Tomáš Špidlík

Tomáš Cardinal Špidlík SJ ( born December 17, 1919 in Boskovice, Moravia, Czechoslovakia, † April 16, 2010 in Rome) was a Czech theologian and patristic scholar.

Life

Tomáš Špidlík studied philosophy from 1938 at the University of Brno. After closure of the university by the Nazis in 1939, he joined the Congregation of the Society of Jesus in Benešov and laid on September 24, 1942 after two years of novitiate his religious vows as scholastics from. His theological education was marked by the war and post-war period, until August 22, 1949 in Maastricht, the Netherlands Špidlík received priestly ordination. In 1950 he was in Florence finish his Jesuit training and put his perpetual vows as a religious profession from. From 1951 he worked for the Czech language section of Vatican Radio and reported in Eastern European languages. After studying at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome in 1955 he became his doctorate in theology.

Since the return he was denied in his home country by the communist government of Czechoslovakia, Špidlík remained in Rome. As the successor of Mr. Irenee house he was appointed Professor of Patristic and Eastern Orthodox Spirituality at the Pontifical Oriental Institute and taught at the Pontifical Gregorian University. He also served for 38 years of Spiritual Pontifical College Nepomucenum, the Czech seminar in Rome.

On the occasion of the last consistory of Pope John Paul II Špidlík was taken as a cardinal deacon with the title of Sant'Agata dei Goti diakonia in the College of Cardinals on 21 October 2003. Due to his advanced age at the time of Kreierung cardinal renounced Špidlík it to receive mandatory for Cardinals episcopal ordination. When Conclave 2005, which the election of Pope Benedict XVI. led, he himself was not eligible to vote, as he had already reached the age of 80. However Špidlík held for the College of Cardinals for the conclave an opening sermon in the Sistine Chapel.

At his own request he was buried in Velehrad.

Work

Tomáš Špidlík was considered a renowned expert on the Orthodox churches. He was the author of more than two hundred scientific studies and has written several dozen books that deal particularly with the relationship of the Roman Catholic to the Orthodox churches. He is co-founder of the Centro Aletti, a center for the study of the tradition of the Christian East.

Awards and honors

The American Biographical Institute awarded him the " Man of the Year 1990 " and "The most admired person of the decade". The Society for Byzantine Studies in St. Petersburg in 1993 appointed him an honorary member. In 1994 he was made an honorary citizen of the French city of Troyes.

1995 Špidlík was entrusted with the task of leading the traditional Lenten retreat for Pope John Paul II and the Roman Curia in the Vatican. In 1998 he was awarded by President Václav Havel with the Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk - Order, one of the highest awards in the Czech Republic.

He received honorary doctorates from the Babeş -Bolyai University of Cluj (1997), Palacky University in Olomouc (1997), the Charles University, Prague ( 2003) and the Sacred Heart University (2006).

At the U.S. Sacred Heart University, 2006, the " Cardinal Spidlik Center for ökonumenische understanding " was founded.

Writings

  • A due polmoni. Dalla memoria spirituale d' Europe, along with P.Ambros, Pubblicazioni del Centro Aletti 24, Rome 1999.
  • Breviario patristico, Turin 1971. Drinking from the Hidden Fountain. A Patristic Breviary. Ancient Wisdom for Today's World, Translator v. P.Drake, Cistercian Studies Series 148, Kalamazoo 1994.
  • Ignace de Loyola et la spiritualité orientale, Translator v. F.Vermorel, Brussels, 2006.
  • Les grands mystiques russes, Translator v. O.Wallet, Paris 1979.
  • The way of the spirit, EOS St. Ottilie 1997, ISBN 3880963592nd
  • Il Cuore e lo Spirito. La Dottrina spirituale di Teofane il recluso, Translator v. M.Viezzoli, Oriente Occidente 1, Vatican 2004.
  • Russian Spirituality, Preface by E.Jungclaussen, Translator v. GJMaurer, Regensburg 1994, ISBN 3791714104th
  • The Russian idea. Another view of man, Translator v. P. u R.Čemus, Würzburg 2002, ISBN 3927894346th
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