Jean-Marie Villot

His Eminence Jean-Marie Villot
Secretary of State
See	Frascati
Appointed	2 May 1969
Term ended	9 March 1979
Predecessor	Amleto Giovanni Cicognani
Successor	Agostino Casaroli
Other posts	Cardinal-Bishop of Frascati Camerlengo of the Apostolic Chamber
Orders
Ordination	19 April 1930 by Alfred-Henri-Marie Baudrillart
Consecration	12 October 1954 by Maurice Feltin
Created Cardinal	22 February 1965
Rank	Cardinal-Bishop
Personal details
Born	11 October 1905 Saint-Amant-Tallende, Puy-de-Dôme, France
Died	9 March 1979 (aged 73) Vatican City
Nationality	French
Previous post	Auxiliary Bishop of Paris (1954–1959) Titular Bishop of Vinda (1954–1959) Coadjutor Archbishop of Lyon-Vienne (1959–1965) Titular Archbishop of Bosporus (1959–1965) Archbishop of Lyon-Vienne (1965–1967) Cardinal-Priest of Santissima Trinità al Monte Pincio (1965–1974) Prefect of the Congregation of the Council (1967–1969) President of the Pontifical Council “Cor Unum” (1971–1978)
Motto	auxilium a domino
Coat of arms

Jean-Marie Villot (11 October 1905 – 9 March 1979) was a French prelate and Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Lyon from 1965 to 1967, Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy from 1967 to 1969, Vatican Secretary of State from 1969 to 1979, and Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church from 1970 to 1979. He was elevated to the cardinalate in 1965.

Early life

He was born in Saint-Amant-Tallende, Puy-de-Dôme, to Joseph and Marie (née Laville) Villot; he was an only child. Before serving in the military until 2 August 1924, he studied for the priesthood in Riom, Clermont, and Lyon. He became a Marist novice on 7 September 1925, but left the order three months later. He went on to study at the Catholic Institute of Paris and the Pontifical Athenaeum Angelicum in Rome, where he earned a licentiate in canon law and a Doctorate in Sacred Theology in 1934 with a thesis entitled Le pape Nicolas II et le décret de 1059 sur l'éction pontificale.^[1]

Priesthood

He was ordained a priest on 19 April 1930 by Archbishop Alfred-Henri-Marie Baudrillart. Villot was incardinated into the Archdiocese of Paris, and, from 1931–34, he served as secretary to Pierre-Marie Gerlier, bishop of Tarbes-et-Lourdes. He taught at the Clermont seminary and the Catholic University in Lyon, becoming vice-rector of the latter in 1942 and holding the post for the next eight years.^[2]

Bishop and Cardinal

the Coat of arms of Cardinal Villot during both Vacancies in the year 1978

Working in the French Episcopal Conference in the early 1950s, Villot was appointed auxiliary bishop of Paris and titular bishop of Vinda on 2 September 1954. He received his episcopal consecration on the following 12 October from Cardinal Maurice Feltin, with Archbishop Emile Guerry of Cambrai and Bishop Pierre de la Chanonie of Clermont as co-consecrators.

On 17 December 1959, he was promoted to Coadjutor Archbishop of Lyon and titular archbishop of Bosporus. During the Second Vatican Council, he served as the Council's Undersecretary, succeeding Cardinal Gerlier as Archbishop of Lyon on 17 January 1965. On 22 February 1965 he was created Cardinal-Priest of SS. Trinità al Monte Pincio by Pope Paul VI.

He was named Prefect of the Congregation for Council (later renamed the Congregation for the Clergy) in the Roman Curia on 7 April 1967, and would play a prominent role in the reign of Paul VI, being named Cardinal Secretary of State on 2 May 1969. In this latter position, he battled with Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre over canon law and the ignored order to disband the Society of St. Pius X.^[3]

Villot was named Chamberlain of the Roman Church, also known as the Camerlengo, on 16 October 1970, the first non-Italian to hold the office in half a millennium. On 15 July 1971, he was appointed President of the newly formed Pontifical Council Cor Unum until 4 September 1978, when he resigned during the brief pontificate of Pope John Paul I.

Styles of Jean-Marie Villot
Reference style	His Eminence
Spoken style	Your Eminence
Informal style	Cardinal
See	Lyon

Elevated to Cardinal Bishop of Frascati on 12 December 1974, Villot remained Secretary of State for the remainder of Paul VI's reign, and was retained in the same capacity under both John Paul I and John Paul II. Villot participated as a cardinal elector in both the August and October conclaves of 1978, which selected John Paul I and John Paul II respectively. In his capacity of Camerlengo, he served as the interim administrator of the Vatican between Paul VI's death and John Paul I's election, and between John Paul I's death and John Paul II's election.

Death

Villot died from bronchial pneumonia on 9 March 1979, in his Vatican City apartment, at age 73. John Paul II celebrated his funeral Mass in St. Peter's Basilica four days later, and his remains were buried in the crypt of Ss. Trinità al Monte Pincio.

References

1. "The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church". Biographical Dictionary (1903-2011). Ch. V. fiu.edu
2. Cardinal Jean-Marie Villot. findagrave.co
3. Charles A. Coulombe (2014) Vicars of Christ, Tumblar House. ISBN 0988353725. p. 432: "Lefebvre, former archbishop of Dakar and superior of the Holy Ghost Fathers, had founded, with Paul's approval, the Society of St. Pius X for the preservation of the traditional liturgical rites of the Church. In 1976, it became apparent that the archbishop would not use the new rites at all, so he was ordered by the local bishop (in Switzerland) to disband the SSPX. He was then told by the Vatican that if he ordained the current class he would be suspended. Lefebvre appealed to the Apostolic Signatura, but Cardinal Villot, the secretary of state, forbade the Signatura to hear the case. This was a violation of canon law."

Bibliography

• Wenger, Antoine, Le cardinal Jean Villot 1905-1979: Secretaire d'état de trois papes, Desclée de Brouwere, Paris, 1989 ISBN 2-220-03063-6

External links

• Catholic Hierarchy
• Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church