Roman Catholic Cardinal. The second of seven children of whom four reached adulthood, Gaetano Cicognani was the child of a humble fish vendor and shopkeeper. Entering seminary in Faenza, following his ordination to the priesthood in 1904, he moved to Rome, pursuing his studies at the Pontifical Roman Athenaeum S. Apollinare and the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, earning doctorates in philosophy, theology, and canon and civil laws. Assigned to the tribunal of the Sacred Roman Rota in 1910, he lectured canon law at the named Pontifical Roman Athenaeum S. Apollinare until joining the Secretariat of State in 1915. Named secretary of the apostolic nunciature in Spain the following year, in 1920 he was appointed auditor of the Belgium nunciature and successively chargé d'affaires of the nunciature in Holland for a brief period in 1921. Appointed apostolic nuncio in Bolivia and archbishop of the titular see of Ancira in 1925, he received his episcopal consecration on February 1 of that year in Rome. Successively he was named nuncio in Austria in 1936, but due to the country's annexation to Nazi Germany had to leave the state two years later. Named nuncio in Spain a month later, Pope Pius XII elevated him to the Sacred College of Cardinals in the consistory of January 12, 1953. He received his biretta in Madrid from the hands of the Generalissimo Francisco Franco followed by the title of Santa Cecilia from the Pope at Castelgandolfo the following October. Appointed prefect of the Sacred Congregation of Rites in December that year, he was furthermore named pro-prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of Apostolic Signature in 1958 and president of the preparatory conciliar commission for liturgy in 1960. Opting for the suburbicarian see of Frascati that same year, Cicognani passed away in his Roman residence at via Serristori 10, of a heart attack following a bout of influenza. His body was transferred to his native Brisighella and buried there in the Collegiate church of San Michele. His brother, Amleto Giovanni rose to become Secretary of State of the Vatican City, bishop of the suburbicarian sees of Frascati and Ostia, and dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals.