C Jor esuFornax Ardens Caritatis, Miserere Nobis

» Immaculate Heart of Mary

A Parish Bulletin

Priory of the Most Sacred Heart

Palayamkottai

In this Issue »

P2 : Father Desgenettes

P8 : Act of Consecration

P9 : New Rosary Crusade

P10 : Book Review

P12 : Feast of Assumption

Sancta Maria Publications

August 2016 Issue: 8

T he year was 1836. Father Desgenettes, the

parish priest at Our Lady of Victories in Paris,

was discouraged. For four years, his zeal had

been unable to overcome the indifference of a middle

class bogged down by material interests. He thought

seriously about resigning. This temptation hounded him

until Saturday, December 3rd, when, as he was celebrating

the Mass at the altar of the Blessed Virgin, he several

times received this interior word: “Consecrate your

parish to the Most Holy and Immaculate Heart of Mary.”

Father Desgenettes placed his parish in the hands of

the Virgin Mary, and everything was transformed: his

church became a “refuge of sinners”, to the point of its

renown spreading to the ends of the earth. Who was

this priest whose ministry was so influential?

Intense nature

On August 10, 1778, in Alençon, France, the magistrate

Charles-Guillaume Dufriche-Desgenettes, his wife,

and their two daughters rejoiced over the birth of

Charles-Éléonore. From Charles’ earliest years, Madame

Desgenettes strived to pass down the faith to her son

and teach him piety. Gifted with a quick mind and a

remarkable memory, little Charles had to overcome his

intense, even combative, nature. He built little oratories

in honor of the Blessed Virgin, to which he went often

to beg forgiveness for having upset his mother. Sensitive,

generous, and candid, he had a resolute temperament

that sometimes made him stubborn. To subdue this

turbulent disposition, his First Holy Communion was

postponed six weeks, even though he was first in his

catechism class. He would not forget this lesson. At the

age of twelve, he already thought about the priesthood.

His family moved to Sées, then to Dreux. Placed in the

secondary school in Chartres, Charles’ Catholic convic-

tions drew attention —he refused to go to confession

to a juror priest (a priest who had taken the schismatic

oath required by the government established by the

French Revolution). The execution of Louis XVI on

January 21, 1793, led Monsieur Desgenettes to resign

his post. He was arrested, imprisoned, and stripped of

all his property, leaving his family destitute. To help

his family’s financial situation, Charles roamed the

countryside. Farmers competed in generosity offering

him food. He established contact with some priests

faithful to Rome, who had been forced to go into hiding

to avoid prison, or even the scaffold. Madame Desgenettes

exhausted herself in useless attempts to get the authorities

to release her husband.

On August 4, 1794, Charles couldn’t stand it any longer.

He went to the revolutionary club in Dreux and received

permission to speak. This sixteen-year-old adolescent’s

plea obtained not only his father’s release, but that of a

hundred other prisoners.

The trial had matured the young man and strengthened

him in his priestly vocation. Yet his family, frightened

by the sufferings endured by priests, opposed his plan.

Charles was stricken with typhoid. Seeing himself in

danger of death, he vowed that he would consecrate

himself to God in the clerical state if he was cured. He

then sank into a healing sleep and, the next morning,

was in perfect health. Becoming a bold apostle, he

provided for the needs of priests in hiding, and with

one of them began studying theology. In 1803, thanks

to the recent Concordat, he could finally enter the major

2 Cor Jesu-August 2016

Father Desgenettes and Immaculate Heart of Mary

seminary in Sées. Nevertheless, one worry tormented

him—the salvation of his father, who had abandoned

all religious practice. He urged his mother and sister to

double their prayers for a month to obtain his conversion.

Soon after, they had the joy of seeing their prayers

answered.

On June 9, 1805, on the Feast of the Holy Trinity, Charles

was ordained a priest, and named assistant priest at the

parish of Saint-Germain in Argentan. It was a delicate

position, due to opposition between the partisans of the

former Constitutional bishop (appointed by the Revolu-

tionary government) and the Catholics who had remained

faithful to Rome. The young priest, in charge of teach-

ing catechism to children, gave the instruction in the

church to increase its solemnity and attract parishioners.

Very soon, he succeeded in restoring unity among the

faithful.

In 1815, Charles thought about joining the Society of

Jesus, which Pope Pius VII had just reestablished. He

confided in Father de Clorivière, who was working to

restore the Jesuits in France. The two priests agreed to

each celebrate Mass on September 8th for the intention

of obtaining the Holy Spirit’s enlightenment through

Mary’s intercession. After their prayer of thanksgiving,

they met. The Jesuit’s verdict was final: “You absolutely

must give up this plan forever. God wants you to be a

parish pastor; you will do more good that way.”—“Me,

a pastor? Never! I’ve already refused the position twice,”

replied the priest, who had always seen himself as a

preacher, a confessor, an educator, but not, in any case,

a pastor. “This year will not end before you receive your

appointment,” the Jesuit answered. “You will be sent into

a parish where you will have much to suffer, but where

you will do much good. After a few years, you will be sent

to another city.”

Persevering charity

And in fact, in 1816, Father Desgenettes was appointed

the pastor of Saint-Pierre-de-Montsort parish, in Alençon.

The Montsort quarter was notorious for the revolutionary

spirit and immorality of its inhabitants. In four years, he

transformed his parish, thanks to his persevering charity

which overcame many obstacles. However, some recal-

citrants managed to get the government to remove him.

He then wondered about his pastoral vocation, and

considered dedicating himself to other works. But his

virtues as a pastor were extolled to Doctor Récamier in

Paris, who repeated them to Father Desjardin, the pastor

of the parish of the Foreign Missions. Father Desjardin

was enthusiastic—he wanted Desgenettes to be his assis-

tant priest. Soon, the bishop of Sées agreed to loan him

to the Parisian clergy, with the hope of getting him back

one day.

Charles Desgenettes arrived in Paris in March 1819.

In October, he succeeded Father Desjardin and found

that he was, despite himself, the pastor of a Parisian parish

that included hundreds of poor people. The Sunday

evening catechism was specifically for them—all who

attended were assured of leaving with vouchers for

bread and wood. Father Desgenettes was not content to

appeal only to the rich. He broke his own piggy bank

Cor Jesu-August 2016 3

to establish a new educational initiative, the Providence

Saint-Charles, which Charles X generously supported.

In 1829, Father Desgenettes welcomed a new assistant

priest, the future Dom Guéranger, whom he would assist

in his project to restore the abbey of Solesmes and the

Benedictine order in France. In July 1830, revolution

broke out. Father Desgenettes, whose works had been

linked to the deposed king, became a target for the

revolutionaries. He resigned and fled to Fribourg,

Switzerland. But in the spring of 1832, learning that a

cholera outbreak had stricken Paris, he decided to return.

Archbishop de Quelen appointed him pastor of Our Lady

of Victories. This church, founded on December 8, 1629

in commemoration of Louis XIII’s victories, particularly

over the Protestants in La Rochelle, had been entrusted

to the Discalced Augustinians. A very popular humble

monk, Brother Fiacre, was the originator of Marian

devotion at this sanctuary; in November 1637 he had

received the mission from God to announce the imminent

birth of the Dauphin (heir apparent to the throne), the

future Louis XIV, and to hasten the official consecration

of France to the Blessed Virgin. Through his efforts,

he had Mary invoked at this church under the beautiful

titles of “Mother of Mercy” and “Refuge of Sinners.”

The pastor’s great surprise

But since that time, the Revolution had done its work

and Father Desgenettes counted but forty people at the

Sunday High Mass, in a parish of forty thousand souls!

For four years, he traversed a “desert”. “It is in vain,”

he said, “for the priest to mount the pulpit to break the

bread of the Word: there is no one to hear him. His flock

consists of a handful of Christians, who are afraid to be

seen as such. The others, absorbed in calculations of

interest and profit, or drowned in sensuality and passions,

know neither the church, nor the shepherd.” Following

an interior locution he received during Mass on Saturday,

December 3, 1836, he drew up the statutes for a prayer

society for the conversion of sinners, and invited the

faithful to come to the office of Vespers on Sunday,

December 11th to beg for the conversion of sinners

through the intercession of the Heart of Mary.

Throughout the day that Sunday, the poor pastor worried,

hoping that at least a few parishioners would come.

That evening, to his great surprise, five hundred people

showed up, including many men! Who had brought

them? Many would admit that they did not know why

they were there. The assembly, quiet during Vespers,

participated enthusiastically in the Benediction of the

Blessed Sacrament.

They spontaneously chanted the invocation from the

Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary three times: “Refuge

of sinners, pray for us.” Moved to tears, the priest im-

mediately asked Our Lady for a sign of approval of the

confraternity: a dramatic conversion in the parish, of

Monsieur Etienne-Louis-Hector de Joly, a fervent

Voltairian who was the last holder of the Seals of Louis

XVI. The pastor had already tried in vain to see this

blind and sick old man, but on Monday the 12th, he

was finally ushered in to him. After a few minutes of

conversation, this soul opened to grace—the conver-

sion was instantaneous!

On December 16th, the confraternity was canonically

established, and on January 12th, the first members

were enrolled. Before the end of the year there were

already 214 associates. From then on, Father Desgenettes

understood his mission—to lead poor sinners to the

feet of Mary, and so fight Satan’s work in souls and in

society. As for the associates, they were required to attend

Mass the first Saturday of the month and to gather on

Sunday evenings for the confraternity’s religious exercises.

They “shall remember,” the statutes say, “that it is above

all by the purity of their hearts that they shall obtain

the protection of the Most Holy and Immaculate Heart

of Mary. They shall strive to merit it by good confessions

and frequent Communion.” For, as Father Desgenettes

clarified, “it is with Jesus Christ, through Jesus Christ,

using with Him the power and mediation of the Most

Holy Heart of His august Mother, that we ask for the

conversion of sinners.”

“Entrusting the world to the Immaculate Heart of

Mary,” said Blessed John Paul II, “means returning to

the foot of Her Son’s Cross. Moreover, it means entrusting

4 Cor Jesu-August 2016

this world to the Savior’s pierced Heart, taking it back

to the very source of its Redemption. The Redemption

always exceeds the sins of man and the sin of the world.

The power of Redemption is infinitely superior to all

the evil in humanity and in the world. The Heart of our

Mother, more than any other anywhere in the universe,

is well aware of that. This is why her Heart calls. It calls

not only for conversion, it calls us to be helped by her,

our Mother, to return to the source of Redemption”

(Fatima, May 13, 1982).

Countless conversions

From the start, the most visible graces rewarded the

members’ fervor. The work was still shielded from the

slander and ridicule that would be poured upon it later.

In a letter dated June 1837, Father Desgenettes wrote,

“Countless sensational conversions have taken place, and

most are of men between the ages of twenty and thirty.

My parish was the center of indifference and impiety.

Well! It has given me astonishing consolations. In my

whole life I never heard as many confessions as I have

since last December. Among the neophytes I count

several systematic atheists, former Carbonari, Saint-

Simonianists (revolutionary factions)... All live as Christians

today, many leading an angelic life.” On April 24, 1838,

Pope Gregory XVI raised the confraternity to an Arch-

confraternity. From then on, it could include faithful

and Catholic communities from around the world. When

Father Desgenettes died in 1860, more than 800,000

individuals had registered in the Archconfraternity, and

some 14,000 Christian communities (parishes, congrega-

tions, schools) were enrolled. In 1845, the Curé d’Ars

asked for his parish to be registered. In truth, Father

Vianney had preceded his confrère in consecrating his

parish to the Immaculate Heart of Mary; he had done so

on May 1, 1836, seven months before Father Desgenettes.

Nonetheless he humbly asked the Archconfraternity to

accept his parish in Ars.

The pastor of Our Lady of Victories was aware that his

church was linked to the chapel in rue du Bac, where the

Virgin Mary had appeared to Catherine Labouré, a nun

of the Sisters of Charity. Mary had asked her to have a

medal struck that would come to be called “miraculous”.

Father Desgenettes discovered in it the source of the

graces that were poured out on his parish. That is why

he had the Archconfraternity become one of the first

centers for the distribution of the miraculous medal.

Father Desgenettes also saw in this recourse to the

Immaculate Heart of Mary the continuation of the

revelations at Paray-le-Monial, in which Our Lord said:

“You have rendered all my graces useless. Therefore, I

give you a new pledge of My love and leniency. Go to

My Mother, entrust to her most compassionate Heart

all your evils, your sins, and your remorse. Beg her, by

virtue of the tenderness, the merits, and the power of

her Heart; she will intercede for you.” On January 1,

1839, the first edition of the Archconfraternity’s handbook

was published, in which the founder recounted the most

well-known graces. The handbook would be followed

by the Annals, which would be distributed by numerous

missionaries on the five continents. The eloquence of

these writings would rival those of Fathers Lacordaire,

Guéranger, d’Alzon, Libermann, and Ratisbonne, all of

Cor Jesu-August 2016 5

whom would come and preach at Our Lady of Victories.

Among the graces obtained was the 1842 conversion to

Catholicism of Alphonse Ratisbonne, Jewish by birth,

which had an enormous impact. His elder brother

Theodore, who had become a priest in 1830 and joined

the Archconfraternity in 1839, helped Father Desgenettes

in his ministry. The pastor insisted on obtaining a detailed

account of Alphonse’s conversion which he published

in the Annals in April 1842. From then on, crowds made

for Our Lady of Victories.

“Monsieur Unapproachable”

Every morning, after a period of prayer, Father

Desgenettes went to the church to hear confessions from

6 to 9, then celebrated Mass, followed by a long prayer

of thanksgiving. During the day, he kindly received all

sorts of people, whom he often led to the confessional.

However, “Monsieur Unapproachable”, as he had been

nicknamed in Alençon, became impatient when he was

interrupted, even by those prompted by a holy curiosity.

“My time belongs to sinners, and there are many of

them,” he affirmed. One day, Mother Barat (Saint Sophie

Barat, the foundress of the Society of the Sacred Heart)

drew a curt reply when, accompanied by her novices,

she told him: “We are quite pleased that you are praying

for the conversion of poor sinners, for we are all sinners!”

—“ Mother,” he answered, “I have other things to do

besides attend to sinners of your kind!” But he himself

was well aware of his faults. Twice a year, on the feast

day of his patron saint and the anniversary of his ordi-

nation, he publicly asked the faithful to forgive him for

his failures in their regard. “I did not break my character

when I was younger, and now I am the victim of my

impatience. All these flaws that I bemoan to God and

to you will keep me long years in the flames of Purgatory,

if God does not take pity on my poor soul, and if Mary,

my good Mother, does not intercede for me.”

However, the slander directed at him gave him the

opportunity to make his Purgatory here on earth. The

Archconfraternity did not draw only friends to him, as

Father Libermann attested: “He is a saint and a man of

great wisdom. Whatever bad priests there are in Paris

are all unleashed against him. He lets them speak without

ever taking the slightest step to justify himself. ... As to

the Archconfraternity, jealousy makes them say that this

holy man established it just to enrich himself. If every

cleric enriched himself like him, it would be a great

blessing for the poor. ... He showed me letters that came

from all over, that proclaimed miracles accomplished

by the prayers of the Archconfraternity. ... Many of these

miracles were of the first order: hopeless illnesses suddenly

cured, unexpected conversions...” The 37,000 votive

offerings in the sanctuary testify still today to the varied

graces that have transformed countless hearts.

It was on November 4, 1858, the feast day of his patron

saint, that he celebrated Mass in the church of Our Lady

of Victories for the last time. From then on, because he

was 80 years old, and had great difficulty moving around,

he celebrated Mass in an oratory adjoining his room. For

another year and a half, he experienced the progressive

deterioration of old age.

During his last days, he had great difficulty expressing

himself, but was anxious to bless the faithful on Good

Shepherd Sunday, April 22, 1860. His last words as a

preacher were marked by the straightforwardness and

boldness he had shown all his life: “Pray and persevere,

and you will triumph. Devotion to the Holy and Im-

maculate Heart of Mary is the principle and center of

all devotion.” He rendered his soul to God on April

25th. An immense crowd came to pay their respects

before he was buried in his church, at the foot of her

who had so often answered his prayers. Upon hearing of

the death of this holy priest, Pope Pius IX was filled

with sadness. The Pope had previously confided: “The

Archconfraternity of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is

the work of God. It is a plan that Heaven has brought

forth on earth. It will be a great resource for the

Church.”

Less than sixty years later, Our Lady appeared to three

young children in Fatima, Portugal, to herself recommend

devotion to Her Immaculate Heart; to exhort sinners

to conversion and repentance for their sins, so as to avoid

further afflicting Our Lord, already so greatly offended;

6 Cor Jesu-August 2016

and to encourage praying the Rosary. Blessed John Paul II

declared, “In the light of maternal love, we understand

the entire message of the Lady of Fatima. The greatest

obstacle to man’s journey toward God is sin, persever-

ance in sin, and, finally, denial of God. ... [T]he eternal

salvation of man is found only in God. If man’s rejection

of God becomes definitive, it leads logically to God’s

rejection of man, to damnation ... Can the Mother who

desires everyone’s salvation with all the force of the love

that she nourishes in the Holy Spirit, remain silent about

that which threatens the very foundation of their salvation?

No, she cannot!” (Fatima, May 13, 1982).

Try to console me

On June 13, 1917, Our Lady declared to Lucia, the eldest

of the three children who saw her at Fatima: “Jesus wishes

to spread devotion to my Immaculate Heart throughout

the world. I promise salvation to those who embrace

this devotion. Their souls will be loved by God with a

special love, like flowers placed by me before His throne.”

And on December 10, 1925, she clarified, “See, my

daughter, my Heart surrounded by thorns, with which

ungrateful men pierce me at every moment, by their

blasphemies and ingratitude. You, at least, try to console

me and announce in my name that I promise to assist

at the moment of death, with all the graces necessary

for salvation, all those who, on the first Saturday of five

consecutive months go to Confession, receive holy

Communion, recite the Rosary, and keep me company

for fifteen minutes while meditating on the mysteries

of the rosary, with the intention of making reparation

to my Immaculate Heart.”

Cor Jesu-August 2016 7

“THIS IS MY BELOVED SON; LISTEN TO HIM”

We have heard, whilst reading the Gospel, the story of the great vision in which Our Lord

showed Himself to the three disciples, Peter, James and John: “His face shone like the sun.” This

signifies the splendour of the Gospel. “His clothes became as white as snow.” This means the

purification of the Church, of which the Prophet says: “Though your sins are like scarlet, they

shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool” (Is 1:18). Elias

and Moses spoke with Him, because the grace of the Gospel receives witness from the Law

and the Prophets. It is to be understood that Moses represents the Law and Elias the Prophets.

Peter suggests that they make three tents; one for Moses, one for Elias and one for Christ. He

is pleased with the solitude of the mountain; the tumult of human things annoyed him. But

why did he want to make three tents? Did he not know that the Law, the Prophets and the

Gospel had the same origin! In fact he was corrected from the cloud. “He was still speaking,

whenm lo, a bright cloud overshadowed them.” Thus, since the cloud made one tent, why did you

want three? And a voice from the cloud said: “This is my beloved Son, listen to Him.” The

Prophets speak, the Law speaks, but “listen to Him,” the voice of the Law and the tongue of the

Prophets. It was He Who spoke in them, then He spoke or Himself when He deigned to show

Himself to them. “Listen to him,” let us listen to Him. When the Gospel spoke, know that it

was the voice of the cloud; from there it has reached us. Let us listen to Him; let us do what

He tells us, and hope for that which He has promised to.

St. Augustine (Feast of Transfiguration)

T he consecration to the Immaculate Heart of

Mary is a testimony of her sovereignty; a loyal

submission to her authority; a filial and

constant love in return; a commitment to work towards

the establishment of her royalty in God’s kingdom,

which is the Church, so that she may be loved, venerated,

and served by each one of us in the family, in society,

and in the world.”

(Pius XII in the radio message at the Crowning of our

Lady of Fatima - May 13, 1946)

«O Immaculate Heart of Mary, Mother of the Heart of

Jesus, our Queen and our Mother! Look down with

mercy upon this [parish/school]. We wish to show thee

our filial love and to render to thee our homage by this

solemn act.

We come to offer thee our whole being, body and soul,

faculties and senses, our life with all its sorrows and

joys, all that we possess, all that we are, all that we love.

O Immaculate Virgin, Mother of God and Mother of

all men! We consecrate ourselves and our [parish/school]

to thy Immaculate Heart. Receive us as thy children.

May thy Heart be for all us priests, teachers and catechists,

parents and children, young people, adult and elderly,

healthy and sick, absent, present and fallen away the

path that leads to God.

Reign over us, O Beloved Mother, so that we may be

thine both in prosperity and in adversity, in joy and in

sorrow, in health and in sickness, in life and in death.

O most compassionate Heart of Mary, Queen of Virgins,

watch over our minds and our hearts and preserve

them from the flood of pride, impurity and paganism

of which thou didst complain so bitterly at Fatima.

From this moment, thou art named Queen and Mother

of this [parish/school]. Look after our spiritual and

temporal well-being, hear our prayers and console us

in the sorrows and tribulations of this life and particularly

at the hour of our death.

We want to call down upon our families and [parish/

school], our country and the whole world the peace of

God in justice and charity.

On our part, we promise to imitate thy virtues in a

spirit of reparation and penance, by a true Christian

life, by frequent confessions and holy Communions, by

fervent participation in the divine Liturgy, by attentive

study of the catechism without regard to human respect.

O Queen of the Holy Rosary, we promise to offer thee

the prayer of the rosary each day.

We accept now, all the sacrifices that a Christian life

will impose on us, and we offer them to the Heart of

Jesus, by thy Immaculate Heart, in union with the

Mass of thy divine Son.

O Mother of fair love, inflame in our hearts, [parish/

school] and homes, with the divine fire to keep us

faithful to our duty of state and to become, with the

grace of God, zealous apostles towards our neighbors

and poor sinners by our example, our sacrifices and

prayers, bringing them to the practice of the true Faith.

May the reign of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, together

with thy reign, enter this [parish/school], our Queen

and our Mother, so that living truly consecrated to thy

love and service, we may one day deserve eternal happiness

in the presence of the Holy Trinity. Amen.»

8 Cor Jesu-August 2016

Act of Consecration of a Parish

A t the priestly ordinations in Zaitzkofen (Germany) on July 2, 2016, Bishop Bernard Fellay, Superior

General of the Society of St. Pius X, announced another Rosary Crusade as a spiritual preparation for

the 100th anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima (May to October 1917).

This crusade will be held from August 15, 2016 to August 22, 2017.

It follows the intentions indicated by the Blessed Virgin herself: (I) Jesus wishes to establish in the world the de-

votion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. In order to do so, all the faithful are invited: 1) to recite

the rosarydaily, alone or as a family; 2) to accomplish the devotion of the reparatory communion on five first Satur-

days, and to multiply their daily sacrifices in a spirit of reparation for the outrages against Mary; 3) to wear

themiraculous medal themselves and to diffuse it around them; 4) to consecrate their homes to the Immaculate Heart

of Mary.

Besides the propagation of this devotion, we will also pray (II) for the triumph of the Immaculate Heart and

(III) for the pope and all the bishops of the Catholic world to consecrate Russia to the Sorrowful and Immacu-

late Heart of Mary.

And as a special intention we will add (IV) the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary for the Society of St.

Pius X and all its members in addition to all the religious communities of Tradition.

The goal set by Bishop Bernard Fellay is a bouquet of 12 million rosaries and 50 million sacrifices for Our Lady of

Fatima.

Bishop Fellay Announces a New Rosary Crusade

Cor Jesu-August 2016 9

“It is never the case that one man out of sheer

wickedness suddenly invents a false doctrine.

(...) A movement begins, often very rightly,

by a vigorous and extreme opposition to some

patently false teaching. Then this way or

looking at things crystallizes and hardens; it

is taken up enthusiastically by some school,

it becomes a point of honour with a certain

party to insist upon it... At last, someone gets

hold of the theory, oversteps every limit in his

defence of it, and is eagerly supported by the

rest of the party. And then he finds himself

condemned by the Church”.

Sedevacantism is not a major threat in our country, but

it is becoming one and the day-to-day activities of the

current Holy Father are accelerating the situation. It is

truly ‘a false solution to a real problem’. This no one

can deny. The situation in the Church is not helping a

normal faithful to live his life normally. Nay rather, a

heroic virtue of faith is expected of them. Yet the Son of

man, when he cometh, shall he find, think you, faith on earth?

Having said this, Sedevacantism is a major threat for

very many traditional Catholics, esp. in the United States.

While there is no dearth of material (usually online)

available on pro-sedevacantism, the same cannot be said

of ‘anti-sedevacantism: ‘A comprehensive and definitive

refutation firmly grounded in eccelesiology, has been

sorely needed’ (Bp. Fellay, foreword).

And this exactly is what this book under review is all

about. This brilliant ‘refutation of sedevacantism and

other modern errors’ by John Salza and Robert Siscoe

has done the difficult task remarkably well. To those

trained in scholastic philosophy and desirous of getting

an answer to this ‘neo-docetism’, this book may be an

eye opener.

The fundamental theme of the book is this: If you follow

Sedevacantist path, you will eventually abandon the

10 Cor Jesu-August 2016

Book Review

TRUE OR FALSE POPE? Refuting Sedevacantism and other modern errors.

By John Salza and Robert Siscoe. Pp 710. STAS editions, Winona 2016.

Price 35 USD.

saving faith on the Church. Chapter 1 and 2 deals with

the Church and its attributes and its marks. Here the

authors patiently analyzes the thesis of various Sedeva-

cantists and prove how they end up denying the basic

notion of the Church, which is visible.

Chapter 3 – 12 is Sedevacantism in genere. Here they

explain very many principles elegantly. Some chapter

headings are provocative (like chap. 8: can a Pope fall

into heresy?). Chapter 13-20 treats of Sedevacantism

in specie. Here too, the authors show how sedevacantism

is a false solution to a true problem. Chapter 21 is a

“fruit – tasting session”. We can judge a tree by its fruits:

The authors rightly give example from the mouth of

Sedevacantists themselves about their ‘cult’. A certain

sedevacantist Mr. Lane writes “people who get interested

in Sedevacantism become unstable in their spiritual lives

(..) often destabilize others in their parish, and very often

more broadly disturb the peace of the parish. I’ve

observed all of this myself, and so often that I can’t

answer. It’s true!” (p. 654). There is also an appendix

chart on the ‘Theological opinions on the loss of office

for a heretical Pope’. A bibliographical index and an

index (unfortunately not a complete one) concludes the

volume.

This conspectus on the ‘theology of sedevcantism’ is

quite the most remarkable of work of its kind available

in English. It is outstanding not only for its exposition,

but also for clarity in expression and in typographical

presentation. Readers will definitely enjoy many concrete

examples provided in each chapter and this just adds

more weight to the argument (but the story of ‘death

of Fr. Hermann’s mother (p. 137) derives its strength

from private revelation and it does slow down the tempo).

And also, not everything will be accepted equally by

theologians (like the essence of Eccl. Faith (p. 177),

valor of theological conclusions are still questiones

disputatae). We can also notice one or two mistakes,

on p. 203 it is Pope Pius IX (not Pius XI). A table

explaining various ‘theological censures’ in chap. 7

could have been more useful. May be in the second

edition, or if we may make our wish, in the second

volume, it would be more profitable to treat of

‘Cassiacum thesis’ and ‘De Papatu Materiali’ extensively.

This ‘summa on sedevacantism’ is an achievement.

This is a book that may be warmly recommended to

priests, seminarians and laity as well. It does require a

slow reading and calm analysis but the effort made to

penetrate the arguments will strengthen our faith without

which it is impossible to please God.

All English trad- world owe a debt of gratitude to the

authors and the publisher for giving us such a monu-

mental work. May this ‘magnum opus’ render immense

service to lead us ‘through the narrow gate that leads

to life, erring neither to the left nor to the right’! (Bp.

Fellay.)

- Fr. Therasian Babu

Cor Jesu-August 2016 11

Requiescant in Pace

Please pray for the repose of the soul of Mme Gilbert Nély, mother of Fr. Alain-Marc Nély, who died on 19th July 2016

Please pray for the repose of the soul of Mr. Maria Arul Pandi of Tamil Nadu, father of Sr. Maria Cecilia of the Reparation Sisters in India, who died on 17th July 2016.

12 Cor Jesu-August 2016

Feast of Assumption

7:00 am: Confession.

7:30 am: Sung mass.

+ Renewal of Religious vows (Reparation Sisters).

+ Consecration of the priory to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

9:00 am: Breakfast at the priory.

All are invited

Chapel of the Most Sacred Heart | 8A/3, Annie Nagar | Palayamkottai.