Cardinal Raphael Merry Del Val.
Illustration: SENSUS TRADITIONIS
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Rafael Merry del Val y de Zulueta (10 October 1865 – 26 February 1930), was a British-born, Spanish, Roman Catholic Cardinal.
Before becoming a Cardinal, he served as The Secretary of The Papal Conclave of 1903 that Elected Pope Saint Pius X, who is said to have accepted his Election through Merry del Val's encouragement.
Pope Saint Pius X later appointed him as The Cardinal Secretary of State. Merry del Val's writings inspired The Litany of Humility.
A cause for his Canonisation was opened in 1953 at the behest of Venerable Pope Pius XII. He now has the Title of Servant of God.
A cause for his Canonisation was opened in 1953 at the behest of Venerable Pope Pius XII. He now has the Title of Servant of God.
"Our Lady of Ushaw",
Saint Cuthbert's Chapel,
Ushaw Seminary,
Ushaw, County Durham,
England,
Where Cardinal Rafael Merry Del Val Y De Zulueta studied.
Illustration: Zephyrinus.
Photo: April 2010.
Source: Own work.
Author: Zephyrinus.
He was born Rafael María José Pedro Francisco Borja Domingo Gerardo de la Santíssima Trinidad Merry del Val y Zulueta, at The Spanish Embassy in London, England, son of Rafael Carlos Merry del Val, as the second of four sons.
His mother was Sofia Josefa de Zulueta (died 1925), elder daughter of Pedro José de Zulueta, Count of Torre Díaz, of The London bank of Zulueta and Co., and his wife, Sophia Ann Wilcox, who was of Scottish and Dutch ancestry.
The Zuluetas were an old Basque family, ennobled as Counts de Torre Díaz in the 19th-Century. His father was Rafael Carlos Merry del Val (1831–1917), Marquess of Merry del Val, Secretary to The Spanish Legation in London, a Monarchist supporter of King Alfonso XII and Nobleman.
The del Vals were an Aragonese family, originally from Zaragoza, claiming descent from a 12th-Century Breton Crusader; the surname, Merry, came from a Line of Irish Merchants from County Waterford, Ireland, who settled in the Late-18th-Century in Seville, Spain. His elder brother, Alfonso, Marquess of Merry del Val (born 1864), was Spanish Ambassador to The United Kingdom between 1913 and 1931.
Ushaw Seminary, County Durham, England,
where Cardinal Rafael Merry Del Va Y De Zulueta studied.
Solemn High Mass 1960.
Available on YouTube at
He received his First Holy Communion at Sacred Heart Church on Richmond Hill, and later enrolled at The Northern Seminary of Ushaw College in County Durham in Northern England. He was Ordained a Priest on 30 December 1888, after receiving a Doctorate in Philosophy at The Pontifical Gregorian University. He later received a Doctorate in Theology, and then a Licentiate in Canon Law.
