A new church for the Society of Saint Pius X in Vienna

Dear friends and benefactors!

Heaven gave us in Vienna a gift that exceeded our wildest expectations. For years we have been looking for a suitable church, because the provisional arrangement - which ended up being long lasting - of our former Saint Joseph Chapel in Bernardgasse, with its very expensive rent, has never could be a permanent solution.

Since 2008, our Viennese faithful pray intensely for this intention. Saint Joseph made us wait and tested our patience and perseverance until the year dedicated to him.

But today, he answered superabundantly to the many prayers and gave us not just any church, but the Church of the Minims of Maria Schnee - Marie des Neiges - consecrated to his most holy wife.

It is one of the most renowned, beautiful and oldest churches in the city of Vienna, in a prime location, and whose historical and cultural significance cannot be appreciated enough! Our gratitude to the good Saint Joseph is limitless! How marvelously he hears those who pray to him with confidence and perseverance.

But we are also aware that this sublime gift is linked to a great mission and a heavy responsibility. The Church of the Minims now offers vast possibilities for the apostolate and therefore unique opportunities to strengthen the Catholic tradition in Vienna.

May the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Snows and her holy husband help us with their powerful assistance to fulfill this responsibility, for the greater glory of God and the salvation of as many souls as possible!

The miracles of divine Providence

How did the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X come to maintain such a magnificent church in Vienna? With God, nothing is impossible, and obviously God wanted to make the impossible possible, humanly speaking.

Indeed, the circumstances of this wonderful success story can only be described as miraculous. Here are the most important cornerstones that suggest that God was involved from the start:

- November 18, 2020: On the feast of the consecration of the churches of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, we received the completely unexpected proposal to take over the Church of the Minims of the “Italian Congregation Madonna della Neve”. It had been donated in 1784 by Emperor Joseph II as the Italian national church in Vienna (the Convent of the Minims was then moved to the former monastery of the Trinitarians, near the Church of the Trinity).

- May 20, 2021: Feast of Saint Bernardin of Siena. As a young priest, Saint Bernardin had received from the Blessed Mother the gift of miraculous powers, and we asked him for nothing other than a miracle. The saint answered us, because it was unanimously accepted to donate to the SSPX the most important Marian church in the city of Vienna!

- May 25, 2021: On this day of commemoration of two Italian popes - Saint Gregory VII and Saint Urban I -, on the eve of the feast of Saint Philippe Néri, the great apostle of Rome, the notarial signing of the donation contracts took place . With this it was clear to us that God was obviously giving the SSPX the mission to faithfully pursue the centuries-old legacy of the Italian community in Vienna.

- June 29, 2021: The Holy Apostles Peter and Paul sponsored the start of our company: providentially they were present at the coronation. On the day of their solemnity, the new property was definitively entered in the land register of the city of Vienna. The Fraternity will not be able to take possession of this property until June 3, 2022, the anniversary date of the donation of the church to the Italian Congregation by Emperor Joseph II, on June 3, 1784.

The SSPX therefore officially became the owner of the Church of the Minimes. What does this sponsorship tell us? It is certain that with the Church of the Minims we have received no other mandate than that of faithfully continuing in Vienna the apostolic tradition that Saint Peter and Saint Paul established in the Church of Rome, the Mother and Mistress of all. churches, in the name of Christ, and to defend it firmly against all the aberrations of today.

We are not an old- fashioned Tradi Club , but simply Roman Catholics, and we have the ardent desire to serve the Catholic Church with all our might and to help it rediscover its 2000-year-old apostolic tradition, from which only one stems all the supernatural vitality, as from the root to the widely branched tree of the Church.

May Almighty God bless this work which has amazed everyone. May all his holy auxiliaries accompany our new mission with their constant intercession, especially Saint Clement-Marie Hofbauer, patron of our Viennese priory, who worked for four years as rector of the Church of the Minims and revived Eucharistic love there in the hearts of the Viennese with its grandiose celebrations in honor of the Blessed Sacrament.

With my priestly blessing.

Pater Stefan Frey

For more pictures of the Church (Click here).

History and description of the church: (Click Here).