Sint ut sunt, aut non sint -- A Franciscan Abolished the Jesuits. Will a Jesuit Abolish the Franciscans of the Immaculate?

(Rome) The well-known historian Roberto de Mattei concerns himself again in a recent essay about the tradition-bound order of the Franciscans of the Immaculate Conception, which was made ​​by the Roman religious congregation under provisional administration and its priests since 11 August, is prohibited from the celebration of the traditional rite. De Mattei sees parallels to the suppression of the Jesuits in the second half of the 18th Century. A Franciscan Pope on the throne then abolished the Jesuit Order. Will the Jesuit Pope on the papal throne now abolish a Franciscan order? Actually, says de Mattei, then you wanted the Jesuits only "reform" in order to make them "harmless". Instead, it was abolished, which had ultimately been better for the Order. Now the Franciscans of the Immaculate Conception are to be "reformed" to destroy her charism and adapt them to the "normal" order.

Sint ut sunt, aut non sint

By Roberto de Mattei

"Sint ut sunt aut non sint" (leave them as they are or not at all) is a phrase that the historian Lorenzo Ricci, the 18th Superior General of the Jesuits, uttered at the proposal submitted to the Society of Jesus to "reform" to reflect the needs of the world. He wrote that in the second half of the 18th Century, the Jesuits were the bulwark on which the attacks of the external and internal enemies of the Church were broken. The external enemies were led by enlightened Parti Philosophique, the internal were distributed under the names Gallican, regalism, Febronianism of the state church and in various heretical movements, all of which claimed the church subordinate to the absolutist states.

The Jesuits, founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola, vigorously defended the primacy of the Pope of Rome, with which they were bound by their fourth vow. The absolute rulers, influenced by the ideas of the Enlightenment, had begun with the expulsion of the Jesuits from their realms by accusing it of wanting to overthrow the social order. However, that was not enough. It was necessary to rebuild the entire Order. As the Superior General of the Jesuits, however, resisted, he should be removed by abolishing, but this only a pope could do.

The opportunity presented itself when on the second of February, 1769, Clement XIII. died. The historian Ludwig von Pastor, in his 16th Volume of the History of the Popes (Herder, 1932) described the machinations with detailed documents during and after the conclave held in the first three months over 179 rounds till the 14th of May when the Franciscan Lorenzo Ganganelli was elected with the name of Clement XIV.. The new pope was elected under the condition that he would dissolve the Society of Jesus. Although the formal promise was not written down, because that would have involved the offense of simony, which Cardinal Ganganelli had promised to the ambassadors of the Bourbon royal courts. The Holy Spirit was also at this conclave, the cardinals met but hardly the divine grace, when their choice, was a prelate, whom Pastor describes as a "weak and ambitious character", who "aspired to the tiara."

On 21 July 1773, Pope Clement XIV dissolved with the Breve Dominus ac Redemptor, the Society of Jesus, which at that time was around 23,000 members in 42 provinces. "This brief of 21 July 1773," writes Pastor, "represents the clearest victory of the Enlightenment and of monarchical absolutism over the Church and Her leader." Father Lorenzo Ricci was arrested and imprisoned in Castel Sant'Angelo, where at 24 he Died November 1775. Clement XIV went to him on 22 September 1774 a year after the abolition of the Order, who was already facing death. The Society of Jesus was smashed and scattered, however, but survived in Russia, where Catherine the Great refused to enact the letter of dissolution exequatur. The Jesuits of White Russia were accused of disobedience and rebellion against the Pope. They did, however, assure the continuity of the Order, while former Jesuits in other countries pushed forward the creation of new religious congregations in the Ignatian spirit.

When the French Revolution of 1789 broke out, and the Church began a dramatic era which even saw the invasion of Rome by the Jacobins and the deportation of two successors of Clement XIV., Pius VI. and Pius VII.. The resistance against the revolution was at this time carried out, especially by a secret organization, the Association "Christian friends" that Swiss Nikolaus Albert von Diesbach (especially Diesbach) founded in Turin with former Jesuits.

After 40 years, Pius VII. with the Constitution Sollicitudo Omnium Ecclesiarum Breve of the 7th of August 1814 finally withdrew the breve of the 21st of July 1773 and ordered the full restoration of the Society of Jesus in the world, since it was a "heavy burden of guilt before God," to continue to suppress such courageous and capable rowers in very stormy time the nave of the Church, as Pastor remarked.

A Pope of the Franciscan Order, Clement XIV. had abolished the Jesuits in 1773. Will the Jesuit Pope Francis in 2013 abolish a Franciscan Order or, even worse, "reform" it? The Franciscans of the Immaculate have no such glorious past, such as the Jesuits, but their case has some similarities to that of the Society of St. Ignatius. Above all, it is a symptomatic manifestation of the deep crisis in which the Catholic Church is today.

Founded in 1970 by Father Stefano Maria Manelli, the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate live a life of repentance and the Gospel. They have distinguished themselves since their inception by their fidelity to the traditional faith and moral teaching. The Motu Proprio, Pope Benedict XVI. restored the traditional Roman rite again returned to the Church, they asked for the opportunity to live this love of tradition on a liturgical level. Father Manelli has never imposed the Vetus Ordo but recommended to his brothers, to make their ordinations in recent years in the Old Rite by leading church dignitaries on the line of "renewal in continuity" of Benedict XVI..

From the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (CICLSA), today presided over by Cardinal João Braz de Aviz, depends on religious men and women from who have fully or partially abandoned the habit and live in moral laxity and doctrinal relativism without being called to order by the competent authority in any way. The Franciscans of the Immaculate are a cornerstone of the opposition, which explains the desire of CICLSA to "normalize" and adapt to the prevailing standards of religious life. The presence of a small group of "dissident" brothers offered an opportunity to the Congregation to intervene by sending a visitor,  Monsignor Vito Angelo Todisco,  on the 5th of July, 2012..  Bishop Todisco  arranged on 11 July 2013, with CICLSA, solely on the basis of a captious questionnaire where the brothers were not interviewed directly, the provisional government of the Order with an absolutely unlawful decree including an interdict against celebrating the traditional Mass.

In the coming days and weeks we will know the plans of the Commissioner, Fidenzio Volpi, better, but their rough lines can already be guessed: isolate the Founder Father Manelli, to isolate him from the General Council of traditional brothers loyal to him, to isolate the "traditionalist" brothers in the periphery, and hand the leadership of the order to the dissidents; entrust the novitiates to Fathers are not in suspicion of "traditionalist"; sterilization of publications and the Franciscan writings that deal with within the Church of "controversial" topics, including: avoidance of Marian "maximalism," one "covered" rigor in moral teaching and especially any criticism, be it ever so respectful, of the Second Vatican Council, plus opening of the Order to the "ecumenical dialogue" with other religions; restriction of Vetus Ordo to special exceptions in short, the destruction the identity of the Franciscans of the Immaculate Conception, which is even worse than their removal.

If that's the "Reform", then a separation of the two souls is desirable than that they currently coexist in the Order of the Franciscans of the Immaculate Conception: on the one hand, the brothers who interpret the Second Vatican Council in the light of the Church's tradition and in this spirit have rediscovered the traditional Roman rite in all its truth and beauty, and on the other hand, those who want to reinterpret the charism of their order in the light of a conciliar progressivism. The worst thing is the confusion and identity crisis. The true guarantor of the identity of the Franciscans of the Immaculate today can therefore be none other than its founder, Father Stefano Maria Manelli, on whom falls all the responsibility of final decisions. The only one who can repeat the words, as has already happened in history: Sint ut sunt aut non sint.

Text: Corrispondenza Romana
 Introduction / Translation (From Italian to German): Giuseppe Nardi Image: Corrisdenza Romana
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com AMGD

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