Anastasio Ballestrero
President of the Italian Episcopal Conference (1979-85) | |
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| Motto | In omnia bonitate et veritate ("In all goodness and truth") |
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| Styles of Anastasio Ballestrero OCD | ||
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Reference style His Eminence | | |
| Spoken style | Your Eminence | |
| Informal style | Cardinal | |
| See | Turin | |
Ordination history of Anastasio Ballestrero | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Anastasio Alberto Ballestrero (3 October 1913 – 21 June 1998),
The beatification process was launched in Turin and he became titled as a Servant of God. The diocesan process for the cause opened in late 2014 and started the collection of testimonies and documents from both Turin and Bari.[2][1][3]
Life
Childhood and education
Alberto Ballestrero was born in Genoa on 3 October 1913 as the first of five children born to Giacomo Ballestrero and Antonietta Daffunchio. He was baptized on 2 November 1913 in the Santa Zita parish with the name "Alberto".[2] His father worked in a Genoese port while his mother oversaw her children's religious formation. Two siblings died in the first few months of their lives. His mother died in 1923 after the birth of her final child in late 1922.[1]
Ballestrero attended a school in Genoa from 1919 to 1922. He was enrolled at the Collegio Belimbau in 1922 before he received his confirmation in the San Martino di Albaro church on 3 May 1923; he made his First Communion the next month on 21 June.[2] He left the Collegio Belimbau in 1923 in order to pursue ecclesial studies to become a priest.
Profession and priesthood
On 2 October 1924 he commenced his ecclesial studies under the direction of the
He received the
Episcopate and cardinalate
On 21 December 1973 he was appointed as the
Ballestrero attended the various
He became known for his progressive beliefs and he rejected some of the popular Catholic movements such as Communion and Liberation. John Paul II reproached him for this to which he was said to have replied: "Holiness, when you get to know them better, you won't like them either!"[4]
Death
Ballestrero died at his residence in La Spezia at 3:00pm on 21 June 1998 due to a long illness. His funeral was celebrated on 25 June. He is buried in the San Giuseppe del Deserto church attached to the same Carmelite convent in Varazze that he had entered in 1924.[2][3]
Beatification process
The Piedmont Bishops announced the intention - in an announcement on 4 February 2014 - that they would seek to initiate the cause for Ballestrero's potential beatification following a unanimous vote on the matter. The first move to launch the cause was to transfer the forum for the diocesan investigation from La Spezia (where the cardinal died) to Turin. The diocesan process was launched on 9 October 2014 in a Mass that Cesare Nosiglia presided over. Thus far there have been over 30 testimonies collected and as of 2015 there were 25 being sought from Bari.
The postulator for this cause is the Discalced Carmelite priest Romano Gambalunga.
Positions
Abortion
In reference to abortion the cardinal once declared that the Catholic Church must "never renounce its mission of evangelization and education of the human conscience".[6]
Shroud of Turin
He placed the
Ballestrero agreed to scientific testing being performed on the Shroud of Turin in October 1978 but refused to permit radiocarbon dating testing as it required removing samples from the shroud itself.[7] Once technical improvements made it possible to use samples the size of postage stamps the cardinal permitted samples to be cut in April 1988 which he himself supervised to ensure it was carried out in an appropriate manner.[8] These would be tested in three labs in Switzerland as well as in the United States and the United Kingdom.[4]
Following the radiocarbon dating tests the cardinal announced on 13 October 1988 that the shroud was dated from the Middle Ages and thus not the actual burial cloth of Christ (he said the findings were 95% accurate); although these tests were later believed to be invalid due to erroneous sampling.[8]
In November 1983 the pope named him as the first pontifical custodian for the shroud.[9]
References
- ^ a b c d e f "Anastasio Alberto Ballestrero (cardinale)". Order of the Discalced Carmelites General Postulation. 1 September 2016. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Ballestrero, Anastasio Alberto". Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f "Servo di Dio Anastasio Alberto Ballestrero". Santi e Beati. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Obituary: Cardinal Anastasio Ballestrero". The Independent. 23 October 2011. Archived from the original on 25 January 2016. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
- ^ "Cardinal Anastasio Ballestrero", Carmelitani Scalzi, Provincia Ligure
- ^ Russell, George; Wynn, Witon (1 June 1981). "Italy: Not Yet Hale, but Hearty". Time. Archived from the original on 17 October 2012. Retrieved 22 September 2012. (subscription required)
- ^ Ostling, Richard N.; Coile, Norma; Moynihan, Robert (24 October 1988). "Religion: Debunking The Shroud of Turin". Time. Archived from the original on 24 March 2008. Retrieved 22 September 2012. (subscription required)
- ^ a b Van Biema, David; Dorfman, Andrea; Burke, Greg; Penner, Martin (20 April 1998). "Science and the Shroud". Time. Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved 22 September 2012. (subscription required)
- ^ Corley, Felix. "Obituary: Cardinal Anastasio Ballestrero", Independent, June 22, 1998
External links
- The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church Archived 10 January 2020 at the Wayback Machine
- Find a Grave
- Hagiography Circle
- Catholic Hierarchy
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