Anastasio Alberto Ballestrero (3 October 1913 – 21 June 1998) - in religious Anastasio del Santissimo Rosario - was an ItalianRoman 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 ...
Archbishop of Turin
The Archdiocese of Turin ( la, Archidioecesis Taurinensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory of the Catholic Church in Italy.cardinalate in 1979 and became a leading progressive voice in the Italian episcopate during his time as the head of the Italian Episcopal Conference in the pontificate of the conservative Pope John Paul II. Ballestrero likewise was known for being reserved when it came to the
Shroud of Turin
The Shroud of Turin ( it, Sindone di Torino), also known as the Holy Shroud ( it, Sacra Sindone, links=no or ), is a length of linen cloth bearing the negative image of a man. Some describe the image as depicting Jesus of Nazareth and bel ...
as opposed to the enthusiasm of John Paul II for the relic. The cardinal allowed for testing of the shroud and announced that the relic itself was a product of the Middle Ages as opposed to the genuine burial cloth of Jesus Christ.
The beatification process was launched in Turin and he became titled as a
Servant of God
"Servant of God" is a title used in the Catholic Church to indicate that an individual is on the first step toward possible canonization as a saint.
Terminology
The expression "servant of God" appears nine times in the Bible, the first five in th ...
. The diocesan process for the cause opened in late 2014 and started the collection of testimonies and documents from both Turin and
Bari
Bari ( , ; nap, label= Barese, Bare ; lat, Barium) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy a ...
.
Life
Childhood and education
Alberto Alberto Ballestrero was born in Genoa on 3 October 1913 as the first of five children born to Giacomo Ballestrero and Antonietta Daffunchio. He was
baptized
Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost ...
on 2 November 1913 in the Santa Zita parish with the name "Alberto". His father worked in a Genoese port while his mother oversaw her children's religious formation. Two siblings died in the first few months of their lives. His mother died in 1923 after the birth of her final child in late 1922.
Ballestrero attended a school in Genoa from 1919 to 1922. He was enrolled at the Collegio Belimbau in 1922 before he received his
Confirmation
In Christian denominations that practice infant baptism, confirmation is seen as the sealing of the covenant created in baptism. Those being confirmed are known as confirmands. For adults, it is an affirmation of belief. It involves laying on ...
in the San Martino di Albaro church on 3 May 1923; he made his
First Communion
First Communion is a ceremony in some Christian traditions during which a person of the church first receives the Eucharist. It is most common in many parts of the Latin Church tradition of the Catholic Church, Lutheran Church and Anglican Communi ...
the next month on 21 June. He left the Collegio Belimbau in 1923 in order to pursue ecclesial studies to become a priest.
Profession and priesthood
On 2 October 1924 he commenced his ecclesial studies under the direction of the Discalced Carmelites in Varazze. Ballestrero then joined that
religious order
A religious order is a lineage of communities and organizations of people who live in some way set apart from society in accordance with their specific religious devotion, usually characterized by the principles of its founder's religious practi ...
in
Savona
Savona (; lij, Sann-a ) is a seaport and ''comune'' in the west part of the northern Italy, Italian region of Liguria, capital of the Province of Savona, in the Riviera di Ponente on the Mediterranean Sea.
Savona used to be one of the chie ...
and took both the habit on 12 October 1928 and the
name
A name is a term used for identification by an external observer. They can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. The entity identified by a name is called its referent. A personal ...
Anastasio del Santissimo Rosario. He made his initial profession on 17 October 1929. He was later transferred to the Genoese convent of Santa Anna in September 1932 for his philosophical and theological studies. But in 1932 he suffered from a life-threatening infection (and recovered in hospital from October to December 1932) before he made his solemn profession on 5 October 1934.
He received the
subdiaconate
Subdeacon (or sub-deacon) is a minor order or ministry for men in various branches of Christianity. The subdeacon has a specific liturgical role and is placed between the acolyte (or reader) and the deacon in the order of precedence.
Subdeacons in ...
and then the diaconate in 1935 before he received his solemn ordination to the priesthood in the San Lorenzo Cathedral on 6 June 1936 but required a special dispensation for it due to the age requirement. He began teaching philosophical studies at the "studentato" of Genoa-S. Anna from 13 August 1936 and initiated a preaching apostolate in a Genoese
hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...
(the "Bertani") from 1 January 1937. In the late 1930s he was in Paris for further studies. Ballestrero was
prior
Prior (or prioress) is an ecclesiastical title for a superior in some religious orders. The word is derived from the Latin for "earlier" or "first". Its earlier generic usage referred to any monastic superior. In abbeys, a prior would be l ...
of the Santa Anna convent from 22 April 1945 to 1948 and was again elected as prior on 7 May 1954 after becoming the
provincial
Provincial may refer to:
Government & Administration
* Provincial capitals, an administrative sub-national capital of a country
* Provincial city (disambiguation)
* Provincial minister (disambiguation)
* Provincial Secretary, a position in Can ...
for the Ligurian province of the order on 3 April 1948. Before attending the Second Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965 he was twice elected as the general provost for the order on 9 April 1955 and later on 21 April 1961; he remained in that position until 20 May 1967. Ballestrero visited all 350 Carmelite convents and 850 Carmelite monasteries in the world except in Hungary which refused him entrance into the nation. He once served as President of the Union of Superior Generals. During the Second Vatican Council he became friends with Henri de Lubac and was considered a close collaborator to the pope.
Episcopate and cardinalate
On 21 December 1973 he was appointed as the
Archbishop of Bari
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bari-Bitonto ( la, Archidioecesis Barensis-Bituntina) is Metropolitan Latin rite archbishopric in the administrative Bari province, Puglia ( Apulia) region, southeastern Italy (the 'Heel'), created in 1986, when ...
co-consecrators
A consecrator is a bishop who ordains someone to the episcopacy. A co-consecrator is someone who assists the consecrator bishop in the act of ordaining a new bishop.
The terms are used in the canon law of the Catholic Church, Lutheran Churches, ...
La Spezia
La Spezia (, or , ; in the local Spezzino dialect) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy.
La Spezia is the second largest city ...
(though he would still continue to give spiritual retreats); he lost the right to vote in a
papal conclave
A papal conclave is a gathering of the College of Cardinals convened to elect a Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop of Rome, also known as the pope. Catholics consider the pope to be the Apostolic succession, apostolic successor of Saint ...
on 3 October 1993 after he turned 80.
Ballestrero attended the various episcopal gatherings that the pope called and he was also appointed as a special papal representative to the inaugural ceremonies of the Theresian Year that commemorated the fourth centennial of the death of Saint Teresa of Avila which was from 14 October until 15 October 1981 in both
Alba de Tormes
Alba de Tormes is a municipality in the province of Salamanca, western Spain, part of the autonomous community of Castile and León. The town is on the River Tormes upstream from the city of Salamanca. Alba gave its name to one of Spain's most i ...
and
Ávila
Ávila (, , ) is a city of Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Ávila.
It lies on the right bank of the Adaja river. Located more than 1,130 m abov ...
. He was a noted theologian and was the author of a range of books of mediations and on Saint John of the Cross.
He became known for his progressive beliefs and he rejected some of the popular Catholic movements such as Communion and Liberation. John Paul II reproached him for this to which he was said to have replied: "Holiness, when you get to know them better, you won't like them either!"
Death
Ballestrero died at his residence in La Spezia at 3:00pm on 21 June 1998 due to a long illness. His funeral was celebrated on 25 June. He is buried in the San Giuseppe del Deserto church attached to the same Carmelite convent in Varazze that he had entered in 1924.
Beatification process
The Piedmont Bishops announced the intention - in an announcement on 4 February 2014 - that they would seek to initiate the cause for Ballestrero's potential beatification following a unanimous vote on the matter. The first move to launch the cause was to transfer the forum for the diocesan investigation from La Spezia (where the cardinal died) to Turin. The diocesan process was launched on 9 October 2014 in a Mass that Cesare Nosiglia presided over. Thus far there have been over 30 testimonies collected and as of 2015 there were 25 being sought from Bari.
The
postulator
A postulator is the person who guides a cause for beatification or canonization through the judicial processes required by the Roman Catholic Church. The qualifications, role and function of the postulator are spelled out in the ''Norms to be Obse ...
for this cause is the Discalced Carmelite priest Romano Gambalunga.
Positions
Abortion
In reference to abortion the cardinal once declared that the Church must "never renounce its mission of evangelization and education of the human conscience".
Shroud of Turin
He placed the
Shroud of Turin
The Shroud of Turin ( it, Sindone di Torino), also known as the Holy Shroud ( it, Sacra Sindone, links=no or ), is a length of linen cloth bearing the negative image of a man. Some describe the image as depicting Jesus of Nazareth and bel ...
- in 1978 - on exhibit for the first time in four decades. One of those pilgrims who visited the shroud during this exhibit would be the future Pope John Paul II, who visited just six weeks prior to his election. Ballestrero would later host the pope in Turin in 1980 with the pope coming to venerate the relic.
Ballestrero agreed to scientific testing being performed on the Shroud of Turin in October 1978 but refused to permit
radiocarbon dating
Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon.
The method was dev ...
testing as it required removing samples from the shroud itself. Once technical improvements made it possible to use samples the size of postage stamps the cardinal permitted samples to be cut in April 1988 which he himself supervised to ensure it was carried out in an appropriate manner. These would be tested in three labs in Switzerland as well as in the United States and the United Kingdom.
Following the radiocarbon dating tests the cardinal announced on 13 October 1988 that the shroud was dated from the Middle Ages and thus not the actual burial cloth of Christ (he said the findings were 95% accurate); although these tests were later believed to be invalid due to erroneous sampling.
In November 1983 the pope named him as the first pontifical custodian for the shroud which opened rumors that the relic might be transferred to Rome; the pope was enthusiastic about the shroud but Ballestrero was more reserved about the shroud.