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A publication of Traditional Catholics of America t Editor: Fr. Francis E. Fenton, STL t Volume VII, No. 8 t December 1, 1986
John Kenneth Weiskittel
I n the fall of 1956, American airwaves and wire services
buzzed with electrifying news coming out of Eastern
Europe-an anti-Communist uprising in Hungary had suc-
burning of Communist Party headquarters and bookstores
and the lynching of members of the hated AVO (the Hun-
garian equivalent of the KGB). And yet it was remarkably
cessfully wrested control away from the Soviet-installed focused: there was no widespread looting or indiscriminate
regime. Members of formerly banned parties were given killing as so often accompanies such conflicts. The Soviet
posl-; in a coalition government, political prisoners were forces found themselves "resisted by Communist-trained
freed, worker councils were formed and collectivized farms Hungarian troops who defected and joined the Freedom
abolished. Fighters. Many of the Soviet occupation troops also
defected. As a result, the remaining Soviet troops were
But heady elation quickly changed to stunned silence when, beaten in five days." (Ibid.)
less than two weeks after the initial demonstrations, the
USSR crushed the budding flower of freedom with a massive Two days later, the Kremlin advised dictator Emo Gero to
invasion. Thousands of Hungarians were slaughtered, sent flee the country, the people clamoring for his head. Control
to slave labor camps or forced to flee their native soil as ref- of Hungary fell to Imre Nagy, a former Communist ruler. Be-
ugees. What began as a people's hopeful struggle for liberty tween October 27-31 Nagy formed a multi-party cabinet with
ended with a nation prostrate and broken in spirit. representatives from the (Church-supported) Smallholders,
National Peasant and Social Democratic parties. (It was the
It is fitting for us, on the 30th anniversary of the Hungarian 1eeling late Jozsef Cardmai Minuszenty that Nagy was
Revolt, to remember the brave men and women (and even no longer a Communist at this time.) The fresh air of freedom
boys and girls) who made the supreme sacrifice in a tragic at- brought the rise of new newspapers, while the government
tempt to free their homeland. Fitting, because Hungary has announced it had begun discussions for the complete with-
been a Catholic nation for nearly 1,000 years. Even since the drawal of the Soviets. Thursday, October 30, marked the
"Reformation" it has maintained a Catholic majority of about release of Cardinal Mindszenty from a castle near the
two thirds of the population. And also fitting inasmuch as the Yugoslav border. A Communist captive since 1948 (on a
revolt was doomed from the start by machinations in the U.S. trumped-up charge of treason). he was admired by
government and the United Nations, the mechanisms of Hungarians of every creed as a symbol of the nation's faith
which even more heavily impact on world affairs today. and tenacity in the face of militant atheism. In a radio address
given four days later and translated into every major
of Freedom language, Cardinal Mindszenty told the world that "this fight
On October 23, 1956, thousands of Hungarians peacefully was not a revolution but a fight for freedom" so Hungary
demonstrated in the streets of Budapest in a show of support could "decide freely on how it should live." The Gero regime
for a Polish rebellion earlier in the month, an end to Soviet had fallen, he continued, because it failed to see society's
colonial rule and a return of free elections. "We will never "religious-moral basis" and to build the state around this. So,
again be slaves," a line from Hungary's great nineteenth- he concluded, not only was this a battle for national
century poet Petofi, was the rallying cry of the day. The sovereignty and "private ownership," but also for the
disposition of the demonstration changed, however, restoration of "Christian religious instruction" and the rights
"(w)hen," writes W. Cleon Skousen, "the crowds refused to of the Roman Catholic Church.
disband … (and) Russian secret police were ordered to open
fire on them. Thus the revolution began." (The Naked Com- Meanwhile, Nagy's government proclaimed its Warsaw Pact
munist, Ensign, 1972) As the people saw their countrymen ties dissolved and its desire for Hungary to be a neutral
falling, bloody, to the street, their rage gave rise to the first country. This desire would go unfulfilled for, on November 4,
great exploit of the revolt and one of the truly memorable Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev ordered an all-out inva-
anti-Communist acts of our time: ropes were secured around sion involving 5,000 tanks and 250,000 soldiers. Janos
a gigantic statue of the false god Stalin and it was toppled Kadar, the USSR puppet who claimed to be the lawful Hun-
from its pedestal, to be replaced by a Hungarian flag. garian ruler, called on the soldiers to "smash the sinister
forces of reaction." The partisans met this massive attack
The violence of the embattled natives was directed into the "with spirited resistance," writes Harvard Kremlin scholar
"'
Adam B. Ulam, "but the poorly armed workers militia and recalls that Andropov was very friendly and reassured him
the few Hungarian military units could be no match for that "the real purpose" of having him come was to set up
Soviet tanks and heavy guns." (Expansion and Coexistence: arrangements to negotiate a troop pullout. Actually, the
Soviet Foreign Policy, 1917-1973, Praeger, 2nd ed., 1975) Russians "were simply stalling for time."
Desperate was the fighting, and a most piteous sight: "The
youth of Hungary fought bravely, often with kitchen knives [The House Committee on Un-American Activities, in its
and clubs against tanks, flamethrowers and mortar fire." 1959 report "The Crimes of Khrushchev," quoted the
(Dan N. Jacobs, The Masks of Communism, Harper & Row, following testimony of Bela Kiraly:
1963) So outgunned and outnumbered were the Freedom
Fighters that the Reds recaptured Budapest and other cities To avoid the annihilation of the Soviet units, Khrushchev
in a matter of hours. From the time of the liberation of himself carried out one of his most sinister actions. He sent
Cardinal Mindszenty, Hungary would enjoy the light of to Budapest his first deputy, (Anastas) Mikoyan; and he sent
liberty for a few fleeting days before seeing it snuffed out by Mr. (Mikhail) Suslov from the party leadership. These two
ruthless invaders. There have been no further outbursts Soviet men sat down with the revolutionary government.
from that enslaved people in the ensuing 30 years. They found they were defeated. After talking with
Khrushchev by means of the telephone and, by the approval
Khrushchev the Stalinist of Khrushchev, (they) concluded an armistice …Diplomatic
No, the title here isn't a typographical error. Khrushchev actions were further developed .. .It was positively declared
the Stalinist. This would seem at odds with the popular that the aim of further diplomatic negotiations (would be)
notion that he was a great reformer who denounced his how to withdraw Soviet troops from Hungary and how to
predecessor, Joseph Stalin, and removed some of the more allow Hungary to regain her national independence. (cited,
repressive measures previously suffered by the Russian Skousen)]
people. The fallacy of this belief (assumed as a historical fact
in certain circles of academia, mass media and government) Kiraly informed Nagy of Andropov's suggestion and a
is nowhere better refuted than in the "amazing and meeting took place in the Parliament Building. Strangely
treacherous series of events … personally supervised by enough, however, the two sides were not able to agree on a
Nikita Khrushchev" (Skousen) during the Hungarian revolt. pullout date. "The Soviet representatives proposed that the
final details," writes Cleon Skousen, "be drawn up at the
At the 20th Party Congress in February, 1956, Khrushchev Soviet headquarters in Tokol, a village south of Budapest."
had decried the crimes of Stalin and promoted "de- The entire Hungarian delegation (including a hero of the
Stalinization" of the party. But while distancing himself struggle later named a Minister of War, Pal Maleter) arrived
from atrocities already well known around the world, he did at the headquarters at about 10 p.m. on November 3. Just
so while skirting the issue of his own complicity; he was in after their arrival, Maleter phone Kiraly to say all was going
fact Stalin's henchman in the two most brutal USSR well. When Kiraly tried to return the call he got no answer.
operations during the 1930's-the forced famine in the Fearing the worst, he sent men to Tokol and maintained
Ukraine and the great purges within the Soviet Gov- radio contact with them. When they reached the Soviet
ernment. command, the radio went dead. (see Copp/Peck) Cardinal
Mindszenty, who had given his famous address earlier in the
Khrushchev communicated to the Nagy Government his de- day, learned what had happened shortly after midnight and
sire to negotiate the withdrawal of the occupation troops supplies us with an illuminating bit of information: "No less
which at that time were being soundly beaten by Hungarian a personage than General (Ivan) Serov, chief of the Soviet
nationals. On November 2, 1956, Nagy notified his Military secret police, had come from Moscow to see to these
Commander, General Bela Kiraly, who had spent five years arrests." (This and all of his quotes, Memoirs, Macmillan,
in Red prisons, that the Russian Ambassador (and later, 1974) Communication with the Kremlin of the arrests of
Soviet Premier) Yuri Andropov had contacted him to the these key military and government officials was immediate
effect that the USSR's Budapest Embassy was being threat- for "(s)imultaneously a new all-out attack was ordered by
ened by mobs. Andropov stated that, if Nagy couldn't con- Khrushchev against the whole Hungarian population."
trol the unrest, Soviet troops would be used. Kiraly dis- (Skousen) The captured men were sent to Russia and never
patched a tank and mechanized battalion to quell the unrest heard from again. Nagy and other leaders were taken and
but when they arrived the streets were empty. In Betrayal at executed. Cardinal Mindszenty found refuge in the
the UN.: The Story of Paul Bang-Jensen, (Devin-Adair, American Embassy and remained there until Paul VI and
1961), DeWitt Copp and Marshall Peck, who interviewed President Richard Nixon conspired to remove him in 1971.
Kiraly, report that he went to the embassy where he found (See Memoirs) And Kiraly fought on, leaving, finally, on the
Andropov all smiles as though it had been a joke. "I realize 16th of November, 1956, as one of more than 200,000
now," he told the authors, "that the move was simply a refugees.
device to find out how ready we were to act, how well
organized, and the Soviet Ambassador, in finding us Khrushchev's deception at Tokol succeeded because the
prepared, immediately changed his approach." Kiraly Hungarians erred in believing their foes could be counted
THE ATHANASIAN 2 DECEMBER l, 1986
on as honorable men. (Such credulity unfortunately afflicts Jensen sent letters of protest to the committee and to Secre-
too many in the West even now.) The real affinity tary-General Dag Hammarskjold. Despite his concern, the
Khrushchev had with Stalin is evident as well from remarks committee adoped a "get-soft" policy toward Kadar's
he made after the Hungarian Revolt. In Khrushchev: A regime.
Career (Viking ed., 1966), Edward Crankshaw notes that
the despot warned some "rebellious Soviet writers" that the Worst of all, however, Hammarskjold demanded that Bang-
revolt "would never have taken place had there been a little Jensen give him a list containing the names of refugees who
preliminary shooting of the Hungarian intellectuals." On gave testimony on the way the Reds had conducted the
December 31, 1956, Khrushchev boasted about his part in invasion. This was totally out of the question, the Secretary-
the rape of Hungary, saying that "(w)hen it is a question of General was told, as the witnesses had been guaranteed full
fighting against imperialism (sic) we can state with convic- confidentiality. Bang-Jensen had promised them that, and
tion that we are all Stalinists," and two weeks later-less he wasn't a man to go back on his word. Only one of 81 wit-
than a year after his "anti-Stalin" speech-that "in our opin- nesses waived anonymity. It scarcely need be said that these
ion Stalinism, like Stalin himself, is inseparable from people feared for themselves and their families should the
Communism." (cited, Ibid.) This same man would visit the Communists get the list. At least two former high-ranking
U.S. in 1959 on a "goodwill tour," where he played the officials in the Hungarian Communist Party specified that
grandfather, taking upon his lap President Dwight D. they "would testify only on the condition the Secretary-
Eisenhower's grandchildren. General would never know their names." ("Mr. K." quoted,
Ibid.) In light of Dag Hammarskjold's career, which a few
The Bang-Jensen Chapter years later included the sending of U.N. troops to help
In every tragedy of this magnitude there are countless Communists fight pro-Christian, pro-American Freedom
smaller, personal tragedies. One of the most unusual of Fighters in the Congo, such reluctance is understandable.
these was the case of Povl (Paul) Bang-Jensen, who was not Bang-Jensen eventually burned the list.
a Hungarian but, rather, a Dane. He fought in his nation's
underground against the Nazis and Communists during Late in 1957, Under Secretary-General Ralph Bunche, a
World War II, but it was in his role as a United Nations dip- notorious leftist from the United States, launched an assault
lomat that he would face his toughest battle-a battle in on Bang-Jensen. In the form of a memo, he used a standard
which he would ultimately lose his life. anti-anti-Communist tactic, claiming that the Dane showed
signs of "hysteria" brought on from too much work; that he
It was at the U.N. that Bang-Jensen was appointed deputy had "an obsession about sabotage" (of the report), and that
secretary of a committee formed to study the revolt in he was "mentally ill." (cited, Copp/Peck) Those who knew
Hungary. The move to name such a group was significant Bang-Jensen well also knew well that there was not a shred
because, instead of using the invasion as an opportunity to of truth to any of this. No matter, his enemies had the upper
"expel Russia and put the high-sounding phrases of the hand-he was suspended and then fired.
U.N. to work," the decision to make a mere search for facts
"gave pro-Soviet forces an additional chance to pull This was in September. Two months later, Bang-Jensen
sensitive strings in the U.N. and further obscure the vicious wrote a memorandum to his wife Helen. It is an extraor-
conquest of Hungary." (Skousen) dinary document. Therein, he tells of how he was asked to
visit a U.N. doctor. He was told by the doctor that word of
From his vantage point in Budapest, Cardinal Mindzenty his "great nervous strain" had gotten around and that psy-
sadly observed that the U.N. "rested content with rhetoric." chiatric help was available. Bang-Jensen replied that it was
And no one was more painfully aware of this than Bang- easier for some to accuse him of insanity than question his
Jensen. When a commitment-any commitment-promptly honesty regarding his committee work. After conversing for
to recognize Hungary's sovereignty and expressed neutrality a while, the doctor concluded that he was "doing better
was literally a matter of life or death, the U.N. dragged its than most." Bang-Jensen finished the memo in what seems
feet. "Delay, delay, delay, and the purpose is served!" ex- an odd way, by reminding his wife that (1) "under no cir-
claimed an exasperated Bang-Jensen. (cited, Copp/Peck. By cumstances whatsoever would I ever commit suicide" as this
every account, he was an idealist who sincerely believed the (2) "would be completely contrary to my whole nature and
U.N. had a noble purpose.) to my religious convictions" and (3) "any note found to the
opposite effect … would be a fake." (cited, Ibid. From his ex-
All the talk of "self-determination" and "anti-colonialism" perience in Danish resistance he was well acquainted with
so prevalent when the United Nations backs Red takeovers the expertise of Nazis and Reds in staging "suicides.")
in "Third World" countries was nowhere evident, however,
in this instance where such terms would be quite applicable. On Thanksgiving Day, 1959-almost two years to the day of
Even more than this silence, he found the committee's offi- his memo-Paul Bang-Jensen was found dead in a New
cial report had errors that would allow the Russians to dis- York park. Everything pointed to suicide-gun in hand;
credit it and omitted facts that proved Soviet responsibility. bullet in head; suicide note in pocket. Well, the Bunche
When the committee chairman refused to correct it, Bang- memo had warned that the diplomat's mental state "could
THE ATHANASIAN 3 DECEMBER 1, 1986
lead to physical violence, either to himself or to others." But When, in 1953, there was an East German outbreak, and
was it suicide or a "perfect murder"? Official police reports West Germany's President Konrad Adenauer asked if the
pointed to self-inflicted death but those who discovered the U.S. would intercede based on the "rollback" policy, he re-
body found the anns crossed above the head, an unlikely ceived a firm "no." And a few days before the Hungarian
position under the circumstances. (Copp/Peck. When the Revolt. when American assistance could have helped the
police arrived, the body was lying facedown with the arms people of Poland, and "even while the Soviet Union was
imder it.) Professional investigators disputed the finding and weighing alternatives," writes U.N. hand John
the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee, after studying Stoessinger in The Might of Nations (Random House, 5th
the case for 18 months, said that there was "incomplete evi- ed., 1975), "Secretary Dulles announced on the radio on
dence" as far as suicide wa,;; concerned and also "too many October 21 that, in the case of Soviet military intervention,
serious reasons for suspecting Soviet motivation and the the United States would take no action."
possibility of Soviet implication" to rule out murder. (cited,
John Stormer, None Dare Call It Treason, Liberty Bell, Nor does State Department perfidy end here. When it
1964) And the motive? Bang-Jensen had been communi- learned that an agreement had been reached whereby West
cating with a Russian who wanted to defect to the West and Germany would permit Spanish planes airlifting arms to
who had information about Soviet infiltration at the U.N. Hungary to refuel in Germany, it advised Ike to put the
clamps on Adenauer and General Franco. The shipments
The and Hunga:ry: Rollback or "Rollover"? were never made. (Welch) And it sent the following cable to
"Hold on. Your friends in the West are coming." This mes- Tito on November 2, 1956: "THE GOVERNMENT OF
sage, broadcast on radio during the early days of the Hun- THE UNITED STATES DOES NOT LOOK WITH FAVOR
garian Revolt, must have been reassuring to the Freedom UPON GOVERNMENTS UNFRIENDLY TO SOVIET
Fighters. They held on, anxiously awaiting the promised aid UNION ON THE BORDERS OF THE SOVIET UNION."
that never came. And then darkness fell over them. Knowledge of this communique was; suppressed in the U.S.
until 1960. At the time of its release. Representative
Sending the message of hope from Radio Free Europe- Michael A. Feighan (D-Ohio) noted that it was "the go-
Voice of America studios in Munich was its director, Frank ahead sign to the Russians (to attack)" and that it took less
Wisner. In seeking an airlift of arms and troops, he was than 40 hours for Tito "to relay this message of treason to
trying to animate Secretary of State John Foster Dulles' call his superiors in the Kremlin." (cited, Welch) In a 1959
for a "rollback" of Red domination and the "liberation" of speech in Budapest, Khrushchev admitted his indecision
the captive nations. (Leonard Mosley, Dulles: A Biography about attacking and that, had America "made a show of
of Eleanor, Allen and John Foster Dulles and Their Family force or even granted diplomatic recognition, the Kremlin
Network, Dell, 1979) would have abandoned Hungary." (Stormer) Representa-
tives of the Kadar government attended Eisenhower's
As the days passed and it became clear that the United Second Inauguration in 1957, "almost before the dead
States was not prepared to back the rhetoric, Wisner franti- bodies of Hungarian fighters for freedom," writes Robert
cally contacted CIA Director Allen Dulles to see if he could Welch, "killed by these Kadar Communists, have been
get action. Leonard Mosley writes: picked up from the streets of Budapest." (plenty of diplo-
matic recognition there.)
Allen tried gently to explain that it just wasn't in the cards.
With a presidential election on his hands, the Secretary (of Lessons of
State) wasn't about to advise the President to do anything. ''People of the world, listen to our call! Help us not with
Except talk, of course. Speeches in the U.N condemning words, but with soldiers and arms. Please do not forget that
Soviet barbarism and words of encouragement to the this wild attack of Bol',hevism will not stop. You may be the
"brave slave nations of Eastern Europe" were good for the next victim. Save us! SOS. SOS." (cited, Skousen) This
ethnic vote. But action was dangerous. ft could rebound in anguished cry for help was made by Freedom Fighters over
the voting booths, and was to be strictly eschewed… it the radio just hours before they were defeated. Later, they
slowly sank into W~ner's that nothing was going came back on the air with a last gasp: "… Our ship is
to happen, that Soviet tanks were going to be allowed sinking. The light vanishes. The shadows grow darker from
to grind down the in Budapest. (emphasis added) hour to hour. Listen to our cry … God be with us-and with
you., . (cited, Skousen) Then, silence. The next voices heard
So it was. President Eisenhower spoke of how "(t)he heart from that frequency were Kadar propagandists.
of America goes out to the people of Hungary" but, as
Robert Welch stated in his excellent book, The Politician After Hungary fell, Pope Pius his shepherd's heart
(Belmont, 1964): "If there was anything the Hungarians pierced by the events, made three radio appeals in which he
didn't need it was 'heart' -their needs were arms." castigated the West's apathy, asking, "May the world remain
indifferent when the blood of so many innocents has been
Thus it was business as usual at the State Department. continued on page 7
THE ATHANASIAN 4 DECEMBER 1, 1986
Jill Wiesner
arly in the fifteenth century the Church went through a in the meadow with friends, Joan heard a child call her,
period of tribulation known as the Great Schism. For saying, "Your mother needs you." She hurried home but
forty years there were two claimants to the throne of Saint found that her mother had not sent for her. As she went
Peter, each elected by a separate college of cardinals. To back outside she heard the voice again. She turned and was
further complicate the situation a council of cardinals at startled by a dazzling light, terrifying in its intensity, and in
Pisa elected a third pope, the dishonest and immoral John the center of it she saw an impressive figure-the Archangel
XXIII. In 1417, the Roman pope, Gregory XII, convoked the Michael. Instructing her first to "go often to church" and to
Council of Constance, which accepted his resignation, "be a good and virtuous child always," he spoke of "the
forced the resignation of John XXIII and deposed the great pity that was over France" and told her that she was
Avignon pope. The Council then elected Pope Martin V, the one who was to deliver France from the English.
ending the division within the Church. But the effects of the
division reverberated throughout Europe. During the next three years the angel returned to her fre-
quently, accompanied by Saint Catherine of Alexandria (the
Wars and dissension among the Catholic nations had in- virgin martyr who at the age of 18 had converted an as-
creased in the absence of the steady influence of the sembly of pagan philosophers sent by the Emperor Maxim-
Church. European princes, driven by hunger for power, ian to persuade her to idolatry, and who was beheaded by
made war upon one another, aided by plotting and Maximian in the year 310) and Saint Margaret of Antioch
scheming nobles. The English king, Edward III, decided to (the virgin who suffered martyrdom for the Faith in the
add France to his domain, beginning a long struggle known persecution between 255 and 275).
as the Hundred Years War. One French stronghold after
another succumbed to the English forces. Crecy was over- Out of caution Joan resisted speaking to them but her heart
run and then Poitiers and, when the French were defeated was drawn to them so strongly that, whenever they left her,
at Agincourt, a general feeling of doom spread throughout she would weep. Finally, when she was 16 she yielded to
the nation. them and, at their direction, obtained permission to speak
to the dauphin at Chinon.
In 1422, Charles VII succeeded to the French throne but re-
mained uncrowned because Paris, the seat of the French Charles tested her by putting one of his nobles in the royal
government, and Rheims, the traditional city of coronation, chair while he mingled with the crowd of several hundred
were in enemy hands. As long as he remained uncrowned, who were present at court. Without hesitation Joan ap-
Charles was only the dauphin (crown prince). Though he proached Charles, ignoring the decoy. She then drew him
maintained his court south of the Loire River, as long as he aside from the others and told him that his worries over the
remained the dauphin, the English could claim that France rumors that he was illegitimate and not the true heir of the
had no reigning king. king of France were unfounded. Since he had spoken to no
one of his fears, he believed that Joan was, as she said, un-
In addition to being under seige from England, France was der the command of the "King of Heaven and Earth." How-
divided against itself, as the Duke of Burgundy and his ever, her request for troops to relieve the besieged city of
vassals supported the English, hoping to rid themselves of Orleans was met with opposition by Charles' advisers, who
Charles so that Burgundy could rule France. preferred their methods of diplomacy and intrigue. But Joan
persisted and, seeing the situation at Orleans grow daily
Indecisive and timid by nature, and surrounded by advisers more desperate, Charles agreed.
of dubious loyalty, Charles watched his army suffer one de-
feat after another, uncertain about how to help them. To By the end of April in the year 1429, the army set out for
the French people, subjugation to the English seemed in- Orleans under the command of the Maid, as seventeen-year-
evitable. They implored God for deliverance. old Joan was called by her men. Carrying her white standard
emblazoned with the motto, "Jesus, Mary," she was accom-
In the village of Domremy a little girl named Joan was being panied by her brothers John and Peter and by her confes-
taught by her mother to pray every night: "O God, save sor, Father Pasqueral. According to Christian custom she
France." Born on the Feast of the Epiphany, 1412, to sent a letter to the English Duke of Bedford at Orleans,
James d'Arc and his wife Isabel . Joan was a quiet and gentle warning that, if he did not yield to her and leave France, "in
child and, like the other children of her station, she grew up whatever place we find you we will strike great swinges and
tending sheep with her brothers, milking the cows and help- make such a rough-and-tumble as has not been raised in
ing her mother with the household duties. France this thousand years." Bedford's reply was to hold
the messenger prisoner.
The summer after her thirteenth birthday, while playing
THE ATHANASIAN 5 DECEMBER 1, 1986
On the Thursday before the Ascension the Maid and her of villany. He packed the court with judges from the pro-
troops arrived at the walled city of Orleans and found it in English University of Paris and devised a method of forcing
desperate straits, as the English forces which surrounded it her to renounce her heavenly advisers. In violation of
had cut off the supply route, bringing those within to the Church law he put her in chains in a filthy lay prison at
brink of starvation. Joan planned a direct attack but her Rouen where she had to fight her guards to protect her
captains delayed, explaining that their experience and wis- purity. She was not allowed counsel; her appeal to Pope
dom outweighed hers. Telling them, "(t)hey who guide me Eugenius IV never reached him.
are wiser far," she prevailed and, in one day's fighting,
raised the long siege of Orleans. From Orleans she turned Throughout her trial and imprisonment Joan stood firm
her troops northward and swiftly defeated one English against her accusers. Cauchon attempted ridicule, asking
garrison after another. The way to the coronation city of her if Saint Margaret spoke English. To which Joan replied,
Rheims was cleared and Rheims was restored to French "Why should she, when she is not of the English faction?"
hands. But, as before, Joan had to convince Charles, over Trying to elicit an heretical answer, one of the judges asked
the protests of his advisers, to make the journey from her if she was sure she was in a state of grace. Joan an-
Chinon to Rheims. He finally agreed and, on Sunday, July swered, "If I am in a state of grace, may God keep me in it. If
18, 1429, he was crowned and anointed in the cathedral at I am not in a state of grace, may God speedily place me
Rheims. Beside him stood the white standard of the Maid, therein." Threats of burning only caused her to say, "If I
reminding all that he was "by God's grace … true King of saw the flames before me, I should still answer the same."
France." They finally tried putting an allegedly sympathetic fellow-
prisoner in her cell but she recognized him as a fraud and
After the coronation Joan planned to march on Paris but avoided him.
Charles' counselors intervened, convinced that they could
do better by negotiating with the traitorous Burgundy. As The sleepless nights, during which she had to be constantlv
the delay caused a sense of foreboding among her troops on guard, and the courtroom ordeal by day, in which sh~
and in the recently rescued towns, Joan sent them a mes- had to parry insidious questions, began to take their toll.
sage, telling them, "Good friends and loyal men of France Her voices no longer counseled her, becoming silent, as
and true, the Maid sends you news of herself that never in they had before Compiegne. So, when a kindly Dominican
life will she abandon you." admonished her for jeopardizing her soul by trusting appari-
tions that were "enemies who seek each day to distract men
Finally permitted to march against the enemy at Paris, Joan by taking the figures of angels and saints, saying they are
found little support from Charles, as he and his court had from heaven," instead of '.'accepting the opinions of those ·
returned to Chinon, abandoning the newly-won territory. learned in law and Holy Scriptures," she was besieged with
They ignored Joan's entreaties to send reinforcements to doubts.
the strategically important city of Cofupiegne, as they were
busy negotiating with Burgundy who was at the same time Found guilty of "contempt of her parents, presumption,
preparing for an attack on Compiegne. lying, superstition, despair and attempted suicide, blood-
thirsty passion, diabolism, heresy and schism," she signed a
At Paris Joan was wounded and, without adequate rein- public abjuration, wanting to be obedient to the Church but
forcements, she broke off the siege. Unable to get help from confused, alone and extremely tired.
Charles, she gathered a small company and went to the aid
of Compiegne in May of 1430. Her heavenly voices had in- Again they betrayed her. Substituting a long list of admis-
formed her in April that "(b)efore Midsummer Day you will sions for the six-line abjuration she had signed, they pro-
be taken captive, for so it is decreed. But do not fear nor claimed that she had admitted guilt on all counts. Thev had
travail, but take all well, for God will be your aid.'' promised her that, once she recanted, she would be trans-
ferred to a Church prison with women attendants and would
On May 23, Joan and her men were surrounded by a huge be allowed, after almost a year, to hear Mass. But this too
Burgundian force. The Maid, whom all the English and Bur- was a lie for they returned her to the same dungeon, with
gundians feared, was finally in their hands. Her captor, a the same drunken guards. The only change was the long
vassal of the Duke of Burgundy, did not wait for Charles to gray dress they gave her to wear, telling her that to resume
ransom her but sold her to the English for $100,000. Exul- boy's attire would be proof of relapse in heresy. When she
tant, the Duke of Bedford arranged for the malignant arose in the morning, however, the dress was gone from her
Cauchon, Bishop of Beauvais, to try her for heresy and cell and her tattered boy's clothing in its place. She had no
witchcraft. Under Christian law, conviction carried the pen- choice but to put it on, sealing her fate.
alty of death. Bedford stated that.. if she should be found
innocent, "it was his intention to regain possession of the On the morning of May 30, 1431, the two Dominicans who
said Joan." had been with her at the trial told her that she was sen-
tenced to the stake. Joan burst into tears but, recovering
The trial that Bishop Cauchon arranged was a masterpiece herself, she placed her fate in the hands of God. Her voices
THE ATHANASIAN 6 DECElvfBER 1, 1986
returned to comfort her and she realized that Saint "The Hungarian Revolt" continued from page 4
Michael's promise that she would be free by the end of May
had not been broken after all. She would be freed-by shed? When once more so much sorrow and so much killing
martyrdom. When the gloating Cauchon entered her cell, has been inflicted?" (cited, Memoirs) Perhaps then His
she regarded him with a steady gaze and said, "Bishop, it is Holiness saw the hard facts: the world leaders were worldly
by you that I die!" in the absolutely worst sense of the word by seeking to place
themselves over God's order.
Clothed in a white robe, she was led out into the market
square of Rouen. Her confessor, Father Martin, brought Even before the tragedy of Hungary, while Poland wa5 still
her a crucifix and held it before her at her request, as they aflame, Robert Welch (in the November 1956 issue of One
chained her to the stake. When the faggots were lighted her Man's Opinion) foresaw the possibility that these revoll'i
face filled with concern for him. "Go down, Reverend were set up by the Communists to draw out anti-Commu-
Father, go down at once!" she told him. "You will be hurt! nists for liquidation. (He also noted that many spies left
Go, and hold the blessed cross before my eyes until the Hungary as "refugees.") Cardinal Mindzsenty felt much the
thing is done!" same, writing: "It is not impossible that Moscow itself
promoted the uprising in order to have a pretext for inter-
As the flames rose the onlookers heard her proclaim in a vening with overt force and quenching all opposition with
clear voice that her mission was of God. Her last word, blood. No one in Hungary was sufficiently alert to see this
spoken so loudly that all heard it above the crackling of the trap."
fire, was the Holy Name of Jesus.
Let us never forget the memory of the brave people of
Nineteen years later, after the English had been driven from Hungary who fought and died for freedom. Their blood still
France, Charles VII ordered a trial of rehabilitation for cries out to God and to us after three decades. Rather let us
Joan. At Rouen, on July 7, 1456, with the approval of Pope fight side by side with them, their warning ringing in our
Calixtus III, the charges against her were declared invalid on ears: "You may be the next victim. God be with you-and
every count. On May 13, 1920, Joan of Arc was raised by with us. "t
Pope Benedict to the highest honor the Church can
bestow-sainthood.
A REMINDER
Saint Joan of Arc, who gave up her life at age nineteen, set Please remember Christmas gift subscriptions to The
an outstanding example of courage and perseverance. A Athanasian. Details were given in the previous issue
young girl, she led an army to victory; a pea5ant, she con- (October 1986).
founded the machinations of her highly educated antago-
nists; betrayed and mistreated almost beyond human en-
durance, she remained ever loyal to the Faith. Guided by SUBSCRIPTION RENEWALS
her love for God, Saint Joan triumphed over all the forces of The date on the envelope address label indicates the
evil arrayed against her. How desperately needed in these month and year in which the recipient's subscription is due
days of unprecedented crisis for the Church-another Saint for renewal. At the proper time, a subscription envelope will
Joan of Arc. t be enclosed with the newsletter. One may enter a new sub-
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eight following newsletter issues. t
SPREAD TRUTH!
The previous issue of The Athanasian contained a
four-page article on Martin Luther King, Jr. The
sordid record of this man is in marked contrast to the
glowing picture of him given to the American public
by the news media. We appeal to our newsletter sub-
scribers to help us to get the true story of Martin
Luther King, Jr., as widely circulated as possible
through the distribution of the King article. That
there is a national holiday in his honor is a national
disgrace!
THE ATHANASIAN 7 1, 1986
Fr. Francis E. Fenton
' ' he coming of a world state is longed for, and humanism. All worship of the true God will be outlawed and
confidently expected, by all the worst and most every effort will be made to eradicate belief in Him from the
distorted elements. This state, based on the principles of ab- mind of man. The observance of the moral law of God will
solute equality of men and a community of possessions, likewise be abolished. The state or government will be
would banish all national loyalties. In it no acknowl- "God" and right and wrong will be what the state says it is. If
edgement would be made of the authority of a father over anyone will not conform and belong to this "religion" he will
his children, or of God over human society. If these ideas pay the horrible price in one way or another, Communist
are put into practice, there will inevitably follow a reign of style.
unheard-of terror. "
Such is the idea of what is in store for humanity if the
The above words are those of Pope Benedict XV on July 25, promoters of the One-World Church accomplish their
1920 (66 years ago). They refer, of course, to a One-World satanic objective. Towards the realization of this "Church"
Government which was even then, and long before, in the the "top brass" of Freemasonry and Communism has been
making and of which the United Nations is the predecessor. working for many years-and, in recent years, the New Age
And sp al~o has a One-World Church been long since in the Movement. Merely by substituting ''world church" for
making. In recent years the development of that "Church" "world state," the words of Pope Benedict XV at the
has become increasingly manifest, in large part as a beginning of this article could apply verbatim to the One-
consequence of the powerful impetus given to it by the Con- World Church.
ciliar "Catholic" Church. The "ecumenical spirit" and the
heresy of religious indifferentism and the false doctrine of If a One-World Church materializes in the not-too-distant
religious liberty preached and practiced by the Conciliar future, as it may, surely this will be a crowning victory for
Church have made an incalculable contribution towards the the satanic forces of evil on the world scene. What more
formation of the One-World Church. powerful incentive, then, do we traditional Roman Catholics
need to go all out in defense of our beloved Church and
The foremost contributor, to be sure, is the charismatic and God-given Faith and to oppose and to expose to the best of
ubiquitous John Paul II. By his words and actions around our ability such evil individuals and organizations as those
the world over the past eight years he may well have done involved in the formation of this One-World Church?
more to advance the cause of a One-World Church than any
other individual. The latest and perhaps the most substan- To destroy the Roman Catholic Church, make no mistake
tial and far-reaching step in that direction to date was the about it, has long been their pernicious objective and con-
meeting, convened by John Paul II, of the heads of the suming desire. But we traditional Roman Catholics are all
world's religions in Assisi, Italy, on October 1986. that remain of that Church today. Nor is there the slightest
doubt but that we will be the prime targets for persecution
The One-World Church will be aligned with the One-World and extermination by the "one worlders" if and when their
Government (with both being a part of the New World nightmarish objectives become a reality. Regardless, what-
Order) and totally subservient to that government. It will ever the future may hold in store for us, may we, by the
bear no resemblance to any Church in the historical sense grace of God, stand loyal and true to our glorious Faith until
of the term. It will be a godless, amoral, man-centered death! "I know not what the future holds but I know Who
monstrosity whose "religion" will be that of secular holds the future.
ATHANASIAN
Published by Traditional Catholics of America
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