Belmont Ibbey College
VOLUME III -ISSUE I
MAY, 1974
Papal Delegate
Visits Abbey
Belmont Abbey was the
privileged host of the newly
appointed Papal Delegate for the
United States, the Most
Reverend Jean Jadot, D.D., on
Founder’s Day, March 21.
Archbishop Jadot was born
Nov. 23, 1909 in Brussels,
Belgium and was ordained a
priest in 1934. He served as a
military chaplain in the former
Belgium Congo, and was
National Director of Pontifical
Missionary Work for Belgium
when he was named in 1968
Titular Archbishop of Zuri and
appointed Apostolic Delegate for
Laos, Malaysia and Singapore.
In 1969, he was further given the
position of Pro-Nuncio in
Thailand and also has served in
this regard in Cameroon, and
Gabon. He is also Apostolic
Delegate for Equatorial Guinea.
As part of the Founder’s Day
celebration, the public was in
vited to participate in a sung
high mass in the Abbey
Cathedral •
Archbishop Jadot was the
principle celebrant of the more
than twenty priests con-
celebrating, including bishops of
the dioceses of Atlanta,
Charleston, Charlotte, Raleigh,
and Savannah, and Abbots
Edmund and Walter of Belmont
Abbey.
In his homily the Apostolic
Delegate praised the Order of St.
Benedict. Quotes by Popes John
XXIII and Paul VI extolling the
virtues of the Benedictines were
read. Using the Order’s motto,
“Ora et Labora’’ or “Prayer and
Work” as a basis, he
congratulated the Benedictines
on their good work and service to
mankind.
At the close of this impressive
service. Abbot Edmund Mc
Caffrey thanked Archbishop
Jadot and the other bishops for
attending the celebration and,
pledged continued loyalty to the
Holy Father on behalf of
Belmont Abbey.
Later in the afternoon. Abbey
students and faculty were in
vited to meet with the bishops at
the Chi Rho House, headquarters
of the Campus Ministry. The
Papal Delegate blessed the
, i ^
I Archbishop Jean Jadot, Abbot Edmund McCaffrey and Bishops of the Province of
AtlanU concelebrate Mass in the Abbey Cathedral for the I ^ , r’nu..
anniiaiFounder»8 Pay CelebraUonhetd March 21. | photo by Phil Nofal
house, then he and the other
dignitaries talked informally
with members of the campus
community.
Founder’s Day com
memorates the passing of Saint
Benedict, who founded the
Benedictine Ordpr at Monte
Casino in 526, and thus started
the tradition
monasticism.
of Western
Reprinted by permission of
FREE LANCE, student
newspaper of Belmont Abbey
College.
Demonology Lectures Given
The pages of the Bible and the
history books were opened and
the devil was introduced, his
background given and his role in
the history d man was explained
in a series of four lectures
presented by Belmont Abbey
College.
Fr. James Solari, O.S.B.,
Academic Dean of the college
and a teacher of theology, and
Fr. Lawrence Willis, O.S.B., a
teacher of theology and history,
presented the first lectures in an
attempt “to put the devil in
better perspective’’ because of
the public interest in him that
has arisen since the book and
film, “The Exorcist,” became
popular.
Fr. Solari prefaced his
remarks on the Scriptural record
of demonic activity by saying
that those who experience ex
cessive fear of demonic
possession after seeing the
movie are perhaps “eVnotionally
unstable, have neurotic disor
ders or are unsophisticated in
religious education.”
Beginning with the first
Biblical mention of Satan in the
Book of Job, Sdari outlined the
development of the Christian
concept of the existence of an
evil force.
In Job, Sdari ejqilained, Satan
was not an “adversary” of God
and man; rather, he acted as a
“heavenly prosecutor” of Job,
testing the man’s human virtue.
Later, during the Babylonian
Captivity of the people of Israel
in the sixth century, B.C., in
fluence of Persian religion began
to change the Jews’ concept of
Satan.
Persian religion, he said, was
based on dualism, or a belief in
equally strong powers of good
and evil.
This thinking, Solari con
tinued, influenced Jewish
thought so that by the last
century, B.C., Satan had become
more of an evil being, between
God and man in power, con
stantly trying to thwart the plan
of man’s salvation.
“The Jews felt a need to admit
intermediary beings between
God and man, and a need to
explain evil that could not be
reconciled with the all-holy
God,” Solari said.
The full text of
Archbishop Jadot’s homily
Is printed on page four of
this Issue of Crossroads.
So Satan and demons became
more and more important in
Jewish thought and later in
Christianity.
Concerning actual demonic
possession Solari suggested that
perhaps the most outstanding
instance in the Bible was the
case of Judas Iscariot. (John
13).
Exorcism, or casting out
demons who have possessed
someone, Solari defined as
“Invtrfcing the name of God, to
whom the demcxis are subject.”
(cont. on pg. 4)