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                                  October 23, 2006

Defecting from Faith and Worship

by Thomas A. Droleskey

Emotionalism and irrationality are two of Protestantism's enduring"contributions" to the devolution of human life in the past five hundred years. Rejecting the Church that Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ founded upon the Rock of Peter, the Pope, and rejecting the Apostolic Tradition entrusted by Our Lord to that same Catholic Church, Protestants must reinvent the doctrinal and liturgical wheel repeatedly. They have no received tradition upon which to base their faith and worship, which is why there are now over 33,000 different Protestant denominations. Faith and worship are tailored to the whims and fancies of individual adherents, who feel free to peel off one from the other in order to experiment with novelties and innovations of one sort or another. Emotionality and irrationality thus become the rule of life in most Protestant sects, especially those of the evangelical and Pentecostal strains. Indeed, we passed by a sign north of Spokane, Washington, that was placed in front of an Assembly of God meeting hall. The sign read: "Join us for exciting worship!"

As we know, the worship of the Father through the Son in Spirit and in Truth is not about excitement. It is not about emotionalism. The true worship of God that is offered in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the unbloody re-presentation (or perpetuation) of the Sacrifice of the God-Man, Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, on the wood of the Holy Cross. The Immemorial Mass of Tradition of the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church is, in all of its essential elements, the liturgy that was taught to the Apostles by Our Lord before He Ascended to the Father's right hand in glory on Ascension Thursday. Certain elements were added over the first centuries of the Church. However, it is certainly true to state that the Immemorial Mass of Tradition is Apostolic in origin and is meant to convey the immutability and permanence of God Himself in the context of the reverent offering of the Sacred Mysteries.

Dr. Adrian Fortescue explained that the Missal promulgated by Pope Saint Pius V in 1570 created nothing new whatsoever, that it was indeed, in all of its essential components, the same Mass that had been offered for over fifteen hundred years:

Essentially, the Missal of Pius V is the Gregorian Sacramentary; that again is formed from the Gelasian book, which depends upon the Leonine collection. We find prayers of our Canon in the treatise de Sacramentis and allusions to it in the [Fourth] Century. So the Mass goes back, without essential change, to the age when it first developed out of the oldest Liturgy of all. It is still redolent of that Liturgy, of the days when Caesar ruled the world, and thought he could stamp out the Faith of Christ, when our fathers met together before dawn and sang a hymn to Christ as God. The final result of our enquiry is that, in spite of some unresolved problems, in spite of later changes there is not in Christendom another rite so venerable as ours.

True, there were regional variations of the Mass as events developed in the Middle Ages. Different religious communities had their own missals. To standardize the offering of Holy Mass for the people in the world's dioceses, though, Pope Saint Pius V issued the Missal bearing his name in 1570 and specifically stated that any other local usages that were less than two hundred years old could not be used. The Missale Romanum he promulgated was such a fitting expression of the Mass of the preceding fifteen hundred years that only dioceses, Toledo (with its Mozarabic Rite) and Milan (with its Ambrosian Rite), with rites older than two hundred years opted out of it. This speaks volumes about the fidelity of the Missal of Pope Saint Pius V to the authentic, perennial liturgical tradition of the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church.

Pope Saint Pius V permitted local usage prior to 200 years before 1570 in order to preclude the use of any missals or local customs that had in any way been influenced by the likes of John Wycliff and John Huss, to say nothing of efforts made by Catholics in the German states and elsewhere to try to "adapt" the Catholic liturgy to the innovations and novelties of Martin Luther and John Calvin, et al. Pope Saint Pius V wanted to place the Mass of the ages beyond the reach of any heretical influences, understanding that an incorporation of such influences in the context of the liturgy would corrupt Catholic Faith and morals and reduce the worship of God to an exercise in community self-congratulations. In other words, Pope Saint Pius V wanted to provide a bulwark (what we would call a "firewall" in our own day) against any Protestant influences in the liturgy. Pope Saint Pius V knew that Protestantism was from Hell and that its many mutations, both doctrinally and liturgically, would undermine the Faith of Catholics if any concessions were made to its novelties, especially in the offering of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is not, therefore, a show. Our Lady was not waving her arms hysterically as her Divine Son offered Himself up to the Father in Spirit and in Truth. Saint John the Evangelist was not walking around giving a commentary on the events of Good Friday a la Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell or Jimmy Swaggert as he represented the other newly-consecrated bishops at the foot of the Holy Cross. Saint Mary Magdalene was not involved in some spectacular display of maudlin sentimentality. Calvary was solemn.

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass must communicate the solemnity and sobriety of Our Lord's Redemptive Act. Such solemnity and sobriety are part and parcel of every aspect of the Mass of the Catechumens and the Mass of the Faithful in the Immemorial Mass of Tradition. Although there are slightly different rubrics in the various offerings of the Mass of Tradition (Pontifical Mass, Solemn High Mass, High Mass, Missa Cantata, Low Mass), each genre has rubrics that are fixed and beyond the ability of the priest to change. There is no plethora of "options" as exist in the Novus Ordo Missae. Our attention is fixed on the actions of the priest acting as an alter Christus, acting in persona Christi, not on his celebratory "style." The Immemorial Mass of Tradition communicates with majesty and solemnity the great love that Our Lord had for us to redeem us by the shedding of every single drop of His Most Precious Blood. One can spend his entire life assisting at the Mass of the ages each and every day of his life and still not plumb the depths of this great mystery of love, still not fully come to appreciate fully the singular privilege give to us mere mortals to be fed by that which is denied to the angels: the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity made man in Our Lady's virginal and immaculate womb.

Unlike Pope Saint Pius V, however, the conciliarist revolutionaries--and those in the Liturgical Movement who preceded them in prominence--believe that Protestantism is from God Himself and that its novelties must be incorporated into the context of the Mass in order to appeal more fully to Protestants and in order to make the liturgy "come alive" for Catholics. This is why six liberal Protestants were included as "observers" during the work of the Consilium as it set about the task of constructing a synthetic liturgy that incorporated Protestant (and Jewish) elements into the context an allegedly Catholic act of worship, the Novus Ordo Missae.

Lest anyone contend that the Protestant "observers" did not influence the outcome of the Consilium's work, it is important to remind readers once again that Father Romano Tomassi, a pseudonym of a priest who has written a series of groundbreaking articles over the past five years or so for The Latin Mass: A Journal of Catholic Culture, has demonstrated conclusively from an examination of the correspondence written by some of these Protestant "observers" that they made their "observations" during coffee-breaks in the proceedings, whereafter those "contributions" were read into the record by bishop-members of the Consilium as their own remarks. Anyone who contends that Protestantism did not influence the synthetic creation of the Novus Ordo Missae is simply refusing to examine the actual facts of the matter, content to mislead others with bluff and bluster that signify only their own ignorance and their intellectual dishonesty as they refuse to examine the evidence that has been marshaled to prove that the Novus Ordo Missae represents a Protestantization of worship for conciliar Catholics.

None other than Annibale Bugnini, the Secretary of the Consilium, said the following in 1965:

We must strip from our Catholic prayers and from the Catholic liturgy everything which can be the shadow of a stumbling block for our separated brethren that is for the Protestants.

The result of incorporating Protestant elements into conciliarism's Novus Ordo Missae has not been to attract large numbers of Protestants to the Catholic Faith. It has been to empty Catholic churches and to drive many of those who left in bewilderment and sadness and disappointment into the waiting arms of evangelicals and fundamentalists and Pentecostals. The late Monsignor Klaus Gamber, who was not a traditionalist and was in favor of what has become known as the "reform of the reform," put it this way in his The Reform of the Roman Liturgy:

Was all this really done because of a pastoral concern about the souls of the faithful, or did it not rather represent a radical breach with the traditional rite, to prevent the further use of traditional liturgical texts and thus to make the celebration of the "Tridentime Mass" impossible--because it no loner reflected the new spirit moving through the Church?

Indeed, it should come as no surprise to anyone that the prohibition of the traditional rite was announced at the same time as the introduction of the new liturgical texts; and that a dispensation to continue celebrating the Mass according to the traditional rite was granted only to older priests.

Obviously, the reformers wanted a completely new liturgy, a liturgy that differed from the traditional one in spirit as well as in form; and in no way a liturgy that represented what the Council Fathers had envisioned, i.e., a liturgy that would meet the pastoral needs of the faithful.

Liturgy and faith are interdependent. That is why a new rite was created, a rite that in many ways reflects the bias of the new (modernist) theology. The traditional liturgy simply could not be allowed to exist in its established form because it was permeated with the truths of the traditional faith and the ancient forms of piety. For this reason alone, much was abolished and new rites, prayers and hymns were introduced, as were the new readings from Scripture, which conveniently left out those passages that did not square with the teachings of modern theology--for example, references to a God who judges and punishes.

At the same time, the priests and the faithful are told that the new liturgy created after the Second Vatican Council is identical in essence with the liturgy that has been in use in the Catholic Church up to this point, and that the only changes introduced involved reviving some earlier liturgical forms and removing a few duplications, but above all getting rid of elements of no particular interest.

Most priests accepted these assurances about the continuity of liturgical forms of worship and accepted the new rite with the same unquestioning obedience with which they had accepted the minor ritual changes introduced by Rome from time to time in the past, changes beginning with the reform of the Divine Office and of the liturgical chant introduced by Pope St. Pius X.

Following this strategy, the groups pushing for reform were able to take advantage of and at the same time abuse the sense of obedience among the older priests, and the common good will of the majority of the faithful, while, in many cases, they themselves refused to obey.

The pastoral benefits that so many idealists had hoped the new liturgy would bring about did not materialize. Our churches emptied in spite of the new liturgy (or because of it?), and the faithful continue to fall away from the Church in droves.

Although our young people have been literally seduced in to supporting the new forms of liturgical worship, they have, in fact, become more and more alienated from the faith. They are drawn to religious sects--Christian and non-Christian ones--because fewer and fewer priests teach them the riches of our Catholic faith and the tenets of Christian morality. As for older people, the radical changes made ot the traditional liturgy have taken from them the sense of security in their religious home.

The devastation of the Catholic Faith represented by the influences of Protestantism in the Novus Ordo Missae are discernible to any clear-thinking, unprejudiced soul. The late Father Gamber assessed the situation very clearly and soberly. Some self-styled "apologists," however, act as though there are no good doctrinal arguments against the Novus Ordo Missae and that traditionalists can argue merely about "styles" rather than anything of doctrinal substance that has a bearing upon the integrity of the Catholic Faith. This is false. Apart from a number of scholarly works produced by traditionalists over the years, dispassionate works of scholarship about the doctrinal defects of the Novus Ordo Missae are being undertaken by Catholics across the usual liturgical fault lines.

Father Richard John Neuhaus, not a friend of the restoration of the Immemorial Mass of Tradition and certainly not a friend of the restoration of the Social Reign of Christ the King, nevertheless saw to it in January of 2004 to comment in First Things on an article written by Dr. Lauren Pristas, of Caldwell College in New Jersey, in The Thomist in 2003 on the texts of the Novus Ordo Missae. Here is what Father Neuhaus wrote:

"It is not simply that the English translations in the Mass tend toward banality. The problem goes back to the hurried putting together of the Paul VI Missal in Latin following the Second Vatican Council. That is the argument of “Theological Principles that Guided the Redaction of the Roman Missal” by Lauren Pristas (The Thomist, 67, 2003). Researching the statements of those in charge of the redaction, Pristas finds that they were quite explicit about their intention to adapt ancient texts to “the modern mind.” Sin and damnation are downplayed, and the distinctions between heaven and earth, the profane and the sacred, God’s grace and our efforts tend to be fudged.

“The traditional [Latin] orations are highly sophisticated and stunningly concise literary compositions that overflow with surplus of meaning—connotation far outstripping denotation,” Pristas writes. The redactors, however, believed that prayers should be “submissive to the principles required for a good homily: to have something to say, to know how to say it, and to stop after it has been said.” It is doubtful that most of the new prayers rise even to the level of a good homily. Far from overflowing with a surplus of meaning, upon careful examination they display a deficit of meaning. A good many of the prayers in the Mass can be adequately summarized by the petition, “Help us to be the really nice people we are.”

By so revising the prayers from all ages, Pristas writes, “it may be the case that nearly all the texts of our missal reflect the strengths and weaknesses, the insights and biases, the achievements and limitations of but one age, our own. . . . If this is indeed so, then Catholics of today, in spite of the access made possible by vernacular celebrations, have far less liturgical exposure to the wisdom of our past and the wondrous diversity of Catholic experience and tradition than did the Catholics of earlier generations.”

The Novus Ordo Missae relies upon the Presumption of Protestantism and upon the biases of Modernity to more or less assure man of his essentially "good" nature, which is why, as Dr. Pristas noted above, almost all references to sin and to a God Who judges us have been eliminated. I discussed all of this at great length in G.I.R.M. Warfare a few years ago. However, it is nice to have "reinforcement" from people who are not tainted with the whiff of "radical traditionalism," to say nothing of sedevacantism. (The mere labeling of someone with one of those terms is supposed to be enough to discredit whatever evidence they provide to support their arguments, proving once again that the sloganeering spirit of the Protestant and French and Bolshevik Revolutions beats very firm in the heart of many conciliarists.)

The Novus Ordo Missae has clearly devastated the Catholic Faith. It has profaned the worship of God, undermined belief in the sacerdotal nature of the hierarchical priesthood and nearly eviscerated belief in the Mass as the unbloody re-presentation of the Sacrifice of Calvary and in the Real Presence of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in the Most Blessed Sacrament. Countless sacrileges, including Masses in honor of those steeped in the unrepentant practice of perversion, multiply on a regular basis.In the face of this unmitigated disaster that has offended God and cause so much damage to the sons for whom He shed His Most Precious Blood, conciliarists are insisting that the conciliar church needs more of Protestantism's influences in order to "energize" and add "dynamism" to the liturgy. This is akin to the late Soviet dictator and Communist party boss Leonid Brezhnev standing grimly atop the Kremlin Wall on May Day each year and saying to Alexi Kosygin, the longtime Premier of the Soviet government, "The revolution is going well. We need more of it."

Well, Comrade Walter Kasper has said recently that the Catholic Church needs to incorporate more of the elements of Pentecostalism, the Protestant theological and liturgical movement that became the basis of the so-called "Catholic Charismatic Renewal" in 1967. Pentecostalism focuses on the "spirit's" ability to move each believer to worship "spontaneously," reducing the worship of God to exercises in emotional babbling and reducing doctrinal belief to irrational sentimentality. Pentecostalism teaches that the believer is moved immediately by the "spirit." thus vitiating the need for an external guide, namely, the Church that Our Lord founded upon the Rock of Peter, the Pope, the Catholic Church, as the sole repository and infallible explicator of the Deposit of Faith.

Pope Leo XIII condemned Pentecostalism in no uncertain terms in Testem Benevolentiae, January 22, 1899:

Coming now to speak of the conclusions which have been deduced from the above opinions, and for them, we readily believe there was no thought of wrong or guile, yet the things themselves certainly merit some degree of suspicion. First, all external guidance is set aside for those souls who are striving after Christian perfection as being superfluous or indeed, not useful in any sense -the contention being that the Holy Spirit pours richer and more abundant graces than formerly upon the souls of the faithful, so that without human intervention He teaches and guides them by some hidden instinct of His own. Yet it is the sign of no small over-confidence to desire to measure and determine the mode of the Divine communication to mankind, since it wholly depends upon His own good pleasure, and He is a most generous dispenser 'of his own gifts. "The Spirit breatheth whereso He listeth." -- John iii, 8.

"And to each one of us grace is given according to the measure of the giving of Christ." -- Eph. iv, 7.

And shall any one who recalls the history of the apostles, the faith of the nascent church, the trials and deaths of the martyrs- and, above all, those olden times, so fruitful in saints-dare to measure our age with these, or affirm that they received less of the divine outpouring from the Spirit of Holiness? Not to dwell upon this point, there is no one who calls in question the truth that the Holy Spirit does work by a secret descent into the souls of the just and that He stirs them alike by warnings and impulses, since unless this were the case all outward defense and authority would be unavailing. "For if any persuades himself that he can give assent to saving, that is, to gospel truth when proclaimed, without any illumination of the Holy Spirit, who give's unto all sweetness both to assent and to hold, such an one is deceived by a heretical spirit."-From the Second Council of Orange, Canon 7.

Moreover, as experience shows, these monitions and impulses of the Holy Spirit are for the most part felt through the medium of the aid and light of an external teaching authority. To quote St. Augustine. "He (the Holy Spirit) co-operates to the fruit gathered from the good trees, since He externally waters and cultivates them by the outward ministry of men, and yet of Himself bestows the inward increase."-De Gratia Christi, Chapter xix. This, indeed, belongs to the ordinary law of God's loving providence that as He has decreed that men for the most part shall be saved by the ministry also of men, so has He wished that those whom He calls to the higher planes of holiness should be led thereto by men; hence St. Chrysostom declares we are taught of God through the instrumentality of men.-Homily I in Inscrib. Altar. Of this a striking example is given us in the very first days of the Church.

For though Saul, intent upon blood and slaughter, had heard the voice of our Lord Himself and had asked, "What dost Thou wish me to do?" yet he was bidden to enter Damascus and search for Ananias. Acts ix: "Enter the city and it shall be there told to thee what thou must do."

Nor can we leave out of consideration the truth that those who are striving after perfection, since by that fact they walk in no beaten or well-known path, are the most liable to stray, and hence have greater need than others of a teacher and guide. Such guidance has ever obtained in the Church; it has been the universal teaching of those who throughout the ages have been eminent for wisdom and sanctity-and hence to reject it would be to commit one's self to a belief at once rash and dangerous.

For Walter Cardinal Kasper, the President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, the Catholic Church has something to "learn," both doctrinally and liturgically, from Protestantism in general and Pentecostalism in particular. This once again demonstrates the heresy of the new ecclesiology of conciliarism. That is, the belief that the Catholic Church has something to "learn" from sects that are of diabolical origin ( designed as they were by the devil to lead souls away from the only true means of salvation, the Catholic Church) concedes that the Catholic Church is defective in her Divine Constitution, that she lacks from her Divine Bridegroom all that is necessary to teach the Faith in all of its holy integrity and that she lacks from Him the means to properly offer to Him fitting worship. Any concession that the Catholic Church has to "learn" from heretical and/or schismatic sects is itself heretical and blasphemous.

A concession that the Catholic Church has to "learn" from heretical and/or schismatic sects is heretical because it denies the dogmatic truth that the Catholic Church is alone the true Church and has received everything from her Divine Bridegroom and has every power to maintain what she has received in pure, spotless manner. Such a concession is blasphemous because it offends the majesty of God Himself, implying that God has indeed denied to the Catholic Church matters of doctrine and worship that have come to light only as a result of the various strands of Protestant sects, including Pentecostalism. Even though some might want to contend that Walter Kasper's nod in the direction of Pentecostalism is just another eccentricity of the present moment, the actual truth of the matter is that his contention that the conciliar church must incorporate more Protestantism into what is alleged to be the worship of God is further proof of the counterfeit nature of the conciliar church. The Catholic Church simply cannot be the author of the incorporation of elements of "worship" offered to God by "religions" that deny articles contain in the Deposit of Faith and have no means whatsoever to sanctify and thus to save the souls of their adherents.

Herein lies one of the most important issues at work in the whole false theology underlying the synthetic construction of the Novus Ordo Missae: the very fact that Protestantism was seen to be beneficial in the liturgical life of the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church is a way of saying that the Council of Trent and Pope Saint Pius V were wrong and short-sighted to have excluded such influences in the Sixteenth Century. Many conciliarists believe, you see, that Protestantism is of God and that the Catholic Church would have been better off if its "insights" had been incorporated at the time of the Council of Trent. Anyone who believes this is not a Roman Catholic and spits on the Holy Ghost, Who guided the dogmatic Council of Trent in its deliberations.

This is not something that I am making up. Consider the words of  Paragraph 11 of the General Instruction to the Roman Missal itself:

The Council of Trent recognized the great catechetical value contained in the celebration of Mass, but was unable to bring out all its consequences for the actual life of the Church. Many were pressing for permission to use the vernacular in celebrating the Eucharistic sacrifice, but the Council, judging the conditions of that age, felt bound to answer such a request with a reaffirmation of the Church's traditional teaching. This teaching is that the Eucharistic sacrifice is, first and foremost, the action of Christ Himself and therefore the manner in which the faithful take part in the Mass does not affect the efficacy belonging to it. The Council thus stated in firm but measured words: 'Although the Mass contains much instruction for the faithful, it did not seem expedient to the Fathers that as a general rule it be celebrated in the vernacular.' The Council accordingly anathematized anyone maintaining that 'the rite of the Roman Church, in which part of the canon and the words of consecration are spoken in a low voice, should be condemned or that the Mass must be celebrated only in the vernacular.' Although the Council of Trent on the one hand prohibited the use of the vernacular in the Mass, nevertheless, on the other, it did direct pastors to substitute appropriate catechesis. 'Lest Christ's flock go hungry . . . the Council commands pastors and others having the care of souls that either personally or through others they frequently give instructions during Mass, especially on Sundays and major feasts, on what is read at Mass and that among their instructions they include some exposition of the mystery of this sacrifice.'"

This a mother lode of propaganda. "The Council of Trent recognized the great catechetical value contained in the celebration of the Mass, but was unable to bring out all its consequences for the actual life of the Church?" This is a lie and a misrepresentation of the true facts. The authors of  the General Instruction to the Roman Missal repeated these gratuitous assertions in subsequent paragraphs, as I demonstrated in G.I.R.M. Warfare. It should be clear, therefore, that the Novus Ordo Missae represents an enshrinement of the heresies of the new ecclesiology and ecumenism as part and parcel of its effort to communicate through its ever evolving rubrics the belief that the Catholic Church is deficient in her Divine Constitution and that God Himself and His truths are evolving over time.

The Catholic Church has nothing to "learn" from Protestantism. She has no need to "incorporate" Protestant or pagan rituals into what purports to be the worship of God. Indeed, the Catholic Church cannot do these things. Although each person must come to see this on his or her own, the counterfeit theology that is at the basis of a synthetic liturgy is not from God. It is as much from Hell as Protestantism itself. It is as destructive of souls as Protestantism. It is as offensive to God as Protestantism and other false religions. Conciliarism does indeed defect from the Catholic Faith and falsifies Catholic worship in the name of appealing to beliefs and practices that are not of God at all.

In the midst of such blasphemies uttered by a conciliar cardinal and reaffirmed by the entire ethos of conciliarism, we must be ever more earnest of making reparation for our own sins and living penitentially as the consecrated slaves of Our Lady's Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart. We must pray our daily Rosaries with love and devotion and attentiveness. We must spend time with Our Lord in His Real Presence outside of the time we spend at Holy Mass. We must try to plant the seeds for the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which will be signified by the restoration of Tradition in the Church and Christendom in the world. And we must do so while remaining full of the Supernatural Virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity, understanding that the graces won for us by the shedding of Our Lord's Most Precious Blood on the wood of the Holy Cross and that flow to us through the loving hands of Our Lady, the Mediatrix of All Graces, are sufficient for us in these our days.

May we walk along the rocky road that leads to the Narrow Gate of Life Himself, clinging to His Most Blessed Mother as we take refuge in the catacombs and flee from all contact with conciliarism, both doctrinally and liturgically, forming our families in the integrity of the Holy Faith and enthroning our homes to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary in anticipation of the day when all hearts everywhere will exclaim:

Viva Cristo Rey!

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us.

Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.

Saint John the Beloved, pray for us.

Saint Michael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Gabriel the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Raphael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Peter of Alcantara, pray for us.

Saint John Cantius, pray for us.

Saint John Mary Vianney, pray for us.

Saint Vincent de Paul, pray for us.

Saint Therese Lisieux, pray for us.

Saint Martin of Tours, pray for us.

Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, pray for us.

Saint Athanasius, pray for us.

Saint Alphonsus de Liguori, pray for us.

Saint Dominic, pray for us.

Saint Basil, pray for us.

Saint Augustine, pray for us.

Saint Thomas Aquinas, pray for us.

Saint Vincent Ferrer, pray for us.

Saint Sebastian, pray for us.

Saint Tarcisius, pray for us.

Saint Lucy, pray for us.

Saint Agnes, pray for us.

Saint Agatha, pray for us.

Saint Bridget of Sweden, pray for us.

Saint Philomena, pray for us.

Saint John Bosco, pray for us.

Saint Teresa of Avila, pray for us.

Saint Bernadette Soubirous, pray for us.

Pope Saint Pius X, pray for us.

Pope Saint Pius V, pray for us.

Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, pray for us.

Blessed Pauline Jaricot, pray for us.

Blessed Miguel Augustin Pro, pray for us.

Blessed Francisco, pray for us.

Blessed Jacinta, pray for us.

 

The Longer Version of the Saint Michael the Archangel Prayer, composed by Pope Leo XIII, 1888

O glorious Archangel Saint Michael, Prince of the heavenly host, be our defense in the terrible warfare which we carry on against principalities and powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, spirits of evil.  Come to the aid of man, whom God created immortal, made in His own image and likeness, and redeemed at a great price from the tyranny of the devil.  Fight this day the battle of our Lord, together with  the holy angels, as already thou hast fought the leader of the proud angels, Lucifer, and his apostate host, who were powerless to resist thee, nor was there place for them any longer in heaven.  That cruel, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil or Satan who seduces the whole world, was cast into the abyss with his angels.  Behold this primeval enemy and slayer of men has taken courage.  Transformed into an angel of light, he wanders about with all the multitude of wicked spirits, invading the earth in order to blot out the Name of God and of His Christ, to seize upon, slay, and cast into eternal perdition, souls destined for the crown of eternal glory.  That wicked dragon pours out. as a most impure flood, the venom of his malice on men of depraved mind and corrupt heart, the spirit of lying, of impiety, of blasphemy, and the pestilent breath of impurity, and of every vice and iniquity.  These most crafty enemies have filled and inebriated with gall and bitterness the Church, the spouse of the Immaculate Lamb, and have laid impious hands on Her most sacred possessions. In the Holy Place itself, where has been set up the See of the most holy Peter and the Chair of Truth for the light of the world, they have raised the throne of their abominable impiety with the iniquitous design that when the Pastor has been struck the sheep may be scattered.  Arise then, O invincible Prince, bring help against the attacks of the lost spirits to the people of God, and give them the victory.  They venerate thee as their protector and patron; in thee holy Church glories as her defense against the malicious powers of hell; to thee has God entrusted the souls of men to be established in heavenly beatitude.  Oh, pray to the God of peace that He may put Satan under our feet, so far conquered that he may no longer be able to hold men in captivity and harm the Church.  Offer our prayers in the sight of the Most High, so that they may quickly conciliate the mercies of the Lord; and beating down the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, do thou again make him captive in the abyss, that he may no longer seduce the nations.  Amen.

Verse: Behold the Cross of the Lord; be scattered ye hostile powers.

Response: The Lion of the Tribe of Juda has conquered the root of David.

Verse: Let Thy mercies be upon us, O Lord.

Response: As we have hoped in Thee.

Verse: O Lord hear my prayer.

Response: And let my cry come unto Thee.

Verse: Let us pray.  O God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we call upon Thy holy Name, and as suppliants, we implore Thy clemency, that by the intercession of Mary, ever Virgin, immaculate and our Mother, and of the glorious Archangel Saint Michael, Thou wouldst deign to help us against Satan and all other unclean spirits, who wander about the world for the injury of the human race and the ruin of our souls. 

Response:  Amen.  

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 




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