Alessandro Maggiolini (15 July 1931 – 11 November 2008) was the

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

Bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Como,

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Life

Born in Bareggio,

, Maggiolini was ordained a Roman Catholic priest for the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milan The Archdiocese of Milan (; ) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Italy which covers the areas of Milan, Monza, Lecco and Varese. It has long maintained its own Latin liturgical rite usage, the Amb ...

on 26 July 1955. On 7 April 1983

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

appointed Maggiolini bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Carpi,

, and he was ordained a bishop on 29 May 1983. On 31 January 1989 Pope John Paul II appointed Bishop Maggiolini Bishop of the Como Diocese. Bishop Maggiolini retired on 2 December 2006. In 2000, on rumors about the retirement of Pope John Paul II, Bishop Maggiolini said: "The church is not Fiat or General Motors. Its criteria cannot be efficiency. Even an elderly father can be the conscience of the church and continue to govern it."

Episcopal lineage

Maggiolini's episcopal lineage, or

apostolic succession Apostolic succession is the method whereby the Christian ministry, ministry of the Christian Church is considered by some Christian denominations to be derived from the Twelve Apostles, apostles by a continuous succession, which has usually been ...

was: * Cardinal Scipione Rebiba * Cardinal Giulio Antonio Santorio * Cardinal Girolamo Bernerio *

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

Galeazzo Sanvitale * Cardinal

Ludovico Ludovisi Ludovico Ludovisi (22 or 27 October 1595 – 18 November 1632) was an Italian Cardinal (Catholic Church), cardinal and statesman of the Roman Catholic Church. He was an art connoisseur who formed a famous collection of antiquities, housed at the ...

* Cardinal Luigi Caetani * Cardinal Ulderico Carpegna * Cardinal Paluzzo Paluzzi Altieri degli Albertoni *

Pope Benedict XIII Pope Benedict XIII (; ; 2 February 1649 – 21 February 1730), born Pietro Francesco (or Pierfrancesco) Orsini and later called Vincenzo Maria Orsini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 29 May 1724 to his death in ...

Pope Benedict XIV Pope Benedict XIV (; ; 31 March 1675 – 3 May 1758), born Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 17 August 1740 to his death in May 1758. Pope Benedict X (1058–1059) is now con ...

* Cardinal Enrico Enríquez * Archbishop Manuel Quintano Bonifaz * Cardinal Buenaventura Fernández de Córdoba Spínola * Cardinal Giuseppe Doria Pamphili *

Pope Pius VIII Pope Pius VIII (; born Francesco Saverio Maria Felice Castiglioni; 20 November 1761 – 30 November 1830) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 31 March 1829 to his death in November 1830. Pius VIII's pontificate wa ...

Pope Pius IX Pope Pius IX (; born Giovanni Maria Battista Pietro Pellegrino Isidoro Mastai-Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878. His reign of nearly 32 years is the longest verified of any pope in hist ...

* Cardinal Alessandro Franchi * Cardinal

Giovanni Simeoni Giovanni Simeoni (July 12, 1816 – January 14, 1892) was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who was appointed a cardinal in 1875 and served as Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for Propagation of the Faith from 1878 until his deat ...

* Cardinal Antonio Agliardi * Cardinal Basilio Pompili * Cardinal

Adeodato Giovanni Piazza Adeodato Giovanni Piazza, OCD (30 September 1884 – 30 November 1957) was an Italian friar of the Discalced Carmelite Order, who became a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, and Patriarch of Venice, as well as a member of the Roman Curia i ...

* Cardinal Sebastiano Baggio * Bishop Alessandro Maggiolini

Notes

1931 births 2008 deaths Bishops of Como 20th-century Italian Roman Catholic bishops 21st-century Italian Roman Catholic bishops {{21C-Italy-RC-bishop-stub