Editing Francesco Minerva

{{More citations needed|date=December 2020}}{{Infobox clergy
| name        = Francesco Minerva
| image       = Francesco Minerva.png
| birth_date  = {{birth date|1904|01|31|df=y}} 
| birth_place = 
| death_date  = {{death date and age|2004|08|23|1904|01|31|df=y}}
| death_place = 
| church      = [[Roman Catholic Church]]
| other_names = 
| education   = 
| ordained    = 16 April 1927
| writings    = 
| congregations =
| offices_held =
| title       = 
| spouse      = 
| children    = 
| parents     = 
}}
'''Francesco Minerva''' (31 January 1904 &ndash; 23 August 2004) was an Italian Roman Catholic prelate; at his death he was the second-oldest living [[bishop]] in the [[Roman Catholic Church]], after [[Corrado Bafile]]. He was also one of its longest-serving [[priest]]s, having been [[Holy Orders|ordained]] on 16 April 1927.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Archbishop Francesco Minerva [Catholic-Hierarchy]|url=https://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bminerva.html|access-date=2020-12-24|website=www.catholic-hierarchy.org}}</ref>

==Biography==
Minerva was born at [[Canosa di Puglia]]. He graduated in theology at the [[Ateneo Lateranense|Pontifical Lateran University]] and, later, in law at the [[University of Bari]].
[[Pope Pius XII]] named  Minerva [[bishop of Nardò]] in 1948 and in 1950 transferred him to the somewhat larger [[diocese of Lecce]]. While his successor in [[Nardò]], [[Corrado Ursi]], went on to become [[Archbishop of Naples]] and a [[Cardinal (Catholicism)|Cardinal]], Minerva continued in Lecce, which was elevated to an archdiocese in 1980, and retired in 1981.

He died at Canosa di Puglia in 2004. He is buried in the [[Cathedral of San Sabino]] in that city.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Memorials in Cathedral of San Sabino - Find A Grave|url=https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2585580/memorial-search?firstname=Francesco&middlename=&lastname=Minerva&cemeteryName=Cathedral+of+San+Sabino&birthyear=&birthyearfilter=&deathyear=&deathyearfilter=&memorialid=&mcid=&linkedToName=&datefilter=&orderby=r|access-date=2020-12-24|website=www.findagrave.com|language=en}}</ref>

==Notes and references==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Minerva, Francesco}}
[[Category:1904 births]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Canosa di Puglia]]
[[Category:Bishops in Apulia]]
[[Category:Participants in the Second Vatican Council]]
[[Category:20th-century Italian Roman Catholic bishops]]
[[Category:Italian men centenarians]]