Vatican City – 24 July 2011. The Chancery with much sadness learns of the death on 24 July 2011 at the age of 89 of His Eminence Virgilio Cardinal Noè, a liturgist and former Archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica.
Cardinal Noè was a longstanding member of the Constantinian Order. His late Eminence was first invested into the Order by decree of HRH Prince Ferdinando, Duke of Castro, on 10 October 1994 and held the rank of Bailiff Knight Grand Cross of Justice for Cardinals.
In a telegram to the Cardinal’s sister, Pope Benedict XVI highlighted Cardinal Noè’s “many years as a diligent collaborator at the Holy See, particularly in the Office of Liturgical Celebrations and as Archpriest of the Papal Basilica of St. Peter’s, everywhere giving witness to a fervid priestly zeal and fidelity to the Gospel.”
The late Cardinal spent more than 45 years in liturgical work, beginning a decade before the Second Vatican Council reformed the Mass. He had served as Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments and was the Master of Liturgical Ceremonies to Popes Paul VI and Blessed John Paul II.
Three days after Pope John Paul II formally inducted him into the College of Cardinals in 1991, he named him the Archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica, Papal Vicar for the Vatican City State and placed him in charge of the Fabbrica di San Pietro, the office responsible for the basilica’s upkeep.
Two years before taking the reins as the master of ceremonies for papal liturgies in 1970, he was named to a commission charged with updating papal Masses in line with the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council.
For much of his time as Pontifical Master of Ceremonies, he also doubled as Undersecretary of the Divine Worship Congregation. In 1982, Pope John Paul II named him an archbishop and congregation secretary, a post he held until 1989.
The late Cardinal was born 30 March 1922, in northern Italy, he was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Pavia in 1944 and taught church history and liturgy in diocesan seminaries. In 1964, he was named Secretary of the Italian Bishops’ Liturgical Action Centre and began organizing national liturgical weeks. Five years later, he was named undersecretary of the divine worship congregation.