Special 40 years of the SSPX : Interview with Fr. Du Chalard

“For the love of the eternal Rome”

Fr. Emmanuel du Chalard (on the extreme right on the picture) arrived at Ecône 40 years ago, almost to the day.  Now stationed in Italy, where he has spent the entirety of his priestly ministry, this priest, who was master of ceremonies during his time at the seminary, goes back over the early days of the Society of St. Pius X, the teaching of Archbishop Lefebvre and the reception his work has received in Rome.

What year did you enter at Ecône?  How had you heard of the Society of St. Pius X?  How did it happen that this choice seemed necessary to you?

In the beginning of September 1970, I arrived at Ecône as a seminarian, and there were eleven of us candidates, including Fr. Patrick Groche, for the opening of this first year of spirituality.  At the time, one did not yet speak of the Society of St. Pius X, but for those who were thinking about a vocation, the problem was ho to find a serious seminary in which they could be formed.  My bishop, Bishop Michon, advised  against the seminary of Orleans, which was responsible for his diocese of Chartres, for they were losing the faith there… Coming from a profoundly Christian family, there were connections between my parents and the Catholic City, the Congress of Lausanne, and also the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius.  At home, we had subscriptions to Itinéraire, L’Homme Nouveau…

It was in these circles that I first heard of Archbishop Lefebvre’s plan to open a seminary.  I must admit that when I entered at Ecône, I was completely ignorant of what the future held, be it the very existence of the Society, its development in the world, or the difficulties that would arise with the Holy See.

During these founding years, what were the relations between Archbishop Lefebvre and the seminarians?

If it is true that Archbishop Lefebvre was a bishop, for us in the beginning he was above all a true father, always taking care to ensure for us a good priestly formation, but also attentive to all the little material details, in order that the seminary might be a setting that would allow a life of recollection, prayer and study.  He was a born organizer, and nothing in our daily life escaped him.  Above all, he was an example for us; when he was at the seminary, he followed the rule, the schedule, and the offices, and he took his meals and recreations with us.  And of course we looked forward to his spiritual conferences with great interest.  That was when he would give us updates on his interviews with the bishops or Roman prelates.  Always at our disposition, to receive us and listen to us, we could thus speak freely with him in his office.  Throughout all these years spent at Ecône, where difficulties from both within and without were not wanting, what was the most striking was the calm and serenity that His Excellency always preserved.

In 1976 there came what they called “the heated summer”: Archbishop Lefebvre was declared suspens a divinis by Rome.  Were you not tempted to leave the Society of St. Pius X?  What reasons brought you to continue your studies in spite of so many troubles?

“The heated summer” did not arrive unexpectedly.  Since 1974 we had already experienced important events that had prepared us not only for these sad and painful condemnations, but especially to understand better the gravity of the Church’s situation and the incompatibility between the reforms coming from Vatican II, and fidelity to Tradition.  In November 1974, there was the canonical visit of Bishop Descamps and Bishop Onclin, sent by Rome, who scandalized us with their modernist comments.  Then, in Rome, there was the meeting between Archbishop Lefebvre and Cardinals Garonne, Wright and Tabera in February 1975.  And the conclusion of this meeting was, according to them, that the famous declaration of November 21, 1974 (1) “seemed unacceptable on all points”.

The years ‘74 through ‘76 were of a capital importance for an understanding of the position of Archbishop Lefebvre and of the Society of St. Pius X.  At the time, Jean Madiran rendered us a priceless service with the publication of “La condamnation sauvage de Mgr. Lefebvre” (“The Savage Condemnation of Ab. Lefebvre”) in the magazine Itinéraire.  Archbishop Lefebvre had always taught us and transmitted to us a great love for the Roman Church.  It is this love for Rome that made us prefer to remain faithful to Tradition and undergo with sorrow and pain the condemnations of the men of the Church imbued with modernism.  Archbishop Lefebvre told us: “We are condemned by those who ought to encourage the work of the Society”.  He also added: “The day will come when Rome will thank us for our resistance”.

You were master of ceremonies at Ecône.  As such you were by Archbishop Lefebvre’s side when he celebrated the Mass.  What was the importance of the traditional Mass and liturgy in his combat for the Church?

I must admit that it was with Archbishop Lefebvre that I discovered all the meaning of the Mass and its importance, even though I had been going to daily Mass for years.  His Excellency celebrated the Holy Mass perfectly, that is to say, he conformed himself perfectly to the liturgy of the Roman Church: nothing singular, nothing that was particularly his.  The ceremonies were for us the most beautiful and most intense moments of seminary life.  He knew how to give us a taste for the holy liturgy.  And then, through his sermons and conferences on the Mass, he was able to show us how the Holy Sacrifice is the heart of the Church and how all our apostolate must be built around the altar.  One the great services he has rendered to the Church is certainly that of having transmitted to future generations this love for the Holy Mass.

Since your ordination, you have been stationed in Italy, and very often in Rome.  How is the work of Archbishop Lefebvre seen, 40 years after its foundation, by the priests and faithful that you have been able to encounter?  Have you felt an evolution?

Before answering this question, allow me to express my personal thoughts on Archbishop Lefebvre.  The more time passes, the more we must recognize that this prelate was an absolutely exceptional man of the Church and is among the greatest reformers that the Church has had in the course of her history.  A bishop of a boundless faith, that brought him to a veritable martyrdom for the love of Eternal Rome.  Who can doubt his romanity?  Certain decisions that he had to make were for him an immolation of his person for the good of the Church.  For those who knew him, it is out of the question for him to have had at heart any other interest but the good of the Church and the salvation of souls.  And the collapse of the Church today and the vitality of Tradition certainly show that he was right a hundred times over.

How was His Excellency seen at Rome?  He always aroused in many a certain admiration because of his prodigious ecclesiastical career and for his absolute selflessness.  Today, although many know him only through the written press and television, I must admit that there is an ever-growing interest in his person and his work.  This comes from the ever more obvious and catastrophic collapse of the structures of the Church: the closing of seminaries and convents, the decrease in vocations, the weaker and weaker  practice of religion…, and also from the fact that, in Tradition, there is a growing vitality (vocations, full parishes, large families, a firm faith, etc).  This contrast cannot but make those who want truly to serve the Church think.  Another fact to be taken into account in the tableau of today’s Church is that many ecclesiastics lack formation, not because they have not studied much, but because many fundamental elements of the traditional doctrine have not been transmitted to them.

Two important acts of the present pontificate have aroused a lively interest in Tradition: the Motu Proprio in favor of the traditional Mass and the lifting of the “excommunications”.  Since then, there has certainly been a desire discover Archbishop Lefebvre and his work.  For proof, take the two publishers that recently published and continue to publish the works of Archbishop Lefebve: the famous Marietti of Turin that published in Italian “Priestly Sanctity”, which can be found in French in the Clovis editions, and should publish “The Mass of All Times” shortly.  Likewise, Sugarco editions published another life of Archbishop Lefebvre, written by Cristina Siccardi, which has interested a vast public.  And within the next few weeks a volume containing a selection of the archbishop’s texts will be available.  To find today in so-called Catholic bookstore windows “Priestly Sanctity” or the life of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre is certainly an important sign.

On the same topic :

Special 40 years of the SSPX : The Purpose of the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X
Special 40 years of the SSPX : Interview with Father Franz Schmidberger