Church True Catholic Church Name Lucian Pulvermacher Birth name Earl Pulvermacher | Papacy ended 2009 Papacy began 1998 Term ended 2009 | |
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Opposed to John XXIIIPaul VIJohn Paul IJohn Paul IIBenedict XVI Died November 30, 2009, Springdale, Washington, United States | ||
Lucian Pulvermacher (born Earl Pulvermacher, April 20, 1918 – November 30, 2009) was a traditionalist schismatic Roman Catholic priest. He was the head of the "True Catholic Church," a small conclavist group that elected him Pope Pius XIII in Montana in October 1998. He resided in Springdale, Washington, United States.
Life and career
Born in 1918 near Marshfield, Wisconsin in the town of Rock in Wood County, Pulvermacher was one of nine children of a farm family. His three brothers became priests. In 1942, at the age of 24, he joined the Capuchin Order, taking the religious name Lucian. He was subsequently ordained to the priesthood on June 5, 1946. At first he was posted to a parish in Milwaukee, but in 1948 he was sent to Japan. He spent the greater part of his career as a Capuchin (from 1948 to 1970) as a missionary priest in the Ryukyu Islands, including Okinawa. In 1970, he was transferred from Japan to Australia, where he continued his missionary work until his disillusionment with the changes that followed the Second Vatican Council of 1962–1965. In January 1976 he left the Capuchin Order and the Roman Catholic Church, and returned to the United States. "I was without money," he later remembered, "without a home or anything. The few things I brought along with me I could carry in two bags." He left what he called "the Novus Ordo, bogus Council Vatican II Church" and spent eight months "with the general Latin Mass traditionalists until I saw there was no unity. Hence, I am alone on the job here in the States since August 1976."
Pulvermacher died on November 30, 2009.