Ruffo Scilla

RUFFO SCILLA. - Cardinal, b. at S. Onofrio (diocese of Mileto) on 25 Aug. 1750, d. at Naples on 16 Nov. 1832. Elected by Pius VI on 11 Apr. 1785 titular archbishop of Apamea and apostolic nuncio at Florence, he displayed prudence and ability in the handling of grave affairs and particularly of those relating to the activity of the bishop of Pistoia at Prato, Scipione de' Ricci, and to the conventicle promoted by him.

Transferred in 1795 to Vienna, he confirmed his gifts in directing that nunciature at very delicate moments, particularly because of the repercussions in Austria of the events in France, which culminated in the deportation and death of Pius VI. He had a notable part in smoothing over the various difficulties so that the Conclave could be held in Venice, and Pius VII, on 23 Febr. 1801, created him cardinal of the title of Sts. Sylvester and Martin ai Monti. On 9 Aug. 1802 he sent him as archbishop to Naples. R. S. immediately began the visitation, provided for the restoration of the Cathedral, which he endowed with precious sacred furnishings, erected, among other things, the burial place of the bishops, redid the hall of the episcopate, was always most generous with the poor and the suffering, especially in the earthquake of 26 July 1805 which gravely damaged the city. Because he had not wished to swear an oath of fidelity to Joseph Bonaparte, king of Naples, he had to leave Naples in 1806; from there in 1809 he was dragged off to France, where Napoleon would have wished to relegate him to the Hospital for the insane at Charenton; but then he had him exiled to St. Quentin. He was among the number of the "black" cardinals and was subsequently relegated to Fontainebleau, to Grosse and to Savona. Returned to Naples after the restoration, he was received triumphantly by the people and in 1817 held a synod whose acts he gave to the press.

II. LUIGI junior

Cardinal, b. at Palermo on 16 Apr. 1840, d. at Rome on 29 May 1895. Having completed his studies in Naples, he entered the ecclesiastical career.

After having been successively supernumerary secret chamberlain and domestic prelate, he was elected by Pius IX, on 28 Dec. 1877, archbishop of Chieti and perpetual administrator of Vasto. He made himself greatly deserving of the diocese: he modernized the episcopate, restored in the Cathedral the crypt of St. Justin and the great chapel of the Sacrament. Leo XIII, in 1878, sent him as his representative to London for the jubilee festivities of Queen Victoria. Transferred on 23 May 1887 to the titular archiepiscopal see of Petra, he was appointed apostolic nuncio in Bavaria and had to sustain not a few difficulties both because of the tragic death of King Louis II (1886) and because of the unfavorable outcome of the political elections. Majordomo in 1889, he was then on 14 Dec. 1891 created cardinal of S. Maria in Traspontina.

Mario de Camilla