| Recent Featured Videos and Articles | Eastern “Orthodoxy” Refuted | How To Avoid Sin | The Antichrist Identified! | What Fake Christians Get Wrong About Ephesians | Why So Many Can't Believe | “Magicians” Prove A Spiritual World Exists | Amazing Evidence For God | News Links |
| Vatican II “Catholic” Church Exposed | Steps To Convert | Outside The Church There Is No Salvation | E-Exchanges | The Holy Rosary | Padre Pio | Traditional Catholic Issues And Groups | Help Save Souls: Donate |  |
As a youth, the future apostle of Brazil, Padre Jose de Anchieta [16th cent.], was happy and well liked. “Jose nevertheless was frequently sad and melancholy. In his restless moods he sought solitude for prayer and meditation: his soul yearned for something more than ordinary piety, knowledge and affection. When that spirit seized him, he would leave his arduous studies and walk along the banks of the Mondego, finding in its beauty release to contemplate the tragedy of human weakness. After one of these excursions of hungry searching, Jose entered the Cathedral of Coimbra. As he knelt in the deep, shadowy silence before the image of the Virgin, he suddenly found the peace and joy for which he yearned. The vague longing that had disturbed and at times consumed him now took shape as a desire to dedicate his life to the service of God…” (Helen G. Dominian, Apostle of Brazil, p. 6)
While converting heathen slaves in South America, St. Peter Claver (1580-1654) instructed them that they ought to ask “pardon for the sins of their past heathen life, especially for idolatry, lust and drunkenness.” (Fr. Angel Valtierra, Peter Claver – Saint of the Slaves, 1960, p. 127)
Ecclesiasticus 28:22- “Many have fallen by the edge of the sword, but not so many as have perished by their own tongue.”
Pope St. Leo the Great: “Defend the Church in unshaken peace against the heretics, that your empire also may be defended by Christ’s right hand.” (Letter 44, Oct. 13, 449, to Emperor Theodosius II)
Proverbs 15:8- “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord…”
Romans 16:17-18 “Now I beseech you, brethren, to mark them who make dissensions and offences contrary to the doctrine which you have learned, and avoid them. For they that are such, serve not Christ our Lord, but their own belly; and by pleasing speeches and good words, seduce the hearts of the innocent.”
St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book 5, Chap. 24, c. AD 180: “The Devil, however, as he is the apostate angel, can only go to this length, as he did at the beginning, [namely] to deceive and lead astray the mind of man into disobeying the commandments of God, and gradually to darken the hearts of those who would endeavor to serve him...”
Pope Benedict XIV, Nuper ad nos, March 16, 1743, Profession of Faith: “This faith of the Catholic Church, without which no one can be saved, and which of my own accord I now profess and truly hold…”
“There is, says the Holy Ghost, one that humbleth himself wickedly, and his interior is full of deceit (Ecclus. 19:23). There are some who humble themselves... through a motive of being esteemed humble and of being praised for their humility. But, according to St. Bernard, to seek praise from voluntary humiliations is not humility, but the destruction of humility, for it changes humility into an object of pride.” (St. Alphonsus)
St. Gregory of Nyssa, Letter To Peter, 4th century: “… it would be a most shameful lack of spirit, when our foes make no concealment of their blasphemy, not to be bold in our statement of the truth.”
St. Alphonsus (1755) on detachment from relatives: “If attachment to relatives were not productive of great mischief Jesus Christ would not have so strenuously exhorted us to estrangement from them… a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household (Mt. 10:36)… Relatives are [very often] the worst enemies of the sanctification of Christians...”
Fr. William Jurgens: “… we must stress that a particular patristic text [a particular statement from a father] is in no instance to be regarded as a ‘proof’ of a particular doctrine. Dogmas are not ‘proved’ by patristic statements, but by the infallible teaching instruments of the Church. The value of the Fathers and writers is this: that in the aggregate [that is, in totality], they demonstrate what the Church believes and teaches; and again, in the aggregate [that is, in totality], they provide a witness to the content of Tradition, that Tradition which is itself a vehicle of revelation.”
2 Paralipomenon 19:2- “Thou helpest the ungodly, and thou art joined in friendship with them that hate the Lord, and therefore thou didst deserve indeed the wrath of the Lord.”
Pope Pius XI (1923): “… the heresies begotten by the [Protestant] Reformation. It is in these heresies that we discover the beginnings of that apostasy of mankind from the Church, the sad and disastrous effects of which are deplored, even to the present hour, by every fair mind.” (Rerum omnium pertabationem #4, Jan. 26, 1923)
“Another characteristic of the saints that Francisco began to manifest after the apparition of the Lady (1917) was the love of solitude. One May morning he left the two girls (Jacinta and Lucia) with the sheep, and climbed to the top of a high rock. ‘You can’t come up here!’ he called down. ‘Leave me alone!’… Lucia and Jacinta began to run after butterflies. By the time they wearied of this they had forgotten all about Francisco, and they thought no more of him until they realized that they were hungry, and that it must be long past the time for their meal. There Francisco was, still lying motionless on the top of the rock…. ‘What have you been doing all this time?’ ‘I have been thinking of God, who is so sad because of so many sins,’ the boy answered seriously. ‘If I could only give Him joy!’” (William Thomas Walsh, Our Lady of Fatima, pp. 61-62)
St. Thomas Aquinas (1274): Whether A Father Can Compel his son to Marry: “I answer that, Since in marriage there is a kind of perpetual service, as it were, a father cannot by his command compel his son to marry, since the latter is of free condition...” (Summa Theologiae, Suppl., Q. 48, A. 6.)
St. Alphonsus (1755): “Purity of intention consists in performing all our actions through the sole motive of pleasing God… In the life of St. Pachomius, Surius relates that a certain monk made two mats, whilst his companions made but one; he showed the two mats to St. Pachomius in order to receive praise, but the saint said to the other monks: ‘Behold, this monk worked till night, and has offered his work to the devil.’”
Pope St. Agatho, III Council of Constantinople, 680-681: “… how could a knowledge of the Scriptures, in its fullness, be found unless what has been canonically defined by our holy and apostolic predecessors, and by the venerable five councils, we preserve in simplicity of heart, and without any distorting keep the faith come to us from the Fathers, always desirous and endeavoring to possess that one and chiefest good, viz.: that nothing be diminished from the things canonically defined, and that nothing be changed nor added thereto, but that those same things, both in words and sense, be guarded untouched?”
“St. Francis Borgia says that prayer introduces the love of God into the soul, but mortification prepares a place for it, by banishing from the heart earthly affections – the most powerful obstacles to charity… ‘Prayer without mortification,’ says Father Balthasar Alvarez, ‘is either an illusion, or lasts but a short time.’” (St. Alphonsus Liguori)
St. Augustine, on confession to priests: “Let no man say within himself: ‘I repent in secret to the Lord. God, who has power to pardon me, knows the inmost sentiments of my heart.’ Was there, then, no reason for saying ‘whatsoever you loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven.’ [Mt. 18:18] No reason why the keys were given to the Church of God?” (Lib. 1 Hom. 49.)
Pope Clement XIV, Salutis Nostrae (#5), April 30, 1774: “Do not let these days of salvation pass by without using the great opportunity to appease divine justice and obtain grace. For it is not fitting that you should be less eager in obtaining the abundance of heavenly grace... than men greedy for profit or zealous for travel. Yet these allow no inconveniences or hindrances to detain them.”
“Thou shalt not follow the multitude to do evil: neither shalt thou yield in judgment, to the opinion of the most part, to stray from the truth.” (Exodus 23:2)
St. Alphonsus (c. 1755): “Whosoever loves God loves solitude; there the Lord communicates himself more familiarly to souls, because there he finds them less entangled in worldly affairs, and more detached from earthly affections… St. Eucherius relates that a certain man, desirous of becoming a saint, asked a servant of God where he should find God. The servant conducted him to a solitary place, and said: ‘Behold where God is found.’”
St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book IV, Chap. 14, AD 180: “In the beginning, therefore, did God form Adam, not as if He stood in need of man, but that He might have someone upon whom to confer His benefits… for this reason does God demand service from men, in order that, since He is good and merciful, He may benefit those who continue in His service.”
Pope St. Gregory VII, Summer 1076: “… God whose wrath when He begins to judge is as stern as His patience is abundant.”
St Augustine (395): “… God does not forgive sins except to the baptized.”
(1918): “Jacinta [of Fatima] became ill a few days after Francisco. One day Lucia found her strangely elated. ‘Look, Lucia!’ she said. ‘Our Lady came to see us here, and she said that she is coming very soon to take Francisco to heaven. And she asked me if I still wanted to convert more sinners and I said yes. Our Lady wants me to go to two hospitals. But not to be cured. It is to suffer more for the love of God, for the conversion of sinners and in reparation for the offenses committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.’” (Our Lady of Fatima, p. 161)
Pope St. Innocent (414): “But that which Your Fraternity asserts the Pelagians preach, that even without the grace of Baptism infants are able to be endowed with the rewards of eternal life, is quite idiotic.”
St. Louis De Montfort (1710): “The Blessed Virgin, St. Bernard says… retains and keeps the saints in their plenitude, so that it may not diminish. She prevents their virtues from being dissipated, their merits from perishing, their graces from being lost, the devil from harming them...” (True Devotion to Mary #174)
St. John Chrysostom (392): “Weep for the unbelievers; weep for those who differ not a whit from them, those who go hence without illumination, without the seal! [Baptism]… They are outside the royal city… with the condemned. ‘Amen, I tell you, if anyone is not born of water and the Spirit, he shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.’”
“And Nadab and Abiu, the sons of Aaron, taking their censers, put fire therein, and incense on it, offering before the Lord strange fire: which was not commanded them. And fire coming out from the Lord, destroyed them, and they died before the Lord.” (Leviticus 10:1-2)
Pope Pius XI, Mortalium Animos (# 9), Jan. 6, 1928: “For this reason it is that all who are truly Christ’s believe, for example, the Conception of the Mother of God without stain of original sin with the same faith as they believe the mystery of the August Trinity, and the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ just as they do the infallible teaching authority of the Roman Pontiff…”
St. Louis De Montfort (1710): “… there are some very sanctifying interior practices for those whom the Holy Ghost calls to high perfection. These may be expressed in four words: to do all things by Mary, with Mary, in Mary and for Mary; so that we may do them all the more perfectly by Jesus, with Jesus, in Jesus and for Jesus.” (True Devotion to Mary #257)
The Life of St. Isaac Jogues, p. 225: “Two of the Hurons, Jogues learned, were to be burned to death that night at Tionontoguen. He stayed with them on the platform and concentrated his appeals on them. Finally they consented. About that moment, the Mohawks threw the prisoners some raw corn that had been freshly plucked. The sheaths [of the corn] were wet from the recent rains. Father Jogues carefully gathered the precious drops of water on a leaf and poured them over the heads of the two neophytes [new converts], baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. The Mohawks understood that his [Jogues’] act meant to bring happiness to these hated victims. They raged at his audacity and beat him down, threatening to slaughter him with the Hurons… That night the two Hurons [whom he had baptized] were burned over the fire.”
“In the mean time there arose a murmuring of the people against the Lord… For a mixed multitude of people… burned with desire… and said: Who shall give us flesh to eat? We remember the fish that we ate in Egypt freecost… Now Moses heard the people weeping, every one at the door of his tent. And the wrath of the Lord was enkindled exceedingly: to Moses also the thing seemed insupportable… [Moses said to them] the Lord may give you flesh, and you may eat: Not for one day, nor two, nor five, nor ten, no nor for twenty. But even for a month of days, till it come out at your nostrils, and become loathsome to you… And a wind going out from the Lord, taking quails up beyond the sea brought them… The people therefore rising up all that day, and night, and the next day, gathered together of quails… As yet the flesh was between their teeth, neither had that kind of meat failed: when behold the wrath of the Lord being provoked against the people, struck them with an exceeding great plague. And that place was called the graves of lust…” (Numbers 11)
St. Aphraates (A.D. 336): “This, then, is faith: that a man believe in God … His Spirit …His Christ… Also, that a man believe in the resurrection of the dead; and moreover, that he believe in the Sacrament of Baptism. This is the belief of the Church of God.”
“Moses answered and said: They will not believe me, nor hear my voice, but they will say: The Lord hath not appeared to thee. Then he said to him: What is that thou holdest in thy hand? He answered: A rod. And the Lord said: Cast it down upon the ground. He cast it down, and it was turned into a serpent, so that Moses fled from it. And the Lord said: Put out thy hand, and take it by the tail. He put forth his hand, and took hold of it, and it was turned into a rod… And the Lord said again: Put thy hand into thy bosom. And when he had put it into his bosom, he brought it forth leprous as snow. And he said: Put back thy hand into thy bosom. He put it back, and brought it out again, and it was like other flesh.” (Exodus 4:1-7)
Pope Pius IX, First Vatican Council, Sess. 3, Chap. 2 on Revelation, 1870: “Hence, also, that understanding of its sacred dogmas must be perpetually retained, which Holy Mother Church has once declared; and there must never be a recession from that meaning under the specious name of a deeper understanding.”
St. Alphonsus (c. 1755): “Humility is truth, as St. Teresa has well said, and therefore the Lord greatly loves the humble, because they love the truth.”
St. Aphraates (A.D. 336): “This, then, is faith: that a man believe in God … His Spirit …His Christ… Also, that a man believe in the resurrection of the dead; and moreover, that he believe in the Sacrament of Baptism. This is the belief of the Church of God.”
St. Benedict: “Hour by hour keep careful watch over all you do, aware that God’s gaze is upon you, wherever you may be.”
Romans 11:33-34- “O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are his judgments, and how unsearchable his ways! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been his counselor? Or who hath first given to him, and recompense shall be made him?”
St. Alphonsus (c. 1755): “What greater peace can a soul feel than in being able to say on lying down at night: Should death come this night, I hope to die in the grace of God. What a consolation is it to hear the thunder roll, to feel the earth tremble, and to await death with resignation, if God so ordain it.”
St. Peter Canisius (16th century), on the sin of sodomy: “This horrible and abominable sin Saint Peter and Paul do reprove – yes nature itself abhors it – and the Scriptures also declare the greatness of so foul a wickedness… this vice which can never be sufficiently detested… which sin if it be committed… the very earth is polluted with such horrible and abominable lusts… and God’s wrath is very much provoked against the people.” (Summa Doctrinae Christianae)
“St. Francis Borgia says that he who desires to consecrate himself to God must, in the first place, trample under his feet all regard for what others will say of him… why do we not ask what Jesus Christ or His holy mother will think of our conduct?” (St. Alphonsus Liguori)
John 20:22-23- “And when He [Jesus] had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.’”
Among the many converts made by the Apostle of the Rocky Mountains, Fr. De Smet (1801-1873), “Many of those baptized died saintly deaths. A girl twelve years of age exclaimed at the moment of death: ‘How beautiful! How beautiful! I see the heavens opening and the Mother of God is calling me to come!’ Then turning to those about her she said: ‘Heed what the Black Robes tell you, for they speak the truth; they will come and in this place build a house of prayer.’” (The Life of Fr. De Smet, p. 124.)
2 Corinthians 4:3-4- “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not shine unto them.”
St. Robert Bellarmine, 1616: “Affliction is everywhere to be found, everywhere to be met with, at home, on a journey, in the forum… for in all places the wicked oppress the good.” (De Aeterna felicitate sanctorum)
Pope Pius IX, Vatican Council I, 1870: “… the See of St. Peter always remains unimpaired by any error, according to the divine promise of our Lord the Savior made to the chief of His disciples: ‘I have prayed for thee [Peter], that thy faith fail not’ [Luke 22:31-32).”
St. Francis Xavier (1548): “Let your conversation with the Portuguese be always about sacred things, such as relate to the salvation of souls and to advancement in virtue. Speak to them in private as well as in public about Death, Judgment, the punishments of Hell and of Purgatory, urging them to... keep the Ten Commandments of God’s law…”
Pope Innocent III (1215): “If any bishop is negligent or remiss in cleansing his diocese of the ferment of heresy, then when this shows itself by unmistakable signs he shall be deposed from his office as bishop and there shall be put in his place a suitable person who both wishes and is able to overthrow the evil of heresy.” (Fourth Lateran Council, Constitution 3)
St. Peter Canisius (16th century): “It is a shocking thing that Christians are not marvelously ashamed, who pollute themselves with filthy lust in the sight of God and His angels, whereas they have consecrated in Baptism their bodies and members as pure temples to the Holy Ghost, and to Christ our Lord.”
Pope Pius XI (1937): “Nothing but ignorance and pride could blind one to the treasures hoarded in the Old Testament.” (Mit brennender sorge #15)
St. Ambrose (390): “True repentance is to cease to sin.”
“Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite.” (Psalm 147:5)
St. Robert Bellarmine: “… our adversaries… are destitute of arguments, and rich in calumnies…” (De Iustificatione, Book I, Chap. 3.)
St. Ignatius of Antioch (106): “But look at the men who have these perverted notions about the grace of Jesus Christ which has come down to us, and see how contrary to the mind of God they are… They even abstain from the Eucharist and from the public prayers, because they will not admit that the Eucharist is the self-same body of our Savior Jesus Christ which flesh suffered for our sins, and which the Father of His goodness raised up again.” (Epistle to the Smyrnaeans)
St. Francis Xavier (1543): “... I could not but grieve intensely at the thought of the devils being worshipped instead of God by these blind heathen, and I asked them to listen to me in turn. Then I, in a loud voice, repeated the Apostles’ Creed and the Ten Commandments. After this I gave in their own language a short explanation, and told them what Paradise is, and what Hell is, and also who they are who go to Heaven to join the company of the blessed, and who are to be sent to the eternal punishments of Hell. Upon hearing these things they all rose up and vied with one another in embracing me, and in confessing that the God of the Christians is the true God, as His laws are so agreeable to reason.”
Pope Pius XI (1937): “Since Christ… finished the task of Redemption, and by breaking up the reign of sin merited for us the grace of being the children of God, since that day no other name under heaven has been given to men, whereby we must be saved (Acts 4:12).” (Mit brennender sorge #17)
^
" />
" />
" />
" />
" />
