Vittorio Ranuzzi de' Bianchi

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cardinal name=Vittorio Cardinal Ranuzzi de' Bianchi
dipstyle=His Eminence
offstyle=Your Eminence
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Vittorio Amedeo Cardinal Ranuzzi de' Bianchi (July 14, 1857—February 16, 1927) was an Italian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as papal majordomo from 1914 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1916.

Biography

Vittorio Ranuzzi de' Bianchi was born in Bologna to a family of nobility. He received the Sacrament of Confirmation in 1865, and studied at the Seminary of Bologna and the Theological College of Bologna, from where he obtaine his doctorate in theology in July 1882. In April 1886, he earned his doctorate in canon and civil law.

Ranuzzi was ordained to the priesthood on May 14, 1880, and then did pastoral work in the archdiocese of Bologna and taught at its seminary, where he also served as spiritual director from 1894 to 1899. He was later made an honorary canon (1885) and "primicerius" (1892) of the cathedral chapter, counselor of the nunciature to France on September 13, 1899, and a Domestic Prelate of His Holiness in 1899.

On June 22, 1903, Ranuzzi was appointed Bishop of Recanati-Loreto by Pope Leo XIII. He received his episcopal consecration on the following July 12 from Pietro Cardinal Respighi, with Archbishops Giuseppe Constantini and Rafael Merry del Val serving as co-consecrators, at the chapel of the "Nobili Oblate" in Tor de' Specchi in Rome. After being promoted to Titular Archbishop of "Tyrus" on November 27, 1911, Ranuzzi was later named Master of the Papal Chamber on November 30 of that same year, and papal majordomo on September 7, 1914.

Pope Benedict XV created him Cardinal Priest of "S. Prisca" in the consistory of December 4, 1916. Ranuzzi was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 1922 papal conclave, which selected Pope Pius XI.

The Cardinal died in Rome, at the age of 69. He is buried in his family's tomb at the Carthusian cemetery in Bologna.

External links

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