April 2007 Print

Reviewed by Mrs. Patti Petersen

 

It is difficult for Catholics today, especially those living in predominately Protestant America, to imagine a country governed according to Catholic Social Principles. Many of us have at best a very hazy idea of what Catholic social principles are, and due to our liberal, public-school education we find that the idea of governing a country according to such principles jars our "American ideals" to the very roots. It is only when we study Catholic social principles and begin to form a correct notion of the Social Kingship of our Lord Jesus Christ that we begin to see how far from those principles is the very foundation of modern government.

What is Catholic Social Order?

Catholic Social Order, viewed as a whole, is not primarily the political and economic organization of society. It is primarily the supernatural social organism of the Church, and then, secondarily, the temporal or natural social order resulting from the influence of Catholic doctrine on politics and economics, and from the embodiment of that influence in social institutions.¹

Catholic Social Order, then, is society living the truths of the Catholic Faith in every stratum–as individuals, families, and governments. Catholic social principles are not limited to any form of government,² and may be as successfully implemented in a democracy as in a monarchy.

Contributing to our mixed-up conceptions of what government should be is the crisis afflicting the Catholic Church since the disastrous Second Vatican Council. The Church today is suffering a grave identity crisis caused by the Council and aggravated by the implementation of novel ideas and a new liturgy utterly at variance with Tradition, and therefore also opposed to the principles, both spiritual and social, of the Kingship of our Lord Jesus Christ. The religious indifference fostered and promulgated by the "New Theology" and by the practice of an ecumenism unheard of in the annals of the Church has contributed to the demoralization of the faithful at all levels of the Church. Stricken with moral paralysis, too many Catholics have given in to the idea that Catholic social order is unnecessary as well as impractical, and that the implementation of Catholic social principles on a political and economic level in government is impossible in today's world.

Just at a time when it seems that hope of establishing the Social Kingship of our Lord Jesus Christ in the world today is at an all-time low, Dolorosa Press has republished the book Garcia Moreno by Rev. Fr. Augustine Berthe. It tells the story of a man of invincible faith and courage, Ecuadorian President Gabriel Garcia Moreno, who dared to stand up to the liberal and Freemasonic cabal and to restore the government of Ecuador on Catholic social principles. In a world groaning under the yoke of revolutionary tyranny, Garcia Moreno stands as a shining light to point the way to true and lasting political and economic peace and security under the standard of Christ the King.

It is an axiom with our modern pagans that civilization consists, not in the moral and religious perfection of a people, but solely in material progress. The example of Garcia Moreno is the most striking proof of the reverse of this dogma which can be met with in modern history.³

The situation in Ecuador facing Garcia Moreno when he stepped into the presidency of that country was one of economic and political chaos. Succeeding revolutions had rocked the country to its very foundations, and the plight of the people was truly piteous. Many, unable to earn an honest livelihood, had forsaken their homes to become brigands, adding to the troubles of a country already seriously demoralized. The country, almost exclusively Catholic, had been tyrannized over by liberals and Freemasons, who between them had disorganized the Church, emptied the coffers of the State to enrich themselves, and impoverished the people to finance the numerous revolutions. Garcia Moreno found himself confronted with an empty treasury, a liberal congress, and no end of revolutionaries waiting their chance to turn the country upside down for their own gain. In 13 years he single-handedly set the country back on its feet politically, economically, and above all spiritually. A true lover of freedom, his motto was: "Liberty for everyone and for everything save for evil and evildoers."

During his time in the office of president, Garcia Moreno passed laws defining the State religion as Catholicism and forbidding the entrance of other sects into the country; renewed diplomatic ties with the Vatican and signed a concordat granting immunity to the Church; worked with the Ecuadorian bishops to establish new dioceses and to reform the Church in Ecuador; consecrated the country of Ecuador to the Sacred Heart of Jesus; raised honest and capable men to positions in government and kept strict watch to maintain a government without graft; eliminated an enormous national debt; built carriage roads to boost economic growth; and reorganized education in Ecuador so that it was based on Catholic principles and taught primarily by Religious.

One may well ask where Garcia Moreno found the necessary strength for so arduous a life as was necessary to reform his homeland. An intense man of action and duty, he found inspiration and strength in an equally intense spiritual life. Daily he assisted at Mass, prayed the Rosary, and read a chapter from the Imitation of Christ. In addition to this he tried to live as much as possible in the presence of God, constantly offering his heart to God. He took care never to sit while praying if it was possible to stand or kneel, and daily he practiced numerous acts of humility. Naturally impetuous, he tried "to make every effort, by the thought of Jesus and Mary, to restrain my impatience and contradict my natural inclinations. To be patient and amiable even with people who bore me; never to speak evil of my enemies."⁴ In addition to this he was assiduous in receiving the Sacraments of the Church. Knowing that he could not give to his country what he himself did not possess, he guarded carefully the primacy of the spiritual first in his own life, and then in the life of his country.

It should come as no surprise that so truly a Catholic statesman as Garcia Moreno had many enemies. For 13 years he held them in check, outmaneuvering them and avoiding the numerous traps they set for him. In 1875 Garcia Moreno was elected president of Ecuador for another term. It would prove to be his last, the Masonic lodges having condemned him to death. Having a presentiment of his approaching end, he wrote in his last letter to the Pope:

What greater happiness can be awarded to me, most Holy Father, than to see myself detested and calumniated for the love of our Divine Redeemer? But what still greater happiness would it be if your blessing could obtain from Heaven the grace to shed my blood for Him Who, being God, has deigned to shed every drop of His at the pillar and upon the Cross.⁵

He would have this happiness. On August 6, 1875, as he left the Cathedral, Garcia Moreno was attacked by an assassin wielding a machete, who wounded him grievously. Other conspirators fired at the stricken president with revolvers. Garcia Moreno was carried into the Cathedral, where a surgeon tried in vain to staunch his gaping wounds. After forgiving his attackers and receiving the Sacraments of the Church, the heroic president expired. His last words were: "God does not die!"⁶

Such is the heroic life detailed in the book Garcia Moreno by Rev. Fr. Augustine Berthe. In addition to the stirring text, the book is a treasure-trove of pictures, many of which were taken recently by Fr. Paul Kimball, SSPX, on a pilgrimage to Ecuador, and included in the republished edition of the book. Garcia Moreno is truly a saint for our times. His life cannot help but stir the courage of every Catholic in the world today, and his accomplishments as the president of Ecuador prove that it is possible to govern nations by Catholic social principles.

 

¹ Fr. Denis Fahey, The Mystical Body of Christ in the Modern World (reprint: Omni Publications), p. 5.

² Pope Leo XIII, Encyclical Immortale Dei.

³ Berthe, Garcia Moreno, p. 274.

⁴ Ibid, p. 298.

⁵ Ibid, p. 318.

⁶ Ibid, p. 322.