LEGA, MICHELE. — Cardinal, born at Brisighella (Faenza) on 1 January 1860, died at Rome on 16 December 1935. After obtaining degrees in philosophy and theology, in 1888 he earned a degree in utroque iure at the Apollinare, where he immediately became a professor, teaching there until 1904.
In that year he was appointed undersecretary and auditor of the Sacred Congregation of the Council; in 1908 he was called to preside, as dean, over the renewed Tribunal of the Sacred Roman Rota. Created cardinal on 25 May 1914, in the same year he became prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, and in 1920 he took charge of the Sacred Congregation of the Sacraments, whose organization he substantially modified. In 1926 he opted for the bishopric of Frascati, whose administration claimed a large part of his energies.
He was a jurist of profound learning, whose gifts emerged in teaching and in his offices, especially in his role as a member of the commission for the compilation of the CIC. His activity in bringing about the successful conclusion of the negotiations for the conciliation must also be recalled.
Among his works, mention should be made of the Praelectiones in textum iuris canonici: de iudiciis ecclesiasticis (1st ed., Rome 1896–1901; 2nd ed., I, there 1905), from which derived the Compendium praelectionum de iudiciis ecclesiasticis (there 1906) and the Praelectiones in textum iuris canonici: de delictis et poenis (there 1910), in the composition of which latter work L. also took into account the results of secular scholarship. His judgments as a rotal judge (from 1909 to 1914) were collected and epitomized in Coram Lega habitus S. R. Rotae decisiones sive sententiae (there 1927). Posthumously, the Commentarius in iudicia ecclesiastica iuxta CIC was published (3 vols., there 1938–41).