Reminder: Solemn Mass on June 6th in NYC

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Pope Pius XII

50th Anniversary of the Death of Pius XII (OrbisCatholicus)

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Catholics throughout the world will commemorate the 50th anniversary of Pope Pius XII’s death at Castel Gandolfo, on October 9, 1958. Carlo Tei, who now resides in Hong Kong, wrote (March 12, 2008): “As a young student in Rome, I joined the procession of the people accompanying the body of the Pontiff, from Castel Gandolfo to the Vatican . We all felt we were accompanying a ‘Saint’ to the Holy city, the new and eternal Jerusalem.” Fifty years later, in spite of five decades of misinformation and calumny, Catholics thoughout the world continue to venerate Pius XII whose efforts during World War II saved thousands of Jews from the Holocaust.Pius XII was not a “silent Pope.” He explicitly condemned the “wickedness of Hitler” citing Hitler by name, and spoke out about the “fundamental rights of Jews.” The wisdom of his words and actions is supported by the evidence. In his testimony at the Adolf Eichmann Nazi War Crime Trials, Jewish scholar Jenö Levai stated: “Pius XII—the one person who did more than anyone else to halt the dreadful crime and alleviate its consequences—is today made the scapegoat for the failures of others.”

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Pope Pius XII’s peace efforts, his denunciation of Nazism, his defense of the Jewish people, have been clearly documented. Albert Einstein concluded in Time Magazine (December 23, 1940): “Only the Church stood squarely across the path of Hitler’s campaign for suppressing the truth.” Countless expressions of gratitude, on the part of Jewish chaplains and Holocaust survivors, give witness to the assistance and compassion of the Pope for the Jews before, during and after the Holocaust. Rabbi David Dalin states that “to deny the legitimacy of their collective gratitude to Pius XII is tantamount to denying their memory and experience of the Holocaust itself, as well as to denying the credibility of their personal testimony and judgment about the Pope’s role in rescuing hundreds of thousands of Jews from certain death at the hands of the Nazis.”

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Personally and through his representatives, Pius XII employed all the means at his disposal to save Jews and other refugees during World War II. As a moral leader and a diplomat forced to limit his words, he privately took action and, despite insurmountable obstacles, saved hundreds of thousands of Jews from the gas chambers. Broadcasting in German in April 1943, Vatican Radio protested a long list of Nazi horrors, including “an unprecedented enslavement of human freedom, the deportation of thousands for forced labor, and the killing of innocent and guilty alike.”

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Throughout World War II, Pius XII so provoked the Nazis that they called him “a mouthpiece of the Jewish war criminals.” Jewish historian and Holocaust survivor, Michael Tagliacozzo, wrote a letter to the daily newspaper “Davàr” (Tel Aviv, April 23, 1985) which states: “Little known is the precious help of the Holy See. On the recommendation of Pius XII the religious of every order did their best to save Jews.”

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All experts who witnessed that era, agree that, if Pius XII had stridently attacked the Nazi leaders, more lives would have been lost. Fifty years later, I interviewed Carlo Sestieri, a Jewish survivor, who was hidden in the Vatican. In a letter to me he suggested that “only the Jews who were persecuted understand why the Holy Father could not publicly denounce the Nazi-Fascist government. Without doubt—he stated—it helped avoid worse disasters.”

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The world looked with pride and admiration at the many-sided career of Pope Pius XII who, in his own agonized generation, was already recognized as a “Great Pope.” Everyone appealed to him for help to locate missing relatives. Requests for information came from all over the world. Pius XII’s virtuous life speaks for itself. On December 13, 1954, a picture story entitled “Years of a Great Pope,” appeared in Life magazine. The author states that Pius XII was deserving of the title “Great Pope” because he sought “peace for the world and the spirit” during World War II. For almost two decades, he was “unbending, working with devotion and all the skills of diplomacy to mitigate the burdens of a beleaguered world.

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When he passed away on October 9, 1958, an editorial, “Fighter for Peace,” in the Los Angeles Examiner, expressed the sentiments of Catholics and non-Catholics: “Pius XII was known as ‘the Pope of Peace’ … Never, during these troubled years, did Pius XII lose his gift of gracious beneficence. No other Pope received so many people. They numbered many millions. Whether the audiences were large or small, he conveyed a sense of intimacy and understanding. His gifts to them were hope and courage. This fighter for peace is now in peace with God.”

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A new book, The Truth Will Set You Free (Paulist Press, 2008), by Margherita Marchione issues a challenge to all Catholics to learn the truth and speak out courageously. The Foreword by Cardinal Secretary of State, Tarcisio Bertone, casts a great deal of light on the present pontificate’s thinking about the campaign against Pius XII: "How profoundly unjust it is to draw a veil of prejudice over the work of Pius XII during the war….directives given on the radio, in the press, and through diplomatic channels were clear. In that tragic year of 1942 he told everyone: ‘Action, not lamentation, is the precept of the hour.’"

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Margherita Marchione, PhD, author of: Yours Is a Precious Witness: Memoirs of Jews and Catholics in Wartime Italy (1997); Pius XII: Architect for Peace (2000); Consensus and Controversy: Defending Pius XII (2002); Shepherd of Souls: A Pictorial Life of Pius XII (2002); Man of Peace (2003); Crusade of Charity: Pius XII and POWs (2006); Did Pope Pius XII Help the Jews? (2007) Paulist Press. [E-mail: Sr.Margherita.Marchione@ATT.NET / Tel. 973-538-2886, Ext. 116 / FAX 973-539-9327].

First Friday Traditional Solemn Mass
Votive Mass of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
With Solemn Benediction after Mass

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“Praise be to the Divine Heart that wrought our salvation; to It be glory and honor forever.”

June 6th, 2008 at 6:30PM

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Presented by
The Oratory of the Sacred Heart
at
The Church of the Guardian Angel
193 Tenth Avenue at 21st Street,
New York City

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Celebrant: The Very Reverend Gilles Wach,

Superior General of the Institute of Christ the King, Sovereign Priest
Deacon: Father Andreas Hellmann
Subdeacon: Father Cyprian La Pastina
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Please join us at a convivium in the church hall immediately following Solemn Benediction

1, V, F, C, E trains to 23rd Street Station
M23 Bus to 10th Avenue
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For information: (917) 535-2054

When Prelates looked like Prelates II

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When Prelates looked like PRELATES...

By Prelate, we understand a dignitary of the Catholic Church, who is entitled to wear a special custom, and whose rank deserves special honors, both in everyday life and in liturgical functions. ~Custome of Prelates of the Catholic Church, p. 12.

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Traditional Masses in NYC This Week

Monday 4/28/08: Sung Mass at the Church of St. Agnes at 6:15pm.

Wednesday 4/30/08: Sung Mass for the Vigil of the Ascension at Our Saviour's Church (38th Street and Park Avenue) at 6:00pm.

Thursday 5/1/08: (Low) Mass of the Ascension at Our Lady of Good Counsel (290 E. 90th Street, between 1st and 2nd Avenue) at 7:30pm

(Low) Mass of the Ascension at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in the Bronx at 8:30 AM.

Friday 5/2/08: First Friday Traditional Mass presented by The Oratory of the Sacred Heart at the Church of the Guardian Angel (193 Tenth Avenue at 21st Street) at 6:30pm.

Traditional Mass - First Fridays in NYC

***Click on image to read better***

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First Friday Traditional Mass

As part of the 9 first Fridays Devotion to the Sacred Heart

May 2nd, 2008 at 6:30 PM

Presented by
The Oratory of the Sacred Heart
At
The Church of the Guardian Angel
193 Tenth Avenue at 21st Street
Manhattan

C, E trains to 23rd Street Station
M23 Bus to 10th Avenue

For information: (917) 535-2054

“We therefore urge all Our children in Christ, both those who are already accustomed to drink the saving waters flowing from the Heart of the Redeemer and, more especially those who look on from a distance like hesitant spectators, to eagerly embrace this devotion.”

~ Pius XII, Haurietis Aquas
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The Crozier/Ferula

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The Crosier is an ecclesiastical ornament which is conferred on Bishops at their consecration and on mitred Abbots at their investiture, and which is used by these prelates in performing certain solemn functions... According to present-day usage the Roman pontiff does not use the Crosier... The Crosier is symbol of authority and jurisdiction. This idea is clearly expressed in the words of the Roman Pontifical with which the staff is presented to the Bishop-elect: "Accipe baculum pastoralis officii; et sis in corrigendis vitiis pies viens, judicium sine irâ tenens, in fovendis virtutibus auditorum animos mulcens, in tranquillitate severitatis censuram non deserens" (Pont. Rom. 77). ~Online Catholic Encyclopedia

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IL PASTORALE (baculus, sottinteso pastoralis; cambuta, ferula) è un'insegna liturgica propria del vescovo e degli abati nelle funzioni pontificali, eccettuate quelle del Venerdì Santo e dei defunti. Consta di un'asta dell'altezza di un uomo, munita al di sopra di una curvatura a spirale. ~Una Voce Venetia

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Baculus a majoribus nostris receptus est veluti nobile episcoporum insigne et pastoralis sollicitudinis testimonium, etenim episcopus est bonus pastor, idque baculo merito repræsentatur. (Ritus traditionis baculi gallicanam habet originem, sed benedictio ejus est usus recentior seu sæculi XI vel XII. Leroquais, Les Pontificaux Manuscrits, p. xc). ~Mgr. Nabuco

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Summus Ecclesiæ Pontifex ex recepto a sæculis more baculo pastorali non utitur, et quoties baculus neccesarius est Papa adhibet ferulam cum cruce in capite. ~Mgr. Nabuco

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"Et licet Romanus Pontifex non utatur baculo pastorali, tum propter historiam, tum etiam propter mysticam rationem..." ~ Mgr. Nabuco

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Ferula papalis baculus est cum parva cruce in parte superiore [the ferula is a staff with a cross on top - see picture above], eaque utitur Papa quando ad litanias personas seu res benedicere debet, veluti in consecratione episcoporum vel in aperitione concilii œcumenici vel ad alphabeta in ecclesiarum consecratione scribenda. ~Mgr. Nabuco

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FERULA. - Nel medioevo era il pastorale del vescovo, del quale si ha notizia nel sec. X (PL 132, 970; 136, 907). Costituiva il simbolo della potestà spirituale e temporale del papa (signum regiminis et coercitionis, Ordo Romanus, xiv, cap. 44: PL 78, 1143). Gli era consegnato insieme alle chiavi quando, dopo l'incoronazione ed il possesso della Basilica Lateranense, si recava alla chiesa di S. Silvestro. Somigliava agli sceptra imperialia, dovuti ai papi dopo la cosiddetta donazione di Costantino.

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Attualmente è un'asta sormontata da una Croce a braccia uguali, che il papa usa principalmente nella funzione della apertura e chiusura della Porta santa. Filippo Oppenheim (da Enciclopedia Cattolica, V, Città del Vaticano, 1950, col. 1209). Una Voce Venetia

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Gioventù Cristiana - Christian Youth

Gioventù Cristiana (Christian Youth) is an Italian Christian (Catholic) forum that aims to bring young people closer in a Christan way. It also promotes knowledge about and sincere love for the Liturgy in general. It allows young people (and whoever wants to join it) the opportunity to have respectful discussions regarding the Liturgy, the Faith, Morals and all the social teachings, dogmas and practices/traditions of the Church.

While Gioventù Cristiana does not claim to be or favor traditionalists, many of its members are open traditionalists or open to the true traditionalism of the Church in many ways and forms. For those of you who would like to check the forum out, go to the links provided at the very end of this post.

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Following is the message written by the founder of the group and the main administrator of the forum.

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Written by Pietro Serra

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Una buona notizia, specialmente per i ragazzi che amano Cristo, sta girando in questi giorni in rete. E’ nato infatti “Gioventù Cristiana” il primo forum giovanile cattolico d’Italia, con un portale tutto suo da cui si può accedere direttamente al forum. Promotore dell’iniziativa è Pietro Serra che tenta con questo progetto di unire le “pecorelle smarrite” all’interno di un forum nella quale i giovani (anche se non necessariamente credenti), possano confrontarsi sui vari argomenti che dominano l’attualità, sia cristiana che mondana. Basta infatti un semplice clic dopo la registrazione e la convalida dell’amministratore per immergersi in un mondo nuovo, in cui dai giovani ai meno giovani, ci si scambiano le idee chi in chiave cristiana e chi meno, anche grazie all’ausilio di 4 sacerdoti che compongono tale forum e l’aiuto di non poco conto di 3 seminaristi in particolare nella Liturgia. Dall’apertura del forum è stato riscosso un vero e proprio successo raggiungendo la soglia di più di 100 iscritti, per la maggior parte ragazzi intorno ai 20 anni che nelle varie sezioni discutono da un proprio punto di vista le notizie relative all’argomento trattato.

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Il forum è stato consacrato martedì 25 marzo alla Vergine Santissima “Noli Me Tollere” da cui i ragazzi invocano la protezione con una particolare intenzione verso il Santo Padre, Benedetto XVI. Gioventù Cristiana si propone dunque come punto di partenza per una maturazione a livello religioso di tanti ragazzi che oggi in un contesto di “relativismo sociale” pare abbiano perso i valori e qualcosa su cui credere per mettere delle solide basi alla loro vita.

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Per entrare sul forum http://gioventucristiana-forum.135.it/

Per entrare nel portale clicca su http://gioventucristiana.135.it/