Today begins Ordination Week 2019 for the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest. Arguably the most beautiful week of events this side of eternity, hundreds of people from around the world will travel to Florence, Italy to witness the timeless magnificence of the sacred rites of Holy Mother Church, which ordain her sons as servants of her God and King, our Lord Jesus Christ.
From the first of July through the fourth, the seminarians of the Institute will receive their respective orders, advancing them in their call to serve at God's altar as a priest for eternity, culminating in the First Masses offered by these newly ordained.

Monday, July 1, the first year seminarians will receive the Roman cassock from the hands of our Prior General, Monsignor Gilles Wach. Henceforth they will put aside the attire of this world to "put on Christ as their portion" and be a visible sign to the world of their devotion and service to Holy Mother Church.

Tuesday, July 2, the successive ceremonies of the first clerical tonsure, the ordination of porters, lectors, exorcists and acolytes will be conferred respectively on the seminarians of each class, imparting on them the corollary graces necessary to the priestly office, to which they have been called by God.

On Wednesday, July 3, those called to the Sacred Orders of the subdeaconate and the deaconate will be ordained to their new respective offices. They will receive the necessary grace for their new responsibilities and advance in their solemn commitment to perpetual celibacy for the Kingdom of Heaven and to the selfless service of Holy Mother Church for the salvation of souls.

Then, on Thursday, July 4, the anticipated drama of the entire year and of all the week's festivities will culminate in the ordination of 4 Americans and 3 others to the Sacred Priesthood of our Lord Jesus Christ by the hands of His Eminence, Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke.

On this day, seven newly ordained priests of the Institute for Holy Mother Church will henceforth walk this earth as dispensers of the mysteries of God and the sacraments of salvation. Deo gratias!

In thanksgiving to almighty God for these most benevolent gifts of His divine mercy and incomprehensible love for His Church in our time of greatest need, we will then return to the seminary chapel of the Immaculate Conception in Gricigliano for the Solemn Te Deum in the presence of the Most Blessed Sacrament.

Following Solemn Benediction, the evening will continue with the annual banquet dinner to celebrate with the families of the ordained all the blessings received this past year and our Lord's gift of the sacred priesthood to His Church. No celebration of such divine magnificence and generosity would be complete without fireworks!

The following morning, on the First Friday of July, the newly ordained priests will offer their First Masses of Thanksgiving at the very altar, whence they received the graces to nourish their vocation for the better part of the past decade.

The seminary chapel of Gricigliano for the feast of the Nativity of Our Lord, Christ the Infant King.

In the presence of the Infant Jesus, King and Sovereign Priest, their consecrated hands will confect the Eucharistic Heart of our Divine Savior for the first time.

Placing everything at the feet of that same Infant King, imploring that He will bless and protect His future priests by making their hearts totally like His in their purity and humility,

Please remember all of our seminarians in your prayers this week as they approach His altar.