Apostolic Letters – Page 26 – Antipope John XXIII

Exterior view of the Basilica of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Seven Sorrows in Pescara, Italy

Pientissima Virgo (1959.01.16)

amdg / 2025-11-08

The Latin text under the title “Pientissima Virgo,” dated 16 January 1959 and attributed to John XXIII, grants to the church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Seven Sorrows in Pescara the title and juridical privileges of a Minor Basilica, with a brief historical note on the sanctuary, a mention of the supposed miraculous discovery of the image, the devotion of the faithful, and the involvement of the Capuchins; it concludes by invoking “apostolic” authority to ratify the concession in perpetuity.

A reverent Catholic priest kneeling in prayer before the altar of St. Mark's Basilica in Venice, with historical and theological tension between tradition and the conciliar revolution.

Apostolic Letters

Opere nobilissimo (1959.01.14)

amdg / 2025-11-08

The document “Opere nobilissimo” of John XXIII grants plenary and partial indulgences, as well as privileged-altar status, to the Patriarchal Basilica of St. Mark in Venice, under specified conditions (confession, “Communion,” prayers for the “pope,” etc.), presenting this as a continuation of the beneficent tradition of previous pontiffs and as a stimulus to piety for pilgrims visiting the basilica. It is a short text, liturgically framed and juridically precise, whose center of gravity is the attachment of spiritual favors to a place personally linked to John XXIII’s earlier career, bound to prayers “ad mentem Summi Pontificis.” In reality, this apparently pious concession is a calculated piece of the new regime’s spiritual engineering, instrumentalizing the treasure of the Church to bind souls to an emergent conciliar sect and to the person of a future antipope, thereby poisoning authentic devotion at its source.

Historical church of Notre Dame de Joie in Pontivy, France, during a solemn ceremony conferring the title of minor basilica by John XXIII.

Apostolic Letters

Gaudii Nuntia (1959.01.10)

amdg / 2025-11-08

In this Latin decree, John XXIII confers the title and privileges of a minor basilica upon the parish church of “Notre Dame de Joie” in Pontivy (diocese of Vannes), appealing to ancient Marian devotion, the historical veneration of an image of the Blessed Virgin, the gratitude for deliverance from cholera in 1696, and the architectural and devotional significance of the church; the text clothes a purely juridical act of conferring an honorary title in solemn formulae asserting the efficacy, permanence, and authority of his decision.

The Blessed Virgin Mary under the title 'from the Most Holy Rosary de Arma' as principal patroness of Sonsón diocese with Bishop Albertus Uribe Urdaneta and faithful in prayer.

Apostolic Letters

INCLITAM DEI GENETRICEM (1958.11.28)

amdg / 2025-11-08

The document attributed to John XXIII under the title “Inclitam Dei Genetricem” is a brief act by which the newly elected author, in his first year, “confirms and constitutes” the Blessed Virgin Mary under the local title of “from the Most Holy Rosary de Arma” as principal heavenly patroness of the diocese of Sonsón (Colombia), granting the corresponding liturgical honors and privileges, and wrapping this act in the standard formulae of alleged apostolic authority and perpetual validity.