Jean Hengen (23 November 1912 – 29 January 2005) was a

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

ish

prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Minister (Christianity), Christian clergy who is an Ordinary (church officer), ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which me ...

of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. He served as Bishop of Luxembourg from 13 February 1971 until 21 December 1990, whereupon Luxembourg was created as an Archbishopric, and thereafter he served as

Archbishop of Luxembourg The archbishop of Luxembourg is the Ordinary (Catholic Church), ordinary of the Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic archbishopric of Luxembourg. The position was created on 23 April 1988, when Luxembourg was promoted from a bishopric. The seat o ...

. Hengen was inducted into the Order of the Oak Crown as a Grand Officer on 23 June 1981.

Life

Youth

Hengen was born on 23 November 1912 in

Dudelange Dudelange (; ; ) is a commune with town status in southern Luxembourg. It is the fourth-most populous commune, with 22,043 inhabitants. Dudelange is situated close to the border with France. The commune also includes the smaller town of Bude ...

, the seventh of eight children of Michel Hengen and Anna Gindt. After completing his secondary schooling at the Athénée de Luxembourg, he started studying philosophy and theology at the

Pontifical Gregorian University Pontifical Gregorian University (; also known as the Gregorian or Gregoriana), is a private university, private pontifical university in Rome, Italy. The Gregorian originated as a part of the Roman College, founded in 1551 by Ignatius of Loyo ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. He later also studied

canon law Canon law (from , , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical jurisdiction, ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its membe ...

Priesthood

He was ordained a priest on 27 October 1940 in Rome in the

Church of the Gesù The Church of the Gesù (, ), officially named (), is a church located at Piazza del Gesù in the Pigna (rione of Rome), Pigna ''Rioni of Rome, rione'' of Rome, Italy. It is the mother church of the Society of Jesus (best known as Jesuits). Wi ...

. He celebrated his first

Mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

in Luxembourg in the Franciscan church. It was not until after the war, in 1945, that he celebrated the first Mass in Dudelange in his home parish. After his doctorate in theology, he was made canon of the Cathedral by Bishop Joseph Philippe on 20 August 1945. On 1 August 1949 he became

chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

of the diocese, and on 6 June 1955 was appointed Vicar-General. From 1955 to 1971 he was made president of the board of directors of the printing house Imprimerie Saint Paul.

Bishop

Pope The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

Paul VI appointed Hengen the

titular bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

of Calama and coadjutor bishop on 8 April 1967, with right of succession. On 4 June 1967 he was consecrated in Notre-Dame Cathedral. On 12 February 1971, after Léon Lommel retirement, Hengen became the sixth Bishop of Luxembourg. His motto as Bishop was "Tibi servire" (To serve you). On 13 May 1972 he convened the 4th Luxembourgish diocesan synod, which was to be a synod of renewal. When the old bell-tower of the Cathedral was in flames on

Good Friday Good Friday, also known as Holy Friday, Great Friday, Great and Holy Friday, or Friday of the Passion of the Lord, is a solemn Christian holy day commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus and his death at Calvary (Golgotha). It is observed during ...

in 1985, he personally saved the statue of the

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

– an important Luxembourgish symbol – and later took care of planning the reconstruction. The same year, Pope

John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

personally appointed him the first Archbishop of Luxembourg on 16 May during a visit to the country. In 1988 Luxembourg was elevated to an Archdiocese. Jean Hengen was also the president of the German commission responsible for publishing liturgical books. One big project of Bishop Hengen was a church at the service of young people. Under him, the ''Pélé des Jeunes'' started in 1974, which to this day takes place on the first Sunday of the Octave celebrations. Other high points of youth ministry were the meeting of young people with John Paul II in

Echternach Echternach (, ; or locally ) is a commune with town status in the canton of Echternach, in eastern Luxembourg. Echternach lies near the border with Germany, and is the oldest town in Luxembourg. History The town grew around the Abbey of Echt ...

during the papal visit of 1985, and Youth Day (''Jugenddag''), a national version of the

World Youth Day World Youth Day (WYD) is an event for the youth organized by the Catholic Church that was initiated by Pope John Paul II in 1985. Its concept has been influenced by the Light-Life Movement that has existed in Poland since the 1960s, where dur ...

Retirement

With the consecration of

Fernand Franck Fernand Franck (born 6 May 1934) is a Luxembourgish prelate of the Catholic Church. He was Archbishop of Luxembourg from 1990 to 2011. Biography He was born in Esch-sur-Alzette on 6 May 1934 and attended primary and secondary school in Esch-sur-A ...

as his successor on 2 February 1991, Jean Hengen's tenure as Archbishop came to an end. In this time in office, he had always tried to avoid favouring his home town of Dudelange over other Luxembourgish cities. Thus, while he declined Abbot Robert Sibenaler's invitation to the Octave Mass of the Dudelange pilgrims during his time as Bishop, after his retirement he willingly participated in this tradition. After his death, flowers were laid in the crypt for the people of Dudelange every year after the Octave Mass. On 29 October 2000 he celebrated his diamond jubilee as a clergyman. Dudelange also honoured "its" Bishop on 23 November 2002 for his 90th birthday, which was also the last Mass that he would celebrate as Bishop. His last public appearance was on 10 May 2004 at the Octave Mass with the Dudelange pilgrims. On this occasion, he did not wear a Bishop's ornaments such as a staff and

mitre The mitre (Commonwealth English) or miter (American English; American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, see spelling differences; both pronounced ; ) is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of ...

, but a simple violet Bishop's

cassock The cassock, or soutane, is a Christian clerical clothing, clerical coat used by the clergy and Consecrated life, male religious of the Oriental Orthodox Churches, Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church, in addition to some clergy in ...

and a rochet. Jean Hengen died in the hospital on Kirchberg at 12:00 on 29 January 2005. His remains were buried on 2 February 2005 in the crypt of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Luxembourg.

References

External links

catholic-hierarchy
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Hengen, Jean 1912 births 2005 deaths 20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Luxembourg 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Luxembourg People from Dudelange Alumni of the Athénée de Luxembourg Luxembourgian Roman Catholic archbishops