Saints celebrated on the 13th of May
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BERNARDIN GANTIN, CARDINAL
Bernardin Gantin was born on May 8, 1922, in Toffo, near Cotonou (Benin), the largest city and commercial capital of what was then the French colony of Dahomey. His father was a railway worker. His surname meant "iron tree". Bernardin Gantin was ordained as a priest in 1951 and taught languages at the local seminary before heading for Rome for further theological study. In 1956, he became one of the world's youngest Catholic bishops when he was appointed auxiliary in Cotonou.
On January 5, 1960, Pope John XXIII promoted him to Archbishop of Cotonou when his old teacher, the ailing Archbishop Parisot, felt it was time to hand over his flock to the one who could take on the enormous work of the apostolate. His prowess as a pastor was demonstrated in a number of areas: he subdivided the diocese to adapt more effectively to individual situations; he promoted the founding of schools; he vigorously supported the activity of catechists and of indigenous sisters; and, particularly concerned with the problem of priestly vocations, and he underwent many sacrifices in order to maintain seminarians and priests of the diocese in their studies.
Pope Paul VI, who had met Bernardin Gantin while on a visit to Africa in 1969, summoned him to Rome in 1971 and he was created and proclaimed Cardinal by Pope Paul VI in the consistory of June 27, 1977, of the Title of the Suburbicarian Church of Palestrina (September 29, 1986).
Cardinal Gantin was one of the last persons to speak to Pope John Paul I just a few hours before that Pontiff's sudden death in 1978.
From 1975 he was the Vice-President and then President of the Pontifical Commission of Justice and Peace. The first black African to head a major church department in Rome, he represented the Vatican at various UN gatherings. In 1984, he was a surprise appointment as head of the pivotal Congregation for Bishops. Along with the Nigerian Cardinal Francis Arinze, who headed Vatican work on interreligious dialogue, he was a potent symbol of Pope John Paul II's determination to break the European dominance on the College of Cardinals.
As head of the Vatican's Congregation for Bishops from 1984 until 1998, a firm hand was sometimes needed, and Bernardin Gantin signed the decree of excommunication served on the rebel ultra-traditionalist Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre of France, a co-worker in the 1960s when both men were bishops in west Africa. It was hoped for a long time (in vain) that this renegade prelate would return and reconcile.
A quiet man with a reputation of simple piety and steady prayer, Cardinal Gantin was president Delegate to the 5th General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops (1980) and from April 8, 1984 until June 25, 1998, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops and President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.
On June 5, 1993, he was named cardinal bishop of the suburbicarian see of Ostia upon his confirmation as Dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals while retaining the see of Palestrina.
Advancing age and declining health forced the Cardinal to curtail his activities during his last years. On November 30, 2002, the Holy Father accepted the request of Cardinal Gantin to be dispensed from the Office of Dean of the College of Cardinals and of the title of the suburbicarian see of Ostia, allowing him to return to his homeland, in Benin.
Back in Benin, Gantin delighted in the threefold growth in the numbers of Catholics there, and at the seven full-to-bursting seminaries. He remained in close touch with Pope John Paul II, visiting him on several occasions, "not to speak," he pointed out, "rather to listen. He is the vicar of Jesus Christ, who has words of eternal life. He is the father and the pastor of the universal church..."
On May 7, 2008, the President of the Republic of Benin, learning of a severe deterioration of the state of the Cardinal's health visited him and ordered his translation to Paris, where he was received at the Georges Pompidou Hospital. Suffering from severe dehydration, he died there on Tuesday, May 13, 2008. Laid in state at the Chapel of the house of the Sœurs Petites Servantes des Pauvres, Sixth District, 49 Rue Notre Dame des Champs, his body was repatriated to Benin where a period of three days of national mourning was observed in his memory. Buried on May 24 near the altar of the chapel of the Grand Seminary of Saint Gall, Ouidah, on November 19, 2011, during his visit to Benin, Pope Benedict XVI sought out his tomb and stopped to say his prayers. The international airport of Cotonou has been since named after him.
Sources:
https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/documentation/cardinali_biografie/cardinali_bio_gantin_b.html
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/may/15/catholicism.religion
https://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bgantinb.html
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/26881520/bernardin-gantin
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/cardinal-bernardin-gantin-ally-of-john-paul-ii-who-exercised-great-influence-at-the-vatican-as-head-of-the-congregation-for-bishops-831050.html
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