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The Last Lay Cardinal The Last Lay Cardinal. On March 15, the day recurs when in 1858, the unmarried layman Theodulf Mertel was made the last lay cardinal in Church history. Against his express will,…More
The Last Lay Cardinal
The Last Lay Cardinal.
On March 15, the day recurs when in 1858, the unmarried layman Theodulf Mertel was made the last lay cardinal in Church history. Against his express will, Pius IX made the appointment together with six other candidates. However, Mertel was a lay cardinal only for two months. He asked to be ordained a subdeacon so that he would belong to the clergy but, out of modesty, he refused the ordination to the priesthood. On 16 May, the Pope himself finally ordained him a deacon.
Latin Letters. Mertel was born in 1806 in Allumiere near Rome. His father, Isidor Mörtl was a baker from Eglfing in Bavaria. His Maria Franziska née Lunadei, hailed from a well to do local family. Isidor Mörtl emigrated to Allumiere because it was a papal mining settlement where Alunite was mined. Throughout his life, Mertel kept in touch with his father's Bavarian homeland. He wrote Latin letters to the local Father Sauter of Eglfing and was annoyed that Sauter answered his …More
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Blessed Pope Pius IX
pray for us. Amen