Józef Cardinal Glemp
Józef Cardinal Glemp (born
December 18,
1929) is former Archbishop of
Warsaw and Primate of
Poland and former Ordinary for the faithful of the Oriental Rite residing in Poland.
His father Kazimierz had participated in the insurrection of
Greater Poland in the year
1918-
1919. Glemp was born in the town of
Inowroclaw in the Archdiocese of
Gniezno, he was a slave laborer during the
Nazi occupation of Poland in
World War II. His education interrupted by the war, he was only ordained a priest on
25 May 1956.
After two years of pastoral service, in 1958 he was sent to Rome to study Canon Law at the Pontifical Lateran University, earning his doctorate "in utroque iure" in 1964, with a thesis on: "De evolutione conceptus fictionis iuris". After his practicum he was given the title of Advocate of the Roman Rota. He attended a course in stylistic Latin at the Pontifical Gregorian University and also finished his studies in ecclesial administration.
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Coat of Arms of Józef Cardinal Glemp |
In 1964, he finished all his studies in Rome and returned to Gniezno in Poland. He became chaplain of the Dominican and Franciscan Sisters and teacher of religion in the house for delinquent minors. He worked as Secretary of the Seminary of Gniezno and as notary for the Curia and the metropolitan tribunal and also as defender of the bond.
In December
1967, he worked in the Secretariat of the Primate, and for 15 years was one of Cardinal
Stefan Wyszyński's close collaborators. As the personal chaplain of the Cardinal, he accompanied him on his journeys within Poland and to Rome. He exercised varied responsibilities in the Commissions of the Polish Episcopate and taught Canon Law at the Academy of the Catholic Theology in
Warsaw. He participated in several congresses on this topic in Poland and abroad. In
1972 he was named chaplain to His Holiness, and in March
1976 be became Canon of the Metropolitan Chapter at Gniezno.
On
4 March 1979,
John Paul II named him
Bishop of Warmia, in the northeast part of Poland and was consecrated on the feast of
St. Adalberto, on 21 April, in Gniezno.
After the death of Cardinal Wyszyński on
18 May 1981, he was named Archbishop of Gniezno on
7 July 1981, in union "pro hac vice, ad personam" with the Archdiocese of Warsaw. As Bishop of Gniezno he became also the Primate of Poland. (The title of Primate of Poland was conferred on the Archbishop of Gniezno by Pope
Martin V in
1418 and confirmed by
Leo X in
1515, every Primate of Poland to the time of his election, even if he is not a cardinal, has the right to wear the red "zucchetto" of a cardinal, a privilege already accorded in
1600 and confirmed by
Benedict XIV in
1749.)
On
25 March 1992, with the restructuring of the Church dioceses in Poland, John Paul II dissolved the union "ad personam" of Gniezno-Warsaw, naming as Metropolitan Archbishop of Gniezno Bishop
Henryk Muszynski. The Holy Father decided that the title of Primate of Poland should remain linked to the historical heritage of S. Adalberto in the Archdiocese of Gniezno and confirmed that Cardinal Józef Glemp, Archbishop of Warsaw, who had custody of the relics of S. Adalberto, which were venerated in the Cathedral of Gniezno, should continue to bear the title of Primate of Poland.
Cardinal Glemp acted as President of the Episcopal Conference of Poland for 23 years, from
1981 until March
2004.
President delegate to the 1st Special Assembly for Europe of the Synod of Bishops (1991).
Created and proclaimed Cardinal by John Paul II in the Consistory of
2 February 1983. Titular
Church of St. Mary in Trastevere.
Glemp was one of the
cardinal electors who participated in the
2005 papal conclave that selected
Pope Benedict XVI.
Curial membership:
*Oriental Churches (congregation)
*Culture (council)
*
Apostolic Signatura (tribunal)
