22 July 2018

Allen Hall (3)

"All the students hear mass together every day at five o' clock, after having first said the litanies for the Church and the conversion of our country. Every Sunday and on the greater feasts they confess and communicate, and almost all of them say the canonical hours every day. The priests celebrate daily. On the feasts of S Gregory, S Augustine, apostle of England, and S Thomas of Canterbury, martyr, we all meet together for high mass ..... and pray for the conversion of our country and the peace of the whole Church and of that place in which By God's providence we live in exile. We fast twice a week for the same intention, and we commend much to the Lord the cause of all who are in bondage or affliction for religion's sake."

This is Cardinal Allen's account of life in the Seminary he founded in Douai.

It occurs to me that it would be a becoming tribute to him if, from this 450th anniversary year onwards, the feasts of those three Saints were observed as he describes ...

4 comments:

Ben of the Bayou said...

Father H.,

Please forgive me this comment on this thread. Since it does not relate (and I have just remembered that you are not enabling comments), I understand if you will not print it. But, as it does relate very much to AL and to what chicanery we may see related to Humanae Vitae, as well as the Amazon thing and the Youth confab and the Family junta in Ireland, I offer it nonetheless.

It is a an observation from Bl J.H. Newman about 'liberalism' in his book "The Arians of the Fourth Century", as related by Father Ker in his excellent biography of the beatus. He writes (p. 48-49) that Newman insightfully and incisively points out that, in dogma, it will not do to search for 'comprehensive' statements that seek to reconcile what in principle is irreconcilable, for the sake of 'agreement' and 'concensus' and 'peaceableness'. Newman says, 'However plausible maybe the veil thus thrown over heterogeneous doctrines, the flimsy artifice is discomposed so soon as the principles beneath it are called upon to move and act.' And, further he says that this search for 'comprehensiveness' in official statements is harmful to the Church precisely because the resulting statements take a form 'so faintly precise and so decently ambiguous, as to embrace the greatest number of opinions possible, and [thus]to deprive religion, in consequence, of its austere and commanding aspect.' All of this, he explains, is in consequence of seeking a false peace through compromise, or as he says, to think that 'there are no two opinions so contrary to each other, but that some form of words may be found vague enough to comprehend them both.'

This whole paragraph reminds me of the machinations behind the scenes of the two Synods and, frankly, of the wrangling that led to the imprecision of the 'pastoral' language that is quite in evidence in the documents of the Second Vatican Oecumenical Council. All quite disheartening to me.

Regards,

Ben

MaryP said...

But one of the trusted leaders at Douai was a spy for Walsingham, and sent many to their deaths. Just because someone goes thru the motions and appearances doesnt mean he is trustworthy. Truer now than ever.

William M. Klimon said...

The fasting too.

Et Expecto said...

He is, of course, speaking of 5 o'clock in the morning, and not the evening.