• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • About
    • Confession of Faith
    • Internet Promise
    • Affiliate Disclaimer
  • Articles
  • Podcast
  • Resources
  • The Crisis: A Hypothesis
    • Timeline
  • Our Lady of Victory Press
  • Contact
  • Donate

The Meaning of Catholic

Uniting Catholics against the enemies of Holy Church

The Pian Magisterium Against the Slavery of False Freedoms

Blessed Pius IX


By Timothy S. Flanders

The Pian Magisterium refers to the period of the Church’s opposition to Modernism as contained especially in the French and other revolutions from Pius VI’s condemnation of the Synod of Pistoia (1794) to the death of Pius XII (1958). Thus it spans some 164 years. Taking a generation as roughly 25 years, this period encompasses 6.56 generations of the Church. So if you were the youngest generation at the twilight of Pius XII, that means your father knew it, your grandfather knew it, your great-grandfather knew it, and then his father and grandfather knew it as well, all the way to your great-great-great grandfather. For Americans, this goes all the way back to the beginning of the United States (the US Constitution was not in effect until 1789, the year of the French Revolution).

During the Pian Magisterium the Church was faced with global republican revolutions. But these were not simply changes from a Catholic monarchy to a Catholic republic, but these revolutions sought to reshape the very fabric of society. This movement became known as “Liberalism” from its common theme: “Freedom” (Latin libertas). The Pian Magisterium, however, identified all of these freedoms as being contrary to Christian order, since these “freedoms” were founded on a denial of the dogma of Original Sin–that without divine grace, man’s intellect was darkened, his will was weakened, and he was inclined to evil.

Thus, all of the freedoms the revolutions sought were solemnly condemned by the Pian Magisterium as being false freedoms, leading to slavery. Why is this? The concept of freedom as imagined by Liberalism was not the freedom as given by Christ—in other words, true freedom—but a cunning counterfeit masquerading as freedom. As a wise man once said, “The enemy of the good is not the evil, but the almost good.” Only the “almost good” can deceive good men away from the truly good.

As our Lord said, he who commits sin is a slave to sin (Jn. viii. 34) and again If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed (Jn. viii. 36). Because of the dogma of Original Sin, the Church understood that freedom from sin was the only true freedom. Thus unless Original Sin was attacked and overcome, every other effort would turn out in vain, and worse, more slavery to sin. This is why in Christendom the momentum of culture flowed against Original Sin from the moment of birth to sorrow of death. And that is why the ideas of Liberalism were condemned—they sought to move the cultural momentum in the opposite direction: reinforcing Original Sin.

Thus came all the solemn condemnations of the Pian Magisterium:

  • The State should be free from the Church: false freedom. If the state is not bound to submit to Christ the King and His Vicars in the Church, the state would only become another pagan emperor seeking its own self-aggrandizement. Thus the citizens were just yoked to further slavery. This had already been happening for some 3 centuries since the Protestant revolt in both Catholic and Protestant monarchies.
  • Economics should be free from the moral order: false freedom. In every transaction, the stronger is tempted to take advantage of the weaker. Original Sin makes any system of men incline to evil, thus it needs the moral Christian order to check its excess. Otherwise, the excess of the richer classes simply gains more wage and debt slaves—this has only provoked widespread labor violence and the evil of Communism.
  • Freedom of religion, freedom of the press: false freedom. The truth is what brings freedom. It is no freedom to have license to spread the slavery of error. By Original Sin, this only leads straight to indifferentism and relativism.
  • A woman should be free from the headship of any man: false freedom. God created male-female order in a relationship of submission and headship. This is designed by God so that man could provide and protect women, and that women could become the maternal guardians of society. If women usurp the role of men in society, a new slavery is the only result, which ends up making women slaves to the wicked schemes of evil men.
  • Spirituality should be free from suffering, since the purpose of religion is to cause positive emotions: false freedom. Christianity is not mere sentiment, but the carrying of the cross. Moreover, suffering frees us from attachments to creatures, in order that we may make spiritual progress in holiness.

These and other false freedoms were solemnly condemned by the Pian Magisterium. Instead, the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception was proclaimed—and confirmed by multiple visions of the Mother of God herself—showing that all men were under Original Sin but our Lady. The rights of Christ the King were defended in society as they had always been proclaimed by the Church especially since the conversion of Armenia in 301.

The difficulty with this period however, was untangling these false freedoms from the true natural freedoms fought for at that time:

  • Freedom of the will: man was indeed endowed with a free will. But this had been denied by Protestantism and also by the heretical Jansenists.
  • Freedom from economic exploitation: the poor in this age were herded into cities and forced to work as wage slaves in factories with horrible conditions (including children). This was a true injustice against their freedom.
  • Freedom from physical slavery: the battle (led by the good Jesuits) against the transatlantic slave trade had been surrendered by the Church when Clement XIV suppressed the Jesuits in 1773, abandoning the slaves to the cruel injustice of absolute tyrants. The Church never fully recovered from this moral compromise, and together with the spread of wage slavery, much of the European mainland left the Church by 1900.

Due to these true freedoms the Church failed to adequately defend, the secularization of Europe was consummated in the First World War, during which our Lady of Fatima gave the world an ultimatum: repent or perish (Lk. xiii. 5). The world chose to perish and massacred millions more, eventually creating an entire industry to slaughter millions of innocent children for the sake of fleshly lusts.

Because of the failure of the Pian Magisterium, John XXIII and Paul VI believed that a new policy would work: instead of condemning the false freedoms, try to compromise with them. This was the pastoral Council of Vatican II, which revoked nothing of the Pian solemn condemnations, but instead tried the new policy of the “Medicine of Mercy.” It was believed this would bring about a new springtime of renewal of the faith  Thus ended the era of the Pian Magisterium and thus began the era of the Springtime Magisterium.

But whereas the Pian Magisterium lasted nearly 7 generations but failed to keep Europe in the faith, the Springtime Magisterium oversaw an unprecedented collapse of every last vestige of faith in Euro-America. Thus after barely two and a half generations (1958-2020), the Springtime approach has proved a complete failure. Even worse, the enemies of Christ have gained greater power over the Church herself through widespread moral, doctrinal and spiritual corruption. The errors of Russia have now spread and gained dominion over the world.

It must be admitted that the Pian Magisterium failed to prevent secularization, and failed to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart. But it still nevertheless refused to compromise with the errors of Russia, but condemned their false freedoms over and over with solemn authoritative decrees.

Not so with the Springtime Magisterium. The Pian was deeply imbued with the realism of man’s affliction of Original Sin. The Springtime Magisterium, heavily influenced by the heresies of Teilhard de Chardin, acted as if Original Sin could be overcome merely by men “dialoguing.” Thus the Springtime actually made a compromise with what Pius XI called the “satanic scourge” (Divini Redemptoris, 7)—socialism. The Springtime Magisterium, with unpardonable hubris, shook hands with the Devil with the Metz Agreement, and agreed to suppress any condemnation of the Satanic Scourge at Vatican II. Thus while the Pian Magisterium—despite its failures—at least fought directly against the errors of Russia, the Springtime Magisterium opened the door to demons to ravage the vineyard of the Lord to make it what Dietrich von Hildebrand could call even in 1973: “The Devastated Vineyard.”

What is the solution? All who have eyes to see know that the Springtime has failed far more than the failures of the Pian. We must repent and return to Fatima. Make your First Saturdays. Pray the daily Rosary. The Church must have the humility to admit that the Springtime failed. Let bishops confess the Declaration and return to the charity of anathema. Old Testament and Church history shows us a cycle which is summed up by the Prophet:

If my people had heard me: if Israel had walked in my ways: I should soon have humbled their enemies, and laid my hand on them that troubled them (Ps. lxxx. 14).

Every time the Church falls into sin and error, God punishes her by making her enemies rule over her. When she repents and turns again to the Lord, He once again humbles their enemies. Let us be free from slavery to false freedoms. Let us repent and turn to the truth, and the Son will make us free indeed.

Timothy S. Flanders
@meaningofcath

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Bernadette says

    April 22, 2020 at 7:40 am

    There could and will be a new springtime in the Church, the True Catholic Church, when all are brought back into the Light of Truth, which has been compromised since the French Revolution and has been promulgated by the modernists who are the infiltrators in the Masonic influences that have replaced God with man under the power of satan. As the third message of Fatima has inferred that the Pope would be under the power of satan and would destroy the Church, only the Divine Will of God has the power to combat such evil, and it is doing this in the few chosen souls who know and live in God’s Will, the sharing in the Divinity which has been promised for over 2000 years in the Our Father. Satan hates the Divine Will of God because it is precisely this that controls him, and he will not come near anyone who lives in this wonderful Light. May the knowledge of the Divine Will of God penetrate into all the intelligences of all generations and save souls for the Kingdom of Heaven in the Fiat we proclaim in the name of all. Fiat!!! Mihi!!! Amen. Great article.

    Reply
  2. Rebner says

    April 22, 2020 at 4:15 pm

    Pius X ultimately (so far) failing concerning the visible church, why return to his spirituality?
    Or is he winning in everybody belonging to the mystical body of Christ? I do think so!

    Reply
  3. David Silva says

    April 27, 2020 at 6:46 am

    Thank you, Brother; you mentioned this period only recently and I could not find reference to it anywhere. This fact must have come to you and your addressing the dearth of reference is a God-send!

    Pax Christi

    LIBERALISM IS A SIN
    Englished and Adapted from the Spanish of Roman Catholic Priest,
    Dr. Don Felix Sarda Y Salvany by Conde B. Pallen, Ph.D., LL.D.
    http://www.liberalismisasin.com/

    Reply
    • TimothyF says

      April 27, 2020 at 10:11 am

      Glad to hear it brother. God bless!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Categories

  • Advent
  • America
  • Audio
  • Authors: Jeremiah Bannister
  • Authors: Kennedy Hall
  • Authors: Nathaniel Richards
  • Catholic Masculinity
  • Christmas
  • Current crisis
  • Greek schism
  • Intro to the Holy Bible (book)
  • Liturgical
  • Moral Theology
  • Muhammadanism
  • Our Lady
  • Podcast
  • Practical
  • Prayer
  • Reference
  • Scientific Debate
  • Spiritual
  • The Protestant Heresies
  • Uncategorized

New Post Notifications

Loading

The Meaning of CatholicFollow

The Meaning of Catholic
Retweet on TwitterThe Meaning of Catholic Retweeted
meaningofcathThe Meaning of Catholic@meaningofcath·
9 Feb

It is time to create an English language version of "Dieu, le Roi" and "Viva Christo Rey!"

JESUS IS KING!

Reply on Twitter 1358932690582573059Retweet on Twitter 135893269058257305915Like on Twitter 135893269058257305967Twitter 1358932690582573059
meaningofcathThe Meaning of Catholic@meaningofcath·
9 Feb

It is time to create an English language version of "Dieu, le Roi" and "Viva Christo Rey!"

JESUS IS KING!

Reply on Twitter 1358932690582573059Retweet on Twitter 135893269058257305915Like on Twitter 135893269058257305967Twitter 1358932690582573059
meaningofcathThe Meaning of Catholic@meaningofcath·
9 Feb

#CatholicTwitter: Please help! This is my ***BURNING QUESTION*** for all IRISH historians or anyone well read on the subject!

PLEASE RT!

Reply on Twitter 1358931981577371657Retweet on Twitter 13589319815773716573Like on Twitter 13589319815773716575Twitter 1358931981577371657
meaningofcathThe Meaning of Catholic@meaningofcath·
8 Feb

#CatholicTwitter: I am in desperate need of contact with an orthodox Catholic who is a historian of Ireland or at least well read in Irish history. Can anyone help me?

Reply on Twitter 1358922756897792003Retweet on Twitter 13589227568977920037Like on Twitter 135892275689779200312Twitter 1358922756897792003
Retweet on TwitterThe Meaning of Catholic Retweeted
VendeeRadioVendée Radio@VendeeRadio·
21 Jan

1/ We have to take back the Roman Empire or its ruins. We love them.
We love Notre Dame de Paris and will rebuild it as many times as needed.
Even more Christendom. Society. We must determine the fashions. We must be the champions. The revolution is a pack of losers and fools

Reply on Twitter 1352321273829994496Retweet on Twitter 13523212738299944964Like on Twitter 135232127382999449614Twitter 1352321273829994496
Load More...

Archives

  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Copyright © 2021 · Magazine Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in