Girolamo Bartolomeo Bortignon,
OFM Cap
The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (; postnominal abbr. O.F.M. Cap.) is a religious order of Franciscan friars within the Catholic Church, one of Three " First Orders" that reformed from the Franciscan Friars Minor Observant (OFM Obs., now OFM) ...
(31 March 1905 – 12 March 1992) was an Italian
prelate
A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Christian clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which means 'carry before', 'be set above or over' or 'pref ...
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 ...
, serving as
Bishop of Padua
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Padua ( it, Diocesi di Padova; la, Dioecesis Patavina) is an episcopal see of the Catholic Church in Veneto, northern Italy. It was erected in the 3rd century.[Romano d'Ezzelino
Romano d'Ezzelino is a small city with c. 14,000 residents in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It lies in the foothills of Monte Grappa and is located among some hills and country. The name "Romano" comes from ''Arimanno'', a Lombard word mean ...]
, he was
ordained
Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...
as a
Capuchin priest
A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...
on 3 March 1928, at the age of 22.
On 4 April 1944 he was appointed
apostolic administrator
An Apostolic administration in the Catholic Church is administrated by a prelate appointed by the pope to serve as the ordinary for a specific area. Either the area is not yet a diocese (a stable 'pre-diocesan', usually missionary apostolic admi ...
of
Belluno e Feltre and
Titular Bishop
A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese.
By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...
of ''
Lydda
Lod ( he, לוד, or fully vocalized ; ar, اللد, al-Lidd or ), also known as Lydda ( grc, Λύδδα), is a city southeast of Tel Aviv and northwest of Jerusalem in the Central District of Israel. It is situated between the lower Shephe ...
'' by
Pope Pius XII
Pope Pius XII ( it, Pio XII), born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (; 2 March 18769 October 1958), was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death in October 1958. Before his e ...
. Bortignon received his
episcopal consecration
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or offic ...
from Cardinal
Adeodato Giovanni Piazza
Adeodato Giovanni Piazza, O.C.D. (30 September 1884 – 30 November 1957) was an Italian friar of the Discalced Carmelite Order, who became a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, and Patriarch of Venice, as well as a member of the Roman Curi ...
,
OCD, on the following 14 May. He later replaced
Giosuè Cattarossi
Bishop Giosuè Cattarossi was a late 19th century/early-mid 20th century Italian cleric. Born 23 April 1863 at Cortale, he was ordained a priest in April 1888, aged 24. On 11 April 1911 at the age of 48, he was appointed as Bishop of Albenga and o ...
as
Bishop of Belluno e Feltre
The Diocese of Belluno-Feltre ( la, Dioecesis Bellunensis-Feltrensis) is a Roman Catholic ecclesiastical territory in the Veneto, northern Italy, organized in its current form in 1986. From 1197 to 1762, and again from 1818 to 1986, the Diocese of ...
on 9 September 1945. In 1947, he named
Fr. Albino Luciani, the future Pope John Paul I, as his pro-
vicar general
A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop of a diocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vicar general exercises the bishop's ...
.
After almost five years of governing the
diocese
In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop.
History
In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, pro ...
, Bortignon was
translated
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...
to
Bishop of Padua
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Padua ( it, Diocesi di Padova; la, Dioecesis Patavina) is an episcopal see of the Catholic Church in Veneto, northern Italy. It was erected in the 3rd century.[Pope John XXIII
Pope John XXIII ( la, Ioannes XXIII; it, Giovanni XXIII; born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, ; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death in June 19 ...]
asked Bortignon for a name for
Bishop of Vittorio Veneto, the latter offered his old vicar general in Belluno, Albino Luciani, saying, "I know him ... He will do me fine." In 1960, he told his
Vatican
Vatican may refer to:
Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum
The Holy See
* The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...
connections that the activities surrounding
Padre Pio
Francesco Forgione, OFM Cap., better known as Padre Pio and as Saint Pius of Pietrelcina ( it, Pio da Pietrelcina; 25 May 188723 September 1968), was an Italian Franciscan Capuchin friar, priest, stigmatist, and mystic. He is venerated as a s ...
at
San Giovanni Rotondo
San Giovanni Rotondo is the name of a town and ''comune'' in the province of Foggia and region of Apulia, in southern Italy.
San Giovanni Rotondo was the home of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina from 28 July 1916 until his death on 23 September 1968. T ...
should merit an investigation. Bortignon attended the
Second Vatican Council
The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st Catholic ecumenical councils, ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions) ...
from 1962 to 1965.
He once served as the Vatican's
preacher
A preacher is a person who delivers sermons or homilies on religious topics to an assembly of people. Less common are preachers who preach on the street, or those whose message is not necessarily religious, but who preach components such as a ...
of
spiritual exercises
The ''Spiritual Exercises'' ( la, Exercitia spiritualia), composed 1522–1524, are a set of Christian meditations, contemplations, and prayers written by Ignatius of Loyola, a 16th-century Spanish priest, theologian, and founder of the Society ...
and as
vice-president
A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...
of the
Triveneto
The Triveneto (), or Tre Venezie () ( vec, Tre Venesie, german: Venetien), is a historical region of Italy. The area included what has become the three Italian regions of ''Venezia Euganea'', ''Venezia Giulia'' and ''Venezia Tridentina''. This ter ...
regional
Episcopal Conference
An episcopal conference, sometimes called a conference of bishops, is an official assembly of the bishops of the Catholic Church in a given territory. Episcopal conferences have long existed as informal entities. The first assembly of bishops to ...
.
[John Paul I, the Smiling Pope]
Anecdotes and Testimonies of Pope Luciani - Part X
/ref>
The Capuchin bishop resigned his post in Padua
Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...
on 7 January 1982, after thirty-two years of service. He later died at age 86.
References
External links
Catholic-Hierarchy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bortignon, Girolamo
1905 births
1992 deaths
20th-century Italian Roman Catholic bishops
Bishops of Belluno
Bishops of Padua
Capuchin bishops
Participants in the Second Vatican Council
People from the Province of Vicenza