In the Roman Catholic Church, a "lay cardinal" was a cardinal who had never been given major orders, i.e. who had never been ordained a deacon, priest, or bishop.
Properly speaking these cardinals were not laymen, since they were all given what was called first tonsure, by which at that time one became a cleric, and cease to be a layman. In addition they were given minor orders, which were no obstacle to marrying or to living in a marriage previously contracted. The freedom to marry and to live in marriage is doubtless the reason that cardinals who were not in major orders were popularly, though inaccurately, referred to as lay cardinals.
Read more about Lay Cardinal: Examples, Confusion Concerning The Title of "cardinal", Changes in Canon Law
Famous quotes containing the words lay and/or cardinal:
“When they shot him down in the highway,
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And he lay in his blood on the highway, with the bunch of lace at
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“Time and I against any two.”
—Spanish proverb.
Quoted by Cardinal Mazarin during the minority of Louis XIV.