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.
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since Sat., 25 Nov. 2006:
Anyone have a subscription to Lexus/Nexus?
Fr. Z.
I ran a quick concordance for: Darkness, Destruction, and Militant.
So far I have arrived at SUMMI PONTIFICATUS. (1939)
…will continue looking.
Pope Pius XII in 1953
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!
I just found it…
I was going to put the dedicaiton of the new North American College.
But Paulo beat me to the punch.
Would be nice to link to the actual speech of 1953. Hopefully, Sr. Margherita Marchione is a Fr. Z blog reader. :-) She would know.
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!
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).
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.
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
Another one of Father Z’s sneaky ways of getting us to pore through the speeches made by Pope Pius XII. It worked. :)
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.”
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].
Congratulations “Waywardsailor”. I know have a copy for future use.
Pope Pius XII?
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).
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.
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.
Any ideas? (May I suggest another treasure hunt?)