Born in 1951, Anthony Cekada studied at De Sales Preparatory Seminary and St. Francis Seminary College in Milwaukee, graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in Theology in 1973. He also studied organ and composition at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music. Already discontent with the Vatican II changes, he entered the Cistercians of the Common Observance, a conservative monastic order.

In 1975 he entered St. Pius X Seminary in Écône, Switzerland, completed his studies, and was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in 1977.

Following his ordination, Fr. Cekada taught seminarians at St. Joseph’s House of Studies in Armada, Michigan, and St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Ridgefield, Connecticut.

From 1979 to 1989 he resided in Oyster Bay Cove, New York, where he did pastoral and administrative work, and edited the traditionalist publication The Roman Catholic. During the same period, he traveled on weekends to offer the traditional Mass in traditional churches and missions in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Florida, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota.

In 1989 Fr. Cekada moved to Cincinnati,where he assisted with pastoral work. He also offered the traditional Mass in Columbus and Milwaukee on weekends.

He also devoted a considerable amount of time to research and writing. TAN Books published two of his works criticizing the post-Vatican II liturgical reform. One was a commentary and new translation for The Ottaviani Intervention, a key document in the history of the traditional movement. The other, The Problems with the Prayers of the Modern Mass, discusses the systematic omission of certain doctrines (hell, the soul, miracles, the true Church, etc.) from the Missal of Paul VI; it has sold nearly 15,000 copies at last count, and has been published in French, Italian, German and Dutch.

Fr. Cekada also wrote two introductory booklets for newcomers to the traditional Mass: Welcome to the Traditional Latin Mass and Traditionalists, Infallibility and the Pope. Both are extremely popular and have achieved wide circulation, due to their succinct and scholarly treatment of the issues of the New Mass and the pope. His book on the New Mass, Work of Human Hands, was published in 2010. Fr. Cekada’s articles are available online at traditionalmass.org/articles. 

Once a month during the academic year Fr. Cekada traveled to Brooksville, Florida where he taught Canon Law, Liturgy, and Scripture at Most Holy Trinity Seminary.

Fr. Cekada died on September 11, 2020, in West Chester, Ohio.