Marcel François Marie Joseph Lefebvre (1905 - 1991)

Archbishop Lefebvre had been the Apostolic Delegate of Pope Pius XII to all of French West Africa and Madagascar, as well as Bishop of Dakar, Sudan, and from 1962 till 1968 Superior General of the Holy Ghost Fathers. He rejected as uncatholic several propositions put forward by the non-dogmatic and thus non-binding Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), and rejected the Novus Ordo Missae (New Rite of Mass) crafted by the Consilium headed by monsignor Annibale Bugnini, and promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1969/1970. Archbishop Lefebvre founded the seminary in Econe, Switzerland in 1970 in order to train priests in the classical way for the celebration of the Mass, Divine Office and the Sacraments according to the traditional Roman Rite, which Pope Paul VI had practically forbidden, having replaced them with untraditional rites newly fabricated by the above-mentioned Consilium. Archbishop Lefebvre established the Priestly Society of Saint Pius the Tenth (SSPX) so that the priests ordained by him could live and function as priests, celebrating the Mass and Sacraments for Catholics who remained attached to the traditional Catholic religion. Archbiship Lefebvre, old and ill with cancer, decided to consecrate a Bishop to replace himself, in order that his seminarians could be ordained priests. The Vatican had promised him a Bishop, but refused to set a date for the consecration, seemingly hoping that Archbishop Lefebvre would soon die, and that would be the end of the story. So Archbishop Lefebvre together with Archbishop Castro-Meyer consecrated not one, but four bishops in order to carry on the traditional Catholic faith and religion. Thanks to the heroic efforts of Archbishop Lefebvre, the traditional Roman Rite has survived and propsered during the past fifty years, many younger people discovering the rich spirituality, truth and beauty of traditional Catholicism. In 2007 Pope Benedict XVI not only lifted the excommunications of the four bishops consecrated by Archbishop Lefebvre, but also, in his motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, recognised, that the traditional Roman Rite had never been abolished, that no power on earth could limit or forbid its use, that every priest was free to celebrate use the traditional liturgical books, that all catholics had the right to hear Mass and receive the Sacraments according to the traditional Roman Rite. See the newly released film on his life and work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cf9oy7wDkms