January/February 2001 /$5 · Among the treasures of the Catholic Church are Her numerous...

January/February 2001 /$5.00

Among the treasures of the Catholic Church areHer numerous sacramentals. These, according to theCatechism of the Catholic Church (no. 1667), aresacred signs that bear some resemblance to the sacra-

ments. Sacramentals includeboth actions and objects: bless-ings given by priests to personsand objects; exorcisms; blessedobjects of devotion such asstatues, candles, medals, bells,ashes, and scapulars. Whenproperly used, sacramentalshelp predispose us to receivethe chief effects of the sacra-ments.

Holy Water is familiar to allof us, but how much thoughtdo we give to its being a sacra-mental? How much thoughtgoes into the numerousmotions that pass for signs ofthe cross at the entrances ofour churches as people diptheir finger into the fonts on

coming and going? How much benefit is there in anabsent-minded use of this treasure of our Faith?Sacramentals, unlike the sacraments, have no powerto confer grace. Rather, they depend on our disposi-tion in using them.

To better appreciate the value of Holy Water, wecan consider the Church’s beautiful and symbolicceremony of blessing.

In blessing ordinary water to make this sacramen-tal, the priest first recites an exorcism over it. Anexorcism is itself a sacramental that banishes evilspirits. According to the Fathers of the Church, thedevils acquired a certain power over inanimatethings as one of the consequences of original sin.Therefore, when the Church takes some materialobject into Her use for the salvation of souls and theglory of God, She often exorcises that object to free itfrom the devils’ power and influence.

The ceremonial blessing of water includes salt asa sign of health of both body and soul. The salt isitself blessed and exorcized prior to being mingledwith the water in three crosses made over it. As thesalt is blessed the priest calls upon “the living God,

the true God, the holy God,” asking that those whomake use of the water may have spiritual and physi-cal health, that the evil spirits may leave any placewhere it is sprinkled, and that those who are sprin-kled may be sanctified and freed from uncleannessand any attacks of the devils.

The priest then prays over the water, beseechingthe Holy Trinity — Father, Son, and Holy Ghost — toexpel the devils from the world and cause them tolose their influence over mankind. Then he asks Godto render the water effective in expelling evil and cur-ing diseases.

It is at this point that the salt is added, sprinkledin crosses over the water as said above, while thepriest prays, “May this mingling of salt and water, bemade in the name of the Father and of the Son and ofthe Holy Ghost.” The priest then asks God to sanctifythe salt and water, so that the sprinkling of it maydrive away the evil spirits and bring the Holy Ghost.

The Church urges us to frequent use of HolyWater, for it is a reminder of our Baptism and it iseffective in cleansing us of venial sins. We must, how-ever, use it devoutly: we must have contrition for oursins and make the sign of the cross while saying, “Inthe name of the Father and of the Son and of the HolyGhost.” Clearly, the careless gestures so frequentlymade at the door of the church will not gain us all thebenefit the Church intends and provides.

What other gesture is so simple yet so powerful?

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Crusade Magazine is a publication of The American Societyfor the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP). Sub-scriptions in the United States and Canada, $30.00. Foreignsubscriptions, $42.00. List of other TFP publications availableupon request. Direct all subscription requests and inquiries to:Crusade Magazine, P.O. Box 341, Hanover, PA 17331 or e-mail to: [email protected] Tel.: 888-317-5571, Fax: (570) 450-6352, © 2000 by The Foundation for a Christian Civilization,Inc.This publication includes images from Dynamic Graphics,Corel, and Art Today, which are protected by copyright laws ofthe U.S. and elsewhere.

ISSN 1096-3782LCCN 98-641433M-49

January-February 2001

Page 34 The Mother of Godjourneys to Spain

Page 4 The message of Fatima, thehope and salvation of the new century

Page 7 True facts about the Amazon vs. environmentalist fictions

Page 13 The twenty-first-century crusade, according toPlinio Corrêa de Oliveira

Contents

E D I T O R I A L 2Great Expectations — Hope for the New Millennium

T F P I N A C T I O N 4

A Day in the Life of Our Lady’s Custodians

A N A LY S I S 7The Amazing Amazon: Myths and Realities

P I L G R I M A G E 1 1The American TFP Prays for theNation During a Pilgrimage to Quito

C O V E R S T O RY 1 3The Crusade for the Twenty-first Century

B O O K R E V I E W 2 0

Moving God, Moving History

H O LY W E E K 2 3An invitation to love The Holy Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ

C AT H O L I C A P O L O G E T I C S 2 4To be or not to be: That is the question

L E T T E R S T O T H E E D I T O R 2 7

B A S I C H I S T O RY C O U R S E 2 9Crusades and Crusading

F O R G O T T E N T R U T H S 3 1“Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to Me.”

FA M I LY S E R I E S 3 4The Queen of Heaven and the Son of Thunder

January/February 2001 /$5.00

Cover: The Battle of Nicaea,engraving by Gustave Doré

c r u s a d e J A N U A R Y / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 12

Great Expectations — Hopefor the New MillenniumE d i t o r ’s

C o r n e r

We go to press just after two major events in our Nation’sCapital, the inauguration of a new President and the

annual remembrance of the tragic Supreme Court ruling in 1973that unleashed such a torrent of death among America’syoungest and most innocent victims. The March for Life, alwaysinspired by hope despite the terrible odds in face of the expand-ing culture of death in our society, moved up PennsylvaniaAvenue this January with greater expectations for America thanhave been possible for many years.

While not a strong and uncompromising opponent of abor-tion, President Bush has at least questioned the soundness ofRoe v. Wade and has spoken of the sacredness of life. In a letterread by Rep. Christopher H. Smith to the huge crowd gatheredfor March for Life 2001, President Bush said, “We share a greatgoal: to work toward a day when every child is welcomed in lifeand protected in law.” As a hopeful first step, he has reinstated

the ban on foreign aid funds being used to promote or provideabortions. This stands in marked contrast to the previousadministration and its potential successor, both zealous oppo-nents of any restrictions on the business of killing unborninfants and even those nearly born.

The battle for the rights of the unborn with all of its intrinsicimportance, touching directly on the rights of the Creator, is butan aspect of the many expectations that should concern everytrue American. Nevertheless, it is clear that the battle against theinfamous sin of abortion has become a significant symbol in ourCountry of the unending battle between right and wrong, goodand evil.

Following is the statement that the American TFP distributedto the participants in March for Life 2001.

This year’s March for Life begins in anatmosphere of cautious optimismand great expectations. We do not

wish to see this emerging century follow inthe blood-stained footsteps of the last.

After the long and harsh pro-abortionwinter suffered for the past eight years, wehope for a thaw with the inauguration of anew President, one who courted the anti-abortion cause.

At the dawn of a new millennium, weare also inspired with great expectations.We expect many specific achievements inthe coming years: We expect the end ofpartial-birth abortion. We expect the ter-mination of federal funding for all abor-tion providers. We expect court decisionsthat challenge the fallacious premises ofRoe v. Wade.

It is time to fulfill promises made. Weknow that this will not be an easy road totravel. The razor-thin margin of victorybrings with it the temptation to compro-mise principle for a false unity. But we have

the right to expect courage in our nation’sleaders.

The abortion cycleIt is not enough, however, merely to passanti-abortion legislation or engage in pro-life rhetoric.

The nation needs and expects far more.The new Americans who survive

beyond the womb in this new millenniummust find an America that will give themthe elements to break the horrific abortioncycle that perpetuates this crime.

They must find the family weldedtogether by the indissoluble bond of mar-riage solely between a man and a woman.The family is the organic cell of all societywhere we find the foundation of the moraland social virtues, which then vigorouslyradiate outward to all social bodies and thestate itself.

Children need families that will nurturethem, guard their innocence, and developtheir personalities. In particular, all children

must find within their homes the Faith thatenables them to know, love, and serve Godin this world and be happy with Him forev-er in the next.

As long as the traditional familyremains in crisis, we will never sever thepower lines that supply the abortion mills.As long as the Faith remains dead in souls,we will never wipe out the moral rot of sex-ual immorality, which is the contaminatedsoil where the abortion movement growsand flourishes.

Return to a wholesome societyIt is not enough to revitalize our families.For if no man is an island, neither is thefamily. The family can flourish only when itis a healthy part of a healthy whole. Allsociety must be involved in this veritablecrusade.

Abortion thrives upon the foul deca-dence of a culture. Only when the breedinggrounds of culture are wholesome can fullhealth be restored to society.

c r u s a d e j a n u a r y / f e b r u a r y 2 0 0 1 3

The American TFP

The American Society forthe Defense of Tradition,Family and Property(TFP) was founded in1973 to confront the pro-found crisis shaking themodern world. It is a civic,cultural and nonpartisanorganization which,inspired by the traditionalteachings of the SupremeMagisterium of theRoman Catholic Church,works in a legal andpeaceful manner in therealm of ideas to defendand promote the right ofprivate ownership, thefamily as the basic unit ofsociety, and perennialChristian principles withtheir twofold function:individual and social. TheTFP’s words and effortshave always been faithful-ly at the service of Christ-ian civilization.

The first TFP was found-ed in 1960in Brazil by thefamous intellectual andCatholic leader Prof.Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira.His work has inspired theformation of otherautonomous TFPs in 26countries across the globe,thus constituting theworld’s largest anticom-munist and antisocialistnetwork of Catholic inspi-ration.

Editor: C. Preston Noell IIIAssociate Editors: EarlAppleby, Thomas Becket,Eugenia Guzman, Gary Isbell,Thomas J. McKennaPhotography: Gary J. IsbellCirculation: Jack BurnhamForeign Correspondents:Raymond de Souza, Australia;Charles E. Schaffer, Austria;Jose Carlos Sepulveda, Brazil;Paul Foley, England; BenoitBemelmans, France; BenoHofschulte, Germany; Antoniode Azeredo, Portugal; Juan M.Montes, Italy; FelipeBarandiarán, Spain

CRUSADECRUSADE®

Thus, fashion, music, arts,and entertainment must upholdmorality, not destroy it. Theporno-cultural epidemic sweep-ing our country with blasphemyand filth is infecting millionswith the germs of abortion.

Society must recognize theprimary right of parents to edu-cate their children with anauthentic education that teachesthem the absolute differencebetween right and wrong. Toolong have we wandered in themodern educational wasteland tothe detriment of countless souls.

Society must give materialstability to the family by reduc-ing the excessive burden of taxes,and by ending the death tax andthe marriage penalty tax.

In sum, we must return to awholesome and godly societywhose laws and social customspreserve what is good and curbwhat is evil.

Only if we restore health toall society will the abortion cyclebe brought to a halt.

Appeal to theNation’s leadersWhat, then, do we ask of ourNation’s leaders as we enter theyear 2001?

Give us the elements tobreak the abortion cycle. Elimi-nate the hostility toward Chris-tian morality that pervades ourgovernment.

Let us return to the ideathat a nation’s greatest obliga-tion is to protect its peoplefrom error and ruin by fosteringgood and by opposing evil, evenif it be merely by raising obsta-cles to its action.

Thus, address the greatmoral issues that constitute theabortion cycle. When the mat-ter comes before you, stand upin defense of the victims ofabortion and euthanasia. Donot accept the idea of homo-sexual “unions” or legalize them

on the same footing with tradi-tional marriage. Promote aneducation system that will bol-ster morality and not dismantleit. Let us become once again aNation built on principle and liv-ing in accordance with moralstandards.

Above all, be yourselves mod-els of uprightness and virtue. Wehave had our fill of shame andscandal; bring back dignity andhonor.

As Catholics, we call uponour Nation’s bishops, our shep-herds, to lead us in a veritablecrusade against the moral chaosso characteristic of our post-modern times. Speak out coura-geously, loudly, and clearlyagainst sex-education, blasphe-my, indifference, and so manyother cultural ills that corrodeour Faith and society. Our wearysouls clamor for this.

If this is done, we can defini-tively break the abortion cycleand reconquer the honor ofAmerica. If not, the very futureof our Nation is at risk.

A beacon of hopeIn its defense of the immutablevalues of Christian civilization,the American TFP sees the

heroic struggle of those resistingabortion as a flame of hope forthe Nation.

In the anti-abortion move-ment, there are countless fami-lies that ardently thirst for areturn to the Faith and to awholesome society. These go togreat lengths in giving them-selves to this cause. It is our hopethat all of these may see abortionnot as an isolated problem butrather as part of a whole series ofevils.

Like one all-encompassingfire, these evils are devouring ourNation. We must respond in likemanner, extinguishing the ragingfires of our abortion culturewherever they appear. If we arefaithful to this just cause, we canbe assured of the help of Provi-dence to give us the strength andcourage to forge ahead.

From this hope we mayexpect yet another: that we maynot only break the abortioncycle but that God and Our Ladywill bless our efforts and that wemay see the true America yetfulfill the great role given her byDivine Providence.

March for Life, January 22, 2001

c r u s a d e j a n u a r y / f e b r u a r y 2 0 0 14

B Y J O S E P H G . F E R R A R A

A Day in the Life ofOur Lady’s Custodians

“Go ye, therefore, and teach the Gospel toall nations.” This command of Our Lord toHis disciples, echoing even in our day, is thedriving force that invigorates the bearers ofOur Lady of Fatima’s pilgrim statues.

Like modern-day apostles, the volunteersof the American TFP/America Needs Fatimago forth to seek those whom Our Lady hascalled to be united to her Wise and Immacu-late Heart. Greatly encouraged by theresponse given to this call, the custodiansseek to convey the whole truth about theFatima message, which they consider the

message for our time, a message of hope.The typical day in the life of the custodi-

ans always begins with prayer. Knowing fullwell that without grace no one can enduring-ly do any good, the custodians meet at thefeet of Our Lady’s statue to invoke SaintMichael and other patron saints. Especiallybearing in mind the present crisis in theworld and, above all, within the HolyCatholic Church Herself, and also the needthat countless souls have for orientation,they instinctively turn to Our Lady. Being the“worthy Mother of God” and our own, she

Carlos del Campo (upper left) and Joseph Ferrara (above) during a Fatima visit

T F P i nA c t i o n


may rightfully be invoked under the title“Star of the Sea.” The custodians thereforeplace their hopes in she who promises tolead safely to port, or Heaven, all those whoare truly devoted to her.

After morning prayers, the custodianspartake of a hearty breakfast, often sup-plied by the generosity of their hosts. Fol-lowing an exchange of warm farewells, theapostles of Our Lady make a final check ofthe inventory they carry with them in thevan supplied for their travels. They replen-ish book supplies, which comprise every-thing from meditations on the Way of theCross and the virtue of confidence to theChurch’s perennial teachings of social doc-trines that explain how a true Christian civ-ilization should be fashioned. There are alsoreligious articles, rosaries, crucifixes, stat-ues of Our Lord and Our Lady, holy waterfonts, and so on to be stocked. The sale ofthese items helps support the team, whichmay log more than 100 miles a day. Finally,the team’s 45 inch life-like statue of OurLady of Fatima is carefully prepared for theday’s journey. Our Lady’s crown and rosaryare removed and placed in a special carry-ing box. The statue is enveloped with a fit-ted, soft flannel cloth, then with a second,foam-padded covering for extra protection.The statue usually occupies the secondbench in the van, securely held in placewith seatbelts.

Now it is time to set out. One teammember has already traced the route on themap. The two then begin their journey with“prayers for the trip,” invoking Our Lady ofthe Highway, Saint Joseph, Saint Christo-pher, and others, and praying some HailMarys or a Memorare.

This narration about the lives of thecustodians would be incomplete withoutmention of a man whose life and deedsprofoundly marked and animated theseapostles of Mary. We owe an immense debtof gratitude to the truly great BrazilianCatholic leader Prof. Plinio Corrêa deOliveira. His pen, word, and example haveinculcated in the volunteers of the TFPthree great loves, which shone forth in himin a special way — love of the HolyEucharist, a most true and perfect devo-tion to Mary, and fervent devotion to thePapacy. Always instilling in us the pro-found conviction that the Holy CatholicChurch is the soul of any authentic aposto-

Letters to America Needs Fatima

The world needs Fatima, and,America is probably at the top of thelist. I have yet to see violence in itsworst form as in America. America’sidea of freedom of choice is chilling!There are many good things in Ameri-ca. Her bad side worries many, manygood people.

I am pleased to hear you tell aboutFatima, Portugal, as it was in 1917. Itwas a privilege to see the Fatima statueand hear you at Dan and Lourde’s home.The world needs more crusaders likeyou, evangelizers who tell it like it is!

P.O., Jr., Clearwater, Florida

Thank you for the work that youand your staff do for Our Lady. I am soproud to contribute to your organiza-tion. I regret that I am of meagermeans, but I have decided to recyclecans and donate the money to OurLady’s cause. You will be seeing thefruits of my efforts on a more regularbasis. You have made me a believer inthe cause you so devote yourself to. Youknow, I think the Virgin Mary wouldwant you to have whatever I can affordto give. The Virgin Mary opens herselfto those who become followers of Jesus.She will lead us all back to God. I am soproud of you and your staff.

S.H., Columbus, Ohio

My life has changed forever as aresult of having the Blessed Mothervisit my home. Many years ago, I hadsome problems that led me away fromGod and the Church. Hence, I was cutoff from both for a long time. I hadgiven up all hope of ever being able toreturn to the Church and the Sacra-ments. However, the visit of Our Ladyled me back Home, to God and theChurch.

After much prayer and thought, Irealized that even though it would bedifficult, I had to find my way back.Hence, I began making endeavors toreturn to my religion. As a result, onMarch 24, 2000, after a very difficult

reconciliation process, I returned to theChurch and the Sacraments.

Overall, having the Blessed Motherin my home was a most wonderful andrewarding experience. I would like tothank you for this most inspiring expe-rience and giving me the courage toreturn Home to God, the Church andthe Sacraments.

C.D., Dayton, Ohio

We are writing to highly comple-ment Nicholas Mak. He was veryCatholic in his presentation of theHome-visitation program.

He was very devout and holy. Nevergave sway to any doubts about any-thing.

It has changed our lives because weare now kneeling in front of the statueof Mary, reciting our Divine MercyChaplet. Perhaps, as time wears on,...our rosary. We had been praying sepa-rately.

This visitation has set our heartsand minds straight. For as long as welive we will always cherish the honor ofthe Pilgrim Virgin visit.

M. and U.T., Hickory, Kentucky

I am writing you in response toyour letter relating to your faithfuland tireless Custodians and Pro-claimers. If I were younger and in bet-ter heath, I would be so glad to jointheir inspired group. However, I willbe 83 next month and have a seriousheart condition. That is why I haven’tbeen able to help distribute flyers orhelp in other ways than may smallmonetary contributions.

F.B., Fort Worth

Two years ago, I bought Jacinta’sStory for my son, who will be four nextmonth. Although he cannot read yet, itis one of his books that he pulls off theshelf most frequently to look at or haveread to him. It is a beautiful book!

L.M., Encinitas, California

late, he often urged us to seek comfort inthe sacraments She provides for the souls ofher children. From the very beginning oftheir association with the TFP/AmericaNeeds Fatima, the members are highlyencouraged to embrace that special devo-tion to Our Lady taught by the great SaintLouis Marie Grignion de Montfort. So, it isnot rare to find them with their rosaries inhand, supplicating the Mother of Mercyduring the fifteen decades they pray daily.Ever mindful of her devotees, Mary willnever fail to aid those who are truly andtenderly devoted to her. They recall withmuch hope the words from the hymn of theMarian Congregations of Brazil that Prof.Corrêa de Oliveira often repeated: “Thosewho fight on the side of the Virgin fear notthe swords of a thousand soldiers.”

Tirelessly seeking out those souls sodear to Our Lady, the custodians rely verymuch on the indispensable help theyreceive from the center of volunteers inKansas who coordinate the visits for theteams from city to city and state to state.These volunteers dedicate many hours inkeeping up with the multitude of demandsgenerated by the work of the teams. Aboveall, they schedule the teams’ appointments,

relieving them of that task and allowingthem to be more mobile.

Measuring well the immense task thatlies before them, the custodians frequentlyinvoke the Angels as their companions andchampions in this fight. They are con-

vinced that it is a great crusade, albeit anideological one, they must wage, and oneagainst “principalities and powers, againstthe rulers of this present world of dark-ness,” as Saint Paul says. Therefore the cus-todians always seek the help of these celes-tial hosts for the conquest of souls and theimplantation of God’s reign through Hismost holy Mother.

The custodians are very grateful for thegenerous help they receive along the wayfrom the countless souls devoted to OurLady. They make their own the counsel thatOur Lord gave to the Apostles to go forthnot worrying where they will sleep or eat. Itnever fails that those hosting the visit ofOur Lady’s statue in their homes or someattendee will offer a meal or even lodging tokeep the pilgrim team going. The warmreception given the custodians is a greatencouragement and a proof that despite theatheism that prevails today, Our Lady hasmany faithful souls with whom she cancount.

It is our firm belief that this glimmer offaith in an otherwise faithless world willsoon be rewarded with the advent of thereign of Jesus Christ promised by Our Ladyat Fatima when she said, “Finally, myImmaculate Heart will triumph!”

Each visit consists of an oral presentation, a slide show on the apparitions and message of OurLady of Fatima, and recitation of the Rosary. After the initial presentation, the hostess is custom-arily invited to crown the pilgrim statue.


The coordination and scheduling of the visits of the pilgrim virgin statue is an arduous andmethodical work done by a dedicated team of America Needs Fatima members at ourKansas office.


Myths and Realities A n a ly s i s

For 25 years, I have worked in theAmazon basin. While I may notknow everything about the region —

it is, after all, rather immense — I know itquite well, and I am intimately familiar withcertain sectors.

I serve as a director of Embrapa, Brazil’sNational Center for Research on Agrobiolo-gy. Part of the Federal Ministry of Agricul-ture, Embrapa employs more than 3,000Ph.D.’s at 40 research centers across Brazil.

We make use of more than 40 satellitesin our work. We use the National Oceanic &Atmospheric Administration satellite tomonitor the burning of forests. Every twohours it divides the earth into blocks of onesquare kilometer and measures the temper-

ature of each, registering differences assmall as a tenth of a degree.

We also work with land satellites (land-sats) that allow us to observe details assmall as 15 meters. The Spot satellite, whichwe use, covers the globe in 10-meter detail.We also use radar satellites that enable us topenetrate clouds, the leaves of the trees, andeven the surface of the soil. Spot’s controlsystem is accurate to two centimeters —less than an inch.

We use satellites from Brazil, the UnitedStates, Europe, and Japan. Brazil was the firstnation in the southern hemisphere to launcha satellite. It can cover the entire world withan accuracy of about eight inches.

There is, of course, no substitute for field

work. Despite technological advances, notevery detail can be picked up by satellite,after all, and those who rely exclusively onsatellite images are working with incompleteinformation at best. Embrapa researchersundertake land and river expeditions togather local plant and soil specimens.

So, let’s discuss the Amazon rainforests.We will briefly describe the bounty of tropi-cal rainforests. Then we will analyze somemyths about the Amazon basin. Finally, wewill summarize our discussion and con-clude with a question of our own.

What are rainforests really like?Tropical rainforests are exceptionally rich infauna and flora. Although constituting just

The Amazing Amazon:

Prof. Evaristo Eduardo de Miranda is Professor of Ecology in the University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil,and an expert on the Amazon River Basin. This article is excerpted from Professor Miranda’s presentation onthe Amazon at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on September 20, 2000.

P R O F . E V A R I S T O E D U A R D O D E M I R A N D A


twelve percent of the earth’s surface, theyare home to more than half of earth’s lifeforms. It is an impressive wealth. A smallcorner of the Amazon jungle has morespecies of birds than all of North America.The world harbors about nine thousandspecies of birds. Counting resident andmigrant birds, Brazil alone has three thou-sand species. A little piece of the Amazonjungle lying by the ocean has more speciesof trees than all of England. Rainforests arealso home to some 30 to 50 million people.

At least a quarter of the world’s plant-based medicines come from the tropicalforests. This represents an annual market of$23 billion. We eat produce from rain forestsevery day. Wood and minerals are otherimportant products of rain forests. Theforests also play a critical role in maintain-ing the world’s climate balance.

We must not overlook the spiritual valueof rainforests. As Catholics, we know thatnature is a gift of God, a masterpiece of Hishandiwork reflecting His majesty and beau-ty. Our Lady appears in a cave, she appearsover water — nature serves as her stage. AsCatholics, we have a balanced view thatappreciates both the beauty of nature andthe purposes for which God created it.

Economic development has reduced thesize of the world’s rainforests, but Brazil

encompasses 40 percent of the world’s rain-forests. The area of the Amazon watershed,which includes Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia,and Peru, is about 3.5 million square miles.The Brazilian Amazon region occupiesabout two million square miles, over 60 per-cent of Brazil.

First myth: the homogeneous AmazonThere are many myths about the Amazon.We will review five.

Many people imagine the Amazonregion as a vast homogeneous tropical rain-forest covering an area nearly as large as theUnited States.

This is simply not the case. First, Brazil’shighest mountains are in the Amazonbasin. In these mountains — whose alti-tudes exceed 10,000 feet — we have cloudforests. On top of the mountains, we havegrasslands.

Some areas of the Amazon have decidu-ous forests like those in the United States. Itis well known that the leaves fall off decidu-ous trees during certain seasons, yet a for-eigner will sometimes attribute their loss tofires. To such a comment, I once responded:“I had the same impression visiting London’sHyde Park. It was winter and there were noleaves on the trees. I thought, my goodness,

who has set fire to this lovely park?”The Amazon basin also includes sparse

forests — delicate forests susceptible to fire— and palm forests.

The trees of riparian forests, those alongrivers, constantly fall into these waterways,which then must be unclogged. Someforests are entirely flooded by rivers. For sixmonths a year their trees are submerged in40 to 50 feet of water. Fish navigate aroundtheir branches as though they were flyingbirds.

The Amazon basin encompasses morethan 385,000 square miles of savanna. Thetypical savanna, bush savanna, featuressmall trees, but there are also clear savannas,and vast savannas teeming with wildlife.

Immense areas of the Amazon are com-prised by grasslands. When fires raged inRoraima (a territory of northern Brazil adja-cent to Venezuela) in 1988, I witnessed a for-eign journalist reporting, “This was a forest.Look what is left after the fire.” But the areawas a grassland, not a forest. In fact, for atleast 25,000 years there has never been a for-est there. The grasslands, by the way, areolder than the forests.

Second myth: “the lungs of the world”Some would have us believe that as much asa quarter of the world’s oxygen is producedin the Amazon forests. You may have heardthe Amazon called “the lungs of the world.”

Once again, it is not true. It is the world’soceans that fill that role — producing theoxygen that life requires. The production ofoxygen in the Amazon forest equals theamount of oxygen it consumes. Nothing isleft over, as any high-school biology bookwill tell you.

A young forest will produce oxygenbecause it is taking in carbon dioxide, usingthe carbon to grow and releasing the oxy-gen. When a forest has reached maturity, onthe other hand, it “breathes,” consuming theoxygen it produces. The trees in the Ama-zon are at their maximum growth level andthe balance of their production and con-sumption of oxygen is zero every single dayof the year.

It is true that the humidity in the Amazonforms a considerable amount of clouds andproduces much rain. In fact, sixteen percentof the earth’s water comes from the Amazonregion. So, while the Amazon forest is not

“the lungs of the world,” you could say that itdoes serve as an air-conditioning system.

Third myth: the uninhabited AmazonAnother myth is that the Amazon region islargely uninhabited, save for a few Indiansscattered around its southern perimeter.

The facts, once again, tell quite a differentstory. As the census confirms, more than350,000 Indians alone live in the Amazon,and their number is increasing every year.

Nor are native Indians the only residentsof the region. There are also the Caboclos, anethnic mix of Indian, African, and Por-tuguese. They live in the Amazon, wherethey fish and harvest Brazil nuts. Then thereare the rubber tappers. If you view the stateof Acre by satellite, you might think that it isa continuous green forest, but if you lookmore closely, you will see white and red dots.They represent settlements — rubber tap-per settlements, to be precise.

Then there are the small farms. Like thepioneers of the American West, these farm-ers and their families — a half million fami-lies — settled far from their birthplaces toseek land of their own and the promise of abetter life. They worked hard to achieve it,and, quite naturally, wish to pass the fruit oftheir labors on to their children.

There are also mining settlements. Brazilproduces some fifty tons of gold a year,which helps to pay our foreign debt.

Twenty million Brazilians live in theAmazon region, which has 1500 villages andcities — growing cities like Manaus andBelém, each with populations in excess of

one million. Fifty-five percent of the resi-dents of the region live in its cities — whichare experiencing the highest urban expan-sion rates in Brazil.

Fourth myth: the unprotected Amazon

Another popular myth is that the Brazil-ian government does not protect the Ama-zon rainforest with its laws.

The Amazon comprises large indige-

nous areas and many national parks andforests. I do not know if there is any countryin the world that has this much land pro-tected by law. Development of these lands isprohibited.

This does not meant that the other areascan be used as the owner desires. Federallaw restricts the farmer in the Amazonwatershed to the use of just 20 percent of hisland. This is an unreasonable restrictionthat often means economic suicide for thesmall farmer, who generally must develop atleast half his holdings to survive. The law

formerly designated an even split betweenforest and agriculture, but this more reason-able balance fell victim to the pressures ofenvironmental extremists.

Fifth myth: the imminentdeforestation of the AmazonOur final myth concerns the degree of defor-estation of the Amazon. There are thosewho charge that the rainforest will cease toexist within a decade.

They are wrong.Brazil has spent $2.5 million to analyze

the deforestation of the area. The effort hasinvolved 50,000 man-hours, 10,000 machine-hours, and 85 specialists, as well as 331maps and 229 satellite images. Every detailof the entire Amazon forest is measuredevery two years. Satellite images reveal areasthat have been cleared. Square patterns inpink can be readily distinguished from thenatural irregular patterns of the savannas.

Over the last half of the second millenni-um, that is, for the past 500 years, the totalextent of deforestation is a 193,000 squaremiles [half million square kilometers],almost the size of Texas. If the loss were onepercent annually, it would take a hundredyears to deforest the Amazon. The rate isless than half that rate, just 0.4 percent.

It is true that the Brazilian governmentsets fires in the forest, but there is a signifi-cant difference between controlled burningand wildfires. Wildfires begin when they arenot wanted and spread where they are notwanted. They are out of control.

Controlled burning, on the other hand, isplanned. It is a proven means of agricultural


Some would have usbelieve that as much as

quarter of the world’soxygen is produced in the

Amazon, the so-calledlungs of the world.

Professor Miranda at theNational Press Club in

Washington, D.C.

technology used by farmers to controlweeds, ticks, and other problems. Controlledburning accounts for more than 99 percentof the fires that occur in Brazil.

In summary: myths vs. realityContrary to the myths propagated by thosewhose interests are served by such disinfor-mation, the Amazon:

is not a vast homogeneous rain forest, buta mosaic of majestic mountains and widelydiverse forests, savannas, and grasslands;

is not “the lungs of the world,” but a bal-anced producer and consumer of oxygen;

is not virtually uninhabited, but the homeof 20 million Brazilians;

is not unprotected by Brazilians, butrather is somewhat over regulated;

is not on the verge of imminent defor-estation, with more than 99 percent of itsfires planned as controlled burning.

A unique concernThe real question is not about the exagger-ated destruction of the Amazon, but aboutwhy there are so many forests in Brazil andso few in other countries.

In Europe, the forest is virtually gone. Ithas disappeared in Asia. In Africa, there area few forests but not many. More in Canada— the tundra — than in the United States,but nothing even remotely approaching theAmazon forest. Even in the Spanish nationsof South America — Chile, Colombia,Venezuela, for example — the forests are aphenomena of the past. Brazil alone has pre-

served enormous forests.Why? There are a number of reasons, but

I would like to note one that is not as wellknown as it should be: the traditional con-cern of the Portuguese crown for the envi-ronment, a solicitude as unique as it is old.

Brazil was discovered by the Portugueseexplorer Pedro Alvares Cabral in 1500. Asearly as 1530, King Dom Manuel, specifical-ly forbade harvesting of more than a hun-dred species of Brazilian trees. Receivingreports that Brazil was an earthly paradise,King Dom João III declared:

I am God’s representative of mypeople. I have to defend the interestsof my people, but I also have to defendthe interests of my Lord and take careof this earthly paradise. I have to studyand proceed with caution, because Ihave this responsibility. I have to ren-der accounts to God for this.King Dom João issued a royal decree

mandating a detailed study of Brazil. In 1587a report was issued reviewing the land, riverby river, and this is used in Brazilian univer-sities to this day.

In 1808, King D. João VI arrived in Braziland established a botanical garden of over5,000 acres in Rio de Janeiro. The UnitedStates had hardly been born when Brazilalready had its first Royal Botanical Garden.

Brazil’s Emperor Dom Pedro II was alsoconcerned about the environment, but heexpressed that concern in a balanced andrational way.

If you visit the statue of Christ theRedeemer in Rio de Janeiro, you will see theimmense national forest of Tijuca. It wasplanted by order of Emperor Dom Pedro.Dom Pedro’s decree was an example of envi-ronmental wisdom. We know exactly howmany and what kinds of trees were planted.Each tree was numbered, and the decreeestablished that anyone working in the for-est of Tijuca must also live there.

The commissioner in charge of the proj-ect wrote the Emperor:

Let us repeat this experiment inother areas of the lands of the Court.Let us form schools of agriculturenext to the forest in which we willtrain engineers who will practicegood forestry. Let us take good care ofour territory.They were not worried about the next

election; they were concerned about thewelfare of the next generation and the gen-erations to come.


Prof. Miranda’s exposition sparked numerous questions

I am God’s representativeof my people. I have todefend the interests of mypeople, but I also have todefend the interests of myLord and take care of thisearthly paradise.

King Dom João III


The American TFP Prays for the NationDuring a Pilgrimageto QuitoB Y M I C H A E L W H I T C R A F T

In today’s fast-paced, chaotic, and sinful world, a pil-grimage is an extraordinary occasion for Catholicsto implore divine assistance and graces. With this in

mind, a delegation of nine full-time volunteers of theAmerican Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family,and Property (TFP) embarked on a pilgrimage to Quito,Ecuador, late last October. The object of the pilgrimagewas to venerate the miraculous statue of Our Lady ofGood Success and offer prayers for the Church, theAmerican nation, and the TFP movement.

The American TFP members joined delegations fromother TFPs under the aegis of H.I.R.H Prince Luiz ofOrleans-Braganza, heir to the throne of Brazil and amember of the National Council of the Brazilian TFP.

The story of this extraordinary statue began in thesixteenth century, when Mother Maria of Jesus Toboadareached Quito from Spain with five other nuns and her13-year old-niece to found a convent of Conceptionistnuns. Some years after the founding, Our Ladyappeared to Sister Mariana de Jesus Torres, MotherMaria’s niece. She called herself Our Lady of Good Suc-cess and made many prophecies, especially regardingour own times. She spoke of rampant impurity, in faceof which innocence and modesty would scarcely befound, of a deficiency of religious vocations, and ofwidespread neglect for the sacraments. Since the TFPshave long concerned themselves with many of the prob-lems mentioned in these prophecies, they have cultivat-ed a special devotion to Our Lady of Good Success andhave propagated her message.

During these visions, Our Lady instructed SisterMariana to have a life-size statue of her made under theinvocation of Our Lady of Good Success. In 1610, SisterMariana contracted an artist to carry out this request.One year later, the artist, having almost completed thestatue, left for two weeks to find the proper materials to

finish his work. Much to his surprise, he returned to findthat the statue had been miraculously completed. Thestatue was solemnly blessed by the bishop and placedabove the abbess’ chair in the choir loft of the cloisteredconvent, where she remains to this day.

Our Lady has worked many astounding miraclesthrough her statue during the nearly 400 years of itsexistence. The statue itself has walked the corridors ofthe convent, changes facial expressions, and has eventaken care of the convent’s garden.*

So that the faithful may venerate Our Lady’s statue,it is removed three times each year from the cloisteredchoir and placed above the main altar of the conventchurch, which is open to the public. The nuns them-selves do not move the statue, for it is quite heavy andthey, being strictly cloistered, are not allowed to enterthe church. For many years, TFP members have enjoyedthe honor of transporting the statue in the processionsfrom the choir loft to the church and back. Our pilgrim-age presented us with the opportunity to take part insuch a procession.

P i l g r i m a g e

Volunteers of the American, Brazilian, and other TFPs pray the Rosary during an all-night vigil in front of the miraculous statue of Our Lady of Good Success.

Themiraculousstatue of OurLady of Good Suc-cess, Quito, Ecuador


TFP members and friends spent the night of Octo-ber 31 in the church before Our Lady’s image, prayingthe rosary, renewing personal consecrations to theBlessed Virgin, and singing Marian hymns. In themorning, after carefully removing the statue from herplace above the altar, they proceeded into the cloister.One could not fail to notice the atmosphere of gracesthat prevailed there. This was surely enhanced by thenuns, who delighted us during the procession withtheir singing of age-old hymns in praise of the Moth-er of God. “The fruit of over four hundred years ofprayers and sacrifices seemed palpable even in thevery air,” said TFP member Matthew Shibler.

Only when being removed from the altar andwhile traveling up the staircases is the statue actual-ly carried. The nuns have improvised a simple plat-form for moving Our Lady through the long, straightcorridors of the convent. This platform, in keepingwith the atmosphere of timelessness permeating theconvent, is no more than a simple wooden box. Withthe statue placed atop this platform, two men drag itby ropes from the front while one man pushes frombehind. As awkward as this may sound, the proce-dure gives the striking impression that the statue iswalking through the corridors of the convent, just asit actually did years ago.

The procession ended in the choir loft, where thestatue was reinstalled in its place above the seat ofthe abbess. After paying a visit to the final restingplace of the perfectly incorrupt bodies of Sister Mari-ana and the six other foundresses of the convent, thedelegation left the holy precincts of the cloister.

The return to the harsh and impious outside worldbrought to mind what Our Lady of Good Success hadprophesied about these times, so consonant with thewarnings and promises of Our Lady of Fatima.

* For a fuller account of Sister Mariana and Our Lady’s appari-tions, see Crusade Magazine, Nov.-Dec. 1998.

“The small number of souls who will secretly safeguard thetreasure of Faith and virtues will suffer a cruel, unspeakable,and long martyrdom. Many will descend to their graves throughthe violence of suffering and will be counted among the martyrswho sacrificed themselves for the country and the Church.

“To be delivered from the slavery of these heresies, those whomthe merciful love of my Son has destined for this restoration, willneed great will-power, perseverance, courage, and confidence inGod. To try the faith and trust of these just ones, there will betimes when all will seem lost and paralyzed. That will be thehappy beginning of the complete restoration.”

— Excerpts from the prophecies of Our Lady of Good Success

Two of the seven incorrupt bodies of the founders of the Convent of the ImmaculateConception in Quito, Ecuador.

Matthew Carlson and John Drake of the American TFP helpcarry the statue of Our Lady of Good Success from the churchto the nun’s cloistered choir loft.

The Conceptionist nuns of Quito follow the procession of their statue.

The statue was placed on a small platform and pulled through the corridors of thecloister.

B Y P L I N I O C O R R Ê A D E O L I V E I R A

The Crusade for theTwenty-first Century The Crusade for theTwenty-first Century

The Crusaders of the Middle Ages shed their blood to free the Sepulcher ofOur Lord Jesus Christ from the hands of the infidels and to establish a Christiankingdom in the Holy Land.

Today the blood of Catholics still flows — in Communist China, the Sudan,Cuba, and many other countries where religious persecutions continue to claimthe lives of thousands without most of us even being aware of it. In fact, authori-ties on religious persecutions have proven that the twentieth century claimedmore martyrs than all previous nineteen centuries together.

But for what purpose? The vast majority of these have died under the continu-ing onslaught of Communism and Islam, both inveterate enemies of our Faith andof Christian civilization. It is to be hoped that this torrent of blood, like that of theearly Christian martyrs, will be a seed of even greater numbers of new Catholicsand of a restoration of Christendom in all the world.

Those of us who have not been called upon to shed our blood like these mar-tyrs can, and must, pray and act to free the world not only from the errors ofCommunism and Islam, but also those of the cultural revolution sweeping theWest, possibly toward persecution as well. Our constant aim should be to restorethe Kingdom of Christ, that His will may be done “on earth as it is in Heaven.”

The principles for the restoration of Christendom are what Plinio Corrêa deOliveira outlines in the article we present here. First published in January of1951, his essay still stands as a suitable blueprint for our activities.

The Catholic Church was founded by OurLord Jesus Christ to perpetuate the benefitsof Redemption among men. Thus, its ulti-mate end is identical with that of Redemp-

tion itself: to atone for the sins of mankind through theinfinitely precious merits of the God-made-man; torestore to God the external glory that sin had bereftHim of, and to open the gates of Heaven to mankind.This purpose is entirely achieved on the supernaturallevel, aiming at eternal life. It transcends absolutelywhatever is merely natural, earthly, perishable. That iswhat Our Lord Jesus Christ affirmed when he said toPontius Pilate, “My Kingdom is not from hence” (John18:36).

Earthly life differs thus and thoroughly from eternallife, but these two lives do not constitute two planesabsolutely isolated one from the other. In the designs ofProvidence there is a close connection between earth-ly life and eternal life. Earthly life is the way; eternal lifeis the goal. Though the Kingdom of Christ does notbelong to this world, the way to it lies in this world.

Just as the military school is the way to the militaryprofession, or the novitiate is the definitive way to entera religious order, so is this earth the way to Heaven.

We have an immortal soul created in God’simage and likeness. This soul is created with a

treasure of natural aptitudes for good andenriched by Baptism with the invaluable giftof the supernatural life of grace. During ourlives we have to develop to their fullnessthese aptitudes for good. Therewith our like-

ness to God, still to a certain extent incom-plete and potential, becomes full and actual.

Likeness is the source of love. By becomingfully similar to God, we become capable of lov-ing Him fully and of calling down upon our-selves the fullness of His love. Consequently,we are prepared to contemplate God face toface in Heaven for that eternal, totally blissful

act of love for which we are called.Earthly life is therefore a novitiate wherein

we prepare our souls for their real destiny, that is,

The Kingdomof Christ

to see God face to face and to love Him for thewhole of eternity.

If we present the same truth in other words, wecan say that God is infinitely pure, infinitely just,infinitely powerful, infinitely good. In order to loveHim, we must love purity, justice, fortitude, good-ness. If we do not love virtue, how can we love Godwho is preeminently Goodness? On the otherhand, if God is the Supreme Good, how can Helove evil? Likeness being the source of love, howcan He love one who is entirely unlike Him, who isvoluntarily unjust, cowardly, impure, bad?

God must be adored and served above all inspirit and in truth (John 4:25). Thus it behoovesus to be pure, just, strong, and good to the depthsof our souls. If our souls are good, all of ouractions must be necessarily so, because a goodtree cannot bring forth evil fruit (Matt. 7:17-18).Therefore, it is absolutely necessary for us, inorder to conquer Heaven, not only to love goodand hate evil inwardly, but to do good deeds andavoid bad ones.

Yet, earthly life is more than the way to eternalbliss. What are we going to do in Heaven? Weshall contemplate God face to face, in the light ofglory that is the achievement of grace and weshall love Him fully and forever. Man, however, isalready possessed of supernatural life here onearth through Baptism. Faith is a seed of thebeatific vision. The love of God man exercises byprogressing in virtue and avoiding evil is alreadythat supernatural love with which he will adoreGod in Heaven.

The Kingdom of God will attain its fulfillmentin the next world. For all of us, however, it alreadybegins to exist germinally in this world — just asin a novitiate the religious life is already put intopractice, albeit as a preparation, and in a militaryschool a young man trains for the army by livinga military life.

The Holy Catholic Church in this world isalready an image of Heaven, and more than that,a real anticipation of Heaven. Everything, there-fore, that the Holy Gospels tell us about the

Kingdom of Heaven applies most properly andexactly to the Catholic Church, to the Faith Sheteaches us, and to each one of the virtues Sheinculcates.

This is the meaning of the Feast of Christ theKing. He is Heavenly King above all, but a Kingwhose rule is already exercised in this world, and aKing Who possesses by right full and supremeauthority. A king legislates, rules, and judges. Hisroyalty becomes effective when his subjects recog-nize his rights and obey his laws. Now, Jesus Christhas all rights over us. He promulgates laws, rulesthe world, and will judge mankind. It falls to us tomake His Reign effective by obeying His laws.

This reign is an individual fact insofar as everyfaithful soul obeys Our Lord Jesus Christ. As amatter of fact, Christ’s Reign is exerted on oursouls; therefore, the soul of each of us is a part ofChrist the King’s scope of jurisdiction. The Reignof Christ will become a social fact if human soci-eties bear Him obedience.

It can thus be said that the Reign of Christbecomes effective on earth, in its individual andsocial meaning, when men both in the depths oftheir souls and in their actions, and when societiesin their institutions, laws, customs, cultural, andartistic manifestations comply with Christ’s Law.

However actual, brilliant, and tangible it be,the earthly reality of Christ’s Reign is nothing buta preparation and a prologue. In its fullness theKingdom of God will be achieved in Heaven: “MyKingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36).

Order, harmony, peace, perfectionOrder, peace, and harmony are essential charac-teristics of every well-formed soul, of every well-constituted human society. In a sense, these arevalues that merge with the very notion of per-fection.

Every being has its own end and a natureappropriate to obtaining this end. Thus a part ofa watch is intended for a special purpose and issuited by its shape and composition to serve thatpurpose.

Plinio Corrêa de Oliveirawas born in São Paulo, Brazil,in 1908. He received his doc-torate in law from the LawSchool of the University ofSão Paulo. He was Professorof the History of Civilizationat the University College ofthe University of São Pauloand Professor of Modern andContemporary History in theColleges of São Bento andSedes Sapientiae of the Pon-tifical Catholic University ofSão Paulo.

He distinguished himselffrom his youth as an orator,lecturer, and Catholic jour-nalist. He wrote regularly forthe Catholic weeklyLegionario and, later, for themonthly Catolicismo and thelarge daily newspaper Folhade São Paulo.

In 1960 he founded theBrazilian Society for theDefense of Tradition, Familyand Property (TFP) andserved as the President of itsNational Council until hisdeath in 1995.

TFPs and similarautonomous organizations,inspired by the book Revolu-tion and Counter-Revolutionand other works of Prof.Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira,were founded in numerousother countries around theworld and carry on hisefforts on behalf of Christiancivilization.

About the author


If we present the same truth in other words, we cansay that God is infinitely pure, infinitely just, infinitelypowerful, infinitely good. In order to love Him, wemust love purity, justice, fortitude, goodness.

Order is the arrangement of things according to theirnature. A watch is in order when all of its parts arearranged according to the nature and the end peculiarto them. It is said there is order in the sidereal universebecause all celestial bodies are arranged according totheir nature and their end.

There is harmony between two beings when theirrelations agree with the nature and the end of each ofthem. Harmony is the working of things in relation oneto another according to order.

Order generates tranquillity. The tranquillity of orderis peace. Not any tranquillity deserves to be calledpeace, but only the one resulting from order. Peace ofconscience is the tranquillity of the righteous con-science; it must not be mistaken for the lethargy of thebenumbed conscience. Organic well-being produces afeeling of peace that cannot be mistaken for the torporof a coma.

When something is entirely disposed according toits nature, it is in the state of perfection. Someone witha great ability to study, a great desire to study, whenplaced in a university where all resources exist for thestudies he wants, will be in a perfect position in regardto studies.

When activities of a being are entirely true to itsnature and are wholly directed towards its purpose,these activities are in some way perfect. Thus the tra-jectory of the stars is perfect because it agrees fully withthe nature and the end of each one.

When the conditions in which a being finds itselfare perfect, its operations also are perfect and it willnecessarily tend towards its end with maximum firm-

ness, vigor, and skill.Thus if a man is inthe condition towalk, that is to say,

can, may, and wantsto walk, he will walkimpeccably.

The real knowledgeof what perfection

is for man and societies depends on an exact notion ofman’s nature and end. The righteousness, the fruitful-ness, and the splendor of human actions, either individ-ual or social, also depend on the knowledge of ournature and of our end.

In short, the possession of religious truth is the essen-tial condition for order, harmony, peace, and perfection.

Christian perfectionThe Gospel shows us the ideal of perfection: “Be yetherefore perfect as also your heavenly Father is perfect(Matt. 5:48). Our Lord Jesus Christ gave us this advice,and He Himself taught us to carry it out. As a matter offact, Jesus Christ is the absolute similitude of the heav-enly Father’s perfection, the supreme model we all haveto imitate.

Our Lord, His virtues, His teachings, His actions,are the defined ideal of the perfection for which manmust strive.

The rules of this perfection are found in the Law ofGod, which Our Lord Jesus Christ did not come “todestroy but to fulfill” (Matt. 5:17). They are the evangel-ic precepts and counsels. And in order that man shouldnot fall into error in interpreting commandments andcounsels, Our Lord Jesus Christ established an infallibleChurch that may count on divine assistance never to errin matters of Faith and morals. Faithfulness in thoughtand deeds to the teaching of the Church is thus the wayevery man can know and put into practice the ideal ofperfection that is Jesus Christ.

This is what the Saints did. Heroically exercising thevirtues the Church teaches, they achieved the perfectimitation of Our Lord Jesus Christ and of the heavenlyFather. It is so true that the Saints attained the highestmoral perfection that even the enemies of the Churchthemselves proclaim it. For instance, regarding SaintLouis, King of France, Voltaire wrote, “It is not possiblefor man to take virtue further.” The same could be saidof all the saints.

God is the author of our nature and therefore of allaptitudes and excellences found in it. In us, what does

Regarding Saint Louis, King of France,Voltaire wrote, “It is not possible forman to take virtue further.”

Monument to Saint Louisof France, St. Louis, Missouri

not come from God are the defects, thefruit of original sin and actual sins.

The Decalogue could not be contrary tothe nature He himself created in us. SinceHe is God and perfect, there can be no con-tradiction in His works. Therefore, theDecalogue prescribes actions for us that ourown reason shows us to be in agreementwith nature, such as honoring our fatherand mother, and forbids actions that weunderstand to be contrary to the naturalorder, such as lying. Therein consists, on thenatural level, the intrinsic perfection of theLaw and the personal perfection we acquireby complying with it, since all operationsconsonant with one’s nature are good.

As a result of original sin, man has apropensity for acts contrary to his nature,rightly understood. He is subject to error inhis intelligence and to wrongdoing regarding his will.This propensity is so strong that without the aid ofgrace it would not be possible for man to know or topractice the precepts of the natural order consistentlyand completely. God repaired this insufficiency of oursby revealing these precepts on Mount Sinai and, underthe New Covenant, establishing a Church to protectmen against sophisms and infringements and institut-ing the Sacraments to strengthen them by grace.

Grace is a supernatural aid intended to fortify theintelligence and will of men so that he can practice per-fection. God does not refuse His grace to anyone, soperfection is accessible to all.

Can an infidel know the Law of God and complywith it? Does he receive God’s grace? A distinction mustbe made. In principle, all men in contact with the

Church receive sufficient grace to knowthat She is the true church, to enter Her,and to obey the Commandments. So ifsomeone remains voluntarily outsidethe Church, if he is an infidel because herefuses the grace of conversion, he clos-es the gates of salvation against himself.The grace of conversion is the startingpoint of all other graces. On the otherhand, if someone has no means ofknowing the Holy Church — a heathen,for instance, whose country has neverreceived the visit of missionaries — hewill at least have sufficient grace toknow and practice the most essentialprinciples of the Law of God, since Godrefuses salvation to no one.

It must be noted here that if fideli-ty to the Law sometimes demands

heroic sacrifices from Catholics themselves who live inthe bosom of the Church, bathed in the superabun-dance of grace and of all means of sanctification, thedifficulty is much greater for those who live far fromthe Church and without this superabundance. Thisexplains why pagans practicing the Law are so rare,indeed, exceptional.

The Christian ideal of social perfectionIf we suppose that most of the individuals in a certainpopulation practice the Law of God, what result can weexpect from that society? This is the same as asking ifin a watch each part works according to its nature andits purpose, what result may we expect from the watch?Or if each part of a whole is perfect, what must be saidof the whole?


There was a time when

people kept God in the

center of their lives.

Mount Saint Michael in

France serves as an exam-

ple of this. Here, as with

many medieval towns, a

monastery built apart from

urban and commercial life

eventually became the

heart of a small town

formed in its vicinity. To

this day this landmark

monastery remains a popu-

lar attraction for tourists

from all over the world.


It is always risky to resort to mechanical examplesfor human cases. Let us stick to the image of a socie-ty where all members are good Catholics, asdescribed by Saint Augustine: Let us imagine “anarmy composed of soldiers as Jesus Christ’s doctrineforms them, of governors, husbands, spouses, par-ents, children, teachers, servants, kings, judges, tax-payers, tax collectors as the Christian teachingrequire them to be! And let them (the heathen) stilldare to say that this teaching is contrary to the inter-ests of the State! On the contrary, they have to admitunhesitatingly that it is a safeguard for the Statewhen faithfully followed” (Epist. CXXXVIII, al. 5, adMarcellum, Cap. II, n. 15).

In another of his writings the holy Doctor,addressing himself to the Catholic Church, exclaims:“Thou leadest and teachest children with tenderness,young people with vigor, old people with calm as notonly their body but also their soul requires. Thou sub-mittest the wives to their husbands, for a faithful andchaste obedience, not to gratify passion but for thepropagation of the species and the constitution ofthe family. Thou givest authority to the husbandsover their wives, not in order to abuse the fragility oftheir sex, but to follow the laws of a sincere love. Thousubordinatest the children to their parents for a kindauthority. Thou unitest, not only in a society but in akind of brotherhood, citizens to citizens, nations tonations, and men one to another through the memo-ry of their first parents. Thou teachest kings to carefor their people and thou ordainest the people toobey the kings. Thou teachest solicitously to whomhonor is due, to whom affection, to whom respect, towhom fear, to whom comfort, to whom rebuke, towhom encouragement, to whom a scolding, to whoma reprimand, to whom a punishment; and thou tellestin what way, if everything is not due to everyone,charity is due to everybody, injustice to nobody” (DeMoribus Ecclesiae, Cap. XXX, n. 63).

It would be impossible to describe better the idealof a totally Christian society. Could order, peace, har-mony, perfection be brought to a higher level in acommunity? A short remark will be enough for us toconclude the matter. If nowadays all men were prac-ticing the Law of God, would not all political, social,and economic problems that beset us be quicklysolved? What solution can we hope for them, howev-er, while men live in the usual non-observance of theLaw of God?

Did human society once achieve this ideal of per-fection? Undoubtedly. The Immortal Pope Leo XIIItells us so: Once the Redemption was accomplishedand the Church founded, “man, as if he were awaken-ing from an old, long, and mortal lethargy, saw thelight of the truth he had looked and longed for duringso many centuries; above all he recognized that he

was born for much higher and much more magnifi-cent possessions than the fragile and perishablethings attained by the senses and to which he haduntil then limited his thoughts and his concerns. Heunderstood that the whole constitution of humanlife, the supreme law, and the end to which every-thing must submit is that, coming from God, wemust return to Him one day.

“From this beginning and on this foundationconsciousness of human dignity was restored andlived again; the sense of a common brotherhoodtook possession of men’s hearts. In consequence,their rights and duties were perfected or establishedanew, and virtues beyond the conception of ancientphilosophy were revived. So men’s purposes, tenor oflife, and characters were changed, and the knowl-edge of the Redeemer having spread far and wideand His power having penetrated into the very life-blood of the nations, expelling their ignorance andancient vices, a marvelous transformation tookplace, which, originating in Christian civilization,utterly changed the face of the earth” (Leo XIII,encyclical Tametsi Futura Prospicientibus).

Christian civilization, Christian cultureThis splendid reality, an order and a perfection moresupernatural and heavenly than natural and earthly,has been called Christian civilization, the product ofChristian culture and in its turn daughter of theCatholic Church.

By culture of the spirit we may understand thefact that a soul is not committed to the unruly andspontaneous play of the operations of its faculties —intelligence, will, sensibility. On the contrary, by anorderly effort and in agreement with sound reason, ithas somewhat enriched these three faculties. So, justas it is not the cultivated field that causes all theseeds, chaotically brought by the wind, to bear fruit,but the one who through the right work of man pro-duces something useful and good.

In this sense, Catholic culture is the cultivation ofthe intelligence, the will, and the sensibility accordingto the norms of morality taught by the Church. Wehave already seen that it identifies itself with the veryperfection of the soul. If it exists in most members ofa human society (though in degrees and ways properto the social condition and age of each one), it will bea social and collective fact. Moreover, it will consti-tute an element — the most important one — ofsocial perfection itself.

Civilization is the condition of a human societythat possesses a culture and that has created, accord-ing to the basic principles of this culture, a whole setof its own customs, laws, institutions, and literaryand artistic systems.

A civilization will be Catholic if it is the faithful

product of a Catholic culture and if, therefore, thespirit of the Church is the normative and vital prin-ciple of its customs, laws, institutions, and literaryand artistic systems.

Since Jesus Christ is the true ideal of human per-fection and since a society that puts into practiceall His laws has to be a perfect society, the cultureand the civilization born from the Church of Christmust be not only the best civilization but also theonly true one. So does Holy Pope Pius X say: “Thereis no true civilization without moral civilization,and there is no true moral civilization save withtrue Religion” (Letter to the French Bishops on “LeSillon”).

It can be inferred from this with crystalline con-spicuousness that there is no true civilizationexcept as the result and fruit of the True Religion.

The Church and Christian civilizationOne would be singularly mistaken who thinks thatthe Church’s action upon men is merely individualand that She forms only persons, not peoples, norcultures, nor civilizations.

As a matter of fact, God created man naturallysociable, and he meant for men to work for the sanc-tification of one another in society. That is also whyHe created them receptive to influence. This can besaid about the relations between individuals andbetween individuals and society. Our surroundings,our laws, our institutions, all exert an influence onus; they have a pedagogical action upon us.

To entirely resist these surroundings, whose ide-ological action penetrates us even, as it were, byosmosis, through the skin, is an achievement of highand strenuous virtue. Thus it is that the first Chris-tians were not more admirable when facing the wildanimals in the Colosseum than when maintainingtheir Catholic spirit living in a heathen society.

Thus culture and civilization are very strongmeans of acting on souls — for their ruin when theculture and civilization are heathen; for their edifi-cation and salvation when Christian.

How, therefore, can the Church not take inter-

est in producing a culture and a civilization,remaining satisfied merely with acting upon eachsoul individually?

In fact, every soul on which the Church acts andwhich responds generously to such action is as acenter or a seed of that civilization, which Sheactively and vigorously spreads around. Virtueshines through and penetrates. By penetrating, itspreads itself. By acting and spreading itself, it has atendency to transform itself into a Catholic cultureand civilization.

As we have seen, the distinctive feature of theChurch is to produce a Christian culture and civi-lization, and to produce all Her fruits in a fullyCatholic social atmosphere. A Catholic must longfor a Christian civilization just as a man imprisonedin a dungeon wants open air and a caged bird yearnsafter the infinite expanses of the sky.

This is our purpose, our great ideal. We movetowards the Christian civilization that may arisefrom the ruins of today’s world, as the civilization ofthe Middle Ages were born from the ruins of theRoman world. We move towards the conquest ofthis ideal with the courage, the perseverance, thewill to face and overcome all obstacles with whichthe crusaders marched towards Jerusalem. If ourforebears were capable of dying to reconquer theSepulcher of Christ, how could we not want — wesons of the Church as they — to struggle and die torestore something that is of infinitely more worththan the most precious Sepulcher of the Savior, thatis, His reign over the souls and societies that He cre-ated and saved to love Him eternally?

Christus vincit! Christus regnat!Christus imperat!

This essay first appeared in Catolicismo in January 1951.


This is our purpose, our great ideal. We move towards the Christiancivilization that may arise from the ruins of today’s world, as the

civilization of the Middle Ages was born from the ruins of the Romanworld. We move towards the conquest of this ideal with the courage, theperseverance, the will to face and overcome all obstacles, with which the

crusaders marched towards Jerusalem.


Moving God, Moving History

There are times when history is seen froman all-too-human perspective.

Granted, man is the principal agent inhistory. His great deeds and misdeeds fill thehistory books, blending fact, myth, and leg-end to intrigue future generations.

However, man is not the only agent. Thereare times when men perform acts so sublimethat yet another agent enters. In these cases,men move God to act in history — and thesefeats capture the imagination and areimmortalized for all times.

Such a thesis fares ill among today’s secu-lar historians. They would prefer to explainaway history in a thousand other ways. Nev-ertheless, this is William Bush’s compellingthesis in his 1999 book To Quell the Terror:The Mystery of the Sixteen Carmelites ofCompiègne, Guillotined July 17, 1794.

Uncovering historyProfessor Bush’s story could not be more dra-matic. It is set at the height of the FrenchRevolution’s “Great Terror.” Sixteen Carmelitenuns were martyred at the guillotine whilepraising the glory of God in song and hymn,thus setting themselves apart from thou-sands who shared a similar fate.

No one disputes the fact that the story ofthese Compiegne martyrs — Blessed Thérèseof St. Augustine and companions — capturedthe popular imagination, even among non-Catholics. Fictional representations of theirstory were retold in Gertrude von Le Fort’snovella Song of the Scaffold and FrancisPoulenc’s opera Dialogues of the Carmelites.

However, William Bush, professor emeritusof French literature at Canada’s University ofWestern Ontario, delves yet deeper into thissublime event, developing a theme that can-not but leave the reader in captivating awe.

Mugged by historical reality, ProfessorBush likewise goes beyond the popular mythof a “good” French Revolution turned bad.Rather, he sees it for what it was: the begin-ning of a radical new order that overthrew“the ancient pact between France’s kings andChristianity’s triune God.”

Beyond fictionFiction often manages to embellish reality,the writers taking liberties that highlight thedramatic and obscure the imperfect. Ironi-cally, Professor Bush’s meticulous research ofthe Carmelite archives does the opposite.The facts he uncovers reveal the poverty ofthe fiction.

The literary representations of the

Carmelites’ story were made to satisfy secu-lar audiences. The fictitious Blanche de laForce, von le Fort’s vacillating nun afraid toface her martyrdom, stressed the all-too-human perspective where personal dramaeclipsed the supernatural calling of thesenuns who moved God to act in history.

Thus, Professor Bush succeeds where oth-ers have failed. He pierces the supernaturalmystery of the Carmelites’ martyrdom. Herecounts how the nuns, moved by grace, tookupon themselves a task so daring as to seemimpossible: They intended to save France.

A sublime offeringWhat history reveals is indeed sublime.

For a full twenty months before their exe-cution, the sisters came together in an act ofconsecration “whereby each member of thecommunity would join with the others inoffering herself daily to God, soul and bodyin holocaust to restore peace to France andto her Church.”

The nuns were not just mere victims ofthe Revolution overcome by circumstances.Contrary to the fiction, each contemplatedher martyrdom; each understood her offer-ing. Each sought that “greater love” of givingherself for her fellow man in imitation of theDivine Lamb Who redeemed humanity.

A tale of courage and holinessProfessor Bush recounts the complete storyof each of the sixteen Carmelites, relating inlively detail virtually all that is known of theirlives and backgrounds.

Each story is in itself a drama as varied asthe personalities involved. There was thestrong Mother Thérèse of Saint Augustine, amaternal woman of courage and characterwho led her daughters to martyrdom.

B o o k

R e v i e w

B Y J O H N H O R V A T I I

As the sixteen Carmelites of Compiègnewere called to climb the scaffold, each kneltin front of the prioress and kissed this smallstatue of Our Lady in her hands.


There was 74-year old Sister Jesus Cruci-fied who, despite her age, endured all. SisterJulia Louise was a poet and painter whocomposed a parody of the Marseillaise. Theimpulsive and philosophical SisterEuphrasie on her way to the guillotinepassed her office book to a young girl, wholater became a nun.

There was the young unprofessed SisterConstance, forbidden by the Revolution tomake her final vows. She did finally take hervows at the foot of the scaffold, where herfirst and last act as a professed Carmelitewas to ask permission to die.

These and all the other nuns, lay sisters,and even two hired extern sisters enduredharassment, expulsion, suppression, andinsult at the hands of the Revolution. Andtheir story, told by Professor Bush, is achronicle of sublime deeds aimed at mov-ing God.

A sacrifice acceptedPerhaps the most impressive part of theCarmelite story is that God was actuallymoved. Indeed, their arrest, trial, and exe-cution represented not a Catholic defeatbut a triumph.

In a courtroom once used by Saint Louis

himself, the nuns defended themselves withvalor before a Revolutionary tribunal, yet theywere condemned to death before nightfall.

The news of their impending death wasreceived with great happiness. It is relatedthat as they waited to be boarded on thetumbrels, the Carmelites joyfully sang Sis-ter Julia’s parody of the Marseillaise, defi-antly forcing the Revolutionary hymn toproclaim:

“Let’s climb, let’s climb the scaffold high!“Let’s give God the victory!”No one jeered and hooted at the nuns as

they went to the place of execution. Rather,an eerie silence surrounded the cortege asthe nuns continued their song. Naught washeard but the “austere chant of high solemnjoy” of those who, after some twentymonths of consecrating themselves eachday for this hour, God’s mercy allowed themto make this final act of holocaust. Eachnun knelt before the prioress, renewed hervows, kissed a tiny terracotta statuette ofMadonna and Child, and then mounted thescaffold high.

To quell the TerrorTen days after their deaths, Robespierre felland the Reign of Terror effectively ended.

Skeptical historians may scowl at makingthis connection, but it is hard to deny thatthe final acts of their death touched a pro-found chord.

Something in the very foundation of theedifice of the French Revolution was shak-en by the nuns’ defiant and joyful gesture.The eerie silence around the scaffold pre-saged the regime’s fall from power.

Professor Bush concludes that Godmanifested Himself in this martyrdom,which he claims frustrated the Revolution’sattempt to annihilate France’s “ancientpact” with God.

In a secular epoch, which excludes Godfrom history, To Quell the Terror leaves thereader with the conviction that while manmay abandon God, God does not abandonman. Come what may, God inspires HisChurch to act in history with astonishingpower and results.

The book begs the question. If today,God is not moved to act in history to deliv-er man from the iniquities of the modernworld, perhaps it is because there are noneto quell the modern day terror, none whodare offer themselves as victims to abatethe raging storm.

Let our hearts be giv’n to joyfulnessThe day of glory now is here!Let us banish all of our weakness,We can see that the cross now is near! (repeat)Let’s prepare ourselves for the victory!Let us each as a conqueror go forth!Under the cross, God’s great banner.Let’s all run, let’s all fly toward glory!Let our ardor be enflamed!Let’s give our bodies in his Name!Let’s climb, let’s climb, the scaffold high!We’ll give God the victory!Happiness that’s ever beckoningTo all the Catholics of FranceTo take up the path of the martyrsWhere many another’s advanced! (repeat)The martyrs go off to their passion

As did Jesus, followed by our king.Our faith as Christians let us bring,God’s righteousness let us adore!So let the priest with zeal,And all believers seal,Their faith, their faith, with all their blood,In a God who like them died.Great God who seest all my weaknessesAlthough I’m eager, still I fear.Confidently ardor now guides me,O do thou lend thine aid and be near! (repeat)Holy Virgin, our example.Of martyrs all the august Queen.Do thou deign to sustain our great ardorCleanse our desires, make us all pure andclean! (repeat)

Excerpts from

Sister Julia’s parody of the Marseillaise

Ten days after theCarmelites’ deaths,Robespierre fell andthe Reign of terroreffectively ended.

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The Way of the Cross features Prof. Plinio Corrêa deOliveira’s meditations on the fourteen stations, espe-cially suited to our days, in a handsome new edition.

“Grant me, Jesus, the grace to continue toembrace my cross, even when I collapse under itsweight. Grant me, Lord, the supreme grace ofnever departing from the way by which I mustreach the height of my own Calvary.”

The Way of the Cross

The holy Gospels show us with great clarity howmuch our Divine Savior in His mercy pities our painsof soul and body. To see this, we need only recall theawesome miracles He performed by His omnipo-tence to mitigate these pains.

Nevertheless, let us not imagine that this combatagainst pain and sorrow was the greatest gift He dis-pensed to mankind in this earthly life.

He who would close his eyes to the central fact ofOur Lord’s life — that He is our Redeemer and desiredto endure the cruelest sufferings in order to redeemus — would have misunderstood His mission.

Even at the very apex of His Passion, Our Lordcould have put an end to all those pains instantly bya mere act of His Divine will. From the very firstmoment of His Passion to the very last, He couldhave ordered His wounds to heal, His precious bloodto stop pouring forth, and the effects of the blows onHis Divine body to disappear without a scar. Finally,He could have given Himself a brilliant and jubilantvictory, abruptly halting the persecution that wasdragging Him to death.

Nevertheless, He willed none of this. On the con-trary, He willed to allow Himself to be led up the ViaDolorosa to the height of Golgotha; He willed to seeHis most holy Mother engulfed in the depths of sor-row; and, finally, He willed to cry out so that thosepiercing words, “My God, My God, why hast Thouforsaken Me?” (Matt. 27:46), would echo till the con-summation of the ages.

Through these realities we understand that bygranting each of us the grace of being called to suf-fer a portion of His Passion with Him, He made clearthe unrivaled role of the cross in the lives of men, inthe history of the world, and in His glorification.

Let us not think that by inviting usto suffer the pains and sorrows of thepresent life, He wished to dispenseeach of us from pronouncing, at thetime of death, our own consumma-tum est.

If we do not understand the roleof the cross, if we do not love thecross, if we do not read our own viacrucis, we will not fulfill Providence’sdesigns for us. And, when dying, we willnot be able to make ours the sublime excla-mation of Saint Paul: “I have fought a goodfight, I have finished my course, I have kept thefaith. As for the rest, there is laid up for me a crownof justice, which the Lord the just judge will renderto me in that day” (2 Tim. 4:7-8).

Any quality, however exalted, will avail nothingunless it be founded on love for the cross of Our LordJesus Christ. With this love we can obtain all, even ifwe find heavy the holy burden of purity and othervirtues, the unceasing attacks and mockeries of theenemies of the Faith, and the betrayals of falsefriends.

The great foundation, indeed the greatest foun-dation, of Christian civilization is that each andevery person cultivate a generous love for the HolyCross of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

May Mary help us with this, and we shall havereconquered for her Divine Son the reign of God thattoday flickers so faintly in the hearts of men.

An invitation to love

The Holy Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ

For this year’s Lent we wish to offer for our readers’consideration a great and supreme truth, whoseremembrance should shed light on all the meditations that good Catholics may choose to make on the theme.

h o ly w e e k




B Y R A Y M O N D D E S O U Z A

To be or not to be: That is the question

How often we hear the word ecumenismuttered today. That being so, we must keepclearly in mind that there are ecumenismand “ecumenism”: that is, a true ecumenism

that consists in bringing all peoplestogether into one Faith under oneShepherd, and a false ecumenism thatattempts to bring all faiths togetherinto one people.

To be truly ecumenical, then, wecan favor only the true ecumenism,which affirms the oneness of theTruth and the uniqueness of theCatholic Church as the Guardian andTeacher of that truth in its fullness.

Promoters of false ecumenism, nomatter what their creed, have thisone thing in common: They cannotaccept the Church’s claim of beingthe very Church founded by OurLord Jesus Christ — One, Holy,Catholic, and Apostolic. They prefera feathery fan of churches and theo-logical preferences — some congru-ent, some incongruent, some con-sistent, some inconsistent, someeven contradictory among them-selves, it doesn’t matter — in which

the fullness of the truth would be whateverwould emerge from a thoroughgoingmélange of all religions, beliefs, and theolog-ical opinions.

Proponents of this idea consider itcharming, non-sectarian, ecumenical, open-minded.

The trouble is that “open-minded” maysometimes simply mean empty headed —and such a feathery fan of religions reflectsthe vacuity of the false ecumenism that hasafflicted many sectors of the Church in thelast three decades or so.

It is the Truth that shall set us free, notthe sharing and mixing of personal opin-ions. A personal experience related belowwill illustrate the point.

* * *

It was mid-morning when he knocked atmy office door at International House indowntown Johannesburg, South Africa. Atthe time, I was the executive secretary of theTradition Family Property Bureau for South-ern Africa. He was a Methodist ministerwho had come to talk about certain “newdoctrines which the Roman CatholicChurch had added to the Bible throughcouncils and papal definitions,” as he him-self put it.

I am centering this article on himbecause of the debt of gratitude I owe him,for our conversation that day led me to takemy studies of Catholic doctrine more seri-ously.

After greetings and a few moments ofpreliminary mutual scrutinizing and decid-ing on what approach to adopt, he camequickly to the point: “Isn’t it true that theR.C. Church invented the doctrine of Tran-substantiation during the Council of Trent?”

Well, I had heard that one before, just asperhaps most Crusade readers have. The

C at h o l i cA p o l o g e t i c s

Many prefer a feathery, fluffy fan of churches andtheological preferences, some congruent, someincongruent, some consistent, some inconsistent, oreven contradictory.


broken record of anti-Catholic propagandasimply refuses to let itself be fixed.

I knew that a simple and straightforward“No, Sir, that is not true!” would not suffice.He would want more; he wanted to argue.And here is where my debt of gratitudecomes in: At that very moment, I remem-bered the oft-repeated words of ProfessorPlinio Corrêa de Oliveira, the founder of thefirst TFP, in Brazil, and the inspirer of all theTFP societies and bureaus on five conti-nents.

Professor de Oliveira used to say that forone to have a proper discussion, avoidinguseless argumentation and thinking clearlyto reach a logical conclusion, one had todefine some basic, mutually acceptablepremises for the argument.

That is the first key to discussing apolo-getics: One must enrich the premises, estab-lish a solid foundation, for the discussion sothat if your interlocutor is logical, he may, bythe inner consistency of interconnectedtruths, come to the proper conclusion.

So, I said to him: “Before I answer yourquestion, let’s establish a basic principle tomake sure we are using the same languageand talking about the same thing: Nothingcan be and not be at the same time and fromthe same point of view, wouldn’t you agree?”

He frowned for a moment, not beingused to thinking about thinking. “What doyou mean?”

“I’ll give you an example,” I replied. “Takethe Bible. Either it is the word of God or it isnot. It cannot be so for one person but notfor another and still be true. If it is the Wordof God, it is for everyone; conversely, if it isnot, it is for nobody. It just cannot be theWord of God for some and not be so for oth-

ers. Either it is inspired by God, or it isn’t.Agreed?”

“Naturally,” he replied with a smile, “ofcourse.”

“Very well, then,” I continued. “Take thedivinity of Christ, or the Trinity, the Resur-rection, or the virginal birth of Jesus. If thesebeliefs are true, no number of people whothink differently will ever be able to altertheir truthfulness. But if these beliefs are nottrue, no amount of belief on our part willever make them true. Correct?”

“By all means,” he replied, not without acertain note of exultation. “I am with you onthat. Let me give you an example of my own.It’s like the Popes and Council of the R.C.church. If they added new doctrines to theBible, no quantity of Catholics who believethat they didn’t will ever alter the historicalfact that they did… Correct?”

“Quite correct,” I said, not without a noteof exultation of my own. “By the same token,if the Popes and Councils of the ‘R.C.’ Churchdid not add new doctrines to the Bible, noamount of non-Catholics propagandaagainst them will ever change the historicalfact that nothing was added… Correct?”

He couldn’t escape the logic and simplynodded his head and cleared his throat,“humph… Yeah.”

“Very well,” I concluded, “That’s what Icall ecumenical dialogue. We are workingtogether to reach a conclusion, the only con-clusion worth reaching — the Truth. So ourbasic premise is established. Now let usapply it to the Eucharist. If Jesus is not pres-

ent in the Eucharist, really present in Hisrisen body, blood, soul, and divinity; in otherwords, if the Eucharist is just a symbol, asacred symbol to be sure, but just a symbol,then all Roman Catholics who for nearly2,000 years have bowed in adoration beforethe Eucharist would have been committinga sin of idolatry — albeit in ignorance —because they have worshipped a piece ofbread believing it to be Jesus. Right?”

“Too right!” he emphatically agreed. “AndI feel so sorry for them, those benightedRoman Catholics who behave like a bunchof idolaters when they worship a piece ofbread at Mass… Poor souls!”

“Most definitely,” I agreed, tongue-in-cheek, “most definitely. Yet you must alsoconcede that they do it in ignorance, for, intheir minds, they think that Jesus is there,whereas He would not be — in your view, ofcourse.”

I gave him a couple of seconds to under-stand my point, and went on: “If they com-mit any sin of idolatry, it would be commit-ted in ignorance, since they would not knowwhat they were doing — and we know thatJesus forgives sins of ignorance withoutdelay: ‘Father forgive them, for they knownot what they do.’ Remember?”

“Yes, of course,” he said condescendingly.“But we must help them to know the truth,and leave their dreadful state of ignorance.That’s the command Jesus gave His Apos-tles: ‘Go and make disciples of all people,baptizing them and teaching them toobserve all that I have commanded you’ —

“Too right!” he agreed, and emphatically so.“And I feel so sorry for them, those

benighted Roman Catholics who behavelike a bunch of idolaters when they worship

a piece of bread at Mass… poor souls!”


Matthew, chapter 28, verses 19 and 20, youknow?”

“Yes, I do know,” I replied with a mean-ingful nod.

He went on: “It took Luther and Calvin toliberate Christianity from the fetters ofRoman obscurantism and superstition, andall the rest.”

“If you say so. But let us move on,” I said.“If Luther and Calvin and their followers areright, we poor R.C. folks are wrong, and idol-aters in ignorance. We would be committinga material sin against the first command-ment, because we would have a false godbefore the true God.”

His wide smile sufficed to indicate histotal agreement with that.

I proceeded: “But now let us consider thealternative: Suppose, just suppose, thatJesus indeed changed the substance of thebread and wine into His own substance, sothat it was only the appearances of breadand wine that remained, and the substancenow was His own body and blood, soul anddivinity. In that case, the Roman Catholicsare right, and Luther, Calvin, and their fol-lowers are wrong. Correct?”

He condescended a little “yes,” quicklyadding, “But only if.”

I like this chap, I thought. He can uselogic. How I wish that more of our “up todate” Catholics would be like him. Then theChurch would not be in the state She is now.

“But there is more,” I went on. “If such isthe case, that is, if Jesus meant it literallyabout His body and blood being really pres-ent in the Eucharist, if that is the case, thenLuther, Calvin, and company are commit-ting a formal sin against the second com-mandment: you are blaspheming againstGod, because you are calling Jesus a liar.”

I said it slowly, so that my words mightsink into his mind, good and proper.

“I — beg — your — p-p-pardon?” hestammered, somewhat irate, as though I hadinsulted him down to the marrow of hisbones. “You mean that…”

“All I mean is if you are wrong, I did notsay you are actually wrong. But if you are,then you are actually saying that when Jesussaid, ‘This is my Body,’ and it actually wasn’t,He did not mean what He said, and whenone does not mean what he says, he is lying,purely and simply. If He is not in theEucharist, then He misled millions of Chris-tians who for all these hundreds of years

have believed in His words and taken themliterally. Pretty serious, eh?”

I gave him a couple of moments to digestthe implications of that. Manifestly, hecould not evade the logic of the argument. Itappeared he was thinking about the optionbetween Catholic idolatry and Protestantblasphemy. Suddenly, his eyes shone with aspecial light. Obviously, he had gotten agood idea, and before you could spell ‘tran-substantiation’ he said: “Quite right, but youknow that sometimes Jesus speaks figura-tively and sometimes He speaks literally,don’t you? So, how do you know if He spokethe words at the Last Supper as a parable, ametaphor, just as when He said, ‘I am thedoor,’ you don’t take it literally, do you? Hedoes not become wood, does He? Or whenHe says, ‘I am the vine,’ He doesn’t growleaves, does He? So there!”

“Excellent!” I agreed. “There are timeswhen Jesus wants us to take His words liter-ally, and times when He wants us to takethem figuratively. But how do you proposeto distinguish between the two?”

My visitor replied with a smile: “It alldepends on how you interpret it, of course.”

I just could not let that one pass: “Excuseme, my friend. How can it be literal in oneperson’s interpretation, and figurative inanother’s? Either His walking on water ishistorical fact or it isn’t. He cannot walk fig-uratively for me and literally for you. EitherHe multiplied bread and fish or it was just afigure of speech. It cannot be both! Whatev-er happened to logic? It is irrational for theEucharist to be a matter of individual inter-pretation. Either He changed bread andwine into His Body and Blood, or He didn’t.”

“But all reformed theologians affirm theprinciple of individual interpretation,” hesaid.

“But all of them are wrong in affirmingit,” I replied. “Remember that you agreedwith me at the beginning of our discussionthat ‘Nothing can be and not be at the sametime and from the same point of view’? Howcan you switch now into religious rela-tivism?”

“But we Bible Christians interpret theBible by the light of the Holy Spirit!” Heasserted, very earnestly.

“I am a Bible Christian too, for your info,and it was a group of bishops in my Churchwho, in the very early days, wrote the wholeNew Testament, inspired directly by theHoly Spirit. Another group of our bishops,over 300 years later, put the Bible together,keeping only the books that were inspiredand leaving out those that were not. More-over, it was a fellow-Catholic of mine, a chapcalled Gutenberg, who invented the printingpress and used it for the first time to print aCatholic Bible. For nearly 2,000 years, hisChurch has interpreted the Bible and taughtits contents to the people without contra-diction, even making explicit what was onlyimplicit.”

“But we Bible Christians interpret theBible by the light of the Holy Spirit!” Heasserted, even more earnestly.

“Is that so?” I asked. “Tell me then, why isit that there are so many contradictoryinterpretations of the Bible among non-Catholics? Look at the multiplicity of non-Catholic denominations, movements, sects,and sub-sects — thousands of them, Biblein hand, interpreting it individually andreaching contradictory conclusions! What isthe result? Doctrinal chaos. Will you tell menow that the Holy Spirit is guiding them

Since Our Lord is theTruth, whatever Hetaught can only beone thing; it cannotbe two things at the

same time.

into contradictory conclusions, producing chaos?Or is it some other spirit — no names mentioned— that inspires this doctrinal confusion”?

“The truth shall set us free!” he affirmed, star-ing me the face.

“Quite right!” I agreed, enthusiastically, staringright back. “The truth, not opinions and personalinterpretations. But let me tell you more: Why isit that today, every Tom, Dick and Harriett(please excuse a spot of inclusive language, sincethere are also women, not just us males, whodeny the oneness of the truth) can interpret theBible privately, all supposedly reasonably, guidedby the Holy Spirit, etc., etc., but when the CatholicChurch interprets it, they all say we are wrong?Surely you do not own the Holy Spirit!”

My visitor suddenly remembered havinganother appointment, and it really was gettinglate. As we moved to the door, I concluded: “Yes,there are times when Jesus speaks figuratively,and His words must be taken figuratively byeveryone, Catholic and Protestant alike. Andthere are times when He speaks literally, and allwho call themselves Christian must take Hiswords literally. Come again another time andwe’ll take a look at chapter 6 of St John’s Gospeland see for ourselves whether Jesus spoke figura-tively or literally in His long discourse on theEucharist. Will you come?”

My visitor said he would, we shook hands, andhe left. But he never came back.

* * *

Our readers will find the basic argumentationI prepared for this episode in a previous issue ofCrusade (January-February, 1998). I hope andpray that my interlocutor will some day open hisheart and mind to the guidance of divine grace,which the Holy Spirit freely grants to all who wishto receive it, and draw the logical conclusionsfrom the premises that he himself accepted.

If — or when — he does so, he will become aCatholic.

We would all do well to remember — as weread, study, and reflect — the wise counsel Prof.Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira used to give those wish-ing to think according to the mind of Our LordJesus Christ: Love the truth, never compromise it,and learn to enrich the basic premises of yourarguments with truth. The rest shall be addedunto you, so to speak.

I have recently read your article “ADestructive Equality,” and foundmyself in total agreement with all yourpoints.

As a woman, I’m proud of my femi-ninity God has given me, and alwaystry to enhance it in the way I dress andin my manners.

How right you are to point out thatwe as women should develop humilityand at times have the courage toremain in the background. This is anattitude that the feminists will neveraccept. Feminism puts forward a dif-ferent agenda that tries to destabilizeGod’s natural order. Prayer is ourgreat resource to combat the evil offeminism.

Praying that God will keep us firmin our resolve to remain truly feminineand may I add, ladylike.

D.W., Wallington, England

This is a beautiful magazine. It islearned for the schooled and under-standable for those who had a difficulttime in school.

I hope the magazine will be a suc-cess because I want to be able to readit for years and years.

M.M., Rochester, New York

Please reinstate my subscription. Iregret asking you to cancel it. Afterreading the second issue, I was deeplymoved and really liked the format.While money is tight, like I previouslysaid, there are other things I can cutback on in order to afford this sub-scription.

C.K., Necedah, Wis.

I am one of the people NormanFulkerson interviewed for the article“Gone with the Wind” that appearedin Crusade. I just wanted to thank youfor printing the article and to let youknow how much those of us in reen-acting appreciate being quoted prop-erly and presented in a dignified andcivilized light. Many times, we havebeen interviewed and then our wordsare taken out of context or embroi-dered in such a way that we appear

rather foolish or “crazy,” or our wordsmight be used to fulfill some secretdesign preordained by the writer. Mr.Fulkerson’s article was fair, sympathet-ic, truthful, and a pleasure to read.Thank you so much for printing it andfor letting some of us tell just why it iswe are drawn to another time sostrongly. It was truly a pleasure to dealwith Mr. Fulkerson and, through him,with your magazine.

S.C. (email)

My family has always enjoyed thediverse issues projected in your maga-zine, yet, in your Sept/Oct. issue wewere absolutely enthralled by the spe-cial report “Following the Stars to San-tiago,” a pilgrimage made by a youngman in modern Spain.

More beautiful and astoundingthan the prodigy of stories spillingover from every paragraph was thespirit of the pilgrim who had under-gone such a test of faith andendurance. We were awed that some-one so young could love his Faith somuch, to such a degree. It is true thatyoung people today endure terrificphysical demands and abuse for allsorts of personal gains, yet how manywould do so for spiritual enrichment?

I simply had to commend yourmagazine for pursuing such stories.They serve our souls as effectively asthe most uplifting homily!

M.B., Allentown, Penn.

I read your recent article about theman who walked from France to thetomb of St. James in Spain. I want todo the same thing, but I don’t knowwhat to do in order to get started. Howdo I arrange everything, whom do Icontact, where do I get started? etc.

I was hoping you might be able tohelp me. Maybe you could put me incontact with someone who could. Anyhelp you can give would be greatlyappreciated. I am a Catholic andwould be doing this as an act ofpenance.

S.D., Baltimore, Maryland

Letters to the Editor



B Y J E R E M I A S W E L L S

Crusades and Crusading

One of the most amazing studies in reli-gious fervor after the reform movement ofCluny and Saint Gregory VII was the transi-tion of that movement into the holy warfareknown as the Crusades. Moreover, the oppo-nents of the Christians, for the most part,were themselves aroused by religiousmotives which often reached the level offanaticism. Under the guidance of the greatpopes, the Church utilized the monasticideal to reshape secular institutions in thisworld to accept a greater influence of reli-gious motivation so as to prepare men’ssouls for the world to come.

Among the many factors that con-tributed to the Crusades, three stand out:the moral reform of the laity begun byCluny, a desire to end the Greek schism of1054, and the encroachment of the Moslemsupon Christendom. Although Cluny did notinitiate any of the developments that led tothe Crusades, it did exert an enormousinfluence that aroused the religious spirit inthe feudal nobility. In 1054 the rebelliousPatriarch of Constantinople revived theperiodic dispute between the Papacy andthe Empire that ended once again in a split.While Western Christendom was adoptinga more bellicose attitude towards itsMoslem neighbors, a new wave of attackscame from the recently-converted SeljukTurks in the east.

Reform in Christian societyBecause of its holiness, Cluny was able toinsist on the moral reform of the lay feudalnobility and to absorb laymen into the lifeof the Church. The monks had long soughtthe Peace of God, which provided specialprotection for churches, clerics, the poor

and defenseless, and the Truce of God,which forbade war on certain days and peri-ods of the year. The lower nature of man,that is his appetite for brute force and plun-der, had to be brought under the control ofsoul and mind.

As the concept of a holy war grewthrough the endeavors of the reform popes,especially Leo IX, Alexander II, and GregoryVII, the Church succeeded in channeling thewarlike propensities of the nobility into holycauses. The first great example occurredduring the Norman war in Sicily. Motivatedby a desire that the Christians should notlive under Moslem servitude, Count Roger,the youngest of the famous Hautevillebrothers, spent thirty arduous yearsreclaiming the island from the Saracens.Resembling crusaders in many ways, thewarriors went to confession and receivedHoly Communion. After victory, the spoilsof war were either taken to a church or usedto build one. During a battle near Cerami in1063, the Normans saw Saint George, thefuture patron of the Crusades, in the front oftheir ranks on a white horse and carrying abanner with a shining white cross. Afterhearing of their exploits, Alexander II grant-ed the warriors absolution and sent a ban-ner in the name of the Holy See with whichthey were to attack the Moslems.

Another impressive example of using thesword for the Catholic faith developed innorthern Italy by the Patarine movementagainst married and simoniac clergy andevil-living priests in general. Alexander, whoearlier as a bishop had helped organize themovement, conferred the military leader-ship on the Knight Erlembald. The latteroriginally planned to retire to a monastery

after leading a virtuous life, but Alexanderstrictly commanded him to go to Milan anddefend the interests of the Church. Eventu-ally his military activities were drawn intothe wider arena of the conflict betweenHenry IV and Gregory VII who gave theChristian knight valuable support. After tenyears of repeated battles, Erlembald fell as amartyr in 1075, thus becoming the firstknight-saint in history (feast, June 27).

In the decades before the first Crusade tothe Holy Land, the concept of Knighthoodas a separate order in Christian societyemerged when the Church introduced intoits liturgy the consecration of the knight’ssword. A shared culture of warrior tough-ness, honor, and skilled horsemanship wasjoined to religious obligation. The combina-tion of military training and religious devo-tion gave the Crusaders an enormous cohe-sion when they were exposed to almostinsurmountable physical and mental pres-sures on the march to Jerusalem.

The Eastern SchismSplendor, wealth, and learning still elevatedConstantinople above the other great citiesof Christendom. Yet too often immorality,vanity, vengeance, and the practice of muti-lation infected the emperors and the atten-dant courtiers, which contributed to aninexorable imperial decline. Continual reli-gious problems with the West fanned by theproud pretensions of some bishops and the-ologians — although not all — contributedto the Byzantine demise, at the root ofwhich was the reluctance to recognize thehierarchical supremacy of Rome.

In the ninth century, Photius, a vainscholar, usurped the Patriarchate of Con-

Chapter XXIII

H i s t o ryof

w e s t e r nc i v i l i z at i o n


stantinople and caused a schism of severalyears which was healed only with difficulty.During the pontificate of Saint Leo IXanother ambitious Patriarch, Michael Ceru-larius, revived the schism of Photius. He cir-culated a puerile pamphlet that criticizedseveral Latin customs, including the addi-tion of “and from the Son” (filioque) in theCreed. Cerularius struck a sympatheticchord with many resentful churchmen andmonks who harbored at least some of theabsurdities in their own minds. Eventuallythe clever patriarch was able to drag theentire eastern Church into schism.

Another problem brought on a politicaldecadence when the Byzantines provedutterly incapable of finding even a mediocreruler to lead them during the middledecades of the eleventh century. The decaybecame obvious during the lifetime of theEmpress Zoe, short, plump, and of limitedintelligence. When her weak father, Con-stantine VIII, died in 1028, the fifty-year-oldEmpress married a useless fop. She soon

tired of him, had him murdered in his bath,and the same night married a seventeen-year-old peasant youth who becameMichael VII (1034-41). Because of a circula-tory disease, the once-handsome youngman saw his body turn into a heap of bloat-ed flesh. He died in his twenties while tryingto appease divine justice in a monastery. Hisreplacement, Michael V, was blinded andremoved from the palace one year later. Theineffective Constantine IX, Zoe’s third hus-band, outlived her and is chiefly remem-bered for the progressive weakening of theEmpire’s military strength while a horde ofAsiatic Moslems was descending upon itseastern territories.

Rise of the Seljuk TurksJust about the time Zoe took her secondhusband, another wild tribe of pastoralnomads came thundering out of Russiansteppes. The Arab and Persian Moslems,having succumbed to the refined, delightfulpleasures of the cities, were overrun by the

Seljuk Turks, who reinvigorated the disap-pearing military spirit of Islam. Once thehardy, austere warriors from the fringes ofIslamic civilization accepted their religion,they also accepted its central principle: notnecessarily to convert the world by force ofarms, but to impose Islamic authoritythrough holy war. After triumphing over thePersians, Tughril Bey, the grandson of theSeljuk founder, conquered Baghdad and wasinvested by the Abbasid caliph with thetitles of sultan and King of the East andWest. His successor Alp Arlsan took the warinto Byzantine Armenia.

The Eastern Emperor Romanus Dio-genens, surprisingly a man of some mettlewho had survived the treacherous courtintrigue, marched into Armenia with a largeforce to defend the frontier. In 1071Romanus encountered the sultan in front ofthe village of Manzikert. The once strongByzantine army, now reduced to 40,000through treachery and desertion, faced anequal number of Turks.

Halys River

Euprate s River

The Crusaders’ route from Constantinople to Jerusalem


The classic Turkish strategy wasemployed from the beginning as theMoslem mounted archers rode toward theGreeks firing volleys of arrows and thenquickly retreating. Unable to close with theenemy in hand-to-hand combat, Romanus’army was riddled with arrows over a periodof hours and annihilated. The emperor wascaptured, treated with dignity, and released.Upon his return, he was deposed and blind-ed so brutally that he soon died.

With the only Byzantine standing armydestroyed, the Seljuks swept on to take theinterior of Asia Minor, the source of much ofthe grain and military manpower for theEmpire. The loss of Asia Minor, the scene ofSaint Paul’s early missions and a bastion ofChristianity against the eastern hordes,opened up an avenue to Constantinople, theBalkans, and the heart of Europe. Out of theensuing military anarchy, Alexius Com-nenus, a soldier and a leader of some ability,emerged as the new Emperor. With fewviable options available, he appealed toWestern Christendom for help.

Urban IIThe intellectual and moral leadership ofEurope passed into the hands of BlessedUrban II, a Pope who was uniquely qualifiedto bring the crusading idea into reality. As aFrenchman and former Cluniac prior, hehad the gift to awaken the religious fervor ofthe French, Lorraine, and Norman knightsthat formed the core of the crusading move-ment. When Emperor Alexis requested mil-itary assistance to protect his crumblingempire, Urban saw an opportunity not onlyto try to heal the Eastern Schism, but also tostrike a blow at the resurgent Moslem threatagainst Western civilization.

In the summer of 1095, Urban traveledthrough southern France, visiting Cluniachouses and attending the wedding of theson of Count Raymond IV of Toulouse,where he conferred with many who wereactive in the Spanish Reconquest. Only afew years earlier, that effort received a seri-ous setback when the Almoravid Moorswiped out the army of Alfonso VI of Castilewhose daughter had just recently marriedthe powerful and wealthy Count ofToulouse.

As the eloquent Pope moved on towardsa Church council at Clermont in Auvergne, agrowing excitement of anticipation moved

with him. At the end of eight days of routinebusiness, the Pope and his entourage of 14archbishops, 225 bishops, and 90 abbots, allwearing their robes of office, went in solemnprocession to a public gathering outsidetown. There a scarlet-covered platform hadbeen erected, for the assembled crowd washuge. Urban, an orator of impressive talent,described the desecrations by the Moslemsand urged his listeners to rescue the HolyLand. A great shout of “Deus vult!” brokeout. “Yes, God wills it,” he exclaimed in reply,“and let that divinely-given cry be yours inbattle.” Hundreds of knights tore up strips ofred cloth to form crosses, which became theemblem of their service to the Crucified.Raymond of Toulouse announced that hehad taken the Cross and would support theCrusade with all his power.

That impassioned call for a holy warreverberated throughout Western Christen-dom. Blessed Urban, bishops, and priestswent throughout the land raising the level ofreligious enthusiasm and promising theremission of punishment due to sins inreturn for the crusader’s vow of service.Since the kings of England, France, and Ger-many were all excommunicated and notinclined to help anyway, Urban had to relyon the great nobles for organization andleadership.

The crusading armyThe noble regiments were composed of con-tingents devoted to four great princes, all ofwhom had the strengths and defects thatran the spectrum from the love of service forthe interests of Christianity to the most

“Amen I say to you, as longas you did it to one of theseMy least brethren, you did itto Me” Matt. 25:40.F o r g ot t e n

T r u t h s

Saint Louis de Montfort, the greatseventeenth-century French missionaryand Marian apostle, once stopped at aconvent of nuns after a full-day’s walk.So exhausted and soiled from his jour-ney was he, that the nun who answeredthe door did not recognize him.

It was supper time, and the saintbegged the sister for some sustenance,mentioning that he had walked formany miles that day but had had noth-ing to eat.

The nun refused him and bade himgo away with the feeble excuse thatsupper was not ready. Saint Louis hadno choice but to continue on his way,still tired and famished.

Another sister, having seen the

exchange from a window, ran down tothe sister-porter and rebuked her: Didyou not recognize who that was? Thatwas Father de Montfort!

The sister-porter, frightened andmortified, ran off after the saint, by thistime some distance from the convent.

Reaching him, she besought hispardon for not having recognized himand told him that supper was readyand that he would be most welcometo have some.

The saint stopped, looked back, andreplied, “What you would not do forJesus Christ you now want to do forLouis de Montfort.” Then, bidding hergood night, he continued on his way.

B Y G A R Y I S B E L L

base desire for earthly success. Godfrey ofBouillon, Duke of lower Lorraine, who had amuch-deserved reputation for religiousenthusiasm, justice, and personal courage,marched at the head of French- and Ger-man-speaking Rhinelanders. Only Godfreyseemed indifferent to the idea of gainingfeudal territories in the east. The largestgroup, with seventy or eighty thousandsouthern Frenchmen (Provençals), followedthe capable but harsh Raymond IV, Count ofToulouse and Marquis of Provence. Withhim went Bishop Adhemar of Le Puy, thepapal legate. Although Raymond could beruthless and crafty, he was not initially moti-vated by material ambition and apparentlydid not intend to return to his Europeanpossessions nor did Godfrey.

The Normans of south Italy looked to theimpressive warrior Bohemond, the son ofRobert Guiscard, for leadership. He had runup a string of victories in his father’s cam-paign to wrestle Greece from the ByzantineEmpire, which ended in failure because ofpestilence some years earlier. From thebeginning, Bohemond intended to carve outa kingdom for himself in the East and wassufficiently unscrupulous to succeed. Hisnephew Tancred, a warrior of equal ability,accompanied him. The fourth group wasloosely organized around Duke Robert(Curthose) of Normandy, who was a paleshadow of his father, William the Conqueror.This group contained some illustriousnames, but they lacked the tenacity andvision that marked the other leaders justmentioned.

Although Alexius sought help from theWest, when he heard that approximately300,000 fighting men in four units weredescending upon his capital city, a shiver offear ran up his spine. But his scheming anddevious nature rose to the occasion. As eachgroup arrived, he loaded the leaders withrich presents, obtained an oath of fealtyfrom all except Raymond, and quickly fer-ried them across the Bosporus before thenext group came on the scene.

NicaeaAlexius prevailed upon the crusaders toinaugurate the campaign against the Turksby reconquering Nicaea, the site of two earlyecumenical councils, which the Moslemsused as their Anatolian capital. The city,with its high, double walls and over 300 tow-

ers, presented a difficult challenge. The Sul-tan Kilidge Arslan allowed the crusaders toapproach the fortress and set up their tents.He then rode down upon them with 100,000horsemen. The infantry, with some difficul-ty, stood their ground. When the Christianknights attacked from all sides, the Turkshad to abandon their usual hit-and-run tac-tics and face the crushing charge of theheavily-armed knights. The Moslem’s attackbroke down and they fled back into the hills,leaving several thousand of their own deadon the field.

Alexius assisted in the siege, which last-ed several weeks. He knew that if the Euro-peans entered Nicaea first they wouldspread death and destruction. The Emperorwanted to possess the city undamaged, so

he secretly negotiated its surrender andoccupied it before the crusaders realizedthey had been tricked. Since Alexius, towhom most had taken the oath of fealty, wasinside and they were out, the crusadersdecided to move on to their next main tar-get, Antioch, once the See of Saint Peter andthe second largest city in the East.

The march through AnatoliaMarching from the northwest of Asia Minortowards the southeast, the crusaders dividedtheir force into two columns a few milesapart. The forward and smaller division con-sisted of the French and Italian Normansunder Bohemond and Robert. Raymond,Godfey, and Bishop Adhemar led the larger

column of Lorrainers and Provençals.On the third day, as the Normans passed

though a mountain gap near Dorylaeumonto open land, they saw in front of them anenormous concentration of Seljuk Turksunder Kilidge Arslan, numbering as many as200,000 warriors, all mounted. They openedwith their usual revolving tactics of firing ahail of arrows, falling back, and allowing thenext wave to repeat the onslaught. Through-out the morning and into the early afternoonin the dusty heat of the Anatolian summer,the Turks outflanked the Christians andmoved in for the kill. But they paid dearly.The Normans smashed away with their longswords and heavy maces and held the lineunder the sturdy command of Bohemond.

Then suddenly, as time was running out,Godfey of Bouillon rode over a nearby hilland attacked the Turkish left flank. Ray-mond came in from the other side and Bish-op Adhemar, in full battle armor, rode downon the rear. In close quarters, the power ofthe Christians was overwhelming, and theTurks went down by the thousands. Thosewho could, escaped. Later in the day, the vic-torious knights ransacked the Seljuk campand found a wealth of goods. The Sultan ofNicaea never showed his face again, butwent in advance of the crusaders, layingwaste the country and poisoning the wells.

AntiochAfter a four-month march of frightful suffer-ing from heat and thirst in the desert andcold and fatigue in the mountains, theweary and emaciated soldiers of Christarrived before Antioch in October of 1097with only 100,000 left. The massive walls dis-couraged any thought of building siegeengines powerful enough to breach the cen-turies-old stonework. The crusadersencamped on the plains opposite the north-east wall and attempted to starve out thebesieged. But the cold, the rain, and the win-ter wind caused far more suffering to theChristians huddled in their soaking wettents. Provisions ran out to be followed byfamine and disease.

When despair and a lack of piety andvirtue threatened the moral well-being ofthe camp, Adhemar ordered prayers andfasts to avert divine indignation and bringback to mind the holy purpose of the pil-grimage. The devout bishop organized pro-cessions and directed hymns of penitence.


The battle of Antioch

Bohemond, with only 700 mounted knightsleft, nevertheless won two outstanding vic-tories over relief forces. In the spring, Italianships unloaded supplies at the port of St.Simon’s, twelve miles away. The Turksalmost hijacked the entire shipment, butthe supplies and its escort were saved bythe vigorous action of Godfrey. It was dur-ing that skirmish that the powerful knightcut a Turk completely in half with onestroke of his sword.

Finally the Turkish, Arab, and PersianMohammedans, alarmed by the threat ofthe soldiers of Christ, decimated as theywere, put together a force of well over120,000 horsemen and marched on theweary crusaders. Bohemond, always on thealert for personal gain, even in times of cri-sis, forced the leaders with the exception ofRaymond to acknowledge that he was thelord of Antioch. He bribed a Turkish officerto betray into his hands a key tower fromwhich the courageous but unprincipledNorman captured the city-fortress.

The Moslem horde arrived before thegates of Antioch early in June and shut upthe dwindling and once again starving armyof crusaders. The last hope of the besiegedvanished when Alexius, riding to the rescue,decided not to risk his own safety, turnedback to Constantinople and abandoned thesuffering Christians to their fate.

On the morning of June 28, after confess-ing their sins and receiving the Body andBlood of Christ at Mass, the Christians filedout through the Bridge gate into the slopingfield across the river. Taking the highground, Bohemond placed the 40,000 footsoldiers in front, led by dismounted knightswho had lost their horses. Behind theinfantry rode the knights, now reduced toabout 300. The crusaders marched forwardcrying out “Deus vult!” which gave them anenormous impetus as they crashed into thelines of stunned Moslems and swept theenemy before them. Word spread through-out the line that unknown men in brightarmor and mounted on white chargers wereriding with them. The charge turned into arout, then into a slaughter. The Moslems left70,000 dead on the battlefield that day.

JerusalemFor the next several months, the leaders,especially Bohemond and Raymond, lostsight of their religious ideals and quarreled

incessantly. Bohemond emerged as the soleruler and Prince of Antioch and refused torisk his newly-gained possessions with anyfurther crusading. Baldwin of Boulogne, God-frey’s brother, had taken a similar positionearlier by acquiring the County of Edessa.Raymond continued to argue and sulk. Final-ly Godfrey, fed up with all the delays,announced that he and the two Roberts(from Normandy and Flanders) were going tofulfill their holy vow and go up to Jerusalem.Raymond reluctantly decided to follow, espe-cially when many of his Provençals nowlooked to Godfey for leadership.

In June of 1099 they arrived before thewalls of Jerusalem, which was then held bythe Fatimid Arabs of Egypt. With their usualreligious zeal and grim determination, theChristians prepared to attack the walls.Their fighting force had been reduced to1200 knights and 10,000 foot soldiers, with asimilar number of noncombatants whoproved to be quite useful in carrying water,wood, and other supplies. A small fleet ofGenoese ships arrived at a nearby port withmore supplies and wood for the building ofsiege engines. An Egyptian fleet followed

behind and destroyed the vessels, but fortu-nately the sailors, all trained workmen, sal-vaged the woodworking tools. They builtthree huge wooden towers, the third story ofwhich consisted of a drawbridge that wouldprovide an avenue of attack when loweredon to the ramparts.

In spiritual preparation for the attack,the Christians marched barefooted insolemn procession around the wall over tothe Garden of Olives. From the height of theramparts, the Moslems ridiculed the piety ofthe warriors and blasphemed Our Lord.From below the crusaders vowed to avengethe honor of Jesus Christ. On the last day ofthe assault, Godfrey climbed one of the tow-ers. The drawbridge came flying down ontothe north wall. He and Eustace, his brother,led the Rhinelanders and Tancred’s Nor-mans against the defenders on the wall anddown into the city. The remaining crusadersbroke into the city at other points. Theyovercame a spirited resistance that ended ina general massacre.

This is not the end of the story, only thebeginning, for Crusades were fought for thenext 600 years. Following this great success,abysmal failures will intermix with furthersuccesses. The crusaders at their bestreflected a society that accepted Catholicprinciples and consecrated itself to God andHis Church. Failure came in proportion tothe number of those in Catholic society whodeviated from that consecration.

Biographical noteA comprehensive list of all the works used in thisstudy would be much too long, and many have beenmentioned already. Indispensable was Carl Erd-mann, The Origin of the Idea of Crusade (Princeton,1977).Although we consulted scholarly works, in particu-lar, H. E. Mayer, The Crusades (Oxford, 1972) andvolume I of the multi-volume set edited by KennethSetton, for the blood and thunder details, we usedthe more popular war horses by Michaud, Lamb,Campbell, and Belloc, all of whom have thestrengths and defects of the various authors’ pointsof view and style.There are several monographs on the principalleaders by Charles W. David (Robert Curthose,1920); Ralph B. Yewdale (Bohemond, 1924); RobertL. Nicholson (Tancred, 1938); John C. Andressohn(Godfrey of Bouillon, 1947): John and Laurita Hill(Raymond IV, 1962).


Godfrey of Bouillon enters Jerusalem — engravingby Gustave Doré


B Y A N D R E A P H I L L I P S

The Queen of Heaven andthe Son of Thunder

W hen Our Blessed Lordascended into heaven, He

left His most holy Motherhere on earth for several years tohelp the young Catholic Church.

All of the Apostles and disciplesheld her in great esteem and sought

her counsel in all things. She, the holi-est, wisest, and most blessed of women,

always had a word of encouragement andprecious advice to answer their requests. At

times, as the Apostles and disciples went ontheir journeys to far off places to preach the Faith,

she would send one or several of her many guardianangels to strengthen or console them in some way.

For example, after the Apostles’ Creed had beencomposed by the Twelve, she wrote several copies ofthis profession of our Faith with her own hand and,summoning several of her angels, bade them deliverthese copies to the disciples who were in distantplaces so they might recite it and teach others to dothe same.

She also prayed constantly for their work andbegged God to deliver them from the assaults of thedevil, who from the very beginning has unceasinglyprowled around seeking to destroy God’s Church.

The Apostle Saint James the Greater, brother ofSaint John the Evangelist and a cousin to Our LordJesus, had a most special and tender devotion to OurBlessed Lady. Possessed of a generous nature, hepreached the word of God with such zeal and fear-lessness that he aroused the fury of all who hated OurLord and His Church. The more the evil people perse-cuted him the more ardently and louder he preached.Some say that he had a powerful, booming voice, in

keeping with his designation as a “Son of Thunder.”He knew how needful he was of Our Lady’s help andsought it constantly.

One day, about a year and a half after the death ofOur Lord, Saint James traveled to Spain to carry thetrue Faith to the people there. In imitation of hisMaster, he took twelve disciples with him. One of thefirst cities he and his disciples visited was Granada inthe south of Spain. In Granada were several Jews whohated the new Faith of Jesus and watched the new-comers closely. Saint James and the disciples fearless-ly began to preach as if nothing were wrong. Whileseveral of these Jews became impressed and listened,others became even more hardened against theseholy men and began a terrible persecution againstthem. Seizing one of them, they brought him to hismartyrdom.

Yet another day they managed to seize Saint Jamesand the remaining eleven and took them to a fieldoutside the walls of Granada to put them to death. Ashad occurred so many times before, Saint Jamesprayed to the Blessed Mother to assist them. If theywere to die for her Son, then he wished that somehowhe be allowed to see her before dying.

Back in Jerusalem, by a special gift granted to herby her Divine Son, the Holy Virgin, saw everythingthat was happening, and her mother’s heart went outto this devoted son who sought her help. She felt agreat sorrow that she was so far away, but knowingthat nothing is impossible to God, she besought herSon to allow her to aid Saint James and his friends.

Our Lord, seeing His Mother’s holy desire fromheaven, commanded the angels of her guard to carryher to Spain. Immediately, one thousand angelsappeared before her and, placing her on a shining

fa m i lys e r i e s

One of the miraculousaspects of the statue ofOur Lady of the Pillar, inSaragossa, Spain, is thatdust never settles on it.

throne of clouds, carried her across the sea to Granada.All the while, Saint James and his disciples

remained in great danger. The Jews already had theirswords bared and ready to strike when, looking up,the Apostle beheld his beloved Queen and Mothercoming on this dazzling cloud surrounded by angels.She spoke beautiful words of encouragement to thisfaithful son and made him understand that he andhis companions were not yet to shed their blood forher Son.

At her command, their fetters and chains fell tothe ground. Simultaneously, the would-be execution-ers fell as if dead and remained stunned for manyhours. The devils that had accompanied them andincited them to this terrible deed were hurled into thedeepest abysses of Hell, leaving Saint James and hisfriends completely free.

Saint James was filled with joy at the sight of his

Queen and what she had done. He thanked her fromthe depth of his heart and, bowing his face to theground, thanked God Our Lord for such a favor.Although the other disciples had not seen her and thethousand angels, they understood that a great miraclehad taken place, and Saint James later told them whathe had seen to increase and confirm their Faith.

Before leaving, the Most Holy Mother wished tobless Spain even further by sending Saint James allover its territory to preach the new Faith of her Son.For this she assigned hundreds of her own angels toaccompany him and his disciples wherever they went,showing them the way and protecting them fromevery danger. In this manner, the Son of Thunder andhis worthy friends traveled throughout Spain andbrought about many conversions.

Eventually they entered the old city of Saragossa.There, the Mother of God came to visit Saint James



once more. This came about in the following manner.One day, Our Lord Jesus decided in heaven to visit

His mother in her home in Jerusalem to speak withher about Saint James. While she prayed, He enteredher room seated on a shining throne and surroundedby thousands of angels. He told her that He wantedher to visit Saint James in Saragossa and have himbuild a house of prayer in her honor so that throughher He might be specially honored there.

Once again the angels built a shining throne ofclouds and, placing their Queen on it, carried her overthe land and sea to far away Spain. This time, howev-er, Our Lord had commanded them to travel slowly sothat along the way they might sing beautiful songs toher. Their repertoire includedthe “Ave Maria,” “Salve SanctaParens,” “Salve Regina,” and“Regina coeli laetare,” chantedby various choruses of angels inthe most pleasing harmony.

During this joyous celestialsinging, the most humble Ladyreturned all this praise to GodMost High: “Holy, holy, holy,Lord God of Sabaoth, have pityon the poor children of Eve.Thine is the glory, Thine thepower and majesty. Thou aloneart holy, the most High and theLord of all the heavenly armiesand of all creation.”

Meanwhile, Saint Jameswas camped outside the wallsof Saragossa with his disciples.He was praying by himself some distance from themwhen he suddenly perceived the most beautifulmusic he had ever heard.

The disciples, some while praying and othersawakening from sleep, likewise heard this heavenlychorus, and their hearts filled with an ineffable joy.Looking up, they saw a most brilliant light forming aluminous globe. Evidently something marvelous washappening.

To his immense joy, the holy Son of Thunder onceagain beheld, within this brilliance, his holy Mothercoming across the sky to visit him. All resplendentwith the very light of God as she sat on her throne ofclouds, the great Lady far outshone her angel escort.

The angels placed the throne with their Queenwithin sight of the Apostle who, beside himself withjoy, bowed low to the earth. The loving Queen greetedhim sweetly and then gave him a blessing in the nameof her Son Jesus.

Saint James noticed that some of the angels held asmall marble column and a small statue of theirQueen holding the Infant God. Our Lady relayed to

him the desire of her Divine Son that he build a tem-ple on that very spot to be dedicated to her name sothat, through her, Her Son might be glorified. In Hisname she promised great favors and blessings to thosewho sincerely requested her intercession in thischurch, as well as her protection and assistance, “forthis is to be my house and temple, my inheritance andpossession.” The column and the statue were present-ed as a pledge of this promise: “In the temple whichthou shalt build for me, it shall remain and be pre-served, together with the holy faith, until the end ofthe world.”

She told him that he should begin building thischurch immediately. When it was finished, he was to

return to Jerusalem where hewould be called to imitate hisLord Jesus, the first of theApostles to surrender his lifefor Him. She assured himthat she would be there toassist him.

As she finished speaking,she ordered the angels toplace the column with herstatue on the ground. Assoon as this was done, boththe angels and Saint Jamesgave thanks to God and cel-ebrated this spot as the firstplace on earth to be dedicat-ed to the name of MaryMost Holy for the greaterglory of Almighty God.

Such was the beginning ofthe famous shrine of Our Lady of the Pillar of Saragos-sa. The original chapel built by Saint James has growninto a great church that stands today on the very siteof Our Lady’s visit nearly 2000 years ago.

Our Lady guaranteed this before leaving byappointing one of her angels to guard the statue andthe place against every attack of devil or man. Andattack it the devil has done, throughout all theseyears, but that mighty angel has foiled every attemptof the infernal fiend.

So, dear reader, if you wish to see this great marvelthat is, still today, the great church of Our Lady of thePillar, the very first place dedicated to Holy Maryeven as she was still on this earth, you have only to gowith a sincere heart and you will certainly receive hersweet favor.

Adapted from The Mystical City of God, by Venerable Mariaof Agreda, “The Coronation,” Chapters 16 and 17.

To his immense joy, theholy Son of Thunder once

again beheld his holyMother coming across the

sky to visit him. Allresplendent with the verylight of God as she sat onher throne of clouds, thegreat Lady far outshone

her angel escort.

he castle of Neuschwanstein inBavaria, conceived and built in

the nineteenth century by King Ludwig II,is a successfully executed modern likenessof the charming medieval castles. Havingfeatures reminiscent of an immense cathe-dral, it is an exemplary work that powerful-ly evokes the blessedness of times past.

Rising high above a silent and shadowystretch of forest, Neuschwanstein defies thecliffs, the winds, and the skies. At first sightof it, bathed in the sun’s brilliant rays andsurrounded by glistening snow, our mindspause as if encountering something unreal,as if an angel had taken the mist and rays oflight and modeled them into a marvelousdream.

Magnificent, graceful, solitary as a con-templative hermit, strong as a warrior, thiscastle is an edifice born for grand elevationsof spirit. One might ascend its many hightowers not only to watch for enemies, butalso to draw nearer to God.

As night slowly descends over the moun-tains and forest, the dreamlikeNeuschwanstein fades into the envelopingdarkness until finally eluding our sight. Ourminds may return to everyday affairs, yetour imaginations will retain impressions ofthis magnificent synthesis of nature’s splen-dor and man’s architectural handiwork.Then we feel ourselves transported, likeNeuschwanstein’s towers, halfway betweenHeaven and earth!

T

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