Sunday, March 29, 2009

Cardinal Rampolla

Mariano Cardinal Rampolla del Tindaro (1843-1913) was titular archbishop of Eraclea (consecrated by Cardinal Howard in 1882) and nuncio to Spain from 1882 to 1887, before he received the red hat in 1887 with the title of S. Cecilia in Trastevere. He was Cardinal Secretary of State from 1887 to 1903, President of the Pontifical Biblical Commission from 1902 to 1908 and Archivist of the Vatican Secret Archives from 1912 until his death.


This is an official portrait on which he looks like a person with which you'd rather not have any grave misunderstanding.


This portrait photo is notable for its solemn mood and what could possibly be the shiniest silk-fascia ever to be photographed.


Cardinal Rampolla is buried in S. Cecilia in Trastevere. His tomb is absolutely stunning, as you can see.

6 comments:

Robbert said...

This is the same cardinal that was vetoed by Ius Exclusivae (on order of Austrian emperor Francis Joseph I) during the 1903 Conclave. Pius X, who eventually was elected, abolished the veto and replaced Rampolla (whose correct first name was Mariano) as secretary of state..

Anonymous said...

Rampolla was a mason and it is because of God's providence that the imperial veto was still extant which blocked him and then allowed the "runner-up" Giuseppe Cardinale Sarto to be elected as Pope Pius X.

Robbert said...

What an utter nonsense! Where did you learn about Rampolla's masonship? He was not an anti-modernist and he seems to have reacted rather cool on the suicide of Francis Joseph's son Rudolph.. Jan Puzyna de Kosielsko, the Polish cardinal, organized the veto. I'm afraid God's providence had little to do with this..

Anonymous said...

May God send Cardinal Rampallo to hell I bet he is rotting in hell and paying for his unforgivable sin Freemasons and a syngoures of satan

roscoe said...

It is Franz- Joseph who is the Freemason and Card Rampolla was indeed anti-modernist. The veto had already been abolished by Pius IX-- he just didn't attache ex-communication to anyone who attempted it. This was done by Pius X.

I would not advise anyone lend an ear to any tales portraying this great man of the Church as a nefarious character.

Anonymous said...

The veto was abolished by Pius X, not Pius XI. Cardinal Rampolla was said to have known the secret of Prince Rudolf's death, which he took to the grave with him, but the family held some kind of grudge vs. him in regard to that incident and could have been a reason for the veto. Scandal and rumours ran rampart before and after his death. He died suddenly and mysteriously; his cope, ring and other papers had been stolen at the time of his death; his valet was arrested in possession of his cope and ring; the black box containing his papers went missing after his death; an official investigation was undertaken, and after his rooms were unsealed by the official authorities, his letters were brought to PX who opened them in June 1914. It was reported in the newspapers that PX or Merry del Val told Rampolla's niece that if the letters were published, Rampolla's reputation would suffer. The noblewoman to whom or from whom the letters were addressed was asked by PX to step down as head of a Catholic Woman's League. Rampolla's "noble birth" may be a fiction; his life was filled with scandals; the scandal of thefts by his nephew, the scandals of other women of ill repute who brought his name into scams involving extortion, etc. ; of men who were his proteges in which homosexuality was hinted at - all was told or hinted at in the contemporary and mainstream newspapers of the day. He was considered a Modernist by the press, and in his letters read after his death, his criticism of PX and Merry del Val was relentless.