GONZAGA, FRANCESCO. – Bishop, venerable, born at Gazzolo (Mantova) on 31 July 1546, died at Mantova on 11 March 1620. Son of the prince and marquis Carlo G., he was the uncle of s. Luigi G. Educated in his youth at the courts of Flanders and Spain, where he studied at the University of Alcalá, he there embraced the Seraphic Order in 1562 and was ordained a priest in 1570.
Recalled to Italy in 1573, he was incorporated into the Venetian Franciscan province and soon attained the highest dignities of the Order: in 1578 he was provincial minister, and the following year minister general. He visited on foot almost all the provinces of Europe. He declined the cardinalate and the archbishopric of Milan, which had been offered to him after the death of s. Carlo Borromeo. In 1587 he laid down the governance of the Order in order to retire to a solitary life, but Sixtus V appointed him bishop of Cefalù that same year and, in 1593, of Pavia, finally transferring him to Mantova, where he died. The cause of beatification was introduced as early as 1627. He also wrote several works; but his name is particularly associated with the De origine seraphicae religionis (Roma 1587), one of the most extensive compilations of Franciscan history.