“Sub Tuum Praesidium” (Latin for “Under thy protection”; Greek: Ὑπὸ τὴν σὴν εὐσπλαγχνίαν) is the oldest extant hymn yet discovered to the Theotokos (Mother of God).
The earliest text discovered so far of this hymn was written in Greek on Egyptian papyrus and dates to approximately 250 AD. It is used to this day in the Roman, Byzantine, Ambrosian and Dominican rites. It is also commonly used by the Salesians in honor of Mary Help of Christians, by the Jesuits during their exercises of piety, and by the Marist Brothers in educating young Catholics. It is also highly regarded by TFP members.
The Latin translation, likely derived from the Greek, dates from the 11th century:
Latin Text
Sub tuum praesidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix.
Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus nostris,
sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper,
Virgo gloriosa et benedicta.
English Translation
Under thy protection we seek refuge, O Holy Mother of God;
In our needs, despise not our petitions,
but deliver us always from all dangers,
O Glorious and Blessed Virgin.
Also noteworthy is that this prayer has remained consistently linked to the end of evening prayers, as can be seen in the Roman and Byzantine liturgies. The sung antiphons of this prayer are related to the end of the day (Compline) and more specifically the singing of the Canticle of Simeon. From the trusting abandonment to the hands of Divine Providence that the Canticle of Simeon proclaims (Nunc dimittis servum tuum, Domine – Now dost Thou dismiss Thy servant, O Lord), the piety of the faithful have added the same confident abandonment to the protection of our Heavenly Mother.
On Saturday, October 15 at 12:00 noon, over one hundred thousand American Catholics will take to the public square in 7,000 locations nationwide to pray for the nation in these troubled times. Please consider joining these peaceful gatherings of people in local communities who will pray the rosary publicly and proudly.
One day in May 1664, seventeen-year old Benoite Rencurel was tending sheep in a valley surrounded by rocky cliffs with crevices resembling shallow grottos. While she was reciting her rosary, she suddenly saw a beautiful Lady standing on a rock, holding the hand of an adorable Child. “Beautiful Lady!” she said to her. “What are you doing up there? Would you like to share my lunch with me? I have a little bit of hard bread-we could dip it in the spring!”
The Lady smiled at her simplicity, and did not say a word to her. “Beautiful Lady, would you like to give us this Child, He would make our hearts so glad?” The Lady smiled again without answering. After a few moments with Benoite, she took her Child in her arms and disappeared into a grotto in the side of the cliff, where the shepherdess saw her go in and out several times.
Over the course of the next four months, the Lady appeared every day to Benoite, talking very familiarly with the young girl. She instructed her in preparation for her future mission, by correcting her vivaciousness and her abruptness, her stubbornness and her attachment to things and animals. On August 29, Benoite asked the visitor what her name was, and heard this response, “My name is Lady Mary, Jesus’ Mother.” The Virgin also told her that the apparitions would now come to an end for an indefinite time. This absence served to purify her soul, a month in all, by depriving her of a considerable consolation.
The apparition later gave rise to a sanctuary and place of pilgrimage.
Adapted from an article written by Dom Antoine Marie osb.
"In dangers, in doubts, in difficulties, think of Mary, call upon Mary. Let not her name depart from your lips; never suffer it to leave your heart. And that you may more surely obtain the assistance of her prayer; neglect not to walk in her footsteps."
"With her for (your) guide, you shall never go astray; while invoking her, you shall never lose heart; So long as she is in your mind, you are safe from deception; while she holds your hand, you cannot fall; under her protection you have nothing to fear; if she walks before you, you shall not grow weary; if she shows you favor, you shall reach the goal."
Have you ever heard the story of this miraculous picture of Our Lady? If you would like to be inspired by the marvelous, then you will want to hear Her story on Sunday September 18th. If you don't already know Her story, this is a must event and once you know Her story, you will want to hear it over and over again.
Check back for details on a very special talk to be given on the afternoon of September 18th, you won't want to miss it.
Be in attendance that day and you will receive a free picture Our Lady of Good Counsel.
Written by Massimo Viglione One of the best methods to track the evolution of the disruptive process destroying what remains of our Christian civilization, and–wherever possible–the same order created and desired by God, is to analyze the messages conveyed by certain advertisements, particularly those of a less commercial and more ideological nature.
Advertising and Homosexual Ideology One could cite dozens of examples from the last few years, ranging from–just to name a few–those by the award-winning Benetton/Oliviero Toscani Company to those by Ikea (which I have already commented upon recently), which were open to all “family types” (depicting two young men hand in hand).
A short time after that masterpiece by the Swedish multinational (which, in spite of its subversive folly, in principle could still claim, though hypocritically, some commercial logic), another gay advertising campaign invaded Rome. This one featured huge billboards and public transportation ads. This campaign followed the “success” of the “gay pride” March and celebrates the tenth anniversary of the “Gay Village,” a common summer haunt for homosexuals regularly funded by the City of Rome when the mayor was “me-too” Veltroni, and also now with the Catholic but homosexual sympathizing mayor Alemanno (a committed sponsor of the recent “gay pride” event).
Subreptious Homosexual Message This time the advertising had nothing to do with business but was strictly ideological. What is the meaning of this campaign? Why is it worth talking about in an article? I will try to explain it right away in just a few words to the best of my ability.
I believe that what may seem at first glance a polemical “gay-style” jest in fact puts forth a real and advancing agenda toward a “hell-like” world. There were various versions of this advertisement, but the common theme is this: a couple is portrayed with long Pinocchio noses (who knowingly lie) and ask: “We? Seriously?” all topped by the word, “Gay Village.”
No one should mistake the meaning of this message: even those who hypocritically pretend to be scandalized, or at least to have no interest at all in frequenting the “Gay Village” (with its full-fledged homosexuals) should be able to figure it out.
In short, it’s all about hypocrisy: we are a bunch of Pinocchios that sooner or later will drop our mask and openly manifest the homosexuality that exists in us, in all of us who believe that homosexuality is an abhorrent sin. Deep down we do not understand that we are either hypocrites or conditioned by a backward culture. Sooner or later, thanks to the homosexual movement and complicit politicians (and here the list is very long and growing by the day), we will ditch our fake Pinocchio noses and show our true nature.
Of all the tenets of Catholic social teaching, perhaps the clearest and easiest to grasp is the right to life, the respect and protection of all innocent human life from conception to natural death.
However, Bianca Laureano, Professor of Sociology at the Catholic College of Mount Saint Vincent, is actively promoting abortion inside the classroom.
As the Cardinal Newman Society recently reported, Prof. Laureano introduced a course this summer, titled “Soc of Human Sexuality.” Describing her course on a pro-abortion web site, Advocates for Youth, she boasts about her involvement in the abortion industry. Abortion is “safe, more safe than giving birth,” she affirms.
Bianca Laureano is also a registered volunteer for The Doula Project. The group’s web site states: “We offer our services to pregnant people having medication abortion (the abortion pill) and surgical abortion. We currently partner with Planned Parenthood Brooklyn and a Public Hospital’s Reproductive Choices Clinic.”
In addition to supporting the culture of death, Prof. Laureano also makes use of blasphemous “art” directed against the Blessed Virgin Mary in her presentations.
The question that comes to mind is this:
If the College of Mount Saint Vincent calls itself “Catholic”, why does it allow this anti-Catholic voice a platform from which to harm the faith? Let us hope that this abuse will be corrected with the swift termination of Prof. Laureano teaching assignment.
Is it too much to ask a Catholic college to act Catholic and stop allowing abortion promoters like Prof. Laureano in the classroom?
Contact the college with your peaceful protest:
College of Mount Saint Vincent Dr. Charles L. Flynn, Jr., President
6301 Riverdale Avenue
Riverdale, NY 10471
Phone: (718) 405-3233
Email: president@mountsaintvincent.edu
On June 6, 1944, General George S. Patton wrote this letter to his twenty-year-old son, George Jr., who was enrolled at West Point. Patton Sr. was in England training the Third Army in preparation for the battles that would follow the invasion at Normandy.
Note: The letter’s grammar and spelling have been slightly edited for clarity.
APO 403, N.Y.
“D-Day”
Dear George:
At 0700 this morning the BBC announced that the German Radio had just come out with an announcement of the landing of Allied Paratroops and of large numbers of assault craft near shore. So that is it.
This group of unconquerable heroes whom I command are not in yet but we will be soon—I wish I was there now as it is a lovely sunny day for a battle and I am fed up with just sitting.
I have no immediate idea of being killed but one can never tell and none of us can live forever, so if I should go don’t worry but set yourself to do better than I have.
All men are timid on entering any fight; whether it is the first fight or the last fight all of us are timid. Cowards are those who let their timidity get the better of their manhood. You will never do that because of your blood lines on both sides. I think I have told you the story of Marshall Touraine who fought under Louis XIV. On the morning of one of his last battles—he had been fighting for forty years—he was mounting his horse when a young ADC [aide-de-camp] who had just come from the court and had never missed a meal or heard a hostile shot said: “M. de Touraine it amazes me that a man of your supposed courage should permit his knees to tremble as he walks out to mount.” Touraine replied “My lord duke I admit that my knees do tremble but should they know where I shall this day take them they would shake even more.” That is it. Your knees may shake but they will always take you towards the enemy. Well so much for that.
There are apparently two types of successful soldiers. Those who get on by being unobtrusive and those who get on by being obtrusive. I am of the latter type and seem to be rare and unpopular: but it is my method. One has to choose a system and stick to it; people who are not themselves are nobody.
To be a successful soldier you must know history. Read it objectively–dates and even the minute details of tactics are useless. What you must know is how man reacts. Weapons change but man who uses them changes not at all. To win battles you do not beat weapons–you beat the soul of man of the enemy man. To do that you have to destroy his weapons, but that is only incidental. You must read biography and especially autobiography. If you will do it you will find that war is simple. Decide what will hurt the enemy most within the limits of your capabilities to harm him and then do it. TAKE CALCULATED RISKS. That is quite different from being rash. My personal belief is that if you have a 50% chance take it because the superior fighting qualities of American soldiers lead by me will surely give you the extra 1% necessary.
In Sicily I decided as a result of my information, observations and a sixth sense that I have that the enemy did not have another large scale attack in his system. I bet my shirt on that and I was right. You cannot make war safely but no dead general has ever been criticised so you have that way out always.
I am sure that if every leader who goes into battle will promise himself that he will come out either a conqueror or a corpse he is sure to win. There is no doubt of that. Defeat is not due to losses but to the destruction of the soul of the leaders. The “Live to fight another day” doctrine.
The most vital quality a soldier can possess is SELF CONFIDENCE–utter, complete and bumptious. You can have doubts about your good looks, about your intelligence, about your self control but to win in war you must have NO doubts about your ability as a soldier.
What success I have had results from the fact that I have always been certain that my military reactions were correct. Many people do not agree with me; they are wrong. The unerring jury of history written long after both of us are dead will prove me correct.
Note that I speak of “Military reactions”–no one is borne with them any more than anyone is borne with muscles. You can be born with the soul capable of correct military reactions or the body capable of having big muscles, but both qualities must be developed by hard work.
The intensity of your desire to acquire any special ability depends on character, on ambition. I think that your decision to study this summer instead of enjoying yourself shows that you have character and ambition—they are wonderful possessions.
Soldiers, all men in fact, are natural hero worshipers. Officers with a flare for command realise this and emphasize in their conduct, dress and deportment the qualities they seek to produce in their men. When I was a second lieutenant I had a captain who was very sloppy and usually late yet he got after the men for just those faults; he was a failure.
The troops I have commanded have always been well dressed, been smart saluters, been prompt and bold in action because I have personally set the example in these qualities. The influence one man can have on thousands is a never-ending source of wonder to me. You are always on parade. Officers who through laziness or a foolish desire to be popular fail to enforce discipline and the proper wearing of uniforms and equipment not in the presence of the enemy will also fail in battle, and if they fail in battle they are potential murderers. There is no such thing as: “A good field soldier:” you are either a good soldier or a bad soldier.
Well this has been quite a sermon but don’t get the idea that it is my swan song because it is not–I have not finished my job yet.
Your affectionate father.
Friday, August 19, 2011
“Mrs. O’Callahan, your son is the bravest man I ever saw.”
What went through this mother’s mind as she listened to Capt. Leslie Gehres, commander of the USS Franklin? Her son did not fit the stereotypical image of a hero. He was more scholarly than athletic, more likely pictured in front of a classroom than in the midst of a combat zone. But, a hero he was.
Joseph Timothy O’Callahan was born on May 14, 1905, in Roxbury, Massachusetts. Upon graduating from high school, he joined the Jesuits and was ordained in 1934. For the next six years, he taught mathematics, physics and philosophy at several of the Order’s colleges.
Lieutenant Commander Joseph T. O’Callahan, USNR(ChC). 1945.
In August 1940, with war raging in Europe, Father O’Callahan enlisted in the Naval Reserve Chaplains Corps. Several assignments followed before he reported on March 2, 1945 to the aircraft carrier USS Franklin to serve as chaplain to its 3,200 men. The ship was part of a task force whose mission was to track down the Japanese fleet and destroy it.
On March 18, with the U.S. ships about 100 miles from Japan, American planes took off in waves beginning at first light. Their role was to engage and destroy Japanese air power, and then locate the enemy vessels which were scattered throughout inland waters. Before each flight, Fr. Joseph O’Callahan visited the various pilot ready rooms, praying with the men and giving them general absolution. The U.S. pilots dominated the skies, but did not locate the enemy ships until just before dark. The strike against them would have to wait until the next morning.
March 19 began as the day before. The first wave of planes left the carrier at 5:30 AM. Shortly afterwards, as the second wave was being readied, with full tanks of fuel and loads of rockets and bombs, a Japanese plane evaded the American air cover. It flew over the Franklin releasing a bomb that penetrated the flight and gallery decks and exploded in the hangar. Within seconds, gasoline ignited and a wave of searing flame raced down the three football-field length of the hangar, gaining impetus as it proceeded from exploding planes. Some 8001 men were dead or would die within the next few days.
USS Franklin after being bombed by a Japanese warplane, March 19, 1945.
Father O’Callahan retrieved a vial of holy oil and his helmet marked with a large white cross as he made his way through passages filled with flames and smoke to the open area above. On the hangar deck, bombs and rockets, engulfed in a mass of flames, were exploding at a rate of about one per minute.
Father O’Callahan ministering to Robert C. Blanchard (who survived), March 19, 1945.
Father continued upward to the flight deck. Here nearly 90 percent of the 1,000-foot apron was aflame. The clear portion was full of burned, mangled, bleeding bodies. He spent a few moments with each of those who were alive, praying, absolving, anointing. Explosions tore apart the steam lines and the boilers shut down. By 9:30 AM, the ship was powerless and listing. Twenty minutes later, a rear service magazine of five-inch shells exploded, raining debris onto the deck.
The fury brought disorganization. Key officers were dead, and many chiefs, if alive, were dispersed or trapped. Flames, explosions and noxious smoke smeared faces and uniforms making it almost impossible to recognize anyone from a distance. One thing stood out, however, the white cross on the chaplain’s helmet. It had the power to inspire.
Depleted hose crews needed help. Father rallied a group of men to join him on the hoses. When the fire marshal entered smoke-filled portions of the ship looking for breather masks, the priest was with him.
Battered, bombed, beaten, but un-broken, USS Franklin steams into New York Harbor to undergo repairs, after having sailed 12,000 miles from Japan.
When a live, thousand-pound bomb was spotted on the deck, the chaplain stood by for moral support while a team defused it; then he mustered a group of men to drop it overboard. When the fires were pushed back from the forward gun turret and its ready-ammunition magazine, hundreds of five-inch shells stored there had to be jettisoned before they exploded. Father O’Callahan had men form a chain, taking his turn in the line, to pass the hot shells from the magazine to the edge of the ship where they were dumped. He then joined a crew to flood a lower-deck magazine whose ammunition could not be easily unloaded.
When the fires on the hangar deck began to subside, Father led a hose crew through a smoke-filled, dark passage to the area. On the flight deck, as the fires receded, six loose, but live, thousand-pound bombs were discovered. The chaplain was there encouraging the men as a hose crew worked to cool the bombs so others could defuse them.
That evening, the engineers were able to return to their stations, make emergency repairs and get the boilers started. By 9 AM on the 20th, the Franklin was moving under its own power. Burial parties were formed to take care of the hundreds of dead. All day and night, the priest and the Protestant chaplain held a brief prayer service for each man as he was assigned to the sea. On April 3, one month after it had left, the ship reentered Pearl Harbor.
For his courageous acts, Fr. Joseph Timothy O’Callahan was awarded the Medal of Honor, the first chaplain since the Civil War to be so honored. Released from active duty in November 1946, Father O’Callahan returned to Holy Cross College as a professor of philosophy. He died in Worcester on March 18, 1964, the eve of the nineteenth anniversary of his heroic acts.
Aftermath of the Attack on USS Franklin
About the Author: Lawrence P. Grayson is a Visiting Scholar in the School of Philosophy, The Catholic University of America; he also serves as State Director for Pro-Life Activities, Knights of Columbus, Maryland.
Several drinking buddies were together one evening. The conversation turned upon how long it had been since any of them had gone to confession. One of them made a bet that for a case of beer he would go to confession the very next morning.
His buddies accepted the bet. That morning, the drinking buddies went to church early to see if their friend kept his word. He showed up, and entered the confessional.
Upon kneeling down, he said to the priest, “Father, I have not come to confess my sins, but for the purpose of winning a case of beer for a bet. As you can tell, my friends are here to
see that I have done my part.”
The priest was appalled. He solemnly warned him not to make a joke of the sacraments, and bidding him to remember that there was a just God who would not permit iniquity. The man answered, “I care nothing about that.”
The priest then spoke to him of death and hell, but the priest received the same answer, “I care nothing about that.” Then the priest spoke to him with great solemnity, “You’ve done everything to win your bet. I cannot give you absolution, but I can lay a penance upon you. For a whole month, every morning and night, you will repeat these words: ‘There is a just God, but I care nothing for Him. I must die some day, but I care nothing about that. There is a hell for the ungodly, but I care nothing for it either.’”
As soon as the man left the confessional, he told his friends what happened. They agreed he must perform his penance before he could collect his bet. He promised to do that. He had barely repeated the prescribed words for a week before he began thinking about God, death and hell.
Such were his thoughts that in two weeks’ time he went back to confession in good faith, and acknowledged his past transgressions with sincere contrition.
Needless to say, he did not mention the bet again to his former drinking buddies.
Adapted from Father Francis Spirago’s Anecdotes and Examples Illustrating the Catholic Catechism (New York: Benziger
Brothers,1904), 219–220.
A group called American Atheists is suing to get the World Trade Center Cross removed from the 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York City.
As you remember, a construction worker found an intersection of steel beams that was shaped in the form of a Cross in the rubble of buildings destroyed in the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center.
Right away the steel beam Cross become a powerful sign of hope for those who lost family members on September 11 and for every American who loves God.
Now this beloved symbol is under attack from American Atheists. They are suing to get it removed!
This must not happen. It would be a major sin and act of ingratitude to God to allow this Cross to be removed.
Bloomberg] Ireland is squeezing the Roman Catholic Church to hand over cash and real estate toward a 1.4 billion-euro ($2 billion) child-abuse bill amid the bitterest stand-off yet seen between the Vatican and the government.
In the sharpest language an Irish leader has ever used against the church, Prime Minister Enda Kenny said last month the Vatican’s handling of the scandals has been dominated by “elitism and narcissism.”
“The relationship between the state and the Vatican has never been worse,” David Quinn, a religious commentator who is also director of the Dublin-based Iona Institute, which promotes religion in society, said in an interview. “I struggle to think of a stronger attack by a Western European leader on the church than Enda Kenny’s.”
In ancient times, people referred to the feast of the Assumption of Our Lady as the feast of Our Lady of Glory. They understood that the Assumption of Our Lady was not merely the physical event of her leaving this earth after resurrecting by virtue of her Divine Son and being taken to Heaven: it was also her glorification.
After her humble and unknown life on this earth, Our Lady had a greater role after the death of Our Lord as Queen and Mother of the Catholic Church. Our Lady went through all kinds of suffering, anguish and humiliations on earth. It is fitting that Our Lord glorified her in the eyes of men through her assumption.
She was glorified with this unique privilege whereby a merely human creature is taken to material heaven by the angels. From there, she certainly was taken in a mysterious way to the physical and immaterial heights of the heavenly Paradise, where she finds herself at this moment enjoying the beatific vision of God, Our Lord in an ineffable way.
Many traditions and revelations about the assumption naturally affirm that this glorification by the angels was accompanied by indescribable manifestations of glory. Our Lady was a mere human creature with a nature far inferior to that of the angels. To show the great difference between natures, we need only recall how one saint saw her own guardian angel and was so dazzled by what she saw that she thought that she was seeing God. And yet guardian angels are among the lowest ranks of angels in heaven.
Our Lady in glory being taken to heaven by the highest Cherubim and Seraphim.
We can only imagine the glory of Our Lady who was taken to heaven by the highest Cherubim and Seraphim. She was served by God’s highest creatures with such a high respect and veneration that it was as if they considered themselves unworthy of presenting to her their prayers and veneration.
Thus, after bidding farewell to those on earth, Our Lady started rising off the ground in a most hallowed ecstasy; and at a certain point the manifestations of the angels began. If it is true that on Easter day all nature rejoiced, and that on Ascension day all nature was jubilant, then, of course, we can imagine the great and splendid joy of all nature on the Assumption of Our Lady.
We can imagine the splendid colors of the sky. How the stars of that night must have shone! If the sun danced and changed colors at Fatima, we can imagine the wonderful way it must have appeared on that day! The angels must have sung in magnificent harmony and all must have felt great and ineffable interior consolations!
The concrete and positive fact is that Our Lady allowed her inner glory to be manifested to all during the Assumption. We can imagine how she, who possessed a most holy soul and an inexpressible dignity and majesty, at that moment allowed her grandeur to be manifested in an extraordinary way. As Our Lord’s grandeur shone in His glorified body on Mount Tabor, so also her sanctity naturally and entirely shined forth in her eyes, countenance and body.
If it is true of the Little Flower that she wanted to spend her heaven doing good on earth, how much more can we say this of the glory of Our Lady!
We can imagine this manifestation like a great flash of light that completely blotted out the sky. At that moment of this grandeur, she probably manifested a great maternal tenderness since she was a mother bidding farewell to her children. She also must have shown a great outpouring of mercy and supreme goodness as she made it clear to everyone that she would no longer be present on earth and that, at the moment she was leaving mankind, her great mission in the pinnacle of heaven was beginning.
Saint Therese of the Child Jesus said she wanted to spend her heaven doing good on earth. If this is true of the Little Flower, how much more we can say this of the glory of Our Lady! From the time of the Assumption onward, Our Lady’s glory has been increasingly manifested. We see this in the construction of a huge number of churches dedicated to her. As Saint Louis Grignion de Montfort aptly observes, no church on earth–except perhaps churches that are almost no longer churches–does not have at least one altar dedicated to Our Lady. Not one soul has been saved without having been one of her devotees. Men have received no grace except through the intercession of Our Lady.
In other words, her glory will increasingly grow until the end of the ages when the moment of the Last Judgment comes. On that day, everyone, including her, will be judged. However, since she is faultless and without guilt, Judgment Day will be the day of her supreme glorification. If all virtues and defects of all creatures will become known at the Judgment, what canticles of praise will Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost and the Eternal Father sing of her on that day? It is beyond words. The joy of the Last Judgment will be this glorification of Our Lady at the end of history. When history is no more; when the life of humanity has come to an end and the final historic event is over, then she will receive a truly unfathomable glorification.
The preceding article is taken from an informal lecture Professor Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira gave on August 13, 1965. It has been translated and adapted for publication without his revision. –Ed.
On Easter morning, March 25, 1951, the Catholic priest mounted the steps of a partially destroyed church, and turned to face his congregation, some 60 men–gaunt, foul-smelling, in tattered clothing. Fr. Emil Kapaun raised a small, homemade, wooden cross to begin a prayer service, led the men in the Rosary, heard the confessions of the Catholics, and performed a Baptism. Then, he wept because there was no bread or wine to consecrate so that the men could receive the Eucharist. The U.S. Army chaplain, with a patch covering his injured eye and supported by a crudely-made cane, may have been broken in body, but was strong in spirit.
The following Sunday, Father Kapaun collapsed. His condition was serious–a blood clot, severe vein inflammation, malnutrition–but the Chinese guards in the North Korean prison camp would allow no medical treatment, not even painkillers. After languishing for several weeks, he died on May 23 and was buried in a mass grave.
Emil Kapaun was born on April 16, 1916 to a poor, but faith-filled farm family on the prairies of eastern Kansas. Life was hard and even children had to learn to be resourceful as mechanics and carpenters and to care for the animals during bitter winters and brutally hot summers. With a strong desire to become a priest, he attended Benedictine Conception Abbey to complete high school and college, continued his studies at Kenrick Seminary in St. Louis, and was ordained in 1940.
Heroic Chaplain When the United States entered World War II, he asked to become a military chaplain. His bishop initially refused, but later relented. Father Kapaun enlisted in 1944 in the Army, served for two years in Burma and India, then returned to civilian life. Two years later, he reenlisted and was assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division in Japan.
In June 1950, a North Korean army crossed the 38th parallel, and advanced quickly toward Seoul, South Korea. The U.S. intervened militarily, with the 1st Cavalry Division executing an amphibious landing to block the advancing army. The enemy onslaught was severe and the U.S. units soon were in retreat. Fighting was intense. Father Kapaun, with his soldier-parishioners in danger, was tireless. He moved among the GIs, ignoring enemy fire, comforting the wounded, administering the last rites, burying the dead, and offering Mass whenever and wherever he could. On one occasion, he went in front of the U.S. lines, in spite of intense fire, to rescue a wounded soldier.
By August, the U.S. troops had been pushed to the southern end of Korea, near the port of Pusan. Then, on September 15, 1950, the war took a radical turn when U.S. troops landed at Inchon behind the invading army. The North Korean forces fled northward, with the Americans in pursuit. Within a few weeks, the 1st Cavalry Division had crossed the 38th parallel. Unknown to them, China, which had secretly moved a huge army into North Korea, was about to enter the war.
Father Kapaun showing his pipe after it was shot out of his mouth by an enemy sniper.
Fearless in Danger The night of November 1 was quiet. Father Kapaun’s battalion, having suffered some 400 casualties among its roster of 700 soldiers, was placed in a reserve position. Chinese troops, however, had infiltrated to within a short distance of them. Suddenly, just before midnight, there was a cacophony of bugles, horns and whistles, as the enemy attacked from all sides.
Fr. Emil Kapaun scrambled among foxholes, sharing a prayer with one soldier, saying a comforting word to another. He assembled many wounded in an abandoned log dugout. All the next day, he scanned the battlefield and, some 15 times, when he spotted a wounded soldier would crawl out and drag the man back to the battalion’s position. By day’s end, the defensive perimeter was drawn so tightly that the log hut and the wounded it contained were outside of it. As evening came and another attack was imminent, the chaplain left the main force for the shelter so that he could be with the wounded. It was soon overrun, and Father Kapaun pleaded for the safety of the injured. Approximately three-quarters of the men in the battalion had been killed or captured.
Admirable Self-Sacrifice Hundreds of U.S. prisoners were marched northward over snow-covered crests. Whenever the column paused, Father Kapaun hurried up and down the line, encouraging the men to pray, exhorting them not to give up. When a man had to be carried or be left to die, Father Kapaun, although suffering from frostbite himself, set the example by helping to carry a makeshift stretcher. Finally, they reached their destination, a frigid, mountainous area near the Chinese border. The poorly dressed prisoners were given so little to eat that they were starving to death.
Fr. Emil Kapaun (second from right–note cross on helmet) helping a wounded soldier.
For the men to survive they would have to steal food from their captors. So, praying to Saint Dismas, the “Good Thief,” Father Kapaun would sneak out of his hut in the middle of the night, often coming back with a sack of grain, potatoes or corn. He volunteered for details to gather wood because the route passed the compound where the enlisted men were kept, and he could encourage them with a prayer, and sometimes slip out of line to visit the sick and wounded. He also undertook tasks that repulsed others, such as cleaning latrines and washing the soiled clothing of men with dysentery.
Unwavering Faith Father Kapaun’s faith never wavered. While he was willing to forgive the failings of prisoners toward their captors, he allowed no leeway in regard to the doctrines of the Church. He continually reminded prisoners to pray, assuring them that in spite of their difficulties, Our Lord would take care of them. As a result of his example, some 15 of his fellow prisoners converted to the Catholic Faith.
Fr. Emil Kapaun’s practice of sharing his meager rations with others who were weaker, lowered his resistance to disease, and eventually led to his death. For his heroic behavior, he received many posthumous honors, including the Distinguished Service Cross and Legion of Merit, had buildings, chapels, a high school, and several Knights of Columbus councils named in his honor, and is currently being considered for the Medal of Honor. In 1993, the Pope declared Father Kapaun a “Servant of God,” and his cause for canonization is pending.
About the author: Lawrence P. Grayson is a Visiting Scholar in the School of Philosophy at The Catholic University of America.
For Further Reading: The Story of Chaplain Kapaun, Fr. Arthur Tonne , Didde Publishers, Emporia KS, 1954.
A Shepherd in Combat Boots, William L. Maher, Burd Street Press, Shippensburg, PA, 1997.
A Saint Among Us, The Father Kapaun Guild, Hillsboro Free Press, Hillsboro, KS, 2006.
State governments have passed a record number of abortion restrictions this year. There have been 80 such abortion restrictions in 2011 legislative sessions, far exceeding the previous record of 34 from 2005, according to a July report by the Guttmacher Institute.
Four states -- Alabama, Idaho, Kansas and Oklahoma -- enacted bans on abortions at 20 weeks based on evidence a baby in the womb experiences pain. Another two states -- Missouri and Ohio -- approved prohibitions at 20 weeks or later based on fetal viability.
The reason behind the new restriction is results of the 2010 elections in which a large number of pro-life candidates swept into state legislatures.
Among many other types of abortion restrictions were restrictions that :
-- Prohibit "telemedicine," or webcam, abortions, which occur when doctors at remote sites counsel by means of videoconferencing women seeking abortions and dispense the two-drug abortion method RU 486 to them without being in their physical presence.
-- Mandate new regulations for abortion clinics.
-- Ban state-controlled funding of Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers.
"Youth was made not for pleasure, but for heroism," a phrase coined by Paul Claudel, captures the spirit of every TFP Call to Chivalry camp.
On July 27, dozens of teenage boys gathered at the St. Louis de Montfort Academy to begin a challenging 10-day camp packed with activities, including talks, skits, rosary processions, field sports, outings, hikes, camping, swimming, sword play, archery, skeet shooting, spear toss, shield ball, capture the flag, and even a treasure hunt and medieval banquet, featuring a visit from King Henry V of Agincourt fame who held his young audience spellbound with a stirring rendition of Shakespeare's St. Crispin's Day Speech.
Respect, discipline, manners, noble conversation and manly piety are virtues fostered during the event, and many of the talks this year focused on the heroes and saints of the British Isles.
It’s not a widely known fact that Henry VIII had a deep hatred for the Blessed Virgin Mary.
After becoming a heretic, and proclaimed himself Head of the Church of England, to obtain his lustful desires, he went on a rampage, destroying and burning the Marian shrines of England.
He even had the miraculous statue of Our Lady of Walsingham burned in the streets of London with great fanfare in 1538.
The apostate bishop Latimer wrote of the image of Our Lady:
“She hath been the Devil's instrument, I fear, to bring many to eternal fire; now she herself with her older sister of Walsingham, her younger sister of Ipswich, and their two sisters of Doncaster and Penrhys will make a jolly muster in Smithfield. They would not be all day in burning".
It’s is fitting that one who rejects the virtues of purity and obedience will then end up by hating Our Lady, who practiced these virtues to the most elevated degree.
* * *
Saint Louis de Montfort writes:
The pious and learned Jesuit, Suarez, Justus Lipsius, a devout and erudite theologian of Louvain, and many others have proved incontestably that devotion to our Blessed Lady is necessary to attain salvation.
This they show from the teaching of the Fathers, notably St. Augustine, St. Ephrem, deacon of Edessa, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, St. Germanus of Constantinople, St. John Demascene, St. Anselm, St. Bernard, St. Bernardine, St. Thomas and St. Bonaventure.
Even according to Oecolampadius and other heretics, lack of esteem and love for the Virgin Mary is an infallible sign of God's disapproval. On the other hand, to be entirely and genuinely devoted to her is a sure sign of God's approval.
A bipartisan group of senators is calling for an end to tens of millions of annual U.S. development aid to Communist China. They say that there are certainly more needy countries than the world's second-largest economy, which keeps trillions of dollars in foreign reserves.
The appeal to cut the aid came from eight Democrats and four Republicans to a Senate appropriations committee that must approve foreign aid funding. They urge an end to all development aid for China, which we might add, has a horrific human rights record.
Since 2001, the U.S. has provided more than $275 million in direct assistance to China for such diverse things as expanding Internet access and improving public transportation.
Mary has authority over the angels and the blessed in heaven.
As a reward for her great humility, God gave her the power and the mission of assigning to saints the thrones made vacant by the apostate angels who fell away through pride.
Such is the will of almighty God who exalts the humble, that the powers of heaven, earth and hell, willingly or unwillingly, must obey the commands of the humble Virgin Mary.
For God has made her queen of heaven and earth, leader of his armies, keeper of his treasures, dispenser of his graces, worker of his wonders, restorer of the human race, mediatrix on behalf of men, destroyer of his enemies, and faithful associate in his great works and triumphs.
In light of government efforts in Ireland to force priests to break the seal of Confession, the American TFP feels it is opportune to recall the following considerations about this most impressive and holy sacrament.
To better understand the great spiritual treasure contained in the Sacrament of Penance or Confession, let us turn the clock back two thousand years to Palestine, to a scene in the public life of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
The majesty of His Person, the wisdom pouring forth from His mouth and the power manifested by His miracles attracted a multitude that followed Him everywhere.
Only God Can Forgive Sins One day, after curing the centurion’s daughter as a reward for his faith, silencing the storm before the fearful apostles, and expelling the demons in Gerasa, he boarded Peter’s boat for Capharnaum.
Hearing that He was in a house in their city, the people gathered in such numbers that the door of the house was obstructed. But for faith there are no obstacles, so some charitable persons carrying a paralytic, unable to enter by the door, climbed to the roof and lowered the suffering man into the room, setting him at Our Lord’s feet to be cured.
To everyone’s surprise, instead of simply performing the expected miracle, Jesus said: “Courage, son, thy sins are forgiven.”
This was something new. No prophet had dared pardon sins. Not even John the Baptist, the greatest of all, had dared so much, preaching only the baptism of penance for the forgiveness of sins.1 Nevertheless, this new Prophet declared, “thy sins are forgiven.”
The Pharisees, always looking for something with which to be scandalized, despite the Master’s astounding miracles, thought to themselves: “How does this man speak this way? He is blaspheming. Who but God alone can forgive sins?”
Truly, only God can forgive sins. That is because sin is an offense against the divine Majesty and only the object of the offense can forgive the offender. No one can forgive an offense done to another, above all when this Other is of a superior nature, God Himself.
Still, the wisdom and the miracles showed that this Prophet possessed powers that no other prophet before Him had possessed. His was an unfathomable perfection. But the Pharisees had hardened their hearts, and their understanding was clouded by passion. Within themselves, they uttered the same accusation that they were to renew at His passion: “He has blasphemed.”2
There was drama in the air. Everyone felt it. How would Jesus react before that mute accusation and ill-disguised surprise?
The answer came as a challenge. “Why are you thinking such things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, pick up your mat, and walk’?”
As always, the Pharisees were speechless before the dilemma offered them by the Rabbi.
In answer to their silence, Jesus said: “But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins,” He said to the paralytic, “I say to you, arise, pick up your mat, and go home.”
“And immediately,” writes Saint Mark, the paralytic “rose, picked up his mat, and went away in the sight of everyone. They were all astounded and glorified God, saying: ‘We have never seen anything like this.’”3
The miracle performed by Our Lord on this occasion had an apologetic value. As Saint John Chrysostom explains, Jesus proved His divinity by a triple miracle: “First, declaring openly their secret thoughts and murmurs against Him; second, healing the paralytic, third, performing the miracle with this end in view, that, by it, He might show that He had the power to forgive sins.”4
Our Lord Gave the Apostles the Power to Forgive Sins Here we have the explanation for Confession. As Jesus proved that He was God by means of an astounding miracle, He also proved that He could forgive sins. And, as God, He has not only the power to forgive sins but has also the power to confer this faculty on others.
Furthermore, as Jesus is the only priest of the new Law, the mediator between God and men, a simple “delegation” of the power to forgive sins would still not be enough. It was necessary that Christ unite His Eternal Priesthood to that of those that would continue His work on earth after His ascension into Heaven.5 For this reason, He instituted the ministerial priest as the visible instrument of His action.6
The power to forgive sins was bestowed on the Apostles on the evening of the day Our Lord resurrected from the dead and mysteriously appeared amidst the Apostles gathered in the cenacle behind locked doors.
Saint John narrates:
Now when it was late that same day, the first of the week, and the doors were shut, where the disciples were gathered together, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst and said to them, “Peace be to you.”
When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. The disciples therefore were glad, when they saw the Lord. He said therefore to them again, “Peace be to you. As the Father hath sent me, I also send you.”
When He had said this, He breathed on them and He said to them, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven them, and whose sins you shall retain they are retained.”7
The Power to Judge and to Forgive It is clear in the narrative above that Our Lord instituted not only the Sacrament of Penance, but also the mode in which it must be practiced. On declaring that the sins that a priest forgives are forgiven and those that he retains are retained, He is signifying that, before forgiving, the priest must become acquainted with the sins as well as with the dispositions of the sinner. Only then will he be in a position to judge if there are conditions for forgiveness or not.
The seal of confession is an essential aspect of the sacrament of Penance. This sacred trust between penitent and confessor cannot be broken.
Thus, in the tribunal of Confession, as in any other tribunal, it is necessary that there be an accused, an accuser, and a judge. In Confession, the role of accuser is exercised by the penitent who accuses himself to the priest of the sins he has committed; hence the necessity of oral confession.8 The judge is the priest.
The Absolute Necessity for Secrecy in Confession Our Lord, having established the Sacrament of Penance and the need for the penitent to declare his sins to the priest, also established the secrecy of Confession as a necessary consequence. For if secrecy were not obligatory, Confession would be odious if not impossible. This would render the sacrament ineffective, which is absurd.
Therefore, the secrecy of Confession is a divinely instituted right and cannot be abolished by any earthly authority. Any attempt in this respect is in direct opposition to God’s will.
Besides being a divine right, this obligation of secrecy was also established by ecclesiastical law, which always imposed the severest penalty for its infraction.9 Current legislation continues to maintain the same, declaring that any confessor who violates the secrecy of Confession is automatically excommunicated and can only be absolved by the Holy See.10
Is It Not Too Humiliating to Confess to Another Man? Is it not too humiliating to have to submit to another man, himself a sinner, at times possibly even a greater sinner than the one confessing his sins?
If we truly realized the scope of God’s infinite grandeur and majesty and His immense perfection, we would be much more ashamed of telling our sins to Him (as if He did not already know them,) than to a man. The more perfect is the creature we address, the more miserable we appear and the more evident is the contrast between perfection and sin.
That is why theologians say that when a person dies in the terrible state of mortal sin and appears at his private judgment before the unspeakable perfection of God, he flees from God and hurls himself in Hell to hide his shame.
Thus if we analyze this well, this very humiliation of having to confess our sins to another man is a mercy of God. How much more humiliating it would be to kneel before the Divine Master Himself and tell Him all our sins! What is the humiliation before a man compared to the humiliation of recounting our sins before the infinite perfection of God?
In any case, this is the form in which Our Lord instituted the Sacrament of Confession, so we should submit in a spirit of obedience and love. In His infinite wisdom, He does everything to perfection. When men try to modify what He instituted, the result can only be deplorable.
The prideful attitude of saying, “I confess directly to God,” is almost the same as saying: “I am so perfect that I go directly to God Himself. I have no need of those crutches that are the Sacraments, the advice or the help of other men.”
The priest is “taken from among men and made their representative before God to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.”11 An angel cannot be a mediator. To refuse thus the mediation of another man is to refuse the priesthood, because the priest, while a mediator, has to be of the same nature as those for whom he mediates. That is why Our Lord, the Supreme Priest, became flesh and took our nature onto Himself, as Saint Paul says: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin.”12
But Can a Sinner Forgive Sins? To a priest applies, even more than to the common faithful, the general convocation to sanctity of Our Lord when he said: “So be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.”13 But a priest is also subject to temptation and can not only sin but be, in certain cases, a sinner. Nevertheless, even when he sins, he does not forfeit the power that comes to him from the Sacrament of Holy Orders.
This was the objection raised at the beginning of the Church by the Donatist heretics as a result of a misunderstanding of the doctrine on the sacraments. But Saint Augustine made it very clear to these same heretics that the power of the sacraments does not come from the sanctity of its ministers but from the infinite sanctity and perfection of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
I Have No Sins to Confess… Many people feel no need to go to Confession, thinking that they have no sins. They should consider what Scriptures says: “For the just man falls seven times.”14 “Yet there is no man on earth so just as to do good and never sin.”15 “If we say, ‘we have not sinned,’ we make Him [God] a liar, and His word is not in us.”16
In these times of extreme corruption, let us avail ourselves of this instrument of divine mercy that is Confession. Let us carefully examine our consciences and with the firm resolution of turning away from sin, confess our failings to the priest.
For this small effort, this small humiliation, the reward is immense. Our soul is washed clean, our sins are forgiven, and we return to God’s friendship. As the Psalmist says: “cleanse me with hyssop, that I may be pure; wash me, make me whiter than snow.”17
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1. Cf. Luke 3:3. [back] 2. Matt. 26:65. [back] 3. Mark 2:5-11; cf. Matt. 8:1-34; 9:1-8. [back] 4. . Cornelius a Lapide, St. Matthew’s Gospel, Chaps. I to IX, in The Great Commentary of Cornelius a Lapide (London: John Hodges, 1893), p. 353. [back] 5. See 1 Tim. 2:5; Heb. 5:6; 7:24; Ps. 110:5. [back] 6. Our Lord instituted the Sacrament of Holy Orders on Holy Thursday. After anticipating the sacrifice of the Cross in a sacramental form by the transformation of the bread and wine into His body and blood, He commanded the disciples: “Do this in remembrance of Me.” On giving this command, He also granted the necessary power to execute it, that is, the power to consecrate. (Luke, 22:19; 1Cor.11:24.) [back] 7. John 20:19-23. Saint Cyril explains that Saint Thomas, despite being absent, also received the Holy Ghost and then the power to pardon sins eight days later when Our Lord appeared to him and converted him from his incredulity. (cf. Cornelius a Lapide, The Great Commentary–St. John’s Gospel [Edinburgh: John Grant, 1908], p. 273). [back] 8. Under special circumstances, the Church allows general absolution without oral confession, but oral confession must be made at the first opportunity. (See Canon 963.) [back] 9. . Cf. “Seal of Confession. … Imposed by Christ in instituting the sacrament, this obligation has repeatedly been inculcated by ecclesiastical authority.” Fr. Gregory Manise, O.S.B., s.v. “Seal of Confession,” in Dictionary of Moral Theology (Westminster, Md.: Newman Press, 1962), p.1105. [back] 10. Canon 1388, cf. Canon 983. [back] 11. Heb 5:1 [back] 12. Heb. 4:15. [back] 13. Matt. 5:48. [back] 14. Prov. 24:16. [back] 15. Eccles. 7:21. [back] 16. 1 John 1:10. [back] 17. Ps. 51:9. [back]
WASHINGTON, D.C., August 1, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Following recommendations by the Institute of Medicine, the Obama administration announced this morning that insurance plans will be required to cover contraceptives, which include abortion drugs such as Plan B and Ella, as well as elective sterilizations.
HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in a news release included the drugs as part of an essential “preventive care” package. “Historic new guidelines that will ensure women receive preventive health services at no additional cost were announced today by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS),” she said.
The mandate comes after a massive, months-long push by abortion giant Planned Parenthood to establish free birth control for American women, a campaign strongly opposed by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
“Pregnancy is not a disease, and fertility is not a pathological condition to be suppressed by any means technically possible,” said USCCB pro-life chair Cardinal Daniel DiNardo last month.
Do not look on this little book and be tempted to think that the content DOES NOT match the title.
It does! This book is not a gimmick. Trust it. It is real. It is the Golden Key to Heaven.
And it can open Heaven for you now, tomorrow, or at any other time in your life if you have had the misfortune to close it through mortal sin.
And why is this so important? Here's just one example:
If someone you know is dying, and there is no priest at his or her side to hear their confession, you can help them to make an act of perfect contrition -- the dispenser of divine mercy at the hour of death.
Because perfect contrition could be the person's only hope to gain Heaven in some circumstances.
And by the grace of God, by an act of perfect contrition the golden doors of Heaven will be open to this person, even at his or her last hour.
Of course, the act of perfect contrition MUST be followed by sacramental confession at the very first opportunity, and before the person goes to receive Holy Communion.
But all this is spelled our very clearly in the booklet Perfect Contrition: The Golden Key to Heaven.
So please learn all about it by taking advantage of my offer to get your free copy of this marvelous little book today.
On June 6, 1944, General George S. Patton wrote this letter to his twenty-year-old son, George Jr., who was enrolled at West Point. Patton Sr. was in England training the Third Army in preparation for the battles that would follow the invasion at Normandy.
