The Advent Season

Advent - its place in creation and in our daily lives as we begin reliving the life of Christ through the Ecclesiastical Year of the Church.

The Jews of old used to observe a number of feasts besides the Sabbath in commemoration of important events in their history (the festival of Easter in memory of the exit from Egypt; Pentecost, in memory of the giving of the law on Sinai; the feast of Tabernacles in memory of their journey through the desert, etc). The Church does much the same; she annually recalls events in Our Lord's life on earth, representing them as vividly as is possible after so long a lapse of time.

The Ecclesiastical Year is an annual commemoration and representation of the life of Christ, and of the time before and after His birth. They are composed of three great feasts: Christmas, when the birth of Christ is celebrated; Easter, the day of His resurrection; and Pentecost, when the coming of the Holy Spirit is commemorated. Each feast has a season of preparation preceding it as well as a subsequent commemoration.

Advent is the season of preparation before Christmas. In the subsequent period we have the feast of the Circumcision, the Epiphany, the Purification, and the Sundays after the Epiphany. This composes the Christmas Season, the first of three seasons commemorating Christ during our annual life as Catholics.

Because Catholicism is a direct lineage from the Jews, the Church commemorates important events in the history of the New Covenant - the Church - beginning with Christ's conception in the womb. The Church places these events before us in order that we may meditate upon them and imitate Our Lord's life. The 3 season cycle is repeated year after year until the end of our Christian lives to draw the soul in deeper intimacy with our Jesus.

In Advent we are called upon to anticipate with the patriarchs of the Old Testament, the coming of the long-expected Redeemer; at Christmas we rejoice with the shepherds at His birth. The four weeks of Advent represent the four thousand years during which the coming of the Messias was expected. The Immaculate Conception occurs most suitably in Advent, the eighth of December, for at the birth of Christ the Sun of justice rose upon the world, dispelling the darkness of sin and ignorance; Mary haralding the coming day of the Lord. The period after Christmas symbolizes the youth of Our Lord, and the time before His entry upon His public ministry - His hidden life at Nazareth.

The aspect of nature corresponds to the three principal festivals: In Advent, the nights are longer than the days, and the life of vegetation is at a standstill; so it was in the spiritual order before the coming of Christ. After Christmas the days begin to lengthen; just so the birth of Christ brought light to the world. At Easter nature awakens to new life and decks herself with verdure; Christ rises glorious from the dead. At Pentecost trees and meadows are in their full beauty of leaf and blossom; with the coming of the Holy Spirit a fresh area commences for mankind, and fair flowers of holiness are brought forth.

And so begins the Ecclesiastical Year - the Catholic representation of the life of Christ for God's greater glory and our spiritual union with our Divine Savior.

Source: Rev. Spirago, Francis; Rev. Clarke, Richard F. S.J. 1899. The Catechism Explained - An Exhaustive Exposition of the Catholic Religion; p. 359-361.

Benedictine Monks of Clear Creek, Oklahoma

Into Great Silence Movie Trailer

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Article: Pope to purge the Vatican of modern music

Glory and Praise Songbook - your days are numbered.

Excerpt from Article:

Mgr Valentin Miserachs Grau, the director of the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music, which trains church musicians, said that there had been serious "deviations" in the performance of sacred music.

"How far we are from the true spirit of sacred music. How can we stand it that such a wave of inconsistent, arrogant and ridiculous profanities have so easily gained a stamp of approval in our celebrations?" he said.

He added that a pontifical office could correct the abuses, and would be "opportune". He said: "Due to general ignorance, especially in sectors of the clergy, there exists music which is devoid of sanctity, true art and universality."

Mgr Grau said that Gregorian chant was the "cardinal point" of liturgical music and that traditional music "should become again the living soul of the assembly".

In a related article:

"In the Roman Catholic Church, we have the added horror of "folk Masses" . . . and now the same music is driving a new generation of young people away from church."

The question that should be asked of modernist Church musicians is how does modern music conform with the priorities prescribed in 'Chapter VI - Sacred Music' of the Second Vatican Council's Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum Concilium) promulgated by His Holiness Pope Paul VI on December 4, 1963?:

116. The Church acknowledges Gregorian chant as specially suited to the Roman Liturgy: therefore, other things being equal, it should be given pride of place in liturgical services.

120. In the Latin Church the pipe organ is to be held in high esteem, for it is the traditional musical instrument which adds a wonderful splendor to the Church's ceremonies and powerfully lifts up man's mind to God and to higher things.

Traditional Latin Mass of Thanksgiving (English Translation)

The Four Ends of Sacrifice:
Adoration, Thanksgiving, Reparation, Prayer

Thanksgiving: To give thanks to God for His benefits. "Put in one heap," says St. Leonard of Port Maurice, "all the gifts, all the graces, you have received from God - so many gifts of nature and of grace; yes, the very life, too, of His Son Jesus, and His death suffered for us, which in themselves immeasurably swell the great debt which we owe to God - and how shall we ever be able sufficiently to thank Him? The law of gratitude is observed by the very beasts, who sometimes change their cruel anger into gentle homage to their benefactors; and how much more, of course, has this law not to be observed by man, gifted as he is with reason and so nobly endowed by the divine liberality!

"Now, the way most fully to thank our good God - our supreme benefactor - is taught us by the Royal Psalmist, holy David, who , led by divine inspirations to speak with mysterious references to this divine sacrifice, indicates that nothing can sufficiently render the thanks which are due to God, excepting holy Mass: 'I will uplift on high the chalice of the Lord,' that is, I will offer a sacrifice most grateful to Him, and with this alone I shall satisfy the debt of so many and such signal benefits . . . He Himself also gave us the example when, in the last supper, before the act of consecration in that first Mass, He raised His eyes to heaven, and gave thanks to His heavenly Father: 'Elevatis oculis in coelum, Tibi gratias agens fregit'. " (1)

Prayer

God, of Whose mercies there is no number, and of Whose goodness the treasure is infinite; we render thanks to Thy most gracious Majesty for the gifts Thou has bestowed upon us, evermore beseeching Thy clemency, that as Thou grant the petitions of them that ask Thee, thou will never forsake them, but will prepare the reward to come. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who lives and reigns with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.

Secret

Receive as a sweet savor, O Lord, this sacrifice of thanksgiving: do Thou in the future shield from all harm those whom until now Thou has been pleased to hear and to save: and grant that they may serve Thee better and love Thee more. Through our Lord.

Post Communion

O God, Who suffers no one that hopes in Thee to be over afflicted, but listens kindly to their prayers: we thank Thee for having heard our prayers and granted our desires, and devoutly entreat Thee that what we have received may make us worthy to be delivered from all adversities. Through our Lord.


(1) Lassance, Rev. F. X.; 1945; The New Roman Missal; p. 18-19.

Christmas Scrooges

Spirit Daily posted an article about The Liberty Counsel who came up with a list of retailers who avoid using the word Christmas in their advertising.

Sermon on Purgatory by Saint John Vianney

St. John Marie Baptiste Vianney (1786-1859)
Patron Saint of Parish Priests
The Incorrupt Body of the Cure' of Ars Situated in the Basilica at Ars, France

I come on behalf of God. Why am I up in the pulpit today, my dear brethren? What am I going to say to you? Ah! I come on behalf of God Himself. I come on behalf of your poor parents, to awaken in you that love and gratitude which you owe them. I come to bring before your minds again all those kindnesses and all the love which they gave you while they were on earth. I come to tell you that they suffer in Purgatory, that they weep, and that they demand with urgent cries the help of your prayers and your good works. I seem to hear them crying from the depths of those fires which devour them: "Tell our loved ones, tell our children, tell all our relatives how great the evils are which they are making us suffer. We throw ourselves at their feet to implore the help of their prayers. Ah! Tell them that since we have been separated from them, we have been here burning in the flames!

Oh! Who would be so indifferent to such sufferings as we are enduring?" Do you see, my dear brethren, do you hear that tender mother, that devoted father, and all those relatives who helped and tended you? "My friends," they cry, "free us from these pains; you can do it." Consider then, my dear brethren: (a) the magnitude of these sufferings which the souls in Purgatory endure; and (b) the means which we have of mitigating them: our prayers, our good works, and, above all, the holy sacrifice of the Mass.

I do not wish to stop at this stage to prove to you the existence of Purgatory. That would be a waste of time. No one among you has the slightest doubt on that score. The Church, to which Jesus Christ promised the guidance of the Holy Ghost and which, consequently, can neither be mistaken herself nor mislead us, teaches us about Purgatory in a very clear and positive manner. It is certain, very certain, that there is a place where the souls of the just complete the expiation of their sins before being admitted to the glory of Paradise, which is assured them. Yes, my dear brethren, and it is an article of faith: if we have not done penance proportionate to the greatness and enormity of our sins, even though forgiven in the holy tribunal of Penance, we shall be compelled to expiate them.

In Holy Scripture there are many texts which show clearly that although our sins may be forgiven, God still imposes on us the obligation to suffer in this world by temporal hardships or in the next by the flames of Purgatory. Look at what happened to Adam. Because he was repentant after committing his sin, God assured him that He had pardoned him, and yet He condemned him to do penance for nine hundred years, penance which surpasses anything that we can imagine. See again: David ordered, contrary to the wish of God, the census of his subjects, but, stricken with remorse of conscience, he saw his sin and, throwing himself upon the ground, begged the Lord to pardon him. God, touched by his repentance, forgave him indeed. But despite that, He sent Gad to tell David that he would have to choose between three scourges which He had prepared for him as punishment for his iniquity: the plague, war, or famine. David said: "It is better that I should fall into the hands of the Lord (for his mercies are many) than into the hands of men." He chose the pestilence, which lasted three days and killed seventy thousand of his subjects. If the Lord had not stayed the hand of the Angel, which was stretched out over the city, all Jerusalem would have been depopulated! David, seeing so many evils caused by his sin, begged the grace of God to punish him alone and to spare his people, who were innocent. See, too, the penance of Saint Mary Magdalen; perhaps that will soften your hearts a little. Alas, my dear brethren, what, then, will be the number of years which we shall have to suffer in Purgatory, we who have so many sins, we who, under the pretext that we have confessed them, do no penance and shed no tears?

How many years of suffering shall we have to expect in the next life? But how, when the holy Fathers tell us that the torments they suffer in this place seem to equal the sufferings which our Lord Jesus Christ endured during His sorrowful Passion, shall I paint for you a heart-rending picture of the sufferings which these poor souls endure? However, it is certain that if the slightest torment that our Lord suffered had been shared by all mankind, they would all be dead through the violence of such suffering. The fire of Purgatory is the same as the fire of Hell; the difference between them is that the fire of Purgatory is not everlasting.

Oh! Should God in His great mercy permit one of these poor souls, who bum in these flames, to appear here in my place, all surrounded by the fires which consume him, and should he give you himself a recital of the sufferings he is enduring, this church, my dear brethren, would reverberate with his cries and his sobs, and perhaps that might finally soften your hearts. Oh! How we suffer! they cry to us. Oh! You, our brethren, deliver us from these torments! You can do it! Ah, if you only experienced the sorrow of being separated from God! ... Cruel separation! To burn in the fire kindled by the justice of God! ... To suffer sorrows incomprehensible to mortal man! . . . To be devoured by regret, knowing that we could so easily have avoided such sorrows! ... Oh! My children, cry the fathers and the mothers, can you thus so readily abandon us, we who loved you so much? Can you then sleep in comfort and leave us stretched upon a bed of fire. Will you have the courage to give yourselves up to pleasure and joy while we are here suffering and weeping night and day? You have our wealth, our homes, you are enjoying the fruit of our labors, and you abandon us here in this place of torments, where we are suffering such frightful evils for so many years! ... And not a single almsgiving, not a single Mass which would help to deliver us! ... You can relieve our sufferings, you can open our prison, and you abandon us. Oh! How cruel these sufferings are!

Yes, my dear brethren, people judge very differently, when in the flames of Purgatory, of all those light faults, if indeed it is possible to call anything light which makes us endure such rigorous sorrows. What woe would there be to man, the Royal Prophet cries, even the most just of men, if God were to judge him without mercy. If God has found spots in the sun and malice in the angels, what, then, is this sinful man? And for us, who have committed so many mortal sins and who have done practically nothing to satisfy the justice of God, how many years of Purgatory! "My God," said Saint Teresa, "what soul will be pure enough to enter into heaven without passing through the vengeful flames?" In her last illness, she cried suddenly: "O justice and power of my God, how terrible you are!" During her agony, God allowed her to see His holiness as the angels and the saints see Him in heaven, which caused her so much dread that her sisters, seeing her trembling and extraordinarily agitated, spoke to her, weeping: "Ah! Mother, what has happened to you; surely you do not fear death after so many penances and such abundant and bitter tears?" "No, my children," Saint Teresa replied, "I do not fear death; on the contrary, I desire it so that I may be united forever with my God." "Is it your sins, then, which terrify you, after so much mortification? " "Yes, my children," she told them. "I do fear my sins, but I fear still another thing even more." "Is it the judgment then?" "Yes, I tremble at the formidable account that it will be necessary to render to God, Who, in that moment, will be without mercy, but there is still something else of which the very thought alone makes me die with terror." The poor sisters were deeply distressed. "Alas! Can it be Hell then?" "No," she told them. "Hell, thank God, is not for me. Oh! My sisters, it is the holiness of God. My God, have pity upon me! My life must be brought face to face with that of Jesus Christ Himself! Woe to me if I have the least blemish or stain! Woe to me if I am even in the very shadow of sin!" "Alas!" cried these poor sisters. "What will our deaths be like!" What will ours be like, then, my dear brethren, we who, perhaps in all our penances and our good works, have never yet satisfied for one single sin forgiven in the tribunal of Penance?

Ah! What years and centuries of torment to punish us! ... How dearly we shall pay for all those faults that we look upon as nothing at all, like those little lies that we tell to amuse ourselves, those little scandals, the despising of the graces which God gives us at every moment, those little murmurings in the difficulties that He sends us! No, my dear brethren, we would never have the courage to commit the least sin if we could understand how much it outrages God and how greatly it deserves to be rigorously punished, even in this world. God is just, my dear brethren, in all that He does. When He recompenses us for the smallest good action, He does so over and above all that we could desire. A good thought, a good desire, that is to say, the desire to do some good work even when we are not able to do it, He never leaves without a reward. But also, when it is a matter of punishing us, it is done with rigor, and though we should have only a light fault, we shall be sent into Purgatory. This is true, for we see it in the lives of the saints that many of them did not go to Heaven without having first passed through the flames of Purgatory.

Saint Peter Damien tells that his sister remained several years in Purgatory because she had listened to an evil song with some little pleasure. It is told that two religious promised each other that the first to die would come to tell the survivor in what state he was. God permitted the one who died first to appear to his friend. He told him that he was remaining fifteen years in Purgatory for having liked to have his own way too much. And as his friend was complimenting him on remaining there for so short a time, the dead man replied: "I would have much preferred to be flayed alive for ten thousand years continuously, for that suffering could not even be compared with what I am suffering in the flames." A priest told one of his friends that God had condemned him to remain in Purgatory for several months for having held back the execution of a will designed for the doing of good works. Alas, my dear brethren, how many among those who hear me have a similar fault with which to reproach themselves?

How many are there, perhaps, who during the course of eight or ten years have received from their parents or their friends the work of having Masses said and alms given and have allowed the whole thing to slide! How many are there who, for fear of finding that certain good works should be done, have not wanted to go to the trouble of looking at the will that their parents or their friends have made in their favor? Alas, these poor souls are still detained in the flames because no one has desired to fulfill their last wishes! Poor fathers and mothers, you are being sacrificed for the happiness of your children and your heirs! You perhaps have neglected your own salvation to augment their fortune. You are being cheated of the good works which you left behind in your wills! ... Poor parents! How blind you were to forget yourselves! ... You will tell me, perhaps: "Our parents lived good lives; they were very good people." Ah! They needed little to go into these flames!

See what Albert the Great, a man whose virtues shone in such an extraordinary way, said on this matter. He revealed one day to one of his friends that God had taken him into Purgatory for having entertained a slightly self-satisfied thought about his own knowledge. The most astonishing thing was that there were actually saints there, even ones who were beatified, who were passing through Purgatory. Saint Severinus, Archbishop of Cologne, appeared to one of his friends a long time after his death and told him that he had been in Purgatory for having deferred to the evening the prayers he should have said in the morning. Oh! What years of Purgatory will there be for those Christians who have no difficulty at all in deferring their prayers to another time on the excuse of having to do some pressing work! If we really desired the happiness of possessing God, we should avoid the little faults as well as the big ones, since separation from God is so frightful a torment to all these poor souls!

Daily November Devotion for the Holy Souls in Purgatory

Daily Prayers for the Holy Souls in Purgatory

Prayer for Sunday

O Lord God Almighty, I pray thee, by the Precious Blood which thy Divine Son Jesus shed in the garden, deliver the Souls in Purgatory and especially that soul amongst them all which is most destitute of spiritual aid; and vouchsafe to bring it to thy glory, there to praise and bless thee forever. Amen. Our Father …. Hail Mary …. Eternal rest give unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen. Prayer for Monday

O Lord God Almighty, I pray thee, by the Precious Blood which thy Divine Son Jesus shed in his cruel scourging, deliver the Souls in Purgatory, and especially that soul amongst them all, which is nearest to its entrance into thy glory; so it may forthwith begin to praise and bless thee forever. Amen Our Father …. Hail Mary …. Eternal rest give unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.

Prayer for Tuesday

O Lord God Almighty, I pray thee, by the Precious Blood which thy Divine Son Jesus shed in his bitter crowning with thorns, deliver the Souls in Purgatory, and in particular that one amongst them all, which would be the last to depart out of those pains, that it may come to praise thee in thy glory and bless thee forever. Amen. Our Father …. Hail Mary …. Eternal rest give unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.

Prayer for Wednesday

O Lord God Almighty, I pray thee, by the Precious Blood which thy Divine Son Jesus shed in the streets of Jerusalem, when he carried the Cross upon his sacred shoulders, deliver the Souls in Purgatory, and especially that soul which is richest in merits before thee, so that it may magnify thee and bless thee forever. Amen Our Father …. Hail Mary …. Eternal rest give unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.

Prayer for Thursday

O Lord God Almighty, I pray thee, by the Precious Blood which thy Divine Son, which he gave with his own hands upon the eve of his passion to his beloved Apostles, and which he left to his whole Church to be a perpetual sacrifice, deliver the Souls in Purgatory, and especially that one which was the most devoted to this mystery of infinite love, that it may ever praise thee in thy love, in eternal glory. Amen. Our Father …. Hail Mary …. Eternal rest give unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.

Prayer for Friday

O Lord God Almighty, I pray thee, by the Precious Blood which thy Divine Son Jesus, shed on this day upon the wood of the Cross, especially from his most sacred hands and feet, deliver the Souls in Purgatory, and in particular that soul for which I am most bound to pray; that no neglect of mine may hinder it from praising thee in thy glory and blessing thee forever. Amen. Our Father …. Hail Mary …. Eternal rest give unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen. Prayer for Saturday O Lord God Almighty, I beseech thee by The Precious Blood which gushed forth from the side of thy Divine Son Jesus, in the sight and to the extreme pain of His most Holy Mother, deliver the Souls in Purgatory, and especially that one which was the most devoted to her; that it may soon attain unto thy glory, There to praise thee, world without end. Amen. Our Father …. Hail Mary …. Eternal rest give unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.

On Every Day of the Novena

O God, the Creator and Redeemer of all the faithful, grant unto the souls of Thy servants and handmaids the remission of all their sins, that through our devout supplications they may obtain the pardon they have always desired, Who livest and reignest world without end. Amen.

Eternal Rest, etc.

St. Gertrude's Prayer for the Holy Souls

Our Lord told St. Gertrude the Great that the following prayer would release 1000 souls from Purgatory each time it is said:

'Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the holy souls in Purgatory. Amen.'

Fr. John Hardon explains the devotion to the Poor Souls.

The Spanish Colonial Missions

Mission San Xavier del Bac

The Church's role in mission life and in the settlement of New Spain has been under fire by revisionist historians, even including authors of children's coloring books. By presenting a bias opinion and a disingenuous portrayal of the Franciscan missionaries, these revisionists are swinging wildly at the Church. However, they simply cannot land any punches against the truth. Let us allow the facts to speak for themselves.

The Spanish Missions have been revered with pride throughout the American Southwest. Missionary priests like Father Eusebio Francisco Kino ("The Padre on Horseback"), Blessed Junipero Serra, Fray Francisco Hermengildo Garces, Franciscan Fathers Juan Bautista Velderrain, Juan Bautista Llorenz and many others left the safety of their homes, mostly in Spain, and expended their lives in the laborious establishment of these treasures throughout the area. Some met their fate by violent means. These friars not only brought the light of Christ to the New World but also, on the natural level, an improved way of life to the Native Americans composed of both New and Old World elements.

In California, a total of 146 Friars Minor, all of whom were ordained as priests served in California between 1769–1845. The Franciscans introduced agriculture to the Indians. The principal products of the field were wheat, barley, corn, beans, and peas. Orange and olive trees were planted and vines were cultivated. Water was brought from the mountain creeks to irrigate the fields and for domestic use. Nearly half of the missionaries died at their posts - two as martyrs: Father Luis Jayme and Father Andres Quintana.

The brutal death of Father Luis Jayme by the hands of angry natives at Mission San Diego de Alcala, November 4, 1775

In Arizona, Father Eusebio Francisco Kino, (founder of The San Xavier del Bac Mission - affectionately known as "The White Dove of the Desert" and "The Sistine Chapel of the New World", pictured at top) was not only the first to prove that Baja California was a peninsula, but was noted for the good relations he established with the indigenous peoples with whom he worked. He treated the Pimas with respect and learned their language. By helping the various Piman groups to come together to resist the fierce Apache tribes, Kino brought peace and security to the Pimería. In turn, the Pimas and other tribal groups affectionately regarded Kino as a leader and advocate. When a tragic misunderstanding resulted in the Pima Revolt of 1695, it was Kino who brought an end to hostilities and reestablished peace.

One fact that is widely known about Kino is that he fought hard for the Sonoran Indians, opposing the hard labor in silver mines that the Spaniards had imposed on them. Today, if you visit his shrine in Magdalena, Sonora, you can sense the devotion people still offer to Father Kino - the hero Padre of the Pimeria Alta. After Father Kino died in 1711 they built a statue of him and he was called Father of Arizona. Then, in recognition of his importance, the state of Arizona honored his memory in 1965 by placing his statue in the National Statuary Hall Collection in the U.S. Capitol Building as representative of the state. He has been honored both in Mexico and the United States, with various towns, streets, monuments, and geographic features named after him. There's even a cooking recipe for special occasions to honor his memory.

By the end of his missionary career he had established 27 missions and visitas (country chapels) and opened the overland route to California. He drew the first accurate maps of Primeria Alta, the Gulf of California, and Baja California.Through his contribution of new crops, especially wheat, and domesticated animals such as cattle and sheep, Fr. Kino set up the foundation for modern agriculture and livestock raising. He also promoted apprenticeships of artisans and similar trades. His quest for a better life for the native peoples of New Spain inspired dozens of expeditions across the deserts.

Another legacy of Father Kino, as recorded in historical archives from the National Park Service, reveals an independent interest by the Indians to continue the Catholic Faith even after the Friars withdrew. At Tumacacori Mission, near Nogales, Arizona, while the bell tower was still under construction, one of Father Kino's successors, Father Liberos, was sent back to Spain in 1828 after Mexico gained her independence. Tumacacori never again had a resident priest. Nevertheless, the faith to the remaining Indians was important enough that the Pimas continued to live there and worked to complete the bell tower on their own.

Mission San Jose de Tumacacori

Unfortunately, there are many secular sources bashing the Spanish Missionaries with hit and run smears against them. The false claim is that the Church, conspiring with the Spanish Government, desired political power and tortured, enslaved, subjected, and pacified the aboriginal Indians to achieve their 'domineering, worldly ambitions'. This is false. Indians were placed under civil jurisdiction not church authority. Nevertheless the Church today is falsely blamed for the mistreatment of Indians by civil authorities.

One source, a Dover Coloring Book entitled California Missions Coloring Book (1992) by David Rickman, is the most startling. In its introduction Rickman attempts to brainwash all of its young readers before the eager child takes his crayons to several pages of illustrated Indians being hunted down, women chained to the floor, and severely punished. All under the guise of children's nonfiction literature. The coloring book either sloppily or maliciously lumps the Spaniard Military and the Missionary Friars together. History proves this false. The biased, distorted introduction tells children: "Yet the question that still remains to be answered, is: what good did [the Franciscan friars] do?" and goes into a scathing attack against the Church when in fact, Father Junipero Serra pressed for a system of law to protect California's Native Americans against the abuses of Spanish soldiers. Why, after 300 years since the founding of the missions, would secularists begin banging the war drums and fanning the flames of intolerance and hatred against Catholicism? Is this just yet another super-conspiracy from the ancient past like the DaVinci Crock or are anti-Catholics really this full of hate? Why does the world continually produce attacks against the Faith? The answer is spiritual.

Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo

The purpose of such movements are not to unveil injustices of centuries past that must be righted - the true target is the Divine Truths. Revisionists believe that by conjuring false, or at least greatly exaggerated, claims against the Church 300 years later, their claims will go unchecked and fool the vast majority of the naive and gullible. They are guilty of the very thing they accuse the Church of. By forcefully lying to their readers about the Spanish Missions to enhance their anti-Catholic agenda, they are only dishonoring themselves and the truth. Their intent is not to correct a 'wrong' from the ancient past, their ultimate target is the Faith Itself which, to their dismay, is still alive despite all the world's failed attempts to crush It.

The case for canonizing the Spanish Franciscan missionary priest, Blessed Junipero Serra is the target today. Headlines in the popular press are rashly asking the question "Saint or Sinner?" Instead of slandering a 300 year old Catholic historical figure, those so willing to tie a noose around the past should be more thorough in their study of history. A brief look at the accounts of Junipero Serra's life reveal his virtue.

After entering the Order of St. Francis of Assisi, Miguel Jose Serra took a new first name, Junipero, that of St. Francis' beloved original companion friar. Blessed Junipero Serra arrived in California in 1769 as a leader of what was called the Sacred Expedition. He founded California's nine first missions and presided over the mission system. Dr. David Hornbeck, professor of historical geography at California State University, Northridge said this of Fr. Serra's accomplishments:

"I look at him more as a leader in a sense of his extraordinary administrative ability, and his ability to coordinate the settlement of a whole new frontier. He did it all by himself... If he'd done that for Kentucky, if Father Serra had been Daniel Boone or any one of the sort of folk heroes that we have, well, their feats are exaggerated way beyond what they actually did. Yet, we have somebody here who took a whole brand new frontier, didn't know anything about it, and in four years had taken and converted it to a functioning, organized frontier." (1)

By completely ignoring his accomplishments (even by secular standards) of introducing agriculture and irrigation systems, pressing for a system of law to protect California's Native Americans against the abuses of Spanish soldiers, and creating a network of roads - all worthy accomplishments - many secularists are massing opposition to his canonization. Their ultimate aim is for non-Catholics to cast doubt on the Church Itself.

However, not all in the secular field agree that Fr. Serra was the tyrant the popular media accuse him of being. Dr. Iris Engstrand, professor and chair of the Department of History at the University of San Diego says:

"We know Father Serra's life from the time he was born, where he was trained, what he thought and what he did. He wasn't out there saying, 'Wow, look at all these Indians. Let's whip them into shape.' He was physically there, he worked hard, worked 18 hours a day. He was much nicer to the Indians, really, than even to the governors. He didn't get along too well with some of the military people, you know. His attitude was, 'Stay away from the Indians.' I think you really come up with a benevolent, hard-working person who was strict in a lot of his doctrinal leanings and things like that, but not a person who was enslaving Indians, or beating them, ever."
. . ". . . He was a very caring person and forgiving. Even after the burning of the mission in San Deigo, he did not want those Indians punished. He wanted to be sure that they were treated fairly. . . " (1)

Dr. Michael Mathes, Professor of history at the University of San Francisco says,

"criticism [by the Spanish government] of Serra revolves around the fact that he was too much involved in the care and treatment of the Indians, that he would not allow soldiers to mingle with the Indians. He didn't want these people (the Indians) to be tainted with any possible immoral activities that the soldiers might be involved with. . . . These were the complaints of the government, of the civil governors: that Serra was such a fanatical missionary that he really didn't want to cooperate with the civilian government, that his first concern was the taking care of his mission. Criticism of Serra is really a boomerang against anybody that would say Serra was a 'bad person ,' because the criticism of him supports the theory that he was a dedicated missionary, He may not have been much of a diplomat or civil servant, but he was one fine missionary." (1)

In 1773, difficulties with Pedro Fages, the military commander, compelled Father Serra to travel to Mexico City to argue before Viceroy Antonio Maria de Bucareli y Ursua for the removal of Fages as the Governor of California Nueva. Those difficulties involved his outspoken opposition to the cruelty of the Spaniard military towards the California Indians whom Junipero was Father for.

Dr. Gloria Miranda, an historian who is associate professor and chair of the Chicano Studies Department at Los Angeles Valley College and who is working on a book about the pioneering family during Father Serra's time says:

"He clearly saw the need for stability on the frontier. He was also very zealous in his protection of the tribes that he was working with. Often some of the soldiers who came north were not the best role models to imitate.
. . He is as much a pioneer of the West as the pioneers we cherish in U. S. history. Not only because he introduced a faith -- he was a colonizer, an explorer, a man of great determination. Not that many people come around in history.
. . His age is much more amazing. And his illness, his physical limitations. He was a very humble man, too. With his credentials, he could have had a very nice cloistered life, but he chose a life of hardship, which is very much apostolic, I think." (1)

Finally, Fr. Francis F. Guest, O. F.M., director of the Santa Barbara Mission Archive-Library notes that:

"He was a man who was not really interested in fame or in honor, or in being held in high regard by the government or by the Viceroys, or by anyone. He was simply interested in doing his spiritual work and if somebody else got the credit for it, he was not concerned one way or the other.

. . To me, this was an act of extraordinary virtue, extraordinary generosity. It might even be called magnanimity. He was very big-hearted in his love for the Indians, in his love for his work and his dedication to his work. He had very pure intentions. I think that this was an act of virtue on his part, which would merit him very high praise from historians who studied his life from this viewpoint." (1)

Mission Santa Barbara

When Interstate 280 was built in stages from Daly City to San Jose in the 1960's, it was named the Junipero Serra Freeway. There is also a statue of Serra along the freeway in Hillsborough, California. The statue stands on a hill on the northbound side and has a large pointing finger facing the Santa Cruz Mountains and the Pacific. Both Spain and the United States have honored Serra with postage stamps and a statue of Friar Junipero Serra represents the state of California in the National Statuary Hall alongside Father Eusebio Kino.

The Sacred Garden at Mission San Juan Capistrano.

Modernists hate when a Catholic is canonized a Saint. When the Church canonizes a Saint, heaven rejoices, the Church ignites veneration to a heavenly companion, and the devil cowers. When the Cause for the Canonization of Saints opened the case to consider Pope Pius XII, the secularists went mad. When the case was opened for Mother Teresa of Calcutta's beatification, the secularists went mad. Even when Cardinal Josef Ratzinger was elected the Supreme Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, yep, you guessed it, the secularists went mad. In this age, however, the worldly throw their temper tantrums disguised as 'intellectual reflection'. This is the new form of persecution against the Catholic Church. Secularists know too well that we're up on our Church history with our Martyrology so they need a new approach.

Like a desperate offensive line in the last seconds of a game, the secularists of the new age must try something nobody has seen before to achieve their end result: persecution. To achieve this result they need a play that their anti-Catholic historical heroes never devised. For example, when the secular Mexican government took over the missions after the Mexican Congress passed An Act for the Secularization of the Missions of California on August 17, 1833, over time, the civil administration resulted in a deterioration of lifestyle and buildings. On March 18, 1865 Abraham Lincoln restored the Missions to the Catholic Church. What secularists in the Mexican Government tried didn't work as masses are still said, sometimes daily, at the Spanish Missions. The persecutions of Diocletian, Galerius, or Decius are too typical and, to the modern secular elitist, too barbaric, too messy. So in order to fool the world and appear as civilized, rational, and just opponents of the Church, they must adopt the strategy that makes them look like sophisticated philosophical heroes, ridding the world of 'ignorance' and 'intolerance' - what rash secularists wrongfully see in the Catholic expression and in the Church's history.

Whether the modern persecution of Christ is in the form of doctored history, far-fetched novels, cinematic screenplays, or children's coloring books, the truth ultimately prevails. In this case the facts of the Spanish Missionaries speak for themselves. Opinion against the Church, with distortions and lies leveled against Her is simply not enough to destroy Christ who is Her Head.

Sources:
1. http://www.catholic-church.org/serra-beth/serra-4.htm
2. http://www.sanxaviermission.org/History.html
3. http://www.arizona-leisure.com/san-xavier-del-bac-mission.html
4. http://parentseyes.arizona.edu/missions/San_Xavier.html