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Monday, September 9, 2019

More Red Flags for Fairbanks and Elsewhere


By Anna Von Reitz

More Red Flags for Fairbanks and Elsewhere

A couple days ago, Destry Payne, who has been closely associated with the off-track Michigan General Jural Assembly organization and who has also claimed to have Dual Citizenship in Luxembourg, claimed that President Trump was following his "Orders" by terminating the Act of 1871.  

I pointed out that the Act of 1871 was repealed in 1874. 

Hello?

And here we have a report that is much, much closer to the mark: 


"it is intended the oath of every serving member of our forces will be cancelled, and they will be required to  undertake a new oath of loyalty to Brussels"

Revenge of the Robber Barons Part Two: Control Mechanisms


By Anna Von Reitz

Yesterday, we discussed how J.D. Rockefeller's understanding of pipelines and how they control markets and delivery systems of all kinds, was applied in a predatory way to take over functions of government and also, then, to enslave the markets on either end of each "pipeline".
We observed that any system that transports someone or something from Point A to Point B, can be considered a pipeline ---- as in, a pipeline for drugs, a pipeline for commercial banking transactions, or, as it happens --- a pipeline for governmental services.
Obviously, then, transportation is a key element to the whole scheme of "privatizing government" and reducing it to a pipeline operation, and so is blocking transportation.
In order to establish a nice profitable little monopoly, it is necessary to be able to keep others out of the pipeline market that you control.
That's what got J.D. Rockefeller and Standard Oil into trouble in the first place: monopoly business practices.
So it isn't just about controlling and operating a pipeline, it's about keeping other service providers from operating their own pipelines in competition with yours. It's about controlling the "flow" of commerce --- not only via conduits, but via the deliberate construction of dams and levies and "shunts" --- diversionary structures to manipulate the direction of flow.
In order to pull all this off and attain the kind of control they wanted, the schemers first had to transport you off of the land and soil of your State of the Union, steal your actual identity, and "redefine" you as a thing.
And this had to be done in at least two of the three jurisdictions of the law, because as the saying goes, it takes two to tango and two ends to every pipeline.
So which two jurisdictions of the law did these con artists corrupt?
We have the proof that they corrupted the jurisdiction of the sea (British control) which is represented by Territorial Governments worldwide and the jurisdiction of the air (Pope's control) which is represented by Municipal Governments worldwide.
The jurisdiction of the air was corrupted first, both in terms of time line and moral depravity. And this is where Kurt Kallenbach's work plays such a pivotal role of discovery.
If you stop and think about your own genesis as a living being, you will recognize that you came into being when a certain unique egg was fertilized by a certain unique sperm. This moment of fertilization is when your own unique DNA first coupled together to form a zygote, and ultimately, you.
So in actual fact, you came into Being approximately nine months prior to your exit from the womb--- an event marked down as a birthday.
A few days or weeks later, the Bean Counters take things a step farther and "register" you as donated public property, which generates a "registration date" also known as a "birthdate".
Neither the birthday nor the birthdate have anything to do with you, the natural man or woman.
The day of your actual genesis, and your Point of Origin, is the fertilization date; and your fertilization day is forever unknown and can only be approximated.
The birthday doesn't represent your true origin; instead, the birthday marks your appearance on the land or at sea.
The birthdate marks the registration of your name as a public property owned and operated by the schemers.
So the first artificial separation ("severance") that the plotters set up as a means to denigrate you and redefine you as a mere Thing, is the birth day assignment and the Given Name.
The second thing that they do to artificially "transport" you into their corrupt jurisdiction is to mistake the fact that you are born on the land.
To do this, they redefined hospitals and courts as "vessels" belonging to the British Territorial Government --- howbeit, dry docked on the land of one of the American States.
And they subjected you to their foreign municipal law and the foreign international Law of the Sea, by misidentifying you as a "US Citizen"---- not an American.
So their first pipeline is designed to: (1) sever the Divine Contract between Man and Creator by not recognizing the fertilization date as your true Point of Origin----and therefore not recognizing you as a natural living man; (2) substituting the birth day as your Point of Origin and a Trade Name for your God-given identity; (3) redefining you as someone born "at sea" instead of on the land; (4) mistaking you as a US Territorial Citizen --- as if you were born in Puerto Rico; (5) deliberately misidentifying you as a Ward of the State of State --- a pauper and public property in their Commonwealth system; (6) subjecting you to Territorial Statutory Law and Law of the Sea ----- all of which amounts to: (1) kidnapping you from your natural jurisdiction on the land and (2) transporting you into the foreign international jurisdiction of the sea so as to (3) subject you to foreign law and (4) seize upon your Lawful Person and assets via unlawful conversion of both.
This whole Turkey Trot Fraud serves to convert your Lawful Person (on the land) to a Legal Person (on the sea) and to convert your assets from private ownership to public ownership, conveniently subject to their administration.
Once you are misidentified as a British Territorial Citizen and as a Ward of their State of State operation, they can move you to Municipal jurisdiction and basically rent you and your assets to the Pope as a Commonwealth property.
To be blunt and explicit, they make "you" into a Public Trust, with the filthy British Territorial Government retaining the "beneficial interest" and the equally filthy Municipal Government retaining the "legal title".
Read that --- the Queen gets the first cut of the cream off this criminal exercise, and the Pope gets all the service contracts and administrative control functions to pad his larder. The Pope's Municipal Government then seizes upon your Given Name, and sells "you" as a commodity.
They do this by spinning off various kinds of corporations named after you: a Cestui Que Vie Estate Trust named in the form: JOHN ALLEN DOE, a Public Transmitting Utility named JOHN A DOE, a Public Charitable Trust named JOHN DOE, and so on, only using your Given Name as the basis for all this chicanery.
So from one basic identity theft, more forms of identity theft are spawned.
You are not only misidentified in the jurisdiction of the sea as a British Territorial Citizen and as a Ward of one of their failed State of State operations, you are mis-characterized in the jurisdiction of the air as mere corporate entities, which are similarly Wards of their failed STATE OF STATE operations, permanently severed from your Divine Nature as a living man or woman.
The only jurisdiction of the law that remains pure and operable, is the jurisdiction of the land, and you have been kidnapped from the jurisdiction of the land to promote all these profitable and highly criminal abuses of God's children.
Which brings us back to the pipelines.
As you can see, they diverted the natural pipeline from God to land jurisdiction.
You were created as a unique Being by an Act of God; not a birthday. You are meant to live on the land, not the sea.
You were delivered safely to the land jurisdiction of your State of the Union, but British Agents operating in Breach of Trust deliberately mis-identified you as a British Territorial Citizen, as if you had been born in Puerto Rico.
They severed your time-link and provenance as a Divine Creation when they bypassed and ignored your actual Point of Origin and substituted a birthday for it.
That's the first shunt.
That denied your identity as a living man owed all the protections of the actual Law, and brought "You" under the State of State Statutory "Law" instead.
They then transported you off the land jurisdiction by a false assumption of Territorial Citizenship. That's the second shunt.
That unlawfully converted "you" to a foreign political status and removed the guarantees and protections of the Constitutional Agreements.
And then they sold the Territorial Citizen (already converted into a Thing and not recognizable as a man or woman) into slavery to the Pope's Municipal Government. That's the third shunt.
Now the pipeline operators have you and everyone else right where they want you ---- misidentified as a "Thing" owed no protection or respect, subject to a foreign legal and monetary system that they run, and rendered utterly dependent on a pipeline system they control as a monopoly.
Is this evil? Yes.
Is this criminal? Yes.
Is there anything we can do about it? Yes.
We can expose them and their self-interested lies for what they are. We can expose their "System" and root it out like an invasive weed ---- root, stem, and leaf.
The current iteration of this "System" in America started immediately after the Second World War, basically with the signing of the Peace Treaty with Japan in September of 1945.
We were kept in this fictional "wartime status" in order to implement the infamous Marshall Plan to rebuild the rest of the world. We were worked as slaves and leveraged and taxed and our production was subjected to punishing tariffs in order to pay for it.
Once the rest of the world was rebuilt, the slave masters kept us toiling by using the "Cold War" as their excuse for continuing the wartime "emergency" status, continuing to collect the so-called Victory Tax from Americans, etc., etc., etc..
And all this leads us back to a discussion about God, and which "God" we are serving.
A number of things happened immediately before and after the Second World War that reconstructed the pipelines.
Before the war we have the Nationality Act of 1940, codified as Title 31 USC 1321/1322, which affected average Americans in Breach of Trust.
We also have the infamous Buck Act in 1940, which consigned actual US Citizens and citizens of the United States to literal enslavement.
Then, immediately after the Second World War, we have in quick succession:
1. The Lanham Act of 1946 which was supposed to protect our private property interests --- but wasn't enforced in that capacity;
2. The Supreme Court Case of Everson vs. Board of Education which gave teeth to Separation of Church and State---that is, separation between their "nation" operated as a theocracy and our country;
3. The National Security Act which created the National Security Council and identified that unconstitutional, unauthorized, and un-elected body as the de facto government responsible for these outrages;
4. Public Law 107 -293 (see also PL 97-280) which very clearly confirms that the National Motto is "In God We Trust".
Well, folks, if you have been following along you now know that there is a difference between John Adams and JOHN ADAMS.
And I have in my hand a brand new US Silver Dollar, upon which are emblazoned the words, "IN GOD WE TRUST".
The God they are referring to when they say---- "In God We Trust" ---refers to a foreign "god", Baphomet.
Just as they have attempted to sever our Sacred Contract with our Creator by substituting a birthday for our Point of Origin, they have substituted Baphomet, the Father of All Lies, for our land jurisdiction God, the Creator.
Similarly, they have converted not only the "God" being invoked, but also the "Trust" being invoked.
As our students now know, "IN GOD WE TRUST" is Dog Latin, unintelligible either as English or as Ancient Latin.
What this really tells us is that in their view, "GOD" is a corporation, and so is the "TRUST" that these pipeline operators are pushing.
All these venal self-interested lies and false legal presumptions have been used to redirect the flow of people, goods, and commodities --- out of the pockets and control of the actual people, and into the hands of the pipeline owners and operators, out of private ownership into public ownership, where our assets can be administered by clerks and judges operating private in-house corporate tribunals that are also owned and operated by the same criminals.
Both the fake corporate courts and the private security "Law Enforcement Officers" are used to implement and enforce these crimes upon the people of this country and throughout the world at the behest of the "National Security Council" ----an un-elected, unconstitutional, unofficial, unauthorized committee, which operates to defend the Baphomet-worshiping Municipal Government and studiously neglects to say which "nation" and which "national security" they represent.
When you tear the lid off the patents these cretins have protected under the guise of being "National Security" interests, you very rapidly learn that none of this is being done in the interests of living people. It is all being done to secure corporate advantages over living people, and to make corporations into "gods".
J.D. Rockefeller would be proud; the Living God, not so much.
Those responsible have been given the Sign of Jonah and the Prophecy of Jeremiah, which is as true today as the day it was first uttered. They can have Chapter 31 or Chapter 51 of the Book of Jeremiah, but one or the other -- depending on their own choices --- is going to come down on their heads, as sure as I am sitting here writing this.

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Revenge of the Robber Barons


By Anna Von Reitz

We don't study history much, at least not history that matters, so very few people remember the anti-trust and anti-monopoly actions that toppled Standard Oil, gave rise to the IMF, and unleashed the Revenge of the Robber Barons on innocent people from here to Bangkok. 

J.D. Rockefeller and the Railroad Barons discovered something important --- you can control both ends of anything connected by and dependent upon a transportation corridor, whether its people traveling from Boston to New York City on a sleek passenger train, corn being transported from Kansas to Wyoming on a rickety old freight train, or oil being pumped from Beeville,Texas  to Galveston, Texas.... the access to whatever is on the other end of the line, is what drives the market, and the Middlemen who control the pipelines and electrical grids and trains and trucks and planes control the markets via control of the transportation.  

It's really simpler to think of this as pipelines, J.D. Rockefeller's specialty, because it is all about "pipelines" of one kind or another --- oil pipelines, drug pipelines, people pipelines, services pipelines, banking pipelines, commodity pipelines, even pipeline pipelines. 

Every system that transports something or someone from Point A to Point B is a pipeline, and that is clearly how old J.D. saw the world.  

Control the pipeline, and you control the Producers of whatever is being delivered, as well as the Consumers, waiting on the other end for the Product. 

In this way, Standard Oil, which wasn't really an oil company, conquered the known world.  It simply controlled transport of oil, both crude oil going from wells to refineries, and refined product going to docks and tanker ships and railroad yards.  

With the flick of a pen, Rockefeller could impose extra fees on producers, and tax consumers.  His position was not unlike the coercive power of a government.  And therein lies the rub, the clue, and the answer to what has happened to this country since 1922.  

You see, the business of providing government services is just another pipeline. 

That's how J.D. saw it.  That's how Nelson saw it.  That's how all the Rockefellers saw it, and still see it to this day.  

On one end of the Government Pipeline you have the Service Providers --- all those Government Employees and Programs.  On the other end of the Government Pipeline, you have all those people who have become dependent on Government Services.  And in the middle, controlling everything, taxing everyone, is your own deceptively named corporation---- the U.S. Postal Service, not the U.S. Post Office, the Department of the Treasury, not the Treasury Department.... 

So you have one group, public employees, that is motivated to spur on need for their services, and another group that screams bloody murder in the politicians' ears if those services aren't available, are slow, are inadequate in any way..... and in the middle, you have the pipeline owners, happily dictating everything to everyone, including the price of all these "services".  

While Public Employees and Public Employee Unions are a fairly obvious target, and so are all the people clamoring for more and more and more free benefits and more services and more money spent on them ---- it's the pipeline owners I want you to focus on, because they are the real problem. 

You see, J.D. took it hard when "the government" dismantled Standard Oil, so he and his Buddies decided to dismantle the government, and make a mockery of it.  How?  By turning it into a pipeline operation.  

As usual, they have no moral compass in any of this.  They didn't think about the countries they were selling down the tubes --- literally.  They didn't bother themselves about lying to the innocent victims of their schemes.  All they thought about was profit and control, profit and control, profit and control.

For over a hundred years they have profited themselves at the expense of billions of people, billions of truncated, miserable, unhealthy lives.  And they haven't cared at all.  

Whether it was oil or Aid to Families With Dependent Children, the schtick has been the same: control the pipeline and thereby control both ends of the pipeline, the "markets" connected by that pipeline.  

So who actually owns the Government Pipelines?   Who sits on the Board of Directors for the GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES (INC.)?  Who owns the IMF? (Hint, it was started by Standard Oil.)   Who owns the Federal Reserve?  Who owns the Department of the Treasury?  

All it takes is a good Private Investigator with some industry contacts.  Most of it is public record, one way or another.  In a month of hard slogging you can track down every single Government Services Pipeline, every Board Member, every CEO.  

Who is in charge of the Exchange Stabilization Fund?  President Trump and Secretary Mnuchin.  

Who is Chairman (and President) of the National Security Council?  President Trump.  

Who is in charge of the Conference of Governors?   

What is a "Municipal League"?  

Tri-Lateral Commission?  Council on Foreign Relations?  Council of State Governments?  Council of County Governments?  

And exactly what are all these unauthorized, unconstitutional, un-elected, un-official agencies?  Who knows?  Raise your hands?  

These are the pipeline operators.  They are usurping upon and controlling all aspects of government services.  

They are standing in the background telling Janet Reno to firebomb the Branch Davidians.  Shoot Randy Weaver's wife and little baby.  Murder LaVoy Finicum.  And they are getting away with it under color of "law", because they own and operate the Pinkertons --- the private security forces represented by all the Law Enforcement Officers.  

This entire system of oppression grew out of the railroad transfer corridors (pipelines for people and commodities) and the bank transfer systems (pipelines for financial transactions) and the program services organizations (pipelines for "public" services) and it all bears the earmarks of J.D. Rockefeller and his Sons and their Belle Epoch Cronies ---- the Vanderbilts and Warburgs, the Carnegies and Astors, the Winchesters and the Edisons and all the rest of the Party Hearties, who, one way or another, were involved in "pipelines" of various sorts.

And still are, to the detriment of the whole Earth and everyone on it. 

They have contrived to run the government as private pipeline enterprises and have privatized government functions to the point where there is no government anymore.  Now they hurry themselves home, looking for the dream they slaughtered, only to find that the friends and neighbors they betrayed are waking up.  

Fifty "extra" years of the Marshall Plan?   Seventy-five extra years of the Victory Tax?   Bankrupting the trademarked "Federal Reserve System"?   Stealing the receipts from the bottomry bonds placed on our "vessels" without our knowledge, all the insurance paid for by us?    Our identities stolen by people appearing to be government workers and hospital employees?  Our DNA stolen as "discarded DNA" by Snooper Poopers at hospitals and fake police following us into public toilets in hopes of cigarette butt or a used napkin?  Our homes being mortgaged to pay for the debts of foreign "service organizations"?  

It's all in the pipelines, folks.  

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Instruction on the Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost

Rev. Fr. Leonard Goffine's
The Church's Year


Pray today at the Introit of the Mass with the, Church against her enemies: Have regard, O Lord, to thy conversant, and forsake not to the end the souls of thy poor: arise, O Lord, and judge thy cause, and forget not the voices of them that seek thee. O God, why hast thou cast us off unto the end: why is thy wrath enkindled against the sheep of thy pasture? (Ps. LXXIII.) Glory be to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
COLLECT Almighty and ever­lasting God, give unto us an increase of faith, hope and charity; and that we may obtain that which Thou dost promise, make us to love that which Thou dost command. Through our Lord Jesus Christ Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the Unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end, Amen.
EPISTLE (Gal. III. 16-22.) Brethren, To Abraham were the promises made, and to his seed. He saith not, And to his seeds, as of many, but as of one: And to thy seed, which is Christ. Now this I say, that the testament which was confirmed by God, the law which was made after four hundred and thirty years doth not dis-annul, or make the promise of no effect. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise. But God gave it to Abraham by promise. Why, then, was the law? It was set because of transgressions, until the seed should come to whom he made the promise, being ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator is not of one: but God is one. Was the law, then, against the promises of God? God forbid. For if there had been a law given which could give life, verily justice should have been by the law. But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by the faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
EXPLANATION St. Paul in this epistle proves to the Galatians who were misled by false doctrines, and ad­hered too much to the Jewish Law, that they could be saved only through a lively faith in Christ, enriched by good works. Therefore he says that the great promises, made by God to Abraham, referred to Christ, through whom all nations of the earth, who would believe in Him, would be blessed and saved. (Gen. XII. 3., and XXII. 18.) The law, indeed, does not annul these promises, since it rather leads to their attainment, yet it must be placed after them because of their advantages, nay, even cease to exist, because the promises are now fulfilled, Christ, the promised Messiah, has really, appeared and liberated man, who could not be freed from their sins by the Jewish law.
ASPIRATION O, let us be grateful for this promise, yet more, how­ever, for the Incarnation of Christ, whereby this promise has been fulfilled.
Tenth Sunday After PentecostGOSPEL (Luke XVII. 11-19.) At that time, As Jesus was going to Jerusalem, he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee: and as he entered into a certain town, there met him ten men that were lepers, who stood afar off, and lifted up their voice, saying: Jesus, master, have mercy on us. Whom, when, he saw, he said: Go, show yourselves to the priests. And it came to pass, that as they went, they were made clean. And one of them, when he saw that he was made clean, went back, with a loud voice glorifying God, and he fell on his face before his feet, giving thanks: and this was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering, said: Were not ten made clean? And where are the nine? There is no one found to return, and give glory to God, but this stranger. And he said to him: Arise go thy way; for thy faith hath made thee whole.
What may be understood by leprosy in a spiritual sense?
Sin, particularly impurity, by which the soul of man is stained much more than is the body by the most horrid leprosy: In the Jewish law (Lev. XIII. ) three kinds of leprosy are enumerated, viz: the leprosy of the flesh, of garments, and of houses. Spiritually, the impure are afflicted with the, leprosy of the flesh, who easily infect others, and are therefore to be most carefully avoided. The leprosy of garments consists in extravagance of dress and scandalous fashions, whereby not only individuals, but also whole communities are brought to poverty, and many lose their innocence. The leprosy of houses, finally, is to be found in those places, where scandalous servants are retained, where nocturnal gatherings of both sexes are encouraged, where, obscenities are indulged in, where unbecoming dances and plays are held, and filthy actions performed; where married people allow themselves liberties in presence of others, and give scandal to their household, where they take their small children and even such as already have the use of reason, with themselves to bed, and where they permit children of different sexes to sleep together. Such houses are to be avoided, since they are infected with the pestilential leprosy of sin, and woe to them who voluntarily remain in them.
Why did the lepers remain standing afar off?
Because it was thus commanded in the law of Moses, (Lev. XIII. 46.) so that no one would be infected by them. From this we learn that we must carefully avoid scandalous persons and houses; for he who converses with lewd, vain and unchaste persons, will soon become like them. (Ecclus. XIII. 1.)
Why did Christ send the lepers to the priests?
This He did to show the honor due to the sacerdotal dignity and to the law of God: for it was commanded, (Lev. XIV.) that the lepers should show themselves to the priests, in order to be declared by them clean or unclean; He did it to try the faith, the confidence, and the obedience of these lepers: for Christ did not wish to heal them upon their mere prayer, but their cure was to cost them something, and they were to merit it by their cooperation. Their purification, therefore, was the reward of their obedience and faith. Further, Christ sent these lepers to the priests to show figuratively, as it were, that he who wishes to be freed from the leprosy of sin, must contritely approach the priest, sincerely confess his sins, and be cleansed by him by means of absolution.
Why did Christ ask for the others, who were also made clean?
To show how much ingratitude displeases Him. Although He silently bore all other injuries, yet He could not permit this ingratitude to pass unresented. So great, therefore, is the sin of ingratitude, hateful alike to God and man! "Ingratitude," says St. Bernard," is an enemy of the soul, which destroys merits, corrupts virtues, and impedes graces: it is a heavy wind, which dries up the fountain of goodness, the dew of mercy, and the stream of the grace of God." "The best means," says St. Chrysostom, "of preserving benefits, is the remembrance of them and gratitude for them, and nothing is more acceptable to God than a grateful soul; for, while He daily overloads us with innumerable benefits, He asks nothing for them, but that we thank Him." Therefore, my dear Christian, by no means forget to thank God in the morning and evening, before and after meals. As often as you experience the blessing of God in your house, in your children, and your whole property, thank God, but particularly when you take in the fruits of the earth; (Lev. XXIII. 10.) by this you will always bring upon yourself new blessings and new graces. "We cannot think, say, or write anything better or more pleasing to God," says St. Augustine, "than: Thanks be to God."
ASPIRATION O most gracious Jesus! who, as an example for us, wast always grateful to Thy Heavenly, Father, as long as Thou didst live upon earth, grant, that I may always thank God for all His benefits, according to Thy example and the teaching of Thy servant St. Paul. (Col. III. 17.)
INSTRUCTION ON THE SACRAMENT OF HOLY ORDER Go, show yourselves to the priests. (Luke XVII. 14.)
Such honor did God show to the priests of the Old Law that He sent the; lepers to them, although they could in no wise contribute to the removal of leprosy. What honor, therefore, do the priests of the New Law deserve, who through the sacerdotal ordination, not only received from God the power to free mankind from the leprosy of the soul, but also far higher privileges.
Is the priesthood a special and holy state, selected by God?
Yes; this is evident from the writings of the Old as well as of the New Testament, and is confirmed by holy, apostolic tradition. In the Mosaic Law God Himself selected a particular race - Aaron and his descendants-from among the tribes of Juda, to perform solemnly the public service, to pray for the people, and instruct them in matters of religion, (Exod. XXVIII. I.; Lev. IX. 7; King's II. Z8.) but particularly to offer the daily sacrifices, (Lev. I. II; Num. XVIII.) for which offices they were consecrated by different ceremonies, ordained by God, which ceremonies lasted seven days. (Exod. XXVIII. 4. &c. ib. XXIX.) Besides these, God instituted a sort of minor priesthood, Levites, for the service of the temple and of God; (Num. III. 12; VIII. 6-18.) they were of the tribe of Levi, and received no land like the other tribes, but lived on the offerings and tithes, and were consecrated like the priests. (Num. XVIII. 21.; VIII. 66-26.) This priesthood, an emblem of the real priesthood of the New Testament, was not abolished by Christ, but He brought it to its fulfillment and completed it, since He did not come to take away, but fulfill the law. For this reason Christ selected twelve apostles and seventy-two disciples from among the faithful, at the commencement of His public life, and He said to them: I have chosen you, and have appointed you, that you should go, and should bring forth fruit. (John XV. 16.) He gave them power to free man from sin, to sanctify, and reconcile him with God. (Matt. XVIII. Z8.) He commanded them to preach His gospel to all nations, (Matt. XXVII. 18-20.) and to offer up His holy Sacrifice. (Luke XXII, 19.) Just as the apostles were chosen by Christ, so afterwards by the Holy Ghost. St. Paul was chosen to be an apostle, and he calls himself a minister of Christ and a dispenser of the mysteries of God, (I Cor. IV. I) and who together with Barnabas was ordained. (Acts XIII. 2, 3.) In the same manner the apostles chose their successors, and ordained them, (I Tim. IV, 14.; II Tim. I. 6.) and even appointed seven deacons, as assistants in the priestly office. (Acts VI. 1-3.) From these clear testimonies of holy Writ, it is evident that, as God in the Old, so Christ in the New Testament chose a particular class of men, and established certain grades among them, for the government of His Church, for the service of God, and the salvation of the faithful, as holy, apostolic tradition also confirms. Already the earliest Fathers, Ignatius and Clement, disciples of the apostles, write of bishops, priests, and deacons, who are destined for the service of God and the faithful. Subdeacons, ostiariates, lectors, exorcists, and acolytes, are mentioned by St. Gregory of Nazianzen, St. Justin, St. Cyprian, and many others, but particularly by the Council of Carthage in the year 398, which also gives the manner of ordaining priests.
The heretics, indeed, contend that the Roman Catholic Church robs the true believers of their dignity, since she grants the priesthood only to a certain class, and give as proofs of their assertion two texts, where St. Peter (I Pet. II. 9.) calls the faithful a kingly priesthood, and where St. John (Apoc. I. 6.) says that Christ made us kings and priests. But these texts speak only of an internal priesthood, ac­cording to which every Christian, sanctified by baptism, who is in the state of grace, and consequently justified, and a living member of Christ, the great High-Priest, should offer spiritual sacrifices,1 that is, good works, such as prayer, mortification, charity, penance &c., on the altar of the heart, as also St. Peter, (I Pet II. 5.) St. Paul, (Rom. XII. I.) and David (Ps. 1. 19.) teach. If the assertion of the heretics were true that all believers are priests, why did God in the Old Law institute an especial priesthood, why did Christ and the apostles choose suitable men for the service of God? If all believers must be priests, why are not all kings, since St. John says, that Christ has made us kings? God, on the contrary, severely punished those who presumed to arrogate to themselves a priestly office, as He did to King Ozias, who was afflicted with leprosy because he burnt incense in the temple, which the priests alone were permitted to do. (II Paralip. XXVI. 18. 19.)
Of course heretics must make this assertion; for since they say that Scripture is the only rule of faith, and that every one can explain it, for what purpose are preachers necessary? And since they have no sacrifice, and with the exception of baptism, no Sacraments, for what purpose should they want priests? But since the sacrifice of Jesus is to continue in the Catholic Church until the end of time, since all the Sacraments instituted by Christ are still dispensed by her, and the command of Christ to teach all nations, must be carried out by her, therefore, there must be priests chosen and destined, who will perform the ministry of the Lord, and these must not only be chosen, but also be consecrated for this by a special Sacrament.
What is Holy Order?
Holy Order is a Sacrament by which Bishops, Priests, &c. are ordained, and receive grace and power to perform the duties belonging to their charge.
What is the external sign, by which grace is communicated to the priests?
The imposition of the bishop's hands, the presentation of the chalice with bread and wine, and the words by which power is given to offer the Sacrifice of the New Law, changing, bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, and to forgive or retain sins. (Conc. Flor. in Decr. Eug.  et Trid Sess. 14. C. 3. de poen. et Sess. 22. C. 1.)
When will Christ institute this Sacrament?
At the Last Supper, when, having changed bread and wine into His body and blood, He said: Do this, for a commemoration of me, and when after His Resurrection He said to them: As the Father hath sent me, I also send you (to free man from sin and to sanctify him). When he had said this, he breathed on them: and he said to them: Receive ye the Holy Ghost. (John XX. 21. 22.) The power to forgive and retain sins He gave them when He said: Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them: and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained. (John XX. 23.)
Has Holy Order always been regarded as a Sacrament in the Church?
Yes, for St. Paul admonishes his disciple Timothy (I Tim, IV. 14.) not to neglect the grace conferred upon him by the imposition of hands, and in another place he admonishes him, (II Tim. I. 6.) to stir up the grace which was in him by the imposition of his (St. Paul's) hands. From this it follows, that St. Paul believed that the external sign of the imposition of hands of the bishops conferred a particular grace, wherein, indeed, the essence of a Sacrament consists. Therefore the Council of Trent (Sess. 23. de ord. can. 3.) declares those anathema, who contend, that Holy Order is not a real and true Sacrament, instituted by Christ, but only a human invention, or a certain form of electing the ministers of the Word of God and the Sacraments.
Are those called to the priesthood ordained at once?
No, they are not admitted to Holy Order until they have undergone a rigid examination regarding their vocation, moral conduct, and their knowledge of the sacred science.
How many degrees are there in Holy Order?
In Holy Order there are seven degrees: four lesser, and three greater. Of the lesser, the first is that of Porter, whose office is to keep the keys of the Church, sacristy, treasury, and to see that due respect is observed in the house of God: to him the bishop says, in his ordination: So behave yourself as to give an account to God of what is kept under your charge. 2. That of Lector; his office is to read aloud the lessons of the Old and New Testament, which belong to the divine office, and to instruct the ignorant in the rudiments of the Christian religion: the bishop gives him a book containing those things, and charges him faithfully and profitably to fulfill his office. 3. That of Exorcist; to him is given power to exorcise possessed persons: the bishop gives a book of exorcisms, and bids him receive the power to lay his hands on such as are possessed, whether baptized or catechumens. 4. That of Acolyte; his office is to assist the deacon and subdeacon at the altar; to carry the lights, to prepare the wine and water for consecration, and attend to the divine mysteries: the bishop gives him a wax candle, with two little cruets, bidding him light the candle, and serve wine and water in the cruets.
The first of the greater is the order of subdeacon; he serves the deacon; prepares the altar, the chalice, the bread, and the wine; he reads the epistle aloud at high Mass; the bishop before he ordains him declares that none are to receive this order, but those who will observe perpetual continency; he then gives him a chalice, paten, basin and towel, two little cruets, and the book of epistles; bids him consider his ministry, and behave so as to please God. The second of the greater orders is that of Deacon; his office is immediately to assist the bishop or priest at high Mass; and the administration of the sacraments. He reads the Gospel aloud at high Mass; he gives the cup when the sacrament of the Eucharist' is given in both kinds; he may administer baptism, and preach the Gospel, by commission. To him the bishop gives a book of Gospels, with power to read it in the Church of God. The third is that of Priesthood, which has two degrees of power and dignity: that of bishops, and that of priests. The office of a priest is to consecrate and offer the sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Christ, under the forms of bread and wine; to administer all the sacraments, except Confirmation and Holy Order; to preach the Gospel, to bless the people, and to conduct them in the way to life eternal; as also to bless such things as are not reserved to the benediction of the bishop. The bishop, when he ordains a priest, anoints his hands with oil; he gives him the paten with bread upon it, and a chalice with wine, with power to offer sacrifice for the living and the dead; then he lays his hands upon him and says: Receive the Holy Ghost, whose sins etc., and performs several other ceremonies.
Learn from this instruction to honor and respect the priests, whose dignity as representatives of God, and dispensers of His mysteries, surpasses all human dignity; upon whom a load, too heavy even for angels, as St. Chrysostom says, has been imposed, namely, the care of your immortal soul; who daily enter the sanctuary before the face of the Lord, to offer the immaculate Lamb of God for the forgiveness of our sins; to whom Jesus confided the merits of His most precious blood, in order to cleanse your soul therewith in the tribunal of penance, if you confess your sins contritely; of whom God will one day ask the strictest account. Honor, therefore, these ministers of God, pray daily for the assistance of heaven in their difficult calling; particularly on the Ember-days implore God, that He may send pious and zealous priests; and if, perhaps, you know a bad priest, do not despise his high dignity which is indelibly imprinted on him, have compassion on him, pray far him, and consider that Jesus has , said of such: "All things whatsoever they shall say to. you, observe and do: but according to their works do ye not." (Matt. XXIII. 3.)