Jan Puzyna de Kosielsko

Who was Jan Puzyna de Kosielsko?

Prince Jan Maurycy Paweł Puzyna de Kosielsko was a Polish Roman Catholic Cardinal who was auxiliary bishop of Lwów from 1886 to 1895, and the bishop of Kraków from 1895 until his death in 1911. Receiving the red hat in 1901, he was known for his conservative views and authoritarianism.

Puzyna was born in 1842 in Galicia. Ordained a priest on 1 December 1878, he was raised to auxiliary bishop of Lwów and titular bishop of Memphis on 26 February 1886. He was consecrated a bishop on 25 March of that same year by Mieczysław Halka Ledóchowski, with Archbishop Franziskus von Paula Graf von Schönborn of Prague and Archbishop Joseph Sembratovych of Ukrainian rite Lviv. On 15 April 1901, Puzyna was created a cardinal, with the title of Santi Vitale, Valeria, Gervasio e Protasio by Pope Leo XIII.

During the conclave of 1903, acting on behalf of his Sovereign, Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria, he presented a veto against the election of Cardinal Mariano Rampolla. Puzyna wanted to avoid the election of Rampolla, who was sympathetic to Russia and Germany.