Peter Seiichi Shirayanagi (白柳誠一 ''Shirayanagi Seiichi''; 17 June 1928 – 30 December 2009) was a Japanese Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Tokyo from 1970 to 2000. He was made a

cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

in 1994, and also served as head of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Japan from 1983 to 1992.

Life

Peter Seiichi Shirayanagi was born in

Hachiōji is a Cities of Japan, city located in the Western Tokyo, western portion of the Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 561,344, and a population density of 3,000 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . It is ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, 17 June 1928. Shirayanagi studied at

Sophia University Sophia University (Japanese language, Japanese: 上智大学, ''Jōchi Daigaku''; Latin: ''Universitas Sedis Sapientiae'') is a private List of Jesuit educational institutions, Jesuit research university in Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1913 by ...

, earning a degree in

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

in 1951 and a specialization in

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

in 1954. Ordained a priest on 21 December 1954 at

Kanda Kanda may refer to: People *Kanda (surname) * Kanda Bongo Man (born 1955), Congolese soukous musician Places *Kanda, Tokyo, an area in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan ** Kanda Station (Tokyo), a railway station in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo *Kanda River, a riv ...

Catholic Cathedral. From 1954 to 1957 he served in pastoral ministry in the archdiocese of Tōkyō. He then went to study at the

Pontifical Urban University The Pontifical Urban University, also called the ''Urbaniana'' after its names in both Latin and Italian, is a pontifical university that was under the authority of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. The university's mission is to ...

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, ...

, earning a doctorate in

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 ...

in 1960."Shirayanagi, Card. Peter Seiichi", Holy See
/ref> Consecrated

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 Atenia and Auxiliary of

in 1966, he was named titular Archbishop of Castro and

Coadjutor Archbishop The term "coadjutor" (literally "co-assister" in Latin) is a title qualifier indicating that the holder shares the office with another person, with powers equal to the other in all but formal order of precedence. These include: * Coadjutor bishop ...

of the Tokyo Archdiocese in 1969, and succeeded to the post of Archbishop of Tokyo in 1970. He attended the Second Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in Vatican City, from 30 September to 6 November 1971. As archbishop, he was representative director of the Juridical Foundation of Tokyo Caritas House. He continued the Tokyo Archdiocesan Convention, implementing the decrees of the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for session ...

. From 1983 to 1992, he presided over the

ese Catholic

Bishops' conference An episcopal conference, often also called a bishops’ conference or conference of bishops, is an official assembly of the Bishop (Catholic Church), bishops of the Catholic Church in a given territory. Episcopal conferences have long existed as i ...

, which opened the Japanese Catholic Center in Tokyo in 1990. Also in 1990 the Archbishop told the Italian periodical '' 30 Giorni'', that "the events of Akita are no longer to be taken seriously."Paci, Stefano M., "The Tears of Akita", ''30 Giorni'', July -August 1990, p. 45 In 1981, Archbishop Shirayanagi organized events connected to the first papal visit to Japan. In 1989 he led a group to visit the Catholic Church in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. In 1994,

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 ...

created him a Cardinal with the title of

Cardinal-Priest A cardinal is a senior member of the clergy of the Catholic Church. As titular members of the clergy of the Diocese of Rome, they serve as advisors to the pope, who is the bishop of Rome and the visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. ...

of ''

Santa Emerenziana a Tor Fiorenza The Church of Saint Emerentiana on Tor Fiorenza (, ) is a Roman Catholic titular church in Rome, built as a parish church, by decree of Cardinal Francesco Marchetti Selvaggiani. It is named for Saint Emerentiana, a 4th-century martyr. On 5 March ...

''. On 12 June 2000, he retired as archbishop of Tokyo. He was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the

2005 papal conclave A papal conclave was held on 18 and 19 April 2005 to elect a new pope to succeed John Paul II, who had died on 2 April 2005. Of the 117 eligible cardinal electors, all but two attended. On the fourth ballot, the conclave elected Cardinal Josep ...

that selected

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

. On 24 November 2008 in Nagasaki, he represented the Pope, presiding over the beatification ceremony of the 188 Martyrs of Japan. Cardinal Shirayanagi was hospitalized at the beginning of August 2009 for cardiac arrhythmia, then suffered a light

cerebral hemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as hemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain (i.e. the parenchyma), into its ventricles, or into both. An ICH is a type of bleeding within the skull and one kind of stro ...

. On 23 December he moved to Loyola House, a

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

home for aged priests in Tokyo, where he died on 30 December. The funeral service was held at

St. Mary's Cathedral, Tokyo St. Mary's Cathedral (in ) is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Tokyo. It is located in the Sekiguchi neighborhood of Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan. History The first cathedral of Tokyo was a wooden structure, built in 1899 in the Gothic s ...

recalled Cardinal Shirayanagi's continued commitment "to spreading the Gospel, .... his work promoting justice and peace and his tireless efforts for the refugees.""Telegram from the pope on the death of Card. Shirayanagi", PIME – AsiaNews, 31 December 2009
/ref> Shirayanagi was an honorary member of AV Edo-Rhenania zu Tokio, a Catholic student

fraternity A fraternity (; whence, "wikt:brotherhood, brotherhood") or fraternal organization is an organization, society, club (organization), club or fraternal order traditionally of men but also women associated together for various religious or secular ...

that is affiliated with

Cartellverband The Union of Catholic German Student Fraternities ( or , CV) is a German umbrella organization of Catholic male student fraternities (). History Foundation During the period of 19th century in Germany called the , the Prussian state tried to ...

Notes

External links

Shirayanagi, Peter. "A Fertile Encounter of Faith and Culture", ''L'Osservatore Romano'', 22 September 1999
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shirayanagi, Peter 1928 births 2009 deaths Cardinals created by Pope John Paul II Japanese cardinals People from Hachiōji, Tokyo Sophia University alumni 20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Japan 20th-century cardinals 21st-century cardinals