(2) 1. ALDOBRANDINI, Alessandro (1667-1734)
Birth. May 1, 1667, Florence. Of a patrician family.
Education. University of Pisa, Pisa (doctorate in utroque iure, December 19, 1697).
Priesthood. Ordained (no information found). Privy chamberlain of His Holiness.Vice-legate in Ferrara, 1699. Commissary of the army in the cities of Parma, 1702; and Piacenza. Canon of the patriarchal Liberian basilica, Rome. Cleric of the Apostolic Chamber, October 21, 1706.
Episcopate. Elected titular archbishop of Rodi, November 7, 1707. Consecrated, November 27, 1707, patriarchal Lateran basilica, by Cardinal Fabrizio Paolucci; in the same ceremony was consecrated Pier Marcellino Corradini, titular archbishop of Atene, future cardinal. Assistant at the Pontifical Throne, November 23, 1707. Nuncio in Naples, December 20, 1707. Nuncio in Venice, September 23, 1713. Nuncio in Spain, July 1, 1720.
Cardinalate. Created cardinal priest in the consistory of October 2, 1730; received the red hat and the title of Ss. Quattri Coronati, September 3, 1731. Legate in Ferrara, December 11, 1730.
Death. August 14, 1734, Ferrara, victim of the gout. Buried in the church of the Carmelites Discalced, Ferrara.
(3) 2. GRIMALDI, Girolamo (1674-1733)
Birth. 1674, Genoa. Baptized, November 15, 1674. The family gave the church another three cardinals: Girolamo Grimaldi (1527), Girolamo Grimaldi-Cavalleroni (1643) and Nicola Grimaldi (1706).
Education. University of Avignon, Avignon (doctorate in utroque iure, June 26, 1705). Received the minor orders, September 8, 1708; subdiaconate, March 17, 1709; diaconate, March 19, 1709.
Priesthood. Ordained, April 7, 1709. Internuncio in Brussels.
Episcopate. Elected titular archbishop of Edessa in Osrhoëne, October 5, 1712. Consecrated (no information found). Nuncio in Poland, December 20, 1712. Assistant at the Pontifical Throne, January 17, 1713. Apostolic visitor to the Armenian Church in the city and diocese of Lvov, Poland, June 21, 1720. Apostolic visitor to the Ruthenian Church in all Russia and Lithuania, June 22, 1720. Nuncio in Austria, November 15, 1720; reappointed, May 24, 1721.
Cardinalate. Created cardinal priest in the consistory of October 2, 1730; received the red hat and the title of S. Bibiana, September 3, 1731. Legate in Bologna for a triennium, December 11, 1730. Legate in the duchies of Parma and Piacenza, retaining his other legation, October 5, 1731.
Death. While traveling from Naples to Genoa in an English vessel, fell gravely ill from a cold, and died in Ischia on November 18, 1733. Transferred to Genoa, wa buried in the church of S. Filippo, in that city.
Bibliography. Squicciarini, Donato. Nunzi apostolici a Vienna. Città del Vaticano : Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1998, p. 160-161.
(4) 3. MASSEI, Bartolomeo (1663-1745)
Birth. January 2, 1663, Montepulciano.
Education. University of Pisa, Pisa (doctorate in utroque iure, both canon and civil law, May 29, 1683). Received the subdiaconate, September 23, 1702; diaconate, December 23, 1702.
Priesthood. Ordained, April 7, 1703. Prior of the school of S. Maria in Via Lata, Rome. Canon of the patriarchal Liberian basilica. Domestic prelate of His Holiness. Papal master of chamber, 1717. Referendary of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signature, July 22, 1717.
Episcopate. Elected titular archbishop of Atena, February 3, 1721. Consecrated (no information found). Nuncio extraordinary in France, February 4, 1721. Nuncio ordinary in France, August 27, 1722. Representative of the Holy See to the congress of peace, Cambrai, September 15, 1722 to February 16, 1723; reappointed, July 31, 1724. Representative of the Holy See to the Congress of Soissons, July 3, 1728.
Cardinalate. Created cardinal priest in the consistory of October 2, 1730; received the red hat and the title of S. Agostino, January 8, 1731. Legate in Romadiola, December 11, 1730 until 1735. Superintendent of Waters, January 12, 1731. Transferred to the see of Ancona, with personal title of archbishop, May 21, 1731. Participated in the conclave of 1740, which elected Pope Benedict XIV.
Death. November 20, 1745, Ancona. Exposed and buried in the cathedral of Ancona.
(5) 4. RUSPOLI, Bartolomeo (1697-1741)
Birth. October 25, 1697, Rome. Of the family of the counts of Vignanello.
Education. (No information found).
Early life. Knight of the Order of Malta. Governor of the conclave of 1721. Secretary of Memorials, 1721. Secretary of the S.C. of Propaganda Fide, 1724; resigned and left Rome unhappy with the state of affairs in the city, 1728.
Sacred orders. Received the minor orders, June 26, 1725. Protonotary apostolic.
Cardinalate. Created cardinal deacon in the consistory of October 2, 1730; received the red hat and the deaconry of Ss. Cosma e Damiano, November 22, 1730. Granted dispensation to receive the diaconate and the priestly ordination on the same day without having to wait the established time, December 14, 1730. Grand prior in Rome of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, 1731. Participated in the conclave of 1740, which elected Pope Benedict XIV.
Death. May 21, 1741, at 9:00 p.m., Palazzo Ruspoli, Vignanello, after a long and painful illness. Buried temporarily in the collegiate church of Vignanello. Transferred to the Capuchin church of the Immaculate Conception, Rome, according to his will, July 12, 1743.
Note. In his Memoirs, Baron Karl Ludwig von Pöllnitz, who was in Rome when Bartolomeo Ruspoli was created cardinal, said that during the pontificate of Pope Benedict XIII (1724-1730), Cardinal Nicola Coscia had offered the father of the future cardinal his promotion in exchange for a certain sum of money. When Bartolomeo found out, he refused and referred the incident to Cardinal Lorenzo Corsini (future Pope Clement XII), a friend of his family. That explained, according to Pöllnitz, why, in his first published cardinalitial creation, Pope Clement XII promoted the young prelate together with three nuncios who most certainly would have received the cardinalate ex officio. Johann Heinrich Zedler, in his Das Universal-Kochbuch des 18. Jahrhunderts, recounts the same story. It is not totally clear if it was Cardinal Coscia who offered the appointment or if it was Bartolomeo's father who tried to buy it.
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