Bernard Yago
{{Short description|Ivorian cardinal}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2018}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
|type = Cardinal
|honorific_prefix = His Eminence
|name = Bernard Yago
|title = Archbishop Emeritus of Abidjan
|church = Roman Catholic Church
|archdiocese = Abidjan
|see = Abidjan
|appointed = 5 April 1960
|term_end = 19 December 1994
|predecessor = Jean-Baptiste Boivin
|successor = Bernard Agré
|other_post = Cardinal-Priest of San Crisogono (1983-97)
|ordination = 1 May 1947
|consecration = 8 May 1960
|consecrated_by = Pope John XXIII
|cardinal = 2 February 1983
|created_cardinal_by = Pope John Paul II
|rank = Cardinal-Priest
|birth_name = Bernard Yago
|birth_date = July 1916
|birth_place = Pass, Côte d'Ivoire
|death_date = 5 October 1997 (aged 81)
|death_place = Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire
|alma_mater = Institut Catholique de Paris
|coat_of_arms = 150px
|motto = Ut omnes Unum sint }}
{{Infobox cardinalstyles|
cardinal name=Bernard Yago|
dipstyle=His Eminence|
offstyle=Your Eminence|
Bernard Yago (July 1916 – 5 October 1997) was an Ivorian Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Abidjan from 1960 to 1994.{{Cite book |last=Elleh |first=Nnamdi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aKoKHmuexywC |title=Architecture and Power in Africa |date=2002 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-275-97679-8 |pages=66–67 |language=en}} He was made a cardinal in 1983.
Biography
Bernard Yago was born in Pass, Yopougon, and studied at the seminary in Abidjan before being ordained to the priesthood on 1 May 1947, the second African priest to do so after Rene Kouassi.{{Cite book |last=Daddieh |first=Cyril K. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_VptCwAAQBAJ |title=Historical Dictionary of Cote d'Ivoire (The Ivory Coast) |date=2016-02-09 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-0-8108-7389-6 |pages=136 |language=en}} He then served as a professor at the Minor Seminary of Bingerville and as director of the Pre-Seminary École de Petit Clerics until 1956, whence he began pastoral work in Abidjan until 1957. Yago furthered his studies at the Catholic Institute of Paris from 1957 to 1959. Upon his return to Côte d'Ivoire, he was Counselor of Catholic Action in Abidjan from until 1960.
On 5 April 1960, Yago was appointed Archbishop of Abidjan by Pope John XXIII. He received his episcopal consecration on the following 8 May from Pope John himself, with Bishops Napoléon-Alexandre Labrie, CIM and Fulton John Sheen serving as co-consecrators, in St. Peter's Basilica. Yago attended the Second Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965, and sat on the Council's Central Preparatory Commission.
Pope John Paul II made him Cardinal-Priest of San Crisogono in the consistory of 2 February 1983.{{Cite book |last=Lentz III |first=Harris M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ongwCgAAQBAJ |title=Popes and Cardinals of the 20th Century: A Biographical Dictionary |date=2015-07-11 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-2155-5 |pages=202 |language=en}} Yago, who was the first cardinal from Côte d'Ivoire, resigned his post as Archbishop on 19 December 1994, after 34 years. He lost the right to participate in a papal conclave upon reaching the age of eighty in July 1996.
Cardinal Yago died in Abidjan at age 81. He is buried in the metropolitan cathedral of Abidjan.
Legacy
Yago was one of the only clergy in Côte d'Ivoire who openly opposed the construction of the gargantuan basilica, modeled on St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, built by the former president Félix Houphouët-Boigny in his home village of Yamoussoukro because of the enormous waste of hundreds of millions of dollars, and attempted to persuade Pope John Paul II from consecrating it during his visit to the country.{{Cite book |last=Calderisi |first=Robert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XetdAAAAQBAJ |title=Earthly Mission: The Catholic Church and World Development |date=2013-10-08 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-19676-4 |pages=109–110 |language=en}}
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
- [http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/byago.html Catholic-Hierarchy] Wikipedia:SPS
- [http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios-y.htm#Yago Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church]
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{{succession box |
title=Archbishop of Abidjan |
before=Jean-Baptiste Boivin, SMA |
after=Bernard Agré |
years=1960–1994 }}
{{s-end}}
{{Subject bar |portal1= Biography |portal2= Catholicism |portal3= Africa}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yago, Bernard}}
Category:20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Africa
Category:Participants in the Second Vatican Council
Category:Cardinals created by Pope John Paul II
Category:Ivorian Roman Catholic archbishops
Category:Catholic University of Paris alumni