Giovanni Battista Maria Pallotta (also Palotta or Palotto) (23 January, 1594 – 22 January, 1668) was an Italian

Catholic 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 ...

Cardinal.

Early life

Pallotta was born in 1594 in

Caldarola Caldarola is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Macerata in the Italian region Marche, located about southwest of Ancona and about southwest of Macerata. The town includes the Castello Pallotta (9th century, remade in the 16th centur ...

to a well respected family. He was the nephew of Cardinal

Giovanni Evangelista Pallotta Giovanni Evangelista Pallotta, surname often spelled Palotta or Palotto, (1548 – 1620) was an Italian Catholic Cardinal. He was born in Caldarola. He was appointed archbishop of Cosenza nominated to be a cardinal in 1587 by Pope Sixtus V. In 15 ...

who left him a considerable inheritance''Pope Alexander the Seventh and the College of Cardinals'' by

John Bargrave John Bargrave (1610 – 11 May 1680), was an English author and collector and a canon of Canterbury Cathedral.''Under the Sign: John Bargrave as Collector, Traveler, and Witness'' by Stephen Bann, Michigan, 1995 Early life Bargrave was born in K ...

, edited by

James Craigie Robertson James Craigie Robertson (1813 – 9 July 1882) was a Scottish Anglican churchman, canon of Canterbury Cathedral, and author of a ''History of the Christian Church''. Life Robertson was born at Aberdeen, where his father was a merchant; his mothe ...

(reprint; 2009) which allowed him to be educated and take up an ecclesiastic career 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 ...

Governor of Rome

He was educated in

Perugia Perugia (, , ; lat, Perusia) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber, and of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and pa ...

and then went to Rome during the pontificate of

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 ...

.S. Miranda:
Giovanni Pallotta He was appointed Governor of Rome by Pope Urban VIII and was recognised as a particularly pious and strict lawmaker. His contemporary,

, detailed the fate of one particular

courtesan Courtesan, in modern usage, is a euphemism for a "kept" mistress or prostitute, particularly one with wealthy, powerful, or influential clients. The term historically referred to a courtier, a person who attended the court of a monarch or other ...

who flouted Pallotta's edict. Pallotta had decreed that no person should be masked on the

Via del Corso The Via del Corso is a main street in the historical centre of Rome. It is straight in an area otherwise characterized by narrow meandering alleys and small piazzas. Considered a wide street in ancient times, the Corso is approximately 10 metres w ...

during ''carnivale'' and ascribed punishments of imprisonment and public

flagellation Flagellation (Latin , 'whip'), flogging or whipping is the act of beating the human body with special implements such as whips, rods, switches, the cat o' nine tails, the sjambok, the knout, etc. Typically, flogging has been imposed on ...

should anyone fail to comply. Local prostitute Checa Buffona was nonetheless paraded along the corso and was subsequently imprisoned. Upon hearing this, Cardinal

Antonio Barberini Antonio Barberini (5 August 1607 – 3 August 1671) was an Italian Catholic cardinal, Archbishop of Reims, military leader, patron of the arts and a prominent member of the House of Barberini. As one of the cardinal-nephews of Pope Urban VIII ...

(the Pope's nephew, who Bargrave suggested was a client of Buffona) demanded she be released. Pallotta complied but not before ordering that Buffona be publicly whipped before Barberini could reach the prison to oversee her release.

Portugal

Aware that a conflict between his nephew and his Governor was likely, Pope Urban sent Pallotta to

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

as papal nuncio and ''Collector-General''. There, in an effort to uphold ecclesiastic jurisdiction over the Portuguese court, he attempted to excommunicate every member of the King's Council. Pallotta barely escaped; climbing out of a window of his apartment he hurried back to Rome.

Later ecclesiastic career

Upon his return to Rome, Pope Urban was still keen to protect Pallotta from his

Cardinal-Nephew A cardinal-nephew ( la, cardinalis nepos; it, cardinale nipote; es, valido de su tío; pt, cardeal-sobrinho; french: prince de fortune)Signorotto and Visceglia, 2002, p. 114. Modern French scholarly literature uses the term "cardinal-neveu'". ...

, Antonio. He appointed Pallotta titular

Titular Archbishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

in 1628 and then Cardinal in 1629."Giovanni Battista Maria Cardinal Pallotta "
''

Catholic-Hierarchy.org ''Catholic-Hierarchy.org'' is an online database of bishops and dioceses of the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Catholic Churches. The website is not officially sanctioned by the Church. It is run as a private project by David M. Cheney in ...

''. David M. Cheney. Retrieved July 21, 2016 He was consecrated bishop on 10 Dec 1628 by

Melchior Klesl Melchior Khlesl (Klesl,Klesel,CleseliusHe uses the spelling Khlesl himself in his German-language correspondence: Victor Bibl, Klesl's Briefe an K. Rudolfs II. Obersthofmeister Adam Freiherrn von Dietrichstein (1583-1589). Ein Beitrag zur Geschic ...

, Bishop of Vienna. He was Camerlengo in 1647 for a year. He became bishop of Albano in 1663 and

bishop 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 a ...

in 1666. He employed the exiled English poet

Richard Crashaw Richard Crashaw (c. 1613 – 21 August 1649) was an English poet, teacher, High Church Anglican cleric and Roman Catholic convert, who was one of the major metaphysical poets in 17th-century English literature. Crashaw was the son of a famous ...

as secretary in 1646 to 1649 but the poet came into conflict with other Pallotta supporters who, unlike the Cardinal himself, offended Crashaw with their vice and licentiousness. Pallotta sent Crashaw away to Loreto but he died not long after, leading to suggestions he had been poisoned. Pallotta himself died in 1668.

Episcopal succession

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pallotta, Giovanni Battista Maria 1594 births 1668 deaths 17th-century Italian cardinals Cardinal-bishops of Albano Cardinal-bishops of Frascati Cardinals created by Pope Urban VIII