StateLibQld 1 207425 Cardinal Cerrutti, the Papal Legate, Toowong, 1928

Bonaventura Cerretti (17 June 1872 – 8 May 1933) was an Italian

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 ...

of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. He served as Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura from 1931 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1925.

Biography

Bonaventura Cerretti was born in

Orvieto Orvieto () is a city and ''comune'' in the Province of Terni, southwestern Umbria, Italy, situated on the flat summit of a large butte of volcanic tuff. The city rises dramatically above the almost-vertical faces of tuff cliffs that are compl ...

and educated at the seminary in

Spoleto Spoleto (, also , , ; la, Spoletum) is an ancient city in the Italian province of Perugia in east-central Umbria on a foothill of the Apennines. It is S. of Trevi, N. of Terni, SE of Perugia; SE of Florence; and N of Rome. History Spolet ...

and, later, at the

Pontifical Gregorian University The Pontifical Gregorian University ( it, Pontificia Università Gregoriana; also known as the Gregorian or Gregoriana,) is a higher education ecclesiastical school ( pontifical university) located in Rome, Italy. The Gregorian originated as ...

in Rome as well as the Royal University, Rome. He was ordained in 1895, and taught Latin and Italian classics at the Vatican Seminary."Cerretti, Most Reverend Bonaventure", ''The Catholic Encyclopedia and Its Makers'', New York, the Encyclopedia Press, 1917, p. 28
/ref> He was then invited to become a staff member in the

Vatican Secretariat of State The Secretariat of State (Latin: ''Secretaria Status''; Italian: ''Segreteria di Stato'') is the oldest dicastery in the Roman Curia, the central papal governing bureaucracy of the Catholic Church. It is headed by the Cardinal Secretary of State ...

where he worked from 1899 until 1904. He was created

Privy chamberlain of His Holiness A Chaplain of His Holiness is a priest to whom the Pope has granted this title. They are addressed as Monsignor and have certain privileges with respect to ecclesiastical dress and vestments.apostolic delegate An apostolic nuncio ( la, nuntius apostolicus; also known as a papal nuncio or simply as a nuncio) is an ecclesiastical diplomat, serving as an envoy or a permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See to a state or to an international o ...

in Mexico from 1904 to 1906 then as

auditor An auditor is a person or a firm appointed by a company to execute an audit.Practical Auditing, Kul Narsingh Shrestha, 2012, Nabin Prakashan, Nepal To act as an auditor, a person should be certified by the regulatory authority of accounting and au ...

in the apostolic delegation to the United States from 1906 to 1914. Cerretti contributed the article "Legate" to the ''Catholic Encyclopedia''. He was appointed as Titular Archbishop of Philippopolis in Thracia on 15 April 1914 by

Pope Pius X Pope Pius X ( it, Pio X; born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto; 2 June 1835 – 20 August 1914) was head of the Catholic Church from 4 August 1903 to his death in August 1914. Pius X is known for vigorously opposing modernist interpretations of C ...

. He was transferred to the

titular see A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbish ...

Corinth Corinth ( ; el, Κόρινθος, Kórinthos, ) is the successor to an ancient city, and is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it has been part o ...

on 10 May 1914. He was consecrated as a bishop on 19 July 1914 by Cardinal

Rafael Merry del Val Rafael Merry del Val y Zulueta, (10 October 1865 – 26 February 1930) was a Spanish Roman Catholic cardinal. Before becoming a cardinal, he served as the secretary of the papal conclave of 1903 that elected Pope Pius X, who is said to have ac ...

Cardinal Secretary of State The Secretary of State of His Holiness (Latin: Secretarius Status Sanctitatis Suae, it, Segretario di Stato di Sua Santità), commonly known as the Cardinal Secretary of State, presides over the Holy See's Secretariat of State, which is the ...

. He was appointed as the first apostolic delegate to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

—the delegation then responsible for Australia and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

—on 10 May 1914, and was well liked and respected by Australians of all faiths. On 6 May 1917, he was assigned to the

Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs The Section for Relations with States or Second Section of the Secretariat of State is the body within the Roman Curia charged with dealing with matters that involve relations with civil governments. It has been part of the Vatican Secretariat o ...

in Rome. He represented the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...

at the Paris Peace Conference from May to June 1919; he tried without success to get the Great Powers to accept a set of principles for peace proposed by

Pope Benedict XV Pope Benedict XV (Latin: ''Benedictus XV''; it, Benedetto XV), born Giacomo Paolo Giovanni Battista della Chiesa, name=, group= (; 21 November 185422 January 1922), was head of the Catholic Church from 1914 until his death in January 1922. His ...

. He was appointed to serve as

Apostolic Nuncio to France The Apostolic Nunciature to France is an ecclesiastical office of the Catholic Church in France. It is a diplomatic post of the Holy See, whose representative is called the Apostolic Nuncio with the rank of an ambassador. History of the Nunciatu ...

in 1921. In 1925 he was made

Cardinal-Priest A cardinal ( la, Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae cardinalis, literally 'cardinal of the Holy Roman Church') is a senior member of the clergy of the Catholic Church. Cardinals are created by the ruling pope and typically hold the title for life. Col ...

Santa Cecilia in Trastevere Santa Cecilia in Trastevere is a 5th-century church in Rome, Italy, in the Trastevere rione, devoted to the Roman martyr Saint Cecilia (early 3rd century AD). History The first church on this site was founded probably in the 3rd century, by Pop ...

Pope Pius XI Pope Pius XI ( it, Pio XI), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti (; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939), was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 to his death in February 1939. He was the first sovereign of Vatican City fro ...

in the consistory of 14 December 1925. In 1928 he revisited Australia as papal legate to the 29th International Eucharistic Congress in Sydney; as part of this visit, he laid the foundation stone for the

Holy Name Cathedral, Brisbane Holy Name Cathedral was a planned but never-built Roman Catholic cathedral for the city of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Designed by Hennessy, Hennessy & Co, initially in an English Baroque style inspired by St Paul's in London, it was inten ...

(which was never completed). In 1926 he negotiated with

Aristide Briand Aristide Pierre Henri Briand (; 28 March 18627 March 1932) was a French statesman who served eleven terms as Prime Minister of France during the French Third Republic. He is mainly remembered for his focus on international issues and reconciliat ...

an agreement giving the French interior and foreign ministers a role in the appointment of French diocesan bishops (i.e. outside Alsace-Moselle where special arrangements apply). He was appointed as

archpriest The ecclesiastical title of archpriest or archpresbyter belongs to certain priests with supervisory duties over a number of parishes. The term is most often used in Eastern Orthodoxy and the Eastern Catholic Churches and may be somewhat analogous ...

of the

Basilica of Saint Mary Major The Basilica of Saint Mary Major ( it, Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, ; la, Basilica Sanctae Mariae Maioris), or church of Santa Maria Maggiore, is a Major papal basilica as well as one of the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome and the large ...

on 16 July 1930. Pope Pius appointed him as Prefect of the

Apostolic Signatura The Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura () is the highest judicial authority in the Catholic Church (apart from the pope himself, who as supreme ecclesiastical judge is the final point of appeal for any ecclesiastical judgment). In additio ...

on 12 October 1931. He opted for the order of cardinal bishops, taking the

suburbicarian see The seven suburbicarian dioceses are Roman Catholic dioceses located in the vicinity of Rome, whose (titular) bishops are the (now six) ordinary members of the highest-ranking order of cardinals, the cardinal bishops (to which the cardinal-patriarc ...

Velletri Velletri (; la, Velitrae; xvo, Velester) is an Italian ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Rome, approximately 40 km to the southeast of the city centre, located in the Alban Hills, in the region of Lazio, central Italy. Neighbouring com ...

in 1933. Camerlengo of the Sacred College of Cardinals, 1933; he died shortly after. In 1930 in Rome he was painted by his friend the Swiss-born American artist

Adolfo Müller-Ury Adolfo Müller-Ury, KSG (March 29, 1862 – July 6, 1947) was a Swiss-born American portrait painter and impressionistic painter of roses and still life. Heritage and early life in Switzerland He was born Felice Adolfo Müller on 29 March ...

(1862–1947). The picture is believed to hang in the Palazzo Municipale di Orvieto. Cerretti died in Rome and was buried in the basilica of

Santa Maria in Trastevere The Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere ( it, Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere); en, Our Lady in Trastevere) is a titular minor basilica in the Trastevere district of Rome, and one of the oldest churches of Rome. The basic floor plan and ...

. The chapel at

St Patrick's Seminary, Manly St Patrick's Seminary, Manly is a heritage-listed former residence of the Archbishop of Sydney and Roman Catholic Church seminary at 151 Darley Road, Manly, Northern Beaches Council, New South Wales, Australia. The property was also known as ...

in Sydney, Australia is named after him. Monsignor Caesar Cerretti (died February 1936), Canon of St. Peter's, Rome, was a brother.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ceretti, Bonaventura 1872 births 1933 deaths People from Orvieto 20th-century Italian cardinals Latin archbishops of Corinth Apostolic Nuncios to Australia Apostolic Nuncios to France Prefects of the Apostolic Signatura Pontifical Gregorian University alumni Burials at Santa Maria in Trastevere Contributors to the Catholic Encyclopedia