The Minoritenkirchen of Vienna is no longer of the Italian Congregation – neighboring Austria – Blog
The Italians of Vienna did not celebrate this Easter in the Minoritenkirche, the “church of the minor friars”, which had been their home for almost two and a half centuries. They have not done so since 2019, or since they received the “eviction” from Daniela Panella Jirout, prefect of the Congregation of the Italian “Madonna della Neve”, owner of the church.
Since then, the entire Italian Catholic community of Vienna (the official definition is “Italian Catholic Mission”) has moved arms and baggage to the Church of the Holy Trinity, in Alserstrasse, in the 9th district, managed by the Order of Friars Minor Conventual, the same ones who previously gave liturgical and pastoral service also in the Minoritenkirche.
The Italians of Vienna no longer go to this ancient church, in the heart of Vienna, between the palaces of political power and the shops of Kärntner Strasse. Perhaps at Easter the Italian tourists passing through Vienna set foot there by mistake, because in the guides that church is still referred to as the “national church of the Italians”. But it has not been so since the year and the text will be updated at the next printing of the guides.
In 1784 the emperor Joseph II had donated it to the Congregation, which since the seventeenth century brought together the Italians of the Catholic faith living in Vienna. After 236 years, the Congregation decided to get rid of it, giving it to the Viennese community of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X, the one founded by Archbishop Marcel Françoise Lefebvre. We are talking about that traditionalist religious movement, which does not recognize the dictates of the Second Vatican Council, preferring to refer to that of Trent four centuries earlier. Then masses in Latin, celebrants with their backs to the faithful, homilies pronounced from the pulpit, an altar enclosed by a balustrade where the faithful kneel to receive Communion.
The adherents, they can be called “Lefevrians”, were often found in contrast with the official Church, so much so that they were excommunicated in 1988, excommunication lifted only in 2009 by Pope Benedict XVI. However, relations remain tense, so much so that the “Brotherhood” acts independently from the Church, to which it does not feel subject.
This is the reason why the donation of the Minoritenkirche took place without the knowledge of the Archdiocese of Vienna, which only received news from the press, as spokesman Michael Prüller explained to the Kathpress agency. “The Archdiocese – he declared – was not involved in the transaction and was not even informed in advance”. The Minoritenkirche had been donated by the Emperor Joseph II to the Congregation, so that the community of Italians in Vienna had “a spiritual home”. Therefore, “after the transfer that has now taken place to the priestly Brotherhood, in conflict with the Catholic Church, this can no longer be prosecuted”. So the speech is Prüller.
Pater Stefan Frey explained in detail how the transfer of ownership of the historic church took place, who spoke of “a gift from heaven”, after more than ten years of praying by “our faithful in Vienna”, to find a adapted church of the “Provisorium” represented by the chapel of St. Josef, in Bernardgasse, the rent of which cost an arm and a leg. St. Joseph listened to the patient prayers of the “Lefevrians” and on November 18, 2020 he finally made the impossible possible, in the form of a phone call from the prefect Daniela Panella Jirout to the Congregation for the “surprising offer”.
Five months later, on May 20, 2021, the assembly of the Congregation unanimously approved the donation, to “ensure the spiritual assistance of Italians in the future according to tradition”. On 25 May the donation contract was signed in front of a notary and since then the Minoritenkirche has been registered in the name of the Brotherhood of St. Pius X at the Land Registry Office.
It should be noted that the donation contract foresees the commitment of the new hosts to ensure as before the celebration of Masses in Italian, some rooms annexed to the Church will remain the “permanent seat” of the Congregation, which will hold the courses of the Italian school there. and “regular musical activities”.
A contractual commitment that appears reckless, given the difficulty of priests who know the Italian language (the last “rectors”, this is their title, were in order a Croatian, a Pole, a Romanian and finally an Indian), but that at the same time belong to the traditionalist current of the Lefevrians. But the problem of the language will not arise, because the religious of the priestly brotherhood perhaps use Latin in the celebrations.
IN THE PHOTO, in the solemn celebration of the first mass of the priestly brotherhood of St. Pius X Minoritenkirche, on 12 September 2021. As can be seen, the priests turn their backs on the assembly of the faithful, according to the Tridentine rite. On the occasion, the following was also shot video.
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