Ermenegildo Florit (5 July 1901 – 8 December 1985) was an Italian cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Florence from 1962 to 1977, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1965.


Ermenegildo Florit
Cardinal, Archbishop Emeritus of Florence
ChurchRoman Catholic Church
ArchdioceseFlorence
SeeFlorence
Appointed9 March 1962
Term ended3 June 1977
PredecessorElia Dalla Costa
SuccessorGiovanni Benelli
Other post(s)Cardinal-Priest of Regina Apostolorum (1965–85)
Orders
Ordination11 April 1925
Consecration12 September 1954
by Clemente Micara
Created cardinal22 February 1965
by Pope Paul VI
RankCardinal-priest
Personal details
Born
Ermenegildo Florit

(1901-07-05)5 July 1901
Died8 December 1985(1985-12-08) (aged 84)
Florence, Italy
Previous post(s)
Alma mater
MottoIncrementum dat Deus
Coat of armsErmenegildo Florit's coat of arms
Styles of
Ermenegildo Florit
Reference styleHis Eminence
Spoken styleYour Eminence
Informal styleCardinal
SeeFlorence (emeritus)

Biography edit

Ermenegildo Florit was born in Fagagna, and attended the seminary in Udine, the Pontifical Roman Seminary, and the Pontifical Biblical Institute and Pontifical Lateran University in Rome. Before finishing his studies in 1927, he was ordained to the priesthood on 11 April 1925. Florit served as a professor (1929–1954) and later the dean of theology and vice-rector (1951–1954) at the Pontifical Lateran University, while also doing pastoral work in Rome. In 1951, he was made a canon of St. Mark's Basilica and, on 21 August, a domestic prelate of his holiness.

On 12 July 1954, Florit was appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of Florence and Titular Archbishop of Hierapolis in Syria. He received his episcopal consecration on the following 12 September from Cardinal Clemente Micara, with Archbishop Luigi Traglia and Bishop Emilio Pizzoni serving as co-consecrators, in the Lateran Basilica. Florit succeeded the late Elia Dalla Costa as Archbishop of Florence on 9 March 1962, and then attended the Second Vatican Council until 1965. During the council, he was heavily involved with the drafting of Dei verbum, the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation.[1]

Pope Paul VI created him Cardinal-Priest of Regina Apostolorum in the consistory of 22 February 1965. In 1968, the cardinal engaged in a dispute with the popular Florentine priest Enzo Mazzi, whose rebellious attitude the former saw as a threat to "ecclesiastical unity".[2] Resigning as Florence's archbishop on 3 June 1977, Florit was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the conclaves of August and October 1978, which selected Popes John Paul I and John Paul II respectively.

He died in Florence, at age 84, and is buried in the Basilica of Santa Maria del Fiore.

References edit

  1. ^ Alberigo, Giuseppe & Komonchak, Joseph A. (2006). A Brief History of Vatican II. Orbis Books. ISBN 978-1570756382
  2. ^ "Rebellion in the Backyard". Time. 27 December 1968.

External links edit


Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Archbishop of Florence
1962–1977
Succeeded by