{{Short description|Italian prelate}} '''Mario Giardini''' (4 December 1877 – 30 August 1947) was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who served in the diplomatic service of the Holy See from 1918 to 1933.
==Biography== Mario Giardini was born on 4 December 1877 in Milan. He was ordained a priest on 24 September 1904.{{cn|date=May 2020}} He was a member of the Barnabites and early in his career worked as a parish priest and master of novices for his order.<ref>{{cite web | access-date = 12 May 2020 | url = https://www.barnabites.com/august | website= Barnabites | title= Menologion - August | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20191226221945/https://www.barnabites.com/august | archive-date= 26 December 2019 }}</ref>
On 21 November 1921, Pope Pius XI named him titular archbishop of Edessa and Apostolic Delegate to Japan.<ref>{{cite book |page= 524, 542, 565 |access-date = 10 May 2020 | url = http://www.vatican.va/archive/aas/documents/AAS-13-1921-ocr.pdf |date=1921 |volume = XIII | title = Acta Apostolicae Sedis}}</ref> He received his episcopal consecration on 8 December 1921 from Cardinal Andrea Carlo Ferrari.{{cn|date=May 2020}} He called a provincial synod to address the question of Catholic participation in Shinto ceremonies and the first Japanese bishop, Januarius Kyunosuke Hayasaka, was appointed in 1926. Both were steps in the local hierarchy gaining its independence from the Paris Foreign Missions Society.<ref>{{cite book | access-date = 12 May 2020 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=NJ_eDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT325& | title = Empire and the Meaning of Religion in Northeast Asia: Manchuria 1900–1945 | date= 2016 | publisher = Cambridge University Press | first = Thomas David | last = DuBois}}{{page needed|date=May 2020}}</ref> Negotiations toward the establishment of diplomatic relations made progress but were blocked by Buddhist opposition in parliament.<ref>{{cite book | access-date = 12 May 2020 | page=224 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=NMJ9DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA224& | title = Notions of Neutralities | date= 2018 | publisher = Lexington Books | editor-first= Pascal |editor-last=Lottaz |editor-first2=Herbert R. |editor-last2=Reginbogin | chapter= The Vatican, World War II, and Asia: Lessons of Neutral Diplomacy | last= Pottaz | first= Pascal | last2= Radao | first2= Florentino }}</ref> When his successor, Edward Mooney, was appointed on 30 March 1931, Giardino remained in Japan until Mooney arrived from India and then remained for ten days to share information.<ref>{{cite book | access-date = 12 May 2020 | page= 33 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=zTBi3J71g-EC&pg=PA33& | title= Vatican Secret Diplomacy: Joseph P. Hurley and Pope Pius XII | first = Charles R. | last = Gallagher | date= 2008 | publisher = Yale University Press }}</ref>
On 16 May 1931, Pope Pius XI appointed him Archbishop of Ancona-Osimo.<ref>{{cite book |page= 234| access-date = 10 May 2020 | url = http://www.vatican.va/archive/aas/documents/AAS-23-1931-ocr.pdf |date=1931 |volume = XXIII | title = Acta Apostolicae Sedis}}</ref>{{efn|One study of fascist activity in Ancona in the 1930s describes Guardini as "weak and accommodating" (''debole e accomodante'').<ref>{{cite book | access-date = 12 May 2020 | language = it | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=9GU2DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT49& | title = Ancona 1922 - 1940. Dall'avvento del fascismo all'entrata in guerra | first = Ercole | last = Sori | date= 2017 | publisher = Bookstones }}{{page needed|date=May 2020}}</ref>}} He retired from this position on 5 February 1940.{{efn|He was named titular archbishop of Laodicea in Syria on 5 February 1940, standard procedure at the time for retiring ordinaries.<ref>{{cite book |page= 53, 106 |access-date = 10 May 2020 | url = http://www.vatican.va/archive/aas/documents/AAS-32-1940-ocr.pdf |date=1940 |volume = XXXII | title = Acta Apostolicae Sedis}}</ref>}} He continued to work reviewing clergy for the Vicariate of Rome.<ref>{{cite book | access-date = 12 May 2020 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=vsdtBNUZe40C&pg=PT190& | title = The Secrets of a Vatican Cardinal: Celso Costantini's Wartime Diaries, 1938-1947 | first = Celso | last = Costantini | author-link= Celso Costantini | date= 2014 | publisher = McGill–Queen's Press }}{{page needed|date=May 2020}}</ref>
He died on 30 August 1947 at the age of 69.<ref>{{cite book | page= 424| access-date = 10 May 2020 | url = http://www.vatican.va/archive/aas/documents/AAS-39-1947-ocr.pdf |date=1947 |volume = XXXIX | title = Acta Apostolicae Sedis}}</ref>
==Notes== {{Notelist}}
==References == {{Reflist}}
==External links == *[http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bgiard.html Catholic Hierarchy: Archbishop Mario Giardini] [[Wikipedia:SPS|{{sup|[''self-published'']}}]]
{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Giardini, Mario}} Category:1877 births Category:1947 deaths Category:Clergy from Milan Category:Apostolic nuncios to Japan Category:Diplomats from Milan Category:Bishops of Edessa Category:20th-century Italian Roman Catholic titular archbishops Category:Diplomats for the Holy See