Ottavio Mirto Frangipani (11 April 1544 – 24 July 1612) was an Italian bishop and papal diplomat, who as
papal nuncio
An apostolic nuncio ( la, nuntius apostolicus; also known as a papal nuncio or simply as a nuncio) is an ecclesiastical diplomat, serving as an envoy or a permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See to a state or to an international org ...
to
Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...
(1587–1596) and to
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
Rhineland
The Rhineland (german: Rheinland; french: Rhénanie; nl, Rijnland; ksh, Rhingland; Latinised name: ''Rhenania'') is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly its middle section.
Term
Historically, the Rhinelands ...
and the
Spanish Netherlands
Spanish Netherlands (Spanish: Países Bajos Españoles; Dutch: Spaanse Nederlanden; French: Pays-Bas espagnols; German: Spanische Niederlande.) (historically in Spanish: ''Flandes'', the name "Flanders" was used as a ''pars pro toto'') was the H ...
after the disruptions of the sixteenth century.
Life
Frangipani was born in Naples on 11 April 1544 to Silvio Mirto and Laura della Gatta. He studied at the
University of Naples
The University of Naples Federico II ( it, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II) is a public university in Naples, Italy. Founded in 1224, it is the oldest public non-sectarian university in the world, and is now organized into 26 depar ...
, graduating in law. He was appointed bishop of Caiazzo on 19 November 1572, ten days after his ordination as a priest, and was consecrated by
Giulio Antonio Santorio
Giulio Antonio Santorio (6 June 1532 – 9 May 1602) was an Italian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church.
Biography
Santorio was born in Caserta. He served as Archbishop of Santa Severina from 1566 until his death.
,
Archbishop of Santa Severina
The archdiocese of Santa Severina was a Roman Catholic ecclesiastical territory in Calabria, southern Italy, that existed until 1986. In that year it was united into the diocese of Crotone, forming the Archdiocese of Crotone-Santa Severina.
on 8 December with
Thomas Goldwell
Thomas Goldwell (15013 April 1585) was an English Catholic clergyman, Bishop of Saint Asaph, the last of those Catholic bishops who had refused to accept the English Reformation.
Life
Thomas Goldwell was the son of William Goldwell of Great ...
Bishop of Segni
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 ...
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 March 21, 2016
In 1587 he was appointed
Apostolic Nuncio to Cologne
The Apostolic Nunciature to Cologne (also it, Nunziatura di Germania inferiore, i.e. ''Nunciature of Lower Germany'') was an ecclesiastical office of the Roman Catholic Church established in 1584. The nuncios were accredited to the Archbishop-El ...
, which was then in the midst of the Cologne War. He was appointed
bishop of Tricarico
The Italian Catholic Diocese of Tricarico ( la, Dioecesis Tricaricensis) is in Basilicata. It is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Potenza-Muro Lucano-Marsico Nuovo.nunciature in Brussels, arriving there as nuncio on 11 February 1596. He was active in promoting the restoration of Catholic life in the war-torn Southern Netherlands, visiting Antwerp, Arras, Liège, Namur, Tournai, Cambrai, Calais, Lille, Dunkirk and Gravelines.Stefano Andretta "Frangipani, Ottavio Mirto" ''
Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani
The ''Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani'' ( en, Biographical Dictionary of the Italians) is a biographical dictionary published by the Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, started in 1925 and completed in 2020. It includes about 40,000 biograp ...
'', vol. 50 (1998).
On 20 June 1605 Frangipani was appointed
Archbishop of Taranto
The Archdiocese of Taranto ( la, Archidioecesis Tarentina) is a metropolitan Roman Catholic diocese in southern Italy, on a bay in the Gulf of Taranto.
and he returned to Italy to take up the post in late 1606. He died in Taranto on 24 July 1612 and was buried in his cathedral. While bishop, he was the principal consecrator of
Laurentius Fabritius
Laurentius Fabritius (1535 – 22 Jul 1600) was a Roman Catholic prelate who served as Auxiliary Bishop of Cologne (1588–1600) and Titular Bishop of ''Cyrene''.Auxiliary Bishop of Cologne.
Correspondence
Four volumes of Frangipani's letters as nuncio to Cologne have been published as part 2 of the series ''Nuntiaturberichte aus Deutschland: Die Kölner Nuntiatur'', the first volume edited by Stephan Ehses (1968), the other three by Burkhard Roberg (1969–1983).
His correspondence as nuncio to Brussels has been published as three volumes in the series Analecta Vaticano-Belgica, Nonciature de Flandre, the first edited by Leon van der Essen (1924) and the other two by Armand Louant (1932, 1942).