St. Peter's Abbey, Solesmes: 'Christus Vincit! Christus Regnat! Christus Imperat!

This video is dedicated to and in solidarity with the martyred and persecuted Coptic Christians of Egypt.

  

This 11th century monastic chant is based on 8th century Carolingian Acclamations.

The Benedictine Abbey of Solesmes is a metaphor of the Christian life.  Founded in 1010, it suffered considerably during the Hundred Years' War and was dissolved during the French Revolution.  In 1833 it was reborn in response to a vision.  By 1837 it had not only received Papal approval, it was elevated to the rank of abbey and made head of a restored French Benedictine Congregation.  Between 1901 and 1922 it was closed several times and the monks were driven into exile in England by oppressive, secular French governments.  Yet the community of monks endured those trials and the hardships of two World Wars. They have since spawned new monastic communities throughout the world. St. Peter's Abbey  endures today where it began in 1010, as a Benedictine Abbey in Solesmes, France.

Where the cross is, there also is the Resurrection.

Pius XII Begged FDR to Spare Civilians, Churches, Hospitals

The wartime ruins of Monte Casino, the monastery built by St. Benedict of Nursia around 529, and the source of the Benedictine Order.

From Catholic World News

The Knights of Columbus have published a recently discovered August 1943 letter from Pope Pius XII to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt asking the Allied forces to spare civilians, churches, and charitable institutions. The fraternal organization, which found the letter in its archives, served as a channel between the Holy See and the United States in the absence of diplomatic relations between the two states.

“If under such circumstances Italy is to be forced still to bear devastating blows against which she is practically defenseless, we hope and pray that the military leader will find it possible to spare innocent civil populations and in particular churches and religious institutions the ravages of war,” the Pontiff wrote . “Already, we must recount with deep sorrow and regret, these figure very prominently among the ruins of Italy's most populous and important cities.”

He continued:

But the message of assurance addressed to us by Your Excellency sustains our hope, even in the face of bitter experience, that God's temples and the homes erected by Christian charity for the poor and sick and abandoned members of Christ's flock may survive the terrible onslaught. May God in His merciful pity and love hearken to the universal cry of his children and let them hear once more the voice of Christ say: Peace!

The wartime Pope, who was recently declared venerable, wrote his letter three months after the Allies began to bomb Rome. Five months after he wrote the letter, the Battle of Monte Cassino commenced, leading to the destruction of the historic abbey.

Source(s): these links will take you to other sites, in a new window.

• Pius XII's Letter to US President Roosevelt (Zenit)
• Wartime Pope begged allies not to bomb Rome (Daily Telegraph)
• Pius XII Letter to Roosevelt Published for 1st Time (Zenit)
• Battle of Monte Cassino (Wikipedia)