THIS MASS, OUR MASS, MUST REALLY BE FOR US LIKE THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE IN THE GOSPEL, FOR WHICH WE ARE READY TO RENOUNCE EVERYTHING, FOR WHICH WE ARE READY TO SELL EVERYTHING.
Dear members and friends of the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X,
The motu proprio Traditionis custodes and the letter that accompanied it have caused a profound upheaval in the so-called traditionalist movement. We can point out, quite logically, that the era of the hermeneutics of continuity, with its equivocations, illusions and impossible efforts, is radically over – swept aside with a wave of a sleeve. These clear-cut measures do not directly affect the Society of Saint Pius X. However, they must be an occasion for us to reflect deeply on the situation. To do so, it is necessary to step back and ask ourselves a question that is both old and new: Why is the Tridentine Mass still the apple of discord after fifty years?
First of all, we must remember that the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the continuation in time of the most bitter struggle that has ever existed: the battle between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan. This combat culminated at Calvary in the triumph of Our Blessed Lord. It was for this struggle and it was for this victory that he became incarnate. Since Our Lord’s victory was through the Cross and through His Precious Blood, it is understandable that its perpetuation will also be marked by conflicts and contradictions. Every Catholic is called to this combat. Our Lord reminded us of this when He said that He came “to bring the sword upon the earth” (Matt. 10:34). It is not surprising that the Mass, which perfectly expresses Our Lord’s definitive victory over sin through His atoning Sacrifice, is itself a sign of contradiction.
But why has the Mass become a sign of contradiction within the Church itself? The answer is simple and increasingly clear. After fifty years, the various elements that confirm the answer have become obvious to all well informed Catholics: the Tridentine Mass expresses and conveys a conception of Christian life – and consequently, a conception of the Catholic Church – that is absolutely incompatible with the ecclesiology that emerged from the Second Vatican Council. The problem is not simply liturgical, aesthetic or purely technical. The problem is simultaneously doctrinal, moral, spiritual, ecclesiological and liturgical. In a nutshell, it is a problem that affects all aspects of the Church’s life, without exception. It is a question of faith.
On one side is the Mass of All Times. It is the standard of a Church that defies the world and is certain of victory, for its battle is nothing less that the continuation of the battle that Our Blessed Lord waged to destroy sin and to destroy the kingdom of Satan. It is by the Mass and through the Mass that Our Lord enlists Catholic souls into His ranks, by sharing with them both His Cross and His victory. From all this follows a fundamentally militant conception of Christian life that is characterised by two elements: a spirit of sacrifice and an unwavering supernatural hope.
On the other side stands the Mass of Paul VI. It is an authentic expression of a Church that wants to live in harmony with the world and that lends an ear to the world’s demands. It represents a Church that, in the final analysis, no longer needs to fight against the world because it no longer has anything to reproach the world. Here is a Church that no longer has anything to teach the world because it listens to the powers of the world. It is a Church that no longer needs the Sacrifice of Our Blessed Lord because, having lost the notion of sin, it no longer has anything for which to atone. Here is a Church that no longer has the mission of restoring the universal kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ, because it wants to make its contribution to the creation on this earth of a better world that is freer, more egalitarian and more eco-responsible – and all this with purely human means. This humanist mission that the men of the Church have given themselves must necessarily be matched by a liturgy that is equally humanist and emptied of any notion of sacredness.
This battle that has been waged for the past fifty years, which has just seen a highly significant event on July 16th, is not a simple war between two rites: it is indeed a war between two different and opposing conceptions of the Catholic Church and of Christian life – conceptions that are absolutely irreducible and incompatible with each other. In paraphrasing Saint Augustin, one could say that the two Masses have built two cities: the Mass of All Times has built a Christian city; the New Mass seeks to build a humanist and secular city.
Since Almighty God has allowed all this, it is certainly for a greater good. Firstly for ourselves, who have the undeserved good fortune of knowing the Tridentine Mass and who can benefit from it! We possess a treasure with a value we do not always appreciate, and which we perhaps preserve too much out of simple habit. When something precious is attacked or scorned, we begin to appreciate better its true value. May this “shock”, provoked by the harshness of the official texts of July 16th, serve to renew, deepen and rediscover our attachment to the Tridentine Mass! This Mass – our Mass – must really be for us like the pearl of great price in the Gospel, for which we are ready to renounce everything, for which we are ready to sell everything. He who is not prepared to shed his blood for this Mass is not worthy to celebrate it! He who is not prepared to give up everything to protect it is not worthy to attend it!
This should be our first reaction to these events that have just shaken the Catholic Church. Our reaction, as Catholic priests and as Catholic laity, must be profound and more far-reaching than all those feeble and sometimes hopeless commentaries.
Our Blessed Lord certainly has another objective in mind in allowing this new attack on the Tridentine Mass. No one can doubt that in recent years many priests and faithful have discovered this Mass, and that through it they have encountered a new spiritual and moral horizon, which has opened the door to the sanctification of their souls. The latest measures taken against the Mass will force these souls to draw all the consequences of what they have discovered: they must now choose – with all the elements of discernment that are at their disposal – what is necessary for every well-informed Catholic conscience. Many souls will find themselves faced with an important choice that will affect their faith, because – and let us say it once more – the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the supreme expression of a doctrinal and moral universe. It is therefore a question of choosing the Catholic faith in its entirety and through it, choosing Our Lord Jesus Christ, with His Cross, His Sacrifice and His universal kingship. It is a matter of choosing His Precious Blood, of imitating the Crucified One and of following Him to the end, by a complete, rigorous and coherent fidelity.
The Society of Saint Pius X has the duty to assist all those souls who are currently in dismay and are confused. Firstly, we have the duty to offer them the certitude that the Tridentine Mass can never disappear from the face of the earth. This is an absolutely necessary sign of hope. Moreover, each of us, whether priest or faithful, must extend a warm helping hand to them, for he who has no desire to share the riches he enjoys is, in all truth, unworthy of possessing them. Only in this way will we truly love souls and show our love for the Church. For every soul that we win to Our Blessed Lord’s Cross, and to the immense love that He manifested through His Sacrifice, will be a soul truly won to His Church and to the charity that animates His Church, which must be ours, especially at this present time.
It is to Our Lady of Sorrows that we entrust these intentions. It is to her that we address our prayers, since no one has penetrated deeper than Our Blessed Lady, the mystery of the Sacrifice of Our Lord Jesus Christ and of His victory on the Cross. There is no one greater than Mary who has been so intimately associated with His sufferings and His triumph. It is in her hands that Our Blessed Lord has placed the whole Catholic Church. It is therefore to her that the most precious thing in the Catholic Church has been entrusted: the Testament of Our Lord Jesus Christ – the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
Menzingen, July 22nd, 2021.
Feast of Saint Mary Magdalen.
Don Davide Pagliarani,
27 comments:
Written like a true shepherd of souls. Deo gratias!
THIS MASS, OUR MASS, MUST REALLY BE FOR US LIKE THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE IN THE GOSPEL, FOR WHICH WE ARE READY TO RENOUNCE EVERYTHING, FOR WHICH WE ARE READY TO SELL EVERYTHING ... BUT NEVER MIND, FRIENDS, IF WE are in communion with the most heretical, schismatic, traitorous apostate since Judas Iscariot: Jorge Mario Bergoglio. We cannot RENOUNCE Bergoglio. We are simply a group of hypocrites, and God knows our sins. Even Luther said “love God and sin boldly!” OK? So, come children, come to our Mass and sin boldly.
It is well worth reading what this man says, what Abp. Vigano has said, and Prof. Viglione has given us. Father Pagliarani has said something truly interesting and remarkable. Here is something unique. He said to Maike Hickson at LifeSite that the TLM and the Novus Ordo are two different rites for two different faiths. He illustrates why he describes them thus.
I happen to agree with his thinking 100%, and am relieved to see someone finally express what so many have tried to rationalize and explain away for 50 years. We have two churches, and all the pretending in the world cannot reconcile them, especially now that Francis has made it his mission to jettison the Mass of Antiquity, the Usus Antiquior.
Time to call a spade a spade. Oh boy, things are getting interesting now.
Given that Don Davide Pagliarani has diagnosed the problem with VII & the NO Mass as being simultaneously doctrinal, moral, spiritual, ecclesiological & liturgical, why is it that the SSPX gladly accepted the faculty of hearing confessions & attending weddings from the usurper & apostate in the Vatican, & why does his Order continue to cite this apostate's name in the Canon of the Mass?
Why also have the SSPX not spread the teaching, rites & traditions of the OHCA Church worldwide, even if it perhaps meant a schism with a fallen Rome? By not standing firm against VII - at the outset a pastoral, non-binding council which was later made into an ecumenical & binding one, they have shown themselves vulnerable to the attacks of their accusers & as a result the majority of the world's Catholics have no access to the edicts, liturgy & rites of the OHCA Church.
The Great Commission given by Jesus to the First Apostles has not been achieved & indeed totally ignored by Rome in favour of a false ecumenism for over five decades. The picture might not have been so lamentable if the traditional orders were strong & confident enough to pick up where Rome left off, as they must have known the Mass of Ages was not abrogated by VII & cannot be by any Pope. They had the right to insist that every parish in the world should be permitted to offer the Latin Rite Mass (as per PBXVI's SP) so can Don Pagliarani please convey to us why this action wasn't taken in order to preserve the Unity, Holiness & continued Apostolic succession which the OHCA Church has always been known fo.
Since VII we have lost the esteem the Church once held by the rampant homosexuality within it (traditional orders also) continuously portrayed by drug fuelled homo-erotic parties & black masses in the Vatican, as well as its dioceses,headed by known homosexual perverts. the flagrant & shameful idolatry shown at the culmination of the Amazonian Synod,financial abominations by the IOR involving high ranking prelates & the countless appointments to high office by the present imposter of the PO which are not only invalid because of his usurpation but totally disastrous in their outcome.
I cannot count the number of occasions I have requested the SSPX & other traditional orders to come to Malaga, the most widespread diocese in Spain but have never even received a response which not only is rude but a far cry from the zealous missionary work they claim to offer. People have been struggling here for years to have TLM offered on a daily basis but, illegally, successive Bishops have obstructed our efforts. I believe it is time for this hindrance to be stopped & for all Catholics to be treated the same universally. As Rome has fallen as predicted then is it not the duty of the traditional orders to publicly say so & call for a council to denounce the illegal occupiers or do they just intend to keep their heads down so as not to lose what they consider to have gained at the hands of a man who hates Catholicsm with the vigour of a demon. Can we not rid ourselves of this Destroyer St. Francis of Assisi warned his community about before his death or does blind obedience to an evil pope issuing bad papal exhortations & motu propios take precedence?
Bravo Ana Milan and Anonymous. The trad priestly societies and bishops have kicked the one true Pope Benedict XVI in the teeth - the one who risked his life and papacy to restore the Latin Mass to its rightful place in the church. And this is all these perfidious clerics can come up with! Jesus wept!
E.Michael Jones. Very Little Sympathy for Traditional Catholics
https://catholiccritique.wordpress.com/2021/07/24/e-michael-jones-very-little-sympathy-for-traditional-catholics/
Whether or not you like Bergoglio he his Pope and The SSPX are right to remain in Communion with him.
The four cardinals who submitted The Dubia to Pope Francis stated in their letter that they do not share in the idea that Francis isn't Pope.
Add to those four cardinals all other living Cardinals and active Bishops and Priests who say that Francis is Pope and that is a rather large number of consecrated cleric who must be excommunicated one supposes.
It would be helpful if those who oppose the SSPX would detail precisely what iThe SSPX must do to satisfy them.
Some answers to Amateur Brain Surgeon:
SSPX has emptied themselves of many good priests (up until recently) who detailed precisely the needs of the faithful.
Q: What the SSPX must do to satisfy them?
A: God alone suffices.
SSPX has the right to remain in Communion with any imposter and any other Antichrist.
Novus Ordo cardinals made their honest opinion, you have the right to believe them. Orthodox Catholic popes and saints have made different statements about the papacy. I believe them.
At ABS
Said the Freemason.
At ABS
Recognise Benedict as the Pope, the very same Pope who withdrew the excommunication from the four bishops
Benedict XVI is not Pope. Francis is the Pope
Can. 16 §1. The legislator authentically interprets laws as does the one to whom the same legislator has entrusted the power of authentically interpreting.
In The Catholic Church, the Pope is the Supreme Legislator, thus, it is canonically ineluctable that Benedict XVI resigned in a proper canonical way because he resigned as he did knowing that resigning that way was in compliance with Canon 322.2 as he construed it.
In effect, had he desired to do so, Benedict XVI could have resigned by semaphore standing on an aircraft carrier fiddy five miles off the coast of Italy and that would have been proper because, as SUPREME LEGISLATOR, it is the Pope, not Ms. Ann Barnhardt, who decides what actions are in sync/compliance with Canon Law.
In deciding whether or not he was in synch/compliance with Canon Law when he resigned, who was the Supreme Legislator who had authority to take that decision?
What it Pope Benedict XVI?
Was it you, Disciples of Ann (D.O.A.) ?
Was it you, Lieutenant Weinberg?
In my heart, Benedict XVI is the Pope.
In my brain, it is the malefactor, Bergoglio, a.k.a. Francis.
That is the only way that I can describe it.
I happen to agree with you Vox. This is a question that can only be answered by God. There is really no way for us to ascertain the definite answer, because there are reasonable answers on both sides of the argument.
All I feel I know for certain is that Bergoglio is a non-Catholic, who has acted contrary to Catholic worship, teaching, practice, since the church began. Why would I follow such a man.
The Good Lord understands our confusion. He is the one Who will have to answer this question once and for all. Until then, we do the best we can.
I must add however, that I would be delighted if any Cardinal or group of Cardinals took the step of censoring or removing Francis from the papacy, or found cause as to why he is not and cannot be pope. It is impossible for my lay mind to conclude he is a valid pope based on his actions and words, but if that be papal law and practice, who am I to say no atheist or pagan or open Marxist can be pope. This is a job for Cardinals. But if Cardinals refuse to do their job, or if there is no actual remedy for a atheist/pagan/Marxist pope, then we are stuck with him. But this does not at all mean we must follow him. To follow an atheist/pagan/Marxist pope would be a contradiction, a lie, a grave error, because all are in direct opposition to Christ. We cannot follow Satan.
@ ABS
332§2. If it happens that the Roman Pontiff resigns his office, it is required for validity that the resignation is made freely and properly manifested but not that it is accepted by anyone.
The Pope’s resignation was properly manifested because the Pope resigned. Therefor it was properly manifested.
That’s your logic: “It is what it is”.
You really want it to be, but the puzzle pieces just won’t fit. It doesn’t matter how hard you push, the pieces weren’t meant to fit.
Properly manifested means he resigns the Office and goes away forever - Father Ratzinger living in Bavaria.
IMproperly manifested means he keeps the Office and resigns the ministry and stays within the enclosure of St. Peter for all eternity - His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI living in the Vatican.
Sorry ABS. Those are the puzzle pieces you’ve been dealt. Do with them what you will.
Satan has set up a counter church which is the ape of the Catholic Church. Fulton Sheen was prophetic on that. The Code of Canon Law is no longer applicable in this church. Amateur Brain Surgeon made good reference pointing to the wrong church. All Cardinals are impotent of removing Francis from the papacy. God only, God only, God only.
When referring to the crucial “properly manifested” phrase it may be helpful to define a term.
Manifested definition: “ display or show by one's acts or appearance; demonstrate.”
Which a Pope has not - who retains the title of Pope and the honorific His Holiness, and who wears the white that only one man on earth is authorized to wear and who continues to bestow Apostolic Blessings only one man on earth is authorized to bestow and who lives if the Vatican unlike any other man on earth.
This letter was read to the Faithful in Mass this morning, as it was at every Society Parish - with appropriate commentary from our Priest.
Stunning, powerful moment in time.
What he said, in sum: one Mass is ancient and corresponds in every meaningful way to the tenets of our Faith, while the other is new and corresponds to the tenets of another faith and philosophy entirely. We cannot pretend it is anything other than that. One must survive, the other must not - because they are not compatible. We cannot pretend they are mutual expressions of the same faith.
Dear Vox, Aqua and others:
Here is one last attempt to cast a light on the diabolical darkness of the novelty that Catholic laity should engage in AgitProp to judge a Pope guilty over some putative canonical irregularity and then demand he be tried.
Can. 1404 The First See is judged by no one.
God perchance has willed to terminate the causes of other men by means of men; but the prelate of that [Roman] See He has reserved, without question, to His own judgment. It is His will that the successors of the blessed Apostle Peter should owe their innocence to Heaven alone, and should manifest a pure conscience to the inquisition of the most severe Judge [God]. Do you answer; such will be the condition of all souls in that scrutiny? I retort, that to one was said, ‘Thou art Peter, and upon this Rock I will build my Church’, and again, that by the voice of holy pontiffs, the dignity of his See has been made venerable in the whole world, since all the faithful everywhere are submitted to it, and it is marked out as the head of the whole body”
Ppg 92-96
https://archive.org/details/TheSeeOfStPeter/page/n117/mode/2up
Oncet, Catholics were aware of and adhered to this Catholic Tradition but, more and more, the spread of diabolical delusion has reached into some parts of the soi disant traditionalist movement to the point where some members of that cohort are advancing bizarre claims and making irrational demands and which situation is encapsulated by a line from the popular movie, Animal House:
I think that this situation absolutely requires A really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody’s part and we are the ones to do it
@ ABS:
Another ABS cut and paste from another blog.
And my cut and paste response to you from the comment section of that similarly fine blog.
“Your premise is that the “First See is judged by no one”, and that the First See has fully manifested a resignation from the Papacy, all subsequent acts rendered valid and legitimate, the Pachamama Pope who hates the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is rendered legitimate of our obedience thereby.
Again, your premise is flawed and all subsequent conclusions are thereby rendered invalid.
The First See very clearly did NOT manifest a full and legal resignation and clearly DID manifest his intent to remain in Office (Munus) within the enclosure of St. Peter (only one man on earth can be within that enclosure at a time) for all eternity (“now and forever”).
The First See is judged by no one except by God and God established one Pope at a time. There can be only one. God did not permit Popes to “retire”; to enter a stable of multiple “emeritus Popes”.
You WANT him to have said and done one thing, when in FACT, he said and did something entirely different.
And the subsequent facts bear it out: antipopes lead the Church into heresy, error and full apostasy, rendering illegal to the point of schism the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass made a permanent part of Church Magisterium by Pope St. Pius V. Then, elevating Pachamama to the holy altar in its place and issuing in sodomy and all manner of error to communion with Our Lord.
Again - you accept this, advance this, because the stance you have taken requires it. The facts you want to be true are simply not there. And you are left defending an antipope acting as illegitimate Bishop of Rome, “the *Bishop in White* foretold in prophecy - while the Holy Father who remains in suffering isolation (also foretold in prophecy) remains alone and very much in need of our prayers.
The Canon you quote:
332§2. If it happens that the Roman Pontiff resigns his office, it is required for validity that the resignation is made freely and properly manifested but not that it is accepted by anyone.
Your fallacious logic, once again, goes like this:
“The Pope’s resignation was properly manifested because the Pope resigned, therefor it was properly manifested.
Circular fallacy, from the Latin Circulus in Demonstrando, occurs when the end of an argument comes back to the beginning without having proven itself.
Dear Aqua. The point is that Benedict XVI was the Supreme Legislator when he resigned which means it was him, not any other person, who had the authority to decide that his resignation was legitimate and, thus, in sync with any and all canons pertaining to his resignation.
There is simply no way around that simple Catholic Truth unless you desire to add to the error of conciliarism the error of subjecting a Pope to potentially endless litigation.
“The point” is that Pope Benedict XVI doesn’t get to pull rank on God and reform and redesign the Papacy.
He can resign the Office and leave as Father Ratzinger, and leave the Office to his chosen successor.
Or he can remain as Pope Benedict XVI.
What he can NOT do is resign the Ministerium and remain as a contemplative Pope Emeritus within the enclosure of St. Peter until the end of time along with his replacement (s) (possibly plural).
The Papal Office belongs to God and God said one Pope, unless he puts down his cross and walks away. Pope Benedict XVI did not walk away. You can’t escape it, ABS. He remains. God did not permit a Pope to retire and remain as a contemplative Pope, “safely within the enclosure of St. Peter now and forever”. Like Our Lord - the cross is carried until death … or until the cross is lied aside and Peter quits.
You don’t retire from carrying a cross. Peter can not retire from carrying the Papal cross. You and everyone else has failed to demonstrate where such a thing has ever happened within Sacred Tradition.
@ABS:
The Canon says: “Required for validity … properly manifested”.
You render Canon 332§2 meaningless if: by definition (your definition) whatever he says, writes, does is properly manifested because he says so.
Again - the definition of circular logic fallacy: “the end of an argument comes back to the beginning without having proven itself”.
ABS: “The Pope’s resignation was properly manifested because the Pope resigned, therefor it was properly manifested.”
The Canon Law very reasonably (all just laws are reasonable) demands proper manifestation of resignation to be valid - something that can be seen and understood by all the Faithful no matter how bright or how dull. It exists for precisely this error of this moment.
A Pope that didn’t leave and remains Pope for all the world to see … has not manifested resignation “properly”.
To Aqua and others: Father Pagliarani said: "The Society of Saint Pius X has the duty to assist all those souls who are currently in dismay and are confused." They are hypocrites! When I said that my consciousness couldn't accept Bergoglio as Pope in Canon, I was thrown out on the street from an SSPX chapel. Physically! Look at Pagliarani's picture how proud he is. SSPX does not accept Benedict XVI as a Pope. The chaos in this ape of the Catholic church which includes SSPX is of such a magnitude, that indeed, there is no Pope anymore. But God will vomit the proud perverts out of His mouth and Catholic Church will emerge victorious again. Very soon. God only! God only! God only!
@Anonymous: You sound as if you are a Protestant and reject the Catholic Church entirely. There is likely much more to your story than what you reveal here. I have had similar conversations to what you allege here and my experience is one of sensitivity, interest and a mature understanding of Church Teachings that they “plural” left me with to answer my questions.
I have never met any Priest within SSPX that matches your allegation or anything close to it. They exude confidence and competence and Grace.
Anecdotally, at the last Mass when we were discussing our Superior’s letter about Traditionis Custodes, our Priest ended his homily by emphasizing to the Parishioners a caution (paraphrase): we will find an increasing number of attendees who are new, perhaps seeing the Latin Kass for the first time. Please be friendly and tolerant of them. Answer their questions and respond with Grace when they might disagree with you. Everyone arrives at Truth at their own time, in their own way, according to the Grace of God. Please be kind toward those with different views that may be among us in the days ahead”.
I kid you not, that is almost exactly what he said - to end his homily on the power of the Latin Mass within the Church which will most certainly prevail in the years to come.
SSPX is not what you say. sincerely hope you can find answers that satisfy you.
I reject the ape of the Catholic Church entirely.
Everyone should watch Bishop Sanborn's sermon from Sunday on Bergoglio's Motu Proprio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JW3PRR8INvA
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