The Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer (Latin: Filii Sanctissimi Redemptoris, Latin siglum: F.SS.R.), formerly the Transalpine Redemptorists[1] are a religious order based on Papa Stronsay in the Orkney Islands, Scotland. Their rule is based on that of St. Alphonsus Liguori, although they have no formal connection to the Redemptorist order.
The congregation was erected as Transalpine Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (C.SS.R.) 2 August 1988 by Father Michael Mary Sim C.SS.R. as a traditionalist Catholic Redemptorist religious community affiliated with Society of St. Pius X, and were called the Transalpine Redemptorists. The previous year, 3 December 1987 Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre had officially blessed the undertaking of the foundation.
Originally based at the Monastery of the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary in the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, they moved to the Mother of Perpetual Succour Monastery in Joinville, France in 1994 until they bought the island of Papa Stronsay on 31 May 1999.
There they established the Golgotha Monastery, and publish The Catholic, a monthly since 1982. In the past they promoted their own version of a Redemptorist Purgatorian Confraternity. [2]
However, after petitioning the Holy See for reconciliation in June 2008, Pope Benedict XVI accepted their petition and declared them in "canonical good standing" within the Roman Catholic Church[3] but are they not "canonically erected" and their faculties for celebrating Mass in public are restricted to the islands of Papa Stronsay and Stronsay.[4] They require their local bishop's permission to publicly celebrate the Latin Mass.[5] In an interview Fr. Michael Mary described their current position being "still in no man's land".[6]
The motu proprio Summorum Pontificum was the main incentive which caused the community to reconsider their position.[7]
After this, their official name was changed to The Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer (F.SS.R.), and minor changes to their religious habit were made in order to make the difference from the original Redemptorist congregation clearer.[8]
The community is presently somewhat in a legal grey area - although their priests are not suspended (and there has never been any Church penalties on their lay brothers), they do not yet legally exist as a Catholic monastery. Their newly revised rule and their application for a canonical structure are presently being considered by the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei.
In July 2007 the order established a second monastery in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand.