Maurilio Fossati

Maurilio Cardinal Fossati (photo February 1939)

Maurilio Cardinal Fossati OSSGCN (born May 24, 1876 in Arona , Province of Novara , Italy , † March 30, 1965 in Turin ) was Archbishop of Turin from 1930 until his death .

Life

Maurilio Fossati came to his school days in the seminary of Novara and studied the subjects there philosophy and Catholic theology . He received on 27 November 1898, the sacrament of Holy Orders . After three years as a parish chaplain , in 1901 he became the personal secretary of the new Archbishop of Genoa Edoardo Pulciano , who had already met him in the Diocese of Novara. In 1911 Fossati entered the religious community of the Oblates of St. Charles and St. Gaudentius of Novara. From 1911 to 1914 he worked as a parish priest in the Diocese of Novara . From 1914 to 1919 he was a military chaplain in the First World War . From 1919 to 1924 he was the superior of the Oblates in Varallo Sesio.

Pope Pius XI appointed Maurilio Fossati on March 24, 1924 Bishop of Galtelli-Nuoro in Sardinia . He was ordained bishop on April 27th of the same year by the then Archbishop of Turin , Giuseppe Cardinal Gamba ; Co- consecrators were Angelo Scapardini , Archbishop and Bishop of Vigevano , and Giovanni Garigliano , Bishop of Biella . The new bishop recognized the enthusiasm of the younger generation for journalism and launched a Catholic weekly magazine in Nuoro.

In 1925 Fossati was also appointed Apostolic Administrator of Ogliastra . In 1929 the Pope made him head of the Archdiocese of Sassari . In December 1930 Pius XI appointed him. to the Archbishop of Turin and took him on March 13, 1933 as a cardinal priest with the titular church of San Marcello in the College of Cardinals . In Turin, too, he focused on further developing the Catholic press. Cardinal Fossati sympathized with the regimes of Francisco Franco in Spain and António de Oliveira Salazar in Portugal. He also supported Italian colonial policy in Africa. His attitude towards Benito Mussolini and the Italian fascists changed after the anti-Jewish race laws were passed in 1938. His open attitude towards Judaism also explains his deep aversion to Hitler's National Socialism. In terms of pastoral care, he followed the tradition of the Tridentine Council .

Maurilio Fossati took part in the conclave in 1939 , 1958 and 1963 , and from 1962 to 1965 he was a participant in all sessions of the Second Vatican Council . Maurilio Cardinal Fossati died in Turin on March 30, 1965, after his health had deteriorated since the 1950s. He was first buried in the chapel of the seminary in Rivoli near Turin. In 1977 his remains were transferred to the Consolata Shrine in Turin.

Honors

• 1963: Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic

literature

• Maurilio Guasco:  Fossati, Maurilio. In: Fiorella Bartoccini (ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 49:  Forino – Francesco da Serino. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1997.
• Maurilio Cardinal Fossati , in: Internationales Biographisches Archiv 23/1965 of May 31, 1965, in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely available)

Web links

• Fossati, O.SS.GCN, Maurilio. In: Salvador Miranda : The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church. ( Florida International University website), accessed September 9, 2016.
• Entry on Maurilio Fossati on catholic-hierarchy.org

predecessor	Office	successor
Adeodato Giovanni Cardinal Piazza OCD	Chairman of the Italian Bishops' Conference 1954–1958	Giuseppe Cardinal Siri
Giuseppe Cardinal Gamba	Archbishop of Turin 1930–1965	Michele Cardinal Pellegrino
Cleto Cassani	Archbishop of Sassari 1929–1930	Arcangelo Mazzotti
Luca Canepa	Bishop of Galtelli-Nuoro 1924–1929	Giuseppe Cogoni