Denis Chicoine
Encyclopedia
Denis Chicoine was a Traditionalist Catholic
priest who assisted Francis Schuckardt
in founding the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen
and served as Superior General of the Congregation from 1984 to 1989.
. He joined the United States Marine Corps
in 1955 and was honorably discharged. Two years later he moved to Los Angeles, California
and worked as a bricklayer
and later as a newspaper pressman in San Diego
.
lecture given by Francis Schuckardt
in 1965 in San Diego, he followed Schuckardt into the Blue Army to promote the message of Our Lady of Fatima
.
In the wake of the Second Vatican Council
and the New Rites
of the church, Schuckardt began to speak out against the various doctrinal changes and liturgical reforms in the modern Catholic Church during his Blue Army lectures. Chicoine, along with Schuckardt, came to the conclusion that Pope Paul VI
was a false pope. Chicoine and Schuckardt left the Blue Army in 1967 and Schuckardt founded a lay organization known as the Fatima Crusade in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho
. That same year, Schuckardt established order of sisters
, brothers, and priests known as the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen of the Universe
(in Latin: Congregatio Mariae Reginae Immaculatae, abbreviated as CMRI) which Chicoine was a member as a religious lay brother.
Schuckardt and Chicoine began a national lecture
circuit advocating a return to traditional Catholicism. Due to their outspoken rejection of the Second Vatican Council and embrace of Sedevacantism
, they were denounced by the modern Catholic Church. Schuckardt ordained Chicoine to the priesthood on September 20, 1975 and created him vicar general
.
on June 14, 1984. Bishop Schuckardt excommunicated Chicoine for the revolt, said excommunication was never revoked (Wash Ct Case - 84-2-01445-2) prior to Chicoine's death.
The Mount Saint Michael group sued the Schuckardt faction, alleging that they took property belonging to them. They obtained a default judgment against the Schuckardt faction for $250,000.00 as well as an injunction barring them from Mount Saint Michael. (Case 84-2-01445-2). The Schuckardt faction asserts that when Chicoine and his allies sued Bishop Schuckardt in civil court, they committed several ecclesiastical crimes carrying with it the censure of automatic excommunication from the Catholic Church (Canons 2334 & 2341).
The Default Judgment was challenged by Schuckardt in 1988 and successfully overturned.
In 1985, Fathers Chicoine, Hughes and McGilloway of Mount Saint Michael were conditionally ordained as priests by the Traditionalist Catholic Bishop George Musey
. Musey himself stated his belief that these three priests had been validly ordained by Schuckardt, but that he was conditionally ordaining them to appease the doubts of some. Musey's episcopal lineage descended from Archbishop Ngô Đình Thục. The Schuckardt faction challenges the validity of Bishop Musey’s consecration; condemns him for impeding upon Bishop Schuckardt’s jurisdiction; condemns him for “conditionally ordaining” against Church law people who have been sentenced with a declaratory and condemnatory sentence of excommunication; and for other reasons.
Schuckardt died in 2006.
bishops. They initiated contact with Bishop George Musey
of Galveston
, Texas. Musey was a priest who broke from the mainstream church over the reforms of the Second Vatican Council
and was consecrated bishop by Moises Carmona of Acapulco, Mexico. Carmona had been consecrated by the Vietnamese Roman Catholic prelate Archbishop Ngo Dinh Thuc.
In 1985, Chicoine, Hughes and McGilloway were conditionally ordained as priests by the Traditionalist Catholic Bishop George Musey
. Musey himself stated his belief that these three priests had been validly ordained by Schuckardt, but was conditionally ordaining them to appease the doubts of some about the validity of Schuckardt's Old Catholic orders.
Chicoine led the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen as Superior General and oversaw the Congregation's drafting of a rule. The rule was approved by Bishop Robert McKenna, O.P.
. In 1989, Chicoine retired as Superior General and moved to New Zealand
to work as a parish priest in the CMRI's mission there. He was succeeded by Father Mark Pivarunas
.
In 1994 Chicoine was diagnosed with cancer and lived the remaining days of his life back in Spokane at Mount Saint Michael. He died on August 10, 1995.
Traditionalist Catholic
Traditionalist Catholics are Roman Catholics who believe that there should be a restoration of many or all of the liturgical forms, public and private devotions and presentations of Catholic teachings which prevailed in the Catholic Church before the Second Vatican Council...
priest who assisted Francis Schuckardt
Francis Schuckardt
Francis Konrad Schuckardt was an American Traditionalist Catholic independent bishop and the first known bishop of the sedevacantist movement in the United States. Sedevacantism holds that Pope Paul VI —sometimes going back to include John XXIII— and his successors are not valid Popes...
in founding the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen
Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen
The Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen is a Sedevacantist Traditionalist Catholic religious congregation dedicated to promoting the message of Our Lady of Fatima and devotion to the Virgin Mary according to the teachings of St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort, whom they regard as their...
and served as Superior General of the Congregation from 1984 to 1989.
Early life
Chicoine was born on November 16, 1937 in New Bedford, MassachusettsNew Bedford, Massachusetts
New Bedford is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States, located south of Boston, southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, and about east of Fall River. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 95,072, making it the sixth-largest city in Massachusetts...
. He joined the United States Marine Corps
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
in 1955 and was honorably discharged. Two years later he moved to Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
and worked as a bricklayer
Masonry
Masonry is the building of structures from individual units laid in and bound together by mortar; the term masonry can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are brick, stone, marble, granite, travertine, limestone; concrete block, glass block, stucco, and...
and later as a newspaper pressman in San Diego
San Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
.
Fatima Crusade
Upon hearing a Blue ArmyBlue Army of Our Lady of Fatima
The Blue Army of Our Lady of Fátima is a public international association of the Christian faithful that has as its general purpose "the promotion of the authentic teaching of the Roman Catholic Church and the strict adherence to the tenets of the Gospel; the personal sanctification of adherents...
lecture given by Francis Schuckardt
Francis Schuckardt
Francis Konrad Schuckardt was an American Traditionalist Catholic independent bishop and the first known bishop of the sedevacantist movement in the United States. Sedevacantism holds that Pope Paul VI —sometimes going back to include John XXIII— and his successors are not valid Popes...
in 1965 in San Diego, he followed Schuckardt into the Blue Army to promote the message of Our Lady of Fatima
Our Lady of Fatima
Our Lady of Fátima is a famous title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary as she appeared in apparitions reported by three shepherd children at Fátima in Portugal. These occurred on the 13th day of six consecutive months in 1917, starting on May 13...
.
In the wake of the Second Vatican Council
Second Vatican Council
The Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...
and the New Rites
Mass of Paul VI
The Mass of Pope Paul VI is the liturgy of the Catholic Mass of the Roman Rite promulgated by Paul VI in 1969, after the Second Vatican Council...
of the church, Schuckardt began to speak out against the various doctrinal changes and liturgical reforms in the modern Catholic Church during his Blue Army lectures. Chicoine, along with Schuckardt, came to the conclusion that Pope Paul VI
Pope Paul VI
Paul VI , born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding Pope John XXIII, who had convened the Second Vatican Council, he decided to continue it...
was a false pope. Chicoine and Schuckardt left the Blue Army in 1967 and Schuckardt founded a lay organization known as the Fatima Crusade in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho
Coeur d'Alene, Idaho
Coeur d'Alene is the largest city and county seat of Kootenai County, Idaho, United States. It is the principal city of the Coeur d'Alene Metropolitan Statistical Area. Coeur d'Alene has the second largest metropolitan area in the state of Idaho. As of the 2010 census the population of Coeur...
. That same year, Schuckardt established order of sisters
Nun
A nun is a woman who has taken vows committing her to live a spiritual life. She may be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent...
, brothers, and priests known as the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen of the Universe
Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen
The Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen is a Sedevacantist Traditionalist Catholic religious congregation dedicated to promoting the message of Our Lady of Fatima and devotion to the Virgin Mary according to the teachings of St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort, whom they regard as their...
(in Latin: Congregatio Mariae Reginae Immaculatae, abbreviated as CMRI) which Chicoine was a member as a religious lay brother.
Schuckardt and Chicoine began a national lecture
Lecture
thumb|A lecture on [[linear algebra]] at the [[Helsinki University of Technology]]A lecture is an oral presentation intended to present information or teach people about a particular subject, for example by a university or college teacher. Lectures are used to convey critical information, history,...
circuit advocating a return to traditional Catholicism. Due to their outspoken rejection of the Second Vatican Council and embrace of Sedevacantism
Sedevacantism
Sedevacantism is the position held by a minority of Traditionalist Catholics who hold that the present occupant of the papal see is not truly Pope and that, for lack of a valid Pope, the see has been vacant since the death of either Pope Pius XII in 1958 or Pope John XXIII in 1963.Sedevacantists...
, they were denounced by the modern Catholic Church. Schuckardt ordained Chicoine to the priesthood on September 20, 1975 and created him vicar general
Vicar general
A vicar general is the principal deputy of the bishop of a diocese for the exercise of administrative authority. As vicar of the bishop, the vicar general exercises the bishop's ordinary executive power over the entire diocese and, thus, is the highest official in a diocese or other particular...
.
Revolt
Chicoine ousted Schuckardt when found that he had the backing of the vast majority of the religious and laity alike, and took charge of the Fatima Crusade. Not long after Chicoine's denunciations, Schuckardt left the area with a small handful of followers. Schuckardt and his followers continued to operate as the Tridentine Latin Rite Catholic Church while Chicoine reincorporated the group at Mount Saint Michael as the Latin Rite Catholic ChurchLatin Rite Catholic Church (splinter group)
The Latin Rite Catholic Church is an organization formed in 1984 by Denis Chicoine. It was an splinter group from the Tridentine Latin Rite Catholic Church and like its parent organization is built around a rejection of the reform of Vatican II....
on June 14, 1984. Bishop Schuckardt excommunicated Chicoine for the revolt, said excommunication was never revoked (Wash Ct Case - 84-2-01445-2) prior to Chicoine's death.
The Mount Saint Michael group sued the Schuckardt faction, alleging that they took property belonging to them. They obtained a default judgment against the Schuckardt faction for $250,000.00 as well as an injunction barring them from Mount Saint Michael. (Case 84-2-01445-2). The Schuckardt faction asserts that when Chicoine and his allies sued Bishop Schuckardt in civil court, they committed several ecclesiastical crimes carrying with it the censure of automatic excommunication from the Catholic Church (Canons 2334 & 2341).
The Default Judgment was challenged by Schuckardt in 1988 and successfully overturned.
In 1985, Fathers Chicoine, Hughes and McGilloway of Mount Saint Michael were conditionally ordained as priests by the Traditionalist Catholic Bishop George Musey
George Musey
George J. Musey was a Traditionalist Catholic bishop from Galveston, Texas.He was ordained a priest on May 22, 1952 by Bishop Wendolin Nold of Galveston. Musey was consecrated to the episcopate on April 1, 1982 in Acapulco, Mexico, by Bishop Moises Carmona assisted by Bishop Adolfo Zamora.From...
. Musey himself stated his belief that these three priests had been validly ordained by Schuckardt, but that he was conditionally ordaining them to appease the doubts of some. Musey's episcopal lineage descended from Archbishop Ngô Đình Thục. The Schuckardt faction challenges the validity of Bishop Musey’s consecration; condemns him for impeding upon Bishop Schuckardt’s jurisdiction; condemns him for “conditionally ordaining” against Church law people who have been sentenced with a declaratory and condemnatory sentence of excommunication; and for other reasons.
Schuckardt died in 2006.
Aftermath and recovery
With the departure of Schuckardt, the Mount Saint Michael group was without a bishop. Chicoine, along with his associate priests, Benedict Hughes and James McGIlloway and other clergy, began searching for other Traditionalist CatholicTraditionalist Catholic
Traditionalist Catholics are Roman Catholics who believe that there should be a restoration of many or all of the liturgical forms, public and private devotions and presentations of Catholic teachings which prevailed in the Catholic Church before the Second Vatican Council...
bishops. They initiated contact with Bishop George Musey
George Musey
George J. Musey was a Traditionalist Catholic bishop from Galveston, Texas.He was ordained a priest on May 22, 1952 by Bishop Wendolin Nold of Galveston. Musey was consecrated to the episcopate on April 1, 1982 in Acapulco, Mexico, by Bishop Moises Carmona assisted by Bishop Adolfo Zamora.From...
of Galveston
Galveston, Texas
Galveston is a coastal city located on Galveston Island in the U.S. state of Texas. , the city had a total population of 47,743 within an area of...
, Texas. Musey was a priest who broke from the mainstream church over the reforms of the Second Vatican Council
Second Vatican Council
The Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...
and was consecrated bishop by Moises Carmona of Acapulco, Mexico. Carmona had been consecrated by the Vietnamese Roman Catholic prelate Archbishop Ngo Dinh Thuc.
In 1985, Chicoine, Hughes and McGilloway were conditionally ordained as priests by the Traditionalist Catholic Bishop George Musey
George Musey
George J. Musey was a Traditionalist Catholic bishop from Galveston, Texas.He was ordained a priest on May 22, 1952 by Bishop Wendolin Nold of Galveston. Musey was consecrated to the episcopate on April 1, 1982 in Acapulco, Mexico, by Bishop Moises Carmona assisted by Bishop Adolfo Zamora.From...
. Musey himself stated his belief that these three priests had been validly ordained by Schuckardt, but was conditionally ordaining them to appease the doubts of some about the validity of Schuckardt's Old Catholic orders.
Chicoine led the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen as Superior General and oversaw the Congregation's drafting of a rule. The rule was approved by Bishop Robert McKenna, O.P.
Robert McKenna
Robert Fidelis McKenna, O.P. is a Dominican bishop residing at Our Lady of the Rosary Chapel in Monroe, Connecticut since 1973. He is known for his traditionalist Catholic positions and is an advocate of sedeprivationism...
. In 1989, Chicoine retired as Superior General and moved to New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
to work as a parish priest in the CMRI's mission there. He was succeeded by Father Mark Pivarunas
Mark Pivarunas
Mark Anthony Pivarunas, CMRI is a U.S. based sedevacantist and Traditionalist Catholic bishop and Superior General of the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen.- Biography :...
.
In 1994 Chicoine was diagnosed with cancer and lived the remaining days of his life back in Spokane at Mount Saint Michael. He died on August 10, 1995.
Endnotes
- The Reign of Mary. Issue 16. Page 4. "Why are supposedly uncompromising traditionalists willing to wink their eyes at the compromises of such apostate bishops as Marcel Lefevre (whose much tauted "traditional" seminaries are being operated under the watchful eye of Pittsburg's apostate Cardinal Wright WITH THE PERMISSION OF THE VATICAN!; whose much-tauted "traditional" priests will serve apostate bishops in apostate dioceses - NOT the true Catholic remnant faithful in the catacombs (you don't build million-dollar seminaries in the catacombs!); and the venerable, but sadly mistaken, Cardinal Slipyi who addresses the arch-heretic of Rome as "his holiness" and pledges his fidelity to the apostate hierarch of the Church of the Beast - the Mystical Body of Satan?"
- The Reign of Mary. Issue 18. Page 3. "Who would be so bold or so foolish as to call these bishops Catholic or to pretend that they possess any legitimate authority? Including the arch-heretic in Rome?
- Kelleher, S. (2002). The Seattle Times. "The sect behind the shroud".
- Years Beneath Her Mantle. Published by Students of Maria Regina Academy. June 9, 1972.
- Our Lady of Fatima Crusader Bulletin. Issue number 71. Page 8. "In other words, smoking or any other form of delayed-action suicide is a sin against the fifth commandment. Further, if a person is addicted to smoking to the point where he cannot readily stop doing so, he no longer has complete control over his free will and smoking has become for him (or her) a gravely sinful vice."
- "But you especially, ... as Bishops to rule the Church of God, must ... promote by all your power, everything which has to do with the protection of modesty ... to admonish and exhort, in whatever way seems most apt, people of all stations, but particularly youth, to avoid the danger of this kind of vice (immodest dress), which is so opposed, and potentially so hazardous to Christian and civic virtue ..." Pope Pius XI.
- Ven. Jacinta: "Our Lady said that more souls to go Hell because of sins of the flesh, than for any other reason," and that "certain fashions will be introduced which will offend Our Divine Lord."
- "But every women praying or prophesying with her head not covered disgraceth her head..." (St. Paul) - 1 Cor. 11:5.
- "If the Church is shut, and you are all inside, yet let there be a separation, men with men, and women with women: lest the pretext of salvation become an occasion of destruction." St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Father of the Church, Catechetical Lecture, Catholic Encyclopedia.
- "They, then, are but abandoned and ungrateful wretches, in deep and fast bondage to that malign spirit, who complain and murmur that men are rescued by the name of Christ ... Only such men could murmur that the masses flock to the churches and their chaste acts of worship, where a seemly separation of the sexes is observed; where they learn how they may so spend this earthly life, as to merit a blessed eternity hereafter…" St. Augustine, Father of the Church, City of God, Bk. 2, Ch. 28.
- Canons 335, 362, 1572
- Catholic Encyclopedia: "Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary" (1912)
- Bouscaren & Ellis: "Canon Law - A Text and Commentary" (1957) Canon 1395.
- Canon 1384: "Literature is morally bad if it endangers faith or morals, and no one has a 'right' to publish such literature any more than one has a right to poison wells or sell tainted food." Bouscaren & Ellis ibid.
- "[Y]ou are the powerful barrier against the overflowing tide of useless literature. Such reading matter threatens to drag the great dignity of human nature into the mud of error and perversion... In such matters, of the gravest danger to souls, the intervention of some higher authority is justified and necessary." Address to Ecclesiastics Employed as Book Critics - Pope Pius XII (2/13/56).
- Encyclical on Christ the King - "Quas Primas" by Pope Pius XI (12/11/1925).
- Encyclical: "On Christian Education" by Pope Pius XI )12/31/29).
- Canon 1374. Bouscaren & Ellis ibid.
- "Everyone knows well that children can often avoid an epidemic so long as the disease is outside their own home, but cannot escape it when it lurks within the home itself. It is an evil thing to bring the sanctity of the home into danger. The Church, therefore, as her right and duty demand, has always striven with all her resources to prevent these sacred portals suffering violence, under any pretext, from evil televisions shows." Encyclical Letter of Pope Pius XII - "Miranda Prorsus (9/8/57).
- Canon 1129.
- Canon 1131.
- O'Neil v. Schuckardt, Idaho Case #80086.
- 733 P2d 693, 698.
- "I say unto you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish." Luke 13:3.
- "I chastise my body..." (St. Paul) 1 Cor. 9:27.
- "The Virtue of Penance" - The Catholic Encyclopedia (1912).
- Encyclical of Pope Pius XII "On the Mystical Body of Christ" on June 29, 1943.
- "[I]f anyone says it is not by the institution of Christ... that blessed Peter should have perpetual successors in the primacy over the whole church;... let him be anathema." - Vatican Council 1, Session 4, Ch. 2 (1870).
- The time between the death or resignation of one pope until his successor in office replaces him.
- Clerical Dress & Insignia of the Roman Catholic Church, Rev. McCloud, 1948.
- “The crime of one who voluntarily separates himself from the Catholic Church through refusal to submit to the authority of the Church…” The Concise Catholic Encyclopedia (1957)
- Canons 183-195.
- “[W]e believe that Bishop Francis Konrad Maria… represents the lone bastion of true, traditional Catholicism in the midst of universal apostasy so evident in the United States and throughout the world.” Letter of Rev. Chicoine (2/11/76).
- “A pope can only be deposed for heresy, expressed or implied, and then only by a general council. It is not strictly deposition, but a declaration of fact, since by his heresy he has already ceased to be head of the Church. This has never occurred …” Catholic Dictionary (1997).
- “I and the members of the Tridentine Latin Rite Catholic Church no longer accept or recognize any of the above named defendants [Bishop Schuckardt et al.] as members of or as religious officials of the Tridentine Latin Rite Catholic Church…” Affidavit of Rev. Chicoine (6/6/84) - Case 84-2-01445-2.
- “Detraction, usually associated with calumny, both being unjust injuries to the good name of another. Detraction is committed by revealing the true faults of our neighbor; calumny is by imputing false defects. Both include sinful judging and censuring of one’s neighbor and arise in resentment and envy. A detractor assumes that which belongs to God alone as judge (Jas. 4:11-12). Detraction and calumny are seriously sinful, being sins against justice… The sins of detraction and calumny demand restitution or repair to the neighbor’s reputation…” The Catholic Concise Encyclopedia (1956).
- Washington Case 84-2-014450-2.
- "[M]indful that the validity of these orders will always be doubtful in the minds of some... Personally, I have found no reason to doubt that these men had valid orders..." Open letter of Rev. Musey (4/23/95)