Society of Saint Pius X
The Society of Saint Pius X is a traditionalist Catholic priestly fraternity founded in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. Lefebvre was a leading traditionalist at the Second Vatican Council with the Coetus Internationalis Patrum and Superior General of the Holy Ghost Fathers until 1968. The society was established as a pious union of the Catholic Church with the permission of François Charrière, the Bishop of Lausanne, Geneva and Fribourg in Switzerland.
The society is named after Pope Pius X, whose anti-Modernist stance it stresses, retaining the Tridentine Mass and pre-Vatican II liturgical books in Latin for the other sacraments. The society's current Superior General is the Reverend Davide Pagliarani, who succeeded Bishop Bernard Fellay in 2018. Several organisations derive from the SSPX such as the mostly American and effectively sedevacantist Society of Saint Pius V and the canonically regular Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter, that Pope John Paul II made into a society of apostolic life in 1988.
Tensions between the Society and the Holy See climaxed in 1988 with the Écône consecrations: Archbishop Lefebvre consecrated four bishops without the Apostolic Mandate and against a personal warning by Pope John Paul II, resulting in Rome declaring that the bishops who consecrated or were consecrated had incurred Latae sententiae and ferendae sententiae excommunication. Though the SSPX denied that the bishops incurred any penalty, who, citing canon law, argued that the consecrations were permissible due to a moral and theological crisis in the Catholic Church, making them permissible under canon law, the declared excommunication of the surviving bishops was at their request removed in 2009 in the hope of speedily reaching "full reconciliation and complete communion".
The society's canonical situation remains disputed. The 2010s saw growing recognition by the Holy See of its sacramental and pastoral activities, with papal recognition extended indefinitely in 2017 to confessions heard by its priests, and local ordinaries allowed to grant delegation to its priests for officially witnessing marriages. In addition, the Holy See named SSPX bishop Fellay as judge in a canonical trial against one of the society's priests. The significance of these recognitions is that, unlike other Catholic sacraments, both confession and marriage require canonical jurisdiction for their validity. While its critics claim the society's priests were not explicitly granted the requisite jurisdiction, it contends that they possessed "supplied jurisdiction" for confessions due to a "state of necessity".
In 2022, the society states it has over 700 priestly members, with 1,135 total members. Several religious institutes, mostly based in France, are associated with the society.
Worldwide, there are an estimated 600,000 people who attend Mass celebrated by the SSPX, according to the Society.
History
Like Traditionalist Catholicism in general, the SSPX was born out of opposition to changes in the Catholic Church that followed the Second Vatican Council. The founder and central figure of the society was the French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who had served the Catholic Church as Apostolic Delegate for French-speaking Africa, Archbishop of Dakar, and Superior General of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, a missionary order of priests.Foundation of the Society
In September 1970, shortly after his retirement as Superior General of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, Lefebvre was approached by eleven members of the Pontifical French Seminary in Rome. They sought Lefebvre's advice on a conservative seminary where they could complete their studies. He directed them to the University of Fribourg, in Switzerland.In late 1970, at age 65, urged by the abbot of Hauterive Abbey and the Dominican theologian Father Marie-Dominique Philippe to teach the seminarians personally, Lefebvre, feeling too old to undertake such a large project, told them he would visit François Charrière, Bishop of Lausanne, Geneva and Fribourg, with a request to set up a religious society. He told them, if he said to go through with it, he would see in it a sign of Divine Providence. Charrière granted Lefebvre's request and, with a document predated by six days to 1 November 1970, he established the Society of St. Pius X as a pia unio on a provisional basis for six years. Pia unio status was the first stage through which a Catholic organisation passed prior to gaining official recognition as a religious institute or society of apostolic life. The Society of Saint Pius X was formally founded, adhering to all canonical norms, and receiving the episcopal blessing and encouragement of the local ordinary. Some Swiss laymen offered the International Seminary of Saint Pius X at Écône to the newly formed group, and in 1971 the first 24 candidates entered, followed by a further 32 in October 1972.
Normally, after a suitable period of experience and consultation with the Holy See, a bishop would raise a pia unio to official status at the diocesan level. Lefebvre attempted to bypass this stage and contacted three different Holy See departments to secure early recognition for his society. He successfully obtained a letter of encouragement from Cardinal John Wright, prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, but there was no approval from the Holy See congregation responsible for raising an association to the level desired by Lefebvre. Cardinal Wright's letter, dated 18 February 1971, said concerning 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." Cardinal Wright was still recommending prospective seminarians to apply to Écône as late as 1973.
The establishment of the SSPX was unwelcome to some churchmen, most notably the French bishops, whose theological outlook differed from Lefebvre's, and who had important connections with the Holy See Cardinal Secretary of State, Jean-Marie Villot. According to one defender of Lefebvre, at the meeting of the French episcopal conference at Lourdes in 1972 the seminary at Écône was nicknamed 'le séminaire sauvage'—the "wildcat seminary". By November 1974 the French episcopate indicated that they would not incardinate any of Lefebvre's priests in their dioceses which was the opposite of the desire to incardinate the society's priests by some Swiss bishops. They also publicly criticised Catholics who remained attached to the Tridentine Mass. By this time, the SSPX had opened additional seminaries in Armada, Michigan, and Rome.
File:Econe Seminary.jpg|thumb|The society's first seminary, the International Seminary of Saint Pius X, in Écône, Switzerland., the society has five seminaries—apart from Switzerland in Germany, France, Argentina, and United States.
Canonical visitation of seminary
The first sign of curial intervention was a Vatican meeting on 26 March 1974. By June 1974, a commission of cardinals had been formed to inquire into the SSPX, and decided on a canonical visitation of the seminary by two Belgian priests, held 11–13 November 1974. Franz Schmidberger, later the society's superior general during 1983–1994, said that their report was favourable. However, the seminarians and staff at Écône were shocked by some liberal theological opinions expressed by the two priests. In what he later described as a mood of "doubtlessly excessive indignation", Lefebvre wrote a declaration denouncing what he considered liberal trends "clearly evident" in the council and in the subsequent reforms. This document was leaked and published in January 1975, in the French Traditionalist Catholic journal Itinéraires.Lefebvre was in serious difficulties. In January 1975, Bishop Pierre Mamie of Fribourg wrote to Rome stating his intention to withdraw the pia unio status that his predecessor had granted. In the same month, Lefebvre was summoned to the Vatican, meeting with the cardinals on 13 February and 3 March. Lefebvre was surprised by their hostility: at one point a French cardinal, Gabriel-Marie Garrone, reportedly called him a "fool".
Growing tensions
On 6 May 1975, with the cardinals' approval, Bishop Mamie withdrew the SSPX's pia unio status. Lefebvre instructed his lawyer to lodge appeals, and he ultimately petitioned the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, which turned down the appeal. From this point onward, the SSPX was no longer recognised as a canonical organization.Lefebvre and the society's leadership always maintained that he was treated unfairly by the Roman Curia, that the suppression of the SSPX was unjust, and that the procedures violated the 1917 Code of Canon Law.
The SSPX continued to operate in spite of its discountenance. 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.
Lefebvre announced that he intended to confer ordination on some of his students at the end of June 1976. On 12 June 1976, the Nuncio in Switzerland was given instructions to inform Lefebvre that, by special order of Pope Paul VI, he was forbidden to do so. On 25 June 1976, Archbishop Giovanni Benelli, the deputy Secretary of State, wrote directly to Lefebvre, confirming, by the Pope's special mandate, the prohibition to administer the holy orders, and warning him of the canonical penalties for Lefebvre himself and those whom he would ordain. Lefebvre ignored the warnings and went ahead with the ordinations on 29 June 1976.
In that occasion's sermon, Lefebvre explicitly recognized that he might be struck with suspension, and the new priests with an irregularity that could theoretically prevent them from saying Mass. The next day, 1 July 1976, the Press Office of the Holy See declared that following canon 2373 of the then Code of Canon Law, Lefebvre was automatically suspended for one year from conferring ordination and that those whom he had ordained were automatically suspended from exercising the order received. It was also announced that the Holy See was examining Lefebvre's disobedience to the Pope's orders.
On 11 July 1976, Lefebvre signed a certificate of receipt of a letter from Cardinal Sebastiano Baggio, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, intimating that further penalties would be imposed per canon 2331 §1 of the then Code of Canon Law concerning obstinate disobedience to legitimate precepts or prohibitions of the Roman Pontiff. He was enjoined, within ten days of receipt of the letter, to take steps "to repair the scandal caused." In a letter of 17 July to Pope Paul VI, Lefebvre declared that he judged his action of 29 June to be legitimate. The Pope considered this response inadequate, and on his instructions, the Congregation for Bishops, on 22 July 1976, suspended Lefebvre for an indefinite time from all exercise of holy orders—he could not confer any of the Sacraments, save Reconciliation or Baptism in an emergency.