Jean-Marie Lustiger
His Eminence Aron Jean-Marie Lustiger | |
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Notre Dame de Paris, Paris, France | |
Denomination | Roman Catholic |
Parents | Charles and Gisèle Lustiger |
Aron Jean-Marie Lustiger (French pronunciation:
Life and work
Early years
Lustiger was born Aron Lustiger in Paris to a
Sometime between the ages of ten and twelve, Lustiger came across a Protestant Bible and felt inexplicably attracted to it. On the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, the family moved to Orléans.[1][4]
In March 1940, during
Lustiger, his father, and sister sought refuge in unoccupied southern France, while his mother returned to Paris to run the family business. In September 1942, his mother was deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp where she was murdered the following year. The surviving family returned to Paris at the end of the war.[5] Lustiger's father tried unsuccessfully to have his son's baptism annulled, and even sought the help of the chief rabbi of Paris.[6]
Early career
Styles of Aron Jean-Marie Lustiger | ||
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Reference style His Eminence | | |
Spoken style | Your Eminence | |
Informal style | Cardinal | |
See | Paris (emeritus) |
Lustiger graduated from the
For the next ten years, he was the director of Richelieu Centre, which trains university chaplains and counsels lay teachers and students of the
From 1969 to 1979, Lustiger was
On 10 November 1979, Lustiger was appointed
Lustiger received his
Archbishop of Paris (1981–2005)
On 31 January 1981 Lustiger was named
Lustiger was considered a first-rate communicator and he was a personal friend of Jean Gélamur, head of the Catholic media group Bayard Presse.[7] The new archbishop was particularly attentive to the media; he developed Catholic radio and television channels (Radio Notre-Dame) after François Mitterrand's liberalization of French media in 1981. He founded KTO TV in 1999, which struggled financially.[8] Lustiger also founded a new seminary for training priests, bypassing the existing arrangements.
He was considered, primarily by his critics, to be authoritarian, earning him the nickname of "Bulldozer".
He was incardinated
Lustiger carried out several reforms in the Archdiocese of Paris concerning priests' training, creating in 1984 an independent theological faculty in the
In 1984, Lustiger led a mass rally at
Lustiger had his right-hand man,
Along with his clerical contacts, Lustiger maintained contacts with the political world. He developed rather good working relations with
Lustiger's search for dialogue with politicians led to his founding in 1992 of the Centre Pastoral d'Etudes politiques at St. Clotilde church in the 7th arrondissement, close to the hub of the French establishment. He sought to identify and conciliate rising national élites in politics and communication. He was less amenable to initiatives from non-French Catholic groups or individuals (their position was inconclusively debated at the Diocesan Synod).
Relations with the cultural sphere were promoted by a series of Lenten Sermons at Notre-Dame (into which dialogue with prominent French intellectuals and state-employed academics were introduced) and by plans for the opening of the Centre St. Bernard in the 5th arrondissement.
Lustiger was never elected as head of the
Theology and ethics
Lustiger upheld papal authority in theology and
He considered Christianity to be the accomplishment of Judaism, and the New Testament to be the logical continuation of the Old Testament. In Le Choix de Dieu (The Choice of God, 1987), he declared that modern anti-Semitism was the product of the Enlightenment, whose philosophy he attacked.[2][7]
He read the
When appointed to Paris he encouraged some liberal clergy to return to the lay state. He was influential in the appointment of his moderate conciliar auxiliary Georges Gilson to the See of Le Mans, replacing senior clergy with men who shared similar views to his own.
He pursued
Lustiger was an outspoken opponent of racism and anti-Semitism. He was strongly critical of
He incurred the hostility of some in the Spanish Church because he strongly opposed the project to canonize Queen Isabella I of Castile. In 1974, Pope Paul VI had opened her cause for beatification, which placed her on the path toward possible sainthood. Lustiger's opposition was due to the fact that Isabella and her husband Ferdinand of Aragon had expelled Jews from her domains in 1492.
Lustiger was a favorite of Pope John Paul II. He had a Polish background and staunchly upheld the Pope's conservative views in the face of much hostility from
Relations with the Jewish world
Along with Cardinal Francis Arinze[12] and Bishop Jean-Baptiste Gourion of Jerusalem, Lustiger was one of only three prelates of his time who were converts to the Catholic faith; he and Gourion were the only two who were born Jewish and still considered themselves "Jewish" all their lives.[13][14] He said he was proud of his Jewish origins and described himself as a "fulfilled Jew", for which he was chastised by Christians and Jews alike. Former Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi of Israel Yisrael Meir Lau publicly denounced Lustiger. Lau accused Lustiger of betraying the Jewish people by converting to Catholicism.[15] Lustiger, who claimed that he was still a Jew, considered being "Jewish" as an ethnic designation and not exclusively a religious one. Lustiger's strong support for the State of Israel, conflicting with the Vatican's officially neutral position, also won him Jewish support.
On becoming Archbishop of Paris, Lustiger said:
I was born Jewish and so I remain, even if that is unacceptable for many. For me, the vocation of Israel is bringing light to the
goyim. That is my hope and I believe that Christianity is the means for achieving it.
The former
Cardinal Lustiger gained recognition after negotiating in 1987 with representatives of the organized Jewish community (including
In 1995, Cardinal Lustiger attended the reading of an act of repentance with a group of French rabbis, during which Catholic authorities apologized for the French Church's passive attitude towards the
In 1998, Lustiger was awarded the
In 2004 and 2006, Lustiger visited New York and included visits to the Bobover Rebbe (who blessed him), Yeshiva University, JTSA, and Yeshivat Chovevei Torah where he addressed the students and faculty along with fellow visiting European bishops.
The World Jewish Congress paid homage to him after his death.[21]
Retirement and death
When Lustiger reached the age of 75 on 17 September 2001, he submitted his resignation as Archbishop of Paris to Pope John Paul II, as required by canon law. The Pope kept it on file for some years. But on 11 February 2005, Lustiger's resignation was accepted and
Lustiger made his final public appearance in January 2007. He died on 5 August 2007 at a clinic outside Paris where he had been battling bone and lung cancer since April. Le Figaro, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, announced Lustiger's death.[5]
The funeral, presided over by Cardinal Lustiger's successor, was held at
Lustiger's
I was born Jewish.
I received the name
Of my paternal grandfather, Aron.
Having become Christian
By faith and by Baptism,
I have remained Jewish
As did the Apostles.
I have as my patron saints
Aron the High Priest,
Saint John the Apostle,
Holy Mary full of grace.
Named 139th archbishop of Paris
by His Holiness Pope John Paul II,
I was enthroned in this Cathedral
on 27 February 1981,
And here I exercised my entire ministry.
Passers-by, pray for me.
† Aron Jean-Marie Cardinal Lustiger
Archbishop of Paris
Distinctions
- Grand cordon of the National Order of the Cedar[24]
- Portugal: Grand Cross of the Order of Prince Henry[24]
Auxiliaries
The following bishops served as auxiliaries in the Paris diocese under Cardinal Lustiger.
- Daniel Pézeril
- Georges Gilson
- Emile Marcus
- Claude Fricard
- André Vingt-Trois
- Éric Aumonier
- Michel Pollien
Published works
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See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h Sophie de Ravinel, Le cardinal Lustiger est mort, Le Figaro, 5 August 2007 (in French)
- ^ a b c d Henri Tincq, L'adieu à Jean-Marie Lustiger[permanent dead link], Le Monde, 6 August 2007 (in French)
- Yediot Ahronoth, published in 1982 by the journal Le Débat (quoted by Sophie de Ravinel, Le cardinal Lustiger est mort, Le Figaro, 5 August 2007) (in French)
- ^ a b c Cardinal Lustiger, The Telegraph, 7 August 2007 (in English)
- ^ a b c d e f g h i John Tagliabue, French Catholic leader, Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, dies at 80, International Herald Tribune, 6 August 2007
- ^ Cardinal Lustiger, The Telegraph, 7 August 2007
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Christian Terras, Jean-Marie Lustiger : un colosse aux pieds d’argile Archived 2017-11-23 at the Wayback Machine, 6 August 2007 (in French)
- ^ a b Le cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger est mort, Le Monde, 5 August 2007 (in French)
- ^ La Croix, 24 September 2003 (in French)
- ^ Quand Mgr Lustiger corrige l’abbé Grégoire Archived 2007-09-28 at the Wayback Machine, Golias, 4 August 2006 (in French)
- ^ Oaks, Tammy (April 19, 2005). "Bookmakers lay odds on new pope". CNN. Retrieved May 13, 2017.
- ^ Cheney, David M. "Francis Cardinal Arinze [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved 2018-08-29.
- ^ Internet, Elemedia S.p.A. - Area. "Arab Patriarch Sabbah has an Auxiliary - But He Speaks Hebrew". chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it. Retrieved 2018-08-29.
- ^ Cheney, David M. "Bishop Jean-Baptiste Gourion [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved 2018-08-29.
- ^ Archbishop's Israel visit prompts betrayal charges, 26 April, Reuters mirrored by Nizkor Project (in English).
- ^ Daniel Ben Simon, 'He'd say kaddish for his mother', Haaretz, 7 August 2007 (in English)
- ^ a b Théo Klein, Aron-Jean-Marie Lustiger, mon cousin[permanent dead link], Le Monde, 8 August 2007 (in French)
- ^ Auschwitz : « Il n’est permis à personne de passer avec indifférence » Archived 2007-09-30 at the Wayback Machine, Zenit, 27 January 2005 (in French)
- ^ Auschwitz: Benoît XVI évoque d’emblée « les victimes de la terreur nazie » Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine, Zenit, 25 May 2006 (in French)
- ^ Catherine Corroler, "Jean-Marie Lustiger, mort d'un cardinal d'action" in Libération, 6 August 2007 Read here (in French)
- ^ Statement of the World Jewish Congress on the Death of French Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, PRNewswire-USNewswire, 6 August 2007 (in English)
- L'Express, 9 August 2007 (in French)
- ^ Jerusalem Post, 10 August 2007 (in English)
- ^ Académie française(in French)
External links
- Institutlustiger.fr Institut Lustiger website
- Biographical notice of the Académie française(includes texts by Lustiger) (in French)
- Cardinal Lustiger of France dies aged 80, The Guardian, 6 August 2007
- Obituary, The Independent, 7 August 2007
- Obituary, The Times, 8 August 2007
- Obituary, The Guardian, 2 October 2007
- Intervention "L’Europe en quête de son identité culturelle" December 2005 (in French)
- The Jewish Cardinal (Le métis de Dieu) at IMDb