FIRRAO, GIUSEPPE. — Cardinal, b. in Naples on 20 July 1736, d. there on 24 Jan. 1830. Namesake and kinsman of FIRRAO (1660–1744), who played a major part in Vatican diplomacy in the 18th c., he entered the prelature under Clement XIII, who sent him as vice-legate to Ravenna and later entrusted him with the government of other cities in the Papal States.
Pius VI raised him to the titular archbishopric of Petra on 25 Feb. 1782, accrediting him as nuncio to the Republic of Venice, and later appointed him Secretary of the S. Congregation of Bishops and Regulars. Pius VII created him a cardinal in the S. College on 23 Feb. 1801, assigning him the presbyteral title of S. Eusebio, which F. retained throughout his twenty-nine years as cardinal, without ever changing it for that of S. Lorenzo in Lucina even when he became first in his Order.
In delicate health, he chose to retire to Naples, devoting himself to a life of study and prayer, thus partly disappointing the hopes raised by his brilliant early career. He carefully kept aloof from the politics of his time, coming to Rome almost solely to take part in the Conclaves of Leo XII and Pius VIII.
Renzio U. Montani