Address:
Fraternité Saint-Vincent-Ferrier
53340 Chémeré-le-Roi
France
Telephone : (33) (0)2 43 98 64 25
Fax : (33) (0)2 43 98 49 19
E-mail : fsvf@wanadoo.frA Foundation
Following the ideals of their Father Saint Dominic, these religious are dedicated to contemplating, studying and preaching the truth.
Activities of the Fraternity
( n.b. our activities and publications are almost entirely in French )
Spiritual Retreats four days centred on the mysteries of the Rosary.
Summer Camps running camps for adolescents and adults, assisting in pilgrimages.
Spiritual and Doctrinal Formation lectures on spirituality weekends of marital preparation for fiancés preaching catechetical instruction philosophical discussion groups for students.
Quarterly Review "Sedes Sapientiae" (Seat of Wisdom) with articles on spirituality, Christian doctrine, apologetics, philosophy, art etc.
Other Publications « Les Classiques Spirituels », a series of Catholic classics, eg Le Saint Esprit dans la vie chrétienne by Gardeil O.P Les Fins Dernières by P.Louis-Marie de Blignières
A periodic news-letter (in French) about the Fraternity is available on request.An Apostolic Ideal
"The honour of God and the salvation of souls by the light of learning." It was in this phrase that St. Catherine of Siena saw the whole ideal of St. Dominic. Whoever has not hardened his heart, faced with the spiritual misery of the contemporary world, will grasp its meaning.
Souls are dying of asphyxiation in a materialist society or being misled by false spirituality. Where is the nourishment for a true interior life to be found? In escapism, imaginary utopias, in a "religious feeling" marked by the blurring of doctrines and the lack of ascetic demands? No. Man thirsts for the absolute without which he is nothing. The Blessed Virgin Mary insistently and maternally invites us to contemplate the mystery of Jesus and the reality of His Incarnation, and to mourn His Passion and sing His glory. She holds out to us that profoundly Christian prayer, the Rosary. Souls are disoriented as all certitudes are undermined and the truths of the Faith are constantly questioned. They are in search of those fundamental principles that allow the soul to breathe. More than ever, we must say, "Go to Thomas" (Pius Xl). The Church has declared that his doctrine is her own. St. Thomas Aquinas, the "common Doctor" of the Catholic mind, holds the keys to the future because his doctrine, rather than being a mere system, is wisdom.
This is the Marian and Thomist perspective of the Fraternity of St. Vincent Ferrer, a small community founded in 1979 in the village of Chémeré-le-Roi in the Mayenne, N-W France. In the context of community life, its members are dedicated to contemplative prayer, study, and spiritual works of mercy. They strive to live according to the apostolic ideal of St Dominic, while "preserving the liturgical forms of the Latin Tradition" (In accordance with the Motu Proprio Ecclesia Dei of July 1988) along with the traditional observances of the monastic life and a resolutely Thomist doctrinal formation.
Established as a Pontifical Religious Institute on 28th October 1988, the Fraternity of St. Vincent Ferrer is distinct from the Order of Preachers, to which it has, however, presented a request for affiliation with the Dominican Family. The brothers are mendicants who live by your alms. Help them to learn and preach the truth in order to win men back to the Kingdom of God. Listen to St. Dominic's cry, "What will become of sinners?" Can we be indifferent to the plight of so many souls? Have pity on them, for they are waiting to be guided to the light of Christ, under the maternal regard of Our Lady.
Sunday Mass (Old Dominican Rite) is celebrated at 10.30 am. Weekday Masses are at 7.20 am and 11.45 am each day.
Cheques can be made out to "La Fraternité Saint Vincent Ferrier" and sent to the above address.
The village of Chémeré-le-Roi lies between Laval and Le Mans (N-W France). The nearest train station is Sablé on the Paris-Nantes line.
Una Voce
