Quick Facts

• Ordained on June 4, 1955 
  
  
• 1957-1960 taught latin @ of St. Augustine’s Seminary
  
  
• 1971-76 Dean of St. Augustine’s Seminary 
  
  
• Ordained Auxiliary Bishop of Toronto on May 27, 1976 
  
  
• Coadjutor Archbishop on May 22, 1986 
  
  
• Became Archbishop of Toronto on March 17, 1990 
  
  
• Named Cardinal by Pope John Paul II on 18 January 1998 and invested on 21 February 1998
  
  
• Celebrated his Golden Jubilee as a priest on 8 June 2005 
  
  
• Celebrated 30 years as Bishop, May 27, 2006
  
  
• Retired as Archbishop of Toronto, December 16, 2006

His Eminence Aloysius Cardinal Ambrozic

Cardinal Ambrozic was born in Gaberje, Slovenia, the second of the seven children of Aloysius Ambrozic and his wife, Helen Pecar. He attended elementary school in Dobrova and high school in Ljubljana. In May, 1945, the entire family fled to Austria, where they lived in the displaced persons' camps at Vetrinj, Peggez and Spittal an der Drau. While in these camps, he completed his high school education.

In September of 1948 the family emigrated to Canada and settled near Toronto. Shortly afterwards, he entered St. Augustine's Seminary to study philosophy and theology. On June 4, 1955, he was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Toronto by His Eminence, James C. Cardinal McGuigan.

The first year of his priesthood he served as Curate at St. Teresa's Parish in Port Colborne, Ontario. He then taught Latin for a year at St. Augustine's Seminary, Toronto. The years 1957-1960 were devoted to postgraduate studies in Rome, where he received a Licentiate in Theology at the Angelicum and a Licentiate in Sacred Scripture at the Pontifical Biblical Institute.

Returning to Toronto, he taught scripture at St. Augustine's Seminary from 1960-67. In 1967 he began further studies in Germany, obtaining a Doctorate in Theology from the University of Würzburg in 1970.

From 1970-76 he was professor of New Testament exegesis at the Toronto School of Theology, serving also as Dean of Studies at St. Augustine's Seminary from 1971-76. From 1971-75 he was a member of the Archdiocesan Senate of Priests.

He was ordained Auxiliary Bishop of Toronto on May 27, 1976. His responsibilities within the Archdiocese included pastoral care of the Central Region and of the ethnic communities. During the school year 1984-85 he made a pastoral visitation to all 43 of the Catholic high schools in the Archdiocese in order to strengthen and support the religious education programs. He was a member of the Christian Education Commission of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, and was active in the revision of the Canadian Catechism. He was elected as one of four Bishops to represent Canada at the 1990 Synod on the Formation of Priests.

He was appointed Coadjutor Archbishop on May 22, 1986. He became Archbishop of Toronto on March 17, 1990.

A member of the Theology Commission, he also served as a member of the Pastoral Team of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, and as Chairman of the Commission for Migrants.

He was appointed to the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People in June, 1990 to the Congregation for Clergy in February, 1991 to the Pontifical Council for Culture in 1993, and to the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of Sacraments in 1999. He was appointed by the Holy See as one of the Canadian delegates to the 1994 Synod on the Consecrated Life.

He was named Cardinal by Pope John Paul II on 18 January 1998 and invested on 21 February 1998.

He was appointed to the Council of Cardinals for the Study of the Organizational and Economic Problems of the Holy See on December 16, 2004.

He has published The Hidden Kingdom: A Redaction-Critical Study of the References to the Kingdom of God in Mark's Gospel (Washington, D.C., 1972), Remarks on the Canadian Catechism (Toronto, 1974), Oce, posveceno bodi tvoje ime (Tinje, Austria, 1980), Oce, zgodi se tvoja volja (Ljubljana , 1996), and many articles of both a professional and a popular nature. His articles have been published regularly in The Catholic Register.


Cardinal Ambrozic's Coat of Arms

“Azure a lion rampant guardant winged and with a Nimbus about the Head Or langued and armed Gules; in a bas Crescent compony counter compony God and Gules; all within a Bordure per pale that to the dexter parted wavy Gules and Or and that to the sinister parted similarly Azure and Gold”.

The principal charge of the shield is the gold winged lion, symbolizing the Risen Lord. The lion is also symbolic of Saint Mark in whose Gospel the Cardinal did his doctoral studies. In base the crescent chequy is taken from the arms of the former duchy of Carniola, now part of Slovenia, where the Cardinal way born.

The Cardinal’s motto, Jesus est Dominus, (Jesus is Lord) is one of the earliest professions of faith in Jesus Christ.