Roman Catholic Cardinal. Edinburgh born William Theodore Heard who would rise to become Scotland's first cardinal since Reformation, was the son of Fettes College's headmaster. Received into the Catholic faith in London, by Jesuit Father Stanislaus St. John in 1910, Archbishop James August Smith of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh refused to accept him as a candidate for the priesthood in his seminary for motives which remain somewhat unclear. Eventually accepted by Archbishop Peter Emmanuel Amigo in his seminary of Southwark, he was sent to Rome to pursue his studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University having already frequented Oxford University. Ordained priest in Rome, where he would eventually remain for most of his life, for over forty years he served as confessor for the students of the Venerable English College. Back in Southwark for a short period, by 1927 he was again in Rome as auditor of the Sacred Roman Rota of which he would later become its dean on December 15, 1958. Created cardinal deacon by Pope John XXIII in the consistory of December 14, 1959, with the deaconry of San Teodoro, Heard was later elected archbishop of the titular see of Feredi Maggiore, receiving his episcopal consecration from the named Pope himself at the Patriarchal Lateran Basilica on April 19, 1962. Opting for the order of cardinal priests with his deaconry elevated to title in 1970, in his later years he received an honorary degree from the University of Edinburgh. Old age declined his eye and hearing sights and eventually brought his end at the clinic of San Stefano Rotondo of the Blue Sisters in Rome. The fact that he was refused from entering seminary in his homeland led to years of personal heartache, the memory of which with the running of years led to its diminishness and forgottenness.
Roman Catholic Cardinal. Edinburgh born William Theodore Heard who would rise to become Scotland's first cardinal since Reformation, was the son of Fettes College's headmaster. Received into the Catholic faith in London, by Jesuit Father Stanislaus St. John in 1910, Archbishop James August Smith of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh refused to accept him as a candidate for the priesthood in his seminary for motives which remain somewhat unclear. Eventually accepted by Archbishop Peter Emmanuel Amigo in his seminary of Southwark, he was sent to Rome to pursue his studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University having already frequented Oxford University. Ordained priest in Rome, where he would eventually remain for most of his life, for over forty years he served as confessor for the students of the Venerable English College. Back in Southwark for a short period, by 1927 he was again in Rome as auditor of the Sacred Roman Rota of which he would later become its dean on December 15, 1958. Created cardinal deacon by Pope John XXIII in the consistory of December 14, 1959, with the deaconry of San Teodoro, Heard was later elected archbishop of the titular see of Feredi Maggiore, receiving his episcopal consecration from the named Pope himself at the Patriarchal Lateran Basilica on April 19, 1962. Opting for the order of cardinal priests with his deaconry elevated to title in 1970, in his later years he received an honorary degree from the University of Edinburgh. Old age declined his eye and hearing sights and eventually brought his end at the clinic of San Stefano Rotondo of the Blue Sisters in Rome. The fact that he was refused from entering seminary in his homeland led to years of personal heartache, the memory of which with the running of years led to its diminishness and forgottenness.
Bio by: Eman Bonnici
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