What is the Society of St Pius X? - Episode 01 - SSPX FAQ Videos

In this introduction to our series presenting the Society of St. Pius X, we start from the beginning: what is the Society? When was it founded? What is its spirit? Before delving into the specific differences that set apart the Society from other Catholic religious congregations, we give the basic information which future videos will build upon.

In this video, we’re going to answer the question, “What is the Society of Saint Pius X?” The Society of St. Pius X is an international priestly society, whose purpose is to train and support priests so that they may effectively spread the Catholic faith throughout the world. The Society of Saint Pius X was founded in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in the diocese of Fribourg, Switzerland, adhering to all canonical norms, receiving the blessing and encouragement of the local bishop. The spirit of the Society of Saint Pius X is essentially apostolic; it was designed by its founder to operate much like a missionary order, spreading the faith far and wide. This apostolate is today especially necessary considering the spread of atheism, agnosticism, and religious indifference. The Society of Saint Pius X, to this end, seeks to draw souls closer to Christ primarily through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, as well as through its preaching, its schools, its seminaries, and its spiritual retreat houses. All this can be summed up in Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre’s motto: “We have believed in charity,” that is, in the love of Christ. The Society of Saint Pius X was born in the Church at the start of a dramatic Crisis following the new orientation given by the Second Vatican Council. In front of an increasing confusion the Society of Saint Pius X offers to simply remain faithful to what the Church has always done in the past, the Latin Traditional Mass and Sacraments, the Traditional Catechism, the morality of the Ten Commandments, the attachment to the Roman Pontiff as successor of Peter. As Archbishop Lefebvre appealed to Catholics: “It is necessary that we undertake a crusade, a crusade which is based precisely upon these notions of immutability, of sacrifice, in order to recreate Christianity, to re-establish a Christendom such as the Church desires, such as She has always done, with the same principles, the same Sacrifice of the Mass, the same sacraments, the same catechism, the same Holy Scripture. We must recreate this Christendom!” The future of the Church is in its Tradition.