Ridiculous.
Latin Mass Mothers Arrive in Rome from Paris
Antonio Banderas Leads Malaga Holy Week Procession
On Holy Week each year, American social media users are shocked to learn that Spain’s Easter traditions predate the Ku Klux Klan’s white garb.
The penitential dress was a feature of Medieval processions, where brotherhoods of Catholics would carry elaborate floats through the streets of some of Spain’s most beautiful cities.
Such incredible beauty is a reminder of the Europe that was lost with Modernity, one that was laced with humility, faith and devotion, all united by community.
After lockdown restricted Easter celebrations for 2 years, Hollywood actor Antonio Banderas returned to Malaga in his native Spain to take part in the processions.
On Twitter, Banderas wrote:
After three years of waiting, yesterday we were finally able to walk our Niña de San Juan through the streets of Malaga.
Palm Sunday at #Málaga . The spiritual unites with tradition, with identity, with art, with popular culture and with social and solidarity work.
Banderas posted photos of the event, showing him decked out in the traditional garb.
You can watch videos of this year’s Spanish Holy Week below.
Victorious Orban Taunts George Soros Over 'Worst Investment'
2005:Football Ultras Abandon Match to Honour John Paul II
Full Text of Consecration of Russia
Sinn Fein Collude To Ban Catholics From Prolife Prayer
Russia, Ukraine to be Consecrated Next Week in Vatican, Fatima
Belfast Schoolchildren Indoctrinated Into Anti Catholicism
Islamic Extremists and Bisexual Sentenced for Hamel Slaughter
In the summer of 2016, the world was shocked to hear of the brutal slaughtering of the martyred priest Father Jacques Hamel.
As he said Mass on the morning of the 26th of July 2016, a two terrorists entered his church seeking to behead him. Abdel Malik Petitjean and Adel Kermiche were both under police surveillance and even wearing an electronic tag when they stormed Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray church in Normandy. The two perverts then produced a knife, instructing a nun to record their decapitation of the elderly priest. Father Hamel shouted ‘Begone Satan’ at the two freaks, with one of them asking a nun if she was afraid, becoming incensed when she stated that she was not as Jesus was with her. The follower of Muhammad then stated that ‘Jesus is only a man’.
Both terrorists were members of Islamic terror group ISIS and were killed by French security services as they left the church.
Despite their deaths, French security services have managed to bring to justice those who aided them.
Four men were convicted of having done so, one of them being ‘French’ rapper Rachid Kassim who recruited drug addicted convicts to ISIS for missions in the Middle East. He received the harshest sentence but is believed to have been killed in Iraq in 2019. Interestingly, he had planned an attack on Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, which allegedly spontaneously combusted in 2019 in the midst of the worst wave of arson attacks against French churches in history.
One of those convicted had been an ardent supporter of the slaughter of Father Hamel and was a cousin of one of the attackers. Farid Khelil is a self professed irreligious bisexual.
The cause for the canonisation of the martyred Father Hamel is currently opened.
Mothers of Priests Walk Paris To Rome For Latin Mass
Irish Priest Throws Paint on Russian Embassy (AUDIO)
With Pope Francis leading the way on dignified and prayerful responses to the current crisis in Ukraine, some priests have chosen to take a different route.
On a day where the Russian Ambassador appeared on Russian state media Russia 24 to claim that Ireland was the most overtly anti Russian nation in the West, an Irish priest was appearing on his own country’s state media to broadcast himself throwing paint onto the gates of the building.
Father Fergal MacDonagh previously hit the headlines after allowing an Imam to pray to Allah, invoking the names of Moses, Jesus, Mohammad and all the prophets on the altar of a Catholic church.
Now, he appeared on Liveline with Joe Duffy, a popular talk show on Irish state media. The audio is below, where he douses the gates in red paint, sets off an alarm, discusses the building being destroyed by arson and finally gets approached by a Garda.
It is as surreal as it sounds.
The stunt coincided with the Russian Ambassador Yuriy Filatov appearing on Russian media and stating that the relationship between Ireland and Russia had deteriorated:
Naturally the general political situation is simply hostile towards Russia and everything Russia.
A very negative role, of course, is being played by mass media that shows an absolutely tendentious picture of the events happening in Ukraine at the political level, but Ireland is in the forefront in the European Union and wider with regards to various anti-Russian events.
In this regard, it is probably hardly possible to talk now about any relations between Russia and Ireland. We are mainly supporting a channel of communication with the Irish.
“There is probably a certain sense in this because even in these difficult periods there is need in them.”
As our minister, Sergey Lavrov, said in the interview maybe they will stop going crazy in the West and will understand where, what and how in reality, but for now we are dealing with what we have.
May the Eucharist Be a Light to You in Dark Places
EUCHARIST and EUCATASTROPHE
‘May the Eucharist be a light to you in dark places, when all other lights go out.’
On Thursday, 24 February 2022, Vladimir Putin inflicted the ‘ancient Chinese curse’ of May you live in interesting times onto the world. The Russian army invaded Ukraine.
All rational people fear this could be a prelude to World War III. Many will have nightmares of being evaporated in a mushroom-cloud, at the flick of Putin’s little finger.
The Ancient Chinese Curse
The curse “May you live in interesting times” is neither ancient, or Chinese! This saying was probably penned by Neville Chamberlain’s father or brother.
Neville Chamberlain was the Prime Minister of England who negotiated ‘peace’ with Adolph Hitler. Hitler is universally understood to be the most loathsome, malignant narcissist of all time. Chamberlain triumphantly returned to London, naïvely waving the Munich Agreement aloft, claiming “Peace For Our Time!”
Within a year, Hitler had invaded Poland and Britain declared war — World War II.
History is packed with malignant narcissists and psychopaths. The list spans Caligula to Genghis Khan, and includes Ivan the Terrible; Pol Pot; Stalin & Mao Zedong, to name just a few. The one Ireland knows more intimately is Oliver Cromwell. These monsters brutally killed millions, upon millions of innocent human beings.
Dictators hold their power over little people because they can easily kill one person, or a family: demolish a home or even a whole community. In olden days, a knight might cleave his way through the village. Nowadays, a remorseless invader can drive a tank over innocent people, or just bomb them from afar.
The exact circumstances of this video are unknown. Some reports say it was a Russian tank while one report suggests it was a Ukrainian Strela-10 Rocket Launcher stolen by Pro-Russian saboteurs. It is unclear if the driver just lost control of the machine or whether he deliberately ran over the non-combatant elderly man passing-by in his car.
What is more important is what happened after the car was run over. Despite the ongoing invasion, a group of people worked to extricate the old man from his badly crushed vehicle. Such selfless behaviour never makes it into the history books — but this is exactly what makes humans, truly human!
Gentle folk
“Even the smallest person, can change the course of the future.” [JRR Tolkien]
Many of the powerless people in the world are the kindest folk. Days gone-by, some would be serfs or indentured servants, toiling long and hard to provide for family and community. Often, such people do not seek power or vast wealth because they already have riches beyond compare. Each of us knows some of these “Hobbits” in our lives.
After 2 long years of the COVID pandemic, these people are still a ray of hope with their kind words. Some might be more surly and not say much, but always show up to help in times of need! Through the voice of Samwise Gamgee, Tolkien reminds us: “There is some good in this world, and it’s worth fighting for.”
“Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here”
In Dante’s epic poem, Inferno, this proverb is inscribed above the gates of Hell.
For a Christian, one of the most serious sins is to despair – to give up all Hope. (To clarify: I believe that our Loving Father has infinite forgiveness for this sort of despair arising out of a severe depression.)
The idea of Hope in such dire circumstances led Tolkien to coin a new word: “Eucatastrophe.” Tolkien defined Eucatastrophe as a “good catastrophe, the sudden joyous turn…” This notion obviously arose from Tolkien’s devout Catholicism and traumatic experiences during World War I.
Tolkien may have deliberately coined this word to have similarity between EUCatastrophe and the EUCharist. As Katie Marquette noted, “it is important to understand the felix culpa narrative, the fortunate fall, the reality that ‘All Things can be Made Right Again.’ There is nothing that will not be rectified, though much of earthly life is experienced as “the long defeat.” As a Roman Catholic, Tolkien understood the Eucatastrophe of the Cross - Humiliation, Suffering, Death - turned into the Triumph of the Resurrection.”
So, what can we do to help?
Two suggestions:
First: pray harder! This includes praying for peace; praying for the innocent victims; praying for the conversion of the perpetrator and especially praying that this conflict does not escalate to nuclear war.
A devotion which Catholics should consider is the Holy Rosary. Through the Rosary, we ask our Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, to intercede on our behalf with her Son, Jesus Christ.
For anyone who is a tad rusty on the Rosary, there are links below to Catholic Arena articles on how to learn the Rosary in English and Irish.
The link to the Rosary ‘as Gaeilge’!
Learn the Rosary in Irish — Catholic Arena
Secondly, we need to be very generous with humanitarian aid & financial support. There will be many refugees & injured / homeless people inside Ukraine. Please do not forget that Russian civilians are also going to suffer through the financial sanctions being placed on their motherland — thanks to Putin and his cronies.
Photo: Gregory Gresko, Lviv, Ukraine.
The Lord of the Rings is an allegory for how regular people cope with catastrophe. The phrase said by Galadriel was: “May it be a light to you in dark places, when all other lights go out.” Tolkien was a devout Catholic so perhaps his true message was:
“May the Eucharist be a light to you in dark places, when all other lights go out.”
Dr. Kevin Hay
Ukraine Bishops Call for Consecration of Russia
The following letter is from the Episcopate of Ukraine to the Holy Father
Holy Father!
In these hours of immeasurable pain and terrible trial for our people, we, the bishops of the Conference of the Episcopate of Ukraine, become spokesmen of the relentless and heartfelt plea supported by our priests and consecrated persons, which comes to us from the entire Christian people, so that Your Holiness will dedicate our Motherland and Russia to the Most Holy Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Responding to this plea, we humbly implore your Holiness to publicly carry out an act of dedication to the Most Holy Immaculate Heart of Mary of Ukraine and Russia, as requested by the Most Holy Virgin in Fatima.
May the Mother of God, Queen of Peace, accept our pleas: Regina pacis, ora pro nobis!
Muslims SPITS in French Priest's FACE
With a Presidential Election looming, the persecution of Christians in France is becoming a hot topic.
In a literal sense, with the arson attacks on countless Catholic churches, including Notre Dame Cathedral but also with other forms of violence including the beheading of priests and lay people during Mass.
A shocking video from Bordeaux today highlights the daily plight of Christians in the Globalist country, which is quickly approaching the persecution to be found in the worst parts of the third world.
In this video, a PRIEST is blessing people when a Muslim man SPITS IN HIS FACE.
The Diocese have refused to press charges so far, an act that is admirable in one way in terms of forgiveness but in another way negligent of their civic and religious duties to play a part in ending these unjust persecutions of French Catholics. Recently, another priest was threatened with being beheaded during a procession, this is not a once off event and action needs to be taken.
So far, President Macron has failed to condemn the act.
Catholics Pray After TikTok User Desecrates Church
In the same week that an individual burst into a church and screamed Allah Akbar, a far more disgusting scene took place in another church in France.
Social media user Benjamin Ledig performed a disgusting degenerate dance inside a church, in front of an altar.
He has been allowed to get away with this hate crime by Macron’s government, who have also been loose with punishments for those beheading Catholics at Mass and setting their churches on fire.
The bigoted thug has since made unsubstantiated claims that he has been treated poorly since the anti Catholic hate crime, with one left wing French outlet defending his bigoted actions and trying to paint him as the victim, writing:
Since the publication of a video where he dances in a church, a young man has been the subject of calls for violence and homophobic insults online emanating from the fachosphere. He was beaten in a nightclub this weekend.
The crazed anti Catholic bigot then released a second video in which he pretended to apologise while twerking again in a Catholic church.
According to one French outlet, he has much support from those airheaded young people who get their History from TikTok, with one outlet writing that his supporters:
believe that the young man is a victim of "practices of inquisitors of the Middle Ages".
The same outlet points out that others have accused the crazed bigot’s actions of destroying efforts at acceptance as it:
"spits in the mouth of people who do extraordinary work to change mentalities about LGBT people and to change rights. It is going to be used by the right-wing media who are going to say, 'Look at what LGBT people are doing in the church, look at how they desecrate our churches.'"
For the record, he has since admitted that his claims to be performing the bigoted act because of ‘homophobia’ were completely fabricated. On French TV show Touche, he said:
I came alone to be as sincere as possible. In fact, I didn’t make this video to fight homophobia, as I said last Friday. I was simply asked to say that to explain why I did that. And then I told this story of homophobia but it’s not true
Rather than meet hate with hate, Catholics have taken the high road by organising a prayer rally outside their desecrated church.
At the church of Saint Paul Saint Louis in Paris, 100 hundred young Catholics knelt in solemn prayer last night, singing beautifully for all to see and hear as they did when Notre Dame was set on fire three years ago.
Appearing on television last night, Ledig refused to apologise for his hate crime.
With an election looming, the hatred shown towards Catholics, either by beheading them or torching their churches or desecrating their churches must become a pivotal issue, especially for those considering voting for Emmanuel Macron who has failed to act time and again.
Some Stay Catholic For The Money - Cardinal Muller
By Thomas Hegarty
Oxymoron (noun)
two words or phrases used together that have, or seem to have, opposite meanings
The term “liberal catholic” is an excellent example of an oxymoron and its used worldwide to describe people who believe they are practicing Catholics whilst supporting and promoting the liberal ideologies of aborting unborn children and various gay lifestyles.
Let’s not get into the whole judgement debate here, suffice to say that Catholic teaching which is laid down over many centuries is very clear on these ideologies.
But we can face facts.
It’s not uncommon in human nature to lie to ourselves.
Liberal catholicism is used by liberals as a way to live with their choices that go against their Catholic religion.
According to the European Conservative, German Cardinal Gerhard Müller, the former head of the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith, the body responsible for safeguarding the Church’s doctrine on faith and morals, has warned against the Church’s increasingly firm embrace of the Left’s secular progressivism and ‘wokism.’
The Cardinal explained that many high-ranking members of the clergy—as well as deacons, priests and bishops—who are pushing for liberal reforms within the Church, are “secularised people” themselves.
They (the liberal Catholic clergy) prefer to “keep the name ‘Catholic’
to stay in the institution and take the money” despite refusing to accept the “word of God.”
Cardinal Müller
“They relativize the Catholic faith, but remain with their titles: cardinals, bishops, theology professors—but in reality they don’t believe what the Church is saying”
said the Cardinal in response to a Synodal Assembly, which concluded with votes favouring draft texts calling for same-sex blessings and pro-LGBT redefinition of homosexuality in teaching materials.
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How Should Catholics Feel About Russia-Ukraine Situation?
On January 25th 2022, America Magazine ran with a headline to an article by John Davenport which read:
Just war theory and Ukraine: Why military action against Russia is justifiable
Davenport proposes six reasons as to why this is the case, citing Ukraine’s desire to join NATO, criticising Russia’s ‘invasion of Crimea and the eastern half of Ukraine’s Luhansk and Donetsk provinces’ and claiming that ‘wars of conquest are illegal’.
This is the same John Davenport who has called the United States of America’s illegal invasion of Iraq a ‘liberation’ and who has lamented the failures of the US Army to properly subdue Syria, Libya and other places that fell victim to the bloodthirst of Samantha Power and other neocons. A 2016 article by Davenport expounds his foreign policy, it is without doubt one of the most superficial and naive pieces on foreign policy that one could ever read. He accuses Putin of lying, of self interest, of having covert support for various military groups. Pot, kettle, black.
Regarding his six claims of justified military conflict by the Americans in Ukraine, firstly NATO is no normal ‘alliance’. It is also no guarantee of peace, rather it can be the opposite. Take for example the conflict in Armenia last year with Turkey. As the Turks desecrated the Hagia Sophia, they embarked on another Holy War against Christians in Armenia, brutally torturing and beheading Christian soldiers and desecrating churches, getting away with because they were in NATO. If you want to know how pervasive support for NATO is, even Donald Trump was supportive of the Turkish efforts to ethnically cleanse the region of Armenian Christians. Turkey, knowing that they had NATO backing, proceeded to attack their neighbour viciously and without mercy. It was left to Russia to back Christian Armenia and it has been Russia who have been recently trying to reach a peace agreement between the two countries.
Secondly, he states: ‘just war theory allows legitimate governments and their alliances to respond militarily if negotiation fails to reverse unjust aggressions, such as Russia’s invasion of Crimea and the eastern half of Ukraine’s Luhansk and Donetsk provinces’. Not to minimise the experiences of people in Crimea, Luhansk and Donetsk, but the overwhelming majority of ethnicities across the three regions are Russians. The Colour Revolution of 2004 and crisis of 2014 had openly American influences on the ground. Why?
Thirdly, Davenport calls ‘wars of conquest’ illegal. What was his country doing in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and Libya? ‘Liberating’ people? Only someone who has endured conditioning like Sirhan Sirhan could believe Orwellian doublespeak such as this. Yet Davenport regards all of these as legitimate, even necessary, conflicts. As mentioned above, the ethnic makeup of Crimea, Luhansk and Donetsk casts doubt on the idea that this would be a ‘war of conquest, since these areas are already predominantly Russian.
Fourthly, ‘secession is legitimate only as a last resort to end oppression of the seceding region or minority group. Fomenting civil war without such a just cause, as Mr. Putin has done with separatists in eastern Ukraine, is another crime of aggression’. Again, it must be stated, that Mr. Davenport has a much lower threshold when it comes to American led wars. The Russians will argue that ethnic Russians in those three regions are in danger, whether one agrees or not, it is not as black and white as suggested.
Fifthly, ‘just war theory tells us that while the need to rescue people from atrocities such as ethnic cleansing can be just grounds for military intervention, the fact that a minority group in a given nation no longer controls the national government cannot be used by another nation as a pretext for “rescue.” That was Hitler’s pretext for seizing the majority-German Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia, and Mr. Putin has employed it in his attempts to control parts of Georgia and eastern Ukraine’. Again, the United States simply cannot be trusted on this. From staging attacks allegedly by Assad in Syria to falsely claiming Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq, the USA specialises in pretending that anyone that it does not like is a reincarnation of Hitler in 1939. To play down the seriousness of the possibility of ethnic cleansing seems to completely contradict Davenport’s other claims.
Sixth, ‘Russia’s repeated cyberattacks on Ukraine from 2014 through 2022, which have cost billions and caused collateral damage in other nations, count as military aggression. A proportionate response from NATO to such attacks need not be only cyber; it could include reprisals that destroy equipment and infrastructure’. This vague assertion of ‘proportionate response’ seems more reasonably on the surface, but it is highly unlikely that any NATO incursion would result simply in infrastructural damage rather than the deaths of individuals.
What is really occurring here is that the aptly named America Magazine is cloaking American jingoism in Catholic dressing.
Some of Davenport’s other comments in this article are simply American propaganda:
To let another Russian tyrant reoccupy any nation in eastern Europe would be a retreat and a betrayal.
Mr. Putin’s clear motive for wanting to invade Ukraine is that its people freed themselves from Russian domination and thus have encouraged other liberation movements. Since 2014, Mr. Putin and his foreign puppets have mounted attacks on democratic movements in Venezuela, Moldova, Syria, Belarus, Kazakhstan and of course within Russia itself. Sanctions cannot deter Mr. Putin because he believes his own regime is in danger if democracy spreads.
Trying to appease Mr. Putin any further would endanger more of eastern Europe and encourage him to escalate his assault on democracy.
Peace, as the aim of just wars, should not be the false peace of life under tyranny. After years of trying to placate Mr. Putin while he tries to rebuild a Russian empire, and watching him poison his enemies, lock up his political opponents and assassinate journalists, it is time to stand up to his aggressions.
This disingenous presupposition that Russia is poised to recreate an Empire implicitly suggests that suggests that Americans are simply liberators and not in fact trying to create and empire of their own. The ‘pro Democracy’ fighters that Davenport lauds in Syria include Islamic fundamentalists, those hostile to Christians. This is something that we saw in Iraq, where 81% of Christians were expelled or killed after what Davenport calls their ‘liberation’. Likewise, the domino effect that the USA uses to destablise regions in the name of democracy could lead to the violence spreading the nearby countries, such as Poland. Just because we are European and Christian does not mean that we are any less expendable to the American Empire, just ask the Armenians or the Iraqi and Syrian Christians.
In 2014, the Washington Post published an article which stated: ‘War may well be the worst way imaginable to create larger, more peaceful societies, but the depressing fact is that it is pretty much the only way’. This apocalyptic perspective is that of a nation which has never seen a major conflict on its own shores, hence their eagerness to take them to other people’s.
When pro Iraq War Joe Biden took office in January 2021, we published the following:
In recent months, there has been a barbaric rapidity once again. The extremist elements amongst the Globalists such as Samantha Power, have made foreboding noises that contained veiled threats about treating Poland and Hungary as they once did Saddam Hussein and Gaddafi.
If you want an insight into what could potentially be on the horizon, you simply need to observe the hyenas speaking about their fellow Americans in the same breath as they once spoke about the Iraqis, they are even now drawing parallels so as to justify the two of them.
The hysterical Russian phobia which surrounded criticisms of the Presidency of Donald Trump was actually eclipsed by that which surrounded the 2018 World Cup, with Russia’s relative pivot back towards Christianity being seen by many Western Liberals as a great tragedy. Russia was seen as homophobic, anti woman and excessively Christian by Westerners, a myth quickly shattered by those who travelled to the tournament in huge numbers and who were welcomed with open arms.
Much of the rhetoric about Russia is echoed by other sentiments aimed at their Eastern European neighbours, including Poland and Hungary. Both countries have been bombarded with Globalist propaganda, aimed at reducing their birth rates, increasing abortions and decreasing religiosity and nationalist sentiments. In Poland, the West has had some success, with German asto turf abortion groups helping to organise terror attacks on Catholic churches and large demonstrations in favour of abortion, but in Hungary this has not been the case, with birth rates rising, the recent success of the Eucharistic Congress and GDP continuing to increase.
In short, this is not as simple as America Magazine claims.
People will die, Christians will suffer, non combatant countries (such as Ireland) will have to deal with the after shocks of refugees and spiralling energy prices. Hollywood rhetoric clamouring for bloodshed is no solution to the urgency of this crisis.
This article seems like a serious misjudgement from America and a departure from previous editorial opposition to wars in Iraq and elsewhere.
For the record, lest there be any confusion, our criticism of America Magazine is not a defence of Russia. It is, however, a criticism of Catholic Americans who are carelessly wishing for violence in Europe, evidently putting NATO on the same pedestal that allowed it to watch Turkey destroy churches in Armenia recently (which Joe Biden actually criticised, though perhaps to get at Trump moreso than for the sake of Christians).
A more subtle approach has been taken by at least one Catholic priest, in an episode of The Brendan Option podcast where Fr. Brendan Kilcoyne discusses the lack of comprehensive coverage from Western Media outlets, who (like America Magazine) are merely echoes of the pro war elements of American foreign policy.
He stated:
I’m asking you to inform yourself…Catholics should revere knowledge, it is one of the many faces of God.
The discourse is naive and we’re being peddled a discourse that doesn’t tally. …deal with reputable non biased news agencies. This is too important to allow jingoism to rule the debate.
It is a reasonable video and a reminder to Catholics to avoid getting caught up in the world’s affairs too much, Pope John Paul II bravely reminded us of this with opposition to the USA’s illegal wars of the early 2000s.
Pope John Paul II wrote:
When terrorist organizations use their own followers as weapons to be launched against defenceless and unsuspecting people they show clearly the death-wish that feeds them. Terrorism springs from hatred, and it generates isolation, mistrust and closure. Violence is added to violence in a tragic sequence that exasperates successive generations, each one inheriting the hatred which divided those that went before. Terrorism is built on contempt for human life. For this reason, not only does it commit intolerable crimes, but because it resorts to terror as a political and military means it is itself a true crime against humanity.
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Le Pen Calls Trads 'Dodgy', Compares them to 'Nazis'
Pro abortion centrist Marine Le Pen, who some term to be ‘far right’ on immigration, has launched a scathing attack on Traditionalist Catholics in France.
The Presidential Candidate, who was ahead of Emmanuel Macron in the polls recently, appeared completely riled at losing some of her base to Eric Zemmour, the Jewish journalist who has courted the Traditional Catholic vote with some success.
Insulting both Zemmour and those who had lost faith in her pro abortion brand of ‘right wing’ politics, Le Pen said that his supporters were ‘dodgy characters’. Among those ‘dodgy characters’, she stated ‘There are traditionalist Catholics, pagans, and a few Nazis’.
The entry of Zemmour, who has defended Catholics under threat of arson and beheading in Macron’s France, coincided with Le Pen’s stagnation in the polls.
Le Pen was said to be seething today after Zemmour spoke with President Donald Trump, something that Le Pen tried unsuccessfully to do in 2017.
Le Pen’s odds of victory shortened even further with the entry of Valerie Pecresse, who is seen as a more acceptable socially conservative figure to the oft maligned Le Pen.
One thing is certain, as France watches its priests being beheaded, its Cathedrals burned to the ground and even the tombs of its kings facing being desecrated, the neo conservativism and Trad bashing of Le Pen is not going to save them.
The Forgotten Martyrdom of Saint Valentine
By Thomas Hegarty
Back in the 3rd century, under the rule of Emperor Marcus Aurelius Claudius II, “Claudius the Cruel”, Rome was involved in many unpopular and bloody campaigns. The emperor had to maintain a strong army, but was having a difficult time getting soldiers to join his military leagues. Claudius believed that Roman men were unwilling to join the army because of their strong attachment to their wives and families.
However, the Christian St Valentine of Terni, a holy priest, (some say Bishop) in Rome was said to have celebrated marriages between Christian couples in clandestine secrecy in Rome and advised married men not to go to war and to stay with their wives.
When the secret came to light, Roman Emperor Claudius ordered Valentine’s execution on 14th February 269. His martyrdom was brutally carried out by beheading.
Valentine was buried in Terni near the present Basilica, in a cemetery that already existed in pagan times, where several objects of the 4th and 5th centuries were found. A first basilica was built in the 4th century, outside the walls, on the martyr’s tomb. Destroyed by the Goths together with the city in the 6th century, it was rebuilt in the 7th.
In 1605 Bishop Giovanni Antonio Onorati, obtaining a permission from Pope Paul V, ordered to begin the search for the body of the saint. The body of St. Valentine was soon found in a leaden box containing a marble urn, rough outside but carved with reliefs inside. The head was separated from the torso which confirmed death by beheading. The urn was immediately taken to the cathedral. But the people and the Congregation of Rites wanted that the relics of the martyr continued to rest where they had been buried. So it was decided to build a new basilica on the site.
In 1630 the relics were deposited in an artistic ark consists inside a supine statue. The statue could be seen up to some years ago under the main altar rebuilt by Archduke Leopold. Valentino’s tomb was moved to the new altar in 2003. In the same year, the skull that had been stolen from the tomb in 1979 was returned to Terni.
The original religious celebration named after the Christian saint and martyr Saint Valentine of Terni was established by Pope Gelasius I in 496, to replace the previous pagan festival of Lupercalia. The festivity spread especially in France and England by means of the many monasteries of the Benedictines, who were in charge of the Basilica of Saint Valentine in Terni from the second half of the 7th century.
Dublin’s Valentine Shrine
The Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church (Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel) in Dublin is unexpectedly one of the city’s most romantic spots. Many are drawn here because the church holds the relics of Saint Valentine, a gift from Pope Gregory XVI in 1836, a small vial of Saint Valentine’s blood. This shrine contains “some” sacred body parts of Saint Valentine the Martyr, together with a small vessel tinged with his blood. They were given to the church by Pope Gregory XVI. They’re kept in a casket on an altar to the right of the main altar. The Shrine to St. Valentine is found on the right hand side of the church as you enter. The casket sits beneath the marble altar in a niche which is protected by an ornate iron and glass gate. Above the altar stands the life-sized statue of the saint set into a marble mosaic alcove.
Today, the Shrine is visited throughout the year by couples who come to pray to Saint Valentine and to ask him to watch over them in their lives together.
Prayer to Saint Valentine
Dear Lord, who art high in the Heavens,
Giver of Love and Passion,
And He who strings the heart’s cords,
Lead the Lovers this day, February ten plus four.
The day during the month of two,
When the date is the perfect number of God
Greater two souls and two hearts.
Some Loves are fleeting ,
But that which is built on you will never fail.
So guide the Lovers to know what is to be.
Your truths the Lovers’ mouths should speak,
For Your truth is that which is honest to the heart.
Only this, then, should pass over the red lips of the Lovers.
Your art, the Lovers simply a medium.
It is only with True Hearts that You can create a Masterpiece,
So let the Lovers remember that their Soul’s Desire
Is the one for which You light their Fire.
And let it be You who creates the Art of the Lovers;
The art of two into one.
Amen.
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