Antonio Bacci (4 September 1885 – 20 January 1971) was an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Secretary of Briefs to Princes from 1931 to 1960, when he was elevated to the cardinalate by

Pope John XXIII Pope John XXIII (born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death on 3 June 1963. He is the most recent pope to take ...

. He is perhaps best known for his role in the Ottaviani Intervention.

Biography

Bacci was born in Giugnola, near

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

, and

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 ...

to the priesthood on 9 August 1909. From 1910 to 1922, he served as professor and

spiritual director Spiritual direction is the practice of being with people as they attempt to deepen their relationship with the divinity, divine, or to learn and grow in their personal spirituality. The person seeking direction shares stories of their encounters ...

of 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 ...

in Florence. Bacci then entered the

Vatican Secretariat of State The Secretariat of State (Latin: ''Secretaria Status''; Italian: ''Segreteria di Stato'') is the oldest dicastery in the Roman Curia, the central papal governing bureaucracy of the Catholic Church. It is headed by the Cardinal Secretary of Stat ...

in 1922 as an expert in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

. He was raised to the rank of honorary chamberlain of his holiness on 15 March 1923, and appointed Secretary of Briefs to Princes in 1931. During his 31-year-long tenure as secretary, he prepared the Latin text of important

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Geography * Vatican City, an independent city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy * Vatican Hill, in Rome, namesake of Vatican City * Ager Vaticanus, an alluvial plain in Rome * Vatican, an unincorporated community in the ...

documents during the reigns of

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 ...

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 ...

, and

John XXIII Pope John XXIII (born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death on 3 June 1963. He is the most recent pope to take ...

. Prior to the 1958 papal conclave, he called for "a saintly Pope" who could "be a bridge between heaven and the earth ... between the social classes ... nda bridge among nations, even those who reject and persecute Christian religion." John XXIII created him

Cardinal-Deacon 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. Ca ...

of '' Sant'Eugenio'' in the

consistory Consistory is the anglicized form of the consistorium, a council of the closest advisors of the Roman emperors. It can also refer to: *A papal consistory, a formal meeting of the Sacred College of Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church *Consistor ...

of 28 March 1960. Cardinal Bacci was later named

titular archbishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

of ''Colonia in Cappadocia'' on 5 April 1962, and received his episcopal consecration on the following 19 April from John XXIII, with Cardinals

Giuseppe Pizzardo Giuseppe Pizzardo (13 July 1877 – 1 August 1970) was an Italian cardinal of the Catholic Church who served as prefect of the Congregation for Seminaries and Universities from 1939 to 1968, and secretary of the Holy Office from 1951 to 195 ...

and Benedetto Aloisi Masella serving as

co-consecrators A consecrator is a bishop who ordains someone to the episcopacy. A co-consecrator is someone who assists the consecrator bishop in the act of ordaining a new bishop. The terms are used in the canon law of the Catholic Church, Lutheran Churche ...

. He attended the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for session ...

from 1962 to 1965, and participated in the 1963 papal conclave that elected

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI (born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding John XXII ...

. One of the Vatican's leading Latin experts, Bacci strongly opposed the introduction of the

vernacular Vernacular is the ordinary, informal, spoken language, spoken form of language, particularly when perceptual dialectology, perceived as having lower social status or less Prestige (sociolinguistics), prestige than standard language, which is mor ...

into the

Mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

. In what was known as the Ottaviani Intervention, the 84-year-old Bacci, together with 79-year-old Alfredo Ottaviani, sent to Pope Paul VI, with a short covering letter from themselves, a study by a group of

theologians Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

under the direction of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre criticizing the draft

Order of Mass Order of Mass is an outline of a Mass celebration, describing how and in what order liturgical texts and rituals are employed to constitute a Mass. The expression Order of Mass is particularly tied to the Roman Rite where the sections under that ...

of the revision of the Roman Missal."Archbishop Lefebvre gathered together a group of 12 theologians who wrote under his direction, A Short Critical Study of the Novus Ordo Missae often called the Ottaviani Intervention.
A Short History of the SSPX
In their letter the two cardinals said that the study showed that the new Order of Mass "represents, both as a whole and in its details, a striking departure from the Catholic theology of the Mass as it was formulated in Session 22 of the

Council of Trent The Council of Trent (), held between 1545 and 1563 in Trent (or Trento), now in northern Italy, was the 19th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. Prompted by the Protestant Reformation at the time, it has been described as the "most ...

... to which, nonetheless, the Catholic conscience is bound forever. With the promulgation of the Novus Ordo, the loyal Catholic is thus faced with a most tragic alternative." Among Bacci's publications was ''Lexicon Eorum Vocabulorum Quae Difficilius Latine Redduntur'', a dictionary of modern terms in Latin; he invented such words as ''gummis salivaria'' ("chewing gum"), ''barbara saltatio'' ("the twist"), and ''diurnarius scriptor'' ("newspaper reporter"). This was a standard reference for writers of Modern Latin, especially at the Vatican, until it was superseded by the '' Lexicon Recentis Latinitatis''. Bacci died at

Vatican City Vatican City, officially the Vatican City State (; ), is a Landlocked country, landlocked sovereign state and city-state; it is enclaved within Rome, the capital city of Italy and Bishop of Rome, seat of the Catholic Church. It became inde ...

, at age 85. He is buried in his native Giugnola, near Florence.

References

External links

The Memoirs of Antonio Cardinal Bacci translated by Dr. Anthony Lo Bello

"Meditations For Each Day" written by Cardinal Bacci in 1959 and translated in 1965.

First time translated into English (trans. by Timothy Wilson) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bacci, Antonio 20th-century Italian cardinals Participants in the Second Vatican Council Coetus Internationalis Patrum Cardinals created by Pope John XXIII 1885 births 1971 deaths 20th-century writers in Latin Latin-language writers from Italy Italian Latinists