Catholic Replies
Q. I recall thinking that when I was younger I understood that G.K. Chesterton alluded to the Church’s cultural diversity when noting that Christianity would be externally different for us had Christ been born in China or elsewhere. The many Christian symbols, such as the dove, the fish, the lamb, and the ship, would have been supplanted by others. The historical fact of the Incarnation meant a particular time, place, and cultural identity. The Holy Land is the soil from which Jesus, the rod of Jesse, has sprung. But if He had come in another cultural setting, there would be those cultural characteristics pertaining to the Incarnation.
It will be most helpful if you can cite and direct me to Chesterton alluding to this somewhere in this writings. I am grateful for your help with this. — J.S., via e-mail.
A. Do we have any Chesterton scholars who can provide this information?
Q. I am an old priest of 86 years who has been ordained 62 plus years. I have been having a discussion with several people and need some information. Who is Luisa Piccarreta? Have her teachings on the Divine Will been approved by the Vatican? Is she up for beatification? In all my readings, I have never come across her, nor have I ever seen her name mentioned in The Wanderer. I thank you for your kindness. — R.S., Florida.
A. Thank you, Father, for your long and faithful service to the Church.
Actually, we have mentioned Luisa Piccarreta in this column several times over the years. Recognized now as a servant of God, she was a pious Italian woman who was under the care of confessors appointed by her bishop from 1884 until her death in 1947. Her cause for sainthood was completed at the diocesan level in October 2005 and sent to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome.
In 2007, the Most Rev. Giovanni Battista Pichierri, the archbishop of Trani, Italy, where Luisa lived and died, issued a letter about the process of beatification and canonization of Luisa and said that no individuals or groups should publish, in print or on the Internet, any of her writings until they had been studied and approved by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.
The archbishop said that those anywhere in the world who are “inspired by the spirituality of Luisa Piccarreta must keep constantly in touch with the bishops of their own dioceses in order to submit to their discernment any of their activities, such as conventions, days of retreat, or prayer meetings. Their authorization will bring serenity to the participants by guaranteeing each meeting with the proper ecclesial character.”
Luisa wrote two small books, The Hours of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ and Life of the Blessed Virgin, and some 36 numbered manuscripts, all of which are being studied by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. In a 2003 letter to the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN), the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said:
“The writings of Luisa Piccarreta have not been judged by this Dicastery; as such, they enjoy neither the official approbation, nor the official condemnation, of this Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In fact, they are currently being studied, by reason of competence, by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, after this Servant of God, independently of the content of her writings, received the nihil obstat of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith regarding her cause for beatification. As such, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith makes, at this time, no pronouncement on the writings in question.”
As for judging Luisa’s writings, EWTN said that “the Servant of God’s writings should be interpreted according to the mind and teaching of the Church. Even if they are ultimately judged to be of supernatural origin, they necessarily correspond also to a mystic’s own mentality, which was that of a simple pious person and not a theologian. In keeping with Catholic theology, this must be taken into account in judging what she wrote down of her mystical experiences.
“At this stage in the Process, there is no definitive interpretation of her work. The Diocesan Process judged only her life and heroic virtues and prepared a critical edition of the writings with commentary for the review of the Holy See, which alone can give a definitive judgment and explanation.”
You will find on the Internet a lot of information about the writings of Luisa Piccarreta and the Divine Will. For example, on one of the websites which offers the 36 volumes of her writings which are now being studied in Rome, we learn that Luisa is “the most privileged soul ever, after the Virgin Mary herself, to have walked this earth. Jesus went so far as to tell her that in Heaven she will sit at His left hand, while His Mother would be on His right hand.”
We are also told that except for Jesus and Mary, “there is no one that can even remotely compare to the privileges and graces bestowed on Luisa Piccarreta by Almighty God,” including having been “chosen as the secretary to Our Lord in receiving from His mouth the sublime teachings on the Divine Will in 36 volumes in a similar way to Moses receiving the Ten Commandments from God on Mt. Sinai. It is God’s wish that these writings be received by the Church on an equal footing with the Old and New Testament.”
After reading this hyperbole, it is not hard to understand why the archbishop of Trani has asked that the writings of Luisa not be disseminated until they have received Vatican approval.
Q. I’m doing a symbolism booklet for our local Gothic Revival St. Patrick Church located in Imogene, Iowa. God has blessed me in finding information thus far. However, I am struggling in one area that I hope you may be able to provide some insight. I am trying to learn the reason(s) for the different position of the hands of two angels on the altar, along with three other people in the artwork. Two hands, palms facing each other and pointed skyward, indicate praying to God (unless there is more). Then what are two hands crossed over the chest, right hand over left? Also, what do two hands crossed over the chest, left hand over right, symbolize? — W.M., via e-mail.
A. Can anyone provide an answer to these questions?
Q. Why do you think that God, in His infinite wisdom, prohibits the departed from communicating with their loved ones on earth? Also, why is it that the Bible dispenses such trivia as the fact that St. John could run faster than Peter in the race to the Lord’s tomb after the crucifixion, but tells us nothing about the life and death of St. Joseph? — R.K., New Jersey.
A. In answer to the first question, while there have been some reports of those on earth being visited by deceased relatives and friends, it is not a common occurrence. Perhaps because such communication could be misunderstood or misinterpreted by those on earth, or perhaps God doesn’t want His creatures making efforts to contact the deceased, for example, at seances. God does permit communication by angels or by the Virgin Mary, but they are not likely to give people misleading information.
In answer to the second question, there is nothing trivial in the Bible. Every word and passage is there for a reason, even if we don’t always understand the reason. The fact that John ran faster than Peter to the tomb of the Lord tells us that John was younger, but that he deferred to Peter, the elder of the two apostles and the one chosen by Christ to head the Church, and let him enter the tomb first.
We know little about the life, and nothing about the death, of Joseph, just as we know nothing about the 30 hidden years of Jesus’ life, except for the episode in the Temple when He was 12 and that He “advanced [in] wisdom and age and favor before God and man” (Luke 2:52). Would details of those 30 years help us to know Jesus better or love Him more?
It was also in the infinite wisdom of God to tell us all that we need to know about Joseph, namely, that he was “a righteous man” (Matt. 1:19) who was given the extraordinary responsibility of caring for Jesus and His Mother and who responded with alacrity when he was told to flee into Egypt and to return home when the danger to the Christ Child was over.
He was the “guardian of the Redeemer,” in the words of St. John Paul II, who died in the presence of Jesus and Mary, which is why he is called the patron of a happy death.
