Scipione Gonzaga (1542 – 1593) was an Italian

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 ...

, chiefly remembered for his friendship and patronage of the troubled poet

Torquato Tasso Torquato Tasso ( , also , ; 11 March 154425 April 1595) was an Italian poet of the 16th century, known for his 1591 poem ''Gerusalemme liberata'' (Jerusalem Delivered), in which he depicts a highly imaginative version of the combats between ...

and his support, against other family members, for his cousin Saint

Aloysius Gonzaga Aloysius de Gonzaga ( it, Luigi Gonzaga; 9 March 156821 June 1591) was an Italian aristocrat who became a member of the Society of Jesus. While still a student at the Roman College, he died as a result of caring for the victims of a serious epid ...

Life

Born on 11 November 1542 in San Martino dall'Argine (or in

Mantua Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard language, Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, province of the same name. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture ...

according to other sources), he belonged to the family of the Dukes of

Sabbioneta Sabbioneta ( egl, label= Casalasco-Viadanese, Subiunèda) is a town and in the province of Mantua, Lombardy region, Northern Italy. It is situated about north of Parma, not far from the northern bank of the Po River. It was inscribed in the World ...

, his father Carlo being the

Marquess 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 ...

Gazzuolo Gazzuolo ( Mantovano: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Mantua in the Italian region Lombardy, located about southeast of Milan and about southwest of Mantua. The town had been a possession of Gonzaga family, the lord of Mantua, ...

. Second-born, he was destinated since his childhood to the ecclesiastic life. He passed his youth under the care 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 ...

, and made rapid progress in Greek and Latin studies. At

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

, and later at

Padua Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...

, he studied mathematics and philosophy, and, in the latter city, founded the ''Accademia degli Eterei'', or Academy of the Ethereals. Throughout his life he patronized literature and men of letters, among the latter being

Tasso TASSO (Two Arm Spectrometer SOlenoid) was a particle detector at the PETRA particle accelerator at the German national laboratory DESY. The TASSO collaboration is best known for having discovered the gluon, the mediator of the strong interaction an ...

, who sought his advice concerning his ''

Gerusalemme Liberata ''Jerusalem Delivered'', also known as ''The Liberation of Jerusalem'' ( it, La Gerusalemme liberata ; ), is an epic poem by the Italian poet Torquato Tasso, first published in 1581, that tells a largely mythified version of the First Crusade i ...

'', and

Guarini Guarini is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Giovanni Battista Guarini (1538–1612), Italian poet and diplomat * Anna Guarini, Contessa Trotti, (1563–1598), Italian virtuoso singer of the late Renaissance * Frank Jose ...

, who dedicated to him his ''

Il pastor fido ''Il pastor fido'' (''The Faithfull Shepherd'' in Richard Fanshawe's 1647 English translation) is a pastoral tragicomedy set in Arcadia by Giovanni Battista Guarini, first published in 1590 in Venice. Plot summary To redress an ancient wron ...

''. Gonzaga's home in Rome, the Palazzo Aragona Gonzaga, was a meeting place for the most eminent musicians and intellectuals of the day. Having finished his theological studies he went to Rome, became ''cameriere segreto'' to

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 ...

, and was ordained priest on 1 November 1579. In the early years of the reign of

Pope Gregory XIII Pope Gregory XIII ( la, Gregorius XIII; it, Gregorio XIII; 7 January 1502 – 10 April 1585), born Ugo Boncompagni, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 May 1572 to his death in April 1585. He is best known for ...

Gonzaga had a serious lawsuit with the

Duke of Mantua During its history as independent entity, Mantua had different rulers who governed on the city and the lands of Mantua from the Middle Ages to the early modern period. From 970 to 1115, the Counts of Mantua were members of the House of Canoss ...

over some property, but they were soon reconciled. Through the

Guise Guise (; nl, Wieze) is a commune in the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. The city was the birthplace of the noble family of Guise, Dukes of Guise, who later became Princes of Joinville. Population Sights The remains ...

party, whose cause he had aided, he became Bishop of Mende in France, but

Charles, Duke of Guise Charles de Lorraine, 4th Duke of Guise and 3rd Prince of Joinville (20 August 1571 – 30 September 1640), was the son of Henry I, Duke of Guise and Catherine of Cleves, and succeeded his father as Duke of Guise in 1588. Initially part of the Cath ...

pleaded unsuccessfully with Gregory XIII to have him made cardinal.

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 ...

, immediately on his elevation, appointed him

Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem ( la, Patriarchatus Latinus Hierosolymitanus) is the Latin Catholic ecclesiastical patriarchate in Jerusalem, officially seated in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It was originally established in 1099, wit ...

and on 4 October 1585 he was consecrated bishop by

Iñigo Avalos de Aragón Innico d'Avalos d'Aragona (1535/36–1600) was an Italian Cardinal, from Naples. He was the son of condottiero Alfonso d'Avalos and Maria d'Aragona, from the family of the , Spanish nobility. In 1563, he constructed the Castello d'Avalos on Pro ...

, with

Enrico Caetani Enrico Caetani (6 August 1550 – 13 December 1599) was an Italian cardinal. Early life He was born at Sermoneta, the second son of Bonifacio, lord of Sermoneta, and Caterina di Alberto Pio, daughter of the lord of Carpi. He was the nephew of Car ...

and Annibale de Capua serving as co-consecrators. On 18 December 1587, at the request of the Duke of Mantua, raised him to the cardinalate with the title of

cardinal priest A cardinal ( la, Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae cardinalis, literally 'cardinal of the Holy Roman Church') is a senior member of the clergy of the Catholic Church. Cardinals are created by the ruling pope and typically hold the title for life. Col ...

Santa Maria del Popolo it, Basilica Parrocchiale Santa Maria del Popolo , image = 20140803 Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo Rome 0191.jpg , caption = The church from Piazza del Popolo , coordinates = , image_size ...

. Sixtus also made constant use of his services in the execution of his policies, domestic and foreign. Cardinal Gonzaga was a friend

Charles Borromeo Charles Borromeo ( it, Carlo Borromeo; la, Carolus Borromeus; 2 October 1538 – 3 November 1584) was the Archbishop of Milan from 1564 to 1584 and a cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was a leading figure of the Counter-Reformation combat a ...

and

Philip Neri Philip Romolo Neri ( ; it, italics=no, Filippo Romolo Neri, ; 22 July 151526 May 1595), known as the "Second Apostle of Rome", after Saint Peter, was an Italian priest noted for founding a society of secular clergy called the Congregation of th ...

, and his cousin

owed him eventual consent of his father to his entering the

Society of Jesus , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

. For a time Gonzaga was Governor of the

March of Montferrat The March (also ''margraviate'' or ''marquisate'') of Montferrat was a frontier march of the Kingdom of Italy during the Middle Ages and a state of the Holy Roman Empire. The margraviate was raised to become the Duchy of Montferrat in 1574. Or ...

, in the name of the Marquess Vincenzo. He died on 11 January 1593 in San Martino dall'Argine, and was buried in the church of ''Santi Fabiano e Sebastiano'' in that town.

Works

The three books of his ''Commentarii'', an autobiography written in polished

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 ...

, are an important source of information for the history of his cardinalate; they were edited at Rome in 1791.

Episcopal succession

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gonzaga, Scipione 1542 births 1593 deaths

Scipione ''Scipione'' ( HWV 20), also called ''Publio Cornelio Scipione'', is an opera seria in three acts, with music composed by George Frideric Handel for the Royal Academy of Music in 1726. The librettist was Paolo Antonio Rolli. Handel composed ''Sc ...

16th-century Italian cardinals Latin Patriarchs of Jerusalem Bishops of Mende 16th-century Italian Roman Catholic titular archbishops