Order of the Knights of Our Lady
Xth Chapter General –Chartres, 1967
Doctrinal Capitulary No. 1
"The Church accepts the offering of your work and of your life itself, she calls you more than ever, ye soldiers of Christ, for the difficult and holy battles in her name. Do you not see how the Faith needs to be defended today, how it needs to be openly embraced, with clear statements, assiduous preaching, statements of values, and loving and generous Witness? " –HH Paul VI to the Jesuits, November 16, 1966.
PREAMBLE
The Knights of Our Lady, meeting at Chartres in their tenth General Chapter and in this Year of Faith, discussed the below framework, presented to them, and found it suitable to express the authentic doctrinal line of the Order on the various considered items. Accordingly, the Master of the Order issued it as Doctrinal Capitulary No. 1, and ordered its publication as part of the Proceedings of the Xth General Chapter.
SUMMARY
i - On the Second Vatican Council and its Interpretation
ii – On Obedience to the Pope
iii - On the True Roman Catholic Faith
iv - On the Love of the Church and of Tradition
v - On Action in favor of Peace
PREAMBLE
The Knights of Our Lady, meeting at Chartres in their tenth General Chapter and in this Year of Faith, discussed the below framework, presented to them, and found it suitable to express the authentic doctrinal line of the Order on the various considered items. Accordingly, the Master of the Order issued it as Doctrinal Capitulary No. 1, and ordered its publication as part of the Proceedings of the Xth General Chapter.
SUMMARY
i - On the Second Vatican Council and its Interpretation
ii – On Obedience to the Pope
iii - On the True Roman Catholic Faith
iv - On the Love of the Church and of Tradition
v - On Action in favor of Peace
I –On the Second Vatican Council and its Interpretation
1. We receive with reverence the Second Vatican Council and its decisions, giving them the full commitment of our intelligence and our will, as the Church asks us and according to the Lord's words: "He who hears you, hears Me".
2. We all recognize the texts promulgated by the Pope, and they alone, as an expression of this Council and containing genuine spirit. We hold null and void, since they differ so little that it is, the constant teaching of the Church, all comments, all statements, all the misconceptions that have accompanied, followed or follow the sessions of the Council.
3. We know that no new dogmatic definition was inserted in the Council’s texts, and that outside the defined dogmas which they build on, these texts contain and express similar truths of faith, theologically certain, or common. They are not tainted by any theological error. Their authority varies according to whether or dogmatic constitutions simply pastoral, decrees or simple declarations. We do not choose among these texts, as this would be heretical, and we grant each of them the respect they are due, without seeking to augment or subtract from any. But disdaining the sake of fashion and novelty, we receive with particular fervor the major texts that give a wonderful synthesis of Tradition, including in the Constitutions on the Church, Revelation, Holy Liturgy, etc. We receive with particular joy the Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity outlining a doctrine of light on the relationship of the earthly city with the heavenly city. This doctrine is one we have been defending in the Order, and is the basis of our chivalry.
4. We hold Catholic Tradition as the supreme and infallible rule of interpretation of the conciliar texts, so that these texts cannot possibly contradict past teaching of the Church as given by the Roman Pontiffs, ecumenical councils, the unanimous and the ordinary magisterium of bishops united with the Pope, and by the bi-millennial Faith of the Church from the time of the Apostles until today. Those that would present difficulties must be interpreted in their context, which is none other than the tradition of the Church in general, and not the opinion of this or that particular conciliar father, even if they are the text’s editors, for the true author is none other than the teaching Church, which may in no way contradict itself.
5. As with all the texts of the Magisterium, the Acts of the Council may receive three kinds of interpretation:
a) "Authentic" official and normative interpretation, which may only come from the Legislator, that is to say either the Pope alone, expressing its intention explicitly, or the "College" formed by the Pope and the Bishops and acting as such, by the expressed will of its leader. No bishop or group of bishops from one or more nations can provide an "authentic" interpretation of all or of any part of the conciliar texts.
b) The interpretation given by the Pope and the Bishops in their ordinary and unanimous teaching; or
c) Private theological interpretation, which emanates from competent persons (theologians, bishops, priests and laity) applying the traditional rules in this matter, and taking into account authentic interpretation where it exists. This private interpretation is to be assessed on the merits of its arguments and must be judged objectively.
6. We believe that the causes of the current troubles of the Church existed before the Council and that these disorders would have occurred anyway, probably in even more brutally had they not been raised at the Council. We believe that the rules established by the Council in its wisdom will bear fruit if all believers -laity and hierarchy- apply them with a true spirit of Faith and devotion to Tradition.
7. There is a true and a false "spirit of the Council." The true spirit is one of Living Tradition. The fake spirit is that the progressive or neo-modernist one for whom the Council was a step to a radical transformation of the Church and her faith, and their configuration in the world and its spirit.
II - On Obedience to the Pope
1. Due obedience to the Pope goes without saying for Knights. This is a supernatural, filial obedience, which ultimately relates to Christ, for whom the Roman Pontiff is Vicar. This principle is absolute when it comes to the internal governance of the Church, even where the measures taken seem harmful. Because the Pope has a status commensurate with his august mission, and is in possession of information that we do not possess. He is therefore entitled to favorable consideration. Moreover, he is to be judged by God alone, the Supreme Judge. Even if he committed errors of application in a given situation, as has happened during the long history of the Church, our duty would still be to do as he commands in his Sovereign Authority, leaving it to the Lord to remedy any such errors, because He has promised to attend to his Church until the end. It is in any case excluded by this very promise that the Pope and Government of the Church could lead to its own destruction.
2. In the dealings of the Church with temporal States, we must remember that the primary objective of our common Father is to ensure for Christians, under whatever regime they may live, the best conditions for access to salvation, that is to say a hierarchy, a priesthood, the sacraments, and the Word of God. We will thus not be scandalized when he builds relationships with totalitarian and anti-Christian regimes, or reaches understandings and agreements with them, even if such acts to some extent limit the ability to defend the oppressed. We know that, in these cases, it is the obligation of the laity, and primarily to the Knights of the Church, to declare the law.
3. As for properly and merely political and diplomatic acts of the Holy See, they are obviously not subject to religious obedience. They still require our respect, because of the high authority from which they emanate, and of their ultimate purpose for the common good of all Christendom.
2. We all recognize the texts promulgated by the Pope, and they alone, as an expression of this Council and containing genuine spirit. We hold null and void, since they differ so little that it is, the constant teaching of the Church, all comments, all statements, all the misconceptions that have accompanied, followed or follow the sessions of the Council.
3. We know that no new dogmatic definition was inserted in the Council’s texts, and that outside the defined dogmas which they build on, these texts contain and express similar truths of faith, theologically certain, or common. They are not tainted by any theological error. Their authority varies according to whether or dogmatic constitutions simply pastoral, decrees or simple declarations. We do not choose among these texts, as this would be heretical, and we grant each of them the respect they are due, without seeking to augment or subtract from any. But disdaining the sake of fashion and novelty, we receive with particular fervor the major texts that give a wonderful synthesis of Tradition, including in the Constitutions on the Church, Revelation, Holy Liturgy, etc. We receive with particular joy the Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity outlining a doctrine of light on the relationship of the earthly city with the heavenly city. This doctrine is one we have been defending in the Order, and is the basis of our chivalry.
4. We hold Catholic Tradition as the supreme and infallible rule of interpretation of the conciliar texts, so that these texts cannot possibly contradict past teaching of the Church as given by the Roman Pontiffs, ecumenical councils, the unanimous and the ordinary magisterium of bishops united with the Pope, and by the bi-millennial Faith of the Church from the time of the Apostles until today. Those that would present difficulties must be interpreted in their context, which is none other than the tradition of the Church in general, and not the opinion of this or that particular conciliar father, even if they are the text’s editors, for the true author is none other than the teaching Church, which may in no way contradict itself.
5. As with all the texts of the Magisterium, the Acts of the Council may receive three kinds of interpretation:
a) "Authentic" official and normative interpretation, which may only come from the Legislator, that is to say either the Pope alone, expressing its intention explicitly, or the "College" formed by the Pope and the Bishops and acting as such, by the expressed will of its leader. No bishop or group of bishops from one or more nations can provide an "authentic" interpretation of all or of any part of the conciliar texts.
b) The interpretation given by the Pope and the Bishops in their ordinary and unanimous teaching; or
c) Private theological interpretation, which emanates from competent persons (theologians, bishops, priests and laity) applying the traditional rules in this matter, and taking into account authentic interpretation where it exists. This private interpretation is to be assessed on the merits of its arguments and must be judged objectively.
6. We believe that the causes of the current troubles of the Church existed before the Council and that these disorders would have occurred anyway, probably in even more brutally had they not been raised at the Council. We believe that the rules established by the Council in its wisdom will bear fruit if all believers -laity and hierarchy- apply them with a true spirit of Faith and devotion to Tradition.
7. There is a true and a false "spirit of the Council." The true spirit is one of Living Tradition. The fake spirit is that the progressive or neo-modernist one for whom the Council was a step to a radical transformation of the Church and her faith, and their configuration in the world and its spirit.
II - On Obedience to the Pope
1. Due obedience to the Pope goes without saying for Knights. This is a supernatural, filial obedience, which ultimately relates to Christ, for whom the Roman Pontiff is Vicar. This principle is absolute when it comes to the internal governance of the Church, even where the measures taken seem harmful. Because the Pope has a status commensurate with his august mission, and is in possession of information that we do not possess. He is therefore entitled to favorable consideration. Moreover, he is to be judged by God alone, the Supreme Judge. Even if he committed errors of application in a given situation, as has happened during the long history of the Church, our duty would still be to do as he commands in his Sovereign Authority, leaving it to the Lord to remedy any such errors, because He has promised to attend to his Church until the end. It is in any case excluded by this very promise that the Pope and Government of the Church could lead to its own destruction.
2. In the dealings of the Church with temporal States, we must remember that the primary objective of our common Father is to ensure for Christians, under whatever regime they may live, the best conditions for access to salvation, that is to say a hierarchy, a priesthood, the sacraments, and the Word of God. We will thus not be scandalized when he builds relationships with totalitarian and anti-Christian regimes, or reaches understandings and agreements with them, even if such acts to some extent limit the ability to defend the oppressed. We know that, in these cases, it is the obligation of the laity, and primarily to the Knights of the Church, to declare the law.
3. As for properly and merely political and diplomatic acts of the Holy See, they are obviously not subject to religious obedience. They still require our respect, because of the high authority from which they emanate, and of their ultimate purpose for the common good of all Christendom.
III – On the True Roman Catholic Faith
1. We protest that the Council could not have intended, and indeed that no one in any case wanted, to abolish or weaken anything that belongs to the Revealed Deposit of Faith. Ecumenism, dialogue, and openness to the world cannot serve any denial of this sacred deposit, and do not to compromise the smallest point of our faith. The Church would cease to be itself –and this is impossible because of the Word of God- if it ceased to confess the Truth revealed in all its fullness and to condemn the errors that are opposed to it. True Catholic Faith, as has always been taught by the Roman Church in its extraordinary and ordinary magisterium, must be intensely and boldly confessed, in season and out of season, in the face of the world.
2. We reject with indignation the distortions to which some Christians of our time are subjecting the True Doctrine. We reject the idolatry of the world, the worship of man, the confusion of the natural and of the supernatural, the theory of " implicit Christianity," systems with an aim of total desacralization of human life and, and even the multiple errors Father Teilhard de Chardin and his Christian followers, and above all else, the false, absurd and ruinous view that the secular world is evolving on its own towards human and spiritual perfection, and is effectively preparing the Kingdom God.
3. We publicly confess our Catholic faith, and especially the currently threatened dogma on original sin, incarnation, the atoning sacrifice of the Cross, the reality of the bodily resurrection of Christ, the historical reality of His miracles and their significance in relation to the Faith, His real Presence and Transubstantiation in the Sacrament of the Eucharist, the Immaculate Conception and Perpetual Virginity of His mother, her bodily Assumption, the personal existence of angels and saints, their sacred ministry, and the revolt of demons against God and their fate, as damned men, to eternal hell.
4. We also profess the doctrine, essentially biblical and traditional, of the Universal Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ, based on the Incarnation of the Word and fully manifested in the Resurrection: this eternal and absolute Kingdom embraces all worlds and times, and can be evaded by no creature. We believe that this Kingship should extend that to all human activities, and that building an orderly and peaceful world is impossible without it Also, the more this holy and blessed Kingship is to any degree ignored or denied, the more we must confess and proclaim it. We await with firm hope the Return of Christ to take effective possession of his Kingdom, from which He shall forever chase away all evil influence, communicating the glory that is his by virtue of His Resurrection from the dead.
IV - On Love of the Church and of Tradition
IV - On Love of the Church and of Tradition
1. As stated in our Rule, "The Knights of Our Lady will love the Church with the same love that they have for the Mother of God ... Insofar as anyone loves the Church, it is to this extent that he has within him the Holy Spirit" (III, 7). We love the Church because she is the Immaculate Bride of Christ and our Mother. We love her not only in her mystery, but also in her earthly existence, and despite the faults of her members. We love her in her faith and integrity and in her institutions. We love her in the past and the present, and we shall, with the grace of God, love her in the future. We love her thirst for the salvation of all men and we love her uncompromising doctrinal intransigence, the sign of her mystical virginity and of her belonging to Christ alone, her Lord. We love too the Anathema by which she rejects, for herself and her children, the adultery and spiritual licentiousness the world unceasingly offers them.
2. We absolutely refuse to admit that the Church has been wrong for centuries in its doctrine, in its conduct or its institutions. We know that the Christian people and their pastors have always been sinners, and that sin is an obstacle, sometimes tragically so, to the activity of the Holy Spirit, but also know that at no time has the way of salvation been abandoned, nor the spirit of the Gospel forgotten. We revere equally the Church of the Apostles and Martyrs, the Church of Constantine and that of medieval Christianity, the pre-and post-Tridentine Church, and the Church of our time. We defend the Church in its entirety against all those who, under the guise of reform, hate and seek to distort it.
3. We refrain from all harsh criticism or denigration of the pastors of the Church, because they are our fathers in faith and as such deserve our most filial love, but exercise as necessary, with humility and reverence, that holy freedom we possess as the children of God so well highlighted by the Council, to express our views as the Laity, and make known our needs, our rights, and even our reservations.
4. We love the Church everything that is truly traditional, which has been of long and legitimate use. We do not dispute that some innovations are necessary and beneficial, but we wish with the Council that these innovations find their meaning within the Living Tradition and not be understood as a sharp break with the past of the Church.
5. We are committed to our traditional liturgical treasures, the Latin language, Gregorian chant, the beauty of our churches and the splendor of our sacred ceremonies. We are determined to defend them, as prescribed by the Council, as is our right and our duty.
6. We refuse all private initiatives in liturgy, all that leads to secularization and the desecration of liturgy. We will insist of our priests, politely and firmly, in all charity, that they show respect for laws passed by the Council and the legitimate organizations approved by the Pope. We refuse to add further disorder, but will take up all appropriate measures with the responsible authorities.
V - On Action in favor of Peace
1. We declare that Peace, and the tranquility of order, is one of the highest purposes of chivalry, and that true knights once rightly received the beautiful name of "Paissiers" or peacemakers.
2. We find that, in this second half of the twentieth century, a new state of war reigns; a subversive war, leveraging for its own ideological aims all available means, poisoning people from all walks of life, and not hesitating to pervert the desire for Peace to help in its subversive aims.
3. We must strive to ensure that the action of the Church in favor of peace, continuous over the centuries, not be misinterpreted today as favoring a moral disarmament or desertion before the enemies of Christianity and the true welfare of man. We shall never tire of showing that self-defense is necessary –that one must be strong to negotiate, that dialogue with the communists is impossible, that the only way to win in this subversive war is to oppose it with a firm commitment, grounded in unshakable conviction- that communism and other forms of subversion hold within themselves the principle of their own destruction –and that they exist only through the intellectual weakness and moral cowardice of men, and especially of too many Christians. We believe that, ultimately, only faith and constant recourse to God in prayer, only the sincere conversion of our peoples, can destroy the works of our enemies. Leveraging the Faithful from the inside will deprive our enemies of their main resource for criminal action against Christendom.
4. We express our solidarity with all peoples suffering under the implacable and inhuman grip of communism, which is "intrinsically evil," and who are fighting through all legitimate means within their power for their freedom and for ours. Our love and gratitude especially go out to our Christian brethren of the Churches of Silence, who must not only face the enemy but must also endure, as did Our Lord Jesus Christ, the misunderstanding and betrayals of their own errant brothers.
5. The peace we relentlessly pursue is the natural, Christian "tranquility of order," which is based on truth, justice, charity, and freedom (Pacem in Terris Encyclical). "This is an enterprise too lofty and too sublime to be realized by man left to his own strength. For present human society, even with perfect fidelity, help from above is absolutely necessary to achieve the Kingdom of God"(Ibid., 166).
The peace propaganda of the Communists and of their agents of subversion is a war machine that moves throughout the world, affording them victories without a fight. Our clear and strong commitment to Christian peace, based on faith, hope and charity, is alone capable of diverting men from the lies of the Prince of this world and of procuring for them the Peace of Order in Freedom which is necessary to eternal salvation.
6. We refuse all private initiatives in liturgy, all that leads to secularization and the desecration of liturgy. We will insist of our priests, politely and firmly, in all charity, that they show respect for laws passed by the Council and the legitimate organizations approved by the Pope. We refuse to add further disorder, but will take up all appropriate measures with the responsible authorities.
V - On Action in favor of Peace
1. We declare that Peace, and the tranquility of order, is one of the highest purposes of chivalry, and that true knights once rightly received the beautiful name of "Paissiers" or peacemakers.
2. We find that, in this second half of the twentieth century, a new state of war reigns; a subversive war, leveraging for its own ideological aims all available means, poisoning people from all walks of life, and not hesitating to pervert the desire for Peace to help in its subversive aims.
3. We must strive to ensure that the action of the Church in favor of peace, continuous over the centuries, not be misinterpreted today as favoring a moral disarmament or desertion before the enemies of Christianity and the true welfare of man. We shall never tire of showing that self-defense is necessary –that one must be strong to negotiate, that dialogue with the communists is impossible, that the only way to win in this subversive war is to oppose it with a firm commitment, grounded in unshakable conviction- that communism and other forms of subversion hold within themselves the principle of their own destruction –and that they exist only through the intellectual weakness and moral cowardice of men, and especially of too many Christians. We believe that, ultimately, only faith and constant recourse to God in prayer, only the sincere conversion of our peoples, can destroy the works of our enemies. Leveraging the Faithful from the inside will deprive our enemies of their main resource for criminal action against Christendom.
4. We express our solidarity with all peoples suffering under the implacable and inhuman grip of communism, which is "intrinsically evil," and who are fighting through all legitimate means within their power for their freedom and for ours. Our love and gratitude especially go out to our Christian brethren of the Churches of Silence, who must not only face the enemy but must also endure, as did Our Lord Jesus Christ, the misunderstanding and betrayals of their own errant brothers.
5. The peace we relentlessly pursue is the natural, Christian "tranquility of order," which is based on truth, justice, charity, and freedom (Pacem in Terris Encyclical). "This is an enterprise too lofty and too sublime to be realized by man left to his own strength. For present human society, even with perfect fidelity, help from above is absolutely necessary to achieve the Kingdom of God"(Ibid., 166).
The peace propaganda of the Communists and of their agents of subversion is a war machine that moves throughout the world, affording them victories without a fight. Our clear and strong commitment to Christian peace, based on faith, hope and charity, is alone capable of diverting men from the lies of the Prince of this world and of procuring for them the Peace of Order in Freedom which is necessary to eternal salvation.
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