular, God's glory was served by the blood of the martyrs; that was sufficient witness for the visible continuation of Calvary. But when the era of the great persecutions came to an end, the blood-stained arena of martyrdom was exchanged for the unbloody martyrdom of the religious life. In the countless lauras of Egypt and Palestine, as later on, in the monasteries of the East; and later still in those of the West, men saw with wonder, the hidden Christ of Nazareth, the dying Christ of Golgotha living and dying over again.
For several centuries, all external ministry was forbidden to these contemplatives; it was an understood thing that nothing should be done to lessen the value of their penitential life or the power of their intercession. It is remarkable to notice that decay of discipline entered the monasteries only from the time, and to the extent that the monks, either out of necessity or from choice, were permitted to go forth and take part in the active ministry in imitation of those new religious orders which the needs of the time had produced to aid and supplement the work of the secular clergy.
Fr. Baker, in Sancta Sophia, (173, 1876 ed.) additionally notices:
Quote:No doubt there is that the decay of religion hath principally proceeded from this preposterous disorder, viz., that in most religious communities active spirits have got the advantage to possess themselves of prelatures and spiritual pastorships over the contemplative, though the state of religion was instituted only for contemplation.
In the 11th century, as a consequence of the great impulse given earlier by Charlemagne to popular education, of which the burden fell principally on the monasteries; and likewise, as a result of the disturbed state then of Christendom, the purely contemplative life had ceased to be practiced in the Church. Providence, however, to make it flourish anew, raised up one of those men of faith and genius who seem to be held in reserve through the centuries for the accomplishment of its mighty plans. This was St. Bruno (A.D. 1030-1101) the founder of the Carthusian order. The oft quoted saying, Cartusia nunquam reformata, quia nunquam deformata, the Carthusian order has never been reformed because never deformed, is substantially true, because it has remained true to the spirit of its foundation, has kept apart from all external activities and devoted itself absolutely and entirely to contemplation.
Contemplatives Are Active
We have deemed it necessary to show the solid foundation which theology and history lay for this question. The reason why it is sometimes discussed in a small-minded way is that it is viewed from one of its secondary aspects only. We may draw several conclusions.
The Carthusian monk is essentially contemplative. He reproduces and continues in the Church the hidden and suffering life of our Lord Jesus Christ. His cell is at one and the same time Bethlehem, where he begins a new life; Nazareth where his life of voluntary penance is passed in silence and obscurity; Calvary where obedience never ceases to offer him as a sacrifice on the cross which his observances and his Rule raise up for him; it is a Tabernacle where in union with the prayer of our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament he fulfills St. Paul's great boast, "I fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ, in my flesh" (Col. 1:24).
In a word, he is an official suppliant and penitent offering to God one of the greatest glories that He can provide for Himself on this earth. At the same time, he works powerfully for his own salvation and that of his neighbor.
From this then, we may judge what is the excellence of a contemplative's activity, even though he exercises it only by prayer and penance; nay, just for that very reason. It is God's will for him, it is apostolic, universal in scope, and how efficacious!
Quote:A cloistered life among men may cover the whole earth with its activity, if it be a life of worship, while the conqueror, the statesman, or the man of letters have at most but a circle which they only influence partially and in which their influence is but one of many influences. (Faber, op. cit., 80)
A Carthusian who had formerly been a foreign missioner was once asked what he did in his cell.
Quote:"I am still a missionary," he replied. "Formerly, I could work only in a circumscribed area; now the whole world lies open to my zeal, and by prayer I can reach the furthest off savage in Africa or Oceania."
We may also compare it to the motors hidden away in the heart of some vast piece of machinery and communicating life to the whole. A French orator (Mgr. Turinaz, Bishop of Nancy) in answering the question, "What do these solitaries do, of what use are they?" compares them, not inaptly, to lightning rods warding off the shafts of divine anger from a guilty world. They are to the world at large what the ten just men, had they been found, would have been to the Cities of the Plain; indeed, were they to be lacking in the world, there is only too much reason to suppose that God's thunderbolts would fall on an unrepentant generation.
Montalembert wrote,
Quote:"I cannot imagine a finer subject than the history of prayer....If it was given to human pen to write it, that history should be the history of the monks....Thanks to them, prayer existed in the character of a permanent and public force, universally recognized and blessed by God and man" (Monks of the West [London: Nimmo, 1896] Vol. I, 32 ).
The Power of Intercession
You ask, what is it that gives contemplation its wonderful intercessory power, making it superior to every other created activity? It follows from what we have already said. In imitation of our Lord Jesus Christ, whose different states he reproduces, the contemplative offers his freedom, his talents, his entire person and life before the majesty of God's claims. He abandons himself without reserve to His good pleasure. In God alone he seeks light and guidance; He is the goal and rule of all he does. God never allows Himself to be outdone in generosity. He takes supreme delight in this self-abandonment, a source of so much glory to Him; and He repays it with wonderful graces.
With Dom Innocent Le Masson, General of the Carthusians in the 17th century, we may say that the contemplative is, in the best sense of the word, a courtier and intimate friend of God. Seated at His feet like Mary at Bethany, his adoration, worship and attendance are never intermitted. His prayer assumes the character of a holy boldness of intimacy, and God, Who loves that we should do violence to His mercy, holds open the treasury of His favors to him.
A further reason for his power of intercession is found in the very nature of contemplation, and in the forms of prayer employed by the contemplative. Contemplation is above all an affair of the heart, in its method it is widely different from discursive meditation, in which the intellect plays the largest part. Now, the intellect easily gets taken up with its own ideas; pride, at one and the same time, forms a hindrance and becomes a punishment.
The heart is humbler; in simplicity and uncalculating, without self-seeking, it goes to meet its Beloved. And when day and night, as a Carthusian does, it feeds its desires on the divine marrow found in the Holy Scriptures, and more especially in the psalms, a change comes over it; it becomes all on fire, and without reasonings darts forward to regions unknown to the intellect. Faith, worship, desires, all breathe forth in one outpouring of love; it is no longer mere prayer, but uplifting of the soul, fiery transports, impassioned flights that are the result, under the impulse of the Holy Spirit it wings its flight unhindered to God; an eagle flies less swiftly towards its prey. What need is there to say more? The heart abandons itself and throws itself upon God, and God in return gives Himself to the soul. It may gaze upon Him, lay hold of Him, threaten, aye disarm Him! He suspends the decrees of justice, and looks down upon the world with a smile of forgiveness. A child, then, may save a whole nation. (We are not here supposing extraordinary phenomena, such as ecstasy, which sometimes may accompany prayer, but those "ascensions" which tend to union, the normal goal of mental prayer.) Abraham, Moses and Onias in the old Testament are the visible proofs of this truth; and how many other instances are there not in the lives of the saints?
Monastic Prayer, the Great Weapon
Yes indeed, it is the day of active apostolate.
Quote:"We must fight, and he who deserts God's standard to hide himself in slothful selfishness is a traitor. We must fight, but reasonably, in a favorable position, and use good arms and wise tactics" (cf. The Contemplative Life in Its Apostolic Aspect [London: Burns, Oates & Washbourne], 17).
That is precisely what the contemplative does; whence we may understand how useful, how necessary in the mighty conflict with evil, is the contemplative's intercession whether exercised by Carthusian monk or nun, or other religious.
A fatal illusion may follow on the intoxication of excessive activity: more or less inexperienced souls persuade themselves that the salvation of society depends entirely on human means. Once started on this downward way, fatal blindness will supervene which will lay open the way for a defeat beyond repair. Quos vult perdere Jupiter dementat ("whom Jupiter wishes to destroy, he drives mad"). One suspects that the devil is only half afraid of active opposition. As an old campaigner, he even helps it on at times, much as a general allows the enemy to advance and come to grips, afterwards the more easily to surround them. For one good work started, he can set up ten in opposition, since he is more gifted with activity than all the active workers in the world taken together. And is it not true that amidst all the self sacrifice, the enthusiasm and devotion that active workers bring to the cause, there is a super abundance at the same time, of the human element? How many fair beginnings have ended in disappointment and worse, because of the petty jealousies and rivalries of those who persuade themselves that the success of God's work is bound up with their own personal success? Time wasted, good money thrown after bad, disunion amongst Catholics, all this and much more to a like effect is but too often the result of works of active apostolate.
What the devil really does fear, because he knows its marvelous power and because he has nothing to meet it with, is prayer and above all, monastic prayer, supported by penance and practiced with an intensity that arrives at contemplation. The chant of the Divine Office, the official prayer of the liturgy which has a twofold power according to the saying, Qui bene cantat, bis orat ("sung prayer is double prayer"). Here he recognizes his real enemy. His tactics against it, therefore, are ever the same: he tries to destroy the homes of prayer, or at least to introduce a relaxation in their discipline; he sets to work, to turn them from their purpose by attracting and attaching them to the employments of the active ministry, or by keeping back from them as much as possible the vocations that God intends for them. It is the devil's greatest gain when, under the pretext of employing one's zeal to better purpose, he is able to retain on the battlefield of active works some of those generous souls, keen in their spirit of devotion, who under wiser guidance as to the supernatural value of the contemplative life would unhesitatingly set out to scale those spiritual heights which their Rule sets before the Carthusian monk and nun or other contemplative religious.
Proportionate Need of Contemplative and Active Workers
In writing as we have done, we are far from wishing to throw the least discredit on the multiplicity of good works that are today set going so hopefully and with so much zeal. It is quite clear that they are necessary. If we need suppliants we must also have combatants. Let the religious and the priest alike, join hands with the laity; let him turn apostle, missioner, schoolmaster, hospitaller, newspaper editor even! Let him seize every opportunity of holding up the torch of faith for those that sit "in the valley of the shadow of death" (Ps. 22:4). The list of names of the standard bearers of the Church's social action in modern times is a long and honorable one, and no one will deny that their lives afford shining examples of self sacrifice and heroism. Contemplatives are foremost in giving hearty praise to all such enterprises as have ecclesiastical approval.
But at the same time we are faced by a twofold phenomenon which it would be childish to deny. On the one hand, the vastness of the effort expended; and on the other hand, the smallness of the visible result. Providence has its own ways, but here at least, the effect is not proportionate with its cause. May it not be because the volume of prayer demanded by God has not been forthcoming?
Let those given to the active life, whose battlefield is down in the plain, keep up the struggle without faltering. But if they wish for victory in the end, let them seek recruits who shall add to the number of hands raised up on the mountain in prayer for them. If only it might be possible to draw towards the purely contemplative life as it is led in the Charterhouse, a number of souls proportionate to that attracted by the needs of our day to institutes devoted to active work what a guarantee would there be of an earlier and more decisive victory; the tardy dawn of the long awaited Restoration would broaden out into full day.
The Restoration of All Things in Christ by Prayer
The conversion of our nation! How much more is included in that well worn phrase than is generally thought of. The Church's divine commission to preach the gospel to every creature is not fulfilled in shepherding this or that section of non-Catholics into Christ's fold. Her message is for all. She must convert her own wandering children as well; raise the fallen, rouse the slothful and hold the wayward. And as we gaze in expectation into the years immediately before us, whose heart will not quail before the gigantic nature of the task committed to her in saving the souls of the millions outside her borders! Some words of a well-known Jesuit writer, Fr. Joseph Rickaby, are as true today, or truer, than when penned some 25 years ago [c. 1895]. He spoke of England, but his words are applicable to the United States, to the work of American Catholics in this country before the Council, and contains warnings and applications to the post-Conciliar apostolate that we must all seriously consider. He says in The Month:
Quote:The prospect of the religious future of England...is very dark indeed. We poor English Catholics have "piped" and our countrymen have not "danced." Our learning, our controversy, our church-building, our schools, our publications, our societies, our preaching, our works of benevolence, all seem thrown away. They have not been useless to be sure; we have saved the few, and that is much: but on the solid mass of the nation we make no impression, nor seem likely to make any; and, compared with our failure, our successes go for little. It will be difficult for us to hold in the future such vantage ground as we have won and now possess.
The world is steeped in a spirit which is solvent of all Christianity; and there are signs manifest enough of the action of that spirit upon our people. It does not do to be too gloomy; but it is difficult to feel cheerful in thinking of the conversion of England, if one has any idea, as most of us have, of the tendencies of thought around us. But here comes in the second part of the text, "we have mourned and you have not lamented." We have not "mourned" half enough, to induce our country to "lament" their false religious position. The sin of England has been great for centuries and remains unexpiated, a bar to conversion.
We should have more conversions, if we did more penance to procure them. That is not a pleasant thing to think of. How can we fast and pray whose daily work suffers from our lack of time and strength to do it? There is comfort in the principle of the division of labor, and in those much reviled but still Catholic doctrines of vicarious expiation and communion of saints. We must have some of our number to go apart, and fast and pray and do penance for the rest of us, not certainly to excuse us in sin, not to cover our idleness and neglect of duty, not to exempt us from sorrow and contrition and such penance as God will require of us personally, but to draw down by their extraordinary penances that extraordinary mercy and those superabundant graces, without which this country never will be brought to God and to His Christ.
Thinking of this profound truth, one is filled with grief and resentment to hear the (contemplative) life...described as a 'useless and selfish life' even by Catholics, and by those Catholics of all others who should know better. Such is the utilitarian, naturalistic spirit of the age, that we cease to believe in any but the corporal works of mercy, and those spiritual works which have a direct natural efficacy. "To pray for the living and the dead," and to add fasting to the prayer of intercession, as Tobias did, does not strike us as so very necessary. Yet it may be just the one thing wanting to make the rest of our works efficacious (Vol. 96, 27).
With these considerations before us, we may ask ourselves again: What is the place of contemplatives in the Church Militant? And, what is their value in these troubled times? Shall we answer that their day has gone by? That in going aside from the battle to pray and watch and fast they are acting the part of deserters? Read what the venerable Fr. Baker wrote, when in his own day surely if ever his nation had need of active workers.
Those that are inexperienced may, and often do, call this (contemplation) a state of idleness and unprofitable cessation, as Martha complained against her sister Mary; but those that have attained to a taste of it know it to be the business of all businesses, as St. Bernard calls it....
Quote:Those inexpressible devotions which they exercise, and in which they tacitly involve the needs of the whole Church, are far more prevalent with God than the busy endeavors and prayers of ten thousand others, a few such secret and unknown servants of God are the chariots and horsemen, the strength and bulwarks of the kingdom and churches where they live.
(Sancta Sophia, 508, 1876 ed.).
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| Pre-55 Halloween & the Octave of All Saints |
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Posted by: kelley - 10-31-2026, 11:24 AM - Forum: The Liturgical Year
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Pre-55 Halloween & the Octave of All Saints
The Vigil and Octave of All Saints: Preparing for and Prolonging the Glory of Heaven
The Feast of All Saints on November 1 remains one of the great solemnities of the Catholic year. Yet what Catholics experience today is only part of the liturgical observance that existed before the reforms of the 1950s. Traditionally, the feast did not stand by itself. It was approached through a Vigil on October 31, historically observed with fasting and abstinence, and its celebration continued through an Octave ending on November 8. Thus, the Church surrounded the vision of heavenly glory with both penitential preparation and prolonged rejoicing.
The suppression of both the Vigil and the Octave in 1955 is especially instructive because it shows how the attempted reform changed more than the number of observances found in a Missal. Before the reform, October 31 prepared the faithful for the saints through penance, November 1 celebrated their triumph, November 2 turned the attention of the Church toward the faithful departed, and the days that followed continued beneath the influence of the All Saints Octave. The first portion of November therefore possessed a strongly eschatological character in which the Church Militant, the Church Suffering, and the Church Triumphant were placed before the faithful in remarkably close succession.
The story of the Vigil also shows that changes to the liturgical calendar and changes to fasting law did not always occur simultaneously. When the Vigil Mass and Office were abolished in 1955, the obligation of fasting attached to October 31 did not automatically disappear. For a short period, American Catholics could therefore still be bound to fast on a day whose liturgical Vigil had already been suppressed. This unusual situation helps illustrate how an ancient unity of liturgy and asceticism was gradually dismantled during the middle of the twentieth century.
The Development of the Feast, Vigil, and Octave
The roots of All Saints reach back to the ancient commemorations of the martyrs. Pope Gregory III, who reigned from 731 to 741, dedicated a chapel in St. Peter’s Basilica to all the saints and fixed its anniversary on November 1. Pope Gregory IV later extended the November observance throughout the Church. According to the historical account cited by the Catholic Encyclopedia, the Vigil appears to have been observed almost as early as the feast itself, while the Octave was added under Pope Sixtus IV in the fifteenth century.
The existence of both a Vigil and an Octave gave All Saints the same basic shape possessed by many of the Church’s greater observances. A Vigil provided preparation before the feast, while an Octave prolonged the celebration after it. This was not arbitrary multiplication. The older calendar treated the mysteries of the Faith as realities for which the soul should prepare and within which it should remain for some time afterward.
This arrangement was especially appropriate for All Saints. November 1 commemorates not merely the saints whose names appear in the Martyrology or whose feasts are kept during the year, but the countless souls who have attained the Beatific Vision and whose names are known only to God. The Collect asks that, through the merits of so many intercessors, God would grant the faithful an abundance of His mercy. The Feast of All Saints therefore directs the Catholic toward the end for which he was created: union with God in Heaven. It is entirely fitting that so great a feast should have possessed both penitential preparation beforehand and an octave afterward.
The Vigil of All Saints and the Traditional Fast
The Vigil of All Saints was historically more than an anticipatory Mass and Office. October 31 was also a day of fasting. The practice is ancient. The Synod of Seligenstadt in 1022 mentioned the fasts observed on the vigils of Christmas, Epiphany, feasts of the Apostles, the Assumption, St. Lawrence, and All Saints. These vigil fasts were part of the broader Catholic understanding that major feasts should often be approached by denying oneself beforehand.
The exact discipline varied considerably from place to place over the centuries, particularly before the universal codification of canon law. In Catholic territories of colonial America, the Vigil of All Saints regularly appeared among the obligatory fast days. In the United States around the beginning of the twentieth century, it remained one of the comparatively small number of vigils on which fasting was still required. The 1909 Catholic Encyclopedia, for example, listed the vigils of Christmas, Pentecost, the Assumption, and All Saints among the American fast days.
The 1917 Code of Canon Law further standardized the discipline. By then many older vigil fasts had already disappeared, but the Vigil of All Saints survived among only four vigils retaining a universal obligation of fasting: Pentecost, the Assumption, All Saints, and Christmas. That fact alone demonstrates the prominence still accorded to November 1. Long after Catholics had ceased being obliged to fast before many other ancient feasts, the Church continued to require penance before All Saints.
The spiritual logic is easy to understand. All Saints presents the final victory of grace in human souls, but the saints did not attain Heaven through a comfortable Christianity. They practiced mortification, resisted temptation, performed works of mercy, endured suffering, and persevered until death. The faithful were asked, however modestly, to imitate the spirit of self-denial by which the saints had cooperated with grace.
The First Mid-Century Weakening
The traditional fast began to weaken even before the liturgical Vigil itself was abolished. In the United States, the bishops standardized fasting and abstinence regulations in 1951. Under those rules, the Vigil of All Saints remained a fast day, but the abstinence requirement had been reduced. Meat could now be eaten at the principal meal, assuming it was not a Friday, making October 31 a day of partial rather than complete abstinence.
This distinction may appear minor to Catholics today, when the very concept of partial abstinence is almost unknown, but it represented another stage in a much longer relaxation of the Church’s fasting discipline. The Vigil still demanded one full meal and the restricted smaller meals allowed under the law of fasting, but the older complete abstinence from flesh meat had been mitigated.
Thus, on the eve of the great liturgical reforms of the 1950s, the Vigil of All Saints retained both its Mass and Office and its obligatory fast, but its penitential observance in the United States had already been weakened. The events that followed would go much further.
The Abolition of the Vigil in 1955
Pope Pius XII’s reform of 1955 substantially reduced the number of liturgical vigils in the Roman calendar. The decree Cum nostra hac aetate, issued by the Sacred Congregation of Rites on March 23, 1955, retained Christmas and Pentecost as privileged vigils and preserved only a handful of others as common vigils. The remaining vigils, including that of All Saints, were suppressed. The same reform eliminated the vigils of the Epiphany, the Immaculate Conception, and the feasts of nearly all the Apostles except Ss. Peter and Paul.
Consequently, the traditional Mass and Office of October 31 disappeared from the Roman calendar. Halloween, literally the eve of All Hallows, continued to retain its name in popular culture, but the Catholic liturgical observance from which that name derived had been removed.
The loss of a vigil is more significant than the elimination of an additional Mass formulary. A vigil gave a feast a threshold. The Church began directing the mind of the faithful toward the coming mystery before the feast itself arrived. In some cases that preparation was joyful; in others, including All Saints, it was explicitly penitential. The calendar thereby taught that the great celebrations of the Christian life should be approached deliberately rather than encountered abruptly.
The disappearance of the Vigil of All Saints weakened precisely this aspect of the feast. November 1 remained, but the day of preparation that had preceded it for centuries was no longer present liturgically.
When the Fast Outlived the Vigil
What happened next is one of the more interesting details in the history of the reform. Because the 1955 decree was liturgical in character, questions arose as to whether suppression of the Vigil also abolished the fasting and abstinence obligations attached to October 31.
The bishops of the United States sought clarification from Rome. In a response dated March 15, 1957, they were informed that the decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites concerned “simply the liturgical part of the day” and did not itself affect the obligations of fast and abstinence, which existed as penitential preparation for the following feast.
For a short period, then, the distinction between the two became unusually visible. Liturgically, the Vigil had ceased to exist; penitentially, the faithful could still be required to observe it. The Mass and Office were gone, but the fast remained because the canonical discipline had not been abolished by the liturgical decree.
The American bishops subsequently dispensed the faithful from both the fast and the partial abstinence attached to the Vigil of All Saints. The process was therefore gradual. Before the reforms, October 31 possessed a liturgical Vigil and a traditional fast with abstinence. In 1951, the American abstinence discipline was weakened. In 1955, the liturgical Vigil was abolished. After Rome clarified in 1957 that this had not automatically ended the penitential law, the American bishops dispensed the remaining obligation as well.
Within only a few years, what had been both a liturgical and ascetical preparation for All Saints had ceased to exist in ordinary Catholic practice.
The Octave of All Saints
The feast was diminished on its other side as well. Before 1955, All Saints possessed a Common Octave extending through November 8. Under the rubrics then in force, the days within the Octave, from the second through the seventh day, were Semidouble and yielded to Double and Semidouble feasts while taking precedence over Simple feasts. When a higher-ranking feast occurred, the Octave was ordinarily commemorated at Lauds, Mass, and Vespers, except when the rubrics excluded the commemoration for feasts of sufficiently high rank.
These details are important because they demonstrate that an octave was not necessarily eight uninterrupted repetitions of exactly the same Mass. The older calendar was capable of carrying several liturgical memories at once. On November 4, for example, St. Charles Borromeo could be celebrated while the Octave of All Saints remained present through its commemoration. The occurring saint and the larger mystery of the octave did not have to compete for exclusive possession of the day.
This layering was one of the characteristics of the pre-1955 calendar. The Church could celebrate an individual saint while still remembering the company of all the saints. The result was a liturgical year possessing considerably more texture than a calendar in which each date is expected to carry only one principal thought.
The Octave of All Saints also fit naturally into the character of November. November 1 celebrated the saints who had already attained Heaven. November 2 turned immediately toward the faithful departed who were still undergoing purification. The days afterward returned repeatedly to the saints through the Octave. Heaven and Purgatory were therefore not distant theological ideas but realities placed repeatedly before Catholics during the opening days of the month.
The Octave Day on November 8
The Octave reached its conclusion on November 8. The traditional Mass texts for the Octave Day are striking in their emphasis on martyrdom, suffering, and heavenly victory. The Introit calls upon God to remember the blood of His saints. The Epistle from Hebrews recalls those who “conquered kingdoms,” endured imprisonment and torture, and preferred suffering to abandoning the Faith. The Offertory declares that God is wonderful in His saints, while the Communion recalls those whom God tried “as gold in the furnace.”
These texts show how far the traditional observance was from a merely sentimental idea of sanctity. All Saints certainly rejoices in the innumerable company of the blessed, but the Church did not separate their glory from the suffering through which so many reached it. The Octave Day returned the faithful to the cost of discipleship and to the supernatural triumph accomplished by grace.
In this sense, the Vigil and the Octave complemented one another especially well. The Vigil imposed penance upon those still struggling on earth. The Octave celebrated those whose struggle had ended in victory. The entire structure placed the Christian life between those two realities: mortification here and glory hereafter.
The Suppression of the Octave
The Octave of All Saints disappeared in the same 1955 reform that abolished its Vigil. Cum nostra hac aetate reduced the Roman calendar to only three octaves: Easter, Pentecost, and Christmas. The Octaves of Epiphany, Corpus Christi, the Ascension, the Sacred Heart, the Immaculate Conception, the Assumption, Sts. Peter and Paul, All Saints, and the other universal and particular octaves were suppressed.
As discussed in the previous installment of this series, the abolition of most octaves represented a fundamental change in the Church’s treatment of liturgical time. A feast that had formerly remained before the faithful for eight days now ordinarily ended with the calendar date itself. All Saints provides a particularly clear example because the same reform removed both its preparation and its prolongation.
What the Older Structure Taught
The older observance of All Saints illustrates a principle that has appeared repeatedly throughout this series. The traditional Roman calendar did not simply communicate doctrines; it arranged time so that Catholics would live according to them. The Vigil and Octave of All Saints are a particularly beautiful example because they placed the whole supernatural purpose of Christian life before the faithful.
The October 31 fast reminded Catholics that there is no crown without the cross. The Feast of All Saints showed the result of perseverance in grace. All Souls immediately afterward reminded the faithful of those who had died in friendship with God but still required purification and the prayers of the Church. The continuing Octave then returned the mind repeatedly to the saints who had already reached the goal.
This was liturgical catechesis in the fullest sense. Without requiring a lecture, the calendar taught the Communion of Saints, the necessity of penance, the reality of Purgatory, the intercession of the blessed, and the Christian hope of Heaven. The faithful did not merely read these doctrines in a catechism. They encountered them through fasting, feasting, requiem prayers, commemorations, and the recurring texts of the Mass and Office.
The removal of the Vigil and Octave did not formally deny any of these teachings. But it did reduce the means by which those teachings were woven into the lives of ordinary Catholics.
Recovering the Traditional Observance
Catholics who follow or draw spiritual nourishment from the pre-1955 calendar can still recover much of this older pattern. October 31 can once again be treated as a day of voluntary fasting and abstinence in preparation for All Saints. The Litany of the Saints, spiritual reading from the lives of the saints, Confession, and attendance at Mass on November 1 are all appropriate ways to restore the specifically Catholic character of the day.
The Octave can likewise be remembered through November 8. The Collect of All Saints may be added to private prayers, families can read about different saints each day, and Catholics can consciously invoke the intercession of the Church Triumphant throughout the week. November is already traditionally devoted to the Holy Souls, and there is no contradiction in simultaneously remembering the blessed in Heaven. Rather, the older calendar demonstrates how naturally the two belong together.
None of these practices binds the faithful under present law, aside from attendance at Mass on All Saints Day. The restoration of the rest is valuable because they recover a spiritual principle that the older calendar expressed with particular clarity: the Church prepares for her greatest celebrations and does not abandon them as soon as the feast day ends.
The older Roman calendar gave All Saints more than a day because Heaven deserved more than a passing thought. It prepared for the saints through penance and continued to rejoice in them through an octave. Recovering that older pattern can help restore not merely a lost observance but a more Catholic understanding of life itself: the conviction that our present struggle is ordered toward eternal glory, that the saints have already reached what we seek, and that the whole purpose of our time on earth is to join them.
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