Author Topic: Pope St. Pontian, please pray for us! (Read 993 times)

Diego · « **on:** October 31, 2011, 10:47:28 AM »

Having been condemned September 27, 235 A.D in metallum (to the mines) for his Catholic Faith, Pope St. Pontian was force-marched from the port, Othoca, to the Sardinian lead mines. His left eye was gouged out with a dagger and the socket cauterized with molten iron. The joints of his left foot were burned to cause painful scarification impairing walking. The peroneal nerve was severed by stabbing behind his right knee to cause a “foot drop,” further impairing walking. He was branded on the forehead. Iron rings were soldered around his ankles then, manacled, his ankles were tethered by a heavy chain to a painfully constricting iron ring around his waist so short that he could only stoop, never to stand straight again. After being burned, stabbed, chained and branded, he was scourged sixty lashes against a stone obelisk, then immediately sent with pick and shovel into the choking poisonous dust of the lead mines to work twenty of every twenty-four hours, subsisting (between beatings) on one meal of coarse bread and water daily – until late in January 236 A.D. when he was martyred by sword.

Catholic martyrs have been flayed, grilled on a gridiron, burned, boiled, beaten, devoured, gored, racked, stoned, crushed, drowned, asphyxiated, garroted, hanged, axed, guillotined, impaled, stabbed, flogged, eviscerated, torn, quartered, pummeled, poisoned, gassed, shot, buried, frozen, starved, and worked to death because of our authentic Catholic Faith.

Quote

And fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him that can destroy both soul and body in hell.…Do not think that I came to send peace upon earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword.

Matthew 10:28-34

sedesvacans · « **Reply #1 on:** October 31, 2011, 10:50:10 AM »

and never said a hateful word nor lifted a finger in revenge.

Diego · « **Reply #2 on:** October 31, 2011, 11:09:34 AM »

Yes, so foreign to our lives, hence a fitting martyr for our prayerful meditation, perspective on our current woes, and a horrible harbinger of what we will face.

Stephen Francis · « **Reply #3 on:** October 31, 2011, 03:08:06 PM »

Diego, I am afraid that you are mistaken... most professing Catholics will never see the persecutions these saints faced, because they will never possess the faith and sanctity that these saints had.

We live in an age where debating ABOUT the merits of the Rosary, the dogmas of the Church, etc are preferred to actually GAINING the merits and BELIEVING the dogmas.

I think the 'louder' (in terms of its notoriety, esp. on the Internet) the 'resistance' gets, the more ineffectual it will prove to be.

What we need are more like St. Fiacre, who built an oratory in the woods and mortified his flesh daily. We need more like St. Paul of the Cross, who went and took upon himself the life of a hermit even before he was permitted to preach or bring others into his philosophy.

Don't misunderstand me; I am NOT discounting the efforts of faithful Catholics to preserve and promote the Faith. I am just saying that it's MUCH easier to get on line and talk about these things than it is to actually DEMONSTRATE them with our lives.

Immaculate Heart of Mary, triumph soon.

Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.

Diego · « **Reply #4 on:** October 31, 2011, 03:56:35 PM »

Maybe, maybe not. The prophesies being discussed on some other threads suggest that we may become martyrs soon.

I don't know if or when, but, if we are martyred, the folks that swoon or get hysterical at their every imagined internet "suspicion" will get a big dose of reality.

Time will tell.

ServusSpiritusSancti · « **Reply #5 on:** October 31, 2011, 03:59:12 PM »

Diego, why are you obsessed with fighting with people who are "suspicious" of others? By doing that, you're only going to make people think that you have something to hide.

Diego · « **Reply #6 on:** October 31, 2011, 04:27:30 PM »

Why? Where have you been? Why? Because your behavior is shameful: "suspicions," "moles," "trolls." Look at how you talk about and to other Catholics.

I was unjustly attacked on the basis of such imaginary suspicions: that I supposedly signed up shortly after Capistrano when I had actually signed up about a year and a half before him, have an ISP in a different state, hold and expressed different views from him, and have unequivocally stated I am not he.

Only one of you had the decency to apologize.

Matthew himself admitted the error (though he defended his hyper-vigilance) and pronounced the issue dead, yet your lynch mob just won't let go. I see your mob going after others now on the most imaginary of pretexts. The kosher thought police have nothing on you.

If you have a paranoid style, that doesn't mean I have "something to hide."

Now, I have repeatedly tried to put this behind, but your lynch mob is still on the move. if you have any decency in you, let your lynch mob dissipate with charity.

Emerentiana · « **Reply #7 on:** October 31, 2011, 08:35:52 PM »

Quote from: Stephen Francis

Diego, I am afraid that you are mistaken... most professing Catholics will never see the persecutions these saints faced, because they will never possess the faith and sanctity that these saints had.

We live in an age where debating ABOUT the merits of the Rosary, the dogmas of the Church, etc are preferred to actually GAINING the merits and BELIEVING the dogmas.

I think the 'louder' (in terms of its notoriety, esp. on the Internet) the 'resistance' gets, the more ineffectual it will prove to be.

What we need are more like St. Fiacre, who built an oratory in the woods and mortified his flesh daily. We need more like St. Paul of the Cross, who went and took upon himself the life of a hermit even before he was permitted to preach or bring others into his philosophy.

Don't misunderstand me; I am NOT discounting the efforts of faithful Catholics to preserve and promote the Faith. I am just saying that it's MUCH easier to get on line and talk about these things than it is to actually DEMONSTRATE them with our lives.

Immaculate Heart of Mary, triumph soon.

Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.

Diego, you are so right.
The traditional Catholics today are for the most part not very penitential. We would NEVER be able to face the persecutions of the past.
God has a plan for us. Maybe it will be that the majority of us will die in the plagues and the famine to come!

Emerentiana · « **Reply #8 on:** October 31, 2011, 08:37:30 PM »

OOOOOOps, sorry, I meant to agree with Steven Francis. My appologies!

ServusSpiritusSancti · « **Reply #9 on:** October 31, 2011, 08:59:15 PM »

Diego, I never called you a mole or a troll, nor did I accuse you of having multiple accounts. You are just putting words in my mouth.

I see a double standard coming from you. You keep telling us the issue is "dead" but when I read this thread you were talking about people who have "suspicion" getting a dose of reality. So it is you that needs to drop the issue and quit whining.