Marcel Lefebvre

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Marcel Lefebvre bigraphy, stories - Dissident Catholic bishop

Marcel Lefebvre : biography

29 November 1905 – 25 March 1991

Marcel François Marie Joseph Lefebvre (29 November 1905 – 25 March 1991) was a French Roman Catholic archbishop. Following a career as an Apostolic Delegate for West Africa and Superior General of the Holy Ghost Fathers, he took the lead in opposing the changes within the Church associated with the Second Vatican Council.

In 1970, Lefebvre founded the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX). In 1988, against the express prohibition of Pope John Paul II, he consecrated four bishops to continue his work with the SSPX. The Holy See immediately declared that he and the other bishops who had participated in the ceremony had incurred automatic excommunication under Catholic canon law. In 2009, at the request of the four surviving bishops, Pope Benedict XVI lifted their excommunications.

Society of Saint Pius X

After retiring from the post of Superior General of the Holy Ghost Fathers, Lefebvre was approached by traditionalists from the French Seminary in Rome who had been refused tonsure,, Luc Gagnon, 18 September 2003 the rite by which, until 1973, a seminarian became a cleric. They asked for a conservative seminary to complete their studies. After directing them to the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, Lefebvre was urged to teach these seminarians personally. In 1969, he received permission from the local bishop to establish a seminary in Fribourg which opened with nine students, moving to Écône, Switzerland in 1971.

Lefebvre proposed to his seminarians the establishment of a society of priests without vows. In November 1970, Bishop François Charrière of Fribourg established, on a provisional (ad experimentum) basis for six years, 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. For the decree see

The French bishops, whose theological outlook was quite different from Lefebvre’s, treated the Écône seminary with suspicion and referred to it as "the Wildcat Seminary". They indicated that they would incardinate none of the seminarians.

In November 1974, two Belgian priests carried out a rigorous inspection on the instructions of a commission of cardinals, producing, it was said, a favourable report."Archbishop Lefebvre was told that this examination was very positive and that he just had to come to Rome and clarify some questions." at Rockdale, Sydney, Australia 16 October 1990 by Father Gerard Hogan and Father François Laisney] However, while at Écône, they expressed a number of theological opinions, such as that ordination of married men will soon be a normal thing, that truth changed with the times, and the traditional conception of the Resurrection of Our Lord were open to discussion, which the seminarians and staff objected to as scandalous. In what he later described as a mood of "doubtlessly excessive indignation", the Archbishop wrote a "Declaration" in which he strongly attacked the modernist and liberal trends that he saw as apparent in the reforms being undertaken within the Church at that time., 1974.

Superior General of the Holy Ghost Fathers

On 26 July 1962 the Chapter General of the Holy Ghost Fathers elected Lefebvre as the Superior General., SSPX USA Lefebvre was widely respected for his experience in the mission field. On the other hand, certain progressive members of his congregation, particularly in France, considered his administrative style authoritarian and desired radical reforms. On 7 August 1962 Lefebvre was given the titular archiepiscopal see of Synnada in Phrygia.

Lefebvre was increasingly criticized by influential members of his large religious congregation who considered him to be out-of-step with modern Church leaders and the demand of the bishops’ conferences, particularly in France, for modernization and reforms. A general chapter of the Holy Ghost Fathers was convened in Rome in September 1968 to debate the direction of the congregation after the changes of the Second Vatican Council. 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. He would later say that it had become impossible for him to remain superior of an institute that no longer wanted or listened to him.