Roman Catholic Cardinal. A native Riedböhringen, nowadays part of Blumberg, Baden-Württemberg, Augustin Bea was the son of a carpenter. Frequenting the Universities of Freiburg, Innsbruck, Berlin and Valkenburg, he entered the Society of Jesus at their house of studies in the Netherlands on April 18, 1902 and was ordained priest on August 25, 1912 by Archbishop Hermann Jürgens SJ. Taking his solemn vows on August 15, 1918, he was named superior of the Jesuit residence of Aachen and lectured Scripture at Valkenburg. Jesuit Provincial Superior of Germany between 1921 to 1924, the Superior General of the Society, Wlodimir Ledochowski transferred him to Rome where he served among others as superior of the Biennial House of Formation, professor at the Pontifical Biblical Institute and rector of the Institute of Superior Ecclesiastical Studies from 1924 till 1930, when he was named rector of the Pontifical Biblical Institute, a post he retained for nineteen years. Elevated to the Sacred College of Cardinals as cardinal deacon of the deaconry of San Saba by Pope John XXIII in the consistory of December 14, 1959, he was appointed the first President of the newly-formed Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity, a curial organization charged with ecumenical affairs on June 6, 1960. Appointed archbishop of the titular see of Germania in Numidia, he received his episcopal consecration from Pope John XXIII on April 19, 1962 at the Lateran Basilica. A year after the convening of the Second Vatican Council, Bea was a decisive force in the drafting of 'Nostra aetate', which repudiated anti-Semitism. Serving on numerous ecumenical bodies, he authored nine works, including "The Church and the Jewish People" and "The Unity Of Christians". Confessor to Pope Pius XII from 1945 till the named Pope's demise in 1958, whom he greatly assisted in writing the encyclical 'Divino afflante Spiritu', Pius XII wanted to elevate Bea to the College of Cardinals back in 1946, but Superior General Jean-Baptiste Janssens urged the Pope against the idea, as many already saw the Vatican as showing preferential treatment to the Jesuits. Consultor to several Roman congregations, he was confirmed as president of the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity by Pope Paul VI, which office was later renamed as the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity by Pope John Paul II on June 28, 1988. The leading biblical scholar and ecumenist passed away in Rome due to a bronchial infection on November 16, 1968 and was buried in the apse of the parish church of St. Genesius in his native Riedböhringen, where a museum dedicated to his memory commemorates his life and work.