Notable Armenians - biography

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Gregorio Pietro Agagianian

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His Eminence Gregorio Pietro XV Agagianian
Patriarch emeritus of Cilicia; Cardinal
Photograph by David Lees, 1965
Church	Armenian Catholic Church
See	Cilicia
Appointed	13 December 1937
Term ended	25 August 1962
Predecessor	Avedis Bedros XIV Arpiarian
Successor	Ignatius Bedros XVI Batanian
Other post(s)	Cardinal-Bishop of Albano
Orders
Ordination	23 December 1917
Consecration	21 July 1935 by Bishop Serge Der Abrahamian[1]
Created cardinal	18 February 1946 by Pope Pius XII
Rank	Cardinal-Priest (1946–1970) Cardinal-Bishop (1970–1971)
Personal details
Born	Ghazaros Aghajanian 15 September 1895 Akhaltsikhe, Russian Empire (present-day Georgia)
Died	16 May 1971 (aged 75) Rome, Italy
Nationality	Armenian (ethnicity) Lebanese (citizen) Vatican (citizen) Russian Empire (subject by birth)[a]
Denomination	Armenian Catholic
Residence	Rome, Beirut[b]
Previous post(s)	Titular Bishop of Comana Armeniae (1935–1937) Cardinal-Priest of San Bartolomeo all'Isola (1946–1970) Prefect of the Congregation for Propagation of the Faith (1960–1970), pro-Prefect (1958–1960)
Motto	Iustitia et Pax ("Justice and Peace")
Sainthood
Title as Saint	Servant of God

Styles of Gregorio Pietro Agagianian
Reference style	His Eminence
Spoken style	Your Eminence
Informal style	Cardinal
See	Cilicia

Gregorio Pietro XV Agagianian (ah-gah-JAHN-yan;^[3] anglicized: Gregory Peter;^[6] Western Armenian: Գրիգոր Պետրոս ԺԵ. Աղաճանեան,^[7] Krikor Bedros ŽĒ. Aghajanian; 15 September 1895 – 16 May 1971) was an Armenian Cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was the head of the Armenian Catholic Church (as Patriarch of Cilicia) from 1937 to 1962 and supervised the Catholic Church's missionary work for more than a decade, until his retirement in 1970. He was considered papabile on two occasions.

Educated in Tiflis and Rome, Agagianian first served as leader of the Armenian Catholic community of Tiflis before the Bolshevik takeover of the Caucasus in 1921. He then moved to Rome, where he first taught and then headed the Pontifical Armenian College until 1937 when he was elected to lead the Armenian Catholic Church, which he revitalized after major losses the church had experienced during the Armenian genocide.

Agagianian was elevated to the cardinalate in 1946 by Pope Pius XII. He was Prefect of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith (Propaganda Fide) from 1958 to 1970. Theologically a moderate, a linguist, and an authority on the Soviet Union, he served as one of the four moderators at the Second Vatican Council and was twice considered a serious papal candidate, during the conclaves of 1958 and 1963.