Pioneer traditional Catholic priest, Monsignor Raymond Ruscitto, died on June 17, 2019.
Monsignor Ruscitto was a long-time Remnant subscriber and an occasional contributor to these columns. He suffered a great deal for his commitment to Catholic tradition, the old Latin Mass and his priestly vocation, having ceased offering the Novus Ordo back in 1976 when he was the pastor of Holy Family Church in Kingsburg, California.
On a short list of supposedly “disobedient” priests—for instance, Oswald Baker in England, Father Harry Marchosky in California, Archbishop Lefebvre in Switzerland—Monsignor Ruscitto was cast into the exterior darkness decades ago, while the Hans Kungs, the Schillebeexks, the Rahners and the Haerings and all the rest of that strange consortium known as “progressives” were monopolizing the lecture platforms and public media of all descriptions.
In life, Monsignor Ruscitto took a lonely stand that offered an inspiring and heroic example of fidelity to the priestly vocation at a time when so many priests were abandoning the fort. His story is told in the Angelus Press’ popular book: Priest, Where Is Thy Mass? Mass, Where Is Thy Priest?
Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul and all the souls of the faithful departed rest in peace.
