June 3, 2005
Friday
vol 16, no. 154





    Today we complete our Tributes to the Five distinguished recipients of this year's induction into the Tower of Trent Hall of Honor. Last, but definitely not least, is the esteemed Doctor of Medieval History Marian Therese Horvat, PhD who has labored to promulgate the Truths and Traditions of Holy Mother Church for well over twenty years.

    It is especially comforting to this editor and his wife Cyndi that the readers elected Marian to receive the Tower of Trent Trophy for she joins her colleague at Tradition In Action Atila Sinke Guimarães who was enshrined last year as a Charter Member of the Tower of Trent Hall of Honor. Atila and Marian's work had a great impact on our fleeing the Novus Ordo and turning this previous neo-conservative publication (1990-2000) into a total uncompromising Traditional Catholic vehicle that completed its transition at the beginning of 2002. We are proud to call Marian and Atila our dear friends and express our gratitude for their help in our journey to Tradition.

    Marian was born the second of five children to John William Horvat and Mary Frances Passman on July 13, 1954 in Kansas City, Missouri. Her father was one of 11 children, who with his parents had migrated from Croatia, which at the time was under Communist domination. They settled in the bread-basket of America as part of a Croatian community where the family made their living on a multi-acre farm on the outskirts of KC.

    Because of her parents' personal horrors with the Communists in Croatia, Marian was taught from an early age how bad Communism really was and how her relatives in the "Old Country" were suffering greatly under the oppression of the hammer and sickle.

    Life was much different in America and the Croatian community was close knit in an area nicknamed Strawberry Hill. Life there revolved around family, neighbors and most important, the Catholic parish. The Faith was the central focus of the family. Marian's father had been named after his cousin, Monsignor John W. Horvat, who was the parish priest for the Croatian parish. Her grandfather died when she was very young, but she recalls with fond memories the influence of her Grandma Horvat, who always had either her Rosary or prayer book at hand. Her two youngest sons became priests.

    Marian's mother's family was 2nd generation German. Her grandfather, a minor noble and faithful Catholic, had followed the Jesuits to St. Mary's, Kansas after Bismarck expelled the Society of Jesus in the 1870s during his detested Kulturkampf. The Jesuit College and its large grounds, which today belong to the Society of St. Pius X, dominated the town. Marian recalls her mother telling how the Corpus Christi procession in the small German Catholic town was a major event and the few Protestant children went to a school in a neighboring town because they were uncomfortable around so many Catholics. All this changed rapidly with the cultural revolution that was already well underway in the 1950's and the radical changes in the Church that were made after Vatican II. There truly is something to be said for those ethnic communities for they kept the Faith when so many others were abandoning the traditions they had been weaned on.

    Her father was a pipefitter, but following his farming roots, planted a large garden, fruit trees, and a vineyard to make wine, and kept small livestock. Marian relates that "Until I was in 6th grade, I wanted to be a Sister of Charity, like the nuns who taught me. Soon after, the changes of Vatican II began to take effect in our area. I remember still the violent shock in 7th grade at seeing the Sisters without the full habit, the strange table in the middle of a newly built modern church in the round. I quickly abandoned the idea of the religious life. I believe my experience is typical of the first bad fruits of Vatican II."

    Fortunately, her parents had the good sense to realize that the priests and nuns were in the vanguard of a religious revolution, and so they soon took the Horvat children out of Catholic school, just as Bishop Fulton J. Sheen had strongly advised. Marian graduated from Bonner Springs High School in 1972, and went on to the University of Kansas, where she attained a Bachelor of Arts from the School of Journalism in 1975. After graduation this Jayhawk alum found work in Greybull, Wyoming as editor of a weekly newspaper, The Greybull Standard. It was here, as Marian relates, that she became serious about her Catholic faith once again in 1976. She attributes it to having read a book on the prophecies of Our Lady of Fatima. The Blessed Mother was calling and Marian began to hear the whispers in her heart.

    It didn't hurt that her two brothers had become part of the organization, Tradition, Family and Property, for this enabled her to become acquainted with the thinking and writings of the renowned Brazilian Professor Plinio Correa de Oliveira. This, as you will see, had a profound effect on her life and the mission God had in store for her.

    Answering the call in 1976, she left the Bighorn Country of Wyoming and a career in the world, and moved back to her parent's home in Kansas City. There she began what, in retrospect, she considers her real education: history, the study of the Church, the lives of the Saints, and languages. She is forever grateful to her parents who provided this opportunity and always encouraged her to offer her life for the Cause of Our Lady, the fight against the revolution in the Church and in society.

    From 1979 to 1986, she and her sister lived on an 80-acre farm near her parents, where, under their father's tutelage, they took the produce from their large organic garden and orchard to weekly market and had a variety of livestock. The Horvat sisters also helped tutor the daughters of home-schooling families at the very outset of the home-schooling boon that exploded in the last decade of the millennium and has been growing ever since.

    It was during this time that she began to study Portuguese and French, and worked on translations and editing of various works, including the Theology of Christian Perfection by Fr. Royo Marin, The Life of the Very Noble King of Castile and León, Saint Ferdinand III, by C. Fernandez de Castro, The Theology of Peace by Fr. Victorino Rodriguez y Rodriguez, and various other books and articles. In 1992, she had the privilege to help research and edit Nobility and the Analogous Traditional Elites in the Allocutions of Pius XII by Plinio Correa de Oliveira.

    It was during this period, on a trip home from Brazil, that her flight was waylaid in Ecuador. Do you think this was Providence? You better believe it, for it afforded Marian the time and opportunity to see the miraculous image of Our Lady of Good Success for the first time. Now her fervor was piqued and she could hear in her heart what Our Lady was requesting. Returning to Kansas City in 1985, she began to translate the lengthy manuscript The Admirable Life of Mother Mariana by Fr. Manuel Sousa Pereira, and finished it in 1986.

    More changes were in store for Marian. After her sister got married in 1987, the farm closed and that chapter of Marian's life ended. Relying on Divine Providence, Marian and several other teachers determined to offer their services in the spirit of religion, asking just for their sustenance. In continuing the ultimate vocation she was being called to, Marian became director of the private girls' academy, Holy Angels Academy, in Arlington, Texas until 1992 when she returned to her alma mater in Lawrence, Kansas to attain her Doctorate in Medieval History. it was through the generosity of her parents that she was able to do so and it all dovetailed as part of God's master plan for her as she pursued the particular interest of understanding the development of the organic society in the blessed Age of Faith, when the Church and State worked together in harmony to produce the institutions and kingdoms of Christendom. During this time,she was also hired as an instructor in the Western Civilization program at the University of Kansas.

    It was in 1996 that her work with Atila Sinke Guimarães began when she translated and edited a statement he had written analyzing the talk that the former head of the See of San Francisco progressivist Archbishop John Quinn gave at Oxford about the future of the Church and the Papacy. His piece was published in the United States in The Wanderer, December 26, 1996. After that, in 1997, Atila and Marian started working together from a distance - Marian in Kansas and Atila in Brazil. This cooperation resulted in their launch of the English edition of In the Murky Waters of Vatican II, the first volume of his 11 volume collection on Vatican II entitled Eli, Eli, Lamma Sabacthani? [My God, my God, why hast Thou abandoned Me?].

    Realizing they needed a distribution center for the books and collateral they had and were producing, Marian founded Tradition In Action in 1996 with the help of some friends. It was established as a non-profit corporation and center for apologetics and culture to help disseminate this work, and provide a platform for educating public opinion about the contemporary crisis in the Church and society, as well as offer historical and cultural perspectives on religious topics.

    In 1999, Mr. Guimarães moved to the U.S., and TIA published a second work that Marian edited, Quo Vadis, Petre? [Where are you going, Peter?], which provided a clear refutation of ecumenism. That year, a good friend, Patrick Odou, invited TIA to establish its headquarters in Los Angeles, CA, where he resided. Since then, Marian as well as Atila have written for various Catholic periodicals and regular articles in the Catholic Family News as well as special literary contributions to some influential and prestigious websites, including hers and Atila's generous literary contributions to The Daily Catholic where she continues to provide material in her column Echoes of True Catholicism.

    During all this time she has continued to translate and edit the works of the Collection on Vatican II by Atila. A second volume, Animus Delendi I [Desire to Destroy] was published by TIA in 2000, followed by Animus Delendi II in 2002. She and Atila also co-authored another special edition to the Collection in 2001, a photo-book Previews of the New Papacy, presenting an objective overview of the destructive changes initiated by the post-conciliar Popes.

    This editor remembers calling her shortly after the release of Previews with grave concern that the photos might be too graphic, and might turn off some readers. I will always recall both Atila and Marian's reaction. They appreciated my concern, but felt it was necessary and were not going to alter it even if it did turn off a few, they could not compromise their principles to placate man or readers. Marian considered this work a kind of illustration of Atila's valuable and scholarly Collection on the Council. In retrospect, I was learning and realize now the book wasn't strong enough in exposing the aberrations of John Paul II. Since its release it has opened the eyes of countless Catholics who realize a picture is worth a thousand words and since Previews was all photos, it had an impact. I think what had the greatest impact on Cyndi and I is that our brief disagreement with TIA at the time did not affect our friendship. In these times when there is such provincial thinking among the various traditional camps and narrow-mindedness, it is refreshing to be able to disagree on friendly terms. In conclusion, I make note here that Marian and Atila were right on. I also thank God that we didn't listen to other "friends" when we first started carrying Marian and Atila's writings. These misinformed "friends" had warned us that we would lose writers by carrying them. Maybe one or two writers, which we did, but I consider the addition of Atila and Marian's literary contributions as a definite step-up and solidarity with Tradition. In truth, we miss being able to carry them on a regular basis, but when you see the workload on both of these literary luminaries, one can understand that it is a rare pleasure these days when we can promote one of hers or Atila's articles now posted exclusively on their burgeoning Tradition In Action website. We have discovered over the years who our true friends are and they are those who have stuck with us through thick and thin. We are proud to say Marian and Atila are amongst that group and we are most grateful.

    In 1999, TIA published a resumé of the prophecies of Our Lady of Good Success: Our Lady of Good Success - Prophecies for Our Times. It dealt with

      The remarkable story of Our Lady's many appearances in the 16th century to a nun in Quito, Ecuador, Her stunning description of the 20th century crisis in the Church, and Her consoling promise of triumph.

      Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres (1563-1635) was a Spanish Conceptionist sister who traveled from her country to the New world to help found the Royal Convent in Quito, Ecuador

       In 1599, Our Lady of Good Success appeared to this obedient sister in Quito, Ecuador, and commanded that a statue be made of her, for Our Lady would govern the Conceptionist Convent as Abbess until the end of the world.

      She said: "In my right hand, place the crosier and keys to the cloister as a sign of my proprietorship and authority. In my left arm, place my Divine Child so that men will understand how powerful I am in placating the Divine Justice and in obtaining mercy and pardon for every sinner who comes to me with a contrite heart, for I am the Mother of Mercy and in me there is only goodness and love. ... Let them come to me, for I will lead them to Him."

      The statue was miraculously completed by the Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael in the early morning of January 16, 1611. Truth be told, no man - not even Michelangelo - could have fashioned such a beautiful marvel as this representation of the Mother of God holding her Divine Son.

      Mother Mariana, humble and holy in all things, had begged the Most Holy Virgin that her name be unknown. The Mother of God assured her faithful daughter that only after three centuries of mysterious silence, the truth of the apparitions would become known - in the 20th century. As Queen and Mother of a then-suffering world and Church, Our Lady promised that she would give her Good Success to those who had recourse to her under this invocation. What a powerful, hopeful message to the world and Marian has been an integral part of that fulfillment.

      Numerous graces and even a miraculous cure have resulted from praying to Our Lady of Good Success through the intercession of Venerable Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres. There is a special Novena to Our Lady of Good Success leading up to her feast day on February 2nd each year.

      Favored with many singular gifts from Heaven, this chosen soul Mother Mariana was given to know many future events, especially the grievous situation of the Church in the 20th Century.

      Our Lady told her that in our lamentable times, heresies would abound, the corruption of manners and customs would be almost complete, and the light of the Faith nearly extinguished. To atone for the many profanations, blasphemies, and abuses and to hasten the day of the triumphant restoration, this 17th century sister was asked to become an expiatory victim for our times.

      But Our Lady promised Her intercession at the very moment "when the evil will appear triumphant and when the authority abuses my power." This would "mark the arrival of my hour, when I, in a marvelous way, will dethrone the proud and accursed Satan, trampling him under my feet and fettering him in the infernal abyss." These words harmonize perfectly with the message of hope Our Lady delivered to the three children at Fatima in 1917: "In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph."

    It was well received by the public, and so a second volume followed in 2002 telling about the miraculous way the statue was built: Stories and Miracles of Our Lady of Good Success, in which Marian revealed more details on Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres and the miraculous statue of Our Lady in Quito, Ecuador.

       In response to the many requests from readers of her first book Our Lady of Good Success: Prophecies for Our Times, Dr. Horvat provided more details about the manner in which Our Lady's statue was carved by the pious sculptor Francisco del Castillo and then completed by the Archangels.

      This book includes several related stories, including that of the Marquesa Maria de Yolanda, who befriended the Convent with her generosity and who experienced a miraculous healing.It also tells about the devil's incitement of hostility between two families and how Mother Mariana was guided from Heaven to drive the demons away and thus restore peace.

      A chapter is devoted to the vision of the Child Jesus of the Cross on Pichincha Mountain who exhorted the sisters to "always be the heroines of your country during the bitter and dire times that will come."

    These two books have helped tremendously in making Our Lady of Good Success known in the United States with the importance of Our Lady's messages to Mother Mariana finally being revealed as foretold back in the 17th Century.

    Marian has also done a series of tapes on Our Lady of Good Success, as well as different aspects of Catholic culture, women in history (Middles Ages, Protestant Revolution, before and after Vatican II), Saints' lives, and the Education of Children. In 2003, TIA published her short work, Restoring the Family, the first in a series of works to come titled The Family Collection.

    Marian also became well known all the way to the highest echelons of the Vatican curia when she had the honor to sign two timely and important statements that she co-authored with Atila, John Vennari and Michael Matt, editors of Catholic Family News and The Remnant respectively. The first, was an open-letter to John Paul II declaring resistance to the teaching and actions of himself and the previous conciliar Popes that conflict with the previous infallible perennial Magisterium of the Church. TIA published the statement in the book We Resist you to the Face. This document presented a general overview of the principal post-Conciliar papal initiatives, comparing them with the previous teaching of the Church, and concludes that they conflict. Therefore, the authors made a legitimate declaration of resistance to them in the same manner the Apostle Paul rebuked Peter for his error. It is still very timely today, and we heartly endorse every Catholic who is concerned about the crisis in the Church and what position he or she can take to read this work and realize the truths contained therein.

    The second work, by the same authors, was published in 2001 in a book entitled An Urgent Plea: Do Not Destroy the Papacy. This open-letter addressed to John Paul II was so important that we received permission to publish it on-line to reach as many souls as possible. This statement is even more timely today in view of the fact Benedict XVI , following in the steps of JP II, is already proposing discussion about how to take concrete steps to change the Papacy to make it agreeable to Protestants and Schismatics.

    In April of this year, Marian finished editing and TIA published the translation of the first volume of the manuscript by Fr. Pereira, which she worked on some 15 years ago and which had been the primary source for the two smaller works she wrote as described above. It is The Admirable Life of Mother Mariana - Volume I and we provide in this same issue today a short book review on it by Cyndi, who has been so touched by this book made possible through Marian's tireless efforts in getting to the heart of why Our Lady appeared in Quito, Ecuador and why She chose Mother Mariana. If ever there was one who should be canonized it is Venerable Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres. In this first volume, Marian has so beautifully shown how the story and prophecies of Our Lady of Good Success, approved by the Bishop of Quito in 1611, are inseparable from the person of the holy Conceptionist religious in Quito, Ecuador - Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres who was born in 1563 in Spain just as the Council of Trent was being completed and died in her Quito Convent in 1635. Our Lady had asked her to become an expiatory victim for the impurity, heresies, and blasphemies that would be unleashed on the Church in the 20th century. She agreed, thus linking herself to our times in a very special, mystical and integral way.

   Her extraordinary life and the revelations Mother Mariana received were written in 1790 by Fr. Pereira, a Franciscan priest to whom Mother Mariana appeared to 150 years after her death. This is Volume I of his work, presented for the first time ever in English. It is the only source anywhere on Our Lady of Good Success and the link to these very times.

    Presently, Marian is working on three more projects. She is translating and editing the much anticipated second volume of The Admirable Life of Mother Mariana, as well as a work on Catholic Courtesy, and finally, the translation of the next volume of Atila's much anticipated collection on Vatican II. There is also the ongoing work and articles she writes and manages for the Tradition in Action website.

    Most probably only Heaven knows how much good Marian has done and the graces gained for souls by being the very vehicle the Blessed Mother Herself foretold would come forward to make Her vital prophecies known and the devotion to Her as Our Lady of Good Success spread throughout the Northern Hemisphere. That time foretold has arrived and Marian Therese Horvat has willingly given her fiat to be the conduit to translate and the clarion to disseminate this devotion in answering the Blessed Mother's request to make it widely known how more souls can emulate the virtues of a humble, holy nun nearly 400 years ago in prayerful hope of mitigating some of the just punishment due mankind in these times. Dr. Horvat has truly been the noble cooperator with Our Lady of Good Success in providing the Bridge to the Truths of Tradition; a vital bridge that spans the treacherous waters of modernism; a bridge that is narrow, but straight and sure, and which enables the faithful and loyal soul to cross safely from the Truths and Traditions upheld in the 17th Century to what we should be striving for now in the 21st Century when the rapids of relativism and apostasy flood the banks, lashing at the Rock and the dangerous undercurrent of secularism, ecumenism, and humanism threaten to engulf and drown the visible Church and take countless souls down the river Styxx.

    Therefore, so that others may know of her immense contribution to the Traditional Catholic cause, The Daily Catholic takes great joy in proudly proclaiming today June 3 - the Double of the First Class Feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and First Friday - as a day when besides our Lord and Savior, we declare today Dr. Marian Therese Horvat Day throughout all of Christendom and we hereby present the Tower of Trent Trophy to her and enthusiastically and warmly add her name and feats of Faith to the Tower of Trent Hall of Honor as one of authentic Catholicism's leading ladies of the Resistance.


2005 Recipients of the Tower of Trent:
For charter members honored in our inaugural presentation of the Tower of Trent in 2004, see Charter Recipients of the Tower of Trent Trophy

    Tower of Trent Tribute to Dr. Marian Therese Horvat