Roman Catholic Cardinal. Neapolitan born Giuseppe Maria Graniello attended the local Caravaggio school of the Barnabite Fathers in Naples, eventually joined their Congregation of the Regular Clerics of St. Paul. Making his novitiate in Resina, he studied philosophy in Macerata and theology in Rome. Ordained priest in June 1857, his first assignment following his ordination was that of professor of theology at San Carlo ai Catinari in Rome. Elected consultor of the Congregation of the Sacred Indulgences and Relics by Pope Pius IX in 1867, three years later he was named member of the Congregation of the Index and of the Council. Already a member of the Holy Office, he became a consultor of the Holy Inquisition that same year. For years, he lectured theology in the Roman College of his Order until being elected general procurator of his Order in 1877, an office which he held until 1891, when he was assigned as secretary of the Sacred Congregation of Bishops and Regulars on December 31 that year. Known to suffer from frail health, his lungs were so weak that he was not able to preach, but was always ready for confessional, even if immersed in his studies. Named consultor of the Congregation of Extraordinary Affairs in 1879, Pius IX publicly praised his gifted mind and profound doctrine, especially in canon law. Elected archbishop of the titular see of Cesarea in Palestina, he received his episcopal consecration in Rome on April 3, 1892. Pope Leo XIII created him cardinal priest in the consistory of June 12, 1893, with the title of Ss. Quirico e Giulitta. His physical constitution, already in poor condition, seemed to regain new strength because of less rigorous activities demanded by his position. But unfortunately, on January 5, 1896, he suffered a very serious visceral congestion which led to his death on the afternoon of January 8, at sixty one years of age. His body was exposed in the church of Ss. Carlo e Biagio ai Catinari and later buried in the tomb of the Congregation of the Clerics Regular of Saint Paul at the Campo Verano Cemetery of Rome.