Flavio Orsini (1532 – 16 May 1581) was a papal bureaucrat, an Italian bishop, and a cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was son of Ferdinando Orsini, 5th duke of Gravina; and Beatrice Ferrillo, daughter and heiress of Giovanni Alfonso Ferrillo, Conte di Muro Lucano.[1]
Biography
Born in Rome, he was appointed bishop of Muro Lucano by Pope Pius IV (Medici) in consistory on 29 November 1560.[2]
He held various offices in the Roman Curia. On 10 July 1561, Flavio Orsini, Bishop of Muro and Auditor of Causes in the Apostolic Camera, transmitted a motu proprio of Pope Pius IV granting a feudal investiture to Baldassare Rangoni of Modena.[3] On 3 September 1563, the Bishop of Muro was judge ordinary in the curia, hearing a testamentary dispute from the diocese of Ajaccio.[4]
He was transferred to the diocese of Spoleto on 16 December 1562 by Pope Pius IV.[5]
In his fourth consistory for the creation of cardinals, on 12 March 1565, Pope Pius IV named Flavio Orsini a cardinal-priest, and on 15 May assigned him the titulus of San Giovanni a Porta Latina. On 17 November 1565, he chose to be moved to ("opted for") SS. Marcellino e Pietro, and on 9 July 1578 to Santa Prisca.[6]
On 19 September 1570, Pope Pius V (Ghislieri) appointed a commission of two cardinals, Giovanni Poliziani and Flavio Orsini, to complete the repairs on the Aqua Vergine and connect various fountains, including the Trevi.[7]
Pope Gregory XIII (Boncompagni) sent Bishop Orsini to France in 1572, to attempt to persuade King Charles IX of France to join in a crusade against the Turks. He arrived in Paris on October 8, and was still in France in the second half of December. His mission was a failure.[8]
On 11 April 1580, he was granted a coadjutor bishop with the right of succession, in the person of his nephew Pietro.[9]
Flavio Orsini died in Pozzuoli, near Naples, on 16 May 1581.[10]
References
Books
- Eubel, Conradus; Gulik, Guilelmus (1923). Hierarchia catholica (in Latin). Vol. 3 (second ed.). Münster: Libreria Regensbergiana.
- Cardella, Lorenzo (1793). Memorie storiche de' cardinali della santa Romana chiesa. (in Italian) Tomo quinto (5). Roma: Pagliarini. pp. 94-95.
- Crescimbeni, Giovanni Mario (1716). L' Istoria della Chiesa di S. Giovanni avanti Porta Latina (in Italian) Roma: Antonio de'Rossi. pp. 384-385.
- Martuscelli, Luigi (1896). Numistrone e Muro-Lucano: Note appunti e ricordi storici. (in Italian). Napoli: R. Pesole. pp. 263-265.
- Sarnelli, Pompeo (1716). Lettere ecclesiastiche di monsignor Pompeo Sarnelli dottor della sacra teologia, e delle leggi, protonotario apostolico, abate di sant'Omobuono in Cesena (in Italian). Venezia: Antonio Bortoli. p. 189.