CHIEREGATO, LIONELLO. – Bishop and papal nuncio, born at Vicenza to Nicola C., in the first half of the 15th century. A doctor of canon law, in February 1470 he is found in the retinue of Cardinal Marco Barbo, bishop of Vicenza; then in Rome, at the court of Paul II. He was appointed bishop of Arbe in Dalmatia on 8 January 1472 and accompanied Barbo on his legation to Germany, but preceded him in returning to Rome (1473). On 14 January 1484 he transferred to the bishopric of Traù, visited the diocese and also Friuli on behalf of Barbo, patriarch of Aquileia; finally, on 22 October 1488, he was transferred to the see of Concordia in the eastern Veneto.
Meanwhile, Innocent VIII had appointed him nuncio to France to settle that nation’s political and religious disputes (November 1487), giving him Antonio Flores, a canon of Seville, as companion. From C.’s letters it is known how numerous were the accusations concerning abuses by the clergy, and particularly by religious, as well as the nature of his activities regarding Pico della Mirandola, who had taken refuge in France.
In 1490 he went to England to negotiate peace between that king and Charles VIII. On 29 September 1490 C. left Lyons and France with his colleague and returned to Rome without having accomplished much, owing to the delaying measures of the French court. C. also enjoyed the favor of Alexander VI, who commissioned him to meet with Charles VIII when the latter came down toward Rome (December 1494), and the following year sent him as nuncio to Germany to Maximilian. He remained there until around the middle of 1499, when he went to his bishopric of Concordia, where, in February 1505, he also held a Synod; he died there on 19 August 1506. An upright and learned man, C. perhaps did not enjoy much success as a nuncio. In his own time he was regarded as an orator of great merit, and some of his occasional speeches were published in print; he also delivered the ceremonial address for the marriage of Lucrezia Borgia to Giovanni Sforza.
Some of his dispatches and letters have likewise been printed.