Leo Darroch's FIUV History: Una Voce

Note: The author is a great friend of Malta and he assisted Pro Tridentina (Malta) a lot during his FIUV Presidency.

Here is a unique contribution to modern Catholic literature. Leo Darroch presents in chronological order a factual history, fully referenced, of the work of the Foederatio Internationalis Una Voce, a movement of lay people formed after the sudden and insensitive enforcement of Novus Ordo Missae. It is the first fully documented account of the decades-long struggle for the preservation of the traditional rite of the Mass in the face of unrelenting opposition from the bishops of the Church.
The Right Honourable Lord Gill (Patron of the Latin Mass Society)

With his masterly present work, Leo Darroch, the former President of the FIUV, has given to the present and the future generations of Catholics a valuable documentation of the glorious history of the noble battle of intrepid lay faithful, who were committed to the restoration of the perennial liturgical sense of the Church. It was the battle of good sons and daughters for the honour and beauty of their mother, the Church. May the present book receive a wide diffusion and contribute in its readers a deeper appreciation of the perennial liturgical treasure of the Church, which is the classical Roman Rite.

Rt Rev. Athanasius Schneider, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Mary in Astana

A renaissance will come: asceticism and adoration as the mainspring of direct total dedication to Christ will return. Confraternities of priests, vowed to celibacy and to an intense life of prayer and meditation will be formed. Religious will regroup themselves into houses of ‘strict observance’. A new form of ‘Liturgical Movement’ will come into being, led by young priests and attracting mainly young people… It is vitally important that these new priests and religious, these new young people
with ardent hearts, should find—if only in a corner of the rambling mansion of the Church—the treasure of a truly sacred liturgy still glowing softly in the night.

Dr Eric de Saventhem, Founding President of the International Federation Una Voce, speaking in New York in June 1970 at the first General Assembly of Una Voce in the United States.

Leo Darroch joined the Latin Mass Society in the 1970s, was elected to the Committee in 1986 and served for more than 25 years. He was deputy Chairman to Chris Inman for a few years in the 1990s, during which time he converted the old style LMS bulletins - which were A4 typed sheets - into the magazine format we now have and was the Editor until November 2000.

He was elected to the Council of the FIUV in 1999. He was appointed FIUV Secretary in 2001 under the presidency of Michael Davies, and served as President from 2007–2013. The book can be bought here.

New FIUV Council 2017 - 2019

 

Last week, in Rome, the Foederatio Internationalis Una Voce (FIUV) elected (or re-elects) the Council. Here is the full list of Officers and Council members of the FIUV for the next two years.

President: Felipe Alanís Suárez  (Una Voce México)

President d'Honneur: Jacques Dhaussy (Una Voce France)

Vice Presidents: Patrick Banken (Una Voce France) and Jack Oostveen (Ecclesia Dei Delft, The Netherlands)

Secretary: Joseph Shaw (Latin Mass Society, England and Wales)

Treasurer: Monika Rheinschmitt (Pro Missa Tridentina, Germany)

Councillors:
Oleg-Michael Martynov (Una Voce Russia)
Jarosław Syrkiewicz (Una Voce Polonia)
Derik Castillo (Una Voce México)
Andris Amolins (Una Voce Latvija)

Eduardo Colón (Una Voce Puerto Rico)
Fabio Marino (Una Voce Italia)

Egons Morales Piña (Una Voce Casablanca, Chile)

 

Once again, Pro Tridentina (Malta) was not in a position to attend or nominate a candidate for the Council. Unfortunately, the current situation in the organisation does not help. There was one Maltese FIUV Councillor, former Pro Tridentina (Malta) President Godwin Xuereb, who served between November 2009 - January 2012 and December 2012 - October 2015. In 2013 the same Councillor was also Assistant Treasurer of the FIUV.

Latin Mass fans celebrate 10-year anniversary without pope

Cardinals Gerhard Ludwig Mueller, left, and Robert Sarah attend a conference on the Latin Mass in Rome.

 

 

By Nicole Winfield, Associated Press

VATICAN CITY — Sep 14, 2017, 12:27 PM ET

 

Fans of the old Latin Mass descended on Rome on Thursday for their annual pilgrimage, facing indifference to their cause, if not outright resistance, from none other than Pope Francis.

 

Ten years after Pope Benedict XVI passed a law allowing greater use of the Latin Mass, Francis seems to be doing everything possible to roll it back or simply pretend it never happened.

 

In recent weeks, he has affirmed with "magisterial authority" that the reforms of the 1960s allowing for Mass to be celebrated in the vernacular rather than Latin were "irreversible." Last week he gave local bishops conferences authority to oversee those translations, rather than the Vatican.

 

The moves underscored that the age-old liturgy wars in the Catholic Church are very much alive and provide a microcosm view of the battle lines that have been drawn between conservative, traditionalist Catholics and Francis ever since he declined to wear the traditional, ermine-trimmed red mozzetta cape for his first public appearance as pontiff in 2013.

 

The indifference seems reciprocal.

 

At a conference Thursday marking the 10th anniversary of Benedict's decree liberalizing use of the Latin Mass, the meeting organizer, the Rev. Vincenzo Nuara, didn't even mention Francis in his opening remarks. The current pope was mentioned in passing by the second speaker, and ignored entirely by the third.

 

The front-row participants honoring retired pope Benedict and his 2007 decree were also telling: Cardinal Raymond Burke, a leading critic of the current pope whom Francis removed as the Vatican's supreme court judge in 2014; Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, recently axed by Francis as the Vatican's doctrine chief, and Cardinal Robert Sarah, appointed by Francis as head of the Vatican's liturgy office but effectively sidelined by his deputy.

 

In fact, it was Sarah's deputy, Archbishop Arthur Roche, who signed the explanatory note to Francis' new law allowing bishops conferences, rather than Sarah's office, to have final say on Mass translations.

 

Francis' new law is a "pretty clear course correction from Pope Benedict's line," said the Rev. Anthony Ruff, associate professor of theology at St. John's University in Minnesota and moderator of the progressive liturgical blog, Pray Tell.

 

Despite the sense of belonging to a previous era, the conference was nevertheless upbeat about the future of the Latin Mass even under a pope who has openly questioned why any young person would seek out the old rite and disparaged traditionalists as rigid and insecure navel-gazers.

 

Monsignor Guido Pozzo, in charge of negotiations with breakaway traditionalist groups, said more Latin Masses are celebrated each Sunday in some countries: France has seen a doubling in the number of weekly Latin Masses, to 221 from 104, in the past 10 years. The U.S. has seen a similar increase over the same period, from 230 in 2007 to 480 today.

 

"The old liturgy must not be interpreted as a threat to the unity of church, but rather a gift," he said. He called for it to continue to be spread "without ideological interference from any part."

 

The program for the 10-year anniversary pilgrimage began with chanted hymn at the start of the conference and ended with vespers Thursday evening celebrated by Benedict's longtime secretary, Monsignor Georg Gaenswein. Also on tap were a religious procession through the streets of Rome and multiple Masses. Conspicuously absent from the four-day program was an audience with Francis.

The current pope, though, let his thoughts known during a recent speech to an Italian liturgical society. He said there was no need to rethink the decisions that led to the liturgy reforms from the Second Vatican Council, the 1962-65 meetings that modernized the Catholic Church.

 

"We can affirm with security and magisterial authority that the liturgical reforms are irreversible," he said in one of his longest and most articulate speeches to date on the liturgy. It made no mention, in either the text or the footnotes, of Benedict's liturgical decree on the Latin Mass.

 

Nuara, the conference organizer, denied sensing any resistance to traditionalists from Francis, saying in an interview that the current pope "is a respectful man, so he recognizes all the good that the old liturgy has given the church."

 

"We are also absolutely respectful of Pope Francis," he added.

 

Timothy O'Malley, director of the University of Notre Dame's Center for Liturgy, said Francis' main beef with Latin Mass afficionados is with those "who see that this form of the liturgy must win at the expense of" the Mass in the vernacular.

 

But he said he saw no indication that Francis would do away with Benedict's decree liberalizing use of the old rite, known by its Latin name Summorum Pontificum.

 

"He'll continue to rail against those who think the (vernacular) Mass is invalid, but I don't see him taking away Summorum Pontificum," he said.

The rupture has occurred - Francis vs Benedict XVI (and St. John Paul II)

 

Just a few weeks after Pope Francis announced that the liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council was “irreversible", he made a widespread change to the ways, and words, in which Roman Catholics worship by amending Vatican law to give national bishop conferences greater authority in translating liturgical language.

 

By his action, Francis goes much further than the reforms of the Second Vatican Council had ever envisaged and erased some of the actions of his predecessors, Benedict XVI and John Paul II. With the motu proprio Magnum Principium, Pope Francis has altered a key 2001 instruction by Saint John Paul II (Liturgiam Authenticam), instructing that translations from Latin needed to be “in the most exact manner, without omissions or additions in terms of their content.” 

 

That same year, the Vatican established Vox Clara, a committee to scrutinize English-language translations of the texts and prayers included in the Roman Missal. The committee advocated a close fidelity to the Latin. All this goes against the “reform of the reform” movement, which ultimately had advocates at the top of  the Catholic Church during John Paul II and Benedict XVI.

          

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The amendment is a significant development in a liturgical schism that has split Catholics across the world and was evident at the highest echelons of the church, especially in recent times. In our opinion, this is an attempt to undermine Benedict XVI's Summorum Pontificum, practically when we are supposed to celebrate its tenth anniversary.

 

Pope Francis, in fact, has recalled that the Second Vatican Council entrusted bishops with the “weighty task of introducing the vernacular language into the liturgy.” He added that “in order that the renewal of the whole liturgical life might continue, it seemed opportune that some principles handed on since the time of the council should be more clearly reaffirmed and put into practice.”

He also acknowledged the bitter feelings that the fights over liturgical language have produced, writing, “It is no surprise that difficulties have arisen” between local churches and the Vatican. He then called for “reciprocal trust” between the local churches and the Vatican department with liturgical oversight, known as the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

 

Unfortunately, under this pontificate, we have seen the undermining of Cardinal Sarah. Last year, Cardinal Sarah called for priests to celebrate Mass ad orientem, but Francis promptly issued an unusual public rebuke. And in April of this year, Cardinal Sarah sent a letter honouring Benedict XVI’s support of the Latin Mass, asserting that “modern liturgy” had caused devastation and schism. Benedict XVI wrote that “the liturgy is in good hands,” in an afterward to a book the cardinal wrote this year.

 

Alas, Francis argued that “vernacular languages themselves, often only in a progressive manner, would be able to become liturgical languages, standing out in a not dissimilar way to liturgical Latin for their elegance of style and the profundity of their concepts with the aim of nourishing the faith.”

A sustained attack in Malta on those in favour of the Tridentine Mass - 3

Another contribution from the Sunday Times of Malta dated 3 September 2017.      

The eleventh hour

Liturgical worship is not a rite to carry out but a source of life and of light for our journey of faith.

The Holy Father’s address at the Italian National Liturgical Week not only gives us food for thought but also food for action. He made it plain that this was not a period of doom for the Liturgy during which superficial events have happened, but an essential period of time. He stressed that just as it will not be possible to forget Vatican Council II, so will the liturgical reform that resulted from it be remembered. I am sure that these words were less than beautiful to some ears around the world, not excluding Malta and Gozo. How pertinent were his words that “when a need is noticed, even if the solution isn’t immediate, there is the need to start to move”.

When I was an altar boy, Canon Delia used to speak to us about the encyclical Mediator Dei; so did our teachers in secondary school. And they were right. My seminary years were concomitant with Vatican II. So was our enthusiasm for its teaching, which included the constitution Sacro Sanctum Concilium. There are those who do not even hold Vatican II as sanctum, much less its constitution. Other Vatican II documents are criticised either because many did not read them from front to back, or cannot internalise them because they go against their instinct or values.

The reform of the Liturgy responded to the real needs and hope of a renewal in the Church, the need of vibrant Liturgy. As St John XXIII said at the inaugural speech of Vatican II, the Church is not a museum. In my view, rather than museum it is a workshop, were a craftsman learns old skills and adapts them to his or her contemporary needs.

 

 

Can we reinvent the wheel or say it is useless? Of course not. But the use we make of the wheel today is vastly greater and very different from the way its inventor used it. Do we use the same language? Is the Latin of Cicero the same Latin of later periods? Is the koine the Greek language that Herodotus or Aristophanes used?

Pope Francis said that what Vatican II wanted from the liturgical reform was a living Liturgy expressing in a renewed way, the perennial vitality of the Church at prayer, being eager “so that the faithful do not assist as strangers and silent spectators to this mystery of faith, but, understanding well through rites and prayers, participate in the sacred action knowingly, piously, actively” (SC, 48).

He also quoted Blessed Paul VI in explaining the announced reform: “It’s good to warn how it is proper for the authority of the Church to desire, to promote, to arouse this new way of praying, thus giving greater increment to her spiritual mission […]; and we must not hesitate to make ourselves first of all disciples and then supporters of the school of prayer, which is about to begin.”[8]

Vatican II was a reform according to the principle of respect of the healthy tradition and of legitimate progress. Paul VI insisted that the practical application, guided by the episcopal conferences, in the respective countries, still prevail, because it is not enough to reform the liturgical books to renew the mentality. The Pope had made it clear: “The moment has now come to let go of the tendencies towards division, equally pernicious in one way or another, and to implement integrally in their just, inspiring criteria, the reform approved by us, in the implementation of the Council’s votes.”

Pope Francis said that “the Liturgy is life, not an idea to understand. In fact, it leads to living an initiating experience, which is transformative in the way of thinking and behaving, not to enrich one’s baggage of ideas on God”. He added that liturgical worship “is not, first of all, a doctrine to understand or a rite to carry out; it is also this, of course, but in another way it is essentially different: it is a source of life and of light for our journey of faith”.

Even if it is the 11th hour, let us wake up to theology and contemporary living!

Fr Joe Inguanez, a sociologist, is executive director of Discern.

What went wrong in the traditional Catholic movement in Malta (Part 4)

As soon as Pro Tridentina (Malta) was officially launched, problems started to appear. The original founders had decided to assist any person, or group of persons, who were attracted to the Tridentine Mass. Unfortunately, this meant that some persons, of extremist ideas, attended the Tridentine Masses that were either organised by Pro Tridentina (Malta) itself or were given publicity by the same organisation.

What type of extremist ideas are we talking about? They can be grouped into three:

Sedevacantism: the theological position of those traditional Catholics who most certainly believe in the papacy, papal infallibility and the primacy of the Roman Pontiff, and yet do not recognize the post-Vatican II popes as legitimate successors of Peter in the primacy. In other words, they do not recognize him as a true pope. The word sedevacantism is a compound of two Latin words which together mean “the Chair is vacant.”  The sedevacantist position is founded on the Catholic doctrines of the infallibility and the indefectibility of the Church and on the theological opinion of the great Doctor of the Church, St. Robert Bellarmine. A main exponent of this position distributed literature during some Tridentine Masses and also said that Benedict XVI was a satanist.

Conclavism: the claim to election as pope by a group acting or purporting to act in the stead of (i.e., under an assumption of the authority ordinarily vested in) the established College of Cardinals. This claim is usually associated with sedevacantism, that the present holder of the title of pope is a heretic and therefore not truly pope, as a result of which the faithful remnant of the Catholic Church has the right to elect a true pope. At least two people are known to be supporters of one of these 'popes', based in the United States of America. One of them was an altar server.

Devotio Moderna: among those who think themselves traditional Catholic, a tendency to replace the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and certainly the Divine Office, by "private devotions," such as an excessive attachment to Fatima or Medjugorje, Borġ in-Nadur or other apparitions. These misguided people talk far more about side issues  than about the centrality of God in the Person of Our Lord Jesus Christ, after Who our very religion takes its name. It has brought about in some Catholics the heretical notion that privately reciting the Rosary is more important than assisting at the Holy Mass or at the Hours of the Divine Office. 

Notwithstanding that none of the founders or committee members of Pro Tridentina (Malta), belonged to any of the above positions, having people associated with the organisation has damaged the same organisation. 

Unfortunately, these people are still known to gather regularly wherever Tridentine Masses in Malta are held. The Apostolate of Saint Paul Malta (ASPM) which is a Catholic community in Malta that is doing sterling service in Birkirkara, has lately attracted these extremists. One hopes that, this time round, history will not repeat itself.

The Church of the Poor?

Elderly people eating at the Parish Church of Mġarr, Malta dedicated to Saint Mary. Source: Facebook

This month a photo was circulated on Facebook, in which a large amount of older people are seen eating and drinking in the Church.

Mġarr Parish Priest Monsignor Kalcidon Vassallo, defends this abuse by saying that each year a Mass for the sick and the elderly takes place and the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick is also administered.

After Mass, this abomination takes place. Quoting Pope Francis, the parish priest said:

"Our Church of the poor and the priests have the smell of the sheep."

Church of the Poor? Nope, alas, Poor Church is more emblematic in this case.

An opportunity not to be missed!

Above you will find a poster with the calendar of Tridentine Masses to be held next week around Malta.

This is an occasion not to be missed and it could serve as a showcase to many Maltese yet to be acquainted with this venerable Rite.

Pro Tridentina (Malta) would like to congratulate the main organisers of the event, i.e. Rev. Marc Andrè Camilleri and Canon Nicholas Doublet.

What went wrong in the traditional Catholic movement in Malta (Part 3)

Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos, who Pro Tridentina (Malta)'s first President held talks with, celebrates the Tridentine Mass in St. Peter's Basilica in 2013. (Kyle Burkhart/ CNA.)

In order to better understand the problems being faced by the REAL traditional Catholics, it is pertinent to post the following article by a foreigner, S. Armaticus, who was in Malta some time ago.

 

"As I was taking in the sheer beauty of the mass while setting during the Offertorium, my mind wandered to another mass which I attended a week and a half earlier, the High Mass (O.F. – TLM is still “banned” in Malta) offered at the Co-Cathedral of St. John in Valletta, Malta. That choir and organist were likewise spectacular. Yet the O.F. mass, even though it was partially in Latin was very disappointing. There were only about three of us who actually knelt during the Canon. How very sad. And excuse the digression.

The sadness was caused by the thought of how much has been lost through the senseless submission to the new springtime of that “spirit of Vatican II”. Yet the joy presented itself in the cognizance of the OBJECTIVE REALITY of the situation, a REALITY that as of this writing, a Catholic like yours truly can find himself in a two different venues, several thousand miles apart, and yet encounter the timeless phenomenon which is the Catholic mass (regardless of whether it is a proper mass or the OF) and offered in a proper Catholic musical setting.

 

Summa summarum, it would appear as if the worst just might be behind us.

 

Or, to use an old advertisement jingle from the 1960’s,…

we’ve come a long way baby!

And finally before I go to the re-post, please keep the Church in Malta in your prayers. The Maltese N.O. church is dying, but the hierarchy there continues to exist in a state of denial. Only with our prayers and fasting can we help turn that situation around. With the  help of our prayers, I have no doubt that the Holy Spirit will restore all things in Christ on Malta.

 

St. Michael Archangel, ora pro nobis!

 

Archbishop Lefebvre, ora pro nobis!

 

In te, Domine, speravi: non confundar in aeternum"

 

Below are some of the comments that were posted under the original article:

 

May 8, 2016 at 12:47 am    

 

Is the TLM really banned in Malta? Is that even possible after Summorum Pontificum?

S. Armaticus said:    

May 8, 2016 at 11:09 am

Dear TS:

As you see, the word “banned” is in quotation marks.

There is a huge problem in Malta because the hierarchy refuses to allow the TLM to be offered on a regular basis, even though Summorum Pontificum is THE LAW OF THE UNIVERSAL CHURCH.

 

For more information on this matter, please follow Una Voce’s Malta site Pro Tridentina at the following link: http://pro-tridentina-malta.blogspot.com.mt/p/avvizi-dwar-quddies-tridentin.html.

 

If you go to the link, you will notice that there are no TLM’s scheduled. Supposedly a TLM was offered last year on the Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel at St. Theresa Church in Cospicua. But I have not been able to confirm whether this is in fact the case. The last sighting of a TLM on the Pro Tridentina website was also on the same feast day, in 2011. But that TLM was canceled at the last minute.

 

There are credible reports that TLM’s have been offered on Malta since SP. Yet these are mostly a well kept secret.

 

So the long and short of the matter is that the TLM is “banned” on Malta.

 

B/t/w thanks for your question.

S.A.

What went wrong in the traditional Catholic movement in Malta (Part 2)

The Curia offices in Malta (photo: Times of Malta)

After the first part of this series (other articles will follow, though not necessarily in a chronological order), this Blog was informed of more worrying trends in the traditional Catholic movement in Malta.

Apparently, at the Vatican they received a copy of a letter from a resident in Malta in which a number of priests and laity distanced themselves from the Pro Tridentina (Malta) movement. So, thanks to these Brutus tactics, the Archdiocese of Malta is moving cautiously before granting TLM in other localities.

This is also implied in the website of the Apostolate of Saint Paul Malta (ASPM) which says: "In the Archdiocese of Malta, the Church of St. Paul’s has been entrusted with the promotion and the celebration of the liturgy according to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman rite, also known as The Traditional Latin Mass."

So, don't expect any other regular Tridentine Masses to be held elsewhere in the country.

The Consumeristic Catholic Church in Malta

The Maltese Catholic Church in the twenty-first century has in many ways absorbed the consumeristic mentality that is so prevalent in our culture. A case in point is what will happen this evening in Floriana. The Saint Publius Parish Church will be illuminated for a lewd event, known as the Isle of MTV. Photos above and below show this event, with the illuminated church in the background, from past events.

Allegedly, the Floriana Parish is being paid every year an undisclosed sum of money from the event organisers so that the Church façade is lit up. This money is said to be used for much needed restoration works to the building. According to The Malta Independent, tonight's event is expected to host 50,000 people, be followed in 20 countries, and attract the attention of millions (alas not for good reasons). By tomorrow morning, the side of the church will be littered and would have served its other purposes, namely as a public toilet and, even worse, as a good opportunity for intimacy of the Amoris Laetitia type.

 

Whatever the reasons for accepting money, it is clear that nowadays this parish, with the tacit approval of the Church authorities, approaches worship as if it were selling a product and the attendee were the consumer. Since the product is up for sale, the church must show that its product is more entertaining than anything else the world has to offer. Therefore, churchy gimmicks are the name of the game. Whatever keeps people coming back for more takes first priority and becomes the controlling principle for all things church-related. If the church doesn’t sell itself, then it will be out of business.

 

Such an approach makes man the centre and treats the church like a business. In contrast, the aim of well meaning traditional Catholic groups is to draw church-goers and church leaders back to Scripture. In doing so, we must recover the ordinary means of grace that God uses to equip the saints and transform us into the image of Christ.

Mater Boni Consilii - 25-26 April

Pope Pius XII composed the below powerful prayer, in honour of Our Lady of Good Counsel:

Holy Virgin, moved by the painful uncertainty we experience in seeking and acquiring the true and the good, we cast ourselves at thy feet and invoke thee under the sweet title of Mother of Good Counsel. We beseech thee: come to our aid at this moment in our worldly sojourn when the double darkness of error and of evil plot our ruin by leading minds and hearts astray.
Seat of Wisdom and Star of the Sea, enlighten the victims of doubt and of error so that they may not be seduced by evil masquerading as good; strengthen them against the hostile and corrupting forces of passion and of sin.
Mother of Good Counsel, obtain for us our most urgent need….. (here mention your request) and secure for us from thy Divine Son the love of virtue and the strength to choose, in doubtful and difficult situations, the course agreeable to our salvation.
Supported by thy hand we shall thus journey without harm along the paths taught us by the word and example of Jesus our Savior, following the Sun of Truth and Justice in freedom and safety across the battlefield of life under the guidance of thy maternal Star, until we come at length to the harbor of salvation to enjoy with thee unalloyed and everlasting peace. Amen.

What went wrong in the traditional Catholic movement in Malta (Part 1)

Today, Easter Sunday, we start with a series aimed to show what went wrong in the traditional Catholic movement in Malta. Ten years ago there was much hope when a group in favour of the traditional liturgy in Malta was created. The results have however been very limited. 

We will see what type of divisions there were, the situation under Archbishop Cremona, Bishop Grech and Archbishop Scicluna. We will then see the current situation and finally what the outlook for the traditional Catholic movement in Malta is.

Pro Tridentina (Malta) was officially founded in August 2007, less than a month after the promulgation of the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum. Prior to this event, there was no lay movement in favour of the Tridentine Mass in Malta or Gozo. 

The developments that led to the founding can be traced back to November 2006. At the time, the FSSP, contacted a number of Maltese aiming to develop something concretely in this country. 

A first informal meeting was held on 21 April 2007 to determine the way forward. This was followed by another informal one on 20 July 2007 i.e. a week after the publication of Summorum Pontificum. Pro Tridentina (Malta) was accepted as a member of the FIUV in 2009. Its first President was elected to the FIUV Council in 2009 and served until 2015.

Since then, the Tridentine Mass became, albeit slowly, a reality in Malta. On the other hand, attempts in Gozo were met by obstacles by Bishop Grech, in defiance of Pope Benedict XVI.

Still, the Catholic Church in Malta is not favourably inclined to a wider, regular celebration of the Extraordinary Form. The media also presents a different picture than the reality is, namely that young people in Malta are among the most fervent followers of this form of the Mass. However, Tridentine Masses are known to have been held in Valletta, Cospicua, Birkirkara and other towns around the island.

In today's interview on Malta Today, Fr Mark Montebello, referring to the situation in the Catholic Church said:

    

"No, I don’t think we’re anywhere close to a schism. What I think is at present causing some turmoil is the changed official political standpoint of the papacy. From a far-right stance taken by the anti-Communist John Paul II and the anti-liberalist Benedict XVI over more than three decades, now, with Pope Francis, we have had four years of a third-positionist Peronista who seeks to mediate tensions caused by conflicting extreme poles."

We beg to differ. A schism, albeit a minor one, has already occurred in the Church in Malta. And once schisms appear they are hard to conceal.They lead to the division of a group into opposing factions. We will see in another post how this has taken place in Malta.

The Pope is dead

A holy Pope

Despised by the world and by the Modernists, and many a supposed “Catholic”, St. Pius X Sarto was eminently pleasing to His Creator. He cared not for the opinion of this world, but only to do the will of God. For this, he received a merciful judgment and heard from the Just Judge these words: “Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Mt 25:34).

 

Fast forward 100 years and we get the following:

 

In an interview with Fr Antonio Spadaro, the progressive editor of Jesuit journal, La Civiltà, Pope Francis criticsed young Catholics for their love of the Tridentine Mass:

Asked about the liturgy, Pope Francis insisted the Mass reformed after the Second Vatican Council is here to stay and “to speak of a ‘reform of the reform’ is an error.”

 

In authorizing regular use of the older Mass, now referred to as the “extraordinary form,” now-retired Pope Benedict XVI was “magnanimous” toward those attached to the old liturgy, he said. “But it is an exception.”

 

Pope Francis told Father Spadaro he wonders why some young people, who were not raised with the old Latin Mass, nevertheless prefer it.

 

“And I ask myself: Why so much rigidity? Dig, dig, this rigidity always hides something, insecurity or even something else. Rigidity is defensive. True love is not rigid.”

 

He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Matthew 11:15

Desperate Evil by Don Ottavio Michelini

Don Ottavio Michelini

My son, the matter of which I shall speak to you this evening is not new. I have told you of it several times in previous Messages. It is the struggle that Satan has unleashed against man.

Unable to face God directly, he fights it indirectly by unleashing his desperate wickedness (made of hatred, envy and jealousy) over the man destined to fill the open gaps with his rebellion to God.

Satan is called Prince of darkness because his fundamental intent is to obscure and overshadow the light of God in souls.

God is Light, Satan is Darkness.
God is Love, Satan is Hate.
God is Humility, Satan is Sovereignty.

The war declared by Satan to man in hatred of God has assumed so vast and grand proportions in its horrible reality that it has no comparison in human history.

The war, in general, is formed by a chain of battles. This battle, of a war that will continue until the end of time, is the greatest and dreadful one. Its epilogue is not far off, it will happen by the direct intervention of the Mother of mine and yours.

She will crush the Serpent's head again. She, the humble Servant of the Lord, by her humility has overcome pride and pride, and will definitely overcome it at the end of time.

Satan is darkness and therefore he does not see. His desperate pride prevents him.

 

Nevertheless he fears the defeat of this battle, which for him will be a cause of shameful debasement, while for my purified Church will be a long period of peace and so will be for the newly healed people of the many evils they suffer today.

This is why Satan has committed all his possibilities and those of his legions.

All the cunning, all the insidias of his corrupted nature but rich in innumerable gifts of power, intelligence and will, are used in his mad attempt, born and matured in him from the moment of his rebellion to God.

Destroy Me, the Christ, the Word of God made Flesh, and the Church out of my open Heart are the goal desperately longed for, and tenaciously pursued.

Close your eyes

But the crazy blindness has made him commit numerous tactical errors, typical of that of discovering too much.
 

An insightful general never lets his plans glimpse at his enemies, knowing full well that this is an unpardonable recklessness. Instead Satan has discovered many of his letters.

This is why My Vicar on earth has recently been able to say that today in the Church there are facts that can not be explained humanly: in them the direct interventions of the Prince of Darkness are evident.

However Bishops, Priests and almost all of the faithful do not see. They do not see because they close their eyes to the light, because they have their minds and hearts wrapped in darkness.

When Paul VI said: "The smoke of Hell has entered the Church" what did he mean? The contagion of Satan has entered the Church. The contagion of Satan is pride, pride.

I repeat: Satan in his mad, desperate illusion intends as a main objective to erase from the face of the earth Me, the Eternal Word of God and naturally with Me, to My Church out of my open Heart. I would like to annihilate the Mystery of the Incarnation, reason and cause of the liberation of humanity from its tyranny.

With the fall of Adam and Eve he thought to have defeated God, to have secured for ever a complete dominion over the children of guilt; He was convinced that he had snatched away his creatures by deception and cunning to God the Creator by subjecting them to his undeniable dominion, in time and in eternity.

But God is Love and with the unanimous concurrence of the divine Trinity, the Mystery of Salvation was decreed: hence the relentless hatred of Satan against God and against man.

Victory in your hands

 

Nowadays Satan, being darkness does not have the right vision of things, is convinced that he has the victory in his hands so that not without dramatic, horrible and dreadful convulsions he will let escape his prey, which is the humanity infected by his Evil: pride and presumption.

 

This war will have its epilogue to the end of time, but war is a chain of battles as I said; And the battle now in action is the largest, after the battle by St. Michael and his legions against the rebel powers.

Many battles have since been fought over the centuries but none of these are comparable to this present battle in which nations and peoples from all over the world are included.

...

I who am Wisdom, Mercy, Love and Omnipotence will know how to bend the dark manoeuvers and the crazy pride of Satan and his legions to get a triumph from all this; My Church purified.

Woe to those, my son, who refuse to see! An act of sincere humility is enough to allow light to seep into their souls.

Foolish and foolish if they persist in resisting the Love that wants them saved. Do they not know and do not think what they are giving up? Do they not know and do not think about what they are addressing?

You see in this my son, how much darkness has become in My Church ...

The earth is a place of exile, the whole Humanity is on the march towards the Eternity.

The materialism

Materialism, the incarnation of Satan, denying and replacing God intends to give men a paradise here on earth, a happiness that she does not possess and therefore can not give.

A tragic lie, a shrewd deception to which many Christians, priests and even Bishops have clung in the name of progress, forgetting the end of Creation and of Redemption!

This is why we are no longer talking about the New Ones, the true enemy of man, the sin with which Satan's work is identified. Bishops, many priests, are responsible for this.

Almost all Christians have allowed themselves to be seduced by straying from the straight path. Meanwhile every man as an individual is on the march towards Eternity, or eternal joy or eternal damnation.

The man, the prey of Satan, is at the centre of a furious struggle of Satan, unleashed to snatch it from God who, with a providential design, has sent to the earth his Word made Flesh, to liberate man and thus to give him primitive grandeur, Dignity and freedom.

Who is it to guide man on his earthly journey and pilgrimage?

To My Church.

But in my Church the Prince of darkness has brought his contagion: pride and pride, obscuring minds and hardening hearts.

The church is mine

But the Church, my son, is mine!

She has come out of My Heart Merciful and open.

I want My Church: one and holy, pure and resplendent of my Doctrine and not divided by heretics in opposition to perennial contrast between themselves. And so it will be after the near purification.

I have triumphed as I told you, in suffering and in pain and so it will be for My Church.

I have known hours of darkness, I have known violence and humiliations of all kinds. I even shouted, "Father, my Father, why have you forsaken me?" This cry will lift many of my children to Heaven in the height of their passion.

But can God who is Love, abandon his children whom he has loved and loved from all eternity?

The woman in labour groans, but then rejoices because she has given birth to a son.

It is time for the grain thrown into the bosom of the earth to decompose and then bear much fruit.

The time is near when my Church will groan in the fierce and unheard of persecution to be reborn One, Pure, Holy and Immaculate.

She will be the mother of the peoples who will gather under her wings and in peace and justice, she will be a teacher and sure guide for all men of good will.

Here's why I tell you: it's urgent to do it soon. I want bishops and priests to prepare themselves in humility and penance, in prayer that must be unanimous. Do not forget that My Passion followed My Resurrection.

I bless you, my son.

Grant me your sufferings, console My Heart pierced by the harshness and insensitivity of my redeemed, my ministers and those whom I have called and loved as brothers and friends.

 

From "Confidences of Jesus to a Priest" - 2 November 1975 - Don Ottavio Michelini (14 August 1906 - 15 October 1979) of Mirandola, Italy, considered to be a mystic.