The Immaculata Our Ideal

The Immaculata Our Ideal Fr. Karl Stehlin The Immaculata Our Ideal The spirit of the Militia Immaculatæ according to Fr. Maximilian Kolbe translated by Michael J. Miller Kolbe Publications 2016 Originally published in German as Die Immaculata unser Ideal: der Geist der Militia Immaculatæ nach P. Maximilian Kolbe by Sarto Verlag Vereinigung St. Pius X. e.V. Dornbirner Str. 3 D-70469 Stuttgart GERMANY German edition copyright © 2004 by Fr. Karl Stehlin FSSPX English edition copyright © 2005 by Fr. Karl Stehlin FSSPX Polish edition copyright © 2005 by Fr. Karl Stehlin FSSPX French edition copyright © 2010 by Fr. Karl Stehlin FSSPX Russian edition copyright © 2012 by Fr. Karl Stehlin FSSPX Copies Available: Kolbe Publications 286 Upper Thomson Road Singapore 574402 email: [email protected] Printed I Preface THE IMMACULATA, OUR IDEAL, written by Fr. Karl Stehlin and containing many quotations from the lectures and writings of St. Maximilian Kolbe, is a priceless treasure for the clergy who are loyal to the Tradition of the Church and for all the faithful as well. Indeed, priests and lay people want not only to survive these extremely dangerous times unscathed, but also to sanctify themselves, to make progress in the spiritual life in these concrete circumstances and to bring it to perfection by means of these very circumstances. The Apostle Paul assures us: “God is faithful and will not permit you to be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also give you a way out that you may be able to bear it” (1 Cor. 10:13). But aren’t we doomed to be defeated in our combat today against the deceits of the devil, against the powers and principalities, the rulers of this world of darkness and the wicked spirits in high places (cf. Eph. 6:11 ff.)? Won’t this combat exceed our strength? Humanly speaking, defeat is inevitable. But precisely for that reason the Merciful God has given us in these days of confusion a bright beacon, a powerful general in this decisive battle, an infinitely loving mother in these dire straits, who gathers under her protective mantle all who entrust and consecrate themselves to her: the Immaculata. Her role in our personal, social, and ecclesiastical life has been elaborated theolo- gically in the works of Father Maximilian Kolbe. Every confrere who 5 reads these lines will draw from them new courage, new strength to remain completely faithful to his vocation within the family of Catholic Tradition. Every Christian will decide to enlist in Mary’s army, in order to fight for faith and morality, for the Church and Christendom. Furthermore the fruitfulness of the apostolate, practically speaking, depends on whether or not we take up the means of salvation which God Himself has offered for a particular time, and apply them appropriately, in keeping with Divine Providence; in our own days these means are consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, First Saturday devotions, and the Rosary. The true prophetic charism — which does not consist of new and dubious revelations, but rather is found in God’s call to conversion, repentance, prayer and penance — also has its proper place in the Church of the New Testament. Let us not forget that on December 8, 1984, the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X, with all its priests, seminarians, Brothers, Sisters, Oblates and Tertiaries, its entire spiritual family, together with their apostolate and their establishments, was solemnly consecrated to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary in the former chapel of the seminary in Ecône. All the superiors signed the document of consecration upon the altar, as did representatives of the Brothers, the Oblates, the Third Order and the association of benefactors. In addition, ever since August 15, 1988, the priests of the Society have taken turns celebrating a daily Mass in honor of Our Lady, to whom the Fraternity belongs, in thanksgiving for the inclusion of four bishops in her fighting force. When we enlist in the Militia Immaculatæ, then, what else are we doing but putting this act of consecration from 1984 into practice? 6 On August 22, 1987, in Fatima, Archbishop Lefebvre consecrated Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, insofar as that was in his power; what else was he doing but complying with the fervent plea of our heavenly Mother on July 13, 1917? Since then districts, seminaries and priories everywhere have been consecrated to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary. Who else but she will send us families with many children and gather them around the sacrificial altars of her Divine Son? Who else but she can obtain for us from our Heavenly Father seminaries and good vocations, religious houses and Catholic schools, holy priests and parishes that engage in apostolic activity? Can there be any room in our ranks for lack of faith, faintheartedness, despondency or even less for cowardly flight? In contrast to such an impious attitude, the Knight of the Immaculata always has the suppli- cation of the Church in his heart and on his lips: “Dignare me laudare Te, Virgo sacrata. Da mihi virtutem contra hostes tuos — Grant that I may praise Thee, Blessed Virgin Mary. Give me strength against thine enemies.” Deus vult — God wills it — was the battle cry of the Crusaders. Let us therefore, full of courage and confidence in the graces intended for us by Divine Providence through Mary’s hands, set out on the crusade of re-Christianizing and winning back the once Christian West, under the banner of the Immaculata. Deus vult! Zaitzkofen, May 24, 2004 on the Feast of Mary, Help of Christians Father Franz Schmidberger 7 Introduction “THROUGH MARY the salvation of the world began, and through Mary it must also be completed,” wrote St. Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort almost three hundred years ago. In these troubled times of the great apostasy, she is “our refuge and the way that leads to God” (Apparition of June 13, 1917, in Fatima). In order to show us this way, she selected, among others, great saints whose work has become a shining light for those who are seeking the truth. One of these great Marian souls is Maximilian Kolbe, who founded a movement that he called the Knighthood of the Immaculata — Militia Immaculatæ — in Rome on October 16, 1917, three days after the miracle of the sun in Fatima. The nature, history, and purpose of this movement have already been presented briefly in a small booklet.1 This book intends to help bring to light the great importance of this movement, particu- larly for our times. To accomplish this, the saintly founder himself will be allowed to have his say. With astonishing simplicity he awakens in every soul that experiences the attraction of his teaching a great ideal: the Immaculata and her significance in the life of the individual, of society, of the Church, and of the whole world. We discover that 1 The author refers to his 32-page brochure, written in German, entitled Militia Immaculatæ (traditionelle Observanz), die Ritterschaft der Unbefleckten Jungfrau [Militia Immaculatæ (traditional observance), the Knighthood of the Immaculate Virgin], published in Warsaw in 2002. 8 he is a tireless defender of Catholic Tradition, a mortal enemy of the liberalism and modernism which plague the world and the Church today. His movement is a precursor of all those movements which, in an age that has witnessed the triumph of God’s enemies, remain unswervingly loyal to Our Lord and to His Holy Mother and thus work effectively for the welfare of souls. The M.I. is a movement within the Catholic Church and has a specific mission from her: in this way the movement performs in-va- luable services to the Mystical Body of Christ (Part One). Its spirituality is theocentric, i.e. focused entirely on God: the Knight of the Immaculata discovers first in the Militia what is most important, the “one thing necessary”, namely, that he was created, not for this life nor for a paradise on earth, but rather for God, and that he lives in order to give Him honor. Thus he finds himself on the firm ground of the truth and now asks himself how he can correspond to it (Part Two). The heart of the M.I. is the secret of the Immaculata: She is the guiding star, the quintessential element in the life of Fr. Kolbe; this is the secret of his incredible successes, but also the secret of his own sanctity. From the moment when she appeared to the ten-year-old boy and offered him two crowns to choose from, until his heroic death in Auschwitz, she was the overarching reality of his life. He acknowledged her as the “mold of God”, which quickly and surely forms each one of her children and transforms them into Christ, even to the utmost degree of sanctity. He saw as his great mission the task of making her known and loved by souls (Part Three). One who wants to attain a goal also wants the means to that end. The Knighthood requires spiritual weapons in order to fight the good fight and to win the battle. Yet it is not the quality of the weapons 9 alone that proves the caliber of the army, but also the way in which these Knights learn to use these weapons. In other words, Maximilian Kolbe does not remain at the level of theory; he gives a simple but effective and practical introduction to the spiritual life Part( Four). Besides good weapons and good soldiers, an army also needs order, a structure: some activities depend on the individual, others on the community, still others require an elite, which not only takes on the most difficult assignments, but also constitutes the powerhouse that keeps the entire movement from becoming weak and superficial Part( Five).

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