Mini Book BKXIII
Life of Pope Leo XIII

God chose a very strong, but very peace-loving Cardinal from Perugia, Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci, to be known for all time as Pope Leo XIII, God’s diplomat.
One of the most powerful encyclicals written by Pope Leo XIII was Rerum Novarum, the Rights and Duties of Capital and Labor.
Pope Leo XIII composed the prayer to St. Michael the Archangel, asking his protection.  It goes as follows:  “Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in the battle; be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil.  May God rebuke him and do you, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and the other evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls.  Amen”
This came about as a result of His Holiness having been given a vision of one hundred years of Satan’s having been given rein over the earth.  He was so shaken by his vision that he reportedly passed out, and some thought he had had a stroke or heart attack, until he explained what had happened.There are legends that the Pope had a locution in which he heard God and Satan conversing.  The gist of the conversation was that Satan told God he could destroy the church, at which the Lord told him to go ahead.  Satan replied that he needed more time and more power.  The Lord asked how much time and how much power.  Satan answered that he needed 100 years and greater power of the people of the earth.  According to the legend, God gave Satan the time and the power.  This took place on October 13, 1884.  It was after this that he composed the prayer to St. Michael, which was prayed after each Mass at the foot of the altar.
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Pope Pius IXIX
Hero of the 19th Century
Mini-book
The Signal grace we want to focus on in this chapter, the special Powerful Man in our Church we want to share with you, is Blessed Pope Pius IX.  He was elected Pope at one of the most crucial periods in the history of the Church, and remained at the helm of the ship of the Church longer than any Pope before or since, 32 years. 

He is responsible for many great things during his papacy, including, but not limited to the Dogma of Papal Infallibility, the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady, the short-lived Vatican I, and his ongoing battle against the elements who were out to destroy the Church, namely the beginnings of the New Age movement, and the liberals all over Europe, but especially Victor Emmanuel in Italy, who not only plotted to steal the papal lands, he ultimately forced our Pope to end his pontificate as a self-imposed prisoner inside the Vatican walls.

Pope Gregory I the Greatat -540-604
Father of Medieval Christianity - Doctor of the Church
The First Monk to be elected Pope
Mini-book
In this, Pope Gregory’s influence on not only the Church, but on the world, its governments, its rules of behavior, and much more, extended far beyond his lifetime.
Pope Gregory composed the calendar of festivals.
For his most extraordinary life, his numerous writings and encyclicals, he is venerated as the fourth Doctor of the Church.
Among his many achievements, he is credited with, the Antiphonary,
the introduction to new styles in church music
the composition of several famous hymns,
and the creation of the Schola Cantorum, the famous training school for singers.
Worthy of his title, Pope St. Gregory the Great worked tirelessly, right until the Angel of Death summoned him Home.
The Gregorian Sacramentary and the Gregorian chant, according to John the Deacon, whose testimony is most reliable, what we call Gregorian Chant today is definitely attributed to Pope St.Gregory the Great.  This type of chanting has been used for centuries up to and including today.  Going back before St. Gregory, it was called Roman Chant, and even Ambrosian chant.  But St. Gregory put it together in a formalized Church Chant. 

Pope Pius XII was a shining light in the darkness that permeated the world, a light that would not allow itself to be extinguished. He was not only an instrument of peace; he was an oracle of love. He not only took Jesus’ words, You must love your enemy...seriously, he lived them, exchanging love for hatred and peace for war. A case in point, when it was reported to him that Joseph Stalin wished to know how many divisions there were in his army, he replied, “You may tell my son Joseph he will meet my divisions in Heaven.”
 

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Penny's Comments after watching the movie Pope John Paul II

A Tribute to Our Hero, our Christ on Earth – Pope John Paul II

Family, we want to share with you about our Pope John Paul II.  Some years ago, Bob and I traveled with Brother Joseph and Luz Elena to Poland and Rome to make a documentary on Pope John Paul II– Dry Martyr.  Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen said a dry martyr was one who did not shed his blood for the Faith, although Pope John Paul was shot, but those who suffered martyrdom without shedding blood. We believe our Pope truly suffered martyrdom.

So, when this movie on the life of our dear Pope came out, I honestly felt we had learned enough from our documentary, and did not need to see the movie, starring John Voigt and Cary Elwes .  But something or should I say some one (Bob Lord) ordered the DVD on the life of Pope John Paul II.  And last night we were to laugh with and cry watching one of the most powerful, heart rending true stories of our hero, our Pope who will live in our hearts and in our memories for the rest of our lives, and then in the hearts of those who will come after us.  For most of us, we have known our Pope as a true father on earth, a shining star lighting the darkness.  But there was a price to be paid, and like his Savior before him, he said yes!

It brought back all we had seen in war-torn Poland.  All I could think was how could he have lived through all that horror and still have love and empathy in his heart.  For our Pope was a Pope of love and reconciliation.

The DVD brought back the rounding up of innocent people whose only crime was they were born Jewish.  The nightmarish scenes from Auschwitz, the Death camp, came back to us, of personal things taken from the Jews whose only crime was they fit into Hitler’s plan.  He needed someone or some group to blame for the disastrous situation in Germany.  He had come to the German people as a savior, a messenger of hope.  Well, a savior needs to have someone to save the people from, someone to blame to bring hope to the German people.  Well, why not use the Jews! 

We had a guide escort us around the death camp, past thousands of baby shoes, tiny dolls with child like carriages, suitcases ready to move the Jews who were walking in a cloud, oblivious to the real fate they faced.  Until that moment when we went to Auschwitz, they had been numbers to us, a newspaper report of the horrors of war.  They did not have faces, only names placed on unused suitcases.  The DVD brought back the horror of the Jewish people who had been friends and neighbors of the Poles, friends of Pope John Paul II, friends who he went skiing with, who were in plays and musicals with him, before the Nazis, Hitler’s Death Patrol rounded them up and ended it all.

You have to see the DVD to fully appreciate our Pope’s early life and the horror he lived through.  One of the saddest scenes was when the Poles felt they had been saved from the Nazis with the promise of freedom and return to life as they had known it, only to be subjugated by new tyrants – the Russians.  Priests like Pope John Paul II had to go underground.  No new priests could be ordained.  Pope John Paul was one of the priests who was ordained underground.

It is only by the will of God that we had the gift of this, our “Sweet Christ on earth.”(as St. Catherine called our Popes)  God knew the hell on earth His children would have to face and so He bought into the world someone who would lead us out of the snares of the devil.

We have said it before – that God has us write ahead of our time, for the faithful and those who refuse to believe.  We believe in this instance, He has done it again.  Dear Pope John Paul II.  Only to the foolish have you gone from us.  You will never leave us.  We believe in this DVD.  We believe it has a powerful message for you and our country. There is a writing on the walls of the Warsaw Ghetto.  “Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.”  This is a great Christmas gift.  Buy it for you and your family!  Totus Tuus