(1) 1. CAFFARELLI-BORGHESE, Scipione (1576-1633)

Birth. 1576 (1), Rome. Of a patrician family. Son of Marcantonio Caffarelli and Ortensia Borghese, sister of Pope Paul V (1605-1621). Relative of Cardinal Giambattista Leni (1608). He is also listed as Scipione Borghese and his last name as Borghese Caffarelli. With permission of Pope Paul V, considering that his family did not have a male descendant to assist him, he adopted the last name and the arms of the Borghese family at his promotion to the cardinalate.

Education. Collegio Romano, Rome (philosophy); University of Perugia, Perugia (law).

Cardinalate. Created cardinal priest in the consistory of July 18, 1605 (2). Received the four minor orders, July 31, 1605; subdiaconate, August 1, 1605; diaconate, August 5, 1605.

Priesthood. Ordained, August 7, 1605. Received the red hat and the title of S. Crisogono, August 17, 1605. Cardinal nipote. Superintendent negotiorum Sanctae Sedis. Governor of Fermo, April 4, 1606. Legate a latere in Avignon and Comtat Venaissin, July 4, 1607. Archpriest of the patriarchal Lateran basilica, 1608, and abbot commendatario of S. Gregorio al Monte Celio, 1608 (3). Abbot commendatario of Subiaco from 1608. Librarian of the Holy Roman Church ad vitam, June 11, 1609 until February 17, 1618. Grand penitentiary, January 5, 1610 to October 2, 1633.

Episcopate. Elected archbishop of Bologna, October 25, 1610. Consecrated, December 8, 1610, in the Sistine Chapel, Rome, by Pope Paul V, assisted by Cardinal Maffeo Barberini, bishop of Spoleto, and by Cardinal Giovanni Garzia Mellini, bishop of Imola. Never went to his see; governed it through a suffragan bishop. Resigned the government of the archdiocese before April 2, 1612 (4). Prefect of Apostolic Briefs, 1612 (?). Prefect of the Tribunal of the Apostolic Signature of Grace, February 16, 1618. Resigned the office of librarian of the Holy Roman Church before February 17, 1618. Protector of Loreto, January 4, 1620. Archpriest of the patriarchal Vatican basilica, 1620. Camerlengo of the Sacred College of Cardinals, January 11, 1621; confirmed for another year, January 10, 1622 until January 9, 1623. Participated in the conclave of 1621, which elected Pope Gregory XV. Participated in the conclave of 1623, which elected Pope Urban VIII. Opted for the order of bishops and the suburbicarian see of Sabina, retaining the title of S. Crisogono, August 20, 1629. He was a protector of Gian Lorenzo Bernini, and ordered construction of Palazzo Borghese (future Galleria Borghese), where he gathered an extensive art collection. He wrote Carmina de cardinalibus a Paulo V creatis ac episcoporum ab eo institutorum præstantia.

Death. October 2, 1633, in his Roman palace (5). Buried in the tomb of his family in the patriarchal Liberian basilica, Rome.

Bibliography. Faber, Martin. Scipione Borghese als Kardinalprotektor : Studien zur römischen Mikropolitik in der Frühen Neuzeit. Mainz : von Zabern, 2005. (Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für Europäische Geschichte Mainz, Abteilung für Abendländische Religionsgeschichte ; Bd. 204; Variation: Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für Europäsche Geschichte Mainz ; Bd. 204); Meluzzi, Luciano. I vescovi e gli arcivescovi di Bologna. Bologna : Grafica Emiliana, 1975, (Collana storico-ecclesiastica; 3), pp. 418-421; Reinhardt, Volker. Kardinal Scipione Borghese (1605-1633) : Vermögen, Finanzen und sozialer Aufstieg eines Papstnepoten. Tübingen : M. Niemeyer, 1984. (Bibliothek des Deutschen Historischen Instituts in Rom, Bd. 58). Note: A revision of the author's thesis (doctoral)--Universitdt Freiburg im Breisgau, 1981 originally presented under the title: Die Finanzen des Kardinals Scipione Borghese (1605-1633).

Links. His genealogy, A3 D4 E1; his episcopal lineage, in English; detail of his bust by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Galleria Borghese, Rome, Italy; another picture of the same bust; larger picture of the same bust; bust and brief biographical data, in German; his portrait by Ottavio Leoni - Il Padovano, musée Fesch, Ajaccio, Corsica; his portrait by an anonymous artist, Palazzo Corsini, Rome; his coat of arms by an anonymous artist, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States; Museum and Borghese Gallery, Rome, Italy; The Borghese Family, in Spanish.

(1) This is according to his brief biographical data in Italian, linked above, and to Meluzzi, I vescovi e gli arcivescovi di Bologna, p. 419. The site of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, also linked above, indicates that he was born in 1579; and that of his brief biographical data in German says that he probably was born in 1579 .
(2) Hierarchia Catholica Medii et Recentioris Aevi, IV, 9, indicates that he was 28 at the moment of his promotion.
(3) This is according to Meluzzi, I vescovi e gli arcivescovi di Bologna, p. 420, who also indicates, erroneously, that in that same year he was named prefect of the S.C. of the Tridentine Council. The prefecture was occupied by Cardinal Francesco Maria Bourbon del Monte from 1605 until 1616. The site of the Borghese family, linked above, also says that he was prefect of that congregation.
(4) Meluzzi, I vescovi e gli arcivescovi di Bologna, p. 420, indicates that after resigning the see of Bologna he obtained the Camerlengato but the post of camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church was occupied by Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini from 1599 until 1621 and he was not elected camerlengo of the Sacred College of Cardinals until 1621.
(5) Hierarchia Catholica Medii et Recentioris Aevi, IV, 9, indicates that he died at 51; Cardella, Memorie storiche de' cardinali della Santa Romana Chiesa, VI, 120, says that he died in 1633 at 57 years of age and 24 of cardinalate.

©1998-2009 Salvador Miranda.