Revised and Expanded: On the Feast of the Dedication of the Church of Saint Michael the Archangel

Each of us fights a daily battle against the forces of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Saint Paul noted this in his Epistle to the Ephesians:

Put you on the armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and power, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high place. Therefore take unto you the armour of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace:

In all things taking the shield of faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one. And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit (which is the word of God). By all prayer and supplication praying at all times in the spirit; and in the same watching with all instance and supplication for all the saints. (Ephesians 6: 11-18.)

Saint Michael the Archangel is the one who carries that "sword of the Spirit," having struck down Lucifer when he rebelled against God:

And there was a great battle in heaven, Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels: And they prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven. And that great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, who seduceth the whole world; and he was cast unto the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. (Apocalypse 12: 7-9.)

Father Francis X. Weninger, S.J., explained the connection between the Feast of the Apparition of Saint Michael the Archangel on May 8, 490, on Mount Gargano, Italy, to the feas that we are celebrating today, the Feast of the Dedication of the Church of Saint Michael the Archangel:

Today's festival is called in the breviary of the Church, the Dedication of the Holy Archangel St. Michael. To understand this, it is necessary to know an event which took place at the time of Pope Gelasius I. in the latter part of the fifth Century. In Apulia, there is a mountain formerly called Gargano, now Monte St. Angelo, or Angel's mountain. Near this mountain, a herdsman was keeping his cattle. A steer strayed away from his herd and went into the woods on the mountain, to the entrance of a cave which was concealed by bushes. The herdsman, to drive the animal out of the cave back to the herd, shot an arrow at it. The arrow, however, turned and flew with great force back to him. The herdsman and those who were present were terrified at this and none dared to go nearer to the cave. They went to the bishop, who was at Siponto, a neighboring city, and informed him of what had occurred. The bishop, not doubting that a divine mystery was concealed under it, ordered his congregation to fast and pray three days, in order that God might graciously reveal it to them. At the expiration of the three days, St. Michael, the Archangel, appeared to the bishop and announced to him that the place whither the steer had fled was under his especial protection, and that he desired that they should dedicate the spot to the honor of God, and to the memory of St. Michael and all the Angels.

The bishop, greatly rejoiced, called the clergy and the people together, and having informed them of the revelation, formed a large procession and ascended the mountain. They found a large cave which was like a Church hewn out of the rock. Above the entrance was an opening by which the whole interior received light. To offer the holy sacrifice of the Mass in it, only the altar was wanting; but it was speedily erected by the pious bishop. The Church itself was soon after dedicated with great solemnity to St. Michael and all holy Angels. The fame of this event spread in a short time all around and drew a great many pilgrims to the Church, while the many miracles that took place there, were a visible sign that the veneration and invocation of St. Michael and the other holy angels must be very agreeable to the Most High. Today's festival was instituted to commemorate the dedication of the Church on Mount Gargano, hence it is called the dedication of St. Michael, as he is especially venerated in that Church. The commemoration of the apparition of this holy Archangel on Mount Gargano is celebrated on May 8th.

Besides this, other apparitions of St. Michael are recorded, which gave occasion, at different times, to the erection of splendid Churches in his honor, at Constantinople, at Rome and in France, as is to be read in the history of the Church. Experience has taught that this considerably increased the veneration of this great prince of heaven, and in truth we have most important reasons to show him especial honor; for, he is the head, or, as the Church expresses it, the prince of the heavenly legions. He is the first of those happy spirits who are continually in the presence of God, standing before His throne. It was he who, at the first moment of his existence, turned to the Almighty and submitted to Him in perfect obedience. It was he, who, so to say, first took up arms against the proud Lucifer, who would not be subject, but equal to the Most High. His humility, obedience and zeal for the honor of God raised him above all in heaven; as pride, disobedience and perfidy abased the proud Lucifer and precipitated him into hell. (Father Francis X. Weninger, Sermon on the Feast of the Dedication of the Church of Saint Michael the Archangel. The entire sermon will be published in a separate post several minutes after the publication of this revised and expanded reflection.,)

Dom Prosper Gueranger's own explication of this feast concentrated on the importance of angels and their role in Heaven and on earth in his reflection for today's feast of the Dedication of the Church of Saint Michael the Archangel:

The glorious Archangel appears today at the head of the heavenly army: There was a great battle in heaven, Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels. In the sixth century, the dedication of the churches of St. Michael on Monte Gargano and in the Roman Circus increased the celebrity of this day, which had however been long before consecrated by Rome to the memory of all the heavenly Virtues.

The east commemorates on the sixth of September an apparition of the victorious Prince at Chone (ancient Collossæ) in Phrygia; while the eighth of November is the solemnity of the angels, corresponding to our feast of today, and bearing the title: “Synaxis of Saint Michael prince of the heavenly host, and of the other spiritual Powers.” Although the term synaxis is usually applied only to religious assemblies here on earth, we are informed that in this instance it also signifies the gathering of the faithful angels at the cry of their chief, and their union eternally sealed by their victory.

Who, then, are these heavenly Powers, whose mysterious combat heads the first page of history? Their existence is attested by the traditions of all nations as well as by the authority of holy Scripture. If we consult the Church, she teaches us that in the beginning God created simultaneously two natures, the spiritual and corporal, and afterwards man who is composed of both. The scale of nature descends by gradation from beings made to the likeness of God, to the very confines of nothingness; and by the same degrees the creature mounts upwards to his Creator. God is infinite being, infinite intelligence, infinite love. The creature is for ever finite: but man, endowed with a reasoning intellect, and the angel, with an intuitive grasp of truth, are ever, by a continual process of purification, widening the bounds of their imperfect nature, in order to reach, by increase of light, the perfection of greater love.

God alone is simple with that unchangeable productive simplicity, which is absolute perfection excluding the possibility of progress; He is pure Act, in whom substance, power, and operation are one thing. The angel, though entirely independent of matter, is yet subject to the natural weakness necessary to a created being; he is not absolutely simple, for in him action is distinct from power, and power from essence. How much greater is the weakness of man's composite nature, unable to carry on operations of the intellect without the aid of the senses!

"Compared with ours," says one of the most enlightened brethren of the angelic doctor, "how calm and how luminous is the knowledge of pure spirits! they are not doomed to the intricate discoverings of our reason, which runs after the truth, composes and analyzes, and laboriously draws conclusions from premises. They instantaneously apprehend the whole compass of primary truths. Their intuition is so prompt, so lively, so penetrating, that it is impossible for them to be surprised, as we are, into error. If they deceive themselves, it must be of their own will. The perfection of their will is equal to the perfection of their intellect. They know not what it is to be disturbed by the violence of appetites. Their love is without emotion; and their hatred of evil is as calm and as wisely tempered as their love. A will so free can know no perplexity as to its aims, no inconstancy in its resolutions. Whereas with us long and anxious meditation is necessary before we make a decision, it is the property of the angels to determine by a single act the object of their choice. God proposed to them, as He does to us, infinite beatitude in the vision of His own Essence; and to fit them for so great an end, He endowed them with grace at the same time as He gave them being. In one instant they said Yes or No; in one instant they freely and deliberately decided their own fate.

Let us not be envious. By nature the angel is superior to us but to which of the angels hath He said at any time, "Thou art My Son?" The only-begotten Son of God did not take to Himself the angelic nature. When on earth, He acknowledged the temporary subordination of humanity to those pure spirits, and deigned to receive from them, even as do His brethren in the flesh, the announcements of the divine will, and help and strength. But "God hat not subjected unto angels the world to come," says the Apostle. How can we understand this attraction of God toward what is feeblest? We can only worship in humble, loving faith. It was Lucifer's stumbling-block on the day of the great battle in heaven. But the faithful angels prostrated themselves in joyous adoration at the feet of the Infant-God foreshown to them enthroned on Mary's knee, and then rose up to sing: "Glory ot God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will. (Dom Prosper Gueranger, The Liturgical Year.)

The angels are here to assist us, in other words, as we call upon them to help us scale the heights of sanctity. They help to prepare us to receive That which they cannot receive: the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of the God-Man Himself in Holy Communion. Unable to receive the One they serve and adore, the angels take delight in the fact that they help us to be prepared for receiving Him worthily each time we kneel at the altar rail and have placed on our tongues the Most Blessed Sacrament. They take delight in helping us to more and more devoted to the Queen of the Angels, Our Blessed Mother, and in imitating the virtues and the Catholic witness of the other saints. They plead for us to cooperate with both sanctifying and actual graces to bear whatever crosses come our way in this vale of tears so that we can, as the consecrated slaves of Our Lady's Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart, prosper under them unto eternal happiness in Heaven.

The angels are pleased when we meditated upon the truths of the Faith, poring through the pages of Holy Writ to mine the treasures that prompted Saint Jerome to spend most of his life in the work of preparing a proper and accurate translation of the Bible from the Hebrew and the Greek into the Latin Vulgate, which was then, by the way, the language of the people (a fact that is essential to point out to Protestants: Saint Jerome, a Catholic priest and theologian, wanted to make the entirety of the Bible accessible to the people in the lingua franca of his day, Latin).

The angels are pleased when we read about the lives of the saints, especially those like Saint Jerome who did battle for Our Lord against his enemies within the Church. Father John Laux wrote of Saint Jerome, "He was always in controversy with some one, and in the heat of the fight his quick temper only too often got the better of him. . . . His Dialogue on Pelagianism, one of the finest of his controversial writings, cost him dear" (Father John Laux, Church History, p. 138).

Yes, the angels are pleased when we respond to their promptings to spend our time immersed in the things of Heaven, which is the destination to which they have been charged by God to lead us as we make our pilgrimage here on earth.

Saint Michael remains as our helper today to do battle with the forces of the world, the flesh, and the devil in our own lives. Indeed, he appeared with Our Lady on Tepeyac Hill on December 12, 1531, plainly visible in the miraculous image left on the tilma of the Juan Diego, to remind us that he does battle with the demons abroad in the world, and there were demons aplenty in the savage land of the Americas prior to the arrival of the Spanish missionaries in the Sixteenth Century and prior to the miraculous conversion of over nine million indigenous peoples out of barbaric superstition to the true Faith. Saint Michael stands ready, as we know, to do battle with all of the evil, anti-Incarnational forces of Modernity in the world and of Modernism in the counterfeit church of conciliarism.

Pope Saint Gregory the Great explained the significance of nine Orders of Angels and the role of Saint Michael the Archangel and the role he plays in the economy of salvation, including in our own daily lives: 

We say that there are nine Orders of Angels, for, by the witness of the holy Word, we know that there be Angels, Archangels, Mights, Powers, Principalities, Dominions, Thrones, Cherubim, and Seraphim. Nearly every page of the holy Word witnesseth that there be Angels and Archangels. The books of the Prophets, as is well known, do oftentimes make mention of Cherubim and Seraphim. Paul, writing to the Ephesians, i. 21, counteth up the names of four Orders, where he saith: "The Father of glory raised (Christ) from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all Principality, and Power, and Might, and Dominion, (and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come.)" And the same, again, writing to the Colossians, i. 16, saith: "By (the Son) were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be Thrones, or Dominions, or Principalities, or Powers; (all things were created by Him and for Him.)" If, then, we add the Thrones to the four Orders of which he spake unto the Ephesians, we have five Orders; and when we add unto them the Angels and the Archangels, the Cherubim and the Seraphim, we find that the Orders of Angels are beyond all doubt nine.

But we must know that the word Angel is the designation, not of a nature, but of an office. Those holy spirits in the heavenly fatherland are always spirits, but they may no wise be always called Angels, (which is, being interpreted, messengers,) for they are Angels only when they are sent as Messengers. Hence also it is said by the Psalmist: ciii. 5, Who makest spirits thine Angels! as if it were, Of them who are always with Him as spirits, He doth somewhiles make use as Messengers. They who go on the lesser messages are called Angels they who go on the greater Archangels. Hence it is that unto the Virgin Mary was sent no common Angel, but the Archangel Gabriel. For the delivery of this, the highest message, it was meet that there should be sent the highest Angel. Their individual names also are so given as to signify the kind of ministry wherein each is powerful. Michael signifieth: Who-is-like-unto-God? Gabriel, the Strength-of-God, and Raphael, the Medicine-of-God.

As often as anything very mighty is to be done, we see that Michael is sent, that by that very thing, and by his name, we may remember that none is able to do as God doeth. Hence that old enemy whose pride hath puffed him up to be fain to be like unto God, even he who said, I will ascend unto heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will be like the Most High, Isa. xiv. 13, 14, this old enemy, when at the end of the world he is about to perish in the last death, having no strength but his own, is shown unto us a-fighting with Michael the Archangel, even as saith John, Apoc. xii. 7: There was war in heaven Michael and his Angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels. Unto Mary is sent Gabriel, whose name is interpreted the Strength of God, for he came to herald the appearing of Him Who was content to appear lowly that He might fight down the powers of the air. Raphael, also, as we have said, signifieth the Medicine-of-God, and it is the name of him who touched as a physician the eyes of Tobias, and cleared away his blindness. (Pope Saint Gregory the Great, as found in Matins, Divine Office, Feast of the Dedication of Saint Michael the Archangel.)

We all need something mighty to be done on a daily basis as we seek to grow in holiness and to avoid the near occasions of in as we seek to make reparation for the sins of our lives. Saint Michael the Angel is on call to help us. Why do we tarry?

Although there is controversy over the exact nature of circumstances that gave rise to Pope Leo XIII's composition of the shorter (1884) and longer (1888) versions of the Saint Michael the Archangel Prayer, there can be no controversy over the efficacy of praying either one or both of these prayers on a daily basis. The forces of evil are indeed arrayed all against us. Indeed, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, a veritable man of sin, has shown that he revels in that which is impure and indecent, mocking “complicated doctrines” while preaching a “gospel of love” that does nothing but reaffirm unrepentant sinners in their lives of degradation and reaffirms pro-abortion statists in their goal to vilify those who can sin by its proper name.

Consider just some of the devil's assaults upon our senses that many of us must face as we go about our daily business.

There are billboards that display the most hideous, indecent images and the kind of foul language that was confined eons ago to locker rooms and the docks.

We have to shop at pharmacies, which carry so many instruments of death today, and at supermarkets that assault our senses with horrible "music" and, especially during this time of year, with absolutely demonic images of the macabre in preparation for what has become, sadly, a cultural celebration of evil on All Hallows Eve, October 31.

Immodesty, one of the many fruits of the overthrow of the Social Reign of Christ the King and the rise of naturalism and all of its manifestations (religious liberty, separation of Church and State, civil liberty, freedom of speech, freedom of press, pluralism, religious indifferentism, materialism, positivism, utilitarianism, etc.), abounds everywhere.

We need the protection of Saint Michael the Archangel and of our Guardian Angels to help us to shield ourselves as best as possible from these evil influences and to pray for the conversion of those responsible for their promotion and/or who are immersed in the activities that flow from these wicked influences, which have enticed even so many Catholics to be blasé as over four thousand innocent preborn babies are put to death by means of surgical abortion every day in the United States of America alone.

We need the help of Saint Michael and our Guardian Angels to help us to wade our way through the apostasies and betrayals being promoted in the name of Catholicism by the counterfeit church of conciliarism. The deceptions of the present moment are nothing other than diabolically conceived and executed. There has never been a time in the history of the Catholic Church when men claiming to be Sovereign Pontiffs have praised false religions and have called their places of false worship as sacred. Worse yet, there has never been a time when so many Catholics who knew better sought not to defend the honor and glory and majesty of God and served instead as apologists for the apostates who have seized upon the ecclesiastical offices and engaged in the sort of blasphemies and sacrileges that inspired countless millions of Catholics, who did not want to give even that appearance of the approval of such evils, to give up their lives. We need to pray to Saint Michael the Archangel to defend us in battle against falling prey to quietism in the midst of these apostasies and blasphemies and sacrileges.

None of the apostasies or blasphemies or sacrileges promoted by conciliarism is a minor thing. It is not a minor thing when a man who believes himself to be the Vicar of Christ genuflects before a heretical and schismatic "bishops," as Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini/Paul  VI, did in 1964. The Vicar of Christ genuflects before no other man on the face of this earth. He is the Visible Head of the true Church founded upon the Rock of Peter, the Pope, by the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity made Man in Our Lady's Virginal and Immaculate Womb. Would Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ genuflect before any man?

This was not a minor matter. This was a grave sacrilege, demonstrative of Montini's belief that his authority as a putative Vicar of Christ was not universal in its scope.

Saint Teresa of Avila's words below, which will be repeated several times in this article, are a rejoinder to those who think that such symbolic gestures are but "minor" matters not indicative of a loss of the Catholic Faith:

"Know this: it is by very little breaches of regularity that the devil succeeds in introducing the greatest abuses. May you never end up saying: 'This is nothing, this is an exaggeration.'" (Saint Teresa of Avila, Foundations, Chapter Twenty-nine)

Similarly, it has not a minor matter when the conciliar "pontiffs" have praised the "Second" Vatican Council as "essential to the faith." Some non-sedevacantist Catholics have said that the "Second" Vatican Council bound nothing upon the consciences of Catholics, which is directly contrary to the very words of Paul The Sick himself at this hideous council's close on December 8, 1965.

How can a "council" that is said, falsely, to have bound "nothing" upon Catholics be "essential to the faith"?

Statements are either true or false of their nature. Do false statements no longer matter?

Is this just nothing, an "exaggeration" about which we should not be concerned in the slightest?

"Know this: it is by very little breaches of regularity that the devil succeeds in introducing the greatest abuses. May you never end up saying: 'This is nothing, this is an exaggeration.'" (Saint Teresa of Avila, Foundations, Chapter Twenty-nine)

Is it not supposed to matter that the various apostasies of conciliarism (the new ecclesiology, religious liberty, ecumenism, inter-religious dialogue, the separation of Church and State, episcopal collegiality) have been condemned by the true popes of the Catholic Church? (See: Father Curzio Nitoglia's comprehensive and most readable The “Magisterium” of Vatican II. for a good analysis of Lumen Gentium and of another conciliar defection from the Faith, episcopal collegiality.)

Does it not matter that quasi-official "agreements" (The Hope of Salvation for Infants Who Die Without Being Baptised) ) are at odds with the true teaching of the Catholic Church represent the actual mind of the conciliar officials, including that of the putative pontiffs themselves?

Is it possible to dissent privately, no less to promote publicly, from articles contained in the Deposit of Faith and to remain a Catholic in good standing?

Is every offense against truth and holiness and the honor and glory due the Most Blessed Trinity just an "absurdity" or a mere "aberration: that does not reflect the actual effects of conciliarism in the lives of ordinary Catholics at the parish level?

Is it not supposed to matter that a man who considers himself, albeit falsely, to be the Vicar of Christ walks into a mosque, taking off his shoes so as to signify that he is in a holy place, and then assumes a Mohammedan prayer position as he turns in the direction of Mecca?

Nothing?

An exaggeration?

Is it not supposed to matter that this same putative "pontiff" has personally esteemed the symbols of false religions with his own hands and has prayed at the Western Wall without invoking the Holy Name of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ? Nothing? An exaggeration?

"Know this: it is by very little breaches of regularity that the devil succeeds in introducing the greatest abuses. May you never end up saying: 'This is nothing, this is an exaggeration.'" (Saint Teresa of Avila, Foundations, Chapter Twenty-nine)

Is it not supposed to matter that an official representative of the putative Vicar of Christ at the time on Sunday, November 26, 2006, the now-retired but nevertheless busy-behind-the-scenes Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI, gave his permission for the world premiere of a motion picture, The Nativity Story, in the Paul VI Audience Hall that blasphemes the Mother of God by denying the effects of her Immaculate Conception in its portrayal of her as a sulky, moody and disobedient teenager?

Nothing, an exaggeration?

"Know this: it is by very little breaches of regularity that the devil succeeds in introducing the greatest abuses. May you never end up saying: 'This is nothing, this is an exaggeration.'" (Saint Teresa of Avila, Foundations, Chapter Twenty-nine.)

Each one of of own sins caused Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to suffer unspeakable horrors in His Sacred Humanity during His Passion and Death and caused Our Blessed Mother's Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart to be thrust through with Seven Swords of Sorrow. Each one of the apostasies of conciliarism has caused Our Lord to suffer a mystical Passion, Death and Burial in the past fifty-one years. No one of them is minor, no matter how many semantic devices are used to explain them away or to claim that they do not "matter" because they are not considered by conciliar apologists to be "officially" binding. Each of them is offensive to God and harmful to souls, millions upon millions of whom have been convinced in the past forty years that the Catholic Church taught error in the past and that everything is now open for discussion and debate and reconsideration.

Some try to defend the conciliarists, up to and including the Argentine Apostate himself, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, by saying that they, the conciliarists, remain Catholics in good standing because they believe in some "core" beliefs of the Catholic Faith. Apart from the fact that Pope Leo XIII stated quite clearly in Satis Cognitum, June 29, 1896, that those who fall from the Faith in one thing falls from the Faith in its entirety, Pope Benedict XV completely rejected any notion of a Catholic who could deny some of the truths of the Faith (say, religious liberty and the condemnation of the separation of Church and State) and remain a  believer in the Catholic Faith:

Such is the nature of Catholicism that it does not admit of more or less, but must be held as a whole or as a whole rejected: ‘This is the Catholic Faith, which unless a man believe faithfully and firmly, he cannot be saved’ (Athanasian Creed). There is no need of adding any qualifying terms to the profession of Catholicism: it is quite enough for each one to proclaim ‘Christian is my name and Catholic my surname,’ only let him endeavor to be in reality what he calls himself.

Besides, the Church demands from those who have devoted themselves to furthering her interests, something very different from the dwelling upon profitless questions; she demands that they should devote the whole of their energy to preserve the faith intact and unsullied by any breath of error, and follow most closely him whom Christ has appointed to be the guardian and interpreter of the truth. There are to be found today, and in no small numbers, men, of whom the Apostle says that: "having itching ears, they will not endure sound doctrine: but according to their own desires they will heap up to themselves teachers, and will indeed turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables" (II Tim. iv. 34). Infatuated and carried away by a lofty idea of the human intellect, by which God's good gift has certainly made incredible progress in the study of nature, confident in their own judgment, and contemptuous of the authority of the Church, they have reached such a degree of rashness as not to hesitate to measure by the standard of their own mind even the hidden things of God and all that God has revealed to men. Hence arose the monstrous errors of "Modernism," which Our Predecessor rightly declared to be "the synthesis of all heresies," and solemnly condemned. We hereby renew that condemnation in all its fulness, Venerable Brethren, and as the plague is not yet entirely stamped out, but lurks here and there in hidden places, We exhort all to be carefully here and there in hidden places, We exhort all to be carefully on their guard against any contagion of the evil, to which we may apply the words Job used in other circumstances: "It is a fire that devoureth even to destruction, and rooteth up all things that spring" (Job xxxi. 12). Nor do We merely desire that Catholics should shrink from the errors of Modernism, but also from the tendencies or what is called the spirit of Modernism. Those who are infected by that spirit develop a keen dislike for all that savours of antiquity and become eager searchers after novelties in everything: in the way in which they carry out religious functions, in the ruling of Catholic institutions, and even in private exercises of piety. Therefore it is Our will that the law of our forefathers should still be held sacred: "Let there be no innovation; keep to what has been handed down." In matters of faith that must be inviolably adhered to as the law; it may however also serve as a guide even in matters subject to change, but even in such cases the rule would hold: "Old things, but in a new way."  (Pope Benedict XV, Ad Beatissimi Apostolorum, November 1, 1914.)

Pope Pius XI, writing in Mortalium Animos, January 6, 1928, also rejected any notion of a distinction between "fundamental" and allegedly "non-fundamental" doctrines of the Catholic Faith:

Besides this, in connection with things which must be believed, it is nowise licit to use that distinction which some have seen fit to introduce between those articles of faith which are fundamental and those which are not fundamental, as they say, as if the former are to be accepted by all, while the latter may be left to the free assent of the faithful: for the supernatural virtue of faith has a formal cause, namely the authority of God revealing, and this is patient of no such distinction. For this reason it is that all who are truly Christ's believe, for example, the Conception of the Mother of God without stain of original sin with the same faith as they believe the mystery of the August Trinity, and the Incarnation of our Lord just as they do the infallible teaching authority of the Roman Pontiff, according to the sense in which it was defined by the Ecumenical Council of the Vatican. Are these truths not equally certain, or not equally to be believed, because the Church has solemnly sanctioned and defined them, some in one age and some in another, even in those times immediately before our own? Has not God revealed them all? For the teaching authority of the Church, which in the divine wisdom was constituted on earth in order that revealed doctrines might remain intact for ever, and that they might be brought with ease and security to the knowledge of men, and which is daily exercised through the Roman Pontiff and the Bishops who are in communion with him, has also the office of defining, when it sees fit, any truth with solemn rites and decrees, whenever this is necessary either to oppose the errors or the attacks of heretics, or more clearly and in greater detail to stamp the minds of the faithful with the articles of sacred doctrine which have been explained. But in the use of this extraordinary teaching authority no newly invented matter is brought in, nor is anything new added to the number of those truths which are at least implicitly contained in the deposit of Revelation, divinely handed down to the Church: only those which are made clear which perhaps may still seem obscure to some, or that which some have previously called into question is declared to be of faith.  (Pope Pius XI, Mortalium Animos, January 6, 1928.)

Catholics must reject the "teachings" of conciliarism. It is not possible to accept the condemned proposition of religious liberty and claim that one is upholding Catholic teaching. In addition to the many condemnations of religious liberty that have been cited in past articles on this site, The Syllabus of Errors, a document issued by Pope Pius IX that has been specifically rejected by Joseph Ratzinger (who called the text of Gaudium et Spes, December 7, 1965, "countersyllabus of errors"), did so in no uncertain terms:

78. Hence it has been wisely decided by law, in some Catholic countries, that persons coming to reside therein shall enjoy the public exercise of their own peculiar worship. -- Allocution "Acerbissimum," Sept. 27, 1852.

79. Moreover, it is false that the civil liberty of every form of worship, and the full power, given to all, of overtly and publicly manifesting any opinions whatsoever and thoughts, conduce more easily to corrupt the morals and minds of the people, and to propagate the pest of indifferentism. -- Allocution "Nunquam fore," Dec. 15, 1856.

80. The Roman Pontiff can, and ought to, reconcile himself, and come to terms with progress, liberalism and modern civilization.- -Allocution "Jamdudum cernimus," March 18, 1861. (Pope Pius IX, The Syllabus of Errors, December 8, 1864.)

One of the hallmarks of the conciliar "popes" has been their promotion of this very heresy of religious liberty. He has even gone so far as to blaspheme the first martyrs of the Church as having died for this heresy. Nothing, an exaggeration?

"Know this: it is by very little breaches of regularity that the devil succeeds in introducing the greatest abuses. May you never end up saying: 'This is nothing, this is an exaggeration.'" (Saint Teresa of Avila, Foundations, Chapter Twenty-nine)

The condemnation of religious liberty, which was offered by Popes Pius VI, VII, Gregory XVI, Pius IX, and Leo XIII in no uncertain terms, was still being reiterated as late as Pope Pius XII's address to Italian lawyers, Ci Riesce, December 6, 1953:

"Know this: it is by very little breaches of regularity that the devil succeeds in introducing the greatest abuses. May you never end up saying: 'This is nothing, this is an exaggeration.'" (Saint Teresa of Avila, Foundations, Chapter Twenty-nine)

The conciliar "popes" have told us over and over again that religious liberty is a fundamental "right" of the human being. If this is so, of course, then the Catholic Church had it wrong for nearly two millennia.

God the Holy Ghost, the very Third Person of the Most Blessed Trinity, failed Holy Mother Church?

Nothing?

An exaggeration?

"Know this: it is by very little breaches of regularity that the devil succeeds in introducing the greatest abuses. May you never end up saying: 'This is nothing, this is an exaggeration.'" (Saint Teresa of Avila, Foundations, Chapter Twenty-nine)

What did Jorge Mario Bergoglio say about the evil of Planned Barrenhood while he was in the United States of America three years ago?

Don’t you remember?

Of course you do.

Nothing. Nothing at all.

We need Saint Michael the Archangel to help us to recognize that each defection from the Faith is serious, that it is impossible to produce peace in the soul and hence within and among nations if souls do not accept the totality of the Deposit of Faith that Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ has entrusted exclusively to the Catholic Church and if they do not have belief in, access to and cooperation with Sanctifying Grace. There is no path to "peace," whether personal or social, that does not run through the Immaculate Heart of Mary and hence to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Not so for the conciliarists, obviously. Not so for the conciliarists, the insane dreamers who believe that "inter-religious dialogue" is the path to "peace" and "justice" in the world.

We need the intercession of Saint Michael the Archangel to protect against falling into the belief that none of the apostasies or blasphemies or sacrileges or actions of the conciliarists contrary to the Faith and thus to good of souls represents nothing but "an exaggeration."

We need Saint Michael, who defeated Lucifer and his minions in battle and thrust them down into Hell, to defeat the diabolically-clever forces of conciliarism that have convinced so many believing Catholics that it is no longer necessary to oppose heresy openly, that it not necessary to distance oneself, openly and publicly, from heresies and those who promote them, hating heresies as much as God Himself hates them and desires to have them eradicated from the face of this earth. 

Saint Jerome, whose feast is celebrated today, Saturday, September 30, 2018 (and my dear wife's fiftieth-fith birthday), noted  in his day that, "The whole world groaned, and was astonished to find itself Arian." Most every Catholic today finds himself immersed in the counterfeit church of conciliarism, either oblivious to its errors and apostasies and sacrileges or intent on trying to find some way to reconcile mutually contradictory principles with each other. 

As I noted seventy-two months ago now, though, To Be Blind To The Truth At This Point Is Irresponsible. Jorge Mario Bergoglio has removed all shadow of complexity and paradox and contradiction to speak plainly of the revolutionary goals of conciliarism while disparaging believing Catholics at almost every turn imaginable. Any believing Catholic who still labors under the misapprehension that this figure of Antichrist is the Vicar of Christ on earth, no less states that publicly, is showing himself to be as harmful to the integrity of doctrine as Jorge is as it is high time for all Catholics to understand how the Society of Saint Pius X's "resist while recognize" position is a rejection of Catholic teaching about the true nature of the papacy. No One Can Resist a True and Legitimate Successor of Saint Peter.

Our Lady, the Queen of Angels, and the Prince of the the Heavenly Host of Angels, Saint Michael the Archangel, will help us in the month of the Holy Rosary and of the Holy Angels that begins on Tuesday, October 1, 2019, to remain steadfast in our adherence to the truths of the Catholic Faith without making even the slightest concessions to conciliarism or to the "legitimacy" of its false shepherds. Our Lady and Saint Michael will help us to take heart from these words of Saint Jerome, which describe what happened after the world awoke to find itself Arian:

The whole world groaned, and was astonished to find itself Arian. Some, therefore, remained in their own communion, others began to send letters to those Confessors who as adherents of Athanasius were in exile; several despairingly bewailed the better relations into which they had entered. But a few, true to human nature, defended their mistake as an exhibition of wisdom. The ship of the Apostles was in peril, she was driven by the wind, her sides beaten with the waves: no hope was now left. But the Lord awoke and bade the tempest cease; the beast died, and there was a calm once again. To speak more plainly, all the bishops who had been banished from their sees, by the clemency of the new emperor returned to their Churches. Then Egypt welcomed the triumphant Athanasius; then Hilary returned from the battle to the embrace of the Church of Gaul; then Eusebius returned and Italy laid aside her mourning weeds. The bishops who had been caught in the snare at Ariminum and had unwittingly come to be reported of as heretics, began to assemble, while they called the Body of our Lord and all that is holy in the Church to witness that they had not a suspicion of anything faulty in their own faith. We thought, said they, the words were to be taken in their natural meaning, and we had no suspicion that in the Church of God, the very home of simplicity and sincerity in the confession of truth, one thing could be kept secret in the heart, another uttered by the lips. We thought too well of bad men and were deceived. We did not suppose that the bishops of Christ were fighting against Christ. (Saint Jerome, Dialogue Against the Luciferians.)

There is much of relevance to our own situation today in the description of Arianism provided by Saint Jerome, is there not?

Saint Michael the Archangel appeared to Jacinta and Francisco Marto and Lucia dos Santos in the year before Our Lady appeared to them in the Cova da Iria near Fatima, Portugal. He prepared their hearts for them to receive Our Lady's Fatima Message, which implores us to make reparation to her Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart for the conversion of poor sinners, especially by means of her Most Holy Rosary.

Saint Michael wants to prepare our hearts to fulfill Our Lady's Fatima Message in our own lives, thus making us more ready to call upon his angelic assistance to defend us in battle against the wickedness and the snares of the devil. Those snares are laid for us in the midst of the anti-Incarnational world of Modernity and in the very wicked ethos of Modernism that is in the counterfeit church of conciliarism. Our Lady and Saint Joseph and Saint Michael and our own Guardian Angels will help us to remain ever faithful in this time of apostasy and betrayal, making us ever desirous to offer up our daily prayers and penances of mortifications and sufferings and humiliations to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Consider the following passage from the text of the longer version of the Saint Michael the Archangel Prayer that was composed by Pope Leo XIII in 1888:

O glorious Archangel Saint Michael, Prince of the heavenly host, be our defense in the terrible warfare which we carry on against principalities and powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, spirits of evil.  Come to the aid of man, whom God created immortal, made in His own image and likeness, and redeemed at a great price from the tyranny of the devil.  Fight this day the battle of our Lord, together with  the holy angels, as already thou hast fought the leader of the proud angels, Lucifer, and his apostate host, who were powerless to resist thee, nor was there place for them any longer in heaven.  That cruel, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil or Satan who seduces the whole world, was cast into the abyss with his angels.  Behold this primeval enemy and slayer of men has taken courage.  Transformed into an angel of light, he wanders about with all the multitude of wicked spirits, invading the earth in order to blot out the Name of God and of His Christ, to seize upon, slay, and cast into eternal perdition, souls destined for the crown of eternal glory.  That wicked dragon pours out. as a most impure flood, the venom of his malice on men of depraved mind and corrupt heart, the spirit of lying, of impiety, of blasphemy, and the pestilent breath of impurity, and of every vice and iniquity.  These most crafty enemies have filled and inebriated with gall and bitterness the Church, the spouse of the Immaculate Lamb, and have laid impious hands on Her most sacred possessions. In the Holy Place itself, where has been set up the See of the most holy Peter and the Chair of Truth for the light of the world, they have raised the throne of their abominable impiety with the iniquitous design that when the Pastor has been struck the sheep may be scattered.

While some restrict the meaning of this beautiful prayer to little more than a catalog of the events that had occurred in Italy during the aftermath of the overthrow of the Papal States on September 20, 1870, is to ignore the prophetic nature of this prayer, which was certainly inspired by Heavenly forces.

After all, the anti-Incarnational age of Modernity was shaped in large part by the "light" of Protestantism and its off-shoot, the so-called "Enlightenment," of which the Illuminati have beena major driving force behind-the-scenes.

"Saint John Paul II" gave Catholics attached tot the structures of the counterfeit church of conciliarism the "Luminous Mysteries" in 2002.

Ah, the "Second" Vatican Council was really the flowering of the "Enlightenment" in what most people in the world, Catholics and non-Catholics alike, believe is the Catholic Church, right?

Jorge Mario Bergoglio is simply following the "light" with all of his dismissals of the importance of doctrine as nothing other than meaningless "rules" concocted by mere men to enslave the "joy" of the human spirit and to restrain the outflowing of God's mercy, right?

Look at the passage from the longer version of the Prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel to see who the source of this supposed "light" is and to see once and for all its truly prophetic, not merely historic, value:

O glorious Archangel Saint Michael, Prince of the heavenly host, be our defense in the terrible warfare which we carry on against principalities and powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, spirits of evil.  Come to the aid of man, whom God created immortal, made in His own image and likeness, and redeemed at a great price from the tyranny of the devil.  Fight this day the battle of our Lord, together with  the holy angels, as already thou hast fought the leader of the proud angels, Lucifer, and his apostate host, who were powerless to resist thee, nor was there place for them any longer in heaven.  That cruel, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil or Satan who seduces the whole world, was cast into the abyss with his angels.  Behold this primeval enemy and slayer of men has taken courage.  Transformed into an angel of light, he wanders about with all the multitude of wicked spirits, invading the earth in order to blot out the Name of God and of His Christ, to seize upon, slay, and cast into eternal perdition, souls destined for the crown of eternal glory.  That wicked dragon pours out. as a most impure flood, the venom of his malice on men of depraved mind and corrupt heart, the spirit of lying, of impiety, of blasphemy, and the pestilent breath of impurity, and of every vice and iniquity.  These most crafty enemies have filled and inebriated with gall and bitterness the Church, the spouse of the Immaculate Lamb, and have laid impious hands on Her most sacred possessions. In the Holy Place itself, where has been set up the See of the most holy Peter and the Chair of Truth for the light of the world, they have raised the throne of their abominable impiety with the iniquitous design that when the Pastor has been struck the sheep may be scattered.

The lords of Modernity in the world and of Modernism in the counterfeit church of conciliarism are guided by the same "light," which is the former light bearer himself turned into the Prince of Darkness, Lucifer/Satan.

Although some rationalists do not accept it as such because they cannot find written "proof" to satisfy their disbelief, Pope Leo XIII had a vision at Holy Mass on October 13, 1884, thirty-three years before Our Lady's final apparition to Jacinta and Francisco Marto and Lucia dos Santos in the Cova da Iria near Fatima, Portugal, wherein he learned that Satan would be given seventy-five to one hundred years to destroy Holy Mother Church.

Here is an account on the website of Saint Joseph's Catholic Church in Wayne, Michigan:

Exactly 33 years to the day prior to the great Miracle of the Sun in Fatima, that is, on October 13, 1884, Pope Leo XIII had a remarkable vision. When the aged Pontiff had finished celebrating Mass in his private Vatican Chapel, attended by a few Cardinals and members of the Vatican staff, he suddenly stopped at the foot of the altar. He stood there for about 10 minutes, as if in a trance, his face ashen white. Then, going immediately from the Chapel to his office, he composed the prayer to St. Michael, with instructions it be said after all Low Masses everywhere. When asked what had happened, he explained that, as he was about to leave the foot of the altar, he suddenly heard voices - two voices, one kind and gentle, the other guttural and harsh. They seemed to come from near the tabernacle. As he listened, he heard the following conversation:

The guttural voice, the voice of Satan in his pride, boasted to Our Lord: "I can destroy your Church." The gentle voice of Our Lord: "You can? Then go ahead and do so." Satan: "To do so, I need more time and more power." Our Lord: "How much time? How much power? Satan: "75 to 100 years, and a greater power over those who will give themselves over to my service." Our Lord: "You have the time, you will have the power. Do with them what you will. (As found at: The Vision of Pope Leo XIII.)

The jaws of hell will never prevail against Holy Mother Church, she who is the spotless, virginal mystical spouse of her Divine Bridegroom and Invisible Head, Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

This does not mean that the adversary will not win a few battles now and again in our own lives (perhaps more than we would care to admit, which is why we must make a thorough Examen of Conscience every night before going to sleep) and in the life of the Church Militant on earth. Anyone who does not believe that this has been case in the Church Militant on earth these past fifty-five years is refusing to see the plain truth that is before their very eyes.

Our Lady's Most Holy Rosary has won many important battles in defense of the Faith. Our Lady's Most Holy Rosary will win the battle against conciliarism at the present time. We need to do our part by praying, especially in this month of the Most Holy Rosary, as many Rosaries as our states-in-life permit, making sure as well to pray to Saint Michael the Archangel after we conclude our meditation on the fifteen mysteries of our salvation contained within the psalter given by Our Lady herself to Saint Dominic de Guzman:

Sancte Michael Archangele, defende nos in praelio, contra nequitias et insidias diaboli esto praesidium: Imperet illi Deus, supplices deprecamur, tuque, Princeps militiae caelestis, satanam aliosque spiritus malignos, qui ad perditionem animarum pervagantur in mundo, divina virtute in infernum detrude. Amen.

Invoking Our Lady and the heavenly court of angels, may it be our privilege to plant a few seeds as her consecrated slaves for the restoration of the Social Reign of Christ the King and of herself, Our Immaculate Queen. We need simply to trust in her maternal intercession and to invoke the help of Saint Michael and the other angels to avoid the traps of naturalism and conciliarism so that, as Pope Saint Pius X prayed throughout his pontificate, all things will be restored in Christ.

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!

Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us now and at the hour of our deaths. Amen. 

All to you, Blessed Mother. All to your Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, we love you. Save souls! 

Viva Cristo Rey! Vivat Christus Rex!

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us.

Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.

Saint Michael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Gabriel the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Raphael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saints Joachim and Anne, pray for us.

Saints Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, pray for us.

The Longer Version of the Saint Michael the Archangel Prayer, composed by Pope Leo XIII, 1888

O glorious Archangel Saint Michael, Prince of the heavenly host, be our defense in the terrible warfare which we carry on against principalities and powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, spirits of evil.  Come to the aid of man, whom God created immortal, made in His own image and likeness, and redeemed at a great price from the tyranny of the devil.  Fight this day the battle of our Lord, together with  the holy angels, as already thou hast fought the leader of the proud angels, Lucifer, and his apostate host, who were powerless to resist thee, nor was there place for them any longer in heaven.  That cruel, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil or Satan who seduces the whole world, was cast into the abyss with his angels.  Behold this primeval enemy and slayer of men has taken courage.  Transformed into an angel of light, he wanders about with all the multitude of wicked spirits, invading the earth in order to blot out the Name of God and of His Christ, to seize upon, slay, and cast into eternal perdition, souls destined for the crown of eternal glory.  That wicked dragon pours out. as a most impure flood, the venom of his malice on men of depraved mind and corrupt heart, the spirit of lying, of impiety, of blasphemy, and the pestilent breath of impurity, and of every vice and iniquity.  These most crafty enemies have filled and inebriated with gall and bitterness the Church, the spouse of the Immaculate Lamb, and have laid impious hands on Her most sacred possessions. In the Holy Place itself, where has been set up the See of the most holy Peter and the Chair of Truth for the light of the world, they have raised the throne of their abominable impiety with the iniquitous design that when the Pastor has been struck the sheep may be scattered.  Arise then, O invincible Prince, bring help against the attacks of the lost spirits to the people of God, and give them the victory.  They venerate thee as their protector and patron; in thee holy Church glories as her defense against the malicious powers of hell; to thee has God entrusted the souls of men to be established in heavenly beatitude.  Oh, pray to the God of peace that He may put Satan under our feet, so far conquered that he may no longer be able to hold men in captivity and harm the Church.  Offer our prayers in the sight of the Most High, so that they may quickly conciliate the mercies of the Lord; and beating down the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, do thou again make him captive in the abyss, that he may no longer seduce the nations.  Amen.

Verse: Behold the Cross of the Lord; be scattered ye hostile powers.

Response: The Lion of the Tribe of Juda has conquered the root of David.

Verse: Let Thy mercies be upon us, O Lord.

Response: As we have hoped in Thee.

Verse: O Lord hear my prayer.

Response: And let my cry come unto Thee.

Verse: Let us pray.  O God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we call upon Thy holy Name, and as suppliants, we implore Thy clemency, that by the intercession of Mary, ever Virgin, immaculate and our Mother, and of the glorious Archangel Saint Michael, Thou wouldst deign to help us against Satan and all other unclean spirits, who wander about the world for the injury of the human race and the ruin of our souls.  

Response:  Amen.