This testimony comes from Silvester Donald McLean and describes firsthand the 1988 Episcopal consecrations at Écône.

Mr. McLean was the founder and editor of “Catholic” – the Australian traditionalist newspaper which ran from 1982 to 2000. 

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The 1988 Consecrations

In 1988 I was still employed by the MMBW as Irrigation Inspector. It was easy to get extended leave during the southern winter.

Andrina and I decided that we would take our 16 year old son with us on our second trip to Écône. Booked our tickets and left for USA mid June. We stopped in Los Angelus for a few days to visit our then US agent. Then on to the Ridgefield Cn. Seminary. All was excitement; will the Archbishop consecrate or won’t he? Will he consecrate three Bishops or more? It was not certain until much nearer the historic event. And to top that off, Saint Thomas Aquinas Seminary was moving from Ridgefield Cn to Winona Mn.

Many adventures including a major incident at Orly, Paris. We were on landing approach when suddenly the engines roared and we went into a steep, turning climb and then the pilot told us in a laconic American voice that “Somebody was coming up when we were supposed to be going down. We will have another shot!” Second time lucky.

Then next duty was to pick up our car. We were very tired but I had to pickup the car and leave it in the car park for a couple of days Then I had to organise a mechanic to come and fix the lock on the back door. New car with less than 10ks on the clock. (In France at that time, you buy the car and then after whatever time you sell it back. Saves them 30% sales tax.)

We left the car in the park for a couple of days, enjoyed the complimentary boat tour on the Seine, ‘Under the Bridges of Paris’, saw the sights and then set off for Switzerland, Stephen being the navigator. We arrived at Écône a few days before the ceremonies, found our accommodation which was up in the mountains at a place called Mayen de Riddes, then spent the next few days attending the seminary. We attended Msgr Lefebvre’s “private Mass” (with over 50 people present!) on those days before the crowds began to arrive. On one of those days we received a blessing from Msgr Lefebvre on our work.

We saw Bishop de Castro Mayer arrive after he had recovered in the VIP lounge at Geneva Airport after his long flight from Brazil. Andrina, Stephen and I were the only lay people there, besides a photographer. The Bishop was exhausted, but duty called. Msgr Lefebvre’s face was a picture of joy. His confrere at Vatican II was his support now at Écône. It is the practice of the Church to have a Consecrator and two co-Consecrators, but it is not essential.

Everybody went into the chapel, and there were some incidents. A big burly Franciscan priest was working his way up to the altar where Msgr Lefebvre was about to give his address of welcome to his confrere. About ten seminarians surrounded him, they were guarding the Archbishop! Turned out it was Fr Carl Pulvermacher OFM Cap. from Texas and the Editor of The Angelus magazine! Nobody at Écône knew him. Fr Carl had worked in Adelaide in the 1970s and is detailed in the document titled ‘Hero Priests’.

Bishop de Castro Mayer gave an ‘Address in Reply’ and I asked a seminarian friend “What did he say?” because he spoke in Portuguese and his Secretary translated some of it into French. His answer was “best you don’t know!” because most of those who were there thought he had made a sedevacantist statement.

Fortunately, I had my tape recorder and recorded it all. The tape became very handy a few years later when an independent priest said that the Bishop had wandered through the crowd proclaiming that “We have no Pope!” Bishop de Castro Mayer, at the end of the ceremony, was so exhausted that he had to be driven up to the seminary after having taken off his vestments in the temporary Cathedral.

My tape was translated at UNI NSW by a Professor of Languages, who at the time was working on a Catechism in Portuguese for East Timor. We then sent the translation and a copy of the cassette to Campos to be checked. Fr Rifan, Bishop de Castro Mayer’s Secretary, said that our translation was correct, and he confirmed that Bishop de Castro Mayer was completely orthodox.

On June 29 came the ordination of priests. There were more than 20 of them, including our own Fr Peter Scott. He had been received into the Church by Fr Cummins, had finished his medical degree, completed his one year intern and then off to Écône.

This group of young men were the last to be ordained by Archbishop Lefebvre. Then the First Blessings of the new priests. Fr Scott saved his first, first blessing for me, then he blessed Andrina and Stephen. Then 16 year old Stephen handed out Fr Scott’s ordination cards and collected the offerings of the faithful, who were very generous. He said later that he had never handled so much money; his pockets were full. It was, mostly in German and French currency.

Then it was the luncheon. We were Fr Scott’s stand-in family, and so were at the luncheon, as Andrina and I had been two years earlier for the ordination of Fr Stephen Abdoo. Dom Gerard, the abbot of Le Barroux Benedictine Monastery, was seated opposite Msgr Lefebvre and they were quite jovial. There were five Benedictines ordained in 1986, including Fr Cyprian, who has visited Tynong twice. But significantly, there were none in 1988.

The Consecrations were to be the next day. The only way to describe the seminary that night was that it resembled a bullant’s nest, stirred up with a stick. Imagine nearly 200 seminarians, all convinced that someone would attempt to nobble the Archbishop! There were no mobile phones in those days; all they had was walkie talkies. They were convinced that someone jammed the two- way frequency and so they changed it around midnight.

Pope John Paul II had offered to send a car to take the Archbishop to Rome for further talks. He rejected the offer; he had had enough of Rome’s duplicity. Nothing would stop him from doing his duty as he saw it.

Next day he named it “Operation Survival” and it surely was. He did it for “The love of the Church and the Priesthood, and for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass” 

Bishop de Castro Mayer could not sleep that night, he was jet lagged and very tired from the ordination ceremony and no doubt thinking of the Consecration of the next day. So about midnight he went for a walk. My Seminarian friend claimed that he would have been the only person to ever get a blessing from a Bishop who was wearing his pyjamas! And they were purple! We were oblivious to all this, we were about 10 kms away in our mountain chalet. 

We came down the mountain and took photos of the ‘Canvas Cathedral’ erected on the land belonging to the Hydro power station which is adjacent to the Seminary. Then the ceremony got underway.

They had erected a platform to the right of the altar for the press. I had a press pass and so had the best view. There were about 250 reporters and photographers on the platform, but significantly, no representative from the Catholic Press. (Except me!) It was very crowded. They were not a very well behaved lot and there was much pushing and shoving. I had to hang on to a tent pole with one hand and snap my pictures with the other.

From about half way, they began to drift away to meet publication deadlines.  Archbishop Lefebvre was always newsworthy in Europe and this was a major event. Unfortunately Andrina and Stephen missed much of the ceremony because Andrina was not well and had to be up the back for the five hour ceremony. She had been treated before the ceremony by new priest, Fr Scott, in his capacity as a doctor!

It was quite an honour for Australia. The Deacon at the Consecration Mass was Fr Laisney and the sub-deacon was Fr Esposito. Both these priests had been assigned to Australia from their ordinations. Fr Laisney when the Society was established in Sydney in August 1982 and Fr Esposito a couple of years later.

Then the procession came down the hill from the seminary. Imagine the procession. Nearly 200 priests, as many seminarians, followed by the sacred ministers, the Superior General, Msgr Rangel and Fr Rifan from Campos, and finally Archbishop Lefebvre and Bishop de Castro Mayer.

Then the ceremony began. Msgr Lefebvre first preached a sermon in French. Then it was translated into German and Father Black, the English District Superior, gave a shortened English version. During the sermon Msgr Lefebvre dubbed it “Operation Survival” and time has proved that description to be accurate. For 38 years he has secured the Catholic priesthood, not only for the Society of Saint Pius X but for all who hold to Tradition.  Then Bishop de Castro Mayer made his Declaration of Faith and affirmed that he was honoured to take part in such a momentous Ceremony.

After five hours it was over. Then all who took part in the ceremony walked up the hill to the seminary, except Bishop de Castro Mayer. He was exhausted and was driven up in a car. Dom Gerard, so jovial the day before, was nowhere to be seen. We discovered a week or so later, after we had been to Le Barroux, that he had made a deal with Rome. Fr Cyprian, whom we had befriended two years before, had left the monastery. After many difficulties he founded a monastery in New Mexico, USA.

It was Pope Pius XII who, in 1949 imposed excommunication on the Chinese Bishops if they consecrated successors in a Diocese for the Patriotic Church. Since that time there has been two churches in China, the Underground Church faithful to Rome, and the Patriotic Church. The first is persecuted, the second is Communist-approved.

Since 2018 the Government of China has selected the Bishops and Rome has approved of the appointment. To be clear, the Government selects the Bishops and Rome agrees. But Rome will not agree to the SSPX consecrating its own Bishops.

Every offence against Canon Law is to be punished by “a just penalty”. But the only act to be punished by excommunication is “He who consecrates, and he who is consecrated incurs excommunication reserved to the Holy See.” It will be interesting to see how Rome explains that the Society of Saint Pius X Bishops incur excommunication for what the Chinese Communists are permitted to do.

Report on the Consecrations from Catholic, August 1988

Four New Bishops

The priestly ordinations at Écône this year were overshadowed by the momentous events of the next day, June 30, the day of the Episcopal Consecration of four bishops. The tension began to mount a week before. All sorts of preparations were underway. There was the arrival of Bishop de Castro Mayer, then the Bishops-elect. Then their departure for a Retreat and return for the priestly ordinations on June 29. The big question was what would Rome do? What last moves might there be?

The seminarians were taking no chances, security was tightened. It was quite a sight to see these young men trying to conceal aerials under white surplices as the ceremonies proceeded!

The great day dawned, no one knew quite what to expect. The ‘Canvas Cathedral’ was full by 8AM, and thousands had to be content with a view through the open sides. The ceremony commenced with the procession, nearly 200 priests, as many seminarians, the Bishops elect, the Deacon and sub-Deacon and the two valiant Defenders of the Faith.

The ceremony began with the sermon, first in French, the German, then English. Several parts of it were greeted with applause by the different nationalities.

There were some 260 accredited reporters and cameramen, but the Catholic Press was conspicuous by its absence. 

After the sermon, the ceremony proceeded as in the ordination of priests. The Litany of the Saints was sung, and then the imposition of hands, first by Archbishop Lefebvre, and then by Bishop de Castro Mayer, and then we had four new Bishops. The ceremony was over five hours long, but the only people who left were reporters with deadlines to meet.

Five hours of magnificent ritual had produced for us four new bishops to ensure the continuation of the Catholic Priesthood. On that historic day at Écône a great weight was lifted from the shoulders of those who are faithful to Tradition, the uncertainty was gone. The long agonising time was over; no more need we doubt the Archbishop’s intention, no more need we listen to rumours about this development or that. His Grace had done what many of us regarded as essential. 

For that, Deo Gratias

Bishop Antonio de Castro Mayer  –   A Profession of Faith

(This address was delivered during the Consecration Ceremony)

My presence here at this ceremony is a matter of conscience: the duty of a profession of the Catholic Faith before the entire Church, and more particularly before His Excellency Archbishop Lefebvre, before all the priests, religious, seminarians and faithful here present.

St. Thomas Aquinas teaches that there is no obligation to make a public profession of Faith in every circumstance. But when the Faith is in danger, it is urgent to profess it, even at the risk of one’s life.

This is the situation in which we find ourselves. We live in an unprecedented crisis in the Church, a crisis which touches it in its very essence, to its very substance even, which is the Holy Sacrifice and the Catholic Priesthood. These two mysteries are essentially united because, without the Priesthood there can be no Sacrifice of the Mass, and by consequence, no form of worship whatsoever. Equally, it is on these bases that one constructs the social reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Because of this, since the continuation of the priesthood and the Holy Mass is at stake, and in spite of the requests and the pressure brought to bear by many, I am here to accomplish my duty: to make a public profession of Faith.

It is sorrowful that the lamentable blindness of so many confreres in the Episcopacy and the priesthood, who do not see, or who do not wish to see the present crisis in order to be faithful to the mission which God has confided to us, to resist the modernism at present ruling.

I wish to manifest here my sincere and profound adherence to the position of His Excellency Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, which is dictated by his fidelity to the Church of all the centuries. The two of us, we have drunk of the same source, which is that of the Holy, Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church.

May the Most Holy Virgin, our Mother, who at Fatima maternally forewarned us of the gravity of the present situation, may She give us the grace to be able, by our attitude, to help and to enlighten the faithful in such a manner that they will distance themselves from these pernicious errors, of which they are the victims, deceived as they are by many of those who have received the fullness of the Holy Ghost.

May God bless Archbishop Lefebvre and his work.

Antonio de Castro Mayer

Bishop Emeritus – Campos, Brazil