MANACORDA, EMILIANO. - Bishop, b. at Penangro in Monferrato on 6 Aug. 1833, d. at Fossano on 29 July 1909. Ordained priest in 1859, he entered the Ecclesiastical College of Turin, directed by Cafasso, and in 1867 went to Rome, where he earned degrees in theology and canon law. He held various offices in the Roman Curia until he was elected bishop of Fossano in 1871.
He had the sanctuary of Cussanio built, carried out two pastoral visitations, held a diocesan synod and a regional Catholic congress, promoted the celebrations in honor of Bl. Giovanni Giovenale Ancina and Bl. Oddino Barotti, and founded the minor seminary and a Salesian college. He wrote more than two hundred pastoral letters and compiled various collective letters at the request of the Piedmontese episcopate. Besides numerous pamphlets of a social character, among which should be noted Pensieri del socialismo (Fossano 1901), he wrote Il Pontificato romano e l'incivilimento cristiano attraverso XIX secoli (Rome 1904); the first part of a Specimen iuris et disciplinae ecclesiasticae, and Diciannove secoli di civiltà cristiana (Fossano 1897).