WILLIAM of MODENA. - Cardinal of the Curia and papal diplomat to various royal houses, born c. 1184 in Piedmont, died 31 March 1251 at Lyons. A member of the Carthusian Order, he entered the papal Chancery in 1209 and served as vice-chancellor in the years 1220–22; from 1222 to 1234 bishop of Modena, in 1244 he was named cardinal bishop of Sabina.
His diplomatic activity was especially directed toward the Baltic provinces. In 1225–26 he arranged the conditions of the Church in Estonia and Lithuania, and at Easter 1226 he convened a provincial synod at Riga. In the following years he carried on intense apostolic work in Denmark, Prussia, Poland, and Pomerania. In 1247 he crowned Hakon, king of Norway.
The pious cardinal was a staunch defender and promoter of the missionary idea; for this reason he showed great sympathy toward the two mendicant and missionary Orders, the Dominican and the Franciscan.