Marcel Lefebvre

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Archbishop Marcel-François (Marcel) Lefebvre C.S.Sp. (November 29, 1905–March 25 1991) was a leading Roman Catholic prelate who opposed the reforms of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), especially condemning ecumenism, collegiality, the principle of religious liberty, the revision of the then existing Roman Missal, and the authorization to use the vernacular in place of Latin. In 1970, he founded the priestly Society of St. Pius X. In 1988, the Holy See declared him automatically excommunicated for consecrating four bishops despite a papal prohibition.

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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.

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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 that 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 diocese of Tulle in France, retaining his personal title of archbishop.

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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, there were certain members of his congregation, particularly in France, who were concerned that his administrative style was authoritarian. Since Lefebvre was still bishop of Tulle, his election as superior general and resignation from Tulle had to be approved by the pope. On August 7 1962 Lefebvre was given the titular archiepiscopal see of Synnada in Phrygia.

Lefebvre's first task was to institute a major reform of the seminaries run by the Holy Ghost Fathers. He transferred several professors whom he considered to be too liberal to non-educational posts. He also ordered that books by certain contemporary theologians including Yves Congar and Marie-Dominique Chenu be removed from the seminary library.

Lefebvre was increasingly criticized by certain members of his congregation who considered that he was out-of-step with other church leaders, particularly in France. 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 who would lead the chapter's sessions instead of Lefebvre. On October 28 a new superior general was elected to replace him.

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Second Vatican Council

As a member of the Preparatory Commission for the Second Vatican Council, Lefebvre was part of the discussions about the draft documents submitted to the bishops for discussion at the Council. During the first session of the Council (October to December 1962), he became concerned about the direction that the Council's deliberations were taking. Together with several other like-minded bishops (including Bishop Antônio de Castro Mayer), 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.

Lefebvre was concerned about a number of issues at the Council. He was concerned that episcopal collegiality could undermine papal primacy. He thought that there should be a specific condemnation by the Council of communism. He 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). He thought that there should be a document from the Council specifically about the Blessed Virgin Mary (instead of merely a chapter in Lumen gentium).

Lefebvre's chief area of concern at the Council was the debate about religious liberty. During the Council's third session (September to November 1964) Pope Paul VI appointed Lefebvre to a special commission to discuss the proposed document on the topic, but at the request of a number of cardinals he was removed from the commission before it met. The Coetus International Patrum did, however, manage to get a vote on the document put off until the fourth session of the Council. On December 7, 1965 the Council 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; what he presumably meant is that he had voted against the declaration.

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Society of Saint Pius X

Throughout the 1960s Lefebvre had been concerned about the kind of education being received by seminarians. In June 1969 he received permission from Bishop François Charrière of Fribourg in Switzerland to establish a seminary. 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 to establish at Ecône a one-year program 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 of Fribourg approved the erection of the International Priestly Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) as a "pious union".

In 1971, Lefebvre announced to his seminarians his rejection of Pope Paul VI’s [1] 1970 revision of the Roman Missal (cf. Novus Ordo Missae). Though he won support only from a very few members of the Church hierarchy, he stated in 1974 that "not even the highest in the hierarchy, can force us to abandon or diminish our Catholic faith, so clearly expressed and professed by the Church's Magisterium for nineteen centuries." [2]

Under Lefebvre's direction the SSPX opened chapels in various dioceses around the world as well as several other seminaries. By church law both of these steps required the permission of the local bishop. Lefebvre justified his actions by claiming that there was a crisis in Church leadership and life following the Second Vatican Council.

On June 29 1976 Lefebvre went ahead with planned ordinations in spite of having received two letters from Archbishop (later Cardinal) Giovanni Benelli, Substitute of the Secretariate of State, forbidding such action. As a result, on the same day Lefebvre was suspended a collatione ordinum (i.e. he could no longer licitly confer the sacrament of ordination). 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 was "a secret agreement between high dignitaries in the Church and those in Masonic lodges before the Council." On July 22 Baggio notified Lefebvre that, since he had not apologised to the Pope, he was suspended a divinis (i.e. he could no longer licitly celebrate any of the sacraments).

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Discussions with Rome

Archbishop Lefebvre and the Holy See engaged in dialogue, with Lefebvre meeting with Pope Paul VI and later with Pope John Paul II. Lefebvre’s view of the dispute is outlined in the SSPX document, Apologia pro Marcel Lefebvre.[3]

On May 5 1988 Archbishop Lefebvre signed, together with Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI), a draft document meant to end the dispute. The full original French text is published in, among other sources, appendix X of the book Marcel Lefebvre, une vie, written by Bernard Tissier de Mallerais, one of the bishops that Lefebvre consecrated on 30 June 1988.

The document is in two parts. In the first part, which is of doctrinal character, Archbishop Lefebvre, in his own name and on behalf of the Priestly Fraternity of St Pius X:

  • promised fidelity to the Catholic Church and the Roman Pontiff, Head of the Episcopal Body
  • accepted the doctrine contained in section 25 of the Second Vatican Council’s Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium on the Church’s magisterium and the adherence due to it
  • pledged a completely non-polemical attitude of study and communication with the Apostolic See on the points of doctrine of the Second Vatican Council and the later reforms that he and the Fraternity considered difficult to reconcile with Tradition
  • recognized the validity of the Mass and the sacraments celebrated with the required intention in accordance with the rites in the typical editions promulgated by Paul VI and John Paul II
  • promised to respect the common discipline of the Church and the ecclesiastical laws, in particular those contained in the 1983 Code of Canon Law, making allowance for special discipline granted by particular law to the Fraternity.

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

  • the Fraternity 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 Fraternity would be granted the faculty to employ the liturgical books in use before the conciliar reform
  • a special commission, including two members of the Fraternity, would be set up to facilitate contacts and resolve problems and conflicts
  • it was proposed to the Holy Father that a member of the Fraternity be appointed a bishop.

This document was to be submitted to the Pope for his approval. However, the next day, Archbishop Lefebvre declared he was obliged in conscience to proceed, with or without papal approval, to ordain on 30 June a bishop to succeed him.

On 24 May, Archbishop Lefebvre was promised that, on condition that he requested reconciliation on the basis of the protocol he had signed, the Pope would in fact appoint a bishop from among the members of the Fraternity, chosen according to the normal procedures, and that the consecration would then take place on 15 August, at the close of the Marian Year. Archbishop Lefebvre, on his part, presented at the same meeting of 24 May three written demands:

  • the consecration must take place on 30 June
  • not one, but three bishops, must be consecrated (something he had already been asking for)
  • the majority of the members of the special commission must be from the Fraternity

On instructions from Pope John Paul II, Cardinal Ratzinger replied to Archbishop Lefebvre on 30 May, indicating that the Holy See found these demands unacceptable and declaring that, if Lefebvre persisted in his intention to carry out unauthorized consecrations on 30 June, the promised authorization for the ordination of a bishop could not be granted.

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Consecration of four bishops

On 3 June, Lefebvre wrote from Ecône to say he would still go ahead with the 30 June consecrations. On 9 June 1988, Pope John Paul II replied to him with a personal letter, recalling the agreement the archbishop had signed on 5 May and 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.” When no reply came from Lefebvre, this 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.

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Controversy over the consecration

In response to the consecration, the Congregation for Bishops issued a decree declaring Lefebvre automatically excommunicated, which was signed by Cardinal Bernardin Gantin.[4] On the following day, Pope John Paul II confirmed this declaration with his apostolic letter Ecclesia Dei. Like the declaration of excommunication, the Pope’s letter stated that Lefebvre’s "act was one of disobedience to the Roman Pontiff in a very grave matter and of supreme importance for the unity of the church, such as is the ordination of bishops whereby the apostolic succession is sacramentally perpetuated", and that, accordingly, since schism is defined as "withdrawal of submission to the Supreme Pontiff or from communion with the members of the Church subject to him"(Code of Canon Law [5], canon 751) it "constitute[d] a schismatic act", entailing, in view of canon 1382 [6]of the Code of Canon Law (the Code of laws of the Latin Church), automatic excommunication of all the bishops involved.

Lefebvre declared that he did not withdraw submission to the Pope and that he believed that canons 1323 and 1324 of the Code of Canon Law absolved him of culpability because of the crisis in the Church. The second of these canons declares that, when someone erroneously - even if culpably, provided the act was not intrinsically evil or tending to the harm of souls - thought there was a state of necessity compelling them to perform an ordinarily excommunicable act, the canonical penalty is to be reduced or replaced (canon 1324, 8°), and automatic penalties do not apply (canon 1324 §3). The Holy See sees this argument as irrelevant to the Lefebvre case, in view of the clear canonical warnings he had been given and because of the rule in canon 1325: "Ignorance which is crass or supine or affected can never be taken into account when applying the provisions of canons 1323 and 1224." The claim that SSPX doesn't plead "ignorance," but merely alleged necessity ignores Lefebvre's appeal to canons 1323 and 1324.

The Society of St. Pius X quotes some canonists as distancing themselves from the declaration of the Holy See on the ground also that, as Lefebvre had consecrated only auxiliary bishops, he had not in fact attempted to establish a parallel Church. Example statements include:

  • Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos, President of "Ecclesia Dei", said in November, 2005 that there was no "formal schism" of the S.S.P.X. from Rome
  • Count Neri Capponi, D.Cn.L., Ll.D, Professor of Canon Law: "This act [of episcopal consecration on 30 June 1988] was not, per se, schismatic."
  • Fr. Gerard E. Murray, J.C.D., of the Catholic University of America: "Canonically speaking, [Archbishop Lefebvre] is not guilty of a schismatic act punishable by canon law"
  • Fr. Patrick Valdini, J.C.D., Dean of the Faculty of Canon Law at the Catholic Institute in Paris: "It is not the consecration of a bishop which creates the schism. What makes the schism is to give the bishop an apostolic mission"
  • Professor Geringer, J.C.D.: "With the Episcopal consecrations, Archbishop Lefebvre was by no means creating a schism"
  • Fr. Rudolf Kaschewski, Canon Lawyer at University of Munich: "The widely spread opinion that the consecration of one or several bishops without papal mandate would cause an automatic excommunication and would lead to a schism is false."

Some, at least, of these quotations have been taken out of context or falsified. Professor Geringer has declared: "I would like to say that at the time in an interview with the radio [from which the above quotation was taken], I explicitly declared that through the consecration of the four bishops by Lefebvre the schism had become definitive and that Lefebvre and his adherents had lost all their rights within the church… there can be no doubt that Lefebvre and his adherents are de facto schismatics" (Letter to John Beaumont 17 August 1993). And Father Gerald Murray: "In this publication you make use of modified quotations from my interview in the Fall 1995 issue of the Latin Mass. You have intentionally misquoted me and even put words into my mouth" (Letter to Fr Scott 14 June 1996).

In line with the general view of canonists,[7]the Holy See has declared that Archbishop Lefebvre committed a schismatic act, but does not hold that he created a schismatic Church. It considers that the Society he founded has not yet reached the stage of constituting a separate Church, which would bring it under the Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms on Ecumenism, as Cardinal Edward Cassidy remarked when presenting a revised edition of the Directory. He said: "The situation of the members of this Society is an internal matter of the Catholic Church. The Society is not another Church or Ecclesial Community in the meaning used in the Directory." By saying this, he was, of course, not distancing himself from Pope John Paul II’s statement that Lefebvre had committed a schismatic act; nor was he saying that no SSPX members are personally schismatic.

In fact, the Holy See judges that the expressions used by many members of the Society, in spite of their protestations of loyalty, indicate a personal outlook of "withdrawal from submission to the Supreme Pontiff or from communion with the members of the Church subject to him", which, as already mentioned, is the definition of schism in canon 751 of the Code of Canon Law.

The SSPX, for its part, hopes that the Church will not continue to deny that any priest has a right, without requesting any permission, to say Mass in the form codified by Pope Pius V and later modified by many of his successors earlier than Pope Paul VI. SSPX also continues to question facets of Church teaching and activity, as in the areas of ecumenism and liturgical reform.

The Society claims that Catholics may attend its chapels "without worrying that they may be in schism by doing so" [8] [9]. However, the judgement of the Holy See, expressed on several occasions, is that such attendance is in normal circumstances "morally illicit" for Catholics, because the priests of the Society, being illicitly ordained, are by canon law automatically suspended from priestly functions, and because of the danger of imbibing schismatic ideas from them.[10] [11] [12]

The repeated declarations by the Holy See that Catholics who find the traditional rites more fulfilling are to be respected demonstrate that the difficulty lies not in attending the "Tridentine Mass" but in participating in celebrations by priests who are suspended by law and who display schismatic attitudes. No such problem exists for attendance at a "Tridentine Mass" celebrated by priests – such as the members of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP)[13] – who, in full communion with the Pope and their local bishops, have requested and obtained an indult to celebrate Mass in its earlier liturgical form. For its part, the Society of St Pius X 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 is precisely what SSPX members cannot do.

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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.

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Episcopal Succession

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See also

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External links

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