SANFELICE D’ACQUAVELLA, Guglielmo. - Cardinal, born at Aversa on 18 April 1834, died at Naples on 3 January 1897.
After completing his early studies at the College of Maddaloni, he continued them at the Abbey of Cava dei Tirreni, where he became a monk and then a priest. He taught Greek and Latin literature at the abbey itself and served as prior and provisional general, earning a reputation as a pious and learned man. Leo XIII called him in 1878 to succeed Cardinal Sisto Rario Sforza in the archiepiscopal see of Naples and on 24 March 1884 created him cardinal. In his office he gave examples of charity and pastoral gifts, among other things rushing first to Afragola devastated by a hurricane, to Casamicciola destroyed by an earthquake, and to the hospitals of Naples to assist the cholera victims (1884). On that occasion his meeting with King Umberto I at the Conocchia hospital remained memorable. He celebrated in Naples the National Eucharistic Congress (1891), protected the Catholic press. In a period of acute discord between Church and State he worked for reconciliation while always firmly defending the rights of God and souls and remaining obedient to the directives of Leo XIII.