Letters – Page 15 – Antipope John XXIII

Pope Pius X in liturgical vestments surrounded by a Schola Cantorum singing Gregorian chant in a grand Roman basilica.

Iucunda laudatio (1961.12.08)

amdg / 2025-11-09

This Latin letter of John XXIII, addressed to Hyginus Anglés on the 50th anniversary of the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music, is an ornate panegyric: it praises the Institute as heir and guardian of sacred music, recalls Pius X’s reform and the chirograph “Tra le sollecitudini,” extols Gregorian chant, polyphony, Latin in the solemn liturgy, scholae cantorum, and even mentions adapting music in mission territories by elevating indigenous melodies for Catholic worship; the whole text wraps itself in traditional terminology to present the Institute as exemplary servant of divine worship under the aegis of the conciliar renovator.

Young seminarians in traditional cassocks stand reverently in a Philippine seminary chapel, reflecting piety and discipline. The scene includes a subtle portrait of antipope John XXIII in the background.

Letters

Pater misericordiarum (1961.08.22)

amdg / 2025-11-09

In this Latin letter of 22 August 1961, antipope John XXIII addresses Rufino Santos and the hierarchy of the Philippine islands, congratulating them on the external flourishing of seminaries, the increase of vocations, the construction of suitable houses of formation, and the establishment of the Pontifical Filipino College in Rome. He exhorts them to select suitable candidates, appoint morally exemplary formators, cultivate discipline, piety, obedience, asceticism, Latin studies, and to protect seminarians from worldly novelties, ending with paternal assurances that such efforts will strengthen the Church and the “Kingdom of God” in the Philippines and neighbouring peoples. Behind this apparently benign praise stands the calculated preparation of a compliant, modernist clergy to serve the conciliar revolution soon to be unleashed at Vatican II, a project which this letter serenely clothes in pious phraseology.

A Catholic portrait of St. Catherine of Siena lamenting the modernist betrayal of her teachings in the Vatican.

Letters

Epistula ad Michaëlem Browne (1961.07.20)

amdg / 2025-11-09

This Latin letter of John XXIII, addressed to Dominican Superior General Michael Browne on the fifth centenary of the canonization of St Catherine of Siena, praises her sanctity, her devotion to the papacy, her Eucharistic piety, and her influence in the Church, and encourages the Order of Preachers and the faithful—especially Italians and Sienese—to celebrate her memory and invoke her intercession in order to obtain a moral and religious renewal. Beneath its pious surface, however, this text instrumentalizes a great medieval saint in order to clothe the incipient conciliar revolution with counterfeit “continuity” and to divert souls from the integral reign of Christ the King and the doctrinal intransigence of the pre-conciliar Magisterium.

A solemn Eucharistic Congress in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, 1961. Devout Catholics kneel in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, with Bishop Rodríguez Pardo and Cardinal Cushing presiding.

Letters

Laetum allatum (1961.07.04)

amdg / 2025-11-09

The Latin letter “Laetum allatum,” dated July 4, 1961 and attributed to John XXIII, appoints Richard James Cushing as papal legate to a National Eucharistic Congress in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. It praises Bishop Rodríguez Pardo, extols Bolivian Eucharistic devotion, sets “Omnes unum sumus in Christo” (“We are all one in Christ”) as the Congress’ keynote, and exhorts to Eucharistic piety, charity, social justice, and national concord.

Archbishop Martin John O'Connor holding the papal letter 'Nostra Patris' in a historic church library, symbolizing the battle against modern media's influence on Catholic values.

Letters

Nostra Patris (1961.06.29)

amdg / 2025-11-09

The letter “Nostra Patris,” dated 29 June 1961 and issued by antipope John XXIII to Martin John O’Connor, praises the 25-year legacy of Pius XI’s Vigilanti cura, commends ecclesiastical bodies monitoring cinema, laments immoral and anti-religious films, and urges a more intense Catholic presence in cinematic culture through guidance, formation, criticism, and cooperation with filmmakers, under the direction of a central Pontifical Council for cinema, radio, and television. Behind its apparently prudent concern, however, stands a programmatic capitulation: a shift from guarding the flock through objective doctrinal and disciplinary authority to flattering, dialoguing with, and ultimately integrating a corrupt mass-media culture — one of the early and transparent symptoms of the coming conciliar revolution.

A traditional Catholic image depicting the letter exchange between John XXIII and Cardinal Eugène Tisserant in 1961.

Letters

Hoc mense (1961.06.15)

amdg / 2025-11-09

Venerable Brother, health and Apostolic Blessing.

In this brief Latin letter dated June 15, 1961, John XXIII congratulates Eugène Tisserant on the fiftieth anniversary of his promotion to the cardinalate (bestowed by Pius XI). The text praises Tisserant’s erudition, his work in the Vatican Library, his role connected with the Oriental Church, his diocesan titles, and his admission to the Académie Française. It culminates in courteous wishes for perseverance in “sincere faith,” wisdom, and further merits, sealed with an “Apostolic Blessing.”

Behind this polished façade of curial compliment lies a distilled expression of the neo-church’s humanist, academicist, and ecumenical self-idolatry, in which the supernatural mission of the Church is silently displaced by the cult of culture, diplomacy, and institutional self-congratulation.

A reverent scholarly scene in the Vatican Library with a Catholic scholar surrounded by ancient manuscripts.

Letters

Quinque implenti (1961.06.12)

amdg / 2025-11-09

In this short Latin letter, John XXIII congratulates Benedictine abbot Anselmo Albareda on twenty-five years as Prefect of the Vatican Library. He praises Albareda’s diligence, the expansion and adornment of the collection, the publication of scholarly volumes, and the intellectual oasis the Library offers “far from the noisy and seductive world,” concluding with an exhortation to continue this work in Benedictine spirit, crowned by an “Apostolic Blessing.” The text appears harmlessly pious and cultural, yet it is a refined emblem of the conciliar mentality: the reduction of the Church’s universal mission to a cultured humanism under the signature of a man who had already inaugurated the subversion of Catholic Tradition.

Archbishop Josef Beran praying in a dimly lit church surrounded by suffering faithful under communist oppression.

Letters

Tuus quinquagesimus (1961.05.30)

amdg / 2025-11-09

The document is a Latin letter in which John XXIII addresses Josef Beran, Archbishop of Prague, on the fiftieth anniversary of his priestly ordination. It recalls Beran’s academic and pastoral merits, laments his enforced isolation by the communist regime, enumerates persecutions in Czechoslovakia (suppression of religious orders, censorship, atheistic propaganda, imprisonment and exile of clergy), invokes Gospel beatitudes for the persecuted, calls upon local saints as intercessors, and imparts an “Apostolic Blessing” to Beran, the clergy, faithful of Prague, and all Czechoslovakia. The entire piece cloaks itself in pious consolation while carefully avoiding any concrete condemnation, canonical action, or assertion of the objective rights of Christ the King and His Church against an openly anti-Christian, Masonic-communist tyranny—thus perfectly illustrating the soft modernist strategy of rhetorical empathy without dogmatic combat, a counterfeit “pastoral” pose that anesthetizes resistance instead of defending the persecuted flock.

A reverent depiction of the University of Santo Tomas in Manila during its 350th anniversary celebration, highlighting the contrast between its historical role in preserving Catholic orthodoxy and its future as an incubator of conciliar apostasy.

Letters

In extremis (1961.04.06)

amdg / 2025-11-09

The Latin letter “In extremis,” dated 6 April 1961 and signed by John XXIII, is an adulatory message to the rector of the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, celebrating the university’s 350th anniversary. It praises its historical services to Church and society, emphasizes its role in preserving “orthodox faith,” exalts its collaboration with civil authorities and episcopal hierarchies, invokes previous papal commendations, and imparts an “apostolic blessing” upon faculty, students, benefactors, and public officials.

A reverent depiction of the 1961 catechetical convention in Dallas, Texas, with Cardinal Amleto Cicognani as papal legate, surrounded by bishops and catechists in a grand cathedral setting.

Letters

Admodum gratum (1961.03.20)

amdg / 2025-11-09

In this brief Latin letter dated March 20, 1961, John XXIII appoints Cardinal Amleto Cicognani as his legate to preside, in his name and authority, over a catechetical convention in Dallas (Texas) for bishops and catechists from North America and Latin America. He praises the importance of catechesis, speaks of the honor of teaching Christian doctrine, exhorts catechists to diligence, joy and zeal, urges confidence not in “persuasive words of human wisdom” but in the power of God’s word, quotes St Augustine on the true heavenly Teacher, and imparts his “apostolic blessing” to the legate and participants. From the perspective of integral Catholic faith, this apparently pious note is a calculated piece of conciliar stagecraft: a soft-focus, sentimental invocation of catechesis weaponized to prepare the demolition of true doctrine in the Americas under the authority of an usurper.