{{Short description|Cardinal of the Catholic Church}} {{more citations needed|date=February 2017}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}} {{Infobox Christian leader |type = Cardinal |honorific_prefix = [[His Eminence]] |name = Fernando Cento |image = Partida do Núncio Apostólico, D. Fernando Cento, em Santa Apolónia 1958-08-18 (cropped).png |caption = Fernando Cento in Lisbon, 1958 |title = [[Major Penitentiary of the Apostolic Penitentiary]] |church = [[Roman Catholic Church]] |appointed = 12 February 1962 |term_end = 7 April 1967 |predecessor = [[Arcadio Larraona Saralegui]] |successor = [[Giuseppe Ferretto|Giuseppe Antonio Ferretto]] |other_post = [[Cardinal-Bishop of Velletri]] (1965–73) |ordination = 23 December 1905 |consecration = 3 September 1922 |consecrated_by = [[Giovanni Tacci Porcelli]] |cardinal = 15 December 1958 |created_cardinal_by = [[Pope John XXIII]] |rank = [[Cardinal-Priest]] (1959–65)<br>[[Cardinal-Bishop]] (1965–73) |birth_name = Fernando Cento |birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1883|08|10}} |birth_place = [[Pollenza]], [[Kingdom of Italy]] |death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1973|01|13|1883|08|10}} |death_place = [[Rome]], [[Italy]] |previous_post = {{unbulleted list|[[Bishop of Acireale]] (1922–26)|[[Apostolic Nuncio to Venezuela]] (1926–36)|[[Seleucia Pieria|Titular Archbishop of Seleucia Pieria]] (1926–59)|[[Apostolic Nuncio to Peru]] (1936–46)|Apostolic Internuncio to Luxembourg (1946–50)|[[Apostolic Nuncio to Belgium]] (1946–53)|Apostolic Nuncio to Luxembourg (1950–53)|[[Apostolic Nuncio to Portugal]] (1953–58)|[[Sant'Eustachio|Cardinal-Priest of Sant'Eustachio]] "''[[pro hac vice]]''" (1959–65)}} |alma_mater = {{unbulleted list|[[Pontifical Gregorian University]]|[[La Sapienza University]]}} |motto = ''Impendam et super impendar'' }}
{{Infobox cardinalstyles| cardinal name=Fernando Cento| dipstyle=His Eminence| offstyle=Your Eminence| See=Velletri-Segni ([[suburbicarian see]])|}}
'''Fernando Cento''' (10 August 1883 – 13 January 1973) was a [[Cardinal (Catholic Church)|cardinal of the Catholic Church]] who served as [[Apostolic Penitentiary|Major Penitentiary of Apostolic Penitentiary]].
==Early life== Fernando Cento was born in [[Pollenza]], Italy. His parents were Evaristo Cento and his second wife, Ermelinda Andreani. He had a half-sister, Rosa, and a brother, Vincenzo.
He was educated at the [[Seminary]] of [[Macerata]] from 1893 to 1905, where he was taught philosophy and [[theology]], and later at the [[Pontifical Gregorian University]], where he studied [[canon law]]. He continued his studies at [[La Sapienza University]], Rome where he obtained a doctorate in letters. He received the [[diaconate]] on 17 December 1905 in the basilica of the Madonna della Misericordia.
==Priest== He was ordained on 23 December 1905 in [[Macerata]]; he had to obtain a dispensation for being not yet 23. He served as professor of literature at the Seminary of Macerata and of philosophy at the State Institute of Macerata from 1906 to 1916. He demonstrated excellent qualities as a preacher in several Italian dioceses. He was called to military service when Italy entered the [[First World War]] in 1915 and was attached to the military hospital of [[Ancona]] from 1915 to 1917. He was created [[Monsignor|Privy chamberlain of His Holiness]] on 15 November 1917.
==Bishop and nuncio== He was appointed [[Bishop of Acireale]] by [[Pope Pius XI]] on 22 July 1922. He was consecrated on 3 September 1922, by Cardinal [[Giovanni Tacci Porcelli]], Secretary of the [[Congregation for the Oriental Churches|Congregation for the Oriental Church]], assisted by Domenico Pasi, [[Bishop of Macerata-Tolentino]], and by Placido Ferniani, [[Bishop of Ruvo e Bitonto]].
He was promoted to [[Titular Archbishop]] of Seleucia Pieria on 24 June 1926 and was appointed [[Apostolic Nuncio to Venezuela]] four days later. He was next named [[Apostolic Nuncio to Peru]] on 26 July 1936. In addition, he was responsible for the affairs of the church in [[Ecuador]], which did not have diplomatic relations with the [[Holy See]] for nearly forty years. He was named nuncio to Ecuador on 25 July 1937 once the Ecuadorian government and the Holy See established diplomatic relations.
He was appointed [[Apostolic Nunciature to Belgium|nuncio to Belgium]] and Internuncio to [[Luxembourg]] on 9 March 1946.<ref>{{cite book | title = Acta Apostolicae Sedis | url = https://www.vatican.va/archive/aas/documents/AAS-38-1946-ocr.pdf | page= 164 | date= 1946 | volume = XXXVIII |access-date = 15 January 2020 }}</ref>
He became Nuncio to Portugal on 26 October 1953.
==Cardinal== [[Pope John XXIII]], on 15 December 1958, created him Cardinal-Priest of [[Sant'Eustachio]] as his titular church on 12 March 1959. He was appointed as [[Apostolic Penitentiary|Major Penitentiary of Apostolic Penitentiary]] on 12 February 1962. He attended the [[Second Vatican Council]], for which he led the commission which produced the ''[[Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity]]''.<ref>Lemos, A., [https://www.proquest.com/openview/e99cfcf2283a070cbee05363eb51f9e1/1 The Nature and Role of Lay People in the Church and in the World According to the Decree ''Apostolicam Actuositatem''], page 6, Lisbon: ''[[Universidade Católica Portuguesa]]'', published in 2014, accessed on 27 April 2026</ref> He also produced a report on the practice of [[indulgences]] which was not favorably received by many at the council.<ref>{{cite book | last=O'Malley | first =John | title = What Happened at Vatican II | location =Cambridge, Massachusetts | publisher = The Belknap Press of Harvard University | date= 2008 | isbn=978-0-674-03169-2 | page= 280}}</ref> He participated in the [[Papal conclave, 1963|conclave of 1963]] that elected [[Pope Paul VI]]. He was named a Cardinal bishop and given the title of the [[suburbicarian see]] of [[Velletri]] on 23 April 1965. He resigned his post of Major Penitentiary in 1967.
He died on 13 January 1973 in Rome. He was buried in the parish church of S. Antonio, Pollenza, where he had celebrated his first mass.
==References== {{reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-rel|ca}} {{succession box | before=[[Arcadio Larraona Saralegui]] | title=[[Apostolic Penitentiary|Major Penitentiary of Apostolic Penitentiary]]| after=[[Giuseppe Ferretto]] | years=12 February 1962 – 7 April 1967}}
{{succession box | before=[[Clemente Micara]] | title=[[Bishop of Velletri-Segni|Cardinal-Bishop of Velletri-Segni]]| after=[[Ildebrando Antoniutti]] | years=23 April 1965 – 13 January 1973}} {{s-end}}
{{Cardinals created by John XXIII}} {{Second Vatican Council}} {{Subject bar |portal1= Biography |portal2= Catholicism |portal3= Italy}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cento, Fernando}} [[Category:1883 births]] [[Category:1973 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century Italian Roman Catholic titular archbishops]] [[Category:Bishops in Sicily]] [[Category:20th-century Italian cardinals]] [[Category:Apostolic nuncios to Belgium]] [[Category:Apostolic nuncios to Luxembourg]] [[Category:Apostolic nuncios to Portugal]] [[Category:Apostolic nuncios to Venezuela]] [[Category:Apostolic nuncios to Peru]] [[Category:Apostolic nuncios to Ecuador]] [[Category:Participants in the Second Vatican Council]] [[Category:Grand Crosses with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany]] [[Category:Major Penitentiaries of the Apostolic Penitentiary]] [[Category:Cardinals created by Pope John XXIII]] [[Category:Pollenza]]