Society of Saint Pius V
Societas Sacerdotalis Sancti Pii Quinti | |
| Abbreviation | SSPV |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1983 |
| Type | Traditionalist Catholic religious congregation |
| Headquarters | Norwood, Ohio, United States |
Superior General | William Jenkins[1][2] |
Key people |
|
| Website | sspv.org |
The Society of Saint Pius V (SSPV; Latin: Societas Sacerdotalis Sancti Pii Quinti) is a Traditionalist Catholic society of priests, formed in 1983, and based in Norwood, Ohio, United States.[2] It is not recognised in any way by the Catholic Church and holds views considered heretical by the Catholic Church. The society's original headquarters was in Oyster Bay Cove, New York.[2] The society broke away from the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) over liturgical issues.
The SSPV regards the questions of the legitimacy of the present Catholic Church hierarchy and the possibility that the Holy See is unoccupied to be unresolved, and that the SSPV itself lacks the authority to resolve the question. The society was headed by one of its co-founders, Bishop Clarence Kelly, until his death on December 2, 2023. It is named after Pope Pius V, who promulgated the Tridentine Mass.
History
[edit]Founding
[edit]
The SSPV was created from a schism within the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), itself a schismatic organization founded in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. In 1983, Lefebvre expelled four American priests (Clarence Kelly, Daniel Dolan, Anthony Cekada, and Eugene Berry) from the society, partly because they were opposed to his instructions that Mass be celebrated according to the 1962 Roman Missal issued by John XXIII.
These priests plus five other sympathetic priests refused to accept Lefebvre's insistence on the 1962 Missal even though they were aware of his position before they were ordained.[citation needed] It was their opinion that it included departures from the liturgical traditions of the church (for example, inserting the name of Saint Joseph after that of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Canon of the Mass).
These nine priests set up a new priestly society under the leadership of Kelly. The other eight priests were Thomas Zapp, Donald Sanborn, Anthony Cekada, Daniel Dolan, William Jenkins, Eugene Berry, Joseph Collins, and Martin Skierka. Additional priests joined shortly thereafter.
Splits
[edit]Within a few years, there was yet another schism. This time, about half the original nine SSPV priests separated from Kelly. Most of them formed an openly sedevacantist group, "Catholic Restoration", under the leadership of Dolan and Sanborn. The other priests founded independent ministries.
Cekada states[3] that this resulted from the SSPV's intrinsic distrust of a centralized authority as existed in the SSPX, which makes the latter vulnerable to being "subverted with one stroke of a pen" to the Vatican. Rather than independent congregations being a weakness and something to be lamented, Cekada considers all such groups and priests taken together preferable to the SSPX, which has continued to hold negotiations with Rome and uses the 1962 Missal.
Episcopal orders
[edit]On 19 October 1993, Kelly was illicitly consecrated a bishop in Carlsbad, California, United States, by retired Bishop Alfredo Méndez-Gonzalez. Kelly's consecration was only announced after Méndez's death in 1995.
Structures
[edit]The SSPV currently has five permanent priories, and its priests serve a network of chapels, churches, and temporary Mass locations in 14 US states (as of 2023[update]) and one Canadian province (Alberta).[4][5] It operates only in North America.
Superiors general
[edit]- Clarence Kelly (1983–2023)
- William Jenkins (2024–)
Associated religious communities
[edit]The Daughters of Mary, Mother of Our Savior are a congregation of religious sisters founded by Kelly in 1984. Their congregation's motherhouse and novitiate are located in Round Top, New York, United States, in the Catskill Mountains area. The sisters have two additional houses in Melville, New York, and White Bear Lake, Minnesota, where they run schools, and engage in other types of charity work, such as visiting nursing homes. The current mother general is Mother Mary Bosco.
The Congregation of Saint Pius V (CSPV) is a Society of Common Life for priests and coadjutor brothers, founded by Bishop Kelly in 1996. The CSPV was formed to provide a canonical structure for the incardination of priests and the affiliation of religious. The congregation operates Immaculate Heart Seminary in Round Top, New York, for its candidates, under the direction of Bishop James Carroll, CSPV. The seminary's graduates are ordained by Bishop Carroll, Bishop Santay, or Bishop Kelly. As of 2022, the CSPV has two bishops, eleven priests, and five brothers.[6]
References
[edit]- ^ Souls created for hell? "Kingdom of God"? Orthodox deny "the Keys". Church & faithless pope. Retrieved 16 September 2024 – via rumble.com.
- ^ a b c "The Bulletin of the Society of St. Pius V - September 2024" (PDF). www.dropbox.com. Retrieved 9 October 2024.
- ^ Rev. Anthony Cekada, The Nine vs. Lefebvre: We Resist You To Your Face (2008), p. 14. http://www.traditionalmass.org/images/articles/NineVLefebvre.pdf
- ^ "Bulletin IHM-Church, Black Eagle, Montana". www.ihm-church.org. Retrieved 27 July 2023.
- ^ Society & Congregation of Saint Pius V Mass Locations.
- ^ Congregation of Saint Pius V (CSPV). Christmas 2022 Immaculata.
