Roman Catholic Cardinal. Sicilian born Mariano Rampolla del Tindaro was the son of Ignazio Rampolla, Count of Tindaro and his wife Orsola Errante. Receiving his education at the Collegio Capranica and at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, earning a doctorate in utroque iure in both canon and civil laws, having displayed a considerable ability in Oriental languages, he was sent to the Pontifical Academy of Ecclesiastical Nobles in preparation for service within the Roman Curia. Ordained priest in 1866, he was named canon of the chapter of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in 1874. The following year, he was sent to Spain as auditor of the Papal nunciature. Returning to Rome in 1877, he was named secretary for Oriental Affairs of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith. The following year, he was named protonotary apostolic de numero participantium by Pope Pius IX and in 1880, secretary of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith and then also Secretary of the Congregation of Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs. Elected archbishop of the titular see of Eraclea at the early age of thirty nine on December 1, 1882, he received his episcopal consecration seven days later at the Patriarchal Vatican Basilica from Cardinal Edward Henry Howard. On December 19, he was appointed apostolic nuncio in Spain. Pope Leo XIII created him cardinal priest with the title of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere in the consistory of March 14, 1887, by Pope Leo XIII. On June 2 of that year, he was appointed Secretary of State of the Vatican City. In this office, as previously in Spain, Rampolla named Msgr. Giacomo della Chiesa, future Pope Benedict XV, as his secretary. President of the Council for the Administration of the Wealth of the Apostolic See, he served as legate with public authority for the Colombian convention on December 29, 1887 and for the convention with Switzerland on July 10, 1888. Camerlengo of the Sacred College of Cardinals between January 16, 1893 and May 18, 1894, he was named archpriest of the Patriarchal Vatican Basilica and president of the Reverend Fabric of St. Peter's on March 21, 1894. Elected grand prior of the Sacred and Sovereign Military Order of St. John of Jerusalem on December 18, 1896, he was decorated with the grand cross of the Austrian Order of Sankt Stefan in 1898. Appointed president of the Biblical Commission in 1902, when Leo XIII died the following year, it was widely expected that he would be elected Pope. His candidacy gained momentum until the last moment, but the Austrian Emperor Francis Joseph I, one of the three Catholic powers with pretensions to such a capacity, imposed a veto, the "Jus Exclusivæ", right in the middle of the conclave, through Cardinal Prince Jan Puzyna de Kosielsko of the see of Kraków, who was subsequently awarded the highest Austro-Hungarian decoration, the grand cross of state. Such opposition was a result of the pro-French positions adopted by Rampolla, positions which reflected, of course, the moderate policies of Leo XIII. Part of the Holy See's policy involving France was the attempted reconciliation of French Catholics with their nation's Republican government. It is also thought that Franz Josef's opposition was personal, based on Rampolla's decision while Papal legate in Austria to exclude from burial in sacred ground the body of the Emperor's son, Rudolf, who committed suicide. While formally protesting this intrusion, the Cardinals would not specifically offend such a prominent Catholic power, and support for Rampolla dissipated, leading to the election of Cardinal Giuseppe Sarto as Pope Pius X, who explicitly abolished any veto rights in one of his first official acts as a Pontiff, imposing the penalty of excommunication upon anyone that would dare to introduce a veto or otherwise interfere in the election of a Pope. Pius X chose the secretary of the Conclave that had elected him, Rafael Merry del Val, to succeed Rampolla as Secretary of State. Already in poor health, Rampolla spent his remaining years in less demanding positions, serving among others as secretary of the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office from December 30, 1908 until his death, president of the Roman Academy of San Tommaso d'Aquino and librarian of the Holy Roman Church, during the last year of his life. Cardinal Rampolla died in Rome, being taken ill the day before shortly after participating in a religious ceremony, having suffered along the years from serious attacks of influenza. Originally buried inside the Campo Verano Cemetery of Rome, his remains were exhumed and transferred to the Basilica of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere on June 19, 1929 where a splendid monuments adorns his final resting place.