Society of Saint Pius X

Society of Saint Pius X
  • Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X
  • Fraternité Sacerdotale Saint-Pie-X
Fraternitas Sacerdotalis Sancti Pii X
Abbreviation
  • SSPX
  • FSSPX (official)
Named afterPope Pius X
EstablishedNovember 1, 1970 (1970-11-01)
FounderMarcel Lefebvre
HeadquartersMenzingen, Switzerland
Membership (2022)
  • 1,135[1][2]
  •  • 3 bishops
  •  • 707 priests
  •  • 268 seminarians
  •  • 128 candidates
Superior general
Davide Pagliarani
Key people
Websitefsspx.org/en Edit this at Wikidata
https://fsspx.news/en

The Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX; Latin: Fraternitas Sacerdotalis Sancti Pii X, FSSPX)[a] is a canonically irregular traditionalist Catholic fraternity of priests founded in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.[6] Lefebvre was a leading traditionalist at the Second Vatican Council with the Coetus Internationalis Patrum and Superior General of the Holy Ghost Fathers until 1968. The society was initially established as a pious union of the Catholic Church with the permission of François Charrière, the Bishop of Lausanne, Geneva and Fribourg in Switzerland.

The society is named after Pope Pius X, whose anti-Modernist stance it stresses,[7] retaining the Tridentine Mass and pre-Vatican II liturgical books in Latin for the other sacraments. The present Superior General of the society is the Reverend Davide Pagliarani, who succeeded Bishop Bernard Fellay in 2018. Several organisations derive from the SSPX: most notably the effectively sedevacantist Society of Saint Pius V (SSPV), a group mostly in the United States; and the canonically regular Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP), that Pope John Paul II made into a society of apostolic life in 1988.

Tensions between the society and the Holy See climaxed in 1988 with the Écône consecrations: Archbishop Lefebvre consecrated four bishops without the Apostolic Mandate and against a personal warning by Pope John Paul II,[8] resulting in Rome declaring that the bishops who consecrated or were consecrated had incurred latae sententiae (automatic) excommunication.[9] Though the SSPX denied that the bishops incurred any penalty, claiming canon law in their defense, the declared excommunication of the surviving bishops was at their request removed in 2009 in the hope of speedily reaching "full reconciliation and complete communion".

The society's canonical situation remains unresolved. The 2010s saw growing recognition by the Holy See of its sacramental and pastoral activities, with papal recognition extended indefinitely in 2017 to confessions heard by its priests,[10] and local ordinaries allowed to grant delegation to its priests for officially witnessing marriages.[11] In addition, the Holy See named SSPX bishop Fellay as judge in a canonical trial against one of the society's priests.[12] The significance of these recognitions is that, unlike other Catholic sacraments, both confession and marriage require canonical jurisdiction for their validity. While its critics claim the society's priests were not explicitly granted the requisite jurisdiction, it contends that they possessed "supplied jurisdiction" for confessions due to a "state of necessity".[13]

In 2022, the society states it has over 700 priestly members, with 1,135 total members.[2]

  1. ^ "Society of Saint Pius X: Ordinations 2020-2021". 2 August 2021.
  2. ^ a b "The Society of Saint Pius X Reaches Milestone of 700 Priestly Members". 7 July 2022.
  3. ^ Pongratz-Lippitt, Christa (15 September 2021). "Historic Viennese church given to Lefebvrists". The Tablet. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  4. ^ Douthat, Ross (26 January 2009). "The Church and the Lefebvrists". The Atlantic. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  5. ^ "The Heirs of Archbishop Lefebvre and the Council". June 1993.
  6. ^ "A Story of Providence: Born in a Time of Confusion for Holy Mother Church". sspx.org. November 2018. Archived from the original on 8 November 2018.
  7. ^ Knittel, Francois (April 2004). "Pascendi exposes Modernist tactics". The Angelus. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
  8. ^ Ridley, Charles (16 June 1988). "Vatican threatens dissident priest with excommunication". UPI. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
  9. ^ Office of Congregation for Bishops; Bernardinus, Card. Gantin (1 July 1988). "Decree of Excomunication of Archbishop Lefebvre". EWTN. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
  10. ^ Pope Francis. "Apostolic Letter Misericordia et misera (20 November 2016)". w2.vatican.va. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  11. ^ "Letter of the Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei" to the Ordinaries of the Episcopal Conferences concerned on the faculties for the celebration of marriages of the faithful of the Society Saint Pius X, 04.04.2017". Retrieved 22 September 2018.
  12. ^ "Vatican names Bishop Fellay to hear canonical charge against SSPX priest, despite bishop's suspension: News Headlines". www.catholicculture.org. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  13. ^ "Supplied Jurisdiction & Traditional Priests".


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