VANNUTELLI, SERAFINO. - Cardinal, b. at Genazzano (diocese of Palestrina) on 26 Nov. 1834, d. at Rome on 19 Aug. 1915.
Ordained a priest in 1860, he was professor of canon and civil law at the Apollinare and of dogmatic theology at the Vatican Seminary. In 1864 he left for Mexico as auditor of the nuncio Meglia and witnessed all the events that brought about the fall of that Empire, returning to Rome after the execution of Maximilian (1867).
Sent as auditor to Munich, on 25 June 1869 he was elected titular archbishop of Nicaea and apostolic delegate in Peru, Ecuador, New Granada, Venezuela, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Honduras. Transferred to Belgium (1875), he found himself facing the secularist claims of the liberal government presided over by Frère Orban, which culminated in the approval of the law presented by the Minister of Public Instruction Van Humbeech for the abolition of religious instruction in schools (1879). The nuncio in that circumstance showed firmness and courage and in the struggle undertaken was a sure guide to the entire episcopate. The bitter disputes aroused by the approval of that law brought about the rupture of diplomatic relations and the recall of the Nuncio to Rome. Transferred in 1880 to Vienna, he continued the patient work undertaken by his predecessor Ludovico Jacobini and collaborated actively in the work of rapprochement between Germany and the Holy See.
On 24 March 1887 he was created cardinal by Leo XIII and subsequently held the offices of secretary of the Memorials (1891) and prefect of the Congregations of the Index (1893) and of Bishops and Regulars (1896). In 1893 he was elected archbishop of Bologna but did not reach that see, having opted for the suburbicarian see of Frascati. Major Penitentiary (1899) and secretary of the Congregation of the Holy Office (from 1903 to 1908), bishop of Porto and S. Rufina and subdean of the Sacred College (1903), bishop of Ostia (1913) and dean.
Bibliography2 works
Mario de Camillis