Enrico Manfredini

Enrico Manfredini (20 January 1922 – 16 December 1983) was an Italian Roman Catholic prelate who served as the Archbishop of Bologna from 18 March 1983 until his death 9 months later.^[1]

He was born in Suzzara, in the province and Diocese of Mantua, on 20 January 1922; he was baptized with the name Ruben Enrico. In 1930, he moved with his family to Milan.

In 1934, he entered the archiepiscopal minor seminaries, first in Seveso, then in Venegono Inferiore, then the location of the Faculty of Theology. During this period, he met and became a close friend of Don Luigi Giussani, a fellow seminarian and founder of Communion and Liberation.

On 26 May 1945, he was ordained a priest in the cathedral of Milan by Cardinal Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster.

After ordination, he was assigned as vicar in Monza, until 1950, and then in Lambrate.

In 1951, he graduated in philosophy and literature from the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart. From 1950 to 1956, he taught philosophy in the archiepiscopal seminaries of the Archdiocese of Milan. In 1956, he was appointed diocesan assistant to Catholic Action’s youth sector; in 1958, he became diocesan delegate for the entire Italian Catholic Action.

In 1963, he was appointed Provost of the Basilica of San Vittore in Varese by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini, who, after being elected Pope Paul VI, chose him as parish priest and helper at the Second Vatican Council.