CASTRO, RODRIGO DE

CASTRO, RODRIGO de. - Cardinal, b. at Valladolid in 1523, of the noble C. family, from the branch of the counts of Lemos (or Lemus); d. at Siviglia in 1600. He studied at the University of Salamanca and, in 1559, joined the Spanish Inquisition. In Jan. 1565 he went to Rome, sent by Filippo II, to obtain from Pope Pio V that judgment in the trial of the archbishop of Toledo B. Carranza (v.) should also be entrusted to the Spanish Inquisition; he obtained only that a legate be sent to Spain (Ugo Boncompagni, later Pope Gregorio XIII). He was subsequently bishop of Zamora and Cuenca, and then archbishop of Siviglia, where in 1586 he convened a diocesan synod. At the proposal of Filippo II, he was created cardinal, with the title of SS. Apostoli, on 12 Dec. 1583. He was praised by his contemporaries for his virtue and magnificence. He founded the college of Monforte di Lemus (1594), which he entrusted to the Jesuits.