At the conclusion of the General Chapter of the Society of St. Pius X,
gathered together at the tomb of its venerated founder, Archbishop
Marcel Lefebvre, and united with its Superior General, the
participants, bishops, superiors, and most senior members of the
Society elevate to Heaven our heartfelt thanksgiving, grateful for the
42 years of marvelous Divine protection over our work, amidst a Church
in crisis and a world which distances itself farther from God and His
law with each passing day.
We wish to express our gratitude to each and every member of our
Society: priests, brothers, sisters, third order members; to the
religious communities close to us and also to our dear faithful, for
their constant dedication and for their fervent prayers on the
occasion of this Chapter, marked by frank exchanges of views and by a
very fruitful common work. Every sacrifice and pain accepted with
generosity has contributed to overcome the difficulties which the
Society has encountered in recent times. We have recovered our
profound unity in its essential mission: to preserve and defend the
Catholic Faith, to form good priests, and to strive towards the
restoration of Christendom. We have determined and approved the
necessary conditions for an eventual canonical normalization. We have
decided that, in that case, an extraordinary Chapter with deliberative
vote will be convened beforehand.
We must never forget that the sanctification of the souls always
starts within ourselves. It is the fruit of a faith which becomes
vivifying and operating by the work of charity, according to the words
of St. Paul: “For we can do nothing against the truth: but for the
truth” (cf. II Cor., XIII, 8), and “as Christ also loved
the church and delivered himself up for it... that it should be holy
and without blemish” (cf. Eph. V, 25 s.).
The Chapter believes that the paramount duty of the Society, in the
service which it intends to offer to the Church, is to continue, with
God’s help, to profess the Catholic Faith in all its purity and
integrity, with a determination matching the intensity of the constant
attacks to which this very Faith is subjected nowadays.
For this reason it seems opportune that we reaffirm our faith in the
Roman Catholic Church, the unique Church founded by Our Lord Jesus
Christ, outside of which there is no salvation nor possibility to find
the means leading to salvation; our faith in its monarchical
constitution, desired by Our Lord himself, by which the supreme power
of government over the universal Church belongs only to the Pope,
Vicar of Christ on earth; our faith in the universal Kingship of Our
Lord Jesus Christ, Creator of both the natural and the supernatural
orders, to Whom every man and every society must submit.
The Society continues to uphold the declarations and the teachings of
the constant Magisterium of the Church in regard to all the novelties
of the Second Vatican Council which remain tainted with errors, and
also in regard to the reforms issued from it. We find our sure guide
in this uninterrupted Magisterium which, by its teaching authority,
transmits the revealed Deposit of Faith in perfect harmony with the
truths that the entire Church has professed, always and everywhere.
The Society finds its guide as well in the constant Tradition of the
Church, which transmits and will transmit until the end of times the
teachings required to preserve the Faith and the salvation of souls,
while waiting for the day when an open and serious debate will be
possible which may allow the return to Tradition of the ecclesiastical
authorities.
We wish to unite ourselves to the many Christians persecuted in
different countries of the world who are now suffering for the
Catholic Faith, some even to the extent of martyrdom. Their blood,
shed in union with the Victim of our altars, is the pledge for a true
renewal of the Church in capite et membris [head and members],
according to the old saying sanguis martyrum semen christianorum
[the blood of martyrs is the seed of Christianity].
Finally, we turn our eyes to the Blessed Virgin Mary, who is also
jealous of the privileges of her Divine Son, jealous of His glory, of
His Kingdom on earth as in Heaven. How often has she intervened for
the defense, even the armed defense, of Christendom against the
enemies of the Kingdom of Our Lord! We entreat her to intervene today
to chase the enemies out from inside the Church who are trying to
destroy it more radically than its enemies from outside. May she deign
to keep in the integrity of the Faith, in the love of the Church, in
devotion to the Successor of Peter, all the members of the Society of
St. Pius X and all the priests and faithful who labor alongside the
Society, in order that she may both keep us from schism and preserve
us from heresy.
May St. Michael the Archangel inspire us with his zeal for the glory
of God and with his strength to fight the devil.
May St. Pius X share with us a part of his wisdom, of his learning, of
his sanctity, to discern the true from the false and the good from the
evil in these times of confusion and lies. (Archbishop Marcel
Lefebvre; Albano, October 19, 1983).
Given at Econe, on the 14th of July of the Year of the Lord 2012.
