Alessio Ascalesi (22 October 1872 – 11 May 1952) was an Italian

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and

Archbishop of Naples The Archdiocese of Naples () is a Latin Catholic archdiocese in southern Italy, the see being in Naples. A Christian community was founded there in the 1st century AD and the diocese of Naples was raised to the level of an Archdiocese in the 10 ...

Biography

Ascalesi was born in Casalnuovo, near

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

. He joined the priesthood and entered the

Seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as cle ...

Spoleto Spoleto (, also , , ; ) is an ancient city in the Italian province of Perugia in east-central Umbria on a foothill of the Apennines. It is south of Trevi, north of Terni, southeast of Perugia; southeast of Florence; and north of Rome. H ...

. He was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

on 8 June 1895. He joined the Congregation of the Most Precious Blood. He worked as a priest in the

diocese of Spoleto The Archdiocese of Spoleto-Norcia () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Italy. Historically, it was the Diocese of Spoleto. Elevated to the status of an archdiocese since 1821, it is a non-metropo ...

from 1895 until 1909, doing pastoral work.

Pope Pius X Pope Pius X (; born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto; 2 June 1835 – 20 August 1914) was head of the Catholic Church from 4 August 1903 to his death in August 1914. Pius X is known for vigorously opposing Modernism in the Catholic Church, modern ...

appointed him

Bishop of Muro Lucano The Latin Catholic Diocese of Muro Lucano, in the southern Italian region of Basilicata, existed until 1986. In that year it was united into the archdiocese of Potenza-Muro Lucano-Marsico Nuovo. Wikipedia:SPS, Wikipedia:SPS, History Pope Leo I ...

on 29 April 1909. Ascalesi was transferred to see of Sant'Agata dei Goti on 19 June 1911, and was promoted to the metropolitan see of Benevento in 1915. He was created and proclaimed

Cardinal-Priest A cardinal is a senior member of the clergy of the Catholic Church. As titular members of the clergy of the Diocese of Rome, they serve as advisors to the pope, who is the bishop of Rome and the visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. ...

of ''

San Callisto San Callisto (, ) is a Roman Catholic titular church in Rome, Italy, built over the site of Pope Callixtus I's martyrdom (c. AD 222). History The original building dates from the time of Pope Gregory III (r. 731–741), who ordered the building ...

'' by

Pope Benedict XV Pope Benedict XV (; ; born Giacomo Paolo Giovanni Battista della Chiesa, ; 21 November 1854 – 22 January 1922) was head of the Catholic Church from 1914 until his death in January 1922. His pontificate was largely overshadowed by World War I a ...

in the

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of 4 December 1916. He participated in the conclave of 1922 that elected

Pope Pius XI Pope Pius XI (; born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, ; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939) was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 until his death in February 1939. He was also the first sovereign of the Vatican City State u ...

. Pope Pius transferred him to the metropolitan see of Naples on 7 March 1924. As Archbishop, he declared the 1925 Amalfi earthquake an expression of God's wrath for short skirts in current women's fashion. He also participated in the conclave of 1939 that elected

Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII (; born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli; 2 March 18769 October 1958) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death on 9 October 1958. He is the most recent p ...

. At that conclave he was considered one of the nine leading candidates for pope. He died at Naples on May 11, 1952, following a long illness.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ascalesi, Alessio 1872 births 1952 deaths People from the Metropolitan City of Naples 20th-century Italian cardinals Cardinals created by Pope Benedict XV Archbishops of Benevento Archbishops of Naples 20th-century Italian Roman Catholic archbishops