National Catholic Register portal reports on the Abbey of Sainte-Madeleine du Barroux’s new sacramental wine, “Pie Pellicane,” produced by Benedictine monks in collaboration with theologians, claiming strict conformity with canonical requirements for altar wine. The article presents this as a renewal of liturgical integrity and a revival of papal tradition from Avignon. However, this entire enterprise operates within and lends credibility to the conciliar sect — the very structure that has systematically destroyed the sacred liturgy and whose “Mass” is a Protestantized abomination.
The Pelican Symbol: Stolen Imagery, Profaned Reality
The article invokes the medieval symbol of the pelican — Pie Pellicane — from St. Thomas Aquinas’s Adoro te devote, one of the most sublime Eucharistic hymns of Catholic tradition. The pelican feeding its young with its own blood is a fitting image of Christ’s self-giving in the Blessed Sacrament. Yet this beautiful symbolism is here co-opted to adorn a product destined for the Novus Ordo Missae, the fabricated “Mass” of Paul VI that the Catholic Church has never recognized as valid worship. The 1962 Missale Romanum of St. Pius V — the only true expression of the Church’s liturgical worship — requires wine that is natural, made from grapes, and unadulterated (Canon 924, 1917 Code). But no amount of canonical precision in the material of the wine can remedy the defect of form in the Novus Ordo’s consecratory formula, which was deliberately altered to obscure the propitiatory nature of the sacrifice. As the theological analysis of the Ottaviani Intervention (1969) demonstrated, the new rite represents “a striking departure from the Catholic theology of the Holy Mass” as defined by the Council of Trent.
Canonical Compliance Within a Lawless Structure
Gabriel Teissier, director of development at Via Caritatis, is quoted insisting that the wine was designed around “the practical realities of priestly life” and that it complies with Canon 924 and the instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum (2004). The article states: “This wine complies with canon law for use in the Mass.” This claim, while perhaps technically accurate within the framework of the 1983 Code of Canon Law promulgated by John Paul II, is profoundly misleading. The 1983 Code is the legal instrument of the conciliar sect, not of the Catholic Church. Its canonical norms, including those governing the “Eucharist,” regulate a counterfeit liturgy. The true Code of Canon Law — that of 1917, promulgated under Benedict XV — governs the Church of Christ. To speak of “canonical compliance” while operating entirely within the structures of the post-conciliar apostasy is akin to a forger boasting that his counterfeit banknotes comply with the forger’s own self-drawn specifications.
The article further notes that “any blending or addition of inappropriate substances may compromise the validity of the celebration itself.” This is true — but it applies to the true Mass, the Unbloody Sacrifice of Calvary perpetuated on Catholic altars. The Novus Ordo, by contrast, was designed from its inception to be a memorial meal rather than a propitiatory sacrifice. No quality of wine, however excellent, can supply what the rite itself lacks. As Pope Pius VI declared in Auctorem Fidei (1794), anything that departs from the Church’s received liturgy in matters touching the faith is “to be condemned and rejected.”
The Avignon Papal Tradition: A Dubious Pedigree
The article proudly traces the lineage of Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise to the Avignon popes of the 14th century, noting that Clement V and John XXII favored these wines. This historical detail, while interesting, serves a rhetorical purpose: to lend an aura of papal legitimacy to the product. Yet the Avignon papacy (1309–1377) is itself a period of contested authority and scandal in Church history, during which the papacy was effectively under the control of the French monarchy. More importantly, the article’s appeal to “papal tradition” implicitly validates the entire line of post-conciliar usurpers — the very men who fabricated the Novus Ordo that this wine is designed to serve. The “popes” of the conciliar sect, from John XXIII onward, have been manifest heretics who, by that very fact, lost their jurisdiction ipso facto according to the teaching of St. Robert Bellarmine: “A Pope who is a manifest heretic, by that very fact ceases to be Pope and head, just as he ceases to be a Christian and member of the body of the Church” (De Romano Pontifice, II:30).
The Abbey of Le Barroux: A Schism Within a Schism
The Abbey of Sainte-Madeleine du Barroux, founded in 1978 by Dom Gérard Calvet, occupies a deeply problematic position within the ecclesiastical landscape. While it celebrates the Traditional Latin Mass — the true Mass of the Roman Rite — it does so with the authorization of the conciliar sect. The community recognizes the authority of the usurpers in Rome, accepts the legitimacy of the Novus Ordo, and operates within the canonical framework of the post-conciliar church. This places it squarely in the category of “indultists” — those who stage the Traditional Latin Mass while acknowledging the very authorities who seek to suppress it. Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who initially inspired communities like Le Barroux, ultimately broke with this approach precisely because he recognized that cooperation with the conciliar sect perpetuates its legitimacy. His famous words — “give us the old Mass, that is enough for us” — were not a request for an “indult” but a demand for the Church’s immutable right to her own liturgy. Le Barroux, by accepting the conciliar framework, has chosen the path of compromise.
The article describes the monks as engaging in “ora et labora” — prayer and work — by placing their wine “at the service of the liturgy.” But which liturgy? If it is the Novus Ordo, then their labor serves not the Kingdom of Christ but the abomination of desolation that has occupied the holy place. True ora et labora is inseparable from the true Mass — the Most Holy Sacrifice offered according to the unchanging Roman Rite, not the fabricated rite of the conciliar sect.
The “Renewal” That Is No Renewal
The article frames Pie Pellicane as part of a “broader renewal of the Catholic faith in the West,” noting “rising numbers of baptisms within traditional communities” and younger generations “drawn to the beauty of the classical rite.” This language is revealing. The conciliar sect has spent decades destroying the faith through its liturgical revolution, its false ecumenism, its religious liberty, and its cult of man. Now, when the faithful begin to seek the true Mass and the true sacraments, the structures of the conciliar sect attempt to co-opt this movement and channel it back into their own framework. The production of a “liturgically correct” altar wine for the Novus Ordo is precisely such a co-optation — an attempt to dress the corpse of the new rite in the garments of tradition.
Pius XI, in Quas Primas (1925), declared that the reign of Christ the King extends over all men, all societies, and all states — “not only to Catholic nations or to those who, by receiving baptism according to law, belong to the Church… but His reign encompasses also all non-Christians, so that most truly the entire human race is subject to the authority of Jesus Christ.” The conciliar sect, by contrast, has embraced secularism, religious indifferentism, and the separation of Church and State — all condemned by Pius IX in the Syllabus of Errors (propositions 15, 18, 55, 77-80). To speak of “liturgical integrity” within this framework is a contradiction in terms.
The Silence That Condemns
What the article does not say is as damning as what it does say. There is no mention of the theological crisis that necessitates such a project — namely, that the conciliar sect has so thoroughly corrupted the liturgy that even the material elements of worship have become objects of negligence and abuse. There is no acknowledgment that the Novus Ordo itself is the root cause of the liturgical minimalism the article deplores. There is no recognition that the true solution is not a better wine for a false Mass, but a return to the true Mass — the Mass of all ages, celebrated according to the unchanging Roman Rite, with validly ordained priests who profess the integral Catholic faith.
St. Pius X, in Lamentabili Sane Exitu (1907), condemned the modernist proposition that “the organic structure of the Church is subject to change, and the Christian community, like the human community, is subject to continuous evolution” (proposition 53). The entire project of Pie Pellicane — and the conciliar sect it serves — is built upon this very heresy: the belief that the Church’s liturgy, like everything else, can be “renewed” and “adapted” to the spirit of the times. But the liturgy is not a human creation subject to evolution; it is the Church’s public worship, received from Christ and the Apostles, guarded by the Holy Ghost, and immutable in its essential form.
Conclusion: The Loving Pelican Feeds His Young — But Not With This Wine
The image of the pelican — Pie Pellicane, Iesu Domine — is one of the most tender and theologically rich in Catholic tradition. Christ, the loving Pelican, feeds His children with His own Body and Blood in the Most Blessed Sacrament. But this feeding requires true sacraments — valid matter, valid form, valid intention, and a valid minister. The conciliar sect, having altered the form of consecration, having introduced invalid matter (in some cases), and having filled its ranks with apostates and heretics, cannot offer the faithful the true Eucharist. No amount of canonical precision in the production of altar wine can remedy this fundamental defect.
The monks of Le Barroux, however sincere their intentions, are laboring in the service of a false altar. Their wine, however excellent, is destined for a false sacrifice. The true renewal of the Catholic faith will not come from better wines for the Novus Ordo, but from the restoration of the true Mass, the reign of Christ the King over all nations, and the return to immutable Tradition — the only path that leads to salvation. As Our Lord Himself declared: “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to Me shall not hunger; and he that believeth in Me shall never thirst” (John 6:35). But He also warned: “If you do not eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you” (John 6:54). Let us seek the true Bread and the true Wine — not the counterfeits of the conciliar sect.
Source:
At the Service of the Altar: Le Barroux’s New Sacramental Wine (ncregister.com)
Date: 26.04.2026