Gian Girolamo Albani
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Gian Girolamo Albani (1509–1591) was an Italian Roman Catholic cardinal of Albanian descent.
Biography
A member of the Albani family, Gian Girolamo Albani was born in Bergamo on January 3, 1509, the son of Count Francesco Albani.[1] He studied grammar and rhetoric under Giovita Rapicio da Chiari at the University of Padua; he later received a doctorate in civil law from the university in 1529.[2]
After university, he returned to Bergamo.[2] There, Andrea Gritti, Doge of Venice gave him the honor cavaliere aurato.[2] He went on to serve as collaterale generale in the army of the Republic of Venice.[2] He then became podestà of Bergamo.[2] In 1550, he became magistrate in Bergamo; during this period he made the acquaintance of Michele Ghislieri (the future Pope Pius V).[2]
The Albani family had long engaged in a feud with the Brembati family.[2] This climaxed in 1563, when the sons of the Albani murdered Count Achille Brembati in Santa Maria Maggiore, Bergamo.[2] The Council of Ten sentenced Albani and his brothers to five years exile on the island of Lesina.[2] Albani's wife died while he was serving this sentence.[2]
After completing his sentence, Albani accepted an invitation from Pope Pius V to come to Rome.[2] The pope soon named him a protonotary apostolic.[2] He served as governor of the March of Ancona from February 3, 1569 until May 1570.[2]
Pope Pius V made him a cardinal priest in the consistory of May 17, 1570.[2] He received the red hat and the titular church of San Giovanni a Porta Latina on November 20, 1570.[2]
He participated in the papal conclave of 1572 that elected Pope Gregory XIII.[2] The new pope sent him on a number of diplomatic missions, including one to form an alliance of Christian princes against the Ottoman Empire.[2] He was a participant in the papal conclave of 1585 that elected Pope Sixtus V.[2] From 1585 to his death, he was the governor of Bagnoregio.[2] In 1586, his son, Giovanni Battista Albani, became Titular Patriarch of Alexandria.[2] He participated in both the papal conclave of September 1590 that elected Pope Urban VII and the papal conclave of October–December 1590 that elected Pope Gregory XIV.[2]
He died in Rome on April 25, 1591.[2] He was buried in Santa Maria del Popolo.[2]
Works by Gian Girolamo Albani
- De donatione Constantini (Cologne, 1535)
- De cardinalatu (Rome, 1541)
- De immunitate ecclesiarum (Rome, 1553)
- De potestate papæ et concilii (Lyon, 1558)
See also
References
