The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter is a Clerical Society of Apostolic Life of Pontifical Right, that is, a community of Roman Catholic priests who do not take religious vows, but who work together for a common mission in the world. The Fraternity was founded on July 18, 1988 at the Abbey of Hauterive (Switzerland) by about 15 priests. Shortly after the Fraternity’s foundation and following upon
a request by Cardinal Ratzinger, Bishop Joseph Stimpfle of Augsburg, Germany granted the Fraternity a home in Wigratzbad, a Marian shrine in Bavaria that now lodges the Fraternity’s European seminary. In the same month of October there arrived a handful of priests and some thirty seminarians ready to start "from scratch". There are currently 250 priests and 158 seminarians in the Fraternity, including 9 seminarians from England. Brief history
• 18 July 1988: Founded as a clerical society of apostolic life
• Liturgical books used: Roman Missal, Ritual, Pontifical, Martyrology and Breviary in force in 1962
• July 1988: Private audiences with Pope John Paul II and Cardinal Ratzinger
• 18 October 1988: Erected as an institute of pontifical right by the Holy See
• Easter 1990: Cardinal Ratzinger visits the motherhouse (in Wigratzbad, Bavaria) and offers Mass in the Traditional rite
• 1995: first personal parish entrusted to the FSSP
• 12 September 1999: Pope John Paul II blesses the corner stones and crucifixes for the two new FSSP seminaries in Europe and in America
• 8 October 1999; 20 October 2001: the Superior General delivers an address at the Synods of Bishops in Rome
• December 2000; June 2002; June 2005; May 2008: Cardinal Castrillon-Hoyos, President of the Ecclesia Dei Commission and Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, comes to bless the new Saint Peter Seminary and to ordain FSSP priests
• 29 June 2003: Definitive approval of the Constitutions by the Holy See
• 22 February 2007: Foundation of the Confraternity of Saint Peter, a society which gathers those who are attached to the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter and who wish to support its charism through prayers and sacrifices
• March 2008: The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter is granted a personal parish in Rome
• 6 July 2009: Private audiences with Pope Benedict XVI
• 28 October 2013: Nuncio conveys encouragements of Pope Francis for our Silver Jubilee: "The Holy Father exhorts them, according to their own charisma, to take an active part in the mission of the Church in the world of today, through the testimony of a holy life, a firm faith and an inventive and generous charity".
• 22 February 2014: On its seventh anniversary, the Confraternity of St Peter (the prayer network of the FSSP for vocations) numbers 4,150 members worldwide.
