A common Protestant myth in mid-Victorian England concerned gullible young ladies who were also the heiresses to considerable fortunes. They were induced by cunningly persuasive Catholic priests, so it was widely believed, to join religious orders and to hand over the caboodle ... after which, mysteriously, they very quickly died. Blessed John Henry Newman, a superb exponent of the Swiftian traditions of English Satire, once delivered a hilarious send-up of this jolly topos. Some things are best dealt with through satire; I rather like the hypothesis floated by Mgr Ronnie Knox to the effect that Satire is the purpose for which God created Humour. Satire is at the heart of the cultural identity of the Ordinariate.
What Victorian Protestant bigots absurdly believed about the Catholic Church is being metamorphosed into truth in this Age of Bergoglian Mercy. Circe and her wand are alive and well! According to rumours supported by various sources, Fr Manelli, Founder of the once vibrant young order called The Franciscans of the Immaculate, is being held under house arrest on Vatican orders, and denied normal contact with people outside the House of his incarceration.
[I suspect that most readers will know about the merciless persecution to which that order has been subjected. I refer those who are unaware to the facts available on the Internet.]
According to recent reports on the Internet, Fr Manelli, who is well into his eighties, was recently presented with a demand that he swear an oath of obedience to the current occupant of the Roman See. Perhaps unwisely, he did this. Soon afterwards, he was presented with a demand that he hand over the assets of his foundation.
I understand that in fact, the 'properties of the Friars of the Immaculate' are held by lay trustees, since the Friars do not hold property. Is the intention now that Fr Manelli should use his influence to persuade these Trustees to hand the assets over??
Readers may well recall reports that the resignation of Fra Matthew Festing from the Grand Mastership of the Sovereign Order of Malta was secured by the same ruse of appealing to a sense of obedience to the current occupant of the Roman See.
Choppy weather.
Sources: Eponymous Flower blog; Horace Odes I 14; Alcaeus fragments 6, 208, 73 [Loeb].
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Dear Father. Oncet, you reccommended The Ecumenical Vatican Council II A MUCH NEEDED DISCUSSION by Msgr. Brunero Gherardini and it is a great book.
In the Epilogue, p. 288, reread it for one of the priests quoted by Msgr, is either Bergolio his own self or his mental mirror image.
This just a partial quote: Christ never spoke of the duty of obedience. The spirit of the Church is in everyone's conscience and that priest is quoted again: had never given anyone difficulty by asking if they were married, living together, or divorced. What counts is good faith; what counts is the heart....I open my arms to the person: I do not inquire into their private life; I drive away ideological exploitation: I consider one's behavior.
As for Whig history about the protestant revolution we wee Catholics can complain until we are exhausted and little will change and so one must do what one can to combat the mendacious polemics.
ABS, so far, has decided to only drink Bloody Lizzies, and if the chaos continues, other serious steps will be contemplated.
Even as an outsider, but a knowledgable one, I confess that I find the antics of the current Roman bishop head-shaking. On the one hand, this small, perhaps hyper-orthodox religious order is set upon by a variety of sacerdotal wolves, rending and tearing. But the SSPX gets all sorts of canonical gifts and lettings. While on the other hand, the grey pant-suited Korybantes of American nun-hood, most of whom clearly sailed off from anything remotely similar to orthodox Christianity several decades ago, into the hippie utopia of eco-feminist do-gooderism, are patted nicely on unveiled head and, sorry for any inconvenience, etc.
I also wonder how the "press" would handle it if the Franciscans of the Immaculate were a female order entirely, and it was a woman foundress who was being locked up in a convent under male suzerainty, forced to sign loyalty oaths to the former Patriarch of the West and forced to hand over the shekels?
This is perfect—Age of Bergolian mercy—priceless. It was not for naught that you swam the Tiber.
The FI didn't follow Tradition via the Ecclesia Dei Commission (like, say, the Benedictines of Silverstream), a small American faction rebelled, and now this unChristian and vindictive persecution. I hope the founder can gain freedom in this life.
Such was the fate of poor Lady Baldock's daughter, at the hands of a "wheedling priest" in Trollope's "Can you forgive her?" She became known as Sr Veronica John!
The Whig metanarrative's days are numbered. The alleged scientific underpinning it relies upon is collapsing, cf., for instance, the facebook page of The Principle. This represents only the beginning of every Whig's worst waking nightmare.
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