 
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
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