The Society of St. Pius X and the Archbishop’s Place in Our History
Seeing the chaos in his Congregation of the Holy Ghost Fathers for reform according to the liberalism of the Vatican II, Archbishop Lefebvre resigned as Superior General.
On resigning Archbishop Lefebvre retired to Switzerland. There, he was approached by some young seminarians. They described to him the dismal situation at the seminary, where things were going from bad to worse regarding the lack of discipline and the weekly liturgical changes. Thus, they humbly asked Archbishop Lefebvre if there was anything he could do for them, for they wanted to become true priests. Distressed by the grave situation in the Church, Archbishop Lefebvre resolved to take a stand and to pass on the true Faith and the priesthood. He started his work, first in Fribourg, Switzerland, and then at Écône. On November 1, 1970, he founded the Society of St. Pius X.
In 1970 Archbishop Lefebvre met with a young man from New York named Clarence Kelly. Clarence had heard about the Archbishop’s work in Switzerland and, like the seminarians from Fribourg, wanted to become a true priest. Archbishop Lefebvre accepted him into the seminary at Écône in 1971. He then ordained Father Clarence Kelly to the holy priesthood on April 14, 1973. It was thus because of Archbishop Lefebvre’s zeal for souls and for the preservation of the Catholic Faith that our founding bishop was ordained a priest and enabled to carry on the Archbishop’s work of preserving the Faith and providing for the faithful.
