Francesco Minerva

Who was Francesco Minerva?

Francesco Minerva was an Italian clergyman; at his death he was the second-oldest living bishop in the Roman Catholic Church, after Corrado Bafile. He was also one of its longest-serving priests, having been ordained on April 16, 1927.

Minerva was born at Canosa di Puglia. He graduated in theology at the Pontifical Lateran University and, later, in law at the University of Bari. Pope Pius XII named Minerva bishop of Nardò in 1948, and in 1950 transferred him to the somewhat larger diocese of Lecce. While his successor in Nardò, Corrado Ursi, went on to become Archbishop of Naples and a Cardinal, Minerva continued in Lecce, which was elevated to an archdiocese in 1980, and retired in 1981.

He died at Canosa di Puglia in 2004. He is buried in the Cathedral of San Sabino in that city.