Reader challenge: find the source of a quote

There is a quote attributed to Ven. Pius XII, who may have said it or written it in 1953.  I haven’t found an actual source yet.  Which document or speech is this from?

“We belong to the Church Militant; and she is militant because on earth the powers of darkness are ever restless to encompass her destruction.”

Treasure hunt.

And keep in mind that it maybe not have been Pius XII.

UPDATE:

Look here!

And there are variations on the theme.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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18 Comments

  1. acardnal says:

    Anyone have a subscription to Lexus/Nexus?

  2. James Joseph says:

    Fr. Z.

    I ran a quick concordance for: Darkness, Destruction, and Militant.
    So far I have arrived at SUMMI PONTIFICATUS. (1939)

    …will continue looking.

  3. Dax says:

    Pope Pius XII in 1953

  4. Paulo says:

    It seems to be part of the text of the dedication of the new North American College (The Pontifical North American College) delivered on October 14, 1953. The quote provided eas cited at “The Pope Speaks” (OSV, 1954)

    http://books.google.ca/books?id=z9sSAAAAIAAJ&q=“We+belong+to+the+Church+Militant;+and+she+is+militant+because+on+earth+the+powers+of+darkness+are+ever+restless+to+encompass+her+destruction.”&dq=“We+belong+to+the+Church+Militant;+and+she+is+militant+because+on+earth+the+powers+of+darkness+are+ever+restless+to+encompass+her+destruction.”&hl=en&ei=zlg0T43mBany2QW9lLH5AQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=book-thumbnail&resnum=1&ved=0CDMQ6wEwAA

    The web site of The North American College, on it’s history, mentions the dedication.

    Hope that servers as a lead!

  5. James Joseph says:

    I just found it…

    I was going to put the dedicaiton of the new North American College.

    But Paulo beat me to the punch.

  6. acardnal says:

    Would be nice to link to the actual speech of 1953. Hopefully, Sr. Margherita Marchione is a Fr. Z blog reader. :-) She would know.

  7. Paulo says:

    JJ ( if you allow me to be that much informal): I had a day off today, so what better to do than to hang out at Fr. Z’s blog and going on wild chases from the comfort of our living rooms? Now, I better hit the kitchen and fix some supper, before wife and kids start dropping in!

  8. tcreek says:

    In the Documents pontificaux of 1953, we count no less than twenty warnings against atheistic communism. Among others, on December 7: the Pope declared, «In our recent encyclical Fulgens corona, we denounced yet once more the realization of a terrifying plan seeking to radically wrest minds away from the faith of Christ, to a world domination by the enemy of men of God. And they are men – miserable men – who serve as the instruments for this destructive work. A struggle is in progress, which so to speak increases each day in its proportions and in violence; hence it is necessary that all Christians, but especially all Catholic militants, be on their toes and fight, even to the death if necessary, for their Mother the Church, with the weapons permitted to them.» (Doc. pont., 1953, p. 630).

  9. digdigby says:

    We’ve got a winner! Paulo gets a dinner for two at Red Lobster and this beYOOtiful quilt made by the ladies of the Rosary Society.

  10. WaywardSailor says:

    It is part of a letter on the dedication of the North American College, published in Acta Apostalicae Sedis, 1953 (page 680 – last pragraph):

    http://www.vatican.va/archive/aas/documents/AAS%2045%20%5B1953%5D%20-%20ocr.pdf

  11. Velle Mere says:

    Another one of Father Z’s sneaky ways of getting us to pore through the speeches made by Pope Pius XII. It worked. :)

  12. acardnal says:

    tcreek: Fr. Z is looking for the source of this quote not the one you mentioned. Thus far we believe it is from a speech Pope Pius XII gave to the NAC in October 1953. Can you locate the speech?

    “We belong to the Church Militant; and she is militant because on earth the powers of darkness are ever restless to encompass her destruction.”

  13. WaywardSailor says:

    For some reason, the link I provided will only take you to the Vatican home page. Choose the English version and from there, scroll down to the bottom of the circle to click on “Resource Library”, then click “Official Acts of the Holy See”, next click “Acta Apostolicae Sedis” and finally scroll down and choose AAS 45 [1953].

  14. acardnal says:

    Congratulations “Waywardsailor”. I know have a copy for future use.

  15. tcreek says:

    acardnal, I know the quote was not the one Fr. Z was after but the one I posted was somewhat similar and might be of interest.

    “A struggle is in progress, which so to speak increases each day in its proportions and in violence; hence it is necessary that all Christians, but especially all Catholic militants, be on their toes and fight, even to the death if necessary, for their Mother the Church, with the weapons permitted to them.” » (Doc. pont., 1953, p. 630).

  16. pm125 says:

    If it is for the dedication of the N-o-r-t-h A-m-e-r-i-c-a-n College, it is prophetic.

  17. I had a similar thought on “Pray the Mass” and the accompanying quote. It’s attributed to two Piuses earlier — P to the X — but I haven’t found a firm source.

    The Holy Mass is a prayer itself, even the highest prayer that exists. It is the Sacrifice, dedicated by our Redeemer at the Cross, and repeated every day on the altar. If you wish to hear Mass as it should be heard, you must follow with eye, heart and mouth all that happens at the altar. Further, you must pray with the priest the holy words said by him in the Name of Christ and which Christ says by him. You have to associate your heart with the holy feelings which are contained in these words and in this manner you ought to follow all that happens at the altar. When acting in this way, you have prayed Holy Mass.

    Any ideas? (May I suggest another treasure hunt?)

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