Confusion Concerning The Title of "cardinal"
It is perhaps commonplace to think that the title of "cardinal" is the next order after "bishop" to which a man may be ordained, as "bishop" comes after "priest" and "priest" after "deacon". In fact, however, the position of cardinal is not an order to which one can be ordained, but simply a honorific office in the Church.
The original "cardinals" in the first Christian centuries were friends and counsellors of the Bishop of Rome. Some were ordained deacons or priests and some were not. In those days of persecution these men took on the duty of standing at the door of the house where the agapē feast, as the Mass was then called, was being celebrated. They admitted or rejected people hoping to attend the Sacred Liturgy. They also kept watch for soldiers or informers who might interrupt the gathering. Since the word for "hinge" in Latin is cardo they became known as 'hingemen" - cardinals. Soon many bishops called their advisors "cardinals" but, in time, the Pope decreed that only the advisors of the Bishop of Rome could be known by the title "cardinal".
Read more about this topic: Lay Cardinal
Famous quotes containing the words confusion, title and/or cardinal:
“A womans beauty is a storm-tossed banner;
Under it wisdom stands, and I alone
Of all Arabias lovers I alone
Nor dazzled by the embroidery, nor lost
In the confusion of its night-dark folds,
Can hear the armed man speak.”
—William Butler Yeats (18651939)
“Now that the steam engine rules the world, a title is an absurdity, still I am all dressed up in this title. It will crush me if I do not support it. The title attracts attention to myself.”
—Stendhal [Marie Henri Beyle] (17831842)
“What people dont realize is that intimacy has its conventions as well as ordinary social intercourse. There are three cardinal rulesdont take somebody elses boyfriend unless youve been specifically invited to do so, dont take a drink without being asked, and keep a scrupulous accounting in financial matters.”
—W.H. (Wystan Hugh)