Laudivio Zacchia

Laudivio Zacchia (1565 – 30 August 1637) was an Italian Catholic cardinal.[1]

His Eminence Laudivio Zacchia
Cardinal-Priest of San Pietro in Vincoli
Church	Roman Catholic Church
Appointed	17 September 1629
Term ended	30 August 1637
Predecessor	Luigi Capponi
Successor	Antonio Marcello Barberini
Orders
Ordination	26 July 1605 by Pietro Aldobrandini
Consecration	28 August 1605 by Pietro Aldobrandini
Created cardinal	19 January 1626 by Pope Urban VIII
Rank	Cardinal-Priest
Personal details
Born	1565 Vezzano, Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia
Died	30 August 1637 (aged 71-72) Rome, Papal States
Buried	Santa Maria sopra Minerva
Parents	Gaspare Zacchia Veronica de' Nobili
Previous post	Bishop of Montefiascone (1605-30) Bishop of Corneto (1605-30) Prefect of the Apostolic Palace (1624-26) Cardinal-Priest of San Sisto (1626-29)
Alma mater	University of Pisa

Early life

Zacchia was born in 1565 at the Castle of Vezzano, the son of Gaspare Zacchia and Veronica de' Nobili, of the signori of Vezzano.

It was not Zacchia's original intention to serve an ecclesiastic life. He originally married Laura Biassa and had a son and a daughter; Felice Zacchia (mother of Cardinal Paolo Emilio Rondinini). However, after his wife died, he left Vezzano and went to Rome to aid his brother, Cardinal Paolo Emilio Zacchia. There he worked in the Roman Curia and later became pro-treasurer of the Apostolic Chamber and later its commissary-general.

Ecclesiastic career

On 17 August 1605 he was named bishop of Montefiascone, a bishopric which had previously been held by his brother.[2] Both undertook works on the cathedral there.

During the papacy of Pope Paul V, Zacchia was named vice-legate in Viterbo and vice-legate of the province of the Patrimony. Pope Gregory XV appointed Zacchia as nuncio to Venice, where he served from 1621 until December 1623.[3]

In 1626, Pope Urban VIII made him a cardinal in the consistory of 19 January 1626 and he was named cardinal-priest at San Sisto Vecchio the following month, then opted for the title of San Pietro in Vincoli in 1629.

Between 1631 and his death in 1637, Zacchia was named crown-cardinal of the Republic of Genoa.

Zacchia was one of three cardinals who did not subscribe to the condemnation of Galileo in 1633.

Bid to remove Pope Urban VIII

According to his contemporary John Bargrave, in 1636 members of the Spanish faction of the College of Cardinals were so horrified by the conduct of Pope Urban VIII that they conspired to have him arrested and imprisoned (or killed) so that they could replace him with a new pope; namely Zacchia.[4][5] When Urban travelled to Castel Gandolfo to rest, the members of the Spanish faction met in secret and discussed ways to progress their plan. But they were discovered and the pope raced back to Rome where he immediately held a consistory and demanded to know who the new pope was. To put an end to the conspiracy, the pope decreed that all cardinal-bishops should leave Rome and return to their own churches.[4]

As it was, Zacchia died the following year, in 1637, and was buried in the chapel of Saint Domenico at the Church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome.

References

1. S. Miranda: Laudivio Zacchia
2. Catholic Hierarchy: Laudivio Cardinal Zacchia
3. Achille Gennarelli, "Istruzione al vescovo di Montefiascone che nel 1621 recavasi nunzio a Venezia," Archivio storico italiano, nuova serie, Vol. 7 (1858), pp. 3-35.
4. Pope Alexander the Seventh and the College of Cardinals by John Bargrave, edited by James Craigie Robertson (reprint; 2009)
5. Note: Bargrave describes Zacchia as the uncle of Paolo Emilio Rondinini when in fact the younger cardinal was his grandson.