FERRARI, ANDREA CARLO. — Cardinal archbishop, b. at Lalatta di Pratopiano (Parma) on 13 Aug. 1850, d. in Milan on 2 Feb. 1921. Of humble origins, he studied at the diocesan Seminary. Ordained a priest on 19 Dec. 1873, after a brief period of pastoral ministry at Mariano and Fornovo, at only 26 years of age he was appointed rector of the Seminary of Parma, where he remained for 18 years, teaching sacred and secular subjects, serving as vicar general, canon theologian of the Cathedral, and president of the Academy of S. Tommaso for philosophical studies. In 1890 he was elected bishop of Guastalla, but, after 9 months, he transferred to the see of Como; and in 1894, by Leo XIII, who held him in the highest esteem, he was created cardinal of the title of S. Anastasia and archbishop of Milan.
Unfailing charity, firmness and courage, devotion to his duty, preaching in church and in the public squares, pilgrimages, youth organizations, and very frequent pastoral visits were the constant occupations of his pastoral ministry, especially in the vast archdiocese of Milan.
The social disturbances of 1898, the struggle against Modernism, the participation of Catholics in political life, and the resolution of the Roman question, although they were for F. a source of grave bitterness, also revealed the uprightness of his intentions and the magnanimity of his heart; and in the final years of his life, every opposition and mistrust having been overcome, he became the object of general admiration, from Benedict XV to the rulers of Italy. The slow agony caused by throat cancer, which confined him to his bed, surrounded him with an aura of martyrdom on account of his serene fortitude and made his modest little room the destination of the endless pilgrimage of his spiritual children around their dying father, from October 1920 to February 1921. He left, as an imperishable monument for studious youth, the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, to whose establishment he contributed so greatly.