The Society of St. Pius X
The Society of St. Pius X (SSPX, also known as Lefebvrists) is an international society of traditionalist Roman Catholic priests. Its official Latin name is Fraternitas Sacerdotalis Sancti Pii X, which means "Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X". It was founded in 1970 by the French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, and since 1975 it has existed in a state of dispute with the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church.
Foundation and early history
The SSPX (which is sometimes referred to simply as "SSPX", without the definite article) was born out of conservative opposition to the changes in Catholic teaching and practice that followed the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965). Its founder and central figure was the French prelate Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. Lefebvre had spent much of his career as a missionary bishop in Africa, and had served as Superior General of the Holy Ghost Fathers from 1962 to 1968. He retired as head of that order in 1968 when its members began revising its constitutions: Lefebvre considered the revisions to be un-Catholic and Modernist. Shortly after his retirement, Lefebvre was approached by seminarians from the French Seminary in Rome. They told him that they were being persecuted for their adherence to traditional doctrines, and sought his advice on a conservative seminary to complete their studies. He directed them to the University of Fribourg, Switzerland.
In 1970, urged by the Abbot of Hauterive and the Dominican theologian Fr. Philippe to teach the seminarians personally, Lefebvre approached Bishop François Charrière of Lausanne, Geneva and Fribourg with a request to set up a religious society for priests and seminarians. Charrière agreed to Lefebvre's request, and, with a document predated by six days to November 1, 1970, he established the Society of St. Pius X as a "pia unio" on a provisional (ad experimentum) basis for 6 years. Pia unio status represented the first stage towards official recognition as a religious institute or a society of apostolic life. (Since 1983, the term "association of the faithful" has replaced "pia unio".) Some Swiss laymen offered the seminary at Ecône, Switzerland to the newly formed group.
In the normal course of events, a local bishop, after a suitable period of concrete experience and after asking the advice of the Holy See, would raise a pia unio to official status at diocesan level. Lefebvre attempted to bypass this stage and contacted three different Vatican departments in order to secure early recognition for his society at papal level. He succeeded in obtaining a letter of encouragement from Cardinal John Joseph Wright, Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Clergy, but no approval from the Congregation competent for raising the association to the level desired by Lefebvre. Cardinal Wright's letter, dated February 18, 1971, was worded carefully, speaking of the association "as Your Excellency presents it", and saying, with regard to the field of competence of Cardinal Wright's own Congregation, that the association "will be able to contribute much to accomplishing the plan drawn up by this Congregation for worldwide sharing of clergy".
The establishment of the SSPX was unwelcome to a number of churchmen — most notably, to the French bishops, whose theological outlook was very different from Lefebvre's and who had important connections with the Vatican Secretary of State, the Frenchman Cardinal Jean Villot. The seminary at Ecône was described as "le séminaire sauvage" — the "wildcat seminary"[1] — and by November 1974 the French episcopate had indicated that they would not incardinate any of Lefebvre's priests in their dioceses. They also publicly criticised Catholics who remained attached to the Tridentine Mass.[citation needed]
The first sign of intervention by the Roman authorities was a meeting held in the Vatican on 26 March 1974. By June 1974, a commission of cardinals had been formed to enquire into the SSPX. The cardinals decided that a canonical visitation of the seminary should be undertaken, and, from 11–13 November 1974, two Belgian priests carried out a rigorous inspection. Their report was said to have been favourable.[2] However, while at Ecône, they expressed a number of theological opinions which were judged to be excessively liberal, and which greatly shocked the seminarians and staff. In what he later described as a mood of "doubtlessly excessive indignation", the Archbishop wrote a "Declaration" in which he strongly attacked the liberal trends apparent in the contemporary Church, which (he said) were "clearly evident" in the Council and in the reforms that had followed it.[3] This document was leaked and published in January 1975, in the French Traditionalist journal Itinéraires. It would provide important ammunition to his opponents.
By now, Lefebvre was in serious difficulties. In January 1975, Mgr. Pierre Mamie, the incumbent Bishop of Fribourg, wrote to Rome stating his intention to withdraw the pia unio status that his predecessor had granted the SSPX. It has been speculated that this action was undertaken at the instigation of the commission of cardinals. In the same month, Lefebvre was asked by the cardinals to come to Rome. He met with them twice, on 13 February and 3 March; to Lefebvre's declared surprise, the meetings were hostile in tone. On 6 May 1975, with the approval of the cardinals, Bishop Mamie withdrew the SSPX's pia unio status. Lefebvre instructed his lawyer to lodge appeals at both Vatican appeal courts, but they were turned down. From this point onwards, the SSPX was no longer an officially recognised Catholic organisation.
Lefebvre and his supporters have always maintained that he was treated unfairly by Rome, that the suppression of the SSPX was unjustified, and that the procedures followed in its suppression violated the provisions of the Code of Canon Law.
The SSPX continued to operate in spite of its official dissolution. In the consistory of 24 May 1976, Pope Paul VI rebuked Archbishop Lefebvre by name – reportedly the first time in 200 years that a Pope had publicly reprimanded a Catholic bishop – and appealed to him and his followers to change their minds.[4] Archbishop (later Cardinal) Giovanni Benelli, the deputy Vatican Secretary of State, sent Lefebvre two letters ordering him not to proceed with scheduled priestly ordinations for the SSPX. Lefebvre ignored the warning, and went ahead with the ordinations on June 29, 1976. Lefebvre was immediately suspended "a collatione ordinum": he could no longer legally ordain priests. A week later, Cardinal Sebastiano Baggio, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops sent him an official communication requiring him to ask the Pope's pardon. Lefebvre responded with a letter claiming that there was "a secret agreement between high dignitaries in the Church and those in Masonic lodges before the Council". On July 22, Baggio notified Lefebvre that, since he had not apologised to the Pope, he was suspended "a divinis". He was now legally forbidden to celebrate any of the sacraments.
Source : wikipedia
Foundation and early history
The SSPX (which is sometimes referred to simply as "SSPX", without the definite article) was born out of conservative opposition to the changes in Catholic teaching and practice that followed the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965). Its founder and central figure was the French prelate Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. Lefebvre had spent much of his career as a missionary bishop in Africa, and had served as Superior General of the Holy Ghost Fathers from 1962 to 1968. He retired as head of that order in 1968 when its members began revising its constitutions: Lefebvre considered the revisions to be un-Catholic and Modernist. Shortly after his retirement, Lefebvre was approached by seminarians from the French Seminary in Rome. They told him that they were being persecuted for their adherence to traditional doctrines, and sought his advice on a conservative seminary to complete their studies. He directed them to the University of Fribourg, Switzerland.
In 1970, urged by the Abbot of Hauterive and the Dominican theologian Fr. Philippe to teach the seminarians personally, Lefebvre approached Bishop François Charrière of Lausanne, Geneva and Fribourg with a request to set up a religious society for priests and seminarians. Charrière agreed to Lefebvre's request, and, with a document predated by six days to November 1, 1970, he established the Society of St. Pius X as a "pia unio" on a provisional (ad experimentum) basis for 6 years. Pia unio status represented the first stage towards official recognition as a religious institute or a society of apostolic life. (Since 1983, the term "association of the faithful" has replaced "pia unio".) Some Swiss laymen offered the seminary at Ecône, Switzerland to the newly formed group.
In the normal course of events, a local bishop, after a suitable period of concrete experience and after asking the advice of the Holy See, would raise a pia unio to official status at diocesan level. Lefebvre attempted to bypass this stage and contacted three different Vatican departments in order to secure early recognition for his society at papal level. He succeeded in obtaining a letter of encouragement from Cardinal John Joseph Wright, Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Clergy, but no approval from the Congregation competent for raising the association to the level desired by Lefebvre. Cardinal Wright's letter, dated February 18, 1971, was worded carefully, speaking of the association "as Your Excellency presents it", and saying, with regard to the field of competence of Cardinal Wright's own Congregation, that the association "will be able to contribute much to accomplishing the plan drawn up by this Congregation for worldwide sharing of clergy".
The establishment of the SSPX was unwelcome to a number of churchmen — most notably, to the French bishops, whose theological outlook was very different from Lefebvre's and who had important connections with the Vatican Secretary of State, the Frenchman Cardinal Jean Villot. The seminary at Ecône was described as "le séminaire sauvage" — the "wildcat seminary"[1] — and by November 1974 the French episcopate had indicated that they would not incardinate any of Lefebvre's priests in their dioceses. They also publicly criticised Catholics who remained attached to the Tridentine Mass.[citation needed]
The first sign of intervention by the Roman authorities was a meeting held in the Vatican on 26 March 1974. By June 1974, a commission of cardinals had been formed to enquire into the SSPX. The cardinals decided that a canonical visitation of the seminary should be undertaken, and, from 11–13 November 1974, two Belgian priests carried out a rigorous inspection. Their report was said to have been favourable.[2] However, while at Ecône, they expressed a number of theological opinions which were judged to be excessively liberal, and which greatly shocked the seminarians and staff. In what he later described as a mood of "doubtlessly excessive indignation", the Archbishop wrote a "Declaration" in which he strongly attacked the liberal trends apparent in the contemporary Church, which (he said) were "clearly evident" in the Council and in the reforms that had followed it.[3] This document was leaked and published in January 1975, in the French Traditionalist journal Itinéraires. It would provide important ammunition to his opponents.
By now, Lefebvre was in serious difficulties. In January 1975, Mgr. Pierre Mamie, the incumbent Bishop of Fribourg, wrote to Rome stating his intention to withdraw the pia unio status that his predecessor had granted the SSPX. It has been speculated that this action was undertaken at the instigation of the commission of cardinals. In the same month, Lefebvre was asked by the cardinals to come to Rome. He met with them twice, on 13 February and 3 March; to Lefebvre's declared surprise, the meetings were hostile in tone. On 6 May 1975, with the approval of the cardinals, Bishop Mamie withdrew the SSPX's pia unio status. Lefebvre instructed his lawyer to lodge appeals at both Vatican appeal courts, but they were turned down. From this point onwards, the SSPX was no longer an officially recognised Catholic organisation.
Lefebvre and his supporters have always maintained that he was treated unfairly by Rome, that the suppression of the SSPX was unjustified, and that the procedures followed in its suppression violated the provisions of the Code of Canon Law.
The SSPX continued to operate in spite of its official dissolution. In the consistory of 24 May 1976, Pope Paul VI rebuked Archbishop Lefebvre by name – reportedly the first time in 200 years that a Pope had publicly reprimanded a Catholic bishop – and appealed to him and his followers to change their minds.[4] Archbishop (later Cardinal) Giovanni Benelli, the deputy Vatican Secretary of State, sent Lefebvre two letters ordering him not to proceed with scheduled priestly ordinations for the SSPX. Lefebvre ignored the warning, and went ahead with the ordinations on June 29, 1976. Lefebvre was immediately suspended "a collatione ordinum": he could no longer legally ordain priests. A week later, Cardinal Sebastiano Baggio, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops sent him an official communication requiring him to ask the Pope's pardon. Lefebvre responded with a letter claiming that there was "a secret agreement between high dignitaries in the Church and those in Masonic lodges before the Council". On July 22, Baggio notified Lefebvre that, since he had not apologised to the Pope, he was suspended "a divinis". He was now legally forbidden to celebrate any of the sacraments.
Source : wikipedia
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