Carlo Sacconi J.U.D. (9 May 1808 – 25 February 1889))Catholic Hierarchy website
/ref> was a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and

Dean of the College of Cardinals The dean of the College of Cardinals () presides over the College of Cardinals in the Catholic Church, serving as ('first among equals'). The position was established in the 12th century. He always holds the rank of a cardinal bishop and is as ...

. He is in the

episcopal lineage The historic or historical episcopate comprises all episcopates, that is, it is the collective body of all the bishops of a group who are in valid apostolic succession. This succession is transmitted from each bishop to their successors by the r ...

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

. Carlo Sacconi was born in Montalto. He was educated at 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 ...

Fermo Fermo (; ancient: Firmum Picenum) is a town and ''comune'' of the Marche, Italy, in the Province of Fermo. Fermo is on a hill, the Sabulo, elevation , on a branch from Porto San Giorgio on the Adriatic coast railway. History The oldest huma ...

and later at

La Sapienza University The Sapienza University of Rome (), formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", abbreviated simply as Sapienza ('Wisdom'), is a Public university, public research university located in Rome, Italy. It was founded in 1303 and is ...

, Rome, where he earned a ''doctorate utriusque iuris'' (in both

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

and civil law).

Priesthood

He was ordained and worked in the diocese of Montalto as a professor in its seminary in 1829 and pro-

vicar general A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop or archbishop of a diocese or an archdiocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vica ...

for the diocese. He worked with the Congregation of the Tridentine Council for three years. He served as Auditor in the

nunciature An apostolic nunciature is a top-level diplomatic mission of the Holy See that is equivalent to an embassy. However, it neither issues visas nor has consulates. The head of the apostolic nunciature is called a ''nuncio'', an ecclesiastical dip ...

to the

Kingdom of Sardinia The Kingdom of Sardinia, also referred to as the Kingdom of Sardinia and Corsica among other names, was a State (polity), country in Southern Europe from the late 13th until the mid-19th century, and from 1297 to 1768 for the Corsican part of ...

in 1839 and

chargé d'affaires A (), plural ''chargés d'affaires'', often shortened to ''chargé'' (French) and sometimes in colloquial English to ''charge-D'', is a diplomat who serves as an embassy's chief of mission in the absence of the ambassador. The term is Frenc ...

ad interim in January 1844. He served as chargé d'affaires in the

Grand Duchy of Tuscany The Grand Duchy of Tuscany (; ) was an Italian monarchy located in Central Italy that existed, with interruptions, from 1569 to 1860, replacing the Republic of Florence. The grand duchy's capital was Florence. In the 19th century the population ...

from 1845 to 1847 and was

Internuncio An apostolic nuncio (; also known as a papal nuncio or simply as a nuncio) is an ecclesiastical diplomat, serving as an envoy or a permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See to a state or to an international organization. A nuncio is ...

to the

Kingdom of Bavaria The Kingdom of Bavaria ( ; ; spelled ''Baiern'' until 1825) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1806 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German Empire in 1871, the kingd ...

from 1847-1851.

Episcopate

He was appointed

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 ...

Nicaea Nicaea (also spelled Nicæa or Nicea, ; ), also known as Nikaia (, Attic: , Koine: ), was an ancient Greek city in the north-western Anatolian region of Bithynia. It was the site of the First and Second Councils of Nicaea (the first and seve ...

on 27 May 1851 by

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 ...

and was named full nuncio to Bavaria on 6 June 1851.

Cardinalate

He was created and proclaimed Cardinal-Priest of ''

Santa Maria del Popolo The Parish Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo () is a titular church and a minor basilica in Rome run by the Augustinian order. It stands on the north side of Piazza del Popolo, one of the most famous squares in the city. The church is hemmed in b ...

'' by Pope Pius 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 27 September 1861.G Catholic website
/ref> He was commissioned with the erection and organisation of the Latin American Seminary, Rome. He was appointed as Prefect of the economy of the

Congregation of Propaganda Fide The Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (CEP; ) was a congregation of the Roman Curia of the Catholic Church in Rome, responsible for missionary work and related activities. It is also known by its former title, the Sacred Congregatio ...

and of the Reverend Chamber of Despoilments on 29 August 1863. He participated in the

First Vatican Council The First Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the First Vatican Council or Vatican I, was the 20th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church, held three centuries after the preceding Council of Trent which was adjourned in 156 ...

from 1869-1870. He opted for the order of bishops and the suburbicarian see of Palestrina on 8 October 1870. He participated in the

conclave of 1878 A papal conclave was held from 18 to 20 February 1878 to elect a new pope to succeed Pius IX, who had died on 7 February. Of the 64 eligible cardinal electors, all but three attended. On the third ballot, the conclave elected Cardinal Gioacchino ...

that elected

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII (; born Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2March 181020July 1903) was head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 until his death in July 1903. He had the fourth-longest reign of any pope, behind those of Peter the Ap ...

. He opted for the suburbicarian see of Porto e Santa Rufina on 15 July 1878 and again changed his see to the

suburbicarian see The seven suburbicarian dioceses (, ) are Catholic dioceses located in the vicinity of Rome, whose ( titular) bishops are the (now six) ordinary members of the highest-ranking order of cardinals, the cardinal bishops (to which the cardinal patriar ...

of Ostia and Velletri, on becoming Dean of the Sacred

College of Cardinals The College of Cardinals (), also called the Sacred College of Cardinals, is the body of all cardinals of the Catholic Church. there are cardinals, of whom are eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pope. Appointed by the pope, ...

on 24 March 1884. He served as Prefect of the Congregation of Ceremonies from 1884 until his death.

Death and funeral

He died of

pneumonitis Pneumonitis describes general inflammation of lung tissue. Possible causative agents include radiation therapy of the chest, exposure to medications used during chemo-therapy, the inhalation of debris (e.g., animal dander), aspiration, herbicide ...

on 25 February 1889 at 4:15 p.m. in the palace of the

Apostolic Datary The Apostolic Datary (Latin: ''Dataria Apostolica'') was one of the five ''Ufficii di Curia'' ("Offices of the Curia") in the Roman Curia of the Roman Catholic Church. It was instituted no later than the 14th century AD. Pope Paul VI abolished it ...

, Rome. The body was transferred to the basilica of

Ss. XII Apostoli Santi Dodici Apostoli (Church of the Twelve Holy Apostles; ), commonly known as Santi Apostoli, is a 6th-century Catholic parish and titular church and minor basilica in Rome, Italy, the mother church of the Conventual Franciscan Order whose Ge ...

on 27 February at 11 a.m. The funeral took place in the same basilica on 4 March 1889 at 10 a.m.; the Mass, with twenty-three cardinals in attendance, was celebrated by Félix-Marie de Nekere, titular archbishop of Melitene; the final absolution was imparted by Cardinal

Raffaele Monaco La Valletta Raffaele Monaco La Valletta S.T.D. J.U.D. (23 February 1827 – 14 July 1896) was a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church who served as Secretary of the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office. Education Raffaele Monaco La Vallet ...

, Dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals. The body was taken first to

Campo Verano The Campo Verano (Italian: ''Cimitero del Verano'') is a cemetery in Rome, Italy, founded in the early 19th century. The monumental cemetery covers a surface area of 83 hectares which is currently divided into several sections: the main Catholic ...

cemetery, Rome, and later to Montalto and buried in his family's tomb.

References

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Camillo di Pietro Camillo di Pietro (10 January 1806 – 6 March 1884) was an Papalini Catholic prelate who served as Camerlengo of the Sacred College of Cardinals and later Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church. He was elevated to the cardinalate in 1853. Biogr ...

, title= Cardinal-Bishop of Porto-Santa-Rufina, after= Luigi Oreglia di Santo Stefano , years=15 July 1878 – 24 March 1884 , title=

Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia The Roman Catholic Suburbicarian Diocese of Ostia is an ecclesiastical territory located within the Metropolitan City of Rome in Italy. It is one of the seven suburbicarian dioceses. The incumbent bishop is Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re. For cen ...

, aft=, rows=3, after=

, years=24 March 1884 – 25 February 1889 , title=

, years=24 March 1884 – 25 February 1889 before= ? , title= Prefect of the Congregation of Ceremonies, years=28 March 1884 – 25 February 1889 {{DEFAULTSORT:Sacconi, Carlo 1808 births 1889 deaths People from the Province of Ascoli Piceno Bishops appointed by Pope Pius IX Apostolic Nuncios to Bavaria Apostolic nuncios to France 19th-century Italian cardinals Cardinals created by Pope Pius IX Cardinal-bishops of Palestrina Cardinal-bishops of Porto Deans of the College of Cardinals Cardinal-bishops of Ostia