Maurice Feltin
Maurice Feltin (15 May 1883 – 27 September 1975) was a French cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Paris from 1949 to 1966, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1953 by Pope Pius XII.
Maurice Feltin | |
|---|---|
| Cardinal, Archbishop Emeritus of Paris | |
 Portrait. | |
| Church | Roman Catholic Church |
| Archdiocese | Paris |
| See | Paris |
| Appointed | 15 August 1949 |
| Term ended | 1 December 1966 |
| Predecessor | Emmanuel Suhard |
| Successor | Pierre Veuillot |
| Other post(s) | Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria della Pace (1953–75) |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 3 July 1909 by Léon-Adolphe Amette |
| Consecration | 11 March 1928 by Charles-Henri-Joseph Binet |
| Created cardinal | 12 January 1953 by Pope Pius XII |
| Rank | Cardinal-Priest |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Maurice Feltin 15 May 1883 Delle, Territoire de Belfort, France |
| Died | 27 September 1975 (aged 92) Thiais, Paris, France |
| Previous post(s) |
|
| Motto | Animam pro ovibus |
| Signature |  |
| Coat of arms |  |
| Styles of Maurice Feltin | |
|---|---|
| |
| Reference style | His Eminence |
| Spoken style | Your Eminence |
| Informal style | Cardinal |
| See | Paris (Emeritus) |
Biography
Born in Delle, Territoire-de-Belfort, Maurice Feltin studied at the Seminary of Saint-Sulpice in Paris before being ordained a priest on 3 July 1909. He then did pastoral work in Besançon until 1914, at which time he was made an officer in the French Army during World War I. For his work, he was awarded with the Croix-de-Guerre, the Médaille militaire, and the Légion d'honneur.
On 19 December 1927, Feltin was appointed Bishop of Troyes by Pope Pius XI. He received his episcopal consecration on 11 March 1928 from Cardinal Henri-Charles-Joseph Binet, with Bishops Paul-Jules-Narcisse Rémond and Jean-Marcel Rodié serving as co-consecrators. Feltin was promoted to Archbishop of Sens on 16 August 1932, and was later named Archbishop of Bordeaux on 16 December 1935. On 15 August 1949, he became the twenty-third Archbishop of Paris.
He was created Cardinal Priest of Santa Maria della Pace by Pope Pius XII in the consistory of 12 January 1953. He was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 1958 papal conclave and the 1963 papal conclave. He attended the Second Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965. He resigned as Paris' archbishop on 21 December 1966. After the first meeting between Church and Freemasonry which had been held on 11 April 1969 at the convent of the Divine Master in Ariccia, he was the protagonist of a series of public handshakes between high prelates of the Roman Catholic Church and the heads of Freemasonry.[1]
He died in Thiais, outside Paris, at age 92, and was buried in Notre Dame Cathedral.
Trivia
- Feltin condemned the legend of Santa Claus, claiming that it debased the "Christian significance of Christmas".[2]
- In 1959, Feltin requested of the Holy Office that the Worker-Priest movement be revived, albeit under strict controls; his request, however, was denied.[3]
- In 1963, Feltin denied Édith Piaf a religious funeral due to her controversial life.[4] However, on 10 October 2013, fifty years after her death, the Roman Catholic Church gave Piaf a memorial Mass in the St. Jean-Baptiste Church in Belleville, Paris, the parish into which she was born.
References
- Sandro Magister (19 August 1999). "Tra il papa e il massone non c'è comunione" [There is no communion between the pope and the Mason] (in Italian). L'Espresso.
- Time Magazine. Death to Santa Claus 7 January 1952
- Time Magazine. End of the Worker-Priests 28 September 1959
- Jeffries, Stuart (8 November 2003). "The love of a poet". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 July 2007.
External links
- Catholic-Hierarchy
- Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church Archived 13 April 2018 at archive.today
- Newspaper clippings about Maurice Feltin in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW
