Francesco Maria Del Monte
Encyclopedia
House of Bourbon
The House of Bourbon is a European royal house, a branch of the Capetian dynasty . Bourbon kings first ruled Navarre and France in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Bourbon dynasty also held thrones in Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Parma...
Del Monte Santa Maria, (5 July 1549 – 27 August 1627) was an Italian Cardinal
Cardinal (Catholicism)
A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...
, diplomat
Diplomat
A diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organization. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...
and connoisseur of the arts. His fame today rests on his early patronage of the important Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
master Caravaggio, and on his art collection (the Del Monte collection) which provides provenance for many important works of the period.
Early life
Born in VeniceVenice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
of the aristocratic Del Monte family (which provided several Popes and innumerable cardinals
Cardinal (Catholicism)
A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...
to the Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
), he was the son of Marquis Ranieri Bourbon del Monte, first count of Monte Baroccio, and Minerva Pianosa, and remotely descended from the royal Bourbon
House of Bourbon
The House of Bourbon is a European royal house, a branch of the Capetian dynasty . Bourbon kings first ruled Navarre and France in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Bourbon dynasty also held thrones in Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Parma...
dynasty of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. He began his ecclesiastical career as Abbot
Abbot
The word abbot, meaning father, is a title given to the head of a monastery in various traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not actually the head of a monastery...
commendatario of Santa Croce a Monte Fabali. He then went to Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
when he was still quite young, and was appointed as auditor for Cardinal Alessandro Sforza, before being finally admitted into the court of Cardinal Ferdinando de' Medici
Medici
The House of Medici or Famiglia de' Medici was a political dynasty, banking family and later royal house that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici in the Republic of Florence during the late 14th century. The family originated in the Mugello region of the Tuscan countryside,...
. He made his way up through the clerical ranks as Referendary
Referendary
Referendary is the English form or rendering of a number of administrative positions, of various rank, in chanceries and other official organisations.-Secular:...
of the Tribunals of the Apostolic Signature of Justice and of Grace (1580), and later went to serve the grand-duke of Tuscany, the former Cardinal Ferdinando de' Medici
Ferdinando de' Medici
Ferdinando de' Medici may refer to various members of the Medici ruling family of Tuscany:* Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, , Grand Duke of Tuscany 1587–1609...
.
Cardinalate
He was created cardinal deacon in the consistoryConsistory
-Antiquity:Originally, the Latin word consistorium meant simply 'sitting together', just as the Greek synedrion ....
of 14 December 1588 under Pope Sixtus V
Pope Sixtus V
Pope Sixtus V , born Felice Peretti di Montalto, was Pope from 1585 to 1590.-Early life:The chronicler Andrija Zmajević states that Felice's family originated from modern-day Montenegro...
, and received the deaconry of S. Maria in Domnica the following year. He took part in the two conclaves of 1590 (Papal Conclave of September 1590
Papal conclave, September 1590
The papal conclave of September 1590 elected Giovanni Battista Castagna as Pope Urban VII.There were sixty-seven cardinals attending: seven were French, four Spanish, two Germans, two Poles, and the rest Italian.Cardinals attending:...
and the Papal Conclave of Autumn 1590
Papal conclave, Autumn 1590
The papal conclave of 8 October to 5 December 1591 was the second conclave of 1590, held after the death from malaria of pope Urban VII on September 27, only 12 days after his election on 15 September, before he could be crowned, making him the shortest-reigning pope in history...
), the conclave of 1591
Papal conclave, 1591
The papal conclave of 27 to 29 October 1591 was held after the death of pope Gregory XIV on 16 October that year, after less than a year as pope. This left the Holy See vacant for the third time in fourteen months. The conclave lasted only three days and elected pope Innocent IX.- External links :* *...
and the conclave of 1592
Papal conclave, 1592
The Papal conclave of January 10 – January 30, 1592 was the papal conclave that elected Pope Clement VIII in succession to Pope Innocent IX.- Death of Innocent IX:...
. He subsequently took the titles of Santa Maria in Aracoeli
Santa Maria in Aracoeli
The Basilica of St. Mary of the Altar of Heaven is a titular basilica in Rome, located on the highest summit of the Campidoglio. It is still the designated Church of the city council of Rome, which uses the ancient title of Senatus Populusque Romanus...
, Santa Maria in Trastevere
Santa Maria in Trastevere
The Basilica of Our Lady in Trastevere is a titular minor basilica, one of the oldest churches in Rome, and perhaps the first in which mass was openly celebrated...
, and S. Lorenzo in Lucina. As a cardinal he proved an accomplished diplomat and administrator: he represented the interests of the Grand Duke of Tuscany
Tuscany
Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....
, the former Cardinal Ferdinando de' Medici
Ferdinando de' Medici
Ferdinando de' Medici may refer to various members of the Medici ruling family of Tuscany:* Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, , Grand Duke of Tuscany 1587–1609...
, in Rome, and was firmly but discreetly pro-French in the ongoing struggle between the French and Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
for influence over the papacy.
He served as Prefect of the Tridentine Council (1606 to 1616) and as Bishop of Palestrina
Roman Catholic Suburbicarian Diocese of Palestrina
thumb|250 px|The Cathedral of Sant'Agapito in Palestrina.The Roman Catholic Suburbicarian Diocese of Palestrina, , is a Roman Catholic suburbicarian diocese centered on the comune of Palestrina in Italy....
from 1615 to 1621. He participated in the Papal Conclave of 1621
Papal conclave, 1621
Papal conclave 1621 – convoked after the death of Pope Paul V, elected Cardinal Alessandro Ludovisi, who under the name of Gregory XV became 234th Pope of the Catholic Church. It was the shortest conclave in the seventeenth century.-List of participants:Pope Paul V died on January 28, 1621 in the...
and had ambitions of being elected Pope but his pro-French sympathies ensured his veto by the Spanish.
Patron of science and art
Pisa
Pisa is a city in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the River Arno on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa...
in 1589 and in Padua
Padua
Padua is a city and comune in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, having...
in 1592. In the wake of Galileo’s successes in discovering the Medicean Planets, he gave the Cardinal a copy of his Sidereus nuncius
Sidereus Nuncius
Sidereus Nuncius is a short treatise published in New Latin by Galileo Galilei in March 1610. It was the first scientific treatise based on observations made through a telescope...
(Starry Messenger) and a telescope as gifts. When Galileo went to Rome in 1611, Grand Duke Cosimo II recommended him to the Cardinal’s council so that he could be helped during his sojourn at the Vatican
He died in his Rome palace (Palazzo Madama
Palazzo Madama
Palazzo Madama is a palace in Rome that is currently the home of the Senate of the Italian Republic.It was built atop the ruins of the ancient baths of Nero, next to Piazza Navona...
, today the home of the Italian Senate
Italian Senate
The Senate of the Republic is the upper house of the Italian Parliament. It was established in its current form on 8 May 1948, but previously existed during the Kingdom of Italy as Senato del Regno , itself a continuation of the Senato Subalpino of Sardinia-Piedmont established on 8 May 1848...
) and was buried in the church of Sant'Urbano, Rome.
Del Monte was a perceptive supporter of the arts and sciences of his day - he was the first recorded owner of the Portland Vase
Portland Vase
The Portland Vase is a Roman cameo glass vase, currently dated to between AD 5 and AD 25, which served as an inspiration to many glass and porcelain makers from about the beginning of the 18th century onwards. Since 1810 the vase has been kept almost continuously in the British Museum in London...
and his Palazzo Madama household was one of the most important intellectual salons in Rome. At his death his art collection contained nearly six hundred paintings, and his support of the young Caravaggio has given provenance to several of that artist's early works.