Cardinal Eugene Tisserant Papers

Eugene Gabriel Tisserant (1884-1972) was an ecclesiastic, scholar, librarian and archivist of the Holy Roman Church. Tisserant was ordained a priest in 1907 and began his career as scriptor orientalis in the Vatican Library in 1908. He served as an assistant prefect of the Vatican Library (1919-1930) and was appointed prefect of the Vatican Library in 1937. In the Curia, "Il Francese", played an important role in Church affairs for over 50 years. Some of the posts that he held included: prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches; Dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals in 1951; cardinal bishop of the diocese of Porto and Santa Rufina (1946-1966) and of Ostia (1951-1956; presided over the board of presidents at Vatican Council II (1962-1965); accompanied Pope Paul VI on his major voyages to the five continents; and participated in the Roman Synod of Bishops in 1967 and 1969. As a scholar, Tisserant published Ascension d'Isaie (1909), Codex Zuquinensis Rescriptus Testamenti (1911), Specimina Codicum Orientalium (1914), Bibliothecae apostolicae vaticanae codices aethiopici vaticani et borgiani, barberinianus orientalis n, rossianus 865 (1935-1936), and numerous articles on spirituality and on the Oriental churches. Other scholarly achievements included membership in the Academie des Belles-Lettres (1938), Member of the French Academy (1961) and honorary degrees from the universities of Princeton, Louvain, Coimbra, and Vienna.