Guido del Mestri

Italian prelate

Apostolic Delegate to British Eastern and Western Africa (1959-67)
Titular Archbishop of Tuscarnia (1961-91)
Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Kenya (1965-67)
Apostolic Delegate to Mexico (1967-70)
Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Canada (1970-75)
Apostolic Nuncio to Germany (1975-84)

Alma mater

Almo Collegio Capranica
Pontifical Gregorian University
Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy

Coat of arms

Guido del Mestri also Guido Del Mestri^[1] (13 January 1911– 2 August 1993) was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who worked in the diplomatic service of the Holy See from 1940 to 1984. He was made a cardinal in 1991.

Biography

Guido del Mestri was born in Banja Luka in Bosnia and Herzegovina, then under Austro-Hungarian rule, on 13 January 1911 to an Italian father, Count Gian Vito Del Mestri, and an Austrian mother, Baroness Marianna de Grazia.^[2]^[3] He grew up speaking Croatian, Italian, and German. He studied at the Jesuit Lyceum of Kalksburg, Vienna, and then at the Almo Collegio Capranica.^[2] He also earned degrees in theology and canon law at the Pontifical Gregorian University.^[4] He was ordained a priest on 11 April 1936 and joined the clergy of the Diocese of Gorizia, under Italian control since 1918.^[2]

To prepare for a diplomat's career he entered the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy in 1937.^[5] His early assignments took him to Yugoslavia, Lebanon, Indonesia, and Germany, and included a stint in Rome.^[2] He was expelled from Romania with the rest of the nunciature personnel in July 1950 when the country came under Communist rule.^[6] He opened the new nunciature in Syria in 1951.^[4]

On 21 September 1959, Pope John XXIII named him Apostolic Delegate to British Eastern and Western Africa.^[7] Pope John named him titular archbishop of Tuscamia on 28 October 1961^[8] and he received his episcopal consecration in Nairobi on 31 December^[2] from Cardinal Laurean Rugambwa.

On 27 October 1965, Pope Paul VI appointed him Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Kenya.^[9] On 9 September 1967, Pope Paul named him Apostolic Delegate to Mexico.^[10] On 20 June 1970, Pope Paul appointed him Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Canada.^[11] On 13 August 1975, Pope Paul named him Apostolic Nuncio to Germany.^[12] He resigned in 1984.^[3]

In January 1989, Pope John Paul made him a member of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and the Council for the Public Affairs of the Church.^[13]

He was named a cardinal by Pope John Paul II on 28 June 1991.^[14] The New York Times identified him as an Italian.^[15]

He died at the Theresienklinik in Nuremberg, Germany, where in retirement he served as chaplain, on 2 August 1993.^[4]^[6]

References

^ Acta Apostolicae Sedis (PDF) (in Latin). Vol. LIII. 1961. pp. 97, 540. Retrieved 25 April 2020. Vidone Dei Mestri, Apostolico in Africa Orientali et Occidentali Britannica Delegato
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Još trojica kardinala iz hrvatske povijesti" [Three more cardinals from Croatian history] (in Bosnian). Informativna Katolička Agencija. 20 November 2003. Retrieved 25 April 2020. To je papinski diplomat, nezaboravni Guido Del Mestri.
^ ^a ^b "Guido Del Mestri". Der Spiegel (in German). 9 August 1993. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c Lentz III, Harris M. (2015). Popes and Cardinals of the 20th Century: A Biographical Dictionary. McFarland. pp. 59–60. ISBN 9781476621555. Retrieved 25 April 2020. Guido del Mestri
^ "Pontificia Accademia Ecclesiastica" (in Italian). Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
^ ^a ^b "Guido del Mestri, Cardinal, 82". New York Times. 9 August 1993. Retrieved 25 April 2020. Guido Cardinal del Mestri
^ Acta Apostolicae Sedis (PDF). Vol. LII. 1960. p. 117. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
^ Acta Apostolicae Sedis (PDF). Vol. LIII. 1961. p. 204. Retrieved 25 April 2020. Delegatum Apostolicum Africae Orientalis
^ Acta Apostolicae Sedis (PDF). Vol. LVII. 1965. p. 1023. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
^ Acta Apostolicae Sedis (PDF). Vol. LX. 1968. p. 126. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
^ Acta Apostolicae Sedis (PDF). Vol. LXII. 1970. p. 474. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
^ Acta Apostolicae Sedis (PDF). Vol. LXVII. 1975. p. 507. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
^ Acta Apostolicae Sedis (PDF). Vol. LXXXI. 1989. pp. 390–1. Retrieved 22 August 2019. Guido Del Mestri
^ Haberman, Clyde (30 May 1991). "Pope Names 22 Cardinals; Chinese Prelate Is Identified". New York Times. Retrieved 2 September 2017. Guido Del Mestri
^ "Cardinals Named by Pope". New York Times. 30 May 1991. Retrieved 2 September 2017. Guido Del Mestri, 80, Italian papal diplomat