Letter from the Rector
How Did It Happen?
May 1983
Dear Friends and Benefactors,
Through the breaking away by nine of the Society from the Northeastern District and from St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary, the Society has suffered a heavy blow, and the work of re-building the Church in this country has been set back by years. How did it come to this?
A. For years there was an underlying lack of harmony between these priests and the leadership of the Society of St. Pius X, which in today's crisis of the Faith on the one hand holds absolutely fast to the Faith of our Fathers, to the Tradition of the Church, and to the eternal Sacrifice of the Mass in such a way as to have earned itself many blows from liberal and modernistic prelates, yet which, on the other hand constantly strives not to lose the "sense of the Church", and, despite all difficulties, not to break with Rome, the See of Peter. For this reason, over the past few years, Archbishop Lefebvre has been again and again traveling to Rome seeking to speak with cardinals and with the Pope himself, not in order to arrive at some compromise, but in order to assert our inalienable Catholic rights before the Holy See, and, like a true missionary, to make every effort possible to bring the leaders of the Church back to the life-giving Tradition. In his last letter to the Holy Father, dated April 5th 1983, Archbishop Lefebvre says quite explicitly that the Novus Ordo Missae is once and for all unacceptable to us. However, let us not forget that the Church is not going to be saved through our erecting ourselves into self-glorifying judges; rather we must imitate the love and patience of the crucified Saviour by begging for her resurrection as a gift of grace, and offer ourselves up in this sense. That is what it means for us to pray for the Pope.
B. In the annulment of marriages, undoubtedly the worst of abuses, are today spreading, especially in the U.S.A. Several years ago Cardinal Seper himself said in a conversation with Archbishop Lefebvre that Spanish Catholics who desired a marriage annulment, impossible in their own country, were making the journey to the U.S.A, just to obtain from one of the American dioceses the necessary papers, and then, upon returning to Spain, were going through with another marriage in the Church. Such scandalous proceedings lay upon us the grave duty to study each case with its attendant circumstances, but we resolutely refuse to declare any and every marriage annulment invalid or questionable simply because it has been decreed by the post-conciliar Church; we are firmly convinced that the Church still continues and lives on today, even if the corn can hardly be seen for the weeds.
C. In exactly the same way it is our mind to examine the dispensing of the sacraments according to the new rite case by case, so as to be able, in the light of theology and the Faith, to confirm or to lay aside any doubt arising. Our own General Chapter of the Society, which took place in Ecône last September, gave an important impulse to precisely this kind of theological study especially necessary for the new rites of Confirmation and Priestly Ordination. In the meantime, however, to deduce the doubtfulness of a sacrament purely and simply from the fact of its Form having been changed seems to us unacceptable, for instance, in the case of the sacrament of Confession, whose essential Form has undergone important modifications in the course of time. If, after examining the case, a prudent doubt still remains, then of course the corresponding sacraments must be conditionally repeated. In no way, however, could or would our own theological studies presume to pre-empt later decisions of the Magisterium.
D. Since the founding of our Society, it is the Tridentine Mass and the Tridentine Mass alone which has been celebrated in all of our houses, in nearly all cases according to the rubrics of Pope Pius XII, signed by Pope John XXIII – so it has been essentially with Ecône for all thirteen years of its existence, so it is today, for example in France or Germany, the norm being provided for us by the Missal of St. Pius V in its edition of July 25, 1960. We may well not find that the minor changes of Popes Pius XII and John XXIII are satisfactory to us in every detail, but if these men were Popes (and they were!), then we owe them obedience in their disciplinary decisions unless these are a danger to our Faith – the principle of obedience denied by the nine break-away priests. Were every change purely as such a bad thing, then there would never have been the great Council of Trent which took many new disciplinary measures, then we would have to condemn the great St. Pius X also, who gave fresh life to the Church with a whole series of changes in discipline and liturgy and expressly announced further changes; then we would never be able to celebrate or attend Holy Mass in the evening, nor could we content ourselves with the three-hour fast before receiving Holy Communion – changes that were made under Popes Pius XII and John XIII, and which were accepted in view of the spiritual welfare of the people by all priests of the Society, including the nine! It is not feeling, nor personal preference, nor self-will which must decide whether a change is acceptable or not, but the Faith!
Dear Catholics, amid all of this confusion, amid all of these trials, remain faithful to our Society and to its founder, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre! The Priestly Society of St. Pius X was founded in obedience to the Church, within her and for her, to rescue from our tempestuous timesthe most precious treasures of our Faith, the Catholic Priesthood, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Blessed Sacrament, and to carry them safely over into better times to come. Thus through the Society of St. Pius X (and not through individual priests with no ecclesiastical authority above them!), you have a bond with the Church and receive the divine life of her Redeemer, and amid all the confusion and upsets, you have something firm to hold on to, so as not to fall victim to modernism on the one side nor drift into schism on the other.
We, for our part, shall do everything that lies within our power to celebrate Holy Mass for you wherever we are invited, to bring you the sacraments, and to proclaim the unchanging Faith. A few loyal colleagues from outside the Society have promised us their help and support after the painful separation of April 27. Thus we shall, in any case, continue the Seminary of St. Thomas Aquinas, to form Priests according to the Heart of Jesus, and so bring about the longed for resurrection of the Catholic Church and the re-ordering of Christian Society in the Holy Ghost. In this great task, Our Blessed Lady, Mother of the Eternal High Priest, is certainly standing by us, with all of her gentleness and strength, as she intercedes for us before the Throne of God. Now is the time for us to prove ourselves faithful and send up intense prayer to Heaven!
Fr. Franz Schmidberger
Vicar General of the Society of St. Pius X
Fr. Richard Williamson
Rector, St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary
How Did It Happen?
May 1983
Dear Friends and Benefactors,
Through the breaking away by nine of the Society from the Northeastern District and from St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary, the Society has suffered a heavy blow, and the work of re-building the Church in this country has been set back by years. How did it come to this?
A. For years there was an underlying lack of harmony between these priests and the leadership of the Society of St. Pius X, which in today's crisis of the Faith on the one hand holds absolutely fast to the Faith of our Fathers, to the Tradition of the Church, and to the eternal Sacrifice of the Mass in such a way as to have earned itself many blows from liberal and modernistic prelates, yet which, on the other hand constantly strives not to lose the "sense of the Church", and, despite all difficulties, not to break with Rome, the See of Peter. For this reason, over the past few years, Archbishop Lefebvre has been again and again traveling to Rome seeking to speak with cardinals and with the Pope himself, not in order to arrive at some compromise, but in order to assert our inalienable Catholic rights before the Holy See, and, like a true missionary, to make every effort possible to bring the leaders of the Church back to the life-giving Tradition. In his last letter to the Holy Father, dated April 5th 1983, Archbishop Lefebvre says quite explicitly that the Novus Ordo Missae is once and for all unacceptable to us. However, let us not forget that the Church is not going to be saved through our erecting ourselves into self-glorifying judges; rather we must imitate the love and patience of the crucified Saviour by begging for her resurrection as a gift of grace, and offer ourselves up in this sense. That is what it means for us to pray for the Pope.
B. In the annulment of marriages, undoubtedly the worst of abuses, are today spreading, especially in the U.S.A. Several years ago Cardinal Seper himself said in a conversation with Archbishop Lefebvre that Spanish Catholics who desired a marriage annulment, impossible in their own country, were making the journey to the U.S.A, just to obtain from one of the American dioceses the necessary papers, and then, upon returning to Spain, were going through with another marriage in the Church. Such scandalous proceedings lay upon us the grave duty to study each case with its attendant circumstances, but we resolutely refuse to declare any and every marriage annulment invalid or questionable simply because it has been decreed by the post-conciliar Church; we are firmly convinced that the Church still continues and lives on today, even if the corn can hardly be seen for the weeds.
C. In exactly the same way it is our mind to examine the dispensing of the sacraments according to the new rite case by case, so as to be able, in the light of theology and the Faith, to confirm or to lay aside any doubt arising. Our own General Chapter of the Society, which took place in Ecône last September, gave an important impulse to precisely this kind of theological study especially necessary for the new rites of Confirmation and Priestly Ordination. In the meantime, however, to deduce the doubtfulness of a sacrament purely and simply from the fact of its Form having been changed seems to us unacceptable, for instance, in the case of the sacrament of Confession, whose essential Form has undergone important modifications in the course of time. If, after examining the case, a prudent doubt still remains, then of course the corresponding sacraments must be conditionally repeated. In no way, however, could or would our own theological studies presume to pre-empt later decisions of the Magisterium.
D. Since the founding of our Society, it is the Tridentine Mass and the Tridentine Mass alone which has been celebrated in all of our houses, in nearly all cases according to the rubrics of Pope Pius XII, signed by Pope John XXIII – so it has been essentially with Ecône for all thirteen years of its existence, so it is today, for example in France or Germany, the norm being provided for us by the Missal of St. Pius V in its edition of July 25, 1960. We may well not find that the minor changes of Popes Pius XII and John XXIII are satisfactory to us in every detail, but if these men were Popes (and they were!), then we owe them obedience in their disciplinary decisions unless these are a danger to our Faith – the principle of obedience denied by the nine break-away priests. Were every change purely as such a bad thing, then there would never have been the great Council of Trent which took many new disciplinary measures, then we would have to condemn the great St. Pius X also, who gave fresh life to the Church with a whole series of changes in discipline and liturgy and expressly announced further changes; then we would never be able to celebrate or attend Holy Mass in the evening, nor could we content ourselves with the three-hour fast before receiving Holy Communion – changes that were made under Popes Pius XII and John XIII, and which were accepted in view of the spiritual welfare of the people by all priests of the Society, including the nine! It is not feeling, nor personal preference, nor self-will which must decide whether a change is acceptable or not, but the Faith!
Dear Catholics, amid all of this confusion, amid all of these trials, remain faithful to our Society and to its founder, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre! The Priestly Society of St. Pius X was founded in obedience to the Church, within her and for her, to rescue from our tempestuous timesthe most precious treasures of our Faith, the Catholic Priesthood, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Blessed Sacrament, and to carry them safely over into better times to come. Thus through the Society of St. Pius X (and not through individual priests with no ecclesiastical authority above them!), you have a bond with the Church and receive the divine life of her Redeemer, and amid all the confusion and upsets, you have something firm to hold on to, so as not to fall victim to modernism on the one side nor drift into schism on the other.
We, for our part, shall do everything that lies within our power to celebrate Holy Mass for you wherever we are invited, to bring you the sacraments, and to proclaim the unchanging Faith. A few loyal colleagues from outside the Society have promised us their help and support after the painful separation of April 27. Thus we shall, in any case, continue the Seminary of St. Thomas Aquinas, to form Priests according to the Heart of Jesus, and so bring about the longed for resurrection of the Catholic Church and the re-ordering of Christian Society in the Holy Ghost. In this great task, Our Blessed Lady, Mother of the Eternal High Priest, is certainly standing by us, with all of her gentleness and strength, as she intercedes for us before the Throne of God. Now is the time for us to prove ourselves faithful and send up intense prayer to Heaven!
Fr. Franz Schmidberger
Vicar General of the Society of St. Pius X
Fr. Richard Williamson
Rector, St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary
