FromRome.Info Video, recorded tonight at Santa Maria Maggiore.
ALL ARE INVITED TO JOIN US IN PRAYER AT MIDNIGHT EACH NIGHT, IN FRONT OF THE BASILICA OF SANTA MARIA MAGGIORE AT ROME
Intro
In the year of Our Lord 1820, God revealed to Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich that the Church of Rome would one day be attacked from within. That there would be two popes: one false and dark, who strove to found a new Religion which would be the home of every heretic and apostate: one true and aged, who would be paralyzed by inaction and silence.
To drive the Church of Darkness out of the Church of Rome, it was revealed to her that Our Lady asked the faithful to gather at Midnight in front of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, here at Rome, and pray with arms outstretched, in the form of the Cross, for the space of at least 3 Our Fathers.
Prayers being said Tonight at Rome
In nomine Patri et Filii et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.
Pater noster qui es in coelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum; adveniat regnum tuum, fiat voluntas tua, sicut in coelo et in terra. Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie, et dimitte nobis debita nostra, sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos a malo. Amen.
Padre nostro che sei nei cieli, sia santificato il tuo nome; venga il tuo regno; sia fatta la tua volontà, come in cielo così in terra. Dacci oggi il nostro pane quotidiano, e rimetti a noi i nostri debiti come noi li rimettiamo ai nostri debitori, e non ci indurre in tentazione, ma liberaci dal male». Amen. (3 volte)
Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our Daily Bread, And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen. (3 times)
Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto, Sicut erat in principio, et nunc et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.
NOTE: Since, Bl. Anna-Katerina Emmerich had this vision in 1820, before the invention of time zones, midnight here should be understood in solar time, which at Rome makes midnight occur at 12:22 AM, presently, and thus the hour of midnight would be 11:52 AM to 12:52 AM. Try to say your prayers in that hour.
This Novena is explained and announced here in English, and here in Italian, in each place the citations from Bl. Emmerich about these prayers are given.
PLEASE NOTE: That until From Rome Info Video Channel at Youtube gets 1000 subscribers, it will NOT be able to broadcast the Nightly Prayers Live. So let all who are devoted to Jesus Christ, Our Lady and Bl. Ann Catherine Emmerich know that they need to urge subscriptions to this channel, so that we can promote the fulfillment of Our Lady’s Request for Her Heavenly-Approved prayer solution to the present Crisis in the Church.
To put a Newspaper ad calling Catholics at Rome to this pray vigil, will cost 2000 euros. Help us spread the word by a generous contribution here below. Our Lady promised victory, let us mobilize everyone to the battle!
Cardinal Viganò, as an expert diplomat of proven record, in response to the letter from Cardinal Re, writes in support of Cardinal Zen, in an open letter.
First the Italian Original (source), and then my English translation.
Eminenza Carissima,
sono l’arcivescovo Carlo Maria Viganò, già Nunzio Apostolico negli Stati Uniti d’America.
Ho seguito con profonda partecipazione, condividendo la Sua sofferenza nella preghiera, i Suoi numerosi accorati Appelli a papa Bergoglio, per la drammatica situazione della Chiesa Martire in Cina, che lui stesso ha colpevolmente aggravato con il proditorio e sciagurato Accordo segreto firmato dalla Santa Sede con il Governo Comunista Cinese.
I Suoi accorati Appelli, Caro Fratello in Cristo, sono rimasti sistematicamente inascoltati e persino derisi in modo ipocrita e perverso. Quanto al Cardinale Parolin, ha agito da mero sconsiderato esecutore di un malvagio ordine superiore.
Ho letto stamane la ignominiosa e vergognosa Lettera che il Card. Giovanni Battista Re ha indirizzato a tutti i cardinali contro di Lei. Ne sono profondamente rattristato e indignato, e desidero esprimerLe tutto il mio affetto, la mia preghiera e la mia solidarietà fraterna nell’episcopato.
Lei è un coraggioso Confessore della Fede a cui va tutta la mia venerazione e ammirazione!
Purtroppo la menzogna in Vaticano è eretta a sistema, la verità è totalmente stravolta, l’inganno più perverso è spudoratamente praticato anche dai più insospettabili, che ora si prestano ad agire da strumenti complici dell’Avversario. Si è giunti addirittura ad affermare che “papa Benedetto XVI aveva approvato il progetto di Accordo” firmato nel 2018, quando invece tutti sappiamo della sua strenua resistenza e della sua reiterata riprovazione delle condizioni poste da un Regime persecutorio e sanguinario.
Il Vaticano ha fatto di tutto e di più per consegnare nelle mani del Nemico la Chiesa Martire Cinese: lo ha fatto siglando il Patto segreto; lo ha fatto legittimando “vescovi” scomunicati, agenti del regime; lo ha fatto con la deposizione di Vescovi legittimi; lo ha fatto imponendo ai Sacerdoti fedeli di registrarsi presso la chiesa succube della dittatura comunista; lo fa quotidianamente tacendo sulla furia persecutoria che proprio a partire da quell’infausto Accordo è andata inasprendosi in un inaudito crescendo. Lo sta facendo ora con questa ignobile missiva a tutti i cardinali, volta ad accusarLa, a denigrarLa e ad isolarLa.
Nostro Signore ci assicura che niente e nessuno potrà mai strappare dalla Sua mano coloro che resistono al nemico infernale e ai suoi accoliti, trionfando su di loro “per mezzo del Sangue dell’Agnello e grazie alla testimonianza del loro martirio” (Ap. 12, 11).
Il Vostro esempio, Caro Cardinale, e il prezzo altissimo che state pagando per difendere la Causa di Dio e della sua Chiesa, provochi in noi un salutare scossone, ci strappi dall’inerzia e dall’assuefazione con le quali assistiamo supini alla resa della Chiesa Cattolica nei suoi più alti vertici e nella sua gerarchia, all’eresia e all’apostasia, per essersi messa a seguire il Principe di questo mondo, menzognero e omicida sin da principio.
Parce, Domine, parce populo tuo,
quem redemisti, Christe, sanguine tuo,
ne in aeternum irascaris nobis.
+ Carlo Maria Viganò
Arcivescovo tit. di Ulpiana
Nunzio Apostolico
Now my English translation:
Your dearest Eminence,
I am Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the former Apostolic Nuncio to the United States of America.
I have followed, with profound attention and sympathy, Your suffering in prayer, your numerous heartfelt Appeals to pope Bergoglio, for the dramatic situation of the Martyred Church in China, which he himself has culpably aggravated with the prodigious and wretched secret Accord signed between the Holy See and the Communist Government of China.
Your heartfelt Appeals, dear Brother in Christ, have gone systematically unheeded and even derided in a hypocritical and perverse manner. As much as regards Cardinal Parolin, he has acted as the mere inconsiderate executor of a malign order of his superior.
I read, this morning, the ignominious and shameful Letter which Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re has addressed to all the Cardinals against You. I am deeply saddened and indigant on this account, and I desire to express to You my entire affection, my prayer and my fraternal solidarity in the Episcopate.
You are a corageous Confessor of the Faith who has all my veneration and respect!
Unfortunately, systematic lying is now the structure of the Vatican, truth has been entirely turned on its head, and the most perverse deceit is shamelessly practiced even by the most unexpected persons, who no present themselves to act as complicit instruments of the Adversary. They have gone so far as to affirm that “Pope Benedict XVI approved the project of the Accord” which was signed in 2018, when, on the contrary, everyone knows of his strenuous resistence and of his repeated reproval of the conditions proposed by Regime of persecutors and blood-letters.
The Vatican has done everything and even more to consign the Martyred Church of China into the hands of the Enemy: it did this by signing the secret Pact; it did this by legitimizing excommunicated “bishops”, agents of the regime; it did this by deposing legitimatte Bishops; it did this by imposing puon faithful Priests the duty to register at the local church subjected to the Communist Dictatorship; it does this daily by remaining silent at the mad persecution which indeed after the signing of this inauspicious Accord grows worse and worse in an unheard of crescendo. It is doing this now with this ignoble missive to all the Cardinals, aimed at accusing You, at denigrating You and at isolating You.
Our Lord assures us that nothing and no one can ever snatch from His Hand those who resist the infernal enemey and his altar-boys, as He shall triumph over them “by means of the Blood of the Lamb and thanks to the testimony of their martyrdom” (Apocalypse 12:11).
Your example, dear Cardinal, and the very high price which you are paying for defending the Cause of God and of His Church, provokes in us a salutary response, it snatches us from idleness and from accomodation with those who supinely assist at the surrender of the Catholic Church by Her highest officers and in Her hierarchy, to heresy and apostasy, so as to follow the Prince of this world, a liar and a murderer from the beginning.
Parce, Domine, parce populo tuo,
quem redemisti, Christe, sanguine tuo,
ne in aeternum irascaris nobis.
+ Carlo Maria Viganò Arcivescovo tit. di Ulpiana
Nunzio Apostolico
As always, I do not think I need to add anything to this most noble letter. Let us pray for Archbishop Viganò and Cardinal Zen, that they are led by this event to see that Pope Benedict XVI is the true Pope and that Cardinal Bergoglio is a usurper, a destroyer and a false prophet.
I had put some hope in Cardinal Re, I see that my hope was greatly misplaced. Here is my English translation of the Letter of the Cardinal Dean, made public today, attacking Cardinal Zen for denouncing the betrayal of Catholics in China. By this Letter Cardinal Re has definitively joined the dark side. First the Italian original, then my own English translation. Prot. N. 1/2020 means that this is the very first letter Cardinal Re has written in his capacity as Dean of the College.
Vaticano, 26 febbraio 2020
Prot. N. 1/2020
Signor Cardinale,
Con riferimento ai vari interventi pubblici del Card. Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, S.D.B., e in particolare alla lettera del 27 settembre 2019, che il Vescovo emerito di Hong Kong ha inviato a noi membri del Collegio cardinalizio, sento il dovere di condividere alcune considerazioni e di offrire elementi che favoriscano una serena valutazione di questioni complesse riguardanti la Chiesa in Cina.
Desidero anzitutto far risaltare che, nell’approccio alla situazione della Chiesa cattolica in Cina, c’è una profonda sintonia di pensiero e di azione degli ultimi tre Pontefici, i quali – nel rispetto della verità – hanno favorito il dialogo tra le due Parti e non la contrapposizione. In particolare essi avevano in mente la delicata e importante questione della nomina dei Vescovi.
Cosi San Giovanni Paolo II, se da una parte favorì il ritorno alla piena comunione dei Vescovi consacrati illecitamente nel corso degli anni a partire dal 1958, e nel contempo fu suo desiderio sostenere la vita delle comunità “clandestine” che erano guidate da Vescovi e sacerdoti “non ufficiali”, dall’altra promosse l’idea di pervenire a un Accordo formale con le Autorità governative sulla nomina dei Vescovi. Tale Accordo, la cui stesura ha preso molto tempo, più di un ventennio, è stato poi firmato a Pechino il 22 settembre 2018.
Il Card. Zen varie volte ha affermato che sarebbe stato meglio nessun Accordo piuttosto che un “brutto Accordo”. I tre ultimi Pontefici non hanno condiviso tale posizione e hanno sostenuto e accompagnato la stesura dell’Accordo che, al momento attuale, è parso l’unico possibile.
In particolare, sorprende l’affermazione del Porporato che «l’accordo firmato è lo stesso che Papa Benedetto aveva, a suo tempo, rifiutato di firmare». Tale asserzione non corrisponde a verità. Dopo aver preso conoscenza di persona dei documenti esistenti presso l’Archivio Corrente della Segreteria di Stato, sono in grado di assicurare a Vostra Eminenza che Papa Benedetto XVI aveva approvato il progetto di Accordo sulla nomina dei Vescovi in Cina, che soltanto nel 2018 è stato possibile firmare.
L’Accordo prevede l’intervento dell’autorità del Papa nel processo di nomina dei Vescovi in Cina. Anche a partire da questo dato certo, l’espressione “Chiesa indipendente” non può più essere interpretata in maniera assoluta, come “separazione” dal Papa, così come avveniva in passato.
Purtroppo, c’è lentezza nel trarre in loco tutte le conseguenze che discendono da tale cambiamento epocale sia sul piano dottrinale che su quello pratico e permangono tensioni e situazioni dolorose. È impensabile, d’altra parte, che un Accordo parziale – l’Accordo tocca, infatti, solo il tema della nomina dei Vescovi – cambi le cose quasi in maniera automatica e immediata anche negli altri aspetti della vita della Chiesa.
Il Card. Zen, valutando gli “Orientamenti Pastorali della Santa Sede circa la registrazione civile del Clero in Cina”, del 28 giugno 2019, scrive: «Si firma un testo contro la fede e si dichiara che l’intenzione è di favorire il bene della comunità, un \evangelizzazione più adeguata, la gestione responsabile dei beni della Chiesa. Questa norma generale è ovviamente contro ogni principio di moralità. Se accettata, giustificherebbe l’apostasia» (vedi “Dubia”). Gli “Orientamenti Pastorale”, al contrario, sono stati pensati proprio per salvaguardare la fede in situazioni talmente complicate e difficili da porre in crisi la coscienza personale.
Il Porporato, poi, nella sua lettera parla anche dell’ «uccisione della Chiesa in Cina da parte di chi dovrebbe proteggerla e difenderla dai nemici» e, in particolare, in un’intervista, si rivolge ai cattolici con queste parole: «attendete tempi migliori, tornate alle catacombe, il comunismo non è eterno» (“New York Times”, 24 ottobre 2018). Si tratta, purtroppo, di affermazioni molto pesanti che contestano la stessa guida pastorale del Santo Padre anche nei confronti dei cattolici “clandestini”, nonostante che il Papa non abbia mancato di ascoltare ripetute volte l’Em.mo Cardinale e di leggere le sue numerose missive.
Caro confratello, questo sofferto intervento del Card. Zen ci aiuta a comprendere quanto sia ancora difficile il cammino della Chiesa in Cina e quanto complessa la missione dei Pastori e del Santo Padre! Siamo, pertanto, tutti chiamati a unirci strettamente a Lui e a pregare intensamente affinché lo Spirito Santo lo sostenga e sostenga le comunità della Chiesa cattolica in Cina, che pur nella sofferenza da lungo tempo mostrano la loro fedeltà al Signore, nel cammino della riconciliazione, dell’unità e della missione a servizio del Vangelo.
Augurando ogni bene, cordialmente saluto
Card Re
English translation:
Lord Cardinal,
With reference to diverse public statements by Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, S. D. B., in particular to his letter of September 17, 2019, which he send as Bishop Emeritus of Hong Kong to us members of the College of Cardinals, I feel the duty to share some considerations and to offer my own contributions which fvor a serene evaluation of these complex questions in regard to the Church in China.
I desire, first of all, to point out, that in the approach to the situation of the Catholic Church in China, there is a pround agreement of thought and of action among the last three Pontiffs, which — in respect of the truth — has favored dialogue between the two Parties and not their opposition. In particular, they had in mind the delicate and important question of the nomination of Bishops.
Thus, Saint John Paul II, if he favored in part the return to full communion of the Bishops illicitly consecrated in the course of the years beginning in 1958, and at the same time had the desire to support the life of the “underground” community which was led by “un-official” Bishops and priests, on the other hand he promoted the idea of arriving at a formal Accord with the governing Authorities on the nomination of Bishops. Such an Accord, the composition of which took much time, more than 20 years, was signed at Peking on Sept. 22, 2018.
Cardinal Zen has affirmed several times that no Accord would have been better than a “brutal Accord”. The last three Pontiffs did not share such a position and have supported and accompanied the crafting of the Accord which, at the present, appeared to be the only one possible.
In particular, the affirmation of the Cardinal that “the signed accord is the same which Pope Benedict had, in his own time, refused to sign” is a surprising one. Such an assertion does not correspond to the truth. After having taken cognizance of the documents existing in the Current Archive of the Secretary of State, I am able to assure Your Eminence that Pope Benedict XVI approved the project of the Accord on the nomination of Bishops in China, which was only able to be singed in 2018.
The Accord foresees the intervention of the authority of the Pope in the process of nominations of Bishops in China. Even from this certain fact, the expression, “independent Church” cannot be interpreted in an absolute manner, as “separation” from the Pope, as it has been in the past.
Unfortunately, there is a delay in seeing all the consequences in practice which derive from such an epochal change both on the doctrinal plane and on the practical one and there remain tensions and sorrowful situations. It is unthinkable, on the other hand, that a partial Accord — the Accord touches upon, in fact, only the theme of the nomination of Bishops — changes the things as if in an automatic and immediate manner even in the other aspects of the life of the Church.
Cardinal Zen, in evaluating the “Pastoral Orientations of the Holy See on civil registration of the Clergy in China”, of June 28, 2019, writes: “A test contrary to the Faith is signed and it declares that the intention is to favor the good of the community, a more adequate evangelization, a responsible care of the goods of the Church. This general norm is obviously against every principle of morality. If accepted, it would justify apostasy” (see “Dubia”) The “Pastoral Orientations”, on the contrary, have been thought out precisely to safeguard the Faith in such complicated and difficult situations which would put personal conscience in a crisis.
The Cardinal, then, in his letter speaks also of the “slaughter of the Church in China by the party which should protect Her and defend Her from Her enemies” and, in particular, in an interview, addresses Catholics with these words: “wait for better times, return to the Catacombs, communism is not eternal” (New York Times, Oct. 24, 2018). This deals, unfortunately, with very heavy affirmations which contest the very pastoral guide of the Holy Father even in his relations with “underground” Catholics, not withstanding that the Pope has not omitted to listen repeatedly to the Eminent Cardinal and to read his numerous missives.
Dear confrere, this anguished intervention of Cardinal Zen helps us to understand how much the path of the Church in China is still difficult and how complex is the mission of Shepherds and of the Holy Father! Consequently, we are all of us called to be closely united with Him and to pray intensely so that the Holy spirit support HIm and support the communities of the Catholic Church in China, which although suffering for a long time, shows their fidelity to the Lord, in the path of reconciliation, of unity and of mission in the service of the Gospel.
Wishing you all good, I cordially salute you,
Cardinal Re
This letter is an outrage. It claims that the heretical and schismatic church is part of the Catholic Church, that the disagreement it has with the underground Church is a mutual fault which needs to be reconciled, and that the betrayal of 30 million Catholics to the wolves who wish to devour them is a work of the Holy Spirit and was approved by Pope Benedict!
Notice, he says he makes this statement on the basis of documents in the Secretary of State, while omitting whether he spoke with Pope Benedict XVI. If what he says is true, why not have Benedict XVI verbally confirm it?
It further attempts to exploit the pleas of Cardinal Zen to support the disastrous accord. Finally, it is the epitome of presumption to lecture a Chinese Cardinal about affairs in China and pretend that the Accord is something good for the Church.
I think it is very clear from this letter, which is the side chosen by Cardinal Re, and I fully believe that if there are any sane men left in the College of Cardinals that this letter will cause an uproar in the next consistory.
If the Cardinal truly means what he says, I dare him to propose the same kind of agreement for the nomination of Bishops with president Trump of the USA. The implication of this letter is that Marxism is good for the Church and that force to make Catholcis comply with Marxism is good for the faithful. Get ready for world wide persecution initiated by the Vatican! This letter is therefore most ominous.
___________
CREDITS: The Featured Image is copyright by ClearWisdom.net, and is taken from here. It shows what happens to anyone who is caught practicing an un approved religion or religioius discipline in China. It shows to undercover policement forcible siezing a praticioner of Falun Gong in Tianamen Square, Peking.
Today we continue our perusal of the sacred repertoire of Adrian Willaert, with his Ave Maria, which in the Fifteen Century was an antiphon for Marian Feasts. The sublime reverence and polyphonic composition evokes the grace and nobility of Saint Gabriel the Archangel who uttered these words and who undoubtedly was accompanied by a host of Angelic persons on his august mission to propose the Salvation of the world, to the Holy Virgin.
The Ave here is not that which we say today, but includes a more elaborated paraphrase of the Angel’s words and ends with a prayer from the faithful: Ora pro nobis.
This performance is by the Oxford Cammerata.
At 5 P.M., FromRome.Info brings you a selection of sacred music from Catholic composers throughout the ages, for your edification and to help us all realize how profoundly inimical the Aggiornamento has been to Catholic worship.
And when Jesus had heard that John was delivered up, he retired into Galilee: And leaving the city Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capharnaum on the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and of Nephthalim; That it might be fulfilled which was said by Isaias the prophet:
Land of Zabulon and land of Nephthalim, the way of the sea beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles: The people that sat in darkness, hath seen great light: and to them that sat in the region of the shadow of death, light is sprung up.
From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say: Do penance, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
The world has always hated the truth. The truth of God, the truth of marriage and the truth of morality.
For this reason, there can be no true religion among men, unless God descend from Heaven and bring it to men. For all men are liars, as scripture says, and there is no good in them, except God grant it or give it.
This is the great light which has shown in darkness, and which the darkness cannot comprehend: Truth incarnate preaching truth in human language.
The Bergoglian Cult
The cult of Bergoglio is the religious effort or insistence that he is a valid pope or a member of the Catholic Church despite his public manifest and pertinacious heresy, malicious continual attempt to undermine the Sacraments, works of schism in China and ongoing impiety regarding the Mass and the Priesthood.
The cult of Bergoglio is detected in such a devotion which precedes all use of reason, all use of the intellect and all use of the will and all facts, evidence and law. It is prior to all these things, because if any of them are admitted to be legitimate sources of knowledge or truth, then the Bergoglian cult collapses and implodes into dust, because it is built upon a house of lies.
We have seen recent examples of this with the manner of argumentation used by John Salza and Robert Siscoe, Mons. Athanasius Schneider, Ryan Grant, Canon Peters, even Louie Verrecchio etc.. They all oppose Benedict XVI because they all reject the fundamental principles of the religion of truth: namely the greatest sin of infidelity to the Lord Jesus consists in lying. This is why the sin of lying is named specifically in the Apocalypse as the one which merits souls to be cast into the pit of eternal Hell fire.
Pope Benedict XVI renounced the ministerium, not the munus, as Canon 322 §2 requires. No amount of argumentation can change the word he used from ministerium, to munus. No amount of interpretation can do it either, since no one has the right to interpret a papal renunciation! No amount of post factum evidence can alter the word used. However, any post factum evidence which shows the renunciation of ministerium and not of munus, bolsters the truth of what Pope Benedict XVI did.
There is only one side to this argument which is Catholic and which will stand the test of time and eternity. Pope Benedict XVI is still the pope. That is because that is the truth, and since God is Truth, only the truth is everlasting.
Silence in this matter is complicity. We cannot be silent when the truth is challenged. It is the most fundamental vocation of every Christian to speak the truth and to defend the truth.
____________
CREDITS: The Featured Image is a photo by Br. Bugnolo of some graffiti at Rome. The Bible passage is quoted from the Douay Rheims edition of the Bible.
Despite the attempts of Bergoglians to characterize those Catholics who remain in communion with Pope Benedict XVI as an American phenomenon, the movement grows daily across the entire globe. The canonical demonstration of that he is still the pope can now be found in at least 12 languages, which is 2 more languages than even the Vatican.va website!
This is proof that Catholics everywhere recognize the validity of the arguments and that the Holy Spirit, the Lord of all Truth, is inspiring Catholics, regardless of the language they speak, to see the truth and speak up about it. Translations of the video by Brian Murphy into the other 11 languages have taken hours of work and careful study, which shows a zeal for the message equal to its importance.
Remember, there can only be one Pope of the Catholic Church, and if you do not die in communion with him, you shall be damned eternally. To hide this truth from the faithful is an act of cowardice and the worst betrayal any member of the faithful can perpetrate. Let us preach the truth boldly: Pope Benedict XVI is still the pope, Bergoglio never was!
For the video, click on the link of the language you desire, here below:
Frank Walker: We need the Church to act, but we can make a judgement beforehand. Bishop Schneider’s Essay is a desperate attempt. Archbishop Lenga is acting reasonably.
FromRome.Info Video, recorded tonight at Santa Maria Maggiore.
ALL ARE INVITED TO JOIN US IN PRAYER AT MIDNIGHT EACH NIGHT, IN FRONT OF THE BASILICA OF SANTA MARIA MAGGIORE AT ROME
Intro
In the year of Our Lord 1820, God revealed to Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich that the Church of Rome would one day be attacked from within. That there would be two popes: one false and dark, who strove to found a new Religion which would be the home of every heretic and apostate: one true and aged, who would be paralyzed by inaction and silence.
To drive the Church of Darkness out of the Church of Rome, it was revealed to her that Our Lady asked the faithful to gather at Midnight in front of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, here at Rome, and pray with arms outstretched, in the form of the Cross, for the space of at least 3 Our Fathers.
Prayers being said Tonight at Rome
In nomine Patri et Filii et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.
Pater noster qui es in coelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum; adveniat regnum tuum, fiat voluntas tua, sicut in coelo et in terra. Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie, et dimitte nobis debita nostra, sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos a malo. Amen.
Padre nostro che sei nei cieli, sia santificato il tuo nome; venga il tuo regno; sia fatta la tua volontà, come in cielo così in terra. Dacci oggi il nostro pane quotidiano, e rimetti a noi i nostri debiti come noi li rimettiamo ai nostri debitori, e non ci indurre in tentazione, ma liberaci dal male». Amen. (3 volte)
Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our Daily Bread, And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen. (3 times)
Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto, Sicut erat in principio, et nunc et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.
NOTE: Since, Bl. Anna-Katerina Emmerich had this vision in 1820, before the invention of time zones, midnight here should be understood in solar time, which at Rome makes midnight occur at 12:22 AM, presently, and thus the hour of midnight would be 11:52 AM to 12:52 AM. Try to say your prayers in that hour.
This Novena is explained and announced here in English, and here in Italian, in each place the citations from Bl. Emmerich about these prayers are given.
PLEASE NOTE: That until From Rome Info Video Channel at Youtube gets 1000 subscribers, it will NOT be able to broadcast the Nightly Prayers Live. So let all who are devoted to Jesus Christ, Our Lady and Bl. Ann Catherine Emmerich know that they need to urge subscriptions to this channel, so that we can promote the fulfillment of Our Lady’s Request for Her Heavenly-Approved prayer solution to the present Crisis in the Church.
To put a Newspaper ad calling Catholics at Rome to this pray vigil, will cost 2000 euros. Help us spread the word by a generous contribution here below. Our Lady promised victory, let us mobilize everyone to the battle!
The Angelic Doctor, Saint Thomas Aquinas, in his Summa Theologica hands down the Catholic Tradition on the duties of the Catholic Faithful in matters where the Faith itself is put into public doubt or danger by the actions or statements of prelates, even of one’s own Bishop, when he writes:
To withstand anyone in public exceeds the mode of fraternal correction, and so Paul would not have withstood Peter then, unless he were in some way his equal as regards the defense of the Faith. But one who is not an equal can reprove privately and respectufully. Hence the Apostle, writing to the Colossians (4:17), tells them to admonish their prelate: “Say to Archippus, Fulfill thy ministry!”. It must be observed, however, that if the Faith were endangered, a subject ought to rebuke his prelate even publicly. Hence, Paul, who was Peter’s subject, rebuked him in public, on account of the imminent danger of scandal concerning the Faith, and, as the gloss on St. Augustine says, on Galatians 2:11, “Peter gave an example to superiors, that if at any time they happen to stray from the straight path, they should not disdain to be reproved by their subjects.” (Summa Theologica, II II, Q. 33, a. 4, ad 2)
First, I find remarkable, that the Monsignor has doubled down on his opinion that the canonical crime of heresy publicly posited does not cause one to lose immediately every office in the Church, both theologically and canonically. He has sustained this opinion before, against all the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, as has been shown by several other writers (refuted ably here). His attempt to do so again, by arguing that a particular passage of Gratian is spurious is simply an absurd recourse to an absurd argument. Gratian was never a magisterial authority, so whether a particular passage is authentic or not, does not change the fact that notable authors, including Pope Innocent III, before and after Gratian held the opinion that heresy causes the loss of office, for anyone whomsoever. — Is he really saying, that Innocent III taught error, because of a faulty gloss? I say that he himself, that Bishop Schneider, is teaching error on the basis of a bad hermeneutic. To claim that the Church can lose Her Faith because She cannot discern that an unauthentic gloss presents false teaching, is to say the Church has no grace of discernment in matters of the Faith, but I, Bishop Schneider, know better than them all. Who do you think you are, your Excellency? Do you think you are greater that Saint Robert Bellarmine, S. J., who is as Doctor of the Church, and who disagrees with you?
Canon 1364 makes no exceptions whatsoever for a pope. The principle of The First See is judged by no one, which is enshrined in canon 1404, regards cases before a tribunal and acts of the Roman Pontiff. It does not regard the man who is the pope, in the case of his personal faith. Because just as a man who is a heretic, is not a member of the Church, a man who is a heretic holds no office. And thus a man considered or judged on account of heresy, is not considered or judged on account of any office. This is why Canon 1364 has no exceptions and imposes an excommunication upon each and everyone who commits a public crime of heresy, schism or apostasy.
Second, as regard the Declaratio of Pope Benedict: Your excellency shows that you either do not understand Canon Law or that you do not understand causality itself. If you had apprised yourself of even some of the documents sent to you by many Catholics round the world, you can see that the Code of Canon Law — an authentic Magisterial Document which you have no right to disregard or misrepresent — itself requires for a valid papal resignation, that the act posited by the man who is the Roman Pontiff, be an act of renunciation of petrine munus. But Pope Benedict XVI never posited such an act. Statements made before or after such an act, regarding intention or signification of the act, have no bearing whatsoever on the nature of the act. If your excellency had done as much due diligence as I have, when you were in Rome, and paid a visit to Mons. Arrieta, Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Legal Texts, you would have understood that an act of papal renunciation has to be clear in itself, it cannot be subject to the interpretation of anyone, not even by the pope. For if it needs interpretation or explanation, then it is not clear, and not valid. And if the man has validly resigned, any interpretation he gives is not authoritative. Nor can a pope resign, by authoritatively interpreting an invalid act as valid, after the fact. Because Canon 332 §2 requires an act of renunciation of petrine munus: and by such it does not permit an act of resignation by means of a post-factum papal interpretation of a not clearly manifest act.
Your opinion runs contrary to Saint Alphonsus dei Liguori, C. Ss.R., a Doctor of the Church, on legal interpretation. Do you think you know better than he, who held 2 doctorates in Law, one in canon law and another in civil law?
Third, all the quotes you cite, though they have no bearing, nevertheless, do not even prove the case you make with them, as I shall show here, by quoting each and commenting:
“Among you, in the College of Cardinals, there is also the future pope to whom today I promise my unconditional reverence and obedience” (Farewell address to the Cardinals, 28 February 2013).
Since, normally speaking, all Popes were former Cardinals, this statement can be said at any time to the College of Cardinals, whether all of them are present or not. It means nothing. We all should promise our obedience to all legitimate future popes, and past popes, because our obedience is owed to the office.
“I have taken this step with full awareness of its gravity and even its novelty, but with profound interior serenity” (Last General Audience, February 27, 2013).
Howsoever aware one is of an act, does not make an act valid, unless you think you are God or that the one acting is God. Canon 332 §2 by imposing conditions upon a papal resignation and defining it as a papal renunciation of petrine munus, teaches implicitly that Pope John Paul II held invalid a renunciation of ministerium, that John Paul II judged his successor, as the man who was Pope, and that the act itself must be duly manifest, to be valid. All of which make no provision for full awareness of substantial error or novelty as a cause of validity (cf. canon 188 and 126).
“There is not the slightest doubt about the validity of my renunciation of the Petrine ministry. The only condition of validity is the full freedom of the decision. Speculation about the invalidity of renunciation is simply absurd” (Letter from February 18, 2014, to Andrea Tornielli, published in La Stampa, February 27, 2014).
The controversy over the canonical effect of the Declaratio has nothing to do with the claim that a renunciation of ministerium cannot be valid or is not valid. It has to do with the claim that the renunciation of ministerium effects the same thing as a renunciation of munus, and that it fulfills the requirements of Canon 332 §2, as not being corrupted by substantial error (cf. canon 188). Moreover, if Pope Benedict XVI thinks that liberty of action alone is the cause of a valid renunciation, then, he shows himself to be in invincible error as regards his own act, because clearly in Canon 332 §2 there are 2 causes of validity of a renunciation of munus: freedom and due manifestation. And if you think you can transpose those 2 causes of validity for an act of renunciation of munus to an act of renunciation of ministerium, to make the renunciation of ministerium a renunciation of munus, then clearly you are in error, grave error! Then your act is invalid either on account of Canons 38 when reading an administrative act in violation of 36 §2, and/or of canon 15 §1 for all such cases of error in juridical acts against canons 188 and 332 §2.
During a conversation with a journalist from the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, the former Pope Benedict XVI said: “The Pope is one, he is Francis.” These words of Benedict XVI were reported in the written edition of Corriere della Sera, June 28, 2019 and anticipated in the Italian version of Vatican News on June 27, 2019.
This statement by Bishop Schneider is amazing of itself, because it is made regarding a report which was debunked by LifeSite News just days later. I suppose, the Bishop does not read the very electronic journal which publishes his Essay. And I suppose the editors of the same electronic journal omitted fraternal correction to help him save face by repeating such a false claim. But again, maybe I suppose too much.
Fourth, your excellency, why do you quote statements by Pope Benedict regarding his intentions to prove the Act of renunciation of ministry means an act of renunciation of papal munus, and then, in the next section of your essay, tell us not to hold that the actions and statements made by Pope Benedict which clearly show his intention to hold on to the papal dignity and office are not to be interpreted thus?
The Church is a visible society. Therefore, what was essential for the fulfillment of Benedict XVI’s resignation was not his possible internal thought but what he externally declared, for the Church does not judge about internal intentions (de internis non iudicat Ecclesia). Pope Benedict XVI’s ambiguous acts, like wearing a white cassock, keeping his name, imparting the apostolic blessing, etc., do not affect the unequivocal meaning of his act of renunciation. Many of his demonstrable and unequivocal words and actions after his resignation also confirm that he considers Pope Francis, and not himself, to be the pope.
Is evidence only to be interpreted to support your theory, and not objective reality? Do you honestly think that a validly resigned pope, should dress as the Pope, sign as the Pope, give blessings as the Pope? Moreover, do you think a real pope would salute a retired pope, at Panama City, saying to the crowds: Look, Benedict, the pope!
If you want to close your eyes to facts which disprove your allegations, that is your affair, but asking the rest of the Church to do so is the very consummation of pride.
Finally, I must publicly reprove you for blasphemy against the Saints of Holy Mother Church, when you write:
Declaring Pope Francis to be an invalid pope, either because of his heresies or because of an invalid election (for reasons of alleged violations of the Conclave norms or for the reason that Pope Benedict XVI is still the pope because of his invalid renunciation) are desperate and subjectively taken actions aimed at remedying the current unprecedented crisis of the papacy. They are purely human and betray a spiritual myopia. All such endeavors are ultimately a dead end, a cul-de-sac. Such solutions reveal an implicit Pelagian approach to resolving a problem with human means; a problem, indeed, which cannot be resolved by human efforts, but which requires a divine intervention.
Many Councils, not the least of which the Council of Etampes, France, in 1130 A.D., presided over by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, and the Synod of Sutri, approved of by St. Peter Damian and Bl. Pope Victor III and Pope St. Gregory VIII, have pronounced men to be invalid popes. To say that all such endeavors are pelagian and a dead end is not only a historical lie but a blasphemy against these holy men.
For all these reasons, I publicly ask you to withdraw the false assertions of your essay, if you want to be regarded any longer by Catholics as a Bishop who is faithful to the teaching and practice of the Church over the last 2000 years. Your desire to sustain the claim of Bergoglio to the papacy is clearly not based on facts, history or canon law, and is causing grave scandal to the faithful.
The true way forward, is the Catholic way, and it was proposed today by Catholics who know their faith and accept the teaching of the Church in its entirety.
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CREDITS: The Featured Image is a screen shot of the page at LifeSite News, where Bishop Schneider’s Essay has been published. It and the citations from his essay are used here in accord with fair use standards for editorial commentary.
Today we continue our perusal of the sacred repertoire of Adrian Willaert, with his Te Deum Patrem, the Hymn of Praise chanted at Matins on Sundays.
At 5 P.M., FromRome.Info brings you a selection of sacred music from Catholic composers throughout the ages, for your edification and to help us all realize how profoundly inimical the Aggiornamento has been to Catholic worship.
A man who is led by the spirit of truth seeks the truth and investigates facts and laws to find the truth, as is necessary. He trusts but seeks confirmation and verification.
A man who is led by the spirit of falsehood seeks his own will and ignores truth and facts and laws so that he can sustain his own will, as necessary. He mistrusts and does not seek but to undermine and vilify all who disagree with himself.
A man who is led by the spirit of the truth, even if he has read all of Scripture, and all of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, he never puts himself forward as an authority, because he knows that God, Who is Truth, is the only authority, and that authority comes to us through the offices God Incarnate has handed down to men.
A man who is led by the spirit of falsehood, even if he has not read all of Scripture, nor any of the Fathers or Doctors of the Church, always puts himself forward as an authority, because he recognizes no god, as his Truth, but himself, and thus is willing to challenge or deny the authority of all who received offices from God Incarnate.
A man who is led by the spirit of truth, assents immediately to the teaching of God in Scripture, of Christ, of the Apostles, of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, of the perennial magisterium and of Canon Law. He also accepts Catholic philosophy and the natural truths of human language and all reality as it is. He considers it shameful to act in any other way.
A man who is leg by the spirit of falsehood, withholds his assent until he can calculate whether it is useful for him to assent, for he never will put in risk his own personal authority or the goal he seeks, whether that is to defraud you of your souls, money, property, family, or religious liberty. He considers it foolish to act in any other way.
We should keep in mind these two spirits and when reading the reports of any journalist, Catholic commentator, whether Cardinal, Bishop, Priest, Religious or layman, to check to see of which spirit they are, because many are the false apostles who go about today teaching things of which they have no authority to teach.
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CREDITS: The Featured Image is Christ teaching the Doctors of the Temple, by Paolo Veronese. The image is in the public domain. The painting is at the museum of the El Prado, Madrid.
The sign of a man is that he fights back when his cause is just. The sign of a Catholic Bishop is that he not only calls a heretic, “a heretic”, but that he treats him as one, that is, as one who has no jurisdiction in the Church. This is the true and ancient faith: a heretic loses all jurisdiction in the Church ipso facto. This is also the teaching of Pope John Paul II in the Code of Canon Law of 1983, canon 1364.
Accused of saying things which are improper and publicly denounced by the local Bishop — who is a former Intelligence officer of the Polish Communist State — Archbishop Lenga has gone on the warpath!
Christ gave me authority through the Church to proclaim the truth, and I’ll do so as long as I live.
I won’t yield to (canonical) degradation by those whose own statements and actions are entangled with heresy and sectarianism.
What right do they have to recall what pertains to the Church when they themselves have never upheld it?
The context of these comments appears to be this, that Archbishop Lenga has called Bergoglio and those advancing his agenda of Apostasy what they truly are, heretics. The NCR reporter, Jonathan Luxmoore writes of Archbishop Lenga:
He added that he had no wish “to belong to a church run by Protestants, Islamists and Jews,” and believed his critics should “form their own church, rather than usurping power in the Catholic Church.”
And again,
In a book-length interview, circulating in Polish on YouTube, he said he still recognized Pope Benedict XVI as pope and had dropped the “usurper and heretic” Francis from his prayer intentions after concluding he was spreading “untruths and sins” and “leading the world astray.”
In a Jan. 20 Polish TV interview, he said “many bishops and cardinals” lacked a “deep faith” and had adopted “an attitude of betrayal and destruction” by seeking to “correct Christ’s teaching,” adding that current confusion in the church indicated “the Antichrist is here.”
Archbishop Lenga is acting perfectly as a Catholic Bishop should. Let us pray to God and Our Lady, that more bishops join him and Bishop Gracida in denouncing the heretics and usurpers in the Church!
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CREDITS: The Featured Image is a photo of Archbishop Lenga from June of 2013, taken and used with permission of its author according to the terms stated here. The quotes in English attributed to Archbishop Lenga can be found in the Article cited above, and are used here in accord with fair use standards for editorial commentary. — In the quotes attributed to the Archbishop, FromRome.Info has added the honorific capital to the term church, referring to the Catholic Church, since the practice of writing, church, instead of, Church, is a masonic practice of international journalism, which FromRome.Info entirely rejects in principle.
ROMA – Feb. 28, 2020: Un grupo de católicos ha hecho hoy un llamamiento para convocar una investigación internacional sobre la corrupción en el Vaticano por todos los obispos de la Iglesia Católica “a causa del grave desorden manifiesto en los órganos de la Sede Apostólica”.
El esfuerzo está pidiendo una investigación internacional en la que las pruebas de cada cargo serán presentadas por un comité de expertos legales a un panel informal de jurados, que estará compuesto por obispos de la Iglesia Católica. El objetivo de la investigación será pedir a los jurados de los obispos que juzguen si los casos presentados son accionables y si es útil para el bien de la Iglesia que el Colegio de Obispos se reúna para escuchar los casos.
El comunicado de prensa invita a los juristas y a los obispos católicos a participar. Todas las partes interesadas deben contactar con el presidente del comité.
El comunicado de prensa oficial del grupo (ver abajo) cita el precedente del Concilio de Constanza, celebrado a principios del siglo XV, en el que 2 Papas renunciaron para poner fin al Cisma de Occidente. Entre las acusaciones que se presentan se encuentra si la renuncia del Papa Benedicto XVI mediante la Declaratio del 11 de febrero de 2013 lo separó del Oficio; si el Cónclave de 2013 fue legítimo; y si Jorge Mario Bergoglio se ha separado de la Iglesia por una herejía manifiesta pertinacia, apostasía y/o cisma. Esta última acusación, en cuanto al cisma, aparece dirigida al, así llamado, Acuerdo Vaticano con China, que ha traicionado a 30 millones de católicos a las depredaciones de ese régimen.
Todos los contactos sobre este asunto se harán a través del presidente del Comité Organizador, el Sr. Brian Murphy de God’s Plan For Life.
LLAMADO A ENCUESTA INTERNACIONAL SOBRE LA CORRUPCIÓN EN EL VATICANO
Comunicado de Prensa del comité organizador
Febrero 28, 2020
De acuerdo con el derecho de todos los fieles de la Iglesia Católica, expresado en el Canon 212 del Código de Derecho Canónico de 1983, invitamos cordialmente a los Juristas y Obispos de la Iglesia Católica a asistir a una Encuesta sobre la Corrupción en el Vaticano, para que se presente en forma canónica un libellus de quejas sobre graves irregularidades canónicas en el funcionamiento de la Sede Apostólica, para lo cual, de acuerdo con la enseñanza de Roberto Belarmino, cuando la Sede se ve impedida por una duda positiva real en cuanto a la reclamación legal del título del papado por parte de cualquier demandante, es el deber de los Obispos intervenir (Belarmino, De Concilio, II, 19), como lo hicieron en el Santo Sacrosanto y Ecuménico Concilio de Constanza.
Invitamos a Juristas a participar en un Comité de preparación para la Investigación Internacional en el cual, invitamos a los miembros del Colegio Apostólico, ya sean Cardenales, Arzobispos, Obispos o eméritos a participar.
El objetivo de la investigación es simplemente dar una evaluación pública de las pruebas y los cargos en cuanto a si sería conveniente y útil que el Colegio de Obispos se reuniera para escuchar los casos y juzgar lo que se debe hacer para instar su corrección y enmienda.
La Comisión no propone, con esta investigación, que se juzgue al Romano Pontífice, ya que la primera sede no puede ser juzgada por nadie (canon 1404), sino que, de acuerdo con el precedente establecido – que el Colegio Episcopal tiene el derecho de juzgar la reclamación de cualquier hombre de ocupar el cargo del Romano Pontífice en casos de elecciones disputadas, pérdida del cargo por herejía y renuncias inválidas – que el Colegio Episcopal actúa ahora a causa del grave desorden manifiesto en los órganos de la Sede Apostólica.
Fecha de encuesta: por ser determinada
2020
Localidad: por ser determinada
Organizado por
El Comité para la Encuesta Internacional
Brian Murphy, PhD, presidente del comité Y presidente de God’s Plan For Life, California, EEUU
Hno. Alexis Bugnolo, Lic. Antropología Cultural Presidente de Ordo Militaris, Inc., EEUU
FromRome.Info Video, recorded tonight at Santa Maria Maggiore.
ALL ARE INVITED TO JOIN US IN PRAYER AT MIDNIGHT EACH NIGHT, IN FRONT OF THE BASILICA OF SANTA MARIA MAGGIORE AT ROME
Intro
In the year of Our Lord 1820, God revealed to Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich that the Church of Rome would one day be attacked from within. That there would be two popes: one false and dark, who strove to found a new Religion which would be the home of every heretic and apostate: one true and aged, who would be paralyzed by inaction and silence.
To drive the Church of Darkness out of the Church of Rome, it was revealed to her that Our Lady asked the faithful to gather at Midnight in front of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, here at Rome, and pray with arms outstretched, in the form of the Cross, for the space of at least 3 Our Fathers.
Prayers being said Tonight at Rome
In nomine Patri et Filii et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.
Pater noster qui es in coelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum; adveniat regnum tuum, fiat voluntas tua, sicut in coelo et in terra. Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie, et dimitte nobis debita nostra, sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos a malo. Amen.
Padre nostro che sei nei cieli, sia santificato il tuo nome; venga il tuo regno; sia fatta la tua volontà, come in cielo così in terra. Dacci oggi il nostro pane quotidiano, e rimetti a noi i nostri debiti come noi li rimettiamo ai nostri debitori, e non ci indurre in tentazione, ma liberaci dal male». Amen. (3 volte)
Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our Daily Bread, And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen. (3 times)
Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto, Sicut erat in principio, et nunc et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.
NOTE: Since, Bl. Anna-Katerina Emmerich had this vision in 1820, before the invention of time zones, midnight here should be understood in solar time, which at Rome makes midnight occur at 12:22 AM, presently, and thus the hour of midnight would be 11:52 AM to 12:52 AM. Try to say your prayers in that hour.
This Novena is explained and announced here in English, and here in Italian, in each place the citations from Bl. Emmerich about these prayers are given.
PLEASE NOTE: That until From Rome Info Video Channel at Youtube gets 1000 subscribers, it will NOT be able to broadcast the Nightly Prayers Live. So let all who are devoted to Jesus Christ, Our Lady and Bl. Ann Catherine Emmerich know that they need to urge subscriptions to this channel, so that we can promote the fulfillment of Our Lady’s Request for Her Heavenly-Approved prayer solution to the present Crisis in the Church.
To put a Newspaper ad calling Catholics at Rome to this pray vigil, will cost 2000 euros. Help us spread the word by a generous contribution here below. Our Lady promised victory, let us mobilize everyone to the battle!
I write this editorial to thank each and every one of the readers of FromRome.Info for their interest and support in this new media initiative for Catholic News, Commentary and Information: the only one of its kind in communion with Pope Benedict XVI.
In this last month, FromRome.Info has had 120 thousand visits from 41 thousand visitors, with more than 1000 likes and 750 comments. During that time, FromRome.Info has published 210 articles, reports, editorials, videos and commentaries at FromRome.Info and an additional 59 videos at its new video channel, From Rome Info Video, on YouTube. The 210 articles represent nearly a third of all articles published at From Rome since its foundation in 2013.
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My hopes for FromRome.Info are to grow in into the pre-eminent Catholic source of news about the Church and the Vatican in the English speaking world: which is not controlled by the Vatican or any particular interests but serves Jesus Christ, the Eternal Truth Incarnate.
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Today we continue our perusal of the sacred repertoire of Adrian Willaert, with his O Salutaris Hostia, the Antiphon inspired by the poem by Saint Thomas Aquinas for the feast of Corpus Christi.
At 5 P.M., FromRome.Info brings you a selection of sacred music from Catholic composers throughout the ages, for your edification and to help us all realize how profoundly inimical the Aggiornamento has been to Catholic worship.
ROME – Feb. 28, 2020: A group of Catholics, today, has issued a call to convene an international investigation into Vatican Corruption by all the Bishops of the Catholic Church “on account of the manifest grave disorder in the organs of the Apostolic See”.
The effort is calling for a international inquest at which the evidence for each charge will be presented by a committee of legal scholars to an informal panel of jurors, who will be comprised of Bishops of the Catholic Church. The goal of the inquest will be to ask the Bishop jurors to judge whether the cases presented are actionable and whether it is now useful for the good of the Church that the College of Bishops meet to hear the cases.
The Press Release invites both legal scholars and Catholic Bishops to participate. All interested parties are to contact the chairman of the committee.
The group’s official press release (see below) cites the precedent of the Council of Constance, held at the beginning of the 15th Century, wherein 2 Popes resigned to end the Western Schism. Among the charges to be brought are whether the Renunciation of Pope Benedict XVI by means of the Declaratio of Feb. 11, 2013 separated him from the Office; whether the Conclave of 2013 was legitimate; and whether Jorge Mario Bergoglio has separated himself from the Church by pertinacious manifest heresy, apostasy and or schism. This last charge, regarding schism, appears directed at the so called Vatican Accord with China, which has betrayed 30 million Catholics to the predations of that regime.
All contacts about this matter are to be made through the Chairman of the Organizing Committee, Mr. Brian Murphy of God’s Plan for Life.
CALL FOR INTERNATIONAL INQUEST INTO THE CORRUPTION AT THE VATICAN
Press Release of the Organizing Committee
February 28, 2020
In accord with the right of all the faithful in the Catholic Church, as expressed in Canon 212 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law, we cordially invite the Legal Scholars and Bishops of the Catholic Church to attend an Inquest on Corruption in the Vatican, so that there may be presented in canonical form a libellus of complaints about grave canonical irregularities in the functioning of the Apostolic See, for which, in accord with the teaching of Robert Bellarmine, when the See is impeded by a real positive doubt as to the legal claim to the title of the papacy by any claimant, it is the duty of the Bishops to intervene (Bellarmine, De Concilio, II, 19), as they did at the Holy Sacrosanct and Ecumenical Council of Constance.
We invite legal scholars to participate in a Committee of preparation for the International Inquest at which, we invite members of the College of Apostles, whether Cardinals, Archbishops, Bishops, or emeriti to participate.
The goal of the inquest is merely to give a public evaluation of the evidence and charges as to whether it would be suitable and useful for the College of Bishops to convene together to hear the cases and judge what is to be done to urge their correction and amendment.
The Committee does not propose, by this Inquest, that the Roman Pontiff be judged, since the first see can be judged by no one (canon 1404), but rather, in accord with the established precedent — that the College of Bishops has the right to judge the claim of any man to hold the office of the Roman Pontiff in cases of disputed elections, loss of office by heresy, and invalid renunciations — that the College of Bishops now act on account of the manifest grave disorder in the organs of the Apostolic See.
Date of Inquest: to be determined, in Second or Third Quarter of 2020 Location: to be determined
Organized by
the Committee for the International Inquest
Brian Murphy, PhD, Committee Chairman and President of God’s Plan For Life, CA, USA
Br. Alexis Bugnolo, B.A. Cultural Anthropology, President Ordo Militaris Inc., USA
Eric Mayoral, B.A., USA
Sean Hyland, B.A., Germany
Fr. Walter Covens, Martinique
Committee Contact: Brian Murphy 1-949-235-4045
brian@godsplanforlife.org
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CREDITS: The Featured Image of the Vatican from the Via della Conciliazione is by FromRome.Info.
Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen could not recall a time in his life when he did not want to be a priest. At his First Communion, he prayed that one day he would be ordained to the priesthood. That day came in September 1919, when the 24-year-old son of Newton and Delia Sheen was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Peoria, Illinois, USA.
Sheen would become a towering figure in the Catholic Church in the 20th century, known to millions as a brilliant orator, a master teacher of the faith on television and radio, in many dozens of books, and from the pulpit. But for more than 60 years, Sheen was first, foremost and always a priest. His priesthood was more than a vocation, more than life’s work, and even beyond his identity. It was his essence, lifeblood; indeed his very nature. Or, as he often described it, Christ’s nature dwelling in him.
Sheen wrote and spoke often about the priesthood. He gave many retreats later in life to remind his brother priests who and what they truly are. Even more than 40 years after his death, Sheen’s teachings stand as a faithful sentinel against modernist wishes to “reform” the priesthood by dispatching with celibacy and even changing the all-male nature of the priesthood. It is easy to imagine him today before a podium and microphone, explaining in stirring tones and rich voice why Our Blessed Lord made the holy priesthood as He did. It’s easy because he gave those talks and wrote passionate words about his vocation and his life in persona Christi.
Celibacy and masculinity are the very defining characteristics of the Catholic priesthood, Sheen said.
Alter Christus; Ambassadors of Christ
Sheen emphasized that priests were ambassadors of Jesus Christ and alter Christus, “other Christs,” who are “dispensers of the mysteries of God.” The role and essential characteristics of the priesthood come from Christ Himself, Sheen said; meaning to attempt to change or modify them would be to oppose God’s divine plan. Christ calls the priest, makes the priest and provides the grace for him to completely offer himself as priest and victim.
“This is the way he continues the priesthood of Our Blessed Lord,” Sheen said in his talk, “Holy Orders.”1 “Our Lord was not a priest because He was eternally begotten by the Father. Our Lord was a priest because He had a human nature, which He could offer up for our salvation. And so we too, continuing that priesthood, are something like Jacob’s Ladder — it reaches up to the heavens and yet at the same time it is placed on the earth. Therefore every priest is a kind of another Christ, having vertical relations to Christ and Heaven and horizontal relations to men on earth.”
What Sheen described across the many decades of his ministry is a beautiful, divinely appointed plan under which ordained men continue Christ’s saving work as his priests, and a woman, the Blessed Virgin Mary, represents the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ. “Mary at the foot of the Cross was the symbol of the Church,” he said. “Our Lord on the Cross was the New Adam. She was the New Eve.”2 Writing in his book The Priest Is Not His Own, Sheen continued: “The priest first gives up the earthly love of a woman, as Mary gave up the earthly love of a man. His ‘I have no knowledge of woman’ balances her ‘I have no knowledge of man’ ” (Luke 1:34).3
Total Gift of Self
In his many retreats for priests and bishops, Sheen often said that priestly celibacy is misunderstood as an undue burden; a cruel cross that is unfairly forced upon priests. Rather, celibacy is a gift from Christ to His priests. That gift comes with the supernatural grace to maintain and protect it. “For anyone to say that Christ was forced on us is just as false as to say that any gift such as celibacy is forced on us,” Sheen said. “It is not man’s gift to God, it is God’s gift to man.”4
Celibacy, Sheen said during one retreat, is a treasure the the Blessed Lord keeps in “pots of earthenware.” The earthenware pots “have received a gift. A gift: celibacy. That is the way Our Lord describes it, as a gift. That is the way the Vatican council describes it. Celibacy is a gift that is given to some men. He gave it to us. We did not offer celibacy, we received it. And as long as we remain close to Him, we will have it and keep it.”5
Because it comes from God, celibacy is not an impossibility for priests, Sheen said. It is one of three so-called “impossibles” mentioned in the Gospels. One is the Virgin Birth. The second is poverty, shown by the rich man who went away sad because Christ called him to donate all of his possessions and follow Him. The third was celibacy, which Christ described when discussing the types of eunuchs.
In Sheen’s autobiography, Treasure in Clay, he quotes Christ: “ ‘There are eunuchs born that way from their mother’s womb. There are eunuchs made by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves that way.’ Then He spoke of celibates who do not marry ‘for the sake of the Kingdom of God,’ finally giving away the secret of how men could be celibate. He called it a gift. He said that celibacy is not for everyone. It is only for those who receive from Him this gift. It is ‘only for those to whom it is granted. Let anyone accept this who can.’ ”6
In his magnum opus Life of Christ, Sheen wrote that when Jesus recommended celibacy, the disciples objected to the severity of the teaching because they feared it would dissuade men from entering marriage. “His answer shows that they understood His meaning. Their error was in failing to realize to what sacrificial heights He would summon men for the sake of His Kingdom.”7
In his priest retreat, “Restoring the Vineyard,” Sheen asked, “Why was the Lord, why was He a celibate? And why does he ask us? He asks in order that we might be able to make a totally committed love without division and without compromise. Just to be totally His.”8
The gift of self by priests is manifested in part through being in service at all times, day and night. “There is no such thing as saying at the end of a day, ‘Well I’ve done my duty for the day.’ Rather, Our Lord said we have to call ourselves unprofitable servants. …Labor union rules are not sufficient for us. We belong to a different union, where love, not hours, is the standard. When we think of all Our Lord has done for us, we really can never do enough. The word ‘enough’ does not exist in love’s vocabulary.”9
The limits demanded by celibacy are among the distinguishing characteristics by which the priesthood can be identified, Sheen said. “How do you know the identity of Honolulu? How do you know the identity of the Philippines? How do we know the identity of the state of New York? How do we know the identity of a football field? By its boundaries. By its limits.”10
Fire or Diamonds?
Sheen said the key is for priests to be so closely conformed to Christ as to take on His nature and imitate Him. “Celibacy is hardest when we fall out of love with Christ,” Sheen wrote. “Then it becomes a great burden. Once we priests put celibacy in the context of the Church and discuss its history, its sociology and the like, there is a groaning under the burden. Once we see it in relation to Christ, then it is less a problem and more a matter of love. Celibacy as an ecclesiastical law is hard. Celibacy as a question of discipleship is hard too, but bearable and joyful.”11
Sheen always implored priests to make a daily Holy Hour before the Blessed Sacrament, a practice he carried out every day of his priesthood (nearly 22,000 Holy Hours). Any priest who does this, he said, would not be lost. “I could draw a curve of my own life … my attitude toward celibacy would be seen always in direct relationship to my personal love of Christ. Once our passions cease to burn for Him, they begin to burn toward creatures. Celibacy is not the absence of passion; it is rather the intensity of a passion.”12
Sheen cited two men who gave up love of a woman for community ideals: Gandhi, who did so for the “untouchables” in India’s caste social system, and former United Nations Secretary Dag Hammarskjöld, who practiced celibacy for world peace. Unknowingly, Sheen wrote, these men were saying the same thing as St. Paul: “An unmarried man can devote himself to the Lord’s affairs. All he need worry about is pleasing the Lord. But a married man has to bother about the world’s affairs and devote himself to pleasing his wife. He’s torn in two ways” (1 Cor 7:32-34).13
“If a man gives up freedom for a woman he loves, then it is also possible for a man to give up a woman for Christ,” Sheen wrote. “Love in the service of celibacy rises and falls with the love of Him. Once Christ becomes less regnant in human hearts, something has to take over to fill the vacuum.”14
Christ on the Cross and in the Eucharist are the touchstones on the question of celibacy, he said, underscoring the need for the daily Holy Hour. “The more we fall away from response to that gift, the less we want to look at a crucifix, the less we want to visit the Lord in His Sacrament. We become like the man who crosses the street when he sees a bill collector on the other side. The Cross, therefore, is where Heaven and hell meet. It is a hell when we see the part we have played in His Crucifixion by our infidelity. It is Heaven when we remain faithful, or when we fly again to His feet for pardon.”15
The sex drive can be transformed, Sheen said, with a focus on Christ’s presence dwelling in His priests. “Carbon may either become fire or it may become a diamond. The libido may be spent or it may be harbored. It may seek unity with another person without, but it may also seek unity with another person within, namely God. …So celibacy is not just the renouncing of the person outside but a concentration on the person inside. God is not out there. He is in us: ‘I will abide in you and you will abide in Me.’ Celibacy is a transformer which multiplies an energy within to concentrate entirely on Christ Who lives in the soul.”16
Priests are imitating Christ, carrying a cross to prolong His redemption, Sheen said. The more closely they follow Christ, all the easier to be His. “If I belong to the new humanity which was born originally of a Virgin, why should I not live in exclusivity for the Master? I never felt? I gave up love in taking the vow of celibacy; I just chose a higher love.”17
Priestly celibacy and marriage are both honorable vocations, but should not be compared like some competing ideals, Sheen said. “…It is like arguing about the relative perfection of the right leg over the left. Both want God, and the degree of possession does not depend upon the state of life, but on the degree of response to the grace that God gives. The celibate is working for the Kingdom of God by ‘begetting children in Christ’ in baptism; the married by having children through the profound unity of two in one flesh. God has two kinds of lovers — those who go directly to the ultimate, such as the celibate, and those who go mediately through marriage.”18
The begetting of children in Christ, Sheen wrote, is a higher form of generation that uses the energy that would otherwise serve the flesh and transforms it into chaste generation of the Spirit. “What a blessed life is ours. What a beautiful role celibacy plays when it facilitates a higher kind of generation, when it inspires the priest to imitate the Father in begetting The Word, to imitate the Christ who begot us in the Spirit as alter Christus.”19
Priests must so closely conform themselves to Christ, Sheen said, that they are not mere followers or servants, but douloi — slaves. The Greek word doulos (δοῦλος) is used nearly 50 times in the New Testament to refer to Christ. “How then do we really become true liberators?” Sheen asked in one retreat for priests. “When do we begin to be effective at liberating souls from evil, having power over nature? Now here comes the paradox of Christianity. By being slaves. Slaves of Christ. That’s what we are. The douloi of the Good Lord.”20
That work, Sheen said, is to liberate people from evil, not to liberate them from morality, family life, the Church or the Commandments. “ ‘Thanks be to God, who continually leads us about, captives in his triumphal procession.’ That’s what we are. Captives in Christ’s triumphant procession. ‘And everywhere uses us to reveal and spread abroad the fragrance of the knowledge of Himself’ ” (2 Cor 2:14-15).
“So that is what we are. The secret is out,” Sheen said. “Christ has won the battle; only the news has not yet leaked out. And we, we are slaves in Christ’s triumphal procession.”21
Priesthood and Nuptials
Sheen said the idea of women as priests comes from a fundamental misunderstanding not only of the priesthood, but God’s divine plan.
“Mary was not a priest. If her Divine Son wanted women to be priests, He would have made His own mother a priest. The woman is a symbol of the Church.”22
The key to the all-male priesthood is found in Scripture’s many references to marriage nuptials, Sheen said. “Why in the divine, biblical order can they (women) not be priests? Is it because we want a monopoly on it? Certainly not. It is because the whole divine order is based on nuptials. Creation began with nuptials —the nuptials of man and woman in the Garden of Eden. Then there came the nuptials of Israel and God. In the prophet Hosea we read, ‘I, your Creator am your husband.’ See how the natural and the divine order are linked together?”23
In the Old Testament, God tells Hosea to marry a harlot. Despite her unfaithfulness to Hosea, God tells the husband to take her back. “She is the symbol of Israel,” Sheen said. “ ‘Israel is my bride.’ Unfaithful. Disloyal. Disobedient. But I will always love Israel.”
In the new order, Sheen said, we have not just the nuptials of man and woman, “but the nuptials of divinity and humanity in the Incarnation of Our Blessed Lord. Then on the Cross we have the nuptials of God-man and the New Israel, which is the Church. And out of this marriage, a bridegroom and bride on the Cross, the New Adam and the New Eve, there begins the new progeny. John the firstborn. Then it multiplies at Pentecost and it has been multiplying ever since. So nuptials becomes the foundation of the covenant order. God continues it.”24
Christ referred to the woman who touched the hem of his cloak and was healed “my daughter” (Matt 9:20). He called the apostles “my children.”
“There are other ways of begetting,” Sheen said in his talk, “Pots of Earthenware.” “The Word is the seed. The seed is The Word. And The Word gives the seed to the earth, The Word gives the seed to the Church. Every time we mount the pulpit, The Word is the seed. Man gives the seed. The woman receives the seed. She fecundates it, nourishes it, brings it to life, educates it, caresses it, loves it, so that in the new order we have Christ and His Bride, the Church.
“Now those who want women to become priests no longer want the bridegroom Christ to have a bride. Should not they be proud of the fact that they symbolize the bride, which is the Church? As we have to be proud of symbolizing Christ Himself, and the Church is the ecclesial Body of Christ.”25
After 60 years and nearly three months of priesthood, Sheen died while making his Holy Hour before the Blessed Sacrament, just one day after the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception in December 1979.
“We cannot live without love,” Sheen once said, “and if we’re in love with Him, oh he provides the means. We have all the joys of another kind of love, that love that leaves all other love a pain; the unpossessed that makes possession vain.”26
FOOTNOTES
1 Sheen, Fulton J., 12:24 mark, “Lesson 35: Holy Orders,” The Sheen Catechism: Fulton Sheen Audio Library,FultonSheen.com and CatholicVault.com. Sheen’s audio talks are available in various other places on the internet.
2 Sheen, Fulton J., “Mary and the Mass,” Various Topics: Fulton Sheen Audio Library,FultonSheen.com and CatholicVault.com. Sheen’s audio talks are available in various other places on the internet.
3 Sheen, Fulton J., The Priest is Not His Own, (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2004), location 3885 of 3996, Kindle version, Amazon.com.
4 Sheen, Fulton J., Treasure in Clay: the Autobiography of Fulton J. Sheen, (New York: Image Books/Doubleday, 1980); Page 211, Kindle version at Amazon.com.
5 Sheen, Fulton J., “Pots of Earthenware,” Prayer, Suffering and the Spiritual Life: Fulton Sheen Audio Library,FultonSheen.com and CatholicVault.com. Sheen’s audio talks are available in various other places on the internet.
6 Sheen, Treasure in Clay, Page 212.
7 Sheen, Most. Rev. Fulton J., Ph.D., D.D., Life of Christ, (New York: Image Books/Doubleday, 2008); Page 194, Kindle edition at Amazon.com.
8 Sheen, Fulton J., “Restoring the Vineyard,” What a Priest Should Be: Fulton Sheen Audio Library,FultonSheen.com and CatholicVault.com. Sheen’s audio talks are available in various other places on the internet.
9 Sheen, “Lesson 35: Holy Orders.”
10 Sheen, Fulton J., “Holy Ambassadors — Other Jesuses,” Venerable Fulton J. Sheen: Priesthood,KeeptheFaith.org Saddle River, N.J.
11 Sheen, Treasure in Clay: the Autobiography of Fulton J. Sheen, Page 214.
12 Ibid.
13 Ibid., Page 217.
14 Ibid.
15 Ibid.
16 Ibid.
17 Ibid., Page 222.
18 Ibid., Page 210.
19 Sheen, The Priest is Not His Own, Location 792 of 3996.
CREDITS: The image of Sheen at his desk is a photo from October, 1956 and in the public domain. — Sheen in front of the bookshelf, is a photo from 1952, in the public domain, being now the property of the U.S. Library of Congress.
Part I: Seditious Sojourners in the Kingdom of England
If the Jewish Virtual Library (JVL) is to be believed, it seems as if one day, the Catholic Monarchs of England, France and Spain, during respective centuries, decreed spontaneously that Jews were no longer welcome in the Kingdom, necessitating imprisonment, asset stripping and deportation. In reality, such a decree is a very complicated legal and logistical step which no head of state would take lightly: how are debts to be settled? Where and when are the Jews to go, and how? What is to be done with abandoned property? Not even a mentally impaired monarch would undertake such a step without both grave underlying causes, and serious consideration. However, the only cause cited by the JVL is anti-semitism. Peculiarly, no Jewish behaviors are ever mentioned. Thus goes Jewish historiography on expulsions from Catholic Kingdoms, with the unjustifiable a priori presumption that only irrational Jew-hate explains the cause, like some pandemic virus coursing through the air from one Christian to the next, targeting and persecuting innocent and unsuspecting denizens of the synagogue. Such cartoonish and false history is fodder for simpletons, or those who read only comic books; but such is what most Catholics today believe about their own ancestors, and sadly also about themselves.
Historical lessons are often reducible to the same principles which govern interpersonal relations; that is, at times the events of centuries past are more easily understood by drawing analogies with the manners in which people do (or do not) get along. Let us consider first such an analogy. A man is sacked by his employer and then complains to his friends, “they didn’t appreciate me,” he groans. “All the credit that I deserved always went to others,” is followed by the inevitable “there’s something wrong with that place.” All of which seems reasonable except to the friends of the man in question, who are subject to the man’s repetitious complaints far too often, because in reality he loses every job he takes within a short period of time. Sooner or later, a true friend will challenge the man by telling him that when one has been fired from one hundred jobs, maybe the problem lies not with one’s employers, but with the person getting fired all the time.
To history now can be linked this lesson in which reality itself seems to beggar life’s participants to stop simply blaming everyone else and examine oneself. Question: Is there any people on earth who have known banishment or expulsion in excess of one hundred times? Answer: the Jews have known expulsion in excess of one hundred instances. Why were Jews banished so many times? To ask this question is to enter the minefield of historiography, but let’s begin with a sample of what the JVL says:
On July 18, 1290, shortly after money lending was made heretical and illegal in England, Edward I expelled the Jews from England, making England the first European country to do so.
{France} Phillip IV the Fair ascended to power in 1285. In 1305, he imprisoned all the Jews and seized everything they owned except the clothing on their backs. He expelled 100,000 Jews from France and allowed them to travel with only one day’s provisions
…the date 1492 has been almost as important in Jewish history as in American history. On July 30 of that year, the entire Jewish community, some 200,000 people, were expelled from Spain.
Bribery, Fraud & Usury
The first stop of Catholic history’s counter-narrative is England of the late thirteenth century, ruled by the House of Plantagenet, and is related to us by French author Hervé Ryssen via his concisely written History of Antisemitism (see PDF at Cognitive Gateway’s Gateway Reader Page.)
Plantagenet King Henry III (1227-1272) showed great kindness to Jews. Of Henry, Ryssen writes:
Henry, the son of King John and Isabelle of Angouleme, favoured the immigration of Jews and protected them against the common people. (21)
In fact, so favorable was King Henry’s treatment of England’s Jews that late in his reign (1263-64) a revolt of the Barons took place:
The Jews were accused of serving as the tools of royal oppression, and the communities of London, Cambridge, Canterbury and Lincoln were convulsed by riots. At Worcester, Simon de Montfort expelled all the Jews from their lands after declaring all outstanding debts to them null and void. At London, in 1264, more than 500 Jews were massacred; their houses pillaged and their synagogues destroyed. (2)
Now if Henry were an oppressive monarch, and the Jews his tools, then his death ought to have ended the problem. Edward succeeded him, and in 1275 issued The Statutum de judaismo, which included prohibitions against usury. (3) Now the Jews were wont to lend money to landed nobility at low interest rates of five percent or less, in exchange for the nobles’ pledge of physical protection. Once obtained, Jews would then lend to peasants at a compound interest rate of up to forty percent. Unsophisticated peasantry often found themselves ruined by such financial predation, but the Jews having the barons’ guardianship, would persist in their usurious practices until the peasants were forced to take matters into their own hands. Hence the wise prohibitions in Edward’s statute were intended to keep matters from spiraling out of control, and thus afforded a reasonable protection for both Jew and gentile. But England’s Jews kept pushing the envelope in a manner devoid of any sense of proportion or reason. Ryssen relates:
but some Jews attempted to evade its prohibitions. Better luck next time: 293 of them were hanged at London for violating the royal interdict. It was soon discovered that counterfeit money was circulating in England and that the country’s silver pennies were often clipped. (4)
Coin clipping in this case involved shaving, then collecting silver from the circumference of the penny, and repeating ad infinitum. In so doing Jews literally robbed the kingdom of the purchasing power of its money.
Ritual Murder “In contempt of the passion of our Lord”
With documented activity in Europe since at least 600 A.D., human trafficking has been a Jewish operation targeting primarily Christians. The events of Holy Week’s Spy Wednesday (22 March) of 1144 in England’s Norwich, would cause the mother of a boy named William to discover this fact the hard way. Earlier that week William’s mother Elvira was offered a large sum of money to release her son into the custody of a man claiming to be the cook for the local archdeacon, so as to make William his apprentice. In actuality a Jew of Norwich by the name Eleazar, the man brought William to his home. An eyewitness recounts
This was Eleazar’s Christian servant, who, the following morning, had by chance, witnessed, with horror – through the crack of a door left inadvertently open – the cruel ceremony of the child’s crucifixion and atrocious martyrdom, with the participation, carried out with religious zeal, of local Jews, “in contempt of the passion of our Lord”. Thomas kept the date of the crucial event clearly in mind. It was the Wednesday following Palm Sunday, 22 March of the year 1144.
To throw off suspicion, the Jews decided to transport the body from the opposite side of the city to Thorpe’s Wood, which extended to within a short distance from the last house. During the trip on horseback with the cumbersome sack, however, despite their efforts at caution, they crossed the path of a respected and wealthy merchant of the locality on his way to church, accompanied by a servant; the merchant had no difficulty realizing the significance of what was taking place before his eyes…Young William’s body was finally hidden by the Jews among the bushes of Thorpe. (5)
Taken from the book Blood Passover, the Jews of Europe and Ritual Murder, this history was written by Ariel Toaff, son of Rome’s Chief Rabbi, and history professor at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University (not a likely suspect for antisemitism). Subject to a firestorm by American Jewry’s ADL for translating the original Hebrew into English, Toaff abandoned the copyright in 2014. (A full and free PDF download of the English translation of this book is available via the following link to Cognitive Gateway’s Gateway Reader Page.)
As grisly as are the facts of this case, Our Adorable Savior does not permit young William’s story to end here, but ordained that he become the venerable martyr and Saint William of Norwich
The scene now became the inevitable scene of miraculous happenings. Beams of celestial light illuminated the boy’s resting place late at night, causing townspeople to discover the body, which was then buried where it was found. A few days afterwards, the cleric, Godwin Sturt, who, informed of the murder, requested, and was granted, permission to have the body exhumed. He then recognized his nephew William as the tragic victim. A short time afterwards, during a diocesan synod, Godwin got up to accuse the Jews of the crime. Thomas of Monmouth agreed with him and accused them of the horrible ritual of crucifixion of a Christian boy as the principal event of a Passover ceremony intended to mock the passion of Jesus Christ, a sort of crude and bloody Passover counter-ritual. (6)
Authentic converts from Judaism prove themselves praiseworthy sons of Holy Mother Church. History gives us Nicholas Donin and Johannes Pfefferkorn as examples of exemplary converts who helped alert the Church to the threat posed to it by the synagogue. Add to these witnesses the name Theobald of Cambridge, an authentic convert who became a monk, and gave testimony in William’s case.
The convert revealed that the Jews believed that, to bring redemption closer, and with it, their return to the Promised Land, they sacrificed a Christian child every year “in contempt of Christ”. To carry out this providential plan, the representatives of the Jewish communities, headed by their local rabbis, were said to meet every year in council in Narbonne, in the south of France, to draw lots as to the name of the locality where the ritual crucifixion was to occur from time to time. In 1144, the choice fell by lot to the city of Norwich, and the entire Jewish community was said to have adhered to that choice.(7)
The phrase to bring redemption closer warrants additional explanation. According to the Babylonian Talmud, redemption for the Jews means the arrival of Moshiach, or Jews’ version of messiah. The Talmudic messiah is an earthly ruler who will undertake the universal conquest and slaughter of the vast majority of gentiles, sparing only a fractional remainder for enslavement. Redemption for Jews has nearly the opposite meaning of that for Catholics, whose understanding of the Redemption is rooted in the salvific act by Our Lord on Calvary. To Jews, the total destruction of all Christian society will bring about the arrival of Moshiach. To Catholics, this Moshiach is anti-Christ. Thus, the motive behind these heinous, outrageous and totally unprovoked murders was to bring the so-called messiah, or anti-Christ into the world. Unfortunately, additional ritual murder cases fit the same evidence pattern and motive as those above:
the accusation of ritual murder or the crucifixion of Christian boys spread from Norwich throughout England: from Gloucester in 1169, to Bury St. Edmunds in 1183, to Winchester in 1192, from Norwich – again – in 1235, to London in 1244, and, finally, to Lincoln in 1255, where the martyr was sainted.As we shall see, there are reports of an anomalous case of plural ritual murder again at Bristol at the end of the 13th century. (8)
In 1255 another notorious case erupted:
The body of an eight-year old child, Hugh, in the bottom of a well owned by Copino, a local Jew, at Lincoln in the summer of 1255. …The victim had been abducted by Jews, tortured and crucified, exactly as in little William’s case. (9)
And by the close of the thirteenth century, a serial case emerged, indicating a situation gone completely out of control.
The case of Adam, considered the victim of a ritual homicide occurring at Bristol at the end of the 13th century, provides us with a true and proper serial killer, the Jew Samuel, who, “in the days of King Henry, father of the other King Henry”, is said to have killed three Christian children in one year. Thereafter, with the collaboration of his wife and son, he is said to have gone on to kidnap another child, named Adam, who, tortured, mutilated (perhaps subjected to circumcision) and crucified, is said finally to have been skewered on a spit like a lamb and roasted over a flame. Samuel’s wife and son are said to have repented, expressing the intention to bathe in the baptismal waters, but at this point the perfidious and criminal Jew is said to have killed them both as well. (10)
The most important evidentiary item in a murder case is the body of the victim. Each of the well-documented cases above was made manifest by the discovery of a previously abducted, murdered and mutilated child. In many cases the wounds inflicted were puncture marks at physiological locations likely to bleed profusely. In many cases the body was pale, indicating heavy blood-letting before death. Many bore marks of crucifixion, and slashed throats were not unheard of. In the cases of Saints William and Hugh, the miracles documented owing to these Saints’ intercession provide us with the certainty of ratification by the Holy Ghost: ritual murder of Christian children by Jews is a historical fact.
The Expulsion of the Jews from England
Thus with usury, counterfeiting and coin-clipping already rampant, and instances of ritual murder also on the rise, King Edward I of England expelled Jews from his kingdom on July 18, in the year of Our Lord 1290. Ryssen relates the events:
They were granted the right to convert their property into liquid cash by the month of November; after this time, those found on the territory would be hanged. But first, they were to return to their owners all pledges and collateral in hock to them from Christians. King Edward nevertheless prohibited his officers from mistreating them upon their departure and from extorting money from them in the ports of embarkation. Finally, on 9 October; 16,511 Jews left England. Any goods which they had been unable to sell were confiscated by the King. (11)
From the welcoming stance of Henry III, to the protective prohibitions taken by Edward I, the historical record reveals monarchs taking great pains to obey the Church’s teaching that no one in the kingdom possesses the right to harm the Jew. By contrast, decades of Jewish behavior proved both disruptive, subversive, and a growing threat to the Kingdom itself. Worth noting are the explicit orders of the King who did the banishing: the expelled Jews were to suffer no harm to their persons or their property. If antisemitism were the motive all along, why would such royal policies have been decreed? Edward’s expulsion of Jews in 1290 was not only measured and reasonable, but an act of defense of the realm.
This concludes Part I of the Series.
_________________
FOOTNOTES:
1 Ryssen, Hervé. History of Antisemitism (C. W. Port, Trans.). (Washington, DC: The Barnes Review, 2016), p. 157.
2 Loc. cit.
3 Ibid.
4 Ibid.
5 Toaff, Ariel. Blood Passover, The Jews of Europe and Ritual Murder (G. M. Lucchese & P. Gianetti, Trans.). (Italy: Gian Marco Lucchese and Pietro Gianetti, 2016), p. 167.
6 Op. cit., p. 168.
7 Ibid.
8 Toaff., op. cit., p. 170.
9 Op. cit., p. 171.
10 Op. cit. p. 171-172.
11 Ryssen, op. cit. p. 160.
CREDITS: The Featured Image is Valentin de Boulogne’s, Our Lord driving the Jewish Money Changers out of the Temple, which is in the public domain. — The first image in the text, is from the Codex Maneses, c. 800 A.D., and depicts a Jewish moneylender at the court of a Catholic prince. It is in the public domain. — The second image is of an engraving c. 1478, showing the Martyrdom of St. William of Norwich.
FromRome.Info wishes to thank Mr. Walsh for his research and contribution of this series.
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This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy
11 months
The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.