Zaccaria Dolfin

Cardinal Dolfin (painting)

Cardinal coat of arms

Zaccaria Dolfin (Delfino) (born March 29, 1527 in Venice , † December 29, 1583 in Rome ) was a cardinal and apostolic nuncio at the imperial court in Vienna .

Life

As the offspring of a Venetian patrician family , he completed his studies in philosophy and law in Padua . He was one of at least seven sons of Andrea Dolfin and Deia Mocenigo. Dolfin was ordained priest in 1550 at the age of almost 23 and began his ecclesiastical career in Rome. Three years later, on May 5, 1553, he was appointed bishop of Lesina (today the diocese of Hvar in Croatia ). In 1554 Dolfin was sent to the court in Vienna as papal nuncio, where he stayed until 1556. In the royal seat he was able to establish excellent contacts with the Jesuits , apart from that he was committed to sending young men from Bohemia and Germany to study in Rome. In addition, he was a great patron of the Clementinum in Prague . Dolfin sat like Pope Julius III. for the appointment of Petrus Canisius as Bishop of Vienna, but despite all diplomatic efforts, a different candidate was chosen. He accompanied Cardinal Morone to the Reichstag in Augsburg - and when Cardinals Morone and Truchseß because of the death of Julius III. returned to Rome, Dolfin remained in Augsburg as the Pope's representative. In 1555 he left for Rome. Paul IV sent him again to Emperor Ferdinand in December 1555 , who was very fond of him. Dolfin tried to limit the negative effects of the decisions of the Reichstag in Augsburg on the papal church and he was very keen to carry out church reform. Nevertheless, he had to watch how the Emperor repeatedly made great concessions to the Reformed. At the end of 1556 he returned to the papal court and reported to Paul IV on the conditions in the empire. At the same time he informed Ferdinand about the Roman situation from Rome. On the basis of these contacts, the new Pope Pius IV , from 1559, sent Dolfin to Emperor Ferdinand again in 1560. His task was to win this over for the reopening of the council in Trento , since the emperor wanted a new council in Innsbruck . Dolfin finally got Ferdinand's approval for Trento and he then traveled through the German lands to invite the prelates to the council. He also took part in the Protestant gathering in Naumburg (Saale) in 1561 . Here, however, the Protestants completely refused to take part in the council in Trent. After Dolfin's return to Vienna, he was again papal nuncio, this time until 1565.

He also tried to find a positive solution to the question of the lay chalice and the marriage of priests . In addition, he was commissioned to convey the decisions of the Council of Trent to the German clergy. On March 12th 1565 Dolfin was elevated to cardinal by Pope Pius IV and the following September cardinal priest of Santa Maria in Aquiro . He took part in the conclave from 1565 to 1566, from which Pius V emerged . Cardinal Delfino changed his titular church in 1578 and briefly received Santo Stefano al Monte Celio and in 1579 Sant'Anastasia . Under Gregory XIII. In 1573 he received the vice-protectorate over the German nation.

The proposal to send nuncios to southern Germany goes back to Dolfin, from which the nunciature in Graz eventually developed. After his death on December 29, 1583, he was buried in Rome in the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva .

Some claimed at the time that he was a person who wanted to serve two masters - the emperor and the pope.

literature

• Ekkart Sauser :  Zaccaria Dolfin. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 17, Bautz, Herzberg 2000, ISBN 3-88309-080-8 , Sp. 256-258.

Web links

• Delfino, Zaccaria. In: Salvador Miranda : The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church. ( Florida International University website), accessed December 2, 2016.