Enrico Caetani (6 August 1550 – 13 December 1599) was an Italian

cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

Early life

He was born at

Sermoneta Sermoneta is a hill town and ''comune'' in the province of Latina (Lazio), central Italy. It is a walled hill town, with a 13th-century Romanesque church, the Collegiate Church of Santa Maria Assunta (sometimes erroneously called a cathedral) ...

, in the

Papal States The Papal States ( ; ; ), officially the State of the Church, were a conglomeration of territories on the Italian peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope from 756 to 1870. They were among the major states of Italy from the 8th c ...

, as the second son of Bonifacio, lord of Sermoneta, and Caterina di Alberto Pio, daughter of the lord of

Carpi Carpi may refer to: Places * Carpi, Emilia-Romagna, a large town in the province of Modena, central Italy ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Carpi * Carpi (Africa), a city and former diocese of Roman Africa, now a Roman Catholic titular see People ...

. He was the nephew of Cardinal Niccolò Caetani, and brother of Camillo Caetani. On 11 Aug 1585, he was

consecrated Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...

bishop by

Giulio Antonio Santorio Giulio Antonio Santorio (6 June 1532 – 9 May 1602) was an Italian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. Biography Santorio was born in Caserta. He served as Archbishop of Santa Severina from 1566 until his death.

Cardinal-Priest 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. ...

San Bartolomeo all'Isola The Basilica of St. Bartholomew on the Island (, ) is a titular minor basilica, located in Rome, Italy. It was founded in 998 by Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor and contains the putative relics of St. Bartholomew the Apostle. It is located on Tib ...

, with

Massimiliano Palumbara Massimiliano Palumbara or Massimiliano Palombella (died 23 Jan 1607) was a Roman Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Benevento (1574–1607).

Archbishop of Benevento The Archdiocese of Benevento () is a Latin archdiocese of the Catholic Church. It currently has five suffragan dioceses: the diocese of Ariano Irpino-Lacedonia, the diocese of Avellino, the diocese of Cerreto Sannita-Telese-Sant'Agata de' Goti ...

, Annibale de Capua,

Archbishop of Naples The Archdiocese of Naples () is a Latin Catholic archdiocese in southern Italy, the see being in Naples. A Christian community was founded there in the 1st century AD and the diocese of Naples was raised to the level of an Archdiocese in the 10 ...

, and Guillaume Damasi Van der Linden,

Bishop of Roermond The Diocese of Roermond () is a diocese of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church, located in the Netherlands. The diocese is one of the seven suffragan dioceses in the ecclesiastical province of the Metropolitan Archbishop of Utrecht. The ter ...

, serving as

co-consecrators A consecrator is a bishop who ordains someone to the episcopacy. A co-consecrator is someone who assists the consecrator bishop in the act of ordaining a new bishop. The terms are used in the canon law of the Catholic Church, Lutheran Churche ...

Pope Sixtus V Pope Sixtus 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, where h ...

gave him the title of cardinal on 18 December 1585. In the same year he was appointed as Latin

Patriarch of Alexandria The Patriarch of Alexandria is the archbishop of Alexandria, Egypt. Historically, this office has included the designation "pope" (etymologically "Father", like "Abbot"). The Alexandrian episcopate was revered as one of the three major epi ...

, a position he held until 1587. In 1585 to 1587 he was legate in

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

, and recommended

Galileo Galilei Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642), commonly referred to as Galileo Galilei ( , , ) or mononymously as Galileo, was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a poly ...

to the university there in 1588. The chair, however, went to

Giovanni Antonio Magini Giovanni Antonio Magini (in Latin, Maginus) (13 June 1555 – 11 February 1617) was an Italian astronomer, astrologer, cartographer, and mathematician. His Life He was born in Padua, and completed studies in philosophy in Bologna in 1579. His ...

Diplomat in France

In 1589 Caetani led the papal diplomatic mission to

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

sent to defend the Catholic church position during the

French wars of religion The French Wars of Religion were a series of civil wars between French Catholic Church, Catholics and Protestantism, Protestants (called Huguenots) from 1562 to 1598. Between two and four million people died from violence, famine or disease di ...

. He was accompanied by Lorenzo Bianchetti,

Robert Bellarmine Robert Bellarmine (; ; 4 October 1542 – 17 September 1621) was an Italian Jesuit and a cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was canonized a saint in 1930 and named Doctor of the Church, one of only 37. He was one of the most important figure ...

and others in a strong delegation. Caetani supported the Catholic League and the Spanish interest against

Henry of Navarre Henry IV (; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry (''le Bon Roi Henri'') or Henry the Great (''Henri le Grand''), was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 16 ...

. In March 1590 he presided over a ceremony in which militia and city officials took an oath to defend Paris against Henry. He blessed in May the monastic forces raised by Guillaume Rose for the defence. He was a defender during the Siege of Paris that year, spending heavily.

Later life

After the death of William Allen in 1594, there was no generally acceptable candidate as successor, to lead the English mission. Caetani took on the role of Cardinal Protector. He then appointed George Blackwell as

archpriest The ecclesiastical title of archpriest or archpresbyter belongs to certain priests with supervisory duties over a number of parishes. The term is most often used in Eastern Orthodoxy and the Eastern Catholic Churches and may be somewhat analogo ...

for England.Paul Arblaster, ''Antwerp and the World: Richard Verstegan and the international culture of Catholic reformation'' (2004), p. 63
Google Books
He served as legate a latere in Poland from 3 April 1596 until 23 June 1597. He died in Rome in 1599.

References

External links

WorldCat page

treccani.it biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Caetani, Enrico 1550 births 1599 deaths

Enrico Enrico is both an Italian masculine given name and a surname, Enrico means homeowner, or king, derived from '' Heinrich'' of Germanic origin. It is also a given name in Ladino. Equivalents in other languages are Henry ( English), Henri ( French), ...

People from the Province of Latina 16th-century Italian cardinals 16th-century Italian diplomats Diplomats for the Holy See 16th-century Italian Roman Catholic bishops Latin Patriarchs of Alexandria