SUHARD, EMMANUEL CÉLESTIN

Cardinal, archbishop of Paris; b. Brains-sur-les-Marches (Mayenne), France, April 5, 1874; d. Paris, May 30, 1949. He studied theology at Laval and Rome, gained a doctorate in theology, and was ordained (Dec. 18, 1898). For the next 30 years he was a professor in the major seminary in Laval. He was chosen bishop of Bayeux and Lisieux (July 6, 1928) and promoted to the archiepiscopal See of Reims (Dec. 23, 1930), where he vigorously promoted seminaries, religious communities, Catholic Action, and charitable works. Two years after becoming cardinal (Dec. 16, 1935) he saw the complete restoration of his cathedral, severely damaged during World War I, consecrated the edifice (Oct. 18, 1937), and presided as papal legate at the official inauguration (July 8–10, 1938). He succeeded Cardinal Verdier in the See of Paris (May 1940). During the enemy occupation in World War II, Suhard did his utmost to alleviate the people's sufferings and to avert the dangers menacing them. Unjust vexations did not cease with liberation. The cardinal drew attention to them in a series of widely heralded pastoral letters, some of which were published and some translated into English and other languages. In his zeal to evangelize the de-Christianized segments of the populace, Suhard advocated new apostolic methods and created the Mission de France, whose seminary was placed in his former Diocese of Lisieux near the shrine of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus. He set up the Mission de Paris, a prelude to the worker priests. He also recommended community life for the clergy, constructed new churches, developed Catholic Action, and promoted devotion to the Blessed Sacrament.

Bibliography: Works. The Church Today: The Collected Writings of E. C. Suhard (Chicago 1953); Growth or Decline? The Church Today, tr. j. a. corbett (South Bend, Ind. 1948), tr. of Essor ou déclin de l'Église (Paris 1947); Priests among Men, tr. l. bÉgin et al. (New York 1949), tr. of Le Prêtre dans la cité (Paris 1949); The Meaning of God (pa. Notre Dame, Ind. 1963), tr. of Le Sens de Dieu (Paris 1948). Literature. j. rupp, Histoire de l'Église de Paris (Paris 1948).

[r. limouzin-lamothe]