FERRARI, ANDREA CARLO
Cardinal Archbishop. Born at Lallata di Pratopiano (Parma) on 13 August 1850; died at Milan on 2 February 1921. Of humble origins, he studied at the local seminary. Ordained priest on 10 December 1873, after a brief period in parochial ministry at Mariano and Fornovo, at the age of twenty-six he was appointed rector of the Seminary of Parma, remaining there for eighteen years as teacher of sacred and profane subjects, provisor general, theological canon of the Cathedral, and president of the Academy of St Thomas for philosophical studies. In 1890 he was elected Bishop of Guastalla, but after nine months he was transferred to the see of Como. In 1894, Leo XIII, who held him in great affection, created him Cardinal with the title of Sant’Anastasia and Archbishop of Milan.
Charity was his entire proof, firmness and courage, dedication to duty, preaching in church and in the piazza, pilgrimages, youth organizations, and exceedingly frequent pastoral visits occupied the constant work of his pastoral ministry, especially within the vast archdiocese of Milan.
He reorganized and reunited seminaries and clergy, promoted religious instruction, public worship, defended and affirmed Catholic principles in the family, in the school, and in public life, reconciled and strengthened the Catholic press, which had been weakened and divided by internal discord.
The social unrest of 1898, the anti-Modernist struggle, the participation of Catholics in political life, and the resolution of the Roman Question were for him sources of deep sorrow, yet they also revealed the rectitude of his intentions and the magnanimity of his heart. In his final years, once every opposition and distrust had been overcome, he became the object of universal admiration, from Benedict XV to the rulers of Italy. His slow agony from throat cancer, which confined him to bed, invested him with an aura of martyrdom because of his serene fortitude, and his modest room became, from autumn 1920 to February 1921, the endless pilgrimage of his children around their dying father. The Assisi, an imperishable monument to studious youth, the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, owed much to his efforts in its establishment.