Call to Chivalry Bulletin – September, 2009

Our Lady’s Birth and the Triumph of Her Reign

By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira
Everything the Church does is wise. In Her wisdom, She classifies the different levels of honour to be paid to God, Our Lady and the saints. The first level, called latria or adoration, is only for God and Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the Incarnate Word.

The cult of dulia is veneration or mediation, which the Church pays to the saints. However, there is a special category of honour that the Church only pays to Our Lady, called hyperdulia. Our Lady ranks so high above all other saints that the Church had to create a special cult to describe devotion to her. This demonstrates the unique position of Our Lady in all creation.

The Church teaches this in a number of ways. For example: Besides that of Our Lord and Saint John the Baptist, no other birthday is celebrated; no other saint has more than one feast day per year; and while the Church does not allow the same saint to be represented multiple times on the same altar, She permits any number of images of Our Lady to be placed anywhere in a church. Also, the Church celebrates dozens of calendar feasts, liturgical ceremonies and pious practices in Our Lady’s honour.

Among these, Our Lady’s Holy Nativity has a special significance, since it marked a new era in the history of the chosen people.

Since the Old Testament is no more than the account of the wait for the Messiahs, it can be divided into two phases: The first would be the 4,000-5,000 years before Our Lady’s birth. The second is after that blessed moment in which Providence resolved to bring forth she, whose prayer would bring the Messiahs.

Her birth was the arrival of that perfect creature who was full of grace before God. Without her, the prayers and sufferings of all humanity would have failed to bring the Incarnation. However with her, the trajectory of history was forever changed. All prayers became more effective and a new manner of blessings and graces began producing sanctity like never before.

Our Lady served as the “Doorway to Heaven” that the hope of the Messiahs’ coming passed through. Her presence on earth was the occasion for signal graces. The height of her contemplation gave her a force of presence. It made her a fountain of so many and such high graces, that her very existence was an annunciation of Our Lord’s coming.

Thus, the feast of Our Lady’s nativity is very dear. It is the beginning of the Redemption that would eventually defeat the evil powers of paganism and the Gentiles.

There is a profound relationship between Our Lady’s coming and what is occurring in modern society. Once again, Our Lady has taken a pivotal role in history, by raising up souls that burn with the desire for her reign amid the darkness of neo-paganism. They clamour for it and fight for its implantation on earth.

These souls are like Our Lady of the Old Testament. The light has not yet come; neither has the redemption, victory nor liberation from the devil. However, these souls spread graces of hope and determination, in such a way, that they herald the coming victory.

Thus, Our Lady’s nativity is symbolically repeated to prepare the coming of Her reign, prophesied by Saint Louis de Montfort and the apparitions of Fatima.

For those who desire Our Lady’s victory, this feast day is especially important. These should pray fervently, for the immediate coming of Her reign, when the long dark night of sin will be eclipsed by her triumph.

The proceeding text has been taken from an informal lecture Professor Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira gave on September 8, 1966. It has been translated and adapted for publication without his revision. –Ed.

The Peacock and the Swan (*)

by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira
The peacock and the swan, both having inherent superiority, symbolize nobility in different ways and degrees.

The peacock, richly and intricately adorned, invites admiration and analysis. The swan, on the other hand, ornamented only with white, is noble in its extreme simplicity. Yet, white is the synthesis of all colours, so all the beauty inherent in the peacock is also present, however simply, in the swan.

The peacock was created to live on land; the swan, to live on water. Although no posture could be simpler than floating, the water exquisitely reflects the swan’s gracefulness.

The peacock possesses luxuriant plumage, and how marvellous it is! But the swan’s silhouette is much more elegant. The swan’s slender neck, more than anything else, imparts this elegance as it curves gently backward and upward to its culmination. From the height of this graceful arc, the swan calmly searches for the tiny aquatic creatures that provide its nourishment.

That one thing moves another is attractive, and the more modest the mover, the more noble the motion itself. The swan, with discreet movement of its feet, glides smoothly over the water — leaving us rather envious.

In sum, the peacock enjoys all the nobility and beauty inherent to complexity and talent, while the swan possesses a majesty born from its very simplicity.

Which of the two is the more noble?

The purity and simplicity of the swan, intrinsically high qualities, are indeed admirable, so it would be easy to say that it is the more beautiful because of its simplicity.

Imagine, however, a golden crown encrusted with precious stones and another crown of the same style, yet merely gilded. Which would be more attractive? Evidently, the one embellished with precious stones. Do the “precious stones” on the peacock’s plumage not represent for the Peacock, what the precious stones represent on the crown?

(*) Excerpted and adapted from a conference given by Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira, on November 6, 1992, without revision by the author.

Saint Igntius of Loyola

Catholic Quotes

Few souls understand what God would accomplish in them if they were to abandon themselves unreservedly to Him and if they were to allow His grace to mold them accordingly.
- St. Ignatius Loyola

Prayer of St. Ignatius Loyola
Lord, teach me to be generous.
Teach me to serve you as you deserve;
to give and not to count the cost,
to fight and not to heed the wounds,
to toil and not to seek for rest,
to labor and not to ask for reward,
save that of knowing that I do your will.

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