Translation of Pius XII's Apostolic Letter Carissimis Russiae Populis or Sacro Vergente Anno

Translation of Pius XII's Apostolic Letter Carissimis Russiae Populis or Sacro Vergente Anno by Luca Centomo and John Choi. This is an unofficial translation ad usum privatum - for private use. We have added the footnotes as found on the source document.

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Given the allotted time and the urgency of translating this document we have utilized the Italian version which can be found on the Vatican website here. 

On more information on the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary a well written article on Wikipedia is available here.

 PIUS XII

APOSTOLIC LETTER

CARISSIMIS RUSSIAE POPULIS

SACRO VERGENTE ANNO

ON THE CONSECRATION OF RUSSIA 

TO THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY

7 JULY 1952 (1)

    While the Holy Year came happily to its end, after which by Divine will it was given to Us to solemnly define the Dogma of the Assumption to Heaven in Soul and Body of Mary, the great Mother of God, many (Peoples) of every part of the World expressed to Us their most lively praise; of these there did not lack those who upon sending Us letters of gratitude, requested as soon as possible that We consecrate the entire People of Russia, in the anguishes of the present moment, to the Immaculate Heart of the same Virgin Mary. 

    Such a request became overall pleasant to Us, because, if Our paternal affection embraces all Peoples, in a particular way it refers to those, although for the most part separated from the Apostolic See by historical events, they still continue to preserve the Christian name and find themself in such conditions that not only it is most difficult to hear Our voice and know the teachings of Catholic Doctrine, but are pushed with deceitful and pernicious arts to reject even the Faith and the Name of God.

1. Constant Remembrance in Prayer

    As soon as We were elevated to the Supreme Pontificate, Our thoughts turned to you, who constitute an immense people, famous in History for their glorious ventures, for the love of their homeland, for their industriousness and thriftiness, for their piety toward God and the Virgin Mary.

    We have  never ceased to raise Our supplications to God so that you would always be aided with His light and with His Divine assistance, and that He grant to all of you to reach, together with a just material wealth, even that freedom through which each of you would be able to protect your own human dignity, to know the teachings of the true religion, and to give due worship to God not only in the intimacy of each one’s conscience, but also, openly, in the workings of public and private life. 

    Of the rest you know well that Our predecessors, each time they were presented the possibility, they had nothing other in their heart but to show you their benevolence and to give you their help. You know that the apostles of the western Slavs, Saints Cyril and Methodius, who together with the Christian Religion, they carried with their ancestors even the civilization, they directed themselves towards this beloved city (Rome) as their apostolic activity would be validated by the authority of the Roman Pontiffs. And while they entered Rome, Our predecessor, Adrian III of happy memory “goes to meet them with a great show of honors accompanied by their clergy and their people” (2) and after having approved and praised their work, not only were they elevated to the episcopacy, but he sought to consecrate them with the solemn majesty of the sacred rites.

2. A Millennium of First Encounter

    For that which has to do with your ancestors, the Roman Pontiffs, each time the circumstances allowed it, they sought to tighten or consolidate the link of friendship with them. Such that in 977 our predecessor Benedict VII of happy memory sent his legates to the Prince Jaropolk, the brother of the famous Vladymir, and to the great Prince Vladymir himself, under whose auspices the Name and Christian Civilization shone among your people. Legates were sent on behalf of Our predecessors, John XV in 991 and Sylvester II in 999 which was kindly repaid also by Vladymir who sent ambassadors to the same Roman Pontiffs. And it is worth noting that during the time in which this Prince brought His people to the religion of Jesus Christ, the Eastern Christianity and that of the West were united under the one authority of the Roman Pontiff, as supreme head of the whole Church. 

    Moreover, not many years afterwards, in 1075, your Prince Izjaslav sent his own son, Jaropolk to the Supreme Pontiff Gregory VII. Our predecessor of immortal memory so wrote to this Prince and His most august consort, “Your Son, while visiting the sacred thresholds of the Apostles, came to Us, and because he sought to obtain that Kingdom by Our Hand as a gift of Saint Peter, having made a Profession of Fidelity to the Prince of the Apostles, he asked with devout pleadings, assuring (Us) without a doubt that his request would be ratified and confirmed by you, in case that he would have obtained the favor and the protection of the Apostolic authority. And since these vows and these requests seemed legitimate, both through your consensus and also by the devotion of the one seeking, We have in the end received Him and have given to him on behalf of Saint Peter the government of your Kingdom, with this intention and with this ardent desire, that the Blessed Peter by whose intercession by God watch over you, your Kingdom, and all of your things, and make you possess that same Kingdom in all peace and also with honor and glory to the end of your lives…” (3) 

    And so it is to be noted and to hold in highest consideration that Isidor, Metropolitan of Kiev, in the Ecumenical Council of Florence, signed the decree by which solemnly sanctioned the unity of the Church of the East and of the West under the authority of the Roman Pontiff and this for all of his ecclesiastical province, therefore, for the whole Kingdom of Russia; and such sanction of unity, in as much as it pertained to Him, was faithful to the end of his earthly life. 

3. Marvelous Pages of Generosity and of Love

    In the meantime and afterwards, due to adverse circumstances, the communications became more difficult, and consequently more difficult the union of souls, however until 1448 there exists no public document that declares your church separated from the Apostolic See. This, in general, cannot be attributed to the Slavic People nor to Our predecessors, who always surrounded these peoples with fatherly love, and when it was possible for them, they supported and helped them in any way.

    We are leaving out not a few other historical documents from which appears the benevolence of Our predecessor toward your nation, but we must briefly mention  what our Supreme Pontiffs Benedict XV and Pius XI did, when, after the first European conflict (World War I), especially in the southern regions of your homeland, huge multitudes of men, women, and innocent children were struck by famine and from extreme misery. These (Benedict XV and Pius XI), in fact, moved by fatherly affection toward your fellow countrymen, sent to these peoples: food, clothing, and much money collected by the whole Catholic family, to meet the needs of all those who were hungry and unhappy, and to alleviate in any way their misfortune. Our predecessors provided, according to their own possibilities, not only material necessities, but also spiritual ones. In fact, the Popes not satisfied to raise supplications to God, Father of Mercies and source of every consolation (cf. 2 Cor 1:3), they also sought that public prayers would be said for your religious condition so distraught and agitated by those who are God’s enemies and deny God, decided to uproot from souls the faith  and the very notion of the Divinity itself. Thus the Supreme Pontiff, Pius XI, in 1930 established that the day of the festivity of Saint Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church, “that common prayers to God be raised…in the Vatican Basilica, for the unhappy conditions of the religion in Russia” (4). And He himself sought to be present to you, surrounded by a pious multitude of people. Moreover in the solemn consistorial allocution He exhorted all with these words, “We must pray to Christ…Redeemer of the Human Race so that peace and freedom to profess the faith to the unhappy children of Russia be restituted…and according to this intention, for Russia, that be recited those prayers that Our predecessor Leo XIII, of happy memory, imposed to the priest to be said together with the people after the Holy Mass. The Bishops and regular and secular clergy with every care should seek to instill what mentioned above to their faithful or to whomever attends the Holy Mass and that often they should recall it in their memory. (5)

4. Impartiality of the Supreme Pontiff

    We gladly confirm and renew this exhortation and this command, since the religious situation at the present for you is not certainly better, and because toward these peoples We feel animated by the same very lively affection and by the same attention. 

    When the last tremendous and long conflict (World War II) burst forth, we have done all that was within Our possibility, with the word, with the exhortations, and with actions, so that the disagreements would be healed through an equitable and just peace and so that all peoples, without difference of race, would unite in a friendly and fraternal manner and together may work to reach a greater prosperity. 

    Never, not even in this time, has a word exited from Our mouth that could seem unjust or bitter toward any part of the belligerent. Certainly we have reproved, as we ought, any iniquity and any violation of law, but we have done so in a way to avoid with all diligence all that could become, though unjustly, cause of greater affliction for the oppressed peoples. And when from some part We were pressured so that We would somehow, by voice or writing, approve of the War (World War II) against Russia in 1941, we never allowed it to happen as we openly explained on February 25th, 1946, in the Discourse given to the Sacred College and to all the diplomatic representatives to the Holy See. (6)

5. For the Freedom of Souls and for Justice

    We certainly cannot remain silent when it has to do with defending the cause of Religion, of truth, of justice, and of Christian civilization. To this are Our thoughts and Our intentions always turned so that, not with the violence of weapons, but with the majesty of law all peoples may be governed and each of these in possession of the due civil and religious freedom within the confines of their own homeland be led towards harmony, peace and that through the life of work each citizen may procure the necessary food, dwelling, sustenance, and the government of their own families. Our words and Our exhortations have had to do with and have to do with all nations and therefore also you who are always present in Our hearts and whose necessities and misfortune we wish to alleviate according to Our strengths. Those who love not lies but the truth know that during the whole course of the recent most harsh conflict (World War II) We have shown impartiality toward all belligerents, and of that we have often given proof with words and actions. We have included in our most ardent charity all the nations, even those whose governors  were professing to be enemies to this Apostolic See and even toward those who deny God and toward those who proudly oppose all that which is Christian and Divine and seek to cancel them from the souls of their Citizens. In fact, by the command of Jesus Christ, who entrusted the entire fold of the Christian people to Saint Peter, Prince of the Apostles, of whom We are an unworthy successor, We love with intense love all the peoples and desire to procure the earthly prosperity and eternal salvation of each one. All therefore, may they be in war among them with weapons, or may they be in  dispute with serious disagreements, by Us are considered equally as dear sons. We wish nothing other, we ask God nothing else for them with prayer but their mutual harmony, the just and true peace, and an always greater prosperity. Moreover, if some are led astray by lies and by calumny, profess open hostility with regards to Us, We intensely seek them in greater compassion and with more burning affection.

6. Condemnation of Errors and Charity for Those Who Err

    Without a doubt we have condemned and pushed aside - as the duty of Our office requires - the errors that the advocates of atheist communism teach and try hard to propagate with highest levels of damage and ruin of citizens. But those who err, far from pushing them away, we desire that they come back to the truth and be led once more to the straight path. We have also placed in the light and reproved these lies which are often presented under the false appearance of the truth precisely because we feel for you fatherly affection and seek your good. We, in fact have the firm certainty that from these errors you will only obtain great troubles because they not only take away from your souls the supernatural light and those supreme comforts which come from Piety and from the Worship of God, but also take away your Human Dignity and the just freedom due to citizens.

7. The Powerful Protection of the Mother of God

    We know that many of you preserve the Christian Faith within the intimate sanctuary of your own conscience that in no way allow themselves to be led to favor the enemies of the religion but furthermore ardently desire to profess the Christian teachings, the only sound foundations of living civilly, not only privately, but if possible, as it is possible to free persons, even openly. And we also know with Our greatest hope and greatest comfort, that you love and honor with most ardent affection the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, and that you venerate Her sacred images. We know that in the Kremlin itself there was a temple built - today, unfortunately, devoid of Divine worship - dedicated to the Most Holy Mary, assumed into heaven; and this is a most clear witness of the love that your ancestors and you carry for the great Mother of God. 

We know well that hope for salvation cannot be diminished where there is sincere and ardent piety toward the most holy Mother of God. In fact, wherever men strive, no matter their wickedness or power, to remove from the hearts of citizens the holy religion and Christian virtue, no matter if Satan himself were to seek to promote through this sacrilegious struggle according to the Apostle of the Gentiles, “...for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil…” (Eph 6:12), nevertheless, if Mary interposes her valid advocacy, the gates of Hell will not prevail. She is the most benign and the most powerful Mother of God and we have never heard in this world that anyone who turned supplicant to her has not experienced her most valid intercession. Continue, therefore, as you are doing, to venerate Her with fervent piety and to love Her ardently and invoke Her with these words that are familiar to you, “To you only has been given, o most holy and most pure Mother of God to see yourself always answered.” (7)

8. A Fervent Call for Peace

    With you we raise Our prayer, so that the Christian truth, decorum and support of Human coexistence, may be strengthened and fortified among the peoples of Russia, and all of the deceptions of the enemies of the religion, may all of their errors and their treacherous arts be distantly rejected by you; so that the public and private customs return to being conformed to the Gospel norms; so that those of you who profess to be Catholic, although deprived of their shepherds, resist with fearless strength against the assaults of impiety to the end; so that, that just freedom which belongs to the human person, to the citizens and to Christians, may be restored to all, as it is their right, and that in the first place may it be returned to the Church, which has the divine mandate to teach all men in the religious truths and in the virtues; and in the end so that the true peace shine upon your most beloved nation and upon all of humanity, and that this peace founded upon justice and empowered by charity happily direct all the peoples to that common prosperity of citizens and of peoples that derives from the mutual harmony of souls. 

    May our most loving Mother be pleased to look with benign eyes even at those who organize the ranks of militant atheists and give every impulse to their initiatives. May She illuminate their minds with the light that comes from above, and direct with divine grace their hearts to salvation.

9. Consecration of the People of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

    We, therefore, so that Ours and your prayers may be answered more easily, and to give you a singular proof of Our particular benevolence, as a few years ago we consecrated the whole world to the Immaculate Heart of the virgin Mother of God, so now, in a way very special, we consecrate all the peoples of Russia to the same Immaculate Heart, with sure confidence that with the most powerful advocacy of the Virgin Mary the vows will happily come true as soon as possible, that We, that you, who all good people form for a true peace, for a fraternal harmony and for the due freedom to all and in the first place to the Church; so that, through the prayer that We raise together with you and with all Christians, the saving kingdom of Christ, which is "the kingdom of truth and life, the kingdom of holiness and grace, the kingdom of justice, love and peace ", (8) triumphs in every part of the earth and may be firmly established. 

    And with supplicant invocations we pray to the same most clement Mother, so She may help each one of you in the present calamity and obtain from her divine Son for your minds that light that comes from Heaven, and may She implore for your souls that virtue and that strength, by which, supported by divine grace, you can victoriously overcome every impiety and error. 

Given in Rome, at St. Peter’s, July 7th, 1952, Feast of Saint Cyril and Methodius, 14th Year of Our pontificate.

PIUS PP. XII

(1) PIUS PP. XII, Epist. apost. Sacro vergente anno de universae Russorum gentis Immaculato Mariae

Cordi consecratione, [Ad universos Russiae populos], 7 Iulii 1952: AAS 44(1952), pp. 505-511.

(2) LEO XIII, Epist. enc. Grande munus, 30 sept.1880: Acta Leonis XIII, II, p. 129; EE 3.

(3) GREGORII VII Registrum, 1, 2, n. 74: MGH Epist. select. II, I, p. 236.

(4) AAS 22(1930), p. 300.

(5) AAS 22(1930), p. 301.

(6) Cf. AAS 38(1946), p. 154.

(7) Acathistus Festi Patrocinii SS. Dei Genitricis: Kondak 3.

(8) Praef. in festo Iesu Christi Regis.