April 8. On this date in 1960, Mason Remey, the architect of the several Bahá'í Houses of Worship who Shoghi Effendi had appointed a Hand of the Cause and President of the International Bahá'í Council, issued a written announcement claiming that he was the second Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith.

 

April 8. On this date in 1960, Mason Remey, the architect of the several Bahá'í Houses of Worship who Shoghi Effendi had appointed a Hand of the Cause and President of the International Bahá'í Council, issued a written announcement claiming that he was the second Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith.

On April 8, 1960, Mason Remey, the architect of the Bahá'í Houses of Worship in Uganda and Australia who Shoghi Effendi had appointed a Hand of the Cause and President of the International Bahá'í Council, issued a written announcement (also here and here) claiming that he was the second Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith. He based his claim on the idea that by appointing him as President of the International Bahá'í Council, the embryonic form of the Universal House of Justice which would be led by the Guardian, Shoghi Effendi had in fact implicitly named him as the second Guardian. Mason Remey's claim was largely rejected with several notable exceptions, including five members of the National Spiritual Assembly of France lead by Joel Marangella. The remaining 26 Hands of the Cause unanimously declared Remey and whoever followed him Covenant-breakers.