Some Wear Clerics

"That. THAT's what we've hollering about. For years."

Sigh.

Planned Parenthood and ostensibly Catholic universities. Read it, disheartening as it is, and reinforce your Lenten desire for reparation. As you may have feared, more than one Jesuit university is cited.

St. Ignatius, pray for us!

-J.

A JESUIT archbishop who knows his archbishing.

Yes! YES! YES! YES!

Read this article about Action Jesuit® Abp. Terrence Predergast, SJ and be hopeful for both the Church and the Society. We may not have won yet, but we are winning.

AMDG,

-J.

Jesuit History

THAT. That's what we're talking about (Yes, again.)

Disappointing but not surprising news from Marquette and from Seattle U.

St. Ignatius of Loyola, pray for us!

-J.

A Jesuit on the reasons for self-giving.

From my son's principal, Fr. Willie García-Tuñón, SJ (edits and emphases mine)

AMDG,

-J.

On Friday, March 25th the Church celebrated the Feast of the Annunciaton. That beautiful day, when the Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and announced that she was called to be the Mother of God. That beautiful day when Mary said "yes" and became the Mother of Mankind. Not only does that day hold special significance for me as a Catholic but, as a Jesuit, it marks the day in 2006 I pronounced my final vows in the Society of Jesus. In a crowded gym here at Belen, I professed vows of poverty, chastity, obedience, and a fourth vow unique to Jesuits, special obedience to the Pope pertaining to missions.

On the anniversary of that beautiful day I include below the homily I preached:

This past week, as I and we have been preparing for this day of final vows, I have been stopped on numerous occasions by several students who have kindly congratulated me for my special day: 

1. Congratulations Father on your ordination… to which I responded: thank you, although that happened six years ago.
2. Congratulations Father on finally becoming a Jesuit… to which I responded: thank you, but that happened 15 years ago.
3. And my personal favorite, congratulations Father on your last rites… to which I did not respond.

St. Ignatius of Loyola experienced and gave name to a spiritual concept called “consolation without prior cause,” it means that every once in a while, God will bless His children with grace and consolation without the individual having asked for it. When I pray to God for strength or courage or patience and I receive it, that is consolation with a cause: I asked for it. But every once in a while, without having asked for it, God in His infinite generosity will bestow on you a shot of grace and consolation without you having asked for it.

I experienced this last week when I was walking up the stairs in our house to go to my room after dinner and had to stop and thank God for the peace and happiness I was experiencing. I then asked myself if there was a particular reason why I was feeling such consolation, such happiness and a strong sense of fulfillment. As I stood there, Fr. Sardiña walked by and asked, "¿Te estás preparando para los votos?" (Are you getting ready for your vows?) And then it hit me, the Lord wanted me to accept and profess my vows in the midst of undeniable consolation so that there would be no doubt as to how right this is.

What has taken place today is a demonstration of how important it is for me and for all of us to commit ourselves to Christ. I profess my final vows for life and thus commit myself forever to Jesus.

I have realized that there are three main reasons why I do this and they are all intimately tied together:

Reason #1: is because I love the Church. I love her teachings, her doctrine, her dogmas. I love her history and tradition; I love her saints and the Blessed Mother. I love the Pope, the hierarchy, the priests and nuns and deacons. I love the Society of Jesus. And I especially love you, her children.

Reason #2: is because I love Jesus. I love what He said and what He did. I love what He stood for and what He stands for. I love Jesus and I love serving Jesus.

And reason #3: is because I want you to love Him too.

H.E. Jorge Mario Cardinal Bergoglio's Ash Wednesday Homily

As you may recall, Cdl. Bergoglio scores pretty big with the Ruling Junta at SWC. Here is his Ash Wednesday homily. (As usual, the translation is mine.)

It captures our attention, the kindness with which the touches our hearts today. It is a maternal tenderness: Return to God, allow yourself to be reconciled to God, harden not your heart, listen to the voice of the Lord. Show yourself, as you are, to the presence of God: as a sinner…and empty out your heart, make room for the Lord to enter. The Church speaks to us as a mother and she wants us to start this Lenten time with this goal, to walk towards the Lord. Towards an encounter with the Lord. That encounter that takes place within our heart. For this purpose: to cleanse our hearts of all those things which distract us from this encounter, or disturbe us from this encounter. In the Gospel, Jesus tells us: "Look, this is not about dressing up your soul, but, rather, about changing it…with almsgiving…with fasting…that is, thinking with attitudes of service and dethachment…and with prayer, which is a petition to God. Alms, fasting or penance and prayer. To make room in your soul and to bring forth an encounter with the Lord.

But watch out! Do not do this for the sake of appearances because the enemy of the Christian is hypocrisy; Jesus wants us with an open heart, He ought not find us with hypocritical attitudes and thus He tells us:

“Look, cleanse your heart of weeds.”

"But how, Lord?"

“With prayer, penance and almsgiving.”

"Ah…but that's hard!"

Yes it is, like pulling weeds. That way your heart prepares for that encounter with the Lord. Return to God, allow yourself to be reconciled to God, harden not your heart, listen to the voice of the Lord. Make a place for Him in your heart, by means of prayer, penancand almsgiving, that He may come to you.

That's the invitation extended to you by the Chruch today, at the start of Lent; and the ashes imposed on us by the Church reminds us what a vanity is anything else that is not Jesus, the Lord. And we approach to receive teh ashes with that great desire to return to the Lord, to convert ourselves for Him, to harden not our heart, to listen to the voice of the Lord, to make a place in our heart where we might encounter the Lord.

Jesuits and Purgatory.

The following is taken from Purgatory by Fr. F.X. Schouppe, S.J. and it should remind us to pray earnestly for those souls awaiting their release from Purgatory. These souls can do nothing for themselves and depend on us, and that includes even the souls of those people we think went straight to Heaven.

AMDG,

-J.

The Dogma of Purgatory is too much forgotten by the majority of the faithful; the Church Suffering, where they have so many brethren to succor, whither they foresee that they themselves must one day go, seems a strange land to them. This truly deplorable forgetfulness was a great sorrow to St. Francis de Sales. “Alas!” said this pious doctor of the Church, “we do not sufficiently remember our dear departed; their memory seems to perish with the sound of the funeral bells.” The principle causes of this are ignorance and lack of faith; our notions on the subject of Purgatory are too vague, our faith is too feeble.

In order, then, that our ideas may become more distinct and our faith enlivened, we must take a closer view of this life beyond the tomb, this immediate state of the just souls, not yet worthy to enter the Heavenly Jerusalem. This is the object of the present work: we propose not to prove the existence of Purgatory to skeptical minds, but to make it better known to the pious faithful who believe with a divine faith this dogma revealed of God. It is to them, properly speaking, that this book is addressed, to give them less confused idea of Purgatory. I say purposely a clearer idea than people generally have, by placing this great truth in the strongest possible light.

To produce this effect we possess three very distinct sources of light: first, the dogmatic doctrine of the Church; then the doctrine as explained by the doctors of the Church; in the third place, the revelations and apparitions of the saints, which serve to confirm the teachings of the doctors.

To illustrate this subject more clearly, let us, in the first place, explain the nature of the revelations of which we speak.

Particular revelations are of two kinds: the one consists of visions, the other in apparitions. They are called particular, because they differ from those found in Holy Scripture, not forming part of the doctrine revealed to mankind, and not being proposed by the Church to our belief as dogmas of faith.

Visions, properly so called, are subjective lights, infused by God into the understanding of His creatures, in order to discover to them His mysteries. Such are the visions of the prophets, those of St. Paul, of St. Bridget, and many other saints. These visions usually take place when the subject is in a state of ectasy; they consist in certain mysterious representations, which appear to the eyes of the soul, and which must not always be taken literally. Frequently they are figures, symbolic images, which represent in a manner proportionate to the capacity of our understanding, things purely spiritual, of which ordinary language is capable of conveying an idea.

Apparitions, at least frequently, are objective phenomena which have a real exterior object. Such was the apparition of Moses and Elias on Mount Tabor; that of Samuel evoked by the Witch of Endor; that of the Archangel Raphael to Tobias; those of many other angels; such are the apparitions of the souls in Purgatory. That the spirits of the dead sometimes appear to the living is a fact that cannot be denied. Does not the Gospel clearly suppose it? When the risen Jesus appeared for the first time to His assembled apostles, they supposed they saw a spirit. Our Saviour, far from saying spirits appear not, spoke to them thus: Why are you troubled, and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; handle and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones, as you see Me to have. (Luke 24:37, etc.).

Apparitions of the souls that are in Purgatory are of frequent occurrence. We find them in great numbers in the “Lives of the Saints”; they happen sometimes to the ordinary faithful. We have collected those which appear best qualified to instruct or to edify and we now present them to the reader. But, it may be asked, are all these facts historically certain? We have selected the best authenticated. If, among the number, the reader finds any which he thinks could not stand the rigor of criticism, he need not admit them. In order to avoid an extensive severity, one which is akin to incredulity, it is good to remain that, generally speaking, apparitions of souls occur, and that they frequently occur cannot be doubted.

“Apparitions of this kind,” says the Abbe Ribet, “are not uncommon. God permits them for the relief of souls in order to excite our compassion, and also to make us sensible of how terrible are the rigors of His Justice against those faults which we consider trivial.” (La Mystique Divine, distinguee des Contrefacons Diaboliques et des Analogies Humaines.Paris, Poussielgue). St. Gregory in his Dialogues cites several examples, of which, it is true, we may dispute the full authenticity; but which, in the mouth of this holy doctor; prove at least that he believed in the possibility of the existence of these phenomena. A great number of other authors, not less reliable than St. Gregory, both on account of sanctity and learning, relate similar instances. Moreover, incidents of this sort abound in the lives of the saints. To be convinced of this, it suffices to peruse the Acta Sanctorum. The Church Suffering has ever implored the suffrages of the Church Militant; and this intercourse, bearing the impress of sadness, yet also full of instruction, is for the one a source of inexhaustible relief, and for the other a powerful incitement to sanctity.

The vision of Purgatory has been granted to many holy souls. St. Catherine de Ricci descended in spirit into Purgatory every Sunday night; St. Lidwina, during her raptures, penetrated into this place of expiation, and conducted by her angel guardian, visited the souls in their torments. In like manner, an angel led Blessed Osanne of Mantua through this dismal abyss. Blessed Veronica of Binasco, St. Frances of Rome, and many others had visions exactly similar, with impressions of terror.

More frequently it is the souls themselves that appear to the living and implore their intercession. Many appeared in this manner to Blessed Margaret Mary Alacoque, and to a great number of other holy persons. The souls departed frequently besought the intercession of Denis the Carthusian. This great servant of God was one day asked how many times the holy souls appeared to him. “Oh! hundreds of times,” he replied. St. Catherine of Siena, in order to spare her father the pains of Purgatory, offered herself to Divine Justice to suffer in his stead during her whole life. God accepted her offer, inflicted the most excruciating torments upon her, which lasted until her death, and admitted the soul of her father into eternal glory. In return this blessed soul frequently appeared to his daughter to thank her, and to make to her many useful revelations.

When the souls in Purgatory appear to the living, they always present themselves in an attitude which excites compassion; now with the features which they had during life or at their death, with sad countenance and imploring looks, in garments of mourning, with an expression of extreme suffering; then like a mist, a light, a shadow, or some kind of fantastic figure, accompanied by a sign or word by which they may be recognized. At other times they betray their presence by moans, sobs, sighs, or hurried respiration and plaintive accents. They often appear enveloped in flames. When they speak, it is to manifest their sufferings, to deplore their past faults, to ask suffrages, or even to address reproaches to those who ought to succor them. Another kind of revelation, adds the same author, is made by invisible blows which the living receive, by the violent shutting of doors, the rattling of chains, and the sounds of voices.

These facts are too multiplied to admit of doubt; the only difficulty is to establish their connection with the world of expiation. But when these manifestations coincide with the death of persons dear to us, when they cease after prayers and reparations have been made to God in their behalf, is it not reasonable to see therein signs by which the souls make known their distress?

In the various phenomena to which we have just drawn attention we recognize the souls in Purgatory. But there is a case when the apparition should be held in suspicion; it is when a notorious sinner, unexpectedly carried away by a sudden death, comes to implore the prayers of the living that he may be delivered from Purgatory. The devil is interested in making us believe that we can live in the greatest disorders until the moment of our death and yet escape Hell. However, even in such instances, it is not forbidden to think that the soul which appears has repented, and that it is in the temporary flames of expiation; nor; consequently, is it forbidden to pray for it, but it is proper to observe the greatest caution in regard to visions of this kind, and the credit which we give to them. (Ribet, Mystique Divine, vol. 2, chap. 10).

The details into which we have entered suffice to justify in the eyes of the reader the quotation of facts which he will find in the course of this work. Let us add that the Christian must guard against too great incredulity in supernatural facts connected with dogmas of faith. St. Paul tells us that Charity believeth all things (1Cor, 13:7), that is to say, as interpreters explain it, all that which we may prudently believe, and of which the belief will not be prejudicial. If it is true that prudence rejects a blind and superstitious credulity, it is also true that we must avoid another extreme, that with which our Saviour reproached the Apostle St. Thomas. You believe, He said to him, because you have seen and touched; it were better to have believed the testimony of your brethren. In exacting more, you have been guilty of incredulity; this is a fault that all my disciples should avoid. Blessed are they that have not seen, and have believed. Be not faithless, but believing. (John 20:27,29).

The theologian who expounds dogmas of faith must be severe in the choice of his proofs; the historian must proceed with rigorous circumspection in the narration of facts, but the ascetic writer, who cites examples to illustrate truths and edify the faithful, is not held to this strict rigor. The best authorized persons in the Church, such as St. Gregory, St. Bernard, St. Francis de Sales, St. Alphonsus Liguori, Bellarmine, and many others, as much distinguished for their learning as for their piety, when writing their excellent works knew nothing of the fastidious requirements of the present day –requirements which in nowise constitute progress.

In fact, if the spirit of our fathers in the faith was more simple, what is the cause of the disappearance of that ancient simplicity in the present time? Is it not the Protestant Rationalism with which, in our day, so many of our Catholics are infected? Is it not the spirit of reasoning and criticism that emanated from the Lutheran Reformation, propagated by French Philosophism, which, leading them to consider the things of God from a purely human point of view, makes them cold, and alienated them from the Spirit of God? The Venerable Louis of Blois, speaking of the Revelations of St. Gertrude, says: “This book contains treasures. Proud and carnal men,” he adds. “who understand nothing of the Spirit of God, treat as reveries the writings of the holy virgin Gertrude, of St. Mechtilde, St. Hildegarde, and others; it is because they are ignorant of the familiarity with which God communicates Himself to humble, simple, and loving souls, and how in these intimate communications He is pleased to illumine these souls with the pure light of truth, without any shadow of error.” (Louis of Blois, Epist. ad Florentium). These words of Louis of Blois are serious. We did not wish to incur the reproach of this great master in the spiritual life, and, whilst avoiding a blameworthy credulity, we have collected with a certain kind of liberty those which seem to us at once the best authenticated and the most instructive. May they increase in those who read them devotion towards the faithful departed. May they profoundly inspire all who read them with a holy and salutary fear of Purgatory.

“Since I am mentioning St. Lutgarda, ought I to speak of the celebrated apparition of Pope Innocent III? I acknowledge the perusal of this incident shocked me, and I would fain pass it over in silence. I was reluctant to think that a Pope, and such a Pope, had been condemned to so long and terrible a Purgatory. We know that Innocent III, who presided at the celebrated Council of Lateran in 1215 was one of the greatest Pontiffs who ever filled the chair of St. Peter. His piety and zeal led him to accomplish great things from the Church of God and holy discipline. How then, admit that such a man was judged with so great severity at the Supreme Tribunal? How reconcile this revelation of St. Lutgarda with Divine Mercy? I wished therefore, to treat it as an illusion,, and sought for reasons in support of this idea. But I found, on the contrary, that the reality of this apparition is admitted by the gravest authors, and that it is not rejected by any single one.

Pope Innocent III died July 16, 1216. The same day he appeared to St. Lutgarda in her monastery at Aywieres, in Brabant. Surprised to see a specter enveloped in flames, she asked who he was and what he wanted. I am Pope Innocent, he replied. Is it possible that you, our common Father, should be in such a state? It is but too true. I am expiating three faults which might have caused my eternal perdition. Thanks to the Blessed Virgin Mary, I have obtained pardon for them, but I have to make atonement. Alas! it is terrible; and it will last for centuries if you do not come to my assistance. In the name of Mary, who has obtained for me the favor of appealing to you, help me. With these words he disappeared. Lutgarda announced the Pope’s death to her sisters and penitential works in behalf of the august and venerated Pontiff, whose demise was communicated to them some weeks later from another source.

(Read this book Purgatory by Fr. F.X. Schouppe, S.J.)

Jesuits & Lent

Another excellent piece from Fr. Kenneth Baker, SJ:

Ash Wednesday usually occurs in February, but this year it comes later, on March 9. “Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return.” The Church offers this prayer for each one of us as the priest traces a black cross on our foreheads with the ashes from burnt palm branches. I wonder how often we reflect, especially when we are in good health and are busy with many good works, that a day will come, perhaps very soon, when we will die and our bodies will be placed in a cold casket six feet under the lush green grass in the local Catholic cemetery. I should ask myself now, “Where will I be then?”

As Catholics we should think about death each day, since it is included in many of our prayers. The Mass itself is a memorial and a re-presentation of the death of Jesus. A crucifix reminds us of the death of Christ. In the Liturgy of the Hours we are constantly reminded of the death of the Lord, of the death of the wicked, and of our own certain death. The Church, making use of the Psalms, reminds us over and over again that our life is fragile and fleeting, and that it will disappear like the morning mist.

Man naturally fears death. He knows it is certain, but he does not like to think about it. Contemporary American culture trivializes death in the media because it does not want to confront the awesome reality of death. It is strange, is it not? Scores of murders and deaths are shown on TV each day, but rarely, if ever, is the reality of death given serious treatment.

Our modern culture tries to create illusions of immortality. We see this in film and TV stars, in sports heroes, in popular politicians. But where are they now? Picking just a few well-known names at random, we can ask: where are Abraham Lincoln, John Wayne, FDR, Marilyn Monroe, John F. Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan, and all the rest who have gone before us? During their lifetimes they were thought to be important persons. Now they are gone, and most people pay little or no attention to them.

What a cruel fate awaits rich, powerful and famous men and women who appear to be something but who, whether sooner or later, are swallowed up by the jaws of death. Many of them do not seem to know that death is the fruit of sin, that “the wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23). And we Catholics—priests, religious and laity—are we any different? Do we heed the warnings of the Bible and the teaching of the Church that death is the punishment for sin—the sin of our first parents, Adam and Eve, and our own personal sins? Daily the Church urges us to repentance and conversion of heart, especially during Lent. Do we listen and heed her motherly warnings?

Just think about your relatives and friends who have died during the past few years. Where are they now? The Church teaches infallibly that there are only three possibilities right now before the Second Coming of Christ: purgatory, heaven and hell. Do you ever think seriously about the certain fact that you will be with those deceased friends and relatives one future day—perhaps sooner than you think? Do you pray for them and gain indulgences for them in case they are in purgatory?

The closer one comes to God in love and the more one submits himself to the will of God, the more one becomes like God in holiness, and the less fear one feels in the face of death. Actually, many of the saints have longed to die, to be dissolved that they might be united eternally with Christ. St. Paul said, “For me to live is Christ, to die is gain…. My desire is to depart and to be with Christ” (Phil 1:21-23). A daily awareness that we shall soon be judged by the glorified Christ for our words and deeds injects humility into our lives, and spurs us on to a more intense practice of the love of God and neighbor.

Starry-eyed Jesuit

An excellent piece on Br. (YES, B-r-o-t-h-e-r) Guy Consolmagno, SJ and the Vatican Observatory.

http://lacrossetribune.com/news/local/article_a6d7d2a4-38b8-11e0-ac83-001cc4c002e0.html

AMDG!

-J.

Fr. Mitch Pacwa, SJ discussing the new English translation of the Roman Missal

Fr. Pacwa on what the new translation is and ain't. AMDG, -J.

The sort of cautionary tale we have been talking about all this time.

An interesting piece at NRO on Fr. Drinan, occasioned by the release of a biography by Fr. Raymond Schroth, SJ which "puts Drinan’s form of moral reasoning on display, in a way which is intended to be sympathetic but conveys a deep failure of moral intuition on Drinan’s part."

AMDG,

-J.

THAT. That's what we're talking about. Part...uh, what number are we by?

Sigh.

http://blog.cardinalnewmansociety.org/2010/10/29/horror-drag-show-at-jesuit-catholic-college/

St. Ignatius, ora pro nobis...

-J.        

Jesuits You Should Know - RIP Fr. Florentino "Tino" Azcoitia, SJ

This from Fr. Willie García-Tuñón, SJ with some teeny edits from me.

AMDG,

-J.

*****************************

It is common practice for a Jesuit to have a spiritual director, someone you meet with monthly, or whenever necessary, to talk about your spiritual life. It is with this person you discuss your vocation with, the moments of consolation and desolation, and the person you confess your sins to. Yup, the spiritual director is an integral part of a Jesuit's life.

Well, mine died today.

Fr. Florentino Azcoitia, S.J. died at the "Jesuit Hilton" after 85 years of life, 70 of them spent as a Jesuit. Can you imagine that: 70 years as a Jesuit? If you do the math you realize that he was only 15 years old when he entered the Society of Jesus. I don’t even think I knew how to spell my name at 15 much less make a decision about entering a religious order and spending the rest of my life in it. But then again, Fr. Azcoitia, or “Tino” as we affectionately called him, was no ordinary Jesuit.

He was born on November 19, 1924 in Sagua la Grande, Cuba. He was very proud of his hometown even though we always poked fun at him claiming Sagua to be a hole in the ground that didn’t have electricity or running water. He had two passions in life, baseball and God. He always claimed if he had never entered the Jesuits he would have been a professional baseball player. But he opted for God and entered the Society of Jesus on August 31, 1940. He often spoke to me about how he struggled when he was very young, wanting to lose his love for baseball so he could focus more on his love for God. He accomplished that, because I don’t think I had ever met a man more passionate about Jesus Christ.

In spiritual direction he would always remind me that the most important thing for a Jesuit was to be "intimate with Jesus." He loved using that word “intimate” and insisted that just like a husband or wife could be intimate with their spouse, a Jesuit could be intimate with Jesus. I must admit that, at first, the way he put it threw me off, but I grew to understand what he meant and realized that his long hours in the chapel in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament and his love of the Bible were his way of being “intimate” with the Lord.

Forty years ago Fr. Tino founded the apostolic movement Encuentros Familiares/Family Encounters with the specific purpose of trying to help keep families together. His idea was to take the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola and, with them, create a family retreat model. In addition, he built the Manresa Retreat House where he could hold the retreats on the weekends and see people for spiritual direction on the weekdays. For thousands of people he was a spiritual "guru," a man who helped to center them and their families in Christ.

There is no doubt that Tino Azcoitia exhausted his life in serving Christ and his Church. It is no coincidence, then, that he died today, on the feast of the North American martyrs Sts. Isaac Joques, Jean de Brébeuf and companions. Although not at the hands of the Hurons, he did shed his life and blood in Miami for scores of individuals who came to him seeking advice and spiritual direction.

As for me, I have lost a spiritual father, a guide who has helped me keep my love for Jesus strong and my vocation intact. But I'm not worried. I realize that he can do more for me now in Heaven than he could ever have done for me here on Earth. But I will miss him and will always be grateful to him.

God bless,
Fr. Willie

Yep. Again.

A SWC tradition...

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The North American Martyrs
 
by Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.

Our reflections for this afternoon are on the North American Martyrs. There were eight of them and they were all members of the Society of Jesus. It might be well to know who they were, or in Heaven, who they are. They were Saints Jean de Brebeuf, Isaac Jogues, Antoine Daniel, Gabriel Lalemant, Charles Garnier, Noel Chabanel, René Goupil and Jean Lalande. The last two were what we call, Oblates, they were not yet accepted and had not pronounced their vows, but the Society has always considered them members and surely martyrs of the Society of Jesus. All eight were canonized in 1930. They lived in the 17th century and the eight of them were killed for the faith between 1642 and 1649.

Isaac Jogues was first taken as a slave by the Mohawks in doing the most humiliating tasks among the Indians. He was tortured, in the process had his fingers chewed [!] off. He managed to escape, went back to France and the question was -- would he be able to say Mass. Pope Urban the 8th gave him permission. The Holy Father declared it would be unjust for a martyr of Christ not to drink the blood of Christ. So Isaac Jogues was, when he came back to the New World, was tomahawked to death. Antoine Daniel was offering Mass when the Iroquois attacked a Huron village. The Hurons were interested in the faith and Daniel was preaching among them and most of the people were interested in being received into the Church, but the Iroquois attacked. Daniel during the attack, ran around baptizing everybody in sight. Well, he baptized quite a few, but, he still saw a crowd that he had not reached so he took some wet rags and squeezed the water on these people while pronouncing the words of baptism. He himself did not try to escape. He was pierced with arrows and then all the people were huddled into a Church, the Church was set afire and the pierced body of Daniel, still breathing, was thrown into the Church where he had been offering Mass.

From all accounts the worst tortures were reserved for Brebeuf and Lalemant. Among other excruciating pain which they had to suffer, they had their hands lopped off, had red hot hatchets applied to their bodies, then the Indians made belts of bark, soaked these belts in tar, bound their bodies with this resin dipped bark and set the bark and tar on fire. They were still not dead so pieces of their flesh were cut off with huge knives and miraculously they stayed alive so then the Indians to finish them off had cauldrons of boiling water poured on their bodies. It is no wonder given the circumstances of their martyrdom that the Indians were so impressed by the courage of these two men that after they died, the Indians drank their blood in order to acquire some of their courage. 

Chabanel, who was one of the last martyrs, he vowed under the most excruciating pain and this went on for a long time, he vowed to remain among the Indians until he died, took a vow of perseverance until death. Finally, Garnier. He, too, like one of his conferees, died while he was teaching, in this case, already converted Indians. As you know the Indians, one tribe was always warring against another. Garnier, therefore, died while his Christians were being attacked and in order to make sure that they were all prepared for death, he went about, ran about actually, giving them absolution and then, he himself was killed with a blow of an Indian hatchet. So much for the description. All I know is that when I was a novice, you can't imagine with what delight I read these stories and thought to myself, "what a wonderful order I was joining."

I can tell you their martyrdom has given me courage many times over the years. It's why I'm absolutely sure, although we've lost ten thousand Jesuits throughout the world, since the second Vatican Council, and the Pope as you know, is bound to reform [and] I'm sure he's going to succeed and in my own little thimble way I'm trying to help the cause. I'm sure a reformation will take place and we'll get back to the spirit of Ignatius. We don't have men like this interceding for you in Heaven without assured success. So much for the collective biography. 

(emphasis mine -J.)

This little light of thine...

It is a very poorly kept secret that much of the content issuing forth from the contributors to America Magazine tests the family history of hypertension of the ruling junta of SWC.

We (in an abundance of Christian charity, we hope) disagree with much which they issue. Not as much now as back when the perennially fact-allergic MSW was on the staff, but still, a lot.

However!

We must, when circumstances adamantly demand it, issue "mad props" as the kids say. Or used to say back in 2006. America Magazine has merited all the mad props in the SWC drawer of Mad Propness. In fact, we may have to borrow more mad props from the blog next door (which I believe is by a very nice senior citizen in Omaha, and her retinue of Burmese cats) in order that we may have enough to issue to them. Yes, even belatedly.

The mad props go to Jennifer Fulwiler, for a particularly moving and powerful piece expressing her evolution from a "pro choice atheist" to a "pro life Catholic."

No, seriously, go read it now. Well done, America Magazine.

AMDG,

-J.

Trying a new thing w. Twitter. Don't panic. AMDG. -J.

Happy Feast of Saint Peter Claver SJ. http://yfrog.com/1n5uyj Learn more http://bit.ly/a4AkBp

Jesuit rebuttal.

A Jesuit priest rebuts arguments raised by Stephen Hawking, who says that God had no role in creating the Universe. 

http://fb.me/BVgl4uL9 

AMDG,

-J.

h/t Fr. Mark Mossa, SJ.

Please stand by

Am working on a translation of a GREAT open letter to Catechists from Jorge Mario Cardinal Bergoglio, SJ the Archbishop of Buenos Aires.

(Argentine Spanish is not the easiest thing to translate.)

Another one!

Today is the feast day of St. Alberto Hurtado, SJ.

Over at America Magazine, Fr. James Martin, SJ has a brief yet wonderful tribute to this manifestly saintly man.

(For more, click here.)

AMDG,

-J.