Vincenzo Cardinal Vannutelli
Vincenzo Cardinal Vannutelli (
December 5,
1836 -
July 9,
1930) was an Italian prelate,
Cardinal of the
Roman Catholic Church for over forty years.
Vannutelli was born in
Palestrina,
Lazio.
Ordained a
priest in
1860, he was never a pastor in his almost seventy years of priesthood: his career began as a faculty member in seminaries and continued in the
Roman Curia. Most of his early career was in Roman and foreign postings of the
Secretariat of State, aside from two years starting in
1878 when he was an Auditor of the
Roman Rota.
In
1880 he became a
titular archbishop and
Apostolic Delegate to the
Ottoman Empire, and after further postings was named a cardinal
in pectore in December
1889 and publicly announced in the
consistory of
1890. His elevation was a special exception to a rule in effect since
1586 barring the elevation of anyone whose brother was in the
College of Cardinals, as Vincenzo's brother
Serafino Cardinal Vannutelli (1834-1915) had been elevated in
1887. No further exceptions would be made until the time of
Pope John XXIII.
After serving in various administrative appointments, he became a
Cardinal Bishop in the
Holy Year of
1900. In
1915 he succeeded his brother Serafino as
Dean of the College of Cardinals, and in the
1925 Holy Year he served as Papal legate for the opening and closing of the holy doors at the Patriarchal Liberian Basilica, as he had in 1900.
