Stefano Durazzo (Cardinal)

Cardinal Durazzo

Stefano Durazzo (born August 5, 1594 in Multedo , † July 11, 1667 in Rome ) was an Italian Catholic cardinal and archbishop .

biography

He came from the noble Genoese family of the Marchesi Durazzo, from which nine doges emerged. He himself was the son of the Doge of the Republic of Genoa Pietro Durazzo (1560–1631) and Aurelia Saluzzo, and brother of the Doge Cesare Durazzo (1593–1680). He studied law in Rome.

On November 28, 1633 he was named cardinal by Pope Urban VIII . From 1634 to 1666 he was cardinal priest with the titular church of San Lorenzo in Panisperna and from 1666 until his death cardinal priest of San Lorenzo in Lucina . On March 5, 1635, he became archbishop of the Ligurian capital and held this office until October 1, 1664.

He strongly disagreed with the Doge and refused to crown Agostino Pallavicini , the candidate for the royal crown. The doge wanted to affirm that his power comes from God, and therefore he also had power in and over the church . The conflict was compounded by his desire to control the hospitals and brotherhoods (the Casacce ), which at the time were a very powerful social network with considerable economic and social weight. They thought they were only dependent on civil power and rejected the reformist intervention of the archbishop.

Then he was entrusted with the Legate of Bologna . When he returned in 1642, fighting with the government flared up again. The cardinal did not want the government to control the seminary he had founded and partly financed from his own resources . In retaliation, he was denied any subsidies. In the Synod of 1643 his decisions were criticized by that part of the clergy that opposed any reform.

A new conflict arose with the Senate when Durazzo in 1647 raised a tax of 4% in favor of the seminary. The collection was made primarily on certain incomes of the archbishop's cafeteria and the cathedral chapter , but also on all incomes of the pastors and the simple incomes of the diocese , which had to be considered due to holy obedience and under threat of suspension. The collection of the Scudi was very high and there was an appeal to the Pope .

After 1648 the Senate turned to Rome several times, and in 1649 the Doge Giacomo De Franchi Toso officially requested the archbishop's removal. The diocese was divided. Part of the clergy was irritated by the levying of the tax on the seminary, while others, including many lay people, sided with the cardinal. These included mystic Virginia Centurione Bracelli and Anton Giulio Brignole Sale , who gave up a promising public career to join the Jesuits .

He preferred the religious, especially the Jesuits , the Capuchins and the Theatines , whom he also sent to Corsica to do missionary work.

He founded the Congregazione dei Missionari Urbani for missionary preaching in the city and called the Oratorians and Lazarists , whom he particularly valued.

In his diocese he went on two pastoral trips (the second took place between 1650 and 1654), reorganized the diocese and set up 34 new parishes.

In 1655 he wrote that he had finally succeeded in preventing the interference of a certain lay judge in the life of the seminary, who interfered in the government and in the selection of students.

On the occasion of the plague of 1656, he did heroic work, up to and including the nickname Borromeo of Genoa . After the plague of 1656 he stayed in Rome (1659–1661). When he returned, the situation was still critical, so that due to his serious illness he renounced the government of Genoa and retired to Rome. He had just signed the Senate edict which resolved to put the Doge on the throne and required the canons to accompany the Senate in solemn liturgical ceremonies.

He died in Rome in 1667. His funerary monument can be seen next to the high altar of the Church of Santa Maria in Monterone .

person

He was a pastor and an influential boss. He took part in the missions, and at the monthly and annual retreats of the clergy, he was the first to enjoy confession. He advocated the quarantore (40-hour devotion) and intensified the worship of the Eucharist . He combined steadfastness and religious sense. He was imperious and authoritarian. But it is said that behind his harshness there was a real priestly heart.

He had the seminary built at his own expense and founded the Congregation of Missionaries of Saint Vincent de Paul .

He was the uncle of Cardinal Marcello Durazzo (raised in 1686 ), son of Doge Cesare and nephew of Doge Pietro . Another doge was his nephew Pietro Durazzo , son of Cesare.

literature

• GA Musso: Il Cardinale Stefano Durazzo, Arcivescovo di Genova . Edizioni UCLD, Genoa 1959 (Italian).
• A. Valenti Durazzo: I Durazzo da schiavi a dogi della Repubblica di Genova . CHRA Principauté de Monaco, 2004 (Italian).
• A.Valenti Durazzo: Il Fratello del Doge. Giacomo Durazzo un illuminista alla Corte degli Asburgo tra Mozart, Casanova e Gluck . 2012 (Italian).
• A. Colletti: Il Cardinale Stefano Durazzo . AGIS, Genoa 1951 (Italian).
• Matteo Sanfilippo:  Stefano Durazzo. In: Fiorella Bartoccini (ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 42:  Dugoni – Enza. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1993.

Web links

Commons : Stefano Durazzo  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Stefano Durazzo (Cardinal). In: Salvador Miranda : The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church. ( Florida International University website, English)
• Entry on Stefano Cardinal Durazzo † on catholic-hierarchy.org