Continuing with the theme of yesterday’s post, “Some Options,” let me reiterate that I do not begrudge a single soul for trying, with the best resources they have available, to produce a response to the present state of affairs in order to ensure both the survival and transmission of what I will broadly call the Christian inheritance while also remaining cognizant of the Great Commission: “Go forth and baptize all nations in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.”
There has been a lot of talk about “Options” around the Christian water cooler as of late. In an earlier post, “Projects, Seeing, and Options,” I offered some remarks on Orthodox journalist Rod Dreher’s “Benedict Option” which, as I understand it, calls for a retreat from the world in order to preserve what is left of Christian—and by extension classical—civilization. C.C. Pecknold, a professor of theology at Catholic University of America, has written over at First Things about what he calls the “Dominican Option.” Unlike Dreher’s proposal, Pecknold’s eschews retreatism in favor of engagement built on two pillars: “the right pattern of formation and evangelistic witness.” Which will win out? Or will both amount to little more than vacuous sloganeering?
Fortitude, which St. Thomas Aquinas places behind prudence and justice in his treatment of the cardinal virtues, is confirmed in us more fully through the exercise of God’s grace. For fortitude, as we should all know, is a gift of the Holy Ghost, and because this gift comes down from above, it can attain to heights unknown by mere natural fortitude. At the natural level, according to Aristotle, “Fortitude is the virtue of the man who, being confronted with a noble occasion of encountering the danger of death, meets it fearlessly.” Fortitude, as built-up in us by the Holy Ghost, does not lose completely this martial character, but is expanded supernaturally to instill courage against the spirit of the times and temptations for worldly success, along with the patience to endure one of the greatest trials in the history of the Holy Catholic Church. For all of us are faced with a battle, but it is not one destined to be settled with swords or guns; it is a spiritual battle, one that can only be won through prayer, repentance, and fasting.
After several months of building a base floor of contributors, The Josias is now moving full steam ahead with articles, remarks, dubium, and new translations of formerly unavailable texts. (More information on The Josias is available here.) In the past day, two new pieces of interest have gone up.
The first, generously supplied by permission of the Aquinas Institute for the Sacred Doctrine, is taken from St. Thomas Aquinas’s Commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard. In it, the Angelic Doctor asks whether heretics should be tolerated.
The second, penned by yours truly, responds to the query, “Is integralism essentially bound up with racism, nationalism, and totalitarianism?” I hope I am not spoiling the surprise when I tell you the answer is, “Negative.” The explanation is laid out in the rest of the piece.
If you have not done so already, make an effort to visit the site and peruse the many excellent resources which are already available. If you have the talent and inclination to contribute, then please do so. And, finally, if you appreciate the contents of The Josias and its mission, do what you can to spread the word. We have no advertising budget; we are disinclined from “branding” ourselves on social media; and above all we hope and pray that if our project is pleasing to God, it will continue to bear good fruit.
Austin Ruse likes to antagonize his co-religionists, or so I surmised from his various entanglements with the so-called “New Homophiles.” While I am not unsympathetic to some of Ruse’s concerns, the unduly harsh manner in which he engages fellow Catholics, coupled with his myopic view of Church teaching and theology on a number of issues, renders me unable to fully endorse his writings. That reservation is now stronger than ever in light of his most recent Crisis piece, “Abortion, Torture, and Juice-Box Theologians.” In it, Ruse attacks not only Left-leaning Catholics who, for various reasons which are perhaps inadequate, reject the mainline Republican Party, but also more conservative/orthodox Catholics. According to Ruse, these “thunder-bolt tossing uber-Catholics,” some of whom are associated with the website Vox Nova, have expanded the list of political “non-negotiables” to absurd lengths, placing issues like gun control, climate change, and the federal minimum wage on the same level as abortion and same-sex marriage.
Yesterday’s brief post, “Blessed Charlemagne,” attracted far more hits than expected, which, to be frank, delighted me a great deal. Last year, on the 1,200th anniversary of his repose, I found barely a mention in “blogdom,” though the good Redemptorist monks on Papa Stronsay, the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer, made sure to include the anniversary in their superb wall calendar. This year’s edition proudly commemorates the 400th anniversary of “The Fifteen,” that is, the uprising to place James Francis Edward Stuart to the thrones of England, Ireland, and Scotland. Like the successor uprising of 1745, it proved a failure, but a failure worth honoring nonetheless.
The Josias has posted a translation of, and brief commentary on, Pope Pius VI’s speech, Qaure Lacrymae, which was delivered in response to the regicide of King Louis XVI of France. From the introductory note by Pater Edmund Waldstein:
Quare Lacrymae is mainly concerned with showing that King Louis XVI’s death was a martyrdom. Pius VI can appeal to Louis XVI’s moving last will and testament, but in order to prove the point he has to show that the cause of his death was odium fidei. In order to prove this, Pope Pius argues that the main thrust of the revolution was against the Catholic religion. In the course of his argument he makes a bold claim about the connection between Calvinism and Enlightenment philosophy—anticipating in certain respects recent arguments by the likes of Brad Gregory.
It’s not my intent to provide running commentary on Ethika Politika’s content; it just seems to be working out that way (see here and here). Hunter Sharpless’s latest, “New Seeds of Revolution,” prioritizes an internal, spiritual revolution before an external one since, according to Sharpless, “the injustice of the world finds its birth in the individual human heart[,] . . . not in systems and powers external to [him]” or, for that matter, all of us. While there is a loud ring of truth in that statement, it’s not the whole truth, or at least not one which captures that systems and powers external to all of us shape our lives in profound, and sometimes disturbing, ways.
On this day, the 28th of January, in the Year of Lord 2015, we commemorate the passing of Blessed Charlemagne, Imperator Romanorum and Father of Europe.
The Collect of Blessed Charlemagne from an older edition of the Missale Romanum (H/T Fr. Benedict Anderson):
Omnipotens et misericors Deus, qui a gloria tua nullam conditionem excludis: te suppliciter exoramus, ut sicut beato Carolo confessori tuo, post terreni culmen Imperii, caelestis regni solium contulisti: ita meritis ejus et precibus nobis quoque famulis tuis aeternae felicitatis praemia largiaris. Per dominum nostrum.
For more on Charlemagne’s cult and his status as “Blessed,” see Reliquarian‘s entry, “Charlemagne: Saint of the Holy Roman Empire?“
Addendum 1/28/15: The Duplex office for the feast of S. Caroli Magni, including the proper readings at Matins, can be found in the Breviarium Romanum via Google Books here.
On January 25, at the close of the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, in the Eternal City of Rome, Pope Francis delivered these stunning lines during his homily (H/T Rorate Caeli):
