Typical New Priest: 31-year-old Cradle Catholic, From Large Family, Prays Rosary

The typical member of the ordination class of 2012 is a 31-year cradle Catholic who prayed the Rosary and took part in Eucharistic adoration before entering seminary, according to a survey of 304 of the 487 men slated to be ordained to the priesthood in the United States this year. The survey was conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate.
Among the survey’s findings:

• the median age of ordinands is 31; the mean age, 35
• the typical diocesan ordinand lived in his diocese for 16 years before entering seminary, though 12% had lived in their diocese for less than a year 
• See more by clicking here

Our Lady of Confidence

The original picture remains in Todi Italy

On June 25, 1697, a Catholic home in the Eternal City celebrated the birth of a daughter! Little did the happy parents know that Divine Providence had destined this little girl to be a noble instrument in His hands to introduce into the Church one of the most beautiful invocations to the Holy Mother of God: “Madonna della Fiducia” -- Our Lady of Confidence.

While still a youth, Clare Isabella Forani became a religious and eventually became the venerable abbess of the convent of Poor Clares of Saint Francis in the city of Todi, Italy. She courageously adopted a severe life of penance from the outset and bore unspeakable trials for many years. Her sacrifices purified her soul and prepared her to receive the highest of mystical graces, and her visions and ecstasies were numerous. Such was the intensity of her participation in the suffering of Our Lord Jesus Christ that she received the Holy Stigmata of His Passion.

Sister Clare also nourished a very special devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, a devotion represented in sacred pictures which the talented servant of God painted with her own hand.

Many of Sister Clare’s pictures of the Madonna, either copies or originals, circulated widely due especially to her confessors who gave them to friends and acquaintances. The recipients always found succor in their needs.

Until her death in the odor of sanctity in 1744, Sister Clare always kept with her an oval picture portraying the maternal figure of the Virgin Mary with the Infant Jesus in her arms. Most extraordinary graces are attributed to this picture, which remains in the city of Todi. Especially benefited were the sick who had recourse to the intercession of the Blessed Mother before it.

My Mother, My Confidence
A copy of the picture is venerated today in the Major Seminary next to the Basilica of Saint John Lateran. It gave rise to a devotion to Our Lady under the title of Mother of Confidence. This renowned reproduction of Our Lady of Confidence arrived at the capital of Christendom accompanied by a copy of a document written by the Servant of God with a promise to those who venerate the picture. The parchment is conserved today in the archives of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, which is examining the case for Venerable Sister Clare Isabella’s beatification.

The seminary has always held the picture in great esteem. The students, having recourse to the miraculous image in their most pressing needs, always had their prayers answered by Our Lady. Noteworthy was the complete protection granted by Our Lady of Confidence to the seminarians against the scourge of Asiatic Cholera that claimed thousands of lives throughout Italy in 1837. When a new outbreak devastated the south of the country thirty years later and reached the City of the Pope, the protective mantle of the Madonna was again felt, granting immunity to the students of the seminary. During the First World War, the Blessed Virgin watched over the more than 100 seminarians who had recourse to her with redoubled confidence. Many seminarians were sent to the war and there are numerous letters written from the battlefield recounting the marvels worked by the Madonna for those who had sought her intercession.

The Promise
The greatest graces reserved for all those who have this devotion are contained in the promise of the Blessed Virgin Mary to the venerable Sister Clare Isabella. Below is a translation of this marvelous promise taken from an old parchment containing the consoling words of the Blessed Mother to Sister Clare:

“The divine Lady deigned to reveal to me that every soul that confidently presents herself before this picture will obtain from her Divine Son the general pardon for all her sins. Moreover, my divine Lady assured me with the love of a true mother that she would grant a special tenderness and devotion toward her to everyone who contemplated this picture.”

With the ejaculatory prayer, “My Mother my Confidence,” explains a pamphlet published by the Roman seminary, Mary offers everything but asks for nothing. It is a most ardent and efficacious expression of complete abandonment and confidence in the hands of the Blessed Mother. Just as the Apostle Saint Thomas at the feet of the resurrected Redeemer exclaimed with confidence, “My Lord and my God!” so also should devotees of the Virgin, before this miraculous picture, repeat with heartfelt confidence those sweet words, “Mater mea Fiducia mea!” (My Mother, my Confidence!).

The Book of Confidence

You can obtain The Book of Confidence by clicking here for this book.

Vatican Splendors Coming to St. Louis!

ST. LOUIS - One of the largest collections of art, documents and historically significant objects from the Vatican ever to tour North America is coming to the Missouri History Museum in St. Louis for a limited engagement beginning May 15, 2010. “Vatican Splendors: A Journey through Faith and Art” will present unique objects illustrating the Vatican’s impact on history and culture through 2,000 years.

Approximately 170 objects will be presented in galleries and recreated environments that enhance the visitor’s understanding of their historical and artistic significance. Items in the collection – which include mosaics; frescoes; paintings by Renaissance masters; works by well-known sculptors; intricately embroidered silk vestments; precious objects from the Papal Mass; uniforms of the Papal Swiss Guard; historical maps and documents and relics – are on loan from The Reverenda Fabbrica of Saint Peter, the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside-the-Walls, the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, the Vatican Library, the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, the Apostolic Floreria, the Papal Swiss Guard, and private collections.

Highlights of the exhibition include artwork by Michelangelo, signed documents and personal objects such as his drawing caliper, and tools used in work on the Sistine Chapel and Basilica of Saint Peter’s; works by masters including Bernini and Giotto; objects dating back to the first century; venerated relics (bone fragments) of Saint Peter and Saint Paul; the first geographical map of Australia; objects discovered at the tombs of Saint Peter and Saint Paul; and historical objects from the modern and ancient basilicas of Saint Peter’s in Rome.

The exhibition will only appear in three North American cities, after which the items must return to the Vatican, from which they cannot be absent for more than a year.

All descriptive labels in the exhibit are bilingual in English and Spanish, as is an audio tour, available for an additional charge.

Tickets for “Vatican Splendors: A Journey through Faith and Art” can be purchased online beginning April 19 at Ticketmaster.com and at all Ticketmaster outlets, including select Schnucks stores. To charge tickets by phone, call 1-800-745-3000 or 1-877-2VATICAN (1-877-282-8422). Tickets also may be purchased at the Missouri History Museum box office located at the museum. All tickets are timed entry and subject to availability. Advance ticket purchases are highly recommended. Tickets are $19.50 for adults, $17 for seniors, and $13 for children (age 6-12). Children five and under are admitted free with adult ticket purchase. A special group discount for 15-or-more tickets is available by calling 1-800-916-8212 or emailing reserv@mohistory.org. For more information, visit mohistory.org or vaticansplendors.com.

Hours for “Vatican Splendors” will be, daily, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Tuesdays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

“Vatican Splendors” is organized and circulated in conjunction with the Congregazione per l’Evangelizzazione dei Popoli of the Vatican City State. The exhibition is produced by Evergreen Exhibitions in association with the Missouri History Museum. Objects in the exhibition are on loan from the The Reverenda Fabbrica of Saint Peter, the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, the Vatican Library, the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, and the Apostolic Floreria. Additional objects are on loan by the Papal Swiss Guard and private collections.

For more information, see http://www.vaticansplendors.com/

Protest Legion: A Film that Mocks the Faith and Leads to Despair

The TFP takes issues to the man on the streets.

Sony offended millions of Americans with its blasphemous film, The Da Vinci Code. Now it is set to do the same with the movie, Legion and that’s why The American TFP is asking its members to protest this latest blasphemy.

To send your e-protest message to Sony, please go here.

Directed by Scott Stewart, the new film turns the natural order of things upside down by presenting good as evil and vice-versa, and by replacing the faith that man must have in God, with the faith that God must have in man.

The movie’s central and bizarre theme is that God has lost faith in man and thus decides to exterminate humanity. To do this work of destruction, He sends angels armed with machine guns commanded by the Archangel Saint Gabriel.

"Lucifer Cast Out" by Gustave Doré. With the battle-cry "Quis Ut Deus!" St. Michael led the first counter-revolutionary offensive in History.

Everything Upside Down: Saint Michael the Rebel

The film presents a complete inversion of roles: instead of defeating Satan and the rebel angels in the great heavenly battle (Apoc. 12:6-10), the movie presents Saint Michael as the fallen angel who revolts against God. Saint Michael’s downfall was caused by his wish to save humanity when God, finding the human race no longer worthy of Him, decides to end humanity’s existence.

Legion also mocks the mystery of the Incarnation and the Mother of the Redeemer, Mary Most Holy, by presenting her as a dissolute and vulgar young woman pregnant with a “Messias.” Saint Michael the Archangel comes to protect the son born from that woman who he calls “the only hope humanity has of surviving.”[1]

God Loses Faith in Men!

The movie’s very title – Legion – appears to have been taken from the Gospel of Saint Mark when he refers to the demons that possessed a man: “My name is Legion: for we are many" (Mark, 5:9.) Thus, the legions of angels commanded by Saint Gabriel are supposedly demons like those of the possessed man. Some quotations from the movie serve to show the great confusion among the film’s “angels”:

“The last time God lost faith in man, He sent the flood. This time, He sent angels,” says the pseudo Saint Michael.[2]

A dialogue between the pseudo-archangels is likewise offensive:

“Michael: I knew He'd send you, Gabriel. You were always so eager to please Him.
Gabriel: Unlike you... the rebellious son.”[3]

Legion “a morality tale”?

Movie director, Scott Stewart, comments on the film’s central idea:

“So, what if God decides that he’s lost faith in man? We always talk about having to have faith in God, but what happens if it happens in reverse? God loses faith in man and says ‘do it over?’ This is our approach to that.[4]

“I wanted it to be a morality tale. I was raised Jewish so I was an Old Testament guy with no experience reading Revelations so I read a fundamentalist view, a teaching guide of Revelations. It was nuts. Crazy stuff. Let's make a movie about that stuff. The big line in the movie, that Paul [Bettany] says, is ‘The last time God lost faith in man, he sent a flood. This time he sent what you see outside.’”[5]

Irreligious absurdities do not stop there. In fact, the Saint Michael/Rebel Angel/Satan comes to save a waitress pregnant with the... “Messias!” The plot unfolds in a cheap roadside eatery on Christmas eve.

“A Not-so-Virginal Woman”

"The Annunciation" by Fra Angelico. St. Gabriel, with great reverance and piety, announces to the Blessed Virgin Mary that she is to give birth to the Son of the Most High.

Actress Adrianne Palicki, who plays the feminine role in Legion, comments: “I’m ultimately playing the Virgin Mary, who is not at all a virgin.”[6]

According to the reporter that interviewed her: “Palicki plays a not-so-virginal woman who is eight months pregnant with a Jesus-like messiah child.”

When asked who the child’s father might be, she jokes back:

“God?” “The character, she is kind of loose, so you don’t really know who the father is.”

The interviewer adds:

“Palicki’s Charlie brings the forces of good and evil against each other as the archangel Michael (Paul Bettany) comes to Earth to protect her, and evil forces are coming to stop the birth of her child.”[7]

Religion: “Crazy Stuff”

This irrational and violent terror movie ridicules and subverts the most fundamental truths of the Faith. Here one can see the deceitful and sordid portrayal of God’s justice, His mercy, His infinite perfection, the Incarnation of the Word, and the virginal purity of Mary Most Holy. The film completely destroys the distinction between good and evil, the good angels and the devils.

At the same time, the movie presents as “crazy stuff,” the possibility that God could punish humanity for its sins, as He did with the Great Flood. It takes the book of Genesis and distorts the anthropomorphic language which states that God “repenteth” to have “made them [men],” a statement which is meant to make clear the gravity of the sins committed (Genesis, 6:6.)[8]

The Fear of the Lord is the Beginning of Wisdom

Such a mockery of the possibility of Divine punishment for grievous sins at the time of the Flood, can likewise be used to discredit the idea of the chastisements that Our Lady announced at Fatima if humanity did not convert.

Sacred Scripture says that “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Psalm 110/11:10.) When men lose their fear of God, be it the reverential fear due to His Divine Majesty, or the fear of His justice in this life and the next, they become stupid and come to believe, like the inhabitants of Jerusalem at the time of Prophet Sophonias, that “The Lord will not do good, nor will he do evil” (Sophonias, 1:12.)

Inducing to Despair
Finally, the message of the movie, Legion, is one of despair. The film presents no hope for humanity or salvation in face of such a cruel and arbitrary God in Whom one cannot confide.

When man loses hope, he loses the very reason to practice virtue, which is the hope of attaining Heaven, with God’s help. Likewise, when he loses faith in God, he loses the reason to have hope. In fact, hope is based on “our apprehension of God as our supreme supernatural good Whose communication in the beatific vision is to make us happy for all eternity, and also on those Divine attributes such as omnipotence, mercy and fidelity, which unite to exhibit God as our unfailing helper.”[9]

Ridiculing Sacred Things

Someone could object that this is only a movie and therefore should not be taken seriously. However, it is precisely through films, novels, and the theater that blasphemy makes great strides and anti-Catholic ideas are increasingly disseminated. When people do not pay due attention to them, they allow themselves to be influenced by them.

Furthermore, such films go against the Second Commandment which condemns the taking of God’s name in vain – and the ridiculing of holy things: “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that shall take the name of the Lord his God in vain” ( Exodus, 20:7.)

It is deplorable that the Sony Corporation has taken to spreading Legion which, like The Da Vinci Code, ridicules most sacred things.[10]

It is for this reason that The American TFP is protesting to Sony, manifesting our indignation against this new attack upon the Faith.

Click here to protest.

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Footnotes:

[1] http://www.christianpost.com/article/20090816/upcoming-movie-legion-pits-angels-vs-mankind/index.html.

[2] http://www.christianpost.com/article/20090816/upcoming-movie-legion-pits-angels-vs-mankind/index.html.

[3] "Memorable quotes for Legion (2010) More at IMDbPro," http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1038686/quotes.

[4] Cf. "Legion Red Band Trailer, Exclusive Photos and Director Quotes," Film. http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/08/12/legion-red-band-trailer-exclusive-photos-and-director-quotes/#ixzz0bkgtkzbw.

[5] Cf. http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/interviewsnews.php?id=11277.

[6] Terri Schwartz, July 28, 2009, "Comic-Con 2009: Adrianne Palicki on Legion," Blast. http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/entertainment/2009/07/comic-con-2009-adrianne-palicki-on-legion/.

[7] Ibid.

[8] The Douay-Rheims Bible comments: "'It repented him'... God, who is unchangeable, is not capable of repentance, grief, or any other passion. But these expressions are used to declare the enormity of the sins of men, which was so provoking as to determine their Creator to destroy these his creatures, whom before he had so much favored.” http://www.drbo.org/chapter/01006.htm.

[9] Delany, J. (1910), “Hope,” The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved January 5, 2010 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07465b.htm.

[10] Cf. http://www.legionmovie.com/?hs308=LGN065; http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/thedavincicode/index.html.

It's Not Too Late!

It's Not Too Late to Give This Book to Your Loved Ones or Yourself For Christmas!

If you haven't already read or ordered this book, I urge you to do so today, and you still make receive your copy before Christmas.

Living in a time, as we do where a 'hero' is defined by their popularity, meeting a true American hero, in fact an "American Knight" is the perfect tonic to lift one's hopes for our country and inspire them to imitate the real virtues of Colonel Ripley.

An ardently devoted Catholic, he lived his Faith through his vocation as husband, father and soldier. While the lives of today's heroes appear to be a steeped in contradictions, in values and in Faith, Colonel Ripley's life was one of rock solid consistency no matter what role he assumed.

At the conclusion of the book, after you have had the opportunity to get to know him, you will find his testimony on homosexuals in the military and women on the battlefield. I encourage you to read it and unquestionably see how he applied the tenets of his Faith and his love of the Blessed Mother to every aspect of his life.

I hope you order and read this book, then join me in praying for the future of our country, echoing Colonel Ripley's prayer; "Jesus, Mary, get us there!"