" PAST " WHY WAS IT KEPT SECRET? DISCOVERED AFTER 71 YEARS.

 

SYDNEY'S GARDEN PALACE EXHIBITION BUILDING  1879

 

 In 71 years of keenly interested living in Australia, most of the first 42 years living in Sydney, I knew nothing of the Garden Palace Exhibition Building which housed the Sydney International Exhibition of 1879.

But in the course of research for my Blog "EDWARD BECKMANN"http://edwardbeckmann.blogspot.com/

I stumbled upon the picture above and I learned that this huge building had been situated on what is now the South West corner of the Botanical Gardens , opposite the State Library. All that remains of it are the Stone gate posts and wrought iron gates that now give entry to the Gardens. I have walked through and past those gates many times - how did I not know?

The great building was crowned by a massive Dome at the intersection of its three turreted wings. The Dome was 100 feet in diameter and 210 feet high.To speed construction, which was completed in only eight months, the building was largely constructed of timber. This was its undoing, for early in the morning of 22nd September, 1882 a fire broke out and steadily engulfed the entire building. So intense was the fire that flames were reported to reach 100 feet into the air. The destruction of the building was total. The site was cleared and incorporated into the Royal Botanical Gardens,of which it had not originally been part .

Perhaps the blow to the City's collective psychology had been so severe that it was wiped from memories - too painful to talk about. How wonderful it would have looked to-day, soaring above the top of that hill in all its Victorian era exuberance and self-confidence with an extravagance that was very Sydney !

Let's just hope to re-kindle (bad choice of words!)  no, to resurrect the memory and dream about "what might have been! "

" PAST " THE BOGEYMAN CAME THANK GOD!

 

POPE BENEDICT XVI IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY    

*

 Serving With the Angels

How fortunate we are to be alive when such a great demonstration of the action of God’s Grace occurs! For that is what Pope Benedict’s marvelous visit to England and Scotland has been - a great demonstration of the action of God’s Grace. Who could fail to notice the difference between the visit itself and the chorus of its deriders and opponents, particularly in the immediate lead-up to the Holy Father’s arrival? Now the Humanists Society and its eminent signatories, Prof. Dawkins, the ABC, the BBC, the homosexuals and abortionists are shown to be empty vessels – they make the most noise but they deliver nothing!

All but 500 years have passed since King Henry VIII began the Deformation of Christ’s Church in England. For most of that time, the propaganda machinery of the English Government has worked upon the minds of its subjects to wipe out the memory of the previous 1,200 years of Catholic Faith and history which is their heritage. Generation after generation the Government and its apparatus including its own creation -  the Church of England (for God had no part in its founding), labored away at the task. To such an effect that  Catholics and Catholicism were "not quite the thing" even after they became legal in most regards in 1829. More known in myth than in reality – a national bogeyman apparently feared and much abused. But this was only a guilty conscience at work.

By the 1800s the anti-Catholic fever was reaching its crisis point – the fever peaked and has ever since, slowly subsided, leaving behind a half-remembered prejudice scarcely understood and ever more irrelevant. By the early 2000s the British Government was publicly speaking about the scandal of the civil rights of Catholics being denied by the legal provisions that prevent a Catholic becoming or marrying the Monarch. It was openly acknowledged that if that were to change, the Headship of the Church of England – which belongs to the Monarch, would have to go and that would involve dis-establishing the Church of England. The recently-elected Coalition Government of the U.K., preoccupied with other matters has yet to speak on the subject.

The time had come, and Divine Providence sent the man – Pope Benedict XVI. The remarkable success of the Holy Father’s visit, has been achieved despite, or perhaps because, of his direct, but unfailingly courteous confronting of the fundamental issues. His words did not generate hostility but rather, public praise and gratitude even from the Prime Minister. For some years now, major TV documentaries have been scathing about the foundation of the protestant myth – from Simon Schama to David Dimbleby. Now, the Church of England is rasping in its death rattles – utterly devoid of moral or theological integrity, and the presence of the Successor of Saint Peter has shone the Light of Christ anew upon the U.K. scene to widespread appreciation. The Bogeyman himself has appeared and has been seen to be a gentle but firm and loving Father.

A new age has begun for the Catholic Church in England and also for the whole of Christian England – and just in time, as its old “certainties “are seen to be exhausted shams.

ACOLYTE    * N.B. The Holy Father is wearing the Stole of Pope Leo XIII who declared Anglican "Orders" to be "Absolutely null and utterly void" in his Encyclical "Quanta Cura" of 1896. The point being gently but firmly made.


Copyright This item First appeared in the September 2010 issue of FOUNDATION.

" PAST " FALLING FAR AND FAST THE ROYAL MONSTER'S "VICAR GENERAL" FALLS

 

                           The Royal  Monster’s “Vicar General”  Thomas Crumwell


Thomas Crumwell fell far and fast. Here we quote from Gasquet’s “HENRY VIII AND THE ENGLISH MONASTERIES” (1899):

“By a nemesis of fate he passed to the scaffold suddenly, almost untried, and certainly unheard in his own defence, and this was possibly by virtue of an Act he had devised and obtained, to get rid of inconvenient rivals and others bold enough to oppose his lawless policy or thwart his schemes. Rumors had not been wanting that the Minister’s influence over Henry had not been so paramount, for some time before his final disgrace. The King, to whom Wolsey had “”kneeled the space sometimes of three hours to persuade from his will and appetite”, but without success, did not become more easy to lead in Crumwell’s time. Report spoke of scenes in the audience chamber, when the Royal willfulness developed such an extreme of passion as to result in the boxing of Lord Crumwell’s ears right soundly.

Castillon, the French Ambassador, had heard his majesty read a lesson to the Lord Privy Seal, and tell him “he might be fit to look after household duties but not to manage the business of kings.”On 11th June, 1540, Marillac, who had succeeded Castillon as Ambassador of France, wrote that he had heard, an hour before sending his dispatch, that Crumwell had been sent to the Tower……… On 23rd June, the Ambassador received a full account of what had taken place, and wrote the substance of his information to the Constable of France. From this letter it appears that Crumwell was altogether unprepared for his downfall. When the Lieutenant of the Tower entered the Council Chamber at Westminster and informed him that he was ordered to take him prisoner, Crumwell, moved with indignation, threw his hat on the floor, and declared that he had never done anything but for the King and in his service. Some of the Council called out that he was a traitor, and must be judged “ by the laws he had himself made", and which, as Marillac explains, “were so sanguinary that a few words, often perhaps spoken inadvertently or in good faith, could be construed into the crime of high treason.”The Duke of Norfolk tore the Order of St. George from his neck, and the Garter was also taken from him. Before the news spread, Crumwell had already been lodged in the Tower, and the people obtained their first knowledge of the arrest by seeing the King’s officers, attended by a large retinue of archers, enter the fallen Minister’s house for the purpose of searching it. ……….

 "As vice regent under the great seal, he “licensed divers persons detected and suspected of heresy, openly to preach and teach", saying “that he would fight even against the King to maintain these heresies …. And then and there most traitorously pulled out his dagger and held it up on high saying these words: Or else this dagger thrust me to the heart if I would not die in that quarrel against them all, and I trust if I live a year or two, it shall not lie in the King’s power to resist or let it if he would.”

Furthermore the said Thomas Crumwell “hath acquired and obtained into his possession by oppression, bribery, extorted power and false promises” immense sums of money and treasure.

Posterity may be grateful that the avenging hand came upon him so suddenly. His arrest, unexpected by all, gave him no time to destroy the papers which had accumulated in the course of his administration, and which we may well believe he would have been unwilling for other eyes than his own to see. On the morning of the 10th June, 1540, he was supreme in England, the evening saw him a prisoner in the Tower, and his fate practically sealed. After begging in the most servile terms that his life might be spared, he was brought out to the scaffold on Tower Hill, on 28th of June. He died confessing all his crimes, disavowing protestant heresy and claiming fidelity to the Catholic Church and the Sacraments. Henry VIII held Crumwell’s son Gregory – a person of low intelligence – in his power."

" PAST " ENGLAND'S ROYAL MONSTER PART III RETRIBUTION

 

ENGLAND’S ROYAL MONSTER PART III RETRIBUTION

The moral judgment of Henry VIII’s public crimes of sacrilege, murder, bigamy, theft etc. is a matter for God alone. The same is true of those incidentally complicit in his deeds – the purchasers or recipients of stolen Church property: whole estates, selected buildings, lead from roof structures and their massive timbers, jewelry from sacred shrines and vessels etc.And it is not as if this was property simply bought by the Church in the past – no – most of all of this was the sacred gift or bequest of the faithful, clerical and lay and of Royal benefactors, given for devout intentions, dedicated to Almighty God. In the case of the chantries the gift entailed the solemn obligation to pray and offer Holy Mass for the repose of the souls of specific persons. It was a monstrous outrage before God and man.

When we study the record, what do we find? Did the villains prosper?

“God is not mocked “

The modern day visitor to London slowly begins to realise a great difference between London and other cities of its age. There are almost no very old churches there. The answer is simple, but devastating. The Great Fire of London in 1666.

We will find that a great deal of the retribution borne by the co-operants and beneficiaries in and of the plunder of the Catholic Church in England had already been exacted, but now came the crowning cataclysmic event that destroyed the heart of the infamous kingdom.

It came 119 years after the death of England’s Royal Monster, but , going beyond “ grinding exceeding small” in its four day inferno , it reduced to ashes 70,000 of the city’s 80,000 residences. Along with the greater part of the Capital, the ancient Catholic St.Paul’s Cathedral (far larger than Wren’s mini St Peters, the new St. Paul’s) was destroyed together with no less than 87 churches which had also been stolen from the Catholic Church.

Only six deaths were recorded in the calamity. It is now believed that there were two reasons for this – firstly the destruction of many bodies by the intensity of the fire and secondly a certain official disregard for the fate of the common folk.

London at the time had been as great as the next 50 cities in England combined –the extent of the disaster nationally can readily be assessed. This was spectacularly visible retribution.

However, 34 years earlier, Sir Henry Spelman had become convinced from what he had already witnessed, that the recipients of the spoils were cursed over generations His interest was not an idle one. His family was one which had shared in the proceeds of the Royal plunder.

630 Families, according to Spelman shared in the King’s plunder of the Catholic Church. When a revised edition of Spelman’s book was published in 1895, 616 were extinct. Of the 43 noble families sharing in the King’s plunder 15 were extinct within 50 years and only 9 now survive and are wracked with woes. The Anglican Dean Boys of Canterbury – a strong supporter of Elizabeth wrote:”Read the Chronicles examine the Histories and show me one Church Robber’s heir that thrived into the third generation.”

The seventeen Lay Lords in the Parliament which approved the Dissolution of the Monasteries provide potted histories of the type of retribution visited more widely on the 630:

No. 1 Thomas Lord Audley of Walden

Died without male heir 1544.

His only daughter’s husband died in battle childless.

Her second husband was beheaded in 1572.

Her son and daughter by that husband were executed for murder.

No.2Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk

Committed to the Tower.

His son Henry was beheaded by order of Henry VIII as the King lay on his own deathbed.

Grandson beheaded by Elizabeth I

His son Thomas’ family extinct in the next generation..

No.3 Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk.

Married 4 times:

Wife 1 – no children.

Wife 2-a daughter who married Lord Monteagle – line extinct.

Wife 3 –a son, died as a child, and 2 daughters:

1 married Henry Duke of Suffolk- he was beheaded .They had had 3 daughters of whom

1 was beheaded 1 divorced and then married Edward Earl of Hartford who was beheaded

1 had no children.

The second of the Duke’s daughters had two sons who died as children.

Wife 4 – Two sons who died as children on the same day. The Name, Title and family ceased to exist.

No4 Henry Grey, Marquis of Dorset.

Beheaded. His son died before him, childless. Daughter Lady Jane Grey and her husband were beheaded.

N0 5 John Vere, Earl of Oxon

His grandson utterly wasted the estate and inheritance of the Earldom and his Great grandson died without heir.



No. 6 William Fitz William, Earl of Southampton

Died without heir.



N0.7 William Fitz Alan Earl of Arundel

Four daughters – all childless. His son had an heir who died childless in his father’s lifetime. Title extinct in the male line.

No.8 Francis Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury

All children died without issue – family extinct.



No.9 Henry Bourchier, Earl of Essex

Killed in fall from a horse – broken neck.



No’s 10 to 14 Edward Lord Stanley Earl of Derby, Thomas Manners, Earl of Rutland, Henry Clifford, Earl of Cumberland, Robert Ratcliff Earl of Sussex, George Lord Hastings , Earl of Huntington - all became extinct.

No.15 Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford

Beheaded. His two sons died without issue.

No. 16 Henry Lord Daubeney, Earl of Bridgewater

Died without issue. Name, Family and Title extinct.

No.17 Henry Somerset, Earl of Worcester

Son died in the Tower.

Another son killed at Musselborough field and his son in law was beheaded.

There were in addition, 25 Barons in the same Parliament. The Families and titles of all but 3 are now extinct.

The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Leonard Lord Grey who summoned the Parliament to approve the Dissolution there, was himself beheaded by Henry VIII five years later.

The pattern is at least discernible! In Truth it roars in our faces as if from the jaws of Hell itself.

We know of Henry VIII’s miserable death. His several children what of them? He had two legitimate sons and three daughters and an illegitimate son. One son and one daughter died in infancy. The remaining legitimate son and two daughters succeeded to the throne. Edward VI died as a youth without issue. Queen Mary restored the Catholic Religion but she died without an heir. Elizabeth I had a long and murderous reign reaching the depths of its infamy in the murder of the legitimate heir to the throne Mary Queen of Scots.

Henry’s illegitimate son the Duke of Richmond died without children.

Elizabeth herself died without issue and the Tudor line was extinct – the end of all Henry’s monstrous crimes was totally vanquished. What a catalogue of evil begetting evil and ending in destruction.




This posting owes much to Sir Henry Spelman's research and early articles in Annals Australasia edited by the great Father Paul Stenhouse M.S.C.and originally appeared in FOUNDATION August, 2010 Issue.

.

" PAST " SEX OR GENDER? SERVING WITH THE ANGELS

 

Serving with the Angels


To-day’s media pour out words in an unremitting stream. Even when there is nothing to be said, commentators feel obliged to maintain a stream of mindless blather to justify their presence, even when a televised image is absolutely self-explanatory.

The repetition of certain words and phrases is an acknowledged form of indoctrination. If it is not subtle, it can sometimes prove counter-productive. In recent times the repetitive solemn intonation of “working families” was so overdone in Australia that it became a source of national mirth. When the same stable more recently brought forth “moving forward” the community was well-primed and the universal ridicule in response made the effort explode in the face of the perpetrator.

But where subtlety is employed, the effect can be devastating. Take the recent use or, we should say, abuse, of the word “gender” .Its true meaning is a “grammatical classification” of a word – whether it is, masculine, feminine or neuter in form: e.g. father, mother, statue respectively. But in recent years it has come to be used in place of “sex”. So now it is common to see on forms that one is asked to indicate one’s “gender” instead of one’s sex. Why? 

 

You may very well ask!

 

The promoters of this abuse of the word “gender” are homosexuals, lesbians and radical feminists who began their efforts in the universities and public service, in order to mould the way the community thinks about relationships of interest to these people. If you use “Sex” you are clearly recognizing the reality of male and female difference. You will then come to use “husband” and “wife”, “father” and “mother”- all reinforcing the natural order and traditional Marriage.

 But these promoters of the unnatural in relationships and the physical have other plans for you. “Gender” in place of “sex” is neutral and facilitates substituting “partner” for “husband” or “wife” and “parent” for “father” or “mother”. Then one is primed to step onto the slippery slope of same sex marriage and adoptions by same sex “couples” This subtle manipulation goes quickly beyond language use to affect and accommodate patterns of thinking about the most unnatural things. The objective is to subvert the natural order to facilitate the triumph of the unnatural and the perverted.

The same people had earlier perverted the use of the word “gay “- which properly means “” light hearted/mirthful/ sportive” to describe themselves .This is a classic example of the Nazi concept that in propaganda the bigger the lie is, the better. For this abuse of the word “gay” is a deliberate effort to mask a desperate, perverted, sad and often ugly group with a description entirely the opposite of their reality which is wracked by suicide, psychological and physical illness and grotesque affectation in many cases. By using the word to describe them, one becomes complicit in the lie they seek to spread, as they demand ever more stridently, acceptance of their behavior as “normal”.

Words express what we think. They can also come to change what we think, as these radical activists know. We need to be careful about the words we use; otherwise, we shall find that we are ourselves being used.



ACOLYTE

Copyright .This article first appeared in the July,2010 issue of FOUNDATION

" PAST " ENGLAND'S ROYAL MONSTER PART II FINANCIAL PROBLEMS AND SACRILEGIOUS PLUNDER

 

Tintern Abbey

 

 

ENGLAND’S ROYAL MONSTER PART II

FINANCIAL PROBLEMS – SACRILEGIOUS PLUNDER



KING HENRY VIII now bestrode his realm like a colossus – albeit a somewhat uncomfortable colossus : physically the serious injury caused to his leg in a jousting contest in 1535 was troubling him as it would do for the remaining years of his life. Financially, his Treasury was strapped for cash. Years of foreign wars and the King’s personal gambling brought him to a desperate condition.

Henry now had as his principal agent and adviser, one Thomas Crumwell (now usually spelled Cromwell – a piece of Protestant propagandising). This Crumwell had been Cardinal Wolsey’s principal agent and frequent Commissioner. But when Wolsey’s downfall was in progress, Crumwell stole from Wolsey’s private records Henry’s license under Seal, authorizing Wolsey to exercise his Legatine powers within the Realm. He delivered the document back to the King. This was a critical event for Henry’s purposes, for he was charging Wolsey with Praemunire offences for the very act of exercising his Papal Legate A Latere (Abroad) powers in the Realm!

The King’s gratitude seems to have hardly known any bounds. For Crumwell became (in a unique Royal office) “Vicar General of the Realm”, Lord Privy Seal, Chancellor of Cambridge University (succeeding St John Fisher so lately martyred by the King!) and, though not a Cleric, Dean of Wells along with other religious benefices and, in Parliament, he took precedence over all of the Nobility and the Bishops!

Melrose Abbey

 

Crumwell had been Cardinal Wolsey’s Commissioner in the examination of the lesser Monasteries, in an endeavour to assess their viability. Many were not believed to fulfill their religious obligations,  have too few monks to function properly and to fulfill those obligations. Cardinal Wolsey, using his Legatine powers, had canonically suppressed those monasteries and negotiated the re-location of their monks to larger monasteries of their Orders. The properties were sold and the proceeds used to build Cardinal College Oxford.

Crumwell’s past therefore enabled him to suggest a solution to the King’s financial distress. Now that the King was, according to his Parliament, Head of the Church in England, and able to threaten all and sundry with trial under the Law of Praemunire should they displease him, he had legal power over the monasteries. If he came to “believe “that the monasteries were corrupt, why should he not suppress them? No! that was a canonical term; why not rather, dissolve them! The proceeds of their dissolution would be made forfeit to the Crown- financial problem solved!

Glastonbury Abbey

In the 27th year of his reign, in 1536, the Dissolution of the Monasteries was commenced.

All monasteries whose annual income did not reach 200 Pounds were dissolved and were confiscated by the Crown. They were STOLEN there is no other term to describe the process honestly. The process involved sending out the King’s Commissioners who assessed the Monasteries’ incomes and took an inventory including property, Sacred Vessels, Shrines and cash. The inventory would be useful for later stages of the Dissolution process.

The Commissioners were carefully chosen by Crumwell to produce the desired results, and knew what was expected of them. They were mostly Protestant sympathizers and, to meet the complaints at the dissolution of each Monastery from the community it supported they created tales of scandals and disrepute which varied from ridiculous palpable lies to malign distortions of innocent facts.

It is appropriate here to consider the role of the Monasteries in England at the time. Their practical significance for their surrounding communities was very substantial. Most monasteries were by that time, very old and owned significant lands in their region, as a result of bequests, donations and their earnings from rents on their holdings. The monks of course received no personal income and the monasteries were thus very effective in building up their assets. They were, apart from the properties of the Nobility, the principal factor in the local economy, much of which depended on them and the local community relied heavily on the monasteries. At that time, there were no “Social Services” provided by the Crown and no secular welfare services. The monasteries provided food and lodgings for the poor, the distressed and the unsupported aged and the ill.

Even local Parish clergy depended on the monasteries. Before the Protestant Deformation of the Church, outside the Cities, the local Parish clergy were appointed as “Vicars” of the local Abbot. The Church of England still uses the term “Vicar” to describe its Parish ministers, but the origin of the term can be seen to be Catholic – from the time of the stolen monasteries.

It can be quickly seen that demolition of this social structure was going to create turmoil and great strife and would take dramatic justification if it was to be accomplished without revolution. Lies about scandal, and the bigger the lie the better, would do nicely.

This was no small undertaking. No less than 374 of these lesser monasteries were dissolved and this took about 4 years. The Commissioners would arrive after the earlier assessment; turn out the monks onto the street – if they were not killed- as sometimes happened. They would then pillage the Monastery taking all Sacred Vessels, Votive Offerings, Shrines of value, Reliquaries(after desecrating the relics they contained) .Then they would strip the monastery of its valuable lead roof and its great timber beams, and these were carted away for sale.

The Commissioners were entitled to their cut first- often a fee plus " costs”, but it can be shown that it was commonly exceptional. They then returned the rest of the proceeds to the Royal Treasury via Crumwell who often reserved items for himself (e.g. in one case a particularly valuable Monstrance he had earlier spotted and noted for his own booty.)

Our knowledge of the sordid detail is great, in part because, when Crumwell himself fell, he fell far and fast- so fast he did not have time to destroy his papers, even his meticulous personal notes, which are preserved.

After the four years of severe pillage and plunder, Henry turned his attention to the Hospitals and Hospital Churches of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem in England and Ireland, which with all their lands and assets were also confiscated to the Crown.

We are told that “practice makes perfect”. These institutions were devoured within two years. But the Monster had acquired an enormous appetite and was still ravenous.

In the 34th year of his reign Henry turned on all the Colleges, Chapels, Chantries, Hospitals, Fraternities and Guilds and their properties and assets were all confiscated to the Crown.

 

By the time the exercise was completed, the Royal Monster had devoured:

374 Lesser Monasteries

186 Great Monasteries and Abbeys

90 Colleges

110Religious Hospitals

2,374 Chapels and Chantries.  

THE PHYSICAL STRUCTURE OF CATHOLIC ENGLAND’S LIFE BUILT UP OVER THE PRECEDING 1,300 YEARS HAD BEEN STOLEN AND CONVERTED TO CASH WITHIN 10 YEARS. THE VALUE OF THE THEFT WAS METICULOUSLY ASSESSED BY THE KING’S COMMISSIONERS AT 1,338,442 Pounds 9 Shillings and 2Pence and 1 Ha’penny. in the currency of the day. 

 

 

 

Whitby Abbey

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Four hundred and sixty three years have passed since that infamous accounting. Who would attempt a conversion to modern currency allowing for inflation? Certainly it would be a dreadful task. But if the result was not billions of dollars, one would be surprised.

This extraordinary amount did not include the value of Sacred Vessels, Shrines, Votive Offerings and Reliquaries. Some idea of what that entailed may be gleaned from an account of the goods stolen from the greatest of the Shrines, that of St. Thomas A’Beckett at Canterbury Cathedral. The King’s Receiver records removing 26 carts of gold, silver, precious stones and sacred vestments. In the Treasurer’s Roll, the plunder was assessed by weight:

Thomas Crumwell

 

 

 

 

Pure Gold 5,030 ¾ ounces

Silver Gilt 4,425 ounces

Parcel Gilt 840 ounces

(this is gilding inside a vessel)

Silver 5,286 ounces

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fortunately for the Archdioceses and Dioceses and their great Cathedrals, Henry died in 1547. For in the preceding year his attention had turned ominously to them and he had forced the “exchange “of 72 properties belonging to the Archdiocese of York for certain infertile Crown Lands and 30 properties belonging to the Diocese of Norwich and considerable properties belonging to the Diocese of London  on the same basis.                                                         

 

In our next installment, we shall look at what became of the funds realised from the stolen properties and, in God’s good time, what became of the receivers of the stolen property. It is a sorry story.

" PAST " VEXILLA REGIS BLOG ITS OWN NOVUS ORDO A SCARY AFTERNOON

"NOVUS  ORDO" INDEED -Anew order in the appearance of VEXILLA REGIS!
I have spent a hair-raising afternoon ( despite my apparent composure in the above picture!) trying to choose a design for the Blog that is easier on the eye.

Hair-raising? Well, yes for several minutes, ALL of the text of all of the posts disappeared and all went BLACK. I freely admit I am no computer whizz, and some of my exclamations were less than edifying. But through perseverance and restoration of hope I got back to basics - and all were revealed in their pristine state! Deo Gratias!

I hope readers will find the general result pleasing. The Template comes with a few background pigeons in scattered flight in profile - Be of good heart -they were scared off by the thorough beating of Satan in the Title picture which shows SAINT MICHAEL despatching him!

 

" PAST " SAINT PAUL PART XIII THE THEOLOGIAN AND HIS LEGACY

 

ST PAUL


The theologian and his legacy



The beginning of this Year of St Paul set us off on a path of discovery, endeavouring to see St Paul as he really was, the man in the context of his times and locations. We learned a great deal, even down to his appearance, his temperament and most importantly the great depth of his love for Christ and the remarkable extent of his apostolic activity and teaching through Christ living in him.

Now, at the end of that year, we can step back a little to consider the whole picture of the great saint’s life. Many modernists have tried to present St Paul as the” inventor” of Christianity, in effect to separate his teaching from the “real” Christ and his teachings. They claim to want to “re-discover” this “real” Christ. But, in reality their objective is to sideline the Church and “discover” a Christ who is just another very good man among many and that neither “he” nor “his” Church is essential for the complete modern man.

But neither Jesus Christ and His Church nor St Paul can be circumvented by such deceits.

St Paul is the very model of a faithful follower of Christ. He is the centre of St Paul’s life and being, the object of all St Paul’s hopes. Christ’s Church has become St Paul’s home, more, his mother and his family. He is the loving servant of Our Lord and His Church, and in a very real sense, the first great theologian. Standing at the gateway of the true new age, St Paul is a man of towering historic significance whose lamp held high still lights our way 2,000 years later. Small in stature, his work for Christ has made him a giant of history.

Christ’s Divinity

His reflection upon Christ’s life, actions and teachings is profound, thorough, comprehensive and intellectually coherent. His writings reveal this exhaustive reflection on all that Christ is, said and did. He affirms that Christ, the Word who was to be made flesh, had existed eternally – he is the Creator of the World (Coloss. 1: 16 – 17) and is superior to all created beings (Eph. 1: 21) and everything is by Him, in Him and for Him (Coloss. 1:16). He is the Son of God since all eternity (2 Cor. 1:19; Romans 8:3, 8: 32; Coloss. 1: 13; Eph. 11:6 & more)

St Paul directs to Christ the praises due to God (2 Tim. 4:18, Romans 16:27) and prays to Him as the equal of the Father (2 Cor. 12: 8 -9, Romans 10: 12; 1 Cor. 1: 2). He prays to Him for grace, mercy and salvation which are God’s alone to give (Romans 1: 7, 16: 20; 1 Cor. 1: 3, 16: 23 & more). He affirms that before Him every knee shall bow in Heaven, on Earth and under the Earth (Phillip. 2: 10). In Christ St Paul acknowledges all the Divine attributes – eternal existence (Coloss. 1: 15 – 17), He is all-powerful (Coloss. 1: 16) and He is infinite (Coloss. 2: 9). He is identified with the God of the Old Covenant (1 Cor. 10:4, 10: 9, Romans 10: 13, 1 Cor. 2: 16, 9: 21). He clearly describes Him as our “great God and Saviour Jesus Christ) (Titus 2: 13) and “God over all things” (Romans 9: 5).

Christ’s Humanity

St Paul equally affirms the real humanity of Jesus Christ. He is the “second Adam” (Romans 5: 14, 1 Cor. 15: 45-49) the descendant of the Patriarchs (Romans 9: 5, Gal. 3: 16). He is the “seed of David, according to the flesh “(Romans 1: 3) “born of a woman” (Gal. 4: 4) like all men.

The integrity of St Paul’s presentation of the astounding reality of God made Man can only be attributed to Divine inspiration. Many in succeeding centuries were to stumble into grave heresy when considering this same subject. Docetism denied Christ’s human nature, Arianism denied His Divine Nature, Nestorianism proposed that He was two persons – one human and one Divine, Monophysitism claimed He had but one “fused” nature, Appolinarianism diminished His human nature and later Lutherans did likewise with their heretical concept of Kenosis. 

We marvel all the more at St Paul’s divinely inspired presentation – coming first in the detailed written exposition of the mystery and implications of the Incarnation he avoids the multiplicity of possible errors and with simple elegance unfolds the Truth.

Christ Our Saviour

St Paul expounds the doctrine of the Redemption of Man achieved by Christ’s sacrificial death. In recounting the concepts involved in the sacrificial nature of His death, the payment of our ransom from past servitude to sin and Christ substituting Himself for us in Regard to punishment due, St Paul avoids every excess which many later writers - especially Lutheran - would fall into.

He shows with clarity the correct way to consider the facts. The Father offers His Son to manifest His justice because of His mercy toward us. Christ is our Redemption by virtue of His Sacrifice, which derives its value from His Divine being and Love in obedience to the Father. We co-operate by understanding and accepting God’s teaching and thus obtaining the fruits of the Redemption.

“But thanks are to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness”. (Romans 6: 17- 18)

Christ’s Second Coming

St Paul is powerful in his description of the Parousia or Second Coming of Christ and the General Judgement Which will follow the Resurrection of the Dead. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive good or evil, according to what he has done in the body.”(2 Cor. 5: 10)

Conclusion

At the end of the Year of St Paul our sentiments are not those common to most conclusions - the “well that’s that” attitude does not arise. No, our sentiments are quite different. We have followed St Paul carefully and with keen interest – we know we can never compete with him as a model servant of Christ, but we are eager to hurry after him, eager to try to do far more than we have with our lives as followers of Christ. St Paul is, in that inspirational sense, still with us. Blinded, enlightened, inspired and martyred St Paul indeed “fought the good fight” and beckons us on, an inspiration for every one of us.

St Paul Apostle and martyr

Pray for us.

TONY DIXON
COPYRIGHT. This article first appeared in the June, 2009 issue of FOUNDATION.