By Modesto P. Sa-onoy
Yesterday I cited Novaliches Office of Exorcism assistant case officer Philippe De Guzman, regarding the call for priests to hold exorcism rituals to ward off the evil that many believe the satanists are using as an opportunity to mislead the Catholic faithful. Among the misleading action of Satanists are rosaries that had been cursed.
He said there is no need to perform a longer blessing to undo the evil ritual but to simply carry out one prescribed by the Catholic Church, since the Book of Blessings of the Old Rite prayers can be said by any priest for this purpose. While priests can perform exorcism there are experts in serious cases of demonic possession.
In addition, Father Ambrosio Nonato Legaspi of Radio Veritas warned about medals that look like that of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal except that a compass, which is the insignia of the Masons that have been declared by the Catholic Church as anti-Christian and anti-Church, a charge that Masons deny.
During the Aug. 7 episode whose topic is “Infestations, Padugo, and Pagaalay (Common Reasons For Infestations)”, Legaspi explained that infestations occur when an evil spirit resides in an object, animal, or place due to sin, occult practices, Feng Shui, paganic rituals, violence, and murder.
Last week, there was an exorcism in the social media. I don’t know who the priest was. This is the first time that I know of when an exorcism was held without a specific person under demonic possession. It was intended, it seems, to ward off the evil that is covid-19.
On the other hand, Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo, in his blog “Panaghoy,” urged the faithful to stay strong and calm amid the COVID-19 pandemic. He said, “We have to see that no reality is totally bad. No matter how dark, some brightness is also brought out. Looking at the silver lining can give us hope and it can help us live through the darkness until the light comes out. And light will come out.
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it,” he said, quoting a Bible verse. Instead of worrying, Bishop Pabillo said the faithful should pray and repent during the quarantine, which incidentally coincides with the 40-day retreat for the Lenten season.
He said COVID-19 is telling the people to look back to when people connected with family, neighbors and Jesus Christ. What else can we do but find solace and strength in prayer?
Do you know there is a saint named Corona to invoke in times of epidemics? She witnessed the martyrdom of St. Victor, her husband, a soldier, who was executed by his fellow soldiers for being a Christian. While Victor was undergoing his martyrdom, the brave 16-year-old Corona cried out comforting words and encouragement for Victor to hold fast to his faith.
Victor’s persecutors then turned on Corona and killed her in a most gruesome manner. They tied her between two trees that were bent. When the ropes were cut the trees swung out and tore Corona apart.
The German Catholic news agency KNA reports the church’s records put the year of her death at 177 A.D. It is not certain where she lived – Syria, France, and Sicily. What is proven is that she began to be honored from the 6th century in northern and central Italy. A chapel is dedicated to her in Sauerlach, near Munich. In Bavarian Diocese of Passau, two churches recall her name; in the province of Lower Austria and outside of Vienna there are two towns named “Sankt Corona.” In the cathedral of Munster, Germany, there is a St. Corona statue, currently decorated with flowers because of the covid-19 pandemic.
In the 10th century, St. Corona’s relics were taken to Aachen and some brought to the Prague cathedral in the 14th century. In 1910, during excavation work at the cathedral, archaeologists found the relics, removed them from a crypt and placed in a shrine. This three-foot-tall, 220-pound relic has, until recently, been kept in storage in the Aachen cathedral treasure vault. With the coronavirus pandemic, experts have taken it out, dust it off and displayed it.
As the Coronavirus wreaks havoc and vexes us all, St. Corona gives us an opportunity to lean into our faith and cling to hope, no matter the turmoil around us.
