1. Memento, Domine, congregationis taue, quam possedisti ab initio. Remember, O Lord, Thy Congregation, which Thou hast possessed from all eternity, having conceived it in Thy mind from the beginning and held it in Thy hands when Thou brought forth the universe from nothing; which Thou hast possessed in Thy heart when Thy beloved Son, dying on the cross, sprinkled it with His blood and consecrated it by His death, entrusting it to His holy Mother.
2. Grant, O Lord, that Thy merciful designs may be fulfilled; raise up men of Thy right hand, such as Thou hast revealed, by bestowing prophetic knowledge upon some of Thy greatest servants, such as Saint Francis of Paola, Saint Vincent Ferrer, Saint Catherine of Siena and so many other great souls in past centuries and even in our own times.
3. Memento. Remember, Almighty God, this company by applying the almighty power of Thy arm—which is unlimited—to bring it into being and lead it to perfection. Work new wonders, perform marvelous deeds, so that we may feel the aid of Thy arm. O great God, Who can turn rough stones into so many children of Abraham, say but a single word to send good laborers for Thy harvest and good missionaries for Thy Church.
4. Memento. Remember, God of goodness, Thy past mercies, and through those same mercies, remember this congregation. Grant our righteous requests by remembering the repeated promises Thou hast made to us through Thy prophets and through Thy Son Himself. Remember the prayers that Thy servants and handmaids have offered to Thee on this matter for so many centuries. Let their vows, sobs, tears and the blood they shed come before Thee to powerfully implore Thy mercy. Above all, remember Thy beloved Son. Look on the face of Thy Christ, His agony, distress, and loving lament in the Garden of Olives, when He said, “What profit is there in My blood?” His cruel death and the blood He shed cry out loudly to Thee for mercy, so that, through this congregation, His reign may be established upon the ruins of that of Thy enemies.
5. Memento. Remember, Lord, this company in the exercise of Thy justice. It is time to do what Thou hast promised. Thy divine law is transgressed, Thy Gospel is abandoned, and torrents of iniquity flood the whole earth, sweeping away even Thy servants. The whole earth is desolate, impiety sits on the throne, Thy sanctuary is desecrated, and abomination has entered even the holy place. Wilt Thou leave everything in this state of abandonment, righteous Lord, God of vengeance? Will everything ultimately become like Sodom and Gomorrah? Wilt Thou remain silent and endure this forever? Must not Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven? Must not Thy kingdom come? Hast Thou not already shown some of Thy friends a future renewal of Thy Church? Must not the Jews convert to the truth? Is this not what the Church awaits? Do not all the saints in Heaven cry out to Thee for justice: “Avenge Thyself”? Do not all the righteous on earth say to Thee: “Amen, come, O Lord”? All creatures, even the most insensitive, groan under the weight of Babylon’s countless sins and ask for Thy coming to restore all things: “For we know that every creature groaneth” (Rom. 8:22).
6. Lord Jesus, remember Thy congregation. Remember to give Thy Mother a new company so that, through her, Thou mayest renew all things and, through Mary, bring the years of grace to completion, just as Thou began them through her. Give Thy Mother children and servants. Otherwise, let me die. Give Thy Mother children. It is through her that I pray to Thee. Remember how Thou hast dwelled in her womb and hast been nourished at her bosom, and reject not my prayer. Remember whose Son Thou art and grant my request. Remember what she is to Thee and what Thou art to her, and fulfill my wishes. What am I asking of Thee? Nothing for my own sake, but everything for Thy glory. What am I asking of Thee? What Thou canst, and I indeed dare say must grant me, as the true God that Thou art, to Whom all power hast been given in Heaven and on earth, and as the best of all sons, Who lovest Thy Mother with infinite love.
7. What am I asking of Thee? Liberos: Children, priests who are free with Thy freedom, detached from everything, without father or mother, brothers or sisters, relatives or friends in the world, without possessions, burdens, or cares, and even without a will of their own.
8. Liberos: Slaves of Thy love and Thy will, men after Thy own heart, who, like so many new Davids, without self-will to defile or hold them back, will fully do Thy will and defeat all Thy enemies, wielding the staff of the Cross and the sling of the Holy Rosary.
9. Liberos: Children, free like clouds raised from the earth and filled with heavenly dew, flying unhindered in every direction according to the breath of the Holy Spirit. It is they, in part, that Thy prophets spoke of when they asked: “Who are these that fly like clouds? (Isa. 60:8) “whither the impulse of the spirit was to go, thither they went” (Ezech. 1:12).
10. Liberos: Children, always at Thy service and ready to obey Thee and the voice of their superiors, like Samuel: Praesto sum, “I am ready” (1 Kings 3:16), always ready to run and suffer everything with Thee and for Thee, like the Apostles: “Let us also go, that we may die with Him” (John 11:16).
11. Liberos: True children of Mary, Thy holy Mother, begotten and conceived by her charity, carried in her womb, attached to her bosom, nourished on her milk, raised by her care, supported by her arms, and enriched with her graces.
12. Liberos: True servants of the Blessed Virgin, who, like so many Saint Dominics, go everywhere, carrying the shining, burning torch of the Holy Gospel in their mouths and the Holy Rosary in their hands, barking like watchdogs at wolves that would tear to bits the flock of Jesus Christ, burning like fires and illuminating the darkness of the world like suns. Men who, through true devotion to Mary—interior without hypocrisy, outward without criticism, prudent without ignorance, tender without indifference, constant without frivolity, and holy without presumption—may crush the head of the ancient serpent wherever they go, so that the curse Thou hast placed upon him may be fully fulfilled: “I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head” (Gen. 3:15).
13. It is true, great God, that the devil will, as Thou hast foretold, lay mighty snares to entrap the heel of this mysterious woman—that is, this small company of her children who will come at the end of the world—and that there will be great enmity between this blessed offspring of Mary and the accursed race of Satan. This enmity, however, is entirely divine and the only one of which Thou art the author: “I will put enmities.” Yet these battles and persecutions, which the children and the race of Belial will wage against the race of Thy holy Mother, will serve only to emphasize the power of Thy grace, the courage of their virtue, and the authority of Thy Mother, to whom Thou hast given, from the beginning of the world, the commission to crush his proud head with her heel through the humility of her heart: “She shall crush thy head.”
14. Aloquin moriar: If not this, then let me die. Is it not better for me to die than to see Thee, my God, so cruelly offended every day with such impunity, and to be in ever-greater danger of being swept away by the swelling torrents of iniquity? To me, death would be a thousand times more bearable. Either send me help from Heaven or take my soul. If I did not have hope that Thou wouldst sooner or later heed this poor sinner for the sake of Thy glory, just as Thou hast heard so many others, I would say to Thee, as a prophet did: “Take away my soul” (1 Kings 19:4). But my confidence in Thy mercy leads me to say with another prophet: “I shall not die but live and shall declare the works of the Lord” (Ps. 117:17) until I can say with Simeon: “Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord, according to Thy word in peace; because my eyes have seen Thy salvation” (Luke 2:29-30).
15. Memento: Remember, O Holy Spirit, to bring forth and form the children of God together with Mary, Thy divine and faithful Spouse. Thou didst form Jesus, the Head of the predestined, with her and in her; and it is with her and in her that Thou must form all His members. Thou didst not beget any divine person within the Godhead; but it is Thou alone Who forms all holy persons outside the Divinity, and all saints who have existed and will exist until the end of the world are so many works of Thy love united with Mary.
16. The special reign of God the Father lasted until the Flood and was ended by a flood of water. The reign of Jesus Christ was ended by a flood of blood. However, Thy reign, Spirit of the Father and of the Son, continues and will be concluded by a flood of fire, love, and justice.
17. When will it come, the deluge of fire and pure love that Thou must kindle throughout the earth, so gentle yet so fervent that all nations, Turks, idolaters, and even Jews will be consumed by it and converted? No one can hide from its heat (Ps. 18:7). May it be enkindled: May this divine fire that Jesus Christ came to bring to the world be kindled before that of Thy wrath, which will reduce the whole earth to ashes. Send forth Thy Spirit, and they shall be created; and Thou shalt renew the face of the earth (Ps. 103:30). Send forth this Spirit of fire upon the earth to create priests all aflame, through whose ministry the face of the earth may be renewed, and Thy Church reformed.
18. Memento Congregationis tuae: Remember, O Lord, Thy congregation. It is a congregation, an assembly, a chosen selection of predestined souls that Thou must gather from the world and of the world: “I have chosen you out of the world” (John 15:19). It is a flock of peaceful lambs that Thou must gather from among so many wolves; a company of chaste doves and royal eagles from among so many ravens; a swarm of honeybees from among so many wasps; a herd of agile deer from among so many tortoises; a battalion of courageous lions from among so many timid hares. Ah! Lord, gather us from among the nations (Ps. 105:47). Call us together, unite us, so that all glory may be given to Thy holy and mighty Name.
19. Thou didst predict this illustrious company to Thy Prophet, who described it in very obscure and mysterious, yet entirely divine terms (Ps. 67:10-17):
10) Thou shalt set aside for Thine inheritance a free rain, O God: and it was weakened, but Thou hast made it perfect.
11) In it shall Thy animals dwell; in Thy sweetness, O God, Thou hast provided for the poor.
12) The Lord shall give the word to them that preach good tidings with great power.
13) The king of powers is of the beloved, of the beloved; and the beauty of the house shall divide spoils.
14) If you sleep among the midst of lots, you shall be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and the hinder parts of her back with the paleness of gold.
15) When He that is in Heaven appointeth kings over her, they shall be whited with snow in Selmon.
16) The mountain of God is a fat mountain! A curdled mountain, a fat mountain.
17) Why suspect, ye curdled mountains? A mountain in which God is well pleased to dwell: for there the Lord shall dwell unto the end.
20. What, O Lord, is this chosen rain Thou hast set apart for Thy weakened inheritance, if not these holy missionaries, children of Mary, Thy Spouse, whom Thou must gather and set apart from the common multitude for the good of Thy Church, so weakened and defiled by the crimes of her children?
21. Who are these animals and poor souls who will dwell in Thy inheritance and are nourished by the divine sweetness Thou hast prepared for them, if not those poor missionaries who confide entirely in Providence and will be filled to overflowing with Thy most divine delights; if not those mysterious animals of Ezekiel, who will possess the humanity of man through selfless and benevolent charity toward their neighbor, the courage of the lion through their holy wrath and ardent yet prudent zeal against the demons and the children of Babylon, the strength of the ox through their apostolic labors and mortification of the flesh, and finally the agility of the eagle through their contemplation of God? Such will be the missionaries Thou wishest to send into Thy Church. They will have the eye of a man toward their neighbor, the eye of a lion against Thy enemies, the eye of an ox against themselves, and the eye of an eagle toward Thee.
22. These imitators of the Apostles will preach with such strength and power that they will stir the minds and hearts of all wherever they preach. To them, wilt Thou give Thy word: “For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to resist and gainsay” (Luke 21:15).
23. Thou, as King of the virtues of Jesus Christ the Beloved, will take Thy delight among these beloved ones, who will have no other goal in their missions than to give Thee all the glory of the spoils they shall win from Thy enemies: The king of powers is among the beloved, and the beauty of the house shall divide the spoils.
24. Through their surrender to Divine Providence and their devotion to Mary, they shall have the silvery wings of the dove, namely, purity of doctrine and morals, and its golden back, that is, perfect charity toward one’s neighbor, bearing with his faults, and a great love for Jesus Christ, carrying His cross.
25. Thou alone, as King of Heaven and King of kings, will set these missionaries apart from the common people as if they were kings, making them whiter than the snow on Mount Selmon—the beautiful, fertile, and bountiful mountain of God, a strong and solid mountain in which He takes wonderful delight and in which He dwells and shall dwell until the end.
Who, O Lord, God of truth, is this mysterious mountain of which Thou proclaimed so many wonders, if not Mary, Thy beloved Spouse, whose foundations Thou hast laid upon the summits of the highest mountains: The foundations thereof are in the holy mountains…(Ps. 86:1) The mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared in the top of mountains (Isa. 2:2, Mich. 4:1)?
Blessed, a thousand times blessed, are the priests whom Thou hast chosen and predestined to dwell with Thee on this abundant and divine mountain, there to become kings of eternity through their contempt for the world and their elevation in God, there to become whiter than snow through their union with Mary, Thy all-beautiful, pure and immaculate Spouse, there to be enriched by heavenly dew and the land’s riches, with all the temporal and eternal blessings with which Mary is wholly filled. From the summit of this mountain, like Moses, they will hurl arrows against their enemies through fervent prayers to defeat or convert them. On this mountain, they will learn, from the very mouth of Jesus Christ, Who always dwells there, the meaning of His eight beatitudes. On this mountain of God, they will be transfigured with Him as on Mount Tabor, die with Him as on Calvary, and ascend to Heaven with Him as on the Mount of Olives.
26. Memento Congregationis tuae: Remember, O Lord, Thy congregation: Thou alone, through Thy grace, must form this company. Nothing will be accomplished if man takes the first step; if he mixes his own efforts with Thine, he will ruin everything. This congregation is Thy work, O great God. Do Thy all-divine work by gathering, calling, and assembling Thy elect from every place under Thy dominion to form an army against Thy enemies.
27. Seest Thou, Lord, God of hosts, captains forming full battalions, potentates raising numerous armies, sailors forming entire fleets, and merchants gathering in great numbers at markets and fairs? How many thieves, impious ones, drunkards, and libertines unite in crowds against Thee every day, so easily and quickly! At the sound of a whistle, the beat of a drum, the sight of a blunt sword-tip, the promise of a withered laurel wreath, the offer of a piece of gold or silver; in a word, a breath of fame, a trifling interest, and the prospect of a paltry, bestial pleasure immediately bring thieves together, gather soldiers, unite battalions, gather merchants, fill houses and markets, and cover land and sea with a countless multitude of reprobates who, though all divided from one another by hailing from various places, having temperamental differences or self-interest, nevertheless unite as one to wage war to the death against Thee under the devil’s banner and leadership.
28. Shall almost no one take up Thy cause, great God, even though there is so much glory, joy, and benefit in serving Thee? Shall almost no soldier rally under Thy banner? Will nary a Saint Michael cry out from among his brothers in zeal for Thy glory: “Who is like unto God?” Ah, let me cry out everywhere: Fire, fire, fire! Help, help, help! Fire in the house of God, fire in our souls, fire even in the sanctuary! Help our brother who is being murdered, help our children who are being slaughtered, help our good father who is being stabbed!
29. Qui Domini est jungatur mihi: If any man be on the Lord’s side, let him join with me! (Exod. 32:26). Let all good priests scattered throughout the Christian world join us, whether on the battlefield or withdrawn to deserts or solitary places, so that, strongly united under the banner of the Cross, we may form a disciplined army in battle array, ready to attack the enemies of God who have already sounded the alarm. They have shouted, they have raged, they have swelled their ranks. Let us break their bonds asunder; and let us cast away their yoke from us. He that dwelleth in Heaven shall laugh at them (Ps. 2:3-4).
30. Exsurgat Deus et dissipentur inimici ejus! Exsurge, Domine, quare obdormis? Exsurge. Let the Lord arise, and let His enemies be scattered! Arise, O Lord, why sleepest Thou (Ps. 43:23)? Arise in Thy almighty power, Thy mercy and Thy justice, to form a chosen company of sentinels to watch over Thy house, to defend Thy glory, and to save souls, so that there may be one flock and one shepherd, and that all may give Thee glory in Thy temple. Amen.
God alone!