Letter of Mgr. Lefebvre to the Sovereign Pontiff
18 November 1979
Most Holy Father,
A year has passed since I had the honor of being received in audience by you. Conversations with Cardinal Seper in the course of the year have, I hope, been sufficient to show that nothing on our part is opposed to a solution being found.
In these few lines I should like to show you clearly our wish to see this solution come about for the good of the Church and of souls.
Through your discourses you have made evident your attachment to Our Lord Jesus Christ Who is the only solution to all problems, your fidelity to Catholic morality, and your wish to restore the priestly and religious life. This is, moreover, what we have never ceased to uphold and to put into practice. It is because we believed that these aims could only be attained by worship which corresponds to them, worship utilized by the Church from its origins up to and including the Second Vatican Council, that we have been cruelly condemned.
The Liturgy is more than a mere ritual used in worship, it is the expression of Faith and the source of Grace. It is thus of fundamental importance in the Christian life. The Sacrifice of the Mass is truly the mysterium fidei in all its plenitude. It manifests the great mystery of Christ Crucified, a mystery of charity through self-sacrifice. Finally, the Liturgy puts the soul into direct contact with Our Lord, communicating to us His own divine life.
The restoration of the Church will be brought about through this divinely instituted heritage which is the treasure and the heart of the Church. This is why we ask insistently for the use of this Liturgy which will imbue the Church with a new youthfulness. Priests will rediscover the sense of their priesthood and the greatness of its demands; religious of both sexes will discover the meaning of their self-oblation; married couples will rediscover the true meaning of the Sacrament of Matrimony, and obtain the graces necessary to live out their married life according to divine law.
The Mystery of the Cross and the Sacrifice of Our Lord are the inexhaustible source of the graces necessary for the fulfilment of the Christian life. The considerable decrease in the number of Masses now being offered explains the acceleration of the crisis in the Church.
May Our Lady of Mercy inspire you, and come to your aid, to bring about the solution which is so ardently desired.
As soon as the liturgical problem is solved, the particular problems of Ecône and other (traditionalist) groups, as well as of the nuns, will also be solved, providing that the bishops show understanding and good will.
I beg Your Holiness to accept my personal homage, and my filial sentiments in Jesus and Mary.
†Marcel Lefebvre
Most Holy Father,
A year has passed since I had the honor of being received in audience by you. Conversations with Cardinal Seper in the course of the year have, I hope, been sufficient to show that nothing on our part is opposed to a solution being found.
In these few lines I should like to show you clearly our wish to see this solution come about for the good of the Church and of souls.
Through your discourses you have made evident your attachment to Our Lord Jesus Christ Who is the only solution to all problems, your fidelity to Catholic morality, and your wish to restore the priestly and religious life. This is, moreover, what we have never ceased to uphold and to put into practice. It is because we believed that these aims could only be attained by worship which corresponds to them, worship utilized by the Church from its origins up to and including the Second Vatican Council, that we have been cruelly condemned.
The Liturgy is more than a mere ritual used in worship, it is the expression of Faith and the source of Grace. It is thus of fundamental importance in the Christian life. The Sacrifice of the Mass is truly the mysterium fidei in all its plenitude. It manifests the great mystery of Christ Crucified, a mystery of charity through self-sacrifice. Finally, the Liturgy puts the soul into direct contact with Our Lord, communicating to us His own divine life.
The restoration of the Church will be brought about through this divinely instituted heritage which is the treasure and the heart of the Church. This is why we ask insistently for the use of this Liturgy which will imbue the Church with a new youthfulness. Priests will rediscover the sense of their priesthood and the greatness of its demands; religious of both sexes will discover the meaning of their self-oblation; married couples will rediscover the true meaning of the Sacrament of Matrimony, and obtain the graces necessary to live out their married life according to divine law.
The Mystery of the Cross and the Sacrifice of Our Lord are the inexhaustible source of the graces necessary for the fulfilment of the Christian life. The considerable decrease in the number of Masses now being offered explains the acceleration of the crisis in the Church.
May Our Lady of Mercy inspire you, and come to your aid, to bring about the solution which is so ardently desired.
As soon as the liturgical problem is solved, the particular problems of Ecône and other (traditionalist) groups, as well as of the nuns, will also be solved, providing that the bishops show understanding and good will.
I beg Your Holiness to accept my personal homage, and my filial sentiments in Jesus and Mary.
†Marcel Lefebvre
