BICCHIERI, GUALA

BICCHIERI, GUALA. - Cardinal, born at Vercelli around the middle of the 12th century, died at Rome on 31 May 1227. While still very young, he entered the canons of S. Eusebio, where he held a benefice in 1187. In 1205 Innocenzo III created him cardinal of the deaconry of S. Maria in Campitelli. He was papal legate in Tuscany, in France (1208) to Filippo Augusto, and in England (1216) to Enrico III. As early as 1211 he was transferred to the priestly title of SS. Silvestro e Martino. In 1218, upon his return from England, he founded at Vercelli the church of S. Andrea with the adjoining abbey, which he entrusted to the canons of S. Vittore of Paris; it subsequently became the city’s first « Studium generale »; and he also founded the hospital, to which he donated all his possessions situated in the territories of S. Germano, Coresana, and Vercelli. In 1225 he was legate to Federico II. He was a learned and eloquent man, a man of letters and a jurist.