{{Short description|Italian cardinal}} {{Infobox Christian leader |type = Cardinal |honorific_prefix = [[His Eminence]] |name = Luigi Lavitrano |image = Cardinal Lavitrano.JPG |caption = Cardinal Lavitrano in 1939. |title = [[Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life|Prefect of the Congregation for Religious]] |appointed = 14 May 1945 |term_end = 2 August 1950 |predecessor = [[Vincenzo Lapuma]] |successor = [[Clemente Micara]] |other_post = [[San Silvestro in Capite|Cardinal-Priest of San Silvestro in Capite]] (1929–50) |ordination = 21 March 1898 |ordained_by = [[Francesco Satolli]] |consecration = 21 June 1914 |consecrated_by = [[Basilio Pompili]] |cardinal = 16 December 1929 |created_cardinal_by = [[Pope Pius XI]] |rank = [[Cardinal-Priest]] |birth_name = Luigi Lavitrano |birth_date = 7 March 1874 |birth_place = [[Forio]], [[Kingdom of Italy]] |death_date = {{Death date and age|1950|08|02|1874|03|07|df=yes}} |death_place = [[Castel Gandolfo]], [[Rome]], [[Italy]] |previous_post = {{unbulleted list|[[Bishop of Cava]] (1914–24)|[[Bishop of Sarno]] (1914–24)|[[Archbishop of Benevento]] (1924–28)|[[Archbishop of Palermo]] (1928–44)|[[Piana degli Albanesi|Apostolic Administrator of Piana degli Albanesi]] (1937–46)}} |motto = ''Per crucem ad astra'' |alma_mater = {{unbulleted list|[[Pontifical Urbaniana University]]|[[Pontifical Roman Athenaeum S. Apollinare]]|[[Sapienza University of Rome]]}} }}
{{Infobox cardinalstyles| image = Coat of arms of Luigi Lavitrano.svg| image_size = 200px| cardinal name=Luigi Lavitrano| dipstyle=His Eminence| offstyle=Your Eminence| See=[[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Palermo|Palermo]] ([[emeritus]]) |}}
'''Luigi Lavitrano''' (7 March 1874 – 2 August 1950) was an Italian [[Cardinal (Catholic Church)|cardinal]] of the [[Catholic Church]] who served as [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Palermo|Archbishop of Palermo]] from 1928 to 1944, and as [[prefect]] of the [[Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life|Sacred Congregation for Religious]] from 1945 until his death. Lavitrano was elevated to the cardinalate in 1929.
==Biography== Born in [[Forio]], Lavitrano lost his entire family in an [[earthquake]] in 1883 that devastated the island of [[Ischia]]. He studied at the [[Pontifical Urbaniana University]], the [[Pontifical Roman Athenaeum Saint Apollinare]], the [[Sapienza University of Rome|Royal University]], and the [[Roman Colleges#Collegio Apostolico Leoniano|Pontifical Leonine Institute]] in [[Rome]]. He was [[Holy Orders|ordained]] to the [[Priesthood (Catholic Church)|priesthood]] on 21 March 1898, and then taught at the Leonine Institute until 1910, when he became its [[Rector (ecclesiastical)|rector]]. He was raised to the rank of [[Monsignor|Privy Chamberlain of His Holiness]] on 8 March 1904.
On 25 May 1914, Lavitrano was appointed [[Bishop of Cava e Sarno]] by [[Pope Pius X]]. He received his [[Bishop (Catholic Church)|episcopal consecration]] on the following 21 June from [[Basilio Pompili|Basilio Cardinal Pompili]], with Bishops Giovanni Regine and Giovanni Scotti serving as [[Consecrator|co-consecrators]]. Lavitrano was later named [[Archbishop of Benevento]] on 16 July 1924, and finally [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Palermo|archbishop of Palermo]] on 29 September 1928. In addition, he served as [[Apostolic Administrator]] of [[Castellammare di Stabia]] from 1924 to 1925.
[[Pope Pius XI]] created him [[Cardinal (Catholic Church)|Cardinal-Priest]] of ''[[San Silvestro in Capite]]'' in the [[Papal consistory|consistory]] of 16 December 1929. Lavitrano, who once scolded [[Catholic Church in Italy|Italian Catholics]] for their religious negligence,<ref>TIME Magazine. [https://web.archive.org/web/20101014061817/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,763516,00.html Pope and Pastors] February 10, 1940</ref> was one of the [[Cardinal electors in Papal conclave, 1939|cardinal electors]] who participated in the [[1939 papal conclave]] that selected [[Pope Pius XII]]. After resigning as [[Palermo]]'s archbishop in December 1944, he was made [[Prefect]] of the [[Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life|Sacred Congregation for Religious]] in the [[Roman Curia]] on 14 May 1945. Lavitrano's resignation was unexpected, and it is considered that he resigned because his alleged sympathy for the Fascists—he voted for the [[National Fascist Party]] in the [[1929 Italian general election]]s<ref>TIME Magazine. [https://web.archive.org/web/20070930063808/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,732236,00.html 98 28/100% Pure] April 8, 1929</ref>—became unpopular.<ref>[http://www.bestofsicily.com/ww2.htm Liberation: The Second World War in Sicily]. ''Best of Sicily''. Quote: "By a tradition dating from the medieval Norman rule of southern Italy, the Archbishop of Palermo is the Primate of Sicily. In modern times, this has entailed little more than a titular (and symbolic) precedence over other Sicilian bishops, but an important one. It was deemed inopportune for the Archbishop of Palermo (since 1928), Luigi Cardinal Lavitrano (1874-1950), who had been sympathetic to the Fascist regime, or at least perceived in that light, to continue in his position; General Patton's dislike of cardinal Lavitrano was well-known. Therefore, he 'resigned' to a post in the Roman Curia in December 1944. For a bishop to retire from active pastoral work at seventy years of age was unusual (the mandatory retirement age is now seventy-five), but in the case of this unforeseen wartime resignation - possibly the first of its kind in modern Italy - the Vatican did not have an immediate successor in mind. In fact, Ernesto Ruffini (1888-1967) was not appointed Archbishop of Palermo until October of the following year. Though conservative, Cardinal Ruffini was regarded as less reactionary and less monarchist than his predecessor."{{author needed|date=February 2017}}</ref>
Lavitrano died in [[Marino, Italy|Marino]], in the [[Alban Hills]], at age 76. He is buried in the [[List of Italian basilicas|basilica]] of Santa Maria di Loreto in his native Forio.
==References== <references/>
==External links== *[https://cardinals.fiu.edu/bios-l.htm#Lavitrano Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church] *[http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/blavi.html Catholic-Hierarchy] [[Wikipedia:Verifiability#Reliable sources|{{sup|{{small|[''self-published'']}}}}]]
{{s-start}} {{s-rel|ca}} {{succession box | title=[[Bishop of Cava e Sarno]] | before=[[Giuseppe Izzo]] | after=[[Pasquale Dell'Isola]] | years=1914–1924 }} {{succession box | title=[[Archbishop of Benevento]] | before=[[Alessio Ascalesi]], [[Missionaries of the Precious Blood|CPPS]] | after=[[Adeodato Giovanni Piazza]] | years=1924–1928 }} {{succession box | title=[[Archbishop of Palermo]] | before=[[Alessandro Lualdi]] | after=[[Ernesto Ruffini]] | years=29 September 1928 – 14 May 1945 }}
{{s-bef| before=[[Donato Cardinal Sbarretti]]}} {{s-ttl|title=[[Cardinal (Catholic Church)|Cardinal-Priest]] of ''[[San Silvestro in Capite|S. Silvestro in Capite]]'' | years= 1929–1950}} {{s-aft|after=[[Valerio Cardinal Valeri]]}}
{{succession box | title=[[Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life|Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for Religious]] | before=[[Vincenzo Lapuma]] | after=[[Clemente Micara]] | years=1945–1950 }} {{S-end}} {{Cardinals created by Pius XI}} {{Subject bar |portal1= Biography |portal2= Catholicism |portal3= Italy}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lavitrano, Luigi}} [[Category:1874 births]] [[Category:1950 deaths]] [[Category:People from the Metropolitan City of Naples]] [[Category:20th-century Italian cardinals]] [[Category:Roman Catholic archbishops of Palermo]] [[Category:Archbishops of Benevento]] [[Category:Members of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life]] [[Category:Pontifical Urban University alumni]] [[Category:20th-century Italian Roman Catholic archbishops]] [[Category:Bishops appointed by Pope Pius X]]