- Bernardino Spada
Bernardino Cardinal Spada (
April 21 ,1594 -November 10 ,1661 ) was an Italian Cardinal of theRoman Catholic Church and a great patron of the arts whose collection is housed in thePalazzo Spada inRome .Biography
Spada was born in
Brisighella , currentprovince of Ravenna (Romagna ).His father was the rich merchant
Paolo Spada (unrelated to the Spada family of ancient nobility) who had directed him early on to a career in the church. Bernardino studied law inBologna ,Perugia and Rome and received a doctorate. He served in thePapal Curia from 1617. In December 1623 he was appointed papal nuncio to the court ofFrance , in preparation for which he was ordainedtitular archbishop of Damietta . He served as nuncio until 1627, when he becamepapal legate inBologna . He was made a cardinal January 19, 1626 byPope Urban VIII . When the plague epidemic hit Bologna in 1630/1631, he helped organize the health care system there.From 1631 he served again in Rome, filling several influential positions in the Curia. In 1632 he purchased what is now called the
Palazzo Spada in the rione Regola, facing Piazza Capo di Ferro with a garden looking over the Tiber, and commissionedFrancesco Borromini to modify it for him in a moreBaroque style, to house his growing collections.During the First War of Castro between the Vatican and the
Duchy of Parma , he served as the main peace negotiator in 1643, together with his brotherVirgilio Spada .Bernardino Spada was successively
Bishop of Albano ,Frascati , Sabina andPalestrina .He died in Rome in 1661 and was interred in the family grave in the church of
San Girolamo della Carità .Bernadino had supported the church careers of several of his family members. His nephew
Giambattista Spada became cardinal in 1654 and his great-nephewFabrizio Spada became cardinal in 1675 andCardinal Secretary of State in 1691.External links and sources
* [http://www.bautz.de/bbkl/s/spada_b.shtml Biography of Bernardino Spada] (German)
* [http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1626.htm#Spada Biography]
* [http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bspadb.html Catholic Hierarchy: Bernardino Cardinal Spada]
* [http://www.thais.it/scultura/sch00372.htm The Spada chapell] in the church of San Girolamo della Carità, RomeBooks
* Arne Karsten: "Kardinal Bernardino Spada; Eine Karriere im barocken Rom", Goettingen 2001 (German)
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