The Society of St. Pius X, founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, is surely one of the most controversial religious orders in the Catholic Church in modern times. This is due no doubt to its uncompromising fidelity to Catholic Truth and Tradition, which have been under attack both from within and without the Church over the last century, but especially virulently since the ending of the Second Vatican Council.

The Society's position is based on objective fact, not subjective opinion. It adheres completely to the teaching of the Popes throughout all the ages and publicly expresses, as a matter of faith and Catholic conscience, its profound disagreement with trends, movements, opinions and policies that contradict the Magisterium of popes prior to the recent Second Vatican Council - a truly inconceivable conflict, yet verifiable in fact, giving rise to a tragic dilemma, in which Catholics are forced to choose. 

This will explain why the Society has been driven out by the religious authorities to the very margins of the Church and treated as a religious pariah. It is evident that many are unaware of the Society's true position, of its loyalty to eternal Rome, Mother and Mistress of Truth, and of its fidelity to the Holy See. The Society is at the service of the Catholic Church.

 Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre

Marcel Lefebvre was born in Tourcoing, near Lille, France on the 29th November 1905.  He was the third of eight children.  The first five children all consecrated themselves to God, two became priests and three girls became religious sisters.


From 1923 to 1929 he trained in the French Seminary in Rome and there obtained his doctorates in philosophy and theology.  On 21st September 1929 he was ordained priest in Lille.  For the next two years he was curate in the parish of Marais-de-Lomme, Lille.  In 1931 he entered the missionary order of the Holy Ghost Fathers and a year later was sent as a missionary to Gabon in Africa.  He served as Director and Professor in the seminary in Liberville, Gabon, for the next six years and was then sent into the interior of Gabon, where he remained until 1945.  In that year he was recalled to France and appointed Rector of the Seminary of Philosophy at Mortain, a post he held until 1947.  He was then appointed Vicar Apostolic of Dakar, Senegal and in the same year he was consecrated Bishop di Antedone.

On 22nd September 1948 Marcel Lefebvre was appointed Apostolic Delegate with the title of Archbishop de Arcadiopoli di Europa and was delegated for all of French Africa, 18 countries in all.

On 14th September 1955 Marcel Lefebvre was translated to the See of Dakar as its first Archbishop and in the same year made an Assistant to the Pontifical Throne.

Considering the field of Education alone, this is what Archbishop Lefebvre found in black Africa when he arrived and what he left behind when he departed:

	1947	1962
Primary School	47 Schools 282 Pupils	2,000 Schools 12,000 Pupils
Secondary Schools	4 Schools 150 Pupils	11 Schools 1,800 Pupils
Technical Colleges	None	4 Institutions 400 Students

 

From 1060 to 1962 Archbishop Lefebvre was a member of the Central Preparatory Commission of the Second Vatican Council.  He resigned his See in 1962 in favour of a black bishop from the native clergy, a bishop whom he had formed and ordained.  In January 1962 Archbishop Lefebvre was translated to the See of Tulle, France, with the personal title of Archbishop-Bishop of Tulle.  In the same year he was selected Superior General of the Holy Ghost Fathers.  He held this post until his resignation in 1968.

In 1970 Archbishop Lefebvre founded the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X and established the Seminary of St. Pius X at Econe, Switzerland, and in that year was elected first Superior General of the SSPX.  He held the post until 1983 when he retired.



Archbishop Lefebvre died in 1991 on the 25th March, the Feast of the Annunciation.