Taking of the Habit and Religious Profession of SSPX Brothers in Flavigny, France

He was assisted at the altar by Frs. Patrick Verdet and Nicolas Jaquemet. This ceremony marks the beginning of the three new brothers’ novitiate year that will lead them to their religious profession.

The next day, on September 29, feast of St. Michael the Archangel, two novices, one French and one Italian, made their first profession, while three other brothers renewed their vows and Brother François-Joseph Rederstorff, who is stationed at the District House in Suresnes, made his perpetual vows. For this ceremony, the director of the seminary was assisted by Frs. Louis Sentagne, District Superior of Italy, and Loïc de Fraissinette.

What is a Society Brother?

He is a religious who consecrates his life to God through vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. He devotes himself to a special state of life in which he belongs body and soul to the Blessed Trinity and embraces the type of life Our Lord Himself wished to practice.

Archbishop Lefebvre explained:

A vocation is not a miraculous or extraordinary call; it is the blossoming of a Christian soul that attaches itself to its Creator and Savior Jesus Christ with an exclusive love, sharing His thirst to save souls.

Attaching Oneself to the Creator and Savior Jesus Christ with an Exclusive Love

This attachment, this exclusive love for Our Lord supposes a detachment from anything opposed to it. Hence the evangelical counsel of poverty, chastity and obedience. They are the antidote to the triple concupiscence that remains as an effect of original sin.

Sharing Our Lord’s Thirst to Save Souls

The religious sees all the detachments asked of him as opportunities to participate in the mystery of the Cross and to collaborate in applying the merits of the Redemption. For the Society Brothers, this thirst to save souls with Our Lord is realized especially at the altar, by attending the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Indeed, as members of a priestly society, the brothers see their consecration as a consecration to the priesthood of Our Lord Jesus Christ that is carried on in His ministers and upon the altar. At Mass, therefore, they renew their consecration, offering themselves daily in union with Our Lord for the sanctification of priests and the salvation of all souls.

This thirst to help Our Lord save souls is also realized by assisting the priests in all their ministry. This is the brothers’ specific goal: not to replace the priest in his priestly functions properly speaking, the celebration of Mass and the sacraments, for example, but to make his apostolate easier. Either by accomplishing for them the material tasks in the priories and seminaries (gardening, cooking, upkeep of the buildings, secretary work, accounting), or by participating more directly in the apostolate (taking care of the sacristy, forming altar boys, directing the choir, teaching catechism classes, teaching in schools). The witness of their religious life is for priests and faithful alike an encouragement to practice the spirit of the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience.