- Ildebrando Antoniutti
infobox cardinalstyles
cardinal name=Ildebrando Cardinal Antoniutti
dipstyle=His Eminence
offstyle=Your Eminence
See=Velletri-Segni (suburbicarian)|Ildebrando Cardinal Antoniutti (
August 3 ,1898 —August 1 ,1974 ) was an Italianprelate of theRoman Catholic Church . He served asPrefect of the Congregation for Religious from 1963 to 1973, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1962.Biography
Ildebrando Antoniutti was born in
Nimis , the sixth of the seven children of Giuseppe and Anna (née Comelli) Antoniutti. Studying at the seminaries in Cividale andUdine , he accompanied the Archbishop Antonio Rossi of Udine duringWorld War I on Rossi's frequent visits tomilitary hospital s and to parishes in areas occupied by Austro-Hungarian forces. In November 1917 Antoniutti went toRome , where he studied at thePontifical Roman Seminary andPontifical Lateran University (from where he obtained hisdoctorate s inphilosophy , theology, and canon law in July 1920).He was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Rossi on
December 5 ,1920 , and then taught at the Udine seminary from 1921 to 1927, whilst serving as Rossi's private secretary. In 1927 Antoniutti was namedsecretary of the Apostolic Delegation toChina , under Archbishop Celso Costantini, becoming itsaudit or in 1930 and later "chargé d'affaires " "ad interim " in 1933.He was raised to the rank of Privy Chamberlain of His Holiness onSeptember 24 ,1931 , and named auditor to the Portuguesenunciature in 1934.On
May 19 ,1936 , Antoniutti was appointed Apostolic Delegate to Albania and Titular Archbishop of "Synnada in Phrygia" byPope Pius XI . He received his episcopal consecration on the followingJune 29 from Pietro Cardinal Fumasoni Biondi, with Archbishops Rossi (nowLatin Patriarch of Constantinople ) and Archbishop Costantini serving as co-consecrators, in Rome. Remaining as Albania's apostolic delegate until August 1936, Antoniutti served as a papal envoy toSpain during its civil war onJuly 25 ,1937 , for the purposes of exchanging of prisoners and providing assistance to priests who had fled from Communist areas. He was named, on the followingSeptember 21 , "chargé d'affaires" before the Nationalist government. Antoniutti later became Apostolic Delegate toCanada onJuly 14 ,1938 . During his time in Ottawa, he describedMaclean's editorBlair Fraser , the father of Graham Fraser, as "badly informed" after he accused conservative clergy of keeping the Canadian Church too old-fashioned in its social principles in an article the Apostolic Delegate called "evidently tendentious" [TIME Magazine. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,805473-1,00.html Here & Beyond]July 10 ,1950 ] . He also presided over the controversial resignation of Archbishop Joseph Charbonneau [TIME Magazine. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,811994,00.html Resignation, with Rumors]February 20 ,1950 ] .Antoniutti was named
Nuncio toSpain onOctober 21 ,1953 , and created Cardinal Priest of "S. Sebastiano alle Catecombe" byPope John XXIII in theconsistory ofMarch 19 ,1962 . From 1962 to 1965, he attended theSecond Vatican Council , during the course of which he was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 1963 papal conclave that selectedPope Paul VI . OnJuly 26 ,1963 , the newly-elected Pope Paul appointed Antoniutti to theRoman Curia , asPrefect of the Congregation for Religious. The Cardinal later resigned as Prefect of Religious, after a decade of service, upon becoming Cardinal Bishop of Velletri-Segni onSeptember 13 ,1973 . He was namedCamerlengo of theCollege of Cardinals the next year.Seeking a period of rest in his native Nimis, Antoniutti departed from Rome on
August 1 ,1974 , and was instantly killed when his car hit another vehicle on a bypass ofBologna . His body was moved to Nimis two days later, which would have been his seventy-sixth birthday, for a funeral Mass, which was celebrated by Cardinals Ermenegildo Florit and Albino Luciani, and nine other bishops. Antoniutti is buried at theparish church in Nimis.Trivia
*During his tenure as Spain's nuncio, Archbishop Antoniutti praised the
Cathedral Chapter ofSeville for attacking leaflets claiming that he, theHoly See , and Seville's coadjutorJosé Bueno y Monreal as malicious enemies of Pedro Cardinal Segura [TIME Magazine. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,937173,00.html Trouble for the Cardinal]March 28 ,1955 ] .
*The Cardinal, seen as a compromise candidate for the papacy by conservative cardinals, is alleged to have received about twenty votes during one of the ballots in the conclave of 1963 [Pham, John-Peter. "Heirs of the Fisherman: Behind the Scenes of Papal Death and Succession". Oxford University Press, 2007] .
*As Pope Paul VI received the homage of the cardinals following his election, he asked of Antoniutti to "be a brother and a friend to me," to which the Cardinal replied, "I will always be deferent to the pope" [Ibid.] .References
External links
* [http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios-a.htm#Antoniutti Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church]
* [http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/banton.html Catholic-Hierarchy]
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