"ALTER CHRISTUS" MEANS, "ANOTHER CHRIST."

EVERY SINGLE ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST
IS CONSIDERED AN "ALTER CHRISTUS"
BY THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH.
"ALTER CHRISTUS" MEANS,
"ANOTHER CHRIST."




















 

Matthew 24:4-5 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.

For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.

Excerpt from http://www.angelfire.com/ma/romewatch/page12.html#Alter--

Alter Christus?

"The priest is indeed another Christ, or in some way he is himself a continuation of Christ." (Pope Pius XI, Encyclical on the Priesthood).

"The priest on earth (is) another Christ." (The New Saint Joseph Baltimore Catechism.)

"In this moment, the priest quite literally becomes Christ Himself." (This is the Mass, Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, Page 100)

"The priest is not just the cross, he is Christ Himself." (The Lone Star Catholic, March 1, 1959)

"To the carnal eye, the priest looks like other men, but to the eye of faith he is exalted above angels." (Faith of our Fathers, Gibbons, Page 422)

"Another grace of the synod [Synod of Bishops, October, 1990] was a new maturity in the way of looking at priestly service in the Church; and thus also of the personal life of each and every priest, that is to say, of each priest's participation in the saving mystery of Christ: 'Sacerdos Alter Christus.'" (Pope John Paul II, Letter to Catholic priests on the occasion of Holy Thursday, 1991).

"The priest is given transcendent power to forgive sins, to administer the sacraments, but most of all to offer the Eucharistic Sacrifice, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, in which he becomes an 'Alter Christus'" (Pastoral Reflections on the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass [http://www.cny.org/archives/cv092498.htm], Cardinal John J. O'Conner.)

"In the sacrifice of Jesus Christ the priest is a substitute of Christ Himself. As a result of his ordination, he is a true alter Christus." (The Latin Mass: Chronicle of a Catholic Reform, Summer 1995 Issue [http://www.latinmassmagazine.com/stickler.html]. )

"Thus the priest, as is said with good reason, is indeed another Christ;" (Papal Encyclical 'Ad Catholici Sacerdotii' on the priesthood, Pope Pius XI, December 20, 1935)

A Roman Catholic priest muses on the nature of the Roman Catholic priesthood at http://www.cam.org.au/perspective-2010/the-priest-an-alter-christus.html (emphases ours)--

...the most fundamental of all the notions relative to this particular vocation is summed up by the Latin description -- 'Alter Christus'. In plain English that means being 'another Christ'.

That is a very fine appellation; in fact, one might well describe it as a glorious one. Nevertheless, if that description is to be put into practice or, more specifically, to be lived by, an extremely high standard is being called for.

I for one would never have taken on the priestly way of life, therefore, if I did not believe that walking such a demanding journey was the path that God wanted me to follow. In that regard, two particular things encouraged me to enter the seminary, and 'to test out my vocation' as the expression has it.

The first was the shining example of the priests that I had met along the way. And I do not say that lightly. I mean it without reservation. To me they were genuine 'other Christs' by the way they lived out their vocations.

...At the altar the priest is acting very much in the person of Jesus, so that THE CONCEPT OF BEING HIS ALTER EGO never sits really comfortably with me. Now, more than 50 years later, it still touches me deeply to have to stand before my God on behalf of His people, and to represent the faithful, from whom I have been so unworthily called.

Interestingly enough, I found myself in a similar situation, when I started to exercise the privilege of conferring the various sacraments -- enacting sacred rites over people to bring to them God's grace. Each time that I 'stood in' for Jesus, my being His priest was an overwhelming but uplifting experience.

...This mind-blowing exercise of being an 'Alter Christus' was never so overwhelming as when I first sat in the confessional, and on Jesus' behalf, absolved people from their sins. I can still remember feeling truly humbled as each fellow Christian opened up his or her heart to me, and acknowledged the failures that had occurred in his or her life.

Now that I was actually exercising the powers of the priesthood, the famous words of the great Dominican preacher, Lacordaire, came clearly home to me: "My God, what a life, and it is Yours, oh priest of Jesus Christ."

So, as you can no doubt see, I have every reason to be ever grateful that He chose me, unworthy as I am, to be an 'Alter Christus' so long ago, and why I still need your prayerful support to be truly faithful.**

**[our note: sometimes it seems like these priests are entering essay contests like, "Write an essay on why you like being a priest" or "How you view your role as an alter Christus" or "Why a person should choose to be a Roman Catholic priest." These thin essays don't give any spiritual meat that anybody can live off of (I think of artificial sweeteners that offer no value to the body, but are rather carcinogenic), they are just some words, mere words--words coming from what William Hogan called the most "corrupt, licentious body of men in the world." (William Hogan, former priest, Popery As It Was and As It Is, Hartford, 1854, p. 37). Not to say that there is not one sincere Roman Catholic priest in this world (and even he is a deceived deceiver preaching blasphemy and a false gospel) who is trying to shun evil according to his own errors--but as a group, the Roman Catholic priesthood has been known for its vile, evil deeds for centuries on end.]

Another Roman Catholic priest muses on the nature of the Roman Catholic priesthood at http://www.cardinalseansblog.org/2008/07/11/quis-alter-chistus-es/. An excerpt (emphases ours)--

O sacerdos! Tu quis es?
Non es a te, quia de nihilo.
Non es ad te, quia es mediator ad Deum.
Non es tibi, quia soli Deo vivere debes.
Non es tui, quia es omnium servus.
Non es tu, quis alter Christus es.
Quid ergo es? Nihil et omnia,
O sacerdos!

O priest! Who art thou?
Thou art not from thyself, because thou art from nothing.
Thou art not to thine own self, because thou art a mediator to God.
Thou art not for thyself, because thou ought to live for God alone.
Thou art not of thyself, because thou are the servant of all.
Thou art not thyself, thou who art another Christ.
What therefore art thou? Nothing and everything,
O priest!

... Comment by Alex | 2008/07/20 at 17:51:34
Just to say: those final words were quoted by Archbishop Fulton Sheen but they are not his own; they are the immortal words of the great medieval Saint, Norbert of Xanten, founder of the Premonstratensian Order (or Norbertine Canons Regular) and apostle of the Eucharist.

Mark 13:5 And Jesus answering them began to say, Take heed lest any man deceive you:

For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.

Excerpt from http://www.osv.com/tabid/7636/itemid/5748/Priest-Alter-Christus.aspx (emphases ours)--

I can't help but give in to the temptation to close with a rather famous quotation:

Oh how great is the priest! . . . If he realized what he is, he would die . . . GOD OBEYS HIM: he utters a few words and the Lord descends from Heaven at his voice, to be contained within a small host. WITHOUT the sacrament of HOLY ORDERS [i.e., the Roman Catholic priesthood], WE WOULD NOT HAVE THE LORD. Who put him there in that tabernacle? The priest. Who welcomed your soul at the beginning of life? The priest. Who feeds your soul and gives it strength for the journey? The priest. Who will prepare it to appear before God, bathing it one last time in the blood of Jesus Christ? The priest -- always the priest. And if the soul should happen to die (as a result of sin) who will raise it up, who will restore its calm and peace? Again the priest. After God, the priest is everything! Only in heaven will he fully realize what he is (St. John Vianney)**. TP

FATHER DUNFEE is the pastor of St. Agnes Parish in Mingo Junction, Ohio.

**[our note: this is like trying to puff up the priests in order to get them to feel proud to be in the ranks of the Romish priesthood--an earthly, sensual, devilish way to appeal to the pride of man. When things are not based on the truth, all that one is left with is the flesh and appealing to the flesh. The writer in this passage talks about heaven; however, the Roman Catholic priest who dies as a Roman Catholic will not make it to heaven. They that worship God must worship him in spirit and in truth.]

Excerpt from http://www.lazyboysreststop.com/odds12.htm (emphases ours)--

Catholic priests appear to like being called 'alter Christus' -- another Christ -- as indicated by this excerpt from a teaching by Dominican Damian Fandal at a retreat for priests in New Orleans on October 15, 1993. The teaching was titled "Penance."

To hear confessions, admittedly a tiresome proposition at times, is an opportunity we should not miss. Kindness to others is a Christian hallmark; those who are kindly are in the path of salvation. But even more, WE ARE "OTHER CHRISTS." And perhaps nowhere is that more palpable to the faithful than in the confessional of one who goes into the confessional box TO SIT THERE IN JESUS' STEAD.

"I have come to call..... sinners." Pray for patience and kindliness before you hear confessions -- asking Jesus Christ to prepare you to sit there in his name - to be kind, compassionate, forgiving, uncensorious, "alter Christus." -- Damian Fandal, O.P., The Sacrament of Reconciliation,

In the face of overwhelming historical evidence that many who have held priestly office in the Roman Church were anything but Christlike, the RCC admits that some of her priests fail to measure up as 'other Christs.'

The poem entitled, "Alter Christus A Poem Prayer For Priests" (read with video at http://wn.com/Alter_Christus_A_Poem_Prayer_for_Priests) is a study in blasphemy. It is written from the perspective of a Roman Catholic layperson. The poem states repeatedly that those that submit themselves to the priests are the bride OF THE PRIESTS--not the bride of Christ himself, but the bride of the priests, the alter Christuses. True Christians are the bride of Christ himself, not some impostor masquerading as the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no substitute for the man Christ Jesus.

Luke 21:8 And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them.

Excerpt from http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=383530 (emphases ours)--

The priest is also an Alter Christus. He stands in the place of Christ the High Priest who offers the sacrifice to the Father, who dispenses grace through the sacraments, who forgives sins, who preaches the Gospel and governs the Church.

In addressing priests at the Worldwide Retreat for Priests in October 1984, in Paul VI Audience Hall, Vatican City, Mother Teresa said that without a priest, Jesus could not go to the country of Yemen (emphases ours).

"I explained that I wanted to give them [Yemen government] sisters, but the trouble was that, without a priest, without Jesus going with them, our sisters couldn't go anywhere... I was so struck with the thought that ONLY WHEN THE PRIEST IS THERE CAN WE HAVE our altar and our tabernacle and OUR JESUS. Only the priest can PUT Jesus there for us...Jesus wants to go there, but we cannot bring him unless YOU first give him to us."

--Mother Teresa, Worldwide Retreat for Priests in October 1984, in Paul VI Audience Hall, Vatican City

" you [priests] are called 'another Christ.' "

--MOTHER TERESA, Worldwide Retreat for Priests in October 1984, in Paul VI Audience Hall, Vatican City

See The Antichrist Slideshow, page 13.

At his ordination to the Roman Catholic priesthood, former Roman Catholic priest, Bart Brewer, was blasphemously proclaimed to be a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek--a title that belongs to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ alone (ref. Hebrews chapters 5, 6, 7). The following excerpted from the testimony of Bart Brewer at http://www.Jesus-is-Lord.com/bart.htm (emphases ours)--

For there is one God,
and one mediator between God and men,
the man Christ Jesus; 1 Timothy 2:5

What can an
"alter Christus"
get away with?

After Sis. Charlotte rebuffed the advances of a lascivious Roman Catholic priest while she was in the convent, the mother superior told her, "After you've been in the convent a little while you won't feel this way. The rest of us felt the same way you do and you know the priest's body is sanctified, and therefore it is not a sin for us to give the priests our bodies."

Sis. Sandy, a former nun that I knew personally, submitted to Roman Catholic priest molestation when she was a child because the priest was in "higher authority" than she was. Her mother dropped her off on Saturdays (for about seven weeks) into the arms of the wolf for confirmation preparation, which she said she did not learn.

MK-ULTRA victim Cathy O'Brien (www.vaticanassassins.org/?s=Cathy+Obrien) testifies that she was abused in a Roman Catholic "church" and testifies against the Jesuits.

Many many evils have been--and are being--committed and covered up in the name of God by the antichrist Roman Catholic priesthood. Roman Catholic priests, by a law, deny the words of Jesus that are found in his word and replace them with a perversion of his gospel as they deceive and rape and plunder and subvert whole houses and generations.

MORE EXCERPTS

• Excerpt from http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13694a.htm--

  Purpose of seminary education

  A seminary is a school in which priests are trained. A priest is the representative of Christ among men: his mission is to carry on Christ's work for the salvation of souls; in Christ's name and by His power, he teaches men what they ought to believe and what they ought to do: he forgives sins, and offers in sacrifice the Body and Blood of Christ. He is another Christ (sacerdos alter Christus)...

• Excerpt from http://www.catholic.com/thisrock/quickquestions/keyword/priest--

  The Church understands the Christian priest to be an alter Christus ("another Christ") who acts in persona Christi ("in the person of Christ").

• Excerpt from http://www.catholicapologetics.info/apologetics/general/celibacy.htm--

  priests...by their ordination become an "Alter Christus" - Another Christ.

• Excerpt from http://biblelight.net/mass.htm (emphases and bracketed notes ours)--

  Power of Consecrating

  The third great power of the priestly office is the climax of all. It is the power of consecrating. "No act is greater," says saint Thomas, "than the consecration of the body of Christ." In this essential phase of the sacred ministry, the power of the priest is not surpassed by that of the bishop, the archbishop, the cardinal or the pope. Indeed it is equal to that of Jesus Christ. For in this role the priest speaks with the voice and the authority of God Himself.

  When the priest pronounces the tremendous words of consecration, he reaches up into the heaven, brings Christ down from His throne, and places Him upon our altar to be offered up again as the victim [THIS IS A VERY GREAT BLASPHEMY--CHRIST WAS NO VICTIM] for the sins of man. It is a power greater than that of monarchs and emperors. It is greater than that of saints and angels, greater than that of Seraphim and Cherubim. Indeed, it is greater than the power of the Virgin Mary. While the blessed virgin was the human agency by which Christ became incarnate a single time, the priest brings Christ down from heaven, and renders Him present on our altar as the eternal victim for the sins of man-not once, but, a thousand times! The priest speaks and lo! CHRIST THE ETERNAL AND OMNIPOTENT GOD, BOWS HIS HEAD IN HUMBLE OBEDIENCE TO THE PRIEST'S COMMAND. [THIS IS THE HIGHEST FORM OF BLASPHEMY]

  [pg.271] Of what sublime dignity is the office of the Christian priest who is thus privileged to act as the ambassador and the vicegerent of Christ on earth. He continues the essential ministry of Christ - he teaches the faithful with the authority of Christ, he offers up again the same sacrifice of adoration and atonement which Christ offered on Calvary. No wonder that the name which spiritual writers are especially fond of applying to the priest is that of "alter Christus." For THE PRIEST IS AND SHOULD BE ANOTHER CHRIST.

  Source: Faith of Millions, by Reverend John A. O'brien, Copyright 1938, published by Our Sunday Visitor, Huntington Indiana, page 270, 271.

• Excerpt from http://edwardfeser.blogspot.com/2010/05/god-man-and-masculinity.html--

  ...the priest is an alter Christus, "another Christ," who absolves us of our sins and transforms mere bread and wine into divine flesh and blood. He is the father of his flock. His role is God-like...

• Excerpt from http://solochristo.com/theology/Church/cc/ccii.htm--

  Rome teaches that her priests actually operate and discharge the priesthood of Jesus Christ, and that they are called "other Christs" (alter Christus, in Latin.)

  This explains the great adulation and honor heaped upon the Roman priest. The French Catholic Saint J.B.M. Vianney said that "Where there is no priest there is no sacrifice, and where there is no sacrifice there is no religion . . . without the priest the death and passion of our Lord would be of no avail to us. . . see the power of the priest! By one word from his lips, he changes a piece of bread into a God! A greater feat than the creation of a world." He also said, "If I were to meet a priest and an angel, I would salute the priest before saluting the angel. The angel is a friend of God, but the priest holds the place of God. . . next to God Himself, the priest is everything!" What humiliation for Jesus Christ, the One who has been given a name "above all other names!"