“SOLEMN BEATIFICATION AND CANONISATION, AND DECLARATION AS DOCTOR, OF THE SERVANT OF GOD, THOMAS HAEMERKEN Á KEMPIS.”

We, Supreme Pontiff, Vicar of Christ, Successor of Saint Peter, Servant of the Servants of God, Patriarch of Palmar de Troya.

We, as Universal Doctor of the Church, assisted by the Divine Spirit, recalling the 'unanimous voice of the Church' and a previous examination of history, solemnly declare and proclaim:

      With great joy, we raise to the glory of the altars, beatifying and canonising the universally known Thomas Haemerken á Kempis.

We desire, in doctrinal. manner, to put forth for all faithful, the life of holiness and heroic virtue of Saint Thomas á Kempis.  Innumerable are the testimonies, undeniable and irrefutable, of the sanctity and heroic virtues of Saint Thomas á Kempis.  This great Saint, born in Germany, gave himself up to the full  life of prayer, penance, mortification, expiation, and so forth.  Saint Thomas á Kempis entered the religious life and decisively renounced the pleasures of the world.  The Saint lived in a religious Community in the Low Countries.  We can assure that the Saint wished to live hidden from men, but well known to God.  It is an admirable thing, worthy of imitation, the heroic humility which this great Saint teaches us all.  We know that the Saint of whom we are speaking lived in complete contempt for the perishable things of the world.  The spiritual, penitential and doctrinal life of Saint Thomas á Kempis adorns the glory of the Church, Immaculate Spouse of Christ.  His writings and treatises are for the Church a sacred deposit, which mark out a sure and solid path on which to encounter at the end the Divine Master, Our Lord Jesus Christ.

      We are personally acquainted with many of the writings of Saint Thomas á Kempis.  We have carefully and minutely examined all that could show us what was outstanding in his meditation.  After this close analysis we observe that the Saint had a very special devotion in contemplating the Most Holy Passion of the Redeemer, being most clearly understood, how Mary is associated with the sacrifice as Co-redemptrix.  The Saint had a very deep love of the Most Holy Eucharist, which penetrated the whole of his being, and as well of Holy Scripture, in which he found the sure and swift means sweetly to converse with God.  We wish to assure that Saint Thomas á Kempis attained to so high degree of devotion to the Passion of Christ, to Holy Communion, to the sublime solitude of the Tabernacle, led without doubt by his admirable devotion to the Most Holy Virgin Mary, Mother of the great Love of his soul.  Studying with a spirit of profound humility, we shall be able to find in the writings of the Saint an admirable path for attaining the highest degrees of sanctity.

We, as Universal Doctor of the Church, teach as doctrine, indisputable, irrefutable, and irrevocable, that Saint Thomas á Kempis was the author of the great work universally known under the title of "The Imitation of Christ."  We, with the authority with which we are vested, disapprove and condemn any claim or hypothesis of anyone who asserts that this great work is of some other author.  We have examined the reasons for and against the authenticity of this work of Saint Thomas á Kempis.  After this study, We see with all clarity, through a most powerful light of the Holy Ghost, in order to believe, declare and proclaim, that Saint Thomas is the indisputable author of the celestial work "Of the Imitation of Christ".

We, as Universal Doctor of the Church, believe and teach all the faithful the following truth:  We declare that Saint Thomas á Kempis lent God his hand and his pen in order to write this work.  We declare and proclaim that Saint Thomas á Kempis wrote the work "Of the Imitation of Christ" by divine inspiration.  Naturally we teach that God in his infinite Wisdom, respected the manner of expression of His great instrument.  We desire that all the Church feel profound veneration for the great work "Of the Imitation of Christ".  We exhort all the faithful to give this little book its place immediately after the Holy Bible, since it is its sequel.  In this exalted work, there is no doubt, it is Christ himself who teaches us how to put the Gospel into practice.  We urge the faithful to acquire the very pious habit of reading frequently the "Imitation of Christ".  Looking back in Our own memory, We can assure that We have read this work repeatedly during Our own life.  We recall for the faithful that We personally have led a life during a considerable time in offending God through innumerable and abominable sins.  We wish to acknowledge that thanks to the frequent reading of this work, We many times received a very powerful supernatural light which moved Us to conversion and sincere repentance.  Thanks to the most beautiful reading of the Imitation of Christ, we encountered the path of reconciliation with God, and consequently the reception of the holy sacraments.  We, who many times went on committing the gravest sins, We, who have frequently known the terrible loneliness of an orphan separated from his Heavenly Father, have no doubt at all, we had reserved in Hell a very deep place, deeper than you possibly can imagine.  We desire paternally to exhort the faithful, that they pray for us since, as long as the soul is enveloped in this shell called flesh, it is easy to expose Our self to eternal condemnation.  We wish to say this to all:  frequently, while we were enjoying the cursed and perishable fruits of this world, We suffered at the same time, knowing full well that God was far from Us, and that We were a slave of Satan.  During those terrible times, We frequently had recourse to pious reading, among which was the "Imitation of Christ".  For the good of souls, We desire to mention certain things which we have experienced when we felt the great bitterness of being orphaned from God, We considered at the same time, that there remained a bond of union with God.  We thought: He is far away, I have no Father in Heaven. And, We continued to meditate:  God is very angry with me, for my many sins.  Then We considered further: in spite of having lost this Father, on account of my sins, I must not forget that the Virgin Mary is still my Mother, because she is the Refuge of sinners. The proof of this Maternity is clearly seen in El Palmar de Troya; where in spite of so many sins, the Divine Mary wished to remember Us.  We, in the face of this beautiful truth, quickly ran and took refuge beneath the Mantle of our Mother; and through this channel there was restored to Us the Paternity of God.

It was not our intention to speak about Our self in this Document. There is no doubt that in doing so, We have been moved by the burning fire of God, God has desired this brief reference to Our personal life, in order that the faithful know the fruits of pious reading of the great work, "Of the Imitation of Christ".

We, as Universal Doctor of the Church, solemnly declare and proclaim:

We elevate today to the exalted dignity of Doctor of the Church, this Saint, whom We desire to be known by this title:

Saint Thomas á Kempis, Great Doctor of the Church.

We desire to enlighten the faithful by recommending the reading of all the writings of Saint Thomas á Kempis, Great Doctor of the Church. We believe and hope, that in these pious readings, the faithful will find a sure path in order to go to Christ.  We exhort all the faithful, that when they read the "Imitation of Christ", they humbly recommend themselves to the Most Holy Virgin, Mother and Doctor of the Church, in union with Saint Joseph, Father and Doctor of the Church.  With these two exalted Masters, and lead by them, you will be able to understand and put into practice the sacred legacy of the great work, "Of the Imitation of Christ".  We believe that God, in his infinite Wisdom, had reserved this doctrinal declaration of today, precisely to strengthen us all, in order to be able courageously to resist the terrible contagion of uncleanness and filth, - to reject the repugnance of that nauseating hour that once touched our life.

We, in the present document, declare and proclaim that the Church in these apocalyptic times, can find a luminous star that leads to the mystical Bethlehem of the grandiose Work of El Palmar de Troya.

We shall continue to examine the various writings of other Saints, in order at a suitable time, to add lustre to the Church through the splendour and beauty of Ecclesiastical Doctors.

Saint Thomas á Kempis.

He was born at Kempen, near Krefeld, in the Diocese of Cologne, Germany, about 1380.  Saint Thomas á Kempis was a pupil in the capitular school of Deventer (Holland), in 1392.  Afterwards, member of the Brothers of the Common Life.  In 1399 he entered as "guest" of the Canons Regular of Saint Augustine, the convent of Mount Saint Agnes, Zwoll, and in 1406 formally entered the Order.  He was ordained priest in 1413.

For 70 years, Saint Thomas á Kempis served the Lord with great austerity of life, continually perfecting his virtue, so that all admired his great devotion and spirit.  He was small in stature, and preferred solitude.  Wholeheartedly, he lived apart from the things of the world, all in harmony with the style of his life.  He was affable, with a sweet manner towards all, especially towards the spiritual and humble.  Always most devout toward the Passion of the Lord, he had a special gift in consoling those suffering temptations, or other interior trials.  He died 25th. July, 1471, at the age of 92.

As ascetic writer, he has left us various works.  The most important is the "Imitation of Christ" in four books.  Besides, there are 9 other brief treatises coming before the principal work.  The language of the "Imitation of Christ" is Medieval Latin.  The author took his inspiration from Holy Scripture, the Liturgy, the writings of the Holy Fathers, especially Saint Augustine, Saint Jerome, Saint Gregory the Great, Saint Anselm and Saint Bernard.

Given in Seville at the Apostolic See, Feast of Saint Michael Archangel, Prince of the Heavenly Hosts, 29 September, the Year of Our Lord Jesus Christ MCMLXXVIII.

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