Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster

Alfredo Ludovico Schuster was born in 1880 in the Ospedale Santissimo Salvatore in Rome to Johann Schuster (a Bavarian tailor and double widower) and Maria Anna Tutzer (who hailed from Bolzano).[4][3] Johann was three decades older than Tutzer. His sister Giulia entered the Vincentians as a nun. He also had three half-siblings from his father's second marriage. Schuster was baptized on 20 January as "Alfredo Ludovico Luigi". In his childhood he was kidnapped for a brief period but the kidnapper was arrested.[5]

Schuster received his Confirmation on 2 April 1887 from Monsignor Giulio Lenti and made his First Communion on Pentecost 1890 in the Santa Anna in Porta Angelica church. His father Johann died on 18 September 1889.[4]

He served as an altar server at the Santa Maria della Pietà in Camposanto dei Teutonici church next to Saint Peter's Basilica. Schuster completed his high school studies (ginnasiali and liceali) at the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in November 1891. On 13 November 1898 he joined the Order of Saint Benedict at their novitiate at Saint Paul Outside the Walls when he took the name Ildefonso.[5] He later professed his monastic vows on 13 November 1900. He graduated with a Doctor of Philosophy on 14 June 1903 and later received a doctorate in theology from the Pontifical Atheneum of Saint Anselm in Rome.

Schuster received his ordination as a priest on 19 March 1904 at the patriarchal Lateran Basilica in Rome from Cardinal Pietro Respighi (its archpriest). He returned to the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in 1904. His two mentors during his time of education were Father Bonifacio Oslander and Tommaso Riccardi.[3]

He became the novice master in 1908 and prior in 1916 before he was elected as the abbot for Saint Paul Outside the Walls on 6 April 1918. He also received the abbatial blessing from Cardinal Basilio Pompili on 14 April there.[5] He served as the Procurator General for the Cassinese Congregation from 1914 to 1929 and also served as the President of the Pontifical Oriental Institute from 1919 to 1922. He visited the seminaries of the northern Lombard region as well as those in the southern regions of Campania and Calabria from 1924 to 1928.[5] Either in November or December 1926 he preached the spiritual exercises to Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli (the future Pope John XXIII) at Saint Paul Outside the Walls. While abbot he was made a consulter to the Congregation for Rites and the Congregation for the Oriental Churches.[4]

Schuster was named Archbishop of Milan on 26 June 1929 to succeed Eugenio Tosi. On the following 13 July he took the oath of allegiance to the Italian state in front of King Vittorio Emanuele III; he was the first Italian bishop to do this since the new Lateran Concordat required it according to Article 20 of the concordat.[3][5] Pope Pius XI elevated Schuster to the cardinalate in 1929 as the Cardinal-Priest of Santi Silvestro e Martino ai Monti. Carlo Cremonesi and Agostino Zampini served as the co-consecrators. In 1933 he was conferred as a bailiff grand cross of honor and devotion to the Order of Malta.[6]

Schuster ordained 1265 priests and consecrated 22 bishops during his tenure as archbishop.[3] He also made five pastoral visits during his episcopate and selected Saint Carlo Borromeo as his model as an archbishop. He emphasized the importance of catechetics and promoted the Catholic Action movement for the faithful. He also believed that the goal of all Christians was holiness.[4]

He served as a papal legate on several occasions. On 15 August 1932 he was appointed as the legate to the celebration of Nostra Signora di Caravaggio; on 21 March 1934 to the millennial commemorations of the Einsiedeln convent in Switzerland; on 15 September 1937 to the inauguration of the new facade of the cathedral of Desio; and on 2 August 1951 to the National Eucharistic Conference in Assisi.

He participated in the papal conclave in 1939 which elected Pope Pius XII on the eve of World War II and was even considered as a papabile candidate for those seeking a more pastoral pope.

Schuster's tomb in the Cathedral of Milan.

He died on 30 August 1954 at 4:15am of a heart ailment in at Venegono Inferiore near Milan. Cardinal Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli (the future Pope John XXIII) celebrated his funeral. He was buried on 2 September 1954 in the metropolitan cathedral next to his two immediate predecessors.[5] His tomb was opened on 28 January 1985 and his remains were found to be intact.[7]

• Schuster was honoured with the Order of the Holy Sepulchre[8]
• In 1933 the cardinal was conferred the honour of Bailiff Knight Grand Cross of Honor and Devotion of the Order of Malta.[9]

The Italian fascist and German Nazi press attacked Schuster during the war, without his suffering loss of esteem among his own flock in Milan. On 25 April 1945, the cardinal hosted in the archbishop's palace in Milan a meeting between Italian partisans and Mussolini in an attempt to obtain a truce between the two parties. However, Mussolini did not accept the demand for unconditional surrender that Marazza and Pertini, the partisan delegates, made. Mussolini arrived on time at 4:00pm without the other side being present. The delegates Cadorna and Lombardi as well as Marazza arrived an hour later. Mussolini had a talk with Schuster in the meantime, who gave him a glass of rosolio to drink and a copy of a book he had written about the life of a saint. Schuster made an effort to preach humility to Mussolini. Once Graziani and the other Fascist leaders arrived (according to the versions given according to all those present including Schuster), events that occurred differ according to the individuals versions of events.[15]

Although the cardinal sought Mussolini out on 25 April 1945 and urged him to make his peace with God and his fellow man, Mussolini spurned the admonition and was killed within a week.

Following the end of the war, cardinal made frequent attempts to emphasize the danger of totalitarianism that communism and fascism inspired.[16]