Giulio Bevilacqua
Giulio Bevilacqua, Orat was an Italian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church who served as an auxiliary bishop of Brescia from 1965 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1965.Biography
Giulio Bevilacqua was born in Isola della Scala to a family of merchants. He studied at the University of Louvain in Belgium and the seminary in Brescia, and later entered the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri.
Bevilacqua was ordained to the priesthood on June 13, 1908, and then did pastoral work in Brescia until 1914. During World War I, he served as a chaplain to the Italian Army, and was eventually captured in 1916. Following his release in 1918, he resumed his ministry in Brescia, where he became the spiritual director and a personal friend of Giovanni Battista Montini, the future Pope Paul VI, while the latter was a student.
The Oratorian priest was made an official of the Vatican Secretariat of State for his protection against Fascist threats in 1926; he also did pastoral work in Rome during this time. He returned to Brescia in 1933 and, during World War II, served as a chaplain again to the Italian Navy.
On February 15, 1965, Bevilacqua was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Brescia and Titular Archbishop of Gaudiaba by Paul VI, in advance of his elevation to the College of Cardinals. He received his episcopal consecration on the following February 18 from Bishop Luigi Morstabilini, with Bishops Giuseppe Carraro and Carlo Manziana, Orat, serving as co-consecrators, in the basilica of Ss. Faustus e Jovita.
Pope Paul created him Cardinal Deacon of S. Girolamo della Carità in the consistory of February 22 of that same year. By the special permission of the Pope, Bevilacqua continued to serve as pastor of Sant'Antonio parish in Brescia. He assured his parishioners that he would also continue to wear a simple black cassock.
The Cardinal died in Brescia, at age 83. He is buried in the church of Santa Maria della Pace.
