The Archangelati

The Archangelati is a low key but growing, modern movement amongst Traditional Catholics (or by technical definition, fundamentalists) in English speaking countries. This group of individuals leading this so-called spiritual and evangelical crusade intend to protect and spread an understanding of the doctrine and scripture of the oldest and thus most orthodox Christian religion. The Archangelati primarily seeks to increase and improve the public's understanding of Catholicism to all secular, skeptics, Protestants, Non-Catholics, and Roman Catholics alike. A simple search of the term "Archangelati" on any given online search engine will produce multiple blogs and pages of self-identified contributors to the movement.

Mission Statement
The following is a mission stement of the Archangelati, made throught the common input of many prominent members telling of its goals:

"We the members of the online Catholic society Archangelati strive to uphold, defend, and evangelize all that the Most Holy Mother Church teaches us in Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition. We endeavor to make known the Word of God and all of its precepts, we struggle to defend Catholic beliefs, the targeted unborn along with all life, the intentions of His Holiness the Vicar of Christ, our Catholic brothers and sisters, our non-Catholic brothers and sisters, the members of this group, priests and other clergy from persecution, all laypeople from persecution, and all those ignorant of the teachings of the Church. We wish to help all those who do not fully understand Catholicism for as a truth that we must all as Christians uphold and as Catholics put into practice are the words of our first pope: ''But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander'' (1 Peter 3:15-16) We wish to uphold all of Christ’s teachings by: feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, harboring the harborless, visiting the sick, visiting the captive, and burying the dead. In our prayer, we ask to be able to: counsel the doubtful, instruct the ignorant, admonish the sinner, comfort the sorrowful, forgive all injuries, bear wrongs patiently, and pray for the living and the dead.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2 Corinthians 13:14)"

History
The group was founded on December 3, 2010. Coincidentally (or, rather, purposefully) this is the feast day of St. Francis Xavier, a famous Catholic evangelist and converter. Since its founding, it grew to a size beyond simple organization and so it was found necessary to create two parts of the group. These parts are the Archangelti Major (consisting of the most active members) and the Archangelati Minor (less active, though still wishing to identify with the group). According to the members, this split should never be viewed as isolating or dividing. Instead, it is more of a split like the Holy Trinity's consisting of three distinct parts, though still remaining one.

The organization of the group [or lack thereof] is most accurately described by the following Biblical passage from the New American Standard [NAS] translation - "For just as we have many members in one body and the members do not have the same function, so we who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to excercise them accordingly..." Romans 12:4-6

Name
The name of the group, Archangelati, is a conglomeration of the word Archangel (in reverence to these special three beings to Catholicism) and the phrase "ati", used as a parody of the Illuminati, a famous and heretically anti-Catholic organization.

Members
The members of the group (called Archangelatum) are the most important aspect. However, due to the remarkable distinction of each member, the Archangelati holds merits and traditional standards that not every Roman Catholic upholds, and is therefore a unique group. But, these merits are never beyond standard Roman Catholic teachings, Protestantially influenced or self-proclaimed "progressive" interpretations of Catholicism are strictly rejected in favor of interpretations which range from [conservative-]moderate to a [fundamentalist] /traditionalist extent.

Each member, as a security process, in their formation, must declare that they believe that the Pope is the leader, the vicar and the most holy of people in the true church for Jesus Christ, that they will fight against abortion for the unborn, and other beliefs that the Archangelati wishes for all of its members to hold in common including but not limited to belief in the communion and intercesion of the saints as well as the existence of Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory. This was introduced due to a number of outsiders attempting to become members in the Archangelati with decietful and malicious intents.

Minor members are, in a general sense people who support the group by identifying themselves as Archangelati, but do not perform as actively as Major members. These individuals may have certain commitments or less time top use and are therefore Minor members. Major members are some of the more pro-active Catholic's on the internet. Their skills and aspects span from all different area's of fields from philosophy to theology, history and the Catholic Church in general. Some members have been active for a few months where some more experienced members have been doing this for years.

Official Video
The Archangelati's official promotional video can be found here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kj1FyTrpVeQ