It has been awhile since I looked at the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter’s website so I was happy to see that they have the largest class of tonsurandi in their history. The term tonsurandi was new to me so I was glad that they provided an explanation. The Rite of Tonsure is administered early in the second year of formation, and is the point at which a seminarian is invested with the cassock and surplice.

The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, an IRL Affiliate, was founded in 1988 in Switzerland, though they established their Motherhouse in Wigratzbad, Germany, shortly thereafter. They were blessed in 1990 to have a visit from the then-Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, who celebrated mass in the Traditional rite and has been a good friend to them from their beginnings. I’m sure they will miss his paternal support.

In a statement released after the announcement of Pope Benedict’s abdication the Fraternity said: “We offer our sincere gratitude to the Holy Father for his tireless efforts to guide the barque of St. Peter along the path set out for Her by God. We thank him, in particular, for his kindness and paternal solicitude, especially on behalf of the faithful attached to the Extraordinary Form of the Latin Rite, which he universally restored to its honored place in the Church by his Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum in 2007.”

The Fraternity seminary in the Unites States, one of two that they operate, is located in Denton, Nebraska, which when it opened in 2000 welcomed 50 seminarians! They have many parishes throughout North America and Europe and Australia as well as missions in Nigeria and Brazil. Today, they have an astounding 397 members (11/2012) according to their website.