Patrick Buisson, the former adviser to former French President Nicolas
Sarkozy, named the Fraternity of Saint Vincent Ferrier as the universal
beneficiary of his estate in a will drafted in March 2021, reports
LeMonde.fr on July 4. The community follows the traditional Dominican
rite.
Buisson died on December 26, 2023, at age 74. He bequeathed
not only his personal assets but also a substantial collection of
political archives, including manuscripts, notebooks, correspondence,
digital files and recordings from his years at the Élysée Palace.
Archives
relating to Sarkozy's presidency - including Buisson's secret
recordings made between 2007 and 2012 - are at the center of an ongoing
dispute. Buisson's son, Georges, has challenged the will and argues the
archives are of public interest and should go to the French National
Archives. There is an agreement in principle that the presidential
archives will go to the National Archives, but the inheritance
litigation continues.
Founded in 1979 by Fr Louis-Marie de
Blignières, the Fraternity of Saint Vincent Ferrier initially held
positions close to sedevacantism, associated with Fr. Guérard des
Lauriers. The latter received in 1981 secretly a dubious episcopal
consecration from Vietnamese Archbishop Ngô Đình Thục. De Blignières
broke with Fr des Lauriers over this in 1982.
The community
gradually moved toward the Church and was erected in 1988, after
Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre's episcopal consecrations.
Buisson
maintained close ties to traditional Catholic circles and frequently
described Christianity as a cornerstone of French civilization.
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