VINCENZO SANTUCCI. — Cardinal, born at Gorga, diocese of Terracina, on 18 Feb. 1796, died at Rocca di Papa on 19 Aug. 1861.
He began his career in the Secretariat of State, was chargé d’affaires at the nunciature in Turin, substitute of the Secretariat of State and secretary of the Cifra, then in 1847 secretary of the Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs. He devoted particular competence to resolving the controversies that arose between the Holy See and the Kingdom of Sardinia. Created cardinal deacon on 7 March 1853, he presided over one of the Congregations preparing for the promulgation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. Prefect of the Congregation of Studies, he showed lively interest in the advancement of science and endowed the universities of Rome and Bologna with new chairs, improving their scientific laboratories and calling to teach there professors of renown such as Diomede Pantaleoni and Fr. Carlo Passaglia. Both Pantaleoni and Passaglia regarded him as a valuable figure for any possible agreement between Church and State and for the resolution of the Roman Question, yet in fact he remained aloof from the negotiations conducted between Cavour’s representatives and the Roman reformers.