Ignatius Camillus William Mary Peter Persico (30 January 1823, Naples

Naples

Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...

-7 December 1896) was an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 Cardinal

Cardinal (Catholicism)

A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...

.

Life and career

He entered the Capuchin Franciscan Order on 25 April 1839, and immediately after ordination was sent in November, 1846, to Patna

Patna

Paṭnā , is the capital of the Indian state of Bihar and the second largest city in Eastern India . Patna is one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the world...

, India. The vicar Apostolic, Anastasius Hartmann, made him his socius and confidant. In 1850 Persico accompanied Hartmann to Mumbai

Mumbai

Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...

, when he was transferred to that vicariate, and assisted him in founding a seminary and establishing the "Bombay Catholic Examiner". At the time of the 1853 schism in Goa

Goa

Goa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...

, then a part of the Portuguese Empire

Portuguese Empire

The Portuguese Empire , also known as the Portuguese Overseas Empire or the Portuguese Colonial Empire , was the first global empire in history...

, the bishop sent Persico to Rome and London to lay the Catholic case before the Pope and the British Government.

He was consecrated bishop on 8 March 1854, and nominated bishop-auxiliary to Bishop Hartmann; but the next year he was appointed visitor of the Vicariate of Agra, and afterwards vicar Apostolic of that district. During the Indian Mutiny, he was nearly lost his life, and was compelled to return to Italy in 1860. Sent in 1866 on a mission to the United States, he took part in the Council of Baltimore

Plenary Councils of Baltimore

The Plenary Councils of Baltimore were three national meetings of Roman Catholic bishops in the 19th century in Baltimore, Maryland.During the early history of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States all of the dioceses were part of one ecclesiastical province under the Archbishop of Baltimore...

. On 20 March 1870, he was nominated Bishop of Savannah

Roman Catholic Diocese of Savannah

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Savannah is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in the southern United States comprising the southern counties of the state of Georgia...

; but his health again failing, he resigned in 1873. In 1874 he was sent as Apostolic delegate to Canada; and in 1877 he was commissioned to settle the affairs of the Malabar schism.

On 26 March 1879, he was appointed Bishop of Aquino in Italy; but in March, 1887, he was promoted to the titular Archbishopric of Tamiatha and sent as Apostolic delegate to Ireland to report upon the relations of the clergy with the political movement. Meanwhile in June 1888 the Holy See

Holy See

The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...

 issued its condemnation of the Plan of Campaign

Plan of Campaign

The Plan of Campaign was a stratagem adopted in Ireland between 1886 and 1891, co-ordinated by Irish politicians for the benefit of tenant farmers, against mainly absentee and rack-rent landlords. It was launched to counter agricultural distress caused by the continual depression in prices of dairy...

 in the encyclical "Saepe Nos". Persico returned to Rome much disappointed by the mixed reception to the encyclical in Ireland. He was at once nominated Vicar

Vicar

In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...

 of the Vatican Chapter. On 16 January 1893, he was created cardinal priest of the title of St. Peter in Chains.