GALIMBERTI, LUIGI. - Cardinal, b. 26 April 1836 in Roma, d. there 7 May 1896. At the Roman Seminary he obtained doctorates in theology and in utroque iure, and was ordained a priest in 1860. Endowed with uncommon learning and rich in talent, he was immediately appointed professor of ecclesiastical history at the College of Propaganda Fide, where he taught for almost twenty years.
Impartial and serene in his views and judgments, he enjoyed little sympathy during the last decade of the pontificate of Pio IX, because he advocated a moderate and conciliatory policy. Upon the accession of Leone XIII, G. gained influence in the Curia and, with the Pope’s approval, assumed in 1881 the editorship of the Journal de Rome and subsequently that of the Moniteur de Rome, in which he waged a vigorous battle in defence of the new policy of Leone XIII. The latter appreciated the prelate’s activity and in July 1886 appointed him secretary of the Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs. In that capacity he played an important part in the difficult negotiations that brought the Kulturkampf in Germany to an end; for this purpose he went to Berlino in March 1887. Titular Archbishop of Nicea and nuncio in Vienna from 1887 to 1893, he was created cardinal of the title of SS. Nereo ed Achilleo in the Consistory of 16 January 1893 and appointed prefect of the Pontifical Archives.