Gaetano Card. Cicognani,
Age 80, Dies in Rome
ROME — A Pontifical Requiem
Mass was offered here (Feb. 8)
for Gaetano Cardinal Cicognani,
80, a veteran of 38 years of dip
lomatic service for the Holy See
and brother of Amleto Cardinal
Cicognani, former Apostolic Dele
gate to the U.S.
•v The Cardinal, who was Prefect
of the Sacred Congregation of
Rites, which deals with the can
onization of saints, died (Feb. 5)
in Rome of a heart attack. He
received the last rites of the
Church shortly before his death.
His Holiness Pope John XXIII
sent him a special blessing.
Present at the deathbed of the
cardinal was his brother, Amleto
Cardinal Cicognani.
A MEDICAL bulletin issued
after the Cardinal’s death stated
that on February 2 he was struck
by an attack of influenza, but his
condition was not considered
grave. The situation was compli
cated, however, by a recurrence of
a hemorrhage he had suffered pre
viously, which brought on the
collapse of the heart.
Gaetano Cardinal Cicognani cli
maxed his long and distinguished
career in the Vatican diplomatic
corps by embarking on another
one in December, 1953, when he
was named Prefect of the Sacred
Congregation of Rites. As a dip
lomat and as head of the Congre
gation which “makes saints, ’
Cardinal Cicognani shunned the
limelight.
Cardinal Cicognani’s death
leaves the College of Cardinals
with a total of 79 members, 27
Italians and 52 non-Italians.
GAETANO Cicognani was born
in Brisighella, Italy, on November
26, 1881. He studied at the dio
cesan seminary there and was or
dained in Rome on September 24,
1904.
After service on the Tribunal of
the Sacred Roman Rota, high
Church court of appeals, and as
a professor of cannon law at the
4pollinaris Pontifical Seminary in
Rome, he entered the Pontifical
Ecclesiastical Academy and com
pleted diplomatic studies there.
In early 1915 he was appointed
OFFICIAL
The following appointments are
announced by the Most Reverend
Bishop through the Diocesan Chan
cery:
Effective on Monday, February
5th, Father Norbert Norton O.F.M.,
is appointed pastor of St. Anthony’s
parish in Asheville.
Effective on Friday, February
16th, Father Robert Lawson is
appointed assistant at Christ the
King Church in Kings Mountain.
Effective on Friday, February
16th, Father Ronald McLaughlin is
appointed assistant at Our Lady of
Guadalupe Church, Newton Grove.
Rt. Rev. George E. Lynch
Chancellor
an apprentice in the Vatican Sec
retariat of State. He was namec
a Papal Chamberlain on March 9
1916, and soon afterwards waf
transferred to the Papal Nuncia
ture in Spain.
In November, 1924, he was re
called to Rome and was named
Internuncio to Bolivia. He was
named Titular Archbishop of An
cira on January 11, 1925, anc
was consecrated on February 1
About a week later the Internun
ciature was raised to the level of
a nunciature, and Archbishop Ci
cognani became the first Papal
Nuncio to Bolivia.
Archbishop Cicognani wai
named a Cardinal at the Consis
tory of January 12, 1953, and ir
December, 1953, he was named
Prefect of the Sacred Cor.grega
tion of Rites.
Cardinal Cicognani served as s
member of numerous sacred con
gregations or commissions. Thess
included the Congregation of Re
ligious, the Consistorial Congrega
tion, the Congregation of Sacra
mental Discipline and the Ponti
fical Commission for the Authen
tic Interpretation of the Code oi
Canon Law.
Pope John Sets Next October It
For Ecumenical Council Opening
VATICAN CITY — (NC) — His
Holiness Pope John XXIII set next
October 11 as the opening date for
the long-heralded ecumenical
council.
In so doing he chose to tie it to
the memory of the Council of
Ephesus in 431, whose decisions
upheld belief in the Virgin Mary
as Mother of God, which remains
today a keystone in the belief of
both Catholics and Orthodox Chris
tians. October 11 is the feast of
the Divine Maternity of Mary.
The Pope said his main hopes
for the results of the council, to
be known as the Second Vatican
Ecumenical Council, are “that the
Church, Spouse of Christ, may
strengthen still more her divine
energies and extend her beneficial
influence in still greater measure
to the minds of men.” He added:
“In this way there is further rea
son to hope that all people — espe
cially those whom we so sorrow
fully see suffering because of mis
fortune, discords and mournful
conflicts—turning their eyes more
trustfully toward Christ . . . may
finally achieve true peace in re
spect for mutual rights and du
ties.”
Pope John announced the date
for the council on February 2, the
feast of the Purification of the
Blessed Virgin — three years and
eight days after he first revealed
his intention to summon all the
Catholic bishops of the world for
a 21st ecumenical council.
He made the date known in a
“motu proprio,” a document drawn
up and issued on his own initiative
and personally signed by him. The
document is not an actual sum
mons to the council, and does not
spell out to whom invitations to
. the council will be sent. Nor does
it state what topics will be discuss
ed. These things are left for later
action by the Pope.
The motu proprio recalls that
Pope John issued a statement last
Christmas Day announcing that the
council would take place in 1962,
and states that the date for the
opening is being announced now
Pope Expresses Anxiety
Over Algeria, Congo
VATICAN CITY — (NC) — Hi;
Holiness Pope John XXIII has ex
pressed anxiety and sorrow ovei
increasing violence in Algeria anc
the Congo, and called for prayer:
to end world strife.
The Pope spoke at Candlema:
ceremonies at which specially dec
orated candles were presented t<
him. Among those present wer(
heads of religious orders and rec
tors of national colleges in Rome
“On this holiday, unfortunately
not everything is serene happi
ness,” Pope John said. He addec
that “lamentations are reaching
Us from every part of the worlc
— from Europe, from Asia, fron
Africa, from America — where so
cial restlessness is subverting civ
il order.”
The Pope contrasted the lighi
shed by the candles he had receiv
ed with the darkness besetting th<
world and made special referenc(
to Algeria, where the increasing
ly bitter conflict between Moslen
nationalists and European settlers
has taken hundreds of lives in re
cent weeks.
“Permit Us to name explicitlj
one country,” he said, “which W«
visited in 1950 and which left or
Us an indelible and beautiful im
pression. That country is Algeria.’
“Every day and every night,’
the Pope said, “the most serious
kind of violence increases the num
ber of victims there.”
“The very sad events that occm
one after the other in every pari
of the world, some of which havs
become more serious in receni
weeks, even exploding into epi
sodes of open disorder and crime,
are reasons for serious anxiety
and heartfelt sorrow,” he added.
The Pontiff expressed sadness
at “all episodes of abuse of all
kinds, whether they be rash re
; bellions or arbitrary repressions,
which continue to stain the world
1 with blood.”
“Experience proves that violence
produces violence,” he continued.
“This is not the way to defend the
rights of man, his freedom, civic
order, true progress, civilization
and peace.”
Pope John referred to the Con
go, where at least a score of mis
sioners have been massacred since
the beginning of the year, saying:
“Many missionaries have fallen
in similar storms while obeying
the commandment of Christ . . .
thereby promoting spiritual and
social progress.”
Mrs. Shea Dies
MONROE — Mrs. Cecelia
Shea, mother of Father Rob
ert F. Shea, pastor of St.
Joseph and Lourdes church
es in Monroe, died January
30. Fr. Shea conducted
funeral services for his
mother at North Quincy,
Massachusetts Saturday, Feb
ruary 3 at the home parish.
The Shea family lives at 33
Glover Avenue, North Quin
cy. — May she rest in
peace!
so that the participants can plan
their schedules accordingly.
The Pope again appealed for
prayers for the success of the coun
cil. “We can do no less,” he said,
“than exhort once more all Our
sons, together with all the clergy
and the Christian people who
await it with great anticipation, to
intensify ever more their prayers
to God for the happy success of
this undertaking . . .”
The time lag between Pope
John’s initial announcement of the
council — on January 25, 1959 —
and the date for the opening is
well under the five years which
elapsed for the last council — the
Vatican Council of 1869-70. Pope
Pius IX first revealed his inten
tion to convoke a council on De
cember 6, 1864. It did not open
until December 8, 1869.
That council lasted 316 days. It
was adjourned suddenly on Octo
ber 20, 1870, after Rome had been
taken by Piedmontese troops, thus
ending the Papal States.
Pope John in June of 1960 set
up a dozen preparatory commis
sions and three secretariats to lay
the groundwork for it, and he has
personally attended their meetings
to spur on their work.
Longest of the ecumenical coun
cils was the 19th, the Council of
Trent. It dragged on from 1545 to
1563, during the reigns of three
popes. In contrast, none of the
first four councils lasted as long
as four months. One of them, the
fourth, at Chalcedon, lasted only
three weeks. Shortly after becom
ing Pope in 590, St. Gregory the
Great referred to the first four
councils — Nicea in 325, Constan
tinople in 381, Ephesus in 431 and
Chalcedon in 451 — and declared:
“On these as on a foursquare
stone rises and stands the struc
ture of faith and of each one’s life
and action. Whosoever does not
cling to their solidity, even though
he be a stone, lies outside the
structure.”
In setting October 11 for the
opening of the council, the Pon
tiff put major stress on the ancient
doctrine that Mary is Mother of
God rather than on more modern
Marian definitions, which are view
ed by some Christians as a stum
bling block to unity.
“We have especially chosen this
date,” the Pope said, “because it
links us with the memory of the
great Council of Ephesus, which
was of extreme importance in the
history of the Church.”
Ecumenical Council Has
Supreme Jurisdiction
(N.C.W.C. News Service)
•" t
An ecumenical council is a
gathering of the world’s bishops
and other high Church authorities,
called by the pope, which has su
preme jurisdiction over the whole
Church.
The 21st such meeting will be
the Second Vatican Council, whose
opening date has been announced
by His Holiness Pope John XXIII
for October 11, 1962.
The meetings of an ecumenical
council are presided over by the
pope or his legate and deal with
matters of faith, morals, worship
and Church discipline. Its decrees,
if approved by the pope, are in
fallible and binding on all Cath
olics.
But the council derives its au
thority from the pope and its de
crees have no binding force until
they are confirmed and promul
gated by the pontiff. However, de
crees decided on at a meeting per
sonally attended by the pope re
quire no further confirmation.
There is no appeal from the
pope to an ecumenical council. If
the pope who calls a council should
die while it is in session, it would
be automatically suspended until
reconvoked by the pontiff’s suc
cessor.
The pope has the right to deter
mine the matters to be discussed
by the council and may suspend or
dissolve it.
Those entitled by canon law to
attend a council include cardinals,
even those who are not bishops;
patriarchs, primates, archbishops
and residential bishops, even those
not yet consecrated; abbots and
independent prelates; heads of cer
tain monastic congregations, and
heads of other religious orders and
titular bishops, if invited.
In addition, experts in theology
and canon law may be invited to
the council as consultors but have
no vote in council decisions.
At the Second Vatican Council
it is expected that leaders of non
Catholic Christian churches will
also be present as observers.
ALERT CATHOUCS READ
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