Sisto Riario Sforza (5 December 1810 – 29 September 1877) was an
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
* Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
cardinal who served as the
Archbishop of Naples
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Naples ( la, Archidioecesis Neapolitana) is a Roman Catholic archdioceses in southern Italy, the see being in Naples. A Christian community was founded there in the 1st century AD and the diocese of Naples wa ...
from 1845 until his death.
Sforza's rapid rise through the Church ranks began with various appointments before he served as the
Bishop of Aversa for seven months. He was promoted to the Naples archdiocese and cardinalate. After two months, Sisto became a close supporter of
Pope Pius IX and a vocal participant in the
First Vatican Council.
He opposed Italian unification and was temporarily exiled from Naples after unification when he refused to adhere to the requests that the new government made of him.[ He used this time in exile to travel and to set up a private network to create periodical publications to oppose the ]anticlerical
Anti-clericalism is opposition to religious authority, typically in social or political matters. Historical anti-clericalism has mainly been opposed to the influence of Roman Catholicism. Anti-clericalism is related to secularism, which seeks to ...
press coming from his archdiocese. He was later allowed to return and carried out his duties, such as aiding victims of two cholera epidemics and the 1861 eruption of Mount Vesuvius
Mount Vesuvius ( ; it, Vesuvio ; nap, 'O Vesuvio , also or ; la, Vesuvius , also , or ) is a somma-stratovolcano located on the Gulf of Naples in Campania, Italy, about east of Naples and a short distance from the shore. It is one of ...
.[ Towards the end of his life there were rumours that the French, who were preparing for a papal conclave to be held outside of ]Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
(due to the Italian unification), were aiming to propose Sforza as a papal contender. Sforza died just five months before Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-old ...
was elected, despite Pope Leo XIII's objection to becoming pope while Sforza was still alive, as Sforza would have opposed Pecci's candidature.[
His beatification process was launched in the 1920s and culminated on 28 June 2012, after ]Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the soverei ...
recognized his heroic virtue
Heroic virtue is a phrase coined by Augustine of Hippo to describe the virtue of early Christian martyrs and used by the Catholic Church. The Greek pagan term hero described a person with possibly superhuman abilities and great goodness, and "it ...
and titled him as Venerable
The Venerable (''venerabilis'' in Latin) is a style, a title, or an epithet which is used in some Western Christian churches, or it is a translation of similar terms for clerics in Eastern Orthodoxy and monastics in Buddhism.
Christianity
Cat ...
.[
]
Life
House
Sisto Riario Sforza was born in Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
on 5 December 1810 into the noble
A noble is a member of the nobility.
Noble may also refer to:
Places Antarctica
* Noble Glacier, King George Island
* Noble Nunatak, Marie Byrd Land
* Noble Peak, Wiencke Island
* Noble Rocks, Graham Land
Australia
* Noble Island, Gr ...
Riario-Sforza House as the younger of two brothers; his older brother was Nicola Giovanni. His parents were Duke Giovanni Antonio Riario Sforza and Maria Gaetana Cattaneo della Volta.[ His noble house was related to the Caracciolo house as well as the ]Colonna
The House of Colonna, also known as ''Sciarrillo'' or ''Sciarra'', is an Italian noble family, forming part of the papal nobility. It was powerful in medieval and Renaissance Rome, supplying one pope (Martin V) and many other church and politic ...
and Boncompagni
The Boncompagni is a princely family of the Italian nobility who settled in Bologna around the 14th century, but which was probably originally from Umbria.
In 1572 they obtained the papal throne thanks to Ugo Boncompagni, who, with the name of P ...
families. He was a nephew to the Cardinal Tommaso Riario Sforza
Tommaso Riario Sforza (8 January 1782 in Naples – 14 March 1857 in Rome) was the Neapolitan Cardinal who, as protodeacon, announced at the end of the 1846 conclave the election of Cardinal Giovanni Mastai-Ferretti as Pope Pius IX.
He ...
and many of his ancestors such as Pietro Riario
Pietro Riario (1445 – 3 January 1474) was an Italian cardinal and Papal diplomat.
Biography
Born in Savona, he was the son of Paolo Riario and Pope Sixtus IVs' sister, Bianca Della Rovere. Sixtus nominated him in 1471 bishop of Treviso and card ...
(a Franciscan
, image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg
, image_size = 200px
, caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans
, abbreviation = OFM
, predecessor =
, ...
), Raffaele Riario
Raffaele Sansoni Galeoti Riario (3 May 1461 – 9 July 1521) was an Italian Cardinal of the Renaissance, mainly known as the constructor of the Palazzo della Cancelleria and the person who invited Michelangelo to Rome. He was a patron of the ...
, and Alessandro Riario had been cardinals.[
Sforza's ]baptism
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 ...
was celebrated on the date of his birth in the San Giorgio Genovesi church and he was baptized with the names "Sisto Gaetano Ambrosio". He received the sacrament of Confirmation on 11 February 1822 in Naples.[
]
Education and priesthood
He decided to enter the ecclesial life in late 1824 and moved to Rome, where he would be educated under the presence of his cardinal uncle.
He spent his education in Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
first at the Pontifical Roman Major before attending the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Institute and the La Sapienza college where he went on to obtain a theological doctorate through an apostolic brief on 23 April 1845.[ Sforza later received the ecclesiastical ]habit
A habit (or wont as a humorous and formal term) is a routine of behavior that is repeated regularly and tends to occur subconsciously. on 1 January 1825; his hair was shaved at the top for the clerical tonsure
Tonsure () is the practice of cutting or shaving some or all of the hair on the scalp as a sign of religious devotion or humility. The term originates from the Latin word ' (meaning "clipping" or "shearing") and referred to a specific practice i ...
a month after on 13 February which he received from Cardinal Luigi Ruffo-Scilla. Sforza received the minor orders
Minor orders are ranks of church ministry. In the Catholic Church, the predominating Latin Church formerly distinguished between the major orders —priest (including bishop), deacon and subdeacon—and four minor orders—acolyte, exorcist, lec ...
from Scilla on 25 December 1826 and later the subdiaconate from Giuseppe della Porta Rodiani on 21 April 1832 (in the Basilica of Saint John Lateran
The Archbasilica Cathedral of the Most Holy Savior and of Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist in the Lateran ( it, Arcibasilica del Santissimo Salvatore e dei Santi Giovanni Battista ed Evangelista in Laterano), also known as the Papa ...
) before Rodiani invested Sforza into the diaconate
A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Chur ...
on 22 December 1832.[ He received his ]ordination
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 v ...
to the priesthood in Naples on 1 September 1833 from Filippo Giudice Caracciolo
Filippo Giudice Caracciolo was an Italian prelate who was archbishop of Naples from 1833 to 1844.
Life
Born into a noble family in Naples on 27 March 1785, he entered the Oratorian order in the late years of the 18th century. He was ordained ...
.[
He commenced his pastoral duties in evening schools, worked in prisons for women, and also worked alongside apprentices. He served as a papal legate in ]Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
in 1836 to present the red biretta to new Cardinal Jean-Louis Anne Madalain Lefebvre de Cheverus, returning from France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
that 27 June.[
Sforza first worked for some time as a ]chamberlain
Chamberlain may refer to:
Profession
*Chamberlain (office), the officer in charge of managing the household of a sovereign or other noble figure
People
*Chamberlain (surname)
**Houston Stewart Chamberlain (1855–1927), German-British philosop ...
to the pope (since November 1836) and in 1828 was made the "abbot commendatario" for the San Paolo in Albano convent
A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglic ...
(he took possession of the convent on 12 February 1828). In addition, he was also named as the vicar of the cardinal camerlengo in the school of Santa Maria in Via Lata Latain on 22 June 1837. In 1829 he served as a conclavist
A conclavist was a personal aide of a cardinal present in a papal conclave. The term is sometimes used to refer to all present with a conclave, including the cardinal-electors, but is more properly applied only to the non-cardinals. Conclavists pl ...
for his cardinal uncle at the conclave
''The Conclave'' is a 2006 Canadian/German film production directed by Christoph Schrewe. The script was written by Paul Donovan.
Plot
The plot centers on the conclave of 1458, which took place five years after the fall of Constantinople ...
that elected Pope Pius VIII
Pope Pius VIII ( it, Pio VIII; born Francesco Saverio Maria Felice Castiglioni; 20 November 1761 – 30 November 1830), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 31 March 1829 to his death in November 1830.
Pius VIII's ...
.[ On 30 September 1838 he was made a ]canon
Canon or Canons may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base
* Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture
** Western ca ...
for Saint Peter's Basilica
The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican ( it, Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano), or simply Saint Peter's Basilica ( la, Basilica Sancti Petri), is a Church (building), church built in the Renaissance architecture, Renaissanc ...
, and in 1841 was made the private aide to the pope. Sforza later accompanied the pontiff on the latter's September 1841 trip to Umbria
it, Umbro (man) it, Umbra (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 =
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographics1_title1 =
, demographics1_info1 =
, ...
and Rieti in 1842.[ He contributed to the conversion to Roman Catholicism of the ]count
Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...
Ernest von Stackelberg and the return to the Church of prince
A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. T ...
Augustin Petrovich Galitzin.
Episcopate
On 12 April 1845, King Ferdinando II proposed to the pope that Sforza assume the see of Bishopric of Aversa, which he took a week later on 24 April. Sforza received his episcopal consecration
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
as a bishop one month later on 24 May in a side chapel in Saint Peter's Basilica from Mario Mattei
Mario Mattei (6 September 1792, Pergola, Marche – 7 October 1870) was an Italian Cardinal, of the Roman noble House of Mattei. He became Dean of the College of Cardinals in 1860.
Personal life
Mario Mattei was born on 6 September 1792 in Pe ...
and co-consecrators Ludovico Tevoli and Luigi Maria Cardelli.[ Sforza assumed possession of his new see via a procurator on 7 May before taking his oath of allegiance to the king on 12 June; his formal entrance into his diocese was celebrated on 21 June.
Sforza was made an ]Assistant at the Pontifical Throne
The Bishops-Assistant at the Pontifical Throne were ecclesiastical titles in the Roman Catholic Church. It designated prelates belonging to the Papal Chapel, who stood near the throne of the Pope at solemn functions. They ranked immediately belo ...
one month after his episcopal appointment on 17 May and was promoted to the metropolitan archdiocese of Naples on 24 November, concluding a rapid ascension through the ranks. This appointment was confirmed after Ferdinando II proposed him to the Pope to take the Naples see on 6 September.[ The pope sent him the ]pallium
The pallium (derived from the Roman ''pallium'' or ''palla'', a woolen cloak; : ''pallia'') is an ecclesiastical vestment in the Catholic Church, originally peculiar to the pope, but for many centuries bestowed by the Holy See upon metropol ...
as the archbishop on 24 November while naming him the archdiocese's head. He was enthroned in his new archdiocese at a formal Mass
Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...
held on 8 December 1845.[ The culmination to his rise through the ranks came in 1846 after the pope elevated him into the ]cardinalate
The College of Cardinals, or more formally the Sacred College of Cardinals, is the body of all cardinals of the Catholic Church. its current membership is , of whom are eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pope. Cardinals are appoi ...
; he received a special dispensation for having an uncle who was a cardinal since the rules did not allow relations to both act as cardinals. He received the red hat and his titular church of Santa Sabina
The Basilica of Saint Sabina ( la, Basilica Sanctae Sabinae, it, Basilica di Santa Sabina all'Aventino) is a historic church on the Aventine Hill in Rome, Italy. It is a titular minor basilica and mother church of the Roman Catholic Order of Pre ...
on 16 April 1846.
The pope sent him the red biretta via the "ablegato" Count Annibale Moroni. The "ablegato" gave the biretta to Ferdinando II to bestow upon Sforza on 5 February 1846. It was in the following months in 1846 that Sforza founded the "Academia de filosofia Tomista".[
He participated in the papal conclave in 1846 that elected Pope Pius IX.][ Pius IX later named Sforza as a member of the cardinalitial commission that he created and charged with preparing a definition of the ]dogma
Dogma is a belief or set of beliefs that is accepted by the members of a group without being questioned or doubted. It may be in the form of an official system of principles or doctrines of a religion, such as Roman Catholicism, Judaism, Isla ...
of the Immaculate Conception
The Immaculate Conception is the belief that the Virgin Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception.
It is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church, meaning that it is held to be a divinely revealed truth w ...
. The work of that commission resulted in the declaration and definition of the dogma in the pope's apostolic constitution ''Ineffabilis Deus
( for, , Latin, Ineffable God) is an apostolic constitution by Pope Pius IX.[''Ineffabilis Deus''](_blank) ''. In 1855 he refused the pope's offer to become the newest Archbishop of Bologna
The Archdiocese of Bologna is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Northern Italy. The cathedra is in the cathedral church of San Pietro, Bologna. The current archbishop is Cardinal Matteo Zup ...
.
Sforza distinguished himself in the two cholera epidemics in 1854-55 and 1873 in tending to the ill while tending to victims of the 1861 eruption of Mount Vesuvius
Mount Vesuvius ( ; it, Vesuvio ; nap, 'O Vesuvio , also or ; la, Vesuvius , also , or ) is a somma-stratovolcano located on the Gulf of Naples in Campania, Italy, about east of Naples and a short distance from the shore. It is one of ...
.[ Sforza became titled "Borromeo redivivo" since people associated his pastoral qualities as reminiscent to those of ]Saint Carlo Borromeo
Charles Borromeo ( it, Carlo Borromeo; la, Carolus Borromeus; 2 October 1538 – 3 November 1584) was the Archbishop of Milan from 1564 to 1584 and a cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was a leading figure of the Counter-Reformation combat a ...
. The Neapolitan episcopate gifted Sforza with a stole that had once belonged to Borromeo on 2 February 1862.
Sforza was exiled following the collapse of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies from 21 September to 30 November 1860 after he refused to adhere to the demands of the new government. Upon Giuseppe Garibaldi's entrance into Naples on 7 September 1860, the cardinal issued a letter expressing his opposition to Italian unification. He also opposed the dissolution of the Papal States
The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope fro ...
and supported Pius IX during that turbulent period.[ He returned to Naples on 30 November 1860 with the aid of Saint Ludovico of Casoria. Sforza was exiled once again on 31 July 1861 until 6 December 1866.][ During his exile he lived in ]Genoa
Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...
and Marseille
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...
(where he resided with the bishop Patrice-François-Marie Cruice) for a time before moving to Hyères
Hyères (), Provençal Occitan: ''Ieras'' in classical norm, or ''Iero'' in Mistralian norm) is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.
The old town lies from the sea clustered arou ...
and Civitavecchia
Civitavecchia (; meaning "ancient town") is a city and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Rome in the central Italian region of Lazio. A sea port on the Tyrrhenian Sea, it is located west-north-west of Rome. The harbour is formed by two pier ...
before settling in Rome. In 1865, he was consulted in Rome about plans to convene a council where he presented a project for the reform of the local church in the south with 37 other southern Italian bishops.[ Before his exile ended he organized a network of periodical publications in opposition to the ]anticlerical
Anti-clericalism is opposition to religious authority, typically in social or political matters. Historical anti-clericalism has mainly been opposed to the influence of Roman Catholicism. Anti-clericalism is related to secularism, which seeks to ...
and liberal press. He also arranged for new priests who had just been ordained from Naples to see him in Rome to know them better.
Sforza participated in the First Vatican Council where he spoke out against the decision to proclaim the dogma
Dogma is a belief or set of beliefs that is accepted by the members of a group without being questioned or doubted. It may be in the form of an official system of principles or doctrines of a religion, such as Roman Catholicism, Judaism, Isla ...
of papal infallibility
Papal infallibility is a dogma of the Catholic Church which states that, in virtue of the promise of Jesus to Peter, the Pope when he speaks '' ex cathedra'' is preserved from the possibility of error on doctrine "initially given to the apos ...
; Sforza tried to compromise and proposed a more mitigated doctrine which was not accepted in the council, though he was one of many who shared this view.[
In 1876, he inaugurated the Ospizio di Maria and established a ]retirement home
A retirement home – sometimes called an old people's home or old age home, although ''old people's home'' can also refer to a nursing home – is a multi-residence housing facility intended for the elderly. Typically, each person or couple in ...
for priests. He also invited a range of religious orders
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 pract ...
to settle and work in his archdiocese.[
In June 1875, the diplomat Emilio Visconti Venosta sent a letter to his ambassador to Paris in which he expressed his concern that the French might be pushing Sforza as a potential papal candidate in a conclave that would be held outside of Rome according to him. Venosta described Sforza as "narrow-minded and of limited intelligence" and said that it was probable that Sforza would fall under the influence of the ]Jesuits
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
, image_size = 175px
, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders = ...
. He continued in expressing his hope that Sforza as a potential pope would model his pontificate on the same line of conduct as Pius IX. Venosta stated that "the likelihood of the election of Cardinal Riario repels me" while pointing to Gioacchino Pecci as the candidate who deserved to be pope.
Death
The cardinal died from cardiac difficulties at the end of a month-long illness on 29 September 1877 in Naples; his remains were exposed then buried in the church of San Mario del Pianto and the Naples Cathedral
The Naples Cathedral ( it, Duomo di Napoli; nap, Viscuvato 'e Napule), or Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary ( it, Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, links=no), is a Roman Catholic cathedral, the main church of Naples, southern Italy, and the s ...
before being moved to their final resting place in the chapel of the SS. Crocifisso in the church of SS. XII Apostoli in April 1927.[ Pius IX mourned Sforza's death and referred to the late cardinal as his "right arm". ]Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-old ...
later mused that he would not be elected pope with Cardinal Riario Sforza alive; Leo XIII was elected in 1878 a few months after the cardinal had died.
Beatification process
The beatification
Beatification (from Latin ''beatus'', "blessed" and ''facere'', "to make”) is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their nam ...
process opened in Naples in an informative phase of an investigation that Alessio Ascalesi inaugurated on 10 May 1927 in the metropolitan cathedral and closed at a solemn Mass on 12 July 1936. Another process was conducted in Rome from 19 January to 3 March 1943.[ Theologians collected and evaluated all of Sforza's writings to determine if such writings adhered to Church doctrine; the theologians confirmed this and approved them in a decree issued on 3 February 1946. The formal introduction to the cause came under Pope Pius XII on 3 August 1947 and Sforza was titled as a Servant of God. Ascalesi oversaw the beginning of an apostolic process on 14 July 1950 which was concluded under Ascalesi's successor ]Marcello Mimmi
Marcello Mimmi (18 July 1882 – 6 March 1961) was an Italian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Naples from 1952 to 1957, and Secretary of the Sacred Consistorial Congregation from 1957 until his death. Mimmi ...
on 28 November 1952. Michele Giordano
Michele Giordano (26 September 1930 – 2 December 2010) was an Italian Roman Catholic prelate, who was the Archbishop of Naples and a cardinal-priest.
Biography
Giordano was born at Sant'Arcangelo, in Basilicata. He was educated at the Minor ...
oversaw the final investigation from 27 June 1995 until sometime later.
The documentation collected from these processes was sent in boxes to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints
In the Catholic Church, the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, previously named the Congregation for the Causes of Saints (), is the dicastery of the Roman Curia that oversees the complex process that leads to the canonization of saints, pass ...
who validated the previous processes on 23 May 1997; the C.C.S. later received the Positio
In the Catholic Church, a ''positio'' (''Positio super Virtutibus'') is a document or collection of documents used in the process by which a person is declared Venerable, the second of the four steps on the path to canonization as a saint.
Des ...
dossier for evaluation in 2003. Historical consultants approved the cause on 30 March 2004. Theologians confirmed the cause on 18 February 2011 as did the cardinal and bishop members of the C.C.S. on 8 May 2012. Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the soverei ...
named Sforza as Venerable
The Venerable (''venerabilis'' in Latin) is a style, a title, or an epithet which is used in some Western Christian churches, or it is a translation of similar terms for clerics in Eastern Orthodoxy and monastics in Buddhism.
Christianity
Cat ...
on 28 June 2012 after confirming that Sforza had lived a model Christian life of heroic virtue
Heroic virtue is a phrase coined by Augustine of Hippo to describe the virtue of early Christian martyrs and used by the Catholic Church. The Greek pagan term hero described a person with possibly superhuman abilities and great goodness, and "it ...
.
The current postulator for this cause is the Franciscan friar Giovangiuseppe Califano.
See also
* Our Lady of La Salette
Our Lady of La Salette (french: Notre-Dame de La Salette) is a Marian apparition reported by two French children, Maximin Giraud and Mélanie Calvat, to have occurred at La Salette-Fallavaux, France, in 1846.
On 19 September 1851, the local ...
* Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Naples
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Naples ( it, Arcidiocesi di Napoli; la, Archidioecesis Neapolitana) is a Roman Catholic Archdiocese in southern Italy, the see being in Naples. A Christians, Christian community was founded there in the 1st cent ...
References
Further reading
*
*Zigarelli, Daniello Maria, Biografie dei vescovi e arcivescovi della chiesa di Napoli con una descrizione del clero, della cattedrale, della basilica di s. Restituta e della cappella del tesoro di s. Gennaro, Napoli, Tipografico di G. Gioja, 1861, pp. 289–320.
External links
Hagiography Circle
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sforza, Sisto Riario
1810 births
1877 deaths
19th-century Italian cardinals
19th-century Italian Roman Catholic archbishops
19th-century venerated Christians
Archbishops of Naples
Bishops appointed by Pope Gregory XVI
Cardinals created by Pope Gregory XVI
Sisto
Italian exiles
Our Lady of La Salette
19th-century Neapolitan people
Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy alumni
Sapienza University of Rome alumni
Venerated Catholics by Pope Benedict XVI