Various texts

Homage to Saint Vincent Ferrer

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Homage to Saint Vincent Ferrer

   Great prophet of the Last Judgment

(1350-1419)

For the six-hundredth anniversary of his return to God

Commentary on the texts of the Mass of Saint Vincent Ferrer on April 5th,

in the Dominican Missal

by Father Mortier O.P.

Introit:

“In the midst of the Church the Lord opened his mouth, and filled him with the Spirit of wisdom and understanding. — He clothed him with a robe of glory. — He heaped upon him a treasure of joy and gladness. â€

Collect:

“O God, who granted that multitudes of the Gentiles should come to the knowledge of Your name through the wondrous preaching of blessed Vincent, Your confessor; grant, we beseech You, that him whom he foretold on earth as the judge to come, we may be worthy to have as our rewarder in heaven.â€

Vincent Ferrer “opened his mouth in the Churchâ€, but he opened it under the inspiration of God, prophetically. He is the great prophet of the Last Judgment. To understand this unique mission, it is necessary to put oneself in the situation of Saint Vincent, in the midst of the calamities, terrifying for the faith, which produced the Western Schism. The Christian peoples no longer knew who was the legitimate Head of the Church. There were two, three Popes, who were fighting over the tiara. Who was Peter’s successor, the authentic Vicar of Jesus Christ? The unity of the Church was in danger.

Kings, cardinals, and saints were actively engaged in returning to this unity. But the reality was terrifying for the faith and Christian discipline. The Western Schism appears as one of the most painful and threatening calamities that has weighed on the Church’s destiny. As such, the schism is a devastating prophecy of the end of the world.

God prophesies by deeds and by words. And the supreme calamity of the end of the world is prefigured, announced by previous world calamities, as the capture and destruction of Jerusalem, which dispersed the Jewish people; as fall of the Roman Empire allowed the barbarians to transform the nations, so the Western Schism endangered the Church herself, symbol of the antichrist at the end of time…

Vincent appears during the most acute period of this schism, when everything seems hopeless. He enters into this prophecy; he is part of it; it is incarnated, so to speak, in him. And that is why Vincent preaches to all the coming of the sovereign Judge. Fear God, he says, for the hour of his judgment has come. Still a prophetic hour, but so threatening that the people, terrified by the emphases of the man of God, massively converted. One heard Vincent, followed him, and saw throughout Europe this “Company†which did not leave him, eager to hear him. That is why Vincent also converted to the faith so many Jews, whose return to the true Messiah added one more aspect to the prophecy of the Last Judgment.

The liturgy, too, officially consecrates this extraordinary mission of Saint Vincent Ferrer.

Epistle:

Reading from the Book of the Apocalypse of the apostle St. John, ch. 14:6-7:

“In those days, I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell upon the earth and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people, saying with a loud voice, “Fear God, and give Him honor, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made the heaven and the earth, the sea and fountains of waters.â€

One day St. Vincent was preaching before a multitude in Salamanca; he depicted the Last Judgment and quoted these words of the Angel, when suddenly he stopped. An intimate, divine light overcame his intelligence; he became conscious of himself; and in a loud voice, with the assurance of the supernatural revelation which dominated him, he exclaimed, “I myself am the Angel seen by St. Johnâ€. The affirmation was bold. There were murmurs; the crowd became turbulent. Vincent, strong from the received light, does not retreat. A woman had died in a neighboring house, and the corpse being brought over, he said: “Arise and declare to this crowd whether or not I am the Angel who must preach to everyone the Judgment Day. — Father, you are this Angelâ€. The corpse had risen; he had spoken.

The Church has authenticated this providential mission both in the bull of Saint Vincent’s canonization and in the liturgy.

Gradual:

“The mouth of the just man shall meditate wisdom, and his tongue shall speak judgment. — The law of his God is in his heart, and his steps shall not be supplanted.â€

Tract:

“He shone in his days as the morning star in the midst of a cloud, and as the full moon. — And as the sun when it shines, so did he shine in the temple of God. — And as the rainbow appearing in the cloudy sky, and as the flower of roses in the springtime. — And as the lilies that are on the brink of the water, and as the sweet-smelling frankincense in summertime. — As a bright fire, and frankincense burning in the fire. — As a massive vessel of gold, adorned with every precious stone.â€

In Paschal time. “Alleluia, alleluia! O glorious father Vincent, famous son of the Order of Dominic, pour forth your prayers to the sovereign judge for all the nations who are devoted to you..â€

Gospel:

“You are the salt of the earth, etc.†from the common of Doctors in the Roman Rite.

Offertory:

“You have given him his heart’s desire, O Lord, and have not withheld from him the request of his lips; You have set on his head a crown of precious stones.â€

Secret:

“We offer to You, O Lord, these gifts of our love; and that they may be at once pleasing to You and helpful to us, may the blessed Vincent, Your confessor whom Your gifts made glorious before the world, become our devoted advocate with Your loving kindness.â€

Communion:

“To Vincent [to him that overcometh] I will give (Vincenti dabo) to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of my God.â€

Vincenti dabo… There is a play on words with the name of Vincent, which English cannot render.

Postcommunion:

“Filled with these divine gifts, we beseech You, O Lord, that through the glorious merits of blessed Vincent, Your confessor, we may taste the desired fruits of this saving victimâ€.

Fear the Lord, for his Judgment is near. The hour is coming, it sounds around us all the time. It reaches our neighbor: today for me, tomorrow for you! A personal but irrevocable judgment of which the supreme, universal, public one will only be its solemn confirmation. The book of our life, from which not one syllable is lost, will be opened before us, in the full light of truth. What will we have written on these pages? Our conscience itself will read and make the judgment. For at the Judgment of God we are, in short, under the implacable light of truth, its own judge. One sees oneself to the depths, at a glance, and one pronounces the sentence himself: worthy of God or unworthy. Everything is there. Worthy of God by His mercy which will have saved us, purified at least for the most part, the rest for Purgatory; but even with Purgatory, it is certain salvation, the eternal possession of God assured.

And then there is the other sentence, the awful one, the one where one says to oneself: I am lost!

Lost by my fault, because we see with cruel certainty that we are lost by one’s own fault. There, no remission. By one’s own weight, one goes down instead of going up; we descend into the eternal abyss. And each of us, often at the time when one least thinks of it, appears at the Judgment of God: Fear the Lord, for the hour of his judgment comes.

After twenty years of this incredible apostolate, to complete in his person the expressive figure of the end of time, on Wednesday, April 5, 1419, Vincent Ferrer died in Vannes, Brittany, France, the West of the world at that time. His death, like his life, retains the prophetic character of his mission.

(Fr. Mortier O.P., La Liturgie dominicaine ; Lille/Bruges, DDB, 1923, tome VII, p. 184 sq.)

(Translation of the Mass parts from the 1959 /Saint Dominic Missal: Latin ­â€“ English)

Translation by A. A.

Letter from the Dominicans of Avrillé No.32: September 2019

admin Convent Life, Letters to Friends and Benefactors, Our seminary, Retreats, The Convent, The Rosary Confraternity, The Third Order of Penance


Letter from the Dominicans of Avrillé

No. 32: September 2019

Profession before Fr. Prior (August 14th)


Fioretti of St. Vincent Ferrer

Even though he preached for hours, St. Vincent never tired the faithful. He frequently put them at ease with anecdotes, little stories, comparisons to nature, and even jokes! “Squash,†he said, justifying this practice, “are delicate and delicious, but in order to prevent them from burning and sticking to the pot, it’s necessary, if you want to cook them well, to keep stirring them with a spoon!â€

The unjust innkeeper

One day an innkeeper asked St. Vincent to preach on the obligation of paying debts, because several clients were behind in their bills. “Alright, I’ll explain how much those who retain the goods of others are guilty; but first, show me the wine you sell.†Once the innkeeper brought out a bottle, St. Vincent had him pour it into his scapular, which he held out in the form of a bowl. The water passed through, and the wine stayed in the scapular: a lot of water, and very little wine…!

“St. Vincent’s waterâ€

A very loquacious woman, on bad terms with her irascible husband, asked St. Vincent for advice on how to “convert him.†“If you want to put an end to your quarrels, go to the porter of our convent and ask him to give you some water from the well in the middle of the cloister. When your husband comes home, put some of this water in your mouth right away, without swallowing, and you’ll see your husband become as gentle as a lamb.â€

The woman did as she was told, and when her husband came home grumbling, she took a mouthful of the “miraculous†water. Her husband, seeing that his wife kept her peace without talking back, calmed down himself and thanked God for having changed her heart — and closed her mouth. The same scene repeated itself several times, always with the same happy success. At the end, the woman came to thank St. Vincent, who explained: “The real remedy was not the water from the well, but silence. In the future, keep silent, and you’ll live in peace.â€

The hermit and the sack of gold

St. Vincent recounted the story of a saintly hermit who was walking to town one day when he came across a burse of gold coins. He fled immediately, crying out: “Death and tragedy!†A few onlookers asked what he saw, but his only answer was: “There, by the tree — flee while you can!†However, they didn’t take his advice, and taking the gold pieces, they went into town, got drunk and ended up killing each other in a violent dispute.

Community Chronicle

May 24th: Mr. Jean-Claude Marchon, benefactor of the community, passes away at the age of 91. Mr. Marchon gave up a comfortable apartment in Paris to come and spend his last years doing penance in our Friary. His good humor and edifying example will be sorely missed. (On the 29th: Solemn High Requiem Mass, and burial in the Friary’s cemetery.) R.I.P.

May 26th: Fr. Marie-Dominique is at the Loncheray with the youth group “Friends of the Sacred Heart,†to prepare for their summer camp.

June 2nd: “Solemn Communion†ceremony and public profession of Faith for 6 young ladies of the parish (4 from the school St. Rose of Lima).

The same day, Fathers Marie-Dominique and Hyacinthe-Marie are in Paris for the Third Order.

June 8th-10th: Fr. Marie-Laurent and Br. Michel-Marie represent the Friary at the annual Pentecost pilgrimage of the Combat for the Faith, at the Puy-en-Velay. After the pilgrimage, Bishop Zendejas pays a visit to the Friary on his way back to the U.S.

June 19th: Solemn High Votive Mass of the Sacred Heart celebrated by Fr. Angelico in celebration of the 10th anniversary of his ordination.

June 20th: Fr. Marie-Dominique is in Riddes, Switzerland, at Fr. Epiney’s parish for the 25th anniversary of the ordination of his vicar, Fr. Grenon. Fr. Epiney is a legendary figure in the Fight for Catholic Tradition; it was he who received Archbishop Lefebvre in his parish for the foundation of the seminary of Écône. He has stood firm in his fidelity to the combat of the Archbishop, even at the price of now being ostracized by the superiors of the Society of St. Pius X.

June 23rd: Corpus Christi procession with the presence of Bishop Faure, and presided by Fr. Dominique Rousseau, who recently joined the Combat for the Faith.

June 26th-28th: Exams for the seminarians and our clerical brothers.

July 1st-6th: Fathers Marie-Dominique, Hyacinthe-Marie, and Fr. Ballini preach a retreat at the Friary for 22 men.

July 3rd: Fathers Prior and Louis-Marie, accompanied by Br. Alain, are at the Villeneuve (priory of Fr. Pivert) for a formation session for the “Friends of the Sacred Heart.â€

General Chapter of the Knights of Our Lady, held this year in the Friary’s library

July 12th-15th: The Knights of Our Lady hold their 26th annual General Chapter at the Friary. This year they celebrated the 30th anniversary of the restoration of their traditional observance.

July 14th: Fr. Prior and Br. Augustin-Marie are at Saumur for a doctrinal session for a group of tertiaries.

The second half of July: As every summer, several Fathers and Brothers are busy with camps: Fathers Angelico and Hyacinthe-Marie, with Br. Agostinho at the Lion-d’Angers for Our Lady of Fatima’s Youth Group (elementary boys and girls), and the “Valliant Souls†(adolescent girls); Fr. Terence (joined later by Fr. Angelico) and Brothers Alain and Augustin-Marie in Dordogne (near the famous sanctuary of Rocamadour), with the Cadets of the Sacred Heart. Despite the heat wave, the children all went home happy, and hopefully a few steps closer to God.

July 17th: Outing in Tours for the novitiate, with a guided visit by our Greek professor, Mr. Trouillet.

July 20th: The Friary hosts the marriage of a former student of Saint Thomas Aquinas Boys’ school; Fr. Louis-Marie has the honor of celebrating and receiving the vows.

July 22nd-27th: Fathers François-Marie, Marie-Laurent, and Fr. Picot preach a retreat at the Friary for 32 women.

July 23rd-27th: Fr. Prior is in Lourdes visiting Fr. de Mérode.

August 2nd: For our table reading, we read the Friary chronicles for July-August-September 1979, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of our definitive installation here at the Friary of La Haye-aux-Bonshommes. Fond memories for the most senior members of the community, and fascinating discoveries for the younger members (many of which were not even born at the time)!

August 4th-12th: Our annual retreat was preached this year by Fr. Morgan, who inspired us with the example of Bl. Dominic Barberi (1792-1849), the Italian Passionist priest who was responsible for a wide movement of conversion to the Catholic Church in England in the 19th century.

August 14th: Vigil of the Assumption: Solemn High Mass, during which our postulant Emmanuel receives the habit of lay brother, and a new name: Brother John. The ceremony also included the first profession of Brothers Pie-Marie and Marie-Thomas, who will now start their philosophy and theology classes with the other clerical brothers.

August 15th: Annual Assumption procession, with a large crowd of faithful from all parts of Western France: a big difference from the 6 faithful present for the first procession 40 years ago, when the Fathers just arrived!

August 22nd: Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and 25th anniversary of the perpetual vows of Brother Martin. This day is also the 25th anniversary of the profession of our very first tertiary: Sr. Catherine (Miss Ruth McQuillan, Scotland). Ad multos annos!

News from our worksites

Other than a few small maintenance projects and the preparation of a Calvary mount, we don’t have much to announce. Please pray that we may finally obtain the authorization for the construction of the new parish hall with cafeterias for our schools. The lack of space has reached a critical point.

Crisis in the Church

In 2017, The Conference of French Bishops published the latest statistics concerning the Church in France. Compared to the statistics from 1990 (let alone those from before Vat II!), they show clearly that the crisis in the Church is still raging.

1990 2015
Baptisms 472,130 262,314
Confirmations 91,281 43,627
Marriages 141,146 55,854
Priests 32,267 16,830*
Religious (female) 52,507 29,183
Religious (male) 10,652 5,490

*10 000 of which are over 65 years old…

What’s more, we have to ask ourselves what kind of formation does this “little rest†have? How many of these souls have actually kept the Catholic Faith?

Clama ne cesses! Cry out, never cease!

(arms of St Vincent Ferrer)

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Consecration to the Most Holy Virgin

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Consecration to the Most Holy Virgin

General ideas about the True Devotion or Holy Slavery to Jesus through Mary

According to Saint Lewis-Mary Grignion-de-Montfort

By Fr Gabriel DENIS

1) What is the purpose of this devotion?

The purpose of this devotion is to establish the absolute reign of the Blessed Virgin in our hearts, in order to make prevail in them the perfectly incarnated Wisdom, Jesus, Christ the King:

“If, then, we establish solid devotion to our Blessed Lady, it is only to establish more perfectly devotion to Jesus Christ, and to provide an easy and secure means for finding Jesus Christ. If devotion to Our Lady removed us from Jesus Christ, we should have to reject it as an illusion of the devil; but so far from this being the case, devotion to Our Lady is, on the contrary, necessary for us, as I have already shown, and will show still further hereafter, as a means of finding Jesus Christ perfectly, of loving Him tenderly, and of serving Him faithfully†(Saint Lewis-Mary Grignion-de-Montfort).

2) What does this devotion consist of?

It consists of:

1) giving yourself entirely to the Blessed Virgin to be wholly with Jesus Christ through her;

2) to live habitually and always in a complete, whole, and perfect dependence of her will, following the example of the Son of God in Nazareth.

3) Why dedicate yourself to the Blessed Virgin?

We thus devote ourselves to the Blessed Virgin:

1) to imitate the dependence of Jesus who, in order to save us, wanted to be subject to Mary for thirty years;

2) to recognize the rights of the Holy Virgin, who, being Mother of God, has power over all creatures;

3) to receive more graces, because with Mary being in charge of applying to us the merits of the Redemption, we will be all the more favored, living more subject and more united to the divine Mother.

4) How should you give your whole self and practice this absolute dependence to the Most Holy Virgin?

We must choose a remarkable day to give her, in an act of solemn consecration:

1) our body ;

2) our soul;

3) our earthly goods;

4) our spiritual goods ;

5) all the value of our good past, present and future deeds.

By virtue of this consecration and to live habitually in her dependence, we must do all our actions through Her, with Her, in Her and for Her, so that we always look at Her as acting together with us, and to destine to Her all the good that we can do.

5) What does it mean to act through Mary, with Mary, in Mary and for Mary?

— To act “through Mary†is never to go to our Lord without going through Her, to let yourself be led in all things by Her spirit;

— “with Mary†is to take the Holy Virgin as the model of all that one has to do, and endeavor to imitate Her;

— “in Mary†is staying within the beautiful Heart of Mary with complacency, remaining in peace, relying on Her with confidence, taking refuge in Her, and losing yourself without reservation;

— “for Mary†is doing all actions for Her, for Her profit and glory, in order to do them more surely for the glory of God.

6) How does this consecration differ from those that are made on the occasion of Baptism and in the Congregations of the Children of Mary?

On the occasion of Baptism and in the Congregations of Children of Mary, one is placed under the protection of the Blessed Virgin, as a child under the tutelage of his mother, or as someone poor under the protection of someone rich, in order to have a greater part of their kindness, favors, and love; but one does not sacrifice, for that, neither the value of one’s acts, nor the liberty to rely on yourself.

Here, on the contrary, by giving everything entirely to the Blessed Virgin, for no longer do we belong to ourselves, we abandon at the same time all the rights we naturally have from our good works. She can, therefore, dispose of them as She wills, as She deems fit, without intending anything but the honor of living in her dependence as slaves by love, in order to be by it slaves of Jesus; hence this title given by the Blessed Father Montfort to this devotion: Slavery of Jesus in Mary.

7) In what sense should we consider this abandonment of all our rights to the Blessed Virgin?

To clearly understand the answer to this question, it must be remembered that each of our works, made in a state of grace and by reasons of faith contains:

1) a satisfactory (atoning) or impetratory (begging) value that we can communicate to others, and which serves, to compensate for the penalty due to sin or to obtain some benefit particular;

2) a meritorious value which is our own, that we do not share with anyone, and which brings to our soul an increase of graces and merits.

Now, by this voluntary abandonment we make of all our rights, the Blessed Virgin becomes absolute headmistress: 1) of all of the satisfactory (atoning) and impetratory (begging) value of our good works, so She can apply them how She wants, as She pleases, according to the greatest glory of God;

2) of all their meritorious value, that is, to say of the graces of our merits. But because these graces and those merits of our own are incommunicable, She will want to guard them preciously, like a beautiful and rich treasure, to grant us enjoyment at the great day of eternity.

8) How can we help our parents, friends, and benefactors, both alive and deceased, if we are not free to dispose the value of our good works in favor of who we want?

Far from opposing that we come to the aid of those who are dear to us, or who commend themselves to us, this devotion authorizes us, on the contrary, to pray for them with more confidence than ever:

“Just as well as a rich person,†says the saint of Montfort, “who, wanting to show his esteem for a great prince, gives his entire fortune to him. Would not that man have greater confidence in asking the prince to help one of his friends who needed assistance? Indeed the prince would only be too happy to have such an opportunity of proving his gratitude to one who had sacrificed all that he possessed to enrich him, thereby impoverishing himself to do him honour. The same must be said of our Lord and our Lady.â€

For those consecrated as slaves, it is of their kindness and power never to be outdone in gratitude.

While the application of our good works does not depend anymore on our will, Jesus and Mary “will assist, of our humble and submissive commendation, of our small spiritual merit, or by other ways, our parents, friends and benefactors†alive and dead, when they will be in need. It is even a duty of justice and charity that they will recognize and fulfill better than us.

9) What are the main benefits we find for ourselves in the slavery of Jesus in Mary?

We, being stripped of all that we have to give it to the Most Holy Virgin, are right to believe:

1) That the good Mother, having accepted our offering, is obliged at the same time to consider us always as her good, to protect us and defend us against our enemies, to give us the ways of salvation, and to obtain for us all of the graces we need in life;

2) That our good works, passing by her hands before arriving at God, are purified, augmented, embellished with its virtues, and presented by Herself to Jesus Christ, they will be favorably welcomed, and thus make them more meritorious in His eyes:

3) That, being shown to be generous and selfless, parting with our own goods to put them back in Her hands, she acquits our debts towards God in this life and will not permit that we stay a long time to suffer in Purgatory after our death.

Also, in the slavery of Jesus through Mary, a fervent, animated soul of special love for the Most Holy Virgin, arrives more surely and more promptly to a perfect sanctification than by any other spiritual way. “Show me a new road to go to Jesus Christ,†says the saint of Montfort, “pave it with all the merits of the saints, adorn it with their heroic virtues, illuminate and enhance it with the splendor and beauty of the angels, have all the angels and saints there to guide and protect those who wish to follow it. Give me such a road and truly, truly, I boldly say, and I am telling the truth, that instead of this road, perfect though it be, I would still choose the immaculate way of Mary. It is a way, a road without stain or spot, without original sin or actual sin, without shadow or darkness.â€

10) What are the obligations of this devotion?

To be a slave to Jesus in Mary:

1) We must have made our consecration;

2) By virtue of this consecration, one must seek to live according to her spirit, that is to say, in union with Mary.

The act of consecration is a contract that always lasts unless it is formally retracted. The saint of Montfort asks us to renew it frequently, even if it is brief.

To help us do our consecration well and to live united with Mary, he also shows us a few particular external and internal practices.

11) Does this devotion oblige under pain of sin?

It does not oblige under pain of sin, but one could find in their negligence a lack of conformity to grace. It is a great medium of salvation and of perfection that we must neither despise should nor neglect.

12) What are the external practices of this devotion?

These practices are:

1) To prepare for the consecration in offering to God, for thirty days, one’s prayers, meditations and good works, with intention and in following way: twelve days to purge the spirit of the world, six days to get the knowledge of oneself, six days to get to know the Blessed Virgin, and six days to get to know Jesus Christ. This preparation completed, the consecration is done pronouncing the formula composed by the saint of Montfort himself 1;

2) To renew each year the act of consecration, after preparing for three weeks in the same way as the first time. This preparation can coincide with the month of May; it would be an excellent exercise for the month of Mary;

3) To make a small offering to the Holy Virgin, the day of the first consecration and the day of the renovation, as a mark of universal dependency towards Mary;

4) To recite every day some prayer in honor of the Most Holy Virgin; for example, the Magnificat, a chaplet, or the Holy Rosary, especially the Little Crown of the Blessed Virgin, praying three times one Pater, four Aves, and 1 Glory Be.

5) To devoutly celebrate the Feasts of the Blessed Virgin, particularly the Annunciation, the main festival of the present devotion.

13) What are the interior practices?

These practices are:

1) Offering to Our Lord Jesus Christ, every morning, by the hands of his Holy Mother, all of our thoughts, desires, words, and actions, by pronouncing these words or other similar ones: “I am all yours, and all that I have, I offer to you, my kind Jesus, by Mary, your Most Holy Mother†or “I give myself up, I give myself entirely to you, my dear Mother.â€

2) To live all day in union with Mary, seeking to act everywhere and always through Her, with Her, in Her, and for Her, as it was explained above (fifth question). For this, in the course of the day, do all works habitually with this thought: “My good mother, act in me…speak in me…work in me.†All this is to be done peacefully, gently, without effort, without restraint, but also with fidelity and perseverance.

14) What are the fruits of this devotion?

Souls who know how to enter the spirit of this devotion are happy, a thousand times happy. They find their consolation invoking and blessing Mary as their powerful Queen; their pleasure to obey their dear Headmistress without delay. They discover in contemplation of her virtues a ravishing beauty and, in the imitation of her, strength and incomparable joy. They live in their Mother’s company with the trust and abandonment of a child. They draw from the intercession of the Most Holy Virgin (becoming for them the conduit of all graces) such a great abundance of goods that they withdraw fast from sin to live fully according to God. It is Jesus and Mary who reign in their hearts and they do not delay not to reign there perfectly.

God alone!

Translation by J.F.

1 — You will find it in his « Treatise of the true devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary ».

Continuing the Battle of Saint Pius X

admin Apologetics, conciliar Church, Our seminary, The Fight for the Faith ,


Continuing the Battle of Saint Pius X

Sermon given at the Dominican Monastery of La Haye-aux-Bonshommes Avrillé (France)

My Dear Brethren,

Today, the Church makes us celebrate the feast of Saint Pius X.

Let us remember the exceptional destiny of a small child from the countryside, who became priest, pastor, canon at Treviso, Bishop at Mantua, Cardinal, Patriarch of Venice, then Pope; a Pope whose “pontificate shone like in the Golden Ages of Church“ according to the expression of Pope Pius XII 1.

Divine Providence placed a saint on the seat of Peter, at the dawn of a century that would see, on the occasion of two world wars, the installation of communism, and then globalism into this world; and where the Church, infiltrated by her enemies, would know the gravest crisis of her history.

It is thus valuable to recall the teachings of this saint, to guide us in the present times. It is not for nothing that Msgr. Lefebvre wanted to make him the celestial patron of his work of restoring the priesthood, and of the battle that we lead today for the Church.

By nature, no one sweeter, more amiable than he, no one more a friend of peace, no one more paternal. […] [But] in front of the unavoidable attacks against God and the Church, he knew how to rise up like a giant in all his majesty, […] making the powers of the earth tremble and retreat, reassuring the hesitant and galvanizing the timid 2.

Restoring all things in Christ

He set the tone in his first encyclical:

Who can fail to see that society is at the present time, more than in any past age, suffering from a terrible and deep-rooted malady which, developing every day and eating into its inmost being, is dragging it to destruction? You understand, Venerable Brethren, what this disease is – apostasy from God.

And as might be expected we find extinguished among the majority of men all respect for the Eternal God, and no regard paid in the manifestations of public and private life to the Supreme Will – nay, every effort and every artifice is used to destroy utterly the memory and the knowledge of God 3.

A century later, how relevant this is! He continues:

When all this is considered there is good reason to fear lest this great perversity may be as it were a foretaste, and perhaps the beginning of those evils which are reserved for the last days.

To combat the evil at its root, Saint Pius X sees only one solution: to restore all things in Christ. It will become his motto and essential agenda of his pontificate.

We proclaim that We have no other program in the Supreme Pontificate but that “of restoring all things in Christ” (Ephes. i., 10), so that “Christ may be all and in all” (Coloss. 3, 2). […]

We shall never, however much we exert ourselves, succeed in calling men back to the majesty and empire of God, except by means of Jesus Christ. “No one,” the Apostle admonishes us, “can lay other foundation than that which has been laid, which is Jesus Christ” (I. Cor 3, 2) 4.

This is why Pius X will vigorously condemn the separation of Church and State in France and will forcefully defend the liberty of the Church in face of the plundering French government 5.

Obviously, more than a century later, the evil is so deep and the entire world is so much in the grips of Freemasonry that any purely human means cannot reverse the course of things, it is necessary to be realist.

But let us not be discouraged! The pope continues:

The victory will ever be with God […] We believe and expect with unshakable faith. But this does not prevent us also, according to the measure given to each, from exerting ourselves to hasten the work of God – and not merely by praying assiduously […] but, more important still, by affirming both by word and deed and in the light of day, God’s supreme dominion over man and all things, so that His right to command and His authority may be fully realized and respected 6.

Battling Modernism

But what do we see today, after the latest Council?

The popes travel the world preaching the rights of man; since the Council, the Vatican has demanded that the last remaining Catholic States not mention in their constitutions that the Catholic religion is the State religion and to give the same rights to all the religions. In no speech is it understood that Our Lord is the only Savior of men and societies. Such a silence, if one thinks about it, is hardly believable.

Msgr. Lefebvre could write:

This is our opposition [to Rome today], and this is what cannot be understood. Our Lord came to reign. They say no, and we say yes with all the popes [before the Council] 7.

How did we get there?

Well! The good God rose up a saint at the beginning of the 20th century to enlighten and warn us in advance. This is the great encyclical of Pius X on the doctrines of the modernists: Pascendi Dominici Gregis, 8 September 1907.

Saint Pius X had the lucidity to see, and the courage to say, that the evil is not only in civil society, but that it is also in the Church, which is much worse:

The partisans of error are to be sought not only among the Church’s open enemies; they lie hid, a thing to be deeply deplored and feared, in her very bosom and heart, and are the more mischievous, the less conspicuously they appear. […] Though they express astonishment themselves, no one can justly be surprised that We number such men among the enemies of the Church 8.

And Saint Pius X analyzed the entire modernist system.

It is not possible to explain the details of the whole encyclical here 9.

What is necessary to understand is that modernism completely destroys the faith.

Faith, as you know, is a gift from God received at baptism, which makes us hold as true all that Our Lord has revealed to us, and which he teaches us through His Church, when she speaks infallibly. This is what we recite in the act of faith:

My God, I firmly believe all the truths that you have revealed and that you teach us by your Church, because you cannot be deceived nor deceive us.

What is it for the modernists? What is faith for them? Saint Pius X says that for the modernists :

Human reason is […] incapable of lifting itself up to God, and of recognising His existence, even by means of visible things. (§6)

Faith […] consists [only, for them] in a sentiment which originates from a need of the divine (§7)

The divine reality [existence of God], for the Modernists […] [is found] In the experience of the individual. (§14)

What is to prevent such experiences from being met within every religion? […] And with what right will Modernists deny the truth of an experience affirmed by a follower of Islam? With what right can they claim true experiences for Catholics alone? Indeed Modernists do not deny but actually admit, some confusedly, others in the most open manner, that all religions are true. (§14)

This is today’s ecumenism. And it is what Masonry seeks for extending its global government, precursor of the antichrist. One cannot find anything more opposed to the motto of St. Pius X: « To restore all things in Christ! »

Of course the Catholic life is not something purely intellectual. A certain “experience” of God is found in it. Catholic life is a life of friendship with Our Lord, through the virtue of charity, the action of the Holy Ghost, and His seven gifts. All this makes our faith a living faith.

But when religious experience is not guided by the faith, if it is entirely reduced to sentiment, to individual conscience, the door is open to all deviations and heresies:

[Modernism is] the synthesis of all heresies (§39).

[It leads to] the annihilation of all religion, – atheism (§39).

Modernism was clearly condemned by Saint Pius X. The pope even took strict measures to remove the modernists from positions of responsibility.

But they refused to submit, continued to work underground, and three years later the pope will find:

They have not ceased to attract followers, either, by forming a clandestine group; by these means, they inject in the very veins of the Christian Republic the virus of their doctrine, by editing books and publishing articles in anonymity or with pseudonyms 10.

And they held the power at the Second Vatican Council.

Continuing the fight of Saint Pius X

Well! It is necessary to continue the fight of Saint Pius X, which is simply the fight of twenty centuries of Church; it is the only combat that has the assurance of victory, as the holy pope reminds us.

Studying and disseminating Catholic doctrine

It is first necessary to save the faith, which is disappearing today.

Saint Pius X has constantly insisted on the necessity of disseminating Catholic doctrine, encouraging the study of St. Thomas Aquinas; adding to the Catechism of the Council of Trent a simplified catechism in the form of questions and answers, which is extremely deep and luminous, now called the Catechism of Saint Pius X.

He asked the bishops to found schools of religion for the youth in the cities, and he asked the priests to institute congregations of Christian doctrine in the parishes. He insisted that, in their sermons, priests should make the Council of Trent known 11.

Pius XII calls Saint Pius X “the pope of Catholic doctrine” 12.

In this spirit, it is necessary that the faithful today implement a program of readings for the year, fixing each week a time for religious reading, alone or as a family; or organize a doctrinal group to study doctrine with other faithful, under the guidance of a priest.

Living the Mass

Then we must focus our life on the Mass.

Regnavit a ligno, Deus : God reigns by the cross.

At Calvary, Our Lord has definitively conquered sin, the devil, and the world. Holy Mass, renewing the Sacrifice of Calvary, extends the victory and reign of Our Lord over our countries. Christendom was built around the altar of the Sacrifice.

Saint Pius X therefore wanted to establish his fight for Christ the King on the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the Holy Eucharist.

Pius XII calls Saint Pius X “the Pope of the Holy Eucharist in our time” 13:

— he restored the dignity of worship, “primary and indispensable source of the true Catholic spirit” 14;

— he reestablished frequent and daily communion in the Church, “much desired by Jesus Christ and by the Catholic Church” 15;

— he allowed little children to receive holy communion early, as soon as they can “distinguish the Eucharistic Bread from ordinary bread” 16.

The modernists destroyed the mass: it is the ecumenical mass of Paul VI. Divine Providence raised up Archbishop Lefebvre to give us Mass of all ages. Let us live the holy Mass, now that it has been returned to us. Let us read about the Mass; if we are living not far from a traditional chapel, let us try to go to Mass on weekdays, at least sometimes; let us prepare the evening before Sundays, by reading the texts of the Sunday Mass, and make a good thanksgiving after Holy Communion, at least spiritually if we cannot attend Mass (we will have the same spiritual fruit).

Making Our Lord reign amongst us

Finally, Saint Pius X exhorts us to work for the restoration of all things in Christ by word and deed, study the doctrine of Christ the King, make it known around us, and constitute strongholds of resistance where Our Lord may reign: our soul, our families, our traditional parish communities, and wherever we can influence.

**

As a conclusion, let make ours the prayer of the Church in the collect of the Mass for the feast of saint Pius X:

O God Who, for the defense of the Catholic faith and the restoration of all things in Christ, filled St. Pius, the Supreme Pontiff, with heavenly wisdom and apostolic fearlessness, mercifully grant that, by following his teachings and examples, we may receive Your eternal rewards. Amen.

1 — Pius XII, Allocution for the beatification of Saint Pius X , 3 June 1951 (AAS 43 pp. 471).

2 — Pius XII , Ibid. p. 472

  1. 3 — Saint Pius X, encyclical E Supremi Apostolatus, 4 October 1903, §3 and §4.

  1. 4— Saint Pius X, Ibid. §4 and §8.

  1. 5— One can refer to his encyclical Vehementer nos, 11 February 1906.

  1. 6— Saint Pius X, encyclical E Supremi Apostolatus, §7.

  1. 7— Mgr Lefebvre, L’Église infiltrée par le modernisme, Éditions Fideliter, 1993, p. 70.

  1. 8— Saint Pius X, Pascendi Dominici Gregis, 8 September 1907, §2 and §3.

  1. 9— Le Sel de la terre 93 (été 2015) published a complete analysis of this encyclical by Msgr Richard Williamson (pp. 71-87). One can also read the Catechism on Modernism by Fr. Jean-Baptiste Lemius, O.M.I., published in 1907 with a letter of commendation by Cardinal Merry del Val. The French edition was happily reprinted by Éditions Delacroix in 2003.

10— Saint Pius X, Motu Proprio Sacrorum Antistitum, 1 September 1910 [English translation]

11 — Encyclical Acerbo Nimis, 15 april 1905, on the teaching of catholic doctrine.

12 — Pius XII, Allocution for the beatification of saint Pius X, ibid.

13 — Pius XII, Allocution for the beatification of saint Pius X, ibid.

14 — Saint Pius X, Motu Proprio Tra Le Sollecitudini on Sacred Music, 22 november 1903.

15 — Saint Pius X, Decree De Quotidiana SS. Eucharistiae sumptione, 20 december 1905.

16 — Saint Pius X, Decree Quam Singulari, 8 august 1910.

Letter from the Dominicans of Avrillé No. 31: May 2019

admin In defense of our convent, Our seminary, The Third Order of Penance, Writings of the Dominican Fathers ,


Letter from the Dominicans of Avrillé

No. 31: May 2019

2019: Year of St. Vincent Ferrer

St. Vincent Ferrer: 1350-1419

The apostolate of St. Vincent Ferrer was as international as the Dominican Order itself. Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Switzerland (some even say England, but proof is lacking)… received his visit, and all of Europe felt the power of his message.

He traveled on foot – or, at the end of his life, riding on a donkey – accompanied by a group of confessors and a flock of penitents who would follow for a time the preacher that converted them. Arriving in town, he would kneel down on the ground, not wanting to penetrate any further into the city without imploring for it the divine blessing. After which, the mission commenced.

He himself would rise each morning at 2 o’clock, in order to recite the Breviary and say his private prayers. A few hours later, the mission would start with a Solemn High Mass, celebrated by St. Vincent, with deacon, sub-deacon, and a highly-trained schola — with musical instruments! The saint placed great importance on the beauty of the liturgy, which for him was the first way to preach.

The Mass was generally celebrated outdoors, as no church could contain the crowds of faithful. Next came the sermon, which easily lasted three hours (sometimes longer), the blessing of the sick (and the resulting miracles), and the reconciliation of enemies.

The Angel of the Last Judgment

In the eyes of the faithful, Saint Vincent Ferrer was above all — as he said himself — the “Angel of the Last Judgmentâ€, he who came to cry out to the world: “Fear God, and give Him glory, for the hour of His judgment is come†(Apoc. 14:7). Born in 1350, two years after the start of the terrible bubonic plague that decimated Europe, he preached to a Christendom ravaged by the Hundred Years War, natural catastrophes (such as the earthquakes shaking even St. John Lateran and St. Peter’s), and the Great Western Schism. If that wasn’t the end of the world, it was at least a striking prefiguration. Throughout Church history, just as there have regularly been precursors of the Antichrist, God has sent precursors of the intrepid preachers who will be his direct adversaries at the end of the world.

A hundred years ago, the review La Vie spirituelle underlined the significance of St. Vincent’s mission, for his epoch and ours:

God gave him the mission to speak to all the people of Europe, to repeat during 30 years, without tiring, the importance of salvation, the blinding light of the final judgment, the eternity of Hell. […] The whole of St. Vincent’s preaching consists in boldly confronting his listeners with the most frightening and the most certain of all realities: Hell is the punishment for sin. Unless you convert, you will all perish.

The Angel of the Judgment is thus [always] a “Saint for todayâ€.

The Problem of Evil

If God exists, where does evil come from? This is a common objection, but which actually turns against atheism and leads to religion.

And yet, evil exists, doesn’t it? Evil (for example, deafness, blindness…) does not have its own proper existence: it’s an absence, a lack, a disorder, that doesn’t exist all by itself, but only in something else that it damages. Evil is a privation of being — a privation of the normal order.

What does that prove? A privation does not have a proper cause. The shadow of a tree (privation of light) is not positively produced by the tree (which only limits the action of the Sun), and much less by the Sun itself! In a way, one could say that evil is to God what shadows are to the Sun.

But if God is all-powerful, what could limit His action? God, being all-powerful, is free to manifest His goodness as He wishes. Instead of an egalitarian universe (with millions of identical beings), His wisdom preferred a diversified creation, reflecting His goodness in a multiple fashion (in varying degrees). In this hierarchy, certain beings cast shadows on others: animals eat other animals, which eat plants, which assimilate minerals, etc. Each creature, with its limits, contributes to the general order of things.

Doesn’t the presence of evil inside humanity itself (wars, crimes, injustice…) argue against the existence of God? False notes in a concert do not in any way rule out the existence of the symphony, nor the existence of a composer. It’s actually the opposite which is true: it would be impossible to discern the false notes if the melody and harmony of the whole did not exist. Similarly, the presence of evil in the world does not in any way raise doubts as to the existence of God: to the contrary, we could not discern what is evil without having first recognized a general order of the universe.

Evil remains a scandal! Evil is a scandal for those who are more or less pantheistic (thinking that the universe itself is God), or who adore Mankind. The imperfections of our world prove first and foremost that the world is not God; it is not the Supreme Being, and so we must therefore search for something higher. Every man has a thirst for happiness which cannot be completely satisfied by things here below. This is just one more proof of the existence of God: true happiness is over and above this world!

But if God is good, couldn’t he eliminate all evil? Evil will always be a mystery for our limited human reason. We can understand that evil is permitted by God for a greater good, but it remains difficult to discern what this greater good actually is. The mystery of evil calls upon other mysteries which alone can shed light upon it: the mystery of eternal life (our life on earth is only a temporary trial, before our real life), the mystery of final judgment (one day, everyone must render an account of their actions), the mystery of original sin (man used his liberty to “thwart†God’s plan), and the mystery of Jesus Christ, who made reparation for sin in a manner even more beautiful than if sin had never existed (God’s goodness is revealed better by Jesus taking on human nature in order to make reparation and suffer in our place). To all those who suffer and are tempted to revolt, only Jesus (who suffered even more, but who leads us to happiness), provides the true answer.

Community Chronicle

January 31st: Mrs. Miriam CARROLL (Sr. Claire Gambacorta t.o.p.) passed away in Kansas, fortified by the sacraments of the Church and assisted by her fellow tertiaries. According to the constitutions of the Third Order and her personal wishes, she was buried wearing the Dominican habit.

February 1st: At Montagnac-la-Crempse (Périgord), Fathers Marie-Dominique and Angelico represent the community at the funeral services for Mother Marie-Emmanuel, the first Prioress of the contemplative Dominican sisters of Avrillé.

February 9th: Brothers Michel-Marie and Augustin-Marie receive the tonsure during a Pontifical High Mass celebrated by Bishop Zendejas. Several seminarians receive the cassock, tonsure and minor orders on the same occasion.

February 10th: The Third Order Fraternity of “Saint Dominic and Saint Francis†(which gathered together all our tertiaries of Southeastern France) having become too big, Fathers Angelico and Marie-Laurent preside the erection of a new Fraternity for our tertiaries of Auvergne: the Fraternity “Saint Vincent Ferrer.†The fledgling Fraternity will be consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on May 5th, feast of St. Pius V.

February 17th: Third Order meeting for Fathers Marie-Dominique and Hyacinthe-Marie at “Saint Joseph’s Domain†(Convent of the Sisters of Mary Coredemptrix, near Rennes, Brittany).

March 9th/10th: Weekend recollection for the faithful near Bordeaux, with Fathers Marie-Laurent and Hyacinthe-Marie.

March 17th: Annual pilgrimage in honor of St. Joseph for the families of St. Philomena School, with Fathers François-Marie and Angelico. Fathers Marie-Dominique and Hyacinthe-Marie are in Chartres for a conference, then to Paris for the Third Order.

March 30th/31st: For the 600th anniversary of St. Vincent Ferrer’s entry into Heaven, Father Louis-Marie leads a group of tertiaries on a pilgrimage to his tomb in Vannes (Brittany).

March 24th: Arrival of Bishop Thomas Aquinas, who will stay several weeks in France.

March 28th: Father Prior is in Rennes (Brittany), where Bishop Thomas Aquinas presides over the ceremony of the final vows of Sr. Marie-Liesse, and the temporary vows of Sister Marie-Joseph (Sisters of Mary Coredemptrix).

March 30th-April 6th: Annual pilgrimage to Rome for the graduating class of St. Thomas Aquinas Boys’ School, accompanied by Fr. Marie-Dominique.

Death of St. Vincent at Vannes (Brittany)

News from our worksites

In order to have a spotless church in time for Holy Week and Easter, a 5-day cleaning operation, under the di­rection of our Br. An­dré-Joseph, was ac­complished in late Feb­ruary. The height of the vaulted ceiling and the fragility of the murals (dating from the 14th century) made it neces­sary to rent a crane for the delicate procedure.

The construction permit for the future Parish Hall was rejected due to a change in zoning laws… The architect is now revising the blue prints in conformity with the new requirements, and we’re hoping to get the project under way in 2020. We’re also counting on your prayers to remove all the administrative and financial obstacles!

Crisis in the Church

February 4th, 2019: “The pluralism and the diversity of religions, color, sex, race and language are willed by God in His wisdom.†(Declaration on Human Fraternity signed by Pope Francis in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.)

March 30th, 2019: Rabat, Morocco: the Pope visits the “Mohamed IV Institute for the Formation of Muslim Preachers,†thereby giving formal encouragement to spread a false religion fiercely opposed to Our Lord!

To send a donation:

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Dominicans of Avrillé, Inc.
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Couvent de la Haye-aux-Bonshommes

49240 Avrillé, France

Sermon of His Excellency Bp. Gerardo Zendejas given in Avrillé (France) for the Consecration of the Holy Oils and Chrismal Mass of the Holy Thursday

admin conciliar Church, Liturgical Seasons, The Fight for the Faith , ,


Sermon of His Excellency Bp. Gerardo Zendejas

given in Avrillé (France)

for the Consecration of the Holy Oils

and Chrismal Mass of the Holy Thursday

April 18, 2019

Dear Rev. Prior, Priests, Brothers and Religious,

My Dear Brethren,

As Catholics, we believe that there are four marks in the Catholic Church: One, HOLY, Catholic and Apostolic. Needless to say that Catholic Church has the power to produce saints. This is the mark of sanctity. Absolutely God sends his grace from above as source of holiness. For that purpose Our Lord Jesus Christ has instituted seven sacraments in order to be a common way of sanctification, prefigured under the Mosaic Law and accomplished under the Law of the Gospel by the true and unique Messiah – our Lord Jesus Christ

A sacrament is a visible sign instituted by Jesus Christ in order to give grace, which we need for the eternal salvation of our soul. Taking human nature into account, Our Lord linked an invisible grace, for example to be child of God by adoption, to visible a sign – like water – when is used for Baptism. In other words, man stands in need of perceptible outward signs so that can realize and communicate spiritual realities. In a way, sacraments are symbols, however they signify what they perform.

Catholic Tradition has transmitted that there are three essential elements in a sacrament: matter, form and intention. Certainly, there is an immemorial use of OIL in the administration of some sacraments. For instance, it is essential to use Holy Chrism (a mix between Olive Oil and Balsam) in the administration of the Sacrament of Confirmation. Concerning the administration of sacraments in preserving their substance, Traditional teaching including the common teaching of the Church and theologians, have transmitted those matter, form and intention, and have religiously expressed them in prayers and gestures by the Roman Ritual or Eastern Liturgical Rites. Indeed, after SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL THESE RITES WERE MODIFIED. Why?

Here are some dates of modification:

1968 a new rite of priestly Ordination

1969 a New Mass

1969 a new rite of Baptism

1969 a new rite of Matrimony

1971 a new rite of Confirmation

1972 a new rite of Extreme Unction

1973 a new rite of Penance

1988 a new rite of exorcism, etc..

So, in 1970 there was installed a new matter for the holy Oils, not only enforcing a different kind of oil, but also granting the fact of blessed oils instead of consecrating them.

The new Rites – in general – do relativize the essential intention in administering Sacraments because undermine the truths of Catholic Faith. For instance, OLIVE OIL from Apostolic times was considered as the proper unique matter. The Ritual for the consecration of Holy Oils, which we are going to use in a few minutes, expresses during the preface that the olive oil was chosen among other trees for the signification of tree of peace and light – arbor pacis et lucis. It says that Noah had received some leaves of Olive tree, as signal of peace from God after the Deluge; also how Our Lord – praying in the Garden of Olives – willed to sanctify those olive trees in order to sanctify us when we offer ourselves to God, in particular when a person gives oneself to God in priestly or in religious life. In fact, for purpose of validity in administering the Sacrament of Confirmation the holy Chrism is essentially needed to be from olive oil mixed with balsam.

Otherwise, on December 3, 1970 the Congregation of Rites authorized the use of other vegetable oils in the administration of Sacraments, approved by Pope Paul VI. In addition, in canon 847 the new Canon Law (1983) reads: “In administering the sacraments in which holy oils must be used, the minister must use pressed olives OR OTHER PLANTS….. consecrated or BLESSED by a bishop.â€

Nevertheless, the Congregation of Rites gave no reason to justify that something that has always been understood as INVALID (other kind of oil), later had suddenly considered to be VALID and enforceable. If Catholic Tradition has always refused to change the essential elements of the sacraments, it is because Jesus Christ has instituted them.

After Vatican II, very many priests had been erroneously indoctrinated through their preparatory years of formation, so that they could deliberately be weak in learning Tradition, and strong in Modernism. Their Novus Ordo modified ways in considering the sacraments, not only affect the priests’ believing but also the faithful’s beliefs in presiding community celebrations or interacting in social functions. Due to constant defects and excesses, the new Rites of sacraments are projecting a different way of believing.

That is the reason why Archbishop Lefebvre wisely RESISTED these innovations in order to preserve our Faith and the grace of God, so that the four marks of the Church could be preserved but in particular that one of Sanctity, for the Greater glory of God and the eternal salvation of many souls.

Let’s thank to Our Lord, during this ceremony, for the institution of the sacraments on Holy Thursday – the Holy Eucharist and Holy Orders because He also wanted to consecrate the ministers of the sacraments. That’s why He consecrated the first bishops in order to preach the Gospel throughout the world with its Traditions. We therefore should pray for the fidelity of Traditional Bishops, in spite that some of them want to play the betrayal role of Judas Iscariot.

In concluding, more than ever let’s thank to Notre Dame de Paris for having sent the French Prelate, Archbishop Lefebvre, to preserve our Catholic Episcopacy, and Catholic priesthood, in using the Traditional Rite of Sacraments, particularly that one of consecration of Holy Oils for their validity.

As the statue of Notre Dame remained safe after and in spite of last Monday burning fire, the Archbishop’s stands for Tradition shall remain safe in spite of the burning fire of Vatican II destructive innovations. Therefore, let’s once again thank to Notre Dame of Paris for remaining at the traditional main Altar in the Cathedral after last Monday burning fire, either way if it was provoked by accident or by incident, God knows. But what we really know is that in spite of such fire and smoke, Our Lady wanted to remain at the foot of her beloved Son’s cross, enhanced by Royal Crowns in Paris, as A TESTIMONY that the gates of hell will not prevail against the Mystical Body of Christ. The Catholic Church will not be destroyed, and Notre Dame of Paris Cathedral shall be restored. Absolutely, the Mother of God encourages us to keep the Deposit of the Faith transmitting the mystery of the Redemption, in spite of Vatican II diabolical confusion. The Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ is always prevailing because He is True God, True Man and True King!!!

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, AMEN

Personal Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

admin Spirituality


PERSONAL CONSECRATION TO THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS

Imprimatur of Bp J.C. Chamont Auxiliary Bishop of Montreal

November 16, 1940

1. Importance of the Devotion to the Sacred Heart

Three Classes of Souls

Rest a little, Christian soul, from the bustle of life, and give ear to the words of love which the Heart of Jesus speaks to you, that God of love and mercy whose only care is for your good.

Tell Me, are you happy? Are you contented? Is your heart at peace? Do you enjoy the unruffled depths of ocean?

Perhaps you are to be numbered among those unhappy souls who weep because at every step they take they find themselves in sin: who, like doves with their wings clogged with mud, fail to soar up to the clear blue sky. Or perhaps you are making your way but slowly along the steep and narrow path of virtue, weighed down by cold torpor or that wasting disease of the spirit called tepidity. Or perhaps you are one of those who are neither sinners nor tepid, but whose downcast features reflect discouragement within because, like eagles with clipped wings, they spend their whole life rising into the air only to fall back to earth discouraged, or, like travelers journeying along a boundless stretch of shifting sands, they lose heart at the sight of such little progress achieved after so many years of weary travel. What compassion I have for all these poor souls! And how many indeed they are!

A Great Remedy

But just listen now to those consoling words I have confided to My most intimate friends. For I desire them to be, as it were, silvered conduits or electric cables carrying the grace and light of My loving Heart out to the world.

“The treasures of grace and blessings which this Sacred Heart contains are infinite. I do not know of any devotion in the spiritual life better suited to raise a soul in a short time to the highest perfection and to make it taste the real sweetness to be found in the service of Jesus Christ 1.â€

“I do not know, my dear child, if you understand the meaning of devotion to the Sacred

Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ, of which I speak to you. It produces fruit and a great change in all those who consecrate themselves to it and practice it with fervor 2.â€

By means of this devotion to the Sacred Heart, people in the world will find all the helps necessary to their state of life, peace in their families, relief in their labors, the blessing of heaven on all their undertakings, consolation in their troubles; and it is precisely in this Sacred Heart that they will find a haven of refuge during their whole life and particularly at the hour of death.

“How sweet it is to die after having had a tender and constant devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus! 3â€

“See to it, above all, that religious embrace this devotion, for they will derive from it such help that no other means will be necessary to reestablish primitive fervor and the most exact observance in the least observant communities, and to raise to the summit of perfection those communities which live in the most perfect observance 4.â€

“One Friday, during Holy Communion, He spoke these words to His unworthy servant, if she is not mistaken: ‘I promise thee in the excessive mercy of My Heart that its all-powerful love will grant to all those who go to Communion on the First Fridays of nine consecutive months the grace of final repentance; they shall not die in its disfavor nor without receiving their sacraments, My Divine Heart being their assured refuge at that last moment’ 5.â€

“Our glorious protector, St. Michael, accompanied by a countless host of angelic spirits, assured me anew that the cause of the Sacred Heart was entrusted to him as one of the most important enterprises for the glory of God and the utility of the Church that has ever taken place in the world during the whole course of the centuries. This mystery hidden for centuries, this sacrament manifested anew to the world, this design from all eternity in favor of all people, now revealed to the Church, is, so to speak, one of those which arrest the attention of God, ever careful for our good and the glory of the Savior6.â€

“I seem to see interiorly that light, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, that adorable sun which sheds down its rays on earth sparingly at first, then in greater abundance, and finally illuminating with them the whole earth. And He said to me: ‘By the splendor of this light peoples and nations will be illuminated, and by its heat they will be made warm.’ 7â€

Tell me now, My child, if, after having read these lines, you do not feel the persuasion coming over you that devotion to the Sacred Heart is something really extraordinary in the world. Yes, it is, indeed, and if you still have any lingering doubts, then make a careful study of the question for yourself and you will soon gain conviction. It is this personal conviction I desire in all My faithful, most of all in My priests and religious: not that they should believe just because they have heard of it, but rather that they should discover it from personal experience. By this means alone will they become convinced, and only they who are convinced will do great things. If only you were one of these, convinced through and through of the power and greatness of My Heart!

Two Kinds of Devotion

My most precious gems lie hidden at the bottom of the coffer, because there are many who have not yet noticed them. This divine devotion is like a vein of gold running through the field of the Church. Those layers of the ground which are usually exploited lie on the surface and can thus be easily discovered and turned to advantage. For example, who is unaware of the value of Holy Communion on the First Fridays of the month, or the value of the consecration of the family to the Sacred Heart of Jesus? Or who has not from time to time assisted at some feast in My honor? Or who has not become a member of some confraternity and performed its simple devotional exercises? All these are like travelers who pass over a vein of gold, stir up the earth a little, gather a few grains of the precious metal, and then continue on their way. It is only the few who set themselves to delve deeply into the mine; only the few become miners by profession.

2. Consecration

CONSECRATION is the fundamental practice of devotion to My Sacred Heart. How often, though, it becomes a mere matter of routine! Many pious souls make their consecration every day, reciting it from their prayer books and yet, when all is said and done, they are not really consecrated; they do not make the consecration, but merely recite it; they are reciters of consecrations.

Listen, then, and I shall tell you in what the full consecration consists, as I have explained it Myself to My most intimate friends, and as they have taught it in their writings and confirmed it by their example.

a) A Pact

The consecration can be reduced to a pact, in the sense in which I proposed it to My first apostle in Spain, Bernardo de Hoyos, and previously in similar terms to St. Margaret Mary: “Take care of My honor and My interests, and My Heart will make this pact with you, too.†As absolute Lord I could indeed demand this without submitting to any conditions; but I prefer to make a friendly bargain with My children.

Will you not then conclude this pact with Me? Have no fear lest you may be the loser by it. I am so kind and beneficent in My dealings with creatures that one would think I was a dupe. Moreover, it is not a pact which will bind you under sin of any sort, for I do not like obligations which stifle!

I want love, peace and generosity not fear or anguish of conscience.

The pact contains two clauses, one binding Me, the other binding you. My part is to care for you and your interests, and your part is to care for Me and Mine. Is that not a beautiful pact?

b) First Part of the Consecration

Let us begin with My part. I shall take care of you and your interests. For that, it is necessary for you to leave absolutely everything in the hands of My Divine Providence: your soul, your body, your life, your health, your family, your business, and in a word — everything. I wish to arrange all that concerns you according to My good pleasure, and for that I require a free hand. So, too, you must hand over to Me all the keys of your house, that I may come in and go out at will.

You must not be keeping an eye on Me and what I do, nor demand any account from Me, even though you may not perceive the reason for My actions in your affairs, and yes, even though at times this may seem to be to your detriment. If at times you may have to grope your way blindly on, then you will have the consolation of knowing that you are in safe hands.

When you hand everything over to My keeping, you must not want to have everything arranged according to your wishes; that would be imposing conditions on Me and seeking your own interests; but rather I must arrange everything in a way that seems best to Me as King and Lord. I must have complete liberty of action even though I may foresee that My plans will at times cause you pain.

You see only the present; but I see the future. You see, as it were, through a microscope, while I see through a powerful, long range telescope.

Hence solutions which seem very suitable for the present may turn out quite disastrous in the long run. There will be occasions, too, when I shall deliberately permit the upset of your plans in order to test your faith and trust, and to increase your merit.

I do not mean by all this, however, that you are to surrender yourself to a sort of fatalistic quietism and simply neglect all spiritual affairs. You must take as a fundamental guiding principle those words of the Gospel which read: “When you have done all you have been commanded to do, say, ‘We are useless servants. We have done no more than our duty.’â€(Lk. 17:10).

In everything you must make just as much effort as if success depended on you alone, and then say to me with humble trust: “Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, in my weakness I have done all that I can; the rest depends on You. I leave it to Your Providence.†When you have prayed thus, set aside all uneasiness and enjoy the still peace of a lake on a quiet autumn evening.

* What is to be offered up?

As I have just said, you must hand over to Me everything with absolutely no exceptions. Those who make an exception trust Me little.

— Your soul

Place your soul in My Hands: your salvation, your degree of glory in Heaven, your progress in virtue, your faults, your passions, your wants, everything. There are persons who are always worried, fearful, and discouraged in the spiritual life. If this is the result of mortal sin, then it is as it should be. The state of mortal sin is indeed so wretched that no matter what the cost you must leave it, for it makes you My enemy. Make a big effort, come hurrying to Me with all speed, and I shall assist you. Go to confession often, every week if possible, for that is an excellent remedy. Moreover, if you have a sincere desire to amend your life, great faults are not an obstacle to consecrating yourself to Me. For the consecration itself will be a capital means of extricating yourself from that state.

There is another class of people who do not sin mortally, but nevertheless are always gloomy and downcast because they feel they are making no spiritual progress. Now, I do not approve of that. In this matter, too, one must do everything possible as far as human weakness allows, and leave the rest in My hands. Heaven is a beautiful garden which must be complete with every variety of plant. Not all can be cypresses or lilies or carnations. There must also be thyme!

Offer yourself then for this place. All this perturbation, those worries and anxieties, in persons who do not sin seriously proceed from their seeing their own honor more than Mine. Virtue and perfection have a double aspect: that of being for your own good, and that of being for Mine. You must strive after them earnestly but peacefully, because they are for My good. For have we not already agreed that you are to surrender all your interests, in so far as they are yours, to Me? For the rest, you must not forget that I shall accomplish the work of your perfection much better than you would yourself.

— Your body

I shall also take care of your health and life. These, too, you must entrust to Me. I know what is best for you; you do not. Take the ordinary means to preserve or restore your health. Lay aside all groundless fear and anxiety, and leave the rest to Me. Persuade yourself that it is not doctors or medicine alone that bring a cure for sickness, but it comes to you from My hands.

— Your family

Parents, wife and husband, children, brothers and sisters, relatives. There are persons who find no difficulty in offering themselves to Me but who balk at confiding to Me some member of their family for whom they have a special affection. As though I would simply abscond with everything that was entrusted to My Goodness! That is indeed a poor idea to entertain of Me.

These people say sometimes that they have no difficulty themselves in suffering, but that they cannot bear to see their loved ones suffer. They think that consecration to Me and immediate suffering for all those connected with them are one and the same thing. I wonder where they get that idea from? A genuine and sincere consecration has the effect of alleviating the crosses which all must carry in this world.

— Temporal goods

Possessions, business, career, occupation, employment, home. I do not require souls who love Me to give up all these things, unless I have called them to the religious life. On the contrary, they must take proper care of them since these goods constitute part of the obligation of their state. I only ask them to hand everything over to Me, to take every reasonable means to ensure success, and to leave the result to Me without worry or anxiety.

— Spiritual goods

You know that in every act of virtue you perform in the state of grace, and also in all the prayers which will be offered up for the repose of your soul after death, there is a certain portion which you can renounce in favor of others either living or dead. I want you to make Me a complete gift of this portion to distribute as I wish. I know better than you on which persons the establishment of My Kingdom depends most. I also know those who are in most need of help, and those in whom your merits will produce the best results. Thus I shall be enabled to lay this portion out to better advantage. This free gift of yours does not, of course, prevent you from offering up prayers for certain people as obedience, charity or piety may demand on occasion.

You must surrender to Me with full confidence everything you possess, for Me to dispose of as I wish; and although I do not wish you to make this consecration from motives of self- interest, yet you will find that on the whole your affairs will turn out better, although sometimes indeed I shall test your confidence and permit results to fall short of your expectations. Your concerns will prosper in proportion to the zeal you show in promoting My interests. The more you think of Me, the more will I think of you. The more you occupy yourself with My interests, the more will I occupy Myself with your interests. The greater care you take of My affairs, the greater shall I take of yours. But, My child, do try to be less self-interested. There are persons who think of nothing but themselves: their spiritual world is a planetary system in which they occupy the solar position; and everything else, including My interests, are minor planets circling around them. That is a bad astronomical system in which the ego is the hub of the universe.

c) Second Part of the Consecration

This now brings us to the second part of the consecration: “You will care for My honor and My interests.†That is the most important part for you, because it is, properly speaking, your side of the pact. The preceding was Mine and if I asked you to give Me everything, it was in order to get rid of any obstacle which might hinder the fulfillment of My part. Your side of the pact is the care of My spiritual interests. You must throw yourself, heart and soul, into the task of promoting these so that your zeal may be the gauge of your love.

Do you know what My interests are? I have only one: souls. They are My interests, My treasures, My love. I seek, as I told My servant Margaret, “to establish the Kingdom of My Love in all Hearts,†My Kingdom has not yet come. Externally it has spread to a certain extent among Catholic peoples, but that deep interior Kingdom by which My love and My wishes will be the true law and rule of conduct for souls has, alas, only spread but little in people’s hearts. It is not through lack of soil. Numerous souls are prepared for My Kingdom and their number goes on increasing from day to day. But there is a lack of apostles. Give me a heart magnetized by My Divine Heart and you will see how soon other souls will become magnetized in their turn.

Ways of Apostolate

How easy it is to be My apostle. No sex, no age, no state in life, is excluded. There are many ways of doing the work:

— Prayer

That is, to be constantly petitioning heaven for the spread of My Kingdom, to ask it of My Father, of Myself, of My holy Mother, of My saints; to ask in the church, at home, in the street, during your daily work: “Sacred Heart of Jesus, Thy Kingdom come.†That is the aspiration which must be on your lips the whole day long. Repeat it, then, twenty, fifty, a hundred, two hundred times a day until it has become a habit with you. Seek out ways and means of keeping it before your mind. Who cannot be an apostle in this way? How really wonderful is this apostolate of ejaculatory prayers!

Give me a number of souls constantly shooting these little arrows up to heaven and tell Me if they will not meet with success! It is the little droplets of water which evaporate, go up into the air, form the clouds in the sky and then pour down again as the rain fertilizing the earth.

— Sacrifice

In the first place the passive sacrifice of acceptance. How many inconveniences, troubles and sorrows — sometimes small, sometimes great — come your way every day as they came also to Me, to My holy Mother, and to My saints.

If you could bear all this in silence, with patience, even with joy if possible, and offer it all up that I may reign, what a rich apostolate you would be practicing. The Cross is of supreme value: that is why it costs so much. Alas! How many crosses are wasted by people, and they are such precious gems. Then, there is the active sacrifice of self-denial. Try to acquire the habit of constantly overcoming yourself in small things. That is an excellent practice of the spiritual life. You are walking along the street and feel an urgent desire to have a look at such and such an object; then don’t look at it. You would like to taste such and such a delicacy; then don’t taste it. You are innocently accused of some small thing or other, and silence will not cause any evil of great moment; then keep silent. And so forth in similar cases, offering everything so that I may reign. If you feel urged to it by your generosity, you could also undertake even greater penances. You see what magnificent scope there is here for the apostolate! And an apostolate such as this works wonders.

— Daily Occupations

Some people say they cannot work for the Kingdom of Christ because they are always too busy; as if the very duties of their state and walk in life could not be converted into works of the apostolate by being accomplished well! Everything depends on the intention with which it is done. The very same piece of wood may be used as fuel for a fire, or as material for a sacred picture to be placed on the altar. During your daily round of work, strive to raise your eyes frequently to Me, to take pleasure in doing everything well for love of Me, so that your works may thus become golden coins which you set aside to My credit for the establishment of My kingdom on earth. You must also strive, but quietly, to become holier and holier every day. For the holier you are, the more efficacious will your works be for My glory.

— Exterior Apostolate

Sometimes you could further some enterprise of My Divine Heart as, for example, by recommending this or that practice of the devotion to those with whom you come into frequent contact. You might be able to persuade them to consecrate themselves to Me as you have done yourself. You may find it hard to talk about the subject; then why not pass on a pamphlet or little booklet? Try to spread such literature, either by distributing it yourself, or else by bringing it to the notice of others.

There are, then, countless ways possible of working for the spread of My Kingdom. If you remain inactive, then you cannot plead lack of equipment as an excuse. There is not a moment of the day in which you cannot do something that I may reign. It is very easy to be My apostle, and what a wonderful calling! Your whole life will be suffused and illuminated by a noble ideal!

Every work of the day will be stamped with the seal of apostleship, of the great apostleship of love. Every work will be converted into the gold of charity. What a consolation it will be at the hour of death to look back on five, ten, twenty years, or even more, of 365 days each, all spent in this way.

— Reparation

Do you wish to love Me really and truly? Love includes two things: procuring for loved ones all the good they lack, and freeing them from the evil which oppresses them. By means of the apostolate you procure Me for the good, you give Me souls; by reparation, you free Me from the evil, you wash My Divine Heart clear of the stains which have been inflicted on it by sin. Yes indeed, and injury may be removed by giving Me satisfaction. And how much could you not give Me, not only for your own sins, but also for the innumerable sins committed every day! I do not wish to burden you with many practices; the same prayers, sacrifices, daily works, and enthusiastic communication which are excellent ways of apostolate, are also very useful for reparation if done with this intention: “That You may reign, forgive us our trespasses – – that You may reign in reparation for the times we have offended You.†These are aspirations which should always be on our lips. My life had a two-fold purpose in the world: that of the Apostle to establish the Kingdom of God, and that of the Priest and Victim to expiate the sins of all. I should like you to fulfill both, too. By devotion to My Sacred Heart, I hope to make everyone into an exact copy of Myself, into a small Redeemer. What a sublime and wonderful thing for you!

3. Conclusion

Courage, then, and forward march! Thousands of others with the same flesh and blood as yours have done it. Choose a feast day, the first that comes. In the meantime, prepare yourself by quietly reading over these ideas. When the appointed day comes, go to confession, receive Holy Communion devoutly, and then make your consecration to Me; for you could not find a better moment than when I am in your heart. It is very necessary, though, that the consecration should be complete; that it should constitute a whole program of life. Hence, to make it easier for you, there is an Act of Consecration included below which contains everything essential. You are not bound to anything under pain of sin, even venial. I want a big heart, generosity and love. I only ask you to do what you can: and who is there who cannot do this?

And do not forget to renew it daily at home or in the church; for this daily renewal is very important. If you do not renew it, it will quickly slip from your mind; if you do renew it, then you will end up fulfilling it. Choose this holy way with decision and determination and you will soon feel a warm stream of new, life-giving blood flowing through your veins.

In conclusion, two pieces of advice. Firstly, do not forget Me in the Tabernacle. Honor paid to my image is certainly very pleasing to Me, but My own Person is of far more value than the image. The Eucharist is in a special manner My sacrament, for it is the sacrament of love.

I should like you to receive Me often, and, if possible, to pay Me visits during the day. You have no idea how I reward these friendly calls! Secondly, you might be able to find a little time during the course of the day to read and think over something about devotion to My Sacred Heart. Thus, day-by-day, the seeds of this divine devotion will be taking deeper root in your heart.

Act of Consecration

O QUEEN OF HEAVEN, most loving Mother, I (Name) though full of weakness and quite unworthy, yet encouraged by the gracious invitation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, desire to consecrate myself entirely to Him. Conscious of my own unworthiness and inconstancy, I desire to offer everything through your maternal hands and with child-like trust in your loving care, and I look to you to assist me in the fulfillment of my resolutions.

MOST SACRED HEART OF JESUS, King of love and goodness, full of recognition for Your favors, freely and with all my soul do I accept this pact between You and me. I shall care for Your interests, and You will care for mine. You know indeed that You will gain less by it than 1. I wish everything of mine to be Yours, and place everything in Your hands: my soul, my eternal salvation, my freedom, my interior progress, my wants, my body, my life and my health. I place in your hands, the small number of my good works I am able to perform, or which others will offer up for me during my life or after my death, if they can be of service to You. I also place in your hands my family, my possessions, my work, so that You may be King of all that is mine and may dispose of everything according to Your pleasure. I, for my part, will do my best in all these affairs, but I shall rest contented with whatever Your loving Heart decides in my regard, difficult though it may be.

In return, I ask that the time still left to me not be wasted. I desire to do something big, something really big, that You may reign in the world; by my prayer and aspirations, by my daily tasks, by the suffering which I accept here and now, by my little acts of self-denial, I desire that every moment of my life may be spent in propagating and establishing Your divine Kingdom. May Your seal be on everything I do until the end of my allotted time, and then may my last breath be spent in words of love for Your most Sacred Heart.

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Thy Kingdom Come!

“May the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep by the Blood of the eternal covenant, Jesus Our Lord, furnish you with all that is good, that you may do His will. May He carry out in you what is pleasing to Him through Jesus Christ, to Whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.†(Heb.13:20-21)

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in You!

1 — Msgr. Gauthey: Vie et œuvres de S. Marguerite-Marie, Paris, 1920,

3rd ed., Vol.II, p. 627.

2 — Msgr. Gauthey, Ibid.., letter 50, p.324.

3 — Msgr. Gauthey, Ibid.., letter 141.

4 — Msgr. Gauthey, Ibid.., part 2, letter 141.

5 — Msgr. Gauthey, Ibid, letter 86, p. 397.

6 — Uriarte, Vida del P. Hogos. Part 3, ch.l, p.251, 2nd ed.

7 — Chasle: Sœur Marie du Divin Coeur, ch. XI, p.359.

Sermon of Bishop Gerardo Zendejas in Avrillé – February 9, 2019

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Sermon of Bishop Gerardo Zendejas in Avrillé for taking of Cassocks, Tonsures, First and Second Minor Orders for Saint-Louis Grignion-de-Montfort Seminary and the Dominicans

Saturday February 9, 2019

+ In the name of the Father, and the Son, and of the Holy Ghost

Dear Bishop Faure, Father Prior, Priests, Brothers, Sister, my dear Brethren….

+

Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, our venerable Founder, has always encouraged us with his 1974 doctrinal declaration, like a testament for preserving Catholic Tradition as essential element in Catholicism. Here are some exerts of his words…

“Even though we, or an angel from heaven, preach a gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema.†(Gal. 1;8)…

“… The lex orandi cannot be profoundly changed without changing the lex credendi. The New Mass is in line with the new catechism, the new priesthood, new seminaries, new universities, and the charismatic or Pentecostal church, all of which are in opposition to orthodoxy and to the all time Magisterium.

This reform, since it has issued from Liberalism and Modernism, entirely is corrupt. It comes from heresy and results in heresy, even if all its acts are not formally heretical. It is thus impossible for any faithful Catholic who is aware of these things to adopt this reform, or to submit to it in any way at all. To ensure our salvation, the only attitude of fidelity to the Church and to Catholic doctrine, is a categorical refusal to accept the reform.

It is for this reason that, without any rebellion, bitterness or resentment, we pursue our work of the formation of priests under the star of all times Magisterium, in the conviction that we can thus do no greater service to the holy Catholic Church, to the Sovereign Pontiff, and to future generations….â€

My dear brethren, let us give thanks to Our Lord Jesus Christ, Lord of Lords and King of Kings, Who allows us to meet here once again at Avrillé to participate together in this ceremony of Tonsure and Minor Orders, which are ascending steps for the continuation of the Catholic Priesthood according to the Traditional Roman Rite of Ordination, as Archbishop Lefebvre has transmitted to us the Deposit of the Faith so that we should continue to do likewise for future generations.

Dear Seminarians and Dominican Brothers, God willing, you might be future priests; and you, dear faithful, should pray for religious vocations to come out from your young families. Therefore, let’s summarize, as it seems to me, in two points these words “for future generations.â€

1) The preservation of the Catholic Priesthood

2) The Royalty of Our Lord Jesus Christ professed by Episcopal Ministry

+

1) The Catholic Priesthood

As Archbishop Lefebvre constantly insisted, the raison d’être for a Catholic priest is the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and the continuation of His Cross on Calvary through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The priest must necessarily live the precepts of the Gospel, namely, poverty-obedience-chastity through prayer and abnegation, in order to preserve his raison d’être. If a priest neglects the Cross of Jesus Christ, he is certainly losing the essential element for the eternal salvation of his soul and of many others.

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass should certainly keep up that grace which we have received at our baptism. When our godparents have said we renounce Satan, his works and allurements, the priest has also said to us “serva mandata; Keep the Commandments of God.†Then he put the white veil on our head, and in giving out a candle to us through the intermediary of our godparents he has said – “Keep intact the purity of your soul as this linen with which you are covered, and then you shall have eternal life.†We must therefore fulfill our baptismal promises so that we could enter in the Kingdom of heaven.

For those who have entered in religious life, they have pronounced their religious vows, engaging in a solemn way themselves even more than any faithful, devoting themselves not only to almighty God but also the whole Church. That’s why pronouncing their vows of religion, they have engaged themselves in a public and official way, acknowledged by the Church, practicing the vows of poverty, obedience and chastity. This is the raison d’être for a religious – he has made his profession to tend to perfection, and to strive for holiness.

And you, who are going to be tonsured – my dear Levites, as Archbishop Lefebvre used to called us – you are going to receive the cassock and the tonsure; but these two things are very distinct: One can receive the religious habit, yet without receiving Tonsure.

One enters into the clergy by the tonsure; this is the Tradition in the Catholic Church. In receiving the tonsure, there is already a promise to go to the Altar – to ascend to the altar. A Tonsured can be promoted by his superiors to receive Minor Orders, and in preparation to receive the Major Orders: a Sub-Deacon commits himself to his vow of chastity forever; a deacon approach closer to the altar by preaching, baptizing and giving holy communion; and then comes the priesthood – a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

As Saint Thomas Aquinas teaches, there are two signs which determine someone’s vocation, this is to say – the inclination of the person who wants to pursue a religious vocation, and the acceptation or calling from the bishop to receive step-by-step the holy Orders. As a matter of fact, many people are willing to follow their vocation but very few of them are promoted by the calling of the bishop.

To those who are receiving Minor Orders, the Bishop is about to warn you saying: “You must give example by your life; you must sanctify the faithful by the example of your life, not only by words, not only by performing your functions, but also by the example of your life.â€

In fact, in every admonition he gives to the Order of Lector or Porter, as well as to the Order of Exorcist or Acolyte; the bishop reminds the exigency to engage oneself in following Our Lord Jesus Christ in order to perform the most important act, which Our Lord did – His sacrifice.

Doubtless to say that throughout the history of the church, all the disasters and misfortunes have come in general from the lukewarm clerics and religious. Why?

For clerics have befallen into sins of the flesh, or have chosen some comfort in sharing the world, or have indulged some Satan’s pride alike. Many of them have abandoned the royal way of the Holy Cross, which is scandal for the Jews and foolishness for the pagans…. Unfortunately, there are many religious souls practicing a double standard in life, in one hand a worldly private life and on the other a public tepid life.

What to do about that? The Archbishop reminds us once again that…

“…This is not a human battle. We are in close fight with Satan. It is a struggle that demands all the supernatural forces which we need, in order to fight against him who wants to radically destroy the Church; he wanted to do so since Our Lord has born; and he wants to continue on abolishing and destroying the Mystical Body, wiping out His reign and all His institutions whatever they may be.

We have to be conscious of this dramatic, apocalyptic struggle in which we live, and not minimize it. To the extent of, if we minimize it, our eagerness in the battle grows less. We then become weaker and dare no more to proclaim the Truth….†(Archbishop June 29, 1987)

+

2) The Royalty of Our Lord Jesus Christ professed by Episcopal ministry.

We have received the means to instruct formally with Catholic doctrine the future priests, in order to administer to them, the Sacrament of the Holy Orders according to Traditional Roman Rite. You well know that there can be no priest without a bishop. Thus, bishops by divine institution are shepherds of souls, directed for their eternal salvation through the means of the Sacred Magisterium, and of the legislative and judicial power. They are responsible to Christ for their divine commission. At their Episcopal consecration, the power of Order endows them in particular to sanctify souls by the administration of the sacrament of Confirmation and of the Holy Orders.

Indeed, Archbishop Lefebvre by consecrating bishops has formally continued the constitution of the Catholic Church in order to keep Tradition alive. In providing the Episcopal ministry descending in direct line from the Apostolic succession without doubt, the marks of One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church are being preserve through today’s crisis of the Faith and of the world.

More than ever, there is a major conflict between Faith and authority. The normal and ordinary situation of the Catholic Church certainly is that the pope, bishops and priests must lead an orientation according to the Catholic tenets of our Faith, which have divinely revealed to us and are exteriorly commissioned to the hierarchy, or at least they should not contradict them. At the contrary, we are in the deepest of an extraordinary crisis within the Church. It is evident for us that the New Evangelization of today’s Pope, coming as consequence of the Vatican II reforms, is diametrical opposed to the Catholic Magisterium of all time; it is a “New Gospel,†which Saint Paul has warned us to let it be an ANATHEMA!

In fact, last few years papal interventions, which are leading the dramatic crisis to desecrate the Catholic Faith, such interventions have rejected the Royalty of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Thus, the Roman authorities have proclaimed Liberalism as the ruling principle of Religious Liberty in individual consciences and in public laws of institutions and Governments. The Vatican II document on Religious Liberty declares that no Government of any Country is competent in religious matter; therefore they cannot decide what religion is true, or what religion is false. State Laws must consequently let all religious errors – whatever they are – be spread out in their autonomous social domain, because Man is free to have his own Religion, with his own moral decisions and own ways of worship, including those ones done against nature.

For Tradition, Jesus Christ is true God and true Man, as well as a true King in all domains – yesterday, today and forever. Pontius Pilate asked to him, then are you a King? Yes, yourself have said: I am a King, for that I have born. I have come to the world in order to give testimony of the Truth…

So, instead of preaching about the Royalty of our Lord Jesus Christ the modern Roman authorities have constantly uncrowned and humiliated our King of Kings and our Lord of Lords. In the same token a large number of Traditional priests, including bishops, have been compromising the Universal Kingship of Our Lord by progressive public omission and by silent commission. It is precisely what Liberalism has silently engaged in the SSPX leadership in working for an agreement with today’s Roman authorities, promoters of Pope Francis New Evangelization. Here is a mystery of iniquity!

That’s why we should remind ourselves these words of the Archbishop Lefebvre:

“It is for this reason that, without any rebellion, bitterness or resentment, we pursue our work of the formation of priests under the star of all times Magisterium, in the conviction that we can thus do no greater service to the holy Catholic Church, to the Sovereign Pontiff, and to future generations….â€

With integrity and fidelity to the Traditional doctrines and practices of the Catholic Church, we resist the “novelties†preached since the Second Vatican Council, those novelties were wanted, both encouraged and imposed by the highest Roman authorities. Even though, we believe against any human appearance, and hope against any human hope, that Tradition must restore all things in Christ, and rather sooner than later, today’s chaos will go away, because the gates of Hell will not prevail against the Church.

There is no question for us of separating ourselves from Rome, either of putting ourselves under any foreign government, or of establishing a sort of parallel church as the Bishops of Palmar of Troya [Bp. Din-Thuc consecrations line] have done in Spain. They have even elected a pope, have formed a college of cardinals… It is out of the question for us to do such things. Far from us to be this miserable thought of separating ourselves from Rome! (Archbishop June 30, 1988)

God alone knows how far this apostasy can go. Indeed, we have some duties of state to keep up, as Our Lady of Fatima told us to do, if we want to remain Catholic and if we want to continue the Church. Within the Episcopal ministry, we have serious obligations urging us, primarily, to multiply the priests who believe in Our Lord Jesus Christ, and in His royalty, and in His Social Kingship according to the doctrine of the Church.

After thirty years of the 1988 Episcopal Consecrations, we really appreciate Archbishop Lefebvre’s operation survival in keeping the mark of Apostolicity in the Holy Catholic Church, conferring Episcopal consecrations with legitimate validity for the continuation of the Apostolic Traditions.

Let’s us renew our consecration to the Mother of God, as Saint Cyril of Alexandria called her Theotokos, preaching that all Our Lady’s privileges derive from her Maternity. She can only have perfect faith in the divinity of her Divine Son. And we should ask from Our Lord such faith that she had in Her King and our King, in Her Lord and Our Lord. Therefore, we should believe the incredible so that we could do even the impossible – in restoring all things in Christ.

Viva Cristo Rey!

Letter from the Dominicans of Avrillé No. 30: January 2019

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Letter from the Dominicans of Avrillé

No. 30: January 2019

Midnight Christmas Mass

Protestantism: born of insanity, leading to insanity (II)

Anabaptist Fanaticism

Immediately following the Protestant revolt against the authority of the Church, Germany is inundated with blood. Mathias Harlem, an Anabaptist Protestant, takes charge of a ferocious mob, ordering the pillage of Churches, the destruction of sacred vestments and art, and the burning of all books, except for the Bible.

Setting himself up at Münster, which he names “Mount Zion,†he commands the habitants to bring him all the gold, silver and jewels they possess. He has it all placed in a common treasury, and appoints deacons in charge of the distribution. All his disciples are obligated to eat in common, live in perfect equality, and… prepare themselves for imminent war, because, as he informed them, “they will soon have to leave Mount Zion, and conquer all the nations of the Earth.†He perishes in a foolish enterprise, wanting to exterminate an entire army with a handful of men, as a “new Gideon.â€

The delirium of John of Leyden

Becold, better known under the name of John of Leyden, is the heir of Mathias’ fanaticism. A tailor by profession, one day he starts running in the streets, naked, shouting, “Behold the king of Zion cometh!†Returning to his house, he locks himself up for three days, and pretends to be mute when anyone tries to speak with him. Like a new Zachary, he asks (using signs) that he be brought a writing tablet. He then writes that he has received a divine revelation: after the manner of the ancient Hebrews, the people must be governed by “judgesâ€. Twelve men amongst his most faithful disciples are chosen, to whom he leaves the task of taking control of the city. As soon as their power is unquestioned, his authority as a new prophet is assured. However, his ambition doesn’t stop there: he must be proclaimed king, with all the pomp and majesty suited to such a dignity. So blind was the fanaticism of his partisans that the goal is easily attained. He initiates to the art of prophecy a common goldsmith, who then presents himself to the judges, declaring: “Behold the will of the Eternal Lord God: just as in the days of old I established Saul over Israel, and after him, David, who was only a simple shepherd, today I establish Becold, my prophet, as the king of Zion.â€

After a bit of haggling with the judges – who at first refuse to abdicate – and the help of yet another “prophet†who presents him with an unsheathed sword, representing his “power of justice†to extend the reign of Zion to the four corners of the earth, Becold is solemnly crowned on June 24th, 1534.

Becold had espoused the wife of his predecessor. He raises her to the dignity of queen, but without giving up his 17 other wives, in keeping with the holy liberty that he decreed concerning marriage. 16 months of reign will be nothing but an uninterrupted series of crimes, orgies, murders, atrocities and deliria of all sorts.

The Protestants condemn these horrors, but do they have the right? Who rejected the authority of the Church and delivered the Bible over to the whims of the people? The Anabaptists saw this very clearly; when Luther condemned them, they were filled with indignation. What right did he who established the principle of free examination have to limit its consequences?

Luther found in the Bible that the Pope was the Antichrist, and gave himself the mission to destroy his authority. Why couldn’t the Anabaptists rebel against Luther?

Epidemic of Protestant fanaticism

Herman preaches the massacre of priests and all the magistrates of the world. — David George claims to bring a new and perfect doctrine, because that of the Bible was faulty: he is “the true son of God.†— Nicolas rejects the virtue of Faith and any form of worship as useless; he also demolishes all morals by teaching that we must persevere in sin so that “grace may abound.†— Hacket claims that “the spirit of the Messiah is upon him,†and sends two of his disciples to run through the streets of London, crying out: “Behold the Christ cometh, a vessel in his hand!â€

All these deplorable spectacles, and a hundred others that we could cite, are proof enough that Protestantism nourishes and exacerbates fanaticism. It would take volumes to describe all the extravagances and crimes of the likes of Venner, Fox, William Sympson, J. Naylor, the Count Zinzendorf, Wesley, the Baron of Swedenborg et alii.

This is no exaggeration. All you have to do is to consult the history books written not only by Catholics, but by the Protestants themselves. You’ll find a multitude of facts witnessing to this truth: public actions, perpetrated in the light of day, in populous cities, at times not very distant from ours.

And don’t think that this source of fanaticism is close to drying up; it seems on the contrary to be going strong…

after Jacques Balmès Le Protestantisme comparé au Catholicisme

Community Chronicle

September 9th: Parent-Teacher meeting and start of a new school year for Saint Philomena Primary School, Saint Thomas Boys’ High School… and Saint Rose of Lima Girls’ Middle School. With four students in sixth grade (the same number as Saint Thomas High School in its first year), this new girls’ school has opened its doors just down the road from the Friary. Run by a Dominican teaching sister formerly from the Congregation of Saint Pré, under the direction of the Friary, this new establishment hopes to complete the educational possibilities for the many families installed in the area (who up until now were lacking a secondary school for their girls). Please keep this in your prayers!

September 15th: Fr. Angelico is in Ambérieux (near Lyons) where he blesses the marriage of two of our tertiaries. After which he flies off to England to replace Fr. King for Mass in Southport.

September 22nd: On the feast of St. Maurice and companions, soldiers of the Theban legion martyred in 286, and patrons of the diocese of Angers, Bishop Williamson confers the sub-deaconate on our Brother Alan (from Quebec). On the same day, arrival of Fr. N’Dong Ondo from Gabon, who will spend a few weeks at the Friary to rest up before returning to his busy apostolate in Africa.

October 8th: Fr. Prior gives a conference in Paris presenting the Little Catechism on Vatican II. “The result of this Council is much worse than the French Revolution. The seminaries, novitiates and churches have been emptied. Preaching has become ecumenical and liberal; the catechisms have been changed and are no longer Catholic.†(Archbp. Lefebvre, Spiritual Journey) For this reason alone, the false “canonization†on October 14th of Pope Paul VI (who presided the council) is a tremendous scandal, demanding reparation.

This Little Catechism on Vatican II is available in English on our website.

October 29th: Fr. Louis-Marie gives a conference in Paris on “Protestant Terrorism.†It is too little known that Protestantism was only able to impose itself upon half of Europe by violence, pillage, tyranny and massacres.

First station of the All Souls’ Day procession

November 2nd: Fr. Angelico blesses a roadside Calvary restored by a parishioner and his Association for the Safeguard of Religious Heritage.

November 4th: Fr. Rémi Picot, who exercises his apostolate in Asia and Australia, comes to spend two weeks on retreat at the Friary.

November 11th: Fr. Terence accompanies a group of students from Saint Thomas Boys’ School for a ceremony organized by the Mayor of Avrillé in commemoration of the Armistice of 1918. Let us pray for the patriots fallen on the battlefield, but without forgetting that the horrible bloodbath of WWI served to destroy the last Catholic empire (Austro-Hungarian Empire), permitted communism to take control of Russia, and ended in a false, masonic “peace,†which prepared the way for WWII.

November 16th: Ceremony of “Inauguration†for the 15 seniors of the class of 2019 at the Boys’ School. This year, the boys chose Charles and Zita of Hapsburg (the last Catholic Emperor and Empress) as their patrons. Fr. Morgan, who preached a retreat to the boys focusing on the lives of these exemplary Christians, is present.

Fr. Aloïs Brühwiler comes for a week-long retreat at the Friary, before resuming his apostolate in the Valais (Switzerland).

November 25th: The annual winter market to raise money for the Primary School is a happy success, thanks to the hard-working volunteers. It was also an opportunity for some of the newer families to integrate themselves into the parish.

December 8th: Procession through the streets of Angers in honor of the Immaculate Conception.

December 26th – January 2nd: Fr. Marie-Dominique joins Fr. Reginald to preach a Christmas retreat for the faithful at St. Joseph’s Mission in Emmet, KS: 3 days of conferences, Masses, confessions, Stations of the Cross…

News from our worksites

The land behind the Boys’ School has been transformed into a level, well-drained playing field to be used for various athletic activities (once the new turf grows in).

Playing field in construction

For the new parish hall, we have finally come to an agreement with Bâtiments de France (the commission whose authorization is necessary for construction), and the architect is putting the last touches on the blue prints. As soon as the construction permit is officially granted, the work will get started.

Crisis in the Church

“[At Bethlehem,] Our Lady and Saint Joseph […] are ‘overflowing’ with holiness and therefore with joy. And you will tell me: of course! They are Our Lady and Saint Joseph! Yes, but let us not think it was easy for them: saints are not born, they become thus, and this is true for them too.â€

(Pope Francis – Christmas greetings to Vatican employees; 21 Dec. 2018)

This last sentence is false and insulting toward the Blessed Virgin Mary. She was born a saint, and was even a saint from the very moment of Her Conception.

For timely articles and spiritual reading, please go to our website:

www.dominicansavrille.us

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Couvent de la Haye-aux-Bonshommes

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Practical Devotion to our dear Guardian Angel

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Practical Devotion to our dear Guardian Angel

by Rev. Fr Pius. CP.

Choose one day of each month to honour your own good Angel Guardian; receive Holy Communion in his honour on that day, and hav­ing employed at least one quarter-of-an-hour after Communion in thanksgiving, reflect upon the great goodness of God, Whom you possess within you.  Who knowing your weakness and the danger to which you are exposed both in soul and body and the difficulty you have of defending yourself against your enemies, has appointed over you one of His Angels, who are the princes of His Heavenly Court, and has given him orders to assist and defend you and never to leave you as long as your soul dwells in your body.  Return His Divine Majesty most humble thanks for so great a favour, and admire the value he sets on your soul since He thus employs an angel in your service.  Then with much piety address yourself to your own dear Angel Guardian.  Thank him for accepting the charge of you, and since on his part he promises you four things and faithfully per­forms them, do you be as faithful in your performance as he is in his.

  1. He promises never to abandon you.
  2. To cherish and love you as a child of God, bought with His Precious Blood, and designed for the same glory he enjoys.
  3. To guard both your body and soul, and to procure what is best for both.
  4. To continue his care of you at all times and places until your soul is separated from your body.

 

On your part promise him also four things, and beg his assistance in performing them.

  1. A great reverence for him, and neither to think, say, or do anything deliberately that may displease him.
  2. A tender devotion to him loving him as your brother and best of friends, and endeavouring to increase his accidental joy in Heaven by the holiness of your life upon earth.
  3. A great confidence in his protection over you, and to have recourse to him as a child goes to the arms of its mother, in all difficulties, imploring his help frequently.
  4. To persevere in these duties till our last breath.

 

This contract being made between your good Angel and you, beg our dear Lord, Whom you have received, to bestow His benediction upon it.  Then retire in company of your most faithful Angel, and in time to time enter­tain yourself with him during the rest of the day. Sometimes thank him for all the good services he has done you from the day of your birth, when he first began to take care of you until this present moment, reflecting on the chief ones, and next to God, attributing them to him.

Sometimes ask his pardon for having passed so many years of your life without thinking of him, for having so often saddened him by your imperfections, and for so sel­dom having recourse to him in your necessities, or thanking him for his benefits.

At other times open your heart to him, declaring openly your wants and begging him to solicit God on your behalf.  Ask him to give you light in your doubts, help in dangers, comfort in your afflictions, victory over your enemies, and his particular assistance at the hour of your death.

Moreover during the day address yourself to him by aspirations; and, if time will permit, perform some devotion in his honour, or say his Office, Litanies, or some colloquies or other prayers, etc.