History

Archbishop John P. Walzer’s Chief Consecrator was Patriarch Andre Barbeau (Andre I). Barbeau was ordained a Roman Catholic Priest on November 21, 1940 and served in that capacity for 28 years in the Archdiocese of Montreal Quebec. In 1968 Barbeau left the Roman Catholic Church and was consecrated a Bishop by pro-uniate Old Catholic Bishops in Europe. He served as patriarch until his death on February 14, 1994. Archbishop Michael Boucher and Archbishop Andre LeTellier were Archbishop Walzer’s co-consecrators.

The first Patriarch, Archbishop Andre Barbeau was consecrated by Archbishop Ignatius Carolus of Danum (Charles Brearley) of the Old Catholic Church. Brearley himself was consecrated on June 16th, 1957 by Archbishop Prince Alessandro Licastro de la Chastre Grimaldi-Lascaris (Prince de Deols, Marziano II, the Basileus of Constantinople and of All the Christian Orient, the lawful 269th Roman Emperor, the successor to Augustus Caesar and Constantine the Great.)

Eduoard Cardinal Gagnon, (January 15, 1918 – August 25, 2007) was a Canadian Roman Catholic Cardinal and was president of the Pontifical Council for the Family for sixteen years. Cardinal Gagnon knew Patriarch Andre for sixty years since they shared the Grand Seminary together in Montreal. When asked, the Cardinal said, “Andre has always been known to me as a man of prayer, a mystic.” and “the ordinations of the Old Catholics are generally considered to be the same as those of Orthodox Bishops, and after studying the documentation concerning the episcopal succession of Andre and his successors, I am convinced that he was a validly consecrated Bishop.