His Eminence Thomas Tien Ken-hsin SVD | |
|---|---|
| Cardinal, Archbishop of Beijing | |
 | |
| Church | Catholic Church |
| Archdiocese | Beijing |
| Province | Hopeh |
| See | Beijing |
| Installed | 1946 |
| Term ended | July 24, 1967 |
| Predecessor | Paul Léon Cornelius Montaigne |
| Successor | Matthias Pei Shang-de |
| Other post(s) | Cardinal-Priest ofSanta Maria in Via |
| Previous post(s) |
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| Orders | |
| Ordination | June 9, 1918 |
| Consecration | October 29, 1939 |
| Created cardinal | February 18, 1946 byPope Pius XII |
| Rank | Cardinal-Priest |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1890-10-24)October 24, 1890 |
| Died | July 24, 1967(1967-07-24) (aged 76) Taipei,Taiwan |
| Buried | St. Joseph the Wonder Worker Church (Cardinal Tien Memorial Church),Chiayi City |
| Nationality | Republic of China |
| Parents | Kilian Tien Ken-sin Maria Yang |
| Coat of arms |  |
| Styles of Thomas Tien Ken-sin | |
|---|---|
| |
| Reference style | His Eminence |
| Spoken style | Your Eminence |
| Informal style | Cardinal |
Thomas Tien Ken-sin,SVD (Chinese:田耕莘;pinyin:Tián Gēngxīn; October 24, 1890 – July 24, 1967) was a ChineseCardinal of theCatholic Church and chair ofFu Jen Catholic University. He served asArchbishop ofPeking from 1946 until his death, and was elevated to thecardinalate in 1946 byPope Pius XII.
Thomas Tien Ken-sin was born in Chantsui,Yanggu, (Shantung province) to Kilian Tien Ken-sin and his wife Maria Yang.Baptized in 1901, he studied at theseminary inYenchowfu before beingordained to thepriesthood by BishopAugustin Henninghaus on June 9, 1918. Tien then did pastoral work in the Yangku Mission until 1939. He entered theSociety of the Divine Word on March 8, 1929, in theNetherlands, taking his first vows on February 2, 1931, and his final ones on March 7, 1935. He was raised toApostolic Prefect of Yangku on February 2, 1934.
On July 11, 1939, Tien was appointedApostolic Vicar of Yangku andTitular Bishop ofRuspae. He received hisepiscopal consecration on the following October 29 fromPope Pius XII himself, with Archbishops Celso Constantini andHenri Streicher,MAfr, serving asco-consecrators. Tien was later made Apostolic Vicar ofQingdao on November 10, 1942.
He was elevated toCardinal Priest ofSanta Maria in Via byPope Pius XII in theconsistory of February 18, 1946. Tien, the first cardinal fromChina, was then named, on April 11 of that same year, the firstArchbishop ofBeijing in post-Yuan Dynasty China.[1] In 1951 he was exiled from China by theCommunist regime, and spent this time inIllinois in theUnited States, to where he came that year for treatment of aheart ailment.[2] He was one of thecardinal electors who participated in the1958 papal conclave which selectedPope John XXIII, and wasApostolic Administrator ofTaipei from December 16, 1959 to 1966. From 1962 to 1965, he attended theSecond Vatican Council, andvoted in the1963 papal conclave, which selectedPope Paul VI.
Tien died in Taipei on July 24, 1967, at age 76. He is buried in the St. Joseph the Wonder Worker Church at Chiayi City.
| Catholic Church titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Vicar Apostolic of Qingdao 1936–1946 | Elevated to diocese |
| New diocese | Bishop of Qingdao | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Archbishop of Beijing 1946–1967 | Succeeded by Joseph Li Shan (recognized by the Holy See) |
| Preceded by Joseph Kuo Joshih (as archbishop) | Apostolic Administrator ofTaipei 1959–1966 | Succeeded by Stanislaus Lo Kuang (as archbishop) |
| Preceded by | Cardinal-Priest ofSanta Maria in Via 1946–1967 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | — TITULAR — Bishop of Ruspae 1939–1946 | Succeeded by |
Chinesecardinals | ||
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| Metropolitan See of Beijing |  | |
| Metropolitan See of Nanjing | ||
| See of Hong Kong | ||
| See of Kaohsiung | ||
| See of Shanghai | ||
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| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
