SIMOR, JOHANN. - Cardinal, b. 23 Aug. 1813 at Székesfehérvár (Stuhlweissenburg), d. 24 Jan. 1891 at Strigonia.
Ordained priest in 1856, professor of theology at the University of Budapest in 1839, prefect of studies at the Pazmanum Seminary in Vienna in 1841, court chaplain in 1850, section counsellor for Hungarian affairs at the Ministry of Worship in Vienna in 1851, he was appointed bishop of Győr (Raab) in 1857 and archbishop of Strigonia and primate of Hungary in 1867. In that capacity he crowned Emperor Francesco Giuseppe, after the Magyar-Austrian Ausgleich, king of Hungary. At the Vatican Council he was among the anti-infallibilists, justifying himself by the particular situation of Hungary. In his view, the definition of infallibility would greatly hinder the return to the Catholic Church of the schismatics, who were very numerous in the Hungarian kingdom. Moreover, it might also have created great difficulties because of the attachment of the Easterners already united to the Church. After the approval of the conciliar decrees, S. hastened to address three pastoral letters to his clergy and faithful on their content
and on the dogma, and he vigorously protested to the King-Emperor against the governmental attempt to subject the publication of the decrees to the royal placet. On 22 Dec. 1873 he was created cardinal. Born into a wealthy family, he employed his patrimony in ecclesiastical and cultural works. He completed the construction of the basilica of Strigonia, where he also built a new archiepiscopal palace.