Why cardinal after first name

Most American cardinals still follow the old style, though there are exceptions. The Archdiocese of Washington uses both styles on its Web pages. The English language pages of the Vatican website generally use the newer style, though the older usage is sometimes seen in headings.

Timothy Michael. The earliest example of the English noun in the Oxford English Dictionary is from an entry in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles , a collection of Old English writings that date back as far as the ninth century:. So how did it get between the given name and the surname? Merrill Perlman, a former colleague of ours at the Times and a language maven for the Columbia Journalism Review, traces the practice to the naming customs of the aristocracy.

In her Feb. It was left to the individual cardinals, however, to choose how to refer to themselves. In a way, the ones who chose the new terminology were oiling a squeaky hinge and returning to a simpler past. Check out our books about the English language. Enter your email address to subscribe to the blog by email. From the very beginning of the Church, cardinals were exclusively members of the hierarchy who were given charge of specific churches in Rome.

Even today when a cardinal is appointed, they are typically given charge of a church in the city of Rome, even if they live thousands of miles away. In order to distinguish members of the hierarchy, they would instead refer to them by the church they were in charge of. Author James-Charles Noonan, Jr. This tradition was also kept among most royalty during the medieval ages, as the title and territory always came after the baptismal name such as Carlo II, Prince of Genoa.

During the past 30 years this custom has been relaxed during informal situations, as most refer to cardinals by putting the title first Cardinal Timothy Dolan. This is not an official change in how cardinals are addressed, but merely a product of the current culture.

Much of what the Church does can be traced back hundreds of years and has a rich history behind it that is fascinating to learn. Paolo Bona Shutterstock. How to Address a Cardinal. What is a Cardinal? Address a Cardinal —- Cardinal is a rank, title, and honorific for a very high official in the Roman Catholic Church.

There are three ranks of cardinal: —- Cardinal bishops are bishops of sees a post or church near Rome. Not Finding Your Answer?