Today around the friary we have learned of the passing of our sometime Capuchin confrere, Fr. Lucian Pulvermacher, a.k.a. Pope Pius XIII.
He was one of four brothers who all entered the Order. One of them, born Robert Alois but known in the Order--coincidentally--as Fr. Pius, died when I was a novice. A classmate and I received permission to make the trip to his funeral, thinking we might get to meet a pope. His Holiness didn't show. Now I don't care if you're Pius XIII or Hadrian VII or Petrus Romanus, you have to attend your own brother's funeral.
Some of the friars here worked with Pius XIII in the Ryukyu Islands before his "election," and were telling stories about the serious harm he did to his family and many other souls by his apostasy. May God receive him back with mercy.
For more information on this curious Capuchin, Brother Vito has a fine post.
Requiescat in pace.
P.S. I received a recent anonymous gift of the SSPX book, Priest, Where is thy Mass? Mass, where is thy Priest? in which you can meet another of the Pulvermacher brothers, Fr. Carl.
P.P.S. Between the links from Wikipedia and Fisheaters (which is a great resource, if you have not yet visited), this post has been receiving a lot of visits. Welcome to all new visitors, and may God furnish you with every grace, that you may live your consecration in all confidence and joy.
I have decided to turn off the comment thread on this post. Not that the discussion didn't raise real questions with a lot at stake for our faith and our world, but the comment box is not the most productive forum for every kind of debate. In any case, they were at least a little tangential to this post, which I just wrote as an invitation to pray for one of my religious brothers who, as can happen to anyone, lost his way in his pilgrimage in this world, and perhaps could use our intercession
