Through His Prince, Christ the King reigns over Liechtenstein

Feast of Christ the King, 2011

On this Feast
we congratulate and celebrate
a Christian Prince
standing firmly beneath the banner
of Christ the King:

His Serene Highness,
Hereditary Prince Aloïs Philipp Maria
who defended and maintains the
Kingship of Christ over his
Principality of Liechtenstein.

On 18 September by a referendum,
Liechtenstien refused the legalisation of abortion.

The Hereditary Prince,
HSH Prince Aloïs had announced that
whatever the result of the referendum
he would never give his royal assent to such a law
and would use his right of veto.

The courageous Prince Aloïs

Prince Alois said,
“Until now we have been proud to support
people with disabilities in our country.
The proposal would discriminate against such people
and allow them to be eliminated in the womb.”

By Liechtenstein law, abortions are generally not allowed,
even when the abortion is performed outside the country.
Furthermore, government departments and offices
are obliged to report any abortions
of which they have knowledge.
Only when the life of the mother is endangered
and no other option remains,
is a termination of a pregnancy allowed.

(Clarification:
Abortion to protect the mother's life is wrong.
Thus the Liechtenstein law
does not reflect a perfect morality
but maintains an international standard
better by far than most,
if not all, the other countries of the world.
The prince inherited a state with its already codified laws.
His courage is shown in not permitting the laws of his state
to follow those of other countries.)

The vote was 52.3% against the proposed law
of allowing abortions within the first 12 weeks
and when any child had a disability such as Down Syndrome.

Liechtenstein is facing immense pressure
from the rest of Europe to allow abortions.

The Principality lies between Switzerland and Austria,
and has a population of 36,000.


A Christian Prince
receiving Holy Communion

Prince Aloïs, married to Princess Sophie, is 43 years of age.

The Hereditary Prince and Princess

They have four children:
Prince Joseph Wenzel Maximilian Maria,
born in London; (16 years)
Princess Marie-Caroline Elisabeth Immaculata; (15 years)
Prince Georg Antonius Constantin Maria (12 years)
and their youngest son,
Prince Nikolaus Sebastian Alexander Maria (11 years).

- Three Generations of Princes and Princesses -
Grandparents, Parents and two royal children together

Sharing 26,000 words of gratitude to God and spiritual joy.

Photos on the occasion
of
the clerical tonsure of Br. Martin Mary, F.SS.R.
with the seminarians
of Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary
Nebraska, USA.

A picture paints a thousand words.

Thus do we then present 26,000 words of
gratitude to God
and spiritual joy
upon the clerical tonsure of our confrère.

In this ceremony
Br. Martin Mary, F.SS.R. took a first step
for our whole community.

Papa Stronsay rejoices.

Special thanks to:

His Lordship Bishop Hugh Gilbert, O.S.B.
Bishop of Aberdeen.

His Lordship Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz,
Bishop of Lincoln, Nebraska.

Very Reverend Father John Berg,
Superior General of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter.

Very Reverend Father Josef Bisig,
Rector of the Seminary of Our Lady of Guadalupe,
Lincoln, Nebraska.

Procession to the Seminary Chapel.

Candidates for the Tonsure.

Celebrant His Lordship Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz,
Bishop of Lincoln,
Nebraska.

To the right of the Bishop in cope is the
Very Reverend Fr. Josef Bisig,
Rector of the Seminary.

Br. Martin Mary stands in his religious habit
the other candidates hold the cassocks they will receive.

Having put on their the cassocks the seminarians return to the chapel.

The moment of Tonsure has arrived.

The hair is cut in on the four side of the head:
the points of the Cross.

The reception of the Surplice.

The incensing of the Gospel.

The newly tonsured offers the Pontiff a lighted candle.

The Offertory of the Mass.

Prayers please for a man of prayer.

The old Exarch.
Ecce sacerdos magnus...
Behold a great priest...

Bishop Michael Hrynchyshyn, CSSR
is seriously ill tonight
and in intensive care in Paris.
Please offer a Hail Mary for him.

Here is a man of the Church and of his Ukrainain Rite.
Still at his post at 83 years of age.
Humble, prayerful, learned.

Bishop Hrynchyshyn
has been the promoter of the Cause for
Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytski
for several decades.

Always a father.
This is a true bishop.
Please pray for him tonight.

He is the Apostolic Exarch of France, Benelux and Switzerland
for the Ukrainians
since his appointment on 21 October 1982.
He was consecrated bishop on 30 January 1983.

Text of the letter prophesied to Father Hermann Cohen by the Curé of Ars.

Father Hermann Cohen's mother died
without receiving Holy Baptism.
In the eyes of the unwise
'she died as an unconverted Jewess'
in spite of the many prayers offered for her by her priestly son.

I have translated the following from his life
which will be of interest for all of us
who pray for souls that seem to live and die
without the grace of conversion.

Note that Fr. Hermann
had consecrated his mother to Our Lady
hundreds of times and offered many prayers for her salvation;
he never lost hope in his mother's cause.


Rev. Fr. Hermann Cohen, O.C.D.

The last moments for Mrs. Cohen arrived on 13 December 1855. Father Hermann was preaching Advent in Lyons at the time and he announced this sad news to his friend in these terms:

"God has struck a terrible blow to my heart. My poor mother is dead ... and I remain in incertitude! However we have so much prayed that we must hope that something has passed between her soul and God during these last moments that we cannot know about. ..."

We can easily imagine the pain of Father Hermann in learning of the death of his mother. He had so much prayed and so much had prayers said for her conversion, and she came to appear before the tribunal of God without having received holy Baptism! ...

" I also have a mother," would he write one day, "I have left her to follow Jesus Christ, she no longer calls me her 'good son'. Already her hair is silvered, already her brow is furrowed, and I am afraid to see her die. Oh! no I would not like to see her die before loving Jesus Christ, and already for many years I await for my mother that which Monica awaited for Augustine..."

God seemed to have despised all his prayers and rejected his loving and legitimate desires. His faith and his love were put through a harsh trial. Nevertheless, if his sorrow was deep, his hope in the infinite goodness of God would not allow itself to be struck down. ...

Saint Jean Marie Vianney
Curé of Ars

A short time later, he confided to the Curé of Ars his disquiet about the death of his poor mother who died without the grace of Baptism. "Hope!" replied the man of God, "hope; you will receive one day, on the feast of the Immaculate Conception a letter that will bring you great consolation."

Six years waiting.

These words were almost forgotten, when, on the 8th December 1861, six years after the death of his mother, a Father of the Company of Jesus handed to Father Hermann the following letter.

(The person who wrote this letter died in the odour of sanctity; she was well known in the religious and ascetical world by her written works on the Eucharist.)

The letter read:

On the 18th October, after Holy Communion, I found myself in one of those moments of intimate union with Our Lord, where he made me so feel his presence in the sacrament of His love that Faith seemed no longer necessary to believe him there.

After a short time, He had me hear His voice and He wanted to give me some explanations relative to a conversation that I had had the night before.

I remember that, in that conversation, one of my friends had manifested her surprise that Our Lord, who has promised to accord everything to prayer, had however remained deaf to those of Reverend Father Hermann who had so many times addressed Him to obtain the conversion of his mother; her surprise went almost as far as discontentment, and I had had difficulty in having her understand that we must adore the justice of God and not to seek to penetrate its secrets.

I dared to ask of my Jesus how it was that He, who was goodness itself, had been able to resist the prayers of Father Hermann, and not grant the conversion of his mother.

This was His (Our Lord's) response:

Why does Anna always want to sound the secrets of my justice and why does she seek to penetrate mysteries that she cannot comprehend?

Tell her that I do not owe my grace to anyone, that I give it to whom I please and that in acting in this way I do not cease to be just, and justice itself.

But that she may know that, rather than not keep the promises that I have made to prayer, I will upset heaven and earth, and that every prayer that has my glory and the salvation of souls for object is always heard when it is clothed in the necessary qualities.

He added: "And to prove to you this truth, I willingly make known that which passed at the moment of the death of the mother of Father Hermann".

My Jesus then enlightened me with a ray of His divine light and had me understand or rather to see in Him that which I want to try to relate.

At the moment where the mother of Father Hermann was on the point of rendering her last breath; at the moment that she seemed deprived of awareness, almost without life; Mary, our good Mother, presented Herself before Her Divine Son, and prostrate at His feet, She said to Him: "Pardon and mercy, o my Son! for this soul who is going to perish. Yet another instant and she will be lost, lost for eternity. I beseech you, do for the mother of my servant Hermann, that which you would like to be done for your own, if She was in her place and if you were in his. The soul of his mother is his most precious good; he has consecrated her to me a thousand times; he has consecrated her to the tenderness and solicitude of my heart. Could I suffer her to perish? No, no, this soul is mine; I will it, I claim it as an inheritance, as the price of your blood and of my sufferings at the foot of your Cross."

Hardly had the sacred suppliant ceased speaking, when a strong, powerful grace, came forth from the source of all graces, from the adorable Heart of our Jesus, and came to enlighten the soul of the poor dying Jewess; instantly triumphing over her stubbornness and resistances.

This soul immediately turned herself with loving confidence towards Him whose mercy had persued her as far as the arms of death and said to Him: "O Jesus, God of the Christians, God whom my son adores, I believe, I hope in Thee, have pity on me."

In this cry, heard by God alone and which came from the intimate depths of the heart of the dying woman, were enclosed the sincere sorrow for her obstination and for her sins, the desire of baptism, the express will to receive it and to live according to the rules and precepts of our holy religion, if she had been able to return to life.

This leap of faith and hope in Jesus was the last sentiment of that soul; it was made at the moment when she brought towards the throne of the divine mercy. Breaking away the weak bonds which held her to her mortal casing, she fell at the feet of Him who had been her Saviour (a moment) before being her Judge."

After having showed me all these things, Our Lord added:

"Make this known to Father Hermann; it is a consolation that I wish to accord to his long sorrows, so that he will bless, and have blessed everywhere, the goodness of the heart of my Mother and Her power over mine."

Totally unknown to Reverend Father Hermann, the poor invalid who has just now penned these lines is happy to think that she has perhaps spread a little consolation and balm on the still bleeding wound of the heart of this son and priest. She dares to ask the alms of his fervent prayers, and she likes to believe that he will not refuse to one, who, even though unknown to him, is united to him by the sacred bonds of the same faith and of the same hopes. ..."

What appears to add great authority to this letter, is that it had been announced six years in advance by the venerable Cure of Ars.

End of translation.

(pp. 126 - 129, Vie du R.P. Hermann, en religion Augustine-Marie du T.S. Sacrament, Carme Dechausse, par M. l'Abbe Charles Sylvain, Paris, 1883.
From the French life of Rev. Father Hermann, in religion Augustin-Marie of the Most Holy Sacrament, Discalced Carmelite, by Fr. Canon Charles Sylvain, Paris 1883.)

Publised with the approbation of and recommendation of His Grandeur Mgr. Gay, Bishop of D'Anthedon, Auxiliary of His Eminence Cardinal Pie, Bishop of Poitier, 4 Dec. 1880
and of His Grace Mgr. de la Bouillerie, the Archbishop of Perga, Coadjutor of Bordeaux, 23 July 1881
of His Lordship Mgr. Adolphe-Louis Perraud, Bishop of Autun and Member of the French Academy, 8 March, 1882
and of the Most Reverend Father Luc of St. John of the Cross, Father General of the Discalced Carmelites, 4 May, 1880)

Requiescat in Pace

Yesterday, Monday 10th October my grandfather,
Desmond Wimsett, passed away.

Please pray a "Hail Mary" for his soul.


Requiescat in Pace!

— Br. Martin Mary, F.SS.R.

Second Vespers of Our Lady of the Rosary

I recorded the Magnificat Antiphon and Magnificat from the Second Vespers of yesterday's feast, Our Lady of the Rosary, here at Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary and I thought that the readers of our blog might like to hear it. The recorder was a little too close to the schola and so there is some distortion.

Of blocks and building, steps and mortar.

The blocks of a building are bonded by mortar.
The mortar that knits together
the living building of the Church
is Charity.

But above all these things have charity,
which is the bond of perfection.
(Col 3:14)

This first part of October
has been for us a time for
monastery blocks and mortar;
and for the
Ecclesial blocks of monks and abbots
Bishops and Cardinals
knit together by charity
the bond of perfection.

Today on Papa Stronsay
the Holy Mass was offered for
His Lordship Bishop Fellay
and the Fathers gathered together
at Albano
to consider the Doctrinal Preamble
proposed by Cardinal Levada.

Papay from the sea.

With winter coming in
a step is prepared at the enclosure arch
to keep everyone clear of the mud.

Not far away on the same day,
it was mortar and blocks.

But above all these things have charity,
which is the bond of perfection.
And let the peace of Christ rejoice in your hearts,
wherein also you are called in one body:
and be ye thankful.
(Col 3:15)

Brother rubs down the blocks.

The step is on its way here;
but
I hear that the concrete was finally poured today!

Another photo is yet to come.

Leaving Papay in the distance.

We were invited to attend the
Blessing the the Abbot of Pluscarden Abbey.
Six of us were present there for the occasion
including Brothers Paul Mary and Xavier Maria
who this evening are on their way home
to Christchurch, New Zealand;
May the Holy Angels guide them safely to,
and protect them on,
their Shakey Isle
of
South Island.

We were welcomed at Pluscarden Abbey
by the community
and
their new Abbot, Dom Anselm, O.S.B.
who was Blessed by the former Abbot,
His Lordship Bishop Hugh, O.S.B.

But above all these things have charity,
which is the bond of perfection.
And let the peace of Christ rejoice in your hearts,
wherein also you are called in one body:
and be ye thankful.
(Col 3:14-15)

Rt. Reverend Hugh Gilbert, O.S.B.
Bishop of Aberdeen.

With His Eminence
Keith Patrick Cardinal O'Brien,
our Metropolitan,
at
Pluscarden Abbey.

But above all these things have charity,
which is the bond of perfection.
And let the peace of Christ rejoice in your hearts,
wherein also you are called in one body:
and be ye thankful.
(Col 3:14-15)

The exceeding was happily misleading

The previous post has been deleted because it was misleading.
In the videoclip the Pope held out his hand,
not to be shaken
but to introduce the German President
to the gathered Cardinals and Bishops.

We extend out thanks to those who clarified what was happening in the clip.

If you saw the clip on this blog
I am sorry that you were misled;
we were too.

If it is unfortunate that
everything that glitters is not gold,
it is a blessing when
much that first appear exceeding,
is only misleading.

The misleading clip.