AGLIARDI, ANTONIO

AGLIARDI, ANTONIO. - Cardinal, b. at Cologno al Serio (Bergamo) on 4 Sept. 1832, d. at Rome on 19 March 1915. After completing his studies at the diocesan seminary, he went to the Apollinare in Rome (1850), earning doctorates in philosophy, theology, and both civil and canon law. Following a public controversy with Fr Passaglia, he devoted himself to pastoral ministry in the parish of Osio-Sotto (1865–77) and to teaching at the seminary of Bergamo, later being entrusted by Pius IX with teaching moral theology at the Urban College of Propaganda Fide. Named titular archbishop of Caesarea and apostolic delegate to the Indies (1884), he negotiated concordatory agreements with Portugal and promoted missionary penetration, particularly by fostering the proper formation of the indigenous clergy. Secretary of the Sacred Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs from 1886 to 1889, he supported conciliatory tendencies and currents during the critical phase of the Roman Question. His contribution to the resolution of the *Kulturkampf* and the religious pacification of Germany paved the way for his nunciatures at Munich (1889–93) and then Vienna (1893–96). During these assignments, he collaborated both in the development of Catholic social action in Germany—which was to have a significant influence on the formulation of the teachings of *Rerum novarum*—and in the application of those principles, overcoming reactionary obstacles, among the dynamic Christian-Social movement in Austria, ably led by Lueger, and the vigorous Catholic-Popular party in Hungary. Sent as extraordinary legate to Moscow for the coronation of Nicholas II in 1896, he was created cardinal with the title of SS. Nereus and Achilleus on 22 June of the same year, appointed bishop of the suburbicarian see of Albano in 1899, prefect of the economy of Propaganda Fide in 1902, and vice-chancellor of the Holy Roman Church in 1903. Widely esteemed for his merits, firm and clear in thought and action, he supported the early emergence of Christian democracy in Italy. He participated in the conclaves of Pius X (1904) and Benedict XV (1914).