Francesco Gonzaga (6 December 1538 – 6 January 1566) was an Italian nobleman, who was Duke of Ariano. He was also a Roman Catholic

cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

and bishop.

Biography

Francesco Gonzaga was born in

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

on 6 December 1538, the son of Ferrante Gonzaga (a member of the House of Gonzaga) and Isabella di Capua. His father was at that time viceroy of Palermo. He was the nephew of Cardinal

Ercole Gonzaga Ercole Gonzaga (23 November 1505 – 2 March 1563) was an Italian Cardinal (Catholicism), Cardinal. Biography Born in Mantua, he was the son of the Marquis Francesco II Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua, Francesco Gonzaga and Isabella d'Este, and nephe ...

. His brother

Giovanni Vincenzo Gonzaga Giovanni Vincenzo Gonzaga (1540–1591) was an Italians, Italian Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Cardinal (Catholicism), cardinal. Biography A member of the House of Gonzaga, Giovanni Vincenzo Gonzaga was born in Palermo on December 8, 1540, th ...

also became a cardinal. When Ferrante died in 1557

became guardian and the young Mantuan humanist and future Jesuit

Antonio Possevino Antonio Possevino (Antonius Possevinus) (10 July 1533 – 26 February 1611) was a Jesuit protagonist of Counter Reformation as a papal diplomat and a Jesuit controversialist, encyclopedist and bibliographer. He was the first Jesuit to visit Mu ...

became tutor to the brothers. He studied law as a young man. In 1538, he was made

archpriest The ecclesiastical title of archpriest or archpresbyter belongs to certain priests with supervisory duties over a number of parishes. The term is most often used in Eastern Orthodoxy and the Eastern Catholic Churches and may be somewhat analogous ...

of Guastalla. On 26 February 1560 he became a

protonotary apostolic In the Roman Catholic Church, protonotary apostolic (PA; Latin: ''protonotarius apostolicus'') is the title for a member of the highest non-episcopal college of prelates in the Roman Curia or, outside Rome, an honorary prelate on whom the pop ...

Pope Pius IV Pope Pius IV ( it, Pio IV; 31 March 1499 – 9 December 1565), born Giovanni Angelo Medici, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 25 December 1559 to his death in December 1565. Born in Milan, his family considered ...

made him a cardinal deacon in the consistory of 26 February 1561. He received the

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and the deaconry of San Nicola in Carcere on 10 March 1561. The pope named him

papal legate 300px, A woodcut showing Henry II of England greeting the pope's legate. A papal legate or apostolic legate (from the ancient Roman title ''legatus'') is a personal representative of the pope to foreign nations, or to some part of the Catholic ...

in the Campagne and Maritime Province. On 2 March 1562 he was elected

Archbishop of Cosenza The Italian Catholic archdiocese of Cosenza-Bisignano in Calabria has been a metropolitan see since 2001.

with dispensation for not having reached the canonical age; he was named administrator of the see. On 16 July 1562 he opted for

San Lorenzo in Lucina The Minor Basilica of St. Lawrence in Lucina ( it, Basilica Minore di San Lorenzo in Lucina or simply it, San Lorenzo in Lucina; la, S. Laurentii in Lucina) is a Roman Catholic parish, titular church, and minor basilica in central Rome, Italy. ...

, a titular church declared to be a deaconry ''

pro illa vice In the legal field, ''pro hac vice'' () is a practice in common law jurisdictions whereby a lawyer who has not been admitted to practice in a certain jurisdiction is allowed to participate in a particular case in that jurisdiction. Although ''pro ...

''. He opted for the order of cardinal priests on 1 March 1564 and San Lorenzo in Lucina was returned to its status as a titular church at that time. He resigned the government of the Archdiocese of Cosenza sometime before 12 January 1565. On 5 May 1565 he was elected

Bishop of Mantua The Diocese of Mantua ( la, Dioecesis Mantuana) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Italy. The diocese existed at the beginning of the 8th century, though the earliest attested bishop is Laiulfus (827). ...

with dispensation for not having reached the canonical age. He participated in the papal conclave of 1565-66 that elected Pope Pius V. He died during the conclave, in Rome, on 6 January 1566. He was buried in

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gonzaga, Francesco 1538 births 1566 deaths Nobility from Palermo

Francesco Francesco, the Italian (and original) version of the personal name " Francis", is the most common given name among males in Italy. Notable persons with that name include: People with the given name Francesco * Francesco I (disambiguation), sev ...

16th-century Italian cardinals Apostolic pronotaries 16th-century Italian nobility Bishops of Mantua Clergy from Palermo 16th-century Italian Roman Catholic bishops