Open Letter from the Superiors of the SSPX – July 1988
After the Vatican announced the alleged excommunication of Archbishop Lefebvre and the other bishops involved in the 1988 episcopal consecrations, the SSPX's superiors hit back – hard.
After the Vatican announced the alleged excommunication of Archbishop Lefebvre and the other bishops involved in the 1988 episcopal consecrations, the SSPX’s superiors hit back – hard.
Editors’ Notes
The following is an open letter from the Superiors of the SSPX, written to Cardinal Gantin, the Prefect of the Congregation of Bishops. It was written in 1988, soon after the notice of automatic excommunication sent to Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and the five other bishops involved in the 1988 episcopal consecrations.
As with the various texts which we have published recently, it reveals the state of mind current in the SSPX leadership after the defining moment of the Society’s life – the consecration of the four bishops without the mandate of John Paul II.
As such, regardless of whether one agrees with it or not, it is an important text for the historical record.
Some highlights
“[W]e have never wished to belong to that system which styles itself the ‘Conciliar Church,’ and which defines itself by the Novus Ordo Missæ, by indifferentist ecumenism, and by the secularisation of the whole of society.
“Yes, we have no part — nullam partem habemus — with the pantheon of religions of Assisi; our own excommunication by a decree of your Eminence or of another dicastery would be only the irrefutable proof of this.
“We would ask for nothing better than to be declared ex communione from the adulterous spirit which has blown through the Church for twenty-five years, excluded from the impious communion with unbelievers.”
“To be therefore publicly associated with the sanction which strikes the six Catholic bishops, defenders of the faith in its integrity and totality, would be for us a mark of honour and a sign of orthodoxy before the faithful.
“For these faithful indeed have a strict right to know that the priests to whom they turn do not belong to the communion of a counterfeit Church”
The above statement was later echoed by Archbishop Lefebvre himself, in the work Spiritual Journey, when he said:
“It is, therefore, a strict duty for every priest wanting to remain Catholic to separate himself from this Conciliar Church for as long as it does not rediscover the Tradition of the Church and of the Catholic Faith.”
Some comments
Reading the list of signatories 37 years later is an interesting experience. Many remain active within the SSPX; several have left; two were themselves consecrated to the episcopate; and, most regrettably, one is disgraced and living a life of secluded penance.
One wonders what each of the signatories would make of this letter today.
For our part, we think it is splendid – with all the usual caveats.
See also:
Open letter from the Superiors of the SSPX
To Cardinal Gantin, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops,
6 July 1988
Published in Fideliter N° 64 July-August 1988, pp. 11-12.
Translated by The WM Review
Your Eminence,
United around their Superior General, the Superiors of the districts, seminaries, and autonomous houses of the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X deem it right to express respectfully to you the following reflections.
You have thought it necessary, by your letter of the past 1 July, to make known to His Excellency Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, to His Excellency Bishop Antonio de Castro Mayer, and to the four bishops whom they consecrated on 30 June last at Écône, their excommunication latæ sententiæ. Judge for yourselves, therefore, the worth of such a declaration coming from an authority which, in its exercise, breaks with that of all its predecessors up to Pope Pius XII, in the worship, the teaching, and the government of the Church.
For our part, we are in full communion with all the popes and all the bishops who preceded the Second Vatican Council, celebrating exactly the Mass which they codified and celebrated, teaching the catechism which they composed, and standing firm against the errors which they many times condemned in their encyclicals and pastoral letters. Judge, therefore, on which side the rupture lies. We are deeply grieved by the blindness of mind and the hardness of heart of the Roman authorities.
On the other hand, we have never wished to belong to that system which styles itself the “Conciliar Church,” and which defines itself by the Novus Ordo Missæ, by indifferentist ecumenism, and by the secularisation of the whole of society. Yes, we have no part — nullam partem habemus — with the pantheon of religions of Assisi; our own excommunication by a decree of your Eminence or of another dicastery would be only the irrefutable proof of this.
We would ask for nothing better than to be declared ex communione from the adulterous spirit which has blown through the Church for twenty-five years, excluded from the impious communion with unbelievers. We believe in the one God, our Lord Jesus Christ, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, and we shall ever remain faithful to his one Spouse, the One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman Church.
To be therefore publicly associated with the sanction which strikes the six Catholic bishops, defenders of the faith in its integrity and totality, would be for us a mark of honour and a sign of orthodoxy before the faithful. For these faithful indeed have a strict right to know that the priests to whom they turn do not belong to the communion of a counterfeit Church – evolving, Pentecostal, and syncretist. United with these faithful, we make our own the words of the prophet (1 Kings vii, 3):
Preparate corda vestra Domino et servite Illi Soli: et liberabit vos de manibus inimicorum vestrorum. Convertimini ad Eum in toto corde vestro, et auferte deos alienos de medio vestri.
“Attach your heart firmly to the Lord and serve him alone: and he will deliver you from the hands of your enemies. It is with all your heart that you must return to God; put away from among you the strange gods.”
Confident in the protection of her, she who has crushed all heresies throughout the whole world, we beg you, Eminence, to accept the assurance of our devotion to him who is the only way of salvation.
At Écône, 6 July 1988.
There then follows the signatures of the Superior General and of all the Superiors of the districts, seminaries, and autonomous houses of the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X throughout the whole world:
Fr. Franz Schmidberger, Superior General
Fr. Paul Aulagnier, District Superior, France
Fr. Franz-Josef Maessen, District Superior, Germany
Fr. Edward Black, District Superior, Great Britain
Fr. Anthony Esposito, District Superior of Italy
Fr. François Laisney, District Superior, United States
Fr. Jacques Emily, District Superior of Canada
Fr. Jean Michel Faure, District Superior of Mexico
Fr. Gerard Hogan, District Superior of Australasia
Fr. Alain Lorans, Superior, Seminary of Ecône
Fr. Jean Paul André, Superior, Seminary of France
Fr. Paul Natterer, Superior, Seminary of Germany
Fr. Andrès Morello, Superior, Seminary of Argentina
Fr. William Welsh, Superior, Seminary of Australia
Fr. Michel Simoulin, Rector, St. Pius X University
Fr. Patrice Laroche, Vice-Rector, Seminary of Ecône
Fr. Philippe François, Superior, Belgium
Fr. Roland de Mérode, Superior, Netherlands
Fr. Georg Pflüger, Superior, Austria
Fr. Guillaume Devillers, Superior, Spain
Fr. Philippe Pazat, Superior, Portugal
Fr. Daniel Couture, Superior, Ireland
Fr. Patrick Groche, Superior, Gabon
Fr. Frank Peek, Superior, Southern Africa
Taken from de Fideliter N° 64 July-August 1988, pp. 11-12.
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It is inconceivable that today’s SSPX could support such a letter, but we are told nothing has changed, and are treated to gaslighting operations like their recent article “Semper Idem” (“Always the Same”).
Yet a cursory review of the signatories of this letter reveal names of some of the neo-SSPX’s most vociferous apologists pushing for a practical accord: Schmidberger, Simoulin, Aulagnier, +Fellay, Laisney,Lorans, Couture.
I suppose they figured this letter was simply too well remembered to memory-hole it, as they have done with so many other articles which highlight the contrast between today’s SSPX with that of former years.