GALIMBERTI, Luigi. – Cardinal, b. 26 Apr. 1836 at Rome, d. there 7 May 1896. He obtained at the Roman Seminary the doctorate in theology and in utroque iure; he was ordained priest in 1860. Gifted with uncommon culture and rich in intellect, he was immediately appointed professor of ecclesiastical history at the College of Propaganda Fide, where he taught for nearly twenty years.
Impartial and serene in his views and judgments, he did not enjoy much sympathy during the last decade of the pontificate of Pius IX because he advocated a moderate policy of conciliation. With the accession of Leo XIII, G. gained credit in the Curia, and with the Pope’s approval he assumed in 1881 the direction of the Journal de Rome and later that of the Moniteur de Rome, vigorously defending the new policy of Leo XIII. The Pope appreciated the prelate’s action and appointed him in July 1886 secretary of the Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs. In that capacity he played an important part in the difficult negotiations that brought the Kulturkampf to an end in Germany; for this purpose he went to Berlin in March 1887. Titular archbishop of Nicaea and nuncio to Vienna from 1887 to 1893, he was created cardinal with the title of SS. Nereo e Achilleo in the Consistory of 16 Jan. 1893 and appointed prefect of the Pontifical Archives.