Ecône: Ordination to the Priesthood and Diaconate 2025

On this Feast of the Sacred Heart, Bishop de Galarreta held up our founder, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, as an example to the future priests, presenting him as a perfect model of a priest in accordance with the Heart of Jesus. Quoting the epitaph inscribed on the Archbishop’s tomb – Tradidi quod et accepi – "I have transmitted what I have received," he emphasized Archbishop Lefebvre's fidelity in transmitting the Catholic faith and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

Bishop de Galarreta then drew on Archbishop Lefebvre's motto: Et nos credidimus caritati – "And we have believed in the charity" that God has for us. This charity founded his trust and his desire to return love for love.

A Man of Faith

Founded on a deep, lived faith, he possessed a great supernatural spirit. Hence his attachment to St. Thomas Aquinas. This spirit of faith gave him the zeal to defend and propagate the faith, to profess it publicly in a time of widespread apostasy.

Devotion to Our Lord Jesus Christ

His love for Jesus Christ founded his entire spiritual, priestly, and episcopal life. He loved to contemplate the mystery of Christ and the mystery of his cross. He followed the motto of St. Pius X: Omnia instaurare in Christo – "Restore all things in Christ."

This devotion drove him to rediscover the value of the Mass: he refocused the priesthood on the Mass, restoring priests' identity, at a time when the true meaning of the Catholic priesthood was being lost. He based everything on this devotion lived out in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass: this was his testament, which he transmitted to us and which he asked us to preserve.

Devotion to the Church

Archbishop Lefebvre defended the Church: her unity of faith, the unity and holiness of worship, the unity and holiness of her government. He defended the Church as willed by Christ: unique, necessary, holy, monarchical, hierarchical, priestly, universal, apostolic, and Roman.

A Religious Man

Archbishop Lefebvre practiced in a full and admirable manner the virtue of religion, which connects us to God. He taught prayer as a kindling of the soul: prayer of the will, of the heart, at every moment, which surrenders itself to the holy will of God, following Jesus crucified.

He had this constant desire to conform himself to the will of God, never wanting to precede Providence, but always ready to follow it, whatever the cost. His religious spirit was formed by the spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the perfect act of worship of Christ, the creator of our religion, His sacrifice on the cross.

Sanctification Through Ministry

Archbishop Lefebvre devoted himself particularly to preaching, teaching, and exhortation. He was a model of zeal in sanctification in the ministry through preaching. But he always defended the truth with charity, mercy, and compassion. According to the words of Saint Paul, he "confessed the truth in love" (Eph. 4:15).

Devotion to the Virgin Mary

Archbishop Lefebvre was particularly attached to Our Lady of Compassion, the co-redemptrix. He gave her as a model, not only for the sisters, but also for the priests, for she is the model of conforming to Jesus Christ, priest and victim, through her co-redemption.

This testimony invites ordinands to imitate his faith and fervor, to contribute to "restoring all things in Christ."

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