Alessandro Barnabò (2 March 1801 – 24 February 1874) was an Italian Catholic

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

and Prefect of the Congregation Propaganda Fide.

Early life

Barnabò was born on 2 March 1801 in

Foligno Foligno (; Central Italian, Southern Umbrian: ''Fuligno'') is an ancient town of Italy in the province of Perugia in east central Umbria, on the Topino river where it leaves the Apennine Mountains, Apennines and enters the wide plain of the Clit ...

. At the age of 10, he was sent by the French administration in Italy to the Prytanée National Militaire in La Flèche, but he returned to Italy in 1814 to study for the priesthood. He joined the priesthood and was ordained in March 1833. Between his ordination and 1856 he held a number of official positions including Privy chamberlain supernumerary, Consultor to the Propaganda Fide, Keeper of the Seals of the Apostolic Penitentiary and served as a domestic prelate to the Pope.

Cardinalate

Barnabò was elevated to cardinal on 16 June 1856 and was appointed Cardinal Priest of Santa Susanna, a position he held until his death. Between 1856 and 1874, Barnabò served as the Prefect of the Congregation Propaganda Fide. Some records suggest Barnabò's administered the Congregation with almost

totalitarian Totalitarianism is a political system and a form of government that prohibits opposition from political parties, disregards and outlaws the political claims of individual and group opposition to the state, and completely controls the public sph ...

gusto and "controlled the missions like an empire" and ran the Congregation itself "like a dictator". As Prefect, Barnabò was responsible for arranging a meeting between

Pope Pius IX Pope Pius IX (; born Giovanni Maria Battista Pietro Pellegrino Isidoro Mastai-Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878. His reign of nearly 32 years is the longest verified of any pope in hist ...

and

Isaac Hecker Isaac Thomas Hecker (December 18, 1819 – December 22, 1888) was an American Roman Catholic, Catholic priest and founder of the Paulist Fathers, a North American religious society of men. Hecker was originally ordained a Redemptorist priest in ...

. Hecker had been expelled from his Redemptorist order but Barnabò recognised his valuable missionary work and helped him appeal to the Pope who overturned the expulsion. For a year (1868–1869), as was customary for the office, Barnabò was appointed Camerlengo of the Sacred College of Cardinals. He succeeded friend and fellow papal power-broker, Cardinal

Karl-August von Reisach Karl-Auguste Graf von Reisach (7 July 1800, in Roth (district), Roth, Bavaria22 December 1869, in the Redemptorist monastery of Les Contamines-Montjoie, Contamine, France) was a Roman Catholic German theologian, Cardinal (Catholicism), Cardinal a ...

. He participated in the

First Vatican Council The First Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the First Vatican Council or Vatican I, was the 20th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church, held three centuries after the preceding Council of Trent which was adjourned in 156 ...

between 1869 and 1870. In 1873, Mary MacKillop travelled to Rome and met, among others, Barnabò who encouraged her "warmly" and took great interest in her travels.Catholic Australia:
Mary MacKillop Barnabò died on 24 February 1874.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barnabo, Alessandro 1801 births 1874 deaths People from Foligno 19th-century Italian cardinals Cardinals created by Pope Pius IX