A Important Prince of the Church has Died

Father Z has a post up that Jean-Marie Cardinal Lustiger who was Cardinal Archbihop of Paris till 2005 has passed away.

May we keep him on our Prayers. The Wilki page on him highlights his life.

Besides his service to the Church the papers will correctly note his heritage.

From he first paragraph of Wilki:
Lustiger was born Aaron Lustiger in Paris to the Polish Jews Charles and Gisèle Lustiger, whose family had settled in France before World War I. When the Germans occupied France in 1940, he was sent to live with a Christian family in Orléans. He and his sister Arlette converted to Catholicism and were baptized y the Bishop of Orléans, Jules-Marie Courcoux, on August 21, 1940. His parents were deported, and his mother died in the Auschwitz concentration camp; his father, who was displeased with the baptisms, survived.

Lustiger is the only Catholic prelate in modern times who was born (and is still considered) Jewish.

This is the NY Times Piece on his death and his life.


Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.