EIGHTH
DOCUMENT: THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
OF A GOOD CHRISTIAN.__
We, Supreme
Pontiff, Vicar of Christ, Successor of Saint Peter, Servant of the
Servants of God, Patriarch of Palmar de Troya.
THE
SPIRITUAL LIFE OF A GOOD CHRISTIAN.
We, as
common Father of the Church, exhort all the faithful to lead an authentic
Christian life.
We believe
it opportune to make suggestions and give some norms to follow for a
Christian life. Precisely in
these times of great confusion, We have to make the light to shine in the
darkness. We have the sacred
duty to let the powerful light of Christ illuminate those many, so very
many, who say they are Christians. We
cannot pass over in silence the great crisis in the right order of things
that the Church today is experiencing.
Clearly, we are present as eyewitnesses to the suicidal destruction
of eternal values, inasmuch as there are many who say they are Catholics,
and who, nevertheless, listen attentively to false doctrines; and, what is
worse, put these doctrines into practice.
It is lamentable and painful to say, that there are so many bad
Catholics, who let themselves be guided by the freethinkers of today, by
those who find their inspiration in the perverse doctrines taught by the
freethinkers of the French Revolution, which has done so much damage to
the Church and to the world.
Every good
Catholic has as sacred duty, the frequent reading of the Holy Gospel,
because in it speaks Christ Himself, indisputable Master; also, the
reading of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, of the Magisterium of
the Church, the Encyclicals of the Popes, of Pontifical Documents, of
genuine thinkers on Traditional Doctrine, and as well of the invaluable
writings left us by innumerable Saints of the Church.
We feel great sorrow when We hear that many Priests, including
Bishops, Cardinals, and members of the Vatican Curia, when they teach the
faithful, look for inspiration in the perverse doctrines of freethinkers
of all eras.
We, as
Universal Doctor of the Church, deplore, repudiate, and, with all
authority and severity, condemn that evil, spread in all parts of the
world and infiltrated into the Church, that evil thing that goes by the
name of Liberalism. With this,
We confirm the condemnations directed against Liberalism by Our venerated
Predecessors. We, as guide of
good Catholics, wish to put forward certain norms to follow in the
spiritual life of a good Christian.
Every good Christian has the sacred obligation to believe, profess,
and bravely to confess the sacred mysteries of our Holy Catholic Faith.
As logical consequence, every good Christian has the duty to
observe and fulfil the Commandments of the law of God, and also, the
Commandments of Holy Mother Church. We
wish to remind all good Christians that the Ten Commandments, as Christ
has said, are included in these two;
the first and most important; thou shalt love thy God with all thy
strength, with all thy mind, with all thy being, and above all things; the
second to like to this; therefore thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
We ought to make distinction among the Ten Commandments of the Law
of God, namely, that the first three pertain to the honour of God, and the
other seven to the good of one's neighbour.
Disgracefully,
in these times of great confusion the order of the Commandments of the Law
of God has been turned upside down. The
preachers of today, for the greater part, preach to satiety, to love one's
neighbour, to love one's brother, to love one's enemy, to love all men;
but they do not preach, first to love God above all things, and then to
love men for love of God. We
are tired of the preaching of humanism, a humanism not based on Divine
Teaching, rather one based on international organizations attached to
Masonry. Again We remind you;
seek first the Kingdom of God, and His Justice, and the rest will be added
to you.
With great
sadness We see and observe, how, because of today's bad teaching, there
are many, so very many, who, using pretexts of humanism, are despoiling
public worship in the Divine Cults. To
this We must make reply; We have, all of us, the sacred duty to give to
God the very best there is; we have the obligation to give to God the
first fruits. Therefore we
must return to the former Divine Cult, full of splendour and glory.
Given a magnificent Cult, we accomplish several aspects of the
mission of the Church. The
first and most important is to give to God the best we have; the second,
even if it is in smallest measure, is to show the faithful the Church
Triumphant, reigning in Heaven; and the third, to let faith and piety
enter through the outer senses and penetrate to the deeper senses within.
And thereby is understood the need in the Cult for Sacred Images,
inasmuch as these represent the Blessed In Heaven. Therefore the Images ought to be adorned with choicest robes
and the finest examples of sacred art, crowns, mantles, jewels and so
forth.
Assuming
that the good Christian is observing these fundamentals, We have to recall
a sacred obligation, today fallen out of practice, namely, the third
Commandment of the Law of God, to sanctify Sundays and Holidays of
Obligation. Every good
Christian surely knows that Sunday is the day of the Lord, as are also all
Holy Days of Obligation. Disgracefully,
in these recent times, there has been introduced in the Church the
perverse custom of fulfilling one's Sunday obligation on the evening of
Saturday. This directly and
clearly contradicts the Third Commandment of the Law of God.
Therefore, the sanctification of Sundays and Holidays of Obligation
is an obligation of Divine Law. It
is not a question of a Law, merely ecclesiastical, or merely disciplinary,
it is a Law of God. There is
no doubt whatever, that Satan, the great enemy of God, is the one who has
introduced the perverse custom of fulfilling the Sunday obligation on
Saturday.
We put the
question to all Christians; what do you do on Sundays and Holidays of
Obligation? Many, surely, use
Sunday for a pleasure trip to the beach, to the mountains, to visit some
city. Others use Sunday to frequent athletic events, like football,
and so forth. A good number
of those called Catholics, devote Sunday to Cinema, Theatre, television,
gambling casinos, places of ill repute, and so forth.
Disgracefully, in these times of apostasy, the Lord's Day has been
turned into the day of Satan, since, there is no doubt it is the day in
which, more than ever, God is insulted.
We, as
Universal Doctor of the Church declare; the obligation remains in force to
sanctify Sundays and Holy Days of obligation.
Therefore the Sunday obligation is not validly fulfilled on
Saturday.
We call to
mind as well, that there are three other Commandments, of which today is
said very little or almost nothing, and many times mentioned only to
deform them. These three
Commandments are the 6th., the 9th., and the 10th.
Of the 6th Commandment, almost nothing is said today, since the
preachers prefer to speak of what is called charity to one's neighbour, of
brotherly love, of social and economic questions, and so forth.
We teach that, if we wish to speak of true charity towards our
neighbour, then we cannot forget the 6th. Commandment. which forbids
fornication; because, when this Commandment in broken, there are notable
faults of charity which accompany what, in itself, is already a very grave
sin. The first fault, and
principal one, is against God; the second, against one's neighbour; and
the third, against one's self, and logically against the whole Church,
since the sin stains the Mystical Body of Christ.
Nor is there preaching over the 9th. Commandment today, and for
want of such preaching, the path lies open for officially introducing
adulterous and free love, and consequently for staining all the more the
Mystical Body of Christ. Nor
is there preaching on the 10th. Commandment, since the Marxist, Communist
and Socialist idea destroys respect for private property, causing
irreparable damage to every good Christian society.
Taking for
granted the observance of the fundamentals given above, We desire to
exhort and counsel all good Catholics to persevere on the good path. From among innumerable practices, We select a few, namely,
the pious practice of Communion of Reparation to the Most Sacred and
Divine Heart of Jesus, on the first Friday of each month; to the
Immaculate and Sorrowful Heart of the Virgin Mary, on the first Saturday
of each month; to the Holy Face of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the first
Thursday of each month; to the Most Chaste Heart of the Most Glorious
Saint Joseph, the first Wednesday of each month; to the Most Sacred Head
of Jesus, the first Tuesday of each month; and to the Transpierced Heart
of Saint Teresa of Jesus, the first Monday of each month.
We desire to
impress on all the urgent need of frequent meditation on the Sacred
Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, by means of the meditation and prayer of
the Holy Way of the Cross. Without
any doubt, the prayers most pleasing to God are offered in the Way of the
Cross; since there we meditate and reflect upon the Dolorous Passion of
Christ, on the price of Redemption; and there we meditate as well on the
Passion united to His, the compassion of the Virgin Mary, our Co
Redemptrix, thinking on Her sorrows and tears.
Innumerable are the indulgences conceded by Our venerated
Predecessors to those who pray, and piously meditate on the Holy Way of
the Cross.
We exhort
all the Church, to follow the pious practice of meditating on the
mysteries by means of the Holy Rosary; not to forget that, after the Way
of the Cross, of the prayers most pleasing to God, is the Holy Rosary.
Here all good Christians can find a haven of salvation; here as
well they can find strength firmly to persevere in spite of the great
confusion of the present time. Praying
the Rosary, they can fight against temptations innumerable, against Satan,
against heresies, and against every kind of enemy.
We exhort
the whole Church to adopt the most pious practice of reciting the Holy
Penitential Rosary, known also as the Rosary of Padre Pio, or the Rosary
of Palmar. The Penitential
Rosary consists of 50 Our Fathers, 50 Hail Mary, 50 Glory, and 50 “Hail
Mary Most Pure, Conceived without sin”.
Those who recite this Penitential Rosary, accomplish at the same
time the recitation of the Traditional Rosary; inasmuch as the Traditional
Rosary is within the Penitential. To
all who devoutly recite the Holy Penitential Rosary, live a truly
Christian life and pray for Our Intentions, We concede a Plenary
indulgence for each bead of the Rosary; which is to say, for each Our
Father, Hail Mary, Glory be and Hail Mary Most Pure, on condition that the
50 beads are recited within the one day.
We recommend
also, those most pious devotions dedicated to Our Lord, to the Most Holy
Virgin Mary, to Saint Joseph, and to the Angels and Saints.
We recommend and exhort that there be conserved the pious custom of
celebrating Novenas, Triduums, Quinaries, Octaves, and so forth.
We urge all the faithful to wear with devotion the Scapulars; above
all the Scapular of Palmar, in which is enshrined several scapulars; one,
of the Holy Face; another of the Virgin of Carmel; another, of the Sacred
Hearts of Jesus and Mary; with all the promises of Heaven and with the
Papal Indulgences. We beg all
to observe and maintain pious customs, since they are efficacious means to
attain salvation.
Given in
Seville, at the Apostolic See, the 8th. September, Feast of the Nativity
of the Virgin Mary. the year of Our Lord MCMLXXVIII.
With Our
Apostolic Blessing.
Gregory XVII
P. P.
