Orazio Mattei (Bishop)

Orazio Mattei (* 1574 in Rome , † June 13, 1622 in Naples ) was an Italian bishop and apostolic nuncio .

biography

He was born in Rome around 1574 as the son of Muzio, a member of an old noble family, and Lucrezia Bandini, the daughter of the banker Pietro Antonio.

After completing his law degree, he began his ecclesiastical career as the house priest of Clement VIII .

From 1594 to 1603 he was Abbreviator des parco maiori ; from 1594 to 1601 he was trainee lawyer for the Apostolic Signature and on February 6, 1595 he became Vicar of Santa Maria Maggiore . On April 21, 1597, he followed his maternal uncle, Ottavio Bandini , as a vice delegate , first to Romagna and on December 15, 1598 to the Marche .

On November 19, 1601 he received the diocese of Gerace in Calabria , with the authority to retain the office of Abbreviator for another year. The episcopal ordination took place on December 8th by Cardinal Domenico Pinelli in the church of San Biagio ai Catinari , after which he went to Calabria.

There are reports that he wanted to leave the Gerace because the diocese was in a bad state. However, his request was denied. The opportunity to leave Gerace arose the following year, when tensions between the Holy See and Venice increased after the election of Camillo Borghese as Pope Paul V in 1605 .

On July 21, 1605 Mattei was appointed to succeed the late Nuncio Offredo Offredi in Venice to represent the new course of papal policy towards the Serenissima. Mattei lacked diplomatic skills and he could not change the mind of the Venetian Senate, so it came to the expected break in diplomatic relations. On May 3, 1606, Cardinal Scipione Borghese Caffarelli ordered his return to Rome. Mattei started his return journey on May 10th and stayed in Rome until at least February 21st, 1607 when he made an ad limina visit and, after almost two years of absence from the diocese, presented a very ill-informed report. He then returned to Gerace, where he stayed for about eight years.

After his ad limina visit on December 20, 1615, with the Pope's permission, he stayed in Rome to recover until 1618. After his triennial visit on August 17, 1618, he returned to Gerace. In 1620 a diocesan synod was convened to lay down rules of conduct for lay people and clergy, which he had to interrupt after a few meetings because of protests from some religious and religious groups.

Already seriously ill, he went to Rome, probably to visit Ad Limina. He had to stop in Naples for health reasons and died there on June 13, 1622, where he was buried in the church of Santa Maria Maggiore.

Web links

• Filippo Crucitti:  MATTEI, Orazio. In: Mario Caravale (ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 72:  Massimino-Mechetti. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 2009.
• bmattor .html Entry on Orazio Mattei on catholic-hierarchy.org

predecessor	Office	successor
Vincenzo Bonardo OP	Bishop of Gerace November 19, 1601 - June 13, 1622	Alessandro Bosco