Letter to Archbishop Lefebvre to Cardinal Seper
9 June 1979
Your Eminence,
Your letter of I June reached me yesterday, that is 8 June, the eve of my departure to the U.S.A. for a fortnight.
On my return the deacons will be in retreat prior to the ordinations of 29 June. Their parents and friends have already reserved all the hotels of the Valais, arranged for transportation, and sent out invitations both for the ordinations and the first Masses.
It would have been necessary for you to ask me to do this when I alluded to such a possibility during the course of our conversations of II and 12 January, as I had already done for those of 2 February two years ago, without any result.
I am very happy concerning what Your Eminence said to me on the subject of an eventual solution. I long for one with all my heart, and believe that I have proved the sincerity of this desire during the past five years by my willingness to accept all the interrogations, all the discussions, all the requests to go to Rome. And I will remain willing still.
I am sorry that I cannot cancel my journey to the U.S.A., and I am at your disposal during the first fortnight of July.
Your Eminence must be well aware of the fact that right till today I have not had the least idea of what this eventual solution could be. How could I penalize the seminarians and the faithful without being able to explain this solution to them? They all live in the hope that they will be permitted to enjoy the treasures of tradition, for it is there that they find for their faith and the Christian life. Their hearts are with me when I go to the Eternal City. But, alas, up to this point they have received no consolation from those who should bless and encourage them.
Accordingly, I can visit Your Eminence on 4-5 or 11-12 July.
I beg Your Eminence to excuse this delay, and in no way to consider my activities as constituting a sign of contumaciousness, but, rather, in the sad situation of the Church, as a contribution to its supernatural vitality, in the hope that this contribution will be blessed and encouraged without delay by the diocesan bishops.
Allow me, Your Eminence, to express my respectful and brotherly sentiments in Jesus and Mary.
Marcel Lefebvre
Your Eminence,
Your letter of I June reached me yesterday, that is 8 June, the eve of my departure to the U.S.A. for a fortnight.
On my return the deacons will be in retreat prior to the ordinations of 29 June. Their parents and friends have already reserved all the hotels of the Valais, arranged for transportation, and sent out invitations both for the ordinations and the first Masses.
It would have been necessary for you to ask me to do this when I alluded to such a possibility during the course of our conversations of II and 12 January, as I had already done for those of 2 February two years ago, without any result.
I am very happy concerning what Your Eminence said to me on the subject of an eventual solution. I long for one with all my heart, and believe that I have proved the sincerity of this desire during the past five years by my willingness to accept all the interrogations, all the discussions, all the requests to go to Rome. And I will remain willing still.
I am sorry that I cannot cancel my journey to the U.S.A., and I am at your disposal during the first fortnight of July.
Your Eminence must be well aware of the fact that right till today I have not had the least idea of what this eventual solution could be. How could I penalize the seminarians and the faithful without being able to explain this solution to them? They all live in the hope that they will be permitted to enjoy the treasures of tradition, for it is there that they find for their faith and the Christian life. Their hearts are with me when I go to the Eternal City. But, alas, up to this point they have received no consolation from those who should bless and encourage them.
Accordingly, I can visit Your Eminence on 4-5 or 11-12 July.
I beg Your Eminence to excuse this delay, and in no way to consider my activities as constituting a sign of contumaciousness, but, rather, in the sad situation of the Church, as a contribution to its supernatural vitality, in the hope that this contribution will be blessed and encouraged without delay by the diocesan bishops.
Allow me, Your Eminence, to express my respectful and brotherly sentiments in Jesus and Mary.
Marcel Lefebvre
