Joseph Leo Cardijn (Dutch: [ˈjoːzəf ˈleːjoː kɑrˈdɛin]; 13 November 1882 – 24 July 1967) was a Belgian Catholic cardinal and the founder of the movement of Young Christian Workers (Jeunesse ouvrière chrétienne, JOC).

[2][3] He was not wrong in that assessment since old schoolmates working in the mines and mills believed the Church had abandoned them, which prompted Cardijn to found a social movement dedicated to this task despite the opposition that it faced.

He demonstrated great zeal even after he had been imprisoned during World War II, which served to empower his positions on social change and to oppose rising inequalities.

[2] Cardijn was also an extensive traveller (visiting places such as Costa Rica and Australia) and was a recipient of several recognitions for his work in social activism.

He lived with his grandparents in Halle until his parents quit their jobs as caretakers and his father (who was illiterate) started a business as a coal merchant while his mother opened a café.

[1] His mother would often gather her children to read scriptural stories to them such as Creation or Pentecost or fairy tales such as Little Red Riding Hood.

One night in 1895 he went to his shared bedroom with his siblings and then crept downstairs barefoot to the kitchen to the fireside to speak with his parents regarding his desire to become a priest.

[1] He pleaded with his father, who relented after two tears fell down his cheeks; Cardijn affirmed: "I've felt within me a call from God.

[2] He became a teacher in Wavre in 1907 and travelled abroad during vacation periods, meeting people such as Baden Powell and Ben Tillett (August 1911).

[1] In 1912 (after being ill for a time), he was appointed to the parish of Laeken near Brussels, where he started creating and improving workers' organizations in earnest.

He was arrested in November 1916 and sentenced to thirteen months imprisonment on 6 December; his mother suffered a nervous breakdown upon learning of this.

He was arrested again in 1918 on an espionage charge and sentenced to a decade of hard labor, but was released following the November 1918 armistice that ended the war.

In January 1938 he sent a petition to the pope asking for him to initiate the causes of canonization for Margaret Sinclair and Pier Giorgio Frassati.

He received his episcopal consecration and a week later Paul VI made him Cardinal-Deacon of San Michele Arcangelo a Pietralata.

Leo Joseph Cardinal Suenens consecrated him as the Titular Archbishop of Tusuros in the chapel of the Pontificio Collegio Urbano de Propaganda Fide.

Cardijn gave the pope a ten-page reflection, as well as 40 additional pages of citations he thought would help in the document's drafting.

Cardinal Basil Hume (in a 13 November 1982 speech to the Jocists) later noted that the council was Cardijn's "monument" due to the great and lingering contributions he made to it.

[3] He drafted more than 25 formal detailed notes for the commission advocating his vision for the faithful and these ideas later became incorporated into both Apostolicam Actuositatem and Lumen Gentium.

Cardijn died due to renal complications on 24 July 1967; his remains were interred in the Notre-Dame parish church in Laeken.

Cardijn suffered from a high fever and even fell down the stairs several times believing the pain would soon disappear.

On 14 July he lapsed into a coma (also suffering from cardiac weakness); HM King Baudouin came for a long bedside visit despite the cardinal not recognizing him due to the severe nature of his illness.

[citation needed] His awards include:[4] In December 2013 the then Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels André-Joseph Léonard announced that he would launch the cause of beatification for Cardijn.