From the wonderful website, 'Mystics of the Church; an astounding mystic; http://www.mysticsofthechurch.com/2015/01/maria-teresa-carloni-modern-day-mystic.html Maria Teresa Carloni, A modern day mystic and stigmatic Posted: 13 Jan 2015 07:28 PM PST Maria Teresa Carloni, A modern day mystic Maria Teresa Carloni, (1919-1983) A modern day stigmatic with exceptional mystical gifts -The mystic who came back to the Catholic faith at age 32 The webmaster would like to gratefully thank Mrs. Angelica Avcikurt for translating from the original Italian the inspiring and informative passages below. May God reward her for her efforts. Introduction Maria Teresa Carloni, a twentieth century mystic, is better known in Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Bulgaria than in her native Italy. Known as the “Voice of the Silenced Church”, she dedicated her whole life to the persecuted Church under the Communist Regime during the Cold War. Early Years Maria Teresa was born in Undine, Italy on October 9, 1919 into a rich and aristocratic family. At the age of four, she became an orphan, and together with her brother Adolph, went to live with her grandmother. As a child and adolescent, she suffered from terrible scruples. This together with the fact that she met some priests and religious that were not leading edifying lives, kept her away from the Church. However, she desperately wanted to find God. At the age of 17 she tried once more to go to confession, but was misunderstood by the priest. She walked out of that church thinking she would never return but she turned to the Crucifix and said to Jesus, “We will meet again.” From 1939-1943, she studied to become a nurse. Although she felt she was far from God, she offered many sacrifices for the conversion of her patients and was even fired from a hospital unit for opposing abortion. When the Second World War started, she worked as a nurse for the Sovereign Order of Malta in Rome. Because of her outstanding service, she was given the Silver Medal of Valor by the military. While she was living in Rome, she fell in love with a young doctor. This young doctor, however, was tragically killed on the St. Angelo Bridge when they were together on a medical visit at night. Maria Teresa Carloni and Pope Pius XII Her First Meeting with Pope Pius XII After the bombings of the San Lorenzo neighborhood in Rome during WWII, everyone went there to assist the wounded, including Pope Pius XII. Maria Teresa was there aiding the wounded when she saw a “priest dressed in white.” She did not recognize the Pope and told him, “Hurry, Reverend Father.” And he did as he was told. Sometime later, she accompanied the soldiers from the hospital to an audience with the Pope at the Vatican. He recognized her and said to her, “How come you have not come here in such a long time?” [meaning to Church]. Not knowing what to answer, she said, “I haven’t been well.” To this, he replied, “So, you lie to the Pope?” Later, remembering this moment, she said she wanted the ground to swallow her. Her Conversion at age 32 After finishing a degree in Pedagogy in 1946, she returned to her native Urbania. On April 16, 1951, at the age of 32, she had a conversion. She made an appointment with the Parish Priest of St. Francis Church, Father Cristoforo Campana, because her grandmother was dying. She also wanted to speak with him, and told him all about her bad experiences with the Church and that this was her final attempt to come back. Fr. Campana accepted to be her spiritual director and she returned to the Church. On June 16, 1951, after asking her spiritual director, Maria Teresa makes a vow of perpetual virginity. From then on, her prayer and penitential life became more intense. The Beginning of her Mystical Experiences: Inner Locutions While working as nurse at the Bonomelli Foundation of Milano, a charitable institution, she was sent to the small town of Spotorno, to do educate children about TB prevention. Soon after her arrival there, an epidemic broke out and she was quarantined with the children. This is when her first mystical experiences started and she then began writing letters about it to her spiritual director, Fr. Campana. She felt that another person was talking inside her head and when it stopped, she would answer. At the beginning these dialogues lasted just a few minutes, but as they became longer, she used to leave whatever she was doing and hide somewhere so that people would not become alarmed. Her spiritual father, of course, was cautious, and told her not to pay attention to this Voice, that it was probably her imagination. However, no matter how much she tried to ignore this, it continued and her fighting it took a toll on her health. Once she was back in Urbania at the end of March, 1952, Father Campana wanted to look into what was happening to her. This is what he wrote: “While she was speaking to me, I noticed that she would half close her eyes, become distant, and start talking to “someone” invisible. It would last from between fifteen minutes to half and hour. Then everything would return to normal. She would become embarrassed when she realized I was there and would say:- 'It is not my fault. You are still here?” Fr. Campana, consulted many books about mystical phenomenon, and since her conversations were highly spiritual and he found no doctrinal error in them, he decided to allow this to continue. This took place regularly every Friday. Maria Teresa receives the Stigmata One Friday when Fr. Campana was present, he heard the “Voice” say to him, through Maria Teresa, “I want to repeat my Passion in this creature. You, being her spiritual father, can accept or reject this from happening, because you are the authority that represents Me, but know that this is My will.” Even though Fr. Camapna understood who was talking to him, he asked, “But who are you?” “I am Jesus. This soul has offered herself to me and I have accepted her offer. She will be a victim for the salvation of many, according to what she has told you.” “What should I do?” “Next Good Friday, her hands feet and heart will be pierced. The wounds will not appear externally, because everything must remain hidden, as you said, but later, whenever you want, you can make them appear and they will be seen visibly.” In this dialogue, we can see the greatness of the priesthood in Jesus’ words. Jesus leaves the decision of whether the stigmata will be internal or external up to Maria Teresa’s spiritual director, Fr. Cristoforo Campana, who later became a Monsignor. When Maria Teresa regained consciousness, she did not remember anything of what was said in this dialogue between Jesus and her spiritual director. Fr. Campana then asked her, “If Jesus wanted a closer union with you, to unite you to His sufferings, what would you say?” “If He wanted this, then I am willing.” “He wants it.” Fr. Campana replied. On Good Friday, April 11, 1952, [which incidentally is also the feast day of another stigmatic, St Gemma Galgani] Fr. Campana went to see her at 2:45pm and found her suffering in bed. He asked her if she was suffering much, and with her teeth clenched almost unable to open her mouth, she said, “So much.” At 3:00pm Fr. Campana witnessed her terrible suffering as she appeared to be nailed to the Cross and then it appeared she had given her last breath and expired. She remained like that for a few minutes, and then opening her eyes, she smiled and said, “It is done.” However, she was not able to get out of bed until midnight.
Mystical Espousal On December 20, 1952, Maria Teresa received the grace of the spiritual marriage. The “Voice” had asked Fr. Campana to bring her to Church. At 9:30 she knelt before the Altar and almost immediately a dialogue between her and Jesus began. Fr. Campana heard the following: “Jesus accepts to be your husband but he wants his wife to be like him, persecuted, trampled on, slandered, and suffering always in body and spirit.” Fr. Campana then heard Jesus tell him, “Go up to the altar, lift the tablecloth, take the gold ring and put it on my wife as a tangible sign of my espousal to her.” The priest found the ring and placed it on Maria Teresa’s finger telling her, “It is not from me. “Someone” is giving it to you as a sign of His union with you.” That ring had been left at the Altar by a wife who was disappointed with her marriage. Her Special Mission, Victim soul and Bi-location On January 4, 1953, Fr. Campana finds out that Ivana Puskin had died. Ivana was the great granddaughter of Alexander Sergeevic Puskin, considered to be the father of contemporary Russian literary language. Ivana was Catholic and was active in the underground Church movement. She had offered herself as a victim for the salvation of Russia, but had purposely excluded Stalin’s salvation because of the horrendous crimes he had committed. One Friday, when Maria Teresa was suffering the Passion of Jesus in her body, Jesus informed Fr. Campana of the death of Ivana Puskin and asked him to tell Maria Teresa if she wanted to take the place of this victim for the salvation of Russia and the other countries ruled by the doctrine of atheistic materialism. Maria Teresa answered, “If the Lord wants it and gives me the necessary strength, I accept.” With this acceptance her spiritual and physical sufferings increased and so did the demonic attacks. At the beginning of March, 1953, Stalin was dying. The following Friday the “mysterious voice” told Fr. Campana, “Now, I will ask you something, if you allow it and this creature agrees. Before Stalin dies, I want to give him the possibility of being saved, like I do with all redeemed souls, despite his crimes. If you two accept, I ask you to offer these three hours for the soul of Stalin. But don’t be alarmed by the sufferings that this creature will undergo.” Maria Teresa accepted this and suffered terribly for three hours. Fr. Campana who was with her, could not stop crying and saying, “Enough.” After the three hours she came back to normal. It seems, however, that Stalin did not benefit from the grace that Jesus offered him at the moment of his death. Blessed Elena Aiello, another Italian mystic, was granted a vision of hell in which she saw the soul of Stalin and a place for his followers. After Stalin’s death, the persecution of the Church in the Communist countries continued. In the meantime, Maria Teresa’s sufferings increased and according to Fr. Camapana new mystical phenomena started. One Sunday afternoon, Fr. Campana heard the “Voice” tell him that Cardinal Stepinac, from the place he was confined, had managed to organize in the mountains surrounding Krasic, groups of faithful which he visited with other clandestine priests, Croatians, and refugees from nearby countries. He used to go see them once in a while to encourage their faith. That Sunday, the Cardinal’s legs were hurting him more than usual because of bad circulation, but he wanted to attend at all cost that meeting in the mountains. The “Voice” asked Fr. Campana to tell Maria Teresa if she would take the Cardinal’s pain upon herself to free him from it so that he could go to this meeting. She accepted and immediately went to bed because of the pain in her legs. In the meanwhile, Cardinal Stepinac was able to fulfill his mission. This taking upon herself the sufferings of others, together with the phenomenon of bilocation, started happening almost daily as she assisted priests who were being tortured in communist countries. Fr. Campana noted that Maria Teresa started sweating blood on Good Friday, 1954 and bilocated for the first time on December 6 of the same year. This first bilocation was to Cardinal Wyszynski, who was suffering because of having been tortured. Actually, she became like a transmitter-receiver for persecuted persons. She could hear people calling for help from far distances. These mystical phenomena allowed Fr. Campana to make contact with leaders of the persecuted Church, who could not contact the Holy See. Through this special mission of Maria Teresa, Fr. Campana would keep the Pope up to date with what was happening in these places. Besides traveling by bilocation, Maria Teresa also traveled physically to many of these places and was able to visit leaders of the Church even in prison. Her first trip was to Innsbruck, where she met with Card. Stepinac, and visited Card. Mindszenty in prison. She wrote a report about this trip entitled, “From Innsbruck to Rome,” which was given personally to Pope Pius XII. Often she went by bilocation wherever she was needed. After the failed rebellion in Hungary, Fr. Campana sent her there in bilocation to encourage the Hungarian people. These trips in bilocation would take a toll on her physically and spiritually making her very weak. Her mystical ability to read souls and detect blessed objects, and Pope Pius XII Earlier we mentioned her first providential encounter with Pope Pius XII in the Roman neighborhood of San Lorenzo after a bombing. Because of her special mission, she would get to meet many times with Pope Pius XII in the Vatican. Her spiritual father would make the appointment with the Pope. When she would arrive in Rome at the train station, a Swiss Guard would come pick her up to take her to the Vatican. She sometimes had dinner with the Pope and then they talked all night. The Pope was very interested in what was happening in those areas, he even cried when he heard of the tortures and the sufferings those people had to endure. Pope Pius XII also invited her to Castel Gandolfo. At that time, in 1955, Pope Pius XII was concerned about the Eucharist and about how Mass was being celebrated by priests. Since he knew that among the many spiritual gifts that Maria Teresa had, was the gift of being able to tell apart consecrated hosts from unconsecrated hosts, he ordered Maria Teresa to attend all the Masses celebrated on June 13, 1955 from 7-8:30 in St. Peter’s Basilica and keep a record of how many Masses where celebrated by priests who were in a state of grace, how many in a state of grace but with imperfection, how many in venial sin, how many in mortal sin, how many were sacrilegious, and how many were celebrated in a distracted manner. Maria Teresa later met the Pope to give him the report: Masses celebrated with attention and intention, 6; Masses where the celebrant was distracted but the Mass was still valid, 8; Masses in which the celebrant was so distracted that the consecration did not take place, 1; Masses celebrated by priests with deliberate venial sins, 5; Masses celebrated by priests in mortal sin but not sacrilegious, 2; sacrilegious Masses, 0.
A Eucharistic Miracle The day she gave the Pope this report, she had lunch with him and then they took a walk in the Vatican Gardens. During their walk, the Pope took out of his pocket a theca with 4 hosts. He showed them to Maria Teresa and asked, “Which of these 4 hosts are consecrated?” Maria Teresa, making two of them fall on the ground, pointed to the two left in his hand and said, “These ones are consecrated.” To this, the Pope said, “Let’s ask the Lord to give us a sign that these are consecrated.” Then suddenly, two blots of blood appeared on the two hosts that the Pope was holding. The Pope was moved to tears and knelt and so did Maria Teresa. She gave one of these hosts to Maria Teresa and told her to put it in a Theca and keep it close to her heart under her clothes. There were many meetings between Pope Pius XII and Maria Teresa Carloni. On September 30, 1956 at Castel Gandolfo, Pope Pius XII was present during Maria Teresa’s mystical suffering of the three hours of agony. She lay on the papal bed and the Pope knelt at the bedside crying. Her last audience with Pope Pius XII was on September 29, 1958 at Castel Gandolfo. At this meeting Maria Teresa told him about her recent trip to Russia (August 6-17, 1958) The Pope cried a lot when he heard of the terrible sufferings of the people there, and then said to Maria Teresa, “Goodbye, my daughter.” On October 9 at around 3:00am, the Pope appeared to Maria Teresa at her home in Urbania to entrust to her the Silent Church [the Church in persecuted areas under the Communist regimes]. At 3:52, Pope Pius XII was dying in Castel Gandolfo. Many years later, when Maria Teresa was distressed because of problems and tensions among the Curia in Urbania, Pope Pius XII appeared to her dressed in red on the anniversary of his death. She asked him, “Why are you not wearing white?” He replied, “Because you love the martyrs and not the clergy. You are “anticlerical” but I understand you. It is not your fault. You are just a victim. At the end of my life I was also “anticlerical.” Being “anticlerical” today means being against those priests who are not priests, and not against God and the clergy who defend him.” “But where are those priests?” she asked “There are very few, even though there are many priests in the world. Good night.” and then he disappeared. Her mystical reflections on how priests celebrate Holy Mass As it was mentioned in the previous section, Maria Teresa was asked by Pope Pius XII to attend all Masses celebrated at St. Peter’s Basilica on June 13, 1955 and give him a report. The following are Maria Teresa’s comments on what she experienced during different Masses depending on the attention and holiness of the priest: Holy Masses celebrated with attention and intention. This is how I define those Masses that give my participating spirit, peace, wellbeing, and sometimes, although rarely, much joy, These emotions begin at the Offertory if it is done properly, with intention and attention…my sense of calm and wellbeing increase progressively as we get to the Consecration. At this point, even before the attentive priest pronounces the words of Consecration, I substantially feel the human and divine presence of the Redeemer. Then if joy follows, and there is maximum perfection at that moment on part of the priest, I even forget the liturgical aspect of the Mass to live the Holy Sacrifice in the joy of the Resurrection, even though His Passion moves my spirit. Holy Masses celebrated with distractions but valid. An Offertory said in a distracted manner by the priest, creates in me the same feeling. I cannot seem to concentrate and my mind dwells on things of the world…I attend the Holy Sacrifice with no interest, listless, and bored; and these feelings continue up to the Consecration…I follow every phase of the celebrant. Then, during Holy Communion, I experience sorrow because I feel the Holy Sacrifice is about to be consumed unworthily, and the celebrant will descend from the Altar with a venial sin. Holy Masses celebrated with so many distractions that the Consecration does not take place. From the Offertory, I feel a painful stab to my heart, that distresses me and tugs at me leaving me feeling very weak and dizzy…I cannot manage to follow the celebrant…at the Consecration, I first experience a mortal wound that jolts me, I am aware of the absence of our Redeemer on the Altar…I feel I cannot breathe, my breath is obstructed, and my throat dry…I notice that the priest shakes off the distraction about what he is doing and at least one of the species becomes consecrated…unhappiness and a feeling of loneliness overcome me…my body and my spirit tend to perceive the sins that are committed during the day…I am left with the certainty that the priest has committed a mortal sin. Holy Masses celebrated with deliberate venial sins. If the priest intentionally omitted making a sincere act of contrition before coming to the Altar, I feel it immediately, from the beginning of the Offertory, I get a feeling of dissatisfaction which indicates to me that the Mass will take place without the wholeheartedness necessary.
Holy Masses celebrated with mortal sin but not sacrilegious. I get the sensation that mortal sin is present in the celebrant, when he ascends to the Altar with the intent of opening the Missal. This impression is so clear and real that I can hardly resist not fleeing. At the Offertory, things get more complicated and become more horrifying...the Consecration causes me so much suffering that it is indescribable, nausea, a sharp pain in my head and my hear…the reason…is that I feel in a very real way that at the end of the Mass the celebrant now has two mortal sins. He was able to avoid sacrilege only because he did not have the opportunity to go to confession; but it would have been better if he had not celebrated Mass at all. Holy Masses celebrated sacrilegiously. Fortunately, I have only attended two of these many years ago…Here one cannot speak of suffering, pain, anguish, or torment…it is a matter of death and eternal damnation without any hope…At the consecration everything becomes gloomy, I feel in my flesh the bursts of heat from hell, at the same time my mouth is filled with a stench that tastes like excrement…I cannot follow the Holy Sacrifice at all, I suffer the pains of damnation…At Communion…the doors of hell close as if swallowing the soul of the celebrant and leaving me in the complete desolation of being separated from God whose only attribute which remains terribly present is His Justice…I feel and I know that the celebrant has added sacrilege to the Sacrifice, sacrilege that he already willingly carried in his soul before approaching the Altar and the destiny of his soul is only visible to God’s omniscience. Maria Teresa and Pope John XXIII Maria Teresa had four audiences with Pope John XXIII. In the audience of December 20, 1959, in the presence of Card. Ottaviani and Card. Wedel, Maria Teresa informed the Pope of what was happening in the persecuted Church. This report was based on her visits in bilocation to the leaders of the Church in those countries from December 1-17. The Pope gifted her with a chasuble which she kept in her private chapel in Urbania. During the audience on March 1961, Maria Teresa spoke to the Pope about the problems of the Church in Sudan, after her recent trip there. She spiritually adopted many seminarians from Sudan and prayed and suffered for them. On June 3, 1963, she went in bilocation to the dying pope. This is what she wrote: I went to the sick bed of John XXIII who was dying. He recognized me and entrusted to me the Silent Church. These were his exact words: “I have offered my life for the Council and for the Silent Church. Now I am dying but you should live for this. Upon my death, build the reason for your life and live for that. This is the inheritance that I leave you.” After Pope John XXIII died, she had several audiences with Pope Paul VI, who encouraged her to continue with her mission. Her pilgrimage to the Holy Land--Jesus appears three times as a shepherd to Maria and her friend Maria Teresa made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in January of 1967. In her diary, she writes about three encounters that she and her traveling companion had with Jesus. The first encounter happened at the Garden of Gethsemane. She was with a companion, named Jesus, and they were wondering about the exact location where Jesus had prayed in the garden. Maria Teresa said that they would need to ask Jesus himself where to kneel down and adore. The following is taken from her diary: January 3, 1967 An unknown group was ahead of us and a friar, who was their guide, led them to the inside of the Basilica. The two of us remained alone in the garden; we looked at the Kidron Valley down below and Jerusalem above. We went from one centuries-old olive tree to the next, caressing all of them with tenderness, trying to avoid the protrusion of the rocks that peek out from the ground, and we asked each other almost at the same time, “Which do you think is Jesus’ spot? We must be very close.” From behind us came the answer in perfect Italian: “You are here indeed, foreigners.” We turned around suddenly, certain that it must be a priest, but instead our eyes met a flamboyant young man, dressed in a local outfit, solemn and not excessively tall. His face was very tanned from the sun; his hair, semi hidden by a veil that covered his back down to his feet like a cape, was a copper red and long like that of a woman; his beard was the same color; his eyes which were a deep sea green revealed a look of unusual intelligence, his voice was baritone yet sweet. The tunic with the veil above his head was sky blue. His habit was white and long down to the ground and tied at the waist with a white belt. His right arm was straight along his side, his left hand, tapered and not rough like that of a working man, was holding a rough and long cane, like the ones that are still used today by shepherds. It serves as a support and to align the sheep. He was wearing sandals made with strips of leather. He was a very common man, except that he was elegant and pristine. My gaze, maybe for a second, got lost in the stranger’s gaze, and then he turned to my friend, who had turned so pale that he looked like a cloth that had been soaked in lye and he seemed dazed…I had an olive twig in my hand that I had broken off a random tree; it was a beautiful twig, young, green, vibrant. I squeezed it in my fist and hurt it. I realized that that man’s features were not beautiful, rather awkward and ugly but they emanated such manliness that they were attractive. We were three human beings but we looked like three statues. Even nature seemed to have become petrified. I… intended to break the ice, the silence, the stillness, and almost violently asked, “You speak Italian. Who are you?!” That baritone voice, not at all shaken by my explosion, but rather sweet and not less solemn than before, responded “I am the Shepherd.” I remained motionless not realizing the significance of the article, “the” and not “a” shepherd. Why- I was thinking- did he say “the” and not “a”? He apparently did not give any importance to my thought. He came close to me stretched his right arm to reach one of the centuries-old olive trees that was behind me and gave me a twig. He could not have chosen an uglier twig than that one! Its leaves were dry, dirty, with holes, shriveled. “This olive tree –he said placing the twig in my hand- is the one you were looking for. That is the one that saw the sleepiness of the apostles and the pain of God.” “But it is so ugly – I answered – mine is more beautiful.” “But mine –he replied- is the real one.” The scene was becoming awesome: my friend was still dazed and had not recovered, he was pale, his eyes were fixed without seeing, and with his mouth open like an idiot. I could react externally but I felt tormented. The unknown voice continued, calmly and melodiously, “You were looking for the holy spot on the rock: it is here, a stone’s throw away. Put your foot here and turn you back to Jerusalem and you – he told my friend picking up a stone- throw it with your eyes closed. Where it falls, there I cried.” While he obeyed, I, trying to keep my eyes opened, protested, “You are going to break the window of the Basilica.” The hand of the Shepherd took hold of mine without saying a word. The rock flew and seemed to hit an invisible obstacle a few centimeters away from the mosaic window and fell to the ground moving itself to the left. . He said, “It is done: there I cried.” I arrived to that place before my friend because I had seen where the rock had fallen, he had his eyes closed. I bent down and amidst the barren soil the small top of a rock stuck out. He also came running and prostrated himself, he dug his hands into the soil with so much violence that his nails were broken; then he jumped to his feet and yelled like a madman with his arms towards heaven, “It is Him. It is Him. It is Jesus.” The eyes of the Shepherd sparkled with happiness and he started to go away. ly: Edizioni Segno, 2014. Print.
That was very interesting and a beautiful description of Jesus too. I didn't really understand the anticlerical part and the pope wearing red after his death part. Can anyone explain that? And can a mass be invalid if the priest is not in a state of grace?
I think it mean that the visionary had a bad time with wicked priests through her life. Later on thorguh meeting good ones she realised they were not all the same way. Bu thorugh her mystical insight she was able to tell the good from the bad. Nevertheless she seems to have seen very many really wicked ones. So her anti clericalism continued, transformed so that she was anti clerical towards the wicked ones, but loved and respected the good ones. I admit I was perplexed by her views on the sacramental flow of grace as having been effected by the state of grace of the celebrant. I alway sunderstood that the graces still flowed no matter the sate of the priest. I might send an email to Glenn Dalliare the web host of mystics of the Church to askk about this. Curious. It is possible the translator from the Italian misunderstood? I must ask and see. I noticed but that several Popes were close to her and at least one was aware of her views on this matter. Still I am perplexed.
I could be wrong ,but Im pretty sure a priest in mortal sin will still say a valid Mass. Though he will commit a sacrilege in doing so.
Yes, I think so too. I also am unsure how a priest in a state of Venial sin might somehow obscure the mass. But I am rereading and rereading before asking Glenn Dalliare. The difficulty in language translation may be one cause. I will check and recheck before asking . I am very interested in this lady. Remarkable.
Yes, the Donatist heresy, back in St. Augustine's time, said if you were baptized or married by a a sinful priest you were not actually baptized or married. Augustine is the one to refute it and it has been a heresy to believe the sins of the priest take away the validity or grace of the sacraments he performs. This happened in the 4rth century.
Augustine's argument is that the sacrament is effectual because of the grace and power of God given in the sacrament itself which is not diminished by the priest's sins.
Two ways to look at it...maybe the grace that is given to priest is lost if they are in sin. But to the faithful in the church...the sacrament is validated by their faith. Those faithful have no idea, if priest is In sin. Brother al
Respectfully, I don't think so. The Catholic belief is that the grace is in the sacrament itself. That is why we don't rebaptize, even if a new convert had been baptized in another church, as long as there is water and baptism in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Most Protestants believe that baptism is merely a symbol based entirely on the faith of the one seeking baptism, we believe the sacrament itself is effectual. It may be true that faith is required to put to use the fullness of the graces given, but the graces are given.
http://www.ewtn.com/library/Liturgy/zlitur68.htm 'Normally, to celebrate Mass or receive Communion while in a state of mortal sin would be to commit a sacrilege. Yet, the sacrament would be valid; that is, there would be a true consecration and a true sacrifice. The reason is: Christ is the principal actor of the sacraments, so they are efficacious even when performed by an unworthy minister. As St. Thomas Aquinas says: Christ may act even through a minister who is spiritually dead. However, a priest who has fallen into mortal sin, but who is unable to make his confession despite his desire to do so, may celebrate Mass for the benefit of the faithful without adding a further sin of sacrilege. Thus, as Canon 916 of the Code of Canon Law states: "A person who is conscious of grave sin is not to celebrate Mass or receive the body of the Lord without previous sacramental confession unless there is a grave reason and there is no opportunity to confess; in this case the person is to remember the obligation to make an act of perfect contrition which includes the resolution of confessing as soon as possible (see also Canon 1335)."'
Never stated sacrament was not valid, priest recieve a special grace during the sacraments (personal grace). Just stated maybe they loose that because of mortal or venial sin. Its a great mystery dear Brother al
I noticed on studying the article does not claim that Maria Teresa did not herself make a claim that the mass could be invalid, it is clearly a sub title inserted by the author. Anyhow I pointed it out to Glenn and see what he says: https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?b...041899804786060487&page=1&token=1421595192062 'Hi Glenn, I am fascinated by Maria Teresa and posted a link to this article on my Mother of God Forum. However as both myself and several of our members have noticed the sub headline in the article , 'Holy Masses celebrated with so many distractions that the Consecration does not take place.', is in fact contrary to Catholic Teaching on the Economia of Sacramental grace. As St Thomas Aquina indicated, Christ may act even through a minister who is spiritually dead. I realise on carefully studying the article that Maria Teresa did not herself claim this and would suggest the sub heading be altered. Though perhaps I have misunderstood? Padraig. Mother of God Forum'
Here's my take on it: because she was a victim soul, she experienced what Jesus Himself experienced during these masses celebrated by priests not in a state of grace. This has nothing to do with the effects of the Sacrament on those assisting at the Mass.
Yes Kathy, I agree. I had very bad experiences like this in Rome a few weeks ago which caused me great concern. My worst experience though was a few years ago when I witnessed a very bad priest, a wicked man celebrate a mass which I believe was for me an absolute horror picture. At the consecration of the mass I saw demons strutting around the altar in triumph, one in particular with a large grim on his face. It was as though I was witnessing Christ being taken captive again in the Garden of Olives. These are of course only personal mystical. experiential / mystical phenomena and folks are free to take or leave them as they please. But that priest even looking at me caused me the very deepest shock and unease, horror..a living horror story. So I am very,very open to what Maria Teresa says about her own experiences for I have experienced them myself. They crucify Christ anew this loathsome priests. Having said this I had no doubt the Eucharist, the mass was valid. But in a way this was the worst part. Christ was held prisoner in a place that was like hell on Earth, demons everywhere, nailed to the Cross by a priest whose soul was utterly foul
Hi Padraig and my friends here in the M.O.G forum: I just posted this comment below the article on Maria Teresa Carloni article: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Padraig, Thank you so much for pointing this out! This is one of the reasons why I really appreciate the readers of this website--that is, for their efforts in pointing out possible errors and/or omissions in the articles here. So after I read your very valid comment I contacted Mrs. Angelica Avcikurt and she said that she too had the same concern when she was translating this particular section of the book, but that was in fact the actual paragraph heading, and not her interpretation. One of Angelica's suggestions to remedy the matter was to simply remove that section of the article, which I just did, because really there is so much other wonderful and interesting information in this article, that the omission if this particular part is really not that significant. Thanks again Padraig to you and our friends at the Mother of God forum for pointing this matter out. Best wishes and may God bless you and you loved ones. -Glenn Dallaire
