Sinibaldo Doria ( la, Sinibaldus ab Auria, 1664 – 1733) was a

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 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 ...

who served as officer of the

Papal States The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope fro ...

and as

Bishop of Benevento The Italian Catholic metropolitan Archdiocese of Benevento ( la, Archidioecesis Beneventana) has a long history; it now has five suffragan dioceses: the diocese of Ariano Irpino-Lacedonia, the diocese of Avellino, the diocese of Cerreto Sannita- ...

from 1731 to his death.

Life

Sinibaldo Doria was born in Genova on 21 September 1664 to the noble and rich Doria family. Still a child he moved to Rome where he studied by the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

in the Roman College. He graduated in utroque iure at

University of Siena The University of Siena ( it, Università degli Studi di Siena, abbreviation: UNISI) in Siena, Tuscany, is one of the oldest and first publicly funded universities in Italy. Originally called ''Studium Senese'', the institution was founded in 1240 ...

in 1688. Based in Rome, he took up a career in the administration of the Papal States. On 13 July 1690 he was made Referendary of the Tribunals of the

Apostolic Signature of Justice and of Grace The Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura () is the highest judicial authority in the Catholic Church (apart from the pope himself, who as supreme ecclesiastical judge is the final point of appeal for any ecclesiastical judgment). In additio ...

, and immediately he was appointed as Governor of Tivoli where in 1691 he successfully faced the cases of plague coming from Naples. He career followed with many appointments as governor of towns: Prelate of

Fano Fano is a town and ''comune'' of the province of Pesaro and Urbino in the Marche region of Italy. It is a beach resort southeast of Pesaro, located where the ''Via Flaminia'' reaches the Adriatic Sea. It is the third city in the region by popula ...

on 16 November 1691, Vice-legatus of

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 1693, Governor of Montalto on 1 August 1695, Governor of

Ascoli Piceno Ascoli Piceno (; la, Asculum; dialetto ascolano: Ascule) is a town and ''comune'' in the Marche region of Italy, capital of the province of the same name. Its population is around 46,000 but the urban area of the city has more than 93,000. Geo ...

in 1698, Governor of

Macerata Macerata () is a city and ''comune'' in central Italy, the county seat of the province of Macerata in the Marche region. It has a population of about 41,564. History The historical city centre is on a hill between the Chienti and Potenza ri ...

on 3 January 1701. From 4 November 1706 to 12 November 1711 he was Vice-legate of

Avignon Avignon (, ; ; oc, Avinhon, label=Provençal dialect, Provençal or , ; la, Avenio) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region of So ...

. Living in Avignon, he was the governor of such town as well as the financial administrator of all the

Comtat Venaissin The Comtat Venaissin (; Provençal: , Mistralian norm: , classical norm: ; 'County of Venaissin'), often called the for short, was a part of the Papal States (1274‒1791) in what is now the region of France. The entire region was an enclave ...

, an enclave of the

into France. The period was extremely difficult, due to the

War of the Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict that took place from 1701 to 1714. The death of childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700 led to a struggle for control of the Spanish Empire between his heirs, Phil ...

in which he was encharged to send secret information to Rome and in Spain. In 1708 he was asked to enlist and send 3000 soldiers in the Papal States. He had to face the open hostility of France who increased the custom duties, as well as the famine in 1709 and 1710 and the floods of the

Rhône The Rhône ( , ; wae, Rotten ; frp, Rôno ; oc, Ròse ) is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and southeastern France before discharging into the Mediterranean Sea. At Ar ...

in 1711. In 1711 he was appointed ''Preaceptor'' (''tutor'') of Ospedale di Santo Spirito in Sassia, the main hospital of Rome. He was also appointed

Titular archbishop of Patras The Latin Archbishopric of Patras is the see of Patras in the period in which its incumbents belonged to the Latin or Western Church. This period began in 1205 with the installation in the see of a Catholic archbishop following the Fourth Crusade. ...

on 18 December 1711. He was consecrated bishop the following 3 January 1712 by the Secretary of State Cardinal Paolucci in the Roman church of

Santo Spirito in Sassia Church of the Holy Spirit in the Saxon District (Italian: ''La chiesa di Santo Spirito in Sassia'') is a 12th-century titular church in Rome, Italy. It is in '' Borgo Santo Spirito'', a street which got its name from the church, placed in the sou ...

. As head of the Ospedale di Santo Spirito in Sassia he offered four rooms of his apartment to host the Biblioteca Lancisiana, a new founded library focused on medical studies. In October 1721, he became Master of the Chamber of Pope Innocent XIII, while he was not member of the court of the following Pope, Benedict XIII. On the contrary

Pope Clement XII Pope Clement XII ( la, Clemens XII; it, Clemente XII; 7 April 16526 February 1740), born Lorenzo Corsini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 12 July 1730 to his death in February 1740. Clement presided over the ...

had a high estimation of him, and entrusted him with the difficult task of being the new

. At Benevento, the local Cardinal

Niccolò Coscia Niccolò Coscia (1681 – 8 February 1755) was an Italian Roman Catholic cardinal. He was born at Pietradefusi, near Avellino. In 1725 he was appointed as Cardinal of Santa Maria in Domnica by Pope Benedict XIII Pope Benedict XIII ( la, ...

, who had been a protégé of Benedict XIII and an embezzler, had become bishop. Clement XII appointed Doria in place of Coscia to return the diocese to the normality, but most of the local population supported Coscia who had given them advantages. The local population rose up in revolt and the situation required intervention of the army. The appointment as Bishop of Benevento occurred on 21 May 1731, and the following 24 September Sinibaldo Doria was appointer Cardinal Priest of

San Girolamo dei Croati Saint Jerome of the Croats is the national Catholic church of Croatia on Via Tomacelli in the Campus Martius of Rome. It is now a chapel of the Pontifical Croatian College of Saint Jerome in Rome and is only open to visitors by arrangement with ...

. He died in Benevento on 2 December 1733 and was buried in that

Cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Doria, Sinibaldo 1664 births 1733 deaths Sinibaldo 18th-century Italian cardinals People from the Province of Genoa Archbishops of Benevento Latin archbishops of Patras