30 April 2025
Francis' Allies Are Openly Manipulating The Conclave With Help From The Media
Parolin is bragging that he already has the votes needed to outright block any competition, plus Professor Seifert re-publishes an old challenging letter to the Cardinals that is suddenly timely again.
Conclave Chronicles: Francis Died Too Fast, and the College of Cardinals Is Adrift
I sincerely hope Mr Gurpegui is correct and that the younger Electors are looking to the older Cardinals, like Eijk and Sarah, for guidance.
From Rorate Cæli
By Jaime Gurpegui for InfoVaticana
Rome is living these days in an atmosphere of unreality. The sentiment conveyed in the Eternal City, in the midst of the pre-conclave period, is a mixture of bewilderment, discretion, and silence.
Francis was gone with a speed that no one expected - not even his own allies - and the sectors most in favor of his pontificate seem to have dissolved away without the capacity of reaction. There are no meetings, no strategy, no slogans. The pontificate is over and “Franciscanism”, if it ever existed as a solid body, has imploded.
The College of Cardinals, for its part, presents itself as a surprisingly flat, horizontal body. There is no obvious leadership, no one sets the pace, no one raises his voice. But, as in the old medieval conclaves, what happens on the surface barely gives a glimpse of the real movements. And what is sensed these days is that many younger cardinals are looking to the emeriti. Yes, those who were relegated, marginalized, or simply retired by the previous regime, and who now walk the streets of Rome as if they were the true repositories of a resurgent tradition.
Prominent among these emeritus kingmakers are names like O'Malley, Ruini, Piacenza, Bagnasco, Cipriani, Antonelli, and Onaiyekan. They are there, talking to everyone, listening more than talking, and generating a kind of consensus that is not based on ideology, but on memory. They [the younger ones] are not looking for a new Pope with a program, but with solidity.
The authority of the elder bothers some who would like to be able to steer the conversations, and they try to discredit them, without success. Yesterday, it was the turn of the emeritus of Lima, Cipriani, who was the object of a crude campaign to try to question his presence in the general congregations, using an anonymous denunciation with no credibility in order to stir up the hornets' nest. Father Inca, secretary of the Peruvian Episcopate, quickly settled the debate: “He has much to contribute to the pre-conclave”.
A key moment of these days was Cardinal Re's homily in St. Peter's Square during the funeral. His intervention not only marked a strong presence of the older cardinals, but also had a very positive effect among the younger ones. Re's preaching was a clear example of how the older cardinals, with their experience and wisdom, manage to instill a calmness that has become very much appreciated in these uncertain times. It was a gesture of unity and control that contrasted with the sense of disorientation that still persists.
Yesterday, we also received some tasty details from the General Congregation of Cardinals. The interventions of Cardinal Willem Eijk and Cardinal Robert Sarah were very well received. The former, with his doctrinal clarity and accurate diagnosis of the ecclesial situation in Europe; the latter, with a voice that, as always, combines spiritual strength with a verbal elegance that does not need to shout to convince. The good tone that prevails among the cardinals is also surprising. There is courtesy, there is listening, and - despite the open wounds of recent years - there is a desire for unity.
In the atmosphere there reigns a sense of peace that, although fragile, seems to have replaced the intrigue and conspiracy that marked the previous weeks. The conclave has not yet begun, but Rome already smells of election. And in the meantime, the corridors of the Vatican quietly repeat an idea that imposes itself by pure evidence: the Pope is gone, and his people were not ready.
Without God, This is What You Get
This argument for God's existence suddenly make perfect sense to me.
We’re all familiar with arguments for God’s existence — but some resonate more than others. In this video, I share a breakthrough moment that made St. Thomas Aquinas' cosmological argument my new favorite case for theism. Through a simple but powerful analogy involving a chandelier and an infinite chain, I explain why an infinite regress can't account for existence — and why a necessary being must exist.
We’ll also address common objections, including whether this proves the Christian God, and why understanding the nature of a necessary being points to deeper truths that reason alone can’t fully grasp. If you’ve ever struggled to connect philosophical proofs for God to real-world faith, this is for you.
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
00:57 The Chandelier Analogy
05:04 Applying the Argument to Our Existence
09:20 What Makes A Necessary Being Personal
11:23 Why Revelation Matters
Music written and generously provided by Paul Jernberg. Find out more about his work as a composer here: http://pauljernberg.com
Podcast Version: https://brianholdsworth.libsyn.com/
St Catherine of Siena, Virgin
Today's Holy Mass from Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet, Paris. You may follow the Mass at Divinum Officium.
Review of the Film “Conclave”
"Conclave" is one of Satan's (and his minions in Hollywood) attacks on the Church. In this demonic film, the Conclave elects an "intersex" Pope. Col Bogle rightly warns against the film.
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From One Peter Five
By Lt Col James Bogle (Ret)
I finally watched the film Conclave and, as I had expected, I was distinctly unimpressed by it.
It was very well produced and right up until the end was quite convincingly and realistically portrayed and then…
…it descended into ludicrous farce.
The result is a highly pernicious, not to say diabolical, film.
Why?
Because the beginning air of realism and apparent normality lent an utterly spurious verisimilitude to the end, which was deeply subversive not only of Christian values but even of natural, normal human values.
The Enemy has long since moved on from old-style Marxism and secularism in seeking to destroy Christianity and is presently attempting not only to pervert the churches but also to pervert the whole of humanity by and through confusing and muddling our very sexual differentiation.
He began by causing men to use the word “gender” instead of “sex” to distinguish the two (and only two) sexes. It is much easier to use the solely grammatical word “gender” in a manner that perverts its original meaning and thus to pervert the differences between the sexes.
“Transgender” sounds much less radical than “transsexual” and so the Enemy caused the pundits to use the former expression.
Then came the ludicrous idea that there are not just two sexes but – apparently – over a hundred of them.
Later came all the other idiocies which accompany the general acceptance of transgenderism as if it were normal and not gravely perverse.
Scripture says:
בְרָ֨א אֱלֹהִ֤ים אֶת־הָֽאָדָם֙ בְּצַלְמ֔וֹ בְּצֶ֥לֶם אֱלֹהִ֖ים בָּרָ֣א אֹת֑וֹ זָכָ֥ר וּנְקֵבָ֖ה בָּרָ֥א אֹתָֽם: כחוַיְבָ֣רֶךְ אֹתָם֘אֱלֹהִים֒ וַיֹּ֨אמֶר לָהֶ֜ם אֱלֹהִ֗ים פְּר֥וּ וּרְב֛וּ
וּמִלְא֥וּ אֶת־הָאָ֖רֶץ וְכִבְשֻׁ֑הָ וּרְד֞וּ בִּדְגַ֤ת הַיָּם֙ וּבְע֣וֹף הַשָּׁמַ֔יִם וּבְכָל־חַיָּ֖ה הָֽרֹמֶ֥שֶׂת עַל־הָאָֽרֶץ:
[“27. waYiv’rä élohiym et-häädäm B’tzal’mô B’tzelem élohiym Bärä otô zäkhär ûn’qëväh Bärä otäm. 28. way’värekh’ otäm élohiym waYomer lähem élohiym P’rû ûr’vû ûmil’û et-hääretz w’khiv’shuhä ûr’dû Bid’gat haYäm ûv’ôf haSHämayim ûv’khäl-chaYäh häromeset al-hääretz.”]
“27 And God created man to his own image: to the image of God he created him: male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them, saying: Increase and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the air, and all living creatures that move upon the earth.”
[Gen 1.27-28]
Thus, the creation of man and woman is a making of us in the image of God (in Latin: imago Dei) and directly reflects the Divine Persons.
Satan is now attacking this very concept, a concept that connects us the most directly and intimately with God.
It is a full-frontal attack by the Enemy on man, “the image of God”, which is of the essence of God.
The late Pope Francis, with supreme folly, ruled and legislated in numerous ways so as to aid and abet Satan in his confusion of the sexes which, I need hardly add, is a disaster of monumental proportions.
His declaration, Fiducia Supplicans, seemingly allowing the blessing of sodomy, and his Apostolic letter, Spiritus Domini, allowing women to be inducted into the “lay ministries” of Acolyte and Lector (formerly the sole role of male clergy), spring to mind.
Now comes this film, feeding off the Satanic attack on our very humanity and upon the imago Dei, the image of God in man, which tries to pretend that a person with a uterus (i.e. a woman or, at least, a hermaphrodite) could become the Pope.
In the film, the person who is elected Pope turns out to be a person who had a uterus, i.e. a woman, before it was removed and she “transitioned” into a “man”.
He/she is also a person of Hispanic race (like the late Pope Francis) and thus fulfils another modern, necessary criteria by coming from a supposed minority race.
He/she has also exercised his/her “ministry” in troubled areas and in war zones and, at a climacteric moment in the film, when the cardinals are squabbling with each other, he/she stands up and politely makes a speech that sounds impressive, calm, polite and rational but, in the modern heterodox manner, without saying anything at all of significance.
It has all the empty “hot air” resonance of so many modern, heterodox speeches sounding impressive whilst lacking all substance.
We, the audience, are supposed to be hugely impressed by this person and his calm, polite, rational manner despite the fact that he utters platitudes and nothing of substance.
Likewise, the cardinals are supposed to be impressed and, indeed, so impressed are they that they elect him/her to be the new Pope.
The new Pope elects to be called “Innocent” another deliberately dishonest twist implying that a person who is really a woman putting herself forward to be Pope could still be “innocent” when, in fact, it is the last word in fraud, dishonesty and deliberate guilt.
It is so characteristic of our hugely dishonest age that a Hollywood film would try to portray the ultimate in guilt as if it were, in fact, innocence.
The heterodox and “liberal” Dean of the College (played very convincingly by Ralph Fiennes) is pleased and cured of his gloom and depression and humbly tells his supporters that the new Holy Father would make a much better Pope than he would and therefore not to worry.
However, he is unaware of the truth about the new “Pope” and is taken aside by another cardinal who tells him of “a clinic in Switzerland” but we are not let into the secret right away.
The Dean then immediately goes to the new “Pope” in his chamber, where he is preparing for the public announcement of his election, and puts the information he has learned to the new “Pope”.
The new “Pope”, after briefly hesitating to reveal the sorry truth, then confesses and admits that he had a “laparascopic hysterectomy”, i.e. his uterus was removed, at the Swiss clinic.
In short, the new “Pope” is a woman disguised as a man.
It is the age-old fantasy of anti-Catholics since time immemorial: what if a woman were elected Pope?
Indeed, for many centuries, Protestants tried to put about the entirely dishonest lie that there had been a female pope, one Pope Joan, and that she had given birth during a procession to the horror of the Faithful observing the procession.
It was complete poppycock but nevertheless deceived millions for a surprisingly long time.
The new “Pope” then goes on to explain that he/she offered his/her resignation as a priest to the previous Pope but that the latter did not object and allowed him to continue to “exercise his ministry” as if a non-priest could ever exercise a priestly “ministry”.
The sheer absurdity that any Pope, even Pope Francis, would ever allow a woman to pretend to be a priest knowing that only a baptised male can ever be ordained a cleric, that being the essential “matter” of Ordination, has but to be stated for its impossibility to be immediately manifest.
But the film fatuously continues to pretend that a ruling Pontiff would not only allow such an impossibility but would also connive at its being kept secret from the world in a deliberately dishonest concealment that would not only be dishonest but also criminal and immoral.
But criminality, dishonesty and fraud are but mere nothings to a Hollywood determined to press its diabolical agenda.
Thus does this female pseudo-bishop graduate to being appointed a cardinal and finally to being elected Pope, a fraudulent exercise that was made possible by the criminal dishonesty of the previous Pope in concealing the fact that she was no cleric, no bishop, no cardinal and no man but a woman masquerading as a man.
This blatantly dishonest promotion of the transgender agenda is, ultimately, the aim, point and purpose of the film, as diabolical an aim as one might ever imagine.
Any attempt to ordain a woman would no more make that woman a priest than ordaining a tree or a rose bush would make of them a priest.
Even more fatuously, this fraudulent imposter then, with consummate egoism and arrogance, says to the flabbergasted Dean that “perhaps it is my difference that will make me more useful” as if a criminally dishonest and fraudulent “Pope” could ever be useful to anyone except Satan and the enemies of the Church.
Because he/she appears to be a man, a bishop and a cardinal, and is assumed by the cardinals to be all three, since the truth has been criminally and fraudulently kept from them, by, of all people, the previous Pope, they, thinking him/her to be what he/she falsely claims to be, i.e. a man and a cleric, elect him/her to be the new “Pope”.
But, of course, he/she cannot ever be Pope because the Pope must be a cleric and it is impossible for a woman to be either, just as it is impossible for a circle to be a square or for up to be down or the negative to be the positive.
It is all a deliberate attempt by Hollywood to advance the transgender agenda in the most controversial way possible, seizing the moment when transgenderism is at its height, to suggest such an utterly fraudulent agenda.
Hollywood once again advances its belief that the Catholic Church is not a divine institution but a purely human institution which can be manipulated and deceived like any other human institution.
In so doing, Hollywood simply prepares the way for its own defeat once again, not only because the appointment and consecration of such a person as “Pope” is impossible but because, as time will show, any attempt to undertake such an impossibility would backfire and destroy even further the credibility of Hollywood film productions terminally.
Whilst the fraud would cause deep confusion within the Church, and would doubtless result in many souls being deceived and going to Hell – the Devil’s obvious aim in creating such a scenario – the reality would simply be that, the Church would remain without a Pope, and the Holy See would remain vacant, for so long as the impostor fraudulently sat on the throne of St Peter like some latter day usurper.
Yes, it might be possible for a hermaphrodite to become Pope if that person had mostly XY (male) chromosomes rather than mostly XX (female) chromosomes because then he would genuinely be a man but one born with defects and, by surgery, those defects could be rectified.
For example, if a person had both sets of sexual gametes and gonads, but mostly XY (male) chromosomes, and was thus simply a deformed male, then the female reproductive gonads could be removed surgically and the person allowed to develop exclusively as a male. Such a person could, in theory, be elected Pope.
But the reverse situation would disqualify that person from ever being elected Pope, or Chief Priest, because that person would be a woman and not a man and the “matter” of the Sacrament of Ordination is a “baptised male” and the Pope must be an ordained cleric and thus male.
A person with mainly or exclusively XX chromosomes can never become Pope any more than such a person could become a father, remembering that the Pope is a father figure.
The very word “pope” means “father” deriving from the Latin Papa (translated also as Papa in Italian and Spanish) and so he is referred to as “the Holy Father”.
To pretend that a person with mainly or exclusively XX chromosomes could be a Holy Father is, of course, as ridiculous as pretending or expecting a person with XY (male) chromosomes to become a mother.
What next for Hollywood? A film about the Blessed Virgin Mary actually being a man – the Blessed male Virgin? It would be just a ludicrous and fatuous as this film.
In the Catholic Church, a male priesthood, like a male fatherhood, is not merely a matter of canon law but of theology and thus is not changeable since derived from Scripture and thus from Christ Himself. It is also a matter of Natural Law and thus of the nature of our very humanity and unchangeable for that reason, also.
The idea of an official ministry may be different for Evangelicals since their idea of clerical ministry is not sacerdotal (i.e. priestly and sacrificial) but predicatory (i.e. related to preaching) and that can be done by either sex (although many conservative Evangelicals would not allow that, either).
However, in Catholic theology, the priest can only be a paternal, and thus male, figure just as the father of a family can only ever be a paternal, and thus male, figure.
In Catholic teaching, the female is seen as the counterpart of God’s male image. Hence our emphasis on the Blessed Virgin Mary who is seen as the daughter of God the Father, the mother of God the Son and the spouse of God the Holy Ghost and, in this respect, she represents the Church in its intimate relationship with Christ.
That is why, as Cardinal Newman teaches us, the early Church Fathers called the Blessed Virgin the τύπος της Εκκλησίας (Latin: typos Ecclesiae), literally the “type of the Church” meaning a representation of the Church as a whole.
Thus, sexual differentiation is a reflection of God in man, the imago Dei, the “image” or “reflection” of God.
As St Paul puts it:
ἀντὶ τούτου καταλείψει ἄνθρωπος [τὸν] πατέρα καὶ [τὴν] μητέρα καὶ προσκολληθήσεται πρὸς τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἔσονται οἱ δύο εἰς σάρκα μίαν. τὸ μυστήριον τοῦτο μέγα ἐστίν, ἐγὼ δὲ λέγω εἰς Χριστὸν καὶ εἰς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν.
“For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall be two in one flesh. 32 This is a great mystery; but I speak in Christ and in the church.”
[Eph 5.31-32]
Thus, marriage and family are not just some incidental thing that God gave us because He thought we might like it but it is something absolutely central not merely to the will and plan of God but indeed to His very essence – “to the image of God he created him: male and female he created them” [Gen 1.27].
Therefore, any attack on marriage and the family is a direct attack upon God and an attack upon the sexes is an even more fundamental attack upon God, such sexual differentiation being at the very heart of His Godhead.
Being a mother is a maternal role and being a father is a paternal role and the one cannot become the other.
So, at any rate, teaches the Catholic Church, even if Pope Francis seemed to have forgotten it.
Nevertheless, the theology is so fundamental that it means that a priest or bishop must be a “baptised male” and a pope, even if he were a layman when elected, must be ordained a priest, at least, and preferably also a bishop, if he is to become pope.
Cardinals can be laymen (although strictly speaking it is an abuse since cardinals were originally the parish priests of the Diocese of Rome) but popes must be clerics and only a “baptised male” can be ordained a cleric.
Therefore, only a man in the full sense can ever be Pope.
So, the gravamen of the film is not just poppycock but, worse, it is also dangerous poppycock because it seeks to show that, somehow, the Church itself could countenance the very confusion of the sexes that Satan is currently using to attack and destroy, not only Christianity, but humanity itself.
This is but another example of why St Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit Order, called Satan “the enemy of humankind” and not just the enemy of God and the Church. Satan wishes to destroy our very humanity.
He does so out of his jealous hatred of man whom God created below the Angels but, to the enraged fury of Satan, raised them above the Angels, so that St Irenaeus of Lyon famously said “Gloria Dei est vivens homo” – “the glory of God is a living man”[1].
In so attacking, Satan is assaulting the very essence of God through His chosen special image, man – the imago Dei, the “image” or “reflection” of God.
No wonder St Ignatius of Loyola called Satan not only the enemy of God but the enemy of man and his very humanity.
This film, Conclave, in a manner now so reminiscent of Hollywood and the international film industry, is merely yet another furtherance of Satan’s attack upon man and upon his very humanity.
Inevitably, however, it will fail since nothing and no-one can ever outwit or outmanoeuvre God.
But, in the process, many millions of souls could still be misled and deceived and so end up in Hell, particularly if, as so often happens, they allow themselves to be deceived preferring the siren voices of the worldly to the sane and safe voice of God, speaking through the Magisterium of the Church.
It is therefore our duty to warn our fellow Catholics against this pernicious and foolish film.
[1] St Irenaeus of Lyon, Adversus Haereses IV.20.7, writing against the Gnostic heretics.
St Catherine of Siena, Virgin
From Dom Prosper Guéranger's Liturgical Year:
The Dominican Order, which, yesterday, presented a rose to our Risen Jesus, now offers him a lily of surpassing beauty. Catherine of Siena follows Peter the Martyr: — it is a coincidence willed by Providence, to give fresh beauty to this season of grandest Mysteries. Our Divine King deserves everything we can offer him; and our hearts are never so eager to give him every possible tribute of homage, as during these last days of his sojourn among us. See how Nature is all flower and fragrance at this loveliest of her Seasons! The spiritual world harmonizes with the visible, and now yields her noblest and richest works in honor of her Lord—the author of Grace.
How grand is the Saint whose Feast comes gladdening us today! She is one of the most favored of the holy Spouses of the Incarnate Word. She was his, wholly and unreservedly, almost from her very childhood. Though thus consecrated to him by the vow of holy Virginity, she had a mission given to her by divine Providence which required her living in the world. But God would have her to be one of the glories of the Religious State; he therefore inspired her to join the Third Order of St. Dominic. Accordingly, she wore the Habit and fervently practiced, during her whole life, the holy exercises of a Tertiary.
From the very commencement, there was a something heavenly about this admirable servant of God, which we fancy existing in an angel who had been sent from heaven to live in a human body. Her longing after God gave one an idea of the vehemence wherewith the Blessed embrace the Sovereign Good on their first entrance into heaven. In vain did the body threaten to impede the soaring of this earthly Seraph; she subdued it by penance, and made it obedient to the spirit. Her body seemed to be transformed, so as to have no life of its own, but only that of the soul. The Blessed Sacrament was frequently the only food she took for weeks together. So complete was her union with Christ that she received the impress of the sacred Stigmata, and, with them, the most excruciating pain.
And yet, in the midst of all these supernatural favors, Catherine felt the keenest interest in the necessities of others. Her zeal for their spiritual advantage was intense, while her compassion for them, in their corporal sufferings, was that of a most loving mother. God had given her the gift of Miracles, and she was lavish in using it for the benefit of her fellow creatures. Sickness and death itself were obedient to her command; and the prodigies witnessed at the beginning of the Church were again wrought by the humble Saint of Siena.
Her communings with God began when she was quite a child, and her ecstasies were almost without interruption. She frequently saw our Risen Jesus, who never left her without having honored her, either with a great consolation, or with a heavy cross. A profound knowledge of the mysteries of our holy faith was another of the extraordinary graces bestowed upon her. So eminent, indeed, was the heavenly wisdom granted her by God that she, who had received no education, used to dictate the most sublime writings, wherein she treats of spiritual things with a clearness and eloquence which human genius could never attain to, and with a certain indescribable unction which no reader can resist.
But God would not permit such a treasure as this to lie buried in a little town of Italy. The Saints are the supports of the Church; and though their influence be generally hidden, yet, at times, it is open and visible, and men then learn what the instruments are which God uses for imparting blessings to a world that would seem to deserve little else besides chastisement. The great question, at the close of the 14th Century was the restoring to the Holy City the privilege of having within its walls the Vicar of Christ, who, for sixty years, had been absent from his See. One saintly soul, by merits and prayers known to heaven alone, might have brought about this happy event, after which the whole Church was longing; but God would have it done by a visible agency, and in the most public manner. In the name of the widowed Rome—in the name of her own and the Church’s Spouse—Catherine crossed the Alps, and sought an interview with the Pontiff, who had not so much as seen Rome. The Prophetess respectfully reminded him of his duty; and in proof of her mission being from God, she tells him of a secret which was known to himself alone. Gregory XI could no longer resist; and the Eternal City welcomed its Pastor and Father. But at the Pontiff’s death, a frightful schism, the forerunner of greater evils to follow, broke out in the Church. Catherine, even to her last hour, was untiring in her endeavors to quell the storm. Having lived the same number of years as our Savior had done, she breathed forth her most pure soul into the hands of her God, and went to continue, in heaven, her ministry of intercession for the Church she had loved so much on earth, and for souls redeemed in the precious Blood of her Divine Spouse.
Our Risen Jesus, who took her to her eternal reward during the Season of Easter, granted her while she was living on earth, a favor, which we mention here, as being appropriate to the mystery we are now celebrating. He, one day, appeared to her, having with him his Blessed Mother. Mary Magdalene—she that announced the Resurrection to the Apostles—accompanied the Son and the Mother. Catherine’s heart was overpowered with emotion at this visit. After looking for some time upon Jesus and his holy Mother, her eyes rested on Magdalene, whose happiness she both saw and envied. Jesus spoke these words to her: “My beloved! I give her to thee, to be thy mother. Address thyself to her, henceforth, with all confidence. I give her special charge of thee.” From that day forward, Catherine had the most filial love for Magdalene, and called her by no other name than that of Mother.
Let us now read the beautiful, but too brief, account of our Saint’s Life, as given in the Liturgy.
Catherine, a Virgin of Siena, was born of pious parents. She asked for and obtained the Dominican habit, such as it is worn by the Sisters of Penance. Her abstinence was extraordinary, and her manner of living most mortified. She was once known to have fasted, without receiving anything but the Blessed Sacrament, from Ash Wednesday to Ascension Day. She had very frequent contests with the wicked spirits, who attacked her in divers ways. She suffered much from fever, and other bodily ailments. Her reputation for sanctity was so great, that there were brought to her, from all parts, persons who were sick or tormented by the devil. She, in the name of Christ, healed such as were afflicted with malady or fever, and drove the devils from the bodies of them that were possessed.
Being once at Pisa, on a Sunday, and having received the Bread of heaven, she was rapt in an ecstasy. She saw our crucified Lord approaching to her. He was encircled with a great light, and from his Five Wounds there came rays, which fell upon the five corresponding parts of Catherine’s body. Being aware of the favor bestowed upon her, she besought our Lord that the stigmata might not be visible. The rays immediately changed from the color of blood into one of gold, and passed, under the form of a bright light, to the hands, feet, and heart of the Saint. So violent was the pain left by the wounds, that it seemed to her as though she must soon have died, had not God diminished it. Thus our most loving Lord added favor to favor, by permitting her to feel the smart of the wounds, and yet removing their appearance. The servant of God related what had happened to her to Raymund, her Confessor. Hence, when the devotion of the Faithful gave a representation of this miracle, they painted, on the pictures of St. Catherine, bright rays coming from the five stigmata she received.
Her learning was not acquired, but infused. Theologians proposed to her the most difficult questions of divinity, and received satisfactory answers. No one ever approached her, who did not go away a better man. She reconciled many that were at deadly enmity with one another. She visited Pope Gregory XI (who was then at Avignon), in order to bring about the reconciliation of the Florentines, who were under an interdict on account of their having formed a league against the Holy See. She told the Pontiff that there had been revealed to her the vow which he, Gregory, had made of going to Rome—a vow which was known to God alone. It was through her entreaty, that the Pope began to plan measures for taking possession of his See of Rome, which he did soon after. Such was the esteem in which she was held by Gregory, and by Urban VI, his successor, that she was sent by them on several embassies. At length, after a life spent in the exercise of the sublimest virtues, and after gaining great reputation on account of her prophecies and many miracles, she passed hence to her divine Spouse, when she was about the age of three and thirty. She was canonized by Pius II.
Pope Pius II, one of the glories of Siena, composed the two following Hymns, in honor of his saintly and illustrious fellow-citizen. They form part of the Office of St. Catherine of Siena, in the Dominican Breviary.
Carry up to heaven, O holy virgin Catherine! these canticles of praise, which we, gladdened as we are by thy feast, sing thus in thine honor.
If they are unworthy of thine acceptance, pardon us, we beseech thee. Nay, we own, O glorious Saint! that we are not equal to the task we have undertaken.
But who is he, that could worthily praise such a Saint as this? Is there, in the wide world, a poet that could write an ode immortal enough for this heroine, whom no enemy could vanquish.
O Catherine! illustrious example of all that is noble! thou wast rich in virtue and wisdom; and with the riches of thy temperance, fortitude, piety, justice and prudence, thou ascendedst into heaven.
Who has not heard of thy glorious virtues and deeds, which were never surpassed in this world? Thy compassions for the sufferings of Christ stamped thee with the impress of his wounds.
Bravely despising the vain grandeurs of this short, mournful, and miserable life, which abounds with every evil, thy ambition was for heaven alone.
Let us all give infinite thanks to the Son ever blessed of the Eternal Father! let us give glory to the Holy Ghost! to the Three, one equal praise! Amen.
Well indeed may we sing thy praise, Catherine! for, by thy wondrous virtues, thou receivedst a triumphant welcome from heaven itself.
Yes, it is in heaven alone, where thou art enriched with all good things, that thou receivedst the reward of thy holy life, and the recompense of thy grand virtue.
Great was thy veneration for the Patriarch of Preachers, that perfect model of every virtue; thou enteredst his Order, and art one of its brightest glories.
Joys of earth, vanity of dress, beauty of body, none had charms for thee. Sin, the injustice offered to God by his creature, oh! this thou couldst not brook.
To reduce thy body to subjection, and to atone for the sins of men, oft didst thou severely scourge thyself, till thine innocent blood would flow in streams on the ground.
Thou hadst compassion on all that were suffering, no matter where they might be, or what their misfortune. Thy sympathy was ever ready for them, too, that were a prey to care.
But our hymn would never end, were we to tell all thy praises, O Catherine! whose sanctity far surpassed that of other mortals.
The savage soldiers and leaders, who were threatening the people of Siena with death, withdrew at thy word.
Oft was thy mind applied, with all its power, to the study of sacred things: and thy letters, teeming with wisdom and elegance, are still treasured in some of our richest cities.
Thou excelledst in the power of reclaiming sinners, and persuading all to follow what was right. Thus didst thou speak to them: “Virtue alone can make man happy.”
Far from fearing, thou hadst a brave contempt for the dread claims of death, which thou wast wont to call the recompense of life.
When, therefore, the time came for thee to leave thy sacred body to the tomb, and ascend into heaven, thou gavest lessons of consolation to them that stood weeping around thee.
And having adored the Body of Christ, and received, amidst abundant tears of devotion, the saving Host, thy last words were instructions to all how to lead a holy life.
Let us all give infinite thanks to the Son ever blessed of the Eternal Father! let us give glory to the Holy Ghost! to the Three, one equal praise! Amen.
Holy Church, filled as she now is with the joy of her Jesus’ Resurrection, addresses herself to thee, O Catherine, who followest the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. (Apocalypse 14:4) Living in this exile, where it is only at intervals that she enjoys his presence, she says to thee: Hast thou seen Him, whom my soul loveth? (Song of Solomon 3:3) Thou art his Spouse; so is she: but there are no veils, no separation, for thee; whereas, for her, the enjoyment is at rare and brief periods, and, even so, there are clouds that dim the lovely Light. What a life was thine, O Catherine! uniting in itself the keenest compassion for the Sufferings of Jesus, and an intense happiness by the share he gave thee of his glorified life. We might take thee as our guide both to the mournful mysteries of Calvary, and to the glad splendors of the Resurrection. It is these second that we are now respectfully celebrating: oh! speak to us of our Risen Jesus. Is it not He that gave thee the nuptial ring, with its matchless diamond set amidst four precious gems? The bright rays, which gleam from thy stigmata, tell us, that when he espoused thee to himself, thou sawest him all resplendent with the beauty of his glorious Wounds. Daughter of Magdalene! like her, thou art a messenger of the Resurrection; and when thy last Pasch comes — the Pasch of thy thirty-third year — thou goest to heaven, to keep it for eternity. O zealous lover of souls! love them more than ever, now that thou art in the palace of the King, our God. We, too, are in the Pasch, in the New Life; intercede for us, that the life of Jesus may never die within us, but may go on, strengthening its power and growth, by our loving him with an ardor like thine own.
Obtain for us, great Saint, something of the filial devotedness thou hadst for holy Mother Church, and which prompted thee to do such glorious things! Her sorrows and her joys were thine; for there can be no love for Jesus, where there is none for his Spouse: and is it not through her that he gives us all his gifts? Oh, yes! we, too, wish to love this Mother of ours; we will never be ashamed to own ourselves as her children! we will defend her against her enemies; we will do everything that lies in our power to win others to acknowledge, love, and be devoted to her.
Our God used thee as his instrument, O humble Virgin, for bringing back the Roman Pontiff to his See. Thou wast stronger than the powers of this earth, which would fain have prolonged an absence disastrous to the Church. The relics of Peter in the Vatican, of Paul on the Ostian Way, of Lawrence and Sebastian, of Cecily and Agnes, exulted in their glorious Tombs, when Gregory entered with triumph into the Holy City. It was through thee, O Catherine, that a ruinous captivity of seventy years’ duration was brought, on that day, to a close, and that Rome recovered her glory and her life. In these our days, hell has changed its plan of destruction: men are striving to deprive of its Pontiff-King the City, which was chosen by Peter as the See where the Vicar of Christ should reign to the end of the world. Is this design of God, this design which was so dear to thee, O Catherine! — is it now to be frustrated? Oh! beseech him to forbid a sacrilege, which would scandalize the weak, and make the impious blaspheme in their success. Come speedily to our aid! — and through thy Divine Spouse, in his just anger, permit us to suffer these humiliations, pray that, at least they may be shortened.
Pray, too, for unhappy Italy, which was so dear to thee, and which is so justly proud of its Saint of Siena. Impiety and heresy are now permitted to run wild through the land; the name of thy Spouse is blasphemed; the people are taught to love error, and to hate what they had hitherto venerated; the Church is insulted and robbed; Faith has long since been weakened, but now its very existence is imperilled. Intercede for thy unfortunate country, dear Saint! oh! surely, it is time to come to her assistance, and rescue her from the hands of her enemies. The whole Church hopes in thy effecting the deliverance of this her illustrious province: delay not, but calm the storm which seems to threaten a universal wreck!
Wednesday of the Second Week After Easter
From Dom Prosper Guéranger's Liturgical Year:
℣. In thy resurrection, O Christ, alleluia.
℟. Let heaven and earth rejoice, alleluia. alleluia.
We are not to suppose, that because the sacred humanity of our Risen Jesus is resplendent with glory and majesty, it is therefore less accessible to mortals. His kindness and condescension are the same as before; nay, He seems to have become more affectionate than ever, and more desirous to be with the children of men. Surely we have not forgotten what happened during the joyous octave of the Pasch! His affectionate greeting to the holy women, when on their way to the sepulcher; his appearing to Magdalene under the form of a gardener; his conversation with the two disciples of Emmaus, and the means he took to make them recognize him; his showing himself, on the Sunday evening, to the Ten, greeting them with his Peace be to you, allowing them to touch him, and even condescending to eat with them; his amiably bidding Thomas, on the eighth day, to convince himself of the reality of the Resurrection by feeling the Wounds; his meeting his disciples at the Lake of Gennesaret, blessing their fishing, and providing them with a repast on the bank — all this is proof of the tender love and intimacy wherewith our Savior treated his creatures during the forty days after his Resurrection.
As to his visits to his Blessed Mother, we shall have another occasion for speaking of them; today, we will consider him in the midst of his disciples. So frequently is he with them, that St. Luke calls it an appearing to them for forty days. (Acts 1:3) The apostolic college is reduced to eleven; for the place of the traitor Judas is not to be filled up till after our Lord’s Ascension, immediately before the descent of the Holy Ghost. How beautiful in their simplicity are these future messengers of the Good Tidings to mankind! (Isaiah 52:7) A short while ago, they were weak and hesitating in their faith; they forgot all they had seen and heard; they fled from their Master in the hour of trial. As he had foretold it to them, they were scandalized at his humiliations and death. The news of his Resurrection made little impression upon them; they even disbelieved it. And yet, they found him so affectionate, so gentle in his reproaches, that they soon resumed the confidence and intimacy they had had with him during his mortal life. Peter, who had been the most unfaithful, as well as the most presumptuous, of all, has now regained his position of the most honored of the Apostles, and, in a few days hence, is to receive a special proof of Jesus’ having forgotten his past disloyalty. He and his fellow-Apostles can think of nothing now but of Jesus. When he is with them, they feast on the beauty and glory of his appearance. His words are dearer to them than ever, for they understand them better, now that they have been enlightened by the mysteries of the Passion and Resurrection. They eagerly listen to all that he says, and he says more than formerly, because he is so soon to leave them. They know that the day will soon come when they will no longer be able to hear his voice; they, therefore, treasure up his words as though they were his last will, and how could they better fit themselves for the mission he has entrusted to them? It is true, they do not, as yet, fully enter into all the mysteries they are to preach to the world — they could not even remember so many sublime things — but Jesus tells them that he will soon send upon them the Holy Ghost, who will not only give them courage, but will also bless them with spiritual understanding, and will enable them to remember all that he, Jesus, has taught them. (John 14:26)
Nor must we forget the holy Women, those faithful companions of Jesus, who followed him up to Calvary, and were the first to be rewarded with the joys of the Resurrection. Their Divine Master could not overlook them now : he praises their devotedness, he encourages them, he takes every opportunity of repaying them. Heretofore, as the Gospel tells us, (Matthew 27:55) they provided him with food; now that he needs no earthly nourishment, he feasts them with his dear presence: they see him, they hear his words; the very thought that he is soon to be taken from them, makes these happy days doubly precious to them. They are the venerable mothers of the Christian people; they are our illustrious ancestors in the Faith; and on the day of the Descent of the Holy Ghost, we shall find them with the Apostles in the Cenacle, receiving the Tongues of Fire. Woman is to be represented on that glorious occasion, when the Church is to be made manifest before the world; the Women of Calvary and the sepulcher are chosen for this office, and right well do they deserve to share in the bright joys of Pentecost.
Let us recite the following sequence in honor of our dear Jesus, who passes these forty days with his Apostles and the holy women. It was composed by Adam of Saint Victor:
SEQUENCE
Lo, the great Day is come! Light follows darkness, and resurrection death. Sorrow gives place to joy, for our glory is greater than was our former shame. Truth dispels the shadow; the new, what was old; and consolation, mourning.
Celebrate the new Pasch! Let the members hope to have what now their Head enjoys. Our new Pasch is Christ, — the spotless Lamb that was slain for us.
Christ has taken the prey from the enemy that surrounded us. It is the victory prefigured by Samson, when he tore the lion to pieces; and by the powerful David, when he rescued his father’s flock from the lion’s grasp and the bear’s jaw.
When Samson killed his enemies by his own death, he was a type of Christ, whose Death was a victory. Samson signifies his Sun; so is Christ the Light of his elect, for he makes his grace shine upon them.
Under the holy weight of the Cross, the vine-stream flows into the store -house of the beloved Church. The wine-press is trodden, and the first-fruits of the Gentiles drink their fill and are glad.
The garment that was rent and torn is made a robe for kings; that garment is the Flesh that triumphed over suffering, and became an ornament of grace.
The Jews forfeited God’s kingdom, because they put the King to death; they are not utterly destroyed, for, like Cain, they are set as a sign.
The Stone that they rejected and despised, is now the chosen one, set up as a trophy, and made the chief cornerstone. Taking away sin, but not our nature, he creates us into new creatures; he unites in himself the two people (Jew and Gentile).
Be glory to our head! and to the members, peace! Amen.
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