Fr. Hesse: On Post-Vatican II Canonizations (Audio + Video Footage)

In this video, Fr. Hesse discusses the canonizations after Vatican II and its controversies, particularly the canonization ceremonies of individuals the Popes would never canonize prior to Vatican II and the 1960s. He discusses particular cases, including Josemaria Escriva, the founder of the Opus Dei. The original title of this video is “Is a Saint a Saint, if the Saint is a Sinner?”.

Fr. Gregory Hesse, S.T.D., J.C.D., S.T.L., J.C.L., Canon Lawyer, Doctor of Thomistic Theology, lifelong friend and personal secretary of Cardinal Stickler at the Vatican from 1986-1988 has provided us with many talks and conferences where he gives a no-nonsense, intelligent, learned, and witty exposition and explanation of relevant topics facing contemporary faithful Catholics. Fr. Hesse got to know approximately 45 cardinals while studying and working in Rome for 15 years and he has an uncanny and substantial knowledge of many things. You would be hard-pressed to find another theologian quite like him.

Canon Hesse was related to the Hapsburg royal bloodline. He was born in Vienna in 1952, ordained by Cardinal Marella in St. Peter's Basilica on November 21, 1981, and earned doctorates in Canon Law and Theology from the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome. He worked as a personal secretary of Cardinal Stickler at the Vatican from 1986 to 1988. He passed away on January 25, 2006. You would be hard-pressed to find another theologian quite like him. A breath of fresh air in today’s widespread climate of many weak, ignorant, and naive clerics and theologians, he was affectionately called by several of his friends during his life “the bull in the china shop.” His example, testimony, and insights no doubt played and will play an important role in Catholic thought and development. Listen to find out why.

You can download the free MP3 of all of Fr. Hesse’s talks to listen to on your computer or portable audio devices at: https://archive.org/details/FatherHesse
That link includes 33 talks totaling 38 hours, 50 minutes of audio.
You can also download them here: https://mega.nz/folder/7h52AYBY#6bmPr3KwWvgvsB2yBV7fkg

This video and all the remastered audio files at the above link have been professionally touched up to remove as much background noise, pops, crackles, and other audio imperfections as possible. Because the original recordings were done on cassette tapes with less-than-ideal audio equipment, there are a certain amount of audio artifacts and tape hiss that were not possible to entirely remove. However, the remastered audio files are significantly better than the originals.