Francesco Sforza (1562–1624) was an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

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 A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

Biography

Background and early career in the military

A member of the

House of Sforza The House of Sforza () was a ruling family of Renaissance Italy, based in Milan. They acquired the Duchy of Milan following the extinction of the Visconti family in the mid-15th century, Sforza rule ending in Milan with the death of the last me ...

, Francesco Sforza was born in

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 ...

on 6 November 1562, the son of Sforza Sforza and his second wife Caterina de' Nobili. He was

count Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

Santa Fiora Santa Fiora is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Grosseto, in the Italian region of Tuscany, located about southeast of Florence and about east of Grosseto. Santa Fiora borders the following municipalities: Abbadia San Salvatore, Arc ...

marquis A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman wi ...

of Varci and Castel Acquaro. He was the nephew of Cardinals

Guido Ascanio Sforza di Santa Fiora Guido Ascanio Sforza di Santa Fiora (26 November 1518 – 6 October 1564) was an Italian cardinal, known also as ''The cardinal of Santa Fiora''. Born in Rome, he was the son of Costanza Farnese and therefore grandson of Pope Paul III, brot ...

Roberto de' Nobili Roberto de Nobili (1577 – 16 January 1656) was an Italian Jesuit missionary to Southern India. He used a novel method of adaptation ( accommodatio) to preach Christianity, adopting many local customs of India which were, in his view, not con ...

, and

Alessandro Sforza Alessandro Sforza (21 October 1409 – 3 April 1473) was an Italian condottiero and lord of Pesaro, the first of the Pesaro line of the Sforza family. Biography He was born in Cotignola in 1409, an illegitimate son of the famous condotti ...

, and the grand-nephew of

Pope Paul III Pope Paul III ( la, Paulus III; it, Paolo III; 29 February 1468 – 10 November 1549), born Alessandro Farnese, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 October 1534 to his death in November 1549. He came to ...

. He received a military education under

Ottavio Farnese, Duke of Parma Ottavio Farnese (9 October 1524 – 18 September 1586) reigned as Duke of Parma and Piacenza from 1547 until his death and Duke of Castro from 1545 to 1547 and from 1553 until his death. Biography Born in Valentano, Ottavio was the second ...

and later at the

court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance ...

Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany Francesco I (25 March 1541 – 19 October 1587) was the second Grand Duke of Tuscany, ruling from 1574 until his death in 1587. He was a member of the House of Medici. Biography Born in Florence, Francesco was the son of Cosimo I de' Medic ...

. He also studied

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

rhetoric Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate parti ...

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

, and politics. He married the sister of Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. At age 18, he served in Flanders under his cousin

Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma Alexander Farnese ( it, Alessandro Farnese, es, Alejandro Farnesio; 27 August 1545 – 3 December 1592) was an Italian noble and condottiero and later a general of the Spanish army, who was Duke of Parma, Piacenza and Castro from 1586 to 1592 ...

; he commanded Italian troops.

Early ecclesiastical career

Following his wife's death, his sister Costanza Sforza, duchess of Sora, who was married to Giacomo Boncompagni, the legitimized son of Pope Gregory XIII, encouraged him to pursue an ecclesiastical career. He became a cleric in Rome and rose quickly in the church, first becoming a canon of the

cathedral chapter According to both Catholic and Anglican canon law, a cathedral chapter is a college of clerics ( chapter) formed to advise a bishop and, in the case of a vacancy of the episcopal see in some countries, to govern the diocese during the vacancy. In ...

of San Nicola in Carcere before he had even been ordained as a priest.

Cardinalate

Pope Gregory XIII made him a cardinal deacon in the consistory of 12 December 1583. He received the

red hat Red Hat, Inc. is an American software company that provides open source software products to enterprises. Founded in 1993, Red Hat has its corporate headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina, with other offices worldwide. Red Hat has become ass ...

and the deaconry of San Giorgio in Velabro on 6 January 1584. He participated in the papal conclave of 1585 that elected

Pope Sixtus V Pope Sixtus V ( it, Sisto V; 13 December 1521 – 27 August 1590), born Felice Piergentile, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 24 April 1585 to his death in August 1590. As a youth, he joined the Franciscan order ...

; in the first papal conclave of 1590 that elected

Pope Urban VII Pope Urban VII ( la, Urbanus VII; it, Urbano VII; 4 August 1521 – 27 September 1590), born Giovanni Battista Castagna, was head of the Catholic Church, and ruler of the Papal States from 15 to 27 September 1590. His thirteen-day papacy was th ...

; in the second papal conclave of 1590 that elected

Pope Gregory XIV Pope Gregory XIV ( la, Gregorius XIV; it, Gregorio XIV; 11 February 1535 – 16 October 1591), born Niccolò Sfondrato or Sfondrati, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 5 December 1590 to his death in October ...

; in the

papal conclave of 1591 The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

that elected Pope Innocent IX; and in the

papal conclave of 1592 The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

that elected Pope Clement VIII. From 20 July 1591 until 1597 he was

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 ...

Romagna Romagna ( rgn, Rumâgna) is an Italian historical region that approximately corresponds to the south-eastern portion of present-day Emilia-Romagna, North Italy. Traditionally, it is limited by the Apennines to the south-west, the Adriatic to t ...

, where he was charged with ridding the province of

bandits Banditry is a type of organized crime committed by outlaws typically involving the threat or use of violence. A person who engages in banditry is known as a bandit and primarily commits crimes such as extortion, robbery, and murder, either as an ...

, which he accomplished. He represented Pope Clement VIII at the baptism of his nephew Cosimo II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. He accompanied the pope to

Ferrara Ferrara (, ; egl, Fràra ) is a city and ''comune'' in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital of the Province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream ...

in 1598. He participated in the first papal conclave of 1605 that elected Pope Leo XI and the second papal conclave of 1605 that elected Pope Paul V. He crowned Pope Paul V in the

papal coronation A papal coronation is the formal ceremony of the placing of the papal tiara on a newly elected pope. The first recorded papal coronation was of Pope Nicholas I in 858. The most recent was the 1963 coronation of Paul VI, who soon afterwards aband ...

held on 29 May 1605. He was ordained as a priest in 1614. On 13 November 1617 he opted for the order of cardinal priests and received the titular church of San Matteo in Via Merulana. He became the protopriest. He opted for the order of cardinal bishops on 5 March 1618, receiving the

Suburbicarian Diocese of Albano The Diocese of Albano ( la, Albanensis) is a suburbicarian see of the Roman Catholic Church in a diocese in Italy, comprising seven towns in the Province of Rome. Albano Laziale is situated some 15 kilometers from Rome, on the Appian Way. Under c ...

. He was

consecrated Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different grou ...

as a bishop by Pope Paul V in the apostolic chapel of the Quirinal Palace on 1 May 1618. He opted for the

Suburbicarian Diocese of Frascati The Diocese of Frascati (Lat.: ''Tusculana'') is a suburbicarian see of the Holy Roman Church and a diocese of the Catholic Church in Italy, based at Frascati, near Rome. The bishop of Frascati is a Cardinal Bishop; from the Latin name of the are ...

on 6 April 1620. He participated in the papal conclave of 1621 that elected

Pope Gregory XV Pope Gregory XV ( la, Gregorius XV; it, Gregorio XV; 9 January 15548 July 1623), born Alessandro Ludovisi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 February 1621 to his death in July 1623. Biography Early life Al ...

and in the papal conclave of 1623 that elected

Pope Urban VIII Pope Urban VIII ( la, Urbanus VIII; it, Urbano VIII; baptised 5 April 1568 – 29 July 1644), born Maffeo Vincenzo Barberini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 August 1623 to his death in July 1644. As po ...

. On 27 September 1623 he opted for the Suburbicarian Diocese of Porto-Santa Rufina. He was Vice- Dean of the College of Cardinals. He died in Rome on 9 September 1624. He was buried in San Bernardo alle Terme.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sforza, Francesco 1562 births 1624 deaths 17th-century Italian cardinals House of Sforza