Italian prelate, personal title of archbishop. A leading Vatican Latinist and chaplain of the Palatine Guards.
 
MS - Manuscript: six-line biglietto as Latin Secretary for Briefs to Princes; dated 5 April 1967. NOT SIGNED.
 
Tondini was born in Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy, on September 10, 1899, and due to his scholarly capabilities, was sent to the Pontifical Roman Seminary, earning degrees in philosophy, theology and in utroque iure. Ordained to the priesthood in 1923, he served briefly as parish priest of the Santissima Trinità parish in his native Diocese of Forlì, until being called to serve in the Vatican Secretariat of State in 1930. Minutante and close collaborator of the Substitute of the Secretariat of State, Monsignor Giovanni Battista Montini, Tondini rose to the post of Regent of the Apostolic Chamber in 1950 and headed the Secretariat for Letters to Princes since 1960.