Requiescat in pace: Fr. Epiney

[Stone]

Requiem aeternam dona ei Domine, et lux perpetua luceat ei. Requiescat in pace. Amen.

Excerpt from here [computer translated]:

Father Epiney passed away quietly in his house in Riddes [Switzerland] on January 15, 2022. He is a priest who has just left this vale of tears to join his Master. The world without God will ignore it, but it was great in the history of the last fight that the militant Church is now waging; his vocation was revealed to him mysteriously by a Capuchin priest when he was only a child. He was the savior of many priestly souls in danger but above all the faithful friend of Archbishop Lefebvre ... He went through and endured all the storms, vexations, vicissitudes and betrayals. He also refused to be silent in the face of the rallying of the SSPX and the spirit of compromise which was that of a large number of priests of this work. 

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A sermon of Archbishop Lefebvre's on the Occasion of Fr. Epiney's 25th Ordination Anniversary 
Taken from the LaPorteLatine.org website [also computer translated]:

Dear Father,

It is to you first of all that my first words will go, to congratulate you and to make myself the interpreter of all those who have come here, doubtless for Corpus Christi and to honor Our Lord Jesus Christ in the sacrament of the Eucharist today, but also by a delicacy of Providence, they can at the same time celebrate you and with you, during Holy Mass, give thanks to God for your priesthood, for all the graces you have received and all the graces you have given.

It would be up to you, dear M. le Curé, to say, to express all these graces that you have received during your life, all this past, from your birth to this day, is better known to you than to me. . And so you could do it with much more precision than I can do, but nevertheless, I would like to say briefly, to say what the Good Lord has done for you and for us since you are very close and very attached to us: Sed ego elegi vos ( Jn 15,16): “But I chose you”. Elegit Deus sacerdotem suum. “God has chosen his priest”. I think we can say it in a very special way for you, dear M. le Curé, truly the Good Lord has chosen you. Everything proves it to us, everything indicates it to us. He chose you by having you born into a deeply Christian family. Your mother, present here, gave you, with your father now in Heaven, a true Catholic formation, a profound Christian formation, in a mountain setting which also expresses in a very particular way, the greatness of the Good God, the beauty of God, who gave you the opportunity to be formed in a harsh way in the true Christian virtues, in this country with a difficult climate. What memories all this must bring back to you. And then, the Good Lord chose you to be his priest.

This year of the priesthood in 1961, was the year of the eve of the council preparing upheavals, great changes in our Holy Church. And by a particular grace of the Good Lord, you knew how to keep the sense of faith, the sense of what was given to you in the seminary. And, still a young vicar, then a young parish priest, on the occasion of priestly meetings, you did not hesitate to express your disapproval of the changes that you saw coming and which seemed to you – rightly – contrary to the good of the Church. , contrary to the good of souls. So you said it bluntly. And, to show your attachment to the Church as always, you also kept your cassock, your ecclesiastical habit, convinced that this was a manifestation of your attachment to the faith and to the priesthood.

And then, Providence wanted your bishop to appoint you to Riddes, knowing perfectly well that it was a particularly difficult ministry – Riddes was not known for her Christian fervor – and therefore in an environment where there was a lot to do. and where your zeal could have been exercised, that your bishop has sent you. And not only to evangelize, but also to build a new church, just as you had, ultimately, to build the spiritual Church, you also had to build the material Church. And that's what you did. You have done both, dear Father, you have given Riddes his faith of yesteryear, you have given Riddes a church, a new church. But now, being at Riddes, you were at the same time the parish priest of Econe. And again by a particular grace of Holy Providence, Écône became what we know today: the Séminaire d'Écône, with the authorization of the Bishop of Sion. And therefore there was no difficulty, on the contrary, in the seminary being very united with the parish of Riddes, which was our parish. And we found precisely the priest that the Good Lord had prepared for us. Firm in the faith, attached to Tradition, ready to fight if necessary to keep his faith, to keep his priesthood in an integral way.

So, from now on, Ecône and the parish priest of Riddes have known ties that have remained in admirable fidelity. And this is where a choice, dear Mr. le Curé, had to be made by you, despite the pain of apparently breaking with the diocese, you preferred to keep Tradition, keep the faith, rather than see disaster. enter your church, your parish as well as other parishes, to see the parishes deserted; like the Séminaire de Sion which closed its doors to send the few remaining subjects to Fribourg. You preferred to continue your priestly ministry as you had received it from the hands of your bishop and as you had been taught in the seminary.

You didn't want to change and you remained the priest, the Catholic priest forever. For this we heartily congratulate you. Despite the trials you had to endure, you remained faithful.

And now, twenty-five years of priesthood have passed. And thanks to you, dear M. le Curé, Valais still remains Catholic. I believe we can say it and we must say it. No doubt you will say to me: But Ecône has also become the symbol of catholicity, the symbol of fidelity to the Church for all time. But it was not Ecône who maintained the faith in dear Valais, it was you, dear M. le Curé, it was through you. If you hadn't been there, we wouldn't have experienced this influx of Valaisans. We would not have known this maintenance of the Catholic faith in the hearts of the Valaisans.

Also, I think that the people here present, who are moreover a small number among those represented by all the Catholic centers in Valais, thank you very much for having helped them to keep the faith, for having been the priest, the priest Catholic who maintains the Christian education of children; who maintains the sanctification of families; which maintains the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass of always. What graces for the faithful of Valais. And if we can say that Ecône is also surrounded by these dear faithful, well, we owe it to you, dear M. le Curé.

And if this fidelity to Ecône, despite the hardships that we too have undergone over the past fifteen years, is always manifested in a permanent, flawless way, it is indeed to you that we owe it too. , because, in the midst of these trials, you have always been present. You have never changed; you never hesitated. You have remained as a rock, faithful to Ecône and faithful to the faith, faithful to the Church. That's what we want to be, that's what we have to be.

So for all this we thank God and we thank you, dear Father, wishing you on the occasion of these twenty-five years of priesthood, many more years of ministry, to continue to maintain and develop the true faith, the Catholic faith in this country which has been the source of so many vocations, vocations in the diocese, vocations outside the diocese, so many missionaries, so many men and women religious have come from these families Valais. What is the family that did not count among its members or relatives, monks, nuns, priests. So by your action, by your zeal, you are rebuilding and maintaining what can still be maintained in Christian families. And from there also come the vocations 728

This year we will have the joy of ordaining five new Swiss priests. This is truly a great grace. And it is indeed to your example and your prayer that we owe these vocations, dear M. le Curé.

May the Good God bless you, may the Good God continue to give you strong health and give you all the graces you need, to continue your magnificent apostolate for the glory of the Good God and for the salvation of souls.

My very dear brothers, I would not like to prolong this sermon too long since we have a rather long ceremony today with the procession of the Blessed Sacrament which will follow this mass, but thank God, my very dear brothers, that this feast of the priesthood takes place precisely on the day of Corpus Christi, the day of the Eucharist, the day of the Mass in the end, since the Eucharist is the marvelous, miraculous fruit of the Holy Mass, of the Sacrifice of Our Lord Jesus -Christ. It is therefore also the feast of the priesthood and the feast of the Eucharist.

Let us thank the Good Lord and let us understand, let us keep this conviction that without the priesthood there is no longer any Christian life. Without the priesthood there are no more Christian families, without the priesthood there is no Christian City. Everything is attached to the priest. The Good Lord wanted it that way. Our Lord willed it: Do this in memory of me. He said to his priests: Do this in memory of me. It is to them that He entrusted the Sacrifice of the Mass. It is to them that he entrusted the Eucharist. It is to them that he entrusted the teaching of Christian doctrine; that he entrusted the sanctification of souls and the guidance of souls. Here is the priest. What an extraordinary gift: a holy priest is a marvelous gift.

I am sure that you are praying, my very dear brothers, with all your heart, with all your soul so that the Good Lord may multiply the holy Priests. Holy Priests like the dear M. le Curé de Riddes, entirely devoted, zealous, for the good of souls, for the good of families, for the good of the City.

The priest is at the origin of all Christian civilization, with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, by Our Lord Jesus Christ, for the reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

We are going to sing later, the praises to Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. We can't do better; that Jesus reigns over us; that he reigns in us, in our souls; may he reign in our families; that he reigns in our villages; may he reign in our Valais. May this Valais once again become a Catholic Valais, honoring Our Lord Jesus Christ, respecting the laws of Our Lord Jesus Christ; putting nothing above Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Saint Benedict gave as a motto to his minuses: Christo omninum nihi preponant: Let the monks place nothing above Our Lord Jesus Christ; may Our Lord truly be the first served, the first honored, the first loved.

Well, let it also be here today, on the occasion of the feast of the priesthood of M. le Curé and the feast of the Holy Eucharist, our motto: Put nothing above Our Lord Jesus Christ . May Jesus reign in us, in our homes, in our cities, through the intermediary and intercession of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. So be it.