Lev Skrbenský z Hríšte
Encyclopedia
Bartošovice
Bartošovice is a village and municipality in Nový Jičín District in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic....
), Moravia
Moravia
Moravia is a historical region in Central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, and one of the former Czech lands, together with Bohemia and Silesia. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region...
, Austria-Hungary – December 24, 1938, Olomouc
Olomouc
Olomouc is a city in Moravia, in the east of the Czech Republic. The city is located on the Morava river and is the ecclesiastical metropolis and historical capital city of Moravia. Nowadays, it is an administrative centre of the Olomouc Region and sixth largest city in the Czech Republic...
, Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
) was a prominent Cardinal
Cardinal (Catholicism)
A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...
in the Catholic Church during the early twentieth century.
Of uncertain but undoubtedly wealthy background (it is sometimes believed he was an illegitimate child of the Habsburg Monarchy
Habsburg Monarchy
The Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The Imperial capital was Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when it was moved to Prague...
), Lev Skrbensky z Hriste was educated at the prestigious seminary
Seminary
A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is an institution of secondary or post-secondary education for educating students in theology, generally to prepare them for ordination as clergy or for other ministry...
of Olomouc
Olomouc
Olomouc is a city in Moravia, in the east of the Czech Republic. The city is located on the Morava river and is the ecclesiastical metropolis and historical capital city of Moravia. Nowadays, it is an administrative centre of the Olomouc Region and sixth largest city in the Czech Republic...
and during the 1880s worked on a doctorate
Doctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
in canon law
Canon law
Canon law is the body of laws & regulations made or adopted by ecclesiastical authority, for the government of the Christian organization and its members. It is the internal ecclesiastical law governing the Catholic Church , the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches, and the Anglican Communion of...
from the Pontifical Gregorian University
Pontifical Gregorian University
The Pontifical Gregorian University is a pontifical university located in Rome, Italy.Heir of the Roman College founded by Saint Ignatius of Loyola over 460 years ago, the Gregorian University was the first university founded by the Jesuits...
. After being ordained in 1889, he went into the Austro-Hungarian Army and spent the following decade serving as an army chaplain.
He left his military duties in 1899, and Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria
Franz Joseph I of Austria
Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I was Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia, King of Croatia, Apostolic King of Hungary, King of Galicia and Lodomeria and Grand Duke of Cracow from 1848 until his death in 1916.In the December of 1848, Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria abdicated the throne as part of...
selected him as Archbishop of Prague
Archbishop of Prague
The following is a list of bishops and archbishops of Prague. The bishopric of Prague was established in 973, and elevated to an archbishopric on 30 April 1344. The today's Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Prague is the continual successor of the bishoprie established in 973...
. Two years later he was made a cardinal
Cardinal (Catholicism)
A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...
at the age of thirty-seven. He participated in the 1903
Papal conclave, 1903
The Papal conclave of 1903 was caused by the death of the 93-year-old Pope Leo XIII, who at that stage was the third-longest reigning pope in history....
and 1914 conclaves, and in 1916 was transferred to the prestigious see of Olomouc
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Olomouc
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Olomouc is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in the Czech Republic. Not much is known about the beginnings of the Diocese of Olomouc...
, to which he was elected by its cathedral chapter
Chapter (religion)
Chapter designates certain corporate ecclesiastical bodies in the Roman Catholic, Anglican and Nordic Lutheran churches....
at the request of the Habsburg government. He resigned this see in 1920 because his poor health and did not participate in the 1922 conclave
Papal conclave, 1922
After a reign of just eight years, Pope Benedict XV died on 22 January 1922 of pneumonia. At his death there were 61 members of the College of Cardinals. However, later that same day, Enrique Almaraz y Santos, the Archbishop of Toledo, died, leaving a college of 60 cardinals to elect Pope...
.
Although his health remained very poor, Skrbensky z Hriste almost lived long enough to see the 1939 conclave
Papal conclave, 1939
The Papal conclave of 1939 was convoked on the brink of World War II with the death of Pope Pius XI on 10 February that year in the Apostolic Palace. With all 62 living cardinals in attendance, the conclave to elect Pius' successor began on 1 March and ended a day later, on 2 March, after three...
. He was the last living cardinal elevated by Pope Leo XIII, and as with the corresponding cardinal of Pius IX
Pope Pius IX
Blessed Pope Pius IX , born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, was the longest-reigning elected Pope in the history of the Catholic Church, serving from 16 June 1846 until his death, a period of nearly 32 years. During his pontificate, he convened the First Vatican Council in 1869, which decreed papal...
, Luigi Oreglia di Santo Stefano
Luigi Oreglia di Santo Stefano
Luigi Oreglia di Santo Stefano was a cardinal of the Catholic Church in the late nineteenth century. He was Bishop of Ostia and Dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals from 1896 until his death.He was educated in Turin and became a priest in 1851...
, he managed to outlive his nearest rival for this honour, Vincenzo Vannutelli, by a very long period (over eight years).