Ireland's Loyalty to the Mass by Father Augustine, O.M.Cap. “It is the Mass that Matters”. The persecution of Ireland for hundreds of years, reduced to the most important factor, was the prohibition of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass by the Protestant rulers in England. The history of this brutal and monstrous suppression is carefully chronicled in this little book. “The Mass is the very means He has given us to enable us to join with Him, and to share with Him in the Sacrifice of the Cross. The Mass . . . is the very life of the Church, the secret of her holiness and vitality. No wonder that the spirits of darkness should have inspired the heretic with hatred for the Mass, for they know that when they strike at the Mass they strike at the heart of the Church” (From the book’s Introduction). A taste of the heretic’s hatred for the Mass is found in the famous “Oath” required for Irishmen by their English rulers: “I _________, abhor, detest, and abjure the authority of the Pope. . . . I firmly believe and avow that no reverence is due to the Virgin Mary, or to any other saint in heaven . . . . I assert that no worship or reverence is due to the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, or to elements of bread and wine after consecration, by whomsoever that consecration may be made . . . .” Ireland’s adherence to the Faith and passionate devotion to the Mass proved to the whole world that religion is not “the opium of the people,” but a tonic that gives them strength to support every torture, and face even “death all day long.” “Woodcut” illustrations, sewn signatures of 60 lb. cream paper, hardcover, 228 pages. |