Colonna, Family

COLONNA, FAMILY. - The first C. remembered by history is that PERTUS DE COLONNA who under Paschal II (1099-1118) had occupied Cave, a territory of the Holy See, and had been driven out of it with the loss of Colonna and Zagarolo (Lib. Pont., II, pp. 298, 307 n. 15).

He was probably the son of Gregory of the counts of Tusculum, brother of Benedict IX. In the ecclesiastical hierarchy the first to present himself is that GIOVANNI, created cardinal of St. Praxedes in 1212, who in 1223, on returning from a journey to Palestine, brought back the reputed column of the flagellation and placed it in his titular church. He stood at the side of Gregory IX in the struggle against Emperor Frederick II, until in 1240 he passed over to the imperial camp and to the Ghibelline party, to which the house of C. was thereafter a constant adherent. He died in 1245.

A nephew of this cardinal was another GIOVANNI C. who, sent to Paris for his studies, became a Dominican despite the opposition of his uncle, who tried to discredit him with Gregory IX. He was appointed archbishop of Messina by Alexander IV in 1255 and from there was transferred to Nicosia in 1262. In 1262-64 under Urban IV he was vicar of Rome. The year of his death is not known. He compiled a Mare historiarum from the origins of the world down to Louis IX, which was printed in French translation in 1488; the most important passages are found in MGH, Scriptores, XXIV, pp. 266-84.

He also wrote De viris illustribus, both pagan and Christian (Hurter, II, p. 438).

In Rome the family C. had its houses adjoining the church of the SS. Apostoli, but extended its power over almost the entire region of Trevi, occupying even the mausoleum of Augustus: the Agosta. Toward the end of the 13th century, the house was divided into three branches: that of Palestrina, which was the principal one and took its name from the city of the same name, the most important stronghold of the region, that of Gallicano and that of Genazzano.

A daughter of Oddone C. of Palestrina was that MARGHERITA who, having given herself to the religious life, was a Poor Clare nun, died at Castel S. Pietro on the Monte Prenestino on 30 Dec. 1280 and was venerated as blessed; her cult was confirmed on 17 Sept. 1847 and her body was transferred to S. Silvestro in Capite (cf. L. Oliger, B. Margherita C. - Le due vite scritte dal fratello, etc., Rome 1935).

The elder brother of the blessed was GIACOMO, who completed his studies at Bologna and on 12 March 1278 was created cardinal of S. Maria in via Lata by Nicholas III.

The house of C. knew how to win the favor of Nicholas IV, who on 16 May 1288 created cardinal of St. Eustachius PIETRO C., son of Giovanni, brother of Card. Giacomo, who had studied canon law at Padua. STEFANO, brother of Card. Pietro, received from the Pope special commissions for peace in Romagna, so that the family in those years became very powerful in Rome (cf. P. Balan, Storia d'Italia, IV, Modena 1895, p. 154 ff.).

MATTEO, ODDONE and LANDOLFO complained of the rule of their brother Card. GIACOMO, head of the family after the death of Giovanni; Pope Boniface VIII intervened in the disputes, but the two cardinals who had rebelled against his authority were deprived by him of the cardinalate and excommunicated on 23 May 1297. In the war that followed, Palestrina was destroyed and the C. had to flee. It was then that STEFANO and GIACOMO SCIARRA, brothers of Card. PIETRO, took refuge in France at the court of King Philip the Fair; and Sciarra, as is well known, was among those who with the king's emissaries attacked the Pope at Anagni on 6 Sept. 1303. The death of Boniface VIII, which occurred a month later, changed the fortunes of the C.: the two cardinals were released from the censures by Benedict XI, but they did not recover the cardinalatial dignity until Clement V: Card. Giacomo died at Avignon on 14 Aug. 1318; Card. Pietro, archpriest of S. Maria Maggiore and of the Lateran (1318), died in 1326, also at Avignon (cf. L. Moehler, Die Kard. Jakob Peter C., Paderborn 1914). With the two cardinals the Colonna fortunes at the court of Avignon had begun.

Sciarra C. was senator of Rome in 1312 during the tumults provoked by the coming of Emperor Henry VII; later he was among the supporters of Louis the Bavarian; on 17 Jan. 1328 he crowned him emperor in the name of the Romans and on 10 Apr. sanctioned the deposition of John XXII. Forced to flee from Rome together with the Bavarian in Aug., he died in Oct. 1329. Stefano C. instead fought with the Guelphs and later, in 1347, was among the most tenacious opponents of Cola di Rienzo, succeeding in driving him from Rome and in restoring order in the city at the end of that year.

He died very old not long afterward. Continuous in those years were the struggles of the C. against the Roman barons: Orsini, Savelli, Caetani, waged with varying fortunes and a cause of ruin for the whole countryside.

The head of the house had remained Stefano; from him were born STEFANO the younger and GIOVANNI C., created cardinal deacon of S. Angelo by John XXII on 13 Dec. 1327, one of the very few Italians of those years; he too was archpriest of the Lateran and died on 3 July 1348. Well known is his friendship with Francesco Petrarch, who was his guest for some years at Avignon. Brother of Card. Giovanni was that GIACOMO C., canon of Noyon, who, appointed bishop of Lombes in Gascony on 23 May 1328 at the age of 27 (d. in 1341), was also bound by a special friendship with Petrarch.

Urban VI took care, as soon as the schism broke out, to conciliate the family C., since that of the Orsini was hostile to him; and in his great creation of 18 Sept. 1378 he created cardinals AGAPITO of the title of S. Prisca and STEFANO, provost of S. Omer; the latter died before receiving the title and Agapito died in Oct. 1380. Agapito had acquired a certain fame in his time; archdeacon of Bologna first, he had then been successively bishop of Ascoli, of Brescia and of Lisbon; a friend of Card. Robert of Geneva, for not having followed him into the schism he had lost his bishopric; only after repeated solicitations had he accepted the cardinalate.

NICCOLÒ and GIO-

VANNI C. of Palestrina took an active part in the struggles that with varying fortunes unfolded in Rome and its surroundings during the period of the schism, maneuvering among the different factions that dominated in those sad days.

On 12 June 1405 Innocent VII created cardinal ODDONE C., who belonged to the branch of Gallicano and who was elected pope at Constance on 11 Nov. 1417 under the name of Martin V. To re-establish peace in the Papal States the Pope made particular use of Giordano, his elder brother, and of Antonio, Prospero and Odoardo, sons of his third brother Lorenzo, who had died tragically. PROSPERO was created cardinal deacon of S. Giorgio in Velabro on 24 May 1426, but published only on 8 Nov. 1430. Also received the purple in those years valiant adherents of the house of C. such as Giuliano Cesarini and Domenico Capranica.

The power of the family was brought to its greatest splendor by the creation of extensive interests in the kingdom of Naples, which continued unceasingly in the following age. All this provoked jealousy in the baronial families rival to the C., particularly in that of the Orsini. The consequences were seen after the death of Martin V (1431), when the Orsini succeeded in prevailing, strong in the favor of the new pope Eugene IV. From this arose a war that soon became complicated with the vicissitudes of the kingdom of Naples and with those of the condottieri eager to make their fortune. Card. Prospero hoped to become pope in 1447, but Card. Parentucelli was preferred to him, and he became Nicholas V. The cardinal then died in Rome on 24 March 1463.

A new phase in the struggle with the Orsini and with the Church came with Sixtus IV. On 15 May 1480 this pontiff had created GIOVANNI C. cardinal of S. Maria in Aquiro, and he soon held the bishopric of Rieti in commendam. The C. favored the faction of Ferdinand, king of Naples, together with the Savelli, while the Orsini took the side of Count Girolamo Riario, the Pope's nephew. Having fallen under the Pope's suspicion, Cardinal Colonna, together with Cardinal Savelli, was held as a hostage on 2 June 1482 and was not released until 14 Nov. 1483.

As the conflicts grew, through the agency of Riario the protonotary LORENZO C., head of the house, was put to death on 30 June 1484, and the fortunes of the Colonnesi suffered a severe blow; nevertheless they held their own even during the following pontificates amid political rivalries, serving as captains. When Cardinal Giovanni died on 28 Sept. 1508 and was buried in the church of the SS. Apostoli, his nephew Pompeo, abbot of Grottaferrata and Subiaco, more a man of faction and of arms than an ecclesiastic, and a fierce opponent of Julius II in 1511, received the bishopric of Rieti; he was created cardinal of the SS. Apostoli by Leo X on 1 July 1517 and vice-chancellor in 1524 under Clement VII.

Of the imperial faction, like PROSPERO (d. 1523) and FABRIZIO C. (d. 1520), who were the most illustrious captains of those years, POMPEO was among the harshest opponents of Clement VII both in conclave and afterward. Together with his relatives Vespasiano and Ascanio he led the assault against the Vatican on 20 Sept. 1526 (Pastor IV, II, p. 215 ff.); for this he was deprived on 21 Nov. of all his offices and benefices (ibid., p. 222). Only when the following year, in May, the Pope was shut up in Castel Sant'Angelo during the horrible sack, did Pompeo come to his aid. In 1528, already readmitted to his ecclesiastical offices, he became viceroy of Naples for Charles V; after having temporarily held in commendam the dioceses of Acerno, Potenza, Sarno, Cahors, Catania, Aquila, Aversa, he was also archbishop of Monreale on 14 Dec. 1530. He died in the Curia on 28 June 1532.

Another enterprise of the Colonna against the Papal State was that led by ASCANIO, son of Fabrizio, at the beginning of 1541 against Paul III on the occasion of the war of the salt, and it ended in disaster for the Colonnese (P. Balan, op. cit., VI, p. 468). His son MARCANTONIO also took part in the war waged by the duke of Alba against Paul IV in 1556-57 (ibid., p. 583 ff.); and it was the last conflict of that kind on the part of the Colonna against the State of the Pope. They nevertheless continued to maintain their prestige and to preserve the relations that bound them to the kingdom of Naples, thanks to the fiefs and offices they held there.

Daughter of Fabrizio and of Agnese of Montefeltro, sister of Ascanio, but very different from him, was VITTORIA C., b. at Marino in 1490 or 1492, d. at Rome on 27 Feb. 1547; a woman of choice intellect, who was in contact with the greatest men of letters of her age, Molza, Castiglione, Bembo, and won the esteem and reverence of the Pope and of sovereigns and in particular of Buonarroti. She was married at Ischia on 27 Dec. 1509 to Ferrante d'Avalos, marquis of Pescara, of a noble Spanish family established at Naples, who made himself famous in the war between the imperial forces and the French in northern Italy in those years. Although he lived with his wife for only a short time, when he died at Milan on 25 Nov. 1525, Vittoria, having withdrawn at first to Ischia, thought only of glorifying her "sun" (D'Avalos) in verses marked by that Platonizing Petrarchism that was then in vogue. But soon she began to take a lively part in that movement of spiritual reform which was the aspiration of many in that age. She supported

From its very beginning she supported the Franciscan reform of the Capuchins and favored in particular Fra Bernardino Ochino as long as he remained Catholic; and, without having been a disciple of Juan Valdés in Naples, she maintained a lively friendship with some of those who were imbued with his ideas, such as Giulia Gonzaga, Marcantonio Flaminio, Alvise Priuli, Pietro Carnesecchi.

In 1541-44, while she was staying at Viterbo, she was in contact with Cardinal Reginald Pole and with those friends of his, all absorbed in the problem of Grace raised by Luther and disposed to attribute man's justification exclusively to the merits of Christ, without regard to our cooperation and to the value of good works. In these years she composed the Rime spirituali, urging the imitation of Christ, leading an ascetic life and staying by preference in the monasteries of Ferrara and Orvieto, until she came to die in that of S. Anna dei Funari in Rome, where she was also temporarily buried. Like the best of her friends, she intended to be a devout daughter of the Church, from which she never thought of separating herself, but only of contributing to that spiritual current which sought its reform, concerning herself with the life of the spirit above any interest of party or sect.

Works: Vittoria's Rime were printed for the first time at Parma in 1538; 11 other editions followed during her lifetime. Il pianto sopra la Passione di Cristo appeared posthumously at the house of Aldo Manuzio, Venice 1556; 5 other editions followed; then it fell entirely into oblivion. The Carteggio was published by E. Ferrero and G. Müller with a supplement by D. Tordi, Turin 1899.

When Pius V needed a man of arms to appoint as captain general of the papal army against the Turk, he entrusted that office on 11 June 1570 to MARCO ANTONIO C., b. at Civita Lavinia on 26 Feb. 1535 to Ascanio and Giovanna d'Aragona, nephew of Vittoria. Once the storm suffered under Paul IV had passed, C. had returned to Rome on 21 Aug. 1559, soon recovering Paliano with the protection of Philip II. He had set about reviving the fortunes of the house and also defending on the sea the papal shores of the Tyrrhenian. He took part with the Venetian and Spanish ships in that expedition against the Turk which had its most glorious episode in the naval victory of Lepanto on 7 Oct. 1571. C. commanded the papal forces also in the expedition of 1572, without however being able to equal the feats of the previous year. He was then appointed by Philip II viceroy of Sicily; he died at Medinaceli on 1 Aug. 1584.

FABRIZIO, son of Marco Antonio, married Anna Borromeo, sister of St. Charles and a devout disciple of St. Philip Neri.

Following the tradition, which became constant in their house, the C. were in this and in the two following centuries faithful adherents of Spanish policy and favored its factions within the Curia, in which they began once more to be present by assuming the highest ecclesiastical offices.

Nephew of Marco Antonio and son of Camillo duke of Zagarolo and of Vittoria C. iuniore was MARCO ANTONIO, who on 9 July 1560 was appointed by Philip II archbishop of Taranto, created cardinal by Pius IV on 11 March 1565 and transferred to the archbishopric of Salerno on 13 Oct. 1568; for this diocese he published in 1579 the Constitutiones synodales. He was then bishop of Palestrina on 11 May 1587, librarian at the Vatican, member of several congregations and commissions, because he was very expert in the sacred sciences. In the Conclave of Sept.-Oct. 1590 his election to the papacy seemed for a moment certain, but he was opposed by the zealous, to whom his morals did not appear without stain; he also took an active part in the following conclaves. He died at Zagarolo on 14 March 1597.

Much favored by Philip II was then ASCANIO C., son of Marco Antonio, abbot of S. Sofia di Benevento, whom Sixtus V created cardinal deacon of S. Vito on 17 Nov. 1586 and archpriest of the Lateran. A learned and generous man, viceroy of Aragon (1602-1604), he was bishop of Palestrina on 5 June 1606. He upheld the so-called rights of the Sicilian monarchy against Baronio. He was strongly hostile to the Venetians during the famous interdict. He died in Rome on 17 May 1608.

These two C. were followed in the Sacred College, some years later, by GIROLAMO C., whom Urban VIII created cardinal deacon on 30 Aug. 1627, but published only on 7 Feb. 1628; he too was archpriest of the Lateran; created archbishop of Bologna on 24 Nov. 1632, he had already resigned it before 6 Feb. 1645. Bishop of Tusculum on 21 Nov. 1661, he died outside the Curia on 4 Sept. 1666 (Pastor, XIV, I, p. 38).

Almost contemporaries of one another were: CARLO C. of the dukes of Paliano, b. on 17 Nov. 1665, who was majordomo of Innocent XII in 1696 and then of Clement XI. The latter created him cardinal deacon of S. Maria della Scala on 17 May 1706; d. in Rome on 8 July 1739 (G. de Novaes, Storia dei pontefici, XII, Siena 1806, p. 91). PROSPERO C., a Roman of the princes of Sonnino, b. at Marino on 17 Nov. 1662, cleric of the Chamber and then auditor under Innocent XIII, was created cardinal of S. Angelo on 30 Sept. 1739 by Clement XII. He died in Rome on 3 March 1743 (G. de Novaes, op. cit., XIII, p. 491).

GIROLAMO C., b. on 8 May 1708, was majordomo of Clement XII in 1732 and then of Benedict XIV, who created him cardinal of S. Angelo on 9 Sept. 1743. He continued however in the same office until 1758, keeping his nephew Marco Antonio as coadjutor. He was archpriest of S. Maria Maggiore before 1750, vice-chancellor in 1753, vice-camerlengo in 1756. He was endowed with a great sense of art. He died on 18 Jan. 1763 (G. de Novaes, op. cit., XIV, p. 67).

MARCO ANTONIO, who has been mentioned, had been born in Rome on 16 Aug. 1724 and Clement XIII created him cardinal deacon on 24 Sept. 1759. He enjoyed great esteem as a learned, charitable and virtuous man; archpriest of S. Maria Maggiore, prefect of Propaganda in Apr. 1763, vicar of Rome, he was also in the Conclave of 1769 put forward as a candidate for the papacy. Bishop of Palestrina on 20 Sept. 1784, he died on 4 Dec. 1793.

Brother of the preceding was PIETRO PANFILI C. of the dukes of Paliano, b. in Rome on 7 Dec. 1725; he served as nuncio in Paris, precisely at the moment when the Jesuits were being driven out of France. Clement XIII created him cardinal of S. Maria in Trastevere on 26 Sept. 1766. He died at Verona on 4 Dec. 1780.

At a time when there was no member of the Colonna family in the Sacred College, Clement X wished that Egidio Sciarra Colonna, prince of Carbognano, should adopt into his family FEDERICO BALDESCHI, who had been secretary of Propaganda and assessor of the Holy Office. He then created him cardinal on 12 June 1673 and published him on 17 Dec. 1674. Baldeschi was therefore commonly called Cardinal Colonna, had a large part in the affairs of those years, and died in Rome on 4 Oct. 1691.

To the Colonna family of Carbognano belonged PROSPERO, b. 17 Jan. 1707, who was maestro di Camera of Benedict XVI from the moment of his election and was created cardinal of St. George in Velabro by him on 9 Sept. 1743. He was prefect of the Signatura and of the Congregation of Propaganda and was considered a person of particular experience. During the Conclave of 1758, thanks to special electoral concerns, he was named protector of the kingdom of France by the French ambassador; he died on 20 Apr. 1765 (G. de Novaes, op. cit., XIV, p. 63; Pastor, XVI, I, passim).

Finally, mention must be made, as the last cardinal of the Colonna family, of NICCOLÒ COLONNA of Stigliano, a Neapolitan, b. 15 July 1730, who was nuncio in Spain; he was created cardinal by Pius VI on 4 Febr. 1785 and died at Savignano on 31 March 1796 (G. de Novaes, op. cit., XVI, p. 132).

No cardinals of the Colonna family are to be found after the Restoration. - See plate II.

Pio Paschini

Particular mention is deserved, for the more recent age, by FILIPPO COLONNA. Assistant at the pontifical throne, b. in Naples on 3 Sept. 1760 to prince don Lorenzo and to Marina of the marquises Estensi of S. Martino, d. in Rome on 26 June 1818. When in 1796 the French invaded the Legations, he contributed to the rearming of the troops. In 1797 he was promoted brigadier general and then, on the following 15 Aug., lieutenant general. Most loyal to the Holy See, he suffered grave embezzlements in the course of the two Napoleonic occupations of Rome (1798, 1808). First among the Roman lords, seconding the wishes of Cardinal Consalvi, in 1816 he renounced his feudal rights over his domains.

In 1834 Gregory XVI made hereditary in the Colonna and Orsini houses the honorary office of assistant at the pontifical throne, which members of the two families had previously held intermittently.

Paolo Dalla Torre