Willem Marinus van Rossum

Willem Marinus van Rossum, C.Ss.R. (3 September 1854 – 30 August 1932) was a Dutch prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was made a cardinal in 1911, led the Apostolic Penitentiary from 1915 to 1918, and served as Prefect of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith from 1918 until his death.

Willem van Rossum was born in Zwolle, Netherlands, to Jan and Hendrika (née Veldwillems) van Rossum. He entered the Minor Seminary of Culemborg in 1867 and joined the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, more commonly known as the Redemptorists, on 15 June 1873. He made his profession as a Redemptorist on 16 June 1874.

He was ordained a priest in Wittem on 17 October 1879. He then taught Latin and rhetoric in Roermond and was a professor of dogmatic theology at the Scholasticate of Wittem from 1883 to 1892. He became the prefect of studies there in 1886 and its rector in 1893.

After becoming a member of the Redemptorist community in Rome in 1895, Rossum was named a consultor to the Congregation of the Holy Office on 25 December 1896. He also became a counselor to the Commission for the Codification of Canon Law on 15 April 1904. He served as general consultor of the Redemptorists from 1909 to 1911.

On 27 November 1911, although Van Rossum was not yet a bishop, Pope Pius X named him Cardinal-Deacon of San Cesareo in Palatio,^[1] the first Dutch cardinal.^[2] In 1914, he became president of the Pontifical Biblical Commission.^[3] He participated in the 1914 papal conclave that elected Pope Benedict XV.^[4]

On 1 October 1915, he was named head of the Apostolic Penitentiary.^[3] On 6 December 1915, he was also raised to the rank of Cardinal Priest, with the titular church of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme.^[5] He was appointed Prefect of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith (Propaganda Fide) on 12 March 1918.^[6]

As the head of the Propaganda Fide, he dispatched Jean-Baptiste-Marie Budes de Guébriant as an apostolic visitor to China, where de Guébriant was tasked with visiting all major Catholic missions and to investigate the Catholic Church's relative lack of success in China, compared to the growth in Protestantism.^[7] Van Rossum was the primary drafter of Maximum Illud, which Benedict XV issued during de Guébriant's visit to China.^[7] This encyclical was directed towards the church in China, and instructed the leaders of missions there to put aside the lesser concerns of their national interests and commit to the long-term good of an indigenous Catholic church in China.^[7] Van Rossum was an advocate for ordaining local bishops in China, and in 1926, the first six Chinese Catholic Bishops of modern times were consecrated (Simon Zhu Kaimin, Joseph Hu Ruoshan, Aloysius Chen Guodi, Philip Zhao Huaiyi, Odoric Cheng Hede, and Melchior Sun Dezhen).^{[8]: 491, 509–511}

He participated the 1922 conclave that elected Pope Pius XI.^[9] At the latter he was thought a possible compromise candidate.^[2]

Van Rossum died on 30 August 1932 in a Maastricht hospital,^[2] after falling ill on returning from a visit to Denmark. He was buried in the Witten cemetery, but later in the Redemptorist church in Wittem.

• Red Pope: A Biography of Cardinal Willem van Rossum C.Ss.R. (1854–1932) by Vefie Poels
• Catholic Hierarchy: Willem Marinus Cardinal van Rossum, C.SS.R. ^{[self-published]}