Celso Benigno Luigi Costantini
Catholic cardinal (1876-1958)
Celso Benigno Luigi Costantini (Chinese: 剛恆毅, 3 April 1876 – 17 October 1958) was an Italian Roman Catholic cardinal and the founder of the Disciples of the Lord who served as the head of the Apostolic Chancery from 1954 until his death.
He was elevated to the cardinalate on 12 January 1953. He is best known for his work in China. Costantini dedicated himself to improving the work of missionaries and believed that evangelization in China belonged to the Chinese people. His time there heralded countless successes and he was careful never to involve himself in the complex politics between the Church and the State.
His cause for sainthood commenced on 24 June 2016 under Pope Francis and he has been titled as a Servant of God.
Early years
Celso Benigno Luigi Costantini was born on 3 April 1876 in Castions di Zoppola as the second of ten children to Costante Costantini (a building contractor) and Maddalena Altan. His brother Giovanni (1880–1956) became the Bishop of La Spezia.
He followed his father's trade as a mason and worked since 1887 in that trade before deciding to undergo ecclesial studies. He studied first from 1892 until 1897 at Portogruaro and then attended as a part-time student at the Academica di San Tommaso in Rome from 1897 until 1899.
The public source identifies “Celso Benigno Luigi Costantini” as catholic cardinal (1876-1958). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Celso, Benigno and Luigi.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q918301. VIAF identifies the subject as 51731311. The Library of Congress control number is n86003211. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1876, 1958, 1954 and 1953.
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This entry incorporates text from “Celso Benigno Luigi Costantini” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.