Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira on the Carmelites

There are certain religious orders that have a perennial role in the Catholic Church. They irradiate a certain spirit that is indispensable to the Church. It is a perfume that God wants His Church to have since it is a part of her very physiognomy. So God conserves those religious orders that maintain these characteristics. Other religious orders, however, which God judges as not indispensable to the Church, decline and disappear.

Among the orders in the first category, none has so wonderful a continuity as the Order of Carmel. According to a very respectable tradition, it was founded by Elias the Prophet, that is to say, long before the birth of Our Lord. It passed through trials and sufferings, brilliant successes and great failures until the coming of St. John the Baptist, who would be a member of this spiritual family and the greatest successor of Elias. Our Lord Himself would have been close to those religious, who for a certain period would be part of the movement of the Essenes.

Then, with the New Covenant and the dispersion of the Hebrew people, the Order took the name it has today and remained at Mount Carmel until the Muslim persecutions obliged it to flee to the West. In Europe it was at the point of closure when Our Lady appeared to St. Simon Stock – who was the General of the Order – and gave him the scapular devotion. With this, a torrent of graces came to the Order.

Later, St. Teresa of Ávila and St. John of the Cross reformed a part of the Carmelite Order. This branch of reform influenced the whole trunk, and it continued to shine until it produced one of its most beautiful flowers, which was St. Therese of Lisieux. Afterward, a phenomenon of general decay set in until it experienced the tornado of bad consequences coming from Vatican, which we know.

You see that Divine Providence wants to conserve the Order of Carmel. According to private prophecies, this Order will never disappear. It will continue – from one glory to another and one trial to another – until the moment that its founder, Elias the Prophet, will return and be present in the last days of History to fight against the Antichrist, who will kill Elias. Then he will be resurrected, and see the return of Our Lord Jesus Christ for the Final Judgment.

There is, therefore, a mystery of predilection of Our Lady for this spiritual family. For this reason, it has greater longevity than other orders.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn on different churches

Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn (11 December 1918 – 3 August 2008) was a Soviet and Russian author and dissident who helped to raise global awareness of political repression in the USSR, especially the Gulag prison system. He was awarded the 1970 Nobel Prize in Literature. His nonfiction work The Gulag Archipelago amounted to a head-on challenge to the Soviet state and sold tens of millions of copies.

When asked by Joseph Pearce for his opinions about the division within the Roman Catholic Church over the Second Vatican Council and the Novus Ordo Missae, Solzhenitsyn replied:

"A question peculiar to the Russian Orthodox Church is, should we continue to use Old Church Slavonic, or should we start to introduce more of the contemporary Russian language into the service? I understand the fears of both those in the Orthodox and in the Catholic Church, the wariness, the hesitation, and the fear that this is lowering the Church to the modern condition, the modern surroundings. I understand this, but alas, I fear that if religion does not allow itself to change, it will be impossible to return the world to religion because the world is incapable on its own of rising as high as the old demands of religion. Religion needs to come and meet it somewhat."

Pearce then asked Solzhenitsyn what he thought of the division caused within the Anglican Communion by the decision to ordain female priests. His answer was:

"Certainly there are many firm boundaries that should not be changed. When I speak of some sort of correlation between the cultural norms of the present, it is really only a small part of the whole thing. Certainly, I do not believe that women priests is the way to go!"

From Joseph Pearce (2011), Solzhenitsyn: A Soul in Exile, Ignatius Press.

Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira on the Benedictines

 

To consider only one aspect of the matter, there are certain religious orders that have a perennial role in the Catholic Church. They irradiate a certain spirit that is indispensable to the Church. It is a perfume that God wants His Church to have since it is a part of her very physiognomy. So God conserves those religious orders that maintain these characteristics. Other religious orders, however, which God judges as not indispensable to the Church, decline and disappear.

One finds a similar action of Divine Providence with regard to the oldest Western order, the Benedictine Order. St. Benedict is the Patriarch of the Western monks. All of Western monasticism was born from him. He founded a religious order that spread throughout Europe and worked the conversion of the barbarians in one of the worst moments of the Church’s History.

Paradoxically, the Church at this time was contaminated by the germs of corruption of the pagan world that she had helped to destroy. On one hand, the spirit of softness and sensuality of Paganism survived in many ecclesiastics and lay faithful. On the other hand, the Church had to face the barbarian invasions. For the most part, the barbarians were heretics; they were partisans of Arianism. That is to say, the Church had enemies both inside and outside.

In this crucial situation, the Benedictine monks entered the scenario and worked for the conversion of the barbarians. The conversion of England, Ireland, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Bohemia, Austria, and Hungary was due in great part to the work of the Benedictine Order. Its monks worked in a way that brought them much prestige.

What did they do? The modern missionary runs after the unfaithful and tries to convert him. The Benedictine missionary did not do this. He would go to an area without the Faith and found an abbey there. The abbey would begin its monastic life of praying and chanting the Divine Office and, at the same time, it would give alms to the poor, systematically work the lands, drain the swamps, and civilize the land surrounding the abbey. Because of the good example of the Benedictines in these different spheres, the Order exerted an enormous influence on souls. The surrounding villages would start to depend on the abbey. Sometimes populations would build towns and even cities around the abbeys.

So, the apostolate of the Order was to attract by its way of being. The people used to come to the Benedictine, and not the Benedictine to the people. I think it is a beautiful way to attract souls – they lived their own life, radiating their particular lustre and diffusing the perfume of the lives they led.

While some branches of the Benedictine Order were converting the barbarians, others were preparing the ground for the Middle Ages. All the spiritual, cultural, artistic, political and military development of the Middle Ages relied in great part on the Benedictines. Some historians sustain that the Spanish Reconquista relied on the Benedictines of Cluny, others present good arguments that the Holy Roman-German Empire would not even have been possible without Cluny. Cluny was not, properly speaking, a new branch. It was a movement inside the Order that gave new life to it. After some time, the Benedictines of Cluny also fell into decay.

Then, Divine Providence called on an English noble, who entered a declining Benedictine abbey and met two other saints who were fighting against the decadence. They left that abbey and founded another branch with a stricter discipline. It was so small and lacking in vocations that even St. Stephen had a doubt whether its foundation was really the will of God. He asked for a sign from Heaven.

Smiling, Our Lady, Mother of all the good initiatives in the Church, gave him a most beautiful sign. It was the arrival of a knight, the future St. Bernard of Clairvaux, who was accompanied by 30 companions. They came and asked to enter the new abbey.

The arrival of St. Bernard was no small thing. He is one of the suns of the Benedictine Order, one of the greatest devotees of Our Lady called the Doctor Mellifluus – the doctor who speaks on Our Lady with the sweetness of honey (from the Latin mel = honey). He was a man of penance and mortification, a polemicist and a fighter who faced hard combats against all the enemies of the Church at his time. One of them was Peter Abelard, a very bad man who I consider to be a precursor of Progressivism.

With his 30 knights St. Bernard gave splendor to the new branch of the Benedictine Order, which in its turn brought new life and vigor to the ensemble. It was a new aspect of the same vocation. What did this branch do? Complete silence, manual work, study, cloister. The life of cloister was only broken when the monks had to travel to preach a mission. They differed from the old Benedictine in this way of preaching missions. They also had a different habit. The Cistercians have a white habit with a black scapular, while the Benedictines have a black habit. The Cistercians practiced greater poverty than the Benedictines, their churches were simpler and more austere with simple stain glass. That poverty was necessary to correct the abuses produced by the former richness.

Step by step many branches of the Benedictine family recovered their fervor. The branch of Cluny, however, did not recover. It continued to decay until the French Revolution when the abbey of Cluny itself was destroyed. Almost nothing of the main building remained. The wrath of God fell over that institution and it was razed. Some buildings of the complex still exist, the relics of the founders remain in the city of Cluny, but the main part of the enormous abbey disappeared.

...

Inside the Benedictine family, we saw how the Cistercians became a new branch that brought fresh life to the ensemble.

These quotes by Prof. Corrêa de Oliveira were posted to commemorate the anniversary of the visit by the Founder to Subiaco's Sacro Speco Sanctuary (photo above), a place close to Saint Benedict's heart.

Quotes to reflect upon (26)

 

"Unlike the Orthodox Church and various Protestant Churches, the Latin Church practically abandoned the ministry of exorcism as far back as three centuries ago. We're looking at entire bodies of bishops who are contrary to exorcisms, and entire nations without an exorcist, like Austria, Switzerland, Spain and Portugal. A truly frightening shortage! When a priest becomes a bishop, he will have before him an article from the Code of Canon Law which gives him absolute authority to nominate exorcists. Given that he has to make such an important decision, the least any bishop should do is assist at an exorcism, but unfortunately, this rarely happens."

Gabriele Amorth S.S.P.  (1925-2016) was an Italian Catholic priest of the Paulines and an exorcist for the Diocese of Rome. 

International Campaign for the Total Freedom of the Traditional Liturgy

Being a Catholic in 2024 is no easy endeavor. The West is undergoing a massive de-Christianization, so much so that Catholicism appears to be vanishing from the public sphere. Elsewhere, the number of Christians being persecuted for their faith is on the rise. What’s more, the Church has been struck by an internal crisis that manifests itself in a decline in religious practice, a downswing in priestly and religious vocations, a decrease in sacramental practice, and even a growing dissension between priests, bishops and cardinals which, until very recently, was utterly unthinkable. Yet, among all the things that can contribute to the internal revival of the Church and to the renewal of her missionary zeal, there is, above all, the worthy and reverent celebration of her liturgy, which can be greatly fostered thanks to the example and the presence of the traditional Roman liturgy.

Despite all the attempts that have been made to suppress it, especially during the present pontificate, it lives on, continuing to spread and to sanctify the Christian people who are blessed to be able to benefit from it. It bears abundant fruits of piety, as well as an increase of vocations and of conversions. It attracts young people and is the fount of many flourishing works, especially in schools, and is accompanied by a solid catechesis. No one can deny that it is a vector for the preservation and transmission of the faith and religious practice in the midst of a waning of religious belief and a dwindling number of believers. This Mass, due to its venerable antiquity, can boast of having sanctified countless souls over the centuries. Among other vital forces still active in the Church, this form of liturgical life stands out because of the stability given to it by an uninterrupted lex orandi.

Certainly, some places of worship have been granted, or rather tolerated, where this liturgy can be celebrated, but too often what has been given by one hand is taken back by the other, without, however, ever managing to make it vanish.

Since the massive decline during the period immediately following the Second Vatican Council, every attempt has been made on numerous occasions to revive religious practice, to increase the number of priestly and religious vocations, and to preserve the faith of the Christian people. Everything, except letting the people experience the traditional liturgy, by giving the Tridentine liturgy a fair chance. Today, however, common sense urgently demands that all the vital forces in the Church be allowed to live and prosper, and in particular the one which enjoys a right dating back to over a millennium.

Let there be no mistake: the present appeal is not a petition to obtain a new tolerance as in 1984 and 1988, nor even a restoration of the status granted in 2007 by the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, which, recognizing in principle a right, has in fact been reduced to a regime of meagerly granted permissions.

As lay people, it is not for us to pass judgment on the Second Vatican Council, its continuity or discontinuity with the previous teaching of the Church, the merits, or not, of the reforms that resulted from it, and so on. On the other hand, it is necessary to defend and transmit the means that Providence has employed to enable a growing number of Catholics to preserve the faith, to grow in it, or to discover it. The traditional liturgy plays an essential role in this process, thanks to its transcendence, its beauty, its timelessness and its doctrinal certainty.

For this reason, we simply ask, for the sake of the true freedom of the children of God in the Church, that the full freedom of the traditional liturgy, with the free use of all its liturgical books, be granted, so that, without hindrance, in the Latin rite, all the faithful may benefit from it and all clerics may celebrate it.

Jean-Pierre Maugendre, Managing Director of Renaissance Catholique, Paris, France (Original article here). Pro Tridentina (Malta) supports this initiative.

This appeal is not a petition to be signed, but a message to be disseminated, possibly to be taken up again in any form that may seem appropriate, and to be brought and explained to the cardinals, bishops and prelates of the universal Church.

Gozo - For everyone except for the Latin Mass

According to Fr David Wright (the new Anglican Chancellor at St. Paul’s Pro Cathedral in Valletta): 

“Relationships between the Anglican and Catholic communities in the Maltese islands are strong and cordial, with both denominations joining other Christian groups in the ecumenical group known as Christians Together in Malta. Another example of this warm friendship is that the Gozo Anglican congregation worship in the chapel of the Sacred Heart Seminary in Rabat.”

The Gozo Diocese, then under Bishop (now Cardinal) Mario Grech, has also made available the chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes (that stands on a promontory overlooking Mġarr Harbour) to the Italian community for the past eight years. Here, Novus Ordo Mass in Italian is celebrated at the chapel on Sundays and feasts of obligation at 10:00, while catechism lessons for those receiving the First Holy Communion and Confirmation are also held at the chapel. In addition, the community organises social and cultural activities for Italian residents.

What a pity that the same is not applied by the Gozo Diocese to Tridentine Roman Catholics. Different requests for Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite since 2007 were met with silence or refusals. 

FIUV Appeal concerning the Traditional Mass

  

Appeal for prayers and penances for the Liberty of the Traditional Mass in Lent

From Una Voce International and others

Una Voce International and other organisations, groups and individuals concerned with the Traditional Latin Mass would like to appeal to all Catholics of good will to offer prayers and penances during the season of Lent, particularly for the intention: the liberty of the Traditional Mass.

We do not know how credible rumours of further documents from the Holy See on this subject may be, but the rumours themselves point to a situation of doubt, conflict, and apprehension, which is severely harmful to the mission of the Church. We appeal to our Lord, through His Blessed Mother, to restore to all Catholics the right and opportunity to worship according to the Church’s own venerable liturgical traditions, in perfect unity with the Holy Father and the bishops of the whole Church.

R.I.P. to pro-life Catholic British M.P. murdered by an Islamist

 

Murdered British Pro-Life Catholic Politician David Amess Remembered for Building Bridges With the Holy See

Sir David Amess was always 'working on issues to strengthen ties,’ says former British ambassador to the Holy See Francis Campbell.

(T-L) David Amess with Pope Francis in 2015. (T-R) Sir David Amess on the far left next to Lord Alton with St. Teresa of Calcutta 1988. (B-L) Meeting with Cardinal Burke in 2015. (B-R) Sir David Amess meeting Benedict during the first visit of the All Party Parliamentary Group on the Holy See, March 2006. (photo: Courtesy photos / www.davidamess.co.uk/Right to Life UK/APPG)

Edward Pentin 15 October 2021

VATICAN CITY — Sir David Amess, who was tragically killed on Friday in a knife attack in England, was a committed pro-life British politician whose death has also shocked many in Rome where he is well remembered for his timely work to improve U.K.-Holy See relations. 

The 69-year-old devout Catholic father of five and one of Britain’s longest-serving parliamentarians made frequent visits to the Vatican as founder and chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Holy See. 

The group, which he created in 2006 at a time when the Foreign and Commonwealth Office planned to cut back and possibly even close its embassy to the Holy See, is made up of politicians of different faiths and backgrounds. It was the first such parliamentary group in the world and continues to this day.

The group is especially credited with helping to pave the way for Pope Benedict XVI’s state visit to Britain in 2010, and in particular Benedict’s historic address to both Houses of Parliament in Westminster Hall. It then helped secure a return visit of British government ministers to the Vatican the following year.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster recalled this in his tribute on Friday, saying the British Conservative politician fostered “this mutually respectful relationship” between the U.K. and the Holy See through meetings with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State, and other Catholic leaders. 

“His contribution,” the cardinal said, “is both esteemed and will be sorely missed.” 

Francis Campbell, who worked closely with Amess as Britain’s ambassador to the Holy See from 2005 to 2011, told the Register that “he did so much to help build ties and one of his proudest moments was to see Pope Benedict.” He added that Amess was “a great builder of relationships across parliament and was so supportive of [Benedict XVI’s] visit.” 

“David was such a kind and generous person who gave so much,” Campbell said. “He was so jovial and engaged, always building bridges and working on issues to strengthen ties. His loss will be greatly felt.” 

Defender of Life and the Persecuted

Meeting him in Rome in 2007, Amess told me he was a “born optimist” and that he remained positive that legislation in favor of human embryo research and abortion could be defeated. He believed this despite proponents greatly outnumbering the opposition and the fact that Gordon Brown, no friend to the pro-life cause, had just become Prime Minister. 

In that interview, Amess revealed his pro-life conviction and determination to defend the voiceless in politics, lamenting how there had been “less and less interest in terms of the sanctity of life.” 

“From my point of view, I cannot see why anyone comes into parliament unless they recognize that life is all-important,” Amess said. “We, as parliamentarians, have our own concepts on the way we wish to create an environment in which people live, but life itself should be everything that motivates us.”

He went on to say that he remained “puzzled why a number of parliamentarians still cannot accept that life is sacred and that it’s up to the ‘mother of all parliaments’ to protect life in law.” 

Catherine Robinson, spokesperson for Right To Life UK, said Amess was a “passionate and dedicated patron of our charity” and “a pro-life champion” (see his pro-life voting record here). 

“Since he was elected in 1983, he always, where possible, used his position as an MP to stand up for the vulnerable, including championing initiatives to introduce more protections for unborn babies and more support for women facing crisis pregnancies,” Robinson said. 

He also voted against assisted suicide, telling fellow parliamentarians in a 2015 debate on the subject: “We all came into politics to help improve people’s lives. I, along with all colleagues, want to assist people to live, so I urge the House to reject this bill.”

Amess’ commitment to religious liberty and his defense of persecuted Christians were also remembered. Fiona Bruce, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s special envoy for religious freedom, said he “was always faithfully pro-life and faithfully pro family. A dear man with a humble manner and a gentle humor which built friendships across the House. The phrase ‘will be sorely missed’ can be overused, but not with reference to David.”

Neville Kyrke-Smith, national director of Aid to the Church in Need UK, said Amess regularly attended their events and “did much to speak up for the needs of persecuted Christians and others.” 

“His death is an attack against parliamentary democracy in this country but more importantly, is a devastating blow to his wife and children and all who knew and respected him and his achievements,” he said. 

‘Indescribably Sad’

The Catholic pro-life peer Lord David Alton, a longstanding friend and parliamentary colleague of Amess, said he heard the news “with profound sorrow” and recalled that just a few weeks earlier, they shared a platform at the launch of Amess’ book Ayes & Ears documenting his political career spanning nearly 40 years. 

“Typically of David, the proceeds of the book were dedicated to three charities: Endometriosis UK, Prost8 and the Leigh-based Music Man Project,” he said. 

“Notwithstanding all the good in the world, we still have the capacity to do truly evil things,” Lord Alton added. “This horrific attack has not only robbed David of his life, but its reverberations will have devastating consequences for his family and loved ones. My thoughts are with Julia and their children. May he now rest in peace.”

Another close parliamentary friend and colleague, Ann Widdecombe, told the Register: “David was a faithful servant of the Lord and a huge source of inspiration to so many colleagues.” A godmother to one of Amess’ children, Widdecombe added: “He will be achingly missed.”

Sir Christian Sweeting, a friend of Amess within the Conservative Party, told the Register, “David was always smiling, he was full of kindness, humor and unstinting in his compassion for others, especially the disadvantaged and the voiceless. 

“It’s indescribably sad that he should fall victim to such a misguided and brutal act. He will be remembered as a great Parliamentarian and as a tremendous humanitarian. My deepest sympathies and prayers are with his family and those who loved and knew him.”  

Original source: https://www.ncregister.com/news/murdered-british-pro-life-catholic-politician-david-amess-remembered-for-building-bridges-with-the-holy-see 

Farewell fellow pro-life and animal rights champion!