S
stmaria
Guest
I do not belong to the SSPX nor have I ever attended an SSPX Mass. However I have noticed how the SSPX is attacked on a regular basis. I do not wish to defend the actions of Archbishop Lefebvre but I think to be fair to him it is necessary to try to understand why he felt it necessary to risk excommunication by consecrating the four Bishops. I can only imagine how he agonized over this decision and how much he must have prayed.
Read his life story and you will see how much he loved the Church. But he believed with all his heart and soul that the Church was in grave danger. The following is from his Consecration Sermon. It reveals why, in 1988, that he felt he had to act. Two years earlier the event at Assisi had occurred where pagan religions were allowed to pray in a Catholic Church with the blessing of Pope John Paul. He believed this violated the First Commandment. He also believed that Our Lady had prophesized that one day it would be necessary for a priest to oppose apostasy and impiety in the Church and maybe that day had come and he might be that priest. He loved the Church. But he loved the Traditional Church and he felt that the Church founded by Christ was in grave danger.
!988 Consecration Sermon
sspx.org/SSPX_FAQs/appendix_v_1988_consecration_sermon.htm
"taking into account the strong will of the present Roman authorities to reduce Tradition to nought, to gather the world to the spirit of Vatican II and the spirit of Assisi, we have preferred to withdraw ourselves and to say that we could not continue… there has never been a greater iniquity in the Church than Assisi, which is contrary to the First Commandment of God and the First Article of the Creed. It is incredible that something like that could have ever taken place in the Church, in the eyes of the whole Church —how humiliating…… the apparition of Our Lady of “Buen Suceso,” —of “Good Fortune,” to whom a large church in Quito, Ecuador, was dedicated… This apparition is thoroughly recognized by Rome and the ecclesiastical authorities…
Our Lady prophesied for the 20th century, saying explicitly that during the 19th century and most of the 20th century, errors would become more and more widespread in Holy Church, placing the Church in a catastrophic situation. Morals would become corrupt and the Faith would disappear. It seems impossible not to see it happening today….she speaks of a prelate who will absolutely oppose this wave of apostasy and impiety —saving the priesthood by forming good priests. I do not say that prophecy refers to me. You may draw your own conclusions. I was stupefied when reading these lines but I cannot deny them, since they are recorded and deposited in the archives of this apparition.
This Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ is disappearing everywhere in the Conciliar Church. They are following roads which are not Catholic roads: they simply lead to apostasy….This is why we do this ceremony. Far be it from me to set myself up as pope! I am simply a bishop of the Catholic Church who is continuing to transmit Catholic doctrine.
Do not abandon the faithful, do not abandon the Church! Continue the Church! Indeed, since the Council, what we condemned in the past the present Roman authorities have embraced and are professing. How is it possible? We have condemned them: Liberalism, Communism, Socialism, Modernism, Sillonism.3 All the errors which we have condemned are now professed, adopted and supported by the authorities of the Church.
Thus, we find ourselves in a case of necessity. We have done all we could, trying to help Rome to understand that they had to come back to the attitudes of the holy Pius XII and of all his predecessors. Bishop de Castro Mayer and myself have gone to Rome, we have spoken, we have sent letters, several times to Rome. We have tried by these talks, by all these means, to succeed in making Rome understand that, since the Council and since aggiornamento, this change which has occurred in the Church is not Catholic, is not in conformity to the doctrine of all times.
This is why we are convinced that, by the act of these consecrations today, we are obeying the call of these popes and as a consequence the call of God, since they represent Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Church.”
Continue–
Read his life story and you will see how much he loved the Church. But he believed with all his heart and soul that the Church was in grave danger. The following is from his Consecration Sermon. It reveals why, in 1988, that he felt he had to act. Two years earlier the event at Assisi had occurred where pagan religions were allowed to pray in a Catholic Church with the blessing of Pope John Paul. He believed this violated the First Commandment. He also believed that Our Lady had prophesized that one day it would be necessary for a priest to oppose apostasy and impiety in the Church and maybe that day had come and he might be that priest. He loved the Church. But he loved the Traditional Church and he felt that the Church founded by Christ was in grave danger.
!988 Consecration Sermon
sspx.org/SSPX_FAQs/appendix_v_1988_consecration_sermon.htm
"taking into account the strong will of the present Roman authorities to reduce Tradition to nought, to gather the world to the spirit of Vatican II and the spirit of Assisi, we have preferred to withdraw ourselves and to say that we could not continue… there has never been a greater iniquity in the Church than Assisi, which is contrary to the First Commandment of God and the First Article of the Creed. It is incredible that something like that could have ever taken place in the Church, in the eyes of the whole Church —how humiliating…… the apparition of Our Lady of “Buen Suceso,” —of “Good Fortune,” to whom a large church in Quito, Ecuador, was dedicated… This apparition is thoroughly recognized by Rome and the ecclesiastical authorities…
Our Lady prophesied for the 20th century, saying explicitly that during the 19th century and most of the 20th century, errors would become more and more widespread in Holy Church, placing the Church in a catastrophic situation. Morals would become corrupt and the Faith would disappear. It seems impossible not to see it happening today….she speaks of a prelate who will absolutely oppose this wave of apostasy and impiety —saving the priesthood by forming good priests. I do not say that prophecy refers to me. You may draw your own conclusions. I was stupefied when reading these lines but I cannot deny them, since they are recorded and deposited in the archives of this apparition.
This Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ is disappearing everywhere in the Conciliar Church. They are following roads which are not Catholic roads: they simply lead to apostasy….This is why we do this ceremony. Far be it from me to set myself up as pope! I am simply a bishop of the Catholic Church who is continuing to transmit Catholic doctrine.
Do not abandon the faithful, do not abandon the Church! Continue the Church! Indeed, since the Council, what we condemned in the past the present Roman authorities have embraced and are professing. How is it possible? We have condemned them: Liberalism, Communism, Socialism, Modernism, Sillonism.3 All the errors which we have condemned are now professed, adopted and supported by the authorities of the Church.
Thus, we find ourselves in a case of necessity. We have done all we could, trying to help Rome to understand that they had to come back to the attitudes of the holy Pius XII and of all his predecessors. Bishop de Castro Mayer and myself have gone to Rome, we have spoken, we have sent letters, several times to Rome. We have tried by these talks, by all these means, to succeed in making Rome understand that, since the Council and since aggiornamento, this change which has occurred in the Church is not Catholic, is not in conformity to the doctrine of all times.
This is why we are convinced that, by the act of these consecrations today, we are obeying the call of these popes and as a consequence the call of God, since they represent Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Church.”
Continue–
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