Joaquín Sáenz y Arriaga

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The Reverend Father

Joaquín Sáenz y Arriaga
Padre Saenz (2).jpg
Personal details
Born12 October 1899
Mexico
Died28 April 1976
Mexico
NationalityMexican
ProfessionTheologian
EducationTheology

Joaquín Sáenz y Arriaga (Joaquín Sáenz Arriaga; 12 October 1899 – 28 April 1976) was a Mexican Catholic priest and theologian. Jesuit from 1916 to 1952 he was later a harsh critic of the Second Vatican Council decisions and of the post-conciliar Pope Paul VI. In 1972, he was declared excommunicated by the Roman Catholic bishops' conference of Mexico.[citation needed] He is considered to be one of the first promoters of sedevacantism.

Traditionalism[]

Sáenz as a young seminarian in Barcelona, Spain, 1923

As a young man Sáenz y Arriaga was brought up in the spirit of the Cristero movement, Miguel Pro, and other Catholics who fought against the government of Mexico in the 1920s.[citation needed] He placed great emphasis on the Catholic doctrine of the "Kingship of Christ".

When the reforms of the Second Vatican Council began to be implemented in Mexico and North America, it was him who led the fight against them. His uncompromising traditionalism led to a rejection of the new Conciliar Church, and he was among the first to propound the theological conclusion of sedevacantism, which maintains that, since the death of Pope Pius XII, there has been a state of sede vacante in Rome because the following so-called popes espoused the heretical teachings of the sham Second Vatican Council.

He later incorporated these ideas in his books La nueva iglesia montiniana (The new Montinian Church) (1971), and Sede Vacante: Paulo VI no es Papa legítimo (Sede Vacante: Paul VI is not a legitimate Pope) (1973). In these books he stated that Paul VI had forfeited his papal authority through public, pertinacious and manifest heresy, a position which he had reportedly held for some time. He was a catalyzing influence on lay and clerical Catholic traditionalists who opposed the Second Vatican Council in Mexico and North America, persuading them to defend and maintain the "True Faith", and setting up independent chapels and churches.

Excommunication[]

In reaction to his activities, the Mexican cardinal Miguel Darío Miranda y Gómez officially declared that Sáenz had incurred excommunication. In response, Father Moisés Carmona, Sáenz' associate and disciple wrote:

They excommunicated you for your fidelity to Christ, His teachings and His Church. Blessed excommunication! As long as it is for this reason, may all [such] excommunications come upon me![a]

In the 1970s, Sáenz, together with Carmona and Father Adolfo Zamora, founded the Unión Católica Trento, during which time he also advised American Catholic traditionalist recusants to form their own organizations, which resulted in Father Francis E. Fenton's founding of the Orthodox Roman Catholic Movement, the American parallel of the Unión Católica Trento.

Death[]

In his last testament, written on 25 April 1976, Sáenz wrote:

My life and all that is most precious to me I have sacrificed for Christ, for the Church, and for the Papacy [...].[b]

and he added:

May the last cry of my soul be that of our Mexican martyrs: Long live Christ the King, Long live the Virgin of Guadalupe![c]

He died of prostate cancer, three days after, on 28 April 1976.[3]

After his death, his work was continued by Carmona and Zamora in Mexico; by Fenton and his associates in the Orthodox Roman Catholic Movement; and by Father Burton Fraser, S.J.,[citation needed] in the United States.

In Mexico, the Sociedad Sacerdotal Trento, the successor of the Unión Católica Trento, continues to maintain several churches and chapels.

Notes[]

  1. ^ "A usted lo excomulgaron por su fidelidad a Cristo, a sus enseñanzas, a su iglesia. ¡Bendita excomunión! Como sea por eso, que me vengan todas las excomuniones"[1]
  2. ^ "Mi vida y todo lo más precioso que ella pudiera tener para mí la he sacrificado por Cristo, por la Iglesia y por el Papado [...]."[2]
  3. ^ "Que el último suspiro de mi alma sea el de nuestros Mártires mexicanos: Viva Cristo Rey, Viva la Virgen de Guadalupe!"[2]

References[]

  • Rius Facius, Antonio (1980). ¡Excomulgado! [Excommunicated! - trajectory and thought of presbyter Dr. Joaquín Sáenz Arriaga]; México: Costa Amic Editores (endnotes are taken from the 1983 edition).
  1. ^ Rius-Facius, p. 155.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b Rius-Facius, p. 185.
  3. ^ Rius-Facius, pp. 180-89.
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