BRANCACCIO, STEFANO. — Cardinal, born in Naples in 1618, died in Viterbo on 8 September 1682; he was the nephew of Cardinal Francesco Maria B. After obtaining a degree in law, he was appointed, in 1643, referendary of the two Signatures. On 9 December 1654 he was sent by Innocent X to Malta as inquisitor, and on 5 May 1660 was elected titular bishop of Adrianople. In June of the same year he was sent as nuncio to Florence, and on 17 July 1666 to Venice. In 1668 he was appointed secretary of the Congregation of the Council, and on 2 June 1670, through the free cession of his cardinal uncle, he obtained the bishopric of Viterbo-Tuscania.
BIBL.: L. Cardella, Memorie storiche de' cardinali, VII, Rome 1793, pp. 245–46; Cappelletti, VI, pp. 163–64; L. Karttunen, Les nonciatures apostoliques permanentes de 1650 à 1800, Geneva 1912, pp. 19, 22, 235; B. Katterbach, Referendarii utriusque Signaturae (Studi e Testi), 55, Vatican City 1931, p. 284. Emma Santovito