ROME, JULY 26, 2011 (Zenit.org).- The dean of the College of Cardinals presided today at the funeral Mass for Cardinal Virgilio Noè, who died Sunday at age 89.
Cardinal Noè had served as archpriest of the Vatican Basilica, vicar general of the Pope for Vatican City State and president of the Fabricca di San Pietro.
Benedict XVI sent a telegram of condolence to Maria Noè, the cardinal’s sister. He spoke of the cardinal as a “diligent collaborator of the Holy See.”
“In everything he did he provided highly valued testimony of fervent priestly zeal and faithfulness to the Gospel,” the Pope assured.
Virgilio Noè was born in the Italian diocese of Pavia in 1922.
He had extensive formation in liturgy, Church history and art history from several pontifical universities of Rome, and in 1969 Pope Paul VI appointed him the under secretary of the then new Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, tasked with implementing the liturgical reform promoted by the Second Vatican Council.
In 1970, he was appointed Master of Pontifical Ceremonies, implementing these transformations in the celebration of canonizations, beatifications, papal funeral rites and the opening and closing of the Holy Door on the occasion of the Jubilee of 1975.
In 1982, during John Paul II’s pontificate, he was appointed secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments. In 1989, he was named coadjutor of the cardinal archpriest of the Vatican Basilica, and became the archpriest in 2002. He was made a cardinal in 1991.
With Cardinal Noè’s death, the College of Cardinals now has 195 cardinals, 114 of whom are electors.
