Archbishop Lefebvre: A Documentary - Full Movie

[Music] [Music] [Applause] today's top news is what took place at aecon earlier today [Music] the french prelate archbishop lefebvre has defied the church [Applause] the schism is here [Music] archbishop has excommunicated himself [Music] what he has done by consecrating four bishops is [Music] irreparable 1988 archbishop marcel lefeve consecrated four bishops without approval from rome in front of ten thousand faithful he publicly disobeyed the pope in order to continue the work he had founded the society of saint pius the tenth how did this bishop a former missionary in gabon archbishop of dakar apostolic delegate for all of french-speaking africa superior of the congregation of the holy ghost get to this point how did he come to find himself in the center of a storm which is still buffeting the church this is what we shall attempt to understand through the story of his life [Music] marcel de fever was born in turkuan near lil france on the 29th of november 1905 at the time of his birth the french economy was prosperous with booming industries in the north and east and the development of large cities in spite of the rise of anti-clericalism france remained a religiously fervent country in each parish several priests ministered to hundreds of faithful the church produced abundant vocations with sending missionaries around the world and fostered large families archbishop lefeve was born into such a family my parents went to mass every day and even when we were on holiday our parents would tell us to go to mass daily i used to go with my mother and we certainly had a very christian education their father rene lefeve managed a wool spinning factory when the great war of 1914 broke out he served as a courier for the english and belgian intelligence services during the second world war he re-enlisted in the secret service and never hesitated to harbor fugitives during the occupation before he was captured by the germans he was sentenced to death twice but as they sought more information and thought my father was likely to give it to him they kept him alive then as they had too many people in the prison they transported him to a concentration camp deported for acts of resistance rene lefevre died in the polish camp of sonnenberg on the 4th of march 1944 the mother of archbishop lefeve gabriel was very devout as she belonged to a conference of the saint vincent de paul society she spent a lot of time visiting the families of workers in turkuan she was also the superior of the local chapter of the third order of saint francis which meant she followed part of the franciscan rule she was good gentle tender she was charitable everybody loved her to me she has always been the perfect person and she was very fond of her son i don't know i don't think she loved him more than the others that's not it but she was certainly aware that marcel had a different destiny than the other i'm sure she had always felt that of the eight children the five eldest entered religious orders renee and marcel the holy ghost fathers jean the sisters of mary ray baratrix bernadette the sisters of the holy ghost and christiane the carmelites so marcella fev grew up in a profoundly christian environment for most of his schooling he attended sacred heart school in turquoin an institution that provided hundreds of priests to the church [Music] he was a good people he was a model of the good people tidy serious he was one of my childhood friends and we were together for eight years in the same class marcel was always a peacemaker he was the one who was always trying to fix everything and had perhaps the greatest influence on all of his brothers and sisters oh god no even now when i have a problem a decision to make or a problem to solve without really meaning to i automatically think what would marcel have said what would marcel have done it's automatic and i think that for my brothers and sisters it's the same he was our model [Music] when he heard god's call he replied without hesitation his eldest brother had already left for rome the previous year to study for the priesthood their father desired for his sons the best and most solid teaching so at the age of 18 after hesitating between the diocesan clergy and religious life he set out for the eternal city [Music] he lodged in santa kiara the french seminary run by the holy ghost fathers not far from the vatican [Music] the french seminary in rome was a creation of the mid 19th century which represented at that time one of the two major training grounds of french bishops all false the other being seminary in paris it is an institution that was created as a sort of hive of ultramountainism celebrating the church of france's very strong and accentuated loyalty to the apostolic see it still retains something of that spirit the seminary at that time was directed by father already leflock whose counter-revolutionary and anti-liberal insights put the future priests on their guard against the spirit of the 19th century which aimed to separate society from the catholic church [Music] father leflanc the seminary rector a holy ghost father taught them about christ the king the doctrine of the social reign of jesus christ father footly commented on the encyclical quas primus by pope pius xi 1925 with emphasis on the place of our lord jesus christ at the center of society has been made about the fact that archbishop lefebvre was trained in tomism and neo-scholasticism it was the same everywhere at the time there was nothing unusual in that whether in french seminaries or in others they followed exactly the same pattern but in 1927 father leflock caught up in the turmoil surrounding the condemnation of the royalist movement axion francaise because of the anti-liberalism he shared with charles moras had to resign the seminarians were deeply affected the seminarian was not at santa clara then it so happened that at the time he was on military service it did not directly affect him because he was not part of accion frances he had never read moross the result of this condemnation was the departure of father leflock so it was the departure of the seminary rector that really shocked him the most striking case was that of alfred ansel at vatican ii alfred ansel ended up diametrically opposed to marcel of feb's positions yet they both shared the same admiration for their superior on september 21st 1929 the young father lefebvre was ordained in the chapel of the religious of the sacred heart in lille by bishop ashilayana in september 1930 the young priest became a curate in the working-class suburbs of lille at maui de lome there he was to evangelize the railroaders textile workers and steel workers but while fulfilling the ministry assigned to him by his bishop the young marcel received a more distant calling [Music] he felt insufficiently occupied in france while his brother who was already a missionary in gabon wrote him letter after letter telling him marcel come and help us we have baptisms we have catechism lessons we have conversions and so marcel lefeve thought he would be of more use and would at the same time have a more difficult mortified and meritorious life as a missionary in africa in 1931 marcel lefeve was admitted to the novitiate of the holy ghost fathers at orli he entered the religious society founded in 1703 by claude polar de place and revived in the 19th century by father lieberman to evangelize africa the training he received consisted in immersing himself in the missionary spirit he was then appointed to the major seminary in libreville gabon [Music] well he wasn't appointed professor there for no reason he was very strong in theology very strong in philosophy and at the same time he had a gift for explaining things in africa it was necessary to be a good teacher good at explaining giving examples speaking slowly he was gifted at this for six years he focused on training african priests this concern addressed the demands of the popes from leo the 13th to pius xi to form a native clergy after centuries of missionary work the young professor gave lectures in theology and scripture before becoming the rector of the seminary in 1934 he was just 28 years old [Music] archbishop lefevre did a lot of work as there were just two priests in charge of the major and minor seminaries and even an initiative of nuns this meant that between the two of them these priests had to teach every single class so after six years father marcel was very very tired so the bishop bishop tardy sent him into the bush to enjoy that's how he left the seminary he found himself at the head of missions and jolay libreville don gila and then lombard where he met the renowned dr schweitzer he built churches schools and clinics he baptized preached and heard confessions sometimes he went on tours to visit the remote villages the arrival of the missionary was always a moving event in the village so the news spread quickly in the minutes that followed the christians would go to speak to father confide their feelings their joys he heard confessions for all the christians in need in the morning the young men accompanying the priest prepared the altar and the sacristy while the christians from the village flocked to the village church when a missionary arrived he would have to talk so first he had to learn the language most importantly with a good accent those who came from cameroon and the congo always kept their native accent when they spoke the fa language he on the other hand never had a french accent when speaking [Music] people made more of an effort in virtue and would also make preparations for the big feasts for which they had to travel from their villages to the mission sometimes he would talk to us on sundays after mass there were always conferences after maths he would come from the mission to the convent and all the sisters would gather together and listen to him [Music] he always said to us you must remain good christians for the world is about to change do not follow the goods of this world [Music] sacrifice [Music] [Music] so father marcel when he was in lumber renee was a calm gentle priest and everyone liked him moreover at that time there were many people who wanted to enter among the boys one at least was thinking of entering the seminary and insisting on it it was the same for girls on entering the novitiation yet one day in october 1945 a canoe brought a letter from paris the superior general was calling him back to france after 13 years in gabon the missionary had to return to the mainland [Music] when the news of his reassignment got out the christians in lumber nay wrote to protest it they must have written to the bishop in libreville i think my father was among those who wrote and the answer came saying that the decision did not come from libreville it came from further up so we let him go and when he came to say goodbye to the sisters and girls out there i was present i attended the little school everyone was crying the girls were crying such emotion they were going to miss the father a father like that [Music] on november 1st 1945 father lefeve was appointed superior of the scholasticate in martin one of the training houses of his congregation [Music] he was a deeply spiritual man and he was welcoming in his speech he had been a missionary at la barrone so he had the aura of someone who had been in the missions he also had good organizational skills at the heart of battle scarred normandy he introduced his future priests to the theology of saint thomas aquinas we realized that he was really very scholastic in his thinking i can remember that during our two years of philosophy he held what we're called in the middle ages disputations or debates so there would be one of us defending a thesis in philosophy or theology and another on the other side would attack [Music] for in june 1947 pope pius xii appointed him to the sea of dakar and so the child of the north the bushman of gabal became a bishop at the age of 41. his episcopal consecration took place in his parish of turkuan on the 18th of september 1947 he chose as his motto the phrase of saint john on missionary activity et nos creditemos caritati and we have believed in charity [Music] [Music] at the time dakar a predominantly muslim city was the capital of french west africa that is to say of much of the french colonial empire [Music] in 1947 dakar was still very much a mission diocese the last bishop in particular bishop grimo was not very active he had problems because he was very attached to the vichy regime and so he had to resign in 1947 and it was then that archbishop lefebvre was appointed and archbishop lefebvre on a pastoral level transformed dakar into a true metropolitan diocese multiplying churches missions and schools he did a huge amount of pastoral work during the 15 years he was there between 47 and 62. he revived the church in senegal which was really dying he gave it a new impetus missions needed to be created the number of parishes increased when archbishop lefebvre arrived there was just one parish in aldekar one parish the cathedral was the only parish in dakar of course masses were being celebrated where there was no parish but look what he did when he left there were i don't know how many parishes in dakar in 15 years the number of ordinations doubled the young archbishop with his experience in liberoville and martin was extremely dedicated to training priests he bought land east of dakar and built the major seminary of sabikotan [Music] he developed nearly all the seminaries in senegal we have to thank archbishop lefebvre who called upon professors to improve the standard of teaching for priests that was his concern whenever he could he would come to visit us because archbishop lefevre was extremely fond of his seminary and also very devoted to the formation of the young men in the seminary but he was also very zealous to increase the opportunities for evangelization in the territory entrusted to it so he was also very keen on african vocations archbishop lefebvre was after all a disciple of the spiritual values of our institute especially those of father lieberman who saw no prospect of any real evangelization of africa without african priests that was anchored in his beliefs to encourage the rise of vocations and catholic families he called upon a great many congregations either to teach or to pray for the sanctification of the faithful marists dominicans brothers of the sacred heart carmelites were all called upon to work towards the christianization of the diocese [Music] dozens of new congregations it was one of his greatest contributions to his diocese thereby allowing a diversification of the religious personnel for women 20 or so religious congregations came he threw open the diocese of dakar to congregations that had never worked there before and this allowed the development in particular of teaching and medicine he authorized foundations he made decisions and that's why i'm telling you the richness we have in the diocese of dakar is partly due to him yes because the teaching the schools the houses the dispensaries all of that i associate all of that with him he was quite a character archbishop lefeve was very charming very polite very correct a great gentleman but not a great gentleman who makes life difficult not at all it was very simple very gentle i treasure very very fond memories of someone so affable at the same time so spiritual but in his time i remember at the seaside priests often came here on holiday at wintertime one of them was wearing shorts and he reproached him very simply he said he'd be better off in a cassock he lived his faith one could see his faith was active here i had the impression that he prayed all the time i don't know if it's true but i traveled with him several times and it looked as though he was praying all the time it came out of him it was nice it was good it was good to feel supported by such a bishop since it wasn't an exceptional orator he spoke very simply but really truly for him it was an interior life the spiritual life the union with our lord that mattered when he said mass we felt that he believed in what he was doing for example when he was coming up to the consecration we felt that he was concentrating completely on what he was doing he wasn't distracted by anything and that to a child is impressive here's a bishop who knows how to say mass and the fact is he said it well first of all i think that he was a spiritual person one believed that he was really praying when he said mass it wasn't just a collection of gestures now from that point of view we liked it yes archbishop lefebvre also called the carmelites to sebikottan close to the seminary he counted a great deal on their prayers to christianize the country entrusted to his care as in gabon and to establish there the social reign of jesus christ and really that's what he wanted the reign of our lord the salvation of souls he thought only of that he didn't matter he was very humble very unassuming he used to tell us that at the beginning when he first became a bishop a superior he used to worry then later on he understood that it was god who managed all affairs so he needn't torment himself and he had so much trust in the prayers of the carmelite he wrote a whole article it amused us a lot to say that in the missions near fatick a lot of conversions were happening the pagans were converting and indeed one could feel that the reign of god was close that the reign of god was coming so he asked the question where does this come from and he answered it's because of the carmelites there are five little carmelites praying so that's why there are conversions so we said really he puts a lot of trust in us but then again we try to live up to this trust [Music] [Music] we believed in charity [Music] in all his works i could see the charity he was spreading [Music] and after his nomination as apostolic delegate for all of french africa and madagascar did good everywhere following christ's example everywhere [Music] [Music] marcel de phelps mission was huge since from 1948 the office of apostolic delegate for french-speaking africa was added to that of archbishop he thus became the representative of the pope over territories stretching from morocco to madagascar and the leading prelate in the whole continent [Music] as apostolic delegate he was the representative of the holy see it was the role later filled by the nuncio with a difference that his nun feature wasn't a single country but all the french-speaking countries of west africa and not just of west africa but of the whole of africa as madagascar ii was part of its territory president that's where you can see that in africa the question of the secularization of the state is not understood he's a prolet therefore we honor him he represents god that's it it's typical [Music] from dakar to madagascar he encouraged the building of seminaries schools churches hospitals he created 40 new diocese and placed in them native bishops every year he went to rome to present his work to the pope during that very period pius xii was writing his great encyclical on missions fide dhonim or rather we should say that left was in agreement with pius xii it has even been said i have no proof of this that it was left's thought that found expression in the pope's document [Music] and a new vision for the future of africa must have been pleasing to left archbishop lefebvre blazed the trail for the church in africa at a time when the continent was undergoing huge changes the decolonization movement was affecting all the countries one after the other the archbishop feared above all that this movement would be detrimental to christianity he thought that it would favor the development of communism he was of course very much opposed to communism and thought that decolonization was a movement inspired by communism in 1962 he was 56 years old the hour of departure had come the new pope john xxiii wanted to favor the appointment of local bishops and archbishop lefer losing all his prerogatives was called back to france but his country had undergone profound changes since his departure 30 years earlier in the 1950s the war between conservatives and progressives had already flared up again there were already debates centering on the attitude to adopt in the context of the cold war which was still very relevant should an alliance be sought with this world linked to the communist party and all its various branches or should a firm and resolute stance against communism be taken as suggested by the decree of the holy office of 1949 but there was some indecision within the church in france part of the church in france was attracted to the idea that the future of mankind lay with the working classes i'm not saying form an alliance with a communist party that's not it at all nor with its organizations but one must keep in contact with the working-class movement yet in 1959 archbishop lefebvre had spoken out publicly against communist ideology and he explained that it is indeed the church's policy to oppose the consequences of the french revolution to oppose the false principles of the enlightenment to oppose the heresy the fallacy of the rights of man by the year 1959 everything was in place in france the bishops viewed with suspicion the arrival of this missionary archbishop who found it so easy to take a stand so they offered him the diocese of dul one of the most obscure and unsuccessful in central france you know in france when a general is not liked he's sent to le mans and we say he's been limoged relegated to le monge tulle and the moj are next door to each other so we said lefev hasn't been relegated to the mosh but to tool but he did not stay long in tula for that same year 1962 the general chapter of the holy ghost fathers elected him superior general of the order from then on he traveled throughout the world from his office situated in paris then in rome he was at the head of a congregation of 5 000 members established in 300 dioceses he enjoyed a fairly great prestige and institutional support so his election happened in a truly royal manner it was quite rapid there was no delay and everything went very well and as a candidate he appeared in the logic of his positions in the 50s as a very prudent pachillian reformer [Music] for 500 million catholics the event of the century has begun in rome with a procession towards saint peter's of 2400 fathers of the church on october 11 1962 pope john xxiii opened vatican ii the first council of the church for almost a century this exceptional procession preceded the opening by pope john the 23rd of the ecumenical council as bishop and having actively participated in its preparation archbishop lefeve was one of the council fathers [Music] he arrived at the council a relatively confident man he believed that the preparation had been well done but very quickly he became aware of the presence of uncertainties he realized that a more quote-unquote liberal tendency was effectively organizing and marshaling its forces so as to influence the minds of the council fathers and that therefore this tendency should be confronted the sessions of the council were disrupted right from the first day even in their preparations documents had been prepared and elaborated they were the preparatory drafts of the council but these drafts were not taken into consideration and were put aside [Music] schemas or working documents prepared over the last three years were therefore rejected from the very first days revolutionary currents made their presence felt especially those of the new theology and in practice the leading lights were especially the french theologians to quote the names kongao nu lubak and it was indeed these theologians who influenced the thinking of the council fathers it would shock many people if the church came along giving the impression that i am the solution to every problem i have the solution to every problem we come only to try to collaborate with the world not by throwing our weight around but by shedding a bit of light here and there what was it all about the heart of the council was a process of self-examination by the church herself in our time a self-examination that would not end as in the previous councils in condemnations in the definition of errors but on the contrary in a truly open and universal realization where the church would become aware of herself in the face of the world sometimes one could ask but why did archbishop lefeve insist so much on the fact the council was a pastoral council in actual fact archbishop lefebvre didn't make that up it was the council itself that wished to be pastoral and that said when a minority objected and proposed doctrinal clarifications no we're a pastoral counsel you would be right dear father to ask that if our council were doctrinal but it is pastoral so it's a different literary genre while claiming to not be meddling with catholic dogmas the bishops approved fundamental texts that modify the relationship of the church to the world [Music] and that way of summing up seems to me to say a lot it's the french revolution and the french revolution is liberty equality fraternity the consists of yacht council goes in the direction of a declaration on the importance of freedom of conscience [Music] condemned by the popes in the 19th century religious liberty was recognized by the second vatican council it henceforth granted to every man the right to profess openly what his conscience dictates the vote provoked reactions throughout the world [Music] we are glad to ascertain that christianity through this new definition of religious liberty joins the alliance of semitic religions that is to say judaism and islam for so far as i know islam and judaism have always always admitted this principle of tolerance for all men [Music] archbishop lefer refused to vote in favor of the text on religious liberty he saw in it a way of putting error on the same level as truth [Music] if one were to summarize his position in a sentence it might be we are in the truth only truth has rights error has no rights so those who aren't in the truth have no rights it's a bit of a massive assertion but i think his position was a bit like that basketball liberty equality the debate on collegiality was without doubt the one that unleashed the most passions it even affected the power of the pope and that of the bishops in this duel archbishop lefevre stood alongside the secretary of the holy office cardinal ottaviani against the bishop of liu cardinal leonard who had ordained and consecrated him so many years ago [Music] the bishops participate in this infallibility not beside the pope but in union with him he is part of the college collegially the pope lets them take part in the universal government of the church that's what the council determined the council is infallible and it is the bishops united with the pope not even a council can make this imposition on the holy father he alone individually has received the mandate by our lord to be the rock the foundation of the church and to be the universal pastor the debate on collegiality will become the occasion of terrible conflicts because he says if there is collegiality there is equality so if i am one of the bishops of france and if there is an episcopal conference there will be a vote to decide whether this or that should be done and i would be obliged to submit that again is the french revolution this reform affects all the diocese all of which are directly involved in the government of the church therefore we are now witnessing a tremor that is shaking the whole christian world and whose consequences will be visible to all me archbishop lefebvre also saw something which he was i think the only one to see at the time the power of the bishop within his diocese will be diminished because now one can see that with the development of a ruling bureaucracy of the central administration of episcopates the bishop's personal responsibility is greatly diminished [Music] the council also profoundly modified the relationship of the church with the other religions henceforth those who separated from the church are considered brothers in faith the church used to say they have separated from me so let those who separated come back to me right it's up to them to make their way back whereas now i think it's the profound novelty of ecumenism that's visible in the council catholics are thinking that the conversion that will bring about the unity of the church isn't really one way we catholics proclaim that we too have a great effort to make in the church in order to be able to welcome all our separated brethren in such a way as for them to feel free in a church that's truly one issue foreign it's almost as if we were told that muslims are also our brethren because they believe in god liberty equality fraternity for archbishop lefeve it's the devil entering the devil that's the french revolution entering the church the essential work of the council played out backstage and the preparation the liberal fathers made beforehand resulted in their success it was only very late on that a few conservative bishops pulled together with the italian carly the brazilians de proenza sigo and de castro maier archbishop lefeve organized the chetas internationalis bathroom the international group of fathers [Music] was an organization that brought together 250 of the council fathers bishops all they didn't sign anything to join it was just a list of addresses and so archbishop lefeve was named president he organized above all the material things for example the presses the photocopiers the work of the secretaries who had to type up every day the voting instructions for the next session so thanks to this practical organization by archbishop lefeve they managed to block on several occasions the progressive machine at the council they won a few victories in particular they pushed back five times in a row the document on religious liberty beyond all question this activity had some influences because paul vi wanted to obtain the most unanimous agreement possible and from that point of view he was led to make some concessions by altering some texts himself for instance the text on ecumenism where there are certain formulas altered by the pope based on amendments proposed by the cheitas on december 8 1965 pope paul vi officially concluded vatican ii it was the end of an era for the church on the conservative side anxiety ran strong and people were already thinking of how to minimize damage from the implementation of the council as superior general archbishop lefevre was obliged to implement it in his congregation i think that at the beginning he assumed that in reality the implementation of the council would be in the hands of rome and that the sum and substance of the points he considered dangerous would be kept under control but from 1966 to 1968 while still superior general of the holy ghost fathers he saw the errors that were already at work notably in the holy ghost province of holland the province was already completely out of control totally especially the young people the scholastics and others they expected the marriage of priests they mocked the constitutions in the preparation of the chapter everything was considered outdated ridiculous etc they had already gone through the looking glass and this was before may 1968 that year archbishop lefevre in spite of having been elected superior for 12 years resigned he fully experienced the crisis in the priesthood so this crisis of the priesthood took off during the 1960s and for may 1968 exchange and dialogue a manifesto from autumn 1968 was calling for a married clergy political involvement and solidarity with the working class [Music] and so was really calling for the unpreaching the profanation of the priestly office in every seminary azgornamento bringing up to date meant a greater participation of young people an adaptation to the contemporary world i think that the structures we established at the beginning of this year during our general assembly justly take into account this participation and it's really we seminarians with the leadership team who have established these structures together according to the wishes and needs of each person the president's we were witnessing an increasing profit nation of the priesthood and the teaching that was given in the new seminaries was well miles away from what we received in our time and so the young priests while not without merit clearly didn't have the same formation we ourselves had received they were always going from experiment to experiment even in rome the teaching institutions were under the influence of this passion for innovation [Music] in the french seminary i thought i would find what i needed but then the french seminarians in the middle of the italian elections put up a banner they had picked up off the floor and which was written vota commanista and they hung it on the seminary balcony it was the subject of newspaper articles and the same seminarians sometime later made a blasphemous procession with a statue of the sacred heart which they adorned with a louis ken's wig this statue remained in a seminarian's room for a month without anyone saying anything around the same time cardinal marty then archbishop of paris praised the dissident movement of may 1968 you too were all moved by everything that happened last may the great outburst of the younger generation that suddenly wanted to take its place in life one also felt in these events of may the seriousness of the working class which wants not only to earn a living wage but also to find its freedom its independence and also respect for what it is [Music] many catholics move away from the church because of these progressive left-wing sermons this lack of reaction to communist actions this is such a very important area communist propaganda communist ideology all that ah there's a bishop there's a bishop talking about communism many people in fact return to religious practice having seen a bishop like that but in the eyes of the faithful the most visible change to come from the council remains without doubt that of the liturgy as early as 1969 paul vi ordered the implementation of the new ordo messe in the place of the ancient missile of pius v [Music] after the consecration communion under both species [Music] among others this is one of the many research projects underway to renew the exterior form of the catholic mass all of this is part of a whole context that would not even have been imagined 10 years ago 10 years ago no one could have imagined the presence of our separated brethren in saint peters ten years ago no one could have imagined the sort of mass we heard this morning these are reforms of the church's life liturgy and constitution that could not have been imagined before in spite of his suspension archbishop lefevre decided to oppose the new mass and to continue to celebrate the old one he was perfectly aware that this mass was made in agreement with the protestants in order to eliminate everything displeasing to them and on that account the mass no longer calling to mind the fundamental truths of faith loss of faith was a real danger [Music] oh [Music] at rome some students from the french seminary decided to go and find the superior in charge of their holy ghost house archbishop marcel i worried a lot about the fact that it was now impossible for us to continue working and to have any certainty of reaching the priesthood given the prevailing state of mind i was led to ask the archbishop to do something for us well at the beginning he has said to me i'll find you a bishop and i remember having the audacity to say to him but excellency it's you that we want he looked at me in amazement and i myself was very much surprised by my having dared say such a thing to him because i was 19 years old and was in philosophy and to say to a 63 year old bishop excellency it's you we want was a little bit daring but he said nothing and then he said i'll think about it archbishop lefevre took advantage of the support of his friend bishop charier of freeborg in switzerland his university still benefited from a climate favorable to traditional ideas archbishop leferre though now at retirement age resolved to open an institute for priestly formation in may 1969 in professor phi's library his friends were encouraging him to go ahead with a foundation in the traditional spirit present where father marie dominic philippe dominican the abbott of hot reeves cistercian professor phi i heard these gentlemen talking about the situation of the church and the priesthood and all of them especially father murray dominic philippe encouraged him to create something in freebore under his own authority [Music] that's how a few months later the archbishop opened a first year of priestly training there were nine of us and well about a month after the start we started on october 13th around november 15th archbishop lefebvre started talking to us about the future about a potential priestly society it seemed to us that he already had a definite plan in mind but little by little gently he managed to make us understand that we would not be able to go back into the dioceses after ordination but that we had to stay together in a priestly society archbishop lefeve was very concerned with canonical regularity when he opened his institution in freebore it was with the approval of monsignor cherrier bishop of freebore who strongly encouraged him to do it and with the support of cardinal journey and a father marie dominique philippe then i remember very well that when he obtained the canonical recognition of our institute he was very glad of it he used to say now do you see our project is recognized by the church it's a work of the church no one will be able to challenge it but little by little the teaching that the young men were receiving at freeborg university was being adapted to the reforms archbishop lefevre therefore wanted to establish a separate formation some friends in the valley offered him the old monastery of the congregation of canons of the great saint bernard which they had bought in ekkon in switzerland from september 1970 the name of econ in the parish of reed was to become famous my bishop nestor adam who my consultant of course said to me oh yes you must you must establish relations with a muslim to you and you must invite them so i drove bishop adam to a cone twice to meet archbishop lefebvre and each time when i brought him back he said uh it's really providence it's a work of god i am pleased in spite of the imposition of the new right of mass archbishop lefevre teaches his seminarians with the old missile [Music] he would start talking about the mass and we could see that it was his whole faith that was being expressed it was so impressive because for him the mass was everything it's redemption it's the cross it's the heart of christianity it's the means of salvation and the church has no other aim than to continue the mass and to do everything possible so that the faithful can attend mass and benefit from the graces of the mass mass is not a moment of meeting with the people mass is above all the sacrifice we offer to god in reparation for sins and the priest is made for that [Music] the seminary started off like that and then each year other seminarians came so that eventually the house became too small building works needed to be considered the time came to expand the first building in econ i was at that meeting one evening the architect was there mr pedrone who was responsible for overseeing the works was there the director of the seminary was there the treasurer was there i can't remember who it was at the time and he said i can't carry on i have no more money he said we're not doing it we're not doing it we're not doing it but we said excellency we have to build a wing we must we must no i haven't got the money i'm not doing it i haven't got half the funds i'm not doing it he had a strict rule if he didn't have half the budget needed he would say i'm not doing it as a sign of providence then all of a sudden someone called him excellency there's a telephone call for you it was nine o'clock at night someone on the phone from paris he came back he said gentlemen we can start the works [Music] the telephone call he had just received was from a person making him a donation that allowed him to consider the continuation of his work in a few months archbishop lefeve had thus managed to train dozens of priests in a traditional spirit in rome cardinals wrote him letters of encouragement the society of saint pius xi was entirely approved of course the french episcopacy immediately noticed the danger presented by this seminary that was training priests only for the trident in mass and that refused the new mass in particular it was archbishop echegare who led the first wave of public opposition to the econ seminary by calling it a wildcat seminary in autumn 1972 the bishops of france met at lourdes to make their provisions one by one the doors slam on the ecom priests during meetings in rome archbishop le fevra is reproached for not saying the new mass in november 1974 two envoys from rome are dispatched by the secretariat of state to inspect econ [Music] in early november econ received an apostolic visit envoys of the pope who come to see how things are going and to question apostolic visits are made to dioceses and monasteries and so archbishop lefebvre quickly returned to the seminary assembled everyone together gave a talk explained what an apostolic visit is he reassured his little flock and they waited for the next day next morning november 11th and deschamps arrived while we were waiting i remember very well we were pacing up and down the long corridor with archbishop lefeve and he told me for he knew very well that this was the beginning of difficulties with rome i would have preferred to die rather than find myself in opposition to rome me mostly notification but archbishop lefebvre was deeply scandalized by these two representatives of the pope you noticed that in the conversations they had with the seminarians they asked questions they spoke etc but they also made no secret of their doubting the physical resurrection of our lord jesus christ they never attended any masses during the two days they spent at the seminary and they made such revolutionary statements to archbishop lefeve that archbishop lefebvre made his famous declaration of november 21 1974. new zealand [Music] foreign in the church archbishop lefevre's statement made a sensation he was summoned to rome received by the authorities including cardinal gabriel garron the sentence was passed society no longer exists [Music] and so suppression of the seminary suppression of the society of saint pius x dismissal of all the seminarians at econ in 75 everything was settled but they had forgotten the determination and the strength of character of archbishop lefebvre the archbishop was faced with a crucial choice he decided however to yield to the wishes of all his seminarians and in spite of the prohibitions he continued his work at econ in his conferences he addressed rome in order to justify this choice [Music] he said it several times it's because seminarians came to me and asked to be taught it's because there were parents who said don't abandon our children they want to be priests they have a right to proper training and then if he agreed to send priests here and there it was because they were faithful asking for masses asking for the sacraments that has always been i believe archbishop lefebvre's line of conduct we respond to the needs of the faithful and he was all the more concerned with canonical regularity as he well realized that he was obliged to be in opposition to certain directives from and he absolutely wanted us he clearly told us so to pray for the pope in the canon of the mass and for the bishop of the diocese he always refused the set of acanthus theories that's why he came to rome every time he was asked to because he very much cherished this union with rome as long as things could be done according to the norms these had to be respected it's not as if everything is allowed because we're in a crisis then as he said himself superiors are made for our good and they cannot keep us or the faithful from having the mass and the sacraments and therefore canon law cannot be used against the good of the faithful that's why he deemed that there are times when one is dispensed it's what's called the state of necessity in the church when a higher principle governs we know that the highest principle of the laws of the church is the solace and amaram the salvation of souls and nothing can keep us from saving souls [Music] on june 29 1976 as in previous years archbishop lefevre carried out the ordinations in econ he was immediately censored and suspended from the exercise of the priesthood he was in principle no longer authorized to administer the sacraments [Music] of [Music] difficulty in the summer of 1976 archbishop lefebvre's visit to france suddenly turned into a media sensation on the 29th of august he offered mass in lille in front of 10 000 people in lille they had organized a room for 500 people they ended up needing the exposition center for 10 000 and all this within a month they kept calling archbishop lefeve excellency we have to change rooms the one for 500 people isn't big enough we took the one for two thousand it's not big enough we'll take one for five thousand it's not big enough we have to book the exposition center foreign [Music] [Laughter] is [Applause] california he visited me there three times and michigan and phoenix houston anyway it's almost the same i'm not doing anything except passing down what i received myself as a commander as a priest as a bishop simply charlie corner chippy i have handed down what i have received in september having eventually obtained an audience with paul vi archbishop lefeve asked the pope to let him try out tradition he was actively defended by several academics there was another favorite i know archbishop lefeve is a man i admire he did a lot of good he did this first of all he reminded many frenchmen that they had a religion he forced them to reflect on this religion on their faith what do i believe am i truly roman catholic or what where are we going archbishop lefebvre is very attached to the mass called the mass of saint pius v which isn't said bias the fifth but actually a very ancient mass because he thinks it's the mass that all the faithful that all catholics have had it's the mass of pascal the mass of the kirei of ours the mass of father defuco he doesn't understand how many other masses how many other rights should be authorized except for one the one that was the right of mass for so many centuries this is naturally what i think and would respectfully say as much to the pope if you were paul vi well in certain circumstances i should permit the mass of saint pius v that would immediately resolve a very serious situation because i think the issue of this crisis is very serious indeed paul vi said i'll see i'll think about it i'll pray i'll consult but afterwards it seems he changed his mind and declared to jean-gaton several weeks later granting the freedom of the traditional missile is out of the question it would devalue the entire work of the council among paul vi counselors the french cardinal gabrielle garron was a member of the commission that investigated archbishop lefevre and brought about his condemnation you know as far as i'm concerned when his lordship made his decision it obviously distressed me i look back i say to myself if i had to start again i wouldn't do anything else than what i did in good conscience when i heard it being said that i was among those who were pressuring the pope in this affair i was simply astonished i received a mission i accomplished it i did my duty as mariak used to say after which i no longer took the slightest interest in the events that followed we seminarians asked only one thing to continue one or other of the teachers we knew would say we had to obey in the first instance and then discuss and then maybe we could continue afterwards archbishop lefebvre knew these people with whom he had already had discussion with whom he had been in contact in rome he knew these romans he knew modernist rome but he preferred eternal rome and he had already chosen eternal rome so for him his decision was to continue he often traveled to africa he tried to make contact with groups who were fighting for the same goal for the faith for the traditional catechism for the mess the priests were looking for and he also attracted vocations and founded seminaries to train future priests for ordination and little by little he installed priorities in the countries where there were vocations as well as seminaries retreat houses and schools bit by bit he was rebuilding a little christendom [Music] archbishop leferf was constantly in demand as early as 1971 some young women who wished to become nuns contacted him and he founded the sisters of the society of saint pius xi to support the work of his priests his own sister mother marie gabriel agreed to take on this foundation around the same time in belgium their sister christiane a carmelite refounded convents in a traditional spirit he didn't have a pre-established plan he did what he did as and when the circumstances arose so that the faith could be maintained and so that he could pass on what he had received he was deeply pragmatic he was a former missionary so he adapted himself to the territory depending on the circumstances and the needs the male religious orders were not to be outdone at merenyi father lucaroo received the support of archbishop lefeve for re-evangelizing central france in the vocals region the archbishop ordained the priests of the baoru monastery in the beaujolais area he supported father eugene who was upholding the order of saint francis in the anju the prelate conferred holy orders on some young dominicans in avarier an in africa he had realized that the religious life often inspired pagan conversions the sisters and the priests way of life was often a very strong factor in conversions these numerous communities established their own branches around the world from the united states to australia well they visited me out there in san jose california we call it campbell it was a suburb of san jose three times i remember the years now one was assuming that 84 and i think 84 was his lifetime good reception of course obviously if the local priests and bishops knew the darsh bishop is coming they put the notices out in their blah blah blah don't go there but but he got a really good reception and every place that i saw i mean uh at least a hundred hundreds if not a thousand or two thousand people in each of the chaplains this is when the society is really he would get a lot more take because we have so many more people [Music] in time archbishop lefevre was also asked to found schools for boys [Music] while the dominicans of fanjou and ringola were founding other institutions for girls archbishop lefevre's work developed continually by the death of its founder in 1991 the society of saint pius x was established in 22 countries with 239 priests and five seminaries [Music] here's a little story it happened in his car once i said to him excellency there's something i don't understand every great founder of orders has always had some kind of deal with heaven you can't possibly tell me that you don't have at least a little pipeline he punched me from the back seat of the car stop talking rubbish he didn't say he didn't but surely it just wasn't possible any other way [Music] in the 1980s relations with the authorities became more difficult still on their side rome was expecting the society of saint pius x to perish along with its founder whose considerable age and failing health warned of his impending death archbishop talked to me personally of the idea of a consecration for the first time in 1983 [Music] he was ill and he told me that he would maybe do something to ensure that the seminarians could be ordained in our seminaries [Music] but he was still young and he asked for advice several times from various ecclesiastics both within and without the society this is indeed the first time in history where we're seeing the representatives of all the religions praying together in 1986 john paul ii invited the representatives of all the religions to join him in prayer i had the opportunity to go to a calm i talked to archbishop lefebvre and i said to him these are the projects we're hearing about in rome that the pope wants to unite all the religions and go to assisi to pray together i remember vividly his excellency put his face in his hands and said it's the end of the missions he said it painfully as if deeply wounded because i believe he had a profoundly missionary soul and indeed for archbishop lefebvre to put truth and error on an equal footing was [Music] [Music] that's the end of doctors and of medicine it's over it has been a surprising spectacle in the town of assisi in prayer for this day of peace we have seen muslim religious leaders preaching in churches to christians seated together with the followers of islam so assisi in 86 was for him [Music] a tragedy seeing the pontiff the vicar of christ and successor of peter reduced to the rank of any old religion archbishop lefebvre was deeply humiliated and there also it was because he had tremendous faith in christ that christ is the son of god that he could not bear to see the successor of peter in that physical moral and theological posture surely there lies the reason for going ahead two years later with the episcopal consecrations i am sure of it however while visiting rome during the year 1987 archbishop lefevre met several times with cardinal ratzinger superior of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith a shrewd german theologian appointed to resolve the disagreement with the work of econ archbishop lefebvre was a man of principle and at the same time he knew very well that the only existing parties to the discussion were in the roman curia therefore he had to keep up cordial relations with the members of the curia because the solution to the crisis in the church would come from rome he was sure of it therefore it was absolutely necessary to stay in contact with rome cardinal ratzinger continued the interviews over the following months archbishop lefevre sent two of his priests to rome to work on an agreement while cardinal gagnon in the meantime was dispatched by the holy see to inspect the various locations of the society we see very edifying things everywhere it's a long process but we are trying to go everywhere to see the work that's being accomplished we find that a lot is being done and what welcome do you receive from the communities from the community very good one couldn't wish for a warmer welcome they're always talking about the great love they have for the pope and for the church and of their desire to be fully recognized within the church on may 5th 1988 both parties arranged a draft agreement archbishop lefevre was present in rome but he didn't want to waste any more time nearly 83 years old he knew he was suffering from cancer and he said oh it's a comic's talking there he said well all the same it is extraordinary they concede the mass it's a huge step we could never have imagined that at the same time he appeared perplexed the next day i arrived and his excellency was not at breakfast even though he was always very punctual a colleague said to me he said that he needed to finish a letter but that he would be along any minute well he arrived and tapping me on the shoulder said father you need to drop off this letter at the vatican it was the famous letter in which he withdrew his signature some people said that he withdrew his signature under pressure [Music] there was no pressure no he himself saw that even if concessions were made it was not enough to enable the society to continue its work of priestly training there weren't adequate guarantees for the future of the society the agreement had indeed stipulated that one bishop should be consecrated but when archbishop lefebvre asked that he be consecrated on june 30th rome had said no listen we haven't had time to study the dossiers let us have time to study the candidates you're presenting so archbishop lefebvre said all right in that case let's do it on the 15th of august oh no that's still too early well at the start of the school year in september then oh no that's still too early well at christmas and it was still too early so he said to them but wait a minute are you waiting for me to die you at last said yes and then actually you don't want to do it well if you don't want to do it i'll do it myself on june 29th and there it won't be one bishop but four the top story of the day is the event that took place earlier today at acom the first schism in the church in two centuries archbishop marcelafev was excommunicated when he ordained four traditionalist bishops on june 30th 1988 archbishop lefebvre along with bishop de castro mayor his old friend from the council consecrated four bishops well [Applause] um on the evening of the consecrations i can tell you this he summoned me and said mother i am holy at peace i am certain that i have done what god wanted splendid he said this morning still i was worrying wondering whether i was really doing the church's work or my own personal work but now i am sure that god asked it of me the peace i am experiencing within me is my assurance the reactions within the church were strong of the 212 priests of the society of saint pius x 15 or so disassociated themselves two days later rome published a decree of excommunication and exhorted the faithful not to follow the prelate of akon a few devotees of archbishop lefebvre follow him in the west in some countries you must have a very universal view of the church you must meet the bishops of africa the bishops of america and of elsewhere to understand how isolated a group it is a sort of sect what the repercussions will be no one can predict what i can say in any case is that we will extend our welcome to all those and they will be numerous who refuse to follow archbishop lefebvre in this schism so tragic for the church well the book is at the time i wasn't capable of making a judgment today it's difficult for me to think that he was wrong if the society of saint pius the tenth still exists today it's because archbishop lefebvre gave it four the reason it's still considered a party to the conversation by the pope is the fact that it has bishops in the church to be a bishop counts for something and so in this case the founder did well in any case he made a lasting foundation and secured the right conditions for his work to last at the end of the year 1988 i had an opportunity to meet him in december he told me that he had been expecting many more priests and seminarians to leave him and on the other hand he was very encouraged to see how well the young bishops were welcomed by the faithful archbishop lefevre was replaced by the new bishops for the conferral of holy orders and confirmation two and a half years later in march 1991 he had to cut short one of his pastoral visits his health was in decline and he had to be admitted to martini hospital in switzerland when he came in february to fanshawe on his last visit he had asked me if he could come and the children had performed i believe la nonse he was singing he sang with the children the chantes was oh at the end i said to him excellency shall we hope to see you again soon and he replied mother i have done my duty my work is finished you have bishops arrange things with them now that was his last visit and he died a month later on the morning of march 25th at 3 am he passed away the last time i saw him i was very moved because he it was upsetting he had all these tubes he said to me oh father bless me i said to him excellency you are the one who should bless me no bless me i gave him my blessing and afterwards i asked for his it was the last time we left each other like that without knowing that we were leaving each other for good but anyway that's how we part it [Music] on april 2nd before television cameras from around the world the body of the little boy from the north the bushman of gabon the african archbishop the delegate of pius xii the founder of the society of saint pius the tenth was carried away he was born by his priests and returned to his final place of rest in the seminary of econ it was during easter week it was easter tuesday in a way the resurrection of the church in spite of being a certainty still appears fragile very humble very discreet not really finished and i think it gave a lot of courage to people they said to themselves even after the archbishop's death the society is still going it will develop further it will keep working for the renewal of the catholic priesthood and the re-christianization of society that's what the archbishop wanted [Music] he wanted to do the will of god he wanted what god wanted to do with him he's absolutely certain i remember having asked him one day when he had all his difficulties with rome but when you're dead what's going to happen will there be someone to replace you what will happen with the society he said to me nothing special it's very simple if the society is from god it will continue if it isn't from god it will perish that's all it's up to what god wants it doesn't worry me at all and i am truly convinced that that's what he really wanted that the society do what god wants it to do and that he too do so [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] so foreign catholic [Music] ah [Music] you

Channel: SSPX News - English

Views: 188,953

Rating: 4.8883948 out of 5

Keywords: sspx, fsspx, catholic, catholic church, trad catholic, traditional catholic, catholic seminary, fsspx.news, sspx news, catholic mass, roman catholic mass, society of st pius x, archbishop marcel lefebvre, conservative catholic, tradcatholic, sspx podcast, crisis in the church, crisis series, modernist catholics, vatican ii, vatican council, liberal catholics, catholic priest, sspx chapel, latin mass, novus ordo, traditional mass, lefebvre documentary

Id: Cf9oy7wDkms

Length: 103min 47sec (6227 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 29 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/hardybunch2020]

For a man who died on the feast of The Annunciation at 3am- he had to of been divinely inspired. Who else these days radiates such gentle, sincere holiness?

[u/IIIIllllIlII]

Such an amazing documentary. Really changed my opinion on the Archbishop.

[u/Jihocech_Honza]

God bless him. St. Athanasius of our times.

[u/[deleted]]

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