{{Short description|German Cardinal}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2022}} {{Infobox Christian leader | type = Cardinal | honorific-prefix = [[His Eminence]] | name = Paul Augustin Mayer, | honorific-suffix = O.S.B. | title = Cardinal Prefect Emeritus of the [[Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments]] | image = Paul_Augustin_Mayer.jpg | imagesize = | alt = | caption = | ordination = 25 August 1935 | consecration = 13 February 1972 | cardinal = 25 May 1985 ([[Cardinal deacon]]); 29 January 1996 ([[Cardinal priest]]) | other_post = [[Abbot]] of [[Metten Abbey|St. Michael's Abbey, Metten]]<br>{{small|(1966–1971)}}<br>[[Titular Archbishop]] of [[Satrianum]] {{small|(1972–1985)}}, and Prefect of the [[Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments]] {{small|(1985–1988)}} <!---------- Personal details ----------> | birth_name = Paul Augustin Mayer | birth_date = {{Birth date|1911|05|23|df=yes}} | birth_place = [[Altötting]], [[Kingdom of Bavaria]] (now Germany) | death_date = {{Death date and age|2010|04|30|1911|05|23|df=yes}} | death_place = [[Rome]], Italy | buried = | nationality = German | residence = | parents = | alma_mater = | signature = | coat_of_arms = Coat of arms of Paul Augustin Mayer.svg <!---------- Other ----------> | other = }} '''Paul Augustin Mayer''', [[Order of Saint Benedict|OSB]] (23 May 1911 – 30 April 2010) was a German [[Cardinal (Catholicism)|Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church]]. He held various positions in the [[Roman Curia]] from 1971 to 1991.
==Biography== Mayer was born in [[Altötting]], Germany, one of three children of Royal Bavarian General Ludwig Mayer and his wife Meta Hoeness. He was the nephew of Württemberg President [[Eugen Bolz]].
After graduating from the Metten high school, Mayer joined the [[Order of Saint Benedict]] at the [[Metten Abbey|Abbey of St. Michael, Metten]], taking the name of Augustin.<ref name=holysee>[https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/documentation/cardinali_biografie/cardinali_bio_mayer_pa.html "Mayer, Card. Paul Augustin, O.S.B.", Holy See]</ref> He had his monastic profession on 17 May 1931. He studied at the [[University of Salzburg]] and at the [[Pontificio Ateneo Sant Anselmo|Pontifical Athenaeum of Sant Anselmo]] in Rome, where he received his doctorate in theology on the writings of [[Clement of Alexandria]].<ref name=homily>[https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/homilies/2010/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20100503_esequie-mayer.html Pope Benedict XVI. "Homily for the Funeral Mass for Cardinal Paul Augustin Mayer O.S.B.", May 3, 2010, Libreria Editrice Vaticana]</ref>
He was ordained a Priest on 25 August 1935. After his ordination he was a faculty member at the abbey of Saint Michael from 1937 until 1939. He taught at the Pontifical Roman Athenaeum of Sant Anselmo from 1939 until 1966, serving as its [[Rector (academia)|rector]] from 1949 until 1966. As rector he founded the Pontifical Liturgical Institute.<ref name=holysee/>
He was the Apostolic visitor to the Swiss seminaries from 1957 until 1959. He served as Secretary of the Preparatory Commission of the [[Second Vatican Council]] from 1960 until 1962. The decree he oversaw on the formation of priests was the only Council document to be approved by the Council Fathers in the first reading. He was elected abbot of St. Michael's Abbey, Metten, Bavaria on 3 November 1966.<ref name=holysee/> He received the abbatial blessing from Rudolf Graber, [[bishop of Regensburg]]. In 1968 became the abbot-president of the [[Bavarian Congregation|Bavarian Benedictine Congregation]], and in 1970 president of the Salzburg Conference of Abbots, positions he held until 1971.
==Episcopate== He was appointed Secretary of the [[Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life|Congregation for Religious and Secular Institutes]] on 8 September 1971. As secretary he was appointed [[titular archbishop]] of [[Satrianum]] by [[Pope Paul VI]] on 6 January 1972 and was consecrated on 13 February by Pope Paul,<ref name=homily/> assisted by [[Bernardus Johannes Alfrink]], Cardinal [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Utrecht|Archbishop of Utrecht]], and [[William Conway (cardinal)|William Conway]], Cardinal [[Archbishop of Armagh]].<ref>[http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/d2s35.html Satrianum (Titular See)]. ''Catholic-Hierarchy''. Retrieved 18 December 2009. {{Self-published source|date=August 2015}}</ref> [[Pope John Paul II]] named him [[Promagistrate|Pro]]-Prefect of the [[Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments]] on 8 April 1984. During his tenure, the congregation was divided into two, the Congregation of the Sacraments and the Congregation for Divine Worship. (They were united again in 1988 under the Apostolic Constitution ''Pastor Bonus''.)
==Cardinalate== He was created and proclaimed [[Cardinal-Deacon]] of [[Sant'Anselmo all'Aventino]] in the [[Papal consistory|consistory]] of 25 May 1985. He was named full Prefect of the Congregation two days later. He presided over the unification of two distinct congregations, the Congregation of the Sacraments and the Congregation for Divine Worship that were united under one name from 1988 on. He resigned the prefecture on 1 July 1988. He was appointed the first President of the [[Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei]] the next day.<ref name=homily/> He lost the right to participate in a [[Papal conclave|conclave]] when turned 80 years of age in 1991. He resigned the presidency on 1 July 1991. He opted for the order of cardinal priests and his deaconry was elevated [[pro hac vice]] to title on 29 January 1996.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ongwCgAAQBAJ&dq=Paul+Augustin+Mayer&pg=PA122 Lentz III, Harris M., ''Popes and Cardinals of the 20th Century: A Biographical Dictionary'', McFarland, 2015, p. 122] {{ISBN|9781476621555}}</ref>
Mayer was the oldest living Cardinal from 2007 to his death. He died on 30 April 2010 in Rome. He was buried at St. Michael's Abbey, Metten.
In 2009, the Saint Benedict Education Foundation announced the establishment of the Paul Augustin Cardinal Mayer, O.S.B., Chair in Sacramental Theology at Sant Anselmo.<ref>[https://stbenedictfoundation.org/2009/07/19/paul-augustin-cardinal-mayer-o-s-b-chair-in-sacramental-theology/ "Paul Augustin Cardinal Mayer, O.S.B. Chair in Sacramental Theology", The Saint Benedict Education Foundation, July 19, 2009]</ref>
==Awards== * [[Bavarian Order of Merit]] * [[Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany]]<ref>[https://www-kloster--metten-de.translate.goog/?page_id=145&_x_tr_sch=http&_x_tr_sl=de&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc "Cardinal Augustine Mayer", St. Michael's Abbey, Metten]</ref>
==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== *{{commons category-inline}} *{{wikiquote-inline}}
{{s-start}} {{s-rel|ca}} {{succession box |before=[[Ramon Iglesias i Navarri]] |title=[[Titular Archbishop]] of [[Satrianum]] |after=[[Patrick Coveney]] |years=6 January 1972 – 25 May 1985 }}
{{succession box |before=[[Giuseppe Casoria]] |title=[[Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments|Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments]] |after=[[Eduardo Martínez Somalo]] |years=8 April 1984 – 1 July 1988}}
{{succession box |before=''Inaugural appointment'' |title=[[Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei|President of the Pontifical Commission ''Ecclesia Dei'']] |after=[[Antonio Innocenti]] |years=2 July 1988 – 1 July 1991}}
{{s-ach|rec}} {{succession box | title = [[List of living cardinals|Oldest living Member of the Sacred College]] | years = 12 December 2007 – 30 April 2010 | before = [[Alfons Maria Stickler]] | after = [[Ersilio Tonini]] }} {{s-end}}
{{Cardinals created by John Paul II}} {{portal bar|Biography|Catholicism|Germany}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mayer, Paul}} [[Category:1911 births]] [[Category:2010 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century German cardinals]] [[Category:21st-century German cardinals]] [[Category:Participants in the Second Vatican Council]] [[Category:University of Salzburg alumni]] [[Category:Members of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments]] [[Category:Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei]] [[Category:Cardinals created by Pope John Paul II]] [[Category:Grand Crosses 1st class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany]] [[Category:German Benedictines]] [[Category:People from Altötting]]