I had an email a few days ago, from someone who sent me a youtube video.
The emailer was a new correspondent, and the video was meant to “help” me understand that the Catholic church was the Whore of Babylon, and that Pope John Paul II was the Beast of Revelation, who would rise from the grave and fool the world.
No, I don’t think I will be linking to the video. Normally I ignore that sort of stuff; between the hate mail from the left, the hate mail from the far-right and the strongly-dislike mail from certain Christian quarters (who seem to have more problems with me than the atheists do), I have enough to read, watch, link to and throw out, each day. But this thing was so ignorant, and so hateful, so Jack Chick on Crack that I confess it annoyed me a bit.
It annoyed me enough (particularly since I count so many Evangelicals among my dear friends, but I suspect this person is not really Evangelical) that -just because I can, and because we are about to observe All Saints and All Souls days (and because I am a great fan of the Communion of Saints)- I’m going to put up the video of the Litany of Saints from John Paul II’s funeral, which back then troubled some, too. The video is not, sadly, the straight-up Litany with funeral footage, but it’s the best I could find. A better version, thanks to Bender.
If you’d like to join in, in asking the intercession of our forebears who live Eternally in the Light of Christ:
Litany of the Saints
Lord, have mercy on us. (Lord have mercy on us.)
Christ, have mercy on us. (Christ have mercy on us.)
Lord, have mercy on us. (Lord, have mercy on us.)
Christ, hear us. (Christ, hear us.)
Christ, graciously hear us. (Christ, graciously hear us.)
God the Father of heaven, (have mercy on us.)
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, (have mercy on us.)
God the Holy Ghost, (have mercy on us.)
Holy Trinity, one God, (have mercy on us.)
Holy Mary, (pray for us)
Holy Mother of God, (pray for us)
Holy Virgin of virgins, (pray for us)
St. Michael, (pray for us)
St. Gabriel, (pray for us)
St. Raphael, (pray for us)
All ye holy Angels and Archangels, (pray for us)
All ye holy orders of blessed Spirits, (pray for us)
St. John the Baptist, (pray for us)
St. Joseph, (pray for us)
All ye holy Patriarchs and Prophets, (pray for us)
St. Peter, (pray for us)
St. Paul, (pray for us)
St. Andrew, (pray for us)
St. James, (pray for us)
St. John, (pray for us)
St. Thomas, (pray for us)
St. James, (pray for us)
St. Philip, (pray for us)
St. Bartholomew, (pray for us)
St. Matthew, (pray for us)
St. Simon, (pray for us)
St. Thaddeus, (pray for us)
St. Matthias, (pray for us)
St. Barnabas, (pray for us)
St. Luke, (pray for us)
St. Mark, (pray for us)
All ye holy Apostles and Evangelists, (pray for us)
All ye holy Disciples of the Lord, (pray for us)
All ye holy Innocents, (pray for us)
St. Stephen, (pray for us)
St. Lawrence, (pray for us)
St. Vincent, (pray for us)
SS. Fabian and Sebastian, (pray for us)
SS. John and Paul, (pray for us)
SS. Cosmas and Damian, (pray for us)
SS. Gervase and Protase, (pray for us)
All ye holy Martyrs, (pray for us)
St. Sylvester, (pray for us)
St. Gregory, (pray for us)
St. Ambrose, (pray for us)
St. Augustine, (pray for us)
St. Jerome, (pray for us)
St. Martin, (pray for us)
St. Nicholas, (pray for us)
All ye holy Bishops and Confessors, (pray for us)
All ye holy Doctors, (pray for us)
St. Anthony, (pray for us)
St. Benedict, (pray for us)
St. Bernard, (pray for us)
St. Dominic, (pray for us)
St. Francis, (pray for us)
All ye holy Priests and Levites, (pray for us)
All ye holy Monks and Hermits, (pray for us)
St. Mary Magdalen, (pray for us)
St. Agatha, (pray for us)
St. Lucy, (pray for us)
St. Agnes, (pray for us)
St. Cecilia, (pray for us)
St. Catherine, (pray for us)
St. Anastasia, (pray for us)
All ye holy Virgins and Widows, (pray for us)
All ye holy Saints of God, (Make intercession for us.)
Be merciful, (Spare us, O Lord.)
Be merciful, (Graciously hear us, O Lord.)
Longer version here.
October 30th, 2009 | 3:57 pm | #1
That was beautiful, Anchoress. When are those emailers going to learn that we love God with all our heart and all our might? They have to stop believing all that brainwashing they’re getting about the Catholic Church and start doing their homework.
I had one person try for 3/4 of a year (through emails) to convince me of the same thing. She never bothered to actually check the quotes she sent me. They weren’t all quoted correctly and that changed the meaning significantly.
She ended up doing the “fingers in her ears and lalalalala, I can’t hear you” routine.
October 30th, 2009 | 4:00 pm | #2
Oh dear, don’t have a drop of Irish, but I meet your Irish with 100% Spanish and raise you with the heat of the tropics! What I find amazing about all those people who claim such things is that supposedly they believe Christ spoke the truth! Very well, Christ said the Holy Spirit would be with his Church; Christ also said that one should not “hide” the lamp. Therefore, if the Catholic Church is false, then either Christ lied about the “Holy Spirit being with his church and that the gates of hell would not prevail against her” or God is too stupid to follow his own advice and somehow kept his “true” church hidden until some super smart protestants who were smarter than God brought it out of hiding. Either way, it doesn’t paint a very omniscient or omnipotent God!
October 30th, 2009 | 4:12 pm | #3
The reality is, most Protestants no longer believe that the CC is the Whole of Babylon, however, that still fails to explain how if that is not the case, the Reformation made/makes any sense.
This claim becomes even more silly from a “Sola Scriptura” fanatic, being that Sacred Scripture CLEARLY (St. John), teaches that the “beast” will deny that Christ came in the flesh. That being true, JPII, who profondly love not on Jesus and His Divintity but also his mothers, would be more than a stretch.
Sooo, the only possible theory for this kind of thinkin’ would indeed have to be “Jack Chick on crack, or sterioids, or something.” But hey, I doubt even Chick believes it anymore being that it’s such an easy claim to dispove, especially with “Sola Scriptura.”
October 30th, 2009 | 4:25 pm | #4
Here is the litany from the funeral Mass. Unfortunately, there is no timer on the player, but the litany begins about 3/4 of the way through, when Cardinal Ratzinger comes down to the casket (the cursor is right above the A of Associated Press).
October 30th, 2009 | 4:34 pm | #5
OK, if you play it through Real Player, it is shortly after the 2:00:00 mark.
October 30th, 2009 | 5:19 pm | #6
I edited out the part of the JP2 Funeral Mass with the litany, and uploaded it at YouTube.
The Litany of Saints is now available here.
[Cool Bender -thanks -admin]
October 30th, 2009 | 7:00 pm | #7
Thank you for this beautiful post!
October 31st, 2009 | 11:48 am | #8
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by The Anchoress, Victor Natche. Victor Natche said: Litany of Saints » The Anchoress | A First Things Blog: I had an email a few days ago, from someone who sent me.. http://tinyurl.com/ycql8yv [...]
October 31st, 2009 | 9:14 pm | #9
Is there a Latin text of the litany available anywhere?
October 31st, 2009 | 11:41 pm | #10
The beauty of the Catholic Tradition.
The reverent prayer to those who led by simple and spectacular spiritual example.
We need to instill the love of this among the young people.
November 1st, 2009 | 1:17 pm | #11
With regards to your email, I am presently reading the biography of St. Robert Bellarmine by James Broderick, SJ. St. Robert Bellarmine had to defend the Church against the same falsity (the Pope being the Antichrist), and here it isn’t completely extinguished 400 years later.
Thanks for posting the litany. I’m not sure I’ve ever read the whole litany.
November 2nd, 2009 | 12:46 am | #12
The litany at JPII’s funeral and BXVI’s installation was so moving that I consider those particular moments to be profoundly influential in my reversion to the faith. The entire history of the church is present in those sung words. The powerful wind blowing in Rome that day found its way across the ocean to me!
Thank you Anchoress for reminding me.
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