BLAZON OF ARMS:
SHIELD: Quarterly first and fourth Argent a bend engrailed Sable charged at the centre-point with a crescent Argent for difference; second gyronny of eight Sable and Argent a cross flory counter-changed; third Argent a dalmatian dog rampant regardant proper collared Or holding in its mouth a torch Sable enflamed Or.
SOURCE, NOTES and CREDITS: Arms for background and text based on the Wikipedia article. The blazon for these arms was provided by John Gaylor for which we thank him.
Timothy Cardinal Radcliffe, OP was appointed a cardinal by Pope Francis on 7 Dec 2024.
He was born Timoty Peter Joseph Radcliffe on 22 Aug1945 to Lt. Col. Hugh Radcliffe, MBE and Mariequita Pereira. A member of an aristocratic family he is in remainder to the Radcliffe baronetcy. He is an English Catholic Priest and Friar, ordained in 1971 as a member of the Dominican Order (OP).
In the 1970s be became a Fellow then Prior of Blackfriars, he taught scriptures at Oxford and was elected Prior Provincial of England in 1988. In 1992, he was elected Master of the Dominican Order (equivalent to Superior General of the Order), holding that office until 2001. During his tenure as Master, Radcliffe served as ex-officio Grand Chancellor of the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome. He then reverted to a simple member of the Dominican community in Oxford. In 2015, Radcliffe was named a Consultor to the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.
Of Interest here is that Pope Francis elevated Timothy Radcliffe to be a cardinal as a priest. Pope Francis granted him a rare dispensation from the requirement that only bishops can be cardinals, and on 7 December 2024 created Radcliffe a Cardinal, being assigned as a member of the Order of Cardinal Deacons to the deaconry of Chiesa dei Santi Nomi di GesĂą e Maria. At the consistory Radcliffe wore his Dominican white habit rather than a Cardinal’s red robes, returning to the tradition that when a member of an Order who becomes a Cardinal, he does not change his dress.
Another point of interest is that Cardinal Radcliffe who is 79 years old is eligible to be a voting member of the College of Cardinals who will, in the upcoming Conclave elect, the next pope.
The artwork is an interpretation of John Hamilton Gaylor.
2025 0507
dqw266@gmail.com
