Motu Proprio "Norunt Profecto" of Ven. Pope Pius XII
Motu Propio Norunt Profecto
10/27/1940
Prescribing for the 24th of the next month of November the celebration in all the world of Holy Sacrifices and public prayers, for the present necessities of the human race
It is well known to all that, since a new and terrible war began to shake Europe, We have not stopped doing much as the conscience of Our office that God has entrusted to Us commanded, or that Our fatherly love towards all peoples suggested, not only to the end that concord among these nations, which is broken today, will be reestablished by means of an organization more conformed to equality and more just in manner; but also so that divine counsels and human help arrive, as much as is possible, to all those to whom the fury of this military conflict has given rise to disgraces and sufferings.
But, as is wanted that the cruel fight, far from diminishing, continues more violently still, and Our voice, mediator of peace, appears as drowned by the clamor of arms; We direct Ourselves with trembling soul and at the same time confidence in “the Father of mercies and God of all consolations” (2 Cor 1:3) and We ask Him to send better times to the human race; He that is the only one that breaks human wills and directs to His will the course of events.
We know well, of course, that Our prayers will be more efficacious if they are united, as if forming a bundle, to the prayers of Our children. For this, as at the close of the past month of May We invited all the faithful, principally the children, to gather before the altar of the Virgin Mother of God and ask Her for help from Heaven; in the same way now We order that the 24th day of next November, in all the world, joined with Us, public prayers be raised to God. And We cherish the hope that all the children of the Church will accept willingly and with all their heart these Our desires; in the manner that they form an immense chorus of supplicating voices, that, rising and penetrating the secrets of Heaven, reconciles the divine favor and mercy to us. And—that which is of most importance—We also hope that this crusade of prayers will go accompanied by works of penance and by the spiritual improvement of the life of each one, make it more conformed to the Christian laws and customs. This is how, without doubt, the present distressing conditions and the uncertainty of future events demands it; this is how the divine justice and the divine mercy, that We ought to procure and earn, demands it.
And in order to placate the divine Majesty and to make it favorable to us, there is nothing that matters more than the Holy Eucharistic Sacrifice, by which the same Redeemer of the human race “sacrificed Himself and offered Himself in every place…as a pure offering” (Mal 1:11); We desire that that same day, in which there will be public prayers, all the ministers of the altar celebrate to this end the Holy Mass devoutly and united in spirit with Us, who will offer the divine Sacrifice above the Tomb of St. Peter in the Vatican Basilica. Therefore, Motu Propio y in virtue of Our Apostolic Authority We order that the 24th day of the next month of November, all those that by reason of their office are obligated to offer Mass for the people that is entrusted to them, offer it for Our intention. And know all those other priests, those of the secular clergy, and of the regular, that they will do a thing very pleasant to Us, if upon immolating that Sunday the Divine Host, they conform their intention to Ours, which is: to entreat, by means of so many Eucharistic Sacrifices offered to the Eternal Father at each moment and in each part of the world, the perpetual rest of all the faithful who have died for the cause of the war; to obtain grace and celestial consolations for all the exiles, the fugitives, and the unknown wandering through strange lands, for the prisoners, for all those, finally, who suffer and cry the calamities of the war; finally, to obtain from God that, reestablishing the order of justice and placating souls under the influence of Christian charity, peace finally comes, a true peace, one that unites with bonds of fraternal love all the peoples of the human family and brings them tranquility and prosperity.
Given in Rome, in St. Peter’s, on the Feast of Christ the King, the 27th of October, of the year 1940, the second of Our Pontificate.
I hope you find this translation (however poor it may be) helpful. God Bless!
Nota Bene: The Spanish translation I translated from can be found here.
Translation ©2011 Brandon P. Otto. Licensed via CC BY-NC. Feel free to redistribute non-commercially, as long as credit is given to the author.
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