Funeral Sermon for Bishop Bernard Tissier de Mallerais

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

My Lords, dear confreres, reverend sisters, my dear faithful,

First of all, I would like to express our sincere condolences to the family of Bishop Tissier, and in particular to the family members who are present here today. As Bishop Tissier’s spiritual family, we share in your grief.

Yes, the Society is truly in mourning today. It is a great loss, the loss of a bishop. It is the loss, so to speak, of a page in the Society’s history. A very beautiful page in our history.

However, this loss, and the mourning in which we now find ourselves, are offset by the consolation of the example he left us. Our Blessed Lord, who always keeps His word, came and took him “like a thief.” We were not prepared for such a sudden death. But in His thoughtfulness, Our Blessed Lord wanted to come and take him just as he was about to celebrate Holy Mass, as that was the moment when His Lordship, Bishop Tissier de Mallerais, lost consciousness. His last act was to go to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and he died a few days later.

It was certainly no coincidence. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was His Lordship’s raison d’être. He had sought out Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre because he was searching for fidelity to the Mass. Bishop Tissier joined Archbishop Lefebvre the same year that the New Mass was promulgated – and he remained faithful to the traditional Mass. And now, the Good Lord considered that he was ready. Ready to take part in a new liturgy, the eternal liturgy, in which priests and bishops sing unceasingly: “Behold the Lamb that was slain – this Lamb that I myself have sacrificed throughout my life as a priest – behold the Lamb worthy to receive glory and honor in eternity!.”

St. Paul Described Bishop Tissier

It is not too difficult to sketch a portrait of Bishop Tissier in a few words, because it was already done by St. Paul 2,000 years ago. What does St. Paul ask of a bishop? This is what St. Paul says, and you can see how perfectly it all applies to His Lordship. The very circumstances of his priesthood and his episcopacy were described by Saint Paul 2,000 years ago.

“I charge thee, before God and Jesus Christ, who shall judge the living and the dead, by His coming, and His kingdom: Preach the word: be instant in season, out of season: reprove, entreat, rebuke in all patience and doctrine.” 

Well, that is what Bishop Tissier knew how to do. He was frank, sincere, straightforward, and without duplicity. He was firm, unwavering, and unhindered – unhindered and free to preach the truth – free to speak the truth, and free to serve Our Lord Jesus Christ.

“For there shall be a time,” continues St. Paul, “when they will not endure sound doctrine; but, according to their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears: And will indeed turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables.” 

This is a very precise description of the situation in which the Catholic Church finds itself today. The men of the Church have turned to fables. Ecumenism is a fable. Secularism is a fable. The Synod is a new fable, which will produce other fables. What a grace to have understood this back in 1969! What a grace to have sought out Archbishop Lefebvre, to have found him, and to have been faithful to him! What a grace not to have believed in those fables!

“But be thou vigilant, labour in all things, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill thy ministry. Be sober.” “Be vigilant in thy work”: Always preach Jesus Christ, always preach the truth. “The work of an evangelist” is to preach Our Lord Jesus Christ as He is, without changing anything, even if it isn’t pleasant to hear. “Fulfill thy ministry”: Accomplish thy duty to the very end; and “Be sober.” This is very interesting! Bishop Tissier has left us the example of a very simple and sober life. It is certain that this simplicity, this poverty, this childlike soul, which he kept to the end, was the secret and the key to his fidelity.

And it is above all, this fidelity of Bishop Tissier de Mallerais, that I would like to meditate upon with you, for a few moments, because his fidelity sums up his life perfectly. Fidelity to Archbishop Lefebvre, fidelity to the Society, and fidelity to the Catholic Church.

The Fidelity of Bishop Tissier

His Lordship was very clear concerning the notion that being faithful to the Society means being faithful to the Church. Very clearly he denounced the false dilemmas of having to choose between fidelity to the Church and fidelity to the Society. “No! Being faithful to the Society is synonymous with being faithful to the means that Divine Providence has given us to remain faithful to the Church. There is no choice to make!” And Bishop Tissier always made that very, very clear.

Fidelity over time – that is what is so great! He was one of the very first seminarians to seek out Archbishop Lefebvre, in 1969, even before the Society was founded, and even without knowing what was going to happen. He was guided solely by faith and the desire to serve Our Blessed Lord – and that, back in 1969! For us, with hindsight, we know what happened. But in 1969, there were only a handful of seminarians, and half of them would leave even before the Society was even founded. What faith and what fidelity he had, and kept all the way until today – until 2024! This is true fidelity over time. His perseverance is fidelity over time. This is the unshakeable fidelity that he had.

He also showed fidelity in adversity. All the problems that he described in the biography of Archbishop Lefebvre, and all the difficulties that the founder of the Society encountered, are described with the eye, the attention, and the heart of a direct witness, who was also an attentive and faithful disciple, and who understood, from the very beginning how the work of God is always made fruitful through the Cross. Yes, it is true, Almighty God did not spare the Society even from the very beginning. The Cross we will always encounter, and it is the sign that the Society is a work of God.

And with this fidelity, and through this same fidelity, Bishop Tissier has the merit of being the first to bring together, to put in order, and to study all the events of the Archbishop’s life, including all his teachings. As a faithful disciple, he did not want any part of Archbishop Lefebvre’s legacy to be lost.

He always had the desire that the thoughts of Archbishop Lefebvre be faithfully transmitted to the younger generation, to all of us, and also to future generations. This is a vital concern for a work that aims to safeguard and to pass on Archbishop Lefebvre’s message. Such is the work of the Society of Saint Pius X. We can say that, more than any other member of the Society, His Lordship can take as his own the words of St. Paul, just as Archbishop Lefebvre wanted to take them to his own: “I have transmitted what I have received – Tradidi quod et accepi.” 

I have faithfully passed on what was given to me, without modifying anything, transmitting it just as I had received it, with the fidelity of a disciple, and with the humility of a disciple. The more one is humble, the more faithful one will be when passing on treasures received – passing them on just as they are, without modifying anything.

It is this treasure that Bishop Tissier was able to pass on faithfully, as a truly talented person, and like a faithful biographer of Archbishop Lefebvre. He was able to synthesize His Grace’s thoughts and words around a central ideal, which recurred systematically in his sermons and conferences. I’m talking about the ideal of Christ the King. This was much more than an episcopal motto for Bishop Tissier. You could say that it was the guiding star of his entire episcopal apostolate: the rights of Our Blessed Lord over souls, over consciences, over individuals, over the Church, and over families and society in general. His Lordship came back to this question over and over again. It was truly the central idea around which he had restructured and reorganized everything.

This fidelity of Bishop Tissier was not just a theoretical loyalty to principles. This fidelity took the form of fulfilling his episcopal duties to the very end. I am definitely a first-hand witness to this. His Lordship wanted to serve the Society to the very end – and even beyond his strength. He was incredible, even despite his age.

Where did this strength come from? What was the source of this strength? It came from his love of Our Blessed Lord, and from his love of the Society. And I can assure you that every time we tried – every time I tried (and excuse me for using the first-person-singular) – every time I tried to encourage His Lordship to travel perhaps a little less, to lighten his workload a little, it was useless! It was impossible! I never won!

However, all this becomes perhaps the best memory that I will keep of Bishop Tissier. It is also certainly an example for all the members of the Society: to draw our strength from Our Lord Jesus Christ. To find a strength that goes beyond the physical strength that we might have, a strength that will take us through to the last moments of our life. What a wonderful example for us all.

The Society’s Future

Understandably, we are all now wondering: so what is going to happen? We have lost one of our bishops. How is the Society coping with this loss? And above all: how will it cope in the future? Especially the near future – and all that this implies?

Well, the Society is living this moment in a profound calm, in prayer, and in gratitude to Divine Providence for having given us such a bishop. The Society is not rushing into anything. The Society is simply following the signs of Providence.

It is this Divine Providence that has always come to our aid at the most critical and difficult moments. This same Divine Providence, to which this young man at 24 years of age, gave himself to God, in 1969, guided Bishop Tissier each day until his death. This same Providence has guided the Society through the worst storm in the history of the Catholic Church, and we know that Divine Providence will not abandon us today – nor will it abandon us tomorrow. It has already shown us often enough that it is here to help us and to assist us. Therefore, our sorrow today is mingled with a renewed confidence in Divine Providence.

So, what will change? For the moment, only one thing changes: the awareness and the acknowledgement that we have one less bishop on this earth, but that in eternity we have someone extra to watch over the Society. We have a new protector, who in eternity will continue to watch over us. We have someone who will continue to assist us through his prayers, and will continue, through the memories he has left us, and especially through his example, to show us the direction in which we should go forward. That is what has changed.

I would also like to thank you all for the prayers and messages that have been sent to the Society over the last few days. These messages testify both to the great esteem that everyone had for His Lordship, and to the attachment that everyone has for the Society. I thank you for all these prayers, and, needless to say, I invite you all to continue to pray, both for the repose of the soul of Bishop Tissier de Mallerais, and for the Society in this moment in history.

We entrust these intentions to the Blessed Virgin Mary. His Lordship had a great devotion to Our Blessed Lady. He reflected the Society’s devotion to her, and we are certain that it is above all under her protection that the Society’s future will be in continuity with the past, and in continuity with the history of the Society, as it has unfolded up to the present day, and as Bishop Tissier in particular knew how to incarnate and represent. 

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.