Born in
Frascati, Micara attended the
Pontifical Roman Seminary, the
Pontifical Gregorian University, the
Pontifical Lateran University, and the
Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy. He was
ordained to the
priesthood on 20 September 1902, and finished his studies in 1904. After entering the
Roman Curia, in the
Secretariat of State, in 1904, Micara was named
secretary of the
nunciature to
Argentina in 1909. He was raised to the rank of
Privy Chamberlain of His Holiness on 5 January 1910, and later
Domestic Prelate of His Holiness on 21 August 1918. Micara was made
auditor of the
Belgian nunciature on 16 April 1915, and of the
Austrian nunciature in 1916. On 7 May 1920, he was appointed by
Pope Benedict XV as the first
Nuncio to
Czechoslovakia and
Titular Archbishop of Apamea in Syria. He received his
episcopal consecration on the following 8 August from Cardinal
Pietro Gasparri, with Bishops Antonio Valbonesi and Karl Kašpar serving as
co-consecrators, in the
chapel of the
Bohemian College in
Rome. After being named Nuncio to
Belgium and Internuncio to
Luxembourg on 30 May 1923, Micara bestowed the
Golden Rose on
Queen Elizabeth of Belgium as a papal representative on 10 December 1925. He resided in Rome during the
Nazi occupation of Belgium from 1940 to 1944, at which time the nuncio resumed his post.
Pope Pius XII named Micara
Cardinal-Priest of
Santa Maria sopra Minerva in the
consistory of 18 February 1946, and then
Bishop of Velletri-Segni on 13 June. On 11 November 1950, he was made
Prefect of the
Sacred Congregation of Religious, and Pro-Prefect of the
Sacred Congregation of Rites in the Roman Curia. In 1953, he resigned as Prefect of Religious (17 January) and Pro-Prefect of Rites (26 January). Micara was also President of the
Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology from 1951 until his death. Micara was appointed Vice-Dean of the
College of Cardinals on 13 January 1951 and
Vicar General of Rome on the following 26 January. As Vicar General, Micara governed the
Diocese of Rome on behalf of the
Pope, the Bishop of Rome. Ahead of the
1953 Italian general election, Micara urged the Catholics of Rome to "[v]ote well, vote as Catholics, vote as Romans". He served as a
cardinal elector in the
1958 papal conclave that elected
Pope John XXIII, and
voted in the
conclave of 1963 that elected
Pope Paul VI. He was called the "Grand Elector" among the Curia because of his influential role in securing the votes of
conservative cardinals' for Pope Paul, with whom he was friends, in the latter conclave. In 1959 John XXIII paid tribute to his work in his speech announcing the proposed
Second Vatican Council. Seen as a
progressive, the Cardinal attended the first three of the four sessions of the Council in 1962, 1963 and 1964. He died in Rome on 11 March 1965 after a long illness, at age 85, and was buried in the
basilica of
Santa Maria sopra Minerva. == Connection to
Marcial Maciel case ==