Conciliarism's Preferential Option for Idolatry

The Third Person of the Most Blessed Trinity, God the Holy Ghost, directed Saint Elias to fight the Ba’al and his false idols that were worshiped by apostate Jews on Mount Carmel.

The prophet Elias destroyed the devils of Ba’al atop Mount Carmel, signifying a direct connection between the Brown Scapular that Our Lady gave to Saint Simon Stock and firm opposition to any kind of false ecumenism, including any kind of recognition of “worth” accorded to any false religion and its beliefs, rituals and practices:

“‘Nevertheless send now, and gather unto me all Israel, unto Mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, who eat at Jezebel’s table.’

“Achab sent to all the children of Israel, and gathered together the prophets unto Mount Carmel.

“And Elias coming to all the people, said: ‘How long do you halt between two sides? If the Lord be God, follow Him: but if Baal, follow him.’ And the people did not answer him a word.

“And Elias said again to the people: ‘I only remain a prophet of the Lord: but the prophets of Baal are four hundred and fifty men. Let two bullocks be given us, and let them choose one bullock and cut it in pieces and lay it upon wood, but put no fire under: and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under it. Call ye the names of your gods, and I will call on the name of my Lord; and the God that shall answer by fire, let him be God.’ And all of the people answering said: ‘A very good proposal.’

“Then Elias said to the prophets of Baal: ‘Choose you one bullock and dress it first, because you are many; and call on the names of your gods, but put no fire under.’

“And they took the bullock which he gave them, and dressed it; and they called on the name of Baal from morning even till noon, saying: ‘O Baal, hear us.’ But there was no voice, nor any that answered: and they leaped over the altar that they had made.

“And when it was now noon, Elias jested at them, saying: ‘Cry with a louder voice: for he is a God, and perhaps he is talking, or he is in an inn, or on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep, and must be awaked.’

“So they cried with a loud voice, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till they were covered with blood. And after midday was past, and while they were prophesying, the time was come of offering sacrifice, and there was no voice heard, nor did any one answer, nor regard them as they prayed: Elias said to the people: ‘Come ye unto me.’ And the people coming near unto him, he repaired the altar of the Lord, that was broken down:

“And he took twelve stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord came, saying: ‘Israel shall be thy name.’ And he built with the stones an altar to the name of the Lord: and he made a trench for water, of the breadth of two furrows round about the altar. And he laid the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid it upon the wood.

“And he said: “Fill four buckets with water, and pour it upon the burnt offering, and upon the wood.’ And again he said: ‘Do the same the second time.’ And when they had done it the second time, he said: ‘Do the same also the third time.’ And they did so the third time. And the water run about the altar, and the trench was filled with water.

“And when it was now time to offer the holocaust, Elias the prophet came near and said: ‘O Lord God of Abraham and Isaac, and Israel, show this day that thou art the God of Israel, and I thy servant, and that according to they commandment I have done all these things. Hear me, O Lord, hear me: that this people may learn, that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart again.’

“Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the holocaust, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, andtelicked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw this, they fell on their faces, and they said: ‘The Lord he is God, the Lord he is God.’ And Elias said to them: ‘Take the prophets of Baal, and let not one of them escape.’ And when they had taken them, Elias brought them down to the torrent Cison, and killed them there” (3 Kings 18:19-40)

Sacred Scripture is very clear about the worship of false idols:

I am the LORD thy God: thou shalt not have strange Gods before me.

For all the gods of the Gentiles are devils: but the Lord made the heavens. (Psalm 95: 5)

Pope Leo XIII, with whose encyclical letters Robert Francis Prevost/Leo XIV is completely unfamiliar other than a facile reading of Rerum Novarum, May 15, 1891, as he, Prevost, believes in everything condemned by Pope Leo XIII, wrote the following about those who attempt to reconcile Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and Belial:

Everyone should avoid familiarity or friendship with anyone suspected of belonging to masonry or to affiliated groups. Know them by their fruits and avoid them. Every familiarity should be avoided, not only with those impious libertines who openly promote the character of the sect, but also with those who hide under the mask of universal tolerance, respect for all religions, and the craving to reconcile the maxims of the Gospel with those of the revolution. These men seek to reconcile Christ and Belial, the Church of God and the state without God. (Pope Leo XIII, Custodi di Quella Fede, December 8, 1892.)

Our last true pope thus far, Pope Pius XII, summarized the entirety of Holy Mother Church’s teaching about her relationship with pagan idols in the following passage of Ci Riesce, December 6, 1953:

Her deportment has not changed in the course of history, nor can it change whenever or wherever, under the most diversified forms, she is confronted with the choice: either incense for idols or blood for Christ. The place where you are now present, Eternal Rome, with the remains of a greatness that was and with the glorious memories of its martyrs, is the most eloquent witness to the answer of the Church. Incense was not burned before the idols, and Christian blood flowed and consecrated the ground. But the temples of the gods lie in the cold devastation of ruins howsoever majestic; while at the tombs of the martyrs the faithful of all nations and all tongues fervently repeat the ancient Creed of the Apostles. (Pope Pius XII, Ci Riesce, December 6, 1953.)

The Catholic Church will never change her teaching concerning false idols and her true popes and bishops will never burn incense before the idols nor praise the temples of false worship as “sacred places.”

Ah, but the lords of the counterfeit church of conciliarism do this all the time, including in Peru, where a pagan ceremony honoring the false idol Pachamama, took place on August 13, 2026, the Feast of Saints Cassian and Hippolytus and, in some places, the Feast of Our Lady, Refuge of Sinners:

The damned idol Pachamama.

It sounds like a joke, but it's not.  Last week, a high-ranking Vatican official participated in a Pachamama ritual alongside two Catholic bishops. The ritual took place on August 13 at a conference in Cusco, a Peruvian city in the Andean highlands, promoted by the Catholic Church. The event served as a prelude to Pope Leo XIV's planned visit to the country, as previously reported by InfoVaticana. Jordi Bertomeu, who works at the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and as the papal commissioner for cases of clerical sexual abuse, actively participated by placing coca leaves among the ritual offerings. Also in attendance were Bishop Lizardo Estrada Herrera, Secretary General of CELAM (Latin American and Caribbean Episcopal Council), and Bishop Miguel Ángel Cadenas of Iquitos, Peru. “This month of August is very special for us, for the Andean worldview; it is the month of Mother Earth, who loves us so much, who is so affectionate, who is so generous, who gives us food,” said a woman who was leading the ceremony.  

The official version in  Vatican News   is that the event, titled “Weaving Voices for Dignity: For Human Rights and the Common Good,” brought together Catholic leaders from the region with “representatives of social organizations, Indigenous peoples and communities, grassroots groups, and human rights defenders from nine regions of southern Peru.” It states that the purpose of the meeting was to provide “a space to share experiences from different territories, identify common challenges, and develop proposals in response to the main human rights problems facing the country.” “The initiative is being developed as part of the preparations for the upcoming visit of Pope Leo XIV to Peru, creating a space for encounter between the Church, social organizations, human rights defenders, and representatives from different territories to gather their voices and strengthen commitments to human dignity and the common good.” 

The official Vatican version made no mention of either the ritual offering to "Mother Earth" or Bertomeu's participation. Nothing new under the sun. In 1995, while still an Augustinian priest, Father Robert Prevost participated in an official theological symposium in São Paulo, Brazil, whose program included a ritual in honor of Pachamama, Mother Earth. Photographs show  him piously kneeling among the participants during the ceremony. Rome was once, for many centuries, the capital of paganism, and it's not easy to lecture. Its museums, including those of the Vatican, are full of pagan gods of an artistic level infinitely superior to the primitive idol Pachamama. If we're going to be pagan, we'll go for the worst and most vulgar. Even the Roman pagans would be horrified by such vulgarity. (Integral human development, the Vatican despises the Catholic fathers, the authority of the Pope, the idol of Pachamama, who guards Tradition?, the Vatican athletics, the Swiss Guard, the Italian deacons, the Tridentine rite, the forbidden Fraternity in Lourdes, the validity of Vatican II.)

As a side note before continuing, a woman who attend my “Living in the Shadow of the Cross” lecture series at Our Lady of Fatima Church in Pequannock, New Jersey, during the Fall of 2001 who was an art historian told me that it was her belief that the problems that later manifested themselves as Modernism had their origins when the Vatican Museum permitted pagan images to be displayed. Her thesis was simply that, a thesis.

However, God will not be mocked, and it was exactly seven days after the Pachamama apostasy that a major earthquake shook the very site of the sacrilege, Cusco, Peru:

CUSCO, Peru (LifeSiteNews) — A massive 6.7-magnitude earthquake could be felt in Cusco, Peru, Thursday afternoon, a week after a Vatican official participated in a Pachamama ritual there alongside two Catholic bishops.

The “unusually powerful earthquake,” which struck near Arequipa on August 20, could be felt by about 2.4 million people, including those in Cusco, but resulted in no deaths and minimal injuries and structural damage, per Earthquakelist.org and other news outlets.

Exactly a week earlier, on August 13, during a conference in the same Peruvian city ahead of Pope Leo XIV’s November visit to the country, Monsignor Jordi Bertomeu, a priest and canon lawyer who serves in the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and as papal commissioner for clerical sexual abuse cases, took an active part in an Andean ritual dedicated to Pachamama, which involved coca leaves, food offerings, and guided breathing exercises.

Earthquakes have historically been associated with God’s divine punishment for sin.

Video shared with Spanish news outlet InfoVaticana showed Bertomeu placing coca leaves among the ritual offerings. Bishop Lizardo Estrada Herrera, secretary-general of CELAM (Latin American and Caribbean Episcopal Council), and Bishop Miguel Ángel Cadenas of Iquitos, Peru, were also in attendance during the pagan ritual.

Michael Hichborn reported this week that the event was also organized “to dialogue, share their demands, and build agreements around human rights and the common good,” drawing together:

Representatives of social organizations, indigenous and peasant communities, women’s and youth groups, LGBTIQ+ people, people with disabilities, human and environmental rights defenders, relatives of victims of state violence, and faith communities.

“So, in addition to opening the meeting with idolatrous veneration of a pagan deity, the meeting was held in conjunction with LGBT groups to include such in the promotion of ‘human dignity’ and ‘human rights,'” Hichborn stated in his article.

While this earthquake may not be the result of God’s punishment, the possibility cannot be ignored. The Catholic Church teaches that as a result of the fall, evil entered the world and affected nature, creating the possibility for natural disasters.

Indeed, in the book of Genesis, we see God punish the world for its grave sins by destroying it through the great flood, or the deluge, sparing only Noah and his family. ('Unusually powerful' earthquake hits city where Pachamama idolatry performed.)

I, for one, do not believe this recent Peruvian earthquake, no matter how minor was any more unrelated to the Pachamama sacrilege than the earthquake that hit Assisi, Italy, on September 27, 1997, one shy of the eleventh anniversary of Karol Jozef Wojtyla/John Paul II’s “World Day of Peace” interreligious potpourri that placed the putative Vicar of Christ on earth as an equal with the rabbis, shamans, imams, and other idol worshipers in what has become known colloquially as “Assisi I:”

The historic Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi suffered serious damage on this day in 1997 when two earthquakes struck in the central Apennines.

The quakes claimed 11 lives in the Assisi area and forced the evacuation of 70 per cent of buildings in the Umbrian town, at least temporarily, because of safety fears.

Many homes were condemned as unsafe for occupation and residents had to be housed in makeshift accommodation.

The event also caused considerable damage to frescoes painted in the 13^th century by Giotto and to other important works by Cimabue, Pietro Lorenzetti and Simone Martini.

The first quake, measuring 5.5 on the Richter Scale, struck shortly after 2.30am and was felt as far away as Rome, some 170km (44 miles) to the south.  A series of smaller tremors kept residents on edge through the night.

Yet the biggest quake, measured at 5.7 initially but later revised upwards to 6.1, was still to come. With tragic consequences, it occurred at 11.43am, just as a party of Franciscan monks, journalists, town officials and experts from the Ministry of Culture had decided to venture inside the basilica to inspect the damage.

It is thought that between 20 and 30 people were inside the Upper Church when the shaking began, caused the vaulted ceiling to collapse, bringing down sections of Giotto’s fresco cycle depicting the Life of Saint Francis.

Most of them were able to escape by running away as the ceiling began to fall but 10 were trapped under the rubble for many hours. Six were pulled out alive but rescuers found that two of the friars and two of the government experts had been killed.

As well as the Giotto cycle, there was also damage to a cycle of frescoes by Cimabue that many experts regarded to be fundamental to the history of Western art.  These included portraits of the Doctors of the Church – St Ambrose, St Jerome, St Augustine and St Gregory the Great – and of the writers of the Gospels of the New Testament – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. (St Francis Basilica struck by earthquake.)

A priest who was in my acquaintance at the time remarked to me, “God takes His time, but He is just. He put this on His ‘to do’ list as one day is a thousand years to Him and a thousand years is as one day.”

The conciliar revolutionaries, however, are naturalists and they almost never see the hand of Divine Providence in the events of nature and they are loathe to admit that God uses the forces of nature, disrupted as they have been by the rupture between man’s relationship with Him caused by Original Sin, to chastise and punish His children as they, the conciliar revolutionaries, do not believe that God punishes anyone except perhaps “preconciliar Pelagian restorationists,” which is why the collects of their Novus Ordo liturgical abomination makes almost no references to a God Who judges and punishes unrepentant sinners.

Quite to the contrary, Saint Francis Solano, O.F.M., a Spanish missionary to Peru and Argentina whose feast was celebrated in some places within the United States of America on Friday, July 24, 2026, the Vigil of Saint James the Apostle and the Commemoration of Saint Christina, preached to the Catholics of Lima, Peru, about their impending doom if they did not reform their lives. He was not interested in listening to the “people.” He was concerned about those entrusted to his pastoral care obeying God as He has revealed Himself to us through His true Church:

By the time Francis had reached the market, the theme of his sermon was clear. God was love, yet man was constantly thwarting that love. Many times this was because of thoughtlessness, but there were also countless times when it was because of sheer selfishness, and even malice. Well, atonement for sin must be made by means of penance.

"Unless you do penance, you shall likewise," Our Lord had said to his disciples.

"I will say these words, too," Francis thought. "Oh, Heavenly Father, may they help some souls tonight to turn away from sin!"

Naturally many at the market were astonished when they saw the Father Guardian of Saint Mary of the Angels making his way through their midst. Since his return from Trujillo he had appeared in the streets only rarely, and certainly never in the evenings. Then in a little while there was even more astonishment. Father Francis had come not to buy for his friars, or even to beg. He had come to preach!

At first, however, since business was brisk, not much heed was paid to his words. Merchants vied with one another in calling out the merits of their wares while customers argued noisily for a lower price. Beggars whined for alms. Babies cried. Dogs barked. Donkeys brayed. Older children ran in and out of the crowd intent upon their games. Music was everywhere--weird tunes played by Indian musicians on their wooden flutes, gay Spanish rhythms played on guitar and tambourine. At the various food students succulent rounds of meat sizzled and sputtered as they turned over slow fires. Then suddenly a thunderous voice rang about above the noisy and carefree scene:

"For all that is in the world is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father but is in the world."

It was as though a bombshell had fallen. At once the hubbub died away, and hundreds of Lima's startled citizens turned to where a grey-clad friar, cross in hand, had mounted an elevation in the center of the marketplace and now stood gazing down upon them with eyes of burning coals. But before anyone could wonder about the text from Saint John's first epistle, Francis began to explain the meaning of concupiscence: that, because of Original Sin, it is the tendency within each person to do evil instead of good; that this hidden warfare will end only when we have drawn our last breath.

"If we were to die tonight, would good or evil be the victor within our hearts" he cried. "Oh, my friends! Think about this question. Think hard!

Within just a few minutes Lima's marketplace was as hushed and solemn as a cathedral. All eyes were riveted upon the Father Guardian and all ears were filled with his words as he described God's destruction of the ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrha because of the sins committed within them.

"Who is to say that here in Lima we do not deserve a like fate?" he demanded in ringing tones. "Look into your hearts now, my children. Are they clean? Are they pure? Are they filled with love of God?"

As the minutes passed and twilight deepened into darkness, the giant torches of the marketplace cast their flickering radiance over a moving scene. As usual, crowds of people were on hand, but now no one was interested in buying or selling. Instead, faces were bewildered, agonized and fearful. Tears were streaming from many eyes as Francis' words continued to pour out in torrents, urging repentance while there was still time.

"Can we say that we shall ever see tomorrow?" he cried, fervently brandishing his missionary cross. "Can we say that this night is not the last we shall have in which to return to God's friendship?"

As these and still more terrifying thoughts struck home one after another, the speaker stretched out both arms, bowed his head, and in heartrending tones began the Fifth Psalm. At once the crowd was filled with fresh sorrow and made the contrite phrases their own:

"Have mercy on me, O God, according to Thy great mercy.

"And according to the multitude of Thy tender mercies, blot out my iniquity.

"Wash me yet more from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

"For I know my iniquity, and my sins is always before me.

"To Thee only have I sinned, and have done evil before Thee: that Thou mayest be justified in Thy words, and mayest overcome when Thou art judged . . ."

Soon wave upon wave of sound was filling the torch lit marketplace as priest and people prayed together. Then Francis preached again, doing his best to implant a greater sorrow for sin and an even firmer purpose of amendment in the hearts of his hearers. Finally, looking neither to right nor left, he prepared to depart for Saint Mary of the Angels. But on all sides men and women pressed about him, sobbing and begging for his blessing.

"Father, please pray for me!" cried one young girl. "I've deserved to go to Hell a thousand times!"

"Last year, I robbed a poor widow of ten pounds of gold!" declared a swarthy-faced Spaniard. "May God forgive me!"

"'I'm worse than anyone," moaned a wild-eyed black man. "Tonight, I was going to kill a man . . . and for money!"

So it was that first one, then another, cried out his fault and expressed a desire to go to Confession at once. But Francis had to refuse all such requests. Yes, he was a priest. It was his privilege and duty to administer the Sacraments. But he was also a religious, and bound by rule to various observances. One of them was that he must be in his cell at Saint Mary of the Angels by a certain hour each night.

"There are other priests in the city who can help you, though," he said kindly. "Go them now, my children. And may the Holy Virgin bring you back to her Son without delay." (Mary Fabyan Windeatt, Saint Francis of Solano: Wonderworker of the New World and Apostle of Argentina and Peru, published originally by Sheed and Ward in 1946 and republished by TAN Books and Publishers in 1994, pp. 167-172.)

This is just a slight contrast with the approach taken by the conciliar revolutionaries, including Pachamama Bob Prevost,  and his fellow evangelists in behalf of the “synodal path,” each of whom doubts that there are “black and white” moral truths that must be preached with conviction for love of Christ the King and for the souls for whom He shed every single drop of His Most Precious Blood on the wood of the Holy Cross to redeem.

Oh, just by the way, it was a relatively short time after Saint Francis Solano preached his warning in Lima, Peru, that a major earthquake hit the southern part of the country, a Divine endorsement of the warning he had sought to give Holy Mother Church’s wayward children.

Unlike the conciliar revolutionaries, of course, saints never made “nice nice” with idols and pagan superstitions, and it was a figure of Christ in the Old Testament, Moses himself, who hated idolatry and sought to punish idolaters amongst the Jewish people who had fled Egypt into the Sinai Peninsula desert under his leadership.

William Thomas Walsh, explaining the rationale behind The Inquisition and the procedures used to ferret out Jews masquerading as Catholics (and Catholics who had apostatized to do the work of the Jews and other infidels), explained that Moses dealt severely those who profaned the true God of Divine Revelation by daring to show the slightest amount of respect to false religions, their temples, their idols and their adherents:

The children of Israel were chosen very explicitly by the Creator of mankind for the loftiest of destinies, of which obviously there were two parts:

(1)   To keep the knowledge and worship of one true God alive among all the savage superstitions and vile debaucheries of less favored nations.

(2)    To receive, in good time, the Holy One of God who should come to the earth to save not only the Hebrews but all men; and to give Him to mankind.

This privilege was conferred conditionally:

“Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: You have seen what I have done to the Egyptians, how I have carried you upon the wings of eagles, and have taken you to myself. If therefore you will hear my voice, and keep my covenant, you shall be my peculiar possession above all people: for all the earth is mine. And you shall be to me a priestly kingdom, and a holy nation.” (Exodus, XIX: 3-6.)

In this promise lies an explanation of a great deal of the strange history of the Chosen People, with it alternating triumphs and defeats, glories and humiliations, virtues and sins, even to our own day. It was not merely that their great law-giver gave them principles by which all the affairs of life were regulated more intelligently, in a human sense, that those of any other ancient people; that he anticipated modern theories of hygiene, and even the distinction of our law books, make about burglary, as a crime committed “in the night season” – and with this, the right of a man to kill a burglar, but not a daytime thief.” It was not that the Jews had a harsh law of justice alone, contrasting with a Christian law of charity alone – this is a vulgar error, pregnant with conclusions unfair to both Jews and Christians. The same Moses who, in those rude and dangerous times, told them to exact “eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe,” also transmitted these commands:

“Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart, but reprove him openly, lest thou incur sin through him. Seek not revenge, no be mindful of the injury of thy citizens. Thou shalt love thy friend as thyself, I am the Lord. . .”

“Neither, shalt thou gather the bunches of grapes that fall down in thy vineyard, but shalt leave them to the poor and the strangers to take . . .”

“Thou shalt not calumniate thy neighbor, nor oppress him by violence. The wages of him that hath been hired by thee shall not abide with thee until the morning. . .”

“If a stranger dwell in your land, and abide among you, do not upbraid him: but let him be among you as one of the same country: and you shall love him as yourselves: for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God . . .” 

“You shall not hurt a widow or an orphan. If you hurt them they will cry out to me, and I will hear their cry: and my rage shall be enkindled, and I will strike you with the sword, and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.

“If you lend money to any of my people that is poor, that dwelleth with thee, thou shalt not be hard upon them as an extortioner, nor oppress them with usuries.”

The Hebrews, too, then, were told to love their neighbors. But they were not encouraged to confuse charity for fellow men with a sentimental and suicidal toleration for false ideas. (William Thomas Walsh, Characters of the Inquisition, New York, P.J. Kenedy & Sons, 1940, pp. 6-8.)

Permit me to offer two comments at this point.

First, William Thomas Walsh’s superb summary of Moses’s leadership of the Chosen People teaches us that, unlike Jorge Mario Bergoglio, there is no conflict between justice and charity—or between doctrine and “mercy”—as posited so frequently by Jorge Mario Bergoglio.

Second, Moses’s intolerance for false ideas and sentimentality mirrored Pope Saint Pius X’s summary, contained in Notre Charge Apostolique, August 15, 1910, of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour’s own intolerance for falsehood and sentimentality:

We wish to draw your attention, Venerable Brethren, to this distortion of the Gospel and to the sacred character of Our Lord Jesus Christ, God and man, prevailing within the Sillon and elsewhere. As soon as the social question is being approached, it is the fashion in some quarters to first put aside the divinity of Jesus Christ, and then to mention only His unlimited clemency, His compassion for all human miseries, and His pressing exhortations to the love of our neighbor and to the brotherhood of men. True, Jesus has loved us with an immense, infinite love, and He came on earth to suffer and die so that, gathered around Him in justice and love, motivated by the same sentiments of mutual charity, all men might live in peace and happiness. But for the realization of this temporal and eternal happiness, He has laid down with supreme authority the condition that we must belong to His Flock, that we must accept His doctrine, that we must practice virtue, and that we must accept the teaching and guidance of Peter and his successors. Further, whilst Jesus was kind to sinners and to those who went astray, He did not respect their false ideas, however sincere they might have appeared. He loved them all, but He instructed them in order to convert them and save them. Whilst He called to Himself in order to comfort them, those who toiled and suffered, it was not to preach to them the jealousy of a chimerical equality. Whilst He lifted up the lowly, it was not to instill in them the sentiment of a dignity independent from, and rebellious against, the duty of obedience. Whilst His heart overflowed with gentleness for the souls of good-will, He could also arm Himself with holy indignation against the profaners of the House of God, against the wretched men who scandalized the little ones, against the authorities who crush the people with the weight of heavy burdens without putting out a hand to lift them. He was as strong as he was gentle. He reproved, threatened, chastised, knowing, and teaching us that fear is the beginning of wisdom, and that it is sometimes proper for a man to cut off an offending limb to save his body. Finally, He did not announce for future society the reign of an ideal happiness from which suffering would be banished; but, by His lessons and by His example, He traced the path of the happiness which is possible on earth and of the perfect happiness in heaven: the royal way of the Cross. These are teachings that it would be wrong to apply only to one's personal life in order to win eternal salvation; these are eminently social teachings, and they show in Our Lord Jesus Christ something quite different from an inconsistent and impotent humanitarianism.  (Pope Saint Pius X, Notre Charge Apostolique, August 15, 1910.)

Moses was a figure of Our Lord. It is thus impossible for there to be any contradiction at all between Moses’s intolerance for idolatry and error and that of Our Lord’s. The conciliar “popes” have professed belief in a concept of Our Lord that is imaginary. Indeed, it is heretical and blasphemous.

Wait.

The rest of William Thomas Walsh’s description of Moses’s intolerance of idolatry and his treatment of those who practiced it is yet even more riveting:

Custodians of the holy truth which alone could lead man back to the primal felicity of daily communion with God, which he had lost through the sin of disobedience, they held this higher that any human consideration, holier even than human life itself. Moses, acting under divine inspiration, never hesitated to shed blood rather than let his Chosen People become like the Egyptians, with their corruption Astarte, or those Phoenicians who sacrificed innocent babies to their idol Moloch. Crimes against God were, in mind of Moses (by God illuminated), crimes against Being Itself. Hence, when he returned from the holy mount to find that his his people had made to themselves (with his own brother's connivance) a molten calf of gold, to which they bowed in adoration, and to which they sacrificed victims, he was so angry that he cast the tables of the Law from his hand, and shattered them, he burnt the calf and beat it into powder, he made the Hebrews drink water containing the dust of it, and assembling all the sons of Levi, men marked for the holy priesthood, “he said to them, 'Thus saith the Lord God of Israel: Put every man his sword upon his thigh: Go, and return from fate to fate through the midst of the camp, and let every man kill his brother, and friend, and neighbor.' And the sons of Levi did according to the words of Moses, and there were slain that day about three-and -twenty thousand men.”

Stern justice? It was necessary if the revelation of the Creator of mankind was to be kept alive in the world; if all the human race was not to sink into a state of degredation below that of beasts. It was necessary, this slaughter of 23,000, to prevent the loss of far more, in peace and in war, who would perish if the Chosen People scorned the spiritual and abased themselves before the material. No merely human cause, no liberal reform, no promise for the proletariat, no misty vision of progress in the future, could have justified it. Such punishment could be meted out justly only by the outraged majesty of a patient God, whose only alternative would have been to forsake or destroy a hopelessly corrupted world.

Thus Moses dealt with all offenses against the Almighty: with unnatural vice, which would have made the children of Israel as soft, as foul as forsaken as the pagans around them; with adultery, which struck at the heart of the family and therefore the foundation of society; above all, with offenses against the revealed Truth itself. Of magicians and soothsayers, of spiritualists, of a man or woman in whom there dwelt a pythonical or divining spirit, he said, “Dying let them die: they shall stone them; their blood be upon them.” and if a daughter of a priest was “taken in whoredom,” she was to be burned to death. (This form of capital punishment was not invented in the Middle Ages.)

Schism was punished with equal severity, for it challenged a leadership which was divine as well as political. When Core and his friends rose up against Moses, the great prophet called down upon them the anger of God, “and immediately, as he had done speaking, the earth broke asunder under their feet: and opening her mouth, devoured them with their tents and all their substance. And they went down alive into hell, the ground closing upon them, and they perished from among the people.” Others were destroyed by plague, 14,700 dying in all.

Moses had toleration for what might be called the human weaknesses of human nature, but he had none at all for those which cut, the holy cord that bound souls to their Maker. For idolatry, the sin against the first commandment, “I am the Lord thy God . . .Thou shalt not have strange gods before me.” he had but one answer. The only good idolater were dead idolaters. Their portion was the sword, and their lands were confiscated by the Children of Israel. He never forgot the terrible lesson of the Golden Calf. He remembered, too, the feeble excuse Aaron had offered for his share in that abomination, “Let not my lord be offended: for thou knowest this people, that they are prone to evil;” and he was constantly on the alert for some repetition of the offense. Moses, was aware, doubtless, that those who had received great spiritual gifts would be most tempted by the devil, and if once they fell, would sink lower than less favored sinners.

For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds;

Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds.  (Sonnet 94.)

Idolatry, worst of sins, never failed to beget a spawn of other sins, especially those most degrading to human nature. The people of Madian had taken this fatal path, and had become worse than beasts. They adored an idol called Beelphegor, in whose honor they offered up sacrifices, and indulged, like other idolators, in promiscuous orgies. Evidently, too, they had a sort of secret society into which the worshippers of Beelphegor had to be initiated; an old custom among people who have some guilty secret to conceal. They also had an obscene idol named Phogor. (William Thomas Walsh, Characters of the Inquisition, New York, P.J. Kenedy & Sons, 1940, pp.8-10.)

Permit another brief comment at this juncture.

Although Jorge Mario Bergoglio has continued the “tradition” of his predecessors in the seat of apostasy have set concerning the praise of false religions and the esteeming of their temples and symbols, the Argentine Apostate has exceeded them in many respects, especially by excusing sins, both natural and unnatural, against the holy virtue of Purity.

The only kind of intolerance that the conciliar “popes” have is reserved for Catholics who hold fast to true Catholic Faith, Worship, and Morals. The late Jorge Mario Bergoglio and his successor, Pachamama Bob Prevost, have welcomed shameless practitioners of vice and iniquity. Such shamelessness comes all too naturally to those who violate the First and Second Commandments that Moses took seriously. After all, Moses received those Commandments from God Himself atop Mount Sinai.

Here is the final excerpt about Moses’s intolerance for idolatry as found in William Thomas Walsh’s Characters of the Inquistion:

“And Israel at that time abode in Settim, and the people committed fornication with the daughters of Moab, who called them to their sacrifices. And they ate of them, and adored their gods. And Israel was initiated to Beelphegor: upon which the Lord being angry, said to Moses, 'Take all the princes of the people, and hang them up on gibbets against the sun' . . . and Moses said to the judges of Israel, 'Let every man kill his neighbors, that have been initiated to Beelphegor.'”

The Hebrews who had not been corrupted took arms, and slew 24,000 of the wretches who had worshipped the false god. Phineas the son of Eleazor, seeing Zambri, of the tribe of Simeon, enter a brothel with a harlot of Madian name Cozbi, went in after them with a dagger, “and thrust both of them through together, to wit, the man and the woman in the genital parts.” Nor did the retribution stop there. The Madianites had become so dehumanized that their complete extinction was commanded by God. Moses sent twelve thousand well-armed men against them. “And when they had fought against the Madianites and had overcome them, they slew all the men. And their kings Evi, and Recem, and Sur, and Hur, and Rebe, five princes of the nation. Baldam also the son of Beor they killed with the sword. And they took their women and their children captives, and all their cattle, and all their goods. And all their possessions they plundered: and all their cities, and their villages, and castles, they burned. And they carried away the booty, and all that they had taken both of men and of beasts. And they brought to Moses, and Eleazor the priest, and to all the multitude of the children of Israel.

“Why have you saved the women? Demanded Moses in anger. “Are not these they that deceived the children of Israel by the counsel of Baalam, and made you transgress against the Lord by the sin of Phogar, for which also the people was punished? Therefore kill all that are of the male sex, even of the children: and put to death the women that have carnally known men.”

Moses was growing old, and he himself, because of his sin at the Waters of Contradiction, could never see the Land of Promise; but in a magnificent discourse, after giving the tables of the Law again to Israel, he described it as “a land which floweth with milk and honey. For the land, which thou goest to possess, is not like the land of Egypt, from whence thou camest out, where, when the seed is sown, waters are brought in to water it after the manner of gardens. But it is a land of hills and plains, expecting rain from heaven. And the Lord thy God doth always visit it, and his eyes are upon it from the beginning of the year unto the end thereof. If then you obey my commandments, which I command you this day that you love the Lord your God, and serve him with all your heart, and with all your soul, He will give to your land the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your corn, and your wine, and your oil, and your hay out of the fields to feed your cattle, and that you may eat and be filled. Beware lest perhaps your heart be deceived, and you depart from the Lord, and serve strange gods, and adore them: and the Lord being angry shut up heaven, that the rain come not down, not the earth yield her fruit, and you perish quickly from the excellent land which the Lord will give you. (Deuteronomy, XI: 9-17.) (William Thomas Walsh, Characters of the Inquisition, New York, P.J. Kenedy & Sons, 1940, pp. 10-12.)

There is a direct connection between the conciliar “popes’” contempt for the First and Second Commandments and their open encouragement of those who are engaged unrepentantly in what are Mortal Sins in the objective order of things while expressing concern for the “environment” and for “saving the planet.” Such men have no use for any talk of what they believe is a given for one and all, especially for non-Catholics, namely, salvation, which is why they keep emphasizing the “care of creation” and not the salvation of souls in their allocutions, encyclicals, letters, and “homilies” (see, for example, León XIV llama a una «auténtica conversión ecológica» que comienza por renovar el corazón, and an excellent antidote to this ecomaniacal propaganda:  Climate 'Experts' Are 0-41 with Their Doomsday Predictions).

As the words of Holy Writ quoted above by William Thomas Walsh prove beyond any question, the conciliar “popes’” evangelization in behalf of a religion of sentimentality and false charity have made them mortal enemies  of Our Lord and of His true Church, thus making them—and most of their “bishops”—mortal enemies of the temporal and eternal good of the souls for whom Our Divine Redeemed shed every single drop of His Most Precious Blood during His Passion and Death on the wood of the Holy Cross on Good Friday to redeem.

Enough said except to say that Robert Francis Prevost/Leo XIV is not a true and legitimate Successor of Saint Peter as he professes “faith” in teachings that are contrary to Catholic truth and thus belong to the Antichrist, not to Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Today, Sunday, July 23, 2026, is the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost and the Commemoration of Saint Philip Benizi.

Saint Philip Benizi was one of the Seven Holy Founders of the Order of Servites, which was founded to promote devotion to the Seven Dolors of the Blessed Virgin Mary and is thus important to every Catholic who recognizes that we need Our Lady’s help to get home to Heaven and it will be impossible to restore right order within the Church Militant on earth and thus in the world-at-large unless we pray fervently for the Triumph of her Immaculate Heart, especially by means our fidelity to praying her Most Holy Rosary every day without fail.

Dom Prosper Gueranger, O.S.B., offered the following panegyric in honor of Saint Philip Benizi:

Our Lady is now reigning in heaven. Her triumph over death cost her no labor; and yet it was through suffering that she like Jesus entered into her glory. We too cannot attain eternal happiness otherwise than did the Son and the Mother. Let us keep in mind the sweet joys we have been tasting during the past week; but let us not forget that our own journey to heaven is not yet completed. “Why stand ye looking up into heaven!” said the Angels to the disciples on Ascension Day, in the name of the Lord who had gone up in a cloud; for the disciples, who had for an instant beheld the threshold of heaven, could not resign themselves to turn their eyes once more down to this valley of exile. Mary, in her turn, sends us a message today from the bright land whither we are to follow her, and where we shall surround her, after having in the sorrows of exile merited to form her court: without distracting us from her, the Apostle of her dolors, Philip Benizi, reminds us of our true condition as strangers and pilgrims upon earth.

Combats without fears within: (2 Corinthians 7:5) such for the most part was Philip’s life, as it was also the history of his native city Florence, of Italy too, and indeed of the whole Christian world, in the 13th century. At the time of his birth, the city of flowers seemed a new Eden for the blossoms of sanctity that flourished there; nevertheless it was a prey to bloody factions, to the assaults of heresy, and to the extremity of every misery. Never is hell so near us as when heaven manifests itself with greatest intensity; this was clearly seen in that age, when the serpent’s head came in closest contact with the heel of the Woman. The old enemy, by creating new sects had shaken the faith in the very center of the provinces surrounding the eternal city. While in the east Islam was driving back the last crusaders, in the West the Papacy was struggling with the empire, which Frederick II had made as a fief of Satan. Throughout Christendom social union was undone, faith had grown weak, and love cold; but the old enemy was soon to discover the power of the reaction heaven was preparing for the relief of the aged world. Then it was that our Lady presented to her angered Son Dominic and Francis, that, by uniting science with self-abnegation, they might counterbalance the ignorance and luxury of the world, then too, Philip Benizi, the Servite of the Mother of God, received form her the mission of preaching through Italy, France, and Germany the unspeakable sufferings whereby she became the co-redemptress of the human race.

Philip was born at Florence of the noble family of the Benizi, and from his very cradle gave signs of his future sanctity. When he was scarcely five months old he received the power of speech by a miracle, and exhorted his mother to bestow an alms on the Servants of the Mother of God. As a youth, he pursued his studies at Paris, where he was remarkable for his ardent piety, and enkindled in many hearts a longing for our heavenly fatherland. After his return home he had a wonderful vision in which he was called by the Blessed Virgin to join the newly-founded Order of the Servites. He therefore retired into a cave on Mount Senario, and there led an austere and penitential life, sweetened by meditation on the sufferings of our Lord. Afterwards he travelled over nearly all Europe and great part of Asia, preaching the Gospel and instituting everywhere the Sodality of the Seven Dolors of the Mother of God, while he propagated his Order by the wonderful example of his virtues.

He was consumed with love of God and zeal for the propagation of the Catholic faith. In spite of his refusals and resistance he was chosen General of his Order. He sent some of his brethren to preach the Gospel in Scythia, while he himself journeyed from city to city of Italy repressing civil dissensions, and recalling many to the obedience of the Roman Pontiff. His unremitting zeal for the salvation of souls won the most abandoned sinners from the depths of vice to a life of penance and to the true love of Jesus Christ. He was very much given to prayer and was often seen rapt in ecstasy. He loved and honored holy virginity, and preserved it unspotted to the end of his life by means of the greatest voluntary austerities.

He was remarkable for his love and pity for the poor. On one occasion when a poor leper begged an alms of him, at Camegliano, a village near Sienna, he gave him his own garment, which the beggar had no sooner put on than his leprosy was cleansed. The fame of this miracle having spread far and wide, some of the Cardinals who were assembled at Viterbo for the election of a successor to Clement IV, then lately dead, thought of choosing Philip as they were aware of his heavenly prudence. On learning this, the man of God, fearing lest he should be forced to take upon himself the pastoral office, hid himself at Montamiata until after the election of Pope Gregory X. By his prayers he obtained for the baths of that place, which still bears his name, the virtue of healing the sick. At length, in the year 1285, he died a most holy death at Todi, while in the act of kissing the image of his crucified Lord, which he used to call his book. The blind and lame were healed at his tomb, and the dead were brought back to life. His name having become illustrious by these and many other miracles, Pope Clement X enrolled him among the Saints. (Matins, The Divine Office, Feast of Saint Philip Benizi, August 23.)

Philip, draw near, and join thyself to this chariot. (Acts 8:29) When the world was smiling on thy youth and offering thee renown and pleasures, thou didst receive this invitation from Mary. She was seated in a golden chariot which signified the religious life; a mourning mantle wrapped her round; a dove was fluttering about her head; a lion and a lamb were drawing her chariot over precipices from whose depths were heard the groans of hell. It was a prophetic vision: thou wast to traverse the earth accompanied by the Mother of sorrows, and this world which hell had already everywhere undermined, was to have no danger for thee; for gentleness and strength were to be thy guides, and simplicity thy inspirer: Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the land. (Matthew 5:4)

But this gentle virtue was to avail thee chiefly against heaven itself; heaven, which wrestles with the mighty, and which had in store for thee the terrible trial of an utter abandonment, such as had made even the God-Man tremble. After years of prayer and labor and heroic devotedness, for thy reward thou wast apparently rejected by God and disowned by the Church, while imminent ruin threatened all those whom Mary had confided to thee. In spite of her promises, the existence of thy sons the Servites was assailed by no less an authority than that of two General Councils, whose resolutions the Vicar of Christ had determined to confirm. Our Lady gave thee to drink of the chalice of her sufferings. Thou didst not live to see the triumph of a cause which was hers as well as thine; but as the ancient patriarchs saluted from afar the accomplishment of the promises, so death could not shake thy calm and resigned confidence. Thou didst leave thy daughter Juliana Falconieri to obtain by her prayers before the face of the Lord, what thou couldst not gain from the powers of this world.

The highest power on earth was once all but laid at thy feet; the Church, remembering the humility wherewith thou didst flee from the tiara, begs thee in the Collect for today to obtain for us, that we may despise the prosperity of this world and seek heavenly goods alone; deign to hear her prayer. But the Faithful have not forgotten that thou wert a physician of the body before becoming a healer of souls; they have great confidence in the water and bread blessed by thy sons on this feast, in memory of the miraculous favors granted to their father: graciously regard the faith of the people, and reward the special honor paid to thee by Christian physicians. Now that the mysterious chariot, shown thee at the beginning, has become the triumphal car whereon thou accompaniest our Lady in her entrance into heaven, teach us so to condole, like thee, with her sorrows, that we may deserve to be partakers with thee in her eternal glory. (Dom Prosper Gueranger, O.S.B., The Liturgical Year, Feast of Saint Philip Benizi, August 23.)

We must never be discouraged during our days here below as we are children of Christ the King and His true Church.

We must always fly to the loving patronage of Our Lady, especially through her Most Holy Roary with confidence that she will set the Barque of Saint Peter aright according to the will of her Divine Son, Christ King, and that she will plead for us always to please Our King as His consecrated slaves through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary.

The Seven Holy Founders of the Order of Servites of the Blessed Virgin Mary, pray for us.

Viva Cristo Rey! Vivat Christus Rex!

Our Lady of the Rosary pray for us.

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us.

Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.

Saint John the Evangelist, 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.

Saint Philip Benizi, pray for us.

Appendix

Father Francis X. Weninger. S.J., on Saint Philip Benizi

St. Philip Benizi was born at Florence, and before his birth the Almighty had revealed to his pious mother, that he would become illustrious for his holiness. It seemed to her that a bright shining light emanated from her, which, spreading more and more, at last illumined the whole world with its rays. This was one of the inducements which led her to neglect nothing that was necessary to form in her son the mind and heart of a Saint. She was still more strengthened in this by the following event. Two Religious of the newly founded order of the Servites came to her house. Philip, at that time only five months old; after looking at them for some moments, said: " Behold the servants of Mary, give alms to them, my mother." All present, greatly surprised at this miracle, concluded rightly that God had ordained a remarkable future for this child. The same might be divined from his entire conduct, while yet but a child: all his actions seemed to be imprinted with the seal of holiness.

Having finished his studies, he was one day thinking about his vocation, and it being the Thursday after Easter, he went into the Chapel of the Servites, which stood on the outskirts of Florence, to attend holy Mass. At the Epistle were read the words of the Holy Ghost to St. Philip: " Draw near, and join thyself to the chariot." Having heard these words, he went into an ecstasy, and it seemed to him that he was alone in a vast wilderness, where nothing was to be seen but sterile mountains, steep rocks and cliffs, or marshes overgrown with thorns, swarming with poisonous reptiles, and full of snares. He screamed with fear, and looking around how to save himself, he saw, high in the air, the Blessed Virgin in a chariot, surrounded by Angels and Saints, and holding in her hand the habit of the Servites. At the same time, he heard from the lips of Mary the words which had just been read in the Epistle. " Draw near, and join thyself to the Chariot." After this revelation, Philip no longer doubted that he was called to enter the order of the Servites, and going, the following day, to the dwelling of the seven founders of this order, he desired to be received as a lay-brother.

He was readily accepted, but after having served in that capacity a few years, his talent, knowledge and holiness were so manifest, that he was made priest: after which he was raised from one dignity to another, until he was at last made General of the entire order. Although he at first humbly opposed this choice, yet when forced to obey, he became zealous in his labors to disseminate the principles of the holy Order, whose object is to reverence the Blessed Virgin and to promote her honor. He sent some of the religious to Scythia, to preach the Gospel and to spread the veneration of the Blessed Virgin. He himself with two companions went through an incredible number of cities and provinces, everywhere exhorting sinners to repentance, endeavoring to calm the contentions which at that period disturbed the Christian world, disabusing by his sermons those who refused obedience to the Pope, and animating all to greater love of God and devotion to the Blessed Virgin.

The Lord aided him visibly in all his undertakings, and obtained for him the highest regard from both clergy and laity. When the Cardinals, assembled at Viterbo to elect a new Pope, were unable to agree, they at length unanimously chose Philip, as all deemed him worthy of this high dignity. Philip, informed of it, was terrified and fled into the desert of Mount Thuniat, where he remained concealed in a cavern, until another was elected Pope: which was not less an evidence of his humility, than his election had been of the high regard in which his virtues and the many miracles he had performed were held by the Prelates of the Church. His innocence and purity he carried unspotted to the grave, but in order to preserve them he was very severe to himself. He possessed in an eminent degree, the spirit of prayer; for, besides occupying a great portion of the night in devotional exercises, he also raised his mind to God, during his various occupations, by means of short aspirations. He never undertook anything without first recommending it in prayer to God, and the more important the affair, the longer and more fervent were his prayers.

The only object of his many and laborious voyages was the glory of God and the good of men, and his constant endeavor was to prevent offences of the Divine Majesty and to work for the salvation of souls. But how shall we express his tender devotion to the Blessed Virgin, whom he had loved and honored as a mother from his earliest childhood? In her honor while yet a youth, he kept several festivals and performed many prayers, and he entered the Order of the Servites, because they regarded it their duty to promote her veneration and honor. In every sermon, he admonished the people to honor Mary and to call upon her in all their troubles. In a word, he neglected nothing which he deemed necessary or useful to institute and disseminate due devotion to the Queen of Heaven. Although in many places, he had to endure much hardship and persecution, his love of God and the Blessed Virgin could not be discouraged from continuing in his apostolic labors.

Meanwhile, the weakness of his body manifested plainly that his last hour was approaching. He therefore went to his convent at Todi, and there first visited the Church. He prostrated himself before the Altar, and when, after a long and fervent prayer, he again rose, he said: "Lord, receive my thanks ; here is my place of rest." On the festival of the Assumption of Our Lady, he preached his last sermon with such eloquence and unction, that all his listeners were greatly moved. On leaving the pulpit, he was seized with a fever, which, although by others thought of no consequence, was regarded by himself as a messenger of death. Hence, he had himself carried into a special apartment and laid down; but could not be persuaded to divest himself of the rough hair-shirt which he constantly wore. The days that he remained on earth after this, he employed in instructing and exhorting his religious, in prayers to God, and invoking the intercession of the Blessed Virgin; in repenting of his sins and in longing to be admitted to the presence of the Most High. After having received, with great devotion, the holy Sacraments, he requested his brethren to say the litany of the Saints. When they came to the words: "We sinners; we beseech Thee to hear us!" he fell into an ecstasy, and lost his consciousness to such a degree that he seemed already to have expired.

In this state he remained for three hours, when one of his friends loudly called him. He awakened as if from a deep slumber, and related how fearful a struggle he had had with Satan; how the latter had reproached him with his sins, and endeavored to make him despair of the mercy of God. But when the combat was at its height, the Blessed Virgin had appeared to him, and, driving away Satan, had not only saved him from all danger, but had also shown him the crown which awaited him in the other world. Having related this to those around him, who were all awestruck, he requested what he called "his book," the Crucifix, and pressing it to his heart, he intoned the hymn of praise of St. Zachary, and after it, the 30th Psalm: "In thee, O Lord, have I hoped !" Arriving at the words: "Into thy hands I commend my spirit," he looked once again at the Crucifix, and ended his holy and useful life, on the octave of our Lady's Assumption, in the year 1285. The biography of this Saint contains many miracles which he performed during his life, and many more which took place, by his intercession, after his happy death.

PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS.

I. St. Philip Benizi was tried before his end by a great struggle. Satan reproached him with his sins, although they had been small and had been long since repented of, thus endeavoring to drive him to despair. If this happened to the green wood, what will be done with that which is dry? What combat will be in store for sinners, who during their lives, unheedingly committed iniquities, not troubling themselves about penance? If Satan thus alarmed St. Philip by recalling to him his small sins, how will he terrify those to whom he can point out great sins and perhaps sins not well confessed? If Satan dared to endeavor to cause despair in so holy a man, how much more will he tempt him, who, during his life, has so often and so wantonly offended the Almighty, and who has drunk sin like water! Ah! be careful, oh sinner! and learn not to believe Satan. When he tempts you to do wrong, he represents everything as very easy; he says nothing of the greatness of sin. He speaks to you of the mercy of God, saying: "You can confess it. God is merciful. He will forgive you." Consider it well; by representing to you the mercy of God, he tempts you to sin; but in the hour of your death, he turns that very mercy against you. Then he represents the greatness of your sin and the strict justice of God, in order to fill your soul with despair. Hence, do not believe him now. Place before your eyes at present the greatness of sin and the justice of the Almighty, that you may avoid evil, or, if you have become guilty of it, that you may do penance. If you do this now, you may in your last hour, comfort yourself with the thought of the Divine mercy. " Never trust thine enemy." (Eccl. xii.)

II. St. Philip Benizi was visibly aided in his great struggle by the Divine mother, who drove Satan away, and showed to the dying Saint the crown that awaited him in heaven. Thus did the most loving mother recompense the devotion of her faithful servant. If you wish to receive her aid, honor her with true filial devotion. Ask her frequently and fervently to obtain from God the grace to combat valiantly the temptations of Satan now, as well as at the hour of your death. She will hear your prayers and will assist you. The evil spirits, who fear the name of Mary, will flee from you. "The spirits of hell," says the pious Thomas a Kempis, "fear the Queen of heaven and flee as soon as they hear her name." St. Bonaventure writes: "Visible enemies fear not a well drilled army, so much as the evil spirits fear the name of Mary."