Domenico Ferrata | |
|---|---|
| Secretary of State | |
 | |
| Church | Roman Catholic Church |
| Appointed | 4 September 1914 |
| Term ended | 10 October 1914 |
| Predecessor | Rafael Merry del Val de Zulueta |
| Successor | Pietro Gasparri |
| Other post(s) | |
| Previous post(s) |
|
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 18 September 1869 |
| Consecration | 19 April 1885 by Lodovico Jacobini |
| Created cardinal | 22 June 1896 byPope Leo XIII |
| Rank | Cardinal-Priest |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Domenico Ferrata 4 March 1847 |
| Died | 10 October 1914(1914-10-10) (aged 67) Rome,Kingdom of Italy |
| Parents | Giovanni Battista Ferrata Maria Antonuzzi |
| Coat of arms |  |
Domenico FerrataJUD (4 March 1847 – 10 October 1914) was an ItalianRoman CatholicCardinal who spent most of his career in the diplomatic service of theHoly See and in theRoman Curia.
Ferrata was born inGradoli, nearViterbo to Giovan Battista and Maria Antonuzzi Ferrata, who had a small farm. He had a brother, Angelo, who later became procurator general of the Augustinians.[1]
He first attended a local municipal school run by canon D. Collarini. Then he went to the Jesuit School of Orvieto. With the expulsion of the Jesuits from Orvieto, he spent the year 1860-61 in Gradoli, continuing however to study privately with Don GB Polverini. He then attended the Seminary of Montefiascone. Ferrata was appointed canon of the college of Gradoli. He took his degree in theology atLa Sapienza in Rome, where he studied scripture underTommaso Martinelli. Ferrata wasOrdained apriest in 1869.[2]
After ordination, Ferrata studied canon law atS. Apollinare. He earned doctorates in both theology and civil and canon law. He then apprenticed at theCongregation of the Council. When Martelli became a cardinal in 1873, he made his former student his secretary. In January 1874 Ferrata was appointed procurator at theSacred Congregation of Rites.[2]
In 1876, he taught canon law at thePontifical Roman Major Seminary, and the following year was made deputy chair of ecclesiastical history atPropaganda Fide.[3] In April 1877, he was appointed to theCongregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs, which handled diplomatic relations between the Holy See and foreign governments. When in 1879 the secretary of the congregation,Włodzimierz Czacki was appointed nuncio to France, he took Ferrata along as auditor.[2] He returned to Rome in 1883 and was sent to Switzerland to resolve problems with the diocese of Basel. In 1884 he was made president of thePontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, the training school for the diplomatic corps.
Consecrated abishop in 1885, he served asnuncio toBelgium. He served as Secretary of theCongregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs from 20 April 1889 to 23 June 1891, when he was named nuncio to France where he was to pursue areconciliation between the Church and the French state. He was elevated to Cardinal byPope Leo XIII in theconsistory of 22 June 1896 with the titular ofSanta Prisca, Rome.[1]
He spent the early part of his cardinalate in positions such as Prefect of theSacred Congregation for Indulgences and Sacred Relics. He was named Prefect of theCongregation for Divine Worship.
In 1900, he was named prefect of theSacred Congregation of Rites which handled the process for canonizations. In that capacity he oversaw much of the procedure regarding the cause ofJoan of Arc. He participated in the conclave of 1903, which electedPope Pius X.[1] In 1901 he was sent as nuncio to Paris byPope Leo XIII with the mission to work for thereconciliation with the third French Republic.[3]
As papal legate, he presided over the 1905Canonical coronation of the image of the Immaculate Conception of Cospicua in Malta. Ferrata played an important part in the preparation ofQuam singulari the 1910 decree concerning the admittance of children to communion. In 1913 he was named Archpriest of the patriarchal Lateran basilica. In the same year, he was appointed the Cardinal Legate for the XXIV International Eucharistic Congress in Malta.
In January 1914Pope Pius X named him to succeedMariano Cardinal Rampolla, who had died on 13 December 1913, asSecretary of the Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office.
Pope Pius X died on 20 August 1914. Ferrata opened the conclave opened on 31 August 1914, celebrating the Mass of the Holy Spirit in the Pauline Chapel. The newly electedPope Benedict XV appointed Ferrata Secretary of State, in place ofRafael Merry del Val. However, Ferrata was already in ill health and died the month after his appointment at age seventy. He was buried in Gradoli.
| Catholic Church titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Archpriest of the Basilica of St. John Lateran 7 April 1913 – 10 October 1914 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Secretary of the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office 3 January 1914 – 4 September 1914 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Cardinal Secretary of State 4 September – 10 October 1914 | Succeeded by |
