The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church - Biographical Dictionary

The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church

Biographical Dictionary
Pelagius II (579-590)
580 (I)

Birth. (No date or place found). Of the ancient and noble Aniceo family. He was a relative of Pope Gregory I. He is also listed as Anicio Giovanni

Education. " ... uomo dotato di rara pietà, di straordinaria saviezza, e prudenza, e cospicuo per azione sante, e virtuose ... " (1).

Cardinalate. Presbyter cardinalis of an unknown title in 580 (?) (2). He was sent as apocrisiarius to Constantinople; he occupied the post for seven or eight years. He founded a famous oratory next to the Terme di Agrippa, in Rome, and endowed it with sufficient rents to have monks living in it singing the divine office day and night. He wrote his testament, which was confirmed by Pope Gregory I.

Death. 600, (no place found). Buried at an unknown place. After his death, Pope Gregory I replaced the monks of the oratory with nuns headed by an abbess.

Bibliography. Cardella, Lorenzo. Memorie storiche de' cardinali della Santa Romana Chiesa. Rome : Stamperia Pagliarini, 1792, I, pt. 1, 18-19; Chacón, Alfonso. Vitæ, et res gestæ Pontificum Romanorum : et S.R.E. Cardinalium ab initio nascentis Ecclesiae usque ad Clementem IX P. O. M. Alphonsi Ciaconii Ord. Praed. & aliorum opera descriptæ : cum uberrimis notis. Ab Augustino Oldoino, Soc. Jesu recognitae, et ad quatuor tomos ingenti ubique rerum accessione productae. Additis Pontificum recentiorum imaginibus, & Cardinalium insignibus, plurimisque aeneis figuris, cum indicibus locupletissimis. Romæ : P. et A. De Rubeis, 1677, I, col. 401; Cristofori, Francesco. Cronotasi dei cardinali di Santa Romana Chiesa. Rome : Tipografia de Propaganda Fide, 1888, p. 265; "Essai de liste générale des cardinaux. Les cardinaux des 10 premiers siècles". Annuaire Pontifical Catholique 1926. Paris : Maison de la Bonne Presse, 1927, p. 142, no. 1.

(1) Cardella, Memorie storiche de' cardinali della Santa Romana Chiesa, I, pt. 1, 18: "a man of uncommon piety, of extraordinary wisdom, and prudence, and conspicuous for holy and virtuous actions."
(2) He is listed as a different presbyter cardinalis by "Essai de liste générale des cardinaux. Les cardinaux des 10 premiers siècles". Annuaire Pontifical Catholique 1926, p. 142, no. 4, indicating that the date of of his nomination is unknwon.

(2) 2. LORENZO (?-?)

Birth. (No date or place found).

Education. (No information found).

Cardinalate. Deacon cardinalis of the Holy Roman Church in 580 (?). Archdeacon cardinalis of the Holy Roman Church. He was sent to Constantinople as apocrisiarius before Emperor Maurice by Pope Pelagius II. He behaved so perversely because of his pride that Pope Gregory I deprived him of his rank in September 591 (1).

Death. (No date or place found). Buried at an unknown place.

Bibliography. Cardella, Lorenzo. Memorie storiche de' cardinali della Santa Romana Chiesa. Rome : Stamperia Pagliarini, 1792, I, pt. 1, 19; Chacón, Alfonso. Vitæ, et res gestæ Pontificum Romanorum : et S.R.E. Cardinalium ab initio nascentis Ecclesiae usque ad Clementem IX P. O. M. Alphonsi Ciaconii Ord. Praed. & aliorum opera descriptæ : cum uberrimis notis. Ab Augustino Oldoino, Soc. Jesu recognitae, et ad quatuor tomos ingenti ubique rerum accessione productae. Additis Pontificum recentiorum imaginibus, & Cardinalium insignibus, plurimisque aeneis figuris, cum indicibus locupletissimis. Romæ : P. et A. De Rubeis, 1677, I, col. 402; Cristofori, Francesco. Cronotasi dei cardinali di Santa Romana Chiesa. Rome : Tipografia de Propaganda Fide, 1888, p. 283 and 291; "Essai de liste générale des cardinaux. Les cardinaux des 10 premiers siècles". Annuaire Pontifical Catholique 1926. Paris : Maison de la Bonne Presse, 1927, p. 142, no. 2.

(1) Agostino Oldoino, S.J., in his addition to Chacón's Vitæ, et res gestæ Pontificum Romanorum : et S.R.E. Cardinalium, 1677, I, 402, indicates that although Chacón in his catalog of cardinals and Onofrio Panvinio in his Onuphrii Panvinii veronensis fratris eremitae augustiniani. De Episcopatibus, titulis et diaconiis cardinalium liber... Editus juxta exemplum Venetiis expressum Michaele Tramezino, anno 1557 (Parisiis : apud H. Drouart, 1609), say that Deacon cardinalis Lorenzo later became presbyter cardianlis of the title of S. Silvestro nelle Esquilie and librarian of the Holy Roman Church; the information is based on Deacon Lorenzo's subscription in an apocryphal bull issued by Pope Pelagius in favor of the monastery of S. Maria dell'Organo in Aquileia. Cardella, Memorie storiche de' cardinali della Santa Romana Chiesa, I, pt. 1, 19, repeats the same commentary.