Video: Pascua Florida Annual Pilgrimage: The Spanish Colonization of Florida

In April 1513, Juan Ponce de Leon landed on the northeast coast of Florida and planted the first cross in the sand. The early heroic martyrs endured deplorable conditions bringing the Faith to native Indians and ministering to the settlers. Modern day Catholics may not face death of body but the irreligious atmosphere cries for evangelization! Come walk the path of the martyrs from St. Thomas More Chapel in Sanford Florida to the oldest known site of the First Mass in North America and Nombre de Dios Shrine in St. Augustine.

Read more >>

Summorum Pontificum: 7 Year Anniversary Celebration

Today the Church observes the seventh anniversary of the publishing of Summorum Pontificum, the long-awaited motu proprio of Pope Benedict XVI replacing all former "indults" and freeing the Mass of All Times, the Traditional Latin Mass. No longer would a priest have to ask permission of his bishop to say the Mass as the Mass is to be readily offered and available to all of the Faithful.

The Saintly Example of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre

It is at this time that I wish to especially remember Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who resisted the Second Vatican Council's false propositions of ecumenism, religious liberty, and the altering of the Mass of All Times. It is through his witness and the formation of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X (SSPX) that the Mass of All Times has spread. And, I will venture to say that without Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre's role, the Traditional Latin Mass would have been at last forgotten and no organized resistance to the change would have existed.

Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre

It is Archbishop Lefebvre who has been slandered in recent years. The cause of canonization of his saintly mother has long been forgotten. Instead, in the words of Bishop Bernard Fellay during a sermon in Paris following Archbishop Lefebvre's death said, "Archbishop Lefebvre has gone, but the Mass is saved, the Catholic priesthood is saved..." Because of his resistance to all of changes affecting all of the Sacraments, the Society of St. Pius X is largely responsible for Pope Benedict XVI's issuance of the motu proprio and then the clear declaration that the Bishops of the Society of St. Pius X consecrated by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre are not excommunicated.

In the words of Father Franz Schmidberger at the Requiem Mass of Archbishop Lefebvre, "The work of the Archbishop on this earth is accomplished. Now begins his ministry as intercessor in eternity. He has given everything he could give...the miracle of a new generation of priests."

Archbishop Lefebvre only wished to teach that which he himself was taught in seminary. He wished to hand on the Catholic faith as taught and celebrated for the past centuries. And his resistance has directly led to the establishment of the Ecclesia Dei Commission and the motu proprio, Summorum Pontificum. I highly encourage the reading of Apologia Pro Marcel by Michael Davies as well as Open Letter to Confused Catholics and The Mass of All Times.

Mortal Remains of Archbishop Lefebvre

"I will finish with my testament. I would like that it be an echo of the testament of Our Lord: a New and Eternal Testament...the heritage that Jesus Christ gave us, His Sacrifice, His Blood, His Cross. I will say the same for you: for the glory of the Holy Trinity, for love of the Church, for the salvation of the world: keep the Holy Sacrifice of Our Lord Jesus Christ! Keep the Mass forever!" (Archbishop Lefebvre, 23rd September 1979)

"Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy" (John 16:20)

Read more >>

SSPX 2014 Ordinations

Today, Friday, June 13, seven deacons of the SSPX will be ordained to the Priesthood of Our Lord Jesus Christ by Bishop Bernard Fellay at St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Winona, Minnesota:

    Rev. Mr. Charles Deister (Kansas City, Missouri)
    Rev. Mr. Thomas Duncan (Tyrone, New Mexico)
    Rev. Mr. Peter Fortin (Spotsylvania, Virginia)
    Rev. Mr. Isaac Delmanowski (Glendale, Arizona)
    Rev. Mr. Andrew Ferrelli (Syracuse, New York)
    Rev. Mr. Joseph Haynos (Post Falls, Idaho)
    Rev. Mr. Matthew Stafki (Oak Grove, Minnesota)

A list of their first Masses can be found at the seminary's website [as a PDF flier].

In addition to these priests, five subdeacons will be ordained to the diaconate, the last stage of preparation before receiving priestly ordination.

We request that you keep these ordinands in your prayers (as indeed all of the SSPX's seminarians), that they may fulfill the Society's daily prayer during the recitation of the rosary: "O Lord, grant us holy priests. O Lord, grant us many holy priests." During this Octave of Pentecost, prayers to the Holy Ghost are especially commendable.

Want to help the SSPX petition Heaven for more priestly and religious vocations? You can recite this prayer at the end of your rosary as practiced in all of the Society's houses:

O Lord, grant us priests (repeated by others).
O Lord, grant us holy priests.
O Lord, grant us many holy priests.
O Lord, grant us many holy religious vocations.
V. St. Pius X.
R. Pray for us.





Source: SSPX

Read more >>

On the Power and Importance of the Holy Rosary

My Dear Brethren,

We are in the middle of the important month of the Holy Rosary, month of the great victories of Our Blessed Lady, through the Holy Rosary.  Sr. Lucy said that Our Blessed Lady has given more power to the Holy Rosary in view of the hard time that we were going to live, which are now, which is this terrible crisis in the Church. 

It is a great grace to be able to attend the Traditional Latin Mass once a week, or once or twice a month.  But on the other days, are you faithful to your daily rosary? It’s not enough to come to the Traditional mass in order to go to heaven.  You must do your personal part too to ask for God’s grace seven days a week, and that part is essentially prayer, specially the prayer of the Holy Rosary.  “He who prays will be saved, he who doesn’t pray will be condemned”, St Alphonsus says. 

To encourage you to be faithful to your daily rosary especially during this month of October, I would like to remind you, first, of the origin and history of the Holy Rosary, and then, in a second point, why the Holy Rosary is still so important for our present day history.  

First point: Origin of the Rosary

The year was 1214. St Dominic had already founded the Order of Preachers, later called, the Dominicans, and he was immediately faced with the heresy of the Albigenses which was spreading especially through the South of France, where St Dominic was. Our Lady appeared to him after he had been praying seriously and doing severe penance for many days in order to know how to fight the heretics.  She said to him: 

“Dear Dominic, do you know what weapon the Most Holy Trinity wants to use to reform the world?” St Dominic replied: “O my Lady, you know it much better than I do, because, next to your Son Jesus Christ, you have always been the instrument of our salvation.” Our Lady continued: “ I want you to know that in this kind of warfare the ‘battering ram’ has always been the Angelic Psalter which is the corner stone of the New Testament.  So, if you want to reach these hardened souls and win them to God, preach my Psalter!” 

We need to explain Our Lady’s words. Firstly, she calls the battle St Dominic was waging against heresy, ‘a kind of warfare’ . Indeed there has always been a deadly fight between truth and error, virtue and vice.  Among other things, the Albigenses were destroying marriage and making people live in sin, and in order to save the souls deceived by these heresies, there had to be a serious fight, a real warfare. 

Then, Our Lady speaks of a ‘battering ram’, which is very symbolic too.  A battering ram is a large beam, sometimes a whole tree, handled by many men, or by a kind of a structure, that is used to open a large gate, or to make an opening in a wall.  It only works with the repetition of blows on the gate or the wall.  She compares the Rosary to a battering ram: all these Hail Mary’s knock down the power of the devil to weaken it. We can also say that they knock on the Heart of God as well to obtain the opening of the flood of graces.  “Knock and it shall be open”, Jesus said. 

Thirdly, Our Lady calls the Rosary “the Angelic Psalter”.  You are familiar with the book of Psalms, mostly written by King David, in the Old Testament.  There were 150 Psalms which the monks recited every week and still do, in fact. So the word Psalter means 150. Some of the monks in the monasteries who could not read or write would replace the recitation of the 150 Psalms, by 150 Our Fathers or Hail Marys. The Ave Maria is called the Angelic Salutation. So, when Our blessed Lady uses the words “The Angelic Psalter “and “My Psalter” , she refers to the 150 Ave Maria of the full rosary. 

Our Lady finally says that the Angelic Psalter “is the corner stone of the New Testament”.  The whole mystery of the Redemptive Incarnation began with the Annunciation, which opened with the Ave Maria. Our Lady’s consent to the words of the Angel Gabriel – “Behold the Handmaid of the Lord” - was a consent to the Incarnation of the Word of God, to become the Mother of God and our Mother, and also to be the Woman that would be in enmity with the serpent and crush his head. 

Let us now repeat the words of Our Lady to St Dominic: “I want you to know that in this kind of warfare the ‘battering ram’ has always been the Angelic Psalter which is the corner stone of the New Testament.  So, if you want to reach these hardened souls and win them to God, preach my Psalter!” 

And St Dominic did it! And thousands of heretics were converted. A few hundred years later, Louis XIII, a French king, did it also in a war against the Protestants, and in thanksgiving for the victory, he built the famous church of Our Lady of Victories, in Paris.  The feast of Our Lady of Victories is on … October 7 th ! Later still, the first Dominican Pope, St Pius V used the rosary in the crusade against the Muslim Turks who were dangerously threatening to invade Europe. And the Rosary won again. It was October 7 th , 1571. And the list of the victories of the Rosary is long and continue until our own days. 

Is it surprising then that at Fatima, Our Blessed Lady urged the recitation of the rosary against the plague of communism? Whether it is against the Albigenses, the Protestants, the Muslim or the communists, “in this kind of warfare, our ‘battering ram’, the Rosary, must always be used. We have the promises of Our Lady and history on our side to prove it. 

Before I come to the second point, our own contemporary history, I want to remind you of a detail in the history of Fatima. The children of Fatima understood that the popes would have a very important role to play to obtain or to delay the triumph of the Immaculate Heart. They saw something truly tragic about this, so that they were constantly adding to their sacrifices:  “for the conversion of sinners and for the Holy Father”.   

Did they see that 7 popes would refuse to obey Our Lady’s request to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart, and that as a consequence Russia would spread its errors, and would cause hundreds of millions of deaths?  Did they see, as Cardinal Ciappi said, he who read the Third Secret of Fatima, that “the apostasy would start from the highest summit of the Church”? That would explain certain of the words and attitudes of the children of Fatima, and also why Sr Lucy was like paralyzed when it came to write down this Third Secret, in January 1944. 

Second Point: the need of the Rosary for our present history. 

“And for the Holy Father!”   O, yes, My Dear Brethren, we need to say the rosary, many rosaries for the Holy Father!  The situation in the Church is getting worse, and the present Holy Father, who is not a Father of Vatican II, like pope Benedict was, but a son of the Council, is showing in an alarming way how far can the principles of the Council go. 

So many of his acts show that sadly, very sadly, he is imbued with modernism.  For example, in his first encyclical on faith, Lumen Fidei, he confuses faith and charity.  These are two different theological virtues: faith is in the intellect and has for object the truth revealed by God and proposed by the Church, while Charity is in the will and has for object God as the supreme good.  Now the Holy Father in an encyclical – but now encyclicals seem to be more for the world at large than for the bishops, like they used to be -  says this: “Faith knows in the measure that it is linked to love, in the measure where love itself carries a light”.   When you read the encyclical, you do get the message that faith is merely a religious feeling based on love.  Well, that is exactly how St Pius X described modernism.  

Then, he has announced that he will canonize two of the popes of the Council: Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II.  For the first one, they have even dispensed from the miracle which is the sign that the person has reached heaven. For John Paul II, I encourage you to read the book: Doubts on a Beatification which was published by Angelus Press.  Pope John Paul II has a different notion of the three virtues of Faith, hope and charity. Such canonizations – if God allows them – change the very notion of holiness, which is one of the four marks of the Church, and the goal of these canonizations is truly to canonize Vatican II and its errors which are destroying the Church. 

I cannot speak of everything which Pope Francis has already done, such as the terrible and scandalous World Youth Days in Brazil, last August, or his recent long interview with the Jesuits, where he says that Vatican II is irrevocable.  I simply want to mention another more recent interview given on October 2, to the Italian Newspaper “Reppublica”, which is run by an openly atheist editor. 

One of the first words of the pope to this editor Eugenio Scalfari was: “Proselytism is an pompous absurdity, it has no meaning”.  This means that we should not try to convert people.  This is not exactly what we read in the Gospel: “Go and preach the Gospel to every creature!” 

Mr. Scalfari, the editor of the newspaper, asked the pope if there was a unique vision of what is Good, and if so, who can decide this? The pope replied: “Every human being possesses his own vision of what is good, but also of what is evil.  Our task is to encourage him to follow the way shown by what he estimates is good.” And he insisted: “And I am ready to repeat this.

Everyone has his own conception of Good and Evil, and everyone must choose and follow good and fight evil according to the idea that he has.  That would be enough to live in a better world.” 

These worlds are terrible. They eliminate the Ten Commandments, and the whole role of the Church, guardian and sole interpreter of the Ten Commandments. 

We can understand why the children of Fatima prayed and suffered so much “for the Holy Father”. And Our Lady’s words as well: “Pray the Rosary daily!” 

Let me conclude with words of wisdom from the Imitation of Christ, a wisdom so important in dealing with present day history: If you see another man sin openly or commit a serious crime, do not consider yourself better, for you do not know how long you can remain in a good state. All men are frail, but you must admit that none is more frail than yourself. (I, 2) 

My Dear Brethren, do say your rosary every day, as Our Heavenly Mother has urged us, pray for the Holy Father. As you can see, his mind is filled with the modern errors. Pray the rosary for him. This is the best way for us to help him. And keep yourself free from sin. Go to confession frequently. Be faithful in your duty of state.   

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us and “for the Holy Father”!

Fr. Daniel Couture Sermon for October 2013 

Read more >>

Recommended Book: Sacred Triduum Missal

A traditional missal for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of Holy Week according to the 1962 rubrics.

This book is very helpful if you do not have a 1958 or later missal which contains the revised rite of Holy Week of Pope Pius XII. Surprisingly, many people who do have the revised Holy Week in their missal, still like to use the Sacred Triduum Missal because the type is fairly large and the entire rite is laid out so that you do not have to flip back and forth.

This book contains the entire ceremonies for Holy Thursday evening, Good Friday's Solemn Liturgy and the Paschal Vigil with parallel Latin and English texts with rubrics in violet.

190 pages, softcover.  Order via Angelus Press.

Read more >>

23rd Anniversary of the Death of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre

Today's the 23rd anniversary of the passing of His Excellency Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre to his eternal reward.  Requiescat in pace, Monseigneur.

In paradisum deducant te Angeli; in tuo adventu suscipiant te martyres, et perducant te in civitatem sanctam Ierusalem. Chorus angelorum te suscipiat, et cum Lazaro quondam paupere æternam habeas requiem.

May angels lead you into Paradise; may the martyrs receive you at your coming and lead you to the holy city of Jerusalem. May a choir of angels receive you, and with Lazarus, who once was poor, may you have eternal rest.


"Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy" (John 16:20)

"In the spiritual reality of the church, neither Marcel Lefebvre, nor his bishops and priests, nor the people who frequent the SSPX chapels suffered or suffer excommunication. I believe history will record that the intent to impose such an excommunication was invalid and illicit." - Father Malachi Martin

Read more >>

Priests and deacons ordained at La Reja seminary for the SSPX: December 2013

An American priest from Miami was part of a bumper crop of priestly ordinations at the SSPX's seminary in Argentina in December.

In the image above, Fr. Baquerizo's maniturgium is bound around his hands by his mother after being were anointed with sacred chrism by the ordaining bishop. It is customary for a priestly son to honor his mother by giving her this linen maniturgium — and buried with upon her death.

Priests and deacons ordained at La Reja seminary for the SSPX

December 21st (2013) was a day of great rejoicing for the seminary of Our Lady Co-Redemptrix in La Reja, Argentina. For on that date, nine deacons (a number equaled only once in her history) were ordained priests by Bishop Bernard Tissier de Mallerais:

• Fr. Aureo Mendes (Brazil)
• Fr. Fernando Rivero (Argentina)
• Fr. Pedro Roldan (Argentina)
• Fr. Jose Maria Jimenez, (Spain)
• Fr. Luis Rodriguez (Mexico)
• Fr. Jose Mota (Mexico)
• Fr. Jesus Estevez (Dominican Republic)
• Fr. Pius Nanthambwe (Zimbabwe)
• Fr. David Baquerizo (United States)

Also, four subdeacons were also raised to the diaconate:

• Rev. Mr. Santiago Villanueva (Argentina)
• Rev. Mr. Timothee de Bonnafos (France)
• Rev. Mr. Fernando Moenckeberg (Chile)
• Rev. Mr. Felipe Echazu (Argentina)

Newly-ordained American, Fr. David Baquerizo (originally a parishioner at the Shrine of St. Philomena in Miami, Florida), returned home two weeks later to say a first Mass on Sunday, January 5. The prior of Sanford, Florida, Fr. Marc Vernoy, made the 5-hour trip south to be his assistant priest in the Mass, and Fr. Pierre Duverger flew in from Platte City, Missouri to preach the sermon.
Since the Mass coincided with Fr. Baquerizo's 25th birthday, the jubilant parishioners prepared a special party to honor the event.

Source: SSPX

Read more >>

Bishop Fellay Launches 4th Rosary Crusade!

 Bishop Fellay's newest letter to friends and benefactors (#81) has just been published!

In his letter, the SSPX's Superior General briefly outlines the state of affairs in the Church, some issues being faced with Pope Francis, as well as the apostolic work that the Society of St. Pius X faithfully continues.

Most importantly, Bishop Fellay has announced a fourth Rosary Crusade with the goal of offering 5 million rosaries to Our Lady for the intentions of:

1. To implore from the Immaculate Heart of Mary a special protection for the traditional apostolate;
2. For the return to Tradition within the Church;
3. For the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary by the consecration of Russia.

2014 Rosary Crusade

January 1 until June 8, 2014

Means:

1) Prayer and penance as asked for at Fatima;
2) Sanctification through the duty of state;
3) Spirit of sacrifice in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

Read more >>

Evangelii Gaudium Observances from the SSPX

Note: The following is taken from the website of the SSPX.

On November 26, 2013, Pope Francis published the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii gaudium (the joy of the Gospel), which was to be a synthesis of the Synod on the new evangelization that Benedict XVI had called together in October 2012. In fact, the new pope hardly takes this synod into account, and leaves to the local episcopates the care of drawing for themselves the conclusions that they find useful. He prefers, in this document, to develop the themes that seem important to him and that he has already exposed here and there in the first eight months of his pontificate.

Thus do we find in the 288 points of this long exhortation his favorite expressions: the Church must “go out to others to reach the fringes of humanity”; “a poor Church for the poor”; rather a Church that is “bruised and hurting” because she went out to meet others, than a Church that is unhealthy because she is closed to others…

Throughout this document, that has no very strictly logical plan, the pope speaks of “the Church’s missionary transformation” (Ch. 1); “the crisis of communal commitment” (Ch. 2), in which he treats the “temptations faced by pastoral workers”; preaching (Ch. 3); “the social dimension of evangelization” (Ch. 4), in which he mentions, among other things, attention to the poor and social peace.

In the beginning, Francis recognizes the “programmatic” nature of this exhortation for his pontificate: “I want to emphasize that what I am trying to express here has a programmatic significance and important consequences.” (#25) Which brings some Vatican specialists to say that this is in reality an encyclical.

Speaking of the reform announced in the Church, as Jean-Marie Guenois wrote in Le Figaro on November 27, the Sovereign Pontiff:

calls for one of the applications of Vatican II that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, under the pontificate of John Paul II, had always fought, by burying the project of “a status for the Bishops’ conferences” that would give them “a certain authentic doctrinal authority.” This does indeed imply weakening the center, the papacy, the Vatican, to leave more room for the local bishops. (…) This will to reform the profound culture of the Church — to go from a centralizing and dogmatic vision to the vision of a Church “with her doors thrown open” the better to welcome — implies a series of small reforms, that are not just friendly suggestions, but whose application Francis is very clearly demanding.

And observers did not fail to notice that this apostolic exhortation contains as many references to texts from bishoprics in different regions of the world as to texts from the Roman magisterium.
While waiting upon a more thorough analysis, three remarks can already be made:
1. Behind the pope’s desire to inspire a new missionary impulse, we cannot help seeing an implicit denunciation of the present evils in the Church, a denunciation that does not dare to trace back to the cause of these evils. When he invites Catholics to be more involved in social life, he shows — without saying as much – how great a disaster was caused by the “burial” encouraged by the Council, on the pretext of being more open to the world — a “burial” that was none other than a secularization, an adopting of the spirit of the world, made visible to all the faithful by the adopting of the secular habit by most clerics. And this secular habit gave birth to secular habits…

2. When Pope Francis rightly denounces the myth of the “invisiDIUCble hand” that harmoniously but mysteriously rules the movements of the “divinized market”, he is denouncing liberalism, but he fails to quote the great anti-liberal encyclicals of his pre-conciliar predecessors, such as Leo XIII. Perhaps because these criticisms of economic liberalism come with a criticism of doctrinal liberalism, to whose values the Council wished to open the Church, as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger admitted?
3. The apostolic exhortation denounces the privatization of religion in post-modern society, which rejects the political and social dimension of Catholicism, but at the same time wishes to maintain the conciliar requirements of religious liberty and inter-religious dialogue, claiming that evangelization is contradicted by neither one. The exhortation merely states this non-contradiction, but the facts take care of proving it wrong. Thus does the pope “humbly pray and implore the countries (of Islamic tradition) to grant the Christians the freedom to celebrate their cult and to live their faith, taking into account the liberty that the believers of Islam enjoy in the Western countries!”(#253) There we see the Council put to the test of reality.

Read more >>

SSPX's Eastern Europe Apostolic Missions

Mater Misericordiae: SSPX Eastern Europe Newsletter for Fall 2013

The SSPX's Eastern European Autonomous House has just published a beautiful full-color presentation of its apostolic work in countries such as Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

In addition to detailing the many ongoing missionary efforts in Slavic countries, the newsletter also gives information on you can help the apostolate.

Read more >>

Video: New SSPX Church in Phoenix

In this video, see a glimpse of the Romanesque style Catholic Church that contains elements of Southern Mission style architecture to blend in with its Southern environment.

Seating 750 faithful, with 12,000 square feet on the main and 9,000 square feet filling the basement and crypt, Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church on Baseline Road in Southern Phoenix will be a landmark for centuries to come. Built for the traditional Latin Liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church, this goliath of a Church will the House of God for this generation, and their children's children, sacred place for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, sacraments.

I was at Our Lady of Sorrows in early 2012 when the project was just in its infancy.  The cornerstone was just recently blessed. I'm so glad to see this progress.  Please pray for this project and consider making a donation.

Read more >>

Bishop Fellay on Our Lady of Fatima & the Crisis in the Church

Bishop Fellay recently spoke about Our Lady of Fatima and her message and its relation to the crisis in the Church. The SSPX's Superior General gave a conference entitled "Our Lady of Fatima and the Crisis in the Church" on Saturday, October 12, during the 2013 Angelus Press Conference.

A 2-part audio of Bishop Fellay's conference is now available on the Society's website:

1. Our Lady of Fatima and the Crisis in the Church: Part 1 
2. Our Lady of Fatima and the Crisis in the Church: Part 2

Summary of Part 1:

1. Overview of the 3 secrets of Fatima.
2. The text of the Third Secret.
3. The Third Secret has 2 parts; only 1 has been published proofs.
4. Why wasn't the Third Secret fully revealed?
5. Dire Fatima predictions: how to understand.
6. The prophecies of Fatima and Akita are the same.

Summary of Part 2:

1. The Third Secret concerns a "touchy" matter for the Church.
2. Sister Lucy: "It's all in the Apocalypse, chapters 8-13".
3. Third Secret concerns the Antichrist... and more.
4. Pope Francis' Act of Entrustment, not Consecration.
5. Fulfilling the Fatima message, prayer and penance.
6. The Son of Perdition may already be among us.
7. Dealing with the crisis.
8. God's coming chastisement... and Providence.
9. The necessity of devotion to Our Lady.

Read more >>

Blessing of the Cornerstone at Our Lady of Sorrows

In the past I had written about my visit to Our Lady of Sorrows Retreat Center in Phoenix, AZ and I also mentioned the need to support the construction of a new Church at Our Lady of Sorrows.

I'm pleased to report that progress continues for them and that the blessing of the cornerstone took place on October 5th of this year.

As the Society's website states:

The next day (Saturday, October 5) saw another important ceremony, the blessing of the church's cornerstone. Though as a symbolic piece this cornerstone does not have the same structural import as the roof trusses, nonetheless it has a far more religious significance. THE cornerstone (or in Latin lapidis angularis) is of course Our Lord Jesus Christ, "the stone the builders rejected" and thus crucified Him, of Who a church building itself represents.

Present for this ceremony, was from his residence in Chicago, Illinois, Bishop Bernard Tissier de Mallerais, those previously mentioned out-of-town and in-town clergy and religious, as well as the Benedictine monks of Our Lady of Guadalupe Monastery who came from Silver City, New Mexico. Approximately 300 faithful were also in attendance.

Inscribed on the cornerstone's facade were these words:

Our Lady of Sorrows Church     October 5, 2013 
Stabat iuxta crucem Jesu mater eius
(There stood at the cross of Jesus, His mother).

Read more >>

First Screening of Lefebvre the Movie

On Sunday, October 13, the first public screening of the English language version of the documentary film, Archbishop Lefebvre: The Documentary, will be given as the conclusion of the Angelus Press Conference.

Few churchmen led as influential lives in the 20th century as did Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre — an intelligent, faithful, and devout bishop with the heart of a missionary, this feature-film-length documentary captures and present him on screen as never before.
Shot on location throughout the world, the documentary contains exclusive interviews with those who knew him: friends, family, missionary faithful, seminarians, priests, bishops, as well as authors and historians.

Any Catholic interested in the story of the Church in the 20th Century, or in the life of the Church today will want to watch and own this documentary on one of the Church's most fascinating prelates.
Stay tuned for more documentary info!

Watch the trailer for the Archbishop Lefebvre documentary >
See where this movie will be playing near you >
Pre-order it now on DVD (release date: 12-1-2013) >

Source: SSPX Website

Read more >>

Pilgrimage to the Holy Relics of Aachen

As reported by the SSPX website:

The Holy Relics of Aachen Germany are exposed only for 10 days once every 7 years.

Few places rank beside Aachen in the history of Christian Europe. Aachen’s Cathedral was built in 790-800 AD as the palace chapel of Charlemagne, King of the Francs and Holy Roman Emperor (born 742; died 814).

Charlemagne was given his final resting place in this cathedral, which was the most distinguished sanctuary in his realm. For nearly 600 years, from 936 to 1531, kings were enthroned on Charlemagne’s throne, after having been anointed and crowned at the main altar.

During the Middle Ages, Aachen became one of Christendom’s most important places of pilgrimage, on a par with Jerusalem, Rome, and Santiago de Compostela. The Aachen pilgrimage, which has been taking place every seven years ever since 1349, is devoted to worshipping the four Holy Relics collected by Charlemagne:

1. the cloak of Our Lady
2. the swaddling clothes of the Infant Jesus
3. the loin clothes worn by Our Lord during His Crucifixion
4. and the cloth where the head of St. John the Baptist was placed after his beheading

These Holy Relics will be officially taken out of the 13th century reliquary and ritually displayed between June 20-30, 2014.

To see and pray before these remarkable relics, we would like to invite you to join a 12-day pilgrimage for faithful of the Society of St. Pius X visiting Poland, Prague, and Germany. The itinerary includes Krakow, Czestochowa, Auschwitz, Prague, Dettelbach, Wurzburg, Fulda, Bamberg, Rudesheim, Cologne, Aachen, and much more!

In addition to these holy relics, pray before the Holy Infant of Prague, the Black Madonna of Czestochowa, and the relics of the Three Magi. Render homage to St. Stanislaw, St. Hedwig, St. Hyacinth, St. Wenceslas, St. Norbert, St. Boniface, St. Kilian, St. Albert the Great, St. Ursula, St. Cornelius, St. Henry II and St. Kunigunde, and many other saints. Join in Aachen's special jubilee as it marks 1,200 years since the death of Charlemagne in 814 AD.

Travel in the company of other SSPX faithful and an SSPX priest, who will celebrate daily Holy Mass. Do not miss this unique opportunity to gain countless graces and pray before these holy relics, which are exposed only for 10 days every 7 years!

Read more >>

Traditional Capuchins of Morgon, France

The traditional Capuchins of Morgon, France are making their first visit to the United States District to introduce the faithful to the Third Order of St. Francis. For a full listing of where they will be visiting and when, please click here.

Read more >>

Five New SSPX Brothers

The Feast of St. Michael, September 29th, is a special day for the brothers of the Society of St. Pius X as the Archangel is their particular patron. At St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary, also SSPX’s USA Brothers’ Novitiate, the novices made their religious vows during the Solemn Mass.

After a 6-day retreat preached by Fr. Iscarra according to the spirituality of the Desert Fathers, 3 Brothers will make their First vows and 4 others will renew their vows. They are 18 attending the retreat. According to the Statutes written by Archbishop Lefebvre for the SSPX’s brothers, the brothers make their vows for one year, then twice for a three-year period, before being allowed to make their perpetual vows.

The first religious profession takes place after a year of novitiate. Adding to the brothers’ ranks, on the eve of the feast of St. Michael, 2 postulants received the habit (black cassock and plain sash) and became novices, Mr. Curtis became Br. Albert Mary and Mr. Goldade became Br. Philip. The Society St. Pius X number more than 110 Brothers and 15 are presently assigned in the US

Source: SSPX

Read more >>

Catholic Scientist Admonishes "Genetic Sorcerers"

Note: The following is excerpted from an article on SSPX.org

The life of Professor Jerome Lejeune (1926-1994) is worth knowing, and his battle with the culture of death promoted by leading scientists of the American world is an example of how a Catholic ought to behave, even in the midst of defeat.

Prof. Lejeune is the founder of modern genetics,[1] the discoverer of the trisomy. On October 3, 1969, he was invited to receive at San Francisco the most prestigious award of genetics, the William Allan prize.

And why was he offered this reward? Because his work enabled the successful testing which could detect trisomy 21 (Down Syndrome) in mothers’ womb – thus in the United States, these tests (amongst others already in use) were used to prevent the birth of such diagnosed babies.

This is how Prof. Lejeune was rewarded and discovered to his dismay that the world was falling from under his feet, not only figuratively, but even literally during the presentation. For coincidentally, one of San Francisco’s famous seismic quakes shook the whole conference room causing him to reflect: “At this moment, I understood that the world had revolved on its axis.”

So what were those rewarding him implying? That his research would be applied to exterminate children in their mother’s womb because they could not be like other children who were “normal” or “productive members of society,” hence “you are not like me, so die!” Such an attitude should be referred to as “chromosomic racism.”

What is this “brave new world” in which in order to live, one will have to obey certain norms, be blond, possess a higher IQ, be more political, and be more this or that – and who will have to experience these norms? But in point of fact, we should remember that such norms have been tried before – and not so long ago.

Prof. Lejeune often recalled to his students the true story told him by an Austrian colleague.

My father was a doctor in a small Austrian village, and in April 1889, he was asked to deliver to two children: one was a healthy boy, and the other a poor little child. She was trisomic. My father followed closely these two children. The little girl had a rather sad life. One day her mother grew sick when she was only 16 or 17. And although she had a very week intellectual quota, she was by the side of her mother for four years, and softened the end of her mother’s life. Then she was placed in a nursing home. This was a rather sad life. Strange enough, my father does not recall the name of the girl, but he remembers very well that of the little boy. This child had a brilliant destiny and reached the summit. Oh, yes, he is somewhat forgotten, his name was Adolph Hitler.

Who can decide that one life can be lived rather than another? Who can pretend to judge such things? Behold the professor in that conference hall understands that there is being set a diabolical order. There are two options:[though in reality there is only one] either a) he plays the dummy and keeps quiet, or b) he takes the prize, leaves the place and life goes on as ever – as if nothing happened at all!

So does Prof. Lejeune – a doctor and internationally-respected professor (in fact he may even be nominated for the Noble Peace Prize next year or later) says nothing to ensure that his career continues in the same elevating fashion? Or – and this is what he actually does – he open his mouth to explain that what they are doing is monstrous!

He tells them in words they can understand. He will not speak to them about the Christian moral order, or of the Oath of Hippocrates.[2] Why should he speak of this oath to the these learned Americans, who dropped it long ago? He could tell them that his Christian heart is bleeding, but then they would tell him to keep his religious sentiment to himself and let them freely think as they wish. No! He is going to speak their own language, and they will never pardon him.

You know as well as me, and any student in genetics knows this, that, at the very moment of its conception, every creature carries within itself its chromosomic message, and nothing can change it. This will make a man be neither a monkey, or a duck, because you cannot confuse them as nothing can be added or subtracted to them. Thus, do not tell me, when you request to suppress these children, that you are not suppressing a human being because it is already a human being and nothing will change anything: he needs only to grow if he is allowed to. No! You are suppressing a human being who is not according to your norms, but do not deny it its human nature, which you allow to be quietly assassinated.

Read more >>

Archbishop Lefebvre: A Documentary: Less Than Two Months to Launch

Dear Friend of Archbishop Lefebvre: A Documentary,  

Exciting News

This important work is finally completed and ready for the inaugural screening on October 13 at this year’s Angelus Press Conference for Catholic Tradition. If you haven’t checked out the conference yet, you should do so by visiting here: www.angeluspress.org/conference.
After this inaugural launch, we will start our screenings in select theaters nationwide. Be sure to check lefebvrethemovie.org regularly for updated information. 
 
What Can You Do?

We need your help. With a few months remaining, we’re asking you to do everything you can to spread the word about this important film. Go to lefebvrethemovie.org, like us on Facebook, share with your friends, heck, even just email them a link to our site. If you know anyone who you think would like this film, or who you think should watch it, then take just a few minutes and pass it on. The links at the bottom of this email make it easy to share. 
 
What’s Coming Next

Beginning next week, we will start regularly adding clips from the documentary to the official website, giving you an inside glimpse of this upcoming movie. 
 
It’s Not too Late

If you are willing to help organize a screening, it’s not too late. Just email us info@lefebvrethemovie.org, and we will help you with any preparations. Even if it’s just a suggestion for screenings, send us an email. 

Don’t forget to visit www.lefebvrethemovie.org, and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Read more >>

Analysis of Pope Francis's First Encyclical in Light of Catholic Tradition

Is Pope Francis' first encyclical, Lumen fidei, in line with Tradition? DICI examines the text and gives some conclusions.  The following is directly quoted from that source.

Lumen fidei [published on June 29, 2013] claims to be “in continuity with all that the Church’s magisterium has pronounced”;  thus there is an explicit reference—but only in a footnote—to Chapter 3 of the Constitution Dei Filius of the First Vatican Council (no. 7, note 7).  It is also about the “faith [that is] received from God as a supernatural gift” (no. 4), and it specifies that faith is a “theological” and “supernatural” virtue given by God (no. 7). Similarly we read:

Since faith is one, it must be professed in all its purity and integrity” (no. 48); not a single article of the Creed can be denied;  there is a need for vigilance to ensure that the deposit of faith is passed on “in its entirety (no. 48).

But those are the only traces of the traditional teaching.

All the rest of the Encyclical buries these all-too-rare allusions in a context that is quite foreign to them. This context connects the idea of faith with the idea of experience and personal encounter, which establishes a relation between man and God, without making it clear whether this is the intellectual relation of knowledge[1] or the affective relation of love.[2] Nor is it very clear whether this personal encounter corresponds to the profound requirements of nature or whether it surpasses them by introducing man into a specifically supernatural order.[3] The problem is compounded by the failure to cite the classical notions of natural and supernatural in describing this relation: it is above all a question of existence.[4]

The central idea is that faith is first of all existential, the product of an encounter with the living God that reveals love and leads to communion (no. 4, no. 8).  It is essentially dynamic, openness to the promise of God and memory of [that promise about] the future (no. 9), openness to love (no. 21, no. 34), attachment to the source of life and of all fatherhood (no. 11), an experience of love (no. 47)…. It consists of “the willingness to let ourselves be constantly transformed and renewed by God’s call” (no. 13).

There is no definition of what a theological virtue is, and the reader will search in vain for a specific definition of the three theological virtues, which consequently are mixed up. Never is faith related to the authority of God who reveals (the word “authority” appears once, in no. 55, but in reference to another subject). The revealed deposit of faith is mentioned only in no. 48, but it is not defined—particularly the fact that it was completed at the death of the last apostle.

No. 18 recalls that “Christian faith is faith in the incarnation of the Word and his bodily resurrection; it is faith in a God who is so close to us that he entered our human history.” But it must be admitted that it is quite difficult to recite the act of faith on the basis of the considerations proposed here, according to which faith relies not on the authority of God who can neither deceive nor be deceived, but rather on the “utter reliability of God’s love” (no. 17), and on the reliability of Jesus “based… on his divine sonship” (ibid.). In other words: I believe in God because he is love and not because he is truthful.

We find in footnote 23 an excerpt from Dei Verbum that speaks about “[willing assent] to the revelation given by God”, which requires

the grace of God, anticipating it and assisting it, as well as the interior helps of the Holy Spirit, who moves the heart and converts it to God, and opens the eyes of the mind and makes it easy for all to accept and believe the truth (no. 29).

Yet further on the Encyclical reads:

The creed does not only involve giving one’s assent to a body of abstract truths; rather, when it is recited the whole of life is drawn into a journey towards full communion with the living God (no. 45).

The necessity of faith in order to be saved is presented in a non-directive manner: the beginning of salvation is “openness to something prior to ourselves, to a primordial gift that affirms life and sustains it in being” (no. 19). Or else:  “Faith in Christ brings salvation because in him our lives become radically open” (no. 20). This is far from the Gospel clarity:

Go ye into the whole world and preach the gospel to every creation.  He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved:  but he that believeth not shall be condemned (Mark 16:15-16).

On the contrary, no. 34 says:

The light of love proper to faith can illumine the questions of our own time about truth…. As a truth of love, it is not one that can be imposed by force; it is not a truth that stifles the individual. Since it is born of love, it can penetrate to the heart, to the personal core of each man and woman. Clearly, then, faith is not intransigent, but grows in respectful coexistence with others.

Incidentally, one might wonder about the catechetical effectiveness of the definition of the Decalogue given in no. 46:

The Decalogue is not a set of negative commands, but concrete directions for emerging from the desert of the selfish and self-enclosed ego in order to enter into dialogue with God.

In short, faith, as it is presented in Lumen fidei, is first of all an experience of life and of love, fully realized in the “encounter with Christ” (no. 30): “Faith knows because it is tied to love, because love itself brings enlightenment” (no. 26). Jesus is said to be the one savior because “all God’s light is concentrated in him, in his ‘luminous life’ which discloses the origin and the end of history” (no. 35)….

It is much too early to propose, based on a first encyclical, a key to reading the teaching of Pope Francis; the next encyclical—which is said to be dedicated to poverty—will be more personal and will enlighten us more precisely. We will simply be so bold as to point out that Lumen fidei is indeed in line with post-conciliar teaching. Vatican II wanted to open up the Church to the modern world, which is characterized by its rejection of the argument from authority. Thus the Council claimed to be pastoral, avoiding all dogmatic definition so as not to give the impression of coercing contemporary minds.

From this perspective, the considerations on faith in Lumen fidei are somewhat reminiscent of what the immanentist philosopher Maurice Blondel wrote:

If faith increases our knowledge, it is not initially and principally inasmuch as it teaches us certain objective truths by authorized testimony, but rather inasmuch as it unites us to the life of a subject, inasmuch as it initiates us, through loving thought, to another thought and another love. (M. Blondel in A. Lalande, Dictionnaire technique et critique de la philosophie [Paris: PUF, 1968], 360, emphasis added.)

It is not learning objective truths, but becoming united to the life of a subject and being initiated by loving thought to another thought and another love. Hence a problem arises: how can one be content to propose to modern minds, which are smitten with autonomy, what the authority of divine revelation imposes on us? And how can we do this without giving the impression to those minds that the authority of divine revelation is contrary to their aspirations to autonomy? And without diluting the revealed deposit itself either or diminishing its authority? These are the difficulties with which the Magisterium has been struggling for fifty years.

In a recent article, Fr. Jean-Dominique, O.P., recalls the interest with which the Protestants of Taize welcomed the non-dogmatic teaching of Vatican II:

The Council’s intention is to drop an excessively static and notional language so as to adopt resolutely a dynamic, living language. This whole magnificent document [Dei Verbum, the conciliar document on Revelation—Editor’s note] will consider Revelation as the living Word that the living God addresses to the living Church composed of living members…. This whole document on Revelation will be dominated by the foundational evangelical themes of word, life and communion.  The Word of God, is the living Christ whom God gives to mankind so as to establish between him and them the communion of the Spirit in the Church.

Thus the Church gave up “speaking about the acceptance of revelation in terms of submission to authority” so as to speak primarily about a “personal faith that accepts God’s revelation” (Roger Schutz and Max Thurian, La Parole vivante au Concile [Les Presses de Taize, 1966], 77-78, cited by Fr. Jean-Dominique, “Concile ou révolution?” in Le Chardonnet [July 2013]: 6).

This intention no longer to resort to dogmatic definitions is deplored by the Declaration of the bishops of the Society of St. Pius X dated June 27, 2013:

We are truly obliged to observe that this Council without comparison, which wanted to be merely pastoral and not dogmatic, inaugurated a new type of magisterium, hitherto unheard of in the Church, without roots in Tradition; a magisterium resolved to reconcile Catholic doctrine with liberal ideas; a magisterium imbued with the modernist ideas of subjectivism, of immanentism and of perpetual evolution according to the false concept of a living tradition [which is also found in the writings of Maurice Blondel—Editor’s note], vitiating  the nature, the content, the role and the exercise of ecclesiastical magisterium.”  (See DICI no. 278, dated July 5, 2013).

(DICI no. 279 dated July 19, 2013)

Footnotes

[1] Recall: Faith  is defined as the adherence of our intellect to the truths revealed by God, because of the authority of God who reveals them. The spiritual life has faith as its principle, which receives from revelation its properly intellectual and therefore conceptual knowledge of the mystery. Without denying the fact that faith must be enriched by charity and flourish in loving knowledge, we must firmly maintain that, in order to be united in the actual spiritual life, faith and charity must remain formally distinct in their definition, in the eyes of the Magisterium and of theology.

[2] “Believing means entrusting oneself to a merciful love which always accepts and pardons, which sustains and directs our lives, and which shows its power by its ability to make straight the crooked lines of our history” (no. 13). “Faith transforms the whole person precisely to the extent that he or she becomes open to love. Through this blending of faith and love we come to see the kind of knowledge which faith entails, its power to convince and its ability to illumine our steps. Faith knows because it is tied to love, because love itself brings enlightenment. Faith’s understanding is born when we receive the immense love of God which transforms us inwardly and enables us to see reality with new eyes” (no. 26). “Faith transforms the whole person precisely to the extent that he or she becomes open to love. Through this blending of faith and love we come to see the kind of knowledge which faith entails, its power to convince and its ability to illumine our steps. Faith knows because it is tied to love, because love itself brings enlightenment. Faith’s understanding is born when we receive the immense love of God which transforms us inwardly and enables us to see reality with new eyes” (no. 32).

[3] “The life of faith, as a filial existence, is the acknowledgment of a primordial and radical gift which upholds our lives. We see this clearly in St. Paul’s question to the Corinthians: ‘What have you that you did not receive?’ (1 Cor 4:7)” (no. 19). Does this refer to the gift of creation or to the gift of grace? “In accepting the gift of faith, believers become a new creation; they receive a new being, as God’s children”; this is well put, but it does not specify whether this newness is part of the natural order and in continuity with creation or whether it surpasses it.

[4] “The light of faith is unique, since it is capable of illuminating every aspect of human existence” (no. 4). “For those early Christians, faith, as an encounter with the living God revealed in Christ, was indeed a ‘mother’, for it had brought them to the light and given birth within them to divine life, a new experience and a luminous vision of existence for which they were prepared to bear public witness to the end” (no. 5). “The Second Vatican Council enabled the light of faith to illumine our human experience from within, accompanying the men and women of our time on their journey. It clearly showed how faith enriches life in all its dimensions” (no. 6). “Thus wonderfully interwoven, faith, hope and charity are the driving force of the Christian life as it advances towards full communion with God” (no. 7). “Believing means entrusting oneself to a merciful love which always accepts and pardons, which sustains and directs our lives, and which shows its power by its ability to make straight the crooked lines of our history” (no. 13). “The beginning of salvation is openness to something prior to ourselves, to a primordial gift that affirms life and sustains it in being” (no. 19). “Those who believe are transformed by the Love to which they have opened their hearts in faith. By their openness to this offer of primordial Love, their lives are enlarged and expanded” (no. 21). “The realization that God is light provided Augustine with a new direction in life and enabled him to acknowledge his sinfulness and to turn towards the good” (no. 33).

Read more >>