Thomas More: Fidei Defensor

 

The Reformation was a trying time for the Church, and many souls were lost to its confusion. Martin Luther and his Ninety-Five Theses are generally viewed as the first domino that sent the world tumbling into the Reformation.¹ Luther rejected the authority of the Papacy itself, and many others followed him in his new religion, Lutheranism. While Luther started things off, the Reformation was characterized by three separate heresies: Lutheranism under Luther, Calvinism under John Calvin, and Anglicanism under the king of England himself. Saint Thomas More served under Henry VIII, the king of England at the time, and was a leading member of the English government; it was here that he became a stalwart defender of the Church against not only these heresies, but also his very own friend and king.

Saint Thomas More was born in 1477 to a prosperous family in London. His father was a rising figure in the legal profession and More followed closely behind in his footsteps, studying law as well. More was unique as a defender of the Faith because he, unlike many others, was primarily a lawyer and a statesman, rather than a philosopher. He was an incredibly intelligent man, studying Law at Canterbury in Oxford, then leaving before his degree was completed to study at New Inn and Lincoln's Inn in London. Somewhere along the path of his academic life, a spark of spirituality was ignited which soon grew into a flame and seemed only to continue growing. After living among the Carthusian monks for several years, More determined that he should continue to seek God among society, not withdrawn from it; so he returned and married, starting a family and becoming a well-respected lawyer in London and eventually an English statesman.²

Even though he was a leading figure in English politics, More was also deeply religious, and engaged in a public battle against the Lutherans, whose teachings and literature began pervading England. “In the mind of Catholics such as More, the Lutheran position… amounted to no less than a demand to change the very idea of Christian faith itself: a transformation that would inevitably alter the entire Christian conception of social order.”³ More eventually wrote against Martin Luther on behalf of Henry VIII himself, who fully supported More in his campaign against Protestantism and who even publicly rejected Lutheranism and declared his loyalty to the Papacy in his work, Assertio septem sacramentorum adversus Martinum Lutherum (“Declaration of the Seven Sacraments Against Martin Luther”).

Though More fought valiantly to fend off the perplexity of Protestantism and the Reformation, it soon began to overtake his beloved country, and its effects became troublingly apparent and widespread. Although King Henry VIII was still a Catholic, he was also now faced with a problem: he and his wife, Catherine, were unable to produce a male heir to ascend the throne after Henry's death. They had been able to conceive, but several of their children were stillborn or died in infancy. The only child to survive was a girl, Princess Mary. Unfortunately, she was not a suitable successor: “no one relished the thought of a female succession with all the dynastic and political uncertainties it would bring.”⁴

Henry blamed Catherine for their inability to produce a male heir to the throne and felt an increasing aversion to her. This was only made worse by his growing fondness of one of the court attendants, Anne Boleyn. She was young, only twenty, and Henry wanted her to be more than his mere mistress; he wanted to make Anne his new wife. To marry her, and also ensure that any heirs she bore him would be legitimate, he would have to divorce Catherine. His distaste for Catherine only helped him to convince himself that their marriage had been invalid in the first place because she had first been his brother’s widow; he believed that the deaths of their children were proof of God’s disapproval of their union and that they were living in mortal sin together which must be brought to an end immediately.

Henry sought an annulment from the Pope, but his request was swiftly denied. He also asked More for help in this matter, but More too affirmed the validity of Henry's marriage to Catherine. More knew that even if he did chose to support Henry and declare the marriage invalid, he had no authority to do so.⁵ Indeed, such a declaration would make him a Protestant. After More's initial refusal, Henry even sought Lutheran support, but Luther did not approve of the divorce.⁶ So, with annulment by the Church no longer an option, Henry sought another path; he had one of his own English bishops declare the Catherine marriage invalid, and forthwith married Anne, thus beginning a revolution which he did not fully intend to ignite. He was excommunicated by the pope for his blatant disregard of papal authority and his title, Fidei Defensor (“Defender of the Faith”) was revoked, but the English people were not troubled by this; they embraced the new Anglican church, the Church of England, with Henry at the head.

More refused to attend Anne’s coronation as the new queen of England, and Henry VIII noticed his absence. Because of More’s prominence as the most publicly known layman in the country, Henry could hardly continue his rule without addressing More’s disapproval in some way; it seemed to him that More must publicly acknowledge him as head of the Church or he must be publicly punished. The king’s new minister attempted several times to accuse More of engaging in treasonous activities, but More, being extremely familiar with the law, simply refuted each charge. Finally, More was summoned to appear before the commissioners to swear an oath to the Act of Succession, “which declared the king’s marriage with Catherine void and that with Anne valid.”⁷ More was willing to accept the succession and Anne’s queenship but refused to take the oath. It was this refusal that initiated his own little passion.

He was detained in a tower, and at first, he was permitted to see his family and to have writing materials, but these things were eventually taken from him. During his interrogations, his inquisitors attempted to either force him into submission or to trick him into saying something condemning, but More had too sharp an intellect for that. His trial and interrogations continued for a long time until finally he was convicted of treason by falsified evidence. Having held his tongue for so long during his trial, he finally spoke his mind after the verdict was delivered, declaring that Christendom itself was behind him, supporting his conscience.⁸

Though More was not a philosopher in the traditional sense, he was in every sense a defender of truth and a student of history; from the time he first experienced the truths of the faith in school to his very death. Not only did he seek the truth, but he was willing to do anything for its preservation, even to the point of sacrificing his own life rather than denying his faith. In a modern world flooded with relativism and a seeming unwillingness to stand by objective truth, More is a shining model for us. What would this world look like if more of us lived like Saint Thomas More, declaring our faith to the world and willing to give our very lives to avoid denying it?

"In search of the one that went astray..."

“Faith is illuminative, not operative; it does not force obedience, though it increases responsibility; it heightens guilt, but it does not prevent sin. The will is the source of action.” - St. John Newman

By and large, there are all manner of religious people in the world who claim to be Christians; some of them are Catholics, and very many of the others are Protestants. In both these groups, there are all kinds of men, some academics, others dyed in the wool evangelicals who despise the Church of Rome, a few laggards and dawdlers who only go to church for the free donuts, and even a handful of those who really love others and try to be virtuous; never in history, however, was there such a Christian as St. John Henry Newman. He began as an evangelical Calvinist, then was a student and then a fellow at Oxford in the midst of the great debates between England and Rome in the 1820s, and eventually was convicted of the truth of the Catholic faith and became a priest and then a cardinal. Immediately after he converted, he wrote a book called Loss and Gain, which we will be looking at briefly today; it is a strange work because while Newman himself warned against thinking of the story as an autobiography, it is what might be called an intellectual autobiography: a tale of the converting mind lived through a fictional character in fictional circumstances. Newman created a man named Charles for this task, a fictional man who had his own fictional life, and yet, perhaps, felt and thought some of the same things as Newman did leading up to and during Newman’s conversion.

Over the course of Loss and Gain, the reader is thrown almost violently back and forth between conversations indicative of the great struggle between the true faith and the false, ranging from tentative intellectual exploration to tender and generous conversation between friends, and back again to raging debate and fierce disagreement. Some scenes feel nearly Socratic in nature, with Charles Reding, our curious protagonist, frequently asking questions in an attempt to find truth, or else listening to another pursue a line of questioning. Many questions in this book are bound to cause great discomfort if spoken aloud today, as they indeed were to some in the story; but to Newman’s central characters, truth is the goal and is worth the discomfort of probing questions and incisive criticism. Even when Reding is preparing to sit down to a comfortable luncheon, he is prepared to relinquish the impending comfort in the form of tea and sandwiches, and interrogate his friend, recently converted to Catholicism, to find out his state of mind: “A thought struck Reding. "Tell me, Willis," he said, "your exact position; in what sense are you a Catholic? What is to prevent your returning with me to Oxford?”¹ 

So, then, we have conversation as one of the driving principles of this drama. The other, perhaps even more important, is the internal struggle of faith that Reding deals with during his whole journey and the terrible pain that he endures because of his eventual conversion to the Roman Catholic religion. For an Anglican Oxford student in Reding’s position (or Newman’s, in real life) there were two particular groups that would feel betrayed by such a conversion: his family, and his university. A fellow reviewer of this book, Adam Shaeffer, speaks to the grief of Oxford:

And the ideas Reding wrestles with through the story’s progress reveal the very perplexity Newman experienced during his arduous and painful conversion from the Church of England to the Church of Rome. For ‘Reding’s conversion to Rome is ... like Newman’s, no sudden enlightenment but a hard-won intellectual struggle, in a religiously divided Oxford, in which theological controversy and argument count’ (Gilley, p. xix). And they count because the Oxford of Loss and Gain is primarily religious. It served as the ‘intellectual powerhouse of the Church of England, and as the chief place, beside Cambridge, for the training of its clergy’ (Gilley, p. xviii). This is why Reding’s conversion, like Newman’s, was widely perceived as a betrayal of all that Oxford was supposed to be. And for one who loved Oxford and felt truly loyal to it, this perceived betrayal could only be excruciating.²

 Not only did Reding’s former classmates and teachers speak about him behind his back, malign his name, and charge him with unbelief, but even those academics who had known his father (Mr. Reding having been a parson before his untimely death) sought him out to try and shame him away from Rome:

'Well, Charles,’ said Mr. Malcolm, not looking at him, "I have known you from this high; more, from a child in arms. A frank, open boy you were; I don't know what has spoiled you. These Jesuits, perhaps.... It was not so in your father's lifetime….Silly boy,’ he went on, ‘you have not a word to say for yourself; it's all idle fancy. You are going as a bird to the fowler.'³

Now, as much as Reding experienced vexation from his colleagues and teachers over his conversion, the distress of his family (primarily his mother and his sister Mary) was much more difficult to bear. Indeed, Reding was the best of friends with Mary since his childhood, and had always been able to speak to her about everything; and yet, when he spoke to her of his qualms about the Anglican church, she recoiled and could hardly trust him anymore. After Reding had chosen to cross the Tiber, he attempted to say goodbye to his mother, and though she sent him off after a time with tears, most of their interaction was bitter and harsh: 

There was another silence; then she said, 'You have had everything in your favour, Charles; you have been blessed with talents, advantages of education, easy circumstances; many a deserving young man has to scramble on as he can.’ Charles answered that he was deeply sensible how much he owed in temporal matters to Providence, and that it was only at His bidding that he was giving them up. ‘We all looked up to you, Charles; perhaps we made too much of you; well, God be with you; you have taken your line.⁴

What sorrow must have been in Newman’s heart to be able to write these lines, and to understand the gutting desolation of rejection.

Loss and Gain is a testament to the resilience and buoyancy of a heart seeking God, and it is a testament to faith. Though not much is made of Reding’s prayer life, we know that he prayed for guidance, and began to develop a relationship with God that allowed him to almost breathe in the aroma of faith; 

'O happy times,’ he cried, "when faith was one! O blessed penitent, whoever you are, who know what to believe, and how to gain pardon, and can begin where others end! Here am I, in my twenty-third year, uncertain about everything, because I have nothing to trust.’ He drew near to the Cross, took off his hat, knelt down and kissed the wood, and prayed awhile that whatever might be the consequences, whatever the trial, whatever the loss, he might have grace to follow whithersoever God should call him.⁵

St. Francis de Sales spoke eloquently on the nature of the quiet spirit, such as Newman himself possessed, and both men were great proponents of the idea that God and man, the Creator and the created, were meant to speak to one another always if it were only for a brief moment, and that this communion of the two hearts is what faith lies in: 

Truly the chief exercise in mystical theology is to speak to God and to hear God speak in the bottom of the heart; and because this discourse passes in most secret aspirations and inspirations, we term it a silent conversing. Eyes speak to eyes, and heart to heart, and none understand what passes save the sacred lovers who speak.⁶

For Newman, this is all that mattered; to lose this was to lose all, and to gain this was to gain God.

¹ John Henry Newman, Loss and Gain: The Story of a Convert, 8th ed. London: Burns and Oates, 1881, 108.

² Adam B. Shaeffer, “Loss and Gain: The Story of a Convert,” Reviews in Religion & Theology 24 (1): 155–56 doi:10.1111/rirt.12865, 2017.

³ Newman, 416-417.

⁴ Newman, 346. 

⁵ Newman, 291.

⁶ Francis de Sales, Treatise on the Love of God, Book Six, Chapter 1.

My Sketch of John Paul II: Pastor of Souls and Herald of Faith

          

          One of the primary concerns of the Second Vatican Council was “the life of the Catholic Church itself.”¹ Several documents that the Council produced helped hone in on and clarify the roles of the Church itself, the hierarchy, and the laity. One such document is a decree, Christus Dominus, issued by Pope Paul VI specifically concerns the office of the bishop in the Church. In this definitive decree, Paul VI makes the role of the bishop clear stating, “The bishops themselves, however, having been appointed by the Holy Spirit, are successors of the Apostles as pastors of souls.”² Furthermore, this is made clear by the Catechism of the Catholic Church regarding the bishops’ role as teacher: “Bishops, with priests as co-workers, have as their first task ‘to preach the Gospel of God to all men,’ in keeping with the Lord's command. They are ‘heralds of faith, who draw new disciples to Christ; they are authentic teachers’ of the apostolic faith ‘endowed with the authority of Christ.’”³ What does it mean to be a pastor of a soul? We know that there is both soul and body in man. However, there is the more theologically vague discussion of the person. One man who stood out of all the bishops of the Church of the modern, in my opinion, was Pope John Paul II. As bishop and pope, John Paul II took very seriously his role as “pastor of souls” and “herald of faith.”

          The image of the late pope and saint that I sketched is based off of one of my favorite pictures of him. John Paul II was a man of deep prayer and immense faith. He continuously called upon the youth and people of his age to open wide their “hearts to the Christ of the Gospels—to his love and his truth and his joy.”⁴ This was a direct response to the call of the Second Vatican Council which, in Lumen Gentium, called for the active role of the laity in their Faith and the Church, especially to the youth.⁵ John Paul II effectuated this call with collected mind and much prayer. His writings, such as Love and Responsibility, have pulled me closer to my faith, not only intellectually, but also in love for God and my fellow man. As such, I champion his legacy as a pope for the human person and the new evangelization. By firmly establishing the human person and the role of each of us in evangelization, we are all able to attain holiness and become coworkers in the ministry of those who are pastors of souls and bearers of the light of faith.

          In one of the most unique writings by Pope John Paul II, Crossing the Threshold of Hope, the late pope addresses many questions and concerns regarding the Church and her position in the modern world. One quote, in his chapter regarding the New Evangelization, he states, “Against the spirit of the world, the Church takes up anew each day a struggle that is none other than the struggle for the world’s soul.”⁶ Does this sole point not a very profound image of the spiritual reality of the world surrounding us? In fact, this has been the very nature of the mission of the Catholic Church since her very beginning in history. The call to evangelization has never faded from the Church.⁷ So, how does one accompany man on his way in life, feeding his soul, and walking along side him? John Paul II answered this question in many ways. One crucial aspect of his approach to the New Evangelization was his theology of the human person.

          One of Pope John Paul II’s themes regarding the human person is that of the self-gift of man.⁸ This idea is an expansion upon the idea that man is made in the likeness and image of God and the Holy Trinity. For, “it is precisely on account of being made to the image of the Trinity that man is capable both of receiving the gift of God Himself and of entrusting himself in love to God in return and making a gift of himself in love to others.”⁹ This is the foundation upon which John Paul II built his theology of the human person, the human family, and established his own take on the New Evangelization. A group of human persons, the family, is a topic in which John Paul II was especially concerned. In his apostolic exhortation Familiaris Consortio, the late pope outlined four functions of the mission of the family: forming a community of persons, serving life, contributing to society, and sharing in the work of the Church.¹⁰ Each of these functions directly contribute to the New Evangelization in a unique way. It is through the love of the family, the (pro)creation of children, and their subsequent upbringing that society can become positively affected in the manner of justice and fraternity.

          The Church continues on in her mission through the Catholic family and the upbringing of young people. This is precisely the reason why Pope John Paul II chose to, on many occasions, focus his ministry on the family and the youth. Bishops are called by the Holy Spirit to minister to the people and their souls. Furthermore, they are to be a source of teaching of the faith to the world. Pope John Paul II remains a primary example of how a bishop and pope ought to minister in the modern world. It is no wonder that many priests and bishops of our more recent age have discerned their vocations and founded their ministry through the intercession and role model of John Paul II. May we all, like him, have a zeal for souls and the faith. And, in society, may we be bearers of light in a world of darkness so that the rights and dignities of each human person be not forgotten, so that their self-gift may not be lost to the world.¹² 

Saint John Paul II, Patron of Families and Young Catholics, pray for us!

Footnotes

¹ Alan Schreck, The Compact History of the Catholic Church (Cincinnati, OH: Servant, 2009), 134.

² Pope Paul VI, Decree Concerning the Pastoral Office of Bishops in the Church Christus Dominus (28 October 1965), §2. 

³ Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed. (Washington, DC: United States Catholic Conference, 2000), 888. 

⁴ Pope John Paul II, Homily at the Holy Mass on Boston Common (1 October 1979), §6. 

⁵ Schreck, The Compact History, 135. 

⁶ Pope John Paul II, Crossing the Threshold of Hope , ed. Vittorio Messori, trans. Jenny McPhee and Martha McPhee (Toronto, ON: Alfred A. Knopf, 1994), 112. 

⁷ John Paul II, Crossing, 105. 

⁸ Carole M. Brown and Kevin E. O’Reilly, “John Paul II and the New Evangelization,” The Heythrop Journal LVIII (2017), 923.

⁹ Brown and O’Reilly, “John Paul II,” 923. 

¹⁰ Pope John Paul II, On the Role of the Christian Family in the Modern World Familaris consortio (22 November 1981).

        ¹⁰ John Paul II, Familaris consortio.

Bibliography

Brown, Carole M. and Kevin E. O’Reilly. “John Paul II and the New Evangelization.” The Heythrop Journal LVIII (2017): 917-930.

Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed. Washington, DC: United States Catholic      Conference, 2000.

Pope John Paul II. Homily at the Holy Mass on Boston Common (1 October 1979).

Pope John Paul II. Crossing the Threshold of Hope. Ed. Vittorio Messori. Trans. Jenny McPhee and Martha McPhee. Toronto, ON: Alfred A. Knopf, 1994. 

Pope John Paul II. On the Role of the Christian Family in the Modern World Familaris consortio (22 November 1981).

Pope Paul VI, Decree Concerning the Pastoral Office of Bishops in the Church Christus Dominus (28 October 1965).

The Communist Manifesto: A Procrustes Ideology

          The mid-1800s in the United Kingdom gave rise to many well known historical facts and significants. On the more lighthearted side of history in literature, according to a timeline published by the BBC, Oliver Twist was published by Charles Dickens.¹ However, history does not shine a bright light on this era. While the Industrial Revolution roared and advanced like a coal fired engine, the smog filled the air and the response in social politics gave rise to ideology. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote the Manifesto of the Communist Party, or better known as  The Communist Manifesto. Its original purpose was for congressional sessions held by the Communist League.² Beginning their writing in London, they witnessed the working class (proletariat) struggle with the owners of the means of production, the middle class (bourgeoisie). This piece of socioeconomic, political, and philosophical writing stands the basis, not only for the Revolutions of 1848, but also for the Communist movements of the 20th century. Furthermore, The Communist Manifesto, holds firm to the dangerous ideology of relativism that threatens the Church and the common good of society.

         The Communist factions throughout Europe were becoming bolder. Marx, at the very beginning of the Manifesto writes, “It is high time that Communists should openly, in the face of the whole world, publish their views, their aims, their tendencies, and meet this nursery tale of the Spectre of Communism with a manifesto of the party itself.”³ The Communist Manifesto itself served the purpose to unite the many Communist factions across Europe. As a result, it was published in English, French, German, Italian, Flemish and Danish.⁴ The central premise that is reiterated in the economic struggle of the century was that the working and middle classes were in a heroic battle. However, there is a philosophical and historical premise that precedes all of this theorizing. Marx and Engel write, “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.”⁵ In the footnotes, they further clarify this statement, which would come to define the entire work. In summary, all recorded history is the history of this class warfare.⁶

          The first section of the Manifesto, which elaborates on the Bourgeois and Proletarians illuminates this materialist approach to history. Marx and Engle conclude that societies have without exception held to the form of an oppressed majority exploited on the backs of an oppressive minority. In the traditional form of capitalism, the working class have an inherent struggle against those who organize and own the means of production.⁷ All compromise and solution to this problem lie in the wake of revolution. The bourgeoisie is revolutionary in that it revolutionizes “the instruments of production, and thereby the relations of production.”⁸ However, Marx and Engel argue that the only true revolutionary class is that of the proletariat: “Of all the classes that stand face to face with the bourgeoisie today, the proletariat alone is a really revolutionary class. The other classes decay and finally disappear in the face of Modern Industry; the proletariat is its special and essential product.”⁹ The proletariat will recognize their true part in the mechanism and turn toward violent overthrow in exchange for their seat at the table.¹⁰

          The subsequent sections of the Manifesto elaborate on the relationship of the Communists with the working class. Here, the Communist party stands to represent the working class across international borders and without limitation to nationality. Their aim in the mechanism of class-struggle is the movement towards a class-less society without the presence of private property.¹¹ Radically, they call for the following changes to society such as: “Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes … A heavy progressive or graduated income tax … Abolition of all rights of inheritance … Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels … Centralisation of credit in the hands of the state … Centralisation of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State … Equal liability of all to work … Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of all the distinction between town and country by a more equable distribution of the populace over the country … Free education for all children in public schools.”¹² It is interesting to note how many of these ideals are true for modern society. And, while the Manifesto does call for the end of many social injustices, such as child labor, many these ideals for a “perfect society” threaten the livelihood of many as well as the social doctrine of the Catholic Church.¹³

          A response to this can be summarized via a popular Greek myth. “One size fits all” is a very familiar phrase, especially when shopping for that perfect item (an apt capitalist analogy for a discussion on Communism). Procrustes, the son of Poseidon, was a strong, built like a robust man, who always carried a sword or smith’s hammer in hand.¹⁴ Diodorus Siculus, an ancient Greek historian, wrote that Procrustes had an outpost on a wayward path, and in this cave he had a bed.¹⁵ Whenever a passerby came, Procrustes invited them to spend the night in this bed. However, if his guest was too small to fit the bed, he would stretch and contort them to fit. And, if his guest was too tall, he would cut off the limbs to allow them to fit the bed perfectly.¹⁶ One size truly never fits all in the truest sense of the word “all.” This is the error of the ideology that promotes relativism and radical secularism. The Soviet Communists took to this error like fish to water. They aimed to repress morality of the Christian European world and to replace it with their own “one size fits all” ideology.¹⁷ The Church totally rejects the totalitarian regime of Communism.¹⁸ Furthermore, Pope Benedict XVI, along with Marcello Para, dig further into what they surmise as the downfall of Europe. Benedict XVI writes that, “The decline of a moral conscience grounded in absolute values is still our problem today. Left untreated, it could lead to self-destruction of the European conscience, which we must begin to consider as a real danger . . .”¹⁹
          The stretching of material circumstance and the radical call for the end of the family and rights of private property (the pursuit of happiness) have almost become the new norm for Europe. Para and Benedict XVI correctly point how this has come to be — the ideology of relativism. Due to political correctness, it is now incorrect, according to its proponents, to say that one social institution is better than another. However, Pera points out that in modern day many Muslims come to Europe and its democracy because they find the environment superior.²⁰ There is also, in addition to this, the rapid deconstruction of traditional values. When we attempt to integrate newcomers to our country, political correctness tells us it is no longer considered appropriate. Integration is now seen as offensive and an imposition of values. While many countries of the world today accept immigrants from across the world, Communism would strip them of their property and practices. This brings about an even deadlier blow to society and the fabric of Europe — religious plurality.²¹ When relativism takes over, why bother even having a discussion anymore. All truth becomes objective in their own right and unable to be combated with another.²² This is the fatal flaw of relativism and how Communists perceive a solution to the world’s problems — cut it off, they are too big for the bed. 

  Christianity on the other hand promotes life and an ultimate desire for the future, not just in this world, but in that of the next. The promotion of the family is the key to this future, a future that is dim in the family-less worldview of the Communist.²³ Having children envisions a future and a hope for it. As Pope Benedict XVI points out, Europe now sees children as a threat to the here and now, saying, “As if they [children] were taking something away from our lives.”²⁴ Instead of holding hope for the future and having children in that light, there is hesitancy rooted in a fear of liability that has caused the natural life cycle to be interrupted. Maybe Europe is destined toward an end in this regard. This lack of the family and the desire for children is also paired with the loss of the focus on the dignity of the human person — abortion and contraception have flourished. The dignity of the person has been sacrificed for the freedoms Europe now places its foremost trust in, for example the freedom of speech. Even more troubling is the loss of self-love. Instead of focusing on its own culture and heritage, it tosses them aside and gives into multiculturalism.²⁵

  One size truly does not fit all. Europe, with its Christian roots and its essential democratic lifestyle, in both the government and in economics, cannot look past this. Europe has ended up cutting off its own limbs or stretching them beyond proportion in order to accommodate the new style of relativism. Europe must begin to establish itself again in the way it began — through the Christian faith, democratic way of life, and the importance of the family and the human person. It is apt to cite the Catechism of the Catholic Church and how it describes the family: "The family is the original cell of social life. It is the natural society in which husband and wife are called to give themselves in love and in the gift of life. Authority, stability, and a life of relationships within the family constitute the foundations for freedom, security, and fraternity within society. The family is the community in which, from childhood, one can learn moral values, begin to honor God, and make good use of freedom."²⁶ Only when Europe returns to this way of life can it begin to heal and return to its true flourishing potential. We must realize that the narrow road is hard and full of sacrifice. Imagine us as Theseus navigating the devastating and thorny path of cultural politics. We proceed on our long journey, but we struggle and have hardships along the way. Wouldn’t a bed to lie down on this journey sound heavenly?²⁷ This is what Procrustes offers to travelers on their way. The advice given: “Don’t lie down.”

Footnotes

¹ “Victorian Britain,” in BBC History, at bbc.co.uk. 

² Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, trans. Samuel Moore, Manifesto of the Communist Party, Vol. 1 of Marx/Engels Selected Works (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1969), 2. 

³ Marx and Engels, Manifesto, 14. 

⁴ Marx and Engels, Manifesto, 14. 

⁵ Marx and Engels, Manifesto, 14. 

⁶ Marx and Engels, Manifesto, 14. 

⁷ Marx and Engels, Manifesto, 14. 

⁸ Marx and Engels, Manifesto, 16. 

⁹ Marx and Engels, Manifesto, 20. 

¹⁰ Marx and Engels, Manifesto, 20.  

¹¹ Marx and Engels, Manifesto, 22. 

¹² Marx and Engels, Manifesto, 26-27. 

¹³ Marx and Engels, Manifesto, 27. 

¹⁴ “Procrustes and the Culture Wars,” American Scholar 68, no. 3 (1999), 5. 

¹⁵ “Procrustes,” 5. 

¹⁶ “Procrustes,” 5. 

¹⁷ Benedict XVI, Marcello Pera, Michael F. Moore, and George Weigel, Without Roots: The West, Relativism, Christianity, Islam (New York, NY: Basic Books, 2007), 74.

¹⁸ Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed. (Washington, DC: United States Catholic Conference, 2000), 2425. 

¹⁹ Benedict XVI, et al, Without Roots, 74.

²⁰ Benedict XVI, et al, Without Roots, 14.

²¹ Benedict XVI, et al, Without Roots, 23.

²² Benedict XVI, et al, Without Roots, 26.

²³ Marx and Engels, Manifesto, 24. 

²⁴ Benedict XVI, et al, Without Roots, 66.

²⁵ Benedict XVI, et al, Without Roots, 79.

²⁶ CCC, 2207.

²⁷ “Procrustes,” 11. 

Bibliography

Benedict XVI, Marcello Pera, Michael F. Moore, and George Weigel. Without Roots: The West, Relativism, Christianity, Islam. New York, NY: Basic Books, 2007.

Catechism of the Catholic Church. 2nd ed. Washington, DC: United States Catholic Conference, 2000.

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Maximillian Kolbe: Saint of Auschwitz

Holy Apostles College & Seminary

Maximillian Kolbe: Saint of Auschwitz by Elaine M. Stone

A Book Review

by: Iñigo Isla Cañedo 

Church History

May 2, 2020

            Saint Maximillian Kolbe is one of the greatest models of holiness of the Twentieth Century. He lived a life of holiness, dedicated to the conversion of souls out of love of neighbor. He made a heroic choice of love by giving his life for a stranger. He simply stepped forward, and took the death sentence of another man. When asked who he was, he simply said, “I am a Catholic priest.” During the homily at his canonization mass, John Paul II spoke about the heroic nature of this act of love: “And in this human death of his there was the clear witness borne to Christ: the witness borne in Christ to the dignity of man, to the sanctity of his life, and to the saving power of death in which the power of love is made manifest. Precisely for this reason the death of Maximilian Kolbe became a sign of victory. This was victory won over all systematic contempt and hate for man and for what is divine in man-a victory like that won by our Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary…And so, in virtue of my apostolic authority, I have decreed that Maximilian Maria Kolbe-who after his Beatification was venerated as a Confessor-shall henceforeward be venerated also as a Martyr!”[1]

About the Author

Elaine Murray Stone truly put her heart and soul into this book. She shares at the beginning of the book all that she did in order to write this book. After reading countless books on Saint Maximillian and praying for his intercession, she decided that it was not enough. She wanted to truly immerse herself in his life and learn who he was, not merely what he did. This is why, with the help of countless people, she took a trip to Poland. During this trip she stayed in a Franciscan house spending time with the people that knew Maximillian and lived with him. One of these was Father Peter Mielczaker who was Maximilians secretary during some of his time in Niepokalanow. Another was Fr. George Domasnki, who is one of the leading experts on Saint Maximilian. She not only interviewed them, and many others, but spend time with them listening to their personal stories with the Saint. She also visited all of the important cities in the life of Maximillian such as Zdunska Wola, Pabanice, Niepokalanow, Czetochowa, Auschwitz, and Cracow. This in-depth immersion into the life of Saint Maximilian Kolbe, allowed Mrs. Stone to produce a biography on him like no other. It offers insight into the thoughts and struggles of Maximilian and captures small moments that make you feel as if you know the Saint. The extra work and dedication that Mrs. Stone went through really shows.

Structure of the Book

            The book is divided into ten chapters that tell the life of Saint Maximilian for his birth to his death. Each chapter is separated into small sections which offer small stories and insights of the daily life of Maximillian. They also contain the important events of his life such as the vision of Our Lady with the two crowns, his ordination to the priesthood, or his heroic death in Auschwitz. It truly feels like someone who knew Maximillian very well was sharing their memories of him.

Main Theme:

            The main theme of this book is the love that Maximillian shared throughout his life. The heroic choice of love to give his life for another prisoner was but the climax of a life full of choice, both big and small, of unconditional love. We can see the first big choice of love in his life when he received a vision of Our Lady offering him two crowns. One of the crowns was red and symbolized a death by martyrdom; the second crown was white and symbolized purity. Maximillian chose both crowns out of love for Our Lady. Another big choice of love was the formation of the Knights of the Immaculate, a group that would dedicate themselves to Jesus through Mary by example and prayer. Finally, another big choice of love was his missionary seal that led him to Japan to spread the Good News of Christ. While these are some of the “bigger” acts of love, some of his “smaller” acts of love were more heroic. On example is that he would normally visit the Blessed Sacrament for five minutes every half an hour. When his friars asked him why he would do this, he would say that it was there where he got his strength. It was also in front of the Blessed Sacrament that he learned how to love to the extreme. Another example of a “small” act of love would be the way that he viewed every day work. One day, when asked what must be done to continue progressing in their work, he responded: “Our outside activities are not what matters. Whether our magazines and newspapers are a success, or a failure is unimportant. We could be dispersed like leaves in a summer wind, but if the ideal of love and service to God and his Blessed Mother were to grow in our hearts, we can say that we have seen great progress.” It can all be summarized in the last words that Father Maximilian spoke to his brothers as they were being dragged out of Niepokalanow for the Concentration Camps. He told them: “Do not forget to love.” He told them this because he knew that, where they were going, it would be very easy to forget to love. Yet he proved that it was possible. In Auschwitz, he continued loving as if he were back in the City of the Immaculate and ultimately loved to the extreme by giving his life for Christ, by giving it for his brother. I think that the most important thing that can be learned from the life of Maximillian and the lesson in this book is that love is always a choice that can be made even in the worst situations. Always choose to love. 

Personal Impression

            It was truly the work of God that I read this book. I had selected and ordered a different book to do my report for; however, after a few weeks I realized that I needed to start reading the book and that the book had not arrived. I realized that I needed to start reading another book that fit the guidelines of the project, in case that the book did not arrive. I looked through all my books and found this book that I had wanted to read for a while. It fit the guidelines set for the project, so I began to read it. This happened as I was accepted to enter postulancy into the Religious Community: Brothers and Priests Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary. The entrance date that I received was the feast day of Saint Maximilian Kolbe (August 14) so for me it was very significant that I read this book as I prepared to enter on his feast day. It truly touched my heart because Saint Maximillian is truly one of the most beautiful examples of authentic religious life. It is also significant because I received my religious vocation in the church were Our Lady offered young Maximillian the two crowns. It was the most chaotic and emotional last couple of weeks, yet I felt that Saint Maximillian was truly walking with me, the whole way, this scary and yet exciting process of leaving everything behind for the Lord. 

Work Cited

John Paul II. "HOMILY FOR THE CANONIZATION OF ST. MAXIMILIAN MARIA 

KOLBE." Address, Canonization of Maximillian Kolbe, St. Peter's Square, Vatican, October 10, 1982. Accessed August 16, 2019. https://www.piercedhearts.org/jpii/jpii_homilies/homilies_1982/oct_10_1982_canonization_max_kolbe.htm.

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[1]John Paul II