La Madonna del Soccorso
Over at The Catholic Thing there is a great entry by my friend Fr. Paul Scalia about Our Blessed Mother, whom we invoke as “Destroyer of All Heresies”.
Here’s a sample…
In Pascendi dominici gregis, [thank you for the correct orthography] Pope Pius X invokes the Blessed Virgin Mary by the title Destroyer of all heresies. He took this curious appellation for the gentle, sweet maiden of Nazareth from the Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The title had particular meaning in Pascendi, which was written in 1911 against modernism, the “synthesis of all heresies.” Faced with that crisis, it was proper to appeal to the Destroyer of all heresies. The title still applies, however. Indeed, it describes something that has always been true of our Lady – and is perhaps even more urgent now.
But how? How does she destroy heresies? Mary never preached a sermon against error. She never conducted an inquisition or excommunicated anyone. She never (God forbid) presented a paper at a theological conference. [She did present the Word in the Temple, as well as to the architriclinus and his staff.]
[…]
I don’t want to offer too much of it here. Rather, go there and get it in an integral reading.
And do not miss the shot he slips in about relieving people of the obligation to hear Holy Mass on Holy Days of Obligation if they fall on a Monday.
Fr. Z kudos.
Modernism, friends, is in full bloom these days, much like the gruesome “Corpse Flower” (Amorphophallus titanum), though with a much longer and far more frequent effect.
These days Modernism pervades in a form I call Modernism 2.0 (aka Imanentism Lite): most people today who spread errors and dissent aren’t smart enough to come up with errors on their own.
Let us invoke the Blessed Virgin, Destroyer of All Heresies, against the pernicious effects of obstinate dissent. In Pascendi, St. Pius calls her “cunctarum haeresum interemptrix“. In Latin, interemptrix has a particularly brutal ring to it.
Let us also invoke her chaste spouse, St. Joseph, Defender of the Church, against one Corpse Flower in particular. HERE
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” Indeed, it describes something that has always been true of our Lady – and is perhaps even more urgent now.”
Has modernism, the “synthesis of all heresies”, infested the Church more fully in the last half century than Pius X could have imagined in 1911?
“And do not miss the shot he slips in about relieving people of the obligation to hear Holy Mass on Holy Days of Obligation if they fall on a Monday.”
Sadly, as much as I would love to assist at Holy Mass tomorrow, there are no parishes who will offer it when I can go. One parish will offer only the regular Monday Mass at noon (can’t go since I’m a school teacher); the other within reasonable distance will have only a Communion service since the pastor is on vacation.
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At all three masses over the weekend, my San Diego priest was at pains to point out that in the “province” of Los Angeles the “feast of the Assumption is DISPENSED this year, because it falls on a Monday. So you don’t have to worry about coming back TOMORROW for mass.” My cantor, who isn’t Catholic, and I exchanged, from behind the console, looks of typical bewilderment at this pitiful desk-jockey, and he said, “He doesn’t WANT them to come, does he?” And it’s true, he actively discourages any kind of pious observance. It’s his way.