Archbishop Luigi Raimondi, the presiding prelate at today’s installation of Archbishop Thomas A. Donnellan, was born at Acqui-Lussito, Italy, Oct. 25, 1912. He attended the seminary in Acqui, and was ordained to the priesthood on June 6, 1936. He received a doctorate in Canon Law at the Appolinaris Seminary in Rome and made studies at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy. He was appointed secretary to the Apostolic Nunciature in Guatemala in 1938, and was named Papal Chamberlain with the title of Very Reverend Monsignor in 1939. He served as secretary and then as auditor in the Apostolic Delegate in Washington from 1942 to 1949.

In 1949, the then Monsignor Raimondi assumed the post of auditor of the Apostolic Internunciature in New Delhi, India.

He was named Titular Archbishop of Tarsus and Papal Nuncio to Haiti on Dec. 24, 1953 and was consecrated in Rome in 1954. In Haiti, Archbishop Raimondi succeeded Archbishop Francesco Lardone, who was named Papal Nuncio to Peru.

On Dec. 15, 1956, Archbishop Raimondi was named Apostolic Delegate in Mexico, a post he held until he was named Apostolic Delegate in the United States on June 30, 1967.

The American hierarchy, represented by 5 cardinals and 70 archbishops and bishops, welcomed Archbishop Raimondi to the United States at solemn liturgical ceremony in St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Sept. 26, 1967.

“In exercising their duty of teaching, they should announce the gospel of Christ to men, a task which is eminent among the chief of bishops. They should, in the power of the Spirit, summon men to faith or confirm them in a faith already living. They should expound the whole mystery of Christ to them, namely, those truths the ignorance of which is ignorance of Christ. At the same time, they should point out the divinely revealed way to give glory to God and thus to attain to everlasting bliss.”

“They should show, moreover, that earthly goods and human institutions structured according to the plan of God the Creator are also related to man’s salvation, and therefore can contribute much to the up-building of Christ’s Body.”

“Hence, let them teach with what seriousness the Church believes these realities should be regarded: the human person with his freedom and bodily life, the family and its unity and stability, the procreation and education of children, civil society with its laws and professions, labor and leisure, the arts and technical inventions, poverty and affluence. Finally, they should set forth the ways by which are to be solved the very grave questions concerning the ownership, increase, and just distribution of material goods, peace and war, and brotherly relations among all peoples.”

Decree on Bishops,

Second Vatican Council