Oblate Program at Belmont Abbey, NC

Tag: Pius XII

Queenship of Mary

… according to ancient tradition and the sacred liturgy the main principle on which the royal dignity of Mary rests is without doubt her Divine Motherhood. In Holy Writ, concerning the Son whom Mary will conceive, We read this sentence: “He shall be called the Son of the most High, and the Lord God shall… Read More ›

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St. Benedict speaks to our age

It is not only the bygone ages that had reason to profit from the benefits of this Patriarch; our own age has many important lessons to learn from him. Let those first of all who belong to his numerous family learn – We do not doubt that they do – to follow daily ever more… Read More ›

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St. Benedict, Father of Western Monasticism

Trusting in God and relying on His ever present help, he went south and arrived at a fort “called Cassino situated on the side of a high mountain . . .; on this stood an old temple where Apollo was worshipped by the foolish country people, according to the custom of the ancient heathens. Around… Read More ›

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Vatican Opens Archives for Unprecedented Exhibit

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: July 5, 2011 at 6:40 PM ET VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican will display 100 select documents from its Secret Archives at an unprecedented exhibit next year that includes previously unpublished papers from its World War II papacy. "Lux in Arcana: The Vatican Secret Archives Revealed" opens in February… Read More ›

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St. Benedict: Human labor is not without dignity

29.. . .  the author and lawgiver of the Benedictine Order has another lesson for us, which is, indeed, freely and widely proclaimed today but far too often not properly reduced to practice as it should be. It is that human labor is not without dignity; is not a distasteful and burdensome thing, but rather… Read More ›

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Benedictine Influence on Western Civilization

22. All who are not blinded by prejudice but examine events in the light of history and judge fairly, must recognize what a beneficial influence the power and strength of the Benedictine Order had in that early period, and how many great benefits it conferred on succeeding generations. . . . the sons of Benedict… Read More ›

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The Loss of the Sense of Sin (part 3)

The loss of the sense of sin is thus a form or consequence of the denial of God: not only in the form of atheism but also in the form of secularism. If sin is the breaking, off of one’s filial relationship to God in order to situate one’s life outside of obedience to him,… Read More ›

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The Loss of the Sense of Sin (part 2)

Why has this [loss of the sense of sin] happened in our time. A glance at certain aspects of contemporary culture can help us to understand the progressive weakening of the sense of sin, precisely because of the crisis of conscience and crisis of the sense of God already mentioned. “Secularism” is by nature and… Read More ›

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The Loss of the Sense of Sin

18 Over the course of generations, the Christian mind has gained from the Gospel as it is read in the ecclesial community a fine sensitivity and an acute perception of the seeds of death contained in sin, as well as a sensitivity and an acuteness of perception for identifying them in the thousand guises under… Read More ›

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The Safest and Soundest Foundations of Society

25. Furthermore, all the classes of society, if they studiously and seriously examine the life, teaching and glorious achievements of St. Benedict, cannot but fall under the influence of his gentle but powerful inspiration; indeed they will spontaneously recognize that even our age troubled and anxious for the vast material and moral ruins, perils and… Read More ›

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