Q. What is a cardinal? Who was the first cardinal?
A. An interesting question. Thank you for submitting it. Cardinal is an advisory/administrative role assisting the pope and as such is not a part of the sacrament of Holy Orders. It is also an appointment for life.
Most cardinals are bishops but do not have to be. Priests, who have made significant contributions to the Church, have been named cardinals, but upon their request, were not ordained bishops. For example, the noted American Jesuit theologian Father Avery Dulles S.J. was named a cardinal in 2001 and requested that he not be ordained a bishop.
The Office of Cardinal as we know it today slowly evolved during the first millennium from the clergy of Rome. The term comes from cardo in Latin which means a hinge. Other scholars say cardinal comes from “incardinare,” a term that appears in the letters of Pope St. Gregory I (d. 604 A.D.) which refers to clerics who serve a diocese other than the one for which they are ordained.
That being said, the title cardinal seems to have appeared first around the year 500 A.D.
The term cardinal appeared in writing in the Liber Pontificalis, the biography of Pope Stephen III, when in the Roman Synod of 769, it was decided that the Roman pontiff should be elected “from among the deacons and cardinal priests.”
In 845 A.D. the Council of Meaux “required Bishops to establish Cardinal titles or parishes in their towns and outlining districts.”
During the pontificate of Stephen V (816-17), the three classes of the College of Cardinals that are present today began to form. That is, there are three types of cardinals: cardinal-deacons; cardinal-priests and cardinal-bishops.
About the 10th century in Rome, cardinals were noted as senior clergy associated with basilicas in Rome and there was a certain prestige to their position. Certain major cities and dioceses of importance had their archbishops raised to the rank of cardinal.
The College of Cardinals has played an integral part in various reforms within the Church as well, as early as the pontificate of Pope Leo IX (d. 1054). In addition, they were the pope’s primary counselors and assistants. In 1059 Pope Nicholas II made cardinals papal electors as well.
In the 12th century, the Third Lateran Council declared that only cardinals could assume the papacy, a requirement that has since lapsed. Actually, a layman can be elected pope.
Pope Sixtus V (d. 1590) set the number of cardinals at 70 in 1586, presumably after the 70 elders referenced in the Old Testament (Numbers 11:16 – 30).
St. Pope John XXIII raised the number of cardinals. St. Pope Paul VI decreed that bishops and cardinals must submit their resignations from active ministry at 75 and at age 80 cardinals are no longer eligible to vote for a pope in a papal conclave. St. Pope Paul VI set the maximum number of cardinal papal electors at 120. In addition to electing a pope, cardinals today are collaborators for the pope collegially, when they gather at his request to discuss matters of universal importance for the Church and the world.
Cardinals traditionally wear red. In a consistory creating new cardinals St. Pope John Paul II once said, “Red is a sign of dignity of the office of a cardinal, signifying that you are ready to act with fortitude, even to the point of spilling your blood.”
As of October 8, 2019 there were 224 cardinals in the Catholic Church, of whom 126 are eligible to vote for a pope.
As far as who was the first cardinal, owing to limited records kept of that time, it appears that name/person has been lost to recorded history.
Again, a really good question. No matter how old we are, we should be learning something new every day, especially about our Catholic religion.
This question was answered by a priest of the Diocese of Lincoln. Write to Ask the Register using our online form, or write to 3700 Sheridan Blvd., Suite 10, Lincoln NE 68506-6100. All questions are subject to editing. Editors decide which questions to publish. Personal questions cannot be answered. People with such questions are urged to take them to their nearest Catholic priest.
