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Eugène Tisserant | |
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| Dean of the College of Cardinals | |
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| Church | Roman Catholic Church |
| Appointed | 13 January 1951 |
| Term ended | 21 February 1972 |
| Predecessor | Francesco Marchetti Selvaggiani |
| Successor | Amleto Giovanni Cicognani |
| Other post(s) |
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| Previous post(s) |
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| Orders | |
| Ordination | 4 August 1907 by Charles-François Turinaz |
| Consecration | 25 July 1937 by Eugenio Pacelli |
| Created cardinal | 15 June 1936 byPius XI |
| Rank | Cardinal Bishop |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Eugène Gabriel Gervais Laurent Tisserant (1884-03-24)24 March 1884 |
| Died | 21 February 1972(1972-02-21) (aged 87) Albano Laziale,Province of Rome,Italy |
| Nationality | French |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
| Coat of arms | .svg) |
| Styles of Eugène Tisserant | |
|---|---|
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| Reference style | His Eminence |
| Spoken style | Your Eminence |
| Informal style | Cardinal |
| See | Porto e Santa Rufina (suburbicarian), Ostia (suburbicarian) |
Eugène-Gabriel-Gervais-Laurent Tisserant[1] (pronounced[øʒɛnɡabʁijɛlʒɛʁvɛloʁɑ̃tisʁɑ̃]; 24 March 1884 – 21 February 1972) was aFrenchprelate andcardinal of theCatholic Church. Elevated to the cardinalate in 1936, Tisserant was a prominent and long-time member of theRoman Curia.
Tisserant was born inNancy to Hippolyte and Octavée (née Connard) Tisserant.[2] From 1900 to 1904, he studiedtheology,Sacred Scripture,Hebrew,Syriac,Old Testament, andOrientalPatrology at theseminary in Nancy. He then studied inJerusalem underMarie-Joseph Lagrange,O.P., but returned toFrance in 1905 formilitary service. On 4 August 1907, Tisserant wasordained apriest byCharles-François Turinaz, Bishop of Nancy.
Tisserant served as aprofessor at thePontifical Roman Athenaeum S. Apollinare andcurator at theVatican Library from 1908 to 1914, at which time he became an intelligence officer in theFrench Army duringWorld War I. He was reportedly fluent in thirteen languages:Amharic,Arabic,Akkadian,English,French (native language),German,Greek,Hebrew,Italian,Latin,Persian,Russian andSyriac.[3]
Named assistant librarian of the Vatican Library in 1919 andMonsignor in 1921, Tisserant became Pro-Prefect of the Vatican Library on 15 November 1930 and was named aprotonotary apostolic on 13 January 1936.
In theconsistory of 15 June 1936, Tisserant was createdCardinal-Deacon byPope Pius XI, assigned as histitular church theBasilica ofSanti Vito, Modesto e Crescenzia. He was raised to the rank ofCardinal Priest soon afterwards, retaining the same title. On 25 June 1937, Tisserant was appointed theTitular Archbishop of Iconium byPope Pius XI. he received hisconsecration on the following 25 July from Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli (laterPope Pius XII), with Archbishop Giuseppe Migone andBishop Charles-Joseph-Eugène Ruch serving asco-consecrators, inSt. Peter's Basilica. He participated in theconclave of1939, which elected Pacelli asPope Pius XII. With the new pontiff's permission, he switched from his titular church to that ofSanta Maria sopra Minerva.
Tisserant held a number of offices in the Roman Curia. He served as secretary of theCongregation for the Oriental Churches (1936–1959), as president of thePontifical Biblical Commission (1938–1946) and as Prefect of theCongregation of Ceremonies (1951–1967). From 1957 to 1971, he served as Librarian and Archivist of the Holy Roman Church. Under Pius XII, Tisserant also headed a commission to investigate alleged abuses of appointments in theOrder of Malta, which concluded that there was no wrongdoing.[3]
In 1939, Tisserant urged Pius XII to promulgate anencyclical "on the duty of Catholics to resist the unjust orders of an authoritarian state."[4] After the outbreak ofWorld War II, Pius XII refused to release Tisserant as the head of the Vatican Library, preventing him from returning to France to serve in the army.[3]
In 1946, Tisserant was elevated to the rank ofCardinal Bishop by Pope Pius, taking the title ofPorto e Santa Rufina in 1946. After serving as vice-dean of theCollege of Cardinals from 1947 to 1951, he becamedean andCardinal Bishop of Ostia on 13 January 1951. As dean of the Sacred College, he presided at the Funeral Masses of Popes Pius XII and John XXIII and presided over the conclaves to elect their successors in1958 and1963. During the 1958 conclave, he was seen aspapabile by mostVatican-watchers, and it is generally believed that he received at least five votes in the early balloting.[5] In 1956, Tisserant received an honorary doctorate from Coimbra University, and in 1961, he was elected a member of theAcadémie Française.
From 1962 to 1965, Tisserant attended theSecond Vatican Council and sat on its Board of Presidency. As Dean of the College of Cardinals, he was the celebrant of the Masscoram Summo Pontifice at the opening ceremony of the council, before the Pope delivered the council's opening address and the other rites specific to the opening of a general council were performed.
He is said to have participated in negotiating a secret 1960s agreement between Soviet and Vatican officials that authorised Eastern Orthodox participation in theSecond Vatican Council in exchange for a noncondemnation of atheistic communism during the conciliar assemblies.[6][7] As Dean of the Sacred College, he was the first person after Pope Paul VI to sign each of the acts of the Second Vatican Council.
In 1962, Tisserant becameGrand Master of theOrder of the Holy Sepulchre, a position that he held until his death. In 1969, he demanded a retraction from CardinalLeo Joseph Suenens,Archbishop of Brussels-Mechelen, for the "defamatory and slanderous" statements that he allegedly made against the bureaucracy of the Roman Curia.[5] In 1970, when Paul VI's new retirement rules restricted the right to vote inpapal conclaves to cardinals under age 80, Tisserant, then 86, objected on the basis that each cardinal's health should determine his fitness and suggested that 73-year-old Paul VI seemed frail.[8]
Tisserant died in 1972 from aheart attack inAlbano Laziale, at age 87.Pope Paul VI took part in his funeral service.[9] He is buried in theBasilica of Porto e Santa Rufina inRome.[10]
Ordination history of Eugène Tisserant | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Preceded by | Dean of the College of Cardinals 13 January 1951 – 21 February 1972 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Archivist of the Holy Roman Church 14 September 1957 – 27 March 1971 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem 19 August 1960 – 21 February 1972 | Succeeded by |
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