Lucian Pulvermacher

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Fr. Lucian Pulvermacher
Fr. Lucian Pulvermacher

Fr. Lucian Pulvermacher (born Earl Pulvermacher on April 20, 1918) is a traditionalist Roman Catholic antipope and ex-priest. He is the head of the "true Catholic Church", a small conclavist group, which elected him Pope Pius XIII in October 1998. He currently resides in the United States (in Springdale, Washington).

Contents

[edit] Ministry up to the mid-1990s

Earl Pulvermacher was born into a Roman Catholic according to his own autobiographical information “on April 20, 1918, as the second oldest in a Catholic family of nine children with all four of the boys Capuchin priests. Three of them call Benedict XVI the Pope. He was ordained a priest on June 5, 1946 in Wisconsin [1] In 1942, at the age of 24, he joined the Capuchin Order, taking the religious name Lucian. . At first he was posted to a parish in Milwaukee, but in 1948 he was sent to Japan. [2] He spent the greater part of his career as a Capuchin (from 1948 to 1970) as a missionary priest in Japan, residing initially in the Ryukyu Islands and subsequently on Okinawa. In 1970, he was transferred from Japan to Australia, where he continued his missionary work until his disillusionment with the changes that followed the Second Vatican Council of 1962-1965. [3] In January 1976 he left the Capuchin Order and the Roman Catholic Church, and returned to the United States. He left what he called “the Novus Ordo, bogus Council Vatican II Church” and spent eight months “with the general Latin Mass traditinalists until I saw there was no unity. Hence, I am alone on the job here in the States since August 1976.” [4]

Pulvermacher prided himself with an austere life “I have my own residence (really small). Since November the first I have one helper, Miss Theresa Gutenberger, who serves as secretary and cook. Hence, if you call here you can expect (during the working hours) to have her answer the phone. She resides at the home of a Catholic widow in this area."[5] From August 1976 onwards, Fr. Pulvermacher established and served a circuit of private chapels across the United States, working as an independent traditionalist priest unaffiliated with any formal religious order or society.[citation needed] None of his congregations satisfied him: he judged them all too liberal and modernistic.[citation needed]

[edit] The "true Catholic Church" papal election

Lucian Pulvermacher during his ceremony of "episcopal consecration" by Gordon Bateman.
Lucian Pulvermacher during his ceremony of "episcopal consecration" by Gordon Bateman.
White smoke from the makeshift "Sistine Chapel" announcing the election of Pulvermacher in Montana in 1998 by a group of laymen.
White smoke from the makeshift "Sistine Chapel" announcing the election of Pulvermacher in Montana in 1998 by a group of laymen.

Pulvermacher speaks mainly English. His letters indicate, that he was actively seeking “the papacy” as he wrote to potential German followers: "Divine Providence has it that we have a common language, namely, English. Thanks be to God. My great hope is that we are one in the Faith. It is a great consolation to know that you are working up to the election of the Pope. In that we are one. I do hope we are in the same field". [6] Until his election, Pulvermacher was a sedevacantist, believing that the Holy See has been vacant since the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958. He argues that Pope John XXIII was ineligible, as he supposedly had become a Freemason in 1935 - an act punishable by automatic excommunication under canon law. Pulvermacher also maintains that none of John XXIII's successors (Paul VI, John Paul I, John Paul II and Benedict XVI) have been true Catholics, and that they have all hence been ineligible for the papacy. In contrast to other sedevacantists he argued that the remnant faithful could elect a new legitimate pope, apart from Rome or the college of the cardinals.

Pulvermacher's supporters were few in number and geographically wide-spread. In October 1998, an election was held in a conclave in a wooden house in Montana, where many of Pulvermacher's followers lived. He chose Pius as his pontifical name. His episcopal consecration, held on 4 July 1999 in a hotel ballroom, was attended by 28 people.

[edit] Gordon Bateman

Gordon Bateman was an Australian who was one of Pulvermacher's supporters, subsequently becoming one of his cardinals. Following the 1998 papal election, Pulvermacher obtained (in his view) episcopal orders by delegating Bateman (who possessed priestly orders from Pulvermacher) to consecrate Pulvermacher to the episcopate and then in turn bestowing episcopal orders on Bateman. [7] While there are some mediaeval precedents for a priest who does not himself possess episcopal orders being delegated by the Pope to confer them, this has not been practised for centuries. It is generally believed by non-sedevacantist catholics that the decrees of Vatican II on the status of episcopal orders rules it out, implying, for those who accept Vatican II as Pulvermacher does not, that such episcopal consecrations were always invalid.

Bateman later left Pulvermacher's church after he discovered that Pulvermacher, from his seminarian days, had practiced "divining" with a pendulum. Pulvermacher has defended the practice as beneficial and God-given, but it is regarded by other Catholics as a type of occultism, rendering Pulvermacher ineligible for the papacy. [8] "This all points to the character of the man. He lusted for the papal Chair. So, after recent careful examination of the events at the time, I know now that the election was flawed". [9] Bateman no longer continues to wear his insignia as a cardinal.

[edit] Family

At least seven of Pulvermacher's eight siblings and their families, as well as more distant relatives, remained in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church, including two of his priest-brothers, who were active members of the Capuchin Order. The eighth sibling, Fr. Carl Pulvermacher OFM (Cap), worked as an associate priest (not a member) of the Society of St. Pius X until his death in June 2006.[citation needed]

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.kirchenlehre.com/truecat.htm
  2. ^ http://www.catholic.com/newsletters/kke_040406.asp
  3. ^ http://www.kirchenlehre.com/truecat.htm
  4. ^ http://www.kirchenlehre.com/truecat.htm
  5. ^ http://www.kirchenlehre.com/truecat.htm
  6. ^ http://www.kirchenlehre.com/truecat.htm
  7. ^ http://www.catholic.com/newsletters/kke_040406.asp
  8. ^ http://www.betrayedcatholics.com/piushoax.html
  9. ^ http://www.betrayedcatholics.com/piushoax.html

[edit] See also

[edit] External links