Francesco Minerva

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Francesco Minerva (January 31, 1904 - August 23, 2004) was, at his death, the second-oldest living bishop in the Roman Catholic Church, after Corrado Cardinal Bafile. He was also one of its longest-serving priests, having been ordained on April 16, 1927.

Pope Pius XII named Father Minerva bishop of Nardo in 1948, and in 1950 transferred him to the somewhat larger diocese of Lecce. While his successor in Nardò, Corrado Ursi (1908-2003), went on to become Archbishop of Naples and a Cardinal, Bishop Minerva continued in Lecce, which was elevated to an archdiocese in 1980, and retired in 1981.

In 1973, he consecrated as bishop a priest from Lecce, Salvatore DeGiorgi, who today is archbishop of Palermo and a Cardinal.