by T. Stanfill Benns | Sep 21, 2023 | Blog, New Blog
+ St. Matthew, Apostle +
The post below will address comments on the sedevacantist Passion of the Church article which was reviewed here last week because this article also makes reference to the possibility that John 23 was validly elected, quoting Pope Pius IX to the effect that even an “unworthy heir” can still reign validly. Other blogsters and Internet commentators are now hyperventilating about a new video by a Fr. Altman detailing the heresies of Francis. One of these is Patrick Henry, whose comments, unfortunately, have been picked up by other blogs. I don’t normally name names here but I am now forced to warn readers that Patrick Henry’s writings are not in compliance with the teachings of the Roman Pontiffs.
I have corrected Henry on this on several occasions, even published blog articles that demonstrate where he is in error, but to no avail. He insists that I believe that the laity comprises the magisterium, when all I have ever done is point to what the magisterium teaches. He denies the binding statement entered into the Acta Apostolica Sedis by Pius XII that in the absence of the hierarchy, the laity must take up all of their responsibilities. He refuses to believe that once the papacy is taken away, as St. Paul prophesied, the sheep would scatter as Christ warned. Here we need only cite three of his statements to prove that despite his copious quotes from the popes, he teaches falsely on Christ’s constitution of the Church and the fullness of papal power.
— “Truly Catholic Bishops MUST exist – otherwise there is no Catholic Church today and Jesus Christ would be a liar.”
— “It is heretical to state that the Catholic Church can be in existence without the episcopal order of the hierarchy consisting of Catholic bishops with the power of Orders and the power of jurisdiction.”
— “[Benns states]: The Apostolic hierarchy cannot exist without its head bishop, the pope.” [Should] Catholics believe this last sentence is the truth for even the length of one New York second?”
Notice there is no mention of the pope here as head bishop, implying that he denies the papacy is necessary for the episcopate to exist. This is consistent with the belief of sedevacantists who deny the necessity of the papacy and endorse Gallicanism. We read from the Vatican Council: “So in His Church, [Christ] wished the pastors and the doctors to be even to the consummation of the world. But, that the episcopacy itself might be one and undivided, and that the entire multitude of the faithful through priests closely connected with one another might be preserved in the unity of faith and communion, placing blessed Peter over the other apostles, He established in him the perpetual principle and visible foundation of both unities upon whose strength the internal temple it might be erected and the sublimity of the Church to be raised to heaven might rise in the firmness of this faith” (DZ 1821; emph. mine).
So the way this is worded, the existence of the pastors and doctors even to the end of the world was dependent on whether they are founded on Peter, which explains the beginning of the following sentence with ”But.” The house of the faith cannot stand without its foundation. As quoted in last week’s blog from Pope Pius IX’s encyclical Nostis et Nobiscum: “Religion itself can never totter and fall WHILE THIS CHAIR REMAINS INTACT.” The Church cannot be one and undivided without Peter, for if divided from him, it is not one. If the Novus Ordo church and Traditionalists of all varieties are hopelessly at war with one another, how is anyone ever to arrive at anything close to the truth without adhering to the integral teachings of the Church, the fullness of papal teaching prior to Pope Pius XII’s death? The cacophony out there is so deafening because even people like Henry who pray at home seem to be playing for the same team and have been for some time. More on this later.
One of Henry’s main objections is the fact that Vacantis Apostolicae Sedis renders any bishops consecrated without the papal mandate INVALID, when Henry insists that the Church teaches “no LAWFUL consecration may take place in the entire Catholic Church without the order of the Apostolic See, as the Council of Trent declares.” That is true when a canonically elected pope is reigning, as some have claimed in citing Ad apostolorum principis to support the ”lawful” scenario. But it is NOT true during an extended interregnum, and Vacantis Apostolicae Sedis, which will be examined at length below proves this. Anyone who dares to state that Pope Pius XII meant otherwise and fails to accept the conclusions which must logically be drawn from this constitution denies the teachings of the Vatican Council.
The binding force of papal constitutions
The sedevacantist article referred to last week states: “It is reasonable to hold that Roncalli was the first false pope of the 20th century. Since the evidence against John XXIII, however, is not as copious or as clear-cut as it is against Paul VI (r. 1963-78), some believe the first false pope was Paul VI… There are no cardinals appointed by a true Pope alive today, that much is certain, unless we want to posit that there is some true Pope in hiding who has appointed cardinals. While that may or may not be possible, either way it would remain a mere hypothesis.” But if the cardinals are all dead, how could there ever be another pope?, an opponent queries. And the sede blog replies: “Pius XII’s constitution on how to elect a Roman Pontiff is merely ecclesiastical law and therefore human law. It is not divine law, and it is therefore limited of its very nature. A human legislator — in this case, the Pope — can never foresee all possible circumstances that may arise, and human laws, even in the Church, are not meant to address all possible scenarios but are typically made only for ordinary circumstances.”
How any Catholic could possibly believe that this infallible constitution, a teaching of Christ’s Vicar, written with the active assistance of the Holy Ghost is merely a human document is truly astonishing. This grave error has been addressed at length in the article on epikeia. As will be seen below, the first three paragraphs of Title 1, Ch. 1 of Pope Pius XII’s election Constitution, Vacantis Apostolicae Sedis (abbreviated below as VAS), treats of papal jurisdiction and the nature of the primacy as it exists during an interregnum, not disciplinary matters. Title I has nothing to do with the election itself per se, but with the exercise of that jurisdiction St. Peter and his successors receive directly from Christ. (This, however, does not mean that certain teachings in the election law itself are not infallible.) A constitution is not just a law. It is: “A papal document that deals with serious doctrinal matters regarding the DEFINITION OF DOGMA, changes in canon law or other ecclesiastical matters.” This definition reveals that such constitutions can be either dogmatic or disciplinary, but as seen below they are always binding.
The Catholic Encyclopedia states: “The binding force of pontifical constitutions, even without the acceptance of the Church, is beyond question. The primacy of jurisdiction possessed by the successor of Peter comes immediately and directly from Christ. That this includes the power of making obligatory laws is evident. Moreover, that the popes have the intention of binding the faithful directly and immediately is plain from the mandatory form of their constitutions.” The Encyclopedia article, taken from S.B. Smith’s Elements of Ecclesiastical Law, calls these constitutions “synonymous” with laws, but not identical to them, since “…even in ecclesiastical usage the word constitution is restricted to papal ordinances.” In this case Pope Pius XII was defining dogma in the first three paragraphs of VAS, as did his predecessor Pope St. Pius X in the very same words. But he made certain there was no doubt that this was exactly what he was doing, adding to Pope St. Pius X’s document that what was stated in those three paragraphs issued from his Supreme Authority (see article HERE).
Whether it concerns matters of faith, morals or discipline, then, when we see that any document has been entered into the Acta Apostolica Sedis, we know that this document is binding on the faithful and that the Pope intends us to consider it something that he absolutely commands us to believe and to obey. Pope Pius XII taught in Humani generis that whenever you find any papal act registered in the Acta Apostolica Sedis, it is binding. This is explained here by Msgr. Joseph C. Fenton. Now if you read a papal document and it says “with the fullness of our Apostolic authority, with our Supreme Authority, We define, decree, declare” or anything like that you know the Pope is telling you that this is something that you are definitely bound to believe and to hold, an order issuing directly from him as the pastor of souls and the voice of Jesus Christ. But it doesn’t necessarily have to say this, in so many words, to be binding on the faithful. When the pope does say this, though, that should tell the faithful something. It should tell them that whatever it is he is saying is coming not from his lips alone, but from the mouth of Christ.
So Vacantis Apostolicae Sedis is a binding document for the simple reason that it treats matters of dogma and is entered into the 1946 Acta Apostolica Sedis (5 – ACTA, vol. XIII, n. 3. — 4-2-946). Traditionalists can try to pretend they have the power to dispense from it and override it, but that is exactly what the constitution was written to prevent and why such attempts are infallibly declared to be invalid. For the pope explains that during an interregnum (a) no one can usurp the jurisdiction of the Roman Pontiff following his death or do anything that was reserved to the Roman Pontiff during his lifetime; (b) no one can violate the rights or prerogatives of the Church and everyone must defend them and finally (c) no one can change papal law or papal teaching or dispense from it in any way during an interregnum because those laws emanate primarily from the Roman Pontiffs and the ecumenical councils. This is clearly a clarification of Divine jurisdiction, which is why Pius XII concludes with the following:
“In truth, if anything adverse to this command should by chance happen to come about or be attempted, we declare it, BY OUR SUPREME AUTHORITY, to be null and void.”
This invalidation of acts would include but is not limited to: (a) the election of Angelo Roncalli contrary to the laws and teachings of the Church and in violation of VAS and its provisions; (b) any attempt to consecrate bishops without the mandatory papal approval; (c) presumption of the VALIDITY of ordinations and consecrations performed by bishops approved by Pius XII without a decision by the Holy See, when the disposition of such irregular activities are reserved to his judgment alone; (d) the validity of first tonsure and obligatory examination of priestly candidates by those who lost jurisdiction through heresy and schism (since tonsure is a jurisdictional act) or who never became bishops per VAS, but were mere laymen; (e) any attempt, by anyone, to interpret VAS is automatically null and void since it is reserved strictly to the cardinals, who have all expired.
Essentially what Pope Pius XII has issued here is an (infallible) invalidating and incapacitating law. It applies only to interregnums which for the past several centuries have been limited by papal law and are relatively brief. Therefore, the temporary suspension of the papal approval of bishops and supplying of jurisdiction, also decisions on papal cases pending, was not burdensome. But the current interregnum is unprecedented and any so-called remaining bishops living at the time of Pope Pius XII’s death are entirely culpable for the length of its existence. “No ignorance of invalidating or disqualifying laws excuses from their observance; namely no ignorance of the aforementioned laws can make acts valid which they have rendered invalid nor can it make persons capable of acting whom they have declared incapacitated from acting. Nor can subjects be excused from the observance of these laws, for the matter is in no way dependent on the will of the agent but on the contrary depends entirely on the will of the legislator who issued such laws BECAUSE THE COMMON GOOD REQUIRED IT” (Abp. Amleto Cicognani, Canon Law, 1935, Can. 16).
Both Pope St. Pius X and Pope Pius XII invalidated all acts contrary to papal law and teaching and every usurpation of papal jurisdiction to defend the sacred institution of the primacy. Pope Pius XII did so by his Supreme Authority, making it clear there was no possibility this law could be dismissed as a mere human or disciplinary law. And given the nature of invalidating laws and what’s happened to the Church, we know why Pius XII wrote this constitution: It was for the good of the Church, because he knew that there is no better time to upend everything than when the See is vacant; and the mutineers were already at work. Denial that the Pope must be canonically elected is a heresy condemned long ago by the Church that is also reflected in Canon Law.
What is meant by canonical election?
Canon 147: “An ecclesiastical office is not validly obtained without canonical appointment. By canonical appointment is understood the conferring of an ecclesiastical office by the competent ecclesiastical authority in harmony with the sacred canons.”
A decision of the Sacred Congregation regarding this Canon was issued June 29, 1950 (AAS 42-601). It levied excommunications “specially reserved to the Holy See” against those who violate Can. 147 and who contrive against legitimate ecclesiastical authority or attempt to subvert their authority, also anyone who takes part in such a crime. This only further confirms the first three paragraphs of Pius XII’s election law.
Canon 160: “The election of the Roman Pontiff is governed exclusively by the constitution of Pope Pius X, Vacante Sede Apostolica… amended and completely revised by [Pope Pius XII’s] constitution Vacantis Apostolicae Sedis of December 8, 1945.” Thus the Code itself confirms the papal constitutions regarding elections in its laws. It is not per se a law itself, however, since it issues directly from the Pontiff himself.
Canon 219: “The Roman Pontiff legitimately elected obtains from the moment he accepts the election the full power of supreme jurisdiction by divine right” (see also Can 109).
“Immediately on the canonical election of a candidate and his acceptance, he is true pope and can exercise full and absolute jurisdiction over the whole Church.”(Catholic Encyclopedia)
Canon 436: “During the vacancy [of an episcopal see] no innovations shall be made,” and as Rev. Anscar Parsons notes below: “The election of the Holy Father has been the prototype for the election of inferior prelates.”
In the 1958 election, Roncalli and an undetermined number of other cardinals incurred censures which could only be lifted by a FUTURE pope, barring them from election. That they elected him anyway was itself a heresy, for it not only violated VAS, and nullified the actions of those cardinals voting for Roncalli, but also denied the teachings that the pope must be canonically elected, that is, according to the existing law. Errors against this teaching are condemned as found in Denzinger’s Sources of Catholic Dogma, DZ 570 d, (decree for the Armenians); and the condemnation of Wycliffe and Hus for heresy, (DZ 650, 652, 674). Then, in accepting him as a true pope, these cardinals also incurred schism, creating a new church with a false, monstrous head. And later, in joining in “worship” of him and with him, they committed communicatio in sacris (Can. 2314 §3). Pope Paul IV also refers to canonical election in his 1559 Bull Cum ex Apostolatus Officio, after stating that the faithful may depart from a heretic appearing to be pope without any fear of incurring censure: “Subjects… remain, nevertheless, bound in fealty and obedience to future Bishops, Archbishops, Primates, Cardinals and the canonically established Roman Pontiff.”
Unworthy candidates for the papacy
Above we mentioned that the sedevacantist article quoted Pope Pius IX on the matter of an unworthy heir and this quote reads: “Let the faithful recall the fact that Peter, Prince of Apostles is alive here and rules in his successors, and that his office does not fail even in an unworthy heir. Let them recall that Christ the Lord placed the impregnable foundation of his Church on this See of Peter [Mt 16:18] and gave to Peter himself the keys of the kingdom of Heaven… ” (Nostis et Nobiscum). In his dissertation Canonical Elections, (Catholic University of America Press, 1939), Rev. Anscar Parsons addresses the instance of the election of an unworthy candidate. He begins by stating: “The election of the Holy Father has been the prototype for the election of inferior prelates.” This is important, because it then relates that these canons he refers to regarding ecclesiastical elections are applicable to papal elections as well, under the canons governing what is to be done when there is some doubt about a certain affair, (Canons 18 and 20). As both Rev. Parsons and Rev. Timothy Mock (Disqualification of Electors in Ecclesiastical Elections, Catholic University of America Press, 1958) explain:
“The election of an unworthy candidate is null and void from the beginning, because QUALIFIED ELECTORS are bound to know that the one they elect is duly qualified. By unworthy is meant a person branded by infamy of law or fact or a notorious apostate, heretic, schismatic or public sinner. Canon 2391 §1 provides the parallel passage of the Code mentioned in Can. 18: “A college which knowingly elects an unworthy person is automatically deprived, for that particular election, of the right to hold a new election.” The fact that this election was based on the wishes and desires of the U.S. government alone, as demonstrated in The Phantom Church in Rome, in violation of VAS — not to mention all the other violations noted above — indicates the intent to deliberately act contrary to the commands of Pope Pius XII, i.e., knowingly.
This takes us back to the election of Roncalli himself, still listed in 1958 as a suspected Modernist by the Holy Office, which not only disqualifies him as a candidate but voids the election of Montini and all who followed him. Rev. Parsons comments that those considered unfit or unworthy of election are “…those who are legally infamous or laboring under censure [also] notorious apostates, schismatics… public sinners and persons whose conduct is sinful or scandalous… In normal cases it is PRESUMED that the chapter made its choice with full deliberation and knowledge, because it is their duty to investigate the qualities of the person whom they elect … If the majority elect someone who is unworthy, all the voters, even those who are innocent are deprived of the right to vote in this instance” (p. 197). Wouldn’t the Cardinals have been obligated to vote for anyone BUT a suspected heretic, especially given Pope Pius XII’s public disapproval of Roncalli’s behavior? And doesn’t this prove in a backhanded fashion that he was elected for other reasons, i.e., in collusion with Montini and his CIA friends?
Rev. Mock agrees with Parsons, writing: “…The burden of proof …will be upon the electors to show that they did not know of the defect in the candidate. The electors are PRESUMED to know the qualifications required by law” (p. 137). Parsons poses the question: “Is the election of an unworthy person void from the beginning? It seems that it is. For the law says that the chapter is deprived of the right to proceed ‘…to a new election.’ In making this disposition, the legislator seems to suppose that the original choice was null and void” (p. 197.)” The electors showed their true intent by the subsequent election of Montini, the CIA’s star operative in the Vatican, and the eventual devastation he wreaked upon the Church. What further damning evidence could anyone possibly hope for to prove this case?! (This discussion can be reviewed in its entirety as presented in a previous blog HERE.) In codifying the papal election laws, Pope St. Pius X removed almost every obstacle to canonical election save that of heresy, apostasy and schism. So while Pope Pius IX could be referring to someone elected under infamy of law or fact, or to a public sinner, as unworthy, he COULD NOT have included in his intended meaning anyone guilty of heresy, apostasy or schism; this is a preposterous assumption and would contradict Cum ex Apostolatus Officio.
Pope Leo XIII wrote, in Satis Cognitum, June 20, 1896: “It is absurd to imagine that he who is outside can command in the Church.” And as St. Robert Bellarmine taught, a man not even a member of the Church can scarcely become its head. We read in the Catholic Encyclopedia on papal elections: “Of course the election of a heretic, schismatic, or female would be null and void. Immediately on the canonical election of a candidate and his acceptance, [the one designated] is true pope and can exercise full and absolute jurisdiction over the whole Church.” And once such an individual reveals that he intends to corrupt the liturgy and create a new idea of the Church, he is a heretic and schismatic, and therefore was never canonically elected. Cum ex Apostolatus Officio is the final word on this topic, although Traditionalists have vilified and ignored it from the beginning. All this argumentation, disputation, and demonization of actual proofs, in order to favor only opinions and theories, could have been avoided long ago by simply following Cum ex Apostolatus Officio, VAS, and the teachings of St. Robert Bellarmine.
To claim Roncalli a qualified candidate for election the following canons would need to be dispensed from, which is infallibly forbidden by Pope Pius XII in VAS.
— Roncalli’s checkered history and close friendship and collaboration with Montini, which is a matter of public knowledge; and especially his listing by Pope Pius XI as a suspected Modernist, proves he indeed was just as guilty of heresy as Montini. For Can. 2209 reads: “Persons who conspire to commit an offense and also physically concur in the execution of the same are all guilty in the same degree…” And if VAS is obeyed, we must accept this Canon as negatively infallible truth.
— Until Roncalli could be cleared of all suspicion of heresy (which is not a possibility), he would have been ineligible for election under Can. 2200, which assumes his guilt as at least a material heretic and therefore places him outside the Church (Rev. Tanquerey, several others) until his innocence is proven (see article HERE). It became publicly known in the 1960s, shortly after his election, that Roncalli was a suspected heretic, making the violation a known external act.
— Canon 2200 contains a presumption of law and cannot be struck down until such innocence is firmly established by competent ecclesiastical authority (Can. 147; see above). The cardinals electing him, who failed to investigate him and later went on to implement the new liturgy and Vatican 2 could scarcely be described as competent. In fact, nearly all were not valid electors and therefore could not have comprised the 2/3 plus one majority necessary to validly elect. Because as Pope Pius XII teaches in para. 68 of VAS, unless this majority exists, the election is invalid.
— Canons 1812, 1814 and 1816: Canon 1812 lists acts of the Roman Pontiffs as “public documents.” Can 1814 states that: “Public documents, both ecclesiastical and civil are presumed genuine until the contrary is proven by evident arguments.” Canon 1816 states: “Public documents prove the facts” of the case … “No further proof is required and the judge must pronounce in favor of the party whose contention is proved by a public document.”
— Canons 1827 and 1828 state that: “He who has a presumption of law in his favor (Canons 1814, 2200) is freed from the burden of proof which is thus shifted to his opponent. If the latter cannot prove that the presumption failed in this case, the judge must render sentence in favor of the one on whose side the presumption stands” (Can 1827). “Presumptions which are not stated in law shall not be conjectured by the judge except from a certain and specific fact which is directly connected with the fact in controversy. The presumption must thus be a kind of reasonable conclusion or inference from another specific fact established by evidence in the case. Since all inferential evidence is dangerous and easily misleads, the Code warns against conjectures” (and Pope Pius XII condemns the use of conjectures in Humani generis).
Conclusion
As we have stated repeatedly, obedience to VAS, to papal teaching in its fullness and to Canon Law would see the way clear to resolving this situation regarding the vacancy insofar as it could be resolved, but no one wishes to obey. Novus Ordo and Traditionalist pseudo-clergy alike, and that includes Henry who received orders himself from Francis Schuckhardt, cannot, will not, swallow their pride and for the good of the Church, bow their heads to VAS and admit that these bishops and priests are invalid and Antichrist has overcome the saints (Apoc. 13:7). For there is actual infiltration of Traditionalist AND pray-at-home ranks as noted in our articles on the Feeneyites. And some of the sources working behind the scenes to seduce the remnant have proven ties not only to Freemasonry but to Gnosticism, even Satanism. This we also have already covered in previous articles. We beg readers to do the only thing that can be done in this situation, the remedy that was suggested in a previous blog: daily pray the long St. Michael’s Prayer, that the evil spirits who have entered into our midst be expunged.
by T. Stanfill Benns | Dec 11, 2022 | Blog
ROME, ITALY – AUGUST 28, 2021: The detail of fresco of Holy Trinity in the church San Francesco Saverio by Sebastiano Conca (1680 – 1764).
+Third Sunday in Advent+
In the series on marriage, the fact was stressed that those who violate Canon Law and are married outside the Church are no longer members of the Mystical Body of Christ because they have become at least material heretics. This is true because one cannot belong to a Church which pretends to be Catholic but has no pope and cannot legitimately procure one. The definition of a schismatic fits Traditionalists to a “T.” A schismatic is defined by Rev. Ignatius Szal as: “…one who, having received baptism and still retaining the name of Christian nevertheless refuses obedience to the Supreme Pontiff,” (while yet recognizing him as the head of the Church) “or refuses to communicate with those members of the Church subject to him.” In the strict sense, Szal noted, the following elements also are essential for schism to exist:
“One must withdraw directly (expressly) or indirectly (by one’s actions) from obedience to the Roman Pontiff and separate oneself from ecclesiastical communion with the rest of the faithful; one’s withdrawal must be made with obstinacy and rebellion; in relation to those things by which the unity of the Church is constituted; yet despite this formal disobedience the schismatic must recognize the Roman Pontiff as the true pastor of the Church” (Communication of Catholics with non-Catholics, Catholic University of America Canon Law dissertation, 1948).
Traditionalists are individuals who are baptized and retain the name Catholic. They recognize the pope as the head of the Church and pay him lip service. They will not acknowledge that those who pray at home legitimately object to their position and they dismiss them as cranks. They deny the necessity of the papacy by recognizing men as bishops who are not even validly consecrated according to the laws and infallible teachings of the Church, which Traditionalists stubbornly and consistently refuse to acknowledge as binding. They have denied the necessity of the papacy for the Church’s existence, indirectly withdrawing themselves from such obedience by refusing to honor the Church’s teaching that doubts regarding the validity of the Sacraments require them to remove themselves from these bishops. More to the point, Canon Law actually requires that they denounce them.
Those now members of Traditionalist sects could study and arrive at certitude regarding their actual position and convert, but this doesn’t often happen. All of us at one time were material heretics if we ever attended the Novus Ordo or a Traditionalist chapel. And yet, thankfully, even though they must consider themselves as such, there has been no formal decision made in their case, giving time at least for repentance. As explained in the marriage blogs, there are ways to mitigate this censure and prepare ourselves for absolution as best we can, as detailed in Canon Law. It requires public penance and a three-year probationary period as a pray-at-home Catholic, but it is the best we can do to return to the Church without valid bishops or the pope to receive us. We must humble ourselves and rely entirely on God’s mercy. Without the hierarchy we are in much the same position as those who have no one to baptize them, or who are truly invincibly ignorant and love God according to their best lights, but remain in other non-Catholic sects. We must become members of Christ’s Mystical Body by desire, praying He always will count us as such if we obey His laws, the teachings of His Vicars, do penance for our sins and do our best to help others find Him.
That Catholics do not go to greater lengths to make certain they are at least members of this Body by desire can be attributed to the fact that they refuse to adopt the pray-at-home position and know so little about the beauty and the living reality of this Body, representing Christ’s continued existence and operation on this earth among men. Some of this material has been covered already in our site articles HERE and HERE. But more needs to be said about the living reality of this Body that binds Catholics to Christ and to one another. This is the union that will exist unto the consummation, for as Pope Pius XII infallibly defined in Mystici Corporis Christi: “If we would define and describe this true Church of Jesus Christ — which is the One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church — we shall find nothing more noble, more sublime, or more divine than the expression ‘the Mystical Body of Christ’ — an expression which springs from and is, as it were, the fair flowering of the repeated teaching of the Sacred Scriptures and the Holy Fathers.” Christ and His Vicar are the invisible and visible heads of this Body, but when there is no visible Head, Christ alone rules His Church. Below we will read more about the workings of this wondrous Body from approved theologians.
The Theology of the Mystical Body by Emile Mersch S.J., 1951
“…Christ ‘s humanity was both an empirical thing and a mysterious reality… The Church will likewise be an empirical thing and a mysterious reality.
“First it will be an empirical, concrete, visible, tangible thing like all human realities that prolong themselves in some form of continuation, for it is a human institution, a human society. And it is a society quite visibly and tangibly. Its sociology and Canon Law can be written down, it has its clearly defined members and its definite seat. It is the Church of Rome as Jesus Christ was Jesus of Nazareth. As a society it is perfect in its kind with a firm and well-delineated structure as befits a thing that is the perpetuation of the God-man. Secondly the Church will be an invisible reality; a life of thought, love and grace that is infused into souls; a divinization and an adoptive sonship which in the unity of the only-begotten Incarnate Son is diffused throughout all mankind so deeply as to be inaccessible to natural consciousness; and which in the depths thus reached unifies mankind in itself and attaches it to God.
“The two aspects of the Church — the visible and the invisible — are often called the soul and the body of the Church. This manner of speaking may have disadvantages and they are brought out in our day, but it greatly facilitates certain explanations. Hence we may profitably devote some consideration to it. The body of the Church as we see at once is the external aspect — the empirical society which is the Church of Rome. The word body does not have here the precise sense it has in the term mystical body. FOR THE EXPRESSION ‘MYSTICAL BODY’ DESIGNATES THE MYSTERIOUS AND INTERIOR ELEMENT OF THE CHURCH. Even for those who identify the Church Militant with the Mystical Body, it does not designate the external aspect of body except so far as it is the outward manifestation of the interior soul which consists in such a mystery.
“The soul of the Church must clearly be the factor that makes this society a living Organism. It is the first general principle of a collective and unified life in all the members. This factor can be nothing else than the grace which causes all these members to be living members of Christ —the divinizing grace that is infused into all by one and the same Christ. Or else we may say that it is Christ, the Son of the Father regarded as the principle of life and the whole supernatural Organism. Because of this confusion, a certain universal principle and a genus of such as have grace as Saint Thomas says a universal principle for bestowing grace on human nature” (end of Mersch quotes).
The Mystical Christ, (Rev. John C. Gruden, S.T.L., 1938)
“Bishop Myers clarifies this difference between the Church and moral bodies in the words: ‘What makes Christ’s Mystical Body so very different from any moral body of men is the character of the union existing between Christ and the members. It is not a mere external union; it is not a mere moral union, it is a union which, as realized in Christ’s Church, is at once external and moral, but also in that primarily internal and supernatural. It is the supernatural union of the sanctified soul with Christ and with all other sanctified souls in Christ. The term Mystical Body is used to convey the idea that the Church is not merely a social organization, but an organism, a communion, a body: the living spiritual or supernatural body of Christ.
“The term mystical or mystic calls attention to the fact that in mere natural or moral bodies the relationship between the members and their head and the relationship between the members one to another is moral only or juridical, whereas the relationship between Christ and the members of the Church, members of His body, is quasi-physical and organic. The bonds that unite Christians to Christ and to one another are organic, physical, sacramental, although supernatural and invisible. The Church is not only ‘a complicated but smoothly functioning administrative machine’ it is more than that; Christians and Christ form a body of a special kind, neither physical nor moral, which lives and grows by a vital force descending from the head, Jesus Christ, to the members. ‘Christ the head, in His members’ says Bishop Myers ‘constitute a unique entity which is designed by a unique name: the Mystical Body of Christ’” (p. 64-65).
“The following are the leading ideas necessary for a correct grasp of the relation which obtains between the Mystical Body of Christ and the communion of saints:
“A. The Mystical Body (p. 160-161)
- The Mystical Body of Christ is the Church militant, the “Church” or “ecclesia” in the strict sense, a visible society, both human and divine, with a visible hierarchical organization established by Christ, and with a visible, juridical, or moral head, the pope, the vicar of Christ and successor of St. Peter in the see of Rome.
- Its invisible, principal, juridical and sole mystical head is Jesus Christ, the God-man, gloriously reigning in heaven. The Incarnate Word is also its exemplary cause, that is, the union of the visible with the invisible elements, of the natural with the supernatural, of the human and divine, in the supernatural organism of the Mystical Body is patterned after the model of the hypostatic union between the human and the divine nature in the person of the incarnate Word.
- The formal internal cause, the Soul of this unique organism, is the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity who proceeds from the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit dwells in this body as its informing principle consolidating all the members of the visible society into a unified organism, joining them by mystical, quasi-physical, or sacramental bonds to their mystical head, Jesus Christ.
- The members of this body are all baptized earthly pilgrims (viatores) who have not separated themselves from it either by the loss of faith or excommunication.
- The immediate end or purpose of the Mystical Body is to be the medium of salvation for men of all nations and of all times, to be the means whereby the merits of Christ’s redemption are applied to them, to be the sacrament or the mystery through which divine life is imparted to them that they may secure for themselves the life of glory in the world to come. The remote or final end is the same as that of all creation, that is, to manifest the glory of the only begotten Son who is the substantial image of the Father. Jesus Christ is glorified in his brothers, members of his Mystical Body, and God the Father is glorified “in his beloved Son.”
“B. The Communion of Saints
- The communion of saints is an invisible society, a “Church” or “ecclesia” in the broad sense, a moral body.
- Its invisible, moral, or juridical head is the glorified or exalted Christ.
- The formal cause of the communion of saints is grace, the work of the Holy Spirit to whom sanctification of creatures is ascribed by appropriation. The Holy Spirit also personally dwells in individual souls belonging to the communion. He is present in the communion of saints as a spirit, but not as its soul, for he is not its informing principle. The Holy Spirit may, indeed, be spoken of as the soul of the communion of saints, if the term “soul” be used in the broad sense, as equivalent to “spirit.”
- The members of this communion are the saints in heaven (saints in the strict sense, comprehensores), and the souls in purgatory, in other words, the Church triumphant and the Church suffering. Members of this communion are also the saints in the broad sense, that is, all the faithful, even though they be sinners who actually belong to the Church militant. There are, however, others who are outside the pale of the Catholic Church, who have not been baptized or who, even though baptized, profess a false religion through invincible ignorance. Pagans and Protestants may belong to this class. They, too, may be in the state of sanctifying grace, hence there seems to be no reason for excluding them from the “communion of saints.”
- The object of the “communion of saints,” its proximate purpose, is not to be the medium of salvation, but rather a means of participation by all the members in the spiritual treasures held in common. This participation imports the distribution, interchange, and application of the spiritual gifts, graces, and fruits of meritorious works to all the members in need of the same. The remote or final end is the praise and glory of the Father through the Son.
- At the end of time the Mystical Body will have achieved its fullest development, it will have attained “to the full measure of the stature of Christ,” and in the glory of heaven the pleroma of Christ will be fully realized. Then the Mystical Body of Christ, the kingdom of God upon earth, the Church militant, will be transformed into the kingdom of God in heaven, or the Church triumphant, namely, that communion of saints in which not only the souls of men, but their bodies also, will, “through Christ our Lord,” share in the glory of the Triune God (Eph. 4:13).
“The Church is a living organism, a body; the mystic body of Christ; hence, if the analogy of the human body as applied to the Church is to be regarded as more than a mere figure of speech, the Church must be informed by an animating principle, a soul. Besides the many or multiple external visible elements, clergy and laity, hierarchical structure, sacraments, sacramentals, etc., the Church must possess an inner element which, intimately united to the visible elements, must be the formal cause of the unity and identity of the organism, formal cause, too, of its own peculiar life which is supernatural and divine. In the Church must dwell a spirit which is not only “spirit” but “soul” in its restricted meaning, which, intimately or quasi-substantially, united with the visible and invisible elements of the Church, “elevates” them to a higher level of being and makes of them the Church; a spirit which through intimate union with the visible and invisible elements be- comes the formal cause of the union between the head and the members and ultimately the source of the manifold life and activity of the “organs,” as well as of the ordinary “members” of Christ’s Mystical Body.
“The theory of two Churches, however, is not exclusively Protestant. Svetlov, a modern Russian “orthodox” theologian, defends it. From the comparison of the Church with the human body he concludes that the invisible Church can exist independently of the visible Church. The human soul, he argues, can live without the body and independently of it. Similarly the soul of the Church, that is, the invisible Church, can exist independently of the body or the visible Church. Here we have an instance of the wrong use of the analogy of the human body. Analogies have their value, but they also have their danger. The value of analogies is that they clarify concepts; their danger is that they may be pushed too far. The Church may not be compared to the human soul existing independently after its separation from the body, but rather to the living human body informed and vivified by the soul.
“The true picture of the Church presented in Sacred Scripture and tradition is that of a unique visible organism, with a human and a divine side, visible and invisible aspect, comprising natural and supernatural elements. The invisible elements which, figuratively speaking, we call the soul of the Church, form together with the visible elements, its body, one undivided and indivisible whole, informed and vivified by the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit.This living visible organism, of which the Holy Spirit is the soul in the real but mystical sense, is the Mystical Body of Christ, or the mystical Christ (p. 167).
“Henry Cardinal Manning…writes: ‘The Church is a mystical person, and all its endowments are derived from the Divine Person of its head, and the Divine Person who is its Life. As in the Incarnation there is a communication of the divine perfections to the humanity, so in the Church the perfections of the Holy Spirit become the endowments of the body. It is imperishable, because he is God; indivisibly one, because he is numerically one; holy, because he is the foundation of holiness; infallible both in believing and in teaching, because his illumination and his voice are immutable, and therefore, being not an individual depending upon the fidelity of the human will, but a body depending only on the divine will, it is not on trial or probation but is itself the instrument of probation to mankind. It cannot be affected by the frailty or sins of the human will, any more than the brightness of the firmament by the dimness or the loss of human sight. It can no more be tainted by human sin than the holy sacraments, which are always immutably pure and divine, though all who come to them be impure and faithless. What the Church was in the beginning it is now, and ever shall be in all plenitude of its divine endowments, because the union between the body and the Spirit is indissoluble, and all the operations of the Spirit in the body are perpetual and absolute.’
“This function of the Holy Spirit in the Mystical Body of Christ, a function so important and so vital, should not be overlooked in any adequate definition of the Church. We suggest as the briefest definition: “The Church is the Mystical Body of Christ animated by the Holy Spirit,” or “The Church is a living, supernatural organism whose Mystical head is Christ, gloriously reigning in heaven (the exalted Christ) and whose soul is the Holy Spirit.” (End of Gruden quotes)
And this from Mystici Corporis: “To this Spirit of Christ, also, as to an invisible principle is to be ascribed the fact that all the parts of the Body are joined one with the other and with their exalted Head; for He is entire in the Head, entire in the Body, and entire in each of the members. To the members He is present and assists them in proportion to their various duties and offices, and the greater or less degree of spiritual health which they enjoy. It is He who, through His heavenly grace, is the principle of every supernatural act in all parts of the Body. It is He who, while He is personally present and divinely active in all the members, nevertheless in the inferior members acts also through the ministry of the higher members. Finally, while by His grace He provides for the continual growth of the Church, He yet refuses to dwell through sanctifying grace in those members that are wholly severed from the Body. This presence and activity of the Spirit of Jesus Christ is tersely and vigorously described by Our predecessor of immortal memory Leo XIII in his Encyclical Letter Divinum Illud in these words: ‘Let it suffice to say that, as Christ is the Head of the Church, so is the Holy Spirit her soul.’“
If we are making amends and doing penance as Canon Law prescribes — praying and studying our faith to be forgiven for the sins of schism and material heresy — we can hope to qualify as those not wholly severed from the Body. We can yet be counted as members of Christ’s Body and the continuation of His Church on earth. In the next part of this study, the intended continuation of Christ’s Mystical Body will be explained and readers will see that what has happened to the Church in these times, the loss of the papacy, Mass and Sacraments, will actually assist the faithful in seamlessly transitioning to the New Jerusalem in Heaven.
by T. Stanfill Benns | Oct 15, 2022 | Blog
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+St. Teresa of Avila+
The next few blogs will be dedicated to dispelling some misunderstandings that have arisen around certain Catholic moral topics as they apply to the world we live in today. The first subject to be addressed will be almsgiving.
In a day and age when the true sense of Catholic almsgiving has been almost obliterated, it is important to keep in mind the longstanding teaching of the Church in these matters, which along with so many other moral and dogmatic teachings has been lost in the neo-pagan shuffle. Great discretion in almsgiving is required today owing to the many scams and con artist operations run in this world, by both cunning individuals and fraudulent organizations. Many of the younger set especially believe it is perfectly acceptable to aid the anonymous “homeless” person, or beggar with a sign stopping traffic on the street, but those who read what is below will understand that this is neither wise nor does it constitute true charity.
Discretion in Almsgiving
Proverbs 6 — vs. 6-11
6 Go to the ant, O sluggard, and consider her ways, and learn wisdom:
7 Which, although she hath no guide, nor master, nor captain,
8 Provideth her meat for herself in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.
9 How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou rise out of thy sleep?
10 Thou wilt sleep a little, thou wilt slumber a little, thou wilt fold thy hands a little to sleep:
11 And want shall come upon thee, as a traveler, and poverty as a man armed. But if thou be diligent, thy harvest shall come as a fountain, and want shall flee far from thee.
The Parable of the Ten Virgins, Matthew 25
- Then shall the kingdom of heaven be like to ten virgins, who taking their lamps went out to meet the bridegroom and the bride.
- And five of them were foolish, and five wise.
- But the five foolish, having taken their lamps, did not take oil with them:
- But the wise took oil in their vessels with the lamps.
- And the bridegroom tarrying, they all slumbered and slept.
- And at midnight there was a cry made: Behold the bridegroom cometh, go ye forth to meet him.
- Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps.
- And the foolish said to the wise: Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out.
- The wise answered, saying: Lest perhaps there be not enough for us and for you, go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.
- Now whilst they went to buy, the bridegroom came: and they that were ready, went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut.
- But at last come also the other virgins, saying: Lord, Lord, open to us.
- But he, answering, said: Amen I say to you, I know you not.
- Watch ye therefore, because you know not the day nor the hour.
“Charity begins at home.” — St. Augustine
The above verses remind us that we are not obligated to support those who are willfully lazy and do not provide for themselves, even in times of great need. As one author writing about hospital care sponsored by the Church wrote: “Hospital care was so good that precautions had to be taken not to permit sturdy beggars to take advantage of it… by pretended ailments and thus secure for themselves a nice easy life or at least a refuge during the colder months until they could take to the road again” (The World’s Debt to the Catholic Church, James J. Walsh, 1924). With the many homeless now populating metro areas, this would seem to be a good bit of advice. Better that such funds be used to benefit some family one knows personally to be truly worthy and in need, and St. Cyprian says such people do not need to be Catholic. The risk of the homeless or random beggars using these funds for sinful purposes is simply too great, and this would amount to cooperation in sin. More on this is explained below.
Rules for almsgiving
(The following is from the article on Almsgiving, Catholic Encyclopedia.)
Discretion in almsgiving is counseled in the Apostolic Constitutions: “Alms must not be given to the malicious, the intemperate, or the lazy; lest a premium should be set on vice” (Const. Apost., ii, 1-63; iii, 4-6).
And this from the Didache, or non-canonical book, The Teaching of the 12 Apostles: “In addition to its innate characteristics, almsgiving should be vested with qualities tending to garner fruitfulness for giver and receiver. Hence, almsgiving should be discreet, so as to reach deserving individuals or families (2 Thessalonians 3:10; Sirach 12:4); prompt, so as to warrant opportuneness (Proverbs 3:28); secret and humble (Matthew 6:2); cheerful (2 Corinthians 9:7); abundant (Tobit 4:9; St. Thomas, Summa Theol., II-II, Q. xxxii, art. 10). The harvest of blessings to be reaped by almsgiving amply suffices to inspire noble-minded Christians “to make unto themselves friends of the Mammon of iniquity.”
First of all, almsgiving renders the donor like unto God Himself (Luke 6:30, 36); nay more, it renders God Himself debtor to those giving alms (Matthew 25:40 sqq.). Moreover, almsgiving adds special efficacy to prayer (Tobit 4:7), tends to appease divine wrath (Hebrews 13:16); liberates from sin and its punishment (Sirach 29), and thus paves the way to the gift of faith (Acts 10:31). Daily experience proves that those lending a helping hand to stay the miseries of the poor frequently prepare the way for the moral reformation of many whose temporal misery pales before their spiritual wretchedness. Finally, almsgiving tends to guard society against turbulent passions whose fury is often checked by almsgiving.
“Give to everyone that asks thee, and do not refuse, for the Father’s will is that we give to all from the gifts we have received. Blessed is he that gives according to the mandate; for he is innocent; but he who receives it without need shall be tried as to why he took and for what, and being in prison he shall be examined as to his deeds, and “he shall not come out thence until he pay the last farthing.”
“But concerning this it was also said, “Let thine alms sweat into thine hands until thou knowest to whom thou art giving.” (The Didache)
Moral Theology on almsgiving, McHugh and Callan
- (b) As to the need of the receiver, a person should give his share towards providing for the case before him. Thus, if there is no one else who can or will give, and a neighbor is in grave necessity, a charitable person will bear the whole expense, as was done by the good Samaritan. But if the necessity is ordinary (as in the case of street beggars), or there are others who will help, a smaller alms suffices. Steady employment is a better charity than temporary doles, inasmuch as it gives permanent assistance.
- (a) Those in apparent need are such as pretend poverty, sickness, or misfortune, in order to get sympathy and financial aid (e.g., professional beggars). Alms should not be given persons of this kind, since they take what would be given to the really poor and needy. Rather they should be exposed and punished.
(b) Those in real need through choice should not be helped, if they take to begging because they are too lazy to work, or find it profitable to live off others; for they have no right to beg, being able to help themselves, and it would be wrong to encourage them in idleness and an imposition on others (II Thess., iii. 10). But those who are voluntarily poor for Christ’s sake, whether they belong to a religious order or not, are worthy of respect and it is meritorious to assist them.
(c) Those who are in real need against their will, should be assisted; for, even though they became destitute through their own fault, they are in fact unable to help themselves now.
- The Manner of Giving Alms
(a) One gives alms directly when one ministers relief personally to the needy, giving food to the starving and medicine to the sick, helping to put out a fire, etc.
(b) One gives alms indirectly when one pays taxes for the support of alms-houses, public hospitals, orphan asylums, homes for the aged, the insane, etc.; …
- Public charity done by the State is useful and necessary under the conditions of modern life, but it does not and cannot take the place of charity done by the Church or by private individuals.
(a) State-administered charity does not reach all, or even the most deserving, cases of need. Hence, those who pay their taxes for the support of state charities are not thereby exempted from the obligation of contributing to cases they may meet, especially of extreme or grave necessity.
Charity can demand a condemnation
Canon 1935 tells Catholics they have an obligation to publicly denounce those posing a danger to the faith, as does Can. 1325. Catholics often fall into the trap today of urging charity for those disseminating errors since they are in invincible ignorance (although we cannot always be certain of this), but this is not Catholic practice. Rather it is the practice of liberal charity, as Rev. Felix Sarda Salvany explains in his book, What Is Liberalism, a book personally commended by the Holy Office.
“It is often necessary to displease or offend one person, not for his own good but to deliver another from the evil he is inflicting. It is then an obligation of charity to repel the unjust violence of the aggressor; one may inflict as much injury on the aggressor as is necessary for the defense… The love due to a man inasmuch as he is our neighbor ought always to be subordinated to that which is due to our common Lord. For His love and in His service we must not hesitate to offend men… Therefore, to offend our neighbor for the love of God is a true act of charity. Not to offend our neighbor for the love of God is a sin. If the propagation of good and the necessity of combating evil require the employment of terms somewhat harsh against error and its supporters, this usage certainly is not against charity…
“The authors of heretical doctrines are soldiers with poisoned weapons in their hands… Is it sufficient to dodge their blows? Not at all; the first thing necessary is to demolish the combatant himself… It is thus lawful, in certain cases, to expose the infamy of [an] opponent, to bring his habits into contempt and to drag his name in the mire…The only restriction is not to employ a lie in the service of justice. This never. Under no pretext may we sully the truth, even to the dotting of an ‘i.’ As a French writer says: ‘Truth is the only charity allowed in history,’ and, we may add, in the defense of religion and society…When it strikes, let the sword of the Catholic polemicist wound, and wound mortally…This is the only real and efficacious means of waging war.”
Spiritual almsgiving
The Catholic Encyclopedia tells us further that alms also can be given in a spiritual manner: “As, however, the spiritual works of mercy deal with a distress whose relief is even more imperative as well as more effective for the grand purpose of man’s creation, the injunction must be supposed to extend to them also. Besides there are the plain references of Christ to such works as fraternal correction (Matthew 18:15) as well as the forgiveness of injuries (Matthew 6:14). It has to be remembered however that the precept is an affirmative one, that is, it is of the sort which is always binding but not always operative, for lack of matter or occasion or fitting circumstances. …Thus in general it may be said that the determination of its actual obligatory force in a given case depends largely on the degree of distress to be aided, and the capacity or condition of the one whose duty in the matter is in question.
“The law imposing spiritual works of mercy is subject in individual instances to important reservations. For example, it may easily happen that an altogether special measure of tact and prudence, or, at any rate, some definite superiority is required for the discharge of the oftentimes difficult task of fraternal correction. Similarly to instruct the ignorant, counsel the doubtful, and console the sorrowing is not always within the competency of everyone. To bear wrongs patiently, to forgive offences willingly, and to pray for the living and the dead are things from which on due occasion no one may dispense himself on the pleas that he has not some special array of gifts required for their observance. They are evidently within the reach of all. It must not be forgotten that the works of mercy demand more than a humanitarian basis if they are to serve as instruments in bringing about our eternal salvation. The proper motive is indispensable, and this must be one drawn from the supernatural order.”
Duty to dispel ignorance
Ignorance in our times is legion. Much confusion has arisen as the result of deliberate mis-instruction in the faith owing to Modernism, ecumenism and the proliferation of non-Catholic sects. Many desire to know the truth but are lost in a welter of conflicting opinions and half-truths. To help readers better understand the true nature of ignorance and their obligations as Catholics, we return to the moral theologians McHugh and Callan for a reliable assay regarding ignorance.
“27. With reference to the responsibility of the person who is ignorant, there are two kinds of ignorance:
(a) Ignorance is invincible when it cannot be removed, even by the use of all the care that ordinarily prudent and conscientious persons would use in the circumstances. Thus, a person who has no suspicions of his ignorance, or who has tried in vain to acquire instruction about his duties, is invincibly ignorant.
(b) Ignorance is vincible when it can be removed by the exercise of ordinary care. There are various degrees of this species of ignorance: first, it is merely vincible, when some diligence has been exercised, but not enough; secondly, it is crass or supine, when hardly any diligence has been used; thirdly, it is affected, when a person deliberately aims to continue in ignorance.
“30. (b) Vincible ignorance does not make an act involuntary, since the ignorance itself is voluntary; hence, it does not excuse from sin. It does not even make an act less voluntary and less sinful, if the ignorance is affected in order that one may have an excuse; for such a state of mind shows that the person would act the same way, even though he had knowledge.
“31. Vincible ignorance makes an act less voluntary and less sinful:
(a) when the ignorance is not affected, for the voluntariness is measured by the knowledge, and knowledge here is lacking;
(b) when the ignorance, though affected, was fostered only through fear that knowledge might compel a stricter way of life; for such a state of mind seems to show that one would not act the same way if one had knowledge.
“The Commandment of Knowledge:
The first of the foregoing commandments includes three things:
(a) The doctrines of faith must be taught and must be listened to — “These words thou shalt tell to thy children” (Deut., vi. 6), “Teach ye all nations” (Matt, xxviii. 19), “He that heareth you heareth Me, and he that despiseth you despiseth Me” (Luke, x. 16).
(b) One must apply oneself to understand what one hears — “Thou shalt meditate on these words, sitting in thy house, and walking on thy journey, sleeping and rising” (Deut., vi. 7), “Meditate upon these things, be wholly in these things. Take heed to thyself and doctrine” (I Tim., iv, 15, 16).
(c) One must retain what one has learned — “Thou shalt bind the words of the law as a sign on thy hand, and they shall be and shall move between thy eyes. And thou shalt write them in the entry and on the doors of thy house” (Deut., vi. 8, 9); “Have in mind in what manner thou hast received and heard” (Apoc., iii. 3).
There has been some confusion about the true nature of affected ignorance and the authors above do not sufficiently address this matter. Innocent Robert Swoboda, O.F.M., J.C.L., in his Ignorance in Relation to the Imputability of Delicts (1941) writes: “Affected ignorance is real ignorance and not merely simulated or pretended ignorance. A man who pretends ignorance or pleads ignorance in court contrary to fact is not ignorant at all; he is merely trying to deceive others… Affected ignorance can therefore be defined as a directly voluntary lack of obligatory knowledge which is procured by positive effort …” The gravity of affected ignorance depends upon the gravity of the motive on account of which the ignorance is directly sought. We have seen many who know they should investigate the claims of their Traditionalist sects further, yet fail to do so. The same could be said of some claiming to be pray-at-home Catholics. Their motives, which cannot be certainly known, determine the seriousness of their sin. This is something that can be positively determined only by a confessor.
It requires courage to face the truth, and many simply lack the intestinal fortitude to move from their comfy Traditional couches. On the other hand, those who at least try to inform themselves should be careful that theirs is not a selective process when it comes to a better understanding of the true nature of faith or morals, since all of us are easily capable of deceiving ourselves. The best precaution to take against such deceit is to read Fr. Frederick Faber’s chapters on this subject in his Spiritual Conferences, available at https://archive.org/details/spiritualconfer00fabe. If we wish to save our souls, if Heaven is truly our goal, we will leave no stone unturned in the quest for truth. May the Holy Ghost enlighten you all and guide you in that quest.
by T. Stanfill Benns | Apr 5, 2022 | Blog, New Blog
+St. Vincent Ferrer+
Friday we celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. This feast, according to Dom Gueranger, was consecrated by the Church in a special manner to the Sorrowful Mother under various titles beginning in 1423. That it was the intent of the usurpers to deprive us of this liturgical devotion to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary is seen by the fact that John 23 downgraded it to a commemoration only along with the feasts of St. George, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, St. Alexius, Sts. Cyriacus, Largus and Smaragdus, the Impression of the Stigmata of St. Francis, Sts. Eustace and Companions, Our Lady of Ransom, St. Thomas a Becket and St. Sylvester. Feasts actually abolished include those of St. Philomena, St. Christopher, St. Barbara, St. Ursula, St. Nicholas, The Finding of the Holy Cross, St. John Before the Latin Gate, The Apparition of St. Michael, and St. Peter’s Chains. Twenty more saints were removed by Benedict 16, just in case those believing him to be any better than his predecessors might be reading this.
This is precisely why the prayer society is one of reparation. We wish all to consider the Friday during Passion Week in Lent, Feast of the Seven Dolors of the Blessed Virgin — the compassion of Mary in union with her Son’s martyrdom — as the official anniversary of the establishment of this prayer society. On this feast day, we ask members to pray for the cessation of all ceremonies that falsely claim to celebrate the Continual Sacrifice offered by our Lord on the Cross, a sacrifice the Blessed Mother shared with Him. These ceremonies not only wound the Sacred Hearts deeply but lead souls astray. We pray for the conversion of those celebrating them and those attending them. Please see the prayer society checklist for April at the end of this blog. All prayer commitments are voluntary.
Update on Material-Formal debate
A reasonably well-researched and brief article has been presented by a Sedevacantist “cleric” from St. Gertrude the Great explaining why the church and seminary there do not accept Guerard des Lauriers’ material-formal theory. The author proves his point, although he cites modern works in some places. In this article the following statement is made:
“…Since the Thesis holds that Bergoglio and his bishops receive legal designation to maintain the apostolicity from the part of the Church, then the only logical conclusion would be that we, the Traditional Bishops and priests, have not received legal designation… That the traditional clergy is illegal, that is, outside the true Church and true apostolicity… is a position which is defended by the Novus Ordo and the R&R position; but it must be rejected by the Sedevacantists… One cannot see these differences among the traditional clergy as something one can just express his opinion about, like a debate about the working of God’s grace in a soul. These questions pertain to where is the true Church of Christ, which obviously affects the salvation of souls… While it is true that one can err in good faith where the true Church is, no one can remain in the state of doubt about it.”
But it is not this false thesis itself which holds Traditionalists are outside the Church and true apostolicity, but the constant teachings of popes and councils. And it is true, this cannot be and must not be something that is relegated to a matter of opinion. If no one may remain in doubt about where the true Church is, as this Traditionalist rightly states, then the next article that must be presented is a believable, provable CATHOLIC documentation of Traditionalists’ ability to operate minus a true pope, which is the real elephant in the room everyone is ignoring. And please, leave Cekada out of the proofs and quotes and stick to solid papal, conciliar and Church-approved sources in any such presentation. The article excerpted above proves they have the ability on some level to conduct research. But unless they prove their case without resorting to epikeia and other fallacies of operation, they are what their opponents claim — headed for total discreditation and dissolution, just as the material formal crowd itself is headed, and that is inevitable in any case. Because If they honestly and diligently investigate, they will discover that the very lack of integrity they decry in the Novus Ordo and R&R types is lacking in their own justification for operating outside the papacy.
Either the R&R, Novus Ordo and Sedevacantist sects accept ALL true Church teaching as this recent article states or they will accept the “holy pope” and “great monarch” now waiting in the wings, soon to be handed to them by Bergoglio and company. As Henry Cardinal Manning so aptly warns: “Whosoever shall fall on this stone [the Rock that is St. Peter] shall be broken, but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder” (Matt. 21:44).
What in the world… The Fatima controversy
Even before writing my last blog on the actual legitimacy of the Fatima apparitions, several secular works questioned the apparitions from a non-Catholic standpoint making blasphemous, claims, basing conclusions on sketchy information and generally trashing devotion to Mary and belief in miracles. While I have doubts myself about just how far the entire affair was compromised, I do believe Our Lady appeared to the children. Exactly what she said and what has been added or subtracted over the years I do not know. And now the Church and the world is in such a state of chaos we will NEVER know the truth, and that is something we simply have to live with. I have never been big on private revelations although I did write a book on Fatima in 2012. Even in that book I expressed reservations. I personally believe the use of dates and numbers at Fatima speaks volumes, and I explained this in that work. There is a way to interpret the clues the Blessed Mother left in her apparitions in a totally Catholic manner, aside from the messages, that tells us all we need to know about what she came to warn us about, including the contents of the Third Secret. The fact that no one ever delved into the spiritual side of the apparitions is why we find ourselves in the midst of this debate today.
Who do we trust regarding revisionist history on Fatima — Protestants? Novus Ordo authors? Sci-fi enthusiasts? If we can’t trace it back somehow through trustworthy channels existing at least pre-1959 is it even reliable? Are there anytruly trustworthy channels, since it appears to have been corrupted and redirected secretly from within the Church itself? We can only speculate on all these things, really, and that goes for either side, pro or con. Given a fake sister Lucy (and this has been proven from several different sources; the best researched of these can be found at https://diesilli.com/blog/) and the fact that the Vatican called in all Sr. Lucia’s handwritten notes, along with the Third Secret in 1957, something was definitely up. And we know what was going on in the Vatican in the 1950s, as demonstrated in The Phantom Church in Rome. More research is necessary to establish the facts as far as this can be done and is underway. And until we have a better idea of what we are looking at, it is probably imprudent to proceed any further. So why the big stir in the first place?
Well yes, the last blog has caused some of that stir, but someone had to point out how Fatima was manipulated all those years to help accomplish Vatican 2. Felix Morlion was the force behind religious liberty and was working in concert with John Courtney Murray to pave the way for Vatican 2. He also was the one responsible for instilling liberation theology sympathies among the clergy in Central and South America, as the hatchet man for John 23rd and Paul 6. This should help document the subversion of the Church, not cause an overreaction that entirely trashes the apparitions. Nor should people reading how Fatima has been propagandized be tempted to adopt a Manichaean attitude towards the apparitions, assuming that because the what they see proceeding from Fatima today is being used so successfully for evil it must be evil in itself. This is the same type of thinking that prompts people to believe that guns, not the people who use them to maim or kill others, are evil in themselves, so guns must be banned. The contents of the Third Secret should be clear whether it has been released or not; we have it on the word of Holy Scripture. All the markers are there. And this is what the Church expects us to resort to in determining the truth, not apparitions.
First came the great revolt — the cardinals posit an invalid election exactly as anticipated in Pope Paul IV’s 1559 bull Cum ex Apostolatus Officio, which calls the usurpation of the Holy See by a heretic the arrival of the Abomination of Desolation. Once he who withhold is taken out of the way as St. Paul predicts (the papacy), the bishops would complete the revolt at Vatican 2. Then the Man of Sin is revealed for what he truly is, the counterfeit church is set up and the Holy Sacrifice is officially taken away. What more do people want? That should be enough for anyone, coming as it does from an infallible papal document as well as several places in Holy Scripture. But people refuse to see things for what they really are because they are afraid to believe we live in the very last days. Private prophecies and revelations allow them to interpret events privately, something not allowed in Holy Scripture and regarding papal decrees. They then can customize and adjust these events to suit the times and their own personal tastes. And they can speculate endlessly about the contents of the Third Secret, since it was never released, all the while ignoring the fact that we don’t need to know it — we are living it!
Those subverting the Church knew Fatima was a useful distraction, which is why we have Traditionalism today. It kept the fires of hope burning, telling Catholics that this was merely a temporary situation — eventually the “clans would be united” and a true pope could be elected, when this is no longer possible. As pointed out in the last blog, the “holy pope” everyone is expecting and restoration Traditionalists are awaiting can only be a creation of the counterfeit church, no matter how orthodox he may appear to be. And many will settle for that rather than accept the fact that Antichrist has already come and only God Himself can resolve — or end, once and for all — this incredibly painful trial. The Fatima messages were compromised to perpetuate that false hope as well — peace in the end no matter how we behaved or what else might happen; no need for a sufficient number of the faithful practicing prayer and penance and no need to figure out what was really going on in the Church. Do what you please; it will all work out in the end because that promise of Russia’s conversion and the subsequent peace was unconditional. This kept people focused on political developments, private revelations and prophecies to help shore up that hope because they felt it was all they had left.
It also fostered an unhealthy, cultistic attitude toward the apparitions that verged on Mariolatry, obfuscating the need to obey papal and conciliar teachings. This is why people like Schuckardt and Gruner were so successful. To be anti-Fatima was very nearly made the equivalent of being anti-Catholic; to belong to Traditionalist or conservative Novus Ordo sects and be accepted one had to go along with their devotions to get along. Even if they secretly harbored grave doubts, there are those who would not openly admit that Fatima was used as a propaganda tool by those who later set up the Novus Ordo. And this they do simply to appear to be part of the herd and avoid persecution. This is how, as Henry Cardinal Manning so well explains, the Incarnation and its earthly manifestation, the papacy, was driven from the face of the earth, setting the stage for Vatican 2. Perhaps papal obedience should have been part of the Fatima message as it was in Our Lady’s message to the children at La Salette. Who knows; maybe it was.
Knowing how and why Fatima was perverted is necessary to avoid the traps laid by the usurpers and their push to establish a worldwide religion in conjunction with the New World Order. They cannot be allowed to use Our Lady to make it appear her messages confirm their diabolical agenda. But with or without accepting Fatima as true, we are still tasked to save our own souls and that depends on accepting all the Church teaches up to the death of Pope Pius XII, not resorting to private revelations and prophecies to help figure out what’s going on in the world. We cannot be attacking each other over these apparitions which are not necessary for salvation. This is just another snare laid by the enemy to divide us even further. Yes, I know Fatima is approved by the Church but what exactly does such approval mean? Does it bind us for belief even when it is once realized that new doubts have arisen? The pronouncements of the Church should clear up any questions on this matter.
Concerning both Lourdes and La Salette, Pope St. Pius X wrote, in his encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis: “These apparitions or revelations have neither been approved nor condemned by the Holy See, which has simply allowed them to be believed on purely human faith, in the traditions which they relate, corroborated by testimony and documents worthy of credence. Anyone who follows this rule has no cause to fear.” St. Thomas Aquinas tells us human faith is an opinion strengthened by proofs, or certitude, which requires that the intellect firmly adhere to a given object. The Church allows belief in these apparitions on human faith arising from moral certitude as defined by the Council of Trent and Pope Benedict XIV. Pope Benedict XIV writes: “While there must not and cannot be given an assent of Catholic faith, there may, however, be given an assent of human faith following the rules of prudence and according to which these revelations are probable and piously credible,” (De Servorum Dei Beati…, 1747).
The following is taken from Rev. Michael Walsh, B.D., B.A., The Apparition At Knock – A Survey Of Facts And Evidence, 2nd ed. St. Jarlath’s College, Tuam, 1959. Pp 10-14. Chapter IV – Catholic Teaching: “In 1877 the [Sacred] Congregation of Rites was asked whether it approved the apparitions at Lourdes and La Salette. The reply was: “Such apparitions are neither approved nor reproved or condemned by the Holy See; they are simply authorised as pious beliefs on purely human faith, according to a tradition which has been confirmed by suitable testimonies and evidences.” (A.S.S., 11. 1877). As Walsh further notes: “Accounts of visions or apparitions are not to be accepted without serious examination… In general it can be said that until such time as a decision has been made by competent authority, two extremes are to be avoided in regard to reported revelations and apparitions. One is the credulous mentality which accepts all such stories uncritically. The other is the frame of mind which automatically rejects them. Neither attitude is scientific. Care must be taken to find the truth.”
Probable opinions are defined by theologians as those that are well founded either by the weight of the authority favoring it or the weight of the testimony and evidence supporting the opinion itself. Catholics may freely prefer any other opinion for any good reason (paraphrased from Rev. Sixtus Cartechini’s The Value of Theological Notes and the Criteria for discerning Them. This is also the teaching of St. Alphonsus Liguori and the theologians.) This is not to be confused with being unable to use a probable opinion where the sacraments or one’s eternal salvation is at stake. Fatima is not a sacrament; it does not involve the established rights of a third party nor is it necessary for our eternal salvation. A probable opinion can be used then to determine other matters not related to these three exceptions and this includes the matter of Fatima. So what well-founded evidence and testimony are we bound, as Catholics, to consider?
According to the Fatima Center website, “With the knowledge and consent of Pope Pius XI, on October 13, 1930, Bishop da Silva of Leiria (the diocese in which Fatima is contained) announced the results of the official inquiry of Fatima in a pastoral letter on the apparitions. This official approval contained these important paragraphs: “In virtue of considerations made known, and others which for reason of brevity we omit; humbly invoking the Divine Spirit and placing ourselves under the protection of the most Holy Virgin, and after hearing the opinions of our reverend advisors in this diocese, we hereby declare worthy of belief the visions of the shepherd children in the Cova da Iria, parish of Fatima, in this diocese, from the 13th May to 13th October, 1917 [and] permit officially the cult of Our Lady of Fatima.”
Pope Pius XII indicated his acceptance of the Fatima apparitions with his two consecrations, but he never officially approved the complete content of the messages per se, even though he had received photocopies of all of them from Sr. Lucia. He did the same with La Salette in 1946 (Acta Apostolica Sedis [AAS]; 38, 1946; 155), commenting that the investigation of the apparition of Our Lady at La Salette was “a canonical process that proved favorable.” But this does not embrace the controversial La Salette message and its many versions. The same is true of Fatima. We can believe in the apparitions then without believing necessarily in the exact particulars of the messages. And we certainly have every right to withhold judgment concerning these messages whenever there is undisputed proof, which there is in the case of Fatima, that they may have been wrongfully conveyed, or were possibly coerced, doctored, manipulated, or are being deliberately misinterpreted to fit a given political agenda. If Pope Pius XII appears to have had his doubts, no one can blame us for entertaining doubts of our own.
So we are free to disregard Fatima entirely if we have any serious doubts whatsoever that it is true. What we cannot and must not do, in the interests of charity, is condemn each other for believing either pro or con that Fatima is true or false. The Blessed Mother has so much to mourn for in these evil times, and we add this to her sorrows? In the interests of charity and peace among the few of us who are left, there must be no condemnation either way — to believe or disbelieve; no insistence that anyone order their conscience either way; this is precisely what Traditionalists do to retain their followers. Peaceful toleration of both beliefs must prevail until a true pope can advise further on the matter, should we ever see one.
Chaos is such a useful tool in creating dissension and disunity. We daily see the results. We have our Lord, we have the teachings of his vicars on earth, we have the Blessed Mother in all her many lovely manifestations. Why do we need anything more?
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Prayer Society Intention for April: Devotion to the Eucharist by refusing to dishonor it
(Compiled by Victoria Rodriguez)
St. Vincent Ferrer
🔲 Fast/Ab
🔲 Morning Offering in reparation for our sins
🔲 Consecration by Pope Pius XII
🔲 Devotion to the SIH
🔲 Holy Rosary
6 Wednesday
🔲 Fast
🔲 Morning Offering in reparation for our sins
🔲 Consecration by Pope Pius XII
🔲 Devotion to the SIH
🔲 Holy Rosary
7 Thursday
🔲 Fast
🔲 Morning Offering in reparation for our sins
🔲 Consecration by Pope Pius XII
🔲 Devotion to the SIH
🔲 Holy Rosary
8 Friday
Seven Sorrows of the BVM
🔲 Fast/Ab
🔲 Morning Offering in reparation for our sins
🔲 Consecration by Pope Pius XII
🔲 Devotion to the SIH
🔲 Holy Rosary
🔲 Spiritual Mass and Mortification for the intentions of the Society
🔲 Celebrate with special devotion the Feast of the Sorrowful Heart
🔲 Renew consecrations to SH and SIH to promote their interests and intentions
9 Saturday dedicated to Our Lady
🔲 Fast
🔲 Morning Offering in reparation for our sins
🔲 Consecration by Pope Pius XII
🔲 Berthe Petit’s Consecration
🔲 Holy Rosary
10 Palm Sunday
🔲 Morning Offering in reparation for our sins
🔲 Consecration by Pope Pius XII
🔲 Devotion to the SIH
🔲 Holy Rosary
11 Holy Monday
St. Leo I
🔲 Fast
🔲 Morning Offering in reparation for our sins
🔲 Consecration by Pope Pius XII
🔲 Devotion to the SIH
🔲 Holy Rosary
12 Holy Tuesday
🔲 Fast
🔲 Morning Offering in reparation for our sins
🔲 Consecration by Pope Pius XII
🔲 Devotion to the SIH
🔲 Holy Rosary
13 Holy Wednesday
St. Hermenegild
🔲 Fast
🔲 Morning Offering in reparation for our sins
🔲 Consecration by Pope Pius XII
🔲 Devotion to the SIH
🔲 Holy Rosary
14 MAUNDY THURSDAY
🔲 Fast
🔲 Morning Offering in reparation for our sins
🔲 Consecration by Pope Pius XII
🔲 Devotion to the SIH
🔲 Holy Rosary
15 GOOD FRIDAY
🔲 Fast/Ab
🔲 Morning Offering in reparation for our sins
🔲 Consecration by Pope Pius XII
🔲 Devotion to the SIH
🔲 Holy Rosary
🔲 Spiritual Mass and Mortification for the intentions of the Society
16 HOLY SATURDAY
🔲 Fast/Ab Until Noon
🔲 Morning Offering in reparation for our sins
🔲 Consecration by Pope Pius XII
🔲 Berthe Petit’s Consecration
🔲 Holy Rosary
17 EASTER SUNDAY
🔲 Morning Offering in reparation for our sins
🔲 Consecration by Pope Pius XII
🔲 Devotion to the SIH
🔲 Holy Rosary
18 EASTER MONDAY
🔲 Morning Offering in reparation for our sins
🔲 Consecration by Pope Pius XII
🔲 Devotion to the SIH
🔲 Holy Rosary
19 EASTER TUESDAY
🔲 Morning Offering in reparation for our sins
🔲 Consecration by Pope Pius XII
🔲 Devotion to the SIH
🔲 Holy Rosary
20 Easter Wednesday
🔲 Morning Offering in reparation for our sins
🔲 Consecration by Pope Pius XII
🔲 Devotion to the SIH
🔲 Holy Rosary
21 Easter Thursday
St. Anselm
🔲 Morning Offering in reparation for our sins
🔲 Consecration by Pope Pius XII
🔲 Devotion to the SIH
🔲 Holy Rosary
22 Easter Friday
Sts. Soter & Caius
🔲 Ab
🔲 Morning Offering in reparation for our sins
🔲 Consecration by Pope Pius XII
🔲 Devotion to the SIH
🔲 Holy Rosary
🔲 Spiritual Mass and Mortification for the intentions of the Society
23 Saturday dedicated to Our Lady
Easter Saturday
St. George
🔲 Morning Offering in reparation for our sins
🔲 Consecration by Pope Pius XII
🔲 Berthe Petit’s Consecration
🔲 Holy Rosary
24 Low Sunday
St. Fidelis
🔲 Morning Offering in reparation for our sins
🔲 Consecration by Pope Pius XII
🔲 Devotion to the SIH
🔲 Holy Rosary
25 Monday
- MARK, Ev
🔲 The Greater Litanies
🔲 Morning Offering in reparation for our sins
🔲 Consecration by Pope Pius XII
🔲 Devotion to the SIH
🔲 Holy Rosary
26 Tuesday
Sts. Cletus & Marcellinus
🔲 Morning Offering in reparation for our sins
🔲 Consecration by Pope Pius XII
🔲 Devotion to the SIH
🔲 Holy Rosary
27 Wednesday
St. Peter Canisius
🔲 Morning Offering in reparation for our sins
🔲 Consecration by Pope Pius XII
🔲 Devotion to the SIH
🔲 Holy Rosary
28 Thursday
St. Paul of the Cross. and St. Vitalis
🔲 Morning Offering in reparation for our sins
🔲 Consecration by Pope Pius XII
🔲 Devotion to the SIH
🔲 Holy Rosary
29 Friday
St. Peter of Verona
🔲 Ab
🔲 Morning Offering in reparation for our sins
🔲 Consecration by Pope Pius XII
🔲 Devotion to the SIH
🔲 Holy Rosary
🔲 Spiritual Mass and Mortification for the intentions of the Society
30 Saturday dedicated to Our Lady
St. Catherine of Siena
🔲 Morning Offering in reparation for our sins
🔲 Consecration by Pope Pius XII
🔲 Berthe Petit’s Consecration
🔲 Holy Rosary
Prayers to be Practiced in Common
▪︎Spiritual Mass in union with all of the Sacrifices of the Mass ever offered throughout the world, preceded by the Perfect Act of Contrition and followed by Spiritual Communion.
▪︎Devotion to the Agonizing Heart of Jesus, in favor of the many thousands of persons who die every day.
▪︎Devotion to the souls in Purgatory.
by T. Stanfill Benns | Mar 15, 2022 | Blog
Society for Reparation to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary
(Content compiled from various sources)
Introduction
At this present time in the history of mankind, nothing is more necessary than to discover the means to turn the world back to the God they have forsaken and the Church they have all but forgotten as it once existed on this earth. Renewed calls for the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary brought the following comment from one young woman: “Russia must be converted? But no, we ALL must convert!” And no truer words were ever spoken. The time for the prayer and penance needed to convert Russia has long since passed. Had the conditions Our Lady laid down for that consecration been met, Russia would not now be a threat and the Church would not lie in ruins. Catholics long ago failed in their duty and it is left to those of us who remain to at least try to do what we can to comply with what our Lord Himself told one victim soul over 100 years ago would be “…the last help I shall give before the end of time.” That help was universal consecration to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary.
The name of the victim soul was Berthe Petit, a Belgian Franciscan tertiary born in 1870. She began receiving messages from Our Lord and Our Lady even as a young child and in 1911 one of these messages, received on September 12, 1912, foretold the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand. This took place on June 28, 1914, igniting World War I. Already in February of 1910, before the war began, Berthe was told by our Lord that her mission would be the consecration of the world to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary. As early as 1911, Cardinal Mercier, impressed with Mlle. Petit, contacted Pope St. Pius X regarding her revelations. The Pope approved Cardinal Mercier’s initial 100 days indulgence to the ejaculation “O Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us who have recourse to thee,” telling him that Mlle. Petit would have to content herself with that for the present. In 1951, Cardinal Van Rooey increased the indulgence to 200 days. After Abbe Decorsant, a priest Mlle. Petit met at Lourdes sent her revelation from our Lord requesting the recitation of the ejaculation to Pope Benedict XV, “O Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us,” the pope granted it an indulgence of 100 days. (The indulgence was later increased to 300 days by Cardinal Griffin in 1947.)
Through Cardinal Vanutelli, Pope Benedict XV issued the following recommendation to bishops worldwide: “Let us raise our prayers now more ardently and frequently than ever towards Him who holds in His hands the fate of the nations; and let us all confidently implore the Sorrowful and Immaculate heart of Mary, sweet mother of Jesus and our Mother, that by her powerful intercession she may obtain from her divine Son the rapid cessation of the war and the return of peace and tranquility.” During World War I, Cardinal Bourne took up the devotion in earnest and consecrated England to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary in 1916. “Each time these public devotions were performed in England, the British armies swept forward to unexpected victories” (all from Fr. Duffner’s biography of Berthe Petit).
Later during the war, the prayer written by Mlle. Petit (see below) would be recommended by Cardinal Bourne for public recitation to bring about the end of the war. But as the children learned at Fatima, that war would not bring peace. The second Fatima secret predicting World War II remained unknown to the world until 1941, when Sr. Lucia’s bishop permitted her to release it. Berthe was told in 1919 that the peace of 1918 would not last and another war would occur because her requests were not heard. Attempts to make the Vatican aware of her revelations so they might be examined were met by silence according to Fr. Duffner. As we know today, the heavily politicized coverage of the Fatima apparitions as a weapon against Communism, detracting from the spiritual content of Our Lady’s message, was widespread. Sr. Lucia’s unreported death in 1949 resulting in the substitution of an imposter Sr. Lucia speaks of a conspiracy to forever bury the third secret of Fatima. But we know it today, if we read between the lines of the two secrets already revealed; and we definitely know that it was meant to be revealed before 1960.
During World War II, following the consecration of the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary by Pope Pius XII in 1942, the Allies experienced several successes that would mark the turning point of the war. Victories in Great Britain, the Solomon Islands in the Pacific, and the fall of Stalingrad followed. But was Pope Pius XII’s consecration the only one that prompted these victories? Fr. Duffner reports that already in 1940, Great Britain saw a totally unexpected aerial victory that saved the country from invasion by sea, Hitler’s proposed Operation Sea Lion. The battle took place on Sunday September 15, 1940, feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. According to one report, a total of 1,100 Luftwaffe and 600 British warplanes battled in the skies over London, in the German attempt to ultimately destroy the Royal Air Force. This date is still celebrated in Britain as the Battle of Britain Day. While Britain suffered from night raids during the war after this battle, her mainland was never breached. Clearly Our Lady manifested her power that day, since already that country had been consecrated to her Sorrowful Heart.
There have been other consecrations since Pope Pius XII’s consecration of the world to the Immaculate Heart that mention Our Lady’s Sorrowful Heart — of the United States, and different countries, as late as 2006 — but this cannot and does not constitute a universal consecration. And in these consecrations, at least as reported online, no mention is made of our Lord’s apparitions to Berthe Petit. Where the Fatima consecration focused specifically on the pope consecrating Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, our Lord specified to Mme. Petit in 1922 that it would not be time yet for the consecration of the world to her Sorrowful Heart, telling her: “My apostle will arise at the appointed hour when the horrible cataclysm which is coming will have overthrown the machinations of men and their deplorable statecraft. It is not at the present time that my wish concerning the glory of My Mother will be accomplished. A period of waiting is still necessary for the work to grow in greatness.”
Our Lord made other references to the political forces who believe they alone control world events, telling her at different times: “I curse the arrogant people who slight me and who persecute the true faith using the while My name and authority. Any nation that prepares its military forces in advance to hurl them unjustly upon the choicest portion of God’s flock… I shall break and chastise…” (1914).
“Time will prove that peace established without Me and without [the Holy Father] who speaks in my name has no stability. The nation which is considered to be vanquished [Germany] but whose forces are only momentarily diminished will remain a menace for your country and likewise for France. Confusion and terror will steadily spread through every nation. Because this peace is not Mine, wars will be rekindled on every side, civil war and racial war. What would have been so noble, so true, so beautiful, so lasting in its fulfillment is consequently delayed… Humanity is advancing towards a frightful scourge which will divide the nations more and more. It will reduce human schemes to nothingness; it will break the pride of the powers that be; it will show that nothing subsists without Me and that I remain the only master of the destinies of nations” (1919). “The spirit of evil does not cease to incite and to goad the pride of any nation which lives only on the thought of revenge and domination” (1934).
All can see the truth of everything Christ confided to his chosen soul Berthe Petit. It has all culminated today in everything we see around us and will continue to escalate until men finally turn to God once more. Or, if this is not His plan, then that at least certain souls prepare themselves for what may well be His Second Coming.
Our Lord Asks for Universal Consecration
Both before and after the beginning of the two wars, Our Lord left no doubt what he wished Berthe Petit to accomplish for His mother in His name. Our Lord told Mlle. Petit in 1910: “The world must be consecrated to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of my Mother as it is to Mine. Fear nothing, no matter what obstacle or suffering you may encounter. Your only object must be the accomplishment of my will.”
And on September 8, 1911: “The heart of my Mother has the right to be called sorrowful and I wish this title placed before that of Immaculate because she has won it herself. The Church has defined in the case of My Mother what I Myself had ordained — her Immaculate Conception. This right which my mother has to a title of justice is now according to My express wish to be known and universally accepted. She has earned it by her identification with My sorrows, by her sufferings, by her sacrifices and her immolation on Calvary endured in perfect correspondence with my grace for the salvation of mankind. In her co-redemption lies the nobility of My mother, and for this reason I asked that the invocation which I’ve demanded be approved and spread throughout the whole Church.”
“This devotion to the Sorrowful and Immaculate heart of My Mother will restore faith and hope to broken hearts and to ruined families: it will help to repair the destruction: it will sweeten sorrow. It will be a new strength for My Church bringing souls not only to confidence in My heart but also to abandonment to the sorrowful heart of My Mother…”
“To adopt this devotion and to spread it is to accomplish My will and to respond to the wishes of My Heart because by prayer and by the consecration made to this Heart graces of light will be obtained. They will gradually bring souls to the full knowledge of our united Hearts which have been wounded by the same wound, the inexhaustible source of all good for humanity and the glory of which is now and ever will be the happiness of the elect for eternity… Let this prayer be uttered by every soul: Sorrowful and Immaculate heart of Mary, pray for us… May [it] spread as a refreshing and purifying balm of reparation that will appease My anger.”
Our Lady’s Messages to Mlle. Petit
The majority of the messages received by Mlle. Petit came from our Lord, but she also received several messages from Our Lady. The most significant of these are recorded below.
“I have called myself the Immaculate Conception. To you I call myself Mother of the Sorrowful Heart. This title willed by my Son is dear to me above all others. According as it is spread everywhere, there will be granted graces of mercy, spiritual renewal and salvation” (1912).
“It is with an unshakable resolve that my Son wills souls to have recourse to my sorrowful heart. With my heart overflowing with tenderness, I am awaiting this gesture on the part of souls, that I may reiterate to the heart of my Son whatever shall be confided to my own heart and thus obtain graces of salvation for all” (1914).
“My daughter, let your soul bless my Son for the choice He has made of you in the accomplishment of His express wish. Events have occurred, preparations are made which are the assailable foundations for the cause which you serve. The work will attain its end and this with the amplitude willed by God. The way which leads to this result is arid, devoid of repose, at times even painful as you labor to comply with my requests. But have confidence; strife will come to an end and my Son will triumph. See how humanity is crushed by sorrow while evil is diabolically making progress. There have been catastrophes; there will be more. But what are they? Merely a beginning — a feeble image of the dreadful calamities predicted to you by my Son” (1922).
The Final Hour
“My wishes for the heart of My mother will be accomplished… It will come to pass when the hour of despair will strike; an hour towards which everything is moving in response to the supplication which will ascend to the Sorrowful and Immaculate heart of My Mother. I will manifest My power by a miraculous intervention which will impress everyone. The whole of Christendom will bow before this triumph which I, as Son, have determined for My Mother” (1924). “It is hearts that must be changed. This will be accomplished only by the devotion proclaimed, explained, preached and recommended everywhere.
Recourse to my Mother under this tile I wish for her universally is the last help I shall give before the end of time.”
Finally, Our Lord told Mlle. Petit in 1941: “By confident consecration to My mother the devotion to My heart will be strengthened and, as it were, completed. This devotion, this consecration will be, according to My promise, a renovation for my Church; a renewed strength for Christianity which is too often wavering; a source of signal graces for souls who thereby will be more deeply penetrated with love and confidence. The clear light to be granted through recourse to My mother will bring about above all the conversion of a multitude of straying and simple souls. The pity of the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of My mother will implore mercy from them from My heart.” His last message to His chosen soul is thought to have been given the year of her death, 1943: “In the hour of triumph it will be seen that I alone have inspired in My chosen instruments a devotion similar to that with which My Heart is honored. It is as a Son that I have conceived this devotion in honor of My Mother. IT IS AS GOD THAT I IMPOSE IT.”
The Need to Comply with Our Lord’s Command
We see in the messages above to Berthe Petit several recurring themes that need to be expanded upon here. While this is said to be the last devotion given to the world before the end of time, today it is a devotion that has no society dedicated it to it that can be readily discovered and few advocating on its behalf. Once Fatima dominated the world’s imagination with its miracle and secrets — its many controversies, political and otherwise — Mlle. Petit’s revelations seemed to sink into the background, there to be forgotten. True, her messages were never approved by Rome. But a thorough examination of the many wartime related events foretold to Berthe by our Lord is striking enough to prove their authenticity. As Rev. R. Gerald Culleton notes in his The Prophets and Our Times, “All true prophecy is from God, for His glory and the sake of the ‘elect.’ As it becomes fulfilled it establishes its own divine origin and the reliability of the documents which convey it.”
And it seems this can be said of those revelations received by Berthe Petit.
It is pointless to contest anything conveyed to this victim soul because everything that is said above has either taken place or can be seen as looming in the very near future. The one thing missing is the universal consecration to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary. Yet how is it now possible that this could happen? Our Lord mentions an apostle who “will rise at the appointed hour.” The apostle Jesus mentions cannot be Cardinal Bourne, for it is used in future tense in 1922 and Cardinal Bourne had already fulfilled his role as apostle in Great Britain during World War I. Our Lord never makes reference in His messages that this consecration will be made by His Vicar, something that is very telling. He and His Mother refer to certain “souls” and “chosen instruments.” Our Lord makes it very clear that this devotion, if carried out by these certain souls will bring about the desired result and promises to allow a miraculous intervention on behalf of His Mother. The victory will be hers.
We have seen that not enough souls fulfilled the Fatima requests and that not all the bishops of the world could be bothered to join Pope Pius XII in consecrating Russia to Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart as she requested. We also see the tragic results. It is time, then, to make reparation to Our Lady’s Sorrowful Heart by doing all we can to participate in this Society and promote this devotion, begging her to intercede for us and avert the world cataclysm that surely is approaching. And we also must beg our Lord to send us the apostle who will finally accomplish the universal consecration, announcing it ourselves as a group in the meantime, on behalf of this sin-laden world. For if we do not do this, we must ask ourselves at this late date, who will? This is the command of Christ, as He indicates more than once in these messages. Even if there were doubts about the messages received by Mlle. Petit, would it not be better to fulfill this request than to ignore it? Haven’t our Lord and His Blessed Mother been neglected and ignored enough?
It should be mentioned here that there are other messages attributed to Our Lord and Our Lady, also not approved by Rome, that seem to convey the same message, and both of them were received either shortly before or after Berthe Petit passed away. They are considered here only because as with Mlle. Petit’s messages, they seem to speak to us in a way that was not appreciated before. However, they should be taken with caution and need not be credited as worthy of belief.
Twentieth Century Marian Prophecies
Heede, November 1937-1945
“Men do not listen to My voice. They harden their hearts; they resist My grace. They do not wish to have anything to do with My Mercy, My Love, My merits. Mankind is worse than before the deluge. Mankind is suffocating in sin. Hatred and greed rule their hearts. This is the work of the devil. They live in great darkness. Through the wounds that bled, Mercy will again gain victory over justice. My faithful souls should not be asleep now like the disciples on Mt. Olivet. They should pray without ceasing and gain all they can for themselves and for others.
“This generation deserves to be annihilated but I desire to show myself as merciful. Tremendous things are in preparation; it will be terrible as never before since the foundation of the world. All those, who in these grave times have suffered so much, are martyrs and form the seed for the renovation of the Church. They were privileged to participate in My captivity, in My scourging, in My crown of thorns, and My Way of the Cross.
“With a few faithful I will build up My kingdom. As a flash of lightning this Kingdom will come … much faster than mankind will realize. I will give them a special light. For some this light will be a blessing; for others, darkness. The light will come like the Star that showed the way to the wise men. Mankind will experience My love and My power. My beloved, the hour comes closer. Pray without ceasing!
(Another version of this last paragraph):
“I am coming! I am at the door! My love has planned this action before the creation of the world… The world lies in dense darkness. This generation would deserve to be wiped out; but I wish to show Myself merciful… I am coming Myself and I will manifest My will… The things that will come shall surpass by far what happened. The Mother of God, My mother, and the Angels will take part in it. Hell by now believes itself certain of victory, but I will take it away… I am coming, and with Me, peace shall come. I will build My Kingdom with a small number of elect. This Kingdom will come suddenly, sooner than what one thinks. I will make My light shine, which to some will be blessing and to others darkness. Humanity will recognize My love and My power.”
Marienfried, Germany, 1946
“I am the powerful Mediatrix of Graces. As the world can find mercy only through the sacrifice of the Son with the Father, so can you only find favor with the Son through my intercession. Christ is so unknown because I am not known. Because the nations rejected His Son, the Father poured out His cup of wrath upon them. It is true that the world was consecrated to my Immaculate Heart, but this consecration has become a fearful responsibility for many men. I demand that the world live this consecration.
“I am the sign of the Living God. I place my Sign on the foreheads of my children (those who consecrate themselves to my Immaculate Heart). The star (Lucifer) will persecute the Sign. But my Sign will conquer the star. Have unreserved confidence in my Immaculate Heart! Believe that I am able to do everything with my Son. Substitute my Immaculate Heart in place of your sinful hearts. Then it will be I who will draw the power of God, and the love of the Father will renew the fullness of Christ in you. Fulfill my request so that Christ may reign as the King of Peace.
“The world will have to drain the cup of wrath to the dregs because of the countless sins through which His Heart is offended. The Star of the infernal regions will rage more violently than ever and will cause frightful destruction, because he knows that his time is short, and because he sees that already many have gathered around my sign. Over these he has no spiritual power, although he will kill the bodies of many; but through these sacrifices, my power to lead the remnant host to victory will increase.
“Pray, make sacrifices for sinners. Offer yourselves and your works to the Father through me, and put yourselves at my disposal without reserve. Pray the Rosary. Pray not so much for external things — weightier things are at stake in these times. EXPECT NO SIGNS OR WONDERS; I shall be active as the powerful Mediatrix in secret. … The devil has power over all people who do not trust in my Heart. Wherever people substitute my Immaculate Heart for their sinful hearts, the devil has no power. But he will persecute my children. They will be despised, but he can do them no harm.
“I have already given many signs and spoken often to the world, but people have not taken them seriously… I urge my people to fulfill my wishes quickly, because today more than ever such fulfillment of my will is necessary for God’s greater honor and glory. The Father pronounces a dreadful woe upon all who refuse to obey His Will.”
Our Lady of Syracuse
There were no messages involved in this 1953 event, where an image of the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary shed tears for three days in Syracuse, Italy. The tears were determined by a commission of scientists to be genuine human tears. Miracles were later attributed to the intercession of the Weeping Madonna. Was this not a manifestation of Our Lady’s power and the compassion of her Sorrowful Heart? Pope Pius XII commented during a radio address in 1954, on learning the tears were human: “We acknowledge the unanimous declaration of the Episcopal Conference held in Sicily on the reality of that event. Will men understand the mysterious language of those tears?” Characteristic of the Church’s practice to treat private revelations with reticence, the popes were slow to fully endorse our Lord’s urgent request to consecrate the world to His Mother’s Sorrowful Heart. However, Pope Benedict XV did make mention of it to the bishops. And as will be seen below, Pope Pius XII at least does include her in his prayer of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart.
Will You Watch One Hour?
These messages all indicate that the powers of darkness will be at their highest point and that therefore the recourse to Our Lady, particularly under the title of her Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart, will be of the utmost importance. It also warns us that disobedience to the will of God will be severely punished but obedience will be rewarded with the triumph of His Mother. It is impossible to deny that as stated above, things are worse today than they were at the time of the Flood in Noe’s day. By sheer numbers, given the world’s population, this can be seen to be true. Will you watch one hour with our Lord and His Mother each day? Will you join in this last attempt to appease the Divine wrath, already so much inflamed against man? We ask only three commitments from members:
1) Reparation to the Sacred Heart and to Mary’s Sorrowful Heart for our sins;
2) The daily intention to promote this devotion and accomplish the universal consecration; and
3) Prayers for the sending of the special apostle to lead us, mentioned by our Lord.
Below, the purpose and goals of Our Sorrowful Mother’s Society will be explained.
Purpose of this Society
(Adapted from the Manual of the Apostleship of Prayer, 1864)
The Society for Reparation to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary is founded on this fundamental truth — but one that is too often forgotten by Christians — that, besides the apostleship of preaching which formed the occupation of our Divine Lord the last three years of his public life, which his ministers later exercised in His name, there is another apostleship far more meritorious in itself, and from which the apostleship of the Word draws all its efficacy. Our Divine Savior consecrated the first thirty years of His mortal life exclusively to this apostleship of prayer. He continues it in his glorified life in Heaven, and in his life of sacrifice in the heavenly Tabernacle. This was the apostleship of the Blessed Virgin, St. Joseph, and all that innumerable multitude of souls hidden indeed from the eyes of men, but powerful with God, who have not done less for the defense of the Church or the salvation of souls, than all the doctors have by their writings, or all preachers by their eloquence.
The work of the Society for Reparation to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, therefore, calls on all Christians to unite together in this hidden life, in this Divine apostleship of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary. It invites them to appropriate to themselves the intentions of these two hearts, transfixed in sorrow, and to pray with them for all the objects of their prayers; for the greater glory of God, for the conversion of sinners, for the advancement of the just, and the triumph of the Church. It invites them to lift themselves above those material interests, those passing events, which absorb and consume all the activity of their immortal souls, to take an active part in the struggles of the Church, in the labors of Her ministers, and in the great work of our Lord, the salvation of souls. It will induce them to devote themselves, from other motives than those of mere politicians to the regeneration of the entire world, which has fallen into utter ruin since the death of Pope Pius XII. Finally, it will direct their thoughts to far-off lands, and will show them that it depends upon them for light and grace to fall on many nations now sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death.
For it is impossible for us to doubt but that the promises of Jesus Christ Himself to prayers offered in His name to God the Father, will be fully realized when and where we ask for what he Himself commands us to ask; that is, the sanctification of his Father’s name, the consecration of the world to His Sorrowful Mother, the entire spread of his reign on Earth, the perfect fulfilment of His will, the bread of truth and of grace for so many souls who are expiring of hunger, and the deliverance from evil of all our brethren as well as of ourselves. Though we cannot be certain of obtaining what we ask, when we forget ourselves in order to plead
for others, since we cannot compel them to receive the proffered grace, yet we may be sure the grace will be offered to them in proportion to the fervor, confidence, and perseverance of our prayers, This consoling certainty is still greater when we unite our prayers with those of our brethren. Then we have in some sort a right to call on our Divine Lord to fulfil his promise of listening to two or three gathered together in his name. We will point out below the conditions, the accomplishment of which insures to us the advantages offered by this Society. These conditions are very simple, and that there is no state of life in which they may not be practiced without difficulty.
But if the Society of Reparation does not of itself impose any particular practice, there is no practice whatever that it does not seek to animate with its spirit, and which in that way will not greatly increase in merit. If it does not impose any obligation, it proposes a great perfection, and renders the means of acquiring it easier. There is no good work, whether of piety or of mortification, nor of charity, either spiritual or corporal; there is no duty of our state of life, or even lawful recreation, which, animated by the intentions of the Society, is not of the Sacred Heart itself and the Sorrowful Heart of Mary, and does not become in itself an apostolic work, and thus acquire the power of saving souls; no exercise of piety performed, thus will not increase in merit and in efficacy, if it is united with the noble and touching motives that this Society offers to us.
To glorify God, to render the precious blood of Jesus Christ and the sorrows of His Blessed Mother fruitful, to assuage the Agony of his Heart, and crown His most ardent desires; to defend the Church, our Mother, against Her enemies; to save souls, to close Hell, and open Heaven and most especially, to fulfill the requests of Our Lord that His Sorrowful Mother be universally recognized. There is no fault that we shall not avoid more easily, and no defect that we may not sooner overcome, if we allow this Society to remind us habitually that we are depriving ourselves of great merit, and that these faults and defects are the cause of many unhappy souls losing those graces which perhaps may save them, and without which they may be lost.
If, then, we would gather to their full extent the advantages of this Society of Reparation to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, we must make it the work of our whole lives, we must clothe ourselves in it as in a garment which we shall never change, we must make it our daily bread, and we must inhale and respire it as we do the air itself. Since the intentions of the Society are no other than those of the Sacred Heart and the Sorrowful Heart of His Mother, to practice them in this way would be to fulfil in its perfection the great precept of the apostle — “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus” — and the Mother of Sorrows.
Prayers to be Practiced in Common
The first devotion is the recitation of the spiritual Mass in union with all of the Sacrifices of the Mass ever offered throughout the world, preceded by the Perfect Act of Contrition and followed by Spiritual Communion. We thereby offer ourselves as a living sacrifice in union with and commemoration of Christ’s sufferings and death on the Cross as shared by His Blessed Mother at the foot of the Cross.
The second devotion which we earnestly recommend to the Society for Reparation is devotion to the Agonizing Heart of Jesus, in favor of the many thousands of persons who die every day. Of all the souls to whose salvation this Society devotes itself, none certainly ought to interest us more dearly than those whose eternal destiny will be fixed irrevocably in a few moments. By adopting this devotion to the agonizing Heart and the Sorrowful Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we are only exercising our apostleship in the most efficacious way. A wonderful help to prayer and understanding state of the dying and their need for our prayers, Mother Mary Potter’s Devotion to the Dying, is available online.
A third devotion that ought to be equally dear to us is devotion to the souls in Purgatory. It is true that these souls, being no longer in danger of losing Heaven, cannot be, strictly speaking, the object of this Society. But how can we be indifferent to their sufferings? Besides, if they no longer afford employment for our zeal, they may become our most powerful assistants. Already in Purgatory, they can unite their prayers to ours, and such prayers cannot fail to be pleasing to God. But it is especially after they have entered heaven by our suffrages, that they feel themselves, as it were, obliged by gratitude to use all their influence in favor of our society of reparation. The associates will, therefore, apply to the souls in Purgatory all the indulgences they are able to gain; but they must make it a condition with those souls whose torments they thus abridge, that they will hereafter unite with them to obtain the conversion of sinners and the triumph of the Church.
1. For each day, Society members are to: a) make their Morning Offering beginning with: “O Jesus through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary…” including in their intentions reparation to the Sacred Heart and Mary’s Sorrowful Heart for our sins, the intent to accomplish the universal consecration, and the sending of the apostle mentioned by our Lord; b) recite the Consecration formula provided below by Pope Pius XII; c) make any devotion of choice to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary from the Devotion to the Sorrowful Mother booklet; d) pray the Rosary.
2. For each week. They will offer their spiritual Mass on Friday especially for the intentions of the Society mentioned in (1) and may impose on themselves this day some mortification with the same intention. On Saturday, they also are encouraged to recite Berthe Petit’s Consecration to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary.
3. For each month. They will observe the First Friday Devotions in a particular manner to renew in themselves the spirit of the Society, to examine and correct in themselves all that may place any obstacle in the way of the union of their heart with the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary. On this day they will fix on the works that they intend to do in the course of the month for the different intentions of the Society, unless they prefer giving all their works to the Heart of our Lord, leaving to Him the application of them as He pleases. The same applies to the First Saturday Devotions in honor of Our Lady.
4. For each year. They will celebrate with special devotion the Feasts of the Sacred Heart, and the two feasts of Our Lady’s Dolors (on the Friday in Passion Week and September 15). On these days they may renew either in private or in common their consecrations of this Divine Heart, and of the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin, with an earnest resolution to labor as much as possible to promote their interests and intentions. (End of Apostleship of Prayer Manual adaptation)
Acts of Consecration
Solemn Act of Consecration to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary
(Written at the request of Francis Cardinal Bourne by Berthe Petit)
O Lord Jesus, Who on Calvary and in the Holy Eucharist has shown Thyself to us as the God of Love and Mercy; kneeling humbly at Thy feet we adore Thee and beg once more for Thy forgiveness and Thy divine pity.
And remembering that by Thine own act on Calvary, the human race, represented by Thy beloved disciple John, gained a Mother in the Virgin of Sorrows, we desire to honor the sufferings and woes of our Mother’s Heart by devoting ourselves to it in solemn Consecration.
It is but just O Mary, that our souls should strive henceforth to venerate thee with special homage under the title of thy Sorrowful Heart, a title won by sharing in the whole Passion of thy Son and thus co-operating in the work of our redemption – a title due to thee in justice, and dear, we believe, to Jesus and to thine own Heart, torn by the wound in His.
We consecrate therefore, O Mary, to thy Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart ourselves, our families, our country and those who are fighting for its honor. Have pity on us; see our tribulations, and the anguish of our hearts in the midst of the mourning and calamities that lay waste the world. Deign, O Mother of God, to obtain mercy for us that, being converted and purified by sorrow, and made strong in faith, we may henceforth be devoted servants of Jesus Christ and His Church, for whose triumph we pray.
O Mary Immaculate, we promise to be faithful clients of thy Sorrowful Heart. Intercede for us, we beseech thee, with thy Son that, at the cry of thy Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart, His divine Power may speedily bring to pass the triumph of right and justice. Amen.
Sacred Heart of Jesus, have pity on us.
Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us and save us.
Pope Pius XII’s Solemn Act of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Most Holy Virgin Mary, tender Mother of men, to fulfill the desires of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the request of the Vicar of thy Son on earth, we consecrate ourselves and our families to thy Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart, O Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, and we recommend to thee, all the people of our country and all the world.
Please accept our consecration, dearest Mother, and use us as thou dost wish to accomplish thy designs in the world.
O Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, and Queen of the World, rule over us, together with the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ, Our King. Save us from the spreading flood of modern paganism; kindle in our hearts and homes the love of purity, the practice of a virtuous life, an ardent zeal for souls, and a desire to pray the Rosary more faithfully.
We come with confidence to thee, O Throne of Grace and Mother of Fair Love. Inflame us with the same Divine Fire which has inflamed thine own Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart. Make our hearts and homes thy shrine, and through us, make the Heart of Jesus, together with thy rule, triumph in every heart and home. Amen.
Various Prayers for These Times
To Avert the Anger of God
O Mother of Sorrows, who from thy very infancy didst most ardently wish that the time of the redemption of mankind might be hastened, and who, when become the Mother of God, didst with admirable heroism offer for death thine only Son and thyself with Him, that the reign of sin might be destroyed; look down, we entreat thee, on this miserable world, and see how prevalent iniquity is everywhere, and how many unfortunate souls are bound with the chains of sin. The flood of infidelity, blasphemy, and immorality is rising daily, and seems as if it would submerge the whole world. How dreadful are the chastisements we may fear! How terrible the divine vengeance will be! How awful to bear the wrath with which thy Jesus will be moved against those who insult and reject Him!
O most blessed Virgin, have compassion on us, intercede for us; do not forsake thy mission of reconciliation, but show that thou art still most anxious to save sinners. Stand in the sight of thy divine Son to speak good for them, and to turn away His indignation from them. Remind Him that for them He Himself shed His most precious Blood to the last drop, and ended His life in the most excruciating torments; remind Him of the anguish, the desolation, the agony of thine Immaculate Heart.
Will He resist thy prayers, thy supplications, thy sighs? No! He will be moved to mercy, and in the excess of His love will pour down the abundance of His graces to soften the hearts of hardened sinners. Then, filled with sorrow, will thy shed tears of compunction and return to their Lord; then iniquity will cease, faith, and religion, and purity will flourish again, and a canticle of praise to the God of mercies, and of gratitude to thee, our most loving Mother, will be raised from all parts of the earth. Amen.
For the Conversion of Sinners
O most afflicted Mother, how much thou didst suffer at the foot of the cross, what burning tears thou didst shed for the salvation of mankind and the conversion of sinners! For them thou didst offer thyself to torments and to death in union with our loving Redeemer. We then, with unbounded confidence, call upon thee in behalf of poor sinners. By the most precious Blood of Jesus shed to the last drop, by thine own bitter tears, by the sword which pierced thy soul, implore for them grace that may touch their hearts and bring them to true repentance.
Remember, O sorrowful Virgin, that the first words of Jesus on the cross were to implore forgiveness for His executioners – that is, all sinners – and to promise Paradise to the penitent Thief. Pray, then, the Eternal father to forgive them, and to move their hearts to compunction. Remember that with His dying voice Jesus gave us to thee to be thy sons, and thee to us to be our Mother; and that he cried out, “I thirst,” to manifest how much He was consumed with the thirst of souls. Listen, O sorrowful Mother, listen to the voice of thy dying Son: show thyself a mother to poor sinners though they have been ungrateful sons: do not permit them to perish forever, but quench the thirst of Jesus, by bringing them back to Him.
Pray for sinners, O Mary, offer for them thy tears and sorrows, and lead them all to the loving Heart of thy dying Son. Amen.
Prayers for the Dying
I. O most holy Virgin, by the sorrow which transfixed thy heart, when holy Simeon foretold the affliction thou wast to endure at the death of thy Divine Son, intercede for this person, now at the point of death, that his (her) heart may be pierced with true contrition.
Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory be to the Father.
II. O most gracious Virgin, by the sorrow thou didst endure, when, to save thy Son Jesus from the persecution of Herod, thou wast forced to fly with Him into Egypt, deliver this soul from the snares of the infernal foe.
Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory be to the Father.
III. O most afflicted Virgin, by the sorrow thou didst feel at losing thy son Jesus, beg that this soul may not be lost, but may dwell forever with Him in heaven.
Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory be to the Father.
IV. O most distressed Virgin, by the sorrow thou didst feel at seeing thy Son Jesus carrying on His bruised shoulders His heavy cross, obtain for this departing soul grace to bear patiently, for the love of thy dear Son, the cross of his (her) sufferings.
Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory be to the Father.
V. O inconsolable Virgin, by the unspeakable sorrow thou didst experience at seeing thy Son Jesus crucified between two thieves, pray for this soul, that sorrow for his (her) sins may pierce his (her) heart, as the nails pierced the hands and feet of our divine Lord, and the spear His sacred side.
Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory be to the Father.
VI. O most desolate Virgin, by the sorrow thou didst feel in receiving into thine arms the dead body of thy Son Jesus, pray that this departing soul may be received into eternal glory of heaven.
Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory be to the Father.
VII. O Virgin most sorrowful, by the desolation thou didst feel, when, having accompanied thy son to the sepulchre, thou hadst to part with Him, have pity of this soul, and accompany it in the great journey to eternity.
Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory be to the Father.
V. Pray for him (her), most sorrowful Virgin.
R. That he (she) may be worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray
Grant, we beseech thee, O Lord Jesus Christ, that the most blessed Virgin Mary thy Mother, whose most holy soul was pierced with the sword of sorrow in the hour of Thy Passion, may intercede before the throne of Thy mercy for this Thy servant, now and at the hour of his(her) death. Who livest and reignest, world without end. Amen.
V. May the sorrowful Virgin Mary.
R. Bless us with her loving Child.
For the Faithful in their Last Agony
O most holy Mary, by that fear and trembling which overwhelmed thine heart, when thou didst hear that thy beloved Son and our Lord Jesus Christ had been taken by His enemies, abandoned by His disciples, and led to Caiphas and Pilate, help, we implore thee, the soul of this person in its last struggle, that he (she) may have a true sorrow and contrition for his (her) past sins. Comfort and strengthen him (her), that he (she) may not fear at the coming of the common enemy, nor tremble at the sight of his (her) severe Judge, angry for his (her) sins, but may rather see Him, appeased
by thy powerful prayers, show him(her) a merciful countenance. Amen. Hail Mary.
For the Faithful Departed
O most Blessed Virgin Mary, my Mother, I turn to thee in supplication, and by the sword which pierced thy sorrowful heart, when thou didst behold thy beloved Son Jesus Christ bow down His head and give up the ghost, I pray and beseech thee to succor the holy souls in Purgatory, and particularly those for whom I now pray, N. N. Mother of Sorrows, Queen of Martyrs, for the love of thy divine Son, whose precious Blood was shed for us, help us with thy powerful intercession, who are danger not only of falling into Purgatory, but of losing our souls forever in hell. O Mary, Mother of grace, Mother of mercy, pray for us now and at the hour of our death. Eternal Father, through the most precious Blood of Jesus and the Sorrows of Mary, have pity upon the holy souls in Purgatory. Amen.
Dear Lord Jesus, grant them eternal rest.
Eternal rest give unto them, O Lord and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.
We beseech Thee, therefore, assist the souls still suffering in purgatory, whom Thou hast redeemed with Thy Precious Blood.
(These various prayers were taken from Behold Thy Mother, the manual of the Servite Order. The full set of these prayers and a history of the Servites is available at the following link: http://www.staugustinechapel.org/Library/books_pdf/Behold_Thy_Mother_Servite_Manual.pdf)
About the Origins of this Society
On September 15, 2006, a chapel constructed by Larry and Teresa Benns and their family members in La Garita, Colorado was dedicated to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary using the consecration formula written by Berthe Petit above. The Benns family used this for their private devotions for the next 14 years. Larry Benns constructed the altar and canopy for the chapel, also the lighted frames for the pictures on the left below.
In September of 2020 the Benns family relocated to South Dakota and reconstructed the chapel in their new residence. It was once again consecrated to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary on September 15, 2021 using Berthe Petit’s consecration prayer.
Larry Benns passed away on March 1, 2021. Please pray for the repose of his soul.
May all of us become true apostles in these trying times!
by T. Stanfill Benns | Feb 28, 2022 | Blog, New Blog
+May all enjoy a holy Lent+
As we approach the somber days of Lent, let us use this time productively to ask our readers to join together in 40 days of prayer to seek a solution to this ever-deepening crisis that has ripped our beloved Church to shreds and threatens to engulf the world. A new schism looms regarding Francis and his New World Order affiliations, and internal rifts are running rampant among Traditionalist groups.
Traditionalists viciously attack each other and anyone daring to question their stance on social media platforms, scandalizing anyone not Catholic who might be reading their content. And this even with their so-called priests looking on. (To see a refutation of claims made against this site and read about the latest controversy surrounding the material-formal “thesis” among the CMRI sect, visit https://www.keepandshare.com/doc18/25524/cmri-clergy-accusations-pdf-351k?dn=y&dnad=y and https://www.keepandshare.com/doc18/25525/cmri-material-formal-flap-pdf-204k?dn=y&dnad=y).
God will not be mocked forever, and His honor and glory demand we do all in our power to offend Him no more. Prayer is the only answer to this disaster and one man, one glorious prophet seems to be the very saint who can best address every problem we are currently facing. We need answers, and we need them quickly. We can only hope that 40 days will give us enough time to pray fervently and sincerely for those answers and receive them. And that time period itself actually comes into play where the holy Prophet Elias is concerned. For Elias spent 40 days in the desert, roughly the time-span of Lent itself. What was he doing there? Fleeing from the evil queen Jezebel, who he feared would take his life, after challenging and defeating the false prophets on Mt. Carmel who were deceiving the Chosen People. And so here we stand, garbed in our scapulars, begging him to assist us in these times that, as Christ Himself warned us, would be like no other.
The Carmelite Order celebrates St. Elias’ feast day on July 20. We read the following from Carmel, Its History, Spirit, and Saints (P.J. Kennedy & Sons, New York, 1927; pgs. 240-42): “The Holy Prophet is invoked against pestilence, to avert public calamities, to restore peace of soul, [also against drought, floods and famines — Ed.] and to draw down the blessings of God on those aspiring to perfection, as is proved in innumerable cases among the Saints and Blessed of Carmel. He is also called upon to avert wars and a remarkable instance is given when Roger of Sicily had to sustain terrible combats against the Saracens. So immediate was the answer of his prayers, that the pious Count built a Church and Monastery in honor of Elijah and presented it to the Carmelites. Many churches, altars, and statues have been erected in his name; states and cities have chosen him for Patron.
“This devotion is proper to these latter times when the crimes of men are such as to weary the Divine patience and draw down calamities upon the human race. It is well to seek the charitable aid of him “who has been chosen to appease the wrath of God’ ” (Ecclesiasticus). Then, too, each day brings us nearer the time when he will come among us with the last message of mercy and forgiveness, ere he sheds his blood for the Lord ‘in whose sight he stands.’”
Blessed Elias’ primary mission was the destruction of false sacrifices and the false priesthood of those offering them. He is to come again during the last three and a half years of Antichrist’s reign to convert the Jewish people, to guide the Church and to preach penance according to Catholic scriptural commentators. Secondary, then, was his mission to open the eyes of Israel’s faithful, and alert them to the gravity of their errors and the deception of these evil men. Pope Clement VIII declared that the conversion of sinners is one aspect of Elias’ mission, perpetuated by the Carmelites. And how could this be otherwise when, as the Carmelites have long held, the little cloud seen by Elias floating over the Mediterranean Sea in the form of a foot prefigured the coming of the Blessed Virgin Mary, mother of the Messiah, refuge of sinners. She appeared at Fatima to beg the children to pray and make sacrifices for sinners. And during the sixth Fatima vision, the Miracle of the Sun, she appeared as Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and Our Lady of Sorrows. If we wish to obtain the conversion of sinners and to stay the prospects of war, St. Elias is truly our patron — for he has been venerated for centuries in that country and is even the patron of Russia’s Air Force! https://orthochristian.com/140879.html
We read from another Orthodox website: “The Prophet Elias was in essence the first monk and the first dedicated to virginity in the Old Testament. A great faster, he walked barefoot, wore a rough mantle of camel’s hair, which was very coarse, uncomfortable, irritated the skin and resembled a hairshirt worn by Christian ascetics. He wore a leather girdle around his waist (like Orthodox monks) and carried a staff in his hand (like bishops) as a symbol of his special spiritual authority.
“And St. Elias said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken Thy covenant, thrown down Thine altars, and slain Thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away (3 Kings 19:10). This is precisely what we often say nowadays: “O Lord, look, Your children have abandoned Your churches, they have been languishing in vices and debauchery, they are greedy for gain and seek only pleasures, bending the knee to demons in sects!” And, like the apostles, we want to exclaim: Lord, wilt Thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them (Lk. 9:54). And we will certainly hear the meek answer: “Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them” (Lk. 9:55-56). The Lord answered the same to St. Elias.
“Let us bear in mind these words of our Savior: I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled! (Lk. 12:49). This fire is the Divine zeal that induces us to overcome our laziness, neglect, pride, and all other things that stand between us and Christ. And may the Lord help us scorch all the impediments caused by our enemy, our foe, by this Divine fire. Amen.” And on these texts we will comment at greater length below.
Prayer to St. Elias (from Carmel, Its History, Spirit, and Saints)
Holy Prophet of God Elias, intercede for us and for the salvation of all.
V: Pray for us, O holy Father Elias.
R: That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray
Grant, we beseech Thee, O Almighty God, that we who believe that the Blessed Elias Thy Prophet and our Father was wonderfully carried up in a fiery chariot, may by his intercession be raised to the desire of heavenly things and rejoice in the society of Thy saints. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
And to this prayer we add the following, based on Kings 19:10 and the Gospel of St. John:
O blessed Elias, come deliver us in person we beg thee, if it be God’s appointed time for thy appearance! But if it is not yet that time, with great confidence, we humbly and desperately beseech thee to intercede with us before God to chastise and disperse those among us who, as in your day, have:
- slain the prophets — impugned the authority of all true popes and the obedience owed them;
- forsaken His covenant — sinned against the first, third, seventh and eighth Commandments; ignored, violated and misconstrued the Sacred Canons and papal laws;
- thrown down His altars — set up the abomination in the Novus Ordo and on the false altars of Traditionalists, (bread and priest idols).
Let these men of Baal no longer delude God’s people; force them to admit their ministry is not certainly valid; beg God to send them the Holy Ghost, fire of love for the brethren and the light of truth, that they might repent and do penance. And if they refuse, or provide insufficient proofs, continuing to deceive the elect, beseech Almighty God to send down His fire from heaven as a sign, that we, who wish only to love and serve Him, might know the truth. In the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, pray for us!
Sts. Teresa of Avila and Therese of Liseux, pray for us!
From Holy Scripture, Haydock commentary
For more on the verses describing Elias’ mission, we turn to the commentary of Rev. Leo Haydock on Chapter 18 of Kings:
Verse 17: (The ineffectual King Ahab reproached Elias saying) “Art thou he that troublest Israel?” Haydock comments: “Thus the wicked esteem those disturbers of the public repose, who will not suffer them to go on in their wickedness unmolested, Thus the Jews complain of Christ. Such a war is better than a false peace… Elias strove by easy means to make the people open their eyes and return to their God.”
Verse 18: And Elias said to Ahab: “I have not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father’s house, who have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and followed Baalim.” Haydock comments: “Your impiety has brought on this scourge. I only denounced it, (Salien).”
Verse 19: “Gather unto me all Israel, unto Mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal… and of the groves… [worshippers of the goddess Astarte].” Haydock comments: “[These prophets] imitated the lives of the true prophets to delude the people.”
Verse 21: Elias called to the people: “How long do you halt between two sides? If the Lord be God, follow Him; but if Baal then follow him.” Haydock comments: “Sides: adoring sometimes God, at other times the devil… [as do] those indifferent to religion. They wished to unite the service of both…as some, at present, assert that many religions may be pleasing to Heaven” (and here we see ecumenism). Haydock notes that Elias called down fire from Heaven to light his altar, despite the fact its trenches — where the fire was supposed to burn — were filled with water. This exemplifies Elias’ complete confidence that God would work a miracle, which of course He did, by lighting Elias’ altar of sacrifice. Haydock then goes on to quote Salien as follows: “[The prophets of Baal] might otherwise have brought down fire, as they will do in the days of Antichrist.”
Why does Salien say this? Because, as we read in Apocalypse 13:13, regarding the false prophet: “And he did great signs, so that he made even fire to come down from Heaven.” Rev. H.B. Kramer comments in his The Book of Destiny that the only biblical figure in history to do this was Elias. As Salien says, this time it will be the prophets of Baal who bring down the fire, and certainly Roncalli, in introducing his 1959 missalettes in English stating “all men” in the consecration, and in instituting his 1962 missal, brought fire down from heaven to light Baal’s altars, effectively replacing Pope St. Pius V’s Roman Missal even before Montini introduced the Novus Ordo Missae.
Verse 24: “Call ye on the names of your gods and I shall call on the name of my Lord, and the god that shall answer by fire, let him be God.” Haydock comments: “He does not order them to invoke idols, but challenges them to PROVE their divinity, if they can. God has given this proof of fire repeatedly… He will restrain the devil’s power to confirm the truth.”
Verse 40: After Elias had wrought his miracle, he told the people: “Take the prophets of Baal and let not one of them escape. And when they had taken them, Elias brought them down to the torrent of Cison and killed them there.” Haydock comments: It was at “the unanimity of the people’s cry” that the prophets of Baal were killed, “…by God’s inspiration, as impostors who had deluded the people, and were worthy of death.”
In his comments on Kings 19:12, “For the children of Israel have forsaken Thy covenant, they have thrown down Thy altars and have slain the prophets,” Haydock explains: “They neglected circumcision and almost the whole law.”
To convert, not destroy
And yet, when Elias complains to God that it was only his zeal for Him that prompted his condemnations of the priests and that now he is alone and afraid, (Kings 18:10, 12), God showed him, Haydock notes, that there were two laws, one of terror and one of mildness. He thus encouraged Elias to temper his zeal, bear patiently with the people and instead of terrifying them, bring them to their senses by gentle means. This is reflected in the article from the Orthodox site above, where Christ is quoted as telling His apostles that He came not to destroy sinners, but to save them.
At the same time, our Lord also told His Apostles to walk away from those who would not listen, and the time for walking away has long since passed. We have been patient long enough. And so today, we issue this challenge to Traditionalists, in the name of the Prophet Elias, to PROVE, once and for all, that they are valid bishops and priests, according to Church law and infallible papal teaching; and we ask that it be met forthwith.
We wish no one to be destroyed, but with St. Elias, neither do we any longer wish to “be witness to the miseries of [the] people, and the war they [a]re waging against God and his servants…” (Kings 19:4), as Haydock says. All we desire is the destruction of deception, disunity, dissension and distrust that reigns among those Traditionalist sects today that God intended to be His elect. Whatever means are now necessary to end this heartbreaking insult to our Lord and His Holy Church, we leave to God the Father and this Holy Prophet, still standing alive in His presence. We ask those reading this blog to copy these prayers and pray and fast with us daily through Lent, begging Our Lord, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and St. Elias, also the Carmelite Saints Teresa and Therese, that despite our unworthiness and many transgressions, our prayers will be heard.
