Saturday, November 10, 2012
Why Catholics Failed in the 2012 Presidential Election

 Source: Associated Press

The Novus Ordo Catholic Church has failed. 

We have failed in our duty to Almighty God and to country.  We should be utterly ashamed of ourselves.  But then again, how could we expect anything else now that the Catholic Faith has been virtually eliminated from the face of the earth these past 50 years?  Catholics don't know their Faith and they don't care.  They don't revere our Lord and His Holy Name or His divinely instituted Sacraments?  They don't respect the priestly (and the newly ordained priests don't either!)

As many of you are aware (if you are a regular blog reader), the Latin Mass is truly universal and transcendent.  It is also the litmus test to determine if a person is truly a Catholic.  If someone were to claim to be Catholic and oppose a return to the Mass of the Ages and criticize it (despite it being the unbloody re-presentation of Christ's Sacrifice on the Cross) how could such a person truly be a Catholic?  The past two generations have entirely lost the meaning of what it is to be a Catholic since no one is any longer living a Catholic life!

Only a full return to the Tridentine Mass can restore Catholicity and unite Catholics (by driving from the ranks of so called Catholics who support grave evils).  And this should come as no surprise - the Tridentine Mass is Catholic at its core and is at its core opposed to the evils of the modern world (i.e. the six components of liberal Catholicism that are destroying our Church). 

Catholics - the country's largest religious group with one-quarter of the population - have supported the winner of the popular vote in every election since 1972. 

Reuters/Ipsos exit polling found that 51 percent of Catholics favored President Barack Obama, compared with 48 percent for Republican contender Mitt Romney. A report by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life had a similar finding, with 50 percent of Catholics for Obama and 48 percent for Romney, the same as the popular vote in the general population.

Hispanic Catholics were far more likely to favor Obama - by 76 percent to 23 percent - than white Catholics, who favored Romney by 56 percent to 43 percent, according to the Reuters poll. Black Protestants favored Obama by 97 percent to 3 percent, while white Protestants favored Romney by 69 percent compared to 29 percent for Obama.

Source: Reuters
According to the exit polls from the 2012 Presidential election, 51% of Catholics voted in favor of the pro-abortion, anti-Catholic Obama while 49% voted in favor of the pro-life candidate.   Even more discouraging is the continued trend in which states that contain large number of Catholics - even the majority of the states population - have consistently voted for anti-Catholic Democrats (and Republicans at times).  Why is it that New England is a Democratic stronghold even though 36.6% of Conneticut's population is Catholic or 37.1% of New York is Catholic?

 Source: USCCB News Release as of 2008 Official Catholic Directory

This is a betrayal!  This is a crime by these so-called Catholics.  So if you see one of these people in your life (e.g. in class, on the subway, at work) tell them they are not welcome to call themselves Catholics.  They are not welcome to have Catholic weddings or funerals or use their connection with the Holy Catholic Faith for their personal/financial growth.  They are no longer welcome at Mass.  They are not welcome in our lives. They are not Catholics and should be radically removed from Catholic circles.

The Church has been betrayed.  True Catholics can no longer be silent as apostles of Judas continue to betrayed our Lord.  We will not be silent any longer.
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Madonna and Child with Angels Music Box

I was recently given the opportunity to review Discount Catholic Products, an online retailer specializing in Catholic merchandise. Discount Catholic Products offers some of highest quality religious items for spiritual or sacramental occasions.

Last week I ordered the Madonna and Child with Angels music box (pictured above) and received it in the mail last Thursday.  Discounted Catholic Products offers a wide number of music boxes, all of which are quite beautiful.  In my review of the product, I found the music box to be beautiful, inspiring (i.e. genuinely Catholic in its artwork and design), and durable.  The wood is of high quality and the craftsman indicates it was done skillfully.  I have several music boxes on my dresser but this one is truly a favorite of mine already.  It measures 8" x 6" x 2 1/3" and is the new home of some of my blessed medals, blessed chalk, and scapulars.

I am very pleased to have learned about this organization when I did and I am happy to recommend their products to you. Please take a minute to browse the items at Discounted Catholic Products.  If you do find something of interest, please share in the comments.
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Thursday, November 8, 2012
Gregorian Chant: Together on the Way

Tuesday, besides being the release of Christmas in the Cloister, was the release of Gregorian Chant: Together on the Way.  This is the 4th album Jade Music is doing with the Norbertine Fathers of St. Michael's Abbey.  I have written about prior releases before as well. This newest album includes chant performed with the Pacific Symphony Orchestra at Segerstrom Hall. Liner notes are by Carl St.Clair, the music director of the Pacific Symphony.
 
1. Dominabitur Gradual, Feast of Christ the King
2. Oremus pro Pontifice for the Holy Father
3. Anima Christi in honor of the Blessed Sacrament
4. Adoremus in honor of the Blessed Sacrament
5. Qui sunt isti Responsory, Common of Apostles
6. Resurrexi Introit, Easter Sunday
7. Lætatus sum Gradual, Fourth Sunday of Lent (Lætare Sunday)
8. Cantemus Tract, Easter Vigil
9. Tota pulchra es Hymn, in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary
10. Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
11. Anima mea Antiphon, in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary
12. Christus Gradual, Good Friday
13. Dum fabricator Antiphon, Good Friday
 
For three grace-filled nights in February of 2011 the choir of St. Michael’s chanted at Segerstrom Hall to introduce and complement Maestro Carl St. Clair’s conception of Anton Bruckner’s Symphony 9 as performed by the Pacific Symphony Orchestra. Then, in March of 2012, Biola University asked the Norbertines to chant at the close of their Art Symposium on Sacred Space as a demonstration of what sacred music should fill a sacred space.

Although the Fathers knew those who heard them would for the most part not understand what they were chanting, it was their fondest hope that by listening they would be inspired to join their hearts in prayer.

Since none of these concerts were recorded, the Norbertines thought to capture the experience in the only way possible—to produce this album with the same pieces sung before, yet in the very homely studio of their own abbey church and now with translations provided.
 
I have been pleased to review the entirety of this album prior to its release and I am very pleased to fully endorse and recommend this to everyone.  Please purchase a copy today (either as a CD or digitally) and help support the Norbertine Fathers.
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Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Catholic Perspective on the English Reformation: Part II

NOVEMBER 1534: HENRY VIII’S ACT OF SUCCESSION, USURPATION OF VICAR OF CHRIST AND BEGINNING OF SCHISM

Image: The Execution of Monks by Decree of Henry VIII

On November 3 1534, Parliament re-assembled to finish off what it had begun earlier that year, which, as the Imperial Ambassador at the time had reported, was ‘to complete the ruin of churches and churchmen.’ Since 1531, Thomas Cromwell had been laying the statutory foundations for the breach with Rome, which in turn prepared the way for the radical religious changes which were implemented during the reign of Henry VIII’s son, Edward VI. During these years, a number of bills authored by Cromwell and designed to weaken the power of the Church and strengthen that of State were passed in Parliament to the detriment of the kingdom.

Notable amongst Cromwell’s bills were the Act of Restraint of Appeals (1533), the First Act of Succession (1534) and the Treason Act (1534). In the former, all appeals to Rome were abolished and henceforward, the king, rather than the pope, would be the final court of appeal in both ecclesiastical matters and matters of conscience. In the Act of Succession, the yet to be born Princess Elizabeth who was the daughter of Anne Boleyn was made successor to the Crown, whilst Princess Mary, daughter of Catherine of Aragon, was declared a bastard and therefore deprived of the right of succession.

Cromwell wrote an oath to accompany the Act of Succession and in April 1534 he sent out commissioners to extricate signatures from members of both Houses of Parliament. Under the Treason Act, anyone who refused to take the oath was subject to a charge of treason which was punishable by the particular gruesome death of hanging, drawing and quartering. It is no surprise that with the exceptions of Sir Thomas More and Bishop John Fisher, all the members of Parliament readily agreed to sign. Later, the king’s commissioners travelled out to administer the oath to the general populace, and even those who were unable to write were required to make some kind of mark on the document.

The Act of Supremacy passed in the middle of November 1534 and it finally effected the breach with Rome and placed the entire English church into schism. Henry’s declaration that he was ‘the only supreme head in earth of the Church of England, called Anglicans Ecclesia’ was an illicit assumption of the headship of the Church was at complete variance with Catholic tradition and without precedent. As a result, England floundered in a state of schism for nearly two decades until November 1554, when Cardinal Reginald Pole finally landed upon the shores of the kingdom to reconcile her to the Church.

Author's Biography: This is a guest post written by Dr. Bella d'Abrera.  Bella Wyborn d’Abrera, who is based in London, is a graduate of Monash University in Melbourne. She completed her Masters degree at the University of St. Andrews, and was awarded a Doctorate of Philosophy by the University of Cambridge in 2003. She is also the author of  ‘A King with a Pope in His Belly’ and ‘Papists, Spaniards & Other Strangers.’
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Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Christmas in the Cloister: Traditional Gregorian Chants

Today is the release of Jade's newest album, Christmas in the CloisterChristmas in the Cloister is Jade Music's first collaboration with the Nuns of Mount St. Mary's. The album combines traditional Gregorian Chant with more recent and popular Christmas Carols. 
 
 
1. Christmas Midnight Mass (Introit, Gradual, Alleluia, Offertory, Communion)
2. Christmas Lauds Hymn: A Solis Ortus Cardine
3. Third Mass of Christmas Morning  (Introit, Gradual, Alleluia, Offertory, Communion)
4. Susani
5. In Dulce Jubilo
6. Il est Ne
7. Silent Night
8. How Far to Bethlehem
9. Coventry Carol
10. While Shepherds in Meadows
11. Welcome, Son of Mary
12. Lullay, My Liking
13. The Christmas Child
14. Abbey Bells
 
At the time of the founding of Mount St. Mary's, in the age-long tradition of the Church, the music for the Eucharist and the Divine Office was all Gregorian Chant in Latin. However, almost from the beginning, the sisters sang a program of carols before Midnight Mass.

The community, which began with thirteen sisters, grew rapidly, and by 1962, there were over sixty members. We were blessed with two outstanding mentors: Dom Desroquettes, O.S.B. for chant, and C. Alexander Peloquin, director of music at the cathedral of Providence, Rhode Island, for polyphony. It seemed a good time to make a recording—a long-playing record at the time--Christmas in the Cloister.

That was 50 years ago. Since good music has a timeless appeal, and since there is a growing interest in chant, this seemed like a good time to reissue the original record as a CD.

It is only natural that song, the inseparable companion of joy and love, is so often on the lips of the contemplative. This recording is a celebration of God's greatest expression of love for us - the gift of Christ. The song in which the sisters are here reflecting on the mystery of Christmas is of two kinds: first, Christmas Biblical texts set to ancient and prayerful melodies of Gregorian Chant, and secondly, carols in modern polyphonic arrangements.  
 
I have been pleased to review the entirety of this album prior to its release and I am very pleased to fully endorse and recommend this to everyone.  Please purchase a copy today (either as a CD or digitally) and help support the Nuns of Mount St. Marys.
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Friday, November 2, 2012
All Souls Day Prayer for the Dead

Today is the day after the Solemnity of All Saints and is the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls Day). This feast, dating back to the 11th Century, is a time to remember all of the faithfully depart and pray that they are now in the grace of God. God certainly is Love and He is mercy. The only thing we can do is trust in Him and pray for our loved ones.

In the middle of the 11th century, St. Odilo, the abbot of Cluny (France), said that all Cluniac monasteries were to offer special prayers and sing the Office for the Dead on November 2, the day after the feast of All Saints. The custom spread from Cluny and was was adopted throughout the entire Roman Catholic Church. Now we the entire Church celebrates November 2nd as All Soul's Day.

Please remember to say prayers for the souls in Purgatory tonight! Please! I have posted some prayers under my Category Prayers, but the prayer at the end of this post is also wonderful! Please just don't forget about them. They NEED our prayers.

Indulgence:

To gain a Plenary Indulgence form noon Nov. 1 until midnight Nov. 2, visit the church, pray for the Holy Souls and also for the intentions of the Holy Father. On All Soul's Day and for a week afterward, a Plenary Indulgence for the Holy Souls is granted for a visit to the cemetery with devotion and prayer for the dead. All through November, you can gain partial indulgence every day you visit the cemetery and pray for the dead.

Also a Mass said for a person during life or death is worth immense value because the Mass is the memorial of Jesus Christ's sacrifice of the Cross. Mary, in one apparation, once told someone that Our Lord would die for us again as many times as we have heard Mass. The Mass is extremely important.

Please pray with your whole heart and mind this following prayer, which Our Lord promised St. Gertrude would free 1,000 souls from purgatory.
Eternal Father,I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus,in union with the Masses said throughout the world today,for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory,for sinners everywhere,for sinners in the Universal Church,those in my own home and within my family.Amen.
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Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Catholic Perspective on the English Reformation: Part I

OCTOBER 1517: MARTIN LUTHER NAILS HIS 95 THESES TO THE DOOR OF THE CHURCH AT WITTENBURG
Contrary to popular opinion, Martin Luther was not a pious reformer who embarked upon a crusade to rid the Church of corruption and return Her to a fondly imagined pristine state. Whilst he might have commenced his public career under the guise of a reformer, he ended up a rebel who set into motion a social and religious revolution which rent the Catholic world permanently asunder.

Luther began his revolution in October 1517 by defiantly nailing 95 theses to the door of Wittenburg, one of his main grievances being the practice of selling Indulgences. The Church already knew that the unfettered commerce in Indulgences was sacrilegious, and as such She had never once given her assent to the unfortunate practice. Remarkably, Luther later feigned complete ignorance, saying ‘As truly as Our Lord Jesus Christ has redeemed me I did not know what an Indulgence was.’ (O’Hare, Patrick, The Facts About Luther, p. 77)

Instead of suggesting any practical solutions on how to reform the Church, Luther offered a collection of fantastical ideas which he attempted to pass off as being theologically sound. For example, in No. 24 he writes that ‘Christians must be taught to cherish excommunications rather than fear them’ whilst in No. 25, he states that ‘the Roman Pontiff, the successor of Peter, is not the vicar of Christ over all the churches of the entire world, instituted by Christ Himself in blessed Peter.’ Luther proposes in theses 31 and 32 that ‘in every good work the just mans sins’ and ‘a good work done very well is a venial sin’. Finally, he proposes in No. 38 that ‘the souls in purgatory are not sure of their salvation, at least not all…’ These theses were sent to a board of distinguished professors, who Luther called ‘buffoons and earthworms. In short, 41 of the 95 were condemned as heretical by Pope Leo X in the Bull ‘Exsurge Domine’ on the June 15th 1520.

This was however, too little too late. Luther appeared at time when the Church was in desperate need of genuine reform. Many of the higher clergy were more interested in holding onto political power and things of this world than exercising their pastoral duties. The souls of the Faithful were being neglected. Bishops and Abbots were comporting themselves more like princes than priests. The Faithful had become superstitious, immoral or indifferent. The Papacy had lost its authority, and Rome had become infected by the spirit of paganism. Princes and governments had set themselves up against the Church.

This was a revolution waiting to happen. Indeed, Luther’s doctrines spread with greater rapidity than Christ’s own. When the last of the Apostles died, Christians were still hiding in the catacombs in fear of their lives. When Luther died, Protestantism in its many forms had spread like wildfire from Germany to Switzerland, up to Norway and Denmark and Sweden, down to France, Hungary, Poland and the Netherlands, and finally to England. God, it appears, in His Infinite Wisdom, had allowed this revolution to happen. The question is this: Would we have had the true and Catholic reformation, long desired but delayed by so many difficulties, taken up and accomplished by the Council of Trent between 1545 and 1563 if Luther had been motivated by a genuine desire to see the Church reformed?

Author's Biography: This is a guest post written by Dr. Bella d'Abrera.  Bella Wyborn d’Abrera, who is based in London, is a graduate of Monash University in Melbourne. She completed her Masters degree at the University of St. Andrews, and was awarded a Doctorate of Philosophy by the University of Cambridge in 2003. She is also the author of  ‘A King with a Pope in His Belly’ and ‘Papists, Spaniards & Other Strangers.’
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Friday, October 26, 2012
SSPX Opens New Priory in Nicholville, NY

The new priory for St. Therese's Church and Academy is located three hours north of Syracuse, New York, half an hour south of the Canadian border an hour north of the beautiful Adirondack Mountains and Lake Placid.

Nicholville has a small grade school and a parish of about 275 persons. The priests residing at the priory will be able to devote time to establishing a community life with daily Mass, a public prayer routine of Prime, Sext, Compline and the rosary in the chapel, and in addition to teaching in the school, fulfill the dependent Mass circuits.


Source: SSPX
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Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Feast of the Most Holy Redeemer (Mass in Some Places)


Today is not only the Feast of St. Anthony Mary Claret but also it is the Feast of the Most Holy Redeemer celebrated in certain parts of the world.  The Catholic Encyclopedia summarizes the history of this feast:
The feast is found only in the special calendar of some dioceses and religious orders, and is celebrated with proper Mass and Office either on the third Sunday of July or on 23 October. In Venice this feast has been observed for more than three centuries with great solemnity. Moroni in his "Dizionario" gives some interesting data concerning the origin of this feast. In 1576 a plague broke out in Venice which in a few days carried off thousands of victims. To avert this scourge the Senate vowed to erect a splendid temple to the Redeemer of mankind, and to offer therein each year on the third Sunday of July public and solemn services of thanksgiving. Scarcely had the plague ceased when they began to fulfil their vow. The church was designed by the famous Andrea Palladio, and the corner-stone was laid by the Patriarch Trevisan on 3 May, 1577. The celebrated painters Paolo Veronese and Jacopo Tintoretto decorated the interior. The church was consecrated in 1592, and, at the urgent solicitations of Pope Gregory XIII, placed in charge of the Capuchin Fathers.

By concession of Pope Benedict XIV, dated 8 March, 1749, the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer solemnizes this feast as a double of the first class with an octave on the third Sunday of July. The same congregation also keeps the feast as a greater double on 23 October and 25 February, and has, besides, the privilege of reciting once a month the votive office of the Most Holy Redeemer. In Rome also Pope Pius VIII introduced the feast and by a Decree of 8 May, 1830, the Sacred Congregation of Rites assigned it to 23 October. The characteristics of the Mass and Office are joy and gratitude for the ineffable graces and benefits of the Redemption. This appears especially from the Introit "Gaudens gaudebo", from the antiphons of Lauds "Cantate Domino", from the Epistle of the Mass, taken from St. Paul to the Ephesians, (chapter 1), "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who hath blessed us with spiritual blessings . . . in Christ". For this reason white is the colour of the vestments, and not red, as in the Mass of the Passion.
Introit:

Gaudens gaudébo in Dómino, et exsultábit ánima mea in Deo meo: quia índuit me vestiméntis salútis, et induménto justítiae circúmdedit me. * Misericórdias Dómini in aetérnum cantábo: in generatiónem et generatiónem annuntiábo veritáte tuam in ore meo.

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, and my soul shall be joyful in my God. For He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, and with the robe of justice He hath covered me. * The mercies of the Lord I will sing for ever: I will shew forth Thy truth with my mouth to generation and generation.

(Isaiah 61:10 and Psalm 88:2)

Collect:

Deus, qui Unigénitum tuum mundi Redemptórem constituísti, et per eum, devícta morte, nos misericórditer ad vitam reparásti: concéde; ut, haec benefícia recoléntes, tibi ejúsdem redemptiónis fructum percípere mereámur.     

O God, who didst establish Thy only begotten Son as Redeemer of the world and through Him, having overcome death, didst restore us mercifully unto life: grant that, recollecting these benefits, we may be made worthy to receive the fruit of that redemption.


Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Redeemer of all mankind. From what misfortune did He free us? The mystery of original sin and man’s enslavement to the influence of the demons, is the key to the other mysteries of our religion, although it is the most difficult for us to grasp. (Cf. Book of Job)

Our Lord has re-established man in a state more enviable than that of our first father, Adam, who until his sin was the possessor of remarkable gifts and immortality. With Job we can say: “I know that my Redeemer liveth,” for we have known Christ and His doctrine, and we possess Him in His Sacrament of love. The evils from which He has delivered us are both of the present life and of the future life, if indeed we cooperate with His plan for our salvation. The evils of the present life are those which affect the body, sickness and death, and those which affect the soul. Of these latter — the more important — first of all is ignorance. Before Christ came, this ignorance was so great, the darkness so thick, that men had reached the point of no longer knowing what it was most important for them to know — their origin, their nature and their future destinies. The second evil of the soul is concupiscence, that crowd of bad inclinations which make us all tend toward evil and often carry us into it. Thirdly, we have to bear a hereditary burden of sin — first, original sin, in which we are all conceived; then actual sins, into which concupiscence leads all men to a greater or lesser degree.

But Jesus has delivered His faithful Christians, and all who so desire. He has delivered from ignorance by revealing to us the truths we must believe to be saved, and by teaching us through His holy Church, the continuing work of Redemption. He has delivered us from concupiscence by actual graces, which if they do not extirpate all bad inclinations, at least give us the strength to overcome them and tame them. And God can well say to us, as He once said to Saint Paul, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” (I Cor. 12:9) And there is no sin for which Jesus has not earned our pardon, if we ask for it. Do not the sacraments of Baptism and Penance have the power to take away every sin, even if they should be as numerous as the hairs of our head, and redder than scarlet?

We are not delivered from the exterior power of sin’s chastisements affecting the body, but Jesus has made it possible to convert them into blessings, for He has won for us the strength to bear them with patience and sanctify them by submission to the holy Will of God, and thereby to make of them a very great source of merits. Death itself will not dominate us forever. After having felled us, it will be victim in its turn, for Christ will raise us up some day, as He raised Himself up, and then we will die no more. Let us say in our hearts, an unending “Thank You” to our Redeemer.

(Source: Les fêtes chrétiennes, by Canon R. Turcan )
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Sunday, October 21, 2012
Pope Restores Papal Fanon While Canonizing 7 New Saints

As reported this morning by the New Liturgical Movement, the Holy Father while presiding over the canonization of seven new saints restored the use of the Papal Fanon.  As explained by the Catholic Encyclopedia, the Papal Fanon is "a shoulder-cape worn by the pope alone, consisting of two pieces of white silk ornamented with narrow woven stripes of red and gold; the pieces are nearly circular in shape but somewhat unequal in size and the smaller is laid on and fastened to the larger one.."

The 7 Newly Declared Saints:

  1. Kateri Tekakwitha, the young Mohawk woman who converted to Catholicism, will become the first Native American canonized as a saint. 
  2. Marianne Cope, a German nun who followed St. Damien of Molokai in ministering to lepers in Hawaii
  3. Jacques Berthieu, a French Jesuit
  4. Pedro Calungsod, a Filipino lay catechist and martyr
  5. Giovanni Battista Piamarta, an Italian priest
  6. Maria del Carmen (nee Maria Salles y Barangueras), the Spanish foundress of the Conceptionist Missionary Sisters of Teaching
  7. Anna Schaffer, a German lay woman.
Saint Marianne Cope

The Holy Father's Sermon from the Canonization Mass is as follows:

The Son of Man came to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (cf. Mk 10:45)
Dear Brother Bishops,Dear brothers and sisters!

Today the Church listens again to these words of Jesus, spoken by the Lord during his journey to Jerusalem, where he was to accomplish the mystery of his passion, death and resurrection. They are words which enshrine the meaning of Christ’s mission on earth, marked by his sacrifice, by his total self-giving. On this third Sunday of October, on which we celebrate World Mission Sunday, the Church listens to them with special attention and renews her conviction that she should always be fully dedicated to serve mankind and the Gospel, after the example of the One who gave himself up even to the sacrifice of his life.

I extend warm greetings to all of you who fill Saint Peter’s Square, especially the official delegations and the pilgrims who have come to celebrate the seven new saints. I greet with affection the Cardinals and Bishops who, during these days, are taking part in the Synodal Assembly on the New Evangelization. The coincidence between this ecclesiastical meeting and World Mission Sunday is a happy one; and the word of God that we have listened to sheds light on both subjects. It shows how to be evangelizers, called to bear witness and to proclaim the Christian message, configuring ourselves to Christ and following his very path. This is true both for the mission ad Gentes and for the new evangelization in places with ancient Christian roots.

The Son of Man came to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (cf. Mk 10:45)
These words were the blueprint for living of the seven Blessed men and women that the Church solemnly enrols this morning in the glorious ranks of the saints. With heroic courage they spent their lives in total consecration to the Lord and in the generous service of their brethren. They are sons and daughters of the Church who chose the path of service following the Lord. Holiness always rises up in the Church from the well-spring of the mystery of redemption, as foretold by the prophet Isaiah in the first reading: the Servant of the Lord is the righteous one who “shall make many to be accounted as righteous; and he shall bear their iniquities” (Is 53:11); he is Jesus Christ, crucified, risen and living in glory. Today’s canonization is an eloquent confirmation of this mysterious saving reality. The tenacious profession of faith of these seven generous disciples of Christ, their configuration to the Son of Man shines out brightly today in the whole Church.

Jacques Berthieu, born in 1838 in France, was passionate about Jesus Christ at an early age. During his parish ministry, he had the burning desire to save souls. Becoming a Jesuit, he wished to journey through the world for the glory of God. A tireless pastor on the island of Sainte Marie, then in Madagascar, he struggled against injustice while bringing succour to the poor and sick. The Malagasies thought of him as a priest come down from heaven, saying, You are our “father and mother!” He made himself all things to all men, drawing from prayer and his love of the sacred heart of Jesus the human and priestly force to face martyrdom in 1896. He died, saying “I prefer to die rather than renounce my faith”. Dear friends, may the life of this evangelizer be an encouragement and a model for priests that, like him, they will be men of God! May his example aid the many Christians of today persecuted for their faith! In this Year of Faith, may his intercession bring forth many fruits for Madagascar and the African Continent! May God bless the Malagasy people!

Pedro Calungsod was born around the year sixteen fifty-four, in the Visayas region of the Philippines. His love for Christ inspired him to train as a catechist with the Jesuit missionaries there. In sixteen sixty-eight, along with other young catechists, he accompanied Father Diego Luís de San Vitores to the Marianas Islands in order to evangelize the Chamorro people. Life there was hard and the missionaries also faced persecution arising from envy and slander. Pedro, however, displayed deep faith and charity and continued to catechize his many converts, giving witness to Christ by a life of purity and dedication to the Gospel. Uppermost was his desire to win souls for Christ, and this made him resolute in accepting martyrdom. He died on the second of April, sixteen seventy-two. Witnesses record that Pedro could have fled for safety but chose to stay at Father Diego’s side. The priest was able to give Pedro absolution before he himself was killed. May the example and courageous witness of Pedro Calungsod inspire the dear people of the Philippines to announce the Kingdom bravely and to win souls for God!

Giovanni Battista Piamarta, priest of the Diocese of Brescia, was a great apostle of charity and of young people. He raised awareness of the need for a cultural and social presence of Catholicism in the modern world, and so he dedicated himself to the Christian, moral and professional growth of the younger generations with an enlightened input of humanity and goodness. Animated by unshakable faith in divine providence and by a profound spirit of sacrifice, he faced difficulties and fatigue to breathe life into various apostolic works, including the Artigianelli Institute, Queriniana Publishers, the Congregation of the Holy Family of Nazareth for men, and for women the Congregation of the Humble Sister Servants of the Lord. The secret of his intense and busy life is found in the long hours he gave to prayer. When he was overburdened with work, he increased the length of his encounter, heart to heart, with the Lord. He preferred to pause before the Blessed Sacrament, meditating upon the passion, death and resurrection of Christ, to gain spiritual fortitude and return to gaining people’s hearts, especially the young, to bring them back to the sources of life with fresh pastoral initiatives.

“May your love be upon us, O Lord, as we place all our hope in you” (Ps 32:22). With these words, the liturgy invites us to make our own this hymn to God, creator and provider, accepting his plan into our lives. María Carmelo Sallés y Barangueras, a religious born in Vic in Spain in 1848, did just so. Filled with hope in spite of many trials, she, on seeing the progress of the Congregation of the Conceptionist Missionary Sisters of Teaching, which she founded in 1892, was able to sing with the Mother of God, “His mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation” (Lk 1:50). Her educational work, entrusted to the Immaculate Virgin Mary, continues to bear abundant fruit among young people through the generous dedication of her daughters who, like her, entrust themselves to God for whom all is possible.

I now turn to Marianne Cope, born in eighteen thirty-eight in Heppenheim, Germany. Only one year old when taken to the United States, in eighteen sixty-two she entered the Third Order Regular of Saint Francis at Syracuse, New York. Later, as Superior General of her congregation, Mother Marianne willingly embraced a call to care for the lepers of Hawaii after many others had refused. She personally went, with six of her fellow sisters, to manage a hospital on Oahu, later founding Malulani Hospital on Maui and opening a home for girls whose parents were lepers. Five years after that she accepted the invitation to open a home for women and girls on the island of Molokai itself, bravely going there herself and effectively ending her contact with the outside world. There she looked after Father Damien, already famous for his heroic work among the lepers, nursed him as he died and took over his work among male lepers. At a time when little could be done for those suffering from this terrible disease, Marianne Cope showed the highest love, courage and enthusiasm. She is a shining and energetic example of the best of the tradition of Catholic nursing sisters and of the spirit of her beloved Saint Francis.

Kateri Tekakwitha was born in today’s New York state in sixteen fifty-six to a Mohawk father and a Christian Algonquin mother who gave to her a sense of the living God. She was baptized at twenty years of age and, to escape persecution, she took refuge in Saint Francis Xavier Mission near Montreal. There she worked, faithful to the traditions of her people, although renouncing their religious convictions until her death at the age of twenty-four. Leading a simple life, Kateri remained faithful to her love for Jesus, to prayer and to daily Mass. Her greatest wish was to know and to do what pleased God. She lived a life radiant with faith and purity. Kateri impresses us by the action of grace in her life in spite of the absence of external help and by the courage of her vocation, so unusual in her culture. In her, faith and culture enrich each other! May her example help us to live where we are, loving Jesus without denying who we are. Saint Kateri, Protectress of Canada and the first native American saint, we entrust to you the renewal of the faith in the first nations and in all of North America! May God bless the first nations!

Anna Schaeffer, from Mindelstetten, as a young woman wished to enter a missionary order. She came from a poor background so, in order to earn the dowry needed for acceptance into the cloister, she worked as a maid. One day she suffered a terrible accident and received incurable burns on her legs which forced her to be bed-ridden for the rest of her life. So her sick-bed became her cloister cell and her suffering a missionary service. She struggled for a time to accept her fate, but then understood her situation as a loving call from the crucified One to follow him. Strengthened by daily communion, she became an untiring intercessor in prayer and a mirror of God’s love for the many who sought her counsel. May her apostolate of prayer and suffering, of sacrifice and expiation, be a shining example for believers in her homeland, and may her intercession strengthen the Christian hospice movement in its beneficial activity.

Dear brothers and sisters, these new saints, different in origin, language, nationality and social condition, are united among themselves and with the whole People of God in the mystery of salvation of Christ the Redeemer. With them, we too, together with the Synod Fathers from all parts of the world, proclaim to the Lord in the words of the psalm that he “is our help and our shield” and we invoke him saying, “may your love be upon us, O Lord, as we place all our hope in you” (Ps 32:20.22). May the witness of these new saints, and their lives generously spent for love of Christ, speak today to the whole Church, and may their intercession strengthen and sustain her in her mission to proclaim the Gospel to the whole world.
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