Apparition of St. Michael the Archangel on Mt. Gargano, Italy
by VP
Posted on Thursday May 08, 2025 at 12:00AM in Tradition
Saint Michael, Sacred Heart Dunn, NC
"The holy archangel Michael has ever been honoured in the Christian Church as her guardian under God, and as the protector of the faithful. For God is pleased to employ the zeal and charity of the good angels and their leader against the malice of the devil. To thank Almighty God for this benefit of his merciful providence, is this festival instituted by the Church in honour of the good angels: in which devotion she has been encouraged by several apparitions of this glorious archangel. Among others it is recorded that St. Michael, in a vision, admonished the bishop of Siponto to build a church in his honour on Mount Gargano, in the kingdom of Naples, which happened in the fifth century.
Many apparitions of good angels in favour of men, are recorded both in the Old and New Testaments. It is mentioned in particular of this special guardian and protector of the Church, that in the persecution of Antichrist he will powerfully stand up in her defense: At that time shall Michael rise up, who standeth for the children of thy people. He is not only the protector of the Church, but of every faithful soul. He defeated the devil by humility; we are enlisted in the same warfare. His arms were humility and an ardent love of God: the same must be our weapons.
Give thanks to God for that glory which the angels enjoy. Unite with them in adoring your Creator, and falling down before the Lamb who sits upon the throne. Acknowledge their praises to be justly due; rejoice that God is worthily praised by them; and lament the unworthy performance of that part which belongs to you. Give thanks for the fidelity of St. Michael and the other angels in resisting the dragon; and for the victory
which they gained. Pray for a like fidelity, as often as you shall be
assaulted by that powerful enemy; and beseech God that in all
temptations his holy angels may stand by you. If those pure spirits, who
had none to tempt them, fell from heaven, how ought man to fear, who is
encompassed with a body of sin, and has the world and hell against him? Help us therefore, O God, or we perish." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother
"Guardian Angel of Holy Church! now is the time for thee to exert all the might of thine arm. Satan is furious in his efforts against the noble Spouse of thy Master; brandish thy bright sword, and give battle to this implacable enemy. The Kingdom of Christ is shaken to its very foundations. (...). Is it that the reign of the Man of Sin is about to be proclaimed on the earth? Are we near that Last Day, when this guilty world having been destroyed by fire, thou art to exercise, in the name of the Sovereign Judge, the terrible office of separating the goats from the sheep?—If this earth is still to exist; if the mission of the Church is not yet completed; is it not time for thee, O Michael! to show the Dragon of hell that he may not, with impunity, insult on this earth the God who created it, who redeemed it, and whose name is King of kings, and Lord of lord? The torrent of error and crime is unceasingly dragging the world to the brink of the precipice; save it, O glorious Archangel, by confounding the dark plots which are laid for its destruction!" Dom Gueranger
Prayer to the Holy Angels for Parishes :
All you legions and choirs of Angels,
please make haste to come to the aid and defense of our One Holy Roman
Catholic Church. Led by St. Michael, may She be protected from
destruction within by all modernistic attempts that try to diminish the
true presence of God and take away His proper and due respect! In
particular, come to the aid of my parish (name your parish) that it may
remain or be remade to be a place of reverence and a stronghold from
which the One True Triune God may continue to lead and strengthen us.
Amen.
Finding of the Holy Cross.
by VP
Posted on Saturday May 03, 2025 at 12:00AM in Tradition
The Discovery of the True Cross and St. Helena Giovanni Battista Tiepolo 1745
"A FESTIVAL in memory of that day, when St. Helen, mother of Constantine the Great, found the cross, on which our Blessed Saviour had suffered, in the year 326, after it had laid buried by the heathens 180 years. Adore Christ crucified, and give God thanks for the memory of His Passion, renewed in the miraculous discovery of His cross. Pray that you may be partaker of His sufferings, and through the merits of His Passion obtain all the divine helps necessary for your salvation.
Pray that you may effectually find the cross of Christ in your soul, by the sincere love of Him who was crucified, and the practice of those lessons, which he has taught you on the cross; by dying to the world and sin, and removing all those earthly and corrupt passions, by which the knowledge of Christ crucified has been so long hidden from your eyes.
Detest the wickedness of those infidels, who, to destroy the memory of Christ's passion, had erected a statue of Venus in the place where the cross had stood; and resolve not to imitate their sacrilegious impiety, by establishing in your heart the love of the world and its sinful pleasures, instead of the love of your crucified Redeemer.
It ought to be a principal business of all Christians, to find the cross of Christ; first by a firm act of faith, professing the belief of Christ crucified; that the second Person of the Blessed Trinity, consubstantial to His Father, was made man, and died on the cross, for the salvation of man.
Secondly, by an act of hope, placing their whole confidence in the merits of Christ's Passion, in virtue of which alone they are to have expectation of grace and glory. This they are to renew every day, as often as they repeat the creed; not running it over without attention, but accompanying what they say with express and lively acts of this their faith and hope, and reflecting on those great obligations, which this mercy of their redemption brings upon them.
Thirdly, they are to find the cross of Christ, by often making the sign of the cross; that as in this they are baptized, so by the same they may consecrate the day, and all the actions of it, to the honour of Christ crucified, and obtain His blessing on all that they do. It is therefore a good practice, and recommended by the primitive Christians, not only to begin and end the day with the sign of the cross, but to make the same at our going abroad, and returning home, at eating and drinking, at our prayers, in time of danger, in the beginning of any occupation, as often as we do perceive any passion growing upon us, or are assaulted with temptations. Thus we are taught by St. John Chrysostom, and other ancient fathers; that by this means, putting ourselves under the conduct of Christ, and desiring His assistance, we may experience the effect of His sufferings, and truly find the cross in that grace and protection, which our Redeemer has purchased for us. For it cannot be doubted, that if upon repeating this action, we as often renew our faith and hope in Christ, and at the same time raise up our hearts to Him with a dependence on Him, and confidence in His assistance, we shall find very good effects of it in abundance of heavenly succours.
Fourthly, Christians are to find the cross, by labouring to bring their hearts to the holy dispositions of Christ crucified. And this ought to be the principal part of this day's devotion; without which all the rest can be but of little advantage to us. For, however we profess a faith and hope in Christ, and by often making the sign of the cross, seem to be solicitous for His help; yet if we advance not so far, as to find the spirit and dispositions of the cross in our hearts, we cannot expect that the rest, without this, will avail us to salvation. Now, to find the spirit of the cross in our hearts, is to find there the humility of the cross, the patience of the cross, the charity of the cross, the resignation, the mortification, and self-denial of the cross, that is, of Christ
crucified. And this cannot be, unless we make a vigorous opposition to
all that corruption and perverseness, which is contrary to the spirit of the cross." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother
Month of May: Blessed Virgin Mary
by VP
Posted on Thursday May 01, 2025 at 12:00AM in Tradition
May: Month of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Virtue: Meekness
Our Lady of North Carolina, Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Downton RaleighNC
Our Lady of North Carolina (authored by CAPG)
Our
Lady of North Carolina, increase the ranks of our priests by inspiring
our young men to be more generous in their response to serve Our
Blessed Lord in the priesthood and in religious life. Amen.
Saint Joseph The Worker
by VP
Posted on Thursday May 01, 2025 at 12:00AM in Tradition
Prayer to St. Joseph Patron and Protector of the Universal Church
Blessed be the Divine Providence of God,
who in this age of trials has appointed the great St. Joseph Patron of
the Universal Church. Infinite praise, honor, glory and thanksgiving, at
every moment, from every creature, and for all eternity, be to Jesus,
who is ever with His Church, and protects her in every trial and in
every necessity.
Foster-father Joseph, our guide, protect us and holy Church.
O most holy Patriarch St. Joseph, ever protect the holy Church of Jesus;
humble her enemies, confound their wisdom, and defeat their plots. O
great St. Joseph! obtain from Jesus, for His Church, holy Popes, holy
prelates, holy priests, and holy religious. Amen. Very Rev. Archdeacon Thomas Kinane
May 1, 1955 Pope Pius XII : "Yes, beloved workers, the Pope and the Church cannot withdraw from the divine mission of guiding, protecting, and loving especially the suffering, who are all the more dear the more they are in need of defence and help, whether they be workers or other children of the people.This duty and obligation We, the Vicar of Christ, desire to declare again clearly here on this first day of May, which the world of labor has claimed for itself as its own proper feast day. We intend that all may recognize the dignity of labor, and that this dignity may be the motive in founding the social order and the law founded on the equitable distribution of rights and duties. Acclaimed in this way by Christian workers and having received, as it were, Christian baptism, the first of May - far from being an incitation to discord, hate, and violence - is and will be a recurring invitation to modern society to accomplish what is still lacking for social peace; a Christian feast, therefore, that is a day of rejoicing for the concrete and progressive triumph of the Christian ideals of the great family of all who labor.
In order that this meaning may remain in your minds and that in some way We may make an immediate return for the many and precious gifts brought to Us from all parts of Italy, We are happy to announce to you Our determination to institute-as We in fact do now institute the liturgical feast of St. Joseph the Worker, assigning it to the first day of May. Are you pleased with this Our gift, beloved workers? We are certain that you are, because the humble workman of Nazareth not only personifies before God and the Church the dignity of the man who works with his hands, but he is always the provident guardian of you and your families."
"From the very Beginning, for great work, the Almighty has usually selected weak instruments to carry out His designs; and hence the candid observer must attribute the success, not to human wisdom or power, but to God alone. In this spirit the Redeemer chose for the first preachers of His Gospel twelve fishermen, without leaning, power, eloquence, or wealth; and their mission was to storm the citadel of paganism, to refute the most learned, eloquent, and subtle philosophers, and to proclaim to a sensual, selfish, and proud world the hard doctrines of chastity, self-denial, and humility. To set the world on fire with the love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, God chose Margaret Mary, a weak, timid nun, hidden and buried in her cloister at Paray-le-Monial. To give examples would be to write the history of the Church; to narrate the spread of the Gospel in every country, to describe the origin and progress of every new Devotion; and to record the battles and victories of the Church in every age, over heresy, sin, and schism. In all great works, as St. Paul says, "the foolish things of the world hath God chosen that He may confound the wise, and the weak things of the world hath God chosen that He may confound the strong. And the base things of the world, and the things that are contemptible hath God chosen, and things that are not, that He might bring to nought things that are. That no flesh should glory in His sight." (1 Cor. i.27).
Signal and speedy, no doubt, will be the victories of the Church in these her days of sore and bitter trials and persecutions; since God in His infinite wisdom has given her St. Joseph as a Protector and Patron.
As St.
Joseph guarded Jesus in His Divine Infancy, from the hands of His
enemies, so will our great Saint protect the Church, the Spouse of
Jesus, from her adversaries.
To an age in revolt against lawful
authority, and puffed up with a spirit of independence and inquiry, the
Church holds up St. Joseph as a model of perfect obedience and
resignation, without murmur or hesitation, to God's holy will. To an age
devoured by love of wealth and riches, St. Joseph is a model of holy
poverty, ministering with joy and happiness to the wants of Jesus and
Mary, by the labour of his hands. To an age corrupt and wallowing in
sensual pleasures, the Church presents St. Joseph as a model of perfect
continency and holy purity. To an age enslaved by ambition for honours,
applause, glory, and high station, the Church presents St. Joseph, the
noble descendant of the royal house of David, hidden and unknown, as well
as happy and contented, in his workshop at Nazareth. To all Christians
St. Joseph is a perfect model of simple faith in the most sublime
mysteries; of prompt obedience to the calls of Divine Providence; of
perfect resignation in all things to God's holy will; of immaculate
purity of souls and body; of a laborious and holy life; and of a happy
death in the arms of Jesus and Mary. "Foster-father Joseph, our guide, protect us and the holy Church." Source: St. Joseph : his life, his virtues, his privileges, his power : a month of March in his honour by Very Rev. Archdeacon Thomas Kinane, 1884.
