RADINI TEDESCHI, GIACOMO. - Bishop, b. at Piacenza on 12 July 1857 to Carlo and Luisa Fantini, d. at Bergamo on 22 Aug. 1914.
Having earned his degrees in Rome, in theology and in canon law, at the Gregorian University, he was called by Leo XIII to the Secretariat of State in 1890, where he remained until 1896 as a drafter of briefs, and twice he was sent as ablegate to Vienna and to Paris. Appointed canon of the Vatican Chapter, he carried on in Rome a many-sided activity in the priestly ministry and in preaching, in Catholic Action, in the pilgrimages to Lourdes and to Jerusalem (v. PELLEGRINAGGIO, III. Opere moderne dei p.), and in national and foreign events for the jubilee of 1900 and for that of the Immaculate Conception in 1904. Echoes of these activities of his are still the following pamphlets: Il problema scolastico odierno (Rome 1913); Jerusalem (ibid. 1904); Lourdes: reminiscenze (Rocca S. Casciano 1891); Chiesa e Stato in ordine ai concordati (Milan 1887).
In Jan. 1905 he was appointed bishop of Bergamo, where he made it obligatory for all parish priests to welcome the action of the laity according to the new pontifical norms. In the economic sphere he fully supported the studies of Toniolo and the work of Medolago, and in politics he followed conciliatory tendencies, advocating harmony of minds. He carried out excellent ecclesiastical reforms, beginning with the governance of the Seminary. Also in the culture and the norms of the clergy in the care of souls he carried out wise innovations, promoted the growth of the liturgy, the reform of sacred music, and missionary propaganda. In 1910 he convened the diocesan Synod, which had not been held at Bergamo since 1724 and from which highly praised constitutions issued.
Bibliography6 works
Agostino Vian