Peter Seiichi Shirayanagi (白柳 誠一 Shirayanagi Seiichi, born June 17, 1928; died December 30, 2009) was a Cardinal Priest of the Roman Catholic Church and Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Tokyo.[1][2]
Born in Hachiōji, Tokyo, Japan, Shirayanagi studied at Sophia University, earning a degree in philosophy in 1951 and a specialization in theology in 1954. Ordained a priest on 21 December 1954 at Kanda Catholic Cathedral, he went to study at the Pontifical Urban University in Rome, earning a doctorate in Canon law in 1960.
Ordained titular Bishop of Atenia and Auxiliary of Tokyo in 1966, he was named titular Archbishop of Castro and Coadjutor Archbishop of the Tokyo Archdiocese in 1969, and succeeded to the post of Archbishop of Tokyo in 1970. As archbishop, he continued the Tokyo Archdiocesan Convention, implementing the decrees of the Second Vatican Council, and in 1989 led a group to visit the Catholic Church in China. From 1983 to 1992, he presided over the Japanese Catholic Bishops' conference, which opened the Japanese Catholic Center in Tokyo in 1990.
| Styles of Peter Shirayanagi |
|
|---|---|
| Reference style | His Eminence |
| Spoken style | Your Eminence |
| Informal style | Cardinal |
| See | Tokyo |
In 1994, he was proclaimed cardinal by Pope John Paul II with the title of Cardinal-Priest of Santa Emerenziana a Tor Fiorenza. On 12 June 2000, he retired as archbishop of Tokyo. He was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2005 papal conclave that selected Pope Benedict XVI.
Shirayanagi was an honorary member of A.V. Edo-Rhenania Tokyo, a catholic student fraternity that is affiliated with the Cartellverband der katholischen deutschen Studentenverbindungen.