The Catholic
COUNTER-REFORMATION
IN THE XXth CENTURY

No 309

Online edition of selected articles

MAY 1998

OUR JOHN PAUL I PILGRIMAGE TO TURIN

SATURDAY 9 MAY 1998

Since April 1997 (CRC no 295, p. 34), we have been waiting expectantly for this: the happiness of contemplating this remarkable Relic, concerning which Saint John was graced with such a keen understanding and for which he became the authentic witness – a relic which was the treasure of the Virgin of Consolation and the most precious inheritance of the apostolic Church, the silent witness of the Lord’s Resurrection.

1998 marked the centenary of that memorable public display which witnessed the "revelation" of the Body of Christ in Its divine beauty, a beauty that had been hidden to the centuries of faith, but offered like a final grace to our perverse and unbelieving generation, like the first glorious "epiphany" of His Second Coming.

Since 1978 our Brother Bruno has kept us informed of the work carried out in the United States by American scientists. The Holy Shroud, although probed by them with all the resources of their immense science, has nevertheless kept its secret. Their astonishment, as well as their respect, has gone on increasing, but they have remained dumbfounded before "the persistent enigma" which, nevertheless, can be resolved by a straightforward reading of the Gospel with the eyes of faith.

On the other hand, 1988 witnessed the conspiracy of everything that hell could muster in the service of deceit. It succeeded, by means of fraud, in sowing doubt about the very authenticity of the Holy Relic. The only defenders that science and faith could find to denounce the deception and the crime were our Father and Brother Bruno. It was to their honour and our happiness.

This year it seemed good to us to make a pilgrimage of reparation to venerate the Holy Shroud, just as did Saint Charles Borromeo and Saint Francis de Sales, Sister Mary of Saint Peter and Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, Saint Pius X and Father de Foucauld. For it is from the latter that our Father received the devotion to the Holy Face, reproduced on the first page of the "Unique Model", which has remained open on the seminary table for five years.

Just as the crowds of Galilee and Jerusalem, just as the Samaritans and the Greeks themselves (Jn 12.20-21) wished "to see Jesus", "just as the Crusaders did in times past, without hatred or fear", so we have made a great journey to see the Face of Jesus: "The Holy Shroud has been known and venerated from the beginning, has it not, as the corporal of Calvary’s Victim. It is the cloth that bore and enfolded this sacred and spotless Host, whose imprint it has retained and whose blood it absorbed." (Georges de Nantes, CRC no 229, "The Three Whitenesses", May 1990, p. 2)

Very early on, the number of "one thousand pilgrims", optimistically targeted by our Father, was attained. To this were generously added a number of benefactors who, being unable to join us, provided the costs of the pilgrimage for those poorer than themselves.

During Lent our sisters, using their traditional and irreplaceable "Book for children", got us to meditate each day on the Passion of Our Lord, as it is made visible on the Holy Shroud. For us this was like an early viewing and a "pre-reading", as they say in Turin.

Our Brother Bruno met Cardinal Saldarini, Archbishop of Turin, on 17 October 1997, to inform him of our pilgrimage of reparation. Brother Bruno testified to our absolute certitude about the authenticity of the Holy Shroud, in opposition to the fraudulent dates announced by the "carbonari", following the results of the enquiry we conducted at the three laboratories of Tucson, Zurich and Oxford, and the inevitable conclusion: "Good machines, bad men".

When Brother Bruno began to emphasise how science and faith were in the most perfect agreement possible about this object, the cardinal interrupted: "What a great faith you have!" he exclaimed. Brother Bruno asked that the Abbé de Nantes, champion of both one and the other, of both science and faith, might lead our pilgrimage and celebrate the Mass: "In honour of your jubilee, Eminence!" he entreated, for the cardinal was then celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of his priestly ordination. Everything was favourably agreed, but a little later it was all rescinded. During a rather unclear speech the holy prelate subsequently spoke to French journalists about the Holy Shroud merely in terms of a venerable icon, an image of suffering humanity, "an invitation to hope", but his tone was in fact those of the most hopeless uncertainty. For him, one would have to wait until the Pope had spoken…

As for Monsieur and Madame Mourot, they sorted out all the pilgrimage’s organisational details, visibly aided by the irreplaceable Help of Christians, who did so much for Don Bosco, and by Saint Joseph, whose assistance is illustrated in Turin by the two great saints who carry his name: Joseph Cafasso and Joseph Cottolengo.

The pilgrimage took place peacefully and joyously, and our first amusement was to see displayed on the main board of departures in Lyons station:

We are so unaccustomed even to the idea of our existing! On the endless platform it was good to see our fine CRC families, as ever surrounded by numerous children, happy to see each other again and to walk this supernatural adventure together.

We passed a night and a morning, a night in which some thought it a great pity to sleep, and a morning in which Turin itself had not woken up yet. We crossed the city at a good pace, going through the via Roma and the Castle square, to arrive punctually at the entrance to the gardens of the Royal Palace, today the palace of the King of kings. There we formed a procession under a canvas gallery before the entrance of the sanctuary and the holy Encounter.

Here and there along the canopy of this virtual cloister hung reproduction prints, depicting three centuries of public exhibition: starting with the first, commemorating the arrival of the Holy Shroud at Turin in 1578, when Saint Charles Borromeo showed it to the crowds, right down to that of 1978, which attracted three and a half million pilgrims during the thirty-three days of the luminous pontificate of John Paul I.

One of these prints depicted the exhibition marking the marriage of Duke Victor-Amadeus II and Anne of Orleans in 1684. An angel was brandishing the Holy Shroud like a standard, and on it one could read the watchword that the Emperor Constantine saw in the sky in Rome fourteen centuries earlier: IN HOC SIGNO VINCES.

As well as portraying the imprints of Jesus’ Body, both front and back, clumsily reproduced by the artists who did not understand them, these images also portrayed the sovereigns, the prelates, and the people gathered in great crowds. These images proved the immense veneration that the whole of Christendom had for the Holy Relic, which Saint Francis de Sales hailed as "the standard of our salvation". Those bad priests, whom our Father will censure shortly in his homily and who today claim that the Church has never taken a position either for or against the authenticity of this Relic, are either liars or ignoramuses, or renegades. As our Father likes to repeat:

"The Holy Shroud of Christ, amongst all the mysteries revealed today, is undoubtedly the most certain, the most convincing, and the most moving. Those who venerate it can expect their salvation, and in it the Church can expect her universal triumph."

Before finally being admitted into the presence of the "Soudarâ", we were led into a dark room where an audio-visual display prepared the pilgrim for what he was going to see. The contrast was violent: after the reminder of the devotion of past centuries, here we came face to face with modern science, cold, profane, and desacralising. It was as if the Sacred Face of Our Lord and His whole Sacred Body had been delivered up to a form of dissection. But one had to admit that the effect produced was positive. For him who might still have doubts about the authenticity of the Relic, it was an unanswerable demonstration, at the end of which Jesus might repeat to each of the millions of pilgrims queuing in this hall what He said to doubting Thomas two thousand years ago:

And then, at the end, there stood out the decisive and definitive proof through photography, the centenary of which we were celebrating. The photographic negative of the visible imprints on the Relic, which until then had been misunderstood, revealed for the first time in 1898 a full-length portrait of Jesus Christ, quite unsuspected for nineteen centuries.

Science, which "is puffed up", as Saint Paul says, does not count for nothing. Our Father was shortly to remind us of this in his homily. We were now to enter the Cathedral, with the soul of the pilgrim, as a child of the Church, as a believer, in order to see Our Lord on the soudarâ, on which He left for us His imprint stained with the Precious Blood He shed for us during His sorrowful Passion.

One year ago the Cathedral was on fire. What criminal hand was involved? The enquiry has not (yet) given an answer to this question, which the whole world is asking Turin. We advanced into the penumbra. All the windows had been blocked up. In the chancel, the Holy Shroud alone was lit up and clearly visible from all sides.

An arrangement of sober purple hangings and trompe l’oeil art hid the burnt ruins of the Holy Chapel, constructed in the 17^th century by Guarini, adjoining the chevet of the Cathedral, to house the Holy Shroud. The latter was presented to pilgrims stretched out at full length behind a glass pane which protected it against a firearm attack, something ever possible and ever dreaded.

In front of the chancel, three platforms, slightly raised in a terraced arrangement, acted as three stands, allowing three groups to venerate the Holy Shroud at the same time. Now it was our turn. We advanced as if we were going to an audience with the Great King and, altogether, we fell on our knees to adore and to show our love with a single heart, and to make reparation for all the outrages which this sacred Relic has been submitted to since the announcement of the deceitful dating by the Carbon 14 method.

We took a full look at this imprint of Our Lord crucified for our salvation. It was very faint, and one needed good eyes to discern the Holy Wounds in the hands and in the feet. On the other hand, the stain left by the Blood and the Water that flowed from the Sacred Heart pierced by the lance was very visible. Some of us managed to make out the texture of the linen cloth, and the threads burnt by the fire of 1532.

Alas, just as with an audience with the Great King, time was strictly limited. Already a feminine voice was intoning a silly prayer, fortunately difficult to hear, and the wardens were signing that we must give way to the next group of pilgrims. But having left the precincts, it was permissible to return by the central porch to pray for a while in the nave, where our groups were already gathered in large numbers in thanksgiving and meditation. Everyone would depart bearing his treasure in the secret of his heart: the grace of this Face to face encounter, the fruit of the prayer and the sacrifices he had undertaken in order to be part of this crowd who beheld with love, gratitude, adoration, repentance and supplication "Him whom they have pierced".

But we left with a sense of frustration – for which we make no apology – at seeing this distinguished Relic deprived of all external signs of Catholic devotion. There were no candles, no flowers, no incense, nor even any clergy to instruct – or re-instruct – in prayer these crowds full of good will; there were no traditional chants and no popular acclamations… It was all too much for us: on the square of the Cathedral, where our crowd was gathered, there broke forth a fervent "Vive Jésus, vive sa Croix!"

But it was only when we were all gathered together in the Basilica of Our Lady Help of Christians for the community Mass that the grace received by everyone in his soul at the Duomo would have the opportunity to burst forth in a triumphal act of worship.

THE CITY OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT

While we waited for this appointment, fixed for 11 o’clock, our groups separated and made their own pilgrimages to the sanctuaries indicated in our precious pilgrim’s handbook, a real work of art.

First there was "Corpus Christi" in the most ancient quarter of the city. This church, the work of Vitozzi, was built at the beginning of the 18^th century on the site of small chapel which had commemorated the Eucharistic miracle of 1453. In that year, Duke Louis of Savoy received the Holy Shroud from the hands of Margaret de Charny. The coincidence is remarkable.

For in that very year, 1453, the Duke was waging war against René d’Anjou and the Duke of Milan who were in league against him. His troops had ransacked the small town of Exilles and carried off all the sacred vessels and the monstrance along with the Blessed Sacrament which they stuffed into a sack and loaded on a horse's packsaddle.

When they arrived at Turin, on the very site of the current Church, the beast stumbled and fell, the sack opened, and the Sacred Host was elevated in mid air, as radiant as the sun. It was about 5 o’clock on Wednesday afternoon during the Octave of Corpus Christi, 6 June 1453. The people of Turin, the bishop and all his clergy, ran up. In response to their entreaties, Jesus descended into the chalice held by the bishop amidst general emotion and jubilation. This prodigy earned Turin the title of "City of the Blessed Sacrament". Above the main altar at "Corpus Christi", there is a large picture depicting this miracle.

Having adored the Blessed Sacrament and recited the litanies of the Precious Blood, we had to vacate the premises for others, since the church could only hold two or three groups at a time.

We went down the via Milano and the via santa Chiara until we reached the sanctuary of the Virgin of Consolation, patroness of the city and of the diocese of Turin. According to tradition, devotion to the "Consolata" goes back to the 5^th century, but it received an admirable impetus in the 12^th century, on 20 June 1104, when Jean Ravais, a blind man who had come from Briançon after receiving a vision, rediscovered the image of the Virgin lost for a long time, and regained his sight. The present building, the work of Guarini and Juvarra in the 18^th century, possesses great wealth, piety, and cheerfulness with its profusion of golden statues, columns, balconies and festoons.

We were very eager to make a pilgrimage there, so that we might confide to the Blessed Virgin the intentions of our Father, our Phalange, our communities and our families, as we recalled what Don Bosco did on a certain day in 1856. His mother, "mamma Margherita", who had so exhausted herself on behalf of his Order, had recently died. On the following morning it was to the Consolata that he went to say his Mass for the repose of this humble Christian lady. Kneeling before the "Virgin of Consolation", he said to Her:

"And now, You must take her empty place. I entrust all my children to you. Watch over their lives and their souls, both now and for ever."

Our Lady responded magnificently to his prayer by coming to his aid on every occasion and by multiplying miracles. Therefore, it was with great trust that we recited the litanies of the Very Blessed Virgin and confided all our cares to Her.

An altar is consecrated to Saint Joseph Cafasso, who for three years was the director and the "irreplaceable friend" of Don Bosco at the ecclesiastical College, and is still known a "the priest of the gallows" because of his untiring apostolate among those condemned to death.

THE CITY OF MARY

It was now time to arrive at the motherhouse of the Salesians in Valdocco, where our twenty groups had already converged. Those who had arrived first had started to go round the Pinardi house, the place of the very first foundation of the Salesian Order, inaugurated on Easter Sunday, 2 April 1846. In the Saint Francis de Sales chapel, constructed between 1851 and 1852, next to the Pinardi chapel, a very kind French-speaking Salesian Father explained enthusiastically that, "in this chapel Don Bosco’s heart had beaten for sixteen years. That was the golden age of the Congregation. Near the altar, Dominic Savio had had an ecstasy." He would have stayed telling us about Don Bosco for hours if a sacristan had not come to tell him that Mass was about to start and that he must interrupt his talk!

Suddenly the news went round that our Father had been allowed to celebrate Holy Mass in private. The Father Superior, who had seemed to be very much on his guard against us, acting with an icy reserve, had authorised him to celebrate in the "closet altar" where Saint John Bosco had sometimes said Mass in his room when he was not able to visit the church. This altar is called the "altar of ecstasy", because the brothers who had accompanied Don Bosco had seen him rise above the ground, on several occasions, transfigured by an ecstasy at the moment of the elevation.

Admittedly those of us who feel every sidelining of our Father to be an injustice would have liked to see him celebrate the 11 o’clock Mass in the basilica. But, for him, what a grace it was, what a joy… He could not ask for anything more.

While we were waiting to enter the basilica for the High Mass, to be celebrated by a Salesian Father, our groups continued their pilgrimage on these holy premises by going down to the crypt, where the chapel of Relics is situated. There we venerated the spot where the Virgin Mary had placed Her virginal foot to indicate to Don Bosco the location where he should raise this church: "On this earth impregnated with the blood of the martyrs Solutor, Adventor and Octavus, I desire that God be adored in a special manner." Whence the name Valdocco, valley of the "occis".

Also to be found there are a relic of the true Cross; the tomb of Blessed Michael Rua, the first successor of Don Bosco; and relics impregnated with the blood of the Salesian Fathers martyred in China…

The hardy amongst us then went up to the second floor of the central building to visit the rooms where Don Bosco used to work, rest, and receive the youth and his visitors. Here there are exposed manuscripts, vestments used by the saint, and the small closet altar where our Father had been permitted to celebrate Mass a little while ago, the Father Superior having ordered that the flood of visitors be temporarily interrupted.

We returned to the basilica. There is time to make a brief visit to the shrine of Don Bosco and to entrust to him the cares of our Father founder, which he could not fail to understand… And now we had to take our places in the nave which was already full, for the Mass was going to start – celebrated in honour of he Holy Shroud – in which we would be able to express our joy, our fervour and our certitude in the victory of our faith. The pledge of this was this gathering of our four communities and of the Phalange of the Immaculate in the sanctuary of Our Lady the Auxiliatrix, the Help of Christians in these times of apostasy, in order to adore and acclaim the Holy Shroud, our "Labarum" and our "Palladium" in every combat.

It was wonderful, these thousand voices raised towards Heaven, praying and chanting with the same heart and the same faith for all our chief intentions, and in particular for the appeal of our Father to the supreme tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura! But we did not forget the intentions of each person, nor all those who had not been able to accompany us and who were united to us in prayer.

Our joy was truly complete when we saw our Father mount the ambo, as seen in the photograph here, to pronounce a brief but vigorous sermon (below).

Brother Peter made a very judicious commentary on this sermon in the Renaissance catholique, bulletin of the Phalangist Communion of Canada (no 58, June-July 1998). Remarking on "the intellectual dishonesty of the modernists" so frequently unmasked by our Father, he wrote:

"They seek to destroy the traditional faith in the name of science, but as soon as one opposes them with an unanswerable scientific demonstration, we find them rejecting it in the name of their faith, which supposedly transcends any reasoning! In such cases, science no longer interests them, their modernist faith has no need of it… since it would not stand up to it! This is yet one more proof, if there were still need of such, of the continual lies of these enemies of Christ. Whether we find them refusing any liberty to the enemies of Liberty or any rights of self-defence to the enemies of Human Rights, or cheating over the carbon 14 dating, it always boils down to one and the same thing: they have ‘the Devil as their father, because he is a liar and the father of lies’ (Jn 8.44). Did not Saint Paul warn us when he wrote to the Ephesians: ‘Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and, having done all, to stand firm.’ (Eph 6.11-13)"

Such thoughts coincide exactly with those that inspired the building of this basilica. Don Bosco makes this clear in the preface to his work on the Wonders of the Mother of God invoked under the title of Mary Help of Christians, printed at Valdocco in this own "Saint Francis de Sales Printing House" in 1868:

"Mary has been hailed as the Help of Christians since the cradle or Christianity", he states, and today the Church of Peter is in danger of collapse and requires miraculous help. As with Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort before him and Saint Maximilian Kolbe after him, Don Bosco had a prophetic vision of apostasy ascending on the horizon at the end of the 19^th century:

"Today", he wrote, "we must not only make the lukewarm fervent, convert sinners and keep intact the lily of innocence. This apostolate is useful, as ever and at all times, and it is incumbent on every man. But soon it will be the Catholic Church herself that will be attacked. She will be attacked in her offices, in her sacred institutions, in her leader, in her doctrine, and in her discipline. She will be attacked as the Catholic Church, as the centre of the truth, and as the mistress of all the faithful."

It is therefore a matter of undertaking a veritable Crusade under the standard of the Saviour’s august Mother, "terrible as an army drawn up in battle", who "alone crushes every heresy throughout the entire world", as She manifested Herself at Lepanto in 1571, at the prayers of Pope Saint Pius V. Not only did John Bosco devote a chapter to recall how this victory earned Mary the glorious title of Auxilium Christianorum, added to the litany of Loreto, but he even inscribed this date on the façade of the basilica built in honour of this Queen between 1863 and 1868.

We immediately felt at home in this immense establishment of Valdocco, which has so well preserved the spirit of its holy founder that one would not have been surprised to meet him at the turn of a corridor or in the playground in the midst of a group of children.

The magnificent ceremony, which ended with a vibrant "Speak, command, reign!", was a certain pledge of the promised victory. After he had given us his blessing, the celebrant, visibly won over and forgetting all his prejudices and cautions, could not hide his emotion:

"How great and beautiful is France! One has only to see you, and to hear you singing and praying…"

After a substantial lunch, served under the arcades or in the refectories by the kind labours of the Salesian Fathers, who were infused with joyful high spirits and conviviality, in magnificent sunshine and a summery heat, our twenty coaches headed towards the "Colle Don Bosco", the hill of Don Bosco, the village of Becchi, thirty-five kilometres distant from Turin.

PILGRIMAGE TO BECCHI

As soon as we arrived, we gathered in the basilica on the very location in the Biglione farm where Saint John Bosco was born on 16 August 1815. On the Gospel side there was a great statue of Our Lady Help of Christians, the head encircled with a luminous crown abundantly decked out with flowers. Right at the back, behind the altar, there was an immense fresco of Don Bosco arriving at Becchi with "mamma Margherita", Dominic Savio, Don Rua and Don Cagliero, surrounded by children from the Oratory. Two of them carried banners displaying the Blessed Sacrament and the Blessed Virgin, and two others presented a basket full of little bread loaves, doubtless to commemorate the miracle of the multiplication of these loaves performed by Don Bosco on one occasion. With fifteen loaves he was able to feed three hundred children, and when everyone had been served, there were still fifteen loaves in the basket!

While we were reciting the first five mysteries of the "Rosary of the Passion" – the agony of Jesus in the Garden of Olives, the kiss of Judas, the denial of Saint Peter, the scourging, and the crowning with thorns – we experienced once more the grace of being able to pray like this together, in total communion and undivided fervour, to Jesus Crucified and Our Mother in Heaven. Truly our Phalangist Communion is not an idle expression, since it is founded on Jesus and Mary!

After the Rosary, our Father again addressed a few words to us, this time to introduce Brother Peter’s conference, so captivating that we have transcribed it in full further on (p. 9-24). Our brother retraced the life of Saint John Bosco in all its breadth – our new "infatuation", as our Father calls him. Not only was he an apostle, an educator of the poor delinquent youth, a writer, a builder of churches, a founder of two congregations, a servant of the Popes, a seer and a great wonder-worker, but in all this he was the pure instrument of the Blessed Virgin. As with Maximilian-Mary Kolbe, everything began for him at the age of nine. In a dream, Our Lord gave him the Virgin Mary as his "mistress most wise". Thereafter she appeared to him "full of gentleness and majesty, wearing a rich cloak laden with sparkling stars", and she informed him of his particular vocation.

Shortly before his death, he said to Don Rua whilst showing him a picture of Mary Help of Christians, "Look on Her well. Without Her Don Bosco would have achieved nothing. It is She who was always at work. In Her hands, Don Bosco was nothing but a wretched instrument… Never forget that we owe Her everything." Indeed, one can be certain that the Blessed Virgin led him step by step in all his undertakings.

"It is She", he used to say, "who visibly protects us from every danger, points out the work to be accomplished, and helps us to bring it to a good conclusion." He liked to repeat over and over again to his sons and the children: "Mary never abandons those who call upon her with trust. Let us therefore place ourselves under Her mantle. She will keep us from all danger and will lead us to the gate of salvation." And he would go on: "Have courage, my children. Mary will not abandon you." All these words were spoken for us, phalangists of the Immaculate!

Our brother very clearly demonstrated to us the place that Saint John Bosco held in the divine orthodromy. Since 1848, the spirit of revolution and liberty had been sweeping through Italy, penetrating every level of society including the clergy and even affecting one of the closest collaborators of the Saint. This unhappy man left the Oratory, taking with him a hundred young men with whom he wished to found a political party! At the end of several months, he had failed lamentably, while Don Bosco was victoriously developing his counter-revolutionary mission under the banner of Our Lady Help of Christians, the forerunner and sign of the Catholic Counter-Reformation to come in the following century, the century of apostasy prophesised by the Scriptures.

Our Father then concluded: "Each time that we come under the spell of a saint, we are happy to study them, to trace their steps on a pilgrimage, to try to imitate their virtues, and all this greatly rejoices our hearts. It is the initial phase of enthusiasm! Then comes a stagnant phase when we perceive that these saints are beyond us, if not beyond our powers, at least beyond our energy and the strength of our will. It is then that we say that they are more to be admired than imitated. You know what I mean! When one sees results as uncanny as those achieved by Don Bosco, one is veritably flattened, and I will never tire of repeating: The saints are mountains… and we, we are but molehills… We have still so far to go! We have so much to be ashamed of on behalf of our century, but especially on behalf of ourselves, when we take stock of the fecundity, the virtue, and the strength of the saints who have gone before us since Jesus Christ, and when we contrast our own nothingness, worse than anything because it is so conceited.

"I came to realise this from 1943, and within the Church from the opening of the Council in 1962: the people of our generation who were not worth a penny – and I was no better – spent their time decrying those who had gone before them. But the more we study sacred history, the history of France and the history of the Church, we more we find that this was an absolutely false and satanic propaganda, which led us to admire ourselves and our valueless inventions and to decry, ignore, and disregard the splendours of the saints who have gone before us. How could anyone produce good fruits with such methods?"

Having sung "Sweet Virgin Mary", we renewed our Consecration of the 8^th December at the feet of Our Lady Help of Christians on behalf of those who could not stay with us until the closing ceremony. How happy we were to have prayed for so long together and to have fortified ourselves by studying the life of this saint, so loveable!… We were then able to venerate one of his relics, exposed behind the choir on the very spot where he was born on 16 August 1815. Then we visited the "hamlet" and the house where he lived. Across the street was Joseph’s house where Don Bosco used to pass some of his holidays and where he had consecrated a room to Our Lady of the Rosary. It is there that he met Dominic Savio and gave Michael Rua the soutane.

We took the road back to Turin to finish the tour round Valdocco that we had started in the morning. This time our group was able to enter the small attractively decorated Pinardi chapel. The fresco above the high altar depicts the Resurrection: while Our Lord is resurrecting, an angel holds the Shroud with great veneration! This fresco dates from the time of Saint John Bosco; might it evidence his devotion to the Holy Shroud, about which his biographers tell us nothing? We were also able to venerate the small statue of the "Virgin of Consolation" which used to be carried in procession through the meadows and squares of Valdocco on the solemn feasts of the Blessed Virgin.

As there remained to us a little time before dinner, some of our sisters returned for a moment to the basilica of Our Lady Help of Christians to venerate Don Bosco, Mother Mary-Dominic Mazzarello, and Dominic Savio. We were able to contemplate at leisure the reredos of the altar dedicated to Saint Joseph, the latter dispersing the roses handed to him by the Child Jesus (below). One last prayer before the statue of Our Lady Help of Christians, positioned to the right of Saint Joseph’s chapel, on the Epistle side, and it was time for dinner, where all, joyful and relaxed, were already exchanging their impressions of this unforgettable day with the others.

We finished off our pilgrimage with a short evening prayer to Mary Help of Christians. A moment of such graces! At the request of our Father, we solemnly renewed our Consecration to the Immaculate, "in order to attain the perfection of Saint Maximilian-Mary Kolbe’s Consecration". Thus, those who desired to do so and who had not yet had the opportunity to make this Consecration were able to join us. And for these, our Father proceeded to hand out Miraculous Medals, having first blessed them.

After we had expressed our deepest gratitude to the Salesians for their excellent hospitality, our Father made us sing the solemn Magnificat and we said the evening prayer. Fervent thanksgiving for so many benefits received, last prayer in common before separating! We left the basilica chanting "I am going to see Her one day", sure of giving pleasure to Our Lady but also the Father Superior, who loves this chant. The latter was waiting for us in the courtyard to say goodbye. He took the hands of our Father and told him with emotion: "Thank you for everything!" Our Father embraced him saying: "Let us give each other the kiss of peace."

Through the grace of this pilgrimage, we are now placed under the protection of the holy and invincible Palladium which is the Holy Shroud, and we are snuggled up under the cloak of Mary Auxiliatrix, Help of Christians. Thus protected, may we be able to stay faithful in these times of apostasy right up to the triumph of the Divine Heart of Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary!

A pilgrim from group 13  

SAINT JOSEPH AND DON BOSCO

"But first of all, it needs to be known that this saint is worthy of belief, for, like the great Saint Joseph, it is through dreams that God was pleased to lead him in the extraordinary circumstances of his apostolate." (Abbé G. de Nantes, CRC no 263, Dec 1993, editorial)

The basilica of Mary Help of Christians is in the form of a Latin cross: "On the left arm of the cross", explains Don Bosco, "there is an altar dedicated to Saint Joseph." The reredos was executed in accordance with Don Bosco’s directives by the artist Thomas Lorenzone. Saint Joseph is dropping onto the sanctuary the roses handed to him by the Child Jesus. "The flowers represent the graces offered by Jesus to Mary, but Mary makes Saint Joseph their absolute administrator, as Holy Church proclaims: ‘Constituit eum Dominum domus suae’." (Don Bosco, "The Wonders of the Mother of God invoked under the title of Mary Help of Christians", Turin, 1868, p. 125).

SAINT JOHN BOSCO

PRECURSOR OF THE VICTORY OF MARY HELP OF CHRISTIANS

After the recitation of the Rosary at Becchi, our Father said a few words to introduce Brother Peter’s conference:

My very dear friends,

Some people say that we have our "infatuations". And none more so than for Saint Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort. They say we never mentioned him before, and now we spend all our time talking about him! He is our intellectual guide, he is our doctor of the Church, we must all follow Saint Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort! He is our infatuation! We are crazy about him, searching out his works and making sure they are all read! In a word, Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort fills us with enthusiasm! And it curious how he provides us with his comforting eloquence and the profundity of his life, his theology of the Incarnation, and his theology of the Holy Spirit, in such a way that one might get the impression that we were copying him!

Whereupon we experienced another infatuation. In December we began a triduum devoted to the Immaculate Conception, and from the very first sermon, the little that I read to you about Saint Maximilian Kolbe ravished us so much that I said: we must keep on down this path. I put aside my sermons and I took up instead Father Kolbe. For three days you were in absolute transports of elation and mystical enthusiasm, as well as ascetical enthusiasm, as we followed this hero who died in the bunkers of Auschwitz, as you know. At that time he was indeed our infatuation! But this infatuation also had a very practical side to it: it did us a great amount of good! We have truly become better, I think, by following Father Kolbe and, following his footsteps, by consecrating ourselves to "Her", the Immaculate!

And then suddenly, lo, there arose on the horizon Saint John Bosco. We had had occasion to speak about Don Bosco to the children and to give conferences about him, and from there the idea came to us that it would be better, if we were to be inspired by his example, not only to hear about his life, but to visit the places where he lived, in Turin, the city both of the Holy Shroud, our first love, and of that intimate devotion towards Our Lady Help of Christians so desired by this saint, a devotion that is perhaps demanding but which fills one with enthusiasm. And there was one small thing of particular importance: the fact that Don Bosco had been the veritable target of freemasonry, albeit an unconquered target. Hunted by the freemasons, he was always aware that the Blessed Virgin had crushed the head of the serpent, that She was the personal enemy of the freemasons and would be till the end of the world, and that She will conquer. Therefore, he had fought against freemasonry, which pleased us in no small measure, since between freemasonry and us the same duel to the death has been declared. So a big hand for Saint John Bosco!

Whence these two pilgrimages. Since I wished to see the Face of my Beloved, the best thing was to go to Turin; not to content myself with photographs, but to SEE Him such as He was, or at least such as the Holy Shroud portrayed Him in accordance with His desires, the desires of His Heart, so that we might know Him intimately, in His downfall, in His humiliation, and in His death, but also in the mystery of His Resurrection.

And so off we set! What a marvellous pilgrimage! This morning in the cathedral of Saint John the Baptist, in the Duomo, we thought much about Jesus overwhelmed with opprobrium. He touched us, and we promised Him greater fidelity. Then we went and sang this incredible Mass in the basilica of Our Lady Help of Christians. The Salesian Fathers said: "We have never seen a pilgrimage so numerous". And they might have added: so vibrant. It was magnificent! Each of us has benefited everyone else by this impulse of devotion, this enthusiasm to hymn the praises of the Virgin Help of Christians. We will always retain a wonderful memory of it.

But having praised the Holy Face with so much enthusiasm and  prayed fervently to Our Lady Help of Christians, we wanted to take a close look at Don Bosco, this extraordinary man! – as the fresco above the choir depicts him in its popular but very touching style. Curiously enough, we who – as you know – are meant to be against everything, to denigrate and criticise everything, are found to be praising to the skies these extraordinary men of the past and of our recent history. How pleased we would be if it were said of us that we had copied them! Well, I leave it to Brother Peter to describe the model of whom we would so much like to be the copies.

PROPHET OF A EUCHARISTIC AND MARIAN CRUSADE

The dreams of Saint John Bosco are "veritable visions", as the Blessed Don Rua, his immediate successor, used to say, "for the things that were thus predicted to him symbolically have always been fulfilled, and still are being fulfilled, to the letter". Our Father demonstrated this in his interpretation of two of these premonitory dreams (The hour of our deliverance draws near, CRC no 263, Dec 1993, p. 1-10). One hundred years later, they have a dazzling clarity… It is the same with the two other dreams represented in the basilica on either side of the central door by two pictures, photographed by one of our pilgrims and reproduced below. The first illustrates a dream that took place in 1862; the second a dream in 1866. Already, the dates speak volumes: one hundred years later, the Second Vatican Council will open, casting a singular light on these mysterious figures. The account was recorded by the Salesians from the mouth of Don Bosco himself. They were obeying the recommendation of Pius IX: "When you return to Turin", said this saintly Pope to this other saint whom he took for a prophet, "write down and send me your dreams and everything you have just explained to me, word for word, just as they are. Keep this patrimony for your Congregation. It will serve your sons as an encouragement and as a Rule." (The dreams of Saint John Bosco - account edited by the Salesians for their private use).

THE TWO COLUMNS (1862)

"My children, I am going to tell you a dream. Try to picture yourselves on the seashore, or, better still, on an outlying reef in the midst of the ocean. On this vast expanse of water surrounding you there are an incalculable number of ships in battle formation. Their prows are fitted with terrible rams and on their sides they carry all kinds of weaponry, cannons, guns, incendiary devices and even books. They are all preparing to wage a formidable battle against another ship, mightier than them all, which they wish to destroy. This majestic and redoubtable vessel commands a full escort of smaller boats, which try to repel the enemy flotilla escort. Alas, the winds and the waves are with the enemy."

The whole of this description is inspired by the historical circumstances of the battle of Lepanto in 1571, including the wind that favoured the Turkish fleet before miraculously changing direction.

In the midst of the waves and soaring high above them, rise two massive columns, a short distance apart from one another. One is surmounted by a statue of the Immaculate Virgin, and on its pedestal I can read this inscription: ‘Help of Christians’. On the other, which is loftier and sturdier, there glows the Sacred Host, with these words: ‘Salvation of believers’.

"The situation appears to be very worrying for the ship assuming general command, whose captain turns out to be the Sovereign Pontiff himself."

At Lepanto it was in fact Pope Saint Pius V who was the soul of the Christian coalition. However, he was not at sea, but in Rome. The battle of Lepanto is therefore a figure of another battle to be undertaken by the vessel of the Church, commanded by the Pope, on the troubled seas of this world.

"Before the imminent danger, he immediately summons the helmsmen of the allied crafts to deliberate on the decisions to be taken. Soon they are all grouped around him; but the wind and the tempest, redoubling their fury, scarcely allow them time even to open the session and they are obliged to return to their posts […]."

It is the meeting of the First Vatican Council in 1869 that is being prophesied here. It will be suspended because of the invasion of the Papal States by the troops of Victor-Emmanuel.

During this time, the enemies multiply their assaults. Writings, books and incendiary materials are flung aboard; cannons, guns and steel points all wreak terrifying damage; and their prows collide furiously with the Pope’s vessel. But all their charges remain fruitless. Every new assault is yet one more failure and a waste of their energy and munitions. Calm and undaunted, the majestic papal ship continues on its way."

It reminds one of the reign of Saint Pius X. "Writings, books, and incendiary materials" represent the doctrines that the modernists "fling aboard", that is to say, strive to spread throughout the Church. But the Pope condemns them in the Encyclical Pascendi Dominici gregis (1907).

"At a given moment, however, a formidable thrust of the prow opens a large gaping hole in its side."

During the reign of Benedict XV, at the height of the world war, under the administration of Ernest Nathan, mayor of Rome and grandmaster of Italian freemasonry, the outrages against the Pope reached their peak in 1917, fourth centenary of the Protestant Reformation (1517) and bicentenary of the foundation of freemasonry (1717).

"A mysterious gust of wind originating from the columns immediately seals up the opening."

On 16 October 1917, six "knights of the Immaculate" consecrated themselves to Mary in the chapel of the Franciscan College in Rome. This was three days after the sixth apparition of Our Lady who, on 13 October, had gathered 70,000 pilgrims at Fatima to make them witnesses of Her power by means of the greatest miracle in history.

"In the midst of the thundering cannon fire, the rattle of bullets and the creaking of tackle, the enemy vessels collide with each other, break up and start sinking. In blind fury the enemies take to hand-to-hand combat on the decks. Hands and fists become locked together in the confusion, whilst blasphemies and curses rain down in torrents. Suddenly the Pope himself is struck. He falls down; his subjects help him up, but a second blow fells him and this time his wound is mortal. A shout of victory rings out. On the enemy vessels, they are jubilant and start dancing."

This can only signify the spiritual death of the Pope. One thinks of how the children of Fatima were haunted with fear, praying for the Holy Father… But now we come to the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary:

"But no sooner is the death of the Pope known about than his successor is elected. The adversaries lose their courage. The new Pontiff breaks through all the obstacles and steers his vessel between the two columns. There he moors his vessel securely, the prow tied to the column of the Host and the stern to that of the Virgin."

This is effected by consecrating Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and by prescribing the reparatory Communion of the First Five Saturdays of the month to all the faithful of the Catholic Church.

"At this there is general panic and indescribable disorder. All the enemies take flight and disperse. Their ships collide and scuttle each other. Those that start sinking try to make the others sink. Some of the vessels that had fought valiantly on behalf of the Pope now come up themselves and tie on to the columns. Others, who had kept out of danger and waited cautiously for victory, follow their example. Over the sea there reigns a great calm."

It is the "time of peace" promised by Our Lady of Fatima.

THE OLD MILL AND THE FLOOD (1866)

In the second dream, the Church is compared not to a high-sided ship, but to an "old mill", which the sudden flooding of the Po submerges entirely! The interpretations shown in brackets come from Don Bosco himself.

"I found myself, it seems to me, in Castelnuovo d’Asti. The young folk of the Oratory were playing in a large meadow [figure of the world], when, suddenly, the plane was transformed into an immense expanse of water which got larger every moment [vices, antireligious maxims, and persecutions against the good]. Seized with terror, we headed as fast as possible towards an abandoned mill whose thick walls are reminiscent of those of a fortress [the Catholic Church]."

Why does the Church appear as a "mill"? Because it is there that the wheat of the Eucharist is ground. And if this mill is "abandoned", it is doubtless because faith in the Eucharist is on the wane… in the Church herself. The "thick walls" remind one of the times when the Church was an impregnable "fortress"… But those times are over, as the following makes clear:

We gathered together in the inner courtyard, but the waters entered and forced us to go up to the next floor, from whence we were then able to gauge the extent of the disaster: from the hills of the Superga to the Alps, there was nothing but an immense lake covering all the meadows, the cultivated fields, the vegetable gardens, the groves, the farms, the towns and the cities.

"The waters continued to rise and constantly forced us to climb to a higher floor. I encouraged the children and I recommended them to place their whole trust in the hands of Jesus and Mary.

"Soon the water reached the very top floor. Terror came upon us. How were we to escape from the terrible cataclysm!… However, we were offered a means of escape: an enormous raft appeared and saved us."

On this raft, which is none other than the Saint Francis de Sales Oratory, they took their places with great difficulty, Don Bosco first, and then certain priests designated by him and the children to whom they stretched out their hands. They were aided by a "long straight tree trunk [the cross, spirit of mortification], which acts as a gangway". However, certain children "impatient to get to safety on the raft, grabbed hold of a plank and used it as a gangway, which was a little wider than ours. Unaided by the fathers and despite my warnings, they ventured on to it." These are the disobedient ones. "Numerous were those who lost their balance and disappeared under the murky vile waters. Finally the plank gave way and numerous young people were plunged into the water."

On board this raft, Don Bosco "noticed in a corner many baskets full of bread [the Holy Eucharist]. These were all the supplies we needed."

"Then, like a ship’s captain, I addressed a short announcement to my young people: ‘Mary is the Star of the sea, I told them. She never abandons those who call on Her. Therefore, let us place ourselves under Her mantle. She will guard us from danger and will lead us to the port of salvation.’ […]."

Standing in the middle of the raft, he guided its navigation, in the midst of a joyful excitement. But now evil thoughts arose: "Many started to find the voyage rather long in this uncomfortable raft. They complained about the inconvenience and the danger of the crossing. They talked about the places where we might land, they considered the possibility of finding another more secure refuge, and they anxiously wondered whether the supplies were not soon going to be depleted. In vain I tried to make them listen to reason. Systematically, they refused to obey me and they acted against all my decisions."

As other rafts appeared on the horizon, sailing in the opposite direction, "the malcontents decided to leave me and to board these rafts instead. With this intention, they threw tables and other buoyant objects on to the waters to support them and they went out to meet these saving rafts. Their attempt failed miserably. The wind gusted and the waters surged furiously. Some of them had now been engulfed; several of them were snatched by the spiralling whirlpools and were soon sucked down into the depths; others were dashed against the reefs and drowned. The rafts received a small number of them, but they in their turn were shipwrecked. Night fell, a dark and sinister night, pierced by cries of anguish from the shipwrecked who were all perishing." It is thus that "all those who fail to board the boat of the Blessed Virgin will perish, engulfed in the ocean of the world."

The raft then passed "between two muddy banks" where lay the bodies of the deserters thrown up by the waves; in a gigantic furnace "tossed by red-hot flames, rose and fell human forms, feet, legs, arms, hands, and heads". This mud and this fire, explained Don Bosco, represent the places of sin and damnation.

Having passed through these straits, "whilst grieving over the sad fate and unhappy end of our companions whom we had had to abandon in those places, we made a point of thanking our powerful Mother in Heaven who had preserved us from so many dangers. For this intention, we intoned the canticle: ‘Praise Mary, you faithful tongues…’ "

And we, along with Father Kolbe, we say: "Deign to accept our praise, O Blessed Virgin!" and we repeat our consecration to the Immaculate Conception, Queen of Heaven and of earth…

"And the kindly intervention of the Virgin, once again, was apparent. The wind dropped. The sea became calm again. Our craft skimmed calmly over the waters. One would think that it was being propelled by the young people alone who, seated along its sides, were playing at rowing it with their hands.

"In the firmament appeared a rainbow, more beautiful and more resplendent than an aurora borealis, which in luminous characters carried this word: MEDOUM. At first I could not understand this. But after a moment of reflection, I perceived that this word was formed from the initials of ‘Mater Et Domina Omnis Universi Maria’ (Mary, Mother and Queen of the whole universe).

Finally, after a long voyage, we noticed land on the horizon, at the sight of which we jumped for joy. This land with its groves full of flowers offered one of the most ravishing panoramas; it was bathed in a light that was ineffably sweet, full of serenity and peace."

This happy island is the Salesian Order: "the vineyard of Mary", where the young people taste the most savoury fruits, coming as though from a rediscovered paradise.

Fifty years later, it will be the City of Mary, Niepokalanow; and today… a hundred years later, it us… let us say: Portugal, "the showcase of Our Lady", and everything that resembles it by its entire consecration to the Immaculate, such as our houses of Saint Joseph, Saint Mary, Saint Theresa, and Saint George, and our Phalange of the Immaculate…

"HE WAS RIGHT" IN 1968… HE IS STILL RIGHT IN 1998!

In its number 1 - XIV^th year, for May 1998, the review SODALITIUM, one of the most intelligent periodicals of transalpine "Traditionalism", under the pen of its young director, Father Francesco Ricossa, deigns to devote to my humble person three columns of its best indelible ink.

He pours scorn on me, he castigates me; but he alone in this world, thirty years after the event and amidst the deafening universal silence, explains and justifies my "Frappe à la tête!" (Strike at the head – French CRC no 89, February 1975) which I tried in vain to preach to Mgr Lefebvre during the 70’s as well as to people of the Catholic faith, as the only option that could save the Church, in this tragic period 1965-199?, from its postconciliar agony.

Two sentences – which I have emphasised in bold text – amidst this flood of insults in which the highest praise is swept away, will have to be answered on another occasion, because they reveal and aggravate a misunderstanding between them and us, whence results their blunt aggressiveness and my sad amusement: so gifted, and so young… "What a fine mess!"

The subject is the literary criticism of several books, from which I select those that are of interest to us and which are conveniently listed. Let us pay close attention to such rare forthrightness.

THE LEAGUE

AFTER OUR CONSECRATION TO THE IMMACULATE WE HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR

30 April. Presumption of innocence, or suspicion of crime.

Published in their entirety on the first page of the CRC for April, no 308, the letter from Rome rejecting my appeal to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and that of Mgr Daucourt who had been asked to inform me of this decision, seem to terminate our trial at Rome even before it has been opened. There is however a possible appeal, and these letters, which are rather cautious in their expression compared to the preceding decrees, encourage us to pursue this loyal combat on behalf of Justice and Truth. Canonically, I must now within thirty days without fail – in this month of Mary – draw up and despatch to the supreme Roman Tribunal "of the Apostolic Signatura" a twofold complaint, firstly against Mgr Daucourt for his blindly imposed sanctions, and secondly against the Holy Office for its unreasonable refusal to examine my two appeals against the present-day partisans of error. Why refuse the examination?

Before the tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, as with any court of cassation, it is not the dogmatic controversy that will be in question, but the respect due to the laws of the Church. Have the age-old rules of Roman Justice been respected? Questions of legality will take first place; questions of Truth will come afterwards, should they still remain after this first process.

We will undertake this task, my canon lawyer and I, both in full agreement on this matter. But we shall not abandon our common life with all its divine liturgies, its feasts and its pilgrimages. The Blessed Virgin Mary is the object of our untiring supplications. It is not for our own private selves that we give ourselves to all these acts of devotion and duties, but for the salvation of the Church… I assume that our "adversaries", for their part, possess the same concern and the same zeal. It would be dreadful to think otherwise.

1^st May. A day that had been fixed for a long time. Our Parisian friends make their pilgrimage to Chartres, and are joined by our brothers at Saint-Piat for the long early morning walk, to the sounds of the Ave Maria punctuated by meditations chosen by Brother Gerard of the Virgin from the writings of Saint Francis de Sales. They go up to the Cathedral for Mass, after which they deal with the various interests of the pilgrims curious about everything and trying to deepen their devotion, especially by kneeling before the veil of the Blessed Virgin, which everything tells us is genuine. It was moving to follow the demonstration of this.

2-3 May. For the first Saturday and Sunday of the month there are one hundred and forty people. The first day is taken up with confession, the Rosary, and Communion either at midday or in the evening. The devotion of everyone is the measure of our anguish. Sunday is devoted to topical affairs: a commentary on the letter of Mgr Tarcisio Bertone, and in the afternoon, a thrilling conference by Brother Bruno, our eminent specialist, about Arte’s infamous "Corpus Christi" programme.

Thursday 7 May, early morning, the outing of the CRC; every month it is something of a prodigy! But this time, there was good reason to expedite its departure, for our Canadian brothers have landed and are coming to Maison Saint-Joseph to rest from their Atlantic crossing before getting on the special train chartered by Maison Saint-Joseph.

9 May. The first pages of this edition give the full details of this memorable pilgrimage, and nothing has been exaggerated about the enthusiasm, the enormous joy, and profoundly cheerful friendship experienced by this group of more than a thousand pilgrims, all drawn together by this one divine Relic! As we left, already we wished to return…

A videocassette recording will tell you better than anything else about this unique and incomparable day, which our veterans compared to their memories of Fatima two years ago… and already they were wondering where we should go in the year 2000! Let us say at once that nobody was disappointed on seeing the Soudarâ of Jesus. Nobody had any doubt about its evident authenticity, verified by the studies of Brother Bruno, with which the scientific presentation given to the pilgrims while they waited to view the Holy Shroud was in agreement.

Everyone was handed a pilgrimage booklet, produced by Brother Gerard, "John Paul I Pilgrimage to Turin, 9 May 1998". An admirable production that disclosed to us, after the treasure of treasures, the other great wonders of the Holy City of Turin. But I must refer you back to our first pages. What a rapid initiation and conversion we had to the devotion to Our Lady Help of Christians and to Her servant knight, Don Bosco! Our visits to the various sites, imprinted with the presence of so many saints, filled us with delight. As a result, the day passed in a flash.

Our memories are like an incomparable triptych: the Holy Face and the Sacred Precious Blood of Jesus, at the Duomo, saved from the sacrilegious flames! our veneration of Mary Help of Christians, Aid of Christians during the Apocalypse, in Her basilica, which we filled with our great numbers and made resound to Her honour with our united chants, impressive as the thunder; and in order to serve Jesus and Mary, at Becchi and in various other places, Saint John Bosco, whom we rapidly elevated to a very high position in the gallery of our guardian saints, along with Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort, Jean-Marie Vianney, Maximilian-Mary Kolbe and tutti quanti!

It was unforgettable, quite unforgettable! And we all turn spontaneously to the Mourots, who organised the trip, to thank them effusively for its perfect success. Nor do we forget our brothers and sisters, who brought the pilgrimage to life by evidently looking upon it as their sole task to provide us with the example and influence of their devotion, their supernatural joy, and their friendship.

Let us make one special discreet mention of an incident that augurs well for the future: the Salesian Fathers and brothers welcomed us with perfect affability, as a consequence of which a number of pilgrims, who had resolved to return to Turin to venerate the Holy Shroud, also conceived the desire to rediscover Valdocco, both as a married couple so that they might better understand the teaching of this saint, and as a family so that he might bless their children, especially if there is a need to change them from fierce animals into lambs entrusted to Our Lady Help of Christians. A day at the Colle don Bosco as a family, what a dream!

Since then, we have been inundated with letters, which I would have loved to have made into a book! But prayer, work, and hospitality devours our time and we must not get carried away. Nevertheless, the grace of the pilgrimage spreads around the pilgrims, a fact about which we have… a thousand accounts.

13 May. The 81^st anniversary of the Apparitions of Fatima, which suffices to remind us of this same combat of our Heavenly Mother against the powers of hell. It is through Fatima that all our devotions to the various Marian apparitions and manifestations converge in our unceasing prayer to Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary that Her Secret might be published by the Holy Father, that the Consecration of Russia might be carried out, and that the world might at last experience the sweet gentleness of the peace of Christendom!

15 May. L’Est-Éclair carries a tiny article informing its readers of the resumption of canonical processes between the Bishop of Troyes and ourselves. M. Laville favours one side and then the other, and wisely concludes that we should wait and see.

Curiously – happily – the media campaign, which some people desire, has not got off the ground. On the contrary, the ordinary people of the surrounding parishes, the tradespeople of Troyes, and our visitors occasionally show us their sympathy. If we did not have to put up with the Chirac-Jospin coalition, our television would not be so bad, and its anticlerical and atheist propaganda would not get through. We would see – and soon we will see – that the faithful people have had enough of false enthusiasm for the novelties; nay, they would know how to manifest their attachment to the true religion and, already, they are keen to show us their sympathy. Thank you!

18-19-20 May. Rogations’ Processions. This year we have been asking for rain. We have been making our customary tour of the grounds in splendid weather. The foliage was as thick and green as ever. We were suddenly brought around from our prayers for our private intentions by an "Intercede pro nobis", which opened our hearts to the great needs of the Church. We forgot this nature beautiful enough to make one think of paradise and in our souls we remembered the dangers, wars, famines and persecutions from which only the Virgin of the Immaculate Heart can spare us. But good Christians must take pains to obtain Her all-powerful intercession

Meanwhile, the rain turned up on time and once more saved everyone's sowing, whether we were good or bad.

21 May. Feast of the Ascension. The Permanence outing was well prepared for its pilgrimage to the Holy Tunic of Argenteuil. There we met a group of Germans from Trèves. Our friends, our brothers, and the children were happy with the explanations given them by the Abbé François Le Quéré, who has turned them into a book: The Holy Tunic of Argenteuil (ed. de Guibert), but it will require some difficult research to come to a certain conclusion. For, from apostolic times to Charlemagne, one has to skip over eight centuries without any reference points, clues or trustworthy human evidence. We would love this tunic to be as genuine as the Soudarâ of Turin. But, above everything else, it is the truth alone that pleases us.

Sunday 24 May. Feast of Our Lady Help of Christians, and the first gathering of our friends at our house since our pilgrimage to Turin. It was the day of our great hopes. I signed our appeal to the Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura that evening. We still had three days to compile its appendices, revise everything, and send via chronopost this file that seeks the Counter-Reformation of the Church.

Now, it was on the evening of this very 24^th May that Our Holy Father showed himself to us, however briefly, in private prayer face to Face with his Divine Master. You who saw it, you may guess how moved we were to see him, our Pope, at the very spot where fifteen days earlier we were crowding around in the contemplation of our unique Lord and Saviour. Him and us, united in the very same adoration of Jesus!

And on ten occasions, as we recalled these very moments and listened to these same dreadfully uncertain explanations about the true meaning of this event, we have prayed that the image of the Pope fixing his eyes on the Holy Shroud may be the herald and the sign of his sincere and integral Catholic faith, whereas his words – manipulated by the press, and so ambiguous in his own speeches – seem to plunge us once and for all into the vapours of a modernism in which there is nothing but lived experience, sentiment and untruth. Ah! May that not be the case!

All the same, the coincidence of these two events on 24 May uplifted us greatly. The "three whitenesses" described by the celebrated dream of Don Bosco were, in a certain manner, found to remain unvanquished in this jubilee of the Soudarâ, in this Holy City, in this pilgrimage made by the Holy Father and by our Catholic Counter-Reformation. What promise it holds for us to see so closely united these three whitenesses: the Pastor of the sheep in his white soutane, Mary Help of Christians, our Immaculate Mother, and finally the Host, so miraculous in Turin, revealing Himself at Moure in the Ecce Homo scene and offering Himself in the relic of His Passion, the relic of the Holy Shroud!

The Abbé de Nantes appeals to
the tribunal of the Pope

The decision of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to confirm the measure of suspension "a divinis" taken by Mgr Daucourt and to reject the Abbé de Nantes’ appeal will not end the conflict between the latter and Rome. The ringleader of the Catholic Counter-Reformation has in fact decided once again to submit the dispute to a Roman tribunal.

Despite this, the Congregation’s words might seem to be very clear. They take note of the disobedience of the Abbé Georges de Nantes. They emphasise that "he continues, through his preaching, to spread erroneous doctrines consisting in a sensualist conception of the

Eucharist and in the notion of a presumed ‘mystical marriage between Christ and Mary’ ".

Nevertheless, the Abbé Georges de Nantes observes in a letter sent to Mgr Daucourt that the

Detecting a certain number of "flagrant illegalities", the Abbé de Nantes has therefore decided to refer this administrative dispute to the consideration of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, sometimes called "the tribunal of the Pope". Might not the Abbé de Nantes be taking the risk of being directly condemned by him whom he accuses of heresy and schism?

Next month: an account of the Pentecost session of the youth Phalange of the Immaculate.

Final recommendation: it is high time to enrol in this summer's camps as well as in the Saint Ignatius retreat that I will preach from 20 to 25 July, God willing!