Thomas Tien Ken-sin, SVD (; October 24, 1890 – July 24, 1967) was a Chinese

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

of the Catholic Church and chair of

Fu Jen Catholic University Fu Jen Catholic University (FJU, FJCU or Fu Jen; or ) is a private Catholic university in Xinzhuang, New Taipei City, Taiwan. The university was founded in 1925 in Beijing at the request of Pope Pius XI and re-established in Taiwan in 1961 at ...

. He served as

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

of Peking from 1946 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1946 by

Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII ( it, Pio XII), born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (; 2 March 18769 October 1958), was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death in October 1958. Before his e ...

Biography

Thomas Tien Ken-sin was born in Chantsui, Yanggu, ( Shantung province) to Kilian Tien Ken-sin and his wife Maria Yang.

Baptized Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost ...

in 1901, he studied at the seminary in Yenchowfu before being ordained to the priesthood by Bishop

Augustin Henninghaus Augustin Henninghaus SVD (11 September 1862, Menden (Sauerland), Province of Westphalia – 20 July 1939) was a German Roman Catholic missionary and bishop in China. Life Henninghaus, whose baptismal name was August, was born in Menden in t ...

on June 9, 1918. Tien then did pastoral work in the Yangku Mission until 1939. He entered the

Society of the Divine Word The Society of the Divine Word ( la, Societas Verbi Divini), abbreviated SVD and popularly called the Verbites or the Divine Word Missionaries, and sometimes the Steyler Missionaries, is a Catholic Church, Catholic clerical religious congregation ...

on March 8, 1929, in the Netherlands, taking his first vows on February 2, 1931, and his final ones on March 7, 1935. He was raised to

Apostolic Prefect An apostolic prefect or prefect apostolic is a priest who heads what is known as an apostolic prefecture, a 'pre-diocesan' missionary jurisdiction where the Catholic Church is not yet sufficiently developed to have it made a diocese. Although it ...

of Yangku on February 2, 1934. On July 11, 1939, Tien was appointed Apostolic Vicar of Yangku and Titular Bishop of Ruspae. He received his episcopal consecration on the following October 29 from

himself, with Archbishops Celso Constantini and

Henri Streicher Henri Streicher (29 July 1863 – 7 June 1952) was a Roman Catholic missionary bishop who served as Vicar Apostolic of Uganda from 1897 to 1933. Early years Henri Streicher was born on 29 July 1863 in Wasselonne, France. On 23 September 1887 he ...

, MAfr, serving as

co-consecrators A consecrator is a bishop who ordains someone to the episcopacy. A co-consecrator is someone who assists the consecrator bishop in the act of ordaining a new bishop. The terms are used in the canon law of the Catholic Church, Lutheran Churches, ...

. Tien was later made Apostolic Vicar of

Qingdao Qingdao (, also spelled Tsingtao; , Mandarin: ) is a major city in eastern Shandong Province. The city's name in Chinese characters literally means " azure island". Located on China's Yellow Sea coast, it is a major nodal city of the One Belt ...

on November 10, 1942. He was elevated to Cardinal Priest of ''

Santa Maria in Via ::''This Church is not to be confused with the Church of Santa Maria in Via Lata, a Deaconry.'' Santa Maria in Via is a basilica church in Rome. The church or a chapel existed in the 9th century, but was rebuilt following reports of a miracle. I ...

'' by

in the consistory of February 18, 1946. Tien, the first cardinal from

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, was then named, on April 11 of that same year, the first

of Beijing in post-Yuan Dynasty China. In 1951 he was exiled from China by the Communist regime, and spent this time in Illinois in the United States, to where he came that year for treatment of a heart ailment. He was one of the

cardinal electors A cardinal ( la, Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae cardinalis, literally 'cardinal of the Holy Roman Church') is a senior member of the clergy of the Catholic Church. Cardinals are created by the ruling pope and typically hold the title for life. Col ...

who participated in the

1958 papal conclave The 1958 papal conclave occurred following the death of Pope Pius XII on 9 October 1958. The College of Cardinals met from 25 to 28 October and on the eleventh ballot elected Cardinal Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, Patriarch of Venice as the new pope. ...

which selected Pope John XXIII, and was Apostolic Administrator of Taipei from December 16, 1959 to 1966. From 1962 to 1965, he attended the Second Vatican Council, and voted in the

1963 papal conclave The 1963 papal conclave was convoked following the death of Pope John XXIII on 3 June 1963 in the Apostolic Palace. After the cardinal electors assembled in Rome, the conclave to elect John's successor began on 19 June and ended two days later, o ...

, which selected Pope Paul VI. Tien died in Taipei on July 24, 1967, at age 76. He is buried in the

metropolitan Metropolitan may refer to: * Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories * Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England * Metropolitan county, a typ ...

cathedral of that same city.

Influence

*He greatly promoted devotion to

Our Lady of China Our Lady of China, the Great Mother ( zh, t=中華大聖母, s=中华大圣母, first=t, p=Zhōnghuá Da Shèngmǔ), also known as Our Lady of Donglü ( zh, t=東閭聖母, s=东闾圣母, first=t, p=Dōnglǘ Shèngmǔ, links=no), is a Catholic t ...

.Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception
The Great Upper Church
/ref> *Tien was the first Cardinal also from the Society of the Divine Word. *The Holy See has not recognized any of CPA-approved successors of Tien as Archbishop of Peking, though in his 2007 letter to the faithful in China, Pope Benedict XVI expressed an openness to dialogue with the CPA-appointed "bishops".

References

External links

* SVD Hagiograph
Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tien, Thomas, Ken-sin Cardinals created by Pope Pius XII 1890 births 1967 deaths 20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in China Apostolic prefects Chinese cardinals Taiwanese Roman Catholic priests Participants in the Second Vatican Council Divine Word Missionaries Order Taiwanese people from Shandong Chinese Roman Catholic archbishops