Apostolic Letters

A group of Augustinian Canons Regular in traditional habits praying in a historic Catholic church, emphasizing the supernatural and liturgical ends of religious life.
Apostolic Letters

Caritatis Unitas (1959.05.04)

/

This Latin document, issued by John XXIII in 1959 under the title “Caritatis Unitas,” purports to approve and structure a “Confederation” of the Congregations of the Canons Regular of St Augustine, preserving their juridical autonomy while uniting them under a rotating “Abbot Primate,” shared statutes, common prayers, suffrages, a unified Proper of Saints and a single Cardinal Protector, and it justifies this federation as an adaptation of religious life to “new conditions” for greater efficiency and cooperation. In reality, this text is an early programmatic manifesto of the conciliar revolution: a bureaucratic re-engineering of an ancient canonical Order in the name of vague “unity” and “updating,” subordinating authentic religious life to an incipient neo-church that is about to betray the Kingship of Christ and the entire pre-existing magisterium.

A reverent portrait of Blessed Marie-Marguerite d'Youville amidst the poor and sick, highlighting her charity and devotion while subtly contrasting traditional Catholic values with post-conciliar humanitarianism.
Apostolic Letters

CARITATIS PRAECONIUM (1959.05.03)

/

The document, issued by John XXIII on 3 May 1959, proclaims Maria Marguerite Dufrost de Lajemmerais, widow d’Youville, as “Blessed,” presenting her as a model of charity: a widowed mother who embraced poverty, assisted the suffering, founded the Sisters of Charity of Montreal (“Grey Nuns”), and, after a standard post-conciliar-style narrative of virtues and alleged miracles, is proposed for public cult, Office, and Mass in specified dioceses and houses.

A Latin Mass at the Ecuadorian shrine of 'Nuestra Señora del Quinche', now a minor basilica, highlighting the 1959 decree's emphasis on aesthetic devotion over Christocentric doctrine.
Apostolic Letters

Mariani cultus (1959.05.02)

/

The text is a short Latin decree in which John XXIII, at the request of Carlos María de la Torre, designates the Ecuadorian shrine of “Nuestra Señora del Quinche” as a minor basilica, praising its antiquity, architecture, priestly service, Marian devotion, and the alleged miracles attributed to the image. It is a juridical-ceremonial act that crowns a local Marian cult with a Roman honorific title. From the perspective of integral Catholic doctrine, however, this document is one more brick in the edifice of the coming conciliar cult of sentimentality and external pomp, preparing a Marian varnish for the subversion of the faith.

A somber depiction of Helena Guerra in a traditional Catholic church setting, surrounded by devotional artifacts and candles, with John XXIII's signature on the 'Renovans Faciem' document in the background.
Apostolic Letters

RENOVANS FACIEM (1959.04.26)

/

The document, issued in Latin and signed in 1959 by John XXIII in his first year of power, proclaims Helena Guerra, foundress of the Oblates of the Holy Spirit (Sisters of St Zita), as “Blessed,” extolling her personal piety, Eucharistic devotion, zeal for the Holy Spirit, charitable works, Marian initiatives, and influence on Leo XIII’s texts on the Holy Ghost, and grants liturgical cult in specified places. It presents an edifying biography crowned by the alleged recognition of heroic virtues and miracles, setting her up as a spiritual model for the “renewal” of the Church through devotion to the Holy Spirit.

A traditional Catholic depiction of Blessed Joaquina de Vedruna de Mas in prayer, symbolizing her sanctity and maternal charity.
Apostolic Letters

Materna caritas (1959.04.12)

/

Materna caritas is an April 12, 1959 Latin decretal letter in which the usurper John XXIII narrates the life of Joaquina (Joachima) de Vedruna de Mas, praises her virtues as wife, mother, widow, and foundress of the Carmelites of Charity, rehearses the earlier stages of her cause, and solemnly promulgates her canonization together with Charles of Sezze as an act “ad honorem Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis” and for the “augmentation” of the Church. The text presents the recognition of her sanctity and miracles as a definitive exercise of papal authority and an expression of the Church’s maternal charity.

St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows praying at Isola del Gran Sasso shrine in traditional Passionist habit with 19th-century pilgrims in reverent devotion.
Apostolic Letters

Quantum dilectionis (1959.04.10)

/

Quantum dilectionis is an Apostolic Letter of John XXIII, issued in 1959, that proclaims St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows (Gabriel a Virgine Perdolente) the principal heavenly patron of the Abruzzi (Aprutium) region, extolling his cult, highlighting the shrine at Isola del Gran Sasso as a center of piety, and decreeing liturgical rights and privileges accordingly; beneath the seemingly pious surface, this act functions as an early ritual consolidation of the conciliar usurpation, parasitically appropriating a pre-conciliar saint to lend supernatural prestige to an emerging neo-church that would soon betray the very faith Gabriel professed.

A solemn image depicting the usurpation of apostolic authority through the elevation of the dubious Fatima cult, showing a bishop holding a document titled 'Qui huius saeculi' in a grand cathedral.
Apostolic Letters

Qui huius saeculi (1959.03.23)

/

Qui huius saeculi is an act of John XXIII by which the structures occupying the Vatican, allegedly in virtue of “apostolic” authority, designate the “Virgin of Fatima” as principal patroness (together with St. Dominic) of the Diocese of Santo Domingo de Nueve de Julio in Argentina. In a few paragraphs of pious-sounding Latin, this text fuses the paramasonic Fatima operation with diocesan life, binds it liturgically, and presents devotion to “Our Lady of Fatima” and the reign of her Immaculate Heart as a privileged path of salvation for “those who tread the dark paths of this age.” This apparently small act is in reality a symptom and instrument of a new religion: it enthrones a fabricated apparition, relativizes the exclusive Kingship of Christ, and subordinates authentic Marian devotion to a political-ecumenical project that serves the conciliar sect rather than the Catholic Church.

Saint Lawrence of Brindisi, Doctor of the Church, depicted in traditional Franciscan habit with a Scripture book, set in a 16th-century chapel with Marian symbols.
Apostolic Letters

Celsitudo ex humilitate (1959.03.19)

/

The document under consideration is an Apostolic Letter of John XXIII, “Celsitudo ex humilitate,” issued 19 March 1959, by which he solemnly declares Saint Lawrence of Brindisi a Doctor of the Universal Church, exalting his Franciscan humility, his linguistic and theological erudition, his anti-Protestant polemics, his Marian doctrine, and his services to princes and peoples, and ordering his liturgical cult as Doctor throughout the Church.

Pope John XXIII signs the 'Boni Pastoris' motu proprio document in Vatican City surrounded by Roman Curia officials and historical religious artifacts.
Apostolic Letters

Boni Pastoris (1959.02.22)

/

The document titled “Boni Pastoris,” issued motu proprio by John XXIII on 22 February 1959, reorganizes and strengthens the Roman structure responsible for cinema, radio, and television, transforming the existing body into a “Pontifical Commission for Cinematography, Radio and Television” with stable curial status and wide coordinating, consultative, and promotional competences. It presents these modern media as providential instruments, to be used for “moral uplift,” evangelization, youth education, and the diffusion of “truth,” and establishes juridical norms to centralize oversight of Catholic initiatives in these fields under the See of Rome.

Historic Church of Saint Mercurialis in Forlì, Italy, with devout faithful in prayer, reflecting traditional Catholic devotion and solemnity.
Apostolic Letters

Urbis Fori Livii (1959.01.16)

/

The text is a brief Latin decree of the usurper John XXIII, in which he confers on the church of Saint Mercurialis in Forlì (Foro Livii) the title and privileges of a minor basilica, appealing to its antiquity, artistic value, popular attachment, and the cult of Saint Mercurialis as first bishop of the city. It is a perfectly characteristic specimen of the early rhetoric of the conciliar revolution: externally pious and canonico-bureaucratic, yet functioning as a liturgical-anthropological ornament on the façade of an authority that had already defected from the integral Catholic faith, transforming sacred titles into decorative tokens within a paramasonic system usurping the name of the Church.

Scroll to Top
Antipope John XXIII
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.