MORICHINI, CARLO LUIGI. – Cardinal, born in Rome on 21 November 1805, died there on 14 May 1879.
After obtaining a degree in law, he entered the ecclesiastical state, pursuing economic and social studies, and was consequently appointed to direct the Ospizio di S. Michele, the savings bank, and other charitable institutions. Titular Archbishop of Nisibi, he was nuncio in Bavaria and, in 1847, Minister of Finance. Vice-President of the Council of State in 1848, in May of that year he was sent by Pius IX to Vienna “so that recognition of the Italian nation within its natural borders might be accepted as the basis of a peace treaty (between Austria and the various Italian states allied with Carlo Alberto),” but the important mission was cut short by Habsburg intransigence, the Austrian victories of the summer, and the Salasco armistice.
Upon the Pope’s return from Gaeta, he took charge of the Ospedale di S. Spirito and assumed the presidency of the Ospedali riuniti di Roma. Made a cardinal in 1852, he was sent to govern the diocese of Jesi, which he administered with great ability and zeal. After the occupation of central Italy, he suffered various persecutions and was arrested twice, despite his cardinalitial dignity; but his firm bearing led the authorities to release him both times without trial, all the more because the second detention (1864) had provoked an energetic protest from the French government in Turin. The highly important role he played within the First Vatican Council earned him the transfer to the archdiocese of Bologna, but a few months later he requested permission to resign from the episcopal ministry and was recalled to the Curia as Cardinal-Bishop of Albano. The valuable and all too neglected work Degli Istituti di pubblica carità e d'istruzione primaria, Saggio storico e statistico (1st ed., Rome 1835, in 1 vol., translated into French; 2nd ed., in 2 vols., there 1842; 3rd ed., extensively updated, there 1870) remains enduring testimony to the great interest M. devoted to questions of charity, social assistance, and pauperism.