I shall spare myself neither care nor labour nor vigils for the salvation of souls. My hope is in Christ, who strengthens the weakest by His divine help; I can do all in Him who strengthened me! His power is infinite, and if I lean on Him it will be mine; His wisdom is infinite, and if I look to Him for counsel I shall not be deceived; His goodness is infinite, and if my trust is stayed on Him I shall not be abandoned. Hope unites me to my God and Him to me. Although I know I am not sufficient for the burden, my strength is in Him. For the salvation of others I must bear weariness, face dangers, suffer offences, confront storms, fight against evil. He is my Hope.

(Pope Saint Pius X)

According to the order established by God in society, there should be princes and vassals, superiors and workers, rich and poor, learned and ignorant, nobles and plebeians, who all together, united by the bond of a common affection, help each other to reach their final end in Heaven and a moral and material well-being on earth.

(St. Pius X)

Est autem participare quasi partem capere.

Et ideo quando aliquid particulariter recipit id quod ad alterum pertinet universaliter, dicitur participare illud,

sicut homo dicitur participare animal quia non habet rationem animalis secundum totam communitatem…

Et similiter etiam effectus dicitur participare suam causam, et praecipue quando non adaequat virtutem suae causae, puta si dicamus quod aer participat lucem solis quia non recipit eam in claritate qua est in sole.

But to participate is so to speak ‘to take part.’

And therefore, when something receives particularly that which pertains to another universally, it is said to participate in that,

just as ‘man’ is said to participate in ‘animal’ because he does not have the ratio of animal according to its whole extension…

And similarly also an effect is said to participate in its cause, and especially when it does not equal the power of its cause. For example, if we say that air participates in the light of the sun, since it does not receive it with the same brightness which it has in the sun.

(From St. Thomas Commentary on Boethius’s De Hebdomadibus)

Wise words of John Adams

Si quis dixerit, fieri posse, ut dogmatibus ab Ecclesia propositis, aliquando secundum progressum scientiae sensus tribuendus sit alius ab eo, quem intellexit et intelligit Ecclesia; anathema sit.

If anyone says that it can come to be that, according to the progress of science, a sense is is to be attributed to the dogmas proposed by the Church different from that which the Church has understood and understands, let him be anathema.

(The Dogmatic Constitution ‘Dei Filius’ of the First Vatican Council, IV.3)

Consequenter cum dicit et tanto magis, assignat causam huius. Posset enim aliquis dicere: quare debemus nos in fide proficere? Quia motus naturalis quanto plus accedit ad terminum, magis intenditur. Contrarium est de violento. Gratia autem inclinat in modum naturae; ergo qui sunt in gratia quanto plus accedunt ad finem, plus debent crescere. Et ideo dixit non deserentes, sicut quidam, sed consolantes. Et hoc, tanto magis quanto videritis appropinquantem diem, id est terminum. Rom. XIII, v. 12: nox praecessit, dies autem appropinquavit. Prov. IV, 18: iustorum semita, quasi lux splendens proficit, et crescit usque ad perfectum diem.

Following this, when he says ‘and so much the more,’ he gives its reason. For someone might say: ‘Why ought we to advance in faith?’ Because natural motion, the more it reaches its terminus, the more intense it becomes. The contrary is the case for violent motion. But grace inclines in the mode of a nature. Therefore, those who are in grace, by however much more they approach the end, the more they ought to grow. And therefore he says ‘not forsaking,’ as some do, ‘but consoling.’ And this ‘so much more, the more you see the day approaching,’ that is the terminus. ‘The night is passed, and the day is at hand’ (Romans 13:12). ‘The path of the just, as a shining light, goeth forwards and increaseth even to perfect day’ (Proverbs 4:18).

(St. Thomas’s Commentary on St. Paul’s Epistle to the Hebrews C.10, Lectio 2, n.513)

Proposition of Jan Hus condemned at the Council of Constance:

“There is nothing whatever to show that the spiritual order demands a head who shall continue to live and endure with the Church Militant.”

Enraptured by the splendour of thy heavenly beauty, and impelled by the anxieties of the world, we cast ourselves into thine arms, O Immaculate Mother of Jesus and our Mother, Mary, confident of finding in thy most loving heart appeasement of our ardent desires, and a safe harbour from the tempests which beset us on every side.

~ Pius XII

“For if the enemies of the truth never have enough of blaspheming our Benefactor, we must be all the more tireless in praising the God of all.”

- St. John Chrysostom