Theodoli, Augusto

THEODOLI, AUGUSTO. - Cardinal, b. in Rome on 18 Sept. 1819, d. there on 26 June 1892.

Appointed by Gregory XVI as canon of St. Mary Major, and by Pius IX (1847) as Vatican canon, in 1856 he became ponente of the Consulta and ten years later auditor of the Segnatura and economo secretary of the Congregation of the Rev. Fabric of St. Peter's. In that office he acquired distinguished merits toward the Vatican Basilica. Particularly remembered are the arrangements carried out there for the solemn celebrations of the eighteenth centenary of the martyrdom of the holy apostles Peter and Paul (1867) and the transformations for the holding of the ecumenical Council (1869-70). He had the colonnades restored, the Michelangelesque dome covered with lead, part of the marble floor renewed, and the chapels of the Most Holy Sacrament and of the Choir entirely restored. In 1882 Leo XIII created him his majordomo and prefect of the Holy Apostolic Palaces and, in 1886, cardinal. He was the last cardinal protector of the Noble College of the Merchants of Rome.