The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church

Biographical Dictionary
Pope Julius II (1503-1513)
Consistory of September 11, 1507 (V)


(18) 1. GARA DELLA ROVERE, Sisto (1473-1517)

Birth. 1473 (1), Savona (2). Son of Gabriele Gara and Luchina Della Rovere, sister of Pope Julius II. Grand-nephew of Pope Sixtus IV. Half-brother of Cardinal Galeotto Franciotti della Rovere (1503). Relative of Cardinals Clemente Grosso della Rovere, O.F.M.Conv. (1503); Leonardo Grosso della Rovere (1505). He is also listed as Sisto de Franciotto della Rovere; as Sisto Della Rovere; as Sixtus de Franciottis de Rovere; and his last name as Franciotti della Rovere.

Education. (No information found).

Early life. (No information found).

Sacred orders. (No information found).

Cardinalate. Created cardinal priest in the consistory of September 11, 1507; received the red hat and the title of S. Pietro in Vincoli, September 11, 1507.

Episcopate. Administrator of the see of Lucca, September 11, 1507; resigned the post on March 3, 1517, five days before his death. Administrator of the see of Vicenza, September 11, 1507; occupied the post until June 11, 1509.Vice-chancellor of the Holy Roman Church, September 1507 until his death. Grand penitentiary (3). Administrator of the metropolitan see of Benevento, September 11, 1508; resigned the post, March 6, 1514. Prior in Rome of the Sovereign Order of Malta, 1508. Abbot comendatario of Farfa from 1508. Elected bishop of Padua, June 11, 1509; occupied the see until his death. Consecrated, November 25, 1509, Rome, by Cardinal Leonardo Grosso della Rovere. Administrator of the see of Saluzzo, September 27, 1512; did not reside in the diocese and administered it through the vicar general, Antonio Vacca, titular bishop of Nicomedia; resigned the post, March 22, 1516. Participated in the V Lateran Council. Participated in the conclave of 1513, which elected Pope Leo X.

Death. March 8, 1517, Rome. Buried in the church of S. Pietro in Vincoli, Rome (4).

Bibliography. Cardella, Lorenzo. Memorie storiche de' cardinali della Santa Romana Chiesa. Rome : Stamperia Pagliarini, 1793, III, 339-340; Chacón, Alfonso. Vitæ, et res gestæ Pontificvm Romanorum et S. R. E. Cardinalivm ab initio nascentis Ecclesiæ vsque ad Vrbanvm VIII. Pont. Max. 2 volumes. Romae : Typis Vaticanis, 1630, II, col. 1381; Eubel, Conradus and Gulik, Guglielmus van. Hierarchia Catholica Medii et Recentioris Aevi. Münich : Sumptibus et Typis Librariae Regensbergianae, 1935; reprint, Padua : Il Messagero di S. Antonio, 1960, III, 11, 68, 132, 228-229, 267, 290 and 333; Nicolai, Umberto. I vescovi di Lucca. Lucca : Tipografia Ricchielli, 1966, p. 23-24, no. 79; Weber, Christoph and Becker, Michael. Genealogien zur Papstgeschichte. 6 v. Stuttgart : Anton Hiersemann, 1999-2002. (Päpste und Papsttum, Bd. 29, 1-6), I, 333.

Webgraphy. Biography by Matteo Sanfilippo, in Italian, Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani - Volume 52 (1999), Treccani; his engraving, portrait and arms, Araldica Vaticana; his portrait (1500-1599), diocese of Vicenza, Beni Ecclesiastici in Web (BeWeb); his tomb, church of S. Pietro in Vincoli, Rome, Australian National University; his tomb, Requiem Datenbank.

(1) This is according to Cardella, Memorie storiche de' cardinali della Santa Romana Chiesa, III, 340; and his epitaph, below in note 4, say he died in 1517 at 44 years of age; and his first biographical entry in Italian, also linked above, says that he died at 46 in 1517; the photograph of his epitaph im his tomb, linked above, seems to say that he was XLIII at his death but there is a crack in the marble that may be hiding the last "I" of the cardinal's age.
(2) This is according to Cardella, Memorie storiche de' cardinali della Santa Romana Chiesa, III, 339; Chacón, Vitæ, et res gestæ Pontificvm Romanorum et S. R. E. Cardinalivm, II, col. 1381, says that he was born in Lucca.
(3) This is according to Eubel, , III, 11, citing Acta camerarii, f. 43'; Eubel does not give a date; Niccolò Del Re, La Curia romana : lineamenti storico giuridici (4th ed. aggiornata ed accresciuta. Città del Vaticano : Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1998), p. 209, does not list him among the occupants of the post.
(4) This is the text of his epitaph taken from Chacón, Vitæ, et res gestæ Pontificvm Romanorum et S. R. E. Cardinalivm, II, col. 1381: D. O. M. XYSTVS. IVLII. II. NEPOS. XYSTI. IV, PONT. MAX. PRO. NEPOS. S. PETRI. AD. VINCVLA. E. FAMILIA. ROBOREA. QVARTVS. PRESBYTER. CARDINALIS. S. R. E. VICE. CANCELLARIVS. SEPVLCRVM. IN. TEMPLO. A. SVA. FAMILIA. DOTATO. INSTAVRATO. ORNATO. VIVENS. SIBI. ELEGIT. OBIIT. VIII. MARTII. MDXVII. ANNVM. AGENS. XLIV.

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