Dear Friends of the Kolbe Center,
Pax Christi!
In this newsletter I would like to invite you to watch the newly-posted video of “Wife, Mother and Mystic,” a play produced and directed by my wife Maria during last year’s Kolbe Center leadership retreat in Bloomingdale, Ohio. The children and adults who participated in the play did an absolutely amazing job and gave great glory to God by bringing to life the splendid character of Blessed Anna Maria Taigi and her heroic response to an earlier stage of the revolution against the Church that we are witnessing today.
Blessed Anna Maria Taigi: “Wife, Mother and Mystic”
My wife was very careful to remain faithful to the facts of history in writing and directing the play, and I believe you will be able to draw many edifying lessons from the life of Blessed Anna Maria. I will just mention a few. In the first place, Blessed Anna Maria Taigi exemplifies the ideal that inspired our Creator to create our first mother, St. Eve, to be a “help-mate” to St. Adam. From the time of her conversion early in her marriage, she never failed to be a faithful “help-mate” to her husband, in spite of the fact that he had a violent temper and was often difficult to please. The play shows that even Blessed Anna Maria’s profound love for her children never led her to disobey her husband in anything but sin. Even when Our Lord raised her up to the heights of mystical union and made her the confidante of saints and hierarchs of the Church, she always honored her husband as the king of their humble household.
After fulfilling her duties as wife and “help-mate” to her husband, Blessed Anna dedicated herself to the education and sanctification of her children. The play demonstrates an important characteristic of the catechesis imparted in every diocese in the world right up until recent times—namely, that it was firmly based on the literal historical truth of the sacred history of Genesis. As Chris de Vos has documented through his published research, Catholic catechisms in use throughout the world taught that God created the world and all it contains in six 24-hour days six thousand years ago. In one of the scenes in the play, Blessed Anna Maria quizzes her children on their catechism lesson:
AM: (holds catechism book and quizzes her children) What were the first words God spoke in creating the world?
CAMILLO: “Let there be light.” These words, so simple and so immediately followed by their effect, “and there was light” show us the all-powerfulness of God. He who is all-powerful does what He wishes by merely speaking.
AM: Good! Why were the sun, the moon and the stars not created until the fourth day?
ALLESANDRO: They were not created until the fourth day, to teach man that they are not the authors of the good things of the earth. God wishes thereby to prevent idolatry.
AM: Good! What further to do you remark with respect to the sun?
SOFIA: The sun rises and sets every day, runs his course with great velocity, illumines and vivifies all of nature. It is in this an image of Christ, who, having gone forth from the bosom of His Father, returned to Heaven, after having enlightened all men by His doctrine, and sanctified them by His merits and example.
AM: Very good! (returns to her sewing).
The questions and answers in this scene were actually taken from The Catechism of Perseverance by Monsignor Gaume, written a few years after Blessed Anna Maria’s death, but typical of catechisms in use all over the world during Blessed Anna’s lifetime and right into the twentieth century. This was the catechism by which the Little Flower, St. Therese of Lisieux, and millions of other Catholics learned the Faith. It is amazing to realize that almost any catechized Catholic child in the world could easily have answered the question “with respect to the sun” that—in the view of so many brilliant contemporary Catholic intellectuals, like Fr. Stanley Jaki—proved that the days of Genesis One could not have been 24-hour days! I have also heard some traditional Catholics argue that since the Sun is “an image of Christ,” it is fitting for the Earth to revolve around the Sun. But the questions and answers quoted above demonstrate that catechized children all over the world could easily explain why it is appropriate for the Sun to represent Our Lord while revolving around the Earth.
Wherever we go, in cyberspace or in the world, we are continually challenged by fellow Catholics who cite St. Augustine’s minority instantaneous creation view as proof that the Church has never required Catholics to believe in six-day-creation. Leaving aside the overwhelming evidence on our website that St. Augustine would never have abandoned the majority view had he not relied on the imperfect Vetus Latina translation of the Scriptures, our critics should ask themselves this question: “Would Almighty God have allowed His Church to teach six-day creation in every diocese in the world for century after century, right up to our own time, if it were not true?”
From Revolution to Restoration
“Wife, Mother and Mystic” also brings to life an earlier stage of the freemasonic revolution that is approaching its climax in our times. It shows how the infiltration and corruption of civil and Church institutions began two hundred years ago; and how Napoleon foreshadowed the advent of the future and final Antichrist in his efforts to subjugate the Pope and the Bishops. The play also illustrates Blessed Anna’s prophetic role in relation to the conversion of Russia promised by Our Lady of Fatima. As explained in more detail in an interview on the Fatima Center website, Blessed Anna was shown that Tsar Alexander I of Russia was a type of the future Tsar who will help to reform the Russian Orthodox Church and bring it back into communion with the Roman Catholic Church. The play shows how the French Catholic monarchist General Michaud was sent by Tsar Alexander I to Pope Pius VII to work for the restoration of unity between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Church of Rome. It shows how General Michaud became acquainted with Blessed Anna, and how she revealed to him the untimely death of Tsar Alexander while reviewing his troops, but assured him that Alexander’s dream of reunion with Rome would be realized in the future.
Cardinals, bishops and saints of the Church frequented Blessed Anna Maria’s humble apartment in Rome and attested to the authenticity of her gift of prophecy. Towards the end of the play, Blessed Anna reveals to one of her cardinal confidantes that after an escalating series of wars and tribulations, Almighty God will inflict a terrible chastisement upon the whole world, after which St. Peter and St. Paul will come down from Heaven and select a holy cardinal to be the Pope who will spearhead the restoration of the Church and help to usher in the social reign of Christ our King throughout the world.
“God Does Nothing Without Telling His Servants the Prophets,”
The Prophet Amos tells us that “God does nothing without telling His servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7), and in the life of Blessed Anna Taigi we can see a magnificent fulfillment of that saying. As we look forward to this year’s leadership retreat from August 27-September 2, we would once again welcome the help of any young adults who would like to assist my wife in the production of yet another great play for the glory of God and the edification of souls. Any young adults who would be willing to help Mrs. Owen with this year’s play would be welcome to attend at no cost. If anyone reading this newsletter would be interested or knows a young adult who would be interested in this opportunity, please let me know by emailing me at howen@shentel.net as soon as possible.
Yours in Christ through the Immaculata in union with St. Joseph,
Hugh Owen
P.S. I will be giving a talk at Old St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on Saturday, March 18, from 7 to 8:30 p.m., and on Sunday, March 19, from 4 to 5 p.m. Please see the flyer at this link for more information.
P.P.S. The videotapes of the plays that my wife and her valiant of team of co-workers have produced during our leadership retreats are all available for viewing on the Kolbe website at this link. Maria will also be happy to share the scripts for any of the plays with anyone for use in a Catholic home-school coop, parish, school, or other Catholic venue.
