Dear TIA.

Many thanks to you and all TIA readers who prayed that India would be spared being ruled by the Hindu fundamentalists. Our prayers have been heard - Deo Gratias!

You may be also aware that some claim that St. Thomas the Apostle visited Mexico. There are Hindu scholars who claim strong links between India and Mexico - the similarity of the people and of Hinduism and the old Mexican religion. This being the case, therefore, let us seize the opportunity and invoke Our Lady of Guadalupe whenever we pray for India, and pray we must, that dissensions don't spoil what God has just gifted to India.

     God bless,

     N.C.

Dear Editor,

I just read the article about the miraculous recovery of Tony Resch in Wisconsin (2005) when he received a Holy Card of Our Lady of Good Success which had been touched to Her Miraculously made statute, etc.

I am wondering how one can obtain such a beauteous Holy Card with that special feature?

I ordered the books about a year ago, after reading Dr. Horvat's comments on the subject. I have already been praying the long novena starting 2008 to Our Lady of Good Success (which I copied off your site, for which I Thank You!) for a cure of my Stage IV metastatic B/C as manifested in the lungs, April 2008 (medical prognosis: no cure) as I felt drawn to this beautiful story and Novena. Anyway, the cancer was stabilized Oct.2008.

January 2009 it has started growing again, and I have just started a round of Chemotherapy again, thru July 2009. I have already began the Novena Prayers again- and then came upon this article on your site.

I have no contact with other Traditionalist Catholics (and just recently relocated) and am hoping you may have some idea regarding the above.

Thanks for listening!

     Wishing you all God's love and blessings,

     C.W.



TIA responds:

Dear Mrs. C.W.,

Thank you for letting us know that the Novena of Our Lady of Good Success you downloaded from our website is increasing your devotion to her. We are pleased to hear that.

We don't carry that particular picture of Our Lady that was shown in the article about the miracle of Mr. Tony Resch. It is available from the Our Lady of Good Success Apostolate.

Be sure that we will be praying for your cure and acceptance of Our Lady's will.

     Cordially,

     TIA correspondence desk

TIA,

Regarding the article St Philomena, Wonder-Worker by Ellyn Miller, I would like to say that I am a Catholic priest and I continue to promote my devotion to St. Philomena to my community of seminarians and priests.

I don't feel guilty of disobedience. I believe firmly that St. Philomena is indeed a Wonder Worker! She protects me in my ministry as she protected St. John Mary Vianney.

Fr. Nono Acompanado, Rector
     Holy Rosary Preparatory Seminary
     San Jose, Camarines Sur

To Whom It May Concern,

With reference to this article on your site: The King of Spain Dishonors the Golden Fleece Order

According to author Guy Stair Sainty, the Spanish version of this order ceased being a Catholics-only order in 1817, with special Papal consent to list all non-Catholics as 'extra-numerary members' (source here), whatever you'd like to make of that.

What can also be found is that several non-Catholics have received this order before and since then, according to this online list.

These British monarchs (who are non-Catholic by nature of their title as head of the Church of England), princes, and high-ranking subjects all held the Spanish Order of the Golden Fleece:

• FM His Grace Arthur Wellesley, the 1st Duke of Wellington (1812)
  
  
• Prince George of the United Kingdom (later King George IV), Prince of Wales (1814)
  
  
• King William IV of the United Kingdom (1834)
  
  
• Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg & Gotha, Prince Consort of the United Kingdom (1841)
  
  
• Prince Albert Edward of the UK (later King Edward VII), Prince of Wales (1852)
  
  
• King George V of Hannover, (British) Duke of Cumberland (1866)
  
  
• Prince Alfred of the UK (2nd son of Queen Victoria), Duke of Edinburgh (1888)
  
  
• Prince George of the UK (later King George V), Duke of York (1893)
  
  
• Prince Arthur of the UK (3rd son of Queen Victoria), Duke of Connaught & Strathearn (1902)
  
  
• Prince Ernst August of the UK (last Crown Prince of Hannover), 3rd Duke of Cumberland (1902)
  
  
• Prince Edward of the UK (briefly King Edward VIII and later Duke of Windsor), Prince of Wales (1912)
  
  
• Queen Elizabeth II (also guilty of being a woman among Golden Fleece knights) of the UK (1988)

Muslims appear to have been awarded this, too, including:

• Sultan Abdulaziz of the Ottoman Empire (1870)
  
  
• Muhammad II as-Sadiq, Bey of Tunis (1870)
  
  
• Sultan Abdul Hamid II of the Ottoman Empire (1880)
  
  
• Shah Mozaffar al-Din of Persia
  
  
• King Hussein of Jordan (1985)
  
  
• King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand (2006)

Non-Catholic, non-Christian, non-Muslims have also been awarded it:

• Emperor Meiji of Japan (1883)
  
  
• Crown Prince Yoshihito (later Emperor Taisho) of Japan (1896)
  
  
• Crown Prince Vajiravudh (later King Vajiravudh ) of Thailand (1902)
  
  
• Emperor Hirohito of Japan (1928)
  
  
• Crown Prince (later Emperor) Akihito of Japan (1985)

And the following women (also excluded, traditionally):

• Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands (1985)
  
  
• Queen Margrethe II of Denmark (1985)
  
  
• The aforementioned Queen Elizabeth II of the UK (1988)

What's my point? Perhaps to agree that you are right to say that the Spanish Order of the Golden Fleece has diminished as a Catholic order, but to disagree on your point that Don Juan Carlos is the culpable party who started it. He is just following previous precedent, which is allegedly sanctioned by His Holiness, since the 1817 papal decree.

Am I wrong? I'm an American Protestant of Austrian descent, so none of this really affects me other than as a historical curiosity and fascination.

     With respects,

     E.A.

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