Franjo Šeper
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
His Eminence Franjo Cardinal Šeper (2 October 1905—30 December 1981) was a Croatian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was elevated to the cardinalate in 1965 and was the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith from 1968 until his resignation a month before his death.
Contents |
[edit] Life and Ministry
Born in Osijek (then part of Austria-Hungary, now Croatia), he and his family moved to Zagreb in 1910; his father was a tailor and his mother a seamstress. Studying in Zagreb and Rome (including the Pontifical Gregorian University), Šeper was ordained a priest by Archbishop Giuseppe Palica, titular archbishop of Filippi and vicegerent of Rome, on 26 October 1930. He did pastoral work in the Archdiocese of Zagreb and, in 1934, was appointed secretary to the Archbishop. In 1941 Father Šeper became the rector of the archdiocesan seminary, a post which he held for the next decade. On 22 July 1954 he was named coadjutor archbishop of Zagreb and titular archbishop of Philippopolis; he received his episcopal consecration on the following 21 September from Archbishop Josip Ujčić of Belgrade.
[edit] Archbishop of Zagreb
| Styles of Franjo Cardinal Šeper |
|
 |
|
| Reference style | His Eminence |
| Spoken style | Your Eminence |
| Informal style | Cardinal |
| See | Zagreb |
He succeeded Alojzije Cardinal Stepinac as Archbishop of Zagreb on 5 March 1960, and was created a Cardinal-Priest (with the title of Ss. Pietro e Paolo a Via Ostiense) by Pope Paul VI in the consistory of 22 February 1965. Cardinal Šeper, who advocated religious liberty and the liturgical introduction of the vernacular during the Second Vatican Council, was named Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on 8 January 1968; he resigned as Archbishop of Zagreb on 20 August 1969. He was also a cardinal elector in the August and October conclaves of 1978.
Cardinal Šeper retired as Prefect on 25 November 1981 and died a month later, on the morning of 30 December, at 76 from a heart attack in Gemelli Hospital. Pope John Paul II presided over his funeral Mass, and the cardinal's body was later transferred to Zagreb, where it is buried beside the tomb of Cardinal Stepinac.
On the 25th anniversary of his death (30 December 2006), Šeper's successor as Prefect, William Cardinal Levada celebrated a Requiem Mass at the Zagreb cathedral.
[edit] Trivia
- During his visit to the United States in 1966, he received an honorary doctorate from Villanova University.
[edit] External links
- 1968 News article on Šeper's appointment as Prefect of CDF
- Michael Davies's account of his 1980 meeting with Šeper
| Preceded by Alojzije Stepinac |
Archbishop of Zagreb 1960-1970 |
Succeeded by Franjo Kuharić |
| Preceded by Alfredo Ottaviani |
Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith 1968-1981 |
Succeeded by Joseph Ratzinger |
 |
This article about a Roman Catholic bishop or archbishop is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
