Happy Anniversary!

A Happy Tin Anniversary to TRH the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, our future King and Queen. May they live to celebrate their Platinum Anniversary as did his grandparents!

Skull of St. Thomas Becket To Go on Display at British Museum

Sad! A first class relic of a Saint should be venerated in a Church, not on display in a museum.

From Aleteia

By J.-P. Mauro

The exhibit, marking the 850th anniversary of his death, will be the most extensive look at St.Thomas' life to date.

A fragment of the skull of St. Thomas Becket is set to go on rare display at the British Museum. The first-class relic, which has survived since 1170, will be the centerpiece of the exhibit. It will sit alongside artifacts from the saint’s murder as well as historical records relating to his death.

According to the British Museum, the exhibit will be titled Thomas Becket: Murder and the Making of a Saint. This rare glimpse into the notorious murder comes while England is recognizing the 850th anniversary of Thomas Becket’s death.

The exhibit will include illuminated manuscripts from the 12th century. Some of these even hold first-hand accounts of the infamous assassination. These will be presented besides reliquaries and jewelry belonging to Becket. In addition, Canterbury Cathedral has loaned out a grand stained glass window emblazoned with images of St. Thomas’ story.

The murder

Thomas Becket was the Archbishop of Canterbury and one of the most influential figures of his time. While he was initially close friends with King Henry II, and even served as the king’s chancellor before taking holy orders, the two became locked in a heated dispute over the appointment of bishops. This ultimately led the king to famously muse, “Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest?”

On the evening of December 19, 1170, four armored knights with ties to the king entered Canterbury Cathedral and publicly executed St. Thomas. In an interview with The Guardian, Naomi Speakman, co-curator of the British Museum exhibit, explained:

“Becket was a real hothead, and he more or less said ‘come and get me’ to them, even gesturing with the side of his hand that they should slice into his neck.”

St. Thomas Becket was murdered in gruesome fashion before a gathering of monks and parishioners at prayer. Several eye-witnesses wrote accounts of the event, which shocked medieval Europe. Soon afterward, Canterbury Cathedral became a central place of pilgrimage that has endured to this day.

The major exhibit will be the first of its kind to present the full story of St. Thomas Becket. It will examine his life in entirety, as well as the aftermath of his murder. The gallery will also include records from the 16th century, when King Henry VIII desecrated Becket’s tomb during the Reformation.

Visit the British Museum today to learn more.

The Church Taught Us to Listen to Women

Mr Holdsworth points out that it was the Catholic Church that raised the status of women, starting in the Middle Ages.

It may surprise some, as I’m embarrassed to say it did me when I learned that there has never been a matriarchal society in the history of human civilization. There are no records of societies in which women played the lead role. In every place and in every time, men have assumed the dominant positions of power. We’re not even talking about most of the time, like 80% of the time men have been the dominant sex and 20% of the time women. It was men 100% and women 0%. So at some point in human history, there had to have been a deliberate relinquishing of the power and control that men had because it isn’t something that just naturally occurs. If human beings are given enough license to do what they want and let the chips fall how they may, men will end up in control. So for women to have ever made any strides towards having a say in how society conducts itself, it must have involved men being compelled to look to women for their influence and in the case of Western civilization, we have Christianity and the influence of the Catholic Church to thank for that.

Even if our understanding of the middle ages is full of prejudice and inaccuracies, one thing that is true is that it was a far more violent time than what most of us in Western Civilization are used to today. The nobility was composed of a military class and because that was something of a vocation for them, they found it irresistible to find reasons to fight each other, a lot. But the Church, never one to go with the flow of trends and fashions, wanted to curb these inclinations among Europe’s elite, so they first tried to promote a peace movement, in fact the first ever peace movement in all of human history, called the Peace and Truce of God. Chief among its demands was the protection of non-combatant members of society such as the clergy, women and children, and the peasants class. And while the movement enjoyed some success, it wasn’t enough to produce the full effect of what the Church had envisioned and the Church noticed something fairly obvious which was that this tendency towards violence was primarily a masculine tendency. We often hear people say thing like, if women ruled the world there’d be a lot less war. Well, that’s pretty much what the Church thought too, so it continued to push this peace movement into what became the chivalric code or Chivalry. And instead of imposing this code of behaviour through law, it was popularized through medieval literature, especially Geoffrey Monmouth’s tales of King Arthur. Monmouth was a Catholic Cleric who wrote about an idealized brotherhood of knights who used their resources and aptitude for combat in the service of others and in the cultivation of virtue rather than as a vehicle for selfish ends – like the acquisition of wealth and land.

And this new code of behaviour placed an especially high premium on the deference of behaviour to the sensibilities and genius of women. Devotion and honor in the service of women is at the heart of chivalric codes.

It meant that if a Lord or a Knight was compelled to resolve some problem violently, they should first consult and honor their wives or ladies to decide the best course of action and that if violence was necessary, it should be conducted in an honorable and civilized manner.

And in a world in which women never had a say in politics, governance, or basically anything at all, this was a revolutionary shift towards a world in which the wisdom of women would be heard and able to balance out the sensibilities of men – offering a more completely human vision of the world.

The Popes and Democracy - Part I. General Notions 10. The Two Forms of Modern Democracy

Modern democracy can be either direct or indirect. It is direct when the people elect their supreme leader in a general election. It is indirect when the supreme leader or group of leaders are elected by an Assembly which is itself elected by the people. Direct democracy is often dictatorial and tyrannical. Indirect democracy, on the other hand, is open to party quarrels and intrigues, and is lacking in effective authority. Both forms of modern democracy deny the other the right to call itself a democracy: indirect democracy is said to be plutocratic, and direct democracy of being fascist. Both accusations are justified.

Word of the Day: Identity

IDENTITY. Quality of sameness. Absolute identity is total sameness, without any change or difference; relative identity is all other sameness, which allows of numerous differences in nature and degree. Only God is and remains absolutely identical eternally. Creatures have relative identity, inasmuch as they have already changed when first created out of nothing; they further change, depending on the relative stability of their natures and (among angels and men) their persons; and they differ among themselves in myriad ways, but mainly in that each is a separate substance and, in human beings, a distinct and incommunicable individual.

Once Upon a Time There Was a Super-Catholic Land Called Quebec.

And now it's become an anti-Catholic area just like Ireland. Sainte Anne de Beaupré et Saint Jean-Baptiste prient pour le Québec!

From Fr Z's Blog

Once upon a time there was a super-Catholic land called Quebec.

[… insert here MODERNISM – SPIRIT OF VATICAN II – WET NOODLE BISHOPS …]

And, boys and girls, the moral of the story is corruptio optimi pessima.

From UCANEWS:

Canadian police seize altar wine, say it’s illegal to import it

Seizures in Quebec appear related to laws governing the resale of alcohol within provinces

Police have seized large quantities of altar wine in the Canadian province of Quebec, creating a situation where buying a bottle is nearly impossible.  [One wonders if that is not the point.]

On April 9, police officers seized sacramental wine from Bertrand, Foucher, Bélanger, Inc. in Montreal, Procure Ecclésiastique, Inc. in Quebec City and Chandelles Tradition MB, Inc. in Saint-Constant.

Sandra Dion, spokeswoman for the Quebec City Police Department, said the wine was seized following an investigation. The seizures appear related to laws governing the resale of alcohol within provinces, although some distributors claim they are within the law and have licenses.

The altar wine available in Quebec comes from two Californian producers: Mont La Salle Altar Wines and Cribari Premium Altar Wines. However, since the Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ) — the provincial liquor board — does not sell these products, the wines had to be imported from other Canadian provinces. Although that was the practice for many years, police now says it’s illegal.

“Officers from the Montreal Police Department showed up with a warrant,” said Alain Denis, general manager at Bertrand, Foucher, Bélanger, Inc., a store specializing in church goods. The warrant mentioned illegal possession and selling of alcohol. Chandelles Tradition MB did not return calls.

The Catholic Church says the wine used for Mass must be natural, made entirely from grapes, uncorrupted and free of foreign substances. A locally produced altar wine was available for a few years, but it is not produced anymore, so distributors in Quebec resort to American-produced wines. The specialized wine made in California is imported to Ontario or New Brunswick before resellers can get it in the province of Quebec.

“This issue has been dragging on for 40 years,” said Jacques Laroche, general manager and co-owner of Procure Ecclésiastique, which had its entire stock seized.

“The SAQ, since at least the 1980s, has been trying to prevent the distribution of altar wine in Quebec,” he added. “This forces parishes and religious communities to buy from other provinces.”

Last December, the Liquor Control Board of Ontario warned permit holders that selling alcohol in other Canadian provinces is prohibited.

“I can confirm there has been no change to the terms of the sacramental wine appointment issued by the LCBO,” an LCBO spokesman said April 22.

So important was it to enforce this law that they confiscated altar wine from parishes.

There are various types of “wine” which are valid for Mass.  More HERE.

Meanwhile, in another formerly super-Catholic place, Ireland… from The Burkean:

Shocking Footage as Gardaí Storm Church for Violating Lockdown Regulations

Another week and another outrage has emerged in lockdown Ireland as a Latin Mass ceremony was gatecrashed by members of An Garda Síochána implementing NPHET edicts. In harrowing footage released this afternoon, congregants of the SSPX operated Corpus Christi Church in Athlone can be heard rebuking members of the force for breaking up the socially distanced Mass.

Following the arrival of Gardaí parishioners were forced to give their names and details for fear of arrest. This embarrassing act of policing comes in the wake of the incessant harassment of the faithful in Limerick at the behest of Councillor Elisa O’Donovan.

[…]

Corruptio optimi pessima.

Fr. Wannabe Victim

A 'culture of victimhood' has grown up in our society, It's always the 'other guy' that's at fault. And the Jesuit rag 'America' pushes it for all it's worth.

From One Mad Mom

I read articles like this and think about how dishonoring it is to people who have actually been a victim of racism, poor policing or horrible police conduct. I’m so tired of people wanting to be victims. It’s like they feel left out or it’s somehow a glory they don’t want to miss out on. It’s envy taken to a whole new level. It’s damaging to our country and, first and foremost, to our faith.

https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2021/04/23/daunte-wright-racism-policing-black-catholic-priest-240531

A cop pulled me over when I was a Catholic seminarian for driving while Black. Thank God I was with white friends.

Bruce Wilkinson

April 23, 2021

As you will see, there was a little more to it.

I watched the parents of Daunte Wright speak about the moments that led to his killing by a police officer. His mom was on the phone with him when he was pulled over. I watched her relay a heartbroken response, realizing that her son would be dead in 10 minutes, because former officer Kim Potter shot him in the chest, allegedly mistaking her gun for a taser.

OK, there’s a bit more to this story. Just a bit. Yes, bad policing, completely. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen an officer mistake gun for taser, but the idea that Daunte Wright was pulled over simply for “driving while black” and ended up getting shot is not even close to the whole story. There was, indeed, a warrant out for his arrest, which the officers knew about at the time of the shooting. The charges were weapons possession and fleeing the police, and probably an added bench warrant for failure to show to a hearing. Oh, and the shooting was precipitated by a struggle with police when they tried to bring him in.

It reminded me that I could have been Daunte Wright. In 1980, I was pulled over in Worthington, Ohio, after a cop saw me pass his parked car. I had Illinois license plates. He asked why I was driving through the town at 11:30 at night and told me that I had been driving erratically. I told him that we were on our way to a 24-hour restaurant and that we were students at the nearby seminary. He then looked into the car and saw two white men, my fellow seminarians, riding with me.

Really, Father? Did you have warrants out for your arrest? Did you struggle with police and then try to flee?

The stop ended with him handing me a warning slip, telling me to be careful. On the slip it said “single Black occupant in vehicle during suspicious behavior.” My friends couldn’t believe that “we” had been pulled over for doing nothing. They just didn’t understand. But I did.

I knew that by the grace of God a racist cop had been stopped from giving me a ticket, or worse, that night because he saw two white males in my car. I cried later that night after we got back to the seminary.

I knew that by the grace of God a racist cop had been stopped from giving me a ticket, or worse, that night because he saw two white males in my car.

Seriously? Again, SERIOUSLY?!

I’m gonna tell you a personal story. When we were young newlyweds, we went out late to take in a meteor shower. We came to an intersection and I saw a police car. I just had a feeling he was going to pull us over. Why? It was after curfew, we were driving a car teens would be driving and we could easily pass for teens. I even told my husband, “I bet we get pulled over.” When the light changed, we proceeded through the intersection and, sure enough, he fell in line behind us and pulled us over. We all got some surprises when he strolled up to the car. He asked us my husband what we were doing out so late and then pointed out that we were missing our front license plate. We didn’t even know it was missing. But the biggest shock was when he finally leaned down to see the passenger was an 8-month pregnant woman. Clearly, he used the missing plate to pull us over because he thought we were teens out after curfew and, well, we were indeed missing the front plate. He wrote us up a fix it ticket (wish I had been lucky as Father Wilkinson) and we asked him if he knew where a good dark place was to watch the shower. Did we think “Ageist!”?

Now, Father assumes he was pulled over by police because he was “driving while black”, but it could have very well been that he was driving poorly (he never actually cleared that up) and that it was late at night when people are out doing stupid things. We’ll never know why the cop wrote “single black occupant, but I do know most traffic tickets ask for a description of the subject and event. Just for fun, I pulled up a ticket from Ohio. https://www.columbusoviattorneyblog.com/files/2015/12/Uniform-traffic-ticket.png Could this officer have written that description before he ever got out of the car while he was waiting for plates to run and never changed it? Could it be that’s all he saw, just as the officer didn’t see the super pregnant mom when we were pulled over? Sure. The officer Father was dealing with probably saw a guy out late, driving in a manner he thought weird and decided to check it out. Upon investigation, he determined the guy what not under the influence and let him off with a warning, yet it has emotionally scarred him for life? Sheesh! This is a man who now spends his life counseling others. Kind of scary.

Over the past few years, many in America have come to see that some Black men and women never make it home after a traffic stop.

How many would that be, Father? And what kind of traffic stop are we talking about? The kind where an officer walks up, asks for license and registration and then whips out a gun and shoots a black person for no reason? Please, tell me where that was the case? You can’t because it didn’t happen. If you’re going to make this assertion, back it up. The fact is, there’s case after case of officers not making it home after routine traffic stops. Oh, you didn’t say “routine”? Well, you should have, because when any traffic stop becomes UN-routine, all lives are in danger, no matter the color of the driver.

Yet many still do not see the emotional scars carried by so many more Black people who have had a bad encounter with the police. My seminary friends did not understand that another wound on my soul had been created that night during the encounter with the police officer. I knew that once again I was seen not as a “regular” person just out doing regular activities but as a “Black occupant” doing something suspicious.

Well, those friends went from shocked to unable to understand mighty quickly. Which is it, Father?

Too often in our country I have been made to feel like simply living and acting like anyone else might live or act is suspicious or dangerous because of my skin color. The emotions that I must too often carry—of worry or cautious fear or heightened alert—drain me and rob me of the ability to just enjoy living as an open, loving human being.

Yes, racism exists. Duh. Nobody denies that. Systemic racism is a whole other ball of wax. That said, I have a healthy fear of anyone acting strangely or looking menacing, but it usually has everything to do with demeanor and very little to do with skin color. But I’ve got a great solution for you, which isn’t an option for others: wear your clerics!

Recently a popular television series, “This Is Us,” highlighted the tragedy of the divisions and emotional scarring that happens because of racism and the failure to have an honest dialogue about the pains this has created in our societies and in family life.

Two adult brothers, Randall, who is Black and was adopted, and Kevin, who is white and feels lingering resentment that his brother received special treatment from their parents, become estranged from each other. Kevin says that he regrets the day Randall was brought home to be a part of their family because “everyone” thought Randall should receive special attention. Randall responds with sadness that he never wanted any “special” attention. However, because he was a Black person in a white family, he was seen as different even though all he wanted was to be treated as an equal. Randall says that no one ever asked him how he felt about being seen as different; no one ever asked him if he was in pain or scarred because he was Black.

Not gonna lie. I like this show. I don’t agree with all the solutions they come to. I don’t agree with every moral aspect of the show but it does show a lot of common themes in families. Father forgets one episode long before the “BLM/COVID” season which hit the nail on the head. They were so on track with it. Each family accuses family members of some not so great things, not realizing that everyone had different perceptions of why and how things happened. It’s the same with everyone in this world. It’s important to understand there are different perceptions and we all act on ours, but so does everyone else. So, here’s a script clip from that particular episode after their family therapy session (we’d already seen scenes from a part of their childhood and why family members acted as they did). Father might want to watch it. Here’s the siblings’ conversation:

– You know what would have been sweet? If we had someone documenting our entire childhood, Boyhood style.
– Mm, I hate that movie.
– Never saw it.
– I really loved it. I’m just saying, if we had someone filming our entire childhood, objectively, then we’d never have to debate about anything. Whenever we remembered things differently, we’d just say, “Let’s go to the videotape,” like Warner Wolf and then see what was really up.
– Who’s Warner Wolf?
– Sportscaster guy, when we were growing up; used to always say: “Let’s go to the videotape.” Then they’d play the highlights. – Warner Wolf.
– Oh. Oh, yeah.
– I remember when they were fitting me for glasses as a kid. I never actually realized just how blurry everything had always been, until they stuck my face in this weird thing they called “The Better Machine.” FEMALE DOCTOR: Is this better? Or is this better? The… first one. Is this better? Or is this better? So many variations, so many lenses… each one sharper or blurrier. My view of the entire world shifted like times in less than a minute. I think everyone sees their childhood with different lenses. You know, different perspectives.

Read more at: https://transcripts.foreverdreaming.org/viewtopic.php?f=718&t=31369

Back to Fr. Wilkinson:

I sadly believe that too many Americans are afraid to ask this question, especially to their fellow citizens of color in the country: Are you in pain or are you living in fear?”

Or maybe the question is, do you feel the need to have victim status? Are you assuming too much about your fellow citizen? Are you participating in or are you buying into fear-mongering? There’s a whole lot of fear being mongered, that’s for sure. We’re constantly being taught that others don’t care about you, negate your feelings, want to see you wiped off the face of the earth. The reality, the VAST majority of people are good people and a small minority really stink. Why is the VAST majority letting the insane, evil minority divide us?

In 1980, during that innocent outing to a restaurant, I was given another scar to carry because I was Black. No one—not my friends, nor anyone else at the seminary who heard of our encounter with the police—ever asked me if I was O.K. after that event. I was not. But like Randall, I still had to go forward in life while wounded and crying inside.

Aaaaaaaand… he’s going with “yes” on the victim status. My friends who knew and marched for their civil rights, who lived through the Chicago and Watt’s riots and watched THEIR communities destroyed, who saw the decimation of their communities and families due to liberal policies, who see their community being targeted for mass slaughter in abortion mills are wondering where Fr. Wilkinson was in their fight to stop the creation of more George Floyds and Duante Wrights who are will tragically die in similar situations.

Bad policing and racism in the United States inflicts many scars on people of color within our society and within our church. I am a victim of bad policing caused by systemic racism, and by the grace of God I’ve never faced a situation in which I might have lost my life because an officer drew a weapon and fired. But too many times, the United States has witnessed the tragic loss of life following a police officer’s decision to shoot now and ask questions later.

One time is too many, but that still doesn’t make for systemic racism. It simply allows you to suggest that it is.

I do not wish for any person to be hated for committing a crime—only that justice be served. I want justice to be served for all the tragic killings that we have witnessed in the past few years when policing went wrong, from the actions of Derek Chauvin, who has now been convicted for the murder of George Floyd, to those of former officer Kim Potter and the devastating pain her family will go through next because of the shooting death of Daunte Wright.

This is a wee bit of lumping here, isn’t it? Chauvin and Potter are two very different people, and the incidents were also very different, too. Are you also suggesting that justice be served by those committing crimes like Floyd and Wright? How about all of the other Floyds and Wrights who aren’t killed committing their crimes?

I sadly believe that too many Americans are afraid to ask this question, especially to their fellow citizens of color in the country: Are you in pain or are you living in fear? We must have an open dialogue if we want to prevent another George Floyd or Daunte Wright or even a Bruce Wilkinson. In order to stop the hatred and violence of racism we must acknowledge the present pain and begin anew to find ways to peacefully change our society.

Oh, I’m not afraid to ask this question. In fact, I have asked it of many people who have lived through actual racism. Your story? That does them a dishonor.

One excellent place for such a dialogue to begin is in our houses of worship. In these places, we are called to a higher morality and way of life based on love of God and neighbor—and we profess to be people of reconciliation. The only question remaining is if we are trusting enough in God’s graces to lead us to open our hearts and be changed.

Well, you got all the talking points in. Congratulations! I would have been totally disappointed if you didn’t lecture the Christians on how not to be racist while at the same time exhibiting shaming and a savior complex. Home run.

Here’s a novel idea, Father. How about you teach your flock not to sin? I realize you’re a little busy watching the White Sox, looking at the stars and riding the rails (sounds kind of like a privileged life) like all of Wrights and Floyds  of the world but all of that sin (and I know it’s hard to believe there’s more than racism) just enables more sin to enter the world. Sadly, you and the “look at me” crowd always miss that little fact. I suppose you have to care about souls to miss that.

Today in German Royal History

A momentous day in German history. If Friedrich III had lived longer, how different world history might have been.

From The Mad Monarchist (15 June, 2014

On this day in 1888 Kaiser Friedrich III passed away and was succeeded by his son, Wilhelm II, as King of Prussia and German Kaiser. At the time he came to the throne, Otto von Bismarck was still Reich Chancellor and Graf von Moltke was still Chief of the General Staff. The German Empire expanded and prospered immensely during his reign, becoming an industrial and economic powerhouse, the third largest colonial power in the world and the second largest naval power. However, before it was over, the Great War had decimated Europe and the German Empire was no more. The last King of Prussia and German Kaiser spent the rest of his life in exile in Holland, seeing the start of World War II and the conquest of France. He did not live to see Germany bombed to rubble, dismembered, occupied and his beloved land of Prussia wiped from the map. That, at least, was a blessing.

30 April, Antonio, Cardinal Bacci: Meditations For Each Day

The Divided Heart

1. To whom does your heart belong? To the devil, perhaps? It may be that you have allowed him to insinuate himself into your soul, so that you have fallen under his tyranny and are trying to find happiness in the satisfaction of your lower impulses. Remember the warning of St. Paul: “If anyone destroys the temple of God, him will God destroy; for holy is the temple of God and this temple you are.” (1 Cor. 3:17) If you have fallen this low, you will suffer the penalty decreed by the Holy Spirit: “There is no peace to the wicked.” (Is. 48:22) You expected to find satisfaction, and you have found disillusionment. You hoped for peace and found remorse. Instead of the happiness you expected you will know only despair unless you turn back to God immediately. There is only one way out of your predicament, the way chosen by the prodigal son: “I will get up and go to my father.” (Luke 15:18) Rise up, then, and cast yourself into the merciful arms of your heavenly Father Who is waiting for you. There you will find that peace of soul which will remain with you until you die. If you never allow your heart to be separated from God again, this peace will flower into eternal happiness in the next life.

2. Even if your heart has not become the property of the devil and retains a horror of mortal sin, it is still possible that you have not given it completely to God. Your heart is divided. Part of it belongs to God and part of it to the world. You are distracted by your own self-love and earthly desires. A heart which is divided in its affections between God and the world is dazzled by everything around it and tends to forget God more and more. We protest that we belong entirely to God, but in practice we are so absorbed by work, ambition, and pleasure, that we neglect God. A man who is torn between love of God and love of the world is like Cain who, unlike Abel, did not offer God the best part of his flock but kept this for himself and offered God whatever he had rejected. God was pleased with Abel's sacrifice but had no regard for that of Cain, who finally became a murderer and was cursed by his Creator. Do we offer God the leavings of life while we keep the best part of it for ourselves? Do we think of ourselves nearly all the time and give very little thought to God? This is not the way in which God has dealt with us. Not only has He created us, but He loves us with an everlasting love. He came down on earth and lived as our fellow-man. He redeemed us by His Precious Blood and gave Himself to us as our spiritual food. Why are we not willing to give ourselves to Him forever in return? Gratitude demands that we should do so. God, moreover, is our supreme and only good.

3. Remember Our Lord's warning that it is impossible to serve two masters. We cannot serve God and at the same time be preoccupied with self-love, worldly pleasure, and sin. Look at the Saints. Their hearts were never divided but belonged wholly to God. They did everything in their power to keep their hearts pure and burning with love for Him. They suffered because of their slightest imperfections and longed to remain always close to God. We should imitate them. We have to look after our daily duties, it is true, but everything should be done for the love and glory of God. All our actions should constitute a spiritual ladder which brings us closer and closer to God.

Eastern Rite - Apostle James the Brother of Saint John the Theologian

Today is the Feast Day of the Holy Apostle James, Brother of Saint John the Theologian.

✠✠✠✠✠

The Holy Apostle James, the son of Zebedee, was the brother of Saint John the Theologian, and one of the Twelve Apostles. He and his brother, Saint John, were called to be Apostles by our Lord Jesus Christ, Who called them the “Sons of Thunder” (Mark 3:17). It was this James, with John and Peter, who witnessed the Raising of the Daughter of Jairus, the Lord’s Transfiguration on Mount Tabor, and His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Saint James, after the Descent of the Holy Spirit, preached in Spain and in other lands, and then he returned to Jerusalem. He openly and boldly preached Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world, and he denounced the Pharisees and the Scribes with the words of Holy Scripture, reproaching them for their malice of heart and unbelief.

The Jews could not prevail against Saint James, and so they hired the sorcerer Hermogenes to dispute with the apostle and refute his arguments that Christ was the promised Messiah Who had come into the world. The sorcerer sent to the apostle his pupil Philip, who was converted to belief in Christ. Then Hermogenes himself became persuaded of the power of God, he burned his books of magic, accepted holy Baptism and became a true follower of Christ.

The Jews persuaded Herod Agrippa (40-44) to arrest the Apostle James and sentence him to death (Acts 12:1-2). Eusebius provides some of the details of the saint’s execution (CHURCH HISTORY II, 9). Saint James calmly heard the death sentence and continued to bear witness to Christ. One of the false witnesses, whose name was Josiah, was struck by the courage of Saint James. He came to believe in Jesus Christ as the Messiah. When they led the apostle forth to execution, Josiah fell at his feet, repenting of his sin and asking forgiveness. The apostle embraced him, gave him a kiss and said, “Peace and forgiveness to you.” Then Josiah confessed his faith in Christ before everyone, and he was beheaded with Saint James in the year 44 at Jerusalem.

Saint James was the first of the Apostles to die as a martyr.

IN LUMINE FIDEI: 30 APRIL – SAINT CATHERINE OF SIENA (Virgin and Do...

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IN LUMINE FIDEI: 30 APRIL– FRIDAY OF THE FOURTH WEEK AFTER EASTER

IN LUMINE FIDEI: 30 APRIL– FRIDAY OF THE FOURTH WEEK AFTER EASTER: Dom Prosper Gueranger: Praise be to our Risen Jesus for His having said to us: “He that believes and is baptised, will be saved” (Mark...

30 April, A Chesterton Calendar

APRIL 30th

ST. CATHERINE OF SIENA'S DAY

Historic Christianity rose into a high and strange coup de théâtre of morality—things that are to virtue what the crimes of Nero are to vice. The spirits of indignation and of charity took terrible and attractive forms, ranging from that monkish fierceness that scourged like a dog the first and greatest of the Plantagenets, to the sublime pity of St. Catherine, who, in the official shambles, kissed the bloody head of the criminal. Our ethical teachers write reasonably for prison reform; but we are not likely to see Mr. Cadbury, or any eminent philanthropist, go into Reading Jail to embrace the strangled corpse before it is cast into the quicklime. Our ethical teachers write wildly against the power of millionaires, but we are not likely to see Mr. Rockefeller, or any modern tyrant, publicly whipped in Westminster Abbey.

'Orthodoxy.'

30 April, The Holy Rule of St Benedict, Father of Western Monks

CHAPTER LXXII. Of the good zeal which Monks ought to have

30 Apr. 30 Aug. 30 Dec.

As there is an evil zeal of bitterness, which separateth from God, and leads to hell, so there is a good zeal, which keepeth us from vice, and leadeth to God and to life everlasting. Let monks, therefore, exert this zeal with most fervent love; that is, “in honour preferring one another.” Let them most patiently endure one another’s infirmities, whether of body or of mind. Let them vie with one another in obedience. Let no one follow what he thinketh good for himself, but rather what seemeth good for another. Let them cherish fraternal charity with chaste love, fear God, love their Abbot with sincere and humble affection, and prefer nothing whatever to Christ. And may He bring us all alike to life everlasting.

1 May, The Roman Martyrology

Kaléndis Maii Luna undevicésima Anno Dómini 2021

May 1st 2021, the 19th day of the Moon, were born into the better life:

The Solemnity of St. Joseph the Worker, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Patron of Workers.
In Egypt, the holy prophet Jeremiah, who was stoned by the people at Taphnis, and so there died, [590 B.C.,] and was buried. Holy Epiphanius saith that the faithful have been in use to pray at his grave and to take dust therefrom, whereby the bites of serpents are healed.
In the territory of Viviers, in Gaul, the blessed subdeacon Andeolus, whom holy Polycarp sent from the East along with others into Gaul to preach the Word of God. Under the Emperor Severus he was beaten with thorny clubs, and at length his head was broken into four parts with a wooden sword, and so he attained to martyrdom, [in the year 208.]
At Huesca, in Spain, the holy martyrs Orentius and Patience.
At Sedune, in Gaul, holy Sigismund, King of the Burgundians, who was drowned in a well, and so died, [in the year 524,] and was afterwards famous for miracles.
At Auxerre, [in the year 524,] the holy Confessor Amator, Bishop of that see.
At Auch, [in the fifth century,] holy Orientius, Bishop of that see.
In England, [in the year 778,] holy Asaph, Bishop of the see which is called by his name, and the holy Virgin Walburga, whose feast we keep upon the 14th day of May.
At Bergamo, the holy widow Grata.
At Forli, holy Peregrinus, of the Order of Servants of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
V. And elsewhere many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.
R. Thanks be to God.

Memes of the Day

This why classical liberals, such as 

Lord Acton, opposed democracy.

Today is her Feast Day.

‘Roma Locuta’: Young Catholics Hang Banner in Response to Rainbow Flag on Vienna’s Oldest Church

Good on them! Obviously, not all German and Austrian Catholics are willing to follow their 'shepherds' into schism. 

From the National Catholic Register

By CNA

A video posted to YouTube April 26 showed young people climbing up the side of St. Rupert’s Church to drape a banner reading in full: “God cannot bless sin. Roma locuta, causa finita.”

VIENNA, Austria — Young Catholics have hung a banner declaring “Roma locuta, causa finita” (Rome has spoken, the case is closed) beneath a rainbow flag on Vienna’s oldest church.

A video posted to YouTube April 26 showed young people climbing up the side of St. Rupert’s Church at night and draping a banner reading in full: “God cannot bless sin. Roma locuta, causa finita.”

The video explained that they took the step after a rainbow flag, also known as the LGBT pride flag, was hung from the church’s tower in protest over the Vatican doctrinal congregation’s “no” to same-sex blessings.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) issued a Responsum ad dubium March 15 replying to the question, “does the Church have the power to give the blessing to unions of persons of the same sex?” The CDF answered, “Negative,” outlining its reasoning in an explanatory note and accompanying commentary.

The explanatory note, signed by CDF prefect Jesuit Cardinal Luis Ladaria and secretary Archbishop Giacomo Morandi, stressed that God never ceases to bless all “His pilgrim children.”

“But he does not and cannot bless sin,” it said.

Campaigners in Austria and Germany have announced that they will hold a day for blessings for same-sex partners on May 10 in defiance of the Vatican’s statement, which was issued with the approval of Pope Francis.

Representatives of the group that attached the banner to St. Rupert’s Church told CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner, that they regarded the rainbow flag as a “provocation.”

“On the one hand, we wanted to show that such a provocation is not simply tolerated in Vienna and, on the other hand, we hope that this might trigger a rethink among certain officials,” said the representatives of group, known as Christus Vincit, who wished to remain anonymous.

“We also think that such an action can give other Catholics courage and hope. We actually hope that no further actions will be necessary, but should there be another one, it would arise from the same intention, namely to defend the Catholic faith.”

A New Look at R. H. Benson’s “Lord of the World”

A brilliant analysis of The Lord of the World, by Msgr Robert High Benson. 

From The Just Third Way

By Michael D. Greaney

In the previous posting on this subject, we closed by asking the question how, if socialism and modernism (which doesn’t mean modernity) are so anti-human or contrary to human nature, how on Earth did they become so popular?  Let’s begin by taking a look at a novel from the beginning of the last century that a lot of people think they know something about, but usually don’t. 

In 1905, Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson wrote in a letter to his mother,

I have an idea for a book so vast and tremendous that I daren’t think about it. Have you ever heard of Saint Simon? Well, mix up Saint Simon, Russia breaking loose, Napoleon, Evan Roberts, the Pope, and Antichrist; and see if any idea suggests itself.  But I’m afraid it is too big.  I should like to form a syndicate on it, but that it is an idea, I have no doubt at all. (Robert Hugh Benson, December 16, 1905, quoted in C.C. Martindale, S.J., Life of Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson.  Longmans, Green and Co., 1916, II.65-66.)

Benson was referring to his apocalyptic satire, Lord of the World, a masterful — if in hindsight barely fictional — vision of a future world that had completely surrendered to socialism and modernism.  In Benson’s day it was what the socialists and modernists had dreamed of creating for nearly a century: the terrestrial paradise, the Kingdom of God on Earth.

Aristotle

 

But what do we mean by socialism and modernism?  First, it must be clearly understood that in this blog series, terms are given their natural law meaning — including natural law itself — as used within the Aristotelian-Thomist framework and applied in Catholic social teaching.

That is, the natural law — the general code of human behavior — is based on reason (lex ratio), not faith or opinion, even majority opinion (lex voluntas).  Socialism, while best summarized by Karl Marx as the abolition of private property in capital, can be stated broadly as any philosophy or political theory (or anything else) that shifts sovereignty — and thus natural rights, dignity, and personality — from the human person to the collective or some form of society.

G.K. Chesterton

 Modernism, which can be understood as the theology of socialism, is anything that shifts worship away from an understanding of God based on reason, to one based on faith or opinion that contradicts what is discerned by reason.  As G.K. Chesterton noted, “[A]pparently anything can be called Socialism, . . . If it means anything, it seems to mean Modernism; in the sociological as distinct from the theological sense.  In both senses, it is generally a euphemism for muddle-headedness.” (G.K. Chesterton, “There Was a Socialist,” G.K.’s Weekly, May 10, 1930; cf. Ubi Arcano, § 61.)

A world gone mad by putting Earth in the place of Heaven (socialism) and man in the place of God (modernism) was the theme of Benson’s Lord of the World.  In common with the Great Reset, the problem was that the achievement of the goal of the Kingdom of God on Earth would — in Benson’s opinion — require such fundamental changes in humanity as to deny nature, and (not surprisingly), the Creator of Nature.  As Fulton Sheen explained a generation later in his doctoral thesis, God and Intelligence in Modern Philosophy (1925), modernism and socialism invert the whole of reality:

Fulton J. Sheen

Putting the whole philosophy in a formula which expresses a perversion of the traditional notions: —

    Mind is confused with Being.

    Grace is confused with Nature.

    Man is confused with God.

. . . In the twentieth century man makes God to his own image and likeness. (Fulton J. Sheen, God and Intelligence in Modern Philosophy.  New York: IBE Press, 2009, 320.  See also Sheen’s follow-up, Religion Without God, 1927.)

Sir George Chesney

   In short, as Chesterton noted in his Introduction to Sheen’s book, “They begin by bowing down to man as the image of God; and then forget the God and bow down to the graven image.”  (Ibid., 11.)  As Sheen later remarked, the seemingly inevitable result of efforts to create a Heaven on Earth is a living Hell.

Admittedly, this is not how many people today understand Lord of the World, the best known of Benson’s “sensational novels.”  Possibly because he was able to gauge the likely result of certain trends in Edwardian society accurately, it has been reinterpreted as prophecy . . . something that annoyed the author more than a little.

Ironically, much of what modern readers believe to be purely the product of Benson’s imagination were elements lifted wholesale from the “future war” subgenre of science fiction.  With hundreds, even thousands of offerings featuring fantastic plots and often even more fantastic technology, a great coming war was a popular theme from its debut the year of Benson’s birth with Sir George Chesney’s novella, The Battle of Dorking (1871) until 1914 when the real thing turned fantasy into reality.  Even humor of a sort made its appearance, e.g., Frank R. Stockton’s The Great War Syndicate (1889) and P.G. Wodehouse’s The Swoop! or, How Clarence Saved England (1909).

Msgr. Robert Hugh Benson

   Benson’s real achievement in Lord of the World was not his alleged inventiveness or presumed prophecy.  Rather, it was the way he wove all the things that the intellectuals and upper classes of Edwardian England believed good about the world and bad about religion into a tapestry that turned all their assumptions upside-down.

Yet even then, Benson’s feat was not his originality.  Ultimately, his satirical social and religious commentary consisted of heeding warnings from the popes and applying an extremely exaggerated version of what could happen as a result of ignoring principles of Catholic teaching.  Rome had been explicit about the danger since 1832, when Pope Gregory XVI issued Mirari Vos, the first social encyclical.

And therein lies a tale that in some ways is more fantastic, even more shocking, than Lord of the World and what to many seems its final realization in the Great Reset.