CathInfo.com

I would like to share my husband’s conversion to Tradition.

In 1972 he was going to daily N.O. Mass. While ordering books from TAN, he noticed a booklet about the problems with the N. Ordo and ordered it. It was written by a Fr. Williamson (not +W). He read it and shared it with his best friend, Fred.

Weeks past and they had not seen each other or discussed the booklet. They attended different parishes but one morning they found themselves for Mass at a parish none of them frequented. 

During Mass, my husband, who had been increasingly having doubts about the N.O. said a desperate prayer asking our Lord that if he should not go back to the N.O., that the candle located in the sanctuary (not the sanctuary candle) would go out during the Consecration. At the Consecration, he was looking at the candle and it was suddenly extinguished.

He remained at the church praying and when everyone left, he went to the Sanctuary to inspect the candle. It was a type that as the candle burned the wax was pushed up as to appear full until the end and that happened at the Consecration.

He returned to his car where his friend, Fred, was anxiously waiting for him and as he saw my husband approach him he said: ”Did you see what happened at the Consecration?”. My husband responded: “What are you talking about”? Fred said: “Before Mass, I asked Our Lord to extinguish the candle in the sanctuary if I should not return to the N.O.”. My husband told him he had said the same prayer.

They started driving every Sunday to Mass with other 2 friends (5 hours one way) to attend Fr. Wathen’s Mass and sometimes Mr. Thomas Nelson’s chapel. Later they found retired priests to offer Mass for the group and in 1978 they contacted the SSPX.  Fr. Cekada, Dolan and Jenkins were the first to come and offered Mass first at a home, then a rented military chapel and later on the small church  in Beach, Iowa was purchased by our group.

We left Iowa months later because of the Navy and chose the assignments where there was a SSPX Mass within driving distance. Our oldest daughter received Holy Communion and Confirmation from ABL in 1983 in Goldsboro, N.C.