Showing posts with label Father Stefano Maria Manelli. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Father Stefano Maria Manelli. Show all posts

Friday, December 6, 2013

"Total War" Against the Franciscans of the Immaculata? The Unspeakable "Blemish"

(Rome) No other order has suffered such dramatic consequences on  the change of pontificate in late winter 2013  as  the Franciscans of the ImmaculateIn July,  the Order  was placed under provisional administration by order of the Congregation for Religious  with papal approval.  Although the Order actually exactly corresponds to what Pope Francis wishes, namely evangelical poverty, missionary zeal and new evangelization, of which the  Franciscans of the Immaculate are one of  the only orders, against which the new pope has proceed with drastic measures. 

So dramatically that even a progressive Vatican expert like Marco Tosatti has now asked what should have these poor friars have only arranged, yes, done wrong, to deserve such a harsh punishment?  He could not fine an answer because he could not find a "crime", with which to  burden them. He therefore published a letter that describes the radicality with which the Order is being rebuilt. The question remains: Why did you destroy a thriving Order?

Young, Poor, Missionary and Evangelizing, but with a "Blemish" ...

The answer is in fact to look at a whole different level and observe the punished innocently. It  immediately arives at the level of intrigue. As  a cold as well as brutal coup by a minority in the Order. This was possible but only because this minority has been heard by the  Congregation for Religious  and in his  turn heard by the Pope. The Order had a major "flaw."  The "flaw" was that under the leadership and guidance of Pope Benedict XVI. they rediscovered the traditional rite and implemented it internally within the Order. The pastoral care of the Order was bi-ritual, internally it was old ritual. All in perfect accordance with the applicable rules and the canon law.
The Order is one of the few orders that have numerous vocations and can be described as a flourishing religious family in both the male and the female branches. The cons discovery of the liturgical riches of the Church makes the Franciscans of the Immaculate more to a unique phenomenon in the Catholic Church. Franciscan, missionary, flourishing and altrituell. Was unique to the Franciscans of the Immaculate, that a New Order was changing  to the Old Rite. It was a  combination that didn't only win  the Order  friends in the Vatican. With the rediscovery of the ancient liturgy,  the Order began to intensively study  the Second Vatican Council and of its examination and interpretation took place, working  in the light of the ever valid tradition.

The Order  Followed Benedict XVI. and discovered the Old Rite

A "flaw",  which was all the more serious,  because the Order had numerous vocations. A "blemish",  that certain  church circles of  little friendliness  and probably envious, did not dare to criticize under Pope Benedict XVI.. All the more uninhibited and with incredible haste they struck after his resignation. And Pope Francis gave them leave. For none of the other  orders  were effected in the change of  pontificate  more dramatically  than for the Franciscans of the Immaculate.
Let us hear so what Marco Tosatti wrote in the newspaper   La Stampa  on Wednesday:

"We received a letter from a layman who is close to the Franciscans of the Immaculate, a small Order, which is under an acting manager  (a highly debatable matter), and he complained of a special hardness posed by the new management. Based on many years of experience, we know of the cruelty in dealing with fellow brothers in church circles toward those other circles inferior to nothing. But just as Pope Francis, who signed the provisional administration, demanded in his interview with the chief editor of the Civilta  Cattolica  an attitude of Compassion 'and softness'. He was as  one of those in the Church, who entered the field hospital after a battle  and said, I see clearly that what the Church needs today is the ability to heal wounds,'  because, 'Nevertheless, there are people weary of authoritarianism '.
Each reader should decide for themselves whether in fact the  authoritarianism plays a role in the  Franciscans of the Immaculate  and arrogance among the Sisters.   What  have these  poor men done? Have they speculated in money, sexually abused minors or maintained an immoral lifestyle? So here's the letter. "

Letter from a layman who is close to the Franciscans of the Immaculate

Little is known about how things went on after the Order of the Franciscans of the Immaculate was placed under provisional administration. Therefore, a brief summary is necessary. 
After Father Stefano Maria Manelli, the worthy and pious founder of the Franciscans of the Immaculate (FI) was placed under charges that he had led the brothers away from their founding charism, without explaining this to date, of which the father is said to have concretely carried anyone away; then, the priests' celebration of the old rite was prohibited, a ban that applies to this day, and has been followed in the Order with absolute and faithful obedience; after which the brothers, who are faithful to the charism of the founding fathers, were hastily charged in summary proceedings and removed, and all those brothers who support the "new" line were promoted in the various monasteries around the world,  then  without a visible reason, the General Procurator Father Apollonio, Director of the Theological Seminary and Guardian of the Cloister Roma-Boccea was dismissed and sent to Portugal, as the Order's Superior of Florence was dismissed and sent to Austria;  then Father Settimio Manelli and Father Siano, were dismissed as Rector and Vice Rector of the Order Seminary and sent to Africa; then they were replaced by  two brothers of the "new" line, one of which does not even have  a degree; then Father Budani, who was in the middle of completing his studies of the canon law to end overnight and without possibility of completing his studies was sent to Africa; then, after Founder Father Stefano Manelli was deposed as Superior General and exiled and even though he has met all instructions and guaranteed absolute obedience, even his closest relatives are forbidden to visit him, and it is forbidden to make phone or receive phone calls and any contact with the outside world is denied to him ... after all, now it's the Apostolic Commissioner, the Capuchin Father,  Fidenzio Volpi, with the assistance of Father Alfonso Bruno, who is the new powerful man in the Order, and it's all-out war against the laity who are in continuing connection to the Order. 
By a letter dated 27 November, he forbade any activity of the lay members of the Mission Immaculate Mediatrix (MIM) and the Third Order of the Franciscans of the Immaculate (Tofi). He refused that the Tertiaries to wear their robes. 
Is it resolving alleged internal difficulties claimed f a thriving religious community with such incredible hardness and such Stalinist purges? Or  its charisma be destroyed instead, which was not only able to arouse increasing number of vocations and to attract and expand the Order on all continents, but was, until yesterday, praised and promoted by the highest ecclesiastical authorities. Just think that the now outlawed Father Manelli and Father Lanzetta, were once welcome until a few months ago by cardinals and bishops and were welcome in the columns of the Osservatore Romano Publications were even open to them.
Text: La Stampa / Giuseppe Nardi
image: Franciscans of the Immaculate
Link to Katholisches....
AMGD

Monday, September 9, 2013

Leader of the Dissidents Appointed General Secretary of the Franciscans of the Immaculate



(Rome) The Apostolic Commissioner for the Franciscans of the Immaculate has appointed Father Alfonso Bruno as the new Secretary General of the Order. With this he has completed the first step toward rebuilding the traditional Order, as the historian Roberto de Mattei feared he would, as the decision of the Congregation of Religion became known to the faithful and growing Order placed under the coming under provisional administration.

Father Fidenzio Volpi, OFM Cap was the Commissioner appointed by the Holy See, with the sole power of decision, made Father Alfonso Bruno to his right hand and highest representative of the Order on the 5th of September. The new Secretary General immediately sent a statement to all the brothers of the Order, as he announced himself, that it is the responsibility of the Secretary, the Commissioner to help "the members of the Order and to the outside" help, "to handle all correspondence sent by the Apostolic Commissione, to publish all of the minutes of meetings set by the Apostolic Commissioner, to manage the General Archives of the Order and to update the statistics. The General Secretary shall act as the sole spokesman of the Order during the period of provisional administration."

The Neapolitan Father Alfonso Bruno is 44 years old. Until July 2013, he was the head of the media office of the Order and was mainly related to some incidents there. He was responsible of his website of the Order Mediatrice.net which published some dubious articles by Mario Castellano, where it praised the government of Mario Monti and the Eurokratenstaat EU. The same Castellano is close to Father Bruno, was known elsewhere through his articles in favor of Islam and for the construction of mosques in Europe.

While the Franciscans of the Immaculate Conception actively supported March for Life in Italy and marched in it as an Order, Mediatrice.net was deathly silent in both 2012 and 2013.

The website recently published an exuberant praise of the Jesuit Paolo Dall'Oglio, who was kidnapped on 27 July 2013 by Islamists in Syria. Dall'Oglio, was murdered by Jihadists according to the report of an Arabic website on the 12th of August, but could be neither officially confirmed nor denounced accordingly, was active until his abduction in a dubious "inter-religious" role in Syria. First of all because of his self-confession as "Catholic and Muslim." Secondly, because of his call to the Syrian rebels to use chemical weapons against Assad's government soldiers.

Father Alfonso Bruno is Known for His Aversion to Traditional Catholics and the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception

Father Bruno controls the Facebook page of the Franciscans of the Immaculate. There he mainly made known the fact that he himself gladly engaged in contradiction with the general attitude of the Order. Just as the provisional government of the Order was known, not a day went by without the media-savvy religious man to publish photos of himself in all possible variations from the World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro.

His aversion traditional Catholics is also known to be raised against the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, the female religious branch, which he accused of an "intransigent" attitude. [I hope so.] It was he who,by misleading information to journalists, reported on the provisional government of the Order, which was known only to him, trying to steer in a certain direction against the Order's direction and against the Old Mass.

Father Alfonso Bruno is regarded as the real head of the then six-member dissident group who turned to the Congregation of Religious and then apparently was offered a welcome opportunity to intervene against the religious leadership. On 30 August, the most recent meeting between the Commissioner and the Apostolic Order took place with the displaced leadership. With the appointment of Father Alfonso Bruno as General Secretary and spokesman of the Order, it appears to be entering into what de Mattei predicted, that the Commissioner is according the antagonists of tradition in the Order and delivering the administration of the Order by the provisional government of the dissidents.

The leniency of the Founder with his ambitious pupil is taking a heavy toll. The picture shows Father Alfonso Bruno, who sat at the Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, with Pope Francis. The change of pontificate seems to have delivered the decisive prerequisite for the action against the Order.

"The Franciscans of the Immaculate Conception, commencing with Father Manelli, run the risk of finding themselves outside of their Order," said Corrispondenza Romana.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi image: Facebook Franciscans of the Immaculate

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com AMGD Link to katholisches....

Thursday, August 29, 2013

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

Link to katholisches...

Saturday, August 3, 2013

Feast Days For the Franciscans of the Immaculate in the Immemorial Mass of All Ages -- 12 New Novices, 16 Temporary Vows

(Rome) The last two days were hard days for the Franciscans of the Immaculate. On Thursday at the Pilgrimage sight of Mary of Good Counsel 12 new novices were vested in Frigento. The sanctuary is cared for by the Franciscans of the Immaculate.

Yesterday, Friday, 16 Franciscans made first vows. On both days, the Holy Mass was celebrated solemnly in the Traditional Rite, as has been usual internally for the order for several years. Till the 11th of August it is still possible.

The celebrant was the General of the Order, Father Gabriele Maria Pellettieri, who founded the order together with Father Stefano Maria Manelli. Father General Manelli conducted the investiture of postulants and the temporary vows of the novices.

There were still two large solemn occasions for the vibrant order before the Decree of the Congregation of Religious enters into force. The two liturgies reminiscent of past times, as now so rarely can orders absorb new members in such numbers today in Europe. They testify to the vitality of the Catholic Church, despite the rampant secularization of the world. Before the Order moved to the Old Rite upon the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum , the number of novices was lower and they even came mainly from the Philippines, where the Order began its early work. On Thursday and Friday it was noticed that the new entrants seem to all come from Europe.

Father Stefano Maria Manelli spoke with the greatest inner peace of mind to the nuns and novices. His remarks focused on the holiness of life as a nun. Nothing pointed to the dramatic intervention in the religious life of the order by the Congregation of Religious.

While the Minister General, deposed by Rome, placed wreaths on the Novices for their profession, the sister choir sang the Veni, sponsa Christi, quam tibi Dominus accipe coronam preparavit in aeternum .

Requests for permission to be allowed to celebrate in the future in the Old Rite have to be judged for each individual priest and each community separately says the Apostolic Commissioner. Whether these can be addressed directly above or have the permission of Rome (which location?) must obtain, is unclear. There are, nevertheless, that a large part of the Order that still wants, despite these rules, to continue the Old Rite hold and to make such requests.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
 Image: Franciscans of the Immaculate
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMGD

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Where 2 + 2 is still 4 and not 5, Is the Serious Attack Against Tradition

Edit: update from the Franciscans Immaculate themselves, apparently. Others are reading between the tortured explanations and rationalizations to get a clearer picture. Man, all we can say is that it's a good thing that they didn't try to offer a GLBT Puppet Liturgy with Inter-faith Communion. We have also learned, that another mouthpiece has offered at Neoconservative Catholic News Network, an explanation that there are divisive problems within the Monastery. He's deeply concerned about the "Lefebvrist" sentiments of some of the brothers and sisters. For our part, we'll be working on a translation of Roberto de Matthei's take:

(Rome), the Franciscans of the Immaculate are trying to cope with the new situation. To contradict this publicly, is prohibited by the duty of obedience. So from this side, there will be no contradiction heard. The signal that is being sent, from these measures against tradition, is but negative and severe. The well-intentioned or naive attempts at damage control which have just begun, as the scattered opponents of tradition or notorious Pope-idolaters set up smoke candles ("A decree for an internal cleavage of a religious congregation"). Even some in traditional circles are trying to ban their own cares through excuses ("it's not about the Old Mass, it probably applies only to the Order"). But if 2 + 2 is still 4 and not 5, it is the measure of unambiguous clarity. Because the fact is that the decree allows no appeal and that the decision dealing internally with the order to only use the Old Rite was not abrogated by choice, but imposed the New Rite with possible individual exemptions. Imagine the opposite for a better understanding, that Rome would impose the Old Rite instead of constraining the New Rite. Whose incomprehension would then prevail?

Katholisches.info discussion will publish several articles on the topic. The first is by the well-known historian Roberto de Mattei with his contribution, the "Causa" of the Franciscans of the Immaculate ( see article forthcoming) . It will be followed by the traditional blog Cordialter, here:

Ad Deum distillate oculus meus - For the sufferings of Father Manelli

There is much to think about what has happened to the so pious and zealous founder Father Stefano Maria Manelli, a spiritual son of the Congregation of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate founded by St Pio of Pietrelcina. I think that this topic has been talked about in traditional circles for a long time.

Reading the last decree issued to the religious congregation on July 11th, notice that it is not forbidden the brothers to celebrate Holy Mass according to the Old Rite, but it is arranged for them to explicitly seek the competent authorities for permission. [I don't think this is true.] So if in a convent, the brothers should decide to continue to want to celebrate the traditional Mass, it will be sufficient to obtain the consent and all will be well. However, what I would like to know in which ecclesiastical authority they will have to request permission: at the religious congregation, the diocesan Bishop, the Apostolic Commissioner or at the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei? Nothing is written in the Decree.

The currently applicable ecclesiastical law that clarifies the issue, is the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, which allows religious priests also to celebrate the traditional Mass without permission from anyone. Since the restriction of the application of the Motu Proprio Comes from the Congregation of Religious, I suppose it will be the Congregation, the brothers must give approval. I hope that the Franciscans of the Immaculate will not be put off, but make applications to continue to celebrate the Tridentine Mass, especially on Sundays and Holidays. When two or three Sunday Masses are celebrated in one of their churches, I think it will not be a problem, if at least one of these Masses will continue to be celebrated in the Old Rite.

I also hope that someone will continue to celebrate in the monasteries of cloistered nuns of the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate more Antiquo Liturgies. If it should not be the brothers who offer it, I hope that at least diocesan priests or priests from other institutions will offer their readiness to do so.

But Father Manelli, how will he have received the news of his dismissal? I think he will do it by the example of his spiritual father, St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, i.e., with Christian resignation. In the difficult moments you can tell if someone really is a disciple of Jesus Christ, and I am convinced that Father Stefano will take this situation as a true Christian and a true follower of St. Francis, of St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe to the Immaculate. It may be that he uses this opportunity to offer up his suffering, so that soon the Dogma of the Blessed Virgin Mother of God can be proclaimed as Co-Redemptrix of humanity and Universal Mediatrix of all Graces.

Text: Cordialiter

Introduction / Translation: Giuseppe Nardi Image: Franciscans of the Immaculate Translation in English: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

AMGD

Monday, July 29, 2013

Second Largest Traditional Order in Ecclesia Dei Banned from Saying Immemorial Mass of All Ages

Update: while it does sadden us to see such heavy-handedness on the part of the Curia, which is frankly happening to other traditional orders, like the Good Shepherd, it doesn't necessarily mean an abrogation of Summorum Pontificum as Vox points out.

Edit:   Is this a sign of things to come?  There are also reports from Mumbai, India that the Traditional Latin Mass will be abolished in that Archdiocese, allegedly because there are no priests proficient in Latin.

As reported by at Sandro Magister and Rorate Caeli, the Mass of All Ages is being forbidden within the tremendously successful Franciscans of the Immaculate.  They are the second largest Society under Ecclesia Dei to offer the Mass of All Ages.  They don't offer it exclusively, and from now on, it appears they may not be allowed to offer it at all as of August 11th:
"In addition to the above, the Holy Father Francis has directed that every religious of the congregation of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate is required to celebrate the liturgy according to the ordinary rite and that, if the occasion should arise, the use of the extraordinary form (Vetus Ordo) must be explicitly authorized by the competent authorities, for every religious and/or community that makes the request.”
It's not known whether giant puppets, bad folk music or Jesuit dance will be required.

There are a couple of things that come to mind in the face of the recent issue with the Franciscans of the Immaculate.  First of all, and most important to our mind, is that, barring any revelations of real wrongdoing on the part of this order, they have had a lot of success and have been growing nearly exponentially in the post-Conciliar age.

It's actually unheard of.  They're not like any of the decadent, moribund, withering, archaic, folksy, dinosaur Benedictines or other irrelevant societies who cling to fossilized forms of a bygone era of the 1968 as Pope Francis opined at World Youth Day, from CFN:
"The Pelagian solution. This basically appears as a form of restorationism. In dealing with the Church’s problems, a purely disciplinary solution is sought, through the restoration of outdated manners and forms which, even on the cultural level, are no longer meaningful. In Latin America it is usually to be found in small groups, in some new religious congregations, in (exaggerated) tendencies to doctrinal or disciplinary 'safety'. Basically it is static, although it is capable of inversion, in a process of regression. It seeks to 'recover' the lost past."
In a way, it's a good sign that they are being unjustly persecuted, because in the post-Conciliar Church, a sure sign of success is being treated unjustly by one's superiors.   Of course, as one corresponded reports, not even the evil Marciel Maciel's   order, the Legionaries of Christ has been dealt with so roughly.  The Franciscans of the Immaculate are being assigned a governing board and the past leadership, those who have made the order as successful as it is.

Secondly, this is the result of a small clique of embittered hostiles who've been given an ear in Rome, which has provoked this shakeup.  It brings to mind another shakeup more than a decade ago with Protocal 1411, which many predicted back then, would be the end of the FSSP.  Some will remember that a letter was sent from a small number of society members accusing it of being divisive, rigid and so forth, which provoked a ruling down from Rome that despite the Society's original founding charter, that its priests would only say the Mass of All Ages, that this would be overruled and priests of the Society would therto be permitted to say the Bugninine Liturgy.

At present, Father Stefano Maria Manelli, the 80 year old Franciscans of the Immaculate founder, is currently being replaced along with his board while a Capuchin visitor.

The troublemakers are said by a source known to us as being Americans who've been vocally critical of the "Gheradini line" of loyal criticism engaged upon by Immaculate members.


Thursday, May 2, 2013

Father Stefano Maria Manelli is 80 -- Successful History of the Franciscans of the Immaculata: Traditional and Missionary

Edit: you mean you can be Franciscan and still have magnificent and beautiful Liturgy?


Father Stefano Maria Manelli 80 - History of the Franciscans of the Immaculate Conception: altrituell and missionary

(Rome) On the 1st of May Father Stefano Maria Manelli, the Superior General and founder of the Franciscans of the Immaculate (FFI) turned 80.

As the year gathered together yesterday,  members of the Order founded by Father Manelli and organizations associated with the Marian Shrine of Our Lady of Good Counsel in Frigento Campania gathered in southern Italy, where the mother house of  the male religious branch is located. The brothers and sisters thanked and asked the Lord in prayer through the intercession of Mary Immaculate for their religious father.

The religious family founded by Father Stefano Maria is one of the success stories traditionally associated in the Catholic Church and represents a most remarkable success story. The Franciscans of the Immaculate have adopted the traditional rite five years ago after a long journey of preparation. International orders will be maintained the entire liturgy in the Tridentine rite. They keep the Franciscan-Marian spirit with their evangelical radicalism including poverty, which Pope Francis supports, but - and this is something special - in the Old Rite. Unlike other traditional communities  the Franciscans of the Immaculate are engaged in traditional missionary work. The Great Commission is a constitutive element of their charism; they go out of their cloisters, seek direct contact with the people who are on the front line in the defense of non-negotiable values and use their apostolate in the modern media and means of communication.

Father Stefano Maria marked by Padre Pio of Pietrelcina and Father Maximilian Kolbe

Its founder, Father Stefano Maria Manelli, was born on 1 May 1933, in what was then Fiume, Italy, and today is the Croatian town of Rijeka on the upper Adriatic. He was the sixth of 21 children. His parents, the servants of God Settimio Manelli and Licia Gualandris, have had their beatification process begun on 20 December 2010. The spiritual leader of the family was the holy Capuchin, Padre Pio of Pietrelcina. From him, the young Stefano received his first Holy Communion in 1938.

The family had moved into the southern Italian province of Apulia, where Padre Pio lived.  Stefano was visited from the 8th December 1945 at the age of 12 years, the minor seminary of Cupertino. He entered the Friars Minor, and took simple vows on 4 October 1949, which on 27 May 1954 was followed by solemn perpetual vows.

On 30 October 1955 he was consecrated at Christ the King, a particularly precious feast to him as a priest.

Dissertation on the Immaculate Conception - Back to the Franciscan Sources

1960 PhD Father Stefano received his doctorate at the Seraphicum, the Pontifical Faculty of Theology in Rome, with a thesis on the Immaculate Conception. The work explains the choice of his community's name.  He then followed by teaching Patristics and Mariology at the convent's seminaries at the Archdiocesan Seminary of Benevento and the Institute of Religious Sciences of Avellino. From 1982-1988 Father Stefano Maria was twice provincial of the Order of Friars Minor of the Province of Naples.

Around 1965 began a gradual rediscovery and long observation of the Franciscan sources and the writings of the Holy Father Maximilian Kolbe for him.

The call of the Second Vatican Council, to return to the sources of religious renewal and adjust the proclamation of faith to the changed circumstances of the time, knew Father Stefano Maria as reputation in the footsteps of the Founder Francis of Assisi completely Franciscan life after the example of Saint Maximilian Kolbe to lead the John Paul II as "St. Francis of the 20th Century "called.

In 1970 the new Franciscan-Marian Journey - 1990 Order of founding

On 24 December 1969  Father Stefano Maria and his brother, Father Gabriele Maria Pellettieri asked the Superior General of the Friars Minor for the permission to lead a renewed, more rigorous Franciscan life, which was tied into the foundation . A Franciscan-Marian manner of life they called the "Marian traces of Franciscan life." The result was in the first Marian House in August 1970 at the Marian Shrine of Our Lady of Good Counsel in Avellino Frigento.

Over the years, the two brothers grew more and more  inspired by the ideal of evangelical radicalism. This increase, the special charism, the consolidation of a particular manner of life, and others opposing trends in parts of the Mother house led the Order, after 20 years on 22 June 1990, to the establishment of a separate order. The Church's recognition of diocesan right was professed in a corresponding decision by Pope John Paul II, through the Archbishop of Benevento, Monsignor Carlo Minchiatti. On 1 January 1998 the recognition of the Order was established by papal law. A special feature has been added to the three traditional religious vows poverty, chastity and obedience, a fourth vow, the unconditional consecration to the Immaculate Virgin Mother of God.

On 1 November 1982 Father Stefano Maria and Father Gabriele Maria, founded the first community of Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate in Novaliches, Philippines. The female branch, which was passed in its inception phase was led by Father Gabriele Maria Pellettieri, lives according to the same Franciscan-Marian ideal of the brothers. Today there are more than 50 branches of the Franciscan Sisters on all continents. The Order has more than 350 sisters.

In 2006  the youngest of the family followed with the Order of Poor Clares, a contemplative branch of the Immaculate Conception, which includes today four cloistered convents with more than 40 sisters.

Franciscans and Franciscan The Lay Association of the Immaculate Conception

8 September 1990 there followed alongside the male and female religious branch, the establishment of a lay association, the Mission of the Immaculate Mediatrix (MIM). The laity living the religious ideals in their respective state and various stages of Consecration to the Immaculate Virgin Mother of God (Missionaries of the Immaculate Conception with consecration, Missionaries of the Immaculate Conception with a private vow as Franciscan Tertiaries of the Immaculate Conception).

2008, the General Chapter undertooktook the decision to return as a community to the traditional form of the Roman Rite rehabilitated by Pope Benedict XVI.  in the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum as an extraordinary form of the Roman Rite and returned to the Church.

Monastery in Kitzbühel - In the German areas living life connected to  a religious tradition is no easier

In the German-speaking world, a monastery of the Franciscans of the Immactulate, was founded in 2002 in Kitzbühel in Tyrol. The then Archbishop of Salzburg, Georg Eder, gave the Order the abandoned Capuchin convent.

Not all of the young religious received the same favorable reception. Being connected to a religious tradition is not so easy for the Franciscans in the areas where German is spoken. Two other monasteries  founded were thwarted by the resistance of the local churches.

The Franciscans of the Immaculate showed interest in 2007 in taking over  the Franciscan monastery of San Candido, South Tyrol, which was rejected by the then Bishop of Bolzano-Bressanone, the Capuchin Wilhelm Egger.  Since 2012, the monastery has remained empty.

In 2010 the Capuchin monastery on the Ried im Innkreis dissolved their last monastery in Upper Austria. Again, the Franciscans of the Immaculate were interested in the takeover of the monastery. "These and other rumors are their concern," the newspaper of the Diocese of Linz immediately wrote. Because of internal resistance in the Church, the order was denied even this branch. In contrast to San Candido, the monastery in Ried is at least not yet empty. In 2012 it was purchased by an Indian Carmelites. Other members of the order were established in Kerala in 1831 by the Congregation of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate, are also Indian

The Franciscans of the Immaculate are now represented on all five continents. The order counts all together, some 650 members of religious orders have stirred an increase in vocations. They promote the Tridentine Rite and go to the street and around the world as missionaries.

Since 23 June 1990  Father Stefano Maria Manelli has been Minister General of the Franciscans of the Immaculate, whose Generalate is in Rome.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Franciscans of the Immaculate / Vocazione religiosa
Trans: Tancred

Link to kath.net...