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| Bp. de Mallerais 1995 - Statesmanship of Christ the King |
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Posted by: Stone - Yesterday, 11:41 AM - Forum: In Defense of Tradition
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The Church and the World - The Statesmanship of Christ the King
by Bishop Tissier de Mallerais
If we do not love Christ's social reign, we will fall under the social reign of the devil.
We are convinced that the rejection of the Social Reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ by the nations is the cause of their ruin, or of the most serious disorders and of inextricable problems of the moral, political, social and economic order that no one can master today. We are conscious of the fact that the triumphant revolution is establishing a new world order on the ruins of the apostate nations, and this new order is essentially anti-christian. We observe that the conciliar Church co-operates in this work, while substituting for the religion of God-made-man, the cult of man making himself God. We should all be resolved as much as lies in us, to fight this satanic plan, which God may deign to dissipate with the breath of His mouth. Sons of the Catholic Church, adhering to the indefectible voice of the Spouse of Christ, we proclaim the absolute Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ over the human affairs, over societies and over nations.
1. Claims of Our Lord Jesus Christ to Universal Kingship
Our Lord Jesus Christ is necessarily King. By nature He possesses, inasmuch as He is man, the primacy of excellence and of perfection over every creature (Quas Primas [Q.P.] 533, Col. 1:15-17) and particularly the knowledge and power to rule and direct all human temporal affairs of His and His Father's glory. (Q.P. 540). So as not to empty the humiliation of the Cross, He is abstaining from practising His temporal Kingship Himself. In fact, Our Lord is also in possession of a spiritual and priestly, of a universal and victorious Kingship over all men so as to take them back through Him, the sole Head in the unity of the Mystical Body, the Catholic Church (Col. 1,18). This spiritual Kingship is spread out over temporal affairs to the degree that these serve Him to triumph over His enemies and to extend the Reign of Grace.
The Blessed Virgin Mary, His Mother and co-adjutrix in the work of Redemption, partakes in the Kingship of Christ (Pius XII, Ad Coeli Reginam) and disposes over hearts for it. "Regnum Christi per Regnam Mariae - The Reign of Christ, through the Reign of Mary."
2. Christ, foundation and restorer of the natural order
Man fallen from his native dignity by original sin (Roman Missal, Collect for Thursday of Passion Week) is only reinstated in that natural dignity by the spiritual Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ Who takes care of man's wounded nature only by lifting it to the supernatural dignity of the child of God (Summa I-II q. 109a2). Likewise, the natural order of human affairs (Pius XII, Summa Pontificatus 740) only receives its full solidity (Col. 1,17) and integrity on the unique foundation on which it behooves to be restored, i.e. on Christ in which it is ceaselessly to be done. It is only found in Christian civilisation, in the Catholic City.
3. Christ the supreme legislator
Christ the Man with the twofold claim of His birth and conquest through the Cross, in Whom are enclosed all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col. 2,3) to Whom God has made over all power in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28:18) is given to men as sovereign legislator Whom they ought to obey (Q.P. 536) and as supreme judge from Whom they receive rewards and chastisements in this as well as in the next life. (Q.P. 537)
4. Universality of Christ's Reign
Christ's empire "does not extend exclusively over Catholic nations nor only over baptised Christians... it embraces equally and without exceptions all men, even strangers to the Catholic Faith (Q.P. 542). Our Lord however, only reigns effectively over nations whose leaders He baptised and whose constitutions He christianised (St Pius X, Allocution December 13, 1908).
The Reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ embraces all times, it embraces those who have need of Him, those that battled for Him, those who lived for Him and those who separated from Him. He proves that Christ is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end of history (Q.P. 562). His Kingship will be fulfilled on the last day when He will take spectacular vengeance on His enemies (Q.P. 569). The final and triumphant state will be found in the plenitude of glory of His saints and elect (Eph. 4:13).
5. About Our Lord's Social Reign
God has so constituted man that he cannot exist nor attain his temporal perfection without the cooperation of his fellow men (St Thomas, De Regno, Bk. 1 Ch. 1). This social nature of man thus has God for its author, so that societies no less than individuals are God's creatures (Philippe, Christ, King of Nations).
Our Lord Jesus Christ, by His natural primacy is thus as man, King of Societies, particularly King of families and of nations, and by His Kingship of Grace He governs them towards their supernatural end. (Q.P. 543)
6. The Primacy of the Common Good
Man being by nature part of all that goes with a well regulated multitude (St Thomas, 1. Ethics lec. 1 n4), he must necessarily align himself with society as to his end (II-II al q.64 a2), i.e. adapt and dispose his person to act in common with others, thus making up society and in which the person finds his temporal perfection (II-IIa1 q26 a3 and a2). Likewise, he must submit his particular interest to the common good, to wit, sacrifice his life for it (I-IIae q96 a4). Society being in effect but a unity of order and not a substantial unity (St Thomas 1 Ethics, lect 1 n. 5), the common temporal good is not separated from individuals, but it is their good, and it principally consists in a good and virtuous life (Rerum Novarum 303), to which everyone contributes his part (ibid). Moreover, the ultimate end of man is not a virtuous life but through this to arrive at eternal beatitude (St Thomas De Regno, Bk. 1, ch. 14 n.3). Thus the common temporal good is ordered indirectly to the Triune God (II-IIae q.83 a6), the common good of the city of the blessed, Liberalism and totalitarianism are anti-Christian (Pope Pius XI, Divini Redemptoris, no. 3). The individual as king dissolves the common good by the rights of man without God (Pius XI, Aliquantulum 1).
The deified State in turn confiscates the common good in the interest of the faction that is in power and this is slavery. Only the primacy of Christ the King, tearing away from State and individual their usurped crown can give to the common good its primacy and assure its authenticity (Pope Pius XII Allocution June 16, 1939).
7. King of Kings and Lord of Lords
All authority comes from God (Romans 13:1). Political authority does not come from the people but from God. Perhaps an election determines the person of the leader, but it does not confer authority. One decides by whom power must be exercised. Supreme temporal sovereignty belongs to Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of kings and Lord of lords (1 Tim. 6:15), but since He abstains from exercising it Himself, He delegates temporal power to His human office holders, whether they be hereditary monarchs or elected presidents, who do command less in their own name than in the name and in place of the divine King (Q.P. 547). There is no choice between a modern democracy and Christ the King - long live Christ the King.
8. Sovereign Legislator
The law is "an ordinance of reason for the common good promulgated by him who has the care of the community (St Thomas I-IIae q. 90 a1). It is not the work of the human will, even if it is general (cf. Declaration of the Rights of Man) but a work of reason and the wisdom of the legislator. Civil law is destined to apply and make natural law more precise, i.e. human reason partakes in law (I-IIae q.91a2). It is a precious help for human freedom (Leo XIII Libertas 179-180). Our Lord Jesus Christ "by Whom kings reign and legislators decree what is just" (Pr 8,15) has confirmed natural law and promulgated the law of the Gospel (Matt. 5:17) so that human laws find their norm there. The Sovereign Legislator, Christ the King, is the only one to give peace to the nations, i.e. tranquility and order, the peace of Christ in the reign of Christ (Pius XI, Ubi Arcano).
9. King of Families
Both the Catholic City as well as the Church depend for their preservation and prosperity on fertile marriages (Pius XII Allocution to young spouses). Jesus Christ, King of Nations, is thus King of the family, the mother-cell of society (Pius XI Casti Connubi). He recalls that the State must not absorb but supplement what the family cannot do (Pius XI Allocution to the pupils of Mondragone). The Sovereign Legislator, Our Lord Jesus Christ, takes marriage back to its original sanctity and elevates it to the dignity of a sacrament (Casti Connubi 282). Through the voice of the Church, His Mystical Body, He recalls to souls the natural law, and through the instrument of civil legislation He imposes the law on the public life of the Catholic Community, the 'City', in what concerns procreation, reserved to marriage, the preservation of life, conjugal chastity (Pius XII Allocution to midwives), the unity and indissolubility of marriage; He condemns the contrary crimes, He promotes large families with all the virtues (Pius XII Allocution to young spouses), the glory of the Catholic Church where holy religious and priestly vocations flourish.
10. Master of Educators
Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Divine Master, is King of parents and educators, Master of teachers. He reminds the State that education of the child naturally belongs to those who have begotten it, i.e. to the parents (Pius XI Divini Illius Magistri 257). The family is therefore the prime educator and the State cannot arrange the education of children against the will of the parents (op. cit. 258). The family and the school however, must, in instructing and educating, respect the natural and divine law and only teach things that are true (Leo XIII Libertas 209).
Our Lord Jesus Christ confides to the Catholic Church the entire moral and supernatural truth (Pius XI Divini Illius Magistri 24) with the mission to teach all nations (Matt. 28:18). He endows it for that with an infallible magisterium (Pius IX Denz. 1683), with a sovereign authority and with an independence from all earthly power in the original source and exercise of its educative mission (Pius XI Divini Illius Magistri 247).
11. Church and State
What Christ the King is to the Catholic City, the Church, His Mystical Spouse, is in relation to the State. The Catholic Church being spiritual and supernatural, is the supreme society. She is a perfect spouse endowed by her divine Spouse with all the spiritual and temporal means to 'lead men to salvation' (Leo XIII Immortale Dei 134)
The Church and the State are independent and sovereign, each in its own domain (op. cit. 136), but by reason of the subordination of the State's end (the temporal common good) to the Church's end (eternal salvation), the State is indirectly subordinate to the Church which can intervene in the temporal order in the name of supernatural interests (op. cit. 137), and to require from the State protection (op. cit. 131) against the disturbers of the Catholic religion (Pius IX Quanta Cura 39).
Likewise, it behooves the State to protect the unanimity of the citizens in the true religion, an important element of the temporal common good (Card. Ottavianni - Proposition of the Schema on Church and State).
The public duty or office renders to Jesus, our King, public homage according to the cult of the Catholic religion (Q.P. 543, 569).
Finally, the State, according to the circumstances and the judgement of the Church, can tolerate the public exercise of dissident cults and legally guarantee that tolerance (Leo XIII, Immortale Dei 154). However, in principle, it cannot grant liberty to all cults without distinction (Pius VII, Pius IX, Leo XIII), nor admit the false principle of religious liberty. This would be an offence towards the divinity of the Church and towards the spiritual Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
12. The Christian political, social and economic order
The wisdom of the Angelic Doctor, the interventions of the popes, and the reflections of thinkers against the (French) Revolution release the general principles of the natural and Christian order.
Following are some aphorisms expressing these:
"Only the devil has need of universal suffrage." (Leo XIII Diuturum 105)
"Democracy presupposes civic virtue in all, the monarchy, prudence in one person only." (St Thomas I-II ae q 105 a1 and a3)
"The arrival of universal democracy is of no importance to the Church's actions in the world." (St Pius X, Our Apostolic Mandate 31, Instauratio Press edition)
"If the moment has not come for Jesus Christ to reign, the moment has not come for governments to endure." (Card. Pie, conversation with Napoleon III)
"The principle of subsidiarity [Pius XI Quadrigesimo Anno 38] (i.e. to favour private initiatives, the State only intervening to supply what private persons cannot do) prevents effective socialist control." (Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum 296)
"The principle of the common good does away with effective liberal control." (Quadrigesimo Anno 532, 534)
"Justice is the first of the charities." (Quadrigesimo Anno 523)
"Christian charity tempers the injustice of the unjust. The charity of the unjust is the height of injustice." and "The justice of the common good is the first justice." (St Thomas II IIae q58a5)
God says : "So as to be rich, multiply and subdue the earth."
The Devil says: "To be rich, be sterile and the earth as well."
There is no middle way. Either the social reign of the devil, or the Social Reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Christ the King is the unique hope of the nations. (Gen. 19:10) It is Him that they wait for in darkness, amidst the accumulated ruins of "two centuries of liberal culture." (The Ratzinger Report)
With our Holy Mother the Church, we proclaim that today as always, Our Lord Jesus Christ is the unique source of salvation, both of societies and of individuals (Q.P. 543), since for the material or spiritual, for the temporal as for the eternal, "there is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved." (Acts 4:12)
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| Pope St. Pius X: Exhortations to Catholic Clergy |
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Posted by: Stone - Yesterday, 09:50 AM - Forum: Church Doctrine & Teaching
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Christian Order | August/September 2003
The following counsel, selected from personal and Pastoral letters, sermons, allocutions, encyclicals and discourses,
are extracted from Recipe for Holiness: St. Pius X and the Priest, Lumen Christi Press, 1959.
Exhortations to Catholic Clergy
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Holiness of Life
1. Who is the priest? He is the man of God who brings to souls enlightening truth, conquering love, edifying sanctity. He must show forth in himself the beauty of the God-Man Whom he represents.
His mere duty is not sufficient for a true priest. He needs something higher: sanctity. Jesus Christ requires a simple Christian life of the faithful but of the priest He asks a life of heroism. And, therefore, if Christian perfection is an ornament, a glory and a halo for any member of the faithful, for the priest it must be his normal way of life: a life of faith which helps him to discern the dark arms of the enemy, a life of hope which sustains and strengthens him in his daily struggles, a life of burning and inflaming charity, a life of angelic purity, of sacrifice, of a spirit of poverty, of meekness and of a patience which remains unmoved and unperturbed under the blows of the most atrocious injuries. It must be all this because the priest, raised aloft, must by the light of his example enlighten God's people and warm them with his fervour.
[From a sermon on the occasion of a First Mass when the Pope was Parish Priest of Salzano]
2. Of what use is knowledge if one's behaviour is not what it should be? For this reason, young levites, venerable priests, tread surefootedly on the path of ecclesiastical perfection, ordering your life and behaviour in such a way that in your bearing, your gestures, your walk, your conversation and in all other things you show forth nothing that is not holy and which does not waft the odour of sanctity.
[First Pastoral Letter to the clergy and people of the Diocese of Mantua, 18th March, 1885]
3. The priestly ministry which is not corroborated by authority and by a holy life is a complete failure.
[Pastoral Letter to the clergy and people of the Patriarchate of Venice, 5th September, 1894]
4. The priest must be a man of such irreproachable habits that the world may believe him to be a "divine man", a man whose virtue is superior to that of every other good Christian.
[Letter to Rev. Father Eugene, Provost of Paris, 25th April, 1904. (Acta Pii X, v. I, pp.248-249)]
5. To make Jesus Christ reign in the world, nothing is so necessary as the holiness of the clergy, because the faithful are impressed more by the example than by the word or by the learning and – as the old proverb says – they will always be as their priests are: *sicut sacerdos, sic populus*.
[Letter to Cardinal Peter Respighi, Vicar General, 5th May, 1904. (Acta, Pii X, v. I, p. 257)]
6. As we must be the light of the world by our doctrine, so by the example of our life we must be the salt of the earth (Matt. 5, 13-14). Only on this condition will we be loved by good people and respected even by our enemies.
[Allocution to the Bishops assembled at Rome for the fiftieth anniversary of the definition of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception, 12th December, 1904. (Acta S. Sedis, ann. XXXVII, p.433)]
7. As the priesthood is a reflection of Christ's priesthood, priests must reproduce His virtues. They must be one with Jesus in affection, in feeling and in thought.
[Allocution to the students of the French Pontifical Seminary, Rome, 23rd February, 1905. (See: "Le St. Siege et le Seminaire Francais de Rome," p.77, Rome 1935)]
8. In his every action the priest must show himself a man of God, as the Apostle desires (Tim. 6, 11), and remember that on his example depends the destiny of his people. Jesus Christ Himself compares him to light and salt, to indicate (Matt. 5, 13-14) where his actions must lead him. But if he fails to confirm by the example of his life what he teaches by word of mouth, his ministry is useless.
Jesus Christ, Who made Himself the model of priests, first taught by deed and only later by word. For this reason, if the priest neglects holiness of life he cannot be the light of the world nor the salt of the earth, because where holiness is lacking there we find corruption.
[Exhortation to Catholic Clergy, 4th August 1908. (Acta Pii X, v. IV, pp. 239-240)]
9. There must be as big a gap between the life of the priest and the life of an average honest Christian, as there is between heaven and earth. Hence the priest must avoid not only serious sins but even the slightest sin, in conformity with the viewpoint of the venerable Fathers of the Holy Council of Trent who warn clerics and priests to avoid even slight faults because in them such faults would be serious [Twenty-second: De Reform., C.I. Session]: not serious in themselves but taking into consideration the priests and clerics who commit them, who are holy in an even more strict sense than the holy temples: *"Domum tuam decet sanctitudo"* (Psalm XCII, 5).
[Exhortation to Catholic Clergy, 4th August 1908 (ibid.)]
10. May unblemished living habits, which are the greatest glory of Christ's priesthood and the ornament which makes it honoured in the eyes of the world, thrive and shine forth among the clergy.
[Exhortation to Catholic Clergy, 4th August 1908 (ibid.)]
11. Ignorance or poverty of doctrine is something unworthy of a priest who must instruct the people in the law of God, but it is still more unworthy that a priest should exercise his ministry without having a care for holiness of life.
[Letter to the Bishops of Venezuela, 8th December, 1910. (Acta Ap. Sedis, IV, p.25)]
12. Everybody knows from experience that good living habits in the people are a consequence of holiness of life in the priests.
[Apostolic Constitution "Susceptus inde", 25th March, 1914. (Acta Ap. Sedis, VI, p.213)]
13. If the priest has at all times need of a decorous store of virtues and of virtues of a high order, in our times very much more is required because unfortunately the corruption of good habits has increased and become widespread out of all proportion. For this reason it is proper that a singular preeminence of virtue and strength should shine forth in the priest. Actually priests cannot live in solitude but, because of the very offices of their ministry, must come into contact with the people and this in the centres of the city where every passion is not only permitted but licentiously borne in triumph. And from this it is clear that in our day a priest's virtue must be so strong that he can defend himself courageously and emerge unharmed just as much from alluring enticements as from the danger of bad example.
[Pastoral Letter to the clergy and people of the Patriarchate of Venice, 5th September, 1894]
Means to Holiness
1. The priest must set apart every day a certain time for meditating eternal truth because, as he is in the midst of the world's seductions, he must be wary lest the snares of the infernal enemy be hidden even in the exercise of his ministry.
He must meditate so that with renewed vigour his mind and heart may resist the enticements of evil and draw from eternal truth those lights which are necessary in the exercise of his extremely difficult ministry in the care of souls.
[Exhortation to Catholic Clergy, 4th August, 1908 (Acta Pii X, v. IV, p.259)]
2. The priest must follow up his meditation by reading books of devotion and above all the divinely-inspired Books of Holy Scripture which are necessary if he is to preach the word of God in a worthy manner.
Nowadays many go astray because, instead of works of piety and the Divine Books, they prefer very different writings and papers which are sometimes full of poison because they contain hidden errors even though these may not be of a very serious nature.
[Exhortation to Catholic Clergy, 4th August, 1908 (Ibid.)]
3. Besides Mental Prayer and Spiritual Reading, the Examination of Conscience so much counselled by masters of the spiritual life is of considerable help in acquiring Christian virtues. For this reason every priest at the end of his day should recollect himself and ask judgement of his conscience. He should be a diligent self-examiner in order to know himself and see how and in what manner he has carried out his duties. He should present himself before his conscience as he would before a tribunal and weep over his sins.
[Exhortation to Catholic Clergy, 4th August, 1908 (Ibid.)]
4. We can preach it without fear of being contradicted, that the good priests of a Diocese, the priests who are exemplary and zealous in their duties, are those who withdraw from time to time in Spiritual Exercises in order to dedicate themselves to their sanctification and nourish themselves with words of life.
[Pastoral Letter to the Clergy of the Diocese of Mantua, 28th July, 1887]
5. For us priests there is always the danger that, being in the world for the purpose of reminding it of its depravation, we may become corrupted by its poison while we are trying to heal its wounds.
There is the risk that the spiritual infirmities which we see in others may diminish our idea of our own, and weaken the view which faith gives us of their enormity. There is the danger that we may compare ourselves with men of the world and think we are holy because we are less guilty, or perfect because we have less defects… [and so] the necessity of recollection is all the more pressing the more external the work we do. In the midst of so many distractions fervour must inevitably grow cold, the zest for piety must as a matter of course be diminished, the consequent languor must of necessity penetrate the soul a little at a time like a slow fever and destroy every principle of priestly life. To avoid all these disorders we have a powerful help in recollection and retreat… the only means of getting away from the miseries of life and making us grow in those virtues which must form the ecclesiastic's patrimony.
[Pastoral Letter to the Clergy of the Diocese of Mantua, 18th July, 1892]
Piety and Prayer
1. Priests, if you do not wish to be deceived and if you wish to keep an integral faith and doctrine, you must cultivate piety. The devout man keeps his passions under control, does not boast, does not become proud, and cultivates all the virtues which are the sources and masters of doctrine because, besides knowing that he cannot convince anyone with his teaching if this latter is not confirmed by the authority and innocence of his life, he receives the divine word with such reverence that he considers even the slightest alteration of it a horrible crime. We should be able to say of every priest what St. Gregory of Nazianzen said of his father: "Although second in learning, in piety he was the leader of the learned." [Orat. XVIII]
[Exhortation to Catholic Clergy, 4th August, 1908 (Acta Pii X, v. IV, p.248)]
2. The person who is not accustomed to speaking with God in the intimacy of prayer will never be able to speak efficaciously of the things which have to do with eternal life. No matter how learned and eloquent his words may be, if they lack the breath of prayer they cannot have the power of convincing and persuading. The word of God is dead on the lips of such a person because the sense of Christ is lacking in him.
[Exhortation to Catholic Clergy, 4th August, 1908 (Ibid.)]
Sacrifice
1. We did not enter the priesthood to have an easy life. We must work: that is our first duty.
To put it more clearly: to be priests is the same as to be men obliged to labour. The Apostles taught it by their examples: all priests full of the spirit of God have taught it: the Church teaches it…
We may suppose that in order to procure the salvation of souls we run the risk of losing our health and shortening our life. But is it not a glory to die of labour or while we are labouring when Jesus Christ with so much suffering died for us on the cross?
[Pastoral Letter to the clergy and people of the Diocese of Mantua, 25th May, 1899]
2. Some think that the glory of a priest should be made up entirely of outward activity. Overlooking almost entirely those virtues by which man is made perfect and which We call passive, they say that all his activity and study would contribute to the growth and exercise of the active virtues. It is really amazing how much falsehood and ruin this doctrine contains… It will not be out of place to consider that the exceptionally prudent Pontiff [Leo XIII] with good reason made mention of mortification which, in the words of the Gospel, we call denial of self, because in this maxim is contained the fortitude, the virtue and all the fruit of priestly ministry; whereas if this be neglected the priest's habits may offend the eyes and minds of the faithful. For if the priest strive for illegal gains, if he become involved in worldly affairs, if he give rein to flesh and blood, if he try to please men and trust in the persuasive ways of human wisdom, all this is the fruit of neglecting Christ's commandments and of refusing to accept the conditions laid down by Him: "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me."
Obedience
If a priest wishes to have a very successful ministry, he should carry out punctually all the orders received without looking for others and he should not regret that he has not other occupations. In this way not only will he fulfill his duty but he will conquer his self-love, thus gaining a precious victory and the one most pleasing to God.
[Allocution to students and Professors of the Milan Major Seminary, 15th October, 1908 (Acta Pii X, v. IV, p.296)]
Charity
Priests, let that charity which seeks only the increase of God's glory shine forth always in you.
A multitude of miserable and unhappy ones together with legions of adolescents – dearest hope of the Church and of the country – surrounded by evil on all sides await the gift of your charity. Continue industriously not only to teach Catechism, which We wish once again to recommend warmly to you, but to make yourselves ever better deserving of society by word and work, comforting, healing, defending and purifying in order to win souls to Christ or bring them ever closer to Him.
As often happens, your charity will be met by hate, injury and calumny, but continue fearlessly in it… following the example of the Apostles… We are the children of the Saints whose names shine in the book of eternity and whose praises resound gloriously in Christ's Church: "Let us not stain our glory." [1 Macc. 9, 10]
[Exhortation to Catholic Clergy, 4th August, 1908 (Acta Pii X, v. IV, pp.260-261)]
Zeal
What is the duty of those who have been placed by God to rule His Church? What is the obligation of all those who have received from Heaven and accepted the sublime mission of saving souls? … If God has commanded everyone to have care of the eternal salvation of his brethren how much more He has commanded us priests.
The priests must announce truth. Hence those priests who think they are rendering a service to the Church and who with human prudence allow large concessions to false science under the fatal illusion of being able the more easily to win over erring ones, are making a serious mistake. Such people run the risk of losing their souls. Truth is one and indivisible, lasts for all eternity and is not subject to the vicissitudes of time. Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday today and down the centuries (Hebrews 13:8).
If there was a time in which human prudence seemed the only way of obtaining anything in a world which was unprepared to receive the doctrine of Jesus Christ, so repugnant to human passions and so opposed to the flourishing Roman and Greek civilization, that time was most certainly that in which the first preaching of the Christian faith took place.
The Apostles scorned that prudence because they know the designs of God Whom "it pleased to save, by the foolishness of our preaching, those who believed" [1 Cor. 1:21]. As always, so also today this foolishness is the virtue of God. The scandal of the Cross has furnished and always will furnish the most powerful and unconquerable weapon and, as has already happened, by this scandal and by this foolishness we shall gain the victory.
[First discourse in the Patriarchal Synod of Venice. (Constitutiones ab E.mo JOSEPHO Card. SARTO Metropolitanae-Ecclesiae Venetiarum Patriarcha in Synodo Diocesana ann. 1898 promulgatae, p.112. Venetiis 1898)]
Dignity and Propriety
In order never to be guilty of any disedifying act, the priest must regulate his actions, his movements and his habits in harmony with the sublimity of his vocation. He who on the altar almost ceases to be mortal and takes on a divine form, remains always the same even when he comes down from the holy hill and leaves the temple of the Lord. Wherever he is, wherever he goes, he never ceases to be a priest and the serious reasons which compel him always to be grave and becoming accompany him with his dignity everywhere.
Hence he must have that gravity which will ensure that his words, his bearing and his way of working arouse love, win authority and excite reverence, because the very reasons which oblige him to be holy make it a duty for him to show it by his outward acts in order to edify all those with whom he is obliged to come into contact. A composed and dignified exterior is a sort of powerful eloquence which wins souls in a much more efficacious manner than persuasive sermons. Nothing inspires greater confidence than an ecclesiastic who, never forgetting the dignity of his state, demonstrates in every situation that gravity which attracts and wins universal homage. If on the contrary he forgets, the holiness of the sacred character which he bears indelibly impressed and engraved on his soul, and if he fails to show in his outward conduct a gravity superior to that of certain men of the world, he causes his ministry and religion itself to be despised, because when gravity is wanting in the leaders the people lose respect and veneration for them.
If the faithless modern world has stripped the priest of that halo of veneration with which he was formerly crowned, it is more than necessary that in our times he should by his bearing win once again the people's respect for his high dignity and propriety. The more so because experience teaches us that the world, always unjust and full of malice, is shocked not only by the slightest failings it discerns in ecclesiastics but even by their most innocent actions whenever these do not bear the seal of that gravity which it has a right to expect of them.
Priests do not, therefore, give ear to worldly innovations whose profane maxims influence minds with arguments at variance with the teaching of the Church, and lead some boldly to accuse of ignorance those Fathers and Teachers whose sound and well-founded wisdom can never be replaced by the presumptuous pedantry of certain modern minds.
We recommend to you priestly gravity which condemns fickleness of thought, that fickleness by which certain persons are led to refuse contemptuously to listen to the teaching and experience of wise men, and are induced to allow themselves to be guided by foolish arguments, and the school of modern teachings which bring them to ruin.
We recommend to you that gravity which makes you love the yoke of discipline: that yoke whose dispositions are censured by some who yearn after an unlimited liberty free from subjection, who refuse to realise that discipline is the only means of avoiding the evil of rebellion against authority, and who thus deceive themselves because they have not a firm and resolute love of good.
Priests, do not forget that priestly gravity and propriety must characterise your ministry, whereas everything which tends towards secular habits, shows up the priest as vain and flighty in the eyes of the world which is perfectly able to discern the more respectable priests even from their outward bearing.
If these are the facts, will it ever be lawful – We ask you – for clerics and priests to take from worldly people the example of certain habits which lead them to abandon their dignity and propriety?
[Pastoral Letter to the Clergy of the Diocese of Mantua, 25th August, 1895]
Study
1. Nothing is so useful for the restoration of all things in Christ as the sound doctrine of the clergy wed to good example.
[Letter to Cardinal Respighi, Vicar General, 27th December, 1904 (Acta Pii X, v. I, p.421)]
2. Priests must be learned not only in Theology but in Philosophy, in Canon Law and in natural arts and sciences, especially in our day when an effort is made to use the conquests of science as a weapon against the Church, saying that the ancient wisdom of Catholic doctrine has finally run its course and that tomorrow science will be able to prove the truth of what today is considered false.
[Letter to Mons. L. Pechenard, Rector of the Catholic Institute of Paris, 22nd February, 1905 (Acta Pii X, v. II, pp.49-50)]
3. The priest must accompany holiness of life with study. The Church requires it and it is demanded by Christian people who wish to be instructed in the law of God by the words of the priest: "For the lips of the priest shall keep knowledge, and they shall seek the law at his mouth" [Malach 2:7].
[Encyclical "Acerbo nimis", 15th April, 1905 (Acta Pii X, v. II, p.75)]
Preaching
1. Listeners are not fond of long descriptions or flowery rhetoric such as were used occasionally in past times, but wish to be reminded of their duties and to meditate on the truths of faith. You need a good argument with a logical connection, not too long, well-ordered and suitably phrased.
[Letter to Father Luke of Padua, Capuchin and Apostolic Preacher, 13th January, 1909 (See: N. Vian, Lettere di S. Pio X, pp.345-346, Roma 1954)]
2. The principal source of our preaching must be Sacred Scripture, not interpreted, however, according to the private judgement of minds which in most cases are clouded by passion, but according to Church tradition and to the interpretation of the Fathers and Councils. The Creed, the Ten Commandments, the Precepts of the Church, the Sacraments, the virtues and vices, man's last end, the duties proper to each state and condition, should be the matters to which the preacher devotes his special attention.
Some preachers praise the benefits which the Christian religion procures for Society, but are silent about the duties to which men are bound. They praise only the charity of Our Lord and say nothing about His justice. Thus it happens that worldly people hear this sort of preaching and become convinced that, without changing anything in their lives, they can be Christians merely by saying: "I believe in Jesus Christ."
Such preachers do not seek the salvation of souls but rather what does not offend the ears of their listeners, and as long as the churches are full they are little concerned about the spiritual void in souls. Their only worry is to say what pleases and their eloquence is not sacred and apostolic but redolent of the law courts. What they seek is applause. Against such as they St. Jerome has these words: "When you teach in church you must not seek for the applause of the crowd but that they should weep: the tears of your listeners should be your praise."
The faithful are much better catered for by a simple homily and by the Parish Priest's explanation of the Catechism than by sermons which are not penetrated by the spirit of Christ.
[Encyclical "Pieni d'animo" to the Bishops of Italy, 28th July, 1906 (Acta Pii X, v. III. pp. 168-170)]
Social apostolate
1. The priest must keep himself aloof from every lay association even the most useful ones and even if he is moved by the best of intentions.
[Encyclical "Notre charge apostolique" to the French Bishops on the condemnation of the social democratic errors of the work "Sillon" by Mark Sagnier (Acta Ap. Sedis, II, p.632)]
2. We very much desire that the clergy, whose duty it is to form the people's conscience, should take an interest in social problems and charitable works but without losing themselves in the maze of varying viewpoints or letting themselves be deceived by the mirage of a false democracy and avoiding completely the emphatic rhetoric of the worst enemies of the Church and the people whose speeches are full of promises as impracticable as they are alluring.
They should know how to adapt the Christian spirit to the new needs created by the material evolution of contemporary society, but should remember that the Church has never betrayed the interests of the people with compromising alliances, that the true friends of the people are neither revolutionists nor innovators but traditionalists and that Jesus Christ never tolerated mistaken convictions in those who were misled no matter how sincere they seemed. Never has He inspired the humble with rebellious sentiments, never enticed the suffering with the vision of an illusory equality nor ever promised a kingdom in which suffering would be banished. He came into this world so that all men, united to Him in charity, might have peace and happiness in time and eternity but on condition that they accepted His teaching, practised virtue and listened to the teachings of His Church.
[Encyclical "Notre charge apostolique" (Ibid.)]
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| St. Thomas Aquinas and the Catholic Notion of Beauty |
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Posted by: Stone - Yesterday, 09:30 AM - Forum: The Saints
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The Angelus - April 2003
The Catholic Notion Of Beauty
Dr. Peter Chojnowski
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The Last Supper
It was during the Renaissance that for the first time the "artisan" was distinguished from the "fine artist" (e.g., Michelangelo, Da Vinci, and Raphael). The fine artist was now acknowledged as the fashioner of "the beautiful" instead of the artisan or craftsman, who was dedicated to making what could be used by those who had a job to do. "Beauty" and its laws became the unique domain of the painter, sculptor, or musician.
From then until now, we have experienced a progressive diminution–a narrowing, an enervation–of the concept of "the beautiful." In fact, the only time the word is used today, mostly by women, rarely by men, is to describe things for which no other suitable word comes to mind when we are grasping at that which is colorful, polished, and bright.
Contrary to what we may at first think, the fine artists of the Renaissance did not expand the arenas for expressions of "the beautiful." Actually, the attention which these artists gave to "beauty" by making it something pursuable strictly for its own sake caused the beautiful to be increasingly regulated as to how it was "allowed" to emerge. Beauty, as in the case of the paintings of Da Vinci, had to express itself according to the mathematical laws of nature (e.g., the mathematical balance in his The Last Supper). Even though Michelangelo rebelled against this enslavement of the artistic eye and imagination to mathematical laws of proportion, he still contributed to the exclusivity of the beautiful by insisting on the unique ability of the fine artist to have insight into the forms latent in the unformed "stuff" of matter (e.g., a slab of unformed marble). As he states, "The greatest artist has no conception which a single block of marble does not potentially contain within its mass, but only a hand obedient to the mind can penetrate to this image."1
After seeing the pursuit of "beauty" first relegated to elite artistic and Neo-Platonic intellectual circles, the Romanticism of the 18th and 19th centuries enclosed "beauty" within the "moment" of artistic experience pursued and possessed by the appreciater of art–the aesthete. Soren Kierkegaard identified this type of man as one who does not evaluate actions, situations, or choices in terms of "good" and "evil," but rather in terms of "beautiful" and "ugly." His pursuit in life was to achieve aesthetic experiences that could be captured and enclosed within the beautiful moment. The life of the aesthete was to accumulate "beautiful moments." From now on, "the beautiful" was put into the category of the subjective. Rather than being a real attribute of concrete existing things, "beauty was in the eye of the beholder" and, to be a valid experience, needed to be attached to a subjective feeling of contentment.
The gradual hijacking of "the beautiful" by the artistic and literary elite ended when that same elite violently rejected the concept of "the beautiful" as imposing an objective standard on the autonomy of the artistic mind, therefore oppressing that mind and repressing the originality and subjective choice of the artist, for example, in Dadaism [see "Splendor of Form: Catholic Aesthetics," The Angelus, July, 1996, pp. 2-9–Ed.] and Surrealism. Since Beauty's exile in the last century by the artistic elites, it has wandered into the realm of the maudlin, sentimental, and the "pretty." This concept of Beauty cannot move, drive, or overpower.
Is Everything "Beautiful"?
St. Thomas Aquinas says in his Commentary on the Divine Names (IV, 5), "There is nothing that does not participate in the beautiful." What a world of difference between our modern, trite conception of the beautiful and the richness of St. Thomas Aquinas. The "There is nothing..." part of his phrase is the classical Greek idea of pankalia, the understanding that everything which is is beautiful. In other words, "To be is to be beautiful." Here we must make a critically important distinction between "beings" and "being" so we can understand the meaning and intent of St. Thomas's attribution of beauty to all of created and uncreated reality.
Whereas beings (e.g., dogs, toads, clouds, rainbows) can have attributes attached to them that indicate their qualities (e.g., "Fifi the dog is vicious."): Fifi is understood to have the characteristic of being vicious), such characteristics could not be used to qualify and distinguish "being." Being is the foundational attribute of all things that exist. Since "being" has such a universal reach, it cannot be described in any way that restricts it (e.g., "sweet," "hungry," or "tired"). On a good day, Fifi may be "sweet," but "being," in which Fifi participates, cannot be "sweet." It is immediately apparent that while we can say, "Fifi is sweet," it is absurd to say, "Being is sweet." We understand that the predicate must be more inclusive than the subject. "Sweetness" can apply to more things than Fifi. Whereas, if we say, "Being is sweet," we would be saying that "sweet things" outnumber those things that exist and, hence, have being. This would be absurd!
Even if being is not sweet or soft or round, can we say truthfully that being is beautiful and, hence, that everything which has being (i.e., everything which is) also has beauty? If we say yes, three very important consequences follow:
1) If God is the highest instance of being–in fact, if God is Being-Itself and all that it means "to be"–then God would have a new quality which could be pre-eminently applied to Him, that is, Beauty.
2) The universe of beings would acquire a new perfection, putting to rest the nihilistic proposition which says that the universe, in itself, is meaningless and without objective value. So just as there is nothing ontologically evil (i.e., evil in the very roots of its being), so too the apparent deformities and dissonances in the universe would be resolved within a resplendent beauty that shined forth insofar as it stood forth out of nothingness.
3) The perfection of beauty itself would acquire a new dignity and objectivity, which it would not have if it were simply "in the eye of the beholder." This is very important if we are to ground our description of things as "beautiful." If the defenders of the ancient Faith and Tradition are to argue for the intrinsic connection between art and "the beautiful"–if we are to refute those who switch lights off and on in empty rooms insisting this meets their standard of "the beautiful"–we must be able to rationally relate the appearance of the beautiful, of which all men are aware, to some exemplar that would reveal, in a rationally accessible and manifest way, the outline of what constitutes the beautiful.
St. Thomas and the Divine Names
The place in the writings of St. Thomas where he directly treats the whole question of "the beautiful" is in his Commentary on the Divine Names. The text The Divine Names was produced by a 5th-century Syrian monk known as Pseudo-Dionysius. It is in Chapter 4 of this text entitled, "Concerning the Good, Light, Beauty, Eros, Ecstasis, and Zeal," that Pseudo-Dionysius presents the realm of being as a hierarchy of goodness and being. In this hierarchy, a thing's degree of perfection depends upon its degree of participation in the qualities possessed (in a pre-eminent way) by the most perfect Being, that is, God.
Just as goodness and being belong to God and to creatures in a distinctly different way, so too does the property of beauty belong to God and to creatures in a distinctly different way. The words that St. Thomas and Pseudo-Dionysius use to describe the beauty of God obviate any understanding of the beautiful as a form of mere "prettiness." God is "supersubstantial being" and beauty "beyond being." When we predicate the quality of beauty to God, however, we are faced with a philosophical difficulty, which transcends mere aesthetics and edges itself into the realm of metaphysics. How can both God and His creatures be "beautiful," since one is self-sufficient, infinite, eternal being, and the other is contingent, limited, and constantly changing being? Are we speaking in a completely equivocal way when we apply the term "beauty" to both simultaneously?
The answer to this question is, of course, no. But how is the "beauty" of each similar? This philosophical problem is only exacerbated by the fact that, whereas the most immediate experience of the beautiful which man has is that which he experiences with his own two eyes, God is invisible and has in Himself no outline, nor form, nor proportion nor unity of parts, those elements which normally constitute the beauty of a thing. How can the beauty of God resemble in any way the sensible splendor of the visible forms, which so attract our visual awareness? The most obvious way in which we can uncover this shared property of the beautiful is by acknowledging the basic fact that the Beauty of One is the source of the beauty of all the rest. As St. Thomas states in his Commentary on the Divine Names (1,2):
Quote:Everything that exists comes from beauty and goodness, that is from God, as from an effective principle. And all things have their being in beauty and goodness and desire them as their end....And all things are and all things become because of beauty and goodness, and all things look to them, as to an exemplary cause, which they possess as a rule governing their activities.
Here we can make the connection between our earlier considerations, in which we mentioned the ancient Greek and Medieval idea that everything is beautiful insofar as it is, and the super-eminent beauty of God, God as Beauty-Itself. Everything that exists possesses beauty insofar as it comes forth from the creative hand of God. All things are generated in beauty. It is the formal mark which the Creator places on all things, thereby bringing order and harmony to all things, from their innermost being to the most "superficial" of external appearances. For the created order, all things are drawn together into community and fullness by beauty. To quote St. Thomas, "It is always the case that whatever creatures may have in the way of communion and coming together, they have it due to the power of beauty."2
Not only do creatures come forth from the Divine Beauty, but also they are motivated to return to the Divine Beauty by the attraction of the Divine Perfection. It is only God, perfectly proportioned, perfectly integral, and superabundantly radiant, who can impress order on whatever He creates. Nothing can escape this inner form characterizing all things. When man conforms his moral actions to the inner form impressed upon him by God, we can see the obvious relationship between "the beautiful" and the rational.
The Three Criteria of the Beautiful
How can this metaphysical (that is to say, ostensibly "abstract" ) understanding of "the beautiful" relate to the beautiful things that we encounter continually in ever more immediate and appreciative moments. How can the beauty of God resemble, in any way, the beauty of a vast sunlit landscape or the face of a beloved child? Moreover, how can we relate the metaphysical beauty of all things which are to the proportioned and bright bodies that attract our visual and psychological attention?
In order to discern the connections between these various aspects of the beautiful, we should consider the criteria [i.e., standards by which to judge something–Ed.] by which the Ancients judged whether something they saw or heard was beautiful or not.
Before we consider the three criteria of 1) right-proportion, 2) integrity, and 3) "clarity," we must identify the basic experiential fact that leads to our bodily human recognition of the beautiful. St. Thomas expresses this experiential fact as "Beauty is said to be that which when seen pleases." Such ease and naturalness in handling the realities of human existence is characteristic of St. Thomas. He makes such "ordinary" statements as, "...for we call things beautiful when they are brightly colored." St. Thomas not only reveals for us the appreciation that the men of his own age had for simple and bright color, warm tones, and brilliant illuminations, he also, refuting those who accuse the Medieval Catholic mind of boorishness and relegating beauty to the domain of metaphysical abstraction, affirms the concreteness of the beautiful and the immediacy of its attractiveness to the eye. We moderns, who pride ourselves on our "attentiveness to the real world," have difficulty appreciating the naturalness and joy that characterizes St. Thomas's statement:
Quote:Beauty or handsomeness arises when clarity and due proportion run together.... So, beauty of body consists in this, that a person has well-proportioned limbs, together with a certain requisite clarity of color.3
It is the qualities of right-proportion (i.e., the fitting relationship of parts to each other), integrity (i.e., the relationship between the parts and the unity of the whole), and clarity or splendor (i.e., the radiant and uniform color) that are so "fitted" to the knowing and desiring powers of man that there is a deep contentment engendered in the human soul when an object of beauty is encountered. Such contentment and pleasure indicates that there is some connaturality that characterizes the encounter between splendid form and the appreciative and receptive human mind. As St. Thomas states, the beautiful form "allays" the rational appetite,4 it is an ecstatic act that leaves self-interest and crabbed conceit behind in the rapturous outgoing to the form and order that marks "the beautiful." It brings peace and contentment to the soul on account of the attraction man has to what is in accord with the perfection in the Divine Mind from which he too issued. The momentary glance that "catches" the beauty and splendor of a visible form turns away from it with tears of joy lest the indwelling in perfected form unleash the heart, encouraging man to pursue that which cannot yet be attained. It is a quiet, tearful yearning for paradise lost or for the celestial vision yet to be gained.
But what is more heartening to us wayfarers than tears is the fruit of "the beautiful." These are tears of hope, for no man weeps for that of which he is in despair. Perhaps we can then say that when beauty and tears meet the essence of our human lives is expressed.
The Beauty of the Son
It is not without reason that St. Thomas treats most extensively the three criteria for judging the beauty of things in an article in the Summa Theologica dedicated to the question, "Whether the Holy Doctors Have Correctly Assigned Essential Attributes to Each of the Divine Persons?" In the course of this article on the "attribution" of qualities to each of the Divine Persons, St. Thomas states that Beauty is a quality that is most fittingly attributed to God the Son. The Son is the Beauty of God; He is Beauty-Itself.
By applying the criterion of right-proportion to God the Son, St. Thomas indicates that we are not to think of right-proportion solely in terms of symmetrical shape of parts, but also in a deeper, more intellectual sense....In the Son, we find "lightness" in the highest degree because he is a clear image of the Father. Moreover, we can find exemplary proportion in God on account of the perfect accord which exists between His Intellect and His Will. God is, therefore, "rightly-proportioned" to a pre-eminent degree.5
Integrity is also applicable in a pre-eminent way to God the Son. St.Thomas says that the Son possesses integrity because He possesses the full nature of the Father truly and perfectly within Himself. He is substantially one with the Father without any confusion of Person. According to St. Thomas, the integrity of a thing's form may be infringed by default or by excess. [The forms of things are like numbers. Any change–any addition or subtraction–confounds the nature of the species and transmutes it into a different one.–Ed.] A thing must be unified–must be one–in order to be truly "beautiful. That which is mutilated or characterized by superfluity is, for that very reason, distorted and ugly.
The Splendor of Form and the Divine Radiance
Of all three criteria for identifying the beautiful, clarity most enticed the minds of the Ancients. When trying to explain what they meant by this most extraordinary and unique characteristic of "the beautiful," I offer words like "luminosity," "splendor," "radiance," "clarity of form," or "to be brightly colored." It cannot be doubted that light, brightness, and luminosity were understood to be associated with beauty. In fact, they were the specific expression of the well-proportioned and harmonious physical object. St. Thomas states that God the Son can have attributed to Him clarity since He is the Intelligible Word of the Father, the "light and splendor of the [Divine] mind."
Quote:The Son of God, then, is a perfect image, an entity adequate to His own nature, harmoniously in accord with the Father, and resplendent with an expressive life–for He is the Word–which is profoundly rational, a splendor intellectus.6
It is the task of Catholics to free the reality of "beauty" from the artsy-craftsy constraints placed upon it by those who thought they could master it. How far are we away from the Greeks who regularly spoke of the kaloskagathos, that is, the "beautiful and good man," the man of moral excellence, the "beauty" of whose virtues shone through in the decorum, nobility, and fetching vitality of his actions. It is such a beauty, form, and clarity in the individual man or woman that lays to rest all the confusions of this earth, which can bring tears to our eyes and yearning to our hearts.
The entire effort of a true and genuine culture is to bring the human heart to these moments of transfixion. We are pierced and "split open" by the shaft which can only come from a divine and perfect Source. A Source which fears not to bring man to exaltation. A Source which knows not envy. It can only be from a Word, ever the light of man, Who has emboldened the flesh with divinity that we can expect with certainty the outpouring of grace and truth.
1. Cf. Anthony Blunt, "Michelangelo's Views on Art" in Readings in Art History, vol. II, ed. Harold Spencer, p. 116.
2. St. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Divine Names, I, 2.
3. St Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, I, Q. 39, Art. 8.
4. ST, I-II, Q. 27, Art. 1, ad 3.
5. ST, I, Q. 39, Art. 8.
6. ST, I, Q. 5, Art. 5.
[All emphasis in the original]
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| St. Frances of Rome: Hierarchy of Hell |
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Posted by: Stone - Yesterday, 09:10 AM - Forum: Resources Online
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Lucifer was in heaven the noblest of the angels who revolted, and his pride made him the most wicked of all demons. That is why the righteousness of God has given him as king to all his companions and to the reprobates, with power to govern them and to punish them, according to his caprices; which is why he is called the tyrant of hell. Besides this general presidency, he is still established on the vice of pride.
The first of the three princes who command under his command is called Asmodeus: it was a cherub in heaven, and today he is the impure spirit who presides over all dishonest sins. The second prince is called Mammon: it was once a throne, and now he presides over the various sins that the love of money makes him commit. The third prince bears the name of Beelzebub; he originally belonged to the choir of dominations, and now he is established over all the crimes which idolatry, which is the father of infernal darkness. It is also from him that come those who blind the minds of humans. These three chiefs and their monarch never leave their infernal prisons; when the justice of God wishes to exert some vengeance on the earth, these accursed princes, to this end, deput a sufficient number of their subordinate demons; for it sometimes happens that the scourges with which God wishes to strike the peoples, require more strength or more mischief than the evil spirits scattered on earth and in the air. Then the infernals, more wicked and more enraged, become indispensable auxiliaries.
All these unfortunate spirits are classified in the abyss according to their hierarchical order. The first hierarchy, composed of seraphim, cherubim and thrones, dwells in the lowest hell; they endure torments more cruel than others, and exert heavenly vengeance on the greatest sinners. Lucifer, who was a seraphim, exerts on them a special authority, by virtue of the pride with which he has the highest presidency. The demons of this hierarchy are sent to earth only when the wrath of God allows pride to prevail to punish nations.
The second hierarchy of dominions, principalities and powers remains in the middle hell. Her prince is Asmodeus, who, as I have already said, presides over the sins of lust. One can guess that the demons of this hierarchy are on earth, when the peoples surrender themselves to the infamous vice of impurity.
The third hierarchy, which consists of virtues, archangels, and angels, is headed by Mammon, and dwells in the higher hell. When these demons are dropped on the earth, the thirst for riches prevails everywhere, and there is no question of gold or silver. As for Beelzebub, he is the prince of darkness, and, when God permits it, he pours them out into the minds to stifle the light of conscience and that of true faith. Such is the order that reigns among the demons in the underworld; as to their number, it is innumerable.
We find these same hierarchies among the demons that live in the air and on the earth, but they have no leaders, and therefore live in independence and a kind of equality. It is the aerial demons who, most of the time, unleash the winds, excite storms, produce storms, hailstones and floods. Their intention in this is to harm men, especially by diminishing their trust in Divine Providence, and making them murmur against the will of God.
The demons of the first hierarchy, who live on the earth, do not fail to take advantage also of these opportunities favorable to their malice; finding men irritated by these calamities and greatly weakened in their submission and their confidence, they make them fall much more easily into the vice of pride. Those of the second hierarchy do not fail in their turn to precipitate them. their superb height in the unclean cloaca, which then gives all ease to the demons of the third hierarchy, to make them fall into the sins that the love of money gives birth to.
Then the angels who preside over the darkness blind them, make them leave the path of truth, and make their return extremely difficult. This is how all the demons, despite the difference in their jobs, consult each other and help each other to lose souls. Some weaken their faith, others push them to pride, these to impurity, others to the love of riches, others finally throw a veil over their eyes and discard them so strongly. the way of salvation, that most do not find it again. The only way to escape this infernal plot would be to get up quickly from the first fall, and that's what these poor souls do not do. From there, this chain of temptations, which from fall to fall leads them to the bottom of the precipice.
When I said that the demons in the air and on the earth have no leaders, I only meant that they have no junior officers; for all are subject to Lucifer, and obey his commandments, because such is the will of divine justice. In spite of their hatred towards men, none of them would dare to tempt them without the order of Lucifer, and Lucifer himself can only prescribe, as is permitted by the Lord, who is full of goodness and kindness. compassion for us.
Lucifer sees all his demons, not only those around him in hell, but also those who are in the air and on the earth. All also see him without any obstacle, and fully understand all his wishes.
The evil spirits, scattered in the air and on the earth, do not feel the attacks of the fire of hell; they are nevertheless excessively unhappy, because they mistreat each other and beat each other unceasingly, because the operations of the good angels in this world cause them a spite that torments them cruelly. The sorrows of those who belong to the first hierarchy are harsher than those of the spirits of the second, and they are more unhappy than the spirits of the third. The same distributive justice presides over the torments of the infernal spirits; but these are all prey to the ardor of the infernal flames.
The demons who remain in our midst, and have received the power to tempt us, are all spirits fallen from the last chorus. The angels in our care are also simple angels. These tempting minds are constantly busy preparing for our loss. The means they use for this are so subtle and varied that a soul that escapes them is very happy, and can not be too grateful to the Lord. It is not a moment of day and night, when these cruel enemies try one temptation or another, in order to tire those whom they can not overcome by cunning or violence. Patience is therefore the defensive weapon par excellence. Woe to him who lets it fall from his hands! When these ordinary tempter meet with strong and patient souls, they can not break in, they call to their aid smarter and smarter companions, not to fight with them or in their place, for God does not allow it; but to suggest more effective schemes. Francoise knew all this from experience: it was rare that she was tempted by her demon alone. He usually associated himself with others; and still too weak, they resorted to the malice of the higher spirits who remained in the air. She had become so skilful in this war, that by supporting an attack, she knew to what choir had belonged the man whose council directed it, and who he was. but to suggest more effective schemes. Francoise knew all this from experience: it was rare that she was tempted by her demon alone. He usually associated himself with others; and still too weak, they resorted to the malice of the higher spirits who remained in the air. She had become so skilful in this war, that by supporting an attack, she knew to what choir had belonged the man whose council directed it, and who he was. but to suggest more effective schemes. Francoise knew all this from experience: it was rare that she was tempted by her demon alone. He usually associated himself with others; and still too weak, they resorted to the malice of the higher spirits who remained in the air. She had become so skilful in this war, that by supporting an attack, she knew to what choir had belonged the man whose council directed it, and who he was.
When the demons want to assault an able and strong soul, some attack it head on, and the others are placed behind it. It was of this kind that they usually fought against our blessed, and she saw them making signs to concert their means.
When a soul, vanquished by temptation, dies in its sin, its habitual tempter swiftly takes it, followed by many others who lavish outrage upon it, and never cease tormenting it until it is rushed into hell. These hateful spirits then engage in ferocious joy. Her guardian angel, after having followed her to the entrance of the abyss, retires as soon as she has disappeared, and goes back to heaven.
When a soul, on the contrary, is condemned to purgatory, its tempter is cruelly beaten by the order of Lucifer for having let his prey escape. Yet he remains there, outside of purgatory, but near enough for the soul to see and hear, the reproaches he makes for him on the causes of his torments. When she leaves Purgatory to ascend into heaven, this demon returns to the earth to mingle with those who tempt us; but for them it is an object of mockery, for having failed to fulfill the mission with which it was charged.
All those who let souls escape so can no longer serve as tempters. They go, wandering here and there, reduced to giving men other bad offices, when they can. Sometimes Lucifer, to punish them, shamefully lodges them in the bodies of animals, or he uses them, with the permission of God, to exercise possessions which often attract to them new punishments and new shames. The demons, on the other hand, who have succeeded in losing the souls to which Lucifer had attached them, after having borne them into the underworld, reappear on the earth, covered with glory among their fellows, and play a greater role than ever in the war. that they do to the children of God. They are the ones others call for help, as more experienced and more skillful,
Every demon charged with the mission of losing a soul does not take care of others; he only wants that one, and uses all his care to make her sin or to disturb her peace. However, when he has conquered him, he pushes her, as much as he can, to tempt, to molest, or to scandalize other souls.
There are other demons of the same chorus than those who tempt us, who live among us without attacking us. Their mission is to watch those who tempt us, and chastise them whenever they fail to make us sin.
Whenever they hear devoutly pronouncing the holy name of Jesus, they prostrate themselves spiritually, not with a good heart, but by force. Francoise once saw many of them in human form, who, in that sacred name which she pronounced while conversing with her confessor, inclined their forehead with profound respect, even into the dust. This sacred name is for them a new torment, which makes them suffer all the more cruelly, that the person who pronounces it is more advanced in love, and more perfect. When the impious ones profane this adorable name, these reprobate spirits do not grieve at it; but they are forced to bow, as if to repair the injury done to Him. They do the same when it is taken in vain. Without this forced worship, they would be happy to hear blaspheming this holy name. Good angels, on the contrary, on such occasions, adore Him deeply, praise Him and bless Him with incomparable love. When pronounced with a real sense of devotion, they pay him the same homage, but with a lively feeling of joy. Whenever our blessed one uttered this most holy name, she saw her archangel assume an extraordinarily joyful air, and bend so graciously that she was all engulfed with love.
When souls live in the habit of mortal sin, the demons enter into them, and dominate them in many ways, which vary according to the quality and quantity of their crimes; but when they receive absolution with a contrite heart, they lose their dominion, dislodge as quickly as possible, and recover with them to tempt them again; but their attacks are less acute, because the confession has diminished their strength.
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| The Profession of Faith of the Council of Trent |
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Posted by: Stone - 10-28-2026, 11:02 AM - Forum: Church Doctrine & Teaching
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From here.
Firstly,
Abjuration of Heresy
![[Image: Abjuration%20of%20Heresy%20and%20Profess...ith_02.jpg]](https://catholicharboroffaithandmorals.com/Abjuration%20of%20Heresy%20and%20Profession%20of%20Faith_02.jpg)
This is required in the canon law as a preliminary to baptism, or, when there is no question of that (as in the case of converts from the Eastern Church), before the convert makes his confession of faith. There are decrees of several councils to this effect: thus the Council of Laodicea (about 364) ordains that Novatian and Photinian heretics, "whether they be baptised persons or catecumens, shall not be received before they have anathematized all heresies, especially that in which they were held. A celebrated instance of abjuration is that of Clovis (496), to whom St. Remy said before baptizing him, "Meekly bow down thy head, Sicambrian; adore what thou hast burnt, and burn what thou hast adored." An early German council requires the Saxon converts to renounce belief in "Thor and Woden and Saxon Odin" before being received into the Church.
Ferraris sums up the canonical requirements in the matter of abjuration as follows:--that it should be done without delay; that it should be voluntary; that it should be done with whatever degree of publicity the bishop of the place might think necessary; and that the abjuring person should make condign satisfaction in the form of penance.
The modern discipline insists mainly on the positive part, the profession of the true faith. Thus in the Ritual of Strasburg (1742) the abjuration required is merely general: "Is it your firm purpose to renounce in heart and mind all the errors which it [the Catholic religion] condemns?" In English-speaking countries the abjuration is, so to speak, taken for granted in ordinary cases, since converts are not. admitted into the Church except after suitable instruction, and the Creed of Pope Pius IV., which everyone desiring to become a Catholic must read and accept, expressly denounces most of those errors which in fect the religious atmosphere of this country.
The Profession of Faith of the Council of Trent
[From the Bull of Pius IV, " Iniunctum nobis," Nov. 13, 1565]
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I, N., with firm faith believe and profess all and everything which is contained in the creed of faith, which the holy Roman Church uses, namely:
I believe in one God the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, and born of the Father before all ages, God of God, light of light, true God of true God, begotten not made, consubstantial with the Father, by whom all things were made; who for us men and for our salvation descended from heaven, and became incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man; he was also crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, suffered and was buried; and he rose on the third day according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven; he sitteth at the right hand of the Father, and will come again with glory to judge the living and the dead, of whose kingdom there shall be no end; and in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son; who together with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified; who spoke through the prophets; and in one holy Catholic and apostolic Church.
I confess one baptism for the remission of sins, and I await the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen. The apostolic and ecclesiastical traditions and all other observances and constitutions of that same Church I most firmly admit and embrace. I likewise accept Holy Scripture according to that sense which our holy Mother Church has held and does hold, whose [office] it is to judge of the true meaning and interpretation of the Sacred Scriptures; I shall never accept nor interpret it otherwise than in accordance with the unanimous consent of the Fathers.
I also profess that there are truly and properly seven sacraments of the New Law instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord, and necessary for the salvation of mankind, although not all are necessary for each individual; these sacraments are baptism, confirmation, the Eucharist, penance, extreme unction, order, and matrimony; and that they confer grace, and that of these baptism, confirmation, and order cannot be repeated without sacrilege.
I also receive and admit the accepted and approved rites of the Catholic Church in the solemn administration of all the aforesaid sacraments. I embrace and accept each and everything that has been defined and declared by the holy Synod of Trent concerning original sin and justification. I also profess that in the Mass there is offered to God a true, proper sacrifice of propitiation for the living and the dead, and that in the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist there is truly, really, and substantially present the body and blood together with the soul and the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that there takes place a conversion of the whole substance of bread into the body, and of the whole substance of the wine into the blood; and this conversion the Catholic Church calls transubstantiation. I also acknowledge that under one species alone the whole and entire Christ and the true sacrament are taken.
I steadfastly hold that a purgatory exists, and that the souls there detained are aided by the prayers of the faithful; likewise that the saints reigning together with Christ should be venerated and invoked, and that they offer prayers to God for us, and that their relics should be venerated. I firmly assert that the images of Christ and of the Mother of God ever Virgin, and also of the other saints should be kept and retained, and that due honor and veneration should be paid to them; I also affirm that the power of indulgences has been left in the Church by Christ, and that the use of them is especially salutary for the Christian people.
I acknowledge the holy Catholic and apostolic Roman Church as the mother and teacher of all churches; and to the Roman Pontiff, the successor of the blessed Peter, chief of the Apostles and vicar of Jesus Christ, I promise and swear true obedience.
Also all other things taught, defined, and declared by the sacred canons and ecumenical Councils, and especially by the sacred and holy Synod of Trent, (and by the ecumenical Council of the Vatican,1 particularly concerning the primacy of the Roman Pontiff and his infallible teaching), I without hesitation accept and profess; and at the same time all things contrary thereto, and whatever heresies have been condemned, and rejected, and anathematized by the Church, I likewise condemn, reject, and anathematize. This true Catholic faith, outside of which no one can be saved, (and) which of my own accord I now profess and truly hold, I, N., do promise, vow, and swear that I will, with the help of God, most faithfully retain and profess the same to the last breath of life as pure and inviolable, and that I will take care as far as lies in my power that it be held, taught, and preached by my subjects or by those over whom by virtue of my office I have charge, so help me God, and these holy Gospels of God.
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| Explanation of The Angelus |
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Posted by: Stone - 10-28-2026, 10:41 AM - Forum: Prayers and Devotionals
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Explanation of The Angelus
by Rev. William J. Barry, 1858
![[Image: Angelus_2019.jpg]](https://catholicharboroffaithandmorals.com/Angelus_2019.jpg)
"The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary, and she conceived of the Holy Ghost."
I. This prayer, so called from the Latin word with which it begins, is one of the most popular in use amongst the faithful and it has moreover received the approbation of several Popes. It is said three times a day, morning, noon and evening, in honor of the Incarnation of our Lord. It is composed of three Hail Maries, preceded by a versicle and response taken from the words which Holy Scripture uses in describing the visit of the Archangel Gabriel to the Blessed Virgin, announcing to her that she was to become the Mother of God. The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary--and she conceived by the Holy Ghost. Hail Mary, etc. Behold the handmaid of the Lord--be it done unto me according to thy word. Hail Mary, etc. And the Word was made flesh--and dwelt among us. Hail Mary, etc.
The Incarnation is both the basis and the completion of Christianity. Without that mystery Christ would not be, and therefore His Religion could have no existence. Christ is the name not of the Eternal Word, but of the Eternal Word, the second Person of the Blessed Trinity, made Man. If there had been no Incarnation, human nature would not have been assumed, and there would have been no Christ. What the world would have been without an Incarnate God we do not know, but we do know that it is now in possession of infinite treasures of grace, each of which is the germ of many degrees of heavenly glory, all of which proceed from the merits of Jesus Christ the Man-God. Hence all practical religion can be reduced to faith in the Incarnation and love of it. He who believes this Adorable Mystery with a living supernatural belief is irresistibly impelled by the religious cravings of his mind and heart to admit an infallible Church and the Mystery of the Blessed Eucharist. God’s works of love succeed each other in an increasing ratio; each seems to surpass its predecessor in its manifestation of divine beauty and condescension. The Law of Moses, though one of fear, was a greater revelation of love than the Law of Nature. Christ’s Law of Grace is the reality and the substance of which the Mosaic Dispensation was the type and the shadow. There are these three--Nature, Grace and Glory, and of these the greatest is Glory.
Let us apply this canon of divine action to the Incarnation. Earth was once blessed with the presence of the God-Man. The mountain winds of Judea had heard the breathings of His midnight prayer, the storm-lashed waves of its lakes had obeyed His voice and lulled themselves to rest, His feet had wandered through its fields and villages and towns, His words of peace and hope and love had echoed in the ears and spoken to the hearts of its people. But He stayed not always; He passed away from earth to His rest in the Bosom of His Father. Was God’s usual loving mode of procedure to be reversed? Were the world’s future ages to look upon the Incarnation as a past historic fact, just as the Patriarchs and the Prophets had looked forward to it as future? Men once had their Jesus amongst them, were they and their children to lose Him? Ah no! our Lord is too good. He would not leave His children orphans. The Incarnation is an abiding fact on earth, in the divine and a human element in the Church, just as there is the Divine and the Human Nature in Jesus Christ. Its divine element is its infallibility and its sacraments, or, in one word, the Papacy; its human element, its individual human members. And what is the Blessed Sacrament but Jesus Himself, the Incarnate God, dwelling with His own unto the end!
The Angelus is the prayer of the Incarnation; this suffices to recommend it to the reverence and love of the faithful. The thrice-renewed daily sound of the Angelus bell is, in Catholic countries, the signal for general prayer. From the soaring spire of Gothic Cathedral, from the modest belfry of the village church, from convent, school and hospital, the blessed notes of the Angelical salutation float out on the breezes of heaven. For a moment "labor ceases to knock with her hundred hands at the portals of morn, noon and even." Prince and people, rich and poor fall on their knees and bend their heads in prayer; they hail the advent of the Word made Flesh.
This beautiful devotion prevails to a great extent even among us, though so far removed in distance, but not in love, we trust, from the associations and traditions of Catholic Europe. The Angelus is regularly rung from our steeples, but still we do not obey the holy invitation to the extent we might. It is not required, of course, that we should expose ourselves and our religion to insult by kneeling down in the streets of a Protestant or infidel city at the sound of the Angelus bell, but does any valid reason exist why we should not say the prayer at home, faithfully and devoutly? Could we not say it when walking along the streets, and even take off the hat at the versicle: The Word was made Flesh, without at all attracting observation?
Benedict XIII, by a brief, dated Sept. 14, 1724, granted a plenary indulgence once a month, on the usual conditiins, to those who say the Angelus three times a day, and a partial indulgence of one hundred days for each recitation. Benedict XIV. has decided that the Angelus is to be said standing on Saturday evening and the whole of Sunday, but at all other times kneeling. In Lent, however, it is to be said standing on Saturday at noon, because first Vespers have already begun.
The anthem Regina coeli is to be said, in standing posture, in place of the Angelus, during the Paschal time, that is from Vespers of Holy Saturday to the let Vespers of Trinity Sunday. They who do not know the Regina each may continue to recite the Angelus and gain the indulgences. Persons residing in places where the Angelus-bell is not rung, or who cannot hear it, do not lose the indulgences, if they are faithful to recite the prayer morning, noon and evening.
The Popes suspend indulgences for the living during the Jubilee or Holy Year, which occurs every twenty-fifth year. This is done in order to make the faithful more eager to gain the indulgence of the Jubilee. The Angelus, however, is exempted from this general regulation as a mark of the peculiar favor with which it is regarded by the Holy See.
The Angelus
V. The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary.
R. And she conceived of the Holy Ghost.
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
V. Behold the handmaid of the Lord.
R. Be it done unto me according to thy word. Hail, Mary etc.
V. And the Word was made Flesh.
R. And dwelt among us. Hail, Mary etc.
V. Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray:
Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts, that we to whom the Incarnation of Christ, Thy Son, was made known by the message of an angel, may by His Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of His Resurrection, through the same Christ our Lord. Amen
(The Faithful who at dawn, at noon and in the evening, or as soon thereafter as possible, devoutly recite the Angelus, with the appropriate versicles, and prayer, may gain an indulgence of 10 years each time for themselves or the Holy Souls in Purgatory.)
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| Leo XIV omits mention of Christ at Assisi, says ‘peace’ must be man’s ‘guiding star’ |
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Posted by: Stone - 10-28-2026, 06:50 AM - Forum: Pope Leo XIV
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Leo XIV omits mention of Christ at Assisi, says ‘peace’ must be man’s ‘guiding star’
The Pontiff spoke as though all world religions are equally legitimate while not once mentioning the name of Jesus Christ, the Trinity, or the Blessed Virgin Mary.
![[Image: GettyImages-2249369406.jpg]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2249369406.jpg)
Pope Leo XIV
Adri Salido/Getty Images
Tue Oct 27, 2026
(LifeSiteNews) — In recorded remarks to the international ecumenical gathering in Assisi, Pope Leo XIV proclaimed that “peace” must be man’s “guiding star” while not once mentioning the name of Jesus Christ, the Trinity, or the Blessed Virgin Mary.
“Peace must once again become the common ideal of all peoples, the guiding star for all our choices, the standard that exposes injustice, and the shared horizon for all,” insisted the Pontiff, according to a transcript provided by the Holy See’s Dicastery for Communication.
Leo said that when Pope St. John Paul II convened the first World Day of Prayer for Peace 40 years ago in October 1986, he called for the participants of all world religions to “continue to live the spirit of Assisi.”
“That was at the time of the Cold War, a very different situation from the one we face today,” Leo XIV opined.
“After 1989, many believed that globalization would ensure lasting peace for the world,” he said. “Unfortunately, as I wrote in Magnifica Humanitas, ‘an almost blind faith was placed in the ability of the markets to generate prosperity, democracy and stability. In reality, rather than automatically generating unity and peace, globalization has provoked fundamentalist, identity-based and nationalistic reactions.’”
“Against this backdrop, there has been ‘troubling revival of war as an instrument of international politics,’” he continued. “As the Catechism of the Catholic Church states, ‘the accumulation of arms strikes many as a paradoxically suitable way of deterring potential adversaries from war. They see it as the most effective means of ensuring peace among nations,’ thus betraying the memory of the 20th century and the senseless slaughter of millions of human lives.”
“We must rebuild peace everywhere, not prepare for more wars. War can never be waged in the name of God. For us believers, ‘to fight in the name of religion means attacking religion itself,’” he stressed, quoting his recent encyclical.
Pope Leo XIV says “there is no such thing as a holy war,” rejecting any religious justification for conflicts around the world: “Only peace is holy.”
Pope Leo also avoided speaking about the need for the world to be evangelized, and instead focused on a 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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| 'Women no longer just consultative but have real part in Pope's authority' |
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Posted by: Stone - 10-28-2026, 06:46 AM - Forum: Pope Leo XIV
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From gloria.tv October 28, 2026:
Leo XIV gives women real participation in Papal authority.
Women continue to be appointed as heads of dicasteries or important sections within them, and these roles are by no means merely consultative, Cardinal Víctor “Tucho” Fernández told Religión Digital on October 26.
“It is real participation in the exercise of the Pope's authority,” he said.
His example was the prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life: “Today, a woman presides over that dicastery, and she has the ability to make decisions that seriously affect the lives of many communities.”
Implied Comparison Between Slavery and Homosexuality?
When asked about the statement in his new document that “no human or religious law or authority can ever declare anyone unworthy” of God's love or the love of others, and what pastoral consequences this should have for homosexuals, adulterers or apostates, Fernández replied:
“It took us 19 centuries to show that slavery is contrary to human dignity. It is pointless to go around in circles, deceiving ourselves and maintaining that the official Church was always opposed to slavery. It takes considerable mental contortions to deny reality.”
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