Archbishop Lefebvre is known most widely for his support of the Tridentine liturgy and his attacks on the liturgical changes initiated by Vatican II. But his complaints against Vatican II go far beyond liturgical reforms. He also rejects conciliar developments in collegiality, religious liberty and ecumenism. These are seen by him as corresponding to the Revolution's égalité, liberté and fraternité.Archbishop Lefebvre: Moving Toward Schism?, Thomas J. Reese, S.J., America, June 4, 1988
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A convinced monarchist, he devoted himself during the whole of his life to the cause of the French Dynasty, seeing in a royal government the only way of restoring to his country its past grandeur and a Christian revival.A Calvary 1941-1944 René Lefebvre Part 1, June 1984, Volume VII, Number 6, The Angelus
Archbishop Lefebvre readily admitted that were it not for the solid formation he received from Fr. Le Floch, he too might have succumbed to the creeping liberalism of the age.I have handed on what I have received by John Vennari, published in The Angelus [August 2005]
He entered the Holy Ghost Fathers in 1930 and was assigned to the Seminary of St. Mary at Libreville (Gabon) from 1932 to 1945.Some Memories of Archbishop Lefebvre's childhoodArchived 2009年1月31日, at the Wayback Machine., The Angelus, November 1980, Volume III, Number 11, Sister Marie Christiane Lefebvre
As a member of the Central Preparatory Commission the Archbishop worked for several years upon the draft documents which the Council Fathers were to discuss (the preparatory schemas).God Bless the ArchbishopArchived 2009年1月31日, at the Wayback Machine., from The Angelus, August 1983, Volume V, Number 8
the Archbishop found himself drawn into the role of a leader of the International Group of Fathers which came together to defend orthodoxy(God Bless the ArchbishopArchived 2009年1月31日, at the Wayback Machine., from The Angelus, August 1983, Volume V, Number 8)
A papal representative who in the territory assigned to him has the power and duty of watching over the status of the Church and of keeping the Roman pontiff informed regarding the same.Apostolic DelegateArchived 2003年3月22日, at the Wayback Machine., from the New Catholic Dictionary
"Thus, during the final vote on the morning of December 7 (when the fathers had to choose between a simple approval or disapproval of the last draft), Lefebvre was one of the 70 — about 3 percent of the total — who voted against the schema." Marcel Lefebvre: Signatory to Dignitatis Humanae, by Brian Harrison
Vor 50 Jahren, am 21. April 1957, erschien die Missionsenzyklika Fidei donum von Papst Pius XII. Ein wichtigster Berater des Heiligen Vaters war kein geringerer als dessen Delegat für das französischsprachige Afrika, S. Ex. Erzbischof Marcel Lefebvre. Source: Enzyklika Fidei Donum und Erzbischof Lefebvre[リンク切れ]
On 3 June, Lefebvre wrote that 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.Pope John Paul II, an Obituary, Latin Mass Society of Ireland
In 1923 Marcel followed his brother to the French Seminary in Rome , taking his father’s advice (or rather, obeying his father’s command) to avoid the diocesan seminaries, which he suspected of liberal leanings.The ghost at all our tables, Oriens journal
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"In interviews with Bea and Frings, Paul VI agreed that the Christian Unity office would bear the major responsibility for revising the two declarations."(Cum Magno Dolore, Time Magazine, 23 October 1964)
Teacher of Dogma and Holy Scripture in the Seminary of Libreville, Rector from 1934, he managed to be at the same time teacher, bursar, printer, plumber, electrician, driver... maybe having already in mind his Society’s Priests!A Biography of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre by Father Ramón Anglés
"on the 18th of September, 1947, he was consecrated bishop in his hometown by Cardinal Liénart, Bishop Fauret —his former superior at Libreville— and Bishop Ancel." A Biography of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre by Father Ramón Anglés]
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His Grace, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, was ordained to the priesthood on September 21, 1929, and consecrated a bishop on September 18, 1947, by (the late) Achille Cardinal Lienart, Bishop of Archbishop Lefebvre’s Diocese of Lille (France).THE VALIDITY OF HOLY ORDERS By Fr. Douglas Laudenschlager, Society of Saint Pius X, United States District
The situation is such, the work placed in our hands by the good Lord is such, that faced with this darkness in Rome, faced with the Roman authorities' pertinacity in error, faced with this refusal to return to Truth or Tradition on the part of those who occupy the seats of authority in Rome, faced with all these things, it seems to us that the good Lord is asking for the Church to continue. This is why it is likely that before I give acco/sspof my life to the good Lord, I shall have to consecrate some bishops.Bishops to Save the Church, Marcel Lefebvre, June 1987
That is why, taking into account the strong will of the present Roman authorities to reduce Tradition to naught, to gather the world to the spirit of Vatican II and the spirit of Assisi, we have preferred to withdraw ourselves and to say that we could not continue. It was not possible. We would have evidently been under the authority of Cardinal Ratzinger, President of the Roman Commission, which would have directed us; we were putting ourselves into his hands, and consequently putting ourselves into the hands of those who wish to draw us into the spirit of the Council and the spirit of Assisi. This was simply not possible.Sermon on the occasion of the Episcopal Consecration, Marcel Lefebvre, June 1988
We are not schismatics! If an excommunication was pronounced against the bishops of China, who separated themselves from Rome and put themselves under the Chinese government, one very easily understands why Pope Pius XII excommunicated them. There is no question of us separating ourselves from Rome, nor of putting ourselves under a foreign government, nor of establishing a sort of parallel church as the Bishops of Palmar de Troya have done in Spain. They have even elected a pope, formed a college of cardinals... It is out of the question for us to do such things. Far from us be this miserable thought to separate ourselves from Rome!Sermon on the occasion of the Episcopal Consecration, Marcel Lefebvre, June 1988
Thus, we find ourselves in a case of necessity. We have done all we could, trying to help Rome to understand that they had to come back to the attitudes of the holy Pius XII and of all his predecessors. Bishop de Castro Mayer and myself have gone to Rome, we have spoken, we have sent letters, several times to Rome. We have tried by these talks, by all these means, to succeed in making Rome understand that, since the Council and since aggiornamento, this change which has occurred in the Church is not Catholic, is not in conformity to the doctrine of all times. This ecumenism and all these errors, this collegiality - all this is contrary to the Faith of the Church, and is in the process of destroying the Church.Sermon on the occasion of the Episcopal Consecration, Marcel Lefebvre, June 1988
"It was suddenly announced that the document on Religious Liberty would be handed to a new commission for revision — a commission that included some of the most moss-backed of the moss-backed conservatives (to borrow a phrase from Archbishop Connolly!), including Archbishop Lefebvre, who later established the schismatic Society of St. Pius X." Vatican II, Part 4: The Third SessionArchived 2007年9月4日, at the Wayback Machine., Corinna Laughlin, St. James Cathedral, Seattle
Weeks after becoming Pope in 1978, he granted Lefebvre's request for an audience (their only meeting) and repeatedly expressed his desire for peace.The Archbishop Calls It Quits, Richard N. Ostling, Time, 27 June 1988
"arbitrans te poenam istam devitare, si sacramenta administras anterioribus formulis utens" (Letter to Archbishop Lefebvre, October 11, 1976)
In this letter the Pope asked Archbishop Lefebvre to accept the documents of the Second Vatican Council in their obvious meaning, the legitimacy of the revised liturgy, the obligatory character of the norms of canon law then in force, and the authority of the diocesan bishops over preaching and administration of the sacraments in their dioceses.
"No bishop is permitted to onsecrate anyone a bishop unless it is first evident that there is a pontifical mandate." TITLE VI Code of Canon Law, canon 1013
"In itself, this 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. Hence such disobedience - which implies in practice the rejection of the Roman primacy - constitutes a schismatic act (cf. Code of Canon Law, can. 751) In performing such an act, notwithstanding the formal canonical warning sent to them by the Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops on June 17 last, Mons. Lefebvre and the priests Bernard Fellay, Bernard Tissier de Mallerais, Richard Williamson and Alfonso de Galarreta, have incurred the grave penalty of excommunication envisaged by ecclesiastical law (cf. Code of Canon Law, can. 1382)."Ecclesia Dei
"A bishop who consecrates some one a bishop without a pontifical mandate and the person who receives the consecration from him incur a latae sententiae excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See" (TITLE III Code of Canon Law, canon 1382).
He entered the Holy Ghost Fathers in 1930 and was assigned to the Seminary of St. Mary at Libreville (Gabon) from 1932 to 1945.Some Memories of Archbishop Lefebvre's childhoodArchived 2009年1月31日, at the Wayback Machine., The Angelus, November 1980, Volume III, Number 11, Sister Marie Christiane Lefebvre
A papal representative who in the territory assigned to him has the power and duty of watching over the status of the Church and of keeping the Roman pontiff informed regarding the same.Apostolic DelegateArchived 2003年3月22日, at the Wayback Machine., from the New Catholic Dictionary
As a member of the Central Preparatory Commission the Archbishop worked for several years upon the draft documents which the Council Fathers were to discuss (the preparatory schemas).God Bless the ArchbishopArchived 2009年1月31日, at the Wayback Machine., from The Angelus, August 1983, Volume V, Number 8
the Archbishop found himself drawn into the role of a leader of the International Group of Fathers which came together to defend orthodoxy(God Bless the ArchbishopArchived 2009年1月31日, at the Wayback Machine., from The Angelus, August 1983, Volume V, Number 8)
"It was suddenly announced that the document on Religious Liberty would be handed to a new commission for revision — a commission that included some of the most moss-backed of the moss-backed conservatives (to borrow a phrase from Archbishop Connolly!), including Archbishop Lefebvre, who later established the schismatic Society of St. Pius X." Vatican II, Part 4: The Third SessionArchived 2007年9月4日, at the Wayback Machine., Corinna Laughlin, St. James Cathedral, Seattle
