TREVISANATO, GIUSEPPE LUIGI. - Cardinal, b. in Venice on 15 Feb. 1801, d. there on 28 Apr. 1877.
Ordained priest in 1824, he became professor of Sacred Scripture at the Patriarchal Seminary and devoted himself with commitment to works of biblical exegesis and to the study of Oriental languages. After having honorably held the offices of canon theologian of the Marcian Basilica, of pro-synodal examiner and of patriarchal censor, and having distinguished himself as an orator, he was elected by Pius IX on 15 March 1852 bishop of Verona. But, even before he took possession of the see, he was called by the same Pontiff to succeed Zaccaria Bricito on the archiepiscopal chair of Udine (27 Sept. 1852).
In the seminary he renewed ecclesiastical studies, taking upon himself the teaching of Oriental languages. Under his episcopate there took place (1854) the solemn translation to Fagagna of Sts. Fabio and Vincenzo, holy bodies extracted from the cemetery of St. Hermes and donated ten years earlier by Gregory XVI to Cardinal Asquini.
Pius IX, on 7 Apr. 1862, promoted him patriarch of Venice and in the Consistory of 16 March 1863 created him cardinal of the title of Sts. Nereus and Achilleus. In the difficult circumstances that characterized the last times of Austrian rule, he labored incessantly to come to the aid of the patriots and to implore and obtain not a few pardons for political convicts. And in the transition of regime he demonstrated once again qualities of marked prudence and ardent charity. He immediately understood the importance of the new movements of Catholic Action: he was generous with advice and aid to Giovanni Battista Paganuzi and in 1874 he presided in Venice over the great assembly of the Opera dei Congressi.
Bibliography2 works
Mario de Camillis