Giuseppe Firrao (20 July 1736 – 24 January 1830) was an Italian

Roman Catholic Cardinal A cardinal is a senior member of the clergy of the Catholic Church. As titular members of the clergy of the Diocese of Rome, they serve as advisors to the pope, who is the bishop of Rome and the visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. Ca ...

Biography

Firrao was born in Fagnano Castello,

Calabria Calabria is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by the region Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian S ...

to Pier Maria Firrao, Prince of Sant'Agata and of Luzi, and Livia Grillo di Agapito, Duchess of Mondragone and Countess of Carinola. He is the Great-nephew of Giuseppe Firrao (seniore). He initiated his formal education in

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

, studied humanities at ''Collegio Nazareno'' and later completed a doctorate in canon and civil law at

La Sapienza University The Sapienza University of Rome (), formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", abbreviated simply as Sapienza ('Wisdom'), is a Public university, public research university located in Rome, Italy. It was founded in 1303 and is ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. He received the

minor orders In Christianity, minor orders are ranks of church ministry. In the Catholic Church, the predominating Latin Church formerly distinguished between the major orders—priest (including bishop), deacon and subdeacon—and four minor orders— acolyt ...

in the period 1775-1782 and was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

as a priest on 16 March 1782. On 25 February 1782 Firrao was elected

titular Titular may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Title character in a narrative work, the character referred to in its title Religion * Titular (Catholicism), a cardinal who holds a titulus, one of the main churches of Rome ** Titular bisho ...

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

of Petra in Palaestina and appointed nuncio in

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

on 8 April 1782. He became secretary of the Sacred

Congregation of Bishops and Regulars The Congregation of Bishops and Regulars () was a department of the Roman Curia that, beginning in the late 16th century, managed the diocesan bishops and those individuals, both male and female, and establishments associated with religious orders. ...

in early 1785.

Pope Pius VII Pope Pius VII (; born Barnaba Niccolò Maria Luigi Chiaramonti; 14 August 1742 – 20 August 1823) was head of the Catholic Church from 14 March 1800 to his death in August 1823. He ruled the Papal States from June 1800 to 17 May 1809 and again ...

elevated him to cardinal in the

consistory Consistory is the anglicized form of the consistorium, a council of the closest advisors of the Roman emperors. It can also refer to: *A papal consistory, a formal meeting of the Sacred College of Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church *Consistor ...

of 23 February 1801 with the title of

Sant'Eusebio Sant'Eusebio is a titular church in Rome, devoted to Saint Eusebius of Rome, a 4th-century martyr, and built in the Esquilino rione. One of the oldest churches in Rome, it is a titular church and the station church for the Friday after the f ...

. In the period of 1802 - 1803 he was made

Camerlengo Camerlengo (plural: , Italian for " chamberlain") is an Italian title of medieval origin. It derives from the late Latin , in turn coming through the Frankish , from the Latin which meant "chamber officer" (generally meaning "treasure chamber"). ...

of the

College of Cardinals The College of Cardinals (), also called the Sacred College of Cardinals, is the body of all cardinals of the Catholic Church. there are cardinals, of whom are eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pope. Appointed by the pope, ...

and ''First Priest'' of the same high ecclesiastical body 1823 - 1830. He took part in the

Papal conclave, 1823 A papal conclave was held from 2 to 28 September 1823 to elect a new pope to succeed Pius VII, who had died on 20 August. Of the 49 eligible cardinal electors, all but four attended. On the final ballot, the conclave elected Cardinal Annibale ...

and in the next conclave in 1829. Cardinal Firrao died in

and was buried in the metropolitan cathedral.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Firrao Jr, Giuseppe 1736 births 1830 deaths People from the Province of Cosenza 18th-century Italian Roman Catholic titular archbishops 19th-century Italian Roman Catholic titular archbishops 19th-century Italian cardinals Cardinals created by Pope Pius VII