The passion of Cardinal Mindszenty, Cardinal Patriarch of Hungary

Cardinal Josef Mindszenty (29 March 1892 - 6 May 1975) was the Prince Primate of Hungary from 2 October 1945 to 18 December 1973. For decades, he personified opposition to godless tyrannical governments that would have the Catholic Church to be strangled and obliterated.  During World War II, he was imprisoned by the pro-Nazi "Arrow Cross" party, speaking up against the persecution of the Jews. In 1946, Stalin installed a puppet Communist regime in Hungary, and Mindszenty was vocal in his opposition to the tyrannical communist regime. Eventually, Cardinal Mindszenty became a martyr - even if he never physically shed blood - of the communist persecution and tyranny during its despotic takeover of Hungary from the late 40's to the fall of the communist government in 1989.

In her memoirs ("His Humble Servant - Sister M. Pascalina Lehnert's Memoirs of Her Years of Service to Eugenio Pacelli, Pope Pius XII", p 150), Sister Pascalina Lehnert recalls Pope Pius XII prophesying at the elevation of Archbishop Mindszenty to the cardinalate on 21 February 1946 that "Among these thirty-two you will be the first to suffer the martyrdom symbolized by this red color.":

"At this point, I recall vividly another martyr among the first cardinals created by Pius XII. When I asked the Holy Father in amazement on the occasion of this bishop's being made a cardinal [21 Feb. 1946], "But how could Your Holiness know what you were saying to the Cardinals? Isn't it terrible for him to hear such a prognosis from the Holy Father?" Pius XII replied that he had been startled himself when he heard himself say, "Among these thirty-two you will be the first to suffer the martyrdom symbolized by this red color." When pictures later appeared in the newspapers of the terrible show trial [in February 1949] dragging the tortured Cardinal and Archbishop of Esztergom before the eyes of the whole world, Pius XII said with tears in his eyes, "My words have come true and all I can do is pray, I cannot help him in any other way."

On 12 February 1949, Pope Pius XII announced the excommunication of all persons involved in the trial and conviction of Mindszenty.

Continuing with Sr Pascalina's memoirs:

However, the Holy Father did not remain silent! The stirring questions he addressed to the enormous crowd gathered in St Peter's Square on February 20, 1949, in protest against this inhumanity remain unforgettable to me, and certainly to thousands of others who heard them as well:

"Do you want a Church that remains silent when She should speak; that diminishes the law of God where she is called to proclaim it loudly, wanting to accommodate it to the will of man? Do you want a Church that departs from the unshakable foundations upon which Christ founded Her, taking the easy way of adapting Herself to the instability of the opinion of the day; a Church that is a prey to current trends; a Church that does not condemn the suppression of conscience and does not stand up for the just liberty of the people; a Church that locks Herself up within the four walls of Her temple in unseemly sycophancy, forgetting the divine mission received from Christ: 'Go out the crossroads and preach the people'? Beloved sons and daughters! Spiritual heirs of numberless confessors and martyrs! Is this the Church you venerate and love? Would you recognize in such a Church the features of your Mother? Would you be able to imagine a Successor of St. Peter submitting to such demands?"

Time Magazine Cover for 14 February, 1949.  

Students stand on top a tank during the early days of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution.

Citizens watch a demolished statue of communist tyrant Joseph Stalin during the 1956 Hungarian revolution.

On 30th October 1956, during the Hungarian uprising against the Communist tyranny, Cardinal Mindszenty was briefly freed from prison by the liberating forces; however on 4th November 1956, the Soviet Union crushed the uprising and invaded Hungary. Cardinal Mindszenty took refuge in the American embassy and lived there for the next 15 years, unable to participate in the next two papal conclaves. Saddened by these events, on 5th November 1956, Pope Pius XII issued an encyclical decrying the suffering of the Hungarian people by unjust oppression:

DATIS NUPERRIME 

ENCYCLICAL OF POPE PIUS XII 
LAMENTING THE SORROWFUL EVENTS IN HUNGARY AND CONDEMNING THE RUTHLESS USE OF FORCE

Venerable Brethren,

Greetings and Apostolic Benediction.

In the Encyclical Letter which We recently wrote you, Consecrated Shepherds of the Catholic world, We expressed Our hope that a new day of peace based on justice and liberty might be dawning upon the noble people of Hungary. For conditions in that country seemed to be improving.

But tidings have reached Us lately which fill Our heart with pain and sorrow. There is being shed again in the cities, towns, and villages of Hungary the blood of citizens who long with all their hearts for their rightful freedom. National institutions which had just been restored have been overthrown again and violently destroyed. A blood-drenched people have been reduced once more to slavery by the armed might of foreigners.

We cannot help but deplore and condemn (for so Our consciousness of Our office bids Us) these unhappy events which fill all Catholics and all free peoples with deepest sorrow and indignation. May those whose commands have caused these tragic events come to realize that the rightful freedom of a people cannot be extinguished by the shedding of human blood.

We who watch over all peoples with a father's concern assert that any violence and any bloodshed which anyone unjustly causes is never to be tolerated. On the contrary, We exhort all people and all classes of society to that peace which finds its basis and nurture in justice, liberty, and love.

The words which "the Lord said to Cain. . . 'The voice of thy brother's blood crieth to me from the earth'," (Gen. 4, 10) are relevant today. For so the blood of the Hungarian people cries out to God. And even though God often punishes private individuals for their sins only after death, nonetheless, as history teaches, He occasionally punishes in this mortal life rulers of people and their nations when they have dealt unjustly with others. For He is a just judge.

May our merciful Redeemer, We suppliantly pray, move the hearts of those upon whose decisions these matters depend, that an end may be put to injustice and a finish to violence, that all nations, being at peace with one another, may be united in peaceful and tranquil harmony.

Meanwhile, We implore a most merciful God on behalf especially of all those who have been tragically slain in the course of these unhappy events. May they find eternal life and unending peace in heaven. We desire that all Christians join Us in praying to God for them.

And as We address these words to you, We lovingly impart Our Apostolic Benediction to each and every one of you, Venerable Brethren, and to your flocks, and in a very special way to Our beloved Hungarian people. May it be a pledge of heavenly graces and a witness to Our paternal love.

Given at Rome from St. Peter's, on the fifth day of November, in the year 1956, the 18th of Our Pontificate."

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The following brief biography from a catholiccutlture.org article provides further details about the heroic cardinal's life:

" 'The  life and 'Crimes' of Cardinal Josef Mindszenty' 

A half century has passed since the Dec. 26, 1948, arrest of Cardinal Jozsef Mindszenty in Esztergom, Hungary. It's been almost 50 years since he was convicted of treason and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Jozsef Pehm was born in Mindszent, Austria-Hungary (now Hungary) on March 29, 1892, to peasant farmers. The cardinal later changed his German-sounding surname to Mindszenty, after his place of birth.

Ordained in 1915 and consecrated bishop of Vesprem in 1944, he was appointed archbishop of Esztergom, the primate of Hungary, the following year. In 1946 Pope Pius XII made him a cardinal.

At the time of his being taken into custody two years later, arrest was nothing new to Cardinal Mindszenty. In 1919, he had been jailed for condemning a state takeover of Catholic schools and urging people not to give in to the new regime which would, under the guise of benevolence, obliterate the Church. In 1944, he had spent four months in prison for resisting authority, inciting the people to violence and opposing Nazism.

Convinced that the cardinal was "the center of the counter-revolutionary forces in Hungary," the communist authorities wanted him. The immediate issue was an order that Hungary's 4,813 Catholic schools be nationalized. The cardinal had driven from village to village urging people to ignore the communist lies and refuse to give up their schools and their land. The police had responded by seizing his sound truck and portable generator. At his order, church bells tolled.

Although the publication of his last pastoral letter was banned, one copy made it to The Voice of America radio broadcast, and the communists shouted "subversive activity." The November 1948 letter ended:

"I stand for God, for the Church and for Hungary. . . . Compared with the sufferings of my people, my own fate is of no importance. I do not accuse my accusers. ...I pray for those who, in the words of Our Lord, 'know not what they do.' I forgive them from the bottom of my heart."

Explaining that neither he nor the Church had provoked the enmity of the Hungarian government, he wrote in an open letter in December, "Communism is an atheistic ideology: hence by its very nature it is opposed to the spirit of the Church."

On the day of his arrest, police cars surrounded his residence. An account of the event notes that his mother and some of his faithful aides were with him when the boisterous police came for him. As the officers approached, he scribbled a note telling his fellow priests to be skeptical if they heard that he had "resigned" or "confessed," because it would be merely a sign of "human frailty."

He donned his poorest bishop's robe and his simplest bishop's ring. In his pocket was a picture of Jesus crowned with thorns. The giver had inscribed it, "devictus vincit" — "defeated, He is victorious." That picture would give him comfort in his dark hours. With time for only a quick good-bye to his aged mother, he was whisked away at night.

A long list of charges had been carefully concocted — lies made to seem logical. His accusers twisted his words, took them out of context and used forgery to produce documents of confession that they said he had signed.

Every night he was beaten. At daybreak, dressed in clown clothes, he was taken for questioning. For a time he was strong — some say obstinate — and he would not "cooperate." He ate little because he knew the food contained mind-altering drugs, and if in exhaustion he began to doze, he was prodded awake.

In February 1949, body and mind broken, Cardinal Mindszenty underwent what he later called a "show trial." The truth was never sought. He was accused of more than 40 "crimes," the most notable of which were foreign-currency abuses (yes. he had sought American intervention for his people and for the Church's monetary holdings), sabotage of Hungarian land reform (yes, he had tried to help his people keep their land and their churches), and conspiracy with the Hapsburgs (yes, he had spoken against the Communist People's Party).

"I am guilty on principle and in detail of most of the accusations made," the cardinal said shakily. He disowned the disavowal he had written earlier. When asked why he wrote it, he answered feebly, "I didn't see certain things as I see them now."

This was not the voice of the strong man who had been arrested. It was obvious he had undergone unspeakable torture.

The prosecutor's summation stated that Cardinal Mindszenty had confessed to inciting "the American imperialists to declare war on our country." He was falsely found guilty of treason.

Although that crime called for hanging, instead he was sentenced to life imprisonment. The government didn't want him seen as a martyr or hero of freedom.

The verdict and sentence were heard around the free world. It wasn't just the Hungarians — who saw him as "their priest" — who were horrified, but people in Western Europe and the United States as well.

Pope Pius XII called Cardinal Mindszenty's arrest a "serious outrage which inflicts a deep wound . on every upholder of the dignity and liberty of man." He defended the cardinal's right to oppose the government when it contradicted "divine and human rights." The Vatican called for Catholics everywhere to fight against a "pathological" system that flagrantly abuses human rights.

New York's Cardinal Francis Spellman roared, "If this be treason, to deny allegiance to atheistic communist government — then thank God Cardinal Mindszenty confessed to treason." President Harry Truman called the incident "infamous." and former prime minister Winston Churchill condemned it. Nine Hungarian diplomats in the United States resigned, ashamed.

After the sentencing, Cardinal Mindszenty was shuffled from prison to prison until the Hungarian uprising in 1956, when he was freed briefly. After the communists regained control, he lived in voluntary house arrest in the U.S. embassy in Budapest until 1971, dismissing requests from the Vatican that he leave his homeland.

The aging cardinal eventually became a tragic and pathetic figure, a thorn in the side of the Hungarian government. In an effort to be rid of him, it offered him safe passage to Austria. He declined.

But as Pope Paul VI worked to ease relations between the countries behind the Iron Curtain and the West, the cardinal became a problem for the Vatican. With his formidable presence, he was a hindrance to the establishment of four new dioceses in Hungary.

Finally, at the Pope's bidding, he reluctantly moved to the Vatican, where he stayed for two months before taking up residence in Vienna in 1971. In his final years, the cardinal traveled extensively to publicize the plight of Hungarian Catholics.

Cardinal Mindszenty died in Vienna in 1975 and was buried there. But after the fall of the Soviet Union, his body was brought back to his homeland and reburied in Esztergom."

Pope Pius XII consecrates the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on October 31, 1942

On October 31st 1942, in the midst of some of the darkest days and the terrible calamities engulfing the world during World War II, Pope Pius XII consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. It is thought that this consecration was carried out at the behest of Our Lord's petition to Blessed Alexandrina of Balazar (see here) for the world to be entrusted to the most pure Heart of His Blessed Mother. Major battle operations were taking place around this time (battle of "El Alamein" in Africa, battle of Stalingrad in Russia, and other important offensives were taking place in the Guadalcanal and Solomon Islands Campaign in the Pacific), and important victories were obtained for the Allies shortly after the consecration was carried out. In Stalingrad, the Axis forces were encircled by Soviet troops on November 19 1942, and final victory was achieved in January 1943 when German Sixth Army commander Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus surrendered. By the same year, Africa was already firmly in the control of the Allied forces. Winston Churchill noted in his monumental 5 volume published history of World War II that the hinges of fate turned in favor of the Allies by December 1942, shortly after the consecration carried out by Pope Pius XII. Sir Winston Churchill said: "Before Alamein we never had a victory. After Alamein we never had a defeat."

Our Lord had revealed to Sister Lucy of Fatima that he would grant a shortening of the war so thoroughly merited by the sinful world as a result of the consecration.

"His Holiness will obtain that these days of tribulation [World War II] will be shortened if he obeys My desires in making the act of consecration of the whole world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary with a special mention of Russia."

Even though the Consecration was clearly pleasing to Our Lord, and thus brought about an earlier conclusion to the horrors and butchery of World War II, it must be noted that it did not fulfill Heaven's request made at Fatima that Russia should uniquely and specifically be mentioned in an act of Consecration in union with the world's bishops, and this consecration would not effect merely a temporary cease in hostilities but a lasting world peace - the Pax Mariana. According to Sister Lucia writing at the beginning of 1943 (see here):

"God has already shown me His satisfaction with the act, although incomplete according to His wishes, performed by the Holy Father and several bishops. He promises in return to put a stop to the war soon. The Conversion of Russia is not for now."

The Consecration prayer (full text at the end) contains a special, oblique reference to Russia and the Orthodox Christian faithful: 

"Give peace to the people separated by error and schism,
Particularly those, who have special devotion to You
And among whom there was no home, where Your venerable Icon was not honoured,
Though at present it may be hidden in the hope for better days.
Bring them back to the One Fold of Christ, under the One True Shepherd."

Russian Icon of Our Lady and the Child Jesus

Hence, the consecration prayer alludes to the request made at Fatima (namely, to consecrate Russia, not the world, in union with the world's bishops), but falls short of Heaven's request. No doubt, this special mention of Russia brought about graces at a future date for the country. Nikita Kruschev in the '60s denounced Stalinism, in the '80s Gorbachev brought about Perestroika and Glasnost; finally in the past decade Putin has brought about a resurgence of Russian nationalism and a slow return to a path led by traditional Christian values. However, it must be noted that Russia has not converted to Catholicism - they are still separated by "error and schism", they are still not in the "One Fold of Christ, under the One True Shepherd". The miraculous conversion of the Orthodox to the unity of the Catholic Church will only take place when the consecration of Russia is finally complied by the pope according to Heaven's desires (see here).

In the first book I ever read on the Fatima apparitions (nearly 20 years ago) I distinctly remember the author mentioning the Holy Father's anguished voice in the radio address delivered to Portugal wherein the pope delivered the Consecration prayer in Portuguese as part of the 25th anniversary celebration of the Fatima apparitions. The photo below shows a very serious and stern looking Pius XII delivering the radio address on that day, the anguish for all the suffering victims of the atrocious conflict underway during that very moment clearly visible in his face (Msgr. Montini, the future Pope Paul VI, is on the far right of the photograph):
 

 

Here is the complete consecration prayer:

Queen of the Holy Rosary,

Help of the Christians,

Refuge of the human race,

Conqueress in God’s battlefields,

To You and to Your Immaculate Heart

In this tragic hour of human history

We entrust and consecrate ourselves,

And the Holy Church.

She is the Mystical Body of Your Jesus,

Suffering and bleeding in so many parts

And tormented in so many ways,

We consecrate to You the whole world torn by bitter strive

And consumed by the fire of hatred

The victim of its own wickedness.

Look with compassion to all material and moral destruction

To the suffering and fears of fathers and mothers

Of husbands and wives, of brother and sisters and innocent children.

Look at the many lives cut down in the flower of youth

So many bodies torn to pieces in brutal slaughter

So many souls tortured and troubled

And in danger of being lost eternally.

Oh, Mother of Mercy, obtain peace for us from God!

Obtain especially those graces, which can convert human hearts quickly.

Those graces, which can prepare, establish and insure peace.

Queen of Peace, pray for us;

Give the world at war the peace for which all are longing,

Peace in Truth, Justice and the Charity of Christ.

Give them peace of the arms and peace of mind,

That in tranquility and order

The Kingdom of God may expand.

Grant Your protection to infidels

And to those still walking in the shadow of death;

Give them peace and permit that the sun of truth may raise upon them;

And that together with us

They may repeat before the Only Saviour of the World:

"Glory to God in the highest

And peace on earth among men of good will" (Lk 2.14)

Give peace to the people separated by error and schism,

Particularly those, who have special devotion to You

And among whom there was no home,

Where Your venerable Icon was not honoured,

Though at present it may be hidden

In the hope for better days.

Bring them back to the One Fold of Christ,

Under the One True Shepherd.

Obtain peace and complete liberty for the Holy Church of God,

Check the spreading flood of neo-paganism,

Arouse within the faithful love of purity

The practice of Christian life and apostolic zeal,

So that the people who serve God,

May increase in merit and number.

All of humanity were once consecrated to the Heart of Your Son.

All our hopes rest in Him, Who is in all times

Sign and pledge of victory and salvation.

Forever we consecrate ourselves to You

And to Your Immaculate Heart,

Oh, Mother and Queen of the World!

May Your love and patronage hasten the victory of the Kingdom of God,

May all nations, at peace with each other and with God, proclaim You Blessed

And sing with You from one end of the earth to the other,

The eternal Magnificat of glory, love and gratitude

To the Heart of Jesus, in which alone,

They can find Truth, Life and Peace.

~ Pope Pius XII

O MARY CONCEIVED WITHOUT SIN, PRAY FOR US WHO HAVE RECOURSE TO THEE!!

Feast of the Queensip of Mary, Instituted by Pope Pius XII on October 11 1954 through the Encyclical "Ad Caeli Reginam"

 

 

(Full text here)

 

AD CAELI REGINAM 

ENCYCLICAL OF POPE PIUS XII ON PROCLAIMING THE QUEENSHIP OF MARY TO THE VENERABLE BRETHREN, THE PATRIARCHS, PRIMATES, ARCHBISHOPS, BISHIOPS, AND OTHER LOCAL ORDINARIES IN PEACE AND COMMUNION WITH THE HOLY SEE

Venerable Brethren, Health and Apostolic Blessing.

From the earliest ages of the catholic church a Christian people, whether in time of triumph or more especially in time of crisis, has addressed prayers of petition and hymns of praise and veneration to the Queen of Heaven. And never has that hope wavered which they placed in the Mother of the Divine King, Jesus Christ; nor has that faith ever failed by which we are taught that Mary, the Virgin Mother of God, reigns with a mother's solicitude over the entire world, just as she is crowned in heavenly blessedness with the glory of a Queen.

Following upon the frightful calamities which before Our very eyes have reduced flourishing cities, towns, and villages to ruins, We see to Our sorrow that many great moral evils are being spread abroad in what may be described as a violent flood. Occasionally We behold justice giving way; and, on the one hand and the other, the victory of the powers of corruption. The threat of this fearful crisis fills Us with a great anguish, and so with confidence We have recourse to Mary Our Queen, making known to her those sentiments of filial reverence which are not Ours alone, but which belong to all those who glory in the name of Christian...

It is well known that we have taken advantage of every opportunity - through personal audiences and radio broadcasts - to exhort Our children in Christ to a strong and tender love, as becomes children, for Our most gracious and exalted Mother. On this point it is particularly fitting to call to mind the radio message which We addressed to the people of Portugal, when the miraculous image of the Virgin Mary which is venerated at Fatima was being crowned with a golden diadem. We Ourselves called this the heralding of the "sovereignty" of Mary.

And now, that We may bring the Year of Mary to a happy and beneficial conclusion, and in response to petitions which have come to Us from all over the world, We have decided to institute the liturgical feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen. This will afford a climax, as it were, to the manifold demonstrations of Our devotion to Mary, which the Christian people have supported with such enthusiasm...

From early times Christians have believed, and not without reason, that she of whom was born the Son of the Most High received privileges of grace above all other beings created by God. He "will reign in the house of Jacob forever," "the Prince of Peace," the "King of Kings and Lord of Lords." And when Christians reflected upon the intimate connection that obtains between a mother and a son, they readily acknowledged the supreme royal dignity of the Mother of God...

Hence it is not surprising that the early writers of the Church called Mary "the Mother of the King" and "the Mother of the Lord," basing their stand on the words of St. Gabriel the archangel, who foretold that the Son of Mary would reign forever, and on the words of Elizabeth who greeted her with reverence and called her "the Mother of my Lord." Thereby they clearly signified that she derived a certain eminence and exalted station from the royal dignity of her Son.

So it is that St. Ephrem, burning with poetic inspiration, represents her as speaking in this way: "Let Heaven sustain me in its embrace, because I am honored above it. For heaven was not Thy mother, but Thou hast made it Thy throne. How much more honorable and venerable than the throne of a king is her mother." And in another place he thus prays to her: ". . . Majestic and Heavenly Maid, Lady, Queen, protect and keep me under your wing lest Satan the sower of destruction glory over me, lest my wicked foe be victorious against me."

St. Gregory Nazianzen calls Mary "the Mother of the King of the universe," and the "Virgin Mother who brought forth the King of the whole world,"while Prudentius asserts that the Mother marvels "that she has brought forth God as man, and even as Supreme King."

And this royal dignity of the Blessed Virgin Mary is quite clearly indicated through direct assertion by those who call her "Lady," "Ruler" and "Queen."...

The same thing is found in the writings of St. Jerome where he makes the following statement amidst various interpretations of Mary's name: "We should realize that Mary means Lady in the Syrian Language." After him St. Chrysologus says the same thing more explicitly in these words: "The Hebrew word 'Mary' means 'Domina.' The Angel therefore addresses her as 'Lady' to preclude all servile fear in the Lord's Mother, who was born and was called 'Lady' by the authority and command of her own Son."...

St. Andrew of Crete frequently attributes the dignity of a Queen to the Virgin Mary. For example, he writes, "Today He transports from her earthly dwelling, as Queen of the human race, His ever-Virgin Mother, from whose womb He, the living God, took on human form."...

Likewise St. Germanus speaks to the humble Virgin in these words: "Be enthroned, Lady, for it is fitting that you should sit in an exalted place since you are a Queen and glorious above all kings." He likewise calls her the "Queen of all of those who dwell on earth."

She is called by St. John Damascene "Queen, ruler, and lady," and also "the Queen of every creature."[24] Another ancient writer of the Eastern Church calls her "favored Queen," "the perpetual Queen beside the King, her son," whose "snow-white brow is crowned with a golden diadem.

And finally St. Ildephonsus of Toledo gathers together almost all of her titles of honor in this salutation: "O my Lady, my Sovereign, You who rule over me, Mother of my Lord . . . Lady among handmaids, Queen among sisters...

 The Supreme Shepherds of the Church have considered it their duty to promote by eulogy and exhortation the devotion of the Christian people to the heavenly Mother and Queen. Simply passing over the documents of more recent Pontiffs, it is helpful to recall that as early as the seventh century Our predecessor St. Martin I called Mary "our glorious Lady, ever Virgin." St. Agatho, in the synodal letter sent to the fathers of the Sixth Ecumenical Council called her "Our Lady, truly and in a proper sense the Mother of God." And in the eighth century Gregory II in the letter sent to St. Germanus, the patriarch, and read in the Seventh Ecumenical Council with all the Fathers concurring, called the Mother of God: "The Queen of all, the true Mother of God," and also "the Queen of all Christians."

We wish also to recall that Our predecessor of immortal memory, Sixtus IV, touched favorably upon the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin, beginning the Apostolic Letter Cum praeexcelsa with words in which Mary is called "Queen," "Who is always vigilant to intercede with the king whom she bore." Benedict XIV declared the same thing in his Apostolic Letter Gloriosae Dominae, in which Mary is called "Queen of heaven and earth," and it is stated that the sovereign King has in some way communicated to her his ruling power.

For all these reasons St. Alphonsus Ligouri, in collecting the testimony of past ages, writes these words with evident devotion: "Because the virgin Mary was raised to such a lofty dignity as to be the mother of the King of kings, it is deservedly and by every right that the Church has honored her with the title of 'Queen'."...

Furthermore, the Latin Church sings that sweet and ancient prayer called the "Hail, Holy Queen" and the lovely antiphons "Hail, Queen of the Heavens," "O Queen of Heaven, Rejoice," and those others which we are accustomed to recite on feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary: "The Queen stood at Thy right hand in golden vesture surrounded with beauty"; "Heaven and earth praise thee as a powerful Queen"; "Today the Virgin Mary ascends into heaven: rejoice because she reigns with Christ forever."

To these and others should be added the Litany of Loreto which daily invites Christian folk to call upon Mary as Queen. Likewise, for many centuries past Christians have been accustomed to meditate upon the ruling power of Mary which embraces heaven and earth, when they consider the fifth glorious mystery of the rosary which can be called the mystical crown of the heavenly Queen...

 As We have already mentioned, Venerable Brothers, according to ancient tradition and the sacred liturgy the main principle on which the royal dignity of Mary rests is without doubt her Divine Motherhood. In Holy Writ, concerning the Son whom Mary will conceive, We read this sentence: "He shall be called the Son of the most High, and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father, and he shall reign in the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end," and in addition Mary is called "Mother of the Lord"; from this it is easily concluded that she is a Queen, since she bore a son who, at the very moment of His conception, because of the hypostatic union of the human nature with the Word, was also as man King and Lord of all things. So with complete justice St. John Damascene could write: "When she became Mother of the Creator, she truly became Queen of every creature." Likewise, it can be said that the heavenly voice of the Archangel Gabriel was the first to proclaim Mary's royal office.

But the Blessed Virgin Mary should be called Queen, not only because of her Divine Motherhood, but also because God has willed her to have an exceptional role in the work of our eternal salvation. "What more joyful, what sweeter thought can we have" - as Our Predecessor of happy memory, Pius XI wrote - "than that Christ is our King not only by natural right, but also by an acquired right: that which He won by the redemption? Would that all men, now forgetful of how much we cost Our Savior, might recall to mind the words [of St Peter and St Paul], 'You were redeemed, not with gold or silver which perishes, . . . but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb spotless and undefiled. We belong not to ourselves now, since Christ has bought us 'at a great price'."

Now, in the accomplishing of this work of redemption, the Blessed Virgin Mary was most closely associated with Christ; and so it is fitting to sing in the sacred liturgy: "Near the cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ there stood, sorrowful, the Blessed Mary, Queen of Heaven and Queen of the World." Hence, as the devout disciple of St. Anselm (Eadmer, ed.) wrote in the Middle Ages: "just as . . . God, by making all through His power, is Father and Lord of all, so the blessed Mary, by repairing all through her merits, is Mother and Queen of all; for God is the Lord of all things, because by His command He establishes each of them in its own nature, and Mary is the Queen of all things, because she restores each to its original dignity through the grace which she merited." [Eadmer]
For "just as Christ, because He redeemed us, is our Lord and king by a special title, so the Blessed Virgin also (is our queen), on account of the unique manner in which she assisted in our redemption, by giving of her own substance, by freely offering Him for us, by her singular desire and petition for, and active interest in, our salvation.".... [Suarez]

Certainly, in the full and strict meaning of the term, only Jesus Christ, the God-Man, is King; but Mary, too, as Mother of the divine Christ, as His associate in the redemption, in his struggle with His enemies and His final victory over them, has a share, though in a limited and analogous way, in His royal dignity. For from her union with Christ she attains a radiant eminence transcending that of any other creature; from her union with Christ she receives the royal right to dispose of the treasures of the Divine Redeemer's Kingdom; from her union with Christ finally is derived the inexhaustible efficacy of her maternal intercession before the Son and His Father...

Let all Christians, therefore, glory in being subjects of the Virgin Mother of God, who, while wielding royal power, is on fire with a mother's love...

Since we are convinced, after long and serious reflection, that great good will accrue to the Church if this solidly established truth shines forth more clearly to all, like a luminous lamp raised aloft, by Our Apostolic authority We decree and establish the feast of Mary's Queenship, which is to be celebrated every year in the whole world on the 31st of May. We likewise ordain that on the same day the consecration of the human race to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary be renewed, cherishing the hope that through such consecration a new era may begin, joyous in Christian peace and in the triumph of religion.

Let all, therefore, try to approach with greater trust the throne of grace and mercy of our Queen and Mother, and beg for strength in adversity, light in darkness, consolation in sorrow; above all let them strive to free themselves from the slavery of sin and offer an unceasing homage, filled with filial loyalty, to their Queenly Mother. Let her churches be thronged by the faithful, her feast-days honored; may the beads of the Rosary be in the hands of all; may Christians gather, in small numbers and large, to sing her praises in churches, in homes, in hospitals, in prisons. May Mary's name be held in highest reverence, a name sweeter than honey and more precious than jewels; may none utter blasphemous words, the sign of a defiled soul, against that name graced with such dignity and revered for its motherly goodness; let no one be so bold as to speak a syllable which lacks the respect due to her name.

All, according to their state, should strive to bring alive the wondrous virtues of our heavenly Queen and most loving Mother through constant effort of mind and manner. Thus will it come about that all Christians, in honoring and imitating their sublime Queen and Mother, will realize they are truly brothers, and with all envy and avarice thrust aside, will promote love among classes, respect the rights of the weak, cherish peace. No one should think himself a son of Mary, worthy of being received under her powerful protection, unless, like her, he is just, gentle and pure, and shows a sincere desire for true brotherhood, not harming or injuring but rather helping and comforting others...

Given at Rome, from St. Peter's, on the feast of the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the eleventh day of October, 1954, in the sixteenth year of our Pontificate.

PIUS XII

Blessed Pope Innocent XI, the "Saviour of Hungary", beatified by Pius XII 7 October 1956

Blessed Pope Innocent XI, Benedetto Odescalchi (16 May 1611 - 12 August 1689) is known as the "Saviour of Hungary" for his efforts and support for the Christian reconquest of lands formerly taken by the Ottoman Muslims. Most famous of all is the lifting of the siege of Vienna by German and Polish forces headed by King John Sobieski III of Poland, which campaign the Holy Father Innocent XI had been enthusiastically encouraging to free Europe from the Mohameddan invaders. Innocent XI spared no efforts and no small amount of money encouraging the Christian princes to continue with the liberation of more Christian lands, including Hungary. The pope happily lived to see the liberation of Belgrade (Serbia) from the Muslim invaders in 1688.

The pontificate of Innocent XI was marked by a continuous struggle against the despotic tendencies of King Louis XIV of France, who wanted to usurp the Church's authority and infringe on its freedom from coercion from the civil authorities, and who wanted to maintain a schismatic attitude of the French Church from Rome, known as the "Gallican liberties".

Innocent XI issued the papal bull Sanctissimus Dominus in 1679 to condemn 65 propositions that favored a liberal approach to doctrine which included two that related to abortion. He first condemned proposition 34 (“It is lawful to procure abortion before ensoulment of the fetus lest a girl, detected as pregnant, be killed or defamed.”) and countered that it was unlawful to procure abortion. He also condemned proposition 35 (“It seems probable that the fetus (as long as it is in the uterus) lacks a rational soul and begins first to have one when it is born; and consequently it must be said that no abortion is a homicide.”) and stated that the fetus does indeed contain a soul and that to abort was murder. The denunciation of these propositions clarified the Church’s doctrine regarding abortion as homicide, and distanced the Church from claims that the value of the fetus depended on the moment at which it became ensouled.

 Blessed Innocent XI, already well known for his works of piety and succor to the poor and needy, introduced a more frugal form of government into the Papal States, turning a deficit in the papal expenditures into a surplus. He encouraged an increase in piety and discipline among clergy and faithful (and modesty among the Roman ladies), removed the gambling houses from Rome, and by a decree of 12 February 1679 may possibly have been the first pontiff to recommend frequent and even daily communion among the faithful.

When his body was exhumed for beatification, it was discovered that it had remained preserved, though 267 years had passed since his death. Innocent XI was subsequently considered by many to be incorrupt, and his body was placed in a glass and bronze-work sarcophagus with his face and hands covered in silver.

For a more detailed biography of Pope Blessed Innocent XI, see the article from the Catholic Encyclopedia and the Wikipedia article.

Finally, enjoy the following video with some beautiful scenes from the beatification of Innocent XI by Pope Pius XII on October 7, 1956. You can see the pope coming into the basilica of St Peter's in the "seda gestatoria" and afterwards praying in front of the body of the Blessed and celebrating mass starting around the 1:26 mark.

Benedetto Odescalchi, Blessed Pope Innocent XI

The body of Blessed Innocent XI in its former location in the chapel of St Sebastian in St Peter's basilica.

Monument to Blessed Innocent XI, St Peter's Basilica 

"INGRUENTIUM MALORUM" Encyclical of Pope Pius XII on reciting the rosary

Pope Pius XII, following a long line of Roman Pontiffs, commends most highly the daily recitation of the Holy Rosary as a most efficacious means for obtaining personal sanctity and peace among nations and peoples. The Holy Father especially recommends the family recitation of the rosary as most pleasing to God and an efficacious means to obtain heavenly favours:

 

"...But it is above all in the bosom of the family that We desire the custom of the Holy Rosary to be everywhere adopted, religiously preserved, and ever more intensely practiced. In vain is a remedy sought for the wavering fate of civil life, if the family, the principle and foundation of the human community, is not fashioned after the pattern of the Gospel...Then the home of the Christian family, like that of Nazareth, will become an earthly abode of sanctity, and, so to speak, a sacred temple, where the Holy Rosary will not only be the particular prayer which every day rises to heaven in an odor of sweetness, but will also form the most efficacious school of Christian discipline and Christian virtue."

 

Would that this holy practice be increased throughout the Catholic world as a means to counter the neo-pagan forces working to destroy the family and which are promoting every sort of vice against the holy virtue of purity, even among the most innocent of children!

 

"INGRUENTIUM MALORUM" Encyclical of Pope Pius XII on reciting the rosary:

 

TO OUR VENERABLE BRETHREN, PATRIARCHS, PRIMATES,
ARCHBISHOPS, BISHIOPS, AND OTHER ORDINARIES
HAVING PEACE AND COMMUNION WITH THE APOSTOLIC SEE

Venerable Brethren,

Greetings and Apostolic Benediction.

Ever since We were raised, by the design of Divine Providence, to the supreme Chair of Peter, We have never ceased, in the face of approaching evils, to entrust to the most powerful protection of the Mother of God the destiny of the human family, and, to this end, as you know, We have from time to time written letters of exhortation.

2. You know, Venerable Brethren, with what zeal and with what spontaneous and unanimous approval the Christian people everywhere have answered Our invitation. It has been magnificently testified many times by the great demonstration of faith and love towards the august Queen of Heaven, and above all, by that manifestation of universal joy which, last year, Our eyes had the pleasure to behold, when, in St. Peter's Square, surrounded by an immense multitude of the faithful, We solemnly proclaimed the Assumption into Heaven of the Virgin Mary, body and soul.

3. The recollection of these things comes back pleasantly to Us and encourages Us to trust firmly in Divine Mercy. However, at present, We do not lack reasons for profound sorrow which torment and sadden Our paternal heart.

 4. You know well, Venerable Brethren, the calamitous conditions of our times. Fraternal harmony among nations, shattered for so long a time, has not yet been re-established everywhere. On the contrary, here and there, we see souls upset by hatred and rivalry, while threats of new bloody conflicts still hover over the peoples. To this, one must add the violent storm of persecution, which in many parts of the world, has been unleashed against the Church, depriving it of its liberty, saddening it very cruelly with calumnies and miseries of all kinds, and making the blood of martyrs flow again and again.

5. To what and to how many snares are the souls of so many of Our sons submitted in those areas to make them reject the Faith of their fathers, and to make them break, most wretchedly, the bond of union which links them to this Apostolic See! Nor can We pass over in silence a new crime to which, with utmost sorrow, We want earnestly to draw not only your attention, but the attention of the clergy, of parents, and even of public authorities. We refer to the iniquitous campaign that the impious lead everywhere to harm the shining souls of children. Not even the age of innocence has been spared, for, alas, there are not lacking those who boldly dare to snatch from the mystical garden of the Church even the most beautiful flowers, which constitute the hope of religion and society. Considering this, one cannot be surprised if peoples groan under the weight of the Divine punishment, and live under the fear of even greater calamities.

6. However, consideration of a situation so pregnant with dangers must not depress your souls, Venerable Brethren. Instead, mindful of that Divine teaching: "Ask and it shall be given to you; seek and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you" (Luke 11, 9), fly with greater confidence to the Mother of God. There, the Christian people have always sought chief refuge in the hour of danger, because "she has been constituted the cause of salvation for the whole human race" (St. Irenaeus).

7. Therefore, we look forward with joyful expectation and revived hope to the coming month of October, during which the faithful are accustomed to flock in larger numbers to the churches to raise their supplications to Mary by means of the Holy Rosary.

8. O Venerable Brethren, We desire that, this year, this prayer should be offered with such greater fervor of heart as is demanded by the increased urgency of the need. We well know the Rosary's powerful efficacy to obtain the maternal aid of the Virgin. By no means is there only one way to pray to obtain this aid. However, We consider the Holy Rosary the most convenient and most fruitful means, as is clearly suggested by the very origin of this practice, heavenly rather than human, and by its nature. What prayers are better adapted and more beautiful than the Lord's prayer and the angelic salutation, which are the flowers with which this mystical crown is formed? With meditation of the Sacred Mysteries added to the vocal prayers, there emerges another very great advantage, so that all, even the most simple and least educated, have in this a prompt and easy way to nourish and preserve their own faith.

9. And truly, from the frequent meditation on the Mysteries, the soul little by little and imperceptibly draws and absorbs the virtues they contain, and is wondrously enkindled with a longing for things immortal, and becomes strongly and easily impelled to follow the path which Christ Himself and His Mother have followed. The recitation of identical formulas repeated so many times, rather than rendering the prayer sterile and boring, has on the contrary the admirable quality of infusing confidence in him who prays and brings to bear a gentle compulsion on the motherly Heart of Mary.

10. Let it be your particular care, O Venerable Brethren, that the faithful, on the occasion of the coming month of October, should use this most fruitful form of prayer with the utmost possible zeal, and that it become always more esteemed and more diligently recited.

11. Through your efforts, the Christian people should be led to understand the dignity, the power, and the excellence of the Rosary.

12. But it is above all in the bosom of the family that We desire the custom of the Holy Rosary to be everywhere adopted, religiously preserved, and ever more intensely practiced. In vain is a remedy sought for the wavering fate of civil life, if the family, the principle and foundation of the human community, is not fashioned after the pattern of the Gospel.

13. To undertake such a difficult duty, We affirm that the custom of the family recitation of the Holy Rosary is a most efficacious means. What a sweet sight - most pleasing to God - when, at eventide, the Christian home resounds with the frequent repetition of praises in honor of the august Queen of Heaven! Then the Rosary, recited in common, assembles before the image of the Virgin, in an admirable union of hearts, the parents and their children, who come back from their daily work. It unites them piously with those absent and those dead. It links all more tightly in a sweet bond of love, with the most Holy Virgin, who, like a loving mother, in the circle of her children, will be there bestowing upon them an abundance of the gifts of concord and family peace.

14. Then the home of the Christian family, like that of Nazareth, will become an earthly abode of sanctity, and, so to speak, a sacred temple, where the Holy Rosary will not only be the particular prayer which every day rises to heaven in an odor of sweetness, but will also form the most efficacious school of Christian discipline and Christian virtue. This meditation on the Divine Mysteries of the Redemption will teach the adults to live, admiring daily the shining examples of Jesus and Mary, and to draw from these examples comfort in adversity, striving towards those heavenly treasures "where neither thief draws near, nor moth destroys" (Luke 12, 33). This meditation will bring to the knowledge of the little ones the main truths of the Christian Faith, making love for the Redeemer blossom almost spontaneously in their innocent hearts, while, seeing, their parents kneeling before the majesty of God, they will learn from their very early years how great before the throne of God is the value of prayers said in common.

15. We do not hesitate to affirm again publicly that We put great confidence in the Holy Rosary for the healing of evils which afflict our times. Not with force, not with arms, not with human power, but with Divine help obtained through the means of this prayer, strong like David with his sling, the Church undaunted shall be able to confront the infernal enemy, repeating to him the words of the young shepherd: "Thou comest to me with a sword, and a spear, and with a shield; but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of armies . . . and all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear, for this is his battle, and he will deliver you into our hands" (I Kings 17, 45-47)

16. For this reason, We earnestly desire, Venerable Brethren, that all the faithful, following your example and your exhortation should respond solicitously to Our paternal exhortation, uniting their hearts and their voices with the same ardor of charity. If the evils and the assaults of the wicked increase, so likewise must the piety of all good people increase and become ever more vigorous. Let them strive to obtain from our most loving Mother, especially through this form of prayer, that better times may quickly return for the Church and society.

17. May the very powerful Mother of God, moved by the prayers of so many of her sons, obtain from her only Son - let us all beseech her - that those who have miserably wandered from the path of truth and virtue may, with new fervor, find it again; that hatred and rivalry, which are the sources of discord and every kind of mishap, may be put aside, and that a true, just, and genuine peace may shine again upon individuals, families, peoples, and nations. And, finally, may she obtain that, after the rights of the Church have been secured in accord with justice, its beneficent influence may penetrate without obstacle the hearts of men, the social classes, and the avenues of public life so as to join people among themselves in brotherhood and lead them to that prosperity which regulates, preserves, and coordinates the rights and duties of all without harming anyone and which daily makes for greater and greater mutual friendship and collaboration.

18. Venerable Brethren and beloved sons, while you entwine new flowers of supplication by reciting your Rosary, do not forget those who languish miserably in prison camps, jails, and concentration camps. There are among them, as you know, also Bishops dismissed from their Sees solely for having heroically defended the sacred rights of God and the Church. There are sons, fathers and mothers, wrested from their homes and compelled to lead unhappy lives far away in unknown lands and strange climates.

19. Just as We love them with a special charity and embrace them with the love of a father, so must you, with a brotherly love which the Christian religion nourishes and enkindles, join with Us before the altar of the Virgin Mother of God and recommend them to her motherly heart. She doubtlessly will, with exquisite sweetness, revive in their hearts the hope of eternal reward and, We firmly believe, will not fail to hasten the end of so much sorrow.

20. We do not doubt that you, O Venerable Brethren, with your usual burning zeal, will bring to the knowledge of your clergy and people these Our paternal exhortations in a way which will appear most appropriate to you.

21. Feeling certain that Our sons throughout the world will respond willingly and generously to this Our invitation, We impart, from the fullness of Our heart and as an evidence of Our favor and an augury of heavenly graces, to each and every one of you, to the flock entrusted to each of you and particularly to those who, especially during the month of October, will devoutly recite the holy Rosary according to Our intentions, Our Apostolic Blessing.

Given in Rome, at St. Peter's, the 15th day of September, the Feast of the Seven Sorrows of the Virgin Mary, in the Year 1951, the 13th of Our pontificate.

Pope Pius XII on Bringing Up Children

Words of wisdom from the Holy Father Pope Pius XII on the proper Christian upbringing of children:

Address to a gathering of women of Catholic Action, teaching nuns, school mistresses and representatives of the children of Catholic Action, October 26, 1941 :

"It is a curious circumstance and, as Pope Pius XI remarked in his Encyclical, a lamentable one, that whereas no one would dream of suddenly becoming a mechanic or an engineer, a doctor or a lawyer, without any apprenticeship or preparation, yet every day there are numbers of young men and women who marry without giving an instant's thought to preparing themselves for the arduous work of educating their children which awaits them.

Fortunate the child whose mother stands by its cradle like a guardian angel to inspire and lead it in the path of goodness! And so, while we congratulate you upon what you have already achieved, we cannot but exhort you warmly and anew to develop those splendid organisations which are doing so much to provide for every rank and social class educators conscious of their high mission, in mind and bearing alert against evil and zealous to promote good. Such sentiments in a woman and a mother give her the right to that reverence and dignity which belong to a man's loyal helpmeet; such a mother is like a pillar, for she is the central support of the home; she is like a beacon whose light gives an example to the parish and brings illumination to the pious associations of which she is a member.

Especially opportune are those organisations of your Union of Catholic Action which seek to help and train the young wife before childbearing and during the infancy of her offspring. In this you are doing an angel's work, watching over the mother and the little one she bears within her, and then, when the baby comes, standing by the cot to help the mother as with breast and smile she feeds the body and soul of the tiny angel that Heaven has sent her.

To woman God has given the sacred mission, painful yet how joyous, of maternity; and to her too, more than to anyone else, is entrusted the first education of the child in its early months and years.

Of heredity, which may exercise such an influence upon the future cast of a child's character, we will not speak except to say that this hidden heritage sometimes points an accusing finger at the irregular life of the parents, who are thus gravely responsible for making it difficult for their offspring to lead
a truly Christian life.

Many of the moral characteristics which you see in the youth or the man owe their origin to the manner and circumstances of his first upbringing in infancy: purely organic habits contracted at that time may later prove a serious obstacle to the spiritual life of the soul. And so you will make
it your special care in the treatment of your child to observe the prescriptions of a perfect hygiene, so that when it comes to the use of reason its bodily organs and faculties will be healthy and robust and free from distorted tendencies. This is the reason why, except where it is quite impossible, it is most desirable that the mother should feed her child at her own breast. Who shall say what mysterious influences are exerted upon the growth of that little creature by the mother upon whom it depends entirely for its development.

Have you observed those little eyes, wide open, restlessly questioning, their glance darting from this thing to that, following a movement or a gesture, already expressing joy or pain, anger and obstinacy, and giving other signs of those little passions that nestle in the heart of man even before the tiny lips have learned to utter a word? This is perfectly natural. Notwithstanding what certain thinkers have maintained, we are not born endowed with knowledge or with the memories and dreams of a life already lived.

The mind of the child as it comes forth from its mother's womb is a page upon which nothing is written; from hour to hour as it passes on its way from the cradle to the tomb its eyes and other senses, internal and external, transmit the life of the world through their own vital activity, and will write upon that page the images and ideas of the things among which it lives. From that early age a loving look, a warning word, must teach the child not to yield to all its impressions, and as reason dawns it must learn to discriminate and to master the vagaries of its sensations; in a word, under the
guidance and admonition of the mother it must begin the work of its own education.

Train the mind of your children. Do not give them wrong ideas or wrong reasons for things. Whatever their questions may be, do not answer them with evasions or untrue statements, which their minds rarely accept, but take occasion from them lovingly and patiently to train their minds, which
want only to open to the truth and to grasp it with the first ingenuous gropings of their reasoning and reflective powers. Who can say what many a genius may not owe to the prolonged and trustful questionings of a childhood at the home fireside !

Train the character of your children. Correct their faults, encourage and cultivate their good qualities and co-ordinate them with that stability which will make for resolution in after life. Your children, conscious as they grow up and as they begin to think and will, that they are guided by a good parental will, constant and strong, free from violence and anger, not subject to weakness or inconsistency, will learn in time to see therein the interpreter of another and higher will, the will of God, and so they will plant in their souls the seeds of those early moral habits which fashion and sustain a character, train it to self-control in moments of crisis and to courage in the face of conflict or sacrifice, and imbue
it with a deep sense of Christian duty.

Train their hearts. Frequently the decision of a man's destiny, the ruin of his character or a grave danger threatening him may be traced to his childish years when his heart was spoiled by the fond flattery, silly fussing and foolish indulgence of misguided parents. The impressionable little heart became accustomed to see all things revolve and gravitate around it, to find all things yielding to its will and caprice, and so there took root in it that boundless egoism of which the parents themselves were later to become the first victims.

All this is often the just penalty of the selfishness of parents who deny their only child the joy of having little brothers and sisters who, sharing in the mother's love, would have accustomed him to think of others besides himself.

But the day will come when the childish heart will feel fresh impulses stirring within it; new desires will disturb the serenity of those early years. In that time of trial, Christian mothers, remember that to train the heart means to train the will to resist the attacks of evil and the insidious temptations of passion. During that period of transition from the unconscious purity of infancy to the triumphant purity of adolescence you have a task of the highest importance to fulfil. You have to prepare your sons and daughters so that they may pass with unfaltering step, like those who pick their way among serpents, through that time of crisis and physical change; and pass through it without losing anything of the joy of innocence, preserving intact that natural instinct of modesty with which Providence has girt them as a check upon wayward passion.

That sense of modesty, which in its spontaneous abhorrence from the impure is akin to the sense of religion, is made of little account in these days; but you, mothers, will take care that they do not lose it through indecency in dress or self adornment, through unbecoming familiarities or immoral spectacles; on the contrary, you will seek to make it more delicate and alert, more upright and sincere. You will keep a watchful eye on their steps. You will not suffer the whiteness of their souls to be stained and contaminated by corrupt and corrupting company. You will inspire them with a high esteem and jealous love for purity, advising them to commend themselves to the sure and motherly protection of the Immaculate Virgin.

Finally, with the discretion of a mother and a teacher, and thanks to the open-hearted confidence with which you have been able to inspire your children, you will not fail to watch for and to discern the moment in which certain unspoken questions have occurred to their minds and are troubling their senses. It will then be your duty to your daughters, the father's duty to your sons, carefully and delicately to unveil the truth as far as it appears necessary, to give a prudent, true and Christian answer to those questions, and set their minds at rest. If imparted by the lips of Christian parents, at the proper time, in the proper measure, and with the proper precautions, the revelation of the mysterious and marvellous laws of life will be received by them with reverence and gratitude, and will enlighten their minds with far less danger than if they learned them haphazard, from some disturbing encounter, from secret conversations, through information received from over-sophisticated companions, or from clandestine reading, the more dangerous and pernicious as secrecy
inflames the imagination and troubles the senses. Your words, if they are wise and discreet, will prove a safeguard and a warning in the midst of the temptations and the corruption which surround them, "because foreseen, an arrow comes more slowly".

But in this great work of the Christian education of your sons and daughters you well understand that training in the home, however wise, however thorough, is not enough. It needs to be supplemented and perfected by the powerful aid of religion. From the moment of baptism the priest possesses the authority of a spiritual father and a pastor over your children, and you must co-operate with him in teaching them those first rudiments of catechism and piety which are the only basis of a solid education, and of which you, the earliest teachers of your children, ought to have a sufficient and sure
knowledge. You cannot teach what you do not know yourselves. Teach them to love God, to love Christ, to love our Mother the Church and the pastors of the Church who are your guides. Love the catechism and teach your children to love it; it is the great handbook of the love and fear of God,
of Christian wisdom and of eternal life.

In your work of education, which is many sided, you will feel the need and the obligation of having recourse to others to help you. Choose helpers who are Christians like yourselves, and choose them with all the care that is called for by the treasure which you are entrusting to them: you are committing to them the faith, the purity and the piety of your children. But when you have chosen them you must not think that you are henceforth liberated from your duty and your vigilance: you must co-operate with them.

Some mothers may say children are so difficult to manage nowadays! I can do nothing with that son of mine; that daughter of mine is impossible ! Admittedly many boys and girls at the age of twelve or fifteen show themselves intractable. But why? Because when they were two or three years old they were allowed to do as they pleased. True, some temperaments are ungrateful and rebellious; but however unresponsive, however obstinate, he is still your child. Would you love him any the less than his brothers and sisters if he were sickly or deformed? God has given him to you; see that you do not treat him as the outcast of the family. No child is so unruly that he cannot be trained with care, patience and love; and it will rarely happen that even the stoniest and most unpromising soil will not bear some flower of submission and virtue, if only an unreasonable severity does not run the risk of exterminating the seed of good will which even the proudest soul has hidden within it.

The whole education of your children would be ruined were they to discover in their parents and their eyes are sharp enough to see any signs of favouritism, undue preferences, or antipathies in regard to any of them. For your own good and for the good of the family it must be clear that, whether you use measured severity or give encouragement and caresses, you have an equal love for all, a love which
makes no distinction save for the correction of evil or for the encouragement of good. Have you not received them all equally from God?

What a majestic figure is that of the mother in the home as she fulfils her destiny at the cradle side, the nurse and teacher of her little ones! Hers is truly a task full of labour, and we should be tempted to deem her unequal to it were it not for the grace of God which is ever at hand to enlighten, direct and sustain her in her daily anxieties and toil; were it not too for those other educators, mother-like in spirit and energy, whom she calls to aid her in the formation of these youthful souls. Imploring God to fill you to overflowing with His graces and to give increase to your manifold labours on behalf of the young entrusted to you, we grant you from our heart, as a pledge of heavenly favours, our fatherly Apostolic Blessing."

Modernist tactics according to "Pascendi Dominici Gregis" by St Pius X

As part of my ongoing series of posts on Pope St Pius X, canonized by Pius XII on May 29, 1954, (see here) today I would like to address the encyclical "Pascendi Dominici Gregis" of St Pius X dealing with the errors and insidious tactics of the modernists. The points made in the encyclical are of great relevance for understanding the problems in the modern church, infested as it with the ideology of modernism. And it is precisely because, as St Pius X points out, that modernists want to stay inside the Church that they are able so effectively to spread their poison throughout the veins of the Church, and hence why they are so dangerous. They achieve this by cloaking their well-formed set of doctrines in ambiguity or confusion, giving one the impression of plausible deniability.

As we head into the "synod of doom" in October, the tactics of the modernists are important to bear in mind, as we will hear notions of applying false "mercy" to those living in a state of adultery, other irregular unions, and even sodomy, under ambiguous, confused and misleading language, but that will ultimately have one clear purpose in mind: to widen the narrow and straight path that leads to Heaven for "modern man", who is unwilling to deny himself, pick up his cross, and follow Our Lord on the path to Calvary.

This article by Fr. Francois Knittel was originally published in the April 2004 issue of the "Angelus Magazine":

"Modernist tactics according Pascendi Gregis

We wish to honor Pope St. Pius X, the first canonized pontiff that the good Lord gave us since St. Pius V, by remembering his teachings. The task is not easy, since the teachings of his 11-year pontificate are abundant: his Catechism;[1] frequent Communion[2] and at an early age;[3] Catholic Action;[4] devotion to Our Lady;[5] the responsibility of those who govern the Church;[6] the Priesthood;[7] the doctrine of St. Thomas of Aquinas[8] and that of many others.
Some of the most interesting of St. Pius X's teachings to recall are those on Modernism. The three documents vital to the subject are Lamentabili Sane (July 3, 1907), Pascendi Dominici Gregis (Sept. 8, 1907), and Sacrorum Antistium (the "Oath Against Modernism", Sept. 1, 1910). Without any doubt, the most well-known aspect of this teaching on Modernism is the description that St. Pius X gives of the successive faces of the Modernist: the philosopher, believer, theologian, critic, apologist, and reformer. It is a long and arduous text that measures up to the challenge which confronted the Church and its magisterium.
As for us, we will emphasize what St. Pius X wrote on the tactics of the Modernists. The holy Pope was worried not only about the doctrinal aspects of this question, but also about the progress of this error in minds and hearts. How could a doctrine so complex, overwhelming, and contrary to the natural structure of human intelligence have such dissemination? How can we justify all the new measures taken by the Pope—Anti-Modernist Oath, vigilance counsels, exclusion of Modernists from the priesthood and teaching positions, prohibition to publish, control over priestly conventions—knowing that the Church always had to fight against one heresy or other in the course of its history? Why such particular treatment? From the very beginning of his encyclical on Modernism, St. Pius X said:

Still it must be confessed that the number of the enemies of the Cross of Christ has in this days increased exceedingly, who are striving, by arts, entirely new and full of subtlety, to destroy the vital energy of the Church, and, if they can, to overthrow utterly Christ's kingdom itself.[9]

What are these new arts full of subtlety used by the Modernists unmasked by the Pontiff?

Enemies within

Above all, they are the enemy inside the Church itself. For if we consult our catechism, we will see that those who are outside the Church are the infidels, the heretics, the schismatics, and the apostates. Some were never part of the Church (infidels), some abandoned the Church because of their sins against the Faith (heretics and apostates), or against charity (schismatics), but all, some sooner than others, separated themselves from the Church. That very same separation had the advantage of clarifying the situation and alerting the Catholic faithful against the teachings and actions of these “devouring wolves.”
Nothing of the sort happened with the Modernists whose primary characteristic is to try to stay within the Church at all cost:

That we make no delay in this matter is rendered necessary especially by the fact that the partisans of error are to be sought not only among the Church's open enemies; they lie hid, a thing to be deeply deplored and feared, in her very bosom and heart, and are the more mischievous, the less conspicuous they appear.[10]
[W]e allude... to many who belong to the Catholic laity, nay, and this is far more lamentable, to the ranks of the priesthood itself,... and lost to all sense of modesty, vaunt themselves as reformers of the Church.
...And this policy they follow willingly and wittingly, both because it is part of their system that authority is to be stimulated but not dethroned, and because it is necessary for them to remain within the ranks of the Church in order that they may gradually transform the collective conscience—thus unconsciously avowing that the common conscience is not with them, and that they have no right to claim to be its interpreters.[11]

Thus it is obvious that there is a firm desire not to get out of the visible structure of the Church, so that they can, at their whim, modify it from the inside. These are the wolves mentioned by Our Lord, “in the clothing of sheep” (Mt. 7:15). Their dissimulation is not accidental, but essential to their works; without it they could not do anything.

Destroying the Catholic Faith itself

By remaining within the Church under false pretenses, the Modernists try to modify, and thus destroy, the Catholic Faith. Their attacks are not going to be against an institution or a dogma in particular, but will aim at the very virtue of faith:

Moreover they lay the axe not to the branches and shoots, but to the very root, that is, to the faith and its deepest fires. And having struck at this root of immortality, they proceed to disseminate poison through the whole tree, so that there is no part of Catholic Truth from which they hold their hand, none that they do not strive to corrupt.[12]
Certainly this suffices to show superabundantly by how many roads Modernism leads to the annihilation of all religion. The first step in this direction was taken by Protestantism; the second is made by Modernism; the next will plunge headlong into atheism.[13]
And now, can anybody who takes a survey of the whole system be surprised that We should define it as the synthesis of all heresies? Were one to attempt the task of collecting together all the errors that have been broached against the faith and to concentrate the sap and substance of them all into one, he could no better succeed than the Modernists have done.[14]

It is true that any heresy destroys the Catholic Faith by implicitly doubting the authority of God the Revealer. For if we believe in the revealed truths (Trinity, Incarnation, Redemption, Holy Eucharist, etc.) it is not by personal taste, whim, or opinion, nor because said truths are evident. The only true motive that makes us believe without the shadow of a doubt is precisely the authority of God, who cannot lie, who cannot be in error, who cannot be ignorant. But to deny a dogma is the equivalent of denying God, who unveiled His mysteries for us, His inerrancy and infallibility. It is in that sense that willful heresy will result in the loss of the virtue of faith.
Modernism, as St. Pius X teaches, not only will result in the loss of the virtue of faith like any other heresy, but will even make the existence of said virtue impossible. In Modernism, everything is reduced to a natural dimension, everything is enclosed in the subject, everything is borne out of the desires coming from the depth of consciousness. There is no longer any room for supernatural, mysterious, external, and objective realities. The problem is no longer on this or that particular point of doctrine or morals, but it is the very possibility of the act of faith as defined by our catechism which is destroyed.

Hence “there is no part of Catholic truth which they do not strive to destroy.” Hence also the definition of Modernism as “the synthesis of all heresies.” Hence finally, the ultimate consequence of this revolutionary movement is “atheism.”

Smokescreen of confusion in Modernist doctrine

At the service of his will to effect the radical subversion of Catholic doctrine within the Church, the Modernist will use several subterfuges. First, he will mix in his speeches and writings, in a strange and dangerous fashion, Catholicism and Rationalism. What is Rationalism? Pope Pius IX defined it in the Syllabus of Errors (1864) as:

Human reason, without any reference whatsoever to God, is the sole arbiter of truth and falsehood, and of good and evil; it is law to itself, and suffices, by its natural forces, to secure the welfare of men and nations. (Condemned Propostion No. 3)

Upon reading this definition of Rationalism, we cannot but notice the radical opposition between Rationalism and the Catholic Faith. One of the infallible signs betraying the Modernist character of an author or some writing, is precisely that adulterous union between Catholicism and Rationalism:

For they double the part of the rationalist and Catholic, and this so craftily that they easily lead the unwary into error.[15]
Hence, in their books you find some things that might well be expressed by a Catholic, but in the next page you will find other things which might have been dictated by a rationalist.[16]

This adulterous union between Catholic thought and rationalist thought is the direct result of the Modernist's will to stay within the Church in order to change the Faith from inside. To speak clearly against the Faith would immediately render them visible and mark them in everyone's eyes with the infamous seal of heresy and apostasy! That is why they never speak clearly.
Every Modernist sustains and comprises within himself many personalities which appear and disappear according to the necessities of the cause and the opportunities of the moment. It is this evidence which gave the encyclical Pascendi its particular structure. To reveal the Modernist in hiding, St. Pius X had to explain in detail all the disguises, tricks and feints used by the Modernist to avoid the judgment of the Magisterium:

It must be first noted that every Modernist sustains and comprises within himself many personalities: he is a philosopher, a believer, a theologian, an historian, a critic, an apologist, a reformer. These roles must be clearly distinguished from one another by all who would accurately know their system and thoroughly comprehend the principles and consequences of their doctrines.[17]

Lastly, the final trait of the Modernist: he gives the impression that his doctrines lack global vision. Thus, in the eyes of an unwary Catholic, the doctrines of the Modernists will appear fluctuating, insecure, indecisive, and even contradictory. Pope Pius X did not share that view as he explained in several instances:

But since the Modernists... employ a very clever artifice, namely, to present their doctrines without order and systematic arrangement into one whole, scattered and disjointed one from another, so as to appear to be in doubt and uncertainty, while in reality they are firm and steadfast, it will be of ad vantage... to bring their teachings together here into one group, and to point out the connection between them, and thus to pass an examination of the sources of the errors, and to prescribe remedies for averting the evil.[18]
In the writing and addresses they seem not infrequently to advocate now one doctrine now another so that one would be disposed to regard them as vague and doubtful. But there is a reason for this, and it is to be found in their ideas as to the mutual separation of science and faith.[19]
It may be... that some may think We have dwelt too long on this exposition of the doctrines of the Modernists. But it was necessary, both in order to refute their customary charge that We do not understand their ideas, and to show that their system does not consist in scattered and unconnected theories but in a perfectly organized body, all the parts of which are solidly joined so that it is not possible to admit one without admitting all.[20]

Undoubtedly, one of the benefits of Pascendi Gregis was to show the Modernist doctrine in all its scope and as a coherent system. To stick one's finger into the Modernist machinery is to lose your whole body. To be Modernist in history will lead, little by little, to become so in exegesis and philosophy as well. The adulterous union between Catholic principles and rationalist principles is a fundamental perversion very frequently condemned by the Popes.

Practice of Modernism

After showing us how the Modernists are the enemy within, who endanger the very Faith without ever giving a global overview of their system, Pope Pius X unmasked three practical points that make the Modernists actions particularly dangerous. When in spite of their deceptions, some Modernists are unmasked by the authority, called to public retractation, or even publicly condemned, they usually give the appearance of submission to the measures that affect them:

But you know how fruitless has been Our action. They bowed their head for a moment but it was soon uplifted more arrogantly than ever.[21]
And thus, here again a way must be found to save the full rights of authority on the one hand and of liberty on the other. In the meanwhile the proper course for the Catholic will be to proclaim publicly his profound respect for authority-and continue to follow his own bent.[22]
And so they go their own way, reprimands and condemnations notwithstanding, masking an incredible audacity under a mock semblance of humility. While they make a show of bowing their heads, their hands and minds are more intent than ever on carrying out their purposes.[23]

That apparent submission is perfectly coherent with the deliberate decision of the Modernists to stay in the Church. If they rebelled against authority or openly despised the truths of our Faith, they would thus unmask themselves. That apparent submission to the decisions of the authorities, even hard penalties, is a key element of Modernist tactics.
The other side of the coin in that the return of a Modernist to the totality of the Faith is always doubtful. How can one be certain of the sincerity of such a conversion when dissimulation and hypocrisy are at the root of the system? Didn't all these fashionable Modernist theologians of the last 50 years repeatedly swear the Anti-Modernist Oath: Chenu, Rahner, Congar, Küng, Drewerman and Boff, to mention a few? With that apparent submission to the authorities, Modernists frequently lead as well an externally exemplary life:

To this must be added the fact, which indeed is well calculated to deceive souls, that they lead a life of the greatest activity, of assiduous and ardent application to every branch of learning, and that they possess, as a rule, a reputation for the strictest morality.[24]

Here, too, they could not remain in the Church without apparently keeping the discipline of the Church and its way of life. The apostate or the one who seeks laicization will bring himself to the attention of the Catholic faithful.
In virtue of the necessary connection between what one thinks and what one does, it is legitimate to think that this exemplary life is nothing but external. Let us recall for instance, the weird relations maintained by Teilhard de Chardin, Karl Rahner,[25] or Hans Urs von Balthasar,[26] and of the prince of liberation theologians, the Franciscan Leonardo Boff who recently abandoned the priesthood.[27]

Attracting public opinion

The last Modernist tactic indicated by Pope Pius X is the manipulation of public opinion. This manipulation is done in two phases:

1. It is necessary to silence any serious opponent of Modernism. Any serious debate with said opponent will be avoided, his works opposed to Modernism will not be mentioned, and their publication will even be prevented if possible, and
2. at the same time, every Modernist speech or book will be praised to the sky. The use and multiplication of pen names used by some Modernist authors will give the impression of a wave of opinion, when frequently, in fact, we are dealing with a few authors singing one another's praises.

...[t]he boundless effrontery of these men. Let one but open his mouth and the others applaud him in chorus, proclaiming that science has made another step forward; let an outsider but hint at a desire to inspect the new discovery with his own eyes, and they are on him in a body; deny it, and you are an ignoramus; embrace and defend it, and there is no praise too warm for you. In this way they win over any who, did they but realize what they are doing, would shrink back with horror.[28]
But of all the insults they heap on them, those of ignorance and obstinacy are the favorites. When an adversary rises up against them with an erudition and force that render him redoubtable, they try to make a conspiracy of silence around him to nullify the effects of his attacks, while in flagrant contrast with this policy towards Catholics, they load with constant praise the writers who range themselves on their side.[29]
When one of their numbers falls under the condemnation of the Church the rest of them, to the horror of good Catholics, gather round him, heap public praise upon him, venerate him almost as a martyr to truth.[30]
Under their own names and under pseudonyms they publish numbers of books, newspapers, reviews, and sometimes one and the same writer adopts a variety of pseudonyms to trap the incautious reader into believing in a whole multitude of Modernist writers.[31]

When truth is no longer the measure of the validity of an argument, then there is no other way than to look for palliatives to cover its intrinsic weakness. In an era of democracy, truth does not count for much, only the majority; neither does honesty, only power and fame. On the contrary, woe to those who do not blow with the prevalent winds of history. Woe to those who do not board the great ship of progress. They will be buried alive in a lead coffin. They will not find publishers for their books, nor a single magazine for their articles, no chair for them to teach, and the faithful will never hear their voice even though it is the voice of the Good Shepherd.

A secret society?

To conclude his analysis of Modernist tactics with practical advice, Pope Pius X called for the unmasking of Modernism. Faced with such hypocritical and deceitful error, only one thing needs to be done: bring it out to the light of day so that all can see its evil.

We must now break silence, in order to expose before the whole Church in their true colors those men who have assumed this evil disguise.[32]

It is very interesting to compare this order of the Holy Pontiff with that of his predecessor Pope Leo XIII in the encyclical Humanum Genus in condemnation of Freemasonry:

We wish it to be your rule first of all to tear away the mask from Freemasonry, and to let it be seen as it really is.[33]

The comparison of these two texts—one on Modernism and the other on Freemasonry—does suggest a similarity between these two revolutionary events. The two Pontiffs seems to suggest a kinship between the Masonic sect and the Modernist sect. Perhaps some will think excessive the use of the expression “Modernist sect.” However, here too, we are only echoing the teachings of Pope St. Pius X:

We think it is obvious to every bishop that the type of men called Modernists, whose personality was described in the encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis, have not stopped agitating in order to disturb the peace of the Church. Nor have they ceased to recruit followers to the extent of forming an underground group. In this way they are injecting the virus of their doctrine into the veins of Christian society, publishing books and articles either unsigned or under false names. A fresh and careful reading of Our said encyclical reveals clearly that this deliberate shrewdness is to be expected from those men We described in it. They are enemies all the more formidable as they are so close. They take advantage of their ministry by offering their poisoned food and catching the unguarded by surprise. They supply a false doctrine which is the compendium of all errors.[34]

Thus, St. Pius X did speak of the Modernists as an “underground group.” Few authors have noticed and examined this detail. In an article of April 1964, Jean Madiran did made the following observations:

In the encyclical Pascendi, Pope Pius X mentioned several times and in various manners the “occult” action of Modernists. Is it a secret society in the strict sense? The encyclical Pascendi implies it though does not affirm it clearly.
Three years later, however, this formal accusation was made by Pope Pius X (Sacrorum Antistitum of Sept. 1, 1910):
[the] Modernists, whose personality was described in the encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis, have not stopped agitating in order to disturb the peace of the Church. Neither have they ceased to recruit followers to the extent of forming an underground group.
...We have consulted books and magazines that gave the “history” or the “results” of Modernism since World War II: we did not find any mention of this specific aspect of the question. Not only is the secret society is omitted, but the presentation of Modernism made by many authors implicitly denied it ever existed. It is denied by the fact that their presentation of Modernism is incompatible with the existence of the secret society of Modernists. They do mention writers, investigators, editors, and clergymen undoubtedly in error, but guileless souls: certainly true for many, but insufficient to explain the historical phenomenon of Modernism. It does not explain its organized preponderance, nor the concerted campaigns, nor the medley of insults and praises, nor the premeditated tactics, nor the occult activities described in the encyclical Pascendi. Neither does it explain the accusation of “underground group” of the Motu Proprio of Sept. 1, 1910 [Sacrorum Antistitum].
All the stories of the Modernist crisis, these “analyses” of Modernism, and the judgments expressed have been radically corrupted because of the systematic ignorance and dissimulation of such an important element of judgment... By hiding the existence of the secret society, the historians obviously did not shed any light on its disappearance.
Nonetheless, this is an unresolved historical question, indeed, an open question, that is, when did the secret society of Modernists cease to exist? We cannot even ask if they were “reconstituted” at a later date, for to be reconstituted it is necessary to have ceased to exist; but we do not know if and when it was dissolved. Not only is no answer given, but the question itself is not even raised.
Historians of the crisis think that the encyclical Pascendi in 1907 mortally wounded Modernism and that that was the end of it, and even too brutal and complete of an end. That was not the position of Pope Pius X who, three years later, on Sept. 1, 1910, clearly affirmed: “Nor have they ceased to recruit followers to the extent of forming an underground group.” They had not ceased. But then, when did they cease? Or did they ever cease?[35]

The Modernist is an apostate and a traitor

In conclusion, we will let Fr. Calmel, O.P., give us a panoramic view of the question of Modernism in its theological, moral, spiritual, and tactical aspects:

The classic heretic—Arius, Nestorius, Luther—even if he had some wistful desire to remain in the Catholic Church, did everything necessary to be ousted. He fought openly against Divine Revelation, the sacred deposit of which is guarded by the Church. The heretic, or more accurately the Modernist apostate like a Loisy or Teilhard de Chardin, deliberately rejects the whole doctrine of the Church, but desires to remain in the Church and takes the necessary measures to stay in. He dissembles and feigns with the hope of changing the Church in the long run—or, as the Jesuit Teilhard de Chardin wrote, to rectify the Faith — from the inside. The Modernist has in common with other heretics the rejection of Catholic Revelation. But he differentiates himself from other heretics, because he hides this rejection. We must insist on this: the Modernist is an apostate and a traitor.
You may ask, “Since the position of the Modernists is fundamentally disloyal, how can he keep it all his life without destroying his internal mental balance?” Is psychological balance compatible with a perpetually maintained duplicity in the most supreme questions? We must answer that yes it is, as far as the ringleaders are concerned.
With respect to the followers, the question of the psychological imbalance within a never-failing hypocrisy is less acute. When these followers are priests—alas, only too frequently—they usually end up marrying, thus putting an end to the necessity of dissimulation. For once they are married, they will continue to be apostate, but will stop being Modernists. Things become clearer with respect to them. They no longer have to fake the virtues of a Catholic priest.
Concerning the ringleaders, prelates with important charges, if they can practice their Modernism without serious damage, it is with a doubt because they are distracted by accomplices who never get tired of singing their praises. Distracted from looking at themselves, they manage to escape the burning questions of a slowly dying moral conscience.
In any case, the blindness of the mind and the hardening of the heart will always be the end of the road, but without necessarily leading to dementia. We are certain that closing oneself in spiritual darkness does not happen at once, but it is prepared slowly by numerous acts of resistance to grace. This divine chastisement is merited by numerous sins. What is more, if any other sinner can recognize himself as such and beg divine mercy, we must admit that a sinner of that type cannot convert if not for a great miracle of grace: a very rare one.

Translated for Angelus Press by Fr. Jaime Pazat de Lys of the Society of St. Pius X. The author, Fr. Francis Knittel, was ordained for the Society of St. Pius X in 1989 and a former District Superior of Mexico.
BOOK: One Hundred Years of Modernism >
Footnotes
1 Acerbo Nimis (April 15, 1905).
2 Sacra Tridentina Synodus (Dec. 20, 1905).
3 Quam Singulari (Aug. 8, 1910).
4 Il Fermo Proposito (June 11, 1905).
5 Ad Diem Ilium Laetissimum (Feb. 2, 1904).
6 Jucunda Sane (Mar. 12, 1904).
7 Haerent Animo (Aug. 4, 1908).
8 Doctoris Angelicis (June 29, 1914).
9 Pascendi Dominici Gregis, ed. Claudia Carlin (Pierian Press), p. 71.
10 Ibid., col. 2.
11 Ibid., p. 83, col. 2.
12 Ibid., p. 72, col. 1.
13 Ibid., p. 90, col. 1.
14 Ibid., p. 89, col. 1.
15 Ibid., p. 72, col. 1.
16 Ibid., p. 78, cols. 1,2.
17 Ibid., p. 72, col. 2.
18 Ibid., p. 72, col 2.
19 Ibid., p. 78,col. 1.
20 Ibid., p. 88, col. 1.
21 AW., p. 72, col. 1.
22 AW, p. 82, col. 1.
23 AW., p. 83, col. 2.
24 Ibid., p. 72, col. 1.
25 Courrier de Rome, (March 1995), p. 8.
26 Si Si No No, Italian ed., (Dec. 1992), p. 7.
27 Translator's note: He died shortly thereafter.
28 Pascendi, p. 86, col. 2.
29 Ibid., p. 9l, col. 2; p. 92, col 1.
30 Ibid., p.92, col. 1.
31 Ibid., p. 92, col. 1.
32 AW., p. 72, cols. 1, 2.
33 The Papal Encyclicals, vol. 2 (Pierian Press), p. 99, col. 2.
34 Sacrorum Antistitum (Sept. 1, 1910), The Doctrinal Writings of St. Pius X (Manilla, Philippine Islands: Sinag-tala Publishers, 1974).
35 Author's translation of a Spanish translation (for which he could not find a reference) of an article originally in French.