Girolamo Maria Gotti
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Styles of Girolamo Maria Gotti |
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| Reference style | His Eminence |
| Spoken style | Your Eminence |
| Informal style | Cardinal |
| See | Petra (titular see) |
Girolamo Maria Gotti, O.C.D. (29 March 1834, Genoa; died 19 March 1916, Rome), sometimes erroneously called Giuseppe Gotti, was a friar of the Discalced Carmelite Order, who served in various offices of the Holy See as a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church.
Gotti was born Antonio Giovanni Benedetto Gotti in Genoa, then part of the Kingdom of Sardinia, the second of the five children of Filippo Gotti, a dock worker originally from Bergamo, and Caterina Schiappacassea. He was sent to study at the Jesuit academy in Genoa, after which he entered the novitiate of the Order of Discalced Carmelites in Loano in 1849. On 10 November 1850, he received the religious habit and the religious name of Girolamo Maria dell'Immacolata Concezione (Jerome Mary of the Immaculate Conception). After his religious profession as a member of the Order on 12 November 1851, he began his studies for the priesthood, which he completed in 1856, being ordained a priest on 20 December 1856.
In the following decades Gotti was a professor of philosophy and theology in the local monastery. So able and versatile was he that he also taught mathematics at the local naval academy during this period. He was already regarded as a tireless student and scholar, as well as an ascetic who, despite the influence he was having, would always sleep on the floor.
At the First Vatican Council in 1870, Gotti served as a peritus (theological advisor) to the Prior General of the Discalced Carmelite Order. By 1881 he had become Prior General himself, a position he would retain until 1897. He became a counselor to several curial congregations in Rome during the 1880s and was also Apostolic Examiner of the Roman Clergy during this decade. His diplomatic ability caused him to be selected for various special missions to South America, which he fulfilled with success, especially in Brazil. In 1892 Gotti became Titular Archbishop of Petra and Internuncio to Brazil. At the consistory of 29 November 1895 he was elevated to cardinal by Pope Leo XIII, being assigned as his titular church the Church of Santa Maria della Scala, in the Trastevere neighborhood of Rome, which is attached to the General Motherhouse of the Order.
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