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Up for sale a RARE! "Italian Cardinal" Giuseppe Ferretto Hand Signed 4X6 Card.
ES-4171E
Giuseppe Antonio Ferretto (9
March 1899 – 17 March 1973) was an Italian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church who
served as Major Penitentiary in
the Roman Curia from 1967 to 1973, and was elevated to the
rank of cardinal in 1961. Ferretto
was born in Rome to Tommaso and Adele (née Stazi) Ferretto. He
studied at the Pontifical Roman Seminary (minor
and major branches), the Pontifical Lateran University (where
he obtained and civil law),
and the Pontifical Institute of Christian the priesthood on
24 February 1923, Ferretto finished his studies in 1926 and then taught at the
Pontifical Lateran University and the Pontifical Urbaniana University until
1958. He served as an official in the Vicariate of Rome from 1929 to 1939, when he was made
a referendary of the Apostolic Signatura on
23 April. Before becoming a canon of St. Peter's Basilica on
1 May 1953, he was named substitute (7 June 1943) and later assessor (27 June
1950) of the Sacred Consistorial Congregation.
He was also a noted archaeologist. On 14 December 1958,
Ferretto was appointed Titular Archbishop of Serdica by Pope John XXIII. He received his episcopal consecration in St. Peter's Basilica on
the following 27 December from Pope John, with Bishops Girolamo Bortignon, OFM Cap and
Gioacchino Muccin serving as co-consecrators. Ferretto was named Secretary of the College of Cardinals on
20 January 1959. He was created Cardinal-Priest of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme by
Pope John in the consistory of 16
January 1961. There had been speculation that he had been one of the cardinals
appointed in pectore on 28 March 1960, but
he would have gotten seniority dating back to that 1960 consistory if the in pectore appointment was true. Ferretto was named
Cardinal Bishop of Sabina e Poggio Mirteto on 26 March 1961. Pope John had
recently changed the way cardinals were raised to the rank of cardinal bishop.
Previously, only the senior cardinal dean and the senior cardinal priest had
the right to the title of cardinal bishop when one of the sees assigned to a
cardinal bishop became vacant. Pope John made the appointment the prerogative
of the pope without reference to seniority within the College of Cardinals.
While the older method had ensured that only senior clerics of advanced age
held the title of cardinal bishop, Pope John's first appointment under the new
rule was Ferretto, who had just turned 62. He attended the Second Vatican Council from
1962 to 1965. He participated in the 1963 papal
conclave, where he was also thought to be a possible candidate for
election to the papacy. He was appointed Major Penitentiary on
7 April 1967. Pope Paul named him a participant in the first post-Vatican
II Synod of Bishops in
1967. On 1 March 1973, he resigned as Major Penitentiary. Ferretto died on
17 March 1973 in Rome, at age 74. He had been suffering from a heart condition.
He is buried in the church of Immacolata e S. Benedetto Giuseppe Labre a via
Taranto.