Who he was
Born in Rome to a family of Vatican lawyers, he was ordained in 1899 and spent his life in the Holy See's diplomatic service, helping Cardinal Gasparri prepare the Code of Canon Law and serving as nuncio in Munich and Berlin. Pius XI made him a cardinal and Secretary of State in 1930. He was elected on his sixty-third birthday, six months before the Second World War began.
What he is remembered for
He led the Church through the Second World War, appealing for peace and organising relief for refugees, prisoners, the bombed-out and the persecuted, Jews among them, and he went in person to the bombed districts of Rome in 1943. In the Holy Year of 1950 he defined the dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Benedict XVI declared that he had lived the virtues to a heroic degree on 19 December 2009.
He is honoured by the Church as Venerable. Read his page in the dictionary of saints.
Sources
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