Eleison Comments

Vigano Pleads

Vigano Pleads on June 19, 2021

These “Comments” have more than once quoted Our Lady saying in Japan in 1973, “Only I can help you now.” It is typical of the wisdom of Archbishop Vigano to take Her seriously. Not all readers of these “Comments” will have seen how he pleaded with Her last month:—

Noble Lady and Queen of Heaven, do look upon us, your children, in this hour of darkness and affliction. Deign to hear and fulfil our humble and confident prayer, in an hour when the Enemy’s forces are multiplying in an assault from Hell upon God, upon His Church and upon the entire human family.

As a model and example of humility and obedience to the will of God; enlighten our rulers for them to remember that the authority they exert belongs to God before Whom they will answer, the just Judge, for the good they will have done and the evil they will have committed. Virgin most Faithful, teach those in charge of public affairs to honour the moral obligations of their office by refusing any kind of connivance with vice or error.

As our Intercessor in front of the Throne of God, you cure our ills of body and soul and you are rightly called upon as Health of the Sick; guide now the doctors and medical workers in their profession, and help them to look after the sick and to tend to the weakest. Give them courage to stand up to whosoever would force them to kill people or make them ill by inappropriate treatment or harmful medicine. Ask the divine Doctor of Souls, Our Lord, to awaken in their conscience the sense of their true role and duty to promote life and bodily health.

As a fugitive to Egypt you saved your divine Son from the massacre of Herod; save our children from the moral and material threats which hang over them, protect them from the true plague of sin and vice, and from the criminal plans of the ideological dictatorship seeking to crush them in body and soul. Give strength to parents and educators, to enable them to stand up to a dangerous and morally illicit drug being tried out on children. Frustrate the attempts of those attacking their innocence, who strive to pervert them at their tenderest age by misleading their intelligence and corrupting their morals.

In passing from this world to eternal life you were consoled by the presence of your Son; be close now to the sick, to the aged, to the dying, especially to those who are being forced by inhuman rules to face death alone in a hospital bed without the sacraments. Bring them comfort by inspiring them with sorrow for their sins, and with the desire to offer their sufferings in reparation for sins committed, so that they may leave this life with the consolation of dying in the friendship of God.

As the Mother of Priests; give light to our Shepherds to open their eyes to the present threat, to make them coherent witnesses of Christ your Son, brave defenders of the flock entrusted to them by the Lord, valiant adversaries of error and vice. Free them, Virgin most Holy, from all human respect and connivance with sin. Set them on fire with the love of God and neighbour, enlighten their mind and arouse their will.

In front of you the demons of Hell flee; destroy the diabolical plans of this hateful tyranny, the deceit of the pandemic, the lies of the workers of iniquity. Let the light of Truth shine forth above the lies, just as the true light of Christ shines above the darkness of error and sin. Confound your enemies, and humble beneath your feet the proud head of all those daring to defy Heaven, and seeking to establish the kingdom of the Antichrist.

As Mediatrix of all Graces and our Co-redemptrix, by divine decree; obtain for us the grace to see the Triumph of your Immaculate Heart, to which we consecrate ourselves, our families, our communities, our Church, our homeland and the entire world.

So be it, on the Feast of the Ascension, Archbishop Viganò, 13 May, 2021

Truth and Authority – I

Truth and Authority - I on June 12, 2021

A reader of these “Comments” was puzzled recently by what seemed to her the relatively unsatisfactory explanation given by a prestigious Traditionalist leader of his return under the authority of the official Church after he had for several years followed the lead of Archbishop Lefebvre (1905–1991), and then taken his little Congregation, in effect, back under the authority of the official local diocese and Rome. These “Comments” habitually explain the unsatisfactory nature of reasoning like his in terms of the Church’s Truth and Authority, made to be partners, but split by Vatican II (1962–1965) from one another. Our reader says she was greatly helped by this explanation, so let it be offered again to all readers

The Truth is essential to the Catholic Church as it is to no other institution on the face of the earth. If it claims, as it does, to represent the one true God who calls Himself “the Way, the Truth and the Life” (Jn. XIV, 6), then if it were to pronounce and cling to one single untruth, it would be essentially discredited. No other human institution to remain creditable is so dependent on avoiding the least untruth. However, original sin is a tremendous reality, denied by modern man in general, but it is why truth does not naturally flourish when exposed in the market-place, as Thomas Jefferson so optimistically thought. But men’s salvation depends on God’s truth (Jn. XVIII, 37), which is why God gives His divine Authority to His divine Church to impose His divine Truths on wayward and wilful men until they submit to them.

Given then men’s sinfulness, the Church’s Authority is the essential protector and support of its Truth. For instance, Lk. XXII, 31: “Simon (Peter), I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail” = Truth – “ and when you have turned again” = to the Truth, “ strengthen your brethren” = exercise your Authority. Notice here how Truth is the purpose and base of Church Authority (as Archbishop Lefebvre so uniquely understood) and precedes it, but at the same time has, for sinful men, such a need of Church Authority. For God’s purposes, Truth (doctrine) and Authority (the hierarchy) are meant to be inseparable partners.

But here’s the rub. At Vatican II, Catholic Authority (Pope and Conciliar Fathers) separated itself from Catholic Truth, by pretending that modernist doctrine is Catholic when it is nothing of the kind, but it can be, and was, made to look like it.

And from then on, as the Archbishop said, all Catholics were necessarily torn in two. Either they followed Catholic Authority (Pope and Bishops) and abandoned more or less of Catholic Truth (which Authority had abandoned) or they followed Catholic Truth and had to abandon more or less of Catholic Authority. Since Pope and Bishops refused resolutely to return to Catholic Truth and Tradition, then Catholics clinging to Catholic Truth had to more or less get themselves, in effect, out from under lawful Catholic Authority, or that Authority which appeared lawful. And so, the Shepherd being struck doctrinally (especially Popes Paul VI and John Paul II, because Paul VI was  leading the modernist dance), then the sheep were necessarily scattered. Many were 100% Authority and no percent Doctrine. Some were, say, 85% Authority, 15% Doctrine. Others were 60% Authority, 40% Doctrine. And so on. Archbishop Lefebvre was 100% Doctrine but still 15% Authority, so to speak. He did always insist on recognising, respecting and obeying the Pope as Pope whenever the Truth (Faith) would allow him to do so.

But from the accursed Council onwards, as long as Authority went on divorcing itself from Truth, there was inside every Catholic (taking his Faith seriously) a tug-of-war going on between Catholic Truth and Catholic Authority. Now the leader whose behaviour so puzzled our reader at the outset, was and is a serious and devout Catholic, so he is a torn man who may be assumed to have acted in three stages: firstly, he followed and devoutly obeyed with his Congregation what looked like normal Catholic Authority. Secondly, he realised that the Archbishop was right to be putting Truth before Authority, and he followed his example of “disobeying” Rome, to be faithful to Catholic Tradition. And thirdly when the Archbishop died in 1991 and his personal charisma disappeared from the scene, then the powerful magnetism of Catholic Rome reasserted itself and the tug of Authority pulled him to follow the New society back under the apparent Authority of the red buttons and mahogany desks of “Rome.”

Kyrie eleison.

World War III

World War III on June 5, 2021

The third World War is coming close. We have just had a very serious military confrontation on the Russian-Ukrainian border between armies of those two countries, specially mobilised for that confrontation. Outright war seems to have been avoided for the moment, but many observers consider that it cannot be avoided indefinitely, not because Russia wants war because it does not, but because there is a race of men that has for thousands of years been set upon dominating the world; which for hundreds of years has dominated Europe and for tens of years the USA.

This race has recently mastered the Ukraine and is using it, together with Europe’s NATO, to provoke Russia into the third World War. On it they count to achieve that world hegemony for the United States which they intend to control. Alas, whenever war breaks out, one of the first casualties is always the Truth, and so let a few things be said while they can still be said, before emotions of “patriotism” so cloud men’s reason that they cannot think straight. Love of one’s own country is, as such, not only legitimate but even commanded by the fourth Commandment. However, as Nurse Edith Cavell (1865–1915) once famously said, “Patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness for anyone.”

While then one can still think straight, let Catholics be careful to keep their minds free of the massive and powerful propaganda which has long been at work to persuade everybody that the USA’s drive for world control is the best way forward for the entire world. But that propaganda and that drive are fuelled by lies, and Our Lord calls Satan “a liar and the father of lies” (Jn. VIII, 44). Lies are the sure footprint of Satan. Now with all his serious faults President Trump (2017–2021) pulled the USA back from engaging in wars, just as President Putin of Russia (1999-today) resurrected his country by preparing for war, but by also firmly holding back his military forces from any major war, and that he has done since the beginning of his presidency. Therefore the “Synagogue of Satan” (Apoc. III, 9) had to get rid of them both.

Against Putin there have been several assassination attempts, but none of them has worked yet, so he has to be constantly discredited by a pack of lies in the vile Western media (wholly controlled by the same Synagogue) as a war-monger longing to invade Europe, interfering in Trump’s surprise election in 2016, and so on. So almost from the beginning of Trump’s presidency, he was hounded down by the Synagogue (Schumer, Schiff, Nadler, etc.) with what proved to be another complete pack of lies (fabricated by an Englishman) to the effect that he was in collusion with Putin’s Russia. Since these lies also failed, then the risk of his being re-elected by the American people absolutely had to be stopped in 2020 by fair means or foul, so that when the early votes pointed to a landslide victory for Trump, then all foul means possible were deployed in the middle of the night to fabricate a mass of false votes to “elect” Biden in the morning. And the Synagogue had in the White House the puppet war-monger it wanted. Shame on every “decent” American who has knowingly consented to the mass of lies surrounding that “election.” His once noble country risks being severely punished – by Putin. Be wary of American “patriotism.” Your country’s true friends are those that tell it the truth, like Putin. Heed his common sense, not the media.

How events will eventually turn, of course we do not know. Our Lady may succeed for a while yet in holding back her Son’s avenging arm, but it does look as though the moment will come when She can do so no longer. And it does look as though mankind is so wallowing in its way of sin that nothing less than the horrors of nuclear war will be enough to bring it to its knees. That is the purpose of God, to give to well-meaning souls a chance of making their way to Heaven which they seem hardly to have right now, suffocating as we all are in a world over which reigns the Synagogue, by God’s permission, by our own fault. Let us all pray every day the Rosary of Our lady – “Only I can help you now”(Akita, 1973).

Kyrie eleison.

Paul Aulagnier, R.I.P.

Paul Aulagnier, R.I.P. on May 29, 2021

Three weeks ago there died in France an ex-Society priest to whom we all have an immense debt, because he was for several years a decisive support to Archbishop Lefebvre in the founding and constructing of the Society of St Pius X. I think Fr Paul Aulagnier (1943–2021) was never so happy as during those years, because the Archbishop’s doctrine was so faithful and his leadership was so human that Fr Aulagnier was inspired to function in a profoundly Catholic manner, no longer so easy for a number of us when the exceptional Archbishop died in 1991. In fact, Fr Aulagnier parted company with the Society in 2003, and he may have continued to serve Catholic Tradition in various forms thereafter, but he surely missed his venerated and beloved Archbishop.

Fr. Aulagnier’s vocation began in the prestigious French Seminary in Rome just when it was being shaken to the core in the immediate aftermath of the disastrous Second Vatican Council. Several seminarians fled for Catholic refuge to the Seminary that the Archbishop was trying to put together in Fribourg, in Switzerland, but due to the tormented times it was having a rocky start, and the Archbishop after a first year almost gave up. Here is where seminarians Aulagnier and Tissier entered Church History by jointly persuading the Archbishop to persevere. Many more vocations then arrived, and the Seminary flourished from then on, by means of which in those dark years the Archbishop would save for better days Catholic Tradition: doctrine, the Mass, the sacraments, the priesthood – where would these be today had there been no Écône? Here is the major debt we owe to Fr Aulagnier and Bishop Tissier.

Having come to the Archbishop in 1969, he was ordained priest by him in 1971, and he was his right hand man as First Assistant of the Society from 1973 to 1982 and as District Superior of France from 1976 to 1994, 18 years in which he was constantly travelling all over France to build up with the Archbishop the network of priories, schools, convents and other works, which have been the basis of the Society’s presence and influence in France to this day. Here one would say he was at his happiest and most fruitful, carrying good sense and good cheer to souls in all directions.

Nor did Fr Aulagnier only receive from the Archbishop. In 1970 he encouraged him to found both the priestly Seminary in Écône, and the Society, to frame the apostolate of the priests who would be ordained but foreseeably refused any framework for their ministry by the official Church henceforth given over to the Conciliar religion. And that is how it turned out.

In 1976 when the Archbishop was on the eve of the historic ordination of the first important batch of priests from Écône, it was on Fr. Aulagnier’s door that he knocked in a moment of hesitation before finally taking this decisive action, and it was Fr. Aulagnier’s encouragement that finally decided him. Again, where would the priesthood and the Church be today had either of them faltered?

And in late May of 1988 when the Archbishop gathered together in the middle of France a large number of the leading defenders of Catholic Tradition, priests and Sisters, to deliberate whether he should go ahead in June with consecrating bishops for Tradition without Rome’s official permission, the Sisters were valiant to a man (sic), but the priests nearly all advised delay, except Fr Aulagnier, who said, “Rome’s philosophy and theology are no longer Catholic . . . . I am afraid of the agreement they are offering us . . . . I fear Roman cunning . . . we risk being eaten up by modernist Rome.” He was right then. He is still right today.

Dear Fr. Aulagnier, immense thanks! May you rest in peace, and may yours be a great reward!

Kyrie eleison.

Four Concerns

Four Concerns on May 22, 2021

A reader writes, “Your Excellency, could you please clarify four points of disagreement with yourself which seem to come up over and over again in Traditional Catholic circles.” No problem – by all means let people think for themselves as long as they agree with me!

1 You are said to support and promote the “Poem of the Man-God” by Maria Valtorta, which has grievous errors contrary to the Faith, and much scandalous content.

Certainly I support and promote this work of Maria Valtorta (1897–1961), because I am convinced that it is a great gift of Our Lord to our poor modern world, His special answer to the electronics, cinema, television and the Internet, which are sweeping millions and millions of souls away from God and down towards Hell. The five volumes in English translation, or ten volumes in the original Italian, present a complete picture of the life, death and resurrection of Our Lord in such realistic detail as to make the Gospels jump off the page, so to speak. This is not their effect on every reader, in fact many a serious Catholic is left indifferent by the “Poem.” On the other hand, from the “Poem’s” first publication in the 1950’s, it has produced enormous good fruit with an increase of the love and knowledge of God and with serious conversions all over the world. Numberless souls will owe to the “Poem” their eternal salvation.

As for the accusations of doctrinal error and scandalous content, neither need be taken seriously. With the sureness of a mountain-goat dancing among mountain peaks, this bed-ridden Italian laywoman dances among the heights of Trinitarian theology in a manner hardly to be explained except by divine inspiration.

As for the “scandalous content,” somebody needs to be reminded of Titus I, 15: “To the pure all things are pure, but to the corrupt and unbelieving nothing is pure; their very minds and consciences are corrupted.” Many who accuse the “Poem” of scandal will only be condemning themselves. May they see clear!

2 You are said to support problematic unapproved Marian apparitions which support the Novus Ordo.

Note firstly that there could be no false Marian apparitions if the Devil did not have some genuine ones to imitate. The whole thing is to “test the spirits to see whether they are of God” (I Jn, IV, 1). Now normally the Catholic shepherds (bishops) are appointed to do this testing for the Catholic sheep, because it can be a delicate task. Furthermore, in testing spirits, it is prudent for them to err on the side of caution. But when times are as abnormal as they are today, and most bishops are modernists, how can they begin to do the Catholic work of testing spirits? How many of them still even believe in the Devil? And so Catholic sheep today are bound to do some testing of their own, no more than necessary, but at least some. The real problem today is too many souls that can no longer think, or do not want to recognise the objective evidence that God provides in abundance when He wants to be believed, e.g. at Garabandal or Akita.

3 You are said to encourage souls to attend the New Mass if they feel they will benefit from it.

In the abstract the New Mass is an abomination, the central act of worship of the new modernist religion, which is why Archbishop Lefebvre laid down a general rule of complete non-attendance. But in the concrete any particular New Mass is not automatically invalid, in which case it may happen to be spiritually profitable, but essentially it remains a Trojan horse designed by well-known enemies of God to destroy the Catholic Church from within. This it does every time it is celebrated or attended, by injecting in every participant the poison of a falsified understanding of the relations between God and man.

4 You are said to believe that Francis is an impostor who should not be named in the Canon of Mass.

However inadequate Francis is as Pope, I personally name him in the Canon at every Mass I celebrate, because the Catholic Church cannot survive without its Pope, which he is generally recognised to be today. It is the generally recognised head who is the one thus necessary to an organisation.

Kyrie eleison.

Beethoven Symphonies

Beethoven Symphonies on May 15, 2021

For readers who know the varied symphonies, here may be a little joy of recognition. For those who do not know them, may there be here a little encouragement to get to know them.

1. By 1800 Beethoven has already written much music, but here is his first Symphony. One would say, he is young, but the apprentice of Haydn and Mozart is already a master. Melody, harmony, rhythm, drive and humour, he has it all ! A joyful spirit comes to the battlefield. With promise of weapons musical rare to wield.

2. Two years later, the young composer (32) is stricken with the onset of deafness. Yet this Symphony shows no trace of his despair. Rather, it shows how the musician will mint his suffering in joy and triumph for his future listeners. The master is spreading his wings at greater length, Drawing from deafness’ grief yet greater strength.

3. The Symphony #3 fully lives up to its nickname, the “Eroica”. Inspired by Napoleon, it presents the life and death of a great hero. Musically its wealth and power of emotion open up a new language, a new age of music, where man is henceforth at the centre. Ready for battle, forward the hero strides. To death, but up on high his spirit rides.

4. The “Eroica” of 1803 unleashed from the now fully mature Beethoven a series of popular masterpieces. The fourth symphony of 1806 is one of these : rich, varied, profound, full of thought and beauty, life and joy, yet tightly organised to deliver its punch. To reign now over opening realms unknown. With passion, variety, order all his own.

5. “Beethoven’s Fifth” is the best-known of all nine Symphonies because it most dramatically presents the deep struggle in his soul to accept his fate. Here is modern man, 1807, striving to bend fate to his own will, in a blaze of revolutionary triumph. But storms do shake the universe’s frame. And man must fight, the victory to claim.

6. Beethoven loved the countryside where he drank in the beauty and grandeur of God. It inspired all five movements of the lovely “Pastoral” Symphony, of 1808, the Sixth. Its calm is in remarkable contrast to the tension of the Fifth Symphony, just before it. A walk in the countryside, beside a stream. Then peasants dance, a storm, a pastoral dream.

7. The Seventh, of 1812, is another popular favourite. Four movements of an Olympic grandeur, but never remotely cold or inhuman. The wild last movement reminds us of Beethoven’s inner struggles, but it is still perfectly designed and controlled. A majestic discourse, threnody of the soul. Noble in every part, and in the whole.

8. The Eighth, also of 1812, also relieves tension by harking back to the pre-heroic symphonies and humour of a Haydn, but Beethoven cannot forsake the richness and organisation of his mature style. The second movement is pure comic opera. Down from the heights, the hero comes to earth. Remembering earlier times, with rhythmic mirth.

9. The famous Ninth Symphony, is named the “Choral” because of the choir which Beethoven introduced to set to music a beloved Hymn to Joy. Three monumental movements set the scene, but, for Beethoven, it is joy that must have the last word. Doom, fate and crashing heavens open wide. Still rhythm, beauty, men’s joy will abide.

Kyrie eleison