Joseph Cardijn

Joseph Leo Cardijn (November 13 1882 - July 24 1967) was a Belgian priest and cardinal and the founder of the Young Christian Workers.

Biography

Joseph Cardijn was born in 1882 in Schaerbeek, Belgium as the eldest son of Henri Cardijn and Louise van Daelen. He lived with his grandparents in Halle until his parents quit their job as caretakers and his father started business as a coal merchant, while his mother opened a café. Both deeply Christian, they agreed to let Joseph continue his studies to become a priest instead of starting to work in the factory. After studying at the College of Our Lady in Halle, he went in 1903 to the Mechelen seminary. On September 22 1906, Cardijn was ordained priest. [http://www.catholicauthors.com/cardijn.html Biography at CatholicAuthors.com] ] By then, influenced by his parents and by the priest Adolf Daens, he had decided to spend his life bringing Christianity back to the working class. [ [http://www.belgium.be/eportal/application?languageParameter=en&pageid=contentPage&docId=3252 Biography at Belgium.be] ]

He became a teacher in Wavre, and travelled abroad in the holidays, meeting people like Baden Powell and Ben Tillett. In 1912, after being ill, he was appointed to the parish of Laeken near Brussels, where he started creating and improving workers' organizations in earnest. Twice imprisoned during World War I for so-called patriotic activities, he left Laeken in 1919 and devoted his time solely to social work from then on. The same year, he started the "Young Trade Unionists". Met first with resistance from within the Catholic Church, the organization and Cardijn soon became accepted and Cardijn received the blessing from Pope Pius XI in 1925.

In 1924, the name of the organization was changed to "Jeunesse Ouvrière Chrétienne", the Young Christian Workers. The organization grew rapidly throughout the world. By 1938, there were 500,000 members throughout Europe; [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,788809,00.html Time magazine article from 1938] ] in 1967, this had increased to 2,000,000 members in 69 countries. [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,788809,00.html Obituary in Time magazine, 1967] ] On February 12 1965, Cardijn was created a cardinal by Pope Paul VI. Cardijn died on July 24 1967. [ [http://www.iol.ie/~ycw/Cardijn.htm Young Christian Workers' biography of Cardijn] ]

Notes

Persondata
NAME = Cardijn, Joseph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
SHORT DESCRIPTION = 20th century Belgian priest, founder of the Young Christian Workers
DATE OF BIRTH = November 13 1882
PLACE OF BIRTH = Schaerbeek, Belgium
DATE OF DEATH = July 24 1967
PLACE OF DEATH =