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 Plinio
Corrêa de Oliveira:
His Early Years
On the
tenth anniversary of the death of Plinio Corrêa de
Oliveira, founder of the Brazilian TFP and inspirer of TFP
sister organizations around the world, the American TFP
web site offers its readers a biographical sketch of this
man who was truly a “crusader of the twentieth century.”
Written in the 1970s, this biography was originally intended
as the outline for a book. Hence it has no conclusion. It
was still a work in progress. Nevertheless, it describes
the circumstances in which the young Plinio’s character
was formed and offers an early overview of the future Catholic
leader whose life goal was to serve the Church and Christian
civilization. (Ed.)
By John Blain
Plinio was born in Brazil, a country encompassing
half of South America. Discovered in 1500 by the Portuguese,
Brazil was named “The Land of the Holy Cross.”
This predominantly Catholic country was ruled by a monarchy
until the republican coup of 1889. Plinio’s parents,
João Paulo Corrêa de Oliveira and Lucilia Ribeiro
dos Santos, were born in the twilight of the monarchy. Both
came from the old rural aristocracy—his father from
the sugarcane aristocracy of Pernambuco in northern Brazil,
and his mother from the coffee aristocracy of São
Paulo in central-southern Brazil. In fact, their social
situation mirrored that of the antebellum old plantation
families of the American South. Plinio’s parents lived
in São Paulo, where Plinio was born in 1908 and where
he resided his whole life. Rosée, an older sister,
was his only sibling.
 PART
I
His Intellectual
and Social Formation
Since his father was from northern
Brazil, the extended family that Plinio knew was mostly
his mother’s family, the Ribeiro dos Santos. The family
was one of the most traditional families of São Paulo,
and Dona1 Lucilia was one
of its most traditional members. She was a devoted mother
with a serious, discerning spirit inspired by deep religious
convictions. She taught Plinio and Rosée to recognize
her statue of the Sacred Heart even before teaching them
to say “Papa” and “Mama.”
In addition to religious concerns, young
Plinio felt attracted to the marvelous and sublime aspects
of life as handed down by tradition. He had a vivid interest
in religious, political and social issues even before he
could read. In his mind’s eye, Plinio saw ideas should
not be hidden in books gathering dust, but weaved into the
tapestry of human life. For Plinio, social context gave
life to ideas, which in turn influenced mindsets.
Proud Atheists at Home
Plinio spoke his first Portuguese
words at six months, and began speaking French and German
at the age of four. His personality combined characteristics
of the people of Pernambuco and São Paulo: he was
amazingly logical for one so young, and showed an early
inclination for debate and oratory.
At home there was much discussion about
the political situation of Brazil. Even in this traditional
family there were “bold spirits” who flaunted
their atheism and socialistic leanings. They tended to dominate
the discussion, presenting themselves as heralds of the
future while the practicing Catholics who opposed them often
appeared confused and on the defensive. Although Dona Lucilia
would remain silent during these arguments, Plinio rejected
the temptation to betray his inclinations. He chose to defend
tradition.
The Era of Transformation
The period after World War I was one
of rapid transformation in Brazil. The rise of Communism
in Russia and the unrest that spread throughout Central
Europe sent ripples all the way to São Paulo, where
street demonstrations and labor conflicts often turned violent.
The social and cultural atmosphere of São Paulo changed,
and much of the splendor and glitter that characterized
the belle époque in this metropolis began to wane.
Rapid mechanization favored this process.
Already São Paulo was entering the dizzying industrial
boom that would transform the small aristocratic city of
the twenties into the largest industrial hub of South America,
with more than eight million inhabitants [in the 1970s –Ed.].
The budding feminist movement, which promoted masculine
fashions for women, and the introduction of more casual
manners also contributed to this “new world”
which increasingly conflicted with Plinio’s mentality.
If people were fascinated with the first
highways, radio stations and commercial aircraft, they were
even more enthralled with the cinema. Hollywood films captivated
the multitudes and declared that the post-war changes were
irreversible. Caught up with the euphoria of peace, prosperity
and progress, virtually everyone was swept along in this
process and gave no thought to the bitter fruits it might
bring in the course of the century.
At age ten, Plinio observed these changes
around him and rejected them. He began to debate their merit,
at first with the “bold spirits” at home. Above
all, he developed the habit of reflection, seeking to understand
the events around him. The more life changed, the more Plinio
was convinced that certain things should never change, and
that others should change in a direction diametrically opposed
to the trends he witnessed. Plinio’s rejection of
this process crystallized into a conscious resistance, a
position that he adopted for life.
Hollywood Fans at School
In 1919, Plinio entered the Jesuit
Academy of Saint Louis, his first school. There he met not
only students from his own social circle, but also the children
of recently immigrated wealthy families. What he saw among
them reinforced his outlook on life.
Prior to his enrollment in the Academy,
Plinio and his sister were tutored by a Bavarian governess,
Fräulein Mathilde Heldmann, an experienced and talented
teacher. Fräulein Mathilde had worked in Europe for
several noble families. She came to Brazil in 1913 at Dona
Lucilia’s invitation, bringing with her memories of
the aristocratic and brilliant European belle époque
that World War I destroyed. During French and German classes,
Fräulein Mathilde spoke to Plinio and his sister of
that world, emphasizing its aristocratic ceremony, manners
and good taste.
At school, Plinio felt the shock of an
atmosphere vastly different from the one in which he had
been reared. The students were already caught up in the
Hollywoodian transformation of Brazilian life. For Plinio’s
classmates, the word “Hollywood” was sacrosanct.
It meant modernity, dynamism, self-realization, pragmatism,
contempt for culture and reflection, enthusiasm for agitation
and spontaneous action, egalitarianism and sensuality. It
promoted a simplistic and deformed image of the United States
in movies that Brazilian schoolboys universally esteemed.
The challenge posed by the “bold
spirits” at home was repeated at school. Plinio would
have to resist or he would capitulate and adhere to changes
his soul rejected. His efforts to find classmates who thought
like he did invariably ended in failure.
Alone in his way of thinking, Plinio resolved
not to partake in a quixotic opposition to everything and
everyone. He would never say or do anything contrary to
the convictions maturing in his soul but, would voice them
only on those occasions when he judged he had a chance of
prevailing in an argument. After serious reflection, Plinio
followed this line of conduct until he was twenty. Like
every serious fighter, he was learning strategy.
The Task: Rebuilding
Christian Civilization
While the spirit of Hollywood reigned
among the students, the spirituality of Saint Ignatius of
Loyola could still be found among the Jesuits. Plinio was
attracted immediately to the seriousness, depth and coherence
with which Saint Ignatius taught. He was enticed by the
saint’s invitation to practice religion to its last
logical consequences. Here, Dona Lucilia’s religious
influence found logical elements to further strengthen Plinio’s
convictions, which were now budding into an enthusiastic
love. Plinio began to attend religious practices and frequent
the Sacraments more assiduously. He also deepened his devotion
to the Blessed Virgin Mary that gradually became the main
pillar of his spiritual life.
Through his experiences at the academy,
Plinio understood that the battle for or against God and
His Church is the main motivating factor of all history.
In fidelity to the Church, the world has the means to secure
its best ideals to a firm rock and reject all error and
evil. On the contrary, if the world rejects God and His
Church, social mores, institutions, peoples and civilizations
head inevitably for destruction. He saw the new order of
things around him, based on secularism, as empty, inconsistent
and perishable. He realized that only Christian civilization
produces a perfect order capable of inspiring authentic
progress that is tempered, just and diametrically different
from the crazed gallop toward immoderate prosperity and
pleasures that the new order promised.
The Study of History
and Catholic Doctrine
Plinio did much soul-searching between
1918 and 1928. The widening chasm between him and those
around him encouraged analysis and abstract thought. This
aided him in defining the objectivity and logic of his premises.
For this same purpose, he began a serious study of history,
especially French history, and Catholic doctrine.
From his earlier studies of European history,
Plinio had some knowledge of the Christian civilization
of old, remnants of which still surrounded him. Above all,
he had seen the Catholic Church still untouched by the new
order and bathed in a heavenly, regal aura.
As he studied European history more deeply
now, he tried to compose a global picture of what the Church
was and what Christian civilization had been, all the while
seeking to answer a question both idealistic and practical:
What could be done to contain the wave of destruction
advancing from all fronts? Next he wondered: What
could be done to renew fidelity to the doctrine and tradition
of the Christian West? He was searching for a means
of renewal that would preserve the timeless values of the
Church and tradition, and uplift all men by spreading these
values throughout the world.
The Thought Process
of a Young “Thinker”
Although subject to the obvious limitations
of age and experience, Plinio’s thought process revealed
a courageous and original spirit of synthesis. Plinio used
an historical perspective of error and evil as a contrasting
element to better evaluate the true meaning of the Church
and Christian civilization. Thus, from age thirteen onward,
Plinio read much about the French Revolution, and at age
seventeen he studied the Russian Revolution. Both revolutions
provided ample material to contrast between darkness and
light, allowing him to bring his synthesis into ever-sharper
focus. The book Revolution
and Counter-revolution was slowly but powerfully
taking shape in his mind.
 PART
II
A Catholic Leader
Active Nationwide
As the desire for a total restoration
of Christian civilization grew in his soul, Plinio kept
asking himself if it were attainable. What could a single
man do? Were there others who might join him in this mission?
Searching for Allies
In the Marian Congregation at the
Academy of Saint Louis, Plinio had known young men who prayed
and received the Sacraments. Yet none seemed to have a religious
outlook that extended beyond a desire for individual salvation.
These would not follow Plinio on the arduous but luminous
road ahead.
Plinio continued to search as he finished
high school and entered the São Paulo Law School.
Its secularist faculty and student body shared the mindset
of the students he had known at the Academy of Saint Louis.
Interiorly isolated once again, he remained faithful to
his resolutions, and continued to search for allies. Just
when it seemed they would never come, they came in an unexpected
way and in unexpected numbers.
The “bold spirits” had spread
the notion that religion was a good thing for respectable
women, because it kept them virtuous, but not for men. According
to them, religion sapped masculinity. In such an atmosphere,
if a Catholic man practiced his religion openly, he faced
discredit and sarcasm.
Though false and contradictory, this popular
notion bore witness to the Catholic Church’s influence
as the real adversary of the errors that Plinio opposed.
It also demonstrated how the acceptance of these errors
was pressuring men to become militant followers of the “Revolution.”
Consequently, when Plinio saw a banner
inviting Catholic men to attend a Catholic Youth Congress
in 1928, he sensed in it a spirited challenge to the influence
of the “bold spirits.” He signed up immediately.
Hundreds of fervent young Catholics attended this congress,
and among them, Plinio found what he had been looking for.
Plinio Emerges as a Catholic
Leader
The Catholic Youth Congress held in
September 1928 was the first of a series of events that
transformed the Marian Congregations into a national force
in less than ten years.
Most of the youth of the Marian Congregations
came from the lower and middle classes, and displayed an
intense thirst for Catholic spirituality. They had a serious
concern for social issues, yet were avidly anticommunist.
In an effective though diffused way, they also opposed the
anti-Christian character of the French Revolution with its
ideological and cultural ramifications.
As the work of the Marian Congregations
expanded, Plinio became a frequent speaker at public gatherings
of all types throughout São Paulo and Brazil. With
his fervor, oratory and organizational skills, he became
the best-known Marian leader in Brazil.
In 1929, when the law-school students appeared
receptive to religious renewal, Plinio founded the University
Catholic Action Group, which grew rapidly.
Catholic Sectors
React to a Brazil in Crisis
Meanwhile, Brazil was beset by several
crises. In 1929, the coffee market crashed leading to a
financial collapse in which much of the rural aristocracy,
including Plinio’s maternal family, lost most of their
wealth. In 1930, a liberal, communist-backed revolution
overthrew conservative President Washington Luis Pereira
de Sousa. The large cities, with their industrial and commercial
development, overtook the more traditional rural regions
in political influence. With a labor-military dictatorship
running the government under Getulio Vargas, Brazil began
sliding into leftist adventurism.
In 1932, the upper classes from the state
of São Paulo rebelled in an attempt to stop this
political slide. Their movement failed, but Getulio Vargas
found it necessary to convoke a constitutional assembly
to review the country’s political organization.
Given the importance of the constitutional
assembly, Plinio and two good friends—Alceu de Amoroso
Lima (whose pen name was Tristão de Athayde), a writer
and recent convert to Catholicism, and Heitor da Silva Costa,
architect of the world-renowned statue of Christ the Redeemer
in Rio de Janeiro—conceived the idea of founding the
Catholic Electoral League. Its purposes would include providing
voter guides so Catholics would know which candidates were
more favorable to the Catholic cause. Cardinal Sebastião
Leme, Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro and recognized leader
of the Brazilian bishops, sanctioned the plan, and soon
the League was thriving all over Brazil.
The Success of the
Catholic Electoral League
Plinio became secretary-general of
the Archdiocesan Board of the League in São Paulo.
His services led the archbishop of that city, Cardinal Duarte
Leopoldo e Silva, to choose him as a Catholic coalition
candidate to the constitutional assembly. In the election,
Plinio, then twenty-four years old, surprised himself and
the country by receiving more votes than any other candidate
in Brazil and nearly twice that of any other São
Paulo candidate.
Many Brazilians wondered how a young, inexperienced
lawyer fresh out of school would fare among longtime politicians,
most of them with views contrary to those of the Catholic
Electoral League. The League wanted the reintroduction of
obligatory religious instruction in public schools, the
banning of divorce, civil recognition of religious marriage
and the establishment of chaplaincies in the armed forces
and prisons. Plinio’s activity on the Assembly floor
and among fellow representatives contributed decisively
to the inclusion of the League’s platform in the constitution
of 1934. Plinio was consequently seen as one of the most
brilliant and efficient Catholic leaders of the constitutional
assembly.
The new constitution was implemented in
God’s name and made possible the founding of private
universities approved by the state. This provision opened
the door for Plinio to teach at universities. In 1934, he
gained the chair of history and civilization at the university
attached to the law school where he had graduated five years
before. Soon, Plinio began teaching modern and contemporary
history at Sedes Sapientiae College and São Bento
College, which grew into the Pontifical Catholic University
of São Paulo. Plinio was also appointed director
of the Catholic weekly Legionario. His field of
action was now vast.
 PART
III
A Catholic Fighter
There was a growing schism within Catholic
public opinion that was beginning to separate Plinio from
many of the Catholics best suited to work with him. It was
caused by progressivism, which Plinio fought from its inception.
Progressivism
Divides Catholic Opinion
In Brazil, progressivism began in 1935 when the national
episcopate founded the Brazilian Catholic Action. Tristão
de Athayde was appointed national president of the organization
and Plinio was named president of the São Paulo chapter.
Immediately, Plinio noticed that priests and nuns recently
arrived from Europe were quietly disseminating strange doctrines
within the ranks of Catholic Action. Certain groups within
the movement were adopting these errors with a zeal that
bordered on fanaticism. Plinio tried to expose the subversive
elements, but his efforts were met with indifference. Even
the bishops ignored him.
Plinio’s growing apprehension resulted from his certainty
that the crisis within Catholic Action was not only local
but worldwide and could become the heresy of the century.
Thus, in 1943, he wrote In Defense of Catholic Action,
warning of this progressivist infiltration. The Apostolic
Nuncio to Brazil, Dom Bento Aloisi Masella, later cardinal
and camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, wrote the book’s
foreword.
Plinio was never an intellectual moved by merely speculative
reasoning, and never wrote just for other intellectuals.
He was a fighter and the pen was his weapon. In less than
six months, In Defense of Catholic Action had divided
Brazilian Catholic opinion profoundly. Bishops and priests
spoke publicly for or against the book, and Catholic Action,
now a stronghold of progressivist ideas, never fully recovered
from the blow.
Plinio’s book struck home, and in response, enraged
progressivists made Plinio the target of a vicious slander
campaign. From acclaimed Catholic leader, he became one
of the most controversial Catholic figures in Brazil. Invitations
to speaking engagements dwindled, and the circulation of
Legionario dropped, as many readers canceled their
subscriptions. Plinio was left with a group of less than
ten friends, known as the “Legionario Group.”
In 1947, when Legionario changed hands, Plinio
and his friends lost even the name by which they were known.
Providence and
the Holy See Intervene
Two prominent priests, who later went
their separate ways, figured among Plinio’s small
group of friends: Monsignor Antonio de Castro Mayer and
Father Geraldo de Proença Sigaud. Both had endorsed
In Defense of Catholic Action and consequently
suffered reprisals. Monsignor Mayer, who had been vicar
general of the diocese, was made administrative vicar of
a humble parish in São Paulo, and Father Sigaud was
sent to Spain.
What most pained Plinio and his friends
in this persecution, brought on by their defense of the
Faith, was the Holy See’s apparent indifference. But
neither Providence nor Pope Pius XII was asleep. After a
few years of silence, the Catholic circles of Brazil were
amazed to hear that Father Sigaud had been named bishop
of the Brazilian diocese of Jacarezinho. Speculation about
his appointment had not died down when Monsignor Mayer was
made bishop of Campos, Brazil. Rome had intervened on behalf
of Plinio and his friends. As mentioned above, these bishops
went their separate ways many years later.
In 1949, Plinio received the following
letter written in the name of Pope Pius XII and signed by
Monsignor Giovanni Battista Montini, then the Holy See’s
substitute secretary of state:
Vatican Palace,
February 26, 1949
Illustrious Sir,
Moved by your filial dedication and
piety, you offered the Holy Father the book In Defense
of Catholic Action, in which you reveal perfect care
and persevering diligence.
His Holiness is very pleased with
you for having explained and defended Catholic Action—of
which you have complete knowledge and for which you have
great esteem—with penetration and clarity so that
it has become clear to all how important it is to study
and promote this auxiliary form of the hierarchical apostolate.
The august Pontiff hopes with all his
heart that this work of yours results in rich and mature
fruits and that from it you may harvest neither small
nor few consolations. And as a pledge that it be so, he
grants you the Apostolic Blessing.
Meanwhile, with due consideration,
I declare myself,
Devotedly yours,
G.B. Montini
Substitute
Regrouping Around Catolicismo
Notwithstanding Rome’s approval,
the influence of certain progressivist elements was such
that Plinio remained ostracized. This changed in 1951 when
Bishop Mayer founded the cultural monthly Catolicismo
and invited all the veterans of the Legionario
Group to join its staff. Catolicismo quickly acquired
a large national readership. Plinio’s old friends
took heart throughout Brazil, and he and his group once
again prepared to take the fight to the Church’s enemies.
Plinio’s group had used the intervening
years for serious study in common. Their daily contact had
strengthened their spiritual bonds and mutual understanding.
As a result, they were now a true family of souls.
In 1949, a group of young men from some
of the best families of São Paulo joined this family
of souls after realizing that their adherence to the principles
of Legionario left them alienated from the Marian
Congregation of the Academy of Saint Louis. Enthusiastic
and militant in their faith, these young men traveled all
over Brazil looking for others willing to join them in spreading
Catolicismo and fighting for the Faith.
To coordinate their nationwide efforts,
they instituted an annual Week of Studies in 1953. By 1961,
the Week of Studies had developed into the Latin American
Congress of Catolicismo, with four hundred participants
from Brazil, Argentina, Chile and other South American countries.
After 1961, to better accommodate the growing number of
participants, regional gatherings took place instead of
the national Week of Studies.
The participation of those from Argentina,
Chile and other countries was due to the efforts of Catolicismo’s
members, old and young, to find kindred spirits throughout
South America.
Such was the immediate affinity among them
that they had no doubt they belonged to one family of souls
in Christ. With the passing years, this family of souls
extended to Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela,
and Uruguay, then Canada, France, Portugal, Spain and the
United States. (Sister organizations now also exist in the
Italy, Germany, Austria, Poland, Lithuania, The United Kingdom,
Peru, Paraguay, Australia, Ireland, South Africa and the
Philipines –Ed)
The growth of this family of souls called
for defined juridical structures. Consequently, in 1960
the Brazilian Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family
and Property was founded. In 1967, the Argentine and Chilean
groups, while remaining legally autonomous, also became
TFP associations. Other groups followed, including the American
TFP in 1974.
“Most Faithful Echo
of
the Supreme Magisterium
of the Church”
In 1974, Plinio turned 66. Nevertheless,
he continued to face great challenges with an ever-increasing
enthusiasm and a profound wisdom acquired through a life
of struggle and suffering. Although able to claim victories
in his defense of the Church, he had no illusions about
the magnitude of the evil affecting humanity.
The darkness surrounding the small beacon
of his modest achievements grew daily. So did the progressivist
crisis in the Church which was the greatest affliction for
Plinio and the TFP. Pope Paul VI referred to this crisis
as the Church’s “self-destruction” and
the spreading of “Satan’s smoke” within
the sanctuary.
Due to his formation, spirituality and
study, Plinio was above all a servant of the Papacy. Cardinal
Giuseppe Pizzardo, prefect of the Congregation of Seminaries
and Universities, once wrote a letter praising one of Plinio’s
studies, The
Church and the Communist State: The Impossible Coexisteence.
The cardinal termed the work “a most faithful echo
of all the documents of the Supreme Magisterium of the Church.”
On reading the letter, Plinio remarked that he could wish
for no loftier title than a “most faithful echo”
of the Church. As the years went by, Plinio’s love
for and unconditional obedience to the Vicar of Christ and
the Holy See only increased.
We may well imagine therefore his grief
and dismay at Pope Paul VI’s policy of détente
toward communist regimes. This policy cornered him and all
the TFPs into a painful decision: to cease opposing Communism
or to declare their disagreement and resistance in relation
to the Vatican’s policy. Plinio chose a position of
filial resistance, which he explained in a document that
is a hymn of fidelity to the Pope and the Papacy.
Endorsed by the TFPs around the world,
this “Declaration
of Resistance” was published in major newspapers
of Canada, South America and the United States, and many
Catholics feel that it expresses their own thoughts. Although
several ecclesiastical authorities in different parts of
the world voiced their personal disagreement with the TFPs’
position, none contested its legitimacy from a canonical
standpoint. They would have done so if the slightest infraction
had been committed.
Reading this incomplete
draft gives us a glimpse into the personal struggles of
a great soul. These struggles were the one constant in a
turbulent life. From his years of tender innocence until
later years when he rightly gained the title, “crusader
of the twentieth century,” Plinio Corrêa de
Oliveira was above all a man who ceaselessly fought the
good fight. In homage to him on this tenth anniversary of
his death, it behooves us to pickup his standard and continue
marching towards the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of
Mary. (Ed.)
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