Born in Lowell (Boston, USA) on December 8, 1859.
Died in Boston (USA) on April 22, 1944.
He completed his studies in the San Carlo College in Elicott, Maryland, in the diocesan seminary of Boston and in the American College of Rome, where he was ordained a priest on June 7, 1884. After a decade of pastoral service in the diocese of Boston, in 1895 he was recalled to Rome as president of the North American College. On May 14, 1901, he was elected bishop of Portland. On February 21, 1906, he was promoted to the archiepiscopal titular church of Constance and deputy coadjutor to the archbishop of Boston, whom he succeeded on August 30, 1907. He was created a cardinal by Pius X in the consistory of November 27, 1911.
Monsignor O'Connell gave Don Guanella the first offer, of 550 lire, for the construction of the church of San Giuseppe in Rome, of which he was later godfather at the *laying of the first stone. Don Guanella remained in contact with this illustrious benefactor, updating him periodically on the state of work of his "spiritual goddaughter". On December 5, 1911 Don Guanella was urgently recalled to Rome by Don *Giovanni Bressan, Pius X's private secretary, to accompany the new Cardinal O'Connell on a visit to the church, which was now almost completed. A year later it was Don Guanella who visited the cardinal in Boston, receiving a festive welcome and promises of support for his new foundations in America. At Christmas 1912 Don Guanella celebrated in the episcopal chapel and received a pound from the cardinal so that he could celebrate mass for him.
Sources
- Hierarchy catholica medii et modernioris aevi, vol. VIII: 1846-1903, edited by Remigium Ritzler and Pirminum Sefrin, Padua, Editrice «Il Messaggero di S. Antonio», 1978, p. 464; vol. IX: 1903-1922, edited by Zeno Pięta, Padua, Editor «Il Messaggero di S. Antonio», 2002, pp. 90, 139, 11.
Guanellian sources
- Epistolary of Luigi Guanella, edited by the Centro Studi Guanelliani, E 3540, E 3373, E 338, E 1858, E 1610.
- Sacra Rituum Congregation, Comen. seu Mediolanen. Beatificationis et canonizationis servi Dei Aloysii Guanella [...]. Positio super virtutibus, Summary, Romae, Typis Guerra et Belli, 1950, p. 513 (witness Don Filippo Gramatica) and pp. 633, 637 (witness Don Martino Cugnasca).
- Our dead loved ones, in "The Divine Providence", 1944, p. 39.
- [Louis Guanella], Don Luigi Guanella in America, in "The Divine Providence", 1913, p. 18.
- The foundation stone of a new church, in "The Divine Providence", 1909, p. 84.
Photography
- «Illustrated magazine of the Vatican Missionary Exhibition», March 31, 1925, p. 263.
AM Dieguez
Guanellian Encyclopaedia
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