Saps at Sea

by Thomas A. Droleskey

Conciliarism, being steeped in the maze of contradictions and sentimentality of Modernism, has made war against the sensus Catholicus that a Catholic should possess by virtue of the Sacrament of Baptism and the Sacrament of Confirmation. The sappy sentimentality of Protestantism and of Judeo-Masonry (and all other forms of naturalism) has become part and parcel of the life of Catholics worldwide, even more so in the United States of America, which is in so many ways a prefiguring of conciliarism (religious liberty, separation of Church and State, pluralism, ecumenism, religious indifferentism). Catholics have thus lost the ability to see clearly as Catholics and to recognize the simple truth that it has been the consistent patrimony of the Catholic Church for her children to engage in spirited, forceful efforts to defend her against the attacks of heretics from within and schismatics and heathens and infidels from without.

To hate heresy and to fight it with all of the might that we can muster from 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 into our immortal souls through the loving hands of Our Lady, the Mediatrix of All Graces, does not mean we a person is "angry" or that he harbors ill-will for those who foment various heresies. Indeed, it is a supreme act of love of God to denounce heresy and error. It is a Spiritual Work of Mercy to correct those who are propagating heresies and errors. Father Frederick Faber pointed this out in The Dolors of Mary, 1857:

This [the hatred of heresy] is particularly offensive to the world. So especially opposed is it to the spirit of the world, that, even in good, believing hearts, every remnant of worldliness rises in arms against this hatred of heresy, embittering the very gentlest of characters and spoiling many a glorious work of grace. In the judgment of the world, and of worldly Christians, this hatred of heresy is exaggerated, bitter, contrary to moderation, indiscreet, unreasonable, aiming at too much, bigoted, intolerant, narrow, stupid, and immoral. What can we say to defend it? Nothing which they can understand. The mild self-opinionatedness of the gentle, undiscerning good will also take the world's view and condemn us; for there is a meek-looking positiveness about the timid goodness which is far from God, and the instincts of whose charity is more toward those who are less for God, while its timidity is daring enough for a harsh judgment. Heresy can only be hated by an undivided heart. (The Dolors of Mary, 1857.)

 

The belief that false religions have a right to propagate themselves in civil society and that their false ideas can contribute to the common good has been condemned by the Catholic Church repeatedly prior to 1958. Numerous papal quotations have been offered on this site to demonstrate this fact. No one can believe in the conciliarist concept of "religious liberty" and be a Catholic in good standing. If "religious liberty," for example, is correct than all of the popes who condemned it prior to 1958 were wrong, having been "culture-bound" to considerations of one moment in time that are no longer valid in the wake of new circumstances and the "needs" of "modern" man. Thus goes out the window the whole concept of the infallibility of the Ordinary Magisterium of the Catholic Church.

Pope Pius IX used very blunt language in Quanta Cura, December 8, 1864, to condemn "liberty of conscience." He was not suffering from a "fit of anger." He was attempting to defend the Catholic Faith in clear, unequivocal terms:

For you well know, venerable brethren, that at this time men are found not a few who, applying to civil society the impious and absurd principle of "naturalism," as they call it, dare to teach that "the best constitution of public society and (also) civil progress altogether require that human society be conducted and governed without regard being had to religion any more than if it did not exist; or, at least, without any distinction being made between the true religion and false ones." And, against the doctrine of Scripture, of the Church, and of the Holy Fathers, they do not hesitate to assert that "that is the best condition of civil society, in which no duty is recognized, as attached to the civil power, of restraining by enacted penalties, offenders against the Catholic religion, except so far as public peace may require." From which totally false idea of social government they do not fear to foster that erroneous opinion, most fatal in its effects on the Catholic Church and the salvation of souls, called by Our Predecessor, Gregory XVI, an "insanity," viz., that "liberty of conscience and worship is each man's personal right, which ought to be legally proclaimed and asserted in every rightly constituted society; and that a right resides in the citizens to an absolute liberty, which should be restrained by no authority whether ecclesiastical or civil, whereby they may be able openly and publicly to manifest and declare any of their ideas whatever, either by word of mouth, by the press, or in any other way." But, while they rashly affirm this, they do not think and consider that they are preaching "liberty of perdition;" and that "if human arguments are always allowed free room for discussion, there will never be wanting men who will dare to resist truth, and to trust in the flowing speech of human wisdom; whereas we know, from the very teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ, how carefully Christian faith and wisdom should avoid this most injurious babbling."

 

The words of the authentic popes of the Catholic Church prior to 1958 are what condemn the conciliarist embrace of religious liberty, which has been championed consistently by Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI. Bishop Mark A. Pivarunas of the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen pointed this out in an Exposé of Dignitatis Humanae, quoting a 1953 allocution given by Pope Pius XII to lawyers in Italy:

And as for the matter of the obligations of governments, Pope Pius XII taught in his address to Catholic lawyers Ci Riesce (December 6, 1953):

“It must be clearly affirmed that no human authority, no State, no Community of States, of whatever religious character, can give a positive mandate or a positive authorization to teach or to do that which would be contrary to religious truth or moral good... Whatever does not respond to truth and the moral law has objectively no right to existence, nor to propaganda, nor to action.”

 

Indeed, Bishop Pivarunas has compiled a very useful list of the principal errors of the "Second" Vatican Council that provide a very good contrast between the teaching of the Catholic Church and that of the counterfeit church of conciliarism (see The Doctrinal Errors of the Second Vatican Council). The Primer on Infallibility found on the website of the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen is also quite useful to understand that it is not possible that the authentic Catholic popes prior to 1958 were wrong in their pronouncements on religious liberty and ecumenism and the nature of the Church and the condemnation of separation of Church and State. As God and His truths are immutable, it is not possible for the Catholic Church to teach one thing for close to two millennia and then reverse herself to embrace anathematized propositions with ready abandon.

As I have noted on so many occasions on this site in the past year, it is impossible to reconcile the Catholic Church's consistent condemnation of the separation of Church and State with conciliarism's embrace of same ("healthy secularity," "healthy laicism). Pope Saint Pius X's clear condemnation of the separation of Church and State in Vehementer Nos, February 11, 1906, is rejected in its entirety by Joseph Ratzinger.To point this out is not an act of anger. It is a statement of simple fact. Here is the quote from paragraph three of Vehementer Nos:

That the State must be separated from the Church is a thesis absolutely false, a most pernicious error. Based, as it is, on the principle that the State must not recognize any religious cult, it is in the first place guilty of a great injustice to God; for the Creator of man is also the Founder of human societies, and preserves their existence as He preserves our own. We owe Him, therefore, not only a private cult, but a public and social worship to honor Him. Besides, this thesis is an obvious negation of the supernatural order. It limits the action of the State to the pursuit of public prosperity during this life only, which is but the proximate object of political societies; and it occupies itself in no fashion (on the plea that this is foreign to it) with their ultimate object which is man's eternal happiness after this short life shall have run its course. But as the present order of things is temporary and subordinated to the conquest of man's supreme and absolute welfare, it follows that the civil power must not only place no obstacle in the way of this conquest, but must aid us in effecting it. The same thesis also upsets the order providentially established by God in the world, which demands a harmonious agreement between the two societies. Both of them, the civil and the religious society, although each exercises in its own sphere its authority over them. It follows necessarily that there are many things belonging to them in common in which both societies must have relations with one another. Remove the agreement between Church and State, and the result will be that from these common matters will spring the seeds of disputes which will become acute on both sides; it will become more difficult to see where the truth lies, and great confusion is certain to arise. Finally, this thesis inflicts great injury on society itself, for it cannot either prosper or last long when due place is not left for religion, which is the supreme rule and the sovereign mistress in all questions touching the rights and the duties of men. Hence the Roman Pontiffs have never ceased, as circumstances required, to refute and condemn the doctrine of the separation of Church and State. Our illustrious predecessor, Leo XIII, especially, has frequently and magnificently expounded Catholic teaching on the relations which should subsist between the two societies. "Between them," he says, "there must necessarily be a suitable union, which may not improperly be compared with that existing between body and soul.-"Quaedam intercedat necesse est ordinata colligatio (inter illas) quae quidem conjunctioni non immerito comparatur, per quam anima et corpus in homine copulantur." He proceeds: "Human societies cannot, without becoming criminal, act as if God did not exist or refuse to concern themselves with religion, as though it were something foreign to them, or of no purpose to them.... As for the Church, which has God Himself for its author, to exclude her from the active life of the nation, from the laws, the education of the young, the family, is to commit a great and pernicious error. -- "Civitates non possunt, citra scellus, gerere se tamquam si Deus omnino non esset, aut curam religionis velut alienam nihilque profuturam abjicere.... Ecclesiam vero, quam Deus ipse constituit, ab actione vitae excludere, a legibus, ab institutione adolescentium, a societate domestica, magnus et perniciousus est error."

 

It would be even more redundant to attempt yet another recitation of each of the many  other ways in which the "Second" Vatican Council and the words and the actions of the pontiffs of the counterfeit church of conciliarism have contradicted defined matters of the Catholic Faith. There has never been a period in the history of the Catholic Church when what is accepted by most Catholics as legitimate popes and bishops and priests deny or redefine dogmatic truths in ways that contradict everything that preceded the "reign" of John XXIII. There has never been a period when, over and above the "official" redefinitions and pronouncements, men accepted to be priests have continued to deny almost every single article in the Deposit of Faith and maintain their "good standing" as members of the "Catholic" Church. There has never been a period in the history of the Catholic Church when what passes for the offering of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is turned into a sideshow and features pagan rituals that Catholic missionaries sought to eradicate from the face of the earth.

As I started to realize at the beginning of last year, 2006, it was irresponsible for me to continue to believe that the Catholic Church could be the author of such things. Souls were at stake. What mattered was not my "opinion" about anything (see Bishop Donald Sanborn's Opinionism). What mattered was the betrayal of the mission Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ gave to the Eleven before He Ascended to the Father's right hand in glory on Ascension Thursday to convert all men and all nations to the Catholic Faith. The conciliarists do not believe that it is either necessary or proper to seek to "proselytize" Protestants or Jews or the Orthodox. This has practical ramifications that no Catholic who is concerned about the integrity of the Faith can ignore by burying his head in the sand or engaging in Hegelian mental gymnastics to convince himself that black is white and that what is happening in the conciliar church is entirely compatible to the patrimony of the Catholic Church.

For instance, the conciliarist belief that it is not necessary to proselytize Protestants means that Saint Fidelis of Sigmaringen, whose feast is on April 24, was wrong to seek the unconditional conversion of Calvinists and Zwinglians in the early Seventeenth Century. He saw as his duty as a Roman Catholic priest of the Orders of Friars Minor Capuchins to save souls, refusing an offer from a Calvinist to save his life if he apostatized. "I came to extirpate heresy, not to embrace it," he said before he received the blow that killed him. Does Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI believe that Calvinism is heresy? Does he believe that it is necessary to seek with urgency the conversion of Calvinists and Zwinglians and other thirty some thousand varieties of Protestants in the world that keep multiplying on a daily basis? It cannot be that both Saint Fidelis and Joseph Ratzinger are right. Souls matter.

The conciliarist belief that it is not necessary to proselytize Jews means that Saint Peter and the other Apostles were wrong to have done so on Pentecost Sunday and thereafter. Saint Vincent Ferrer was wrong to have sought the conversion of thousands of Jews (and Mohammedans) in the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. Father Alphonse Ratisbonne was wrong to have gone to Palestine to seek the conversion of his fellow Jews after his own conversion to the Catholic Faith when Our Lady appeared to him in the Church of San Andrea delle Fratte in Rome on January 20, 1842, and his subsequent ordination to the priesthood. His brother, Father Maria Theodore Ratisbonne, who had converted to the Faith and had become a priest before his, Alphonse's conversion, was just as wrong to seek the conversion of Jews during his priestly life. Does Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI believe that it is necessary to seek with urgency the conversion of Jews? It cannot be that the Apostles and Saint Vincent Ferrer and the Fathers Ratisbonne and Joseph Ratzinger are right. Souls matter.

The conciliarist belief that it is not necessary to proselytize the Orthodox means that Saint Josaphat Kuncevyc was wrong to have sought the conversion of the Orthodox when he was the Archbishop of Polotsk (in what was then Lithuania) at the same time in the Sixteenth Century that Saint Fidelis was seeking the conversion of Calvinists and Zwinglians. Saint Josaphat did not believe, in quite some contradistinction to Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI, that the Orthodox are members of the "Church of Christ." He recognized that they had to be converted to the true Faith to save their immortal souls. Ratzinger does not believe this. It cannot be that Saint Josaphat and Joseph Ratzinger both are correct. And it is interesting to note, as I have several times before on this site, that the authentically incorrupt body of Saint Josaphat was taken away some years ago from its place in the Basilica of Saint Peter and replaced with the well-preserved-by-embalming body of Angelo Roncalli/John XXIII, who agreed to silence about Communism at the "Second" Vatican Council in exchange for the represemtation of "observers" from the heretical and schismatic Russian Orthodox Church at that council.

The saints discussed in the preceding paragraphs were far from atypical. Indeed, they were the norm in the life of the Catholic Church prior to 1958. The entire missionary spirit of the Catholic Church which prompted the likes of Saint Patrick and Saint Boniface and Saint Francis Xavier and Saint Francis Solano and Saint Hyacinth and the North American Martyrs and Saint Peter Claver and Father Pierre Jean De Smet and the Blessed Rose Philippine Duchesne, among countless others, to risk their lives and to endure all manner of harsh conditions was kept in fidelity to the words that the Divine Bridegroom of the Catholic Church did indeed give to the Apostles on Ascension Thursday:

And the eleven disciples went into Galilee, unto the mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And seeing them they adored: but some doubted. And Jesus coming, spoke to them, saying: All power is given to me in heaven and in earth. Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world. (Mt. 28: 16-20)

 

Moreover, the Catholic Church has raised to altars men and women who risked their lives to oppose heresies and errors and novelties. These great saints did not seek to make accommodation with heresies and errors and novelties. They sought, as Saint Fidelis mentioned before he died, to extirpate them from the face of the earth. Far from their minds was the incredible tolerance of heresy and error for which conciliarism is so noted, exemplified in each of the conciliar "pontiffs," even by Albino Luciani/John Paul I, as described by Fathers Francisco and Dominc Radecki in Tumultuous Times:

John Paul I is often portrayed as a humble, saintly prelate of the Church. His doctrinal stand was very questionable as evidenced by his pastoral letter of 1967 in which he advised his clergy to "see, if instead of uprooting and throwing down [error], it might be possible to trim and prune it patiently, bringing to light the core of goodness and truth which is not often lacking even in erroneous opinions" [Reference 839: Our Sunday Visitor, September 28, 2003, "Celebrating the Smiling Pope," by Lori Pieper.] This is like a doctor telling his patient: "I won't take out all the cancer; it might be good for you.

 

Can you imagine Saint Basil or Saint Athanasius or Saint Nicholas of Myra seeking to find the "core of goodness and truth" in Arianism? Can you imagine Saint Jerome seeking to find the "core of goodness and truth" in Arianism and other other heresies, including Novatianism, which he fought so fiercely? Can you imagine Saint Dominic de Guzman seeking to "find the core of goodness and truth" in the Albigenses heresy? Can you imagine Saint Optatus, who wrote in very fierce tones, seeking to find the "core of goodness and truth" in Donatism? Can you imagine Saint Augustine seeking to "find the core of goodness and truth" in Pelagianism and semi-Pelagianism?

Saint Jerome, for example, was quite blunt in dealing with those who denied articles of the Catholic Faith. He was not "sap at sea," permitting himself to be drawn into mistaking authentic love, which wills the good of all men, the ultimate expression of which is the salvation of their souls as members of the Catholic Church, for sentimentality. He are two excerpts from Saint Jerome's book AGAINST VIGILANTIUS (these excerpts kind of warm the cockles of a New Yorker's sardonic heart):

Once, when a sudden earthquake in this province in the middle of the night awoke us all out of our sleep, you, the most prudent and the wisest of men, began to pray without putting your clothes on, and recalled to our minds the story of Adam and Eve in Paradise; they, indeed, when their eyes were opened were ashamed, for they saw that they were naked, and covered their shame with the leaves of trees; but you, who were stripped alike of your shirt and of your faith, in the sudden terror which overwhelmed you, and with the fumes of your last night's booze still hanging about you, showed your wisdom by exposing your nakedness in only too evident a manner to the eyes of the brethren.

Such are the adversaries of the Church; these are the leaders who fight against the blood of the martyrs; here is a specimen of the orators who thunder against the Apostles, or, rather, such are the mad dogs which bark at the disciples of Christ.(Chapter 11)

At the request of the reverend presbyters, as I have said, I have devoted to the dictation of these remarks the labour of a single night, for my brother Sisinnius is hastening his departure for Egypt, where he has relief to give to the saints, and is impatient to be gone. If it were not so, however, the subject itself was so openly blasphemous as to call for the indignation of a writer rather than a multitude of proofs. But if Dormitantius wakes up that he may again abuse me, and if he thinks fit to disparage me with that same blasphemous mouth with which he pulls to pieces Apostles and martyrs, I will spend upon him something more than this short lucubration. I will keep vigil for a whole night in his behalf and in behalf of his companions, whether they be disciples or masters, who think no man to be worthy of Christ's ministry unless he is married and his wife is seen to be with child. (Chapter 17)

 

Here is a letter from Saint Jerome to Riparius in which he promises to write his book against Vigilantius:

To Riparius:

1. Now that I have received a letter from you, if I do not answer it I shall be guilty of pride, and if I do I shall be guilty of rashness. For the matters concerning which you ask my opinion are such that they cannot either be spoken of or listened to without profanity. You tell me that Vigilantius (whose very name "Wakeful" is a contradiction: he ought rather to be described as "Sleepy") has again opened his fetid lips and is pouring forth a torrent of filthy venom upon the relics of the holy martyrs; and that he calls us who cherish them ashmongers and idolaters who pay homage to dead men's bones. Unhappy wretch! to be wept over by all Christian men, who sees not that in speaking thus he makes himself one with the Samaritans and the Jews who hold dead bodies unclean and regard as defiled even vessels which have been in the same house with them, following the letter that killeth and not the spirit that giveth life, [2 Cor. iii. 6]

We, it is true, refuse to worship or adore, I say not the relics of the martyrs, but even the sun and moon, the angels and archangels, the Cherubim and Seraphim and every name that is named, not only in this world but also in that which is to come, [Eph. i. 21]. For we may not serve the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever, [Rom. i. 25]

Still we honour the relics of the martyrs, that we may adore Him whose martyrs they are. We honour the servants that their honour may be reflected upon their Lord who Himself says: ..he that receiveth you receiveth me... , [Matt. x. 40]. I ask Vigilantius, "Are the relics of Peter and of Paul unclean? Was the body of Moses unclean, of which we are told (according to the correct Hebrew text, [Deut. xxxiv. 6] that it was buried by the Lord Himself? And do we, every time that we enter the basilicas of apostles and prophets and martyrs, pay homage to the shrines of idols? Are the tapers which burn before their tombs only the tokens of idolatry?"

I will go farther still and ask a question which will make this theory recoil upon the head of its inventor and which will either kill or cure that frenzied brain of his, so that simple souls shall be no more subverted by his sacrilegious reasonings. Let him answer me this: Was the Lord's body unclean when it was placed in the sepulchre? And did the angels clothed in white raiment merely watch over a corpse dead and defiled, that ages afterwards this sleepy fellow might indulge in dreams and vomit forth his filthy surfeit, so as, like the persecutor Julian, either to destroy the basilicas of the saints or to convert them into heathen temples?

2. I am surprised that the reverend bishop in whose diocese he is said to be a presbyter [probably Exuperius of Toulouse] acquiesces in this his mad preaching, and that he does not rather with apostolic rod, nay with a rod of iron [Ps. ii. 9], shatter this useless vessel and deliver him for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved, [1 Cor. v. 5]. He should remember the words that are said: When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst unto him; and hast been partaker with adulterers, [Ps. l. 18]; and in another place, I will early destroy all the wicked of the land; that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the Lord, [Ps. ci. 8]; and again Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred ... , [Ps. cxxxix. 21, 22]

If the relics of the martyrs are not worthy of honour, how comes it that we read Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints, [Ps. cxvi. 15]

If dead men's bones defile those that touch them, how came it that the dead Elisha raised another man also dead, and that life came to this latter from the body of the prophet which according to Vigilantius must have been unclean? In that case every encampment of the host of Israel and the people of God was unclean; for they carried the bodies of Joseph and of the patriarchs with them in the wilderness, and carried their unclean ashes even into the holy land. In that case Joseph, who was a type of our Lord and Saviour, was a wicked man; for he carried up Jacob's bones with great pomp to Hebron merely to put his unclean father beside his unclean grandfather and great-grandfather, that is, one dead body along with others.

The wretch's tongue should be cut out, or he should be put under treatment for insanity. As he does not know how to speak, he should learn to be silent. I have myself before now seen the monster, and have done my best to bind the maniac with texts of scripture, as Hippocrates binds his patients with chains; but "he went away, he departed, he escaped, he broke out," [as Cicero says of Catiline, Cat. ii. l], and taking refuge between the Adriatic and the Alps of King Cotius declaimed in his turn against me. For all that a fool says must be regarded as mere noise and mouthing.

3. You may perhaps in your secret thoughts find fault with me for thus assailing a man behind his back. I will frankly admit that my indignation overpowers me; I cannot listen with patience to such sacrilegious opinions. I have read of the javelin of Phinehas, of the harshness of Elijah, of the jealous anger of Simon the zealot, of the severity of Peter in putting to death Ananias and Sapphira, and of the firmness of Paul who, when Elymas the sorcerer withstood the ways of the Lord, doomed him to lifelong blindness. There is no cruelty in regard for God's honour. Wherefore also in the Law it is said: If thy brother or thy friend or the wife of thy bosom entice thee from the truth, thine hand shall be upon them and thou shalt shed their blood, and so shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of Israel.. , [Deut. xiii. 5-9]

Once more I ask: Are the relics of the martyrs unclean? If so, why did the apostles allow themselves to walk in that funeral procession before the body -- the unclean body -- of Stephen, [Acts viii. 2]

Why did they make great lamentation over him, that their grief might be turned into our joy?

You tell me farther that Vigilantius execrates vigils. In this surely he goes contrary to his name. The "Wakeful One" wishes to sleep and will not hearken to the Saviour's words, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak.. , [Matt. xxvi. 40, 41]. And in another place a prophet sings: At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee because of thy righteous judgments.. , [Ps. cxix. 62]. We read also in the gospel [Luke vi. 12] how the Lord spent whole nights in prayer, and how the apostles when they were shut up in prison kept vigil all night long, singing their psalms until the earth quaked, and the keeper of the prison believed, and the magistrates and citizens were filled with terror, [Acts xvi. 25-38]. Paul says: Continue in prayer and watch in the same.. , [Col. iv. 2], and in another place he speaks of himself as in watchings often.., [2 Cor. xi. 27]

Vigilantius may sleep if he pleases, and may choke in his sleep, destroyed by the destroyer of Egypt and of the Egyptians. But let us say with David: Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.. So will the Holy One and the 'Iyr [Hebrew for "Watcher"] come to us, [Ps. cxxi. 4 combined with Dan. iv. 13]. And if ever by reason of our sins He fall asleep, let us say to Him: Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord, [Ps. xliv. 23]; and when our ship is tossed by the waves let us rouse Him and say, Master, save us: we perish, [Matt. viii. 25; Luke viii. 24]

I would dictate more were it not that the limits of a letter impose upon me a modest silence. I might have gone on, had you sent me the books which contain this man's rhapsodies, for in that case I should have known what points I had to refute. As it is I am only beating the air and revealing not so much his infidelity (for this is patent to all) as my own faith. But if you wish me to write against him at greater length, send me those wretched dronings of his and in my answer he shall hear an echo of John the Baptist's words Now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees; therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire.

 

Ah, you have to love Saint Jerome! He understood full well that to love God one must hate heresy and error and oppose it with all of his strength, mindful that he himself is a sinner in need of conversion on a daily basis in cooperation with the graces won for him on Calvary and that flow into his soul through the loving hands of Our Lady, the Mediatrix of All Graces. The discourses of the present moment concerning conciliarism and the false shepherds of the false conciliar church pale in comparison to the robust and completely Catholic spirit of these writings of Saint Jerome, which were written out of the love of the honor and glory of the Blessed Trinity and out of true Supernatural Charity for the eternal good of souls, both of those who promoted heresy and error and those who were the victims of the promotion of heresy and error.

Once again, for the sake of emphasis for those out there who are the slow learners (how am I doin', Saint Jerome?), here is Pope Pius VI's injunction to the bishops his day, contained in his first encyclical letter, Inscrutabile, December 25, 1775, to oppose error with all of their might (a reminder to "priests" in the indult communities that they are shirking their responsibilities before God when they do not denounce Joseph Ratzinger as a destroyer of the Faith when he walks into a mosque and treats it as a "holy" place and when he calls a Orthodox heretic and schismatic a "pastor" in the "Church of Christ" and when he orders the Way of the Cross to be changed so as to take the focus off of Our Lord's Passion and to include the writings of a Talmudic Jew who does not believe in the Sacred Divinity of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ or, obviously, in His Redemptive Act on the wood of the Holy Cross):

The affair is of the greatest importance since it concerns the Catholic faith, the purity of the Church, the teaching of the saints, the peace of the empire, and the safety of nations. Since it concerns the entire body of the Church, it is a special concern of yours because you are called to share in Our pastoral concern, and the purity of the faith is particularly entrusted to your watchfulness. "Now therefore, Brothers, since you are overseers among God's people and their soul depends on you, raise their hearts to your utterance," that they may stand fast in faith and achieve the rest which is prepared for believers only. Beseech, accuse, correct, rebuke and fear not: for ill-judged silence leaves in their error those who could be taught, and this is most harmful both to them and to you who should have dispelled the error. The holy Church is powerfully refreshed in the truth as it struggles zealously for the truth. In this divine work you should not fear either the force or favor of your enemies. The bishop should not fear since the anointing of the Holy Spirit has strengthened him: the shepherd should not be afraid since the prince of pastors has taught him by his own example to despise life itself for the safety of his flock: the cowardice and depression of the hireling should not dwell in a bishop's heart. Our great predecessor Gregory, in instructing the heads of the churches, said with his usual excellence: "Often imprudent guides in their fear of losing human favor are afraid to speak the right freely. As the word of truth has it, they guard their flock not with a shepherd's zeal but as hirelings do, since they flee when the wolf approaches by hiding themselves in silence.... A shepherd fearing to speak the right is simply a man retreating by keeping silent." But if the wicked enemy of the human race, the better to frustrate your efforts, ever brings it about that a plague of epidemic proportions is hidden from the religious powers of the world, please do not be terrified but walk in God's house in harmony, with prayer, and in truth, the three arms of our service. Remember that when the people of Juda were defiled, the best means of purification was the public reading to all, from the least to the greatest, of the book of the law lately found by the priest Helcias in the Lord's temple; at once the whole people agreed to destroy the abominations and seal a covenant in the Lord's presence to follow after the Lord and observe His precepts, testimonies and ceremonies with their whole heart and soul." For the same reason Josaphat sent priests and Levites to bring the book of the law throughout the cities of Juda and to teach the people. The proclamation of the divine word has been entrusted to your faith by divine, not human, authority. So assemble your people and preach to them the gospel of Jesus Christ. From that divine source and heavenly teaching draw draughts of true philosophy for your flock. Persuade them that subjects ought to keep faith and show obedience to those who by God's ordering lead and rule them. To those who are devoted to the ministry of the Church, give proofs of faith, continence, sobriety, knowledge, and liberality, that they may please Him to whom they have proved themselves and boast only of what is serious, moderate, and religious. But above all kindle in the minds of everyone that love for one another which Christ the Lord so often and so specifically praised. For this is the one sign of Christians and the bond of perfection.

 

And lest some conciliar apologists, content in the world of the abomination of the Novus Ordo Missae that gives rise to such things as dancing around what is believed to Our Lord's Real Presence exposed in a monstrance ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRULNTperWE), believe that lay people can just sit back without being concerned about the promotion of obvious heresies and errors and contradictions of the defined teaching of the Catholic Church, Pope Leo XIII reminded us in Sapientiae Christianae, January 10, 1890, that at least some in the laity do have a responsibility to speak out in the midst of error:

No one, however, must entertain the notion that private individuals are prevented from taking some active part in this duty of teaching, especially those on whom God has bestowed gifts of mind with the strong wish of rendering themselves useful. These, so often as circumstances demand, may take upon themselves, not, indeed, the office of the pastor, but the task of communicating to others what they have themselves received, becoming, as it were, living echoes of their masters in the faith. Such co-operation on the part of the laity has seemed to the Fathers of the Vatican Council so opportune and fruitful of good that they thought well to invite it. "All faithful Christians, but those chiefly who are in a prominent position, or engaged in teaching, we entreat, by the compassion of Jesus Christ, and enjoin by the authority of the same God and Savior, that they bring aid to ward off and eliminate these errors from holy Church, and contribute their zealous help in spreading abroad the light of undefiled faith.'' Let each one, therefore, bear in mind that he both can and should, so far as may be, preach the Catholic faith by the authority of his example, and by open and constant profession of the obligations it imposes. In respect, consequently, to the duties that bind us to God and the Church, it should be borne earnestly in mind that in propagating Christian truth and warding off errors the zeal of the laity should, as far as possible, be brought actively into play.

 

It is a crime against God and the Holy Truths He has deposited exclusively in the Catholic Church to remain silent in these times of apostasy and betrayal. The afore quoted Father Frederick Faber explained to us the zeal we must have in defending God's honor and calling to correction those who reject the constant, unbroken teaching of the Catholic Church:

If we hated sin as we ought to hate it, purely, keenly, manfully, we should do more penance, we should inflict more self-punishment, we should sorrow for our sins more abidingly. Then, again, the crowning disloyalty to God is heresy. It is the sin of sins, the very loathsomest of things which God looks down upon in this malignant world. Yet how little do we understand of its excessive hatefulness! It is the polluting of God’s truth, which is the worst of all impurities.

Yet how light we make of it! We look at it, and are calm. We touch it and do not shudder. We mix with it, and have no fear. We see it touch holy things, and we have no sense of sacrilege. We breathe its odor, and show no signs of detestation or disgust. Some of us affect its friendship; and some even extenuate its guilt. We do not love God enough to be angry for His glory. We do not love men enough to be charitably truthful for their souls.

Having lost the touch, the taste, the sight, and all the senses of heavenly-mindedness, we can dwell amidst this odious plague, in imperturbable tranquility, reconciled to its foulness, not without some boastful professions of liberal admiration, perhaps even with a solicitous show of tolerant sympathies.

Why are we so far below the old saints, and even the modern apostles of these latter times, in the abundance of our conversations? Because we have not the antique sternness? We want the old Church-spirit, the old ecclesiastical genius. Our charity is untruthful, because it is not severe; and it is unpersuasive, because it is untruthful.

We lack devotion to truth as truth, as God’s truth. Our zeal for souls is puny, because we have no zeal for God’s honor. We act as if God were complimented by conversions, instead of trembling souls rescued by a stretch of mercy.

We tell men half the truth, the half that best suits our own pusillanimity and their conceit; and then we wonder that so few are converted, and that of those few so many apostatize.

We are so weak as to be surprised that our half-truth has not succeeded so well as God’s whole truth.

Where there is no hatred of heresy, there is no holiness.

A man, who might be an apostle, becomes a fester in the Church for the want of this righteous indignation. (The Precious Blood, 1860)

 

We must not make light of conciliarism.We must not be calm in its face. We must shudder at the thought of the harm it is doing to souls (and thus to entire nations and the world itself, which depends upon the state of souls for its order and its pursuit of the common good in light of man's Last End). We must have a sense of sacrilege as we see conciliarism touch holy things and make a mockery of the Catholic Faith. We must show signs of detestation and disgust as its foul odor infects the lives of so many Catholics worldwide. We must not affect is friendship or extenuate its guilt. We must love God enough in order to be angry for His glory as the very mission He gave to the Apostles to seek the conversion of all men and nations is abjectly betrayed and denied as eternally binding by the conciliarists. We must love men enough to be charitably truthful for the eternal good of their souls. We must not, with apologies to the late Oliver Norvell Hardy and the late Arthur Stanley Jefferson, be "saps at sea" in this time of apostasy and betrayal.

All of this having been repeated again for the sake of emphasis, especially in the midst of the sappy sentimentality of conciliarsm (which has drawn its strength from the sappy sentimentality of Protestantism and all forms of Judeo-Masonic naturalism), we must also recognize that our words are useless unless we are familiar with a kneeler in a authentic Catholic church, one served by truly valid priests and bishops, where is kept ever present the Most Blessed Sacrament for our adoration. We cannot plant even a few seeds to extirpate heresy in the world if we do not cooperate with the graces won for us on Calvary to extirpate sin and all impurity of heart and motives from our immortal souls. We must prostrate ourselves in total dependence upon Our Lord through His Most Sacred Heart as the totally consecrated slaves of His Most Blessed Mother's Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart. We must be formed every day in the crucible of love that is the Holy Cross, seeking to root out our venial faults and failings in the Sacred Tribunal of Penance and growing in love for the mysteries of our Redemption which we celebrate so gloriously in these fifty days of Easter by our daily assistance at the Immemorial Mass of Tradition and our praying as many Rosaries as our states-in-life permit.

The intentions of all hearts get revealed only on the Last Day. If we are calumniated and misunderstood in a defense of the Faith in these trying times, we must intensify our acts of reparation for our own sins and to count it as a great grace to be able to be so calumniated and misunderstood until the General Judgment of the Living and the Dead on the Last Day,. We must follow the examples of the likes of Saints Jerome and Athanasius and Basil and Fidelis and Josaphat and Vincent Ferrer and Patrick and Boniface and Francis Xavier and the North American Martyrs and Dominic and Hyacinth, among so many others, as we defend the Faith while at the same time we call upon Saint Michael the Archangel to defend us in battle against the ancient adversary in our own lives.

The final victory belongs to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. May we persevere in fidelity to the Fatima Message, thereby making reparation to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus from which flowed the elements of Blood and Water that nourish us each day in the Sacraments.

Vivat Christus Rex!

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 Michael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Gabriel the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Raphael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Jude, pray for us.

Saint John the Beloved, pray for us.

Saint Francis Solano, pray for us.

Saint Francis of Paola, pray for us.

Saint Isidore of Seville, pray for us.

Saint John Bosco, pray for us.

Saint Dominic Savio, pray for us.

Saint John of God, pray for us.

Saint  Scholastica, pray for us.

Saint Benedict, pray for us.

Saint Anthony of Padua, pray for us.

Saint Francis of Assisi, pray for us.

Saint Thomas Aquinas, pray for us.

Saint Bonaventure, pray for us.

Saint Augustine, pray for us.

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, pray for us.

Saint Francis Xavier, pray for us.

Saint Peter Damian, pray for us.

Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, pray for us.

Saint Lucy, pray for us.

Saint Monica, pray for us.

Saint Agatha, pray for us.

Saint Philomena, pray for us.

Saint Cecilia, pray for us.

Saint John Mary Vianney, pray for us.

Saint Vincent de Paul, pray for us.

Saint Vincent Ferrer, pray for us.

Saint Athanasius, pray for us.

Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, pray for us.

Saint Isaac Jogues, pray for us.

Saint Rene Goupil, pray for us.

Saint John Lalonde, pray for us.

Saint Gabriel Lalemont, pray for us.

Saint Noel Chabanel, pray for us.

Saint Charles Garnier, pray for us.

Saint Anthony Daniel, pray for us.

Saint John DeBrebeuf, pray for us.

Saint Alphonsus de Liguori, pray for us.

Saint Dominic, pray for us.

Saint Hyacinth, pray for us.

Saint Basil, pray for us.

Saint Vincent Ferrer, pray for us.

Saint Sebastian, pray for us.

Saint Tarcisius, pray for us.

Saint Bridget of Sweden, pray for us.

Saint Gerard Majella, pray for us.

Saint John of the Cross, pray for us.

Saint Teresa of Avila, pray for us.

Saint Bernadette Soubirous, pray for us.

Saint Genevieve, pray for us.

Saint Vincent de Paul, pray for us.

Pope Saint Pius X, pray for us

Pope Saint Pius V, pray for us.

Saint Rita of Cascia, pray for us.

Venerable Anne Catherine Emmerich, pray for us.

Venerable Pauline Jaricot, pray for us.

Father Miguel Augustin Pro, pray for us.

Francisco Marto, pray for us.

Jacinta Marto, pray for us.

Juan Diego, 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.  

Song: Thoroughly Modern Millie Lyrics

		12.	Thoroughly Modern Millie

ENSEMBLE MEN:
There are those, I suppose
Think we're mad, heaven knows
The world has gone to rack and to ruin

WOMAN #1:
What we think is chic

WOMAN #2:
Unique

WOMEN #3 & #4:
And quite adorable

ENSEMBLE WOMEN:
They think is odd and "Sodom and Gomorrah"-ble!

MILLIE:
But the fact is,
Everything today is thoroughly modern

ENSEMBLE:
Check your personality

MILLIE:
Everything today makes yesterday slow

ENSEMBLE:
Better face reality

MILLIE:
It's not insanity
Says Vanity Fair
In fact, it's stylish to

MILLIE AND ENSEMBLE WOMEN:
Raise your skirts and bob your hair

MILLIE:
Have you seen the way they kiss in the movies

ENSEMBLE MEN:
Isn't it delectable?

MILLIE AND ENSEMBLE WOMEN:
Painting lips and pencil lining your brow
Now is quite respectable

MILLIE:
Good-bye, good goody girl
I'm changing and how

ENSEMBLE:
So beat the drums 'cause here comes
Thoroughly Modern Millie now
What we think is chic, unique and quite adorable
They think is odd and "Sodom and Gomorrah"-ble!
But the fact is
Everything today is thoroughly modern

ENSEMBLE MEN:
Bands are getting jazzier

ENSEMBLE:
Everything today is starting to go

ENSEMBLE WOMEN:
Cars are getting snazzier

ENSEMBLE:
Men say it's criminal what women'll do
What they're forgetting is

MILLIE:
This is 1922!

MILLIE AND ENSEMBLE:
Good-bye, good goody girl
I'm changing and how

MILLIE: I'm changing and how!

ALL:
So beat the drums 'cause here comes thoroughly
Hot off the press! One step ahead! Jazz age!
Whoopee baby! We're so thoroughly modern

MILLIE:
Millie!

ALL:
Now!