FERRATA, DOMENICO

FERRATA, DOMENICO. — Cardinal, born in Gradoli (Viterbo) on 4 March 1847, died in Rome on 10 October 1914. He studied with the Jesuits in Orvieto, then at the Seminary of Montefiascone, and earned degrees in theology, philosophy, and canon law in Rome. In 1879 he went to Paris as an auditor of the nunciature; in 1883 he was appointed undersecretary of Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs. From 1883 to 1888 he traveled to Switzerland four times to settle matters concerning the dioceses of Basel and the Canton of Ticino.

Consecrated Archbishop of Thessalonica, he went as nuncio to Brussels to restore diplomatic relations between Belgium and the Holy See (1883). Appointed secretary for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs in 1889, after two years he became nuncio in Paris, an executor and in part an inspiration of that policy of «ralliement» directed by Leo XIII toward bringing the Republic closer to the Church. He played an important part in the compilation of the Code of Canon Law. Benedict XV, immediately after his election, chose him as Secretary of State, but F. died a few days later.

He left a volume of Discorsi (Rome 1910) and three substantial volumes of Mémoires of his diplomatic life up to his elevation to the cardinalate, published posthumously (there 1920), which Benedict XV proposed as a «guide and example for ecclesiastics called to diplomacy».