34 The Fatima Crusader | Summer 2016

Seminarian Gruner and the

Diabolic Disorientation In this excerpt of a speech given by John Vennari at Our Lady’s Army of Advocates conference in Boston, Massachusetts, John Vennari shares with us the persecutions Father Nicholas Gruner encountered in his battle for truth even back in his seminarian days.

by John Vennari

Young Nicholas Gruner graduated from McGill University in Montreal

in 1964 at the age of 22, with a Bachelor of Commerce degree.

While at university, he had sensed the attraction to the priesthood, but during a Retreat he received the good advice: “Finish your studies, secure your degree, and move on from there.”

This is what he did, he “moved on” right out of Canada.

After university, he embarked on an extended, solitary trip to Europe, starting with Great Britain. His family had roots in England, and he also wanted to visit Alyesford, where Our Lady of Mt. Carmel appeared to Saint Simon Stock and presented him with the Brown Scapular in 1215.

It was here the young Nick was enrolled in the Brown Scapular. He said (and he would say this until the end of his days) that he found wearing the Brown Scapular made it easier for him to pray the daily Rosary.

He would go on to visit France, Lourdes, even Garabandal. He ended up in Portugal but could not get to Fatima.

It was during this sojourn in Europe that a pilgrim handed him a little pamphlet on Fatima that focused on the need for the Consecration of Russia. It was also during this trip that Nicholas became determined to pursue the priesthood.

1966: Montreal

1966 finds him back in Montreal where he completed a year in philosophy.

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After this, he went to the Grand Seminaire in Montreal for his first year in theology. He noticed at this seminary a kind of worldliness and a ‘new spirit’ invading the campus.

We are now into the years 1966-1967, and the Vatican II revolution was escalating. This is the time, between 1965-1972, when Sister Lucia of Fatima, in her various letters, warned against the diabolic disorientation of members of the upper hierarchy.

The radical Cardinal Suenens of Belgium had exclaimed with jubilance that “Vatican II was the French Revolution of the Church.”

We had (and still have) as a result of the Council,

the ascendancy of liberal Catholicism t h r o u g h o u t t h e Church. Towards the end of the Council and immediately after, Liberals and Freemasons cackled their own cockadoodles of victory.

Yves Marsaudon of the Scottish Rite, in his book Ecumenism Viewed by a Traditional Freemason, praised the ecumenism nurtured at Vatican II: “Catholics ...

must not forget that all roads lead to God. And they will have to accept that this courageous idea of freethinking, which we can really call a revolution, pouring forth from our Masonic lodges, has spread magnificently over the dome of St. Peter’s.”

Marcel Prelot, a senator for the Doubs region in France, goes much further in describing what took place: “We had struggled for a century and a half to bring our opinions to prevail with the Church and had not succeeded. Finally, there came Vatican II and we triumphed. From then on the propositions and principles of liberal Catholicism have been definitively and officially accepted by Holy Church.”

Artwork by Samantha Moon, Age 12Drawn using words of one of Father Gruner’s speeches.

36 The Fatima Crusader | Summer 2016

Revolution, destabilization, and new doctrinal and moral trends that – in the words of the pre-Vatican II Holy Office – “wander far from the Catholic teaching handed down through the ages” were gaining currency in seminaries and institutes of Catholic higher education.

At this point, Montreal was no different from anywhere else. It was here that young Nicholas confronted a challenge to the Faith that – we could say – was somewhat prophetic.

There was a group of students with modernist leanings who were advancing the idea that Catholic divorce would be permitted in the future.

I gather that young Nick Gruner was every bit stalwart then as was the Father Gruner we knew. He stood up to this modernist group: “This cannot be.”

The group responded with the claim that Cardinal Garrone, the new Vatican Prefect in charge of Vatican seminaries, was on their side.

“I don’t care if 10 Cardinals hold that position,” answered Nick, “it is still heresy. Divorce for Catholics can never be approved by the Church.”

That’s why I say this exchange was prophetic. He confronted a challenge to the true Catholic teaching on marriage at the very beginning of his clerical life; and it was this threat to the genuine Catholic teaching on divorce and remarriage that was tearing the Church apart at the end of his priestly life.

At the time of his death, April 29, 2015, we were in between the two tumultuous synods on marriage and the family of 2014 and 2015.

Thus, at the beginning and at the end of his priestly life, he confronted a betrayal of the Church’s moral teaching on marriage.

Now, what happened back in Montreal in 1967? Were the modernist seminarians asked to depart? No, it was the Catholic Nicholas Gruner who was told to leave. The Rector of the Seminary told Nicholas that he did not share his position, and that he should seek his vocation elsewhere.

Crisis of Faith In the Seminaries

The crisis of Faith in the seminaries f lash-f lamed throughout the Church as a direct result of Vatican II. It was a challenging time to pursue the

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priesthood, and Nick was thrust into the frothing maelstrom of post-conciliar chaos.

He returned to Europe, and in 1968 found himself in San Giovanni Rotondo, the home of Padre Pio. I don’t think he ever spoke with the famous Capuchin, though there is a photo of Nicholas receiving a blessing from Padre Pio. He attended the Mass of the holy friar, and was there for the last six months of Padre Pio’s life.

Less than a month later, on October 13, 1968, Nicholas Gruner saw Fatima for the first time.

Though Nicholas would return physically to Fatima

many times, we could say that – mentally and spiritually – he never left Fatima. It was always with him, always in the forefront of his thinking and his preoccupations. He told me more than once that even before he was ordained, he knew he would spend his priesthood promoting the Fatima Message.

By October 1970, we find Nick in Rome in some sort of Mexican community where he studied his second year of theology. But due to the Superior’s insistence that the novices work in the orchards on Sunday (servile work in which Nick refused to participate), he was asked to leave at the end of the academic year.

Father Gruner (left) with Padre Pio (right)

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The Oblates

By 1971, Nicholas Gruner is about to find a foundation that holds some promise.

Through someone he met while at the Mexican community, he ended up collaborating with a handful of other seminarians who were in the same boat. The main associates he mentions are Ron Tangen and Les Stelter. They became involved in Italy with the Oblates of the Virgin Mary, and ended up forming a seminary at San Vittorino with the help of Brother Gino, who was an Oblate.

At the time, as should be obvious by now, there were numerous young men seeking such a foundation. Word spread that a seminary faithful to what was always taught, and that had removed itself from the destructive maelstrom of the Conciliar aggiornamento was being established. By 1972, they had about 50 seminarians.

Nick Gruner’s task was to find professors to teach at the seminary who were both competent and traditional. Three of whom he found were: Father de Voss, Father Vansteenkiste, and a brilliant Jesuit named Father Emmet Buckley.

This has a special significance for me because I knew Father Buckley.

I became acquainted with Father Buckley around 1988. He visited where I lived at the time and gave me a crash course in Thomistic Epistomology, which changed my life forever. Father Buckley was a master at precision, a master at making clear distinction, remarkably well-trained in Thomistic theology and philosophy, and a first-class teacher.

This was a unique bond I had with Father Gruner. We were both taught by the same Professor – Father Buckley – though Father Gruner had him in class, while I was taught by him in one-on-one sessions.

The Pamphlet

As far back as 1972, Nick Gruner was involved with publishing. He, Ron Tangen and another seminarian drew up a pamphlet about the new seminary.

Ron Tangen, in this pamphlet, wrote, “I am writing before the Blessed Sacrament exposed,” and went on to describe his experience looking for a seminary for four years, and how they were all bad ones, and how his dream was fulfilled by going

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to San Vittorino.Over the next few months,

that little pamphlet ended up being published in eleven small journals. The brochure explained that the seminary was based on the rule of the Venerable Father Lanteri (1759-1830), an Italian priest in the Piedmont district of Northern Italy. He lived during the tumultuous period of the French Revolution and its aftermath, and was founder of the Oblates of the Virgin Mary.

“One of the purposes of Father Lanteri’s congregation,” explained Father Gruner, “was to fight against current errors. Alas, the modern Oblates’ attitude was, ‘We don’t fight current

errors anymore.’ Father Lanteri spoke of St. Thomas Aquinas as the first choice as teacher of dogmatic theology and St. Alphonsus Liguori as the first choice as teacher of moral theology.”

In the brochure, the young seminary promised a rich life of prayer to those interested in the priesthood: 15 decades of the Rosary every day, one hour before the Blessed Sacrament, Mass and Communion, a spiritual apostolate after ordination.

Father Gruner said: “The brochure struck a nerve. We got hundreds of letters.”

(Top right) Nicholas Gruner. To his left, Ronald Tangen

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This would put the seminary in the cross-hairs of the post-Conciliar Vatican, and the main agent of destruction would be Cardinal Garrone, who, at the time, was Prefect of the Vatican Congregation on Education. A traditional order was regarded as a threat to the new post-Conciliar orientation.

Cardinal Garrone had been on the side of the progressivist prelates at Vatican II – prelates such as Cardinals Lienart, Frings, Dopfner and Alfrink. Professor Romano Amerio, author of the masterpiece Iota Unum, demonstrates that Cardinal Garrone had adopted a modernist manner of thinking (see pp. 371-373).

Because the seminary at Vittorino was a new establishment, it was not able to grant degrees to its students. Father Buckley, Nick Gruner and the other seminarians wanted to work with the Angelicum in Rome (the Pontifical University of St. Thomas – prestigious, but now infected with the new spirit).

At the time, according to Father Gruner, there were still some good professors at this University, but there were a number of modernist teachers as well, so the student had to

be careful. The plan was for the seminarians to conduct their studies at San Vittorino, and receive their degrees through the Angelicum.

This proposal was put to the vote of the Senate at the Anglicum and was granted approval (we’re now at 1972).

A few days later, however, the Senate had to hold a closed-door meeting where the Dean of Philosophy told the Senate that Cardinal Garrone had intervened, and that Cardinal Garrone would not accept this.

The new seminary thus could not give degrees for their studies. Seminarians had to study at the Angelicum, and navigate through the good professors and the bad ones.

Even this did not last.Father Gruner related: “It was

reliably reported that Cardinal Garrone, at a meeting in the Vatican, became angry – early in the Fall of 1972 – that there were 50 seminarians at the Vittorino school and at all the things we were trying to do. Garrone pounded the table with his fist saying, ‘That place must be closed!’ – At first, the young seminarians could hardly believe this report, but in time it was proven to be true.”

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The Vatican sent an investigative team to take a look at what was going on in San Vittorino. “There was nothing to investigate,” noted Father Gruner, “the investigation was merely window dressing for what they intended to do.”

What they intended to do was to close the school – and that’s what happened. By 1973, their internal school was shut down, Father Buckley was removed, and all the seminarians had to go to the Angelicum to navigate the good and bad professors.

Here’s the type of episode that would unfold. We are now

in September 1973, Nick Gruner was still in the novitiate of the Oblates of the Virgin Mary. The Superior General of the Oblates had just come back from a theological lecture in Rome where the professor denied that Christ rose physically from the dead.

The Superior General agreed with this false teaching and repeated it to Nick and to all the Fathers and the novices.

Nick Gruner responded, “That is heresy.”

The Superior General repeated it again.

Ordination of Father Nicholas Gruner, August 22, 1976.

42 The Fatima Crusader | Summer 2016

Order your CD or DVD of the entire speech. See pg. 32.

Nick again responded, “That is heresy.”

The Superior General repeated it a third time, and Nick stepped back from the conversation, as the Superior was effectively turning the discussion into a child’s game.

Within a few months of this encounter, Nick was asked to leave the Oblates. Father Gruner would later say: “In reference to my saying ‘This is heresy’ the reasoning of the Oblate leadership was, ‘since you have no confidence in your superiors, it is not reasonable you stay with us in this Order.’”

Nick ended up at the Angelicum where he ultimately received his Bachelor’s Degree in Sacred Theology as well as a Licentiate Decree in Sacred Theology.

After years of struggle against almost impossible odds, he was finally ordained on August 22, 1976, the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, by Bishop Pasquale Venezia of Avellino. He was now a priest traveling and seeking incardination.

National Pilgrim Virgin

In August of 1977, acquaintances in Ottawa asked him to help rescue a Fatima

Apostolate centered in that city. This is what is known as “National Pilgrim Virgin,” the name that Father Gruner’s Canadian apostolate holds to this day.

In June 1978, Bishop Pasqual Venezia – the Bishop of Avellino – officially granted Father Gruner written permission to live and work outside the Diocese of Avellino.

This was the formal beginning of Father Gruner’s full-time commitment to the Apostolate of Our Lady of Fatima.

Thus, if you look at the archives of The Fatima Crusader you will see the very first edition – Issue No. 1 – is dated Summer,1978, immediately after he received permission of the Bishop of Avelino to conduct his work outside the diocese.

He began to tour Canada with the statue, the same Pilgrim Virgin statue you see with us, and spent his life tirelessly promoting the full Fatima Message.

We are all the beneficiaries of his lifelong dedication to Our Lady. We are here to continue this crucial work. |

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