Efrem Forni

infobox cardinalstyles
cardinal name=Efrem Cardinal Forni
dipstyle=His Eminence
offstyle=Your Eminence
See=none |

Efrem Cardinal Forni (January 10, 1889—February 26, 1976) was an Italian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Nuncio to Belgium and Internuncio to Luxembourg from 1953 to 1962, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1962.

Biography

Born in Milan,second son of Don Enrico Forni and Donna Angela Ambrosoli, Efrem Leone Pio Forni studied at the University of Milan, and the Pontifical Gregorian University and Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy in Rome. He was ordained to the priesthood on July 6, 1913, and then taught at the archiepiscopal college of Cantù and at the college of d'Arona until 1921. Forni was secretary (1921-1926) and later auditor (1926-1928) of the Portuguese nunciature. In the French nunciature, he was named auditor (1928) and counselor (1937). He was raised to the rank of Honorary Chamberlain on October 18, 1921, Privy Chamberlain on June 20, 1923, and finally Domestic Prelate on June 20, 1937.

On November 27, 1937, Forni was appointed Nuncio to Ecuador and Titular Archbishop of "Darnis". He received his episcopal consecration on February 20, 1938, from Eugenio Cardinal Pacelli, with Archbishops Alberto Levame and Luigi Traglia serving as co-consecrators, in the church of San Carlo al Corso in Rome. After serving as papal legate to the 1949 National Eucharistic Congress in Ecuador, Forni was named Nuncio to Belgium and Internuncio to Luxembourg on November 9, 1953. On July 8, 1956, he again served as a papal legate, this time to bestow the Golden Rose to the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg.He was "Cavaliere di Gran Croce d'Onore e Devozione" of the Sovrain Military Order of Malta and of many other Orders of Chevalry.

Pope John XXIII created him Cardinal Priest of "S. Croce in Gerusalemme",in Rome, in the consistory of March 19, 1962, resigning his diplomatic posts on the same date. From 1962 to 1965, the Cardinal attended the Second Vatican Council, during the course of which he participated in the 1963 papal conclave that selected Pope Paul VI.

Forni died in Rome, at age 87. He is not buried in his family's plot,but in St. Francis Church in Gallarate.

External links

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