Saint Anthony’s Priory

What is the Society of Saint Pius X?

The Society of St. Pius X

The Priestly Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) is a society of Catholic priests founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. It was canonically erected by the diocesan bishop of Fribourg, Switzerland, on November 1, 1970.

The SSPX’s main objective is the formation of holy priests. These priests are given to the Church for the sanctification of souls by employing the means that the Church has always used:

  • The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, specifically the 'Mass of All Time'
  • The preaching of the Catholic Faith and traditional Catholic morals
  • The conferring of grace by the administration of the sacraments of the Catholic Church
  • The running of Catholic schools where children are formed to be strong Catholics and lovers of Our Lord and His Church

A Growing Religious Society

The history of the SSPX, like the history of the Catholic Church, is a beautiful mystery. Like the Church, the SSPX continues to grow despite many setbacks and uncertainties. From its humble origins, the SSPX has grown exponentially and today proclaims the Faith throughout the world.

As of August 2022, the SSPX counted three bishops, 707 priests, 123 religious Brothers, 200 Sisters, and 79 Oblates, spread out in 14 districts ('provinces') and five autonomous houses, living in 167 priories in 37 countries and having a presence in another 35 countries, serving 772 Mass centers and managing more than 100 schools, two university-level institutes, and seven nursing homes. In its five international seminaries, there were 204 seminarians and 56 pre-seminarians.

The SSPX also provides support and assistance to other religious communities associated with it— Benedictine monks and nuns, Carmelite Sisters, Capuchins and Poor Clares, Franciscan Sisters, teaching and contemplative Dominican Sisters, missionary Sisters in India, and Eastern Rite religious institutes in Ukraine and Latvia, to name a few.

Archbishop Lefebvre, the SSPX's Founder

A missionary priest, Archbishop of Dakar, Apostolic Delegate of the Holy See for French-speaking Africa, Superior General of the Holy Ghost Fathers, a member of the preparatory commission of the Second Vatican Council, and finally, founder of the Society of St. Pius X, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre is a great figure in the history of the Church. He was the only bishop in the world (until joined in 1983 by Bishop Antonio de Castro Mayer of Brazil) to publicly denounce the revolutionary spirit of the Second Vatican Council and oppose the New Mass and the post-conciliar reforms. “We continue in the Church, as did our predecessors, our parents, and our ancestors.” (Archbishop Lefebvre, June 1983)

Archbishop Lefebvre was distinguished by extraordinary zeal, organizational ability, and a generous, courteous nature. He passed away in peace on March 25, 1991, assured that he had fulfilled his duty as a Catholic bishop: A Growing Religious Society The history of the SSPX, like the history of the Catholic Church, is a beautiful mystery. Like the Church, the SSPX continues to grow despite many setbacks and uncertainties.

From its humble origins, the SSPX has grown exponentially and today proclaims the Faith throughout the world. As of August 2022, the SSPX counted three bishops, 707 priests, 123 religious Brothers, 200 Sisters, and 79 Oblates, spread out in 14 districts (“provinces”) and five autonomous houses, living in 167 priories in 37 countries and having a presence in another 35 countries, serving 772 Mass centers and managing more than 100 schools, two universitylevel institutes, and seven nursing homes. In its five international seminaries, there were 204 seminarians and 56 pre-seminarians.

The SSPX also provides support and assistance to other religious communities associated with it— Benedictine monks and nuns, Carmelite Sisters, Capuchins and Poor Clares, Franciscan Sisters, teaching and contemplative Dominican Sisters, missionary Sisters in India, and Eastern Rite religious institutes in Ukraine and Latvia, to name a few. “I have transmitted to you what I have received.”

The SSPX Superior General

Rev. Fr. Davide Pagliarani, born in Italy in 1970, entered the SSPX seminary in 1989 and was ordained in 1996. Fr. Pagliarani ministered in Rimini (1996-2003) before being transferred to Singapore (2003-06). He was Superior of the District of Italy (2006-12) and later rector of the SSPX Seminary in Argentina (2012-18).

On July 11th, 2018, the General Chapter of the SSPX elected Fr. Pagliarani as the Superior General for twelve years.

“The Society is a work of God, and the more we discover it, the more we love it. Two things strike me most in discovering the Society’s labors. Firstly, the providential character of the Society: it is the result of choices and decisions of a saint, guided only by a supernatural and ‘prophetic’ prudence, whose wisdom we appreciate even more as the years go by and as the crisis in the Church gets worse. Secondly, I have been able to see that we are not some privileged people, whom God has spared: He sanctifies all our members and our faithful through failures, trials, disappointments, and in a nutshell, through the Cross—and not by any other means.” (Interview, Dec. 28, 2018)

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is truly our Flag and our Standard

“There is also one last thing that the Society must obtain, and this is crucial. We want this Mass, not only for ourselves, but we want it for the Universal Church. We do not want simply a side altar in the Church. Nor do we want the right to enter with our banner into an amphitheater where everything else is also permitted. Certainly not! We want this Mass for ourselves and at the same time for everyone. It is not a little privilege that we want. This Mass is a right for us and for all souls, without exception. This is how the Society of Saint Pius X is, and will continue to be, an active part of the Catholic Church. That is because it aims at the good of the Church. The Society does not aim at obtaining a particular privilege. Obviously, Divine Providence will choose the moment, the modalities, the graduality and the circumstances, but as far as we are concerned, we want this Mass and we want it now—unconditionally and for everyone.”

—Fr. Davide Pagliarani, Letter from the Superior General, Feb. 10, 2022

The Mission of the SSPX

“The purpose of the Society is the priesthood and all that pertains to it and nothing but what concerns it.”

This is how the founder of the SSPX defines it in its Statutes. Archbishop Lefebvre was convinced that the salvation of the world depended on the quality of the Catholic priesthood. Therefore, throughout his life, he committed himself to the formation of priests.

Only with this aim in mind, despite being of retirement age, he founded the SSPX for the training of future priests, transmitting to them his love of the Church and Rome. The Society does not have a particular spirituality, apart from the devotion towards the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the unbloody renewal of the Cross of Our Savior, and the Catholic priesthood.

A Living Witness to Catholic Tradition

Sacred Tradition is what has been believed and practiced everywhere, always, and at all times by Catholics and is readily recognized within the Church’s constant teaching and practice.

Directly opposed to Tradition is Modernism, condemned by several popes in succession during the 19th and 20th centuries, specifically by St. Pius X.

The Society of St. Pius X was founded to form priests in a traditional manner, not following the modernist deviations introduced in the Second Vatican Council and the reforms that followed.

Because Tradition is a sure sign of the Faith, the SSPX wholeheartedly adheres to it and thereby to Holy Mother Church, opposing the post-conciliar chaos in the liturgy and the introduction of new doctrines. Thus it has become, to the eyes of many, the most solid stronghold of resistance against what Paul VI called 'the auto-demolition of the Church.'

The Holy Father

The Society of St. Pius X professes filial devotion and loyalty to the Pope as Successor of St. Peter and Vicar of Christ. The SSPX’s priests pray for him and their local diocesan bishop at every Mass they celebrate.

“We pray for the Pope, but we refuse to follow him in his errors on religious freedom, ecumenism, socialism, and the application of reforms destructive for the Church. Our apparent disobedience is true obedience to the Church and to the Pope as successor of Peter in the measure that he continues to maintain holy Tradition ... All the members of the Society have one desire: to be submitted in filial obedience to a Rome returned to Tradition.”

—Declaration of the SSPX’s First General Chapter, Sep. 1982

Timeline of the SSPX

  • 1970 - Founding of the Society of Saint Pius X
  • 1976 - Archbishop Lefebvre suspended, effectively for running a seminary that did not celebrate the New Mass
  • 1988 - Archbishop Lefebvre goes ahead with what he calls 'Operation Survival' - the consecration of four bishops in order that his work to preserve the traditions of the Church can continue after his death
  • 2000 - Rome resumes talks with the SSPX
  • 2007 - Pope Benedict XVI stated, in Summorum Pontificum, that the traditional Mass was never abrogated and that it is “permitted to celebrate the Sacrifice of the Mass following the typical edition of the Roman Missal, which was promulgated by Blessed John XXIII in 1962.”
  • 2008 - the Pontifical Ecclesia Dei Commission in Rome clarified that those who attend SSPX Masses are not committing a sin and they do not incur any canonical penalty
  • 2009 - Pope Benedict XVI declared that the four bishops of the SSPX are not excommunicated
  • 2015 - Pope Francis gave priests of the SSPX jurisdiction to hear confessions for one year
  • 2016 - Pope Francis made this jurisdiction permanent
  • 2017 - Pope Francis authorized priests of the SSPX to perform marriages and asked bishops of the various dioceses to grant this authorization