Blessed John XXIII

 1958 - 1963

Memorial: October 11

Name:

Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli.

Position:

At the death of Pius XII, Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was elected the 262nd Pope of the Catholic Church on 28 October 1958, taking the name John XXIII.

History:

Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was born on November 25, 1881, at Sotto il Monte, diocese of Bergamo, Italy. He was the third of thirteen children of Giovanni Battista Roncalli and his wife Marianna Giulia Mazzolla. Angelo was ordained a priest in the Roman Church of Santa Maria in Monte Santo in 1904.
While secretary to the bishop of Bergamo Giacomo Radini-Tedeschi, between 1905 and 1914, he wrote scholarly works, among them a life of Saint Charles Borromeo.
World War I interrupted this busy life. Father Roncalli became Sergeant Roncalli of the medical corps and later Lieutenant Roncalli of the chaplains' corps. When the guns fell silent, Roncalli returned to his old life, but not for long. In 1921 pope Benedict XV called him to Rome to work for the important Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith.
In 1925 Pope Pius XI appointed him as Apostolic Visitor to Bulgaria, also naming him for consecration as titular bishop of Areopolis. He chose as his episcopal motto Obedientia et Pax ("Obedience and Peace"), which became his guiding motto. There he spent most of World War II, and in that neutral city, so rife with suspicion and intrigue, Roncalli managed to get along with everybody. In 1944 he was named papal nuncio to France.
In 1953 he was made cardinal and the patriarch of Venice.
Pope Pius XII died on October 9, 1958, and the conclave began two weeks later. Roncalli was elected pope on October 28, 1958, taking the name John XXIII. He was seventy-seven years old.

His Work:

Pope John XXIII is perhaps best known for convening the second ecumencial council at the Vatican, known as Vatican II.
Apostolic Letters of Pope John XXIII: "Boni Pastoris".

Encyclicals of Pope John XXIII