Catholics From Italy

"(About Saint Saint Paula of Rome}} Inspired by the virtues of Paulinus, Bishop of Antioch, and Epiphanius, who had come to Rome, she sometimes contemplated leaving her homeland."

"Then the prefect had her stripped and taken to the brothel. But the Lord made Agnes's hair so thick that it covered her better than a dress, and when she entered that vile place, she found the angel of the Lord waiting for her, who illuminated the room with a shining light and prepared a pure white stole for her. Thus the place of sin became a place of prayer, so much so that Agnes came out purer than when she had entered, when that great light had honoured her. (from “'Saint Agnes”', p. 141)"

"(About Paula of Rome) After her husband's death, until her own death, she never ate with any man, however holy he might be, even if he was at the height of episcopal dignity. She did not go to the baths unless her health was in grave danger. Even when she had a high fever, she did not have soft mattresses in her bed, but slept on the hard ground, covered with a few pieces of sackcloth: if one can even speak of sleep, since she spent her days and nights in almost continuous prayer. (p. 170)"

"(About Paula of Rome) The entire population of the cities of Palestine attended her funeral. For which of the monks who had retired to the desert remained in his cell? Which of the virgins remained in the secrecy of her rooms? Everyone considered it sacrilegious not to pay homage to such a woman. She was then buried under the church, next to the tomb of the Lord. The venerable virgin and her daughter Julia Eustochium, like a child who had just been weaned, could not be separated from her mother; she kissed her eyes, did not leave her face, embraced her whole body and wanted to be buried with her mother. Jesus is witness that she left not a penny to her daughter, but gave it to those who needed it most and, what is even more difficult, to the immense multitude of brothers and sisters, who are hard to support and ungodly to abandon. (p. 173)"

"(About the request of the King of England, a pagan, to the King of Brittany, a Christian, to give his daughter Ursula in marriage to his son) The king [of Brittany] began to feel anxious, both because it seemed unfair to him that a virgin marked by faith in Christ should be given to an idol worshipper, and because he knew full well that Ursula did not want this in any way; but he was also very afraid of the fury of the boy's father. Ursula, however, inspired by heaven, persuaded her father to agree to the king's request, on condition that the king give her ten other virgins of the highest choice to be her companions and comfort, assigning a thousand virgins to her and to each of the others. Then he asked him to prepare ships to send them. He also asked for three years to dedicate her virginity, and that in the meantime the young man be instructed in the faith for three years: it was a very wise decision, since he could either dissuade him from his purpose with the difficulty of the condition imposed, or at least take advantage of the opportunity to consecrate to God all the virgins mentioned above. (p. 863)"

"Mary of Egypt, known as Mary the Sinner, led a very strict hermitic life in the desert for forty-seven years. She had in fact retreated to the desert around 270, at the time of Emperor Claudius. (p. 311)"

"(About Saint Apollonia) After capturing her, her persecutors cruelly raged against her, first pulling out all her teeth; then, gathering wood and preparing a large pyre, they threatened to burn her alive if she did not declare herself a pagan like them. But as soon as she saw the pyre lit, she gathered herself in an instant and threw herself into the very fire with which they threatened her. (p. 368)"

"Juliana, although already married to Eulogius, the prefect of Nicomedia, refused to consummate the marriage unless her husband was first baptised. Her father then had her stripped naked and severely beaten, then had her taken to the prefect, who said to her: ‘My sweetest Juliana, why have you mocked me and rejected me in this way?’ (p. 223)"

"(About the martyrdom of Saint Ursula and the eleven thousand virgins she converted to the Christian faith) All the virgins, accompanied by the bishops, set out on their return journey to Cologne, but found it already besieged by the Huns. When the barbarians saw them, they threw themselves at them, screaming, and raged like wolves among lambs, killing the whole multitude. When they had massacred the others and reached Saint Ursula, the leader of the Huns, seeing her beauty, was filled with wonder and, trying to console her for the slaughter of the other virgins, promised to marry her. However, Ursula refused, and the Hun leader, seeing himself despised, shot an arrow at her, which pierced her and killed her. Thus she crowned her martyrdom. (p. 866)"

"“May Saint Lucy preserve your sight”, the Neapolitan beggar has been repeating for centuries, holding out his hand on street corners, and with that phrase he gives the exact measure of the importance attached in Naples to the “faculty of sight”, a primary good that constitutes the extreme wealth of the poor and the ultimate health of the sick."

"Then Diocletian had him tied up in the middle of the Campus Martius and ordered the soldiers to pierce him with their arrows. They shot so many arrows at him that he almost looked like a hedgehog. Convinced that he was dead, they left; but after a few days he freed himself and, standing on the steps of the palace, he violently rebuked the emperors who were coming to meet him for all the evil they were doing to Christians. (from “'San Sebastiano”', p.137)"

"Agnes, a young woman full of wisdom, as Ambrose tells us in his Passion, left death and found life at the age of thirteen. Her young age was evident from her years, but the maturity of her mind was extraordinary: young in body but mature in soul, beautiful in appearance but even more beautiful in faith. It happened that while she was returning from school, the prefect's son fell in love with her. He promised her endless jewels and riches if she agreed to marry him. Agnes replied: “Stay away from me, get out of sin, food of evil deeds, nourishment of death! Another loved me before you. (from 'Saint Agnes”, p. 140)"

"Almachio then had her taken back to his house and ordered that she be burned by keeping her in a boiling bath night and day. Cecilia remained there as if it were a cold place, and did not even break a sweat. When this was reported to Almachio, he ordered that her head be cut off in the bath. The executioner struck her three times, but failed to sever her head; however, since the law forbade the condemned person from being struck four times, the executioner, covered in blood, left her dying. She lived for three more days, during which she gave all her possessions to the poor and entrusted to Urban all those she had converted to the faith, saying to him: “I have obtained a three-day reprieve for myself, so that I may entrust myself to your blessedness and so that you may consecrate my house as a church.”"

"Another legend tells that Maximus, bishop of Nola, trying to escape persecution, exhausted by hunger and cold, had collapsed on the ground; Felix of Nola (bishop) was sent to him by an angel, and although there was no food, he saw a bunch of grapes hanging from a nearby bramble, from which he squeezed wine into Massimo's mouth, and carrying him on his shoulders, he took him with him. After Massimo's death, Felix was elected bishop. Being sought after by his persecutors because he preached, he hid himself by slipping through a narrow passage between some ruined walls. Immediately, by God's will, spiders wove their webs across the passage; the persecutors, seeing the webs, were convinced that no one could have passed through there and left. (from “'San Felice”', p. 124)"

"Sebastian, an exemplary Christian, was a citizen of Milan, but his family was from Narbonne. He was so loved by the emperors Diocletian and Maximian that they entrusted him with the command of the first cohort and always wanted him by their side. He had agreed to wear the military uniform only to be able to comfort the souls of the Christians he saw falling into torment. (from “'San Sebastiano”', p. 132)"

"At that time there lived a venerable virgin, now advanced in age, named Apollonia, adorned with the flowers of chastity, sobriety and purity. Like a solid pillar strengthened by the spirit of the Lord himself, admired for the merits of her steadfast faith and for the virtues that the Lord had given her, she offered men and angels the edifying spectacle of herself. (p. 368)"

"In Rome, in the cemetery of Callixtus on the Appian Way, memory of St. Cecilia, virgin and martyr, who, as tradition has it, achieved this double palm for the love of Christ, and to whose name the ancient church of Trastevere is dedicated."

"Cecilia, an illustrious virgin, born of noble Roman lineage, was raised from the cradle in the faith of Christ. She always carried the image of Christ hidden in her bosom, and never ceased to pray day or night, asking God to preserve her virginity. Having been promised in marriage to a young man named Valeriano, and the wedding day having already been set, Cecilia wore a hair shirt next to her skin, while above it she wore her gold-woven garments. While the choirs sang, she sang alone, to herself, only for the Lord, saying: “Lord, may my heart and my body remain immaculate, so that I may not be confused at the Judgment.”"

"Petronilla, whose life was written by Saint Marcellus, was the daughter of Saint Peter. Being too beautiful, she began, at her father's will, to suffer from fevers. Once, when the disciples were with him, Titus spoke up and asked him: “You who heal all the sick, why do you let Petronilla suffer? And Peter replied: 'I do it for her own good. But so that no one should think that her illness is due to my words,” he turned to Petronilla and said: 'Come, Petronilla, quickly, bring us something to eat. Petronilla was immediately healed and served them food. When she had finished, Peter said to her, “Petronilla, go back to your bed.” And Petronilla immediately returned to it and resumed suffering from fevers; but as soon as she reached perfection in the love of God, she was also perfectly healed. (p. 431)"

"Apollonia, a very strong virgin and martyr of Christ, renouncing the pleasures of the world, stifling the blossoming of life with the contempt she had for it in her mind, eager to please Christ her spouse, who with joyful perseverance in her resolve to remain a virgin, resisted every torture with unwavering strength: this glorious and happy virgin therefore stands out and shines among the martyrs in her triumph. (p. 369)"

"The virgin Marina of Bithynia was her father's only daughter. When her father entered the monastery, he changed his daughter's clothes so that she would look like a boy and not a girl, and he begged the abbot and the monks to accept his only child. They listened to his prayers, and everyone called him Brother Marino. He began to live with religious fervour and to show great obedience. (p. 446)"

"To render the Science of Algebra intelligible to pupils whose minds are yet unaccustomed to such studies, is not an easy task. For should the instructor subject every principle, as it is announced, to a rigorous demonstration, he will very probably not be comprehended; while, on the other hand, inconclusive reasoning is worse than none at all."

"It was pleasantly said of him that he had two passions---one for pure mathematics, and the other for the pure Catholic religion."

"There is nothing perhaps harder to defend and easier to attack than a system not clearly defined, at least in its principal parts. Its defenders waste their time in showing what is either beside the question or only touches the surface, and its adversaries, when they have pointed out the weak points in that which, true or false, has nothing to do with the truth of the system, settle the controversy in their own favour."

"May the young learn from Savio how to sanctify themselves, even in the midst of dangers, how to join holiness with cheerfulness, frankness with reserve, dignity with modesty, the interior life and intimate union with Our Lord with the diligent exercise of external duties; let them learn of him to be beloved by God and men, and thus to leave a holy memory to succeeding generations."

"...they make no use of tables; but only of the addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of certain numbers, of which we do not presently discern the ground, nor to what these numbers refer."

"Every historical epoch has its special conflict, and from the sixteenth century down to our own time the conflict has been between liberty and authority. It is the office of religious and social truth to establish harmony between these two terms. The excess of social authority leads to oppression, and the excess of liberty leads to license and the disorganization of the social fabric. The equilibrium of the two constitutes and maintains the life of all society. Proofs are not needed to show that it has ever been the highest glory of the Catholic Church, I do not say to have invented either social authority or social freedom, but to have maintained the equilibrium and established the harmony of the one with the other."

"Only by successful war can we obtain peace."

"Though he was a good philosopher and theologian, he was a better religious. Those well acquainted with him are convinced that he never lost his baptismal innocence. Neither his holiness nor his learning made him a disagreeable companion or an undesirable friend. It would be hard to say whether he was more admired or loved by those who came into contact with him."

"His wise and unwearying efforts to reform his diocese, whose clergy were in a deplorable state, were crowned with unhoped-for success."

"I should seem to have on my face the brand of a coward, and to have cut the thread of my predestination, if I opposed myself to the call of God."

"It will not be weapons that give us the future, and much less justice and peace, instead, it will be internally unarmed people who will stop violence in all its forms and its false or presumed reasons. Justice is not in the unstable balance of forces involved, but in the testimony of a truly new life in love without measure."

"Do not waste time in front of the television, which is the most powerful tool in the hands of my Adversary, used to spread the darkness of sin and impurity everywhere. Television is the idol mentioned in the Book of Revelation, created to be worshipped by all the nations of the earth, and to which the Evil gives form and movement, so that it may become, in his hands, a terrible means of seduction and perversion."

"These are ten decisive years. I ask you to spend them with me, because you are entering the final period of the Second Advent, which will lead you to the triumph of my Immaculate Heart in the glorious coming of my son Jesus. In this period of ten years, the fullness of time, which I have indicated to you, will be fulfilled, beginning with La Salette and continuing until my last and current apparitions. In this period of ten years, the purification that you have been experiencing for years will reach its climax, and therefore the sufferings will become greater for everyone. In this period of ten years, the mystery of iniquity, prepared by the ever-increasing spread of apostasy, will be manifested. During this ten-year period, all the secrets that I have revealed to some of my daughters will be fulfilled, and all the events that I have foretold will come to pass. Therefore, I ask you today to consecrate this entire period of time to me, as if it were a longer and continuous Marian year. (Message from Mary to Don Gobbi, Lourdes, 18 September 1989)"

"Jesus is the way that leads to the Father through the Gospel. Ecclesiastical Freemasonry favours exegesis that gives interpretations of it that are rationalistic and natural, through the application of various literary genres, so that it is torn apart in every part. In the end, it leads to the denial of the historical reality of the miracles and of his Resurrection, and the very divinity of Jesus and his saving mission are called into question."

"Divine Scripture has warned you that those who sin through the flesh will find their just punishment in the same flesh. Thus, the time has come when the angel of the first plague passes over the world, so that it may be punished according to God's will."

"I chose you, my son, for this simple reason: because you are the poorest, the smallest, the most limited. Humanly speaking, you are the most unprepared. / I chose you because in your life my Adversary had already managed to claim victory. In your existence, I made you experience in advance what I myself will do at the moment of my greatest triumph. / My Adversary will one day believe he has achieved complete victory: over the world, over the Church, over souls. / Only then will I intervene – terrible and victorious – so that his defeat will be all the greater, the more certain he was of having won forever. (18 October 1975)"

"My soul is pierced at seeing my Church prostrated under the weight of a most painful agony. Errors leading to the loss of faith are spreading more and more within her; sin seduces the minds and hearts of so many of my children. (15 September 1994)"

"The Church established by Christ is one: holy, catholic, apostolic, one, founded on Peter. Like Jesus, the Church founded by Him, which forms His mystical body, is truth, life and way."

"Fight with Me, little children, against the beast that looks like a lamb, Freemasonry, which has infiltrated ecclesial life in order to destroy Christ and His Church. To achieve this goal, it wants to build a new idol, that is, a false Christ and a false Church. (17 June 1989)"

"The task of the Masonic Lodges today is to work with great cunning to lead humanity everywhere to despise the holy Law of God, to work in open opposition to the Ten Commandments, to take away the worship due to God alone and give it to false idols, which are exalted and adored by an ever-increasing number of people. (3 June 1989)"

"His career is that of a good man, struggling for the welfare of his Church against corruptions not essential to the system to which he was devoted."

"He was a man passionately devoted to letters, and somewhat vehement in character. At the conclave of 1758, he was on the point of being elected Pope: he had obtained eighteen votes; but the fears inspired by the inequality of his temper caused him to be set aside."

"Few ecclesiastics in that century were so successful in retaining the esteem of men of all parties and all creeds as this large-minded and eminently able and honest churchman."

"There are in these parts many reputed defenders of the Catholic faith who think that our religion consists in nothing but hatred of the Lutherans... and they are so wedded to this point of view that, without ever looking into the matter itself, they take in bad part not only all negotiations with the Lutherans, but every single word spoken about them which is not abusive."

"His character was impetuous and haughty, especially towards the Romans."

"Spedalieri was wrongly claimed by the Liberals as one of theirs, and if some of them accuse him of a want of loyalty when he wishes to conciliate democracy and a Divine sanction of the social order, it is because they do not understand the true nature of democracy or of the saying that all authority comes from God."

"A spiritual man, who, by the practice of virtue, prayer, penance and mortification, has already laid up a certain treasure of merit in heaven, knowing full well that he has in his house, nay, even within himself, a traitor sense which, assaulting his will, and alluring it by the bait of its delectations, is able to strip it of all its spiritual wealth; with what jealousy ought he to keep guard over it; how sternly ought he to check its motions; how rigorously to keep it in subjection and restraint."

"Because of his prudence and his business-like methods, he was a favourite with the popes."

"If a spark of God's love has already been kindled in you, do not boast about it. Do not expose it to the wind. Close the door of your heart so that it does not grow cold."