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Jan. 12, 2001 Le Repos' Featured Site of the Day! This is a truly wonderful site! It features Mass times, Confession times and much more for virtually each town in the US. I looked up my own little "back water" and each and every parish within 10 miles was listed, and the hours were accurate and up to date. Amazing!
New Age Danger Infiltrates the Church
CLICK HERE to read the article at Christianity.com
Love for the Popes Posted on MMP Forum by Grace Mizzi
Love for the Popes What do these two have in common? Both loved the popes. Both sustained passions to pray for and defend the Vicar of Christ. Each had her own particular method, however. The delicate Ven. Jacinta prayed the rosary and offered sacrifices daily for the Holy Father, while St. Catherine of Siena defended Papal authority by means of her letters. Distinct and separate from one another, both have been given to us by the Church as examples of how we should revere and defend the successor of Peter.
The Roman Pontiff The Holy Father is the rock-foundation of the Church. Without him, the college of bishops has no authority and can make no decisions. Without papal confirmation there can be no ecumenical council. The Pope, as Supreme Teacher, is infallible when he proclaims a doctrine pertaining to faith or morals. And, even when the Pope is not speaking ex cathedra we, as Catholics, are bound "to respect and adhere to decisions made by him" (LG, no. 24).
Venerable Jacinta: Prayer And Sacrifice During this same apparition, Our Lady of Fatima prophetically mentioned the name of the Pope who would succeed Benedict XV, saying "During the pontificate of Pius XI a worse war will break out if people do not cease offending God."1 Jacinta was affected by the fact that Our Lady mentioned the Holy Father so many times. After the July 13th apparition, whenever Jacinta prayed the rosary, she began to add three Hail Mary's for the intentions of the Holy Father. She also began mentioning the Holy Father whenever she offered little sacrifices. Jacinta's concern for the Roman Pontiff increased after two priests visited the three shepherd children. Jacinta asked the priests who the Holy Father was. They explained as best they could, and told her that the Pope needed prayers. >From then on, Jacinta manifested such an intense love for the man who represented our Lord Jesus Christ on earth, that she would frequently exclaim, "How I would love to see the Holy Father! So many people come here, but the Holy Father never does." 2 Jacinta had two visions of the Holy Father. Once, when the three shepherd children were near the well behind Lucia's house, Jacinta called out. "Didn't you see the Holy Father? I don't know how it happened, but I saw the Holy Father in a large house, kneeling in front of a small table, his face in his hands. Some were throwing stones at him and others were cursing at him and saying bad words. Poor little Holy Father! We have to pray much for him."3 Jacinta's prayers for the Roman Pontiff were oftentimes spontaneous. She frequently sighed, "The Poor Little Holy Father!" According to Lucia, the oldest of the shepherd children, once, when the three Fatima seers were imprisoned in the jail at Ourem, Francisco suggested they offer their loneliness for sinners saying, "O my Jesus, this is for love of You, and for the conversion of sinners." Jacinta immediately added, "And also for the Holy Father..."4 This child's innocent love for the man who represents Christ on earth would charm even the hardest of hearts. Yet, everyone is unique and because of this, another female who has been recorded as a defender of the Supreme Pontiff had quite a different approach.
St. Catherine Of Siena, O.P.: Brass and Class Born in 1347 in Siena, Italy, during her brief 33 years on earth, St. Catherine experienced the horrors of the Black Death, famine and civil wars. She also saw the papal residency move from Rome to Avignon and back again. In the latter part of her life, the Great Western Schism began, and an anti-pope threatened the reign of Pope Urban VI. Although she is sometimes depicted with a pen in her hand, St. Catherine did not learn how to write until three years before her death. But, that was no impediment. She dictated her masterpieces, sometimes as many as three documents at the same time. When it came to defending the Pope, her letters were bold and direct. By the grace of God, St. Catherine perceived that those who were not faithful to the true successor of Peter had a foul effect on the world. During the Great Western Schism, for example, when an anti-pope was established, St. Catherine fearlessly defended Pope Urban VI's sole right to the Papal throne. In one of her letters she rebuked three Italian cardinals who were supporting the anti-pope, writing to them, "What made you do this? You are flowers who shed no perfume, but stench that makes the whole world reek."5 St. Catherine verbally struck down those who questioned the authority of the true Pontiff. To Giovanna, the Queen of Naples, who had joined the leagues of those who were supporting the anti-pope, St. Catherine wrote, "You know that you do ill, but like a sick and passionate woman, you let yourself be guided by your passions."6 She was intrepid, but could also be tender. In many of her letters to the Pope she addresses him by a pet name, "Babbo" which, in English, means "Daddy." Sometimes St. Catherine appealed to the Shepherd of God's flock with her feminine nature. Wanting Pope Gregory XI to leave his residency in Avignon and return to Rome, and knowing the Supreme Pontiff was afraid of being poisoned, Catherine wrote to him like a mother, "Be not a timorous child, but manly..."7 Pope Gregory XI valued St. Catherine's candor. She wrote numerous letters to him in which she advised him to purge the Church of its unfaithful priests. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit she told the Pope that the Church suffered because it was "full of impurity and avarice, swollen with pride. . .that is, the bad priests and rulers who poison and rot the garden."8 From where came her accuracy? The grace of God. When she was a young child, she had a vision of Jesus, dressed in papal garments. The Apostles Peter, Paul and John accompanied Christ in this vision. This vision gradually helped St. Catherine understand that "her destiny and vocation were linked to the Church and the Pope."9 St. Catherine of Siena, a true Dominican, counseled popes and defended them. Never, until the last months of her life, did her energy fail in defense of Christ's Vicar.
In Our Own Time? Sister Mary Ann Sullivan, O.P. is a Dominican religious and a writer.
Endnotes
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