Jozef-Ernest van Roey

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Styles of
Jozef-Ernest Cardinal van Roey
Reference style His Eminence
Spoken style Your Eminence
Informal style Cardinal
See Mechelen


Jozef-Ernest Cardinal van Roey (January 13, 1874—August 6, 1961) was a Belgian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Mechelen from 1926 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1927.

[edit] Biography

Jozef-Ernest van Roey was born in Vorselaar, as the first of the five children of Stanislas and Anna-Maria (née Bartholomeus) van Roey. His siblings were named Bernadette, Louis, Véronique, and Stephanie (who became a nun). He was baptized the same day of his birth in the parish church of Vorselaar. Roey studied under the Jesuits in Vorsselaer before entering Saint-Joseph School in Herentals in 1885. He graduated in 1892, whence he entered the minor seminary in Mechelen. From 1894 to 1897, he studied theology at the Major Seminary of Mechelen. He was ordained to the priesthood by Pierre-Lambert Cardinal Goossens on September 18, 1897.

Roey then furthered his studies at the University of Louvain, from where he obtained his doctorate in theology and the habilitation in 1903. He taught at the Collège Americaine from 1901 to 1905, and at the University of Louvain from 1905 to 1907. During this time, Roey also became a friend of Columba Marmion, OSB, who would later be beatified in 2000. On May 19, 1907, he was made an honorary canon of the metropolitan chapter of Mechelen. He served as vicar general of the city from September 30, 1907 to 1925, and was raised to the rank of Domestic Prelate of His Holiness on April 2, 1909. Roey was participated in the Conversations of Mechelen, a series of ecumenical dialogue between clergymen from the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches hosted by Désiré Cardinal Mercier, from 1921 to 1926. He became secretary of the diocesan synod in 1924, and a protonotary apostolic on February 11, 1925.

On March 12, 1926, Roey was appointed Archbishop of Mechelen, and thus Primate, of Belgium by Pope Pius XI. He received his episcopal consecration on the following April 25 from Archbishop Clemente Micara, with Bishops Gustave-Joseph Waffelaert and Gaston-Antoine Rasneur serving as co-consecrators, in the Cathedral of Mechelen. Pius XI created him Cardinal Priest of S. Maria in Arac Coeli in the consistory of June 20, 1927. The Belgian primate served as papal legate to the centennial celebration of the University of Louvain four days later, on June 24. In February 1931, he denounced cremation, declaring, "That funeral honors should be paid to a cremated corpse is a defiance of Catholic conscience which objects to cremation...Any funeral is meaningless after destruction of the body by burning"[1].

The Cardinal was heavily opposed to Nazi Germany, and once said, "With Germany we step many degrees downward and reach the lowest possible depths. We have a duty of conscience to combat and to strive for the defeat of these dangers...Reason and good sense both direct us towards confidence, towards resistance"[2]. In 1937, Roey condemned Rexism as "a danger to the country and the Church" and issued a precautionary condemnation of anyone who cast a blank ballot, much to the anger of Adolf Hitler[3]. Although some saw this as an unwarranted ecclesiastical entrance into the political sphere, the Cardinal defended himself by saying, "The hierarchic authority is perfectly entitled to pronounce on any political party or political movement in so far as that party or movement opposes religious well-being or the precepts of Christian morals"[4], a statement which earned the support of Pope Pius. Also known as the "Iron Bishop," he excommunicated members of the Flemish National Union following World War II[5]. He was one of the cardinal electors in the 1939 papal conclave, and later participated in the conclave of 1958, which selected Pope John XXIII. Roey presided over the marriage of Prince Albert and Princess Paola Margherita Consiglia Ruffo di Calabria on July 2, 1959, and of King Baudouin I and Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragón on December 15, 1960. He protested against the abdication of King Leopold III in favor of his son, Badouin[6].

Roey, who had long suffered from a circulatory illness[7], was administered the last rites and Communion by Bishop Leo Suenens on August 5, 1961. At 6:05 a.m. on the next day, he died at the age of 87. After laying in state for three days in the archiepiscopal palace of Mechelen, his funeral Mass was held on August 10, and was attended by King Leopold and Queen Elizabeth of Belgium, Prime Minister Théo Lefèvre, the ministers of state, the entire Belgian episcopate, and Cardinals Francis Spellman and Bernardus Alfrink. Roey was then buried in the crypt of the Cathedral of Mechelen, next to the vault of Engelbert Cardinal Sterckx, in accord with his explicit requests.

[edit] References

  1. ^ TIME Magazine. Ashes March 2, 1931
  2. ^ TIME Magazine. Prelates Against Hitler December 15, 1941
  3. ^ TIME Magazine. Roey v. Rex April 19, 1937
  4. ^ TIME Magazine. "Entitled to Pronounce" April 4, 1938
  5. ^ TIME Magazine. Milestones August 18, 1961
  6. ^ Ibid.
  7. ^ Ibid.

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Désiré-Joseph Mercier		 Archbishop of Mechelen
1926–1961		 Succeeded by
Leo Joseph Suenens