Luigi Lavitrano (7 March 1874 – 2 August 1950) 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
Archbishop of Palermo from 1928 to 1944, and as
prefect
Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area.
A prefect' ...
of the
Sacred Congregation for Religious from 1945 until his death. Lavitrano was elevated to the cardinalate in 1929.
Biography
Born in
Forio
Forio (known also as ''Forio of Ischia'') is a town and ''comune'' of c. 17,000 inhabitants in the Metropolitan City of Naples, southern Italy, situated on the island of Ischia.
Overview
Its territory includes the town of Panza, the only ''frazi ...
, Lavitrano lost his entire family in an
earthquake
An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...
in 1883 that devastated the island of
Ischia
Ischia ( , , ) is a volcanic island in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It lies at the northern end of the Gulf of Naples, about from the city of Naples. It is the largest of the Phlegrean Islands. Although inhabited since the Bronze Age, as a Ancient G ...
. He studied at the
Pontifical Urbaniana University
The Pontifical Urban University, also called the ''Urbaniana'' after its names in both Latin and Italian, is a pontifical university that was under the authority of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. The university's mission is to ...
, the
Pontifical Roman Athenaeum Saint Apollinare
Pontifical Roman Athenaeum S. Apollinare is a former pontifical university in Rome, named after St. Apollinaris of Ravenna. Its facilities are now occupied by the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross.
Initially, the Palace of St. Apollinare wa ...
, the
Royal University, and the
Pontifical Leonine Institute 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, ...
. 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 21 March 1898, and then taught at the Leonine Institute until 1910, when he became its
rector. He was raised to the rank of
Privy Chamberlain of His Holiness on 8 March 1904.
On 25 May 1914, Lavitrano was appointed
Bishop of Cava e Sarno by
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 ...
. He received his
episcopal consecration on the following 21 June from
Basilio Cardinal Pompili, with Bishops Giovanni Regine and Giovanni Scotti 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 ...
. Lavitrano was later named
Archbishop of Benevento on 16 July 1924, and finally
archbishop of Palermo on 29 September 1928. In addition, he served as
Apostolic Administrator
An apostolic administration in the Catholic Church is administrated by a prelate appointed by the pope to serve as the ordinary for a specific area. Either the area is not yet a diocese (a stable 'pre-diocesan', usually missionary apostolic admi ...
of
Castellammare di Stabia from 1924 to 1925.
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 ...
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. ...
of ''
San Silvestro in Capite'' 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 16 December 1929. Lavitrano, who once scolded
Italian Catholics for their religious negligence, was one of the
cardinal electors who participated in the
1939 papal conclave that selected
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 ...
. After resigning as
Palermo
Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...
's archbishop in December 1944, he was made
Prefect
Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area.
A prefect' ...
of the
Sacred Congregation for Religious 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 ...
on 14 May 1945. Lavitrano's resignation was unexpected, and it is considered that he resigned because his alleged sympathy for the Fascists—he voted for the
National Fascist Party
The National Fascist Party (, PNF) was a political party in Italy, created by Benito Mussolini as the political expression of Italian fascism and as a reorganisation of the previous Italian Fasces of Combat. The party ruled the Kingdom of It ...
in the
1929 Italian general election
General elections were held in Kingdom of Italy, Italy on 24 March 1929 to elect the members of the Chamber of Deputies (Kingdom of Italy), Chamber of Deputies. Fascist Italy, By this time, the country was a single-party state with the National F ...
s—became unpopular.
Liberation: The Second World War in Sicily
''Best of Sicily''. Quote: "By a tradition dating from the medieval Norman rule of southern Italy, the Archbishop of Palermo is the Primate of Sicily. In modern times, this has entailed little more than a titular (and symbolic) precedence over other Sicilian bishops, but an important one. It was deemed inopportune for the Archbishop of Palermo (since 1928), Luigi Cardinal Lavitrano (1874-1950), who had been sympathetic to the Fascist regime, or at least perceived in that light, to continue in his position; General Patton's dislike of cardinal Lavitrano was well-known. Therefore, he 'resigned' to a post in the Roman Curia in December 1944. For a bishop to retire from active pastoral work at seventy years of age was unusual (the mandatory retirement age is now seventy-five), but in the case of this unforeseen wartime resignation - possibly the first of its kind in modern Italy - the Vatican did not have an immediate successor in mind. In fact, Ernesto Ruffini (1888-1967) was not appointed Archbishop of Palermo until October of the following year. Though conservative, Cardinal Ruffini was regarded as less reactionary and less monarchist than his predecessor."
Lavitrano died in Marino, in the Alban Hills, at age 76. He is buried in the basilica
In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica (Greek Basiliké) was a large public building with multiple functions that was typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek Eas ...
of Santa Maria di Loreto in his native Forio.
References
External links
Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lavitrano, Luigi
1874 births
1950 deaths
People from the Metropolitan City of Naples
20th-century Italian cardinals
Roman Catholic archbishops of Palermo
Archbishops of Benevento
Members of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life
Pontifical Urban University alumni
20th-century Italian Roman Catholic archbishops