Teodolfo Mertel, the last man to have been created cardinal without first having been ordained a deacon. He was ordained to the diaconate in 1858, a few months after becoming a cardinal.

In the historical practice of the Catholic Church, a lay cardinal was a man whom the pope appointed to the College of Cardinals while still a layman. This appointment carried with it the obligation to be ordained to a clerical order,[1] meaning that "lay cardinal" was not a permanent state, but a term in reference to a man who was appointed cardinal prior to taking on the clerical state corresponding to that appointment.[2]

The current law of the Catholic Church is that a man must be first ordained at least a priest in order to be considered for appointment as a cardinal.[3]

List of laymen who were created cardinals

NameYear created cardinalHighest clerical order received
Pope Paul III 1493 Pope
Ferdinando I de' Medici1562Minor orders[4]
Maurice of Savoy1607Minor orders[4]
Francisco Gómez Rojas de Sandoval1618[5]Priest[6]
Ferdinand of Austria1620Minor orders[7]
Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino1641Minor orders
Marino Carafa di Belvedere1801Resigned before being ordained[8][9]
Teodolfo Mertel1858Deacon[10]

Discontinuation

In 1917, Pope Benedict XV promulgated the first edition of the Code of Canon Law, which included a provision that a man must be first ordained a priest prior to being considered for appointment as a cardinal.[11]

According to The New York Times, Pope Paul VI considered making the French Catholic philosopher Jacques Maritain a cardinal in 1965.[12]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Cartwright, William Cornwallis (1868). On Papal Conclaves. Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas. p. 123. Laymen were named Cardinals only for twelve months, being bound within that period to take Deacon's orders
  2. ↑ Cartwright, William Cornwallis (1868). On Papal Conclaves. Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas. pp. 121–122. In all these cases, however, it is clear that some orders had been taken; and therefore, in the strict sense of the term, these Cardinals were no longer laymen.
  3. ↑ Code of Canon Law. 1983. Canon 351 §1.
  4. 1 2 Cartwright, William Cornwallis (1868). On Papal Conclaves. Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas. pp. 120–122.
  5. ↑ Feros, Antonio (2006). Kingship and Favoritism in the Spain of Philip III. Cambridge University Press. p. 241.
  6. ↑ "Francisco Gómez Cardinal Rojas de Sandoval". Catholic Hierarchy.
  7. ↑ Miranda, Salvador. "Consistory of July 29, 1619". The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church. Florida International University.
  8. ↑ Miranda, Salvador. "Consistory of February 23, 1801". The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church. Florida International University.
  9. ↑ "Mister Marino Carafa di Belvedere". Catholic Hierarchy.
  10. ↑ "Teodolfo Cardinal Mertel". Catholic Hierarchy.
  11. ↑ Code of Canon Law. 1917. Canon 232 §1.
  12. ↑ "Jacques Maritain Dies at 90". The New York Times. April 29, 1973. Retrieved April 27, 2022.
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