Raimondo Spiazzi

Raimondo Spiazzi OP (18 January 1918 – 14 October 2002) was an Italian Catholic theologian, advisor to Pius XII, and Mariologist with over 2,500 publications.

Early Biography Spiazzi was born in Moneglia, province of Genoa.

Formation He met Cardinal Secretary of State Eugenio Pacelli in 1937, who left a major impression on him and facilitated his entry in the seminary. 25 March 1944, he was ordained to the priesthood. During the war years he taught religion in a secondary school in Turin. After the war, he studied at the Pontifical International Athenaeum Angelicum, the future Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum in Rome and completed his doctorate in Sacred Theology there in 1947 with a dissertation entitled Il cristianesimo perfezione dell'uomo.

Career He taught in Rome at the Angelicum until 1972. Spiazzi, a tireless scholar authored 2.500 publications of which are 150 publications in book format. l'Edizione Marietti dell'Opera Omnia di San Tommaso d'Aquino, l'Enciclopedia Moderna del Cristinesimo, l'Enciclopedia Mariana "Theotòcos".

Pope John XXIII was not amused. He could not punish the Cardinal of Paris, but Spiazzi had to leave his teaching position and Rome within 24 hours. At the Roman synod on 27 January 1960, the Pontiff affirmed mandatory celibacy as a permanent reminder of the heroic age, in which the Church had to do battle and succeeded to the extent that it won the triple title and emblem of its victory: The Church of Christ, free, chaste Catholic.

Spiazzi was theological advisor to Pope Pius XII from 1954 until his death in October 1958. During this time, the Pontiff issued two Marian encyclicals, Ad Caeli Reginam and Fulgens corona. After a serious illness, Spiazzi left Rome in 1997. He was Ordinarius member of Pontifical Academy of Mary.

Raimondo Spiazzi died in 2004 at Varazze, province of Savona.

Selected works Processo a Pio XII Intervista con Raimondo Spiazzi (1979) Pio XII, mezzo secolo dopo (1991) Il Cardinale Giuseppe Siri (1990) Echi et Commenti della Proclamazione del Domma dell’Assunzione (with Augustin Bea and Pietro Parente; 1954) Da San Sisto sull'Appia al SS Rosario a Monte Mario (1999) L'Enciclopedia Moderna del Cristianesimo L'Enciclopedia Mariana (1965?) L'Edizione Marietti dell'Opera Omnia di San Tommaso d'Aquino Cronache e fioretti del Monastero di San Sisto all'Appia (1994) San Domenico e il monastero di San Sisto all'Appia (1994) San Tommaso d'Aquino: biografia documentata (1997) Temi e problemi di Teologia Politica (1988) Dottrina soziale della Chiesa (1989) Enciclopedia del pensiero sociale cristiano (1992)