The Assembly Line Of The Saint Factory...

 We can all use some inspiration and model folks to look up to in theses chaotic times.  For Catholics, those who persevered to the end of the race, suffered injustices and, in many cases, torture and death for the faith of Christ, have now been officially recognized as Saints in the Catholic church.  This is a good thing to be sure...

Three of my favorite Saints are St. John the Baptist, St. Ignatius of Antioch, and St. Polycarp.  St. John the Baptist, because he was the angel that paved the way for Our Lord (St. John was His cousin), St. Ignatius, because of his steadfastness in his preaching the Gospel as he was being dragged to Rome to be devoured by the wild beasts.  Amazingly -- or should I say, Providentially -- there are several of his letters still extant to this day exhorting the nascent Christian congregations and churches he met along the way, instructing and encouraging them to love one another -- and their enemies as well -- as Christ Himself demanded of His followers.  St. Ignatius was appointed Bishop of Antioch by St. Peter!!   St. Polycarp was the aged-angel, Bishop of Smyrna, (who's mentor was St. John the Evangelist!), also suffered death in the Coliseum at Rome.   

These two great, early church Fathers and Bishops were the genuine article.  Stalwarts of the faith of Christ and His church, spreading the Gospel to all those who would listen (faith comes by hearing (St. Paul)).  St. John the Baptist stood up to Herod and admonished him for his skullduggery of taking his brother's wife to be his concubine.  In other words, St. John didn't compromise on the prohibition of the Sixth Commandment: thou shall not commit adultery.  Herod didn't care to hear such a chastisement, and had St. John beheaded.   We are told in the Bible, that when Our Lord heard the news of St. John's demise, He cried!  He said of His cousin: no greater man has been born of woman, than St. John the Baptist!!   Imagine, these are the very words of the Creator of the Universe praising a "mere" man; a creature of His creation!!

Down through the centuries, especially during the persecution of the Roman Emperors, but certainly not limited to those killers, there have been many men, women -- and even children -- who were tortured and murdered because they would not capitulate to idol worship, or leave the Catholic church, to join a heretical sect, suffering the penalty of death, if they refused.  The barbarism of some of those martyred was almost too gross to imagine, let alone witness!  We know that God can use a great evil to have a good come of it, this was proven to be true, when some of those who participated in, or watched the martyrs go to their deaths, they were themselves converted to the one, true faith of Christ...

In many instances, it literally took hundreds of years for a person to be classified and canonized as a legitimate Saint in the church.  

Not so today...

We have -- as the title of my article reads: The Assembly Line Of The Saint Factory, turning out "saints" just as the early Model-T Fords rolled off the assembly lines in old Detroit, providing those who afford it, a new means of transportation in the early 1900's, for several hundred dollars.

As in those early Fords, there were certain criteria that had to be met in the quality control guidelines so folks who bought the cars, would have a workable steering wheel to guide the car in the direction that the driver wanted it to go, and brakes to stop the car.  In other words, basic performance and safety features in order to keep their buyers alive and coming back for additional sales; common sense...

Up to the 20th century, the requirements for sainthood were rigid, and investigation into the heroic virtue of the man or woman being considered worthy of being raised to the altar, were all part of the process before the august handle of Saint could be added to their names.   Some of the hurdles that had to be met in order for the cause for sainthood to go forward, were three, real and confirmed miracles; the "devil's advocate" -- testing the authenticity of supposed miracles as well as testimony of the people of a community that personally knew the dearly departed, etc...

Now let's compare the newly established requirements for sainthood since the early 1960's...

First, the requirement for three, confirmed and authentic miracles is gone.  Only one is necessary for sainthood.  Second, no more "devil's advocate"; gone.  Third, heroic virtue -- what does that mean these days?  For all practical purposes; gone... Fourth, even a five-year waiting period is at the discretion of the pope, and certainly not the hundreds of years that it took for so many good and holy men and women to be declared Saints.

Since the 1960's, the workers on the "assembly line" have been working overtime -- double shifts in some cases! -- turning out "saints" one after another, as a child going wild in a candy shop!  If we notice -- how can we not? -- all the conciliar (Second Vatican Council) popes are now, or will be "saints"! 

Really?

For one thing, the "miracle" attributed to the deceased is dubious at best, and fraudulent at worse.  Heroic virtue?   Maybe.   

Who or what are being canonized here?  Is it John XXIII (who gave us Vat. II); Paul VI (who gave  us the new "mass"); John Paul II (who worshipped idols at Assisi)?  Or is it the Council itself that is being canonized?  The Council that didn't let in "fresh air" into the church, instead, it let in the smoke of Satan (Paul VI said that)...

 Pope SAINT Pius X said that modernism is the synthesis of all heresies.  Good and faithful Catholics, look around and see the results of modernism gone wild; from the top down.  As President Truman once quipped: the buck stops here (at his desk!)  How right he was...

Pray for strength and honor!

Viva Cristo Rey!  Fr. Miguel Pro, pray for us...

Gene DeLalla