Pietro Benedetti, MSC (19 May 1867 – 7 September 1930) was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who was a leader of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart and also worked in the diplomatic service of the Holy See in Mexico, Cuba, and Puerto Rico for several years.

Biography

Pietro Benedetti was born on 19 May 1867 in

Falvaterra Falvaterra is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Frosinone in the Italian region Lazio, located about southeast of Rome and about southeast of Frosinone. Falvaterra borders the following municipalities: Arce, Castro dei Volsci, Cepr ...

, Italy. He joined the

Missionaries of the Sacred Heart The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (MSC; la, Missionarii Sacratissimi Cordis; french: Missionnaires du Sacré-Coeur) are a missionary congregation in the Catholic Church. It was founded in 1854 by Servant of God Jules Chevalier (182 ...

in 1883 and was ordained a priest on 21 December 1889. He taught for a decade in Barcelona, developing a personal relationship with the Catalan poet

Jacint Verdaguer Jacint Verdaguer i Santaló (; 17 May 1845 – 10 June 1902) was a Catalan / Spanish writer, regarded as one of the greatest poets of Catalan literature and a prominent literary figure of the Renaixença, a cultural revival movement of the ...

. He translated Verdaguer's poems and published them in his parish bulletin during the First World War. His Italian translation of a collection of Verdaguer's poems was published in 1921. He moved to Rome in 1901. On 31 October 1908, he was named vice director and in 1909 director of the ''Acta Apostolicae Sedis''. Beginning in 1910 he was a member of a commission on revising catechism instruction in response to

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 ...

's decree ''

Quam singulari ''Quam singulari'' was a decree released by Pope Pius X in 1910, concerning the admittance of children to the Eucharist. This followed a decree by the Sacred Congregation of the Council, five years before on frequent Communion. Background There ...

'' admitting children to the

Eucharist The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instit ...

. He was provincial (procurator) of his order when, on 21 December 1914,

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 ...

named him Bishop of Ozieri in Sardinia. He was not consecrated and someone else was named to this position in April 1915. On 10 March 1921,

appointed him titular archbishop of Tyrus and Apostolic Delegate to Mexico. He received his episcopal consecration on 10 April 1921 from Cardinal Basilio Pompilj. In Mexico the Church was contending with the government’s anti-clerical campaign, which posed a challenge for the Holy See's representative. On 22 July 1921, Pope Benedict reassigned him, naming him Apostolic Delegate to Cuba and Puerto Rico. He resigned as delegate in 1925 or 1926, apparently because of his health. Benedetti died on 7 September 1930 in Siena.

Notes

References

;Additional sources * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Benedetti, Pietro 1867 births 1930 deaths People from the Province of Frosinone Missionaries of the Sacred Heart Apostolic Nuncios to Cuba Apostolic Nuncios to Mexico