THE
CATHOLIC PATRIOT
“The
race of man, after its miserable fall from God, the Creator
and the Giver of heavenly gifts, "through the envy of the
devil," separated into two diverse and opposite parts,
of which the one steadfastly contends for truth and virtue,
the other of those things which are contrary to virtue and to
truth. The one is the kingdom of God on earth, namely, the true
Church of Jesus Christ; and those who desire from their heart
to be united with it, so as to gain salvation, must of necessity
serve God and His only-begotten Son with their whole mind and
with an entire will. The other is the kingdom of Satan, in whose
possession and control are all whosoever follow the fatal example
of their leader and of our first parents, those who refuse to
obey the divine and eternal law, and who have many aims of their
own in contempt of God, and many aims also against God.
"This twofold kingdom St. Augustine keenly
discerned and described after the manner of two cities, contrary
in their laws because striving for contrary objects; and with
a subtle brevity he expressed the efficient cause of each in
these words: "Two loves formed two cities: the love of
self, reaching even to contempt of God, an earthly city; and
the love of God, reaching to contempt of self, a heavenly one."
At every period of time each has been in conflict with the other,
with a variety and multiplicity of weapons and of warfare, although
not always with equal ardour and assault. At this period, however,
the partisans of evil seems to be combining together, and to
be struggling with united vehemence, led on or assisted by that
strongly organized and widespread association called the Freemasons.
No longer making any secret of their purposes, they are now
boldly rising up against God Himself. They are planning the
destruction of holy Church publicly and openly, and this with
the set purpose of utterly despoiling the nations of Christendom,
if it were possible, of the blessings obtained for us through
Jesus Christ our Saviour. Lamenting these evils, We are constrained
by the charity which urges Our heart to cry out often to God:
"For lo, Thy enemies have made a noise; and they that hate
Thee have lifted up the head. They have taken a malicious counsel
against Thy people, and they have consulted against Thy saints.
They have said, 'come, and let us destroy them, so that they
be not a nation.'
"At so urgent a crisis, when so fierce
and so pressing an onslaught is made upon the Christian name,
it is Our office to point out the danger, to mark who are the
adversaries, and to the best of Our power to make head against
their plans and devices, that those may not perish whose salvation
is committed to Us, and that the kingdom of Jesus Christ entrusted
to Our charge may not stand and remain whole, but may be enlarged
by an ever-increasing growth throughout the world."
Excerpt from Humanum Genus
Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII, 1884
“Man's natural instinct moves him to
live in civil society, for he cannot, if dwelling apart, provide
himself with the necessary requirements of life, nor procure
the means of developing his mental and moral faculties. Hence,
it is divinely ordained that he should lead his life-be it family,
or civil-with his fellow men, amongst whom alone his several
wants can be adequately supplied. But, as no society can hold
together unless some one be over all, directing all to strive
earnestly for the common good, every body politic must have
a ruling authority, and this authority, no less than society
itself, has its source in nature, and has, consequently, God
for its Author. Hence, it follows that all public power must
proceed from God. For God alone is the true and supreme Lord
of the world. Everything, without exception, must be subject
to Him, and must serve him, so that whosoever holds the right
to govern holds it from one sole and single source, namely,
God, the sovereign Ruler of all. ‘There is no power but
from God.’”
Excerpt from Immortale Dei-On the Christian
Constitution of States
Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII, 1885
For hundreds of years, the Knights of Malta
have been directed to “Love the country of thy birth”
and thereby become protectors, Catholic patriots, of their individual
homelands in order to ensure true peace within Christendom.
The intended result of their efforts is the preservation of
peace; to permit free men to practice their free will, ultimately
in preparation for their own sanctification through the Catholic
Church.
“The Church, indeed, deems it unlawful
to place the various forms of divine worship on the same footing
as the true religion, but does not, on that account, condemn
those rulers who, for the sake of securing some great good or
of hindering some great evil, allow patiently custom or usage
to be a kind of sanction for each kind of religion having its
place in the State. And, in fact, the Church is wont to take
earnest heed that no one shall be forced to embrace the Catholic
faith against his will, for, as St. Augustine wisely reminds
us, "Man cannot believe otherwise than of his own will."
Excerpt from Immortale Dei-On the Christian
Constitution of States
Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII, 1885
The work of the Sovereign Order of St. John
of Jerusalem is intended to assist each member in his personal
journey toward sanctification and to maintain an environment
in which the Catholic Church can carry on Her work of salvation.
In so doing, the Order continues its longstanding history of
moderating the suffering of the afflicted and of God’s
poor, and of improving human society in general.
