Luigi Amat di San Filippo e Sorso (20 June 1796 – 30 March 1878) was the

dean of the College of Cardinals The dean of the College of Cardinals ( la, Decanus Collegii Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae Cardinalium) presides over the College of Cardinals in the Roman Catholic Church, serving as ''primus inter pares'' (first among equals). The position was establi ...

during the last part of the record long reign of Pope Pius IX.

Biography

The issue of an ancient and noble Catalan Sardinian family,As for nobility titles, he was a hereditary Knight, Nobleman, Noble of the Marquesses of St. Philip (San Filippo) and Noble of the Barons of

Sorso Sorso ( sdc, Sòssu) is a ''comune'' (municipality) of c. 14,700 inhabitants in the province of Sassari in the Italian region Sardinia, located about north of Sassari. Overview Sorso is a tourist resort facing the Gulf of Asinara. Apart tourism ...

and had to be styled as Don Luigi

by entering and clicking on ''Statuto e Elenco Nobiliare Sardo'', then on ''Elenco nobiliare sardo aggiornato'', then on the ''Amat'' family link. Retrieved 2011-12-5. Of course, ecclesiastical titles were used instead of nobility ones. he was the fifth child and fourth son of Giovanni, Marquess of Saint Philip, Marquess of San Filippo, and Eusebia, Baroness of Sorso. He did his early education wholly in Sardinia, which was unusual for someone who was later to become a major curial official in those days, as most curial officials had to come from the

Papal States The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope fro ...

. Between 1815 and 1825, he obtained distinction as a student of both

civil Civil may refer to: *Civic virtue, or civility *Civil action, or lawsuit * Civil affairs *Civil and political rights *Civil disobedience *Civil engineering *Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism *Civilian, someone not a membe ...

and

canon law Canon law (from grc, κανών, , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members. It is th ...

, and became a priest in 1826. From that point on, he rose rapidly, becoming a bishop just one year after his ordination and soon after a nuncio to the Sicilian kingdom (then separate from mainland Italy), and later to

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. He was expelled when the Papal States broke off diplomatic relations with Spain in 1835, but two years later

Pope Gregory XVI Pope Gregory XVI ( la, Gregorius XVI; it, Gregorio XVI; born Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari; 18 September 1765 – 1 June 1846) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 2 February 1831 to his death in 1 June 1846. He ...

elevated him to the rank of cardinal. After his elevation to the cardinalate, Cardinal Amat continued his previous work as a papal legate in various parts of Italy until the late 1840s. He participated in the

conclave A papal conclave is a gathering of the College of Cardinals convened to elect a bishop of Rome, also known as the pope. Catholics consider the pope to be the apostolic successor of Saint Peter and the earthly head of the Catholic Church. Co ...

that elected Pius IX and in 1852 opted for the order of cardinal bishops. He was Vice-Chancellor of the Holy Roman Church from later that year until he died. During most of Pius IX's reign Cardinal Amat held control of the police force in the Papal States: it has come to light that early in Pius's reign he sacked many policemen because of their political sympathies and was involved in many major political incidents as sympathy within the Papal States for a united Italy increased in the early 1860s. However, Cardinal Amat had considerable success whilst in

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

in cooling sympathy for

socialism Socialism is a left-wing Economic ideology, economic philosophy and Political movement, movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to Private prop ...

in a city that was to become renowned for this in later years. In 1876, at the age of eighty, Cardinal Amat became the longest-serving cardinal in the Church, and officiated over the

conclave of 1878 The 1878 papal conclave, which resulted from the death of Pope Pius IX on 7 February 1878, met from 18 to 20 February. The conclave followed the longest reign of any other pope since Saint Peter. It was the first election of a pope who would not ...

that elected

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-old ...

. He was already in poor health by this time and as it turned out lived only one month longer than Pope Pius IX.

References

External links

Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amat di San Filippo e Sorso, Luigi 1796 births 1878 deaths People from the Province of Cagliari Deans of the College of Cardinals Sardinian Roman Catholic priests 19th-century Italian cardinals Cardinals created by Pope Gregory XVI Cardinal-bishops of Ostia Cardinal-bishops of Palestrina Cardinal-bishops of Porto Participants in the First Vatican Council 19th-century Italian Roman Catholic bishops