The Subversion of Sacred Tradition in Modern Carol Promotion
Catholic News Agency reports on December 25, 2025, about Italy’s beloved Christmas carol “Tu Scendi Dalle Stelle,” composed by St. Alphonsus Liguori in 1744. The article describes how this Neapolitan saint wrote the carol while inspired by a grotto near Deliceto, Italy, that recalled Christ’s humble birth. It details modern efforts by singer Luciano Lamonarca to internationalize the carol through multilingual versions, culminating in his December 18 presentation of the project to “Pope” Leo XIV at the Vatican. The piece presents this as benign cultural promotion, ignoring the theological contradictions inherent in seeking apostate approval for authentic Catholic devotion.
Co-opting Sacred Art for Conciliar Legitimization
The article’s central offense lies in its celebration of Lamonarca’s Vatican audience, stating: “Lamonarca presented his project to share ‘Tu Scendi Dalle Stelle’ around the world with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican on Dec. 18.” This formulation deliberately obscures the depositionem fidei (defection from the faith) inherent in the conciliar sect’s leadership. When St. Alphonsus composed this carol, he operated under the principle that “the entire government of public schools… may and ought to appertain to the civil power” only when such power recognizes Christ’s social kingship (Pius IX, Syllabus of Errors, Proposition 45). By contrast, Lamonarca seeks the blessing of a pseudo-ecclesiastical authority that actively subverts the very doctrine of Christ’s kingship which the carol proclaims.
“From starry skies descending Thou comest, the glorious King… Great God, Thou lovest me! What suff’ring Thou didst bear That I near Thee might be!”
These lyrics embody the regnum Christi doctrine articulated in Pius XI’s Quas Primas: “The Kingdom of our Savior seemed to shine with a new light when… the faithful sang with grateful hearts: ‘You are Christ the King of glory!'” Yet the article omits how the conciliar sect has systematically dismantled this doctrine through its religious indifferentism – precisely condemned by Pius IX as the error that “the Roman Pontiff can, and ought to, reconcile himself, and come to terms with progress, liberalism and modern civilization” (Syllabus, Proposition 80).
Theological Reductionism in Carol Interpretation
Father Luca Preziosi’s description of St. Alphonsus as “in love with Jesus, but passionate about humanity” inverts the saint’s actual hierarchy of values. The Redemptorist founder wrote in his Victories of the Martyrs: “The first duty of man is to glorify God; all other goods are worthless if they do not lead to this end.” The article’s human-centric framing reflects the conciliar inversion described in St. Pius X’s Pascendi as making religious experience “a mere striving of the heart… not resting on intellectual assent.” Nowhere does the analysis mention that St. Alphonsus composed this carol as doctrinal ammunition against Enlightenment rationalism, which Pius IX condemned for claiming “human reason… is law to itself” (Syllabus, Proposition 3).
The English translation provided sanitizes the carol’s theological precision:
“Tu sei del mondo il Creatore, / Sei l’immenso suo Signor… / Eppur tra dure pelli / Del nostro amor ti privi, / Fra le povere agnelle / Ti vai celendo, oh Dio!”
becomes diluted to:
“Thou art the world’s Creator… Yet here no robe, no fire For Thee, Divine Lord… Dearest, fairest, sweetest Infant”
This renders “l’immenso suo Signor” (immense Lord) as merely “Divine Lord” and omits the original’s emphasis on Christ “depriving Himself of our love” (del nostro amor ti privi) – a critical soteriological point about divine abandonment prefiguring Calvary. Such translational liberties reflect the modernist tendency condemned in Lamentabili Sane as treating Scripture and tradition as “a mere striving of the heart” rather than propositional truth (Proposition 22).
Musical Tradition as Weapon Against Modernist Desolation
The article notes the carol’s traditional accompaniment by “Italian bagpipe” but ignores how this instrumentation served a doctrinal purpose. As Fr. Francesco Spadafora explains in La Tradizione Musicale della Chiesa (1948), the zampogna’s droning bass evokes the bourdon of Gregorian chant, symbolizing the eternal Word underlying temporal reality. Lamonarca’s multilingual versions likely replace this with equal-tempered orchestration, reflecting the conciliar sect’s abandonment of Pius X’s mandate that “sacred music should possess sanctity, goodness of form, and universality” (Motu Proprio, 1903).
St. Alphonsus’ original seven-stanza structure – reduced to two in the article – constitutes a complete Christological narrative:
- The Incarnation (starry descent)
- The Nativity (manger scene)
- Christ’s divine nature (Creator in poverty)
- The Redemption foreshadowed (suffering infant)
- Marian devotion (Virgin’s tenderness)
- Invitation to devotion (hearts as Jesus’ throne)
- Eschatological hope (eternal reward)
This systematic theology mirrors the Adoro Te Devote‘s Eucharistic precision. The article’s selective quoting reduces it to sentimental Nativity imagery, exemplifying how the conciliar sect atomizes tradition into discontinuous “spiritual experiences” – precisely the modernist error condemned by St. Pius X as “the evolution of dogmas” (Lamentabili, Proposition 54).
The Grotesquerie of Apostate Approval
Most damning is the article’s uncritical report that Lamonarca’s project received Vatican endorsement. When St. Alphonsus wrote this carol, he operated under the principle that “the Church is not a true and perfect society, entirely free” only when “the civil power” denies Christ’s reign (Pius IX, Syllabus, Proposition 19). The conciliar antipope’s approval constitutes what St. Robert Bellarmine called “a manifest heretic’s invalid act” (De Romano Pontifice, II.30), rendering Lamonarca’s efforts spiritually void. As Pope Pius XI declared in Quas Primas, Christ’s kingship demands that rulers “publicly honor and obey” Him – precisely what the Vatican II sect rejects through its ecumenical apostasy.
The true miracle lies not in the grotto’s physical resemblance to Bethlehem, but that this carol survived conciliar devastation. As the article states, St. Alphonsus wrote it for peasants “who could not read or write” – precisely the sensus fidei that instinctively rejects the neo-modernist “church.” May this carol’s authentic message awaken Catholics to reject the counterfeit sect occupying Rome and return to the integral faith preserved by those who refuse communion with apostates.
Source:
The story behind Italy’s favorite Christmas carol (catholicnewsagency.com)
Date: 25.12.2025