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| November 5th - Fifth Day within the Octave of All Saints |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-21-2020, 07:33 AM - Forum: November
- Replies (1)
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November 5 – Fifth Day Within the Octave of All Saints
Taken from The Liturgical Year by Dom Prosper Guéranger (1841-1875)
![[Image: 111.jpg?w=720&ssl=1]](https://i0.wp.com/sensusfidelium.us/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/111.jpg?w=720&ssl=1)
And the spirit and the Bride say: Come! And he that heareth, let him say: Come! —Surely I come quickly: Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
While we honor the Church triumphant with our chants, and succor the Church suffering with our prayers, let us also turn our thoughts to the Church militant, during these days when the closing cycle presents her to us as about to complete her work on earth. Now the Church is our model; but especially at the close of our pilgrimage ought we to made her attitude our own. The above-cited dialogue, which will terminate the world’s history, shows clearly the sentiments wherewith the Holy Spirit inspires her in preparation for the final hour.
As the sufferings of the dying man break the last ties that bound him to the life of the senses; so the last social convulsions, however violently they may shake the Church, will eventually disengage her from the trammels of a world, which she will no longer be able to save from ruin. Free, therefore to give herself up to her desires, which had been pent up for ages and kept under control by so many labors, she will have but one word to utter: Come! And in the universal destruction, when the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall hide her light, and the prayers of heaven shall be moved, she will rejoice, knowing that in the midst of that awful night the cry will be heard: Behold the Bridegroom cometh!
Let him that heareth, let everyone of us say also: Come! If we love our Lord, if we would be recognized as members of his dear Church, let us be worthy of that beautiful title; let us see all things with the Church’s eyes; let us appreciate all things, and especially death, according to her heart; let us look upon the last passage, both for our dear ones and for ourselves, as the entrance into the eternal nuptial feast. We know well that if anyone sincerely desires our Lord, our Lord will not be wanting to him. Eve if, after this life, we have yet some debts to pay, if some adornment be wanting to our wedding garment ere we can take our place at the heavenly banquet; the blessed passage, nevertheless, places all the just, at once and entirely, in a state of impeccability, and in the secure possession of eternal love. Such, as we shall have occasion to see, were the sentiments of our forefathers.
Many churches in France, Switzerland, and England, used formerly to sing the following Sequence in honor of the Saints.
Sequence
Christo inclyto candida
Laudes omnibus dantia
Sanctis par hæc sacrata festalia.
To Christ the all-glorious our white-robed choirs sing melody, giving praise to all the Saints on this their sacred festival.
Mariam primum vox sonet nostra,
Per quam nobis vitæ sunt data præmia.
Regina, quæ es mater et casta,
solve nostra per Filium tuum peccata.
First let our voice name Mary, through whom was given to us the gift of life O Queen, who art both Mother and Virgin, through thy Son cancel our sins.
Angelorum concio tota
Et Archangelorum turba inclyta
Nostra diluant jam peccata,
Parando supera cœli gaudia.
May the whole assembly of Angels, and the glorious multitude of Archangels, cleanse away our sins, and prepare us for the supernal delights of heaven.
Tu propheta, præco, lucerna,
Atque plus quam propheta,
In lucida nos pone via,
Mundans nostra corpora.
O thou, who wast prophet, and herald, and lamp, yea and more than a prophet, make us all pure and set us in the path of light.
Apostolorum princeps
Atque cuncta
Juncta caterva,
Jam corrobora
Vera in doctrina
Plebis pectora.
Prince of Apostles, together with all thy colleagues, strengthen the hearts of thy people in true doctrine.
Stephane gloriose
Rutilans in corona,
Sanctorumque Martyrum
Turma valida,
Fortia date corda,
Corpora æque firma,
Sacra ut hostem vincant
Rite spicula.
Glorious Stephen, glittering in thy crown; mighty army of holy martyrs; give us brave hearts and strong bodies, that the darts of our holy faith may duly vanquish the enemy.
Martine inclyte
Et præsulum omnis caterva,
Suscipe nunc pia
Modo nostra clemens precata.
Illustrious Martin, and all the band of holy Pontiffs, kindly receive this day our filial prayers.
Regina Virginum permaxima,
Tu Mater es incorrupta,
Virgo et gravida;
Sacrata Domino est castitas:
Nostras serva animas
Mundaque corpora.
O peerless Queen of virgins, thou art a Mother and yet spotless, a Maiden and yet fruitful; chastity is sacred to our Lord; preserve our souls and bodies pure.
Monachorum veneranda suffragia
Omniumque Sanctorum contubernia
Per precata assidua
Nostra gubernent tempora,
Nosque ducant ad superna
Polorum vera gaudia.
May the venerable suffrages of the Monks, and may the assembly of all the Saints by their prayers, rule our times, and lead us to the true and supernatural joys of heaven.
Subjungant pium agmina
Amen redempta.
Let the ranks of the redeemed add a fervent Amen.
A hymn for the Vespers of the Dead in the Mozarabic Office is taken from the tenth song in the Cathemerinon of Prudentius.
Hymn
Deus ignee fons animarum,
Duo qui socias elementa:
Vivum simul, ac moribundum,
Hominem, Pater effigiasti.
O God, thou fiery source of living beings, who, uniting two elements in one, the mortal and the immortal, didst fashion man, O our Father.
Tua sunt, tua Rector utraque:
Tibi copula jungitur horum;
Tibi, dum vegetata cohærent
Spiritus simul et caro servit.
Both are thine, and thou art their Ruler; their union is linked to thee; and while they live and cleave together, both spirit and flesh serve thee.
Rescissa sed ista seorsum,
Solvunt hominem, perimuntque;
Humus excipit arida corpus,
Animæ rapit aura liquorem.
But when they are rent asunder, dissolution and death come upon men; the dry earth receives his body, while the swift spirit flees to heaven.
Quia cuncta creata necesse est
Labefacta senescere tandem,
Compactaque dissociari,
Et dissona texta retexi.
’Tis the lot of all created things to fail and grow old at last, for compound beings to be dissolved, for the union of dissimilar elements to be unknit.
Hinc maxima cura sepulchris
Impenditur: hinc resolutos
Honor ultimus accipit artus,
Et funeris ambitus ornat.
Therefore is so great care bestowed upon the sepulchers; therefore are the last honors paid to these lifeless limbs, and the funeral pomp does them homage.
Hoc provida Christicolarum
Pietas studet, utpote credens
Fore protinus omnia viva,
Quæ nunc gelidus sopor urget.
Such is the provident piety exercised by Christ’s disciples, believing that all which now lies wrapt in icy slumber, shall suddenly spring to life again.
Qui jacta cadavera passim
Miserans tegit aggere terræ:
Opus exhibet ille benignum
Christo pius omnipotenti.
Whoever, then, in loving pity, shall cover with earth the corpses that lie unburied, does in his piety a kindly deed to Christ himself the Omnipotent.
Quia lex eadem monet omnes
Gemitum dare sorte sub una,
Cognataque funera nobis
Aliena in morte dolere.
Since the common law admonished us that all groan under the same fate, it behooves us to mourn, in a stranger’s death, the loss of one of our kin.
Sequimur tua dicta, Redemptor,
Quibus atra e morte triumphans,
Tua per vestigia mandas
socium crucis ire latronem.
We follow therefore thy words, O Redeemer, when, triumphing over dismal death, thou didst bid the thief, thy fellow-crucified, to tread in thy footprints.
Patet ecce fidelibus ampli
Via lucida jam paradisi;
Licet et nemus illus adire
Homini, quod ademerat anguis.
Lo! now the shining path, that leads to the broad land of Eden, lies open to thy faithful; and man may again enter that beautiful garden, of which the serpent had despoiled him.
Illic precor, Optime Ductor,
Famulam tibi præcipe mentem
Genitali in sede sacrari,
Quam liquerat exsul, et errans.
There, O best of guides! we pray thee, bid the soul thy handmaid be made holy in the place of her creation, which she had quitted as an exile and a wanderer.
Animas, non immemor ob hoc,
Quarum memores sumus ipsi,
Deus, sorde rogamus, piatas,
Erebi rogis fac alienas.
Wherefore be mindful, O God, of the souls, whose memory we cherish; let them, we beseech thee, be cleansed from all stain, and escape the fires of hell.
Sit honor tibi, fons pietatis:
Laus, gloria, summa potestas
Patri, Genito, sive Domino
Orbis Regi; qui Deus unus.
Amen.
Honor to thee, O fount of mercy! Praise, glory, sovereign power, to the Father, to the son, to the Lord who rules the world, one only God. Amen.
The following Preface, which is well inspired and has a ring of the ancient formulæ, is still used in some places in Masses for the Dead.
Preface
Vere dignum et justum est, æquum et salutare, nos tibi semper et ubique gratias agere: Domine sancte, Pater omnipotens, æterne Deus; per Christum Dominum nostrum. In quo nobis spem beatæ resurrectionis concessisti; ut dum naturam contristat certa moriendi conditio, fidem consoletur futuræ immortalitatis promissio. Tuis enim fidelibus, Domine, vita mutatur, non tollitur; et dissoluta terrestris hujus habitationis domo, æterna in cœlis habitatio comparatur. Et ideo cum Angelis et Archangelis, cum Thronis et Dominationibus, cumque omni militia cœlestis exercitus, hymnum gloriæ tuæ canimus, sine fine dicentes: Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus.
It is truly meet and just, right and salutary, that we should always and in all places give thanks to thee, O holy Lord, Father Almighty, eternal god, through Christ our Lord. In whom thou hast bestowed on us the hope of a blessed resurrection: so that, although the inevitable sentence of death fills our human nature with sorrow, the promise of a future resurrection consoles our faith. For the life of thy faithful, O Lord, is altered, not taken away; and when this house of our earthly habitation is destroyed, an eternal dwelling is prepared for us in heaven. And therefore with the Angels and Archangels, with the Thrones and Dominations, and with all the host of the heavenly army, we sing a hymn to thy glory, saying without ceasing: Holy, Holy, Holy.
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| November 4th - St. Charles Borromeo |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-21-2020, 07:26 AM - Forum: November
- Replies (2)
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Saint Charles Borromeo
Archbishop of Milan
(1538-1584)
Saint Charles Borromeo was born in 1538 in the castle of Arona on the borders of Lake Major, fourteen miles from Milan. He was the son of Count Gilbert Borromeo, a descendant of one of the most ancient families of Lombardy, very famous for its great men. The Count was known for his almsgiving and his rigorous fasts; it was his custom never to eat a meal without first giving alms. The Countess, Charles' mother, was also exceptionally virtuous. Their family was composed of two sons and four daughters, all of whom manifested in their lives the splendor of their Christian heritage. Their maternal uncle, John Angelus of Medici, became Pope Pius IV. Charles was clearly destined for the ecclesiastical vocation; all his preferences in study made it clear.
When he was twelve years old, a paternal uncle willed to him an abbey in commendam; and the child constantly reminded his father that this revenue was the patrimony of the poor. His father wept for joy, seeing his son's solicitude for the just application of his trust.
Count Gilbert died when Charles was twenty years old, and he was obliged to come home from Pavia where he had been studying law; he returned there, however, to complete his doctorate at the university after settling his affairs. One year later, when his maternal uncle became Pope Pius IV, he created Charles cardinal, and after another year nominated him Archbishop of Milan. The Pontiff detained him in Rome, however, seeing his extensive capacities and adding to these offices other administrative duties which ordinarily require the prudence of mature years. No one was disappointed in his services, despite the fact he was maintaining delicate papal relations with other nations, as protector of Portugal and the Low Countries, and was at the head of the Knights of Malta, the Orders of Carmel and Saint Francis, among other duties.
When the Council of Trent (1545-1563) was nearing its conclusion, Saint Charles, who had participated with authority in many of its twenty-five sessions, desired to leave Rome to attend to his diocese of Milan, a duty which his vicar general had carried out until that time. The urgency of the situation there persuaded the Pope to consent regretfully to his departure. Saint Charles intended to put into execution the reforming decrees of the Council, create seminaries and schools and in general restore discipline in the Church of Milan.
As Archbishop of Milan he enforced the observance of the decrees, and thoroughly restored the discipline of his see. Criticism hounded him there, but left him unmoved; he kept with him in his episcopal household of about one hundred persons, a certain priest who delighted in finding fault with whatever he did; he treated him with great consideration, and in his will left him a pension for life. He was very severe with himself, eating only once a day, and limiting himself often to bread and water. When someone suggested he should have a garden at Milan to get some fresh air, he replied that the Holy Scriptures should be the garden of a bishop.
The sermons of Saint Charles produced great fruits among all ranks of the people. When young he had manifested a speech defect with a tendency to speak too fast, but he overcame these handicaps with many efforts. A man who admired him said that he always forgot the orator himself when he preached, so transported was he by the great truths he heard explained, and the longest sermons of Saint Charles seemed short to him. Everywhere the holy Archbishop established schools of Christian doctrine, numbering in all seven hundred and forty, in which over three thousand catechists were employed, presiding over forty thousand students.
Once Saint Charles heard a cardinal who was a bishop of a small diocese say that his diocese was too small to require his constant residence there, as canon law required; Saint Charles said to him with force that the price of one soul is such as to merit the residence and entire time of the greatest of men. He himself visited the most remote corners of his diocese, traveling in mountainous regions amid the greatest dangers, which he regarded as nothing unusual, and unworthy of mention.
Inflexible in maintaining discipline, to his flock he was a most tender father. He would sit by the roadside to teach a poor man the Pater and Ave. During the great plague which broke out in Milan, which he had foretold as a chastisement for the disorders of the Carnival, he refused to leave, asking those who remonstrated with him if it were not more perfect to remain with one's flock than to abandon them in need, and adding that a bishop is obliged to choose what is most perfect. He was ever at the side of the sick and dying. He stripped his palace of literally everything to aid those who had lost their support in their fathers and spouses, even giving away his straw mattress. As he lived, so he died, having governed his church for twenty-four years and eight months. To the heroic sanctity of this faithful copy of the Good Shepherd, many miracles came to testify, through his relics and his intercession. In 1610 he was canonized by Pope Paul V.
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| November 3rd - Within the Octave of All Saints |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-21-2020, 07:20 AM - Forum: November
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November 3rd
Saint Martin de Porres, Dominican Coadjutor Brother
(1579-1639)
Saint Martin de Porres was born in Lima, Peru in 1579, during the days when Spanish noblemen and many adventurers were still in the land, fascinated by the lure of the gold and silver which abounded there. He was the natural son of one of these and a young Indian woman. It was not long before his dark complexion caused his father to be ashamed of him and his mother, and to abandon them. Later the father would regret his too rapid decision, and take Martin under his protection.
The young boy often heard himself referred to as a half-breed, and all his life long, his profound humility saw in himself only the magnanimity of God amid the inadequacy of his origins. When his mother could not support him and his sister, Martin was confided to a primary school for two years, then placed with a surgeon to learn the medical arts. This caused him great joy, though he was only ten years old, for he could exercise charity to his neighbor while earning his living. Already he was spending hours of the night in prayer, a practice which increased rather than diminished as he grew older. Until his death he would flagellate himself three times every night, for his own failings and for the conversion of pagans and sinners.
He asked for admission to the Dominican Convent of the Rosary in Lima and was received first as a tertiary. When he was 24, he was given the habit of a Coadjutor Brother and assigned to the infirmary of that convent, where he would remain in service until his death at the age of sixty. His superiors saw in him the virtues necessary to exercise unfailing patience in this difficult role, and he never disappointed them. On the contrary, it was not long before miracles began to happen, and Saint Martin was working also with the sick outside his convent, often bringing them healing with only a simple glass of water. He begged for alms to procure for them necessities the Convent could not provide, and Providence always supplied what he sought.
One day an aged beggar, covered with ulcers and almost naked, stretched out his hand, and Saint Martin, seeing the Divine Mendicant in him, took him to his own bed, paying no heed to the fact that he was not perfectly neat and clean. One of his brethren, considering he had gone too far in his charity, reproved him. Saint Martin replied: Compassion, my dear Brother, is preferable to cleanliness. Reflect that with a little soap I can easily clean my bed covers, but even with a torrent of tears I would never wash from my soul the stain that my harshness toward the unfortunate would create.
When an epidemic struck Lima, there were in this single convent of the Rosary sixty religious who were sick, many of them novices in a distant and locked section of the convent, separated from the professed. Saint Martin is known to have passed through the locked doors to care for them, a phenomenon which was observed in the residence more than once. The professed, too, saw him suddenly beside them without the doors having been opened; and these facts were duly verified by the surprised Superiors. Martin continued to transport the sick to the convent until the provincial Superior, alarmed by the contagion threatening the religious, forbid him to continue to do so. His sister, who lived in the country, offered her house to lodge those whom the residence of the religious could not hold. One day he found on the street a poor Indian, bleeding to death from a dagger wound, and took him to his own room until he could transport him to his sister's hospice. The Superior, when he heard of this, reprimanded his subject for disobedience. He was extremely edified by his reply: Forgive my error, and please instruct me, for I did not know that the precept of obedience took precedence over that of charity. In effect, there are situations where charity must prevail; and instruction is very necessary. The Superior gave him liberty thereafter to follow his inspirations in the exercise of mercy.
In normal times Saint Martin succeeded with his alms to feed 160 poor persons every day, and distributed a remarkable sum of money every week to the indigent — the latter phenomenon hard to explain by ordinary calculations. To Saint Martin the city of Lima owed a famous residence founded for orphans and abandoned children, where they were formed in piety for a creative Christian life. This lay Brother had always wanted to be a missionary, but never left his native city; yet even during his lifetime he was seen elsewhere, in regions as far distant as Africa, China, Algeria, Japan. An African slave who had been in irons said he had known Martin when he came to relieve and console many like himself, telling them of heaven. When later the same slave saw him in Peru, he was very happy to meet him again and asked him if he had had a good voyage; only later did he learn that Saint Martin had never left Lima. A merchant from Lima was in Mexico and fell ill; he said aloud: Oh, Brother Martin, if only you were here to care for me..! and immediately saw him enter his room. And again, this man did not know until later that he had never been in Mexico.
When he died in 1639, Saint Martin was known to the entire city of Lima; word of his miracles had made him known as a Saint to every resident of the region. After his death, the miracles and graces received when he was invoked multiplied in such profusion that his body was exhumed after 25 years and found intact, and exhaling a fine fragrance. Letters to Rome pleaded for his beatification; the decree affirming the heroism of his virtues was issued in 1763 by Clement XIII; Gregory XVI beatified him in 1836, and in 1962 Pope John XXIII canonized him. The poor and the sick will never fail to find in him a friend having great power over the Heart of God.
![[Image: saint_malachy_d_armagh.jpg]](https://sanctoral.com/en/saints/images/saint_malachy_d_armagh.jpg)
Saint Malachy O'More
Primate of Armagh, Ireland
(† 1148)
Born in the late eleventh century of a princely family, in the archiepiscopal city of Armagh, Saint Malachy was raised in the fear and love of God. He seemed to have the virtues of maturity hidden under the appearances of childhood. Praises did not inflate him, and reproaches did not sadden him. He had a horror of idleness, and a command from his preceptors was always like a law for him. He would often separate from his companions to converse in prayer with God. When he was still a young man, he made himself the disciple of a holy hermit who had established a little cell near the cathedral church of Armagh. The archbishop of Armagh made him a deacon of his church, and when at the age of twenty-five he was ordained a priest, commanded him to preach the Gospel and catechize his people. He uprooted vices and corrected abuses, and the archdiocese derived great profit from his ministry.
An episode from the life of Saint Malachy teaches us several truths concerning purgatory. He had a sister who was very worldly, and whom he found indifferent to his efforts to lead her to reflect on the reason for her existence and her last ends. He learned one day that she had died after having manifested regret for her sins, and he offered a Mass for her soul; but he did not think of continuing this practice. After thirty days he heard in a dream that she was standing outside the church and had not eaten for one month. He began again to pray for her, and then in a dream beheld her clothed in a black robe, near the door of the church but unable to enter. He continued his suffrages, and on a third occasion saw her in a robe which was more or less white, having entered the church but unable to approach the altar. The last time he saw her she was within the church, clothed in white and near the altar, in the company of the just. We learn from this how serious our indifference and lack of love for God are; that our prayers are efficacious in relieving our dear ones; and that it is ordinarily a little at a time that souls are delivered from the bonds of their sins and negligence.
Saint Malachy brought about several miracles, and manifested great devotion and zeal in the reconstruction and re-establishment of a monastery whose nine hundred religious had been massacred by pirates; these facts led to his being consecrated Bishop of Connor, a small see whose inhabitants were Christian in name but pagan in practice. The venerable pastor taught the people with patience and warned them with gentleness. He endured many insults and outrages, but finally the hardened hearts were softened and began to listen to his voice and instructions. He remained in this see until a hostile king and his army decimated the city of Connor. At that time, the Archbishop of Armagh was nearing death and named him to succeed him in this metropolitan see, overriding his humility and protestations of insufficient virtue and competence.
Again he had a great deal to suffer in the exercise of his new charge. The see of Armagh, by a longstanding abuse, had been held somewhat like a throne by one single family, and it required on the part of the Saint no little tact and firmness to calm the dissensions caused by his election. Ecclesiastical discipline had been forgotten, and depraved morals everywhere had virtually annihilated faith and piety. The good bishop who had named Saint Malachy had labored to correct the abuses, and hoped his virtuous successor might better succeed in the same post. Nonetheless, two years passed before Malachy could even enter into the city as its archbishop; troops were levied against his entry by the pretender to the same title. Saint Malachy had accepted the office on the condition that he assume the charge only after the death or flight of the false bishop, for he did not want to cause a war and the death of those whose salvation he desired to procure. The pretender and his cousin, with several others of the same lineage, were struck down soon afterwards by the hand of God, and their exemplary chastisements gave great credit to the Saint, and enabled him to make ordinances to countermand the disorders. He divided the diocese and left the larger portion, that of Connor, to a colleague, a very holy man worthy of the charge. He retired to the other part, the new see of Down. There he convoked synods, renewed ancient ordinances and made appropriate ones; everywhere he intimidated sinners and implanted religion and piety.
We must not neglect to mention the famous prophecy of Saint Malachy, in which he assigns to every Pope of the future a motto describing each pontificate, from his own day until the last Pope he mentions, whom he calls Petrus Romanus — Peter the Roman. After the motto attributed to the present Vicar of Jesus Christ (in the year 2000), De Labore Solis, only one, De Gloria Olivae — From the glory of the Olive Tree — separates us from Peter II. The prophecy, which begins with Celestine II (1143-1144), was discovered in 1590 and includes one hundred and eleven mottos. Many a motto has been shown to have a striking exactitude in the description of its subject and his pontificate. Many interpreters have labored to prove the prophecy's accuracy.
Saint Malachy twice made a pilgrimage to Rome to consult Christ's Vicar, the first time returning as a Papal Legate for all of Ireland, amid the joy of his people. The second time, however, he was bound for a happier home; he was taken ill in France at the monastery of Clairvaux, where his great friend and biographer, Saint Bernard, was Abbot. He died there in the monastery where he would gladly have lived, at the age of fifty-four, on the 2nd of November, 1148. Saint Bernard, in his Life of Saint Malachy, narrates many of his miracles, one of which he himself brought about, when he touched the paralyzed arm of a young boy to that of the mortal remains of the bishop, while he was laid out in his coffin at Clairvaux. It was instantly cured.
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| November 2nd - All Souls Day |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-21-2020, 07:15 AM - Forum: November
- Replies (9)
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November 2nd - All Souls Day
![[Image: ?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi.pinimg.com%2Foriginal...f=1&nofb=1]](https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi.pinimg.com%2Foriginals%2Fbe%2F3b%2F3c%2Fbe3b3c40ce3b67c595503defeb23c519.jpg&f=1&nofb=1)
The Church teaches us that the souls of the just who have left this world with traces of venial sin remain for a time in a place of expiation, where they suffer whatever punishment may be due to their offenses. Even if pardon has been obtained for our sins, satisfaction must be made to God, our Creator, in this world or in the next; for His sanctity has been, as it were, insulted by the self-will of one of His ignoble creatures. The more noble the person offended, the more serious the offense, even according to human laws. It is a dogma of our faith that the suffering souls are relieved by the intercession of the Saints in heaven and by the prayers of the faithful upon earth. To pray for the dead is therefore an act of charity and of piety, certainly obligatory for a Christian who professes to have charity in his heart. We read in Holy Scripture: It is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from their sins. (II Maccabees 12:46)
When towards the close of the tenth century, Our Lord inspired Saint Odilon, Abbot of Cluny, to establish in his Benedictine Order a general commemoration of all the faithful departed, the practice was soon afterwards adopted by the entire Western Church and has been continued unceasingly to our day. Let us always bear in mind the departed who have died in the love of God, and offer up our prayers and sacrifices to help expiate for them. By showing this mercy to the suffering souls in purgatory, we gain for ourselves very devoted friends, who will in their turn pray for us. We shall then be entitled to be treated with mercy at our departure from this world, and to share more abundantly in the suffrages of the Church, continually offered for all who have fallen asleep in Christ.
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| November 1st - Feast of All Saints |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-21-2020, 07:13 AM - Forum: November
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November 1st
The Church day by day gives special veneration to one or more of the holy men and women who have helped to establish it by their blood, develop it by their labors, or edify it by their virtues. But, in addition to those whom the Church honors by special designation or has inscribed in her calendar, how many martyrs are there whose names are not recorded! How many humble virgins and holy penitents! How many unknown anchorites and monks, Christian fathers and mothers, young children snatched away in their innocence! How many courageous Christians, whose merits are known only to God and His heavenly court!
Should we forget those who remember us in their intercession? Are not some among them our ancestors? members of our immediate family? our friends and fellow-Christians, with whom we have lived in daily companionship? In fact, all of Heaven is but one family — Our Lord's, as He Himself said: Who is My mother and who are My brethren? And stretching forth His hand towards His disciples, He said, Behold My mother and My brethren! For whoever does the Will of My Father in heaven, is My brother and sister and mother. Today we have the opportunity to thank God, if at other times we forget, for their aid and their love. And today we adore Him with them, for the grace which raised them to their present joy. The Church requires this homage of us, by making this day a holy day of obligation for all. Our place, too, is awaiting us in this home of eternal light, peace and love, if we persevere to the end in the fulfillment of God's holy Will.
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| To American Friends and Benefactors - April 1983 |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-21-2020, 07:08 AM - Forum: Letters to Friends and Benefactors 1975 - 1983
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A Message of Importance
To American Friends & Benefactors
From Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre
28 April, 1983
Ridgefield, Connecticut
Dear Friends and Benefactors,
What was latent for many years in the relations between most of the priests of the North-East District and the Society of Saint Pius X, and was the object of continual difficulties, has just come out into the open by the support given by these priests to the refusal of the Society’s liturgy by one of the three young priests I ordained at Oyster Bay Cove on November 3, 1982.
Thus, their long-standing disagreement with myself and the Society has now become public rebellion. It is the result of an extremist way of thinking and a tendency to schism in the domain of the liturgy, the papacy, and the sacraments of the reform.
They reject the liturgy which has always been used in the Society and consider it evil, the liturgy of Pope Pius XII, signed by Pope John XXIII, and so, the liturgy preceding the Council. They think and behave as if there is no Pope, suppressing all prayers for the Pope. In practice, they tend to hold almost all the sacraments of the new rites to be invalid.
This radicalism is not the attitude of the Society.
The basic principle of the Society’s thinking and action in the painful crisis the Church is going through is the principle taught by St. Thomas Aquinas in the Summa Theologica (II, II, q. 33, a.4). That one may not oppose the authority of the Church except in the case of imminent danger to the Faith. Now, there is no danger for the Faith in the liturgy of Pope Pius XII and Pope John XXIII, whereas there is great danger for the Faith in the liturgy of Pope Paul VI, which is unacceptable.
The Society acts on the assumption that Pope John Paul II is Pope and so prays for him and strives to bring him back to Tradition by praying for him, by meeting with those around him, and by writing to him.
The Society does not say that all the sacraments according to the new post-conciliar rites are invalid, but that due to bad translations, the lack of proper intention, and the changes introduced in the matter and form, the number of invalid and doubtful sacraments is increasing. In order, then, to reach a decision in the practical order concerning the doubtfulness or invalidity of sacraments given by priests imbued with the ideas of the Council, a serious study of the various circumstances is necessary.
Many of you know the difficulties to which the attitude of these priests has given rise. Many of you have suffered from it and so will not be surprised by this clarification of the situation.
We regret not being able to come immediately to the assistance of those who wish to stay with the Society, but we will heed the requests of the faithful and, with the grace of God, we will come to your aid and we will keep you united to Rome and to the Church of all time.
So, henceforth, Father Kelly is no longer District Superior; Father Cekada is no longer District Bursar; Father Sanborn is no longer Rector of the Seminary. These priests, and the priests who follow them, and any seminarians who might follow them, are no longer members of the Society of Saint Pius X, as of 27 April 1983. They no longer have any power, nor hold any office in the Society’s name.
Henceforth, if you have any inquiries concerning the Society in the North-East District, contact, at St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Ridgefield, Father Richard Williamson, who has been provisionally nominated District Superior, or Father Roger Petit, who has been nominated District Bursar.
Most of the seminarians are remaining with us and we shall, God willing, proceed with ordinations in the first days of November.
We count on your prayers so that we can carry on the work of the Society in the North-East District and especially at the Seminary henceforth entrusted to Father Richard Williamson. We ask you to continue to help us so that we can continue building up the traditional Catholic Church in America. Please pray for the 24 new priests I am going to ordain on June 29th.
May God bless you through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
† Marcel Lefebvre,
Superior General of the Society of Saint Pius X
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| Letters to Friends and Benefactors - March 1983 |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-21-2020, 07:07 AM - Forum: Letters to Friends and Benefactors 1975 - 1983
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Archbishop Lefebvre
Letters to Friends and Benefactors
March 1983
Dear Friends and Benefactors,
You have without doubt heard of the decease of our dear Father Barrielle in the early hours of the first day of March. St. Joseph, for whom he had great devotion, came to take him. He was in his 86th year. He held a large place in the hearts of all the members of the Fraternity, and so his parting has left us all orphans. But his earthly remains are at Econe and we are certain that he will obtain many graces for all those who continue to ask his assistance. We recommend to your prayers the soul of this valiant servant of God.
“Is there anything new concerning relations with Rome?” This question has been continually put to me in the course of my travels.
I think one can say in fact that an important situation has arrived, all the more important because it concerns not only ourselves but also the priests of Campos in Brazil. It is the first time since the talks with Rome that the Vatican has spoken of leaving priests the freedom of celebrating the Mass as it was before the Council. Until the present time, without affirming that the Mass of St. Pius V was forbidden, Rome wanted to oblige us to adopt the new Mass, affirming as Cardinal Baggio did to the priests of the diocese of Campos that it was impossible to return to the old Mass and therefore the new Mass had to be adopted and the old one discontinued.
We have been accused of disobedience, and dividing the Church. Now, not only the priests of Campos but also the Fraternity, and even the Universal Church, would be given the freedom to celebrate the old Mass provided that we recognize the new Mass as being legitimate and Catholic, and that we do not deter the faithful from participation.
This is obviously a new attitude, much more conciliatory, but with an added condition which the priests of the diocese of Campos have done well to reject. If we have to consider the new Mass as having the same titles as the old, why have we not adopted it and why continue to celebrate the old Mass? The reasons which have made us suffer a hard and unjust persecution would therefore be futile! A sentimental attachment to the past! [As we], on the other hand, do not cease to affirm: the new Mass has been made in collaboration with the Protestants in order to please them; it still has a Protestant definition and produces Protestants. These reasons are more than sufficient for not giving it the titles reserved to the Catholic Mass of all time in its various rites.
It remains for us to persevere in prayer so that this condition may be suppressed, and that as Rome calls for a return to the catechism of the Council of Trent, so may She also encourage the return to the Mass of the Council of Trent. This is the only way to stop the destruction of the Church and the Catholic Faith.
A second question is now being put to us: “What do you think of the new Canon Law?”
We are unfortunately obliged to answer that despite certain useful modifications, the spirit which has presided over this general reform is the same as that which inspired the changing of liturgical books, catechisms, and the Bible. The Apostolic Constitution introducing the new Canon Law explicitly says on page xi of the Vatican edition: “The work, namely the Code, is in perfect accord with the nature of the Church, especially as has been proposed by the II Vatican Council. Moreover, this new Code can be conceived as an effort to expose in canonical language this doctrine, i.e., conciliar Ecclesiology. The elements of this Ecclesiology are the following: Church = people of God; hierarchical authority = collegial service; Church = communion; and lastly the Church with Her duty to ecumenism.
Each one of these notions is ambiguous and will allow Protestant and Modernist errors to inspire from now on the legislation of the Church. It is the authority of the Pope and of the Bishops which is going to suffer; the distinction between the clergy and the laity will also diminish; the absolute and necessary character of the Catholic will also be extenuated to the profit of heresy and schism; and the fundamental realities of sin and grace will be worn down.
These are all dangerous for the doctrine of the Church and the salvation of souls.
Let us pray that this new Code will never come into force.
Since the last letter, six young deacons have been ordained priests and fifty five young men have entered our four seminaries. South America is making considerable progress, hence the necessity of pursuing the construction of the seminary.
We are counting on thirteen new young priests for 29th June, without counting those not of the Fraternity. However, twice or even three times as many would have to be ordained in order to answer all the needs.
May God come to our help and bless you through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph.
+ Marcel Lefebvre
7 March 1983
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| Letters to Friends and Benefactors - February 1982 |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-21-2020, 07:05 AM - Forum: Letters to Friends and Benefactors 1975 - 1983
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Archbishop Lefebvre
Letters to Friends and Benefactors
February 1982
Dear Friends and Benefactors:
During the audience I was given by Pope John Paul II in November 1978, after a prolonged conversation at the end of which the Pope seemed willing enough to make the Liturgy a matter of option, Cardinal Seper, having been summoned by the Pope, realized that he was willing to take this step and immediately exclaimed: “But, Holy Father, they are making the Old Mass into a banner!” a remark which seemed to make a considerable impression on the Pope.
Leaving to one side the disparaging tone of Cardinal Seper’s remark, we are, however, bound to agree that the Mass is indeed the banner of the Catholic Faith, because it makes open profession of all the fundamental dogmas of our Faith combined. In it are to be found all the treatises of Catholic theology.
And by this very fact, this “Mystery of our Faith” overwhelms all the errors of Protestantism, Islam, Judaism, Modernism, and materialistic, socialist and communist secularism. No error can withstand our holy Catholic Mass. The Mass is anti ecumenical, in the sense of ecumenism practiced since the Council: namely, the union of all religions in an amalgam of prayer without dogma, without morality, without specific laws, and agreement based on a few ambiguous slogans like “the rights of man,” “the dignity of man,” “religious liberty.”
On the contrary, the Novus Ordo is precisely the banner of this false ecumenism, representing the annihilation of the Catholic religion and the Catholic priesthood.
For the honor of Jesus Christ and for the honor of the Church, let us be faithful to the Catholic Mass, symbol of our Faith, banner of our holy religion.
To continue this Catholic Mass we need priests, and so we need Catholic, and not Modernist seminaries, where, as always in the Church, young clerics can direct their formation and apostolate entirely towards the altar of divine Sacrifice.
In order to have young men suitably prepared to enter our seminaries, we need Catholic schools where young people will learn to love the Liturgy, Latin and plainchants and where they will be formed in a manly and Christian fashion by sacrificing themselves for the love of Jesus Christ under the care and guidance of their heavenly Mother.
The organizing of schools is therefore indispensable, not only for vocations to the priesthood, but for all vocations, including Catholic marriage with all that it represents in the way of ideal and sacrifice in our corrupt society.
Some schools have already been established in France and in America. Nuns showed us the way and now we are trying to follow in their steps with Catholic education for boys. Thus work has already begun on a school at Fanjeaux in the village of Montreal. To bring this undertaking to fruition we are counting on the ever generous aid of our friends and benefactors in France.
Germany too is to open its first school for boys in October. We are in no doubt that our friends in Germany will come forward generously to help Catholic families who no longer know where to send their children.
The United States already has several foundations. The major seminary is having to expand in order to be able to accept the ever growing number of vocations. There, too, we are counting on the help of our benefactors.
The seminary at Buenos Aires should finish construction of its first wing by March, but there are four more to build…!
We do not know how to thank you, dear friends and benefactors. Your great reward is for you to be present at the ordinations. Come, then, on June 27 to the seminary of Zaitzkofen in Germany, and on June 29 to Econe, as usual. There you will reap the reward of your prayers and generosity.
May Jesus, Mary and Joseph bless you and keep you in the Catholic Faith.
+ Marcel Lefebvre
18 February 1982
Rickenbach
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| Letters to Friends and Benefactors - September 1981 |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-21-2020, 07:02 AM - Forum: Letters to Friends and Benefactors 1975 - 1983
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Archbishop Lefebvre
Letters to Friends and Benefactors
September 1981
Dear Friends and Benefactors,
The ordinations of June 29 last brought the number of priests in the Society of St. Pius X up to 100. The first seminarian of the Society to be ordained priest, Father Paul Aulagnier, was ordained on October 17, 1971, ten years ago, in Econe’s local parish church at Riddes.
Naturally a mere one hundred is not very many to come to the help of all the Catholics who realise they have been led astray by their shepherds from the true Catholic Faith, especially if one reflects that such Catholics are to be found all over the world, in Poland as elsewhere, thanks to the propaganda of the Pax Movement, supported by both government and clergy. Alas ! How many Catholics have already lost the Faith, how many have joined the sects now spawning all over parts of the world where they were unknown twenty years ago!
Nonethess souls everywhere are regaining their balance, deepening their Catholic Faith, regrouping around the priests who are, in ever greater numbers, coming back to Catholic Tradition. Devotion to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, all night vigils of adoration, spiritual exercises, the recitation of the Rosary all are springing up again in chapels, well arranged and cared for, and in which the Faith finds expression in the beautiful altars and church furnishings, more often than not rescued from ransacked churches, in the crucifixes and statues, the Stations of the Cross given pride of place once more all of which favor genuine piety and raise souls up to God in this world of ours emptied of the sacred and given over to the profane.
From these groups are coming priestly and religious vocations, which are filling our seminaries and the monasteries and religious houses keeping the Catholic Faith. The whole Church is coming back to life in this way, especially in France, Switzerland, the U.S.A., and Germany; and now this re birth is spreading to the most far flung lands, to South America, South Africa, Kerala in Southern India, Australia, Japan.
The Catholic Church will not be occupied forever by the Modernists and progressives who are taking advantage of their authority to push through all these innovations destroying the Faith.
The innovations, as you well know, continue apace! Let me pick one out at random: the Second Vatican Council has henceforth authorised the cremation of corpses. Let us consult the Code of Canon Law containing the laws of the Church.
In Canon 1203 we read:
Quote:“There is an obligation to bury the corpses of the dead. The cremation of corpses is condemned. If anyone has in any way whatsoever given orders for his corpse to be cremated his wish may not be carried out. If this wish be signified in a will or similar document, no heed is to be taken of it.”
And, in Canon 1240:
Quote:“Ecclesiastical burial must be refused to those who have asked for their corpse to be cremated.”
All the commentaries give the same reason for this law; here, for example, is what Jone says:
Quote:“The reason for which the Catholic Church condemns the cremation of corpses lies first and foremost in the fact that the violent destruction of the human body is opposed to the respect due to the body which was the temple of the Holy Ghost and which will rise again on the Last Day in glory.”
Is this reason any less valid today? And we could go through all these innovations in the same way, showing that they are causing the Catholic Faith to disappear.
Yet the only ones who are called “dissident,” “disobedient,” or “rebels,” are the ones who are keeping the Faith; while those who are destroying it are called “faithful,” “submissive,” and “obedient.” How much longer is this lie this massive imposture to last? Only God knows.
I travel at regular intervals down to Rome in the hope of putting an end to this lie, deadly for so many souls, but I rely upon God rather than upon men. Tomorrow fifty seminarians leave for Albano. Even without seeking to do so, they will give witness in Rome itself to the efficacy and holiness of Catholic Tradition.
Let us keep true to the Faith, and let us pray to Our Lady to come to our aid. We rely upon your prayers and generosity for our priestly work, so essential for the Church and the salvation of souls.
May Jesus, Mary and Joseph bless you.
+ Marcel Lefebvre
On the Feast of St. Matthew
21 September 1981
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| Letters to Friends and Benefactors - March 1981 |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-21-2020, 07:00 AM - Forum: Letters to Friends and Benefactors 1975 - 1983
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Archbishop Lefebvre
Letters to Friends and Benefactors
March 1981
Dear Friends and Benefactors,
Sadly recognising that the consequences of the Conciliar Revolution seems to be intent on becoming institutionalised and supplant the true Catholic institutions with the risk of arriving at the same results as in political society, which is sinking into a state of permanent revolution, our resolution to maintain and develop the divine institutions of the Church should be more firm than ever, for if political institutions can disappear, this can never happen to the Church.
On the other hand, it is with joy, and with thanks to God that we see traditional enterprises such as the Society of St. Pius X, and other societies, expanding in a way which is, humanly speaking, inexplicable. Another consolation and source of encouragement is the strengthening of the links between all the brave initiatives within the Society.
As you know, we have never wished to be considered as the leaders of the groups involved in this renewal of the Church, and in this resistance to the revolution in the Church. However, according to the measure of the increase in the number of our seminaries, houses, schools, and retreat houses, and since the number of our priests is increasing and will increase, especially from 1983 onwards, it is normal that the great hope which these young priests represent, inspires the confidence of all the traditionalist initiatives. Active, and contemplative religious, and secular priests feel the need to join themselves to this vigorous root which is filled with faith, truth and grace and deeply rooted in the Tradition of twenty centuries of the Church.
These close links in the faith and in the faith and in the apostolate seem to me to be very important for the future of the Church. For we wish to work in absolute confidence that Providence will permit that one day, decided by, and known to itself, the Sovereign Pontiff will recognise the incomparable benefit of all of these enterprises, and will give thanks to God for them. There is no justifiable argument which obliges us to cut ourselves off from the Pope. On the contrary, innumerable irrefutable motifs oblige us to remain united to him as the Successor of Peter and this will render our protestations and our refusals the more efficacious and justified. That does not in any way diminish our attachment to Tradition. It is through esteem for the successor of Peter that we cannot conceive any contradiction with the Magisterium of Peter as being possible.
In the midst of this great torment which calls down the malediction of God on humanity, let us go on with serenity and confidence in God in our work of restoration of the Church which is expanding by the multiplication of auspicious initiatives of reconstruction, but especially by the work of holiness which is that bonus odour Christi, that “sweet odour of Christ,” which rises straight up to God like the sacrifice of Abel, and which draws down upon us the blessings of God.
During our visit to Mexico, both I and those who accompanied me were able to see the. tragic situation of the people who number almost seventy-seven million souls and who are almost all Catholics. The shepherds have abandoned their people to give themselves over to politics and the Revolution, pushing the government, which is already linked with Fidel Castro, further to the Left. A certain number of the faithful have thrown progressive priests out of their parishes and are begging us to replace them. At Cordoba a young curate, dressed in a way that has nothing clerical about it, came to see me to make known his feelings to me in these term: “My Lord, you are right, and you have the grace of the Holy Ghost with you. We have nothing more than a religious mask, behind which there is nothing. I wanted to say this to you as you were passing through here. My Lord, bless me.”
Then he went away. I was stupified, but once again confirmed by the necessity to continue our actions for the salvation of souls. By the grace of God we already have fourteen Mexican seminarians, while there were only two young priests ordained last year for the whole of Mexico. May Our Lady of Guadalupe protect her beloved people!
Once again we recommend our enterprises to your prayers and to your generosity. At the moment we are building a seminary at Buenos Aires, we are enlarging the seminary at Ridgefield in the U.S.A., and soon we will be obliged to divide Ecône, which has become too small. We must start something in France. May St. Joseph come to our aid. We owe him our immense gratitude for all that he has helped us to achieve.
Wishing you a good Holy Week and a Happy Easter we implore Jesus, Mary and Joseph to fill you with blessings.
+ Marcel Lefebvre
Feast of St. Joseph 1981
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| Letters to Friends and Benefactors - October 1980 |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-21-2020, 06:56 AM - Forum: Letters to Friends and Benefactors 1975 - 1983
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Archbishop Lefebvre
Letters to Friends and Benefactors
October 1980
Dear Friends and Benefactors,
This nineteenth semi-annual letter coincides with the tenth anniversary of the official approval given to our Society by His Excellency Mgr. Charriere, Bishop of Fribourg, on November 1st, 1970. How many events since that date have shown that the Church has been veritably seized and occupied by Modernism. Many books have described in a disturbing way the result of this penetration into Roman ranks and into episcopal curias.
In the face of this sad spectacle, which gets worse every year, one could even say every month, we put aside our expressions of indignation and sadness. Still, we could deplore the persecution whose object is the most worthy and venerable priests, such as our dear friend Canon Catta, treasurer of the Visitandines of Nantes for forty years, and dean of the chapter. More than eighty years of age, he was deprived shortly before his death of his function as dean of the chapter. Mistreated by his confrères at the rest home, he sought refuge for his meals with the Visitandines, who ended by asking him to return to the rest home where, broken-hearted, he succumbed to cardiac arrest, and all this because he persevered in celebrating the Holy Mass of his ordination. His burial was completely contrary to what he had requested. Thus, traditionalists are pursued beyond death, for the crime of fidelity.
On the tombs of these holy priests, over the graves of so many of the faithful, prematurely dead because of this grievous persecution, we should take our oath of fidelity, an oath which is none other than the profession of faith and the Anti-Modernist Oath of St. Pius X, the last canonized Pope. Supported by twenty centuries of Faith and Tradition, we can and must persevere without fear, in the conviction that Truth must triumph, because it is divine. Our Lord said it: “I am the Truth.”
Instead of complaining and being discouraged, let us thank God Who everywhere blesses the efforts of those who persevere in the Faith and in Tradition. It would be impossible to note in detail the countless blessings which we have witnessed, or which have been confided to us by those who have received them. The many vocations which are joining the Society or the many communities faithful to Tradition, each have their own moving story. They are flowers blooming amid the brambles and thorns.
Retreat masters of the Society could write books about the conversions they have witnessed. Priests who minister to summer camps tell us with deep emotion of the extraordinary return to the Faith and to the practice of religion recovered by contact with Tradition and above all with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
Foundations such as schools, universities, seminaries all have a story which reveals the intervention of Divine Providence. And all the works faithful to Tradition bear witness in the same way. One small example: the bishop of Kansas City (USA), put on the market a large, spacious church, furnished with beautiful altar, organ and pews seating a thousand. The Father in charge of the Southern District made efforts to acquire it through a third party, but the bishop’s office got wind of who the buyer was, and his link with Archbishop Lefebvre. The answer was a categorical refusal to sell. A black Protestant bishop then appeared on the scene. Not only was this purchaser very welcome, but, in the name of ecumenism, the price was cut by half. Now, for reasons unknown, this Protestant bishop hastened to re-sell the church to our District Superior, who thus benefitted by the lower price. So the Society from now on can accommodate many of the faithful for beautiful ceremonies in a splendid church in the heart of Kansas City.
Let us keep our trust and our courage, as St. Paul says: “If God is with us, who can be against us?” This month let us pray to the Virgin Mary to deliver Holy Church from her enemies within, as she did at the time of St. Pius V from enemies without.
Help us with your prayers and your generosity to pursue the work of rejuvenating the Church with true and holy priests. May God bless you.
+ Marcel Lefebvre
Rickenbach,
1 October 1980
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| Letters to Friends and Benefactors - April 1980 |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-21-2020, 06:48 AM - Forum: Letters to Friends and Benefactors 1975 - 1983
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Archbishop Lefebvre
Letters to Friends and Benefactors
April 1980
Dear Friends and Benefactors
Today, at the novitiate of the Sisters of the Society of St. Pius X in St. Michel-en-Brenne, eight postulants took the habit and four novices made their profession. Next year eleven novices will make profession. One would have to be frankly prejudiced not to recognize the fervor and profound faith of this community, as well as its radiant joy, so clearly the work of the Holy Ghost. Here one is indeed far from Pentecostalism or the charismatic movement, but simply in line with the great tradition of the religious life in the Catholic Church.
What is important in the Church today, as yesterday, and tomorrow, is to live from faith, so as to live from grace and thus prepare oneself for eternal life. St. John, in his first epistle tells us, in today’s Mass, “He who was born of God has vanquished the world, and the victory which has vanquished the world is our faith. Who indeed has vanquished the world if not he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”
If the above is the resume and substance of our faith, then we must honor Jesus as God in all our Christian life, and thus, as the Church has always taught and practised, we must refuse to make Jesus equivalent to the founders of false religions, which would be blasphemous. We must refuse to compromise with those who deny the divinity of Our Lord, or with any false ecumenism. We must fight against atheism and laicism in order to help Our Lord to reign over families and over society. We must protect the worship of the Church, the Sacrifice of the Mass, and the sacraments instituted by Our Lord, practicing them according to the rites honored by twenty centuries of tradition. Thus we will properly honor Our Lord, and thus be assured of receiving His grace.
It is because the novelties which have invaded the Church since the Council diminish the adoration and the honor due to Our Lord, and implicitly throw doubt upon His divinity, that we refuse them. These novelties do not come from the Holy Ghost, nor from His Church, but from those who are imbued with the spirit of Modernism, and with all the errors which convey this spirit, condemned with so much courage and energy by St. Pius X. This holy Pope said to the bishops of France with regard to the Sillon movement: “The true friends of the people are neither revolutionaries nor innovators, but the men of tradition.”
If only the innovators of the Council and those since it would understand this language which is, after all, that of the Church since the time of St. Paul.
One cannot hope for a real renovation of the Church without a return to Tradition. The Church cannot content herself with doubtful sacraments nor with ambiguous teaching. Those who have introduced these doubts and this ambiguity are not disciples of the Church. Whatever their intentions may have been, they in fact worked against the Church. The disastrous results of their industry exceed the worst examinings, and are not lessened by the apparent exceptions of a few regions. When Luther introduced the vernacular into the liturgy, the crowds rushed into the churches. But later?
It is consoling to note that in the Catholic world, the sense of faith of the faithful rejects these novelties and attaches itself to Tradition. It is from this that the true renewal of the Church will come. And it is because these novelties were introduced by a clergy infected with Modernism, that the most urgent and necessary work in the Church is the formation of a profoundly Catholic clergy. We give ourselves to this work with all our heart, aided henceforth by our eighty young priests, and encouraged by the presence of our two hundred and ten major seminarians. The countries of South and Central America give us hope.
The Church was saved from Arianism. She will be saved as well from Modernism. Our Lord will triumph, even when, humanly speaking, all seems lost. His ways are not our ways. Would we have chosen the Cross to triumph over Satan, the world and sin?
Our forty houses throughout the world demonstrate that God can bring much out of nothing. God wills to make use of us. He makes use of you, as well, dear friends and benefactors. May God bless you and keep you in His love and peace.
+ Marcel Lefebvre
St. Michel-en-Brenne
Low Sunday (13 April) 1980
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| Letters to Friends and Benefactors - October 1979 |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-21-2020, 06:46 AM - Forum: Letters to Friends and Benefactors 1975 - 1983
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Archbishop Lefebvre
Letters to Friends and Benefactors
11 October 1979
Dear Friends and Benefactors,
I am writing this seventeenth letter to you from Montalenghe, the new priory and retreat house in Northern Italy, twenty kilometres from Turin.
This is the first retreat given at this house and those participating are the new aspirants for the Seminary at Ecône, twenty-seven of the thirty who are beginning their studies at the seminary this year; and for the seventy who are entering our four major seminaries. Speaking of this, I want to add that we have acquired a major seminary in the United States at Ridgefield, Connecticut. The former seminary at Armada will become a priory to serve the Detroit area.
The support of priests and the faithful to tradition grows rapidly. The 50th Jubilee ceremony in Paris was visible testimony of this. I again wish to thank those who sent gifts and especially for their prayers and sacrifices which contributed to this Mass of the action of grace.
Because we are surrounded by the ruins caused by the corruption of minds and hearts, the evidence of the vitality of the Church of all time takes on a priceless value. We are permitted to hope that we can restore destroyed altars, that we can offer again the true Sacrifice of the Mass.
By contrast, when one lives with an ecumenical Eucharist, democratic and liberal, the auto-destruction continues, despite all the calls to order, the statements most worthy of respect and the most spectacular of ceremonies.
“Nisi Dominus aedificaverit domum in vanum laboraverunt qui aedificant eam – If the Lord does not construct the building, the builders work in vain.” Therefore, the altar of sacrifice of propitiation, the heritage of the new and eternal testament; the Body and Blood of Jesus are the foundation stone of the Church from whence gush the waters of eternal life.
Let us keep confidence in God, in Jesus and Mary, who will obtain that the authorities of the Church will restore the altars. While awaiting that day, let us pray and multiply the altars and the priests for the celebration of the Holy Mass where the Sacred Victim offers Himself, Ardent Furnace of Love, for the redemption of our sins.
This is the goal of the Priestly Fraternity of the Society of St. Pius X which already numbers 200 members.
You have already noted that the number of priories grows year by year. This is why it has appeared to me urgent to organize central headquarters for the Society by having a General House where the Secretary General and the Economic General (Treasurer) will establish the headquarters and where all correspondence for the Superior General will be sent. This action will place us more in conformity with Canon Law, the districts being the foundation of future provinces.
You may also note that we have divided the United States into two districts, and that the house of Brussels is now open. This has been desirable for several years. The magazine Fideliter from the French District will give you more information about priories and schools, as other bulletins and publications have in the past.
Young aspirants to the priesthood, or to the religious life as brothers or auxiliaries of the priestly apostolate, should contact the priories where they can obtain all the useful information they need pertaining to their vocation, either in the Fraternity, or in the numerous active or contemplative religious houses which are united the same faith and the same hope.
We pray that Mary, the Mother of Jesus, whose feast of Divine Motherhood we celebrate today, become always more our Mother for our identification with Jesus, her Son.
We pray that St. Joseph, who will return your generosity a hundredfold, will help us for the development of our work which gives to the world the testimony it has so much need of today: that of saintly priests.
Affectionately united with in you in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary,
†Marcel Lefebvre
[Emphasis - The Catacombs]
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| Letters to Friends and Benefactors - March 1979 |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-21-2020, 06:44 AM - Forum: Letters to Friends and Benefactors 1975 - 1983
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Archbishop Lefebvre
Letters to Friends and Benefactors
March 19, 1979
Dear Friends and Benefactors:
In response to your expectations concerning the relations between our Society and Rome. I think it is fitting to make known to you the text of the following letter which I addressed to the Pope on Christmas Eve.
Quote:Most Holy Father,
It is impossible that the audience which you granted me was not the will of God. For myself it was a great comfort to be able to explain quite openly the circumstances and motives surrounding the existence of the Society of St. Pius X, and its seminaries, and the reasons which led me to continue the work in spite of the decisions coming from Fribourg and Rome.
The flood of changes in the Church, accepted and encouraged by the bishops, a flood devastating everything in its path – faith, morals, the institutions of the Church – could tolerate no obstacle, no resistance.
We had, therefore, the choice either to let ourselves be swept away by this stream of havoc, thereby adding to the disaster, or to resist (against wind and tide) to safeguard our Catholic Faith and Catholic priesthood. We were not slow to decide.
Since May 5, 1975, the date of our decision to stand firm whatever the cost, three and a half years have passed and have shown us to be right. The ruins of the Church pile up: atheism, immorality, abandoned churches, the disappearance of religion and priestly vocations are now such that the bishops have begun to be worried and the success of Ecône is constantly brought to mind. Opinion polls show that a large number of the faithful, sometimes even a majority, are in favour of the attitude adopted by Ecône.
It is obvious to any impartial observer that our work is a seed-bed of priests such as the Church has always wished for and the true faithful have always desired. And one is entitled to think that if Rome would admit the fact and give it the legality to which it has a right, vocations would be even more abundant.
Most Holy Father, for the honour of Jesus Christ, for the greater good of the Church and for the salvation of souls, we entreat you to say one word, a single word as the Successor of Peter and as Pastor of the Universal Church, to the bishops of the entire world: “Laissez faire” — “Let them be”; “We authorise the free practice of what many centuries’ Tradition has made use of for the sanctification of souls”.
What difficulty would such an attitude create? None. The bishops would decide the places, the times reserved for this Tradition. Unity would immediately be restored at the level of the local bishop. On the other hand, how advantageous it would be for the Church: the renewal of seminaries, and monasteries; great fervour in the parishes — the bishops would be amazed in a few years to rediscover an outburst of devotion and holiness they thought had disappeared forever.
For Ecône, its seminaries and its priories, the situation would be made normal, as happened with the Congregations of Lazarists and Redemptorists. The priories would serve the diocese by the preaching of parish Missions, Ignatian retreats and by helping in the parishes, in complete submission to the local Ordinary.
The situation of the Church would be greatly improved by this very simple method which is so consistent with the maternal Spirit of the Church, not refusing those who come to the aid of souls, not extinguishing the wick which is still smoking, but rejoicing to see that the vitality of Tradition is full of life and hope!
This is what I believed I had to write to Your Holiness before appearing before His Eminence Cardinal Seper. I fear that long and detailed discussions will not lead to a satisfactory result and will merely prolong a situation which, I am convinced, must seem urgent to you.
A solution cannot, in fact, be found in any compromise which would in practice cause our work to vanish, thereby adding yet another contribution to the destruction.
Remaining at the entire disposition of Your Holiness, I beg you to accept my profound and filial respect in Jesus and Mary.
†Marcel Lefebvre
This letter and the replies given in the discussions at Rome form a dossier which calls the Holy See to take up a position. Let us pray with fervour that this position will be consistent with the good of the Church and the salvation of souls.
Thanks to the blessings God has bestowed and to your generosity, you can be sure that the list of foundations increases without pause; and that the ordinations and religious professions are constantly growing in number. This year especially, if God wishes, 37 new priests will be ordained, 29 of which for the Society. The reviews and periodicals in each district will keep you informed of these ceremonies.
It is indeed fitting that you rejoice to see that your gifts are truly being used for the renovation of the Church by the means she has always used for her growth and vitality.
We count a great deal on the prayers of our religious — brothers, sisters and oblates — but also on the prayers of the hundreds of nuns, whole convents who support and encourage us in Belgium, France, Switzerland, Germany, the United States, Mexico, and Argentina. They rely on our priests, because their vocations are multiplying; several of these communities have already established daughter-houses. This demonstration of holiness is a source of great hope for the Church. For all of them, their renovation is founded upon the continuation and a deeper understanding of the unchanged Sacrifice of the Mass, wherein lies the mystery of our faith.
Dear Friends and Benefactors, we know of your anxieties, your sufferings, your distress in this crisis without precedent in history; be assured of our prayers and our entire dedication. Holy Christian families will always remain the seed-beds of vocations. This is why we entreat you to remain strong in faith and sanctity amidst the corruptions of this world.
May God bless you by the intercession of Mary and Joseph.
†Marcel Lefebvre
Feast of St. Joseph
Source
[Emphasis - The Catacombs]
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| Letter to Friends and Benefactors - September 1978 |
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Posted by: Stone - 11-21-2020, 06:42 AM - Forum: Letters to Friends and Benefactors 1975 - 1983
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Archbishop Lefebvre
Letters to Friends and Benefactors
8th of September 1978
Dear Friends and Benefactors:
Since our last letter a few notable events have arisen in the Church: the death of Paul VI and the election of John Paul I. To be sure, these events are far from leaving us indifferent! Our desire to see the Church free of modernists and progressivists that occupy it is all the greater. For close to twenty years we have prayed to God to give to His Church true apostles of the Catholic Faith- the Faith which has given the Church its martyrs, doctors, confessors, virgins and all the saints who illustrate her history and who prove the worth of her doctrine, Sacrifice and sacraments.
We tremble at the thought that the infiltration of modernism, that is to say naturalism, may continue in the Church. The consequences of this veritable cancer are the most serious that the Church has had to undergo during the course of her history; that is, the corruption of the Faith of numerous bishops and a great number of priests, monks and nuns. These clerics reason like the modernists and the protestants: witness the newly published book “Bishops Speak of the Faith of the Catholic Church.” The ideas of sanctifying grace, original sin, mortal sin and its consequences, of the expiatory Sacrifice of Our Lord which continues on our altars, are all spoiled. In their place one finds all the errors of liberalism, of Americanism, of Sillonism, and of modernism condemned by the Sovereign Pontiffs. Add to that the theology of liberation which is a Marxist interpretation of the Gospel—a sacrilegious and outrageous misinterpretation of Our Lord. Therefore, let us not be amazed that the patience of God is exhausted!
All seems to crumble around us because the foundation of all things has been abandoned; that is, the Way, the Truth and the Life—our beloved Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ. It is because of these reasons, these truths, that we wish to be so much more faithful to Our Lord, to His reign, to His cross, to His sacrifice, to His sacraments and to His teachings which have been faithfully transmitted by the successors of Peter during close to twenty centuries.
Let us ask Saint Pius X to guide Pope John Paul I. May the Virgin Mary, desiring the purity of the Faith as well as sensitive to everything which betrays her Divine Son, come to the aid of His Church.
By the grace of God, the help of your prayers and your generosity, so many priests, brothers and religious have joined the Society that is has increased rapidly making it difficult to give you a complete report. We wish that every district superior, as well as every superior of autonomous priories, would complete the news for each region.
On June 29th, we ordained eighteen priests from which there will be two for the Monastery of Bedoin of Dom Gerard, and sixteen for the Society. All will begin their ministry in this month of September. It would be necessary to ordain four times as many in order to respond to the requests that come to us from all the continents and all the countries. Everywhere the Faithful feel abandoned or betrayed by their clergy. They no longer find the Catholic Church but a modernist cult and doctrine. Parents are fearful for their children.
Japan, India, Australia, South America, South Africa—without counting all the countries where we already have missionaries -beg us to send true priests. Vocations arise from everywhere. This last year has been especially marked by support from South America and Italy. There are 65 new seminarians who enter this year in our three seminaries. Our fourth seminary will open in the month of March in Buenos Aires.
Henceforth, the seminary of the German tongue is transferred from Weissbad to Zaiztkofen between Munich and Ratisbonne. Weissbad will serve for those who prepare themselves for the major seminary. Two more locations are now open in Madrid and Brussels where the Society will begin its ministry. Seminarians studying at Ecône will take their second year in Albano in order to gain a deeper appreciation of the Church’s Latin and Roman traditions.
The Society has acquired the important centre of Saint Mary’s, in Kansas in America, with its large sanctuary dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, suitable for pilgrimages, retreats and perhaps the site of a future college.
Eleven applications were received from young men wishing to enter the novitiate as brothers. Fifteen young women have applied for the novitiate at St. Michel-en-Brenne, and twelve for the Carmel in Quievrain, Belgium. If we added all the applicants to those congregations which have kept their sound traditions we would marvel indeed at this true renewal of the Church where the fruits of the Holy Ghost give forth their true radiance and not the aberrations of the charismatics.
Is it not obvious that where the Faith of the Church is, so also is its holiness; where the holiness of the Catholic Church is, there also is the Catholic Church. A church which no longer produces good fruit, which is barren, is no longer the Catholic Church.
We certainly do not amount to much, and the good which is done through our efforts comes from Our Lord. That is why we trust, because from nothing, He can do much. The whole history of the Church proves it. Our Lord does not demand success from us; this is His domain. He only asks for our willingness and readiness to serve Him in our crosses as well as in our blessings.
Should these few lines reach those priests, monks and nuns who are fighting to keep the Faith and Tradition—especially the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass let us tell them that the Society is ready with its means to assist them in matters spiritual, moral and material.
Dear friends and benefactors, how we would like to serve you in your sanctification and in the sanctification, education and spiritual support of your children. We wish to start schools, especially for boys. The future of Christian families depends thereon. We are fully aware of your needs. That is why we already have schools in New York and Houston, in America, and why we will continue the school at St. Michel de Chateauroux in France.
We trust that we will have your continued support, your prayers, your sacrifices and your generosity. May God repay you through Mary and Joseph in abundant blessings.
†Marcel Lefebvre
On the Feast of the
Nativity of the Most Holy Virgin Mary
[Emphasis - The Catacombs]
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