> 1934 - Ave, imperatrix!

1934 – Bringing the Hero Sodalists Home

Ave, imperatrix!

The climax of the funeral celebrations was the play which Fr Hermes had written specially for this day. Its title: ‘Ave, imperatrix!’

“It was so profound and beautiful that one wished that all could have been here to experience it with us. I have never before been so profoundly touched by a play; it was more than a play, it was life and reality. There in the shrine were two of those youthful knights whose heroism became a living reality before our eyes.

Introduction

The introduction showed us the need of the people who have lost God, who have become proud and hard, exhausted and demoralized. Starvation, epidemics and death drive humanity to despair, but not back to God. Then our holy Church, Christ’s bride, prays, and Mary, the handmaid of the Lord, prays with her for mercy.

And the tears of their co-suffering cause the Son’s chalice to overflow with the glow of love, not hatred.

As our holy Mother the Church pleads, Mary, the most pure Virgin, comes down with a blessing in order to bring the world again to her Son. Now life will flourish, God knows where and how. St Michael is chosen by the Blessed Mother to proclaim their demands to the world.

At a quiet and hidden s pot on the banks of a river that has flowed from eternity, and on whose banks a cathedral of loving hearts once rose, I will come down and with motherly kindness show everyone mercy and grace. I bring with me my Son’s mercy and the golden vessel of his grace. May what he lived and what he suffered come down into the holy Grail.

St Michael’s call then re-echoed through Germany’s districts:

Come to the Grail, come to the river’s billows, which unites East and West, and South and North, drawing them to the Father. Here rests the true refuge of the Niebelungen, the treasure of grace. All are invited, not all are chosen.

Then followed the first scene of the main body of the play.