Birth. October 27, 1595, Bologna. Son of Count Orazio Ludovisi and Lavinia Albergati. Nephew of Pope Gregory XV (1621-1623). Cousin of Cardinal Niccolò Albergati-Ludovisi (1645).

Education. Studied at Collegio Germanico, Rome; and at the University of Bologna, where he earned a doctorate in canon law on February 25, 1615.

Early life. Archpriest of the chapter of the metropolitan cathedral of Bologna, 1616. Returned to Rome in 1619 and became referendary of the Tribunals of the Apostolic Signature of Justice and of Grace. Relator of the SS.CC. of Good Government and of the Sacred Consulta.

Sacred orders. (No information found).

Cardinalate. Created cardinal priest in the consistory of February 15, 1621; received the red hat and the title of S. Maria in Traspontina, March 17, 1621. Legate in Fermo, 1621. Legate in Avignon, 1621-1623. Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, March 17, 1621 until June 7, 1623.

Episcopate. Elected archbishop of Bologna, March 29, 1621. Consecrated, Sunday May 2, 1621, in the private chapel of his consecrator, near the patriarchal Vatican basilica, Rome, by Galeazzo Sanvitale, former archbishop of Bari, assisted by Cosmo de Torres, titular archbishop of Hadrianopolis, and by Ottavio Ridolfi, bishop of Ariano. Remained in Rome. Granted the faculty to exercise any office in the Roman Curia per substitutum, April 14, 1621. Prefect of the Signature of Apostolic Briefs, March 16, 1622. Prefect of the S.C. of Propaganda Fide, November 12, 1622 until his death. Vice-chancellor of the Holy Roman Church and sommista of apostolic letters, June 7, 1623 until his death. Opted for the title of S. Lorenzo in Damaso, proper of the vice-chancellor of the Holy Roman Church, June 7, 1623. Abbot commendatario of S. Silvestro di Nonantola, S. Lorenzo in Campo, Urbino, and Saint-Martin des Champs, France. Participated in the conclave of 1623, which elected Pope Urban VIII. Resigned the legation in Avignon before October 2, 1623. Named protector of Ireland in 1623.

Death. November 18, 1632, Bologna. Buried in the metropolitan cathedral of Bologna. Later, transferred, according to his will, to the church of S. Ignazio, Rome. There is a memorial to the cardinal in the main entrance hallway of the Irish College in Rome.

Bibliography. Cardella, Lorenzo. Memorie storiche de' cardinali della Santa Romana Chiesa. 9 vols. Rome : Stamperia Pagliarini, 1793, VI, 220-222; Combaluzier, Fernand. "Sacres épiscopaux à Rome de 1565 à 1662. Analyse intégrale du Ms. «Miscellanea XIII, 33» des Archives Vaticanes." Sacris Eruduri, XVIII (1967-1968), p. 190; Gauchat, Patritium. Hierarchia Catholica Medii et Recientoris Aevi. Volumen IV (1592-1667). Münich : Sumptibus et Typis Librariae Regensbergianae, 1935; reprint, Padua : Il Messagero di S. Antonio, 1967, pp. 15-16, 43, 45, 58 and 118; The Irish College, Rome, and its world. Edited by Dáire Keogh and Albert McDonnell. Dublin ; Portland, OR : Four Courts Press, 2008. Contents: The beginnings of the Irish College, Rome / Patrick J. Corish -- Luke Wadding's networks at home and abroad / Thomas O'Connor -- Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi (1595-1632) / Charles Burns -- Some Irish donors of books to the Irish College in Rome, 1611-1678 / Hugh Fenning -- 'The spiritual governance of the entire world' : a memorial for the Irish College, Rome, January 1783 / Clare Carroll -- Daniel O'Connell's Roman bequest / Fearghus Ó Fearghail -- The Irish College, Rome, and the appointment of Irish bishops to the United States, 1830-1851 / Colin Barr -- The archives of the Irish College, Rome : a source for the history of art in Ireland / Eileen Kane -- Tobias Kirby (1804-1895) : the man who kept the papers / Michael Olden -- An efficacious Irish triumvirate : Paul Cullen, Tobias Kirby and Joseph Dixon / Amy McKinney -- The papal brigade of St Patrick / Ciarán O'Carroll -- The Irish College, Rome, and the land war / Ambrose Macaulay -- 'Waving the green flag' in the southern hemisphere : the Kellys and the Irish College, Rome / Rory Sweetman -- Monsignor O'Riordan, the Irish College, Rome, and First World War military chaplaincy / Peter Anthony Boyle -- John Hagan and radical Irish nationalism, 1916-1930 : a study in political Catholicism / Dermot Keogh -- Life at the Irish College during the Second Vatican Council / Michael Smith -- The archives of the Pontifical Irish College, Rome : history and holdings / Vera Orschel.

Webgraphy. Biography by Paolo Broggio and Sabina Brevaglieri, in Italian, Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani - Volume 66 (2007), Treccani; portraits and prosopography, in German, Requiem Datenbank; his funeral monument by Pierre le Gros in the Church of S. Ignazio, Rome. The angels are from the monument to the last Stuarts by Antonio Canova in the patriarchal Vatican basilica, romeartlover.it; his tomb, Requiem Datenbank; his engravings, portrait and arms, Araldica Vaticana; his portrait and arms, secolo XIX (1890-1899), archdiocese of Bologna, Beni Ecclesiastici in Web (BeWeb).

©1998-2023 Salvador Miranda.