TIA received from one of our readers the letter we reproduce below, which has been circulating on at least one mailing list after Pope's Benedict XVI's Motu proprio.

It is a document allegedly written on August 29, 1987 by Archbishop Marcel Lefèbvre to the four priests he would later consecrate as Bishops in 1988. The letter gives the rationale for the Prelate's belief that it was indispensdable to make new Bishops. The reasons are: the destruction of the Kingdom of Our Lord in souls and society, the New Mass, and the modernist and liberal reforms of Vatican II. This would characterize the See of Peter
as being occupied by Antichrists.

This letter was published in April 1996 by the Catholic, an Australian paper that later became an organ of the Society of St. Pius X, according to the information provided to us. The Editor of TIA website wrote to the person responsible for that mailing list to inquire about the credibility of the letter and its translation.
We post his answer.

We consider this document to have the appearance of truth, and if its authenticity is proved, it can help many of our readers to understand the crossroads that the organization is facing when it envisages an agreement with the same Rome condemned by its founder.

Greetings Atila,

The letter was printed in the Catholic and at the time [1996] the paper was being printed in Australia by a layman. I forgot his name. He later turned the paper over to Monastery group out of England which is a part of SSPX.

It's a credible source.

     Hope all is well.

     In Christ, Joseph Sarraceno

Feast of St. Augustine, August 29, 1987.

Adveniat Regnum Tuum

To: Frs. Williamson, Tissier de Mallcrais, Fellay, de Gallareia.

My Dear Friends,

The See of Peter and posts of authority in Rome being occupied by anti-Christs, the destruction of the Kingdom of Our Lord is being rapidly carried out even within His Mystical Body here below, especially through the corruption of the Holy Mass which is both the splendid expression of the triumph of Our Lord on the Cross, Regnavit a Ligno Deus, and the source of the extension of His Kingdom over souls and over societies. Hence the absolute need appears obvious of ensuring the permanency and continuation of the adorable Sacrifice of Our Lord in order that "His Kingdom, Come." The corruption of the Holy Mass has brought the corruption of the priesthood and the universal decadence of Faith in the Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

God raised up the Priestly Society of St. Pius X for the maintenance and perpetuity of His glorious expiatory sacrifice within the Church. He Himself chose some true priests instructed in and convinced of these divine mysteries. God bestowed upon me the grace to prepare these Levites and to confer upon them the grace of the priesthood for the continuation of the true sacrifice according to the definition of the Council of Trent.

This is what has brought down upon our heads persecution by the Rome of the anti-Christs. Since this Rome, Modernist and Liberal, is carrying on its work of destruction of the Kingdom of Our Lord, as Assisi and the confirmation of the liberal theses of Vatican II on Religious Liberty prove, I find myself constrained by Divine Providence to pass on the grace of Catholic episcopacy which I received, I order that the Church and the Catholic priesthood continue to subsist for the glory of God and for the salvation of souls.

That is why, convinced that I am only carrying out the holy will of Our Lord, I am writing this letter to ask you to agree to receive the graces of the Catholic episcopacy, just as I have already conferred it on other priests in other circumstances. I will bestow this grace upon you, confident that without too long a delay the See of Peter will be occupied by a successor of Peter who is perfectly Catholic, and into whose hand you will be able to put back the grace of your episcopacy so that he may confirm it.

The main purpose of my passing on the episcopacy is that the grace of priestly orders be continued, for the true Sacrifice of the Holy Mass be continued, and that the grace of the Sacrament of Confirmation be bestowed upon children and upon the faithful who will ask you for it.

I beseech you to remain attached in the See of Peter, in the Roman Church, mother and mistress of all the Churches in the integral Catholic Faith, expressed in the various creeds of our Catholic Faith, in the Catechism of the Council of Trent, in conformity with what you were taught in your seminary. Remain faithful in the handing down of this faith so that the Kingdom of Our Lord may come.

Finally, I beseech you to remain attached to the Priestly Society of St. Pius X, to remain profoundly united amongst yourselves, in submission to the Society's Superior General, in the Catholic Faith of all time, remembering this word of St. Paul to the Galatians: "But even if we or an angel from heaven were to teach you a different gospel from the one we have taught, let him be anathema. As we have said before, now again I say: if anyone teaches you a different gospel from what you have received, 'let him be anathema'" (Gal. 1:8-9). My dear friends, be my consolation in Christ Jesus, remain strong in the Faith, faithful to the true Sacrifice of the Mass, to the true and holy priesthood of Our Lord for the triumph and glory of Jesus in heaven and upon earth, for the salvation of souls, for the salvation of my own soul.

In the hearts of Jesus and Mary, I embrace you and bless you.

     Your Father in Christ Jesus.

     + Marcel Lefèbvre

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