Italian Cardinal Francesco Marchisano, 85, once the “guardian” of the early Christian catacombs of Rome and the Vatican’s priceless artworks by Michelangelo, Raphael and other masters, died July 27.

Cardinal Marchisano had held a number of posts at the Vatican, many involving care for the Vatican’s vast collection of artistic treasures.

All of his jobs, he told Catholic News Service (CNS) in 2002, were focused on communicating the Gospel, usually not through words but through the witness of what human minds and hands were inspired to make in celebration of the faith.

However, despite his many top-level Vatican positions, he told CNS that his favorite ministerial memory was the 30 years he spent, outside office hours, teaching catechism in Rome to groups of children with severe hearing loss.

In 1988, he began serving as secretary of the then-Pontifical Commission for Preserving the Patrimony of Art and History and then was named its president when the commission’s name was changed in 1993 to the Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church.

At the time, he also held a second job as president of the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology, the Vatican office in charge of safeguarding the Christian catacombs of Rome.

Still serving as president of the two pontifical commissions, in 2002, Pope John Paul II gave him additional responsibilities as papal vicar for Vatican City State.