FERRATA, DOMENICO. - Cardinal, b. at Gradoli (Viterbo) on 4 March 1847, d. at Rome on 10 Oct. 1914. He studied with the Jesuits at Orvieto, then at the Seminary of Montefiascone, and took his degree at Rome in theology, philosophy and canon law. In 1879 he went as auditor of the nunciature to Paris, and in 1883 he was appointed undersecretary of Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs. From 1883 to 1888 he went four times to Switzerland to settle questions for the dioceses of Basel and of the Canton of Ticino.

(phot. Felici)

(phot. Alonzo)
FERRATA, ERCOLE - Martyrdom of St. Agnes - Rome, church of St. Agnes in Piazza Navona.

Consecrated archbishop of Thessalonica, he went as nuncio to Brussels to re-establish 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, executor and in part inspirer 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, as soon as he was elected, chose him as Secretary of State, but F. died a few days later.

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

Bibliography5 works

BIBL.: C. Salotti, L'opera diplomatica e sacerdotale del card. D. F., Rome 1915; L. Grégoire, Le Card. F., in Revue des deux mondes, 89 (1921), pp. 392-407; U. Stux, Die päpstliche Diplomatix unter Leo XIII, nach den Denkwürdigkeiten des Kardinalt D. F., in Abhandlungen des preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philos. hist. Klasse, nos. 3-4, Berlin 1926, pp. 1-154; P. Pirri, La politica di Leone XIII nelle Memorie del card. F., in Civ. Catt., 1926, III, pp. 227-30, 488-502; E. Soderini, Il pontificato di Leone XIII, II, Milan 1933, pp. 40-485.

Gabriele Ronca

@incollection{ec5_ferrata_domenico, author = {Ronca, Gabriele}, title = {Ferrata, domenico}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {V}, pages = {1195--1196}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1950}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/ferrata-domenico} }

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Ferrata, Domenico

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