Francis, Where Is Thy Sting?
As we write the Year Of The Lord 2021, you can go on Amazon and buy pretty much the opera omnia of St Alphonsus Liguori for (here in the UK) less than 3 pounds. St Alphonsus was a prolific writer, with both great depth of knowledge and great breadth of topics. I think he wrote about 30 works of varied length.
It had to be a rather well-heeled Catholic who, some 100 or 150 years ago, had in his library all the works of the great Saint. Most Catholics would, in ages past, call themselves happy if they had, in their simple homes, a Bible, a Missal, perhaps a life of the Saints, and the one or other devotional work. Very many could, surely, not afford even that. This, if they could read properly.
Today, everyone who has his priorities right can make the investment in a Kindle (or download the app for his already existing smartphone or tablet) and access all of Saint Alphonsus Liguori at less than the cost of a pint of Guinness.
I see in this, as I have written many times already, the work of Providence. In His Goodness, God has given us the ability to access, like no generation before us, the treasuries of the Church even as He allows – no doubt, to punish us for our aggiornamento arrogance – the Church to be corrupted like perhaps never before, and even persecuting – as in the time of Athanasius – Her faithful children.
In a way, it could be even said that this subtle Divine help is even nearer and more accessible than the traditionally used one. The factory worker in Milan around 1905 might have disliked the local priest – who might have been, in fact, unpleasant or outright obnoxious -, but the software programmer in Milan around 2021 will have no real barriers to the download of his St Alphonsus Liguori, and a short moment of inspiration will be enough to get all the material on his tablet; certainly an easier approach than entering a church full of people who consider you (very likely, rightly so) a dangerous subversive.
Every age has its challenges. Some have poverty, some have famine, some have war, some have pestilence, some have Communism.
We have Francis and his band of godless faggots.
I am not sure I would like to swap with a guy during the Black Plague, the French Revolution, the Biennio Rosso, or the Thirty Years War.
Count your blessings. Buy a Kindle. Start amassing a sensible Catholic library at little cost. Dedicate time to delve into it, and to grow in your Catholicism irrespective of the antics of that unspeakable ass.
And pray the Rosary. Pray the Rosary every day.
Francis is unable to do you any harm, if you only follow a short moment of inspiration.
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Posted on November 30, 2021, in Bad Shepherds, Conservative Catholicism, Dissent, Good Shepherds, Traditional Catholicism and tagged Pope Francis. Bookmark the permalink. 27 Comments.
Mundabor's Blog 
I like this advice a lot. We can. We should. We must.
The Catholic Church is ONE, throughout time and in eternity – ONE.
All Saints past, present, future are in communion with the Sacred Deposit of Faith which will continue to grow and develop until the Eschaton – but will NEVER change. One Body, One Lord, Jesus Christ (Eph 4: 5,6)
St Alphonsus Liguori lives today, no less than in his own day. ALL Popes who ever lived are my Popes, not just the living and current Pope Benedict XVI (I recognize this is in dispute). Pope St Peter governs me, as does Pope St Pius V, Pope St Leo XIII and Pope St Pius X – all of them in union with each other, in Christ.
I accept everything the Catholic Church teaches in its Sacred Magisterium, which transcends the current sad and heretical moment. The Church cannot change because She is already perfect. Change is degradation into less than perfect, by definition. And to read those firmly within the Mystical Body of Christ is to become firmly grounded with them in communion.
The current pope is the ass, Aqua. But I liked the comment..
I have done just what you’ve recommended. Solid Catholic teaching. Pre Vatican I. So very worth the pennies. Yes. Do all that. We will be fine….except for the Covid. Which sucks. Literally.
If you ask me, the Covid isn’t this big issue at all. Stupid politicians and panicking sissies are the issue.
Except I have Covid quite badly…. hence the suckage, Mundanity.
That’s good Covid time reading… You’ll get out of it stronger and wiser… 😉
Mundabor…Otto Inkorrektor strikes again.
Does he remember anything from his seminary years? His professors must have taught him solid Catholic doctrine. Where did it go?
I doubt he got much solid doctrine in the first place. He studied when the aggiornamento was being revved up..
There has been no moment since his *election* that he has been relevant to us. I know many Catholics set great store in the figure of the pope, but we usually don’t, so maybe it was easier for us to write him off. In fact, we have written off almost all of Rome and the bishops, most Cardinals too. We have about 10 figures in total, to whom we would listen at all. Maybe less. We don’t name them because that places targets. But Bergoglio, less than any of them.
The last 14 years have been an instruction to Catholics as to discernment.
I have a beautiful library. i fear a ‘book burning’ in the future. I have many statues also which they will take away .Call me whatever you want!
A beautiful library is a sight for sore eyes!
And if paying even a little money and reading things for yourself is still too much, then there are plenty of free audiobooks available. E.g. from librivox: https://librivox.org/author/79?primary_key=79&search_category=author&search_page=1&search_form=get_results
Here you can find the major works of Saint Augustine for free, but the site has many others, like Irenaeus’ Against Heresies, Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy etc.
There are also many such audiobooks available via youtube, including lots of C.S. Lewis if hardcore medieval stuff is too challenging. There is also the Baltimore cathecism. And youtube videos can be downloaded in mp3-format using 4K video downloader, for example.
Indeed the wisdom of the ages is accessible as never before in history. The ways in which we use these blessings says a lot about us, I suppose…
Thanks, Morten!
I did not even know that free audiobooks existed!
Love St. Alphonsus. He is very clear and readable.
Also, he got tossed out of his own order, which I think gives him a special affinity with an age when everything that even smells authentically Catholic is either canonically irregular or about to become so.
An elderly lady gave me her old St. Joseph Missal shortly before she died. I had been admiring it and she told me to take it. What a treasure!. It’s the Daily Missal that celebrates the feast days of the saints throughout the week. It doesn’t just say the saint’s name; it gives a short historical synopsis of his or her life along and with prayers for the saint’s intercession woven throughout the Mass. I started reading it more as a trip down memory lane and suddenly there they were and there I was and there we were together and I knew they were listening to the prayers I was reading. It was like knowing someone’s behind you although you can’t see him. There’s talk about “community” all the time but the real community is those connected to each other through God. That’s the one that’s eternal. God knows it’s our heart’s desire to have that and will give it to us when we seek first His Kingdom.
Btw – the current daily masses never mention saints unless maybe the saint the church is named after and then only in passing. The Creed mentions the communion of saints but I suspect most people think that means everyone who has died – Uncle Harry, Aunt Sylvia, any celebrity, etc. I’m sure when Joe Biden dies you’ll hear, “he’s up there with Beau now, playing golf!”
Beautifully put, Anna. I will now go on Amazon and try to find a Traditional version of it (not the V II, A-B-C one if I can avoid it).
Annie, is it the one published in 1955, HOEVER, Rev. Hugo H., S.O.Cist., Ph.D.; KUGELMAN, Rev. Richard, C.P., S.T.L., S.S.L.; SPELLMAN, Francis CARDINAL, Archbishop of New York CATHOLIC BOOK PUBLISHING CO. ?
I’m looking on abebooks for what you might have and this one looks promising. Thanks.
In these difficult days, I find huge solace in reading the Glories of Mary, by St Alphonsus. Also, at this time of year his Ascetical work, The Passion and death of Jesus Christ is a most profitable study. How can we not be joyful when we have a Mother so loving and compassionate, and our blessed Lord, so merciful and tender of heart.
Me too. I just downloaded The Glories of Mary to my Kindle for only 90p. It is a fantastic work and should be read by every parish priest.
Perhaps then we may get that rarity, a sermon on Our Lady.
There’s the St. Joseph Sunday Missal and then there’s the St. Joseph Daily Missal. The Daily Missal is the one with the weekday Masses for the saints – mine has three copyrights from 1957, 1961, & 1966. The Mass is still in Latin and English. I don’t think it was mucked up yet by the V2 crowd because it still has July 25th as the feast day for St. Christopher. He was a very popular fellow – he held the Christ Child in his arms as he crossed a river, school kids loved him, people wore his blessed medals for protection. He was a comfortable saint, a good saint, and so they had to get rid of him. We used to ask “all the saints” to pray for us – now we ask our “brothers and sisters” which include the serial adulterer and the cretin texting next to us at Mass.
Thanks Annie!
I have a sweet lil’ library of the D-R Bible, Butler’s Lives of the Saints, a condensed Summa Theologica, The Edmond Campion missal, The St Joseph’s Missal, and most of Pope Benedict’s books which I read fifteen years ago. Don’t worry, M.,I’m still solid.
My books are housed an a small bookcase. Atop that are my statuary. These form a small shrine. The Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, a crucifix, St Joesph holding lilies and baby Jesus, Our Lady of Guadelupe,, and the Infant of Prague. These visuals aid daily rosary reflections. But my absolute favorite is a bust of the Virgin made in Italy. She is veiled with downcast eyes. It is so beautiful it brings a tear to my eye. My mother ++d. 2005, gave it to me. I always wrap my Swarovski crystal rosary, given to me by my daughter, around it This provides great comfort to me—a uniting of 3 generations. My daughter, age 23, is fallen away. Perhaps the Virgin will rein her in!
The most beautiful comment I have read in a while.
Pray for your daughter and recommend her to the Blessed Virgin every day as I am sure you do now. I think chances are she’ll rein her in!
I have had books and music removed from my Kindle/computer by Amazon. Apparently they can do this, and in the case of a dispute with the artist, etc., they can remove content. I was reimbursed for content I had paid for, but to just have content removed without notice is creepy, and a huge red flag. Get hard copies of the old literature whenever possible. Churches and libraries throw it out all the time.
@ grassrootgonzo: I cancelled my Amazon account – closed it down completely in solidarity with small business being harmed by the flood of the river of goods.
I didn’t realize that this would also erase my entire Kindle library.
Nor did I realize that this would erase my entire Audible library.
I am almost embarrassed to admit the number of titles I lost – in the thousands on one, hundreds on the other. The worst part was the meticulous care I took in assembling the library over years. Poof! Gone. The moment I hit return, all titles vanished … little digits never to be seen again.
Hard copies from now on. Digital content is, as you say, essentially on loan from the owner. I want it on my shelf – to pass on to whoever wants it next, and there is nothing the Bald Guy can do about it.
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