FRANCESCO ACQUAVIVA. - Cardinal, born in Naples in 1665, died in Rome in 1725. In 1689 he was appointed by Innocent XI vice-legate in Ferrara and later inquisitor in Malta. Under Innocent XII he became first master of the chamber and then, shortly before the outbreak of the War of Succession, nuncio to the Spanish court. He supported the party of Philip V and, to meet the expenses of the war, sacrificed his silverware which he sent to the mint to be coined. On 17 May 1706 he was created cardinal by Clement XI with the title of S. Bartolomeo all'Isola, later changed to that of S. Cecilia, whose church he restored. Philip V appointed him minister and protector of the kingdom of Spain at the Holy See. He was buried in the church of S. Cecilia.
ACQUAVIVA, FRANCESCO
BIBL.: Pastor, XV, pp. 103-77, passim; P. Richard, s. V. in DHG, I, cols. 358-59.