Mediator Dei

With docile hearts, then, let all Christians hearken to the voice of their Common Father, who would have them, each and every one, intimately united with him as they approach the altar of God, professing the same faith, obedient to the same law, sharing in the same Sacrifice with a single intention and one sole desire. This is a duty imposed, of course, by the honor due to God. But the needs of our day and age demand it as well. After a long and cruel war which has rent whole peoples asunder with it rivalry and slaughter, men of good will are spending themselves in the effort to find the best possible way to restore peace to the world. It is, notwithstanding, Our belief that no plan or initiative can offer better prospect of success than that fervent religious spirit and zeal by which Christians must be formed and guided; in this way their common and whole-hearted acceptance of the same truth, along with their united obedience and loyalty to their appointed pastors, while rendering to God the worship due to Him, makes of them one brotherhood: “for we, being many, are one body: all that partake of one bread. Pius XII: Mediator Dei. November 20th 1947

Must SEE! : ***Pics Found Here: Google has a deal with Time Life to show their photos, type in Pope Pius etc..***

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Treasures New & Old

He said unto them: Therefore every scribe instructed in the kingdom of heaven, is like to a man that is a householder, who bringeth forth out of his treasure new things and old. Matt 13:52

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Gate of Heaven

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How terrible is this place! this is no other but the house of God, and the gate of heaven. Gen 28: 17

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To Adhere To Christ

“He who heareth my word, and believeth …hath life everlasting.” (John, 5, 24) This affirmation by Jesus, which we heard in the Gospel, makes us think of the hardest moments of the pontificate of Pius XII, when, perceiving the collapse of every human certainty, he strongly felt the need, even through a constant ascetic effort, to adhere to Christ, the only certainty that never passes. Benedict XVI on Pius XII: (Translation from Rorate Caeli)

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The Last Roman

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Throughout his papacy Pope Pius XII was almost universally, regarded as a saintly man, a scholar, a man of peace, a tower of strength, and a compassionate defender and protector of all victims of the war and genocide that had drenched Europe in blood. At the end of the war Western nations paid tribute to his efforts on behalf of the oppressed. When Pius XII died, Jews praised him for his help and were among the first to express sorrow and gratitude for his solicitude during the Holocaust. Immediately after his death, the world at large proclaimed Pope Pius XII worthy of the title, Saint. Referring to Pius XII’s sanctity in his letter to Margherita Marchione (February 22, 2001), Bernard Tiffany quoted the following letter from Padre Pio’s secretary, Reverend Dominic Meyer, OFM, Cap.: “Padre Pio told me he saw the Pope in Heaven during his Mass. And many miracles have been attributed to His intercession in various parts of the world. Pictures of the Pope have been printed with a prayer for His beatification. But so far I have not seen any with the prayer in English (June 30, 1959).”

In his Diario, one finds a confirmation of the above statement. When Pius XII died on October 9, 1958, Padre Pio was consoled “by a vision of the former pontiff in his heavenly home,” according to Padre Agostino. A more recent confirmation of this event comes from Pius XII’s niece, Marchesina Elena Rossignani Pacelli, to whom Padre Pio repeated the same words. On May 19, 2002, Elena Pacelli confirmed this statement. (Article on Pius XII)

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Funeral of Pius XII:

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Old Treasures

Today while in the Vatican Basilica I saw something I didn’t think I’d ever see and something that hasen’t been seen here likely in about forty (or more) years in St. Peter’s Basilica!

They brought back the old giant carpet covers for the choir benches at the altar of the chair. It’s difficult to explain what exactly these are, and it will be impossible to get close to get a photo. But today they were putting them out.  From Orbis Catholicus

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First Attempted Suicide of the West

On every side the dread phantom of war holds sway: there is scarce room for another thought in the minds of men. The combatants are the greatest and wealthiest nations of the earth; what wonder, then, if, well provided with the most awful weapons modern military science has devised, they strive to destroy one another with refinements of horror. There is no limit to the measure of ruin and of slaughter; day by day the earth is drenched with newly-shed blood, and is covered with the bodies of the wounded and of the slain. Who would imagine as we see them thus filled with hatred of one another, that they are all of one common stock, all of the same nature, all members of the same human society? Who would recognize brothers, whose Father is in Heaven? Yet, while with numberless troops the furious battle is engaged, the sad cohorts of war, sorrow and distress swoop down upon every city and every home; day by day the mighty number of widows and orphans increases, and with the interruption of communications, trade is at a standstill; agriculture is abandoned; the arts are reduced to inactivity; the wealthy are in difficulties; the poor are reduced to abject misery; all are in distress. Benedict XV: Appealing for Peace

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Originally seen at Idle Speculations

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A Council Was Not Necessary

The salient point of this Council is not, therefore, a discussion of one article or another of the fundamental doctrine of the Church which has repeatedly been taught by the Fathers and by ancient and modern theologians, and which is presumed to be well known and familiar to all. For this a Council was not necessary. But from the renewed, serene, and tranquil adherence to all the teaching of the Church in its entirety and preciseness, as it still shines forth in the Acts of the Council of Trent and First Vatican Council, the Christian, Catholic, and apostolic spirit of the whole world expects a step forward toward a doctrinal penetration and a formation of consciousness in faithful and perfect conformity to the authentic doctrine, which, however, should be studied and expounded through the methods of research and through the literary forms of modern thought. (Bl. John XXIII: Opening Speech of Second Vatican Council)

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Funeral of Bl. John XXIII

(French Video of Vatican II)

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Where did this go?

(The Second Installation of the Canonization of St. Pius X at Catholic Pictures)

Where did this go?: The red “bunting” around the congregation in St. Peters. Ordination circa 1966:

Also, a pretty interesting Italian film about Pope Paul VI’s last years. It shows Archbishop Lefevbre when he started the seminary in Econe, and some interesting footage of Paul VI opening the doors for the Holy Year (the wall almost fell on him!), on the Sedia Gestatoria, etc…

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Plentiful Stream of Sacramental Grace

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The Sacred Heart of Jesus shares in a most intimate way in the life of the Incarnate Word, and has been thus assumed as a kind of instrument of the Divinity. It is therefore beyond all doubt that, in the carrying out of works of grace and divine omnipotence, His Heart, no less than the other members of His human nature is also a legitimate symbol of that unbounded love.

Under the influence of this love, our Savior, by the outpouring of His blood, became wedded to His Church: “By love, He allowed Himself to be espoused to His Church.” Hence, from the wounded Heart of the Redeemer was born the Church, the dispenser of the Blood of the Redemption — whence flows that plentiful stream of Sacramental grace from which the children of the Church drink of eternal life, as we read in the sacred liturgy: “From the pierced Heart, the Church, the Bride of Christ, is born….And He pours forth grace from His Heart.” (Pius XII: Devotion to The Sacred Heart)

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Pentecost

And when the days of the Pentecost were accomplished, they were all together in one place: And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a mighty wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues as it were of fire, and it sat upon every one of them. (Acts 2:1)

And hardly do we guess aright at things that are upon earth: and with labour do we find the things that are before us. But the things that are in heaven, who shall search out? And who shall know thy thought, except thou give wisdom, and send thy Holy Spirit from above (Wisdom 9:16)

But the Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring all things to your mind, whatsoever I shall have said to you. (John 14:26)

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Tu Es Petrus

Jesus saith to them: But whom do you say that I am?
Simon Peter answered and said: Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answering, said to him: Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona: because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is in heaven. And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven. (Matt 16:15)

 Seen on Idle Speculations

That they all may be one, as thou, Father, in me, and I in thee; that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou hast given me, I have given to them; that they may be one, as we also are one. (John 17:21)

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The Easterners

Her Apostolic origin is all the more proven especially by these Churches of the East, at the selfsame moment there shines out and is made manifest these Churches’ original, complete unity with the Roman Church. Nothing else, perhaps, is so breathtakingly effective for illustrating the mark of Catholicity in God’s Church than that striking sight of differing forms of ceremonies and noble examples of the tongues of the ancient past – made all the more noble by their use by the Apostles and Fathers – rendering their submission to the Church. (Leo XIII: On the Churches of the East)

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Death of Pius XII: Sic Transit Gloria Mundi

Ecce sacerdos magnus, qui in diebus suis placuit Deo. Ideo jurejurando fecit illum Dominus crescere in plebem suam. Benedictionem omnium gentium dedit illi, et testamentum suum confirmavit super caput ejus. Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto, Sicut erat in principio et nunc et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

Praying for the Deceased Pope

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