{{Short description|German Jesuit priest and scholar and cardinal (1881–1968)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}} {{Infobox Christian leader | type = Cardinal | honorific-prefix = His Eminence | name = Augustin Bea | honorific-suffix = | title = President of the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity | image = CardinalBea.jpg | caption = Bea with zucchetto in 1963 | province = | archdiocese = | see = | appointed = 6 June 1960 | enthroned = | ended = 16 November 1968 | predecessor = None | successor = Johannes Willebrands | ordination = 25 August 1912 | ordained_by = Hermann Jürgens | consecration = 19 April 1962 | consecrated_by = Pope John XXIII | cardinal = 14 December 1959 | created_cardinal_by = Pope John XXIII | rank = Cardinal-Deacon | other_post = Cardinal–Deacon of San Saba | birth_name = Augustin Bea | birth_date = {{birth date|1881|5|28|df=y}} | birth_place = Riedböhringen, German Empire | death_date = {{Death date and age|1968|11|16|1881|5|28|df =yes}} | death_place = Rome, Italy | buried = | nationality = German | religion = Roman Catholic | residence = | parents = | spouse = | children = | occupation = | profession = | alma_mater = | signature = | motto = ''In nomine domini Jesu'' (In the name of the Lord Jesus) | coat_of_arms = Coat of arms of Augustin Bea.svg | previous_post = {{unbulleted list|Provincial Superior of the Society of Jesus in Germany (1921-1924)|Rector of the Pontifical Biblical Institute (1930-1949)|Titular Archbishop of Germania in Numidia (1962–1963)|President of the Pontifical Commission for the Neo-Vulgate (1965-1968)}} | honorific_suffix = SJ }} '''Augustin Bea''' {{post-nominals|post-noms=SJ}} (28 May 1881 – 16 November 1968) was a German Jesuit priest, cardinal, and scholar at the Pontifical Gregorian University, specialising in biblical studies and biblical archaeology. He also served as the personal confessor of Pope Pius XII.

He was made a cardinal in 1959 by Pope John XXIII and served as the first president of the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity from 1960 until his death. Bea was a leading biblical scholar and ecumenist, who greatly influenced Christian-Jewish relations during the Second Vatican Council in ''Nostra aetate''. Bea published several books, mostly in Latin, and 430 articles.

==Biography== {{Infobox cardinalstyles| cardinal name=Augustin Bea| dipstyle=His Eminence| offstyle=Your Eminence| See= Germania in Numidia (titular) |}}

===Early life and education=== Bea was born in Riedböhringen, today a part of Blumberg, Baden-Württemberg;<ref name="scarboro">{{Cite web|url=https://www.scarboromissions.ca/interfaith-dialogue/jewish-christian-relations/pioneers-of-dialogue-in-the-modern-jewish-christian-relationship/cardinal-augustin-bea-1881-1968|title=Cardinal Augustin Bea (1881-1968)|accessdate=9 April 2023}}</ref> his father was a carpenter. He studied at the universities of Freiburg, Innsbruck, Berlin, and at Valkenburg, the Jesuit house of studies in the Netherlands. On 18 April 1902, he joined the Society of Jesus, as he "was much inclined to the scholarly life".<ref>''Time''. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110219013716/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,940032,00.html "The Supreme Realist"]. 6 July 1962.</ref> Bea was ordained a priest on 25 August 1912, and finished his studies in 1914.

===Priestly ministry=== Bea served as superior of the Jesuit residence in Aachen until 1917, at which time he began teaching Scripture at Valkenburg. From 1921 to 1924, Bea was the provincial superior of Germany. Superior General Wlodimir Ledóchowski then sent him to Rome, where he worked as the superior of the Biennial House of Formation (1924–1928), professor at the Pontifical Biblical Institute (1924–1949), and rector of the Institute of Superior Ecclesiastical Studies (1924–1930). In 1930, Bea was named rector of the Pontifical Biblical Institute, a post in which he remained for nineteen years.

===Consistory and episcopal ministry=== When Pius XII proposed appointing Bea to the College of Cardinals in 1946, Superior General Jean-Baptiste Janssens spoke out against it, as many felt the Holy See was showing preferential treatment to the Jesuits.<ref>''Time''. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110524084237/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,825989-2,00.html "Eight New Hats"]. 30 November 1959.</ref> Raised to the rank of cardinal before his episcopal consecration, Bea was created Cardinal-Deacon of S. Saba by Pope John XXIII in the consistory of 14 December 1959. On 6 June 1960, he was appointed the first president of the newly formed Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity, a Curial organisation charged with ecumenical affairs.<ref name="Rafferty">{{Cite web|url=https://www.jesuit.org.uk/augustin-bea-scholar-teacher-cardinal|title=Rafferty SJ, Oliver. "Augustin Bea: Scholar, Teacher, Cardinal", Jesuits in Britain, 2014|accessdate=9 April 2023|archive-date=17 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190517005223/https://www.jesuit.org.uk/augustin-bea-scholar-teacher-cardinal|url-status=dead}}</ref> It was not until two years later that, on 5 April 1962, Cardinal Bea was appointed a bishop: the Titular Archbishop of ''Germania in Numidia''. He received his consecration on the following 19 April from John XXIII himself, with Cardinals Giuseppe Pizzardo and Benedetto Aloisi Masella serving as co-consecrators, in the Lateran Basilica. He resigned his post as titular archbishop in 1963, one year after the Second Vatican Council was convened.

Cardinal Bea was one of the electors in the 1963 papal conclave which elected Pope Paul VI,<ref>{{cite news | work = New York Times | access-date = 2 June 2020 | date = 20 June 1963 |url = https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1963/06/20/80449332.html?pageNumber=10 | title = The Roster of the Membership of the Sacred College of Cardinals}}</ref> and was confirmed as the president of the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity (renamed the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity by Pope John Paul II on 28 June 1988) on 3 January 1966.

[[File:Bea1962.jpg|220px|thumb|right|Cardinal Bea liked to visit his native Black Forest]]

Cardinal Bea died from a bronchial infection in Rome, at the age of 87.<ref>''Time''. [https://web.archive.org/web/20121018181950/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,841465-2,00.html "Recent Events"]. 22 November 1968.</ref> He was buried in the apse of the parish church of Saint Genesius in his native Riedböhringen,<ref name=Rafferty/> where there is a museum honouring him.

==Impact and legacy== The encyclical ''Divino afflante Spiritu'' (1943) was very much shaped by Bea and Jacques Marie Vosté, O.P. (secretary of the Pontifical Biblical Commission).<ref>''America'' [http://www.americamagazine.org/content/article.cfm?article_id=10897 "Biblical Scholarship 50 years After Divino Afflante Spiritu"].</ref><ref>''Time''. [https://web.archive.org/web/20121025145051/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,828195-2,00.html "The Catholic Scholars"]. 3 May 1963.</ref>

Bea was highly influential at the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s as a decisive force in the drafting of ''Nostra aetate'', which repudiated anti-Semitism. In 1963, he held secret talks with Abraham Joshua Heschel, promoting Catholic–Jewish dialogue.<ref>[http://forward.com/articles/133397/the-cancellation-of-heschel/ Remembering Abraham Joshua Heschel, the Man – Forgetting "Imagining Heschel," the Play], ''The Forward''</ref> John Borelli, a Vatican II historian, has observed that, "It took the will of John XXIII and the perseverance of Cardinal Bea to impose the declaration on the Council".<ref>[http://puffin.creighton.edu/jesuit/dialogue/documents/articles/njn_borelli_02.html Tracing the Contemporary Roots of Interreligious Dialogue] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070609194405/http://puffin.creighton.edu/jesuit/dialogue/documents/articles/njn_borelli_02.html |date=9 June 2007 }}</ref> During a session of the Central Preparatory Commission, he also rejected the proposition that the Council Fathers take an oath composed of the Nicene Creed and the anti-modernist oath.<ref>Time. [https://web.archive.org/web/20070930083830/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,940032-2,00.html "The Supreme Realist"]. 6 July 1962.</ref> After Alfredo Ottaviani, the strongly conservative head of the Holy Office, presented his draft of the ''schema'' on the sources of Divine Revelation, Bea claimed that it "would close the door to intellectual Europe and the outstretched hands of friendship in the old and new world";<ref>Time. [https://web.archive.org/web/20090406005756/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,829504,00.html "The Cardinal's Setback"]. 23 November 1962.</ref> The Pope appointed Ottaviani and Bea to be the co-chairs of a commission set up to revise the draft in order to resolve the deadlock,<ref>Hamm, Dennis SJ (2014), [http://www.creighton.edu/fileadmin/user/VaticanII/DEI_VERBUM_study_guide_Revised_08302014_01.pdf DEI VERBUM: Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation (Vatican II, 1965): An orientation and quick review by way of questions and answers], page 4, Creighton University, accessed on 4 October 2025</ref> leading ultimately to the presentation of revelation comprising both scripture and tradition which featured in the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation (''Dei Verbum'').<ref>Second Vatican Council, [https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19651118_dei-verbum_en.html Dei verbum: Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation], paragraph 9, published on 18 November 1965, accessed on 4 October 2025</ref>

Bea was the author of ''The Church and the Jewish People'' (New York: Harper & Row, 1966) and marking the 50th anniversary of his death, Pope Francis called Cardinal Bea "an outstanding figure" who should not only be remembered for what he did, but also the way he did it. "He remains", the Pope said, "a model and a source of inspiration for ecumenical and interreligious dialogue, and in an eminent way for the "intra-familial" dialogue with Judaism".<ref>O'Kane, L., [https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2019-02/pope-cardinal-bea-a-model-and-inspiration-for-dialogue.html "Pope: Cardinal Bea a model and inspiration for dialogue"], Vatican News, February 28, 2019</ref>

==Awards== * 60px Bavarian Order of Merit * 60px 1954 Grand Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany * 60px Grand Cross of the French Legion of Honour * 60px Grand Cross of the Greek Order of George I * 60px 1960 Grand Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany *1965 International Prize for the brotherhood of the Fellowship Commission (International Fellowship Award), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US *1966 Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, along with Willem Visser 't Hooft *1967 Human Relations Award for the Society for Family of Man (New York)

==Published works== Augustin Bea published 430 articles in the years 1918–1968. They dealt with archaeological issues, exegesis of Old Testament texts, Mariology, papal encyclicals, the unity of Christians, anti-Semitism, Vatican II, relations to Protestantism and the eastern Orthodox Churches, and ecumenicism.

Among his books: * ''{{lang|de|Maria in der Offenbarung Katholische Marienkunde Bd. I}}'' Hugo Rahner and Augustin Bea, Schöningh, Paderborn, 1947 * ''{{lang|es|Imagen de Maria en la Antigua Alianza}}'', Buenos Aires, Revista Biblica, 1954 * ''{{lang|la|De Pentateucho Institutiones Biblicaa Scholis Accomodatae}}'', Romae, 1933 * ''{{lang|la|De Inspiratione Sacrae Scripturae}}'', Romae, 1935 * ''{{lang|la|Archeologica biblica}}'', Romae, 1939 * ''{{lang|it|La nuova traduzione Latina del Salterio}}'', Romae 1946 * ''{{lang|la|Liber Ecclesiasticae qui ab Hebraeis appelatur Qohelet}}'', Romae, 1950 * ''{{lang|la|Canticum Canticorum Salamonis}}'', Romae, 1953 * ''{{lang|la|Cor Jesu Commentationes in Litteras encyclicas Pii Papae XII Haurietis Aquas}}'', Herder Freiburg, 1959 * ''{{lang|de|Die Kirche und das jüdische Volk}}'' (German translation of ''{{lang|it|La Chiesa e il popolo ebraico}}''), Herder Freiburg, 1966

==References== {{reflist}}

== Further reading == * Malachi Martin: ''Three Popes and the Cardinal'', Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 1972, {{ISBN|0-374-27675-7}} * Stjepan Schmidt: ''Augustin Cardinal Bea: Spiritual Profile'' (notes from the Cardinal's diary), London, Geoffrey Chapman, 1971, 298pp. * Stjepan Schmidt: ''Augustin Bea, The Cardinal of Unity'', New-York, 1992. * S. Marotta, [https://www.academia.edu/31386170/Ökumene_von_Unten_Augustin_Bea_di_fronte_alle_attività_del_movimento_Una_Sancta_in_Cristianesimo_nella_storia_2016_ Ökumene von Unten': Augustin Bea di fronte alle attività del movimento, Una Sancta'] in «Cristianesimo nella storia» (2016), pp.&nbsp;541–611. * S. Marotta, Augustin Bea auf dem Weg zum Ökumeniker, in "Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte", 2016/3. * S. Marotta, [https://www.mulino.it/isbn/9788815280411: Gli anni della pazienza. Bea, l'ecumenismo e il Sant'Uffizio di Pio XII], il Mulino 2020.

==External links== * [http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bbea.html Augustine Bea at the Catholic Hierarchy] * [https://cardinals.fiu.edu/bios-b.htm#Bea Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church] * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Augustin Bea |sopt=t}}

{{s-start}} {{s-ach|rec}} {{succession box | title = Oldest living member of the College of Cardinals | years = 14 August – 16 November 1968 | before = Augusto da Silva | after = Giuseppe Pizzardo }} {{s-end}}

{{Cardinals created by John XXIII}} {{Second Vatican Council}} {{Pope Pius XII}} {{Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bea, Augustin}} Category:1881 births Category:1968 deaths Category:20th-century German cardinals Category:20th-century German Jesuits Category:People from Schwarzwald-Baar-Kreis Category:Participants in the Second Vatican Council Category:Pope Pius XII advisers Category:Grand Crosses 1st class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Category:Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour Category:Grand Crosses of the Order of George I Category:Cardinals created by Pope John XXIII Category:20th-century German biblical scholars Category:Old Testament scholars Category:Academic staff of the Pontifical Biblical Institute Category:Jesuit cardinals Category:Roman Catholic biblical scholars