Roman Catholic Cardinal. Genazzano born Serafino Vannutelli was the elder brother of Vincenzo Vannutelli (1836-1930), who likewise was a member of the Sacred College of Cardinals. Entering seminary in Palestrina, he furthered his studies at the Almo Capranica College and later at the Collegio Romano, from where he earned his doctorates in philosophy on September 5, 1855, in theology on September 8, 1859, and in utroque iure in both canon and civil laws. Ordained priest on December 22, 1860 by Cardinal Costantino Patrizi Naro, he was named beneficiary of the Patriarchal Vatican Basilica and professor of theology at the Vatican Seminary in 1863. Appointed auditor of the apostolic nunciature in Mexico in 1864, he returned to Rome after the fall of Emperor Maximilian I in 1867 and was appointed auditor in the nunciature of Bavaria. At the early age of thirty four, he was elected archbishop of the titular see of Nicea, receiving his episcopal consecration on July 18, 1869 at the church of Sant'Andrea al Quirinale, Rome, from the named Cardinal Patrizi Naro. Apostolic delegate in the Republics of Ecuador, Perú, and Nueva Granada (Colombia), Venezuela, El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras and Nicaragua, Vannutelli was appointed apostolic nuncio in Belgium on September 10, 1875, and later nuncio in Austria-Hungary on December 3, 1880. Pope Leo XIII created him cardinal priest in the consistory of March 14, 1887 with the title of Santa Sabina. Decorated with the grand cross of the Austrian Order of Sankt Stefan later that year and appointed prefect of the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences and Relics on February 13, 1888, he opted for the title of San Girolamo degli Schiavoni on February 11, 1889. Named secretary of Pontifical Memorial on March 14, 1889, Camerlengo of the Sacred College of Cardinals on June 1, 1891, an office which he held until July 11, 1892, and secretary of Apostolic Briefs on January 28, 1892, he was elected archbishop of the metropolitan see of Bologna on January 16 of the following year, opting however for the order of cardinal bishops and the suburbicarian see of Frascati on the following June 12. Named prefect of the Sacred Congregation of the Index on December 9, 1893, he went on to be named pro-prefect of the Sacred Congregation of Bishops and Regulars on October 1, 1896, grand penitentiary on November 20, 1899 and secretary of the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Universal and Roman Inquisition on January 16, 1903, a position which he held until December 31, 1908. Opting for the suburbicarian see of Porto e Santa Rufina on June 22, 1903, he was named dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals on December 7, 1913, opting for the suburbicarian see of Ostia, proper of the Dean of the Sacred College, which was added to his see of Porto e Santa Rufina on May 25, 1914. Prefect of the Sacred Ceremonial Congregation, the Cardinal died in Rome and was laid to rest in the crypt of the chapel of the Sacred Congregation of the Propaganda Fide at the local Campo Verano Cemetery of Rome. Upon his death fifteen years later, his brother, Cardinal Vincenzo, was buried next to him.