Mark was a Roman, who sat as Pope in the reign of the Emperor Constantine the Great. He ordained that the Bishop of Ostia, by whom the Bishop of Rome is consecrated, should use the Pallium. He built two Churches, one in the City and the other on the Ardeatine Way, which Constantine enlarged and richly gifted. Mark lived as Pope eight months, and was buried in the Cemetery of Balbina.
When the heresy of the Albigenses was making head against God in the County of Toulouse, and striking deeper roots every day, the holy Dominic, who had but just laid the foundations of the Order of Friars Preachers, threw his whole strength into the travail of plucking these blasphemies up. That he might be fitter for the work, he cried for help with his whole soul to that Blessed Maiden, whose glory the falsehoods of the heretics so insolently assailed, and to whom it hath been granted to trample down every heresy throughout the whole earth. It is said that he had from her a word, bidding him preach up the saying of the Rosary among the people, as a strong help against heresy and sin, and it is wonderful with how stout an heart and how good a success he did the work laid upon him. This Rose-Garden, or Rosary, is a certain form of prayer, wherein we say one-hundred-and-fifty times the salutation of the Angel, and the Lord's Prayer between every ten times, and, each of the fifteen times that we say the Lord's Prayer, and repeat tenfold the salutation, think of one of fifteen great events in the history of our Redemption. From that time forth this form of godly prayer was extraordinarily spread about by holy Dominic, and waxed common. That this same Dominic was the founder and prime mover thereof hath been said by Popes in divers letters of the Apostolic See. From this healthy exercise have grown up numberless good fruits in the Christian Commonwealth. Among these deserveth well to be named that great victory over the Sultan of Turkey, which the most holy Pope Pius V, and the Christian Princes whom he had roused, won at Lepanto. The day whereon this victory was gained was the very one whereon the Guild-brethren of the most holy Rosary, throughout the whole world, were used to offer their accustomed prayers and appointed supplications, and the event therefore was not unnaturally connected therewith. This being the avowed opinion of Gregory XIII, he ordered that in all Churches where there was, or should be, an Altar of the Rosary, a Feast, in the form of a Greater Double, should be kept for ever, to give unceasing thanks to the Blessed Virgin, under her style of Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, for that extraordinary mercy of God. Other Popes also have granted almost numberless Indulgences to those who say the Rosary, and to those who join its Guild In the year 1716, Charles VI, Elect-Emperor of the Romans, won a famous victory over countless hordes of Turks, in the kingdom of Hungary, upon the day when the Feast of the Dedication of St. Mary of the Snows was being kept, and almost at the very moment when the Guild-brethren of the most holy Rosary were moving through the streets of Rome in public and solemn procession, amid vast multitudes, all filled with the deepest enthusiasm, calling vehemently upon God for the defeat of the Turks, and entreating the Virgin Mother of God to bring the might of her succour to the help of the Christians. A few days later, the Turks raised the siege of Corfu. These mercies Clement XI devoutly ascribed to the helpful prayers of the Blessed Virgin, and that the memory and the sweetness of such a blessing might for all time coming endure gloriously, he extended to the whole Church the observance of the Feast of the most holy Rosary, for the same day and of the same rank, Benedict XIII commanded the record of all these things to be given a place in the Service-book of the Church of Rome; and Leo XIII, in the most troublous times of the Church and the cruel storm of long pressing evils, by fresh Apostolic letters vehemently urged upon all the faithful throughout the earth the often saying of the Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, raised the dignity of the yearly festival, added to the Litany of Loreto the Invocation Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, and granted to the whole Church a special Office for this solemn occasion. Let us all then be earnest in honouring the most holy Mother of God in this form which she liketh so well, that even as the entreaties of Christ's faithful people, approaching her in her Garden of Roses, have so often won her to scatter and destroy their earthly foes, so she may gain for them the victory over their hellish foes likewise. Sermon of St Bernard To commend his own love towards us, and to bring to nought the wisdom of men, God was pleased to take flesh of a woman, albeit a virgin, that he might bring like against like, heal by opposites, pluck out the poisonous thorn, and blot out mightily the handwriting of our sin that was against us. Eve was a thorn, Mary is a rose. Eve is a thorn that pierceth, Mary is a rose that charmeth all the senses. Eve was a thorn that fixed death into all, Mary is a rose that bringeth health to all. Mary was a white rose through her virginity, and a red rose through her love. She was white in her flesh, red in her mind; white in that she followed the path of grace, red in that she trod down sin; white by the purity of her affection, red by the mortification of her body; white by her love for God, red by her compassion for her neighbour. The Word was made flesh, and dwelleth even now among us. He dwelleth in our memory. He dwelleth in our thought. He hath come down even unto our imagination; and how sayest thou doth he so? By lying in the manger, by nestling in his Mother's breast, by preaching upon the mountain, by remaining all night in prayer to God, by hanging upon the Cross, by turning pale in death, by going down free among the dead and triumphing in hell, by rising again the third day, by shewing to the Apostles the places of the nails, the marks of his victory, by ascending up into heaven while they all beheld him―of which of these things think we not with truth, with godliness, with holiness? If I think of any of these, I think of God, and he is my God through them all. To think of these things I have decreed to be wisdom, and to set forth the memory of their sweetness I have judged to be prudence. The rod of Aaron the Priest brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds; but these things are the almonds of that Rod which came forth out of the stem of Jesse, the Rod whereof sprang the flower, a Rod which was raised in Mary into places higher than the earthly tabernacle, higher indeed, even into places higher than angels, since she received the Word into herself out of the very heart of the Eternal Father. At that time: There was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum. Sermon of St Gregory, Pope. My brethren, the passage from the Holy Gospel, which ye have just now heard, standeth in need of no explanation. But lest I should seem to pass over the same in idle silence, I will say somewhat thereon, rather by way of exhortation than of explanation. Indeed, there seemeth to me only point which calleth for explanation, and that point is this: Wherefore was it that when the nobleman went unto the Lord, and besought him that he would come down and heal his son, Jesus said unto him: Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe? The very fact that he had come to beseech Christ to heal his son, putteth it beyond all doubt that this nobleman believed; if he had not believed him to be a saviour, he would not have asked him to save his son. Wherefore then said Jesus unto him: Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe: since he was one who had not seen, and yet had believed? But bethink you what was his prayer, and then shall ye understand clearly wherein his faith was shaky. He besought him that he would come down and heal his son. He asked for the bodily presence of him who is spiritually always present everywhere. Then he did not believe in Christ sufficiently, for he thought that Christ could not heal unless he were bodily present. Had his faith been perfect, he would doubtless have known that God is everywhere. His was therefore an imperfect faith, in attributing healing virtue not to Christ's majesty, but to his bodily presence. Thus it was that his faith was still unsound, even while he was asking for his son's health. For, though he believed concerning him unto whom he came that he was mighty to save, yet he thought also that at that moment he was absent from his dying child. But the Lord, being asked to go, shewed that, wherever he is called on, he is there; and he, by whose simple act of will all things were created, gave health by his simple command. ST. PLACID was born in Rome, in the year 515, of a patrician family, and at seven years of age was taken by his father to the monastery of Subiaco. At thirteen years of age he followed St. Benedict to the new foundation at Monte Casino, where he grew up in the practice of a wonderful austerity and innocence of life. He had scarcely completed his twenty-first year when he was selected to establish a monastery in Sicily upon some estates which had been given by his father to St. Benedict. He spent four years in building his monastery, and the fifth had not elapsed before an inroad of barbarians burned everything to the ground, and put to a lingering death not only St. Placid and thirty monks who had joined him, but also his two brothers, Eutychius and Victorinus, and his holy sister Flavia, who had come to visit him. The monastery was rebuilt, and still stands under his invocation. The God, whom earth, and sea, and sky Adore, and laud, and magnify, Whose might they own, whose praise they swell, In Mary's womb vouchsafed to dwell. The Lord whom sun and moon obey, Whom all things serve from day to day, Was by the Holy Ghost conceived, Of her who through his grace believed. How blest that Mother, in whose shrine The great Artificer divine, Whose hand contains the earth and sky, Once deigned, as in his ark, to lie:- Blest in the message Gabriel brought, Blest by the work the Spirit wrought; From whom the Great Desire of earth Took human flesh and human birth. All honour, laud, and glory be, O Jesu, Virgin-born, to thee, Whom with the Father we adore, And Holy Ghost, for evermore. Amen. October 5th 2013 FATAL MOMENT Most readers of these “Comments” have probably understood by now the grave problem that is paralysing the defence of the Faith by the Society of St Pius X, and they might rather read of other things. But such is the mess created in millions of people’s minds by the global falling away from the Faith that I think one can hardly analyse too much today the nature of the Faith, the need of the Faith and how it gets undermined. Let me then, without wishing to harp on the SSPX’s recent misfortunes or misdemeanours, borrow one more example from its history of last year. The Society’s General Chapter of July, 2012, was hailed immediately afterwards by many of its participants as a triumph of Society unity over the distress and tensions of the several previous months. Since that time however, a more sober view of the Chapter has taken over from the euphoria, and a number of those who took part in it see it rather as having been a disaster for the Society. One of the participants, or capitulants as they are called, has described the fatal moment when the Society’s leading 39 priests (myself excluded) put their own Society and Superiors in front of the doctrine of the Faith, just as the mass of Catholic bishops had done at Vatican II. The Chapter’s deliberations proper opened with a serious doctrinal attack by the Rector of the SSPX seminary in Écône on the mid-April Doctrinal Declaration by which the SSPX had officially been ready to compromise with the neo-modernists in Rome on the Council, on the New Mass, on the New Code of Canon Law and on Pope Benedict’s “hermeneutic of continuity”. The attack was expressed in moderate and respectful terms, but it was most grave in substance. It meant in effect that whoever had drafted the Declaration, or encouraged its being submitted to Rome, was incompetent in Catholic doctrine. If they were consciously incompetent, they were traitors to the Faith. If unconsciously, they were unfit to be at the head of a Catholic Congregation founded to defend the Faith. So a hush fell upon the Chapter as capitulants began to realize how grave was the implicit accusation against their Superiors. But then the Rector of the Society’s seminary in Argentina broke the hush by saying that the Chapter could not possibly administer a slap to its Superior General by requiring of him to retract his Declaration. That retraction, he said, would be implicit in the Chapter’s final Declaration. Then some other capitulant raised a different point, and the Chapter slid on to other business. However, the doctrinal problem of the treacherous mid-April Declaration was properly resolved neither by the Chapter’s final Declaration or six Conditions for a future agreement with Rome, nor by any clear subsequent retraction on the part of the Superior General himself, on the contrary. And the Society continues to be led in practice in accordance with the same policy of being gentle with the enemies of the Faith in Rome, who tear to pieces the Faith and with it the Church. How could the capitulants not see that “respect for Superiors” was being put in front of the Faith ? How could they not insist that the doctrinal problem, by far the most important problem in front of the whole Chapter, should be made clear, until all of them could fully grasp what action needed to be taken immediately, and not cleverly postponed until the end of the Chapter ? The answer must be that collectively they were, like the bishops of Vatican II, children of the modern world for whom the doctrine of the Faith is not a vital necessity, but just something one learns in the seminary to become a priest, and then honours, but more or less disregards. Readers, read ! Kyrie eleison. The System as one might call it, or the Establishment, or one’s structure of comfort, or “obedience”, is made to come first. © 2011-2013 Richard N. Williamson. All Rights Reserved.
A non-exclusive license to print out, forward by email, and/or post this article to the Internet is granted to users who wish to do so provided that no changes are made to the content so reproduced or distributed, to include the retention of this notice with any and all reproductions of content as authorized hereby. Aside from this limited, non-exclusive license, no portion of this article may be reproduced in any other form or by any other electronic or mechanical means without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review, or except in cases where rights to content reproduced herein are retained by its original author(s) or other rights holder(s), and further reproduction is subject to permission otherwise granted thereby. Francis was born at Assisi in Umbria. From his early youth he followed the example of his father, and busied himself with merchandise. It befell one day that, contrary to his usage, he had thrust from him a beggar, who cried for money for Christ's sake, when, being cut to the heart with regret, he gave him large alms, and promised to God from that day forth never to deny to any that asked of him. He fell after this into a grievous sickness, and from the time that he was healed thereof, he gave himself more earnestly to works of love for his neighbour. At length he became fain in this sort to be perfect, even as the Lord hath said in the Gospel, and gave to the poor whatsoever he had. His father would not have it so, and brought him before the Bishop of Assisi, that he might renounce all right to his inheritance. He cheerfully gave up all to his father, even to his clothes, telling them that now he should be able with more utter dependence to say: Our Father, who art in heaven. He heard read the words of the Gospel: Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses, nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes. Thereupon he determined that that should be his rule of living. He took off his shoes, and contented himself with one coat. When he had gathered twelve comrades, he founded the Order of Friars Minor. He went to Rome in the same year, to get from the Apostolic See a confirmation of his Order. When he came Pope Innocent III thrust him away. Thereafter he dreamt that he saw the Church of the most Holy Saviour falling, and whom he had cast forth bearing it up with his shoulders. He bade therefore that he should be sought for and brought again before him, welcomed him kindly, and approved all the Rule which he had established. Francis therefore sent his Friars into all quarters of the world to preach the Gospel of Christ. He himself was fain to find some occasion of martyrdom, and therefore made a voyage into Syria, but the Sultan treated him with the greatest kindness, offering him many gifts, and, since he could do no good, he returned again to Italy. When there had already been built many houses of Friars of his Order, he withdrew himself into a most secret place upon Mount Alverno, and began to fast for forty days in honour of the holy Archangel Michael. Upon the Feastday of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, he saw a vision of a crucified Seraph, which left in his hands and feet holes with nails therein, and in his side a great wound. Holy Bonaventure hath left it in writing that he once heard Pope Alexander IV, when preaching, testify that he had himself seen these marks. It was a sign of such love of Christ toward him as stirred up the great wonder of all men. Two years thereafter he fell sick unto death, and was fain to be carried into the Church of St. Mary of the Angels, that he might give up the breath of life in the same place where God had breathed into him the breath of the life of grace. Being there laid on the earth, sprinkled with ashes, and covered with an old habit, he exhorted the Friars to be poor and lowly, and to cleave to the faith of the Holy Church of Rome, after which he began to recite the 141st Psalm: I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and in uttering the words, The righteous wait for me, until thou reward me, he gave up the ghost, on the 4th day of October. He was famous for miracles, and Pope Gregory IX added his name to the list of the Saints. Therese of the Child Jesus was born in Alençon in France. Her parents were estimable people, well known for their piety and their love of God. From her earliest childhood, endowed by a special grace of the Holy Ghost, she yearned to enter the religious life. She promised God with the utmost sincerity that she would deny him nothing he might ask of her. She kept this promise faithfully to the end of her life, although she had to suffer a great deal to keep it. Her mother died when Theresa was but five years old. From then on the child committed herself to the providence of God, under the vigilant care of a most tender father and her elder sisters. Under their teaching Theresa raced as gayly strong as a young giant along the way of perfection. At the age of nine she was sent to school at Lisieux to the Benedictine nuns, where she made remarkable progress in her knowledge of divine things. In her tenth year she was ill for a long time of a serious and mysterious malady. From this, as she herself relateth, she was delivered only by the power of God himself, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who appeared to her with a smiling countenance, and to whom under the title of our Lady of Victories, she was constantly making novenas. Filled with angelic fervour she prepared herself at this time with the utmost care to receive Christ in the sacred banquet of her first Holy Communion. After being refreshed for the first time with the Eucharistic Bread Theresa seemed to develop an insatiable hunger for the celestial food. Then, as if by inspiration, she asked Jesus to turn all her earthly consolation into bitterness. After that she burned with a most tender love for Christ the Lord and for his Church. More than anything in the world she wanted to enter the Order of the Discalced Carmelites, where by self-sacrifice she might assist priests, missionaries and the whole Church, and so gain innumerable souls for Christ Jesus. All this, she promised God would do for her, even when apparently she lay at the point of death. Her extreme youth was an obstacle which hindered her entrance upon the religious life. Even this she overcame by her incredible courage of soul. She entered Carmel at Lisieux happily at the age of fifteen. There God fashioned the heart of Theresa in a marvellous way, teaching her to ascend to him step by step. Imitating the hidden life of the Virgin Mary like a well-watered garden she bore flowers of every virtue, especially an abiding love of God and neighbour. That she might please the most high God to greater degree, when she read in Sacred Scriptures the warning, Whoever is a little one, let him come unto me, she determined to be a little one in spirit. As such she consecrated herself forever with childlike confidence to God, her most loving Father. The way of spiritual childhood, following the teachings of the Gospel, she taught to others, especially to the novices who training in the pursuit of religious virtues she undertook in obedience to her superiors. Overflowing with apostolic zeal she pointed out to a world filled with pride and a love of vanities, the simple way of the Gospels. Meanwhile Jesus, her spouse, inflamed her with a desire to suffer both in soul and in body. Moreover, perceiving that the love of God was everywhere rejected, she became filled with grief and two years before her death, offered herself as a victim of love to the merciful God. She writeth that she was then wounded by a flame of fire from heaven, whereupon she became consumed by love, rapt as it were in ecstasy. Repeating over and over again the fervent words, My God, I love thee, she passed on to her Spouse on the 30th day of September, in the year 1897, at the age of twenty-four years. As she was dying she promised that she would let fall upon earth a ceaseless shower of roses. This promise she hath indeed fulfilled in heaven, and her shower of roses hath continued to this very day. The Sovereign Pontiff Pius XI added her name to the Virgins declared Blessed and two years later, at the time of the great Jubilee, listed her among the Saints. He also appointed and declared her Patroness of all the missions. Sermon of St Bernard He hath given his Angels charge over thee. A wonderful graciousness, and a wonderful outpouring of love. For who hath given charge? And what charge? Unto whom? And over whom? Let us carefully consider, my brethren, let us carefully hold in mind this great charge. For who hath given this charge? To whom belong the Angels? Whose commandment do they obey, and whose will do they do? He hath given his Angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways, and that not carelessly, for they shall bear thee in their hands. The Highest Majesty, therefore, hath given charge unto Angels, even his Angels. Unto these beings so excellently exalted, so blessed, so near to himself, even as his own household, unto these hath he given charge over thee. Who art thou? What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him? Even as though man were not rottenness, and the son of man a worm. But what charge hath he given them over thee? To keep thee in all thy ways. What respect, what thankfulness, what trust, ought this word to work in thee! Respect for their presence, thankfulness for their kindness, trust in their safe-keeping. Walk carefully, as one with whom are Angels, as hath been laid in charge upon them, in all thy ways. In every lodging, in every nook, have reverence for thine Angel. Dare not to do in his presence what thou wouldst not dare to do in mine. Or dost thou doubt whether he be indeed present, because thou seest him not? What if thou heardest him? What if thou touchedst him? What if thou smelledst him? Behold, not by sight alone is the presence of things made manifest. Let us also, brethren, dearly love his Angels, as them with whom we are one day to be co-heirs, and who in the meanwhile are leaders and guardians set over us by the Father. With such guardians, whereof shall we be afraid? They that keep us in all our ways, can neither be conquered nor corrupted, far less can they corrupt. They are trusty, they are wary, they are mighty. Whereof shall we be afraid? Only let us follow them, only let us cleave unto them, and we shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. As often then as the gloom of temptation threateneth thee, or the sharpness of tribulation hangeth over thee, call upon him that keepeth thee, thy Shepherd, thy Refuge in times of trouble, call upon him, and say: Lord save us; we peris REX! Interview with H. E. bishop Williamson (2013) September 30th, 2013 Motto: Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. (Shakespeare, Hamlet) Your Excellency, let me first thank you very much for allowing me to ask you a few questions which our readers may be interested in. REX!: Many people want to know your opinion on various things; however, it seems to me that no-one asks you a plain question first: How do you feel a year later since having been expelled from SSPX? And can you in connection with this tell our readers how does your usual daily schedule look like now? +BW: As for feelings, I do not blame anybody for not asking me about how I feel. As the French would say, the problem is not there. The problem is global apostasy ! As for my daily routine, if I am not travelling, I am living for the moment “under the radar” in London, looking after myself, occupied quite heavily with writing for each week in French and English the “Eleison Comments”, and then with vetting the German, Italian and Spanish translations. The “Comments” have a number of devoted translators, and a Frenchwoman who vets my French ! REX!: I began this interview with the motto as I usually do. In this case it seemed to me quite appropriate to start with Shakespeare. First, I know you like the great author; second, the quotation would quite precisely characterize the present state of the Church and world itself, too. What in your opinion is rotten in today´s Church and world, or let me be more specific, what is the principal root of the rot? +BW: The principal root of the rot is that the mass of human beings alive on earth, created by God and for God, have turned their backs on Him. It is a Luciferian worldwide revolt against our Creator, and will be severely punished, because only a severe punishment can still stop almost all souls alive from sliding into Hell. God punishes those whom He loves, like any good father. See Hebrews XII, 7. It is a revolt that has built up over centuries, if not millennia, led by true Satanists who want every single soul to fall into Hell. REX!: You in your Eleison Comments or in your conferences occasionally use the term “fiftiesism” to describe a kind of Catholic mentality of 1950s. It seems you consider this to be one of the precursors of what happened after Vatican II. Can you, please, explain it? +BW: “Fiftiesism”, as I call it, means that form of Catholicism in the 1950’s which kept up many of the appearances of the true Church, but inside was all ready to go with the modern world in its apostasy. All that was needed for the appearances of the true Church to collapse was churchmen who would disguise the collapse as a “renewal” or “renovation” of the Church, just as Protestantism was disguised as a “reform” or “Reformation”. REX!: You are often being accused of being a unity breaker; the Resistance blamed for being sectarian. To me it on the contrary seems that Menzingen is right now claiming much more jurisdiction than it really possesses. Can you, please, comment on this? +BW: Unity that is not unity in the truth will be unity in a lie. Unity is always secondary in this respect. Around what is the unity uniting ? That is the question. Did Archbishop Lefebvre break or uphold the unity of the true Church ? Menzingen today, whatever it may pretend in words, is in reality wanting to unite the Society of St Pius X around a policy of rejoining the mainstream Church, which is Conciliar. Menzingen has no authority whatsoever to promote such a compliance with the worldwide apostasy. REX!: How does it come, Your Excellency, that the same people who understand that Archbishop Lefebvre´s resistance to the Conciliar authorities was correct and talk about the Revolution, but nevertheless ask for blind obedience in condemnation of the Resistance? I certainly understand that the fundamental problem is whose attitude, is in fact, in line with the Archbishop´s one. We all, however, know that the Archbishop signed the Protocol in 1988 only to cancel it the very next day. Bishop Fellay was ready to sign even the worst version of it under the title Doctrinal Preambule... +BW: By his wisdom, faith, fidelity, sanctity and personal charisma the Archbishop drew many young men to follow him in the 1970’s and 1980’s who never really understood the fullness of his reasons for resisting the Council, and fighting against it. This is because they never understood just how far the modern world has gone wrong. Therefore as long as the Archbishop was alive, they lined up behind him like ducklings following Mother Duck on a pond. But within a few years of his no longer being amongst them, they began to fall back into the ways of the modern world (see for instance the story of GREC). It is a process all too natural for fallen human nature. Exactly the same thing happened in the diocese of Campos in Brazil when Bishop de Castro Mayer was no longer there amongst his priests, only it happened there faster. When you mention the Archbishop’s “attitude” and the very different attitude of Bishop Fellay, you are correctly concentrating on the issues which determine where are true unity and obedience, and where are false unity and obedience. It is a shame that so many good SSPX priests and laity apparently never understood the Archbishop’s fight for the Faith and for the Church, or his “disobedience”, but such is the power of the world all around us to distract and to mislead souls. REX!: You were close to archbishop Lefebvre and I suppose you knew him quite well. How do you think he would hypothetically see things today? Ratzinger becoming the Pope (only to retire after some time), then the new Pope Francis “no-number” etc. And what do you think he would tell bishop Fellay? +BW: I can remember the Archbishop calling Cardinal Ratzinger, as he then was, the “Artful Dodger”, which was a very kind way of putting it. The Archbishop would have had no illusions about Pope Ratzinger. As for Pope Francis, I think the Archbishop would have shrugged his shoulders in horror. Does that sound contradictory ? “What do you expect of the Conciliar Church ?” he would have said. To Bishop Fellay I am sure that – in private ! – he would have spoken very severely. I think even Bishop Fellay would have been shaken. But would Bishop Fellay have changed his ways if he had not had to ? I doubt it. REX!: Your Excellency, some people say, mostly in a derogatory way, that you are interested in various conspiracies. Thus it is presupposed that anything you say on the topic must be taken with a lenient smile: “The conspiracy nut, you know...” In spite of this, can you give us your opinion on possible conspiracy within SSPX? The Church has been infiltrated long before why should not be much smaller and weaker SSPX at some time, too? Do you think there may be anything true about it? How would such a conspiracy operate in reality? +BW: As for conspiracies, many people will swallow the absurd conspiracy theory, for instance, of 19 Arabs pulling off the attacks of 11 September, 2001, while they refuse the mass of evidence of the real conspiracy, namely that those attacks were an “inside job”. When the peoples of the world want decadence while pretending not to want it, politicians are two a penny who pretend to be conservative while in fact serving the Revolution. Hence such politicians work in the dark. Hence conspiracy becomes normal. As for conspiracy within the SSPX, I have never wanted to believe that any of my colleagues could be infiltrators or conspirators, but if I think about it, I might name a few, because what has happened to the SSPX corresponds to the fruits of a conspiracy. Certainly Bishop Fellay likes to work in the dark because he does not like what he calls “leaks”. However, in many a case, including that of the fall of the SSPX, I do not think that a conspiracy is mainly to blame. Mainly to blame is not the match but the pile of dry wood just waiting to be set on fire. With the SSPX that pile would be too many bishops, priests and laity that have not a strong enough faith to have understood what the SSPX was all about. REX!: Menzingen´s policy is sometimes described with a slogan, “Pay, pray, obey”. Do you think it is fitting? And what do you think about the economic situation of SSPX? On one hand, money is spent on the megalomaniac purposes such as the new oversized seminary in the USA, on the second hand, the donations are undoubtedly lessening. Do you think the time may come when SSPX ends up in bankruptcy? +BW: “Pay, pray and obey” was a slogan attributed to the leaders of the Church in the 1950’s. It is not Catholic, because Almighty God does not want mindless and lukewarm robots in his Heaven. He spits “Fiftiesism” out of his mouth. Menzingen has clearly fallen back into “Fiftiesism”. As for the present finances of the SSPX, I have no reliable information, one way or the other. But Americans have a saying, “No doctrine, no dollars.” The mainstream SSPX is giving up on doctrine. It would be most normal for it to lose the dollars. REX!: What would you tell someone who says that in fact all the present quarrels can be traced far back, they are mostly personal, and have nothing to do with principles although now it is presented so? +BW: In a lecture given in Ireland last spring, I am told that Bishop Fellay said half a dozen times that the problem of Bishop Williamson is a purely personal problem, supposedly a personal antagonism. Now it is true that I find highly distasteful what he has done to the SSPX, but the problem is absolutely not personal. It is a problem of the Faith. This is what he wants to disguise by pretending that the problem is mine, a personal problem with him, or with whoever. Nonsense! My problem with Menzingen is ideological, and it is not my problem, but Menzingen’s. Just like Archbishop Lefebvre’s problem with the Newchurch. REX!: We have heard about the faithful being denied the Sacraments in SSPX chapels only due to their previous assistance at the Mass celebrated by a Resistance priest. In the Czech republic the situation is not as dramatic as in other countries in the world. Yet we have seen the Czech prior´s Declaration issued a few months ago with the approval of the then District Superior which in one of three points (the other two being irrelevant for our purposes) says: “The activity of Bishop Williamson after his expulsion from SSPX is more and more directed against our Priestly society, he speaks about us as of a “Newsociety”. He also returns to the thematization1 of his revisionist theories which lead to the relativization of the Nazi crimes, which is unacceptable. Thus all the future activities claiming to support Bishop Williamson will be regarded as being hostile towards our Priestly Society.” I think you may share any opinions you wish in a case of a free matter but I do not want to ask you about the historical questions because of the national law which is almost identical to the German one. Nonetheless, would you please comment on the Declaration´s point as to the term “Newsociety”? With this Declaration a few of us have become enemies literally overnight... +BW: Just as what Vatican II has made of the Church is something so different from the true Church that it is realistic to speak of a “Newchurch”, so what Bishop Fellay and his collaborators have done to the Society of St Pius X is so different from what Archbishop Lefebvre founded that it seems to me entirely realistic to speak of a “Newsociety”. The fall of the mainstream Church after Vatican II and the recently manifest fall of the SSPX are entirely parallel. It is the same malady – love of the modern world. REX!: There is a true story of a young man from the Czech republic who participated in the Walsingham Pilgrimage in England. When he came back home, the Czech SSPX prior asked him simple yet surprising question: “Tell me on which side do you stand? Are you with us or Bishop Williamson? You must decide!” In a small country where there are not many possibilities other than attending the SSPX masses this question seemed rather shocking. The prior even told him that the issue would have to be solved in the district HQ in Jaidhof, Austria [Czech republic technically belongs to the Austrian district]. The man also played the organ regularly during the SSPX masses. He was asked to stop playing because of what was mentioned above. Can you comment on this? +BW: What do you expect ? The SSPX has changed. I have been consistently and openly opposed to that change. The promoters of the change are bound to defend their change and so to attack anybody who opposes it. Many good priests have been thrown out of the Newsociety for that reason, and any layfolk that follow them are liable to be denied the sacraments. There is a well-known saying: “Nobody is so sectarian as a liberal”. REX!: Now a question of eminent interest for many. Did anything change that could push you nearer to consecrating a bishop, or bishops in the near future? Are you decided, or will you wait for a sign from God? +BW: I think that the consecration of a bishop, or bishops to ensure in the present circumstances, as best humans can, the defence of the Faith, is simply a matter of time. I do not know when or where, but I have no objection in principle, especially as it is becoming inconceivable for any of the other three SSPX bishops to consecrate a candidate who would not fit the Conciliar profile, as they say. In practice I am waiting for Providence to show its hand, as I think it will. It is God’s Church. He does look after it ! REX!: A very debated topic recently: Do you think the time is coming when Russia will be consecrated to the Immaculate Heart, i.e. the time when everything will seem almost lost? If yes, why do you think so? +BW: I am certain that Russia will eventually be consecrated to the Immaculate Heart, because did not Our Lord say to Sister Lucy in 1931 that it would be? But He also said that it would be late, in other words only when the world situation will seem to be desperate. REX!: Is there anything special you would like to tell the readers in conclusion of this interview? +BW: Watch and pray, watch and pray, Fifteen Mysteries every day. And may God bless abundantly every reader that wishes to adore, love and serve Him. Thank you, Your Excellency, for your time and for everything you do. May God bless you! Interviewer: D. Grof Source: REX! 1Linguistics the mental act or process of selecting particular topics as themes in discourse or words as themes in sentences |
Archives
December 2014
Categories
All
While Archbishop Lefebvre Blog is provided free of charge, there are administrative and technical costs associated with making it available to subscribers worldwide and with operating this site. Contributions to offset these costs are appreciated, and may be made via the button below
|