Plinio
Corrêa de Oliveira (1908-1995) did not write an autobiography.
However, the fundamental traits of his remarkable life and fruitful work
can be drawn from the vast collection of documents that the compilers of
these autobiographical reports had at their disposal thanks largely to
recordings made on various occasions and later transcribed into digital
form. Other sources are oral presentations he made at the request of his
disciples and followers, excerpts from conversations, lectures,
conferences, books recounting his epic saga, articles, manifestos,
interviews, press statements, letters etc.
They
did not intend to exhaust the many aspects that characterize the good
fight Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira fought in his nearly ninety years of life
and seventy years of struggle for the cause of the Church and of Christian
civilization. Given the sheer length of the matter and the wealth of its
content and aspects, that would not be feasible. So they have only
emphasized elements that enable the reader to form a faithful, substantial
and clear idea of his outstanding action in the Brazilian scene.
And not
only here: His influence extended far beyond our borders. It spread across
the world at decisive moments in the history of the twentieth century and
indicates, even to this day, a luminous path to be followed in the
contemporary crisis.
A
reader exempt from anti-Christian bias will easily discern the profoundly
Catholic mentality with which Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira engaged in battles
defending the foundations of an authentic Christian order. Eyeing the
future restoration of Catholic civilization so often announced by
authoritative voices of saints and prophets, and even by the Mother of God
at Fatima, he fought those battles with unparalleled gallantry and
indisputable acumen.
Hence
the epitaph inscribed in his tombstone, according to its expressed desire:
“Vir catholicus, totus apostolicus, plene romanus” (A fully Roman
Catholic and apostolic man).
*
With a
sense of reality that excluded any illusion whatsoever, Plinio Corrêa de
Oliveira was always keenly aware that his action developed in a world that
had distanced itself from God and remained on its disastrous path, falling
ever more deeply into chaos and disarray. At the same time, he saw sparks
of genuine conversion light up here and there, in the leaden horizon, like
morning stars indicating that a new day was about to dawn. So he wrote:
“Beyond
the sadness and supremely likely punishments we are inching toward, we see
before us sacral flashes of the dawn of the Reign of Mary” (Catolicismo
magazine, No. 197, May 1967).
In
order to simplify the outlook for the reader, we could say that the work
of Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira was done in two distinct but overlapping
fields. First, a prophetic denunciation of the vast progressive conspiracy
within the Church which now attains unsuspected levels; and second, a
staunch and effective combat, always within the bounds of legality,
against the revolutionary process which, from the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries to this day, strives to completely secularize and
de-Christianize temporal society.
Even in
this second field of action, Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira repeatedly pointed
out the deleterious influence of Catholic leftism on civil society.
*
In the
first half of the twentieth century it was still possible to observe how
human relations in the West were still considerably impregnated with the
spirit of the Gospel and greatly influenced by principles of the natural
Law. The role played by Catholic leftists, at the same time followers and
advocates of the most advanced forms of socialism, was precisely to
replace, in more or less subtle ways depending on the situations and
occasions, that mentality and those principles with conceptions at
variance with and often opposed to them.
Against
this revolutionary design, Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira fearlessly raised the
standard of the Counter-Revolution. And over the years, countless
adherents gathered around him, especially young people tired of
revolutionary utopias and of mediocrity and fatuous pleasures, and avid to
serve a higher ideal that was really worth serving.
His
masterly essay
Revolution and Counter-Revolution describes the core of
revolutionary doctrine and action, as well as the effective way to oppose
them. The light emanating from that work will constantly enlighten us
throughout this volume.
It was
therefore in order to defend the Church and Christian civilization that
Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira extended his action throughout the world by
helping establish independent associations inspired by the same goals and
sharing the same ideal.
At the
same time he encouraged and supported organizations with similar goals
existing in other countries, tending to form a broad front to combat the
Revolution. Such a front would bring together all those who oppose the
destruction of any part, however small, of the sacred edifice of the
Church or the likewise sacred pillars of Christian civilization.
*
Given
the different materials employed in this work it became necessary to adapt
the spoken language to written language and also to unify various texts,
offering the reader a single style by presenting the texts as much as
possible as phrases uttered or written in the first person by the author,
thus highlighting the autobiographical nature of the whole. This editorial
license in no way diminishes or impairs fidelity to the documents that
served as the basis of this compilation; indeed, our earnest commitment to
authentically reproduce the meaning of the narrations made by Plinio
Corrêa de Oliveira is kept throughout the work. Accordingly, the
colloquial character of this text was also kept wherever possible, as it
is not intended as a piece of literature but to be easily assimilated by
the reader. For readability purposes, on rare occasions we also took the
liberty of introducing short sentences to make a harmonious transition
between one subject and another.
From
Part Ten onward, as the events are closer to the present day and somehow
the autobiographical narrations made by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira in his
lectures became less frequent, some of the autobiographical tone that
pervades these pages gives way to narratives and comments on current
events, always made by him.
All of
the vast and invaluable documentation employed is meticulously indicated
in footnotes, which also contain clarifications by the compilers.
It
would be well to keep in mind the meaning of some oft-repeated acronyms.
For this end, please see the Chart of Bibliographical Abbreviations,
below.
The
public documents and other texts by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira quoted
throughout this work can easily be consulted at
www.pliniocorreadeoliveira.info.
*
We hope
this narrative in autobiographical form will enable the reader to
appreciate the grandeur of this illustrious Brazilian who so honored our
country and yet whose name and lifework are often the objects of a
conspiracy of silence within our borders. In contrast, in cultured nations
of the northern hemisphere he is renowned as an intellectual, a Catholic,
and a man of action.
Having
enthusiastically taken up the task of continuing his work, the directors
and volunteers of the
Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira Institute thus render him this
tribute of justice on the twentieth anniversary of his death.
São
Paulo, September 8, 2015
Feast
of the Nativity of Our Lady
Plinio Corrêa de
Oliveira Institute |
