May 24: Blessed Juan de Prado

Blessed Juan de Prado, 1563 – 1631
Spanish Franciscan priest, missionary and martyr in Morocco.

May 23: Blessed Wincenty Matuszewski

Blessed Wincenty Matuszewski, 1869 – 1940

June 6: Blessed Józef Innocenty Guz, Martyr Of Poland

Blessed Józef Innocenty Guz, 1890 – 1940

May 30: Blessed Marta Maria Wiecka

Blessed Marta Maria Wiecka, 1874 – 1904

May 25: Saint Cristobal Magallanes

Saint Cristobal Magallanes, 1869 – 1927

May 24: Blessed Blessed Louis-Zéphirin Moreau Of Canada

Blessed Louis-Zéphirin Moreau, 1824 – 1901

May 23: Blessed Józef Kurzawa, New Martyr Of Poland

Blessed Józef Kurzawa, 1910 – 1940
Diocesan Priest Martyr

Cardinal Arinze on the Freedom to Kneel, Receive on the Tongue

5 bob to Unam Sanctam

Interesting Deathbed Converts

I have been looking around the internet for some interesting converts to the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. I find that deathbed conversions are interesting. On one hand I am glad to see that they converted, and on the other I think “What were you waiting for?”

Anyway, here is a list of some of the more famous deathbed conversions or “reversions” that I found on the net. Caveat: this list is certainly not exhaustive and in no way, shape, or form is it inerrant. Here are the converts:

Constantine the Great- Surprisingly, the great Emperor who signed the Edict of Milan and did so much for the Church in Her early days only converted on his deathbed. He may have postponed his baptism to properly repent for the earlier murders of his wife and son first (he ordered their executions.) He fell ill, realized that he was at death’s door, and was actually baptized by the Arian bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia. He is honored as a Saint in the Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches, the Latin Church has no Feast for him and does not honor him as a Saint.

Charles II of England- He and his brother James II were the best hopes in restoring Catholicism to “Our Lady’s Dowry” (Non Angli Sed Angeli !) James, who would succeed Charles on the throne of England converted to Catholicism first. Charles was against James’ conversion for political purposes but later converted himself on his deathbed. His father Charles I was beheaded after one of the many Civil Wars England fought against itself for power over the Isle. Charles I was added to the Anglican list of Saints as a martyr after the restoration of the Monarchy in England by his son, Charles II. Charles I is one of the few post-Reformation (Revolt?) saints of the Anglican Church.

Oscar Wilde- For all his flamboyant and wild (pun intended) behavior and homosexual dalliances he still asked to be baptized in to the Church on his deathbed. He was a brilliant poet, playwright, and novelist.

John Wayne- I knew it! The Duke always reminded me of my grandpa! John Wayne had been married 3 times and was divorced twice. All of his wives were Hispanic women and I assume that their Catholicism rubbed off on him. I have always enjoyed his movies, especially the ones he made with Maureen O’Hara. Every year on or around St. Patrick’s Day, I make sure to watch The Quiet Man.

Buffalo Bill Cody- Buffalo Bill was baptized on his deathbed in Denver. He was given tribute by King George of England, Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany, and of course President Woodrow Wilson when they heard of his death. He may have been influenced by the great Chief Sitting Bull who, according to the blog Roman Christendom, converted some years before.

Some note that John Henry “Doc” Holiday may have been a deathbed convert… It is noted “He struck up a friendship with the local Catholic priest, Father Edward Downey, and there were unconfirmed reports that Holliday was received into the Catholic Church just before he died. For the last two weeks of his life, he was delirious. Doc Holliday died on Nov. 8, 1887, age 36.” (Source).  Also “friend and first cousin Martha Anne “Mattie” Holliday, with whom he regularly corresponded throughout his life, had years earlier become a Catholic nun, and this may have been an influence. ” (Source)

There are many more, but it is getting late and I have to go to Mass tomorrow.

Defending Truth & Contending For The Faith?

I came across the following odd quote using WordPress.com’s “tag surfer feature”. I am not surprised by the content, per se… I have been dealing with non-Catholic and anti-Catholic apologists for over a decade. I usually respect them as sincere, and never take it personally.

But what I find odd… well first read it first for yourself…

<!–[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 <![endif]–> The Roman Catholic religion claims that the Bible does not contain all the truths which a Christian is bound to believe (The Faith of Our Fathers, p. 72). Catholicism also says the Bible does not contain everything God taught about salvation (A Catechism for Adults, p. 52); is not clear and intelligible (The Faith of Our Fathers, pgs. 70, 152); is a dead book (Question Box, p. 67); and does more harm than good (Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent, p. 274). These, and many other comments against the Bible, reveal that Catholicism is not a loyal friend of the Bible but a forceful enemy that needs to be confronted. Roman Catholicism constantly seeks to undermine, weaken, oppose and nullify the Bible from its God-ordained place of authority.

SOURCE: http://defendingcontending.com/2008/10/28/quotes-404

The thing of it is, I HAVE read The Faith Of Our Fathers by James Cardinal Gibbons. In high school, it actually kept me Catholic when I was preparing to leave the Catholic Church. I have read it (and done so more than once) and didn’t recall anything of the sort being attributed to that text in the actual book.

But I haven’t read it for at least 10 years… so fair is fair, some due diligence to see what this gentleman is possibly referring to, I used Google Books (The Faith of Our Fathers is public domain) to check out the pages cited. You can do the same.

So having read the full text of each page cited (at least using the page numbers offered compared to the online edition which matches up with the TAN edition, as the TAN edition – that I owned – was a facsimile reproduction of the same…)  I am still just as befuddled.  In each instance, the pages offered aren’t even related to discussion of Scriptures.

So my question to Mike Gendron is, what are the exact quotes you found in The Faith of Our Fathers  that back up your assertions?  Have you read the book, or are you quoting from someone who claims to be quoting it?

Taylor Marshall – Listen Up!

The Jewish Origins of Catholicism Podcasts
by Taylor Marshall

• Jewish Tevilah, Catholic Baptism
• Jewish Passover, Catholic Mass
• Jewish Manna, Catholic Eucharist
• Jewish Levites, Catholic Clergy
• Jewish Vestments, Catholic Vestments
• Jewish Temple, Catholic Cathedral
• Jewish Synagogue, Catholic Parish
• Jewish Nazirites, Catholic Monastics
• Jewish Marriage, Catholic Marriage

Catholic Apocalypse Podcasts
by Taylor Marshall

• Three Catholic Keys to the Apocalypse
• Why is the Church Centered in Rome and Not Jerusalem?
• Do Catholics Believe in the Rapture?
• Mary and the Book of Revelation
• Concept of Antichrist in Catholicism
• Mark of the Beast and Caesar
• Will the Jews Be Converted Before the End?

Damian Thompson on “China’s Vile Persecution Of Christians”

China’s vile persecution of Christians

Posted by Damian Thompson on 07 Apr 2008  at 12:17 

I’m thrilled that China’s Olympic propaganda stunt turned into such a fiasco yesterday and sorry that someone didn’t throw the torch into the Thames. But this is not just about Tibet: it would have been nice to see huge crowds of Christians yesterday, protesting at the vile persecution of believers in mainland China.
Defiant faith: Bishop John Han was imprisoned on 11 occasions

Take a look at this picture from a video on the website of the wonderful Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need. It shows

June 14:

Saint Teopista, Virgin & Martyr of Rome
Martyred under the reign of Emperor Valerian

June 13: Blessed Marianna Biernacka, New Martyr Of Poland

Blessed Marianna Biernacka, 1888 – 1943

June 12: Blessed Florida Civoli

June 11: Blessed Choukrallah Maloyan, Armenian Catholic Martyr

Blessed Choukrallah Maloyan, 1869 – 1915

June 10: Blessed Edward Joannes Maria Poppe

Blessed Edward Joannes Maria Poppe, 1890 – 1924

June 9: Blessed Luigi Boccardo

Blessed Luigi Boccardo, 1861 – 1936

June 8: Blessed Nicola da Gesturi

Blessed Nicola da Gesturi, 1882 -1958

June 7: Blessed Ann of Saint Bartholomew

Blessed Ann of Saint Bartholomew, 1549 – 1626

June 5: Saint Boniface

Saint Boniface, 680 – 755

June 3: Blessed Pope John XXIII, The Smiling Pope

Blessed Pope John XXIII, 1881 – 1963

June 2: Pope Saint Eugene I

 

Pope Saint Eugene I, d. 657

June 1: Blessed Giovanni Battista Scalabrini

Blessed Giovanni Battista Scalabrini, 1839 -1905

May 21: Saint Rita of Cascia

Saint Rita of Cascia, 1386 – 1456

Then Sings My Soul

The Mass is a beautiful thing. The depth of the mystery I experience grows on me continuously. It is a mystery for several reasons (and I am certain that I can not name them all). What always immediately comes to mind is that as we celebrate the Mass we transcend time so we are present at the sacrifice Jesus made on Calvary. We also make a quick journey through the history of our salvation, beginning with the fall of mankind up to the Eucharist and the reception of God’s blessings with the command to evangelize the whole world. This is not something the Roman Catholic Church just made up one day. This is the way the first Christians worshiped their God, the liturgical format was something inherited by the Church from Israel because the first Christians were all Israelites. The classical interpretation of the Song of Songs is God’s approach to Israel and Israel’s response to the advances of their God. What a perfect metaphor! Beginning with the fall of man God has been approaching mankind as a lover attempts to seduce his object of

Anglican Use ad in Episcopal Life Mag

Our Lady of the Atonement Catholic Church, Anglican Use, San Antonio, Texas

Creedal Christian noticed this:

There’s an incredible advertisement in the April 2008 edition of Episcopal Life. It’s on the bottom right-hand side of page 8. Here’s what it says:

THE ANGLICAN USE SOCIETY in America in communion with the Holy See of Rome offers to Clergy, Religious and Laity of the Anglican Tradition an information booklet explaining THE PASTORAL PROVISION, the canonical instrument that has made possible their reconciliation with the Holy See as units of common identity which preserve their Anglican heritage of liturgy, hymnody and spirituality.

In other words, an official publication of the Episcopal Church includes an advertisement from an official Roman Catholic organization that invites Episcopal congregations to leave the Episcopal Church and become Roman Catholic. As part of the package, the Episcopal priests of those congregations will be ordained as Roman Catholic priests, even if they are married. Those congregations and clergy will also be allowed to “retain certain liturgical elements proper to the Anglican tradition.”

Episcopal Life is running this ad while our Presiding Bishop is deposing Episcopal bishops for their schismatic actions.

My friends, you just can’t make this stuff up!

H/T: MCJ

Benedict the Re-Gatherer

Ok so it’s an awkward title, but the veritable forest of olive branches that il Papa has been extending in so many directions has given me the impression of a pope laboring to draw together once again the broken church of history perhaps in a conscious effort to prepare us for the ultimate re-gathering that only Christ himself can achieve. Besides, it’s Advent and things apocalyptic fill the Catholic spirit and mind.

Spes Salvi is masterful in so many ways, it is difficult to appreciate it all just now. But many facets of this magisterial document are coming into focus. Its lack of all reference to the Second Vatican Council is perhaps a strong indication that we are now past the post-conciliar age and entering a wholly new epoch in the life of the Church. This is an invitation, even an insistence that we look wide eyed at the present state of affairs and plan for the future. And the future which Benedict is preparing for us in various acts this year is a brave one indeed.

• The allusion to a new conception of Purgatory as a purification at the moment of Judgment, Christ’s divine and holy love burning away one’s imperfections due to sin, is clearly Eastern in spirit. Western conceptions of purgatory form just one item on the laundry list of Eastern complaints against the West, but an important one. Taken together with the considerable achievements of the recent Ravenna Document, the turn to the East is advanced now again one step with this generous olive branch. Eastern complaints of Latinization are met with a small but significant dose of Western Hellenization. If only by a toe, the once firm frontier is crossed.

• In Liberation Theologized South America, evangelical Christians and Pentecostals are having a field day. One of their most potent charges is that the Catholic Church has abandoned the pursuit of Heaven. Not only the Bible but salvation itself they can claim as their proper domain when the popular perception prevails that Catholic clergy only talk about social analysis and the transformation of sinful political and economic structures. While not abandoning the demands of Christian charity and justice, in Spes Salvi we find the clearest articulation of the Church’s fundamental orientation toward Salvation through Christ since before the Council. As articulated in Antonio Socci’s commentary partially translated on the Catholic blog, Rorate Caeli, Spes Salvi may be seen as a correction to Gaudim et Spes’s more earthbound image of God’s Kingdom. One may hear in Benedict’s words a call to ex-Catholic evangelicals and pentecostals to be reconciled to the Church whose aim is the Heavenly Jerusalem.

• Catholic traditionalists have certainly had their share of olive branches this year. Summorum Pontificum was perhaps the first of several gifts which may lead to a reg-athering of that corner of the Church.

• The 400,000 members of the world wide Traditional Anglican Communion, an Anglican splinter group formed in protest to the ordination of women, were given hope of reunion en masse with Rome this fall when their petition written with the reported assistance of Vatican officials was formally submitted and received.

• The Church’s Chinese mission was advanced earlier this year with the long awaited letter to the Chinese Church which was full of conciliatory sentiment and affirmed that for the Church to be herself she must be fully Chinese and fully Catholic. The first fruit of this olive branch was the appointment by the Chinese government of a new bishop of Beijing acceptable to Rome. A formidable achievement, détente is in the air.

Pope Benedict has clearly been working overtime in 2007. May all his efforts be blessed.