(LifeSiteNews) — A Catholic priest has responded to the Vatican’s recent rejection of traditional Marian titles by commissioning a public monument of reparation – and is encouraging others to do the same.
Speaking exclusively to LifeSiteNews, Father John Brucciani slammed the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) document Mater Populi Fidelis, which dismissed the titles Co-Redemptrix and Mediatrix of All Graces as theologically “inappropriate.”
Father Brucciani, a priest of the SSPX and headmaster of the UK’s only traditional Catholic school, called the text a “gratuitous attack” on long-established Catholic teaching concerning the Blessed Virgin Mary’s role in the work of redemption.
He said he could not ignore what he views as an “intolerable affront” to the honor of the Mother of God, arguing that silence in such circumstances would amount to a failure of duty.
The marble ex voto monument, funded by the faithful of his chapel, is intended as a public act of reparation and a permanent witness to Our Lady’s honor. Fr. Brucciani expressed the hope that Catholics would encourage their priests to do the same.
In the interview below, he explains why he believes the document’s reasoning is incompatible with Catholic tradition, and what practical steps Catholics can take in response to it.
LifeSite: Would you please tell our readers a little bit about yourself?
Fr. Brucciani: I am Fr. John Brucciani. I am a priest of the SSPX. The seventh of ten children, I come from a solid Catholic family that has long been involved with the SSPX since my childhood. After completing my school studies at an FSSPX school in France (St. Michael’s did not exist then), I studied at Ecône, Switzerland and was ordained in 1998. Since then I have worked in schools and parishes here in England, in France, Poland and the U.S.
Currently, I am headmaster at St Michael’s School, Newbury – the only traditional Catholic school in the country.
What did you think when the DDF released the document Mater Populi Fidelis, which claimed that the title “Co-Redemptrix” is “unhelpful” and “always inappropriate” – and that the title “Mediatrix of All Graces” is “not clearly grounded in Revelation” and “do[es] not favor a correct understanding of Mary’s unique place”?
When I first read the document, I was stunned. First, it comes completely out of the blue. Why this sudden concern for a “problem” that does not exist at a time when many other problems of doctrinal concern do exist (blessings for homosexuals, Amoris Laetitia, etc.)?
Why this gratuitous attack on the VERY traditional teaching of Our Lady’s participation in the plan of redemption? Why this attempt to downplay Our Lady’s role in redemption? What has Our Lady done to deserve this?
Why did you feel you couldn’t ignore this?
Any attack on our heavenly Mother should compel every good Catholic to cry out in protest. Removing her title of Co-Redemptrix and downplaying her role of Mediatrix of All Graces is an intolerable affront to her and to her Son, Jesus Christ, who willed to associate her in the redemption He wrought for our salvation.
Contrary to what the document says, Mary’s titles are, indeed, grounded in revelation. The Fathers of the Church are unanimous in attributing to Mary a role in our redemption, in union with her Son. Her Son wills her to help Him redeem mankind. As Cardinal Newman found out, when you have a unanimous consensus of the Fathers about a point of doctrine, there is every indication that the doctrine comes from the oral teaching of the apostles, which is a source of revelation.
Were we to apply the reasoning of Mater Populi Fidelis to the dogmas of the Immaculate Conception or the Assumption, these would never have been defined as dogma.
Tell us about the ex voto monument you have commissioned in reparation.
One feels powerless in the face of this gratuitous attack on our heavenly Mother. Commissioning a plaque in reparation for this great offense to Our Lady’s honor offers us a concrete means of recusing the latest piece of modernism.
The plaque will also serve as a historical witness to the truth of those titles which will no longer be used in Rome. I want posterity to know that St. Michael’s continued to venerate Our Lady as the Co-Redemptrix of the human race and as Mediatrix of all those graces we so desperately need.
Who knows, the plaque may be of archaeological value in a 1000 years’ time, when the Church might be considering declaring a new Marian dogma!
The plaque reads:
Maria
Mediatrix et Conciliatrix
terrarum orbis potentissima apud unigenitum Filium suum
In reparation MMXXV
Roughly translated:
To Mary,
Most powerful Mediatrix and Conciliatrix
of the whole world with Her Son.
In reparation. 2025
The inscription is a quote from Pope Pius IX’s dogmatic bull Ineffabilis Deus, which declared the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. This is a Church document of the highest magisterial value, containing an explicitly infallible declaration on a prerogative of Our Lady (Her Immaculate Conception).
The quote flies in the face of the DDF’s claim that reference to our Lady as Co-Redemptrix or Mediatrix is “unhelpful” and “does not favor a right understanding of Mary’s unique place.” Pope Pius IX, in the very exercise of the charism of papal infallibility, thought otherwise.
What advice do you have for other Catholics in the wake of the DDF document?
Pray the Rosary, cultivate a true devotion to Our Lady by reading and studying St. Louis de Monfort’s writings.
Ask your priest to erect a lasting monument in your church to the glory of Mary, our Mother, Mediatrix and Co-Redemptrix.
When the DDF gets its theology wrong, it is up to God’s people to hold fast and echo what the Church has always taught, while praying and working for the restoration of all things to Jesus Christ.
Readers can find out more about St. Michael’s School here.
