One single thing is necessary for the continuation of the Catholic Church: fully Catholic bishops, who make no compromise with error, who found Catholic seminaries, where young candidates for the priesthood can nourish themselves with the milk of true doctrine
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Prologue for Spiritual Journey
by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre
Very dear readers,
At the close of a long life (for I was born in 1905 and I now see the year 1990), I can say that it has been marked by exceptional world events: three world wars, that which took place from 1914 to 1918, that which took place from 1939 to 1945, and that of the Second Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965.
The disasters caused by these three wars, and especially by the last of them, are incalculable in the domain of material ruins, but even more so in the spiritual realm. The first two paved the way for the war inside the Church, by facilitating the ruin of Christian institutions and the domination of Freemasonry, which has become so powerful that it has deeply infiltrated the governing body of the Church with its Liberal, Modernist doctrine.
By the grace of God, instructed as early as my seminary days in Rome of the mortal danger of these influences by the Rector of the French Seminary, the venerated Father Le Floch, and by the professors, Reverend Fathers Voetgli, Frey and Le Rohellec, I was able to verify, during my entire priestly life, how their calls to vigilance, based on the teachings of the Popes and, above all, of St. Pius X, were justified. I was able to verify at my own expense how this vigilance was justified, not only doctrinally, but also by the hatred which it provoked in the Liberal laity and clerics - a diabolical hatred.
The innumerable contacts, brought upon me by the duties conferred upon me, with the highest civil and ecclesiastical authorities in numerous countries, particularly in France and in Rome, have preciously confirmed for me that opinion was generally favorable to all those who were disposed to compromising with the Liberal, Masonic ideas, and unfavorable towards those determined to remain firm in traditional doctrine.
I believe I can say that few persons in the Church have been able to become as well informed as I have been able myself, not by my own will, but by the will of Providence. As a missionary in Gabon, contact with civil authorities was obviously more frequent than as Vicar at Le Marais-de-Lomme in the Diocese of Lille. This time of mission was marked by the Gaullist invasion; we were able to witness the victory of Freemasonry against the Catholic order of Petain. It was the invasion of the barbarians without faith or law!
Perhaps one day, my memoirs will give some details on these years from 1945 to 1960, and will illustrate this war inside the Church. Read the books of M. Marteaux on this period; they are revealing. The rupture between Liberalism and the doctrine of the Church was growing both in Rome, and outside Rome.
The Liberals were able to choose Popes like John XXIII and Paul VI, causing their doctrine to triumph in the Council, a marvelous means to obligate all of the Church to adopt their errors.
Having assisted at the dramatic contest between Cardinal Bea, representing Liberalism, and Cardinal Ottaviani, representing the doctrine of the Church, it was clear after the vote of the seventy cardinals that the rupture was consummated. One could think, without fooling oneself, that the support of the Pope would go to the Liberals. But henceforth this problem was in broad daylight! What would the bishops do, aware of the danger which threatened the Church? All could see the triumph, within the Church, of new ideas, born of the Revolution and the Lodges: 250 cardinals and bishops rejoiced at their victory, 250 were horror-stricken, 1,750 tried not to ask questions, but simply followed the Pope: “... we shall see to it later!”
The Council proceeds and the reforms multiply as quickly as possible. The persecution of traditional Cardinals and Bishops begins, and soon after of priests and religious everywhere who attempt to preserve Tradition. It is an open war against the Church’s past and Her institutions: “Aggiornamento, aggiornamento!"
The result of this Council is much worse than that of the Revolution; the executions and the martyrdoms are silent; tens of thousands of priests and religious abandon their vows; others leave the religious life; cloisters disappear; vandalism invades the churches; altars are destroyed; crosses disappear; the seminaries and novitiates are emptied.
The civil societies that are still Catholic become secular under pressure from Roman authorities: Our Lord should no longer reign here below!
Catholic teaching becomes ecumenical and liberal. Catechisms are changed and are no longer Catholic. The Gregorian University in Rome has become coeducational, with St. Thomas no longer the basis of the teaching.
In face of this universal and public state of affairs, what is the duty of bishops who are officially responsible for the institution which is the Church? What will they do? Many consider this institution to be untouchable, even if it no longer conforms to the end for which it was instituted! Those who occupy the seat of Peter and the bishops are responsible. They are the ones who said that the Church had to adapt to the times, that the excesses would pass, that it is easier to accept the Revolution in their diocese - lead it rather than resist it.
Among traditionalists, a good number, henceforward despised by Rome, handed in their resignations. Some, like Archbishop Morcillo of Madrid and Archbishop MacQuaid of Dublin, would die of sadness, as well as many good priests.
It is obvious that if many bishops had acted like Mgr. de Castro-Mayer, Bishop of Campos in Brazil, the ideological revolution within the Church could have been limited, because we must not be afraid to affirm that the current Roman authorities, since John XXIII and Paul VI, have made themselves active collaborators of international Jewish Freemasonry and of world socialism. John Paul II is above all a communist-loving politician at the service of a world communism retaining a hint of religion. He openly attacks all of the anti-communist governments and does not bring, by his travels, any Catholic revival.
These conciliar Roman authorities cannot but oppose savagely and violently any reaffirmation of the traditional Magisterium. The errors of the Council and its reforms remain the official standard consecrated by the Profession of Faith of Cardinal Ratzinger in March 1989.
No one denied that I was recognized as an official member of the episcopal corps. The Annuario Pontificio confirmed it until the moment of the episcopal consecration in 1988, presenting me as Archbishop-Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Tulle. It is under this title of Catholic Archbishop that I have rendered service to the Church, ravaged by its own, in founding a Society for the formation of true Catholic priests, the Priestly Society of St. Pius X, duly approved by Mgr. Charrière, Bishop of Fribourg, Switzerland, and endowed with a letter of commendation by Cardinal Wright, Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy.
I could rightly think that this Society - which wanted to be attached to all the traditions of the Church: doctrinal, disciplinary, liturgical, etc. - would not remain for very long approved by the liberal destroyers of the Church.
But the mystery is that there were not fifty or a hundred bishops to act as Bishop de Castro Mayer and myself did, as true successors of the Apostles against impostors! It is not pride and self-importance to say that God in His merciful wisdom saved the heritage of His priesthood, of His grace, of His revelation, through these two bishops. It is not we who chose ourselves, but God has guided us in the upholding of all the riches of His Incarnation and of His Redemption. Those who feel they must minimize these riches and deny them can only condemn us. This can only confirm their schism with Our Lord and His Kingdom, by means of their secularism and their apostate ecumenism.
I can hear them say: “You exaggerate! There are many good bishops who pray, who have the Faith, who are edifying...” Were they saints, as soon as they accept the false religious liberty, hence the secular State; false ecumenism, and hence the admission of many ways of salvation; of liturgical reform, and hence of the practical negation of the Sacrifice of the Mass; of the new catechisms with all their errors and heresies, they officially contribute to the revolution within the Church and to its destruction!
The current Pope and bishops no longer hand down Our Lord Jesus Christ, but rather a sentimental, superficial, charismatic religiosity, through which, as a general rule, the true grace of the Holy Ghost no longer passes. This new religion is not the Catholic religion; it is sterile, incapable of sanctifying society and the family.
One single thing is necessary for the continuation of the Catholic Church: fully Catholic bishops, who make no compromise with error, who found Catholic seminaries, where young candidates for the priesthood can nourish themselves with the milk of true doctrine, placing Our Lord Jesus Christ at the center of their intellects, of their wills, of their hearts; who have a living faith, profound charity, a devotion without bounds, uniting them to Our Lord. They will ask, as did St. Paul, that we pray for them, that they advance in understanding and wisdom of the Mysterium Christi, of the mystery of Christ, where they will discover all of the divine treasures.
Let them prepare themselves to preach Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ Crucified... “importune, opportune,” - in season, out of season... (II Tim 4:2).
Let us be Christians! That even all of the human, rational sciences may be enlightened by the light of Christ, Who is the Light of the World and Who gives to each man his intelligence when he comes into the world.
The evil of the Council is the ignorance of Jesus Christ and of His Kingdom. It is the evil of the bad angels, the evil which is the way to Hell.
It is because St. Thomas had an exceptional knowledge of the Mystery of Christ that the Church chose him as Her Doctor. Let us love to read and re-read the papal encyclicals on St. Thomas and the necessity of following him in the formation of priests, in order to not hesitate an instant in proclaiming the richness of his writings and, above all, of his Summa Theologica, to communicate to us an unchanging faith and the surest means to arrive in prayer and contemplation, at the celestial shores which will then no longer abandon our souls inflamed by the spirit of Jesus, regardless of the ups and downs of this earthly life.
Marcel Lefebvre
January 29, 1990
