January 1982 Print

 

Australia is a vast, sparsely populated continent, situated entirely south of the equator. Grasslands and jungle, cities and uninhabited wilderness make up this relatively new country, above which shines the Southern Cross Constellation, providential symbol of this outpost of Christianity.

At the turn of the century, about forty-five percent of the population was Catholic. This proportion later dropped to about thirty-eight percent, due to the post-war immigration from all over the world. The Church's strength in the past century in this mission land was with the various religious orders. Through them, the Faith was maintained in the schools and parishes and thus vocations were fostered. Archbishop Lefebvre's sister, Mother Christine, formerly maintained a Carmelite convent in Australia.

But just as Mother Christine was obliged to return to Europe to re-found a traditional Carmel when the post-conciliar crisis began to have its devastating effect, so, too, other Australians became concerned with the effects of the reforms on the younger generation which was, on a large scale, abandoning the practice of the Faith. Attendance at Mass, for example, dropped from fifty-four percent in 1961 to thirty-five percent in 1980. Religious vocations have also dropped, with a loss of twenty percent among priests and sixty percent among seminarians.

Archbishop Lefebvre's first visit to Australia was in 1973 during the Eucharistic Congress at Melbourne. Now, seven years later, he again stepped down at Sydney International Airport as a guest of the Domus Dei Trust and the Latin Mass Society of Australia.

His Grace had many people to meet during his two-week stay, and his entire schedule had been rigorously planned in advance.

He began with a six-day visit to Sydney, where a priory is to be established in 1982, manned by two priests of the Society of St. Pius X. This will help the priests already working to maintain the Faith. On Sunday, Petersham Town Hall was the site for Holy Mass preceded by the Confirmation of eighty children. The day was concluded with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.

Accompanied by Father Gerard Hogan, the first Australian to have been ordained a priest by the Archbishop, His Grace flew east to New Zealand, where he confirmed forty-four traditional Catholics, ranging in age from five to fifty-one. Father Hogan noted that the New Zealanders were extremely pleased to be able to welcome the Archbishop to the North Island for his three-day stay; this flock of nearly five hundred souls is eagerly awaiting the ordination of the two New Zealand brothers presently studying at Ecône.

From New Zealand the Archbishop flew back to southern Australia, where he spent five days in Melbourne. The Sunday Mass he offered there was attended by almost six hundred of the faithful and eighty children and adults were confirmed. From there, His Grace passed through the cities of Adelaide and Perth.

On his return trip to Europe Archbishop Lefebvre made a stop-over at Bombay, in India, where he encouraged the Catholics who have remained loyal to the Faith. He left Father Hogan to carry on the visit as far as Bangalore, in the state of Mysore. The traditionalist group of forty was in transports of delight at being able to receive the sacraments and assist at Holy Mass for the first time since the death of Monsignor Matthew two and one half years ago. These people have refused the new rite, which has adapted many of the pagan customs and symbolism of the various Indian religions, including the suppression of genuflections and the installment in the sanctuary of blasphemous images of crucified Krishna!

God will, the Society will soon have enough priests to be able to turn its attention to this gateway to Asia....

This year it can be said that Albano has a full house! For this academic year, forty-six seminarians left for Albano. Both years of philosophy are now taught at that seminary of the Society.

It has been a tradition from the time of St. Philip Neri for seminarians to do the pilgrimage of the seven basilicas and two days after our arrival, we had the privilege of tracing the footsteps of saints by doing the pilgrimage ourselves.

St. Mary Major is Rome's principal church in honor of Our Lady. It was here that we started our pilgrimage. We went straight to the confession and there prayed a Pater, Ave, Gloria, Credo and prayer for the Pope, Tu es Petrus. (This we did in each basilica.) You may gather the significance of the name "confession" from Our Lord's words: "He who shall confess Me before men, the same also I will confess before My Father Who is in heaven." No one so fully confesses Christ as the martyrs who gave their lives for Him. A martyr not only "confesses" Christ, but shares in His sacrificial "obedience unto death." These are two reasons why it is so fitting that Holy Mass should be offered over a martyr's relics. The martyr buried at St. Mary Major is St. Matthias, the thirteenth Apostle, elected to fill the vacancy left by Judas. In addition, a closed reliquary above the confession altar enshrines five pieces of wood, held to be the manger of Our Lord at Bethlehem. The body of St. Pius V is in the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, and we too, went and prayed before this great pontiff's tomb. Our prayers to him were for the restoration of the Tridentine Mass—the Mass of all time—throughout the world!

We then made our way to the Basilica of St. Lawrence Outside the Walls. Here we prayed before the tombs of St. Lawrence and St. Stephen.

The next basilica of our pilgrimage was that of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem. O Crux, ave, Spes unica—Hail O Cross, unique hope! The largest pieces of Our Lord's Cross are venerated here along with two thorns from the Crown of Thorns, one of the nails which attached Our Lord to His Cross, the I.N.R.I. inscription—the words "Jesus of Nazareth, King" in Greek and Latin still legible. St. Thomas' finger is likewise kept here. We were able to venerate these holy relics by saying, like the Apostle, "My Lord and my God."

"Most Holy Lateran Church, Mother and Mistress of All Churches of the City and the World." St. John Lateran holds this title as the first cathedral of Rome, where Constantine, after 313, allowed the popes to set up their episcopal chair. As the first cathedral of the empire, it was rightly dedicated to Christ Himself as Saviour—Basilica Salvatoris. The later change of name is due to the importance of the baptistry and it was to St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist that we raised our prayers.

We next made our way to the Basilica of St. Sebastian, where we prayed before the shrine of the soldier martyr, Sebastian. At the same time one was able to think of the countless martyrs and Christians who would have been buried in the catacombs below. During the time of vandalism in Rome, the relics of St. Peter and St. Paul were kept in these catacombs for safety.

In the afternoon we made our way to the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, and prayed before the tomb of St. Paul—the Apostle who "fought the good fight, who kept the faith" (2 Tim. IV, 7). Through his intercession we pray that we too may be the faithful guardians of the Faith.

We turned our thoughts and prayers to St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles, and asked his guidance on the Church of which he was first Vicar. The body of our heavenly patron, St. Pius X, lies in one of the side chapels in St. Peter's Basilica. Our forty-six voices resounded through the Basilica as we sang, Sancte Pie Decime, Gloriose Patrone, ora, ora pro nobis. Thus our pilgrimage came to an end.

We returned to the seminary—the next day our studies would begin in earnest.

Once a month, we have a day off from classes and either we go out into the country, or we go and visit the shrines of saints or other places of interest. Recently we visited Cascia, Nurcia and Spoleto.

Leaving the seminary early in the day we headed for Cascia, where we arrived three hours later. It was here that St. Rita, hope of impossible cases and patron of those in despair, spent forty-two years in the Augustinian Convent. We first prayed before the incorrupt body of St. Rita (who died in 1457) asking her intercession and graces in all our needs. An Augustinian Father showed us around the monastery where she had lived and we were fortunate to be able to pray before the Crucifix from which she received the stigmata. A thorn from Our Lord's Crown pierced St. Rita's forehead, leaving there an open and painful wound for the last fifteen years of her life.

From Cascia, we made our way to Nurcia—birthplace of St. Benedict and his sister, St. Scholastica. In the church dedicated to the saint, we went down into the crypt—to pray at the spot where their house was during their childhood. We were not able to visit the cathedral as it was still under repair due to damage caused by earthquake two years ago.

In the afternoon we made our way to Spoleto. Pope Pius IX was Archbishop of Spoleto before assuming the papal throne. Readers may be interested to know that St. Anthony of Padua was canonized in the Cathedral of Spoleto in 1232.

We are fortunate to be so close to the Eternal City, the city of the Apostles. Seven Apostles are buried in Rome. May they protect all members of the Fraternity throughout the world. Meanwhile, we blend our voices with that of the Psalmist by saying: Ecce quam bonum et quam iucundum, habitare fratres in unum.