Michel-Louis Guérard des Lauriers (25 October 1898 – 27 February 1988) was a French Dominican

theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

and, later in life, a

traditionalist Catholic Traditionalist Catholicism is the set of beliefs, practices, customs, traditions, liturgical forms, devotions, and presentations of Catholic teaching that existed in the Catholic Church before the liberal reforms of the Second Vatican Council ( ...

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

who supported

sedevacantism Sedevacantism ( la, Sedevacantismus) is a doctrinal position within traditionalist Catholicism, which holds that the present occupier of the Holy See is not a valid pope due to the pope's espousal of one or more heresies and that therefore, f ...

and sedeprivationism and was

excommunicated Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to end or at least regulate the communion of a member of a congregation with other members of the religious institution who are in normal communion with each other. The purpose ...

by the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

. Edward Jarvis, ''Sede Vacante: the Life and Legacy of Archbishop Thục,'' Apocryphile Press, Berkeley CA, 2018, pp. 109-112

Biography

Michel-Louis Guérard des Lauriers was born near

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

,Istituto Mater Boni Consilii (IMBC)
"Memento di Padre Guérard des Lauriers o.p."
/ref> on 25 October 1898. In 1921, he entered the Scuola Normale Superiore. He studies for two years in Rome, with Professor

Tullio Levi-Civita Tullio Levi-Civita, (, ; 29 March 1873 – 29 December 1941) was an Italian mathematician, most famous for his work on absolute differential calculus (tensor calculus) and its applications to the theory of relativity, but who also made signific ...

. In 1925, he entered the

Order of Preachers The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of Cal ...

. He entered the Dominican novitiate of

Amiens Amiens (English: or ; ; pcd, Anmien, or ) is a city and commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in the region of Hauts-de-France. In 2021, the population of ...

in 1927. He made his

profession A profession is a field of work that has been successfully ''professionalized''. It can be defined as a disciplined group of individuals, '' professionals'', who adhere to ethical standards and who hold themselves out as, and are accepted by ...

in 1930. He was a '' normalien'' and '' agrégé'' in mathematics.

Priesthood

On 29 July 1931, des Lauriers was ordained a priest. In 1933, he became a professor of philosophy at the Dominican school of theology ''

Le Saulchoir Le Saulchoir is a Dominican school of theology in the order's province of France, established 1904. After the expulsion from France in 1880, French Dominican friars went into exile in Spain and Austria; they were allowed to return in 1895, estab ...

'', in Belgium. In 1940, he received a doctorate in mathematics with thesis ''Sur les systèmes différentiels du second ordre qui admettent un groupe continu fini de transformations''. Under Pope Pius XII, he served as a professor at the

Pontifical Lateran University The Pontifical Lateran University ( it, Pontificia Università Lateranense; la, Pontificia Universitas Lateranensis), also known as Lateranum, is a pontifical university based in Rome. The university also hosts the central session of the Pont ...

in Rome. With the advent of the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions), each lasting between 8 and ...

in the 1960s, des Lauriers became concerned with events taking place in the Catholic Church. He was the main intellectual force behind the famous critical study of the Mass of Paul VI (''Novus Ordo'' Mass) called the

Ottaviani Intervention ''Short Critical Study of the Novus Ordo'' ''Missae'' (Italian: ''Breve Esame Critico del Novus Ordo Missae''), nicknamed Ottaviani Intervention, is a 1969 document written by some Roman Catholic theologians addressed to Pope Paul VI to criticise ...

, presented to Paul VI in October 1969. In 1979, worried about Archbishop

Marcel Lefebvre Marcel François Marie Joseph Lefebvre (; 29 November 1905 – 25 March 1991) was a French Catholic archbishop who greatly influenced modern traditional Catholicism. In 1970, he founded the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), a community to tra ...

and a possible deal with the Vatican among other things, des Lauriers wrote to Lefebvre warning him.

Sedeprivationism

Des Lauriers supported the belief that the current state of the papacy, based on Paul VI allegedly teaching

heresy Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...

in the context of the

Magisterium The magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church is the church's authority or office to give authentic interpretation of the Word of God, "whether in its written form or in the form of Tradition." According to the 1992 Catechism of the Catholic Chu ...

, was that Paul VI could not be a true pope, being only pope materially (''papa materialiter'') and not formally. This position known as the Thesis of Cassiciacum.

Episcopacy

Des Lauriers further believed that the new rites of ordination and episcopal consecration (newest '' Pontificale Romanum'', new forms by promulgation of 18 June 1968) promulgated by Paul VI were doubtfully valid (or even outright invalid) and therefore it was necessary to take action to secure a valid apostolic succession for the preservation of the (

Latin Rite Latin liturgical rites, or Western liturgical rites, are Catholic rites of public worship employed by the Latin Church, the largest particular church '' sui iuris'' of the Catholic Church, that originated in Europe where the Latin language once ...

)

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. Doctor Eberhard Heller and Doctor Kurt Hiller, German sedevacantists who were harboring

Ngô Đình Thục Pierre Martin Ngô Đình Thục () (6 October 1897 – 13 December 1984) was the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Huế, Vietnam, and later a sedevacantist bishop who was excommunicated by the Vatican and allegedly reconciled with the Vatican b ...

(1897–1984), former archbishop of

Huế Huế () is the capital of Thừa Thiên Huế province in central Vietnam and was the capital of Đàng Trong from 1738 to 1775 and of Vietnam during the Nguyễn dynasty from 1802 to 1945. The city served as the old Imperial City and admi ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

, began discussions with des Lauriers, and after it was falsely reported that des Lauriers agreed to abate his sedeprivationism and adhere to the theoretical tenets of absolute/totalist sedevacantism, it was agreed that the archbishop would consecrate him a bishop. On 7 May 1981, after long consideration, des Lauriers was consecrated a bishop by Thuc in

Toulon Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...

, France. He was thus excommunicated from the Catholic Church in March 1983 by Cardinal

Joseph Ratzinger Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the soverei ...

. Des Lauriers consecrated two bishops: Günther Storck, a German, on 30 April 1984; Robert McKenna, an American, on 22 August 1986.

Death and legacy

Des Lauriers died in

Cosne-sur-Loire Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire () is a Communes of France, commune in the Nièvre Departments of France, department in central France. The commune was formed in 1973 by the merger of the former communes Cosne-sur-Loire and Cours. Geography Cosne-Cours- ...

, France, on 27 February 1988, at the age of 89. He is buried in

Raveau Raveau () is a commune in the Nièvre department in central France. It is located near La Charité-sur-Loire. Demographics On 1 January 2019, the estimated population was 654. See also *Communes of the Nièvre department The following is a ...

, France. There are some bishops who adhere to his Thesis of Cassiciacum: Bishop (a Belgian) of the ''

Istituto Mater Boni Consilii The Institute of the Mother of Good Counsel ( la, Istituto Mater Boni Consilii; IMBC) is a sedeprivationist traditionalist Catholic religious congregation based in Italy. Adhering to the Thesis of Cassiciacum of the French theologian Bishop Mic ...

'' (IMBC), and Bishop

Donald Sanborn Donald J. Sanborn (born February 19, 1950) is an American sedevacantist bishop, known for his advocacy of sedevacantism and sedeprivationism. Most Holy Trinity Seminary In 1995, Sanborn founded the sedevacantist Most Holy Trinity Seminary i ...

of the Roman Catholic Institute (RCI), which is based in the United States.

Writings

By des Lauriers

*''Le Saint-Esprit, âme de l'Eglise'', Étiolles, Seine et Oise : Monastère de la Croix, 1948. *''Garabandal'', S.l., 1965. *''Lettera ad un religioso'' di

Simone Weil Simone Adolphine Weil ( , ; 3 February 1909 – 24 August 1943) was a French philosopher, mystic, and political activist. Over 2,500 scholarly works have been published about her, including close analyses and readings of her work, since 1995. ...

; trad. di Mariella Bettarini. Risposta alla ''Lettera ad un religioso'' di Guérard des Lauriers ; trad. di Carmen Montesano (''Lettre à un religieux''), Torino : Borla, 1970. *''La Mathématique, les mathématiques, la mathématique moderne'', Paris : Doin, 1972. *''Homélie'' (prononcée le 15 mai 1971 pour l'anniversaire de la mort de l'amiral de Penfentenyo de Kervéréguin), Versailles : R.O.C., 1973. *''La Charité de la vérité'', Villegenon : Sainte Jeanne d'Arc, 1985. *''La Présence réelle du Verbe incarné dans les espèces consacrées'', Villegenon : Sainte Jeanne d'Arc, 1987.

On des Lauriers's doctrine

Louis-Marie de Blignières Louis-Marie de Blignières, born Olivier de Blignières on April 11, 1949 in Madrid) is a French traditionalist Catholic priest, and the founder of the Fraternity of Saint Vincent Ferrier. Biography The son of Hervé Le Barbier de Blignièr ...

, ''Le mystère de l'être. L'approche thomiste de Guérard des Lauriers'', Paris, J. Vrin, 2008.