«Damásci
sancti Petri Maviméni, qui, cum díceret Arábibus quibúsdam, ad se ægrótum
veniéntibus: “Omnis qui fidem Christiánam cathólicam non ampléctitur, damnátus
est, sicut et Máhumet, pseudoprophéta vester,” ab illis est necátus»; «A
Damàsco san Piétro di Maiùma, il quale, avendo detto ad alcuni Arabi, che erano
andati da lui mentre era infermo: “Chiunque non abbraccia la fede cristiana
cattolica è dannato, come anche il vostro falso profeta Maométto”, fu da essi
ammazzato». Così, oggi, 21 febbraio, commemora il Martirologio romano. Un Santo, insomma, ben lontano dal modello “dialogogista” ed “ecumenista”, che considera
l’islam “religione di pace”. Al contrario, un Santo che sarebbe oggi di
scandalo per i conformisti-pacifinti; un Santo davvero anticonformista rispetto
al pensiero dominante del nostro tempo. Ieri il mondo – almeno in Italia – ha tessuto
onorificenze sperticate in morte dello scrittore Umberto Eco, che coerentemente
con le sue idee avrà un “funerale laico” (ovvero un “non funerale”); uno
scrittore, il quale, come ricorda un editoriale de Il Messaggero, a firma
di Mario Ajello, era anticonformista su tutto e sempre; ma sempre, parimenti,
conformista sul pensiero dominante, cioè sempre allineato su quelle cose per le
quali non c’è un prezzo da pagare, perché sono gratis, sono politicamente (e, perché no?, pure religiosamente e culturalmente) corrette, ed il mondo desidera sentirsi dire (cfr. M. Ajello, Umberto Eco/ Originale in
tutto, ma in politica seguiva il pensiero dominante, in Il Messaggero, 20.2.2016); oggi la Chiesa propone, al contrario, la figura di un vero anticonformista
(beninteso: anticonformista rispetto al pensiero d’oggi, che è quello
maggiormente lontano da Cristo), che ha pagato un prezzo: la sua stessa vita.
Strano gioco del destino; strana coincidenza. O forse no. Non esistono le coincidenze.
In filigrana, la Chiesa sembra, dunque, quasi affermare che il vero anticonformismo
sta non già in ciò che è allineato al pensiero dominante, al pacifismo buonista,
lontano dalla Verità, bensì sta in tutto ciò che ha un alto prezzo, vita compresa,
che in ultima analisi non sarebbe altro che la Verità di Cristo stesso.
Nella
memoria, dunque, del summenzionato Santo “anticonformista” e controcorrente
rispetto al pensiero d’oggi, rilanciamo volentieri questo saggio – in inglese.
 |
| Francisco Domingo Marqués, Il beato Giovanni de Ribera, viceré e vescovo di Valencia, supervisiona l'espulsione dei Mori, 1864, Museu de Belles Arts de València, Valencia |
Tomorrow in Her Martyrology the Church commemorates the
martyrdom of Saint Peter Mavimeno at Damascus in the year 743. Some Arabs came
to see him while he was ill, and to them he said, ”Whoever does not
embrace the Catholic Christian religion will be damned, as your false prophet Mohammed
is,” whereupon they killed him.
“There is also the superstition of the Ishmaelites which
to this day prevails and keeps people in error, being a forerunner of the
Antichrist…. From that time to the present a false prophet named Mohammed has
appeared in their midst. This man, after having chanced upon the Old and New Testaments
and likewise, it seems, having conversed with an Arian monk, devised his own heresy.
Then, having insinuated himself into the good graces of the people by a show of
seeming piety, he gave out that a certain book had been sent down to him from
heaven. He had set down some ridiculous compositions in this book of his and he
gave it to them as an object of veneration.”
-St. John Damascene (d. 749), Syrian Arab Catholic monk
and scholar. Quoted from his bookOn Heresies under the section On the Heresy of
the Ishmaelites (in The Fathers of the Church. Vol. 37. Translated by the
Catholic University of America. CUA Press. 1958. Pages 153-160.)
“We profess Christ to be truly God and your prophet to be
a precursor of the Antichrist and other profane doctrine.”
-Sts. Habenitus, Jeremiah, Peter, Sabinian, Walabonsus,
and Wistremundus (d. 851), martyrs of Cordoba, Spain. Reported in the Memoriale
Sanctorum in response to Spanish Umayyad Caliph ‘Abd Ar-Rahman II’s ministers
that they convert to Islam on pain of death.
“Any cult which denies the divinity of Christ, does not
profess the existence of the Holy Trinity, refutes baptism, defames Christians,
and derogates the priesthood, we consider to be damned.”
-Sts. Aurelius, Felix, George, Liliosa, and Natalia (d.
852), martyrs of Cordoba, Spain. Reported in the Memoriale Sanctorum in
response to Spanish Umayyad Caliph ‘Abd Ar-Rahman II’s ministers that they
convert to Islam on pain of death.
“On the other hand, those who founded sects committed to
erroneous doctrines proceeded in a way that is opposite to this, the point is
clear in the case of Muhammad. He seduced the people by promises of carnal
pleasure to which the concupiscence of the flesh goads us. His teaching also
contained precepts that were in conformity with his promises, and he gave free
rein to carnal pleasure. In all this, as is not unexpected, he was obeyed by
carnal men. As for proofs of the truth of his doctrine, he brought forward only
such as could be grasped by the natural ability of anyone with a very modest
wisdom. Indeed, the truths that he taught he mingled with many fables and with
doctrines of the greatest falsity. He did not bring forth any signs produced in
a supernatural way, which alone fittingly gives witness to divine inspiration;
for a visible action that can be only divine reveals an invisibly inspired
teacher of truth. On the contrary, Muhammad said that he was sent in the power
of his arms—which are signs not lacking even to robbers and tyrants.”
-St. Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274), Theologian and Doctor of
the Church. Quoted from his De Rationibus Fidei Contra Saracenos, Graecos, et
Armenos and translated from Fr. Damian Fehlner’s Aquinas on Reasons for the
Faith: Against the Muslims, Greeks, and Armenians(Franciscans of the Immaculate.
2002.).
“As we have seen, Muhammed had neither supernatural
miracles nor natural motives of reason to persuade those of his sect. As he
lacked in everything, he took to bestial and barbaric means, which is the force
of arms. Thus he introduced and promulgated his message with robberies, murders,
and bloodshedding, destroying those who did not want to receive it, and with
the same means his ministers conserve this today, until God placates his anger
and destroys this pestilence from the earth...
“(Muhammad) can also be figured for the dragon in the
same Apocalypse which says that the dragon swept up a third of the stars and
hurled down a third to earth. Although this line is more appropriately
understood concerning the Antichrist, Mohammed was his precursor – the prophet
of Satan, father of the sons of haughtiness...
“Even if all the things contained in his law were fables
in philosophy and errors in theology, even for those who do not possess the
light of reason, the very manners (Islam) teaches are from a school of vicious
bestialities. (Muhammad) did not prove his new sect with any motive, having
neither supernatural miracles nor natural reasons, but solely the force of
arms, violence, fictions, lies, and carnal license. It remains an impious,
blasphemous, vicious cult, an innovention of the devil, and the direct way into
the fires of hell. It does not even merit the name of being called a religion.”
-St. Juan de Ribera (d.1611), Archbishop of Valencia, missionary
to Spanish Muslims, and organizer of the Muslim expulsions of 1609 from Spain. Quoted in several locations from
his 1599 Catechismo para la Instruccion de los Nuevos Convertidos de los Moros (1P5 translation).
“The Mahometan paradise, however, is only fit for beasts;
for filthy sensual pleasure is all the believer has to expect there.”
St. Alfonsus Liguori (d. 1787). Quoted from his book, The
History of Heresies and their Refutation.
