Roman Catholic Priests

"Father Thébaud was a man full of energy, even in old age, an untiring student, and well-informed scholar. Withal he was a most agreeable companion, witty and full of life, and universally beloved by his friends and his pupils."

"It is not by a succession of periods of progress and decay only That nations manifest their life and individuality. Taking any one of them at any period of its existence, and comparing it with others, peculiarities immediately show themselves which give it a particular physiognomy whereby it may be at once distinguished from any other; so that, in those agglomerations of men which we call nations or races, we see the variety everywhere observable in Nature, the variety by which God manifests the infinite activity of his creative power."

"The religious freedom guaranteed by the Constitution has been always fully enjoyed; the many representatives of Catholic countries in the Diplomatic Corps and the Catholics prominent in Congress and in the departments are factors for social influence and a restraint upon illiberal legislation."

"It is indeed a blessing that the future is veiled to us: had it been revealed to me, there would have been no merit in my perseverance. But the Lord kept me in suspense and gave me only enough strength to keep me from abandoning the idea and to complete the work once it was started."

"He was both priest and physician to the Indians."

"At the last day God will not ask me whether my church was a wigwam or a log church. He asks not for churches but for souls, and the soul of the poorest Indian living in the most miserable wigwam is as dear to him as the soul of the greatest sovereign."

"Absolute certainty of our vocation has never been granted through ordinary means, although we may be allowed to believe its existence, when time and results have, so to speak, proved the reality of one's election."

"We fear not science. We deplore ignorance. If the men of science will be true to their reason, we will meet them on every field and teach them the harmonies of nature and of faith. We will show them how the human mind turns from the creature in all its variety and beauty to the creature's God."

"The history of mankind may have as many divisions as human life has aspects or sides. Its noblest form is the history of religion, as it developed in the past among the different groups of the human race. Reason shows that there can be only one true religion, based on the true knowledge and the proper worship of the one God. Thanks to the light of revelation we know that this one true religion is the Christian religion, and, since there are different forms of the Christian religion, that the true religion is in particular the one known as Catholic, concrete and visible in the Catholic Church. The history of Christianity, therefore, or more properly the history of the Catholic Church, is the most important and edifying part of the history of religion."

"When we have assured ourselves that the Bible is really as old and as truthful a record of history as it pretends to be^ and that it has for it such human testimony as leads us to admit historic facts in general, we shall occupy ourselves with its contents, with the influence which this wonderful book, this ancient testament of our royal Sire, exercises upon the heart, the mind, the general culture, by which it leads us to our inheritance, and enables us to assume our place in our destined home."

"Muratori really proved himself to be a universal genius of rare calibre, at home in all fields of human knowledge. He showed extraordinary qualities as priest and man; he was zealous in the ministry, charitable to the poor, and diligent in visiting the abandoned and imprisoned."

"Though he always professed to aim at setting forth truth unadorned and regardless of consequences, his partisan tone and apparent prejudice gave offence to many. Those who knew him best, however, testified to his singleness of purpose and genuine piety."

"Personally and through the clergy trained by him, Liebermann exerted a wholesome and long-continued influence upon the revival of the ecclesiastical spirit in Mainz and the adjoining dioceses."

"When a priest can do any good to a soul he must make that his first business."

"Learned, theological, lucid, varied, firm. supernatural, and austere. Mgr. d'Hulst's direction was also sincere. 1 mean he was ever anxious to practise himself what he counselled others to do"

"When will Anglicans learn that the faith of a Church cannot be rated higher than the level of its conscious communion; that whatever a man may be individually, as a Churchman he is neither more nor less than what his Church allows?"

"Among the various pursuits that engage the human mind, there are few so attractive as Geology, none so important as Revelation. Each of these two studies has an interest peculiar to itself. The one is chiefly concerned about the world in which we are living: the other about the world to which we are hastening."

"A brilliant priest who had a special knack. That night he fed the poor with chicken-stew."

"We must avoid lies as we would a pestilence."

"On September 15, Don Pino Puglisi, parish priest of the church of San Gaetano in Brancaccio, was killed with a single gunshot to the back of the head. With his tireless pastoral, educational, and social work, the priest had become a thorn in the side of the local mafia."

"Those who think too much before taking a step will spend their whole life standing on one foot."

"Each of us feels within ourselves a particular inclination, a charisma, a vocation, a project that makes each person unique and unrepeatable: journalist, teacher, priest, student, father, volunteer... This calling is the sign of the Holy Spirit within us. Only listening to this voice can give meaning to our lives. (p. 294)"

"A man, Don Pino [Puglisi], fighting against non-men, mafiosi, and hitmen in the neighborhood to save children and young people from a fate of violence, illegality, poverty, ignorance, and incivility."

"You have a family. I have no one. I have no wife or children, and even if they kill me, I don't care."

"Twenty, sixty, a hundred years... life. What good is it if we go in the wrong direction? What matters is encountering Christ, living like him, proclaiming his saving Love. Bringing hope and not forgetting that all of us, each in our own place, even at personal cost, are builders of a new world."

"We must give and ask our brother for whatever is necessary to help him."

"Love for God purifies and liberates. This does not mean that we become depersonalized, but rather that our personality is exalted and enhanced, that is, our natural faculties and our intelligence are given new potential. Our will is given new light. (p. 512)"

"Don Puglisi was proclaimed blessed on May 25, 2013. He who did not like celebrations, solemnities, or official rites, is consigned to history as the first martyr of the Church killed by the mafia in odium fidei."

"When a person's heart surrenders to God, when they say yes to Him, then the Kingdom comes, then God reigns."

"In the parish, all pastoral care should be guided by the vocational line together with the missionary line: “all called, all sent.”"

"(Last words) I was expecting that."

"Holocaust means burning one's entire existence on the altar of the cross."

"God loves us, but always through someone else."

"A man without prayer is an animal without the use of reason."

"It is important to talk about the mafia, especially in schools, in order to combat the mafia mentality, which is any ideology willing to sell out human dignity for money."

"It is very difficult to die for a friend, but dying for enemies is even more difficult. Christ, however, died for us when we were still his enemies. God always remains close to us; it is the constancy of love to the extreme limit, indeed without limits. This is the reason for our joy. (homily of 14 September 1993)"

"Be a witness, especially for those who harbor anger toward a society they see as hostile. The witness must instill hope in them by helping them understand that life is valuable when it is given freely."

"The first duty in Brancaccio is to roll up our sleeves. And the first targets are children and adolescents: with them, we still have time, educational measures can be effective... But even at that age it is not easy, because many children are forced to work or steal. And many girls are forced to do worse, because there are also cases of child prostitution in the neighborhood."

"How can we talk about Christ? We must try to present the figure of Christ as someone we love, in the hope that people will listen to us."

"The Church has already excommunicated those who have committed atrocious crimes, such as the so-called men of honor. I can only add that murderers, those who live and feed on violence, have lost their human dignity. They are less than men; they degrade themselves, through their choices, to the rank of animals. (homily of 25 July 1993)"

"The religious state is indeed the highest, but it is not suitable for all."

"He remained a staunch supporter of the old order during the Reformation era, and being an independent thinker, with feelings and views very similar to those of the 'old catholic' school of this century, tried to stem the reformation of the church from within."

"Well meant though it undoubtedly was, and perhaps necessary under the circumstances, the French leader's intervention in the inter-tribal politics of the natives likewise resulted in their paying more heed to the war songs and the satisfaction of their passions than to the question of their spiritual advancement."

"Though he might not look an ideal leader, Father Stone was wonderfully adapted to his circumstances; his unfailing kindness, simplicity, sincerity, patience, and self-devotion were irresistible. If he acted slowly, he made no mistakes; he was capable of undertaking great enterprises, and of carrying them through with strong tenacity of purpose."

"The first reason for reprinting this work is a moral one — namely, that the readers may see, from so illustrious an example, that loss of faith comes from loss of morals. The second reason is that non-Catholics, those "other sheep which are not of this fold," may return to the rich, green pastures which they left four hundred years ago, and which are still as rich, as green, because still watered by the perennial streams of the seven sacraments, just as in the days of Henry."

"The history of the Church is full of examples, to prove that no austerity of life, no detachment from worldly goods, is a safeguard against spiritual pride."

"...the cultural mission of the Jesuits—what really makes the Jesuits distinctive..."

"Historical events do not fall out of the heavens. They have a pre-history. To understand them, it is essential to understand the pre-history."

"Historians should always look at continuities and fractures: as I see it, the continuities are always deeper and more profound than any discontinuities."

"I revise a lot my work and read out loud, and often say: “It doesn’t work”; “It’s so boring!” I often realize that I could say something more clearly, more simply, and get rid of many qualifications. I believe that you do not really have a clear thought until you have the right word. The thought is developed in the act of writing: sometimes you are writing a sentence, and you realize that, deep down, you do not really know what you want to say. You revise, and at a certain point you say: “This is really what I think, what I want to say!”"