Domenico Ferrata JUD (4 March 1847 – 10 October 1914) was an Italian

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 ...

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 ...

who spent most of his career in the diplomatic service of the

Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

and in the

Roman Curia The Roman Curia () comprises the administrative institutions of the Holy See and the central body through which the affairs of the Catholic Church are conducted. The Roman Curia is the institution of which the Roman Pontiff ordinarily makes use ...

Life

Ferrata was born in Gradoli, near

Viterbo Viterbo (; Central Italian, Viterbese: ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Lazio region of Italy, the Capital city, capital of the province of Viterbo. It conquered and absorbed the neighboring town of Ferento (see Ferentium) in ...

to Giovan Battista and Maria Antonuzzi Ferrata, who had a small farm. He had a brother, Angelo, who later became procurator general of the Augustinians.Miranda, Salvador. "Ferrata, Domenico", Cardinals of the HOly Roman Church, Florida International University
/ref> He first attended a local municipal school run by canon D. Collarini. Then he went to the Jesuit School of Orvieto. With the expulsion of the Jesuits from Orvieto, he spent the year 1860-61 in Gradoli, continuing however to study privately with Don GB Polverini. He then attended the Seminary of Montefiascone. Ferrata was appointed canon of the college of Gradoli. He took his degree in theology at La Sapienza in Rome, where he studied scripture under Tommaso Martinelli. Ferrata 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 ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

in 1869.Vercellone, Guido Fagioli. "Ferrata,, Domenico", Treccani
/ref>

Career

After ordination, Ferrata studied canon law at S. Apollinare. He earned doctorates in both theology and civil and canon law. He then apprenticed at the Congregation of the Council. When Martelli became a cardinal in 1873, he made his former student his secretary. In January 1874 Ferrata was appointed procurator at the

Sacred Congregation of Rites The Sacred Congregation of Rites was a Congregation (Roman Curia), congregation of the Roman Curia, erected on 22 January 1588 by Pope Sixtus V by ''Immensa Aeterni Dei''; it was divided into two separate congregations by Pope Paul VI on 8 May 196 ...

. In 1876, he taught canon law at the Pontifical Roman Major Seminary, and the following year was made deputy chair of ecclesiastical history at Propaganda Fide."Ferrata, Domenico", ''Gente di Tuscia'', Dizionario Storico Biografico della Tuscia
/ref> In April 1877, he was appointed to the Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs, which handled diplomatic relations between the Holy See and foreign governments. When in 1879 the secretary of the congregation, Włodzimierz Czacki was appointed nuncio to France, he took Ferrata along as auditor. He returned to Rome in 1883 and was sent to Switzerland to resolve problems with the diocese of Basel. In 1884 he was made president of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, the training school for the diplomatic corps. Consecrated a

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 ...

in 1885, he served as

nuncio 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 ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. He served as Secretary of the Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs from 20 April 1889 to 23 June 1891, when he was named nuncio to France where he was to pursue a reconciliation between the Church and the French state. He was elevated to Cardinal by

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 ...

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 22 June 1896 with the titular of Santa Prisca, Rome. He spent the early part of his cardinalate in positions such as Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for Indulgences and Sacred Relics. He was named Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship. In 1900, he was named prefect of the

which handled the process for canonizations. In that capacity he oversaw much of the procedure regarding the cause of

Joan of Arc Joan of Arc ( ; ; – 30 May 1431) is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the Coronation of the French monarch, coronation of Charles VII o ...

. He participated in the conclave of 1903, which elected

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 ...

. In 1901 he was sent as nuncio to Paris by

with the mission to work for the reconciliation with the third French Republic. As papal legate, he presided over the 1905 Canonical coronation of the image of the Immaculate Conception of Cospicua in Malta. Ferrata played an important part in the preparation of '' Quam singulari'' the 1910 decree concerning the admittance of children to communion. In 1913 he was named Archpriest of the patriarchal Lateran basilica. In the same year, he was appointed the Cardinal Legate for the XXIV International Eucharistic Congress in Malta. In January 1914

named him to succeed Mariano Cardinal Rampolla, who had died on 13 December 1913, as Secretary of the Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office. Pope Pius X died on 20 August 1914. Ferrata opened the conclave opened on 31 August 1914, celebrating the Mass of the Holy Spirit in the Pauline Chapel. The newly elected

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 ...

appointed Ferrata Secretary of State, in place of Rafael Merry del Val. However, Ferrata was already in ill health and died the month after his appointment at age 67. He was buried in Gradoli.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferrata, Domenico Cardinal Ferrata Ferrata Ferrata Ferrata Pope Benedict XV Pope Leo XIII Apostolic nuncios to Belgium Cardinal Secretaries of State Cardinals created by Pope Leo XIII Members of the Holy Office Members of the Congregation for the Discipline of the Sacraments Presidents of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy Ralliement (Catholicism in France) Bishops appointed by Pope Leo XIII