Joseph René Vilatte
Encyclopedia
Joseph René Vilatte was, at different times, a Roman Catholic
, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Russian Orthodox and Jacobite
. He is best known, however, for his activities as an Old Catholic cleric.
to French parents hailing from the Maine
region and who belonged to the Petite Eglise
, a sect formed by so-called rigorist Catholics angry with the Holy See
and the diocese
s for signing or accepting the Concordat of 1801
, which in their eyes was a betrayal of the Catholic Church and an heretical liberal compromise with the French revolutionaries
of 1789. The Petit Église sect had all but died out, and Vilatte was baptized
as an infant by a layman as the sect had become priestless. His mother died soon after his birth and he was raised in a Parisian orphanage operated by the Brothers of the Christian Schools
after having been conditionally baptized. He finally converted to Roman Catholicism and was accepted into the Roman Catholic Church in 1867.
Following Napoleon III's Franco-Prussian War
of 1870 and the Uprising of the Commune of Paris
, Vilatte decided to emigrate to Canada
where, near Ottawa
, he worked as a catechist in a small school. After two years he returned to France, but being informed that he would need to serve in the armed forces for seven years, he moved to Belgium
, joining the Congregation of the Christian Brothers at Namur
. However, he decided to try for the secular priesthood and once again emigrated to Canada in 1876, principally in order to avoid arrest and extradition to France for dodging the draft.
In Canada he studied with the Congregation of the Holy Cross Fathers
at the College of St. Laurent
in Montreal
, until, about three years later, he met a former Roman Catholic priest turned Presbyterian minister, Charles Chiniquy
, who persuaded him to turn Protestant. Chiniquy introduced Vilatte to a Protestant pastor who helped him to get admission to McGill University
. After two years, however, Vilatte once again reconciled with the Roman Catholic Church and entered the Clerics of Saint Viator
at Bourbonnais
, Illinois
. Here he once again met Chiniquy, who told him of Franco-Belgian Catholics (Walloon
settlers) in North-East Wisconsin
who wished to integrate with the American mainstream as Protestants. Chiniquy also introduced Vilatte to another former Roman Catholic, Hyacinthe Loyson
, formerly a Carmelite who had been excommunicated in 1869 after marrying an American widow and founding the "Gallican Catholic Church". Under the inspiration of Chiniquy and Loyson, Vilatte moved to the Green Bay
area of Wisconsin as a Presbyterian minister.
, the Episcopal Bishop of Fond du Lac
for support. Vilatte suggested to Brown that his (Vilatte's) Presbyterian mission should be taken over by the Episcopal Diocese of Fond du Lac as an Old Catholic outpost. Brown seized on this as a means of building a bridge with the Old Catholics in Europe and agreed to support Vilatte.
At the same time Loyson, who had migrated to France, wrote to Vilatte to come over and be ordained a priest by Eduard Herzog
, the Old Catholic (Christkatholische)
Bishop of Berne
, Switzerland
, as a first step in founding the Old Catholic Church in North America. With the support and encouragement of Brown and his fellow Episcopal bishops, Vilatte then traveled to France where Herzog ordained him to the diaconate
and priesthood on 6 and 7 June 1885.
In 1888 Brown, who had supported Vilatte morally and financially, died and was succeeded by Charles C. Grafton. Grafton, unlike Brown, did not favor Vilatte and conflicts soon arose. In order to correct the canonical situation created by Brown, Grafton demanded that Vilatte surrender ownership of his missions to the diocese which had paid for them in the first place; Vilatte complied in August 1890. Despite this, however, the relationship between the two deteriorated fast.
At the heart of the dispute was the conflicting vision for Vilatte's missions held by Vilatte and Grafton. Vilatte hoped that Grafton would continue Brown's policy of financing these missions in the hope of converting Roman Catholics to non-papal Old Catholicism and of using these missions as a springboard to founding the Old Catholic Church in North America. Grafton, on the contrary, wished to integrate these missions into his Episcopal diocese.
Adding to the dispute was Vilatte's refusal to break with the Franco-Belgians' adamant rejection of Anglican orders as invalid, while accepting the validity of Old Catholic orders; an attitude carried from Roman Catholicism. Brown had been willing to countenance this but Grafton took this as an affront to the legitimacy of his own orders as a bishop.
In the meantime Herman Jan Heykamp, the head (archbishop) of the Ultrajectine
s in the Netherlands, hearing of Vilatte's difficulties with Grafton, wrote to him to disassociate himself from Episcopalians. In reply, Vilatte asked whether the Ultrajectines would consecrate him as the Old Catholic bishop for North America. When Grafton was informed of these developments he wrote to the Ultrajectines that he would not oppose their consecrating Vilatte as a coadjutor Episcopal bishop for the Fond du Lac diocese, but if Vilatte was consecrated as the Old Catholic bishop for North America, he (Grafton) would no longer support him and without his financial support Vilatte would be a nobody.
As the Ultrajectines of the Netherlands and the Old Catholics of Germany and Switzerland delayed answering Vilatte until they had met in their congress at Cologne
, Vilatte next sought to affiliate himself with the Russian Orthodox Church
(ROC). To this end he began correspondence with ROC Bishop Vladimir of Alaska
and the Aleutian Islands. He also opened negotiations to reconcile with the Roman Catholic Church. When Grafton learned of these developments he published warnings to Episcopalians to stop supporting Vilatte. He also demanded from Vilatte that he cease operating from the Old Catholic missions owned by the Episcopal diocese. In response Vilatte announced in September 1890 that he was severing relations with the Episcopal Church and founded a new independent mission near Green Bay.
At the same time an associate of Vilatte, another former Roman Catholic cleric and missionary in British India, Augustine Harding, advised Vilatte to seek consecration from a church recently formed by former Goan Catholics in Goa
and British India under the leadership of Fr. Antonio Francisco Xavier Alvares
and Dr. Lisboa e Pinto; Alvares being consecrated as Mar Julious I, the Latin Rite Jacobite bishop for this sect, by the Jacobites of Antioch
and the Malabar Coast
. Collecting $225 and being elected bishop by his small flock (according to the records of the Episcopal Diocese of Fond du Lac, Vilatte had about 500 adherents), Vilatte sailed to Colombo
in Ceylon where Alvares and two other Jacobite bishops consecrated him with the permission of the Jacobite Patriarch of Antioch as Mar Timotheous I, Jacobite Old Catholic Bishop of North America on 29 May 1892; Dr. Lisboa e Pinto, acting as the U.S. Consul, attested to the consecration. When news of this reached North America the Episcopal Church excommunicated Vilatte.
In 1893 Vilatte had a booth
at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago
, although he had not been invited. Shortly thereafter, reduced to penury, Vilatte traveled the East Coast
offering the sacraments to, and soliciting monetary aid from, Episcopalians and Romans Catholics, but was rebuffed; in some places he was driven away by the Franco-Belgian Catholics. Then he once again opened negotiations with the Roman Catholic Church for reconciliation. In March 1894 he approached Archbishop Satolli, the Apostolic Delegate to the USA, who wrote to the Bishop Messmer (Roman Catholic) of Green Bay that Vilatte was ready to reconcile. Three weeks later Vilatte himself wrote to Messmer that he was preparing his people for reconciliation. Further correspondence took place with Satolli and Messmer. In August 1894 Satolli advised Messmer to finance Vilatte's journey to Rome and that the Congregation
Propaganda Fide (Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith or “Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide”) would refund him the money.
However, in spite of the offer of a journey to Rome at the expense of the Diocese of Green Bay or ‘‘Propaganda’’, Vilatte continued to waver. Matters dragged on for almost four years. Eventually both Archbishop Satolli and Bishop Messmer realized that Vilatte would not submit to Rome.
At this time Vilatte began his dalliance with Polish Roman Catholics who, dissatisfied with non-Polish Roman Catholic priests, sought to set up an independent Catholic church at the urgings of the priests Anthony Kazlowski and Francis Hodur
, eventually founding the Polish National Catholic Church
in the United States independent from Rome
. In 1894 a Fr. Kolaszewski invited him to dedicate a church in Cleveland.
Bishop Messmer wrote to Archbishop Satolli: "For the present, he has an asylum among schismatic Poles, who will pay him court until he will be infatuated and foolish enough to consecrate one of them for the episcopate. Then they will cast him out."
(Old Catholics in Holland) on 17 November 1897. After Kazlowski's consecration, Vilatte was approached by a Father Stephen Kaminski, pastor of the Roman Catholic Parish church of the Holy Mother of the Rosary, Buffalo, New York, to raise him to the episcopate. This priest had failed to persuade the Old Catholic Archbishop of Utrecht to raise him to the episcopate. It is rumored that Vilatte was paid $5,000 for this episcopal consecration and that the invitation stated that both Cardinal James Gibbons of Baltimore
and Archbishop Martinelli, the Apostolic Delegate, would assist in the ceremony. Vilatte arrived in Buffalo on 21 March 1898, and consecrated Kaminski. However, the new bishop fled the United States to Canada because of creditors. He was excommunicated by Rome and he abandoned Vilatte.
After the consecration in Buffalo, Vilatte sailed from New York to England, to meet with the Anglican Benedictine Joseph Leycester Lyne
(1837 - 1908) and his Llanthony Monastery which he founded in 1869 in the Honddu valley of the Black Mountains
of South Wales
; Lyne styled himself "Ignatius of Jesus, O.S.B." (Lyne's Llanthony Monastery must not be confused with the Catholic Llanthony Monastery
suppressed by the Protestants, although they are near each other).
Vilatte arrived in England three months after the Kaminski consecration. Lyne was visiting the United States in 1890–1891, raising funds for his work in England, when Vilatte became acquainted with him. Lyne claimed that he belonged to the "Ancient British Church", the oldest after Jerusalem and Antioch. Vilatte first visited Frederick George Lee
of the "Order of Corporate Reunion
". Lee gave Vilatte a letter of introduction to Lyne.
Vilatte arrived in the Black Mountains on 18 July 1898, bringing all of his documents and vestments and offered ordination to any and all, including Lyne, explaining that he was on his way to Russia. Eventually Lyne and others received ordination from the hands of Vilatte, using the Latin Rite.
In January 1899, most Catholic newspapers of Europe and North America reported that Vilatte was in Rome seeking reconciliation with the Roman Catholic Church instead of with the Russian Orthodox Church.
On 2 February 1899, Father David Flemming, Defender General of the Friars Minor and Consultor
of the Congregation of the Holy Office, issued a statement to the effect that Joseph Rene Vilatte had expressed his most sincere and heartfelt regret for having taught many errors and for having attacked and misrepresented the Roman Catholic Church; that he withdrew any such teachings and that he regretted that he had illicitly and sacrilegiously conferred upon others various orders. This Vatican cleric called upon others whom Vilatte had ordained to submit to the Roman Pontiff
. On 25 May 1899 Bishop Zardetti wrote to Bishop Messmer of Green Bay that Father Flemming had the case well in hand.
Then came reports that Vilatte had not made his final abjuration with Rome or been reconciled with the Church. It was explained that he was awaiting the result of the process before the Holy Office. Meanwhile, the Holy Office received an eight page report from the Diocese of Green Bay, in which the bishop laid stress on the insincerity of Vilatte in the past; suggesting that he merely wanted Rome to say that his orders were valid so that he could go to England and validate the orders of the Anglicans.
By 1900, Vilatte was in France. His hosts were the Roman Catholic Benedictine
monks of the Abbey of Saint Martin, near Poitiers
, in order to make a careful study of his orders from the Syro-Malabar Jacobite (Oriental Orthodox) Church, so that Vilatte could convince the Holy Office in Rome of the validity of his episcopate.
While living as a guest of the Benedictines of Poitiers, Vilatte did not cease his subversive, anti-Catholic activities, although conducted secretly. News of this reached Cardinal Richard of Paris who, on 17 April 1900, circulated a warning among his clergy to be on their guard against men who claimed to be ordained or consecrated by Vilatte. At this time, on 6 May 1900, Vilatte consecrated an Italian, Paolo Miraglia-Gulotti as the Old Catholic Bishop of Italy, with the title of Bishop of Piacenza
; this later became known as the Italian National Episcopal Church, a church modelled in an Anglican fashion and moderately anti-Roman.
Vilatte's career has been described as "a gigantic ecclesiastical mess caused by one man's egotism". http://www.monachos.net/forum/showthread.php?4779-An-American-Orthodoxy-III/page2
In the summer of 1903, Vilatte was back in South Wales and raised to the episcopacy Henry Marsh-Edwards, with the title of Bishop of Caerleon
. Marsh-Edwards was a former Anglican priest of the Diocese of Southwell. The next day both men consecrated Henry Bernard Ventham as Bishop of Dorchester
. Priests were ordained that summer in both England and the Continent.
While Vilatte was in England and Europe a series of conflicts between the anti-Catholic Government of France and the Roman Catholic Church broke out, arising from the government's anti-clerical legislation. This gave Vilatte inspiration to return to his native country to exploit the situation with the hope of setting up a State-controlled Gallican National Church, under influence of the anti-clerical liberal and proto-socialist French government, in opposition to the official Roman Catholic Church. This he did in the summer of 1906. The previous December the government abrogated the Concordat that made Roman Catholicism the official religion of France. Vilatte was on friendly terms with Aristide Briand
, one of the leaders of this liberal anti-Roman movement and the Minister of Education. The new legislation confiscated Roman Catholic Church property and made them State property. Soon after his arrival in Paris, Vilatte managed to obtain possession of the former Barnabite Church in the Rue Legendre, which he reopened for Old Catholic services in the vernacular. One of his former priests from Wisconsin assisted.
On 21 June 1907 Vilatte consecrated a formerly Roman Catholic, former Trappist
monk, Louis Marie Francois Giraud, who had been expelled from the Roman Catholic Church for dabbling in magic and the occult. Shortly after this consecration Cardinal Richard issued a warning to the people about apostate priests who were celebrating mass under cover of a pseudo American Bishop, and excommunicated Vilatte a second time. Soon thereafter Vilatte returned to the United States.
Chicago became the next home to Archbishop Vilatte. At this time, he had severed all relations with Alvares' Independent Jacobite Church of Ceylon, Goa and India, the Indian Orthodox Church and the Old Catholic Churches of Europe. The establishment of the Polish National Catholic Church and the consecration of Francis Hodur was the final blow to his hope of being recognized as the Old Catholic Archbishop of North America.
In 1910, Vilatte ordained William Henry Francis Brothers, prior of the Anglican-Benedictine Saint Dunstan's Abbey, Waukegan
, Illinois
. This was an Old Catholic group of men, legally incorporated in Fond du Lac in 1909 by Charles Grafton as "The American Congregation of the Order of Saint Benedict" (In 1911 the Abbey was united with the Polish Old Catholic Church).
It is claimed that in 1915, Vilatte consecrated to the episcopacy Carmelo Henry Carfora
, formerly an Italian Franciscan
priest who had been ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1901 and had been sent to the U.S.A. as a missionary, before falling into heresy; however, Carfora had no documentation to prove this claim. Carfora was also consecrated in 1916 in the English Old Roman Catholic
Mathew lineage (Union of Utrecht
).
". At the same time he received Frederick Ebenezer Lloyd into his newly-founded sect and on 19 December 1915 consecrated him at Saint David's Chapel on East 36th Street, Chicago. Vilatte was assisted by Paolo Miraglia-Gulotti, formerly of Italy and then of New York and working with Vilatte in the United States. During this consecration Vilatte addressed the congregation and newly consecrated prelate saying:
The second wife of Bishop Lloyd, Philena Peabody was a descendant of George Peabody
, the American industrialist and merchant who made his fortune in England (But George Peabody died a bachelor!). Subsequently, in a synod held in Chicago on 10 April 1920, Vilatte retired from his newly founded "American Catholic Church", naming Lloyd as his successor as Primate
and Metropolitan
. The clergy attending granted Vilatte the honorary title of Exarch
. He lived in retirement at 4427 North Mulligan Avenue, Chicago and did not perform any more Episcopal functions until 22 September 1921 when he ordained Wallace David de Ortega Maxey to the priesthood.
On 28 September 1921, Vilatte conditionally consecrated a former Episcopalian minister, the African American
George Alexander McGuire
in Chicago for McGuire's newly founded African Orthodox Church
.
. However, as this did nothing to improve his finances, he sought to be reconciled once again to the Roman Catholic Church. On 1 June 1925, Vilatte made his formal declaration before Bishop Ceretti, Apostolic Nuncio at Paris, regretting and repenting having illicitly received holy orders and having conferred them on others. The Roman Catholic Church sent him on to the Cistercian abbey at Pont Colbert to do penance. A week later La Croix
and other newspapers announced that Vilatte, with an American boy-servant (named Maxey), was staying at Pont Colbert at the request of Pope Pius XI
. The Holy See granted him a pension of 22,000 francs annually.
On 23 June 1925, the Bayerischer Kurieg published a statement on the orders of the "Swiss Christian Catholic Church", to the effect that Vilatte had never been a priest of this body nor any other genuine Old Catholic church in the widely recognized Union of Utrecht.
Bishop Ceretti, papal nuncio, replied to the newspaper as follows:
This letter was published in the same newspaper and Vilatte was very pleased that Bishop Ceretti believed and accepted his priesthood and consecration, even though they were irregular from a Roman Catholic view.
For the next three and a half years, Vilatte led a quiet and secluded life in a cottage within the abbey grounds. He was addressed as "Archbishop" but wore a simple soutane (black cassock). Pope Pius XI offered to conditionally re-ordain him, but he declined. He attended daily Mass, receiving Holy Communion on Sundays. His end came suddenly of heart failure on 8 July 1929 and he was buried in the Roman Catholic cemetery in Versailles
.
Subsequently, it was claimed that Vilatte had consecrated one of the novices of Port Colbert in secret. This was dismissed by others, however, as a rumour. During his lifetime he consecrated some seven to eight bishops. Shortly after his death most of his papers vanished.
In Father Anthony Cekada
's article (linked to below), we find the following personal statement of a Roman cardinal:
While the validity of Vilatte's orders was never finally settled, most non-Roman Old Catholics believe that his orders were valid.
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Russian Orthodox and Jacobite
Syriac Orthodox Church
The Syriac Orthodox Church; is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church based in the Eastern Mediterranean, with members spread throughout the world. The Syriac Orthodox Church claims to derive its origin from one of the first Christian communities, established in Antioch by the Apostle St....
. He is best known, however, for his activities as an Old Catholic cleric.
Birth and conversion to Roman Catholicism
Vilatte was born in ParisParis
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
to French parents hailing from the Maine
Maine (province)
Le Maine is one of the traditional provinces of France . It corresponds to the old county of Maine, with its center, the city of Le Mans.-Location:...
region and who belonged to the Petite Eglise
Petite Église
The Petite Église was a group of French and Belgian Roman Catholics who separated from the main body of the Church in France following the Concordat of 1801 between Pope Pius VII and Napoleon Bonaparte. One modern estimate gives its number of adherents as high as 100,000 at one time...
, a sect formed by so-called rigorist Catholics angry with the Holy See
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
and the diocese
Diocese
A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...
s for signing or accepting the Concordat of 1801
Concordat of 1801
The Concordat of 1801 was an agreement between Napoleon and Pope Pius VII, signed on 15 July 1801. It solidified the Roman Catholic Church as the majority church of France and brought back most of its civil status....
, which in their eyes was a betrayal of the Catholic Church and an heretical liberal compromise with the French revolutionaries
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
of 1789. The Petit Église sect had all but died out, and Vilatte was baptized
Baptism
In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...
as an infant by a layman as the sect had become priestless. His mother died soon after his birth and he was raised in a Parisian orphanage operated by the Brothers of the Christian Schools
Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools
The Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools is a Roman Catholic religious teaching congregation, founded in France by Saint Jean-Baptiste de la Salle and now based in Rome...
after having been conditionally baptized. He finally converted to Roman Catholicism and was accepted into the Roman Catholic Church in 1867.
Following Napoleon III's Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
of 1870 and the Uprising of the Commune of Paris
Paris Commune
The Paris Commune was a government that briefly ruled Paris from March 18 to May 28, 1871. It existed before the split between anarchists and Marxists had taken place, and it is hailed by both groups as the first assumption of power by the working class during the Industrial Revolution...
, Vilatte decided to emigrate to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
where, near Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
, he worked as a catechist in a small school. After two years he returned to France, but being informed that he would need to serve in the armed forces for seven years, he moved to Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, joining the Congregation of the Christian Brothers at Namur
Namur (city)
Namur is a city and municipality in Wallonia, in southern Belgium. It is both the capital of the province of Namur and of Wallonia....
. However, he decided to try for the secular priesthood and once again emigrated to Canada in 1876, principally in order to avoid arrest and extradition to France for dodging the draft.
In Canada he studied with the Congregation of the Holy Cross Fathers
Congregation of Holy Cross
The Congregation of Holy Cross or Congregatio a Sancta Cruce is a Catholic congregation of priests and brothers founded in 1837 by Blessed Father Basil Anthony-Marie Moreau, CSC, in Le Mans, France....
at the College of St. Laurent
Cégep de Saint-Laurent
Cégep de Saint-Laurent is a Cégep located in the Saint-Laurent borough of the city of Montreal, Quebec. It is a few doors south of Vanier College, another Cégep.-History:...
in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, until, about three years later, he met a former Roman Catholic priest turned Presbyterian minister, Charles Chiniquy
Charles Chiniquy
Charles P. Chiniquy was a Canadian Catholic priest who left the Catholic Church and became a Presbyterian pastor. He is known for his writings and sermons against the Roman Catholic Church. In the period between 1885 and 1899 he was the focus of a great deal of discussion in the United States of...
, who persuaded him to turn Protestant. Chiniquy introduced Vilatte to a Protestant pastor who helped him to get admission to McGill University
McGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
. After two years, however, Vilatte once again reconciled with the Roman Catholic Church and entered the Clerics of Saint Viator
Clerics of Saint Viator
The Viatorians, or Clerics of Saint Viator , are a Roman Catholic religious order founded in Lyon, France in 1831 by Father Louis Querbes. Its patron, Saint Viator, had been a 4th century catechist in Lyon...
at Bourbonnais
Bourbonnais, Illinois
Bourbonnais is a village in Kankakee County, Illinois, United States. The population was 15,256 at the 2000 census, but it was estimated to have grown to 19,119 in 2009...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
. Here he once again met Chiniquy, who told him of Franco-Belgian Catholics (Walloon
Walloons
Walloons are a French-speaking people who live in Belgium, principally in Wallonia. Walloons are a distinctive community within Belgium, important historical and anthropological criteria bind Walloons to the French people. More generally, the term also refers to the inhabitants of the Walloon...
settlers) in North-East Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
who wished to integrate with the American mainstream as Protestants. Chiniquy also introduced Vilatte to another former Roman Catholic, Hyacinthe Loyson
Hyacinthe Loyson
Hyacinthe Loyson , was a controversial Roman Catholic priest, religious figure and author.-Biography:...
, formerly a Carmelite who had been excommunicated in 1869 after marrying an American widow and founding the "Gallican Catholic Church". Under the inspiration of Chiniquy and Loyson, Vilatte moved to the Green Bay
Green Bay, Wisconsin
Green Bay is a city in and the county seat of Brown County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, located at the head of Green Bay, a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It has an elevation of above sea level and is located north of Milwaukee. As of the 2010 United States Census,...
area of Wisconsin as a Presbyterian minister.
Protestant Episcopal and Old Catholic connections
However, he was not able to make much headway with the Franco-Belgian immigrants so, after a few months of trying and at the advice of Loyson, he turned to John Henry Hobart BrownJohn Henry Hobart Brown
John Henry Hobart Brown was the first Bishop of the Diocese of Fond du Lac in The Episcopal Church.-Early Life:Brown was born on January 1, 1831 in New York City...
, the Episcopal Bishop of Fond du Lac
Episcopal Diocese of Fond du Lac
The Diocese of Fond du Lac is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, encompassing the northeastern third of Wisconsin. The diocese contains more than 6,000 baptized members worshipping in 36 locations. It is part of Province 5 . Diocesan offices are in Appleton, Wisconsin...
for support. Vilatte suggested to Brown that his (Vilatte's) Presbyterian mission should be taken over by the Episcopal Diocese of Fond du Lac as an Old Catholic outpost. Brown seized on this as a means of building a bridge with the Old Catholics in Europe and agreed to support Vilatte.
At the same time Loyson, who had migrated to France, wrote to Vilatte to come over and be ordained a priest by Eduard Herzog
Eduard Herzog
Eduard Herzog was a Swiss Catholic theologian and cleric who was a native of Schongau, Canton Lucerne. He was the first Christian Catholic bishop of Switzerland....
, the Old Catholic (Christkatholische)
Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland
The Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland is the Swiss member church of the Union of Utrecht, also known as Old Catholic Church, originally founded by the jansenists, with a later influx of discontented Catholics following their disappointment with the First Vatican Council. It has 14,000...
Bishop of Berne
Berne
The city of Bern or Berne is the Bundesstadt of Switzerland, and, with a population of , the fourth most populous city in Switzerland. The Bern agglomeration, which includes 43 municipalities, has a population of 349,000. The metropolitan area had a population of 660,000 in 2000...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, as a first step in founding the Old Catholic Church in North America. With the support and encouragement of Brown and his fellow Episcopal bishops, Vilatte then traveled to France where Herzog ordained him to the diaconate
Deacon
Deacon is a ministry in the Christian Church that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions...
and priesthood on 6 and 7 June 1885.
In 1888 Brown, who had supported Vilatte morally and financially, died and was succeeded by Charles C. Grafton. Grafton, unlike Brown, did not favor Vilatte and conflicts soon arose. In order to correct the canonical situation created by Brown, Grafton demanded that Vilatte surrender ownership of his missions to the diocese which had paid for them in the first place; Vilatte complied in August 1890. Despite this, however, the relationship between the two deteriorated fast.
At the heart of the dispute was the conflicting vision for Vilatte's missions held by Vilatte and Grafton. Vilatte hoped that Grafton would continue Brown's policy of financing these missions in the hope of converting Roman Catholics to non-papal Old Catholicism and of using these missions as a springboard to founding the Old Catholic Church in North America. Grafton, on the contrary, wished to integrate these missions into his Episcopal diocese.
Adding to the dispute was Vilatte's refusal to break with the Franco-Belgians' adamant rejection of Anglican orders as invalid, while accepting the validity of Old Catholic orders; an attitude carried from Roman Catholicism. Brown had been willing to countenance this but Grafton took this as an affront to the legitimacy of his own orders as a bishop.
In the meantime Herman Jan Heykamp, the head (archbishop) of the Ultrajectine
Ultrajectine
Ultrajectine defines the tradition of the Old Catholic Church of the Netherlands headquartered at the city of Utrecht in the Netherlands. It is used to describe the anti-Papal-Primacy and Jansenist tendency of that independent church and its sister churches, which were founded in later centuries ....
s in the Netherlands, hearing of Vilatte's difficulties with Grafton, wrote to him to disassociate himself from Episcopalians. In reply, Vilatte asked whether the Ultrajectines would consecrate him as the Old Catholic bishop for North America. When Grafton was informed of these developments he wrote to the Ultrajectines that he would not oppose their consecrating Vilatte as a coadjutor Episcopal bishop for the Fond du Lac diocese, but if Vilatte was consecrated as the Old Catholic bishop for North America, he (Grafton) would no longer support him and without his financial support Vilatte would be a nobody.
As the Ultrajectines of the Netherlands and the Old Catholics of Germany and Switzerland delayed answering Vilatte until they had met in their congress at Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
, Vilatte next sought to affiliate himself with the Russian Orthodox Church
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...
(ROC). To this end he began correspondence with ROC Bishop Vladimir of Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
and the Aleutian Islands. He also opened negotiations to reconcile with the Roman Catholic Church. When Grafton learned of these developments he published warnings to Episcopalians to stop supporting Vilatte. He also demanded from Vilatte that he cease operating from the Old Catholic missions owned by the Episcopal diocese. In response Vilatte announced in September 1890 that he was severing relations with the Episcopal Church and founded a new independent mission near Green Bay.
Russian Orthodox Church connection and Indian orthodox (Jacobite) consecration
Probably due to Grafton's letters, the Old Catholic Congress of Cologne informed Vilatte that they would not consecrate him as the Old Catholic bishop for North America. Isolated by both the Episcopalians and the Old Catholics-Ultrajectines, Vilatte turned once again to the ROC Bishop Vladimir of Alaska who, in May 1891, publicly announced that Vilatte was accepted by the ROC as a priest and under its jurisdiction.At the same time an associate of Vilatte, another former Roman Catholic cleric and missionary in British India, Augustine Harding, advised Vilatte to seek consecration from a church recently formed by former Goan Catholics in Goa
Goa
Goa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
and British India under the leadership of Fr. Antonio Francisco Xavier Alvares
Antonio Francisco Xavier Alvares
Antonio Francisco Xavier Alvares was initially a priest in Roman Catholic Church in Goa...
and Dr. Lisboa e Pinto; Alvares being consecrated as Mar Julious I, the Latin Rite Jacobite bishop for this sect, by the Jacobites of Antioch
Antioch
Antioch on the Orontes was an ancient city on the eastern side of the Orontes River. It is near the modern city of Antakya, Turkey.Founded near the end of the 4th century BC by Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander the Great's generals, Antioch eventually rivaled Alexandria as the chief city of the...
and the Malabar Coast
Malabar Coast
The Malabar Coast is a long and narrow coastline on the south-western shore line of the mainland Indian subcontinent. Geographically, it comprises the wettest regions of southern India, as the Western Ghats intercept the moisture-laden monsoon rains, especially on their westward-facing mountain...
. Collecting $225 and being elected bishop by his small flock (according to the records of the Episcopal Diocese of Fond du Lac, Vilatte had about 500 adherents), Vilatte sailed to Colombo
Colombo
Colombo is the largest city of Sri Lanka. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, the capital of Sri Lanka. Colombo is often referred to as the capital of the country, since Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte is a satellite city of Colombo...
in Ceylon where Alvares and two other Jacobite bishops consecrated him with the permission of the Jacobite Patriarch of Antioch as Mar Timotheous I, Jacobite Old Catholic Bishop of North America on 29 May 1892; Dr. Lisboa e Pinto, acting as the U.S. Consul, attested to the consecration. When news of this reached North America the Episcopal Church excommunicated Vilatte.
In 1893 Vilatte had a booth
Booth
-In architecture:* Isolation booth, device used to prevent a person or people from seeing or hearing certain events* Photo booth, vending machine or kiosk which contains an automated camera and film processor...
at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, although he had not been invited. Shortly thereafter, reduced to penury, Vilatte traveled the East Coast
East Coast of the United States
The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, refers to the easternmost coastal states in the United States, which touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada. The term includes the U.S...
offering the sacraments to, and soliciting monetary aid from, Episcopalians and Romans Catholics, but was rebuffed; in some places he was driven away by the Franco-Belgian Catholics. Then he once again opened negotiations with the Roman Catholic Church for reconciliation. In March 1894 he approached Archbishop Satolli, the Apostolic Delegate to the USA, who wrote to the Bishop Messmer (Roman Catholic) of Green Bay that Vilatte was ready to reconcile. Three weeks later Vilatte himself wrote to Messmer that he was preparing his people for reconciliation. Further correspondence took place with Satolli and Messmer. In August 1894 Satolli advised Messmer to finance Vilatte's journey to Rome and that the Congregation
Congregation (Roman Curia)
A congregation is a type of dicastery of the Roman Curia, the central administrative organism of the Catholic Church....
Propaganda Fide (Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith or “Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide”) would refund him the money.
However, in spite of the offer of a journey to Rome at the expense of the Diocese of Green Bay or ‘‘Propaganda’’, Vilatte continued to waver. Matters dragged on for almost four years. Eventually both Archbishop Satolli and Bishop Messmer realized that Vilatte would not submit to Rome.
At this time Vilatte began his dalliance with Polish Roman Catholics who, dissatisfied with non-Polish Roman Catholic priests, sought to set up an independent Catholic church at the urgings of the priests Anthony Kazlowski and Francis Hodur
Franciszek Hodur
Bishop Franciszek Hodur was the founder and the first, and longtime, Prime Bishop of the Polish National Catholic Church.Hodur was born on Easter Sunday, April 1, 1866, to Jan and Maria Hodur in the village of Zarki, 35 miles from Krakow, Poland. He enrolled as a seminarian in Krakow and studied...
, eventually founding the Polish National Catholic Church
Polish National Catholic Church
The Polish National Catholic Church is a Christian church founded and based in the United States by Polish-Americans who were Roman Catholic. The PNCC is a breakaway Catholic Church in dialogue with the Catholic Church; it seeks full communion with the Holy See although it differs theologically...
in the United States independent from Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. In 1894 a Fr. Kolaszewski invited him to dedicate a church in Cleveland.
Bishop Messmer wrote to Archbishop Satolli: "For the present, he has an asylum among schismatic Poles, who will pay him court until he will be infatuated and foolish enough to consecrate one of them for the episcopate. Then they will cast him out."
Consecration of Kaminski and others
Anthony Kazlowski obtained consecration from the Dutch UltrajectinesOld Catholic Church of the Netherlands
The Old Catholic Church of the Netherlands; , is the mother church related to the Old Catholic Churches. It is sometimes called Ancient Catholic Church, Church of Utrecht or Dutch Roman Catholic Church of the Old Episcopal Order...
(Old Catholics in Holland) on 17 November 1897. After Kazlowski's consecration, Vilatte was approached by a Father Stephen Kaminski, pastor of the Roman Catholic Parish church of the Holy Mother of the Rosary, Buffalo, New York, to raise him to the episcopate. This priest had failed to persuade the Old Catholic Archbishop of Utrecht to raise him to the episcopate. It is rumored that Vilatte was paid $5,000 for this episcopal consecration and that the invitation stated that both Cardinal James Gibbons of Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
and Archbishop Martinelli, the Apostolic Delegate, would assist in the ceremony. Vilatte arrived in Buffalo on 21 March 1898, and consecrated Kaminski. However, the new bishop fled the United States to Canada because of creditors. He was excommunicated by Rome and he abandoned Vilatte.
After the consecration in Buffalo, Vilatte sailed from New York to England, to meet with the Anglican Benedictine Joseph Leycester Lyne
Joseph Leycester Lyne
Joseph Leycester Lyne, known by his religious name, Father Ignatius was an Anglican Benedictine preacher....
(1837 - 1908) and his Llanthony Monastery which he founded in 1869 in the Honddu valley of the Black Mountains
Black Mountains, Wales
The Black Mountains are a group of hills spread across parts of Powys and Monmouthshire in southeast Wales, and extending across the national border into Herefordshire, England. They are the easternmost of the four ranges of hills that comprise the Brecon Beacons National Park, and are frequently...
of South Wales
South Wales
South Wales is an area of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the east and south, and Mid Wales and West Wales to the north and west. The most densely populated region in the south-west of the United Kingdom, it is home to around 2.1 million people and includes the capital city of...
; Lyne styled himself "Ignatius of Jesus, O.S.B." (Lyne's Llanthony Monastery must not be confused with the Catholic Llanthony Monastery
Llanthony Priory
Llanthony Priory is a partly ruined former Augustinian priory in the secluded Vale of Ewyas, a steep sided once glaciated valley within the Black Mountains area of the Brecon Beacons National Park in Monmouthshire, south east Wales. It lies seven miles north of Abergavenny on an old road to Hay...
suppressed by the Protestants, although they are near each other).
Vilatte arrived in England three months after the Kaminski consecration. Lyne was visiting the United States in 1890–1891, raising funds for his work in England, when Vilatte became acquainted with him. Lyne claimed that he belonged to the "Ancient British Church", the oldest after Jerusalem and Antioch. Vilatte first visited Frederick George Lee
Frederick George Lee
Frederick George Lee was a priest of the Church of England, author, and founder of the Order of Corporate Reunion.-Life:...
of the "Order of Corporate Reunion
Order of Corporate Reunion
The Order of Corporate Reunion is an ecumenical and interdenominational association of clergy and laity of Anglican origin, founded by Frederick George Lee, Thomas Mossman and Joseph Seccombe in London in 1874....
". Lee gave Vilatte a letter of introduction to Lyne.
Vilatte arrived in the Black Mountains on 18 July 1898, bringing all of his documents and vestments and offered ordination to any and all, including Lyne, explaining that he was on his way to Russia. Eventually Lyne and others received ordination from the hands of Vilatte, using the Latin Rite.
In January 1899, most Catholic newspapers of Europe and North America reported that Vilatte was in Rome seeking reconciliation with the Roman Catholic Church instead of with the Russian Orthodox Church.
On 2 February 1899, Father David Flemming, Defender General of the Friars Minor and Consultor
Consultor
A consultor is one who gives counsel, i.e. a counselor.In the Catholic Church, it is a specific title for various advisory positions:*in the Roman Curia, a consultor is a specially appointed expert who may be called upon for advice desired by a department...
of the Congregation of the Holy Office, issued a statement to the effect that Joseph Rene Vilatte had expressed his most sincere and heartfelt regret for having taught many errors and for having attacked and misrepresented the Roman Catholic Church; that he withdrew any such teachings and that he regretted that he had illicitly and sacrilegiously conferred upon others various orders. This Vatican cleric called upon others whom Vilatte had ordained to submit to the Roman Pontiff
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
. On 25 May 1899 Bishop Zardetti wrote to Bishop Messmer of Green Bay that Father Flemming had the case well in hand.
Then came reports that Vilatte had not made his final abjuration with Rome or been reconciled with the Church. It was explained that he was awaiting the result of the process before the Holy Office. Meanwhile, the Holy Office received an eight page report from the Diocese of Green Bay, in which the bishop laid stress on the insincerity of Vilatte in the past; suggesting that he merely wanted Rome to say that his orders were valid so that he could go to England and validate the orders of the Anglicans.
By 1900, Vilatte was in France. His hosts were the Roman Catholic Benedictine
Benedictine
Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...
monks of the Abbey of Saint Martin, near Poitiers
Poitiers
Poitiers is a city on the Clain river in west central France. It is a commune and the capital of the Vienne department and of the Poitou-Charentes region. The centre is picturesque and its streets are interesting for predominant remains of historical architecture, especially from the Romanesque...
, in order to make a careful study of his orders from the Syro-Malabar Jacobite (Oriental Orthodox) Church, so that Vilatte could convince the Holy Office in Rome of the validity of his episcopate.
While living as a guest of the Benedictines of Poitiers, Vilatte did not cease his subversive, anti-Catholic activities, although conducted secretly. News of this reached Cardinal Richard of Paris who, on 17 April 1900, circulated a warning among his clergy to be on their guard against men who claimed to be ordained or consecrated by Vilatte. At this time, on 6 May 1900, Vilatte consecrated an Italian, Paolo Miraglia-Gulotti as the Old Catholic Bishop of Italy, with the title of Bishop of Piacenza
Piacenza
Piacenza is a city and comune in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Piacenza...
; this later became known as the Italian National Episcopal Church, a church modelled in an Anglican fashion and moderately anti-Roman.
Vilatte's career has been described as "a gigantic ecclesiastical mess caused by one man's egotism". http://www.monachos.net/forum/showthread.php?4779-An-American-Orthodoxy-III/page2
Excommunication and additional ordinations
When the authorities of the Catholic Church learned of this, they issued on 13 June 1900, major excommunications against both Vilatte and Paolo Miragila-Gulotti. Vilatte decided to once again return to Canada.In the summer of 1903, Vilatte was back in South Wales and raised to the episcopacy Henry Marsh-Edwards, with the title of Bishop of Caerleon
Caerleon
Caerleon is a suburban village and community, situated on the River Usk in the northern outskirts of the city of Newport, South Wales. Caerleon is a site of archaeological importance, being the site of a notable Roman legionary fortress, Isca Augusta, and an Iron Age hill fort...
. Marsh-Edwards was a former Anglican priest of the Diocese of Southwell. The next day both men consecrated Henry Bernard Ventham as Bishop of Dorchester
Bishop of Dorchester
Title held by various ecclesiastics including:*Bishop of Dorchester , suffragan bishop under the Church of England, 20th century onwards*Bishop of Dorchester , Saxon bishopric, merged into bishop of Lincoln c.1072...
. Priests were ordained that summer in both England and the Continent.
While Vilatte was in England and Europe a series of conflicts between the anti-Catholic Government of France and the Roman Catholic Church broke out, arising from the government's anti-clerical legislation. This gave Vilatte inspiration to return to his native country to exploit the situation with the hope of setting up a State-controlled Gallican National Church, under influence of the anti-clerical liberal and proto-socialist French government, in opposition to the official Roman Catholic Church. This he did in the summer of 1906. The previous December the government abrogated the Concordat that made Roman Catholicism the official religion of France. Vilatte was on friendly terms with Aristide Briand
Aristide Briand
Aristide Briand was a French statesman who served eleven terms as Prime Minister of France during the French Third Republic and received the 1926 Nobel Peace Prize.- Early life :...
, one of the leaders of this liberal anti-Roman movement and the Minister of Education. The new legislation confiscated Roman Catholic Church property and made them State property. Soon after his arrival in Paris, Vilatte managed to obtain possession of the former Barnabite Church in the Rue Legendre, which he reopened for Old Catholic services in the vernacular. One of his former priests from Wisconsin assisted.
On 21 June 1907 Vilatte consecrated a formerly Roman Catholic, former Trappist
TRAPPIST
TRAPPIST is Belgian robotic telescope in Chile which came online in 2010, and is an acronym for TRAnsiting Planets and PlanetesImals Small Telescope, so named in homage to Trappist beer produced in the Belgian region. Situated high in the Chilean mountains at La Silla Observatory, it is actually...
monk, Louis Marie Francois Giraud, who had been expelled from the Roman Catholic Church for dabbling in magic and the occult. Shortly after this consecration Cardinal Richard issued a warning to the people about apostate priests who were celebrating mass under cover of a pseudo American Bishop, and excommunicated Vilatte a second time. Soon thereafter Vilatte returned to the United States.
Chicago became the next home to Archbishop Vilatte. At this time, he had severed all relations with Alvares' Independent Jacobite Church of Ceylon, Goa and India, the Indian Orthodox Church and the Old Catholic Churches of Europe. The establishment of the Polish National Catholic Church and the consecration of Francis Hodur was the final blow to his hope of being recognized as the Old Catholic Archbishop of North America.
In 1910, Vilatte ordained William Henry Francis Brothers, prior of the Anglican-Benedictine Saint Dunstan's Abbey, Waukegan
Waukegan, Illinois
Waukegan is a city and county seat of Lake County, Illinois. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 87,901. The 2010 population was 89,078. It is the ninth-largest city in Illinois by population...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
. This was an Old Catholic group of men, legally incorporated in Fond du Lac in 1909 by Charles Grafton as "The American Congregation of the Order of Saint Benedict" (In 1911 the Abbey was united with the Polish Old Catholic Church).
It is claimed that in 1915, Vilatte consecrated to the episcopacy Carmelo Henry Carfora
Carmel Henry Carfora
Carmel Henry Carfora , raised Roman Catholic in his native Naples, Italy, was a co-founder and leader of the North American Old Roman Catholic Church...
, formerly an Italian Franciscan
Franciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
priest who had been ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1901 and had been sent to the U.S.A. as a missionary, before falling into heresy; however, Carfora had no documentation to prove this claim. Carfora was also consecrated in 1916 in the English Old Roman Catholic
Old Catholic Church
The term Old Catholic Church is commonly used to describe a number of Ultrajectine Christian churches that originated with groups that split from the Roman Catholic Church over certain doctrines, most importantly that of Papal Infallibility...
Mathew lineage (Union of Utrecht
Union of Utrecht
The Union of Utrecht was a treaty signed on 23 January 1579 in Utrecht, the Netherlands, unifying the northern provinces of the Netherlands, until then under the control of Habsburg Spain....
).
Founding the American Catholic Church
In 1915, Vilatte founded the "American Catholic ChurchAmerican Catholic Church
American Catholic Church may refer to:* American Catholic Church in the United States* Roman Catholicism in the United States* Roman Catholic Church in North America and South America* American Catholic Church California Diocese...
". At the same time he received Frederick Ebenezer Lloyd into his newly-founded sect and on 19 December 1915 consecrated him at Saint David's Chapel on East 36th Street, Chicago. Vilatte was assisted by Paolo Miraglia-Gulotti, formerly of Italy and then of New York and working with Vilatte in the United States. During this consecration Vilatte addressed the congregation and newly consecrated prelate saying:
- It needs no prophet to foretell for you and the American Catholic Church a great future in the Province of God. The need for a Church both American and Catholic, and free from Paparchy [rule of the Pope] and all foreign denominations, has been felt for many years by Christians of all the denominations. May your zeal and apostolic ministry be crowned with success.
The second wife of Bishop Lloyd, Philena Peabody was a descendant of George Peabody
George Peabody
George Peabody was an American-British entrepreneur and philanthropist who founded the Peabody Trust in Britain and the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, and was responsible for many other charitable initiatives.-Biography:...
, the American industrialist and merchant who made his fortune in England (But George Peabody died a bachelor!). Subsequently, in a synod held in Chicago on 10 April 1920, Vilatte retired from his newly founded "American Catholic Church", naming Lloyd as his successor as Primate
Primate (religion)
Primate is a title or rank bestowed on some bishops in certain Christian churches. Depending on the particular tradition, it can denote either jurisdictional authority or ceremonial precedence ....
and Metropolitan
Metropolitan bishop
In Christian churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan, pertains to the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a metropolis; that is, the chief city of a historical Roman province, ecclesiastical province, or regional capital.Before the establishment of...
. The clergy attending granted Vilatte the honorary title of Exarch
Exarch
In the Byzantine Empire, an exarch was governor with extended authority of a province at some remove from the capital Constantinople. The prevailing situation frequently involved him in military operations....
. He lived in retirement at 4427 North Mulligan Avenue, Chicago and did not perform any more Episcopal functions until 22 September 1921 when he ordained Wallace David de Ortega Maxey to the priesthood.
On 28 September 1921, Vilatte conditionally consecrated a former Episcopalian minister, the African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
George Alexander McGuire
George Alexander McGuire
George Alexander McGuire was the first Bishop, Metropolitan Archbishop and Primate of the African Orthodox Church . He was an Episcopal Priest who became involved in a movement to establish a Black Anglican denomination...
in Chicago for McGuire's newly founded African Orthodox Church
African Orthodox Church
The African Orthodox Church is a primarily African-American denomination founded in the United States in 1921. It has approximately 15 parishes and 5,000 members, down significantly from the time of its greatest strength....
.
Reconciliation with Rome
Soon Vilatte was again reduced to penury. In 1925, he returned to France where he sought the assistance of the Gnostic magician “Monsignor Johnny” Jean BricaudJean Bricaud
Jean Bricaud , also known as Tau Jean II, was a French student of the occult and esoteric matters. Bricaud was heavily involved in the French neo-Gnostic movement. He was consecrated a Gnostic bishop on July 21, 1913 by bishop Louis-Marie-François Giraud...
. However, as this did nothing to improve his finances, he sought to be reconciled once again to the Roman Catholic Church. On 1 June 1925, Vilatte made his formal declaration before Bishop Ceretti, Apostolic Nuncio at Paris, regretting and repenting having illicitly received holy orders and having conferred them on others. The Roman Catholic Church sent him on to the Cistercian abbey at Pont Colbert to do penance. A week later La Croix
La Croix
La Croix is a daily French general-interest Roman Catholic newspaper. It is published in Paris and distributed throughout the country, with a circulation of just under 110,000 as of 2009...
and other newspapers announced that Vilatte, with an American boy-servant (named Maxey), was staying at Pont Colbert at the request of Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI , born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, was Pope from 6 February 1922, and sovereign of Vatican City from its creation as an independent state on 11 February 1929 until his death on 10 February 1939...
. The Holy See granted him a pension of 22,000 francs annually.
On 23 June 1925, the Bayerischer Kurieg published a statement on the orders of the "Swiss Christian Catholic Church", to the effect that Vilatte had never been a priest of this body nor any other genuine Old Catholic church in the widely recognized Union of Utrecht.
Bishop Ceretti, papal nuncio, replied to the newspaper as follows:
- Archbishop Vilatte received the Minor OrdersMinor ordersThe minor orders are the lowest ranks in the Christian clergy. The most recognized minor orders are porter, lector, exorcist, and acolyte. In the Latin rite Catholic Church, the minor orders were in most cases replaced by "instituted" ministries of lector and acolyte, though communities that use...
and the Order of SubdeaconSubdeacon-Subdeacons in the Orthodox Church:A subdeacon or hypodeacon is the highest of the minor orders of clergy in the Orthodox Church. This order is higher than the reader and lower than the deacon.-Canonical Discipline:...
on 5 June 1885, the Order of Deacon on 6 June of the same year, and on the following day, 7 June 1885, the Ordination to the Priesthood.
- All these orders were conferred upon him by Bishop HerzogEduard HerzogEduard Herzog was a Swiss Catholic theologian and cleric who was a native of Schongau, Canton Lucerne. He was the first Christian Catholic bishop of Switzerland....
(Old Catholic Bishop) in the Old Catholic Church in Berne.
- This proved by documents, seals and signatures of Bishop Herzog.
- Concerning his Episcopal Consecration, it took place on 29 May 1892.
- Archbishop Vilatte was consecrated by three Jacobite Bishops in the Cathedral of Archbishop Alvares in Colombo (Ceylon).
- Archbishop Vilatte is likewise in the possession of the consecration deed in question bearing the signatures of the three above mentioned bishops and of the American Consul, who was present at the ceremony.
This letter was published in the same newspaper and Vilatte was very pleased that Bishop Ceretti believed and accepted his priesthood and consecration, even though they were irregular from a Roman Catholic view.
For the next three and a half years, Vilatte led a quiet and secluded life in a cottage within the abbey grounds. He was addressed as "Archbishop" but wore a simple soutane (black cassock). Pope Pius XI offered to conditionally re-ordain him, but he declined. He attended daily Mass, receiving Holy Communion on Sundays. His end came suddenly of heart failure on 8 July 1929 and he was buried in the Roman Catholic cemetery in Versailles
Versailles
Versailles , a city renowned for its château, the Palace of Versailles, was the de facto capital of the kingdom of France for over a century, from 1682 to 1789. It is now a wealthy suburb of Paris and remains an important administrative and judicial centre...
.
Subsequently, it was claimed that Vilatte had consecrated one of the novices of Port Colbert in secret. This was dismissed by others, however, as a rumour. During his lifetime he consecrated some seven to eight bishops. Shortly after his death most of his papers vanished.
In Father Anthony Cekada
Anthony Cekada
Anthony Cekada is a Traditionalist Catholic priest and author.Born in 1951, Cekada studied at St. Francis Roman Catholic Seminary College in Milwaukee, graduating with a Bachelor's degree in Theology in 1973; he studied organ and musical composition at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music. In 1975,...
's article (linked to below), we find the following personal statement of a Roman cardinal:
- In Anson's book on the Old Catholics we learn that Cardinal Rafael Merry del Val had decided that Vilatte's ordinations and consecrations had been commercialized. The Cardinal personally believed, therefore, that they could not be regarded as valid. (Peter Anson, Bishops At Large, London. Faber & Faber, 1964, p 29)
While the validity of Vilatte's orders was never finally settled, most non-Roman Old Catholics believe that his orders were valid.
External links
- An Encyclical to All Bishops Claiming To Be of the Apostolic Succession 1893 letter by Vilatte