Our present century. In this century man has advanced in science and technology. We have walked on the moon, and sent space vehicles out into orbit. We have experienced two World Wars and several other skirmishes such as Viet Nam, the Korean conflict, and the Gulf War, to name a few.

The Catholic Church under the leadership of Pope Pius XII painstakingly pleaded for peace in World War II. His pleas were answered with a deaf ear; the results, an estimated 60 million lives were spent, including the more than 5 million Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust.

This century saw the first priest to receive the rare gift of the Holy Stigmata, Padre Pio, who shared our Blessed Lord’s suffering for the human race with his own Blood.

We were reminded of God’s infinite Mercy through His servant, Blessed Faustina. And the Marian Apparitions, particularly that of Fatima, Portugal. Mary’s words of warning still ring clear to the Faithful, “Most people who go to hell do so because of the sins of the flesh.” Yet, despite all of this, the divorce rate has sky-rocketed; children are living with parents that are not of their blood; homosexual activity has reached an all time high; the lethal disease of AIDES has claimed many lives.

We saw Pope Pius XII declare by Papal Infallibility, the Dogma of the Assumption of Mary bodily into Heaven, something that Catholics have always believed.

The Second Vatican Council was held, posting sixteen Councilliar Documents and 256 post Councilliar Documents.

In this century several thousand schismatic churches have been formed. Now the world has over 28,000 churches, and still only One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, that was founded by God Himself, Jesus Christ.

New enemies have made their mark against the Catholic Church; the new Age movement, rooted in Gnosticism has led many astray. Old enemies have continued to threaten the Faithful, such as the Freemasons; the Muslims, although they have been relatively quiet in this century, they could erupt at any time; other non-Christian and Protestant missionaries have gone to great lengths to lead souls away from the True Faith, the Catholic Church.

Many enemies have come and gone, some still remain, and the Church is still here just as she was almost 2,000 years ago, with a hierarchy that no other country’s government comes close to duplicating.

The Catholic Church will be here on this earth till the end of time, just as Jesus said it would, despite all the verbal attacks against her, the blood shed by our Holy Martyrs, and all of the cruel attempts to destroy her. See Matthew 16:18-20 and 28:20.

1901
Pope Leo XIII publishes four Papal Encyclicals, Graves De Communi, on Christian democracy; Gravissimus, addressed to the Portuguese Bishops on Religious Orders in their country; Urbanitatis Veteris, to the Greek Bishops on founding a seminary in Athens; and In Amplissimo, addressed the U.S. Bishops on the Church in the United States.

Anti-Clerical laws were passed in France.

Dr. Paul Vignon, read a remarkable paper before the Academie Des Sciences in which he maintained that the impression upon the Holy Shroud of Turin was a Vaporigraph caused by the ammoniacal emanations radiating from the surface of Christ’s Body after so violent a death. Such vapors, as he professed to have proved experimentally, were capable of producing a deep reddish brown stain, varying in intensity with distance, upon a cloth impregnated with oil and aloes. The image on the Shroud was therefore a natural negative and as such completely beyond the comprehension or the skill of any medieval forger.

Death of Queen Victoria of Great Britain.

Edward VII becomes King of Great Britain.

1902
The Aglipay schism begins. This schism was organized by a priest of the native clergy as the Independent Philippine National Church with himself as Archbishop. He nominated twenty assistant bishops and achieved quite a following among the native clergy and Baptized Catholics. American money financed this schism. The schismatics seized the property of the Catholic Church.

Mother Cabrini founds the Columbus Hospital in Chicago, Illinois.

Pope Leo XIII publishes six Papal Encyclicals, In Amplissimo, on the Church in the United States; Quo Votis, on Catholic University in America; Mirae Caritatis, on the Holy Eucharist; Quae Ad Nos, addressed to Bohemian and Moravian Bishops on their local Church matters; Fin Dal Principio, on Ecclesiastical education; and on December 24, Christmas Eve, our beloved Pontiff published his last Papal Encyclical, Dum Multa, on marriage.

Carl Gustav Jung graduates from the University of Baseal and Zurich in medicine.

Martyrdom of St. Maria Goretti. She was a twelve year old Italian girl who refused to compromise her chastity. An eighteen year old boy, Alexander, tried to force her into the bedroom of her home. She repeatedly told her assailant No! He then strangled her and stabbed her numerous times. She is a Martyr of purity.

1903
King Edward VII of Great Britain visited Pope Leo XIII on April 29.

On Monday, at 4 P. M. July 20, our beloved Pope, Leo XIII passed away. He was a good man, a holy man, a living Saint! All the nations mourned our Holy Father’s death. Cardinal Gibbons of Baltimore said, “I have lost a dear friend and father.” The American people, regardless of Creed, joined with His Eminence in words of personal bereavement. Leo XIII took a special interest in the Church in America, and like Pius IX, would not compromise the Faith. I look forward to his Canonization.

St. Pius X becomes Pope. He was Cardinal Joseph Sarto, the son of the village postman and a seamstress. He lived in Riese, Upper Venetia and went to school at nearby Castelfranco. He studied in the Seminary at Padua. After his Ordination he spent nine years as a country Curate, and eight years as a parish priest of Salzano. His motto was “To restore all things in Christ,” Ephesians 1:10. The new Pontiff published his first Papal Encyclical, on October 4, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, E Supremi, on the restoration of all things in Christ.

Joseph (Giuseppi) Melchiorre Sarto was born on June 2, 1835 at Riese, Upper Venetia. He was the farm boy who became Pope.

He studied at the Seminary in Padua from 1850-1858. He was Ordained on September l8, 1858. He spent nine years as a country Curate and eight years as a parish priest. He served as the Chancellor of Treviso from 1875-1884. He then became Bishop of Mantua.

He chose the name Pius for recent Popes who had bravely resisted persecution, mainly the Venerable Pope Pius IX.

His Papal Motto was TO RESTORE ALL THINGS IN CHRIST (Ephesians 1-10>. Our beloved Pontiff made it clear from the beginning of his Pontificate that he was a Religious Pope, not a political Pope. It was he who condemned Modernism.

Pope St. Pius X, by his declaration, Motu Proprio, restored the Gregorian as the official chant of the Roman Catholic Church, and it is referred to as Vatican Chant. The Chant’s name is derived from Pope St. Gregory I the Great in 604.

P. M. Baumgarten stated in his Historisches Jahrbuch that more than 3500 articles had been written about the Holy Shroud of Turin.

Pope St. Pius X has five of father L’Abbe Alfred Loisey's books placed on the Index of Forbidden Books. Loisey, a French priest, popularized Modernist beliefs. He was noted for his denial of the Divinity of Jesus.

1904
Pope St. Pius X publishes two Papal Encyclicals, Jacunda Sane, a thirteenth centenary of the death of St. Gregory; and Ad Diem Illum, the 50th anniversary of the Definition of the Immaculate Conception.

On January 20, Pope St. Pius X suppressed the right of the secular governments to assert a veto during the Conclave.

On December 25, the Pontiff issues Vacante Sede Apostolico, a Bull codifying prior legislation concerning Papal elections.

Sigmund Freud publishes, The Psychopathology of Everyday Life.

The Bronze statue Christ of the Andes, which lies on the argentina-Chile border in the Andes Mountains was dedicated on March 13 of this year as a perpetual symbol of Peace between the two countries.

1905
Pope St. Pius X publishes two Papal Encyclicals, Acerbo Nimis, on Catechetical Instruction; and Il Fermo Proposito, on Catholic Action.

The Concordat of 1801 was revoked in France.

At Christmas, the Bishops of the ecclesiastical Provinces of Turin and Vercelli, in a circular letter, issued grave warnings about what they called the Modernism among clergy. The essential error of Modernism, first of all, it stands for certain tendencies, and secondly, for a body of doctrine which, if it has not given birth to these tendencies (practice proceeds theory), serves at any rate as their explanation and support. These tendencies manifest themselves in different domains. They are not united in each individual, nor are always and everywhere found together. Modernist doctrines may be more or less radical, and it is swallowed in the doses that vary with each individual’s likes and dislikes. Abbate Cavallanti gives us this general idea of Modernism: “Modernism is modern in a false sense of the word; it is a morbid state of conscience among Catholics, and especially young Catholics, that profess manifold ideals, opinions, and tendencies. From time to time these tendencies work out into systems, that are to renew the basis and super structure of society, politics, philosophy, theology, of the Church herself and of the Christian Religion.” We can see some of the new Age movement at work here.

Birth of Blessed Helen Faustina Kowalska.

1906
Pope St. Pius X publishes four Papal Encyclicals, Vehementer Nos, addressed to the French Bishops on French separation Law; Tribus Circiter, condemning the Mariavites; Pieni L’Animo, on the clergy in Italy; and Gravissimo Officii, forbidding Associations Culturelles.

The United States Supreme Court ordered the property seized by the Aglipayans to be restored to the Catholic hierarchy. The schismatics complied with the Court’s decision.

1907
The Sisters of the Sacred Heart, the Order founded by St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, was finally approved. Mother Cabrini began the Order with eight members.

Pope St. Pius X publishes two Papal Encyclicals, Une Fois Encore, on the separation of Church and State; and Pascendi Dominici Gregis, condemning Modernism. This was the first Catholic synthesis of the subject. The error of Modernism is the perversion of Dogma. They sought to explain, justify, and strengthen themselves in an error, to which therefore one might give the name of essential modernism. Modernists tried to explain the Faith by rationalizing it.

The Martyr’s Shrine is founded near Midland, Ontario.

Death of Mother Catherine Aurelia.

1908
Tametsi enacted. The opening word of Law, enacted by the Council of Trent on the solemn form of the marriage contract. The law states that no marriage is valid unless contracted before the pastor or delegate and two witnesses. Tametsi became Canon Law.

The United States was raised above the status of missionary countries.

1909
Cap-de-la-Madeleine becomes a Shrine. It is also known as Our Lady of the Rosary Shrine.

America, Catholic Weekly, was founded by the Jesuits at Fordham University.

1910
Pope St. Pius X publishes his Papal Encyclical, Editae Semper, the Third Centenary of St. Charles Borromeo.

Pope St. Pius X condemns Marc Sangier’s Le Sillon Movement in France, which aimed at reconciling Catholicism with left-winged political ideas.

In the Bull, Apostolicae Romanorum, Pope St. Pius X decrees that because of their work in the Curia, the Cardinal-Bishops should have Auxiliary Bishops who would actually reside in the suburbicarian Sees.

Death of Edward VII of Great Britain. He was succeeded by his son, the Sailor Prince, George V.

1911
Pope St. Pius X publishes his Papal Encyclical, Jamdudum, on the separation law in Portugal.

Archbishops John Farley of New York and William O’Connell of Boston are elevated to the Sacred College of Cardinals.

The Maryknoll Foreign Mission Society was founded.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin is ordained a Jesuit priest.

Pope St. Pius X recasts the Breviary.

1912
The Shrine of Sainte Benoit-du-luc (St. Benedict on the Lake), is founded near Magog, Canada.

On September 24, Pope St. Pius X published his last Papal Encyclical, Singulari Quadam, on labor organizations.

Carl Jung publishes Psychology of the Unconscious. This led to his partnership with Sigmund Freud.

1913
James Moffatt, a Protestant Scottish scholar, translated the New Testament in a rather free style.

1914
Pope St. Pius X initiated the revision of the Roman Missal.

Death of Pope St. Pius X.

Benedict XV becomes Pope. He was Cardinal Giacomo Della Chiesa. He graduated as Doctor of civil Law at Genoa University in 1875, then studied at the Capranica College and the Gregorian University, Rome. After his Ordination to the priesthood, he trained for the Papal diplomatic service at the Academy of Noble Ecclesiastics.

POPE BENEDICT XV

Giacomo Della Chiesa was born on November 21, 1854 in Christopher Columbus' home town of Genoa.

In 1875 he graduated Doctor of Givil Law from Genoa University. He then studied at the Capranica College and the Gregorian University in Rome. He was a scholar!

He was Ordained on December 21, 1878. He trained for the Papal Diplomatic Service at the Academy of Noble Ecclesiastics from 1838-1882.

From 1883-1887 he was Secretary to the Papal Nuncio of Spain, Bishop Mariano Rampolla, assisting him in diplomatic duties. In 1885, he organized the relief activties for the Caroline Islands during the lethal cholera epidemic.

Pope St. Pius X made him Archbishop of Bologna in 1907. He was elevated to the Sacred College of Cardinals in May of 1914,

During World War I, Pope Benedict won the good will of belligerents by his impartiality, his peace proposals, his charitable donations, and his prisoner-of-war services. He died January 22, 1922.

Father Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti becomes Prefect of the Vatican Library.

The Catholic Encyclopedia was published for the first time by American editors.

On June 28, an assassin, a Bosnian student, gunned down Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary, in Sarajevo, starting World War I. The Austria-Hungary government suspected Serbia was responsible. Germany, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire supported Austria-Hungary and together they formed the Central Powers. World War I begins.

Pope Benedict XV published his first Papal Encyclical, November 14, Ad Beatissimi, an appeal for Peace.

1914-1918
World War I.

1915
Pope Benedict XV issues instruction of All Souls Day.

1916
The Easter Rebellion against British Rule broke out Easter Monday in Dublin, Ireland.

The System of nominating Bishops in the United States was established.

Margaret Sanger, a New York City nurse, opens a birth control clinic and was later arrested and sent to prison. At this time Protestants shared the same beliefs as Catholics that artificial means of birth control and contraceptives are immoral and an abomination of sin.

The Battle of Verdun.

German submarines, or U-boats, blockaded the British Isles in February 1915. They took a heavy toll on Allied ships and became the terror of the seas. In May, a German U-boat torpedoed a British passenger liner, the Lusitania. It sank in less than 20 minutes off the southern coast of Ireland, killing 1198 passengers, including 128 Americans.

In December, Grigori Rasputin was assassinated in Russia. Revolution broke out within three months; all this with the world still at war.

In the Spring of 1916, three children, Lucia Dos Santos, and her cousins, Jacinta and Francesco Marta were playing in a cave; taking shelter from an earlier rain storm. Suddenly, a violent wind blew through the trees, bending branches like a fishing rod with a big bass on the line. There eyes became fixed on a bright light,without speaking, just gazing at the light, there appeared a beautiful man. He said, “Do not be afraid. I am the Angel of Peace.” (This is St. Michael). He asked the children to pray with him. He prostrated himself on the ground and said, “My God, I believe, I adore, I hope, and I Love you. I ask forgiveness for those who do not believe, not adore, nor hope, nor love you.” St. Michael instructed the children to pray in this way, he told them that the hearts of Jesus and Mary were listening.

In the Summer of 1916, the children Lucia, Frencesco, and Jacinta were tending the sheep near a well behind Lucy’s house. About noon, St. Michael stood before them. He asked, “What are you doing? Pray! Pray! The hearts of Jesus and Mary have merciful designs for you. Offer your prayers and sacrifices to the Most High.” Lucia asked him, “How are we to makes sacrifices?” St. Michael responded, “In every way you can, offer a sacrifice to the Lord, in reparation for the sins by which He is offended and in supplication for sinners. Thus you will bring peace to our country. I am the Guardian of Portugal. Above all, accept and bear with patience the sufferings which the Lord will send you.” In this apparition, Francesco was unable to hear the Angel’s words.

In the Autumn of 1916, the Angel of Peace, St. Michael, visited the children a third time. They were tending their sheep at the Loca De Cabeco again. Suddenly, appearing above them holding a Host in one hand and a Chalice in the other, drops of Blood fell from the Host into the Chalice. The Angel left the Host and Chalice suspended in mid-air while he prostrated himself on the ground and began to pray, “Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, I adore you Profoundly and I offer you the Most Precious Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the Tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference by which He is offended. And by the infinite merits of His Most Sacred Heart and through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg the conversion of poor sinners.” This set the stage for what was to happen next year.

1917
On April 6, the United States declares war on Germany, bring the United States into the Great War.

Marian Apparition. The Blessed Virgin Mary appears six times at Fatima, Portugal, from May 13-October 13. The Blessed Mother promised the war would end soon and the conversion of Russia. She also gave us the “O My Jesus” prayer to be added to the Holy Rosary; and warned mankind how grave the sins of the flesh are.

At the third apparition of the Blessed Mother at Fatima, the three children experienced a deep fear, not at Mary, but of the vision they were shown of Hell. The children reported they were shown a horrifying vision of Hell, an understandable source of fear given the archetypal entities shown in the vision. Sister Lucia descried it Mary, ':.. opened her hands. The Light reflecting from them seemed to penetrate into the earth, and we saw as if into a sea of fire, an immersed in that fire were devils and souls with human form, as if they were transparent black or bronze embers floating in the fire and swayed by flames that issued from them along with clouds of smoke, falling upon every side just like the falling sparks in greatfires, without weight or equilibrium, amidst wailing and cries of pain and despair that horrified and shook animals, but transparent as the black coals in a fire. "

Understandably frightened and deathly pale, the visionaries looked up to the Blessed Virgin and cried out for help. Our Lady answered, "You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them God wants to establish throughout the world the devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If people will do what I will tell you, many souls will be saved, and there will be peace. The war is going to end. But if they do not stop offending God, another and worse war will break out in the reign of Pope Plus XI. When you see a night illuminated by an unknown Light, know that it is the great sign that God gives you, that He is going to Punish the world for its crimes by means of war, hunger persecution of the Church and of the Holy Father. "

To forestall this, I shall come to ask the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays. If they heed my requests, Russia will be converted and there will be peace. If not, she shall spread her errors throughout the world, promoting wars and persecutions of the Church; the good will be Martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated; in the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, which will be converted, and some time of peace will be given to the world. In Portugal, the Dogma of Faith will be kept always.

What we need to keep in mind, at this time when the prophesy was given, Russia was a backwards country with little military importance in world affairs. Now, at the end of this century, we have seen the rise and fall ofthe Berlin Wall.

On June 15, Pope Benedict XV published his Papal Encyclical, Humani Generis, onpreaching.

Blessed Faustina begins her primary education.

Pope Benedict XV establishes the Congregation for the Oriental Church and five months later, sets up the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome.

Death of St. Frances Xavier (Mother) Cabrini.

1918
President Woodrow Wilson of the United States announced his 14-point Peace plan.

Padre Pio of Pietralcina becomes the first priest to receive the visible gift of the Holy Stigmata on September 20. The Venerable Padre Pio bore the full Stigmata; the wounds of Christ pierced his hands, feet, side, head, and the scourging on his back for fifty hand in bandages for eight days. When the bandages were removed on the eighth day, there was no sign of healing. Truly an act of God. On two occasions, Padre Pio experienced the even rarer gift of Bi-Location. He spoke several languages and spent as many as 18 consecutive hours hearing confessions. Padre Pio could also read the hearts of men.

Pope Benedict XV names Father Ratti, Papal Nucio of Lepanto; and on December 1, publishes his Papal Encyclical, Quod Jam Diu, on the Paris Peace Conference.

1919
Admiral Nicholas Horthy becomes Regent of Hungary.

Pope Benedict XV names Father Achille Ratti Archbishop of Lepanto.

Pope Benedict XV publishes two Papal Encyclicals, In Hac Tanta, the 12th centenary of St. Boniface; and Paterno Jam Diu, on charity to the children of central Europe.

Treaty of London. The Allies of the first World War secretly agreed with Italy that the Vatican should be excluded from Peace talks.

Fulton J. Sheen is Ordained a priest.

1920
The early Fundamentalist sects begin to form.

Pope Benedict XV publishes four Papal Encyclicals, Pacem Dei Munus, on Peace;Spiritus Paraclitus, on Holy Scripture; Principal Aposolorum Petro, on St. Ephrem the Syrian; and Annus Jam Plenus, on child war victims.

Pope Benedict XV names St. Ephrem the Syrian, Doctor of the Church.

The Holy Office warns against the dangers to the Faith of the youth by the activities of the Y. M. C. A..

The Jesuit, Teilhard De Chardin begins teaching at the Institut Catholique in Paris.

The Turks erect a statue of Pope Benedict XV in Instanbul, which saluted him as The Great Pope of the world tragedy...the benefactor of all people, irrespective of nationality or religion.”

Pope Benedict XV solemnly Canonizes St. Joan of Arc.

1921
Pope Benedict XV publishes three Papal Encyclicals, Sacra Propediem, the 7th Centenary of the Third Order of St. Francis; In Praeclara Summorum, the 6th Centenary of Dante’s death; and on June 29, Pope Benedict published his last Encyclical, Fausto Appetente Die, the 7th Centenary of the death of St. Dominic.

Ireland becomes a dominion of Great Britain called the Irish Free State.

Bishop Achille Ratti, the future Pope Pius XI, becomes Bishop of Milan and is elevated to the Sacred College of Cardinals.

Archbishop Dennis Dougherty of Philadelphia is elevated to the Cardinalate.

The Knights of Columbus organize an Historical Commission.