LINCOLN (SNR) – The Oratory of St. Francis of Assisi in Lincoln offered a Solemn High Mass on the Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter Feb. 22, in thanksgiving for prayers answered.
Not only is Feb. 22 the patronal feast of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP), but this year’s celebration gave thanks for the decree signed by Pope Francis that “grants to each and every member of the Society of Apostolic Life [Priestly] Fraternity of Saint Peter, founded on July 18, 1988 and declared of Pontifical Right by the Holy See, the faculty to celebrate the sacrifice of the Mass, and to carry out the sacraments and other sacred rites, as well as to fulfill the Divine Office, according to the typical editions of the liturgical books, namely the Missal, the Ritual, the Pontifical, and the Roman Breviary, in force in the year 1962.”
The decree was dated Feb. 11, the date on which the FSSP concluded its collective novena of consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary for the protection and preservation of the venerable traditional liturgy of the Roman Rite.
“It is an answer to the fervent prayers of local Catholics and the growing numbers of those around the world who are discovering the riches and beauty of the old rite,” said member Ron Lawson.
What is the FSSP?
Denver Newsroom (CNA) – The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, a society of apostolic life which celebrates the Roman rite according to the liturgical books in force in 1962, published a papal decree Feb. 21 confirming their faculty to use those books.
The FSSP forms priests for the use of the traditional form of the Roman Rite, and having formed them, deploys priests in parishes for the service of the Church.
The priestly fraternity was founded in July 1988 by 12 priests of the Society of St. Pius X, and several seminarians. The founders left the SSPX to establish the FSSP after the society’s leader, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, consecrated four bishops without the permission of St. John Paul II.
Its founding was under the auspices of St. John Paul II’s 1988 motu proprio Ecclesia Dei, which set up a pontifical commission to facilitate the “full ecclesial communion of priests, seminarians, religious communities or individuals” who had been linked to the SSPX and “who may wish to remain united to the Successor [of] Peter in the Catholic Church, while preserving their spiritual and liturgical traditions.”
The Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei was suppressed in 2019, and its competence transferred to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Competence for the former Ecclesia Dei communities, such as the FSSP, was later transferred to the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life by Pope Francis’ 2021 motu proprio Traditionis custodes.
There are currently about 340 priests and 180 seminarians in the FSSP. It has parishes and chapels in 147 dioceses in North America, Europe, Oceania, Nigeria, and Colombia. In the Diocese of Lincoln, the FSSP operates St. Francis Oratory in Lincoln.
The FSSP is governed by a superior general, who is aided by assistants, counselors, a general secretary, and a bursar. The current superior general is Father Andrzej Komorowski, who is the fourth man to hold that office. The fraternity is arranged into a North American province and three districts: French, German-speaking, and Oceania.
It has two houses of formation: the Seminary of St. Peter in Wigratzbad, Germany, and Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary in Denton.
