The Archbishop has continued the redemptive work of Christ. Vocations are increasing and new priories are opening as we attempt to answer the calls of the faithful. A true renewal in the Holy Ghost is the aim and an intense spiritual life is needed to strengthen our work.

Dear Friends and Benefactors,

Archbishop Lefebvre is the echo of 2,000 years of glorious Church history

WHO IS ARCHBISHOP LEFEBVRE? He is the echo of 2,000 years of glorious Church history — a history marked by the example of heroes, saints and martyrs. Because of his love for the apostolic Roman Church, he has never counted the cost for himself, but has taken upon himself hardships and crosses, calumnies and condemnations. To him, our father in the priesthood, we dedicate in gratitude these first lines. As a Catholic Bishop, Archbishop Lefebvre has, in these years of conciliar and post-conciliar confusion, fulfilled his duties, religiously keeping and faithfully exposing the heritage of our ancestors, dispensing the Church's treasure of graces and rendering them fruitful through the foundation and building up of the Priestly Society of St. Pius X. All his efforts have had but one aim: to continue the Church, which is the continuation and extension of the Incarnate Word, and which is therefore, in its essence, a living Tradition.

The Archbishop has continued the redemptive work of Christ

As a faithful witness of Jesus Christ, the Archbishop has held up in opposition to an unfaithful world the unchangeable and inalienable rights of God. Against the general apostasy of the nations, he has proclaimed the return to God by his proclamation of the holy Gospel. In spite of all the Modernists and Progressivists, he has continued the redemptive work of Christ, by the unique and true Sacrifice of the Mass, by the yearly ordination of new priests, by the foundation of new seminaries, new schools and new priories. To his apostolic action, fruit of a profound Faith and a unshakeable hope in the fullness of the merciful graces of our Crucified Savior, we owe our 123 priests, 250 seminarians, our thirty brothers, sixty nuns, and thirty oblates, as well as sixty houses throughout the world—without counting the priests and religious who, encouraged by his example, work towards the same end: to maintain Catholic Tradition by a close collaboration with us.

Vocations increasing as we attempt to answer the calls of the faithful

Thus, more than forty-five new seminarians and postulant brothers have recently entered at Ridgefield (U.S.A.), Ecône (Switzerland), and Zaitzkofen (Germany). And last year twenty-nine seminarians and religious from houses favorable to us have received the grace of the priesthood. With the help of God, the same number will advance to the altar shortly. It is with great joy that we shall see this coming November 20th, the first ordinations to the subdiaconate at the seminary at Buenos Aires, which received fifteen postulants last March. These reinforcements are very necessary, for the faithful everywhere are calling for us. Everywhere there are wounds to be healed, tears to dry; everywhere the Faith needs to be strengthened, the Sacraments administered and, above all else, the inexpressible mystery of our altars must be celebrated.

Our whole person, all our work and all our prayers are at the service of Christ, in order to extend His Kingship in His Peace.

The first preoccupation of our work is to foster vocations. At this moment, we are thinking of starting a seminary for those who speak Italian, in our house at Albano, near Rome; and also of the foundation of a sixth seminary in Africa. Indeed, it is only by the sanctity of the priest that souls are sanctified, the Church renewed "in capite et in membris" and Christian society renewed.

New priories opened worldwide

This summer we have been able, amongst other things, to open a priory in Dublin, Ireland, and another at Lourdes, so that the faithful who come to pray at the sanctuary of Our Lady will not be deprived of the Mass and the Sacraments.

A new foundation is being prepared in Colombia. In Holland, a new priory will open its doors next year. Just as we had acquired a magnificent small village church near Eindhoven, some of the faithful gave us another church also. Are we not obliged in conscience to come as soon as possible to the aid of these Catholics in the country the most affected by the abominations in the sacred places?

Intense spiritual life needed to strengthen our work

We are looking to an organic expansion exteriorly, according to the measure of our forces, and to an interior stabilization by a more intense spiritual life and deeper theological study. These are our most important concerns for these future years.

Day after day we beseech Heaven to come to our aid in our efforts to put a stop to the crystallization of the destructive principles of the reform in the Church, especially by the application of the new Canon Law.

A true renewal in the Holy Ghost is the aim

We do not want an institutionalization of the revolution, but a true renewal in the Holy Ghost founded upon faith in the redemptive Blood of Christ. As long as the Pope and bishops will not have understood the necessity of this true spiritual renewal, but continue to turn their back on the problem, and as long as the enemies of the Church occupy the most important positions, we will not see the healing of the Church, nor a full harmony with those who have authority at Rome.

Prayers, sacrifices and generosity are needed

The hour of Catholic truth is going to sound, all the more quickly inasmuch as your prayer, dear friends and benefactors, is fervent and persevering; inasmuch as your sacrifices are generous and your contributions magnanimous, and inasmuch as you apply yourselves to your personal sanctification for the benefit of our seminarians.

May God, by the intercession of Our Lady, Queen of the Rosary, reward you a thousand-fold for all your love for His Church upon earth, and may the crucified hands of Jesus carry you and your family towards Heaven.

Christus vincit, Christus regnat.

Father Franz Schmidberger, Superior General

Rickenbach, On the Feast of the Holy Rosary, 7 October 1983

Priests of the North-East District of the United States have rebelled against the Society's Superiors by obstinately refusing the 1962 liturgy. After vain attempts to show that the use of this liturgy is not a danger to the faith and that it should be accepted and used, the Society has expelled the rebellious priests and re-organised the district under Father Williamson.

Dear Friends and Benefactors,

Priests of the North-East District refuse to use 1962 liturgy

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.

This refusal is a result of an extremist way of thinking

Thus, their long-standing disagreement with myself and the Society has now become a 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.

Principle which guides the SSPX in the domain of liturgy

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.

SSPX is not a sedevacantist organization

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.

SSPX will come to the aid of traditional faithful wishing to remain faithful

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.

Priests expelled and reorganisation of the society in the North-East District

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.

Ordinations will continue as scheduled

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

Ridgefield, Connecticut, April 28, 1983

Fr Barrielle, dear to many in the Fraternity, passes into the arms of St. Joseph. Rome shows a new attitude toward the old Mass, but there are still conditions that we cannot accept. The spirit of the new Canon Law is the same as that which inspired the changing of the liturgical books namely, it exposes conciliar Ecclesiology.

Dear Friends and Benefactors,

Fr Barrielle passes into the arms of St. Joseph

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 Ecône 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.

A new attitude from Rome

“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!…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.

The spirit of the new Canon Law is the same as that which inspired the changing of the liturgical books

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

Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas, 7 March 1983

The Pope although seemingly inclined at first to grant the use of the Old Mass has been dissuaded from doing so. The Old Mass perfectly expresses the Catholic Faith and is an effective obstacle to false ecumenism whereas the New Mass is the opposite. We need good priests which requires the establishment of more schools providing a good formation.

Dear Friends and Benefactors,

Pope at first seemed willing to allow option of celebrating the Old Mass

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.

The Old Mass is a banner of the Catholic Faith

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.

The Old Mass overwhelms error and is anti-ecumenical

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.

New Mass is a banner for false ecumenism

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.

We need priests and good seminaries

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.

We need good schools which will produce vocations

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.

Establishment of schools

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 Ec6ne, 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

Rickenbach, February 18, 1982

Alas! How many Catholics have already lost the Faith. Nevertheless, 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.

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 realize 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 authorized the cremation of corpses. Let us consult the Code of Canon Law containing the laws of the Church.

In Canon 1203 we read: “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: “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: “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

The Society's expansion requires a greater organisation. The work of the Society must be a work of faith and trust in Providence. The Society working amidst the shambles must continue its work of restoration especially in Mexico and elsewhere. The Seminary at Ridgefield is being enlarged and the Seminary at Ecône will need to be divided as it is too small.
Dear Friends and Benefactors,

We must maintain and develop Catholic institutions

Sadly recognizing that the consequences of the conciliar revolution seem to be intent on becoming institutionalized and supplanting 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.

The Society`s expansion

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.This expanision requires greater organization

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.

The work of the apostolate must be intimately linked with Faith

These close links 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 recognize 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 motives 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.

The Society must continue its work of restoration amidst the shambles

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 odor Christi, that “sweet odor of Christ,” which rises straight up to God like the sacrifice of Abel, and which draws down upon us the blessings of God.

Mexico abandoned

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, March 19, 1981

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. Let us thank God Who everywhere blesses the efforts of those who persevere in the Faith and in Tradition.

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

We rejoice that many Sisters are taking the habit and making their professions. They are living examples of the vitality of Tradition. We too must live in a spirit of faith, hope and charity. True progress in the Church cannot occur at the expense of Tradition. Let us continue to fight the good fight of faith.

Dear Friends and Benefactors,

Many New Sisters!

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.

It is important to live in a true spirit of Faith

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.”

Our Faith tells us that Jesus Christ is 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.

The spirit of the Council diminishes the adoration and honor due to God

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.

Renewal cannot come at the expense of Tradition

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?

Many souls recognize the danger of Council's novelties

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.

There is always hope!; Our Lord will triumph

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 April 13, 1980