Another change to the d’Estouteville line:
only three minor Roman-rite lines remain
In recent days my friend and colleague Angelo M. Tavazza of
Milan was researching the episcopal ordination of Bishop Francesco Ravizza,
Titular Bishop of Sidon, one time Apostolic Nuncio to Portugal, and the head of what was thought to be one of the four minor Roman-rite episcopal lines,
the Ravizza line.
He discovered the consecrator of Bishop Ravizza and in doing
so also discovered that the Ravizza line was never an independent line, but was
part of the d’Estouteville line. Thus,
there are only three minor Roman-rite lines: d’Estouteville, von Bodman, and de
Bovet.
The basic details of Bishop Ravizza’s ordination as bishop
are found in a letter from Marquis Torquato Montauti, chargé d’affaires of the
Grand Duchy of Tuscany in Rome to his “illustrious and most respected
Master.” The manuscript letter, dated
Rome, 22 March 1667, is conserved in the Archivio di Stato di Firenze, Medico
del Principato, envelope 3389.
In it we find that Neri Cardinal Corsini conferred episcopal
ordination on Msgr. Francesco Ravizza, Titular Bishop of Sidon, on 20 March
1667 in Rome. From another source we previously knew that the ceremony took place
in St. Peter’s Basilica. Cardinal
Corsini was already known to be a member of the d’Estouteville line.
The story of how Cardinal Corsini came to be the consecrator
of Bishop Ravizza is fascinating and is related in an article authored by Mr.
Tavazza, The episcopal consecration of Bishop Francesco Ravizza, at:
