Letter of Mgr. Lefebvre to Cardinal Seper
20 November 1979
Your Eminence,
The anniversary of the audience granted to me by the Holy Father on 18 November last year seemed to me a favorable occasion to express anew to him our desire that the problem of the Liturgy should not drag on any longer, for the good of the Church and the salvation of souls. The climate for such a solution is far more favorable now than a year ago, even in France where many bishops would rejoice at a peacemaking intervention. The Cardinal of Paris has just promised a Solemn High Requiem according to the Old Rite on the occasion of the death of General Vautier, the father of one of our friends, and this he had always refused up till now, even for President Pompidou.
An opinion poll has just shown that five million French Catholics are in favor of the traditional liturgy. If a solution is too long delayed, many will lose the Faith, and others will join sects such as Palmar de Troya, and all the Pentecostal and Protestant sects.
I expect to be in Rome, or, rather, at our house in Albano, on 5 December and the following days. I am always at your disposal.
In requesting you to pass on the enclosed file to the Holy Father, I beg Your Eminence to accept my respectful and fraternally devoted wishes in Christo et Maria.
†Marcel Lefebvre
Your Eminence,
The anniversary of the audience granted to me by the Holy Father on 18 November last year seemed to me a favorable occasion to express anew to him our desire that the problem of the Liturgy should not drag on any longer, for the good of the Church and the salvation of souls. The climate for such a solution is far more favorable now than a year ago, even in France where many bishops would rejoice at a peacemaking intervention. The Cardinal of Paris has just promised a Solemn High Requiem according to the Old Rite on the occasion of the death of General Vautier, the father of one of our friends, and this he had always refused up till now, even for President Pompidou.
An opinion poll has just shown that five million French Catholics are in favor of the traditional liturgy. If a solution is too long delayed, many will lose the Faith, and others will join sects such as Palmar de Troya, and all the Pentecostal and Protestant sects.
I expect to be in Rome, or, rather, at our house in Albano, on 5 December and the following days. I am always at your disposal.
In requesting you to pass on the enclosed file to the Holy Father, I beg Your Eminence to accept my respectful and fraternally devoted wishes in Christo et Maria.
†Marcel Lefebvre
