Considering Pope St. Pius X - Biography of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre

BIOGRAPHY OF ARCHBISHOP MARCEL LEFEBVRE

This biographical sketch is long, and individual sections can be accessed as follows:

Early Life.

Drift Toward Schism

EARLY LIFE

Archbishop Marcel François Lefebvre was born in Tourcoing, France, on November 29, 1905, and he died in 1991 at the age of 85. He received his education at the Sacred Heart College in his home town, then attended the French Seminary in Rome, and was ordained a priest in 1929. His first brief priestly assignment was at Lille in France; after which he went to the missions in Africa. He served in Gabon from 1932 to 1946, went to Senegal in 1947, was appointed archbishop of Dakar in 1948, and remained at this post until 1962. From 1962 to 1968 he was the superior general of the Holy Ghost Fathers, and in 1969 he founded the Society of St. Pius X, an order of priests referred to as SSPX with a strong traditionalist inclination. The next year he established the Society’s seminary at Ecône, Switzerland in order to educate and train priests in conformity with the ideas and practices of pre-Vatican II Catholicism.

DRIFT TOWARD SCHISM

From 1962 to 1965 the Archbishop served on the Preparatory Commission for the Second Vatican Council. He composed and submitted to the Council Fathers a number of very traditionalist proposals which were rejected in the subsequent Council sessions. The dominant mood at the Council was much more liberal. It focused on topics such as the incorporation of vernacular languages into liturgies, emphasizing the collegiality of the pope and bishops in ruling the Church, and advocating a more ecumenical approach to relations with other religions. Lefebvre strongly opposed these liberalizing tendencies in the Church and insisted that members of his priestly Society do likewise. Things came to a head in 1975 when there was an exchange of trenchant criticisms between Lefebvre and the Church authorities in Rome. As a result the Vatican retracted its ratification of the Society. The 1976 Pope Paul VI formally suspended Lefebvre a divinis, i.e. ordering him to discontinue all Episcopal activities. The archbishop did not obey the Pope, but rather responded defiantly by ordaining new priests, propagating his traditionalist ideas, and introducing his Society into various countries of Europe. A state of tension existed for the next twelve years as the archbishop and SSPX continued to function without papal approval.

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PROTOCOL OF ACCORD

Shortly before the final break in relations Cardinal Ratzinger and Archbishop Lefebvre jointly signed a protocol of accord on May 5, 1988. The Vatican agreed to lift the suspensions of Society priests and the censures of their laity, the priestly Society was recognized as a religious order reporting directly to the pope, their chapels were recognized, and their priests could continue celebrating the Tridentine Mass. Archbishop Lefebvre, on his part, accepted the legitimacy of the Novus Ordo Mass, as well as all the doctrine on the ecclesiastical magisterium and the adherence due to it that was contained in Section 25 of the dogmatic Constitution Lumen gentium of the Second Vatican Council. Pope John Paul II further agreed to ordain one of the Society priests to the episcopate. After his consecration he would be responsible for ordaining future Society seminarians to the priesthood and conferring the Sacrament of Confirmation on their laity, all in accordance with the pre-Vatican II liturgy. The date of August 15, 1988 was agreed upon for the consecration of the new bishop. In addition a five member Roman Commission with two delegates from the Society was to be established to concern itself with future relations between the Society and the Holy See. A reconciliation seemed at hand.

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ONSET OF THE SCHISM

Unfortunately all did not go according to the plan. On May 24 1988 Cardinal Ratzinger received a letter from the Archbishop requesting that three new bishops be consecrated, and that the Roman Commission have a majority of Society appointees. If this were not done, he said, then on June 30 he would consecrate new bishops from the Society membership with the collaboration of retired bishop de Castro Mayer from Brazil. On May 30 Cardinal Ratzinger wrote back denying the Roman Commission request, and reiterating the plan of the Pope to consecrate one bishop from the Society on August 15. The archbishop expressed his disappointment in a letter to the Holy Father dated June 2, and stated that he thought it preferable to await a more propitious time to come back to the Roman Tradition. The Pope replied on June 9 and informed Lefebvre that to proceed with the consecrations of bishops would be a violation of canon law, of the Pope’s instructions expressed in the May 30 letter, and of the protocol of accord that the archbishop had signed. The Archbishop held a press conference on June 15 at which he announced the names of the four candidates whom he planned to consecrate as bishops at the end of the month. Two days later a warning came from the Congregation for Bishops stating that if the planned consecrations were carried out then archbishop Lefebvre, retired archbishop de Castro Mayer, and the four participating Society priests would become excommunicated latae sententiae, that is automatically, by the illicit act. The consecrations were, in fact, carried out. As a result the Society of St. Pius X and all its followers are now in schism with Holy Mother Church! The events surrounding the protocol of accord and its aftermath are described in the recent book More Catholic than the Pope by Patrick Madrid and Pete Vere.

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PRESENT STATUS

At the time of the death of Lefebvre in 1991 his group had more than 60,000 members, most of them in France. At the present time they claim several million followers, but Vatican authorities estimate half a million members, 250 priests, and almost as many seminarians. On their website the Headquarters of the United States District claims that they have 50 priests ministering to 103 chapels in this country. Apparently their four bishops are all in Europe.

HOPE FOR THE FUTURE

In his letter written to Pope John Paul II on June 3, 1988 Archbishop Lefebvre expressed his preference “to await a more propitious time to come back to the Roman Tradition.” Perhaps the spirit of these words of the archbishop could be implemented in the near future by a return of his followers to the Roman Tradition based on the protocol accord of May 5, 1988 which he and Cardinal Ratzinger had jointly signed. At this “propitious time” the terms of this protocol could be implemented: the Society would acknowledge the legitimacy of Vatican II and the Novus Ordo Mass, and the Vatican would recognize the Society of Pius X as a religious order in good standing. The order would celebrate Mass and confer sacraments in Latin in accordance with Pre-Vatican II liturgical rites and norms. The chapels and various ministries of the Society would continue to function as usual, and other minor difficulties could easily be talked over and resolved. Of greater importance, the legacy of Traditionalism in Holy Mother Church would be greatly strengthened. This was probably the main concern of the Archbishop during the final years of his life. Why must the faithful wait longer for this to happen? The once agreed upon and signed protocol of accord is available as a model!

POSTSCRIPT

Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, who played the main role in the 1988 dealings with the Archbishop, is now Pope Benedict XVI. In 1989 Angelus Press, an organ of SSPX, published a book "Archbishop Lefebvre and the Vatican" which describes the details of the signing of the Protocol of Accord that was discussed above. It is ironic that the front cover of this book is decorated with pictures of the Archbishop, Pope Paul VI, Pope John Paul II, and the then Cardinal Ratzinger.

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