This is from an Agelus press article (I think last months), for those wishing to look it up for themselves. Divine Mercy Sunday isn't real as far as Pope Pius XII recognized. He said Sr. Faustina's private revelations had no spiritual context. He put her Diary on the Index of forbidden books, chaplet, literature, and the image. John XXIII denounced her visions twice in his ponticate. He also said the Church should not give it a feast day.

OK

This thread needs to be moved out of this section so that we can engage in further discussion.

This is news for us?

Well no, not for us, but probably for the young-uns.  

It was originally posted in the Library sub-forum before Matthew moved it here to the Crisis section.

Please elaborate and post the writings of Pius XII and John XXIII on this matter.

Vladimir, I've known about this for so long my sources of info are long forgotten.  I did find this to get you started.

http://www.traditio.com/tradlib/faq11.txt


DIVINE MERCY

        A local devotion under this title, which is associated with one Sr.
Faustina and a chaplet of the Divine Mercy, was approved by the Ordinary of
Vilnius, Poland, in 1936 and from there spread rapidly, especially after
World War II in the United States.

        It appears that Sr. Faustina could not write, except for a few lines
phonetically.  Most of her "diary" was concocted by her sisters after her
death.  Because of the incongruities of the dairy (different handwriting,
different use of terms), the devotion was suppressed, and the book of her
diary was placed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum [Index of Forbidden
Books].  This decision was upheld by Pope John XXIII in 1958/59.

        In early 1978, a Polish cardinal petitioned the Vatican to remove the
suppression of the devotion, which was being practiced without sanction in
his diocese, and the Vatican replied in the negative, confirming the
suppression.  By this time the original devotional prayer that Sister
Faustina composed in 1935 had been illegally replaced by an oecuмenized
version framed in New Order terminology -- with substantially changed prayers
to promote non-Catholic beliefs and the heresy of universal salvation.  Among
other things, it omitted Sister Faustina's quotation of Our Lord's words
condemning "pagans, heretics, and schismatics."  Later in 1978 a Polish pope
was elected, and the now modernized version, twice condemned, was now entered
onto the Novus Ordo liturgical calendar on the Octave of Easter.  The "Feast
of Divine Mercy" is strictly Novus Ordo and has no basis in the traditional
liturgy.

        The Octave Day of a feast, particularly of the greatest feast,
Easter, is a significant day in itself.  The Divine Mercy cult is thus in
contravention of the focus of the Catholic liturgy for that day,
which is on the Resurrection of Our Lord and faith in His Divinity.  As Dom
Gueranger, the noted Benedictine liturgical scholar, commented in his
fifteen-volume Liturgical Year:  "Such is the solemnity of this Sunday that
not only is it of greater double rite, but no feast, however great, can ever
be kept upon it."  That is the Roman Catholic attitude, which the New Order
spurned.

        Not surprisingly, the cult in post-Conciliar times is increasing in
its association with another cult, that is, the cult of "Catholic"
Charismaticism.  This Charismatic Movement is far from true Catholicism, but
is a derivative of the Protestant heresy, based on the erroneous notion that
emotional experience always accompanies the conferral of grace, whereas the
Catholic doctrine is that the only sensible indication of the conferral of
grace is the Sacrament itself.  Perhaps the cult's association with New Age
ideas is why it has become lionized in recent years, whereas popes up to JPII
have condemned it.

        Is it any wonder that the New Order pushes this corrupted devotion
over the traditional devotion to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus?  The
devotion to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus is a much more ancient devotion,
having grown in the early Middle Ages through the efforts of St. Bernard of
Clairvaux, a Doctor of the Church, and St. Gertrude.   However, it was in the
latter half of the seventeenth century that news of three private revelations
to St. Margaret Mary Alocoque concerning the Sacred Heart swept the Catholic
world and shortly led to the establishment of a feast on the Friday after the
Octave of Corpus Christi (the Friday after the Second Sunday after
Pentecost).

        The Feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, which was extended to
the Universal Church by Pope Pius IX in 1856, became a feast of atonement for
human ingratitude toward God in spite of the supreme sacrifice of Calvary.  
The theme for the new Mass and the Divine Office was taken from the words of
Our Lord to St. Margaret Mary:  "Behold the Heart which has loved men so
greatly, but which has been given so little love in return."

        Devotion to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus has been richly
indulgenced by the Church, and a Litany of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus is
one of only five approved for public recitation.  Given the apparent New
Order's corruption of the original devotion to the divine mercy and the
pushing of this Charismatic novelty condemned by two popes, traditional
Catholics will continue to stand with the more ancient and universally-
approved devotion to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and reject this New Order
novelty.

 

Divine Mercy devotion is actually seen as Traditional in the N.O. Church. I think this is because Mother Angelica adopted it, so the libs have treated it with disdain. It is funny since the devotion plays into liberal theology.

It is ironic that amongst Traditionalists it is seen as liberal. This makes it a sort of Neo-Cath devotion, I suppose. They see it as almost a dogma. If you dare to question the divine mercy devotion they look at you as if you have horns. After all, who can question God's infinite mercy? And who are YOU to deny an "approved" devotion of the Church by JPII The Great?

If you deny the authenticity of this devotion you are almost treated as a public sinner. It is very a very interesting dynamic...

It is the N.O. replacement for the Sacred Heart devotion. I suppose the Sacred Heart was much too scary and foreboding...

Divine Mercy devotion is actually seen as Traditional in the N.O. Church. I think this is because Mother Angelica adopted it, so the libs have treated it with disdain. It is funny since the devotion plays into liberal theology.

It is ironic that amongst Traditionalists it is seen as liberal. This makes it a sort of Neo-Cath devotion, I suppose. They see it as almost a dogma. If you dare to question the divine mercy devotion they look at you as if you have horns. After all, who can question God's infinite mercy? And who are YOU to deny an "approved" devotion of the Church by JPII The Great?

If you deny the authenticity of this devotion you are almost treated as a public sinner. It is very a very interesting dynamic...

It is the N.O. replacement for the Sacred Heart devotion. I suppose the Sacred Heart was much too scary and foreboding...

The devotion to the Sacred Heart demanded reparation. That is what is offensive to the modern sensibility. The Divine Mercy devotion eliminated the concept of reparation.

The diary of Sr. Faustina (if she even wrote it herself, which is debatable) was placed on the Index of Forbidden Books in 1959. It contains theological errors AND the in the worst case, the errors are attributed to God Himself.

Quote from: Alexandria

This is news for us?

Well no, not for us, but probably for the young-uns.  

I am a "young-un" so to speak, as I am new to traditional Catholicism, SSPX specifically.

I attended NO for quite some time, and I should say that there is a lot of emphasis on Divine Mercy Sunday.  I had NO idea that there was anything wrong with the devotion.  It's talked about quite a bit.

When we first started attending SSPX is was right around Easter and I noticed there was no mention of Divine Mercy Sunday.  I knew it was a "modern" feast day, so I didn't really think anything about it at all.  I naturally reasoned that the day was added to the calendar after 1962 and therefore SSPX was not obligated to celebrate said feast.  

Having said that, yesterday I did find a pamphlet downstairs that was placed by an individual.  We have lots of free literature that people put out and some is not necessarily placed there by SSPX.  One of those pamphlets is a publication of Our Lady of the Rosary Library titled "The Wonderful Mercy of God is Inexhaustible."  

I brought it home and read it last evening.  

I know that the SSPX does not endorse this modern "feast" but it is also my understanding that it is not condemned either.

I did notices this on the Angelus website from and article about such feasts:

The faithful should note that while the Church does not always officially recognize a particular devotion or authorize it to be promoted publically, She frequently allows these devotions to be practiced privately. This is the case regarding the "Fifteen Promises of St. Bridget" and the "Mercy of God" devotion of Sister Faustina. In the case of Padre Pio, the Church later lifted all sanctions against him and his cause of beatification has been introduced.