SERAFINI, DOMENICO. - Cardinal, b. in Roma on 3 Aug. 1852, d. there on 5 March 1918. At the age of nineteen he entered the Benedictine monastery of S. Scolastica at Subiaco and was ordained priest in 1877.
He subsequently became master of novices and held important posts in Malta, Genova, and Parma. Prior of the monastery of S. Scolastica in 1891, he became in 1892 procurator general abbot and consultor to the Congregations of the S. Uffizio, of Propaganda Fide, and of Bishops and Regulars. Elected abbot general in 1896, he brought to a conclusion lengthy and difficult proceedings for the vindication of the rights of the abbey cathedral church of Subiaco and restored monastic discipline to flourishing condition. Leone XIII, in 1900, appointed him archbishop of Spoleto. Sent by Blessed Pio X as apostolic delegate to Messico in 1904, he proved able to understand the country’s spiritual interests, earning the esteem of the episcopate and the faithful, as well as the consideration of the civil authorities and foreign representatives. The same Pontiff in 1912 appointed him titular archbishop of Seleucia di Isauria and assessor of the Congregation of the S. Uffizio; then, on 25 May 1914, created him cardinal.
In the Conclave that followed the death of Pio X, his name was insistently mentioned among the cardinals as a successor. Benedetto XV, from 1914 onward, appointed him pro-prefect of the Congregation of Propaganda Fide and, upon the death of Card. Gotti (1916), prefect.