Eleison Comments by Mgr. Williamson – Number CDLXXXIX (489)

                 Five “Dubia”

Four Cardinals obliged a Pope to tell –

His deep convictions come from deepest Hell.

In a scandal of a gravity unprecedented even in Pope Francis’ scandal-ridden reign as Catholic Pope since 2013, when challenged by four honourable Cardinals on his seeming denial of the very basis of the Church’s teaching on morals, he has just given answers in public which virtually affirm the freedom of man from the moral law of Almighty God. With this papal affirmation of the Conciliar religion of man as opposed to the Catholic religion of God, a schism in the Universal Church draws that much closer. For half a century since Vatican II, the Conciliar Popes have managed to remain in a way the one head of two opposing religions, but that contradiction could not last indefinitely, and it must soon result in a split.

In 2014 and 2015 Francis held Synods in Rome to consult the world’s bishops on questions concerning the human family. On March 19 of this year he published his post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation on “Love in the Family,” the eighth of whose nine chapters raised controversy from the very start. On September 15 four Cardinals in particular sent to the Pope a private and perfectly respectful letter in which they asked him as Supreme Pontiff to clear up five “dubia” or doubtful points of doctrine, left unclear in the Exhortation. Here is the essence of the five points:—

1. From the Exhortation’s #305, can a married person living like husband and wife with a person not their lawful spouse from now on be given sacramental Absolution and Communion while they continue to live in their quasi-married state?

2. From #304, need one still believe that there are absolute moral norms which prohibit intrinsically evil acts, and which are binding without exception?

3. From #301, can one still say that a person living in violation of one of God’s commandments, e.g. in adultery, is in an objective state of grave habitual sin?

4. From #302, can one still say that the circumstances or intentions surrounding an act intrinsically evil by its object can never change it into being subjectively good, or acceptable as a choice?

5. From #303, must we still exclude any creative role of conscience, so that conscience may still never authorize exceptions to absolute moral norms which forbid acts intrinsically evil by their object?

To these five designedly yes-or-no questions the answer of the Catholic Church from Our Divine Lord onwards has always been clear, and has never changed: Communion may not be given to adulterers; there are absolute moral norms; there is such a thing as “grave habitual sin”; good intentions cannot make evil acts good; conscience cannot make evil acts lawful. In other words, to the five yes-or-no, black-or-white questions, the Church’s answer has always been, 1 No, 2 Yes, 3 Yes, 4 Yes, 5 Yes.

On November 16, just ten days ago, the four Cardinals made their letter public (cf. M t.XVIII, 15–17). On Nov. 18, in an interview given to the italian newspaper Avvenire, Pope Francis gave the exact opposite yes-or-no answers: 1 Yes, 2 No, 3 No, 4 No, 5 No. (He did affirm each time that “Such things are not black-or-white, we are called to discern,” but he was merely attempting thereby to confuse the unmoving questions of principle with moving questions of application of principle, which come after the questions of principle.)

All credit to the four Cardinals for obtaining light and truth for many confused sheep that wish to get to Heaven: Brandmüller, Burke, Caffarra and Meisner. They may be immersed in the Novus Ordo, but they have obviously not lost all courage or sense of their duty. There can be no question of their having acted out of any but the best of motives in pressing the Pope to make himself clear. And where does that clarity leave the Church? It must be on the brink of schism.

Kyrie eleison.

NEWPOPE BERGOGLIO IS IN MOURNING... £100 MILLION BED-HOPPING SCUM OF THE EARTH, COMMUNIST DICTATOR FIDEL CASTRO IS FINALLY DEAD!!!

£100 million bed-hopping hypocrite: He claimed he lived on £20 a month. But Fidel Castro had 20 luxury homes, a private island, an 88ft yacht - and mistresses galore!!

Fidel Castro the restless revolutionary had no time for pleasure, despising holidays as ‘bourgeois’ and claiming to live in a fisherman’s hut. His only luxury was the cigars that he continually chomped.

Or so he insisted to fellow Cubans who endured decades of abject poverty, crumbling housing and food rationing during his long rule. 

However, the reality carefully kept from public consumption thanks to his iron grip on the media and public discourse  was very different.

A prodigious womanizer and food connoisseur who kept some 20 luxurious properties throughout the Caribbean  including a private island he used to visit on his beautiful yacht Castro was a complete fraud.

A prodigious womanizer and food connoisseur who kept some 20 luxurious properties throughout the Caribbean — including a private island he used to visit on his beautiful yacht — Castro was a complete fraud.

The man who spent his life railing against the excesses of capitalism lived like a king — and a very debauched one at that.

Western observers have long suspected that ‘El Comandante’ — The Commander — was siphoning off the proceeds from state-run enterprises, including a small gold mine.

However, when Forbes magazine listed Castro in 2006 as one of the world’s richest ‘kings, queens and dictators’, he angrily insisted he lived on a salary of £20 a month.

On the mainland, his grand homes included an ‘immense’ Havana estate with a rooftop bowling alley, personal hospital and indoor basketball court, and a seaside villa with pool, Jacuzzi and sauna

The full extent of his hypocrisy and personal excesses emerged only in 2014 when a former longtime bodyguard, Juan Reinaldo Sanchez, wrote a book about Castro’s secret life and estimated he was worth at least £100 million.

He revealed in lavish detail that would have appalled struggling Cubans how even a typical day’s spear-fishing for Castro in the crystal-clear waters off his private island was like the ‘royal hunts of Louis XV in the forests around Versailles’.

Rising at midday, Castro would be dressed in his scuba gear by kneeling flunkeys. He would then head off in a gleaming motor boat filled with his favourite expensive whisky and grilled langoustines  to waters that had already been scouted that morning by staff anxious to find the areas with the most fish.

People with images of Fidel Castro gather one day after his death in Havana, Cuba

As for that private island, Cayo Piedra, Sanchez described it as a ‘garden of Eden’ where he entertained famous guests such as the writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez and could show off a spectacular lagoon filled with turtles and dolphins. Castro would sail there on an 88 ft luxury yacht fitted out with rare Angolan wood.

On the mainland, his grand homes included an ‘immense’ Havana estate with a rooftop bowling alley, personal hospital and indoor basketball court, and a seaside villa with pool, Jacuzzi and sauna. His most notorious home was Unit 160, or Punto Cero, a fortress-like compound which wasn’t just the HQ for his torture and surveillance regime, but also housed his own ice-cream factory.

Castro was terrified of being poisoned and sourced all his own food locally or from rich overseas friends who supplied him with edible luxuries. Castro not only had his own cow to provide all his dairy needs but so did each of his children. Close to Unit 160, a separate and more secret abode was set aside for another of his vices — women. Castro regularly met his mistresses there.

Reported lovers included the Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida, He even kept secret the existence of his wives

Castro, who even kept secret the existence of his wives, was able to conceal a rapacious infidelity that produced at least nine children by four women. Reported lovers ranged from the Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida to an underage nightclub dancer who reported how he smoked continually during sex.

His notorious affairs earned him the nickname ‘the Horse’. He had a taste for young Cuban women of every colour and background, and half-jokingly told a journalist that it was his colossal sexual drive that had led him away from the Roman Catholic Church.

In Havana, the story went that, when engaged with his nubile sexual partners, he always kept his army boots on — a legacy, presumably, of his days as a revolutionary guerrilla, when enemies might strike at any moment.

Castro cheated on both his wives. His first, Mirta Diaz-Balart, whom he wed when he was still a law student, gave him a son, Fidelito (Little Fidel). However, after she divorced him, Castro cruelly engineered for the boy to visit him in Mexico and never let his ex-wife have the child back. Fidelito was educated in Moscow and became a top Cuban nuclear scientist before his father sacked him.

  

                              

One of Castro’s early mistresses was Natalia Revuelta, a cardiologist’s wife who gave him a daughter

One of Castro’s early mistresses was Natalia Revuelta, a cardiologist’s wife who gave him a daughter. The latter, Alina, became a model and scandalised her father by appearing — dressed in a bikini — in a Havana Club rum advert. She later fled her father’s repressive regime wearing a wig and with a fake Spanish passport.

Castro then had an affair with his longtime secretary, Celia Sanchez. When she died in 1980, he married his second wife, Dalia, a former school teacher, who gave him another five legitimate sons. They had in fact been lovers for many years, with her discreetly installed in a Castro-owned house outside Havana.

According to his bodyguard, Sanchez, Castro had first seen the ‘gorgeous’ Dalia at an open-air speech in 1961. She was in the first row and ‘he rapidly started exchanging furtive and meaningful glances’ with her, said Sanchez.

Castro then had an affair with his longtime secretary, Celia Sanchez (pictured behind him in 1958)

The old goat, who used Viagra in later life, had flings with his English and French interpreters and an airline stewardess, Gladys, who attended to him on foreign trips. ‘He doubtless had other relationships that I did not know about,’ said Sanchez.

Castro’s craving for prostitutes made problems for his Communist allies. Markus Wolf, East Germany’s former spy chief, recalled a security scare when Castro disappeared on a visit to East Berlin. He climbed out of his hotel window one night and headed off to an illegal brothel.

He knew his hosts could have supplied him with girls but, as Wolf said, ‘that simply wasn’t his way’. According to Sanchez, Castro’s claims to live ‘frugally’ were ‘lies — he lives in a luxury most Cubans can’t imagine’.

With his shadow gone from their lives, Cubans will soon discover all too painfully the extent of the terrible trick he played on them.

Castro talks with his wife Dalia Soto del Valle, during a special session of the Cuban Parliament, in 2010

 

Ex-lover's bid to kill him with poison in face cream

For decades, the CIA and Cuban exiles tried to assassinate Castro in what are alleged to have been 638 separate plots — including enlisting his mistress to kill him as they lay in bed together.

Marita Lorenz, now 77, was ‘torn between love and hate’ when she returned from a hospital visit to America to poison Castro using two deadly botulism pills — allegedly supplied by the Mafia — hidden in a jar of Pond’s face cream.

The German-born American was 19 when she fell for the Cuban dictator in 1959 and spent nine months living with him at the Havana Hilton.

Marita Lorenz is shown at a press conference in 1977. She had an affair with Fidel Castro in 1959 at the age of 19 was involved in CIA plot to assassinate Castro in 1960

They shared their bedroom with a collection of Corgi toy cars and tanks that Castro loved to ‘scoot across the dresser’ — and a real bazooka that he kept under the bed.

The plot fell apart when Marita realized she couldn’t get the cold cream off the pills and flushed them down a bidet.

Other contemplated plots included putting a bomb inside a seashell on the seabed where Castro, a keen scuba diver, liked exploring; impregnating his diving suit with a fungus to give him a horrible skin disease; and handing him an exploding cigar when he visited the UN in New York. The CIA apparently also looked into slipping deadly bacteria into his tea, coffee or ice cream.

Lorenz (pictured in 2001) wrote a book, Dear Fidel, about her affair with the Cuban leader

A former bodyguard claims that a 1963 attempt to have a restaurant worker at the Havana Hilton poison a chocolate milkshake was the closest the CIA ever came to killing his boss. The operation was foiled only after the poison pills fell out of a freezer in which they had been stored.

U.S. records show that the CIA supplied various weapons to a Cuban official in the early Sixties. These included high-powered rifles and a ballpoint pen fitted with a hypodermic needle ‘so fine that the victim would not notice its insertion’. It was never used.

And if the CIA couldn’t kill Castro, they hoped to humiliate him in public. Senior officials discussed spraying his broadcasting studio with a chemical similar to the hallucinogenic drug LSD, or dusting his shoes with a depilatory so strong that it would make his eyebrows, beard and pubic hair fall out.

The plot relied on Castro leaving his shoes outside his hotel room during a foreign trip, but he cancelled the visit.

A sniper hit and a grenade attack on a baseball game failed, too — as did an effort in 2000, when 200lb of explosives were found under a podium where he was due to speak.

 

Labour MPs rush to praise tyrant

By Gerri Peev, Political Correspondant

Labour frontbenchers lined up to praise tyrant Fidel Castro as a ‘force for good’.

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said there were ‘many flaws’ in the Cuban regime but added that the island was a ‘beacon of hope’.

Mr McDonnell said: ‘The revolution took place and it redistributed wealth and the land, it introduced a health service and an education service, which was second to none in the world in some instances.

‘In the face of the blockades and opposition from the US, the achievements of the Cuban revolution have to be admired.’

He was echoing the sentiments of Jeremy Corbyn, a long-standing supporter of the pro-Castro Cuba Solidarity Campaign, who had praised Castro’s ‘heroism’.

Jeremy Corbyn appeared to play down the human rights abuses under Castro.

The Labour leader appeared to play down the human rights abuses under Castro, saying the Cuban revolutionary would be remembered as a ‘champion of social justice’. He added: ‘I think history will show that Castro was such a key figure, it seems he has been with us for ever.’

Other Labour figures expressed dismay at their frontbench’s position on the dictator.

MP Ian Austin said: ‘It’s true that Fidel Castro outlasted ten US presidents, but unlike them he didn’t have to stand for election. And he could imprison his opponents.’

Tony McNulty, a former Labour Home Office minister, said on Twitter: ‘So killing opponents, locking up dissidents, banning trade unions and free press, repressing gays, no elections, are minor flaws? Who knew?’

MP John Woodcock mocked Mr Corbyn, calling him ‘JC’.

He said: ‘Castro “saw off” all those presidents because the US is a democracy and he [was] a dictator who locked up or killed his opponents. Good grief, JC.’

 

 Utopia? No, health care is a shambles

By Daniel Bates in New York

Cuba's healthcare system is a shambles and far from the utopia depicted by left-wing supporters.It has three tiers – one for tourists, one for the political elite, and a far worse one for ordinary Cubans. For the last group the system is free, but plagued by inefficiency, lack of basic equipment and chronic staff shortages.In an analysis called Castrocare In Crisis, Laurie Garrett – of the Council on Foreign Relations, an American think-tank – wrote that there are so few basic supplies that patients bring their own bed sheets and syringes to hospital.

Cuba's healthcare system is a shambles and far from the utopia depicted by left-wing supporters.

She wrote that women shy away from gynaecological exams as they ‘fear infection from unhygienic equipment and practices’.

Over the past 25 years the use of smear tests has fallen by a third, leading to a doubling in the rate of cervical cancer. Even something as simple as getting a pair of glasses through subsidised state channels can take months.

For routine tests patients have to queue up from the early hours of the morning. Doctors reportedly earn just £20 a month after the 66 per cent tax rate.

Tourists are often surprised to learn that their taxi drivers are surgeons working their second job – as it pays much more.

Some patients reportedly resort to bribery and bring their doctors food or money to try to get operations and tests sooner.

Sebastian Arcos of the Cuban Research Institute said: ‘You look at the specialty clinics for tourists and the politicians and the contrast is shocking.’

Supporters of Cuba’s health system cite World Health Organization data showing life expectancy is 79.1 years, 32nd best in the world and one place behind the US.

Source

ANTI-POPE FRANCIS-BERGOGLIO 'SORROW' AT DEATH OF FORMER COMMUNIST CUBAN LEADER FIDEL CASTRO!!

                                 

Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro, pictured holding hands with Pope Francis at Castro's residence in Havana last year, has died aged 90.

The Pope, who met with the leader of Cuba's Communist revolution in September, expressed his sorrow at the news in a telegram to the current president Raul Castro, Fidel Castro's younger brother.

"Upon receiving the sad news of the death of your dear brother, His Excellency Mister Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz, former president of the State Council and of the Government of the Republic of Cuba, I express my sentiments of sorrow to Your Excellency and other family members of the deceased dignitary, as well as to the people of his beloved nation," he said in the message.

"I offer prayers to the Lord for his rest and I trust the whole Cuban people to the maternal intercession of Our Lady of the Charity of El Cobre, patroness of this country." 

Fidel Castro's death was announced by his younger brother on state television on Saturday. He was due to be cremated and his ashes interred at Santa Ifgenia cemetery in Santiago de Cuba on 4 December. 

Entire article here: Bergoglio grieving Communist Fidel Castro's Death

ST. ANDREW AVELLINO

               

                    November 10

 ST. ANDREW AVELLINO, CONFESSOR 

                      (1521–1608)           

      

            From the Liturgical Year 

               By Dom Guéranger

In the sixteenth century, in reply to the reproach of exhaustion hurled against the Church, the Holy Ghost raised from her soil an abundant harvest of sanctity. Andrew was one of his most worthy cooperators in the work of holy reformation and supernatural renaissance, which then took place. Eternal Wisdom had as usual suffered Satan to go before, for his own greater shame, cloaking his evil works under the grand names of renaissance and reform. It was nine years since St. Cajetan had departed this world, leaving it strengthened by his labours and all embalmed with the fragrance of his virtues; the former Bishop of Theate, his companion and collaborator in founding the first Regular Clerks, was now governing the Church under the name of Paul IV; when in 1556 God bestowed upon the Theatines, in the person of our Saint, an heir to the supernatural gifts, the heroic sanctity, and the zeal for the sanctuary, that had characterized their father. Andrew was the friend and support of the great Bishop of Milan, St. Charles Borromeo, whose glory in heaven he went to share on this day. His pious writings are still used in the Church. He himself formed some admirable disciples, such as Laurence Scupoli, author of the well-known work so prized by the Bishop of Geneva, the Spiritual Combat. Nothing need be added to the following history of his life.

Andrew Avellino, formerly called Lancelot, was born at Castro Nuovo in Lucania; and, while still an infant, gave evident signs of future holiness. He left his father’s house to study the liberal arts; in the pursuit of which he passed so blamelessly through the slippery age of youth, as ever to keep before his eyes the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom. Of a comely appearance, he was so great a lover of holy purity that he was able to escape snares laid for his chastity by shameless women, and even to repel open attacks. After being made a cleric, he went to Naples to study law, and there took his degree. Meanwhile he was promoted to the priesthood; after which he began to plead, but only in the ecclesiastical court and for private individuals, in accordance with the prescriptions of Canon Law. Once, however, when pleading a cause, a slight untruth escaped him; and happening soon after, in reading the Holy Scripture, to come upon these words: The mouth that belieth killeth the soul, he conceived so great a sorrow and repentance for his fault, that he determined at once to abandon that kind of life. He therefore left the bar, and devoted himself entirely to the divine service and the sacred ministry. As he was eminent in priestly virtues, the Archbishop of Naples confided to him the direction of certain nuns. In discharging this office he incurred the hatred of some evil men, who attempted his life. He escaped their first assault; but soon afterwards one of the assassins gave him three wounds in the face: an injury which he bore unmoved. Desirous of a more perfect life, he humbly begged to be admitted among the Regular Clerks; and on obtaining his request, he asked to be called by the name of Andrew, on account of his ardent love of the Cross.

He earnestly devoted himself to the stricter manner of life he had embraced, and to the practice of the virtues, going so far as to bind himself thereto by two most difficult vows, viz; never to do his own will, and ever to advance in Christian perfection. He had the greatest respect for religious discipline, and zealously promoted it when he was superior. Whatever time remained over after the discharge of his duties and the prescriptions of the rule, he devoted to prayer and the salvation of souls. He was noted for his piety and prudence in hearing Confessions. He frequently visited the towns and villages near Naples, exercising the apostolic ministry with profit to souls. Our Lord was pleased to show by miracles how great was this holy man’s love of his neighbour.

Sts. Cajetan, Andrew Avellino & Francis interceding before the Holy Trinity by Matteo Roselli  

As he was once returning home late at night from hearing a sick man’s confession, a violent storm of wind and rain put out the light that was carried before him; but neither he nor his companions were wet by the pouring rain; and moreover a wonderful light shining from his body enabled them to find their way through the darkness.

His abstinence and patience were extraordinary, as also his humility and hatred of self. He bore the assassination of his nephew with unruffled tranquility, withheld his family from seeking revenge, and even implored the judges to grant mercy and protection to the murderers. He propagated the Order of the Regular Clerks in many places, and founded houses for them in Milan and Piacenza. The Cardinals Charles Borromeo and Paul of Arezzo a Regular Clerk, bore him great affection, and availed themselves of his assistance in the discharge of their pastoral office. Virgin Mother of God he honoured with a very special love and worship.

He was permitted to converse with the Angels; and affirmed that when saying the Divine Office, he heard them singing with him as if in Choir. At length, after giving heroic examples of virtue, and becoming illustrious for his gift of prophecy, whereby he knew the secrets of hearts, and distant and future events, he was worn out with old age and broken down with labours. As he was at the foot of the Altar about to say Mass, he thrice repeated the words: I will go in to the altar of God, and fell down struck with apoplexy.

Body of Blessed Andrew Avellino in San Paolo Maggiore (Naples)

After being strengthened by the Sacraments of the Church, he peacefully expired in the midst of his brethren. His body was buried at Naples in the church of St. Paul, and is honoured even to this day by as great a concourse of people as attended the interment. Finally, as he had been illustrious for miracles both in life and after death, he was solemnly enrolled among the Saints by Pope Clement XI.

How sweet and yet how strong were the ways of eternal Wisdom in thy regard, O blessed Andrew, when a slight fault into winch thou wast surprised became the starting-point of thy splendid sanctity! The mouth that belieth, killeth the soul. Seek not death in the error of your life, neither procure ye destruction by the works of your hands. Thou didst read these words of divine Wisdom and fully understand them. The aim of life then appeared to thee very different, in the light of the vows thou wast inspired to make, ever to turn away from thyself and ever to draw nearer to the Sovereign Good. With holy Church in her Collect, we glorify our Lord for having disposed such admirable ascensions in thy heart. This daily progress led thee on from virtue to virtue, till thou dost now behold the God of gods in Sion. Thy heart and thy flesh rejoiced in the living God; thy soul, absorbed in the love of his hallowed courts, fainted at the thought thereof.

No wonder it was at the foot of God’s altar that thy life failed thee, and thou didst enter on the passage to his blessed home. With what joy thou wast welcomed into the eternal choirs, by those who had been on earth thy angelic associates in the divine praise!

Be not unmindful of the world’s homage. Deign to respond to the confidence of Naples and Sicily, which commend themselves to thy powerful patronage. Bless the pious family of Regular Clerks Theatines, in union with St. Cajetan thy father and theirs. Obtain for us all a share in the blessings so largely bestowed on thee. May the vain pleasures found in the tabernacles of sinners never seduce us; but may we prefer the humility of God’s house to all worldly. If, like thee, we love truth and mercy, our Lord will give to us, as he gave to thee, grace and glory. Calling to mind the circumstances of thy blessed end, Christians honour thee as a protector against sudden, and unprovided death: be our guardian at that last moment; let the innocence of our life, or at least our repentance, prepare for us a happy exit; and may we, like thee, breathe out our last sigh in hope and love.

Dedication of the Basilica of Saint Saviour - Mass Propers

               Archbasilica of

             St. John Lateran

     

                The Liturgical Year  

                  Dom Guéranger

In the fourth century of our era, the cessation of persecution seemed to give the world a foretaste of its future entrance into eternal peace. “Glory to the Almighty! Glory to the Redeemer of our souls!” wrote Eusebius at the opening of the tenth and last book of his History. Himself a witness of the triumph, he describes the admirable spectacle everywhere displayed by the dedication of the new sanctuaries. In city after city the bishops assembled, and crowds flocked together. From nation to nation the goodwill of mutual charity, of common faith, and of recollected joy, so harmonized all hearts that the unity of Christ’s Body was clearly manifested in these multitudes animated by the same inspiration of the Holy Ghost. It was the fulfillment of the ancient prophecies: the living city of the living God, where all, whatever their age or sex, praise together the Author of all good things. How solemn were then the rites of the Church! The complete perfection therein displayed by the pontiffs, the enthusiasm of the psalmody, the inspired readings, the celebration of the ineffable mysteries, formed a divine pageantry.

Constantine had placed the imperial treasure at the disposal of the bishops; and he himself stimulated their zeal for what he called in his edicts the work of the churches. Rome, the place of his victory by the cross, the capital of the now Christian world, was the first to benefit by the prince’s munificence. In a series of dedications, to the glory of the holy apostles and martyrs, Sylvester, the pontiff of peace, took possession of the eternal city in the name of the true God.

Today is the birthday of the mother and mistress of churches, called “of our Saviour, Aula Dei (God’s palace), the golden basilica”; it is a new Sinai, whence the apostolic oracles and so many Councils have made know to the world the law of salvation. No wonder this feast is celebrated by the whole world.

         St. Theodore Tyro, Martyr    

Theodore was born of a noble family in the East, and enrolled while still a youth in the imperial army. Early in 306 the emperor put forth an edict requiring all Christians to offer sacrifice, and Theodore had just joined the legion and marched with them into Pontus, when he had to choose between apostasy and death. He declared before his commander that he was ready to be cut in pieces and offer up every limb to his Creator, Who had died for him. Wishing to conquer him by gentleness, the commander left him in peace for a while, that he might think over his resolution; but Theodore used his freedom to set on fire the great temple of Isis, and made no secret of this act. Still his judge entreated him to renounce his faith and save his life; but Theodore made the sign of the cross, and answered: “As long as I have breath, I will confess the name of Christ.” After cruel torture, the judge bade him think of the shame to which Christ had brought him. “This shame,” Theodore answered, “I and all who invoke His name take with joy.” He was condemned to be burnt. As the flame rose, a. Christian saw his soul rise like a flash of light to heaven.

             Dedication of the

              Archbasilica of 

         SAINT SAVIOUR

       Double of the II Class   

            White vestments   

 Com. of St. Theodore Martyr

                 INTROITUS

               Genesis 28: 17

Terribilis est locus iste: hic domus Dei est et porta cœli: et vocabitur aula Dei.

Ps: 83: 2, 3. Quam dilecta tabernacula tua, Domine, virtutum! concupiscit, et deficit anima mea in atria Domini. Gloria Patri.  

               

                   INTROIT

Terrible is this place: it is the House of God, and the gate of Heaven; and it shall be called the Court of God.

Ps. How lovely are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of Hosts! my soul longeth and fainteth for the Courts of the Lord. Glory be to the Father.

  

                  COLLECT

O God, Who year by year dost renew for us the day of consecration of this, Thy holy temple, and dost ever bring us again in safety to these holy Mysteries: hear the prayers of Thy people and grant: that whosoever enters this Temple to ask blessings of Thee, may rejoice in the obtaining of all his petitions. Through our Lord.

      Collect of St. Theodore

O God, who hast set about us the protection of the glorious confession of thy blessed Martyr Theodore: grant that we may ever profit by the following of his ensample; and be sustained by the succour of his intercession.  Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end.

                   EPISTLE

        Apocalypse 21: 2-5

In those days I saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice from the throne, saying: Behold the tabernacle of God with men, and He will dwell with them. And they shall be His people, and God Himself with them shall be their God: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes: and death shall be no more, nor mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow shall be any more, for the former things are passed away. And He that sat on the throne, said: Behold, I make all things new.

                  GRADUAL

             Psalm 44: 17-18

This place was made by God, a priceless mystery, it is without reproof. O God, before Whom stands the choir of Angels, give ear to the prayers of Thy servants.

                  ALLELUIA

             Matthew 16: 18

Alleluia, alleluia. I will worship towards Thy holy temple: and I will give glory to Thy Name. Alleluia.

                   GOSPEL

             Luke 19: 1-10

At that time: Jesus entering in, walked through Jericho. And behold, there was a man named Zacheus, who was the chief of the publicans, and he was rich. And he sought to see Jesus who He was: and he could not for the crowd, because he was low of stature. And running before, he climbed up into a sycamore tree, that he might see Him: for He was to pass that way. And when Jesus was come to the place, looking up, He saw him, and said to him: Zacheus, make haste and come down: for this day I must abide in thy house. And he made haste and came down, and received Him with joy. And when all saw it, they murmured, saying, that He was gone to be a guest with a man that was a sinner. But Zacheus standing, said to the Lord: Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have wronged any man of anything, I restore him fourfold. Jesus said to him: This day is salvation come to this house: because he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.             

                 OFFERTORY

            1 Paralipomenon

         (1 Chron.) 29: 17-18

O Lord God, in the simplicity of my heart I have joyfully offered all these things; and I have seen with great joy Thy people which are here present: O God of Isræl, keep this will.

                   SECRET

Give heed, we beseech Thee, O Lord, to our prayers: that while we set before Thee these present gifts, we may be found worthy, by Thy help, to come to everlasting rewards. Through our Lord.

   Secret Prayer of St. Theodore

O God, who hast set about us the protection of the glorious confession of thy blessed Martyr Theodore: grant that we may ever profit by the following of his ensample; and be sustained by the succour of his intercession.  Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God.

            COMMON PREFACE

It is truly meet and just, right and for our salvation that we should at all times and in all places, give thanks unto Thee, O holy Lord, Father almighty, eternal God: through Christ our Lord. through Whom the Angels praise Thy Majesty, Dominations worship, Powers stand in awe. The Heavens and the Heavenly hosts together with the blessed Seraphim in triumphant chorus unite to celebrate it. Together with them we entreat Thee, that Thou mayest bid our voices also to be admitted, while we say in lowly praise:

                SANCTUS

Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Dominus Deus Sabaoth. Pleni sunt coeli et terra gloria Tua. Hosanna in excelsis. Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini. Hosanna in excelsis.

               COMMUNION

             Matthew 21: 13

My house shall be called a house of prayer, saith the Lord: in it every one that asketh, receiveth: and he that seeketh, findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

        POSTCOMMUNION

O God, Who, out of living and chosen stones dost prepare an eternal dwelling- place for Thy Majesty: help Thy suppliant people: that as Thy Church profits by material expansion, so may it also grow by spiritual increase. Through our Lord.

   Postcommunion of St. Theodore

Grant, we beseech thee, O Lord, through the intercession of thy blessed Martyr Theodore, that what we take with the mouth, we may receive with a clean heart.  Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end.