The Validity of Confessions and Marriages
in the chapels of the Society of St. Pius X

A CANONICAL STUDY

by Rev. Ramón Anglés

FOREWORD

I still can see him. Who could ever forget him? Taking a pinch of fragrant snuff with the superb refinement of an English lord, the Rev. Dr. Thomas Glover, dressed in his immaculate cassock, towered above a class of young students of Theology at the International Seminary of Saint Pius X, in Ecône, Switzerland.

Invariably hieratic and inscrutable during the somnolent early afternoon hours, the seminarians’ faces reflected for once an unusual variety of sentiments, going intermittently from pious timidity to utter panic. It was their first encounter with the Codex Iuris Canonici, the imposing volume which collects the two-thousand four hundred and fourteen Canons which regulate the discipline of the Catholic Church, all of it written in Latin.

It was in Latin as well that Doctor Glover was about to deliver his first lecture in Canon Law, at the beginning of the academic year. Well aware of the prevalent emotions of the audience, predominantly distressed, his first comforting words were: "Nolite timere! Codex vere est amicus vester!" "Do not be afraid! The Code is truly your friend."

I fondly recall this anecdote of my Seminary years, because the words of Doctor Glover have proven to be perfectly true. The study and the knowledge of Canon Law have permitted me never to find myself in a vulnerable position, when the moment has come to explain and to justify in the juridical domain the position and the actions of the Society of Saint Pius X. The law of Holy Mother Church is indeed our friend and guide in the present crisis.

This study on the validity of the confessions heard by our priests and of the matrimonies which they bless regularly in our chapels throughout the world has been prompted by the recent attacks of a group founded by a few priests who abandoned Archbishop Lefebvre after the Episcopal Consecrations of June 30, 1988. It appears that, in their understandable eagerness to please the Modernist hierarchy upon which they fully depend, the members of this faction not only declare invalid the absolutions given by our priests, and null and void the marriages we witness, but they have encouraged and attempted to "remarry" the couples who have already contracted matrimony in our chapels. I would not be surprised if soon we hear about instances in which our former faithful are being allowed sacrilegiously to proceed to a new marriage with a different party, on the false grounds that their previous wedding ceremony in our chapel was an invalid one. I believe that the peace of mind of the faithful and the sanctity of the Sacrament of marriage require an immediate reply.

I do not intend to write a treatise on the power of jurisdiction in the Church; there are many erudite ones already available in the ecclesiastical libraries. The simple goal of my work is to demonstrate, with canonical arguments, the validity of the confessions and marriages in our chapels of the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X. May the Speculum Iustitiae, the Mother of God, Mother of the Church and our Mother, help me to serve such purpose with the following pages which I dedicate to her Immaculate and Sorrowful Heart.

N.B. I have been told by some kind readers that I have used too many quotations and texts in Latin, making it difficult to follow some of the arguments without understanding the language. I can only say that this study was not meant originally to be printed and available to the public; it is the result of a series of conferences given to priests, who are familiar not only with the Latin language but also with canonical doctrine and methodology. Thank you for your understanding.