I entrust all our apostolates, in particular your families, your souls, and our schools to Our Blessed Mother, whom you will receive as a pilgrim in your chapels. She is the most powerful source of fidelity; she is the faithful virgin!
Dear Faithful,
In the decade following Vatican II, Archbishop Lefebvre founded our beloved Society of St. Pius X. It corresponds to the dream he had in his cathedral at Dakar in the '50s. He modestly spoke of it in the Preface of his Spiritual Journey:
In the face of the progressive degradation of the priestly ideal, my dream was to transmit the Catholic Priesthood of Our Lord Jesus Christ in all its doctrinal purity and in all its missionary charity, just as He conferred it on His Apostles, just as the Roman Church always transmitted it until the middle of the twentieth century.
After forty years, the Society of St. Pius X can be found all over the world. The U.S. District is today one of its most beautiful apostolate fields.
It is interesting to note that in the years of collapse of the liturgy and of the “diabolical disorientation” of churchmen following the Second Vatican Council, the priests and lay people, faithful to Tradition, looked for, and were encouraged by, the faithful Archbishop. They wanted to save the Mass and their souls. He wanted to save the priesthood and the Church. Led by Divine Providence, they found each other. Recognizing his supplied authority, the people willingly submitted themselves to his directives in order to remain Roman Catholics, faithful to the See of Peter, establishing oases in the midst of a spiritual desert; and thus they wrote the first page of U.S. District history.
The Society today continues the same mission entrusted by Holy Mother Church despite opposition, betrayal, abandonment and miseries, and with obvious blessings from God and fruits of holiness:
...the restoration of the Catholic priesthood in order to preserve the Treasures which Jesus Christ entrusted to His Church. Namely, the Faith in its integrity, Divine Grace through His Sacrifice and His Sacraments, and pastors destined for the dispensation of these Treasures of Divine Life.
(Archbishop Lefebvre in the Preface of Statutes of the Society of Saint Pius X).
As I am leaving you after serving my six-year term in our lovely country, I urge you to keep on being faithful. Be faithful to the Society!
I entrust all our apostolates, in particular your families, your souls, and our schools to Our Blessed Mother, whom you will receive as a pilgrim in your chapels. She is the most powerful source of fidelity; she is the faithful virgin!
I would like to recommend two special means to remain faithful: reading and study! Read the books of Archbishop Lefebvre to be faithful to his spirit! Read The Angelus magazine to be faithful to the Society he founded! Read to be found faithful!
With my blessing in the Immaculate Heart of Mary,
Fr. Arnaud Rostand