He was born in 1889 in Milwaukee as son of two German immigrants. In 1935 he was consecrated bishop of Fargo. He became the first post-war nuncio in Germany, a post which he held from 1951 to 1959. He was created a cardinal in 1959 and died in 1962.
Since he was the first nuncio to Germany after the war, it was his task to furnish the nunciature. A famous story tells how he went to a couple of arts and antiques dealers to find some stuff for the walls. But all they had was, well... art. Muench didn't really seem excited. Only when he saw a huge painting with a deer in a German wood, his heart skipped a beat and he told his secretary to go and buy it. Somehow this story leaked and ever after all of Germany was kind of fond of the nuncio.
3 comments:
Why does his cardinal's biretta have a pom-pom on it? I thought birettas for cardinals had no pom.
When these photos were taken, he was still the Apostolic Nuncio to Germany.
Splendid. A ghastly rochett, though...
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