By His Excellency Bp. Thomas Aquinas, OSB
Tradition suffers from various ills, due to internal divisions and external attacks. It is weakened by the frailty of its members, which increases the audacity of its enemies.
Firstly, where is Tradition? It is in the fidelity to the deposit of faith. Whoever guards this deposit preserves Tradition. We can say: where the deposit of faith is, there is Tradition.
But Tradition is also the combat for the faith, a combat in which Archbishop Lefebvre, more than anyone, has exemplified. Thus, to guard Tradition is to fight as Archbishop Lefebvre fought.
Saint Paul speaks of combat according to the rules; rules of prudence as much as of faith. Yet, the prudence of Archbishop Lefebvre is hard to imitate. Who will possess his prudence? Archbishop Lefebvre was a disciple and imitator of Saint Pius X. Both are inimitable in leading the combat. Who are we to claim ourselves as faithful and perfect disciples of these two servants of God? But one thing we do know: they are the models. They are the doctrinal and prudent remedy in the crisis that always threatens Tradition.
We should not be scandalised to see divisions whether in the Society or in the Resistance. Archbishop Lefebvre faced hardships, divisions, oppositions from within and without the Society. Professors, priest friends, allied communities, seminarians, laypeople... Archbishop Lefebvre experienced contradiction from all quarters. We should not be scandalised by oppositions and divisions. Rather, we should indeed love the good fight, the fight of our conversion along with the public defence of the faith, as Saint Pius X and Archbishop Lefebvre did.
Let us gather their inheritance, their entire legacy of combat against modernism, against the modernists and against the liberals.
They have overcome the world. We too shall overcome, if we act like them, with the humility of filial piety that leads us to invoke them, to study them, to understand them and to apply their principles of action to the current situation.
Therein lies the remedy which, with the protection of her who has vanquished all heresies and heretics, will grant us victory and true unity among those who claim themselves of the one, holy, catholic, apostolic, and persecuted Church.
1 February 2024