Luigi Oreglia di Santo Stefano

Who was Luigi Oreglia di Santo Stefano?

Luigi Oreglia di Santo Stefano was a cardinal of the Catholic Church in the late nineteenth century. He was Bishop of Ostia e Velletri and Dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals from 1896 until his death.

He was educated in Turin and became a priest in 1851. After that, he soon rose to become domestic prelate of Pope Pius IX by 1857 and was internuncio in the Netherlands from 1863 to 1866. In May of that year he was elected titular Archbishop of Damietta and served as papal nuncio to Belgium from then until 1868, when he was moved to Portugal. He remained as nuncio until his promotion to the cardinalate when he was returned to Rome.

On December 22, 1873, Oreglia was created a cardinal by Pius IX and two years later he became Prefect of the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences and Relics. He participated in the 1878 conclave that elected Pope Leo XIII and that pope elevated him to Camerlengo on March 27, 1882. Although Oreglia was forced to relinquish the post a year later, he became Camerlengo once more in 1885 and retained that post right up to his death twenty-eight years later. During this period he rose gradually to sub-Dean of the Sacred College by 1889 and to Dean by 1896.