CAGLIERO, GIOVANNI. — Cardinal, b. at Castelnuovo d’Asti on 11 Jan. 1838, d. at Rome on 28 Feb. 1926. He first met St John Bosco in his native village (1850) and was deeply impressed, resolving to join him in his apostolic labours. In the following year he entered the Salesian Oratory in Turin and made rapid progress in music, some delicate compositions of his remaining, especially romances (Lo Spazzacamino, L’Esule, Il Marinaio, etc.). Ordained priest in 1862, he carried on his ministry at the Saint’s side until 1875, when he left Genoa with the first band of Salesian missionaries for Argentina, working in the popular quarter of “La Boca” in Buenos Aires among Italian emigrants. In 1879 the Salesians penetrated into Patagonia, a wild land where few missionaries had previously succeeded in reaching. There they carried on an apostolate rich in spiritual fruit, so that Leo XIII, in 1884, set up the vicariate of Northern and Central Patagonia, appointing C. its first titular bishop of Magido. He had been spiritual director of the Salesian Society and first general director of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians in Turin, and in Feb. 1885 he set out for his new mission. St John Bosco had said that Patagonia would be won by sweat and blood, and C. became its apostle, intent only on bringing souls to Christ, under his rule 47,000 baptisms being administered, 15,000 of them to natives.
Pius X, in 1904, appointed C. apostolic visitor to the dioceses of Bobbio, Piacenza, Savona and Tortona, raising him to the titular archbishopric of Sebaste, and in 1909 entrusted him with the office of apostolic delegate and extraordinary envoy to Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Honduras, where he once more gave marvellous proofs of prudence and fortitude, winning the gratitude of the Holy See and the esteem of the governments of those countries, which admired his pastoral virtues combined with marked diplomatic gifts. Benedict XV, in the Consistory of 6 Dec. 1915, created him cardinal with the title of S. Bernardo alle Terme, the first of the Salesian family to be decorated with the Roman purple. He worked untiringly in the government of the Church, taking part in numerous religious manifestations in various parts of Italy.
On 16 Dec. 1920 he became cardinal-bishop of Frascati. Despite his advanced age he still displayed youthful activity, frequently visiting his flock, and in 1923, though eighty-five, he conducted a highly successful Eucharistic Congress. He also devoted his last, untiring energies with great fervour to the development of Catholic Action.