Ercole Rangoni or Ercole Rangone (died 25 August 1527) was a

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 ...

and religious leader of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

for 10 years.

Biography

He served as

Bishop of Adria The Diocese of Adria-Rovigo () is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church in the Triveneto. It has existed under this name since 1986. It is a Latin suffragan to the Patriarchate of Venice.Bishop of Modena A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

from 1509 until his death. He was made a cardinal in July 1517 by Pope

Leo X Pope Leo X (; born Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici, 11 December 14751 December 1521) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 March 1513 to his death in December 1521. Born into the prominent political and banking Me ...

. This was during his fifth

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 ...

. Not much information is known about Ercole, but he served as a cardinal for the

, in

Vatican City Vatican City, officially the Vatican City State (; ), is a Landlocked country, landlocked sovereign state and city-state; it is enclaved within Rome, the capital city of Italy and Bishop of Rome, seat of the Catholic Church. It became inde ...

. When his mother became a widow in 1500, she took the family back to Modena. When he finished his studies, he went to Rome and entered the service of Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici, future Pope Leo X. When the cardinal, who was papal legate, was taken prisoner by the French in

1512 Year 1512 (Roman numerals, MDXII) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. Events January–March * January 2 – Svante Nilsson (regent of Sweden), Svante Nilsson, regent of Sweden since 1504, dies at the a ...

. In

Ravenna Ravenna ( ; , also ; ) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire during the 5th century until its Fall of Rome, collapse in 476, after which ...

, Ercole who was in

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, ...

, was sent by his mother to assist the cardinal with gifts and help; he wanted to remain with the cardinal and share with him his prison but the latter did not allow it and asked Ercole to return to the Medicis; when the cardinal was being transported 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 ...

, helped by Andrea Guidone, a Modenese, he escaped and went to Piacenza and then to Modena, where Donna Bianca received him in ''Palazzo Rangone'' and gave him vestments, money, horses and a considerable sum of silver; the cardinal was later elected to the pontificate and then invited her to Rome and treated her as if he was her own son. The new pope named Ercole his privy chamberlain and gave Andrea Guidone the title of chamberlain. Soon afterward, Ercole was named “protonotary apostolic”.

References

16th-century Italian cardinals Bishops of Modena Bishops of Adria 1527 deaths Year of birth unknown 1491 births {{italy-RC-cardinal-stub