Léon Lommel

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Styles of Léon Lommel


Reference style	The Most Reverend
Spoken style	Your Excellency
Religious style	Monsignor
Posthumous style	none

Léon Lommel (February 3, 1893—March 12, 1978) was a Luxembourgian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Luxembourg from 1956 to 1971.

[edit] Biography

Léon Lommel was born in Schleiderhof, as the son of a wealthy farmer. He studied in Echternach, Luxembourg, Rome, and Innsbruck, where he was ordained to the priesthood on July 13, 1919. Lommel later obtained his doctorate in philosophy and licentiate in theology, and taught philosophy and sacred art at the Seminary of Luxembourg.

As a canon of Luxembourg Cathedral, he worked with architect Hubert Schumacher on its expansion from 1935 to 1938. During World War II, he was sent to France after being interrogated by the Gestapo; he worked in reconstructing his country's churches and chapels after returning there following the end of the war.

On May 14, 1949, Lommel was appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Luxembourg and Titular Bishop of Nephelis by Pope Pius XII, receiving his episcopal consecration on the following June 29 from Fernando Cardinal Cento.

He later succeeded Joseph Philippe, SCI, as the seventh Bishop of Luxembourg upon the latter's death on October 21, 1956. From 1962 to 1965, Lommel attended the Second Vatican Council, in which he was an enthusiastic and engaged participant. The elderly Bishop retired on February 13, 1971, after fifteen years of service, passing on the governance of the diocese to his coadjutor, Bishop Jean Hengen.