Jan Puzyna de Kosielsko

His Eminence Jan Puzyna de Kosielsko
Cardinal, Bishop of Kraków
Appointed	15 April 1901
Installed	15 April 1901
Term ended	8 September 1911
Predecessor	Albin Dunajewski
Successor	Adam Stefan Sapieha
Orders
Ordination	8 December 1878
Consecration	25 March 1886 by Mieczyslaw Halka Ledóchowski
Created Cardinal	15 April 1901
Personal details
Birth name	Prince Jan Maurycy Paweł Puzyna de Kosielsko
Born	13 September 1842 Gwozdziec
Died	8 September 1911 (aged 68) Kraków, Poland
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Previous post	Auxiliary Bishop of Lviv, Ukraine, (1886) Titular Bishop of Memphis (1886-1895) Cardinal-Priest of Ss. Vitale, Valeria, Gervasio e Protasio

Prince Jan Maurycy Paweł Puzyna de Kosielsko (13 September 1842, Gwoździec, Galicia – 8 September 1911, Kraków, Poland) was a Polish Roman Catholic Cardinal who was auxiliary bishop of Lwów (now Lviv, Ukraine) from 1886 to 1895, and the bishop of Kraków from 1895 until his death in 1911.^[1] Named a Cardinal in 1901, he was known for his conservative views and authoritarianism.

Puzyna was born in 1842 in Galicia, in the diocese of Lviv. He earned a doctorate in law from the University of Lviv on June 24, 1870. He began a career in civil administration, but decided to embrace an ecclesiastical career. Ordained a priest on 1 December 1878, he was a vicar (assistant pastor) at Przeworsk, and then became a Canon of the Cathedral of Przemysl. He was named auxiliary bishop of the Latin-rite Archbishop of Lwów and titular bishop of Memphis on 26 February 1886. He was consecrated a bishop on 25 March of that same year by Mieczysław Halka Ledóchowski, with Archbishop Franziskus von Paula Graf von Schönborn of Prague and Archbishop Joseph Sembratovych of Ukrainian rite Lviv.^[2] He was translated to the Archdiocese of Krakow on 22 January, 1895.

On 15 April 1901, Puzyna was created a cardinal-priest, with the title of Santi Vitale, Valeria, Gervasio e Protasio by Pope Leo XIII.^[3] He received his red hat on 9 June, 1902.^[4]

During the conclave of 1903,^[5] acting on behalf of his Sovereign, Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria, he presented a veto against the election of Cardinal Mariano Rampolla. Puzyna wanted to avoid the election of Rampolla, who was sympathetic to Russia and Germany. Among other things, Rampolla sought to curry favor with Russia by abolishing the Polish language and instituting Russian in the Russian partition's Catholic churches. These were ethnic and linguistic considerations.

Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, too, did not wish to see Rampolla elected to the Chair of Peter. He held a grudge against Rampolla for opposing a proper burial for his son Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria, upon Rudolf's suicide. Rampolla also openly supported political forces in Austria that were hostile to the Emperor. The Emperor therefore authorized the Cardinal to present the veto in his name.

Styles of Jan Puzyna de Kosielsko
Reference style	His Eminence
Spoken style	Your Eminence
Informal style	Cardinal
See	Krakow

On his way to the conclave, Puzyna met in Vienna with the Emperor and proposed that the Emperor present his veto against Cardinal Rampolla.^[6] The Emperor subscribed to the idea, and Puzyna presented the veto on the third day of the conclave, in the name of His Apostolic Majesty Francis Joseph, Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary.^[7] When the veto was read, Cardinal Luigi Oreglia di Santo Stefano, the Dean of the College of Cardinals, replied, "This communication cannot be received officially or unofficially. No cardinal is to give any consideration to this 'veto' and all are to continue to vote according to their conscience."^[8] In other words, the attempt at a veto was rejected. It was the last time such a veto was used. The veto, although not recognized by canon law, and as such non-binding, still carried much political weight, as the cardinals feared opposing the manifest will of one of the Christian monarchs.

The veto, once conceded by tradition to the Emperor, the King of France and the King of Spain, was abolished by the newly elected Pope Pius X, who imposed the penalty of excommunication upon anyone who would dare to introduce a veto, or otherwise interfere in the election of the Roman Pontiff. Pope Pius X further decreed that all cardinals should take an oath at the beginning of the conclave, promising not to aid any civil power in an attempt to influence the election of the pope.^[9]

Puzyna was decorated with the Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Stephen of Hungary in 1904.^[10] He was a member of the Sacred Congregation Consistorial, the SC of Bishops and Regulars, the SC of the Index, the SC of Indulgences and Relics, and the SC of Studies.

Jan Cardinal Puzyna de Kosielsko died in Kraków in 1911, five days before his 69th birthday.

See also

• Papal conclave, 1903

Related article

• List of Roman Catholic bishops of Kraków

Notes

1. "Jan Maurycy Pawel Cardinal Puzyna z Kosielsko". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
2. Archivum Historiae Pontificiae, Volume 17 (Rome 1979), pp. 451-452.
3. Acta sanctae sedis, Volume 33 (Rome 1901), pp. 513-515. (The date given is April 16, not April 15).
4. "Latest intelligence - Papal Consistory" The Times (London). Tuesday, 10 June 1902. (36790), p. 7.
5. The Sede Vacante and Conclave of 1903 (Dr. J.P. Adams).
6. Princess Catherine Radziwill reports that the idea was the Emperor's, not Cardinal Puzyna's, that the Emperor tried to get the Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Anton Joseph Gruscha, to carry the Veto, and that the Emperor was refused. Princess Catherine Radziwill, The Austrian Court from Within (New York 1916), 188-190
7. The Latin text is in A. Battandier (editor), Annuaire pontificale catholique (Paris 1905), p. 135.
8. John-Peter Pham, Heirs of the Fisherman: Behind the Scenes of Papal Death and Succession (Oxford: OUP 2004), chapter 4, citing Carlo Snider, L' episcopato del cardinale Andrea C. Ferrara, Volume II, "I tempi di Pio X", who prints Cardinal Ferrari's detailed diary of the Conclave.
9. The constitution Commissum nobis (January 20, 1904). Text of Commissum nobis (Documenta Catholica Omnia).
10. Salvador Miranda. "The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church - Consistory of April 15, 1901". Retrieved 2012-07-12.