'CATHOLICS! Beware! A new religion has been established!' (Fortes in Fide)
The first part of our serialisation of Fr Noël Barbara's 'Fortes in Fide' includes an open letter from four early pioneers of the post-Vatican II period.
The first part of our serialisation of Fr Noël Barbara's 'Fortes in Fide' includes an open letter from four early pioneers of the post-Vatican II period.
Editor’s Notes
What follows is the foreword and first article of Fr Noël Barbara’s Fortes in Fide, N. I Vol. I. It is based on the typeset version of the late James McNally. Unfortunately, at this time of republication, it has not been possible to ascertain the date of the original text.
The foreword, by Fr Peter Morgan – the first English priest ordained by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre for the SSPX – explains how and why this review came to be translated and published in English. It gives an insight into the early days of the post-Vatican II period.
The first article is an open letter and profession of faith from Barbara and Morgan, also signed by Fr Louis Coache and Mgr. François Ducaud-Bourget. These four pioneering priests state that “a new religion has been established,” and indicates the truths being denied at that time.
Intriguingly, it actually refers to Paul VI’s Mysterium Fidei in this context – and later in this issue, Barbara cites several documents from Vatican II in support of his points. In a short time, citing the “good” parts of Vatican II would fall out of favour as a tactic, for reasons discussed elsewhere.
This first part of N. I, Vol. I ends with a prayer for divine help amidst the growing cataclysm in the Church:
“… Tell all the baffled Christians, that the Gospel of their childhood remains the only true Word, and that there is no other God but Thee. O Lord, grant that they may not be dragged into the subtle currents of the great modernist heresy, but rather through the strength obtained by prayer and penance, give them the grace boldly to erect a barrier against the reign of Satan.”
Fortes in Fide
N. I, Vol. I.
“But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach a Gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema.”
(Galatians 1, 8)
“If anyone shall assert it to be possible that sometimes, according to the progress of science, a sense is to be given to doctrines propounded by the Church different from that which the Church has understood and understands; let him be anathema.”
(Vatican Council 1, Session 3, chap. 4 "Of Faith and Reason", Can 3, Denz. 1818)
Foreword – Fr Peter Morgan
I am very happy to introduce the English edition of FORTES IN FIDE, not only because I had some part in originating this venture; but also because, in the present state of the “post-conciliar Church”, the Catholic faithful have truly become “sheep without a shepherd.”
As though a spirit of madness had entered into the whole body of churchmen, innumerable priests and bishops seem no longer to be certain of anything. They are now all “searching for the truth.” And these “seekers” are astonished, and some are even scandalised, should a traditionalist Catholic calmly affirm the truth.
When this state of things first became evident, many people were inclined to laugh because there were so many “searchers” who never arrived at any certitude. But soon, since evil grows more easily than good, many who had at first stood firm were touched by the contagion, and found themselves beginning to have doubts as well. Was it really possible that all these bishops, all these priests, and so many of the faithful could be mistaken, that they were in error, and that the small minority of traditional Catholics alone remained in possession of the truth? Could the minority be right when the certainties of the faith were under attack, not from the enemies of the Church, but from the very ones who were charged with teaching the flock?
At this point many of the faithful became aware of the urgent need to learn more about their faith and to complete their doctrinal formation, so as not to be “carried about with every wind of doctrine.” But how to do this, or where, or from what publications? All the official was contaminated and sowed the seeds of doubt.
Providence brought to my notice the bi-monthly review Forts dans la Foi, a French catechetical publication designed for adults, which provided an excellent answer to the needs of the hour. All the numbers I have seen have pleased me particularly because of the clarity of exposition and solidity of doctrine in them. Reading them I thought: “Here is something which would do much good among the Catholics of the British Isles.” The Director of this review, Father Noël Barbara, does not shrink from tackling the most delicate questions, such as one does not ordinarily find dealt with in catechetical courses designed for adults.
Before expressing my desire for an English version to the Director of the French review, however, I looked at other papers and magazines, but none seemed to me more necessary or better adapted to the needs of our troubled times than Forts dans la Foi. For this reason, I could only be most grateful when I learned that Father Barbara had yielded to my demand and was preparing an English language edition, and my joy was all the greater for another most agreeable surprise.
For to ask for an English edition because our faithful people had need of it was one thing, but who was going to pay the costs of launching it? This problem was much greater than our small numbers could manage.
The solution was found by Father Barbara, before our difficulties had even been put to him: he had decided that the French edition, then in its sixth year, would cover the expenses of launching the English edition. I here express my deepest gratitude for his zeal.
I am convinced that this course of studies of Catholic doctrine, because of its absolute orthodoxy, will bring light on the fundamental problems of our holy religion to many souls of good will; it will strengthen our convictions and will help us to remain “strong in the faith”, which is the meaning of the review's title in both languages.
After it is launched, however, the English edition of FORTES IN FIDE will depend financially entirely on its subscribers, and the good hoped for from its appearance will, thus, only be done if English-speaking Traditionalist Catholics support the venture. I therefore strongly urge all who are attached to the age-old Faith of our fathers in Great Britain, the United States of America, Australia and southern Africa, to give the necessary support by taking out a subscription, and by making the venture known to their friends.
I am sure that all who will read and think seriously about the doctrinal matters which will be treated in the review, will be greatly helped to preserve their faith.
Courage! Put your trust in Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has over-come the world.
With Him we need fear nothing.
FATHER PETER J. MORGAN
“As therefore you have received Jesus Christ, the Lord, walk ye in him.”
(Col. II. 6)
“Therefore brethren, stand fast; and hold the traditions which you have learned, whether by word, or by our epistle.”
(II Thess, II. 14)
CATHOLICS!
BEWARE!
A NEW RELIGION HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED,
THE RELIGION OF MAN AND THE WORLD!
[By Four Roman Catholic Priests]
The great neo-modernist heresy transforms and destroys insidiously the certain and fundamental facts of our Faith.
The Catholic press gives you a continuous stream of untruths... anything opposed to Faith and Morals becomes acceptable and valid for it. Too often Preaching and the new Pastoral practice sabotage the essential values of Christianity: prayer, the interior life, devotions, virtues, penance and attachment to the unique Truth.
In the name of a “post-conciliar spirit”, denounced even by Paul VI, in the name of evolution of minds and structures, or under the pretext of oecumenism,
EVERYTHING IS QUESTIONED,
EVERYTHING BECOMES AN OBJECT OF ENQUIRY.
Doubt is knowingly insinuated into men's hearts. At the expense of Faith and of the Love of God there is preached to you, through the medium of futile ideas, the exaltation of the world and of the cult of man.
And yet the ultimate exhortation of the Master is explicit: “Teaching them to observe ALL things whatsoever I have commanded you.” “He that believeth not shall be condemned.” (Matt. XXVIII, 20) - (Mark XVI, 16)
Again did not Jesus say: “What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? (Matt. XVI, 26)
* * *
Given this state of affairs, we, Priests of the Holy Catholic Church, truly convinced that the integrity of the Faith takes precedence over an opening up to the world or oecumenism, declare publicly our Faith, and we urge you, brethren, to keep yours intact, to live it completely and, if God gives you the grace, to profess it publicly, without arrogance, but with pride.
We believe and profess all the truths which the Church believes and teaches. In particular:1
We believe in the existence of one God in three Persons equal and distinct, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
We believe that our Lord Jesus Christ, consubstantial with the Father, took a human nature exactly like ours, with the exception of sin, and that He possesses two natures in one person, the second Person of the Holy Trinity.
We believe in the Holy Ghost, Who is also God, and proceeds from the Father and the Son.
We believe in the birth in time of Christ, of a Mother always a Virgin and full of grace, Immaculate in her Conception and glorious in Heaven in her body and soul.
We believe that the triune God made everything which exists for man, but that He created man for Himself: so that man might know Him, love Him, serve Him and by this means merit the eternal happiness of Heaven.
We believe that the human race descended from a single couple: the first man and woman whom we call Adam and Eve.
We believe that Adam, the head of mankind committed a real sin which deprived him of God's friendship. This sin, “which is the death of the soul”, is transmitted by generation to all the children of Adam who, because of this, the Blessed Virgin Mary excepted, are born in a state of sin, that is to say “spiritually dead.” This is original sin.
We believe that little children, even though born of Christian parents, must be baptised to obtain Eternal Life, and that they should be baptised as soon as possible.
We believe in the sorrowful Passion, the Death and the bodily Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who ascended to the right hand of the Father, from whence He will come in glory to judge the living and the dead.
We believe that at the coming of the Glorious Christ, all men will rise from the dead with their bodies, and that each one will render an account of his own acts. Those who have done good will enter eternal Life and those who have done evil will go into eternal fire.
We believe in the existence of Angels and we believe that they watch over the Church and over every man. We believe also that the unfaithful angels, Satan and the demons, personal beings, prowl in the world and against the Church for the ruin of souls.
We believe in the existence of eternal Hell which was made for Satan and his angels, where those who die whilst not in a state of grace, are punished.
We believe that the evil in the world does not come from unexplained antagonisms but, in truth, from original sin and our own sins.
We believe that man possesses a spiritual and immortal soul which continues to exist after the destruction of the body and which, whilst awaiting the resurrection of the body, will go either to Heaven, Purgatory or Hell, according to what it has merited.
We believe all the truths contained in the Holy Scriptures and in Tradition, including the historical character of the accounts of the hidden life of Jesus (the Gospels recording His infancy) and of His miracles.
We believe that we must venerate the Saints and honour their images, and we believe in their intercession.
We believe in the reality of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, in which Jesus Christ, really and substantially present with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, offers Himself to God the Father, as He did on the Cross, for our sins.
We believe that the term “transubstantiation” is so perfectly fitted to describe the transformation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, that there is no need to look for a new formula for this mystery of Faith. (Cf. Pope Paul's Encyclical Mysterium Fidei.)
We believe that the Real Corporal Presence of Jesus Christ remains in the Eucharist as long as the sacramental species remain after Communion, or in the Host reserved in the Tabernacle.
We believe that the Sacrament of Penance blots out our sins by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, provided that the required dispositions are present.
We believe in the reality of the divine action through the seven sacraments, the rites of which have been entrusted to the Church.
We believe that Jesus Christ, Our Lord, founded a Church which He called “My Church”, to distinguish it from the churches which are not “His.” It is “the House of God, the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the Truth.” (Matt. XVI, 18; 1 Tim III, 15)
This Church God has provided with certain marks of her institution by which she can be recognized as the Guardian and Mistress of the Revealed Word. And we believe that the Roman Catholic Church alone possesses these wonderful marks which indicate her origin: unity, holiness, catholicity and apostolicity.
We believe that the Church of Christ is visible and hierarchical and that she teaches with God's authority, all that Jesus has revealed to us (see Matt. XXVIII, 20). At the summit of the hierarchy Christ has established Peter and his successors, Bishops of Rome, with direct jurisdiction over the whole universal Church, over all the Bishops, Priests, and faithful and over each one of them.
We believe that the unity of the Church is not something yet to be achieved: it has existed from the beginning and will never cease to exist. It is a mark which distinguishes her from other churches and is one of the Truths of our Credo. “Credo... et UNAM Ecclesiam.”
We believe that those who are separated from her, have objectively the obligation, in order to ensure their salvation, to come back into the sole Church of Jesus Christ, and that we have the duty to facilitate their return but without changing thereby the Catholic Faith.
We believe that the Church of Jesus Christ, although composed of sinners, is a HOLY Church. Holy in her Head, Jesus Christ, Holy in her doctrine, Holy in her Sacraments, Holy in her members: those in Heaven, those in Purgatory, and those on earth who are in a state of grace.
We believe that the Church of Jesus Christ is APOSTOLIC because the Priesthood, and the jurisdiction of her Hierarchy comes from the Apostles by a direct and unbroken succession.
We believe that the Church of Jesus Christ was founded on Peter. She was entrusted to the care of Peter and to the Bishops united with him. This is the Roman Catholic Church, because only the Bishop of Rome is the successor of Peter.
We believe in the permanence of the traditional doctrine taught by the Church, in the objective meaning of the formulas which express her Dogmas, and in the Truth which she teaches.
We believe that the truths of Faith remain absolutely independent of the way men think or live, because Truth comes from God, by tradition through the Church, and not from the religious instinct of the masses.
We reject also that spirit of inquiry which, under the pretext of a better formulation of doctrine, ends by changing the Truths which we have believed until now.
With the Apostle we think that “If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but is sick about questions and strifes of words; from which arise envies, contentions, blasphemies, evil suspicions.” (I Tim VI, 3 and 4)
There, Brethren, is what we believe and what we profess: EVERYTHING WHICH THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH BELIEVES AND TEACHES. And we believe it and hold it to be true because God has revealed it to us and He, and the Church which teaches us through her infallible Magisterium, can neither be deceived nor deceive.
We have been baptized in this Catholic Faith.
It is this Catholic Faith which we professed on the day of our Confirmation.
It is this Catholic Faith which the Church, our Mother, made us promise to preserve before imposing her hands on us.
May God preserve us from being perjurers. May Mary, Mother of the Church, and Mother of God, and all the Angels and Saints obtain for us the grace to live and die in and for the Catholic Faith. Amen.
* * *
Brethren, let us remember our spiritual Leaders who have transmitted to us the Word of God: the Apostles, the Martyrs, the great Popes, Doctors and Confessors. Let us consider what their lives were like, and imitate their Faith.
And “though we, or an angel from Heaven, preach a gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema.” (Gal. I, 8)
Even more, “if any man come to you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into the house, nor say to him: God speed you. For he that sayeth unto him, God speed you, communicateth with his wicked works.” (2 St. John I, 10, 11)
When we tell you not to receive and not to greet those who do not bring this doctrine, with the Apostle we are not thinking of non-Christians, but of those who, whilst bearing the name of brethren (Catholics) or of Father (priests), have no longer “the Faith nor Catholic unity, the unique means of salvation” (Gregory XVI). Those who reject explicitly and obstinately a single truth of faith, or who wilfully doubt, receive these no longer (see 1 Cor. V, 10, 11).
Our Fathers in the Faith sacrificed their lives in bloody martyrdom to keep intact this gift from God. At present, thousands and thousands of Christians, with Priests and Bishops, are in Soviet or Chinese convict prisons suffering for their Faith. Why? Because they have taken the Gospel seriously and they know that “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Heb. XI, 6), and that “those who do not believe will be condemned” (Mark XVI, 16).
Yes, Brethren, we entreat you, renew your courage. The truth cannot change, “Jesus Christ, yesterday, and today, and the same forever” (Heb. XIII, 8). Immerse yourselves in this article of our Faith that:
“WHOEVER WISHES TO BE SAVED MUST, ABOVE ALL, KEEP THE CATHOLIC FAITH WHICH EVERYONE MUST PRESERVE INVIOLATE IN ITS INTEGRITY, UNDER PAIN, WITHOUT ANY DOUBT WHATSOEVER, OF ETERNAL DAMNATION.” (Creed of St. Athanasius)
Father Noël Barbara. Directeur de Forts dans la Foi.
Father Louis Coache. Curé de Montjavoult, 60240 Chaumont-en-Vexin.
Mgr. François Ducaud-Bourget. 27, avenue de Tourville, 75007 Paris.
Father Peter Morgan. S. Pius V Information Centre, 6 Forest Side, Worcester Park, Surrey KT4 7PB.
* * *
“O Lord, Almighty God, from the heart of the turmoil which separates so many souls from Thy Majesty, we voice our feelings of profound adoration and our trusting and reverent devotion.
“Jesus, our Master and our Friend, through Thy Heart pierced for us, help us to live strong and heroic lives of Faith, to carry our cross with love, to remain humble and gentle, certain that Thou wilt save Thy Church.
“O Holy Ghost, the Comforter, purify our hearts and sanctify them in the truth. Enlighten and strengthen the souls of priests and faithful who no longer know where they are. Tell all the baffled Christians, that the Gospel of their childhood remains the only true Word, and that there is no other God but Thee. O Lord, grant that they may not be dragged into the subtle currents of the great modernist heresy, but rather through the strength obtained by prayer and penance, give them the grace boldly to erect a barrier against the reign of Satan.
“Holy Virgin Mary, bulwark against heresies, thee whom we venerate as Queen of Heaven and Mother of the Church, be our Light and Advocate. Keep us in the truth, as loving sons of the Holy Roman Catholic Church, and place in our hearts a great love, and a burning zeal which will enable us to scorn the things of earth, that we may seek only the will of thy Divine Son. Amen.”
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We mention here only the most important or most debated truths.
Balm for the soul in a time of most grievous heresy
I don't actually. But it was titled Fortes dans le foi, I think.