The Underrated Sacrament

To My Readers: A Blessed Holy Week and Happy Easter to all! This week I am once more indebted to Lee for being my guest poster. Between work and religious duties, he gives me needed time off, and we all receive a great post from which to learn! As we celebrate the institution of the Sacrament of Holy Orders on Maundy Thursday, Lee reminds us of the importance of this great sacrament, and how the Modernists of the Vatican II sect invalidated it. A great read! 

God Bless you all, my dear readers---Introibo

 The Underrated Sacrament
By Lee

In my Vatican II sect youth, the parish priest of our church was giving a general instruction on sacraments. He said the most important of them all was Baptism and that the greatest of them all was the Holy Eucharist (Communion). What he said may indeed be true but now looking back and seeing the Novus Ordo for what it is and what it has done, I would say there is a sacrament far more important and greater than all the rest. It is Holy Orders.

The Roman Catechism explains why, "If one attentively considers the nature and essence of the other Sacraments, it will readily be seen that they all depend on the Sacrament of Orders to such an extent that without it some of them could not be constituted or administered at all; while others would be deprived of all their solemn ceremonies, as well as of a certain part of the religious respect and exterior honor accorded to them." (Pg. 194 'The Sacraments of Holy Orders').

Catechism on the Priesthood.

The patron saint of parish priests, St. John Vianney, gives probably the most simplest description of why the priesthood is so important. In his Little Catechism he says some of the following about it:

"St. Bernard tells us that everything has come to us through Mary; and we may also say that everything has come to us through the priest; yes, all happiness, all graces, all heavenly gifts. If we had not the Sacrament of Orders, we should not have Our Lord. Who placed Him there, in that tabernacle? It was the priest. Who was it that received your soul, on its entrance into life? The priest. Who nourishes it, to give it strength to make its pilgrimage? The priest. Who will prepare it to appear before God, by washing that soul, for the last time, in the blood of Jesus Christ? The priest -- always the priest. And if that soul comes to the point of death, who will raise it up, who will restore it to calmness and peace? Again the priest. You cannot recall one single blessing from God without finding, side by side with this recollection, the image of the priest.

Go to confession to the Blessed Virgin, or to an angel; will they absolve you? No. Will they give you the Body and Blood of Our Lord? No.  

The Holy Virgin cannot make her Divine Son descend into the Host. You might have two hundred angels there, but they could not absolve you. A priest however simple he may be, can do it; he can say to you, "Go in peace; I pardon you." Oh, how great is a priest! The priest will not understand the greatness of his office till he is in Heaven. If he understood it on earth, he would die, not of fear, but of love. The other benefits of God would be of no avail to us without the priest. What would be the use of a house full of gold, if you had nobody to open you the door! The priest has the key of the heavenly treasures; it is he who opens the door; he is the steward of the good God, the distributor of His wealth. Without the priest, the Death and Passion of Our Lord would be of no avail. Look at the heathens: what has it availed them that Our Lord has died? Alas! they can have no share in the blessings of Redemption, while they have no priests to apply His Blood to their souls!

The priest is not a priest for himself; he does not give himself absolution; he does not administer the Sacraments to himself. He is not for himself, he is for you. After God, the priest is everything. Leave a parish twenty years without priests; they will worship beasts. If the missionary Father and I were to go away, you would say, "What can we do in this church? There is no Mass; Our Lord is no longer there: we may as well pray at home." When people wish to destroy religion, they begin by attacking the priest, because where there is no longer any priest there is no sacrifice, and where there is no longer any sacrifice there is no religion...

If I were to meet a priest and an angel, I should salute the priest before I saluted the angel. The latter is the friend of God; but the priest holds His place. St. Teresa kissed the ground where a priest had passed. When you see a priest, you should say, "There is he who made me a child of God, and opened Heaven to me by holy Baptism; he who purified me after I had sinned; who gives nourishment to my soul." At the sight of a church tower, you may say, "What is there in that place?" "The Body of Our Lord." "Why is He there?" "Because a priest has been there, and has said holy Mass." (Chapter 9 Pgs.30-32).

The Sin of Scandal
While the priesthood and episcopacy are vital for the government, sanctity, and teaching of the Church, there is nothing worse than a lukewarm, spineless, and scandalous priest/bishop. While they have always been around in the history of the Catholic Church, it is flooded in the Novus Ordo Church, so much so, that it's no wonder why very few have any faith left in this day and age. The reason is clear, they aren't priests. See more on this a little while down below.

In his book Duties and Dignities of the Priest, St. Alphonsus Liguori gives the best descriptions of what happens when a priest scandalizes people:

He says, "St. Gregory; when the priest walks into the precipice, the people, too, are dashed to ruin. The bad example of the priest necessarily produces immorality among his people, says St. Bernard. Should a secular mistake the way, he alone is lost; but when a priest errs, he shall cause the perdition of many, particularly of those that are under his care, says the same St. Bernard. The Lord ordained in Leviticus that for the sin of a single priest a calf should be offered, as well as for the sins of the entire people. From this Innocent III concludes that the sin of a priest is as grievous as the sins of the whole people. The reason is, says the Pontiff, that by his sin the priest leads the entire people into sin. And, long before, the Lord himself said the same: If the priest that is anointed shall sin, he maketh the people to offend; Hence, St. Augustine, addressing priests, says, Do not close heaven: but this you do if you give to others a bad example to lead a wicked life. 

Our Lord said one day to St. Bridget, that when sinners see the bad example of the priest, they are encouraged to commit sin, and even begin to glory in the vices of which they were before ashamed. Hence our Lord added that worse maledictions shall fall on the priest than on others, because by his sinful life he brings himself and others to perdition... Yes, says St. John Chrysostom, the life of the priest is the root from which the people, who are the branches, receive nutriment.

St. Ambrose also says that priests are the head from which virtue flows to the members, that is, to seculars. The whole head is sick, says the Prophet Isaias; . . . from the sole of the foot unto the top of the head there is no soundness therein? St. Isidore explains this passage in the following words: This languishing head is the priest that commits sin, and that communicates his sin to the whole body. St. Leo weeps over this evil, saying, How can health be found in the body if the head be not sound? Who, says St. Bernard, shall seek in a sink the limpid water of the spring? Shall I, adds the saint, seek counsel from the man that knows not how to give counsel to himself? Speaking of the bad example of princes, Plutarch says, that it poisons not a single cup, but the public fountain; and thus, because all draw from the fountain, all are poisoned. 

This may be said with greater truth of the bad example of priests; hence Eugene III. has said that bad Superiors are the principal causes of the sins of inferiors. Priests are called by St. Gregory Patres Christianorum; The Fathers of Christians. Thus also are they called by St. John Chrysostom, who says that a priest as the representative of God is bound to take care of all men, because he is the Father of the whole world." (Pgs 141-144).

Cares of a Bishop

In his other work Miscellany, St. Alphonsus doesn't let bishops off the hook when he says this:

"We should be convinced of what St. Athanasius says, that the bishop before his consecration may live for himself, but that after his consecration he is obliged to live for his flock, of the salvation of whom he must certainly render an account, as the Lord has informed us through the mouth of Ezekiel: Woe to the shepherds; of Israel, that feed themselves: . . . Behold I Myself come upon the shepherds, I will require My flock at their hand* Hence St. Gregory says that at the tribunal of Jesus Christ, where every one will be obliged to render an account of his soul, the bishop will have to render an account of as many souls as he has subjects. 

The Bishop of Sardis led an innocent life; still, because he did not attend, as he should have attended, to the care of his flock, God addressed to him through St. John this terrible reproach: Thou hast the name of being alive, and thou art dead? Whence it follows that the bishop, however holy he may be by the works of his life, if he is negligent in regard to the salvation of his flock, will be reproved at the tribunal of Jesus Christ, to whom he will have to render a rigorous account, not only of his omissions, but also of all the evils that have resulted therefrom...

Oh, what a severe account will every bishop have to render to God of the obligation he has to exclude from the altar unworthy subjects and to admit those that are worthy! St. Francis de Sales trembled when he thought of this terrible account. This is the reason why he admitted to holy Orders only those who he had reason to hope would turn out well. In this matter he disregarded recommendations, nobility, and even the talents of the subject if these were not joined to a good life; because knowledge united with a bad life does usually more harm by appearing to add a certain respectability to vice. Hence it followed that he ordained few subjects, as is usually done by all good bishops, because in reality there are few that embrace the ecclesiastical state in order to correspond to the true vocation which they have, and in order to sanctify themselves; the consequence is, that there are few who become virtuous priests, and make themselves useful for the benefit of souls. The same saint said that the Church needs not many priests, but good priests."

The Greatest Tragedy

The biggest goal of Satan and his satellites has always been to destroy Holy Orders and why not, for it is the very sacrament that exorcises them by the authority of Christ. It is this sacrament which snatches souls from their grip so they can be hurled into hell. It is the sacrament that changes a man's soul and makes him another Christ (alter Christus), their greatest enemy.

As the Roman Catechism of Trent says: "Bishops and priests being, as they are, God's interpreters and ambassadors, empowered in His name to teach mankind the divine law and the rules of conduct, and holding, as they do, His place on earth, it is evident that no nobler function than theirs can be imagined. Justly, therefore, are they called not only Angels, but even gods, because of the fact that they exercise in our midst the power and prerogatives of the immortal God." (Pg.195 The Sacrament of Holy Orders)

With this in mind, the spirit of Anti-Christ ushered it's way in through Modernist, Masonic, clerics who committed the greatest crime known to man. Invalidate the priesthood. Nothing could have made Satan happier, it was like his royal flush because on June 18, 1968, the head of the Vatican II Sect — Bp. Giovanni Battista Montini  AKA impostor "Pope" Paul VI signed an “apostolic constitution” to change the Roman Catholic rite of ordination. The changes he introduced touched not only some of the more peripheral ceremonies but the very substance of the sacrament itself. The very words which Pope Pius XII, in 1947, had definitively decreed in were necessary for the validity of the sacrament of holy orders, were changed by Paul VI in such a way as to render the ordination of priests doubtful and the consecration of bishops definitely invalid (although even a doubtful rite, in any case, must be considered invalid in practice, per Catholic teaching).

Below is an example of one of the essential changes for consecration of bishops.

Traditional Roman Catholic form, per Pope Pius XII (1947):

“Comple in Sacerdote tuo ministerii tui summam, et ornamentis totius glorificationis instructum coelestis unguenti rore sanctifica."

[Translation:] “Perfect in Thy priest the fullness of thy ministry and, clothing him in all the ornaments of spiritual glorification, sanctify him with the Heavenly anointing.”

Modernist Novus Ordo form, per false pope Paul VI (1968):

“Et nunc effunde super hunc Electum eam virtutem, quae a te est, Spiritum principalem, quem dedisti dilecto Filio Tuo Iesu Christo, quem Ipse donavit sanctis Apostolis, qui constituerunt Ecclesiam per singula loca, ut sanctuarium tuum, in gloriam et laudem indeficientem nominis tui."

[Translation:] “So now pour out upon this chosen one that power which is from you, the governing Spirit whom you gave to your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, the Spirit given by him to the holy apostles, who founded the Church in every place to be your temple for the unceasing glory and praise of your name.”

Not only does the Novus Ordo form totally replace the words decreed by Pius XII as essential to validity, they do not even in any way express that what is taking place is the consecration of a bishop! They do not even ask the Holy Ghost to make the ordinand into a bishop! Instead, even if one were to say that the totally abstruse phrase “Spiritum principalem” (“Governing Spirit”) is a clear reference to the Holy Ghost, the fact remains that it is not stated just what the Holy Ghost is supposed to be doing. God the Father is being asked to “pour out” the Holy Ghost (or at least that “Governing Spirit”) — but to do what? To what end? We’re not told. The Holy Ghost is poured out also in baptism, in confirmation, and in ordinations of deacons and priests, for example. in addition to changing the sacramental form of priestly and episcopal ordination, in his document Pontificalis Romani Paul VI also abolished the major order of subdeacon and all of the minor orders (acolyte, exorcist, lector, and porter), none of which are sacraments, but whose denial was condemned by the Council of Trent and flies in the face of the Modernists’ favorite lie to seek to restore things to “antiquity” 

…[F]om the very beginning of the Church the names of the following orders and the duties proper to each one are known to have been in use, namely those of the subdeacon, acolyte, exorcist, rector, and porter, though not of equal rank; for the subdiaconate is classed among the major orders by the Fathers and the sacred Councils, in which we also read very frequently of other inferior orders.

Can. 2. If anyone says that besides the priesthood there are in the Catholic Church no other orders, both major and minor, by which as by certain grades, there is an advance to the priesthood: let him be anathema. (Council of Trent, Session 23).

(Complete credit to Novus Ordo Watch for that above section).

Also In the traditional rite of consecration, the bishop consecrating instructs the bishop elect in the following terms:

”A bishop judges, interprets, consecrates, ordains, offers, baptizes and confirms.”

This has been abolished in the new rite.

In the traditional rite, the bishop-to-be is asked to confirm his belief in each and every article of the Creed.

This has been abolished in the new rite.

In the traditional rite, the bishop-to-be is asked if he will “anathematize every heresy that shall arise against the Holy Catholic Church.”

This has been abolished in the new rite.

In the traditional rite, after the consecration prayer, the functions of a bishop are once again specified in these words:

”Give him, O Lord, the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven... Whatsoever he shall bind upon earth, let it be bound likewise in Heaven, and whatsoever he shall loose upon earth, let it likewise be loosed in Heaven.  Whose sins he shall retain, let them be retained, and do Thou remit the sins of whomsoever he shall remit... Grant him, O Lord, an Episcopal chair...”

This entire prayer has been abolished in the new rite.

With the complete invalidation of bishops shown above, we now must see the changes made for priestly ordination in 1968. When Pope Leo XIII declared the Anglican orders invalid in 1896, it was due to the defects of form and intention that were done deliberately.

Pope Leo XIII states “When anyone has rightly and seriously made use of the due form and the matter requisite for effecting or conferring the sacrament he is considered by that very fact to do what the Church does.  On this principle rests the doctrine that a sacrament is truly conferred by the ministry of one who is a heretic or unbaptized, provided the Catholic rite be employed.  On the other hand, if the rite be changed, with the manifest intention of introducing another rite not approved by the Church, and of rejecting what the Church does, and what by the institution of Christ belongs to the nature of the sacrament, then it is clear that not only is the necessary intention wanting to the sacrament, but that the intention is adverse to and destructive of the sacrament...

For, to put aside other reasons which show this to be insufficient for the purpose in the Anglican rite, let this argument suffice for all: from them has been deliberately removed whatever sets forth the dignity and office of the priesthood in the Catholic rite.  That form consequently cannot be considered apt or sufficient for the sacrament which omits what it ought essentially to signify... So it comes to pass that, as the Sacrament of Orders and the true sacerdotium [sacrificing priesthood] of Christ were utterly eliminated from the Anglican rite, and hence the sacerdotium [priesthood] is in no wise conferred truly and validly...

Being fully cognizant of the necessary connection between faith and worship, between ‘the law of believing and the law of praying,’ under a pretext of returning to the primitive form, they corrupted the liturgical order in many ways to suit the errors of the reformers. For this reason in the whole Ordinal not only is there no clear mention of the sacrifice, of consecration, of the sacerdotium [sacrificing priesthood], but, as we have just stated, every trace of these things, which had been in such prayers of the Catholic rite as they had not entirely rejected, was deliberately removed and struck out.  In this way the native character – or spirit as it is called – of the Ordinal clearly manifests itself." Apostolicae Curae, Sept. 13, 1896.

In addition to this Michael Davies wrote in his book The Order of Melchisedech this information on page 79 of his book where he describes which prayers from the traditional rite of ordination were removed and why they might as well considered invalid.

"The Bishop then addresses the ordinands and his "charge" to them includes the following:

“For it is a priest’s duty to offer sacrifice, to bless, to lead, to preach and to baptize.”

This admonition has been abolished.

The Litany of the Saints then follows in the Traditional Rite.  It has been cut short in the New Rite. The New Rite abolishes the following un-ecumenical assertion:

“That Thou wouldst recall all who have wandered from the unity of the Church, and lead all believers to the light of the Gospel.”

Later on in the Traditional Rite, after pronouncing the essential form, which has been changed in the New Rite (see above), the bishop says another prayer, which includes the following: 

“Theirs be the task to change with blessing undefiled, for the service of thy people, bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Thy Son.”

This prayer has been abolished.

In the Traditional Rite, the bishop then intones the Veni Creator Spiritus.  While anointing each priest he says:

“Be pleased, Lord, to consecrate and sanctify these hands by this anointing, and our blessing.  That whatsoever they bless may be blessed, and whatsoever they consecrate may be consecrated and sanctified in the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ.”

This prayer has been abolished. 

And this prayer was so significant that it was even mentioned by Pius XII in Mediator Dei para. #46:

Pope Pius XII, Mediator Dei Nov. 20, 1947: “… they alone [priests] have been marked with the indelible sign ‘conforming’ them to Christ the Priest, and that their hands alone have been consecrated, ‘in order that whatever they bless may be blessed, whatever they consecrate may become sacred and holy, in the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ."

The Bishop now closes of each in succession, so that both palms meet and one of the attendants bind them together with a white fillet; each priest returns from his place. When this anointing and consecration of hands in finished, the bishops cleanses his hands, and then delivers to each priest the chalice containing wine and water, with a paten and host upon it, which each take with the fore and middle finger, so as to touch both the paten and the cup of the chalice, while the bishops says each:

“Receive the power to offer sacrifice to God, and to celebrate Mass, both for the living and the dead, in the name of the Lord.”

This exceptionally important prayer has been abolished in the New Rite. In the Traditional Rite, the new priests then concelebrate Mass with the bishop... At the end, each new priest kneels before the bishop who lays both hands upon the head of each and says:

“Receive the Holy Ghost.  Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.”

This ceremony and prayer has been abolished. In the Traditional Rite:

“…the new priests then promise obedience to their bishop who ‘charges’ them to bear in mind that offering Holy Mass is not free from risk and that they should learn everything necessary from diligent priests before undertaking so fearful a responsibility.”

This admonition has been abolished. Finally, before completing the Mass, the bishop imparts a blessing:

“The blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, come down upon you, and make you blessed in the priestly Order, enabling you to offer propitiatory sacrifices for the sins of the people to Almighty God.”

This blessing has been abolished.

Later Michael Davies explains what this all means:

"...the differences between the 1968 Catholic rite and the new Anglican Ordinal are so minimal that it is hard to believe that they are not intended for the same purpose… It will be found that every imperative formula which could be interpreted as conferring any specifically sacerdotal power denied to the faithful at large has been carefully excluded from the new rite.”  (Pgs 94-95).

“If the new Catholic rite is considered satisfactory, then the entire case put by Apostolicae Curae [of Leo XIII] is undermined…" (Pg. 97).

"If the new Catholic rite, shorn of any mandatory prayer signifying the essential powers of the priesthood, is valid, then there seems no reason why the 1662 Anglican rite should not be valid too, and still less can there be any possible objection to the 1977 Anglican Series III Ordinal...” (Pg. 99).

"As a final comment on the new Catholic ordinal, I would like to quote a passage from Apostolicae Curae and to ask any reader to demonstrate to me how the words which Pope Leo XIII wrote of Cranmer’s rite cannot be said to apply to the new Catholic Ordinal, at least where mandatory prayers are concerned... " (Pg. 109). 

Conclusion

Thankfully, Our Lord Jesus Christ promised "that I will always be with you even unto the consummation of the world." He of course was speaking to the Apostles, His first bishops. It's also good to remember what Vatican I declared “Just as [Christ] sent the Apostles whom He had chosen for Himself from the world (as He Himself was sent by the Father), so too He willed that there be pastors and teachers in the Church unto the end of time.” The clergy who never stopped using the traditional rites of Holy Order and who uphold the Catholic Faith as it has always been taught must be it. If they are not as the Home Aloners believe we are in big trouble because what good is the infallible statement of Vatican I if nobody knows who and where are the pastors and teachers (what good is teaching)?

A Prayer for Priests (From the Raccolta)

O Jesus, Eternal Priest, keep Thy servants within the shelter of Thy Sacred Heart, where none may harm them. Keep unstained their anointed hands, which daily touch Thy Sacred Body. Keep pure and unearthly their hearts, sealed with the sublime mark of Thy glorious Priesthood. Let Thy holy love surround them and shield them from the world’s contagion. Bless their labors with abundant fruit, and may the souls to whom they minister be here below their joy and consolation, and in Heaven their beautiful and everlasting crown. Amen.