Gaetano Alimonda (23 October 1818 – 30 May 1891) was an Italian prelate 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 was Archbishop of

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

from 1883 until his death. He was previously Bishop of

Albenga Albenga (; ) is a city and ''comune'' situated on the Gulf of Genoa on the Italian Riviera in the Province of Savona in Liguria, northern Italy. Albenga has the nickname of ''city of a hundred spires''. The economy is mostly based on tourism, loc ...

from 1877 to 1879. He was made a cardinal in 1879.

Biography

Gaetano Alimonda was born in

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

on 23 October 1818. He studied at the

University of Genoa The University of Genoa () is a public research university. It is one of the largest universities in Italy and it is located in the city of Genoa, on the Italian Riviera in the Liguria region of northwestern Italy. The original university was fou ...

. He earned a doctorate in theology. He was ordained a priest on 10 June 1843. He lectured at the seminary before becoming vice-superior and, finally, rector in 1854. His authorities backed his resistance to obstinate supporters of papal privileges, and he wrote for journals that advocated for moderation and tolerance with Italian unity. He was committed to an increased role for the laity and therefore worked to develop Catholic publishing and undertook an extensive program of preaching, modeled on the work of Lacordaire in France, in defense of Christian civilization against rationalism.

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 ...

appointed him bishop of Albenga on 21 September 1877. He received his episcopal consecration on 11 November 1877 from Salvatore Magnasco, archbishop of Genoa. In that post he continued to advocate for reconciliation with

Vittorio Emanuele II Victor Emmanuel II (; full name: ''Vittorio Emanuele Maria Alberto Eugenio Ferdinando Tommaso di House of Savoy, Savoia''; 14 March 1820 – 9 January 1878) was King of Sardinia (also informally known as Piedmont–Sardinia) from 23 March 1849 u ...

and the

House of Savoy The House of Savoy (, ) is a royal house (formally a dynasty) of Franco-Italian origin that was established in 1003 in the historical region of Savoy, which was originally part of the Kingdom of Burgundy and now lies mostly within southeastern F ...

. He resigned as bishop when

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 ...

made him a cardinal priest on 12 May 1879, one of the first group of cardinals Leo created. He received his red

galero A (plural: ; from , originally connoting a helmet made of skins; cf. '' galea'') is a broad-brimmed hat with tasselated strings which was worn by clergy in the Catholic Church. Over the centuries, the red ''galero'' was restricted to use by i ...

as well as the title of

Santa Maria in Traspontina The Church of Santa Maria del Carmelo in Traspontina (Saint Mary of Carmel Across the Bridge) is a Roman Catholic titular church in Rome, run by the Carmelites. The bridge referred to is the Ponte Sant'Angelo. The church is on the Via della Con ...

in the consistory of 22 September 1879. Pope Leo appointed him archbishop of Turin on 9 August 1883. In 1887, at Pope Leo's suggestion, he wrote a tract advocating rapprochement: ''I voti degli italiani per la pace religiosa''. He died in a convent in the

Albaro Albaro is an affluent residential neighbourhood of the Italian city of Genoa, located east of the city centre. It was formerly an independent comune, named San Francesco d'Albaro, included in the city of Genoa in 1873. At present, together w ...

neighborhood of Genoa of liver disease on 30 May 1891.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alimonda, Gaetano 1818 births 1891 deaths Religious leaders from Genoa Cardinals created by Pope Leo XIII 19th-century Italian cardinals Deaths from liver disease