The FIUV Welcomes the Latin Mass Society of Slovakia

The Una Voce International Federation (FIUV) is delighted to welcome the recently-founded Latin Mass Society of Slovakia as a Member Association of the Federation.

It has given me great satisfaction to see the cause of the Church’s ancient liturgy taken up by well-organised and active groups in more and more countries, spreading the Federation to the furthest reaches of Hispanic America, southern Europe, and south east Asia. Another region of great significance is central Europe, including nations formerly oppressed by Communism, whose continuing integration into the cultural and religious life of Europe is gradually healing wounds and correcting distortions which have defaced our continent for so many decades.

The Federation now has members or National Correspondents from each of the Baltic nations, and active members in Poland and Russia. The movement is well-established in Germany and Austria, and beginning also in Hungary. The Latin Mass Society of Slovakia establishes another link in the chain, in the very heart of the region.

The movement already owes a great debt of gratitude to a native of Bratislava, Alfred Marnau, the organiser of the petition in favour of the Traditional Mass which was handed to Pope Paul VI in 1971. This petition led directly to the first ‘Indult’, permission, for the public celebration of the older Missal. Marnau, who died in 1999, had left his native land in 1939, but maintained close cultural links with the region, continuing to write and publish in German, becoming an Honorary Professor of Vienna University, receiving the medal “Pro Culturam Hungarica”, and the “Goldenes Verdienstzeichen” of the city of Vienn. It is pleasing to see his contribution to the preservation of the ancient Mass bearing fruit in Slovakia itself.

Marnau’s life and work are a salutary reminder that we cannot expect an easy time as defenders of the Vetus Ordo. His energy and determination, which did not contradict, but rather flowed out of, his artistic sensitivity and creativity, are characteristics which the movement will need in abundance in the coming months and years. I treasure the story, preserved in the obituary written for the Order of Malta, of which he was a member, of him getting past airport officials in the chaos of 1939 by “producing a Prague bus ticket…which nobody could read”. The movement for the Traditional Mass has often depended on Providential connections and force of character. Only rarely are concessions given to us on a plate.

Having met Fr Ľubomír, Mr Čambál and his family, and their companions in Rome, I know they do not need me to teach them this, but it is worth setting it out plainly: that alongside a dogged determination to preserve and foster the ancient liturgy, something indispensable to the success of a Una Voce group are the virtues of friendship, liberality, and hospitality, and a capacity to appreciate the innocent and simple pleasures of family life and of one’s culture. I say this in all seriousness, knowing the sacrifices and disappointments which characterise our work. 

Today, more than ever, fifty years of painfully-achieved progress seems to be under threat. And yet, we continue to make progress, to be able to participate in a liturgy of undiminished grandeur and spiritual power, and to establish new initiatives in new places.

So welcome to the Latin Mass Society of Slovakia! Floreat.

—Joseph Shaw, President, FIUV