Msgr. Henri DeLassus [1899]: ‘We Must Pray and Fight for the Victory’

[Stone]

‘We Must Pray and Fight for the Victory’

In his book 'Americanism and the Anti-Christian Conspiracy,' the great theologian and anti-Masonic author Msgr. Henri DeLassus points out that the only solution for the growing evil of the times will be some extraordinary event, an intervention from Heaven, although the date is unknowable. He emphasizes that the evil is already so great (in 1899) that it obviously announces a "divine explosion,” that is, a great intervention from Heaven. How can we hasten this happy moment? He points to two equally important means:

 "1) our prayers, and

2) a zealous action as courageous as it is enlightened, undertaken by each person in the sphere that Providence has assigned to him."

Msgr. Henri DeLassus

While waiting for the "Divine Explosion," should we just cross our arms and say: "Fighting is useless?" Certainly not! Discouragement crushes our strength, what is needed is hope.

Donoso Cortes, who was as pessimistic as de Maistre was optimistic, affirmed: "For we who pride ourselves on being Catholics, the fight is the accomplishment of a duty, and not the result of a calculation. Let us give thanks to God for granting us the fight; and let us not ask, in addition to this favor, the grace of victory from the One whose infinite goodness reserves for those who fight generously for His cause a reward far greater and more precious to man than the victory here below.” (vol. I, p. 349)

This position does not seem entirely appropriate for the fight in our times. It is true that the eternal reward is certain for the good soldier of Christ, and it can suffice for him. But it is by no means forbidden for him to solicit and hope for the triumph of the cause he defends here below, especially when this cause is that of the Holy Church.

Does not our Holy Father Leo XIII make us pray every day at the foot of the Holy Altar not only for the conversion of sinners but for the freedom and exaltation of Holy Mother Church? And does the whole Church ever cease to ask for the humiliation of the enemies of God and the coming of the Reign of the Divine Savior? Ut inimicos sanctae Ecclesiae humiliare digneris; Te rogamus, audi nos! [That Thou vouchsafe to humiliate the enemies of the Holy Church; We beseech Thee, hear us]. Adveniat regnum tuum! [May Thy kingdom come]

It is up to us to attain this humiliation and this Reign. To do this, it is not enough to pray, we must also fight. And this struggle is so much in the mind of Holy Mother Church that, in order to put us in a position to defend her with dignity, she gives us words to ask the Divine Victim of our altars to fortify our souls and offer outside assistance: O salutaris Hostia, Bella premunt hostilia, Da robur, fer auxilium. “O redeeming Victim, subjugate the armies hostile to us, Give us strength, bring us aid.” (Eucharistic hymn by St. Thomas Aquinas)

Extract from Msgr. Henri Delassus, L'américanisme et la conjuration antichrétienne, Paris: Desclee de Brouwer, 1899, chapter 15