Franz Žak

He was bishop of St. Pölten/Austria from 1961 until 1991. Here are some photos from his episcopal consecration:

Praying for Pope Pius XII...

Aaaaaawww!

Grégoire-Pierre Agagianian

Prelate of the Armenian Catholic Church. He served as Patriarch of Cilicia from 1937 to 1962, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1946 by Pope Pius XII.

During the 1958 papal conclave he received a large number of votes, eventually approaching the majority needed for election as was confirmed by the elected pope himself, John XXIII, who appointed Cardinal Agagianian to be a member of the leading body of the Second Vatican Council together with Cardinals Suenens, Döpfner and Lercaro.

Agagianian was Pro-Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith from 1958 and full Prefect from July 18, 1960 to October 19, 1970. He died in Rome on May 16, 1971.


In St. Peter's

As papal legate to the Eucharistic Congress in Bombay, 1964. I love the photographer mosh-pit bottom right.

Georg Ratzinger - honorary canon of Regensburg

Because of his outstanding merits regarding the worthy celebration of the liturgy of the cathedral and the choir of the Regensburger Domspatzen (the Regensburg cathedral choir) the cathedral choral director em. Georg Ratzinger was installed as honorary canon of the chapter of the cathedral of St. Peter's of the diocese of Regensburg in Germany. In the photos you can see the Pope's brother in the mozzetta of the cathedral chapter and with a German biretta.

Speaking of Corrado Ursi...

... he of course became a cardinal later. More accurately, in 1967, when he had already been transferred from Acerenza to Naples, where he served as archbishop until 1987.

Now THAT is what I'm talking about!

The new archbishop of Acerenza, Corrado Ursi, entering his episcopal city in 1961.

Another great photo of Cardinal Siri

Prince of the Church, indeed!

Thomas Cardinal Tien (1890 - 1967)

Thomas Tien Ken-sin was ordained a priest in 1918. After pastoral work in the Yangku Mission he entered the Society of the Divine Word in 1929 in Holland. He was raised to Apostolic Prefect of Yangku on February 2, 1934. In 1939, Tien was appointed Apostolic Vicar of Yangku and Titular Bishop of Ruspae. He received his episcopal consecration in the same year from Pope Pius XII. Tien was made Apostolic Vicar of Qingdao in 1942. He was created Cardinal Priest of S. Maria in Via by Pope Pius XII in the consistory of February 18, 1946 and thus became the first cardinal from China. He was also the first Archbishop of Beijing, receiving nomination on April 11 of that same year. In 1951 he was exiled from China by the Communist regime, and went to Illinois. From 1962 to 1965, he attended the Second Vatican Council. He took part in the two papal conclaves of 1958 and 1963. Cardinal Tien died in Taipei, at age 76, where he is buried in the metropolitan cathedral.

Trivia fact: When he was made a cardinal in 1946, there was a shortage of silk in Italy. So the cardinalatial robes of Tien were borrowed from the wardrobes of the late cardinals Mundelein, O'Connell and Hayes, as the TIME-magazine reported.

Weirdest Caudatarii ever

Bishop Jean-Félix de Hemptinne, apostolic vicar to the Congo from 1932 to 1958, certainly makes a nice impression with the endless beard and the cappa and the breviary and all. But those two kids in medieval leg-gear, spanish collars and tropical helms definitely take the cake. What a combination!

Honk...

... if you love Spanish canons!












I love that last picture. This old-school canon looks like the bishop next to him is just spouting heresies and he is about to whack him.

Prelates from Italy

Hello there!

I kind of have to start cleaning my hard-drive a bit, so I am going to post a whole bunch of bishops and cardinals from Italy without any specific order. Just sit back and enjoy the show.


Archbishop Andrea Gollmayr of Gorizia


Giovanni Cardinal Cagliero


Amleto Cardinal Cicognani


Gaetano Cardinal Cicognani, Amleto's older brother


Clemente Cardinal Micara in a dramatic moment


Giacomo Cardinal Lercaro, archbishop of Bologna


Ermenengildo Cardinale Florit, archbishop of Florence


Ernesto Cardinal Ruffini, archbishop of Palermo


Adeodato Giovanni Cardinale Piazza, patriarch of Venice and afterwards secretary of the sacred consistorial congregation (now congregation for bishops)


Blessed Ildefonso Cardinal Schuster in a beautiful cappa-photo...


... and in proper O.S.B.-gear


Giuseppe Cardinal Siri


And again Cardinal Siri with Angelo Giuseppe Cardinal Roncalli, the future Pope John XXIII (can you hear the Sedisvacantists screaming: "Who da Pope? WHO DA POPE?")


This could be archbishop Carlo de Ferrari of Trento, but I am not sure. He's in here to justify the "happy prelates"-tag...


... as is Egidio Negrin, bishop of Treviso


I don't know anything about this last photo, except that it's pretty swell.

Hard to believe...

... that this is actually "just" a canon. But it's true: Chanoine Deharbe of Soissons/France.

Waitaminute!

The new year is already 16 days old and there wasn't any posting with my special friend Fernando Cardinal Quiroga Palacios?

Unacceptable!

Here he is in pontificals, happy prelate gone solemn:

Ordaining a bishop


I really like...


... this series...


... of three photos.


With El Caudillo (kneeling)


Somewhere, sometime


During a funeral service


Blessing


A happy prelate, after all