History: ‘Cinco de Mayo’

Despite a common misconception, Cinco de Mayo is not Mexico’s Independence Day and is virtually ignored in Mexico. Some say this holiday was introduced in the U.S. by the anti-American Chicano Movement and it became more popular in the 1980s when beer companies decided to promote the party atmosphere. Other Latinos don’t observe this holiday, but may join Americans in drinking tequila and eating Mexican food. In recent years, the day is used to promote the Mexican culture and even pro-illegal-immigration policies.

TIME Magazine reported that Americans see this day as an excuse to drink and party: Despite what some people inaccurately think, Cinco de Mayo does not mark Mexican Independence Day (that would be Sept. 16). The holiday, rather, commemorates the 1862 battle of Puebla that Mexico fought and won against the advancing French army, led by Emperor Napoleon III…Today the holiday is celebrated in the town of Puebla, but it’s not an obligatory holiday in the country. Still, that doesn’t really explain why the day is so popular in the U.S. Cinco de Mayo started to come into vogue in 1940s America during the rise of the Chicano movement. And much like every other holiday in existence, it became commercialized — in this case, by the alcohol companies trying to tap into the Hispanic market. Thus was born a day of drinking tequila while wearing a stereotypical sombrero. So much for supporting Mexican pride and nationalism. Brief history of the Cinco de Mayo (Fifth of May): Cinco de Mayo is more of a holiday in the U.S. than in Mexico. Mexicans know that in the second Battle of Puebla in 1863, French troops crushed the Mexican army, days later occupied Mexico City, and continued to rule Mexico for the following four years. The French Emperor Napoleon III dared to send troops to occupy Mexico only because the United States was preoccupied with its own War Between the States, a.k.a. our Civil War. When our war ended, we massed a huge American army on the Texas border with Mexico and informed the French Emperor that under the Monroe Doctrine we would not tolerate European control of Mexico. Napoleon III beat a hasty retreat, leaving his installed “liberal” Hapsburg puppet “Emperor of Mexico” Maximilian I to be overthrown and executed by the locals in 1867. But drinking their beer each Cinco de Mayo, educated Mexicans bitterly remember that it was pressure from the United States that liberated their country from French colonial rule. The cultural residue of French influence in Mexico remains in many odd ways, e.g., the hired singers called Mariachis, whose name (despite frantic Mexican nationalist denials) was first used in 1852 and probably derives from the French word for marriage that arrived via the surreal 1838 French incursion known as “the Pastry War.” France could also be blamed for Mexico’s loss of what is now the western United States. Napoleon I sold the U.S. the Louisiana Territory, which created a potential legal claim to a large, poorly-defined share of the wild West. Napoleon I also overthrew the government of Spain and put his own brother on the Spanish throne, which plunged Spain’s colonies such as Mexico into political chaos. The resulting uprisings in Mexico ousted Spain and installed a domestic revolutionary government that could not control the centrifugal forces that broke apart Spain’s old North American empire in Mexico (as well as South America with the uprisings of Simon Bolivar and Jose San Martin). Many who stayed in the New World remained loyal to Spain. Mexico thus sent troops three times into California to suppress revolutionary Californios who did not want to be ruled by newly independent Mexico. The lands now part of the western United States were slipping free from Mexico’s tenuous, anti-democratic control even before America moved to secure them (preemptively, as it were, before Great Britain attempted to do so). When American forces arrived in California in 1846, half the Californios greeted the Trailblazer John C. Fremont (in 1856 to become the first Republican presidential candidate) and his men as liberators freeing them from Mexican tyranny. President Abraham Lincoln returned to the Roman Catholic Church the Spanish missions that the greedy and corrupt Mexican government had expropriated. Spain might have a weak historic claim to the southwestern United States. But post-revolutionary Mexico has virtually no legitimate claim whatsoever, contrary to the propaganda of racist groups such as MEChA. Since such groups speak of a mythical land they call Aztlan that they aim to restore, were the Aztecs ever here? Apparently not, except for rare raiding parties to attack tribes near today’s Mexican border in search of fresh victims for its pagan human sacrifices. What sane person would embrace such a flimsy territorial claim?

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The Inquisition: The Exaggerated Crimes of Religion

THE INQUISITION’S HORRIFIC IMAGES ARE LARGELY A MYTH The alleged sins of Christianity (i.e., the Crusades, the Inquisition) have been vastly overblown. Atheists and anti-Christians have exaggerated the “sins” of the Church to perpetuate the myth that Christians are guilty, intolerant and backward. They want people to believe that Christianity has been detrimental to humanity. Henry Kamen in his book The Spanish Inquisition argues that the Inquisition was not as powerful or cruel as commonly believed. Based on thirty years of research, Kamen reveals that there was less terror, bigotry, and persecution associated with the Inquisition than has been previously reported. He reports that the Inquisition did not enjoy widespread popularity, in Spain or the rest of Europe, and that it was used as a device to scare off enemies. In his book What’s so great about Christianity (page 206), D’Souza summarizes: The Inquisition, Kamen points out, “only had authority over Christians.” The idea that the Inquisition targeted Jews is a fantasy. The only Jews who came under the purview of the Inquisition were Jews who had converted to Christianity. There were quite a few of these, as King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella had issued an ordinance in 1492 expelling Jews from Spain. The only way to stay was to convert. Of course, many Christians suspected that some of these conversos or “new Christians” were not Christians at all. They were Jews pretending to be Christians. Interestingly the main source of allegations against the “new Christians” came from other Jews who were angry about their fellow Jews relinquishing their Judaims. These Jews had no qualms about testifying before the Inquisition courts because as Jews they were exempt from its jurisdiction. Kamen points out that the grand inquisitor himself, Tomás de Torquemada, had known Jewish ancestry. Inquisition trials, according to Kamen, were fairer and more lenient than their secular counterparts, not only in Spain but also across Europe. Frequently the only penalty given was some form of penance, such as fasting or what we would today call “community service.” How many people were executed for heresy by the Inquisition? Kamen estimates that it was around 2,000. Other contemporary historians make estimates of between 1,500 and 4,000. These deats are all tragic, but we must remember that they occured over a period of 350 years. In his article The Real Inquisition, Madden explains further: [A] team of 30 scholars from around the world…have made their report, an 800-page tome that was unveiled at a press conference in Rome [in 2004]. Its most startling conclusion is that the Inquisition was not so bad after all. Torture was rare and only about 1 percent of those brought before the Spanish Inquisition were actually executed. As one headline read “Vatican Downsizes Inquisition.” [...] Among the best recent books on the subject are Edward Peters’s Inquisition (1988) and Henry Kamen’s The Spanish Inquisition (1997), but there are others. Simply put, historians have long known that the popular view of the Inquisition is a myth. So what is the truth? [...] The Inquisition was not born out of desire to crush diversity or oppress people; it was rather an attempt to stop unjust executions. Yes, you read that correctly. Heresy was a crime against the state. Roman law in the Code of Justinian made it a capital offense. Rulers, whose authority was believed to come from God, had no patience for heretics. Neither did common people, who saw them as dangerous outsiders who would bring down divine wrath. When someone was accused of heresy in the early Middle Ages, they were brought to the local lord for judgment, just as if they had stolen a pig or damaged shrubbery (really, it was a serious crime in England). Yet in contrast to those crimes, it was not so easy to discern whether the accused was really a heretic. For starters, one needed some basic theological training–something most medieval lords sorely lacked. The result is that uncounted thousands across Europe were executed by secular authorities without fair trials or a competent assessment of the validity of the charge. The Catholic Church’s response to this problem was the Inquisition, first instituted by Pope Lucius III in 1184. It was born out of a need to provide fair trials for accused heretics using laws of evidence and presided over by knowledgeable judges…[M]ost people accused of heresy by the Inquisition were either acquitted or their sentences suspended. Those found guilty of grave error were allowed to confess their sin, do penance, and be restored to the Body of Christ. The underlying assumption of the Inquisition was that, like lost sheep, heretics had simply strayed. If, however, an inquisitor determined that a particular sheep had purposely left the flock, there was nothing more that could be done. Unrepentant or obstinate heretics were excommunicated and given over to secular authorities. Despite popular myth, the Inquisition did not burn heretics. It was the secular authorities that held heresy to be a capital offense, not the Church. The simple fact is that the medieval Inquisition saved uncounted thousands of innocent (and even not-so-innocent) people who would otherwise have been roasted by secular lords or mob rule. …During the 16th century, when the witch craze swept Europe, it was those areas with the best-developed inquisitions that stopped the hysteria in its tracks. In Spain and Italy, trained inquisitors investigated charges of witches’ sabbaths and baby roasting and found them to be baseless. Elsewhere, particularly in Germany, secular or religious courts burned witches by the thousands.

Lucian (Ancient Anti-Christian Satirist) Wrote about Jesus Christ and His Crucifixion

HISTORICITY OF JESUS

Lucian of Samosata* (c. 120 – c. 180 A.D.) was a second century Assyrian satirist who wrote in the Greek language and mocked Christians. He was also a traveling lecturer and a rhetorician concerned with accuracy. Lucian used his mordant wit to scornfully describe and ridicule early Christians. But by doing so, he left writings confirming that Jesus: was real, was the founder of Christianity, was worshiped by the Christians, and was crucified. Lucian’s work The Death of Peregrinus or The Passing of Peregrinus), 11-13: This is one of the earliest surviving pagan perceptions of Christianity. Here Lucian satirized the Christians while telling the story of a philosopher sage who at one point becomes a leader of the Christians to take advantage of their gullibility. “The Christians, you know, worship a man to this day,–the distinguished personage who introduced their novel rites, and was crucified on that account…and then it was impressed on them by their original lawgiver that they are all brothers, from the moment that they are converted, and deny the gods of Greece, and worship the crucified sage, and live after his laws.” Sources: Sacred Texts, Tertullian * Lucian was born in Samosata, Commagene, Syria — now Samsat, Turkey.

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Tacitus (Non-Christian Historian) Wrote about Jesus Christ

HISTORICITY OF JESUS The Roman historian and senator Cornelius Tacitus (c. AD 55 – c. AD 120) wrote about Jesus Christ, His execution, and Nero’s persecution of Christians in first century Rome. Tacitus’s book The Annals is one of the earliest secular historical records to mention Christ. Tacitus referred to the execution (crucifixion) of Jesus as the “extreme penalty.” Tacitus’s book The Annals, Book XV, Chapter 44: Here Tacitus makes a rather unsympathetic reference to Jesus and the early Christians: And there were sacred banquets and nightly vigils celebrated by married women. But all human efforts, all the lavish gifts of the emperor, and the propitiations of the gods, did not banish the sinister belief that the conflagration was the result of an order. Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired. Nero offered his gardens for the spectacle, and was exhibiting a show in the circus, while he mingled with the people in the dress of a charioteer or stood aloft on a car. Hence, even for criminals who deserved extreme and exemplary punishment, there arose a feeling of compassion; for it was not, as it seemed, for the public good, but to glut one man’s cruelty, that they were being destroyed. Sources: MIT; Perseus; Scribd, page 208.

Josephus (Non-Christian Historian) Wrote about Crucifixions

CRUCIFIXIONS WERE COMMON FORM OF EXECUTION USED BY ROMANS The historian of antiquity Flavius Josephus (born A.D. 37 — died circa A.D. 100) also wrote how crucifixions were used by the Romans as a form of punishment. ● Josephus’s book The Wars of the Jews, Book 5, Chapter 11, Section 1: Here Josephus recorded how the Romans terrorized the Jewish population by crucifying many of them before the walls of Jerusalem during the siege of A.D. 70. At one point, the number of crucifixions reached 500 a day and there was no room for all the crosses. Meanwhile, as Titus’ earthworks were progressing, his troops captured any who ventured out to look for food. When caught, they resisted, and were then tortured and crucified before the walls as a terrible warning to the people within. Titus pitied them — some 500 were captured daily — but dismissing those captured by force was dangerous, and guarding such numbers would imprison the guards. Out of rage and hatred, the soldiers nailed their prisoners in different postures, and so great was their number that space could not be found for the crosses. Sources: Ancient writings via Project Gutenberg, Scribd. Josephus as summarized by Paul L. Maier, Josephus, the Essential Works: A Condensation of Jewish Antiquities and The Jewish War (Kregel Academic, 1995), p 358.

● Josephus’s book The Wars of the Jews, Book 5, Chapter 6, Section 5: Now it happened at this fight that a certain Jew was taken alive, who, by Titus’s order, was crucified before the wall, to see whether the rest of them would be aftrighted, and abate of their obstinacy. Source: Ancient writings via Project Gutenberg.

Josephus (Non-Christian Historian) Wrote about Jesus Christ

HISTORICITY OF JESUS Flavius Josephus (A.D. 37 – circa 100), the first century pagan historian and Jewish priest and general, wrote about the Jew’s history and wars. He also wrote about Jesus in his twenty-one volume The Antiquities of the Jews, book 18, chapter 3, section 3: Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day; as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day. Source: Ancient writings via Gutenberg, Perseus

Happy Easter: Jesus is Risen!

“Everyone who believes in him will receive forgiveness of sins through his name.” (Acts 10:43)
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him.” (John 3:16-17)
IMPORTANCE OF THE RESURRECTION • The Resurrection is the fundamental argument for our Christian belief – it is the center of Christianity. • It shows the justice of God who exalted Christ to a life of glory, as Christ had humbled Himself unto death (Philippians 2:8-9). • The Resurrection completed the mystery of our salvation and redemption; by His death Christ freed us from sin, and by His Resurrection He restored to us the most important privileges lost by sin (Romans 4:25). • By His Resurrection we acknowledge Christ as the immortal God, the efficient and exemplary cause of our own resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:21; Philippians 3:20-21), and as the model and the support of our new life of grace (Romans 6:4-6 and 9-11). Gospel: Jn 20:1-9 On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.” So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first; he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in. When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there, and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place. Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed. For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.
Meaning: As Mary Magdalene and two other women among Jesus’ disciples approached the  tomb, the angel came and rolled away the stone. But Jesus was already gone from  there. How do we know this? John gives us an important piece of evidence: The  linen cloths that wrapped Jesus’ body are lying there. But the cloth that had  been on Jesus’ head has been rolled up – not merely cast aside. It didn’t roll  itself up. And a dead body couldn’t do that. Neither would the Roman soldiers  who had been guarding the tomb. Something has happened that cannot be  explained! John, “the disciple whom Jesus loved,” gets to the tomb first after Mary  Magdalene alerts the Eleven. But he doesn’t go in first. He leaves that to the  one whom Jesus appointed as the Rock on which He would build His Church. Among  the Church’s first bishops, it is St. Peter, the first pope, who first witnesses  the evidence that Jesus has risen from the dead. Then John enters. The one who  was with Jesus to the end on the cross quickly believes. They may not yet have  understood the Scriptures. But their belief in His resurrection begins here — as will be the case shortly for Mary and the other women when the risen Jesus  meets them face to face. Let us say with them: “Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!”
Readings for today: First Reading: Acts 10:34a, 37-43 Second Reading: Colossians 3:1-4 Gospel: John 20:1-9

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The Absurdity of Not Believing the Disciples Account of Jesus Resurrection

WHY WOULD JESUS’ DISCIPLES GIVE THEIR LIVES FOR A LIE? After Jesus’ Resurrection, the disciples didn’t become rich or powerful for proclaiming the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Instead they found persecution, reproach, torture, and violent deaths.  They didn’t change their story. Although the disciples had everything to gain and nothing to lose, none of them ever tried to save his own life by revealing the so-called fraud. The apostles fearlessly continued preaching the Gospel and the Resurrection. Why would they give their lives for something they supposedly knew to be false? What was their gain? How could such humble, simple men concoct and perfectly execute such a scheme?

Scottish theologian Dr. Hill in his Lectures in Divinity exposed the absurdity of not believing the disciples’ account of the Resurrection of Jesus: [Y]ou suppose their testimony to be false…You must suppose that twelve men of mean birth, of no education, living in that humble station which placed ambitious views out of their reach and far from their thoughts, without any aid from the state, formed the noblest scheme which ever entered into the mind of man, adopted the most daring means of executing that scheme, and conducted it with such address as to conceal the imposture under the semblance of simplicity and virtue. You must suppose that men guilty of blasphemy and falsehood, united in an attempt the best contrived, and which has in fact proved the most successful, for making the world virtuous; that they formed this singular enterprise without seeking any advantage to themselves, with an avowed contempt of loss and profit, and with the certain expectation of scorn and persecution; that although conscious of one another’s villainy, none of them ever thought of providing for his own security by disclosing the fraud, but that amidst sufferings the most grievous to flesh and blood they persevered in their conspiracy to cheat the world into piety, honesty and benevolence. Truly, they who can swallow such suppositions have no title to object to miracles.

Painting The Martyrdoms of the Apostles by Stefan Lochner: Left panel: The Martyrdoms of Sts. Peter, Paul, Andrew, John the Evangelist, James the Greater and Bartholomew Right panel: The Martyrdoms of Sts. Thomas, Phillip, James the Less, Matthew, Simon, Judas and Matthias

SOURCES - George Hill’s Lectures in Divinity, Vol. I, pp. 47, 48. Excerpted by William Taylor, The Miracles of Our Saviour, expounded and illustrated (1890), pages 21, 22. (Text) - Image via Städel Museum http://www.staedelmuseum.de/sm/index.php?StoryID=1027&ObjectID=1235

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