Luigi De Magistris (cardinal)

Luigi De Magistris (23 February 1926 – 16 February 2022) was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who served as Pro-Major Penitentiary of the Apostolic Penitentiary from 2001 to 2003 after working for more than forty years in the Roman Curia, more than twenty of them in the Apostolic Penitentiary. He was made a bishop in 1996, an archbishop in 2001, and a cardinal in 2015.

This article is about the Italian cardinal born in 1926. For the Italian politician born in 1967, see Luigi de Magistris (politician).
His Eminence

Luigi De Magistris
Cardinal, Pro-Major Penitentiary Emeritus
Cardinal De Magistris in 2015
Appointed22 November 2001
Term ended4 October 2003
PredecessorWilliam Wakefield Baum
SuccessorJames Francis Stafford
Other post(s)Cardinal-Deacon of Santissimo Nome di Gesu e Maria in Via Lata
Orders
Ordination12 April 1952
Consecration28 April 1996
by Giovanni Canestri
Created cardinal14 February 2015
by Pope Francis
Personal details
Born(1926-02-23)23 February 1926
Cagliari, Italy
Died16 February 2022(2022-02-16) (aged 95)
Cagliari, Italy
NationalityItalian
DenominationRoman Catholic
Previous post(s)Regent of Apostolic Penitentiary (1979–2001)
Titular Archbishop of Nova (1996–2001)
Pro-Major Penitentiary (2001–2003)
Alma materUniversity of Cagliari
Pontifical Lateran University
MottoIuste Iudica Proximo
(Judge thy neighbor justly)
Coat of armsLuigi De Magistris's coat of arms
Ordination history of
Luigi De Magistris
History
Priestly ordination
Date12 April 1952
Episcopal consecration
Principal consecratorGiovanni Canestri
Co-consecratorsOttorino Pietro Alberti
Tarcisio Pillolla
Date28 April 1996
Cardinalate
Elevated byPope Francis
Date14 February 2015
Styles of
Luigi De Magistris
Reference styleHis Eminence
Spoken styleYour Eminence
Informal styleCardinal

Biography

Luigi de Magistris nobile dei conti of Castella and Belvedere,[1] was born on 23 February 1926 in Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy, in an aristocratic piedmontese family as the youngest of eight children of the renowned physician[2] Don Edmondo de Magistris, Count of Castella and Belvedere, and Donna Agnese Ballero.[3] He earned a degree from the University of Cagliari before entering the Pontifical Roman Seminary. He was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Cagliari on 12 April 1952. He spent the next five years in Cagliari as a parish priest while serving on the ecclesiastical tribunal of the Archdiocese. He then studied at the Pontifical Lateran University.[4]

His career in the Roman Curia began on 1 October 1958 when he became secretary of the Lateran Athenaeum. From February 1959 to February 1969 he worked in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith;[4] he served on the staff of Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani, the head of that Congregation, during the Second Vatican Council.[5] He spent the next ten years with the Council of Public Affairs of the Church.[4]

He was appointed regent of the Apostolic Penitentiary, its second highest office, in April 1979.[6] He was appointed Titular Bishop of Nova on 6 March 1996 by Pope John Paul II and consecrated as a bishop on 28 April 1996 by Cardinal Giovanni Canestri.[7]

On 22 November 2001, when Cardinal William Wakefield Baum retired as Major Penitentiary, De Magistris was appointed Pro-Major Penitentiary, a title then used for a non-cardinal holding the position of Major Penitentiary, and raised to the rank of archbishop of the same titular see.[8] On 2 May 2002, he was made a member of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. [9] On 22 May 2003 he was named a member of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei.[10]

In the 1980s he had raised objections to the proposed beatification of Josemaría Escrivá, the founder of Opus Dei,[11] and he publicly opposed the canonization when it occurred in 2002, which may explain why he was replaced so quickly at the Penitentiary.[5] The omission of De Magistris when Pope John Paul II announced the names of 33 new cardinals on 28 September 2003 "caused surprise".[12][13][14] Instead Pope John Paul II sent him into retirement on 4 October, naming Cardinal James Stafford the new Major Penitentiary.[15]

Cardinal

On 4 January 2015, Pope Francis announced that he would make De Magistris a cardinal on 14 February.[16] De Magistris was surprised and heard the news while hearing confessions in the Cathedral of Cagliari.[17] At the consistory, he was appointed Cardinal-Deacon of the titular church of Santissimi Nomi di Gesù e Maria in Via Lata.[18]

In retirement he worked in the Roman parishes of San Francesco a Ripa and San Salvatore in Lauro until 2010 when he moved to Cagliari for health reasons.[3]

De Magistris died in Cagliari on 16 February 2022, aged 95.[19][20]

See also

References
  1. "Counts of Castella and Belvedere's family tree" (PDF).
  2. "De Magistris conte Edmondo - Cimitero Monumentale di Bonaria - Cagliari" (in Italian). Retrieved 16 February 2022.
  3. "Cardinals Created at the Consistory of 14 February" (PDF). L'Osservatore Romano. 20 February 2015. p. 11. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  4. "de Magistris Card. Luigi". Holy See Press Office. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
  5. McDermott, Jim (19 February 2015). "'Feel the Consolation and the Love of God,' Cardinal Luigi De Magistris; Cagliari, Italy". America. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  6. "DE MAGISTRIS Card. Luigi". Vatican Press Office. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
  7. "Luigi Cardinal de Magistris †". Catholic Hierarchy. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
  8. "Rinunce e Nomine, 22.11.2001" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. 22 November 2001. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  9. "Rinunce e Nomine, 02.05.2002" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. 2 May 2002. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  10. "Rinunce e Nomine, 22.05.2003" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. 22 May 2003. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  11. Woodward, Kenneth L. (12 January 1992). "A Questionable Saint". Newsweek. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  12. "Consistory announced for 21 October". 30 Giorni. October 2003. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  13. "Pope Francis announces the names of 20 new cardinals". AGI. 4 January 2015. Retrieved 22 October 2019. Luigi de Magistris, who served as Pro-Major Penitentiary and who was not appointed cardinal because of his disagreement with Pope John Paul II's canonisations.
  14. Allen Jr., John L. (2005). Opus Dei: secrets and power inside the Catholic Church. Allen Lane. pp. 249–50, 263.
  15. "Rinunce e Nomine, 04.10.2003" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. 4 October 2003. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  16. "Annuncio di Concistoro per la creazione di nuovi Cardinali". NEWS.VA Official Vatican Network. 4 January 2015. Archived from the original on 13 November 2017. Retrieved 4 January 2015.
  17. "The triumph of the southern hemisphere". La Stampa. 6 January 2015. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  18. "Consistory: list of titular church assignments". Vatican Radio. 14 February 2015. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  19. "Mourning for the Sardinian Church: farewell to Cardinal Luigi De Magistris". L'Unione Sarda. 16 February 2022. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
  20. "Lutto nel mondo della chiesa sarda, è morto a Cagliari a 95 anni Luigi De Magistris". Casteddu Online (in Italian). 16 February 2022. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
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