Roman Catholic Cardinal. Born in Rome, Massimo Massimi was the son of a lawyer. Entering the Pontifical Roman Seminary, he furthered his studies at the University of Rome, earning doctorates in theology and canon and civil laws. Ordained priest by Archbishop Giuseppe Ceppetelli in April 1900, he was named professor at the institutions of civil law of the Pontifical Roman Athenaeum S. Apollinare in 1904. Entering the Roman Curia on October 20, 1908, as promoter of justice in the Roman Rota, he was named auditor on November 29, 1915, pro-dean on February 19, 1924, and ultimately, dean of the Sacred Roman Rota on May 1, 1926. Appointed president of the Commission for the Redaction of a Project of Law on the Judicial and Procedural Regulations of the Tribunal of Vatican City on September 21, 1932, Pope Pius XI created him cardinal deacon with the deaconry of Santa Maria in Portico Campitelli in the consistory of December 16, 1935, naming him president of the Pontifical Commission for the Codification of Oriental Canon Law on February 17 of the following year. His successor, Pope Pius XII appointed him president of the Pontifical Commission for the Interpretation of the Code of Canon Law on March 14, 1939. Opting for the order of cardinal priests, his deaconry was elevated pro hac vice to title in the consistory of February 18, 1946. Pius XII named him Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, and thus the highest judicial authority in the Church below the Pope himself, on May 29, 1946. The Cardinal died in his native Rome after receiving the holy viaticum. Originally buried at the Campo di Verano Cemetery, his remains were transferred to the church of Santa Maria in Portico in Campitelli, the Church of his baptism as well as that of his cardinalitial title, in October 1976.