Author Topic: Centenary of Quas Primas (Read 16269 times)

Miseremini · « **on:** December 13, 2025, 02:09:49 PM »

Centenary of Quas Primas, the Encyclical on Christ the King

December 12, 2025
Source: FSSPX News

On December 11, 1925, Pope Pius XI instituted the Feast of Christ the King of Nations with the publication of the encyclical Quas Primas. On December 11, we celebrate the centenary of this event, so dear to the heart of every Catholic, particularly in our sad times when Christ, to use the expression of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, has been uncrowned.
This is an opportunity to recall that this solemnity would never have come about without the persistent determination of a humble woman who tirelessly knocked on the doors of two popes—Benedict XV and Pius XI—like an unwelcome petitioner, until she obtained the solemn proclamation of the Social Kingship of Christ and the establishment of the Feast of Christ the King.
Marthe de Noaillat, née Devuns, who had initially intended to enter the cloister but had to abandon that path, married Baron Georges de Noaillat in 1911 entering into a traditional Josephite marriage. They dedicated their lives to the Hiéron Museum of Paray-Le-Monial, a Eucharistic museum aimed at promoting the social reign of Christ, as well as to the Society of the Social Reign of Jesus Christ, founded in 1877.
A Jesuit priest, Fr. Jean-Marie Sanna-Solaro, visiting the Hiéron in 1881, conceived the idea of a Feast of Jesus Christ the King and addressed a petition to Leo XIII for its establishment, but the pontiff did not consider the idea opportune.
In December 1919, Marthe decided to revive this request. She was convinced that proclaiming the universal kingship of Christ and establishing a liturgical feast would be a blow to secularism. With the support of a bishop, Marthe drafted a petition to Pope Benedict XV asking him to institute a feast of the Social Reign of Jesus Christ.
The Pope approved the spirit of the request but wanted proof of the universal consent of Christian peoples, expressed through their bishops: the petition had to be signed by a majority of the episcopate. Benedict XV died in 1922.
That same year, Cardinal Pietro Gasparri, Secretary of State to Pius XI, enthusiastic about the petition, obtained an audience for the Noaillats with the new pontiff, Pope Pius XI. The latter asked them to submit a memorandum outlining their expectations and reiterating their request for the bishops' approval.
Pius XI favorably accepted the memorandum and requested a list of cardinal and episcopal endorsements, nation by nation. Soon, three hundred bishops from all parts of the world joined the project to establish the Feast of the Social Reign of Jesus Christ. In 1923, Pius XI accepted the episcopal petitions. In 1924, almost a thousand bishops joined the project.
But to best prepare "a worthy, grand, worldwide achievement, one that will be epoch-making and shake minds," Pius XI wanted to hear the voice of the Church as it was taught. Martha then drafted a popular petition which, over two years, brought a considerable number of signatures to Pius XI.
Finally, Cardinal Laurenti announced to them that the Pope wished to proclaim the Feast of Christ the King at the close of the Holy Year, in December 1925. The promulgation of the encyclical was scheduled for the same date. On December 31st, the Noaillat couple attended the first celebration of the Mass of Christ the King in St. Peter's Basilica.
Marthe died accidentally on February 5, 1926, from carbon monoxide poisoning, and her husband became a priest. He died in 1948.
A book was recently published by Via Romana that recounts this life dedicated to Christ the King: Jean-Claude Prieto de Acha, Marthe de Noaillat, Apostle of Christ the King, 128 pages, €12.00

Author Topic: Centenary of Quas Primas (Read 16269 times)

Miseremini

Centenary of Quas Primas