TRADITIONAL RELIGIOUS ORDERS OF THE WESTERN CHURCH

POPE ST. PIUS X

LIST OF PAPALLY-APPROVED SOCIETIES AND ORDERS

WHICH ARE DEVOTED TO THE PROMOTION OF THE

TRADITIONAL LATIN MASS

1. Fraternitas Sacerdotalis Sancti Petri (F.S.S.P.) (Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter) (Motherhouse at Wigratzbad in Bavaria, Diocese of Augsburg, Germany).  The Fraternity was founded as a society of apostolic life of pontifical right in 1988.  As at 1998, the Fraternity has apostolates or missions in seventeen sees in the U.S.A., twelve in France, three in Austria, two in Germany, two in Canada, one at Rome, and one each of Switzerland, Belgium, and the Netherlands.  It has a seminary in Germany at Wigratzbad, Bavaria, a second one in the U.S.A. (which is being moved from Scranton, Penn. to Nebraska) and a third one planned for France.  There are now about ninety Fraternity priests and many more seminarians.

2. Institutum Christi Regis Summi Sacerdotalis (I.C.R.) (Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest) (Motherhouse at Gricigliano, Archdiocese of Florence, Italy).  The Institute has been a society of apostolic life since 1990 but existed several years before that time as a different structure.  As at 1998, it has a seminary in the Archdiocese of Florence and apostolates and missions in the following number of sees: seven in France, three in the U.S.A., two in Italy (Rome and Florence), and one each in Spain, Germany, and Gabon.  The Institute includes over thirty priests worldwide and at least twice as many seminarians as that.

3. [Dominican] Fraternity of St. Vincent Ferrer (Diocese of Laval, France).  This society of friars follows the Dominican way of life but is not formally part of the Order of Preachers yet.  It exists only in the Diocese of Laval.

4. Dominican Convent of Notre-Dame-de-Joie (Pontcalec, Diocese of Vannes, France): nuns.

5.  [Carmelite] Recollects of the Sacred Heart (Diocese of Scranton, U.S.A.).  This is a carmel which was founded several years ago in the Diocese of Scranton and consists of one priest and two brothers.  It does not yet belong to the Carmelite Order.  We do not yet know whether the Recollects use the pre-conciliar Carmelite Mass or the Roman Mass.

6. Opus Mariæ Mediatricis (O.M.M.) (Directed from Newark, U.S.A.).  Opus Mariæ Mediatricis was founded by the indefatigable Fr. William Ashely.  It works and prays for dogmatic definitions that Our Blessed Mother is the Mediatrix of All Graces and the Co-Redemptrix of Mankind.  This is holy work indeed.  Fr. Ashely is also directing this Opus to the promotion of the traditional Latin Mass.  His society should not be confused with the order of traditionalist Augustinians in France (which is known simply as Opus Mariæ)

7. Benedictine Abbey of Ste. Madeleine at Le Barroux (Diocese of Avignon, France).  This abbey was founded by Dom Gérard Calvet, who is certainly one of the pillars of the traditionalist movement worldwide.  He arrived at an abandoned monastery in 1970 as a lone monk seeking the preservation of the traditional Benedictine Rule.  He soon had numerous followers and they moved into a new building at Le Barroux in 1978.  Until 1988, these monks were affiliated with Archbishop Lefebvre's Society of St. Pius X but, when His Grace consecrated four priests to the episcopate without papal mandate, Dom Calvet sought the approval of the Holy See for a new Benedictine foundation.  The Holy Father granted the request and raised the monastery to an abbey in 1989.  There are now more than sixty monks and an affiliated convent of Benedictine nuns nearby.

8. Benedictine Abbey of Our Lady of the Assumption at Le Barroux (Diocese of Avignon, France).  This is the convent of nuns which is affiliated with the foregoing Benedictine Abbey of Ste. Madeleine.  It was founded in 1987 and approved by the Holy See and raised to an abbey in 1989.  The nuns of this foundation were also originally affiliated with Msgr. Lefebvre.

9. Benedictine Monastery of Fontgombault (Diocese of Bourges, France).  This monastery has permission to celebrate mass in Latin using either the traditional missal of 1962 or the Novus Ordo of 1970 but, among more than one hundred monks, only four use the latter.  In 1999, this monastery will establish a daughter house in the Diocese of Tulsa (U.S.A.).

10. Benedictine Abbey of Notre-Dame-de-Randol (St.-Saturnin, Diocese of Clermont, France)

11. Benedictine Abbey of Notre-Dame-de-Triors (Châtillon-Saint-Jean, Diocese of Valence, France)

12. Benedictine Monastery of Notre-Dame-de-Miséricorde (Rosans, Diocese of Gap, France)

13. Benedictine Abbey of Notre-Dame-de-Fidélité (Jouques, Archdiocese of Aix, France)

14. Oblatæ Mariæ Reginæ Apostolorum (O.M.R.A.) (Oblates of Mary, Queen of the Apostles) (Scranton, Penn., U.S.A.).  This institute of consecrated life consists of several nuns who work with the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (q.v.).  At present, they work in Scranton and are engaged in such essential activities as care for the sacred vestments.

15. Institute of Divine Mercy (Diocese of Dallas, U.S.A.)  The Institute was approved as a society of nuns by the Bishop of Dallas in 1998.  Her rule is based on the Rule of the Divine Mercy devotion as dictated to Blessed Faustina Kowalska.  The sisters maintain a strict rule of silence and pray the Latin Mass and Divine Office of 1962, the Stations of the Cross, the Greater Rosary (15 decades), the Angelus, and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy every day.  They also spend time every day in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, spiritual reading, and meditation.  The Institute is an important sign of continuity for the traditionalist movement because the revelations to Blessed Faustina occurred before the Second Vatican Council but the devotion was only approved after that Council and by the present Pontiff.

16.  Opus Mariæ (O.M.) This is an approved society of Augustinian friars who use only the traditional Latin Mass.  It should not be confused with the Opus Mariæ Mediatricis (q.v.).

17. Servi Jesu et Mariæ (Motherhouse at Augsburg, Bavaria, Germany).  This approved society of apostolic life was founded to celebrate both the old and the new Mass in Latin.  It has one apostolate at Augsburg, Germany, and one in Austria (location unknown).

18. Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Worcester, Mass., U.S.A.).  Owing to the work of the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart, the traditional Latin Mass has been celebrated in Worcester for more than ten years now.

19.  Institut Sainte-Croix de Riaumont (Diocese of Ars, France).

20. The Congregation of the Fathers of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri: In addition to the societies and orders which are devoted to the celebration of the Latin mass of tradition, it is our pleasure to announce that the Congregation of the Oratorian Fathers (C.O.) now offer an indult mass every Sunday of the month in the Archdiocese of Toronto, Canada. For more details, please refer to the listing of traditional masses in Canada.