Giovanni Mercati

Cardinal Giovanni Mercati ( born December 17, 1866 in Villa Gaida, Italy, † August 23, 1957 in Rome) was a scholar and cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church.

Life

Giovanni Mercati received by philosophical and theological study years in Milan and Rome on September 21, 1889, The sacrament of Holy Orders. After further studies, he taught from 1892 at the seminary of Reggio Emilia and then worked from 1893 in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan. From 1898 to 1919 he belonged to the staff of the Vatican Library, on October 23, 1919, he took over as prefect of the line. The Prussian Academy of Sciences appointed him in 1925 as a corresponding member. The Accademia dei Lincei, he belonged since 1950 as a foreign member.

On June 15, 1936, he was named by Pope Pius XI. apostolic prothonotary and took him as a cardinal deacon with the titular church of San Giorgio in Velabro to the College of Cardinals. He gave Giovanni Mercati the title of Librarian and Archivist of the Holy Roman Church. Cardinal Mercati participated in the conclave of 1939.

Giovanni Mercati died on 23 August 1957 in Rome and was buried in the church of San Giorgio in Velabro.

His brother Angelo Mercati (1870-1955) was Prefect of the Vatican Archives from 1925 to 1955, his brother Silvio Giuseppe Mercati ( 1867-1963 ) Professor of Byzantine Studies at the University of Rome.

Commemorative

• Miscellanea Giovanni Mercati, 6 volumes, Città del Vaticano 1946.
• Lamberto Donati (ed.): Studi e ricerche nella biblioteca e negli Archivi vaticani in memoria del cardinale Giovanni Mercati ( 1866-1957 ), Firenze 1959