The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church - Biographical Dictionary

The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church

Biographical Dictionary
Pope Sixtus V (1585-1590)
Consistory of December 14, 1588 (VII)

(28) 1. CUSANI, Agostino (1542-1598)

Birth. 1542, Milan. Of the marquises of Somma. Milanese patrician. Fourth of the twelve children of Luigi Cusani and Costanza d'Adda (1). Uncle of Cardinal Alfonso Litta (1664). Another cardinal of the family was Agostino Cusani (1712).

Education. Obtained a doctorate in utroque iure, both canon and civil law.

Early life. Protonotary apostolic. Referendary of the Tribunals of the Apostolic Signature of Justice and of Grace. Cleric of the Apostolic Chamber; later auditor general (2), and finally, president.

Sacred orders. (No information found)

Cardinalate. Created cardinal deacon in the consistory of December 14, 1588; received the red hat and the deaconry of S. Adriano, January 9, 1589. Participated in the first conclave of 1590, which elected Pope Urban VII. Participated in the second conclave of 1590, which elected Pope Gregory XIV. Opted for the order of priests and the title of S. Lorenzo in Panisperna, January 14, 1591. Participated in the conclave of 1591, which elected Pope Innocent IX. Participated in the conclave of 1592, which elected Pope Clement VIII. Member of the Congregation for the Interpretation of the Constitutions of the Council of Trent in the pontificate of Pope Clement VIII. Opted for the title of Ss. Giovanni e Paolo, August 30, 1595. Accompanied Pope Clement VIII in his visit to Ferrara; from that city, he went to Milan.

Death. October 20, 1598, Milan (3). Buried in the church of S. Barbara, Milan (4).

Bibliography. Cardella, Lorenzo. Memorie storiche de' cardinali della Santa Romana Chiesa. Rome : Stamperia Pagliarini, 1793, V, 99-301; 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, cols. 1813-1814; 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, 52, 64 and 72; Gauchat, Patritium. Hierarchia Catholica Medii et Recentioris Aevi, Münich : Sumptibus et Typis Librariae Regensbergianae, 1935; reprint, Padua : Il Messagero di S. Antonio, 1967, IV, 43; Katterbach, Bruno. Referendarii utriusque Signaturae a Martino V ad Clementem IX et Praelati Signaturae Supplicationum a Martino V ad Leonem XIII. Città del Vaticano 1931. (Studi e Testi 55), p. 183; Weber, Christoph and Becker, Michael. Genealogien zur Papstgeschichte. 6 v. Stuttgart : Anton Hiersemann, 1999-2002. (Päpste und Papsttum, Bd. 29, 1-6), I, 287.

Webgraphy. His genealogy, A1 C1 H9, Libro d'Oro della Nobilità Mediterranea.

(1) This is according to Weber, Genealogien zur Papstgeschichte, I, 286; and his genealogy, linked above. Chacón, Vitæ, et res gestæ Pontificvm Romanorum et S. R. E. Cardinalivm, II, col. 1813, indicates that his father's name was Alfonso.
(2) This is according to Eubel, Hierarchia Catholica Medii et Recentioris Aevi, III, 52; and Katterbach, Referendarii utriusque Signaturae a Martino V ad Clementem IX et Praelati Signaturae Supplicationum a Martino V ad Leonem XIII, p. 183; his genealogy, linked above, indicates that he was auditor general of the Sacred Roman Rota. The genealogy also says that he was prefect of the Tribunal of the Apostolic Signature but Giuseppe Beltrami in his Notizie su prefetti e referendari della Segnatura Apostolica desunte dai brevi di nomina, (Città del Vaticano, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1972), does not mention him in the catalog of prefects.
(3) This is according to Chacón, Vitæ, et res gestæ Pontificvm Romanorum et S. R. E. Cardinalivm, II, col. 1814; and Cardella, Memorie storiche de' cardinali della Santa Romana Chiesa, V, 300; Eubel, Hierarchia Catholica Medii et Recentioris Aevi, III, 52, indicates that he died "in Curia Romana" and his genealogy, linked above, also says that he died in Rome.
(4) This is according to Chacón, Vitæ, et res gestæ Pontificvm Romanorum et S. R. E. Cardinalivm, II, col. 1814; Cardella, Memorie storiche de' cardinali della Santa Romana Chiesa, V, 300, says that he was buried in the church of S. Barnaba, Milan. Following is the text of his epitaph transcribed by Ferdinando Ughelli on that same page of Chacón's work:

AGVSTINVS. CUSANVS. DE. COLLEGIO. I. C. MEDIOL.
EX. CLERIC. ET. AVDIT. CAM. APOST. PRES. CARDINALIS.
A. CONCIL. TRID. INTERPRETANDO. A. CONSVI.
TATIONIBVS. EPISC. AC. MINOR. CONVENT. CORRECTOR.
VIR. SVMMA. IN. DEVM. PIETATE.
ANNVM. ÆTATIS. SVÆ. LVI. AGENS.
RELICTO. SVI. DESIDERIO. IN. PATRIÆ. SINV.
XX. OCTOB. MDIIC. E. VITA. MIGRAVIT.
PRÆFECTI. HOS. M. HÆRED. CARD. ET. CIVI. OPTIME.
MERITO. GRATI. ANIMI. M. P.

(29) 2. BOURBON DEL MONTE, Francesco Maria (1549-1626)

Birth. July 5, 1549, Venice. Of the San Faustino line of the family. Roman noble. Fifth of the thirteen children of Marquis Ranieri Bourbon del Monte, first count of Monte Baroccio, and Minerva Pianosa. The other siblings were Lucrezia, Guidobaldo, Ippolita, Virginia, Eleonora, Federico, Ottavia, Vittoria, Giulio, Isabella, Lavinia and Settimia; the last five children died in infancy. Distant descendant of the Bourbon French royal house. His last name is also listed as del Monte only; as Bourbon del Monte only; as Borbone del Monte; and as Bourbon del Monte Santa Maria.

Education. He went to Rome when he was stil an adolescent and formed part of the "famiglia" of Cardinale Alessandro Sforza, hia relative. Obtained a doctorate in law.

Early life. Abbot commendatario of Santa Croce a Monte Fabali. Went to Rome when he was still quite young. Auditor of Cardinal Alessandro Sforza. Admitted into the court of Cardinal Ferdinando de' Medici. Referendary of the Tribunals of the Apostolic Signature of Justice and of Grace, 1580; and later, relator of that tribunal. Later, went to serve the grand-duke of Tuscany, the former Cardinal Ferdinando de' Medici.

Cardinalate. Created cardinal deacon in the consistory of December 14, 1588; received the red hat and the deaconry of S. Maria in Domnica, January 9, 1589.

Priesthood. He was ordained a priest on April 10, 1589 in the church of Santa Maria in Vallicella, Rome, by Cardinal Scipione Gonzaga. Participated in the first conclave of 1590, which elected Pope Urban VII. Participated in the second conclave of 1590, which elected Pope Gregory XIV. Opted for the order of priests and the title of Ss. Quirico e Giulitta, April 5, 1591. Participated in the conclave of 1591, which elected Pope Innocent IX. Participated in the conclave of 1592, which elected Pope Clement VIII. Opted for the title of S. Maria in Aracoeli, February 14, 1592. Participated in the first conclave of 1605, which elected Pope Leo XI. Participated in the second conclave of 1605, which elected Pope Paul V. Prefect of the S.C. of the Tridentine Council from 1606 until 1616. Opted for the title of S. Maria in Trastevere, January 24, 1611. Prefect of the S.C. of Rites and Ceremonies from 1611 until his death. Opted for the title of S. Lorenzo in Lucina, June 4, 1612. Cardinal protoprete. Regent of the marquisate of Santa Maria, June 14, 1615.

Episcopate. Opted for the order of cardinal bishops and the suburbicarian see of Palestrina, September 16, 1615. Consecrated, December 7, 1615, at the Sistine Chapel, Rome, by Pope Paul V, assisted by Cardinal Evangelista Palotti and by Cardinal Benedetto Giustiniani. Cardinal Ferdinando Taverna, bishop of Novara, was consecrated in the same ceremony. In 1616, he built in Cavi a church dedicated to S. Carlo Borromeo. Participated in the conclave of 1621, which elected Pope Gregory XV; Spain presented the veto against his election to the pontificate. Opted for the suburbicarian see of Porto e Santa Rufina, March 29, 1621. Sub-dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals. Participated in the conclave of 1623, which elected Pope Urban VIII. Opted for the suburbicarian see of Ostia e Velletri, proper of the dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals, September 27, 1623. Legate a latere for the opening of the Holy Door at the basilica of S. Paolo in via Ostiense in the Jubilee Year of 1625.

Death. August 27, 1626, at 11 p.m., in his Roman palace (1). The funeral took place in the church of S. Luigi dei Francesi and later, he was buried in the church of S. Urbano, Rome.

Bibliography. Cardella, Lorenzo. Memorie storiche de' cardinali della Santa Romana Chiesa. Rome : Stamperia Pagliarini, 1793, V, 301-303; 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, cols. 1814-1815; Del Re, Nicola. "I cardinali prefetti della sacra congregazione del concilio dalle origini ad oggi (1564-1964)." Apollinaris, XXXVII (1964), pp. 112-113; 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, 52, ; Gauchat, Patritium. Hierarchia Catholica Medii et Recentioris Aevi, Münich : Sumptibus et Typis Librariae Regensbergianae, 1935; reprint, Padua : Il Messagero di S. Antonio, 1967, IV, 37, 38, 43, 45 and 46; Wazbinski, Zygmunt. Il cardinale Francesco Maria del Monte : 1549-1626. Firenze : Leo S. Olschki Editore, 1994. (Studi / Accademia toscana di scienze e lettere "La Colombaria" ; 137). Contents: v. 1. Mecenate di artisti, consigliere di politici e di sovrani -- v. 2. Il "dossier" di lavoro di un prelato.

Webgraphy. Biography by Victor Ivo Comparato, in Italian, Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani - Volume 13 (1971), Treccani; portrait and biography, in Italian, Wikipedia; his portrait, images and biography, in German, Wikipedia; his genealogy, A3 B5, Libro d'Oro de la Nobilità Mediterranea; his engraving, arms and biography, in Italian, Araldica Vaticana; his engraving and prosopography, in German, Requiem Datenbank; his tomb, Requiem Datenbank.

(1) This is according to Chacón, Vitæ, et res gestæ Pontificvm Romanorum et S. R. E. Cardinalivm, II, col. 1814; and Gauchat, Hierarchia Catholica Medii et Recentioris Aevi, IV, 37. Eubel, Hierarchia Catholica Medii et Recentioris Aevi, III, 52; and Cardella, Memorie storiche de' cardinali della Santa Romana Chiesa, V, 302, indicate that he died on August 27, 1627. Cardinal Ottavio Bandini, his successor in the see of Ostia e Velletri, opted for that see on September 7, 1626.