La Parola: O Rex Regum

ISSUE 05 | NOVEMBER 2023

La Parola O Rex Regum

An Angelicum Student Publication

November 2023 Dear Angelicum Community,

Cara comunità dell’Angelicum,

In this time of global strife, we must always return to our Lord for strength. Jesus Christ has conquered sin and death, and His kingdom will have no end.

In questo tempo di conflitti globali, dobbiamo sempre tornare al nostro Signore per trovare forza. Gesù Cristo ha vinto il peccato e la morte e il suo regno non avrà fine.

In the spirit of this constant reliance on the Lord, and in praise of the grace He works in us through our baptism, this year’s La Parola has as its theme “O Rex Regum, O King of Kings”.

We hope the many reflections in this work may be a source of enlightenment. Through the lives of the saints, we hope you are inspired by His call to reign over the created world with charity just as they did, no matter your state or station.

Nello spirito di questo costante affidamento al Signore, e in lode della grazia che Egli opera in noi attraverso il nostro battesimo, La Parola di quest’anno ha come tema “O Rex Regum, O Re dei Re”. Ci auguriamo che le numerose riflessioni contenute in quest’opera possano essere fonte di illuminazione. Attraverso le vite dei santi, ci auguriamo che siate ispirati dalla Sua chiamata a regnare sul mondo creato con carità, proprio come hanno fatto loro, indipendentemente dal vostro stato o dalla vostra posizione.

As we enter into Advent, let us meditate on the coming of our King, who deigned to enter our world in a humble manger.

Mentre entriamo nell’Avvento, meditiamo sulla venuta del nostro Re, che si è degnato di entrare nel nostro mondo in un’umile mangiatoia.

God bless you one and all,

Dio vi benedica tutti,

ASPUST

ASPUST

Matthias Stomer, Adoration of the Shepherds, 1632 Cover: Peter Paul Rubens, Adoration of the Magi, 1609

CONTENTS A STUDENT’S PRAYER/PREGHIERA DELLO STUDENTE

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THE CROWN OF THORNS AND THE CROWN OF GLORY

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by Father Raymond Wayne Pendleton

MUNUS TRIPLEX: PRIEST, PROPHET AND KING

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by Dominic Nalpon

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SAINT LOUIS IX, KING OF FRANCE

by Père Henri Poujol, O.S.B.

SAINT ELIZABETH, QUEEN OF HUNGARY

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by Elizabeth Rose Mazza

“MY KINGDOM IS NOT OF THIS WORLD”

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by Father Antonio Rafael Medialdea Villalba, O.P.

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THE BLESSED ULMA FAMILY

by Victoria Rose Cartaya

LIVING THE KINGSHIP OF CHRIST IN MY PRIESTLY MINISTRY

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by Father Michael Baggot, LC

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SAINT OLAF II, KING OF NORWAY

by Ludvig Hareide

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SAINT THOMAS OF CANTERBURY

by Barnabas Mercer

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ARAGORN AND ALLEGORESIS

by Father Alcuin Friesen O.Praem.

SAINT HEDWIG, QUEEN OF POLAND

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by Weronika Cichosz

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QUEEN OF HEAVEN, REJOICE!

by Ciarán Pearse Rooney

LAYOUT & GRAPHIC DESIGN Bénédicte Cedergren

This magazine is the fruit of Angelicum students’ talents. For the next issues, we need your submissions!

If you would like to submit your writing to be considered for publication, please write to laparolapust@pust.it.

Questa rivista è il frutto del talento degli studenti dell’Angelicum. Per i prossimi numeri, abbiamo bisogno del vostro contributo!

Se voleste inviare i vostri lavori per essere presi in considerazione per la pubblicazione, scrivete a laparolapust@pust.it.

A Student’s Prayer

BY SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS

Creator of all things, true source of light and wisdom, origin of all being, graciously let a ray of your light penetrate the darkness of my understanding. Take from me the double darkness in which I have been born, an obscurity of sin and ignorance. Give me a keen understanding, a retentive memory, and the ability to grasp things correctly and fundamentally. Grant me the talent of being exact in my explanations and the ability to express myself with thoroughness and charm. Point out the beginning, direct the progress, and help in the completion. I ask this through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Preghiera dello Studente DI SAN TOMMASO D’AQUINO

Creatore ineffabile, tu che sei chiamato vera fonte della luce e della sapienza e principio supremo, degnati di far penetrare nelle tenebre del mio intelletto un raggio della Tua luce.

Allontanando da me le doppie tenebre in mezzo alle quali sono nato, quelle del peccato e quelle dell’ignoranza. Dammi acutezza nel comprendere, capacità di ritenere, metodo e facilità nell’imparare. Concedimi sottigliezza nell’interpretare e grazia copiosa nel parlare.

Inspira l’inizio, guida il progresso, corona la fine: Tu che sei vero Dio e vero uomoe vivi e regni nei secoli dei secoli.

Amen.

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Andrea di Bonaiuto da Firenze, Saints Peter the Martyr and Thomas Aquinas Refute the Heretics, 1365. Detail of The Church Militant and the Church Triumphant fresco in the Spanish Chapel of Santa Maria Novella, Florence.

THE CROWN OF THORNS AND THE CROWN OF GLORY

BY FATHER RAYMOND WAYNE PENDLETON

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n the celebration of the mystery of Christ the King, we are reminded of an important truth: the Son of God does not hold back. By virtue of his divinity, Christ was already King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the one through whom all things were made. Still, the Son of God became man, adding nothing to his divinity but bestowing everything upon humanity. No, our Lord Jesus Christ does not hold back, since he has left us an inheritance which grants us complete access to his divine life with the Father and the Holy Spirit in heaven. From the day of our baptism, we wait in hope for what was prophesied by Isaiah:

sacrificial love to have a foretaste of heaven, the life which the blessed saints enjoy without end.

We may be surprised—and overjoyed!—to find that the crown of thorns was really the crown of glory all along. St. Thomas Aquinas can help us meditate on our participation in Christ’s Kingship: “Not only will men then be free, but indeed they will all be kings: “And Thou hast made us to our God a kingdom.” [...].

This is because all shall be of one will with God, and God shall what the saints will, and the saints shall will whatsoever God wills; hence, in the will of God shall their will be done. All, therefore, shall reign, because the will of all shall be done, and the Lord shall be their crown.” (Catechism of St. Thomas

“In that day the Lord of hosts shall be a

crown of glory and a diadem of splendor for the remnant of his people” (Is 28:5).

Aquinas).

The crown of glory that sits on the heads of the blessed in heaven isn’t made of gold; it is the glory and splendor of the glorious Christ Himself!

Endurance and perseverance in doing good in difficult situations is part of what it means to be united to Christ.

However, we exercise our kingship more perfectly when we suffer for the good of another. Christ did not suffer and die for himself but for us. We can offer our sufferings and our penances for the good of others. A true king is both wise and selfless, a lesson we learn from Christ himself. The unsightly crown, should we decide to keep it fastened to our heads, is really Christ’s reign over our intellect and will, without which we cannot be truly wise and selfless as we make our way toward heaven. Living the Via Crucis with Christ is doing God’s will here on earth. It is a very real foretaste of heaven, but it is a foretaste, since in heaven the will of the saints will be accomplished without suffering.

Still, it is a source of hope and motivation for us when times become difficult, and it seems that we do not amount to much. The truth is, however, our Lord Jesus Christ has raised us up from nothing and has adorned us with Himself.

The image of the glorious saints with the diadem of God’s splendor is a beautiful and powerful one, but it seems so far off. Indeed, it is, since even a second is far too long for the faithful to remain here on earth. The truth is, however, that we have already been given a crown. We are already kings.

It’s just that the crown doesn’t seem glorious at all. It’s dulllooking and painful—it’s the crown of thorns.

The most precious head of Christ was pressed by a crown of thorns before accepting the cross. Through baptism, we receive everything of Christ’s, including the jagged crown and the cross. Albeit the crown is not as tight and the cross not as heavy, nevertheless we do beat them.

It sounds gloomy. No one wants to suffer, but the true Christian experience on earth is suffering with the hope and the joy of eternal glory through Christ. Christ was not surprised when he rose from the dead and ascended to his heavenly throne. He knew his suffering and death would be the cause of our salvation and our entrance into the heavenly kingdom. If there is one thing we learn from the Holy Mass, it is that the way to heaven is the Via Crucis, the Way of the Cross. We approach the altar of Christ’s

May the grace of Christ strengthen us and help us to accept the crown of suffering in the joyful hope that it will become radiant with His splendor in the heavenly kingdom.

Father Raymond Wayne Pendleton, a priest for the diocese of Corpus Christi, USA, is second cycle theology student in canon law

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Munus Triplex Priest, Prophet and King

BY DOMINIC NALPON

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he first allusion to the munus triplex in the Catechism of the Catholic Church is at paragraph 436: “Jesus fulfilled the messianic hope of Israel in his threefold office of priest, prophet and king.” The munus triplex, or threefold office, refers fundamentally to Jesus Christ’s priestly, prophetic, and royal function, or office, or duty. The earliest known mention of the triple office is by Eusebius of Caesarea in his Church History: “certain of the prophets themselves became, by the act of anointing, Christs in type, so that all these have reference to the true Christ, the divinely inspired and heavenly Word, who is the only high priest of all, and the only King of every creature, and the Father’s only supreme prophet of prophets.” By virtue of our baptism, the triple office is applied to the members of the Body of Christ, the Church: all of the baptized share in the munus triplex according to their varied states of life. We shall now consider the nature of these three offices each in turn.

therefore eternally bridges the gap between God and man, while still praying for man; as Sacrificer, He offers Himself as the sacrifice and accomplishes once and for all the atonement and redemption that the priests of old sought repeatedly.

It belongs to the office of the prophet to teach: the teaching proper to a prophet is that of proclaiming God’s word and will, as seen with numerous Old Testament prophets and John the Baptist. The prophet’s role is described in Deuteronomy 18:18: “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brethren; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.” This verse may be glossed in two ways: first, the prophet is chosen by God Himself and therefore represents God to the people; second, his task is to communicate God’s word to the people. Jesus Christ, whose mission included the task “to preach good news to the poor” (Lk 4:18) and who was the prophet rejected by His own people (Lk 4:24), is the fulfillment of the prophetic office. He is the ultimate representation of God to man, being God Himself, and He is the ultimate communication of God’s Word since He is the Word of God. He also continued to reveal God’s will to the people, and in contrast to the formula that the prophets of old used, i.e. ‘thus says the Lord,’Jesus Christ frequently instead said ‘I say to you’, thus demonstrating that he is the Prophet par excellence: “In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son” (Heb 1:1-2).

It belongs to the office of the priest to sanctify, as first seen with Melchizedek in Genesis. With the establishment of the Aaronic and Levitical priesthood, it becomes apparent that the priest sanctifies through making an offering to God, or a sacrifice, from the Latin sacer and facio, literally means to make holy or to sanctify. The high priest is “appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins” (Heb 5:1). The priest, therefore, was the primary mediator between God and man, representing man to God, and offering sacrifices for the atonement of sins. Jesus Christ, the “great high priest” (Heb 4:14), is the fulfillment of the Priesthood.

He is the new and only Mediator, and offered the ultimate sacrifice on the Cross. As Mediator, Christ incarnates the Eternal Word in His humanity and

It belongs to the office of the prophet to teach: the teaching proper to a prophet is that of proclaiming God’s word and will, as seen with numerous Old

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the Anointed One, or the Christ or Messiah. Baptism incorporates one into the body of Christ, and thus all who are baptized share in the anointing of Christ, and consequently in His munus triplex: priest, prophet, and king.

Testament prophets and John the Baptist. The prophet’s role is described in Deuteronomy 18:18: “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brethren; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.” This verse may be glossed in two ways: first, the prophet is chosen by God Himself and therefore represents God to the people; second, his task is to communicate God’s word to the people. Jesus Christ, whose mission included the task “to preach good news to the poor” (Lk 4:18) and who was the prophet rejected by His own people (Lk 4:24), is the fulfillment of the prophetic office. He is the ultimate representation of God to man, being God Himself, and He is the ultimate communication of God’s Word since He is the Word of God. He also continued to reveal God’s will to the people, and in contrast to the formula that the prophets of old used, i.e. ‘thus says the Lord,’Jesus Christ frequently instead said ‘I say to you’, thus demonstrating that he is the Prophet par excellence: “In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son” (Heb 1:1-2).

Dominic Nalpon, a layman from Singapore, is a second cycle theology student in dogmatics

It belongs to the office of the king to govern, as seen quintessentially in King David, a man after God’s own heart who united the people; however, God Himself was always meant to be King over His people (1 Sm 8:7). Saul, the first king of Israel, was anointed to “reign over the people of the Lord and … save them from the hand of their enemies” (1 Sm 10:1). The role of the king was firstly to govern with authority and bring the people to their rightful end (St. Thomas Aquinas, De Regno I, 1, 3), and secondly to deliver them from those who sought to destroy them. Jesus Christ, who

“will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of [whose] kingdom there will be no end” (Lk 1:33), is the King of Kings who fully reigns over the Church and all creation. He rules with Divine authority since He is God, and thus fulfills the original plan of God being King over His people, and He leads His people to their rightful end, which is eternal life. As King, He delivers those in His Kingdom from the Enemy and death, having conquered death.

Just as priests, kings, and some prophets were anointed when they were called and appointed as such, Jesus is

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Detail of the Ghent Altarpiece, Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, by Hubert and Jan van Eyck in St. Bavo’s Cathedral, Ghent.

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Saint louis ix, king of france

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Saint et Roi

BY PÈRE HENRI POUJOL, O.S.B.

armi les saints que la France a donnés à l’Église, le roi Louis IX (1214-1270) est une figure particulièrement remarquable et connue, qui a eu un patronage d’une fécondité étonnante et diverse à travers les âges.

Cela va d’un titre des rois de France aux auspices des grands hommes politiques de la France moderne en honneur au Roi justicier, du «Montez au Ciel, Fils de Saint Louis» prononcé par l’Abbé Edgeworth le 21 janvier 1793 à l’épitaphe du tombeau de Montalembert à Picpus : «nous sommes les fils des Croisés, et nous ne reculerons pas devant les fils de Voltaire».

Jusqu’à la figure de dévotion, tout particulièrement franciscaine et capucine, puisque sa statue est présente dans nombre d’églises de cet ordre, y compris dans les églises des petits paesi du centre de la Sardaigne. Une statue de ce saint roi y est souvent exposée à droite de la représentation du Crucifié au-dessus de l’autel, dans une niche ajourant la paroi de séparation entre le chœur des frères et le sanctuaire. De l’autre côté se trouve la Reine Élisabeth de Hongrie, sainte franciscaine et royale, pendant fleuri de notre figure sylvestre qui exprime la justice et la miséricorde.

grands de ce monde, tout en étant scrupuleusement fidèle à la prière et à la réception des sacrements. Il se dépense sans compter pour la justice et la charité, et se ménage dans les joies de ce monde, sans les refuser pour autant.

Une autre source d’exemplarité dans la suite du Christ que nous offre Saint Louis est la joie qui émane de sa figure et de son dévouement. Au-delà de la figure naïve et bucolique qu’on lui prête depuis le 19e siècle français, la figure du saint qu’est Louis IX est celle d’un combattant, joyeux de se battre pour son Seigneur et pour les pauvres de tous ordres. Et si ce combat a été parfois violent, tant politiquement que moralement, il est tout entier gouverné par la paix. La joie est alors le fruit de cette paix, qui habite les combats du laïc qui sert le Christ dans le monde. Notre saint Roi nous livre par le testament qu’il a laissé à son fils, un témoignage inspirant pour vivre notre baptême dans les temps qui sont les nôtres. Il nous rappelle avec force que ce combat est gagné d’avance si nous prenons les armes que Dieu nous a données dans le Christ et que saint Louis a utilisé toute sa vie : l’amour de Dieu et de son Église.

N’étant ni historien, ni hagiographe ou théologien, le propos de cet écrit ne peut être qu’humble et limité. Aussi il n’y aura là rien d’extraordinaire ou de particulièrement autorisé. Il s’agit bien plutôt de réfléchir les traits de lumière que cette figure humaine ointe de grâce fait briller pour le monde actuel, ce monde qui lui est complètement étranger.

Pour commencer, ce grand roi est une figure de la sainteté du chrétien dans le monde. Il a accompli sa vocation à vivre du Christ non pas en dehors de sa charge royale mais au cœur même du service des ses sujets. Les écrits de Joinville témoignent de cette référence constante au Seigneur par tous les aspects de sa vie, de l’existence quotidienne jusqu’aux plus grandes décisions d’État. Les préoccupations et les troubles ne sont pas séparés de son union à Dieu, mais constituent la matière et l’occasion de sa conformation au Christ. Il s’engage dans la croisade pour libérer la Terre Sainte mais veille aussi à la sainteté de sa Cour. Il reçoit ambassades et

Emile Signol, Louis IX, dit Saint Louis, Roi de France, 1844

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Père Henri Poujol, O.S.B. from the Abbey of Saint Wandrille in France, is a second cycle philosophy student

From a letter to his son: “My first instruction is that you should love the Lord

your God with all your heart and all your strength…

If the Lord has permitted you to have some trial, bear it willingly and with gratitude, considering that it has happened for your good and that perhaps you well deserved it. If the Lord bestows upon you any kind of prosperity, thank him humbly and see that you become no worse for it, either through vain pride or anything else, because you ought not to oppose God or offend him in the matter of his gifts. Be kindhearted to the poor, the unfortunate and the afflicted. Give them as much help and consolation as you can.

Thank God for all the benefits he has bestowed upon you, that you may be worthy to receive greater.”

Saint Elizabeth of Hungary

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a crown of roses and a crown of thorns

BY ELIZABETH ROSE MAZZA

t is difficult to summarize a life of holiness, to capture the love of God in a human that radiates out towards others. What’s more, one would think that a life of royalty, filled with so many temptations, would exclude the possibility of sainthood, or at least make it extremely rare. And yet, the Church celebrates many royals who found sanctity in this state of life. They shone as examples of the love of God and brought many others with them on the path to holiness.

St. Elizabeth of Hungary is no exception. The niece of St. Hedwig, the wife of a monarch, and a mother of three royals, she lived a full life of sanctity.

St. Elizabeth is primarily remembered for her miracle of the roses. On her way to feed the poor, her husband, King Ludwig of Thuringia, asked her what she was carrying in her cloak. Upon opening it, roses fell at her feet, where there had once been loaves of bread. Although this miracle is beautiful and gives us an insight into part of Elizabeth’s life (her many acts of personal service to the poor and the sick, even amidst the duties of royal life), it shows only part of the picture.

St. Elizabeth placed her royalty at the service of Christ’s.

Once, when she placed her crown at the foot of a church’s crucifix and lay on the floor in prayer, she was ridiculed by family. She simply responded:

“How can I, a wretched creature, continue to wear a crown of earthly dignity, when I see my King Jesus Christ crowned with thorns?”

(Pope Benedict XVI’s General Audience, 20th Oct. 2010).

Her ladies-in-waiting also tell us of her strong commitment to justice. She refused to use anything that was not justly won, and strove for restitution to anyone who had been treated unjustly.

Often untold is the royal love story. Engaged from infancy, Saint Elizabeth and Ludwig were wedded when he took the throne of Thuringia at age eighteen.

With a profound respect for each other and love of

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God’s will, they were a beautiful example of sanctified married life in the trials of royalty. This was shown from the very beginning of their marriage, as St. Elizabeth took funds for the wedding feast and gave it to the poor. When people chided Elizabeth’s acts of mercy, Ludwig famously said that: “So long as she does not sell the castle, I am happy with her!” When Ludwig was called to the Crusades, Elizabeth bore the trial by telling him, “Far be it from me to detain you. I have given my whole self to God and now I must also give you.”

Elizabeth’s deep sorrow came at Ludwig’s early death in the Crusades. And yet, after time spent in solitude, Elizabeth picked herself back up and ran the kingdom. Her reign was interrupted by the jealousy of her brother in law, who expelled her from the castle. She continued to do good works of mercy throughout the land, wandering homeless for a time. Eventually, other relatives reinstated her good name, allowing her to settle back in one of the family’s castles.

Her spiritual director tells us how here, Elizabeth zealously followed Franciscan spirituality. She started a hospital, kept vigil over deathbeds, took on the most unpleasant of tasks, and was an angel to the poorest of the poor. How incredible it would have been to be one of these people, served by a queen at death’s door!

When she caught a fever at age 24 and lay dying, people flocked to see her. Asking finally for time in solitude with God, she died in November 1231. Only four years later, she was canonized by Pope Gregory IX. A lay woman, canonized in the medieval century, only four years after her death, sets Elizabeth apart indeed. Pope Benedict XVI calls St. Elizabeth a “consecrated woman in the world.”

May her life of holiness remind us that the pathway towards heaven may be strewn with many thorns, but the rose of love of God remains, leading us to love others, and bringing us to our heavenly home.

Elizabeth Rose Mazza, a laywoman from Wisconsin, USA, is a first cycle theology aluma

Francisco de Zurbarán, Saint Elizabeth of Thuringia, c.1635-1640

“My Kingdom is not of this World”

BY FATHER ANTONIO RAFAEL MEDIALDEA VILLALBA, O.P.

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fundamental part of the Church’s mission is the proclamation of the Word. In our contemporary world, while actions and their completion are greatly valued, we cannot forget what is central to our faith: the Word Itself. And as Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI pointed out, there is an intimate relationship between the proclamation of the Word and the kingdom of God: “Thus we grow in the realization, so clear to the Fathers of the Church, that the proclamation of the word has as its content the kingdom of God (cf. Mk 1:14-15), which, in the memorable phrase of Origen, [313] is the very person of Jesus (Autobasileia)” (cf. Benedict XVI, Verbum Domini 93). Christ, according to Origen, is the Kingdom itself.

pray that God and not sin may reign in us. Only a heart that wants God, and not sin, to reign in it can attain the kingdom.

Saint Thomas explains: “When we pray, ‘Thy kingdom come,’ we pray that we might participate in the heavenly kingdom and in the glory of paradise” (Catechism of Saint Thomas Aquinas). Indeed, when we pray “Thy kingdom come,” we pray on the one hand that everything be submitted to God, that He alone may reign in all creation, but we also pray that we may attain this kingdom, which is our supernatural end and the end of all the Beatitudes.

In addition to this petition in the Lord’s Prayer, we also find in it the direct and accidental means to reach the kingdom. Firstly, the principal means consists in fulfilling His divine will—“thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”—and the instrumental means by asking for the bread of the Eucharist—“give us this day our daily bread.” The accidental means are those that remove the obstacles to reach the kingdom: we pray that the Lord may “forgive us our trespasses [...] and [not] lead us into temptation but deliver us from evil” (cf. ST II-II q. 83, a. 9).

St. Thomas Aquinas makes references to other holy Fathers, such as St. Augustine and St. John Chrysostom, as he attempts to define the kingdom of God. According to St. Thomas, this kingdom is neither temporal nor mundane: it is eternal life. Aquinas’ references to the kingdom of God are abundant, in fact, he mentions it over 470 times, dealing with various aspects of it. By taking a closer look at the In Orationem Dominicam, the Compendium Theologiae, as well as the biblical commentaries Super Matthaeum (chapter 5) and Super Ioannem (chapter 18), we can mention some interesting ideas for further reflection.

Secondly, the foundation of this kingdom is not worldly. The kingdoms and governments of this world have their origin in historical events. Before the establishment of the order of succession, many kingdoms chose their kings; likewise, in democracies, it was—and still is—the people who chose their rulers. Thus we see that worldly rulers’ power originates from the world itself. However, the origin of Christ’s power is not of this world, but found in the Father. And it is precisely this origin which allows this kingdom to be based in turn on truth, where the One King, Christ, exposes everything from the truth. That is why the former prince of this world, the devil, was troubled at the birth of Christ, because it signified the end of his reign (cf. Super Matthaeum c. 2, l. 2).

Firstly, the way to this kingdom is, according to St. Thomas, through poverty, more specifically, through a necessary poverty of spirit. For this, we must learn to humble ourselves, to despise what Christ Himself despised and strive to detach ourselves from the honors of this world. The kingdom thus becomes a reward for those who walk this path, which the blessed receive non spe tantum, sed etiam re (Super Matthaeum c. 5 l. 2).

Nevertheless, this kingdom cannot be lived in its fullness until eternal life, because His kingdom “is not of this world” (John 18:36). Indeed, according to St. Thomas, the kingdom of God also signifies the glory of paradise. This makes it desirable for three reasons listed by the latter: the supreme justice, perfect freedom, and marvelous riches of heaven. Everything man seeks in this world he will find more perfectly in God alone.

Many desire these things, but only through a poverty of spirit can they be attained. Therefore, as St. Thomas points out, when we pray to God that His kingdom may come, we

Finally, we ought to remember that this kingdom cannot be reached or conquered by our own power. Only with the help of His divine grace can we reach the glory of His kingdom, where God reigns in the saints and the saints with God (cf.

Compendium Theologiae II c. 9).

Father Antonio Rafael Medialdea Villalba, O.P., from the province of Spain, is a doctoral student in theology

Caravaggio, The Crowning with Thorns, 1603

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THE BLESSED ULMA FAMILY

BY VICTORIA ROSE CARTAYA

T

he Blessed Ulma Family was recognized for their heroic hospitality towards persecuted Jews during the Holocaust on September 10th, 2023, when over 30,000 people gathered in Markowa, Poland to see the beatification. Josef and Wiktoria along with their 7 children were a leading example of the domestic church and the sacramental graces of marriage during the Holocaust. They are not only recognized as Martyrs in the Catholic Church, but are listed in the Garden of the Righteous Among the Nations at Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem, Israel.

Blessed Josef and Wiktoria were both raised in Markowa, Poland, in the Catholic faith which they both desired to pass down to their children. Josef was a social activist and involved in many diocesan groups. Wiktoria was passionate about the arts and involved in the theater of the local Church of St. Dorothy, casted as Our Lady in the Christmas Play. It is believed this is where they first met.

Josef Ulma married Wiktoria Niemczak with a huge celebration in town on July 7 th , 1935 which will be considered their feast day by the Catholic church. They were a well- loved couple and known for their hospitality by all. Wiktoria was described as “elegant, warm, hospitable, and always had a glow about her.”

Josef was an honest and hardworking man, a celebrated leader of the community and pioneering farmer of his time, who deeply loved his family and had a special gift for photography. Through his camera lens we can visualize how the Blessed family lived out their ordinary home life of work, play, and prayer with great virtue.

Stanislawa Kuzniar, Godmother of their third child, Wladziu, witnessed first-hand the beauty of their harmonious family life at home, saying “They loved each other and treated each other with great respect. In spite of their modest living conditions, there was never a moment of anger; there was no shouting or swearing or even a raised voice...There was only joy and harmony in that home.” Another local witness reported, “Josef knelt down to pray with the children at night, and supported Wiktoria while she recovered from birth”.

Wiktoria was very dedicated to her husband and 7 children, it was often recounted that she said, “Children are like flowers.

They need a lot of love, wisdom, attention, and proper care.”

Witnesses said, “Whenever they made a decision, they made it together. Josef always consulted his wife... and always walked a step behind her.” Based on evidence, this consultation even extended to when they made the decision to house eight

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people from three Jewish families in their home: the Goldmans, the Grunfelds, and the Didners, despite the risk of execution at the hands of the occupying Nazis.

They were an extraordinary example of how the beauty of a strong and loving marriage can yield fruits of great mercy and compassion by opening their home as the domestic church.

They did not stand silent in the face of suffering. As said at the beatification by Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, “Their house became the inn where a despised, rejected and mortally wounded man was welcomed and cared for.” The Ulmas feared God, not man, and trusted everyone in town. Unfortunately, a policeman from their own community betrayed this trust, and on March 24, 1944, at 4am, Nazis stormed their house, killing all 17 occupants, both the Ulmas and their guests.

“Do not be afraid of this executioner, but be worthy of your brothers and accept death, so that in the time of mercy I may receive you again with your brothers.” (2 Maccabees 7:29). For their witness, Blessed Josef and Wiktoria Ulma and their seven children: Stanisława, Barbara, Władyslaw, Franciszek, Antoni, Maria, and their unborn male son, were beatified on September 10, 2023 in Markowa, Poland. In their family bible, the parable of The Good Samaritan would be found underlined accompanied by a single word in Jósef ’s handwriting, “YES”. “The gesture of Józef and Wiktoria opening their doors to their neighbors was a “YES”; to God’s will”. The Blessed Ulma Family said “YES” every day to small sacramental graces of marriage and family life of love, peace, patience, and gentleness; enabling them to say “YES” to larger graces of self-sacrifice for their neighbors. As St. Paul would say, “Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” (1 Corinthians 13:78). The beauty of their marriage conquered death itself. They were an ordinary example of how the domestic church acts in the role of marriage and family life. In the words of Pope Francis:

“And following their example, let us feel called to counter the force of weapons with that of charity, the rhetoric of violence with the tenacity of prayer. Let us do this especially for so many countries suffering from war.”

(Witness quotes come from Martyred and Blessed Together, Fr. Pawel Rytel-Andrianik and Manuela Tulli, 2023)

Victoria Rose Cartaya, a laywoman from Virginia, USA, is a student in the Diploma program of the Institute for Ecumenical Studies

Wiktoria Ulma with her children (Wikimedia Commons)

Living the Kingship of Christ in my Priestly Ministry

BY FATHER MICHAEL BAGGOT, LC

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offices of teaching, governing, and sanctifying allow me to form those individuals dedicated to influential domains of society so that Christ might reign more manifestly in them.

ope Saint John Paul II roused the crowds in Rome and the world to embrace the implications of Christ’s universal kingship in society when he declared the following famous words during the Mass of his Papal inauguration on October 22, 1978:

Living the Kingship of Christ as a Professor The Moral Theology courses I have taught have guided undergraduates to pursue a moral life centered on virtues as a path to excellence. Many have reported the liberating power of approaching life in Christ primarily through the lens of authentic Christian freedom instead of stifling obligation. Thus, they experience the easy yoke and light burden of following the gracious King.

They grow in an appreciation for their daily family and professional life as the place of their sanctification and their opportunity to transform the temporal order.

“Do not be afraid. Open wide the doors for Christ. To his saving power open the boundaries of States, economic and political systems, the vast fields of culture, civilization and development. Do not be afraid. Christ knows ‘what is in man’. He alone knows it.”

As a young priest professor, I often look to the model of Fr. Karol Wojtyła. He exercised the first years of his academic and pastoral apostolate with the young lay people of Poland. He formed them with intellectual rigor in the classroom and accompanied them to spiritual and human flourishing outside the classroom (and sometimes into the mountains) through Mass, spiritual direction, marriage counseling, and his joyful paternal presence. By forming the future Catholic doctors, lawyers, politicians, artists, scientists, mothers, and fathers of Poland, he contributed significantly to his later papal vision of a society in which the Gospel permeates all sectors of society under Christ’s kingship.

My courses on Apologetics and the New Evangelization have equipped young students to see that sharing the Gospel is not reserved for a set of aloof experts but is the task of each believer in every encounter. They learn to submit every thought to Christ (II Cor 10:5), that He might rule their minds and enable them to communicate saving truths winsomely and persuasively. They appreciate the reasonableness of the faith and recognize that their King’s plans are wise. While only some of my students are called to evangelize in the lecture halls, they are all called to share and defend the faith in their homes and businesses.

I have likewise been privileged to form young lay people intellectually and spiritually to transform the temporal sphere in all aspects of family, professional, and political life. Since I work as a professor in Rome, most people understandably assume that I spend my day teaching and forming seminarians for the priesthood. While the training of the clergy is a noble task, it has not been mine in these first years of ministry. Instead, my mission as a professor of bioethics in the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum and an adjunct professor of theology at the Christendom College Rome program has brought me in contact with hundreds of international lay students called to bring the Gospel to their family and professional life in the world. I am not called to run for political office, pursue legal briefs, perform surgeries, or manage a multinational company as a priest religious. Yet, my

My courses on bioethics have formed doctors and nurses in the wise use of biotechnology for the preservation and healing of those in need. The classes have assisted lawyers in defending the vulnerable from manipulation at the hands of those in power, especially at the beginning and end stages of life. Moreover, my instruction has challenged politicians to craft legislation that reflects the natural moral law. In my direction of doctoral dissertations, I accompany students through the long and arduous process of offering a unique scholarly contribution that will shape their future careers. The construction of the culture of life in place of a throwaway culture will be impossible without the contributions of such future doctors, nurses,

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lawyers, politicians, journalists, mothers, and fathers.

I have also dedicated time each summer to the monthlong Catholic Worldview Fellowship program for young Catholics committed to an immersion in Catholic culture that will empower them for cultural engagement.

In particular, my lectures are devoted to an analysis of the lights and shadows of contemporary culture to prepare students for a more effective dialogue with their peers and leadership in the positive transformation of their surrounding culture. The classes help students understand the postmodernism and secularism that shape society and what the Church’s intellectual tradition can offer to purify and elevate such movements.

Moreover, my tours of key sites in Germany and Rome, testify to the convergence of Greek, Roman, Barbarian, and Jewish patrimonies in the formation of Christian civilizations. As a Vatican Museums tour guide, I show how beauty can pierce the heart and open minds to the contemplation of higher truths. Moreover, I assist pilgrims to find the rich Christian Humanism on breathtaking display in the Sistine Chapel, the Raphael Rooms, and throughout the inexhaustible museums.

Photo credit: Brett Taira, LC

empowered them to flourish in their personal mission.

Likewise, I am privileged to identify and cultivate the apostolic life in the small band under my care. Only with patient attention can I identify the gifts of my spiritual sons and daughters and then fan them into flame.

Living the Kingship of Christ as a Spiritual Director The King of the Universe mysteriously chose to limit His ministry to a small region of the mighty Roman Empire.

In his kenosis, He freely restricted His work primarily to the formation of a select group of Apostles. These Apostles then radiated the saving words and deeds of their Master to the nations through their teaching and martyrdom. They also learned from the chief Formator how to form communities that could transmit the Gospel to subsequent generations.

Because my blessed role as a spiritual father entails a unique responsibility for the sanctification of my spiritual children, I was eager to continue my formation through a License in Spiritual Theology at the Angelicum. Although I have taught theology for years, I am convinced that the ongoing study of the Church’s great spiritual masters will continue to bear fruit in my life and service.

The Kingdom of God, to which I have devoted my life, is a multidimensional mystery. As Pope Benedict XVI noted, the patristic patrimony refers primarily to a threefold meaning. The Kingdom is Jesus Christ, God’s unique manifestation, presence, and action in the world.

Christ exercises His rule in a special way in the hearts of believers through divine grace. This intimate personal presence in turn forms the community of the Church in which those who enjoy the King’s rule are more profoundly and peacefully united than in any merely human society. It is a joy and an honor to follow so great a King and extend His reign through my multifaceted ministry.

I powerfully experience my share in Christ the King’s personalized attention to his Apostles in my apostolate of spiritual direction. Through deep friendship and paternal love, I guide many young adults to discover, embrace joyfully, and live faithfully their particular role in “the Catholic Church, which is the kingdom of Christ on earth” (Quas Primas, 12). I direct them to a more intense life of prayer, disciplined ascesis, consistent practice of the virtues, and attentive docility to the working of the Holy Spirit in their daily life. In spiritual direction, the Gospel preached to the masses becomes a personal word applied to their utterly unique struggles and opportunities.

Father Michael Baggot, LC, PhD, Assistant Professor of Bioethics at

The Divine King knew his subjects well. He knew their strengths and weaknesses. He corrected the Apostles when necessary, but above all, he encouraged and

Regina Apostolorum and Research Scholar at the UNESCO in Chair Bioethics and Human Rights in Rome, is a second cycle alumnus in spiritual theology

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SAINT OLAV II, KING OF NORWAY

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Rex Perpetuus Norvegiae

BY LUDVIG HAREIDE

aint Olav, Perpetual King of Norway, was born neither king nor saint around 995 AD. At that time, Norway was not one kingdom, but a land ruled by various chieftains. Christianity was not entirely unfamiliar to the Norsemen, some were even baptized. There had been attempts of unification and Christianisation by kings in the past, but the culture was largely pagan. One might underestimate the difference between Norse paganism and Christianity, but the two could hardly be more opposed. Saint Olav’s life is one of slow transformation from one to the other.

of the poor. In 1028, the chieftains rebelled and Canute the Great was taken as king by all councils. Olav was driven into exile. He sought refuge in the house of the Grand Prince Yaroslav the Wise of Novgorod. Olav did not grow resentful, on the contrary, his faith became deeper, his mission more supernatural. After considering monasticism, and declining the kingdom of Bulgaria, Olav decided to return to Norway.

On July 29th, 1030, at Stiklestad in Central Norway, Olav fought the Danish army together with the Swedish and Norwegian army he had amassed. As the battle raged, Olav was axed just above his left knee. He then leaned on a stone, threw his sword, the Bæsing, and prayed “God help me”. He was then stabbed by a spear and axed in his neck. These three wounds resulted in the death of Olav. His final words show the completion of his conversion: he was no longer trusting the sword or power, but had placed his full confidence in God.

When Olav Haraldson was 12 years old, he went warring and plundering around the Baltic Sea, England, and the continent.

From the autumn of 1013 to the spring of 1014, he lodged in Rouen with the duke of Normandy. It was during this stay that Olav was baptized, at the age of 19 years old.

In 1015, Olav left for Norway to claim it as his inheritance.

Through fortune, family bonds and battles, he gained support for his cause, and was proclaimed king in 1016 by local councils. As Olav went forth, he preached Christ to his countrymen: he preached the might and strength of Christ, but also his mercy and forgiveness. Many converted, and those who refused were threatened with various punishments.

According to the Norse sentiment, it was the king’s right and privilege to decide the religion of his subjects; refusal to adhere was considered rebellion.

Saint Olav was buried in the banks of the river running through Nidaros, modern day Trondheim, and was dug up a year later. His body then gave off a sweet fragrance, and as his hair, beard, and nails had grown, he was proclaimed a saint by the bishop, and laid in a shrine on the high altar. Bishop Bernt Eidsvig of Oslo explains: “Olav was declared holy for that which became apparent, for that which happened after he fell at Stiklestad. The ideals of the king had now taken root in his people; his Christian law stood firm for the next 500 years. Wonders happened. His intercession was mighty. In his lifetime he had often been unreasonable; now he had become the mild and just one. After his death, the king persuaded his countrymen, including the strong and the brutal, that justice before God is more important than might founded on privileges. Only a saint could do that.”

Norway’s first Christian law was proposed by Olav himself and approved by all the local councils, and it is known as ‘St Olav’s law’: it demanded that Christian practices be held, such as Sunday rest for slaves, and forbade pagan ones, such as leaving unwanted children out in the forest or polygamy; and thus gave children, women and slaves some juridical protection.

Olav was zealous for the implementation of this law, and traveled far and wide to see to its keeping, and threatened those who would not, with loss of life, limb, and land.

St Olav is celebrated on the day of his martyrdom, on July 29th. His main attribute is the axe with which he was killed.

His body is probably buried beneath the floor of the Nidaros Cathedral, close to the high altar, and one of his leg bones is kept in his Cathedral in Oslo. There is an altar dedicated to him in Sant’Ambrogio e Carlo al Corso, where his baptism and conversion are celebrated on October 16th each year.

Olav became unpopular. He had consolidated power to himself and many saw him as a harsh ruler. The rich and mighty were indignant that he punished their crimes as strictly as those

Ludvig Hareide, a seminarian for the diocese of Oslo, Norway, is a first cycle philosophy alumnus

Pius Weloński, Sant’Olav II, Re di Norvegia, 1893

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St Thomas of Canterbury

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“For the name of Jesus and in defense of the Church I am willing to die”

BY BARNABAS MERCER

hen we look to the saints in the Church’s history, we are struck by God’s generosity with the transformative graces He bestows upon us.

Regarding the baptismal grace that entrusts us with the power to govern, the munus regendi, the saints remind us that authority is only Christ-like when it is exercised in self-denial and configured to the Cross.

In the presbyteral context, an example of such a saint is that of St Thomas of Canterbury, also known as St Thomas Becket, who was martyred for defending the authority of his office and that of the Holy See. He was born on the 21st of December 1118 and was schooled with the canons regular at Merton. Aged 24 he worked for the then Archbishop of Canterbury Theobald and received minor orders. In 1154, he was ordained to the Diaconate, and was made the Archdeacon of Canterbury (then a very high position within the Catholic Church in England). When he reached 36 years of age, King Henry II appointed him Chancellor, and the two shared a friendship of great depth and intimacy. At this point, Becket prioritized his chancellorship, behaving like a secular statesman rather than a cleric, keeping a lavish household and personally engaging in combat during a battle to take Toulouse with 700 of his own men.

He was also known to be bad tempered and violent. However, there are also accounts of him exhibiting great discipline and prayer even during this period. When Theobald died, Henry, hoping to encroach on ecclesiastical power, wanted to appoint Becket as Archbishop of Canterbury (which was the highest episcopal office in England, and still is today in the Anglican Communion), expecting him to placate his desires. However, Becket warned Henry that should he be appointed he would not cooperate with his plans. Despite his warning, the election was made in May 1162, after which he was ordained priest and bishop.

At this point, Becket’s focus switched from secular to ecclesiastical concerns. He lived ascetically, and was careful and fair in judgment of matters under his jurisdiction. He resigned his chancellorship, against the wishes of Henry, and resisted the crown’s attempts to press upon the Church’s authority.

At this point, Becket’s focus switched from secular to ecclesiastical concerns. He lived ascetically, and was careful and fair in judgment of matters under his jurisdiction. He resigned his chancellorship, against the wishes of Henry, and resisted the crown’s attempts to press upon the Church’s authority.

The first major conflict was at the Council of Clarendon in 1164. Here, Becket promised to accept some propositions from the crown that he later discovered to be a gross overreach of secular power, such as the requirement of royal consent for a prelate to leave the kingdom or appeal to the Pope, and even for the pronouncement of certain excommunications.

Becket expressed deep remorse for his prior agreement and appealed to Pope Alexander III for absolution, while Henry persecuted him for withdrawing his consent with dubious financial charges. Beckett took refuge in Sens, where Alexander III resided in exile, and had to be in negotiations with Henry for six years before he could return to Canterbury.

Upon his return, Becket still faced conflict. The Archbishop of York Roger de Pont-L’Eveque and two assisting bishops had crowned Henry II’s son as junior monarch without permission from Canterbury. Becket suspended Roger and excommunicated the other bishops, who appealed to Henry II who, in a fit of rage, exclaimed the fatal words ‘who will rid me of this troublesome priest?’. Four knights who heard him left for Canterbury, and murdered St Thomas in his own cathedral during vespers on December 29th, 1170 (now St Thomas of Canterbury’s feast day). One of the men struck him on the head with their sword. Sinking to his knees, he commended his spirit to God, and murmured ‘for the name of Jesus and in defense of the Church I am willing to die’. He was soon recognised to be a saint, and Henry II humiliated himself with public penance after Becket’s death.

Becket’s internal conversion and eventual embrace of Christlike governance should be a source of encouragement for priests and laity alike in an age where Jesus’s kingship is rarely acknowledged. Let us pray for St Thomas of Canterbury’s intercession, that those in positions of authority, be it in the family, public life or the Church, may exercise their authority in close imitation of Our Lord. St Thomas of Canterbury, pray for us.

Barnabas Mercer, a seminarian for the diocese of Arundel and Brighton, United Kingdom, is a first cycle philosophy student

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Photo Credit: Cross Duck (Flickr)

ARAG RN AND ALLEGORESIS: Christ the King of All (Sub-)Creation

BY FATHER ALCUIN FRIESEN, O.PRAEM.

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o any allegorically minded Christian reading The Lord of the Rings, there is an obvious likeness between Aragorn and Christ. The events of the story, and even the phrase “The Return of the King,” all lend themselves to such an interpretation.

and the other in the purposed domination of the author.”

Allegory in this sense is the personification or incarnation of a concept or moral. This is outside of Tolkien’s taste— for instance, he famously disliked Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia—nevertheless, allegory as a device can produce great literature. Dante’s Divine Comedy—among its many aspects—is an allegory of the soul’s purgation, and unless readers pick up on that, they miss out. This is what Tolkien meant by “the purposed domination of the author.” Perhaps less inspired allegorical works, as well as the fastidious concern of a rationalistic and industrial world to make every work of art accessible or useful, help to explain Tolkien’s disdain for allegory.

Count the details. To name just a few, Aragorn lived much of his life in hiding before taking the throne, just as Christ lived hidden in Nazareth until his hour had arrived. Aragorn was not a king remote from his people, but was a ranger who guarded the lands from the threat of Sauron, just as Christ walked in the midst of his people working mighty signs, healing them, casting out demons, strengthening and enlightening them by his word of preaching. Aragorn is by right a king, but merited it in deed, just as Christ is the King of All, yet by the Holy Rood merited the Name that is above every name. After the downfall of Sauron, Aragorn’s coronation and marriage to his long-betrothed Arwen mimics the consummation of all things, when the accuser is cast out, and the reign of the Lamb begins with the wedding of His Bride, the Church, the divine with the human.

“Applicability” according to Tolkien is like allegory in every way but one: it gives freedom to the reader. In other words, the reader is not obliged to hunt for an underlying message without which he is lost to the world of the book. It is very much like history, which is less concerned with the literal meaning of words than with persons and deeds, causes and effects. In this way, it is similar to the spiritual senses of Sacred Scripture. Where the literal sense is the meaning of the words, the spiritual senses are the meanings of the deeds.

This may be a good exercise in allegoresis, and a worthwhile meditation... but there’s a snag. We have to confront a remark that puts this reading into question—a remark made all the more inconvenient for Tolkien who puts it in the preface of The Lord of the Rings: “As for any inner meaning or ‘message’, [the book] has in the intention of the author none. It is neither allegorical nor topical.” Unluckily for us, later in the same preface Tolkien lays it on more thickly: “I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done so since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence. I much prefer history, true or feigned, with its varied applicability to the thought and experience of readers.”

Tolkien has by this one distinction given us the freedom to see Middle-Earth in the same way he sees history, “with its varied applicability to the thought and experience of readers.” We can find many meanings in the characters and events of MiddleEarth. If reading Aragorn as a type of Christ is applicable to our thought and experience, we can run with it. This is why I used the term “allegoresis” instead of “allegory.” Allegory plain and simple is on the part of the author; allegoresis— the act of reading allegorically—is on the part of the reader.

This may seem too wide a permission. How is allegoresis connected with the high demand we naturally have for the unity of truth? Our reading feels more substantial if it corresponds with what was in the creator’s mind. How are we to know if an allegorical reading is “true to the author’s intention” or whether it is a violent appropriation of another’s work for our private purposes?

This would seem to put our allegorical reading at odds with the mind of Middle-Earth’s creator, and we would be left with a reading that, however striking, is bereft of the author’s blessing. This is a reader’s common anxiety: whether or not an interpretation is true to the author’s intention.

Luckily for us, however, Tolkien in the same preface immediately gives us—student of Aquinas, rejoice!—a distinction: “I think that many confuse ‘applicability’ with ‘allegory’; but the one resides in the freedom of the reader,

Just as Tolkien claimed that many confuse “allegory” with “applicability,” many confuse “intention” with “meaning.”

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orders all things well” (Wisdom 8:1). God’s wisdom encompasses all things that pass, even the mental acts of rational creatures. There can be no accident—the mere fact that we are able to see within creation analogies of higher truth is a sign that such analogies are true to the divine author’s “intention”—in other words, God intended us to find them.

There is an implied distinction in the very phrase “intended meaning.” To put it in bald Thomistic terms, intention is the act of the will moving towards an end; “meaning” is the willed end, perceived to some extent by the intellect. I say “to some extent” because it is illusory to think that one must have one of Descartes’ “clear and distinct” ideas in order to know or will anything. Vocational choice is rarely made with a clear and distinct idea of it. Another example of volition towards an end perceived in the most general terms is, in an adventurous mood, ordering an unknown dish at a restaurant instead of ordering a well-known favorite à la Descartes.

This dynamic is operable even when applied to story. Art, after all, is mimesis. In his profound essay On Fairy Stories, Tolkien describes the story-maker as a “sub-creator.” He conceives it as a participation in God’s creation. His sense of truth is about the inner-consistency of the world—think “order”—which elicits in the reader a kind of belief. When this inner-consistency is reached, says Tolkien, “the story-maker proves a successful ‘sub-creator.’ He makes a Secondary World which your mind can enter. Inside it, what he relates is ‘true’: it accords with the laws of that world.” If the truth of things are their conformity to the creator’s mind, then the truth of a story is its conformity to the sub-creator’s mind. Yet this sub-creation depends on the primal creation, God’s creation. As Tolkien says: “If [the author] indeed achieves a quality that can fairly be described by the dictionary definition: “inner consistency of reality,” it is difficult to conceive how this can be, if the work does not in some way partake of reality. The peculiar quality of the “joy” in successful Fantasy can thus be explained as a sudden glimpse of the underlying reality or truth.”

Such general intentions can be compared to the principles of a science: all the conclusions are contained within them, albeit implicit. The fact of the matter is that, however vague the perception of the end, it causes the entire motion, as well as all the actions leading up to its attainment.

In writing The Lord of the Rings, what did Tolkien “intend?”

Thankfully, he tells us his motive in the preface: “[...] the desire of a tale-teller to try his hand at a really long story that would hold the attention of the readers, amuse them, delight them, and at times maybe excite them or deeply move them.” Not very—shall we say—“clear and distinct” but herein lies the key to find out what end, what meaning, has drawn Middle-Earth forth from Tolkien’s mind. Nothing moves a human being more than what is transcendent—what is true, good, and beautiful. This is, then, Tolkien’s “intended meaning.” It is also the intention of every human being, for all men desire the good and try to find it in the world. The created world is the primary text a man reads, searching for primary meaning.

The upshot of this—the dynamic between the Creator and the sub-creator—is that God is the co-author of all sub-creation.

All the stuff of any story is borrowed from Him. Any qualities it has of truth, of goodness, of beauty, lie in its derivation from, or even participation in, Divine Being.

It’s no mistake then that in the Epilogue of On Fairy Stories, Tolkien ends by locating the perfect “fairy story”—one which is not only a true story, but a historical fact: the Incarnation, Death, and Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ, true God and true Man. Christ is the King of all things, even all subcreation. Tolkien ends: “God is the Lord, of angels, and of men—and of elves. Legend and History have met and fused.”

Because man naturally perceives likenesses in things—all knowledge of truth depends on it—allegoresis too is natural.

We naturally perceive allegories in the events of daily life.

The shortness of a pleasant evening is the shortness of life. A model tripping and falling off the runway breaks the intended spell, and we are left to muse on the follies of vanity. Although these allegories do not seem to fall within the dynamic of an author’s “intended meaning,” they all depend on the order written into creation by the Divine Mind—an order we are able to read. Insofar as our understanding is conformed to that order, it is “true.”

Allegoresis is a natural approach when reading the stories of Middle-Earth because it is natural when reading creation.

Tolkien has provided us a Secondary Text, another world, in which we glimpse transcendent truth. A reader may perceive an analogy not explicitly intended by Tolkien, but which naturally falls within his meaning—that is, the “innerconsistency” between sub-creation, creation, and the Creator.

The analogy between King Aragorn and Christ the King may not have been explicitly intended in the sub-creator’s mind, but I guarantee you it was explicit in the mind of the Creator.

This depends on a full-blooded grasp of truth. The usual definition of truth learned in philosophy class is the mind’s conformance to reality. “Truth is in statements” said Aristotle.

But a more primal sense—the first sense, in fact, given by St. Thomas in De Veritate—is the conformance of things to the divine mind (De Veritate, Q. 1, aa. 1 & 2). All things fall within the rule or kingship of God’s wisdom, which “reaches mightily from one end of the earth to the other, and she

Father Alcuin Friesen, O.Praem., from Saint Michael’s Abbey in California, USA, is a second cycle theology alumnus

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Saint Hedwig, Queen of Poland “the one who brought the light of faith”

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BY WERONIKA CICHOSZ the Christianisation of Latvia, where she is hailed as “the one who brought the light of faith”.

adwiga, also known as Hedwig, was born at a time when Poland and Hungary were united under one monarch, King Louis the Great. She was the third daughter and as such destined to little significance, so much so that no one even bothered to record the day or year of her birth.

The King-ruler and King-spouse became great patrons of the arts and founded the Jagiellonian university, one of the most important European universities at the time, with many notable alumni, including the man who “held the sun and moved the Earth,” Nicolaus Copernicus.

The king however, seeing that he did not have any sons, decided to teach his daughters the art of ruling a nation, or in this case, two nations. Still Jadwiga was third in line, until the early death of her father and eldest sister Catherine, and the crowning of her second sister Mary as “King of Hungary”, making her the only heir to the throne of Poland. Just like in Hungary, Medieval Polish law however hadn’t predicted the possibility of a woman being crowned monarch and therefore, a roughly ten years old Jadwiga was crowned “King of Poland” on October 16th, 1384.

After 15 years of a very successful monarchy, young Jadwiga died shortly after giving birth to her first child, a girl destined to be the ruler of three nations and one of the most powerful people in Europe, but sadly, nor the child survived. Before her death however, Jadwiga ordered that the jewels with which a monarch is traditionally buried, be crafted from wood and leather; she wouldn’t allow for such reckless waste of wealth.

She was greatly loved by the people and her cult grew and quite intensely, many in fact expected her to soon be canonized. This did not happen until 1997. Even though six centuries had passed, being canonized by a Pope from the same nation which she so loved and cared for, was worth the wait. On the 8th of June 1997, the heavenly birthday of Jadwiga was recorded and marked with the words of Saint John Paul II:

Even though she was not a native to the country, she took her role as ruler incredibly seriously, looking out for the county’s best interests and she became a skilful politician in the process. More importantly though, she grew up to be a very devout Christian who lived a life of prayer and penance under the spiritual directorship of a Dominican Priest.

Jadwiga is said to have been especially devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary. An inscription engraved on her request on a precious chalice, later placed in the Wawel Cathedral, asked Our Lady to place Poland under her protection.

“How I have longed to come here and, in the name of the Church, solemnly assure you, Krakow, my beloved City, that you were not wrong in venerating Hedwig for centuries as a saint. I thank Divine Providence that this privilege has been given me, that I have been allowed to fix my gaze, together with you, on this figure who reflects the splendor of Christ, and to learn what it means to say “the greatest thing is love”... lead all of us, Hedwig, to the Crucified One of Wawel, so that, like you, we may know what it means to love in deed and in truth, what it means to be truly free.”

As the time came for Jadwiga to take a husband, the most eligible bachelor turned out to be Władyslaw Jagiełło, prince of Latvia some twenty years older than the “Ruling King.” While Jadwiga is said to first have wanted to run away from this union, she is said to have had a powerful experience during prayer in which God told her to go through with the wedding, that it was all part of His plan. Her decision to trust God eventually led to the conversion and baptism of husband-to-be and

Józef Simmler, Queen Jadwiga’s Oath, 1867

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Weronika Cichosz, a laywoman from Poland, is a first cycle theology alumna

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QUEEN OF HEAVEN, REJOICE!

BY CIARÁN PEARSE ROONEY

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egina Caeli, laetare, alleluia! This beautiful Marian anthem dating back to at least the 12th century has resounded throughout the ages: praising the Queen of Heaven in monasteries, abbeys, cathedrals, and homes of Catholics, through spring times and harsh winters, with steadfast jubilation. In fact, it’s the joyous refrain ‘Alleluia’ (from the Hebrew, meaning ‘praised ye, Lord’), which gets to the heart of why we venerate Our Lady as Queen of Heaven.

Son’s royal authority by proximity to God, which we see prefigured in the mothers of the kings in the Old Testament, who hold office as Queen. Along with their sons, the mothers of the Old Testament king reigned, governed and were the primary intercessors for the people to their king, petitioning the king on behalf of those who wished to approach him. “…He had a throne brought for the king’s mother, and she sat down at his right hand. ‘I have one small request to make of you,’ she said. ‘Do not refuse me.’ The king replied, ‘Make it, my mother; I will not refuse you.’” (1 Kings 2:19-20).

Tradition has it that St. Gregory the Great in the 6th century AD heard angels sing these same verses while in procession on Easter morning, later adding the fourth line, ‘Ora pro nobis Deum.’ However it came to be written, it is a most beautiful praise of God, rejoicing in the glory of the resurrection of Christ our Lord, through prayers to His Mother.

In the elevation of her dignity by God, who regarded the lowliness of his handmaid and so exalted her to the highest office above the angels and saints, she is crowned and takes her throne at the right hand of her Son.

Much more recently, Pope Pius XII in his encyclical Ad Caeli Reginam (1954) established the feast of the Queenship of Mary opening with the lines; “... never has that hope wavered which they placed in the Mother of the Divine King, Jesus Christ; nor has that faith ever failed by which we are taught that Mary, the Virgin Mother of God, reigns with a mother’s solicitude over the entire world, just as she is crowned in heavenly blessedness with the glory of a Queen” (Ad Caeli Reginam, 1).

Likewise, in the New Testament there are clear signs that the highest honor is given to Mary, foremost in the annunciation with the ‘Ave’ of the angel Gabriel to Mary, ‘full of grace’, heralding the good news of the coming of Emmanuel.

God chose to bring about salvation of mankind most fittingly through the immaculate conception of a jewish virgin girl, who then conceived by the Holy Spirit to bear the God-man into the world. By her fiat, her co-operation in redemption is evident and we believe that, assumed into heaven, she reigns over the angels and saints, being a conduit through which the grace of God continues to flow to mankind.

Pius XII, in the first half of this encyclical, crafts a litany of testimonies and prayers from the early Church Fathers and saints, extolling the virtues and dignity of Our Lady, Mother of God, all testifying to the Queenship of Mary. Only four years before this, Pope Pius XII in his Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus (1950) promulgated the divinely revealed dogma that “the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever-Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory” (44). Prior to this, the same Holy Father taught in Mystici Corporis Christi (1943) that Mary “reigns in heaven with her Son, her body and soul refulgent with heavenly glory” (111).

Towards the end of Ad Caeli Reginam, Pope Pius XII prays that “all the Christian faithful therefore enjoy submitting to the empire of the virgin Mother of God, who, while possessing royal power, burns with maternal love.” It is by this maternal love, in cooperation with the creative work of the Holy Spirit through her, that her reign as Queen of heaven and earth continues to bear fruit.

As we encounter the season of Advent, may we all increase in fervent devotion to Mary, Queen of Heaven and Mother of Our Lord. May the words of the Marian anthem ‘Alma Redemptoris Mater’ during this season continue to resound in the Church and in our homes, for the praise and glory of God.

How can we believe then that Mary reigns as Queen of Heaven? Ultimately, we can say that it is because God deemed it fitting to be so. Her Queenship is primarily a consequence of her Divine Motherhood; she is the God-bearer as declared at the Council of Ephesus in 431 AD. As Mother of our incarnate Lord and King, she shares in the dignity of her

Ciarán Pearse Rooney, a layman from Scotland, is a first cycle philosophy student

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Photo Credit: Father Lawrence Lew, O.P., 2021 (Flickr)