It is not always unpleasant to submit to the orders of one's superiors, especially when they call upon you to take fifteen days of vacation to go "to represent the United States" at the seminary in Argentina.

Argentina is but a Pan Am flight away. One night cuts you off from hyper-modern New York-style life, from your worries, from English, from winter and suddenly plunges you into a warm Latin atmosphere with the flowers of May. For the month of Mary is in full bloom there at the end of November.  There is also the melodious sound of Spanish and the great Latin spirit. Everything seems upside down. What a turn-around when you pass the fateful line of the Equator, there where the people walk with their head down and their feet up!

Buenos Aires, the federal capital, proudly called the "Paris of South America," appears as a great city, very much alive, a maritime city that is almost Mediterranean. From Spain it takes its facades and attractive parks, and from Italy its special character and beautiful churches, not to mention the rodeo-style driving of its citizens and even of its police, which is typically Roman.

There remain, all the same, some traces of its colonial origins (16th century). It is a very European city, full of Whites; one sees very few people of mixed race such as one sees everywhere in Mexico. Poverty has established itself in the city. This Catholic country in the hands of a liberal anti-military government is sinking in ruins and produces misery in abundance. A little detail here is very significant: the "best car" that comes to pick you up and take you back to la Reja is all dirty because of the muddy roads to the seminary. And no one would ever steal it; it is absolutely theft-proof: it is so battered that its owner himself has to use feet and fists to open the door that is the least jammed. There is no need to ask where you are. Here one breathes in the Latin life, the Latin mentality, the Italian way of doing things, and you must admit that it isn't all that unpleasant.

Nuestra Señora Corredentora la Reja is a little village situated a half hour west of Buenos Aires. Here we find country life. The residential mansions contrast strikingly with the ghettoes that constitute the largest part of the village. Crowded together in their little houses that consist usually of just one room (an oven in the summer), the people who live in these ghettoes are at the mercy of the rigors of winter, since in Argentina, the seminary included, there is practically no such thing as heating. The government encourages immigration, hoping that intensive manual labor will succeed in overcoming the crisis in the economy. In any case, the seminary does all it can to help the poor of la Reja itself. An invalid is taken care of every day and every Wednesday at noon sixty poor people are fed and clothed.

Built in the middle of a majestic bluff of eucalyptus trees of all varieties, the Seminary of Our Lady Co-Redemptrix (Nuestra Senora Corredentora), fourth international seminary of the Society, is quite remarkable. The buildings are all new, in a colonial style with a superb cloister and arcades that would make superiors of other seminaries envious; a bell tower rings out at rising in the morning and divides the hours of the seminary day, concurring with the bell of the sister novices nearby.

These buildings make certainly the most beautiful of all the seminaries of the Society. If Ridgefield has a magnificent property on the shore of Lake Mamanasco, La Reja, for its part, has the beautiful buildings. Constructed and half-financed by engineer Gorrostiaga, who deserves to be mentioned here, the seminary is not entirely completed yet. So far each year has seen a new wing constructed, at the foot of which there has been placed in the concrete a Miraculous Medal, as Our Lady is the foundress and chief patroness. Another wing of dormitories will have to be added here in a few years to the sixty-five beds which are available for seminarians already. A beautiful church in colonial style will complete the seminary.

The novitiate is located some one hundred meters behind the seminary. It is presently occupied by eighteen religious, four of whom are professed, having returned after finishing their formation at St. Michel en Brenne, the mother-house of the Sisters of the Society of St. Pius X. The rest are novices and postulants. It is only since last May that the motherhouse has learned to its great joy and surprise of the existence of Argentinean sisters. For about two years the seminary priests were receiving religious vocations at the convent before the motherhouse became aware of it. Their vocations, as is the case with the seminarians too, come from Argentina and Mexico mainly, along with Chile and the Dominican Republic. The sisters cook and do the laundry for the seminarians; a lot of work when you realize that la Reja is a dairy farm possessing sixty head of cattle, as well as chickens and pigs, with a large orchard also which goes a long way towards making the seminary almost self-sufficient.

The Birthday of Monsignor Lefebvre

On your arrival at the seminary they serve you mate, a kind of tea made with bitter herbs that is passed from person to person, which is served exclusively to Argentineans and "hombres." This stimulant was very useful to the seminarians. The days of ordinations are not made for sun-tanning: it is not the time to learn how to gallop on the brown Chestnut, or practice Argentinean football. At all hours there comes the battle cry: "Pass me the box of nails! What are you doing with the pews? Load them in the truck for me. You! Brother! Go cut the grass in the meadow for the ordinations!"

It is in this "pre-feast" atmosphere that Monsignor Lefebvre celebrates his 81st birthday, surrounded by all the superiors of districts and priories in Central and Latin America (along with, of course, Fr. Schmidberger): Fathers Faure of Mexico, Navas of Colombia, Camacho of Chile, De Galareta, Superior of the District of Argentina, and Morello, the Rector of the seminary. A delegation of priests of Monsignor de Castro Mayer is also present. Father Rifan, right-hand man of Msgr. de Castro Mayer, has the opportunity to exhibit his talents as organist and burning orator when he recites a pungent piece of poetry in honor of the two great bishops that ends with the words: "They have kept the churches, we have kept the Faith." The seminary of Ridgefield on this occasion offers to the Archbishop a word of gratitude accompanied by a photo of the seminary. The Archbishop, with joy in his heart, thanks the good Lord for having given to the U.S.A. a seminary full of hope with so many new vocations this year.

The future priests offer to the Archbishop a spiritual gift that pleases him very much: they will celebrate a mass every month for his intentions for the rest of their lives. To complete the feast, the Argentinean seminarians accompany on classical guitars (of the kind that St. Theresa of Avila and her Carmelites used for recreations at the Carmel) some Mexican songs. These sweetly melancholic songs composed in honor of the Archbishop's birthday bring tears to his eyes. He personally thanks the sisters for their work, which was as hidden as it was difficult, since they kept fed these forty-five to fifty stomachs that are always hungry. And he adds, "Do not blame me for being so old already; if I am 81 it is not my fault, it is the fault of the good Lord!"

Two Missionary Bishops

Sunday, November 30, the First Sunday of Advent, was the date fixed for the priestly ordinations. The principal feast of the Society is December 8, the Immaculate Conception, but because of various impediments, Msgr. de Castro Mayer asked that the ordination day be transferred. At one point there was a brief moment of suspense and then a little surprise was announced to us by the priests of Campos. We were not aware of it until after the fact but apparently Msgr. de Castro Mayer who brought two of his deacons to be ordained priests was offered the honor of presiding over the sacerdotal ordination himself. He declined, however, saying that he had not performed any ordinations for a very long time. Msgr. de Castro Mayer was not idle all the same: as soon as he set foot in Argentina, he gave confirmation to 450 young people at the priory of Buenos Aires. It would be a great alleviation for Archbishop Lefebvre and the Society if Msgr. de Castro Mayer could take care of confirmations in Latin America.

Archbishop Lefebvre had no more time off during the two long weeks of his stay at la Reja. Besides the Major and Minor Orders which he conferred before, he also had the opportunity to give a conference to a good number of the faithful in Buenos Aires. Rapidly and clearly he dealt with the theme "Liberalism: What We Are Dying From Today." Liberalism, it is true, is the revolt of man against God, but "how do you define it? We must say that it is truly a religion…with its priests, who are the leaders of the Masonic lodges; it has its worship, that of the goddess Reason and of Liberty; it has its calendar with its lay feasts; it has its myths: reason, liberty, the exaltation of man; it has its Ten Commandments, which are the rights of man; it has its own social doctrine, namely democracy which engenders socialism and communism; it has, finally, its financial support, which is from the international banks; it even has its official decorations, with the organization of B'nai Brith which honors presidents and Cardinal Bea himself for aiding them in the triumph of liberalism. And now they are installing a super religion with the scandal of the Pope at Assisi which was prepared by another meeting months earlier. It was presided over by the Prince of Edinburgh with representatives of the five great religions. And the Prince commented: 'At last no more dogmas; at last the scandal of a man who lived 2000 years ago and said that He alone was the Way, the Truth and the Life, has been abolished.' In all the Italian newspapers appeared big headlines: La Super Religione. Assisi is just a stage towards arriving there according to the plans of the liberals." And even one of the bishops, my friend, Msgr. Gonzales of Toledo, who fought alongside us at the Council, is singing the praises of Assisi! See! The good Lord blinds those who do not categorically oppose error and do not want to follow the truth!"

A Father and his children

Sunday, November 30, at La Reja

At 9:00 a.m., under a shining sun, ordination day begins with a long procession to the tent cathedral which was prepared for the occasion. It serves to cover about 600 faithful who have come from all over Argentina and Brazil. Eleven deacons follow the Bishop: five Argentineans, four Mexicans, and two Brazilians from the diocese of Campos. La Reja promoted to Holy Orders seminarians of two consecutive years, since the Archbishop will not be corning next year in order to spare his health. The Archbishop was surrounded by some twenty-five priests of the Society from all over the American continent, and a good half dozen of the priests of Campos, as well as some friendly older priests who, like chicks around the mother hen, have drawn close to us. During the unfolding of the ceremony to the rhythm of the Litany of the Saints and the sublime words of the Pontifical, the faithful who had come to pray for their future pastors were devoutly recollected, following the example of the sisters in the front rows. Meanwhile, some priests spent the entire ceremony hearing confessions. Our Founder delivered a sermon for the occasion in which he recalled the reason for the existence of the Society: "…to defend our religion, which is defined by the altar…to defend the altar of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass." Explaining that the altar stone is the image of Our Lord with His five wounds, he exhorted the eleven ordinands: "Jesus Christ Crucified, this is your ideal, crucified for the love of God and neighbor. Be inflamed with the love of the Crucified. Be contemplative souls as were the great missionaries. They were great missionaries because they were great contemplatives, because they were consumed by Our Lord. Do not be priests halfway, do not come to terms with the world. Then, like Our Lord Himself, you will be fought and hated by the world." And, as is his custom, the Archbishop finished by speaking of Our Lady: "What a beautiful name, Our Lady Co-redemptrix! You also, you will be co-redemptors through your sacrifice, through your mass, your union with Jesus Christ, and your contemplation."

This beautiful ordination ceremony is prolonged by the benedictions of the newly ordained priests and does not come to an end without the traditional asado, the Argentinian barbecue with the best steaks of the Pampas, donated by one of our friends who is a rancher.

The Priests of Campos

The following days were also feast days at the seminary with the first masses of the newly ordained and a visit to the great sanctuary of Nuestra Senora de Lujan where the statue of the patroness of Argentina has been venerated since 1630. There our priest friends and Brazilian lay folks literally took the basilica by storm, playing the organ and singing popular songs to the Holy Virgin in Brazilian, Spanish, and even French. Their contagious enthusiasm and great spirit show us clearly that Campos and the Society are like two battalions fighting under the same flag. One of the priests, Fr. Jonas, after being driven out of his parish by a masonic Bishop bought a cinema and transformed it into a church killing two birds with one stone. The first wasn't big enough so he got hold of another one to celebrate the mass there. The moral of the story, preaches Fr. Jonas is, "forty more days and all the cinemas will be destroyed." The case of the Campos diocese is completely exceptional: twenty-six priests out of the thirty the diocese previously had, remained faithful to their traditionalist bishop and refused to follow their new modernist bishop. All have been driven out of their parishes except one (for demagogic reasons most likely). After years of faithful service (some are over 70, others are very young) they are thanked by having stones thrown at them, by being forbidden to continue their mission to save souls. Last July, Fr. Rifan, who exercises a great influence in the whole city of Campos through his radio program and magazine as well as his work among the youth, was ordered to leave his parish. For two months the people of the city protested every day against this episcopal piracy and had demonstrations that included up to 10,000 people. Fr. Rifan was obliged to leave his own church and found a parallel "mission." The traditionalists have a flourishing school at Campos as well as a small-scale seminary which is located in the house of Msgr. de Castro Mayer. One of the priests is in the process of building a huge church. See the response given to the intrigues of the modernist! Take that!

The Apostolic Labors of Archbishop Lefebvre in South America

The final touches were put on the Declaration of the Two Bishops just as Msgr. de Castro Mayer was ready to leave the seminary. It seems the ordinations at La Reja have become the theatre of these important episcopal declarations. This last one comments on the events at Assisi and refutes the accusation of schism thrown at traditionalists and turns it back upon those who have made it, the men of the Church in the Vatican. "For the rupture does not come from us, but from Paul VI and John Paul II who are breaking with their predecessors." After signing the declaration the two great bishops have to part once more, one to return to his diocese, the other to fly to Santiago in Chile to continue his ministry: to confirm children and preach the truth to the journalists who assail him at the airport. "Msgr., what do you think of the bishops of Chile?" "I sincerely believe that they are no longer Catholic. They have a Catholic government with a president who acts in a Catholic way and they are against this government. I conclude from this that they are not Catholics." The Archbishop did everything he could to get in direct contact with President Pinochet to ask him to oppose firmly the red bishops of Chile and to support the Society and its magazine Roma Aeterna which is totally in favor of Pinochet. Unfortunately the President was not in the city at the time, and the meeting couldn't be arranged, so the Archbishop left a personal letter for him about these matters. It is interesting to note that the Bishops are preparing for a visit of the Pope and plan to perform a ceremony of expiation in the football stadium for the "atrocities" committed by the government against the rebels. The Pope being present, all the spotlights will be turned off, a symbol of the death of the Communist "heroes" and then a single spotlight shone on the Pope will be the sign of the resurrection and the peace that the Church comes to bring. And these insults to the government will take place in the presence of the Pope in Santiago itself, under the very nose of the president! The situation is very explosive; as one can see, the bishops are openly Communist. This is why the situation is favorable for us. The Society is having an enormous success in Chile: five hundred First Communions were celebrated at the priory less than a year after its opening.

His Grace's 81st Birthday

Religious Situation of Latin American Countries

Archbishop Lefebvre soon left once more for Europe leaving the Seminary of La Reja again orphaned, deprived of him who is its father and founder. The new priests were about to leave the nest one after another and enter into battle for the first time as pastors of souls. New fields of apostolate open before them: four are going to Mexico, two will remain in Argentina, another is leaving for New Zealand, while the other priests have to finish their studies at the seminary. What will become of them? In what sort of "milieu" will they be exercising their apostolate?

After many discussions on the religious and social situation of South America, it becomes evident that it is divided into two classes: the countries where the episcopate is moderate (the majority) and those where it is openly red, namely Chile, of which we have already spoken, Brazil and Mexico. In Brazil the names of Msgr. Helder Camara and the theologian Boff, promoters of liberation theology, are already familiar to us. A Polish priest living in Sao Paolo remarks eighty of the bishops are openly Communist; fifty of the clergy have jobs in construction, thirty in the social realm (mathematics professors, psychologists, etc.) and only twenty do the work of priests. Of 12,000 priests in Brazil, half are foreigners from Italy, Germany, Poland, and America. But those who the government is most suspicious of (who foment revolution by means of strikes) come from France and Holland.

In Mexico the situation is very similar. The masonic liberal government is too conservative for the bishops: in the last elections the program farthest to the left was that presented by the bishops. This is why the government is afraid and is taking measures against the official Church. The book Karl Marx and the Bible by Dario y Miranda has received an imprimatur even though it declares openly that Marx is the greatest prophet since Isaiah (what a discovery!). Certain bishops are favorable to homosexuals. In the basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the superiors authorized the filming of a movie that was as blasphemous as it was gory. The Mexicans may react yet, even though they are slow to pull the trigger. As one Mexican priest remarked: "Mexico isn't like other Latin American countries where the national sport is to have a coup d'etat! Mexico is more stable, but when they take up arms, as in the times of the Cristeros, it means " trouble and the blood flows in torrents."

In all of these especially inflamed countries, the people live in such an atmosphere of insecurity that they naturally turn towards tradition, common sense, and that which is stable. This is why many people follow the traditional priests of Campos even though they are exiled from their own parishes. Some traditionalists are found also in Rio de Janeiro; and all of the conditions mentioned above have combined so that the situation is so favorable there that there will soon be a traditionalist Benedictine monastery there, the first foundation outside France of Dom Gerard of Barroux (France). Also in Mexico the position of the traditionalists has developed a great deal. The Catholic University of Guadalajara, disenchanted with the leadership of some sedevacantist priests, has turned to the Society to ask it to work there. This opens up exceptional possibilities, since it has 23,000 students. Our priests have already made contact and have given the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius. In Mexico City the Society is definitely established and takes care of a school with 300 students, all in spite of governmental restrictions. This is why Fr. Schmidberger has not hesitated to strengthen the contingent of priests there which has doubled in one year.