SIMOR, JOHANN. - Cardinal, b. 23 Aug. 1813 at Székesfehérvár (Stuhlweissenburg), d. 24 Jan. 1891 at Esztergom.
A priest in 1856, in 1839 professor of theology at the University of Budapest, in 1841 prefect of studies at the Pazmaneum Seminary in Vienna, in 1850 court chaplain, in 1851 section councillor for Hungarian affairs at the Ministry of Cults in Vienna, he was appointed in 1857 bishop of Győr (Raab) and in 1867 archbishop of Esztergom and primate of Hungary. In that capacity he crowned the emperor Franz Joseph, after the Hungarian-Austrian Ausgleich, king of Hungary. At the Vatican Council he was among the anti-infallibilists, justifying himself by the particular situation of Hungary. According to him the definition of infallibility would have greatly hindered the return to the Catholic Church of the schismatics, very numerous in the Hungarian kingdom. Moreover, great difficulties could also have arisen from the attachment of the Orientals already united to the Church. After the approval of the council's decrees, S. hastened to address to his clergy and his faithful three pastoral letters on their content and on the dogma, and protested vigorously to the King-Emperor against the government's attempt to subject the publication of the decrees to the royal placet. On 22 Dec. 1873 he was created cardinal. Of a wealthy family, he used his patrimony for ecclesiastical and cultural works. He completed the construction of the basilica of Esztergom, where he also built a new archiepiscopal palace.
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Silvio Furlani