Francesco Borgongini Duca (26 February 1884 – 4 October 1954) 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

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 ...

who served as

Apostolic Nuncio to Italy Apostolic may refer to: The Apostles An Apostle meaning one sent on a mission: *The Twelve Apostles of Jesus, or something related to them, such as the Church of the Holy Apostles *Apostolic succession, the doctrine connecting the Christian Churc ...

from 1929 to 1953 and was made a cardinal in 1953 by

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 ...

Biography

Borgongini Duca was born in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, and studied at the

Pontifical Roman Seminary The Pontifical Roman Major Seminary () is the major seminary of the Diocese of Rome. It is located at the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran. Since 2017, the rector of the seminary has been Gabriele Faraghini, a priest of the Little Brothers of ...

, from where he obtained doctorates in

theology 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 ...

and in

canon and civil law A doctor of both laws, from the Latin , , or ("doctor of both laws") (abbreviations include: JUD, IUD, DUJ, JUDr., DUI, DJU, Dr.iur.utr., Dr.jur.utr., DIU, UJD and UID), is a scholar who has acquired a doctorate in both civil and church law ...

. 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 ...

to the priesthood on 22 December 1906, and then taught

at both the

Pontifical North American College The Pontifical North American College (NAC) is a Catholic Church, Roman Catholic educational institution in Rome, Italy, that prepares seminarians to become priests in the United States and elsewhere. The NAC also provides a residence for Prie ...

and the Pontifical Urbanian Athenaeum ''De Propaganda Fide'' from 1907 to 1909. He was favorably impressed by a young American seminarian named

Francis Spellman Francis Joseph Spellman (May 4, 1889 – December 2, 1967) was an Catholic Church in the United States, American Catholic prelate who served as Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, Archbishop of New York from 1939 until his death in 1967. F ...

, whom Duca would later assist in consecrating as

Auxiliary Bishop An auxiliary bishop is a bishop assigned to assist the diocesan bishop in meeting the pastoral and administrative needs of the diocese. Auxiliary bishops can also be titular bishops of sees that no longer exist as territorial jurisdictions. ...

of Boston in 1932. Borgongini Duca entered the service of 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 ...

upon being made an official of the

Apostolic Penitentiary The Apostolic Penitentiary (), formerly called the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Penitentiary, is a dicastery led by the Major Penitentiary of the Roman Curia and is one of the three ordinary tribunals of the Holy See, Apostolic See. The Ap ...

in 1909, of which he became secretary on 24 February 1917. He was raised to the rank of privy chamberlain of his holiness on 2 March 1917, and was named

pro Pro is an abbreviation meaning "professional". Pro, PRO or variants thereof might also refer to: People * Miguel Pro (1891–1927), Mexican priest * Pro Hart (1928–2006), Australian painter * Mlungisi Mdluli (born 1980), South African ret ...

-secretary of the Sacred Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs on 28 June 1921, rising to become full secretary on 14 October 1922 (the pope was the nominal head of that

dicastery A dicastery (; ; from ) is the name of some departments in the Roman Curia of the Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest C ...

). He was made a domestic prelate of his holiness (7 July 1921) and apostolic protonotary (11 January 1927) before being named to the commission to negotiate the

Lateran Treaty The Lateran Treaty (; ) was one component of the Lateran Pacts of 1929, agreements between Italy under Victor Emmanuel III and Benito Mussolini and the Holy See under Pope Pius XI to settle the long-standing Roman question. The treaty and ass ...

. On 7 June 1929, 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 ...

of Heraclea in Europa by

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 ...

. He received his

episcopal consecration A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of dioceses. The role ...

on the following 29 June from Cardinal

Pietro Gasparri Pietro Gasparri (5 May 1852 – 18 November 1934) was a Roman Catholic cardinal, diplomat and politician in the Roman Curia and the signatory of the Lateran Pacts. He served also as Cardinal Secretary of State under Popes Benedict XV and Pope ...

, with Archbishop

Carlo Cremonesi Carlo Cremonesi (4 November 1866 – 25 November 1943) was an Italian cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church who served as Territorial Prelate of Pompei from 1926 to 1928, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1935. Biography Cremonesi w ...

and Bishop

Agostino Zampini Agostino may refer to: *Agostino (name) * ''Agostino'' (film), an Italian film directed by Mauro Bolognini * ''Agostino'' (novel), a short novel by Alberto Moravia *, an Italian coaster See also *Agostini (disambiguation) *D'Agostino (disambiguati ...

, OSA, 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 ...

, in the Hall of Benedictions at

St. Peter's Basilica The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican (), or simply St. Peter's Basilica (; ), is a church of the Italian High Renaissance located in Vatican City, an independent microstate enclaved within the city of Rome, Italy. It was initiall ...

. Duca was named

, the first after the Lateran Treaty, the next day, on 30 June. In addition to his diplomatic duties, he was also made pontifical administrator of the

Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls The Papal Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls (, ) is one of Rome's four major papal basilicas, along with the basilicas of Saint John in the Lateran, Saint Peter's, and Saint Mary Major, as well as one of the city’s Seven Pilgrim Ch ...

on 1 April 1933, and of the Basilica of Our Lady of Loreto on 25 March 1934. In early 1937, he bestowed the

Golden Rose The Golden Rose (, ) is a gold ornament, which popes of the Catholic Church have traditionally blessed annually. It is occasionally conferred as a token of reverence or affection. Recipients have included churches and sanctuaries, royalty, mili ...

on Queen Elena of Italy, on the occasion of her fortieth wedding anniversary to

Victor Emmanuel III Victor Emmanuel III (; 11 November 1869 – 28 December 1947) was King of Italy from 29 July 1900 until his abdication on 9 May 1946. A member of the House of Savoy, he also reigned as Emperor of Ethiopia from 1936 to 1941 and King of the Albani ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...

clashed with Duca over the issue of restricting Jewish converts to Catholicism.Shoah Rose
Papal Nuncios of 1933-1945: Ambassadors of the Vatican in the Shoah
In 1952, he wrote ''The Seventy Weeks of Daniel and the Messianic Date'', in which he determined the date of the

crucifixion of Jesus The crucifixion of Jesus was the death of Jesus by being crucifixion, nailed to a cross.The instrument of Jesus' crucifixion, instrument of crucifixion is taken to be an upright wooden beam to which was added a transverse wooden beam, thus f ...

as 7 April 30 AD, by using the

cryptographic Cryptography, or cryptology (from "hidden, secret"; and ''graphein'', "to write", or '' -logia'', "study", respectively), is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of adversarial behavior. More gen ...

prophecies contained in the

Book of Daniel The Book of Daniel is a 2nd-century BC biblical apocalypse with a 6th-century BC setting. It is ostensibly a narrative detailing the experiences and Prophecy, prophetic visions of Daniel, a Jewish Babylonian captivity, exile in Babylon ...

."Milestones"
''Time''. 18 October 1954.

created him

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. ...

Santa Maria in Vallicella Santa Maria in Vallicella, also called Chiesa Nuova, is a church in Rome, Italy, which today faces onto the main thoroughfare of the Corso Vittorio Emanuele and the corner of Via della Chiesa Nuova. It is the principal church of the Oratorians ...

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 12 January 1953, ending his role as nuncio. Duca died from a heart ailment at his apartment in the

Palace of the Holy Office The Palace of the Holy Office () is a building in Rome which is an extraterritorial property of the Holy See. It houses the Holy Office of the Roman Catholic Church. The palace is situated south of Saint Peter's Basilica near the ''Petrine G ...

in Rome at age 70. He was initially buried in the chapel of the

Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith The Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (CEP; ) was a congregation (Roman Curia), congregation of the Roman Curia of the Catholic Church in Rome, responsible for Catholic missions, missionary work and related activities. It is also kn ...

, but his remains were later transferred to the church of San Salvatore in Ossibus in

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 ...

References

External links

Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church
{{DEFAULTSORT:Duca, Francesco Borgongini Cardinals created by Pope Pius XII 1884 births 1954 deaths Clergy from Rome 20th-century Italian cardinals 20th-century Italian Roman Catholic titular archbishops Pontifical Roman Seminary alumni Apostolic nuncios to Italy Secretaries for Relations with States of the Holy See