Reflections On The Permanent Instruction of the Alta Vendita
John Vennari
“Our ultimate aim is that of Voltaire and of the French Revolution – the final destruction of Catholicism, and even of the Christian idea.”
From the Permanent Instruction
Few Catholics know of the Permanent Instruction of the Alta Vendita, a secret document written in the early 1800s that mapped out a blueprint for the subversion of the Catholic Church. The Alta Vendita was the highest lodge of the Carbonari, an Italian secret society with links to Freemasonry and which, along with Freemasonry was condemned by the Catholic Church. Fr. E. Cahill, S.J. in his book freemasonry and the Anti Christian Movement states that the Alta Vendita was “commonly supposed to have been at the time the governing center of European Freemasonry.” The Carbonari were most active in Italy and France.
In his book Athanasius and the Church of our time, Bishop Rudolph Graber quoted a Freemason who declared that “the goal {of Freemasonry) is no longer the destruction of the Church, but to make use of it by infiltrating it. In other words since freemasonry cannot completely obliterate Christ’s Church, it plans not only to eradicate the influence of Catholicism in society. But to use the Church’s structure as an instrument of “renewal”, “progress” and “enlightenment” to further many of its own principals and goals.
An Outline
The Strategy outlined in the Permanent Instruction of the Alta Vendita is astonishing in its audacity and cunning. From the start, the documents tells of a process that will take decades to accomplish. Those who drew up the document knew that they would not see its fulfillment. They were inaugurating a work that would be carried on by succeeding generation of the initiated members. The Permanent Instruction says ” In our ranks the soldier dies and the struggle goes on.”
The instruction called for the dissemination of liberal ideas and axioms throughout society and within the institutions of the Catholic Church so that laity, seminarians, clerics and prelates would, over the years, gradually be imbued with progressive principals.
In time, this mind-set would be so pervasive that priests would be ordained, bishops would be consecrated and cardinals would be nominated whose thinking was in step with the modern thought rooted in the French Revolution’s declaration of the “Rights of Man” and other principal of 789 (equality of Religions, separation of Church and State, Religious pluralism etc.)
Eventually, a Pope would be elected from these ranks who would lead the Church on the path of “enlightenment” and “renewal” they stated that it was not their aim to place a Freemason on the Chair of Peter. Their goal was to effect an environment that would eventually produce a Pope and a hierarchy won over to the ideas of liberal Catholicism, all the while believing themselves to be faithful Catholics.
These Catholic leaders, then, would no longer oppose the modern ideas of the Revolution (as had been consistent practice of the Popes from 1789 until 1958 – the death of Pope Pius XII – who condemned these liberal principals) but would amalgamate them into the church. The end result would be a Catholic Clergy and laity marching under the banner of the Enlightenment, all the while thinking they are marching under the banner of the Apostolic keys.
Is it Possible
For those who believe this scheme to be too far-fetched – a goal too hopeless for the enemy to attain, it should be noted that both Pope Pius IX and Pope Leo XIII asked that the Permanent Instruction be published, no doubt in order to prevent such a tragedy from taking place.
However, if such a dark state of affairs would ever come to pass, there would obviously be three unmistakable means of recognizing it :
1. It would produce and upheaval of such a magnitude that the entire world would realize that there had been a major revolution inside the Catholic Church in line with modern ideas. It would be clear to all that an “updating” had taken place.
2. A new theology would be introduced that would be in contradiction to previous teachings.
3. The Freemasons themselves would voice there cock-a-doodle of triumph, believing that the Catholic Church had finally “seen the light” on such points as equality of religions, the secular state, pluralism and whatever other compromised had been achieved.
The Authenticity of the Alta Vendita Documents
The secret papers of the Alta Vendita that fell into the hands of Pope Gregory XVI embraced a period that goes from 1820 to 1846. They were published at the request of Pope Pius IX by Cretineau-Joly in his work The Roman Church and Revolution.
With the brief of approbation of February 25, 1861, which he addressed to the author, Pope Pius IX guaranteed the authenticity of these documents, but he did not allow anyone to divulge the true members of the Alta Vendita implicated in his correspondence.
The full text of the Permanent Instruction of the Alta Vendita is also contained in Msgr. George E. Dillon’s book, Grand Orient Freemasonry Unmasked. When Pope Leo XIII was presented with a copy of Msgr. Dillon’s book, he was so impressed that he ordered an Italian version to be completed and published at his own expense.
In the Encyclical Humanum Genus (1884), Leo XII called upon Catholic leaders to “tear off the mask from Freemasonry and make plain to all what it really is.” The publication of these documents is a means of “tearing off the mask.” And if the Popes asked that these letters be published, it is because they wanted all Catholics to know that all secret societies’ plans to subvert the Church from within – so that Catholics would be on their guard and, hopefully, prevent such a catastrophe from taking place.
What follows is not the entire Instruction but the sections that are most pertinent to our discussion. The document reads :
Our ultimate end is that of Voltaire and of the French Revolution – the final destruction of Catholicism, and even of the Christian Idea….
The pope, whoever he is, will never come to the Secret Societies, it is up to the Secret Societies to take the first step towards the Church, with the aim of conquering both of them.
The task that we are going to undertake in not the work of a day, or of a month or of a year; it may last several years, perhaps a century; but in our ranks the soldier dies and the struggle goes on.
We do not intend to win the Popes to our cause, to make them neophytes of our principles, propagators of our ideas. That would be a ridiculous dream; and if events turn out in some way, if Cardinals or prelates, for example of their own free will or by surprise, should enter into part of our secrets, this is not at all an inventive for desiring their elevation to the See of Peter. That elevation would ruin us. Ambition alone would have led them to apostasy, the requirements of power would force them to sacrifice us. What we must ask for, what we should look for and wait for, as the Jews wait for the Messiah, is a pope according to our needs…
With that we shall march more securely towards the assault on the Church than with pamphlets of our brethren in France and even the gold of England. Do you want to know the reason for this. It is that with this, in order to shatter the high rock on which God has built his Church., we no longer need Hannibalian vinegar, or need gunpowder, or even need our arms. We have the little finger of the successor of Peter engaged in the ploy, and this little finger is as good, for this crusade, as all the Urban IIs and all the Saint Bernards in Christendom.
We have no doubt that we will arrive at this supreme end of our efforts. But when? But How? The unknown is not yet revealed. Nevertheless, as nothing should turn us aside from the plan drawn up, and on the contrary everything should tend to this, as if as early as tomorrow success were going to crown the work that is barely sketched, we wish, in this instruction, which will remain secret for the mere initiates, to give the officials in the charge of the supreme Vente [Lodge] some advice that they should instill in all the brethren, in the form of instruction or of a memorandum…..
Now then, to assure ourselves a Pope of the required dimensions, it is a question first of Shaping for this Pope a generation worthy of the reign we are dreaming of. Leave old people and those of mature age aside; go to the youth, and if it is possible, even to the children….You will contrive for yourselves, at little cost, a reputation as good Catholics and pure patriots.
This reputation will put access to our doctrines into the midst of the young clergy, as well as deeply into the monasteries. In a few years, by the force of things, this young clergy will have overrun all the functions; they will form the sovereign’s council, they will be called to choose a Pontiff who should reign. and this Pontiff, like most of his contemporaries, will be necessarily more or less imbued with the {revolutionary} Italian and humanitarian principles that we are going to begin to put into circulation. It is a small grain of mustard that we are entrusting to the ground; but the sunshine of justice will develop it up to the highest power, and you will see one day what a rich harvest this small seed will produce.
In the path that we are laying out for our brethren there are found great obstacles to conquer, difficulties of more than one kind to master. They will triumph over them by experience and by clear sightedness; but the goal is so splendid that it is important to put all the sails to the wind in order to reach it. You want to revolutionize Italy; look for the Pope whose portrait we have just drawn. You wish to establish the reign of the chosen ones on the throne of the prostitute of Babylon; let the clergy march under your standard, always believing that they are marching under the banner of the Apostolic keys (Vatican).
You intend to make the last vestige of tyrants and oppressors disappear; lay your snares [traps] like Simon Bar-Jona; lay them in the sacristies, the seminaries and the monasteries rather than at the bottom of the sea; and if you don not hurry, we promise you a catch more miraculous than his. The fisher of fish became the fisher of men; you will bring friends around the Apostolic Chair. You will have preached a revolution in tiara and in cope, marching with the cross and the banner, a revolution that will need to be only a little bit urged on to set fire to the four corners of the world.
It now remains for us to examine how successful this design has been.
The Enlightenment my friend is “blowing in the wind.”
Throughout the 19th century, society had become increasingly permeated with the liberal principles of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution., to the great detriment of the Catholic faith and the Catholic State. The supposedly “kinder and gentler” notions of religious pluralism, religious indifferentism, a democracy which believes all authority comes from the people, false notions of liberty, separation of the Church and State, interfaith gatherings and other novelties were gripping the minds of post-enlightenment Europe, infecting statesmen and churchmen alike.
The Popes of the 19th century and early 20th century waged war against these dangerous trends in full battle dress. With clear-sighted presence of mind rooted in an uncompromised certitude of Faith, these Popes were not taken in. They knew that evil principles, no matter how honorable they may appear, cannot bear good fruit, and these were evil principles at their worst, since they were rooted not only in heresy, but in apostasy. Popes aimed powerful cannons at the errors of the modern world and fired incessantly. The Encyclicals were their cannonballs, and they never missed their target.
The most devastating blast came in the form of Pope Pius IX’s monumental 1864 “Syllabus of Errors”, and when the smoke cleared, all involved in the battle were in no doubt as to who was on what side. The lines of demarcation had clearly been drawn. In this great Syllabus, Pius IX condemned the principal errors of the modern world, not because these new ideas were rooted in pantheistic naturalism and were therefore incompatible with Catholic doctrine, as well as being destructive to society.
The teachings in the Syllabus were counter-Liberalism, and the principals of Liberalism were counter-Syllabus. This was unquestionably recognized by all parties. Father Denis Fahey referred to this showdown as “Pius IX Vs the Pantheistic Deification of Man.” Speaking for the outside the French Freemason Ferdinand Buisson likewise declared, ” A school cannot remain neutral between the Syllabus and the “Declaration of the rights of man”.
Liberal Catholics
Yet the 19th century saw a new breed of Catholic who utopianly sought a compromise between the two. These men looked for what they believed to be “good” in the principals of 1789 and tried to introduce them into the Church, Many clergymen, infected by the spirit of the age, were caught into this net that had been “cast into the sacristies and into the seminaries.” They came to be known as “Liberal Catholics.” Pope Pius IX remarked that they were the worst enemies of the Church. Despite this, their numbers increased.
Pope St. Pius X and Modernism
This crisis peaked around the beginning of the 20th century when the Liberalism of 1789 that had been “blowing in the wind” swirled into the tornado of Modernism. Fr. Vincent Miceli identified this heresy as such by describing Modernism’s “trinity of parents.” He wrote:
1. Its religious ancestor is the Protestant Reformation;
2. Its philosophical parent is the Enlightenment;
3. Its political pedigree comes from the French Revolution.
Pope St. Pius X, who ascended to the papal chair in 1903, recognized Modernism as a most deadly plague that must be arrested. He wrote that the most important obligation of the Pope is to insure the purity and integrity of Catholic doctrine, and he further stated that if he did nothing, then he would have failed in his essential duty.
St Pius X waged a war on Modernism, issued an Encyclical (Pascendi) and a Syllabus (Lamentabili) against it, instituted the Anti-Modernist Oath to be sworn by all priests and theology teachers, purged the seminaries and universities of Modernist and excommunicated the stubborn and unrepentant.
St Pius X effectively halted the spread of Modernism in his day. It is reported, however, that when he was congratulated for having eradicated this grave error, St. Pius X immediately responded that despite all his efforts, he had not succeeded in killing this beast, but had only driven in underground. He warned that if Church leaders were not vigilant, it would return in the future more virulent than ever.
Curia on the Alert
A little known drama that unfolded during the reign of Pope Pius XI demonstrates that the underground current of Modernist thought was alive and well in the immediate post-Pius X period.
Father Raymond Dulac relates that at the secret consistory of May 23, 1923 Pope Pius XI questioned the thirty Cardinals Merry del Val, de Lai, Gasparri, Boggiani and Billot. The Cardinals advised against it.
Cardinal Villot warned, “The existence of profound differences in the midst of the episcopacy itself cannot be concealed… [they] run the risk of giving place to discussions that will be prolonged indefinitely.”
