Tiny Minds, Tinier Hearts

by Thomas A. Droleskey

There are times when various conciliarist errors come together, causing an ecclesiastical "disturbance" not too dissimilar to what happens meteorologically when cold air and warm air fronts "bump" together. A recent comment made by conciliar "Bishop" Martinus "Tiny" Muskens of Breda in The Netherlands brought together the combustible elements of the conciliarist errors of ecumenism and episcopal collegiality.

The August 15, 2007, story from MSNBC.com speaks for itself concerning how easy it is in the structures of counterfeit church of conciliarism for the false "bishops" to make statements contrary to the Catholic Faith and yet retain their "episcopal" positions without a word of reproof from the currently reigning antipope:

AMSTERDAM - A Roman Catholic Bishop in the Netherlands has proposed people of all faiths refer to God as Allah to foster understanding, stoking an already heated debate on religious tolerance in a country with one million Muslims.

Bishop Tiny Muskens, from the southern diocese of Breda, told Dutch television on Monday that God did not mind what he was named and that in Indonesia, where Muskens spent eight years, priests used the word "Allah" while celebrating Mass.

"Allah is a very beautiful word for God. Shouldn't we all say that from now on we will name God Allah? ... What does God care what we call him? It is our problem."

A survey in the Netherlands' biggest-selling newspaper De Telegraaf on Wednesday found 92 percent of the more than 4,000 people polled disagreed with the bishop's view, which also drew ridicule.

"Sure. Lets call God Allah. Lets then call a church a mosque and pray five times a day. Ramadan sounds like fun," Welmoet Koppenhol wrote in a letter to the newspaper.

Gerrit de Fijter, chairman of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands, told the paper he welcomed any attempt to "create more dialogue", but added: "Calling God 'Allah' does no justice to Western identity. I see no benefit in it."

A spokesman from the union of Moroccan mosques in Amsterdam said Muslims had not asked for such a gesture.

A survey in the Netherlands' biggest-selling newspaper De Telegraaf on Wednesday found 92 percent of the more than 4,000 people polled disagreed with the bishop's view, which also drew ridicule.

"Sure. Lets call God Allah. Lets then call a church a mosque and pray five times a day. Ramadan sounds like fun," Welmoet Koppenhol wrote in a letter to the newspaper.

Gerrit de Fijter, chairman of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands, told the paper he welcomed any attempt to "create more dialogue", but added: "Calling God 'Allah' does no justice to Western identity. I see no benefit in it."

A spokesman from the union of Moroccan mosques in Amsterdam said Muslims had not asked for such a gesture. (Bishop: Call God 'Allah' to ease relations - Europe- msnbc.com.)

 

"Bishop" Muskens has a tiny mind. He has a tinier heart, which refuses to submit itself in humility to these words from the Acts of the Apostles:

And Annas the high priest, and Caiphas, and John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the high priest. And setting them in the midst, they asked: By what power, or by what name, have you done this? Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said to them: Ye princes of the people, and ancients, hear: If we this day are examined concerning the good deed done to the infirm man, by what means he hath been made whole: Be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God hath raised from the dead, even by him this man standeth here before you whole.

This is the stone which was rejected by you the builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved. Now seeing the constancy of Peter and of John, understanding that they were illiterate and ignorant men, they wondered; and they knew them that they had been with Jesus. Seeing the man also who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.But they commanded them to go aside out of the council; and they conferred among themselves, saying: What shall we do to these men? for indeed a known miracle hath been done by them, to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem: it is manifest, and we cannot deny it. But that it may be no farther spread among the people, let us threaten them that they speak no more in this name to any man. And calling them, they charged them not to speak at all, nor teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answering, said to them: If it be just in the sight of God, to hear you rather than God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. . . .

And calling in the apostles, after they had scourged them, they charged them that they should not speak at all in the name of Jesus; and they dismissed them.

And they indeed went from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were accounted worthy to suffer reproach for the name of Jesus. And every day they ceased not in the temple, and from house to house, to teach and preach Christ Jesus. (Acts 4: 6-20; 5: 40-42)

 

Millions of martyrs have gone to their deaths because they had proclaimed their Faith in the Holy Name of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and/or because they refused to deny their Faith in His Holy Name as members of the true Church that He founded upon the Rock of Peter, the Pope. While the Arabic name for God is "Allah" (Alla il Missier, Alla l-Iben, Alla ir Ruh Imqaddes--God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost), its invocation in Eastern Uniat liturgies is not an effort to "appease" Mohammedans by making it appear as though Catholicism and Mohammedanism are both from God and both equally pleasing to Him. Catholics of the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church do not use the Arabic language, thank you. Catholics of the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church use Latin in their worship of the Blessed Trinity and they use the vernacular in their own private prayers and conversations. "Allah" is not a phrase that is used in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church. It use by a Roman Rite Catholic in ordinary conversation will indeed be taken by others as a reference to the false god of the demonic religion known as Mohammedanism.

This is what the apostate named Theodore McCarrick, the now retired conciliar "archbishop" of Washington, D.C., did at the Catholic University of America on September 13, 2005, when giving a "blessing" by using the Mohammedan gesture (the right arm lifted up) after invoking the name of "Allah" in the presence of King Abdullah of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan:

In the name of Allah, the merciful and compassionate God, we pray.  Amen.

 

Joseph Ratzinger did not go quite this far in Constantinople, Turkey, last year. He did, however, take off his shoes upon entering a mosque and turned in the direction of Mecca at the behest of his Mohammedan host and assumed the Mohammedan prayer position. What a sight. The man who believes himself to be the Vicar of Christ, Who is the God-Man, treating a place of false worship as holy and worthy of all respect. Saints gave up their lives rather than give even the slightest impression of such an act of apostasy and betrayal. As has been noted in several recent commentaries on this site, how tiny is our love for God that we are not outraged when this reprehensible Hegelian from Germany dares to blaspheme God and to call a mountain dedicated to the devil worship known as Buddhism sacred?

Sure, yes, each of us is a sinner. We are not better than others. Fine. One of the ways to make reparation for our sins, however, to defend the honor and glory of the Holy Name of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and to defend the Sacred Truths He has entrusted exclusively to the Catholic Church. How many sinners saved their souls during various times of persecutions against the Church in the past two millennia by being unafraid to give a clear witness to the Catholic Faith and by their steadfast refusal to worship at the altar of false "gods" and, indeed, by denouncing those false gods?

Remember, each of the Apostles, save for Saint John the Beloved, died a martyr's death so as to help to make up for the fact that they were not present at the foot of the Holy Cross on Good Friday with Our Blessed Mother and Saint John and Saint Mary Magdalene and the few others who were there as the multitudes jeered at Our Lord as He suffered to redeem us, shedding every single drop of His Most Precious Blood to do so. The Apostles bore witness to Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ as the first bishops of His Catholic Church. They proclaimed His Holy Name fearlessly, seeking to obliterate all mention of false gods and their idol representations. The Apostles did not endorse sinful measures such as those proposed by "Tiny" Muskens to deal with hunger (why can't the hungry just go to a local conciliar church and get bread? Why encourage them to steal, of all things) and to prevent a disease that is thoroughly preventable by a virtue known as Chastity, which requires a cooperation with the graces won for us on the wood of the Holy Cross by Our Lord and that flow into our hearts and souls through the loving hands of Our Lady, the Mediatrix of All Graces. No, the Apostles defended the Holy Name of the Divine Redeemer, Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and they sought to convert people from lives of sin and/or idolatry.

Take, for example, the saint we commemorate today, Saint Bartholomew. Although historians may dispute some of the facts contained in Jacobus de Voragine's The Golden Legend, there can be no doubt about the fact that Saint Bartholomew defended the Faith in Armenia at the hands of idol worshipers. The details presented in The Golden Legend reflect, no matter their exact accuracy, the fact that a disciple of Our Lord, no less one of twelve original Apostles, was expected to proclaim the Catholic Faith with courage and to denounce all forms of false worship without hesitation. Here are a few salient passages from The Golden Legend concerning Saint Bartholomew:

Saint Bartholomew, the apostle, went into India, which is in the end of the world. And therein he entered into a temple where an idol was which was named Astaroth, and he, as a pilgrim, abode there. In that idol dwelt a fiend that said that he could heal all manner sicknesses, but he lied, for he could not make them whole, but might better them but for a while. And the temple was full of sick people, and could have no answer of that idol, wherefore they went in to another city whereas another idol was worshipped named Berith, and they demanded him wherefore Astaroth gave to them no answer. And Berith said: Your god is bound with chains of fire that he neither dare draw breath ne speak after that Bartholomew, the apostle of God, entered into the temple. And they said to him: Who is that Bartholomew? And the devil said: He is the friend of God Almighty, and he is come into this province for to avoid all the gods of India. And then they said: Tell us some tokens and signs that we may know him and find him. And the devil said to them: He hath his hairs black and crisp, his skin white, eyes great, his nostrils even and straipht, his beard long and hoar a little, and of a straight and seemly stature. He is clad in a white coat, and a white mantle, which in every corner hath gems of purple and precious stones therein. And it is sith twenty-six years that his clothes never waxed old ne foul. He prayeth and worshippeth God on his knees a hundred times a day, and a hundred times by night. The angels go with him, which never suffer him to be weary ne to be an hungered, he is always of like semblant, glad and joyous. He seeth all things tofore, he knoweth all things, he speaketh all manner languages, and understandeth them, and he knoweth well what I say to you. And when ye seek him, if he will he may show himself to you, and if him list not, not shall ye find him. And I pray you, when ye find him, that ye pray him that he come not hither, that his angels do not to me as they have done to my fellow. Then they went and sought him diligently and busily two days, and found him not.

On a day, one that was beset with a devil cried, and said: Apostle of God, Bartholomew, thy prayers burn me. And the apostle said: Hold thou thy peace and come thence. And anon he was delivered. And when Polemius, king of that region, heard this thing, which had a daughter lunatic, he sent to the apostle, praying that he would come to him and heal his daughter. And when the apostle was come to him and saw that she was bound with chains, and bit all them that went to her, he commanded to unbind her. And the ministers durst not go to her. And he said: I hold the devil fast bound that was in her, and therefore be not afeard; and then anon she was unbound and delivered. And then would have presented to the apostle camels charged with gold and silver and precious stones, but he could not be found in no manner. And on the morrow following, the apostle appeared to the king, alone in his chamber, and said to him: Wherefore soughtest thou me yesterday with gold and silver and precious stones? Those things be necessary to them that covet things worldly, but I desire no things terrien ne carnal. Then Saint Bartholomew began to say many things, and inform the king of our redemption, and among other things how Jesu Christ vanquished the devil by marvellous and convenable puissance, justice, and wisdom. For it was convenable that he that overcame the son made of the earth, that was Adam, while he was yet a virgin, should be overcome of the son of the virgin. He overcame him then mightily, when he threw him puissantly out of his lordship which had thrown out by force our forefather. And thus, as he that overcometh some tyrant, sendeth his fellows tofore for to set up his sign over all, and to cast out tyrants, in like wise Jesu Christ sent his messengers over all for to take away the honour and the worshipping of the devil righteously. For it is right that he that vanquished man by eating, and held him, that he should be overcome by a man fasting, and hold man no longer. For it is rightful that he which by the art of the devil was despised, that by the art of Jesu Christ he should be vanquished. And like as the falcon taketh the bird, right so took he Jesu Christ in desert because he fasted, and would assay if he had hunger; and if he had hunger, that he might have deceived him by meat, and if he had no hunger, then knew he well without doubt that he was God. But he might not know him, for he had hunger, and consented nothing to him ne to his temptations.

And when he had preached the sacraments of the faith, he said to the king that, if he would receive baptism, he would show him his god bounden with chains. And the day following, when the bishops sacrificed within the palace of the king, the devils began to cry and say: Cease, ye cursed wretches, to do sacrifice to us, lest ye suffer worse than I that am bounden with chains of fire by the angels of Jesu Christ, whom the Jews crucified and supposed to have brought to death. Which death, that is our queen, he hath imprisoned, and hath bound our prince in chains of fire. And anon then they set cords on the image for to pull down and overthrow the idol, but they might not. The apostle then commanded the devil that he should issue and go out and break the idol all to pieces, and he issued out and destroyed and brake all the idols of the temple. And anon the apostle made his prayer, saying: O God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, which hast given to us such power that we enlumine the blind, and cleanse the lepers, I desire and require that this multitude might be healed, and they all answered, Amen. And forthwith all the sick people were cured and healed. And then the apostle did do hallow and dedicate that temple, and commanded the devil to go in to the desert. Then the angel of our Lord appeared there, and flew round about the temple, and ensigned and graved with his finger the sign of the cross in four corners of the temple, saying: Our Lord saith this: Like as I have you cured and made you clean of all your sickness, so let this temple be made clean of all filth and ordure. but I shall show him of all filth and ordure. But I shall show him to you that dwelleth therein tofore, to whom the apostle hath commanded to go in to desert. And doubt ye not to see him, but make in your forehead such a sign as I have graven in these stones. And then he showed to them an Ethiopian more black than thunder, the face sharp, the beard long, his hairs hanging unto his feet, his eyes flaming as hot fire, and cast out sparkles of fire, and casting out of his mouth flames of sulphur, and his hands bound with chains of fire behind his back. And then the angel said to him: Because that thou hast heard that the apostle hath commanded, and hast broken all the idols of the temple, I shall unbind thee; go in to such a place whereas dwelleth no man, and be thou there unto the day of judgment. And when he was unbound he went his way with a great braying and howling, and the angel of our Lord mounted up to heaven in the sight of them all. And then was the king baptized, with his wife and his children and all his people, and left his realm and was made disciple of the apostle.

Then all the bishops of the idols assembled them together and went to Astrages the king, and brother to Polemius, and complained of the loss of their gods and of the destruction of their temples, and of the conversion of his brother made by art magic. Astrages was wroth and sent a thousand men armed to take the apostle, and when he was brought tofore him, the king said to him: Art thou not he that hast perverted my brother? And the apostle answered to him: I have not perverted him, but I have converted him; and the king said to him: Like as thou hast made my brother forsake his god and believe in thy God, so shall I make thee forsake thy God, and thou shalt sacrifice to my god. And the apostle said : I have bound the god that thy brother adored, and showed him bound, and constrained him to break his false image, and if thou mayst do so to my God, thou mayst well draw me to thine idol, and if not, I shall all to-break thy gods, and then believe thou in my God. And as he said these words, it was told the king that his god Baldach was overthrown and all to-broken, and when the king heard that, he brake and all to-rent his purple in which he was clad, and commanded that the apostle should be beaten with staves, and that he should be flayed quick, and so it was done. Then the christians took away the body and buried it honourably. Then the king Astrages and the bishops of the temples were ravished with fiends and died, and the king Polemius was ordained bishop, and accomplished the oflfice of a bishop twenty-two years much louably, and after that rested in peace full of virtues.

There be divers opinions of the manner of his passion. For the blessed Dorotheus saith that he was crucified, and saith also: Bartholomew preached to men of India, and delivered to them the gospel after Matthew in their proper tongue. He died in Alban, a city of great Armenia, crucified the head downward. Saint Theoderus saith that he was flayed, and it is read in many books that he was beheaded only. And this contrariety may be assoiled in this manner, that some say that he was crucified and was taken down ere he died, and for to have greater torment he was flayed and at the last beheaded. The Golden Legend: The Life of Saint Bartholomew

 

King Astrages would be invited to Assisi (or Mount Hiei or to the Diocese of Breda, The Netherlands) if he were alive today. "Papal" letters would be issued to "apologize" for Saint Bartholomew's lack of pastoral "sensitivity" in seeking to convert King Polemius and his daring to denounce the pagan idols. Well, when you think of it, however, the whole conciliarist ethos of ecumenism and its ally of "inter-religious" dialogue is a rejection of the work that started on Pentecost Sunday when the first Pope, Saint Peter, sought to convert the Jews, an exercise in "proselytism" that is strictly forbidden by the conciliarists today. The Apostles, including Saint Bartholomew, should have "listened" to the "other" side.

Truth, of course, has no "other" side. Our Lord really meant it when He commissioned to Apostles as follows before He Ascended to the Father's right hand in glory on Pentecost Sunday:

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. (Matthew 28: 16-20)

 

Saint Patrick sought to destroy the pagan worship of the Druids. Saint Boniface sought to eradicate the pagan worship of the Germans. Saint Hyacinth sought to get rid of devil worship among the Slavs. Saint Francis Solano converted an entire band of devil-worshiping Indians on a Holy Thursday in northern Argentina. The North American Martyrs sought to convert the pagans of parts of what become Canada and the State of New York in the United States of America. Father Pierre Jean De Smet and Sister Rose Philippine Duchesne did the the same in the West and Southeastern parts of the United States. Saint Francis Xavier destroyed idol worship on the Island of Goa. The counterfeit church of conciliarism now incorporates false worship on many occasions into the context of its own brand of false worship, the Protestant and Masonic Novus Ordo service. The Catholic Church has never countenanced appeasing false religions and their false gods. Anyone who does not see this is attempting to subordinate the Catholic Faith to the exigencies of the counterfeit church of conciliarism.

"Bishop" Martinus "Tiny" Muskens will be allowed to retire in perfectly good standing when he turns seventy-five years of age on December 11, 2010, another great testament to the "episcopal" appointments of the late Karol Wojtyla and to Joseph Ratzinger's diligent adherence to the conciliar error of episcopal collegiality. Sadness is the only emotion that one can have when faced with such a fundamental lack of the sensus Catholicus on the part of those claiming to be Successors of the Apostles, being temporized a little bit by the fact that there is still enough sensus Catholicus on the part of people in The Netherlands, of all places, a hotbed of Modernism even before the "Second" Vatican Council, to understand that "Tiny's" proposal is outlandish. Those in the conciliar "hierarchy" who make outlandish statements such as "Tiny's" can count, however, on being forever indemnified by the conciliar Vatican, whose Secretary of State, Tarcisio Bertone, is unbent following recent remarks made in Nashville, Tennessee, continuing to insist back at the Vatican that the scandals caused by perverted bishops and priests have been "blown out of proportion" by the secular media.

We must intensify our own prayers and sacrifices and mortifications and penances during this time of apostasy and betrayal, giving all to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary with hearts enlarged by Sanctifying Grace and minds enlightened only by the Deposit of Faith, which contains the immutable truths taught by Our Lord to the Apostles, including Saint Bartholomew.

We may not be skinned alive as was Saint Bartholomew. However, we must be willing to suffer all as the slave of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary. We must be willing to be wrapped in the new wineskin of the Catholic Faith as we shed the old skin of our sins, each of which we must detest and seek to make reparation for, especially by means of our fidelity to the daily offering of the Immemorial Mass of Tradition in the catacombs (offered by true bishops and true priests who make no concessions to conciliarism or to the legitimacy of its false shepherds), by our use on a weekly basis of the Sacred Tribunal of Penance, by the time we spend in prayer before Our Lord's Real Presence in the Most Blessed Sacrament outside of Holy Mass, and by our faithful and meditative recitation of as many sets of Our Lady's Most Holy Rosary that our states-in-life permit us to pray.

May the courageous witness and holy death of Saint Bartholomew inspire us to seek the conversion of all men, including the conciliarists, to the true Faith, imploring our dear Blessed Virgin Mary to help us be so purified of our own sins that our prayers will be heard more readily and our hearts will respond more promptly to seek out the true Faith in the catacombs, far, far away from those who want to appease false religions and who call the places where devil worshipers worship as sacred.

All to you, Blessed Mother. All to your Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, we love you. Save souls!

Viva Cristo Rey! Vivat Christus Rex!

Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us now and the hour of our death. Amen.

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 Bartholomew, pray for us.

Saint Philip Benizi, pray for us.

Saint Jane Frances de Chantal, pray for us.

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, pray for us.

Saint John Eudes, pray for us.

Saint Hyacinth, pray for us, pray for us.

Saint Agapitus, pray for us.

Saint Helena, pray for us.

Saints Joachim and Anne, pray for us.

Saint Clare of Assisi, pray for us.

Saint Athanasius, pray for us.

Saint Irenaeus, pray for us.

Saints Monica, pray for us.

Saint Jude, pray for us.

Saint John the Beloved, pray for us.

Saint Francis Solano, pray for us.

Saint John Bosco, pray for us.

Saint Dominic Savio, pray for us.

Saint  Scholastica, pray for us.

Saint Benedict, pray for us.

Saint Joan of Arc, pray for us.

Saint Antony of the Desert, 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 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 Anthony of Padua, pray for us.

Saint Basil the Great, 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.

Saint Louis de Montfort, 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.

Father Maximilian Kolbe,M.I., 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.