Latin Mass celebrated every year at the Feiz é Breizh festival in Brittany
Strengthening our bonds of friendship: this is the idea behind this pilgrimage. Yes, dear friends, we must give ourselves the means to foster our friendships, to root them more broadly in the territory where we live, in the vigor of our energies and our convictions. Our faith is too strong for us to remain secluded.
A pilgrimage is, above all, a powerful experience. Pilgrim fervor creates excellent conditions for optimizing the strength of the bonds that unite a community of men and women with the same beliefs.
Pilgrimage means time together that is given to us more intensely (two days side by side count more than a few hours alone). It is the evangelical renunciation of the worldly spirit, it is stripping ourselves of the accessory to move toward what is essential.
Pilgrimage means the fulfillment of a sacrifice made and a shared effort. This leads to the virtue of compassion, "suffering with others" (cum patior), which is also "sympathy" (sym patheia), a true fraternal charity that leads to mercy.
To go on pilgrimage is to appropriate a territory. Living in Brittany, it is in Brittany that we act. Our roots are deep, reaching deep into a sanctified and centuries-old soil where the omnipresence of sacred heritage is an invitation to discover and honor it.
Finally, to go on pilgrimage is to walk toward a noble, transcendental goal, which unites us through our attachments as much as it elevates us through our aspirations. It is our sanctification through prayer (the common prayer of the assembly of the faithful, the ecclesia, which is the Church). It is faith on the move: to obtain the graces that our country needs, that our society, our families, and ourselves need.
The theme of the pilgrimage is entirely inscribed in its name: Feiz e Breizh, "Faith in Brittany." Our faith is rooted in our physical territory.
This "Pilgrimage for Brittany" is a pilgrimage for our physical homelands (in the sense of Charles Péguy, widely promoted by his Breton contemporaries, the poet Jean-Pierre Calloc'h and the martyred priest Jean-Marie Perrot). Our physical homeland, the one we explore here below, sets us on the path to our heavenly homeland. It is therefore a truly pro Patria pilgrimage (evit Bro, as the Bretons say). A pilgrimage of rootedness and Christianity, in the dogma of the communion of saints. We are the Church Militant (the faithful on Earth), in communion, in solidarity with the Church Triumphant (the saints in Heaven whom we invoke).
Brittany is an ancient land of faith. From the ancient Breton bishoprics emerged the various regions that made up historic Brittany. Each Breton region, with its own distinctive features, had its own customs. But, like the great pardons where everyone came together, a common ardent faith united them. Ar brezhoneg hag ar feiz, a zo breur ha c’hoar e Breizh, "Breton and faith are brother and sister in Brittany."
The Feiz e Breizh pilgrimage hopes for the advent of a Christianity that acts, prays, and fights. The Feiz e Breizh pilgrimage aims to unite across Brittany: it invites the faithful from all our dioceses. Pilgrims gather in chapters—of ten to fifty people (children or adults)—under the leadership of a leader and his deputies. The pilgrimage is intended to be a model of organic micro-Christianity, of which the chapters are the basic units. Chapters therefore have a fair degree of autonomy, according to the Christian principle of subsidiarity, while respecting the fundamentals of pilgrimage: Mission – Tradition – Heritage.
A chapter is an anchor so as not to walk alone or wander as a solitary walker. We must leave the world behind to fraternally experience the spirit of Christianity, to prepare ourselves spiritually to rebuild the Christian world.
A chapter is a sign, an identity. Banners, crosses, or pennants claim the patronage of a saint, bearing the colors of a parish or other natural intermediary bodies.
A chapter is a single voice uniting those who sing, meditate, and pray together. During the pilgrimage, chapter life revolves around:
– the prayer of the Rosary, sung and meditated upon;
– meditations on the lives of the saints, particularly those who Christianized our country and those who protect it;
– Christian songs, marching songs, and Breton hymns (booklet included);
– conviviality, with pilgrims from the same chapter also sharing stops, meals, and bivouacs.
“No one who has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or children, or land, for my sake and the gospel's, will not receive now, in this time, a hundredfold: houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come, eternal life” (Gospel according to Saint Mark, 10:28-30).
Strip yourself of the spirit of the world, abandon the old self, root and strengthen your faith, come with us to implore the sanctifying graces that Breton Christianity needs!
Mignoned ker, a-unan ganeoc’h er bedenn,
In union of prayer.
And forthcoming Latin Mass in August
Tridentine Mass with Breton hymns on 10 August 2025
EucharistWe've already told you about the Lorient Festival's Interceltic Mass, which will take place on 10 August at the Church of Notre-Dame de Victoire (Saint-Louis) in Lorient town centre, at 11am. The original Breton-language mass has evolved over the last few years into an Inter-Celtic mass, with the majority of the songs in Breton, but also parts in other Celtic languages.
A Tridentine Mass will also be held on 10 August at 9.30am, with a good number of Breton songs, in the Sacré-Coeur church in Lorient. Every Sunday, a Mass according to the ritual of Saint Pius V is celebrated there with at least one Breton hymn. During the summer, the Breton language is used in the liturgy.
.jpeg)
Comments