ROMAN REPORT
A grace and an honour Diane Montagna talks to Abbé Brice Meissonnier, parish priest of Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini Don Brice, you were given the mission to be parish priest of the FSSP parish of Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini in May 2020. Can you tell us a little about your background? I was born in Avignon, France (the other City of the Popes!) in 1969. After studying with the Jesuit Fathers in my hometown, I entered the FSSP seminary in Wigratzbad, Germany, in 1989, at the very beginning of the FSSP. I was ordained priest on 29 June 1996. I spent the first 11 years of my ministry in France, mainly in Versailles. Then I spent a year in Italy, in Venice at the church of San Simon Piccolo. In September 2020, I was appointed parish priest of the personal parish of Trinità dei Pellegrini in Rome. On 4 February 4 2022, two members of the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter were received in private audience by Pope Francis for nearly an hour. Afterward, the FSSP said that “in the course of the audience, the Pope made it clear that institutes such as the Fraternity of St Peter are not affected by the general provisions of the Motu Proprio Traditionis Custodes.” Pope Francis then issued a decree concerning the FSSP, dated 11 February 2022, the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. What is the significance of this decree? What was your reaction when you learned of it? And what does it mean for the FSSP’s Rome parish? Obviously, this meeting with the Holy Father, and the decree that followed, were a great joy for us, and I would dare to say also a great relief and not short of a small miracle. Indeed, the Pope signed this decree on the very day the whole FSSP was consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary! Certainly, we were convinced we had the right to carry on with the traditional liturgy, but this confirmation, from the mouth and hand of the Pope himself, brought great peace to all the members and faithful of the FSSP, together with a confirmation that the Church could not renege on the promise she had made in 1988 to our valiant and courageous
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Abbé Brice Meissonnier: ‘Keeping this heritage begins with the celebration of the Traditional Mass’
founders. It also seems clear, even if not mentioned in the Holy Father's decree, that it concerns all the institutes that were founded and approved by Rome for the celebration of the Traditional Mass. As we understand it, the Pope made this clear to our two confreres in the private audience he granted them. The Holy Father was very clear that Traditionis Custodes was not written for us! So, there is no real change for our Roman parish, and this should also be the case for all FSSP apostolates worldwide.
Can you tell us a little about the history of Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini, particularly the parish’s connection to St Philip Neri? It is both a grace and an honour to have been entrusted with the church of Trinità dei Pellegrini e dei Convalescenti as our personal parish church. For, in addition to being remarkably located in the historical centre of Rome, our church has a fabulous history and heritage closely linked to the “second apostle of Rome,” St Philip Neri. Indeed, the very neighbourhood in which
SUMMER 2022
