In Principio
Superior’s Letter A Visionary for Catholic Ireland Celtic Christianity Pontmain—the Story of a Miracle
Winter 2017 Newsletter of the SSPX in Ireland
Basilica of Our Lady of Pontmain in France. Read the story of the miracle on p. 21. Cover page portrays the artwork of Harry Clarke created in 1918 for St Barrahane’s Church of Ireland in Co. Cork. Fr. Griego leads the Cork parish in praying the Rosary on 26 October in solidarity with Catholics around the country, who gathered together on the coasts to pray for the continued protection of the unborn in Ireland. In Principio Bulletin of the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X in Ireland
Publisher Fr. Vicente A. Griego Saint Pius X House 12 Tivoli Terrace South Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin
Editor Fr. Patrick Kimball Saint Joseph’s House Court Devenish Lane Athlone, Co. Westmeath
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Letter from the Superior 6 Visionary for a Catholic Ireland 12
Celtic Christianity 16 Pontmain—Story of a Miracle 21 Storming Heaven for the Unborn 26
Picture Collage 28 Addresses 31
In Principio
Letter from the Superior
Rev. Fr. Vicente A. Griego, SSPX Superior of Ireland
Dear Friends and Benefactors, dispel the evils that darken men’s lives. How is it that the IN THE BEGINNING WAS Light of the Omnipotent God THE WORD (John 1:1). By sin, seems restrained by the dark- mankind cast away the Word of ness of evil? How can we per- God, and over the world fell the sist in a separation from God, if darkness of God’s absence. God desires us to be with Him? Conflict was born when angels and men chose to abandon God loves perfectly and un- grace, to withdraw from the conditionally; but men are not light of God’s grace. The con- so generous and often set un- trast between light and dark- fair terms before reciprocating ness metaphorically presents to their “love”. When men refuse our understanding the inability to accept God’s love, men refuse of good and evil to co-exist – to love God. Men are free and where light penetrates, dark- must use their freedom rightly. ness recedes; where darkness prevails, light is unwelcome. Free will is a pre-requisite to be able to love. This means Christ, the Light of truth we may love wisely or wrongly. and goodness, is the Son of We misuse our liberty when we God, born a man on earth 2000 choose to love creatures more years ago. Christ came to free than the Creator, Who, infi- men from the darkness of sin, nitely good and lovable, is which separates men from God. uniquely able to satisfy our de- Yet, this Light seems unable to sire for happiness. A wrong use
6 Winter 2017
of freedom thrusts souls into stand close to the light (rather the darkness of sin – men than in the light), in shadow, abandon the Light of God, where our pretence of good may meant to brighten men’s lives, be sufficiently revealed, but if men would only “allow” it: … where our discernible evils are the light shineth in darkness, better concealed. and the darkness did not com- prehend it; …He came unto His Christ, the Light, illumines own, and His own received Him man’s good and dispels the er- not (John 1:4, 11). rors that make him false. The challenge of perfection, to be The Light shines from integrally good, is frightening heaven into this world to call- because we do not sufficiently ing men to perfection: …the trust the goodness of God. We Lord appeared to [man]: and live as if mediocrity will bring said unto him: I am the Al- us happiness, and that the pro- mighty God: walk before me, fane will satisfy our cravings and be perfect (Genesis 17:1). for peace, rather than believe The ideal of perfection, confor- God will make us truly happy. mity to God’s Will, is attractive, This is one reason why we are but our habit is to inordinately reluctant to step out of the cling to passing joys and com- darkness – we are afraid of let- forts. We dread forsaking and ting go of our possessions if we losing them despite the advan- are to possess God. Our happi- tages of lasting union with God. ness, however, can be realised Clinging to creatures, we bur- only in and with God. row into the sullied earth, ever further from the Light – we Another reason we fear the choose to live in the dark. Light of God’s truth is that we will be exposed for what we Should we dare to step out really are without Him – noth- of the darkness, we will neces- ing and sin! Hardly a compli- sarily expose our weaknesses. ment to our pride, we easily The fear of revealing our empti- prefer to think ourselves better ness, failings, and sinfulness, than we really are, and we convinces us to seek protection greatly desire that others think in the obscurity of darkness. us without defects. God’s light We foolishly believe it safer to necessarily reveals to us, and to
7 Editorial others (perhaps we fear this The Mass presents the clear most), our emptiness, our truths of Faith for our contem- weakness, and our failures. If plation. Christ’s Light first we truly trusted Our Lord, we shone serenely from Bethle- would run to the Light to be hem, when It seemed faint and filled with God’s goodness, for- fragile; It exploded in magnifi- tified with God’s omnipotence, cent brilliance from atop the and be perfected by God’s Cross, when It appeared weak grace. and extinguished. Mysteri- ously, Christ challenges believ- To stand in the light means ers to persevere in the Light of we must leave the shadows of Faith, which sees beyond the darkness, we must abandon limitations of the material vain pursuits and subordinate world. We transcended the all legitimate endeavours and limitations of this dark life of possessions in pursuit of mortality by an act of Faith, greater union with God. Stand- whereby we truly live super- ing in the Light of Christ, we naturally, our hearts and may be transformed from minds fixed on the eternal earthly beings, dark and dis- Light that ever shines resplen- couraged, to heavenly beings, dent! This is Christ the Light’s light and confident. Subordi- great victory – to exalt lowly nating the cares of this life to men to a divine union. the aim of perfecting our love for God, we increasingly live in Integral doctrine is richly His resplendence and perfec- and clearly taught in the vener- tion. This, Our Lord promises able and ancient Rite of the us, is our perfect happiness. Tridentine Latin Mass and is terribly shrouded in the doc- Would that we grasped this trinal poverty and ambiguity of truth with great conviction in Paul VI’s New Mass of 1970. these days of preparation for An earthly vulgarisation of the Christmas! A great means to Mass has defrauded many fortify our conviction is Christ’s Catholics (and many others) of wonderful Gift – the Holy Sac- the pristine teachings of time- rifice of the Mass, which is the less doctrine, the realistic su- source of all graces. pernatural virtues, and the brilliant purification of mind,
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heart and body, all of which are trous: e.g. sacrilegious liturgi- lavishly presented in the Mass cal innovations, empty of Trent, which aptly draws churches, disdain for the Sacra- humble men to conformity to ments. Due to the lack of doc- God’s Will. trinal orthodoxy and the con- viction to preach it, could one Pope John Paul II’s 1984 expect otherwise!? When “Indult”, Quattuor abhinc an- Churchmen fail to preach inte- nos, and his 1988 Apostolic Let- gral truth, the darkness of ig- ter, Ecclesia Dei, merely toler- norance opens the way to error, ated the Tridentine Rite under which allows the proliferation unfair restrictions and held it of evils. Darkness grows as inferior to the New Mass. deeper. Even Benedict XVI’s 2007 “Motu Proprio”, Summorum The attempts of these “well- Pontificum, which removed meaning” Popes have failed to many of his predecessors’ re- procure the restoration of the strictions, maintained a prefer- Church and Christian society, ence for the New Mass, and simply because integral truth is cited its “spiritual richness compromised. Christ’s truth and… theological depth” (loc. illumines with piercing purity – cit.). Patently, the fruits of the compromise clouds the truth New Mass have been disas- and casts dark shadows of
9 Editorial doubt. Vatican II and its adher- Integral truth with confor- ents have obscured the truth by mity in action must go hand in a false ecumenism and have hand for the Light to break the replaced Christ’s truth with a darkness – without the light of man-centred progressivism, truth, we can neither give glory summed up liturgically in the to God nor save our souls. Nei- New Mass. Consequently, we ther from fear nor for comfort’s cannot participate in or cooper- sake, may we hide the truth: ate with the promotion of this Now no man lighting defective rite, lest we contrib- a candle covereth it with a ves- ute to the confusion that ob- sel, or putteth it under a bed; scures the Light of truth and but setteth it upon a candle- holiness – in ourselves and in stick, that they who come in others. may see the light (Luke 8:16).
True devotion for the Holy In these days of Advent, Mass is not achieved by having and throughout the days of merely a sentimental attach- Christmas that follow, let us ment to the “Old Mass”. This purge from our lives any atti- disposition has easily lured tude of indifference, neglect, or many to accept the doctrinally sloth, with respect to the Holy compromised propositions of Sacrifice of the Mass. The doc- John Paul II’s “Indult” or Bene- trinal purity, the uncompro- dict XVI’s “Motu Proprio”, as mised and resplendent beauty, sound remedies to the errors and the profound solemnity of destroying the faith of many the Tridentine Mass, will help millions, today. The us to appreciate the Light of “traditional groups” that find Truth and to live its transform- themselves restrained from ing efficacy. teaching or integrally living in accord with the profound truths What better or more certain they ceremoniously appreciate way to prepare ourselves to re- in the “Old Mass”, take a weak ceive Our Lord in the joy of His position, if their aim is to re- Nativity than by devoutly, and store in the world the Light of if possible, more frequently, at- Christ. Such a compromise has tending Holy Mass during Ad- not and will not counter the vent? Devout participation at blackening smog of Vatican II. Holy Mass will necessarily
10 Winter 2017 enlighten us to a better recol- I send my priestly blessing lection, seeing Christ in our to you all and beg your kind daily lives, whereby we stand prayers, which are so impor- in the radiant beauty of God’s tant to sustain our spiritual Light. This is the ideal pro- endeavours. May God be glori- posed by Archbishop Lefebvre, fied by our good efforts to stand who urged us to live the Mass! in the Light of Christ and to shine in His virtue, whereby Dear friends, be assured of God is glorified, dispels the my prayers as we prepare for darkness of evil, and manifests the dawn of another year. Your Himself to us – Emmanuel, generosity in supporting the God among us! Society’s apostolate in Ireland is greatly appreciated and ab- solutely needed. Without your support, we would not be able In Christ the King, to meet the material and spiri- tual demands laid to our charge. Your generosity is as- sured of God’s many blessings. Continue the spiritual combat Rev. Vicente A. Griego for the triumph of the Immacu- Superior late Heart of Mary and the Autonomous House of Ireland reign of Christ over all Ireland!
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Visionary for a Catholic Ireland
Insight into the life of Edward Cahill S.J.
By Fr. Francis Gallagher
Fr. Edward Cahill (1868-1941) lived through a tumultuous and definitive time for Ireland, and hoped his country would capitalise on its newfound freedom to pro- mote the orthodox values of a true Christian society. Fr. Gallagher, following Dr. Morrissey’s biography on Fr. Cahill, gives us a glimpse into the life and visions of this heroic son of Eire. HIS YOUTH 1942 describes him as When Father Edward Ca- “...devoting himself wholeheart- hill died in 1941 he was a well- edly to the intellectual and known exponent of Catholic spiritual formation of young social teaching. Today few aspirants to the priest- know what this is or who Cahill hood” (Morrissey p.35). was. Morrissey tells us: "His He was born near Rath- position as Rector gave him keale in County Limerick in greater freedom to express his 1868. Aged 15 he entered Mun- views on subjects such as social gret College, the diocesan semi- justice, patriotism and the Irish nary. He then went to St. Pat- language.” rick's College Maynooth where he decided to become a Jesuit. THE TROUBLES He spent some time in Jesuit houses and was ordained in When the 1916 rising 1897 at the age of 29. broke out Cahill was trans- He returned to Mungret ferred to Galway. He was not where he became the Rector in involved in the fighting but 1913. The emphasis there on some superiors were suspicious both piety and culture pleased of his thinking on the national him. The Mungret Annual of question.
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He returned to Mungret ise Irish society which had been in 1921. Although there was secularised and weakened by now a truce Cahill learned that liberalism under British rule. many atrocities had occurred In 1926 he formed a lay organi- in the area including the mur- zation An Rioghath (The der by the Black and Tans League of the Kingdom of of his friend Michael O'Cal- Christ) to propagate a better laghan, the Mayor of Limerick. knowledge of Catholic princi- So national feeling was still ples which would then be im- running high in the college. plemented in Irish public life. The truce led to a treaty Its members were advised to which in turn led to a tragic bring its values and philoso- civil war due to disagree- phy to their places of work and ment over its terms. Cahill influence. avoided taking sides. FREEMASONRY HIS THOUGHTS & ACTION In his work Freemasonry Fr. Cahill wrote many and the anti-Christian Move- articles on social and historical ment Cahill shows how freema- topics. He believed sociology sonry and similar movements should be studied from a aim to overthrow Christianity Catholic rather than a utilit- and replace it with naturalism. tarian perspective. Many were not aware of its He saw a need to reorgan- anti-Christian nature. Many
Fr. Edward Cahill (left) and the cover of Morrissey’s book (right).
13 Edward Cahill S.J.
Irish nationalists were influ- ment in 1932. Cahill was enced by freemasonry. among those consulted when The Framework of a De Valera began devising a Christian State. Morrissey new constitution. The 1937 aptly describes this as Cahill's Constitution begins indeed by Magnum Opus. It was intended stating: “In the name of the mainly for social sci- Most Holy Trinity from Whom ence students who accept is all authority and to Whom, Catholic teaching. But Cahill as our final end, all actions also saw it as an opportunity to both of men and states must be remind Europe, still recovering referred, we the people of from World War I, that there Eire...do hereby...give to our- must be a return to Christian selves this Constitution”. This civilisation which is the only preamble was largely Cahill's civilisation suited to man's na- work. ture. He quotes Pope Leo XIII However Article 44 who maintained that, although merely states: “The State recog- the Church's immediate pur- nises the special position of the pose was saving souls, she had Holy Catholic Apostolic and Ro- also been a source of great tem- man Church as the guardian of poral benefits. the Faith professed by the great This book also deals with majority of the citizen's”. And individual rights and duties, elsewhere: “The State recog- the family, the state, capital nizes other religious denomina- and labour and the employment tions existing in Ireland”. De of women. Cahill also stresses Valera of course wished to pla- the crucial role of religion in cate the northern protestants public life. His appendix on Ire- in order to facilitate progress land shows that he has no illu- towards Irish unity. In the sions about the state of the Spanish Constitution however, country. Here too the solution the Catholic religion was “the is a return to a Christian way r e l i g i o n o f t h e of life. state" enjoying "official protec- tion”. THE 1937 CONSTITUTION Father Cahill, recalling constant papal teaching, Cahill’s friend Eamon D claimed that the State, Valera became head of govern- while tolerating non-Catholic religions, itself must publicly
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profess the Catholic Faith. This However in 1941 he became the Irish State manifestly seriously ill and died on 16 July failed to do in 1937. “after a long and trying illness borne with exemplary pa- THE BANKING INQUIRY tience” (Morrissey p.191). In his final paragraph Dr. According to Fr Cahill Morrissey remarks: “There is and An Rioghath the banking no doubt but that Edward Ca- system existed to serve the peo- hill by his work, enthusiasm ple. In reality this was not so. and genuineness in belief and They hoped that the establish- manner, enriched the society in ment of a banking inquiry which he lived, bonded people would bring reforms. But a ma- together in a selfless cause in jority of those involved, includ- the wake of the Civil War and ing a Catholic bishop, opposed through individuals enhanced any significant reforms. So the social, legal and even political Irish banking system, modeled life. Of few can so much be on the British, remained a said” (Morrissey p.199). money making machine and Morrissey is generally not a service sympathetic in his approach. This was not true His book is thoroughly re- of Muintir na Tire (the people searched and is also quite read- of the land) whose object was to able. At any rate the majority educate people to a realisation of Cahill's work is undoubtedly of the importance of the agri- still relevant based as it is on cultural calling. At their 1938 the unchanging principles of social week Cahill declared that Catholic social teaching as ex- if Ireland remained tied to the plained by the popes through- English monetary system her out history. It can still be read rural population would con- and studied with profit. Let us tinue to decline. pray that one day soon it will be put into practice. The con- HIS DEATH fused and decadent era in which we live has need of sound In 1939 and 1940 Cahill thinkers and hard workers like wrote many essays and corre- Fr. Edward Cahill to deal with sponded with many individuals. its many problems.
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Celtic Christianity
By Brian Nugent
Charles Doherty, a re- glican churchmen such as Rev. nowned expert on early Chris- George T Stokes (1843-1898) tian Ireland, recently took note and Canon John Healy (1850- of the fact that “interest in and 1942) used this opportunity to admiration for ‘Celtic’ Christi- express their opposition to the anity is booming”.1 Unfortu- ‘unIrish’ Ultramontanism and nately the result is that the Jansenistic spirit of Christian- Irish saints of the Golden Age ity, claiming, inter alia, that are not extolled for their Chris- the “authentic traditions” of the tianity, but their greatness is Celtic Church justified clerical accredited to the world of an- marriage and the breach with cient pagan Ireland. They con- Rome. clude that the doctrine of the early Celtic monks and peoples Many of the attacks on drew more from pagan lore the early Irish Church are rather than from the Christian- based on two controversial of- ity of modern times. fices of the ancient Church. The first of these offices was the What precisely is Celtic ‘coarb’, who was the successor Christianity? It is an attempt of a holy man or saint. The to co-opt the great heroes, mo- ‘erenagh’ on the other hand was nastic sites and books of the the administrator in the ab- Golden Age of Irish Christian- sence of a recognised saint with ity into the world of the Celtic his corresponding coarb. The druids and pagan practices. It controversy then is that some of is a movement to celebrate the these ‘coarbs’ could be consid- great figures, sites, and spiritu- ered at least the equivalent of alties of early Christianity abbots or maybe bishops and apart from Christianity itself. there is some talk of the office This bias against the Church being hereditary. Hence, the partly has its roots in the mid controversy arises from the fact to late 19th Century when An- that, although it is the custom
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for Catholic bishops to remain But there were likewise periods celibate, somehow these bish- when such abuses were ops managed to pass on their stamped out, like in the resur- power through inheritance. gence of the Céli Dé in the 800’s and the onset of St Malachy in In fact, many historians the 12th century. The story of St have always held the view that Malachy is well known and the these offices were not held by Céli Dé had fought a similar clerics in Holy Orders, but fight in their time: “Their atti- rather by laymen. But if these tude to sexual sins was severe. positions were in fact inherited A priest who had sinned by clerics, this was normally against chastity lost his priest’s not passed to them from their orders and was never able to fathers, but rather through recover them, even though he membership in a particular repented and did penance.”2 tribe. There is no doubt how- Thus, whenever sexual laxity ever, that there were some was present, this was consid- abuses at times in the Irish ered an abuse and dealt with Church during the 800 years or accordingly. It therefore cannot so of what is known as the be considered as a principled Celtic Church (roughly 400- deliberate change of Church 1200). At some periods these practice, the like of which have abuses did include concubinage. taken place in Protestantism
17 Celtic Christianity and the Orthodox world. dence for the link between that old Irish Church and the tradi- The unique isolation and tional Catholic Church of mod- singular character of the Irish ern times. Among these docu- Church are also used to allege ments are the Cathach from that it was not a faithful prede- c.560-600, the Antiphonary of cessor of the modern Catholic Bangor from c.680-691, and the Church. The Celtic Cross is a Stowe Missal from c.792. The classic example which is often first named contains the used to demonstrate this, since Psalms; the second contains it bears a sun shape in the mid- countless old hymns and col- dle. For some, this indicates lects like the Te Deum, Gloria that these old monks were in excelsis and Sancti Venite really linked to a kind of dru- (which is the first appearance idic sun worship. The monks of this oldest known Eucharis- certainly copied over some tic hymn); while the third is a older practices of the Celts, but proper missal, very recognis- it was with good purpose, as able in its contents to any stu- one scribe relates in an ancient dent of the Latin Mass. This Irish manuscript describing missal even has one prayer some of the arts of the Tuatha whose Roman origins cannot be De Danann: “And although the disputed: “pro piissimis im- faith came, these arts were not peratoribus et pro omni exer- driven out, for they were citu Romano, i.e. for (our) most good.”3 Once Christianity was devout emperors and all the universally accepted, they no Roman army.”4 Countless other longer feared the old customs texts have survived in a copied and practices, but rather re- form from that time period, tained them in a Christian con- such as the Collectio Canonum text. Hence in the centre of the Hibernensis, one of the oldest Celtic Cross they frequently and best preserved collections placed an image of Our Lord, of canon law to be read any- as He was the true sun, and where and written in Ireland they worshipped only Him c.669-748. There is also a text thereafter. from a homily delivered in Ire- land c.700. Preserved in the There is furthermore a French city of Cambrai, it is a good deal of documentary evi- commentary on Matthew 16:24:
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Pilgrims gathered at the Hill of Slane earlier this year to commemorate St. Patrick’s Paschal fire lit in defiance of High King Laoghaire.
“This is the word which our ing that the Irish got their Lord Jesus saith to every one faith from Rome; Cummian in of the race of men, that he ban- his letter on the Paschal con- ish from him his vices and his troversy reiterates the state- sins, and that he gather vir- ment; Probus states that St. tues and receive stigmata and Patrick had his mission from signs of the Cross for Christ’s St. Celestine. The Canon of St. sake, so long as he is in power Patrick in the Book of Armagh, of body and soul, that he follow decrees that causae majores the tracks of our Lord in good are to be referred to Rome for thoughts.”5 Needless to say, final settlement.”6 While con- these texts are full of ideas troversies like the date of which are exclusively Chris- Easter, were certainly dis- tian in nature and would no cussed, the point is that in all doubt be very foreign to a mod- this contact between Rome and ern day druid! Finally, con- Ireland there is no mention of a sider the correspondence and ‘Celtic Church’ with some sepa- personnel that travelled back rate identity free from the doc- and forth between Ireland and trine of Rome. The whole Rome during that period, as ‘Celtic Church’, as a non- one commentator pointed out: Roman Catholic Church, is “We find St. Columbanus in his very much a modern retrospec- letter to Pope Gregory II stat- tive label.
19 Celtic Christianity
In light of these facts, Footnotes one can certainly agree with this modern historian writing 1. History Ireland, vol.8, no.3, p.50, 52. in the authoritative New His- 2. Dáibhí Ó Cróinín edit., A New His- tory of Ireland: “the great con- tory of Ireland (Oxford, 2005), vol.1, p.319. troversies on this very issue 3. R A Stewart Macalister, Lebor initiated in the sixteenth cen- Gabála Érenn (Dublin, pre 1940), tury, and still rumbling on in vol.1, p.173. the twentieth, have been laid to 4. Studies (Winter, 1961), p.379. rest, at least in scholarly cir- 5. Whitley Stokes, Thesaurus pa- laeohibernicus: a collection of old-Irish cles. It is now clear that the glosses, scholia, prose, and verse early Irish church recognised (Cambridge, 1903), p.244-245. papal authority in the same 6. Irish Ecclesiastical Record vol.9 way as did other western (1888), p.202. churches: Rome was the final 7. Dáibhí Ó Cróinín edit., A New His- court of appeal for great causes tory of Ireland (Oxford, 2005), vol.1, p.lxix. A reference to the controversies and a city peculiarly sanctified of the Reformation times can be read in by the blood of many martyrs, Fr Henry Fitzsimons', A Catholick from Peter and Paul onwards.”7 Refutation (Roan, 1608), p.4 and 7.
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Pontmain
The Story of a Miracle
By Gina Connelly
It was the evening of the gates of Laval. Thirty-eight 17th January 1871. The lanes young men from Pontmain had and cottages of a small French recently left to fight and the hamlet were covered with a villagers were anxiously await- blanket of soft white snow. The ing news. An outbreak of ty- stars were already beginning to phoid had been declared and light the clear dark sky and the smallpox was spreading. air was bitterly cold. In the Heaven seemed deaf to the suf- quiet ordinariness of a rural ferings of an overburdened peo- village something extraordi- ple. ‘There is no use in praying, nary was about to take place, God is not listening’, they something which would lift the cried. spirits of a people slowly losing hope. The village of Pontmain, It was against this back- of the diocese of Laval in North- drop, a scene where in human ern France, was about to take a terms all seemed lost, that significant place in the pages of heaven intervened in a marvel- history. lous manner. Just before 6pm that evening, three members of The Franco–Prussian war the Barbadette family, César was at its height. Pontmain's and his two young sons; five hundred or so inhabitants, Eugène, 12 and Joseph, 10, had like so many of those in other been working in a thatched French towns and villages, barn in the village preparing were tasting the bitterness of food for the animals. war. The Prussian army was advancing. On the 12th it had The arrival at the barn of entered Le Mans and by Tues- Jeannette Détais, a local day 17th it had reached the woman, afforded Eugène the
21 Pontmain opportunity of a small break. school, Jeanne-Marie Lebossé, Making his way outside the 9, and Françoise Richier, 11, barn, his gaze was drawn to were brought outside by their the sky above a neighbouring teacher, Sister Vitaline. Fran- dwelling. There, about twenty çoise was the first to see, then feet over the rooftop, he saw a Jeanne-Marie. Both agreed lady of incomparable beauty. with the description given by She wore a dark blue dress the boys. Little by little, the strewn with golden stars. Her children described more of veil was black and on her head what they saw. An oval frame he could see a plain crown of surrounded the vision. Four gold, encircled by a thin red candles stood on horizontal band. This is how his brother supports inside the oval, two at Joseph, who had quickly joined shoulder height and two at Eugène outside the barn (who knee height. A small red cross afterwards became a priest of had appeared on the lady's the Congregation of the Ob- heart. lates of Mary Immaculate) and described what he saw: “to the Filled with wonder at freshness of youth was added what the children described, the most exquisite delicacy of the people chanted the Mag- feature and of tint, the com- nificat. Suddenly in the space plexion being pale rather than between the roof of the house otherwise. Smiles of ineffable and the feet of the vision, a sweetness played about the banner appeared. Against its mouth. The eyes, of unutter- pale background letters were able tenderness, were fixed on slowly formed. By the end of us... Like a true mother, she the Magnificat the children seemed happier in looking at could read the heavenly exhor- us than we in contemplating tation: MAIS PRIEZ MES EN- her.” FANTS (i.e. but pray my chil- dren) in printed golden capi- As word spread around tals. It was then about half the village people gathered in past seven, the vision having the street, hoping to see what lasted for over an hour. vision adorned the sky above the Guidecoq’s house. Two As the people prayed, another young boarders from the local sentence followed on the same
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line as before: DIEU VOUS scription was now complete. EXAUCERA EN PEU DE TEMPS (God will answer you From that very evening, soon). January 17th, 1871, the enemy troops did not take a single fur- The prayers of the villag- ther step towards the west of ers of Pontmain and of the France. Here are the words of French people were being an- the records of the German high swered in a unique and defini- -command: “The advance upon tive way. They now knew with Laval of the 20th Division certainty that Heaven was not (which we have noted was de- deaf to their plight. And in the cided upon and ordered) was back and forth of this most un- not carried out because on the usual vision Our Lady would night of January 17-18, the Su- teach them to pray without preme Commander made it ceasing. Before the end of the known that it was not planned Salve Regina a second line of to proceed further towards the writing had formed, underlined west with the Second Army.” by a large line of golden light: MON FILS SE LAISSE Then, on the date of the TOUCHER (i.e. My Son allows 18th, we read: “The pursuit of Himself to be moved). The in- the adversary (that is to say of
The outside of the barn where the Barbadette boys first saw Our Lady. 23 Pontmain the French) by the detachment this miracle in the midst of of General Schmidt thus came such great catastrophe for the to an end because of these pro- people of France? scriptions.” We can only answer with From the evening of Our Lady's own words. The in- January 17th events took a sud- scription spoke firstly of, and den and humanly speaking, therefore gave precedence to, inexplicable turn. prayer. “But pray my children”, it read... the 'mais' (translated Before the evening of into English as ‘but’) in French January 17th, the Prussians implying an insistence on the unquestionably wished to importance of what Our Lady march upon Laval. After the requested. evening of January 17th, indeed during the very night which And it seems it was in- followed, a formal and unex- deed prayer which had won pected order prevented General this miracle for the French. Schmidt from taking Laval. And a short time afterwards, in At Saint-Brieuc, a society fact only ten days later, on of prayer under the title of the January 28th, the armistice was Archconfraternity of Our Lady signed. of Hope had been founded in the year 1848 for the salvation Pious Frenchmen knew of the Church and of France. their salvation lay in the hands And it was there that the hymn of their Blessed Mother. “Mother of Hope”, repeated during the apparition of Pont- Our Lady of Hope of main, and so often in the vil- Pontmain had saved them. lage chapel in the preceding months, was composed. During The prayers of a nation the war, Saint-Brieuc was the centre of fervent prayers. As MON FILS SE LAISSE disaster followed upon disaster, TOUCHER (My Son allows it was decided that a solemn Himself to be moved) vow should be made to Our Lady of Hope. Precisely on What moved Heaven to grant January 17th, in the evening, at
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half past five, a request for the later, another heavenly tableau vow was presented. The vow would be seen on a gable wall, was immediately pronounced, in the rural village of Knock, in and during all of that evening another land - but for now all until 9pm solemn prayers were that lay in the future. For now recited in the sanctuary of Our it was enough for a nation to Lady of Hope. It was the day of know that it had been saved the apparition of Pontmain. through the prayers of her chil- These were the very hours of dren and the protection of the the arrival and departure of Blessed Mother. our Heavenly Mother. As a new year ap- On the same evening of proaches, a year which threat- January 17, 1871, in the ens to change the very fabric of Chapel of the Immaculate our country and the very foun- Heart, of Our Lady of Victories dations of our nation, let us in Paris, solemn prayers had turn to Mary. Let us learn and begun in order to obtain remember the great lesson of through Mary the cessation of the apparition of Pontmain: the war and the deliverance of MAIS PRIEZ MES ENFANTS the French capital. (but pray my children).
A lesson for our times God grant that we may!
One hundred and eighty miles Our Lady of Hope of Pontmain, from Paris, and only twenty- pray for us! seven miles south of the medie- val shrine of Mont St. Michel, ______lies the village of Pontmain. It was here that God deigned to Footnote answer the ardent prayers of a nation threatened by war and The SSPX has recently ac- disease. It was here, a short quired a property in Pontmain distance from the border of the close to the barn outside of French provinces of Normandy which the Barbadettes first saw and Brittany, that Our Lady the apparition of Our Lady. gave a message to her children. A little more than eight years
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Storming Heaven for the Unborn
By Fr. Marcel Ockerse
This Spring the govern- provement of the eighth ment plans to hold a referen- amendment, there is another dum in Ireland on whether or aspect even more essential, and not the Irish constitution that is the work of prayer and should be changed regarding penance. its restriction of abortion. At the moment, the eighth amend- The Save8 prayer group ment of the constitution, ap- is a spiritual work dedicated to proved by way of a referendum driving abortion out of Ireland, in 1983, admits that an unborn beginning with obtaining a child has a right to life, a right truly Catholic outcome for the which is as important as the referendum next year. Against mother’s right to life and the the overwhelming opposition of state guarantees to respect this the world, the flesh, and the right of the child and to defend devil, this can only be done by and vindicate it, as far as possi- the intervention of God’s ble, by its laws. mercy, and so we turn to prayer. Although the eighth amendment is not perfect, it Members of the prayer prevents the mainstream le- group offer daily a short prayer galisation of abortion in Ire- in union with all the other land. Already, many pro-life members and are allocated one groups are at work drawing out day per month on which they the ‘save the eighth’ vote for spend an hour in prayer, at 2 the upcoming referendum. o’clock in the morning. The Their work is good, praisewor- power of nocturnal prayer flows thy, and essential to success. from its purity of intention. We However, if we seek an im- break our night’s sleep for the
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sole purpose of rising to speak- Daily Prayer for the out- ing with our God, to plead for come of the referendum. the protection of dear life. O God, our refuge and our By an unbroken succes- strength, Who art the Author of sion of nocturnal holy hours, mercy, harken to the devout beginning on the feast of Christ prayers of Thy Church, and the King in October until the referendum next year, we hope grant that what we faithfully to “save the eighth” and obtain, beseech, we may effectually ob- over and above, the universal tain. Through Christ Our Lord. protection of life when it needs Amen. it most.
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Praying the Rosary on the coasts 26 November. 28 Autumn 2017
All Saints Parties, Christ the King party in St. John’s Hall, Cru- sade Outing in Athlone, Christ the King procession (from top). 29 1st Communicants in Cork (top); Christmas carolling at a nurs- ing home in Athlone (bottom). The Priestly Society of Saint Pius X in Ireland
Rev. Vicente A. Griego, Superior
Mass Centres Residences
Saint John the Evangelist Saint Pius X House Church 12 Tivoli Terrace South 1 Upper Mounttown Road Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin A96 KV65 A96 P793 (01) 284 2206 (01) 284 2206 Fr. Vicente Griego Corpus Christi Church Fr. Pierpaolo Petrucci Connaught Gardens Fr. Francis Gallagher Athlone, Co. Westmeath Fr. Marcel Ockerse N37 E671 (090) 643 3703
Saint Pius V Chapel Saint Joseph’s House 78 Andersonstown Road Court Devenish House Belfast, Co. Antrim BT11 9AN Court Devenish Lane Mr. McKeown (028) 9445 3654 Athlone, Co. Westmeath N37 NF77 Our Lady of the Rosary (090) 643 3703 Shanakiel Road Sunday’s Well, Co. Cork Fr. Leo Boyle T23 T389 Fr. Patrick Kimball (090) 643 3703
Our Lady of Knock Chapel Unit 5 Richbrook Business Visit fsspx.ie for complete sche- Park, Mill Road, Bessbrook, dules, weekly bulletins, and Newry, Co. Down BT35 7DT more information. The Priestly Society of Saint Pius X is an international society of common life without vows, whose purpose is the Priesthood and that which pertains to it.
The main goal of the Society is to preserve the Catholic faith in its fullness and purity, to teach its truths, and to diffuse its virtues. Authentic spiritual life, the sacraments, and the traditional liturgy are its primary means of bringing this life of grace to souls.