“The teachings of the fathers are despised, the apostolic traditions are ignored, and the churches are filled with the inventions of innovators. The shepherds have been driven out, and in their place they bring in ravening wolves to tear apart the flock of Christ.”—St. Basil of Caesarea, in 372. A.D.
“Thus the paradoxical situation arises: in order that the Bride of Christ, the Church, may be preserved from amnesia, from a loss of memory, Catholics faithful to tradition will now have to prove themselves as counter-revolutionaries, conservative faithful will have to assume the role of rebels, in order to be themselves ultimately found to be, before the judgment of history and above all in the eyes of God, the true and only, guardians of tradition, who really deserve this name.” —Dr. Michael Fiedrowicz, a German priest from the archdiocese of Berlin who is an expert on Church history and liturgy, especially the history and theology of the old Latin Mass, in the final lines of the essay republished below
Letter #97, 2021, Tuesday, August 31: True Guardians