Cardinal Ildebrando Antoniutti with the new priests during the consecration.[/caption]

On November 26th, Legionary bishops Brian Farrell and Fernando Vérgez, Legionary fathers Octavio Acevedo, Ángel Llorente, Thomas Moylan, Rosendo Silva, and Father Rodolfo Preciado celebrated their fifty years of priesthood. All of them were ordained by Cardinal Ildebrando Antoniutti, then Prefect of the Sacred Congregation of Religious, on November 26, 1969, at the Parish of Our Lady of Guadalupe and Saint Philip Neri in Rome. It was a special ordination, being the first with new priests from three different nationalities (Mexican, Spanish, and Irish).

The ecclesial environment

It also coincided with a not-so-easy period for the Church in Rome. The Second Vatican Council had ended four years earlier, and some significant changes were being implemented. It was noteworthy that during the Angelus on Sunday, October 12, 1969, a group of priests organized a demonstration in St. Peter’s Square against the Pope because he had not admitted them as representatives of the extraordinary Synod of Bishops that had begun the day before.

Furthermore, the implementation of the new Ordo Missae was approaching, scheduled for November 30, and this change also provoked some opposition. During the two general audiences on November 19 and 26, the Holy Father intervened to present the modern ritual as the will of the Council and as a help to Christian piety.

The diaconal ordination

Once back in Rome, the newly ordained deacons continued their formation. The first Chapter in the history of the Legion was held, requested by the recently concluded Second Vatican Council, and in its final communiqué, the Capitular Fathers emphasized the importance of proper apostolic preparation to face the growth of various activities and works. On October 16, the father superior of the house announced some new initiatives for the new course, such as study circles and encounters with Christ, which the Manual of the Regnum Christi of 1969 defined as “specific team meetings,” typical of Regnum Christi. A series of encounters with Christ were held, becoming more spontaneous and agile, culminating on November 13 with the first Encounter with Christ before the entire community, led by Father Roberto González and eight new deacons. On November 15, groups of nine or ten Legionaries each appeared, and on November 20, all community members experienced this form of formation for the first time, now with all its elements and characteristics. At the same time, on October 20, the Instruction on the Liturgy issued by the Chapter arrived, and the deacons had to prepare by learning to celebrate two Masses. Their instructor was Father Juan Manuel Dueñas. On October 30, they went to the Vicariate of Rome to take their ordination exams.

The priestly ordination

Days passed, and gradually family members, acquaintances, fathers, and brothers from other places arrived in Rome to attend the priestly ordination: on October 8, the first two Legionaries from the novitiate in the United States arrived in Rome; in November, a group of apostolics from Ontaneda, and 15 novices and juniors (students of classical Humanities) from Salamanca.

All of them were joined by two young men from Madrid who had joined Regnum Christi in 1968.

Finally, at 8 a.m. on November 26, the ceremony began. During the homily, Cardinal Antoniutti outlined the meaning of the act, and in the sacristy, he was the first to kiss the newly anointed hands.

After the ceremony, the Cardinal shared some news. He carried with him a decree from the Sacred Congregation of Religious dated “Rome, November 24,” signed by himself and the secretary, Mons. Edward Louis Heston, CSC, which approved several requests made by the Chapter. Most notably, it established that from that moment, the official name of the Congregation would be “Legionaries of Christ”: “This Holy Dicastery has the pleasure of communicating the following: It is approved that the title of the Congregation be only ‘Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ,’” states the document.

Since it was a Wednesday, the newly ordained priests and their families immediately went to the Audience with the Pope. Highlighting this participation, Blessed Paul VI addressed a greeting to the fathers and expressed the Church’s gratitude to the families.

This article was written thanks to the collaboration of the General Historical Archive of the Legionaries of Christ.