Zaitzkofen: Receiving the Cassock, Tonsure, and Minor Orders – 2024

Leaving everything with joy because of the crucified Christ. What the candidates for the cassock and the tonsure had meditated on during their preparatory spiritual exercises became reality. The first year seminarians have left the “old man” to put on the new; wearing the cassocks blessed by Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta, they are now recognizable as men of the Church.

His Excellency warned the seminarians: “The renunciation of ourselves, of our own will, is the foundation of priestly life. But it is not a simple negative renunciation, but rather an affectionate gift of oneself to Jesus crucified. The Lord lived a life of renunciation for love, which led Him to death on the cross.”

During the ceremony, seminarians receive a wooden crucifix to remind them of this important day, but it is not simply a symbol. It’s about conforming to their vocation. This is not primarily the result of our action; rather, it is God who shapes His instrument by teaching us to accept, and not only to accept, but to love the crosses on the path of our life.

Second year seminarians were admitted to the clerical state through the tonsure. It means conformity to God through renunciation. The greater the love, the more perfect the renunciation, the more the holiness of Christ will radiate from us and illuminate souls.

In the past, hair represented worldly honors, the tonsure represented the symbolic and total renunciation of these. Bishop de Galarreta gave a moving quote from St. John of the Cross as a motto for the candidates: “To love is to work to completely strip oneself; to renounce, for the love of God, everything that does not lead to God.”

The seminarians newly dressed in the clerical habit come from Germany (2), Croatia (1), the Netherlands (1), Poland (6), Slovakia (1), and the Czech Republic (1); those who have been admitted to the clerical state come from Germany (6), Austria (1), Croatia (1), Denmark (1), Hungary (1), the Netherlands (1), and Poland (6).

The next day, February 3, the Holy Church also rejoiced at the arrival of six new lectors and five new acolytes. In his homily, the bishop put his finger on the wounds of our time: the denial of the kingship of Christ and the cult of man that replaces it; the spirit of naturalism which seeks to supplant the supernatural and which has penetrated to the depths of the Church herself.

Then His Excellency spoke of the foundation on which everything must be rebuilt: Jesus Christ. The awareness that the Church is founded on Him and on His will, is the heritage, the treasure of the Society that Archbishop Lefebvre left us.

Bishop de Galarreta clearly indicated that what is essential to this renewal is the priesthood, and what is essential to the training of the priest is the seminary: “It is here that Christ is formed in those who must form Christ in others.”

The bishop then conferred the first minor orders – of porter and lector – to six third-year seminarians: 2 Germans, 1 Belarusian, 1 Hungarian, 1 Dutch, and 1 Pole. An incident occurred during the ordination of the porters: a seminarian fainted. He was able to receive orders in the afternoon, during a private ceremony.

Then came the ordination to the minor second orders – of exorcist and acolyte – conferred on five fourth-year seminarians: 2 Germans, 1 Australian, 1 Lebanese, and 1 Pole. The conclusion of these beautiful, consoling days can be summed up in two words: Deo gratias!