Marcel Lefebvre

The Most Reverend Marcel-François Lefebvre C.S.Sp. (November 29, 1905–March 25 1991), better known as Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, was a Roman Catholic bishop who took the lead in opposing the reforms within the Catholic Church associated with the Second Vatican Council (1962-65). In particular, he condemned ecumenism, the principle of religious liberty, collegiality and the revision of the then traditional Latin rite of Mass. In 1970, he founded the Priestly Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), an organisation which continues in existence to this day. In 1988, the Holy See declared him automatically excommunicated for consecrating four bishops in violation of the orders of Pope John Paul II. His supporters continue to dispute the validity of this excommunication.

Early life and ministry

Marcel Lefebvre was born in Tourcoing, France, the second son and third child of René Lefebvre (died 1944 in the Nazi concentration camp of Sonnenburg) and his wife Gabrielle Wattin (died 1938).

In 1923 Lefebvre began studies for the priesthood; at the insistence of his father he went to the French Seminary in Rome. His studies were interrupted in 1926 and 1927 when he did his military service. On May 25 1929 he was ordained deacon by Cardinal Basilio Pompilj in the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome. On September 21 1929 he was ordained priest by Bishop (soon to be Cardinal) Achille Liénart in Lille, the diocese in which he was incardinated. After ordination, he continued his studies in Rome, completing a doctorate in theology in July 1930.

In August 1930 Cardinal Liénart assigned Lefebvre to be assistant curate in a parish in Lomme, a suburb of Lille. Even before this, Lefebvre had already asked to be released for missionary duties as a member of the Holy Ghost Fathers. But the cardinal insisted that he think about this for a year while he engaged in parish work in the diocese of Lille. In July 1931 Liénart released Lefebvre from the diocese. In September Lefebvre entered the novitiate of the Holy Ghost Fathers at Orly. A year later on September 8 1932 he made simple vows for a period of three years.

Lefebvre's first assignment as a Holy Ghost Father was as a professor at St. John's Seminary in Libreville, Gabon. In 1934 he was made rector of the seminary. On September 28 1935 he made his perpetual vows. He served as superior of a number of missions of the Holy Ghost Fathers in Gabon: St. Michel de Ndjolé (May 1938 - August 1939), Ste. Marie de Libreville (December 1939 - August 1940), St. Paul de Donguila (August 1940 - April 1943), and finally St. François Xavier de Lambaréné (April 1943 - October 1945). In October 1945 Lefebvre was ordered by the superior general to return to France and take up new duties as rector of the Holy Ghost Fathers seminary in Mortain.

Bishop in Africa

Lefebvre's return to France was not to last long. On June 12 1947 Pope Pius XII appointed him Vicar Apostolic of Dakar in Senegal; he received the titular episcopal see of Anthedon (El Blakiyeh near Gaza in Palestine). On September 18 1947 he was consecrated a bishop in his family parish church in Tourcoing by Cardinal Liénart (who had previously ordained him a priest).

In his new position Lefebvre was responsible for the Catholic Church in the part of Senegal north of Gambia. There were only 55,000 Catholics in a population of 2.5 million (including 1.5 million Muslims and 250,000 animists). Lefebvre was successful in increasing the number of priests, lay brothers, and sisters, as well as the number of parishes and churches.

On September 22 1948 Lefebvre received additional responsibilities while continuing as Vicar Apostolic of Dakar. Pope Pius XII appointed him Apostolic Delegate to French Africa. In this capacity he was the papal diplomatic representative to the colonial authorities in Morocco, southern Algeria, Mauritania, Niger, Sudan, Chad, Senegal, Guinea, the Ivory Coast, Upper Volta, Togo, Dahomey, Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Djibouti, Madagascar, and Reunion. He also represented the pope in 44 ecclesiastical territories (one diocese, 26 vicariates, and 17 apostolic prefectures). With this new position it was appropriate that he have the title of archbishop; he was accordingly given the titular archiepiscopal see of Arcadiopolis (now Lüleburgaz) in Turkey.

As Apostolic Delegate, Lefebvre's chief duty was the building up of the ecclesiastical structure in French Africa. Pope Pius XII wanted to move quickly towards a proper hierarchy (dioceses with bishops, instead of vicariates and apostolic prefectures). Lefebvre was responsible for selecting these new bishops including the first indigenous bishops in French Africa. On September 14 1955 Lefebvre was promoted to be the first Archbishop of Dakar.

In 1958 Pope Pius XII died and was succeeded by Blessed John XXIII. Lefebvre was not among those made cardinal by John XXIII in December of that year. He was, however, appointed to the Preparatory Commission for the Second Vatican Council on June 5 1959. The following month he was replaced as Apostolic Delegate to French Africa. Lefebvre continued as Archbishop of Dakar until January 23 1962, when he was transferred to the new diocese of Tulle in France, retaining his personal title of archbishop.

Superior General of the Holy Ghost Fathers

On July 26 1962 the Chapter General of the Holy Ghost Fathers elected Lefebvre Superior General. Lefebvre was widely respected for his experience in the mission field and his ability to deal with the Roman Curia. On the other hand, certain progressive members of his congregation, particularly in France, considered his administrative style authoritarian. On August 7 1962 Lefebvre was given the titular archiepiscopal see of Synnada in Phrygia.

Lefebvre first instituted a major reform of the seminaries run by the Holy Ghost Fathers. He transferred several professors whom he considered too liberal to non-educational posts. He ordered books by certain contemporary theologians, including Yves Congar and Marie-Dominique Chenu to be removed from the seminary library, finding them too Neo-Modernistic.

Lefebvre was increasingly criticized by influential members of his large religious congregation who considered him was out-of-step with modern Church leaders and the demand of bishops' conferences, particularly in France, for reform. A general chapter of the Holy Ghost Fathers was convened in Rome in September 1968. The first action of the chapter was to name several moderators to lead the chapter's sessions instead of Lefebvre. Lefebvre then handed in his resignation as Superior General to Pope Paul VI. On October 28 a new superior general was elected to replace him.

Second Vatican Council

As a member of the Preparatory Commission for the Second Vatican Council, Lefebvre took part in the discussions about the draft documents submitted to the bishops for consideration at the Council. During the first session of the Council (October to December 1962), he became concerned about the direction the Council's deliberations were taking. Together with several other like-minded bishops, including Bishop Antônio de Castro Mayer and Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani, Lefebvre established a study group of bishops at the Council which organized lectures by important theologians. Eventually this group became known as the Coetus Intenationalis Patrum.

This study group was concerned about a number of issues at the Council. They feared that episcopal collegiality could undermine papal primacy. They thought there should be a specific condemnation of communism. They opposed the reversal of the traditional formulation of the ends of marriage (i.e. listing the good of the couple before the procreation and education of children). They thought there should be a specific Council document about the Blessed Virgin Mary, not merely a chapter in Lumen gentium.

Lefebvre's chief area of concern at the Council was the debate about the principle of religious liberty. During the Council's third session (September to November 1964) Pope Paul VI appointed Lefebvre to a special commission to discuss the draft document on the topic, but at the request of a number of more liberal cardinals he was removed from the commission before it met. Lefebvre and Cardinal Ottaviani had proposed instead a constitution that would proclaim the principle of religious tolerance, but not of absolute religious liberty in the public sphere. The Coetus Internationalis Patrum did, however, manage to get a vote on the final document put off until the fourth session of the Council. On December 7, 1965 the overwhelming Council majority voted in favour of the declaration Dignitatis humanae. Although Lefebvre voted against the declaration, he then signed it. In later years, Lefebvre sometimes said or wrote that he did not sign Dignitatis humanae; in an interview printed in The Angelus in January 1991, he stated that he had voted against the declaration, and that his signature was only an indication of his presence at the voting.

The Society of Saint Pius X

Throughout the 1960s, Lefebvre had been concerned about the kind of education being received by seminarians. Shortly after his retirement as Superior General of the Holy Ghost Fathers, Lefebvre was approached by seminarians from the French Seminary in Rome. They told him that they were being persecuted for their adherence to traditional beliefs and doctrines, and they sought his advice on a conservative seminary to complete their studies. He directed them to the University of Fribourg, Switzerland.

Lefebvre was urged by the Abbot of Hauterive and the Dominican theologian Fr. Philippe to teach these seminarians personally. In June 1969, he received permission from Bishop François Charrière of Fribourg, Switzerland to establish a seminary in his diocese. In October, the seminary opened with nine students who attended classes at the University of Fribourg. The following May, Lefebvre received permission from Bishop Nestor Adam of Sion, Switzerland to establish at Ecône a one-year programme in spirituality for seminarians. By 1971, the entire seminary had transferred to Ecône.

In November 1969, Lefebvre proposed to his seminarians the establishment of a society of priests without vows. In November 1970, Bishop Charrière approved the establishment of the International Priestly Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) as a "pious union" (pia unio) - the preliminary stage towards becoming an officially recognized religious institute or Society of Apostolic Life. The Society was established on a provisional (ad experimentum) basis for 6 years.

The establishment of the SSPX was unwelcome to a number of churchmen - most notably, to the French bishops, whose theological outlook was very different from Lefebvre's and who had important connections with the Vatican Secretary of State, the Frenchman Cardinal Jean Villot. The seminary at Ecône was described as "un séminaire sauvage" - a "wildcat seminary" - and by November 1974 the French episcopate had publicly criticised Catholics who remained attached to the Tridentine Mass and indicated that they would not incardinate any of Lefebvre's priests in their dioceses. The SSPX's continued use of the Tridentine rite was a key feature of its religious practice, and Lefebvre and the SSPX continue to be associated to a large extent in the minds of Catholics with attachment to the old liturgy.

The first sign of intervention by the Roman authorities was a meeting held in the Vatican on 26 March 1974. By June 1974, a commission of cardinals had been formed to enquire into Lefebvre's society. The cardinals decided that a canonical visitation of the seminary should be undertaken, and, from 11-13 November 1974, two Belgian priests carried out a rigorous inspection. Their report was favourable. However, while at Ecône, they expressed a number of theological opinions which were judged to be excessively liberal and un-Catholic, and which greatly shocked the seminarians and staff. While this shock was still raw, and in what he later described as a mood of "doubtlessly excessive indignation", the Archbishop wrote a "Declaration" in which he strongly attacked the liberal trends apparent in the contemporary Church.^* This document was leaked and published in January 1975, in the French Traditionalist journal Itinéraires. It subsequently provided important ammunition to his adversaries.

By now, Lefebvre was in serious difficulties. In January 1975, Mgr. Pierre Mamie, the incumbent Bishop of Fribourg, wrote to Rome stating his intention to withdraw the "pia unio" status that his predecessor had granted the SSPX. This action may have been undertaken at the instigation of the commission of cardinals. The same month, Lefebvre was asked by the cardinals to come to Rome. He met with them twice, on 13 February and 3 March; to Lefebvre's declared surprise, the meetings were not amicable in tone. On 6 May 1975, with the approval of the cardinals, Bishop Mamie officially dissolved the SSPX. Lefebvre lodged appeals at both Vatican appeal courts, but they were turned down. From this point onwards, in the eyes of the Catholic Church, the Society no longer existed as an officially recognized body.

Lefebvre and his supporters have always maintained that he was treated unfairly by Rome, that the suppression of his Society was unjustified, and that the procedures followed in its suppression violated the provisions of the Code of Canon Law.

Lefebvre continued his work in spite of the canonical dissolution of his society. In the consistory of 24 May 1976, Pope Paul VI, stating explicitly that the new rite of Mass had been issued to replace the former liturgy, attacked Archbishop Lefebvre by name - the first time in 200 years that a pope had publicly criticised a prelate of the Church - and appealed to him and his followers to change their minds. He also criticsed Catholics who professed "doctrines of the opposite extreme". ^*

On June 29 1976, Lefebvre went ahead with planned ordinations in spite of having received two letters from Archbishop Giovanni Benelli of the Papal Secretariate, forbidding such action. As a result, on the same day Lefebvre was suspended a collatione ordinum - i.e., forbidden to ordain any priests. A week later, Cardinal Sebastiano Baggio, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, sent him an official communication requiring that he ask the Pope's pardon. Lefebvre responded with a letter claiming that there had been a secret agreement between high dignitaries in the Church and Freemasonry prior to the Council. On July 22, Baggio notified Lefebvre that, since he had not apologised to the Pope, he was suspended a divinis: he could no longer legally celebrate any of the sacraments. Lefebvre joked that he had been forbidden from celebrating the new rite of Mass.^*

In September 1976, Lefebvre was received in audience by Paul VI. The Archbishop's account of this meeting has since been published in the book Apologia Pro Marcel Lefebvre by the pro-Lefebvre writer Michael Davies, and is available online here. Lefebvre subsequently met with Pope John Paul II.

At this point, stalemate set in. The SSPX continued to operate with Lefebvre at its head, opening chapels in various dioceses around the world, together with several seminaries. Under canon law, both of these steps required the permission of the relevant local bishop. Lefebvre, however, said that his actions were justified because of what he called a crisis in Church leadership and life following the Second Vatican Council.

Though Lefebvre and the Roman authorities corresponded with each other over the following years, the situation remained substantially unchanged until June 1987, when Lefebvre, now aged 81, announced in a sermon that he intended to consecrate a bishop to carry on his work after his death.

Discussions with Rome

Under Catholic canon law, the consecration of a bishop requires the permission of the Pope.^* Archbishop Lefebvre and the Holy See engaged in dialogue, and, on May 5 1988, Lefebvre and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (the future Pope Benedict XVI) signed a skeleton agreement intended to end the dispute and open the way for the consecration of a successor to Lefebvre.

The document (in French, of which an English translation is available on this site) is in two parts. In the first part, which is of doctrinal character, Archbishop Lefebvre, in his own name and on behalf of the SSPX:

promised fidelity to the Catholic Church and to the Pope
accepted the doctrine contained in section 25 of the Second Vatican Council’s Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium on the Church’s magisterium
pledged a completely non-polemical attitude of study and communication with the Holy See on the allegedly problematic aspects of the Second Vatican Council and the reforms that had followed it
recognized the validity of the revised rites of Mass and of the other sacraments
promised to respect the common discipline of the Church and her laws, making allowance for special provisions granted to the SSPX.

The second (legal) part of the document envisaged, apart from the canonical reconciliation of the persons concerned, that:

the SSPX would become a Society of Apostolic Life with special exemption regarding public worship, care of souls and apostolic activity, in line with canons 679-683
the SSPX would be granted the faculty to celebrate the "old" liturgical rites
a special commission, including two members of the SSPX, would be set up to facilitate contacts and resolve problems and conflicts
it would be proposed to the Pope that a member of the SSPX be consecrated as a bishop.

This document was to be submitted to the Pope for his approval. However, Archbishop Lefebvre quickly came to the view that he was being enticed into a trap. The very next day, he declared he was obliged in conscience to proceed, with or without papal approval, to ordain on 30 June a bishop to succeed him.

A further meeting took place in Rome on 24 May. Archbishop Lefebvre was now promised that the Pope would appoint a bishop from among the members of the SSPX, chosen according to the normal procedures, and that the consecration would take place on 15 August, at the close of the Marian Year. In return, Lefebvre would have to request reconciliation with the Pope on the basis of the protocol of 5 May. Lefebvre, for his part, presented three written requests:

the consecration must take place on 30 June
not one, but three bishops, must be consecrated (a requirement that he had already mentioned)
the majority of the members of the special commission must be from the SSPX

On the Pope's instructions, Cardinal Ratzinger replied to Archbishop Lefebvre on 30 May, indicating that the Holy See found these requests unacceptable. Ratzinger further stated that, if Lefebvre persisted in his intention to carry out unauthorized consecrations on 30 June, the promised authorization for the consecration of a bishop would not be granted.

Lefebvre's attitude towards the Pope and the Church authorities in Rome during this period gave rise to the claim that he strayed close to sedevacantism, stating, in August 1987, that "Chair of Peter and the positions of authority in Rome are occupied by anti-Christs".5 May, he promised fidelity to Pope John Paul II; but on 15 June 1988, at the press conference at which he announced the names of the priests whom he intended to consecrate, he reportedly said that John Paul was not Catholic, was excommunicated and was outside the Church. On the other hand, he said on the same occasion that John Paul was the head of the Church, and, on the following day, reportedly told a journalist that he would change his mind about John Paul if he approved the consecration of the four bishops.[http://www.catholicrestoration.org/library/defense_thuc.htm" target="_blank" >^* By definition, there is no earthly authority which can declare the Pope to be excommunicated and outside of the Church, and Lefebvre's doing so placed him in schism from the Church.

Consecration of four bishops

On 3 June, Lefebvre wrote from Ecône, stating that he intended to proceed consecrations. On 9 June, the Pope replied to him with a personal letter, appealing to him not to proceed with a design that "would be seen as nothing other than a schismatic act, the theological and canonical consequences of which are known to you". Lefebvre did not reply, and the letter was made public on 16 June.

On 30 June 1988, Archbishop Lefebvre then proceeded to consecrate as bishops, not three, but four SSPX priests: the above-mentioned Bernard Tissier de Mallerais, Richard Williamson, Alfonso de Galarreta and Bernard Fellay. Bishop Emeritus Antônio de Castro Mayer of Campos, Brazil, was co-consecrator with Lefebvre.

Controversy over the consecration

The day after the consecration, the Vatican's Congregation for Bishops issued a decree signed by Cardinal Bernardin Gantin declaring that Archbishop Lefebvre had incurred automatic excommunication.On the following day, 2 July, Pope John Paul II issued an apostolic letter known as Ecclesia Dei in which he condemned the Archbishop's action.Code of Canon Law as "withdrawal of submission to the Supreme Pontiff or from communion with the members of the Church subject to him",^*" target="_blank" >the consecration "constitute^* it entailed automatic excommunication for all the bishops involved.

Lefebvre declared that he had not withdrawn his submission to the Pope, and that canons 1323 and 1324 of the Code absolved him of culpability because of the crisis in the Church. Canon 1324 provides that, when someone wrongly believes that there is a state of necessity that compels him to perform an canonically illegal act (even if his ignorance on this point is culpable, provided that the act in question is not inherently evil or tending to the harm of souls), the canonical penalty for the relevant act is to be reduced or replaced, and automatic penalties do not apply. The Holy See rejects this argument as irrelevant, both because Lefebvre had been served with express canonical warnings and because of the rule in canon 1325 that ignorance which is "crass or supine or affected" provides no defence under canons 1323 and 1324. (Lefebvre's defenders have claimed that the SSPX does not plead "ignorance" but merely necessity; however, Lefebvre himself did appeal to canons 1323 and 1324.)

According to the SSPX, several churchmen and canon lawyers have affirmed that the consecration was not a schismatic act, on the basis that Lefebvre was merely consecrating auxiliary bishops rather than attempting to establish a parallel church. It has been claimed that Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos,^* the eminent canonist Count Neri Capponi, Fr. Gerald Murray of the Catholic University of America, Fr. Patrick Valdini of the Catholic Institute in Paris, and Prof. Karl-Theodor Geringer and Fr. Rudolf Kaschewski of the University of Munich have taken this position. Fr. Murray and Prof. Geringer have since stated that their views have been misrepresented; it is not clear whether this is also true of the other authorities.

In line with the majority of canonists,the Holy See holds that Archbishop Lefebvre committed a schismatic act, but not that he created a schismatic Church. Accordingly, when Cardinal Edward Cassidy presented a revised edition of the Vatican's Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms on Ecumenism, he stated that '[the situation of the members of SSPX is an internal matter of the Catholic Church'. Some supporters of the SSPX have inferred that, in saying this, the Cardinal was implying that the consecration was not a schismatic act, but this does not seem to be a safe inference. In fact, the Holy See takes the position that, aside from any questions regarding the canonical propriety of the consecration, the expressions used by many adherents of the SSPX indicate a personal "withdrawal from submission to the Supreme Pontiff or from communion with the members of the Church subject to him", which, as noted above, is the definition of schism found in canon 751.

The SSPX, for its part, hopes that the Church authorities will not continue to deny that any priest has a right, without requesting any permission, to celebrate Mass according to the traditional rite. It also continues to follow Archbishop Lefebvre in criticising features of present-day Church teaching and activity which are perceived as being incompatible with the historic Catholic faith, such as the Church's stance on ecumenism.

The Society claims that Catholics may attend its chapels "without worrying that they may be in schism by doing so" ^*" target="_blank" >^*

The repeated declarations by the Holy See that the feelings of Catholics who find the traditional rites more fulfilling are to be respected demonstrate that it does not oppose attendance at the Tridentine Mass as such, but only celebrations by priests suspended by law and who, in some cases, teach that the Holy See has in practice abandoned the Catholic faith. Priests such as the members of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter who maintain full communion with the Pope and the local bishops are given official authorization to celebrate the Tridentine Mass. The Society of St Pius X, on its part, disapproves of attendance at Mass celebrated by such priests, who declare their acceptance of the decrees of the Second Vatican Council and of the Pope of today – which SSPX members cannot do.

Death

Archbishop Lefebvre died in 1991 at the age of 85 from cancer in Martigny, Switzerland and is buried at the society's international seminary in Ecône, Switzerland.

Episcopal Succession

External links

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