On the happy occasion of our first meeting, I make my own the words of Pope Paul VI, when he addressed Archbishop Michael Ramsey during his historic visit in 1966: "Your steps have not brought you to a foreign dwelling ... we are pleased to open the doors to you, and with the doors, our heart, pleased and honoured as we are ... to welcome you ‘not as a guest or a stranger, but as a fellow citizen of the Saints and the Family of God’" (cf. Eph 2:19-20).At this point in the story, every good Catholic would remember the story of the Church and her saints, particularly the story of the martyrdom of Charles Lwanga and his companions. Their feast day is June 3.
Why did Pope Paul VI use these words and why did Pope Francis echo these words? Well, because the Popes know Catholic history better than a bunch of lay traditionalists.
On the night of Mukaso’s martyrdom for encouraging the African youths to resist Mwanga, Charles requested and received Baptism. Imprisoned with his friends, Charles’s courage and belief in God inspired them to remain chaste and faithful.You will notice the June 3 feast day commemorates not just Charles Lwanga, but also his companions. That's right, boys and girls. Just as unbaptized infants are saints of the Catholic Church commemorated at Childermas, so baptized Anglicans are canonized saints of the Catholic Church, martyred companions of Charles Lwanga.
When Pope Paul VI canonized these 22 martyrs on October 18, 1964, he referred to the Anglican pages martyred for the same reason.
Lex orandi, lex credendi - the law of prayer is the law of belief. Since the liturgical calendar is promulgated by an apostolic constitution, the highest expression of the Church's ordinary infallible Magisterium, the calendar of saints is infallibly correct. The Church has declared these Anglicans to be most assuredly saved and residing in heaven, fellow saints, and members of the elect. Anyone who believes any pronouncement, papal or conciliar, to be in opposition to this fact has thereby demonstrated his/her inability to understand the documents of the Church with the mind of the Church.
Traditionalists who will remain unnamed and unlinked here apparently find papal references to the sanctity of God's chosen martyrs and saints to be scandalous. It is objectively sinful to take scandal where none is to be found. However, their ignorance, perhaps even invincible ignorance, may partially or entirely remove their culpability.
Sigh.
9 comments:
All - Steve's is lying against the faith this time is two-fold.
1. Steve wants you to think the Catholic Faith is from martyrologies and other private writings when the Faith is the defined Sources of Dogma of the Pope in union with the bishops of the world ... such as ...
Council of Florence, Session 2, 15 February 1432 A.D. -- Ex-Cathedra Dogma >
"For the extirpation of heresies and errors ... through the instigation of the author of discords, the Synod, legitimately assembled in the Holy Spirit, decrees, establishes, defines, declares and ordains as follows ..."
Council of Trent, Session 25, 1563 A.D. -- Ex-Cathedra Dogma >
"The calamitousness of the times, and the malignity of the increasing heresies demand, that nothing be left undone which may seem in any wise capable of tending to the edification of the people, and to the defence of the Catholic Faith. Wherefore the Holy Synod enjoins ... they publicly receive all and singular the things that have been defined and ordained by this Holy Synod ... (and) publicly express their detestation of and anathematize all the heresies that have been condemned by the Sacred Canons and General Councils."
More on Section 3.3 of > Immaculata-one.com.
2. And, of course, Steve's next round of abject denial of the Water Baptism Dogma ...
Council of Florence, Pope Eugene IV, Session 8, Exultate Deo, 22 Nov 1439 -- Ex-Cathedra Dogma >
"Holy baptism holds the first place among all the sacraments, for it is the gate of the spiritual life; through it we become members of Christ and of the body of the Church. Since death came into the world through one person, unless we are born again of water and the Spirit, we cannot, as Truth says, enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
More on Section 7.2 of > Immaculata-one.com.
If you believe any of Steve's heresy that he shovels onto this blog ... you are automatically excommunicated from the Catholic Church.
If you are a physical participant in the cult that Steve is in ... the vatican-2 heresy (founded in 1965 and which have Catholic signs on their buildings) ... you're automatically excommunicated.
The remedy for being excommunicated is to make a Formal Abjuration of heresy ... on Section 19.1 of the site.
"The law of prayer is the law of belief."
Since St. Charles Lwanga and companions are listed in the Universal Liturgical Calendar, they are, indeed, saints of the Catholic Church.
Anyone who interprets the documents in a way that contradicts the law of liturgical prayer has thereby misunderstood what s/he read.
"Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven..."
Exc work, Steve.
Greetings Steve,
The problem with your analysis is that all of the companions who were canonized with Charles Lwanga were Catholics. Pope Paul VI made mention of the fact that Anglicans were also killed, but they weren't canonized. So if we are to use the word "saint" in the sense of a canonized saint then the Anglicans are not saints. If we use "saint" in the sense of Christian, then they are, and so are you and me.
When "companions" are canonized, that still refers to specific people. Here are the people.
http://ugandamartyrsshrine.org.ug/details.php?id=3
To be clear, while the Anglicans would be "saints" in the sense of Christians, they would also be heretics.
From your own URL
"There are also Anglican martyrs that were killed by King Mwanga between 1885 and 1887 together with the Catholic martyrs. While paying tribute to the 22 Catholic martyrs Pope Paul IV also paid tribute to the Anglican martyrs in his homily at the canonisation. "And we do not wish to forget", he said ,"the others who, belonging to the Anglican confession, met death for the name of Christ."
All these martyrs are honoured on 3rd June every year."
You can't meet "death for the name of Christ" without being a martyred saint of the Catholic Church.
To quote Christ on this point: "You know neither the Magisterium nor the power of God. You are quite wrong."
The people "honoured" by the liturgy are the canonized saints mentioned on the calendar, which are St. Charles Lwanga and companions. The "Companions" are specific people who have been canonized, all of whom were Catholic.
Can you think fondly and admiringly about other people on that day? Sure, but that doesn't make them canonized saints. Pretending they are canonized saints is probably most harmful to the dead Anglicans themselves, since people who might have prayed for their souls might be misled into not doing so.
Pax Christi
Post a Comment