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Marcel Lefebvre | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Archbishop-Bishop Emeritus of Tulle | |||||||||||||||||||
 Archbishop Lefebvre, c. 1962. | |||||||||||||||||||
| See | Tulle | ||||||||||||||||||
| Appointed | 23 January 1962 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Term ended | 7 August 1962 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Predecessor | Aimable Chassaigne | ||||||||||||||||||
| Successor | Henri Clément Victor Donze | ||||||||||||||||||
| Other post(s) | Founder and Superior General of the Society of Saint Pius X (1970–1982) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Previous post(s) |
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| Orders | |||||||||||||||||||
| Ordination | 21 September 1929 by Achille Liénart | ||||||||||||||||||
| Consecration | 18 September 1947 by Achille Liénart | ||||||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Marcel-François Marie Joseph Lefebvre 29 November 1905 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 25 March 1991 (aged 85) Martigny, Switzerland | ||||||||||||||||||
| Buried | International Seminary of Saint Pius X, Écône, Switzerland | ||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | French | ||||||||||||||||||
| Denomination | Catholic | ||||||||||||||||||
| Parents | René Lefebvre (Father) Gabrielle Watine (Mother) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | (Pontifical) French Seminary, Rome | ||||||||||||||||||
| Motto | Et nos credidimus caritati (And we believed in charity)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Coat of arms |  | ||||||||||||||||||
Ordination history | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Styles of Marcel Lefebvre | |
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| Reference style | His Excellency |
| Spoken style | Your Excellency |
Marcel François Marie Joseph Lefebvre[a] CSSp FSSPX (29 November 1905 – 25 March 1991) was a French Catholic archbishop who greatly influenced modern traditionalist Catholicism. In 1970, five years after the close of the Second Vatican Council, he founded the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX),[2] a community to train seminarians in the traditional manner, in the village of Écône, Switzerland. In 1988, Pope John Paul II declared that Archbishop Lefebvre had "incurred the grave penalty of excommunication envisaged by ecclesiastical law" for consecrating four bishops against the pope's express prohibition[3] but, according to Lefebvre, in reliance on an "agreement given by the Holy See ... for the consecration of one bishop."[4][5]
Ordained a diocesan priest in 1929, he had joined the Holy Ghost Fathers for missionary work and was assigned to teach at a seminary in Gabon in 1932. In 1947, he was appointed Vicar Apostolic of Dakar, Senegal, and the next year as the Apostolic Delegate for West Africa. Upon his return to Europe he was elected Superior General of the Holy Ghost Fathers and assigned to participate in the drafting and preparation of documents for the upcoming Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) announced by Pope John XXIII. He was a major leader of the conservative bloc during its proceedings. He later took the lead in opposing certain changes within the church associated with the council. He refused to implement council-inspired reforms demanded by the Holy Ghost Fathers and resigned from its leadership in 1968. In 1970, he founded the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) as a small community of seminarians in the village of Écône, Switzerland, with the permission of the local bishop.
In 1975, after a flare of tensions with the Holy See, Lefebvre was ordered to disband the society, but ignored the decision and continued to maintain its activities and existence. 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,[b] which Lefebvre refused to acknowledge.[6][7]
- ^ Credidimus Caritati Archived 15 October 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Sspxseminary.org. Retrieved on 1 November 2013.
- ^ "A Story of Providence: Born in a Time of Confusion for Holy Mother Church". SSPX. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
- ^ "Apostolic Letter "Ecclesia Dei"".
- ^ "Other Letters: Correspondence between Cardinal Ratzinger and Archbishop Lefebvre". FSSPX. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
- ^ "Protocol of Agreement, May 5, 1988". FSSPX. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
sermonwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "One Year After the Consecrations". archives.sspx.org.
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