Paul Cardinal Cullen
Paul Cullen (April 29 1803-October 24 1878) was a cardinal, and the Catholic Primate of Ireland. He was born near Ballitore, County Kildare, Ireland and was educated at St. Patrick's, Carlow College.
A biblical theologian and scholar of ancient languages by training, he is best known for his crafting of the formula for papal infallibility at the First Vatican Council. He is largely credited for ushering in the “devotional revolution” experienced in Ireland in the nineteenth century.
Career
He was rector of the Irish College (1832 - 1850) he was admitted to the friendship of Gregory XVI and Pius IX. He profited by the influence which he thus enjoyed to safeguard the interests of the Irish Church, and to unmask the intrigues of the British agents who were trying to force their political views upon the Holy See, and to forge fetters for Catholic Ireland. Cardinal Cullen was promoted to the primatial See of Armagh on 19 December, 1849 and was consecrated in Rome, on the 24 February, 1850.
A wider field was assigned to his zeal and piety when he was transferred to the See of Dublin, on 1 May, 1852. He was elevated to the cardinalate as Cardinal Priest of San Pietro in Montorio in 1866, being the first Irish bishop on whom that high dignity was ever conferred, after 1,300 years of Christianity.
| Styles of Paul Cardinal Cullen |
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| Reference style | His Eminence |
| Spoken style | Your Eminence |
| Informal style | Cardinal |
| See | Dublin |
He was intent on bringing the blessings of religious education within reach of the poorest Catholics in the land. The system of national education adopted by the Government for Ireland in 1832 was a great improvement on the proselytising systems carried on by anti-Catholic agencies.
He took part in the solemn celebrations connected with the definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1854, and with the centenary of the martyrdom of Sts. Peter and Paul in 1867.
From the opening of the First Vatican Council in 1870, Cardinal Cullen took an active part in its deliberations. His first discourse was in defence of the prerogatives of the Holy See and the proclamation of Papal Infallibility.
Cullen was an extreme Ultramontanist, and vigorously opposed all secret societies in the country with revolutionary aims, as well as the system of mixed education then in force. His opposition was largely responsible for the failure of Gladstone's Irish Universities Bill in 1873.
| Preceded by William Crolly |
Archbishop of
Armagh 1849–1852 |
Succeeded by Joseph Dixon |
| Preceded by John Thomas Troy |
Archbishop of
Dublin 1852–1878 |
Succeeded by Edward Cardinal MacCabe |
References
This article incorporates text from the public domain 1907 edition of The Nuttall Encyclopædia.
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