Flavio Orsini (1532 – 16 May 1581) was a papal bureaucrat, an Italian bishop, and a cardinal of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. He was son of Ferdinando

Orsini Orsini is a surname of Italian origin, originally derived from Latin ''ursinus'' ("bearlike") and originating as an epithet or sobriquet describing the name-bearer's purported strength. Notable people with the surname include the following: *Angel ...

, 5th duke of Gravina; and Beatrice Ferrillo, daughter and heiress of Giovanni Alfonso Ferrillo, Conte di Muro Lucano.

Biography

Born in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, he was appointed

bishop of Muro Lucano The Latin Catholic Diocese of Muro Lucano, in the southern Italian region of Basilicata, existed until 1986. In that year it was united into the archdiocese of Potenza-Muro Lucano-Marsico Nuovo. History Pope Leo IX (1049–1054), in naming ...

by Pope Pius IV (Medici) in consistory on 29 November 1560. He held various offices in the Roman Curia. On 10 July 1561, Flavio Orsini, Bishop of Muro and Auditor of Causes in the Apostolic Camera, transmitted a ''motu proprio'' of Pope Pius IV granting a feudal investiture to Baldassare Rangoni of Modena. On 3 September 1563, the Bishop of Muro was judge ordinary in the curia, hearing a testamentary dispute from the diocese of Ajaccio. He was transferred to the diocese of

Spoleto Spoleto (, also , , ; la, Spoletum) is an ancient city in the Italian province of Perugia in east-central Umbria on a foothill of the Apennines. It is S. of Trevi, N. of Terni, SE of Perugia; SE of Florence; and N of Rome. History Spolet ...

on 16 December 1562 by Pope Pius IV. In his fourth consistory for the creation of cardinals, on 12 March 1565, Pope Pius IV named Flavio Orsini a cardinal-priest, and on 15 May assigned him the '' titulus'' of

San Giovanni a Porta Latina San Giovanni a Porta Latina (Italian: "Saint John Before the Latin Gate") is a Basilica church in Rome, Italy, near the Porta Latina (on the Via Latina) of the Aurelian Wall. History According to Tertullian, as quoted by Saint Jerome, in the y ...

. On 17 November 1565, he chose to be moved to ("opted for") SS. Marcellino e Pietro, and on 9 July 1578 to

Santa Prisca Santa Prisca is a titular church of Rome, on the Aventine Hill, for Cardinal-priests. It is recorded as the ''Titulus Priscae'' in the acts of the 499 synod. Church It is devoted to Saint Prisca, a 1st-century martyr, whose relics are contai ...

. On 19 September 1570,

Pope Pius V Pope Pius V ( it, Pio V; 17 January 1504 – 1 May 1572), born Antonio Ghislieri (from 1518 called Michele Ghislieri, O.P.), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 January 1566 to his death in May 1572. He is v ...

(Ghislieri) appointed a commission of two cardinals, Giovanni Poliziani and Flavio Orsini, to complete the repairs on the Aqua Vergine and connect various fountains, including the Trevi.

Pope Gregory XIII Pope Gregory XIII ( la, Gregorius XIII; it, Gregorio XIII; 7 January 1502 – 10 April 1585), born Ugo Boncompagni, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 May 1572 to his death in April 1585. He is best known for ...

(Boncompagni) sent Bishop Orsini to France in 1572, to attempt to persuade King

Charles IX of France Charles IX (Charles Maximilien; 27 June 1550 – 30 May 1574) was King of France from 1560 until his death in 1574. He ascended the French throne upon the death of his brother Francis II in 1560, and as such was the penultimate monarch of the ...

to join in a crusade against the Turks. He arrived in Paris on October 8, and was still in France in the second half of December. His mission was a failure. On 11 April 1580, he was granted a coadjutor bishop with the right of succession, in the person of his nephew Pietro. Flavio Orsini died in

Pozzuoli Pozzuoli (; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Naples, in the Italian region of Campania. It is the main city of the Phlegrean Peninsula. History Pozzuoli began as the Greek colony of ''Dicaearchia'' ( el, Δικα ...

, near

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, on 16 May 1581.Benigni (1899), p. 496. Eubel III, p. 41, no. 36.

References

Books

* *Cardella, Lorenzo (1793). ''Memorie storiche de' cardinali della santa Romana chiesa''.
Tomo quinto (5)
Roma: Pagliarini. pp. 94-95. *Crescimbeni, Giovanni Mario (1716). ''L' Istoria della Chiesa di S. Giovanni avanti Porta Latina'' Roma: Antonio de'Rossi. pp. 384-385. *Martuscelli, Luigi (1896)
''Numistrone e Muro-Lucano: Note appunti e ricordi storici.''
. Napoli: R. Pesole. pp. 263-265. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Orsini, Flavio 1532 births 1581 deaths Clergy from Rome

Flavio ''Flavio, re de' Longobardi'' ("Flavio, King of the Lombards", HWV 16) is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel. The Italian-language libretto was by Nicola Francesco Haym, after Matteo Noris's ''Flavio Cuniberto''. It was Ha ...

16th-century Italian cardinals Bishops of Spoleto 16th-century Italian Roman Catholic bishops