Michele Lega

{{Infobox Christian leader |type = Cardinal |image = Michele Lega-1922.jpg |caption = Cardinal Lega pictured in 1922. |honorific_prefix = His Eminence |name = Michele Lega |church = Roman Catholic Church |title = Prefect of the Congregation of Sacramental Discipline |appointed = 20 March 1920 |term_end = 16 December 1935 |predecessor = Filippo Giustini |successor = Domenico Jorio |other_post = {{unbulleted list|Cardinal-Bishop of Frascati (1926–35)|Vice-Dean of the College of Cardinals (1931–35)}} |ordination = 13 September 1883 |consecration = 11 July 1926 |consecrated_by = Pope Pius XI |cardinal = 25 May 1914 |created_cardinal_by = Pope Pius X |rank = Cardinal-Deacon (1914–24)<br>Cardinal-Priest (1924–26)<br>Cardinal-Bishop (1926–35) |birth_name = Michele Lega |birth_date = 1 January 1860 |birth_place = Brisighella, Papal States |death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|1935|12|16|1860|01|01}} |death_place = Rome, Kingdom of Italy |previous_post = {{unbulleted list|Dean of the Roman Rota (1908–14)|Cardinal-Deacon of Sant'Eustachio (1914–24)|Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura (1914–20)|Cardinal-Priest of Sant'Eustachio ''pro hac vice'' (1924–26)}} |alma_mater = Pontifical Roman Athenaeum Saint Apollinare |motto = ''Ut unum sint'' }}

{{Infobox cardinalstyles| cardinal name=Michele Lega | dipstyle=His Eminence| offstyle=Your Eminence| See=Frascati (suburbicarian see)|}}

'''Michele Lega''' S.T.D. J.U.D. (1 January 1860 – 16 December 1935)<ref>[https://data.bnf.fr/fr/16743653/michele_lega/ Bibliothèque Nationale de France website, Profile page]</ref> was a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church who served as Prefect of the Congregation for the Discipline of Sacraments.

==Early life and priesthood== Michele Lega was born on 1 January 1860 in Brisighella, Italy. His mother was Countess Giulia Baldini di Rimini, his father was Giacomo Lega, an engineer and he was one of five children.<ref name=FIU>[https://cardinals.fiu.edu/bios1914.htm Florida International University, Biographies section, ''The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church'']</ref>

He was educated at the Seminary of Faenza and the Pontifical Roman Athenaeum S. Apollinare, where he earned doctorates in theology, philosophy and a ''doctorate utriusque iuris'' (in both canon and civil law in 1888.<ref name=FIU />

He was ordained on 13 September 1883 in the diocese of Faenza. He served as a faculty member of the Pontificio Collegio Urbano de Propaganda Fide in Rome from 1887 until 1889. He then held the position of professor of philosophy until 1890 as well as being assistant professor of canon law from 1888 to 1889. He was a faculty member of the Pontifical Roman Athenaeum S. Apollinare from 1889 to 1893. He was made Privy Chamberlain on 11 August 1897. He was a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Codification of Canon Law and thus helped edit the 1917 Code of Canon Law. He was the Dean of the Roman Rota from 1908 until 1914.

==Cardinalate== He was created and proclaimed Cardinal-Deacon of ''Sant'Eustachio''<ref>[https://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/SV1914.html California State University Northridge website, ''Sede Vacante 1914'']</ref> in the consistory of 25 May 1914. He was one of the cardinal electors in the conclave of 1914 that elected Pope Benedict XV. He was appointed Prefect of the Congregation for Discipline of Sacraments on 20 March 1920. He also participated in the conclave of 1922 that elected Pope Pius XI. After ten years as a cardinal-deacon he opted for the order of cardinal priests and his deaconry was elevated pro hac vice to title in 1924.

==Episcopate== He opted for the order of cardinal bishops and the suburbicarian see of Frascati<ref>[https://www.diocesifrascati.it/2010/05/10/michele-lega-1926-1935/ Diocesi Suburbicaria Tuscolana, profile page]</ref> on 21 June 1926. He was consecrated on 11 July of that year in the Sistine Chapel by Pope Pius XI. His brother Antonio attended the ceremony.

==Death== He died in 1935; the funeral took place on 20 December, in the basilica of Ss. XII Apostoli, Rome.<ref name=FIU />

==Family== His brother, Antonio Lega was bishop of Cervia and archbishop of Ravenna.<ref name=FIU />

His nephew Igino Lega went on to become a priest; he received the Medaglia D’Oro during WWII and was named as a Servant of God.<ref>[https://www.jesuit.org.sg/mar-21st-igino-lega-sj/ Jesuit.org website, Saints and Martyrs section, profile page]</ref>

==References==  {{Reflist|30em}}

==External links== * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Michele Lega}} *[http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/blega.html Catholic Hierarchy] [[Wikipedia:Verifiability#Reliable sources|{{sup|{{small|[''self-published'']}}}}]]

{{s-start}} {{s-rel|ca}} {{succession box | before=Vincenzo Vannutelli | title=Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura| after=Augusto Silj | years=15 December 1914 – 20 March 1920}} {{succession box | before=Filippo Giustini | title=Prefect of the Congregation for Discipline of Sacraments| after=Domenico Jorio | years=20 March 1920 – 16 December 1935}} {{s-end}}

{{Cardinals created by Pius X}} {{Subject bar |portal1= Biography |portal2= Catholicism |portal3= Italy}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lega, Michele}} Category:1860 births Category:1935 deaths Category:20th-century Italian cardinals Category:Cardinal-bishops of Frascati Category:Members of the Congregation for the Discipline of the Sacraments Category:Prefects of the Apostolic Signatura Category:Cardinals created by Pope Pius X Category:People from Brisighella Category:Bishops appointed by Pope Pius XI