Charles Journet
Charles Journet | |
|---|---|
| Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria in Campitelli | |
| Church | Roman Catholic Church |
| In office | 5 March 1973 – 15 April 1975 |
| Predecessor | Carlo Chiarlo |
| Successor | Corrado Bafile |
| Previous post(s) |
|
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 15 July 1917 |
| Consecration | 20 February 1965 by François Charrière |
| Created cardinal | 22 February 1965 by Pope Paul VI |
| Rank |
|
| Personal details | |
| Born | Charles Journet 26 January 1891 |
| Died | 15 April 1975 (aged 84) Fribourg, Switzerland |
| Motto | Dominus misereatur ("Lord have mercy") |
| Coat of arms |  |
| Styles of Charles Journet | |
|---|---|
| |
| Reference style | His Eminence |
| Spoken style | Your Eminence |
| Informal style | Cardinal |
Charles Journet (26 January 1891 – 15 April 1975) was a Swiss Roman Catholic theologian. He was the first Swiss named a cardinal.
Journet has been considered a figure of holiness and a candidate for canonisation; he has been accorded the title Servant of God.
Life
[edit]Charles Journet was born in Geneva in 1891 as the son of Jean-Louis Journet and Jenny Bondat. He was baptized on the same day in the church of Sacré-Coeur and confirmed there on 12 June 1903 by Bishop Joseph Déruaz.
He studied at the seminary in Fribourg before being ordained to the priesthood on 15 July 1917. He then did pastoral work in the Diocese of Fribourg until 1924 and taught at the seminary there from 1924 to 1965. Together with Fr. François Charrière, he established the theological journal Nova et Vetera in 1926.[1]
Journet was raised to the rank of domestic prelate of his holiness on 13 August 1946 by Pope Pius XII.
Pope Paul VI announced on 25 January 1965 that he planned to make Journet a cardinal. On 15 February 1965, Journet was appointed titular archbishop of Furnos Minor. He received his episcopal consecration on 20 February from Bishop François Charrière, with Bishops Franz von Streng and Louis-Sevérin Haller as co-consecrators.[citation needed]
In the consistory two days later, on 22 February, he was one of the three European theologians elevated to the College of Cardinals by Paul VI, who made him cardinal deacon of Santa Maria in Campitelli.
Although he only attended the last session of the Second Vatican Council in 1965, Journet was nevertheless a rather influential figure at the council. He supported the documents Dignitatis humanae and Nostra aetate while also affirming the Church's traditional teaching on divorce.[2] The Pope himself requested two of the talks he gave during the last session: on the indissolubility of Christian Marriage and on religious freedom.[3][4] Journet was a close friend of the renowned philosopher Jacques Maritain, with whom he founded the theological journal Nova et Vetera in 1926. Both of them had a central role in the recation of Montini's profession of faith.
In 1969, Montini, visiting Geneva, described Journet as "a teacher and a friend for many years".[5]
A supporter of Socialist leader Miguel Arraes, the cardinal protested his imprisonment by the Brazilian military in the 1960s.[6]
He was protodeacon from the following 10 August 1971 until he opted to become a cardinal priest on 5 March 1973. His best-known work is considered to be The Church of the Word Incarnate. In his letters to Maritain, Journet stated that, during the council, the Pope kept the two volumes of his (voluminous) French treatise entitled L'Église du Verbe incarné (The Church of the Incarnated Word) on his desk.[7] Together with other writings, that treatise offered "the basic synthesis, the one from which Paul VI will be able to integrate all the other contributions."[8]
He is also seen as the mentor of Swiss Cardinal Georges Cottier.
Journet died in Fribourg at the age of 84 on 15 April 1975. He is buried in the Chartreuse de la Valsainte in Gruyères.
Beatification process
[edit]His beatification cause has been approved. The Congregation for the Causes of Saints gave their approval and granted him the title of Servant of God.
References
[edit]- ^ "Archbishop Lefebvre and Archbishop Charrière Before the Ecône Saga". Society of Saint Pius X. 20 October 2022. Archived from the original on 9 April 2025.
- ^ "New Thinking on Divorce". Time. 18 March 1966. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007.
- ^ P. Mamie, La présence et la participation du cardinal Journet à la quatrième session du concile Vatican II (14 septembre-8 décembre 1965), in Nova et Vetera 81/2 (2006) 171-174, ivi 171 (OCLC 718502666); cf. Jean-Pierre Torrell, Présence de Journet à Vatican II, in PH. CHENAUX (ed.), Charles Journet (1891-1975), un théologien en son siècle, in Actes du Colloque de Genève 1991, Fribourg-Paris 1992, 41-68.
- ^ As quoted in Pinna, Samuele. «Dottrina che scandalizza e che salva». Il Matrimonio indissolubile secondo Charles Journet (PDF) (in Italian). Archived from the original on 8 April 2025. Retrieved 8 April 2025.
- ^ Insegnamenti di Paolo VI, Città del Vaticano 1963-1979, vol. VII, 409.
- ^ "Hard Blow for the Hard Line". Time. 30 April 1965. Archived from the original on 3 February 2011.
- ^ C. Journet – J. Maritain, Correspondance. Volume V, 1958-1964, Saint-Maurice 2006, 10.
- ^ J.-P. Torrell, Paul VI et le cardinal Journet. Aux sources d’une ecclésiologie, in Nova et Vetera 61/4 (1986) 161-174, qui 173
External links
[edit]- Works by or about Charles Journet at the Internet Archive
- Catholic-Hierarchy [self-published]
- Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church
- Journet's Theology of the Church Archived 21 December 2019 at the Wayback Machine
- The Meaning of Grace
