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What is an SSPX Brother? Credidimus Caritati the motto of Archbishop Lefebvre was chosen out of zeal for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. From the early days in Econe, Switzerland to growth …More
What is an SSPX Brother?

Credidimus Caritati the motto of Archbishop Lefebvre was chosen out of zeal for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. From the early days in Econe, Switzerland to growth and expansion across Africa, Asia, America, Europe, and beyond, the life blood of the Society of St. Pius X's mission has always been: the Catholic priesthood. Each year, numerous priests join ranks in the Society's apostolic mission which aims to give souls the grace they thirst for – through the Traditional Latin Mass, the traditional sacraments, and even through the formation and education of the faithful. Founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, the Brothers of the Society of St. Pius X work to support this apostolic mission of the priests. The Novitiate in the United States, called the Holy Angels Novitiate, has recently taken new roots in the spiritually fertile and historically formative grounds of St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary’s former campus in Winona, Minnesota. Rooted by voluntary vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, the vocation of the Society Brother is both simplistic and sublime. My name is Br. Benedict. I’m from Post Falls – I’ve been a Brother for seventeen years now. My religious name is Br. Simon. Br. Mark. Br Rene of Mary. My religious name is Br. Stanislaus. Br. Boniface. I’m originally from Minnesota. My name is Br. Marcel, I was born in South Africa, and I’ve been a Brother 25 years. Very few of our priories have Brothers. Most people don’t know what a Brother is. And they look at our life as something surprising, shocking, maybe austere, and we’re none of that. We’re normal men. We have Brothers working and living in Phoenix AZ, in Dickinson TX, in Ridgefield CT, at the district house near Kansas City, Missouri - and of course at the seminary in Virginia, as well as some who work at the Novitiate in Winona. The Brothers’ vocation, essentially as the Archbishop saw it, was a vocation to help the priest. They are dedicated to serving Our Lord in the priest, and with a very close connection to the Mass. The Brother’s habit is essentially a cassock without the tails on the sash. The Archbishop probably wanted to keep them very similar so that they would be recognized as a society member. The Brothers of the Society would differ from other religious, first of all, in the sense that they are active so they are involved in the apostolate with the priest. They both serve the Church, they both serve God, they are consecrated to God but in a different way. The vocation of the Brother in the Society is a devotion to Christ’s Priesthood. It is a consecration of self and dedicated to the priesthood of the Society of St. Pius X. A collaborator with the priest for the salvation of souls and to glorify God. It could be stated, “Why didn’t you pick the Benedictines?”, “Why didn’t you pick the Carmelites?”. There’s all kinds of religious orders, but this time calls for this religious order in preservation for the Priesthood and for the Mass – and that’s what’s most attacked nowadays. Once a postulant completes his first year, he becomes a novice, taking on the habit of the Brothers, and making an external step that reflects the internal changes that take place during the first years of formation. His habit mirrors that of the priestly cassock to show its corresponding but supporting role in the apostolate. Two words that I would use to describe Brother’s vocation is consecration and sacrifice. Stability and joyfulness. Generous and simple. Peaceful. A challenge. Secure and fruitful. “Ora et Labora” We pray first, and then we work and our work is a prayer as well. What it means to be a Religious is that God calls that person to a more perfect life – specifically through the vows of Poverty, Chastity and Obedience Most Holy and most adorable Trinity, I give Thee thanks for all Thine innumerable benefits which have prepared me for this day on which I intend to make the gift of myself, by pronouncing the vows of religion according to the statutes of the Brothers of the Priestly Society of St. Pius X. O Jesus, my Lord and my divine Master, may the graces of redemption acquired by Thy Sacrifice on the Cross, which is renewed daily on our altars, wipe out all my faults and negligences, so that charity may fill my soul on this day of my religious profession. O Mary, our Mother, help me to understand the grace of this gift as a cooperation with the sufferings of the divine Priest for the salvation of my soul and of all souls.

from a YOUTUBE video