Guglielmo Piani
{{Short description|Italian priest (1875–1956)}}{{Infobox Christian leader
| type = Archbishop
| honorific_prefix = His Excellency
| name = Guglielmo Piani
| honorific_suffix = S.D.B.
| title = Titular Archbishop of Dramas
| church = Roman Catholic
| consecration = 14 May 1922
| consecrated_by = Giovanni Cardinal Cagliero, S.D.B.
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1875|09|16}}
| birth_place = Martinengo, Italy
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1956|09|27|1875|09|16}}
| nationality = Italian
| religion = Roman Catholic
| coat_of_arms = Coat of arms of Guglielmo Piani.svg
}}
Guglielmo Piani, S.D.B. (16 September 1875 – 27 September 1956) also known as William Piani,{{Cite book|last=Cornejo|first=Miguel R.|title=Cornejo's Commonwealth Directory of the Philippines|publisher=Miguel R. Cornejo, A.B., LL.B|year=1939|location=Manila|pages=2434}} was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who worked in the diplomatic service of the Holy See. He was Apostolic Delegate to the Philippines from 1922 to 1948 and then played a similar role in Mexico until his death in 1956.
Biography
Guglielmo Piani was born on 16 September 1875 in Martinengo, Italy. He was ordained a priest of the Salesians of Don Bosco on 15 May 1898.
On 16 December 1921, Pope Benedict XV appointed him titular bishop of Palaeopolis in Pamphylia and auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Puebla de los Ángeles.{{cite book |page= 560|access-date = 18 May 2020 |url= http://www.vatican.va/archive/aas/documents/AAS-13-1921-ocr.pdf |date=1921 |volume = XIII | title = Acta Apostolicae Sedis }} This was quickly revised because of intense conflict between the Church and the Mexican government,{{cite book | access-date = 19 May 2020 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=cxLNAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA168& | page= 168| title = The Vatican and Catholic Activism in Mexico and Chile: The Politics of Transnational Catholicism, 1920-1940 | first = Stephen J.C. | last = Andes | date= 2014 | publisher = Oxford University Press }} and on 17 March 1922 he was named titular archbishop of Dramas and Apostolic Delegate to the Philippines.{{cite book |pages= 195, 616 |access-date = 18 May 2020 |url= http://www.vatican.va/archive/aas/documents/AAS-14-1922-ocr.pdf |date=1922 |volume = XIV | title = Acta Apostolicae Sedis }} He received his episcopal consecration in Rome on 14 May 1922.{{cite journal | access-date = 19 May 2020 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=gp_mAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA167& | page= 167 | journal = Catholic Missions | title = Europe | date= July 1922 }}
His service in the Philippines was interrupted in 1936 when he visited Mexico as an Apostolic Visitor to develop an independent assessment of the ongoing conflict between the government and the Church.{{cite journal | last=Slawson |first= Douglas J. | title=The National Catholic Welfare Conference and the Mexican Church-State Conflict of the Mid-1930s: A Case of Déjà Vu. | journal= The Catholic Historical Review| volume= 80 |issue= 1 | date= 1994 | pages= 58-96, esp. 92-93 | jstor=25024204}} He arrived in June shortly after the death of Pascual Díaz y Barreto, Archbishop of Mexico, on 19 May 1936 and it fell to him to recommend a successor.{{cite news | work= New York Times | access-date = 19 May 2020 | date= 7 November 1936 | title = Mexico's Archbishop to be Mgr. Trichtler; Successor to Diaz Will Be Named by Pope on Recommendation of Special Vatican Envoy | url = https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1936/11/07/110049702.html }}{{efn|The actual successor to Diaz was not Guillermo Tritschler y Córdova but Luis María Martínez.}} He continued from Mexico to Rome on other business,{{cite news | work= New York Times | access-date = 19 May 2020 | date= 11 October 1936 | title = Apostolic Delegate to Philippines will Visit Vatican | url = https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1936/10/11/issue.html }} and there he provided intelligence that led Pope Pius XI to address an encyclical to the bishops of Mexico that directed them to adopt a less confrontational posture.{{cite book | access-date = 19 May 2020 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=MHObBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT298& | title= The Papacy in the Age of Totalitarianism, 1914-1958 | first = John | last = Pollard | date= 2014 | publisher = Oxford University Press}}{{page needed|date=May 2020}}{{efn|The encyclical was Nos es muy Conicida.{{cite web| url= http://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_19370328_firmissimam-constantiam.html | access-date=19 May 2020| date = 28 March 1937 | publisher= Libreria Editrice Vaticana | title = Firmissimam Constantiam, Encyclical of Pope Pius XI on the Religious Situation in Mexico }}}}
On 5 October 1948, Pope Pius XII named him Apostolic Visitor to Mexico with the authority of Apostolic Delegate. He received the title of Apostolic Delegate to Mexico on 13 April 1951.{{efn|Piani is identified as Delegate to Mexico on 31 June 1951.{{cite book| title= Acta Apostolicae Sedis | access-date = 18 January 2020 | url = http://www.vatican.va/archive/aas/documents/AAS-44-1952-ocr.pdf | date= 1952| volume = XLIV | page= 16 }}}}{{cite book | page = 173 | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=cRz3tzdEXGwC&pg=PA173& | language = it | last= De Marchi | first= Giuseppe | date= 1957 | title= Le nunziature apostoliche dal 1800 al 1956 | publisher = Ed. di Storia e Letteratura }}
He still held that title when he died on 27 September 1956 at the age of 81.{{cite book | title = Acta Apostolicae Sedis| access-date = 19 May 2020|page= 740| date=1956| quote =Delegato Apostolico nel Messico | url = http://www.vatican.va/archive/aas/documents/AAS-48-1956-ocr.pdf | volume = XLVIII }}
Notes
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References
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External links
- [http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bpiani.html Catholic Hierarchy: Archbishop Guglielmo Piani, S.D.B.] Wikipedia:SPS
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Category:Clergy from the Province of Bergamo