952 Kelly Rd., Mt. Jackson, VA 22842
"For me You have created the skies scattered with stars...and all the beautiful things on earth."
St. Maximilian Kolbe
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Dear Friends of the Kolbe Center,
Glory to Jesus Christ!
In this newsletter, we will continue our reflections on God’s greatest miracle—repentance!—and on St. Adam as an exemplar of a truly repentant soul.
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St. Padre Pio: Modern Prophet of Repentance
In modern times, no one has been a greater prophetic witness to the necessity of repentance than St. Padre Pio, the Capuchin stigmatist priest-monk of San Giovanni Rotondo. It is estimated that St. Pio refused absolution to one out of three of those who went to him for confession—because God enlightened him to see that these souls were not truly repentant. This refusal of absolution often angered the penitents, but again and again it served as the “shock” to their system that they needed to respond to the grace of God with a firm purpose of amendment, so that they were willing to die rather than fall back into any mortal sin or into the near occasion of sin. The story of the atheist intellectual Paolo Nigro illustrates how St. Padre Pio elicited cooperation with the grace of God from hardened sinners so that they arrived at the point where they could receive the grace of true repentance.
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Paolo Nigro received a degree in Humanities in 1936 and took a second degree in Philosophy in 1940. He considered himself an atheist and his Philosophy thesis was a denial of the existence of God. He later taught in high school, all the while maintaining his ideas. His wife however was strong in her faith. Because she was an orphan, she had been brought up and educated in a convent run by Carmelite nuns and she had stayed there until she was twenty-two. Together they made their home in Taranto.
When Paolo was still very full of intellectual vigour and feeling quite fit, he was suddenly struck by an grave illness. He had a dry pleurisy and in the spring of 1950 it was bringing him close to death; the doctors in fact had eventually declared they could do nothing more for him.
One Saturday evening in April at 10pm two men knocked at the door of his house; they introduced themselves: Otello Risaliti was a warrant officer in the Navy and the other was a man named Carlo Lusardi. Since Paolo's wife Maria did not know them, she of course did not want to let them in the house, for she was alone with her two children and her seriously ill husband. At this time, he was gravely ill and had had a very high temperature of 105°F for two weeks. At times he was delirious, and seemed at death's door. The two men insisted saying: "Padre Pio has sent us and we have to say the rosary for the man here who is seriously ill".
The poor woman had never even heard of Padre Pio and therefore she was unsure what to do. She told the men to wait at the door and went and had a word with her sick husband, who having heard that the men spoke of saying the rosary, he gave his permission, and so finally she let them in.
Here it must be said that a few years before, in 1946, Prof. Nigro had slightly changed his opinion as an atheist. He had surprised everyone when he had requested to meet the Archbishop of Taranto, Mons Bernardi, to whom Prof Nigro related a story of how he had had a kind of vision in which he saw Our Lady's profile. After this vision he started to go to Mass, even though he didn't go regularly. We can surmise that this was the reason he let two strangers, who wanted to pray the rosary for him to the Blessed Virgin, to come into his house.
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Santina, Paolo's daughter, who was a child at the time tells us what happened next:
"I can see it as if it were yesterday. The two men, Risaliti in his white uniform and Lusardi, both kneeling and together devoutly saying the rosary. However as they were praying, dad was restless and said to mum: "Maria, send that hooded friar at the foot of the bed away". Mum said nothing; she imagined that vision was due to his high temperature".
Before leaving after finishing the rosary, the Padre's spiritual sons discreetly begged Maria to accept some money: "It is sent by Padre Pio. You will need it next week to pay for your husband's journey from here to San Giovanni Rotondo. The Padre wishes to see him. And the remainder is for the medicines".
About this particular point Santina explains: "It was as if Padre Pio knew we had spent nearly all our money to buy penicillin which was very expensive at the time".
The following Monday, the sick man was much better. His temperature had gone down to normal and the doctors were amazed. His health had improved so much that on Thursday, three days later, at 9.00 in the morning, Risaliti and Lusardi came to collect him and take him by taxi to the Taranto train station, as he ardently desired to meet Padre Pio. In the evening they arrived at San Giovanni Rotondo and the three men together took lodgings in a little white house on the right, going up the road leading to the friary.
The next day, Friday, they took him to the sacristy where Padre Pio was confessing the men. At the end of the confessions, P. Pio came out from the curtain, which hid him from view of onlookers.
"My Dad" said Santina, “immediately recognized in him as the friar who the previous Saturday he had seen at the foot of the bed while the rosary was being said. My dad immediately went up to him and threw himself on his knees, crying. The Padre helped him up holding his wrists and said in our dialect: "If you cry, I won't come to your house any more."
The next day dad confessed to the Saint, who put him back in God's grace and accepted him as a spiritual son. He immediately became a different person. He went to Mass every day and received Holy Communion.
The Padre continued to be near him in those first steps into a new life. He came [spiritually, through bilocation] to visit him at home. During his convalescence dad sometimes said to me: "Santina, Padre Pio is putting his hand on your head".
Afterwards I had often seen him crying because of his past sins. He tried to make up for it by leading people to God and also to Padre Pio.”
(Testimony of Santina Nigro, San Giovanni Rotondo, May 10, 2005)
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Our First Father, St. Adam: Model of Repentance |
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St. Aengus
In the Tradition of the Church the repentance of St. Adam and St. Eve was kept continually before the interior eyes of the faithful. St. Aengus, an Irish saint who flourished in the last quarter of the eighth century is held in imperishable honour as the author of the Feliré, or Festology of the Saints. In his work “The Penance of Adam and Eve,” St. Aengus has St. Adam address St. Eve in great sorrow after their expulsion from Paradise:
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Adam was a week yet
after his expulsion out of Paradise,
weary, without fire, without dwelling,
without drink or food or clothing.
Because they were impoverished
they went into the midst of the field,
great was the mutual reproach perpetually
between Eve and Adam.
“O Eve of the just fair form,
sorrowful are we through thy impenitence;
through thy misdeeds, through thy transgression,
alas! we have been cast out of Paradise.
“Much did we relinquish of good
when we vexed our High Prince;
Paradise was ours under perfect command
with every reverence.
“Youth and joy, by us it has been heard,
health, playfulness, delight,
bordered lands, most perfect of form,
wondrous plants, harmonies.
“Noble satisfaction, singular wholesome peace,
a festival of holiness for souls,
. . . many the habitations,
frequent intercourse with angels.
“Lasting life, continually at God's right hand,
for ever in the brughs of Paradise,
in which, under fair aspect,
God's creatures were doing us reverence.
“All the living things under heaven
which my faithful dear God created,
under (our) control over every high place,
we it was who used to order them.
“Fire would not burn us,
water would not drown us,
nor sharp edge . . .
nor (was there) pestilence nor consuming disease.
“There was not among the elements of dear God,
one that would come, in heaven or earth,
against our will, to destroy us,
save only the wicked Lucifer.
“Even Lucifer
could not harm us,
while we were under law (in a) perfect course
according to mandate, according to command.
“Because we wronged dear God
who gave us everything,
on every height, all creatures together,
are (now) in opposition to us.
“It is not God who has been evil towards us,
O Eve, ruddy, gentle fair one;
it is we who have wronged the Prince,
though He provided us with lasting good.”
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Eve spake, for she was in distress,
in sorrow, after the fall;
“O Adam, marvellous over every wild,
why do you not kill me for my sins?
“It is I who transgressed the law,
it is I who committed the transgression,
it would then be right that thou should'st slay me,
O my Lord, O Adam!
“Provided that I fall (just the measure)
for my sins, for my transgression,
clearly the greater mercy
will thy God shew towards thee.”
“Greatly have we offended the King,”
said he, said Adam, without contempt,
“O Wife, I will not commit murder on thee,
though I be famished, though I be naked.
“I will not lift my hand
upon my own blood, my own flesh;
how great soever thy crime,
it is from my body thou art.
“It is not fitting for us in any way
to outrage Him again;
so that the true Prince, O wife,
may not cut us off and utterly destroy us.
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Today we hear a lot from feminists who claim the right to “lift their hands” against their “own flesh” for no crime at all. Perhaps it is time for us to make St. Adam and St. Eve special intercessors for the unborn, recognizing that in spite of Eve’s great guilt, St. Adam tells Eve that he would not “lift his hand upon his own blood, his own flesh; how great soever thy crime, it is from my body thou art.” All women on earth today exist because “the mother of all the living” came forth from the body of a man—a man who would not “lift his hand upon his own blood, upon his own flesh, that came forth from his body.” Let us invoke St. Adam and St. Eve to obtain for us and for all souls the grace of true repentance!
Yours in Christ through the Immaculata in union with St. Joseph,
Hugh Owen
P.S. We will be giving seminars and presentations throughout the Eastern United States in October, beginning in Florida at the beginning of the month and ending in North Carolina on October 28-29. If you can organize a talk or a seminar in your area within that time-frame, in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, or North Carolina, please let me know at [email protected] as soon as possible.
P.P.S. Today is a First Saturday. Please be sure to answer Our Lady’s appeal for the First Saturday devotions as described by the Fatima Center at this link.
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Genesis Through the Eyes of the Saints
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Genesis Through the Eyes of the Saints |
Genesis through the Eyes of the Saints shows how the private revelations of the greatest mystical saints of the Catholic Church regarding creation and the early history of mankind agree perfectly with God’s revelation to Moses in Genesis 1-11, while the private revelations of modern-day theistic evolutionists like Fr. Teilhard de Chardin pervert and contradict that fundamental doctrine.
IMPRIMATUR: Bishop Cornelius K. arap Korir, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Eldoret, Kenya. Granted on the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lady, September 8, 2016.
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Genesis Through the Eyes of the Saints - E-Book (PDF)
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Genesis Through the Eyes of the Saints - E-Book (PDF) |
Genesis through the Eyes of the Saints shows how the private revelations of the greatest mystical saints of the Catholic Church regarding creation and the early history of mankind agree perfectly with God’s revelation to Moses in Genesis 1-11, while the private revelations of modern-day theistic evolutionists like Fr. Teilhard de Chardin pervert and contradict that fundamental doctrine.
IMPRIMATUR: Bishop Cornelius K. arap Korir, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Eldoret, Kenya. Granted on the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lady, September 8, 2016.
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Genesis Through the Eyes of the Saints - MP3 Audiobook
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Genesis Through the Eyes of the Saints - MP3 Audiobook |
Genesis through the Eyes of the Saints shows how the private revelations of the greatest mystical saints of the Catholic Church regarding creation and the early history of mankind agree perfectly with God’s revelation to Moses in Genesis 1-11, while the private revelations of modern-day theistic evolutionists like Fr. Teilhard de Chardin pervert and contradict that fundamental doctrine.
IMPRIMATUR: Bishop Cornelius K. arap Korir, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Eldoret, Kenya. Granted on the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lady, September 8, 2016.
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Latest Products from the Kolbe Center: |
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The Earthmovers - E-Book (PDF) |
One of the greatest obstacles to the restoration of the Faith is the difficulty of identifying and eradicating the roots of the revolution against it. In his monumental work The Earthmovers, author James Redmond O’Hanlon exposes the roots of the revolution in the rejection of God’s Revelation regarding the position of the Earth in the universe and in the failure of the Church leadership to continue the courageous efforts of their predecessors to defend that Revelation, beginning as early as the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In spite of the widespread belief that heliocentrism was eventually “proven” by advances in astronomy, O’Hanlon shows that the champions of the heliocentric hypothesis have never provided proof beyond a reasonable doubt for their model of the solar system and that the Neo-Tychonic geocentric-geostatic model of the universe continues to explain all of the experimental and observational evidence better than any of the competing models. The Earthmovers shows that the failure of the Church leadership to defend God’s Word in regard to the Earth’s position in the cosmos as it had been understood in the Church from the beginning paved the way for the modernist revolution against the traditional faith and practice of the Church by exalting fallible human science above divine science, an error which the Angelic Doctor identifies as “the source of all heresy.” |
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Biology: A Traditional Catholic Perspective - 2nd Edition (Textbook)
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Biology: A Traditional Catholic Perspective – 2nd Edition (Textbook) |
This refreshingly Catholic biology book begins with a short and easy application of the wisdom of St. Thomas Aquinas (the Catholic Church’s greatest theologian) to the science of biology. In contrast to most modern biology texts, which are designed around evolutionary principles and assumptions, this Catholic textbook explains life from the perspective of the observable activities of living things. It takes into account all the causes of life, including God, the soul, and the purpose behind the design of living things. Guided by this sound framework, the reader is given an up-to-date presentation of human biology, animal physiology, a detailed treatment of the various animal and plant kinds, ecosystems, cellular and molecular biology, genetics and heredity, biotechnology and ethics, and a refutation of evolution as a plausible explanation of the origin and diversity of life. Sold separately are a laboratory/experiment manual, student exercises, and answer key. Recommended for grades 9 – 12. Perfect for homeschoolers, too! |
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The True Conception of the World according to Hildegard von Bingen - MP3 Audiobook
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The True Conception of the World according to Hildegard von Bingen - MP3 Audiobook |
In this translation of Helmut Posch’s important work on the writings of St. Hildegard of Bingen on creation, biophysicist Dr. Dean H. Kenyon shows that this Benedictine nun and Doctor of the Church was shown the workings of the solar system on the same pattern as that conceived by the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, the greatest astronomer of his age, several hundred years before him. Dr. Kenyon’s translation goes on to show that this Hildegardian conception of the universe actually explains the astronomical data better than the alternative models of the solar system that have been in fashion for the last few hundred years, while restoring man and the Earth to their rightful place in God’s plan for Creation. |
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The Light Comes from the East
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The Light Comes from the East |
On October 13, 1917, almighty God worked the greatest public miracle since the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ to prove that the warning of Our Lady of Fatima was urgent and true. In her messages to the three children of Fatima, the Blessed Virgin explained that She would come to ask for the Consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart by the Pope and the Bishops and that if this Consecration was done, Russia would be converted and a period of peace would be granted to the world. The Light Comes from the East reveals the deep significance of Our Lady’s appeal for the consecration of Russia in the light of the history of the relationship between Latin and Eastern Catholic Christianity. It also demonstrates that the consecrations of 1984 and 2000 have not fulfilled Our Lady’s request and that the peace of the world depends upon the exact fulfillment of that request as soon as possible. |
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My Journey into the Light of God's Love - E-Book (PDF)
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My Journey into the Light of God's Love - E-Book (PDF) |
This is true story, based on the life of a devout Iranian Muslim girl who had every ambition to do great things in the world. This beautiful journey has its beginning in Iran, at a time of revolutions and the fall of the monarchy, and ends up in the seemingly strange culture of the West, in London, England. This young woman, who was determined to keep the Islamic faith she had so devoutly practiced from her early years, fell in love, which changed everything. Resolute to convert her new love, in a search for truth and a deeper knowledge of God, she stumbled upon something beautiful, something which rings out with Truth - something she could not ignore. |
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Creation, Evolution and Catholicism - E-Book (PDF)
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Creation, Evolution and Catholicism – E-Book (PDF) |
Mr. Tom McFadden has been defending the traditional Catholic doctrine of creation and exposing the destructive effects of evolutionary indoctrination on Catholics for several decades. In his book Creation, Evolution and Catholicism, Mr. McFadden explains the essential role that evolutionism has played in the erosion and destruction of the Faith of millions of Catholics. He then shows how the restoration of the traditional doctrine of creation can stop the mass exodus of young Catholics out of the Church.
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