SATIOLI, Francesco. — Cardinal, b. at Marsciano, archdiocese of Perugia, 21 July 1839, d. at Rome 8 Jan. 1910. He studied at the Seminary of Perugia and, having obtained the degree in philosophy at the Sapienza, was appointed prior and parish priest of Marsciano.
LEO XIII in 1880 called him to Rome as professor of dogmatic theology at the Roman Seminary and at the Urban College of Propaganda Fide, and he became one of the Pope’s collaborators in the restoration of Thomism in Catholic schools. He also gave lectures on ecclesiastical public law at the Pontifical Academy of Ecclesiastical Nobles, of which he became president in 1886. Elected titular archbishop of Lepanto in 1888, he was sent in 1892 to inaugurate the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. In the same year he was named the first Apostolic Delegate to the United States of America, visited numerous dioceses, delivered well-received lectures at the Catholic University of Washington, promoted the Catholic movement, and addressed important issues with great balance and prudence.
Created cardinal by Leo XIII on 29 Nov. 1895, he became archpriest of the Lateran Basilica in 1896 and prefect of the Congregation of Studies in 1897. He played a notable part in the 1903 conclave and was among the principal supporters of the election of Cardinal Giuseppe Sarto to the papacy.
Among his publications are to be noted: Della memoria umana (Rome 1883); Enchiridion Philosophiae (ibid. 1884); In Summam theologicam Divi Thomae Aquinatis praelectiones (5 vols., ibid. 1884–97); De Concordatis (Rome 1888); Loyalty to Church and State (Baltimore 1895); De habitibus doctrina sancti Thomae Aquinatis (Rome 1897). As a theologian he deserves credit for drawing upon the thought of St Thomas from its sources, sometimes offering personal interpretations. His treatises, now forgotten owing to their obscurity and lack of documentation, served for two decades to spread Thomism in various ecclesiastical circles.