Women priests website

Charles de Condren

died in 1637 (?)

The blessed Virgin offers the Eucharist every day
Priests have a special alliance with Mary
Mary is the Mother of priests who offer Christ’s body as she did

Fr. Charles de Condren was the second Superior General of the Congregation of the Oratorians. He was especially interested in promoting devotion to Mary as part of a specifally priestly spirituality.

The blessed Virgin offers the Eucharist every day

Note. ‘Foundation Masses’ were Masses, said on a regular basis, say once a month or once a year, for which a donor gave a (large) stipend of money that remained as ‘the foundation’ for those Masses.

Sample text for a foundation Mass: “A Mass . . . . will be celebrated every day in the church of . . . . to the intention of the very blessed Mother of God . . . I place her Son, Jesus Christ, into the hands (of Mary) by this foundation in as much as I can, and I beg her with my whole heart to offer it herself to God in this daily sacrifice as she does offer it and has offered it, in time and in eternity, on earth as in heaven.” Lettres du P. de Condren publiées par P. Auvray et A. Jouffrey, Paris 1943, appendix 1, § 6.

Priests have a special alliance with Mary

“Because the blessed Virgin has formed the body which Jesus Christ has left us as a covenant, the congregation [=of the Oratorians] wants that all her members be her servants . . . They should have recourse to her, not only by the obligation incumbent on all God’s children, but by the special alliance which priests acquire with her in the production of the body of Jesus Christ, a body which they have to learn from her to treat in a saintly fashion. There is also a special resemblance and link between their priestly grace and that of the Mother of God, since both deal with the same body of Jesus Christ. Superiors must take care that the self-offerings to the holy Mother of God which our honourable Father founder has left us are not neglected.” Lettres du P. de Condren publiées par P. Auvray et A. Jouffrey, Paris 1943, letter no 79, p. 248.

Mary is the Mother of priests who offer Christ’s body as she did

“Our Congregation regards and honour the blessed Virgin as . . . . the Mother of Jesus, and in Jesus the Mother of all Christians through the grace of their adoption, and more especially as the Mother of priests who have been sanctified to consecrate the body of Jesus which she conceived so divinely, brought up and served so religiously, and offered to God with such great love.” Lettres du P. de Condren publiées par P. Auvray et A. Jouffrey, Paris 1943, appendix 1, § 1, p. 524.

Overview of documents in this section

Tradition

Mary - why a priest?

Theologians and writers

Picture gallery

Mary and Holy Orders

Mary as sacrificial priest

Mary, the model of priests

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Read the books that complement our website:

The Ordination of Women in the Catholic Church. Unmasking a Cuckoo's Egg Tradition

This book by John Wijngaards, published by Darton, Longman & Todd (UK), Continuum (USA), Media House (India), as well as in Italy, France, Holland and Japan, is a classic on the topic.

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Women Deacons in the Early Church. Historical Texts and Contemporary Debates

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