Étienne Catta
Etienne Catta OSB (15 May 1901 – 22 September 1974) was a French Roman Catholic priest, canon and academic, co-founder of Opus Sacerdotale in 1964.
Biography
Étienne Catta was born in Nantes, Loire-Atlantique, the son of Antoine Catta (1839–1902),[1] city councilor of Nantes (who had resigned from the magistracy at the time of the expulsion of the congregations and who was created a Roman count in 1885 by Pope Leo XIII), and of Marguerite Dézanneau. Brother of Tony Catta (father of Dom Dominique Catta), three other of his brothers and sisters would join religious orders. His grand-nephew, Hervé-Marie Catta, was the husband of Martine Laffitte-Catta, co-founder of the Emmanuel Community.
Having considered the Benedictine life, he became a Benedictine oblate at the Fontgombault Abbey. However, his health led him to choose the secular clergy, thus entering the major seminary of Nantes. He was ordained a priest for the diocese of Nantes in 1928. From that year until 1942, he was a teacher at the minor seminary of Nantes. From 1942 on, he also taught at the Catholic University of the West, while the University of New Brunswick in Canada welcomed him for summer courses.
He received a doctorate in literature in 1947 and was a specialist in the social and political doctrine of the Church as well as in Cardinal Pie. He became an honorary canon of the diocese the same year. He was the leader of the association "The Friends of Cardinal Pie".
In 1964, after meeting with Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and with the help of a few priests, he founded the "Association for the Support of the Catholic Priesthood," better known as Opus Sacerdotale, which he chaired until his death in 1974. He was very rigorous in matters of recruitment: he required each priest to meet with him before being associated with the activities of the association. To this end, he refused all publicity; the history of Opus Sacerdotale is thus little known, despite its great influence and its important activity, which marked the crisis of the priesthood in Europe.
He also participated in the foundation of Saint Joseph's Oratory.
He died suddenly in Cournols at the age of 73, and was buried in the cemetery of the Abbey of Notre-Dame, Fontgombault where he liked to stay. At that time, Opus Sacerdotale consisted of nearly a thousand priests. He was succeeded at the head of the association by Father Pierre Lourdelet.
Works
- Le T.R.P. Basile-Antoine Moreau (1950)
- Dom Guéranger et le 1er Concile du Vatican (1962)
- Le Frère André 1845-1937, et l'Oratoire Saint Joseph du Mont-Royal (1965)
- La doctrine politique et sociale du cardinal Pie (1991)
- Saint Hilaire et le cardinal Pie (2015)
Notes
- ↑ Who's who in the Catholic World, Vol. 1 (1967).
References
- Barbiche, Bernard (1975). "Chronique: Société d'Histoire Ecclésiastique de la France," Revue d'Histoire de l'Église de France, Vol. LXI, No. 167, p. 348.
