Jean-Gaston Tremblay (September 8, 1928 – December 31, 2011) was a

traditionalist Catholic Traditionalist Catholicism is the set of beliefs, practices, customs, traditions, Christian liturgy, liturgical forms, Catholic devotions, devotions, and presentations of Catholic Church, Catholic teaching that existed in the Catholic Church befo ...

religious leader and self-proclaimed

pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

, with the name Gregory XVII.

Biography

Tremblay was born on September 8, 1928, in

Rimouski Rimouski ( ) is a city in Quebec, Canada. Rimouski is located in the Bas-Saint-Laurent region, at the mouth of the Rimouski River. It has a population of 48,935 (as of 2021). Rimouski is the site of Université du Québec à Rimouski (UQAR), the C ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. His father was a

lumberjack Lumberjacks are mostly North American workers in the logging industry who perform the initial harvesting and transport of trees for ultimate processing into forest products. The term usually refers to loggers in the era (before 1945 in the Unite ...

. Raised Catholic, he moved to

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

at 16, where he joined the Brothers of St. John of God. In 1952 he received permission to form his own community, which he called the Congregation of Jesus and Mary.Cuneo (1999), p. 122 The community moved from town to town for a number of years, before settling in St. Jovite, in

Mont-Tremblant, Quebec Mont-Tremblant () is a city in the Laurentian Mountains of Quebec, Canada, approximately northwest of Montreal and northeast of Ottawa, Ontario. The current municipality with city status was formed in 2000. Mont-Tremblant is most famous for its ...

, in 1958. In 1961, Tremblay met Michel Collin, leader of the Apostles of Infinite Love, who had proclaimed himself pope with the title Clement XV, and Tremblay merged his community with the Apostles of Infinite Love. The following year Collin ordained him a priest and soon afterwards

consecrated Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different grou ...

him bishop.Cuneo (1999), p. 123 The group attracted traditional Catholics unhappy with the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st Catholic ecumenical councils, ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions) ...

. Initially only consisting of men, by the late 1960s it included whole families. This prompted the Social Welfare Court of

Saint-Jérôme Saint-Jérôme () ( 2021 population 80,213) is a suburban city located about northwest of Montreal on the Rivière du Nord. It is part of the Montreal of Greater Montreal. It is a gateway to the Laurentian Mountains and its resorts via the ...

to rule that it was unsuitable for children. Seventeen children were taken and handed over to social workers, but Tremblay went into hiding with 55 others, leading him to be listed as one of the ten most wanted men in Quebec. In September 1968, Tremblay claimed that God had elevated him to the papacy, superseding Collin, with the title Pope Gregory XVII. Eight months later Collin acknowledged him as pope. Tremblay linked his papacy with the prophecy of

Our Lady of La Salette Our Lady of La Salette (french: Notre-Dame de La Salette) is a Marian apparition reported by two French children, Maximin Giraud and Mélanie Calvat, to have occurred at La Salette-Fallavaux, France, in 1846. On 19 September 1851, the local bis ...

, as had Collin.Cuneo (1999), p. 125 Over the following 40 years, Tremblay was the subject of numerous police investigations into charges of kidnapping, illegal detention, and child abuse. One former member filed a

civil suit - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the Civil law (common law), civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in re ...

for $2.5 million in 2001, claiming

physical Physical may refer to: *Physical examination In a physical examination, medical examination, or clinical examination, a medical practitioner examines a patient for any possible medical signs or symptoms of a medical condition. It generally co ...

and

sexual abuse Sexual abuse or sex abuse, also referred to as molestation, is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using force or by taking advantage of another. Molestation often refers to an instance of sexual assa ...

. Tremblay had served six months in prison in 1977 for defying an order to hand over the boy and his sister to the authorities. Also in 2001, Tremblay and two others were charged with multiple counts of abuse dating back more than 30 years, but the case was dropped. Tremblay died on December 31, 2011, at a hospital in Sainte Agathe, Quebec.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tremblay, Jean-Gaston 1928 births 2011 deaths People from Rimouski 20th-century antipopes 21st-century antipopes Bishops of Independent Catholic denominations Canadian traditionalist Catholics Antipopes Conclavism

Biography

See also

References