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Gregory XVII of Genoa: St. Malachy's Shepherd and Sailor

On left: Genoa's John Cabot (Giovanni Caboto)

Giuseppi Siri was born 400 years to the date after Christopher Columbus died (May 20, 1506) on May 20, 1906. As a boy he felt irresistibly drawn to the priesthood and entered into the seminary at 12 years of age. Pius XII named him Archbishop of Genoa at age 40, and made him his youngest Cardinal at only age 53.

In Italy, so strongly felt was the inevitability of Cardinal Siri's election in 1958 that the prophecy of Saint Malachy, describing Pius XII's successor as "Shepherd and sailor" (Pastor et nauta), was commonly attributed to the illustrious Archbishop of Genoa. The maritime city had been his life- long home, where he was born the son of a dockworker. It was the most important seaport in the country, and birthplace of the famous sea captains *Christopher Columbus (d. 1506), Admiral Andrea Doria (d. 1560) and Giovanni Caboto (d. 1499).

*On December 12th, 1955 Guiseppe Cardinal Siri, archbishop of Genoa reconsecrated the Church (St. Stephen's) where Christopher Columbus was baptized. His Excellency had directed a reconstruction project of the 1000 year old Church, that had been damaged in World War II bombing.

In July 1954 the maiden voyage of the pride of Italy's transatlantic fleet (the new 29,000-ton liner "Cristoforo Colombo") was preceded by the blessing of the vessel and its chapel, by Cardinal Siri, Archbishop of Genoa. It ended in New York with High Mass in St. Patrick's Cathedral. At the Mass, NY Bishop Pernicone remarked that the liner symbolised for Catholics "the Faith which the great Genoese, Christopher Columbus, brought to this country 462 years ago."