Sonnet Bishop Williamson

JMJ

AMDG

AVE MARIA!

BISHOP WILLIAMSON’S SONNET ON THE OCCASION OF THE TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE SOCIETY OF ST. PIUS X, 1980. (Then Fr. Williamson, professor of theology and philosophy at Econe)

I WILL NOT ABANDON YOU Ten years it stands, the Priestly Brotherhood Decreed by God from all eternity; By man in time, today misunderstood, Tomorrow’s model of fidelity. From all the world the young men came, inspired By one true Catholic Bishop’s unflinching stand; The heroism, truth, everywhere else desired With him they find, and form a Priestly Band. Satan recoils, springs, and claws at the head, Thereby to maul the seminarians too. Pressed to desert them, ‘No!’ the Bishop said, And promised them ‘I’ll not abandon you’. Abandon them he has not, live or dead. May they to his fidelity be true!