Joseph Cardijn
Belgian cardinal who founded the Young Christian Workers (JOC)
Who they were
Born into a working-class family in Schaerbeek and ordained by Cardinal Mercier in 1906, he founded the Jeunesse Ouvrière Chrétienne to keep young workers close to the Church, taught the see-judge-act method and promoted the apostolate of lay people long before the Second Vatican Council; Paul VI made him a cardinal in 1965. CathoBel and Santiebeati both put his birth in 1882, where the Hagiography Circle has 1891.
The miracles
No miracle has been approved. The cause is at its first stage.
Why that counted as sanctity
His beatification process opened on 16 January 2014, with Guy Tordeur of the Joseph Cardijn Foundation as postulator.
The cause
Joseph Cardijn is named a Servant of God; the cause continues. Favours received, and offers of help, go to the postulation, the office that carries the cause forward: The cause of Joseph Cardijn.
- Cardijn : quels arguments pour une béatification ? – CathoBel
- Card. Joseph-Léon Cardijn – Santi, beati e testimoni
Checked against the sources listed on 24 September 2026. Corrections welcome.