Giovanni Nasalli Rocca di Corneliano

infobox cardinalstyles
cardinal name=Giovanni Cardinal Nasalli Rocca di Corneliano
dipstyle=His Eminence
offstyle=Your Eminence
See=Bologna |

Giovanni Battista Cardinal Nasalli Rocca di Corneliano (August 27, 1872—March 13, 1952) was an Italian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Bologna from 1921 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1923.

Biography

Giovanni Nasalli Rocca di Corneliano was born in Piacenza to a family of nobility; his nephew was Mario Nasalli Rocca di Corneliano, who became a cardinal as well in 1969. He received the Sacrament of Confirmation in 1880, and his first Communion in 1881, while he was a student at "Collegio Vida" in Cremona. After being given the clerical tonsure in 1888 by Bishop Giovanni Scalabrini, Nasalli Rocca entered the seminary in Piacenza, where he studied philosophy, theology, canon law, "scuola tomista", and moral theology.

He continued his education at the "Collegio dei Ss. Ambrogio e Carlo" at Rome in October 1891, and the "Collegio Lombardo", where he studied with Carlo Perosi and Luigi Sincero. Nasalli Rocca was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Scalabrini on June 8, 1895, and then did pastoral work in Piacenza until 1896. He then went to Rome to attend the Pontifical Gregorian University, from where he obtained his doctorate in theology in 1895, and Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, earning a doctorate in canon law in 1898.

The young priest collaborated with Bishop Giacomo Radini-Tedeschi in organizing Catholic Action in Rome and the rest of Italy, and, in 1899, he entered the service of the Roman Curia, upon his nomination as an "apprendista" in the Sacred Congregation of Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs with its secretary, Felice Cavagnis. He became canon coadjutor of the Liberian Basilica in 1899, rising to become full canon in 1902. Nasalli Rocca was raised to the rank of Domestic Prelate of His Holiness on May 5, 1902, and protonotary apostolic on the following May 31. From 1904 to 1906, he served as Apostolic Visitor for the Sacred Visit of Rome, the dioceses of Ancona, Penne ed Atri, Recanati e Loreto, Teramo e Fermo, Bojano e Campobasso, and for many Italian seminaries.

On January 25, 1907, Nasalli Rocca was appointed Bishop of Gubbio by Pope Pius X. He received his episcopal consecration on the following February 10 from Vincenzo Cardinal Vannutelli, with Archbishop Paolo Barone and Bishop Raffaele Virili serving as co-consecrators, in the Liberian Basilica. He was later named named Titular Archbishop of "Thebae" and Privy Almoner of His Holiness on December 6, 1916, and an Assistant at the Pontifical Throne on December 9 of that same year. After becoming an ecclesiastical assistant to the Italian Catholic Youth in June 1921, Nasalli Rocca was appointed Archbishop of Bologna on November 21, 1921.

Pope Pius XI created him Cardinal Priest of "S. Maria in Traspontina" in the consistory of May 23, 1923. He served as papal legate to several religious ceremonies and events between 1923 and 1946, and was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 1939 papal conclave, which selected Pope Pius XII.

Cardinal Nasalli Rocca died in Bologna, at the age of 79. He is buried in the basilica of Madonna di S. Luca.

External links

* [http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios-n.htm#Nasalli Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church]
* [http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bnasalli.html Catholic-Hierarchy]