"Great evils must be met with great remedies." "The great remedies for the evils that weigh upon the earth are to be sought in heaven. The great remedies for the immense evils that afflict us (and for the greater evils that threaten us) are these: devotion to the Heart of Jesus Christ; to the Immaculate …
Continue reading Devotion to St Joseph, Part I: Theological Reasons – Fr Bover SJ
"All of us – yes, even you and I – are liable to be deceived." In this essay we will consider: - Miracles as proof of Christ's revelation - The continuation of miracles in the Church - Being too dependent on signs and wonders - Credulity and false miracles - The purpose of miracles, and …
Continue reading Possible Miracles, Possible Deceptions: How credulity can lead us to ruin
Given the fever-pitch excitement (or anxiety) in many quarters over Francis's upcoming consecration of Russia, it seems a good time to republish this 1953 text from Msgr Alfredo Ottaviani. He was later made the prefect of the Holy Office, and was chief signatory of the Short Critical Study of the Novus Ordo Missae ("The Ottaviani …
Continue reading An “Ottaviani Intervention” on Signs and Wonders
This is the final part in our series summarising and re-ordering of the testimonies given in St Thomas’s 1319 canonisation enquiry.[1] These are not just pious stories written by hagiographers: they are sworn testimonies recounted under oath by respectable men, both from the clergy and from the nobility. We see amongst the laymen even civil …
Continue reading The Fioretti of St Thomas – Part III: The Miracles after his Death
This three-part series is a summary and re-ordering of the testimonies given in St Thomas’s 1319 canonisation enquiry.[1] These are not just pious stories about St Thomas Aquinas written by hagiographers: they are sworn testimonies recounted under oath by respectable men, both from the clergy and from the nobility. We see amongst the laymen even …
Continue reading The Fioretti of St Thomas – Part II: His Death
Image: Nestorius, who St Robert Bellarmine, St Celestine, St Nicholas and Cardinal Billot say lost his power to depose and excommunicate when he began preaching heresy. Wiki Commons. This is the first part of an essay by Mr John Lane, edited and expanded by S.D. Wright. It concerns the nature of law, offices and jurisdiction, …
Continue reading The Loss of Ecclesiastical Offices: Is Holy Church Unprotected?
In this brief piece I would like to draw attention to the following exalted description of the privileges and prerogatives of the Roman Pontiff, by John Henry Cardinal Newman. In this short text, entitled Cathedra Sempiterna, he drew together passages from his Discourses on the Scope and Nature of University Education [later editions published as …
"There is the danger of a one-sided and an imperfect direction in holiness, and of laying great stress on trifles and things of secondary importance." It is a dogma that public revelation ended with the death of the last apostle. Nonetheless, throughout history God has made private revelations to chosen souls, even for the public …
Continue reading How should Catholics treat private revelations?
We are told that on 13 October 1884, His Holiness Pope Leo XIII had a vision in which he saw Satan ask God for one hundred years to the destroy the Catholic Church. Satan’s task is impossible and will never be accomplished. The Church today is what she has always been. She is One, Holy, …
This three-part series is about how laymen can go about learning the sacred science of theology, in accordance with its proper methodology and structure. I have freely gathered together notes, ideas and reading lists from various sources, particularly the Bellarmine Forums.[1] Up until this point, we have been going through the stages in the order …