Mr Coulombe points out that there is much for Catholics to be proud of in June, despite Satan's Minions™ having co-opted the month to celebrate perversion.
From One Peter Five
By Charles Coulombe, KC*SS, STM
To Jesus’ Heart all burning
With fervent love for man,
My heart, with fondest yearning,
Shall raise the joyful strain.Chorus:
While ages course along,
Blest be, with loudest song,
The Sacred Heart of Jesus,
By ev’ry heart and tongue,
The Sacred Heart of Jesus,
by ev’ry heart and tongue.
—Aloys Schloer
The song with which we open is often attacked as the worst kind of church music kitsch. Indeed, much the same is said of the images of the Sacred Heart in statuary and iconography. The somewhat effeminate images of Our Lord that often encounter them do not help. Yet, regardless of one’s aesthetic feelings in the matter, the Sacred Heart is all important in keeping one’s faith in trying times – and never more than in June, which the Church has dedicated to it.
Now, the secular folk have remade June as “Pride Month;” it is given up to celebration of homosexuality. Although President Trump has reduced official participation in it – as have several businesses, there are still a great many rainbows across the country and the “civilised” world. There are “pride” parades and all sorts of more or less unwholesome activities designed to show the triumph of this sort of pride over all. It has replaced the pink triangle as a sign of dominance and defiance.
On the face of it, one can think of other things to be proud of in June. Before 1969, the feast of St. Margaret of Scotland was June 10. It was moved here form its original date in November by Pope Innocent XII in 1693. This commemorated the birth of King James VII of Scotland and II of England’s son on that date in 1688, which precipitated the so-called glorious revolution, and the flight of the Stuart Royal family to France. The Stuart’s supporters were called Jacobites (from Jacobus, “James”) and they were militant if unsuccessful in the cause of their namesake and his descendants.
If the fighting in England was relatively minor, Bonnie Dundee rallied Scotland’s Jacobites, leading them to victory and his own death – and so ultimately defeat – at Killiecrankie in 1689. The following year, King James squared off against his son-in-law, the would-be King William at the Battle of the Boyne. Defeated, the King left; but his supporters fought the Williamite war for another two years, and guerilla war continued after that. A great many Irish went to serve in the Catholic armies on the Continent, and covered themselves in glory in many places.
From that time on, the existing network of exiled English, Scots, and Irish Catholic institutions across Europe was heavily augmented. James II died in 1702 and succeeded by James III and VIII, whose birthday St. Margaret of Scotland’s feast was transferred to. Marrying a Polish Princess (daughter of the hero of Vienna in 1689) he acted as leader of the English- and Gaelic-speaking Catholic world for all his long reign. He returned to his homeland once, for the abortive rising in 1715. There was another in 1719.
But the one that came closest to victory – a heartbreaking step away – was that of 1745, when the older son of James, Bonnie Prince Charlie, landed – storm-bereft of supporting French ships with seven companions. They raised the Highlands, and eventually marched as far south as Derby; the Elector was packing. But the young prince’s lieutenants, annoyed that more English had not joined them, and believing tales of a nearby enemy army, they insisted on retreating back to Scotland – thus snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. This high water mark was followed by swift retreat and the disaster of Culloden.
After many adventures, Prince Charles returned to Europe; but he felt so disgraced, he did not see his father again for the two decades James would live on. Worse still, Henry, Charles’ brother, decided to enter the priesthood. Soon a bishop and then a Cardinal, Henry’s advancement was a bitter substitute to Charles, as his own efforts to beget a son failed. He died in his brother’s care in 1788. Henry would live on until 1807 and with him died the Jacobite party. A Neo-Jacobite movement would arise in 1888 and survives to-day among such as the Royal Stuart Society – and heavily influenced the historical views of Chesterton and Belloc. It comprised a great many well-known British and American artists and writers. From all of this emerged a great many valiant deeds, heroic characters, and great deal of song and story commemorating them. Given the Stuart retention of their Catholicism, this is a rich heritage all of us Catholics may be proud of!
But even greater than the inheritance of the White Rose is that very Sacred Heart. St. Margaret Mary Alacoque conveyed to King Louis XIV the message from Our Lord that he should place the Sacred Heart on his banners and coats of arms, and consecrate France to Him. Louis did not, and this failure for many is believed to be a contributing factor to the horrors of the French Revolution. What is certain is that Louis XVI, while imprisoned and awaiting execution, did consecrate his country to the Sacred Heart, and promised:
to take, within a year, in union with the Pope and the Bishops of my Kingdom, all the necessary measures to establish, in accordance with canonical forms, a solemn feast in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which will be celebrated in perpetuity in all France on the first Friday after the octave of the Feast of Corpus Christ, and always followed by a general procession. This feast will be celebrated in reparation for the outrages and desecrations perpetrated in our holy churches by the schismatics, the heretics and the bad Christians in these times of such great turmoil.
There was a great deal more to it, but it showed both the King’s resignation to his coming death, his love of the Sacred Heart, and his heroic virtue.
But wearing the white cockade – shared with their Jacobite forerunners – the French opponents of the Revolution took the Sacred Heart as their badge. It was the great badge of the Vendée. From there, it went to Tyrol, where the anti-revolutionary forces under Andreas Hofer consecrated themselves and their land. During the 19th century, when in many countries the Church found itself attacked by Liberals and other enemies, the Sacred Heart became the symbol of resistance. It was embraced by leaders as far apart as the Papal Zouaves, Ecuador’s Garcia Moreno, the Spanish Carlists, and Bl. Karl, the last Emperor-King thus far of Austria-Hungary. Fr. Idelfons Fux commented on the nature of Karl’s devotion:
Blessed Charles of Austria understood the veneration of the Sacred Heart and the adoration of Jesus in the Sacrament of the Altar not as separate and coexisting, but as their unity and connection. In his devotion to the Lord, he clearly had the entire reality of Jesus in mind, and this interrelationship and interdependence in his devotion to the Divine Heart and the Eucharist can be observed many times. The two dominant dimensions of his devotional life were related to the Eucharist and the Sacred Heart. In the Sacrament of the Altar, he knew the suffering and loving Heart of Jesus to be present.
All of these heroes are also folk of whom we have to be proud. Going further back, the Banner of the Five Wounds – of which the Sacred Heart was central – floated over those who fought the Protestant revolt. England saw the Pilgrimage of Grace, and the Risings in the West and North; but there were many others elsewhere in Scandinavia, Northern Germany, and so on. We should learn about them, and praise and pray for them.
There are many of these heroes, taken together, and they can all be symbolised by the Sacred Heart. So far from being the kitschy symbol it is often cast as, it is a sign of true pride and Catholic allegiance. Especially to-day, it is important to bear true allegiance to the Sacred Heart, and all it stands for. Each of our houses can become a part of the Empire of the Sacred Heart by enthroning an image thereof.
This prayer of enthronement is typical of the sentiment and belief:
“O Sacred Heart of Jesus, who didst make known to St. Margaret Mary Thine ardent desire to reign over Christian families, behold us assembled here today to proclaim Thine absolute dominion over our home.
“Henceforth we purpose to lead a life like unto Thine, so that amongst us may flourish the virtues for which Thou didst promise peace on earth, and for this end * we will banish from our midst * the spirit of the world which Thou dost abhor so much.
“Thou wilt reign over our understanding by the simplicity of our faith. Thou wilt reign over our hearts by an ardent love for Thee; and may the flame of this love be kept burning in our hearts by the frequent reception of the Holy Eucharist.
“Deign, O Divine Heart, to preside over our meetings, to bless our undertakings, both spiritual and temporal, to banish all worry and care, to sanctify our joys and soothe our sorrows. If any of us should ever have the misfortune to grieve Thy Sacred Heart, remind him of Thy goodness and mercy toward the repentant sinner.
“Lastly when the hour of separation will sound and death will plunge our home into mourning, then shall we all and everyone of us be resigned to Thy eternal decrees, and seek consolation in the thought that we shall one day be reunited in Heaven, where we shall sing the praises and blessings of Thy Sacred Heart * for all eternity.
“May the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the glorious Patriarch St. Joseph offer Thee this our Consecration, and remind us of the same all the days of our life.
“Glory to the Divine Heart of Jesus, our King and our Father!”
There is perhaps no greater expression of pride than to turn over one’s own home to what one belongs to – to make it a piece of Heaven. The more dedicated to the Sacred Heart we become, the more we can have pride – not in ourselves, but in Him Whom we are trying to serve.
The truth is that the one thing we may really glory in is the extent to which we are subjects of Christ the King. We may be proud of the fact that wretched and fallen through we are, we were worth it to Him to die for our sins on Calvary. The Sacred Heart is His Heart which bleeds for us, and to which we can make reparation – yet another source of pride in this month. He Himself explained what we can to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque:
Behold this Heart, which has so loved men that It has spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming Itself, in order to testify Its love. In return, I receive from the greater part [of humanity] only ingratitude, by their irreverence and sacrilege, and by the coldness and contempt they have for Me in this Sacrament of Love [Holy Communion].
It is for this reason I ask thee that the first Friday after the octave of the Blessed Sacrament, be appropriated to a special feast to honor My Heart by receiving Communion on that day, and making reparation for the indignity that It [My Heart] has received. And I promise that My Heart shall dilate to pour out abundantly the influences of My Love on all who will render It this honor or will obtain My Heart being given this honor.
These and the many practices of the Sacred Heart are the crowning elements of true pride, which cannot be located outside our King and maker. Let us then, during this month explore both our Catholic history and the many devotions encompassed within the Sacred Heart. The pride of others may be anchored to a fast vanishing and sordid past – let it go, as we embrace the real source of true pride.
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