Sebastiano Martinelli (20 August 1848 – 4 July 1918) was a

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 who served as Prefect of the Congregation of Rites.

Early life

Sebastiano Martinelli was born in Borgo Sant'Anna within the

Archdiocese of Lucca The Archdiocese of Lucca ( la, Archidioecesis Lucensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Italy. The diocese dates back as a diocese to the 1st century; it became an archdiocese in 1726. The episco ...

, Italy. He was the son of Cosma Martinelli and Maddalena Pardini. His brother was Cardinal Tommaso Martinelli. He studied in the San Michele Seminary in Lucca and later the Collegio Sant'Agostino in Rome. He joined the Order of the Hermits of Saint Augustine (

Augustinians Augustinians are members of Christian religious orders that follow the Rule of Saint Augustine, written in about 400 AD by Augustine of Hippo. There are two distinct types of Augustinians in Catholic religious orders dating back to the 12th–13 ...

) on 6 December 1863 and was professed on 6 January 1865.

Ecclesiastical career

Priesthood

He was ordained on 4 March 1871 in Rome. He served as a professor of theology at the Santa Maria in Posterula College, Rome. He was named ''postulator causarum servorum Dei'' of the Augustinian Order in 1881. He became prior general of his Order in 1889 and was reelected in 1895.

Episcopate

He was appointed apostolic delegate to the United States on 18 April 1896 by Pope Leo XIII and titular archbishop of

Ephesus Ephesus (; grc-gre, Ἔφεσος, Éphesos; tr, Efes; may ultimately derive from hit, 𒀀𒉺𒊭, Apaša) was a city in ancient Greece on the coast of Ionia, southwest of present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built in t ...

on 18 August 1896. He was consecrated on 30 August 1896, by

Mariano Rampolla Mariano Rampolla del Tindaro (17 August 1843 – 16 December 1913) was an Italian Cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church, and the last man to have his candidacy for papal election vetoed through ''jus exclusivae'' by a Catholic monarch. Early li ...

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 took possession of the apostolic delegation on 4 October 1896. He was much more popular than his predecessor, Cardinal Satolli. In this role, he attended the dedication of St. Mary's Church in

Dedham, Massachusetts Dedham ( ) is a town in and the county seat of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 25,364 at the 2020 census. It is located on Boston's southwest border. On the northwest it is bordered by Needham, on the southwest b ...

Cardinalate

He was created and proclaimed ''

Cardinal-Priest of Sant'Agostino it, Basilica di Sant'Agostino in Campo Marzio , image = Sant Agostino Fassade.jpg , caption = Façade from the Piazza di Sant’Agostino , coordinates = , image_size=270 , mapframe-frame-width=270 , m ...

'' by Pope Leo XIII on 15 April 1901, and received the red hat on 9 June 1902. He participated in the

1903 conclave The 1903 papal conclave followed the death of Pope Leo XIII after a reign of 25 years. Some 62 cardinals participated in the balloting. Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria asserted the right claimed by certain Catholic rulers to veto a candidate for t ...

that elected

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 a member of the commission, headed by Cardinal Pietro Gasparri, for the codification of canon law (1906–1917). He was

Camerlengo Camerlengo (plural: ''camerlenghi'', Italian for "chamberlain") is an Italian title of medieval origin. It derives from the late Latin ''camarlingus'', in turn coming through the Frankish ''kamerling'', from the Latin ''camerarius'' which meant "ch ...

of the Sacred College of Cardinals from 15 April 1907 until 29 April 1909. He was appointed Prefect of the Sacred Congregation of Rites on 8 February 1909. He did not participate in the conclave of 1914 that elected Pope Benedict XV because of illness. He died in Rome on 4 July 1918, and is buried in Rome's Campo Verano cemetery.

Personality and appearance

The '' New York Times'', upon Martinelli's arrival in America as the new apostolic delegate in 1896, published a thorough assessment of the bishop's personal appearance and personality. The newspaper described him thus:

ishop Martinelli speaksexcellent English, with only a slight accent. His voice is soft and musical, and he is very graceful, with an attractive manner. He is a small man, not over 5 feet 5 inches in height, of good build, and he has a typical Italian face. He is very dark, his hair is black and his eyes brilliantly black. The eyes are of the kind that seem to look clear through one. They are the most pronounced feature of their possessor. He has a very square jaw, and when he smiles there is a slight curl of the under lip . Altogether the face is one that strikes an observer as that of a more than ordinarily intelligent man.

Notes and references

;Notes ;References ;Works cited * * *

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martinelli, Sebastiano Apostolic Nuncios to the United States 20th-century Italian cardinals Cardinals created by Pope Leo XIII 1848 births 1918 deaths Members of the Sacred Congregation for Rites Burials at Campo Verano