RUDINÌ, ANTONIO STARABBA, marchese di. - Statesman, b. in Palermo on March 16, 1839, d. in Rome
He was a stern restorer of finances ("stinginess ministry") and an anti-colonialist ("stay-at-home policy"); in ecclesiastical politics he was a follower of Tanucci as an asserter of state supremacy. Political scandals and social unrest culminating in the events of May 1898, which he failed to handle with energy and discernment (in the violent repressions, the nascent Catholic social organizations were lumped together with socialist associations, later prompting the papal encyclical Spesse volte of Sept. 5, 1898), forced him to resign and withdraw from political life. At his death he refused the Sacraments, but wanted the Crucifix.