Clergy retreat in Bavaria 15-19 April 2013, led by Fr Armand de Malleray, FSSP.
Come and pray next door to
one of the largest international seminaries in Europe (motherhouse of
an institute admitting over 40 new seminarians each year) in Pope
Benedict’s native Bavaria! What a grace to be supported during our
retreat by the presence and prayer of 90 seminarians and priests from
various European countries, singing in choir the peaceful Gregorian
melodies 4 times a day. What a good deed in return to include them and
every candidate to the priesthood in our prayer intentions. Wigratzbad
is also a Marian shrine and we will ask the Mother of God to teach us
how to better know, love and serve Her divine Son in the Most Holy
Eucharist.
Theme: ‘The priest and the Eucharist in the recent magisterium of the Church’.
On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Pope John-Paul II’s celebrated encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia
(17 April 2003), Fr de Malleray will give meditations on the centrality
of the Most Holy Eucharist in the life of priests, developing in
particular the notions of the Real Presence, the Sacrifice, the
Adoration, the liturgy. In the context of the current ‘Year of Faith’,
focusing here on priests, the conferences and table readings will
includes quotes from Presbyterorum Ordinis, Sacrosanctum Concilium, Mysterium Fidei, Pastores dabo vobis and other magisterial teaching. Examples from the lives of holy priests and classical spirituality will also be used.
Programme:
Silent retreat with a one-hour conference in the morning and another in
the afternoon. Three daily meals taken in silence with table readings.
Free time. Retreat-master available for confession and spiritual advice.
Optional Lauds, community Mass, Sext, Vespers and Compline prayed in
Latin with the seminarians and staff of the St Peter International
Seminary. Daily hour of Eucharistic Adoration. The many altars will
offer ample opportunity for private daily Mass (both EF and OF Missals
can be used at the Shrine).
Arrival: Monday 15 April afternoon: landing at Memmingen Airport (direct Ryanair flights from London-Stansted, Manchester, Edinburgh, Dublin) and 40-minute drive to Wigratzbad.
Departure: Friday 19 April after lunch; landing in the UK by 4pm.
On option:
stay on with us for one day of tourism: Lindau peninsula on Lake
Constance, dinner in local ‘Gasthaus’ (restaurant) and colossal
Benedictine Abbey of Ottobeuren – with take off from Memmingen on
Saturday afternoon.
Cost: £220
(all inclusive for 4 days full board in single room with en-suite
bathroom + transportation from the airport and back). Not included:
return journey from your parish to Memmingen airport: for convenience,
each priest will book his own flight (estimated cost of return flight
with Ryanair: £120). Extra cost for the optional tourism day: add about £50 in total.
Booking: Please send us your full name, surname, address and contact details with your £100 deposit made payable to FSSP ENGLAND.
Info – Contact: Please contact Fr de Malleray if you have any questions: St John Fisher House, 17 Eastern Avenue, Reading RG1 5RU, England
Email: malleray@fssp.org. Tel.: 0118 966 5284.
UK priests report:
Fr Simon Henry, P.P., Liverpool Archdiocese:
“The Seminary is part of an extensive site that is a place of Marian
pilgrimage. So successful has the seminary proved that an extension was
opened in 2000 by Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos to house the present number
of 80 seminarians. I managed to sit in the Rector’s place in the
refectory on the first day there, thus finding myself in pleasant
conversation with the Superior General of the Fraternity, Fr John Berg –
an urbane American. It was an example of the kindness and hospitality
that is extended to all guests that the Rector, Fr Banauch, just sat to
the other side of me and I remained in blissful ignorance of my blunder.
The weather was lovely looking out through the windows”.
Fr Leon Pereira, OP, Subprior of St Dominic’s, London, and Professor at Oscott College: “I
must say how impressed I am by the quality of the seminarians at
Wigratzbad. Everywhere we were greeted warmly and courteously.
The
seminarians struck me as pretty normal young men, prayerful without any
false piety or affectation, and intellectually curious (that delighted
me as a Dominican). I noticed how in their conversations, there was
never any fixation with rubricism, even when they were unguarded and
recreating. They asked me a lot about St Thomas, and clearly knew a lot
themselves. And they expressed curiosity and an unfeigned fraternal
solicitude for the seminarians I teach at Oscott. All very edifying
indeed!”
Fr Barry Hughes, P.P., Southwark Archdiocese:
“A memorable part of my travels was the hospitality of the seminary of
the Fraternity of St Peter. I was astonished to learn that it was
bursting at the seams with 80 students, taking the full course, but with
especial focus on the Traditional Mass. While many ordinary seminaries
have closed, or are half empty, this one has a constant supply of young
men, mostly from France and Germany – we did find a Lancastrian among
them. This was, after all, a pilgrimage, and a valued feature was a day
of recollection, in silence, nourished by reflections from St John
Vianney and Pope St Pius X.”
Fr Michael Brown, P.P., Hexham & Newcastle Diocese,
reports on a clergy pilgrimage with Fr de Malleray: “On Wednesday we
had a day of silent retreat in the house. Fr de Malleray gave us four
conferences on the priestly life and we had readings at meals from St
Pius X’s exhortation on the priestly life Haerent animo. Fr de Malleray recommended to us Bl. Columba Marmion’s Christ, the Life of the Priest
as the best book he has read on the priesthood. I have had a copy for
many years and intend to read it in this Year of the Priesthood.
Father’s talks were both practical and challenging and gave me at least,
much food for thought.”
A
400-strong priestly community serving in 110 dioceses (3 in the UK),
the FSSP has ordained 6 British priests over the last 10 years and
currently has 9 seminarians from these Isles on formation, including 3
in Wigratzbad. Please pray for us, and for more good priestly vocations
from this country. God bless you and your ministry. Visit us on www.fssp.co.uk/england. ◘
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