Lev Skrbenský z Hříště

Who was Lev Skrbenský z Hříště?

Lev Skrbenský z Hříště, German: Leo Skrbenský von Hříště, also spelt Skrebensky was a prominent Cardinal in the Catholic Church during the early 20th century.

Of uncertain but undoubtedly wealthy background, Lev Skrbensky z Hriste was educated at the prestigious seminary of Olomouc and during the 1880s worked on a doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical Gregorian University. After being ordained in 1889, he went into the Austro-Hungarian Army and spent the following decade serving as an army chaplain.

He left his military duties in 1899, and Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria selected him as Archbishop of Prague. Two years later, he was made a cardinal at the age of thirty-seven. He participated in the 1903 and 1914 conclaves, and in 1916 was transferred to the prestigious see of Olomouc, to which he was elected by its cathedral chapter at the request of the Habsburg government. He resigned this see in 1920 because his poor health and did not participate in the 1922 conclave.