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Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr.'s., Ultimate Treason is Against Christ the King
The pro-abortion, pro-perversity Robert Francis Kennedy, Jr., who has been smeared as a “conspiracy theorist” and as a disseminator of “misinformation” while having his communications censored by the collusion between Deep State apparatchiks and anonymous, faceless Big Tech “deciders” as well as by his fellow Democrats at a hearing on how his communications have been censored (see Democrats try to censor, remove RFK Jr. at hearing on censorship , said recently that the corruption charges against Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., and his son Hunter Biden, are not a “spear point” in his quixotic quest to wrest the 2024 Democratic Party presidential nomination away from Biden, as he Kennedy, says that he is focused on the “issues":
Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was quick to reject the growing corruption allegations facing the Biden family as a campaign issue in a new interview.
"I don't have a comment on that," Kennedy told Fox News Digital on Saturday in response to the corruption claims plaguing the First Family.
Kennedy, who spoke at the libertarian FreedomFest conference in Memphis, Tenn., was then pressed on the controversies surrounding Hunter Biden and the findings from House Republicans claiming millions of dollars in foreign money had been funneled to the Biden family. He refused to opine.
"What I've tried to do in this campaign is to focus on issues and focus on the values and not focus on ad hominem attacks on people," Kennedy said.
"Isn't alleged corruption an issue that voters should be concerned about?" Fox News Digital asked.
"I think on every side it's something that people should be concerned about, but it's not something that I'm making a spear tip to my campaign," Kennedy responded.
The Biden challenger previously refrained from weighing in on the plea deal Hunter struck with the DOJ.
Kennedy's comments echo the sentiment Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., had in the 2016 presidential election cycle when he dismissed Hillary Clinton's email scandal during the first primary debate. (RFK Jr. shrugs off Biden family corruption allegations: Won't be a 'spear tip to my campaign'.)
Well, Mr. Kennedy, character is an issue, and the fact that the President of the United States of America stands credibly accused of being a serial bribe-taker who has laundered the monies paid to his “recovering” crack cocaine addict son, Hunter Biden, his brother James Biden, among other family members, through a series of Delaware-based shell companies. Two experienced investigators who work for the Internal Revenue Service of the United States Department of the Treasury have documented these allegations and have explained how Merrick Garland's Ministry of Injustice (and anti-Trump Deep State swamp creatures during the time that Donald John Trump was president) protected the Biden Family Crime Syndicate at every turn:
There are 472 days until the 2024 presidential election.
Does Joe Biden really think he can camp in the White House basement until then, dodging every question about his son Hunter, foreign bribes and Department of Justice coverups?
He may try to hide behind the skirts of MSNBC anchors, but Americans are demanding answers on a series of scandalous revelations:
- The head of Ukrainian gas company Burisma laid out in stark terms to a credible FBI informant exactly when he had Hunter Biden on the payroll. He needed the then-vice president’s son to solve problems and get a prosecutor fired.
- That Burisma executive, Mykola Zlochevsky, said he was “pressured” to pay Hunter $5 million, and Joe Biden another $5 million, for their assistance.
- We know Hunter was paid this money; it’s documented. We also know he had no expertise in oil and gas, was addicted to drugs, and dropped his father’s name with clients. So what other possible reason was there for him to be paid by Burisma except to influence Joe?
- But when investigators tried to probe the $17 million Hunter Biden made from foreign clients, they were blocked at every turn, testified two IRS whistleblowers. Hunter was tipped off to a possible interview. Agents were told they couldn’t search the Biden home. Felony charges were suddenly downgraded to misdemeanors. A whole IRS team of probers was sidelined after years of work.
- After spending years praising the “courage” of whistleblowers against Donald Trump, Democrats now impugn these on-the-record government employees, blasting their testimony without disputing it.
- Former Hunter business partner Tony Bobulinski said he met with Joe Biden about a possible deal with China-based energy firm CEFC. Emails confirm Joe was set to enter a partnership with Hunter and Bobulinski after leaving office.
None of this is rumor or conspiracy theory. It’s backed up with bank records, pictures, witnesses, even Joe Biden’s own words.
Unlike the final days of the 2020 election, when 51 former intelligence officers aligned with the Democrats tried to sabotage the Hunter scoops, no one is buying that this is “Russian disinformation” or a “hoax.”
Congressional investigators will continue to probe where the money went, and should call for an end to Hunter Biden’s sweetheart deal.
But it’s also long past time for the president to answer tough questions.
If he doesn’t, it means he has no good answers. And if the media fails to ask them, it’s journalistic malpractice.
We offer a few inquiries to get started:
- Bank records show that Hunter Biden not only paid himself from foreign companies, he also paid other family members — such as your daughter-in-law — and household bills in Delaware. How much of your family’s lifestyle was paid by Hunter?
- Do you deny that you met with Tony Bobulinski to discuss a business opportunity with a Chinese energy firm after you left office?
- You claim you pushed for the Ukrainian prosecutor to be fired because he was corrupt. So why would the Burisma executive say you did it as a favor for him?
- Mykola Zlochevsky says he spoke directly with you at least twice. What did you discuss?
- You’ve bragged that you have a transparent administration. So will you investigate the allegations of the two IRS whistleblowers?
- And perhaps one of the most important questions Joe Biden has neither been asked, nor answered:
- Let’s say it’s true that you didn’t profit at all from your son’s business. Why would you allow him to sell the Biden name around the world? Why would you not prevent him from serving on the board of a Ukrainian gas company at the exact time you as vice president were dealing with Ukraine?
This is just a start, of course. But the dam has broken. Joe Biden and the Democrats cannot pretend this is a farce and that the stink of Hunter Biden doesn’t extend to his entire family.
It’s time for the Big Guy to talk. (The Post Says: Joe Biden can't keep dodging questions of corruption — talk Big Guy!.)
In an age of sleazy political corruption that seems insurmountable, there is enormous power in the integrity of two ordinary men willing to stand up, show their faces and tell the truth under oath.
Two elite IRS agents, Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, put their reputations on the line to testify yesterday about egregious wrongdoing at the highest levels of the Department of Justice, which they say obstructed and ultimately destroyed their five-year criminal investigation into Hunter Biden.
Their integrity is as rare as a unicorn in Washington, DC, and they put to shame all the cowards in the IRS and DOJ and FBI who have stayed silent about this Watergate-level coverup.
The testimony they gave and the evidence they will continue to provide Congress helps put the nail in the coffin of Joe Biden’s repeated claims that he knows nothing about his son Hunter’s overseas business dealings.
Not only did he know, but there is mounting evidence that he was involved in the international influence peddling scheme run by his son and brother Jim Biden while he was vice president.
We will learn more about the president’s involvement in his son’s business meetings with shady foreigners when Hunter’s business partner Devon Archer testifies to the House Oversight committee next week.
Yet, according to Shapley and Ziegler, the IRS and FBI team in Delaware that spent five years investigating Hunter Biden’s business dealings between 2014 and 2019 were warned by prosecutors not to pull on any string that led to Joe Biden.
They were not allowed to ask witnesses about the “Big Guy,” who has been identified as the former VP.
They were not allowed to obtain search warrants for a cottage on Joe Biden’s property.
They were sabotaged in their efforts to search a storage unit of Hunter’s because a prosecutor tipped off his lawyers.
They were not allowed to interview Joe Biden’s grandchildren who had received money that formed part of the tax investigation.
They were not allowed to geolocate Hunter to see if he was telling the truth in a shakedown message on WhatsApp when he told a Chinese business associate that he was sitting next to his father who wanted to know why money had not been paid.
They were not allowed access to the laptop, which the FBI had, and which contained a wealth of information that could have boosted their investigation.
Ultimately, when Shapley and an FBI supervisory agent flew to California to interview Hunter in December 2020, they were sabotaged by someone at FBI headquarters who tipped off then president-elect Joe Biden’s transition team and the Secret Service.
Shapley never did interview Hunter, and his team was obstructed from interviewing 11 of the total 12 witnesses they had planned to interview.
All roads lead to Joe
As The Post has pointed out since the first day of our coverage of this scandal, all roads from the Hunter Biden scandals lead to Joe Biden.
That is the only reason that an unemployed 53-year-old recovering crack and hooker addict remains in the news.
It is because he was the bag man in an international influence-peddling scheme that stret
ched from China to Ukraine, Romania, Russia, Kazakhstan and beyond.
Ziegler spent five years painstakingly following that money trail.
He itemized yesterday exactly how much money he found that had flowed through to Hunter and his associates, which include the president’s younger brother Jim Biden.
Ziegler testified to $17.3 million from 2014 to 2019 in total foreign income streams through various shell companies to Hunter and associates.
From Romania: $3.1 million.
From China: $3 million from State Energy HK, a firm affiliated with the Chinese Communist party-backed energy company CEFC.
From China: $3.7 million from CEFC-affiliated Hudson West III.
From Ukraine: $6.5 million from corrupt energy company Burisma.
Of that $17.3 million, he said Hunter received $8.3 million, while the rest went to immediate family members and associates, the committee has found.
Shapley demolished the lie from Democrats that they are just disgruntled investigators unhappy that prosecutors determined they didn’t have a case.
Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna even compared him to Inspector Javert from “Les Misérables,” the villainous cop who jailed people over a loaf of bread.
But Shapley testified that “Two assistant United States attorneys, two DOJ tax attorneys, DOJ Tax Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart Goldberg and US Attorney David Weiss all assisted on this investigation since its inception, knew all of the evidence and agreed with the prosecution of felony charges in both DC and the Central District of California.”
Ultimately the case was sabotaged by the DOJ in ways we are still discovering, and the statute of limitations was allowed to expire on the most serious charges.
Hunter got a slap on the wrist in a plea deal allowing him to plead guilty to two misdemeanors. And he hasn’t even repaid all the taxes!
In response to all these the truth bombs, Democrats on the committee behaved like panicking clowns yesterday, injecting red herrings like “racial inequity” and Trump Trump Trump into every question.
By contrast, Shapley and Ziegler are frank and serious men.
For Shapley what is important is “the equal application of justice . . . There are 300 million taxpayers out there who think this hearing is a big deal because they’re paying their taxes and they see someone who isn’t.”
Ziegler said: “We need to hold those accountable who basically for the last five years hasn’t been following proper procedure.”
‘Never compromise’
These are not partisans. Shapley, who has voted for both parties, told the committee: “I am the first person in my family to go to college. It was not an Ivy League school, and I don’t have a network of rich and powerful friends to help me weather the storms of retaliation and character assassination raging on me for doing the right thing. “I am putting myself at risk for the American people who support me and for those who do not. At the end of the day, I am just a small town kid from Norwich, New York who worked hard to get where I am and will never compromise my integrity.”
Ziegler’s life story was a rebuke to Democrats who frame the witnesses as GOP stooges: “I am a gay Democrat married to a man. But I’m no more credible than [Shapley] due to my sexual orientation or my political beliefs. I was raised and have always strived to do what is right. I have heard from some that I am a traitor to the Democratic party [but] I implore you, that if you were put in my position . . . that you would be doing the exact same thing — regardless of your political party affiliation. I hope that I am an example to other LGBTQ people out there . . . We should always do the right thing, no matter how painful the process might be.”
They are true American heroes.
Their sacrifice will help right the rotten ship of state. (Elite IRS whistleblowers are bravely standing up to the Bidens, DOJ.)
A trusted FBI informant told agents in 2020 that Hunter Biden was hired by Burisma Holdings to use his father to help "protect" the Ukrainian gas firm from problems, including an effort to "take care of'" a Ukrainian prosecutor who was investigating the company for corruption, according to an explosive document released by Sen. Charles Grassley on Thursday.
"They hired Hunter Biden to protect us, through his dad, from all kinds of problems," the informant reported to the FBI that a top Burisma official named Vadim Pojarskii declared during a meeting while Joe Biden was still vice president, according to the FD-1023 confidential human source report Grassley, R-Iowa, released.
The informant also reported that Burisma had asked Hunter Biden to help get the top prosecutor in Ukraine, Victor Shokin, sidelined because he was investigating the firm for corruption and interfering with Burisma's effort to buy a U.S. firm.
"Shokin's investigation into Burisma, which was made public at this time, it would have a substantial negative impact on Burisma's prospective IPO in the United States," the report alleged. "Zlochevsky replied something to the effect of, 'Don't worry Hunter will take care of all of those issues through his dad.'"
The report reveals that the informant began reporting these concerns back in 2017.
A trusted FBI informant told agents in 2020 that Hunter Biden was hired by Burisma Holdings to use his father to help "protect" the Ukrainian gas firm from problems, including an effort to "take care of'" a Ukrainian prosecutor who was investigating the company for corruption, according to an explosive document released by Sen. Charles Grassley on Thursday.
"They hired Hunter Biden to protect us, through his dad, from all kinds of problems," the informant reported to the FBI that a top Burisma official named Vadim Pojarskii declared during a meeting while Joe Biden was still vice president, according to the FD-1023 confidential human source report Grassley, R-Iowa, released.
The informant also reported that Burisma had asked Hunter Biden to help get the top prosecutor in Ukraine, Victor Shokin, sidelined because he was investigating the firm for corruption and interfering with Burisma's effort to buy a U.S. firm.
"Shokin's investigation into Burisma, which was made public at this time, it would have a substantial negative impact on Burisma's prospective IPO in the United States," the report alleged. "Zlochevsky replied something to the effect of, 'Don't worry Hunter will take care of all of those issues through his dad.'"
The report reveals that the informant began reporting these concerns back in 2017.
You can read the full document here. fd_1023_obtained_by_senator_grassley_-_biden.pdf
Joe Biden has admitted he forced Shokin's firing in late 2015 and early 2016 by threatening to withhold $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees from Ukraine. The prosecutor was fired, but Biden has adamantly denied he did so to help his son's company.
The memo clearly states Burisma owner, Mykola Zlochevsky, told the informant he had been "coerced" into paying the Biden's money and estimated the price tag to be $10 million.
"Zlochevsky stated he didn't want to pay the Bidens and he was pushed to pay them," the report stated
The owner added it "cost 5 (million) to pay one Biden, and 5 (million) to another Biden," the informant reported, adding that "at this time, it was unclear to CHS whether these alleged payments were already made."
The informant also revealed that Burisma officials had become frustrated by Hunter Biden's performance.
"Pojarski replied that Hunter Biden was not smart, and they wanted to get additional counsel," the FBI reported. "The group then had a general conversation about whether the purchase/merger with a US company would be a good business decision."
In response to the FD-1023's release, White house spokesperson Ian Sams issued the following statement:
"It is remarkable that congressional Republicans, in their eagerness to go after President Biden regardless of the truth, continue to push claims that have been debunked for years and that they themselves have cautioned to take 'with a grain of salt' because they could be 'made up.' These claims have reportedly been scrutinized by the Trump Justice Department, a Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney, and a full impeachment trial of the former President that centered on these very issues, and over and over again, they have been found to lack credibility. It's clear that congressional Republicans are dead-set on playing shameless, dishonest politics and refuse to let truth get in the way. It is well past time for news organizations to hold them to basic levels of factual accountability for their repeated and increasingly desperate efforts to mislead both the public and the press." (Bombshell FBI memo: Hunter Biden hired by Ukrainian firm to 'protect' it from corruption probe.)
Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley on Thursday published an unclassified FBI document containing confidential human source information related to an alleged bribery scheme involving Joe and Hunter Biden in which a Ukrainian gas company hired Hunter Biden to secure access to his father to help the firm stifle an investigation into its dealings.
The House Oversight Committee previously issued a subpoena to obtain the document, with which FBI Director Christopher Wray did not comply. Though he ultimately permitted the committee members to view the FD-1023 in a secure location, the contents remained unpublished until Grassley's Thursday release.
The document shows that the bureau had a trusted source privy to Burisma's efforts to quash a probe from then-Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin and its plans to expand to the U.S. and secure a company for IPO purposes.
File fd_1023_obtained_by_senator_grassley_-_biden.pdf
Here are the key takeaways from the CHS claims outlined in the document.
Burisma Holdings hired Hunter Biden to have his father "protect" the company
During CHS's first meeting with Burisma leaders, senior official Vadim Pojarskii reportedly stated that Burisma had hired Hunter Biden to "protect us, through his dad, from all kinds of problems," though Pojarskii declined to elaborate.
In another meeting, the CHS conversed with CEO Mykola Zlochevsky about President Joe Biden's recent declaration that Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin, who was investigating Burisma at the time, was corrupt and ought to be removed from office.
Zlochevsky, in that instance, told the CHS not to fret about the adverse impact such a declaration may have on Burisma's prospects, saying "[d]on't worry Hunter will take care of all of those issues through his dad."
Biden ultimately succeeded in getting Shokin fired after threatening Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko that he would withhold $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees if he did not remove him.
Burisma feared Shokin's probe would stop its efforts to get publicly traded in the U.S.
The energy company sought to purchase an existing U.S. firm for IPO purposes. An initial public offering refers to the original sale of stock in a company when it first becomes a publicly traded company. Firms often opt to make such a move as a means of raising capital to finance expansion.
The CHS debated the sense of CEO Mykola Zlochevsky's plan to by a U.S. company rather than forming a new U.S. entity or to purchase an already listed corporate shell company to which the CEO retorted that Hunter Biden had advised that such a plan would result in raising more money.
The CHS was concerned about the prospect of raising capital through an IPO in America given the ongoing corruption probe from Shokin and advised Zlochevksy to settle the case in Ukraine, though the Burisma executive dismissed the idea because he was not convinced Burisma would win the case.
Zlochevsky told the CHS that he need to retain Hunter Biden "so everything will be okay" and that the Shokin case "will go away anyway."
Burisma knew Hunter Biden had no experience, thought he was dumb, and sought additional counsel
During the CHS's first meeting with Burisma officials, the company discussed the composition of its board and the aid of the Bidens, to which the CHS questioned why they sought additional assistance.
"Pojarskii replied that Hunter Biden was not smart, and they wanted to get additional counsel," the FBI document reads
During a subsequent conversation with Zlochevsky, the CHS advised him to at least hire more conventional U.S. oil and gas advisors, citing the Bidens' lack of experience in the industry.
Zlochevsky acknowledged the Bidens' shortcomings, called Hunter stupid, and suggested that the Burisma CEO's dog was smarter than the first son.
The CHS believed the payments made to the Bidens were 'illicit' in nature
During the conversation with Zlochevsky, the CHS asked as to Burisma's efforts to purchase a U.S. company to secure a listing on the stock exchange. The company had sought to purchase a U.S. entity, an effort with which the CHS took issue due to the expense. The CHS proposed alternate approaches amid the ongoing investigation and discussed the legal prospects of Burisma in relation to Shokin's investigation.
The CEO dismissed the CHS proposal that they pay a lawyer $50,000 to litigate the case in Ukraine, an idea that elicited laughs from Zlochevsky, who quipped as to the expense related to paying the Biden's to handle matters.
"[I]t cost 5 (million) to pay one Biden, and 5 (million) to another Biden," he said. CHS repeatedly warned Zlochevsky against retaining Hunter Biden and not to make an international incident of the Shokin case, though Zlochevsky contended that it was too late to change course and that both Joe and Hunter had pressed him to keep Hunter on the board.
"Don't worry, this thing will go away anyway," the Burisma executive added.
The CHS inferred from the "too late" comment that Zlochevsky had already paid the Bidens, presumably to "deal with Shokin" and asked that Zlochevsky keep the CHS out of Biden-related matters. CHS advised Burisma to fire Hunter Biden and told Zlochevsky not to pay them, stating that to do so would complicate matters.
Burisma executives believed they had been coerced into hiring Hunter
During a phone call after the 2016 presidential election, Zlochevksy expressed disappointment in former President Donald Trump's victory, prompting the CHS to press the Burisma CEO on whether he was worried about the company's connection with the Bidens.
Zlochevsky retorted that he had not wanted to pay the Bidens and that he was "pushed to pay" them. The term Zlochevsky used, according to the CHS, was Russian slang for a coerced payment.
During that conversation, Zlochevsky indicated he had recordings and messages related to being forced to pay the Bidens and asked the CHS whether it would make a legal difference if he had been forced to make the payments or did so voluntarily.
Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley on Thursday published an unclassified FBI document containing confidential human source information related to an alleged bribery scheme involving Joe and Hunter Biden in which a Ukrainian gas company hired Hunter Biden to secure access to his father to help the firm stifle an investigation into its dealings.
The House Oversight Committee previously issued a subpoena to obtain the document, with which FBI Director Christopher Wray did not comply. Though he ultimately permitted the committee members to view the FD-1023 in a secure location, the contents remained unpublished until Grassley's Thursday release.
The document shows that the bureau had a trusted source privy to Burisma's efforts to quash a probe from then-Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin and its plans to expand to the U.S. and secure a company for IPO purposes.
Here are the key takeaways from the CHS claims outlined in the document.
Burisma Holdings hired Hunter Biden to have his father "protect" the company
During CHS's first meeting with Burisma leaders, senior official Vadim Pojarskii reportedly stated that Burisma had hired Hunter Biden to "protect us, through his dad, from all kinds of problems," though Pojarskii declined to elaborate.
In another meeting, the CHS conversed with CEO Mykola Zlochevsky about President Joe Biden's recent declaration that Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin, who was investigating Burisma at the time, was corrupt and ought to be removed from office.
Zlochevsky, in that instance, told the CHS not to fret about the adverse impact such a declaration may have on Burisma's prospects, saying "[d]on't worry Hunter will take care of all of those issues through his dad."
Biden ultimately succeeded in getting Shokin fired after threatening Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko that he would withhold $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees if he did not remove him.
Burisma feared Shokin's probe would stop its efforts to get publicly traded in the U.S.
The energy company sought to purchase an existing U.S. firm for IPO purposes. An initial public offering refers to the original sale of stock in a company when it first becomes a publicly traded company. Firms often opt to make such a move as a means of raising capital to finance expansion.
The CHS debated the sense of CEO Mykola Zlochevsky's plan to by a U.S. company rather than forming a new U.S. entity or to purchase an already listed corporate shell company to which the CEO retorted that Hunter Biden had advised that such a plan would result in raising more money.
The CHS was concerned about the prospect of raising capital through an IPO in America given the ongoing corruption probe from Shokin and advised Zlochevksy to settle the case in Ukraine, though the Burisma executive dismissed the idea because he was not convinced Burisma would win the case.
Zlochevsky told the CHS that he need to retain Hunter Biden "so everything will be okay" and that the Shokin case "will go away anyway."
Burisma knew Hunter Biden had no experience, thought he was dumb, and sought additional counsel
During the CHS's first meeting with Burisma officials, the company discussed the composition of its board and the aid of the Bidens, to which the CHS questioned why they sought additional assistance.
"Pojarskii replied that Hunter Biden was not smart, and they wanted to get additional counsel," the FBI document reads.
During a subsequent conversation with Zlochevsky, the CHS advised him to at least hire more conventional U.S. oil and gas advisors, citing the Bidens' lack of experience in the industry.
Zlochevsky acknowledged the Bidens' shortcomings, called Hunter stupid, and suggested that the Burisma CEO's dog was smarter than the first son.
The CHS believed the payments made to the Bidens were 'illicit' in nature
During the conversation with Zlochevsky, the CHS asked as to Burisma's efforts to purchase a U.S. company to secure a listing on the stock exchange. The company had sought to purchase a U.S. entity, an effort with which the CHS took issue due to the expense. The CHS proposed alternate approaches amid the ongoing investigation and discussed the legal prospects of Burisma in relation to Shokin's investigation.
The CEO dismissed the CHS proposal that they pay a lawyer $50,000 to litigate the case in Ukraine, an idea that elicited laughs from Zlochevsky, who quipped as to the expense related to paying the Biden's to handle matters.
"[I]t cost 5 (million) to pay one Biden, and 5 (million) to another Biden," he said. CHS repeatedly warned Zlochevsky against retaining Hunter Biden and not to make an international incident of the Shokin case, though Zlochevsky contended that it was too late to change course and that both Joe and Hunter had pressed him to keep Hunter on the board.
"Don't worry, this thing will go away anyway," the Burisma executive added.
The CHS inferred from the "too late" comment that Zlochevsky had already paid the Bidens, presumably to "deal with Shokin" and asked that Zlochevsky keep the CHS out of Biden-related matters. CHS advised Burisma to fire Hunter Biden and told Zlochevsky not to pay them, stating that to do so would complicate matters.
Burisma executives believed they had been coerced into hiring Hunter
During a phone call after the 2016 presidential election, Zlochevksy expressed disappointment in former President Donald Trump's victory, prompting the CHS to press the Burisma CEO on whether he was worried about the company's connection with the Bidens.
Zlochevsky retorted that he had not wanted to pay the Bidens and that he was "pushed to pay" them. The term Zlochevsky used, according to the CHS, was Russian slang for a coerced payment.
During that conversation, Zlochevsky indicated he had recordings and messages related to being forced to pay the Bidens and asked the CHS whether it would make a legal difference if he had been forced to make the payments or did so voluntarily.
Zlochevsky bragged he had covered his tracks on the Biden payments
The Burisma CEO questioned the CHS during the 2019 phone call as to whether CHS was an "oracle" in light of CHS's prior advice not to pay the Bidens and reports of investigations into their links with the company.
It was during this exchange that Zlochevsky confirmed he had not made any payments directly to the "Big Guy" and bragged that "it would take them (Investigators) 10 years to find the records (i.e. illicit payments to Joe Biden)," the FD-1023 reads.
The FBI received a lead involving cryptocurrency
The FD-1023 includes information regarding Oleksandr Ostapenko that noted he worked in the administration of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the time and also for Valery Vavilov, the founder of cryptocurrency and blockchain firm BitFury.
Former FBI Assistant Director of Intelligence Kevin Brock pointed to the use of cryptocurrency for covert payments and suggested it might form a lead to trace the payments.
"Using cryptocurrency back in 2015, 2016, was still kind of new and leading edge," he said on the "Just the News, No Noise" television show. "The advantage of cryptocurrency is it does afford a degree of anonymity, but there's still money trail. It's a ledger-based system."
"So any payments, once you know who's making the payment and you've got the Bitcoin numbers, you can ... follow that money and you can see how it is laundered and how it's cashed out and converted back into normal crash and where it goes from there. So it's not impossible to follow cryptocurrency trails," he added.
The FBI long knew that Joe's associates called him the "Big Guy"
During a 2019 phone call, Zlochevsky referred to Joe Biden as the "Big Guy" while claiming to have never sent any payments directly to him. The CHS understood the term to reference Biden.
Given that the CHS date of contact was June 30, 2020, the form seems indicate that the bureau was aware that Biden's business associates referred to him as such well before Hunter Biden business partner Tony Bobulinski came forward to make the claim.
Bobulinski came forward in October 2020 in connection with the notorious business deal involving the now-defunct CEFC China Energy company. Bobulinski confirmed the legitimacy of a 2017 email stated "10 held by H for the big guy," which he stated was a reference to Joe Biden.
The FBI began receiving information on the Bidens and Burisma as early as 2017
A footnote in the FD-1023 refers to a March 1, 2017, exchange in which the CHS reported some of the information and stated that Zlochevsky briefly discussed Hunter Biden, but that his comments had not been related to the company's efforts to purchase a U.S. firm. CHS also acknowledged that Burisma assigned Pojarskii to manage that effort.
The bureau's former intelligence chief believes the memo warrants a criminal investigation of Joe Biden
During an appearance on the "Just the News, No Noise" television show on Thursday, former FBI Assistant Director of Intelligence Kevin Brock opined that the allegations detailed in the memo would warrant a criminal investigation into the president.
"You have enough here for a full field criminal investigation. No doubt," he said. "But beyond that, we have assertions by the CHS that the CEO of Burisma, Zlochevsky... tape recorded a lot of the conversations that he had with Hunter Biden to include two conversations directly with Joe Biden. The FBI needs to know what's on those tapes."
Zlochevsky claims to have 17 recordings related to the Bidens, two of which include Joe Biden while 15 feature only Hunter. He also claimed to possess documents, which the CHS believed were bank records and wire transfer statements, to prove that the payments occurred. (Secret tapes and coerced payments: Top 10 Biden-Burisma bombshells from FBI informant memo. Also see: FBI Told Twitter Hunter Biden Laptop Was Real on Day It Was CensoredIRS whistleblower's lawyer: Prosecutors supported pressing charges against Hunter but were 'shut down', Biden bribe file released: Burisma chief said 'both' Joe and Hunter involved, Joe Biden 'extremely well known' to feds investigating Hunter, showed up to FBI office during probe: IRS agent Joseph Ziegler, and FBI Told Twitter Hunter Biden Laptop Was Real on Day It Was Censored.)
Unlike what Robert Francis Kennedy, Jr., contended six days ago, these are not ad hominem attacks against his fellow Democrat in the White House. These are serious allegations backed up by documents, bank records, and the investigative work of experienced Internal Revenue Service Agents who have no political agenda. Indeed, one of those agents, Joseph Ziegler, is himself a Democrat who self-identifies by attachment to the sin of Sodom, which is, of course, one of the “golden calves” of the organized crime family of the naturalist “left.” This man, who is certainly very courageous, is risking everything to come forward as he has, Mr. Kennedy. Treason and bribery are, after all, two of the impeachable offenses listed in Article II, Section 4, of the Constitution of the United States of America.
However, Robert Francis Kennedy, Jr., is hardly alone in refusing to acknowledge the seriousness of the charges against the man from whom he is trying to wrest his pro-death, pro-perversity political party’s presidential nomination.
Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr.’s., enablers in the organized crime family of false opposite of the naturalist “right” have been blind, deaf, and dumb in the wake of these allegations, although they are ever so ready to make one comment after another about each indictment that is handed down against the man they loathe, former President Donald John Trump, who is certainly his own worst enemy but, at the same time, is being targeted for imprisonment solely because he won the presidency in 2016 and thus interrupted Barack Hussein Obama/Barry Soetoro’s “transformative” agenda that those who control Biden’s marionette strings have been attempting to implement in the past two years, six months, two days.
Silence from United States Senate Majority Leader Addison Mitchell McConnell.
Silence from United States Senator John Cornyn.
Silence from United States Senator Willard Mitt Romney.
Silence from United States Senator Susan Collins.
Silence from United States Senator Lisa Murkowski.
Silence from former Arkansas Governor and presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson, a Deep State apparatchik.
Silence from former New Jersey Governor and presidential candidate Christopher William Christie.
Silence from neoconservative war hawk Elizabeth Cheney.
Silence from United States Senator John Thune.
Silence from United States Senator Thom Tillis.
Yes, these swamp creatures so hate former President Trump that they refuse to face the facts about Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., who has been up for sale since he sold his soul to the devil fifty years ago this year to support the nonexistent “right’ of a woman to kill their preborn babies under cover of the civil law by claiming to oppose abortion “privately” but had an “obligation” to support it as an elected representative of the “people,” a sophism of the sort that was anticipated and condemned by Pope Leo XIII in Immortale Dei, November 1, 1885:
Hence, lest concord be broken by rash charges, let this be understood by all, that the integrity of Catholic faith cannot be reconciled with opinions verging on naturalism or rationalism, the essence of which is utterly to do away with Christian institutions and to install in society the supremacy of man to the exclusion of God. Further, it is unlawful to follow one line of conduct in private life and another in public, respecting privately the authority of the Church, but publicly rejecting it; for this would amount to joining together good and evil, and to putting man in conflict with himself; whereas he ought always to be consistent, and never in the least point nor in any condition of life to swerve from Christian virtue. (Pope Leo XIII, Immortale Dei, November 1, 1885.)
It is a relatively easy thing to sell out one’s country for personal gain after one has broken the vows of his Baptism and Confirmation by seeking after public approval, career success, and financial gain in full defiance of the words of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ:
For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul? (Matthew 16: 26)
Truth to be told, of course, Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr.’s lack of personal virtue, which is a legitimate issue to raise in the course of public debate as to lack virtue is make oneself vulnerable over time to having a complete contempt for the binding precepts of the Divine Positive Law, the Natural Law and the just laws of men and their nations, dates back at least as far as his days at Syracuse Law School in the 1960s, where he first demonstrated his penchant for plagiarism, and blossomed into full demagoguery by the time he had been elected to the United States Senate in 1972:
Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., fighting to salvage his Presidential campaign, today acknowledged ''a mistake'' in his youth, when he plagiarized a law review article for a paper he wrote in his first year at law school.
Mr. Biden insisted, however, that he had done nothing ''malevolent,'' that he had simply misunderstood the need to cite sources carefully. And he asserted that another controversy, concerning recent reports of his using material from others' speeches without attribution, was ''much ado about nothing.''
Mr. Biden, the 44-year-old Delaware Democrat who heads the Senate Judiciary Committee, addressed these issues at the Capitol in a morning news conference he had called expressly for that purpose. The news conference was held just before he presided over the third day of hearings on the nomination of Judge Robert H. Bork to the Supreme Court.
To buttress his assertions of sincerity and openness, Mr. Biden released a 65-page file, obtained by the Senator from the Syracuse University College of Law, that he said contained all the records of his years there. It disclosed relatively poor grades in college and law school, mixed evaluations from teachers and details of the plagiarism. (Biden Admits Plagiarism in School But Says It Was Not 'Malevolent'; see also Joseph Biden's Plagiarism.)
Nothing Biden does is ever “malevolent” or criminal. He is the victim of one “innocent” circumstance after another, or he made a “mistaken” or did something “stupid.” He never “intended” to do this or that, of course.
The plagiarism revelation was made public in September of 1987 after John Sasso, then the campaign manager for Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis's campaign to secure the 1988 presidential nomination of the Democratic Party, had aired an "attack video" that placed side-by-side, split-screen footage of speeches given by Neil Kinnock, the Trotskyite leader of the Labour Party in the United Kingdom, and the then Senator Biden on foreign policy that were identical (here is a link to a compilation of news reports from 1987 about Biden’s legendary lies: Joe Biden's lies are legendary). Kinnock was then the leader of the Labour Party, which was out of power in the United Kingdom from May 4, 1979, to May 2, 1997, at which point the party, then led by Tony Blair, defeated the Conservative (or Tory) Party in the general elections, ousting Margaret Thatcher's successor, John Major, as prime minister. Biden and Kinnock were soulmates on matters of foreign policy.
Why not steal Kinnock's speech?
After all, it was "much ado about nothing."
Well, despite Biden's willingness to let his fellow pro-abortion Catholic, Edward Moore Kennedy (D-Massachusetts), to his bidding for him by demonizing United States Judge of the Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Judge Robert Bork during the latter's confirmation hearings in 1987 to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States of America, he had to fold up his presidential aspirations for 1988 soon after the plagiarism became known, following the departure of former United States Senator Gary Hart (D-South Dakota), whose "monkey business" forced him out of the race on May 8, 1987 (he reentered seven months later principally to become eligible for Federal matching funds to pay off his campaign debt). The gaffe-prone Biden thought that he could win that presidential nomination he so coveted if he only waited a little while, having to settle for the vice presidency under Barack Hussein Obama/Barry Soetoro, a first-class demagogue in his own right, after in 2008 campaign fizzled out after receiving four percent of the vote in the Iowa caucuses on January 3, 2008.
The loose-mouthed, foul-mouthed (see When "Boys Will Be Boys" They Grow Up to Be Men Like Joe Biden) was a walking demagogue throughout the course of his eight years as the nation's forty-seventh vice president. It was in 2011 that Biden accused House Republicans associated with the loosely organized Taxed Enough Already movement (TEA Party) of being "terrorists" for seeking to achieve significant cuts in Federal spending in exchange for the raising of the national debt ceiling. True to his lying self, Biden denied that he used the word terrorism:
Vice President Joe Biden joined House Democrats in lashing tea party Republicans Monday, accusing them of having “acted like terrorists” in the fight over raising the nation’s debt limit, according to several sources in the room.
Biden was agreeing with a line of argument made by Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) at a two-hour, closed-door Democratic Caucus meeting.
“We have negotiated with terrorists,” an angry Doyle said, according to sources in the room. “This small group of terrorists have made it impossible to spend any money.”
Biden, driven by his Democratic allies’ misgivings about the debt-limit deal, responded: “They have acted like terrorists.”
Biden’s office initially declined to comment about what the vice president said inside the closed-door session, but after POLITICO published the remarks, spokeswoman Kendra Barkoff said: “The word was used by several members of Congress. The vice president does not believe it’s an appropriate term in political discourse.”
Biden later denied he used that term in an interview with CBS.
“I did not use the terrorism word,” Biden told CBS Evening News anchor and managing editor Scott Pelley.
Earlier in the day, Biden told Senate Democrats that Republican leaders have “guns to their heads” in trying to negotiate deals. (Joe Biden likened tea partiers to terrorists.)
Biden lies.
Biden denies that he lies.
He has used this same pattern of demagoguery and deceit throughout his entire life, including his repeatedly blaming a deceased truck driver for the death of his first wife and infant daughter in a traffic accident in 1972 even though she was at fault and the driver was never ticketed by the police or charged with any crime:
The worst moment of Joseph R. Biden’s life — the 1972 car crash that killed his wife and baby daughter — has drawn renewed attention over a falsehood that the former vice president repeated for years: that the other driver was drunk.
From 2001-07, Mr. Biden indicated at least twice that the tractor-trailer driver who hit his wife’s car had been drinking, even though the state official who oversaw the investigation and the driver’s daughter said that wasn’t true.
During the 2008 presidential campaign, Pamela Hamill, the daughter of driver Curtis C. Dunn, called on Mr. Biden to apologize publicly after he told a crowd that her father “drank his lunch” before the accident, according to a 2008 article in the Newark [Delaware] Post.
“A tractor-trailer, a guy who allegedly — and I never pursued it — drank his lunch instead of eating his lunch, broadsided my family and killed my wife instantly and killed my daughter instantly and hospitalized my two sons,” Mr. Biden said in 2007.
In a 2001 speech at the University of Delaware, he referred to an “errant driver who stopped to drink instead of drive” and “hit my children and my wife and killed them,” according to a 2008 report in NewsBusters, citing a 2001 “Inside Edition” report.
Mr. Biden apparently stopped making the claim after a burst of media attention.
In a January article in Politico, Ms. Hamill said that Mr. Biden called her to apologize following a 2009 CBS report on the discrepancy.
“He apologized for hurting my family in any way,” she said. “So we accepted that — and kind of end of story from there.”
Mr. Dunn, who died in 1999, hit the station wagon driven by 30-year-old Neilia Biden as she drove to buy a Christmas tree with the Bidens’ three young children: Beau, 4; Hunter, 3, and Naomi, 13 months.
The rig overturned as Mr. Dunn swerved to avoid the collision, but he “ran to the wrecked car and was the first to offer assistance,” the Post reported.
Now-retired Delaware Superior Court Judge Jerome O. Herlihy, who oversaw the investigation as chief deputy attorney general, told Politico, “She had a stop sign. The truck driver did not.”
In 2008, he told the Post that rumors about alcohol playing a role in the accident were “incorrect.”
This is awful. Did you know for years told people his wife and 13-month-old daughter were killed by a drunk driver, when in fact the accident was tragically her fault. The truck driver was haunted by the accident until he died — Rosie memos (@almostjingo)
Townhall’s Guy Benson called the vice president’s inaccurate references to drinking, which first appeared in 2001, “bizarre and disturbing.”
“The whole situation is sad enough, why embellish it with what amounts to be an unsupported smear of a man who — according to the authorities — was not drunk, did not cause the accident, and immediately sought to ‘render assistance’ to the victims?” asked Mr. Benson in a Thursday op-ed.
An extremely difficult and sensitive topic to cover.
Whoa: Did Joe Biden Falsely Smear the Truck Driver Involved in the Car Crash That Killed His First Wife and Daughter?
Joe Biden Lied for Years about the Car Accident that Claimed the Life of his Wife and Daughter
Mr. Biden, a 2020 Democratic presidential primary front-runner, has been criticized for embellishing his speeches with exaggerations and inaccuracies, such as his claim that he met with Parkland students at the White House after the 2018 shooting, even though he left office in January 2017.
RedState’s Elizabeth Vaughn said Mr. Biden’s “mischaracterization of this accident doesn’t surprise me.”
“It’s part of a pattern of behavior that we’ve come to associate with Biden,” she said in a Thursday post. “He has a history of embellishing events which have occurred and occasionally inventing entire stories out of whole cloth if it serves his purpose. Put another way, this man’s word is not to be trusted.”
The Biden boys recovered from injuries sustained in the crash, which happened six weeks after Mr. Biden was elected to his first term in the Senate. Beau Biden died in 2015 of cancer.
In the 2008 article, Ms. Hamill said she worried that without a Biden rebuttal, the “drunk driver” angle could eventually take root in the public narrative. The claim had already appeared in several articles about Mr. Biden leading up to the election.
“Suppose he becomes the next vice president,” she told the Post. “Movies could be made about him and books could be written about him, all falsely portraying my father as a drunk driver. We need to set the record straight and clear my father’s name right now before this goes any further.” (Joe Biden's false claim about drunken driver draws renewed scrutiny.)
I, for one, am amazed that anyone finds the pro-abort, pro-perversity, pro-open border, pro-everything bad grafter Biden’s mendacious behavior in the White House to be in any way extraordinary. The man has lived his entire life lying with impunity, and he is also a greedy, slimy, transparent crook as well:
Crooks lie.
Crooks lie all the time.
Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., is a thief, a crook, a bum, a deranged demagogue, a thug, and an enabler of George Soros-sponsored harassment of Democratic Party opponents, including United States Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-Arizona) and Joseph Manchin (D-West Virginia), of his $3.5 trillion budget and $1.2 trillion “infrastructure” bill (see George Soros-Linked Group Behind Public Harassment of Kyrsten Sinema).
Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr.’s, lies are indeed legendary, but perhaps more legendary is his hypocrisy when he becomes righteous in the condemnation of others for the “mistakes” or “stupid things” he has done. Consider how he personally blocked the confirmation of President James Earl “The Appeaser” Carter, Jr.’s., nominee for Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, former John Fitzgerald Kennedy speechwriter and hagiographer Theodore Sorensen, back forty-six years ago:
Joe Biden reportedly played an integral role in then-President Jimmy Carter withdrawing his selection to lead the CIA during the late 1970s — over the apparent mishandling of classified documents.
In 1977, the first full year of Carter's tenure as commander-in-chief, American lawyer Ted Sorensen never got past the Senate confirmation process, largely stemming from his question-and-answer session with Biden, then a U.S. senator from Delaware.
According to Fox News, Sorensen admitted to taking boxes of classified records home with him after leaving the White House in 1964 — after working for the administrations of Presidents John F. Kennedy Jr. and Lyndon B. Johnson — as a means of using certain materials for a Kennedy biography.
Around that time, Democrat Biden aligned with Senate Republicans to block Sorensen from being confirmed by the chamber.
Biden also suggested Sorensen may have violated the Espionage Act of 1917, according to Fox News.
During the Senate confirmation hearing, Biden seemingly mocked Sorensen for "carelessly" ignoring the laws pertaining to possessing classified materials.
"If [Sorenson] did so, can he now bring the activities of the intelligence community within the strict limits of the law?" Biden rhetorically asked then. "We will expect that in the future of intelligence agencies. If that is to be the case, then we must hold the director ... accountable as well."
Shortly after being grilled on Capitol Hill, Sorensen didn't contest Carter's withdrawn nomination.
However, according to a Washington Post report from 1977, the embattled former White House staffer noted his "handling of classified information was at all times in accordance with the then-existing laws, regulations and practices."
Fast forward to the present: As the current president, Biden has expressed no public remorse for batches of classified materials being discovered either at his Washington, D.C., office (the Penn Biden Center) or his Delaware home — from a time when Biden was vice president, a position that holds no powers of declassifying top-secret government documents.
And as Newsmax chronicled Thursday, some Republican lawmakers have expressed concerns about the information from a recent Washington Post report, suggesting the White House and DOJ had previously agreed to obscure President Biden's alleged mishandling of classified documents from public view — at least before CBS News contacted the White House about the first batch of improperly stored sensitive documents.
The White House, which has been accused of shielding the press from access to DOJ representatives, maintains that it will continue to cooperate with federal agencies, including Attorney General Merrick Garland's special counsel appointment Robert Hur. (Biden Thwarted CIA Director Pick in 1977 Over Classified Docs Scandal.)
No matter how this current dog and pony show ends, and it will probably end without any conviction in the Senate of the United States of America if Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., is impeached by the United States House of Representatives.
The fact remains, however, that everyone, including the powerful, wealthy, and the celebrated, will have to stand before Christ the King when they die. Those who have sinned with impunity without any inward remorse or outward sign of contribution and, worse yet, have suborned sin and sought to protect it under cover of law while persecuting those who oppose their promotion of sin fall, objectively speaking, into the category of the likes of sinners whose deaths are described as follows by Saint Alphonsus de Ligouri:
"Thy enemies shall cast a trench about thee." LUKE xix. 43.
SEEING from a distance the city of Jerusalem, in which the Jews were soon to put him to death, Jesus Christ wept over it. "Videns civitatern flevit super illam." Our merciful Redeemer wept at the consideration of the chastisement which was soon to be inflicted on the city, and which he foretold to her inhabitants. ”Thy enemies shall cast a trench about thee. ” Unhappy city! thou shalt one day see thyself encompassed by enemies, who shall beat thee flat to the ground, and thy children in thee, and shall not leave in thee a stone upon a stone. Most beloved brethren, this unhappy city is a figure of the soul of a sinner, who, at the hour of death, shall find himself surrounded by his enemies first, by remorse of conscience; secondly, by the assaults of the devils; and thirdly, by the fears of eternal death.
First Point. The sinner at death shall be tortured by remorses of conscience.
1. "Their soul shall die in a storm." (Job xxxvi. 14.) The unhappy sinners who remain in sin die in a tempest, with which God has beforehand threatened them. ”A tempest shall break out and come upon the head of the wicked." (Jer. xxiii. 19.) At the commencement of his illness the sinner is not troubled by remorse or fear; because his relatives, friends, physicians, and all tell him that his sickness is not dangerous; thus he is deceived and hopes to recover. But when his illness increases, and malignant symptoms, the harbingers of approaching death, begin to appear, then the storm with which the Lord has threatened the wicked shall commence. "When sudden calamity shall fall on you, and destruction as a tempest shall be at hand." (Prov. i. 27.) This tempest shall be formed as well by the pains of sickness as by the fear of being obliged to depart from this earth, and to leave all things; but still more by the remorses of conscience, which shall place before his eyes all the irregularities of his past life. ”They shall come with fear at the thought of their sins, and their iniquities shall stand against them to convict them." (Wis. iv. 20.) Then shall his sins rush upon his mind, and fill him with terror. His iniquities shall stand against him to convict him, and, without the aid of other testimony, shall assail him, and prove that he deserves hell.
2. The dying sinner will confess his sins; but, according to St. Augustine, “The repentance which is sought from a sick man is infirm." (Serm, xxxvii., de Temp.) And St. Jerome says, that of a hundred thousand sinners who continue till death in the state of sin, scarcely one shall be saved. ”Vix de centum milibus, quorum mala vita fuit, meretur in morte a Deo indulgentiam, unus." (Epis. de Mort. Eus.) St. Vincent Ferrer writes, that it is a greater miracle to save such sinners, than to raise the dead to life. ”Majus miraculum est, quod male viventes faciant bonum finem, quam suscitare mortuos." (Serm. i., de Nativ. Virgin.) They shall feel convinced of the evil they have done; they will wish, but shall not be able, to detest it. Antiochus understood the malice of his sins when he said: ”Now I remember the evils that I have done in Jerusalem." (1 Mach. vi. 12.) He remembered his sins, but did not detest them. He died in despair and oppressed with great sadness, saying: "Behold, I perish with great grief in a strange land" (v. 13). According to St. Fulgentius, the same happened to Saul at the hour of death: he remembered his sins; he dreaded the punishment which they deserved; but he did not detest them. “Non odit quid fecerat, sed timuit quod nolebat."
3. Oh! how difficult is it for a sinner, who has slept many years in sin, to repent sincerely at the hour of death, when his mind is darkened, and his heart hardened!”His heart shall be as hard as a stone, and as firm as a smiths anvil." (Job xli. 15.) During life, instead of yielding to the graces and calls of God, he became more obdurate, as the anvil is hardened by repeated strokes of the hammer. ”A hard heart shall fare evil at the last." (Eccl. iii. 27.) By loving sin till death, he has loved the danger of his damnation, and therefore God will justly permit him to perish in the danger in which he wished to live till death.
4. St. Augustine says, that he who is abandoned by sin before he abandons it, will scarcely detest it as he ought at the hour of death; for he will then detest it, not through a hatred of sin, but through necessity. ”Qui prius a peccato relinquitur, quam ipse relinquat, non libere, sed quasi ex necessitate condemnat." But how shall he be able to hate from his heart the sins which he has loved till death? He must love the enemy whom till then he has hated, and he must hate the person whom he has till that moment loved. Oh! what mountains must he pass! He shall probably meet with a fate similar to that of a certain person, who kept in confinement a great number of wild beasts in order to let them loose on the enemies who might assail him. But the wild beasts, as soon as he unchained them, instead of attacking his enemies, devoured himself. When the sinner will wish to drive away his iniquities, they shall cause his destruction, either by complacency in objects till then loved, or by despair of pardon at the sight of their numbers and enormity. "Evils shall catch the unjust man unto destruction." (Ps. cxxxix. 12.) St. Bernard says, that at death the sinner shall see himself chained and bound by his sins. “We are your works; we will not desert you." We will not leave you; we will accompany you to judgment, and will be your companions for all eternity in hell.
Second Point. The dying sinner shall be tortured by the assaults of the devils.
5. “The devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, knowing that he hath but a short time." (Apoc. xii. 12.) At death the devil exerts all his powers to secure the soul that is about to leave this world; for he knows, from the symptoms of the disease, that he has but little time to gain her for eternity. The Council of Trent teaches that Jesus Christ has left us the sacrament of Extreme Unction as a most powerful defence against the temptations of the devil at the hour of death. “Extremæ Unctionis sacramento finem vitæ tanquam firmissimo quodam præsidio munivit." And the holy council adds, that there is no time in which the enemy combats against us with so much violence in order to effect our damnation, and to make us despair of the divine mercy, as at the end of life. ”N ullum tempus est, quo vehementius ille omnes suæ versutiæ nervos intendat at perendos, nos penitus, et a fiducia, etiam, si possit, divinæ misericordiæ deturbandos, quam cum impendere nobis exitum vitæ perspicet." (Sess. 14, cap. ix. Doctr. de Sacr. Extr. Unct.)
6. Oh! how terrible are the assaults and snares of the devil against the souls of dying persons, even though they have led a holy life! After his recovery from a most severe illness, the holy king Eleazar said, that the temptations by which the devil assails men at death, can be conceived only by him who has felt them. We read in the life of St. Andrew Avelliuo, that in his agony he had so fierce a combat with hell, that all the religious present were seized with trembling. They perceived that, in consequence of the agitation, his face swelled, and became black, all his members trembled, and a flood of tears gushed from his eyes. All began to weep through compassion, and were rilled with terror at the sight of a saint dying in such a manner. But they were afterwards consoled, when they saw that as soon as an image of most holy Mary was held before him, he became perfectly calm, and breathed forth his blessed soul with great joy.
7. Now, if this happens to the saints, what shall become of poor sinners, who have lived in sin till death? At that awful moment the devil does not come alone to tempt them in a thousand ways, in order to bring them to eternal perdition, but he calls companions to his assistance. "Their house shall be filled with serpents." (Isa. xiii. 21.) When a Christian is about to leave this world, his house is filled with devils, who unite together in order to effect his ruin. "All her persecutors have taken her in the midst of straits." (Lamen. i. 3.) All his enemies will encompass him in the straits of death. One shall say: Be not afraid; you shall not die of this sickness! Another will say: You have been for so many years deaf to the calls of God, and can you now expect that he will save you? Another will ask: How can you repair the frauds of your past life, and the injuries you have done to your neighbour in his property and character? Another shall ask: What hope can there be for you? Do you not see that all your confessions have been null that they have been made without true sorrow, and without a firm purpose of amendment? How can you repair them with this heart, which you feel so hard? Do you not see that you are lost? And in the midst of these straits and attacks of despair, the dying sinner, full of agitation and confusion, must pass into eternity. “The people shall be troubled and they shall pass." (Job xxxiv 20.)
Third Point. The dying sinner shall be tortured by the fears of eternal death.
8. Miserable the sick man who takes to his bed in the state of mortal sin! He that lives in sin till death shall die in sin. "You shall die in your sin." (John viii. 21.) It is true that, in whatsoever hour the sinner is converted, God promises to pardon him; but to no sinner has God promised the grace of conversion at the hour of death. ”Seek the Lord while he may be found." (Isa. iv. 6.) Then, there is for some sinners a time when they shall seek God and shall not find him. “You shall seek me, and shall not find me." (John vii. 34.) The unhappy beings will go to confession at the hour of death; they will promise and weep, and ask mercy of God, but without knowing what they do. A man who sees himself under the feet of a foe pointing a dagger to his throat, will shed tears, ask pardon, and promise to serve his enemy as a slave during the remainder of his life. But, will the enemy believe him? No; he will feel convinced that his words are not sincere that his object is to escape from his hands, and that, should he be pardoned, he will become more hostile than ever. In like manner, how can God pardon the dying sinner, when he sees that all his acts of sorrow, and all his promises, proceed not from the heart, but from a dread of death and of approaching damnation.
9. In the recommendation of the departing soul, the assisting priest prays to the Lord, saying: ”Recognize, O Lord, thy creature." But God answers: I know that he is my creature; but, instead of regarding me as his Creator, he has treated me as an enemy. The priest continues his prayer, and says: ”Remember not his past iniquities. ” I would, replies the Lord, pardon all the past sins of his youth; but he has continued to despise me till this moment the very hour of his death. ”They have turned their back upon me, and not their face: and, in the time of affliction, they will say: Arise, and deliver us. Where are the gods which thou hast made thee? let them rise and deliver thee." (Jer. ii. 27, 28.) You, says the Lord, have turned your back upon me till death; "and do you now want me to deliver you from vengeance? Invoke your own gods the creatures, the riches, the friends you loved more than you loved me. Call them now to come to your assistance, and to save you from hell, which is open to receive you. It now justly belongs to me to take vengeance on the insults you have offered me. You have despised my threats against obstinate sinners, and have paid no regard to them. ”Revenge is mine, and I will repay them in due time, that their foot may slide." (Deut. xxxii. 35.) The time of my vengeance is now arrived; it is but just to execute it. This is precisely what happened to a certain person in Madrid, who led a wicked life, but, at the sight of the unhappy death of a companion, went to confession, and resolved to enter a strict religious order. But, in consequence of having neglected to put his resolution into immediate execution, he relapsed into his former irregularities. Being reduced to great want, he wandered about the world, and fell sick at Lima. From the hospital in which he took refuge he sent for a confessor, and promised again to change his life, and to enter religion. But, having recovered from his illness, he returned to his wickedness; and, behold! the vengeance of God fell upon him. One day, his confessor, who was a missionary, in passing over a mountain, heard a noise, which appeared to be the howling of a wild beast. He drew near the place from which the noise proceeded, and saw a dying man, half rotten, and howling through despair. He addressed to him some words of consolation. The sick man, opening his eyes, recognized the missionary, and said: Have you, too, come to he a witness of the justice of God? I am the man who made my confession in the hospital of Lima. I then promised to change my life, but have not done so; and now I die in despair. And thus the miserable man, amid these acts of despair, breathed forth his unhappy soul. These facts are related by Father Charles Bovio (part iii., example 9).
10. Let us conclude the discourse. Tell me, brethren, were a person in sin seized with apoplexy, and instantly deprived of his senses, what sentiments of pity would you feel at seeing him die in this state; without the sacraments, and without signs of repentance! Is not he a fool, who, when he has time to be reconciled with God, continues in sin, or returns to his sins, and thus exposes himself to the danger of dying suddenly, and of dying in sin? "At what hour you think not," says Jesus Christ, "the Son of Man will come," (Luke xiii. 40.) An unprovided death, which has happened to so many, may also happen to each of us. And it is necessary to understand, that all who lead a bad life, meet with an unprovided death, though their last illness may allow them some time to prepare for eternity; for the days of that mortal illness are days of darkness days of confusion, in which it is difficult, and even morally impossible, to adjust a conscience burdened with many sins. Tell me, brethren, if you were now at the point of death, given over by physicians, and in the last agony, how ardently would you desire another month, or another week, to settle the accounts you must render to God! And God gives you this time. He calls you, and warns you of the danger of damnation to which you are exposed. Give yourself, then, instantly to God. What do you wait for? Will you wait till he sends you to hell?” Walk whilst you have light." (John xii. 35.) Avail yourselves of this time and this light, which God gives you at this moment, and now, while it is in your power, repent of all your past sins; for, a time shall come when you will be no longer able to avert the punishment which they deserve.
[I entreat my reader to read Sermon xliv., or the Sermon for the Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost, on the practical death, or that which practically happens at the death of men of the world. I know by experience that though it does not contain Latin texts, whenever I preached that sermon, it produced a great impression, and left the audience full of terror. A greater impression is made by practical than by speculative truths.] (Sermons for All the Sundays in the Year by St Alphonsus Liguori in .pdf format.)
We had better to pray to Our Lady, the August Queen of Heaven, that we live a life of such moral rectitude that we will not, as Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., has done throughout his entire life and continues to do to this very moment, make excuses for our sins by denying that they are sins in the first place, which calls to mind the following words of Psalm 104:
I have cried to thee, O Lord, hear me: hearken to my voice, when I cry to thee. [2] Let my prayer be directed as incense in thy sight; the lifting up of my hands, as evening sacrifice. [3] Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth: and a door round about my lips. [4] Incline not my heart to evil words; to make excuses in sins. With men that work iniquity: and I will not communicate with the choicest of them. ... [5] The just shall correct me in mercy, and shall reprove me: but let not the oil of the sinner fatten my head. For my prayer also shall still be against the things with which they are well pleased:
Their judges falling upon the rock have been swallowed up. They shall hear my words, for they have prevailed: ... [7] As when the thickness of the earth is broken up upon the ground: Our bones are scattered by the side of hell. ... [8] But o to thee, O Lord, Lord, are my eyes: in thee have I put my trust, take not away my soul. ... [9] Keep me from the snare, which they have laid for me, and from the stumblingblocks of them that work iniquity. ... [10] The wicked shall fall in his net: I am alone until I pass. (Psalm 140.)
Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr.'s, ultimate act of treason is against Christ the King and His Catholic Church.
It is hard work to save one’s immortal soul, and it becomes harder still if one becomes arrogantly steadfast in his own impeccability and invincibility.
Men in public life must put First Things first, which means that they must be serious about the sanctification and salvation of souls, something that Pope Leo XIII noted in his last encyclical letter, Mirae Caritatis, May 25, 1902:
Indeed it is greatly to be desired that those men would rightly esteem and would make due provision for life everlasting, whose industry or talents or rank have put it in their power to shape the course of human events. (Pope Leo XIII, Mirae Caritatis, May 28, 1902.)
Pope Leo XIII had the sad duty to note, however, that most of the men of civic importance in the world one hundred eleven years ago, like most of the men of civic importance today, believe that they and their ideas can save the world, a version, of course of semi-Pelagianism (the heresy that contends human beings more or less stir up graces in themselves to be virtuous and to save themselves, a form of human "self-redemption" that is of the very blasphemous essence of the "American way").
How many hollow men (and one woman) of the two major political parties babble inanities as they promise us a "better" world and a more "secure" future if only we believe in their message of secular self-redemption and support their presidential campaigns during elections and their policies thereafter if elected?
Not one of them is an advocate for Christ the King and for Mary our Immaculate Queen. Each of them, therefore, utters inanities about how this or that form of naturalism or religious indifferentism, or non-denominationalism is going to "improve" a world that can be improved only to the extent that individual souls cooperate with Sanctifying Grace and thus seek to root out sin in their own lives and to root it out, as far as is humanly possible, in the life of nation.
The civil leaders of Modernity have fallen into the description of modern "men of importance" written by Pope Leo XIII in Mirae Caritatis:
But alas! we see with sorrow that such men too often proudly flatter themselves that they have conferred upon this world as it were a fresh lease of life and prosperity, inasmuch as by their own energetic action they are urging it on to the race for wealth, to a struggle for the possession of commodities which minister to the love of comfort and display. And yet, whithersoever we turn, we see that human society, if it be estranged from God, instead of enjoying that peace in its possessions for which it had sought, is shaken and tossed like one who is in the agony and heat of fever; for while it anxiously strives for prosperity, and trusts to it alone, it is pursuing an object that ever escapes it, clinging to one that ever eludes the grasp. For as men and states alike necessarily have their being from God, so they can do nothing good except in God through Jesus Christ, through whom every best and choicest gift has ever proceeded and proceeds. But the source and chief of all these gifts is the venerable Eucharist, which not only nourishes and sustains that life the desire whereof demands our most strenuous efforts, but also enhances beyond measure that dignity of man of which in these days we hear so much. For what can be more honourable or a more worthy object of desire than to be made, as far as possible, sharers and partakers in the divine nature? Now this is precisely what Christ does for us in the Eucharist, wherein, after having raised man by the operation of His grace to a supernatural state, he yet more closely associates and unites him with Himself. For there is this difference between the food of the body and that of the soul, that whereas the former is changed into our substance, the latter changes us into its own; so that St. Augustine makes Christ Himself say: "You shall not change Me into yourself as you do the food of your body, but you shall be changed into Me" (confessions 1. vii., c. x.).
Moreover, in this most admirable Sacrament, which is the chief means whereby men are engrafted on the divine nature, men also find the most efficacious help towards progress in every kind of virtue. And first of all in faith. In all ages faith has been attacked; for although it elevates the human mind by bestowing on it the knowledge of the highest truths, yet because, while it makes known the existence of divine mysteries, it yet leaves in obscurity the mode of their being, it is therefore thought to degrade the intellect. But whereas in past times particular articles of faith have been made by turns the object of attack; the seat of war has since been enlarged and extended, until it has come to this, that men deny altogether that there is anything above and beyond nature. Now nothing can be better adapted to promote a renewal of the strength and fervour of faith in the human mind than the mystery of the Eucharist, the "mystery of faith," as it has been most appropriately called. For in this one mystery the entire supernatural order, with all its wealth and variety of wonders, is in a manner summed up and contained: "He hath made a remembrance of His wonderful works, a merciful and gracious Lord; He hath given food to them that fear Him" (Psalm cx, 4-5). For whereas God has subordinated the whole supernatural order to the Incarnation of His Word, in virtue whereof salvation has been restored to the human race, according to those words of the Apostle; "He hath purposed...to re-establish all things in Christ, that are in heaven and on earth, in Him" (Eph. i., 9-10), the Eucharist, according to the testimony of the holy Fathers, should be regarded as in a manner a continuation and extension of the Incarnation. For in and by it the substance of the incarnate Word is united with individual men, and the supreme Sacrifice offered on Calvary is in a wondrous manner renewed, as was signified beforehand by Malachy in the words: "In every place there is sacrifice, and there is offered to My name a pure oblation" (Mal. i., 11). And this miracle, itself the very greatest of its kind, is accompanied by innumerable other miracles; for here all the laws of nature are suspended; the whole substance of the bread and wine are changed into the Body and the Blood; the species of bread and wine are sustained by the divine power without the support of any underlying substance; the Body of Christ is present in many places at the same time, that is to say, wherever the Sacrament is consecrated. And in order that human reason may the more willingly pay its homage to this great mystery, there have not been wanting, as an aid to faith, certain prodigies wrought in His honour, both in ancient times and in our own, of which in more than one place there exist public and notable records and memorials. It is plain that by this Sacrament faith is fed, in it the mind finds its nourishment, the objections of rationalists are brought to naught, and abundant light is thrown on the supernatural order. (Pope Leo XIII, Mirae Caritatis, May 28, 1902.)
Pope Leo XIII went on to explain that the results of an abandonment of the worthy reception of the Blessed Sacrament and of time spent before It in fervent prayer are tragic for societies, which can be set aright only by the Catholic Faith. There is never any short-cut to the betterment of men and/or the world in which they live at any given point in time. It is the Faith and only the Faith that can help souls to know, to love and to serve God as He has revealed Himself to us exclusively through His Catholic Church, which alone is the repository and infallible explicator all that He has revealed in the Deposit of Faith. To Pope Leo in Mirae Caritatis:
But that decay of faith in divine things of which We have spoken is the effect not only of pride, but also of moral corruption. For if it is true that a strict morality improves the quickness of man's intellectual powers, and if on the other hand, as the maxims of pagan philosophy and the admonitions of divine wisdom combine to teach us, the keenness of the mind is blunted by bodily pleasures, how much more, in the region of revealed truths, do these same pleasures obscure the light of faith, or even, by the just judgment of God, entirely extinguish it. For these pleasures at the present day an insatiable appetite rages, infecting all classes as with an infectious disease, even from tender years. Yet even for so terrible an evil there is a remedy close at hand in the divine Eucharist. For in the first place it puts a check on lust by increasing charity, according to the words of St. Augustine, who says, speaking of charity, "As it grows, lust diminishes; when it reaches perfection, lust is no more" (De diversis quaestionibus, Ixxxiii., q. 36). Moreover the most chaste flesh of Jesus keeps down the rebellion of our flesh, as St. Cyril of Alexandria taught, "For Christ abiding in us lulls to sleep the law of the flesh which rages in our members" (Lib. iv., c. ii., in Joan., vi., 57). Then too the special and most pleasant fruit of the Eucharist is that which is signified in the words of the prophet: "What is the good thing of Him," that is, of Christ, "and what is His beautiful thing, but the corn of the elect and the wine that engendereth virgins" (Zach. ix., 17), producing, in other words, that flower and fruitage of a strong and constant purpose of virginity which, even in an age enervated by luxury, is daily multiplied and spread abroad in the Catholic Church, with those advantages to religion and to human society, wherever it is found, which are plain to see.
To this it must be added that by this same Sacrament our hope of everlasting blessedness, based on our trust in the divine assistance, is wonderfully strengthened. For the edge of that longing for happiness which is so deeply rooted in the hearts of all men from their birth is whetted even more and more by the experience of the deceitfulness of earthly goods, by the unjust violence of wicked men, and by all those other afflictions to which mind and body are subject. Now the venerable Sacrament of the Eucharist is both the source and the pledge of blessedness and of glory, and this, not for the soul alone, but for the body also. For it enriches the soul with an abundance of heavenly blessings, and fills it with a sweet joy which far surpasses man's hope and expectations; it sustains him in adversity, strengthens him in the spiritual combat, preserves him for life everlasting, and as a special provision for the journey accompanies him thither. And in the frail and perishable body that divine Host, which is the immortal Body of Christ, implants a principle of resurrection, a seed of immortality, which one day must germinate. That to this source man's soul and body will be indebted for both these boons has been the constant teaching of the Church, which has dutifully reaffirmed the affirmation of Christ: "He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day" (St. John vi., 55).
In connection with this matter it is of importance to consider that in the Eucharist, seeing that it was instituted by Christ as "a perpetual memorial of His Passion" (Opusc. Ivii. Offic. de festo Corporis Christi), is proclaimed to the Christian the necessity of a salutary selfchastisement. For Jesus said to those first priests of His: "Do this in memory of Me" (Luke xxii, 18); that is to say, do this for the commemoration of My pains, My sorrows, My grievous afflictions, My death upon the Cross. Wherefore this Sacrament is at the same time a Sacrifice, seasonable throughout the entire period of our penance; and it is likewise a standing exhortation to all manner of toil, and a solemn and severe rebuke to those carnal pleasures which some are not ashamed so highly to praise and extol: "As often as ye shall eat this bread, and drink this chalice, ye shall announce the death of the Lord, until He come" (1 Cor. xi., 26).
Furthermore, if anyone will diligently examine into the causes of the evils of our day, he will find that they arise from this, that as charity towards God has grown cold, the mutual charity of men among themselves has likewise cooled. Men have forgotten that they are children of God and brethren in Jesus Christ; they care for nothing except their own individual interests; the interests and the rights of others they not only make light of, but often attack and invade. Hence frequent disturbances and strifes between class and class: arrogance, oppression, fraud on the part of the more powerful: misery, envy, and turbulence among the poor. These are evils for which it is in vain to seek a remedy in legislation, in threats of penalties to be incurred, or in any other device of merely human prudence. Our chief care and endeavour ought to be, according to the admonitions which We have more than once given at considerable length, to secure the union of classes in a mutual interchange of dutiful services, a union which, having its origin in God, shall issue in deeds that reflect the true spirit of Jesus Christ and a genuine charity. This charity Christ brought into the world, with it He would have all hearts on fire. For it alone is capable of affording to soul and body alike, even in this life, a foretaste of blessedness; since it restrains man's inordinate self-love, and puts a check on avarice, which "is the root of all evil" (1 Tim. vi., 10). And whereas it is right to uphold all the claims of justice as between the various classes of society, nevertheless it is only with the efficacious aid of charity, which tempers justice, that the "equality" which St. Paul commended (2 Cor. viii., 14), and which is so salutary for human society, can be established and maintained. This then is what Christ intended when he instituted this Venerable Sacrament, namely, by awakening charity towards God to promote mutual charity among men. For the latter, as is plain, is by its very nature rooted in the former, and springs from it by a kind of spontaneous growth. Nor is it possible that there should be any lack of charity among men, or rather it must needs be enkindled and flourish, if men would but ponder well the charity which Christ has shown in this Sacrament. For in it He has not only given a splendid manifestation of His power and wisdom, but "has in a manner poured out the riches of His divine love towards men" (Conc. Trid., Sess. XIII., De Euch. c. ii.). Having before our eyes this noble example set us by Christ, Who bestows on us all that He has assuredly we ought to love and help one another to the utmost, being daily more closely united by the strong bond of brotherhood. Add to this that the outward and visible elements of this Sacrament supply a singularly appropriate stimulus to union. On this topic St. Cyprian writes: "In a word the Lord's sacrifice symbolises the oneness of heart, guaranteed by a persevering and inviolable charity, which should prevail among Christians. For when our Lord calls His Body bread, a substance which is kneaded together out of many grains, He indicates that we His people, whom He sustains, are bound together in close union; and when He speaks of His Blood as wine, in which the juice pressed from many clusters of grapes is mingled in one fluid, He likewise indicates that we His flock are by the commingling of a multitude of persons made one" (Ep. 96 ad Magnum n. 5 (al.6)). In like manner the angelic Doctor, adopting the sentiments of St. Augustine (Tract. xxxvi., in Joan nn. 13, 17), writes: "Our Lord has bequeathed to us His Body and Blood under the form of substances in which a multitude of things have been reduced to unity, for one of them, namely bread, consisting as it does of many grains is yet one, and the other, that is to say wine, has its unity of being from the confluent juice of many grapes; and therefore St. Augustine elsewhere says: 'O Sacrament of mercy, O sign of unity, O bond of charity!' " (Summ. Theol. P. III., q. Ixxix., a. 1. . All of which is confirmed by the declaration of the Council of Trent that Christ left the Eucharist in His Church "as a symbol of that unity and charity whereby He would have all Christians mutually joined and united. . . a symbol of that one body of which He is Himself the head, and to which He would have us, as members attached by the closest bonds of faith, hope, and charity" (Conc. Trid., Sess. XIII., De Euchar., c. ii.). The same idea had been expressed by St. Paul when he wrote: "For we, being many, are one bread, one body, all we who partake of the one bread" (I Cor. x., 17). Very beautiful and joyful too is the spectacle of Christian brotherhood and social equality which is afforded when men of all conditions, gentle and simple, rich and poor, learned and unlearned, gather round the holy altar, all sharing alike in this heavenly banquet. And if in the records of the Church it is deservedly reckoned to the special credit of its first ages that "the multitude of the believers had but one heart and one soul" (Acts iv., 32), there can be no shadow of doubt that this immense blessing was due to their frequent meetings at the Divine table; for we find it recorded of them: "They were persevering in the doctrine of the Apostles and in the communion of the breaking of bread" (Acts ii., 42).
Besides all this, the grace of mutual charity among the living, which derives from the Sacrament of the Eucharist so great an increase of strength, is further extended by virtue of the Sacrifice to all those who are numbered in the Communion of Saints. For the Communion of Saints, as everyone knows, is nothing but the mutual communication of help, expiation, prayers, blessings, among all the faithful, who, whether they have already attained to the heavenly country, or are detained in the purgatorial fire, or are yet exiles here on earth, all enjoy the common franchise of that city whereof Christ is the head, and the constitution is charity. For faith teaches us, that although the venerable Sacrifice may be lawfully offered to God alone, yet it may be celebrated in honour of the saints reigning in heaven with God Who has crowned them, in order that we may gain for ourselves their patronage. And it may also be offered-in accordance with an apostolic tradition-for the purpose of expiating the sins of those of the brethren who, having died in the Lord, have not yet fully paid the penalty of their transgressions.
That genuine charity, therefore, which knows how to do and to suffer all things for the salvation and the benefit of all, leaps forth with all the heat and energy of a flame from that most holy Eucharist in which Christ Himself is present and lives, in which He indulges to the utmost. His love towards us, and under the impulse of that divine love ceaselessly renews His Sacrifice. And thus it is not difficult to see whence the arduous labours of apostolic men, and whence those innumerable designs of every kind for the welfare of the human race which have been set on foot among Catholics, derive their origin, their strength, their permanence, their success. (Pope Leo XIII, Mirae Caritatis, May 28, 1902.)
When was the last time you heard someone in public life citing the example of Saint Henry the Emperor or Saint Edward the Confessor or Saint Stephen of Hungary or Saint Wenceslaus of Bohemia or Saint Louis IX, King of France, or Saint Casimir of Poland or Saint Elizabeth of Hungary as the example of civil leadership that would shape their own exercise of civil power? No, candidates for public office cite the "plaster saints" of Modernity who reject the Social Reign of Christ the King as their models for civil governance, believing in the "sovereignty of the people" and/or in some sort of nebulous, generic "common ground" about God that is of the essence of the naturalism of Judeo-Masonry, as Pope Leo XIII explained in Humanum Genus, April 20, 1884:
But the naturalists go much further; for, having, in the highest things, entered upon a wholly erroneous course, they are carried headlong to extremes, either by reason of the weakness of human nature, or because God inflicts upon them the just punishment of their pride. Hence it happens that they no longer consider as certain and permanent those things which are fully understood by the natural light of reason, such as certainly are -- the existence of God, the immaterial nature of the human soul, and its immortality. The sect of the Freemasons, by a similar course of error, is exposed to these same dangers; for, although in a general way they may profess the existence of God, they themselves are witnesses that they do not all maintain this truth with the full assent of the mind or with a firm conviction. Neither do they conceal that this question about God is the greatest source and cause of discords among them; in fact, it is certain that a considerable contention about this same subject has existed among them very lately. But, indeed, the sect allows great liberty to its votaries, so that to each side is given the right to defend its own opinion, either that there is a God, or that there is none; and those who obstinately contend that there is no God are as easily initiated as those who contend that God exists, though, like the pantheists, they have false notions concerning Him: all which is nothing else than taking away the reality, while retaining some absurd representation of the divine nature.
When this greatest fundamental truth has been overturned or weakened, it follows that those truths, also, which are known by the teaching of nature must begin to fall -- namely, that all things were made by the free will of God the Creator; that the world is governed by Providence; that souls do not die; that to this life of men upon the earth there will succeed another and an everlasting life.
When these truths are done away with, which are as the principles of nature and important for knowledge and for practical use, it is easy to see what will become of both public and private morality. We say nothing of those more heavenly virtues, which no one can exercise or even acquire without a special gift and grace of God; of which necessarily no trace can be found in those who reject as unknown the redemption of mankind, the grace of God, the sacraments, and the happiness to be obtained in heaven. We speak now of the duties which have their origin in natural probity. That God is the Creator of the world and its provident Ruler; that the eternal law commands the natural order to be maintained, and forbids that it be disturbed; that the last end of men is a destiny far above human things and beyond this sojourning upon the earth: these are the sources and these the principles of all justice and morality.
If these be taken away, as the naturalists and Freemasons desire, there will immediately be no knowledge as to what constitutes justice and injustice, or upon what principle morality is founded. And, in truth, the teaching of morality which alone finds favor with the sect of Freemasons, and in which they contend that youth should be instructed, is that which they call "civil," and "independent," and "free," namely, that which does not contain any religious belief. But, how insufficient such teaching is, how wanting in soundness, and how easily moved by every impulse of passion, is sufficiently proved by its sad fruits, which have already begun to appear. For, wherever, by removing Christian education, this teaching has begun more completely to rule, there goodness and integrity of morals have begun quickly to perish, monstrous and shameful opinions have grown up, and the audacity of evil deeds has risen to a high degree. All this is commonly complained of and deplored; and not a few of those who by no means wish to do so are compelled by abundant evidence to give not infrequently the same testimony.
Moreover, human nature was stained by original sin, and is therefore more disposed to vice than to virtue. For a virtuous life it is absolutely necessary to restrain the disorderly movements of the soul, and to make the passions obedient to reason. In this conflict human things must very often be despised, and the greatest labors and hardships must be undergone, in order that reason may always hold its sway. But the naturalists and Freemasons, having no faith in those things which we have learned by the revelation of God, deny that our first parents sinned, and consequently think that free will is not at all weakened and inclined to evil. On the contrary, exaggerating rather the power and the excellence of nature, and placing therein alone the principle and rule of justice, they cannot even imagine that there is any need at all of a constant struggle and a perfect steadfastness to overcome the violence and rule of our passions.
Wherefore we see that men are publicly tempted by the many allurements of pleasure; that there are journals and pamphlets with neither moderation nor shame; that stage-plays are remarkable for license; that designs for works of art are shamelessly sought in the laws of a so-called verism; that the contrivances of a soft and delicate life are most carefully devised; and that all the blandishments of pleasure are diligently sought out by which virtue may be lulled to sleep. Wickedly, also, but at the same time quite consistently, do those act who do away with the expectation of the joys of heaven, and bring down all happiness to the level of mortality, and, as it were, sink it in the earth. Of what We have said the following fact, astonishing not so much in itself as in its open expression, may serve as a confirmation. For, since generally no one is accustomed to obey crafty and clever men so submissively as those whose soul is weakened and broken down by the domination of the passions, there have been in the sect of the Freemasons some who have plainly determined and proposed that, artfully and of set purpose, the multitude should be satiated with a boundless license of vice, as, when this had been done, it would easily come under their power and authority for any acts of daring. (Pope Leo XIII, Humanum Genus, April 20, 1888.)
Those who give no thought to eternity can lie with impunity, and they can also ignore with impunity the simple truth that the just purposes of civil government is to advance the common temporal good of men in light of First and Last Things and to thus to foster those conditions wherein citizens can better sanctify and save their immortal souls, upon which rests the fate of both men and their nations.
Moreover, men in public life must be duly submissive to Holy Mother Church in all that pertains to the good of souls.
Even Catholics in public life, such as Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., are “too eager to manage their own temporal affairs. They resent what they call the Church's interference”:
For men, as a rule, have but shown themselves too eager to manage their own temporal affairs. They resent what they call the Church's interference. This resentment culminates in a deliberate exclusion of the Church from the councils of peoples. Even at the best of times, when States were not yet professedly secularist, what jealousy was always manifested with regard to the action of the Church in secular matters! How slow men were to take her advice! How her efforts for procuring the temporal welfare of men were hampered, thwarted and positively resisted!
The gradual silencing of the voice of Christianity in the councils of the nations is the evil cause of the chaotic conditions of modern civilized life. This issue was inevitable. For though the Church's wisdom is primarily in the domain of things of the world to come, yet she is wise, too, with regard to the things of the world that is. She is not for the world, and yet she is able and even ready to act as if she were equipped specially to procure the temporal good of men. [See Maritain, St. Thomas Aquinas, p. 134.] She is able and willing to give men directions in temporal matters, which, if followed, will result in temporal prosperity. She is too wise to promote unrealizable Utopias, from which all suffering and toil will be banished. She can give prudent directions how to devise measures for the mitigation of inevitable hardships and the elimination of unnecessary evils. If rulers and ruled alike listened to her voice, the authentic voice of Christianity, what a change would come over the world! It would not cease to be a vale of tears but would cease to be a vale of savage strife. It would not become an earthly Paradise but would become an earth where man's dreams of a satisfying order of things could be realized. (Father Edward Leen, Why the Cross?, originally published by Sheed & Ward in 1938, and republished in 2001 by Scepter Publishers, Princeton, New Jersey, pp. 14-15.)
The world in which we live, however, has rejected the voice of Holy Mother Church, who herself has been forced into the catacombs by the twin revolutions of Modernity and Modernism.
Thus, all the secular commentaries cited above are good as far as they go.
However, we should have learned by now that those who deny the existence of supernatural truths that do not depend upon human existence for their binding force or validity will just as readily deny facts in natural order of things as they lie without regard to the binding precepts of the Eighth Commandment and without even thought about the loss of their immortal souls, whose salvation has been won for us all at the high cost of the shedding of the Most Precious Blood of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ during His Passion and Death on the wood of the Holy on Good Friday.
Moreover, we should have learned by now that those in public life who are “leftists” will inevitably “skate” whenever they break the laws God and the just laws of men without much in the way of earthly consequences. Double standards galore exist whereby those in the camp of the false opposite of the naturalist “right” are held to high and exacting standards, including endless investigations into crimes and offenses, real or concocted, while those in the camp of the false opposite of the naturalist “left” cry “partisanship” when their own misdeeds are exposed for all to see.
In humility, therefore, must we pray Our Lady’s Most Holy Rosary every day so that we will be ever ready to accept with equanimity of soul the death that God has from all eternity fashioned for us no matter where and when it should overtake us as we seek to make a bit of reparation as Magdalene souls by offering all to the Throne of the Most Holy Trinity as the consecrated slaves of her Divine Son, Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, through her own Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart.
May Our Lady pray for us all now, and at the hour of our death.
Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.
Saint Joseph, pray for us.
Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us.
Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.
Saint John the Evangelist, pray for us.
Saint Michael the Archangel, pray for us.
Saint Gabriel the Archangel, pray for us.
Saint Raphael the Archangel, pray for us.
Saint Mary Magdalene, pray for us.
Appendix
Dom Prosper Gueranger on the Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene
Three Saints,” said our Lord to Saint Bridget of Sweden, “have been more pleasing to me than all others: Mary my mother, John the Baptist, and Mary Magdalene.” The Fathers tell us that Magdalene is a type of the Gentile Church called from the depth of sin to perfect holiness. And indeed, better than any other, she personifies both the wanderings and the love of the human race espoused by the Word of God. Like the most illustrious characters of the law of grace, she has her anti-type in past ages. Let us follow the history of this great penitent as traced by unanimous tradition: Magdalene’s glory will not be thereby diminished.
When, before all ages, God decreed to manifest His glory, He willed to reign over a world drawn from nothing. And as His goodness was equal to His power, He would have the triumph of supreme love to be the law of that kingdom which the Gospel likens to a king who made a marriage for his son (Matthew xxii. 2). Passing over the pure intelligences whose nine choirs are filled with divine light, the immortal Son of the King of ages looked down to the extreme limits of creation. There He beheld human nature, made indeed to know God, but acquiring that knowledge laboriously. Its weakness would better show His divine condescension: with it, then, He chose to contract his alliance.
Man is flesh and blood: so the Son of God would be made Flesh. He would not have Angels, but men for His brothers. He, that in Heaven is the Splendour of His Father, and on Earth the most beautiful of the sons of men would draw the human race with the cords of Adam (Osee xi. 4). In the very act of creation He sealed his espousals by raising man to the supernatural state of grace and placing him in the Paradise of expectation. Alas! The human race knew not how to await her Bridegroom even in the shades of Eden. Cast out of the garden of delights, she prostituted to vain idols in their groves what was left her of her glory. For she had much beauty still, the gift of her Spouse, though she had profaned it: “You were perfect through my beauty, which I had put on you, says the Lord God” (Ezechiel xvi. 14).
God would not suffer His love to be defeated. Leaving humanity at large to walk in the ways of folly, He chose out a single people, sprung from a holy stock, to be the guardian of His promises. Coming forth from Egypt and from the midst of a barbarous nation, this people was consecrated to God and became His inheritance. In the person of Balaam, the ancient Bride saw Israel pass through the desert, and filled with admiration at the glory of the Lord dwelling with him in his tent, her heart for a moment beat with bridal love. “I will see Him,” she cried in her transport, “but not now: I will behold Him, but not near” (Numbers xxiv. 17). From those wild heights from which the Spouse would one day call her, she hailed the Star that was to rise out of Jacob, and predicted the ruin of the Hebrew people who had supplanted her for a time.
Too soon was this sublime ecstasy followed by still more culpable wanderings! “How long will you be dissolute in deliciousness, O wandering daughter? Know and see that it is an evil and a bitter thing for you to have left the Lord your God” (Jeremias xxxi. 22; ii. 19). But the ages are passing, the night will soon be over, and the day-star will arise, the sign of the Bridegroom gathering the nations. Let Him lead you into the wilderness and there He will speak to your heart. Your rival knows not how to be a queen. The alliance of Sinai has produced but a slave. The Bridegroom still waits for his Bride.
At length the hour came: bending the heavens, “he was made sin” (2 Corinthians v. 21) for sinful men. And hidden under the servile garb of mortals, He sat down to table in the house of the proud Pharisee. The haughty Synagogue who would neither fast with John nor rejoice with Christ, was now to see God justifying the delays of His merciful love. “Let us not, like Pharisees,” says Saint Ambrose, “despise the counsels of God. The sons of Wisdom are singing: listen to their voices, attend to their dances. It is the hour of the nuptials. Thus sang the Prophet when he said: ‘Come from Libanus, my spouse, come from Libanus.’”
“And behold a woman that was in the city, a sinner, when she knew that He sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment. And standing behind at His feet, she began to wash His feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head, and kissed His feet, and anointed them with the ointment.” “Who is this woman?” “Without doubt it is the Church,” answers Saint Peter Chrysologus, “the Church, weighed down and stained with sins committed in the city of this world. At the news that Christ has appeared in Judea, that He is to be seen at the banquet of the Pasch where He bestows His mysteries and reveals the divine Sacrament, and makes known the secret of salvation: suddenly she darts forward. Despising the endeavours of the Scribes to prevent her entrance, she confronts the princes of the Synagogue! Burning with desire she penetrates into the Sanctuary where she finds Him whom she seeks betrayed by Jewish perfidy even at the banquet of love. Not the passion, nor the Cross, nor the tomb can check her faith, or prevent her from bringing her perfumes to Christ.”
Who but the Church knows the secret of this perfume? asks Paulinus of Nola with Ambrose of Milan: the Church, whose numberless flowers have all aromas; the Church, who exhales before God a thousand sweet odours aroused by the breath of the Holy Spirit, viz., the virtues of nations and the prayers of the Saints. Mingling the perfume of her conversion with her tears of repentance, she anoints the feet of her Lord, honouring in them His Humanity. Her faith by which she is justified grows equally with her love: soon the Head of the Spouse, that is, His Divinity, receives from her the homage of the full measure of pure and precious spikenard, to wit, consummate holiness, whose heroism goes so far as to break the vessel of mortal flesh by the martyrdom of love, if not by that of tortures.
Arrived at the height of the mystery, she forgets not even there those sacred feet, whose contact delivered her from the seven devils representing all vices: for to the heart of the Bride, as in the bosom of the Father, her Lord is still both God and Man. The Jew, who would not own Christ either for head or foundation, found no fragrant oil for His head, nor even water for His feet. She, on the contrary, pours her priceless perfume over both. And while the sweet odour of her perfect faith fills the Earth, now become by the victory of that faith the house of the Lord, she continues to wipe her Master’s feet with her beautiful hair, i.e., her countless good works and her ceaseless prayer. The growth of this mystical hair requires all her care here on Earth. And in Heaven its abundance and beauty will call forth the praise of Him who jealously counts, without losing one, all the works of His Church. Then from her own head, as from that of her Spouse, will the fragrant unction of the Holy Spirit overflow even to the skirt of her garment.
You despise, O Pharisee, the poor woman weeping with love at the feet of your divine Guest whom you know not. But “I would rather,” cries the solitary of Nola, “be bound up in her hair at the feet of Christ, than be seated with you near Christ, yet without Him.” Happy sinner to be, both in her life of sin and that of grace, the figure of the Church, even so far as to have been foreseen and announced by the Prophets. For such is the teaching of Saint Jerome and Saint Cyril of Alexandria, while Venerable Bede, gathering up, according to his wont, the traditions of his predecessors, does not hesitate to assert that “what Magdalene once did, remains the type of what the whole Church does, and of what every perfect soul must ever do.”
We can well understand the predilection of the Man-God for this soul, whose repentance from such a depth of misery manifested so fully, from the outset, the success of His mission, the defeat of Satan and the triumph of Divine love. While Israel was expecting from the Messiah nothing but perishable goods, when the very Apostles, including John the beloved, were looking for honours and first places, she was the first to come to Jesus for Himself alone, and not for His gifts. Eager only for pardon and love, she chose for her portion those sacred feet wearied in the search after the wandering sheep: here was the blessed altar on which she offered to her Divine Deliverer as many holocausts of herself, says Saint Gregory, as she had had vain objects of complacency. Henceforth her goods and her person were at the disposal of Jesus. The rest of her life was to be spent sitting at His feet, contemplating the mysteries of His life, gathering up His every word, following His footsteps as He preached the Kingdom of God.
How swiftly, in the light of her humble confidence, did she outstrip the Synagogue and the very just themselves! The Pharisee might be indignant, her sister might complain, the Apostles might murmur: Mary held her peace, but Jesus spoke for her as if His Sacred Heart were hurt by the least word said against her. At the death of Lazarus the Master had to call her from the mysterious repose in which even then she was seated. Her presence at the tomb was of more avail than the whole college of Apostles and the crowd of Jews. One word from her, though already said by Martha who had arrived first, was more powerful than all the words of the latter. Her tears made the Man-God weep and drew from Him that groan which he uttered before recalling the dead man to life — that divine trouble of a God overcome by His creature. Oh truly, for others as well as for herself, for the world as well as for God, “Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken from her” (Luke x. 42).
In all that we have said, we have but linked together the testimonies of a veneration universally consistent. But the homage of all the Doctors together cannot compare with the honour which the Church pays to the humble Magdalene when she applies to the Queen of heaven on her glorious Assumption Day the Gospel words first uttered in praise of the justified sinner. Albert the Great assures us that, in the world of grace as well as in the material creation, God has made two great lights, to wit two Maries, the Mother of our Lord, and the sister of Lazarus: the greater, which is the Blessed Virgin, to rule the day of innocence: the lesser, which is Mary the penitent beneath the feet of that glorious Virgin, to rule the night by enlightening repentant sinners. As the moon by its phases points out the feast days on earth, so Magdalene in Heaven gives the signal of joy to the Angels of God over one sinner doing penance. Does she not also share with the Immaculate One the name of Mary, Star of the sea, as the Churches of Gaul sang in the Middle Ages, recalling how, though one was a Queen and the other a handmaid, both were causes of joy to the Church: the one being the Gate of salvation, the other the messenger of the Resurrection?
On that great Easter day, Magdalene, like a morning star, announced the rising of the Sun of Justice, who was never more to set. “Woman,” said Jesus to her, “why do you weep?” “You are not mistaken.” He seemed to say, “It is, indeed, the Divine Gardener speaking to you, the same that planted Eden in the beginning. But now dry your tears. In this new garden, whose centre is an empty tomb, Paradise is restored. The Angels no longer close the entrance. Here is the Tree of Life which has borne fruit these three days past. This Fruit, which you, O woman, are eager, as of "old, to seize and taste, belongs to you now by right: for you are no longer Eve but Mary. If you are bidden not to touch It yet, it is because, as you would not heretofore taste the fruit of death yourself alone, you may not now enjoy the fruit of Life till you bring back Him that was first lost through you.”
Thus by the wisdom and mercy of our God, woman is raised to a greater dignity than before the Fall. Magdalene, to whom woman is indebted for this glorious revenge, has hence obtained in the Church’s litanies the place of honour above even the virgins, as John the Baptist precedes the whole army of the Saints on account of his privilege of being the first witness to our salvation. The testimony of the penitent completes that of the Precursor: on the word of John the Church recognised the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world. On the word of Magdalene she hails the Spouse triumphant over death. And, judging that by this last testimony, Catholic belief is put in full possession of the entire cycle of mysteries. She today intones the immortal symbol, which she deemed premature for the feast of Zachary’s son.
[Dom Prosper Gueranger’s Prayer to Saint Mary Magdalene]:
O Mary, how great did you appear before Heaven at that solemn moment when, before the world knew aught of the triumph of life, our Emmanuel the conqueror said to you: “Go to my brethren, and say to them: I ascend to my Father and to your Father, to my God and to your God” (John xx. 17). You represented us Gentiles who were not to obtain possession of our Lord by faith till after His Ascension into Heaven. These brethren, to whom the Man-God sent you, were doubtless those privileged men whom He had called to know Him during His mortal life, and to whom you, O apostle of the Apostles, had to announce the mystery of the Pasch. And yet, in His loving mercy, the Divine Master intended to show Himself that same day to many of them, and both you and they were soon to be witnesses of his triumphant Ascension. Is it not evident that your mission, O Magdalene, though addressed to the immediate disciples of our Lord, was to extend much further both in space and time? As He entered into his glory, the Conqueror of death already beheld these brethren filling the whole Earth. It is of them he had said in the Psalm: “I will declare your name to my brethren: in the midst of the Church will I praise you, in the midst of a people that will be born which the Lord has made” (Psalms xxi. 23, 32). It is of them and of us, the generation to come, to whom the Lord was to be declared, that He said to you: Go to my brethren and say to them: I ascend to my Father and to your Father, to my God and your God. You came, and you came continually, fulfilling your mission towards the disciples, and saying to them: “I have seen the Lord, and these things He said to me” (Luke xx. 18).
You came, O Mary, when our West beheld you, treading the rocks of Provence with your apostolic feet whose beauty Cyril of Alexandria admires. There seven times a day, raised on Angels’ wings towards the Spouse, you pointed out more eloquently than any speech could do, the way He took, the way the Church must follow by her desires, until she is reunited with Him forever. You proved that the apostolate in its highest reach does not depend on words. In Heaven the Seraphim, and Cherubim, and Thrones gaze unceasingly on the Eternal Trinity without so much as glancing at this world of nothingness, and nevertheless, it is through them that pass the strength, and light, and love which the heavenly messengers in the lower hierarchies distribute to us on Earth. Thus, O Magdalene, though you cling ever to the sacred feet which are now not denied to your love, and your life is unreservedly absorbed with Christ in God, you seem more than any other to be always saying to us: “If you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the Earth” (1 Corinthians iii. 1, 2).
O you, whose choice, so highly approved by our Lord, has revealed to the world the better part, obtain that that portion may be ever appreciated in the Church as the better, viz., that divine contemplation which begins here on Earth the life of Heaven, and which in its fruitful repose is the source of all the graces spread by the active ministry throughout the world. Death itself does not take away that portion, but assures its possession forever, and makes it blossom into the full, direct vision. May he that has received it from the gratuitous goodness of God never strive to dispossess himself of it! “Happy house,” says the devout Saint Bernard, “blessed assembly, where Martha complains of Mary! But how indignant we should be if Mary were jealous of Martha! And Saint Jude tells us the awful judgeent of the Angels who kept not their principality, the familiar friends of God who forsook their own habitation (Jude 6). Keep up in religious families established by their fathers on heights that touch the clouds the sense of their inborn nobility: they are not made for the dust and noise of the plain, and did they come down to it, they would injure both the Church and themselves. By remaining what they are, they do not, any more than you, O Magdalene, become indifferent to the lost sheep, but they take the surest of all means for purifying the Earth and drawing souls to God.
From your church at Vezelay you looked down one day upon a vast multitude eagerly receiving the cross: they were about to undertake that immortal Crusade not the least glory of which is to have supernaturalised the sentiments of honour in the hearts of those Christian warriors armed for the defence of the holy Sepulchre. A similar lesson was given to the world at the beginning of [the nineteenth] century: Napoleon, intoxicated with power, would raise to himself and his army a Temple of glory. Before the building was completed he was swept away, and the temple was dedicated to you. O Mary, bless this last homage of your beloved France, whose people and princes have always surrounded with deepest veneration your hallowed retreat at Sainte Baume, and your church at Saint Maximin, where rest your precious relics. In return, teach them and teach us all, that the only true and lasting glory is to follow with you in His ascensions Him who once sent you to us, saying: “Go to my brethren, and say to them: I ascend to my Father and to your Father, to my God and to your God!” (Dom Prosper Gueranger, O.S.B., The Liturgical Year, Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene, July 22.)