St. Joseph and the Third Christian Millennium!

by Rev. Regis Scanlon, O.F.M. Cap.

In order to understand the particular role of St. Joseph in the life of the Church today, one must first grasp the 1917 message of Our Lady of Fatima and the moral condition of our modern society. But, even before this, one must understand the clear scriptural warnings related to both the Fatima message and the moral condition of our own day.

The key scriptural indicators of a perverse and corrupt society are widespread murder and homosexuality. For, when God destroyed the corrupt society during Noah's time by a flood, He did so because they were primarily murderers (Gen. 6-9). He says to Noah: "from man in regard to his fellow man I will demand an accounting for human life" (Gen. 9:5-6). And, when God sent His angels in the form of men to warn Lot that He was about to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah by fire (Gen. 18-19), the perverted men of these ancient cities even tried to engage in "intimacies" with these messengers from God (Gen. 19:5).

St. Jude and St. Peter warned that the people at the time of "Noah" and "Sodom and Gomorrah," were set before us "to dissuade us" (Jude 1:7) by demonstrating "what would happen in the future to the godless" (2 Pet. 2:5-9). So, when widespread murder and homosexuality characterize a society, the people of that society should expect to be chastised by flood and fire and undergo a punishment, leaving only a remnant which is good.

The Message of Fatima

Many Catholics will recall that Our Lady appeared in 1917 to three children, Lucia, Jacinta, and Francisco, in Fatima, Portugal. She requested "prayer" and "penance," and in particular praying the Rosary, to overcome evil in the world.¹ Our Lady showed the children a vision which Lucia (now Sr. Lucia dos Santos of the Immaculate Heart) says "horrified us and made us tremble with fear."² Our Lady told the children "you have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go."³ Once more, Blessed Jacinta Marto stated: "The sins that bring most souls to hell are the sins of the flesh. Certain fashions are going to be introduced that will offend our Lord very much ... Do not give yourselves to immodest clothes."⁴ When Sr. Lucia was asked how Jacinta knew that "the sins of the flesh" are the "kind of sins which offend God most," she responded: "perhaps it occurred to her to put the question to Our Lady herself."⁵

Our Lady also told the visionaries that, if men do not repent of their sins, Russia would spread her errors throughout the world, several nations would be annihilated, the good would be persecuted, and the Holy Father would suffer much. In the end Her Immaculate Heart would triumph, Russia would be converted, and there would be a period of peace.⁶

In order to demonstrate the validity of Her message Our Lady provided a stunning miracle on Oct, 13, 1917 which fifty to seventy thousand witnesses observed. Atheists, who printed the report of the event in their secular newspapers, were among the witnesses. One can find photos of the newspapers' stories in books about the Fatima miracle.⁷ The miracle consisted of the sun spinning and seeming to fall to the earth. The earth (the mud) and people's clothes, which had been previously drenched that day by a fitful continuous rain, were completely dry in a matter of minutes . The secular newspapers could not explain this event since it involved an observable change in physical conditions outside the mind, and especially because "its exact time and location was publicly announced months in advance" by the children of Fatima.⁸

No doubt, the rain and the sun at Fatima symbolized the flood at the time of Noah and the fire at the time of Lot. The message of Fatima is: if people do not change their ways, God will once again have to purify the world leaving only a remnant that is good.

Sr. Lucia has more recently stated that Our Lady's warning at Fatima was also related to the possibility of an "atomic war," as man makes his way across the nuclear threshold toward the 21st century.⁹ This possibility of a nuclear war was also implied by the Second Vatican Council in 1965 when the Fathers stated: But let us not be buoyed up with false hope. For unless animosity and hatred are put aside, and firm, honest agreements about world peace are concluded, humanity may, in spite of the wonders of modern science, go from the grave crisis of the present day to that dismal hour, when the only peace it will experience will be the dread peace of death.¹⁰

The 1973 Message from Akita

Further clarification of the Fatima message can be gained if one studies the messages of Our Lady to Sr. Agnes Sasagawa in 1973 at Akita, Japan, the vicinity of the two nuclear holocausts, Nagasaki and Hiroshima. The reliability of Our Lady's messages to Sr. Agnes seems to be recognized by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, the head of the Sacred Congregation of the Doctrine for the Faith. Bishop John S. Ito, D.D., then Ordinary of Niigata, Japan, visited with Cardinal Ratzinger about his pastoral approving a message given by Our Lady to Sr. Agnes Sasagawa on Oct. 13, 1973 (the 56th anniversary of the Fatima miracle of the sun). While the Vatican did not give official approval to Bishop Ito's pastoral (which would have taken years of examination), the Vatican did say "there are no objections to the conclusions of the pastoral."¹¹

Bishop Ito stated in his pastoral that Our Lady said to Sr. Agnes that "'The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against other bishops."¹² Furthermore, Our Lady stated:

As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one will never have seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful."¹³

Bishop Ito has stated that "the message of Akita is the same as that of Fatima."¹⁴ But, the above Akita messages are not found in the revealed Fatima messages. So, they must be found in the third secret which was given to Pope to be read by his successor in 1960, but which was never officially revealed.¹⁵ In fact, when people at Fulda, Germany asked John Paul II if the third secret of Fatima contained a threat from God, the Pope responded:

If there is a message in which it is said that the oceans will flood entire sections of the earth; that, from one moment to the other, millions of people will perish...there is no longer any point in really wanting to publish this secret message.

Many want to know merely out of curiosity, or because of their taste for sensationalism, but they forget that "to know" implies for them a responsibility. It is dangerous to want to satisfy one's curiosity only, if one is convinced that we can do nothing against a catastrophe that has been predicted ...

(At this point the Holy Father took hold of his Rosary and said:) Here is the remedy against all evil! Pray, pray and ask for nothing else. Put everything in the hands of the Mother of God!¹⁶

Later, Cardinal Ratzinger admitted in an interview with journalist, Vittorio Messori, that he had read the third secret of Fatima. Messori then questioned the Cardinal about the "secret":

Undenied versions are circulating in the world, I continue, which describe the contents of that "secret" as disquieting, apocalyptic, as warning of terrible sufferings. John Paul II himself, in his personal visit to Germany, seemed to confirm (albeit with prudent circumlocutions, privately, to a select group) the undeniably disconcerting contents of that text. Before him, Paul VI, during his pilgrimage to Fatima, also seems to have alluded to the "apocalyptic" themes of the "secret." Why was it never decided to make it public, if only to counter rash speculations?¹⁷

Cardinal Ratzinger's response, that revealing the third secret would add nothing necessary for the Christian to know and that it "would mean exposing the Church to the danger of sensationalism, exploitation of the content," also seemed to "confirm (albeit with prudent circumlocutions)" that the contents of the third secret of Fatima did contain those "disconcerting" messages.¹⁸ So, while Cardinal Ratzinger did not want to deny the warnings from Fatima, he also wanted people to know that "the Virgin does not engage in sensationalism; she does not create fear'"; nor did she say that the 20th century was the end of the world.¹⁹

Thus, John Paul II's 1980 message about the third secret of Fatima and the threatened flood and fire resemble the revelations made by Our Lady to Sr. Agnes in Akita in 1973. And, if these messages were not part of the message of Fatima, Cardinal Ratzinger probably would have objected to Bishop Ito's publishing it.²⁰ So, it seems that the messages of Akita are reliable, and the 1917 Fatima warning seems to be: if mankind does not repent, God will have to send a chastisement (a merciful act) to save man from destroying himself through nuclear war.

The Guardian of the Blessed Sacrament and the Family

But, there is more to the messages from Fatima and Akita than a possible chastisement. First of all, the apparitions in 1917 at Fatima began with a visit from an angel, who invited the three children to imitate him and say the following prayer, as he prostrated himself in adoration before a Host and Chalice suspended in mid-air: "Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore You profoundly! I offer You the most Precious Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for all the outrages committed against It."²¹ A similar message was given to Sr. Agnes of Akita who belongs to the Handmaids of the Eucharist, an institute founded to further love for the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. Our Lady told Sr. Agnes that her religious community should add the word "truly" to their Eucharistic prayer, "Jesus present in the Eucharist," so that the prayer would then read: "Jesus TRULY present in the Eucharist."²²

Secondly, Sr. Lucia stated about a vision accompanying the Fatima miracle of the sun:

After Our Lady had disappeared into the immense distance of the firmament, we beheld St. Joseph with the Child Jesus and Our Lady robed in white with a blue mantle, beside the sun. St. Joseph and the Child Jesus appeared to bless the world, for they traced the Sign of the Cross with their hands.²³

Similarly, Sr. Agnes' guardian angel spoke to her when Sr. Agnes' religious community was gathered in chapel to pray for "the protection of St. Joseph" for their work to further love and belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.²⁴ The Angel's words are significant: "This prayer is very pleasing to Jesus and Mary. It will be heard ... (But) It is sad that there is no exterior sign here in honor of Saint Joseph. Ask your superior to have an exterior sign erected in his honor when your are able, even if it is not right away."²⁵

So, Fatima and Akita both pointed to the importance of the Blessed Sacrament and the Holy Family, indeed every family, and the significance of St. Joseph for protecting both as the Church moves toward the 21st century. Just as the Blessed Sacrament is the center of life and love in the Church, so the family is the center of life and love in human society. St. Joseph is guardian of both centers of life and love as we approach the Third Christian Millennium!

And How Has Humanity Developed Since 1917?

John Paul II points out that "the future of humanity passes by way of the family."²⁶ But the 1960's sexual revolution spawned many "sins of the flesh" which attacked the very existence of life and love as it develops in the human family (e.g., pornography, contraception, divorce and remarriage, homosexuality, abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, etc.). Consequently, today the Pope says, "the family is thus mortally wounded and profaned in its nature as a community of love and in its vocation to be the 'sanctuary of life.'"²⁷

John Paul II says that today "we are facing an enormous and dramatic clash between good and evil, between the "culture of death" and the "culture of life."²⁸ He says that the number of abortions and infanticides today, indicates that the world has reverted to a "state of barbarism which one hoped had been left behind forever."²⁹ Thus, the Pope says, "we are facing an immense threat to life: not only to the life of individuals but also to that of civilization itself."³⁰ Indeed, as violence accelerates and expands around the globe, one wonders if there is not a race to see which arrives first, a nuclear war or the threshold of the 21st century.

But the sexual revolution of the 1960's with its permissive sexual morality has also deeply wounded the Church, at least if the United States is the norm. The 1992 Gallup Poll of the United States Catholics shows that about 70% of so-called Catholics dissent from papal teaching in many areas, especially in the area of human sexuality, i.e. contraception, etc.³¹ And, churchmen have stated that "according to a Gallup poll only 30% of our faithful believe what the Church teaches on the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist."³² Most likely, the 70% of so-called Catholics, who dissent from the Pope's teaching on human sexuality, are the same 70% who do not believe what the Church teaches on the Eucharist. If this 70% are receiving Holy Communion on Sundays, this would be an immense increase in the "outrages" being committed against the Blessed Sacrament since the angel's 1917 warning about this matter (1 Cor. 11:27-32)! The moral climate within the Church and the world, then, has become far worse since Our Lady's 1917 Fatima message. So, we need help. We need a final advocate for this century!

St. Joseph Is Second Only to Our Lady

As far back as I can remember, the local Roman Rite Catholic churches in the United States had a statue of Our Lady and a statue of St. Joseph in the sanctuary of the church. This church arrangement, the tabernacle in the center and Our Lady and St. Joseph's statues on each side of the sanctuary, seems to have been a custom in the Western Church.³³

The Church for centuries has been keenly aware of the great dignity of St. Joseph and has held him in great esteem. John Paul II says that "the Fathers of the Church from the earliest centuries stressed that just as St. Joseph took loving care of Mary and gladly dedicated himself to Jesus Christ's upbringing, he likewise watches over and protects Christ's Mystical Body, that is, the Church."³⁴ The Church became more explicit about the intercession of this great saint during the middle ages. For example, 16th century St. Teresa of Avila says about devotion to St. Joseph:

... I have experience that he helps in all our needs and that the Lord wants us to understand that just as He was subject to St. Joseph on earth — for since bearing the title of father, being the Lord's tutor Joseph could give the Child command — so in heaven God does whatever he commands.

This has been observed by other persons, also through experience, whom I have told to recommend themselves to him. And so there are many who in experiencing this truth renew their devotion to him.³⁵

But, it was not until 1870 that Pius IX declared St. Joseph the "Patron of the Catholic Church".³⁶

John Paul II states that "For Pius IX this was no idle gesture, since by virtue of the sublime dignity which God has granted to his most faithful servant Joseph, 'the Church, after the Blessed Virgin, his spouse, has always held him in great honor and showered him with praise, having recourse to him amid tribulations.'"³⁷ Continuing the theme of Pius IX, Leo XIII pointed out in 1889 that St. Joseph is the special patron and protector of the Church because he was the "natural guardian, head and defender of the Holy Family."³⁸ He is the natural guardian and defender of the Holy Family because he was the husband of Mary and legal foster father of Jesus. Leo XIII concluded: "It is thus fitting and most worthy of Joseph's dignity that, in the same way that he once kept unceasing holy watch over the family of Nazareth, so now does he protect and defend with his heavenly patronage the Church of Christ."³⁹

Today, John Paul II teaches that St. Joseph is the closest human person to God after Our Lady: "This (the Incarnation) is precisely the mystery in which Joseph of Nazareth 'shared' like no other human being except Mary, the Mother of the Incarnate Word."⁴⁰ Again, he says:

It is certain that the dignity of the Mother of God is so exalted that nothing could be more sublime; yet because Mary was united to Joseph by the bond of marriage, there can be no doubt but that Joseph approached as no other person ever could that eminent dignity whereby the Mother of God towers above all creatures.⁴¹

The Significance of St. Joseph for the Third Christian Millennium

John Paul II says that today "the Church has need of special 'power from on high' (cf. Lk 24:49; Acts 1:8): a gift of the Spirit of the Lord, a gift which is not unrelated to the intercession and example of his saints."⁴² He says that in the past "the Church has commended to Joseph all of her cares, including those dangers which threaten the human family."⁴³ Then the Pope says: "Even today we have many reasons to pray in a similar way" and "commend everyone to St. Joseph."⁴⁴ He further explains: "This patronage must be invoked as ever necessary for the Church, not only as a defense against all dangers, but also, and indeed primarily, as an impetus for her renewed commitment to evangelization in the world and to re-evangelization" in those places where "religion and the Christian life" formerly flourished but "are now put to a hard test."⁴⁵ John Paul II says that "Our prayers and the very person of Joseph have renewed significance for the Church in our day in light of the Third Christian Millennium."⁴⁶

Because St. Joseph is the protector of the Church, he is the guardian of the Eucharist and the Christian family. Therefore, we must turn to St. Joseph today to ward off attacks upon the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist and upon the family. We must plead with St. Joseph to guard the Eucharistic Lord and the Christian family during this time of peril just as he guarded the Holy Family during King Herod's persecution of the Innocents (Mt 2:13-18). And, John Paul II is confident when he says: "the whole Christian people not only will turn to St. Joseph with greater fervor and invoke his patronage with trust, but also will always keep before their eyes his humble, mature way of serving and of 'taking part' in the plan of salvation."⁴⁷

A Visible Sign of St. Joseph Is Necessary

But this return to a devotion to St. Joseph is challenged by a lack of devotion to the saints within the confines of the Catholic Church today. Indeed, many pastors have moved St. Joseph's statue, along with the Blessed Sacrament and Our Lady's statue, from the sanctuary. And, while the Blessed Sacrament often replaced the statue of St. Joseph at the side altar, or was moved to the back of the church, or a eucharistic chapel, the statue of St. Joseph was moved to even more remote places, like the vestibule of the church, a school hallway, or even a closet.

Catholics in the United States, therefore, must overcome an obstacle to develop a devotion to St. Joseph. First, they must find out about St. Joseph. And, they can hardly come to know of St. Joseph, let alone "keep (him) before their eyes," as John Paul II urges, if they do not even see a sign of him in their churches and chapels. It is necessary, then, to have a statue of St. Joseph in the sanctuary of one's church or chapel. And, we are not speaking about some tiny miniature figure or surrealistic design, but a life-like statue of St. Joseph which is visible to all and placed in a prominent position in the sanctuary. Only in this way can a parish or religious community claim to be serious about a devotion to St. Joseph.

The Second Vatican Council has directed that "the cult of images of Christ, the Blessed Virgin and the saints, be religiously observed.⁴⁸ Similarly, John Paul II stated, "Images of the Virgin have a place of honor in churches and houses."⁴⁹ Again, the Second Vatican Council taught that "The saints have been traditionally honored in the Church" and their "images held in veneration."⁵⁰ Consequently, the Council directed:

The practice of placing sacred images in churches so that they may be venerated by the faithful is to be maintained. Nevertheless their number should be moderate and their relative positions should reflect right order. For otherwise they may create confusion among the Christian people and foster devotion of doubtful orthodoxy.⁵¹

Now, the "right order" is that Jesus (including the Trinity) is first, Our Lady is second, and St. Joseph is third in importance in the Holy Family and the Church. Thus, a statue of Our Lady and St. Joseph should be present in every church and chapel sanctuary, but the tabernacle should be in an even more prominent place in the sanctuary.

And, there are important contemporary reasons to have a statue of St. Joseph and of Our Lady in the sanctuary of every church and chapel. First of all, we need an image of the Holy Family before the eyes and minds of the people at a time when the family is under attack from the evils of divorce and absent fathers. The Holy Family is imaged best in Catholic worship by having the tabernacle with Christ's Real Presence in the center of the sanctuary and a statue of St. Joseph on one side (altar) and a statue of our Lady on the other side (altar).

Secondly, St. Joseph is one of the strongest antidotes against the evils of the sexual revolution which has tried to reduce love to a matter of sexual pleasure. For, no human male had a more lovelier "Woman" (Gen. 3:15) for a spouse nor a greater love for this "Woman" than St. Joseph. And yet, he never had sexual relations with the "Virgin Mary," nor used her body to satisfy his own instincts for pleasure.⁵² A statue of St. Joseph, therefore, reminds men that love for the woman is a matter of charity and service for her own good, not a matter of using her body for his own sexual pleasure. So, in a most humble way, St. Joseph protects the Church by guarding faith in the Real Presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, devotion to Our Lady, and the unity and purity of the family. In this way St. Joseph also leads us to lay a solid foundation for the "new evangelization" as the Church crosses the threshold of the Third Christian Millennium.

It is not too late to obtain the powerful intercession of St. Joseph to save many souls from eternal punishment and to avert God's chastisement. And, we certainly need St. Joseph's powerful intercession for the "new evangelization" which will take place during and after the world has been purified. All pastors and superiors of religious communities, therefore, should foster devotion to St. Joseph by having public masses, liturgies, vigils, novenas, prayers, etc. offered in the name of St. Joseph. But, the very first step to an authentic devotion to St. Joseph is to have (as far as it is possible) a life-like statue of him in a prominent place of the sanctuary of one's church and one's home as a symbol of his presence.

Father Scanlon has contributed to numerous Catholic periodicals.

Endnotes

1 John Paul II, "Message of Fatima: Call to conversion and penance," L'Osservatore Romano (May 24, 1982), 3.

2 Lucia dos Santos, Fatima in Lucia's Own Words, introduced by Joaquin M. Alonso, CMF, trans. by Dominican Nuns of Perpetual Rosary, edt. by Louis Kondor, SVD (Fatima: Postulation Center, 1989), p. 104

3 Lucia dos Santos, Fatima in Lucia's Own Words, p. 104.

4 Don Sharkey, The Woman Shall Conquer (Milwaukee: Bruce Publishing Co., 1952), p. 141; Robert J. Fox, Fatima Today (Front Royal, Virginia: Christendom Pub., 1983), p. 100; Irma Lucia de Jesus Santos, O.C.D., Memorias e Cartas, introduced, annotated, and translated by Fr. Antonio Maria Martins, S.J. (Porto, Portugal: L.E., 1973), p. 225.

5 Lucia dos Santos, Fatima in Lucia's Own Words,p. 107.

6 Lucia dos Santos, Fatima in Lucia's Own Words, pp. 104-105.

7 John Demarchi, Fatima From the Beginning (Fatima: Missoes Consolata, 1988), pictures between pages 96-97.

8 Francis Johnston, Fatima: The Great Sign (Rockford, Ill.: Tan Books, 1980), pp. 52, 54, and 69; John Demarchi, pp. 135-142, 251-254; Severo Rossi and Aventino de Oliveira, Fatima (Fatima, Portugal: Consolata Missions, 1981), p. 18.

9 Sister Lucia responds to Journalist's Aura Miguel of Radio Renascenca of Portugal interview of John Paul II during a Jan. 25, 1990 flight to Africa, found in "John Paul II and Sister Lucia Relate Current Events to Fatima," Soul Magazine (May-June, 1990), 13; Teiji Yasuda, O.S.V. (and John M. Haffert), Akita: The Tears and Message of Mary (New Jersey: 101 Foundation, 1989), p. 63.

10 Second Vatican Council, Gaudium et Spes, No. 82.

11 Teiji Yasuda, O.S.V., pp. 190-199; Editors, "The Vatican: Reports of the Weeping Virgin, 'Reliable,'" 30 Days: In the Church and in the World, 6 (October 1988), 56; Stafano M. Paci, "Tears of Akita," 30 Days: In the Church and the World, 7 (July-August 1990), 42-45, esp. p. 43.

12 Teiji Yasuda, O.S.V., p. 196.

13 Teiji Yasuda, O.S.V., p. 196.

14 Teiji Yasuda, O.S.V., p. 115, (inscription under picture).

15 John Demarchi, p. 248.

16 John Paul II, interview with Catholics at Fulda, Germany, Nov. 1980, published in the German magazine, Stimme des Glaubens, English found in Daniel J. Lynch, The Call to Total Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary (St. Albans, Vermont: Missions of the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, Pub., 1991), pp. 50-51.

17 Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger with Vittorio Messori, The Ratzinger Report (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1985), p. 109.

18 Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger with Vittorio Messori, p. 110.

19 Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, "Newsinbrief: Fatima's 'Third Secret'," National Catholic Register, Oct. 20, 1996, 1, insert.

20 Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger with Vittorio Messori, p. 109.

21 Rev. Fr. V. Montes De Oca, C. S. SP., More About Fatima: and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, trans. Rev. J. Dacruz, C. S. SP. (Castlebranco: Le Prodige Inoui De Fatima, 1975), pp. 60-61.

22 Teiji Yasuda, O.S.V., p. 21.

23 Lucia dos Santos, Fatima in Lucia's Own Words,p. 170.

24 John M. Haffert, The Meaning of Akita, (Asbury, N. J.: 101 Foundation, Inc., 1989), p. 9.

25 Teiji Yasuda, O.S.V., p. 167; John M. Haffert, p. 9. My parenthesis.

26 John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae,(Gospel of Life), March 25, 1995, No. 94.

27 John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae, no. 59.

28 John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae , no. 28.

29 John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae, no. 14.

30 John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae, no. 59.

31 Arthur Jones, "Gallup Poll results unlikely to please Vatican," National Catholic Reporter (July 3, 1992), 6.

32 Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, in Gianni Cardinale, "Clinton and Us," 30 Days, No. 12, 1992, p. 32.

33 Since I am on the formation team of Mother Teresa of Calcutta's Missionaries of Charity, I have been in contact with many of her sisters who come from all parts of the world. These sisters informed me that, when they recall their churches at home, they remember that their churches always had a St. Joseph statue and a statue of Our Lady on each side of the sanctuary with the Blessed Sacrament in the middle.

34 John Paul II, Guardian of the Redeemer (Redemptoris Custos), August 15, 1989, no. 1.

35 St. Teresa of Avila, The Book of Her Life, Ch. 6, No. 6, in The Collected Works of Teresa of Avila, Vol. I, translated by Kieran Kavanaugh O. C. D. and Otilio Rodriguez, O. C. D. (Washington, D. C.: Institute of Carmilite Studies (ICS) Pub., 1987), pp. 79-80.

36 John Paul II, Guardian of the Redeemer, no. 28; Cf. Sacror. Rituum Congreg., Decr. Quemadmodum Deus (December 8, 1870): Pii IX P.M. Acta, pars I, vol. V, p.283.

37 John Paul II, Guardian of the Redeemer, no. 28

38 John Paul II, Guardian of the Redeemer, no. 28; Leo XIII, Encyclical Epistle Quamquam pluries (August 15, 1889): Leonis XIII P.M. Acta, IX (1890), pp. 177-179.

39 John Paul II, Guardian of the Redeemer, no. 28; Leo XIII, pp. 177-179.

40 John Paul II, Guardian of the Redeemer, no. 1. My parenthesis.

41 John Paul II, Guardian of the Redeemer, no. 20

42 John Paul II, Guardian of the Redeemer, no. 29.

43 John Paul II, Guardian of the Redeemer, no. 31.

44 John Paul II, Guardian of the Redeemer, no. 31.

45 John Paul II, Guardian of the Redeemer, no. 29.

46 John Paul II, Guardian of the Redeemer, no. 32. My emphasis.

47 John Paul II, Guardian of the Redeemer, no. 1. My emphasis.

48 Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium, no. 67. My emphasis.

49 John Paul II, Mother of the Redeemer (Redemptoris Mater), March 25, 1987, No. 33.

50 Second Vatican Council, Sacrosanctum Concilium, no. 111.

51 Second Vatican Council, Sacrosanctum Concilium, no. 125.

52 Enchiridion Symbolorum (Denzinger), no. 91, 256, 282, 314 (a & n), 734, 993, 1314. Thirtieth edition.

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