Pietro Fiordelli

Pietro Fiordelli (9 January 1916 – 23 December 2004) was an Italian Roman Catholic bishop, first residential bishop of Prato.

Pietro Fiordelli
Bishop emeritus of Prato
Mgr Fordelli's grave
Church	Roman Catholic Church
See	Diocese of Prato
In office	1954 – 1991
Successor	Gastone Simoni
Previous post(s)	Priest and professor in Città di Castello
Orders
Ordination	16 November 1938
Consecration	17 July 1954 by Mgr Filippo Maria Cipriani
Personal details
Born	(1916-01-09)9 January 1916 Città di Castello, Italy
Died	23 December 2004(2004-12-23) (aged 88) Prato, Italy
Nationality	Italian

Styles of Pietro Fiordelli
Reference style	The Most Reverend
Spoken style	Your Excellency
Religious style	Monsignor
Posthumous style	none

Biography

Fiordelli was born in Città di Castello on 1916, he had a brother named Furio and three sisters, Gina, Maria and Dina. Ordained priest on November 6, 1938 and graduated at Pontifical Lateran University. After 16 years of ministry in Città di Castello, on 7 July 1954 he was appointed bishop of Prato by pope Pius XII; on following 3 October he was consecrated by bishop Filippo Maria Cipriani, being the youngest Italian bishop of the time.

Fiordelli held the office of bishop for 37 years, welcoming pope John Paul II on March 19, 1986 on a visit to Prato. On December 7, 1991, he left the office for having reached the age limit. He died, after a long illness, on the morning of December 23, 2004.

Controversial

Monsignor Fiordelli was known in 1958 for having defined the Bellandi family (Mauro Bellandi and Loriana Nunziati) public sinners, a couple of citizens of Prato who had married in a civil ceremony. Fiordelli was tried for defamation: he was sentenced in the first instance to pay a fine of 40.000 liras, and acquitted on appeal for the "unquestionable act".

Sources

• Official website of the Diocese of Prato (in Italian)
• "Italian Bishop Fined, Defamed Atheist, Bride". The Miami News. Associated Press. 1958-03-02. p. 8A. - Clipping from Newspapers.com