Thursday, April 24, 2014

Prayer to the Last Sainted Pope

I have titled this post "Prayer to the Last Sainted Pope" because I realized that after this Saturday that title will no longer apply to the great Pope St. Pius X. Let us humbly invoke his intercession as we continue to move forward through this Valley of Tears.

O glorious St. Pius X, hammer of modernists, humble shepherd of souls and pastor of the universal Church, last sainted pope, pray for us and for the Holy Catholic Church in this dire hour.

Pray to the Lord for us, poor sinners, who have not fully appreciated your teachings and have rejected your counsels. We have seen your vision of where we are and where we are going and have shrunk back, preferring compromise with the world to the robust combat with the forces of evil that our Lord calls us to.

Intercede for your Church, that her pastors and princes will come to a profound realization of the truths enunciated in your great teachings Pascendi, Lamentabili Sane and the Oath Against Modernism. Pray that we will all see Modernism for what it is and understand what chaos it has already wrought in the Church and world.

Through your glorious intercession, may God, in His mercy, avert His wrath from us and instead turn and heal us. Let our hearts be turned that we can repent; let our minds be flooded with light that we may reject the errors of our age. May God in His mercy say that our exile is at an end, that our cup has been drunk to the dregs, that debt has been paid in full
.

May we again value truth above all else, and reject the imprudent and false dichotomy that seeks to erode truth at the expense of a false tolerance. May our liturgies be ceremonies of reverence and humility before our Creator, our theology grounded in sound principles following the path laid out by the great St. Thomas. May our witness be bold and sure, our charity be fervent, and may souls flood into the Church.

May our leaders in the Church and State be deeply moved by the vision you set for the Church, and may God, in His great mercy, lead us towards a true repentance and restoration of the Catholic Church.

St. Pius X, last sainted pope, pray for us! May God have mercy on us.


13 comments:

Unknown said...

I graduated from St .PIUS X HIGH School, DOWNEY CALIFORNIA in 1970.
Can't wait to share it with tons of Graduates on Facebook

Not That Guy said...

Do you have any thoughts on personalism? Some see it as the key to interpreting Tradition - or being "Traditional" - in light of Modernity while others see it as essentially a heresy or a compromise with truth. Many are somewhere in between. I'm curious what your take is.

Boniface said...

I had several classes from Personalist professors in college. I definitely do not see it as being a key to interpreting tradition, especially insofar as it is opposed to Thomism. It is not necessarily a heresy either, as some Catholic theologians have worked out syntheses between Thomism and Personalism that "work"; I mention here the work of Dr. Michel Waldstein. However, even when Personalism "works", it does so in an inferior sort of way, and its excessive emphasis on the experience and needs of the human person as the starting point for all considerations leave its flank weak against the inroads of subjectivism. Basically, those who adopt Personalism go to a lot of trouble to get in a position that they could get to with Thomism and which would be better fortified.

Not That Guy said...

Thank you for replying.

In case you're wondering, my question was in part prompted by reading this discussion on personalism and modernity, wherein Aquinas is mentioned:

"Sorry, but I just don't buy the idea that someone [Aquinas] who died before it began—no matter how sublime his philosophy—is capable of being the ultimate guide through modernity. He can help highlight and refute its errors, but he lacks the wherewithal to comprehend its deep concerns and recognize its real achievements. He's simply missing too much human experience.", the writer states.

It gave me pause.

http://www.thepersonalistproject.org/comments/montgomery_on_modernity

Boniface said...

That's funny. I know the authors of that blog; their children are my students.

Thomism definitely takes into account all of human experience, but maybe not in the terms personalists like or are comfortable with, because he does not make human experience the foundation of truth.

It is also noteworthy that the popes do not agree that Thomas is not valuable in addressing the concerns of modern man. Pius XI wrote of St Thomas:

“His teaching with regard to the power or value of the human mind is irrefragable: ‘The human mind has a natural knowledge of being and the things which are in themselves part of being as such, and this knowledge is the foundation of our knowledge of first principles’ (Contra Gentiles, II, lxxxiii). Such a doctrine goes to the root of the errors and opinions of those modern philosophers who maintain that it is not being itself which is perceived in the act of intellection, but some modification of the percipient; the logical consequence of such errors is agnosticism, which was so vigorously condemned in the Encyclical Pascendi” (Studiorem Ducem,15).

Not That Guy said...

That connection is interesting.

I think the authors of that blog would respond to your quoting Pius XI that the Church has grown in her understanding of truth and how we know what we know; that while Thomism was sufficient for a time, that is no longer so. They would see the adoption of personalism by, say, St. JPII as a great development.

Ghost of Tyburn said...

Because of the fall, our emotions and senses are not under perfect control over our intellect and will which enables our experience to deceive us as all the masters of the spiritual life attest.

I have yet to meet a personalist Exorcist.

Ghost of Tyburn said...

Beyond Dogma a lecture by Guy Mansini OSB delivered March 2012 at St Vincent Ferrer church in NYC blows the doors off this alleged gap between dogma and experience that all neo modernists seek to build a feathered nest in.

Ghost of Tyburn said...

http://opeast.org/2012/03/09/theology-and-prayer-feast-of-st-thomas-2012/

Sorry this is the link I should have included

Anonymous said...

This is slightly off the topic of Pius X...though closely related because of the recent event in Rome. I'm posting it here because it is more likely to be read and because it possibly relates to one of Boniface's friends.

Dear Boniface,

Someone named "Athanasius" has written an article which currently appears in the *sedevacantist* site novusordowatch.org. It argues that Francis cannot be a valid Pope because God would not permit a valid Pope to canonize someone--JPII--who caused such scandal in his manifest teaching and practice.

Is this the same "Athanasius" who once wrote against Sedevacantism in a blog called "Athanasiuscontramundum"?

Chris "the waffling ex- and, it appears, soon to be again" sedevacantist.

Peace--God help us all.


Not That Guy said...

What level of authority do Encyclicals have?

Is PASCENDI DOMINICI GREGIS still relevant, I have been wondering? Because if it is, and it is authoritative, then I don't know what to make of some of what has followed since its time from Popes. I really feel like there is no compass at this point.

Boniface said...

Anon,

I do not know what Ryan has been up to lately...been months since I talked with him. He was writing for Faithful Answers under his own name before that site went defunct.

Based on conversations with Ryan, I do not believe he would have ever gone over to sedevacantism over something like this.

Boniface said...

Lonliest-

yes, Pascendi is still relevant. Here is what Pius XII taught about papal encyclicals:

"20. Nor must it be thought that what is expounded in Encyclical Letters does not of itself demand consent, since in writing such Letters the Popes do not exercise the supreme power of their Teaching Authority. For these matters are taught with the ordinary teaching authority, of which it is true to say: "He who heareth you, heareth me";[3] and generally what is expounded and inculcated in Encyclical Letters already for other reasons appertains to Catholic doctrine. But if the Supreme Pontiffs in their official documents purposely pass judgment on a matter up to that time under dispute, it is obvious that that matter, according to the mind and will of the same Pontiffs, cannot be any longer considered a question open to discussion among theologians." (Humani Generis, 21)