RORATE CÆLI: October 2017

Guest Article: Martin Luther 500 Years later: prophet or revolutionary? Key-points of a thought surprisingly current

Martin Luther 500 Years later: prophet or revolutionary?
Key-points of a thought surprisingly current

By Fr Serafino M. Lanzetta

This day marks the quincentenary of Martin Luther’s protest with his 95 theses in Wittenberg. It is common to trace back to that 31st October 1517 – supposedly the day when Luther nailed his theses to the door of the Cathedral – the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, although not all historians share this view. In fact, the real Lutheran turning point is not to be found in Luther’s protest against indulgences, but rather in his “Tower experience” (or of “the latrine”, as Luther also puts it, cf. Table Talks, 3232c), which will represent the Durchbruch, the ‘compelling passage’ to the Reformation and will be ‘official’ with the year 1520, when Luther composed his De captivitate babilonica Ecclesiae, offering his new doctrine about sacraments in relation to grace.

The event of this anniversary has been greeted with unexpected emotion and enthusiasm in the Catholic world. For example, Cardinal Kasper, in a recent little book on Luther from an ecumenical prospective, has encouraged us to look at the former Augustinian monk as a new St. Francis of Assisi who wanted simply to live the Gospel with his brethren; Luther should be enumerated “in the long tradition of Catholics reformers that have preceded him”. Very recently, Msgr. Galantino, the secretary of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, said that “the [Lutheran] Reform was an event of the Holy Spirit”.

Cast out by Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, the Devil, false religion, and the heresiarch Martin Luther fall from heaven while an angel of God burns Luther's heretical writings and mistranslated German Bible -- from the fresco that Johann Michael Rottmayr (1656 –1730) painted within the dome of Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI's Karlskirche in Vienna, Austria.

While the Vatican officially celebrates heresy, schism, blasphemy, sacrilege and iconoclasm [that is to say, Protestantism], let faithful Catholics instead join with the saints and angels in celebrating the Church's eternal triumph over Protestantism's assaults on the Faith which she achieved through Leo X's bull Exsurge Domine and the decrees of the Council of Trent, which infallibly and irreformably anathematise the false teachings of the Protestants.

Bergoglio Vatican celebrates Protestant Revolt with a stamp

This is just revolting. They do not even pretend it is not a true celebration of Luther, as the reproduction of the hagiographic

image of Luther and Melanchton makes clear.

This is the same hierarchy that expels its precious few young people from Brussels Cathedral for praying the Holy Rosary in front of a Lutheran pastor -- the beads are probably a "microagression" that "offends" heretics.

***

What truly happened on October 31, 1517?

On All Hallows' Eve, a perverted monk in Upper Saxony, possessed by the prince of darkness, divided Christendom forever, and deprived billions of souls of Sacramental life.

500 years of Protestant Revolution: Must-read account of the Life and Errors of Luther (by Bp. William Adrian)

Fifty years ago, on the 450th anniversary of the Protestant revolt, The Wanderer published Bp. William Adrian's detailed account of the life of German heresiarch Martin Luther. In a few words: Luther was a pervert obsessed with his own sins and temptations, who thought it impossible to try to be a better person: from there arise all his issues.

We have received special permission from The Wanderer to reprint this piece, which should be read by everyone interested in the history of the past five centuries.

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450th Anniversary of Luther

Bishop William Adrian (Nashville, Tennessee)

The Wanderer

September 21, 1967

In presenting the picture of Martin Luther I want to be completely objective, and rely on the authority of some of the most reputable scholars available, many of whom are non-Catholics.

Luther on his deathbed

During the last century, especially since 1883, the four hundredth anniversary of the birth of Luther, there have been two Luthers – one of panegyric, romance and fiction, and the other the Luther of fact. Since the 450th anniversary of the beginning of the Protestant Reformation is being commemorated this year, these TWO Luthers are still being presented. Only recently an ardent clerical Catholic ecumenist wrote that the Catholic Church now admits that it has been wrong all along about Martin Luther, and that he really deserves to be canonized as a saint. On the other hand, most historians presenting facts give quite a different account. These facts about Luther I will briefly present, and let you be the judge.

Dr. Guilday, former history professor at the Catholic University, summed up the work of Luther’s life this way: “The cleavage of Luther from the Catholic Church was not caused by opposition to the Papacy, but by the false idea, which seems to have haunted him unto obsession – his total impotency under temptation. It was this negation of the moral value of human action – this denial of man’s ability to overcome sin – which led to his famous doctrine of the worthlessness of good works. The only hope he had was a blind reliance on God, whose Son, Jesus Christ, had thrown around him the cloak of his own merits. From this starting point it was facilis descensus Averni. Opposition to all good works, and particularly to Monastic regulations and to Indulgences, led to opposition to authority – Episcopal and Papal.”

The facts of Luther’s life bear out the truth of this statement.

Catholics praying Hail Mary removed by Police from Brussels Cathedral during "Reformation Celebration"

It must be one of the most shameful episodes of our shameful hierarchy of atrocious bishops.

In Brussels Cathedral, the 500 years of the hideous acts of heresiarch Luther were celebrated. What did a small group of serious Catholics do? They pleaded Our Lord for forgiveness, by invoking the aid of Our Lady in the Ave Maria.

The result? These brave Catholics were forcibly removed from the Cathedral by the Police, certainly called by Cathedral staff.

Removed. By the Police. For praying to Our Lady. In a Catholic church. Video below:

Sermon for Christ the King: Catholic Paralysis following Vatican II Threatens Very Foundation of the Church

by Fr. Richard Cipolla

St. Mary's

Norwalk, Connecticut

Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth.”
(John 18:37-38)

The Feast of Christ the King was added to the Roman Calendar in Pope Pius XI’s Encyclical Quas Primas on December 11, 1925. This was the time of a most troubling interlude between the two World Wars that devastated two generations. It was also a troubled time for the Catholic Church. This time was the beginning of the rise of the understanding of an ideal government as purely secular. This was also the time when the so called Roman question had not been resolved, the question being the dispute regarding the temporal power of the popes as rulers of a civil territory in the context of the Italian Risorgimento. It ended with the Lateran Pacts between King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy and Pope Pius XI in 1929.

The Pope was quite explicit in why he thought it necessary and salutary to institute this feast for the whole Church. The date, the last Sunday in October, was chosen because it was the Sunday before All Saints Day, when the manifestation of the kingdom of Christ is seen in the glorious holiness of the saints in heaven; also because it was near the end of the liturgical year, and finally, because that Sunday had been traditionally observed as Reformation Sunday by Protestants.

From a reader:

Why did Pope Pius XI, when he established the Feast of the Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ with his encyclical Quas Primas un 1925, not choose for it the last Sunday of the liturgical year (as Paul VI did later for his new mass), but rather the Last Sunday in October?

The short answer is simple: Christ the King is the Anti-Luther. The Lord is not the king of this or that German princedom, changing doctrines according to the whim of the moment. He's the King of the Universe, unchanging and unchangeable. As a counter-feast of the "Reformation Sunday" Protestants celebrate on the last Sunday in October, Pius XI proposed Our Lord, King.

- For a longer and more detailed explanation, please read this 2014 post by our contributor Dr. Peter Kwasniewski.

Event: All Souls high Mass in Colorado with Victoria 4-part Requiem

On the Feast of All Souls, thanks to a generous donation from a sponsor who wishes to remain anonymous, the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Choir will sing the 4-part Requiem mass written by Tomas Luis da Victoria more than 400 years ago. Our Lady of Mount Carmel is an apostolate of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter.

This work represents a simple beauty in the style of Renaissance Polyphony. Victoria, a dedicated Catholic and devout priest, wrote this Mass after returning from Rome in exercising the duties of his new post as chaplain to the Dowager Empress Maria at the convent of Las Descalzas Reales in Madrid.

Most likely, he had been studying with the famous Vatican composer Giovanni Palestrina while in Rome. He gave us in his own music some of the most beautiful and mystical sacred art known in the Catholic Church.

The choir will also be singing the 15th-century Spanish versions of the chant that is associated with Victoria's music. The OLMC choir will be joined by the professional voices of the Vittoria Ensemble and singers from the area.

Consecrated on May 9, 549 (yes, A.D. 549, no number missing) by Bishop Maximian, in a Ravenna that was the most important Italian outpost of the Roman Empire led by Justinian, the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe is one of the most important and truly beautiful religious buildings in the world.

Vestments, Images, Pious Objects: the "Republican Left of Catalonia" (ERC), then as
now a hardline anti-Catholic party and current backbone of Catalan secessionism, was behind thousands of deaths of Catholic martyrs in Catalonia, and scenes such as the one above -- piles of objects ready to be burned in a bonfire in the main square of Vich, Barcelona Province, Spain (1936)

It was 2006, our first full year. And, as we commemorated the grievous massacres of Catholics in 1936-1939 in our first special series, "The Passion of Spain", the then-Socialist central Spanish government negotiated with the Catalan regional government a new Charter of Autonomy, the "Estatut".

The seeds of the problem that ecloded this Friday, the pseudo-independence of the northeastern Spanish region of Catalonia, were all present in that Estatut, whose most radical ideas would end up being declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court. What is interesting to recall is that the Leftism already present in that text is the central axis of the Catalonian secessionist movement today, whose backbone is formed by the extreme-left ERC (that martyred thousands of Catholics in 1936-38) and the ever more extreme and Anarchist CUP.

Is Catalonia a "nation"? Not exactly. It is a part of a regional nationality, in a sense, but if it's defined by a language, then many people in other Spanish regions and in the French Roussillon also speak it. What is most important, though, is that what we now call Catalonia was never an independent nation. Its earliest version, after the first waves of the Reconquista, was the County of Barcelona, which very soon merged with the domains of the Kingdom of Aragon, the lord of Northeastern Iberia, to form the larger Kingdom of Aragon. As the same dynasty, the Trastámaras, reigned over both Aragon and the Western Iberian kingdom of Castile, the stage was set for one of the most succesful political matches in History, the founding moment of Spain: the wedding of Ferdinand of Aragon and his second cousin Isabella of Castile in 1469.

The territories of northeastern Spain were, therefore, since the very beginning, constituent and leading regions of Spain. And Catholicism was, long before any language, the cement that kept it together.

We pray for a united Spain, all languages and peoples around the Immaculate Virgin. Only the faith in the Immaculata will preserve the Unity of Spain. It seems impossible now, as disintegration seems sure, as we foresaw in 2006 ("ready to be partitioned"), if not now then not far into the future. But how much more impossible did the Spanish epic that transformed the world after 1492 seem before Covadonga?

As it happened after Luther's revolt, and in the Kingdom's firm promotion of Trent, we pray that Spain will once again be a bulwark of Catholicism. "For with God nothing will be impossible."

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Our editorial from 2006:

500 Years of Protestant Revolution - (2) Luther Prince of Heresy: Why Luther is the heresiarch par excellence

In solemn and mournful remembrance of the events surrounding the grievous actions of Martin Luther, that split Europe and deprived hundreds of millions of souls of the benefits of sacramental life, we will post again important articles on the matter.

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From 2011:

Pierre Le Gros
Religion Overthrowing Heresy and Hatred
Chiesa del Santissimo Nome di GESÙ all'Argentina, Rome

This is a special two-part series for this month of the Protestant revolt based on a conference delivered by Don Pietro Leone Monselice* on the theological work of the man who caused so much hurt and pain to Holy Mother Church, the "prince of the heresiarchs", as Don Pietro appropriately calls him.

_____________________________________

[FIRST PART]

In Nomine Patris et Filli et Spiritus Sancti. Amen

In these times of great ignorance and radical confusion, and when even Catholics of the highest levels of the hierarchy are pleased to praise Martin Luther, we would like briefly to present and evaluate his theology.

I The theology of Martin Luther

Event tomorrow: Bishop Schneider to visit North Carolina

The Charlotte Latin Mass community and Saint Ann parish in Charlotte, North Carolina, will host His Excellency Bishop Athanasius Schneider on Thursday 26 October at 7 p.m. for the 2nd annual commemoration to Blessed Karl of Austria and Christ the King.

According to our friends in Charlotte:

Another personal parish for New England

Last year it was announced the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter was given permission by the Diocese of Manchester, New Hampshire, to establish the first personal parish in New England in the United States, offering the traditional Latin Mass and sacraments in Nashua, New Hampshire. Rorate visited that parish -- Saint Stanislaus -- last month, and the growth is quite impressive.

This month the Institute of Christ the King announced it has been invited into the Diocese of Bridgeport, Connecticut, to start an oratory at Saints Cyril and Methodius parish.

Francis v. Sarah

Responses and comments -- or not -- by a pope are rarely accidental. When four cardinals asked Pope Francis to clarify the pro-divorce language in Amoris Laetitia the questions have been ignored for so long that half of the cardinals have since died. The remaining two still look forward to an answer.

Yet when Francis has a mission, anything (or anyone) standing in its way gets dealt with by the most humble, charitable and non-judgmental pope in the history of the Roman Catholic Church.

The most recent example is Magnum Principium, his motu proprio to toss translations of the novus ordo into the hands of bishops conferences instead of under the authority of the Apostolic See. Apparently "and with your spirit" is too difficult for the average Catholic to comprehend, and "in order that the renewal of the whole liturgical life might continue" translations of the novus ordo will vary country to country, without concern someone at the Vatican could veto "and also with you" as an English translation of "et cum spiritu tuo". Back to the 1970s goeth the novus ordo.

Yesterday, Rorate was roaming the Pennsylvania countryside, and needed a traditional Latin Mass that didn't require a ride two hours into Washington, D.C. A friend from the area recommended we check out the new(er) TLM at St. Mary's Church in downtown Hagerstown, MD. And we're really glad we did.

500 Years of the Protestant Revolution - (1) How Luther viewed the Holy Roman Church (Strong Language)

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Martin Luther and the Catholic Church

a guest-post by John R. T. Lamont (2016)

"HERE I STAND":
Luther's version of the "NON SERVIAM"(Gedaechtniskirche, Speyer)

A number of favourable comments about Martin Luther have been made by Catholic authorities to mark the occasion of the 500^th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017. In particular, the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, whose president is Cardinal Kurt Koch, has issued a Catholic-Lutheran ‘Common Prayer’ for 500 years of Reformation together with the Lutheran World Federation. This ‘Common Prayer’ includes the following prayers: ‘Help us to rejoice in the gifts that have come to the Church through the Reformation’, and ‘The ecumenical journey enables Lutherans and Catholics to appreciate together Martin Luther’s insight into and spiritual experience of the gospel of the righteousness of God, which is also God’s mercy’; ‘Thanks be to you O God for the many guiding theological and spiritual insights that we have all received through the Reformation.’ This is not of course an initiative of the magisterium of the Church, but it is as effective in forming the beliefs of Catholics as a magisterial statement, since it is presented in the media as a position of the Church. This initiative urgently requires comment and criticism from faithful Catholics.

Event: Conference Tomorrow - Protestant Reformation...or Revolution? (Sleepy Hollow, NY)

How the religious upheaval ignited by Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli changed Western Civilization -- with the presence, among others, of Dr. John Rao and Christopher Ferrara.

[Click on image for larger view:]

Our friends at Romanitas Press have just produced a trial version of their mobile Android app of the 2017 Ordo for the traditional Roman Missal and Breviary (1962) — and it's only 99 cents. The 2018 version for both Android and Apple should be available next month.

This digital version of the Ordo for Android devices is not only handy for the traveling clergy who follow the traditional missal and breviary, but also for the laity as a mobile liturgical calendar for attending the traditional Mass.

This Ordo app is easy to use and each entry lists the class of the day, proper Mass (or options), Office’s color, and variable parts of the Mass and Breviary. Also included are helpful notes such as when a Requiem Mass is prohibited — and specifically for pastors, pulpit announcements of the liturgical year.

De Mattei: The Correctio filialis and the Laudatio of Pope Francis

The Correctio filialis and the Laudatio of Pope Francis

Roberto de Mattei

Corrispondenza Romana

October 18, 2017

After three weeks the first organized response to the Correctio filialis has appeared: a Laudatio published on the web, signed by a group of priests and intellectuals prevalently from the Austrian-German domain. (http://www.pro-pope-francis.com/).

The image above is taken from

Come sorrowing tears, the offspring of my grief,
Scant not your parent of a needful aid;
In you I rest the hope of wish'd relief,
By you my sinful debts must be defray'd:
Your power prevails, your sacrifice is grateful,
By love obtaining life to men most hateful.

New Francis Synod Called to Approve Married Priesthood

Yesterday, immediately following the canonization of 35 saints (including 33 Martyrs, 30 of whom were murdered by a Protestant-led horde during Holy Mass), Pope Francis announced the convocation of a Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the "Pan-Amazonic" region, that is, the regions of the Amazon area in various South American countries. The gathering will take place in Rome in October 2019.

The assembly was called supposedly to address indigenous natives' concerns.

But we know better.

Pope Pius XII

In 1952 Pope Pius XII said the following, in a public address recorded among his official acts:

Even when it is a question of the execution of a condemned man, the State does not dispose of the individual's right to life. In this case it is reserved to the public power to deprive the condemned person of the enjoyment of life in expiation of his crime when, by his crime, he has already disposed himself of his right to live.

In 2017 Pope Francis spoke, in a not dissimilar context:

Event: Bishop Schneider to visit Kansas City

We have been metering out the public schedule of His Excellency Bishop Athanasius Schneider, who will visit the United States this month for numerous Masses and events, including in Connecticut, Washington, D.C., and Wisconsin. On 28-29 October, he will be in Missouri for a pontifical High Mass for the feast of Christ the King, with the Institute of Christ the King, and a conference on Blessed Karl.

De Mattei: Fatima 100 Years later. A Marian call for the whole Church

Conference of Prof. Roberto de Mattei

Buckfast Abbey, Devon, England
12-13 October 2017

The historical framework of the Message of Fatima

The message of Fatima is aimed at the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This is its essence, as Father Joaquin Alonso (1938-1981) [1], Father Serafino Lanzetta[2] and other authors have grasped well. The prophecy contained in the message of July 13^th 1917 has its culminating point in the promise: “In the end My Immaculate Heart will triumph”. It’s important to emphasize that this promise is unconditional[3].

However, there is another dimension, no less important, which deserves our attention and which I intend to focus on. It‘s the prophecy, that says, if the world doesn’t convert a great chastisement will befall it. Fatima isn’t a generic call to prayer and penance, it is, above all, the announcement of a chastisement and the final triumph in history of Divine Mercy.

In the vast horizon of private revelations, the Fatima apparitions have their own characteristic: their very close relationship with history. The great apparitions of Our Lady in the 19^th century – Rue du Bac (1830), Sant’Andrea delle Fratte (1842), Lourdes (1858) while shedding light on their times, don’t have direct historical references.

COLUMBUS IS OURS -- Let us rejoice!

Monastery of Sant Jeroni de la Murtra, near Barcelona,
where the Catholic Monarchs welcomed Columbus back from the Indies in 1493

Now that four centuries have sped since a Ligurian first, under God's guidance, touched shores unknown beyond the Atlantic, the whole world is eager to celebrate the memory of the event, and glorify its author. Nor could a worthier reason be found where through zeal should be kindled. For the exploit is in itself the highest and grandest which any age has ever seen accomplished by man; and he who achieved it, for the greatness of his mind and heart, can be compared to but few in the history of humanity.

Event: Bishop Schneider to visit La Crosse, Wisconsin, for lecture and pontifical Mass

An announcement from our friends in La Crosse, Wisconsin:

October 13, 2017: SSPX Rosary Crusade following the example of Polish Catholics

SSPX Italian District
Bulletin

Risultato immagine per images of rosary crusade

The Italian District of the Society of Pius X [hereby] adheres to the initiative by the AIASM (Italian Association Marian Sanctuaries Companions), following the marvelous example of the Polish Catholics, thus:

On October 13^th at 17.30 everyone is invited to recite the Holy Rosary, accompanied by fasting and sacrifice.

Event: Bishop Schneider to offer Blessed Karl pontifical High Mass

Last year, His Excellency Bishop Athanasius Schneider visited the U.S. in October for a nine-day schedule of pontifical Masses and lectures, including offering the annual Mass in Washington, D.C., on the feast of Blessed Karl of Austria. This month the bishop will again visit the U.S. for several events and offer a pontifical High Mass on 21 October, at 1 p.m., for the feast of Blessed Karl.

Mass at St Walburge's, Preston

The Institute of Christ the King have made a succession of very exciting announcements about their apostolate in the north west of England, historically the most Catholic part of the country.

In addition to the landmark church, the 'Dome of Home', the Church of SS Peter & Paul and St Philomena, in the Wirral, in the Diocese of Shrewsbury, which they have run since 2012 thanks to Bishop Mark Davis, they were given the magnificent Church of St Walburge's, Preston, in the Diocese of Lancaster, which boasts the tallest spire of any parish church in England, in 2014, by Bishop Michael Campbell.

In July, Bishop Campbell gave them another historic church, close to St Walburge's: the Church of St Thomas of Canterbury and the English Martyrs.

LEPANTO!

Lepanto

"The highest moment that the centuries ever witnessed." (Cervantes)

We cannot but recall that four great Roman Pontiffs came from the Dominican ranks. Of these, the last, St. Pius V, won undying gratitude from Christianity and civil society. He joined together, after unceasing efforts, the arms of the Catholic princes, and under the patronage of the Virgin Mother of God, whom, therefore, he ordered to be saluted in future as Help to Christians, destroyed forever at Lepanto the power of the Turks.

Francis: We must join cultural revolution to see Church's "weaknesses and shortcomings"

The Francis Revolution may be going into hyperdrive. Video below courtesy Rome Reports:

FRANCIS: “There is a real cultural revolution on the horizon of history at this time. The Church must, first and foremost, be part of it. In this perspective, it is essential to honestly recognize her weaknesses and shortcomings.”

A Catholic pope. Speaking of joining in a "cultural revolution." Let that sink in.

Office of Prime -- As suggested by the U.S. Bishops to the Laity in 1889

In 1889, a simplified office of Prime in English was recommended for morning prayer by the American bishops who also produced the Baltimore Catechism. Predating both the Vatican II changes and the Breviary revisions of St. Pius X in 1911, this office is an organic American development that is also firmly rooted in a continuous Roman tradition going back to St. Benedict.

Prime in the "Baltimore Office" consisted of two invariant Psalms for all seven days of the week (53 and 118), proper antiphons for Sundays and weekdays, and, characteristically, the Creed of St. Athanasius (Quicumque Vult) for Sundays.

Fastiggi & Goldstein vs. Shaw: responses

Robert Fastiggi and Dawn Eden Goldstein have done me the honour of a reply, at some length, to my post, in my comments box. I want to take this as seriously as possible, so I paste it in below, in full, in bold, with my replies to each point.

Dear Dr. Shaw,

Correctio: a challenge for Fastiggi and Goldstein

You know you've had an influence when the Vatican Insider addresses you by name.

Correctio Filialis: a first appraisal

Roberto de Mattei

Corrispondenza Romana

October 4, 2017

On September 25th, the day after the publication of the Correctio filialis to Pope Francis, Greg Burke, the spokesman for the Vatican Pressroom, with condescending irony, denied the news diffused by Ansa, which had reported that access to the site of the Correctio had been blocked by the Holy See: “Do you really think we would do this for a letter with 60 names?” The director of the Pressroom, who judges initiatives on the basis of the number of “followers” , might be interested to know that www.correctiofilialis.org, eight days after being put online, had more than 180 thousand individual visitors and 330 thousand page visits.

We are happy to announce that the Society of St Hugh of Cluny and St. Mary’s parish, Norwalk, Connecticut are sponsoring a conference and mass on Thursday, October 19 at St Mary’s Church. The conference and mass commemorate the tenth anniversary of Summorum Pontificum. The proceedings will be as follows:

Event: Pontifical Solemn High Mass in New Jersey

We at Rorate are very found of the good Bishop Serratelli and urge everyone in the area to attend:

Reminder: Rorate Caeli Purgatorial Society

This is our monthly reminder to please enroll Souls of the Rorate Caeli Purgatorial Society. Over the last 30 days we've added another wonderful priest dedicated to bringing relief to loved ones enrolled by our readers. We now stand at 83 priests saying weekly or monthly traditional Latin Masses for the Souls.

** Click here to download a "fillable" PDF Mass Card to give to the loved ones of the Souls you enroll. It's free for anyone to use. **

Priests: The Souls still need more of you saying Mass for them! Please email me to offer your services. There's nothing special involved -- all you need to do is offer a weekly or monthly TLM with the intention: "For the Souls enrolled in the Rorate Caeli Purgatorial Society." And we will always keep you completely anonymous unless you request otherwise.

How to enroll souls: please email me at athanasiuscatholic@yahoo.com and submit as follows: "Name, State, Country." If you want to enroll entire families, simply write in the email: "The Jones family, Ohio, USA". Individual names are preferred. Be greedy -- send in as many as you wish and forward this posting to friends as well.

New York Times publishes op-ed on TLM in Nigeria

We continue to believe one of the greatest benefits of the otherwise dreadful Francis Effect is the unification of traditional and conservative camps within the Catholic Church, recognized by even the mainstream media. Today, a senior editor at First Things has an op-ed on the traditional Latin Mass movement in Nigeria. Published in the New York Times. Take a moment to unpack all that.

The piece, printed on page seven of the "Sunday Review" in today's New York Times, looks at the ordination of Father Charles Ike, FSSP, a charming, smart, friendly priest ordained for the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter in Nigeria on the feast of the Assumption seven weeks ago. The op-ed then gives a snapshot of the history of the TLM restoration and perspectives from communicants there.

Is Amoris Laetitia really Thomistic and against “decadent scholasticism”? Let’s hear what the Angelic Doctor says

Luisella Scrosati

La Nuova Bussola Quotidiano

April 11, 2016

After the publication of the Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio (1981), as likewise the Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Reception of Eucharistic Communion by the Divorced-Remarried of 1994, an appeal has been made to the principle of epikeia, in order to “bypass” the prohibition present in these documents, regarding the admission of the divorced and remarried to the Sacraments, basing it on the fact that particular cases cannot simply be deduced by universal laws.

According to its contesters, the positions expressed in such documents – as those likewise clearly taught in Veritatis Splendor – would represent a very legalistic vision of the Christian life, which would neither take into account the complexity of situations nor mercy. Similar observations we have heard a number of times in the words of Cardinal Kasper, who appealed for a broader vision, more attentive to people’s concrete life situation, more merciful. In that context the German Cardinal indicated the road to follow was the principle of epikeia. These are attractive considerations, as each of us would like to share, at a deep level, a prospective which doesn’t create man for the law, but the law for man. At the same time however, we need to leave the dynamic of slogans and actually see how things stand.

In 1969, the future Pope Benedict XVI, then Fr. Joseph Ratzinger, wrote that criticizing papal statements was not only possible, but even necessary, to the extent that the pope might deviate from the Deposit of Faith and the Apostolic Tradition. Pope Benedict XVI included these remarks in his 2009 anthology of his writings, Fede, ragione, verità e amore. These remarks, which we now publish below in English translation, are particularly relevant in light of the filial correction of Pope Francis last week:

"HERE I STAND": Luther's version of the "NON SERVIAM"(Gedaechtniskirche, Speyer)

"HERE I STAND":
Luther's version of the "NON SERVIAM"(Gedaechtniskirche, Speyer)