Alessandro Barnabò (2 March 1801 – 24 February 1874) was an Italian Catholic

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

and Prefect of the

Congregation Propaganda Fide A congregation is a large gathering of people, often for the purpose of worship. Congregation may also refer to: *Church (congregation), a Christian organization meeting in a particular place for worship *Congregation (Roman Curia), an administra ...

Early life

Barnabò was born on 2 March 1801 in

Foligno Foligno (; Southern Umbrian: ''Fuligno'') is an ancient town of Italy in the province of Perugia in east central Umbria, on the Topino river where it leaves the Apennines and enters the wide plain of the Clitunno river system. It is located so ...

. At the age of 10, he was sent by the French administration in Italy to the

Prytanée National Militaire The Prytanée national militaire is a French military school managed by the French military, offering regular secondary education as well as special preparatory classes, equivalent in level to the first years of university, for students who wish ...

La Flèche La Flèche () is a town and commune in the French department of Sarthe, in the Pays de la Loire region in the Loire Valley. It is the sub-prefecture of the South-Sarthe, the chief district and the chief city of a canton, and the second most po ...

, but he returned to Italy in 1814 to study for the priesthood. He joined the priesthood and was ordained in March 1833. Between his ordination and 1856 he held a number of official positions including Privy chamberlain supernumerary, Consultor to the

Propaganda Fide Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...

, Keeper of the Seals of the

Apostolic Penitentiary The Apostolic Penitentiary (), formerly called the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Penitentiary, is a dicastery of the Roman Curia and is one of the three ordinary tribunals of the Apostolic See. The Apostolic Penitentiary is chiefly a tribu ...

and served as a domestic prelate to the Pope.

Cardinalate

Barnabò was elevated to cardinal on 16 June 1856 and was appointed Cardinal Priest of Santa Susanna, a position he held until his death. Between 1856 and 1874, Barnabò served as the Prefect of the

. Some records suggest Barnabò's administered the Congregation with almost

totalitarian Totalitarianism is a form of government and a political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual and group opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high if not complete degree of control and regul ...

gusto and "controlled the missions like an empire" and ran the Congregation itself "like a dictator". As Prefect, Barnabò was responsible for arranging a meeting between

Pope Pius IX Pope Pius IX ( it, Pio IX, ''Pio Nono''; born Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878, the longest verified papal reign. He was notable for convoking the First Vatican ...

and

Isaac Hecker Isaac Thomas Hecker (December 18, 1819 – December 22, 1888) was an American Catholic priest and founder of the Paulist Fathers, a North American religious society of men. Hecker was originally ordained a Redemptorist priest in 1849. With the b ...

. Hecker had been expelled from his

Redemptorist The Redemptorists officially named the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer ( la, links=no, Congregatio Sanctissimi Redemptoris), abbreviated CSsR,is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of pontifical right for men (priests and brother ...

order but Barnabò recognised his valuable missionary work and helped him appeal to the Pope who overturned the expulsion. For a year (1868–1869), as was customary for the office, Barnabò was appointed

Camerlengo of the Sacred College of Cardinals The Camerlengo of the Sacred College of Cardinals was the treasurer of the College of Cardinals in the Catholic Church. The title is based on an Italian word for chamberlain, a word no longer used in secular contexts. The position existed from at ...

. He succeeded friend and fellow papal power-broker, Cardinal

Karl-August von Reisach Karl-August Graf von Reisach (7 July 1800, in Roth, Bavaria22 December 1869, in the Redemptorist monastery of Contamine, France) was a German Catholic theologian and Cardinal. Education On the completion of his secular studies in Neuburg an d ...

. He participated in the

First Vatican Council The First Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the First Vatican Council or Vatican I was convoked by Pope Pius IX on 29 June 1868, after a period of planning and preparation that began on 6 December 1864. This, the twentieth ecu ...

between 1869 and 1870. In 1873,

Mary MacKillop Mary Helen MacKillop RSJ (15 January 1842 – 8 August 1909) was an Australian religious sister who has been declared a saint by the Catholic Church, as St Mary of the Cross. Of Scottish descent, she was born in Melbourne but is best known fo ...

travelled to Rome and met, among others, Barnabò who encouraged her "warmly" and took great interest in her travels.Catholic Australia:
Mary MacKillop Barnabò died on 24 February 1874.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barnabo, Alessandro 1801 births 1874 deaths People from Foligno 19th-century Italian cardinals Cardinals created by Pope Pius IX