Fra' Ludovico Chigi della Rovere-Albani (10 July 1866 – 14 November 1951) was Prince and Grand Master of the

Sovereign Military Order of Malta The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta ( it, Sovrano Militare Ordine Ospedaliero di San Giovanni di Gerusalemme, di Rodi e di Malta; ...

from 1931 to 1951. Chigi was born in

Ariccia Ariccia (Latin: ''Aricia'') is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Rome, central Italy, southeast of Rome. It is in the Alban Hills of the Lazio (Latium) region and could be considered an extension of Rome's southeastern suburbs. One ...

, the son of

Imperial Prince Prince of the Holy Roman Empire ( la, princeps imperii, german: Reichsfürst, cf. '' Fürst'') was a title attributed to a hereditary ruler, nobleman or prelate recognised as such by the Holy Roman Emperor. Definition Originally, possessors ...

Mario Chigi della Rovere Albani (1832–1914) and his wife, Princess Antoinette zu

Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn was a county of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, comprising the lands of the region of Sayn. It was created as a partition of Sayn-Wittgenstein in 1607, although it was not until the next year that it obtained fully the ...

(1839–1918)."Chigi della Rovere-Albani",''

Almanach de Gotha The ''Almanach de Gotha'' (german: Gothaischer Hofkalender) is a directory of Europe's royalty and higher nobility, also including the major governmental, military and diplomatic corps, as well as statistical data by country. First publish ...

'', (Gotha:

Justus Perthes Johann Georg Justus Perthes (11 September 1749, Rudolstadt, Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt – 2 May 1816, Gotha, Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg) was a German publisher and founder of the publishing house that bears his name. Life He was born in the Thuringian t ...

, 1942), p. 408–409, (French). His father's family, the Chigi, was among the most prominent noble families of Rome, to which had belonged Pope

Alexander VII Pope Alexander VII ( it, Alessandro VII; 13 February 159922 May 1667), born Fabio Chigi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 7 April 1655 to his death in May 1667. He began his career as a vice-papal legate, an ...

(1599–1667), who conferred upon his nephew Agostino Chigi (1634–1705) the hereditary princedoms of Farnese (1658) and Campagnano (1661), as well as the dukedoms of Arricia and Formello (1662), also procuring for all descendants of the Chigi male line the title of

Imperial prince Prince of the Holy Roman Empire ( la, princeps imperii, german: Reichsfürst, cf. '' Fürst'') was a title attributed to a hereditary ruler, nobleman or prelate recognised as such by the Holy Roman Emperor. Definition Originally, possessors ...

and princess from the

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...

Leopold I in 1659. In 1509 Pope

Julius II Pope Julius II ( la, Iulius II; it, Giulio II; born Giuliano della Rovere; 5 December 144321 February 1513) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 1503 to his death in February 1513. Nicknamed the Warrior Pope or the ...

had authorised the Chigi family to augment their name and arms with his own, ''della Rovere'', and would become Ludovico's ancestor (in the 13th degree) through six lines of descent from that pope's illegitimate daughter,

Felice della Rovere Felice della Rovere (c. 1483 – 27 September 1536), also known as Madonna Felice, was the illegitimate daughter of Pope Julius II. One of the most powerful women of the Italian Renaissance, she was born in Rome around 1483 to Lucrezia Norma ...

(ca. 1483–1536). On 5 June 1893, in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, Chigi married ''

Donna Donna may refer to the short form of the honorific ''nobildonna'', the female form of Don (honorific) in Italian. People *Donna (given name); includes name origin and list of people and characters with the name * Roberto Di Donna (born 1968), Ita ...

'' Anna

Aldobrandini The House of Aldobrandini is an Italian noble family originally from Florence, where in the Middle Ages they held the most important municipal offices. Now the Aldobrandini are resident in Rome, with close ties to the Vatican. History Their ...

, daughter of Pietro, Prince Aldobrandini, Prince di Sarsina, and of his wife, Françoise de La Rochefoucauld. They had two children: * Prince Sigismondo, 9th Prince Chigi della Rovere-Albani, (12 December 1894 – 24 December 1982), to whom his father ceded the princedom of Campagnano by an Italian writ of acceleration issued 10 June 1929. Married Marian Berry (9 September 1901), daughter of Jakob Berry and Aileen Freeman on 16 July 1926. They had two children: ** Prince Agostino, 10th Prince Chigi della Rovere-Albani (27 September 1929 – 14 July 2002 ** Princess Francesca Chigi della Rovere (6 November 1933) * Princess Laura Maria Caterina Chigi della Rovere (30 April 1898 – 4 November 1984) married Denis, Count Grisi della Piè. They have children. Chigi's wife died on 17 September 1898. On 4 November 1914, Chigi's father died and he succeeded as 8th Prince di Farnese and di Campagnano, 4th Prince di Soriano, 8th Duke di Ariccia and di Formello, Marchese di Magliano Pecorareccio, Hereditary Marshall of the Holy Roman Church and Guardian of the Conclave. Chigi was responsible for three

papal conclave A papal conclave is a gathering of the College of Cardinals convened to elect a bishop of Rome, also known as the pope. Catholics consider the pope to be the apostolic successor of Saint Peter and the earthly head of the Catholic Church. ...

s."Prince Ludovico, 85, of Knights of Malta", ''New York Times'' (November 15, 1951), 29. He was an honorary member of the

Pontifical Academy of Sciences The Pontifical Academy of Sciences ( it, Pontificia accademia delle scienze, la, Pontificia Academia Scientiarum) is a scientific academy of the Vatican City, established in 1936 by Pope Pius XI. Its aim is to promote the progress of the mat ...

Order of Malta

On 30 May 1931, Chigi was elected Grand Master of the

,"Prince Chigi Heads Knights of Malta", ''New York Times'' (May 31, 1931), 14. Both of Chigi's parents had been members of the Order: his father was a Bailiff Knight Grand Cross of Devotion (since 21 June 1879) and his mother was a Dame decorated with the Cross of Devotion (since 10 June 1876). Under Chigi's leadership the order engaged in large-scale hospitaller and charitable activities during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. In 1947, he was appointed president of an international committee to oversee the rebuilding of the Abbey of

Monte Cassino Monte Cassino (today usually spelled Montecassino) is a rocky hill about southeast of Rome, in the Latin Valley, Italy, west of Cassino and at an elevation of . Site of the Roman town of Casinum, it is widely known for its abbey, the first ho ...

."Rebuilding Abbey of Monte Cassino", ''The Times'' (April 3, 1947), 4. Chigi died in Rome of a heart attack at the age of 85.

Ancestry

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chigi della Rovere Albani, Ludovico 1866 births 1951 deaths Knights of Malta Princes and Grand Masters of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta Ludovico Italian Servants of God 19th-century venerated Christians Della Rovere family Ludovico