Pietro Respighi


Pietro Respighi S.T.D. JUD was an Italian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and Archpriest of the Basilica of St. John Lateran.
He was born in Bologna and received the sacrament of confirmation in November 1850. He was educated in the Seminary of Bologna and the Pio Roman Seminary in Rome, earning doctorates in theology, civil and canon law in 1870. Ordained to the priesthood on the last day of March 1866 in Rome, he afterwards worked in the Archdiocese of Bologna as professor of its seminary from 1872 to June 1874. He was appointed as Archpriest of Ss. Gervasio e Protasio parish until 1891.

Episcopate and Cardinalate

appointed him Bishop of Guastalla on 14 December 1891. He was appointed to the see of Ferrara in 1896. As Archbishop of Ferrara he was created Cardinal-Priest of Santi Quattro Coronati in the consistory of 19 June 1899. He resigned pastoral government of the archdiocese of Ferrara on 19 April 1900. On the death of Pope Leo XIII he participated in the conclave of 1903 that elected Pope Pius X. He was Camerlengo of the Sacred College of Cardinals from 1906 until 1907, and in 1910 he was appointed Archpriest of the Patriarchal Lateran basilica, a position he held until his death three years later.