The Pious Saint Pius X. Squirrel

Dr. med. vet. Edith Breburda, PhD

Published in Oremus Press, June edition 2019
I have to admit, I love to sit in Church and proofread my books. But every so very often people misunderstand my intention and tell me I have to leave and that they never ever want to see me again. Since then, I am very afraid of going even to Adoration and instead prefer to sit in one of the last pews in the main church. Until… yes, until I realized I could go as well to this huge church nearby. It is brand-new, and sometimes I sneak in. Most of the time, no other human there. Today was such a day. I did not know where to go but was in dire need of a place to contemplate my writings.

Sure, I know all the arguments going on in the Church regarding the Society of Saint Pius X. Coming from Germany and having been a founding member of the (German-Catholic) Guides et Scouts d’Europe, I am even more aware of the late French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. In 1988, we so much hoped the Society Pius X would come back to the Church. However, nothing happened and since I was studying at Veterinary School in Munich during that time, I enjoyed daily Tridentine Mass celebrated by one of the founders of the Fraternity of Saint Peter.

Officially it was difficult for him to say the Tridentine Mass. He was allowed to do so in a nursing home chapel and the door behind him was closed to make sure nobody got in. I did see father very often because his studies in the German Seminary of the Society of St. Pius X at Zaitzkofen were not validated, and he needed some additional studies in Munich.

In between the Theology Faculty and the Veterinary School, located at the entrance of the English Garden, was only one street. Whereas, not the Theology Department but Veterinary School was referred to as the black faculty. To give you an idea of how dedicated the farmers are to their veterinarians, consider the old saying:

“Ross verrecken, grosser Schrecken, Weiber sterben, kein Verderben.” (If a horse dies, it is a huge disaster. If a wife passes away, it is not a big deal). Of course, this saying is obsolete. It only expresses the love Bavarians have for their animals. Indeed, the most respected person in a little Bavarian village has not been the priest, but instead the Veterinarian.

Still in our times, framers did make pilgrimages to our Lady of Altötting to pray for their animals suffering from an unknown disease. Some speculated it was attributed to GMO food and in such a case only our Blessed Mother could help.

“As a matter of fact, the mysterious illness was causing calves to bleed to death on Bavarian farms since 2007. Veterinarians were stumped over what was causing the deaths: vaccines, genetically modified feed or perhaps even the mothers’ first milk (colostrum). “The animals’ bodies were covered with drops of blood, and their eyes were bloodshot,” stated a Bavarian farmer. In his barn, the first calf bled to death in October 2007. The veterinarian tried everything, he says, including administering vitamins and blood-clotting agents. However, nothing worked, and within two or three days, they were all dead. The mysterious disease was rampant in Germany’s cattle barns. Until then, farmers likely had no other choice but to hope for help from above. At a “farmers’ pilgrimage” six hundred farmers prayed to the Black Madonna of Altötting to have mercy on their bleeding calves. The words “Holy Mary, help us in our hour of need, resounded across the shrine. In the invitation, the organizers

wrote: “Because there is apparently no help to be expected from any worldly source, we intend, in making this pilgrimage, to beg for protection and help from the Virgin Mary of Altötting, the patron saint of Bavaria>.”(1) 

I enjoyed being in school. I imagined my mother and grandfathers of several generations, who might have been sitting in the same pew at the old university building.

Being so close to Theology has had its advantages. Father invited me to the lectures of the famous Philosophy Professor Robert Spaemann. However, I could not invite him back to any of my classes because I didn’t think they would have been of interest to him.

Moving fast forward to today, I needed just a little spot in one of the last pews. From the parking lot, beneath the Diocesan Center, it was only a ride on the elevator to my desired location. Two ladies and a gentleman boarded the elevator with me. I looked at them and sensed a bit of confusion in their eyes. They did not really know where to go and eventually decided to ask me. “Where do you want to go?” I did not hesitate and answered, “Oh I want to go to heaven.” When we reached their destination on the first floor they were still chuckling.

I crossed a small plaza and entered the basilica. It was too early for Mass. I only saw the parents of a suburban parish priest. Today, it was difficult to go to Mass because all the priests gathered with their bishop. I guess many people thought that the Franciscan priests downtown would for sure celebrate Mass. But when the time arrived, the organist announced that there would be only a word and communion service. Shortly thereafter, a lady in a black dress with long white hair entered the sanctuary and took the priest’s seat. I left because I really needed a quiet place to “work.” I decided to try my luck at the Church of the Society of Pius X. There nobody would interrupt me.

I was sitting beside  a window and, after a while, I asked myself, “Why it is here that I can concentrate best?” I looked up and felt a presence. There was a squirrel and only a window in between us. To my dismay, the little thing was astonished seeing me here. After a while, the animal gave up staring at me and started to pray intensely. Indeed, I thought, there exists an interaction between animals and theology. And in places you never expected you find great faith. It just depends on where to turn. And the best example is the location of the Veterinary and the Theology Department of the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich.

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1) Breburda E.: Promises of New Biotechnologies, ISBN-13: 978-0615548289

ISBN-10: 061554828, Kindle or Hardcopy at Amazon.com

See also the 2017 CPA Award winning Children Book from Edith Breburda: Felix the Shrine cat and Felix the Pilgrimage cat in Paris, Chartres and Rome

What you least expect, while singing, "Come, Thou long expected Jesus"!

Dr. Edith Breburda
On your way to Christmas vigil: your motion alarm at your living room goes off, and you get a glimpse of certainly uninvited guests- thanks to modern techniques. 

While waiting for the security company to repair the home system, I decided to take refuge to my laptop and write about an incredible Christmas story. A report about illegal immigrants and spotlights, and an unintended open house- not only for police officers, who came with their dogs and rifles. In the midst of the little house, not in the best area of a Midwest metropolitan of the United States, was a Replica statue of the original image of the Madonna of Altötting (Bavaria/ Germany) with the Child Jesus. It was as if she would oversee all of what was going on this Christmas Eve, 2018. 

Of course, they all did not come for her. However, it is custom in that little neighborhood -with a lot of tiny houses- to light candles on the streets. Then, they all go out and watch the spectacle. This night, the residents have been joined by police. They rushed in grate haste with their (German) Shepherds to the side.

They focused on this house. Above two helicopters, who lit up the building properly.

Meanwhile, a TV news station arrived to report the incident. The main reason for the event were intruders, who smashed the window of the little office on the side of the house where no security camera could capture their deeds. There was an automated security warning light that went on when they climbed the wall-trespassed the property, to reach the weakest point of the house -but that didn't stop them either. This was on the north side of the house where looking out was only an orchard, holding in its midst a Catholic chapel belonging to a religious community.

The corpus delicti, the rock used to break the window, landed in the middle of the office. The computer on the desk was turned upside down and found its rest next to a small poster that bore the question, “Do you know your risk of Heart Disease?”, located in between a picture of Saint Pope John-Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. Actually, Pope Emeritus was born in the vicinity of the most famous place of pilgrimage, where in a small chapel Our Lady of Altötting (the Black Madonna) stands. 

My ancestors, who had a huge farm Estate (Gutshof) not far from Altötting, admired Our Lady of Altötting tremendously. It was difficult to do so during the NAZI-regime in Germany. My Grandfather almost ended up in Dachau for being a strong Catholic, who refused to remove a huge old crucifix in his Gutshaus. However, two of my great-uncles were at the concentration camp Dachau, just for being “Catholic” Mayors, in the Sudetenland (the majority of the inhabitants were German). They had been deported immediately after the Munich Agreement outlined the terms of the occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1938.

I brought Our Lady of Alötting with me when I came to the United States to work as a scientist at a Midwestern University in 2001. My father, who was a refugee from the communist regime in Czechoslovakia in 1947, had just retired from his position as a university professor in Germany, and thus he and my mom joined me to come to America.

Actually, I never ever wanted to come to this county, and I purposely rejected previous job offers at Harvard Medical School. My research was going well, and I worked at the most renowned Trauma Surgery in Germany – until I received an offer from a world-famous scientist, which I could not turn down. After earning my Ph.D. with highest distinctions, I have never had difficulties finding a position at high-ranking research institutions, their research efforts being directly funded by the US-Government.

Unfortunately that all changed, when I applied for my green card on the basis of being classified as an outstanding scientist, nine months prior before the expiration of my H-1B visa.

Since that moment, it seems to become impossible for me to immigrate. Even more, I wound up before Immigration Court, very much to the puzzlement of the judge, because it is the law in this country that one is not to be deported as long as one has a visa application pending.

Now, for years, I am waiting in line as a legal immigrant, with no work authorization or anything else. If I leave the US, I cannot reenter the country for approximately two decades of years. It seems that even family-based immigration is blocked. Meanwhile, USCIS is so mixed up with my case that all of my expectations are very low.

Coming back to that little house, where a relative took me in- the intruder has been captured. It is unusual to arrest the burglar at the crime scene. My appreciation for the work of the police is beyond words, especially, because a policeman ended up fighting with this man. The intruder was in jail afterwards– just for a few hours. In the early morning of Christmas day, a judge decided to release the defendant. He was an illegal present man from Mexico. It seems to me that these men have nothing to fear. Catch- and release looks to me like an invitation to commit crimes.

I worried about my documents and my manuscripts for all the popular science books I have written while waiting for issuance of my already-years-ago-approved family-based permanent residence permit (green card), all of which were in the house at the time the intruder entered.

Thanks to police and to our Lady of Altötting, everything was still in place. Nothing was stolen. There was only a broken window. But maybe there was not much in the house that would have been of interest for illegally present persons? The only thing reminding me of the incident is a little bird that twittered excitedly the next morning. In its way he is expressing in his chirping sounds the two tones of the alarm siren that interrupted the peace of Christmas Eve. 

Finally, Mr. Emmanuel -the security company technician arrived at the house. He told me we had been lucky: sometimes they come and kidnap the owner of the house. Emmanuel was thinking of a particular case. It was a huge residence in a wealthy gated area. Besides the owner, the intruder took all electronic apparatus along with him as well - including the printed-circuit board for the alarm system. Fortunately for the police, this made it easy to track the victim and intruder shortly after the crime.