MARONGIO-DELRIO, DIEGO. - Archbishop of Sassari, b. at Bannari on 13 Sept. 1819, d. at Sassari on 5 Oct. 1905. An eminent canonist and professor at the University of Sassari, M. also carried out notable political activity as a municipal councillor, president of the provincial council, and deputy to the Subalpine Parliament from Dec. 1849 to 1854, when he resigned in protest against the approval of the Siccardi laws, which he had vigorously opposed as subversive of the rights of the Church.
Sardinian voters gave his name a large number of votes also in the elections of 1857, but the government, in order to avert the danger of a strong Catholic opposition in Parliament, had priests entrusted with the care of souls declared ineligible, including canons among them: since M. was in fact a canon of the Cathedral of Sassari, his election was not validated. He then returned to his studies and to the priestly ministry, until, in 1871, Pius IX created him archbishop of Sassari. M. governed the archdiocese for more than thirty years, admirable for his pastoral zeal and profound spirit of piety. When the theological faculty at the University of Sassari was suppressed, he established a theological school at the archbishopric. On several occasions Leo XIII urged him to accept the cardinal’s hat, for which the valuable services he had rendered made him worthy, but he always declined the very high honour. Noteworthy are his two volumes of pastoral letters (Milan 1893–94).
Renzo U. Montini