I’m looking for praying hands, peaceful hearts, liberated consciences, reconciled souls. I’m looking for men. I’m looking for true Catholics. What has become of your Catholics, O Lord?

Father de Chivré (1902-1984)
Dominican

“As I considered the great evils caused by heretics in our day, and this conflagration that human forces cannot extinguish, it seemed to me that the Church of God needed nothing less than an elite army to crush the forces of heresy and halt its advance. In my opinion, the course of action to take is that which is taken in times of war, when a powerful enemy, invading a country, spreads desolation and terror everywhere. The prince who finds himself pressed on all sides withdraws with the elite of his troops to a city that he has heavily fortified. From there, he makes frequent sorties, and since he leads only the bravest into battle, he often inflicts more damage on the enemy with a handful of men than with larger but less valiant forces. Through this tactic, one often triumphs over one’s adversaries, and if victory is not achieved, at least one is not defeated. Provided there are no traitors within the fortress, one is invincible there; if one succumbs, it is only through starvation. But in the fortress where the defenders of the Church are entrenched, there is no famine that forces them to surrender: they may die; but they will never be defeated.”

Saint Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)
​Carmelite, reformer of Carmelite Order with St. John of the Cross