The Prestigious Destiny of a Founding Text (5)
At the end of our series of articles, the historical importance of the Declaration of November 21, 1974, is clear. On the part of both the Roman authorities and Archbishop Lefebvre, it is abundantly clear that it is this manifesto that best embodies and condenses the position of the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X, its doctrinal and moral identity, and its unwavering rejection of the novelties introduced by the Second Vatican Council.
For Archbishop Lefebvre, there was no room for compromise, since it was simply a question of faith.
And so he remained steadfastly faithful to it, “persuaded that we can render no greater service to the Holy Catholic Church, to the Sovereign Pontiff and to posterity.”
The “Charter” of the Society
In 1985, Archbishop Lefebvre, who had just turned 80, looked back over the past twenty years. Responding to certain insinuations, he simply confided: “I do not believe, in truth, that I have changed my attitude in any way toward everything that has happened in the Church.”
Rereading to his seminarians, among other texts, that of November 21, 1974, he exclaimed: “This—we keep saying it! It is the truth itself.”
But it was on June 9, 1988, on the eve of the episcopal consecrations he was to perform three weeks later, that this Declaration shone out above all in its light and its quiet force.
“Perhaps we will be condemned, it is not certain...Perhaps they will remain silent, perhaps they will condemn us...We will find ourselves as we were in 1976, at the moment of suspense.
“Perhaps some will leave us. The fear of Rome! It is extraordinary! Always this fear of getting into trouble with Rome, as if Rome were still the normal Rome!
“But ultimately, by whom are we condemned? And why are we being condemned? That is what we have to look at! We are being condemned by people who no longer have the Catholic Faith...Assisi is the denial of the Catholic Faith—in public! It has been repeated at Santa Maria in Trastevere! Such a thing is not possible, it is unimaginable! It is no longer Rome! It is not the true Rome!”
Then, with a moving serenity in such a grave hour, the prelate continued:
“We must always return to the Declaration of November 21, 1974. It really is our charter.
“I was rereading it to read it you again...I believe I could have signed it all these years, and I would sign it again now: it is the same thing. We have exactly the same disposition! We have not changed one iota! It is what we are defending and what we want to defend absolutely! Against this Modernist Rome.
“When it has changed, when these people have gone and there are people who are for the Tradition of the Church, then there will no longer be a problem, of course!”
In October 1988, he returned to the subject one last time: “We had to choose! There is nothing to be done. We had to choose between the Faith of all time and these novelties. That is why I am still thinking about the Declaration I made on November 21, after the visit of the prelates who came on November 11, 1974, when I said: We choose the Rome of all time! We do not want the new Rome, which is Modernist.”
Conclusion
Archbishop Lefebvre was faithful to this charter to the very end. Having ensured the survival of the Church's Tradition through the episcopal consecrations, he could sing his Nunc dimittis and return his soul to God in peace. He had fought the good fight to the end.
In the crypt of the Écône seminary church, on the tomb where his mortal remains rest, we read these engraved words: “Tradidi quod et accepi. What I have received, I have passed on to you.”
What he had received? A deep faith in the eternal person of Jesus Christ, an unshakeable attachment to the treasures of the Church that are the Sacrifice of the Mass and the priesthood, an unwavering hope in the triumph of the Kingship of Christ, and, crowning it all, a charity that consumed his soul in the service of the Church, a vibrant echo of the charity of God Himself.
These are the ardent dispositions that were so eloquently expressed in his Declaration of November 21, 1974, and that explain its depth and wisdom.
Beneath his stone tomb, his eyes closed, the valiant prelate rests in peace. But his Declaration remains: it shines like a beacon, continuing to light the way for his sons.
“It is to the Church that Tradition belongs; it is in her and for her that we guard it in all its integrity, ‘until such time as the true light of Tradition dispels the darkness obscuring the sky of Eternal Rome.’” (Message from the Superior General and his Assistants on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of November 21, 1974).
(Source : MG – FSSPX.Actualités)
