The death took place on May 6th last in a Belgian clinic of one of the great fathers of the church in our time. At the age of almost 92, Leo Jozef Cardinal Suenens, former Archbishop of MalinesBrussels, closed his eyes on this earth to open them in the eternal encounter with the Christ he had loved and served.
Born of humble farming stock at the beginning of the century he was to lose his father at an early age. As a student in the diocesan college at Schaerbeek his spiritual and intellectual qualities became known to the then Archbishop of Malines Brussels, Cardinal Mercier, who sent him to the Belgian College in Rome to study for priesthood. After ordination in 1927, at the age of 23, Fr Suenens was posted back to his former alma mater in Schaerbeek as a professor. In 1940 he became Vice Rector of the renowned Catholic University of Leuven and five years later Pope Pius XII named him Auxiliary Bishop to the Archbishop of MalinesBrussels.
As National President in Belgium of the Legion of Mary, Monsignor Suenens came to appreciate the effectiveness of the legion as a lay apostolate. It was during this time that he came to learn of the heroic life of the Irish legion envoy, Miss Edel Quinn, and the example of her life and work in east Africa was to leave a dedicated mark on his whole episcopal ministry. Bishop Suenens was subsequently to write the first authoritative Life of Edel Quinn and was to live to see that noble soul declared by the church in recent times, "Venerable Servant of God".
Bishop Suenens was made Archbishop of Malines Brussels in November 1961 and in the consistory of March 1962 Pope John XXIII created him Cardinal along with the renowned Irish Dominican, Michael Browne. His qualities as a truly pastoral bishop and his reputation as a man of deep spirituality and profound theological thought marked him out to be chosen as one of the four moderators of the Second Vatican Council. As a Father of the council he attended all four sessions from 1962-1965.
His pastoral experience in the field of the lay apostolate and in the Marian apostolate gave him the opportunity to play a significant role in the deliberations of the council and in the redaction of its main documents such as Gaudium et Spes and Lumen Gentium. He was deeply committed to the ecumenical ideals of the council and his contribution to ecumenical dialogue was most significant. He became well known in Britain through his many visits there to meet with leaders of the Anglican communion.
Cardinal Suenens was indeed a man with vision, a man of pervading hope, a man who had the enormous capacity to communicate the fresh air of God's presence to all whom he would meet. Those who were privileged to meet and hear him when he spoke at the RDS in Dublin will have a lasting memory of a truly charismatic pastor of the church. Cardinal Suenens resigned his office as Archbishop of Malines Brussels on October 4th, 1979.
It was from his personal and intimate relationship with Jesus that Cardinal Suenens manifested the spirit of renewal proclaimed by the Second Vatican Council. He was a prolific writer, who once wrote: Our contemporaries want to meet the living Christ today. They wish to see Him with their own eyes, to touch Him with their own hands, they want a meeting with Him directly." We pray that this good and faithful servant of the church may now be enjoying that direct meeting with the Christ he loved and served and may the Mother for whom he had a profound affection draw him ever more, through Christ, to the eternal embrace of the Father.