Gérard Calvet

Gérard Calvet (1927 – 2008), also known as Dom Gérard, was a French Benedictine monk and traditionalist Catholic figure. He is best known as the founder of the Benedictine Abbey of Sainte-Madeleine du Barroux in France.

Calvet was ordained a priest in 1951. Following the Second Vatican Council, he became a vocal critic of the liturgical reforms implemented by the Roman Catholic Church, particularly the Novus Ordo Missae (New Order of the Mass). He adhered to the Tridentine Mass, the traditional Latin Mass.

In 1970, he founded the monastery at Le Barroux, which became a center for traditionalist Catholics. Initially, the monastery was founded without official canonical recognition from the Vatican. Over time, negotiations began to regularize the community's status.

In 1988, after the illicit episcopal consecrations performed by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, Dom Gérard, seeking to maintain communion with Rome, entered into negotiations with the Holy See. In 1988, the Abbey of Sainte-Madeleine du Barroux was granted official recognition as a Benedictine monastery by Pope John Paul II, under the condition that it use the 1962 Roman Missal for the celebration of Mass. This placed the abbey within the framework of the wider Catholic Church, while allowing it to retain its adherence to traditional liturgical practices.

Dom Gérard Calvet served as the Abbot of Le Barroux until his death in 2008. His work had a significant impact on the traditionalist movement within Catholicism and helped to pave the way for other traditionalist communities to find reconciliation with Rome.