Roman Catholic Cardinal. Seveso born Carlo Confalonieri was the son of a cabinet maker. Entering the local seminary in 1904, he successively moved to that of Monza in 1909, later furthering his studies at the Milanese Parini Lyceum and in Rome, at the Pontifical Seminary of Saints Ambrogio e Carlo, known as the Collegio Lombardo and the Pontifical Gregorian University from where he obtained his bachelor's degree in theology in 1913. He then served as infantryman with the Italian Army during the Great War, being ordained priest on March 18, 1916 by Cardinal Andrea Carlo Ferrari in the shrine of San Pietro Martire of Seveso. Named private secretary to Cardinal Achille Ratti, Ferrari's successor to the Ambrosian See in 1921, Confalonieri traveled with the Cardinal to Rome as his conclavist for the 1922 Papal conclave at which Ratti was elected to the Papacy. Continuing to serve Ratti as his secretary until his death in 1939, during this period he was raised to the rank of privy chamberlain on February 7, 1922, protonotary apostolic on December 24, 1935 and canon of the chapter of St. Peter's Basilica. Declining Pope Pius XII's invitation to become archbishop of Modena and abbot of Nonantola on December 16, 1939, he was eventually appointed archbishop of L'Aquila, receiving his episcopal consecration on May 4, 1941 from the name Pope in the Sistine Chapel. Appointed secretary of the Sacred Congregation for Seminaries and Universities on January 25, 1950, he was promoted to the titular archbishopric see of Nicopolis ad Nestum on February 22 of that same year. Pope John XXIII created him cardinal priest with the title of Sant'Agnese fuori le Mura in the consistory of December 15, 1958. Named archpriest of the Liberian Basilica on November 16, 1959, he was made secretary of the Sacred Consistorial Congregation and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. Ascending to pro-prefect of the Sacred Consistorial Congregation in 1966 and to prefect on August 15 of the following year, which Pope Paul VI renamed as the Congregation for Bishops on the following August 1, Confalonieri was also president of the Pontifical Commission for the Pastoral of Emigration and Tourism from April 30, 1970 until February 25, 1973, when he resigned all of his posts at the age of seventy nine. Named bishop of the suburbicarian see of Palestrina on March 15, 1972, he became vice-dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals on January 7, 1974 and ultimately its Dean on December 12, 1977. His appointment as Dean of the College entailed the title of the suburbicarian see of Ostia, which he took in addition to his first suburbicarian see. As Dean, he led the funeral masses for Popes Paul VI and John Paul I in 1978. Papal legate to the opening of the Holy Door at the Patriarchal Liberian Basilica on December 24, 1974, he was considered as a possible candidate for a transitional Pope in the conclave of 1963, yet his lack of pastoral experience was seen as a hindrance. Publishing a moving tribute to Pope Pius XI with numerous valuable anecdotes, the Cardinal died inside his Vatican apartment at the venerable age of ninety three on August 1, 1986 shortly after being visited by Pope John Paul II. Funeral mass, celebrated by the latter Pontiff, was held at St. Peter's Patriarchal Vatican Basilica three days later. Successively, his remains were moved to his native Seveso, where another mass, celebrated by Cardinal Giovanni Colombo, archbishop emeritus of Milan, took place on the morrow at the local parish church. In accordance with his wishes, Confalonieri was laid to rest next to his parents in the family grave located at the local cemetery.