St Dominic is not impressed with your ‘Risorgimento’

It was 15^th September, 1870.  The French had lost the battle of Sedan a couple of weeks before (Pope Pius IX, a witty man, remarked that France had lost ses dents).  Just five days ago, on September 10^th, King Victor Emmanuel II had written to the pope telling him that he intended to march into Rome and take it over.  The following day, the 11^th, the Italian armies had entered illegally into the papal domains.  By the 20^th, they will have taken Rome and the patrimony of St Peter will be no more.

But to the south, in Sobriano of Calabria, strange things were afoot.  The town had a famous shrine to St Dominic.  It dated from the 16^th century; for, on 15^th September, 1530, the friars of the convent had received a miraculous image of St Dominic, not painted with human hands.  In memory of this favour, a papal bull allowed them to sing Mass at two in the morning every year on that day, since this was the hour when the painting had been received.

In 1865, a large new statue of St Dominic had been sculpted and placed inside the church.  It was made of solid wood, weighing more than twenty stone, and had needed five men to put it into place.  A single man could only with great difficulty move it even a little on its base. 

At two in the morning, on the 15^th September 1870, the Dominican provincial sang Mass.  He lived by himself, near the church, since the ‘laws’ of the time had dissolved all religious communities.  After the Mass, a few women present in the church thought that they saw the great statue of St Dominic moving by itself.

At eleven in the morning a solemn Mass in honour of St Dominic was sung.  Normally there would have been a procession afterward, but this year for some reason it was cancelled.  The people are disappointed.  So they remain in the church to pray.  Again, the statue is seen to move of itself, and by more people this time.  It goes back and forwards, left and right, in the form of a cross.  Not only this, but the face of St Dominic is clearly to seen to change expression: he looks alternately severe and peaceful.  Often he turns to the statue of our Lady of the Rosary, with a tender, confident gaze.  The colour in his face comes and goes.  His lips open “like those of a man about to speak”.  His right hand, which had been closed, opens and gesticulates.  The lily in his left hand moves in all directions; so do the star and halo above his head.  Wrinkles appear on his forehead, which is bathed in sweat, and his eyes move in all directions.

By noon, the fact has become public in the town.  A large crowd, both of locals and of visitors, come to look.  Some stand afar off, some go close to examine, all marvel.  The platform on which the statue rests does not move.  There are no cords attached to the statue, nor is it moved by some concealed person.  The movements are not caused by the wind, for neither the draperies of the canopy which overhangs the statue nor the candles on either side of it are moving.   In any case, the church door looks north, and there was a strong west wind that day.  The bolder folk go to take hold of the statue, and they find themselves being moved by its motion.  It rises some inches above the surface on which it rests.  Above all, though, it is the head of the saint that moves, and his expression that changes – severe, threatening, then gentle once more.

On 19^th January 1871, the bishop, Philippe Mincione, announces an investigation.   Sixty-one witnesses depose under oath to what they have seen, including Fr Thomas Sarraco, the Dominican provincial.  Many more people had wished to testify, but the bishop decided to call a halt.

On 11^th February, the episcopal verdict is pronounced.  There is no natural explanation for what has happened.  Further proof of this, says the bishop, lies in the many graces, and even temporal blessings, received in Sobriano since.  The moral effects on the diocese have been excellent.  “Having invoked the holy name of God, we declare that everything is supernatural and miraculous in the movements of the statue of St Dominic on 15^th September, 1870”.

{from Fr Pie Marie Rouard de Card, Le Miracle de Saint Dominique à Sobriao, Louvain (C. J. Fonteyn) and Paris (Poussielgue Freres), 1871}

“O God, who wert pleased to enlighten Thy church with the merits and teaching of blessed Dominic Thy confessor; grant, at his intercession, that she may not be wanting in temporal helps, and may always increase in spiritual growth.”

 

The Integralist Definitions

1. “Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff.” (Boniface VIII)

2. “If indeed someone has fallen into the error of presuming to affirm pertinaciously that the practice of usury is not sinful, we decree that he is to be punished as a heretic; and we strictly enjoin on local ordinaries and inquisitors of heresy to proceed against those they find suspect of such error as they would against those suspected of heresy.” (Council of Vienne)

3. “If any one saith, that those who have been thus baptized when children, are, when they have grown up, to be asked whether they will ratify what their sponsors promised in their names when they were baptized; and that, in case they answer that they will not, they are to be left to their own will; and are not to be compelled meanwhile to a Christian life by any other penalty, save that they be excluded from the participation of the Eucharist, and of the other sacraments, until they repent; let him be anathema.” (Council of Trent)

4. “We define and declare by these Our letters, or by any translation thereof signed by any notary public and sealed with the seal of any ecclesiastical dignitary, to which the same credit shall be given as to the originals, that, notwithstanding whatever may have been or may be said to the contrary, the said Indians and all other people who may later be discovered by Christians, are by no means to be deprived of their liberty or the possession of their property, even though they be outside the faith of Jesus Christ; and that they may and should, freely and legitimately, enjoy their liberty and the possession of their property; nor should they be in any way enslaved; should the contrary happen, it shall be null and have no effect.” (Paul III)

5. “And, against the doctrine of Scripture, of the Church, and of the Holy Fathers, they do not hesitate to assert that ‘that is the best condition of civil society, in which no duty is recognized, as attached to the civil power, of restraining by enacted penalties, offenders against the Catholic religion, except so far as public peace may require.’” (Pius IX)

6. “This Vatican Council declares that the human person has a right to religious freedom. This freedom means that all men are to be immune from coercion on the part of individuals or of social groups and of any human power, in such wise that no one is to be forced to act in a manner contrary to his own beliefs, whether privately or publicly, whether alone or in association with others, within due limits.” (Second Council of the Vatican)

 

Happier Times

Remember, O Lord, our most devout and faithful Emperor Charles, whom you have set to rule on the earth. Crown him with a weapon of truth, a weapon of good will; let your shadow fall upon his head in the day of war; strengthen his arm, exalt his right-hand, establish his empire; subdue beneath him all barbarous nations that desire to make war; grant him deep and enduring peace; speak good things to his heart for your Church and for all your people; so that by his tranquility we may lead quiet and peaceful lives, in all piety and purity.

 

St Thomas More on the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart?

I doubt not at all but that in conclusion, however base Christendom be brought, it shall spring up again, till the time be come very near to the day of judgment, some tokens of which methinketh are not come yet. But somewhat before that time shall Christendom be straitened sore, and brought into so narrow a compass that, according to Christ’s words, “When the Son of Man shall come again”—that is, to the day of general judgment—”thinkest thou that he shall find faith in the earth?” as who should say, “but a little.” For, as appeareth in the Apocalypse and other places of scripture, the faith shall be at that time so far faded that he shall, for the love of his elect, lest they should fall and perish too, abridge those days and accelerate his coming. But, as I say, methinketh I miss yet in my mind some of those tokens that shall, by the scripture, come a good while before that. And among others, the coming in of the Jews and the dilating of Christendom again before the world come to that strait. So I say that for mine own mind I have little doubt that this ungracious sect of Mahomet shall have a foul fall, and Christendom spring and spread, flower and increase again.