{{Short description|Austrian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church (1910–2007)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}} {{Infobox Christian leader |type = Cardinal |honorific_prefix = [[His Eminence]] |name = Alfons Maria Stickler |honorific_suffix = [[Salesians of Don Bosco|SDB]] |see = ''[[Volsinium]]'' ([[Titular see|Titular]]) |title = Archivist & Librarian Emeritus of the Holy Roman Church |enthroned = 27 May 1985 – 1 July 1988 |ordination = 27 March 1937 |consecration = 8 September 1983 |consecrated_by = [[Pope John Paul II]] |cardinal = 25 May 1985 |created_cardinal_by = [[Pope John Paul II]] |predecessor = [[Antonio Samorè]] |successor = [[Antonio María Javierre Ortas]] |other_post = Previously Pro-Archivist of the Holy Roman Church, Pro-Librarian of the Holy Roman Church |birth_date = 23 August 1910 |birth_place = [[Neunkirchen, Austria|Neunkirchen]], [[Austria-Hungary]] |death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2007|12|12|1910|8|23}} |death_place = [[Vatican City]] |buried = Cemetery of the Salesian Community, [[Catacomb of Callixtus]], Rome, Italy }} {{Infobox cardinal styles |cardinal name=Alfons Maria Stickler |dipstyle=[[His Eminence]] |offstyle=Your Eminence |See=''Volsinium'' ([[Titular see|titular]]) |image=Coat of arms of Alfons Maria Stickler.svg |image_size =200px }} '''Alfons Maria Stickler''' {{post-nominals|post-noms=[[Salesians of Don Bosco|SDB]]}} (23 August 1910 – 12 December 2007) was an Austrian [[Cardinal (Catholicism)|cardinal]] of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archivist and Librarian of the [[Holy Roman Church]] from 1985 to 1988. Stickler was elevated to the [[Cardinal (Catholicism)|cardinalate]] in 1985, and was the oldest member of the [[College of Cardinals]]. A [[Traditionalist Catholic|traditionalist]], he was a strong supporter of the [[Tridentine Mass]] and [[Clerical celibacy (Catholic Church)|clerical celibacy]].
==Biography== Stickler was born in [[Neunkirchen, Austria|Neunkirchen]], near [[Vienna]], as the second of twelve children. He entered the [[Salesians of Don Bosco]] in a German [[novitiate]], and made his profession on 15 August 1928. Thereafter, Stickler studied philosophy in Germany and then in Austria, [[Turin]], and Rome. He studied [[Canon law (Catholic Church)|canon law]] at the [[Pontifical Athenaeum of S. Apollinare]] (from where he received his [[Doctor of Canon Law|doctorate]]) and the [[Pontifical Lateran University]], and was [[Holy Orders|ordained]] to the priesthood on 27 March 1937. (Stickler studied with [[Stephan Kuttner]], who lived to see his first pupil in the history of canon law become a cardinal.)
Stickler taught at the [[Salesian Pontifical University]] as Professor of Canon Law and Church Legal History for eight years. From 1958 to 1966 he served as [[Rector (academia)|rector]] of the University, having previously served as Dean of the Canon Law Faculty since 1953. Stickler participated as a ''[[peritus]]'', or expert, at the [[Second Vatican Council]] (1962–1965), working as a member on the Commission for the Clergy, the Commission for the Liturgy, and (in his capacity as rector of the Salesian University) the commission directed by the [[Congregation for Catholic Education|Congregation for Seminaries and Universities]]. From the close of the council until 1968, Stickler was president of the newly founded ''[[Institutum Altioris Latinitas]]''.
On 8 September 1983, he was appointed [[Titular bishop|Titular Archbishop]] of ''Volsinium'', Pro-Librarian of the Holy Roman Church, and Pro-Archivist of the Holy Roman Church. Stickler received his [[Bishop (Catholic Church)|episcopal consecration]] on the following 1 November from [[Pope John Paul II]] himself, with Archbishops [[Eduardo Martínez Somalo]] and [[Rosalio José Castillo Lara]] serving as [[Consecrator|co-consecrators]], in the [[Sistine Chapel]]. He was created [[Cardinal (Catholicism)|Cardinal-Deacon]] of [[San Giorgio in Velabro]] by John Paul II in the [[Papal consistory|consistory]] of 25 May 1985, becoming full [[Vatican Library|Librarian]] and [[Vatican Apostolic Archive|Archivist]] two days later, on 27 May.
Stickler reported that Karol Wojtyła, the future [[Pope John Paul II]] had confided to him that during his time as a student at the ''Pontificium Athenaeum Internationale Angelicum'' (subsequently renamed the [[Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas]] and often known simply as the ''Angelicum'') Wojtyła made a pilgrimage in 1947 to Pietrelcina to visit [[Pio of Pietrelcina|Padre Pio]] who told Wojtyła that one day he would ascend to "the highest post in the Church."<ref name="kwitny">{{cite book | last=Kwitny | first=Jonathan | title=Man of the Century: The Life and Times of Pope John Paul II | publisher=Henry Holt and Company | date=March 1997 | location=New York | pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780805026887/page/768 768] | isbn=978-0-8050-2688-7 | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780805026887/page/768 }}</ref> Stickler added that Wojtyła believed that the prophecy was fulfilled when he became a cardinal.<ref name="cnn">{{Cite news | last=Zahn | first=Paula | author-link=Paula Zahn | title=Padre Pio Granted Sainthood | publisher=CNN| date=17 June 2002 | url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0206/17/ltm.04.html | accessdate=2008-01-19 }}</ref>
Stickler served as Librarian and Archivist until his resignation on 1 July 1988. During his tenure he promoted the construction of underground storage for the conservation and consultation of all the codices and printed books of the library. He chose to be raised to the rank of [[Cardinal (Catholicism)|Cardinal-Priest]] (with the same title) on 29 January 1996, after spending ten years as a Cardinal Deacon.
Upon the death of [[Johannes Willebrands]] on 1 August 2006, Stickler became the oldest living cardinal. In 2007, he celebrated the seventieth anniversary of his priestly ordination.
Stickler studied the history of canon law with [[Stephan Kuttner]] and published on that subject.
Stickler died on Wednesday, December 12, 2007, at 7.30 pm, in his private apartment at the Vatican City.
His funeral rite was presided by Pope Benedict XVI, took place on Friday December 14, in the altar of the chair of Saint Peter's Vatican Basilica.
He was buried in the cemetery of the Salesian community in the catacombs of San Callisto in Rome.
==Support for tradition== Stickler consistently defended the position that the [[Tridentine Mass]] was never forbidden or suppressed. He believed that the [[Mass of Paul VI]] contradicted the true wishes of the Second Vatican Council,<ref>These Last Days Ministries, Inc. [http://www.tldm.org/news7/Stickler.htm Cardinal Alfons Stickler on the Changes in the Mass and Vatican II] 1997</ref> and told the [[Latin Mass Society of England and Wales]] that its movement "has full legitimacy in the Church".<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.latin-mass-society.org/sticklms.htm |title=Address by H.E. Cardinal Alfons Stickler, 20 June 1992 |access-date=28 March 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070423211230/http://www.latin-mass-society.org/sticklms.htm |archive-date=23 April 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
On 20 May 1995, Stickler stated that in 1986 a commission of nine cardinals (Stickler, [[Pope Benedict XVI|Ratzinger (future Pope Benedict XVI)]], [[Paul Augustin Mayer|Mayer]], [[Silvio Oddi|Oddi]], [[Agostino Casaroli|Casaroli]], [[Bernardin Gantin|Gantin]], [[Antonio Innocenti|Innocenti]], [[Pietro Palazzini|Palazzini]], and [[Jozef Tomko|Tomko]]) appointed by Pope John Paul II unanimously gave a negative answer to the question "Did Pope Paul VI or any other competent authority legally forbid the widespread celebration of the Tridentine Mass in the present day?" and to the question "Can any bishop forbid any priest in good standing from celebrating the Tridentine Mass?" He said that eight of the nine were in favour of drawing up a general permission declaring that everyone could choose the old form of the Mass as well as the new.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.cfnews.org/tridmass.htm |title=John Vennari: Traditional Mass Never Forbidden |access-date=28 March 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070923115916/http://www.cfnews.org/tridmass.htm |archive-date=23 September 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
[https://web.archive.org/web/20070928000738/http://www.ignatius.com/ViewProduct.aspx?SID=1&Product_ID=837&AFID=12& "The Case for Clerical Celibacy: Its Historical Development and Theological Foundations"], written by Stickler, was published in 1995 by [[Ignatius Press]]. It treats of the [[Theology|theological]] reasons and [[Bible|scriptural]] and [[Magisterium|magisterial]] roots of [[Clerical celibacy (Catholic Church)|celibacy for Catholic priests]].
==References== {{reflist|colwidth=30em}}
==External links== *[http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bstickler.html Bio from Catholic-Hierarchy] *{{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20130102223923/http://www.catholic-pages.com/hierarchy/cardinals_bio.asp?ref=72 catholic-pages bio]}} *[https://cathcon.blogspot.com/2007/12/cardinal-stickler-letter-from-pope.html Papal letter 70 years priesthood of Cardinal Stickler] *[https://cathcon.blogspot.com/2007/12/cardinal-stickker-one-of-all-time-great.html Obituary of Cardinal Stickler]
{{S-start}} {{S-rel|ca}} {{Succession box |before=[[Antonio Samorè]] |title=[[Vatican Secret Archives|Archivist of the Holy Roman Church]] |after=[[Antonio María Javierre Ortas]] |years=8 September 1983 – 1 July 1988}} {{s-ach|rec}} {{succession box | title = [[List of living cardinals|Oldest living Member of the Sacred College]] | years = 1 August 2006 – 12 December 2007 | before = [[Johannes Willebrands]] | after = [[Paul Augustin Mayer]] }} {{S-end}}
{{Cardinals created by John Paul II}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stickler, Alfons Maria}} [[Category:1910 births]] [[Category:2007 deaths]] [[Category:21st-century Austrian cardinals]] [[Category:20th-century Austrian cardinals]] [[Category:Roman Catholic titular archbishops]] [[Category:Cardinals created by Pope John Paul II]] [[Category:Participants in the Second Vatican Council]] [[Category:Salesian cardinals]] [[Category:Salesians of Don Bosco]] [[Category:Austrian traditionalist Catholics]] [[Category:People from Neunkirchen District, Austria]] [[Category:Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany]] [[Category:Pontifical Lateran University alumni]] [[Category:Austrian librarians]] [[Category:Bishops appointed by Pope John Paul II]] [[Category:Roman Catholic titular archbishops of Volsinium]]