Roman Catholic Cardinal. A native of San Benedetto Po, Ernesto Ruffini entered seminary at the early age of ten in Mantua, where he was ordained priest by the local bishop in July 1910. Pursuing his studies in Rome and Jerusalem as a student of the Pontifical Biblical Institute, he earned a diploma in Biblical Science and two licentiates in philosophy and theology from the Pontifical Theological Faculty of Northern Italy and from the Pontifical Academy of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome. Longtime faculty member of the Major Roman Seminary and De Propaganda Fide Athenaeum, Ruffini served as examiner of the Roman clergy and subsequently as prefect of studies and later rector of the Pontifical Lateran Athenaeum. Appointed archbishop of the metropolitan see of Palermo in 1945, the following year Pope Pius XII created him cardinal with the title of Santa Sabina. Apostolic administrator of the eparchy of Piana degli Albanesi, during his episcopate he founded several family service centers, nurseries, elementary schools, clinics and villages for the homeless and the elderly, in a then war-torn city. In order to support all these charitable institutions, Ruffini founded the Missionaries of Social Workers, a secular institute which continues to operate in its mission in Palermo and in several cities in Spain and Argentina. Member of the Pontifical Commission of the Central Preparatory Second Vatican Council, he died suddenly of a heart attack in the courtyard of his archiepiscopal palace after having voted in the regional elections, while on his way to celebrate mass in Bonagia, one of the poorest areas of Palermo. The unexpected death of Cardinal Ruffini aroused astonishment in Italy and beyond. While customarily, the archbishops of Palermo are buried in their cathedral, Ruffini requested in his will to be buried in the Madonna dei Rimedi church of the Carmelite Discalced Fathers, which request was granted two days following his sudden death. His body was interred in two caskets, one of zinc and the other of mahogany. A Bible was placed along with him as stated in the named will.