- Pietro Ciriaci
infobox cardinalstyles
cardinal name=Pietro Cardinal Ciriaci
dipstyle=His Eminence
offstyle=Your Eminence
See=none |Pietro Cardinal Ciriaci (
December 2 ,1885 —December 30 ,1966 ) was an Italianprelate of theRoman Catholic Church . He served asPrefect of the Sacred Congregation of the Council in theRoman Curia from 1954 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1953 byPope Pius XII .Biography
Pietro Ciriaci was born in
Rome to Giuseppe Ciriaci and his wife Maria Giuggiolini Magnaterra. Baptized in the church ofSan Crisogono , he received hisfirst Communion onJune 27 ,1897 . Ciriaci entered thePontifical Roman Seminary onOctober 31 ,1902 , and then studied at the Pontifical Roman Athenaeum "S. Apollinare", from where he obtained adoctorate in philosophy (July 5 ,1904 ), theology (July 6 ,1909 ), and canon law (November 8 ,1911 ).Ordained to the priesthood on
December 18 , 1909, he was named vice-pastor of a Roman parish onJuly 18 ,1910 . Ciriaci then taught ethicalphilosophy and later fundamentaltheology at his "alma mater " of the Pontifical Roman Athenaeum "S. Apollinare" until 1926. He entered theRoman Curia as a "scrittore" of theApostolic Penitentiary onJanuary 21 , 1911, and was promoted to "registratore" of the same on the followingDecember 15 .Before being raised to the rank of a Privy Chamberlain Supernumerary on
October 26 ,1918 , Ciriaci was named an official of the Sacred Congregation of the Council (February 22 ,1913 ) and of the first section of the Sacred Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs (June 16 ,1917 ). He was namedUndersecretary of Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs onMay 14 ,1921 , and a Domestic Prelate of His Holiness onMarch 27 ,1922 .In 1927,
Czechoslovakia replaced the feast of St. John Chrysostom with that ofJan Hus , who is a heretic in the eyes of the Catholic Church. The situation had reached such a level that it even caused the Czechnuncio , Archbishop Francesco Marmaggi, to leave his post. OnMarch 27 of that same year, Ciriaci was sent to Czechoslovakia as a special envoy to solve the problem and to conclude the "modus vivendi " between Czechoslovakia and theHoly See . He successfully solved the problem and an agreement was signed on the followingDecember 17 .On
February 15 ,1928 , Ciriaci was appointedNuncio to Czechoslovakia andTitular Archbishop of Tarsus byPope Pius XI . He received his episcopal consecration on the followingMarch 18 from CardinalPietro Gasparri , with ArchbishopCarlo Cremonesi and BishopAgostino Zampini , OSA, serving as co-consecrators. Ciriaci was later named Nuncio toPortugal onJanuary 19 ,1934 .Pope Pius XII created him Cardinal Priest of "S. Prassede" in theconsistory ofJanuary 12 ,1953 . Ciriaci was madePrefect of the Sacred Congregation of the Council onMarch 20 ,1954 , andPresident of the Pontifical Commission for the Interpretation of the Code of Canon Law onMay 31 ,1955 . After participating in the 1958 papal conclave, he attended theSecond Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965, and served as a cardinal elector in the conclave of 1963 that selectedPope Paul VI . OnSeptember 26 ,1964 , he opted for the cardinalatial title of "S. Lorenzo in Lucina".Ciriaci died in his Roman residence on
Via Rusticucci , at age 81. His funeral Mass was celebrated by Pope Paul onJanuary 3 ,1967 , in thebasilica of San Lorenzo in Lucina. The Cardinal is buried in achapel near the same basilica.External links
* [http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bciriaci.html Catholic-Hierarchy]
* [http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios-c.htm#Ciriaci Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church]
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