D'AFFLITTO, ANNIBALE. - Archbishop of Reggio Calabria, b. in Napoli in 1560, of a most noble family originating from the duchy of Amalfi; d. in Reggio Calabria in 1638.
Already chaplain to the king of Spain, he was consecrated bishop of Reggio Calabria in 1593, where he remained until his death, repeatedly refusing more important and wealthier sees. He was a man of great religious zeal and profound charity. He had occasion to demonstrate his pastoral virtues at the very beginning of his episcopate, when the city was attacked in 1594 by the fleet of Amurat III, commanded by the renegade Cigala, and, five years later, amid the desolation caused there by a terrible earthquake. In the civil conflicts that raged among the families of Reggio, d'A. displayed great skill, eventually succeeding in restoring peace. He convened the diocesan synod five times, and in 1611, in the church of S. Maria della Cattolica, promulgated the abolition of the Greek rite and of the jurisdiction of the protopapa. Two publications concerning the Councils of 1595 and 1614 remain of him, as well as a group of manuscript letters preserved by the Jesuits of Palermo. He died in the odour of sanctity.