Albert Decourtray

Cardinal coat of arms by Albert Decourtray

Albert Florent Augustin Cardinal Decourtray (born April 9, 1923 in Wattignies near Lille , France , † September 16, 1994 in Lyon ) was Archbishop of Lyon and Primate of France

Life

Decourtray received on 29 June 1947, the sacrament of Holy Orders and celebrated his first Mass in July 1947 in Seclin , where he lived with his family for the 1938th His motto was in simplicitate (Latin for "in simplicity"). He became a priest in the diocese of Lille . From 1948 to 1951 he completed a doctoral degree at the Pontifical Gregorian University , which he obtained with the academic degree of Dr. theol. completed. During his studies in Rome he was also chaplain at the Church of San Luigi dei Francesi . He was then from 1952 professor at the seminary of Lille, from 1965 vicar general in the same diocese and from 1966 archdeacon of Roubaix .

Pope Paul VI appointed him on May 27, 1971 titular bishop of Hippo Diarrhytus and auxiliary bishop in Dijon . He received episcopal ordination on July 3rd of the same year by the Bishop of Lille, Adrien Gand . Co- consecrators were the bishops André de la Brousse and Jean Sauvage . On April 22, 1974 he was appointed Bishop of Dijon. On October 29, 1981, Pope John Paul II appointed him Archbishop of Lyon and thus Primate of France. In addition, he transferred him on April 23, 1982 the office of prelate of the territorial prelature Mission de France o Pontigny and accepted him on May 25, 1985 as cardinal priest with the titular church Santissima Trinità al Monte Pincio in the cardinals college . From 1987 to 1990 he was also President of the French Bishops' Conference and a member of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and Dialogue with Non-Believers . In 1988 he resigned from the post of prelate of the Mission de France prelature.

Cardinal Decourtray was elected a member of the Académie française on July 1, 1993 , succeeding Professor Hamburger in seat 4. His official vocation was on March 10, 1994. Albert Decourtray died on September 16, 1994 in Lyon and was buried on September 22 of the same year in the crypt of the Lyon Cathedral. After his death, the Archbishop of Paris , Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger , succeeded him as a member of the Académie Française.

Web links

Commons : Albert Decourtray  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Short biography and list of works of the Académie française (French)
• Entry for Albert Decourtray on catholic-hierarchy.org

predecessor	Office	successor
André Charles de la Brousse (fr)	Bishop of Dijon 1974–1981	Jean Balland
Alexandre-Charles Cardinal Renard	Archbishop of Lyon 1981–1994	Jean Cardinal Balland
Roger Cardinal Etchegaray	Prelate of the Territorial Prelature Mission de France o Pontigny 1982–1988	André Lacrampe
Jean Vilnet	President of the French Bishops' Conference 1987–1990	Joseph Duval