Tridentine Mass

"He eliminates the work of his predecessors by placing arbitrary limits and obstacles to what they, with intra-ecclesial ecumenical intent and respect for the freedom of priests and faithful, established! It promotes ecclesial communion in reverse. The new measures involve a regrettable step backwards."

"(Regarding Summorum Pontificum for Holy Mass and the liturgy in Latin) What person of common sense would think that following traditional cuisine is contrary to innovative cuisine? Yet ideology is such that it denies reality: many young people and adults are rediscovering the faith (often discovering their vocation) by participating in the extraordinary form of the Roman rite. This evidence is denied: it is always ideology. Anyone who wanted to annul the motu proprio would find themselves facing a great movement of resistance, an antagonistic Church, a growing and irrepressible reality, for the simple fact that it experiences the reform of the liturgy as a rebirth of the sacred in hearts, not as a spasmodic search for novelty drawn from current fashions."

"Let us be encouraged to carry out the work of mercy of "praying for the dead" (through personal prayer, the recitation of the Holy Rosary, holy hours offered in reparation, and most importantly, the Holy Mass), to visit their tombs in order to honor our roots and become aware of the temporariness of our lives on this earth. Thus we will be enlightening our brothers and sisters in the faith and all men and women of good will."

"[About the motu proprio Traditionis custodes] It brokes Pope Benedict’s heart."

"In vernacular language, it is said that the Precious Blood was shed “for all,” whereas in the Latin text (even the latest revised Latin text) it is said that the Precious Blood is “for many” and not “for all.” [...] The new Offertory prayers do not express the Catholic notion of sacrifice. They simply express the concept of a mere sharing of bread and wine. For example, the Tridentine Mass addresses the prayer to God: “Accept, O holy Father, almighty and eternal God, this Immaculate Victim which your unworthy servant offers to You, my living and true God, in reparation for my countless sins, offenses, and negligence.” The new Mass says: “We offer this bread as the bread of life.” There is no mention of sacrifice or victim. Interviewer: Could you cite a translation that actually contradicts Catholic dogma? Mgr. Lefebvre: Yes. For example, in the Latin text, the Virgin Mary is called Semper Virgo, “Ever Virgin.” In all modern translations, the word “ever” has been removed. This is very serious, because there is a big difference between ‘Virgin’ and “Ever Virgin.” It is very dangerous to tamper with translations of this kind."

"They placed a new missal in my hands, saying, “Here is the Mass you must celebrate and will now celebrate in all your houses.” They also told me that if, on this date, today, June 29, before our assembly, we had celebrated a Mass according to the new rite, everything between us and Rome would now be settled."

"Archbishop Mgr. Marcel Lefebvre, Mons. Lefebvre in 2 minuti spiega il disastro dottrinale e liturgico vaticanosecondista (In two minutes, Archbishop Lefebvre explains the doctrinal and liturgical disaster of Vatican II), radiospada, 20 December 2024 (in French with subtitles in Italian)."

"Note here a problem: unity is achieved in the Faith. And unity cannot be achieved with an indult, a privilege that has one thing in view for some and its opposite for others. For some, the priests and faithful who want to keep the Tridentine Mass, it is a means of preserving Tradition, but for the Roman authorities – they now admit it openly – it is a means of gradually and completely bringing them over to the “conciliar Church”, to the way of thinking proper to the Church of today. All this has been established and promised in the light of the protocol signed on 5 May 1988 by Cardinal Ratzinger and Mgr. Lefebvre. Let us return to the wisdom of Msgr. Lefebvre."

"Every holy Mass, heard with devotion, produces in our souls marvelous effects, abundant spiritual and material graces which we, ourselves, do not know. It is easier for the earth to exist without the sun than without the holy Sacrifice of the Mass."

"We insist on strengthening the community and promoting the physical presence at the celebrations of Holy Mass and other Sacraments, without which there is no basic support for living the faith. I think that the modern means of communication are very useful, but they will never replace the physical presence in the churches."

"The Extraordinary Form speaks, literally (because it is in Latin), and figuratively, a different language; and I think some people who need to can come back to faith through it."

"... we have labored under Modernism for these sixty years, and have watched with horror the disintegration of everything that made our Faith beautiful: Catholic doctrine, good and holy priests, an abundance of devout and zealous religious brothers and nuns, Catholic schools, Catholic universities, Catholic seminaries teeming with holy seminarians aspiring to the priesthood, the traditional Latin Mass, traditional sacraments, the Legion of Decency, religious habits, priests in cassocks and Roman collars, magnificent churches, elaborate ceremonies, Gregorian chant and other beautiful church music, discipline, orthodoxy, modest dress, good morals. I could go on. What I describe is the world of my childhood which, at the time, I took for granted, but which I loved and cherished."

"It’s my belief that the Church must get past these human-formed groups and sects, because, frankly, all of that has become a hindrance and distraction. The Divine meets us there, at the altar, but, meanwhile, we have been chewing each other up and ripping one another apart — and what are the fruits of this? This isn’t the Holy Spirit, this division.I encourage those in the traditional congregations to remember why they love the liturgy, why and how the reverence points to him. There is such a great opportunity for setting an example of simple, joyful reverence in the extraordinary form. That sense of awe that I experienced should be experienced by all. I understand it may be that for some who attend these traditional Latin Masses; the lack of reverence they have experienced [in the ordinary form] and even possible persecution from those within the Church for their reverence, has caused a reactionary response. But the fruits of discord, division, sectarianism, elitism, even spiritual pride: These cannot be from the liturgy — it is fully human, reactionary. I think this is where the devil seeps in, distracting this community from the focus on Jesus to a focus on the ritual, on legalism and even elitism. It’s a subtle deception."

"We must all – all of us – work diligently to revitalize out sacred liturgical worship, especially through more frequent and widespread celebrations of the Traditional Latin Mass. We need the mighty sustenance of the older rites, which we crafted in tougher times and polished like treasured jewels for centuries and lovingly handed down by forebears to their children who knew, as life had taught them, that hard times were ahead."