Luigi Raimondi

infobox cardinalstyles
cardinal name=Luigi Cardinal Raimondi
dipstyle=His Eminence
offstyle=Your Eminence
See=Tarsus (titular see)|

Luigi Cardinal Raimondi (October 25, 1912—June 24, 1975) was an Italian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Causes of Saints from 1973 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1973.

Biography

Luigi Raimondi was born in Lussito, Acqui, to Giovanni Raimondi and his wife Maria Giacchero. He attended the seminary in Acqui before being ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Lorenzo Del Ponte on June 6, 1936. Raimondi then furthered his studies in Rome at the Pontifical Lateran University and Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy. From 1938 to 1942, Raimondi was secretary of the Guatemalan nunciature, during which time he was raised to the rank of a Privy Chamberlain of His Holiness on March 3, 1939. He then served as auditor of the Apostolic Delegation to the United States until 1949. Within the internunciature to India, Raimondi was counselor and "chargé d'affaires" from 1949 to 1953. He was named a Domestic Prelate of His Holiness on March 5, 1951, and an official of the Vatican Secretariat of State in 1953.

On December 24, 1953, Raimondi was appointed Titular Archbishop of Tarsus and Nuncio to Haiti, including Apostolic Delegate to the British and French West Indies. He received his episcopal consecration on January 31, 1954 from Adeodato Cardinal Piazza, OCD, with Archbishop Antonio Samoré and Bishop Giuseppe Dell'Olmo serving as co-consecrators, in the church of "San Carlo al Corso". Raimondi was later named Apostolic Delegate to Mexico on December 15, 1956. Attending the Second Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965, he was made Apostolic Delegate to the United States on June 30, 1967.

Pope Paul VI created him Cardinal Deacon of "Ss. Biagio e Carlo ai Catinari" in the consistory of March 5, 1973, and appointed him Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Causes of Saints on the following March 21. The Cardinal was once described as "a liberal who knows his limitations" and "a likable man who wants to be liked" [TIME Magazine. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,899651-1,00.html The Pope's Fraternal Eyes] July 14, 1967] .

Raimondi died from a heart attack [TIME Magazine. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,913256,00.html Milestones] July 7, 1975] in Vatican City at age 62. He is buried in his family's plot in Acqui.

References

External links

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