FELICI, PERICLE

Canonist, cardinal, and leading figure at the Second Vatican Council; b. Segni, Italy, Aug. 1, 1911; d. Foggia, Italy, Mar. 22, 1982. Felici studied philosophy and theology in Rome and was ordained to the priesthood on Oct. 28, 1933. His doctoral thesis, Summa psychanalyseos liniamenta eiusque compendiosa refutatio, was published in 1937. In 1938 Felici was awarded the doctorate utroque iure by the Pontifical University of the Lateran, after defending a brilliant dissertation De iure poenali interpretando.

Named rector of the Pontifical Institute of Jurisprudence at St. Apollinaris, for 10 years Felici served as spiritual director for the Pontifical Roman Seminary. In 1943 he began teaching fundamental moral theology at the Lateran University. His treatises on the virtues of justice and religion were greatly admired both for their content and elegant style. Felici was said to be one of the most gifted Latinists in modern times.

In 1947 Pope Pius XII named him an auditor on the Sacred Roman Rota. Pope John XXIII ordained Felici as Titular Archbishop of Samosata (1960), and appointed him to be Secretary General of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council (1962–65). The post required him not only to prepare extensive preliminary studies, but also to coordinate each meeting and present a synthesis of the council father's oftentimes lengthy discussions. Felici published a collection of his own interventions at Vatican II, Il lungo cammino del Concilio (1967).

In 1967, after the Council, Felici presided over the commission for the restoration of the permanent diaconate. In that same year, Pope Paul VI named Felici pro-President of the Pontifical Commission for the revision of the Code of Canon Law. He became its president when raised to the rank of cardinal in June. The cardinal served on various Sacred Commission and Congregations: for the Doctrine of the Faith, for Bishops, for the Sacraments and Divine Worship, for the Causes of Saints, and as head of the Archives of the Vatican. He also served as President of the Court of Appeal at the Vatican, and President of the Commission for the interpretation of the decrees of Vatican Council II. Together with Cardinals villot and Conway he presided over the First Synod of Bishops in 1967.

Between 1967 and 1969 Cardinal Felici published Freud e il peccato; Concilio vitam alere; Continuità, coerenze, fermezza di dottrina; and Il Vaticano II e il celibato sacerdotale. He likewise contributed articles to various reviews and to the Dizionario di Teologial Morale Casus Conscientiae by Palazzini-De Jorio. He was the founder of the review Communicationes and contributed frequently to L'Osservatore Romano.

On Oct. 21, 1981, Felici presented the integral text of the revised Code of Canon Law to the plenary session of the Cardinals. The following month Pope John Paul II entrusted him with the task of making some final alterations. Unfortunately Cardinal Felici's sudden and unexpected death prevented him from witnessing the Code's promulgation on Jan. 25, 1983.

[j. aumann]