
Apostolic
Succession
October 30, 2008
A
semi-correspondent friend of mine from the northern parts of the US once spoke
to me of her concern over the issue of apostolicity within the church. When we
profess the creed at Mass we say “I believe in one Holy, Catholic and
Apostolic Church”. These are the four notes or marks by which we can discern
the presence of the true church of Christ namely that she is one, in the
profession of Faith and government, holy in her object (God), her means
(the Sacraments, prayer etc.), her members (the Saints), catholic or
universal as to her extension throughout the world, in the profession of the
same beliefs at all times and places and apostolic in an unbroken
sacramental procession of orders through time in her hierarchy traceable back to
the Apostles themselves.
Apostolicity,
however, is not just a valid ordination, (material apostolicity) but received in
union with the Vicar of Christ (formal apostolicity). With the exception of
Bishop Rifan of Brazil, not a single Traditional bishop enjoys formal
apostolicity, and thus if you adopt the ridiculous position of the sedes, for
whom there is no Pope, then the church without formal apostolicity (an essential
constitutive element of her institution and constitution) has ceased to exist.
+TF
