Anamnesis TOves The tomb is empty!Contents APRIL » JULY 2015. 14. THE TRADITIONAL LATIN MASS IN CONTEMPORARY PHILIPPINE CINEMA A critical look on how cinema in the Philippines in the past twen- ty-odd years or so depicts the Traditional Mass and Sacraments: the vast rooms of improvement that ought to see the light of com- mitted and competent scholarship, the urgency of rediscovering our religious patrimony—Catholic in its deepmost core—and rightfully enabling it to shape aesthetics (not the other way around), and a general appreciation of how these details should enrich artistic experience of film and cinema. COVER STORY 30 THE TOMB IS EMPTY! Examining the pivotal role of the Resurrection in the history of our redemption, how an empty tomb moves us unto steadfastness in our faith: the first narrative of the nascent Church from the mo- ment our Lord expelled His Consummatum est, to the moment the angels declared to the three Marys Venite, et videte Locum ubi posi- tus erat Dominus; from the moment the angels remarked at the joy | of the Apostles after our Lord ascended heaven on the peak of the Mount of Olives, to the moment the Holy Ghost came down with a noise like sudden thunder and in the form of tongues of fire. WISDOM FROM THE FATHERS 44 ON THE HOLY GHOST From an eloquent refutation by Saint Basil the Great, archbishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, against those who employ the per- ceived differences of utterances and juxtaposition markers to di- minish the dignity of the Spirit of God, learn the truths—the char- acter and nature—of the Holy Ghost. Sy _nca en los fastos de Ia historia humana se ha registrado un hecho semejante al dela Iglesia, que a través de las vejaciones de los dife- rentes y miltipies enensigos que maguinaron su destruccion, sigue en suavance de conquista dejandolos en pos de siem sus nrisnnas ruins, —Exemo. y Rmo, D, ALFREDO M.* Ozviar vac promuncindacr lzsesén solemn del Conc Plenari de as eas Flips64 70 PASTORAL LETTER [ON GRAVE MATTERS] Hear the voice of prelates past and contemplate on the wisdom of their words, the timelessness of their strongest admonitions, and realise that the world we live in suffer in the same maladies that afflicted epochs gone. Catholic doctrine obtains peerless beauty from its ageless steadfastness, which has earned for Holy Mother Church the rancour of an impermanent world. A DEARTH OF MANKIND A satirical commentary on the spiritual truancy of the world, a world in revolt against its Creator: the attack on the institution and sacrament of Holy Matrimony; the incapacities of today’s challenged mankind; the culture of death intent upon destroying the family. FIGHTING FOR CHRISTENDOM IRELAND: THE RESPONSIBILITY OF AN APOSTASY Would we win the war against the enemies of the world with se- pulchral silence? Are we to countenance these backbreaking as- saults against our sacred institutions with the face of submissive- ness and wanton toleration? Has Christendom forgotten its God? Has Christendom abandoned Christ our Lord, His Church, and His precepts? What await us in our ineptitude in upholding the teachings of the Lord? ECOLOGY Is the environment far more important than the salvation of our souls? What does it profit Holy Mother Church if her shepherds harrumphs the world about what Holy Writ declares to be of pass- ing existence? In the end, does having intercourse with the world concerning matters of least import matter at all, if in the process we are exposed to the danger of tweaking, downplaying, and ab- sconding the firm doctrines of the Lord, entrusted to the Church to be transmitted in all their entirety and purity? FIFTY CRITICAL ANALYSES ON THE WORDS OF THE POPE, How many times have we been driven close to madness by news- paper clippings of the Pope’ brash commentaries on almost every imaginable subject on the planet? Is there a conscious depth to each pronouncement His Holiness is wont to volunteer every time he speaks to airplane passengers? How are we, Catholics seeking sanctuary in the unchanging Magisterium of the Church, to be- have in the face of these spontaneous platitudes? How are we to arm ourselves against their notorious ambiguity?PRAYER FOR PRIESTS Jesus, Eternal Priest, keep all Thy priests within the shelter of ‘Thy Sacred Heart, where none may harm them. Keep unstained their anointed hands which daily touch Thy Sacred Body. Keep unsullied their lips purpled with Thy Precious Blood, Keep pure and unearthly their hearts sealed with the sublime marks of Thy glorious priesthood. Lot Thy holy love surround them and shield them from the world’s contagion, Bless their labours with abundant fruit, and may the souls to whom they have ministered be here below their joy and consolation and in Heaven their beautiful and everlasting crown, Amen. O Mary, Queen of the clergy, pray for us; obtain for us a number of holy prieas._Anamnesis APRIL + JULY 2015, Contributors Jesson G. alllerite Maurice Joseph M. Almadrones Juhnar Anicetus C, Esmeralda Basilio J. de Castro Rolan B, Ambrocio Miguel R. Madarang Photographers Maurice Joseph M. Almadrones Romero F. Lopez Basilio J. de Castro Ad Christum per Deiparam The Anamnesis was published in its first year—trom April 2014 to March 2015—as a monthly newsletter. This second year, the Anairnesis will be published quarterly (see Note to readers) COVER PHOTO ‘The tomb is empty! The monuntento empty in the course of the Sacred Triduum, incontrovertible evidence of our Lord's Resurrection: Christ is risen! He is truly risen! ‘The tomb is empty because our Lord has vanquished death by His own death upon the Cross, Our hope, therefore, wells forth from the emptiness of the tomb! ‘THE TRADITIONAL LATIN MASS IS] celebrated regularly at the Parish of the| Holy Family in the Diocese of Cubao, by| Reverend Father Michell Joe B. Zerrudo, chaplain and spiritual director of the So- Gietas Ecclesia Dei Sancti losepi—Una Voce Philippines (SEDSI-UVP). Masses on Sundays are sung at 2.00 p.m. at the high altar, and on weekdays are offered at 8.30 a.m. in the oratory. For enquiries, please contact 09162290128 and 09176227187. ‘The Cappella Gre- goriana Sanctae Caeciliae olim Xica- funensis invites eve- ryone, especially those who regularly attend the Liturgies at the Parish of the Holy Family, to adore and worship the Blessed Trinity through sacred mu- sic, which holy, uni- versal, and excellent patrimony is “for the glory of God, and the sanctifi- cation and edification of the faithful” For en- quiries, please visit www. limages © ALWADRONES, OF GUAUAN | artworks SIMON VoUsT, Sainle Cécife (1626) BLavTon MUSEUM oF ART Jenova JacivTo DE EsPnosa, Sen Pascua! Bain (1661) Museo Nacional OF ARTE DE CATRLUAR‘roan Google maps Announcement De Missarum litandarum loci translatione \ Oo; 13 Jury 2015, Monpay, the Traditional Latin = \ : AY ‘Mass will transfer to its new home in the Parish of the Most Holy Redeemer in Brixton Hill, still within the \ ecclesiastic jurisdiction of the Diocese of Cubao. ‘The parish is located close to four ma) or thoroughfares in the metropolis: Aurora Boulevard, which harbours Line 2 of the Light Railway Transit; G. Araneta Avenue; E. Rodriguez Sr. Avenues and Quezon Avenue. ‘To goto the new location, follow these directions: 1. For those taking the LRT (or commuting through Aurora Boulevard), alight at ‘V. Mapa station and disembark on the northbound (Recto-bound)} side. Take the tricy- le (orange line) on the corner of Sosiego Street. Instruct the driver to go to Holy Re- deemer, Usual street sequence is Sosiego—Santol—Landargén. Fare is PRP 40. 2. Alternatively (and this is not for the fainthearted), go to Araneta Avenue and walk (northbound, away from SM City Sta. Mesa) until you see Landargén Street (third corner along the left if coming from Aurora Boulevard), (Its along stretch of walk, so doit only if you have no heart diseases.) Turn left to Landargon Street. The church is on the corner of Landargén and Toms Argtelles Streets. ‘There are other routes, of course. We will publish them here once verified.NOTETO READERS Mutatis mutandis § he first issue of the Anammesis was born on 16 April 2014. Ac- cording to its digital imprint, the birth occurred 26 minutes past noon. As all happy and haphazard enterprises go, the first | four-pager was not stirring and was riddled with imper- , fections that doubtless persisted even to the last issue of its first year. One might notice it announced itself as a bimonthly, occurring once every two months, but the effervescence of youth, and the natural Filipino proclivity to be wantonly engrossed in an acivity in its first ages enabled its creators to believe Stretching it to twelve issues was not beyond the realm of reality. Alas, it was difficult! One might also have noticed that the names of the writers barely changed in each issue. In the science of heredity—thanks to Dom Gregor Johann Mendel!—frequent inbreeding eventual- Ty causes genetic collapse, when an ancestor ap- pears multiple times in the pedigree of a person. ‘The gene pool shrinks, inviting a myriad of dis- ceases that only weakens the species, How this translates to our situation is sim- ple: When there is no diversity of opinion, intel- eetual collapse inspends. Diversity of opinion does not encompass diversity in terms of views opposing to the point of disrespecting the doctrines of Holy Mother Gerenciales Church. No! This lifetime will never see us pro- vide a platform for our avowed enemies to air their advocacies here—they have the en- tire institution of sloppy journalism to accomplish that. We only mean we will attempt to include authorships far superior and diffused than ours. And in order to do that, we have to allot more time to digest our ideas, and more shace to accommodate said ideas. Such goal requires us to reinvent our instrument, This Jubilee Year of Mercy will witness the Ananmesis as it ceases as a monthly newsletter durante wnico tantum anno ‘Ttemerges as a quarterly, and cemains durante ipso ame as such, with a significantly greater number of pages compared to its customary dozen.@anza ae We donot promise to live to the expectation of our readership, if we have any at all, as we only hear very litle from them. As attempts at omniscience by a human being border on pretence, we shall endeavour to produce what we determine to be our best. “MOST OF THE SECTIONS IN THE PREVIOUS FORMAT OF THIIS ORGAN REMAIN HERE. The vvaster shace available for the selections we have come to accept as readworthy required us fo graft new sections to the older ones. Of note is Pastoral letters, where we hope to publish an English translation of pastoral letters isstied by the bishops and archbishops cof this blessed archipelago from the time of the D. Domingo de Salazar until at east the time of Cardinal Rufino Santos, when the language of the Philippine Church was istindlly Spanish Since we are of the opinion that throwing away Spanish invites ignorance of our ec- lesiastic patrimony, we have left a space for itin Fraituno y quijotil. And if you are not the kind of person that is easily teased by vocabulary quizzes, please make it a point to avoid Tongue traditions (they can be boring) after reading Footnote to theught. We have a very important announcement on page 7. Please read it. Yes, it case we forget it We havea very important announcement on page 7. ‘THIS FIRST ISSUE COVERS THE FIRST REGIONS OF THE FASTER cyCLE, whose principal focusis the Mystery of Redemption, As the season of Lent began on 1 February this ‘eat, this issue begins with the Sacred Triduum, the most sacred days of the liturgical Year, setting off the rest of the events of the calendar. After the Resurrection comes the Ascension, and after the Ascension comes Pentecost. Just as the computation of the Gre- gorian calendar hinges of the date of Easter, so does our salvation hinge on the Resurrection, which our enemies attempt to disprove from the point of view of history, dragging to view any absence of factual evidence they perceive worthy of our trouble Faith truly is a gift from God. Anyone who banishes or loses such a gift also banishes or loses the humility of his intellect. ‘There is no greater and more appropriate proof of our Lord’s Resurrection than His very empty tomb. Our Lord, having van- quished death, now laid waste upon its realm, despoiling the prison it saw fitto contain His blessed Body, breaking out of its earthly confines, leaving i, in the end, emptier than ever before, ‘The empty mionumenio teaches us this very lesson. Christ anéstil Alithés anéStil SUNDAY IV AFTER PENTECOST, 21 JUNE 2015OUR TAKE ON THINGS SOUBRIQUETS Pity, only secular monarchs received soubriquets, ‘Ihe Spaniards gave us Juana la Loca (the Mad), maddened by so many deaths in the family; Carlos IL el He- chizado (the Bewitched), considered thus due to his many ailments, caused by pedigree collapse; Isabel II la de los Tristes Destinos (tive One of Sad Destinies), not recognised by some because she was female, deposed after some time, and formally abdicated, A statue of her stands near the gate of the Intramaros named after her. The French, on the other hand, were more candid and vulgar: Louis VI le Gros (ti Fat), Louis X le Hutin (the Quarreller), Louis XI ’Uni- verselle Aragne (the Universal Spider). Soubriquets possess the double purpose of crystallising a particular memory of a person, and instructing those who come affer that person in some history, albeit purely personal. ppp) But monarchis rarely live purely personal lives. Since they are sovereigns, their | lives, and even their temperaments and whims, affect the realms they govern ‘When our Lord, King of heaven and earth, died, the heavens withheld its light and the earth shook in its cores. Recause Juana la Loca was foca, the two men closest to her, her father, Ferdinand, and her husband, Philip, competed for con- tol of the Castilian throne. The hechize purportedly placed on Charles II was an ignorant excuse for the genetic disorders that culminated in this poor man who could not even close his mouth because of his Habsburg prognathism. Besieged by so many oppositions and obstacles, Isabella II indeed faced a sad future. The- se are just fevw of the things we can expact to learn from soubriquets: Madness ‘was often a precursor to political unrest; inbreeding destroyed the Spanish branch of the Habsburg dynasty; and royalties seldom have their happily-ever-after, ‘The popes did receive soubriquets, but only three of them: Leo the Great, Grego- ry the Great, and Nicholas the Great, There is a current push to give the same attribution to John Paul 11, but let us leave that to the polemicists. But suppose popes did receive soubriquets de riguewr, what would the modern popes’ be? John XXIII would be Ioannes XXIII Bonus, as he is already called Good Pope Joli. Pechaps Pius XII could be Pius XII Patientissimus (the Greatly Suffering) because of World War Il; Paul VI could be Paulus VI Lnlactimans (the One Who Weeps) for his anecdotal inadvertent removal of the OCtave of Pentecost; John Paul II would be Toannes Paulus II Peregrinantissimus (te Most Trav- elled) for his countless journeys around the world; and Benedict VI would be Benediclus XVI Verecundus (the Shy) for his shyness, which is still misinterpreted 7 ‘many as aloofness and a sign of sel-importance, [Well, the pope emeritus does get a lot of flak from his enemies. He has been called Papa Ratzi the German Shepherd, the Rott- weiler by many voices floating about, He las also been called the Pope of Christian Uni ty by some, and a heretic—closet or manifest, depending on the speaker—by others]But Pope Francis, what should we call him? Franciscus Amozetatus, the Un- mosscettaed? After all, he appeared to us for the first time without the red choral mozzetta, Franciscus Pauper, tie Poort He did recount that the poor filled his mind when he was asked what regnal name he wanted to use. Franciscus Gre~ gacius, te Gregarious? He seems to like being surrounded by people, media people apparently. Franciscus Seminiverbius, tie Babbfer? And he likes talking in interviews. Alot Franciscus Praevaricans, the One Who Prevaricatest Buthe = was silent in the Extraordinary Synod for the Family. Franciscus Callidus, the Shirewd? Of course, we cannot attribute his faux pas to a lack of wisdom, so we have to think these come from his shrewdness. Franciscus Omuiplacator, the Pleaser of Alf? Well, he seems to like pleasing everybody. Franciscus Protooecologus, tive First Boologigh Laudato 9. As they say, muff said, We could also extend the use of soubriquets to the College of Cardinals. Cardinal Kasper can be Gualtherius Iridescens (the Rainbow-Coloured) and Cardinal ‘Wuerl can be Donaldus Gulielmus Invertebratus (the Spineless); whereas Car- inal Pell can be Georgius Benevolus (the Benevolent) and Cardinal Burke can be Raymundus Leo Fidelis (ihe Steadfast}. Of course, our enemies will have a different opinion; so let us pre-empt them. They may like to call Cardinal Kasper Compatiens (he Compassionate) for his unprecedented propulsion of the rain- bow agenda; and Cardinal Wuerl Misericors (the Merciful) for his nuanced ap- proach to the legal abomination recently inaugurated in his home union, Mercy and compassion comes hand in hand in the new language of tolerance. On the other hand, Cardinal Pell could be Maculatus (the Besmrirched) owing to the intrigue with which his enemies had embroiled him; and Cardinal Burke can be Amplissimus (the Vastest), which, while an ancient form of address reserved to cardinals (the Patres Amplissimi—the Most Distinguished Fathers}, can be literally used to parody his body ‘mass index and the breadth of his cappa magna > Last anyone accuse us of introducing a pernicious practice, it behoves us to show that Christendom has been in the business of name-calling for a very long time, Tertullian is an example. The soubriquet Tertullianus means three times a Gicero, In sacred music, we have Hermannus Contractus and Notker Balbulus In calendrology, we have Dionysius Exiguus. Hermannus Contradtus (tie Crip- ple) suffered from a paralytic disease during childhood; his parents consigned him to a monastery. We remember Herman the Cripple as the hymmnographer behind the Marian antiphon Saive, Regina, Notker Balbulus (tie Stammerer) had a stutter throughout his life, but this had not impeded him from leaving a sacromusical posterity that is now amongst the treasures of the Abbey of Saint Gall. The appellative in Dionysius Exiguus (the Dwarf) is sometimes thought to be a conimentary on the abbot’ stature, but is now considered to be a self imposed badge of parvity or humility in the presence of greater dignities in the Church. Dennis the Dwarf gave the world its anno Domini. Marcus Tullius Cicero, 9 Roman, is one of the greatest orators of the pagan word. On the ‘other hand, Quintus Septimius Flotens, 2 Carthaginian, 2 Church Father, & one of the oreatest ‘orators of Christendom, Christians evertually started calling him Tertullianus because, to them, his writings were thrice better and thrice teadworthy than those of Cicero. The name stuck Inthe 17th century, the Spaniards started a habit of gathering informally to discuss Tertullian, Such a gathering came to be called tertulo, in honour of Tertullian. in late-rothrcentury Spanish Philppines, the feta became a social gathering where intellectual matters were frequently ds- cussed, often hosted in the salons of the farmtias de gran abolengo of Intramuros.——— MANANANGGAL CHRONICLES ;-}—— MANANANGGAL ANTINATALISM: SMOKING & CONTRACEPTION A PESTILENTIAL BREED OF MONSTERS, maruamanggals are. We have spoken of these unholy termagants before (Ananmesis 1.5), entertaining the fact that they once abound- ed in the past but now have become more sophisticated. And we are convinced beyond reasonable doubt that this is true, Two traits distinguish the modern manananggal from her more antique counterpart. The first is ferocity. The second is cunning. ‘The older manananggal was a wild beast, a winged predator, cruising the night sky thick with the night-blooming cestrum's musk, stealthily touching down on the thatches of an unfortunate shack, preying upon the unborn child of a mother-to-be. Never mind the pikes palisading the house and the garlic garlanding the windows, When the mana- inanggal hunted, she was sure to kill. Ferocity before cumning was her motto. ‘The modern mantananggat, in contrast, reorders this motto: cunning before ferocity. We have argued that, while the moderns have tamed their appetite, they have not forgotten the familiar taste that once cheered the lusting tongues of the ancients, It is because of this latent desire that all modern manananggals oot for abortion. Each successfil motherhood is a blow to their food supply. Each successful motherhood introduces prospective opponents. Each successful motherhood, by some cruel twist of fate, drives them closer to extinction. At this point, we have to stop and ask ourselves why these mananangeals also prop contraception, if their main goal is to increase their food supply. The answer to this is startlingly simple. Fist, they have to maintain face. They know they cannot support abortion if they did not support contraception first. Their chief tactician might like to call this gradual desensitisation. Ths is a no-brainer: a humane way to kill a frog is to put it in a pot of water and then slowly heat the ‘water until it boils. The frog does not mind. It has been gradually desensitised. Second, they know, deep down their rotten autotomising innards, that con- traception is a proven failure, that from those ‘protected’ carnal unions zygotes ‘will form and eventually require abortion—surreptitious, at the moment, owing the strictures of our laws. This is an approach known as vested interests, They support because they expect something in return, even ifs in the long run, And in order to protect the environment where these tactics work, ma- ‘nananggais must enact a smear campaign against the Church, her teach- ings, her ministers, and even her children. ‘hey like to cast the yellow light of unfair sceutiny upon the Church, employing diversionary tactics such as summoning scandals into the court of the media, resurrecting legends as black as pitch, concocting bizarre histories that would shame the darkest cof demons, among others, in order to dilute the Church’s attention on a subject as crucial as the perpetuation of life within the bonds of wedlock. ‘The attitude of these modern barbarians does not entirely surprise us. {In five years, we might find the word wedlock amongst the archaisms of English. It is a dying word, because the institution that it represents is co-erced into infatuating itself with the misguided dialogues of the world, All forms of sex outside wedlock is a sin, And desensitisation from the effects of sin often leads to addiction. Fornication and sodomy are sins made more pernicious by their frequency of commission. And every addiction requires medical attention Unfortunately, sin has temporal and spiritual consequences. A purely physi- cal approach cannot address both. Manananggals find this extremely amusing, and beneficial to their agenda. The moment they addressed the spiritual conse- quence, the wil have written the end of their winged existence. Disease and ui- planned pregnancy—variously described as werwanted—are the two most dan- agerous physical effects of this addiction. As the course of recent history showed, the choice method of prevention or medication to this is contraception Ahi, choice, that devil of a word! It crops up in the debate between ra- ‘namanggais and our champions. Choice is the new byword for the culture of death, and itis always paired with freedom. We have a variety of offerings in the modern kulturkampf cafeteria: freedom to choose assisted suicide, free- dom to choose late-term abortion, freedom to choose this and that. Yes, ma- ‘nananggals have taken advantage of every popular wisdom they could put their hands on. After al, this is just a question of what difference exists be- tween broccoli and booger. At any given weather, chances are high that tod- ers would choose to eat the booger: No rain check whatsoever. This quietly explains the shift of emphasis from ferocity to cunning. ‘They harness the depravity of the world in order to obliterate its very own future, Their mercenaries, lucid personages poised on the cusp of turning the tide of debate, bolstered by doctorates in philosophy, medicine, anthro- pology and other disciplines, spread abroad the marananggais’ principles. “These mercenaries have a supernatural passion for propelling their advoca- ies tothe forefront of the kulturkampf between life and death, Lot us take for example, an outwardly detached but inwardly passionate denunciation of smoking [1] ‘The cases of industry manipulation and intimidation seemed endless, even to the extent of using corporate social responsiblity to sponsor activities that allow promotion of tobacco prod- ties One partionanly devious practice as support for youth smoking prevention programs ‘The twist here i that while the tobacco companies come out looking good for discouraging young people from smoking, theit goal isto say, ultimately, that if some of the people sil pick tup the habit, they do so as an adult choice! Waiting, too, for the adults, are smokers’ rights soups, who argue that tobacco regulations violate theirhuman rights ‘The language is delectable, eloquent, spicing up a convincing apology against tobacco use, Suppose, for the sake of creativity, we tweak some of its word to suit our agenda? ‘We would obtain a fairly convincing argument against contraception and abortion: ‘The cases of industry manipulation and intimidation seemed endless, evento the extent of ‘using comporste social responsibilty to sponsor adtivitis that allow promotion of contraception ‘and abortion. One particularly devious practice was support for youth pregnancy prevention programs. The twist hete is that while the contraceptive companies come out looking good for ‘preventing young people from gesting an abortion by avoiding preenancy, thet goal isto sty, ultimately, that if some of the people sil ave en abortion, they do so asam adult choice! Wait- ing, too, for the adults, are pro-abortion rights groups, who argue that abortion regulations vio late theichuman rights. Antinatalism, dear readers, isa pointless principle. Manananggals campaign against smoking, which destroys the body, but they campaign for contraception and abortion, which destroy both the body and the soul. Let us continue praying for their conversion. [i] MicnaEu. Tan. Sinake out: PDE Pinoy kasi (29 May 2012)ITE, MISSA EST ¢ ITA MISSA EST ? The Traditional Latin Mass * in contemporary Philippine cinema _|By Maurice Joseph M. Almadrones Photographs by various contributors he Traditional Latin Mass, which is also called the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, the Triden- tine Mass, the Old Mass, or simply the Latin Mass, is the ancient form of worship of the Catholic Church that has its roots in the form of worship established by Christ and passed on through His Apostles, particularly through Saint Peter, the first Supreme Pontiff, who was martyred in Rome. From Rome spread the Roman Catholic Church to all corners of the world, with its official worship rendered in the sacred language of Latin. Although Latin is now universally acknowledged as a dead language, itis quite advantageous in that it en- abled the preservation of the original meaning of the Mass as handed down from the Apostles. Gradually in time, the Order of the Mass evolved and was en- riched with readings, details, customs, ritual, and sacted music that enabled it to become as itis right, sow, a veritable treasure of the Catholic Faith, ‘Today it is easy to understand the Holy Mass and to participate in it in any parish. There are par- ishes, however, that exist from all over the world, and even in the Philippines, which offer, occasional- ly, or om a regular basis, the Traditional Latin Mass. The question arises: Does the use of Latin and the way this Mass is offered make it hard for the people to participate in the worship? The Latin Mass Society of England and Wales offers a clarification for this common question. It frames the importance of this manner of celebrating the Mass by expounding that “{the] greatest lesson taught us by the Church's litur- gical tradition, which needs to be learnt again by many Catholics is that the Mass is an act of worship. offered to God” [1], and that “[the] participation of, those present at Mass is a participation in this act of worship: they participate by uniting themselves to the Victim, Our Lord Jesus Christ offered to the Fa ther on the Cross” [2]. Upon this lesson, the LMS points out, hinges the importance of liturgical orientation and the use of Latin. The Mass, first and foremost, isa Intreutic act Itrenders worship to God. This the reason why “the priest wears special clothes, liturgical vestments; a special form of music is used, Gregorian chant and certain forms of polyphony; a consecrated church building is employed, a building not used for secular purposes; and frequently incense is used, again not, something used in a non-liturgical context” [3]. Such [a] Lavy Mass Soctery oF ENatanp anp Wats. Frequently Asked Questions q. 4. Doesn't she use of Latin and ‘ed ovienter” ‘worst undermine the participasion of the congregation? LMS Home > FAQs, Internet chitp:/ww lms ong.tkifags>. Retrieved 30 Novembersox4. [2] bia. Is] fia. 16 ANAMNESISan aét of worship presupposes a language commen- sucate to the divine. Hence, in Western Christen- dom, “a form of Latin consecrated exclusively for sacred use” [4]. All these extraordinary elements emphasises that “what is taking place in the Mass is something different from ordinary human life” [5]. Mankind ought to understand that the Mass is “a communication with the divine” [6] These elements do not exist to alienate lay Cath- clics from their solemn act of worship. On the con- trary, these help them enter into and participate in the mysteries celebrated. The LMS enumerates the finer elements that are relevant in this regard: “the outward signs that one is entering a sacted building and a sacred period of time” [7], “the vestments and things such as incense and special rituals” [8], and “the periods of silence in the Mass” [9] According to the letter of Pope Benedict XVI (now Pope Emeritus) to the bishops of the world accompanying the release of his nrotu proprio Sum- rmorant Pontificum on 7 July 2007, which liberalised the celebration and nse of the Traditional Latin Mass and the traditional form of the Sacraments [10]: “What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harm- ful. It behoves all of us to preserve the riches which have developed in the Church's faith and prayer, and to give them their proper place.” In a historic move that would change the course of the life of the Catho- lic Church, which has drastically been shaken and undermined in the last four decades after the Second Vatican Council, because of erroneous interpreta- tions of the reforms of the said Council, Renedi¢t XVI issued the mentioned legislation, which high- lighted the importance and role of the Traditional (al id Us]. aid (6) ai fr) as (8) id (3) Latin Mass in the life of the Church, for all to take advantage of. Because of this, in the last seven years after the decisive move, many people are getting a first and lasting glimpse of the Mass which Catholies throughout history have cherished, kept, taught and learned, studied, worshipped and lived in, and fought and gave up their lives for. It is quite fitting that even here in the Philip- pines, strongly Catholic in identity, the Traditional Latin Mass or the TEM, has also achieved a growing popularity, surprisingly, among the youth, which is supposed to have grown up without this form of the Mass, being more familiar with the Mass offered in the vernacular, also called the New Mass ot the Novas Ordo. The Latin Mass Magazine explains that, “with the crises in the world today, more and more people (especially yonng people) seek an alternative to the ‘modern world” They are returning in droves to the wisdom of the ages, to things tested and time- ess” [11]. This return to the wisdom of the ages, jux- taposed against the modern world, the LMS points out, “for many young Catholics and converts to the Catholic Faith” includes ‘a return to the Traditional Latin Mass” [12], which has been made possible by Benedict XVI's recognition and affirmation in the aforesaid motu proprio of “the sight of every Catholic priest in the world to offer this Mass” [13] Tt may be concluded from many statements and accounts—written and recorded—that could be ac- cessed through the Internet and through publica- tions—numerous to mention—that the Traditional Mass has its strongest defenders among the youth, not because they are nostalgic for something of the past, or attracted only to the external ritual, but be- cause they have found a great treasure of the Church ‘which helps them learn and grow in their Faith, [1o] Bexrorcres PP, XVL Epigtula ad Episcopos Catholicae Ecdesiae Ritus Romani (7 ial 2007) = AAS 99 (2007) 795-799 : « Gid che perle generazioni anterior era sucro, ancheper noi testa sacro egrande, enon pd essere improvvisamente del tutto proi- bito o, addinitura, gindicato dannoso, Ci fa bene a tai conservare le ricchezze che sono crescinte nella fede e nala preghiera dlla Chiesa, edi dat loro i ginsto posto.» [11] Larin Mass Maoazine. Why has the Tradtslonal Latin Mass Retarted: LMM Home, Internet . Retrieved 30 November 2914. [12] Abi [13] id; of Bevepierus PP. XVI Lit. Ap. nota proprio dst. Summoruan Pontificun (7 iit 2007) art. 569 3 & 4: AAS 09 (2007) 777-781 : « § 3. Fiddlibus seu sacerdotibus id petentibus, parochus cdebrationes, hac in forma extraordinaria, pe etiam in adiunetispecularibus, ti sunt matrimouia,exsequiae aut celebrationes occasions, verbi gratia peregrinationes »5 «5.4 Sacerdotes Missal beatioannis XXII utentes, idonei esse debent aciure non imped. » APRIL-JULY 2015.17@amanrones ‘The understated impact of the Traditional Mass on the youth, it turns out, is accompanied by much Quieter impacts on other spheres of society, as an undertow fighting agains the wisdom of the modern world. On top of the debates that the Traditional Mass inspires in many echelons of society, the arts, are experiencing a reorientation. Architecture and interior design must now conform to the spatial needs of the Traditional Mass. Heclesiastic haber- dashery must now reassess the longstanding imbal- ance and asymmetry between simplicity and nobili- ty. Photography must now recapture and freeze in time the deeper sense of mystery of the Mass. All these disciplines must recover some of its lost and disregarded principles in order to reassert the time honoured and enduring values of its common de- nominator: aestfietics, However, amidst the growing popularity and influence of the Mass of Ail Ages—as the Traditional Mass is lovingly called by many—in those disci- pines that operate with aesthetics, is there a signifi- cant effect on how contemporary Philippine cinema portrays this form of the Mass (which is the Extraor- dinary Form of the Roman Rite, in proper terms) in period films Is there an improvement in the aesthetics of Philippine period films that shows a more conscious approach in depicting the Tradition- al Mass? And should there be a concern for Philip- pine cinema to be more cautious in its aesthetics, especially of the Traditional Mass? FROM THE BEGINNINGS OF CINEMA, and especially here in the archipelago, religion, albeit, the Roman Catholic Faith has been an iconic must or staple in many movies produced. De rigueur, a8 aficionados would say. This is in part to the Spanish roots of film in the country, Concerning this, Deocampo identi- fies the criteria on which Spanish influences operat- ed on local film aesthetics [14]: thematic, thematic content, narrative form, and pictorial representa tion. Consequently, he states that “insofar as they were produced in Manila, Tagalog films relied on the colonial, Catholic imagination,” which “left very lit- tle room for the non-colonial [aud the} non- Catholic” [15]. Furthermore, “Catholic tradition and theatre conventions formed another set of influences on Philippine cinema, particularly in character de- lineation,” and “religious imagery and references to religious matters are an aesthetic hallmark of many "Tagalog movies” [16]. The influence of Catholicism on films made in the country is quite great in part because even the aesthetics of the industry itself stems from a Tong tradition of theatre works greatly shaped by the reli- ‘gion brought to us by the Spaniards. Considerably, it can also be said that, fortunately, we have been graced by Divine Providence that our film in the country has been so greatly influenced by Catholi- cism through Spain, for this religion, in fact, is very rich in imagery and very orate in aesthetics. This is linked to a philosophical and theological sense that [1a] Nrox Drocaaa?o, Cine: Spans ingluences in eariy cinema in the Phiippines, Manila: The National Commission for Gul- ture and the Arts (2003) 278-285. [is] i [16] foi. 18 ANAMNESIS3 £ 5 é Catholicism is the treasure throve of the marriage between the unseen and the seen, the natural and supernatural, the divine and the mundane, the im- material and the material, and, using the words of the Gospel of Saint John: the Word nsade Flest [17] In Catholicism, very sober yet rich in its image- ty, there is a transcendence of the spiritual turning into the tangible. This is, in fact, imaged in the na- ture of the Holy Mass wherein God, at the words of the Consecration, becomes reality in Flesh and Blood before our eyes. And as it happens, the Invisi- ble becomes visible, the spiritual, real. This is seem- ingly absent in the Protestant sense of interpreting the world, because they have no Eucharist, and no Mass. In a sense, they grasp this idea, thereby result- ing in an iconoclasm in their imagery, even in film, where everything looks only at the present physical and the spiritual has no tangible or graphic image to be seen as compared to Catholic imagery. ‘True to this fact is the state of film criticism or Study to be found and made by scholars, mostly sub- scribing to Protestant and atheistic ideologies which climinates the possibility of the mystical union be- tween Divinity and reality. Martin and Ostwalt ex- poses the apparent non-overlap between religion and film: “I expected to find models of how to ana- lyse the relationship of religion and film. What 1 found was disappointing, Scholars engaged in pre- [rz] in 2,24 vailing modes of film criticism have had almost nothing to say about religion, And scholars who tudy religion have had almoat nothing to say about Hollywood film” [13] Martin admits that film critique nowadays puts more emphasis on “secular values, forees, and per- spectives matter more than religious ones.” He sup- ports his comparison of film critics with historians, sociologists, economists, and psychologists by quot- ing Bryan R. Wilson, Having dishosed of secularisa- tion, historians, sociologists, economists, and psy- chologists now harbonr an overwhelming tendency “to regard religion as a peripheral phenomenon in contemporary social organisation, and one which, in their Studies of the broad contours of social change, productivity, economic growth, or human psycholo- gy, they rarely find need to consider” [19]. For students of American film, Martin proposes this advice: “take religion more seriously, especially as historians and sociologists argue that religion [...] is increasing in importance throughout the world” [20] ALTHOUGH WE CAN saY that Philippine cinema is ill strongly influenced by religion and its imagery, can we also consider that, with the gradual change in the culture of the Filipino from one that is Hispanic into something that is American or Anglo-Saxon [i8] oct W. Manin e& Conrao E, Ostwatm, Screening the sacred: Religion, myth and ideology in popular American fi, Colorado: Westview Press (1095) 2. [19] bid. of Bevan B. Warsi. Reflections om a many sided comtroversy (1992): ed. Steve Bruce. Religion and modernisation: Sociotogits ond historians debate the secularisation thesis, Oxford: Oxford University Press (2992) 195-210. [20] ids of bia. APRIL-JULY2015 19ied Col | Py es ee ee | 4 er Renee eae G lelthese days—especially, when we begin considering the rise in the popularity of American holidays cele- brated in the country, above all in the urban metrop- lis, as well as the more pronounced presence of American popular culture embraced by the Filipino youth, and American secularism sweeping across the nation), depictions of even the Mass in Filipino films is being taken for granted? In this study, we have taken into consideration a number of selected films which can be broadly clas- sified as period films. ‘This decision stems from the fact that only in period films can we possibly see de- piction of the Traditional Mass. Taking from De- ‘ocampo's criteria of the Spanish influences on film, these selected films vary in thematic, thematic con- tent, narrative form, and pictorial representation. Among these films, only three are to be consid- ered pre-Vatican IL films that depict the Traditional Mass and traditional Sacraments: Hintata ng Birhen sa Antipolo (1947) by Susana C. de Guzman, Mga Kuwenio ni Lola Basyang (1958) produced by Sam- paguita Pictures, and Noli me tangere (1961) by Ge- rardo de Leon, This is in part to the sad destruction of many notable works during the Liberation of Ma- nila, the rarity of older films from the post-war era, Fortunately, these rare films are accessible throngh free viewing on the Internet, and thus rescued from the cobwebs of ignominy. Among the contemporary films, the selected few wore Karaal (1984) and Rizal (1998) by Marilou Di- az-Abaya, Mother Ignacia (1998) by Nick Deocam- po, Baler (2008) and EI presidente (2012) by Mark Meily, Manila Kingpin: The Asiong Salonga Story (2011) by Tikoy Aguiluz, Corazdn: Ang Unang As- wang (2012) by Richard Somes, Pedro Calungsod: Batang Marfir (2013) by Francis 0. Villacorta, In the films from the time before the reforms of the Second Vatican Council in the 1960's there is a consistent detail in the depiction and the mnise-en- sone of the Mass in its traditional form, what we now call the Traditional Latin Mass or the TLM, Pri- or to the Second Vatican Council, the Mass was cele- brated uniformly throughout the world. The French ‘could attend Mass in Vietnam or Tibet, and the Cha- miorros could attend Mass in Seville or New York, and they would know what to do and say in which- ever part of the Liturgy. From Rome to Vanuatu, the Mass was the same: it was celebrated in the Latin, fostered utmost care for detail, beauty, order, and rubrics, and all thing identifiably Catholic, which could be a topic of a much lengthier discussion. APRIL-JULY2015. 21These come forward in the pre-Vatican TI films we have mentioned, notwithstanding the fact that this older praxis can be seen only in fragmented se- quences. However, these small vignettes of the Mass and of the Sacraments, such as matrimonies and burials, are accurate depictions of the vivid rituals of the Church, This is most probably due to the fact ‘that itis the Mass of that particular era. We can ar- ‘gue, therefore, that the accuracy of the depiction increases when its temporal separation from the ob- ject decreases. From this, we can understand that in more con- ‘temporary films, this accuracy isa pittance, although, should not be the case because the medicine to tem- poral separation is not as impossible as time travel One can, in some sense, eliminate this temporal sep- aration by an in-depth study of the rituals of the Catholic Church, However, since no contemporary film seems to have accessed this recourse, the inac- ccuracies we have so far observed run the gamut from very light nuances to very debauched versions of the ‘Traditional Mass. Experience taught us that representational inac- curacies always engender reactions, be they violent, or not, from those who are well versed in the topic. As among the youth who have rediscovered the ‘Tra- ditional Mass, presently and regulary attending and studying it, 1, in union with the many tiny observa- tions voicing against representational inaccuracy, have to admit that this status quo stirred my con- sciousness, and impelled me to react One of our major considerations is the fact that most contemporary films feature not only fragments of the Mass—such as the Consecration, Communion of the faithful, or the sermon—but also the rite of burial and marriage. Without pointing out particu- Jar films to avoid an air of critique to each, we enu- erate the following problematic details of contem- porary depiction of the Traditional Latin Mass 1, Ina burial scene, the priest is vested in black Stole and alb, but is wearing a mozzetta, not a sur- plice. He reads some text but instead of blessing the deceased with the sign of the cross, he signs himself 2. Ina baptism scene, the priest is vested in a green chasuble. The correct vestment for baptism, in ‘the act itself of pouring water upon the infant, is the cope. The correct colout is white or gold. 3. The people hearing Mass sit with the women anixed with the men, The correct depiction is to seg- regate the men from the women, with men occupy- ing one side of the church, and the women the other. 22 ANAMNESIS|4. The priest steps out of the sanctuary, incens- ing images and the people while going down the cemtral church aisle, He is wearing a white skullcap or zucchetto during the Mass although he is not a bishop. The skulleap should be taken off during the Liturgy and its colour should coincide with that of his habit, Furthermore, the priest is not allowed to go out of the sanctuary during the Mass, except for the setmon (as he must ascend the pulpit) and he does not bless with incense using a chasuble, Rather, he vests with a cope, 5 Dominican friars are shown with a black scapular, and a tiny cross hanging from their neck. Dominican friars wear a white scapular; lay brethren wear black. Dominicans of South America and the Philippines wore a full rosary over the scapular, with the crucifix on one side, 6. The priest is delivering a sermon up in the pulpit, He is wearing a chasuble but not in accurate detail. The habit is exposed, which should have been hidden under the alb and the amice. 7. At the minor elevation, the priest is shown ‘wearing a cope. The minor elevation occurs within the Mass, so the correct vestment is the chasuble, ‘The maniple ought to be visible from the let arm, 8, The Mass is pleasingly accurate in orienta- tion facing the altar. However, it is depited such that the priest says the Pater noster before the Con- secration, and recites the Consecration andibly in- Stead of saying it in a suppressed voice. He is also seen omitting the genuflections at the Consecration, contrary to the rubrics. 9. The priest is shown not holding his thumb and forefinger together while holding the ciborium during distribution of Holy Communion. The ru- brics of the Mass instruct the priest not to disjoin his thumb and forefinger from after Consecration of the Host until ablutions, which is the ritual washing of the fingers over the chalice before the purification, This joining is significant because it prevents loss of the fragments of the Eucharist that may have stuck tothe fingers. 10, ‘The priest gives Communion at the altar rail, which is correct. He does this, however, without the proper formula: Corpus Domini nostri Zesu Christ, custodiat animam tuam in vitam aeternam. Amen. (May the Body of Our Lord Jesus Christ preserve your soul unto life everlasting. Amen.). Moreover, he distributes Holy Communion without tracing the sign of the cross over the ciborium and in front of the communicant while pronouncing the formula. APRIL: JULY 2015. 23aa es Ry e a11, In a marriage scene, the ceremony is done inside the church contrary to the rubric which com- ‘mand that the Sacrament of Matrimony should be cconfected at the main portal of the church. 4a, The priest is already vested for Mass while Matrimony is being confacted, contrary to rubrics 33, The wife imposes the sing on the husband instead of the priest imposing it on the husband, and the customary kiss is done within the church contra- ry torubrics. 14, The Mass is said in Tagalog, the Consecra- tion is said out Loud, the priest is already facing the people, and the priest is not wearing any vestment but only his cassock, 45, The orientation of Mass is correct, facing the altar, although the priest wears no vestment. The priest has no altar cards that should customarily aid him. He has no candles nor a crucifix on the altar ‘The priest uses a wooden chalice contrary to rubries of the Traditional Mass DEPENDING ON THE THEME OF THE Movie, and the aesthetics established in each, depictions of the TLM, as has been said, vary greally in degree from little nuances to very significant inaccuracies in depiction with regards to acting out the ritual of the Mass or sacrament and the mise-en-scéne, Interestingly, to answer the latter question about the change of Filipino orientation in film from Span- ish influences to American and now to very secular values, Deocampo observes that “during the diale ‘Translation: "By custom, there is another widespread and abominable abuse in native villages, and it isthe personal servitude that they enact inthe house of their in Jaws in order to marry. They make a public agreement on the duration within which they have to serve them in theirhouses and farms, And having made this withthe customarylitde wits, they have an open door through swhich they enter and leave the woman’s honse day and night. They accompany her tothe farm, tothe field, and in her voyages and. rolls. And many times they ive together, from which itfllows that many of them are concubines fist, instead of being wives, And others frst bear children out of sin and malediction, instead of children out ofthe blessing of the Church [...]° 46 ANAMNESISobserves you with your most ungainly depression or the dampening of your Christian charity. It is by provi- dence that with the greatest disconsolation and difficulty in my soul, I behold you as a very sickly people, prostrate and almost dying, with the deathly ague of the disease ofthe soul, which is acedia. And according to Saint Thomas, this is a tedium of doing good [3], and a melancholic sorrow ofall things spiritual [4]. The dis- ase of the body is a slow but continuous fever that penetrates until the marrow of the bones and ceases with the body. Usually, itis an ague incurable to medicine. And this very same happens with spiritual disease: a slow but continuous fever of the soul, which little by little consumes the vigour and strengths of the spirit, sburning the assistance, the light, and the calling of grace, until arriving ata state of obstinacy, contumacy and rebellion, By His mercy, may God protect and deliver us from such infirmity, because from that point, only final impenitence and Hel follow, which isthe sorrovsful destination of those who die in mortal sin. You are fickle, lukewarm, and lazy. Your faith is most materialistic and superficial. It does not well forth from the bottom of the heart: a dead faith, which, in the thoughts of the Apostle and of the common doctrine of the Church, is not enough to obtain salvation, and attain for the Christian eternal lies and, most appropri- ately, it appears that what the Lord said, speaking of another people, proves trne in you too [5]: « ste populus labiis me honorat ; cor autem eorunt longe est a me. » This people honours Me with words alone; but their heart is very distant and far from Me. Behold now, if this divine speech completely seizes you. There was a jue bilee, a feast in the Church, and the greatest of which, I cite as an example, is the Great Jubilee of the Holy Year, which some time ago we celebrated [6]. Thither there were external devotion, confessions, communions, the jostling and fatigue in entering and leaving the designated churches. But I do not know what I should tell _myselfin recognising no or little amendment in your customs. Few are those who have changed their lives and drawn themselves with example and seriousness unto the exercise of virtues and works of mortification by a veritable honesty; and fewer still are those who, without aspiring for the apex of perfection, control, guide, and adapt themselves, in their own state, to a reformed and rational life, educating their children, looking after their families, and removing themselves from short, from wine, and from idleness, which is the dominant and common vice ofthis wretched country, which is a pity You have come to a terrible and very dangerous degree of insensitivity. You behold and perhaps you sense the prodigious chastisements, with which God threatens you and seeks your emendation. But you do not pon- der on the cause of these, which are your sins. You desire to live according to the law of your caprice and liber- ty, and that God should pretend, and produce Himself disinterested, and mitigate His ire, which cannot be. And it is necessary to break this difficulty at its weakest point because itis written [7]: « Nisi conversifueritis, gladiaon sucem vibravit ; arcum suum fetendit, et paravit ilu. Et in eo paravit vasa mortis, [sagittas suas ar- dentibus offecit| » If you do not convert and mend your ways, the Lord will wield His shining and vengeful sword, preparing His bow, and He will mount upon it the arrow of His divine fury and vengeance, an arrow, [3] 8 Thomas Aquinas, Sunsmia Tologiae 18 quaest.35 art 1c. :« Acedia, secundum Damascentim, St quaedam trstitia aggravans, quae scilicet ita deprimit animam hominis ut mil ei agere libeat ; siti ea quae sunt acids etiam frgida sunt, Ft ideo acedia importat quoddam taedium operandi, ut patetper hoc quod diitur in plossa super illu psalm., Orenemescam abominats est nina corre; eta quibasdam dicitar quod acedia est torpor mentis bons negligentisinchoare.» ‘Translation: "Acedia, according to the Damascene, isa kind of oppressive sorrow. which, to wit, so weighs upon the minel of rman, that he should desire to do nothmg to himself; in like manner, those which are acidic are also cold. Hence, acedia implies a certain tediam of work, as appears through this which is spoken in the loss ofthat psalm, ‘Theit soul abhorred al meaner of meat’ and from some itis spoken that acedia is the suggishness ofthe mind that negiets to begin good things.” [a] 5. Tomas Aqumas, Sunnis Theologice £quaest. 63 art 2 a2, « Acadia vero e& quaedam trstitia, qua homo redditur turdus ad spiritual acu propter corporalem laborem ; qui daemouibuis non competit » ‘Translation: “Verily, acedia isa kind of sorrow, whereby man is rendered shaggish unto spiritual exercises for the sake of cor poral weariness which does not apply to the demons.” Is] Marth. 15, & Barc. 7, 6 Translation: “This peoplehonoureth Me with thei lips but theirheart i ar from Me” [9]. This is probably the jubilee of 1750, prodaimed by Benedict XIV on 5 May 1749. The Jubilee was formally prodaimed through the bull of indiction Perewrinentes « Domino, dated 5 May 1749. Preparations incumbent pon the Holy Year were an- nounced inthe bull Apesfoice comfitutio on 26 Jane 1749. See Bewepicrus PP. XIV. Const Ap. Pregrinantes a Domino: Bened. PP. XIV Bullariua 7 (187) 270-204, See BewepicTusPP. XIV, Const Ap. Consitutio apostotca: Op cit. 301336. IF]. Ps. 17.13,14. Translation; “Except you will be converted, He will brandish His sword: He hath bent His bow, and madeit ready. And in it He hath prepared to instruments of death, He hath made eady His arrows for them that burn.” APRIL-JULY 201547which upon its tip carries ready the instruments of death against sinners, rebels and the contumacions. God cannot change Himself. He Who was, is, and shall eternally be. Wake up from that languid dream or deathly lethargy that leads you to Hell. For if you do not change your life and your custorns, and perform condign pen- ance (as the Council of Trent requires} [8], you shall perish without recourse [9]: « Zn peccate vestro moriemi- ‘mi, » And in this life, you shall suffer present and greater chastisements, Does it seem to you that the tribula- tions, the anguish, and the labours that surround and aiflict you are petty and negligible? Notice the famine, the locusts, and the plague that have begun to show in these past years, the ftightful roar of that volcano or mouth of Hell, which you see upon the horizon, Who told you that, even if these (so say the excuser and the ignorant) be deathly causes, these are not also ministers, executors, and like unto executioners of the justice of God for the chastisement of mankind? If with this coldness they attempt to banish the holy fear of God and His chastisements, or sell themselves to us (what rare vanity!) as a valiant and dauntless soul, let them read Sacred Scriptures, let them read the Fathers, and even profane history, and they shall see their ignorance an- swered and contradi¢ted. But even if these signs are few, notice the alllicted State of your capital, which is commerce, with the repeated returns and shipwrecks of your vessels, the bankruptey and failures of the fairs in Acapulco, the demise of your neighbourhood in Manila and its properties. It is by providence that it can now be said that your business and merchandise have come to a state of ignominy and infamy, and to an al- ‘most irreparable ruin, because good faith in dealings, which is the foundation of commerce, has been reduced to deceit and fraud. The word and point of honour of men of advantage, which before took root upon a hun- dred documents, have come to an end, Following all these, not without irremediable and substantial losses of third-party interests and of charitable foundations, they loan you their wealth out of gratitude, because yours ‘has become so dire that everything has but disappeared, profit and capital and all. ‘The implacable war of the Moors has been another calamity, with which God afflicts you, for especially in ‘these past three or four years, entire provinces have been razed and destroyed, the towns, after having been sacked and consigned to flames, abandoned by natives. Many thousands of them have either been dead or taken prisoners, with the danger of apostatising owing to their desire to flee the rigour of slavery or to their xatural inconstancy. And itis noteworthy that these very same Moors—the Tausug, the Maguindanao, the Ti- dung and other castes [10] —who cause you so much now to fear, are the very same who, some time ago, were the despicable enemies of the Filipinos—pirates, thieves, and akin to shrewd mice of your granacies and rice Rut now, we see them dare to nndertake an organised war and greater schemes, with an almost incalenlable number of embarkations, until the fateful end of that which has been spoken of. But what is this, my children, but to cause God to be angry? And why does He wield the sword of His power against us? Toppling our forts in favour of the Moors, is it perhaps that the Moors have not caused God to be irritated as much as we Catho- Jes have? Now I remember the sharp retort [11] of another Englishman, whom, going away to embark from [8] Conciinvsa (Eeumenicum Taipewtivont Sess. 24 Decretum de reformation cap. 8: « Quando igitur ab aliquo public, et in multoram conspeéta crimen commissam fuerit, unde alios scandalo offensos commotosque fnisse, nom sit dubitandum ; huic Translation: "For if ll, as we have already said before, be barbarians or pagans or heretics, let me say this first about the pa- _gans, as itis fir ther error: The Saxons are savages, the Pranks are treacherous, the Gepids are chuslish, the His are shameless. In the end, thelife ofall barbarian peoples is viiousmess.” [ua] Op. ct, i. 4 cap. 8; PL-LIMI (4845) 78 Translation: “In fa. all fault ofall Christians isan offen: ‘ecause we permit with this those which we are forbidden to do by God, we trample upon the cause of prohibi again the Divinity. APRIL-JULY2015 49and the powers of the earth from nation to nation, and permits that others should be entirely annihilated and destroyed by their very own turmoil Perhaps you will ask why [threaten you with such harshness. Yea, I threaten you, because by divine grace ‘you are Christians, you firmly possess the protection and promise of the Catholic Faith, and even though wicked and sinful, you fear the wraths of God, you repent and weep; and perhaps because you restore your- selves to grace through access to the Sacraments; and finally, which you do not acknowledge, because I called you obstinate, contumacious, and rebellious. This last one is that which truly pains and distresses me more than anything, for being wicked, you do not acknowledge the origin of your malice, and what consists your perversion. How, then, will you. amend something you do not know, through an ignorance that is not invinci- ble, which excuses sin, buts affected and malicions, which is always culpable and sinful. Days pass by, year in year out, and you receive Communion, confess, and assist punctually at Mass, in sermons, and in other offices of the Church, What shall be the cause, then, why you neither grow in spirit nor advance alittle inthe exercise of virtue with the disbosition of a rational and Christian life? (I speak with everyone.) But what should there be, but that all or the majority of us, alittle or very much, more of less suffer from this affected ignorance: for no other end than to avoid that capital vice or dominant passion that subjects us and locks us in prisons harsh and most hard, yet difficutt to break unless it be with the power of divine grace. We are most feeble and cow- ardly to undertake the most arduous of virtues, which is conquering our very own selves. We see that just as. the athlete preserves himself by always competing, so does the idler in his innate idleness, the loudmouth and the whisherer in their wicked customs, and the rest. Indeed, itis neither about expelling the armed strong man from his court, nor about throwing the person that harms us out of our company, as the Patriarch Abra- ‘ham generously did with the slave Agar and her brat [15]. God sends His lights, aids with His inspirations, and stops not trom accusing the very conscience of that defect, imperfection, or sin, and sees hither that that which I call affected ignorance enters because one avoids, spurns, and treats that interior calling or appeal as though he does not hear it, trusting much or abusing the infinite goodness of God, and at best, delaying the reform or emendation to the future. This is what happens with most people. If only it were not true! Therefore, from my point of view, God spoke through Jeremias [14]: « Quorunt peccaia dura facta sunt. » Aristotle wrote that our understanding ‘olds only for things that are most notable and clear, in the same way as the eyes of an owl are in the sight of sunbeams [17]. then ask now: What will our tnderstanding do in things obscure and confounded, iit serves only solittle to discern those that are manifest? Its read in a psalm [18]: Circumdederunt me mata, quorim non e&t numerys. » Numberless evils have approached and seized me. And what are these evils? Thither [a9]: « Comprehendersnt me iniquitates meae set non potui, ut viderem. » Concerning which, Saint Jerome says that it can sometimes happen that what we judge as worthy of merit is in fact more worthy of punishment, and that our very own judgments turn out to be iniquities [20]. Saint Gregory advises in his Morals [21]: « Saepe [i516 Goma, [16] Gf fer. 30,14: «Propter multitudinem iniquitatis tae dura faca sunt peccata tua.» ‘Translation: Dy reason ofthe multitude of thy iniquities,thy sins are hardened.” [17] Anistoreves. De arto, fb, 2, cap. 12, 424417-24 ; « Kabd\ov d& nept done aioMoo.N He AaBety Su wey alofrok: Cork 1 Sextmmdy ta aiottay eid ven TIE Ans, olov é xnpec tod Saxteh(on dvev ToD onb¥paw Kai ToD jpwaeH SEyeraL TS OME Aayparet 6¢ 7 xpwooby fxd yAAKoUV MULE, AAA’ oby F YPUEAS f} RALKAS- uot BE kat atoms éxdoTOU nd TOD EavTOS APOC TL XEUDN | WOO Moye, ANY o6y Fl ExaCTOY ExctweY AEyeTaL, GAN TOLOYAL Kal KATATOYAIYOY.» ‘Translation; Concerning every sense in general, we need to appreciate thatthe sense is that which can receive perceptible forms without the matter, just as wax receves the rings signet without the iton or gold it takes om the golden or brazen signet, but notin so faras [the ring] i gold orbronze. Similarly, in this case, the sense of each [perceptible] is affect by that colour, or favour, ‘or sound though not in so fa ait is said to be each of these, but in so farasitis this sort of thing an in accordance with ts logos.” [18] Ps. 39, 13. Transtation: “Evils without number have surrounded me.” [19] Rid, Translation: “My inigoities have overtaken me, andTwas not able to see.” [20]S. Htenowvas Epistela xt Ad Damasumt de duobas iis (c. fn. 383), 39 : PLXXI (1845) 392: « Videamusantem quo modo super sanéto generate et peccatore parabola isa posst inti Bt de caeters quin iusto conventat, on anbigitu, Mad est fn quo legenti scrapulus commovetur, cur asus sala peccatorisinvideat; et in tant iracundis repleatur ut nec fratris mise rion, nec patrs precbus, nec totius dommsincunditate superetur. Ad quod breviter respondebimus : omem mundi tins nsti- ‘iam, ad Dei comparationenn non esse ita, Quomodo enim ex pecatis Ferusalem, Sodomra istificatu, non quod ipsa sit iasa, sed quod maioribus dads fant minora daca: its et hominam omnium univers isitia non et Deo collataiustita.» 50 ANAMNESISipsa nostra iusttia, ad examen divinae iustitiae deducta, iniustitia edt ; et sordet in districtione iudicis quod in aestimatione fulget operantis, » But an authority of Saint Angustine, which we speak of, props us better [23 « Peceata, » says he, « quantvis magna et horrenda, cium in consuetudinent verterint, aut parva aut mulla esse creduntur, » The objection or answer that you have made is that of impassioned and blinkered men, The mat- ter is supremely important because it deals with the glory of God and the eternal happiness of your souls. My obligation urges me most efficaciously because T have to answer for all of you. Tolerate me, therefore, a little ‘more leniently, and show some patience in hearing the moat pressing of your dangers and of my fears. Avarice, as you well know, is the fecund root of all vices and evils. is the most prevalent and dominant of, these poor Isles. The prospect of commerce, the opulence and abundance of wealth attracted you in times past. From here proceeded pride, vanity and ambition, obliviousness of God, and contempt for His holy law, while you have consigned yourselves completely to your dealings and trades, And itis necessary that the heart, be- ing empty ofthe true good that is charity, should become preoccupied with vain and earthly desires, « Nihil et inigueus », says Bcclesiasticus [23]: « quam amare pecuriam : hic enint et anineam suam venalem habet, quo- trian in vita sua proiecit intima sua, » Saint Ambrose [24}: « Divitiae sunt inane lucrian et [pretiosae| animae detrimentum. » And Aristotle, prince of philosophy, did not hesitate to state [25]: « Avaritia morbus es, et qui- dent insanabitis, » Avarice is an ague of the soul, but it is incurable. It is the finest idolatry and a definite means opposed to all the virtues. And it is necessary that in the heart, wherein reigns this monstrosity of men, all that is rational should be reversed, the mind should be disturbed, reason should be abandoned, aud all vir- ‘ue and divine grace, which is the true life of the soul, should flee. Saint Augustine said [26]: « Ef habes, ef con- cpiscs :plenus es, et sitis. Morbus est, et non opulentia. » And Sallust, agreeing to this very statement, writes [a7]: « Avaritia pecuniae Sudiuns habet, quam nemo sapiens concupivit, » And Aristotle [28|: « Divitiae nikil aud sunt, quam felix antentia, » I wanted this to have been said instead: infetic amentia, For what unhappier ‘Translation: “But let us see how this parable about the holy and the sinner can be generally understood. That, concerning the rest, should it come tothe just, there be no doubt Its, n which, by reading, the scrapulous is moved, why the just should eney the salvation ofthe sinner: and only in such is ire completed, thet neither with the mercy of thebrother or with the prayer ofthe father, cor withthe gacness ofthe entre honsehold could it be overcome. ‘To which we shall answer briefly that all the justice of this world, according to the judgment of God, isnot justice. For in the sime way wherewith Sodom is judged against the sins of Jerusalem, not that this one may be jus, but that lesser transgressions may become greater: so ths all the justice ofall mankind is not considered jnsice with God, [a1]. Greaoris Maanos PP. L Murat in fb, tb, 5 cap. 10 21 > PEXKV (1845) 690. Translation: “Oftentimes, this very juice of ours, brought to the esumination of divine justice, is injustice, and that hich shines in the opinion of the perpetrator seems unworthy inthe strictness ofthe judge.” [22]. Auoustiwos Enchinidion ad Leurentinns fib. 1 gp. Bo.» PL XL (1845) 2.70, Transtation: “Sins, howsoever great and horrendous they be, when they would become a custom, are believed tobe either of litle or no importance.” [23] Zectus. 10, 10. Translation: “There is not a more wicked thing than to love money for sucha one stteth even his oxin soul to sae: becanse while liveth he hath cast aay his bowels.” [24] OFS. Amsnostes, Liber de bono mots, cap. 5,16 : PLXIV (1845) 576: « Quid inane quaerimus licram pretiosteanimae detrimento > ‘Translation: “Why do we seck after bollow profitto the detriment of our precious soi?” [25] Arustorenes. Bice Nicomechea, Hi. 4 cap. 1: «6 wiv oby Gowros daaiSayoyntos yewipewsx cic taica peraPaiven THRY 8° Ermedeiag sig To éo0 Kal dg TD Seay depiwoIT’ v.15” dvehewBepa Aviano T’ Eovty (BoKeL yap TO yRpas Kal Maga Advanta avedewbéporsToLay), nal conyutotepoy Tok doMporoKe TIC owttas of yap TOAAOL poypnyater yoy Boral, Kal dtatetveLd™ fal nots kal nohverS& for: okkol yap tpé01 Saxo AveheuBepiac eva.» ‘Translation: “The prodigal man, then, tums into what se have described ithe isleft untutore, bt if he i treated with care he veil arrive at the intermediate and right sate. But meanness is both incurable (for old age and every disability is thought to make ‘men mean) and more innate in men than prodigality; for most men are fonder af getting money than of giving, Italso extends wide- 1ysand is multiform, since there seem tobe many kinds of meanness.” [26] 5. Avousrnus, Sermo uxt, 8: PE XXXVIL (1845) 420. Translation: “You possess, and still you hanker. You are ful, nd Sill you thirst. Tiss a disease, not an opulence” [27] Gaius Sextustivs Cruseus Beliars Catidee 11,3. Translation: "But avarice has merely money fo its objed, which no ‘vive man has everimmoderately desired.” [28] Arusrorenes. Ars rhetoric, ih. 2 cap. 16 + « dua 58 kal cixétag toto nacyovaTY (AORLOL yap tary of SeOyevor Taw govt: dike Kal 1d Darton sipta nepl rv oopdY Kal TAOUOKONY NpaG Ty yuvaKka Tip’ EPOvs épo}kemyy NOTepoY yerEoBaL xpeittoy moiiotoy fog: “nAobotay” iy. Toi ongoix yap 2yr] Spay Emi Talc Tov moVOiwy Oopatc Hatpifovrac), Kai tS eo Affous efvar Spyz: Fxery yap olovran dy Evexeydpyet’ SEiov. kal Og Ev Keyan, var TOv eASaipovos 00s Gos Modo tori.» APRIL-JULY2015 51madness is there than to make oneself unhappy by making others abundant and lucky? (A wise man said this.) The rich is either wicked or the child of wicked persons. And he cannot escape a painful and miserable life owing to his desire to acquire work, to keep it, or the sorrow of losing it. Ifthey bequeath him their own property, instead of comfort, a dangerous occasion to lose their very selves and be condemned departs from them. If the property be that of other and foreign people, what greater disconsolation itis than to enrich oth- ers with your sweat. Apart from these many occasions, we see, by dint of human mishaps and strange courses, that such patrimony or wealth acquired with so much zeal will end up with your rivals and enemies. Itis cer- tain that, even though the use of wealth should in itself be indifferent, such wealth can perhaps be occupied with decent and good purposes. But the common things is for itto be 2 heavy chain that manacles and curtails the liberty ofits own possessor, for rarely does this bewitchment of ambition fail to harbour injustice, eneum- brance and usurpation. Saint Paul, ina letter to his beloved Timothy, says [29]: « Qui volunt divites fie, inci- dunt in tentationem, et in laqueuns diaboli, et desideria nsulta inutifia, ef nociva, quae mergunt honiines in in teritum et perditionem. » And thither, the Chrysostom [30]: « Adverts :laqueuma diaboli esse divitias : quem tetendit etiam Salvator. » Thave observed wel, in the time that I have lived amongét you, that so many calamities have especially befallen the commerce of the Philippines, to make it more miserable and disastrous. They arose and were pro- duced solely from the disturbing greed and insatiable ambition of some residents. In order to prove this, it will sufice to summon before you a notorious and manifest case that is clear to all of you. This was the most ill -fated and complete loss of the vessel named Pilar, which set sail from this bay, rather overloaded with tex- tiles, in +750, wherein all those who were on board were shipwrecked, and many treasures were lost, without ‘having even until now ascertained how or in which place the tragedy occurred [31]. It is only conjectured that the sea devoured it, not far from these very Isles, according to some fragments that were recognised upon the coasts and shores. This vessel was permitted, without the capacity to do so, to make that voyage, in accotd- ance with the judgment of the most expert and the most intelligent; the inspection was carried out uarealisti- cally and superficially; the navigation was settled post-haste and without thought, because greed decreed it so, repairs were made at the cost of many thousands of pesos; finaly, it sailed for Acapulco. Until this present hour, it has appeared neither thither nor hither, nor in any other part, because it went down, The sea de- ‘voured it. You sin as avaricious and greedy men. And the Supreme God, Lord of the universe, Who com- mands the elements, did vonchsafe and ordain to deprive you of the substance of your disorder, punishing, in this case, your mad ambition and greed. For itis written [32]: « Zniguitates suas capiunt impivm + ef funibus _peccatorum suorum constringitur. » From avarice immediately come forth seléimportance and pride, presenting itself to the rich and the powerful, who already possess undisputable right to their wealth, in order to appear with all that it desires or iakes fancy to, even if they be impossible, not less than to dominate others with insolence and arrogance. Ava~ rice also serves (or better yet to say they serve her) indecency and immodesty, ineptitude and licentiousness, shame and indiscipline; it corrupts the tribunals, and introduces injustice and subornation, and degrades the laws: it excites disputes, rivalries and even betrayals and treacheries it persecutes innocence; it promotes wars ‘Translation: “At the same time this feling is mot unreasonable; for those who have need of the wealthy are many in number. ence the answer of Simonides tothe wife of Hiero concerning the wise and the rich, when she asked which eas preferable, to be wise or to be rich, ‘Rich, he answered, for we se the wise spending their time atthe doors ofthe rh,’ And the rich think they are worthy tonal, because they believe they possess that which makes them so, Ina word, the character of the rich man is that ofa fool favoured by forte.” [29], Tint. 6, 9, Translation: “For they that will become rich fall into temptation, and into the snare ofthe devi, and into ‘many unprofitable and hurtfl desires, which drown men into destruction and perdition.” Lao]. Anpaostes, Setmo-xt¥ fn salman 118, 96; PE XV (1845) 1405, Translation: "Understand ye wealth to bea snareof the Devi, which he also directed atthe Saviour.” Note: The quotation is from Saint Ambrose, not from SsintJohn Chrysostom, [a] This isthe galleon Nuestra Sera dei Pita de Zaragoza, which left Manila on 31 July 1750, in what would beherast voy: age, with the stall galley Sam José, On 26 Ang, she putin at the port of San Jacinto to refill water and provisions, besides loading contraband merchandise. Despite being overloaded, and agains the dispositions of the pilots and her foreman, the captain, Don Mateo Antonio iigue his commander, the general D. Ignacio Martinez de Faura, decided to weigh anchors on 1 September. She passed through the trait of San Bernardino, targeting the Marianas, and nothing more is known abot her. See Jess Gancis pet Vanue v Géutez, Retreto de un navio. Madrid Editorial Naval (1993). [32] Prov. 5,22, Translation: "His own iniquities catch the wicked, and he i ft bound seth the ropes of his own sins” 52. ANAMNESISthemselves amongst princes, accompanied by her sister, ambition; and finally they bring all to blood and fire, being the complete obliteration of mankind: in order to annihilate and destroy peoples, cities and empires. It is fortunate that, with much reason, Saint John Chrysostom called avarice the stone castle ofall evils and sins: . [48] Cf Marth. 27, 4: « Peccavi, tradens sanguinem iustum. » Translation: “Ihave sinned in betraying imocent blood” Lag] O. Matt. 27, 5-7 : «Principes autem sacerdotum, acceptisargentes dean: Non licet eos mittee in carbonam : quia pretium sanguinis est, Consilio autem inito, emerunt ex illis agrum figuli, in sepultaram peregrinorum. » Translation: "But the chief priests having taken the pieces of silver, said: It is not Lawful to put them into the corbona, because itis the price of blood, And after they had consulted together, they bought with them the potter’ fed, to bea burying place for Strangers.” i501 Meith. 16, 26. Translation: “What doth it profit a man, ifhe gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or ‘what exchange shall aman give fois soul? APRIL-JULY2015 55If there were no tax, there would be no brothel or gambling house, the competition between gamblers and idlers would be naught, and, consequently, the multitude would be spared from sins and insolence which are committed thither, as though in a public tavern or in the hallway of Hell. Because, thither, men and women, children of families, servants and slaves, and an innumerable smattering of idle and malevolent people inter- atwith each other. Thither even the undershirtis at stake, and the things that were pilfered from the masters and from others. But I will say—even thongh with imponderable horror—that, thither, perhaps, the decency of women is put at stake by women themselves, and there are fathers or husbands who prostitute the honour and body of their daughters or their very own wives to the fate of a dice. Will this political scandal be believa- ble amongst Christians? Know ye, then, that Tam certain of myself in the most firm manner that T can bel Poor old me, I sigh and weep alone, and I have obtained the remedy, constantly crying out, persuading, writ- ing even to the very same King. I do not knove if, even with all of that, I will be unscathed before God. I beliold the cause of your course most distally, because you are walking exactly towards your ruin, and you are at the brink, at the edge of the precipice and on the verge of collapse where you would end up at the bottom of the abyss. And do not tel me that this my warning and precept is harsh, hard, and of supreme rig- our, for it eads to spite and to fear, almost bringing your souls to despair, which ought not to take place while man lives, for while he breathes, he is capable of invoking the mercy of the Most High, according to what the Holy Synod of Trent defines about all sinners, be they who they are. And it says thus, in session 6, under [canon] 29 [51]: « Si quis dixerit eum, qui post baptismum lapsus est, nom posse per Dei gratiam resurgere, ana- thema sit,» Allthisis certain and of a living faith, as dictated through the voice of the Holy Ghost in that holy congregation. And as you shall have noticed in all the discourse of this my pastoral letter, the threats that I direct at you always go under the subject of your lack of desire to correct yourselves and amend your ways. Rut notice that this my precept, which appears to you to be of supreme rigour, was firstly trom the common ‘teaching of the Fathers, and extracted from the fount of the Prophets and from Holy Writ. Hear ye Saint Au- ‘gusting, who pronounced without hesitation [52]: « Znpius cum vuit, nom potest ; quia cunt potuit, noluit, » Pope Gregory the Great agrees with Saint Augustine [53]: « Dunt opportune agere, quae posstamus, nolumus 5 paulo post cum volumus, nom vaiemus. » The precepts of Holy Writ concur with these judgments of the Fa- thers, such as this one from Isaias [54]: « Quaerite Domimuns dum inveniri potest » And from Jeremias, in an- other part, with more expressive vigour [55]: « Curavinus Babylonem, et nom est sanata, derelingquantus cam, » Finally, of greater severity stil is that which Christ our life spoke to the Jews [56]: « Ego vado, et quaeri- fis me, ef in peccato vestro morienrini, » Consider ye now, if my threats are in vain or contrary to the Holy Syn- od. Hear me now, then, ye ungrateful, foolish and heartless people, as the Prophet Jeremias exclaimed, rebuk- ing, most gravely reprehending the wickedness and perversion of justice (similar to yours) of the Hebrews Is7]:« Audi, popule sult, et qui non habes cor,» For if you do not amend your ways, and most promptly turn ‘yourselves away from your olden customs, wicked habits, vices, and sins, reducing yourselves to true tears and penance, hear what | tell you: ‘This select and pleasant country of yours will perhaps be devastated, de- Stroyed, by water or fire, by atrocious earthquakes and temblors of the earth, as the earth is already tired of enduring your insolences, it rejects you, it casts you out of itself, and it opens itself in cracks in order to take you down to the bottom of the abyss. Or this country of yours will perhaps be also invaded and possessed by other nations who are not Spanish. But woe is me, O my God! What am I telling myself? And what shall hap- ‘pen then to these Christian climes, and to the glorious zeal employed by so many evangelising ministers in the [si] Conciniv CEcomeNIcuM TRIDENTINUM. SESS 6 cap. 18 De fustifications, cam 29, Translation: “Whosoever saith that ‘he who after baptism hath fallen cannot by the grace of God rise again, lethim be anathema.” [52] CS. Avousrmvos, Sermo xxx De verbis psaimni 18 Sermo 12 De verbs Apostoli), 3: PL XXXVI (1845) 188 « Non agit «quod vult: cum valt non pote, quia quando poterat nolit >» ‘Translation; "He does not do vhathe wils when he wills, heis unable, for when he was abe, he did not will” [53]S. Gercontus Maanus PP. I Liber reguloe pestoralis, par. 2, cap. 15: PL EXXVM (1845) 74. Translation: “While we are ableto do, wewill not A litle later, when well to do, we arene longer able.” [sa] 5.55.6 Translation: "Seek ye the Lord, while He may be found.” [ss] er. 51,9, Translation: “Wevwould have aared Babylon, but she is nothealed: lets forsake.” [56] foann, 8,21. Translation: “Igo: and yout shall seek Me. And you shall die your sin.” Is7] er. 5.21. Translation; "Hear, O foolish people, and without understanding.” 56 ANAMNESIScourse of almost two hundred years, not without the blood of martyrs in the preaching and revelation of the Holy Gospel upon this ungeateful terrain of the Philippine Islands? And the poor natives, who might perhaps remain, what will they do, or what side will they then take? For having been re-established in their ancient errors and heathenry, they will at lat all be lost, just as their ancestors were lost. What an imponderable pity! And no heart exists only to ponder upon and imagine it, for it is now evident that, if temporal Catholic do- minion be transferred (as can happen) to another dominating nation and perverted without recourse to doclrine, with no priests in the settlements and ministries: I say that perhaps the natives will return to settle, but they will be filled with the errors of Muhammad, of Luther, and of other accursed sects of Hell Let me cry tears of blood, O my God! Either suffer me to die in peace first, © Most High Lord, before my woeful eyes should witness stch havoc and extermination, or pardon this Thy ungrateful, foolish and delin- quent people, but entrusted by Thee unto mine inadequacy: for they shall amend their ways, weep, and per- form penance, as they promise with all their heart, Restrain Thine wraths within Thine mercy, and remember that since the time of the law of grace, Thou hast abandoned, stowed away and without use, that title God of revenge [58]. which exalted Thee so much, and inspired fear in the written law. And finally permit that my reghec), suppliant and prostrate upon the earth, on behalf of all the people, invoke Thee and say [59]: « Miserere nostri, Domine, miserere nostri, quia salus tua facta est super terran; Et Verbum caro factum est, ga» Given in Manila, _ [58] 96 Ps, 93, 1: « Deustitionum Dominus; Deas uitiontam libereegit. > Translation; "The Lord isthe God to Whom revenge belongett the God of revenge hath acted fred.” [s91¢f Ps. 122, 3 & Joann. 1, 14 Translation: “Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us, for Thy salvation hath been ‘madetupon the cath And the Word was made flesh, a” 1754, Epvanvo Rosates Gatuinas, Dona Isabel ia Carbtica didtando su tedtaniento (1864) MUseo DEL PRapo APRIL-JULY2015 57QUO VADIS, HOMO ? A dearth of mankind By Jesson G. Allerite ankind, the lower- case one, is such a blessed accretion of turds. Even with a recourse to wedlock to access an act sanctified by God to perpetuate human- ity, they still elect to cruise outside its boundaries, or outside wedlock even. Such extraterritorial adventures cer- tainly contribute to the proliferation of of humanity. Other governments find this daunting, and seek to curb it, While the Church upholds only practices pleasing to God, the enlightened choose to take matters into their own hands. Out of this pro- verbial enlightenment issued a sophisticated form of evading reproduction. Whither governments im- posed the abomination of forced miscarriage, thither they severely impaired the ratio of sexes, and even encouraged a demographic winter But the Philippines has not yet accessed any of these irresponsible solutions. Our Department of Statistics still records two baby girls born for every baby boy. While this should sound silly to many, considering it a mere extrapolation of a universally acknowledged factoid, this should also arrest our attention. Without even calculating world figures, the fact that one female is left out in the order of pro- creation within wedlock is a disquieting reality. The Lord created one Eve for one Adam, we read from Holy Writ. It only follows that one of every two girls born for a boy is destined to be banished to what we call the friend zone. One Cosette for one Marius, as Les misérables would have it. The rest are Eponines, singing their anthem of sorrow. ‘And that is not the whole saga yet. We will learn it later. Let me state the obvious first. Womankind is APRIL-JULY 2015.59fernet Images trom the in surfeit. Yes, those jangling milk sacs are in excess, and we have to put a stopper to this brimming disproportion. A surplus of supply against a paltry demand, ha! We will soon be facing economic dé- bicle. Womankind is in surfeit, indeed. I repeat, they are in excess. ‘The Philippines is one of these few countries that still delight in children, groomed or unkempt, those wrinkly balls of flesh that twitch and baw eve- ry time their caregivers fail to satisty their cravings, expelling from time to time this stench and that poop. It must be understood from here that Filipinos, have not yet discovered the necessity to get rid of these ticking time bombs. Or, as the enlightened would say, the Catholic Church has prevented the archipelago from discovering that necessity. If we inhibit the production of these little creatures, we would inhibit possibilities of maternal death. And, then again, our economy might fall into disrepair. But why the economy, pray tell. Child trafficking syndicates would fall, Has no- body noticed yet? Those street children doling out envelopes with their loopy handwriting scrawled on are actually supporting the economy. How so? By forcing every commuter on the jeepney to fish out loose change from their pockets—because giving them food defeats the purpose of their begging, and 60 ANAMNESIS would certainly earn their unabashed disdain—they aid monetary circulation, Was it in this century that some economist cursed the thrifty for withholding coins? We find ourselves accepting the realisation that coins, in the end, propel the engine of economy So, wheat about the women? You see, if we reduce their chances of getting pregnant, we also theoretically reduce their chances of dying. The Filipino idiom isdng pad sa frukay could not be more appropriate here. You do the ‘maths: an orifice in your body expanding to more than twice its size. Where do you get the elasticity for that? And how do you banish the possibility of permanently residing six feet under the ground after ‘that? Imagine that thing that is happening to a wom- an’s birth canal happening also to your Stool canal! It you think you cannot pass the ordeal, then you have understood why women face the prospect of dying while pushing an infant out of their womb. That is the clincher there. If we withhold this chance from women, we open them to life of mis- ery. It is the sordid truth. We must cut down on women, Too much is not manageable at all. We have to reduce the number of future feminists too, those avowed enemies of human survival, early on, or they will become as innumerable as the termite colony ‘that brings the house to the ground. To eliminatetheir chances of discovering feminism, we are in fact doing women an a‘t of charity. ‘We might, however, hit a snag in this province. Advances in medicine are on their way to eradicate maternal deaths. Though the numbers have dwin- dled already, there are still cases that occur. While the enlightened in our generation like to put a mag- nifying glass over the Statistics, in order, perhaps, to make them look enormous and formidable, by and by the status quo would not help us digpose of with the remaining females who choose not to reproduce out of pure fear of death, ‘There has to be another way, the enlightened would surely tease us. But should we entertain the possibility of burying all excess women alive? Hard- ly. The Department of Health would protest. The ac- cumulated noise of women knocking from under the ground, demanding re-entry into the world of the living, would only add to the on-going noise pallu- tion in the metropolis, which is already unbearable to begin with, Should we force women to pregnancy, then? This is a moot question now, given that most ‘women in the Philippines enter the pregnancy mar- ket even before they enter the marriage market. Ear lier and Jess secure than their ancestresses did. We are left with uo choice then, We must allow them to continue endangering their lives by reproduction, Being Catholics, however, we must content our- selves with enacting this solution according to na- ture, So, fathers must push their daughters to marry early, with all the paternity a father can muster, in- cluding reminding them of their bleak futures, so that, once married, these daughters may bear chil- dren early, and, consequently, die early, but not after delivering ten children. In this way, we can maximise human utility on ‘what little men that remain, When we mentioned that womankind is in surfeit, we were suggesting that there is a dearth of mankind. And itis not just a dearth that concerns @atistics. Forget the genetic observation that the y chromosome is shrinking, ‘This is the more worrying phenomenon: In the past, men would jump at any available woman and plant in her the seed of his posterity. Simple arithmetic. Not convinced? Think of Jacob who sired lots of chil- dren from different women, Nobody can claim now that itis impossible for a man to build a city out of his own household, because the seed of Abraham accomplished building a nation. When mankind discovered the sheer joy of sit- ting before the mirror, they started drifting into the realm previously reserved to the fairer sex. The en- lightened call this a manifestation of the innate, or a journey in the continuum of evolution. We call this perversion. And because it is perverted, itis wicked, (Not the British expletive.) From that contact with the mirror, mankind schemed to pursue a different objective, And this perverted shoot of mankind is a cancer, It destroys the main tree, the main staff. True ‘mankind, therefore, those who compose the biclogi- cally-relevant segment whose reproductive potential is incontrovertible, is dwindling When animals turn on each other for nontish- ‘ment, itis called cannibalism. But when many of the world’s biological males turn on each other for their transient needs, nobody attempts to call it sexual cannibalism, These two are analogues; they both concern the flesh, The only difference is that, in the former, the flesh is physical consumed; whereas in the latter, it is not. Both are perversions. One is pro- pelled by hunger; the other, by lust. The world is try- ing to educate the Church that the first is unaccepta- ble, while the latter is acceptable, Such a presumptu- ‘ous enterprise fails to see that the Church could nev- er bring Herself to declare concupiscence a virtue. Surely, we know that a proper union of plug and socket would store energy in the batteries of our lap- tops, and power them when electricity is out of APRIL-JULY2015 61reach, And when used properly, battery life remains long, Such is the state of man and woman united before God. But if by some mischief, we have dam- aged the battery to the point of no repair, no amount of plug and unplug would produce a flicker of light cn the monitor. Such is the state of a perverted man- kind, It produces no life. Men and mirror should have never met in the first place, We could have prevented men, nowadays, from taking to—Iet us use the acidic words of Ber- narda Alba—throwing powder into their faces. Pity, cosmetics nowadays is more steeped with environ- mental hormones than with arsenic, These commod- ity chemicals boost perversion, one thing that a loony visionary of our acquaintance got right. The men of today sculpt their bodies, filing their limp flesh with this stone and that bread, in order to as- similate an illusion of virility hinged on physique, No, this is not apology for the corpulent and the sedentary. (Such a satire should be reserved for glut- tony.) This is an apology for women, The enlight- ened teach that women are wired, in a hunter- gatherer culture, to interpret physique as a bench- mark for genome survival. This is no longer true to- day, in the same vein as an aunt counsels a bride-to- be months before the wedding to make sure her handsome husband-to-be does not swing the wrong way. With an ethos-challenged culture shronded by hankerings for some ridiculous overtures of free dom, where such Darwinesque undertones discover oppositions as axiomatic as they think they are, those cantilevered pecs and buttressed glutes are no longer biologically relevant. They have become, by a naughty twist of fate, the new pheromones of the dysfunctional mankind we live with today. Itwould be, therefore, a great poverty of sprit to force women to endure this tragedy, by restricting their capacity to bear children. Shouldn't it be enough to let them pass through a culture that con- siders history—in the words of Mrs Lintott—a com- mentary on the various and continuing incapabili- ties of men? Incapabilities of men to be men, appar- ently, We must not subject them to this ordeal. And when we have come to terms with this invitation to charity, we find ourselves assaulted by the impera- tive to allow womankind unhampered access to childbirth, so that they can die, albeit not peacefully all the time, at a time ordained by circumstance. Itis a very useful occasion too, the mth wife pre- ceding the husband to the grave, He would be left with all his children, Once the period of mourning 62 ANAMNESIS ‘wanes, in accordance with custom, he must be at once compelled to find another wife so he can con- tinues establishing a posterity worthy of an empire. fhe finds it difficult to raise all his sons and daugh- ters, then he should labour more, to support them with the sweat of his brow, as all good men do, even until the edge of his deathbed. There is beauty in this, hardship. True mankind can use itto atone for their sins and the sins of their wicked brethren, as well as IEGHING PAGLIE), A certurione Comet! 1878) GaLLERta DELVACADEMIA Dain their conversion, their abandonment of the conceited mirror. And if their deeds are heroic, they can die knowing they have done them in the super natural order. But what if, in the long run, man fails to care for ‘ildren? The answer to this should be very render them to child tatficke y, while shirking away from the formidable task, he still will have contributed to our economy.——— FIGHTING FOR CHRISTENDOM ;——— 1 Ireland: the responsibility of an apostasy [1] Roberto de Mattei Corrispondenza Romana 27 May 2015 N HIS MASTERPIECE, The soul of the apostolate, Dom Jean-Baptiste Chautard (1858- 1935), Trappist Abbot of Sept-Fons, expressed this maxim: “To a holy priest, itis said, corresponds a fervent populace; to a fervent priest, a devout populace; to a devout priest, a decent populace; to a decent priest, an ungodly populace” [2]. If itis true that there is always a degree less in the spiritual life between the clergy and the Catholic people, after the vote in Dublin on 22 May, we should add: “To an ungodly priest corresponds an apostate populace” Iveland in fac), is the first country where the le- gal recognition of homosexual unions has been in- troduced not from the top but from the bottom, through a popular referendum; yet Ireland is also cone of those Countries with a very old and deeply- rooted Catholic Tradition, where the influence of the clergy is still relatively strong in some part of the population, It is no novelty that the yes to homosexual mar. riage was supported by all the partie, the right, the left and the centres it is not surprising that all of the media sustained the LGBT campaign, nor that there has been mas- sive financing from abroad on behalf of this campaign; the facis foreseen, were, SAME SEX MARRIAGE, 3paf4y Centuenis Cunt Ti] Translated by Francesca Romana for Rovat, alt ed for Anamnesis, [2] Transated ftom the French originak «A prétre saint e-bow dit, corespond peupie fervent; & pritve fervent, peuple Pew: prévepiews, peuple honnéte:&prétre honndte, peuple inpie.» 64 ANAMNESIS, that, of 60% of the population who voted, only 37.58 of the citizens expressed their yeses and that the gov- ernment had skilfully shuffled their cards introduc- ing a law in January 2015, permitting adoption by ‘homosexual couples, prior to the recognition of Ho- mosexual pseudontarriage. What provokes the great- est scandal are the silences, the omissions and the complicities by Irish priests and bishops throughout, ‘the electoral campaign. One example is enough for all the rest, Before the elections, the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, declared that he would have voted against homosexual marriage but wouldn't have told Catho- Jics how to vote (Life Site News, 21 May 2015). After the vote, he declared on Irish national television that: “the evidence cannot be denied” and that the Church in Ireland “needs a reality check” In merit of what happened Monsignor Martin added: “It isn’t only the outcome of a campaign for a yes and a no but it atests to a much deeper phenomenon,” there fore, “we need to review the pastoral care of youth: the referendum was won with the votes of the young and 90% of the young who voted attended Catholic Schools” (Corriere della Sera, 24 May 2015). This position reflects, in general (apart from a few exceptions) the Irish clergy who have adoptedfrom the Internet the line that Monsignor Nunzio Galantino, secretary general of the Italian Episcopal Conference, had hoped for: to avoid polemics and clashes at all costs: “it is not about who makes the loudest outeries, the pasdaran [3] of the two sides exclude them- selves” (Comriere della Sera, 24 May 2015). Which means that we should set aside the preaching of the Gospel and the values of the Catholic Faith and of Catholic Tradition, in order to look for a point of encounter and compromise with the adversaries. Aud yet on 18 March 2010, Benedict XVI, in his Letter to the Catholics of Iretand, had invited the Irish clergy and people to retum “to the ideals of holiness, charity and transcendent wisdom” (no. 3), “which in the past made Europe great and which can Stil re-found her” (Hi Fogtio, 30 March 2010), and to “draw inspiration from the riches of a great religious and cultural tradition” (no. 12), which has not faded, even if “fast-paced social change has occurred, often adversely affecting people's traditional adherence to [3]. The Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolu- tion, or the Sepa-e Pasdarau-e Engelab-e Esian, ox Span forshort Catholic teaching and values” (no, 4) is opposed to it In his Letter to the Catholics of Ireland, Benedict XVI states that in the 60's, “the tendency [...] on the part of priests and religious, to adopt ways of think- ing and assessing secular realities without surficient reference to the Gospel” was “significant” (no. 4). ‘This tendency is the same one we find today. It has, been the cause of a process of degradation, which, since the years of the Second Vatican Council, has swept Catholic customs and institutions away like an avalanche. Ifthe Irish today, even by Saying Catho- lic for the most part, abandon the faith, the cause is not only the loss of prestige and consensus of the Church following the scandals of sexual abuse. ‘The true cause is the moral and cultural surren- der to the world on the part of their pastors, who accept this degradation as a sociological evidence, ‘without posing the problem of their own responsibil- ities. In this sense, their behaviour has bean impious, bereft of mercy, offensive with regards to religion, even if not formally heretical. Yet every Catholic who voted yes, and thus, the majority of Lrish Catholics ‘who went to the ballot boxes, have stained them- APRIL-JOLY2015 65selves with apostasy. The apostasy of a people whose constitution still opens with an invocation to the Most Holy Trinity. Apostasy is a much graver sin than impiety, as it involves an explicit repudiation of the Catholic faith and of Catholic morals. However, the heaviest re sponsibility for this public sin lies with the pastors who have encouraged and tolerated it with their be- haviour, The consequences of this Irish referendum will now be devastating. Forty-eight hours after the vote, the main exponents of the German, Swiss and French Episcopal Conferences, under the leadership of Cardinal Reinhard Marx, gathered together in Rome to plan their ation in view of the upcoming Synod, According to the journalist present at the meetings, “marriage and divorce”, “sexuality as an expression of love” were the themes discussed (La Republica, 26 May 2015) ‘The Line is the one mapped out by Cardinal Kasher: secularisation is an irreversible process which pastoral reality has to adapt to. And for Arch- 66 ANAMNESIS bishop Bruno Forte, he who asked for “the coditfica- tion of homosexual rights” at the last Synod, and who has been confirmed by the Pope as special Sec- ‘retary to the Synod on the Family, “it isa cultural process of forced secularisation in which Europe is fully involved” (Corriere delia Sera, 25 May 2015). ‘There is a final question that cannot be evaded: Pope Francis’ sepulchral silence on Ireland. During the Mass for the opening of the Caritas Assembly on 12 May, the Pope thundered against “the powerful of the world,” reminding them that “God will judge them one day, and will show if they have really tried to provide food for Him in every person and if they have worked so that the environment is not de- Stroyed, so that it may produce this food.” On 21 November 2014, commenting on the ex- cerpt from the Gospel where Jesus throws out the merchants from the Temple, the Pope launched his anathema, against a Church that thinks only about business affairs and commits “the sin of scandal” Francis offen rails against corruption, arms and hurman trafficking, along with the vanity of power and money. On 11 June 2014, referring to corrupt politi- cians, to those who exploit “slave labour,’ and to “merchants of death,” the Pope admonished that “the fear of God would make them understand that one day it will all end and they will have to give an account to God.” ‘The “fear of God” opens the hearts of men “to goodness, to mercy and to the caresses” of God, but “it is also an alarm in the face of obsti- nate sin.” Yet, is the application of laws regarding vice against nature not incomparably graver than the sins that the Pope recalls so frequently? Why did the Pope not lauich a vigorous and heartielt appeal to the Irish in the days prior to the vote, reminding them that the violation of divine law and natural law is a social sin, for which the people and their pastors will one day have to give account to God? With this silence, has he not also been an accomplice to this, scandal? APRIL-JULY 2015 67.Ecology [1] Juan Manuel de Prada XL Semanal 24 May 2015 AM FOLLOWING WITH MUCH INTEREST (and some malicious joy, [ must confess) the re- jection that Pope Francis’ manifestations concerning economic issues are provoking in neoconservative and liberal sectors; as well as the tancour that is being pronounced, coming from these very same sectors, against his upcoming encyclical about ecology (even before it might have been proclaimed). This neoconservative and liberal furore, however, can be easily explained: the collapse of Soviet communism engendered, during John Paul IT's papacy, a chance of idyll between these ideological by-products and party-liner Catholicism (you already know: all that hullabaloo about throw- ing John Paul II, Reagan and Thatcher in the same roiting pot), which provoked many clueless and zombie-like Christians to end up repeating like par- rots all liberaloid and neoconic drivel with regards to social and economic issues as though it were a dog- ‘ma of faith. And even to the point thet @ platform (and a plinth’) be granted from Catholic media plat- forms to the most lawless defenders of deregulated capitalism, in flagrant collision against Christian so- cial doctrine. During that time—alas, how recent it ist—those of us who dared remember the teachings of the Magisterium in social and economic issues were stigmatised by the gurus of neoconservatism as “Mao Zedong’s military wing,” and consigned to ostracism by party-liner Catholicism. T remember a Church bigwig who came to the point of admonish- ing me in private—bollocks!—because he felt that 1 sustained... Marxist theses... in my articles! Today, of course, this bigwig poses as a Franciscist, Just like that. ‘That environmentalism is, like all isms or mod- ern ideological by-products, an ersatz religion for the person to whom the Earth (or, if preferred, Na- [1] Translated for Anamness, 68 ANAMNESIS ture, which in either case will never be called Crea- tion) sets itself up as 2 new god to whom worship is due (in the same way as others render worship to science or market lawes) does not escape us. For this, environmentalist idolatry, animals are beings en- dowed with the same dignity as human beings (and, therefore, entitled to the same grotesque hodge- podge of rights); and natural sites should be kept intact and, of course (in a sulphurous caricature of the passage of the expulsion from Eden), untrodden by man, who is considered a malevolent species that must be reduced, if possible, to the point of ex- tinction (hence, this idolatrous environmentalism and antinatalism always go hand in hand). Very con- sistent with the nature of an ersatz religion, it turns our that, for example, environmentalism, in alerting us about the dangers of climate change, employs an apocalyptic language parodying that which the vi- sionary of Patmos employed. But that this insane environmentalism should be an ersatz religion (just like economic Tiberalism, on the other hand} ought not confuse us. During the past decades, the pimps of plutocracy have been dis- crediting and ridiculing those who showed some kind of ecological concern, for the sole purpose of absconding man’s most oppressive and natural-resource-depleting nomic practices; and this discredit and ridicule has been using as foolish min- ions many clueless and zombie-ike — Christians, But an informed Christian cannot fall into these sim- plifications, but ought to ask himself whether a just economic order must be founded on indefinite growth; he ought to ask himself whether plunder- ing the oceans and then turning them into landfills is morally acceptable; he ought to ask himself whether intensive agriculture and livestock, as well as the creation of transgenic animal and plant species, are forms of exercising ‘just dominion’ over the Creation that God entrusted man; he ought to ask himself whether carpeting the coasts in cement with horrendous developments or converting forests into golf courses so that these posh pricks (and those posh twats!) could grind groin again rump with one other (and rake in money, hat) is lawful, according to natural law; he ought to ask himself whether generating a kilo of waste per day per person is typical of an economy eco- desired by God; he ought to ask himself whether consuming cheap products manufactured in Cochin- china by means of processes that pollute, that also employ slave labour, is sin. Yes, we have written sin. Something the matter? ‘That the dishevelled greed of capitalism has found over the years accomplices—passive, at the leadt—in many clueless and zombie-like Christians, is evident. That a Pope should write an encyclical on ecology that causes neoconic and liberaloid gurus to draw daggers is absolutely splendid; provided that the Pope is not busy with his other hand toying with the Credo, in order to please everyone. APRIL-JULY 2015 69,Fifty critical analyses on the words of the Pope [1] Francisco José Fernandez de la Cigoita La cigiiena dela torre 22 May 2015 ENZINGER-BERGOGLIO has reached that number. And in the article that they dedi- cate to the fiftieth, to the right of the right, the fifty analysed questions appear. Attp://denzingerb: aglio.com/2015/05/22/llegados los-50/ ‘The page is maintained by some priests—I do not know them—and it is cer- tainly painstaking, It surely is not favourable to the Pope, but itis neither sedevacantist. It gath- ers together the perplexities of not a few—amongst whom, I am—in the face of the words of Francis. And not in one occasion in which the Pope could have been more or less fortunate, but in no less than fifty. Evidently, not all possess the same importance. Some are more salvageable than others, but afew are worrying, or are even more worrying, than the res. {will aot transmit the article to this blog that I may open a suit against the Pope, something which is farthest from my aim. T have said many times that Francis is today the Pope, and I have always treated him with respect to his highest hierarchy. That of being the Pope. As a cardinal, he seemed distressing to me, and I have always expressed that. It is my opinion, and I have every right, as a person and as a Catholic, to express it. Be I right or wrong in it But I believe that itis also important for Catho- lics to know that the Pope's loquacity, which nobody will deny, preoccupies some Catholics. Denzinger- Bergoglio justifies that preoccupation. With varying degrees of success. Neither will I enter into that. For, in the end, itis their cesponsibility and not mine. Thave never been party to absconding ecclesi- astic realities, And this is one those realities. T nei- ther endorse nor reject everything that Denzinger- Bergoglio says. I limit myself to merely stating the facts and pointing them out to my readers. Because [1] Translated for Anamness, 70 ANAMNESIS. itis there, And sometimes, it has fomented the grav- est problems, such as the one in the past Synod with its worrying continuation this autumn, even engen- dering an expectation of schism which I hope God. will forbid in His Church, For the Church is not the Pope's, nor the cardinals’, nor mine, The Church is God's ‘The Pope used to be the last guarantee of ortho- dosy. And he will remain being one because other- wise he would not be Pope, Could Francis be clearer in this regard? In my opinion, he could and he should. There will be readers who would think so, and others who would not. Itis certainly grave that other would think not. 1 get the impression that, of late, the Pope is giv- ing greater attention to his statements. | hope I am right in this impression, and that he might have real- ised that saying the fira thing that occurs to him creates serious problems. Besides, the Pope's witti- cisms are very dispensable. But they can still cause damage [also hope that some would not force me to de- lete their comments. Disrespect, let alone insults to the Pope, not one. We are facing a serious and grave question that requires seriousness and not visceral ‘feelings in its treatment,f there is a place in the world where anyone, rich or poor, can feel welcome without restrictions, it is in a Catholic church. [. ]Itbehoves us to recall what the Magisterium teaches us in order for us not to allow ourselves be deceived by ORATORICAL OUTBURSTS that can seem poetic and even good- intentioned, but that, at the bottom, are no better than cheap demagogy. ? Is it just to sell the Church off der to feed the poor’ in or 50 49. [s seeking after doctrinal clarity and security ant- uated? 48, Chilthen lke rabbits: Are large families inesponsi- bole? 47. Should the Church be reduced to a small minor y? 46, Howto look at Christian churches: Should thelr sacetdotal and eplscopal ‘ordinations be considered val- id? 445, Is ienever possible t encounter God? 44, '5 today’s Catholic education indiferent? 43. Live and lt live: is there happiness without God? 42. Is correcting moral deviations a lack of charity? 41. Does the Church no longer preach ascesis and penitence? 40, Should the Church promote the aici ofthe State? 39, [s the Roman Curia no longer the collaborator of the papao? 38, We are all equal Does being the Pope no longer ‘mean anything in the Church? 37. Is the Old Allance alive and is Judaism a valid path of salvation? 36. Can the wamings of the Congregation for the Docttine ofthe Faith be scored at? 35. IsGod natalmighty? 34, Should Catholics no longer see the Church asa point of reference? 33, Does religion matter and can anyone fallow what cone thinks true? 32, Isthete a need to reform the Church anddimin: ish the precepts? 31. Doall teligiors lead to God? 30, Should the Church not form the conscience of petsons? 29. Are contemplative communities, in not going out to the streets, egotistical and sickly? 28, Does the annihilation of the soul exist asa pure ishrnent? 27, Issalation collective? 26. [s material charity the most important thing in the Chureh? 25, Does Ged never condennn anyone and always forghe? 2a, Are allsaved inthe end? 23, Are atheists and those from other religions also children of Goo? 22. 1s God pure light and is there a divine spark inside every man? 21. Can peace be attained without Jesus Christ? 20. Is Christ hardly in the poor? 19. Is there no need to exercise inhibitions with 1e- gards to evil? 18, Isthere a need to silence teachings about mor- als? 417. Will Christjudge nobody in the Judgment? 16. Are atheists also cileren of God and can they do good just lke Catholics? 15, Canthe remarried dvorced—those who entered a second union—recelve Communion? ‘14. Canthe Church speakabout condemning some- bodyto eternal damnation? 13, Isit possible forthe Church to possess no solu- tions concerning the crisis ofthe family? 12. [sit possible to speak of “manyts" in other confes sions? 119, Is ecumenism the hamory amongst all Christian confessions? no. Are there mary ways to interpret God? Are there no absolute truths? & there no Catholic God? 7, Isthere ne need to counsel cohabiting young couples to enter wedlock? 6. Is.conscience free? 5, Caneveryone follow their own idea of good and evi? 4. Does everyone have the right to receive the sac- raments? 3. Isthe death penatyy contrary to the Law of God? 2. Wsthere a need to adapt the Gospel to contempo- rary culture? 1. Doesthe Church no longer seek to convert al? APRIL-JULY 2015.7,from the Internet ———— PINACOTHECA LITURGICA -———— “{.-.]and teoacolytes or Clerics walk ahead with fuming tha ible.” From this short phrase arose one of the great est debates in nubrical minutiae: sould the thurifers waik normally, ther backs othe Sacrament; or sould they walk backwards, facing the Sacrament? 72 ANAMNESIS ‘Thurifers in a theophoric procession walking for- wards but oriented slightly sideways, in order not to turn their backs to the Blessed Sacrament carried by the priest under the canopy. Decrerunt 2368 (4130) — [...] Succedent duo thuriferariitidem cum cottis, qui thuribula cum incenso fumigantia lente ducemt ante Cete- branient facie, non dorso, ad Sacramentusm semiversa in incessu. DECREE 2368 (4130) — [...] Two thurifers follow, similarly in sur- plices, who slowly swing smoking thuribles with incense ahead of the Celebrant, with theie faces, not their backs, while walking, turned halfway towards the Sacrament.PINACOTHECA ALTERA Benediction After the staurophoric procession on Sunday, 3 May | 2015, wherein the relic of the True Cross was carried | under a canopy, the priest blessed the congregants |i with the same relic of the True Cross. TERE——— FRAILUNO Y QUIJOTIL Epopeya de un digno triunfo Siniculo Vedrodivio Dei praesidio fudtus 12 de junio de 2013 ecordamos ahora, mis muy distinguidos compa- triotas catdlicos, que una locura eclesidstica coeté- nea de la Revolucién, cual sus muy enloquecidos secuaces proclaman el tiltimo visible recuerdo de aquella Revolucién, y por eso un verdadero motivo de orgullo filipino, hasta nuestros tiempos penosi- simamente se queda, a pesar de que sus objetivos principales de tener una iglesia filipina con presbi- teros oriundos y gobernar dicha iglesia a manos de dichos oriundos se hubieran logrado attos después de su desarrollo inicial y hoy ya se manifiestan como Ja circunstancia aétual de todas las circunscripciones, eclesidsticas de estas fidelisimas Istas Filipinas. Aquella iglesia, yla deletreamos con miniscula por ser iglesilla en realidad, se llama independiente por ser independiente de la Santa Sede Apostolica Loencontraban muy ficil y muy oportuno los auto- res de este cisma para despojarse de todo vestigio del esclavizador régimen espanol tanto en lo que perte- necié al Estado como en lo que a a Iglesia atan. Preciso que en nuestros dias de hoy encontra- ‘mos incomprensible que se ensefara en nuestras, instituciones de educacién que él que funds a esta iglesia fue el destacado jesuita, y después también un masén, el ex-P. Gregorio Agtipay y Labayan. jUna equivocacién tan imperdonable! Muchos loolvidan que desde los mismos labios de él sabemos que esta- ba durmiendo mientras los auténticos creadores de esta amenaza espiritual, encabezados ciertamente por un compatriota ilocano D. Tsabelo de Tos Reyes, Joado como el Padre del Socialismo Filipino, conoci- do popularmente bajo el hipocoristico de D. Belong, segin las queridisimas costumbres de estas Islas, las mismas que en el primer parrafo del Noli me tngere nos exponia el Dr. José Rizal, la proclamaron su in- 74 ANAMNESIS dependencia eclesial en otro lugar muy distinto det aposento del entonces P. Aglipay. ‘Otorgé ademis el D. Belong a ceder la posicién de Obisho Maximo al incansable sacerdote—este tiempo acostandose, como nos decia—que en otro tiempoy lugar teabajaba por conservar la unidad de Ja Iglesia ante los peligros de aquellos tiempos re- ‘ueltos, pero el P. Aglipay lo rechaz6, al que después envi6 al clero filipino una carta declarandolo que todavia no habia cisma, Mas a causa de muy tristes acontecimientos, se fue convencido en que no habia ims esperanza en la Iglesia para sus deseadisimos anhelos de que regentasen las iglesias filipinas logi- camente silos prestes flipinos y no los frailes iberos, Oimos de una visita emprendida por dos jesuitas 21 con fin de conseguir su fj lealtad a Ta Santa Ma- dre Iglesia por juras, de una proposicion como con- dlicidn en fos términos de una ampliacién del mime ‘rode las parroquias bajo la supervisin del clero fli- ‘pino, de ultrajes arrojadas desde la boca de uno de Jos visitadores descartando a capacidad y moralidad del clero filipino, de culatazos metidos desde el pao del bataquense hacia la cara del ultrajador, y de que- -madura idiomtica de naves. Profusas lagrimas causa de este acaecimiento desgraciado todavia bro- ‘tan de nuestros ojos, como brotaron en épocas tanVists del altery retabla mayor de fa antigua iglesia de Sto Domingo en Intramuras. lejanas, stucesos que ocasion6 la pérdida casi irrecu- perable de un sinnd- mero de almas de creyentes que enga- ‘iados por un sentido -mendaz de libertad eclesidstica profesaban Ia nueva, religion que poseia todo salvo la unidad, la santidad, la catolicidad y la apostolicidad. Hoy, no ha cambia- do nada, yen silencio signen brotar las igrimas. Recordames, por Io tanto, mis muy amados compatriotas, que los paladines autctonos y ilustra- dos plebeyos en los prolegomenos de la proclama- cin de la Reptiblica de Malolos araron los labrantios, eStatales surcéndolos para que germinara no sdlo la independencia del EStado ansiada sino tambien el rompimiento de la Iglesia vislumbrado. ;Un cisma de la Iglesia verdadera catélica e indudabilisima fili- pina que hasta entonces fue imponderable! ¥ nolo olvidemos que los labriegos capataces de esta empre- sa, lisonjeados como préceres alumbrados y adalides infatigables de la libertad, no fueron cristianos fide- dignos ni de convicciones seguras, de que resulta que el arrozal rindiése emponzofiado de cizatias, Decirlo no nos equivocamos. El ex-jesuita bata- quense ahora independemtistayfiipinista en su cul- to que fue entronizado cabeza dela iglesieta oriunda, hoy su mismo jefe, se hizo miembro de aquel gremio anticat6lico que se ostenta bajo el nombre de frane- masoneria. Que la siembra fecunda, esparcida no con la azada de San Isidro Labrador sino con Ta hor- cade Luzbel, sin el asilo del catecismo, alimentaba tambien los gérmenes de vicio y desunién. Luego después se convirtié en unitario, doctrina que la igle- sieta no ratificaba y aceptaba, Un afio antes su muer~ te,se-cas6, Repudiando paulatinamente cada sano preceptoy buena costumbre, el autotitulado Obisho Miximo se sometié en fin al quebranto del alma, esa fractura externa ¢ interna, esa fragmentacisn fisica y spiritual, esa metanoia a lo peor. | BS unc aPRMIGE EAD nero Recordamos también a los martires de este cis- ‘ma que suftieron la muerte defendiendo los dere- chos de a Santa Sede, de la Santa Madre Iglesia, de la purisima fe de estas Islas, que no sucumbieron ante Jas fuerzas fortalecidas por una célera anticatdlica. ‘Tenemos dulce en nuestras memorias a un tal P. Edralin que neg6 a los sublevades a ocupar la iglesia de Sarrat, a causa de que fue después linchado. Tam- bign a esa vieja que vio al asesinato, que después de haberlo visto también desaparecié, A otros numero- sisimos fieles que comendaron sus almas a su Padre celestial, perseguidos y apesadumbrados bajo los azotes del hereje contumaz y del apéstata incorregi- ble, en vez de empufiar aquellos mismos instrumen- tos de persecucién. Vertieron su sangre para la coro- nna incorruptible, para los lauros eternales que glorio- sisimamente van a cefir sus enaltecidas frentes. Y¥ recordamos sobre todo al primer obisho fii- pino, un baaoeiio, hijo verdadero de la Nuestra Setio- ra dela Pena de Francia, a Su Senoria Hustrisima D. Jorge Barlin, que propugnaba los derechos de la Igle- sia sobre sus edificis, su herencia, ante no menos la Corte Suprema contra los aglipayauos filipinistas que pretendian ser legitimes propietarios de los bienes. eclesiasticos. E imitemos su dureza y ortodoxia irrompible, despues de haber aprendido su vida y virtud, con que, como un sacerdote muy inteligente y prometedor de la Iglesia antecismatica, ofrecido de la jefatura de la iglesieta desde mismo el apéstata Aglipay, Ie contests con magnotesén que subraya lo mis imprescindible de esta epopeya de un digno triunfo bien logrado, con estas palabras duraderas Prefiero ser lampareroa serlacabera de su jerarquia cismatica, APRIL-JULY2015 75———— FOOTNOTE TO THOUGHT ;}—_— ‘The botched inscription, a sig of mal-education and asymptom ofintrir decay lncorreat- OV SEDETSVPERCHER VBIN SER APF INST ABANTSWPERILIVIL Correct: QVISEDETSVPERCHERVBIM SER APAIMST ABANTSVPERILLVD Above isa picture of one of the more recent victims of the Filipino proclivity to repair whatis not broken. Itis asad Story in the lifetime of a church, probably more rueful than if it would be destroyed by natural calamities. A pile of rubble can still be beautifil—the ruins of Cagsawa are—but an eyesore is always an eyesore beyond acceptance, Of course, someone would argue thatthe issue above is the unsophisticated colours of the paint used, True, thatis an issue, as they do no justice to the stone, But that is not the principal isste. The use 76 ANAMNESIS ost Filipino attempts at restoring colonial churches often end up doing more harm to the edifice than leaving it to the mercy of the elements. There are two extremes of restorers, we observe. On one hand, we have the true and committed restorers; on the other, we have the unrelenting and educat- ed wreckovators. Midway between these two are the pretend and misguided aesthetes. These latter two do damage to our architectural patrimony. of paint itself the core issue. The surface of a colo- nial church must never be touched by either cement, or paint. These two modern techniques in engineer- ing are anachronistic to the archite¢tonic reality of cour colonial churches ‘The chemistry behind our objection to their us- age is boring, but is compelling nevertheless. The ordinary person, however, will not appreciate the erudition. So, let us simply aska few questions. Why do you thinkis Santiago de Compostela beautiful and iconic? (Perhaps, because it was built for and with the Faith.) Would it still be beautiful if someone paints it over in white and brown? (No! Itis unimag- inable! It is tantamount to defacing the cathedral!) Beauty loses its charm when it becomes flashy. ‘True and committed restorers understand this. ‘They further know that every section is an organ of living organism of faith, They thus seek to rescue it. Unrelenting and educated wreckovators under- sand this too, but elect to subvert and replace itwith 2 parallel reality they think consistent with the conti- nity of ime. They never realise they are wrong even from the start. But pretend and misguided aesthetes neither understand the principles nor know how to approach the prospect of renovation. They are, therefore, the most dangerous of the threeTONGUE TRADITION 1. sacra, nt, —a.an altar cards b.a tabernacle veil; ¢.a missal inscription; d. a processional stamp. 2. forma, #, — a.the sacred species before consecration; b. the biggest altar card placed at the centre; ¢. the spot where the priest kneels on the pre- della; d. the decree of indulgence from the bishop read at Mass. 3. pentagrama, ». —a.a five-lined stave in Gregorian notations b. a five-pointed star on the mantle of Mary; a five-gemmed crown for the im- age of the Child Jesus; da five-stroke flourish on pastoral letters signed by the bishop. 4+ facislol, n. — a. the three-faced veil of Ve- ronica; b. the five-tasselled fascia ofa priest; . the four-sided rotating lectern used by a choirs d. the two crossed keys pressed upon papal documents and those of the Holy See. 5. padtino de capa, m. —a.a sponsor who provides the baptismal robe of an infant; b. an hon- our guard, wearing military cape, for the Blessed. Sacrament; c. an archpriest, vested in cope, who serves in the first Mass of a newly-ordained priest; d. high-ranking civil oficial who bears the train of a bishop in his first pontifical High Mass. 6. copén, 7, — a.a bugias b, a ciboriums ca every. a paten, radition comes with a treasure trove of terms that befits the timelessness of the Mass. Hence, Filipino | Tradition comes with a sizeable population of _ words we inherited from the Spanish Church, which nurtured us for three centuries. The Tagalog counsel goes: Ang di marunong lumingén sa pi- nanggalingan, id? makararating sa paroroonan. Test your Filipino Traditional Catholic vocabulary | here! And do not run to the Internet for help! 7» portapaz, 1. — aa votive image; b, a kiss- ing plaque; . a collection plate; d. a bleached candle. 8. cantoral, n. — a. alarge- format chant book; b.a side en- trance to the quire: ca vestment proper to choristers; d.a drawer for Storing choral pieces. 9. veil, —a.araised platform upon which a cofin or a catafalque is mounted in funerals; b. a set of lattices installed in the upper galleries of a church to hide Mass attenders;¢. a rod or staff with intricate designs carried in a procession before pontifical High Mass; d.a crescent-shaped receptacle for hold- ing the consecrated Host upright in the monstrance. 10, pated de agua, n, —a. the guildbrother who keeps the keys to the baptistery and the baptis- inal font; b. the sponsor who brings the cruets into the sandluay in the first Mass of a newly-ordained priest; c. the server who ministers the ewer and the tovel during the washing of the feet on Maundy ‘Thursday; d, the canon who pours the water intothe hands of the new archbishop during the latter's act of taking possession of his see APRIL-JULY 201577Answers 1, sacra, — a. an altar card. “One by one, the acolytes unfolded the altar cloths, and propped the sacrasin their proper places on the gradine.” 2, forma, x, — a. the sacred species before consecration. “Gently the celebrant thumbed the sagradas formas, as his server pointed the place in the missal where he should begin the Consecratiot 3. pentagram, 7, —a.a five-lined stave in Gregorian notation. “Fray Ildefonso was not remote- ly amazed to see that the old chant books gathering dust under the stairs of the archives were written in the outmoded Spanish pentagranta.” 4. facitol, .— c. the four-sided rotating lectern used by a choir. “Few people ever getthe chance now to see that the grand facistol in the choirloft of the church of Saint Augustine in Manila can rotate,” Nore: the English term is facstoliums, 5. padrino de capa, m, — c.an archpriest, vested in cope, who serves in the first Mass of a new- 1y-ordained priest. “When P. Echeverria sang his. first Mass in his hometown, his old parish priest, P. Arizmendi, for whom he was an acolyte for eight years, and his former university chaplain and philos- ‘phy professor, P. Castille, cane to serve as his padrinos de capa 6. copén, 7, — ba ciborium. “Prepare the copén, barked P. Domingo, wrenching his mantle away. ‘t's about time for the Benediction.” 7+ portapaz, m. — b.a kissing plaque. “Dona Teresa Alodia de Septlveda vda. de Cuarteros stil ‘remembers the time when, at Masses sung by the znear-sighted priest in the parish church, the acolyte ‘would bring her and his husband, Don Santiago 78 ANAMNESIS Cuarteros Santibinez, the poréapaz to kiss, before taking it to the choirloft at the back.” Nor: the Eng- lish equivalentis paxbrede. 8, cantoral, n. — a, a large-format chant book. “There was a rush in the 1960's to dispose ol cantorates lying unused in the convents’ storerooms. Many sacristans, unfortunately, sold them to the ‘market where fishmongers and their minions used each of the beautifully historiated thick cowhide fol- os towrap fish, meat, and other merchandise.” ._viril, . — d.a crescent-shaped receptacle for holding the consecrated Host upright in the ‘monstrance, “What a pity! The parish had only one -monstrance—an ornate sunburst of gold inlaid with ivory—and its golden viri is up to this point still missing.” Nore: the English term is iunette 10. patron de agua, n, — b. the sponsor who brings the cruets into the sanctuary in the first Mass of a newly-ordained priest. “On the episcopal conse- cration of Monseftor Juan Gorordo, the first Filipino bishop of Cebu, Don Sergio Osmena, a former stu- dent of the bishop-eleét and then congressman of ‘the province, served as his patron de agua,” SCORE, 6-8 occasional antiquarian 9-10 atrephied neopelagian 0-2 latent modernist 3-5 careffee pewsitter/ Cagholic thorriggal the Philipp aa are ora ordi itual fake @ aoeWhenever applause breaks out in the liturgy because of some human ach it is a sure sign that the essence of the liturgy has totally disappeared and been iplaced by a kind of liturgical entertainment. AUS DEO VIRGINIOUE MATRI as Coben) See RSC