From a family of Jewish origin, Cardinal Schoenborn entered the Order of St. Dominic at 18 years of age, at the time of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965).
Founded by the Spanish priest Domingo Félix de Guzmán (1170 – 1221),The Order of St. Dominic was conceived of as a community of apostolic preachers inspired by - and in fulfillment of - the teachings of the Holy Gospel, to be named Ordo Praedicatorum (the Order of Preachers, (O.P). Exactly 800 years ago next month, on April 19, 2013, St. Dominic travelled to Rome to request the approval of Pope, at the time of the Fourth Council of the Lateran.
The Order was based on the monastic Rule of Saint Augustine (354-BC/BCE-430 AD/CE). Information about this Rule comes from a letter Augustine sent to the nuns who were residing in a monastery that was overseen by his sister, in which he speaks about the state of mind required in order to live as individual detached from the secular world. That detachment was made possible through the sharing of the tasks of daily life by living in common, living simply and frequently in silence; with charity:
In his two sermons "De vitâ et moribus clericorum suorum" Augustine seeks to dispel the suspicions harboured by the faithful of Hippo against the clergy leading a monastic life with him in his episcopal residence. The perusal of these sermons discloses the fact that the bishop and his priests observed strict poverty and conformed to the example of the Apostles and early Christians by using their money in common. This was called the Apostolic Rule.
Cardinal Schonborn explains that simplicity is the key to life's true meaning.
He is the author of "God's Human Face: The Christ-Icon, published by Ignatius Press, and now available in a Kindle edition.
His motto as Archbishop of Vienna is: VOS AUTEM DIXI AMICOS
The motto that the words are taken from is "THE HOLY GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN," and this extract is from Chapter 15:9-21:
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love.
If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.
These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
You are my friends if you do what I command you.
No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide; so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
This I command you, to love one another.
If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.
If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
Remember the word that I said to you, `A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also.
But all this they will do to you on my account, because they do not know him who sent me.
From 1987-1992, Cardinal Schonborn labored with then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger on the Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church. He was created a Cardinal by John Paul II, in 1998.
Cardinal Schonborn was among the College of Cardinals who came together in a consensus to elect Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, Argentina -- choosing to be known now as Francis I -- as the next Holy Father of the Roman Catholic Church this evening, as the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN News) now reports:
Pope Francis greeted the crowds of faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square shortly after 8:00 p.m. local time, after spending time in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament in the Pauline Chapel.
Jorge Mario Bergoglio, now Pope Francis I, was Archbishop of Buenos Aires. He is a Jesuit and is 76. He is the first Latin American Pope and the first Jesuit Pope. In 2005, he received the second-most votes in the conclave the elected Pope Benedict.
He entered the Society of Jesus in 1958, and obtained a licentiate in philosophy. He was ordained a priest in 1969, and was a theology professor. He was a provincial leader for the Society and a seminary rector.
In an interview with the NY Times earlier this week, Cardinal Schonborn notes:
We spoke among ourselves in an exceptional and free way, with great truth, about the lights but also about shadows in the current situation of the Catholic Church.
Schonborn also stressed the difference between the election of a Pope and a political election, pointing out the contrast between what some may think of as the work of “the chief executive of a multinational company," noting that this office is detached from secular interests, because the Holy Father is "the spiritual head of a community of believers.”
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