by T. Stanfill Benns | Aug 26, 2021 | New Blog
+St. Louis, King+
A reader identified only as “anonymous” has leveled a charge that the last published blog could be taken as defamation against Traditionalists. I have no obligation whatsoever to address anything coming to me anonymously; newspapers will not even publish anonymous letters to the editor. But to set the record straight and be totally transparent myself, I think it is important to make some distinctions as suggested by this person below.
Define what you mean by the terms “anti-semite,” “Neo-Nazi,” and “white supremacist.”
Do not take me to task for definitions regarding anti-Semitism. The definitions of the terms used in the last blog on John 23 as the founder of Traditionalism are in total keeping with the Church’s own definitions on this topic. If you are going to accuse someone of defamation, get your facts straight. I am not the one who defined those terms, at least the term anti-Semitic; it was Pope Pius XI (see below). The other two terms can be taken from their current obvious meaning. Neo-Nazi means the new Nazis, those professing Nazi or fascist beliefs or sympathies post World War II. White supremacy, which resurged in the US in the 1950s-60s, is simply a term that grew out of that movement. It is usually associated with the “White Power” movement — the KKK, various neo-Nazi organizations, and the religious Christian Identity groups. Some of these sects have reportedly aligned themselves with Islamic groups. The Christian Identity groups are those most likely, in my opinion to be “skinheads,” or Aryan Nation types.
Perhaps you would like to define the word Catholic for me. Sorry, but I do not consider Traditionalists as Catholic – anyone seriously studying this site knows that. They also should know that the only definitions I hold are those provided by approved authors, the teachings of the Roman Pontiffs and the ecumenical councils, also Canon Law. I have never said Traditionalists planned to slaughter Jews, although I do know many blame them for the destruction of the Church. They thereby justify any ill-feeling this generates as a defense of the faith, and if taken to extremes I am simply warning this could be dangerous and is indeed dangerous given the present state of affairs. I simply quoted a source that merely warned of this alarming trend among Traditionalists, written three decades ago. This is confirmed by my own personal experience, on many different occasions, of this very phenomenon over the past 40 years. I can easily support this with existing evidence.
Are you saying that Fr. Coughlin harbored hatred or genocidal intentions toward Jews? Are you saying that people who attend traditionalist chapels… are haters and potential murderers?
Maybe you should read what Coughlin wrote and what Traditionalists read and believe and answer that question for yourself. Coughlin was brought up short and silenced by no less than the future Pope Pius XII, and after Pacelli’s election Coughlin accused him of favoring Communism. One biographer writing about Coughlin called Henry Ford “a very close friend” of Coughlin’s, and Ford received one of the highest military honors in Germany from Hitler himself. Coughlin was accused of siding with the Germans in one of his radio speeches because he excused them for their sanctions against the Jews (in 1938, before World War II broke out), arguing they were necessary to combat supposed Communism in Germany, which many believed the Jews helped engineer.
Ford also was an open proponent of British Israelism. According to Wikipedia and as evidenced by Ford’s own work, The International Jew, William J. Cameron (1878–1955), publicist for Henry Ford, advocated British Israelism in Ford-sponsored publications. British Israelism is listed on Lady Queensborough’s Masonic pyramid as a lower level of Masonic initiation. So was Coughlin not only anti-Jew but also a Masonic sympathizer? Read the historic works my friend and stop making such foolish comments! The evidence is there. Even Catholics at the time were critical of Coughlin and interpreted his stance as anti-Semitic, and certainly Ford was a known anti-Semite. Was Coughlin agitating for the extermination of the Jews? Certainly not. But he was accused of fomenting unrest and dislike, even hatred for them, in his speeches.
Now we come to the beliefs of Traditionalists, the ones who for decades have used The Plot Against the Church by Maurice Pinay as practically the founding document of their movement. This book has been promoted by Traditionalists on the web since the 1990s but has been pulled from some sites because of the recent political climate. It is available on many different platforms today. If you want to read a work that could be classified as anti-Semitic work, read that book. Then compare it to what Pope Pius XI describes below as the definition of anti-Semitism. I am not going to engage in a semantic war with you over the definition of the word hate, which Pius XI mentions. This word appears in Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Seventh Edition, issued in 1934 as follows: “To feel an intense aversion to; to detest or abhor.” And under hatred: “Strong aversion or detestation coupled with ill will.” This makes it contemporaneous with Pius XI’s use of this word. Notice there is no reference whatsoever to potential murder, nor did I intend to ever suggest that this was the case. I challenge you to point to one thing in that blog that would lead anyone to believe this is what I was suggesting. The death factor came to be identified with the anti-Semitism term after Hitler’s “final solution.”
All I was attempting to point out is exactly what other Catholic writers pointed out to Fr. Coughlin in the 1930s: aligning oneself with these openly anti-Jewish groups can rile more volatile types among Catholics to violence. But while many hated the Jews and still do, unfortunately, this does not mean the majority entertain homicidal tendencies toward them; only this more easily agitated minority. Most Catholics may want the openly anti-Christian sects among them suppressed, yes, and wish for the conversion of all Jews; but they do not want them imprisoned or murdered. No true Catholic could ever promote such a thing. What I referred to in my article that is driving Traditionalists underground is their association with those known white supremacist (Christian identity) groups now classified as domestic terrorists. That is a real concern, but they should not pretend that in going underground “into the catacombs” it is because of their Catholic faith, because they are not truly Catholic. On the contrary, it is because they are aligning themselves with an heretical group known to be Masonic that they fear retribution. And that is quite a different scenario.
There are voluminous papal writings condemning Jewish subversion.
Not so voluminous as you pretend. I commented on this claim in a previous article at https://www.betrayedcatholics.com/what-the-popes-teach-about-the-jews/ Yes, a good number of popes condemned Jewish incursions into the Church and their efforts to subjugate Catholics, as they were bound to do. The majority of them, however, remained silent on this topic. If you want a true Catholic definition of anti-Semitism, here is Pope Pius XI’s teaching on this subject, taken form the booklet below, written in 1944, by an approved Catholic author:
This is what the Church teaches on anti-Semitism and how she defines it. If anyone would like a copy of the entire booklet, I would be happy to provide it. Yes, those who call for mass conversion or death may have been included in this definition of hatred, The popes, however, forbade forced baptism of the Jews. And no rightly believing stay-at-home Catholic today calls for such conversion. How would such mass conversion even be possible today? Without the visible Church to accept such converts there is nothing to convert to!
by T. Stanfill Benns | Aug 16, 2021 | New Blog
+Feast of St. Joachim+
The latest false pope braying over the internet, Jacobus I, claims no one can prove Roncalli was a Freemason therefore he and his mass cannot be questioned. Forget the fact that Roncalli was the first to allow the insertion of the words “for all men” into the consecration of the wine in dialogue mass missalettes used by the faithful. This was one of the first acts he performed in January of 1959, following his election, at about the same time he appointed the future Paul 6 as a “cardinal.” Makes a person wonder doesn’t it? Dear Jacobus and his mindless followers forget that no one needs to prove ANYTHING regarding Roncalli’s Masonic connection: the Church has already weighed in on this. A doubtful pope is no pope and infallible papal documents defining the nature of elections and the inability of even suspected heretics to be elected cannot be questioned. If he truly knew Canon Law and his Faith, he would know this.
There is a reason why Traditionalists are so anxious to keep dear Angelo Roncalli as a true pope and his corrupted missal as a true Mass. Has anyone ever questioned why Society of St. Pius X hacks so strenuously defend Marcel Lefebvre against the charge of Freemasonry, but seem to simply brush off allegations of heresy? Or why they have worked for decades to discredit the Bull of Pope Paul IV, Cum ex Apostolatus Officio, as non-infallible and abrogated by the Code of Canon Law? All these issues have been addressed by this author for over three decades and not once has anyone presented a scintilla of evidence to prove otherwise. Roncalli was a known liberal on a Holy Office watch list, and that is not enough for them? It tells us what they are. As a suspected heretic he could never have been validly elected. He proved himself a friend of the Masonic sect both before and after his election, was a known Communist sympathizer and that is not enough either.
We are not the ones that have to prove anything; the burden of proof rests with them. We are the ones following the rules. When it involves a matter of faith, they must prove that the danger to the faith does not exist, not us (Canons 2200: “Given the external violation of the law the evil will is presumed in the external forum;” also Canon 21). They are the ones claiming a pope can be deposed, or rather deposes himself for heresy in the chair, (which cannot happen but let us take their erroneous claim to its logical conclusion). If a pope is automatically deposed, then most certainly a cardinal also loses his dignity, as Pope Paul IV teaches in his Cum ex Apostolatus Officio. And while cardinals may be exempt from censures, this cannot and does not apply to deviations from the faith. But Traditionalists cannot follow logic, nor do they have any intention of doing so. When questioned they simply intone “You must obey.” Well it is God and His law we must obey, not mindless men. They pretend that their “theologians” can refute these teachings with probable arguments. But please explain how the clear words of the Roman Pontiffs could ever be said to be a “probable conjecture about an uncertain affair,” when the Roman Pontiff is the Supreme Lawgiver and one can never DOUBT these teachings without falling into heresy!
We have no need to stand by presumption in the case of Roncalli’s validity; the case presented is grounded in irrefutable pontifical and conciliar teaching. This is superior to any presumption of law; it is perfect proof that cannot be overcome. This is clearly stated in Canons 1812, 1816 and 1819; pontifical documents properly entered into the AAS are considered official documents and they cannot be overcome as proofs. Those decisions concerning the law entered into the Acta Apostolica Sedis are considered authentic, (Can. 9; Humani Generis). They are binding in conscience and are to be held with at least a firm assent, (Can. 9; Msgr. J.C. Fenton, J.C.L, Rev. Billot and Rev. Connell as well as others). Canon 1812 tells us that acts issuing from the Roman Pontiff and the Roman Curia during the exercise of their office and entered as proof in ecclesiastical courts “prove the facts asserted,” (Can. 1816), and force the judge to pronounce in favor of the party producing the document, (commentary by Revs. Woywod-Smith). “Proof to the contrary is not admitted against Letters of the Roman Pontiff bearing his signature,” (Cicognani, ibid. p. 626, ft. note). Documents entered into the Acta Apostolic Sedis do not need to be submitted in the original or be an authenticated copy, (Can. 1819).
Let them find papal documents that support their case; they cannot. The seamless tunic that is the integral teaching of the Church makes such a thing impossible. Now that they have been “deprived” of the “mass” they treasure, the one authorized by a false pope collaborating with the very forces that destroyed the true Church, they dramatically claim they have been driven into the catacombs and dare to call themselves catacomb Catholics. Well they may well have to retreat to the underground, but let us not call their abode catacombs, for they are anything but Catholic. And the reason they may need to retreat there is not the one they claim, but one that we have warned about on this site for many years and have exposed for literally decades.
Priory of Sion
An organization known as the Priory of Sion first came into existence as a vanguard for the European monarchies with the creation of the Knights Templar in 1090, by one Godfroi deBoullion. Its official headquarters was Notre Dame du Mont de Sion in Jerusalem. This occurred nine years before the founding of the Knights Templar by Hugues de Payon, a vassal of the count of Champagne. How the two were connected is not clear from history, but regardless of their connection, the Priory remained a vital and moving force, which operated underground once the Templars suspected of worshipping idols and engaging in devil worship were condemned. After the organization was disbanded, it appears to have grown phenomenally in power and influence over the centuries and is thought to have helped foment the Protestant Reformation. The members of this organization believed that the monarchs of Europe, especially of France and England, through intermarriage, were direct descendants of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. They deny the doctrine of Christ’s spiritual mission to make the monstrous claim that Jesus sired children by Mary Magdalene, also her sister Martha.
Mary Magdalene and Joseph of Arimathea, they hold, journeyed across the ocean with these children to Europe in 70 A.D. and the line of Christ’s “human” family was perpetuated, eventually siring French kings. The fables supporting this story vary, some saying a substitute was crucified for Christ or that He survived by magical means. In using the term, “Guardians of the Grail,” sect members refer to the womb of Magdalene bearing divine descendants, or the necessity of ensuring that the “blood royale” is preserved throughout the centuries. (This fable is also the basis for Mormonism, a product of Freemasonry.) Some also say that rebel “Abp.” Marcel Lefebvre, who founded the St. Pius X Society, was a member of the Priory. Lefebvre belonged to Action Francais, condemned by Pope Pius XI, and was a known monarchist. (Shortly before WWII, there was a movement underway to restore the French monarchy.)
This ancient heresy is nothing more than the continuation of pre-Christian Gnosticism into Christianity, to remove the spiritual element and introduce carnal pagan/gnostic Jewish elements. Jules LeBretton and Jacques Zeiller, S.J., in their work The History of the Primitive Church, Vol. II wrote: “Gnosis…almost always claims to be based upon some ancient message transmitted secretly by a chain of initiates…The hermetic books present themselves as revelations made to Hermes or received by him; others appeal to Asclepios. Similarly the Christian Gnostics place their revelation under the patronage of some apostle, or often, of Mary Magdalene, who is supposed to have received them from Christ before the Ascension.” In the case of the descendants from the Virgin Mary’s side of Christ’s family, who apparently migrated to Western Europe, a legitimate claim to “royal blood” could be made and was even taken into consideration by the Church. There is no mystery here nor any impure connotations; it was only later that the stories were circulated concerning Christ’s “union” with Mary Magdalen. These would arise only with the condemned Templar members, secretly, and finally publicly, with the official establishment of Freemasonry in the 1700s. Mormonism would later even teach this lie as part of their religion.
It is important to separate the departure of the Desposyni into various sects in the early centuries A. D. from the alleged migration of the Virgin Mary’s family members to Western Europe. The disaffected Desposyni may also have migrated to Western and Eastern Europe; or they may already have been living in Roman settlements in Gaul shortly after Christ’s death. Once they formally objected to the failure to retain Jewish customs and practice as part of Christianity, they ceased to be members of the Catholic Church. As such they would have comprised an already antagonistic resistance to both papal rule and the rule of any hierarchy not connected to Mary’s family. This ready-made seedbed of opposition may have provided support for those not content with a one-sided connection to Christ, who needed instead to believe they were divine themselves and superior to their fellow men. The Catholic Church suspected the true origins of this claim and denied the divine right theory. Divine right fueled the lay investiture controversy fought for years by the Church with its insinuation that a direct connection to Christ placed those nobility possessing it at least on an equal par with the hierarchy. In later centuries it would become the belief that man was a part of God and could attain divinity, (secular humanism).
Was John 23 a Priory initiate?
Constance Cumbey, an evangelical Protestant lawyer, fingered Roncalli in 1983 (Hidden Dancers of the Rainbow), when she wrote: “If there has been a single Catholic Pope who permitted the New Ager’s plan to take root within the Roman Catholic Church, it was Pope John XXIII, who is spoken of reverentially by New Agers and ‘Catholic’ modernists.” (p. 160.) This mammoth conspiracy has obviously covered all bases. Today, it is headquartered somewhere in France, probably the Languedoc region. Its surname indicates that it may have successfully penetrated all of the Catholic sects and factions, for it is given as Chivalry of Catholic Rules and Institutions of the Independent and Traditionalist Union or CIRCUIT, from a Priory publication of the same name, as mentioned above. It is also called “The Rose-Croix Veritas.” Its meetings and method of operation are shrouded in secrecy, but it could very well have been from this very group that the Traditionalist “priests” and bishops emanated on anticipation of the Church’s hostile takeover. Many of these Traditionalist clerics could not be traced through the Catholic Directory, had been dismissed for various reasons from their posts, or came from unknown backgrounds. This use of the world tradition, discussed in other blogs as a reference more akin to the heresy of Traditionalism and the neo-traditionalism now afoot today, was also noted by one of Roncalli’s biographers. “It was well known that Roncalli did not get along with the Roman Curia, who thought him an inept diplomat. He called them ‘the other school,’” as Meriol Trevor relates in her book Pope John. (p. 205.) This tag for curial officials indicates more than just disagreement, and indeed, Trevor relates on the same page: “…he thought of himself as representing a different tradition…With the least possible fuss, he went his own way.” (p. 206.) As the canny Catholic writer Mary Lejeune noted in the 1970s, the Gnostics had already set up their own “clergy” to sweep up dissenters following Vatican 2.
Roncalli’s behavior was consistent with that of a man who had received a mission. Knowing the extent of Masonic influence and infiltration in the Vatican, it has undoubtedly crossed the minds of many good Catholics that Brother Angelo was carrying out the orders of the Satanic Pontiff, the equivalent of Pope of all Masonry. Piers Compton, in his book The Broken Cross, relates the alleged initiation of Roncalli into the masonic lodge of the Rose Croix. Pier Carpi’s book The Prophecies of John XXIII, divulges that Roncalli took the name “Johannes” at his initiation, which apparently took place while he served as Apostolic Delegate to Istanbul, Turkey, in 1935. The connection of Roncalli with the Rosicrucians could perhaps be put aside if it were not for the fact that many of Roncalli’s subsequent actions can be seen to confirm such an affiliation. His remark concerning the unimportance of baptism and conversion in the case of the Jews he helped to escape during World War II certainly is in keeping with Masonic doctrine. And his later appointment as Nuncio to France, combined with his anti-Catholic behavior there, provides us with a clue to the source of his Masonic affiliations.
A French writer, Pier Carpi, in his book Les Properties de Jean XXIII, (1976), states that Angelo Roncalli took the name John XXIII, last used (1410-1415) by anti-Pope Baldassare Cossa, probably because under the name (i.e., Baldassare Cossa) he (Roncalli) joined the Masonic Rosicrucians in Turkey (1935). Further, Charles Riandey, a Masonic Sovereign Grand Master, contributed the following preface to Ecumenism as seen by a Traditionalist Freemason (Paris,1969) by Yves Marsaudon, State Minister of the Superior Council of France (Scottish Rite):
“To the memory of Angelo Roncalli, priest, Archbishop of Messamaris, Apostolic Nuncio in Paris, Cardinal of the Roman Church, Patriarch of Venice, Pope under the name of John XXIII, who has deigned to give us his benediction, his understanding and his protection.”
And according to Paul Murphy’s La Popessa, “(Bishop) Roncalli appointed Baron Yves Marsaudon, a close friend and 33rd degree Freemason, as head of the strictly Catholic organization [Knights of Malta] in France.” Several other works also confirm this. Pope Pius XII refused to allow the appointment of a new head for the Knights of Malta. According to John XXIII and Masonry – The Pope of the Council, (Sodalitium, Oct.-Nov. 1996):
“On November 14, 1951, Ludovico Chigi Albani della Rovere, Grand Master of the Order of Malta died in Rome. Normally, the Knights would have then convened to elect a successor; but they did not do so. They were unable to do so: Pius XII formally forbade them to do so. The Pope appointed a commission of Cardinals [Papal Commission] charged to reform (or suppress) the Order of Malta, and for the rest of the days of Papa Pacelli, the Knights would not have a Grand Master. All of that changed on June 24, 1961. On that date, the feast of Saint John the Baptist, patron of the Order (and of Masonry), John XXIII received the Knights at the Vatican, and to their great satisfaction, publicly issued the Brief by which the Commission of Cardinals instituted by Pius XII was suppressed,” (https://www.angelfire.com/journal2/post/pope_mason.html).
“A certain number of Anglican Knights were received by the Grand Master of the Knights of St. John. The ante litteram ecumenism of the Order was extolled by Brother Marsaudon himself. (3) But most unsettling was the infiltration of Masonry into the Order of Malta. (4) This infiltration was confirmed by documents and admitted by the masons themselves, for example, Marsaudon and Mola. (5) This is why Cardinal Nicola Canali intervened. (6) Cardinal Canali, who had contributed to Pius X’s anti-modernist battle, was alarmed by the masonic infiltration that we have already mentioned.
“This is treated in the ‘Editorial Note’ of Marsaudon’s book, L’Oecumenisme vu par un franc-macon de Tradition, written by Editor Vitiano. “Attacked under the Pontificate of Pius XII, by the integrist Roman clan, he [Marsaudon] resigned his office of Plenipotentiary of the Order, but was immediately promoted to the high office of Minister Emeritus, the only Knight of Malta to currently have that distinction. The Grand Magistrate of Malta, in his struggle against Cardinal Canali, never abandoned Baron de Marsaudon who, from his side, was constrained to continue to give his services to the diplomatic and hospitalier plans. In fact, Marsaudon, a Freemason, was discovered to be in the Order, and that was the reason he was forced to resign.” (Marsaudon – who was none other than Roncalli’s dear French comrade.) “Also, Franco Belligrandi’s (disputed) account of the episode in his work Nikita Roncalli does not seem at all unfounded, and did much to clarify at least some of the affair:
“In this French period, an incident took place, ignored for the most part, which for a moment lifted the veil covering Roncalli’s presumed membership in the Masonic sect. A letter from Cardinal Canali, hard as a rock, was sent (9) to His High Eminence, Prince Chigi Albani della Rovere (10). Pius XII….had just learned….that the minister of the Order of Malta in Paris was a mason…He discovered that [Marsaudon] had been given “the Grand Magisterial Cross” on the recommendation of his predecessor [de Pierredon] and, above all, as is known, on the recommendation of the Nuncio in Paris, Roncalli. The result of this first inquest was immediately referred to the Vatican, to Cardinal Canali who exclaimed: ‘Poor Roncalli. I am upset at having to embarrass him and I hope that it won’t cost him the Cardinal’s hat…’ With the greatest circumspection, the Vatican decided to put the Order in Paris out to pasture and sent a person to Paris who would attend to this highly delicate affair. In effect, three persons implicated in this period are of central interest: the Nuncio, because of his collaboration with the Order of Malta over some delicate affairs in Argentina; the Comte de Pierredon for the many years of his service, first in Bucharest and then in Paris; and Baron Marasaudon himself, for meritorious work in obtaining the official recognition of the Order by the French government.’” (End of Anglefire site quote.) According to one of his biographer’s Meriol Trevor, “Pius XII himself criticized Roncalli for his extensive travels throughout France, objecting that it was unbecoming to a Nuncio, (Pope John, p. 206).
Dr. Cyril Andrade, writing in 1976, explains the paramount significance of this heretical document:
“In a previously circulated paper The New Mass is Invalid, one of the many reasons for invalidity I mentioned was that the Preface of the Fourth Eucharistic Prayer — one of the several such prayers that have replaced what used to be the Canon of the Mass in pre-Vatican II times — contained these words: “Father in Heaven, you alone are God” (denial of the Blessed Trinity).
“Before Vatican II, all Catholics were taught, even in kindergarten, that there are three Persons in God: the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, each being God. Now Vatican II tells us that only the Father is God, thus saying in unequivocal terms that Christ, God the Son, is not God. Also, the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity is not God.
“This heresy, i.e., the denial of the divinity of Christ and the Blessed Trinity, was raised in the first century by Cerinthus and the Ebionites; in the second century by the Monarchianists, and in the fourth century by Arius (the Arian heresy). This heresy was condemned by the Church on each of these occasions.
“Yet now, the new counterfeit church of Vatican II has revived this heresy and it has been swallowed, hook line and sinker, by some 800 millions of so-called Catholics. St. Paul prophesied a “Great Apostasy” in the latter days and this must surely be it, for today more Catholics have embraced Vatican II and its heresies than the 80% who embraced the Arian heresy in the fourth century. Broadly speaking, heretics fall into two groups:
- material heretics who hold heretical views from ignorance of the faith and -so are inculpable before God, and
- formal heretics who know they are heretics yet cling to their heresies and are therefore culpable before God.
“Is it possible to believe that those ostensible Catholics who accept Eucharistic Prayer IV, which denies the divinity of Christ, are merely material heretics. inculpable before God, and not culpable formal heretics?! The very idea is absurd. What profound theological knowledge is required to know this denial of Christ’s divinity, on which the entire Catholic Faith rests, is unadulterated heresy” (end of Andrade quote).
Even before his “election,” Roncalli had rehabilitated Marc Sangier, founder of the Sillon and “undisputed master” of the Christian Democrats. As Brother Michael of the Trinity relates: “Abp. Roncalli, in a letter clearly intended to be circulated in French political circles, canonized the founder of the Sillon [following his death], rejoicing that for their part ‘the most authoritative voices in French public life,’ Masonic, laicizing and Socialist voices, also canonized him in their own way,” (The Whole Truth About Fatima: The Third Secret, pg. 354). Vicomte Leon de Poncins in his Freemasonry and the Vatican documents in detail the favorable association with Roncalli and the secret societies during his “papacy.” It is important to note that the following papal condemnation, by virtue of Pope Paul IV’s bull Cum ex…, excommunicated Roncalli even before his election, and this was later confirmed by his relations with them as “pope,” documented by de Poncins.
Pope Clement XII wrote: “We command the faithful to abstain from intercourse with those societies in order to avoid excommunication… which will be the penalty imposed upon all those contravening this, Our order. None, except at the point of death, could be absolved of this sin except by…the then existing Roman Pontiff,” (In Eminenti, 1738; renewed by Pope Leo XIII in Humanum Genus, 1884). Commenting on Pope Clement’s statement, the Freemasonry expert Msgr. Jouin wrote: “Not only is the condemnation by Pope Clement XII extended to Masonic sects, but it applies also to all…who, although they are not members of societies called Freemasonic, favor them in any manner,” (Speech given Dec. 8, 1930). Monsignor Jouin received Pope Benedict XV’s Apostolic Blessing for his work.
Summary
— Since the Priory’s inception, according to Holy Blood, Holy Grail, “…every grand master, on assuming his position, has adapted the name Jean (French for John) …This succession was clearly intended to imply an Hermetic papacy based on John, in contrast (and perhaps, opposition) to the esoteric one based on Peter …Roncalli caused considerable consternation when he chose the name John XXIII, anathematized since it was last used … by an anti-pope … In 1958 (Jean) Cocteau held the grand mastership …(when) Pope Pius XII died …and the assembled cardinals elected Roncalli. …Cocteau did not die until 1963.” (pp. 132-133.) Roncalli was only a transitional Pope, and his death coincided with that of Cocteau. If both “thrones” fell vacant at the same time, did Montini alone fall heir to the “throne?” Was the “transition” Roncalli was designated to make the deliverance of the papacy into the hands of the “Satanic Pontiff?” The identity of the present grand master is unknown; there has not been one since Cocteau’s death. This is, in itself, a dire omen.
— Roncalli has been said to be obsessed with John the Baptist. Thus, he gave us the reason for selecting the name John as his love for Christ’s cousin. (See Urbi et Orbi, Oct. 1958.) Actually, John the Baptist and John the Evangelist are held in high esteem by Freemasons, who Piers Compton reports, make a point of meeting on their feast days (Dec. 27 and June 24). It is said by some that both John the Baptist and John the Divine were Essenes, although the Catholic Church has never favored this opinion. (See Essenes; Catholic Encyclopedia, 1911 edition.) Since the Essenes were a Jewish sect, the Church sees no need to bother with them. But not so Theosophists today, whose founder Helena Petrovna Blavatsky is the mother of the New Age thinking. The Theosophical Society has taken the Dead Sea Scrolls and presented them in such a manner that an entirely different Tradition, contrary to that handed down by the Church, is presented. The authors endeavor to accredit the Essenes with the lengthy ministrations of Christ during his early ministry, and so [they also claim] His cousins, who are part of His “bloodline.”
These “Essenic Gospels” are entirely Gnostic in character and emphasize what we know today as humanism. To claim that Christ could have thought this way is heresy, but then the Theosophists are heretics. (See DZ 2189.) But it provides us with an explanation for the use of the two Saints John. For as far as it can be determined, the Essenes, if not a secret society, were at least an elite who clung rigidly to all the old Jewish laws of fast and purification. Their tenor can probably be best described as hermetic (more Jewish than the Jews), which refers us back to its Catholic counterpart, the Hieron de Val d’Or. Holy Blood, Holy Grail, however, gives us the real reasons behind Roncalli’s use of the name John on page 55: “…the Templars were infected with the Johannite or Mandian heresy, which denounced Jesus as a false prophet and acknowledged John as the true Messiah.”
So Roncalli was honoring Masonic tradition. And Roncalli’s “mission,” mentioned earlier, was to act in a capacity which coincided with the role of his idol, John the Baptist. For Roncalli was the precursor; the voice crying in the modernist wilderness; the one who would prepare the way for the “Rex Mundi.” The reason for Roncalli’s choice of name is given by Jean Bardet in his Les Clefs De La Recherche Fondamentale. On page 72, he writes: “…Roncalli…was elected the 28th of October [and] took the name of John XXIII, in honor of France, for John XXIII was the last Pope of Avignon.” This is an interesting comment when we consider that the first John XXIII was elected at Pisa (a council never considered ecumenical by the Church) and was later deposed at Constance. It seems that the plan to unite the papacy and the monarchy was conceived long ago, but was dealt a setback once Martin V was elected at Constance and the papacy permanently established in Rome, once again. Roncalli’s contribution to the “bloodline,” as “pope” was to insert the “precious blood” into the divine Praises that the God-man might become a man-God, as surely it did when Montini (Paul 6) embarked on his campaign to deify man.
— In St. Malachy’s prophecies, John 23 is designated as “Pasteur et Nautionner” (Shepherd and Navigator). The official title of the Priory’s Grand Master is “Nautionnier.” Whether these prophecies are truly genuine, or clever forgeries as some have suggested (perhaps interjections by Masons themselves?), they accurately identified Roncalli’s dual personality while “pope.” And the objection cannot be made that Roncalli’s identification with Malachy’s “motto’ affords him legitimacy, for Malachy’s list contains mottoes for several anti-popes.
— Roncalli was the first pope to contradict the excommunication of his predecessors for membership in a Masonic sect. His relaxation of this application of canon law came with Pacem in Terris, which extolled the United Nations and granted a general relaxation of discipline begun at the start of Roncalli’s reign. In her Son of Perdition, C. Lereux relates: “John XXIII …allowed a revision of canon law to be expected. While awaiting these ‘new laws,’ everyone proceeded to do and say whatever they wished.” (p. 36.)
— In June of 1960, Roncalli issued an “apostolic letter” on the Precious Blood. The authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grailclaim that he attached “…a hitherto unprecedented significance to that blood. It emphasized Jesus’ suffering as a human being and maintained that the redemption of mankind had been effected by the shedding of His blood … If man’s redemption was achieved by the shedding of Jesus’ blood, his death and resurrection become incidental.” (p. 135.) How strange that Roncalli would attach such significance to the very reason for the Priory’s existence if he was not a member. One would need to be very blind, indeed, to fail to make the connection between Roncalli and Freemasonry in the face of such damning evidence. We can chalk Roncalli’s successful imposture up to the fact that liberal charity “prohibited” the hierarchy from putting two and two together and taking the appropriate action.
It is difficult to see, considering what we know today, how Roncalli could have been anything OTHER than the false prophet spoken of in Apocalypse 13, vs. 11. E.S. Berry, in his Apocalypse of St. John, writes: “The beast arising from the earth is a false prophet, the prophet of Antichrist …the false prophet …will be endowed with the plenitude of satanic powers to deceive the nations, as indicated by his resemblance to the lamb. The prophet will probably set himself up in Rome as a sort of anti-pope” (p. 135.) Reverend P. Huchede, in his little work The History of AntiChrist, tells us: “…this false prophet will be an individual person … he will not be a king, or a general of an army, but a clever apostate fallen from the episcopal dignity … he will become the first preacher of the false messiah” (p. 24.) Rev. C.C. Martindale quotes Father Allo on the false prophet in his commentary on the Apocalypse: “…the false prophet represents that vague, solvent ‘toleration,’ which was then going to become Gnosticism …the lazy, flattering notion that all creeds are finally of a muchness is, indeed, as modern as it was prevalent in ancient but decadent days. There could then, be two ‘foci’ of anti-Christianity–the openly persecuting state and the vague, subservient ‘religion,’ which the state could patronize without damage to itself.” (A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture, (p. 1206.)
All of the above is OUTSIDE the indisputable facts that Roncalli could not qualify as a canonically elected pope for several different reasons, not just those listed above. If all this does not constitute enough doubt to give pause to a truly rational human being, then the only conclusion that can be reached is that such beings no longer exist. Those supporting Roncalli’s mass and “papacy” are not true Catholics. They belong to that other heretical tradition Roncalli embraced — Traditionalism, Modernism, Americanism and the Masonic brotherhood.
Lefebvre and the Priory
Society of St. Pius X founder Marcel Lefebvre publicly uttered heresy June 29, 1976, before a crowd of approximately 500 friends and relatives of the men he “ordained” as “priests” and “subdeacons.” Lefebvre restated the Trinitarian heresy on this date almost verbatim, for in his speech to the crowd, he pronounced: “The humanity of our Lord Jesus was penetrated by the divinity of the Word of God …divinity itself descending into humanity.” In 537, Pope Vigilius condemned the following: “If anyone says or holds that the body of Our Lord Jesus Christ was first formed in the womb of the holy Virgin, and that after this, God, the Word, and the Soul, since it had preexisted, were united to it, let him be anathema” (DZ 205.) This excommunication was renewed by Paul IV in Cum Ex Apostolatus Officio, and the infallibility of this document has been viciously attacked by Pius X Society theologians for decades. Strangely enough, the Albigensians teach this selfsame doctrine, since they deny the Trinity. This is yet another proof of Lefebvre’s affiliation with the Priory.
Is there a link between Lefebvre and the Priory of Sion? In the book Holy Blood, Holy Grail, we read on pages 155-186 a quote from one Jean Delaude, who the authors report addressed a pamphlet to the Priory: ‘For what is the Prieure de Sion preparing? I do not know, but it represents a power capable of confronting the Vatican in the days to come. Monsignor Lefebvre is a most active and redoubtable member, capable of saying: ‘You make me Pope, and I will make you King.’” The authors of this book (Holy Blood, Holy Grail) also identify one Abbe Ducaud-Borget as a one-time grand master of the Priory. Like Lefebvre, Ducaud-Borget was a prominent traditionalist in France and opposed Paul 6. The authors remind the readers that the Priory’s subtitle is “Chivalry of Catholic Rules and Institutions of the Independent and Traditionalist Union.” They inform us that before World War II, Lefebvre was a member of Action Francais, which sought to restore the French monarchy. They even address the possibility that Delaude may have deliberately attempted to discredit Lefebvre and Ducaud-Borget. But they concluded that both Lefebvre and the Abbe were, instead: “…agents provocateurs, whose objective was systematically to create turmoil, sow dissension,” and “foment schism…”
The February 1977 edition of the Kentucky publication Veritas quotes Dr. Hugo Maria Kellner’s Letter Number 72, of July 1977. The following excerpts are taken directly from this Letter:
– Lefebvre, in a U.S. speech August 28, 1971, compared his Fraternity to the Society of the priests of St. Sulpice (Kellner, p. 11.) The authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail, implicate the Society of St. Sulpice as aiders and abettors of the Priory, calling them: “…a bastion of rather questionable orthodoxy.” (p. 120.)
– Lefebvre’s seminary is located in the diocese of Sion, Switzerland. Kellner reports Lefebvre’s Society to be: “…secured by a contractual agreement with the Vatican,” which “can only be dissolved by the Pope.” (p. 11.)
– Kellner reports on page 31 that Lefebvre calls each branch of his Society a “priory”(!)
– The subtitle of Lefebvre’s organization is “The Apostles of Jesus and Mary.” Which Jesus and Mary? — Jesus the Jewish prophet and Mary Magdalene, or Our Lord and His Blessed Mother?
– Newsweek magazine’s review of Holy Blood, Holy Grail (Feb. 22, 1982), quotes French journalist Jean Luc Chaumeil, an expert on the Templars, as asserting that Lefebvre resigned his membership in the Priory in 1981.
Dr. Kellner maintained, and rightly so, that Lefebvre’s supreme goal in establishing his Society was to: (a) intercept and pacify Catholics unhappy with Paul 6 and Vatican 2, (b) neutralize these Catholics and confuse them with a pretense of piety and pseudo Catholic teaching, (c) prevent the organization of the Remnant Church by “buying out” traditional chapels and offering greater organization, a seminary, a “united front,” “”credibility,” etc. In this, Lefebvre has succeeded thus far. Admittedly, the proofs we have offered of his Priory affiliation are circumstantial. But when it is once realized that both his ordaining and consecrating bishop was Lienart, who’s Masonic affiliation is well known in traditionalist circles; and when it is understood that Lienart also instructed Lefebvre in the seminary and was his ordaining bishop per his (Lefebvre’s) request, then the water becomes a bit muddier. The question of Lefebvre’s validity must be decided in the negative to safeguard the sacraments and protect the faithful. That he has filled his role as agent provocateur as suggested by the authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail, is obvious. If he yet remains an enigma, he is an enigma we must avoid, in order to safeguard the Sacraments and the faith that is in us.
It was Thomas Case who assayed the Traditionalist sects and found that several clergymen were markedly anti-Semitic, with definite neo-Nazi or British Israel leanings, (Fidelity Magazine, October 1992). He noted that militia groups flourish in the St. Mary’s, Kansas area, home to the SSPX, (this is reportedly known to the local sheriff there). Case flagged the Society’s Fr. Ramon Angles, “Bp.” Richard Williamson, and Fr. Gregory Post, providing specific documentation in each case. He also fingered British Israel promoter Dan Jones of Colorado and Jones’ longtime friend, “Bp.” Oliver Oravec, last known to be living somewhere in Czechoslovakia. Jones’ Sangre de Cristo Newsnotespublication unabashedly promoted the Aryan Nations position for years, alongside other articles written by prominent Traditional clergymen. The late Fr. Lawrence Brey, at one time, at least, also professed admiration for the 1930s radio-priest Fr. Coughlin in an article featured in The Remnant and has mixed with many anti-Semitic Traditionalists over the years.
Fr. George Musey of Texas also expressed neo-Nazi sentiments to several colleagues and followers during the course of his lifetime, a fact witnessed by this author. The openly anti-Semitic publication Veritas, now defunct, pumped out anti-Jewish sentiments for decades, although it also furnished the faithful with much good information on the teachings of the Church. If any doubt exists concerning Traditionalists’ anti-Semitic orientation, a quick survey of anti-Semitic literature for sale on various Traditionalist web sites should prove that what is said here is no exaggeration. And some identification of Traditionalists with anti-Semitism has been more public than others, i.e., that of Mel Gibson and his father.
It has been speculated that Hitler was linked to the Priory in some way, and may even have attempted to secede from it, thus bringing the wrath of Europe on his head. But if he attempted to secede, it was not owing to his moral sense, but rather to his burning desire to rule all and be subject to none. The upper echelon Nazis were immersed in the Grail legends and pre-Christian religious practices. (The “Search for the Holy Grail” is a veiled allegory imitative of the Gospel parables. It is used by the degrees of Masonry to symbolize the search for man who became God; i.e., the bloodline. This is the mirror reverse of God’s Son, who as God, assumed a human body.) In her book The Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow, Constance Cumbey relates that Hitler was influenced early in his school years by the abbot of a Benedictine monastery school he attended near his home.
The abbot “…was fascinated by the lore of the Albigensians or Cathars, who could probably be accurately classified as early New Agers, in that they believed man could gain the powers of a god.” It was here, Cumbey notes, that Hitler “…was initiated into the finer mysteries of the occult” (p. 100). Cumbey further instructs us, on page 102, as to the origin of the “Aryan” nations obsession with Hitler. She writes: “…one of the seven Atlantean races was that of the Aryans …the Aryans were the master race, or supermen of the Atlantean races.” This is, indeed, an interesting development, when we consider that Atlantis sank. And it is especially interesting when one considers the connection between modern Traditionalists and neo-Nazi groups.
As we have already learned, the Jewish settlement to which Mary Magdalene and Jesus “fled,” produced the Merovingian kings and the “bloodline” eventually. While the debate still rages on the internet regarding the Priory of Sion “hoax” and its supposed non-existence, this should surprise no one familiar with secret societies. After all, isn’t that the idea behind their clandestine operations? As one pro-Priory site explains well: “Essentially, the Priory of Sion is a coherent initiatory system, composed of interdependent symbols and allegories, which does not need to be “real” to be true.” Who would expect reality from a secret society?
Conclusion
Let the heathens rage, let them call themselves catacomb Catholics and continue to operate in the shadowland of non-belief. They are no threat to us and they will someday be held accountable by their Maker. “Nothing conquers except truth; the victory of truth is charity.” — St. Augustine. And as Louisa May Alcott said: “Let my name stand among those who are willing to bear ridicule and reproach for the truth’s sake, and so earn some right to rejoice when the victory is won.” The day of reckoning is not far off and the handwriting is on the wall for these people. We read from the Catholic Encyclopedia under Baltasar:
“Baltasar is the Greek and Latin name for Belshazzar, which is the Hebrew equivalent for Bel-sarra-usur, i.e., ‘May Bel protect the king.’ Bel was the chief and titular god of Babylon. In Daniel, v, Baltasar is described as the son of Nabuchodonosor (A. V., Nebuchadnezzar) and the last King of Babylon. It is there narrated how the town was invaded — by the Medes under Darius, as would seem from Daniel 5:18-19 — whilst the king was giving a sumptuous feast to his nobles. The king himself was slain. The narrator further informs us that the sacred vessels which Nabuchodonosor had carried with him from Jerusalem were defiled on that occasion. By order of king Baltasar they were used during the banquet, and his wives and concubines drank out of them. In the midst of the revelry a hand is seen writing on the wall the mysterious words Mane, Thecel, Phares (A. V., Mene, Tekel, Peres). The king’s counsellors and magicians are summoned to explain the writing, but they fail to do so. The Queen then enters the banquet hall and suggests that Daniel should be called for. Daniel reads and explains the words: the days of the kingdom had been numbered; the king had been weighed in the balance and had been found wanting; his kingdom would be given to the Medes and the Persians.” And so these pestiferous enemies will soon meet their end and their kings will soon perish, even though at present they try “the faith and patience of the saints.”
by T. Stanfill Benns | Jul 28, 2021 | New Blog
+Pope Victor I+
As the world situation continues to further deteriorate on a daily basis, Catholics can expect to see a corresponding increase in false christs and false prophets. A reader informed us not long ago that a man calling himself Jacobus I is claiming to be pope, apparently by divine appointment, and has posted several videos on the Internet. In watching these verbose videos and reading this man’s “encyclicals,” it soon becomes clear he is of the same cloth as Michael I and Gregory XVII and XVIII and has no intention whatsoever to be transparent regarding his qualifications, his ordination/consecration (he offers “mass” according to the John 23rd missal on one video in strangely garish vestments) or his actual election. He asserts that the quality and elevated tone of the information he provides should be enough to convince people of his superior, God-given intellect and therefore no one should question him.
Jacobus, who refers to himself as heading the catacomb church but does not reveal his legal, given name (for safety reasons, he says) is quick to declare anyone who automatically rejects his claim as excommunicated. He rants against Traditionalists and the Society of St. Pius X, apostate Rome and the evils of Communism and Socialism. Much of what he says may be timely and informative, was it not coming from the mouth of yet another false pope. But Catholics need only consult the encyclicals of Pope Pius IX and Pope Pius XI on Communism and Socialism (although every Catholic should know these systems were long ago condemned). And there are numerous site articles exposing Traditionalists and the Novus Ordo. To better understand why Jacobus has no claim to the papal see, please read the article posted at https://www.betrayedcatholics.com/articles/8-14-gregory-xviii-yet-another-means-of-deceiving-the-elect/ Note: the Gregory XVIII information in this article may be disregarded, as the fraudulent Tran Van Khoat, (aka Gregory XVIII), a married-with-children real estate developer with dubious international ties, was exposed for what he truly was a few years ago. That article may be viewed at https://www.betrayedcatholics.com/?s=Tran+van+Khoat Nothing more should need to be said here about the dangers of these crafty imposters!
What is curious about this latest papal pretender is the timing of his appearance. It has already been mentioned here that Novus Ordo and Traditionalists alike have been making loud noises that Francis is a heretic and no pope. We will not go into the ramifications of this here, since numerous site articles and the book The Phantom Church in Romealready treat of this. But basically, Francis could not be a validly elected Pope and public heretic at the same time. He would either need to be a public heretic pre-election, hence invalidly elected, or commit heresy only in his private capacity for him to be considered as possibly validly elected. The promise of infallibility precludes a validly elected Pope from ever becoming a public heretic, (although the Vatican Council did concede that a pope could err in his private capacity). For the gates of hell shall never prevail against Peter’s faith. A man appearing to be pope might commit such heresy, but this would only indicate that he never became pope in the first place.
There seems to be a great need at present for people to grasp at anything with an appearance of what they think is legitimacy, a dangerous tendency. They forget that legitimacy can be determined only by the Church — papal and conciliar decrees, also Canon Law. These are our teachers, not some phony baloney wearing a white dress and skullcap posting YouTube videos. As Rev. As the saying goes, been there, done that and suffered the consequences. A pope may be elected only by cardinals or in their absence the bishops, i.e., the hierarchy. He could not be elected by the laity in the absence of bishops and priests. Pius XII specifically states this, and automatically nullifies and voids anything that happens contrary to his law (see https://www.betrayedcatholics.com/free-content/reference-links/1-what-constitutes-the-papacy/apostolic-constitution-vacantis-apostolicae-sedis/ — click on blue VASannot link). This law is binding on every Catholic for belief under pain of excommunication for denying the infallibility of the Roman Pontiff, and this cannot be stressed enough. It is listed in the Acta Apostolica Sedis as an authoritative document, something Pius XII tells us is a clear indication of its binding power.
Moreover, the valid election of a pope must be accepted as a dogmatic fact, and this being the case, no one could accept a doubtfully elected man as pope. With the Church in disarray as it is at present, no certainty can be obtained regarding such an election, and as St. Robert Bellarmine teaches, a doubtful pope is no pope. While those in the past may have had an excuse for mistakenly accepting such men owing to a lack of information and understanding on the subject, that is no longer the case today with the availability of so many works explaining the reason why we have no true pope today, particularly Cum ex Apostolatus Officio and Vacantis apostolicae sedis. Nor should anyone any longer be confused about the infallibility of these two documents, once passed off as no longer binding by those wishing to operate independently as Traditional clergy or be elevated to the “papacy.” Christ, should He come to visit the earth (not for a second time, but by way of chastisement), will resolve the problem of the papacy; He who is its author is the only one able to restore it today. And if that requires a miracle, so be it.
Francis follies
Another recent development exciting the neo-Traditionalists was Francis’s crackdown on the Latin mass centers and his reining in of those offering this mass, which Benedict 16 permitted during his pontificate. This seems strangely to be on a timeline with the appearance of this new papal claimant. To be clear, however, all Francis forbade was the celebration of the mass referred to as the Tridentine Latin Mass, making it appear it had its beginnings at Trent in the 1500s! John 23rd was never Pope; therefore, any changes he made to the 1400-year-old Canon of the Mass — the very one and ONLY one that Pope St. Pius V teaches may be celebrated in perpetuity — are null and void. There is no guarantee of perpetual permission to celebrate the 1962 missal, whether it is recited in Latin or in English. Pope St. Pius V, who reaffirmed Pope Paul IV’s Cum ex Apostolatus Officio could never have intended to approve the celebration of any other rite but the Roman Latin rite as it then existed; nor could it hardly be said he would have sanctioned anything done by a man doubtfully elected. This information has been around for decades but has never made a dent in the John 23 missal crowd.
This absolute refusal to accept the fact that the majority of Cardinals voting in the 1958 election of John 23rd were no longer cardinals and hence had no ability to elect even the local mayor (see The Phantom Church in Rome) is inexcusable. According to Paul IV’s bull, retained in the code in Canon 188 no. 4, they automatically resigned their offices by espousing liberalism and other heresies long before the 1958 election. This was confirmed by their participation in Vatican 2. Failing to examine the valid issues treated by Pope Paul IV in his bull Cum ex Apostolatus Officio and other proofs discovered regarding this election (and no Siri was not qualified to be elected either and could never be proven to have been elected) is a sin against the Holy Ghost. This sin is classified as rejecting the known truth and such sins are especially heinous. Although able to be forgiven if confessed, theologians opine that this sin often is not recognized or confessed, owing to the obstinacy of those who are guilty of committing it. Roncalli had, as a matter of public record, already been tagged as a suspected Modernist on two different occasions, and one suspect of heresy could not be validly elected. Even had he not been so identified, his knowledge of and open cooperation with an open campaign for his election, secretly carried out before Pius XII’s death, would alone disqualify him according to Pope Pius XII’s infallible election law, Vacantis apostolicae sedis.
Those refusing to address Roncalli’s invalid election today are to the Church Militant what the current leftwing media is to conservative Americans. The campaign to block any real discussion of the matter has existed for decades, since the 1970s leaders of Traditional groups and Traditionalist themselves have ruthlessly censored, silenced and continuously ridiculed those broaching the subject, just as the mainstream media has done with conservatives. In fact, many even refer to this blog and a few others as representing the lunatic fringe. Pope St. Pius X describes this Modernist tactic as follows in his Pascendi Dominici Gregis:
“There is little reason to wonder that the Modernists vent all their bitterness and hatred on Catholics who zealously fight the battles of the Church. There is no species of insult which they do not heap upon them, but their usual course is to charge them with ignorance or obstinacy. When an adversary rises up against them with an erudition and force that renders them redoubtable, they seek to make a conspiracy of silence around him to nullify the effects of his attack. This policy towards Catholics is the more invidious in that they belaud with admiration which knows no bounds the writers who range themselves on their side, hailing their works, exuding novelty in every page, with a chorus of applause.”
Sound familiar? It should. These same tactics have been used against Catholics for decades and can now be seen on the nightly news as tools of Cancel Culture. But transparency in truly Catholic journalism and scholastic investigation is even more important by far than transparency in political matters because all must be based on the truth: Christ Himself and the Church He founded. Those now lamenting Francis’ phony crackdown may well be eventually propelled into the arms of the waiting pretender popes and other groups after fleeing Francis. All was set up long ago, as Mary Lejeune noted below in her May-June 1977 newsletter Sword of Truth:
“Awhile back, I received a booklet from a reader. It is entitled, Brotherhood of the Illuminati and it is written by the Freemasons themselves. It is published in London, England and within the pages we read all about the so-called “Pre-Nicene Church” (Arianism) which these Freemasons set up in October, 1953 while we Catholics were praying and acting like Catholics, unaware of the fact that a Masonic revolution was about to come down upon our unsuspecting heads. Let me quote, please: “This Church was formed in October 1953, with the objects of carrying on the true Catholic Tradition and the original ‘Mysteries of Jesus’ and the Gnosis of the Soul. Candidates for the Priesthood (which would maintain the traditions) must have completed three years’ probation in the Brotherhood of the Illuminati; they are required to have a thorough knowledge and understanding of the Gnostic Church for the first three centuries of the Christian Era. PRIVATE CHAPELS WILL BE ESTABLISHED AS AND WHEN THE NEED ARISES.” So, these “candidates” will have Arianism in their hearts while they carry on the “true Catholic Tradition.” No wonder these secret Masons are so well-versed in the use of semantics.”
So how are all of you Ari(y)ans coping out there these days?! What a travesty that even 30 percent of those calling themselves Catholics, a number roughly corresponding to conservatives now wary of what is happening today with the media, cannot see through the conspiracy to keep them distracted, psychically coerced, (a term used by Pope Pius XII to describe CCP (Chinese Communist Party) brainwashing in the encyclical Ad apostolorum principis); uninformed and unaware of true Catholic teaching and unable to access the fullness of their Catholic birthright. All this because they refused to credence the teachings of the popes and councils and approved theologians writing prior to Pope Pius XII’s death, choosing instead to embrace Gallican-minded Traditionalist clergy and other leaders who were never approved, never validly ordained or consecrated and not in communion with the Roman Pontiff. It is truly the operation of error to believe lies and if anyone doubts it for a moment, then they have lost their ability to reason and accept reality.
May God help us all!
by T. Stanfill Benns | Jul 12, 2021 | New Blog
+St. John Gaulbert +
Many have asked if it is possible that we are spending our Purgatory here on earth, given the dire state of affairs we find ourselves in and the absence of the visible Church. St. Thomas Aquinas seems to indicate this might be possible, at least according to St. Vincent Ferrar. But when this was mentioned in a previous blog, some objected that the quote was not convincing and perhaps not even authentic, although it came from a reliable source and is supported by the writings of St. Thomas in his Summa and other works. Some readers fear that the belief we are spending our Purgatory time here will lead to laxity, so advise that such matters are better left alone. That might be the case if so many were not in near despair that they will save their souls. Hope is a precious commodity, and where it can be offered it seems only right and just that it be made available to those struggling to remain Catholic today.
But St. Thomas is not the only one who has opined on the topic of earthly Purgatory, although he is the only one who mentions it in relation to the end times. To refresh everyone’s memory about what he said, we again quote St. Vincent Ferrar who is talking about the fires of the final consummation. “Saint Thomas Aquinas speaks beautifully of this when he says that this last fire, inasmuch as it precedes the Judgment, will act as an instrument of God’s justice. It will also act like natural fire, inasmuch as, in its natural power, it will burn both wicked and good and reduce every human body to ashes. Inasmuch as it acts as an instrument of God’s justice, it will act in different ways with regard to different people. For the wicked will suffer intensely through the action of the fire, but the good in whom nothing is found which must be purged away will feel no pain from the fire, just as the three children felt nothing in the fiery furnace, although the bodies of these others will not be preserved as were those of the three children. And this will come to pass by the divine power, that without pain or suffering their bodies will be resolved into ashes.
“But the good in whom there is some stain to be purged away will feel the pain of this fire, more or less according to the merits of each. But they will be swiftly purged for three reasons. The first reason is that in them little evil is found, for they have been already in great measure purged by the preceding tribulations and persecutions. The second is that the living will voluntarily endure the pain; and suffering willingly endured in this life remits much more quickly than suffering inflicted after death. This is seen in the case of the martyrs, for if, when they came to die, anything worthy of purgation was found, it was cut away by the pruning knife of their sufferings. And the sufferings of the martyrs were short in comparison with the pains of purgatory. The third reason is that the heat of the fire gains in intensity what it loses through the shortness of the time. But in so far as the fire is active after the judgment its power only extends over the damned, since all the bodies of the just will be impassible” (Angel of the Judgment: A Life of Vincent Ferrer, by S.M.C., Ave Maria Press. Chapter 11, pgs. 102-117)
This may be true of those few left on earth when Christ comes a second time, but there are other means of avoiding Purgatory. These are outlined in a little booklet written by Fr. Paul O’Sullivan, How to Avoid Purgatory. He gives a simple method for doing so including the necessity, of course, of avoiding mortal sin and deliberate venial sin (performing an act or entertaining thoughts we know are sinful, although not mortally so); praying to always do God’s Holy Will; mortifying ourselves in small matters and undergoing trials sent with patience and resignation; asking God directly for deliverance from Purgatory every day; resigning ourselves to whatever death God may send us and praying for a holy and happy death; bearing our pains in union with the Passion of Christ; hearing Mass and frequenting the Sacraments (St. John’s Mass and our Act of Contrition, Spiritual Communion) and devotion to the Poor Souls in Purgatory. These means are repeated in the work below but are added to and amplified in a remarkable way that should bring solace to all those who are reading this post.
Perfect Contrition
In a little book entitled Purgatory Surveyed, a French Jesuit priest, Fr. Etienne Binet, writing in the 1600s, explains how those on earth might well be exempted from the fires of Purgatory through certain practices and by the circumstances in which they live. It gives greater force to the argument that the majority of Catholics are saved and can offer hope to many, particularly those in their senior years and soon facing eternity, who feel especially bereft of any consolation in these times. The first of those conditions Fr. Binet lists as applying to us today is to die with “tears in our eyes,” with a contrition so perfect that it washes away every trace of sin, although Fr. Binet admits this is a rare exception, but in these times the Act of Contrition is the only means available to us. For this reason it is of supreme importance that all have a complete understanding of how to attain it. The best work on how to achieve Perfect Contrition can be found on the Internet at https://s3.amazonaws.com/ANF/2011/PDFs/FNL112-Booklet+Final+Layout.pdf
Devotion to the Blessed Mother
Another is a tender devotion to the Blessed Mother, and it is hard to imagine a stay-at-home Catholic that is not so devoted. But it must be a constant and special devotion, offering her prayers, giving alms in her name, constructing a chapel for her, (daily reciting) and promoting devotion to her Rosary, or some other special service. It should be noted here that those who devote themselves to Our Lady of Sorrows, according to a revelation given to St. Bridget of Sweden, are promised peace in their families, consolations in their daily pains and work, answers to all prayers not opposed to the Divine Will, defense when engaging in spiritual battles throughout their lives, and finally, “I will visibly help them at the moment of their death — they will see the face of their Mother. I have obtained this grace from my Divine Son, that those who propagate this devotion to my tears and dolors will be taken directly from this earthly life to eternal happiness, since all their sins will be forgiven and my Son will be their eternal consolation and joy” (St. Bridget). The author of the book Devotion to the Sorrowful Mother (1958) also relates that according to an account found among the acts presented for the beatification of St. Vincent Palloti, “…the evil spirit once declared by the mouth of a possessed person that no one who had practiced devotion to Mary Sorrowful had yet been lost, and that the evil spirit had been commanded by God not to assail with temptations in the hour of death those who had faithfully practiced this devotion.”
A humble patience
Then there is the following, regarding those who suffer a lifetime of miseries on earth with a humble patience: “If God meant to punish His servants in Purgatory in this life, He would not punish them here in a Purgatory of miseries. His goodness is not wont to punish the same fault twice… God, to save His friends from the horrible torments of Purgatory fire, sends them a good store of crosses and afflictions in this world which are nothing so painful; and yet are highly meritorious in His sight, whereas the other are but pure sufferings. Hear St. Chrysostom: ‘The tongue that praises God in the midst of afflictions is not inferior to the tongues of martyrs, and likely they may have both the same reward. If a man praise God and give Him thanks in his sufferings, it is reputed as a kind of martyrdom; and would you have a martyr go to Purgatory…?’ The works of patience, according to St. James are perfect.” Our Lord tells us in Apoc. 3: 19-21: “Such as I love, I rebuke and chastise. Be zealous therefore and do penance. Behold, I stand at the gate, and knock. If any man shall hear my voice, and open to me the door, I will come into him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that shall overcome, I will give to sit with me in my throne: as I also have overcome and am set down with my Father in his throne.”
As Rev. Henry James Coleridge, S.J. wrote in his Prisoners of the King (1889): “The Prophet Malachias (Malachias 3:17) speaks of those who remain faithful to God in the midst of generations who turn from Him, and his words may apply to the souls of which we speak: “A book of remembrance was written before Him for them that fear the Lord, and think upon His Name. And they shall be My special possession, saith the Lord of hosts, in the day that I do judgment.” We also are reminded of the verses found in Apoc. 14: 12-13: “Here is the patience of the saints, who keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven, saying to me: Write: Blessed are the dead, who die in the Lord. From henceforth now, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; for their works follow them.”
What greater trial could we have endured on this earth than the loss of the Holy Sacrifice, the Sacraments and the papacy? All else pales in comparison. We lost all opportunity to educate our children in Catholic schools, to be cared for in Catholic hospitals and other institutions, to attend retreats, to make Eucharistic holy hours, to have Masses said for our dearly departed, to participate in processions, to receive spiritual direction and to benefit from the sacramentals — and that is the short list. According to Fr. Binet it would seem contrary to God’s infinite mercy to deprive us of worshipping Him at the heavenly altar who have so often longed to worship him in Catholic churches here on earth, taken from us by the usurpers in Rome. For as Fr. Binet so aptly explains, God will not punish us twice for our faults, especially when what has happened was His express will, in order that the Scriptures be fulfilled. If we accept all of this willingly and with perfect resignation, it cannot but count for exactly such a humble patience.
Then there is also the keen sufferings of those who for many years frequented various Traditional groups, thinking they would eventually find a truly Catholic community. Instead many encountered grave disillusionment, families were split apart, dissensions among the community and its leaders were rife, abuse of various kinds took place and families commonly experienced financial reversals, even bankruptcy. And this only accounts for temporal losses. Those realizing their mistake were shamed and greatly saddened by the sacrileges committed when all along they believed they were receiving true Sacraments. The betrayal by those they believed to be valid and licit Catholic clergy was galling, particularly when it was clear that all the confessions they had made were to a layperson who could not even claim the seal of the confessional. And finally the acceptance of the fact that they would need to keep their faith in the privacy of their homes and were not even able to socialize with other Catholics hit many the hardest. All this is true deprivation, and it is hard to believe that having lacked Catholic friends and relatives on earth, they would not be able to find them in Heaven.
And this is not even taking into consideration what we have already endured and may yet be facing on the civil scale!
Devotion to the Poor Souls and the dying
Those interested in the subject know that wearing their scapular and devotion to the Poor Souls are two means that can eliminate or at least shorten their time in Purgatory. Numerous saintly testimonials exist to verify this. But this is true only if those wearing the scapular and praying for the Poor Souls are in a state of grace in the first place and able to avail themselves of these promises. There are many treatises and books on the Internet available on Purgatory. (One such site is https://www.traditionalcatholic.co/free-catholicbooks/) The work most recommended or made available by Traditionalists for many years, by a Fr. Schouppe, is the most rigorous, and gives little hope of escaping such punishment. Other works are more consoling, without softening the doctrine of Purgatory itself in any way. As Fr. Binet notes and we have mentioned in a previous blog, the saints, including St. Francis de Sales and St. Thomas Aquinas, teach that charity to the suffering souls is superior to any charity to the souls here on earth, for the Poor Souls have no one else to help them. If we may be so bold to say it, it also seems that prayers for the dying might also rank among Fr. Binet’s exemptions, since they are the neediest next to the Poor Souls. A most excellent book on this topic, Devotion to the Dying by Mother Mary Potter, can be found at https://www.catholictradition.org/Classics/holy-souls.htm (This is given only as a reference; no endorsement whatsoever is given to the site. This book also can be purchased from various vendors.)
Frequent confession and Spiritual Communion
Yet another purgatorial exemption is to communicate well and often, also mentioned by Fr. O’Sullivan. While Catholics cannot receive Our Lord physically in Holy Communion, there is reason to believe that in being deprived of the Eucharist yet supplying for it by desire, there is possibly greater merit than receiving it from the hands of a Catholic priest. (See the heading on Spiritual Communion below.) As Rev. Coleridge, S.J. wrote in his previously mentioned work, “Again, we may remember that we have the power of renewing in our own hearts as often as we like the affections and holy acts which prepare for, or accompany, or follow, the actual reception of Communion, making at any time of the day or night, and many times in each, those spiritual communions of which the Saints have been so fond. It cannot be doubted that our Lord, on His part, is always ready to crown these tender and secret acts of love with great graces, renewing and confirming in us the effects of His own Sacramental Presence.” We may communicate only once a day in actually receiving the Body of our Lord, but many times when receiving Him spiritually. And this is productive of “great graces.”! Why do those who condemn these observances not educate themselves?!
Faithful and exact obedience
A final exemption of great note listed by Fr. Binet is that of “a faithful and exact obedience” — to God first, to superiors, the laws and teachings of the Church and even the civil law. Here he gives examples of obedience to God that seemed to endanger the lives of prophets such as Elias in his fiery chariot, Moses in the bottom of the Red Sea and Daniel in the lion’s den. Then there is also Jonas in the belly of the whale, Isaac, ready to be sacrificed by his father Abraham and Susanna, waiting to be stoned. Binet writes, “It is a kind of martyrdom to die for obedience, and without question, Purgatory was not made for martyrs.” He adds that St. Thomas teaches all heroic virtues place the soul in a pure and perfect state, but that “man can give God nothing that is of more value in this miserable life than to consecrate his will and submit it not only to Him but for love of Him.” Gerard, as he lay dying in St. Bernard’s arms, cried out: “I have been carried before God’s high tribunal and have seen the power of obedience; nobody shall ever perish who is truly obedient…” Binet adds: “A soul once purged in the fire of obedience hath no need of being purged again in the fire of Purgatory.” He then says an amazing thing. He tells us that God will refuse nothing to an obedient soul —that if she asks Him to be freed from Purgatory, He will not deny her.
Surely those who have obeyed God’s laws by departing from Traditionalism or the Novus Ordo to avoid communicatio in sacris can hope to at least lay claim to some measure of obedience. And perhaps it would be possible to also cite several of these other precious exemptions above for ourselves, at least in part. Others mentioned by Fr. Binet include angelical purity, a profound humility, to die as a religious, to serve the infected, and apostolic preaching. Those who have preserved virginity or been faithful to their marriage vows; those who at least try to humble themselves, those who defend the faith by word and/or example, who care for those with the Corona virus or other contagious diseases, those who wish to live the lives of religious although they cannot — isn’t all of this worthy at least of partial fulfillment of these exemptions? Both Fr. Binet and the Jesuit priest who translated his work, Fr. Richard Thimelby, lived during the precarious days of the Reformation. Fr. Thimelby is said in the preface to Binet’s work to have been a man of extraordinary piety by his biographers, and he says in the preface to the work he translated that Fr. Binet wrote may other treatises he only wish could also be translated. Fr. Binet ends his work with the following entreaty to his readers:
“It is in your power to make your way [to Heaven] without passing through Purgatory. Believe me, it is no trifling matter but the most important business we have to do in this world, to purchase Heaven… Learn at least by these discourses to have a tender heart for the Poor Souls and to use your uttermost endeavor to go yourself directly into Heaven out of this wicked world. It is the thing I earnestly beg out of God’s infinite mercy for you, and for myself, at the instance of your good prayers. For though I must acknowledge I deserve nothing more than hell-fire, and have reason to take it for a high favour to be sent into Purgatory, to lie there as many months and years as it shall please God; yet I confess ingenuously I have no great mind to either place, but only to heaven, which I beseech God, by the merits of my dear Saviour, and by the Plenary Indulgence of His most infinite mercy, to grant to us all.”
Given all the above, it would seem impossible for one committed to avoiding hell to ever go there if he or she availed themselves of every possible help listed here by these authors. This in spite of the fact that we lack Mass and Sacraments, although we have their spiritual substitutes. Those preying on souls today have made it seem that it will be difficult to save ourselves without their ministrations, but we have from God’s mouth the promises that a contrite heart He will not despise, and obedience is better than sacrifices. Why would we spurn this precious obedience that assures our salvation to please our fellow men and appear to worship God, when in fact we are worshipping idols? The treasury of the Church is rich with the means to save our souls if we but take the time and effort to discover them and put them into practice. Pray God that we are given the graces to do so!
The following is simply a refresher course from the popular work by Bp. Demaris, who reiterates all that was said previously.
Excerpts from Bp. Demaris
For those committed to avoiding at all costs the sacrilegious and idolatrous services of those who are not true members of Christ’s Mystical body or the hierarchy, there is nothing more consoling than the words of Fr. Demaris, a French bishop writing to his flock during the time of the French Revolution (They have Taken Away My Lord). During that time bishops had sworn allegiance and been installed by the French government, and these men were subsequently condemned by Pope Pius VI as not possessing jurisdiction and therefore incapable of transmitting valid Sacraments.
“The Catholic Church and the whole episcopal body has received and respected this judgment of the Holy See…,” we find in Arturo de Montor’s Lives of the Pope under Pope Pius VII. “The Civil Constitution of the Clergy was condemned by the same dogmatic judgment of Pius VI, as containing errors against the deposit of faith… “The decisions of ancient councils were also appealed to. One of these, held in Benevento in 1087 by (Bl.) Pope Victor III, had decreed as follows: ‘The Sacraments of Penance and Communion are to be received only at the hands of a Catholic priest; if none such is to be found, it is better to remain without communion and to receive it invisibly from Our Lord.’” Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, Editor James Hastings and others, Vol. IX, 1917, Charles Scribner and Sons, New York; by Georges Volet). De Montor confirms this by stating that Victor III forbade Catholics to receive penance or the Eucharist “at the hands of heretics or simoniacs.”
In a past blog piece on the Petit Eglise, this entire period of history is examined and shown to be a complete vindication of the stay-at-home position, although none will accept this fact and quibble instead that Pope Pius VI’s Charitas proclaiming the condemnation was not dogmatic. This definitely is not the case and was not the opinion of Cardinal Consalvi, who de Montor quotes as follows: “The Catholic Church and the whole episcopal body has received and respected this judgment of the Holy See… The Civil Constitution of the Clergy was condemned by the same dogmatic judgment of Pius VI, as containing errors against the deposit of faith… His Holiness observes that, as his predecessor found it impossible to yield to the request made… it is equally impossible for him to admit to his communion and invest with canonical constitution the constitutionals, who, contrary to the dogmatic decision contained in said briefs, persist in maintaining the error condemned in them, refuse to acknowledge their illegitimate character, and to adhere and submit to the judgment pronounced by the Holy See.”
We find ourselves today in much the same position as the French Catholics, although our situation is much worse because we have no true pope. (However, the French Catholics faced real persecution and death and we do not, as yet.) Therefore the reassuring words below offered by Fr. Demaris will resonate spiritually with those who have withdrawn from anything smacking of false religion. Furthermore, it should convince Catholics that their determination never to dishonor Christ by committing communicatio in sacris will be abundantly rewarded and will merit them the very graces they are accused of neglecting in absence of the true Mass and valid Sacraments. Who to believe then – Traditionalists or the teaching of Popes Pius VI and VII and a missionary bishop?! The choice seems very simple. And as also shown below, there are other reasons to believe that rather than doing a disservice to religion, and actually sinning by avoiding “Mass and Sacraments,” as many have accused us of doing, we instead are acting meritoriously. In fact it is possible that we may indeed not only be able to snatch our souls from the fires of hell but we may be able even to avoid a lengthy Purgatory, as seen above. This by simply bearing our plight without complaint and offering up our sufferings for our own sins and those of others. This is further confirmed by the consoling words of Bp. Demaris:
General comments
“You are frightened, my children, at what you see: all that you hear is frightening, but be consoled that it is the Will of God being accomplished. Your days are numbered; His Providence watches over us. Cherish those men who appear to you as savages. They are the means which Heaven uses in its plans, and like a tempestuous sea, they will not pass the prescribed line against the countering and menacing waves. The stormy turbulence of revolution that strikes right and left, and the sounds that alarm you are the threats of Herod! Let it not deter you from good works, nor change your trust, nor wither the shower of virtues that tie you to Jesus Christ. He is your model. The threats of Herod do not change the course of His Destiny.
“The disciples of Jesus Christ in their fidelity to God are faithful to their country and full of submission and respect for all lawful authority — firm in their principles with a conscience without reproach — adoring the Will of God, they must not coward-like flee persecution. When one loves the Cross, one is fearless to kiss it and even enjoy death. It is necessary for our intimate union with Jesus Christ. It could happen any instant, but it is not always so meritorious or glorious. If God does not call you to it, you shall be like those illustrious confessors, of whom St. Cyprian said, “That without dying by the executioner, they have gained the merits of martyrdom, because they were prepared for it.”
“This consoling truth can only be appreciated by the righteous, and don’t be surprised if in our own time, we see what St. Cyprian saw in his: that most of the faithful succumbed. To love God and fear Him alone, such is the lot of a small number of the elect. It is this love and this fear that makes martyrs by detaching the Faithful from the world and attaching them to God and His Holy Law. To support this love and this fear, in your hearts, watch and pray.
On the absence of the Eucharist and Confession
“It is by Faith that the Faithful are united. In probing this truth, we find that the absence of the Body does not break this unity, since it does not break the ties of Faith, but rather augments it by depriving it of all feeling… This loss deprives you of Sacraments and spiritual consolation. Your piety takes fright, since it sees itself alone. However, through your desolation, never forget that God is your Father, and if He permits your deprivation of the dispensation of the Mysteries, that doesn’t mean that He shuts off the means of His Graces and Mercies. I’m going to offer them to you as the only sources to which you can possibly go for purification. Read what I write with the same intention as I have in writing. Seek nothing but the truth, and our salvation in self-denial, in our love for God and a submission to His Holy Will… If life’s events change the position of the Faithful, the events change our obligations.
“St. Leo said that love of justice contains in itself all Apostolic Authority, and in that he has expressed the belief of the Church… If confession must precede absolution, your conduct here, precedes the graces of holiness and justice which God gives you and is confession public and continuous. “Confession is necessary,” said St. Augustine, “because it embraces the condemnation of sin.” Here, we condemn it in a manner so public and so solemnly, that it is known by all, and this condemnation, which is why we cannot go to a priest, isn’t it more meritorious than an accusation of private sin made in secret? Our example tells the Faithful that there is more evil than one thinks in doing what is being done to us. We do not confess to a priest, but we confess to the Truth, which is the most noble confession, and the most necessary in these circumstances. We do not confess our sins in secret, we confess the Truth in public.
“The Holy Eucharist had for you many joys and advantages when you were able to participate in this Sacrament of love, but now you are deprived of it for being defenders of truth and justice. Your advantages are the same, for who would have dared approach this fearsome table if Jesus Christ had not given us a precept, and if the Church, which desires that we fortify ourselves with this Bread of Life, had not invited us to eat It by the voice of its ministers, who reclothed us with a nuptial dress. All was obedience, but if we compare obedience by that which we are deprived of with that which led us there, it will be easy to judge the merit. Abraham obeyed in immolating his son, and in not immolating him, but his obedience was greater when he took the sword in his hand than when he returned it to its scabbard.
“We are obedient in going to Communion, but in holding ourselves from the sacrifice we are immolating ourselves. Quenched of the thirst of justice and depriving ourselves of the Blood of the Lamb which alone can slake it, we sacrifice our own life as much as it is in us to do. The sacrifice of Abraham was for an instant, an angel stopped the knife; ours is daily, renewing itself every day, every time that we adore with submission the Hand of God that drives us away from His altars, and this sacrifice is voluntary. It is to be advantageously deprived of the Eucharist, to raise the standard of the Cross for the cause of Christ and the glory of His Church… Let not the love of the Eucharist drive us away from the Cross.
“Observe, my children, that Jesus, after having given His Body, found no difficulty in dying for us. There is the action of a Christian in the persecutions, the Cross follows on from the Eucharist. Let not the love of the Eucharist drive us away from the Cross. It is to arise and make glorious advance in the grace of the Gospel, to go out from the Cenacle, to go to Calvary. Yes, I have no fear in saying it. When the storm of the malice of men roars against truth and justice, it is more advantageous to the Faithful to suffer for Christ than to participate in His Body by Communion. I seem to hear the Savior saying to us: “Do not be afraid to be separated from My table for the confession of My Name: it is a grace I give you, which is very rare. Repair by this humiliating deprivation that glorifies Me, all the Communions which dishonor me.
“Feel this grace. You can do nothing for Me and I put into your hands a means of doing what I have done for you, and to return to Me with magnificence, that which I have given you is the greatest. I have given you My Body, and you give it back to Me, since you are separated from it in My service. You give back to the truth what you have received from My love. I could not have given you anything greater. Your gratitude matches by that, the grace I have given you — the greatness of the gift I made to you. Console yourselves if I do not call upon you to pour out your blood like the martyrs, there is Mine to make up for it. Every time that you are prevented from drinking it, I will regard it the same as if you had spilled yours; and Mine is far more precious.” So that is how we find the Eucharist, even during the deprivation of the Eucharist. From another view, who is able to separate us from Christ and His Church in Communion in approaching its altars by faith in a much more efficacious manner since it is spiritual and further from the sense. It is what I call communicating spiritually in uniting oneself with the Faithful who are able to do it in different places on the earth.”
The cessation of the Holy Sacrifice
(Editor’s note: If we recite the Mass of St. John, or say our Mass prayers in the absence of the True Mass; if we offer our very selves on this altar of sacrifice willingly and in a spirit of resignation to God’s will each day as Pope Pius XII enjoins us in his encyclical Mediator Dei, isn’t the Sacrifice still renewed spiritually in a continual way? In his The Mystery of Faith, Vol. I, Rev. de la Taille writes concerning chapters 5-16 of Apocalypse: “It is declared plainly that in the New Jerusalem which is to succeed the Church Militant, there would be neither Temple nor light, except God and the Lamb…Under these sacrificial symbols and metaphors we have an indication of some kind of heavenly and eternal worship,” consisting of Christ’s perpetual immolation eternally offered before the Throne of God.
St. Gregory Nazianzan wrote: “What then? Will they forbid us their altars? Even so, I know of another altar, and the altars we see now are but a figure of it… All the activities ‘round about that altar are spiritual; one ascends to it by contemplation. At this altar I shall stand, upon it I will make immolations pleasing to God, sacrifices, oblations, holocausts, better than those that are offered now…” (Ibid). St. Thomas writes: “The state of the New Law is intermediate between the state of the Old Law…and the state of glory, in which all truth will be fully and perfectly manifested. Then there will be no more sacraments; but now, inasmuch as we see only through a glass darkly, we have to enter into spiritual things through sensible signs.” So either we are being offered a foretaste of life in our Eternal Home, and the Church will eventually be restored; or we are being prepared for the end of the world proper and the commencement of the life to come in a very intimate way.) We continue now with more from Bishop Demaris:
Extreme Unction
“When you look to the future and see yourself on your deathbed, without the last sacrament, without Extreme Unction and without any help on the part of the ministers of the Lord, you see yourself abandoned in the most sad and terrible way. Console yourselves, my children, in the trust you have in God. This tender Father will pour on you His graces, His blessings and His mercies, in these awful moments that you fear, in more abundance than if you were being assisted by his ministers of whom you have been deprived only because you wouldn’t abandon Him Yourself. The abandonment and forsakenness that we fear for ourselves resembles that of the Savior on the Cross when He said to His Father: “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27: 46). Ah! How constructive and consoling are these words! Your pains and abandonment lead you to your glorious destiny in ending your life like Jesus ended His.
“The number of the elect was always small… God only wants those who give themselves to Him entirely. Do not be surprised at the great number who quit. Truth wins, no matter how small the number of those who love and remain attached to Him.” (End of Bishop Demaris quotes)
The saints and Spiritual Communion
St. Alphonsus Liguori writes: “I advise everyone who desires to grow in love for Jesus to communicate in this spiritual manner at least once a day… This devotion is far more salutary than many suppose, while at the same time it is very easy of practice.”
Rev. Mueller relates in his work that St. Catherine of Siena at one point in her life was forbidden to communicate. But her desire to receive Communion was so intense that the smallest particle from the Host, being broken at the altar into three pieces by her confessor, St. Raymund Pennafort, flew from the altar to rest on St. Catherine’s tongue. Our Lord assured St. Raymund that this miracle was a reward for her intense desire to receive Him. A similar miracle occurred in the case of St. Juliana Falconieri, who was unable to communicate because of a gastrointestinal disorder. She begged the priest to lay a veil on her breast, and to place the Blessed Sacrament on it to receive Jesus in a spiritual Communion. This wish was complied with and the Sacred Host disappeared suddenly, to be found no more. Shortly afterwards, St. Juliana died with a smile on her face.
Rev. Mueller tells us: “[Our Lord] displays a similar love toward anyone who has a true desire to be united to Him. As soon as a soul ardently desires to receive Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, He comes to satisfy her desire, not as he did to St. Catherine, under the Sacramental species, but by the way of Spiritual Communion. This devotion is so full of grace and consolation that everyone should know how to practice it… Spiritual Communion, according to St. Thomas, consists in an ardent desire to receive Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Most Holy Sacrament. It is performed by making an act of faith…and then an act of love, and an act of contrition for having offended Him. The soul then invites Him to come and unite Himself to her and make her entirely His own; and lastly she thanks Him as if she had really received Him sacramentally,” [and here Mueller gives the common form of Spiritual Communion].
“Our Lord Himself told St. Jane [Joanna] of the Cross that as often as she communicated spiritually, she received a grace similar to that received from her Sacramental Communions. He also appeared to St. Paula Maresca, foundress of the convent of St. Catherine of Siena at Naples, with two vessels, one of silver and one of gold, and told her that in the golden vessel He preserved her Sacramental Communions and in the silver vessel her spiritual Communions. The Fathers of the Church go so far as to say that one who has a very great desire for Communion, accompanied with great reverence and humility, may sometimes receive even more graces than another who, without these dispositions, should actually receive Our Lord in the Sacramental species; for as the Psalmist says: ‘The Lord hears the desire of the poor and fills their heart with good things.’”
Our Lord told St. Gertrude the Great the following regarding spiritual communion:
On account of an interdict, St. Gertrude the Great was unable to hear Mass. In The Life and Revelations of St. Gertrude, issued by the nuns of her Benedictine convent in Germany, it is written: “[The Saint] addressed God thus: How wilt Thou console us most kind Lord, in our present affliction? He replied: “I will increase My joys in you; for as a spouse entertains himself more familiarly with his bride in the retirement of his house than in public, so will I take My pleasure in your retreat. My love will increase in you, even as a fire which is enclosed burns with great force; and the delight which I will find in you, and the love which you will have for Me, will be like a pent-up ocean, which seems to increase by the impediments placed to its progress, until at last it breaks forth impetuously. ‘But how long will this interdict continue?’ inquired the Saint. The Lord replied: ‘The favours which I promise you will last as long as it does.’
The Perfect Act of Contrition
In his Heaven Open to Souls, Rev. Henry Semple, S. J. shows that a perfect Act of Contrition is a common act. Semple quotes St. Alphonsus Liguori, who attributes the opposite belief, that such an act is not common, to the Jansenists. St. Alphonsus teaches that “the opposite teaching…that Contrition with remiss charity does not justify outside the Sacrament [of Penance] is altogether unsupported by any reason, and is false…It is at variance with all theologians and the common sentiments of the Fathers…It most openly contradicts many testimonies of Scripture and Councils and Holy Fathers,” (“Moral Theology,” Book 6, Treatise 4, n. 442 of St. Alphonsus). Rev. Raymond Kearney writes: “The Sacraments are the usual, not the exclusive channels of grace…Penitents frequently make acts of Perfect Contrition…These facts go to show that while the Church does not always supply jurisdiction as lavishly as some writers would desire, she is ever the Pia Mater Ecclesia,” (“Principles of Delegation,” 1929). In the book Semple references below, Rev. von Den Driesch writes:
“… There is no one who, if he sincerely wishes it, cannot, with the grace of God, make an act of Perfect Contrition. Sorrow is in the will, not in the senses or feelings. All that is needed is that we repent because we love God above everything else; that is all. True it is that perfect contrition has its degrees, but it is nonetheless perfect because it does not reach the intensity and the sublimity of the sorrow of St. Peter, of St. Mary Magdalene, or of St. Aloysius Gonzaga. Such a degree is desirable, but it is by no means necessary. A lesser degree, but, provided it proceeds from the love of God, and not through fear of His punishments is quite sufficient…Often, very often, without even thinking of it, you have Perfect Contrition for your sins. For example, when you hear Mass devoutly or make the Stations of the Cross properly; when you reflect before your crucifix or an image of the Sacred Heart. What is more, every time you say the ‘Our Father’, in the first three petitions you make three acts of perfect charity, each of which is sufficient to cancel every sin from your soul.”
These words are from saintly men and women and must be taken above anything taught by so-called Novus Ordo or Traditionalist clerics. For this was the true Catholic Church, the works of approved authors, not the mewlings of the hirelings we are currently offered. Honor that Church, study its wealth of teachings, listen to the words of the Roman Pontiffs, and pray that God have mercy on the souls of all who are in error today.
by T. Stanfill Benns | Jun 29, 2021 | New Blog
+Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul+
We daily hear about Cancel Culture and the ravages wreaked on American traditions as the push to establish Socialism in this country moves relentlessly forward. Faithful Catholics are neither surprised nor are they unfamiliar with the methods used by the Progressives; at least they shouldn’t be. It will serve well to repeat here what was stated last month in the series on false worship:
“What is it that hath been? the same thing that shall be. What is it that hath been done? the same that shall be done. Nothing under the sun is new, neither is any man able to say: Behold this is new: for it hath already gone before in the ages that were before us. There is no remembrance of former things: nor indeed of those things which hereafter are to come, shall there be any remembrance with them that shall be in the latter end” (Ecclesiastes I: 9-11).
In summary, those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. Cancel Culture was long ago used as a tool to destroy the Church whether we are aware if it or not. What else would you call the Protestant Reformation if not one gigantic effort to cancel the glorious Age of Faith in the name of more progressive moral and doctrinal views? In other words, the exchange of truth for lies; orthodoxy for heterodoxy. And in its wake came the American Revolution, then the French Revolution, for Catholic France could never be allowed to stand. What else was KulturKampf in Germany but a disguised Cancel Culture? And we know what the Bolshevik Revolution and the Communist rule that followed accomplished throughout Europe. Let us also not forget the totalistic systems of Nazi Germany and Mao’s China, with its diabolical imposition of thought reform. It is disgusting to see so many condemning Cancel Culture today, simply because it is happening to America, without making the necessary connections to these historical precedents. But they will not because they cannot; no one is any longer allowed to speak the whole truth.
No one dares remind those braying on the talk news channels about the dangers of Communist generated Cancel Culture that Socialism and Communism were condemned long ago by truly Catholic popes, or that the Fatima apparitions occurred at the time of the Bolshevik Revolution. Once Catholic monarchies and other governmental systems toppled, drunk with their success, the Masonic forces driving Communism and Socialism focused on infiltrating the Church and reducing her to a mere outer shell. This, as we know all too well, resulted in the disastrous reforms of the Vatican 2 era. Such changes also were gradually introduced among more conservative Protestant denominations. As Robert Jay Lifton explains in his classic work Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism,“’ideological remolding’… or ‘thought reform’ has in fact emerged as one of the most powerful efforts at human manipulation ever undertaken.” And he credits the Chinese Communists with bringing to this method “a more organized, comprehensive and deliberate — a more total — character, as well as a unique blend of energetic and ingenious psychological techniques.” Thanks to modern day technology, these now have been enhanced one hundredfold. Pope Pius XII condemned these methods in his constitution Ad apostolorum principis, paras. 15-17:
“In order to spread these wicked principles more efficiently and to fix them in everyone’s mind, this association – which, as We have said, boasts of its patriotism – uses a variety of means including violence and oppression, numerous lengthy publications, and group meetings and congresses. In these meetings, the unwilling are forced to take part by incitement, threats, and deceit. If any bold spirit strives to defend truth, his voice is easily smothered and overcome, and he is branded with a mark of infamy as an enemy of his native land and of the new society. There should also be noted those courses of instruction by which pupils are forced to imbibe and embrace this false doctrine. Priests, religious men and women, ecclesiastical students, and faithful of all ages are forced to attend these courses. An almost endless series of lectures and discussions, lasting for weeks and months, so weaken and benumb the strength of mind and will that BY A KIND OF PSYCHIC COERCION an assent is extracted which contains almost no human element, an assent which is not freely asked for as should be the case.”
Lifton’s book is too complicated and lengthy to delve into in any detail here but suffice it to say they appealed to the young people, to the criminal and the simple peasant element, and to disenchanted intellectuals and government employees to accomplish their goals. It is clear the brainwashing in this country was done in liberal universities across the nation, and the world for that matter, and the foundation was laid for Cancel Culture long ago. Most of it became more apparent after the death of Pope Pius XII, but it had been a work in progress for decades. And in retrospect, some of the propaganda used by the Communist Chinese had just enough truth to make it appear later that no brainwashing had been used at all! This is revealed in the following excerpt from Lifton’s book, quoted from the writings of a Belgian Catholic bishop, Hans Barker, who lived in China as a missionary for 40 years.
“You cannot escape the fact that your society and your mission ought to be regarded as spy centers, sending out reports to both headquarters, and that Rome becomes the world center from where imperialist governments draw their perverting information… as proof that you now condemn this process, you must at once give full information about the spy activities of your society, of your mission, as of Rome.” Bishop Barker later remarks that the Chinese “lie so truly.” But how sad is it that this very comment, based on information presented in The Phantom Church in Rome, can actually be proven to be true, a spy operation set up with the help of the British OSS during World War II by none other than Giovanni Montini, Paul 6? Now what? Will this be used by those now indoctrinating the public and viciously slandering the Church as proof the Chinese were right all along? Is it any wonder that this country is so friendly with the Chinese, considering they are using and have been using all along their own indoctrination techniques?!
All that we see today was mirrored in the events that occurred in the 1960s, when it first became apparent the Church was no longer the same institution She had been for nearly 2,000 years. The Vietnam war, peaceniks, anti-patriotic activities, campus riots, cults, assassinations, drug and alcohol abuse, abortion, pornography, family breakdown, a surge in serial murders — as the Church goes, so goes the world. But today’s society cannot admit it. They cannot believe that what the Catholic Church gave to the world was far superior to anything we have in way of government and civilization today. Were there abuses? Of course there were abuses, just as there are now, but the standard to judge who would pay and to what extent was based on moral and doctrinal principles, not some wacked out critical race theory that is nothing more than glorified Nazism. We are the white supremacists? Really? This is the biggest historic lie since time began, and anyone who has access to the Internet and real history sources is guilty of allowing such lies to be propagated by remaining willfully ignorant. Or is the real explanation for this that they are truly brainwashed? You be the judge.
As a teenager, I was privileged to have a father who did the research and knew what Nazism was and why it came to power. I was introduced to such books as The Nightmare Years and Berlin Diary, by William Shirer, among other works. In junior high school I was fortunate enough to be educated formally on the dangers of Communism and Socialism, which took up an entire two semesters. To say that the similarities today are frightening would be an understatement. I later expanded on what I had learned and discovered some connections that for Catholics should be very telling.
Luther and Hitler
According to the Episcopalian scholar Peter F. Wiener, writing in the 1940s at the beginning of World War II, a pamphlet was issued by the German government worthy of Hitler himself. It only proves the following, as stated in a site article written 15 years ago: Hitler merely reaped the bountiful harvest sown by Martin Luther. This pamphlet warned the world what they could expect from Germany. The Allies were told that WWI was “Luther’s idea come true.” They heard that “Christianity [the Lutheran variety] is the religion of war, and that Germans preach a “German, a national God.” One Lutheran preacher declared: “I am proud to preach the religion of might and what our enemies call barbarism.” Despite these hateful boasts, WWI ended in defeat for Germany. As Wiener explains, the German government pretended for a time to incline to Internationalism, simply as a ruse to allow them to recover sufficiently before making yet another pass at the world. When Hitler came to power in the late 1920s, the Lutheran pamphleteers wholeheartedly supported him. After years of attending international congresses to promote world peace, the Germans could now drop the mask and be themselves. Internationalism, “the sweet- sentimental and sentimental-weak Christianity” of their opponents dissolved overnight, and the Third Reich was born.
It was Luther, not the Catholic Church, that stirred up hatred of the Jews in Germany. He wrote, as quoted by Wiener: “The Jews are malignant snakes and imps…It is our own fault that we have not avenged the sacred blood of Our Saviour and the innocent blood of countless Christians and children, it is our own fault that we have not annihilated the Jews but placidly let them stay where they are despite all their murders…” And so the diatribe goes. Griener says his worst utterances are too filthy to be repeated. Luther also published his own anti-Jew code centuries before Hitler would come to power. In it the Reformer suggested that Jewish synagogues and all their prayerbooks and literature be burned; that their houses be burned as well; that they be deprived of all their belongings and be barred from moving freely about the country; that they all be herded under one roof and that their rabbis be forbidden to teach and finally that all Jewish children be put to hard labor or driven out of the country.
Historians called Luther’s anti-Jewish hatemongering “mad fanaticism,” calculated to “provoke the people to an unchristian persecution of their Jewish neighbors…Official reports go to prove that the cruel persecution of the Jews was no mere paper measure.” Dr. Lewin wrote that all future “anti-Semitic decrees had their origin in Luther.” Griener comments that Martin Luther died plotting a wholesale and violent attack against the Jews which the German princes failed to carry out. The full harvest of his hatred would be gathered by yet another antichrist at a later time. But it would be the Catholic Church, and specifically Pope Pius XII — not the Lutherans —that would be accused of encouraging anti-Semitism.
As von Kirchman remarked, “Luther…is not the reformer, but the devastator of faith and Church.” Lutheranism from WWI on became synonymous with Nazism. Hitler’s satanic treatment of Jews, Catholics, and those mentally and physically defective is well-documented fact. It is exceeded in its monstrosity only by Stalin’s murder of Christians and Catholics in Russia. Hitler was, mentally and politically, Luther reincarnated. His fits of rage, egomania, paranoia, immorality, and delusions of grandeur, so similar to Luther’s own, are well documented. Mein Kampf is testimony to his political and spiritual beliefs. In the end it was Hitler who carried out Luther’s last project: the incarceration and extermination of the Jews. Had circumstances allowed, he would have destroyed the Vatican and as many Catholics as possible. This last task, however, is most likely reserved for the Stormfuehrers of the Fourth Reich, now waiting in the wings for the signal to be thrown and the New Order to begin.
It is important to understand that Hitler’s Germany began as a democracy under the Republic of Weimar. It was set up under American auspices following WWI, just as Lenin came into power as a result of Kerensky’s Menshevik democracy, financed with American money. Internationalism will struggle to the death with National Socialism for world control. In the meantime, the Internationalists are content to allow Germany and her American and South American sympathizers free reign to do their worst, to clear the way for the New World Order. To give Americans some indication of where they are headed Wiener states: “Christianity and a conservative political power became identified with each other, as well as piety, love of power, purity of doctrine, and the glorification of war and the aristocratic standpoint.” In many respects, the same could be said of America today with her stance of manifest destiny, her democratic mission to all nations, the glorification of civil and military service to the exclusion of all else, and the fat cat attitudes of the Mayflower families still in power.
Wiener sums up his work by condemning the Lutheran-German idea of religion and political superiority; the anti-intellectualism and willful stupidity which deliberately encouraged the creation of an unquestioning and obedient warrior nation. He quotes a leading French cleric, Fr. Pasquier, who admits, “Too many German Catholics have proved (during the war) that they are marked Lutherans.” Too many indeed, and they are still with us.
Education as a preparatory tool
John Taylor Gatto on his The Underground History of American Education informs us that it was Luther and the philosopher Fichte who first insisted on compulsory public education. “Prior to Fichte…any number of compulsion school proclamations had rolled off the printing presses here and there, including Martin Luther’s plan to tie church and state together this way… [The] address to the German nation [in 1806] by the philosopher Fichte [was] one of the influential documents of modern history leading directly to the first workable compulsion schools in the West…Fichte told Prussia…children would have to be disciplined through a new form of universal conditioning. They could no longer be trusted to their parents. Look what Napoleon had done by banishing sentiment in the interests of nationalism. Through forced schooling everyone would learn that ‘work makes free,’ and working for the State, even laying down one’s life to its commands, was the greatest freedom of all…The Prussian mind had a clear idea of what centralized schooling should deliver: 1) Obedient soldiers to the army; 2) Obedient workers for mines, factories and farms; 3) Well-subordinated civil servants, trained in their functions; 4) Well-subordinated clerks for industry; 5) Citizens who thought alike on most issues: 6) National uniformity in thought, word and deed…While German state management was rigid and regulated with its common citizens [and enlisted men], it was liberal and adventuresome with its elites. After WWII, and particularly after Vietnam, American elite military practice began to follow this German model.”
Gatto explains that Luther, Calvin, Hobbes and Rosseau, among others, believed that “without compulsory universal schooling, the idiosyncratic family would never surrender its central hold on society. Family had to be discouraged from its function as a sentimental haven, pressed into the service of loftier ideals — those of the perfected State.” The politician Horace Mann taught that families were addicting their children to artificial wants, created by the advent of the Industrial Revolution and its ensuing materialism. The observation was correct; the solution was disastrous. Here we see further examples of Luther’s contradictions. Sentimentality was to be preserved for religious devotion only, yet it was to be cut off from the Germans’ function as citizens. The State could not afford it as a guiding principle any more than the Church could afford it; but then one must understand that in nationalism, the State, not the Church, rules in God’s place.
Luther and democracy
We also see Luther’s firm distinction between the ruling class and the common people. Only officers in the German army were given special training; the enlisted ranks had only to obey. Clearly Luther and King Henry VIII first advocated the separation of Church and State. It is easy to understand why they wished to retain sentimentalism in religion. Without the fuel of fiery speeches and exhortations from the pulpits, Lutheran and other German preachers could not appeal to the passions and baser instincts of their congregations, enforcing obedience to rulers and stoking the fires of military fervor. In this way these preachers rendered their assigned service to the Faderland. In like manner Traditionalist ministers have preached John Birch, conservatism in general and even British Israel from their own pulpits and publications, and Novus Ordo ministers also have preached decidedly liberal political themes.
Bitter rule by fear and intimidation resulted in the reactive herd instinct and blind obedience on the part of subjects. “That no revolution ever successfully played out in Germany” proves the atmosphere of resignation, unthinking acceptance and unflinching obedience,” (Wiener). America has been formed in the German mold now for many generations, both spiritually and politically. The revolt of the South against those supported by the federal government in the North ended in destruction of the Southern way of life and liberation of the African Americans indentured to the Southerners, another example of cancel culture, even though the popes had condemned slavery centuries before Lincoln came on the scene. It was the Republican party that built itself on the freedmen of the South despite the protests of plantation owners and native Southerners. Reconstruction eventually waned, and freedmen never realized their promise of “40 acres and a mule.” No real plan to ease those freed from slavery ever evolved to help them integrate into society on a level footing with their white counterparts. But as we have learned, democracy doesn’t operate on the principles of Christian charity.
St. Thomas Aquinas, after naming off several different political systems, including democracy, noted that none of these systems save a right-ordered monarchy “takes thought for the common good.” He said of democracy: “The perversion…of democracy, (meaning power of the people or rather the vulgar mass) is the perversion of that polity [constitution] in which the many dominate, but on the basis of at least one virtue, viz., military bravery.” And this is the very perversion that those favoring fascism would seek to bring about. It is interesting to note that Nietzsche believed democracy to favor “the nurturing of a human type prepared for slavery in the most subtle sense of the term.” As Lord Acton stated, “Socialism is the infirmity that attends mature democracies,” and as democracies go, America is mature. This maturity and the relative instability of democracies throughout history explain why this country is ripe for the adoption of National Socialism.
“The teachings of Luther [on subservience to the State] had two very natural results. In the first place, the people were taught that they had no right to rebel or protest against even the most unjust ruler…The other result is that Luther strengthened to the highest degree the power of the princes,” (Wiener). St. Thomas distinguishes between the manner in which the authority is acquired and the use made of this authority. All authority, good or bad, ultimately is from God. The abuse of this authority, when it commands sin or even when it is merely violating the end in view for which the authority is instituted excuses from obedience. “Should therefore the authority command an act of sin contrary to virtue, we not only are not obliged to obey, but we are also obliged not to obey, according to the examples of the holy martyrs who preferred death to obeying these ungodly tyrants.” No one can command us to sin. Nor does the Church teach that an abuse of power be tolerated without complaint because of the harm done to the common good. Because the discussion of disobeying authority when there is a perceived abuse of power is a very convoluted and thorny one, however, it will not be discussed in detail here.
Wiener notes that Luther glorified war, even if it was unjust. War must be fought, according to Luther, “even if it should be mistaken and sinful,” something which in this country has been done in practice, if not intentionally. St. Thomas teaches that a just war requires three conditions be met: 1) That it be called by legitimate authority; 2) That those who are to be attacked deserve it on account of some fault or misdeed; 3) And that those waging war have the right intentions — that good be advanced, evil be avoided. St. Thomas quotes St. Augustine as teaching that war cannot be waged for revenge, hope of spoils, world conquest, material advantage and so forth. These motives are “rightly condemned in war.” In other words, if Catholic soldiers resisted being drafted for a war that is judged unjust by St. Thomas’ standards, they would have sufficient probability to support their refusal to be drafted based on Catholic teaching. Catholics have not only a right, but an obligation to refuse to cooperate in sin, and an unjust war involves grave sin.
Luther urged the princes into censorship of those not in sync with his Augsburg Confessions. And presidents practice censorship in withholding from Americans information affecting their welfare and the right to make informed decisions concerning the selection of their leaders. The Bay of Pigs invasion, Watergate, the Contra affair, Clinton’s Monica caper, Bush’s secret wiretaps, Bengazi, the Russia hoax, FISA warrants, Hunter Biden’s current woes and all manner of other secret dealings all serve to illustrate the clandestine mindset of the federal government. Few Americans believe the media delivers the truth and nothing but. Most understand that journalism is held hostage by gag orders, legal or otherwise, issuing from advertisers, law enforcement, political figures, government entities and secret societies. Sins of omission in reporting and slanting the news have done as much damage as misreporting, if not more. This devious form of censorship is rarely recognized for what it truly is.
Then of course there is censorship in the religious sphere. Traditionalists love to threaten lawsuits if one dares reveal the truth about something or someone dear to them. In another essay, we have detailed the methods used by Traditionalists to destroy their opponents, methods Luther would proudly have claimed for his own. It has been reported many times that those visiting this site have been warned they will be “excommunicated” or otherwise ostracized for reading these articles and questioning their Traditionalist “keepers.” It has previously been explained on this blog how some Traditionalist operations themselves are a front for neo-Nazi activities and in actuality have more to do with political than religious beliefs, using religion as a ruse to distract those who question their orientation. Timewise it is midnight in America, and Traditionalists and Americans in general have some very grave decisions to make. The one withholding factor that kept the entire world from descending into barbarism and atheism effectively has been removed from sight. Unless it is recognized as soon as possible by those professing the true faith; unless those entrapped in false belief flee to the mountains — to that eternal city, the Church, ever standing on the mountaintop — no flesh will be saved.
It is appropriate to remind Catholics of what could possibly halt this madness, as noted in a previous blog.
“If Christians today would bring the mentality of overcomers to bear upon contemporary realities in the service of truth, and above all that of the Gospel, the world would once more be compelled to bow to their testimony. It is when witnesses, apparently dead come back to life that men give glory to God. May our witness thus be revived; may it become strong again so that the new spirit of the Gospel may enter into our spirits and our lives! Then shall we again stand upright on our feet and the enemies of Christ will once more be reduced to silence,” (The Apocalypse Explained, H.M. Feret, 1958).
