Before the present crisis in the Catholic Church brought about by Vatican II, a young man who desired to enter the Holy Priesthood had a wide choice of fields in which he might exercise his priestly apostolate. He could enter the service of his diocesan bishop as a parish priest; or join a foreign missionary congregation, or one of the Religious Orders which leads an active life of preaching and teaching; or he could enter a monastic community and spend his life in quiet study and constant prayer.

Unfortunately, the disintegration of the Church since Vatican II has caused all of these possibilities to disappear. No religious order or diocesan bishop will accept a candidate who shows that he is faithful to the unchanging Catholic Faith and the traditional Mass. Only very few traditional religious communities remain. Aside from these communities, the International Society of Saint Pius X, founded in 1970 by His Grace, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, offers a young man the only real possibility of corresponding to God's call to the Holy Priesthood of Our Lord, Jesus Christ. 

Since the founding of the Society, its work of preserving the Catholic Priesthood has, by the Grace of God, flourished.  As of 2004, there are over 460 priests of the Society, present in over 30 countries.  There are 60 brothers, 59 oblates, 200 seminarians in six international seminaries, 135 priories, more than 600 Mass centers regularly served, nine retreat houses, 15 major schools, and at least 55 schools connected to priories or chapels.  Apart from providing the Mass and the Sacraments, a good Catholic education for children and retreats for the faithful, the Society has innumerable publications and an apostolate extending to various forms of priestly activities.

The history of the Society of Saint Pius X cannot be separated from the life story of its venerated founder, His Grace, the Most Reverend Marcel Lefebvre, Archbishop-Bishop Emeritus of Tulle in France, and former Superior General of the Holy Ghost Fathers.

Archbishop Lefebvre was born at Tourcoing in Northern France to deeply Christian parents on November 29, 1905. After completing his studies at the French Seminary at Rome, where he obtained doctoral degrees in philosophy and theology, he was ordained to the Holy Priesthood in 1929 and entered the missionary Fathers of the Holy Ghost on the insistence of his priest-brother the following year.

The Congregation sent him to Africa in 1932, and Archbishop Lefebvre spent thirteen happy years there, during at least half of which he devoted his energies to the formation of priests. Then he returned to France to direct one of the Congregation's seminaries for two years until Pope Pius XII, who had the greatest respect for this holy priest and zealous missionary, began to confer posts of ever greater dignity and responsibility upon him in the flourishing missionary Church in Africa. In 1947, His Grace became the first Vicar Apostolic of Dakar in Senegal; in 1948, Apostolic Delegate for all of French-speaking Africa; in 1955, first Archbishop of Dakar, which post he held until 1962, at which time he surrendered his episcopal throne to a native priest whom he himself had ordained (Cardinal Thiandoum).

Meanwhile, Archbishop Lefebvre had already undertaken other work as a member of the Central Preparatory Commission of the Second Vatican Council; but the Council Fathers in 1962 promptly rejected this Commission's orthodox and painstaking efforts of several years. During the Council, Archbishop Lefebvre battled vigorously alongside others, though with little success, in the defense of traditional Catholic teaching.

Pope John XXIII soon named the Archbishop to the Diocese of Tulle in France, but he passed only a few months there when in 1962 his Congregation elected him Superior General for a period of twelve years. In 1968, as the spirit of the rebellion inspired by Vatican II swept through the Church, his religious gathered in General Chapter. More and more insistently they clamored for reforms ... reforms which His Grace knew would lead to the disintegration of the Congregation which he so loved. Rather than pass into history as the superior responsible for such a disaster, he resigned his office.

At this time, Archbishop Lefebvre had no other intention than to live peacefully in retirement in Rome. "But," he later told his seminarians, "I think that God decided that my work was not yet finished. I had to continue." The work which His Grace was soon to undertake, and which Providence was to favor in such a singular manner, represents by far the most important work in his long life of service to the one true Church of Christ.

As the situation in seminaries throughout the Catholic world deteriorated rapidly in the years following Vatican II and as erroneous teachings flourished and discipline disappeared, many young men began to approach Archbishop Lefebvre to beg his advice as to where they might go to receive an authentic priestly formation. Ultimately His Grace realized that no existing seminary in Europe retained the form of intellectual and spiritual life necessary to prepare young men for the awesome responsibility of the Holy Priesthood, and he courageously decided to undertake such a project himself.

This project began on a small scale in the Swiss university city of Fribourg. On June 6, 1969, the Most Reverend Francois Charrière, Bishop of Lausanne, Geneva, and Fribourg, gave his authorization to Archbishop Lefebvre to open a small residence for seminarians who would attend classes at the University, which was less affected than others by the rampant new teachings. As the number of young men who gathered around the Archbishop continued to grow, His Grace purchased a second house at Ecône in the Swiss canton of Valais, where he expected to send the students for a portion of their studies. However, as the situation at the University of Fribourg changed for the worse, he decided to establish a full seminary program at Ecône. In 1971 he blessed the cornerstone of the new buildings to be constructed adjacent to the house formerly belonging to the Canons of St. Bernard.

Meanwhile, Archbishop Lefebvre realized that it would be wise to unite his seminarians canonically in an officially recognized religious society. Thus on November 1, 1970, Bishop Charrière signed and sealed the Decree of Approbation for the founding of the Society of Saint Pius X, officially in French the "Fraternité sacerdotale Saint Pie X." Cardinal Wright, Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Clergy, wrote to Archbishop Lefebvre on February 18, 1971, to congratulate His Grace for his undertaking, and express the high hopes which he held for the already flourishing new society.  The Cardinal also took the opportunity of recommending to several young men with vocations that they attend the seminary at Ecône.

Since then, of course, the Vatican has ceased to look with favor upon the work of priestly formation of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, although the seminary of Ecône continues to flourish and remains a Catholic seminary such as seminaries always were. The ever increasing number of vocations has even permitted the Society to open comparable seminaries: another one for the French speaking seminarians, in Flavigny, France; for the German speaking seminarians, at Zaitzkofen in Bavaria; two for the English speaking seminarians, one in Winona, Minnesota U.S.A., the other in Goulburn NSW Australia; and one for the Spanish speaking seminarians, outside Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Before considering in greater detail the nature of the Society, and the particular spirit and work of its members, we must give some attention to the measures taken against the Society of Saint Pius X and its seminaries by the Roman authorities. Readers should please note that there have been numerous books documenting the relations between Archbishop Lefebvre and Rome.  The following brief summary is only intended to give the highlights of this relationship as it concerns the seminary at Ecône.

The campaign against Archbishop Lefebvre and his seminary began in 1974 with the establishment of a commission of three Cardinals – Cardinals Garrone, Wright, and Tabera – to examine the "Ecône affair." Prior to 1974, there was considerable support from the neighboring bishops of dioceses in Switzerland and France, where priests from Ecône were to be incardinated.  As mentioned above, Cardinal Wright, who was now on the commission, had warmly supported the Archbishop's work. But in November of 1974, this Commission of Cardinals sent two Apostolic Visitors to Ecône to inspect the seminary and question its professors and seminarians. The two Apostolic Visitors were Msgr. Descamps, a biblical scholar, and Msgr. Onclin, a canonist.  During their three day visit, they subjected the seminarians and professors to many detailed questions about seminary life at Ecône and their thoughts on various subjects.  The Visitors, in turn, expressed some of their opinions about the inevitability of married clergy: their doubts about the Resurrection and the Virgin Birth, and the non-existence of immutable Truth. When details of this visit reached Archbishop Lefebvre, he reacted by publishing his famous Declaration of November 21, 1974, stating clearly the position of the Society with regard to Catholic Tradition:  "We hold firmly with all our heart and with all our mind to Catholic Rome, Guardian of the Catholic Faith and of the traditions necessary to the maintenance of this faith, to the eternal Rome, mistress of wisdom and truth. We refuse on the other hand, and have always refused, to follow the Rome of Neo-Modernist and Neo-Protestant tendencies, which became clearly manifest during the Second Vatican Council, and after the Council, in all the reforms, which issued from it." Even before the Declaration became public, the Bishops of France were issued with a statement condemning those who refused the New Mass and admonishing all the bishops to refuse incardination to any priests issuing from Ecône

The commission of Cardinals summoned Archbishop Lefebvre to Rome for two separate "conversations" in February and March of 1975.  Since the Archbishop had received no information about the impression Ecône made on the Apostolic Visitors, he initially thought the meeting would concern their report of the seminary.  As it turned out, the conversation was to turn into a tribunal condemning the Archbishop solely for his statements in the November Declaration. Cardinal Garrone accused the Archbishop of being a “lunatic” and of making himself another Athanasius.  Cardinal Tabera reproached him, saying, “What you are doing is worse than what is being done by all the progressives.”  Added to this was the accusation that he had severed communion with the Church.  In his own defense, the Archbishop tried to clarify what exactly he meant in his Declaration … but to no avail. At the end of the meetings, the Archbishop asked Cardinal Garrone for a copy of the recording, which the Cardinal thought was only fair.  However, no copy was ever given the Archbishop, despite his repeated efforts to obtain one. 

Finally on May 6, 1975, the Commission of Cardinals condemned the position of Archbishop Lefebvre, and conceded to Bishop Mamie, the successor of Bishop Charrière of Fribourg, the right to withdraw the approbation of the Society of Saint Pius X, by which all the houses of the Society, and particularly the Seminary of Ecône, would "lose their right to existence." The same day however - thus before receiving this letter from Rome - Bishop Mamie himself wrote to Archbishop Lefebvre informing him of the suppression of the Society. And all this in the middle of the much vaunted Year of Reconciliation!

Because of the invalidity of these measures, the Society of Saint Pius X continues to exist in complete legality. In accordance with the traditional Code of Canon Law (canon 493), a society of diocesan right can only be suppressed by the Holy See, whereas Bishop Mamie had acted on his own authority. There existed, furthermore, no justifying cause for this action. The traditional Catholic principles summarized in Archbishop Lefebvre's "Declaration" of November 1974, on which both the Cardinals and Bishop Mamie based their condemnations, had never been judged and condemned, and indeed never could be.

After these events, Archbishop Lefebvre attempted to bring his case up for public trial and examination before the Church's highest court of appeal, the Apostolic Signatura, but the tribunal unjustly rejected the appeal. An open hearing of the case of loyal Catholics against the "new Church" would obviously have constituted too grave an embarrassment for its leaders. (The numerous letters and documents of Archbishop Lefebvre, Pope Paul VI, and the various Cardinals and Bishops involved, have all been published in collected form, and provide a more complete history of this somewhat confusing affair.)

The Society of Saint Pius X, then, continues to exist legally, to incardinate its own priests as three Roman documents from past years show that it has the right to do, and to carry on its important work for the preservation of the Catholic Faith. In absence of true seminaries throughout the Catholic world, it continues to form true priests according to the principles on which every seminary once operated, in traditional Catholic doctrine and piety.

Here a principle more important than any canonical argument enters in: Salus animarum suprema lex, the salvation of souls is the supreme law. Archbishop Lefebvre knew that stopping his work would be contributing to the destruction of the priesthood, and thus of the Church, and to the loss of countless souls. He, and the Society of Saint Pius X, had the duty to continue. Indeed, the work of Archbishop Lefebvre and of his priests is not only continuing, but it is flourishing – "for the Church and for the Pope, for the honor of God and of Our Blessed Lord."

The spirit of the Society of Saint Pius X and the work of its members cannot be considered separately, since the former determines the latter.

The Society, first of all, is a "society of common life without vows," that is, its members live in communities (of at least two or three, in the smaller houses) as do members of other Religious Orders and Congregations, but they do not take public vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience as, for example, monks and friars do. Each country, composed of several houses, has a District Superior, and the whole Society has a Superior General with a council of advisors.

Although the Society also has Brothers and Sisters who aid its priest-members, it is above all a society of priests, and the spirit which Archbishop Lefebvre wished the Society to have is above all a priestly spirit.

Priestly, in its wholehearted fidelity to the Holy Catholic Church. Archbishop Lefebvre declared in 1973: "My collaborators and myself are not working against anyone, against other persons, against institutions. We are working to construct, to continue what the Church has always done, and nothing else. We are not linked with any movement, with any party, or with any organization in particular. We are united only to the Roman Catholic Church, and we wish to continue the priesthood of the Roman Catholic Church. Nothing else!"

Priestly, in its emphasis on the essential dignity and duties of the priest. "The concern of the Society," according to its Statutes, "is the priesthood and all that has a relation with it, and nothing which does not; that is, as Our Lord wished the priesthood to be when He said: 'Do this in commemoration of Me.'" The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, instituted at the same moment as the Holy Priesthood, holds the central place in the life of every priest and member of the Society, along with the Sacraments and the Divine Office which are as a halo surrounding the principal act of the Sacred Liturgy. Archbishop Lefebvre insistently reminded his spiritual sons that the Holy Mass is indeed the raison d'être of the priest, from which source alone his apostolate will draw its efficacy.

Priestly, in its missionary spirit. The members of the Society normally exercise an active apostolate, nourished, of course, by a fervent life of prayer. In every field of action and in every place, they seek to continue in every possible manner the mission of teaching, sanctifying, and guiding for which Our Blessed Lord – Himself Prophet, Priest, and King – instituted the priesthood, each of whose members should strive to be an alter Christus – another Christ.

From these principles, let us pass to the consideration of the actual work of the Society of Saint Pius X.

As we have seen, the work of forming true priests represents the principal concern of the Society. Thus a certain number of its members, once ordained, will be called to give their energies to this noble task, as professors and spiritual directors in the several seminaries which the Society has already founded or will found in different countries of the world.

Those whom their superiors do not designate for seminary work will find a place in one of the other houses, or priories, of the Society, where they will lead a common life of prayer and work together with another or several other members of the Society. At the priory they will provide the true Mass and Sacraments, religious instruction for the faithful of the area, and preach retreats of the sort which bear great fruits of conversion and sanctification. From there, their apostolate will also radiate over surrounding areas as they travel to administer the Sacraments, and encourage and instruct Catholics distressed by the present condition of the Church. Thus they will dedicate themselves only to those activities which truly belong to the priest, seeking only the good of souls.