Blessed Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster

Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster, O.S.B. was an Italian Catholic prelate and professed member of the Benedictines who served as the Archbishop of Milan from 1929 until his death. He took the religious name of Ildefonso as a Benedictine monk and served as an abbot prior to his elevation to the cardinalate. He led the Milanese archdiocese during World War II and was known to have supported fascism at first. His views changed to opposition after the annexation of Austria and the introduction of Italian racial laws, which prompted vocal criticisms of anti-Christian aspects of Benito Mussolini's regime. Schuster's beatification was celebrated in mid-1996 in Saint Peter's Square. Alfredo Ludovico Schuster was born on 18 January 1880 in the Ospedale Santissimo Salvatore in Rome to Johann Schuster (1819–1889), a Bavarian tailor and double widower, and Maria Anna Tutzer (1849–1912), who hailed from Bolzano. Johann was three decades older than Tutzer. His sister Giulia entered the Vincentians as a nun. He also had three half-siblings from his father's second marriage. Schuster was baptized on 20 January as "Alfredo Ludovico Luigi". In his childhood, he was kidnapped for a brief period, but the kidnapper was arrested. Schuster received his Confirmation on 2 April 1887 from Monsignor Giulio Lenti and made his First Communion on Pentecost 1890 in the church of Sant'Anna in Porta Angelica. His father Johann died on 18 September 1889. He served as an altar server at the Santa Maria della Pietà in Camposanto dei Teutonici church next to Saint Peter's Basilica. Schuster completed his high school studies (ginnasiali and liceali) at the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in November 1891. On 13 November 1898, he joined the Order of Saint Benedict at their novitiate at Saint Paul Outside the Walls when he took the name Ildefonso. He later professed his monastic vows on 13 November 1900.