Alessandro Orsini (1592–1626) was an Italian
Cardinal. He was a patron of
Galileo, who dedicated his 1616 work on the
tides to him, and requested that he pass it on to
Pope Paul V
Pope Paul V ( la, Paulus V; it, Paolo V) (17 September 1550 – 28 January 1621), born Camillo Borghese, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 16 May 1605 to his death in January 1621. In 1611, he honored ...
. Orsini belonged to the ducal family of
Bracciano.
Orsini was born in
Bracciano, Italy. He was son of
Virginio Orsini, Duke of Bracciano and his wife
Flavia Peretti, a niece of
Pope Sixtus V.
[ ] He was brought up at the court of the
Grand Duke Ferdinand I of Tuscany, and in 1615 was created a cardinal by Paul V. As
papal legate to
Ravenna
Ravenna ( , , also ; rgn, Ravèna) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 408 until its collapse in 476. It then served as the ca ...
under
Pope Gregory XV, he distinguished himself in 1621 by his charity on the occasion of the outbreak of an epidemic. Upon his return to Rome, he devoted himself to religion and to the practice of an austere
asceticism. He asked permission of the pope to resign the cardinalate and to enter the
Jesuit Order
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
, image_size = 175px
, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders ...
, but this was refused.
Notes
External links
Biography
1592 births
1626 deaths
17th-century Italian cardinals
People from Bracciano
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