This is a brief reflection, written originally in 2009 and revised over the years, to honor our great Wonder Worker, Saint Philomena and also the commemoration of the feast of Saints Tiburtius and Susanna.
Although our Wonder Worker is not on the universal calendar of the Roman Rite, her cultus was confirmed by none other than Pope Saint Pius X. That's good enough for me! Jansenists and rationalists will have to find some other website to surf as this one makes no room for any skepticism about Saint Philomena and the honor and power with which she has been crowned by Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
This reflection includes text from a 1945 book, Wonder Worker: Saint Philomena, Virgin Martyr, which was written by Cathy Hallack and published with ecclesiastical approbation of the Archdiocese of Dublin, Ireland, in 1945, which takes note of Saint Philomena's vow of virginity, which she made at eleven years of age, and mentions the fact that Diocletian was married to Prisca from 286 A.D. to the time he resigned as Roman emperor in 305 A.D. This means that Diocletian's proposal of marriage was indeed adulterous and bigamous, analogous to that of Herod the Tetrarch himself.
It was thus very touching for us to receive Mass propers for the Wonder Worker's feast from an 1898 Missal that included an entire Mass in her holy honor. This gift was sent to us by a friend of ours, one who does not agree with us concerning the true state of the Church Militant in this time of apostasy and betrayal but has not cast us out into the wilderness and down the Orwellian memory hole as lunatics These Mass propers are a tremendous treasure, one that our friend wanted us to share with true priests so that they can offer her Mass, perhaps as a votive Mass on a ferial day, in honor of our Wonder Worker, Saint Philomena. We thank our friend very much for making these propers available for those true priests who may not have had them prior to now. The link to the Mass text can be found within the body of the republished reflection: Feast of Saint Philomena Mass Propers. A Latin-English translation of these propers completed by Mr. Michael Creighton can be found by clicking here--Latin-English Mass Propers for the Feast of Saint Philomena.)
We are very devoted to Saint Philomena and pray the chaplet in her honor as a family every Saturday evening after Our Lady's Most Holy Rosary. I pray her chaplet every day.
Pope Saint Pius X, who raised the Confraternity of Saint Philomena to an Archconfraternity, told Italian priests in an allocution given in 1912 that no one could claim to be holy while dissenting from the pope:
Therefore, when we love the Pope, there are no discussions regarding what he orders or demands, or up to what point obedience must go, and in what things he is to be obeyed; when we love the Pope, we do not say that he has not spoken clearly enough, almost as if he were forced to repeat to the ear of each one the will clearly expressed so many times not only in person, but with letters and other public documents; we do not place his orders in doubt, adding the facile pretext of those unwilling to obey – that it is not the Pope who commands, but those who surround him; we do not limit the field in which he might and must exercise his authority; we do not set above the authority of the Pope that of other persons, however learned, who dissent from the Pope, who, even though learned, are not holy, because whoever is holy cannot dissent from the Pope. (Pope Saint Pius X, Allocution Vi ringrazio to priests on the 50th anniversary of the Apostolic Union, November 18, 1912, as found at: “Love the Pope!” – no ifs, and no buts: For Bishops, priests, and faithful, Saint Pius X explains what loving the Pope really entails.)
"Whoever is holy cannot dissent from the Pope."
How ironic it is that those within the Society of Saint Pius X (and the groups or priests who have splintered off from it while maintaining the false, Gallican "resist while recognize" position) and others in the "resist while recognize" movement claim that the conciliar "popes" have been true and legitimate Successors of Saint Peter while dissenting vocally--and very publicly so--from their teaching and disciplinary decisions.
Saint Philomena wants us to be holy, and no one who is holy can dissent from a true pope no matter how many times they protest that they can and not matter how many decades it has been that oneself or one's group has taken a position that is based on a false ecclesiology that has done, if possible, more harm to the authentic Catholic teaching on the papacy than that done by the conciliar revolutionaries themselves.
We are very devoted to Saint Philomena and pray the chaplet in her honor as a family every Saturday evening after Our Lady's Most Holy Rosary. I pray her chaplet every day.
The next original commentary should appear by tomorrow, the Feast of Saint Clare of Assisi.
Our Lady of the Universal Living Rosary Association, pray for us.
Saint Philomena, pray for us.
Saints Tiburtius and Susanna, pray for us.
