Carafa, Family

CARAFA, FAMILY. - The Carafa family of Naples is a branch of the Caracciolo, and its progenitor was GREGORIO Caracciolo, who lived in the first half of the 12th century and was surnamed Carafa, perhaps because he was the concessionaire of the wine tax. The princely title was granted on 24 May 1594 to FABRIZIO I, who distinguished himself greatly in the defense of Roccella against Hassan Cigala.

Another important branch was the one called della Stadera, with a steelyard crossed in its coat of arms, whose head in the 15th century was ANTONIO, nicknamed MALIZIA for the acumen he showed in diplomacy. From him descended Cardinal Oliviero, who bought the county of Ruvo for his brother Ettore; the family later held the duchy of Andria.

Other branches of it are the counts of S. Severino and of Traetto, the lords of Mariglianella and the counts of Maddaloni, whose most illustrious member was Gian Pietro of the dukes of Montorio, later Paul IV.

After the downfall of the Carafa at the death of Paul IV (1559), the lineage was still graced by cardinals, archbishops, viceroys of Naples, warriors and scientists, among them VINCENZO (1542-1611).

The C. family held the archbishopric of Naples in its hands from Dec. 1458 to Sept. 1576, with a brief interruption from July 1545 to Apr. 1557.

The cardinalitial dignity entered the line of the Stadera with OLIVIERO, b. in 1430, doctor in both laws, canon and then archbishop of Naples on 29 Dec. 1458. He was most welcome to King Ferdinand, who had ascended the throne in that very year, and who wanted him as a councillor in the royal Council and as his representative in Rome. He was created cardinal by Paul II on 18 Sept. 1467, for which reason he was called the Neapolitan cardinal. In 1472 Sixtus IV placed him at the head of the maritime expedition that was to operate in the Aegean against the Turk, and it was not his fault if, after occupying Smyrna and forcing the port of Satalia, he could not obtain those successes that would have been necessary to repress the latter's arrogance.

By Alexander VI he was placed at the head of the reform commission which in fact could accomplish nothing. He built on the Quirinal the palace which, enlarged later, became a papal residence; in the church of the Minerva he erected the chapel of S. Tommaso, which he had painted by Filippino Lippi. He also carried out works at S. Lorenzo al Verano (cf. V. Forcella, Iscrizioni, XII, Rome 1878, p. 514, n. 575). In Naples he erected the building of the Sapienza, which he destined for studies; in the cathedral the chapel of the Soccorso, in which he was also buried; he furthermore had the relics of St. Januarius transported from Montevergine to Naples. Highly esteemed by the best men of his time, he d. in Rome on 20 Jan. 1511.

Among those who worked around Paul IV there stands out the nephew card. CARLO C., son of Giovanni Alfonso, brother of the Pope, b. in Naples ca. 1517, d. in Rome on 4 March 1561. He first served as a soldier in Italy and beyond the Alps; when Paul IV was elected pope, he was in Rome and decided for the ecclesiastical state. He succeeded in persuading his uncle of his good dispositions, and the latter created him cardinal of the deaconry title of Sts. Vitus and Modestus on 7 June 1555, and kept him at his side as cardinal nephew, unloading upon him the cares of governing the State so that he himself might attend to the reform of the Church and to the Inquisition. The cardinal, thinking of the advanced age of the Pontiff, set about procuring for himself an eminent position. He obtained the regency of the Chancery, the legation of Bologna and in particular a free hand in political relations. And since Paul IV was averse to Spanish influence and to the Habsburgs, precisely when their power was passing through a critical moment in Germany, C. took advantage of it to ally himself with France, where he was sent as legate on 11 May 1556, and he was the cause of that war with Spain fought around Rome which endangered the city itself. It ended with the treaty of Cave (Sept. 1557), to which C. had secret agreements added, kept hidden from the Pope, to regulate the interests of his own family.

The cardinal, who had not corrected his private conduct, shamelessly abused the trust of the Pope, who relied on him, until the latter, at the beginning of 1559, put on his guard by certain incidents and by information obtained from a trusted person, severely punished him and the others who had had a part in his misdeeds. The cardinal was ordered first to leave the apartment in the palace and then also Rome to go to Civita Lavinia; he was deprived of any interference in affairs and of the legation of Bologna; the cardinalitial dignity, however, was not taken from him. Therefore, at the death of Paul IV (on 18 Aug.), having returned to Rome, he was admitted to the Conclave from which Pius IV came out as pope. The new Pontiff wished a regular trial to be instituted against the prevaricating C.; the cardinal, imprisoned on 7 June 1560, was deposed and then strangled in prison on 4 March 1561. Pius V, who had been protected by Paul IV, wished the trial of the C. to be reviewed, vindicating at least in part their reputation and bringing to light the grave irregularities of the trial of 1561.

The elder brother of Cardinal Carlo was GIOVANNI, count of MONTORIO, who worked hard with the Pope to obtain the cardinalate for his brother Carlo. Although he was named captain general of the Church, he had to yield precedence to his younger brother and had no opportunity to exercise either military or political activity.

He held the duchy of Paliano when the Colonna were stripped of it; but he did not obtain the lordship of Siena as had been negotiated when in 1557 the cardinal drew close to Spain. Involved in his brother's ruin, subjected like him to the trial of 1561, he had to confess himself guilty of the killing of his wife Violante d'Alife, whom he had unjustly accused of adultery, and his penalty was decapitation.

The third brother, ANTONIO, marquis of MONTEBELLO, had command of the papal guard, yet even less than his brother Giovanni did he take part in public affairs, and he did not suffer condemnation in the trial of 1561. His son was ALFONSO, b. in Naples in 1540: for his gentleness he was very dear to Paul IV, who created him cardinal at the age of 18 on 15 March 1557 with the deaconry of S. Nicola in Carcere, then on 19 April of that year also gave him the archbishopric of Naples, and in Dec. 1558 named him regent of the Apostolic Camera.

He remained with Paul IV, well liked by him even after the condemnation of his two uncles; he passed to the title of Sts. Giovanni e Paolo and was named librarian of the Vaticana at the beginning of 1559. He was involved, during the reign of Pius IV, in the ruin of his family under the unjust accusation of having removed precious objects from the chamber of the deceased Paul IV at the moment of his death; he was deprived of his honors and offices, fined 100,000 gold scudi, confined in Castel S. Angelo on 7 June 1560, and was in danger of a greater punishment. Pardoned in 1562, he took refuge in Naples, of which see he had not been deprived, and governed it, celebrating a synod there, beginning the reform of the monasteries, and there finally dying on 26 Aug. 1565. He was buried in the Cathedral, where, almost as compensation for the wrongs received, Pius V had a magnificent tomb erected for him.

Related to the foregoing, but of the branch of the dukes of Ariano, was Cardinal DIOMEDE C., b. in 1491, d. in Rome on 12 Aug. 1560. Named at the age of twenty in 1511 by Julius II bishop of Ariano, he governed that see for 50 years; Paul IV created him cardinal of the presbyteral title of S. Martino ai Monti on 20 Dec. 1555, together with his relative Alfonso. In Ariano he restored the Cathedral, the episcopal palace and the dilapidated abbey of S. Andrea, and had also begun to embellish the church of his title, which he obtained to be elevated to a Lenten station. Of modest sentiments, he always lived far from the Neapolitan court; he was buried before the high altar of the church of S. Martino ai Monti.

Of the branch of the marquises of Montenero, however, was ANTONIO C., b. in Naples in 1538, Vatican canon and cupbearer of Paul IV. At the moment of the ruin of his relatives he renounced the canonry and withdrew to Naples where he devoted himself to study, especially of Greek, profiting from what he had learned under Guglielmo Sirleto, with whom he remained bound in warm friendship. He was created cardinal on 24 March 1568 by Pius V, who intended in this way also to rehabilitate the memory of the C. He was a member of the new Congregation for the application of the Council of Trent and, on the death of Sirleto, also librarian of the Vaticana.

A man of great learning, he devoted himself to the correction of the Vulgate desired by the Council of Trent; but Sixtus V made use only in part of the critical work that Antonio C. had prepared, and published in 1588 that Sixtine edition which was then promptly withdrawn. His principal work was the critical edition of the Greek Bible known as the Septuagint with an annexed Latin version (Rome 1587). He also directed the critical edition of the Corpus iuris canonici patronized by Gregory XIII, and of other texts. His Catena explicationum veterum Patrum in omnia tam Veteris quam Novi Testamenti cantica (Padua 1565) should be remembered. He died in Rome, widely mourned, on 13 Jan. 1591 and was buried at S. Silvestro al Quirinale.

These cardinals of the 16th century are followed in the next century by another group of cardinals who made their careers through ecclesiastical diplomacy, sustaining with zeal and honor the task entrusted to them.

DECIO C., b. in Naples in 1556, d. there on 23 Jan. 1626, was educated by Mario C., archbishop of Naples; having come to Rome, he was numbered among the prelates of the Curia; on 16 March 1598 he was named by Clement VIII apostolic collector in Portugal. Then named by Paul V archbishop of Damascus on 17 May 1606, he went as nuncio to Flanders and in 1607 to Madrid. On 7 Aug. 1611 he was created cardinal by Paul V, and having returned from Spain he was assigned on 7 May 1612 the presbyteral title of S. Lorenzo in Panisperna. On 7 Jan. 1613 he was elected archbishop of Naples, where he devoted himself with great diligence to the government of the diocese. He had votes in the Conclave of 1621 and of 1623. Loved by all, he was, at his death, buried in the Cathedral.

CARLO C. the elder was named bishop of Aversa on 16 July 1616. On 14 Apr. he was sent by the new pope Gregory XV as nuncio to the emperor Ferdinand II so that, the Protestants having by then been defeated at the White Mountain near Prague (8 Nov. 1620), he might restore order in Bohemia, which had remained religiously and politically upheaved. Carlo C. remained in Bohemia until 1628 and assisted the sovereign in his work with great prudence and energy. He returned to Aversa in 1629 and was not employed in other nunciatures. He died in 1644 and was succeeded by his nephew of the same name.

He composed the Commentaria de Germania sacra instaurata which were printed at Cologne in 1639 and continued up to 1641 in a second edition of Frankfurt; the work still retains its value today. Previously Carlo C. had compiled (1628) a Relazione dello stato dell'Imperio which was like a synthesis of his nunciature.

CARLO C. the younger, b. in Rome around 1612; doctor in both laws and referendary of the Segnatura, he became bishop of Aversa at 33 years of age on 13 July 1644; he was vice-legate at Bologna, nuncio in Switzerland on 18 Jan. 1653, whence he passed to Venice on 31 Oct. 1654; then on 13 Aug. 1658 he was sent as nuncio to the emperor. He was created cardinal by Alexander VII on 14 Jan. 1664 and immediately sent as legate to Bologna. He died in Rome at 68 and a half years of age, on 19 Oct. 1680; he had renounced the bishopric up to 1665.

PIER LUIGI C., cardinal, son of the Marquis Ottavio, born in Naples in 1581, died in Rome on February 14, 1655. He was vice-legate at Ferrara, and in 1614 governor of Fermo; on March 29, 1624 he succeeded his brother Diomede in the bishopric of Tricarico; but already in May he was appointed nuncio to Cologne and Lower Germany, where he remained until 1634, raising the fortunes of Catholicism in that country and winning the esteem of Catholics and dissenters alike. Having returned to Tricarico, he restored the Cathedral and founded the seminary. He was created cardinal by Innocent X on March 6, 1645, and on June 10 he received the title of St. Martin ai Monti; in January 1646 he renounced the bishopric. On July 3, 1651 he was appointed legate to Bologna, where, on account of his health, he stayed but a very short time; he then received the prefecture of the Congregation of the Council and was a member of other Congregations. He died while shut up in the Conclave in which Alexander VII was elected, and was buried in the church of the Gesù.

Alberto Galleti

Instead, another lackluster cardinal figure who also lived in the 17th century did not hold diplomatic posts: FORTUNATO C., brother of the Grand Master of Malta Gregorio, b. 16 Feb. 1631, d. suddenly in Naples on 16 Jan. 1697. He was created cardinal, to everyone's surprise, by Innocent XI on 2 Sept. 1686, while he was vicar general of the archbishop of Messina, his uncle, and had come to Rome to present the church to the Pope in the name of the king of Naples. He was appointed bishop of Aversa on 7 July 1687, took part in the election of Alexander VIII, and was legate in Romagna (G. Novaes, Elementi della storia de' Sommi Pontefici ecc., XI, Rome 1822, p. 59).

In the 17th century they made their careers almost exclusively in the Curia: PIER LUIGI C. the younger, born in 1677 of the princes of Belvedere; he was nuncio in Florence in 1713-17, then secretary of the Propaganda, and then, in 1724, of the Congregation of the bishops and regulars. He was created cardinal on 20 Sept. 1728; on 19 Apr. he became bishop of Ostia and dean of the Sacred College; he died on 16 Dec. 1755 and was buried at S. Andrea delle Fratte.

FRANCESCO C., b. 29 Apr. 1722 in Naples, was secretary of the Congregation of Bishops and Regulars; he was created cardinal by Clement XIV on 19 Apr. 1773 with the title of St. Clement, whence he passed to St. Lawrence in Lucina on 15 Sept. 1788 and held St. Lawrence in Damaso in commendam from 3 Aug. 1807. He was president of St. Spirito in Sassia in 1800. D. 20 Sept. 1818.

Pio Paschini