Yesterday, 11:43 AM
The following is gratefully reprinted from The Recusant #65 - Epiphany 2026:
Translated for the Recusant from the original, here.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
My dear brother bishops, dear friends, dear fellow priests, dear faithful, Let us give thanks to God today for this magnificent day, this magnificent assembly on this feast of the Good Shepherd. I think that Providence couldn’t have allowed us to have a more significant day than this, a day which give the subject of this sermon: the Good Shepherd. Before I give you a few words of encouragement on this subject, I would like also to thank all those who organised this magnificent day, this gathering. And you, my dear faithful, didn’t hesitate to come from far away, some of you had a long journey getting here, to come and assist at this Catholic ceremony, a ceremony which unites us in the Catholic Faith and in the love of the Catholic Church. I congratulate you with all my heart. And with what emotion I went up and down amongst you just now and I noticed how many children are present here. That’s precisely the witness which the Catholic Church gives, which the Catholic family gives: a Catholic family is a family where there are lots of children. Also, I congratulate you with all my heart, dear Catholic families, for bringing your children who will remember this beautiful gathering in Friedrichshafen. You have come, my dear faithful, particularly to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the foundation of the Priestly Society of St. Pius X.
Twenty years ago - to be exact it will be this November - that our SSPX was officially recognised by Bishop Charriere, bishop of Fribourg, Switzerland. So it was twenty years ago that the SSPX was born, developed and began forming good priests, true shepherds, good shepherds. That’s why the SSPX was founded, to produce good shepherds, good priests. But what is a priest, my dear faithful? The priest according to the spirit of the Catholic Church, according to the definition of the Catholic Church, is he who offers the Sacrifice of the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ. He has the power, by the grace of the Sacrament of Holy Orders which he receives, to offer the same Sacrifice which Our Lord Jesus Christ offered on the cross. So the priest is one who has power over God Himself, over the Word of God Incarnate, power to make Him come down onto the altar to renew His sacrifice. An extraordinary, incredible power. Poor creatures that we are, feeble creatures, and yet we have power over God, the Creator of the universe, who created everything, who created us. The power to make Him come down onto the altar and renew His Sacrifice.
And by that same fact, there is the second power which a priest has, by virtue of the fact that he has power over the physical body of Our Lord, His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, the priest has a power over the Mystical Body of Our Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, he can bring all men, all humanity, to Our Lord Jesus Christ, to participate in His Sacrifice and therefore to prepare these souls through the sacraments: Baptism, Confirmation, to give them the sacraments which prepare souls to worthily receive Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Creator and Redeemer. That’s what the work of a priest is, that’s what a Catholic priest is and always has been. We need to remind ourselves of that, and the SSPX has no other goal than the formation of such priests, priests who will one days have, through the grace of their ordination, a power over God Himself, over the Incarnate Word, to offer His Sacrifice, to unite themselves to His Sacrifice, and to give Our Lord Jesus Christ to souls.
But my dear faithful, are we dreaming? Is it possible that a human creation can have such a power? Yes, that’s what the priest has. What a dignity is the priestly dignity! What an ideal is the priestly ideal! A magnificent ideal! And we would like, and we have tried over these past twenty years, to breath into these young Levites, these young seminarians, a love for their vocation and for Our Lord Jesus Christ, so that they can truly be the priests that you desire, that you wish for, the priests which you need.
Was it really necessary, my dear faithful, to found this Society of St Pius X? Weren’t there already enough seminaries in the world? Weren’t there enough congregations with their own seminarians? Was the foundation of this Society really urgent? My dear brethren, the object of the most persistent attacks, the most evil attacks of the devil in the Church is his attack on the priesthood. The devil hates true priests, hates the true priesthood and hates the true Mass. He hates the Mass which is the cross of Christ because he was defeated by Our Lord’s cross. Ever since then he has not ceased attacking the priesthood, so as to destroy the Mass, because he
knows that we will defeat him through the Mass. Just as Our Lord defeated him with the cross, we priests too will defeat the devil with the cross. And the whole history of the Church proves this and shows this, in every century: the attacks of the devil against the priest. But we can say that the attacks against priests were done above all either through schisms, like that of Luther, who destroyed the priesthood and thus the altar. So after the Council of Trent a whole legion of Saints arose, St Vincent de Paul, St Charles Borromeo, St Peter Canisius, St John Eudes, and so many others, so many holy priests, who founded good seminaries and who wanted to
give the Church true priests, the true priesthood, and they had many of them.
But I think that the devil’s power has never been so great as it is in our times. Never have the devil’s attacks been as deep, as clever or as destructive as in our time. Why? Because he has made use of the Church’s authority to destroy the priesthood. Up to that point he had ever managed that. Yes, in our times, the devil is making use of the Church’s authority to destroy the priesthood and the altar. That’s a fact. It’s not something which might happen in the future, it’s something which we’ve witnessed ourselves.
And how did it happen? Well, by calling a Council which would have a spirit close to Protestantism, Protestantism which destroys the priesthood and the sacrifice of the altar because Protestants don’t believe in the priesthood, they don’t believe in the Sacrifice of the Mass as being a sacrifice which makes reparation for sins. They destroyed the Mass and the priesthood.
So the devil succeeded in somehow making those in authority in the Church favourable to this destructive spirit entering the Church, through ecumenism. So, in order to get close to the Protestants - because that’s what ecumenism is - they made this New Mass. A New Mass. Why a New Mass? The Church’s Mass which was said for twenty centuries, they changed it, saying explicitly that they were doing so in order to eventually concelebrate with the Protestants and have a sort of inter-communion. And in doing so, obviously, they destroyed the Sacrifice of the Mass too.
The New Mass isn’t necessarily invalid. It is poisoned. Poisoned by these bad principles, poisoned because it makes the idea of sacrifice disappear, the sacrifice of the cross. But this is of capital importance, you see. It’s at the very root of Catholicism. Catholicism is essentially based on the cross. If we no longer have the notion of the Sacrifice of the Cross and of the Sacrifice of the Mass continuing the Sacrifice of the Cross, we’re no longer Catholic. That’s where we find all the all the resources of grace, in the cross of Our Lord, in the opened Heart of Our Lord, in His head crowned with thorns, in His pierced hands. Yes, that’s where we’ll find all the graces of the Resurrection, of the Redemption which we all need. If we suppress the Sacrifice of Our Lord Jesus Christ on our altars, if our altars no longer reproduce the sacrifice of the cross of Our Lord, they are nothing more than “a eucharist,” a meal, a sharing, a “communion” - it’s no longer the spirit of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church is essentially founded on the cross, on the spirit of sacrifice. And what is the spirit of sacrifice which is disappearing - you will recognise what I’m saying, all around you - nobody wants to sacrifice himself any more, to mortify himself. People want to play, they want to profit and enjoy life. This is true of Catholics as well. Why? Because the spirit of self-sacrifice is no longer there, the cross is no longer there. And if the cross isn’t there, the Catholic Church isn’t there.
This is extremely serious, it’s a change of orientation which took place during the Council. Perhaps some of them had a good intention, but they certainly weren’t inspired by the Holy Ghost. So they had a desire to cosy up to the Protestants - what happened? The Catholics became Protestants and the Protestants didn’t become Catholic. So, they took up this spirit which destroys the sacrifice of the cross. But since the priest is made to offer the sacrifice of the cross, to continue this sacrifice of the cross, the priest too was affected in the same way.
He was no longer the man of sacrifice. He was now the man of sharing, the man of gathering, the man of communion. He was the social compere. He is no longer the man of the sacrifice of the cross. And this is a considerable change, you see. It’s another spirit, it is no longer the spirit of the Catholic Church.
Please make sure you tell each other these things, my dear brethren. It’s sad, very sad, painful, we are dying of how sad and painful it is every day, to think that the Church is infested by this spirit which is destroying her. It’s what Paul VI himself called the “auto-demolition of the Church,” yes, the self destruction of the Church, the Church is destroying herself. So we have to take note of these things, don’t we? And unfortunately, we notice them more and more every day. There is no hope of redress for the time being, apparently. Seminaries are in a lamentable state. Vocations are very few and far between and where they do exist, the seminarians are badly formed, because they aren’t being formed for the sacrifice of the Mass.
They’re being de-formed. Why? There’s very little hope for the moment other than by prayer and in God’s help which will arrive one day, and in the resolve which we must have to remain Catholic and defend the Catholic Mass.
Perhaps you will tell me: ‘But Rome seems more accessible recently, more open to allowing us to say the old Mass, the Catholic Mass. So we shouldn’t have any more problems!’ But you see, we would be putting ourselves in a contradiction. Because at the same time as Rome gives, for instance, to the Fraternity of St Peter and to Le Barroux monastery and other groups, permission to say the Traditional Mass, at the same time they make them sign a ‘Profession of Faith’ in which Council is inscribed and which they have to admit the spirit of the Council. It’s a contradiction because the spirit of the Council is expressed in the New Mass. How are they going to maintain the Traditional Mass by accepting the spirit which destroys the Traditional Mass? To do that is to put oneself in a complete contradiction and one day, softly-softly, Rome will require those to whom they gave permission for Traditional Mass, they’ll require them to accept the New Mass in turn, to bring them into line with what they’ve signed. They signed to say that they accept the spirit of the Council and the reforms of the Council. One cannot live in contradiction like that, in such incredible illogicality. It’s a totally uncomfortable situation which is the source of difficulty for these groups who now find that they are in a sort of dead-end.
The only logical attitude for keeping the Catholic Faith is keeping the Catholic Mass. This Traditional Catholic Mass is against to the spirit of the Council, against ecumenism, against collegiality, and also against the liberalism found in the Council. Our Mass is the Mass of sacrifice, there is only one sacrifice which opens the gate of heaven for us. Tu devicto mortis aculeo aperuisti credentibus regna caelorum - Thou overcamest the sting of death and hast opened to believers the Kingdom of Heaven. Thou hast led us to heaven by the cross. The cross is the way which leads us to heaven.
The sacrifice of Our Lord is the royal road which leads us to eternity. There is no other. There is no other! There is no Religious Liberty in the sense that one can choose one’s religion. That doesn’t exist! There is only one religion, because there is only one road which leads us to heaven: the cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ. And the cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ is the True Mass, the Traditional Mass. So if we want to stay Catholic, we have to keep the Mass of the sacrifice of Our Lord Jesus Christ. And if we want to keep this Mass, we need to have Catholic priests, priests who believe in it. Which means we have to have Catholic seminaries, which is what we have: our Catholic seminaries which prepare men to offer this sacrifice of the cross and to unite all the faithful around Our Lord Jesus Christ and take them to heaven via the royal road of the cross. That’s it. We can’t live in illogicality. And in order to have Catholic priests you need Catholic bishops, there’s no choice in the matter. That’s why it seemed to us absolutely necessary and indispensable to give you Catholic bishops. Catholic bishops, Catholic priests, Catholic Mass, Catholic faithful, Catholic children: that’s the Church! That’s the Catholic Church. But if something is lacking, if we didn’t have Catholic bishops, we wouldn’t have Catholic priests. And without Catholic priests, we wouldn’t have the Catholic Mass. And if there’s no Catholic Mass any more, we can’t go to heaven any more, the gates of heaven are closed. Yes, we have to be logical.
So my dear brethren, let us make a resolution to remain Catholic, you see, and to refuse all compromise with this Conciliar spirit which is a spirit that leads to apostasy - yes! - which leads to apostasy! Millions and millions, tens of millions of Catholics have abandoned the Catholic Faith and joined sects, in South America, in North America, in Europe, all over the place [missing piece of audio 24:50]. ...we don’t want to apostatise, why don’t we want to compromise with this spirit which destroys the Mass which is the spirit of the Second Vatican Council.
And let us entrust ourselves, my dear brethren, to the most Blessed Virgin Mary, asking her to make sure that there are lots of vocations, and that she keep these children and young people, these young people here, the choir there as well who charm us with their singing. And I’m not only speaking about priestly vocations: we also need religious vocations, but since I was speaking about the priesthood I spoke particularly about priestly vocations. And it’s in these Catholic schools which we will find future Catholic priests, that’s clear. IT’s also in your families, in your Catholic families with lots of children, that’s where beautiful vocations will be born and future Catholic families too. That’s the Catholic Church.
May the most Blessed Virgin Mary keep you in the Faith. Did you know that in Fribourg, in Switzerland, in Bishop Charriere’s diocese, the diocese where we founded the Society, we were going to make a pilgrimage - I don’t know if maybe some of you know this pilgrimage, - to Notre Dame de Bourguillon in Fribourg. Do you know what they call Notre Dame de Bourguillon? “Our Lady, Guardian of the Faith”! Could we find a more beautiful pilgrimage, to begin our priestly society than the pilgrimage to Our Lady of Bourguillon, Guardian of the Faith? It’s inscribed on the medal: “Notre Dame de Bourguillon, Gardienne de la Foi.” And that’s where I did the first ordinations. The first minor ordinations, I did them in this sanctuary, the sanctuary of Our Lady, Guardian of the Faith. What a wonder. So, let’s ask Our Lady of Bourgiuillon, let us ask the Guardian of the Faith to keep us in the Catholic Faith all the way up to our death, like all the martyrs who gave their lives, who gave their blood, to keep the Faith, who weren’t afraid to shed their blood. We too have to be prepared to give our lives if we have to, for the Faith, in Our Lord Jesus Christ, in His sacrifice, in His Church, in His Mass, His priesthood, is that not so? Let us therefore pray to the Blessed Virgin Mary that she send us lots of vocations so that we can give you the priests that you desire.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
Translated for the Recusant from the original, here.
Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre
Sermon at Friedrichshafen,
Good Shepherd Sunday, 1990
Sermon at Friedrichshafen,
Good Shepherd Sunday, 1990
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
My dear brother bishops, dear friends, dear fellow priests, dear faithful, Let us give thanks to God today for this magnificent day, this magnificent assembly on this feast of the Good Shepherd. I think that Providence couldn’t have allowed us to have a more significant day than this, a day which give the subject of this sermon: the Good Shepherd. Before I give you a few words of encouragement on this subject, I would like also to thank all those who organised this magnificent day, this gathering. And you, my dear faithful, didn’t hesitate to come from far away, some of you had a long journey getting here, to come and assist at this Catholic ceremony, a ceremony which unites us in the Catholic Faith and in the love of the Catholic Church. I congratulate you with all my heart. And with what emotion I went up and down amongst you just now and I noticed how many children are present here. That’s precisely the witness which the Catholic Church gives, which the Catholic family gives: a Catholic family is a family where there are lots of children. Also, I congratulate you with all my heart, dear Catholic families, for bringing your children who will remember this beautiful gathering in Friedrichshafen. You have come, my dear faithful, particularly to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the foundation of the Priestly Society of St. Pius X.
Twenty years ago - to be exact it will be this November - that our SSPX was officially recognised by Bishop Charriere, bishop of Fribourg, Switzerland. So it was twenty years ago that the SSPX was born, developed and began forming good priests, true shepherds, good shepherds. That’s why the SSPX was founded, to produce good shepherds, good priests. But what is a priest, my dear faithful? The priest according to the spirit of the Catholic Church, according to the definition of the Catholic Church, is he who offers the Sacrifice of the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ. He has the power, by the grace of the Sacrament of Holy Orders which he receives, to offer the same Sacrifice which Our Lord Jesus Christ offered on the cross. So the priest is one who has power over God Himself, over the Word of God Incarnate, power to make Him come down onto the altar to renew His sacrifice. An extraordinary, incredible power. Poor creatures that we are, feeble creatures, and yet we have power over God, the Creator of the universe, who created everything, who created us. The power to make Him come down onto the altar and renew His Sacrifice.
And by that same fact, there is the second power which a priest has, by virtue of the fact that he has power over the physical body of Our Lord, His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, the priest has a power over the Mystical Body of Our Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, he can bring all men, all humanity, to Our Lord Jesus Christ, to participate in His Sacrifice and therefore to prepare these souls through the sacraments: Baptism, Confirmation, to give them the sacraments which prepare souls to worthily receive Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Creator and Redeemer. That’s what the work of a priest is, that’s what a Catholic priest is and always has been. We need to remind ourselves of that, and the SSPX has no other goal than the formation of such priests, priests who will one days have, through the grace of their ordination, a power over God Himself, over the Incarnate Word, to offer His Sacrifice, to unite themselves to His Sacrifice, and to give Our Lord Jesus Christ to souls.
But my dear faithful, are we dreaming? Is it possible that a human creation can have such a power? Yes, that’s what the priest has. What a dignity is the priestly dignity! What an ideal is the priestly ideal! A magnificent ideal! And we would like, and we have tried over these past twenty years, to breath into these young Levites, these young seminarians, a love for their vocation and for Our Lord Jesus Christ, so that they can truly be the priests that you desire, that you wish for, the priests which you need.
Was it really necessary, my dear faithful, to found this Society of St Pius X? Weren’t there already enough seminaries in the world? Weren’t there enough congregations with their own seminarians? Was the foundation of this Society really urgent? My dear brethren, the object of the most persistent attacks, the most evil attacks of the devil in the Church is his attack on the priesthood. The devil hates true priests, hates the true priesthood and hates the true Mass. He hates the Mass which is the cross of Christ because he was defeated by Our Lord’s cross. Ever since then he has not ceased attacking the priesthood, so as to destroy the Mass, because he
knows that we will defeat him through the Mass. Just as Our Lord defeated him with the cross, we priests too will defeat the devil with the cross. And the whole history of the Church proves this and shows this, in every century: the attacks of the devil against the priest. But we can say that the attacks against priests were done above all either through schisms, like that of Luther, who destroyed the priesthood and thus the altar. So after the Council of Trent a whole legion of Saints arose, St Vincent de Paul, St Charles Borromeo, St Peter Canisius, St John Eudes, and so many others, so many holy priests, who founded good seminaries and who wanted to
give the Church true priests, the true priesthood, and they had many of them.
But I think that the devil’s power has never been so great as it is in our times. Never have the devil’s attacks been as deep, as clever or as destructive as in our time. Why? Because he has made use of the Church’s authority to destroy the priesthood. Up to that point he had ever managed that. Yes, in our times, the devil is making use of the Church’s authority to destroy the priesthood and the altar. That’s a fact. It’s not something which might happen in the future, it’s something which we’ve witnessed ourselves.
And how did it happen? Well, by calling a Council which would have a spirit close to Protestantism, Protestantism which destroys the priesthood and the sacrifice of the altar because Protestants don’t believe in the priesthood, they don’t believe in the Sacrifice of the Mass as being a sacrifice which makes reparation for sins. They destroyed the Mass and the priesthood.
So the devil succeeded in somehow making those in authority in the Church favourable to this destructive spirit entering the Church, through ecumenism. So, in order to get close to the Protestants - because that’s what ecumenism is - they made this New Mass. A New Mass. Why a New Mass? The Church’s Mass which was said for twenty centuries, they changed it, saying explicitly that they were doing so in order to eventually concelebrate with the Protestants and have a sort of inter-communion. And in doing so, obviously, they destroyed the Sacrifice of the Mass too.
The New Mass isn’t necessarily invalid. It is poisoned. Poisoned by these bad principles, poisoned because it makes the idea of sacrifice disappear, the sacrifice of the cross. But this is of capital importance, you see. It’s at the very root of Catholicism. Catholicism is essentially based on the cross. If we no longer have the notion of the Sacrifice of the Cross and of the Sacrifice of the Mass continuing the Sacrifice of the Cross, we’re no longer Catholic. That’s where we find all the all the resources of grace, in the cross of Our Lord, in the opened Heart of Our Lord, in His head crowned with thorns, in His pierced hands. Yes, that’s where we’ll find all the graces of the Resurrection, of the Redemption which we all need. If we suppress the Sacrifice of Our Lord Jesus Christ on our altars, if our altars no longer reproduce the sacrifice of the cross of Our Lord, they are nothing more than “a eucharist,” a meal, a sharing, a “communion” - it’s no longer the spirit of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church is essentially founded on the cross, on the spirit of sacrifice. And what is the spirit of sacrifice which is disappearing - you will recognise what I’m saying, all around you - nobody wants to sacrifice himself any more, to mortify himself. People want to play, they want to profit and enjoy life. This is true of Catholics as well. Why? Because the spirit of self-sacrifice is no longer there, the cross is no longer there. And if the cross isn’t there, the Catholic Church isn’t there.
This is extremely serious, it’s a change of orientation which took place during the Council. Perhaps some of them had a good intention, but they certainly weren’t inspired by the Holy Ghost. So they had a desire to cosy up to the Protestants - what happened? The Catholics became Protestants and the Protestants didn’t become Catholic. So, they took up this spirit which destroys the sacrifice of the cross. But since the priest is made to offer the sacrifice of the cross, to continue this sacrifice of the cross, the priest too was affected in the same way.
He was no longer the man of sacrifice. He was now the man of sharing, the man of gathering, the man of communion. He was the social compere. He is no longer the man of the sacrifice of the cross. And this is a considerable change, you see. It’s another spirit, it is no longer the spirit of the Catholic Church.
Please make sure you tell each other these things, my dear brethren. It’s sad, very sad, painful, we are dying of how sad and painful it is every day, to think that the Church is infested by this spirit which is destroying her. It’s what Paul VI himself called the “auto-demolition of the Church,” yes, the self destruction of the Church, the Church is destroying herself. So we have to take note of these things, don’t we? And unfortunately, we notice them more and more every day. There is no hope of redress for the time being, apparently. Seminaries are in a lamentable state. Vocations are very few and far between and where they do exist, the seminarians are badly formed, because they aren’t being formed for the sacrifice of the Mass.
They’re being de-formed. Why? There’s very little hope for the moment other than by prayer and in God’s help which will arrive one day, and in the resolve which we must have to remain Catholic and defend the Catholic Mass.
Perhaps you will tell me: ‘But Rome seems more accessible recently, more open to allowing us to say the old Mass, the Catholic Mass. So we shouldn’t have any more problems!’ But you see, we would be putting ourselves in a contradiction. Because at the same time as Rome gives, for instance, to the Fraternity of St Peter and to Le Barroux monastery and other groups, permission to say the Traditional Mass, at the same time they make them sign a ‘Profession of Faith’ in which Council is inscribed and which they have to admit the spirit of the Council. It’s a contradiction because the spirit of the Council is expressed in the New Mass. How are they going to maintain the Traditional Mass by accepting the spirit which destroys the Traditional Mass? To do that is to put oneself in a complete contradiction and one day, softly-softly, Rome will require those to whom they gave permission for Traditional Mass, they’ll require them to accept the New Mass in turn, to bring them into line with what they’ve signed. They signed to say that they accept the spirit of the Council and the reforms of the Council. One cannot live in contradiction like that, in such incredible illogicality. It’s a totally uncomfortable situation which is the source of difficulty for these groups who now find that they are in a sort of dead-end.
The only logical attitude for keeping the Catholic Faith is keeping the Catholic Mass. This Traditional Catholic Mass is against to the spirit of the Council, against ecumenism, against collegiality, and also against the liberalism found in the Council. Our Mass is the Mass of sacrifice, there is only one sacrifice which opens the gate of heaven for us. Tu devicto mortis aculeo aperuisti credentibus regna caelorum - Thou overcamest the sting of death and hast opened to believers the Kingdom of Heaven. Thou hast led us to heaven by the cross. The cross is the way which leads us to heaven.
The sacrifice of Our Lord is the royal road which leads us to eternity. There is no other. There is no other! There is no Religious Liberty in the sense that one can choose one’s religion. That doesn’t exist! There is only one religion, because there is only one road which leads us to heaven: the cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ. And the cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ is the True Mass, the Traditional Mass. So if we want to stay Catholic, we have to keep the Mass of the sacrifice of Our Lord Jesus Christ. And if we want to keep this Mass, we need to have Catholic priests, priests who believe in it. Which means we have to have Catholic seminaries, which is what we have: our Catholic seminaries which prepare men to offer this sacrifice of the cross and to unite all the faithful around Our Lord Jesus Christ and take them to heaven via the royal road of the cross. That’s it. We can’t live in illogicality. And in order to have Catholic priests you need Catholic bishops, there’s no choice in the matter. That’s why it seemed to us absolutely necessary and indispensable to give you Catholic bishops. Catholic bishops, Catholic priests, Catholic Mass, Catholic faithful, Catholic children: that’s the Church! That’s the Catholic Church. But if something is lacking, if we didn’t have Catholic bishops, we wouldn’t have Catholic priests. And without Catholic priests, we wouldn’t have the Catholic Mass. And if there’s no Catholic Mass any more, we can’t go to heaven any more, the gates of heaven are closed. Yes, we have to be logical.
So my dear brethren, let us make a resolution to remain Catholic, you see, and to refuse all compromise with this Conciliar spirit which is a spirit that leads to apostasy - yes! - which leads to apostasy! Millions and millions, tens of millions of Catholics have abandoned the Catholic Faith and joined sects, in South America, in North America, in Europe, all over the place [missing piece of audio 24:50]. ...we don’t want to apostatise, why don’t we want to compromise with this spirit which destroys the Mass which is the spirit of the Second Vatican Council.
And let us entrust ourselves, my dear brethren, to the most Blessed Virgin Mary, asking her to make sure that there are lots of vocations, and that she keep these children and young people, these young people here, the choir there as well who charm us with their singing. And I’m not only speaking about priestly vocations: we also need religious vocations, but since I was speaking about the priesthood I spoke particularly about priestly vocations. And it’s in these Catholic schools which we will find future Catholic priests, that’s clear. IT’s also in your families, in your Catholic families with lots of children, that’s where beautiful vocations will be born and future Catholic families too. That’s the Catholic Church.
May the most Blessed Virgin Mary keep you in the Faith. Did you know that in Fribourg, in Switzerland, in Bishop Charriere’s diocese, the diocese where we founded the Society, we were going to make a pilgrimage - I don’t know if maybe some of you know this pilgrimage, - to Notre Dame de Bourguillon in Fribourg. Do you know what they call Notre Dame de Bourguillon? “Our Lady, Guardian of the Faith”! Could we find a more beautiful pilgrimage, to begin our priestly society than the pilgrimage to Our Lady of Bourguillon, Guardian of the Faith? It’s inscribed on the medal: “Notre Dame de Bourguillon, Gardienne de la Foi.” And that’s where I did the first ordinations. The first minor ordinations, I did them in this sanctuary, the sanctuary of Our Lady, Guardian of the Faith. What a wonder. So, let’s ask Our Lady of Bourgiuillon, let us ask the Guardian of the Faith to keep us in the Catholic Faith all the way up to our death, like all the martyrs who gave their lives, who gave their blood, to keep the Faith, who weren’t afraid to shed their blood. We too have to be prepared to give our lives if we have to, for the Faith, in Our Lord Jesus Christ, in His sacrifice, in His Church, in His Mass, His priesthood, is that not so? Let us therefore pray to the Blessed Virgin Mary that she send us lots of vocations so that we can give you the priests that you desire.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
"So let us be confident, let us not be unprepared, let us not be outflanked, let us be wise, vigilant, fighting against those who are trying to tear the faith out of our souls and morality out of our hearts, so that we may remain Catholics, remain united to the Blessed Virgin Mary, remain united to the Roman Catholic Church, remain faithful children of the Church."- Abp. Lefebvre