Albert Gregory Meyer

Albert Gregory Meyer (March 9, 1903&mdash;April 9, 1965) was an American clergyman of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Chicago from 1958 until his death in 1965, and was created a cardinal in 1959.

Early life and education
Albert Meyer was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Peter James and Mathilda (née Thelen) Meyer, who were German immigrants. The fourth of five children, he had two brothers and two sisters; one sister became a nun. As a child, Meyer would pretend to say Mass with a toy altar and a glass of water for the chalice of wine.

He received his early education under the School Sisters of Notre Dame at the parochial school of St. Mary's Church. After attending Marquette Academy for two years, he entered St. Francis Seminary. In 1922, he was sent by Archbishop Sebastian Gebhard Messmer to continue his studies at the Pontifical North American College in Rome.

Priesthood
On July 11, 1926, Meyer was ordained to the priesthood by Cardinal Basilio Pompilj, at the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva. He then studied at the Pontifical Biblical Institute, from where he obtained a doctorate in Holy Scriptures in 1930.

Upon returning to the United States, he served as a curate at St. Joseph's Church in Waukesha until 1931, when he became a professor at his alma mater of St. Francis Seminary. He there taught religion, Greek, Latin, biblical archeology, dogmatic theology and Holy Scriptures. When Aloisius Joseph Muench was named Bishop of Fargo, Meyer succeeded him as rector of St. Francis Seminary in 1937. He was raised to the rank of Domestic Prelate in 1938, and also served as a chaplain and adviser to the Serra Club.

Bishop
On February 18, 1946, he was appointed the sixth Bishop of Superior by Pope Pius XII. Meyer was consecrated on the following April 11 by Archbishop Moses E. Kiley, with Bishops Aloisius Joseph Muench and William Patrick O'Connor serving as co-consecrators, in the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist. He became the seventh Archbishop of Milwaukee on July 21, 1953 before being named the fifth Archbishop of Chicago on September 19, 1958.

Views
Despite skepticism, Meyer was created Cardinal Priest of S. Cecilia by Pope John XXIII in the consistory of December 14, 1959. He later participated at the first three sessions of the Second Vatican Council, from 1962 to 1964, and sat on its Board of Presidency. During the Council, Meyer showed himself to be of liberal tendencies  and was viewed as the chief intellectual among the participating American hierarchy. The scholarly and often shy prelate supported religious liberty, but strongly condemned racism, giving speeches alongside Martin Luther King, Jr. and warning his clergy "not to foster the flame of racial hatred". Meyer was also one of the cardinal electors in the 1963 papal conclave, which selected Pope Paul VI.

Death
He served as Archbishop of Chicago until his death from a heart attack after an operation to remove a malignant brain tumor in Mercy Hospital, at age 62. He is buried in the cemetery of the University of Saint Mary of the Lake in Mundelein, Illinois.

Trivia
Meyer, an occasional fisher, once called fishing the "apostolic recreation", and was also known to attend a Milwaukee Braves baseball game.