Transalpine Redemptorist
Encyclopedia
Religious order
A religious order is a lineage of communities and organizations of people who live in some way set apart from society in accordance with their specific religious devotion, usually characterized by the principles of its founder's religious practice. The order is composed of initiates and, in some...
based on Papa Stronsay
Papa Stronsay
Papa Stronsay is a small island in Orkney, Scotland, lying north east of Stronsay. It is in size, and at its highest point.According to folklore, some of the natives were descended from a female selkie. This was because they had horny skin on their feet and hands, and permanently smelt of...
in the Orkney Islands
Orkney Islands
Orkney also known as the Orkney Islands , is an archipelago in northern Scotland, situated north of the coast of Caithness...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. Their rule is based on that of St. Alphonsus Liguori, although they have no formal connection to the Redemptorist order.
History
The congregationCongregation (catholic)
The term "congregation" has three usages specific to the Roman Catholic Church. One concerns the Roman Curia, the other two concern religious institutes.- Roman Curia :...
was erected as Transalpine Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (C.SS.R.) 2 August 1988 by Father Michael Mary Sim C.SS.R. as a 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...
Redemptorist religious community affiliated with 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...
, and were called the Transalpine Redemptorists. The previous year, 3 December 1987 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,...
had officially blessed the undertaking of the foundation.
Originally based at the Monastery of the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary
Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary
The gang or cult Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary was launched by Juliano Verbard in 2002 on the island of Réunion, a French territory in the Indian Ocean...
in the Isle of Sheppey
Isle of Sheppey
The Isle of Sheppey is an island off the northern coast of Kent, England in the Thames Estuary, some to the east of London. It has an area of . The island forms part of the local government district of Swale...
, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, they moved to the Mother of Perpetual Succour Monastery in Joinville
Joinville, Haute-Marne
Joinville is a commune in the Haute-Marne department in north-eastern France.Its medieval château-fort, which gave to members of the House of Guise their title, duc de Joinville, was demolished during the Revolution of 1789, but the 16th-century Château du Grand Jardin built by Claude de Lorraine,...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
in 1994 until they bought the island of Papa Stronsay on 31 May 1999.
There they established the Golgotha Monastery, and publish The Catholic, a monthly since 1982. In the past they promoted their own version of a Redemptorist Purgatorian Confraternity.
However, after petitioning 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...
for reconciliation in June 2008, Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI
Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...
accepted their petition and declared them in "canonical good standing" within the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
but are they not "canonically erected" and their faculties for celebrating Mass in public are restricted to the islands of Papa Stronsay and Stronsay. They require their local bishop's permission to publicly celebrate the Latin Mass
Latin Mass
The term Latin Mass refers to the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Mass celebrated in Latin.The term is frequently used to denote the Tridentine Mass: that is, the Roman-Rite liturgy of the Mass celebrated in accordance with the successive editions of the Roman Missal published between 1570 and 1962...
. In an interview Fr. Michael Mary described their current position being "still in no man's land".
The motu proprio Summorum Pontificum
Summorum Pontificum
Summorum Pontificum is an Apostolic Letter of Pope Benedict XVI, issued "motu proprio" . The document specified the rules, for the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church, for celebrating Mass according to the "Missal promulgated by John XXIII in 1962" , and for administering most of the sacraments in...
was the main incentive which caused the community to reconsider their position.
After this, their official name was changed to The Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer (F.SS.R.). Minor changes to their religious habit were made in order to make the difference from the original Redemptorist congregation clearer.
The community is presently somewhat in a legal grey area - although their priests are not suspended (and there has never been any Church penalties on their lay brothers), they do not yet legally exist as a Catholic monastery. Their newly revised rule and their application for a canonical structure are presently being considered by 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...
.
In July 2007 the order established a second monastery in the city of Christchurch
Christchurch
Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
.
External links
- Transalpine Redemptorists, Golgotha Monastery, Papa Stronsay, Orkney Scotland (official website)
- Transalpine Redemptorists at home (official blog)
- Purgatorian Archconfraternity (official website)
- "Monks' work continues to develop Golgotha island monastery" (news report in The Orcadian)
- Traditional Catholic Monks of Papa Stronsay, Scotland (YouTube video)