Personal Apostolic Administration of Saint John Mary Vianney
Encyclopedia
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
for traditionalist Catholic
Traditionalist Catholic
Traditionalist Catholics are Roman Catholics who believe that there should be a restoration of many or all of the liturgical forms, public and private devotions and presentations of Catholic teachings which prevailed in the Catholic Church before the Second Vatican Council...
clergy and laity within the Diocese of Campos
Roman Catholic Diocese of Campos
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Campos is a diocese located in the city of Campos dos Goytacazes in the Ecclesiastical province of Niterói in Brazil.-History:On December 4, 1922 it was established as the Diocese of Campos from the Diocese of Niterói....
in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
. It is the only Personal Apostolic Administration in existence. Its current Apostolic Administrator is Bishop Fernando Arêas Rifan.
Origins
From 3 January 1949 to 29 August 1981, the Diocese of Campos was headed by Bishop Antônio de Castro MayerAntônio de Castro Mayer
Antônio de Castro Mayer, STL was a Brazilian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. A Traditionalist Catholic and ally of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, he was Bishop of Campos from 1949 until his resignation in 1981....
, who opposed the use there of Pope Paul VI
Pope Paul VI
Paul VI , born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding Pope John XXIII, who had convened the Second Vatican Council, he decided to continue it...
's revision
Mass of Paul VI
The Mass of Pope Paul VI is the liturgy of the Catholic Mass of the Roman Rite promulgated by Paul VI in 1969, after the Second Vatican Council...
of the Roman Missal
Roman Missal
The Roman Missal is the liturgical book that contains the texts and rubrics for the celebration of the Mass in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church.-Situation before the Council of Trent:...
and held to the Tridentine Mass
Tridentine Mass
The Tridentine Mass is the form of the Roman Rite Mass contained in the typical editions of the Roman Missal that were published from 1570 to 1962. It was the most widely celebrated Mass liturgy in the world until the introduction of the Mass of Paul VI in December 1969...
. After his resignation, the then 77-year-old Bishop Castro Mayer continued to lead opposition in the diocese to the revised liturgy and on 30 June 1988 joined with Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre
Marcel Lefebvre
Marcel François Marie Joseph Lefebvre was a French Roman Catholic archbishop. Following a career as an Apostolic Delegate for West Africa and Superior General of the Holy Ghost Fathers, he took the lead in opposing the changes within the Church associated with the Second Vatican Council.In 1970,...
in consecrating
Ecône Consecrations
The Écône consecrations were a set of episcopal consecrations that took place in Écône, Switzerland, on 30 June 1988. They were performed by Roman Catholic Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and Bishop Antonio de Castro Meyer, and the priests raised to the episcopacy were four members of Lefebvre's Society...
as bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
s, against an express prohibition by Pope John Paul II, four priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
s of the Society of St. Pius X
Society of St. Pius X
The Society of Saint Pius X is an international Traditionalist Catholic organisation, founded in 1970 by the French archbishop Marcel Lefebvre...
. For this action he was declared to have incurred excommunication.
The priests of Campos who shared his traditionalist Catholic views formed themselves into the Priestly Union of Saint Jean-Marie Vianney, also known as the Sacerdotal Society of St. John Marie Vianney (SSJV) and, when Bishop de Castro Mayer died in April 1991, chose as his successor Licínio Rangel
Licínio Rangel
Licínio Rangel was a bishop of the Catholic Church from Campos, Brazil.He was consecrated a bishop without papal mandate, on July 28, 1991 at São Fidelis in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, by Bernard Tissier de Mallerais, assisted by Alfonso de Galarreta and Richard Williamson Licínio Rangel (1936 – 2002)...
, who was given episcopal consecration later that year by three bishops of the Society of St. Pius X
Society of St. Pius X
The Society of Saint Pius X is an international Traditionalist Catholic organisation, founded in 1970 by the French archbishop Marcel Lefebvre...
.
Reconciliation with the Holy See
Together with the Society of St. Pius XSociety of St. Pius X
The Society of Saint Pius X is an international Traditionalist Catholic organisation, founded in 1970 by the French archbishop Marcel Lefebvre...
, the Campos group of priests made a pilgrimage to Rome during the Jubilee Year 2000 and was welcomed by Cardinal Darío Castrillón Hoyos, President of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei
Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei
The Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei is a commission of the Catholic Church established by Pope John Paul II's motu proprio Ecclesia Dei of 2 July 1988 for the care of those former followers of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre who broke with him as a result of his consecration of four priests of his...
, with a lunch and dialogue. They decided to seek reconciliation with the Holy See
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
and, on 15 August 2001, wrote a letter to Pope John Paul II in which the..." whole Union renewed the profession of Catholic faith, declaring full communion with the Chair of Peter, recognising 'his Primacy and the government of the universal Church, her pastors and her faithful', and likewise declaring: 'For no reason do we wish to be separated from the Rock (Peter) on which Jesus Christ founded his Church".
On Christmas Day (25 December), 2001, Pope John Paul II responded with an autograph letter
Autograph letter
In Vatican usage, an autograph letter is a letter signed by the Pope in which he refers to himself as "I", or using the majestic plural, "we", as opposed to the more usual letter from the pope signed by a subordinate referring to the Pope as "he" and saying, for example, "The Holy Father has...
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/letters/2002/documents/hf_jp-ii_let_20020119_mons-rangel_en.html telling the priests that, "warmly consenting to your request to be received into the full communion of the Catholic Church, we canonically recognise that you belong to her." The Pope also removed the excommunication of Bishop Rangel for his illicit episcopal ordination.
When the necessary legislation had been drawn up, the Pope then established for the Campos group, with effect from 18 January 2002, the Personal Apostolic Administration of Saint John Mary Vianney, with authority over those Catholics in the Diocese of Campos who wished to use the Roman Rite
Roman Rite
The Roman Rite is the liturgical rite used in the Diocese of Rome in the Catholic Church. It is by far the most widespread of the Latin liturgical rites used within the Western or Latin autonomous particular Church, the particular Church that itself is also called the Latin Rite, and that is one of...
in the form it had before the revisions following the Second Vatican Council
Second Vatican Council
The Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...
.
On the date of entry into effect of the new arrangement, a ceremony was held in Campos, to "sign the letter of entrance into full ecclesial communion of the priests of Campos from the Priestly Union of Saint John Mary Vianney and of the Catholic faithful they minister to, being then thus considered perfectly inserted in the Holy Roman Catholic Apostolic Church."
Subsequent history
During the 1980s and 1990s, some claimed that followers of the Priestly Union of Saint Jean-Marie Vianney constituted the majority of the Catholics of Campos, who had never known the revised Liturgy of the Mass, as their diocesan bishop Antônio de Castro MayerAntônio de Castro Mayer
Antônio de Castro Mayer, STL was a Brazilian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. A Traditionalist Catholic and ally of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, he was Bishop of Campos from 1949 until his resignation in 1981....
had, during the 1970s, retained the Tridentine Mass
Tridentine Mass
The Tridentine Mass is the form of the Roman Rite Mass contained in the typical editions of the Roman Missal that were published from 1570 to 1962. It was the most widely celebrated Mass liturgy in the world until the introduction of the Mass of Paul VI in December 1969...
in his territory. However, when at the end of 2003 separate statistics were, for the first time, gathered for the Diocese of Campos and the new personal apostolic administration, the latter reported 28,325 Catholics, 28 priests, 9 seminarians, 75 religious sisters and 24 schools, while the diocese reported 854,000 Catholics, 48 diocesan and 17 religious priests, 30 seminarians, 19 religious brothers and 67 religious sisters, and 5 schools (Annuario Pontificio 2005).
In his letter of 25 December 2001, Pope John Paul II promised to ensure the episcopal succession of Bishop Licínio Rangel, and when Bishop Rangel asked that he be given an auxiliary bishop, recommended him to ask instead for a coadjutor, who would have the automatic right of succession. The Pope then, on 28 June 2002, appointed to that post Bishop Rangel's vicar general, Fernando Arêas Rifan, who automatically succeeded Bishop Rangel as Apostolic Administrator
Apostolic Administrator
An apostolic administrator in the Roman Catholic Church is a prelate appointed by the Pope to serve as the ordinary for an apostolic administration...
, when the latter died on 16 December 2002.
A group of traditionalist Catholics was thus accommodated fully within the Catholic Church. They accept the authority of the Pope as Vicar of Christ and Shepherd of the Church, the legitimacy of the Second Vatican Council
Second Vatican Council
The Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...
and the validity of the Mass approved by Pope Paul VI. The clergy of the apostolic administration possess the faculty to celebrate in Latin the Mass, the sacraments and all other sacrament
Sacrament
A sacrament is a sacred rite recognized as of particular importance and significance. There are various views on the existence and meaning of such rites.-General definitions and terms:...
al rites in the form codified by Saint Pius V
Pope Pius V
Pope Saint Pius V , born Antonio Ghislieri , was Pope from 1566 to 1572 and is a saint of the Catholic Church. He is chiefly notable for his role in the Council of Trent, the Counter-Reformation, and the standardization of the Roman liturgy within the Latin Church...
and modified by his successors down to Blessed John XXIII
Pope John XXIII
-Papal election:Following the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958, Roncalli was elected Pope, to his great surprise. He had even arrived in the Vatican with a return train ticket to Venice. Many had considered Giovanni Battista Montini, Archbishop of Milan, a possible candidate, but, although archbishop...
.
Doctrinal stance
In his first pastoral letter to the clergy, religious, associations and other faithful of the Apostolic Administration, Bishop Rifan stressed the importance of the papal mandate or canonical mission given to him, quoting the Council of TrentCouncil of Trent
The Council of Trent was the 16th-century Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. It is considered to be one of the Church's most important councils. It convened in Trent between December 13, 1545, and December 4, 1563 in twenty-five sessions for three periods...
's anathema against any who would say that one who lacks it is a lawful preacher of the word of God and minister of the sacraments.
He also warned those to whom he addressed his pastoral letter against two errors. One is heresy, attacks against the traditional Faith. He saw as a defence against that the traditional Latin liturgy and liturgical discipline that the Apostolic Administration keeps. The other error is schism, attacks against the unity of governance of the Church. Members of the Apostolic Administration must be on their guard against this too, he said, especially since their rightful efforts to preserve the Catholic faith had some unfortunate effects, in particular the onset of "a certain schismatic spirit that showed itself in a general taste for systematic criticism of Church authorities, a spirit of resistance, disobedience, disrespect, suspicion, backbiting, independence from the Church's Hierarchy and Magisterium, contentment with the abnormality of the situation, uncharitableness, a feeling of owning the whole of truth, a sectarian attitude that made us out to be the only good people ... with the underlying notion that 'the gates of Hell' had prevailed against the Church - something that, through the infallible help of our Saviour, is impossible."
The document in Portuguese Answers to 48 questions on our recognition by the Holy See explains in details the reasons for the priests' decision to seek reconciliation with the Holy See and for their disagreement with the attitude, in this matter, of the Society of St Pius X.
In a 2005 interview, Cardinal Castrillón stated that there were cordial relations between the Personal Apostolic Administration and the Diocese of Campos at all levels, and that priests of the Apostolic Administration were celebrating Mass in the older form for the traditionalist faithful in another dozen dioceses in Brazil in accordance with signed agreements that they had with the diocesan bishops.
Personal Apostolic Administrators of Saint John Vianney
- Licínio RangelLicínio RangelLicínio Rangel was a bishop of the Catholic Church from Campos, Brazil.He was consecrated a bishop without papal mandate, on July 28, 1991 at São Fidelis in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, by Bernard Tissier de Mallerais, assisted by Alfonso de Galarreta and Richard Williamson Licínio Rangel (1936 – 2002)...
(18 January 2002 – 16 December 2002) - Fernando Arêas Rifan (16 December 2002 – present)
External links
- Personal Apostolic Administration of Saint John Mary Vianney
- The Apostolic Administration's principal church (equivalent to a cathedral)
- Significance for discussions with Society of St. Pius X
- A little history of our group (in Portuguese)
- French translation of a talk that Bishop Fernando Arêas Rifan gave in London, on 10 May 2003. The English text (once available on the Apostolic Administration's no longer active old site) has not been placed on its present website, which is almost entirely in Portuguese. A not completely accurate account of his talk is found at Conference 2003.