Priest physically assaulted for celebrating TLM and bringing back sacred tradition

The liberal approach.

Our friends at Rorate posted a translation of an article in Italian about an incident in Ronta, near Florence.

My emphases and comments:

You have been tough, but we will smash your head. Signed, Your friend Satan”. That was one of several threatening messages sent to Father Hernán García Pardo, parish priest of San Michele, in Ronta [Mugello region of the Province of Florence, Tuscany]. His fault [was] that of celebrating the Latin Mass, liberalized by Benedict XVI in September 2007.  [NB: “The Latin Mass” can also be the Novus Ordo.]

The warnings, which had been recurrent for some time, had not made the priest, who despite everything has continued to say Mass according to the ancient rite, give up. The last chapter [took place] last Wednesday, when he was beaten up by a ‘faithful’ in the town’s rectory in the presence of his aged mother. The beating led to bruising on his back; having been sent to the emergency room of Borgo San Lorenzo, he was medicated.

The news item was published today in the Giornale della Toscana; the accusations made against Father Hernán are those of scattering the flock; above all, he is not forgiven for distributing communion in the mouth [to the] kneeling [faithful], instead of on the hand, in the same manner as Benedict XVI. For others, the Italian-Argentine priest has only brought back some sacred austerity to the parish, excluding guitars from the functions and bringing back to within the walls of the church the ancient Gregorian chant. …

This is a dramatic example of someone who was more than likely not taking his meds.  But this is how liberals work.  They use violence, either by words or by actions.   This is the case in many spheres of life.

Say a prayer for the disturbed man who raised his hand against the Lord’s anointed.

BTW… the rather melodramatic threat of the disturbed man doesn’t seem so melodramatic when you know that real Satanism is on the rise in some parts of Italy.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
This entry was posted in Our Catholic Identity, The future and our choices, Throwing a Nutty. Bookmark the permalink.

32 Comments

  1. meunke says:

    I would not want to be in that attacker’s shoes right now.

    He struck with violence at God’s anointed. Terrible things tend to happen to people who do that.

  2. KAS says:

    My prayers for the priest’s recovery and his continued courageous work. My prayer also for the deranged person(s) sending notes and beating this priest.

    It is getting uglier out there all the time.

  3. moon1234 says:

    You KNOW you are doing the correct thing when this happens:

    Matthew 5: 10-12
    Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

    [11] Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for my sake: [12] Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you.

    http://www.drbo.org/chapter/47005.htm

  4. Chrysologus says:

    A mentally unstable man (on your, probably safe, assumption) attacks a conservative priest, and you conclude that “This is how liberals work. They use violence.”? [Yes. That is indeed what I did.] What an inflammatory and outrageous statement. [I rest my case.] Violence is everywhere, both physical and verbal, and neither liberals nor conservatives are exempt from either giving or receiving it.

  5. Brad says:

    satan by nature can never create, only pervert. I constantly notice that anything said or used, anything verbal, written, visual, etc, by him, via the poor souls under his sway, is always a perverted version of the real thing. In this case it is a perversion of Gen 3:15. I think he is bound by this method by God so we can sense his presence. If he were not so predictable, and proudly so, it would be much worse for us.

    Other examples are the gay rainbow, missing a color, and the peace symbol, which is a perverted cross.

    http://womenofgrace.com/newage/?p=180

    What this linked article leaves out is the peace symbol is also a broken armed globus cruciger, where the cross, meant to surmount the world, is sunken into the world: into the devil’s princedom and the realm of the gnostic cross.

    In an apparition, our Mother said that the snake makes “other crosses” out of the cross, visually, for example by rearranging it into the swastika.

    This is the vale of tears. Terror on every side. But, viva Christo Rey!

  6. DPH says:

    You are absolutely right Father.
    Liberals are much more violent than anyone else, and inflammatory in their every doings.
    God bless this good priest!

  7. benedetta says:

    It would seem that liberalism cannot and will not be finally reconciled in terms of the faith.

    Political liberals and conservatives in secular world, for the purpose of secular ideology do exist. But the Church is not mirror or microcosm of the secular world of political government. It sort of offends me, attempts to portray or force this appearance.

  8. Ann Coulter generally incites strong reactions. That said, her latest book Demonic: How The Liberal Mob Is Endangering America, is a great read. I have read a few of her books, and this is the best of them. She provides page after page of examples to back her proposition that the demonic, liberalism and the “mob mentality” are connected.  Of course her prose is… how to say… mordant, perhaps?   Liberals hate her, but whereas they insult her with ad mulierem attacks, she makes arguments and then backs them up with examples. And yes, she uses some pretty strong words… words not blows. 

    I recommend the book as another lens through which we can view many things which have taken place in the Church over the last few decades. 

    The book version is here and the Kindle version here.  I got the Kindle version.  Since this is one of those books which is connected also to current events, I chosen the digital version, but suit yourselves.

    She opens the book with the Gospel story of the Lord driving the “legion” or “mob” of demons out of the Geresene demoniac.  She makes extensive use of examples from the French Revolution, the Terror, and what was done to the Church and the Catholic Faith.

    I will now close my own rabbit hole.

  9. Dr. Eric says:

    Brad, don’t put your faith in “Women of Grace” ministries, they seem to look for the devil under every rock and usually find him- whether he’s really there or not.

    Now, this is a disgusting display of brutality against one of God’s priests who stands In Persona Christi. I offer my prayers for the priest and the attacker through the intercession of St. Jean Vianney.

  10. Nathan says:

    But Father, but Father! Isn’t it the the trads who are the bitter, negative, nasty ones? We get told that all the time! [Sometimes its true, too. All the more reason to be extra special double careful with visitors and newbies.]

    Seriously, while are there a number of us who have difficulty with living joyfully (and, may Our Lord be merciful on us, charitibly enough), I can’t recall where any “bitter Trad” has ever physically assaulted a “progressive” priest.

    In Christ,

  11. Brad says:

    Dr. Eric, hi. I am surprised by your opinion of WOG. They always seemed ok to me…perhaps quite “serious”, as I guess you are getting at. But sometimes paranoia — well, let’s put a finer point on that — a disposition to lean toward paranoia…how could we say it with a positive connotation…a tendency to be en garde!…sometimes that way of being is good, don’t you think? After all, even someone who is wrong is right sometimes! In this case, I admit that I provided some of the info for that article, written by Sue Brinkmann. I hope you don’t think I’m Russel Crowe in “A Beautiful Mind” now. I promise, I’m not coming up with “connections” is my basement think tank.

  12. albizzi says:

    When the Novus Ordo was imposed by the bishops, many among them even daring to say that the Old Rite was definitively cancelled and forbidden (while objectively it wasn’t) the faithfuls complied with resignation and obedience: There were no insults, no anger, no hate, yet no death threats.
    The liberal and modernist lobby held firm for almost 40 years against any resurgence of a bygone time.
    Sad for them, our Holy Father allowed again the Old Rite (adding that it never was abrogated, thus making them like liars) to be used for mass, without even asking for the bishop’s permission: See the tumult, the scandal, the deadly anger.
    One may wonder where are the true , loving and tolerant Christians.

  13. Augustin57 says:

    As I keep reminding everyone, this is only the beginning. Violence towards a faithful priest here, or there, or a bishop. This fire will continue to grow until there will be many martyrs in the Church. Without a miraculous intervention by God, this is where we’re heading. Like a 100-car train, running full-out, heading toward a broken bridge and trying to stop in 100 ft. Can’t happen.

    May we be worthy of the suffering that is coming our way, and offer it up in reparation for sins!

  14. John UK says:

    Brad wrote:
    In an apparition, our Mother said that the snake makes “other crosses” out of the cross, visually, for example by rearranging it into the swastika.

    Interesting. I have in my possesssions brass-rubbings I made of English brasses of priests, where the stole and orphreys are decorated with fylfots, the English word for what was arrogated by the Nazis and became universally known as the swastika. The fylfot appears to have been a common form of the cross in mediæval Christian art, used in carving, stained glass and floor mosaics as well as vestments.
    I am not entirely happy that a Christian symbol, used by Christians for over 1000 years (and admittedly found in pre-Christian eastern religions, too), should be effectively “surrendered” to a party which misappropriated it and made vile use of it to endorse vile actions. By isolating its use to this party, and outlawing its appearance in any context, one seems to be, perhaps paradoxically, endorsing the theft of this particular form of the Cross by that party.

    “In hoc signo . . .” the Cross conquers all.

    Kind regards,
    John U.K.

  15. trad catholic mom says:

    I will be praying for this priest. I’m just speechless that anyone would strike a priest.

  16. pablo says:

    Another reason for Bishops to kick the Freemasons out of their Diocese Offices and parishes; they keep strong Catholic men from being Sacristans.

    Men that would protect the Priests with their blood and with their souls.

    Bishops need to be forced (Including my Bishop here in Phoenix, Arizona, USA) to throw the bums out.

    We need to go back to the traditional ways; Sacristans that are tough guys.

    Men that live with the Padres and are their drivers, errand boys, and so on.

    Clearly this excludes men that suffer from skirt burn, or are led around by the noses by their wives.

    The only thing stopping this is the weakness Bishops that will not rid their Diocese of Freemasons in position of authority in their Dioceses.

    Once a Freemason tried to sucker punch my Priest and Confessor; I was on him like white on rice.

    He and his pals backed down when they realized how high the stakes were..

    Cowards never fight fair.

    Anyone that would harm a woman’s child in front of her deserves Death.

    Pray Bishops are given the grace of courage to can the Freemasons.

    *

  17. Denis says:

    Argumentum ad baculum, spirit of V2 style. Satan has been smoking freely in the sanctuary for decades now, drawn in by the lounge music. He doesn’t take kindly to the rite that nourished so many of his enemy.

  18. Geoffrey says:

    Blaming Freemasons, political liberals, and Vatican II for an act of violence against a priest? Really?

    The terms liberal and conservative do not belong in the Church, but in politics. In the Church, you are either orthodox or a heretic. No more, no less.

    “Anyone that would harm a woman’s child in front of her deserves Death.”

    Really? How Christ-like…

  19. Meredith says:

    Father Z., I don’t think it’s a good idea to put the blame for this attack on “liberals.” Haven’t you heard that the crazy man who just murdered all those people in Norway was calling himself a crusader and claiming to be fighting back against feminism and Islam? The left is now going to blame Christians and conservatives. Why don’t we stop trying to make political capital out of violence? Please? It’s all very satisfying and martyrific until some self-identified Christian/right-wing avenger goes on a rampage and then we all get tarred with the Dangerous Psycho brush.

    And Pablo? Seriously?

  20. “Terrible things tend to happen to people who do that.”

    Yes, but excommunication is *not* one of them anymore! The new Code of Canon Law (1983) got rid of that!

    The note made it clear, though. It is more than just “liberalism” (although I do not question their use of force, deceipt and violence at all), since, as mentioned before, satanism is growing.

  21. oldCatholigirl says:

    Although I agree that , while “conservatives” are frequently associated with violence (verbal/physical) in the popular media, while “liberals” are often given a pass, I am not sure that this particular incident belongs in the category of liberal vs. conservative. It certainly might be categorized as demonic vs. angelic. However, the perpetrator might be exhibiting an example of an extreme version of a different popular mindset. Ever since the radical (and unauthorized) changes in the usual style of saying Mass after Vatican II, many Catholics seem to have interiorized attitudes that were formerly found among many Protestants. These include an antipathy to Latin (“It’s not allowed any more.”) and a general association of “spookiness” with anything that seems “medieval”–like candles, churches with chiarascuro, vestments, monks’ robes, organ music. These things are titillating in movies, but are vaguely associated with evil and seem incongrous in everyday life. If a person with such a mindset gets disturbed (or drunk/high), he well might see the EF as demonic and deserving of attack.

    Mary Conces

  22. Tina in Ashburn says:

    Whatever the reason or mindset that caused such an unbalanced and violent attack on Tradition and reverence, I hope this encourages Rome to step-up the imposition of the Church’s traditional practices.
    Our good priests and hierarchy need every ‘prop’ and good rule to give them courage as well as ‘back-up’.
    If there is anger towards GOOD change, doesn’t that mean we need to increase these changes everywhere so that people get used to them sooner?

  23. Denis says:

    oldcatholicgirl,

    Breivik was a Freemason. I’m not sure how anyone with half a brain can honestly call him a Catholic, or even a Christian. I think that one can more reasonably associate him with the atheistic right-wing european identity movements. The Knights Templar stuff he obviously picked up in the anti-Catholic histories–e.g., Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, and such.

  24. PostCatholic says:

    I suppose there’s no shortage of liberals who use violence to achieve their ends. But it’s also a heavily favored tactic of the far right. Timothy McVeigh, Scott Roeder, Osama bin Laden, James von Brunn, Jim Adkisson and now Anders Breivik were all conservatives. Perhaps it’s more sensible to decry politically motivated violence from any quarter.

  25. MichaelJ says:

    PostCatholic, I agree. For every Ted Kaczynski there is a Timothy McVeigh. For every Animal Liberation Front, there is a Taliban.

    The thing is, based purely on my own, unscientific casual observation, people (and Americans in particular) seem to accept, and even encourage violence for the right reasons(e.g. the ones they happen to agree with). Currently these “acceptable” reasons, at least as far as the MSM goes, are all to the left

  26. Lets see Laden honored a pedephile who had relations with a 9 year old girl and did some other despicable things if you really want to read about it. He also belonged to a religion which says while it is not advisable or necessarily commendable sodomy is perfectly fine as long as the other “partner” (usually a male child) doesn’t have a beard. Lets see….. Wait a minute. I can’t think of many “conservatives” who are advocating pedephilia or even homosexuality. So much for Laden being a conservative I guess.

    As far as liberals we have the French Revolution, the anarchist movement from the 1800s to now, the Spanish revolution, the purges of Stalin, the crimes of Hitler (who was a liberal in reality- ascribed to eugenics, euthanasia, Darwinism and yes socialism albeit a nationalistic and racist form of it), Mao (we don’t even know how many were murdered still), Ayers and the Weathermen (currently now enscounced on Capital Hill), PETA, the Arizona incident of recent history and the list goes on. In a sense the Norwegian incident was also a liberal as the man belong to the Masons- historically a liberal group. As a group they intentionally destabilized South America during the 1800s and then fought over it with the socialists (they are much to blame for the current situation in South America- particulary Mexico). Before their coming South America was relatively peaceful and actually Mexico was arguably more powerful and advanced in education than the United States at that time. Anyways… I suppose it is all how you define the word conservative. Yes it has changed meanings over time as the Brit Tories who starved and oppressed the Irish over the centuries were at one point regarded as “conservative.” To me in the current political situation a good definition might be one who adheres to Natural Law as nearly every liberal party platform seeks to defy nearly every aspect of Natural Law. That way it can be used to apply to non- Catholics also. Sometimes the word Catholic (you know saying “I’m not conservative or liberal”) doesn’t really apply.

    I am not saying that conservatives are never guilty of crimes or evil. However since the philosophy and worldview of liberals is so contradictory just like Stalin they can preach the brotherhood of all men and then promptly proceed to murder hundreds of thousands since they obstruct his idea of “the brotherhood of men.” It is only logical to them. I am sure that those of the French Revolution just like the Unabomber reasoned they were perfectly justified. Not all liberals will necessarily follow through with it but the flaw is their unbalanced system of logic and worldview. Unfortunately in their rush to usher in the next Utopia they fail to reform themselves first. If they tried then perhaps they would realize that maybe they should leave the creation of Utopia to someone else (namely someone who doesn’t have all the issues- ie God). I suppose what I am saying is that most liberal terrorists do it on a matter of idealogy. You know like 9/11, etc. After all the point of that was jihad (one of the 5 pillars of Islam- don’t forget).

    I wouldn’t say historically it is a “heavily favored tactic of the right-“if anything liberals like it more. That isn’t to say there are those who identify themselves as conservative who are just as bad. As far as the liberal’s finger pointing going on now I find it a lot like the pot calling the kettle black.

  27. Tina in Ashburn says:

    Sed libera nos: good post

  28. Tom T says:

    Fr. Z, I also like Ann Coulter who has been a staunch defender of conservative values for many years. She pretty much had these liberals pegged a long time ago. After the news broke that Archbishop Chaput whom I love and admire and was thrilled and pleased to learn he was assigned
    to Phila. Pa.; I read some of the posts on a liberal so called Catholic News Paper and the hate that came out of these liberals in Denver was unbelievable. The names they called that man and the uncharitible things that they said about him were something you might find in a secular rag that
    you see for sale on the way out of the supermarket. I posted my thought and told them Archbishop
    Chaput was more than welcome here and we look forward to it. They would not allow the message and refused to post it. So much for Christian liberalism. This poor ravaged soul that struck the priest
    in Italy probably dosen`t realize it but he is automatically, according to canon law, excommunicated. [Not, alas, under the 1983 Code of Canon Law. Now the penalty can include a some censure or other, but it is not automatic excommunication…. unless the priest is the Pope.] Very sad. Satan hates anything conservative. Pax

  29. John Nolan says:

    “…The Brit Tories who starved and oppressed the Irish …” Read a little history, old son. The Irish always had a worse deal from the Liberals – Peel’s ministry reacted quickly to the Famine but lost office in 1846 and it was the Liberal bean-counters (heard of Trevelyan?) who exacerbated the situation. And it was the Tories who solved the land problem (Wyndham’s Land Purchase Act 1903).

  30. AnAmericanMother says:

    PostCatholic,
    The problem with that reasoning is twofold.
    First, many of the people you mention are not actually conservative — they are just crazy. They may justify their craziness with anything from the Bible to the Book of Mormon, or from the Communist Manifesto to the Federalist Papers. Or with secret radio transmissions directly to their brains from the CIA. It doesn’t matter what particular mania they are in thrall to – it doesn’t tell us anything about the actual value of whatever they are obsessing on.
    As for bin Laden, who doesn’t fit the mold, a radical Muslim is hardly a “conservative” except in the most far-fetched sense.
    The media has simply pushed the notion that any given mass-murderer is conservative in order to attack its opponents – conservatives. They frequently do this in defiance of the facts (e.g. Jared Loughner was proclaimed a Tea Party activist and devotee of Sarah Palin within hours if not minutes of the news hitting the wires. This turned out to be untrue, to the extent he was anything other than b*****t crazy he was far left. Interestingly, his liberal parents had exercised ‘pull’ with the local (liberal) sheriff to prevent his being picked up on a mental health order despite numerous threatening incidents with his college and others.)
    Second, as a general rule political conservatives in this country do not promote violence as a means of achieving their ends. The fringe elements who do are ostracized. On the other hand, liberal activists (particularly labor unions and antiwar groups) have no problem promoting violence or actually engaging in it and – more importantly – they are not ostracized or even criticized by other liberals when things get out of hand, and the media cover for them as much as possible (e.g. Wisconsin protests, Philadelphia beat down of tea party protesters by union thugs, etc.)

  31. PostCatholic says:

    Okay, AnAmericanMother, I’ll allow you to stake the boundaries around “true Conservatism” so as not to include “crazy people.” You’ll understand, therefore, if I make a similar ring around “true Liberalism” to include the traditional liberal value of respect for “the inherent worth and dignity of every person,” (q.v.) of which political motivated violence by definition cannot be a part. I think the fringe you describe is drawn a bit longer than I’d imagine it, but we can legitimately differ.

    In any event, I hope we equally deplore the actions of the man who assaulted the priest mentioned in the article and other similar acts ideologically based violence.

Comments are closed.