Girolamo Maria Gotti, OCD (29 March 1834 – 19 March 1916), sometimes erroneously called ''Giuseppe Gotti'', was a

friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders in the Catholic Church. There are also friars outside of the Catholic Church, such as within the Anglican Communion. The term, first used in the 12th or 13th century, distinguishes the mendi ...

of the Discalced Carmelite Order, who served in various offices of the Holy See as a

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

Roman 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 ...

Biography

Gotti was born Antonio Giovanni Benedetto Gotti in Genoa, then part of 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 ...

, the second of the five children of Filippo Gotti, a dock worker originally from

Bergamo Bergamo ( , ; ) is a city in the Alps, alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately northeast of Milan, and about from the alpine lakes Lake Como, Como and Lake Iseo, Iseo and 70 km (43 mi) from Lake Garda, Garda and Lake ...

, and Caterina Schiappacassea. He was sent to study at the

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

academy in Genoa, after which he entered the

novitiate The novitiate, also called the noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a Christian ''novice'' (or ''prospective'') monastic, apostolic, or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether ...

of the Order of

Discalced Carmelites The Discalced Carmelites, known officially as the Order of the Discalced Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel () or the Order of Discalced Carmelites (; abbreviation, abbrev.: OCD; sometimes called in earlier times, ), is a Catho ...

in Loano in 1849. On 10 November 1850, he received the

religious habit A religious habit is a distinctive set of clothing worn by members of a religious order. Traditionally, some plain garb recognizable as a religious habit has also been worn by those leading the religious Hermit, eremitic and Anchorite, anchorit ...

and the religious name of Girolamo Maria dell'Immacolata Concezione (Jerome Mary of the Immaculate Conception). After his religious profession as a member of the Order on 12 November 1851, he began his studies for the priesthood, which he completed in 1856, being

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 ...

a priest on 20 December 1856. In the following decades Gotti was a professor of

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

and

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 ...

in the local monastery. He also taught mathematics at the local naval academy during this period. He was already regarded as a tireless student and scholar, as well as an ascetic who, despite the influence he was having, would always sleep on the floor. At 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 ...

in 1870, Gotti served as a '' peritus'' (theological advisor) to the

Prior The term prior may refer to: * Prior (ecclesiastical), the head of a priory (monastery) * Prior convictions, the life history and previous convictions of a suspect or defendant in a criminal case * Prior probability, in Bayesian statistics * Prio ...

General of the Discalced Carmelite Order. By 1881 he had become Prior General himself, a position he retained until 1897. He became a counselor to several curial congregations in Rome during the 1880s and was also Apostolic Examiner of the Roman Clergy during this decade. He was selected for various special missions to

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

, which he fulfilled with success, especially in Brazil. In 1892 Gotti became

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 Petra and

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 ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. At 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 29 November 1895 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 ...

, being assigned as his

titular church In the Catholic Church, a titular church () is a Churches in Rome, church in Rome that is assigned to a member of the Holy orders in the Catholic Church, clergy who is created a Cardinal (Catholic Church), cardinal. These are Catholic churches in ...

the Church of Santa Maria della Scala, in the Trastevere neighborhood of Rome, which is attached to the General Motherhouse of the Order. Gotti became Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops (then known as the Congregation for Bishops and Regulars) in 1896, but was transferred to the ''Propaganda Fide'' - where most of his curial experience had been concentrated - in July 1902. Gotti was often mentioned as a likely successor to Leo XIII even though he was seen as a very different man, much more deeply pious and ascetic. Gotti was '' papabile'' at the 1903 papal conclave, when he was generally believed to be the most likely opponent of Pope Leo's

Cardinal Secretary of State The Secretary of State of His Holiness (; ), also known as the Cardinal Secretary of State or the Vatican Secretary of State, presides over the Secretariat of State of the Holy See, the oldest and most important dicastery of the Roman Curia. Th ...

Mariano Rampolla, and some, noting opposition to Rampolla just before Pope Leo's death, had said Gotti was likely to win. Gotti was Rampolla's main challenger in the first four ballots. When it became clear Rampolla had too many opponents to be able to gain the necessary 42 votes for election, his supporters turned to Cardinal Giuseppe Sarto, and after seven ballots Sarto was elected as

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 ...

. Gotti is the only Carmelite cardinal to have been a serious candidate for the papacy since the Order was founded in the 13th century. Under Pope Pius, Gotti continued as Prefect of the ''Propaganda Fide'' until his death in 1916. He participated in the 1914 conclave, though his age prevented him from being considered for a candidate. Gotti died on 29 March 1916 as a result of

anemia Anemia (also spelt anaemia in British English) is a blood disorder in which the blood has a reduced ability to carry oxygen. This can be due to a lower than normal number of red blood cells, a reduction in the amount of hemoglobin availabl ...

. His remains were buried in the chapel of the Discalced Carmelite Order in the Campo Verano Cemetery of Rome. On 21 March 1966, his remains were transferred to the Chapel of San Giovanni Battista in the Church of Santa Maria della Scala.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gotti, Girolamo Maria 1834 births 1916 deaths Clergy from Genoa Discalced Carmelites Participants in the First Vatican Council 19th-century Italian Roman Catholic titular archbishops Apostolic nuncios to Brazil Discalced Carmelite bishops 20th-century Italian cardinals Carmelite cardinals Cardinals created by Pope Leo XIII 20th-century Italian Roman Catholic titular archbishops Members of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith Members of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life Deaths from anemia Burials at Campo Verano 19th-century Italian cardinals