View source for Lucian Pulvermacher

{{Short description|20th and 21st-century schismatic Catholic prelate}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| type = Antipope
| image = 
| honorific_prefix = Antipope
| name = Pius XIII
| caption = 
| church = True Catholic Church
| birth_name = Earl Pulvermacher
| birth_date = {{birth date|1918|4|20|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Rock, Wood County, Wisconsin|Rock]], [[Wisconsin]], United States
| death_date = {{death date and age|2009|11|30|1918|4|20|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Springdale, Washington|Springdale]], [[Stevens County, Washington|Stevens County]], [[Washington (state)|Washington]], United States
| opposed = {{plainlist|
*[[Pope John Paul II|John Paul II]]
*[[Pope Benedict XVI|Benedict XVI]]}}
| term_start = 24 October 1998<ref name="Perrin2013"/>
| term_end = 30 November 2009
}}
'''Lucian Pulvermacher''' (born '''Earl Pulvermacher''', 20 April 1918 – 30 November 2009) was an American [[Traditionalist Catholic|traditionalist]] [[schism (religion)|schism]]atic [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] priest and a modern-day [[antipope]]. He was the head of the '''True Catholic Church''', a small [[conclavism|conclavist]] group that elected him '''Pope Pius XIII'''<ref name="Perrin2013">{{cite journal|last1=Perrin|first1=Luc|year=2013|title=La question de l'autorité dans le traditionalisme catholique|journal=Revue des Sciences Religieuses|language=fr|issue=87/1|pages=61–76|doi=10.4000/rsr.1306|issn=0035-2217|quote=Quelques sédévacantistes ont poussé leur logique jusqu’à devenir des antipapes, tel le P. Lucian Pulvermacher ofm cap (1918-2009), entré en dissidence en 1976 d’abord au côté de la F.S.SP. X avant d’en être éloigné et de se faire élire par un micro-conclave en 1998 en tant que Pie XIII.|doi-access=}}</ref><ref name="Laycock2014">{{cite book|author=Joseph P. Laycock|title=The Seer of Bayside: Veronica Lueken and the Struggle to Define Catholicism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dmvDBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA111|date=3 November 2014|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-937967-5|page=111|quote=Father Lucian Pulvermacher of Springdale, Montana, argued that Paul VI's predecessor, John XXIII, had defected to Freemasonry during a secret ceremony held in Turkey in 1935. On October 24, 1994, Pulvermacher was "elected" pope by a conclave consisting primarily of his own family and held in rural Montana.}}</ref><ref name="HodappKannon2011">{{cite book|author1=Christopher Hodapp|author2=Alice Von Kannon|title=Conspiracy Theories and Secret Societies For Dummies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4htx62wIXIgC&pg=PA318|date=4 February 2011|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1-118-05202-0|page=318|quote=Father Lucian Pulvermacher, known to his flock as Pope Pius XIII... Pulvermacher was elected pope on October 24, 1994, in a conclave held in rural Montana.}}</ref> in [[Montana]] in October 1998.  At the time of his death, he lived in [[Springdale, Washington]], United States.

==Life and career==
===Early life===
Born on April 20, 1918, in [[Rock, Wood County, Wisconsin|Rock]], [[Wisconsin]], near [[Marshfield, Wisconsin|Marshfield]], Earl Pulvermacher was one of nine children of a farm family.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.truecatholic.us/pope/ |title=His Holiness Pope Pius XIII |publisher=truecatholic.us |access-date=18 August 2010 |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120927000319/http://www.truecatholic.us/pope/ |archive-date=September 27, 2012 }}</ref>  His three brothers (Robert, Omer, and Gerald) also became priests in the Capuchin Order.<ref>[http://www.truecarpentry.org/tccwww/cathwww/pope/parents.htm "Parents and Siblings of His Holiness Pope Pius XIII"], trueCarpentry.org; accessed August 19, 2021.</ref>
<ref>[https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/houstonchronicle/name/carl-pulvermacher-obituary?id=7475088 "Obituary for Fr. Carl Pulvermacher"]</ref>

===Capuchin friar===
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.<ref>''The Messenger'', vol. 9, no. 3 (March 1946)</ref> At first he was posted to a parish in [[Milwaukee]], but in 1948 he was sent to the [[Ryukyu Islands]] of Japan.<ref>[https://archive.today/20120723155326/http://archive.catholic.com/newsletters/kke_040406.asp Catholic Answers: Karl's E-Letter of April 6, 2004 (archived copy)]</ref><ref name="lundberg">{{cite web
|author=Magnus Lundberg
|url=https://magnuslundberg.net/2016/05/15/modern-alternative-popes-18-pius-xiii/
|title=Modern Alternative Popes: Pius XIII
|access-date=23 August 2018
|date=15 May 2016
}}</ref> He spent the greater part of his career as a Capuchin (from 1948 to 1970) in the Ryukyu Islands, including [[Okinawa Prefecture|Okinawa]]. In 1970, he was transferred from Japan to [[Queensland]] in [[Australia]], where he continued his missionary work until his disillusionment with the changes that followed the [[Second Vatican Council]] of 1962–1965.<ref name="autogenerated2">[http://www.kirchenlehre.com/truecat.htm Warnung vor "Papst Pius XIII." - KzM<!-- Bot generated title -->](letter of Pulvermacher quoted on German [[sedevacantist]] website)</ref>

===Traditionalist ministry===
In January 1976 he left the Capuchin Order and returned to the United States to join forces with traditionalist priest Conrad Altenbach in [[Milwaukee]]. "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 [[Mass of Paul VI|Novus Ordo]], bogus Council [[Vatican II]] Church" and began to collaborate with the [[Society of Saint Pius X]], which rejected Vatican II, until he distanced himself from them as he adopted more extreme [[Sedevacantism|sedevacantist]] views.  He later wrote that he had 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."<ref name="Perrin2013"/><ref name="lundberg"/><ref name="autogenerated2"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.truecarpentry.org/tccwww/cathwww/pope/biography.htm |title=Biography on True Catholic website |access-date=2018-08-23 }}</ref> 

From 1976 on, Pulvermacher lived with his parents in [[Pittsville, Wisconsin]], celebrating Mass in the traditional rite in private chapels, until 1992, when he moved his ministry to [[Antigo, Wisconsin]].  By 1995 he had adopted [[conclavism|conclavist]] views.  In 1998 he moved to [[Kalispell, Montana]], invited to say Mass in a chapel there.<ref name="lundberg"/>

In October 1998 a group of [[sedevacantism|sedevacantist]] lay Catholics met in Kalispell, constituting a conclave for a papal election. They elected him, and he adopted the title of "Pope Pius XIII".<ref name="Perrin2013"/><ref name="spect">{{cite web
|url=https://spectator.org/33846_we-have-american-pope/
|publisher=The American Spectator
|date=February 23, 2013
|access-date=20 August 2018
|author=Thomas J. Craughwell
|title=We Have An American Pope!
}}</ref>  From Montana he issued statements, appointed advisors as cardinals, and performed ordination rites. After 2005, he made no more public statements as his health declined.<ref name="lundberg"/>

Pulvermacher died on November 30, 2009.<ref name=death>{{cite news|work=Stumbling After Francis|title=Death of A Pope|url=https://vocationstory.blogspot.com/2009/12/death-of-pope.html}}</ref><ref name=death2>{{cite news|work=A Minor Friar|title=RIP: Pius XIII|url=https://friarminor.blogspot.com/2009/12/rip-pius-xiii.html}}</ref>

==Holy Orders==
{{Self-published|section|date=January 2021}}
Pulvermacher claimed that by becoming Pope, he would become able to confer the [[Holy Orders|Sacrament of Holy Orders]] despite not actually being consecrated a bishop before.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Orders & Consecration by Pope|url=http://www.truecarpentry.org/tccwww/cathwww/pope/ordersbypope.htm|access-date=2021-01-24|website=www.truecarpentry.org}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=January 2021}}<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Minister of Holy Orders|url=http://www.truecarpentry.org/tccwww/cathwww/pope/ministerholyorders.htm|access-date=2021-01-24|website=www.truecarpentry.org}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=January 2021}} He then ordained [[Gordon Bateman]] on June 13, 1999<ref>{{Cite web|title=Ordination of Fr. Gordon Bateman|url=http://www.truecarpentry.org/tccwww/cathwww/pope/gb-ordination.htm|access-date=2021-01-23|website=www.truecarpentry.org}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=January 2021}} and eventually consecrated him a bishop on June 20, 1999.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Episcopal Consecration of + Gordon Cardinal Bateman|url=http://www.truecarpentry.org/tccwww/cathwww/pope/gb-bishop.htm|access-date=2021-01-23|website=www.truecarpentry.org}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=January 2021}} After this, Bateman consecrated Pulvermacher on July 4, 1999.<ref>{{Cite web|title=FAQs about the papacy of Pope Pius XIII|url=http://www.truecarpentry.org/tccwww/cathwww/pope/faq.htm#consecrate|access-date=2021-01-23|website=www.truecarpentry.org}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=January 2021}} Although Pulvermacher and Bateman claimed to be bishops, no other religion with [[apostolic succession]] has recognized them as such.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}}

==See also==
*[[Sedevacantism]] for a more general discussion of this phenomenon
*[[David Bawden]] and [[Manuel Corral]] for other [[conclavism|conclavist]] claimants to the papacy

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.truecarpentry.org/tccwww/cathwww/ True Catholic Church website]
*{{cite news |first=Dennis |last=Roddy |author-link=Dennis Roddy|title=Popes in the wings |url=http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05100/485360-156.stm |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |date= April 10, 2005 |access-date=April 12, 2008}}
*{{Find a Grave|47061789}}

{{Antipopes}}
{{Traditionalist Catholicism}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pulvermacher, Lucian}}
[[Category:1918 births]]
[[Category:2009 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century antipopes]]
[[Category:21st-century antipopes]]
[[Category:Capuchins]]
[[Category:People from Wood County, Wisconsin]]
[[Category:People from Stevens County, Washington]]
[[Category:Antipopes]]
[[Category:Conclavism]]
[[Category:American traditionalist Catholics]]