The Discalced Carmelite Who Could Have Been Pope

FATHER OSCAR I. APARICIO, GENERAL Archivist, OCD-Rome-Italy (03.13.2013.) - In these days of the conclave we want to narrate the story of the Discalced Carmelite who came closest to occupying the See of Peter. We are speaking of Giovanni Antonio Benedetto Gotti. I was born in the Italian city of Genoa on March 29, 1834. He made ​​his first profession in the Teresian Carmel on September 21, 1851, in Loano. From That date, as was the custom in the reformed Carmel, I was called Jerome Mary of the Immaculate Conception. On December 22, 1856, I was ordained to the priesthood. He spent his first years as a professor of philosophy and from 1858 as a member of the community of Saint Ann in Genoa. 

Elected He Was General Procurator of the Discalced Carmelites on April 21, 1872. I managed the finances of the Order and was its legal representative before the Holy See and the Italian nation. It was Father Jerome Gotti who was in charge of bringing to the safe harbor union of two congregations of Discalced Carmelites in 1875: the Spanish congregation of Saint Joseph and the Italian congregation of Saint Elijah. His leadership qualities led to his election as Superior General of the Order on October 22, 1881, and his reelection to office in 1889 That. 

On March 8 I was named archbishop of Petra by Pope Leo XIII and was ordained in Rome on March 27. His first pastoral mission was Papal Legate Apostolic Internuncio and to the Republic of Brazil. During the period of more than three years in Which I was in Brazil (1892-1895) his work consisted of organizing the church, Principally the Brazilian hierarchy, and its Relations with the Brazilian state. 

On October 16, 1895, I received a telegram from the Secretary of State, Cardinal Rampolla, announcing I had been nominated That Cardinal of the Holy Church. The publication of his name as Cardinal was made ​​on November 29, 1895, and on December 1 of the same year I received the biretta. He later presided over the Sacred Congregations of Indulgences, Bishops and Regulars, and lastly of the Propaganda Fide. He died in Rome on March 19, 1916. 

Cardinal Gotti participated in the 1903 conclave. There were two likely successors to the papacy: Cardinal Rampolla and Cardinal Gotti. We Know That They received the MOST votes in the first two ballots, Rampolla Gotti Receiving 24 and 17. In the Following ballot, received 29 and Gotti Rampolla 16. Subsequently, the Austro-Hungarian Empire vetoed Rampolla, and Cardinal Sarto, patriarch of Venice, Began to accumulate many votes. On the seventh ballot He Was Elected Pope. He took the name of Pius, the tenth of That name to date, and we know him as Saint Pius X. 

Known May These Words make an exemplary life of the Discalced Carmelite, Cardinal Gotti, who was the friar That came closest to serving the Church from the Petrine office.

Source: The General House of the Teresian Carmel