Tommaso Ruffo

Tommaso Cardinal Ruffo

Tommaso Ruffo (born September 15, 1663 in Naples , † February 16, 1753 in Rome ) was an Italian cardinal of the Roman Church and cardinal dean .

Life

Early years

The future cardinal was born in 1663 as the son of Duke Carlo Ruffo and studied civil and canon law at La Sapienza University in Rome. One of his nephews, Antonio Maria Ruffo , later became a cardinal himself. Probably under Pope Innocent XI. Tommaso Ruffo , who also sent him to Brussels as a nuncio , was ordained a priest . In 1693 he became a consultant at the Apostolic Signature, after having previously been a vice delegate in Romagna. A year later, Tommaso Ruffo was inquisitor in Malta and brought about reconciliation between the Order of Malta and the Republic of Genoa .

Episcopate

On April 13, 1698 he was titular Archbishop of Nicaea . The episcopal ordination received his Cardinal Secretary of State Fabrizio Spada ; Co-consecrators were Michelangelo dei Conti, who later became Pope Innocent XIII. , and Francesco Acquaviva d'Aragona . Only six days later he became nuncio in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany . In 1702 he was to be appointed Archbishop of Naples, but he refused.

Cardinal and Cardinal Dean

Portrait of the Cardinal by Giuseppe Maria Crespi

Clemens XI took him for this . on May 17, 1706 to the College of Cardinals . After many years as a papal legate, including in Ferrara, he became Bishop of Ferrara in May 1717 (he held the title of Archbishop ad personam ). Four years later, he took part in the 1721 conclave . He then traveled again as a legate to Bologna . Since Pope Innocent XIII. died relatively early, he returned to Rome in 1724 to take part in the conclave . In 1726 he was accepted into the class of Cardinal Bishops and was Cardinal Bishop of Palestrina . A year later he returned to Ferrara as a legate, where he stayed for three years. In 1738 he gave up the Archdiocese (since 1725) of Ferrara and became Cardinal Bishop of Porto e Santa Rufina and Cardinal Subdean . During the conclave of 1740, the cardinal dean Pietro Ottoboni died , so that Ruffo led the election from that point on. After the election of Benedict XIV , he was elected cardinal dean on August 29, 1740. The new Pope appointed him secretary of the Holy Office that same day. He held both positions until his death.

His painting collection included the portrait of Juan de Pareja by Velazquez .

death

Tommaso Ruffo died in Rome in 1753 at the age of almost 90. He was buried in the Church of San Lorenzo in Damaso , where he was previously a cardinal priest. He had had his tomb built himself.

Web links

Commons : Tommaso Ruffo  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Ruffo, Tommaso. In: Salvador Miranda : The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church. ( Florida International University website), accessed November 21, 2016.
• Entry on Tommaso Ruffo on catholic-hierarchy.org ; accessed on November 21, 2016.

predecessor	Office	successor
Pietro Ottoboni	Dean of the College of Cardinals 1740–1753	Pietro Luigi Carafa
Pietro Ottoboni	Cardinal Bishop of Ostia e Velletri 1740–1753	Pietro Luigi Carafa
Pietro Ottoboni	Cardinal Bishop of Porto e Santa Rufina 1738–1740	Ludovico Pico della Mirandola
Francesco Barberini the Younger	Cardinal Bishop of Palestrina 1726–1738	Giorgio Spinola
Taddeo Luigi dal Verme	Archbishop of Ferrara 1717–1738	Raniero d'Elci