BRANCACCIO, STEFANO. — Cardinal, born in Naples in 1618, died in Viterbo on 8 Sept. 1682, was the nephew of Cardinal Francesco Maria B. After obtaining a degree in law, in 1643 he was appointed referendary of the two Signatures. On 9 Dec. 1654 he was sent by Innocent X as inquisitor to Malta, 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 uncle the cardinal, 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 a 1800, Geneva 1912, pp. 19, 22, 235; B. Katterbach, Referendari utriusque Signaturae (Studi e Testi, 53), Vatican City 1913, p. 284. Emma Santovito