The Voice of... Blessed Pius IX (Part II)

On 25th March, 1852, Blessed Pius IX issued the first of his Encyclicals of that year on the subject of the discipline of the Clergy, entitled Nemo Certe Ignorat, which was addressed to the Archbishops and Bishops of Ireland.

"6. Now, however, as you know, nothing instructs others more in piety and the service of God than the lives and example of those who have dedicated themselves to the divine ministry. Therefore labor so that all who are called to the vineyard of the Lord, mindful of their proper vocation and office, abstain entirely from things forbidden to clerics and from things that are not proper for them. Then they may be an example for the faithful in word, in their dealings with others, in love, in faith, and in chastity. They must wear a clerical habit appropriate to their order and dignity, and they must perform their ministry piously and reverently. Further they must administer to the faithful, with fitting piety and reverence, the holy sacrament of the Eucharist. With it all true justice begins; or if already begun, is increased; or if already lost, is recovered. They should be devoted to prayer and study, especially sacred studies, and under your guidance let them zealously serve the salvation of souls. Each one of you knows very well how eager the Church is, especially in these hard times, to have suitable servants, who come only from well-trained clerics. Therefore devote all your care, thoughts, and diligent study to this, that the young clergy, even from their earliest years, are trained in all piety, virtue, and ecclesiastical spirit, and that they are carefully taught literature and the more serious disciplines, especially the sacred ones, free entirely from every danger of profane innovations and error. Then resplendent with the raiment of all the virtues and armed with salutary and solid doctrine, they may in time be able to teach the Christian people by word and example and to refute those who contradict them.

Nemo Certe Ignorat, No. 6

Traditional Vocations - Black is 'the new Black'

The New York Times reports:

"A new study of Roman Catholic nuns and priests in the United States shows that an aging, predominantly white generation is being succeeded by a smaller group of more racially and ethnically diverse recruits who are attracted to the religious orders that practice traditional prayer rituals and wear habits..."

"...They are the generation defined by the Second Vatican Council, of the 1960s, which modernized the church and many of its religious orders. Many nuns gave up their habits, moved out of convents, earned higher educational degrees and went to work in the professions and in community service. The study confirms what has long been suspected: that these more modern religious orders are attracting the fewest new members..."

The Voice of... Blessed Pius IX (Part I)

On 17th June, 1847, Blessed Pius IX issued his Encyclical Ubi Primum upon the discipline of Religious Orders.

"7. But We call you too, beloved sons, to be partners in this work, and We ask that you collaborate eagerly with Us in accomplishing Our object, so that your order may shine again with its former honor and brightness. Therefore, in accordance with your position and your office, leave nothing unattempted, so that the religious men under your authority meditate earnestly upon the vocation to which they have been called, walk worthily in it, and endeavor religiously to fulfill their vows. Guard their holy discipline and oppose the attractions, sports, and business if the world which they have renounced; instead let them press on with unceasing prayer and the recollection, teaching and reading of heavenly things. Let them labor for the salvation of souls presenting themselves as modest, humble, sober, kindly, patient, and just men, irreproachable in integrity and chastity, burning with charity, and reputed for wisdom. Let them not offend anyone, but offer to all an example of good works so that the Adversary must fear when he cannot speak any evil of them."

Ubi Primum, No. 7

Clergy Retreat for the Year for Priests

by Fr Armand de Malleray FSSP

Clergy pilgrimage to Ars and Lyons, 8-12 February 2010, led by Fr de Malleray FSSP - for the Year for Priests

On August 8th, 2009, Feast (EF calendar) of St John Marie Vianney, Patron of Priests:

Reverend and dear Fathers,

On this feast of our common Patron, please accept my heartfelt wishes of peace and joy in your priestly life.

To meet among priests and ask for the intercession of the holy Curé, I have the pleasure of inviting you to a pilgrimage to Ars next year (in exactly six months) from February 8 to 12, 2010 (i.e. the week before Ash Wednesday – 17 February 2010).

(image: the shrine of the Curé of Ars)

Dates:

• Depart Monday morning 8 February 2010 from the UK, arriving in the afternoon in Lyon and reach Francheville (FSSP house on the outskirt of Lyons).
• Return Friday morning 12 February 2010 from Lyons.
• Our pilgrimage will be under the special protection of Our Blessed Lady, the Mother of God and the Mother of priests as the anniversary of Her Apparitions in Lourdes will occur while we are still in Lyons. (Feb. 11th).
  

Location:

We will be based in the beautiful St Padre Pio House run by the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter in Francheville (Lyons), less than an hour drive from Ars. Single room accommodation. Garden.

Scheduled:

• A full day in Ars, the climax of our stay. Possibility of offering Holy Mass in Ars. Visit of the Curé’s presbytery. Veneration of his relics.
• One day in Lyons, original Episcopal See of St Iraeneus: visit of the Basilica of Fourvières; prayer at the place of death of St Francis de Sales; visit of the Roman amphitheatre where the protomartyrs of Gaul SS. Polycarp, Blandina, Pothinus and others suffered in 117 a.D. On a lighter note, meal in a ‘bouchon’ (traditional Lyonnais restaurant; see here).
• We will also have conferences on priestly spirituality, including the theology of the Mass, the EF Roman liturgy and prayer life.
  

Price (estimate):

• About £150 for return train ticket London St Pancras-Lyons-London St Pancras (reduction possible if we travel as a group).
• Alternatively: Easyjet direct return flight Stansted-Lyons-Gatwick: minimum price £51 (for group ticket of 15 passengers).
• Accommodation will be very affordable in the FSSP house - rough estimate: £30/day with breakfast + 1 main meal at least, i.e. £120 for 4 full days (4 nights).
• To be added: transport in Lyons and to Ars. Meals outside of the house (at least twice).
  

Liturgy:

Possibility of offering private Mass daily in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman rite (please bring only your alb, biretta, cingulum and linens). Compline (or one other Hour per day) in the EF of the Roman rite (please bring EF Breviary if you possess one).

Booking:

please send a £120 cheque made payable to ‘FSSP ENGLAND’, posted to : Fr de Malleray, FSSP, 179 Elgar Rd, RG2 0DH, Reading, Berkshire, UK. Please include your complete contact details in the booking.

Number of places available as of today: 13.

I am looking forward to meeting you again soon and I wish you a blessed Year for Priests. With my prayer,

Fr Armand de Malleray FSSP

Link:

• pictures of Francheville and FSSP in Lyons

(image below: Priests in the Padre Pio House Chapel)

The Curé d’Ars, the Model for the Work for the Sanctification of Souls in the Confessional and at the Altar

Along with the praise and glory which he renders towards God, the primary work of the priest, and that towards which all of his duties impel him, is his duty toward the sanctification of souls, referred to in theological terms as the munus sanctificandi.

The priest, as another Christ, is fundamentally obliged to work towards the sanctification of the souls which have been confided to him.

It is the same profound desire and duty for the salvation of souls which particularly attracted St. John-Mary Vianney towards the priesthood: "When I was young, I thought, 'If I were a priest, I would win many souls for the Lord.'" And when he was in the midst of a moment of discouragement and had decided to abandon his studies for the priesthood, it was enough for his ‘tutor and protector,' Fr. Balley simply to remind him, "Very well, goodbye to your dreams, John-Mary! Goodbye to the priesthood, goodbye to souls," for him to put the temptation to quit his studies behind him.
How, concretely, does the priest fulfill his duty towards the sanctification of souls? Clearly he principally does so through the administration of the Sacraments, because this is the means by which he will impart and augment divine grace in souls; it is also through the administration of these sacraments that he will strive to work out his own sanctification with the most dignity, the most holiness, and the most faith possible.

The Holy Curé of Ars, whom Benedict XVI invites each priest to take on as a model in his pastoral duty, exhorted his faithful above all else towards the frequent reception of the Sacraments. "All those, he would say, who approach the Sacraments are not saints, but the saints are always among those who receive them often."

And among these Sacraments of course Confession and the Holy Eucharist hold a particular place. He would say: "The more we use the Sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist, the more the yoke of the Lord is sweet and light. Purified by these Sacraments like a salutary bath, our soul lifts itself towards God."

The Sacrament of Confession

All who are a even bit familiar with the life of Saint John-Mary Vianney know what an important place his apostolate in the confessional had in his life. In his letter introducing the Priestly Year, Benedict XVI wrote: "From St. John-Mary Vianney we can learn to put our unfailing trust in the Sacrament of Penance, to set it once more at the center of our pastoral concerns, and to take up the 'dialogue of salvation' which it entails."
The holy Curé would hear confessions for up to 18 hours a day and would enter the confessional at one in the morning except when, due to the number of pilgrims, he would be obliged to begin before midnight. After having heard so very many confessions during his life, he said one day: "If I had not been a priest, I would have never known what sin truly is."

It is because he knew the ugliness of sin, because he knew what an offense it is to God and how much damage it does to souls that he said that he was always free to offer the mercy of God to the souls who came to see him, no matter how many that might be. "Why are we insensible to the benefits of Confession? It is because we fail to look at all for the benefits of the mercy of the good Lord, who has placed no limits in this sacrament." The love St. John-Mary Vianney had for the confessional came from, as we have said, his thirst for the conversion of sinners. Mademoiselle des Garets tells us that each evening during his prayers he was so moved to tears that he could hardly recite the phrase "O Lord, who wills that no sinner might be lost..." Fr. Toccanier testified at his beatification that the Curé d'Ars told him, "I am the happiest when I am praying for sinners."
This is why priests in their ministry should work to acquire a keen sense of sin and its consequences. The Saint would say, "If we had faith and could see a soul in a state of mortal sin we would die of fear. The soul in a state of grace is like a white dove. In a state of mortal sin it is no more than a rotting cadaver, carrion."

Along with St. John Vianney's physical penance of remaining for such long hours in the confessional – he passed out a number of times, he suffered from the cold in winter and from the heat in the summer – it was even more so a moral penance for his soul: "No, there is nothing sadder in this world than the life of the priest! How does he carry out his days? By seeing the good Lord offended. The priest sees nothing but this. He is constantly like St. Peter in the praetorium. He always has before his eyes Our Lord being insulted, despised, covered in opprobrium. . . Oh, if I had known this was the life of a priest, instead of going to the seminary, I would have hurried to enter a Trappist monastery."

But, nevertheless, the confessional was the place where throughout the life of the Holy Curé thousands of souls were reconciled to God. Many left the confessional with tears in their eyes and their souls completely transformed. "Oh my friend," the Curé d'Ars would say, "It is only at the last judgment that we will know how many souls found their salvation here."
By his long hours in the confessional St. John Mary Vianney has given a lesson to all priests throughout the world. It was in this hidden place that he passed the greater part of his days. Pope Benedict XVI on June 21 of this year stated, "Priests should never find it acceptable that their confessionals are empty, nor should they think it enough to simply apprehend that the faithful no longer have a taste for this extraordinary source of serenity and peace." Here once again the Curé d'Ars is an example for each priest: when there were fewer faithful coming to Ars, he would even pray novenas for the crowds of penitents to return. This ought to show us as priests how much we need to pray that souls will approach the confessional where the pardon of God awaits them.

"I know," he would say, "that we are weak, and we can fall into sin. Nevertheless, it is our fault because God does not refuse us His grace. But to remain in sin after having committed it, while one has all of the means to escape from it, to remain in enmity with God, this is something I could never understand."

As the Holy Father reminds us in his letter for the opening of the Priestly Year, St. John-Mary Vianney adapted himself to each soul which presented itself to him. He never took long with a penitent, but for each soul he showed a great compassion. Once a sinner who was kneeling before him asked the Saint why he was crying and he responded, "Well my friend, I am crying because you are not crying enough." One priest who was a witness at his beatification stated that a number of those converted had told him later that "seeing that man cry over their sins was what had made the greatest impression upon them."

To all souls, finally, the Curé d'Ars preached without ceasing about the mercy of God. "The sacrament of Confession, where God seems to forget His justice in order to manifest His mercy," is how he would explain it. "His greatest pleasure is to pardon us. . . Let us therefore give this joy to this good Father; let us return to Him and we will be happy."

He often stressed the consoling and encouraging fact that once a sin is confessed it will never reappear again: "You saw my candle; this night, this morning it burned out. Where is it? It longer exists; it has gone of out of existence. The same is true of our sins which have been absolved; they no longer exist, they have been annihilated."

Finally, in order to inspire confidence in the sinner and to encourage him to confess freely, the Saint, along with the tears that he often wept, would not hesitate to say to him, "I am much more culpable than you, do not hesitate to accuse yourself."

In fact he loved to say the following phrase which should be a rule for each priest: "One must have compassion for the sinner, not contempt."

Holy Mass

In his duty towards the sanctification of souls the priest of course finds the celebration of Holy Mass at the center. This celebration Benedict XVI invites all priests to carry out each day. Here once again St. John Marie Vianney is a priestly example. After his sickness in 1843, he could hardly stand up and he had to be carried rather than walk to the church. Due to his weakness he could not go until the morning without eating. In order to keep the fast he would offer the Holy Sacrifice at three in the morning. "When I ask during the Mass to know the will of God, I see a light which seems to indicate it to me."

The Saint would say, "I don't want to be the pastor of a parish, but I am glad to be a priest so that I can celebrate Mass."

Even if the hours passed in the confessional could serve as an excellent preparation for the celebration of Holy Mass as his confessor had assured him, St. John-Mary Vianney would always remain kneeling on the steps of the sanctuary for 20 to 30 minutes before each Mass. His hands would be joined in prayer and his eyes cast upon the tabernacle. He would say, when speaking simply about attending Mass, "One ought always to devote at least a quarter of an hour to prepare oneself to attend Mass well."

His long preparation, his thanksgiving which he would carry out in just as edifying a manner, and his manner of celebrating the Mass would profoundly touch souls as they saw in it a profound faith in the Mysteries of the altar. "We will not understand the greatness of being able to offer the Mass until we are in heaven."

During his thanksgiving, if one of his parishioners needed to speak to him after Mass, the Curé would go out with him and after having briefly answered the needs of the soul before him, he would excuse himself from the conversation in saying, "My friend please excuse me, I must return to the church, there is someone who is waiting for me."

It also occurred that many priests would ask the Curé d'Ars to help them better understand and better live out the mystery of the Mass. He would tell them that "the foremost cause of laxity in priests is a lack of attention during the Mass! Alas, my God! How culpable is a priest when he treats it as something ordinary."

His profound faith before such a great mystery helps us understand why he always looked for what was the most beautiful and precious to be used for the celebration of Mass. This is likewise an excellent lesson for our own times. He was fond of saying that nothing was too beautiful for the Lord. His biographers tell us that for the Holy Curé the vestments for Mass could never be too magnificent. He wanted a chalice that was of solid gold, because the most beautiful one he had did not seem to be sufficiently worthy to him to hold the Precious Blood of Our Lord.

"All good works united do not equal the Sacrifice of the Mass because they are the works of men, and the Holy Mass is the work of God. The martyr is nothing in comparison; it is the sacrifice that man makes of his life to God; the Mass is the sacrifice which God makes for men of His body and His blood."

In celebrating Mass he was not known to be too slow. Nevertheless, exceptionally, he would slow down at the elevation where he could pass up to five minutes, his eyes fixed upon the Host, as if in ecstasy. It was as if St. John-Mary Vianney saw Our Lord at the altar; that he saw Him with his own eyes; that he recognized Him in at Holy Communion coming to those who had the good fortune to assist at the Mass.

He was known to follow rigorously the rubrics of the missal and Mgr. Convert tells us that when flies would bother him at the altar he would not even move his hand to chase them away.

"This idea of the Holy Sacrifice which he had was also the cause for the respect which he professed for the holy liturgy; he would observe the smallest detail of it with perfect exactitude." The same author states what is also an important point of meditation for our times: "He would never give Holy Communion without using the paten, which he carried with the ciborium, that he might catch a Host which might accidentally fall, and in order to collect any particles which might detach from the Host. One day he cried tears while speaking of the particles which fell to the ground, saying, "We march over the good Lord! Oh, how sad it is! It is painful even to think about it."

His manner of celebrating, his piety at the altar was in itself a means of preaching. Fr. Monnin exclaimed that, "The mere sight of the Curé d'Ars celebrating Mass converted more than one sinner."

In the encyclical which Bl. John XXIII wrote for the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the death of St. John-Mary Vianney we find these words which can serve as an excellent conclusion: "Speaking as a Father, We urge Our beloved priests to set aside a time to examine themselves on how they celebrate the divine mysteries, what their dispositions of soul and external attitude are as they ascend the altar and what fruit they are trying to gain from it. They should be spurred to do this by the centenary celebrations that are being held in honor of this outstanding and wonderful priest, who drew such great strength and such great desire to dedicate himself 'from the consolation and happiness of offering the divine victim.' May his prayers, which We feel sure they will have, bring a fullness of light and strength down upon Our beloved priests."

(source: Priestly Fraternity of St Peter)

The Voice of... Pope Gregory XVI

On 17th May, 1835, Pope Gregory XVI issued his Encyclical Commissum Divinitus upon the proper governance of the Church.

"5. This power of teaching and governing in matters of religion, given by Christ to His Spouse, belongs to the priests and bishops. Christ established this system not only so that the Church would in no way belong to the civil government of the state, but also so that it could be totally free and not subject in the least to any earthly domination. Jesus Christ did not commit the sacred trust of the revealed doctrine to the worldly leaders, but to the apostles and their successors. He said to them only: "Whoever hears you, hears Me; whoever rejects you, rejects Me." These same apostles preached the Gospel, spread the Church, and established its discipline not in accordance with the pleasure of lay authority, but even in spite of it. Moreover, when the leaders of the synagogue dared command them to silence, Peter and John, who had used the evangelical freedom, responded: "You be the judge of whether it is right in the eyes of God to listen to you rather than to God." Thus, if any secular power dominates the Church, controls its doctrine, or interferes so that it cannot promulgate laws concerning the holy ministry, divine worship, and the spiritual welfare of the faithful, it does so to the injury of the faith and the overturning of the divine ordinance of the Church and the nature of government. "

Commissum Divinitus, No. 5

Franciscans of the Immaculate settle in Stoke on Trent

by Oliver Hayes

Great news has come in from Fr. Tim that the Franciscans of the Immaculate have just been given the church of St. Joseph in Burslem, a real architectural gem in the Potteries. They are coming to my diocese of Birmingham from Southwark. Having seen for myself the success they have had in reviving the historic convent at Lanherne, we can hope for much from them.

Let us hope that the initiative will be a success unlike the failed attempt to set up a traditionalist parish in St. Vincent de Paul, Liverpool. Stoke on Trent and North Staffordshire have been a bastion of Catholic traditionalism since the council, and let us hope the presence of the friars will bolster it. Make a special intention for the novena leading up to the Assumption!

The story of this church itself is well worth telling, as the following article from The Sentinel of Stoke on Trent demonstrates. There is also an audio file about its restoration here.

Fred Hughes reveals the intriguing story behind an artistic gem preserved in Burslem.

It's nearly 80 years since two artistic giants dazzled the fertile canvas of Stoke-on-Trent. Alas their names and reputation have faded over time. But their work and legacy are preserved in an extraordinary mural of Christ in Glory on the sanctuary ceiling of St Joseph's RC Church in Burslem.

"It is most certainly a stunning work," says freelance writer Carmel Dennison. "Obviously it has tremendous merit in its spiritual location, but as a stand-alone work of art it commands an important place in the social heritage of the Potteries."

Carmel's research into the background of this Christian representation has resulted in a booklet entitled The Forsyths At St Joseph's Church, Burslem. It tells the incredible story of father and daughter artists joining forces with a priest and the local Member of Parliament to produce one of the city's little-known treasures.

"The church itself was commissioned by the parish priest Reverend William Browne and designed by the distinguished 20th century architect JS Brocklesby," Carmel tells me. "The style is Italian and the colours of the bricks, which were locally made at Fenton, were chosen to reflect a herringbone pattern.

"The astonishing thing about it is that it was paid for by subscription and congregation collection, and it was constructed by the hands of the unemployed men of Burslem, brought together during a time of distress and mass unemployment in the 1920s.

"Father Browne recruited these men from around the town and paid them with a daily bowl of soup and a chunk of bread. It is a credit to Burslem's community that the church was built in such a short period of time."

St Joseph's rose from the ruins of an old pottery factory. Father Browne even got the men to demolish the potbank first as they daily got stuck-in with pick and shovel. And as the church building grew, the newly appointed Burslem School of Art principal, Gordon Forsyth (1879-1952), watched with interest, as did the newly-elected Burslem MP Andrew MacLaren.

"It was MacLaren who later suggested to Father Browne that because the church had been built by Burslem's unemployed men, they should be the ones to decorate it," Carmel continues. "He said they should be enrolled in the School of Art so they could be taught the skills to make the stained-glass windows. Naturally there was no money to fund this notion so MacLaren took his plan to Forsyth. Soon a free Saturday morning class at the Wedgwood Institute was up and running for 50 St Joseph's parishioners."

At the time the church was being built, Forsyth's daughter Moira (1905-1991) was a young art graduate. Her archived correspondence, at London's Victoria & Albert Museum, reveals how the windows were made as her father taught unemployed potters and miners in a year how to cut and set the specially-selected coloured glass to correspond with the windows at Chartres Cathedral in France.

"It was an amazing feat," says Carmel. "Imagine nowadays the unemployed returning to school to learn an artistic trade from one of the finest watercolour artists of the day. And nobody got paid for their services!"

And so a bond was forged between the community, a politician, a priest and two artists. In 1945, Scotsman MacLaren lost his seat and left Burslem. He died in 1975 at the age of 82.

Gordon Forsyth, himself a radically-driven socialist, designed the windows and altar panels for St Joseph's. He retired at the end of the war and died in 1952, aged 73. His public work can be seen in the hospital buildings at Hartshill and Haywood.

But it is Moira Forsyth who ultimately completed the work at St Joseph's. Taught pottery design by her father, Moira exhibited her ceramic figures at the White City Fair to worldwide acclaim in 1925. After graduating at the Royal College of Art, she moved from ceramics to glass. Her stained-glass work can be seen in Guildford Cathedral, Norwich Cathedral and Eton College Chapel.

"Moira was totally immersed in St Joseph's Church," declares Carmel. "By the early 1930s, the priest and the art teacher's daughter began planning the huge mural for the sanctuary ceiling. Once the idea was spun, Moira, although creatively prominent by this time, refused from the outset to accept a commission fee, settling for five guineas a week incidental expenses.

"Most of the preparation was done at the artist's studio in London and was completed in 1937. Father Browne was delighted with the result. In a letter to Moira he writes, 'The ceiling has surpassed all my expectations. I congratulate you with all my heart. It is a lasting memorial to your genius and places you side-by-side with the great masters of the past'.

"And this is not just the view of a parish priest. Bernard Rackham, former keeper of ceramics at the Victoria & Albert Museum, valued Moira's work among the best he'd seen. She later received the Queen's Award for lifelong services to the arts. But among her finest work surely is the mural at St Joseph's in Burslem."

(reproduced, with permission from The Expectation of Our Lady;
also see St Mary Magdalen)

The Voice of... Pope Pius VIII

On 24th May, 1829, Pope Pius VIII issued his Encyclical Traditi Humiliati upon the occasion of his election as Pope.

"8. Also watch the seminaries more diligently. The fathers of Trent made you responsible for their administration. [Session 25, chap. 18, on reform] From them must come forth men well instructed both in Christian and ecclesiastical discipline and in the principles of sound doctrine. Such men may then distinguish themselves for their piety and their teaching. Thus, their ministry will be a witness, even to those outside the Church and they will be able to refute those who have strayed from the path of justice. Be very careful in choosing the seminarians since the salvation of the people principally depends on good pastors. Nothing contributes more to the ruin of souls than impious, weak, or uninformed clerics."

Traditi Humiliati, No. 8

Sacerdotal Ordinations for the Institute of the Good Shepherd

In another splendid step forward for this young Institute, which approaches the third anniversary of its foundation, two Priests have been ordained for the IBP in the Basilica of Sainte-Anne d'Auray, a magnificent example of Breton neo-Romanesque architecture. The City is a stronghold of the Breton language.

The Basilica was built to honour St. Anne, the patroness of Brittany, who appeared to Yves Nicolazic during the years 1624-5. The apparitions were approved by the Local Ordinary and pilgrimages, known locally as pardons began. The Basilica was particularly favoured by Queen Anne of Austria and her husband, Louis XIII, especially by the donation of a relic of the Saint brought from the Holy Land during the Crusades, and the sponsorship of the erection of a Confraternity of St. Anne there. The miraculous statue of St. Anne was publicly burnt at Vannes during the Revolution. The Shrine continued to be popular in spite of athiestical machinations and reached its zenith during the reign of Blessed Pius IX, who raised to Confraternity to an Archconfraternity, commanded the image of St. Anne to be crowned, once the new Basilica, begun in 1866, was complete, and donated the High Altar.

C'est notre mère à tous;

mort ou vivant, dit-on,

A Sainte-Anne, une fois,

doit aller tout Breton.

The ceremony was performed on 4th July, 2009, by Mgr Ennio Appignanesi, the Archbishop Emeritus of Potenza-Muro Lucano-Marsico Nuovo in Italy, who had just celebrated his 84th birthday and will celebrate the 60th anniversary of his own ordination early next year. In May last, Archbishop Appignanesi, who is a Canon of St. Peters Basilica, ordained three members of the IBP to the Subdiaconate in the Church of Santa Lucia in Rome.

The Voice of... Pope Leo XII

On 5th May, 1824, Pope Leo XII issued his Encyclical Ubi Primum upon his election as Pope.

"8. Bishops who do not with due concern try to obey the precepts of residence or visitation will not avoid the fearful judgment of Our Savior the supreme shepherd by pleading that they fulfilled their duties through delegated ministers."

"9. For care of the flock has been entrusted to themselves not to their ministers; it was to themselves that the gifts of the Spirit were promised. Consequently the sheep listen more gladly to the voice of their own shepherd than to that of a representative. They seek salutary food with more confidence from the shepherd's hand than from his representative's, and rejoice more to obtain it. For His hand is as the hand of the Lord, whose person is reverenced in His bishops. All this is also amply borne out by experience, the world's instructor."

Ubi Primum, Nos. 8 & 9

The Voice of... Pope Pius VII

On 15th May, 1800, Pope Pius VII issued his Encyclical Diu Satis advocating the return to the values of the Gospel.

"12. Do not admit anyone to the clergy, entrust to no one the ministry of the mysteries of God, allow no one to hear confessions or preach sermons, do not transfer any administration or office to anyone, before you carefully weigh, examine and "test their spirit to see if they are of God.""

"13. Would that We had not learned by experience how many "false apostles" the present age has spawned! These are "deceitful workmen who transform themselves into apostles of Christ." Unless we are on our guard "they will destroy the understanding of the faithful as the serpent seduced Eve by his cleverness, and they will fall away from their simplicity which is in Christ."[II Cor. 11] While you must care for the whole flock over which the Holy Spirit has placed you as bishop, the watchfulness, eagerness, and effort of your fatherly love and benevolence is demanded in particular by boys and young men. Christ by example and statement has particularly entrusted these to us [Mt 19, Mk 10, Lk 18.] and the enemies of private property and states who are striving to confound all laws, divine and human, hope to effect their wicked plans chiefly by corrupting their young minds. For they are aware that the young are like soft wax and can easily be drawn in any direction, bent and moulded and that they firmly retain a form once they have received it and it has been hardened by advancing years; then they will reject a different form. Hence the well-worn proverb from scripture: "A young man will not depart from his way even when he has grown old.''[Prov. 22]"

"14. Do not allow "that the children of this world be wiser in their generation than the children of light." Carefully investigate the directors given charge of boys and young men in seminaries and colleges, and the courses they are to follow, the teachers chosen for secondary schools, and the schools which are to be run. Keep out the ravening wolves who do not spare the flock of innocent lambs, and expel them if necessary by the way they entered. Eliminate them at once "according to the power which the Lord gave you for edification.'' [II Cor. 13] We must use to the full this power to eradicate this very serious threat to our children. This course is required for the safety of Church, state, leaders, and all human beings; their safety should be dearer and more important to Us than Our own life. Clement XIII treated this subject in his Brief to you on 25th November 1766."

Diu Satis, Nos. 12-14

New Priests for the IBP

by Shawn Tribe

From Vannes.maville.com, in turn by way of Le Forum Cathoiique comes news of the ordination of two new priests of the Institute of the Good Shepherd in the basilica of Sainte-Anne d'Auray on July 4th.

The ordaining prelate was Msgr. Appignanesi, archbishop emeritus of Potenza, Italy.


(reproduced from The New Liturgical Movement)